sarnath

With poor Smokey having gone (and I do miss her dreadfully), I contacted the Anglesey Feline whatsit thingy because I wanted a second cat, and it can take a rescue service months to find a cat which must be kept indoors.

I am thereby caught, because they already had one they were looking for a good home for. His current name is Quata, and he’s a medium haired tabby.

The reason he’s an indoor-only cat is because he has cerebellar hypoplasia, also known as “wobbly cat syndrome”. He’s a sweetheart and not as wobbly as some cats I’ve seen with that condition, but is definitely best kept indoors.

He arrives at my place on Saturday afternoon. I am going to change his name to Geraint, which is a solid Welsh name.

Opal

Opal is over grooming, and I’m not sure why. The area in her middle back is devoid of fur, but she won’t let me put ointment on her, even though it would help. It’s a worry.

I can’t take her to the vet this week as I’m not paid again until Friday, and had a lot of expenses this month, what with cremating Smokey and having to pay the man for repairs on my fence. Fences, as I discovered, are not covered by buildings insurance.

Current Location: Bangor, Gwynedd
Crossposts: https://lexin.insanejournal.com/330833.html

yourlibrarian

1) Some good news, NPR program revenue is way up, and much of it is coming from new donors. Also, John Oliver not only did his final 2025 episode about it which you can watch on YouTube but held an auction which, given how its bidding was going, is likely to raise about $1.25 million for them.

2) I can see why a lot of people enjoyed this (definitive) Fantastic 4 movie. Like many others I loved the set design, the 60s retro futurism, and the framing and pacing for it. It was not easy to build in those domestic and intimate character scenes within a movie that had a lot to get through.

Unfortunately though, the more I thought about the movie after, the more it fell apart. ( Read more... )

3) First posted on

tv_talk, I couldn't help comparing 2 shows that are forever tied together for me because of a friend, now gone from us, who I watched them with. ancing with the Stars which had its 20 year anniversary this month, has been on so long it had its own In Memoriam segment. (Charo and Wayne Newton though, in the audience, still with us). It was a great show, starting with an excellent opening number. Funnily enough, I turned to my partner and commented on how well choreographed it was, only to find out a minute later that it had been done by Derek Hough.

"He should choreograph everything," he said. There were a number of excellent dances, as well as a good effort by Andy Richter.

The best moment though, was at the start when we not only saw the original pros start the show (I can't believe there were no interviews or moments with them about their memories – guess that was all saved for the podcast) but Tom Bergeron was back. I am quite happy with Alfonso and Julieanne as co-hosts but I miss Tom.

And speaking of hosts, Project Runway has had a more checkered history for several reasons. ( Read more... )

In the meantime, there's a lot of joy on DwtS, perhaps best exemplified by this semi-final performance of Robert Irwin's:

Watch on YouTube

4) I watched The Roses with Olivia Colman/Cumberbatch, which is a remake of War of the Roses but much more British. Near the end he builds this house by the sea, and I just wanted the movie to spend time showing all parts of it because it looked great! I recently saw pics of the Stahl House in L.A. which is up for sale, and am a sucker for those integrated-with-the-environment type buildings.

As to the movie ( Read more... )

5) What has always been known has now been proved about who's behind most of the MAGA shit stirring on X (and undoubtedly every other platform). The biggest irony of all is that so much of it isn't even political manipulation by foreign powers so much as international scammers getting paid for ruining the U.S. social sphere.

"Musk instituted an “engagement-based” payment structure that pays out money based on how many views, retweets, and comments you get. For people in lower income regions, trolling on politically sensitive topics in America to generate likes and clicks (especially now that they can use AI to do so) isn’t just easy—it’s an actual business model that Musk built into the platform."

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yuuago

A few recent reads:

+ She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. A girl assumes her dead brother's identity, joins a monastery, later becomes involved in a power struggle outside the monastery, and does everything she can to rise to the top. I found this really hard to put down! It was very engaging! There's a sequel out, so I'm going to pick it up at some point.

+ Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice. I read this as part of a challenge, but also because I read the first book and enjoyed it (that is, Moon of the Crusted Snow). 10 years ago, electronics stopped working and the world became dangerous and chaotic; a remote reservation managed to hang on and build up a life for themselves. So, this novel is set 10 years later, when people from that community set out to see what's out there (and possibly move somewhere else). It's relatively cozy even though the subject is sometimes very serious.

+ Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden-Keefe. This one is in progress, and I'm only about 1/4 of the way into it. The Sackler family built a pharmaceutical empire and contributed to the modern-day issues around opioids. Part of the money at the beginning came from pharmaceutical advertising; Arthur Sackler basically created the model for advertising that is currently used. I'm finding that the history of advertising in general is really interesting to read about, what led to the current state, etc.

+ Hyde by Daniel Levine. Another in-progress. It's Mister Hyde's POV of what happens in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde, basically. Very interesting concept. I'm having trouble getting into it, and I'm honestly not sure why; it's possible that I'm not in the mood for this novel, or maybe I don't remember Dr Jekyll well enough to appreciate it properly. It has the full text of Robert Lewis Stevenson's novel included at the back, which I thought was a clever move, though obviously it helps that the original is short enough to do so.

pensnest

Dear Becky

No, I don't want you to update my website and maximise my sales. Do you in fact know what my website is for? What exactly it is that I am selling? Didn't think so.

Yours, irritably,
Pen

*

Last night I thought I was incubating—had incubated, indeed—the most horrendous cold. I was miserable! I cancelled this morning's yoga and prepared to battle with Vicks and tissues.

This evening I'm... more or less fine. I do emit an occasional mighty sneeze, and I don't think I can manage any top notes, but otherwise, I'm good. It's nice, but rather baffling.

Spent Sunday at a mixed chorus rehearsal, which was interesting and useful although possibly less fun than I had anticipated. We had a drama chap come to work with us on our performance. He choreographed a number of carefully-thought-out moves, but I had hoped he would work with us on conveying emotions through body language or learning to make our faces work harder for us, or something. Still. It was a useful start on a more disciplined presentation of our song.

Now we just have to remember it all.

*

I think my procrastination skills are faltering a bit, which is just as well as I have a Yuletide story to write and Christmas stuff to organise. I have made a start on the Yuletide thing, which is flowing reasonably well, so far, but it's fairly canon-y at present and I shall flounder far more once I am further adrift. Meanwhile I have also found myself writing a Romance of a not-fannish kind, unless it be a rather remote tribute to Georgette Heyer. Sentences keep forming themselves in my mind when I am trying to go to sleep. So far I have not resorted to phone or notebook to deal with them, as I more or less trust myself to be able to say what I want to say, but argh! Months and months without the ability to write so much as a sentence of fiction, and now, abundance! And I'm sooooo indolent. Sigh.

*

Christmas will be getting under way for me this coming weekend. Well, no, that is not strictly true, of course, I have parcels arriving daily and even went shopping yesterday in Jarrolds Food Hall, always a pleasure. I approve of Norfolk Stuff. And they have a Chocolate Library. Anyway, do sign up for a card from me, on my previous post! I like sending cards out, despite the eyewatering costs of postage.

But this weekend is the chorus concert at the local church, just up the road. It is the traditional start to my chorus's Christmas season, except last year when somebody at the church managed to double book and we ended up not going there. Grump. As mentioned above, I may not be able to hit the high notes, but there are few of these as I only sing Tenor on one song with the women's chorus. (Oddly, I managed an F# on Sunday in brief rehearsal with my quartet, though my voice was feeling the strain at Eb earlier.) I am arming myself with a handful of very short Christmas poems, as I'll probably be doing some of the MC's duties.

*

I seem to have developed an alternative personality for Reddit. Rather more astringent than I am here, where I am myself, and also, rather wittier. Hmm.

Back to the story with the deadline.

pensnest

Well, now. Serves me right for not perusing my Dreamwidth reading page more regularly—I feel sure I would have been prompted to ask for Christmas card addresses by now. Still, better late than never: if you would like a card from me at Chrimbletide, please put your name and address in comments, which are screened. If you'd particularly appreciate a religious card, do say so, and if you'd particularly hate one, say also.

marginaliana

Finished reading Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream. I picked this up partly due to it going around on my reading list and partly due to my zero-religious-background fascination with religious life.

Short version reaction: we start with Coldstream literally escaping into the night, followed by 'You might be wondering how we got here. Ten years ago...' so you can probably guess you are in for Why Not To Be A Nun: The Memoir: The Musical, but amazingly, no, it is even wilder than that.

Long version reaction: ( No Really, Don't Be A Nun )

yourlibrarian

1) Saw the One to One: John and Yoko documentary. It was, I thought, a clever way of creating one with very little new footage or audio recordings. It focuses on a 2 year period where they are in a small apartment in the Village and basically drops in bits about the two within a larger documentary weaving pop culture and political activity clips as if switching TV channels. ( Read more... )

2) Disney+ to Allow User-Generated Content Via AI. It's hard for me to imagine how this could possibly work. The only thing I can figure is that they plan to use a version of AI that is more like a choose your own adventure option, than something open to user input.

In other AI news however: "A staggering 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between artificial intelligence-generated and human-composed songs...underscoring growing concerns that AI could upend how music is created, consumed and monetized.

The findings of the survey, for which Ipsos polled 9,000 participants across eight countries, including the U.S., Britain and France...found that 73% of respondents supported disclosure when AI-generated tracks are recommended, 45% sought filtering options, and 40% said they would skip AI-generated songs entirely. Around 71% expressed surprise at their inability to distinguish between human-made and synthetic tracks." ( Read more... )

3) Big Tech banks on our laziness."Like any new technology, AI is a natural threat to these businesses, whose basic technology is already decades old. There’s a very real threat that a newcomer like OpenAI could mount a successful challenge to Google Search or Amazon Web Services. Yet, ingeniously, the platforms may manage to ward off AI challengers by using AI themselves to reinforce their dominance, protecting monopoly positions and justifying their large investments. Doing so depends, more than anything, on using AI to further increase our dependence and that sense of couchlock....( Read more... )

4) Webtoon Entertainment Inc. is partnering with Walt Disney to bring Star Wars and Marvel comics to Webtoon's English platform and with Warner Bros. Animation to co-produce animated series for global distribution.

5) Although this article focused on how many people want to listen to music made with AI, it was rather an interesting picture painted of how people consume music at all, what they know about artist pay, and what sorts of music related things they're willing to spend money on.

One thing I found personally interesting is that they either were not asked or did not respond, that a main way to encounter new music was via TV or movies, even though some of them mentioned that soundtracks were their favorite genre. I know it's been one of my big 3 ways for decades now.

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flareonfury posting in

fandom_icons

These icons were made for the first

vampiremedia 20in20 challenge. The theme is women. So below are 20 icons for the challenge plus all the extras I made.

[01] Aleera, Marishka & Verona (Van Helsing)
[02] Mavis Dracula (Hotel Transylvania)
[02] Barbara Gordon (DC vs Vampires)
[05] Diana (DC vs Vampires)
[01] Raven (DC vs Vampires)
[01] Rose (Vampire Academy books)
[06] Jubilee Lee (X-Men)
[03] Selene (Underworld)
[06] Lily Munster (The Munsters 2022)
[02] Caroline Forbes (The Vampire Diaries)
[03] Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries)
[01] Katerina Petrova (The Vampire Diaries)
[01] Rebekah Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries)
[07] Hope Mikaelson (The Legacies)
[09] Lizzie Saltzman (The Legacies)

PREVIEW

beware of blood....

yuuago

So, tonight was Wood Buffalo Pride's Trans Day of Remembrance event. It was kind of a combination memorial and potluck. Very different from previous events, which were outdoor night-time vigils. Not a great time of year for that up here, so it was nice to have something out of the cold.

On November 18th, the Alberta government introduced Bill 9. This uses the Notwithstanding Clause to halt legal challenges against the transphobic Bills 26, 27, and 29.

I cannot emphasize enough how much of a big deal this is - not just because of the transphobic bills, but because of the use of the Notwithstanding Clause. By blocking legal challenges to their bills, the government of Alberta is restricting the rights of Albertans. Additionally, this comes less than a month after the government used the Notwithstanding Clause to force an end to the teacher strike.

I'm not very good at explaining the issues with all this, so instead I will link to some statements:

Statement from Egale Canada and Skipping Stone

Statement from Wood Buffalo Pride

Also, I came across a thoughtful statement from the Otipemisiwak Metis Nation that gives a succint explanation about why this affects more than the LGBT2QA community and why people should care about the use of the Notwithstanding Clause. It makes a good point that this kind of measure is not supposed to be a first resort. If people won't care about the wellbeing of trans people, maybe they will at least care about the precedent this sets for the erosion of Charter rights. Maybe.

Anyway, before we started the actual memorial, there was a letter writing session. I wrote to the premier and my MLA. I doubt any of these letters will even get read, and even if they do get read I doubt it will have any result, but at least I felt like I was doing something. (Someone joked that we should write to our member of parliament too, even though this is a province-level issue. "Might as well send Laila Goodridge a letter, since she doesn't like being left out". Haaaa. You gotta laugh.)

The memorial itself was very well-done and thoughtful. Two local writers read some of their original spoken-word work, which was cool. And the dinner was nice too. Of course, the mood was kind of low, but it was still nice to see everybody and have a chat.

I'm glad I went (and also glad that the memorial was indoors this year). But I'm really unhappy with my provincial government right now, and things feel kind of impossible at the moment.

mekare

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Current Mood: contemplative

chrysalid posting in

fandom_icons

warning: contains spoilers, and canon typical blood and violence.

here @

caleidoscope.

yuuago

Writing: I throw off a draft, put it aside, and then forget about it. It sits in my wip folder (either physical or digital) for years until I do something with it.

Knitting: I knit up a thing, put it aside, and then forget to block it. It sits in a bag in my closet for years until I remember that it's there and block it.

Drawing/painting: I do a thing, and then shove it in a folder and forget about it. Maybe months later I'll remember to scan it. Maybe not.

The similarities. They sure are a thing.

lexin

I had Smokey PTS today. I am heartbroken. All the way home from the vets I wanted to scream “give me my cat back”.

Smokey came to live with me when I was living in London and shortly after my mum died. I had wanted a cat for some time, but given that I visited mum every three weeks it didn’t seem fair to have someone have to come in and feed it while I trotted off.

She came from the RSPCA cat shelter in (I think) Finsbury Park, with all the palaver that entails around being inspected and providing reliable references.

I chose her rather than her sister because Smokey was lively and the sister wasn’t. And because I knew that as a black cat she might struggle more to find a home.

Why now? Smokey had been struggling more and more each day. She had a hard little cough that I didn’t like the sound of. She was struggling to jump onto my bed. Her coat was “staring”, meaning it stood up rather than lying down and being glossy, and, as I became aware on Saturday night, her purr had changed. In fact she didn’t seem to be able to purr properly. Worst of all, she just sat in a corner all day and looked mournful. In short, it was time.

I wish I could believe in things like the “rainbow bridge” but I can’t.

She was the best cat, and I will miss her always.

Current Location: Home
Crossposts: https://lexin.insanejournal.com/330652.html

mekare

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Current Mood: sick

mekare

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mekare

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marginaliana

Recent, in film:

--Sunset Boulevard - what a beautifully shot movie in which everyone is complicit in a woman's mental breakdown. Hooray for Hollywood.

--Blade Runner - I took A to this because she hadn't seen it and was fascinated to hear her thoughts. It was only my second watch but apparently I had a lot more to say about it than after the first one. Notably, A was fascinated by all the worldbuilding that was left unexplained, and had absolutely zero of the 'oh, that's where that quote is from' moments that I expected.

In terms of the eternal question (Is Deckard a replicant?), A remains undecided. My friend D believes that both a) to even ask the question is missing the point and b) of course he's a replicant because that makes for a better story. Whereas I believe the exact opposite, that it's vital for viewers to ask the question but impossible not only to establish the answer but indeed for there even to be an answer.

I refuse to get obsessed with this movie because I have a plentiful supply of things I could get obsessed with already and also I'm pretty sure that the 'Blade Runner microfixation' fandom is full of assholes. But if any of y'all want to tell me your opinions on the eternal question, I am interested.

--The Warriors (1979) - damn, being in a gang does not look like any fun, except for the lesbian one, and even they looked kind of glum. Hard pass.

--Jurassic Park - I forgot how little Ian Malcolm actually does in this movie. He provides quips and allegedly knowledge for the first third, gets injured, and then sits around shirtless and pointless for the rest of it. I am told that many people had their sexual awakening to Jeff Goldblum in this movie. I hope you all have not stuck with 'shirtless and pointless' all your life.

Dinosaurs are cool, though.

yuuago

OH NO I was suddenly reminded of The Magnus Archives and suddenly I had a rush of feelings. I still really like it, even if the final season wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I should re-listen to it sometime.

I have at least one, maybe two, Michael-centric fics in my wip folder. (Or rather, they were both Sasha/Michael, I think.) I do hope I'll get to them at some point. Maybe that'll be a project to finish in the new year?

One of those fics is almost done. Actually, I can't remember why I didn't finish it. It's possible I was thinking that I might need a beta for it, but the subject was kind of niche and I wasn't sure where to look. And then I put it aside and forgot about it, maybe. (That's usually how it goes.) ...Will have to revisit it later and see what kind of state it's in. :Va

Something I had wanted to do, but never got around to doing, was writing some gen horror for this canon. Likely in the form of statements, but not necessarily. It's just, that's my favourite part of the thing, and it lends itself so well to that type of fanwork, and and and... Coming up with ideas is hard, but hopefully if I revisit it at some point I'll get some inspiration.

heartsfate posting in

fandom_icons

Icons
[2] Rogue (Marvel Rivals)
[2] Gambit (Marvel Rivals)
[2] Minx (IDW's Jem and the Holograms comics)
[2] Rapture (IDW's Jem and the Holograms comics)
[1] Minx & Rapture (IDW's Jem and the Holograms comics)
[3] Raya (IDW's Jem and the Holograms comics)
[2] Riot (IDW's Jem and the Holograms comics)
[1] Riot (Jem and the Holograms cartoon)
[2] Stingers (Jem and the Holograms cartoon)
[2] Minx (Jem and the Holograms cartoon)

Graphics
[1] Gambit/Rogue Header (Marvel Rivals)
[1] Invisigal/Robert/Blonde Blazer Phone Wallpaper (Dispatch) *slight spoilers*
[2] Z-Team Wallpapers (Dispatch)

Preview

The rest are Over Here

pensnest

Beast and I had a lovely time away last weekend visiting

nopseud (and her sterling chap, of course) along with

chalcopyrite. We went to Compton Verney for a 'yarn fair' which was essentially a marketplace for some very lovely crafting. There was also actual yarn, and I refrained from purchasing any! Which I think was exceeding strong-minded of me.

We went into Coventry on Sunday, and looked at the original cathedral (fortunately it did not rain), then had Afternoon Tea in a very nice crypt.

* * *

Oh, dear. I just watched the trailer (most of it, anyway) for the new Wuthering Heights movie. Twice I was moved to exclaim What the fuck is she wearing? out loud.

Now, to be fair, I do not remember the book very well. I read it many years ago and hated it. It is my firm belief that passion should be bridled. Wuthering Heights does not bridle anything, except possibly the occasional horse. I can't remember it having any unloathsome characters, although I dare say I am being unfair. But it is not a great love story. It is a thoroughly horrible story about thoroughly horrible people who are thoroughly horrible to one another and everybody in their vicinity. Which culd make a good—and disturbing—film. It is not a Harlequin Romance of dubious period. This film, however....

One not to watch.
Goodbye June", otoh, looks like a delightful tearjerker and I shall seek it out.

Meanwhile, we are watching the new season of The Diplomat. I really enjoy this show. You never know quite what is going to happen next. It is wondrously entangled and complicated and everybody has a different and valid point of view and any situation can twist round into its opposite when a new point of view comes into it. Also, CJ and Josh! Good stuff.

*

Oh for god's sake. I wrote the following out the day before yesterday, and now I see a news item about some vacuous person suggesting that if it was a 15-year-old not a 5-year-old, it's not paedophilia and therefore isn't really bad at all.

I can't help but feel that all this emphasis on the 'pedophiles' from the Epstein list is a mistake. As best we know, the persons of prominence who are so accused are guilty of having sex* with the unwilling, the trafficked, the drugged, etc, but not with actual children. 'Ephebophile' is the term for those who have sex with teenagers. And a seventeen-year-old, while entirely plausible as a rape victim, is not a little girl.

Thirteen, now. That's different. But let's keep things clear.

At some point these definitions are going to come up in court. The repellent Andrew will probably point out that the age of consent in the UK is 16, making him innocent as snow when it comes to having sex* with a seventeen-year-old. And the whole thing—all the disgraceful behaviour from rape to people trafficking to whatever—is going to be dismissed as "she probably wanted it" because so many people will (a) blame a female, always, and (b) want to believe Trump is innocent. The actually innocent are going to be represented as conniving people who must have got something out of the experience, and selfish, exploitative people are going to be represented as their victims.

The less hyperbole is used, the more it remains possible to point out the actual crimes.

*rape, but that's not what they will say

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sarnath

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Reading

Cats

The Good and the Could Be Better

Reading Wednesday

gotta write the verse til you get to the chorus

it's Christmas Time!

how do you solve a problem

What Else is AI Doing?

20+ Vampire Women for vampiremedia 20in20 challenge

[Alberta] Trans Day of Remembrance + Alberta's Bill 9

Upsides of working on my website

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Really bad news

Art! Finally!

My Tree!!

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poor puzzled moon, he wore a frown

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January 2018

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