Am I just a phantom waiting to be ripped around on shady ground?
Jan. 12th, 2026 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovayRunning this many days without sleep, I find it hard to tell whether I had an insight about creativity this weekend or just reinvented a 101-level objection to LLMs and so-called generative AI, but it ocurred to me that such technologies are not capable of allusions. Their algorithms are not freighted with the same three-dimensional architecture of associations which accrete around information stored in the human cold porridge, all the emotional colors and sensory overtones and contextual echoes which attend the classic example of a word like tree when you throw it out across the incommensurable void between one human mind and another to be plugged into their own idiosyncratically plastic linkage of bias and experience whose least incompatibility may be the difference between a bristlecone and a birch and Wittgenstein has to lie down with a headache, but all of these entanglements form as much of the texture of a writer's style—of any human communication—as the word cloud of their vocabulary or their most commonly diagrammed sentences. It has always interested me to be able to detect the half-rhymes or skeletons of familiarity in the work of other writers; I have always assumed I am reciprocally legible if not transparent from space. I've seen arguments against the creativity of LLMs based on intentionality, but the unintended encrustrations seem just as important to me. By way of illustration, this thought was partly sparked by this classic and glorious mashup.
I was delighted to find on checking the news this morning that a new Roman villa just dropped. Given the Iron Age hillforts, the twelfth-century abbey, the Georgian country house, and the CH station, Margam Country Park clearly needed a Roman find to complete the set. I have since been informed of the discovery of a similarly well-preserved and impressive carnyx. Goes shatteringly with a villa, the Iceni tell me.
I joke about this rock I spend most of my time under, but how can I never have heard of Marlow Moss? The Bryher vibes alone. The Constructivism. And a real short king, judging by that jaunty photo c. 1937 with Netty Nijhoff. Pursuing further details, I fell over Anton Prinner and have been demoralized about my comprehension of art history ever since.
Last night I read David Copperfield (1850) for the third time in my life. It has the terrible feel of a teachable moment. In high school I bounced almost completely off it. About ten years later, I enjoyed the dual-layered narration and was otherwise mostly engaged by the language. Now it appears I just like the novel, which I have to consider may be a factor of middle age. Or I had just read the necessary bunch more of Dickens in the interval, speaking of traceable reflections, recurring figures; my favorite character has not changed since eleventh grade, but I can see now the constellation he's part of. It seems improbable that I was always reading the novel while waiting for chorus to start, but I did get through Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) in the down time of a couple of rehearsals that year. I was not taking either of the standard literature classes, but I had friends who left their assigned reading lying around.
I have to be at three different doctors' offices tomorrow. I could be over this viral mishegos any second now.
I was delighted to find on checking the news this morning that a new Roman villa just dropped. Given the Iron Age hillforts, the twelfth-century abbey, the Georgian country house, and the CH station, Margam Country Park clearly needed a Roman find to complete the set. I have since been informed of the discovery of a similarly well-preserved and impressive carnyx. Goes shatteringly with a villa, the Iceni tell me.
I joke about this rock I spend most of my time under, but how can I never have heard of Marlow Moss? The Bryher vibes alone. The Constructivism. And a real short king, judging by that jaunty photo c. 1937 with Netty Nijhoff. Pursuing further details, I fell over Anton Prinner and have been demoralized about my comprehension of art history ever since.
Last night I read David Copperfield (1850) for the third time in my life. It has the terrible feel of a teachable moment. In high school I bounced almost completely off it. About ten years later, I enjoyed the dual-layered narration and was otherwise mostly engaged by the language. Now it appears I just like the novel, which I have to consider may be a factor of middle age. Or I had just read the necessary bunch more of Dickens in the interval, speaking of traceable reflections, recurring figures; my favorite character has not changed since eleventh grade, but I can see now the constellation he's part of. It seems improbable that I was always reading the novel while waiting for chorus to start, but I did get through Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) in the down time of a couple of rehearsals that year. I was not taking either of the standard literature classes, but I had friends who left their assigned reading lying around.
I have to be at three different doctors' offices tomorrow. I could be over this viral mishegos any second now.
Cookbooks for Fantasy fans
Jan. 13th, 2026 05:31 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
rachelneumeier_feedCooking for Wizards, Warriors, and Dragons is a cookbook that was put together by Thea James from The Book Smugglers, a book review site that is still there, but no longer being updated.
Thea begins: It started in third grade, with Princess Cimorene, a fight of dragons, and cherries jubilee...
And I thought: As it does, to be sure. Yes, we all start with Princess Cimorene, a flight of dragons, and cherries jubilee. Or possibly we wish we had. Even if we don’t much care for cherries, or, for that matter, brandy. The linked recipe is not from the book, but below is a recipe that IS from the book.
This book has lots of recipes, with fun commentary. On the other hand, I’m not especially keen on some of the popular fantasy IPs that serve as inspiration for the recipes in this book, such as The Game of Thrones and The Wheel of Time. Therefore, I flipped through the cookbook to find a recipe that (a) is based on a book I personally loved, and (b) looks intriguing, the kind of recipe that is inviting, something I would genuinely make.
And here we go:
Lamb Tajine
Inspired by Kate Elliot’s Spiritwalker Trilogy
Now, this is a trilogy I really need to read again! Here are my comments about the trilogy, and here’s a post about antagonists, because I think this trilogy is STELLAR for showcasing EVERY POSSIBLE TYPE OF VILLAIN, from antagonists who aren’t actually villains to, you know, villains, and with a full spectrum of other types in between. It’s not always clear who is which type when you first meet each villain, and in fact I’m not sure it’s EVER clear who is which type, and this is also worth paying attention to when reading this trilogy. STELLAR villains. Great worldbuilding too. Now, in this cookbook, Thea says:
In this second novel, Cat is separated not only from Vai, but also from her beloved cousin Bee and her half-brother Rory … this particular meal is the prelude to [Cat and Vai’s] reunion. …
All right, so lamb is not necessarily all that easy to find. You can substitute beef. Cooking times generally need to increase, but this is a long-cooked dish so in fact no adjustment is necessary. As a plus, this is very easy to make.
3 lbs lamb shoulder, fat trimmed, cut into 2” pieces, or beef chuck roast. Or beef shank. Something not too lean.
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
2 C chicken broth
2 lb sweet potatoes, in 2” dice
A tajine (or tagine is the spelling I’ve seen more often) is a dish that’s cooked in a heavy pot called a “tajine.” A Dutch oven is a perfect substitute. A big, heavy skillet is also fine.
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven. Brown the lamb in the oil, in batches so the pan is not overcrowded. Remove the meat, lower the heat to medium-low, add the onion and garlic to the pot, sauté for 3 minutes or so. Stir in all the ingredients except the sweet potatoes. Add back the meat. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for two hours. Add the sweet potatoes and more broth if necessary. Cook on a low simmer for another hour.
There you go, done. Very nice, and bonus if you serve this while discussing the Spiritwalker trilogy with your book club. You could make cherries jubilee for dessert, if you like cherries …
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The post Cookbooks for Fantasy fans appeared first on Rachel Neumeier.
Yuletide meta
Jan. 13th, 2026 04:27 pmmeteordustNotes on Safe Harbour (Alliance-Union - CJ Cherryh)
( Notes )
Notes on Ubiquitous You (Fallen London)
( Notes )
( Notes )
Notes on Ubiquitous You (Fallen London)
( Notes )
Communities
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:47 pmysabetwordsmith![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
pluralquestions -- Discussing plural existenceWelcome to the Plural Questions community! A lot of existing plural communities on Dreamwidth are inactive. We all have a lot to gain from talking to each other, so Plural Questions was created to encourage community discussion around plural experiences. Interactions are encouraged- please comment, post to the community, etc! Get your voice out there! Discussion questions will be posted every now and then, but please feel free to add your own questions or post about your lived experiences.
If you've been following
lb_lee and pluralstories then you might like this new community.
Oh, the Place We've Been. We Bought a New Map!
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:37 pmcanyonwalkerYesterday I wrote about Oh, The Places We've Been and the pin map we hang on our wall. Before the holidays I realized that we hadn't updated our map in a while. We needed to add several more pins for places we've been! But our supply of pins was out.
Okay, no problem, I figured. I can jump on Amazon.com and find probably a bazillion different kinds of map pins. But then a funny thing happened.
When I searched for map pins my results also included matches for pin maps. It's kind of an anagram, right? Mathematical property of commutation? 🤣
Some of the pin maps were really nice. Some of them were basically like the DIY project I put together on my kitchen table over 25 years ago except... nicer than DIY. As much as my AAA-map-stapled-to-a-cork-bulletin-board still has sentimental value to me I decided I was ready for an upgrade. I checked with Hawk— because while I started the project we have updated it for 25+ years— and $250 we had a new, custom map in a hardwood frame on the way.
The new map arrived in December, before the holidays. It was like a birthday present for me. A present for the birthday which I otherwise didn't celebrate and received no gifts for. But there was a problem. The custom legend, which you can see toward the lower right of the map in the pic above, was wrong. It was only a slight mistake, but it was still there. I considered whether to keep the map as-is because the error was so small. But at the same time I knew that every time I looked at it— every time, daily, for the next 25+ years— I'd see that error. My spirit sank.
Fortunately the maker was really cool about fixing the problem. I sent a brief note explaining the error and asking what we could do. She immediately accepted responsibility for the mistake (her team had botched the custom message in the legend) and said she'd print and send a new one after Christmas.
Indeed, the new map arrived around New Year. And it was perfect. My spirit once again soared.
Now all we'd need to do was move pins from the old map to the new one. Hundreds of pins, all marking places we've been (in the USA) over the past 25+ years. It'd be another project, a labor of love.
Okay, no problem, I figured. I can jump on Amazon.com and find probably a bazillion different kinds of map pins. But then a funny thing happened.
When I searched for map pins my results also included matches for pin maps. It's kind of an anagram, right? Mathematical property of commutation? 🤣
Some of the pin maps were really nice. Some of them were basically like the DIY project I put together on my kitchen table over 25 years ago except... nicer than DIY. As much as my AAA-map-stapled-to-a-cork-bulletin-board still has sentimental value to me I decided I was ready for an upgrade. I checked with Hawk— because while I started the project we have updated it for 25+ years— and $250 we had a new, custom map in a hardwood frame on the way.
The new map arrived in December, before the holidays. It was like a birthday present for me. A present for the birthday which I otherwise didn't celebrate and received no gifts for. But there was a problem. The custom legend, which you can see toward the lower right of the map in the pic above, was wrong. It was only a slight mistake, but it was still there. I considered whether to keep the map as-is because the error was so small. But at the same time I knew that every time I looked at it— every time, daily, for the next 25+ years— I'd see that error. My spirit sank.
Fortunately the maker was really cool about fixing the problem. I sent a brief note explaining the error and asking what we could do. She immediately accepted responsibility for the mistake (her team had botched the custom message in the legend) and said she'd print and send a new one after Christmas.
Indeed, the new map arrived around New Year. And it was perfect. My spirit once again soared.
Now all we'd need to do was move pins from the old map to the new one. Hundreds of pins, all marking places we've been (in the USA) over the past 25+ years. It'd be another project, a labor of love.
Fanfic, Bionicle - All Media Types, Vakama & Jaller & Takua, Makuta creates the Charred Forest
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:22 pmbluerosekatie posting in smallfandomfestTitle: The Charred Forest Arises
Author: bluerosekatie
Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types
Pairing/Characters: Vakama & Jaller & Takua
Rating/Category: Gen
Prompt: Bionicle - All Media Types, Vakama & Jaller & Takua, Makuta creates the Charred Forest to strike at Ta-Koro.
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: What was once Lhii's Forest, a haven for the Ta-Matoran, becomes something else in the hands of Makuta.
Notes/Warnings: Fic is archive-locked to avoid AI scraping.
Read it on Ao3 here!
Author: bluerosekatie
Fandom: Bionicle - All Media Types
Pairing/Characters: Vakama & Jaller & Takua
Rating/Category: Gen
Prompt: Bionicle - All Media Types, Vakama & Jaller & Takua, Makuta creates the Charred Forest to strike at Ta-Koro.
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: What was once Lhii's Forest, a haven for the Ta-Matoran, becomes something else in the hands of Makuta.
Notes/Warnings: Fic is archive-locked to avoid AI scraping.
Read it on Ao3 here!
First Day back
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:54 pmcornerofmadnessStarted with my annual wellness check. I have some things she wants me to do that I agree need being done (endoscopy/colonoscopy) and isn't sure that coughing thing I do some times IS the hiatal hernia. My tachycardia is getting worse. She's wondering if I'm going into arrythmias and the coughing is resetting it. I'll be doing some testing for that. You'd think she'd order a halter monitor but she didn't. Just wants me to get a pulse ox for now.
Monday is an easy day. I have 1 new student in my upper level A&P and one didn't show but otherwise, it went well. Tomorrow is much more likely to be issuey.
Here's a funny thing from yesterday. Even though I had the thing on timer I was making a pastina soup and...it boiled out of the pot and burnt the pasta to the bottom. I told this to my parents and they started laughing. Mom did exactly the same thing with her soup too.
And it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is #9 a song you could exercise to. Believe it or not I HAVE an exercise playlist for when I'm at my brother's and doing aerobics in the pool. Since that contains slow warm up/cool downs I'll share some of the more driving ones.
( right under here )
Monday is an easy day. I have 1 new student in my upper level A&P and one didn't show but otherwise, it went well. Tomorrow is much more likely to be issuey.
Here's a funny thing from yesterday. Even though I had the thing on timer I was making a pastina soup and...it boiled out of the pot and burnt the pasta to the bottom. I told this to my parents and they started laughing. Mom did exactly the same thing with her soup too.
And it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is #9 a song you could exercise to. Believe it or not I HAVE an exercise playlist for when I'm at my brother's and doing aerobics in the pool. Since that contains slow warm up/cool downs I'll share some of the more driving ones.
( right under here )
Boring update is boring
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:33 pmbrickhousewenchI keep meaning to write a post, but nothing much is going on in my life right now.
Thursday night I went up to visit with Stephen and Alena. I spent the night on their couch so that I could drive Alena into Boston for a very early appointment to get her chemotherapy port removed (Yay!). I need to make myself get into the sewing room this weekend to clear some space as Stephen is giving me a (working!) treadle Singer sewing machine. A friend has loaned them a HUGE gaming table and they need to make room so that people can move around it so the sewing machine has to go. I’ve wanted a treadle machine for ages, and this one looks like it’s in pretty decent condition. We had just a treadle base (no sewing machine) in the basement back home, so I’ve had plenty of practice with a treadle from when I was a kid. *Grins in reminiscing*
Other than that, I’m back to work after two weeks off for the holidays, but that’s about all that’s going on with me. It’s the rest of the world that’s careening out of control and too exciting for my preferences right now. *le sigh*
I pinned a quote that said, “Thank you for not discussing the outside world” the other day. And I’m really feeling that right now.
I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on Facebook to help lower my stress levels. And failing. I haven’t given up Facebook for Lent in the past couple of years, but I’m going to have to this year. Just to force myself to take a break. Lent runs from February 18th through April 4th. I'm not Catholic, but I play one on weekends. ;-)
Thursday night I went up to visit with Stephen and Alena. I spent the night on their couch so that I could drive Alena into Boston for a very early appointment to get her chemotherapy port removed (Yay!). I need to make myself get into the sewing room this weekend to clear some space as Stephen is giving me a (working!) treadle Singer sewing machine. A friend has loaned them a HUGE gaming table and they need to make room so that people can move around it so the sewing machine has to go. I’ve wanted a treadle machine for ages, and this one looks like it’s in pretty decent condition. We had just a treadle base (no sewing machine) in the basement back home, so I’ve had plenty of practice with a treadle from when I was a kid. *Grins in reminiscing*
Other than that, I’m back to work after two weeks off for the holidays, but that’s about all that’s going on with me. It’s the rest of the world that’s careening out of control and too exciting for my preferences right now. *le sigh*
I pinned a quote that said, “Thank you for not discussing the outside world” the other day. And I’m really feeling that right now.
I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on Facebook to help lower my stress levels. And failing. I haven’t given up Facebook for Lent in the past couple of years, but I’m going to have to this year. Just to force myself to take a break. Lent runs from February 18th through April 4th. I'm not Catholic, but I play one on weekends. ;-)
Magpie Monday
Jan. 12th, 2026 09:22 pmysabetwordsmithdialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday today with a theme of "Loose Threads." Leave prompts, get ficlets!( Read more... )
Recent Reading: Empty Wardrobes
Jan. 12th, 2026 06:58 pmrocky41_7I collect false treasures in empty wardrobes.
This quote by Paul Eluard opens book #14 from the "Women in Translation" rec list, which continues to fatten up my TBR list. This is Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. This novella, originally published in the 1960s, is about the ways in which women are subsumed by the men in their lives, or otherwise are buffeted about with less control over their lives than they ought to have.
The forward by Kate Zambreno is a wonderfully complementary piece. She talks about the anger she feels going to a woman's funeral and hearing the dead woman sanctified by men in her life who did nothing but take from her, who can speak of her only to praise what she did for others, and can say nothing about what the woman herself was.
Sometimes you can read a book and just know the author was angry when she wrote it. This is one of those. The book uses the phrase "discreet rage" about one of its characters, and I think that sentiment succinctly describes the whole book. The protagonist, Dora Rosario, is ten years into widowhood, and she has devoted her entire life to mourning her unremarkable husband as much as she had previous devoted her life to supporting his every opinion regardless of whether or not she agreed with it. Now, a decade on, her mother-in-law reveals something about Dora's late husband that changes her entire perspective.
I would like to believe we are moving away from the world portrayed in Empty Wardrobes (though not with as much success as I'd like), but this is a stark reminder of how even a few generations ago, in the Sixties, a woman's identity was so controlled by her husband's. There are only two men in this book--Duarte, Dora's dead husband, and Ernesto, the longtime partner of a side character--and they both, through social structures, exercise incredible control over the lives of the women around them without any respect or even knowledge of their impact.
The three main women in this book--Dora, her daughter Lisa, and the narrator--each take a different approach to the male romantic partners in their lives, and none of them comes out the better for it (well, perhaps for Lisa, but I personally doubt it will last), because the ultimate problem is societal attitudes about the way men and women are meant to relate to each other.
It's not a long book, and I can't say much more without spoiling things, but I also think it does some fabulous things with its narration and perspective, and the way it doles out information. Really an excellent framing that allows for a lot of fluidity and filling in gaps with your own visions while remaining clear in the nature of the story it's telling.
This book was only translated into English in 2021, which is a shame, because I think it would have struck a nerve much earlier, but we have it now! Costa does an excellent job with the work too; the writing is full of punchy phrases like the above, and she captures some realistic dialogue--characters repeating themselves, responding in ways that don't quite match up with what was asked, etc.--while keeping it natural-sounding.
This quote by Paul Eluard opens book #14 from the "Women in Translation" rec list, which continues to fatten up my TBR list. This is Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. This novella, originally published in the 1960s, is about the ways in which women are subsumed by the men in their lives, or otherwise are buffeted about with less control over their lives than they ought to have.
The forward by Kate Zambreno is a wonderfully complementary piece. She talks about the anger she feels going to a woman's funeral and hearing the dead woman sanctified by men in her life who did nothing but take from her, who can speak of her only to praise what she did for others, and can say nothing about what the woman herself was.
Sometimes you can read a book and just know the author was angry when she wrote it. This is one of those. The book uses the phrase "discreet rage" about one of its characters, and I think that sentiment succinctly describes the whole book. The protagonist, Dora Rosario, is ten years into widowhood, and she has devoted her entire life to mourning her unremarkable husband as much as she had previous devoted her life to supporting his every opinion regardless of whether or not she agreed with it. Now, a decade on, her mother-in-law reveals something about Dora's late husband that changes her entire perspective.
I would like to believe we are moving away from the world portrayed in Empty Wardrobes (though not with as much success as I'd like), but this is a stark reminder of how even a few generations ago, in the Sixties, a woman's identity was so controlled by her husband's. There are only two men in this book--Duarte, Dora's dead husband, and Ernesto, the longtime partner of a side character--and they both, through social structures, exercise incredible control over the lives of the women around them without any respect or even knowledge of their impact.
The three main women in this book--Dora, her daughter Lisa, and the narrator--each take a different approach to the male romantic partners in their lives, and none of them comes out the better for it (well, perhaps for Lisa, but I personally doubt it will last), because the ultimate problem is societal attitudes about the way men and women are meant to relate to each other.
It's not a long book, and I can't say much more without spoiling things, but I also think it does some fabulous things with its narration and perspective, and the way it doles out information. Really an excellent framing that allows for a lot of fluidity and filling in gaps with your own visions while remaining clear in the nature of the story it's telling.
This book was only translated into English in 2021, which is a shame, because I think it would have struck a nerve much earlier, but we have it now! Costa does an excellent job with the work too; the writing is full of punchy phrases like the above, and she captures some realistic dialogue--characters repeating themselves, responding in ways that don't quite match up with what was asked, etc.--while keeping it natural-sounding.
Poem: Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan 1-10-26
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:39 pmysabetwordsmithThese poems are spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. They were inspired and sponsored by Anthony Barrette. They also fill the "Up the River" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. These poems are the first batch in the collection Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Poem: "Fight Less, Cuddle More"
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:09 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles. It also fills the "Soup to Nuts" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Big One and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.
( Read more... )
janetmiles. It also fills the "Soup to Nuts" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Big One and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.( Read more... )
Wash away.
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:18 pmhannahChallenge #6
Top 10 Challenge. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.
Top Ten Times I Called It In And Walked Away
In no particular order, not alphabetical, chronological, or according to any level of importance -
1. Supernatural - I know people who watched it all and my hat's off to them, but after season eight, I knew it wasn't for me anymore.
2. Teen Wolf - sometime in season three or four, it went from being a show on MTV to an MTV show, and I was done.
3. House - end of season five or six, when not only had the characters grown stale, but the lighting had gone sour.
4. True Blood - somewhere in there, between seasons, I realized I couldn't do it anymore.
5. Game of Thrones - for all that I was enjoying myself, I realized it was a provisional, conditional love, and the creators had violated the last of those provisions.
6. Marvel comic movie adaptations - animated and live-action Spider-Man movies, Deadpool, the X-Men region, TV shows, the MCU as a whole. Much like House, the lighting's sour and the characters aren't nearly as much fun to watch anymore. I'll still come back from time to time, and leaving the movies is different from leaving the fandom, and it's not my fault they set standards that they then failed to meet.
7. X-Men comics in general and Joss Whedon in particular - because even though I watched Buffy and Angel long after walking away from Whedon, I knew from seeing him kill off a character he said he loved writing that he wasn't someone I could trust anymore, and when Marvel gave the go-ahead for that move on top of all the other repeated future ends of the world, I knew I couldn't trust them either.
8. No small number of fandom-based podcasts - because I don't have much patience for "um" and "like" and "you know" and other such filler words when I know you've taken notes and prepared for this well in advance, and you've also set up multiple Patreon tiers. When there's money involved, I expect you to use your time better than that.
9. Stargate Atlantis - because for all the raw entertainment value it offered, that value came tempered with a feeling of obligation and a gradual lack of playfulness - which can be done, provided the show commits to being more serious. I didn't get a sense of that.
10. Doctor Who - because the tidal nature of the show meant it'd gone out, and I never bothered to wander back to find if it's come back in, which told me all I needed to know about how much I'd enjoy spending more time with it.
Let me emphasize this isn't an anti-rec list, this isn't a set of warnings about not getting into something to begin with, this isn't even much of a set of complaints. This is something that, for all the frustrations involved, makes me happy because learning to know when to stop is a very grown-up skill. Knowing when you need a break or you've had enough takes work, and acting on that takes additional work. It's something that can be applied to situations more serious than a TV show - a friend who's no longer fun to hang out with, a job that's draining you dry. Walking away from something that ultimately doesn't mean much makes it easier to do it for something significantly more serious.
I could probably come up with another five or ten without much trouble, but if I did, it'd turn into an airing of grievances instead of a meditation on learning a new skill in a safe, controlled environment.
Top 10 Challenge. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.
Top Ten Times I Called It In And Walked Away
In no particular order, not alphabetical, chronological, or according to any level of importance -
1. Supernatural - I know people who watched it all and my hat's off to them, but after season eight, I knew it wasn't for me anymore.
2. Teen Wolf - sometime in season three or four, it went from being a show on MTV to an MTV show, and I was done.
3. House - end of season five or six, when not only had the characters grown stale, but the lighting had gone sour.
4. True Blood - somewhere in there, between seasons, I realized I couldn't do it anymore.
5. Game of Thrones - for all that I was enjoying myself, I realized it was a provisional, conditional love, and the creators had violated the last of those provisions.
6. Marvel comic movie adaptations - animated and live-action Spider-Man movies, Deadpool, the X-Men region, TV shows, the MCU as a whole. Much like House, the lighting's sour and the characters aren't nearly as much fun to watch anymore. I'll still come back from time to time, and leaving the movies is different from leaving the fandom, and it's not my fault they set standards that they then failed to meet.
7. X-Men comics in general and Joss Whedon in particular - because even though I watched Buffy and Angel long after walking away from Whedon, I knew from seeing him kill off a character he said he loved writing that he wasn't someone I could trust anymore, and when Marvel gave the go-ahead for that move on top of all the other repeated future ends of the world, I knew I couldn't trust them either.
8. No small number of fandom-based podcasts - because I don't have much patience for "um" and "like" and "you know" and other such filler words when I know you've taken notes and prepared for this well in advance, and you've also set up multiple Patreon tiers. When there's money involved, I expect you to use your time better than that.
9. Stargate Atlantis - because for all the raw entertainment value it offered, that value came tempered with a feeling of obligation and a gradual lack of playfulness - which can be done, provided the show commits to being more serious. I didn't get a sense of that.
10. Doctor Who - because the tidal nature of the show meant it'd gone out, and I never bothered to wander back to find if it's come back in, which told me all I needed to know about how much I'd enjoy spending more time with it.
Let me emphasize this isn't an anti-rec list, this isn't a set of warnings about not getting into something to begin with, this isn't even much of a set of complaints. This is something that, for all the frustrations involved, makes me happy because learning to know when to stop is a very grown-up skill. Knowing when you need a break or you've had enough takes work, and acting on that takes additional work. It's something that can be applied to situations more serious than a TV show - a friend who's no longer fun to hang out with, a job that's draining you dry. Walking away from something that ultimately doesn't mean much makes it easier to do it for something significantly more serious.
I could probably come up with another five or ten without much trouble, but if I did, it'd turn into an airing of grievances instead of a meditation on learning a new skill in a safe, controlled environment.
Poem: "Hemma Bäst"
Jan. 12th, 2026 07:54 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from nsfwords and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Cup of Coffee" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Hart's Farm.
( Read more... )
nsfwords and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Cup of Coffee" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Hart's Farm.( Read more... )
Inspecting video claiming to show ICE agent accidentally discharging weapon while falling on ice
Jan. 13th, 2026 01:10 amsnopes_feedThere was no evidence the video was fake, but we couldn't geolocate it or confirm the gun had fired.
it's winter, you get penguins
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:44 pmtsuki_no_barahello my flist! i had such high hopes for the new year and, just, pfft. it's snowflake_challenge season and i haven't even posted for that. oy.
anyway i hope your 2026 has been decent-to-good so far or at least not worse than 2025.
for new year's i went to my sister's and we went out for dinner (delish) and watched a lot of lotr, pausing only to watch the ball drop in times square. i like a good tradition but she may or may not want to do something different this year. we'll see. and for christmas she came to my house and we drove around to look at people's holiday lights and got chinese takeout and watched wake up, dead man on netflix because we both felt too meh to go out. (i liked it but i think i liked the first one the best.) and like four days before that my cousin's youngest kid got married in dc and i brought a cold with me and lost my voice at the wedding. wtf. that made it very difficult to talk to cousins which did not stop me. but it also meant i was still sick or recovering for the entirety of my time off. whiiine. at least i had two weeks off to cough up a lung and sit on my couch and be tired, rather than having to take sick days or work from home a lot. but still! i had a lot of time off and couldn't even enjoy most of it! and i had plans! which were mostly "watch tv, work on holiday project for writing group, start pumpkin spice cross stitch". sigh.
(while in dc my sister and i did a little sightseeing, which included a farmer's market down the street from the hotel - it was SO WINDY but there were lots of dogs - a walk around the washington monument, a stroll down the reflecting pool, and a little talk by a park ranger in the lincoln memorial.)
we got snow a couple times tho, that was nice. i'm a big fan of waking up to snow on the ground. :D especially new year's day! it was just enough to shovel but if it had been, say, four inches, i would've enjoyed that too.
during my time off i met admin s who works at the libraries for lunch and a week later i met one of the admins m for lunch and both of those things were really nice, partly because i enjoy a lunch out and partly because it was just nice to see people. and i never see admin s because i don't work with her any more. i also had mexican brunch with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tamalinn and friend a and friend a's hubs and that was fun and also delicious. and saturday i got a haircut. :D
before the haircut i went to cousins j&m's for brunch and to say hi and goodbye to their kids before they went back to school, and friday night my sister and i took cousin p on dad's side out for dinner for her birthday. it was yummy (i had black pasta with shrimp and calamari) and they brought cousin p a slice of flourless chocolate cake for her birthday. my sister and i ate most of it.
work re-entry was fine and going to campus was weird because it's been like three weeks since i was there. classes don't start until february so it's very quiet but again, it's nice to see people.
things i did in november and december:
went record album/antique shopping with tamalinn and friend a and bought the go-gos' beauty and the beat, heart's little queen, and a cookbook from the 50s full of buffet recipes
saw wicked pt 1 (again) in preparation for seeing wicked pt 2
went out to dinner with my sister and cousin j (of j&m)
fetched the mothership at the airport for tday
went out for bday dinner with mom, sister, cousins j&r, and the aforementioned lone cousin j
got snowed on in harvard square :DDD
had brunch with cousins from mom's side
bought a dress for the wedding
did not need to buy shoes
had dinner with cousins from dad's side
had mom and sister over for dinner (i made pork chops because i could)
went to j&m's for tday
ate a lot
saw wicked pt 2 (not bad but i liked pt 1 better, also why did the story have to be two movies?)
went to snowport (boston holiday market, down by the seaport) where i bought a print of a pickle sign and saw the lobster nativity
borrowed a bolero jacket from one of the admins m for the wedding because the dress is sleeveless and it was a jewish wedding and i'd have to cover my shoulders
went to the holiday market at the somerville armory and bought a blockprint of a medieval looking fish and a print of my favorite local bridge
one of the vendors had a print with a drawing of a guillotine and the legend "a better world is possible!" heh.
watched red one (so cute, so silly)
went to friend r's to watch the thin man because it's set around christmas and while i don't know how successful it was as a murder mystery i liked nick and nora as a couple and overall enjoyed it
saw the housemaid (had some twists i appreciated and i liked it)
curled lots, made a couple good shots and a lot more acceptable-to-missed shots
finished the lowdown (liked it, recommend it, didn't love the way the murder plot shook out)
watched talasmasca: the secret order (partly because of elizabeth mcgovern going "talamasssca" in the trailers) (mostly liked it altho i didn't really like the protagonist - he thought he was the smartest person in the room and every time he got in over his head, which was pretty much the entire show, women showed up to get him out of trouble)
watched hysteria! (about a high school heavy metal garage band that pretends to be a satanic cult to get fans, and then shit goes off the rails) (it's set in 1987 and got a lot of the satanic panic right but was otherwise only glancingly historical which made me twitch. was fun altho did i mention it went totally off the rails?)
rewatched stranger things s1-s4 with folks on discord in preparation for s5
watched s5 (i have mixed feelings about the season as a whole but i was pretty satisfied with how it ended)
so this news is massachusetts based and one of my friends even works for massdot and DID NOT TELL ME and i had to learn from a snowflake challenge from someone who doesn't even live here and now i share with you the winners of the name-a-snowplow contest. the entries all came from public school classrooms (k-8) and the plows are in service this winter. sleet caroline! clearopathra! you're killing me squalls! read and giggle.
speaking of mass, the boston aquarium built an old folks home for their geriatric penguins. how cute is that?
in the wake of dump and his administration cutting funding to universities mackenzie scott (aka the former mrs jeff bezos) donated $80m to howard university, an hbcu (historically black colleges and universities, for the non-americans in the audience), which is one of the biggest single donations in the school's history. she got billions of dollars when she split from jeff and she's definitely using her powers for good.
i know thanksgiving was last year and these are probably quite sold out but i must share the "no-thanks" jell-o molds. you could getcanberry canned cranberry jelly, pecan pie, and brussel sprouts. i don't like brussel sprouts at all but the round little molds are so cute.
joe keery officiated a wedding in his scoops ahoy uniform. for the stranger things fen in the audience. :D
i must share one of the scariest videos i've ever seen - a guy climbing up and then skiing down mt everest with no supplemental oxygen. i'm sorry, but watching him ski down that mountain, especially from the top, is fucking terrifying. i'm not afraid of heights but absolutely not, no way.
sir david attenborough sends a hedgehog on its way. to end with something cute.
dave grohl vs animal drum battle. and something fun. :D
snowflake_challenge season and i haven't even posted for that. oy.anyway i hope your 2026 has been decent-to-good so far or at least not worse than 2025.
for new year's i went to my sister's and we went out for dinner (delish) and watched a lot of lotr, pausing only to watch the ball drop in times square. i like a good tradition but she may or may not want to do something different this year. we'll see. and for christmas she came to my house and we drove around to look at people's holiday lights and got chinese takeout and watched wake up, dead man on netflix because we both felt too meh to go out. (i liked it but i think i liked the first one the best.) and like four days before that my cousin's youngest kid got married in dc and i brought a cold with me and lost my voice at the wedding. wtf. that made it very difficult to talk to cousins which did not stop me. but it also meant i was still sick or recovering for the entirety of my time off. whiiine. at least i had two weeks off to cough up a lung and sit on my couch and be tired, rather than having to take sick days or work from home a lot. but still! i had a lot of time off and couldn't even enjoy most of it! and i had plans! which were mostly "watch tv, work on holiday project for writing group, start pumpkin spice cross stitch". sigh.
(while in dc my sister and i did a little sightseeing, which included a farmer's market down the street from the hotel - it was SO WINDY but there were lots of dogs - a walk around the washington monument, a stroll down the reflecting pool, and a little talk by a park ranger in the lincoln memorial.)
we got snow a couple times tho, that was nice. i'm a big fan of waking up to snow on the ground. :D especially new year's day! it was just enough to shovel but if it had been, say, four inches, i would've enjoyed that too.
during my time off i met admin s who works at the libraries for lunch and a week later i met one of the admins m for lunch and both of those things were really nice, partly because i enjoy a lunch out and partly because it was just nice to see people. and i never see admin s because i don't work with her any more. i also had mexican brunch with
tamalinn and friend a and friend a's hubs and that was fun and also delicious. and saturday i got a haircut. :Dbefore the haircut i went to cousins j&m's for brunch and to say hi and goodbye to their kids before they went back to school, and friday night my sister and i took cousin p on dad's side out for dinner for her birthday. it was yummy (i had black pasta with shrimp and calamari) and they brought cousin p a slice of flourless chocolate cake for her birthday. my sister and i ate most of it.
work re-entry was fine and going to campus was weird because it's been like three weeks since i was there. classes don't start until february so it's very quiet but again, it's nice to see people.
things i did in november and december:
went record album/antique shopping with tamalinn and friend a and bought the go-gos' beauty and the beat, heart's little queen, and a cookbook from the 50s full of buffet recipes
saw wicked pt 1 (again) in preparation for seeing wicked pt 2
went out to dinner with my sister and cousin j (of j&m)
fetched the mothership at the airport for tday
went out for bday dinner with mom, sister, cousins j&r, and the aforementioned lone cousin j
got snowed on in harvard square :DDD
had brunch with cousins from mom's side
bought a dress for the wedding
did not need to buy shoes
had dinner with cousins from dad's side
had mom and sister over for dinner (i made pork chops because i could)
went to j&m's for tday
ate a lot
saw wicked pt 2 (not bad but i liked pt 1 better, also why did the story have to be two movies?)
went to snowport (boston holiday market, down by the seaport) where i bought a print of a pickle sign and saw the lobster nativity
borrowed a bolero jacket from one of the admins m for the wedding because the dress is sleeveless and it was a jewish wedding and i'd have to cover my shoulders
went to the holiday market at the somerville armory and bought a blockprint of a medieval looking fish and a print of my favorite local bridge
one of the vendors had a print with a drawing of a guillotine and the legend "a better world is possible!" heh.
watched red one (so cute, so silly)
went to friend r's to watch the thin man because it's set around christmas and while i don't know how successful it was as a murder mystery i liked nick and nora as a couple and overall enjoyed it
saw the housemaid (had some twists i appreciated and i liked it)
curled lots, made a couple good shots and a lot more acceptable-to-missed shots
finished the lowdown (liked it, recommend it, didn't love the way the murder plot shook out)
watched talasmasca: the secret order (partly because of elizabeth mcgovern going "talamasssca" in the trailers) (mostly liked it altho i didn't really like the protagonist - he thought he was the smartest person in the room and every time he got in over his head, which was pretty much the entire show, women showed up to get him out of trouble)
watched hysteria! (about a high school heavy metal garage band that pretends to be a satanic cult to get fans, and then shit goes off the rails) (it's set in 1987 and got a lot of the satanic panic right but was otherwise only glancingly historical which made me twitch. was fun altho did i mention it went totally off the rails?)
rewatched stranger things s1-s4 with folks on discord in preparation for s5
watched s5 (i have mixed feelings about the season as a whole but i was pretty satisfied with how it ended)
so this news is massachusetts based and one of my friends even works for massdot and DID NOT TELL ME and i had to learn from a snowflake challenge from someone who doesn't even live here and now i share with you the winners of the name-a-snowplow contest. the entries all came from public school classrooms (k-8) and the plows are in service this winter. sleet caroline! clearopathra! you're killing me squalls! read and giggle.
speaking of mass, the boston aquarium built an old folks home for their geriatric penguins. how cute is that?
in the wake of dump and his administration cutting funding to universities mackenzie scott (aka the former mrs jeff bezos) donated $80m to howard university, an hbcu (historically black colleges and universities, for the non-americans in the audience), which is one of the biggest single donations in the school's history. she got billions of dollars when she split from jeff and she's definitely using her powers for good.
i know thanksgiving was last year and these are probably quite sold out but i must share the "no-thanks" jell-o molds. you could get
joe keery officiated a wedding in his scoops ahoy uniform. for the stranger things fen in the audience. :D
i must share one of the scariest videos i've ever seen - a guy climbing up and then skiing down mt everest with no supplemental oxygen. i'm sorry, but watching him ski down that mountain, especially from the top, is fucking terrifying. i'm not afraid of heights but absolutely not, no way.
sir david attenborough sends a hedgehog on its way. to end with something cute.
dave grohl vs animal drum battle. and something fun. :D
