Hurt/Comfort Exchange reveals
Jul. 5th, 2025 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoe![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
hurtcomfortex works are revealed, and I have received this lovely cosy Alan/Davie in Balquhidder fic. I recommend it :Dregshoehurtcomfortex works are revealed, and I have received this lovely cosy Alan/Davie in Balquhidder fic. I recommend it :DI don't think there is any 'The Internet' in this sense, really
Jul. 5th, 2025 04:26 pmoursinIs it OK to read Infinite Jest in public? Why the internet hates ‘performative reading’
You know, I was completely unaware that 'The Internet' hated upon this (whatever it is) until I came across this article and I think we are probably well into a realm similar to journo constructing a phenomenon on the basis of '6 people I spoke to in the wine-bar last week'.
Or maybe I just don't do TikTok and am missing this, but in my experience, few forms of social media are entire monoliths, what?
Why shouldn't people read in public? They're not doing it AT other people, honestly.
Can't help thinking that those who get aerated at people reading on public transport or while sitting quietly in a restaurant or coffee-shop are very likely those who think you should 'rawdog' long planeflights, sad gits.
Okay, these days I am pretty much always reading on ereader when out and about, so nobody can see what I'm reading. But back in the day I have read a lot of things that I daresay some miserable so-and-so would have considered 'performative', like Remembrance of Things Past on the Tube.
And among other things Marx and Rousseau on the train when I was commuting in from suburban Surrey.
Which phase of my life I was reminded of by a review headed 'A darker side of Lawrence Durrell' - I was not aware that there was any other side, actually - I habitually got in the same compartment of the same train each morning and there was the same young man making his way veeeeery slowwwwly through the volumes of The Alexandria Quartet. Months and months of Balthazar.
sunshine_revival Challenge #2 - Tunnel of Love
Jul. 5th, 2025 04:32 pmbadfalconChallenge #2
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
☀️ The Romance of Summer: A Love Letter to Tennis
When I saw the prompt What do you love? My first instinct was to be clever. Say something seasonal and tidy. Ice lollies. Sea air. The feeling of sunlight on your knees through the window. But the real answer is louder and messier and always true:
I love tennis.
Not just in summer. All year round. In slow January slogs and awkward 4 a.m. matches because they're in Australia. In rain delays and early exits. But in summer, on the clay at Roland Garros, on the grass at Wimbledon, it blooms. Everything gets bigger. Brighter. Louder. The highs hit higher. The heartbreaks sting sharper.
I love the weird rhythm of a tennis summer. The shift from clay to grass. The way I measure time by who’s still standing on a Friday afternoon. I love the ritual of it: cold drinks, strawberries & cream & prosecco, the particular way sunlight falls across the floor during a 5-setter I wasn’t planning to get invested in. I love the commentary, the chaos, and the wild narratives we build between matches. I love players who break my heart and players I can’t stop watching.
I love how tennis reminds me I still feel things at full volume. That I can cry over a match I knew they were going to lose. That I can believe, right until match point, that maybe this time it’ll be different.
Tennis is stupid and beautiful and exhausting and sometimes the only thing that cuts through the fog in my brain.
It doesn't always love me back. It overwhelms me. It distracts me. It makes me anxious and angry and euphoric and sleepless. But every season, every surface, I come back. I love it wildly. I love it anyway.
Every summer, I fall in love with it again. Even when I swear I won’t.
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
☀️ The Romance of Summer: A Love Letter to Tennis
When I saw the prompt What do you love? My first instinct was to be clever. Say something seasonal and tidy. Ice lollies. Sea air. The feeling of sunlight on your knees through the window. But the real answer is louder and messier and always true:
I love tennis.
Not just in summer. All year round. In slow January slogs and awkward 4 a.m. matches because they're in Australia. In rain delays and early exits. But in summer, on the clay at Roland Garros, on the grass at Wimbledon, it blooms. Everything gets bigger. Brighter. Louder. The highs hit higher. The heartbreaks sting sharper.
I love the weird rhythm of a tennis summer. The shift from clay to grass. The way I measure time by who’s still standing on a Friday afternoon. I love the ritual of it: cold drinks, strawberries & cream & prosecco, the particular way sunlight falls across the floor during a 5-setter I wasn’t planning to get invested in. I love the commentary, the chaos, and the wild narratives we build between matches. I love players who break my heart and players I can’t stop watching.
I love how tennis reminds me I still feel things at full volume. That I can cry over a match I knew they were going to lose. That I can believe, right until match point, that maybe this time it’ll be different.
Tennis is stupid and beautiful and exhausting and sometimes the only thing that cuts through the fog in my brain.
It doesn't always love me back. It overwhelms me. It distracts me. It makes me anxious and angry and euphoric and sleepless. But every season, every surface, I come back. I love it wildly. I love it anyway.
Every summer, I fall in love with it again. Even when I swear I won’t.
The Old Guard 2
Jul. 5th, 2025 05:28 pmprofiterole_readsThe Old Guard 2 was awesome, but Netflix'd better greenlight a third movie right freaking now. I'm reading the comics, but that doesn't help with the cliffhanger because the plot of the movies is different.
The first film was already full of hot people, and they went and added Henry Golding and Uma Thurman to the cast. ^^
There's major m/m, as well as subtext f/f (canon f/f in the comics).
The first film was already full of hot people, and they went and added Henry Golding and Uma Thurman to the cast. ^^
There's major m/m, as well as subtext f/f (canon f/f in the comics).
Post-Deadline Pinch Hits for Sakura Exchange (Due July 11)
Jul. 5th, 2025 10:50 amsakuramod posting in pinchhitsEvent: sakuraexchange, a spring exchange for relationships in Japanese media. Minimums are 1000 words or clean lineart on unlined paper.
Event link: AO3 Page
Pinch hit link: https://sakuraexchange.dreamwidth.org/15138.html
Due date:July 11 at 11:59 PM UTC (7:59 PM EDT), or negotiable
To claim, please comment on the pinch hit post linked above.
PH 4 - 爆上戦隊ブンブンジャー | Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger (TV), 魔法つかいプリキュア！ | Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! | Mahou Girls PreCure!, 仮面ライダーギーツ | Kamen Rider Geats, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (manga), Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (Anime)
PH 16 - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime), Kara no Kyoukai | The Garden of Sinners
sakuraexchange, a spring exchange for relationships in Japanese media. Minimums are 1000 words or clean lineart on unlined paper.Event link: AO3 Page
Pinch hit link: https://sakuraexchange.dreamwidth.org/15138.html
Due date:July 11 at 11:59 PM UTC (7:59 PM EDT), or negotiable
To claim, please comment on the pinch hit post linked above.
PH 4 - 爆上戦隊ブンブンジャー | Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger (TV), 魔法つかいプリキュア！ | Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! | Mahou Girls PreCure!, 仮面ライダーギーツ | Kamen Rider Geats, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (manga), Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (Anime)
PH 16 - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime), Kara no Kyoukai | The Garden of Sinners
(SFF Bingo): Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories, edited by Michael W. Phillips Jr.
Jul. 5th, 2025 10:00 amprimeidealI'm not really a horror person but I kickstarted this anthology to support short fiction presses, it would definitely count for bingo, and I was going to send a submission anyway so why not. If that sounds familiar it's because it is. While I don't have a story in this book, I did find more highlights here than the last anthology!
My favorite story was "The River's Revenge," by Jen Mierisch, about monstrous two-headed eels appearing in the Chicago River and wreaking havoc. It's a delightful mix of humor with horror.
All of the authors are people who currently and/or formerly have lived in and around Chicago, so all the little place names and bits of local color were great. In the first paragraph of "Pedal to the Floor into Darkness," K. A. Roy shows off both the very Midwestern dialect of using "pop" for any generic soft drink (where other parts of the country might use "cola" or "soda,") and the obvious double entendre associated with Lake Shore Drive.
"A Good Kid," by Nick Medina, is about a Lego nerd and the mysterious murals in his neighborhood.
Speaking of police brutality, though. "Body Cam" by TJ Cimfel is an excellent use of form. It starts as a contrast between the supernatural horror of an unexplained Something, and the mundane horror of police officers manipulating evidence at black ops sites. We see an officer slowly watching a timestamped loop of bodycam evidence from a fatal incident three months prior, and at first it just seems to be bad guy cops trying to suppress the truth. Then it gets weird. A great example of what you can do with text that you can't necessarily do in another medium.
Bingo: Published in 2025, Five+ Short Stories, Small Press, presumably will still be Hidden Gem for a while (the Kickstarter e-books just came out, so right now no one has rated it on Goodreads yet!)
My favorite story was "The River's Revenge," by Jen Mierisch, about monstrous two-headed eels appearing in the Chicago River and wreaking havoc. It's a delightful mix of humor with horror.
“We might get to name it, huh?” Suki said. “How about Wriggly Field?”
Was that a smile? “I’m thinking Muddy Waters,” Ron said.
“No, wait! I’ve got it. Eel Capone.”
***
***
Last night, Suki had gone to Navy Bier, the closest bar to the Chicago Sun-Times office and therefore its reporters’ logical happy-hour spot. It was incredible how much gossip you could overhear while nursing a Scotch and scrolling Instagram.
Yes, the location mentioned on Wabash Avenue is real, and yes, you should look it up after you finish the story. Lest you worry that this is mere one-sided political ranting, be assured that the the RL Mayor Johnson makes a cameo to be like "everything is fine and under control" when everything is not fine or under control, Chicago's political machine is a thing. ;)
All of the authors are people who currently and/or formerly have lived in and around Chicago, so all the little place names and bits of local color were great. In the first paragraph of "Pedal to the Floor into Darkness," K. A. Roy shows off both the very Midwestern dialect of using "pop" for any generic soft drink (where other parts of the country might use "cola" or "soda,") and the obvious double entendre associated with Lake Shore Drive.
The first thing you need to know is that my sister died when I was fifteen and she was nineteen. Story goes that Lisa was driving too fast through the bendy part of Lake Shore Drive, you know the one, smack dab between Grand and LaSalle. She took that s-curve doing seventy, like she was running from something in her rearview mirror. Spun out. Hit the median like a spinning top, front passenger bumper crumpling like a stomped pop can. It was past eleven, which if you’ve ever driven down LSD at night, with all the lights and the trees and city on one side, the lake on the other, is something you never forget.
"Lives Matter," by Jotham Austin II, is set in Hyde Park, on the South Side. Over the decades, Chicago has been de facto very segregated; the North Side is predominantly white, the West Side Hispanic, and the South Side black. The University of Chicago (where Barack Obama was once a law school professor) is in Hyde Park, which is a comparatively affluent and highly-educated area amidst the surrounding South Side. I know and love this area, and Austin brings out the little details (the Carl Von Linné statue!) Turns out he's also a UChicago professor and specializes in electron microscopy!Walking slow. Crossing 55th street. Down Lake Park toward MSI. Fast walking. Sirens scream in the distance. Stopping under the Metra station bridge. Stopping to catch my breath. Think.
Bigmom’s maxims reciting in my head. Pull that hoodie down, so you can hear and be heard. Show respect. Yes sir. No mama. No talk back. If you can, send an SOS text.
"A Good Kid," by Nick Medina, is about a Lego nerd and the mysterious murals in his neighborhood.
The shapes and sizes didn’t matter. The colors didn’t either. Whether he ended up with twenty 2x2s, thirty 1x1s, an equal mix of 2x3s, 1x4s, and 1x2s, or any other of the seemingly infinite combinations he could pull from the box, he trusted his fingers to build something worth bragging about.
There are several stories that lean into themes of discrimination and police brutality, etc. What I liked about this one was that it acknowledged the horror of, even in a great city in the wealthiest country on Earth, there are still people killed by violence that wasn't targeted at them, just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There aren't easy fixes, but it's good to acknowledge that the police aren't just cartoon villains being evil for evil's sake, they're responding to real forces.Speaking of police brutality, though. "Body Cam" by TJ Cimfel is an excellent use of form. It starts as a contrast between the supernatural horror of an unexplained Something, and the mundane horror of police officers manipulating evidence at black ops sites. We see an officer slowly watching a timestamped loop of bodycam evidence from a fatal incident three months prior, and at first it just seems to be bad guy cops trying to suppress the truth. Then it gets weird. A great example of what you can do with text that you can't necessarily do in another medium.
It’s at this point the impound lot camera footage jellies, smears to gray. A nebulous conspiracy has naturally formed around this. The CPD got ahold of the impound lot’s drive, wiped out Jackson’s involvement. Like there isn’t enough incriminating footage as it is. Besides, Campos had nothing to do with that. Not that he’s above such moves. Hell, those moves are why they hire him.
He could only stonewall for so long. The prying journalists and their relentless FOIA requests. The family, crying on the news every other day. Woke mobs spitting vitriol outside City Hall, shutting down traffic in the Loop. All of it so tiresomely predictable, so tiresomely effective.
"Lucky Charms," by Sandra Jackson-Opoku, depicts an interaction between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. A kid overhearing an "as you know, Bob" conversation for the readers' benefit is a little annoying, but what I like about this is that it doesn't just depict contemporary people reacting to something from the past (including an allusion to "Leprechaun in the Hood," and if I have to know that that is a thing that exists, then so do you), but also characters from the past trying to make sense of the present.
Not every story was a winner for me, but overall, I think if you love Chicago as much as I do, you'll probably find something to like in here!Suzanne heard a rumble from the other direction, the stomp of marching feet. She turned to see a group from the opposite end of the road approaching in military formation. They were men and women in identical blue clothing carrying weapons and see-through shields.
One voice was magnified by the large cone he carried. “This is an illegal gathering. You are not allowed to advance beyond this point. You must disperse. I repeat, you must disperse.”
Suzanne could differentiate the groups by what they carried—their signs, their weapons, their manner of movement. Could these be the Yankees and British at war once again?
Bingo: Published in 2025, Five+ Short Stories, Small Press, presumably will still be Hidden Gem for a while (the Kickstarter e-books just came out, so right now no one has rated it on Goodreads yet!)
Archer's Goon
Jul. 5th, 2025 01:39 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
8daysofdwj_feedI hate Mum, I hate Dad, I hate Howard and the Goon.
Big brothers and bigger brothers, good words and bad infrastructure, the power of being a megalomaniac evil wizard, and the power of having parents that you actually trust.
Transcript available here. We'll be back in two weeks with a double-length episode for Fire and Hemlock!
Sunshine Challenge #2
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:12 pmscripsi Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like
I love the light. Living in Sweden, summer means white nights, and there is something special walking outside at night, with the stillness and the scents, but no darkness. I love soft summer rains, like today, when the air smells wonderful, and the sounds of raindrops on the roof makes me feel sleepy and content. I love spending time in the summer house in the archipelagio outside Stockholm, in the house my grandfather built, and my grandmother filled with art. Now my mother is adding her own. There is no better place in the world for me to be.
I’m not poetry minded, so no poem.
Sunshine Challenge #1
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:00 pmscripsiJournaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Journaling: I will try to actually write the posts about the Agatha Christie books I’m currently rereading. As well as continue talking about books that have special meanings for me.
I have lots of things to sew. Currently a Regency petticoat, and after that a Regency ball gown for a ball at the end of August. I’m also working on a Liberty of London aesthetic dress. I also need to change a couple of everyday clothes that don't fit me anymore.
Creativity: I’m still trying my way in making paper flowers. Here, have a tulip.
Art by Rebecca Lee Kunz (Cherokee Nation) on Cover of THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:03 amaichildlit_feed
What a delight this morning (July 5, 2025) to see art by Rebecca Lee Kunz (Cherokee Nation) on the cover of the July/August 2025 The Horn Book Magazine! As I study the cover, I see a Cherokee child, reading for a book about a Cherokee family. A rare book, in fact. I think it is the only book written and illustrated by two women of the same Native Nation.
Kunz's work has layers of meaning and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her Caldecott Medal Acceptance speech. Read it, and get the book she illustrated, Chooch Helped. Written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation), it is heartwarming, delightful, poignant, fun... and I hope the two women collaborate again. Chooch Helped is such a special book!
Kunz's work has layers of meaning and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her Caldecott Medal Acceptance speech. Read it, and get the book she illustrated, Chooch Helped. Written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation), it is heartwarming, delightful, poignant, fun... and I hope the two women collaborate again. Chooch Helped is such a special book!
June 2025 Monthly Media
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:53 amcinaed* = Rewatch/reread
Anime/Cartoons
- Bob's Burgers 15.12-15.15
Books/Short Stories
- Critical Role: Vox Machina--Stories Untold Collection
- The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken
- The Barrow Will Send What It May by Margaret Killjoy
- Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee
- Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
Manga/Comics/Light Novels
- Dandadan Volume 8
- One Piece Volumes 107 by Eiichiro Oda
- Oglaf (ongoing webcomic)
- Order of the Stick (ongoing webcomic)
- Wilde Life (ongoing webcomic)
- Deathtrap (1982)
- The Lion in Winter (1968)*
- The Third Man (1949)
- Midst:Unend
- Not Another D&D Podcast
- Ain't Too Proud (National Theater)
- Frankenstein (Shakespeare Theater Company)
- A Wrinkle in Time (Arena Stage)
TV Shows/Web Series
- The Afterparty 1.01-2.09
- Battle Camp 1.01-1.10
- The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin 1.01-1.06
- Critical Role: Age of Umbra 2-5
- Dickinson 1.01-1.03
- Dimension 20: Skyward Ho 1-4
- Loot 2.08-2.10
- The Murderbot Diaries 1.05-1.08
- The Nanny 3.03-6.22
- Tales Unrolled 1-6
Sunshine Revival Challenge #2
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:26 amflorianschild posting in sunshine_revivalIntroduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Friending Meme * Challenge #1
Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.
( Sunshine Revival Challenge #2 )
Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.
And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.
Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.
( Sunshine Revival Challenge #2 )
Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.
And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.
Spooks (MI5): Fanfic: Not Quite James Bond
Jul. 5th, 2025 12:09 pmsmallhobbit posting in fan_flashworksTitle: Not Quite James Bond
Fandom: Spooks (MI5) [werewolf!Lucas verse]
Rating: G
Length: 885 words
Summary: James Bond had Q for cutting edge science creations, Section D have Alaric Braithwaite
Fandom: Spooks (MI5) [werewolf!Lucas verse]
Rating: G
Length: 885 words
Summary: James Bond had Q for cutting edge science creations, Section D have Alaric Braithwaite
The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, July 4)
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:04 amspikedluvHappy belated The Original No Kings Day.
I had mom duty from 8am to 3pm. Before I left I hand-washed some dishes and changed kitty litter. I returned a book to the library on my way there. While I was at mom’s I went for a walk. (I had eyed up this walk previously, thinking it would be close to my half-mile walks, but this was the first time I tried it. It turned out to be .65 mi, but it was a nice walk. Aside from the horrid sidewalks. The village really needs to fix the sidewalks, which have been in poor condition since I was a child, and probably before that.)
When I got home I did more hand-washing of dishes, grilled steak for Pip’s supper, shaved, and tossed a load of bath towel in the washer (AND dryer!).
I started the next Amelia Peabody book.
Temps started out at 57.4(F) and reached 77. It was a lovely day, sunny with a strong breeze.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )
I had mom duty from 8am to 3pm. Before I left I hand-washed some dishes and changed kitty litter. I returned a book to the library on my way there. While I was at mom’s I went for a walk. (I had eyed up this walk previously, thinking it would be close to my half-mile walks, but this was the first time I tried it. It turned out to be .65 mi, but it was a nice walk. Aside from the horrid sidewalks. The village really needs to fix the sidewalks, which have been in poor condition since I was a child, and probably before that.)
When I got home I did more hand-washing of dishes, grilled steak for Pip’s supper, shaved, and tossed a load of bath towel in the washer (AND dryer!).
I started the next Amelia Peabody book.
Temps started out at 57.4(F) and reached 77. It was a lovely day, sunny with a strong breeze.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )
Well, that was unexpected and unpleasant
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:43 amconuly( Though, upon reflection, it's surprising that this hasn't happened before in 30+ years of menstruation )
I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.
I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.
I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.
I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.