Jun. 14th, 2025 08:36 am

city: bedeviled

isunshower: Bath and Body Works' "Love And Sunshine" logo design. (Default)
[personal profile] isunshower
several of the older men i know (my boss' boss, my dad, my grandfather) were supremely impressed with me for reading erik larsen's the devil in the white city, which simultaneously tells the story of the chief architect behind the chicago world's fair and hh holmes, the serial killer operating in chicago at that time. this is a Book For Dads tm. i was not all that into it. the tone is a little weird because larsen is, at points, reconstructing dialogue and conjecturing about events in a tone that... kind of implies that the book is a fictional thriller? like there was a massive cognitive dissonance for me between knowing that these were real events and also knowing that larsen was just making some of this shit up. it was weird and i didn't like it. not that i had anything against the style really -- like, i love love LOVE procedural television so i can appreciate a thriller even if it's not what i usually read. but something about this one just didn't jive with me. (even if i did feel Smart and Intellectual reading it on the subway.) 

speaking of things bedeviling the city can we talk about how i woke up this morning and found out the aqi had been in the 200s overnight because of a fire the next state over?? after i stayed out late in the park with friends and walked... brb checking google maps... 2.5 miles (holy shit? was it really that far?) home for funsies and then slept with my FUCKING WINDOW OPEN because i still haven't put in my window unit because itll go from 89f one day to 70 the next. i really need to suck it up and buy an air purifier for my bedroom or something because god damn. i hate living through historical events
Jun. 13th, 2025 01:35 pm

Reading update:

mx_morden: (true blue)
[personal profile] mx_morden
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara:
★★1/2
I wanted to like this more than I did. I think I should have heeded the "One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer" part of the title more, because I went into this expecting this book to be centered around the piece of shit himself, but, apart from the detailed descriptions of his attacks, this book is very much about Michelle McNamara herself and her own obsessive investigation... which didn't really lead anywhere, as far as I understand? (Apart from keeping a spotlight on the killer, which is obviously a great thing!)

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
★★★
I'm not gonna lie, I started out absolutely loving this book, but by the time I was halfway through, and it became clear that there was no real plot, I begun running out of steam. I don't mind books that are all vibes and no plot, but I get the feeling that, being a highly biographical book, Fitzgerald may have felt the narrative was more cohesive than it actually was. It just lost me. Which is a pity, because the writing is obviously fucking excellent.

Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates:
★★★★
Loved it. It was fucked up, it was masterfully written, it was cathartic. It was literally everything I've always looked for in "Dark Academia" books (and I NEVER FIND! >:(() and I just wish it had been... like three times longer.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy:
★★★★1/2
I enjoyed every single page of this book. There is such an intense and omnipresent sense of awe and respect towards nature between these pages. The "love story" did nothing for me (but love stories rarely do, it's a me problem lol) and the ending felt like it kinda came out of nowhere, BUT those are the only flaws I can think of. Loved loved loved everything else.

The Boyhood of Cain by Michael Amherst:
★★★★
Before picking a book to read, I sometimes go on goodreads and exclusively check all of the 1 or 2 star reviews, because they usually tell me more than the raving 5 star ones. Most of the time, if the complaints are dumb ("bad things happen in this book so this book is bad" or "the characters were unlikable >:(" being the prime suspects) it means that... well, they have nothing serious to complain about lol
The main complaint to this book was that the protagonist was annoying. I don't really wanna know what it says about me that, as I was reading, I thought: "Damn, this boy sometimes seriously reminds me of me as a kid!" lmao what can I say, I was also an anxious, overthinking, badly socialized little queer kid very possibly on the spectrum who, most of the time, had no fucking clue why society expected me to do whatever the fuck it expected me to do!
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Jun. 11th, 2025 06:36 pm

🌙

adore: An Edwardian gothic girl levitating in the woods (vetsdaughter)
[personal profile] adore
Moontime began today. I've got tea, pain relief cream, and some cloth pads as extra backup while I use period underwear.

My well-meaning friend, Sre, messaged me saying that she was sorry if this would bring up any negative feelings for me, but she knew mid-20th-century writers are my jam, and would help me shop for them when she was in my city. She attached a picture, and I didn't process it correctly at first, because it was a shelf full of Persephone Books. I assumed it was a picture from Persephone Books themselves, since they have a store full of shelves of just their books. I thought she was offering to buy one for me and bring it with her when she came here. I told her that she was sweet, and right about them being my jam, and also that after years of being unable to pick up a book without pain related to the bookstore that broke my heart, referred to on this journal as Spinebreaker, it was books like these–Virago green books that were out of print, and Persephone Books which are unavailable in my country, that helped me read again, specifically because I knew Spinebreaker would never be able to stock them. The owner had said that she was trying to bring Persephone Books to her store and wasn't able to get distribution here, and that was a few years ago.

Sre said she didn't know getting them here had been a challenge–and that's when I realise that the picture she had sent me was of Persephone Books stocked in Spinebreaker, and that's when I realise that she didn't know that I didn't clock it.

I've posted here before about moments when I was at risk of relapsing and didn't, and how far I've come and all that. Well... this particular moment is a struggle for me. I've been struggling with sorrow, suffocating waves of them, because... this is a bit like that moment when I visited Spinebreaker for the first time, saw Barbara Comyns on the shelves, and thought it must be A Sign because I had never seen her books here before. A whole shelf of just Persephone Books, in MY COUNTRY not to mention my city? It seems like a miracle. It was something I didn't think was realistic. Just like that whole damned bookstore, just like seeing Barbara Comyns stocked there, just like the chance to work there... it was just never realistic.

At the moment, I happen to be reading Amelia's Intrigue by Judith A. Lansdowne. It's sweet, gentle, cosy, funny and endearing. A perfect comfort reading. It's also out of print so Spinebreaker can never stock it, so there. I'm enjoying it.

When I was bringing myself back into reading I picked up books that would never be stocked at Spinebreaker, or so I thought. Books the owner couldn't get, books that were out of print, and books that were independently published or books she doesn't want to put on her shelves. I got to read some amazing indie books by friends on DW. I also bounced off quite a few books that are made for the indie market but not made for me, just not the sorts of books I enjoy.

The thing is, I imprinted so hard on Spinebreaker because of the books in it. I identified with it so hard because of how it's curated. This means that a book that is stocked there is highly likely to be a book I'll enjoy and a book that's not stocked there is not likely to be a book I'll enjoy. That sucks. But it is what it is.

I have to be okay reading books that are also stocked in Spinebreaker. I have to enjoy them without pausing for pain. I have to get to that point, and I guess I'm frustrated that I'm not there, that I've not healed completely so that there's no chance of feeling all that hurt all over again. It's also the kind of thing that very few of my friends IRL understand, because it just seems trivial to them, like they don't understand why it's been affecting me so much. So I'm glad I can journal about it here.

I'm touched that Sre thought of me when she saw the sorts of books I love, so I don't resent her bringing this up. I would have found out eventually. Because most people I know, including my closest friends, go there regularly and they have talked about the books they've gotten there without me feeling like this because those were books that were accessible otherwise as well, and available elsewhere. But I bet I would have heard about these at some point.

Sre said she could take me to Spinebreaker when she's in my city, if it would help me if she's there. I thanked her and told her I'd rather not go as I don't feel welcome there. I mean, the owner blocked me, lol. She said that instead she could go buy me a Persephone Book from there, but I really don't want to give Spinebreaker any money. Since all of the authors of Persephone Books are dead, I'll pirate them if I can't access them any other way. I love the publisher though and will buy their ebooks when possible; they don't publish most of their books as ebooks, which I think is a pity, but they do have a few in ebook format. I bought Diana Tutton's Guard Your Daughters that way, and of course they've made Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson available as an ebook, since it's their star title.
mific: (Murderbot reddish)
[personal profile] mific
I've been reading reviews of the five Murderbot eps to date, by William Hughes. They gel with what I'd been thinking and give some interesting meta. Worth checking out, if you're into the show.
https://www.avclub.com/murderbot-premiere-recap-episodes-1-and-2
https://www.avclub.com/murderbot-recap-season-1-episode-3-risk-assessment
https://www.avclub.com/murderbot-recap-season-1-episode-4-escape-velocity-protocol
https://www.avclub.com/murderbot-recap-season-1-episode-5-rogue-war-tracker-infinite

We've had a cold snap here - temps down to 7C (45F) - which I know is nothing to you tough Northeners but it reminded me how much I prefer summer. I broke out my oodie (a massive hooded sweatshirt of velour fleece lined with fake sheepskin fleece - mine has slices of pepperoni pizza on it) which was amazingly warm and comforting for a while, then when I'd warmed up, rapidly became claustrophpbic. I'm keeping it in reserve for more wintry dips in temperature.

deep red plush hooded garment covered with a pozza slice pattern in orange-red.


Discussion of an NSFW artwork and TMI
I'm working on a NSFW artwork of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay as "always a girl" lesbians, and managed to turn myself on! Unusual - it can happen when I write sex scenes, but never before with a high-rated pic I've been drawing. I really want the pic to work so will need to run it by at least one art beta when it's a bit more finished - John/Joan's hips are proving elusive. Meredith's looking nicely lush though.

Lots of podfic-related activity lately - the longer one I'm recording is going well, plus the regular Voiceteam festival had an archiving challenge so we've been hit with >600 podfics to archive, some in weird, tiny, Yuletidey fandoms that are a puzzle to categorise.
I had a brief brain melt and panicked that the due South Big Bang deadline was June 16th (it's August 16th), and having come to my senses, relievedly abandoned the punishing podficcing schedule I'd invented. But I do need to get onto my into-a-bar fic asap. Writing - so much harder for me these days, goddamnit.

The Mexican sunflower is still flowering up a storm, even in the cold and rain. It's a keeper! Not a lot of choice about that as with big ones like mine the roots can be several metres deep, and they come away again cheerfully when cut back.

I had a moment in a comment over on [personal profile] minoanmiss's journal, when I realized the phrase "trumped up" charges now has a horrible new meaning. So I've written an imaginary future entry in Etymology.com:

trump (v.2)
"fabricate, devise," 1690s, from earlier trump "deceive, cheat, impose upon" (late 14c.), from Old French tromper "to deceive," a word of uncertain origin.
Trumped up "fabricated out of nothing or deceitfully; forged; false; worthless" is recorded by 1728. Since 2025 the origin has become conflated, especially in the US, with the second Trump presidency (January 2025 to his September 2025 impeachment) in which Trump and his lackeys were notorious for illegal executive orders, false charges, and widespread abuse of power.


Hope you're all keeping warm, or cool, depending!

Jun. 9th, 2025 03:31 pm

NMIXX (8 June, Hordern Pavilion)

popliar: shaun tan (Default)
[personal profile] popliar
After performing in Sydney a couple of years ago, on a festival line up with The Boyz and Infinite, it was great to see NMIXX back again for a full concert - this time including a show in Melbourne, Lily's hometown. For this show at the Hordern, it was full though not totally sold out on this cold winter's night. On entry we were handed some freebies: an official poster and pc (I got Jiwoo), and a fan freebie with a bracelet.

The theme of the show was a science lab, which resulted in some utterly dorky and silly VCRs with the girls mixing up potions with themes such as "love" "rockstar" and "alpha" and drinking them because of an impending bomb or something. It made nil sense!

The show was a lot of fun, they are enjoyable performers and they have some great songs. Lily was so cute, Haewon charmed me (my concert bias!), they all had their moments on stage. The momentum of the show ebbed and flowed somewhat, partly due to an extended games ment, so the pacing could have been tightened up; and I do wish there were more recent songs.

Some moments:
  • Lily said she cracked up during one song because Haewon made a silly face at her; and Haewon said she thought she was being cool.
  • Lily taught Haewon to say "prawns on the barbie"
  • The relay drawing game went on way too long. They did six drawings! SIX! That said it did have some cute moments:
    - Lily guessing kangaroo: "So easy! Well there is the other one but you wouldn't know that" (she meant wallaby). Bae was quite good at drawing.
    - They collectively drew the worst Sydney opera house good lord but it was cute that they tried to get everyone to sing opera
    - The word to guess was 'lawyer'. A mess. An audience member drew a picture for Sullyoon. Chaos
  • For their cover, they did NCT's Kick It.
  • At one point Haewon and Lily sang a bit from 4 Non-Blondes.
  • Lily: we're 50 and you're 50 and you gave 100 so together we're 150 yay maths!
  • When it was encore time, they walked around in the crowd which was a bad idea in this venue - there's no barriers between any sections, so people were leaving their seats on the floor and in the stands to rush over to them, it was total chaos. Do not recommend.
  • In the encore they did cover of 5 Seconds to Summer's She Looks So Perfect which Lily said was an iconic Australian song for her generation lol.
  • Lily got her Swiftie fanchant moment by getting the crowd to shout "Sydney!" ala Blank Space.
  • Men were yelling at Sullyoon during her ment; she was like okay thanks…
  • For Break the Wall they said wave your lightsticks, any lightstick is fine! They spotted a candybong in the crowd.
  • For the finale they did neverending Home.
  • A few Aussie phrases they left the stage with: you ripper, crikey, and of course Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi.


setlist )
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Jun. 8th, 2025 03:51 pm

Human Words Project

brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

I learned today about Chris Osmond's "Human Words Project," a way for writers to indicate that their work is 100% human words, i.e. not generated by AI. Here's the logo for it, which you can add to your projects, if you want:

Human Words Project logo

ETA: Note that this is not the original logo. The website was moved after the original logo was created. I took the liberty of editing the logo to reflect the current URL, and at the same time changed the size of the logo, deleted a lot of white space around it, and changed the file type to JPG (thus making the file MUCH smaller).

Jun. 8th, 2025 02:16 pm

Vid: With Knives (multifandom)

caramarie: Deu from Raging Phoenix (deu)
[personal profile] caramarie
Title: With Knives
Fandom: Multifandom (made from my own vids)
Music: I Come With Knives, by IAMX
Length: 2:11 min
Event: Created for the GPOY vidshow, VidUKon 2025
Download: With Knives (mp4, 34.8 MB)
Elsewhere: on AO3
Content notes: blood, graphic violence, torture, weird gory sex
Summary: Once somebody gifted me blood kink unprompted, and I was like, but how did they know? (It’s obvious how they knew.)

Streaming )

Notes )

Source list )
Jun. 8th, 2025 06:26 am

//cracks knuckles

adore: (word witchery)
[personal profile] adore
I'm participating in The Wheel of Chaos in which we collectively pounce on our keyboards and become chaos gremlins for an unforeseen amount of time. Signups are here: link!
Jun. 6th, 2025 07:51 pm

Murderbot's morning routine

mific: (Murderbot reddish)
[personal profile] mific
Alexander Skarsgård getting pushed and pulled into his costume each day! On tumblr
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mific: (ear trumpet)
[personal profile] mific
Signups on AO3 - still open until 15th June.

Dear Podficcer
First, thanks so much for making me a gift! I'll love whatever you want to make, but here are a few general guidelines about things I prefer and those I'd rather not receive. Things I like: Competence, snark, partners/buddies/teamwork, plot, drama, and adventures, humor, traditional fandom tropes given a new breath of life or subverted/inverted. I love AUs, crossovers, and worldbuilding, be it an alien world, or fantasy, or the past or far future.

Read more... )
Jun. 5th, 2025 09:43 pm

Album review: Bad Desire by ENHYPEN

haitangkitty: (heeseung bad desire)
[personal profile] haitangkitty


"A heaven without you must be like hell"

The concept photos and concept cinema for this comeback were really amazing: bdsm, horror, scifi. Based on them lot of fans speculated this album was going to be like Dark Blood given the dark vampire vibes. But compared to that album, Bad Desire is more emotional, desperately romantic, and the sound is more fresh than dark. I would say this is top3 album from them. Dark Blood is number one and second is Romance: Untold daydream version. Based on the concept photos i had excepted maybe a little bit more from this album. But it's still very good overall. One thing that annoys me is that the title track Bad Desire is too short! It's a beautiful song and i feel like it should have been longer since it's an emotional song (if it makes sense?). Some people said it was underwhelming, but i see it as a similar emotional title track as Le sserafim's "Hot". But it definitely goes to my top Enhypen songs! 

This album really makes me want to get into their vampire lore that their manhwa is about. (and also read more vampire sunsun fics...)

My favorite part is of course my bias Heeseung's heavenly vocals. Apparently he's been making a mixtape for a year now and recently posted a photo with a producer. I'm super excited for his solo because he is so talented.


Song ranking:
Bad Desire (With or Without You)
Helium (this is such a good song and Jay was one of the producers! Apparently he came up with the idea and had a major part in making this song)
Flashover
Loose
Too Close
Outside

Also with both Bad Desire and Loose i prefer the English version.



Jun. 6th, 2025 01:47 am

Podficcing, and stuff

mific: (ear trumpet)
[personal profile] mific
I'm doing a longer podfic, about 22,000 words, and have happened on a new technique, partly because my new system of using my iPhone necessitates recording and editing at about the same time because recording sessions separated in time can sound quite different. Also, my voice can't cope with marathon recording sessions - about 2000 words at one time is best. So my new system is to record that much, which takes less than an hour. Then that same day I edit that segment, re-recording any flubbed words if needed. It's manageable and gives me a nice sense of achievement to have a definite chunk completed each day. The best way is to divide the chunks at a section break in the fic, which is luckily possible with this story. It covers slight changes in how my voice sounds on consecutive days.

Overall, it's a far better process than my old way when I used to record in long sessions, tiring my voice, and then I'd be faced with days or weeks of editing, which can get tedious.

A minor annoyance in the last few days has been red, itchy eyes, weeping like crazy. I wouldn't have thought there were pollens about now, in early winter, unless it's my Mexican sunflower which continues in full flower, full of buzzing bees. Not an infection, not painful - pretty sure it's some sort of allergy. Luckily it's a lot better now, thanks to camomile teabags. You make tea (pure camomile teabag, no sugar - mine are Nerada organic brand) then remove the bag to a saucer and let it cool. It's soothing as evaporation makes it cooler than room temp, and camomile also treats the eye inflammation. I put one side of the bag on each eye, in sequence, leaving it on a few minutes when the irritation is bad. It's almost cleared up now.

Made my orange almond mini-muffins, and have eaten too many. I'm telling myself all the fibre's good for me!

Jun. 4th, 2025 09:36 pm

May 2025 Wrap-Up

tullycat: (Default)
[personal profile] tullycat
Me sowing [reading 13 books]: yeahhhhhh!!!
Me reaping [reviewing 13 books]:
Read more... )
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Jun. 4th, 2025 05:42 pm

microdosing

isunshower: Bath and Body Works' "Love And Sunshine" logo design. (Default)
[personal profile] isunshower
so, in late march/early april i started seeing this guy. 

i've alluded to him before, i think, sometimes vaguely and once giving a whole rundown of the situation as it was in, like, january. it's been going really well! the more i talk to him, the more i like him and the more i think we work well together, and i know he's been enjoying spending time with me. but without going too much into it, we're stopping, at least for now, with the option of picking it back up in a few months if that's what we feel is the right thing. 

one of the things that came out of that conversation was that i basically asked him to give me homework. "what are tv shows or movies that you like," i said. "it'll be like microdosing getting to know you," i said. i am now going to be embarking on the grand adventure of Watching Anime. (i have watched anime before but it was yuri on ice and fma brotherhood. i am not an Anime Watcher, habitually.) expect some posts about one piece. 

all of this to say, the book i just finished - the starless sea by erin morgenstern of night circus fame - is one that i wonder if he'd enjoy. as far as i know, he leans very sci-fi fantasy, which this book is not NOT, it is solidly fantasy--okay, let me just explain the book and why i liked it. it's this nested mobius loop of a fairy tale about time falling in love with fate and the generations-long journey they have to take to reunite and a mysterious extradimensional library. i love stories about stories and metafiction and this certainly is that! it for sure has the same dreamlike quality that i loved about night circus too, and it's very gay and the character design is cool and the worldbuilding is like... not a lot actually gets Explained. there's a lot of Just Rolling With It. but i'm down for that. the reason why i think my guy would like it is because he's a gamer and there's this thread that gets dropped near the beginning of the book and picked up near the end about the storytelling potential of video games, and structured choices, and so on. and also just i liked it. 

i didn't particularly give him any recommendations to microdose ME, mostly because he didn't ask and the point of the break is really more for him than it is for me - like, it is for me but also it's not and i think i have licence to go on dates with other people and get really into his favourite television shows but that is not really what i suspect he is going to be doing with his time. again i don't want to air the personal business of a guy who is not my boyfriend and who doesn't know i'm blogging about him and also nobody reads this but if you are reading this: just trust me, i'm not actually going to give him a reading list. i am gonna write one here, though. 

because internet, by gretchen mcculloch
the starless sea by erin morgenstern, see above, lol
friends at the table's COUNTER/weight and Twilight Mirage seasons
Leverage
Infinity Train (which i rewatched recently at work because i found a working link and fuck, i forgot how good that show is)

i was gonna put some songs here but i feel like everything i listen to that's his taste he's already heard and a lot of the ones i'd want to put are songs that have lyrics that i have made About Him slightly and frankly he doesn't need to know what's on the spotify playlist because there Is One. 

Jun. 4th, 2025 01:23 pm

News is where you find it

brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

My Google Alert on K-pop today included an article from The Korea Herald entitled "G-Dragon, Le Sserafim, Babymonster push on with overseas concerts amid COVID-19 surge in Asia". Since American news sources have gone radio silent on COVID, I ended up reading this article for infectious disease news rather than musical news. Here's the relevant part:

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Monday, countries including China, Thailand and Singapore have recently reported a notable increase in COVID-19 cases. While the situation in Korea remains relatively stable, the agency warned that a summer resurgence is possible due to international travel and regional outbreaks.

The NB.1.8.1 variant — now dominant in the affected countries — is known for its strong transmissibility and immune-evasive properties, although its severity and fatality rate remain relatively low. The KDCA is advising high-risk travelers to these countries to get vaccinated before departure.

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