Day 13 Theme - The Ruler
Feb. 13th, 2026 06:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmk418 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
halfamoonToday's theme is The Ruler.
Here are some ideas to get you started: This could be anyone from the Queen of the Gods to the head of the student council. This woman has power and isn't afraid to use it. What kind of leader is she? How has having power affected her? How did she come into this position- did she have to work for it or was it something given to her? What would happen if she was to give it up?
Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.
Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.
Here are some ideas to get you started: This could be anyone from the Queen of the Gods to the head of the student council. This woman has power and isn't afraid to use it. What kind of leader is she? How has having power affected her? How did she come into this position- did she have to work for it or was it something given to her? What would happen if she was to give it up?
Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.
Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.
Outfit Formula: Quieter Checks
Feb. 13th, 2026 10:56 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
youlookfab_feedQuiet checks (or plaids) are smaller in scale, neutral in colour, and low in contrast. Loud checks are the opposite. Some checks are as quiet as a mouse. So much so that you can barely see that they’re patterned. Those we call false plains.
Onto some outfit inspiration.
1. Jacket
A pair of dark blue pleated wide leg jeans is paired with a short greyed-brown turtleneck. A short jacket in a quiet brown and blue check tops the pairing. White sneakers add a sporty touch. The short sweater and jacket works particularly well with the long wide bottoms, to my eye. Add a bag that matches the palette.
2. Skirt
A dark brown and cream box pleated A-line skirt in a quiet windowpane check is paired with a dark brown sweater. An oversized and short boxy aviator jacket is the trendy topper of choice. Black socks worn with black loafers create a pseudo boot-effect, and match the black jacket. Add a black or earth-toned bag.
3. Trousers
A pair of wide grey and black checked pants are combined with a black top. The check is as quiet as a mouse! You can barely see it’s patterned. Two toppers are layered over the pairing for warmth and an interesting effect. A longer black quilted vest is worn under a shorter chocolate brown leather jacket with furry black collar. Chunky black boots bookend the black hair of the model and match the black in the outfit. Add a brown or black bag.
Here are outfits with lighter brown quiet checked pants.
4. Coat
Last, here’s a quiet check worn in a louder way by remixing it with a bold pattern. A teal and brown geometrically pattered belted dress is combined a with quiet checked coat in the same colours. I like that the coat and dress are similar lengths, although that’s not essential. Teal high heeled Mary Janes match the teal in the patterns. Feel free to wear lower heels or flats. I see tall boots work well here too. Add jewellery, bag, eyewear and watch as desired.
NOTE: Some rich content in this post was omitted because it isn't supported by the feed. Please visit the post on youlookfab.com to see the additional content.
Shokyokusai Tenkatsu (1886-1944)
Feb. 13th, 2026 08:39 pmnnozomi posting in senzenwomenShokyokusai Tenkatsu was born in 1886 in Tokyo, where her father was a pawnbroker; her birth name was Nakai Katsu. When the family business went under in 1895, she was indentured to a local tempura restaurant. The restaurant happened to be owned by the stage magician Shokyokusai Ten’ichi, who admired Katsu’s dexterity and took her on as his apprentice. Apparently he pressured her to become his mistress, and she refused him, to the point of attempting suicide once, and finally gave in upon deciding to become a serious magician herself.
Under the name Tenkatsu, she became a star of Ten’ichi’s theater, which had some seventy apprentices. Her big-boned beauty drew many admirers (and created off-the-wall legends such as “she has a diamond for a false tooth” and “she eats the flesh of mermaids”), and she led the troupe as far afield as the United States to perform; there she picked up the fast-paced American style of stage magic. Upon her return, she dazzled in Western-style sequins from head to foot.
In 1911 she founded her own troupe, with a hundred members, and married her stage manager, Noro Tatsunosuke (although it may have been a paper marriage for practical purposes). A nationwide star known as “the Queen of Magic,” she was so famous that she had her own merchandise, as well as imitators under similar names. In 1915, inspired by the performances of the actresses Kawakami Sadayakko and Matsui Sumako as Salomé, Tenkatsu put on her own magic-heavy version.
In 1935 she made a retirement tour of the country, finally passing on the name Tenkatsu to her niece Kinuko in 1937 and settling down in Tokyo to run an inn with her adopted son Teruya. In 1940, at the age of fifty-four, she met and married Kanazawa Ichiro, a professor of Spanish (her first husband had died in 1927). She died in 1944 at fifty-eight, leaving a long string of former apprentices who had become famous magicians, illusionists, and actors, many of them women.
Sources
https://artexhibition.jp/topics/features/20241222-AEJ2535235/ (Japanese) Photographs and playbills from the time
https://www.tokyomagic.jp/labyrinth/tsuchiya/magicgoods-21.htm (Japanese) Contemporary postcards of Tenkatsu in performance
Under the name Tenkatsu, she became a star of Ten’ichi’s theater, which had some seventy apprentices. Her big-boned beauty drew many admirers (and created off-the-wall legends such as “she has a diamond for a false tooth” and “she eats the flesh of mermaids”), and she led the troupe as far afield as the United States to perform; there she picked up the fast-paced American style of stage magic. Upon her return, she dazzled in Western-style sequins from head to foot.
In 1911 she founded her own troupe, with a hundred members, and married her stage manager, Noro Tatsunosuke (although it may have been a paper marriage for practical purposes). A nationwide star known as “the Queen of Magic,” she was so famous that she had her own merchandise, as well as imitators under similar names. In 1915, inspired by the performances of the actresses Kawakami Sadayakko and Matsui Sumako as Salomé, Tenkatsu put on her own magic-heavy version.
In 1935 she made a retirement tour of the country, finally passing on the name Tenkatsu to her niece Kinuko in 1937 and settling down in Tokyo to run an inn with her adopted son Teruya. In 1940, at the age of fifty-four, she met and married Kanazawa Ichiro, a professor of Spanish (her first husband had died in 1927). She died in 1944 at fifty-eight, leaving a long string of former apprentices who had become famous magicians, illusionists, and actors, many of them women.
Sources
https://artexhibition.jp/topics/features/20241222-AEJ2535235/ (Japanese) Photographs and playbills from the time
https://www.tokyomagic.jp/labyrinth/tsuchiya/magicgoods-21.htm (Japanese) Contemporary postcards of Tenkatsu in performance
I feel conspired against.
Feb. 13th, 2026 11:17 amgoodbyebird+ So.
Night one of trying to go straight to bed: slice my finger open on my razor in the cabinet as I reach for my toothbrush. Spend 25 minutes applying tissue paper waiting for the bleeding to stop before sullenly getting dressed and going to find a bandaid.
Night two, as I'm clearing supper away, a cheerful announcement in the mess hall: we have an extra GB of Internet each! ...That we have to use before midnight and it rolls over to the next week. Well. I can't let that go to waste but hey, I just bought a bunch of comics, they'll eat that GB for breakfast.
iPad: What is this wifi you speak of? Haven't heard of it, I'm not connecting to that.
Me: *beleaguered sigh* I can't not use it. *goes on YouTube and stays up way too late*
+ Anyways. I comfort bought a bunch of comics? Because the pre-order code for the Mitski tickets did in fact not arrive and so no concert for me *sullenly kicks rocks*. It looks like I could have paired it with the Gentleman Jack ballet, and I think the Marie Antoinette exhibit is still on at the VA? Was starting to slowly form a plan and now it ain't happening.
Comics though!
- pre-ordered vol2 of Absolute Wonder Woman, it was 50% off and that seems so silly to me.
- Vol 5 & 6 of Poison Ivy. The joy of realizing I was that far behind :DDD I'm two thirds through vol5 and it may be my favorite?
- Voyager: Way Home 5 issue mini concluded, I picked those up. omnomnom more Janeway.
- Nice House by the Sea vol1 for my creepy lil alien guy making poor decisions about his blorbos.
- Daredevil & Echo mini bc sale and pretty art.
- Defenders: Beyond bc it looked like silly fun (I should re-read Saladin's Exiles tbh)
+ Things I'd like to do when I'm home:
Post that Top 10 prematurely cancelled series list I wanted to do for Snowflake.
Festivids recs.
Getintw_amc rolling.
Last masterpost from forsquares.
Play Dune Awakening, they've made it much easier to jump back in thank fuck.
Maybe the ABC of comics I saw on BlueSky that looked fun.
Open laptop. Make shiny squares. Possibly shiny vid.
Work on my layout.
Update scrapbook.
+ it's just TWO MORE DAYS you can do it Self! Let's go lesbians etcetera.
Night one of trying to go straight to bed: slice my finger open on my razor in the cabinet as I reach for my toothbrush. Spend 25 minutes applying tissue paper waiting for the bleeding to stop before sullenly getting dressed and going to find a bandaid.
Night two, as I'm clearing supper away, a cheerful announcement in the mess hall: we have an extra GB of Internet each! ...That we have to use before midnight and it rolls over to the next week. Well. I can't let that go to waste but hey, I just bought a bunch of comics, they'll eat that GB for breakfast.
iPad: What is this wifi you speak of? Haven't heard of it, I'm not connecting to that.
Me: *beleaguered sigh* I can't not use it. *goes on YouTube and stays up way too late*
+ Anyways. I comfort bought a bunch of comics? Because the pre-order code for the Mitski tickets did in fact not arrive and so no concert for me *sullenly kicks rocks*. It looks like I could have paired it with the Gentleman Jack ballet, and I think the Marie Antoinette exhibit is still on at the VA? Was starting to slowly form a plan and now it ain't happening.
Comics though!
- pre-ordered vol2 of Absolute Wonder Woman, it was 50% off and that seems so silly to me.
- Vol 5 & 6 of Poison Ivy. The joy of realizing I was that far behind :DDD I'm two thirds through vol5 and it may be my favorite?
- Voyager: Way Home 5 issue mini concluded, I picked those up. omnomnom more Janeway.
- Nice House by the Sea vol1 for my creepy lil alien guy making poor decisions about his blorbos.
- Daredevil & Echo mini bc sale and pretty art.
- Defenders: Beyond bc it looked like silly fun (I should re-read Saladin's Exiles tbh)
+ Things I'd like to do when I'm home:
Post that Top 10 prematurely cancelled series list I wanted to do for Snowflake.
Festivids recs.
Get
intw_amc rolling. Last masterpost from forsquares.
Play Dune Awakening, they've made it much easier to jump back in thank fuck.
Maybe the ABC of comics I saw on BlueSky that looked fun.
Open laptop. Make shiny squares. Possibly shiny vid.
Work on my layout.
Update scrapbook.
+ it's just TWO MORE DAYS you can do it Self! Let's go lesbians etcetera.
Friday 13/02/2026
Feb. 13th, 2026 10:27 amlhune posting in 3_good_things_a_dayIt’s my birthday ^___^ yay!
1) I’m going away for the weekend
2) Dinner at a lovely restaurant
3) Visit to an exhibition probably
1) I’m going away for the weekend
2) Dinner at a lovely restaurant
3) Visit to an exhibition probably
[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 27bf64: Add Referrer-Policy: same-origin header to prevent...
Feb. 12th, 2026 11:02 pmgithub posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 27bf64affee672e39f361826ab22fa37d9d34a06 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/27bf64affee672e39f361826ab22fa37d9d34a06 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M cgi-bin/Apache/LiveJournal.pm M cgi-bin/Plack/Middleware/DW/SecurityHeaders.pm
Log Message:
Add Referrer-Policy: same-origin header to prevent username leaks
Fixes #3472
When users click external links from their reading page, the browser sends a Referer header containing their subdomain (e.g., bob.dreamwidth.org), allowing external sites to identify individual Dreamwidth users who clicked the link.
Adding Referrer-Policy: same-origin suppresses the Referer header for all cross-origin requests while preserving it for same-origin navigation. Since usernames are embedded in subdomains, weaker policies like origin-when-cross-origin or strict-origin would still leak the username.
Applied globally (not just reading pages) because external links can appear on any page -- entries, comments, profiles, etc.
Audited all Referer header usage in the codebase: - LJ::check_referer() (used ~15 places for CSRF): safe, returns true when referer is absent - Login ret=1 redirect: already broken (reads header_out not header_in) - OpenID continue_to: returnto param is primary, referer is fallback - EditIcons factory check: same-origin, unaffected - Media hotlink protection: check_referer passes on empty referer - VGift/Admin VGift: unaffected (same-origin or handles empty referer) - Tracking management: minor cosmetic impact only (cancel button and viewing style args lost for cross-subdomain navigation)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 7cdad0: Fix inability to remove retired "other sites" from...
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:47 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 7cdad0c67e2136733120d6331c8e55ffdf1bdae6 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/7cdad0c67e2136733120d6331c8e55ffdf1bdae6 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/Manage/Profile.pm M views/manage/profile.tt
Log Message:
Fix inability to remove retired "other sites" from profile (#3475)
The profile edit page never showed legacy userprop-based services (like
ICQ) because the template checked IF profile_accts which is always
truthy (empty hash ref). Changed to IF profile_accts.size to match
the logic in ProfilePage.pm. Also fixed the legacy branch's missing
counter parameter and increment, and guarded against inserting empty
rows when clearing a legacy entry.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] f66c51: Fix multi-answer polls only recording last selecte...
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:34 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: f66c51a5054ba9a085cd671abc8a3bc8d63223dc https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/f66c51a5054ba9a085cd671abc8a3bc8d63223dc Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/Poll.pm
Log Message:
Fix multi-answer polls only recording last selected option
The poll form POST handler used Hash::MultiValue's hash access to read checkbox values, which only returns the last value per key. Flatten the Hash::MultiValue into a regular hash with comma-joined values, matching how the RPC/AJAX handler already does it. This only affected the non-JS form submission path.
Closes #3473
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 094b2b: Make private message links respect remote's beta i...
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:13 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 094b2bd3a714dc1dc7b53af1b674d5854f801804 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/094b2bd3a714dc1dc7b53af1b674d5854f801804 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M cgi-bin/DW/Logic/ProfilePage.pm M cgi-bin/DW/Logic/UserLinkBar.pm M cgi-bin/LJ/Event/UserMessageRecvd.pm M cgi-bin/LJ/User/Message.pm
Log Message:
Make private message links respect remote's beta inbox selection
Centralize the inbox beta check in message_url and update all locations that build compose URLs: profile page, user link bar, hoverbox RPC, and email/inbox notification reply links.
Closes #3491
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 8dbf8e: Fix undef error viewing cart in admin pay view
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:06 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 8dbf8e57d9d5450a9f7ea6866e3d65892b6ab25a https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/8dbf8e57d9d5450a9f7ea6866e3d65892b6ab25a Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M cgi-bin/LJ/Widget/ShopCart.pm
Log Message:
Fix undef error viewing cart in admin pay view
The admin_col and is_random closures in ShopCart.pm used $_ to access the cart item, but Template Toolkit passes arguments via @, not $. This caused admin_col to crash with "Can't call method 'id' on an undefined value" and is_random to silently always return 'N'.
Closes #3509
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] b8e245: Add South Carolina to under-18 signup restriction
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:01 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: b8e245b8b1d1f0aba6ec605a73a0e1dfc2227833 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/b8e245b8b1d1f0aba6ec605a73a0e1dfc2227833 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M bin/upgrading/en.dat M views/create/account.tt.text
Log Message:
Add South Carolina to under-18 signup restriction
SC passed a law requiring parental monitoring for under-18 users. Update signup strings to include SC alongside TN.
Closes #3513
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
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[dreamwidth/dreamwidth] a182d9: Rate Limiting (#3490)
Feb. 12th, 2026 09:54 pmgithub posting in changelogBranch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: a182d9895fbc8e9709c71c4e4361f1ba83afec23 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/a182d9895fbc8e9709c71c4e4361f1ba83afec23 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-02-12 (Thu, 12 Feb 2026)
Changed paths: M .github/workflows/ci.yml M app.psgi M cgi-bin/Apache/LiveJournal.pm A cgi-bin/DW/API/RateLimit.pm M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/API/REST.pm M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/API/REST/Journals.pm A cgi-bin/DW/RateLimit.pm M cgi-bin/LJ/Console/Command/Suspend.pm M cgi-bin/LJ/Test.pm A cgi-bin/Plack/Middleware/DW/RateLimit.pm M doc/dependencies-cpanm M doc/raw/memcache-keys.txt M etc/config.pl.example A t/rate-limit.t
Log Message:
Rate Limiting (#3490)
Add basic rate limiting module
Add configuration overrides
This enables rate limits to be overridden.
Add API rate limit basics
Update Apache rate limiting to use new DW::RateLimit API
Move rate limiting after start_request() so get_remote() works, switch to rate-string API and check() method. Also restore approvenew setting lost during rebase.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
- Add Plack rate limiting middleware
Port rate limiting from Apache::LiveJournal to a Plack middleware so it works under Starman. Same rates: 100/60s authenticated, 30/60s anonymous. Wired in after DW::Sysban in app.psgi.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
- Fix tidy formatting in rate limiting code
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
- Add rate limit tests to CI workflow
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
- Add CPAN dependency install step to CI workflow
The devcontainer image bakes dependencies at build time, so new deps added in a PR aren't available until the image rebuilds. Running cpm install from the checked-out dependencies-cpanm ensures CI always has the right modules for the code under test.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com
Day 12: Her Sanctuary - The Untamed - Qin Su
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:17 pmsemperfiona posting in halfamoonTitle: [Podfic] the taste of power on her lips
Fandom: The Untamed
Pairing: Qin Su/Wen Qing
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Rape/Non-con
Summary: Qin Su showed her the formal garden, the guest quarters, and the small infirmary — adequate, though of course nothing like Wen Qing's clinic at home — with its garden of medicinal herbs outside. Qin Su gave Wen Qing a considering look as they walked amidst the familiar plants. "You will also want to see our rarer plants, of course."
This was not strictly a requirement of her inspection, but Wen Qing, intrigued, agreed that she would.
Fandom: The Untamed
Pairing: Qin Su/Wen Qing
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Rape/Non-con
Summary: Qin Su showed her the formal garden, the guest quarters, and the small infirmary — adequate, though of course nothing like Wen Qing's clinic at home — with its garden of medicinal herbs outside. Qin Su gave Wen Qing a considering look as they walked amidst the familiar plants. "You will also want to see our rarer plants, of course."
This was not strictly a requirement of her inspection, but Wen Qing, intrigued, agreed that she would.
Updatery
Feb. 13th, 2026 02:37 pmmergatrudeReading: January was the month of abandoned books. It's probably more reflective of my and my current state of mind than the fault of these authors, but getting my brain to engage has been a struggle.
It's February now, and I finally managed to get through This Is How We Lose the Time War by dint of listening to it on the bus. I feel that it could've benefited from two readers with more distinctively different voices, but other than that...it was a very chewy story, and I had to take a break afterwards so I could process it.
Now I'm trying to listen to To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers, but mostly my brain is too tired to do more than listen to soothing music.
Watching: Dude has been making me watch Rick & Morty from the 2nd season. Only watchable in small doses. /o\ We've also nabbed my sister's box set to watch the extended editions of Lord of the Rings, plus the fun documentaries and bonus material, and we both agree they make a hell of a lot more sense than the theatrical releases and now I completely understand the LotRPS phenomenon.
No gaming to speak of.
Crafting: I'm trying to finish the blue cabled sock yarn and I'm so close but I overdid it and borked my thigh. I'm looking into an e-spinner but they're pricey. I also (perhaps rashly) promised to knit a jumper (sweater) for my brother to replace his favourite (navy with a fair isle yoke). I've not really done much colourwork, but the sleeve cuff looks good. Sadly, I decided the size was wrong and am going to have to undo it all, unless just go back to the cuff and fudge the increases from there.
Other stuff: Work is shit. I'm looking into when I can afford to retire, but I still have a couple of kids to support.
The weather has been stupidly hot. We had a string of days that were in the 39C - 41C range, and then we finally got a smidge of rain. Not nearly enough, but it filled our rainwater tank at least.
It's February now, and I finally managed to get through This Is How We Lose the Time War by dint of listening to it on the bus. I feel that it could've benefited from two readers with more distinctively different voices, but other than that...it was a very chewy story, and I had to take a break afterwards so I could process it.
Now I'm trying to listen to To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers, but mostly my brain is too tired to do more than listen to soothing music.
Watching: Dude has been making me watch Rick & Morty from the 2nd season. Only watchable in small doses. /o\ We've also nabbed my sister's box set to watch the extended editions of Lord of the Rings, plus the fun documentaries and bonus material, and we both agree they make a hell of a lot more sense than the theatrical releases and now I completely understand the LotRPS phenomenon.
No gaming to speak of.
Crafting: I'm trying to finish the blue cabled sock yarn and I'm so close but I overdid it and borked my thigh. I'm looking into an e-spinner but they're pricey. I also (perhaps rashly) promised to knit a jumper (sweater) for my brother to replace his favourite (navy with a fair isle yoke). I've not really done much colourwork, but the sleeve cuff looks good. Sadly, I decided the size was wrong and am going to have to undo it all, unless just go back to the cuff and fudge the increases from there.
Other stuff: Work is shit. I'm looking into when I can afford to retire, but I still have a couple of kids to support.
The weather has been stupidly hot. We had a string of days that were in the 39C - 41C range, and then we finally got a smidge of rain. Not nearly enough, but it filled our rainwater tank at least.
work in progress wednesday | 911: Retrograde Ch8 Update
Feb. 11th, 2026 05:52 pmcypresssunnFandom Fifty 2026: Post #4
Title: Retrograde
Fandom: 9-1-1
Rating: Mature
Chapter: 8
Words: 89k {total}
That’s what Eddie gets to do, it seems. He gets to take up space inside Evan, inhabiting all the thoughts he can’t control. Even on a day dedicated to not seeing or hearing from him, Eddie is always just over his shoulder, riding along in his blind-spots, his voice in Evan’s eardrums.
Open your eyes for me, baby. Where does it hurt?
Evan shivers. Then blanches. Because, wait, no.
Eddie never said—
work in progress wednesday | TBS&TDH: Half Gone Ch4 Update
Feb. 11th, 2026 07:42 amcypresssunnFandom Fifty 2026: Post #3
Title: Half Gone
Fandom: The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself
Rating: Explicit
Chapter: 4
Words: 17 k
Annalise is lounging on the outdoor settee with a tawdry paperback when they slog back up to the villa. She wiggles an eyebrow at their obvious dishevelment; both of are them damp, clothes unkempt from having redressed in a hurry, only managing to rinse the worst of the blood off with seawater. Gabriel’s half carrying Nathan up the stairs to the front door all the while managing to keep one hand firm to his ass. A fact Annalise very much notices.
“You two took your time.”
“We did, didn’t we? Particularly lovely sunset.”
“Hm. I’ll bet.” Snapping her book shut, Annalise flickers off a grin to Nathan, asking brightly: “Get anything out of him?
.
Different places to call home.
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:42 pmhannahEarlier this week, I learned there's a squirrel nesting on the roof of a nearby empty house. A squirrel on a sidewalk less than a block from a park isn't unusual; a squirrel running away from the park is worth noticing. It ran along the concrete until it got to a tree, and about halfway up the trunk I saw it had some nesting materials in its mouth. Sticks, dried grass, nothing that could be mistaken for food. It went all the way up the trunk, well past where there'd be room to nest inside the tree, and jumped into the thin, empty branches, running along and over and finally making one last jump from the tree onto a row house that's been on the market for more than a few months at this point. Long enough a squirrel would feel safe nesting somewhere on the roof.
Yesterday, I got to feed a few urban pigeons after a couple of grizzled old-school construction workers were generous with the birdseed they'd brought with them that morning; none of the pigeons flew onto my hands, but a particularity bold one kept grabbing at my fingers, possibly to pull my hand closer so it'd be first in the pecking order.
Today, I saw a raven; it was close enough to see every tail feather, and make out the distinctive spade shape. Also to see how utterly gigantic they are compared to a lot of other birds. It was carrying some kind of food item in its beak, but I couldn't make out what it was, just that it'd been opportunistic and scavenged it from a garbage bin.
You've got to keep your eyes open for these things.
Yesterday, I got to feed a few urban pigeons after a couple of grizzled old-school construction workers were generous with the birdseed they'd brought with them that morning; none of the pigeons flew onto my hands, but a particularity bold one kept grabbing at my fingers, possibly to pull my hand closer so it'd be first in the pecking order.
Today, I saw a raven; it was close enough to see every tail feather, and make out the distinctive spade shape. Also to see how utterly gigantic they are compared to a lot of other birds. It was carrying some kind of food item in its beak, but I couldn't make out what it was, just that it'd been opportunistic and scavenged it from a garbage bin.
You've got to keep your eyes open for these things.
Day 12: Fic - Power Rangers (2017) - Trini
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:59 pmalchemicink posting in halfamoonTrini in this movie is so fascinating to me. She definitely needed this kind of place.
Title: away from it all
Fandom: Power Rangers (2017)
Character: Trini
Rating: G
Length: 100 words
Summary: Trini finds a secluded place for herself
Link: here on ao3 or you can read it under the cut below
( Read more... )
Title: away from it all
Fandom: Power Rangers (2017)
Character: Trini
Rating: G
Length: 100 words
Summary: Trini finds a secluded place for herself
Link: here on ao3 or you can read it under the cut below
( Read more... )
Best birthday gift. Canada won its first game in men's hockey
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:39 pmwriterlibrarianWhat a power play!
Really. It's scary. Less than 20 s into it, Crosby >McDavid>MacKinnon>into the goal.
Scary https://x.com/
TeamCanada/status/2022007121077023207?s=20
But fun to watch.
Go Canada!
Also Macklin Celebrini scored. Marner jumped so high on Stone's goal. McDavid became Wilson for a few minutes. Binnington kept his cool... and... Captain Crosby was really, really scary.
Onwards to tomorrow's game.
Really. It's scary. Less than 20 s into it, Crosby >McDavid>MacKinnon>into the goal.
Scary https://x.com/
TeamCanada/status/2022007121077023207?s=20
But fun to watch.
Go Canada!
Also Macklin Celebrini scored. Marner jumped so high on Stone's goal. McDavid became Wilson for a few minutes. Binnington kept his cool... and... Captain Crosby was really, really scary.
Onwards to tomorrow's game.
10trueloves: mask
Feb. 12th, 2026 06:02 pmsenmutAO3 Link | The Morning After (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dinah Lance
Characters: Dinah Lance, Barbara Gordon
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis, [Birds of Prey Vol. 1 - 1999-2009]
Summary:
Dinah reached across the bed to find it empty. The transfer assist was already stowed, and the bed was cold. She sighed softly to herself, knowing she could not actually complain. Just because they had chosen to go to bed together, to take another step in their partnership didn't mean the demands on Oracle were any less.
She got up, carefully stowing her costume into the duffel bag, then slipped into her gym clothes, with a shirt that said "Certified Wildcat" on it. She wondered if that particular honorary uncle would be up in New York or working on the new gym he was opening down here today.
It would be easier to spend the morning after punching things, after all. Dinah just wasn't ready to decide if this was serious, if she was strong enough to share a hero's life again.
"You really are a piece of work, Junior. Should've thought of that before you seduced her last night," she muttered to herself.
Once she had her tennis shoes tied, she grabbed the bag and headed out of the bedroom, listening to the tap of keys as she got closer to Oracle's workspace. Really, what the hell had she been thinking? Barbara was closer to Roy in age, she was always handling some fire or other, and … Dinah didn't live a peaceful life.
"Give me five to get some vital connections made for Mr. Terrific, and we can grab breakfast," Barbara called over her shoulder, not really looking at the woman that had almost convinced herself this was a mistake.
Almost.
The offer of such a domestic moment after what they had shared hit Dinah in the pit of her stomach, before she grabbed her courage.
"I'll go see what's appetizing," Dinah said, putting the bag down to stay.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dinah Lance
Characters: Dinah Lance, Barbara Gordon
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis, [Birds of Prey Vol. 1 - 1999-2009]
Summary:
It's the morning after, and doubt hits.
The Morning After
Dinah reached across the bed to find it empty. The transfer assist was already stowed, and the bed was cold. She sighed softly to herself, knowing she could not actually complain. Just because they had chosen to go to bed together, to take another step in their partnership didn't mean the demands on Oracle were any less.
She got up, carefully stowing her costume into the duffel bag, then slipped into her gym clothes, with a shirt that said "Certified Wildcat" on it. She wondered if that particular honorary uncle would be up in New York or working on the new gym he was opening down here today.
It would be easier to spend the morning after punching things, after all. Dinah just wasn't ready to decide if this was serious, if she was strong enough to share a hero's life again.
"You really are a piece of work, Junior. Should've thought of that before you seduced her last night," she muttered to herself.
Once she had her tennis shoes tied, she grabbed the bag and headed out of the bedroom, listening to the tap of keys as she got closer to Oracle's workspace. Really, what the hell had she been thinking? Barbara was closer to Roy in age, she was always handling some fire or other, and … Dinah didn't live a peaceful life.
"Give me five to get some vital connections made for Mr. Terrific, and we can grab breakfast," Barbara called over her shoulder, not really looking at the woman that had almost convinced herself this was a mistake.
Almost.
The offer of such a domestic moment after what they had shared hit Dinah in the pit of her stomach, before she grabbed her courage.
"I'll go see what's appetizing," Dinah said, putting the bag down to stay.
Day 12 - Fic - Anne of Green Gables - Una Meredith
Feb. 12th, 2026 04:02 pmineffablecabbage posting in halfamoon Title: What I Now Know to be True
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables
Prompt: "Sanctuary"
Pairing/Characters: Una Meredith (Una/Walter + Una & Walter)
Rating: Teen for war related amputations
Word count: 3929
Content Notes: Asexual character, marriage of convenience, amputation
Summary: In the years that they believe that Walter is dead, Una discovers some important truths about herself. (And Walter about himself.)
Day 12: Fic Self Rec - Sukeban Deka II - Saki II/Okyo/Yukino
Feb. 12th, 2026 03:20 pmlinky posting in halfamoonFor today I have a self-rec of a fic from Sukeban Deka II that I feel fits into the prompt of "Her Sanctuary".
Title: A Night In
Fandom: Sukeban Deka II
Pairing/Characters: Saki II/Okyo/Yukino
Rating: G
Word count: 1011
Content Notes: Literal Sleeping Together
Summary: When their latest mission had been completed, Yukino had offered everyone to stay the night in a nearby hotel.
Read on Ao3
Title: A Night In
Fandom: Sukeban Deka II
Pairing/Characters: Saki II/Okyo/Yukino
Rating: G
Word count: 1011
Content Notes: Literal Sleeping Together
Summary: When their latest mission had been completed, Yukino had offered everyone to stay the night in a nearby hotel.
Read on Ao3
updates of a sort
Feb. 12th, 2026 02:34 pmtwistedchickSweetie has a vet appointment tomorrow. I think she's constipated; she is peeing (including on the back room rug, which I sprayed peroxide on after mopping it up), but not passing anything. She is not eating, though I think from the pee volume she is drinking water. And she is still mainly hiding behind stuff under the ancient (possibly post-colonial era fourth-hand) desk with the enormous 92-year-old sort-of-easy-chair that is hard to move). Since she is able to get up and walk well enough, I will slide down the front of the chair under the desk tomorrow and try to move her, which will make her get up and walk out, where Steve can grab her.
My throat is okay now. Maybe something is going around? A one-day sore throat that vanishes?
My throat is okay now. Maybe something is going around? A one-day sore throat that vanishes?
Does this qualify as banality of evil?
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:09 pmoursin"Hate brings views": Confessions of a London fake news TikToker:
London is being used as the backdrop for inaccurate viral videos that reach enormous audiences around the world by playing into the worst stereotypes about the capital.
This was an investigation into one man who was doing this thing:
Last summer, the man says, he found himself sitting in his car, analysing trends on TikTok. His day job was conducting viewings for an estate agency but he was trying to come up with an idea for a viral video account that could be run as a money-making side-hustle.
“I was thinking of unique videos I can do for people,” he says on the tape.
That’s when he had a brainwave: “Hate brings views.”
At that time protests outside asylum hotels were spreading across the country. The man says he noticed “far-right people” were among the most engaged on TikTok. They were easy to rile up: “They hate such videos of illegal migrants. I was like, why not?”
....
The TikToker appears to have no concept of the potential real-world impact of his uploads, instead considering everything in terms of view counts and pieces of content.
So he made fake videos about immigrants being housed in prime properties, to which he had access through his job.
He had originally found he could make money through posting videos on TikTok but 'TikTok immediately deleted his account because he was just stealing other people’s videos and reposting them'.
There seems to be just a total disconnect going on in the guy's mind (or he's just ethically vacuous) and generally he does not appear the sharpest blade in the drawer:
Despite fostering online hatred, the man recorded.... insists he doesn’t personally share the views expressed on his TikTok account. Instead, he suggests his fake anti-migrant house tour videos were just a way to game the algorithm, build an audience, and hopefully make money.
He's also
baffled. He can’t understand how London Centric traced his anonymous hate-filled London TikTok account back to his employer by geolocating the wheelie bins in his videos.
“I thought no one’s gonna notice that,” he says. “Why would someone?”
As if people aren't doing this sort of thing all the time.
Day 12: Fic - Astrid - Raphaelle Coste, Astrid Nielson
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:11 ampotentiality_26 posting in halfamoonTitle: Safe at Home
Fandom: Astrid
Pairing/Characters: Raphaelle Coste/Astrid Nielson
Rating: G
Summary:
A/N: I've written a little double drabble for every season of Astrid I've seen. This one is for S5; "Her Sanctuary" fits so well! Also fills my 100ships table prompt #13 (Blue).
( Safe at Home )
Fandom: Astrid
Pairing/Characters: Raphaelle Coste/Astrid Nielson
Rating: G
Summary:
A/N: I've written a little double drabble for every season of Astrid I've seen. This one is for S5; "Her Sanctuary" fits so well! Also fills my 100ships table prompt #13 (Blue).
( Safe at Home )
The Last Hour Between Worlds
Feb. 12th, 2026 11:30 amboxofdelightsAs always, the first thing that hit me was the smell of thousands of herbs and flowers, a dry, green, enticing smell that got into my lungs and soothed the world away, mortal peril forgotten. A warm light bathed the place, shining from several living octopus-like creatures tangled in the ceiling beams. Rows and rows of hundreds of little tins and jars lined the walls, all of them labeled in Laemura's spidery handwriting: Apple Mint Innocence. Lavender Regret. Smoky Cinnamon Vengeance. Doomed Foreknowledge With Toasted Walnut And Sage.
from The Last Hour Between Worlds, by Melissa Caruso
media update
Feb. 12th, 2026 01:11 pmomensTV: finished season 1 of 1670 with Kelly but then got sidetracked before continuing with season 2, the part I actually haven't seen. Have to get back on track!
Finished Amphibia and misted up a bit. That was a good show & I enjoyed it. I liked having a ten years later glimpse ;-;
Finished Hilda and also enjoyed that! They crammed so much backstory into the last few episodes, wow. I would have loved to see more seasons! I liked that they grew. Physically, I mean, but also, yk, in other ways. My biggest complaint at the start of the show was that I couldn't stand David's baby voice, and I don't even know when it changed but now I'm like oh obviously it was intentional :D all season three he is constantly eating something because he's a 13yo boy now, lolol.
I'm midway through Way of the House Husband, which is very lulzy.
Books: I remember reading. Kinda. Sorta. (Trying to come up with a plan to bring back reading in English without feeling like I should be doing something else because there are many books I want to be reading!!)
Games: still playing ACNH, still annoyed it's still snowy >:/
Music: this bad bunny parody about Canadian winters made me lol :P
In other music news, a lot of recs for Mexican emo on reddit today, I am time traveling, here. I don't think I will stick it out but I am enjoying the trip :D
Writing: I wrote?????? LOL. It was fun. A lil idea that's going nowhere, but I enjoyed writing a few hundred words about it. Been a long time!!
Finished Amphibia and misted up a bit. That was a good show & I enjoyed it. I liked having a ten years later glimpse ;-;
Finished Hilda and also enjoyed that! They crammed so much backstory into the last few episodes, wow. I would have loved to see more seasons! I liked that they grew. Physically, I mean, but also, yk, in other ways. My biggest complaint at the start of the show was that I couldn't stand David's baby voice, and I don't even know when it changed but now I'm like oh obviously it was intentional :D all season three he is constantly eating something because he's a 13yo boy now, lolol.
I'm midway through Way of the House Husband, which is very lulzy.
Books: I remember reading. Kinda. Sorta. (Trying to come up with a plan to bring back reading in English without feeling like I should be doing something else because there are many books I want to be reading!!)
Games: still playing ACNH, still annoyed it's still snowy >:/
Music: this bad bunny parody about Canadian winters made me lol :P
In other music news, a lot of recs for Mexican emo on reddit today, I am time traveling, here. I don't think I will stick it out but I am enjoying the trip :D
Writing: I wrote?????? LOL. It was fun. A lil idea that's going nowhere, but I enjoyed writing a few hundred words about it. Been a long time!!
a memory in a bottle
Feb. 12th, 2026 09:36 amactiaslunarisWhen I was a teenager, I went to camp. I went to camp for several years running and the last time I went, I was a kitchen worker (fun but grueling work).
The camp was segregated with boys in one cabin and girls in another. Because this was Corsicana, Texas, the cabins were air-conditioned, and we had bunk beds. There were also scorpions that occasionally tried to room with us, but I only ever saw the one, tiny, pale beige one that was easily disposed of.
Because there were so many girls, always and ever, each summer, they all came with their fragrances, and their hair-curlers, and their noise as they got ready. I, the quiet one, would usually choose a back-corner bottom bunk and put my headphones in to listen to music on a very small radio as I went to sleep. It was the early 1990s. No smart-phones, only books, if you brought them.
We were encouraged to spend most of the time outside. That was always 100°+ Fahrenheit. I spent a lot of the time on the swings, or in the shade, eating snacks, reading, and watching people.
There was always evening assembly, and the girls took that opportunity to make use of their hair-curlers and fragrances, which I could not afford to get, nor could my family for me. It didn't matter.
I spent time watching them get ready, passing hair decorations to each other, and enjoying the various smells that mingled around me. Aqua Net hair-spray and Love's Baby Soft and gel and Poison Dior, carrying so much significance, wordless.
I spent the last year trying to track down a particular fragrance I remembered from those evenings of commotion, and so I spent many a day looking at lists of perfumes from the late 1980s and early 1990s. I made lists on Amazon, and did my best to acquire for testing, to find the one I remembered. I thought I had found it in Exclamation by Coty, but it wasn't quite right. Not piquant enough, too soft. It had the sweet fruitiness I thought was correct, but something was lacking.
I did more research; found a site that listed Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson. This spray had a very distinctive bottle: a pink and black cap and clear glass enclosure for the liquid, with a pink plastic coil circling around the spray tube. I recalled this with clarity! One girl had possessed this and I was fascinated by that pink coil. I'd never seen another bottle include something like that.
Many perfumes from that decade are no longer in production. Original full bottles sell on Ebay for hundreds of dollars.
I took a chance on a dupe for Electric Youth, also found on Ebay. I bought it last year, and when I sprayed it, I thought, "Yes, this is it. This is the scent that I remember!" It had the piquancy; the spice that was lacking in Exclamation.
However, it is not perfect by itself. A memory can be captured in fragrance, but the combined air around me was what I remembered most. Exclamation and this dupe Neon Youth in combination are the memory I wanted to have back, a bit of myself I can wear on me that was gone but is now back to clothe me in nostalgia.
The camp was segregated with boys in one cabin and girls in another. Because this was Corsicana, Texas, the cabins were air-conditioned, and we had bunk beds. There were also scorpions that occasionally tried to room with us, but I only ever saw the one, tiny, pale beige one that was easily disposed of.
Because there were so many girls, always and ever, each summer, they all came with their fragrances, and their hair-curlers, and their noise as they got ready. I, the quiet one, would usually choose a back-corner bottom bunk and put my headphones in to listen to music on a very small radio as I went to sleep. It was the early 1990s. No smart-phones, only books, if you brought them.
We were encouraged to spend most of the time outside. That was always 100°+ Fahrenheit. I spent a lot of the time on the swings, or in the shade, eating snacks, reading, and watching people.
There was always evening assembly, and the girls took that opportunity to make use of their hair-curlers and fragrances, which I could not afford to get, nor could my family for me. It didn't matter.
I spent time watching them get ready, passing hair decorations to each other, and enjoying the various smells that mingled around me. Aqua Net hair-spray and Love's Baby Soft and gel and Poison Dior, carrying so much significance, wordless.
I spent the last year trying to track down a particular fragrance I remembered from those evenings of commotion, and so I spent many a day looking at lists of perfumes from the late 1980s and early 1990s. I made lists on Amazon, and did my best to acquire for testing, to find the one I remembered. I thought I had found it in Exclamation by Coty, but it wasn't quite right. Not piquant enough, too soft. It had the sweet fruitiness I thought was correct, but something was lacking.
I did more research; found a site that listed Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson. This spray had a very distinctive bottle: a pink and black cap and clear glass enclosure for the liquid, with a pink plastic coil circling around the spray tube. I recalled this with clarity! One girl had possessed this and I was fascinated by that pink coil. I'd never seen another bottle include something like that.
Many perfumes from that decade are no longer in production. Original full bottles sell on Ebay for hundreds of dollars.
I took a chance on a dupe for Electric Youth, also found on Ebay. I bought it last year, and when I sprayed it, I thought, "Yes, this is it. This is the scent that I remember!" It had the piquancy; the spice that was lacking in Exclamation.
However, it is not perfect by itself. A memory can be captured in fragrance, but the combined air around me was what I remembered most. Exclamation and this dupe Neon Youth in combination are the memory I wanted to have back, a bit of myself I can wear on me that was gone but is now back to clothe me in nostalgia.
Day 11 - Fic - Star Wars - Shmi Skywalker
Feb. 12th, 2026 11:14 amineffablecabbage posting in halfamoon Title: Planting Seeds
Fandom: Star Wars: Prequel Trilogy
Characters: Shmi Skywalker
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 836
Word Count: 836
Summary:
"Now, be brave," she tells her son. "And don't look back."
"Now, be brave," she tells her son. "And don't look back."
Her dreams are of battlefields, fallen men, slain women, and littered droid parts.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1.01. - 1.06
Feb. 12th, 2026 05:10 pmselenakBecause there was good word of mouth from various friends and trusty reviewers, I decided to give the latest Star Trek show a go, have now marathoned the six episodes released so far, and can report that word of mouth was correct: this latest installment, which is set in the 31rd century last seen in Star Trek: Discovery, shows none of the weaknesses of the third season of ST: SNW and is actually really good. Mind you, watching the first three episodes I thought, okay, they're good, not not groundbreaking, and some of the reactions made me expect more, but then came episodes 3 - 6 . building on the previous ones and fleshing out more characters, and I went "wow!" myself. And also "awwwww" at certain points. More beneath the spoiler cut.
The reason why I wasn't wowed by the first three in the way I was by the later three is that they included some clichés I never much cared for, such as a Marine, err, Starfleet instructor yelling "give me 100 pushups" . And the only school/school prank war I enjoyed fictionally was Das fliegende Klassenzimmer by Erich Kästner, plus I thought, really, do we need more mean Vulcans. These nitpicks aside (and the prank war did have its plusses as well), the first three episodes do a solid job in introducing the premise, the setting, and some of the main characters. They also showed versatality in format: the pilot episode has more action while the second episode is a classic ST ethical dilemma with lots of debate type of episode (and not the last one of the first six), and the third episode while having some serious character stuff mainly goes for broad comedy. Which is all fine, and confidence-building, but with episode 4, the show simply becomes more than that as we get our first hardcore (previously supporting) character episode which simultanously is an ethical dilemma episode and adds to the overall Star Trek lore because it tells us how the Klingons fared post Burn, something Disco did not. Now after a quiet spotlight on supporting character episode I expected the next to revert back to ensemble or main character format, but no! We got another " (different) supporting character in the spotlight" episode - which also doubled as an unabashed love declaration to one Benjamin Sisko in particular and DS9 in general. Which was great, because while other more recent ST shows did include some nods to DS9, it never got as much love as TOS and TNG did from the new kids on the block. Until now. And it was especially lovely to see because it did nostalgia right instead of going ST: Picard season 3, sigh, or follow ST:STNW's increasing tendency to become ST: TOS in its cast. Instead, it did a Star Trek: Prodigy. By which I mean: The love for the "old" characters as strong and great - but it was used in service of character fleshing out and growth of the new characters of the new show. Complimenting them, instead of replacing them. Homage, instead of a rerun. It was great. And then episode 6 went for a taut space thriller while also using what we learned so far about the characters and sharpening the profile of who seems to be the season's main villain. (And it took me until this episode to finally recall where I had heard the voice before. It was John Adams, I mean Paul Giametti!)
One more general observation: As a Discovery fan, I was delighted to see Admiral Vance again in most of the episodes, being his calm and responsible self, ditto for Jett Reno snarkng and being dead-pan as ever, and a bit surprised that Mary Wiseman has yet to make an appearance because I thought she was supposed to be a regular. Speaking of Discovery, its last two seasons feature a supporting guest star, Laira Rillak, who has both Bajoran and Cardassian heritage, and I thought that was great and that by the 31st Centuy, there ought to be a lot more "hybrids" of spacefaring nations with centuries of interaction . Starfleet Academy thought so, too, and we got indeed not just another hybrid in the regular cast but also several others popping up. And I really like the sheer number of middle-aged women we get in addition to the kids. Oh, and evidently the return to Discovery territory also meant the return to featured queer relationships. Excellent.
( Now onto more spoilery territory with comments on the individiual characters and their development so far. )
In conclusion: it's a really good first season so far! May it continue to be!
The reason why I wasn't wowed by the first three in the way I was by the later three is that they included some clichés I never much cared for, such as a Marine, err, Starfleet instructor yelling "give me 100 pushups" . And the only school/school prank war I enjoyed fictionally was Das fliegende Klassenzimmer by Erich Kästner, plus I thought, really, do we need more mean Vulcans. These nitpicks aside (and the prank war did have its plusses as well), the first three episodes do a solid job in introducing the premise, the setting, and some of the main characters. They also showed versatality in format: the pilot episode has more action while the second episode is a classic ST ethical dilemma with lots of debate type of episode (and not the last one of the first six), and the third episode while having some serious character stuff mainly goes for broad comedy. Which is all fine, and confidence-building, but with episode 4, the show simply becomes more than that as we get our first hardcore (previously supporting) character episode which simultanously is an ethical dilemma episode and adds to the overall Star Trek lore because it tells us how the Klingons fared post Burn, something Disco did not. Now after a quiet spotlight on supporting character episode I expected the next to revert back to ensemble or main character format, but no! We got another " (different) supporting character in the spotlight" episode - which also doubled as an unabashed love declaration to one Benjamin Sisko in particular and DS9 in general. Which was great, because while other more recent ST shows did include some nods to DS9, it never got as much love as TOS and TNG did from the new kids on the block. Until now. And it was especially lovely to see because it did nostalgia right instead of going ST: Picard season 3, sigh, or follow ST:STNW's increasing tendency to become ST: TOS in its cast. Instead, it did a Star Trek: Prodigy. By which I mean: The love for the "old" characters as strong and great - but it was used in service of character fleshing out and growth of the new characters of the new show. Complimenting them, instead of replacing them. Homage, instead of a rerun. It was great. And then episode 6 went for a taut space thriller while also using what we learned so far about the characters and sharpening the profile of who seems to be the season's main villain. (And it took me until this episode to finally recall where I had heard the voice before. It was John Adams, I mean Paul Giametti!)
One more general observation: As a Discovery fan, I was delighted to see Admiral Vance again in most of the episodes, being his calm and responsible self, ditto for Jett Reno snarkng and being dead-pan as ever, and a bit surprised that Mary Wiseman has yet to make an appearance because I thought she was supposed to be a regular. Speaking of Discovery, its last two seasons feature a supporting guest star, Laira Rillak, who has both Bajoran and Cardassian heritage, and I thought that was great and that by the 31st Centuy, there ought to be a lot more "hybrids" of spacefaring nations with centuries of interaction . Starfleet Academy thought so, too, and we got indeed not just another hybrid in the regular cast but also several others popping up. And I really like the sheer number of middle-aged women we get in addition to the kids. Oh, and evidently the return to Discovery territory also meant the return to featured queer relationships. Excellent.
( Now onto more spoilery territory with comments on the individiual characters and their development so far. )
In conclusion: it's a really good first season so far! May it continue to be!
Day 12: Fic - Hey Arnold! - Helga Pataki
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:49 amlightbird posting in halfamoonTitle/Link: A Place Of Her Own
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki
Rating: G
halfamoon prompt: her sanctuary
Summary: The walk-in closet was too small to qualify as a separate room, but it was large enough for her to sit comfortably and hide.
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki
Rating: G
halfamoon prompt: her sanctuarySummary: The walk-in closet was too small to qualify as a separate room, but it was large enough for her to sit comfortably and hide.
Nova by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:10 ampauraqueIn the 32nd century, Captain Lorq Von Ray assembles a ragtag crew for a dangerous—some would say crazy—mission to harvest the superheavy element illyrion from a dying star. If they succeed, it would threaten tech megacorp Red-Shift's economic stranglehold on interstellar travel, inaugurating a new era of opportunity for struggling outer colonies. But Captain Von Ray's motives aren't just political, they're also personal, as flashbacks reveal his long history with the psychologically twisted brother-and-sister heirs to the Red-Shift fortune.
I really enjoyed this. The space opera plot is an effective backdrop for some nicely nuanced character work and social commentary. Money and class are still driving forces in this future, and people are shaped by that as much as they are by advancing technology and the cultural changes that have come with it. Besides the Captain and the Reds, the other focal characters are two crew members from Earth, one an emotionally guarded Romani kid who's gone against his people's prohibition on cybernetic implants to access job opportunities in space, and the other a socially awkward Harvard grad who has tens of thousands of notes for a novel (an ancient, dead art form) but hasn't yet written a single page. I love the development of their tentative friendship; it feels very honest about how hard it is to relate across cultural divides, and also very affectionate towards both characters. It's like the author is rooting for them even though he can't truthfully make it easy.
The worldbuilding really worked for me. There are enough surprising details and curious asides to make the galaxy feel lived-in and realistically messy, but not so many that it feels scattered. Delany has a very visual prose style and can convey exactly what he sees in his mind's eye, whether it's the unfurling sail of a glittering space yacht or the uneasy twitch of a character's cheek, and that adds to the vivid atmosphere.
I also appreciated the subtle exploration of disability in the context of a society where many things can be medically "fixed" that can't be in our own world. The author knows that this in itself would not "fix" people's attitudes about their own embodiment and others', and that elimination of bodily differences is not a utopian impulse. Characters are allowed to have complex feelings about their physical abilities—the ones they're born with, the ones they've lost, and the ones they've gained through technology—and aren't required to fully explain themselves just because other people want to know.
Criticisms? I think the book has too many characters; some of the less foregrounded crew members don't get much attention and it might have been better to drop a couple so we could spend more time with the rest. The role of female characters is particularly limited, and when they do appear, sometimes their boobs are mentioned for no reason. (I am of course aware that Delany is gay. Perhaps he was subconsciously influenced by what he was reading from other writers at the time.) Other than that, this was a good read.
Content note: A character's pet is harmed, but recovers.
I really enjoyed this. The space opera plot is an effective backdrop for some nicely nuanced character work and social commentary. Money and class are still driving forces in this future, and people are shaped by that as much as they are by advancing technology and the cultural changes that have come with it. Besides the Captain and the Reds, the other focal characters are two crew members from Earth, one an emotionally guarded Romani kid who's gone against his people's prohibition on cybernetic implants to access job opportunities in space, and the other a socially awkward Harvard grad who has tens of thousands of notes for a novel (an ancient, dead art form) but hasn't yet written a single page. I love the development of their tentative friendship; it feels very honest about how hard it is to relate across cultural divides, and also very affectionate towards both characters. It's like the author is rooting for them even though he can't truthfully make it easy.
The worldbuilding really worked for me. There are enough surprising details and curious asides to make the galaxy feel lived-in and realistically messy, but not so many that it feels scattered. Delany has a very visual prose style and can convey exactly what he sees in his mind's eye, whether it's the unfurling sail of a glittering space yacht or the uneasy twitch of a character's cheek, and that adds to the vivid atmosphere.
I also appreciated the subtle exploration of disability in the context of a society where many things can be medically "fixed" that can't be in our own world. The author knows that this in itself would not "fix" people's attitudes about their own embodiment and others', and that elimination of bodily differences is not a utopian impulse. Characters are allowed to have complex feelings about their physical abilities—the ones they're born with, the ones they've lost, and the ones they've gained through technology—and aren't required to fully explain themselves just because other people want to know.
Criticisms? I think the book has too many characters; some of the less foregrounded crew members don't get much attention and it might have been better to drop a couple so we could spend more time with the rest. The role of female characters is particularly limited, and when they do appear, sometimes their boobs are mentioned for no reason. (I am of course aware that Delany is gay. Perhaps he was subconsciously influenced by what he was reading from other writers at the time.) Other than that, this was a good read.
Content note: A character's pet is harmed, but recovers.
Indivisible's 2026 Strategy Arc: Toward Enforcing the Midterm Elections
Feb. 12th, 2026 09:29 ammecurtinIf it seems as though Trump plans to steal the midterm elections, you’re right. If it seems as though there’s no way to stop him, you’re wrong. Indivisible’s strategy for the whole year is built around the midterm elections:
- making sure the Democrats who are elected are actually going to fight fascism instead of going along with it.
- making sure that the November election is free & fair, that we win, and *that the results are enforced*.
The critical, unprecedented period will be between Election Day and January 3, 2027, when the new Congress is seated. Indivisible National and other parts of the anti-MAGA movement have been taking advice from scholars of authoritarianism like Erica Chenowith. They say that one of the most dangerous times for a democracy under threat is right around or after an election that the authoritarians are losing. That’s the point where mass mobilization, *society-wide mobilization*, may be critical.
Chenowith and their colleagues have found that authoritarian governments will fall when when 3.5% of the population is committed to active, nonviolent resistance. For the U.S., that means we need at least 10 million people ready to make sure that when they try Jan 6 2.0 (and they *will*) it stops, flails, and falls over.
To get to that point we have to BUILD to that point.
We KNOW the Trump Regime, the corrupt SCOTUS, and state & local level MAGA will be attacking our right & ability to vote in every way they can. We’ve mostly done what we can already with gerrymandering and counter-gerrymandering, from now on it’s going to be what Leah Greenberg calls legal whack-a-mole, where we all have to be alert to attacks on the right to vote and hit them wherever they come up.
Our tentpole events will be a series of #NoKings rallies, growing in size.
• #HandsOff in April ‘25 was 3 million people.
• #NoKings, June ‘25 was 5 million.
• #NoKings2, October ‘25 was 7M.
• #NoKings3 will be March 28, we want 9M people.
• #NoKings4 in the summer, 11M
• #NoKings5 in the fall, leading up to the election, 13 million people.
Each #NoKings event is made up of thousands of local ones, they don’t involved a big march to the seat of power. All US politics starts at the state and local level, organizing starts local, community is local. And importantly, elections are administered locally. NoKings will be a way for people to become aware and connect with others in their area to monitor polling places, and to let state & local officials know that they can’t do anything in the dark.
These growing numbers are how we build to a number of people committed to oppose the regime that’s so large that even when they try to steal the election, which they will, even when they don’t want to certify the results, which they won’t, they won’t be able to stop us. Even though we won’t be fighting them with guns.
TLDR: both the doomers & the institutionalists are WRONG. Trump doesn’t have the power to just “cancel the elections”, but existing institutions aren’t enough to ensure that we have meaningful elections and that the results are honored.
We the people, organizing and working together, are what’s going to stop him. Bad news for both doomers & institutionalists: there’s work for *you* to do. Join a local organization, Indivisible, immigrants’ rights, 50501, or the Democratic, Democratic Socialist, or Working Peoples Parties. Get to know more of the people in your neighborhood and congressional district. Become part of a team.
Here’s the motto Leah Greenberg says we should put on our walls and phone lock screens, to keep our eyes on the prize:
They are losing, so they're going to try to steal the election.
They're gonna fail, because we're gonna stop them.
this is something of a first draft. I'd like advice about how to make it punchier, more like something that would draw eyeballs on substack etc. Where do I need links? Is it structured properly, with the right things at the top?
Where should I put something about how I fit into Indivisible? I'm just a joe-normal member of a joe-normal Indivisible group, this is really reporting based on attending the weekly "What's the Plan meetings for the past year.
- making sure the Democrats who are elected are actually going to fight fascism instead of going along with it.
- making sure that the November election is free & fair, that we win, and *that the results are enforced*.
The critical, unprecedented period will be between Election Day and January 3, 2027, when the new Congress is seated. Indivisible National and other parts of the anti-MAGA movement have been taking advice from scholars of authoritarianism like Erica Chenowith. They say that one of the most dangerous times for a democracy under threat is right around or after an election that the authoritarians are losing. That’s the point where mass mobilization, *society-wide mobilization*, may be critical.
Chenowith and their colleagues have found that authoritarian governments will fall when when 3.5% of the population is committed to active, nonviolent resistance. For the U.S., that means we need at least 10 million people ready to make sure that when they try Jan 6 2.0 (and they *will*) it stops, flails, and falls over.
To get to that point we have to BUILD to that point.
We KNOW the Trump Regime, the corrupt SCOTUS, and state & local level MAGA will be attacking our right & ability to vote in every way they can. We’ve mostly done what we can already with gerrymandering and counter-gerrymandering, from now on it’s going to be what Leah Greenberg calls legal whack-a-mole, where we all have to be alert to attacks on the right to vote and hit them wherever they come up.
Our tentpole events will be a series of #NoKings rallies, growing in size.
• #HandsOff in April ‘25 was 3 million people.
• #NoKings, June ‘25 was 5 million.
• #NoKings2, October ‘25 was 7M.
• #NoKings3 will be March 28, we want 9M people.
• #NoKings4 in the summer, 11M
• #NoKings5 in the fall, leading up to the election, 13 million people.
Each #NoKings event is made up of thousands of local ones, they don’t involved a big march to the seat of power. All US politics starts at the state and local level, organizing starts local, community is local. And importantly, elections are administered locally. NoKings will be a way for people to become aware and connect with others in their area to monitor polling places, and to let state & local officials know that they can’t do anything in the dark.
These growing numbers are how we build to a number of people committed to oppose the regime that’s so large that even when they try to steal the election, which they will, even when they don’t want to certify the results, which they won’t, they won’t be able to stop us. Even though we won’t be fighting them with guns.
TLDR: both the doomers & the institutionalists are WRONG. Trump doesn’t have the power to just “cancel the elections”, but existing institutions aren’t enough to ensure that we have meaningful elections and that the results are honored.
We the people, organizing and working together, are what’s going to stop him. Bad news for both doomers & institutionalists: there’s work for *you* to do. Join a local organization, Indivisible, immigrants’ rights, 50501, or the Democratic, Democratic Socialist, or Working Peoples Parties. Get to know more of the people in your neighborhood and congressional district. Become part of a team.
Here’s the motto Leah Greenberg says we should put on our walls and phone lock screens, to keep our eyes on the prize:
They are losing, so they're going to try to steal the election.
They're gonna fail, because we're gonna stop them.
this is something of a first draft. I'd like advice about how to make it punchier, more like something that would draw eyeballs on substack etc. Where do I need links? Is it structured properly, with the right things at the top?
Where should I put something about how I fit into Indivisible? I'm just a joe-normal member of a joe-normal Indivisible group, this is really reporting based on attending the weekly "What's the Plan meetings for the past year.
(no subject)
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:44 amskygiantsI went into Lessons in Magic and Disaster somewhat trepidatiously due to the degree to which her YA novel Victories Greater Than Death did not work for me. The good news: I do think Lessons in Magic and Disaster is MUCH better than Victories Greater Than Death and actually does some things remarkably well. The bad news: other elements did continue to drive me up a wall ....
Lessons in Magic and Disaster centers on the relationship between Jamie, a trans PhD student struggling to finish her dissertation on 18th-century women writers at a [fictional] small Boston college, and her mother Serena, an abrasive lesbian lawyer who has been sunk deep in depression since her partner died a few years back and her career simultaneously blew up completely.
Jamie does small-scale lower-m magic -- little rituals to make things go a little better in her life, that usually seem to work, as long as she doesn't think about them too hard -- and the book starts when she takes the unprecedented-for-her step of telling her mother about the magic as a sort of mother-daughter bonding ritual to see if her mother can use it to help herself get less depressed! Unfortunately Serena is not looking for a little gentle self-help woo-woo; she would like to UNFUCK her life AND the world in SIGNIFICANT ways that go way beyond what Jamie has ever done with magic and also start blowing back on Jamie in ways that eventually threaten not only Jamie and Serena's relationship but also Jamie's marriage, Jamie's career, and Serena's life.
Serena is an extremely specific, well-observed character, and Serena and Jamie's relationship feels real and messy and complicated in ways that even the book's tendency towards therapy-speak couldn't actually ruin for me, because yeah, okay, I do think Jamie would sometimes talk like an annoying tumblr post, that's just part of the characterization and it doesn't actually fix everything and sometimes even hurts. But the book's strengths -- that it's grounded very much in a world and a community and a type of people that Charlie Jane Anders clearly knows really well and can paint extremely vividly -- are also its weaknesses, in that it's also constantly slipping into ... I guess I'd call it a kind of lazy-progressive writing? The book is full of these sharp, vivid, messy moments whenever it's focused on this particular relationship and Serena in specific, and without that flashpoint, the messiness vanishes. Jamie goes into her grad school classroom and thinks about how the white men are always so annoying but the queer and bipoc students Always pick up what she's putting down. Jamie's partner Ro sets down boundaries in their marriage after a magic incident goes wrong and they are Always right and Jamie is Always humble and respectful about it, because respecting boundaries is Always the Correct thing to do. (Ro is the sort of person who says things like "this is bringing back a lot of trauma for me" while Jamie's mother is actively, in that moment, on the verge of death. I'm all for honesty in relationships but maybe you could give it a minute?)
I don't know. I think there is quite a good book in here, but I also think that good book is kind of fighting its way a little bit to get out from under the conviction that We Progressive Right-Thinking People In The Year 2025 Know What Righteous Behavior Looks Like. You know. But sometimes it does indeed succeed!
I did really enjoy the book's hyper-local Cambridge setting. Yeah, I see you name-checking those favorite restaurants, and yes, I have been to them and they are pretty good. Also, as a b-plot, Jamie is uncovering some lesbian literary drama in her dissertation that gives Charlie Jane Anders a chance to play around with 18thc pastiche and write RPF about Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier, and Charlotte Clarke and sure, fine, I didn't know very much about any of those people and she has very successfully made me want to know more! There were a bunch of times she'd drop something int he book and I'd be like "that's SO unsubtle as pastiche" and then I'd look it up and it was just a real thing that had happened or been published, so point again to Charlie Jane Anders.
Lessons in Magic and Disaster centers on the relationship between Jamie, a trans PhD student struggling to finish her dissertation on 18th-century women writers at a [fictional] small Boston college, and her mother Serena, an abrasive lesbian lawyer who has been sunk deep in depression since her partner died a few years back and her career simultaneously blew up completely.
Jamie does small-scale lower-m magic -- little rituals to make things go a little better in her life, that usually seem to work, as long as she doesn't think about them too hard -- and the book starts when she takes the unprecedented-for-her step of telling her mother about the magic as a sort of mother-daughter bonding ritual to see if her mother can use it to help herself get less depressed! Unfortunately Serena is not looking for a little gentle self-help woo-woo; she would like to UNFUCK her life AND the world in SIGNIFICANT ways that go way beyond what Jamie has ever done with magic and also start blowing back on Jamie in ways that eventually threaten not only Jamie and Serena's relationship but also Jamie's marriage, Jamie's career, and Serena's life.
Serena is an extremely specific, well-observed character, and Serena and Jamie's relationship feels real and messy and complicated in ways that even the book's tendency towards therapy-speak couldn't actually ruin for me, because yeah, okay, I do think Jamie would sometimes talk like an annoying tumblr post, that's just part of the characterization and it doesn't actually fix everything and sometimes even hurts. But the book's strengths -- that it's grounded very much in a world and a community and a type of people that Charlie Jane Anders clearly knows really well and can paint extremely vividly -- are also its weaknesses, in that it's also constantly slipping into ... I guess I'd call it a kind of lazy-progressive writing? The book is full of these sharp, vivid, messy moments whenever it's focused on this particular relationship and Serena in specific, and without that flashpoint, the messiness vanishes. Jamie goes into her grad school classroom and thinks about how the white men are always so annoying but the queer and bipoc students Always pick up what she's putting down. Jamie's partner Ro sets down boundaries in their marriage after a magic incident goes wrong and they are Always right and Jamie is Always humble and respectful about it, because respecting boundaries is Always the Correct thing to do. (Ro is the sort of person who says things like "this is bringing back a lot of trauma for me" while Jamie's mother is actively, in that moment, on the verge of death. I'm all for honesty in relationships but maybe you could give it a minute?)
I don't know. I think there is quite a good book in here, but I also think that good book is kind of fighting its way a little bit to get out from under the conviction that We Progressive Right-Thinking People In The Year 2025 Know What Righteous Behavior Looks Like. You know. But sometimes it does indeed succeed!
I did really enjoy the book's hyper-local Cambridge setting. Yeah, I see you name-checking those favorite restaurants, and yes, I have been to them and they are pretty good. Also, as a b-plot, Jamie is uncovering some lesbian literary drama in her dissertation that gives Charlie Jane Anders a chance to play around with 18thc pastiche and write RPF about Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier, and Charlotte Clarke and sure, fine, I didn't know very much about any of those people and she has very successfully made me want to know more! There were a bunch of times she'd drop something int he book and I'd be like "that's SO unsubtle as pastiche" and then I'd look it up and it was just a real thing that had happened or been published, so point again to Charlie Jane Anders.
Day 12: fanart, Bad Sisters - Bibi, Ursula, Grace, Becka, Eva
Feb. 12th, 2026 10:47 amsisterdivinium posting in halfamoonTitle: Noisy sisters
Fandom: Bad Sisters
Characters: Bibi, Ursula, Grace, Becka and Eva Garvey
Rating: G
Notes: Done with felt tip pens, Chinese ink and graphite. Inspired by the whole "do the poem, girleen!" scene from 1x03, with all the excitement that entails (without JP ruining it, lol).
Summary: The Garvey sisters will always have that one place that is theirs and theirs alone, to where they all inevitably drift back for inner peace -- and some outside mayhem.
Over here, at my journal!
Fandom: Bad Sisters
Characters: Bibi, Ursula, Grace, Becka and Eva Garvey
Rating: G
Notes: Done with felt tip pens, Chinese ink and graphite. Inspired by the whole "do the poem, girleen!" scene from 1x03, with all the excitement that entails (without JP ruining it, lol).
Summary: The Garvey sisters will always have that one place that is theirs and theirs alone, to where they all inevitably drift back for inner peace -- and some outside mayhem.
Over here, at my journal!
Community Recs Post!
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:31 amglitteryv posting in recthethingEvery Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fanart/fancrafts/fanvids/other kinds of fanworks/fics/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fanart/fancrafts/fanvids/other kinds of fanworks/fics/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw
Feb. 12th, 2026 08:06 amosprey_archerI was excited about Ghost Story: The Turn of the Screw, because it stars Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens (pre-Downton Abbey!), and the screenplay was written by Sandy Welch, also responsible for the screenplays of such winners as the Romola Garai Emma and the 2006 Jane Eyre.
However, this adaptation leaned very hard on the Edmund Wilson interpretation of The Turn of the Screw, which is that the “ghosts” are in fact products of the repressed governess’s overheated imagination. And whoever had charge of the filming clearly felt that one should never imply when one could show, so we are treated to multiple scenes of evil Peter Quinn having sex with the former governess, sexually assaulting the maids, etc, which I feel is a counterproductive choice in a ghost story.
They also introduced a frame story where the governess is in an asylum, with Dan Stevens as her psychiatrist. I always enjoy seeing Dan Stevens but I must admit that here his entire plotline seems superfluous. Why keep cutting away from the central story? It constantly undermines the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror that the ghost story is trying to build up.
So I was all set to complain about the film, but in fact I’ve been thinking about the story on and off since I saw it. Is the governess truly seeing ghosts? What did happen to the children before our governess arrived? And what truly happened in the end? So I suppose I must crankily admit that the film is effective even if it’s not artful.
Will this finally inspire me to read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw? Probably not, as I’ve never fully recovered from how much I hated Daisy Miller. But maybe someday.
However, this adaptation leaned very hard on the Edmund Wilson interpretation of The Turn of the Screw, which is that the “ghosts” are in fact products of the repressed governess’s overheated imagination. And whoever had charge of the filming clearly felt that one should never imply when one could show, so we are treated to multiple scenes of evil Peter Quinn having sex with the former governess, sexually assaulting the maids, etc, which I feel is a counterproductive choice in a ghost story.
They also introduced a frame story where the governess is in an asylum, with Dan Stevens as her psychiatrist. I always enjoy seeing Dan Stevens but I must admit that here his entire plotline seems superfluous. Why keep cutting away from the central story? It constantly undermines the atmosphere of claustrophobic horror that the ghost story is trying to build up.
So I was all set to complain about the film, but in fact I’ve been thinking about the story on and off since I saw it. Is the governess truly seeing ghosts? What did happen to the children before our governess arrived? And what truly happened in the end? So I suppose I must crankily admit that the film is effective even if it’s not artful.
Will this finally inspire me to read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw? Probably not, as I’ve never fully recovered from how much I hated Daisy Miller. But maybe someday.
let's goooooooo week 7!
Feb. 12th, 2026 07:40 ammarcicatBe a Goldfish WEEK 7 starts today!
WEEK SEVEN: Valentine’s, Galentine’s, & Palentine’s
One love! Valentine’s Day is more than a romantic holiday: it’s the perfect occasion to celebrate community, connection, and friendship. Thus, two extra-special prompts to celebrate:
Create a work as a gift for a friend, mutual, or partner.
AND/OR:
Make fannish Valentines to exchange with fandom friends.
I'm definitely thinking a recs list for this week...
WEEK SEVEN: Valentine’s, Galentine’s, & Palentine’s
One love! Valentine’s Day is more than a romantic holiday: it’s the perfect occasion to celebrate community, connection, and friendship. Thus, two extra-special prompts to celebrate:
Create a work as a gift for a friend, mutual, or partner.
AND/OR:
Make fannish Valentines to exchange with fandom friends.
I'm definitely thinking a recs list for this week...