sovay: (Otachi: Pacific Rim)
[personal profile] sovay
Before the news was overtaken by this latest and gratuitous moving fast and breaking of the world, I discovered that on Boxing Day there had been a three-alarm fire on the working waterfront of Portland's Custom House Wharf. I used to spend a lot of time there with my grandmother. She would buy her fish nowhere but from the Harbor Fish Market, which in the '80's and '90's had the great dried skin of a sturgeon on its wall along with its charts of catches and soundings and a wet-planked floor through which the harbor itself could occasionally be seen lapping in a wrack-green brindle of light. It smelled at once like open water and the clean insides of fish. It was spared the blaze; other addresses were not. Between the icing temperatures and the flashpaper of the buildings, the firefighting efforts sound even more heroic since no one seems to have died, but the damage beyond the total losses of gear and business remains significant. The Maine Coast Fishermen's Association has been taking donations for their support and partnered with a local restaurant toward the same end plus T-shirts. It is a small shoring-up of the world and it matters. "When I say charity, I don't mean, 'I've got a sixpence I don't want. You can have it.' I mean, 'I've got a sixpence I do want. You can still have it.'"

his mobility is untrammelled

Jan. 3rd, 2026 07:00 pm
musesfool: max mayfield from stranger things (there is thunder in our hearts)
[personal profile] musesfool
I keep thinking I will have more brain to post about stuff but it keeps not happening, even with 2 weeks of vacation (back to work on Monday *sob*), so here are some brief thoughts about a variety of things:

- Miami Mika!!! Hopefully he is also Milano-Cortina Mika because after the bullshit snub of Jason Robertson by Team USA (in favor of JT Miller??? REALLY??? I've watched him play - badly (he's injured) - all season so idk what Bill Guerin is thinking there [I can see a role for Trocheck, who seems like a slightly less egregious choice to me than Miller, but still pretty bad, and I like Trocheck), I am in the bag for Sweden (or Finland) and hope Team USA doesn't even make the medal round.

- Speaking of hockey, I finally watched Heated Rivalry and I enjoyed it. I laughed, I cried a little, I predicted many lines of dialogue because I have written similar fic, and I'm probably one of the few people who wished for more hockey in the gay hockey show. I don't feel feral about it like most of fandom, but I kind of didn't expect to. It was lovely, though, and I'm glad it exists. Also, Connor Storrie needs to play Alexander the Great in something, or, since I texted [tumblr.com profile] devildoll immediately with that thought and she replied, "Achilles," he should definitely play Achilles in something. I am just saying. I would like to see minor spoiler )

- The Stranger Things finale. Without spoilers, I liked it. I have quibbles but overall I found it emotionally satisfying. Also, while I appreciate Joe Keery and love Steve Harrington's arc, I have never found him particularly hot, per se, but spoilers )

- I'm enjoying season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I love Percy as a character and narrator, and I just enjoy spending time with him and his friends. spoilers )

- The Muppet Show returns!!! This is not a drill!!! I AM EXCITE!!!

*

Birds in Hand

Jan. 3rd, 2026 03:25 pm
lovelyangel: (Canary Relaxed)
[personal profile] lovelyangel
Birds of Prey Omnibus Vol. 1
Birds of Prey Omnibus Vol. 1

After visiting Sequential Noir, I followed up with a scan at Amazon for Birds of Prey books... and discovered an amazing book that was published just a few months ago – Birds of Prey Omnibus Vol. 1 by Gail Simone and Ed Benes. Oooh! A hardcover version of one of my favorite series? Count me in!

I ordered the book last week, and it arrived yesterday. It’s beautiful! The inside pages are brilliant color on glossy pages – much more durable and vibrant than the trade paperbacks I have. The book covers Birds of Prey #56-90, which I do own in trade paperback. But this book is much higher quality. Super happy to have this in my library!

There’s a Gail Simone Birds of Prey Omnibus Vol. 2 coming out in August. This is a no-brainer for me.

Bookmarks Housecleaning

Jan. 3rd, 2026 02:43 pm
lovelyangel: (Eve Angel)
[personal profile] lovelyangel
Google Chrome is my primary browser – and I certainly have mixed feelings about my dependencies on the Google ecosystem. But I also have mixed feelings about Apple and Amazon, and I have a lot to think about regarding what platforms I use. However, that’s a topic for another time.

For now, all my bookmarks are in Chrome. And while there is a modicum of hierarchy in my bookmarks, a lot of cruft has accumulated over the years. In recent weeks, I’ve occasionally stopped to clean up a folder of bookmarks related to my current task.

Cleaning up a folder is a process of clicking on every link in the folder – and sometimes moving down the folder hierarchy if I have the time and inclination.

Mainly, the first level of cleanup is deleting any bookmark that is a dead URL. That’s easy.

The next test is to see if the site I’ve accessed is active/current. A lot of old Wordpress blogs are still out there but haven’t received any new posts in five or 10 (or 20) years. I then have to make a decision. If I go there intending to see current information, then I’ll probably delete the bookmark.

Sometimes, though, the old content at the site is still worth reading. Depending on the topic/content/nostalgia, I may keep the bookmark for reference. I’m starting to file into separate folders for Active Blogs/Sites and Old Blogs/Sites.

One example of an old blog that I’m keeping the bookmark for is Sequential Noir. Jennifer is a Black Canary / Birds of Prey fan like I am, and she generously has archived her posts for us. I had followed her blog more actively during the Gail Simone / Ed Benes years, and I will always treasure the content. Bookmark – Keeper.

There are a lot of anime blogs I used to follow, and most stopped adding new posts years ago. I’ve ended up deleting all those bookmarks. The situation is similar for some tech sites. The bookmarks cleanup is slow but satisfying. Whenever this all is finished, I still will have way too many bookmarks. But they don’t weigh much and don’t get in my way – so what’s the harm?

Google Chrome does make it pretty easy for me to manage bookmarks. (You can drag and drop in the Bookmarks Manager.) Here’s just a sample of my workarea:

Google Chrome Bookmarks Manager
Google Chrome Bookmarks Manager

The Plan for 2026

Jan. 3rd, 2026 01:14 pm
lovelyangel: (Noriko Angel)
[personal profile] lovelyangel
I don’t do New Year’s resolutions – but I do a lot of planning. Last year was an ambitious Year of the Home – which had been originally planned for 2020 – until some darn pandemic derailed that plan. I’ve declared 2026 the Year of Tech. I’ve had a long list of tech tasks that have been deferred time and time again. I’ve long been saying that I’ll address those issues once I’m retired. A year and a half later, I’m finally getting started. It’s possible this is a two-year project; I have a lot of tech debt.

Here are the themes from 2024-2026. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.)
Project Years 2024-2026
Project Years 2024-2026
annavere: (Trying new things (Highlander))
[personal profile] annavere
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

It seems like half my reading list is doing this, so I will join in.

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I'm not great at talking about myself, but here goes. I'm in my early 30s and very new to fandom, only posting my first fic on AO3 in 2021. I consider myself still in the learning phase. My first fandom and my abiding fannish obsession remains Jeremiah, a perfect storm of meaningful themes, great characterization, intriguing post-apocalyptic worldbuilding and hanging plot threads stemming from cancellation, so I keep writing for it, despite it being cancelled back in 2003.

Other fandoms I write in are Highlander and Teen Wolf. I really love supernatural and science fiction TV shows, especially when they use their escapist impossibilities to explore very real themes through metaphor. As such, I'm always digging into the vast back catalogue of shows I haven't seen yet. Also, I have a weakness for lower budget and episodic shows, which skew vintage. Currently I am making my way through Forever Knight.

Previous favorites include the original Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, American Gothic, 12 Monkeys, Firefly and The Prisoner. I've seen Doctor Who from Eccleston to Capaldi, and have just begun to dig into the Classic era, which I will be posting about soon.

This journal is mostly used for talking about television and my (generally slow) writing progress. I used to have the policy of leaving my personal life out of here, but I was recently widowed, so fair warning, there are some heavy posts about that.

Why am doing the challenge? To maybe meet some new people. Mostly because I hope it will be fun and will enable me to post more frequently, which is a goal of mine this year.

Fic: A Summer in Devonshire

Jan. 3rd, 2026 11:03 am
beatrice_otter: Elizabeth Bennet reads (Reading)
[personal profile] beatrice_otter
[community profile] ficinabox revealed the authors, er, several weeks ago. But I was too caught up with [community profile] yuletide to remember to post what I wrote! So here it is. I had great fun writing this crossover between Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, where Charlotte gets a better life than canon. As I was pondering how to logically get Brandon and Charlotte to meet even though they live so far apart, it occurred to me that Sir John Middleton and Sir William Lucas are very similar people and would probably get along amazingly well. (The other easy way to do it would be to set it earlier in both canons, when William Lucas (not yet Sir William) is a prosperous tradesman, probably with business connections in London, and Colonel Brandon has just been handed custody of his dead beloved's child and is trying to figure out frantically what to do with her, before he has to go back to his regiment in India or wherever. I can easily see him marrying then to give her a mother, and if he somehow became acquainted with the Lucases while in London, might find Charlotte just the ticket.)

Thoughts on the Lucas finances )

Title: A Summer in Devonshire
Fandom: Sense & Sensibility/Pride & Prejudice
Characters: Colonel Brandon/Charlotte Lucas
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Written for: hiddencait in Fic In A Box 2025
Summary: Sir John Middleton was happy to invite his friend Sir William Lucas and family to stay at Barton for the summer. Charlotte is happy to travel, and to meet new people.


Author's note: travel distances and clothing details. )
***

Sir William Lucas had never aspired to visit St. James' Court, nor indeed to become a knight; he had been content with his life as a respectable (and prosperous) tradesman. When such an opportunity had been granted him, all unexpectedly, he had been so overcome with all the honor of it that he had not been able to savor the pleasures thereof. Given his humble antecedents and employment, very few in that place took any notice of him, and those who did cared more to practice their superiority than form any connection. It was an experience more pleasurable in the telling, for he spent many congenial hours describing the grandeur of the court and its people to his acquaintances in Meryton, as he and Lady Lucas took their place as one of four-and-twenty families of good breeding in the neighborhood.

It also spurred his desire to trade his business for an estate more suitable to his new dignity, for being Sir William of any estate (however small) would occasion less comment than Sir William, tradesman of a small market town.

That being accomplished, he settled in quite happily to being a landed gentleman, and would never have stirred from Meryton again if Lady Lucas had not possessed the ambition her husband lacked )


On AO3. On Squidgeworld. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.

Cold comfort viewing

Jan. 3rd, 2026 09:30 am
kathleen_dailey: (Default)
[personal profile] kathleen_dailey
Surreal Estate will not be back for a fourth season. I really liked everything about this show--the concept, the characters, the execution.

One by one, my comfort-viewing favourites are disappearing (or in the case of Hudson & Rex changing so drastically for the worse that the show is no longer watchable). At least Wild Cards is apparently coming back.
selenak: (Seven by Cheesygirl)
[personal profile] selenak
Eleven / Kathryn Janeway: Why? She's his type. Unlike many another version of the Doctor, he's good at endearing himself to competent authoritative women. Depending on when in their respective timelines this meeting occurs, he might also impress her by bringing his very own nurse (Rory) along, which given that Voyager is desperate enough for nurses to let their own Doctor draft Tom Paris will definitely be a plus.


Five / Benjamin Sisko: Why? Mutual bonding over argumentative companions and cricket vs baseball. Five would be charmed by the Ben and Jake father/son relationship (and depending on whether this is before or after Adric dies also melancholic), and wouldn't ruffle Sisko's feathers the way some other Doctors might.


Nine / Jean-Luc Picard: Why? Picard would respect Nine's chip on the shoulder and not wanting to talk about any personal issues (and vice versa). (Though Deanna Troi, sensing Nine's emotional state, wilil try to corner him, but that's another issue.) Depending on the situation they're in when they meet, there might be some prickliness at first, but I think generally they'd find it easy to ally against the menace of the day and maybe share clipped yet meaningful conversation over some tea and/or bond over Dickens once that's done before Nine takes off again.


Fifteen/ Michael Burnham : Why? Much of her personal arc is going from repressing it all stoicism to openly emotional behavior, accepting your past grief and guilt and continuing to do better (and helping others) in the present - that's what he's practically the embodiment of for the Doctor! They would work well as allies, and there would definitely be dancing at some point. Also, she'd make him promise to visit Zora now and then as he travels through time.


Three / Saru (who was a Starfleet Captain, too): Why? Three can come across as incredibly high handed on first impressions, but Saru is a masterful diplomat, would spot Three is actually knowledgable and competent beneath the bluster and would lintrigue him as a Kelpian so any initial problems would be quickly moved aside in favour of teaming up. 'They would also bond over Buddhism.


Thirteen/ James T. Kirk: Why? No, not because he'd hit on her. (TOS Kirk, not AOS Kirk, i.e. he's not his pop cultural stereotype.) She'd consider him fun to have an adventure with, he'd be curious and charmed and very amused once she inadvertendly outs Scotty's inflated time estimations, whereas with male versions of the Doctor he might feel initially one-upped.


Twelve/ Christopher Pike: Why? Even if it's early Twelve at his prickliest, Pike's general relaxedness and experienced diplomacy would help smoothing things over. Conversely, Twelve could empathize with the whole "knowing your eventual awful fate" part without insisting on talking about it the way some other Doctors might. I predict at least one meal cooked by Pike while Twelve plays guitar before the Doctor leaves again.


Unfortunately, I can't think of any version of the Doctor who'd get along really well with Captain Archer because Archer would, depending on the point of his timeline, suspect the Doctor of being a tool of the Vulcan High Command, the Admiralty or the Xindi, while the Doctor, any of them, might like Porthos but would find Archer incredibly annoying, and that's before they find out about certain episodes involving slavery or torture.


Therefore, you get a bonus pairing:

Seven/ Gabriel Lorca (no, not the one we never met, I do mean the season 1 of Discovery guy) : Why? Mutual mindgames! Who manipulates whom best? Who sets a trap for whom while pretending to be their harmless facade? Who figures out the truth about the the other guy first? Might there be conversations with increasingly disturbing subtext about mentoring young women with a chip on their shoulder and tremendous guilt and anger issues? One thing is sure: it would be incredibly entertaining.


The other days
selenak: (Porthos by Chatona)
[personal profile] selenak
Attention, anyone who has watched the most recent French two part filmed version of The Three Musketeers (part 1: "D'Artagnan", part 2, "Milady") - do you regard it as worth watching? As it's now available via German public broadcast (in their streaming archive, that is), I started to watch D'Artagnan, and while because it's a French version we finally get the correct pronounciation of everyone's names, the first half an hour or so which I watched before breaking it off exposed me to a whole new set of WTFs in addition to some old ones. Basically, my reactions were these:

Spoilery for this movie reactions ensue )

Also, Stranger Things ended. Now I enjoyed the show while never being a passionate fan. If you want my ST opinions: the third season was bad but otoh introduced Robin, hooray; generally speaking in terms of the horror factor the first season was best when the Upside Down was just unknowable and, well, strange, while the actual villains such as they were were humans exploiting other humans, but I liked the character development most of our heroes got through the ensueing years, plus a lot of the homages to 80s tropes were just fun, so I certainly don't regret the show continued beyond that first season. (Though the fact that shooting this show took a decade while the Watsonian time passing between seasons was much shorter made it inevitably visible both the original child actors and the adult actors playing teens in the first season looked increasingly older than their characters were supposed to be.) In terms of the overall series finale, I liked how the characters ended up and am impressed that a spoilery decision was made. ) I also was amused by Mike in the montage being shown wearing dark horn rimmed glasses while writing, because the only reason for that I can see is to make him at least vaguely resemble a young Stephen King in one last homage. Overall, for me, the series ended on a high note.

Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios

Jan. 3rd, 2026 01:37 pm
tropicsbear: Batman dressed in the pelt of a giant bat soaring across the sky (DC: Caveman Batman flying)
[personal profile] tropicsbear

Personal rating 8/10

A reimagining of Batman where Bruce is Yohualli Coatl, the son of a noble Aztec family in 16th-century Mesoamerica. The movie blends history with fiction, with Hernán Cortés (Two-Face) and the Spanish conquistadors standing as the story's main villains. Members of Batman's rogues gallery make appearances as well, their backstories tweaked to suit the setting.

I was going to watch this no matter what—a Batman movie where he's a character of color fighting against conquistadors??—and I'm happy to report that I had a great time! Right out the gate we have Toltecatzin (Thomas Wayne) side-eyeing Cortés for calling Mexico "the new world," saying that "Many suns have already passed since our people first knew these lands." Amazing.

Cut for length and spoilers. )

Random stuff:

  • I didn't do a liveblog, but I did post some screenshots on Bluesky.
  • I think this would've benefited from being a mini-series instead of a movie. I don't mind timeskips, but I think the story needed just a bit more breathing room. The Yohualli/Mujer Jaguar angle especially. They're cute and I ship it! But I would've liked more development.

The End-of-the-Year Fic Meme

Jan. 2nd, 2026 09:58 pm
astrogirl: (Write)
[personal profile] astrogirl
All right, only very slightly belated, here's my year-end fic-writing round-up, as promised!

First, the list of what I posted this year (which includes a couple of things written at the end of last year for a challenge thingy that didn't reveal until January):

"Song in the Dark" (Gravity Falls, Ford/OFC Siren, Bill/Ford, 2,317 words, written for the Western Title Challenge)

"Run Away Home" (Gravity Falls, Stan, 100 words, written for the Western Title Challenge)

"Back from outer Space" (Gravity Falls, Bill/Ford, Stan, 7,354 words)

"Here Lies Stan" (Gravity Falls, Stan, Caryn Pines, 98 words, written for the 3 Sentence Ficathon)

"Meddling in the Affairs of Humans" (Doctor Who, Susan, Barbara/Ian, 3,986 words, written for Candy Hearts Exchange)

"You" (Gravity Falls, Stan & Ford, 1,167 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

"A Stimulant in the Morning (The Impossible People Remix) (Doctor Who, Twelfth Doctor/Missy, Twelfth Doctor & Clara, 1,678 words, written for Doctor Who and Related Fandoms Remix)

"A Series of Notes Attached to a UNIT Equipment Requisition Form" (Doctor Who, Third Doctor & the Brigadier, 1,093 words, written for the Unsent Letters Exchange)

"Congratulations on Your Apotheosis" (Gravity Falls, Bill/Ford, 28,413 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

"Meanwhile, Donna" (Doctor Who, Donna & Rose Noble, 100 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

"We Don't Talk About That Here" (The Orville/Gravity Falls, Isaac, Sheriff Blubs, mentioned Blubs/Durland and Claire/Isaac, 1,611 words, written for A Ficathon Goes Into a Bar)

"At Least You Don't Have Food Poisoning" (RimWorld, OCs, 100 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

"Maybe This Time" (Doctor Who, Twelfth Doctor/Missy, 2,599 words, written for the Just Married Exchange)

"Shooting Stars Break the Mold" (Gravity Falls, Ford & Mabel, 1,521 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

"A Reevaluation of Prior Data" (The Orville, Kaylon Primary, 100 words, written as a treat for Seasons of Drabbles)

"Only Mistaken" (Gravity Falls, Ford & various, 600 words, written for Gen Prompt Bingo)

And now, the usual questions and answers. Once again, I've copied the same ones over from last year, because I'm far too lazy to go looking for new ones.

Q&A )

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