eleanorjane | Reading

1. It is once again the weekend and I am once again very glad for it. It's felt like a long week.

2. We're getting pizza for dinner tonight. Nothing fancy, just Dominos, but I do like Dominos (especially their pan pizza crust - so cheesy).

3. I'm maybe getting used to the new mouse? At least I don't seem to be getting any wrist pain today. Still unsure if I want to keep it, but I'm going to go to Best Buy this weekend and actually try out some mice in person and see if I can find anything that is a better fit. I actually need to get a new work mouse, too, so if I find something I like better than the Lift, I might just order that for work and swap them so I have the better one at home idk. (Depends on if I can get a full refund from Amazon or if they're only going to give me partial since it's used and not defective.)

4. Jasper looks like he's seen some shit.

torachan

1. Well, I was expecting to just WFH and go to the nearby store for a bit, but I got a message in the morning that the person I wanted to talk to at the store had called out sick, so I ended up going to Gardena instead, which worked out as I did have a meeting in the afternoon and some stuff to do that was easier to do from the office than from home.

2. Yet another Santa Ana is blowing through and the weather is suuuuuper dry. I do prefer dry to humid, but I wish we would get more of something in between. The high temps for this weekend's accompanying hot spell are not supposed to be as high as last weekend's, though, so that's good.

3. Carla got the most amazing picture of Ollie yesterday. Look at that little mouth!!

musesfool

Work has been intensely busy these past few days, and tomorrow I have to go into the office because Assistant J is getting a pin for being with the organization for 5 years (even though it's more like six and a half at this point, but no one wants to hear my rant about how anniversaries work again), and I never get much done when I'm in, so we'll see what happens. I do have to take all my tax paperwork and scan it for my accountant. This is much later than usual, eep.

*

Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )

*

Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.

*

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: Falling - Florence + the Machine

ysabetwordsmith posting in

fictional_fans

marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. :D Here is my introductory post. So what is meta? Well, it can be a lot of things ...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

torachan

1. Did another store visit today. I hadn't been to this store for quite some time (I think not since the summer) so it was nice to have an opportunity to check it out again, and just in general to get out of the office and do something different. Tomorrow I plan to do a store visit, too, but just the store down the street from me, so at least there won't be a long drive involved.

2. Carla made miso marinated salmon for dinner tonight, which we haven't had in ages. I forgot how good it is!

3. Carla got some Brooks shoes a few months ago and has really been enjoying them and then it turns out that they occasionally release Disney collabs, and their most recent ones include Rapunzel themed ones. Rapunzel is one of her favorite Disney characters and pink and purple are some of her favorite colors. Plus they actually have them in larger sizes, which is so rare for cute shoes like these. They were released to buy in person at the runDisney event in Disney World this past weekend and just finally showed up on the website today and she was able to order some. And in this instance having larger feet actually worked in her favor, since a lot of the smaller sizes were sold out already.

4. The other day after I got the new shelf set up in the garage, Carla put a couple Star Wars legos on it, and then decided she wanted it to be a Star Wars themed shelf (I was already thinking we should organize some of the lego displays since right now they're just sort of wherever we had space at the time they were built, rather than displayed thematically, so that works out perfectly). It's still in progress, but I think it looks pretty nice. (And I really do love that shelf.)

5. Tuxie's been enjoying the long grass we have after all the rain last month.

torachan

1. My old Microsoft Sculpt mouse was showing a lot of wear so I decided to check out other mice to see if there's some currently in production ergonomic mouse I could switch to instead, since the Sculpt has not been made for many years and I just have to buy whatever ones second hand sellers are still selling, and the price keeps going up and up. I decided to try the Logitech Lift, but I'm not sure it's right for me. The fit in my hand is so weird and just from using it a little tonight, I'm getting pain in my wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Not sure if getting used to it will fix that, but I'll try it at least one more day and see. The good news is that by switching mice I found what was preventing my PC from properly going into sleep mode! Apparently it was the Sculpt mouse! As soon as I switch the new mouse, it went to sleep after being idle for a few minutes. Before, it would act like it was going to sleep, but pop the screen back on immediately. Carla found some threads about this issue on reddit, so if I do go back to the Sculpt, hopefully I can fix the sleep issue.

If anyone has recs for ergo mice similar to the Sculpt in shape, let me know! It seems most ergo mice are more like the Lift in shape.

2. Molly looks so majestic!

par_avion posting in

vidding

https://www.dn.se/kultur/fan-edits-har-blivit-filmbranschens-nya-maktfaktor/

”Fan edits” har blivit filmbranschens nya maktfaktor

Thanks to naye for posting on bluesky! Translation via google translate.

“Fan edits” have become the film industry’s new power factor

– Fan edits are created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.
In July 2025, the anonymous TikTok account Areq posts a video collage of scenes from the boxing movie “Creed.” In the clip, punches are thrown wildly to the beat of the music, while blood and sweat spurt.

The clip has over 215 million views at the time of writing. Less than a week after it was posted on the platform, the number of viewers of the film increased by 29 percent on Amazon Prime, according to data from Luminate.

Areq is an example of a growing group of TikTok creators, often fans, who make so-called video collages, or “fan edits,” of series and films for fun. The phenomenon has its origins in fan fiction, where fans use characters and settings from existing works to write a new story.

Several film studios have recognized the explosive power of fan logic and have now started to hire fans to drive their marketing efforts.

The film studio Lionsgate has recruited a dozen or so fans to make TikTok clips under the film studio’s banner. The company’s TikTok page now has around a hundred clips from films like “Twilight” and “Divergent.” All of them are bursting with references and Generation Z jokes that only a die-hard fan can understand.

In an interview with Variety, Lionsgate's head of international marketing, Briana McElroy, says that fan edits are a "love letter from fans" and that it is free marketing.

- If we are going to have a conversation with fans online, we have to speak their language, she tells Variety.

Streaming giants such as Netflix, Hulu and Paramount+ also publish clips on their Tiktok channels with clear inspiration from fan logic.

Fan-edited video collages from the ice hockey drama "Heated Rivalry" have been streaming on social media since the series was released in late 2025. The clips have reached both existing fans and attracted new viewers.

Some of the fan community's most viewed clips are edited by fan Melanie, 25. In one of the clips, countless sex scenes and hockey matches flicker past in one minute and thirty seconds. That clip has received over four million views.

When DN reaches her, she wants to remain anonymous, she wants to protect her privacy on the internet but is happy to talk about the phenomenon. Since she was 17, she has spent countless hours editing such videos, about everything from One Direction to Harry Potter and Marvel.

– Fan edits are their own art form. It is a way for a fan to tell a story or describe how they themselves interpret a series through their own lens. It is noticeable in the way they edit, in what order they place the clips or which song they use, she says.

Unlike a traditional trailer that is directed and tailored by a film company with the aim of reaching as large an audience as possible and generating revenue, fan edits lack a financial drive and are born out of pure desire and love for a series or film.

– It is created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, especially for Generation Z, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.

She points out that fan-produced content is spread organically on platforms like Tiktok and that it can reach target groups that do not usually watch traditional trailers. This provides a large distribution at a low cost.

– When marketing arouses emotions and is perceived as authentic and genuine, it tends to be more effective. It is a quick way to spread content and can create hype that makes more people feel that they “have to see” a certain film or series, says Lovisa Jönsson.

It is not only within the world of film that fan logic is being valued. For example, the artist Miley Cyrus hired superfan Olivia Rudensky to be responsible for her digital marketing and fan contact. Rudensky was recruited because she ran one of the star’s largest fan accounts, according to Forbes.

In the book “Blank Space”, the American author W David Marx describes how fans have shaped the popular cultural landscape. According to him, they have been crucial in consolidating the position of international artists. He writes that: “At a time when the media landscape has become increasingly fragmented, fans have contributed to strengthening the cultural power around a few top artists.”

Fan-produced video collages set their first milestone in 1975 when Kandy Fong made a slideshow featuring the space officer Spock from the science fiction series “Star Trek”. The slideshow was set to music with the Spock actor’s interpretation of “Both sides now”. At the time, it was shown at various fan conventions, but since then they have been exhibited at museums in both Queens and Vancouver.

When YouTube became established, fans began publishing video collages there. As Instagram and Tiktok consolidated their role, fans have instead moved their creations there and through the spread of algorithms, some of them reach a huge audience.

Sweden is no exception. Here, fans of reality series such as “The Traitors”, “The Game” and “Paradise Hotel” have made their own compilations, where they highlight certain participants, among other things. Among other things, there are several collages about the “Best in Test” program host David Sundin, with carefully selected clips from the competition program, set to music by Arctic Monkeys’ “505”.

During the new film adaptation of “Doktor Glas”, the production launched a Tiktok account. Some of the content is clearly modeled after how fans usually edit their fan clips. Lovisa Jönsson at the PR agency Jung, however, believes that there is a risk when production companies follow the fan logic.

– When companies start to commercialize fan edits and use them in strategic marketing, authenticity can be lost, which is the very basis for the impact. To succeed, they must continue to be created on the fans’ terms, she says.

kaiyote posting in

vidding

title. god loves you, but not enough to save you
fandom. iwtv/tvl
character. lestat de lioncourt
song. "sun bleached flies" by ethel cain

what i wouldn't give to be in church this sunday; listening to the choir, so heartfelt, all singing: "god loves you, but not enough to save you." lestat character study vidlet. (spoilers for s3 trailers/promos.)

dw | youtube

torachan

1. Even though the only caffeine I had yesterday was in the morning, I had so much trouble sleeping, so I'm feeling pretty tired tonight. I am hoping that I will be able to get to sleep easily because of that. Fingers crossed!

2. I'm going to be making some store visits over the next few weeks to talk to the store managers and accounting staff about the upcoming new system and to see what current accounting practices are at each store to see what they need to prepare for, since the new system will have some big changes for invoice processing. I went to two stores today and am also kind of feeling worn out from so much talking, not just the lack of sleep, but it was nice to do something other than WFH or in the office.

3. The weather is much nicer today than it has been the past few days.

4. Chloe also approves of the new lounger but it's not as good as the ratty cardboard box next to it.

settiai

Please come back soon, AO3. I know it's not even been a full two days yet since the site started having issues, but I've missed you. Don't make me have to delve into the horrors that is FF.net in order to get my fanfiction fix.

(Honestly, I'm mostly amused that it's been working fine when I haven't been online but the moment that I had a free minute to try to pull up a fic, that's when it's gone down. There have been several times now where I've checked the status and it was just updated minutes earlier.)

Current Mood: sad

tafadhali posting in

vidding

Title: Victim
Fandom: Interview with the Vampire
Music: "Caroline's a Victim" by Kate Nash
Pairing/Characters: Louis-centric, Louis/Lestat, Louis/Armand, Louis & Claudia
Summary: Basically she likes killers

AO3 | DW | Tumblr

musesfool

I really enjoyed this season of Bridgerton despite being mostly indifferent to Benedict as a character. Yerin Ha as Sophie was everything - I really hope this launches her into a long, bright career. ( spoilers )

In other fannish news, I saw some folks on bsky discussing who the best lightsaber duelist is in Star Wars, and since I didn't really know the people being quoted, I took myself to tumblr to post about it. I also texted my eldest nephew, who is the biggest Anakin and Obi-Wan fan I know (which, given some of the fangirls I know, is saying something) and his knee-jerk response was Anakin*. Which is the wrong answer, so we argued back and forth a bit, and he came around to my way of thinking that it has to be Obi-Wan, even though we never see him go up against Palpatine or Mace Windu (who may have beaten Palpatine if not for Anakin).

I did see people saying Ahsoka, because she survives Maul, Vader, and very briefly, Palpatine, but as much as I love her, she survives and escapes. She doesn't win. The list of Obi-Wan's duels is extensive and no one ever even lays a blade on him that I recall (though he doesn't beat Dooku, which was an argument my nephew made, and Anakin eventually does) until he puts up his saber and lets Vader kill him. Like, is Obi-Wan destroyed emotionally and psychologically by dueling with Anakin? One hundred percent! But he still wins until not winning is the best way to win in the long-term.

*I think you can make a case for him when he's Vader, but even then, Obi-Wan beats him on Mustafar and he only wins on the Death Star because Obi-Wan lets him. In the OWK show, he maybe sets Obi-Wan on fire a little but Obi-Wan takes no real damage in any of their fights until the Death Star.

*

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: The Sweetest Thing - u2

chomiji posting in

beautifulmechanical

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: contemplative

torachan

1. This morning we walked to a new (in our area; I guess they have a couple other locations in LA) cafe that is queer owned and run. They had a really good breakfast burrito, mid donut, and decent matcha latte. It's a little far for a casual walk for Carla, so I'm not sure how often we'd go, but I'm glad to try it out. We also stopped at the Italian deli on the way home and got sandwiches for lunch.

2. Even though our Japan trip will be longer than last time, I want to pack lighter, at least in some regards. I've also been thinking about getting a crossbody bag to use on a daily basis while there instead of my little backpack I use at Disneyland, because the backpack hurts my back between my shoulderblades, and I don't have that issue with a crossbody bag. So first I was thinking about just getting a smallish bag to replace the little backpack, and then was thinking about getting a slightly bigger bag to use on the plane so it could fit my ipad (the largest item I'd want on the plane) because the laptop bag I used last time was such overkill (just used it because it was something we already had at home). But after looking at bags, I found one that I think would be good to use on a daily basis and would be big enough for the flight. It arrived today and I tried it out and my ipad fits, and everything I'd want to have accessible on the plane fits without being overloaded, and it seems comfortable for daily use! I've also decided to use the smaller suitcase backpack that Carla recently got for my main bag, and she'll use one of the bigger bags we both used last time.

3. Finished up a puzzle today. This is the second side of the double sided Disney cats/dogs puzzle that I did a couple months ago.

4. After skipping a few months of flea prevention medication for the cats during the winter, we decided to start them on it again this month and I was able to get all five cats in one day. Usually Gemma is so suspicious that if I don't get her first, it might take a few days before she lowers her guard enough that I can get her.

kaiyote posting in

vidding

title. venus, planet of love
fandom. iwtv/tvl
character. lestat de lioncourt
song. "nobody" by mitski

"venus, planet of love, was destroyed by global warming." s3 lestat vidlet.

dw | youtube

roga

I have gone back and fixed the typos in my last post which were not due to anything but tiredness last night but they were driving me crazy /o\

( Today was much better than yesterday, after middle sis arrived and I could see she really was okay. )

voleuse

( 10 books, four movies, 25 episodes of TV. )

( Notes on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and Heated Rivalry. )

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Bridgerton

metallherz posting in

beautifulmechanical

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

torachan

It was hot today, so we decided to go down for dinner instead of earlier in the day and that was the right choice. By the time we got down there around five, it was really quite pleasant and it wasn't long until the sun started going down.

( Read more... )

torachan

1. We walked up to the bagel place this morning for breakfast and, in addition to my bagel, I got their passionfruit matcha latte again. It's really good!

2. I got a new corner shelving unit for the garage and put it together today. I meant for it to go in the corner between two of Carla's CD shelves, since something needs to go in that space, but it turned out to be too large. The shelves can be moved out a little from where they are now to allow something larger between them, but if they're moved enough to make space for this, it'll block an outlet on one side and either go further behind the couch on the other side than I'd prefer or we'd have to move the couch further down (which could be done but idk I like it where it is). But there is another corner that also needs something and it looks perfect there. That's the corner where we had the Christmas tree, but there's still plenty of room to put the tree there again even with the shelf in place.

3. It was very warm today so we decided to go to Disneyland for dinner rather than breakfast or lunch, and it was the right choice. It was actually very pleasant in the evening.

4. Yet another cat enjoying the new lounger.

musesfool

Last night, I logged off work and got into bed for a proper nap, none of this half-assed falling asleep on the couch business, and I thought I'd set an alarm so it didn't go more than an hour or so, but it turns out that all I did was open up the clock/alarm app on my phone without setting it, so I woke up at 8:30 pm all befuddled. I decided at that point that fuck it, we ~~ball~~ sleep, so I brushed my teeth, changed into my jammies, and went back to bed. And slept pretty well! I woke up once or twice but had no real trouble getting back to sleep, and then I woke up for good around 7:45 am, so it was like a FIFTEEN HOUR night. Which is bonkers, but I guess I needed it?

Anyway, I did a very small recs update today for February:

unfitforsociety has been updated for February 2026 with 7 recs in 3 fandoms:

* 5 Heated Rivalry and 1 Heated Rivalry/Sesame Street crossover
* 1 The Pitt

Maybe once I finish my DCC reread, I will get back to reading more fic, idk. It's just very hard to pay attention to anything these days, thanks to *gestures* everything.

*

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: Fade Into You - Mazzy Star

roga

My plan for today was to go see some flowers since we're at the very tail end of winter flower season, catch up with middle sis who returned from a few weeks abroad, and do a virtual escape room with friends in the evening.

( How the day went )

heron61

At this point, I suspect that civil war in the US in inevitable, and may be the "best" of a series out truly terrible options, since if we don't have one, I fear that when our our side takes control of the US again, the politicians involved won't deliver the sort of serious consequences (long prison sentences and in some cases executions) to keep the fasc from trying again in less than a decade. Also, I remain haunted by a quote I saw on Facebook several weeks ago "When they write histories of this time, they'll say that the US civil war started on January 6, 2021", I have great difficulty saying this is incorrect.

heron61

In years past, I've said that if the US attacked Iran I'd purchase and fly an Iranian flag, but after the Iranian government killed so many protesters, I can't. Instead, we have three nations at war, the US and Israel vs Iran, and the absolute best outcome for the entire planet would be all three of the leaders of these three nations to die in the war asap.

unfitforsociety

The Pitt

The Long Goodbye by

Siria
Dana has something to tell Robby. Oh Robby. Oh my heart...

✭

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen

unfitforsociety

Heated Rivalry

a breastplate made of silver linings by Anonymous
Yuna learns about Ilya's past bit by bit over the years. Lovely!

First, but not only by

Legless_fish_on_rollerskates
Ilya Rozanov comes out to Scott Hunter at the MLH Awards. Lovely missing scene.

meet my friend by Anonymous
In the first story, Shane meets Svetlana and still isn't sure how it went; in the second, Ilya meets Rose Landry and makes things awkward. <333

saving myself for marriage by

celli
Super cute woke up married fic!

Wrap It Up by

alchemystique
The Olympic Village runs out of condoms on day three. Luckily for Olympians, Shane Hollander took note of exactly how often this has happened previously. Hilarious!

✭

Crossover

Heated Rivalry/Sesame Street

Perseverence by

samalander
When his mother comes to him in the summer after he wins his second Cup with a new partnership proposal from the fucking Sesame Workshop, Shane can't say yes fast enough. ADORABLE

✭

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Sense of Purpose (live) - Pretenders

schneefink

This is the first weekend in a long time for which I had no outside plans, and it was sunny and I was so looking forward to going for a walk, but instead I was sick in bed. Uuuuugh.

But it is the last day of February so have some last-minute recs for some of my favorite Yuletide 2025 fics with no canon knowledge required.

( 6 fics with no canon knowledge required: Chalion Saga, Dangerous Crow Boy Whose Job It Is To Destroy Plastic, The Lottery/The New Yorker, Sieben Jahre/18th century Prussia RPF, FAQ: The Snake Fight portion of your thesis defense, Knives Out movies )

used_songs posting in

beautifulmechanical

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

torachan

1. It's the weekend!

2. We've been having another heatwave, but I think today was the peak. Tomorrow's supposed to be pretty hot, too, but then cooling off again from Sunday.

3. Another cat enjoying the new lounger.

torachan

Recently Finished
The Murder at World's End
The first book in a new historical murder mystery series. I liked this one a lot. A young male servant teams up with an eccentric upper class older woman to solve mysteries. Looking forward to the next one. I listened to this as an audio book and enjoyed the narrator a lot, too.

The Decagon House Murders
This is the first in the House Murders series, but the third I've read in novel form, as I had originally read this one as a manga. It's been a while since I've read the manga, though, so I thought I'd check out the novel as well. The manga seems to have stuck fairly close to the novel except for two big changes: the MC who doesn't go to the island with the others is a girl in the manga, but was male in the original, and the way the girl whose death triggers the revenge killings died is totally different in the manga. I can see why they'd change the gender of the one character, since it is otherwise all guys except two minor female characters who both die fairly early on, but I am baffled as to why they changed the death.

Boxers & Saints
Two volume graphic novel series about the Boxer Rebellion, a period in history about which I knew nothing at all previously (I had only vaguely heard the term and did not even realize it happened in China). Very interesting.

Yes, I'm Hot in This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab
Collection of (I assume) web comics about life as a hijabi woman in the US. I enjoyed it, but collected all together the comics were often repetitive in a way that wouldn't feel as obvious if read spread out as a web comic.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? vol. 25

Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko ja Nakatta vol. 4

torachan

1. I had another nice WFH day today. I had a web meeting at 4pm, and that would have been a web meeting even if I'd gone in, so no reason to go. Now that I'm not doing stuff that really heavily relies on accessing our system which can only be accessed from home by remoting into a PC at the store, it's nice to be able to work from home at least a couple days a week.

2. I went to the tattoo place today for my appointment but ended up not getting any work done today. She looked at my leg and said it's healing well, but the skin is still not fully back to normal, so we should wait to do the touch up. I told her I'd be in Japan for the first half of April, so we agreed to see how it's looking when I get back and do it then. The tattoo place is only about 15-20 minutes away (and today was good traffic both ways) so it was no bother going in, and I was glad to have her look at it. I told her I'm really happy with it, even how it is now. It really only has a few spots that need to be touched up. On the bottom front there's a bit where the marker she used to draw the lines still shows, and on the back there are a few bits where skin shows in between the color bands. But all of that is only noticeable when you look close, so I'm fine with waiting until after our trip.

3. We had two beat up cardboard cat scratcher/loungers that we replaced with the new wood/sisal ones, and one we just put in the recycling, but the other one we put out for Tuxie to see how he'd like it and he is a big fan. It can't be used for scratching anymore, but he loves it as a lounger and has been using it every day.

kuwdora

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

torachan

1. I had a nice WFH day today. One meeting scheduled for late morning, but it was a web meeting anyway, so why go in to the office just for that? Tomorrow I'll be working from home, too, because I have my tattoo touch-up appointment mid-morning and while I'm sure the bandage situation won't be as dire as the first go-round, I still don't want to have to worry about suddenly needing to change it while I'm at work.

2. The other day Carla took a walk down a street we don't usually go down and discovered a litte cafe we'd never known existed, so today we walked over there for lunch and shared a delicious prosciutto and pear sandwich. It was so good! It also had caramelized onions on it, which didn't sit well for me, unsurprisingly, but I would do it again. They also have various drinks, including a date-based smoothie called a majoon, so I got one of those and it was also super delicious.

3. Molly has also been enjoying the new lounger.

roga

Nature continues to progress! New developments from the past two-ish weeks include ( shortly )

OTHERWISE:
-Winter Olympics were amazing, why do we only get them once every few years, how are snow and ice sports so beautiful and fascinating and aesthetically pleasing.

-I would like to read fic but honestly I have just fallen down the rabbit hole of m/m sports romance novels, starting with everything Rachel Reid has to offer, then KD Casey, now Ari Baran, and who knows what's next, with a slight detour into warm and cozy Kind by Hannah Leigh. I feel like at SOME POINT I should stop. If you ask me to tell apart all the different couples I've read about in the past 2 weeks I would be hard pressed to explain all the different characters and plots. And yet.

-Enjoying the new season of The Pitt and a few other show's I'm following, but nothing makes me as happy (and heartbroken, but mostly happy) entertainment-wise as watching a new episode of Shrinking every week. Just, how is that show so good.

-Nature! It's one of the warmest winters I can recall, less rain and warmer weather and a shorter green period, but there are still winter flowers, and I do my best to hike and picnic on the weekends as much as I can. This past weekend I went up to the Golan with a friend, just 2 days of walking around the peace and quiet of the green green north, which was incredibly lovely. The weather makes it constantly feel like Passover is just around the corner, which is disorienting and kind of nice and kind of not.

On Saturday I went to an incredible production of Cabaret. It's one of my favorite musicals to see in live theater, and this production really was incredibly, 360-stage Kit Kat Club and all, and I might have written more if I weren't falling asleep but I very much am, alas.

torachan

1. We had burritos for dinner, along with a pineapple tamale we had gotten from the farmers market on Saturday but hadn't eaten yet, and the tamale was so good! It didn't have chunks of pineapple in it, but rather was solid masa that was flavored with pineapple. Definitely would get that again. (The burritos were very good, too, but I got the one I always get from there, so I already knew I would like it.)

2. They've released the menu for the Food and Wine Festival at DCA, which is starting next Friday. There's a lot of tasty looking stuff and we'll miss out on about two weeks of it because we'll be in Japan, so I'm glad we'll have plenty of opportunities to go in March and then once we're back from Japan can pick up any must-tries that we didn't get to yet.

3. Last nigh Chloe was all snuggled up on my bed when I wanted to go to sleep, and sadly not in any way that I could get in bed with her, so I just scooped her up, blankie and all, and set her down on my desk chair. She protested when I moved her, but seemed satisfied with the results. She stayed snuggled up on the chair for a couple hours anyway!

aurumcalendula posting in

vidding

Title: Where Love Goes
Fandom: ClaireBell
Music: Where Love Goes by Kai Mata
Summary: 'this could be the start of something special'
Notes: Premiered at Escapade 36!

AO3 | bsky | DW | tumblr | YouTube

torachan

1. Today was mostly a catching up day at work, since I had not only the weekend but the three business trip days last week where I wasn't really spending that much time on my regular work. I am all caught up now, though!

2. I also got my reimbursements submitted for the trip. The hotel and flight were paid through the travel agent who arranged everything, so I don't need reimbursements for those, but there's uber trips and per diems, so I should get reimbursed for those next week.

3. We have a couple cardboard cat loungers that are in pretty bad shape, and rather than get more cardboard ones, Carla ordered some sissel ones and those arrived today. Spritzed them with catnip spray to get the babies interested and so far they seem to like them.

musesfool

It snowed until around 3 pm today! Just...so much snow. Friend L sent me a pic from her building in Manhattan and it was like the storm had barely had an impact, yet by me, even though the street had been plowed, it was all snowy again. Anyway, thankfully, my boss is also under about 2 ft of snow out on the island, so we are not going in tomorrow (the person who was supposed to come meet with us had their flight cancelled, so they never even made it to NY, so that will all get rescheduled, too). Whew.

Anyway, have some brief thoughts on recent TV:

- Shrinking: ( spoilers ) This show remains hilarious and endearing.

- Pluribus: I finished it and I don't love it but I am interested in seeing where it goes. ( spoilers )

- The Pitt: ( spoilers )

*

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Irresistible - Fall Out Boy

guildrone posting in

beautifulmechanical

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

torachan

1. We had a very nice morning at Disneyland today. A little warm (I wore a sweatshirt when we got in and had to take it off about halfway through, so then I had to lug it around the rest of the time, which was annoying) and a little crowded, but we ate a lot of good food and had a good time.

2. Poor Tuxie looks like he got in a scuffle again. Yesterday he came to the door with one eye partially closed and the fur between his eye and ear on that side scraped up. He's looking better today (eye fully open) and unlike some times before where he disappeared for a few days to hunker down, he has been spending his time in our yard as usual, so hopefully he's doing okay. I do wish he wouldn't get in fights. :-/

3. Jasper is just hanging out.

torachan

Today is Anaheim Ducks Day at DCA and I specifically made a reservation for today rather than Saturday (our usual), not because either of us care anything about hockey or the Ducks, but because last year we just happened to be there on that day and had an amazing burrito that they only serve on Ducks Day lol.

( Read more... )

musesfool

I got up to watch the hockey this morning and despite Team USA pulling it off in OT, I do not accept that Bill Guerin was proved right in his choices. Eighty-five percent of the game was played in their defensive end and they only won because Connor Hellebuyck stood on his head. Maybe a little more scoring power on the team could have given them some breathing room. I am just saying. I'm happy for Hellebuyck and the Hughes brothers, and I got a little teary when they brought out the Gaudreau jersey and his kids, and I'm not gonna lie, watching Jon Cooper and Connor McDavid (along with Sam Bennett, Tom Wilson, and Brad Marchand) lose was pleasing to me on a deep, personal level, but overall, I'd still have preferred the Finns or the Swedes take home the gold.

I then baked some oatmeal for breakfast for the week, and made macaroni salad for a few days of lunch, and then for dinner, I made angel hair as planned, though when I actually read the recipe, it was not anything new to me - it was what I always do for a super quick tomato sauce, except they were adding chile crisp to it, which I guess is the thing nowadays - every recipe I read has chile crisp in it, but I'm not really a chile crisp person. I have the heat tolerance (in terms of spiciness, though I also don't like my food super hot temperature-wise either) of the whitest baby you know.

Anyway! It is a super easy but delicious meal and if you don't mind waiting a few extra minutes, you can do it all in one pot. Boil your pasta - angel hair is best for this, imo - and reserve a cup of pasta water before you drain it. Return the pot to the stove over low heat and add in a nice glug of olive oil (2 tbsp if you need a measurement), and then add a whole can or tube of tomato paste to the oil (so between 4 and 6 oz). Stir it around and season it as you like - I used garlic and onion powder, oregano and red pepper flakes and salt, but if you want to get fancy, you could probably saute a diced shallot and some minced garlic in the oil for a minute or two before adding the tomato paste - for 2-3 minutes, until it's all hot and sizzling. If you are so inclined, add chile crisp to suit your taste. Then add the pasta back, and about half the reserved water and toss it until the pasta is coated. I only used 4 oz of angel hair, so if you have more, you might need more water. Then put it in bowls and sprinkle it with parmesan cheese. If you are in an even bigger rush, you can sizzle the tomato paste in a frying pan while the pasta cooks and then combine it all back in the pasta pot. The couple of minutes you save isn't worth having to wash an extra pot to me, but it might be to some people.

*

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: Cruel Summer = Taylor Swift

settiai

My debit card was compromised late last week, and I'm waiting for the bank to get all of the charges reversed. I've been able to cover my most urgent bills (the hotel and my storage unit), but I have a few others that are due that I'm still worried about paying. If I can come up with another $100 or so, it would make a huge difference while I wait for the bank to get everything taken care of.

So I'm going to try to sell a few things and hope for the best. 🤞🏻

First, I have a few Nintendo Switch games for sale:

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (example on Amazon)
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (example on Amazon)
TemTem (example on Amazon)

And then a few TTRPGs that were Christmas presents so they're still in basically like new shape:

Candela Obscura Core Rulebook (example on Amazon)
Daggerheart Core Set (example on Amazon)

If you're not interested but know someone who might be, please point them my way. It would help a lot if I could manage to sell at least one or two things from this list.

For payment, I have CashApp ($Settiai), PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle (nancy.lynn.foster@gmail.com).

Current Mood: hopeful

heron61

I just got back from my second concert in several months, this one by Suzanne Vega. I first heard her music in 1986, a few months after her first album came out. I was in college, had MTV on, and saw the video for her utterly brilliant song "Marlene on the Wall' (video link). The next day I went out and bought the album, and loved pretty much all of it, and then several months later I saw she was coming to St. Louis, in a (thankfully inexpensive, since I was a poor college student) small venue on the waterfront, and I went to the show, and loved it.

She has a new album out, and my partner and I went to this show, and she started off with “Marlene on the Wall”. It was a very good, if slightly odd show, in that by far the majority of the songs were from either her firs two albums or her most recent album, with no more than one song per album (if that) from her other seven albums.

torachan

1. So nice to get back to my routine at home. I tried my best to stick to the things I could while away but it's not the same and it's definitely a source of stress.

2. Carla got some frozen char siu fried rice from Trader Joe's and it's really good. Making fried rice from scratch is an easy meal, but I wouldn't mind keeping a bag of this in the freezer for times we feel like something even easier.

3. A moth got in the house the other day and Carla was able to get some really great pics of Ollie when he was laser focused on the moth.

musesfool

This afternoon, I made this lemon cake because 1. I had an open container of ricotta I wanted to use up before it spoiled, and 2. I've been looking for a nut-free alternative to my favorite lemon cake since one of my nieces has a tree nut allergy. It turns out I did not have enough ricotta, but I made it up with sour cream, and the cake seems fine. It did stick to the pan in one small spot so I didn't take a picture of it since it had a gash in it, but it tastes great. The trick of adding turbinado sugar to the glaze to make it crunchy is a good one, too.

I also made dressing for coleslaw, which I've never done before - always just bought the pre-made deli version - and it's ok, not great. Not tangy enough, tbh. I wonder if replacing some of the mayo with buttermilk is the way to go. I ate some with a steak I pan-fried for dinner and that was nice. I don't have steak very often, but sometimes it goes on sale and I get it.

We're supposed to be getting between 12"-18" of snow tomorrow/Monday (wait, I just checked, and the current forecast is 39% likelihood of at least 18" if not more, wow), and I'm supposed to go into the office on Tuesday, so I guess we'll see what actually materializes, whether the streets are cleaned, and how I feel on Tuesday morning. Supposedly we're getting a free lunch, but I don't know when the consultant who is supposed to be buying it for our in person meeting is flying in, idk what is going to happen. There was some back and forth on Teams today about the storm and they are notifying everyone to be remote on Monday, which is the smart choice.

Anyway, my menu is not very cozy - I was planning on making that lemony macaroni salad for lunches, and some baked oatmeal with cherries and chocolate chips for breakfast. I do have bread, milk, and eggs, so there could always be French toast! Though I did make that on Wednesday when I realized it was Ash Wednesday (and that I'd completely forgotten Shrove Tuesday). I'll probably have pasta for dinner tomorrow regardless, since it's Sunday.

Today, I watched Batman Ninja, which features the Batfamily time traveling back to feudal Japan (but so much Joker and I am so tired of Joker), and then its sequel, Batman vs. the Yakuza League, which I enjoyed more because it has Wonder Woman in it and she's fantastic as always. It also features ( I guess this is a spoiler ) It was weird to me though that we got 4 Batboys (Jason's feudal Japan headgear is HILARIOUS), but no Cass or Babs at all, and I didn't love the art for Selina. Someday we'll get an animated version of Wayne Family Adventures and the girls and Duke will get their due!

*

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: So Far Away - Carole King

torachan

Recently Finished
The Reyes Incident
I think I got this on some sort of ebook sale. It feels like the sort of thing where I'd be like "well, it's free or just a dollar, so I'll take a chance". It wasn't great, though. Interesting premise about a woman who comes to the police station with a story of killer mermaids who ate her friends. The writing just wasn't great, though.

Another Appalachia
Memoir about a queer Indian woman who grew up in West Virginia, where her dad had taken a job as a company doctor for one of the chemical companies there in the 70s. I liked this.

A Skinful of Shadows
Set in the 1600s during the English civil war, the MC is the bastard of a powerful family who all have the ability to see ghosts and host them inside themselves. When her mother dies, she is taken in by the family, who it turns out, like to keep bastards close in the event that they need a ghost host, becaue the currently living members of the family are all host to multiple ghosts each, of dead family members. In some cases the host is too weak and becomes completely taken over by the ghosts. This was a neat premise and an enjoyable read. I have never not liked anything by Francis Hardine that I've read, and this was no exception.

Paying the Land
Non-fiction graphic novel about First Nations people in the Northwest Territories. The author is white, but he spent a lot of time interviewing people and it's basically like an illustrated interview. Very interesting.

Hen na E vol. 4

Ojisama to Neko vol. 16

lilly_the_kid posting in

vidding

Title: One Foot In Front Of The Other
Fandom: The Long Walk
Music: One Foot In Front Of The Other by Walk The Moon
Characters/Pairing: Ray/Peter; ensemble
Summary: Taking this one step at a time.
Warnings: graphic violence

Here on AO3

Links

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags