china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2026-01-11 04:55 pm
Entry tags:

Me-and-media update

Previous poll review
In the Comfort food poll, 55.6% of respondents said their preferred comfort food is chocolate, and 46.7% said savoury carbs. In ticky-boxes, 'juicy intricate poetry words' and 'pushing on through' came second equal (40% each) to hugs (80%). Thank you for your votes! <3

Reading
I listened to half an m/m romance audiobook that I selected for one of its readers (Will Watt), but the overuse of "fucking" as an intensifier (and in particular, the repeated phrase, "he was so fucking hot") kept making me roll my eyes. It might be a faithful reproduction of the inner monologue of a first-year uni student, but I don't read romances for verisimilitude. So I switched to The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune, seen mentioned on my flist. I'm halfway through and enjoying it immensely.

A little more Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in hardcopy. Nothing in ebook.

Kdramas
Andrew and I have nearly finished The Guest. I want to ship the OT3, but I don't really care about the priest. (Sorry, priest guy! Alas, you are not my type.) Still, it is a great (gory/horror-y) show, and I've conveniently forgotten some of the developments. We just have one episode to go.

A bit more of While You Were Sleeping, a few episodes of Cashero (I'm not sure I'm in the mood for established relationship, but otoh, Junho! ♥), and a marathon-running BL called Mr. Heart, which was sweet but extremely slight.

Where is the next Love Scout/Family by Choice/whatever??

Other TV
Finished Stranger Things, which got so complex that I lazily stopped following the logic and just watched it as a collection of scenes. But I enjoyed those well enough. So glad they got their victory lap.

Three episodes of Heated Rivalry.
Minor spoilers; tl;dr not my thing. Wow, I'd heard it was fanficcy, but I wasn't prepared for the total absence of anything resembling an external plot. Like, not even a figleaf. Not even a hockey arc. How??

Anyway, my prediction that it's probably not for me has proven correct. Like, I can tell that the show is made of crack (in the addictive sense), but I'm not into super-buff dudes, and I didn't like the 'fucking but feeling kind of miserable about it' vibe I was getting from Hollander. He deserves better.

But I kept going for episode 3, and I'm really glad I did. There was the coffee smoothie shop not-AU and ♥Kip♥ and his friends and family. And Scott, who fell for Kip in 2.3 seconds like a parched man stumbling into an oasis and, okay, is messed up, but at least self-aware and ~able to communicate~ and ~say nice things~! They were such a breath of fresh air! All the "smoothies" for both of them!

So that (predictably) is me. And I'm actually kind of relieved, because while the show is compelling and well-acted, it's not what I want in a fandom, and anyway, I'm hardly even managing to keep up with my quiet corner of Guardian fandom atm.
I may watch the last three episodes at some point, idk. Wishing those of you who're into it all the very best with your new addiction!!

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Cross Party Lines, Letters from an American, more of Our Opinions Are Correct (Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz's podcast) including the Murderbot episode, Tech Won't Save Us, the starts of a few other things.

Writing/making things
I've been practising drawing, and picking up art supplies in bits and pieces. The moldable eraser is magic.
Have a couple of sketches.



(Imperfect, but I think it's identifiable, which is not nothing. I darkened the linework a little in Paint.NET.)

For my future reference, this all started because I wanted to draw Bingo from Bluey!, which led me down a Youtube Art Videos For Kids rabbit hole. Then I bought new colour pencils and was noodling around with them, and people said nice things about some of my doodles... :-)
Art Youtube For Adults is also really lovely, btw -- full of super-talented people being encouraging and helpful.

I've written a treat for [community profile] fandomtrees, but I need to make some edits, and I have no attention span. Chances of my finishing it are about 90%, and chances of any further treats are more like 30% at this stage. Maybe one day I'll be able to make art gifts...

Life/health/mental state things
My arms are gradually improving, but I'm anxious about them. Andrew's having an operation this Thursday; I'll need to be able to bike and drive and cook and so on, and I'm still sore half the time. So I've started swimming again. (I stopped partly because I was avoiding public spaces where I couldn't mask, and partly because my long post-lockdown hair stays damp all day. But the outdoor pool is open for the summer, so I'm going for it.)

I just bought a small $2 desk at a junk shop so that I have a workspace to retreat to downstairs while Andrew's recuperating on the couch in the living room. I'll see how that goes.

I have a hand-me-down mini air fryer from my parents which I still haven't taken out for a spin. Quick/easy meal suggestions very welcome, especially if they're things I can throw together late at night, post hospital visits. (NB: I don't do onions or brassicas.)

Good things
Andrew, swimming, drawing, Kdramas, Guardian, Zhao Yunlaaaan, modern medicine. Cat:



Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9


Do you meditate?

View Answers

yes, regularly
1 (11.1%)

yes, from time to time
1 (11.1%)

I used to
2 (22.2%)

I used to occasionally
1 (11.1%)

what you mean by 'meditate'?
1 (11.1%)

no
4 (44.4%)

other
1 (11.1%)

ticky-box of being squeamish about fingernail clippings
1 (11.1%)

ticky-box full of hockey show squee
1 (11.1%)

ticky-box full of feeling kind of zonky
7 (77.8%)

ticky-box full of skipping across treetops and dancing through the clouds
4 (44.4%)

ticky-box full of hugs
5 (55.6%)

hannah: (Library stacks - fooish_icons)
hannah ([personal profile] hannah) wrote2026-01-10 09:56 pm

Acquisitions.

One of my favorite things about the local library's used book sales is that every so often, a "for your consideration" awards screener pops up in the DVD section. It speaks to the neighborhood having someone who gets them to begin with, and it's fun to grab a copy of something like The Queen's Gambit because it's there. So I did, and now I don't have to mess around with any piggybacking on my mom's account or other sites to watch it.

It's too bad FYC discs are something of a thing of the past - it's the only physical release some of these movies and TV shows ever get. I know the idea of owning the media's foreign to the companies because a physical sale is a single purchase and means you can't keep stringing someone along with a long-term lease. It doesn't mean I can't dislike how a company deciding to remove something makes piracy, or morally dubious used DVD sales, the only way to watch it.
yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
yhlee ([personal profile] yhlee) wrote2026-01-10 08:55 pm
Entry tags:

gratuitous digital art

(selling prints via the local game store)

stylized digital illustration: a fantasy lady, peacock-themed

Digital painting in Procreate, at 11"x17" print.
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
rachelmanija ([personal profile] rachelmanija) wrote2026-01-10 03:19 pm

How to Stay Invisible, by Maggie C. Rudd



A middle-grade novel about a boy who lives in the woods, tagged as "A worthy successor to Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain."

12-year-old Raymond Hurley lives with his beloved dog Rosie and his neglectful, drug addict, emotionally abusive parents, who move constantly, have only cooked a homemade meal for him once in his entire life, and scream at him and stomp out when he cooks Thanksgiving for them. The one time he told anyone about this, he was temporarily placed in a children's home that was even worse than living with his parents, so he has decided to never tell anyone anything ever.

When they take off, ditching him and Rosie, he lives in the woods behind his middle-school. He continues attending school, as they feed him twice a day. Otherwise, he dumpster-dives after hours at the school, and fishes in the river. While this is all going on, he accidentally makes two friends at school despite his resolve to stay under the radar, accidentally befriends an old man who also fishes in the river, and accidentally tames a coyote (!), who he names Hank. But obviously, this is all unsustainable long-term...

This book isn't that much like the classic "kid survives in woods" books. It's not really about wilderness survival, it's about homelessness and the psychological effects of negligence. It doesn't have the vibe at all of something like Hatchet, where there's something satisfying and profound about living off the land and being in nature, even though it's hard and dangerous and uncomfortable. Raymond's life in the woods is just sad. It's closer to something like Homecoming, in which four kids abandoned by their mother make their way across the country in search of a home, but it's sadder and more aimless than that because Raymond is alone in his predicament and doesn't have a goal other than "stay out of the children's home."

The elements that are survival-y, like taming the coyote, clash with the overall feel of suburban social issue fiction. Especially because they're wildly unrealistic - you can't tame a coyote to the point of petting it and playing with it and having it play with your dog! A coyote will EAT your dog! (There's a key scene involving a venomous snake that also pinged my "it doesn't work that way" sense.)

I didn't really like this book, though it's not a bad book at all. I would have liked it better if it had fully committed to being a realistic book about a homeless child. I also would have liked it better if Raymond's big goal wasn't just "stay out of the children's home," but "stay out of the children's home because I hate it and they'll take away Rosie and who knows what will happen to her." He never once worries about that, which seems like a really odd thing to not be concerned about under the circumstances. If he'd been committed to protecting Rosie, it would have given him and the book more drive. I get that the writer wanted to have Raymond be more just drifting through life, but since he's putting a lot of effort into not getting caught, I think it would have made the book more compelling if the effort was connected to a living being he cared about.

The ending is an absolutely typical ending for this sort of book:

Read more... )

Content notes: child abuse, homelessness, animal death.
nnozomi: (Default)
nnozomi ([personal profile] nnozomi) wrote in [community profile] guardian_learning2026-01-11 07:34 am

第五年第一天

第五年快乐! 时间如箭。I plan to keep on as we are for the moment, but in keeping with the anniversary, if you have any questions or ideas or requests or suggestions, please don't hesitate (today or any day) to comment and/or post. 爱你们!

部首
心 part 13
息, breath; 恰, exactly; 恶, evil pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=61

语法
2.16 (part 1) Tag questions with 好吗/行吗/可以吗
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-2-grammar

词汇
抄, to copy; 抄写, to transcribe (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
你到最后也没有害我,恰恰相反, but you've never harmed me, just the opposite
茜茜,带我回家,好吗, Qianqian, take me home, okay?
抄近路, follow the shortcut

Me:
你来得恰好。
安静点,行吗?
他的工作就是抄写佛教经典。
trobadora: (mightier)
trobadora ([personal profile] trobadora) wrote2026-01-10 10:13 pm

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 10

In yesterday's poll, old WIPs from 2010-14 are the most common, with 2020-2023 next and 2015-2019 right behind! Mine fall into the 2010-14 era too - the oldest ones I still have a reasonable hope of finishing are from 2011. (Which is not to say I don't have older ones - many of them - but they're much less likely to happen unless I hit another intense fannish phase for those fandoms and it coincides with a good writing period ...)

On the other hand, most people worked on their WIPs very recently - 2024-25 got the most votes by far, with 2020-2023 right behind it. Whereas I haven't touched any of those 2011 WIPs since 2017 or so ... *g*

Today's writing

So far I've only written a few sentences - I'm only now sitting down to write, but I wanted to get this post up in a reasonably timely fashion.

(I've been rewatching the first half of Guardian eopisode 9 for our slo-mo rewatch, and taking lots of notes. Still writing up my comments for that post, too - so much fun! :D)

WED Question of the Day

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13


Do you think about structure when you write?

View Answers

yes, in terms of POV sections
6 (46.2%)

yes, in terms of rising/falling action
4 (30.8%)

yes, in terms of parallels and repetition
4 (30.8%)

yes, in other terms I'll explain in comments
2 (15.4%)

no, not at all
5 (38.5%)

it's complicated; I'll explain in comments
1 (7.7%)

Do you notice structure when reading?

View Answers

always
2 (15.4%)

sometimes
9 (69.2%)

rarely
2 (15.4%)

never
0 (0.0%)

Must this poll must have a tickybox question?

View Answers

yes, because structurally, all the polls did
8 (66.7%)

yes, because no poll is complete without tickyboxes
10 (83.3%)

no, because there's already a question with checkboxes above
1 (8.3%)

other - I'll explain in comments
0 (0.0%)



Tally

Days 1-5 )

Day 6: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 7: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 8: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 9: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora,

Day 10: [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2026-01-10 02:03 pm
Entry tags:

Discord is considering adding AI

Take the AI-related survey and tell them what you think, especially if you agree with me!
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2026-01-10 12:11 pm

The Batman: Part II Casting Spoiler

Ahem )

Look at me being Responsible and not using my relevant (SO relevant) icon! Because some people would like to be unspoiled! I am such a good fannish citizen.

Ahem pt. 2 )
sovay: (Viktor & Mordecai)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2026-01-10 05:40 am

Once you've gone, remains the question, baby

While we seem to have skipped actual plague, all of my households have acquired the going lurgi and my head feels like a balloon which has been filled with concrete and may at any second fall off. I have not been ill with a pharmacologically suppressed immune system before. I hadn't been sure it would be capable of running even a low-grade fever.

I have him so totally identified with the role of Neroon on Babylon 5 (1994–98), I keep forgetting that John Vickery in common with many actors who could handle the hours of makeup made several appearances on Star Trek, although the time I actually seem to have seen him in that universe involved no enhancements beyond near-catatonic terror as the sole survivor of a creepily derelict death-ship in TNG's "Night Terrors" (1991). Perhaps it was just lost to the sands of fanzines, but I was genuinely surprised that no one on AO3 ever filled in some kind of /comfort for a character who spends nearly his total screen time telepathically looping through cryptically traumatized echoes and crying. Just when you think you have a handle on other people's id.

It is not reasonable that for two years the earth has been bereft of a rust-black little cat with cut-lime eyes, my miracle, my salty boy, my sassafras, while it suffers the weight of human people who are not worth one of his twenty-six claws, snagged in my bathrobe as he clambered to my shoulder for his terrycloth time after a shower. I miss turning back the covers in this weather to find his sincere blink up from the bedclothes, the absolute trust in the soft curl of his back that no one would shift him from his burrowed comfort. I miss the notes in his purr, from the musical edge of wanting to the subterranean roar of contentment, the whole architecture of his body vibrating like throat singing with the little whiffle that went in and out of his voice, his signature trill. I miss the unretractable click of his claws that announced his progress and the calluses of his desert-rose pads with which he gripped fiercely for human touch. From childhood I was taught that cats turn into flowers and Autolycus lies with his grave goods at the roots of the forsythia I have twice watched bloom since his death; the candle lit for him after sunset burns and his sister did not spring immediately off the bed when I stumbled into it, nauseated and head-aching. I am not without cat in my life. But I am without this cat and he was of inestimable worth to the world.
petra: CGI Anakin Skywalker, head and shoulders, looking rather amused. (Anakin - Trash fire Jesus)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2026-01-10 12:49 am

If you wanna know if he loves you so - Star Wars Prequels story

If you wanna know if he loves you so (150 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: Drabble and a Half, Alternate Universe - Soulmates
Summary:

"May I?" says Master Qui-Gon's padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, reaching toward Anakin's shoulder and leaning down.


*

This is not the first thing I have written recently that was all [personal profile] teland's fault, but it sure is the first Star Wars she's responsible for.

There are discussion questions in the first comment.
hannah: (Dar Williams - skadi)
hannah ([personal profile] hannah) wrote2026-01-09 10:42 pm

Be the guide.

I know the trick to hailing a cab is less it being all in the wrist and more it being a white woman in a dress, but I like to think the wrist helps.

Challenge #5

In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your wishlist if you feel comfortable doing so.


1. Every time this comes around, I say I'd love to read a post-canon Buffy the Vampire Slayer fic set at least a couple decades after the show, long after the world's learned the truth about Slayers, vampires, demons, magic, and the endless battle between good and evil, where Buffy's famous enough that her arrival is heralded much as Miranda was in the "gird your loins" scene from The Devil Wears Prada, with Buffy having learned to command that level of respect and control. Few people write Buffy as an older woman, and even fewer try to reckon with a vastly changed world years or decades after the end of the show. It's possible this is already written and I just haven't seen it; if that's the case, I'm wishing someone would send it to me.

2. For ages, I've thought a vid of Peggy Olson from Mad Men to "All The Nasties" by Elton John would be an excellent character study. Beyond the on-the-nose of Don Draper to "sacred cows just fake it" and the turn of a show about advertising to a song about cultivating images and the struggle to be seen honestly, I can't ever get the image of the outro and the last "oh my soul" being Roger playing the piano while Peggy roller-skates across the empty SCDP offices, effortlessly leaving the frame as the song fades away.

3. If there's any Tom Cruise or Top Gun icons out there, please let me know. As was the custom, as I still enjoy doing, I'd love an appropriate fandom icon.

4. Related, fanart of the two live-action Interview with the Vampire Lestats where they're kissing while hovering and the actors' real-world height difference is both mitigated and made clear would curl my toes in the best way. If this is out there, please let me know; if not, please let me know about anyone's taking IWTV commissions and I'll see what funds I can budget.

5. As ever, as always, as usual, transformative works based on my fics. Fanart, banners, covers, podfics, moodboards - it's always a joy and it never gets old.

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.
nnozomi: (Default)
nnozomi ([personal profile] nnozomi) wrote in [community profile] guardian_learning2026-01-10 09:10 am

第四年第三百六十五天

部首
心 part 12
恢, to recover; 恨, to hate; 恩, kindness pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=61

词汇
唱片, (musical) record (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
沈教授,身体恢复得挺快, Professor Shen, you've recovered quickly
你恨的人是我, I'm the one you hate
[no 唱片]

Me:
你对我们这么好,真的感谢感恩。
我迫不及待他的新唱片。
trobadora: (mightier)
trobadora ([personal profile] trobadora) wrote2026-01-09 11:06 pm

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 9

[personal profile] candyheartsex assignments have arrived, and I got what I hoped I'd get!

In yesterday's poll, the majority of people work on one thing at a time when it's for a deadline, but on multiple things at once when it's not. Fascinating!

(Also, in tickyboxes, the majority said they'd tick whichever ones they like. More interestingly, 33,3% of respondents chose "tick them all", but only 11% actually did tick them all. *g*)

For me, I usually have multiple things going no matter what. When I'm in the very final phase of finishing a story, I need to focus on just that; otherwise, there may be a "main" thing I'm working on, but it's hardly ever the only thing. Creativity begets creativity, so the better the writing is going with one thing, the more ideas and snippets my brain produces for other things as well. *g*

Today's writing

Some more [community profile] fandomtrees, but also, I had a brainwave and wrote some snippets plus a bunch of notes for an original fic WIP I hadn't touched since 2018. I think my writing brain is starting to function properly again if it's randomly throwing out things like that!

WED Question of the Day

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21


My oldest WIP that I still hope to finish was started in ...

View Answers

before the year 2000
0 (0.0%)

2000-2004
2 (10.5%)

2005-2009
1 (5.3%)

2010-2014
6 (31.6%)

2015-2019
4 (21.1%)

2020-2023
5 (26.3%)

2024-2025
1 (5.3%)

2026
0 (0.0%)

I last worked on that WIP ...

View Answers

before the year 2000
0 (0.0%)

2000-2004
0 (0.0%)

2005-2009
1 (5.0%)

2010-2014
2 (10.0%)

2015-2019
2 (10.0%)

2020-2023
7 (35.0%)

2024-2025
8 (40.0%)

2026
0 (0.0%)

tickybox is ...

View Answers

old-school
11 (64.7%)

eternal
12 (70.6%)

something I'll tell you in comments
0 (0.0%)



Tally

Days 1-5 )

Day 6: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 7: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 8: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] ofmonstrouswords, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 9: [personal profile] trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
vriddy: Kagari and Fujimaru from the volume 2 cover, both looking at the viewer (kagari-jin)
Vriddy ([personal profile] vriddy) wrote2026-01-09 09:18 pm

New K-9 fic: It's magical

I avoid posting fic in the evening usually, but sometimes silliness oblige...


It's Magical | K-9 | Ren, Oboro, Fujimaru, Kagari | 100 words | rated T
Spoilers for chapter 38

Summary: Kagari makes a comment that leads to a realisation.

Read it on Dreamwidth or on AO3.
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
rachelmanija ([personal profile] rachelmanija) wrote2026-01-09 11:45 am

After Silence, by Jonathan Carroll



If you've never heard of Carroll, he wrote odd, quirky, dark, magical realist/surrealist novels and short stories. Probably his most famous book was Land of Laughs. I found his style compulsively readable, though he was absolutely unable to write a satisfying ending to his novels, ever; generally there would be a fantastic buildup followed by either an anticlimax or the book just suddenly stopping or a conclusion where I'd have no idea what actually happened. Still, I did very much like his style and often enjoyed the first half or two-thirds or 99% of his novels quite a bit. (His short stories were sometimes fully successful and did have actual endings.)

I came across After Silence at a used bookshop, and was surprised as I'd never heard of it. I now realize there's a reason I've never heard of it. As far as I know, it's his only non-fantasy work. At least I think it's not fantasy. It has a solid build-up, then completely falls apart in the final third leading to a truly bizarre ending. Definitely my least favorite book of his.

It begins in a somewhat Carroll-typical fashion, with the main character, a cartoonist named Max, having a meet-cute with a woman, Lily, and her young son Lincoln in a museum. It's Carroll-typical because Max's somewhat successful cartoon is deeply weird, Lily takes him to the restaurant where she works which is charmingly weird, and there's hints that something odd is up with her and Lincoln that deepen as the three of them have quirky adventures and form a family.

Huge spoilers )

To be fair to Carroll, this really isn't typical of his writing. Even his best novels feel a bit dated in addition to always imploding at the end, but I do still like Bones of the Moon, Land of Laughs, and the first half of Outside the Dog Museum. His short stories are worth reading and hold up better. I especially like "Friend's Best Man" and "The Sadness of Detail."
vriddy: K-9 Volume 1 Cover (k-9)
Vriddy ([personal profile] vriddy) wrote2026-01-09 07:08 pm
Entry tags:

K-9 Cosplay :D

I'm not brave or savvy enough anymore to wade in other socmed platforms, but thankfully I have friends who are... and found K-9 COSPLAY!!! :D :D They look SO COOL!!!!!

This is Oboro (CN: blood) by [twitter.com profile] suigei_cos. It feels kind of crazy to see the blood actually red haha since the manga is all black and white. When we get an anime, which we totally will for sure yes, I'm so curious to see what kind of shade they go with when animating his power.

Then more Oboro (CN: still blood!) also by [twitter.com profile] suigei_cos. With fire and smoke effects!!! Looking SO COOL!!! 😍

Oboro on a date with Ren or so Oboro says XD Also by [twitter.com profile] suigei_cos.

And my beloved Ren solo by [twitter.com profile] 323runaruna aaaah looking seriously incredible. SO COOL! COSPLAYERS ARE SO POWERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍😍

I shall go and lie down for a while now.
petra: A blonde woman with both hands over her face (Britta - Twohanded facepalm)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2026-01-09 01:32 pm
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2026-01-09 12:05 pm

Podfic: Whither Kelvin Trillion, Wither the Republic (Star Wars: TCW) + Rec: Psych + Galavant

Both of these things made me laugh aloud at various intervals.

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[Podfic] Whither Kelvin Trillion, Wither the Republic (62 words) by 1lostone, farkenshnoffingottom, InklingDancer
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Bail Organa/Breha Organa, Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Hondo Ohnaka, Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dexter Jettster/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Guy Fieri/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yan Dooku/Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jar Jar Binks/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Shaak Ti
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Satine Kryze, Bail Organa, Breha Organa, Padmé Amidala, Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda (Star Wars), Hondo Ohnaka, Cody, Dexter Jettster, Guy Fieri, Yan Dooku, General Grievous, Jar Jar Binks, Shaak Ti
Additional Tags: Limericks, Documentation, Buzzfeed, Podfic, Audio Format: Streaming, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Series: Part 4 of Star Wars Podfics
Summary:

Who is the holonet's mystery limerick writer, and does he really get it on as much in real life as he does in his filthy poetry?

A podfic of "Whither Kelvin Trillion, Whither the Republic"



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Written for me for Yuletide New Year's Resolutions: Madalena (Galavant) meets Shawn & Gus (Psych). Set in s2 of Galavant and who-even-knows of Psych.

Faire Play (1997 words) by HematiteBadger
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Galavant (TV), Psych (TV 2006)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Madalena (Galavant), Burton "Gus" Guster, Shawn Spencer
Additional Tags: Crossover, unabashedly silly
Summary:

Madalena has a chance encounter with a pair of very strange folk on her journey to seek the DDEL.


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I have a new Psych/Galavant ship. It is not Lassiter/Richard.