Georgia, in review

Nov. 15th, 2025 05:37 am
tielan: four lemming toys at the grand canyon (travel)
[personal profile] tielan
Because I was a little bit busy during the Georgia part of the trip, and didn't really have the ability to write up what I was doing, this is my (late late late) review of my tour through Georgia from the 8th-14th September.

So, I joined the tour late - I was supposed to join on Saturday morning when the tour began, but ended up arriving on Monday afternoon. I'm glad I took the time to recover from COVID, though - it was definitely worth it, even if the actual sickness wasn't as debilitating as initially feared.

The tour organisers arranged for a driver to take me to where the others were, and it was a little unnerving arriving at Tbilisi airport, trying to get my bearings, meet my driver, get my phone started - everything all at once! And we promptly drove out from the airport and off to the village of Signahi, where the tour had headed out to just that morning.

Travel 2025 - Georgia )

--

This is the tour, with itinerary, if you're curious. I missed the first couple of days of Tbilisi, due to being sick, though.

30 in 30: DCU - Batman '89

Nov. 15th, 2025 12:26 am
senmut: Oracle being held by Black Canary after rescue (Comics: Birds of Prey)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Owed a Favor (100 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Batman [Movies 1989-1997]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth
Additional Tags: Drabble, Post-Break Up
Summary:

Alfred is a bit disappointed.






Alfred raised one eyebrow at his charge arriving alone for the night.

"I presume the absence of Miss Vale is the reason you insisted on driving yourself to the date?"

Bruce grimaced. "She's got a prime opportunity to do some reporting in Hong Kong," he deflected.

"And were I to inquire on the ultimate ownership of the press agency she will be going there for, would I find it under one of our ledgers?"

That got silence and a pointed removal of his coat at first, which Alfred took.

"No," Bruce said, relenting. "But someone did owe me a favor."

DCU Nostalgia: Batgirl (2000) #28

Nov. 14th, 2025 06:15 pm
petra: Stephanie Brown saying, "Are you serious?" (Steph - Are you serious?)
[personal profile] petra
For people running ublock origins, a link where you can read this: Batgirl (2000) #28.

I revisited this issue today because I refound this exquisite redraw of a page from it, which if you don't have Tumblr you can see here. I adore the redrawn and racebent Steph, and the whole thing feels like an expression of the purest form of fannish love I know.

I had forgotten just how gloriously kinetic Damion Scott's work is, and how much I adore Cass and Steph's relationship as it's developed in the issue. I don't think you need much backstory for this issue other than "Cass was raised in silence by a man who made her learn body language instead of spoken language." There's all sorts of other canon going on outside the context of the issue, but this one's pretty complete as it stands.
petra: Jean-Luc Picard shirtless in bed with uniformed Q. (Picard & Q - Canon)
[personal profile] petra
I haven't done this meme since 2011, but I refound it today and had a good laugh, so here we go:

Give me a character's name and I will tell you three reasons why it would be terrible to try to date them, have sex with them, or be in a long-term relationship with them.

For an extra challenge, pick characters you know I'm fond of. Anyone can tell you reasons not to date Cthulhu, after all.

For reference, my fandom list.

30 in 30: DCU - ReeveVerse

Nov. 14th, 2025 06:42 pm
senmut: Superman (Chris Reeve) with "You've got to give more than you take" words (DC: Superman Give)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Paris Trip (150 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Superman
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lois Lane, Clark Kent, Perry White
Additional Tags: Drabble and a Half
Summary:

It's business; why's Clark nervous?






"Lane! Kent!"

Clark hastily put his pen down and stood up, taking that first stride and nearly bumped into Lois. He paused and made the gesture for her to precede him, not that she'd ever done much more than glare. He followed behind her, and shut the door at Perry's irritable wave at that.

"Yes, Mister White?" Clark asked after Lois's more irritated "What is it?"

"Talk to Daphne for tickets; sending you both to Paris to cover their reaction to the Euro Parliament elections," Perry said. "Try not to get off-beat on this one!"

Lois smiled. "Thank you, Perry."

Clark was suspicious of that sudden shift in her voice and mood, but he followed her out with a 'yes sir', to go see Daphne. Paris might be an interesting place to visit, without it being about world peace or saving the world.

Lois seemed to see it as good.

MAIL CALL!

Nov. 14th, 2025 06:36 pm
senmut: Scarlett with crossbow in air, face on (G I Joe: Scarlett)
[personal profile] senmut
[personal profile] sweettartheart - shirt has arrived, also had a card from you recently!

[personal profile] kalloway - loved the license plate sticker in your card!

Um what

Nov. 14th, 2025 01:36 pm
ysobel: (Default)
[personal profile] ysobel posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
Dear Miss Manners: What is the polite way to eat large sushi rolls? Sometimes they’re too big to comfortably eat whole without gagging!

Dissect them.

Miss Manners does not usually condone deconstructing food in public, but these are desperate times. Use your chopsticks to pull out the insides and eat them separately. Then either squish the remaining rice and seaweed together and eat it in two bites or use the side of the chopstick to cut it in half.

Perhaps the sight of their beautiful creations being desecrated will inspire the chefs to make more manageable bites. Or at least have them wonder why everyone is suddenly ordering them as takeout instead.

Wounded Christmas Wolf

Nov. 14th, 2025 11:43 am
sholio: tree-shaped cookie (Christmas cookies)
[personal profile] sholio
christmas book cover with a couple, falling snow, small town

It is free book time again! This is a Christmas romance, a full length novel unrelated to my other series (though obviously it has shifter-romance-style werewolves in it). The link will work until the book goes live on Amazon on the 21st.

This book went through heavier rewrites than my books normally do, so please let me know if you notice any typos or inconsistencies and I will try to fix them!

As always, no obligation, but feel free to download and enjoy.

Free download from Bookfunnel:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/1c4ety8smh
petra: Dick Grayson and Tim Drake doing one-handed handstands on a moving train. You can't see it in this image but they're also blindfolded. (Dick and Tim - Blindfolded Trainsurfing)
[personal profile] petra
Tim Drake's 16th birthday(s) (313 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake, Tim Drake/Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake
Characters: Tim Drake
Additional Tags: Limericks, Poetry, Limerick Cycle, Birthday, Sweet Sixteen
Summary:

Only the really lucky characters get to turn 16 more than once.

Recent Reading

Nov. 14th, 2025 11:43 am
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Kelley Armstrong, Death at a Highland Wedding (2025)

Latest novel in the Rip Through Time series, in which a Vancouver B.C. police detective finds herself transported to 1870 Edinburgh, where she falls in with an undertaker who does forensic pathology work on the side, and they solve crimes together. This one is something like novel 5 in the series (with several additional novellas).

I wrote the... *checks AO3 to confirm* ...yes, still the only fic for Mallory and Gray (the Canadian detective and the Scottish undertaker). And every year since I wrote it, I know when a new novel has been published because there's a small influx of readers who turn to AO3 to self-medicate for the fact that Mallory and Gray still haven't gotten together yet. So I already knew from this year's comments that they don't get together in this book, either!

AND YET.
AND YET. (spoilers) Gray proposes a marriage of convenience, Mallory turns it down because she's holding out for a love match, Gray begins to say something about maybe in time she will develop feelings for him -- but cannily phrased, so that she doesn't realize HE ALREADY HAS feelings for HER, and she storms out. AND THEN. He writes her a letter explaining all! Which she doesn't get because of murder mystery shenanigans! Which is very Jane Austen of him, but he NEVER REWRITES THE LETTER, NOR CONFESSES WHAT WAS IN IT, and we're left with them deciding on the last page that if they can't come up with a better option by the time his sister gets married, he and Mallory will do a marriage of convenience after all -- WHICH IS VERY PINING IDIOTS OF BOTH OF THEM AND I WOULD GO AND BITCH TO THE ONLY PERSON ON AO3 WHO WROTE FIC ABOUT THEM. EXCEPT THAT PERSON IS ME. SO HERE I AM. BITCHING TO YOU.


Yes, I'll read the next book in the series. No, they still won't have gotten together. Yes, I'll be as mad about it as I am right now. ARGH. ([personal profile] grrlpup finds my frustration very amusing.)


E. Pauline Johnson (Mohawk), The Moccasin Maker (1913)

I have the impression that if I was Canadian I might have been more familiar with Johnson before this, as she was an early light on Canada's literary scene. She was more famed for her poetry than her stories, but I first heard of her because Chelsea Vowell (Metis) recommended the story "A Red Girl's Reasoning", which is included in this collection.

Johnson was mixed race herself, and a fair number of these stories feature protagonists in mixed-race marriages, sometimes happy, sometimes not. A lot of her characterizations are idealized, but I found the stories entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking. I very much enjoyed how often she centered indigenous women, and how she routinely insisted on their agency and dignity -- "A Red Girl's Reasoning" is a prime example.

I also enjoyed that chinuk wawa made the occasional appearance! Johnson lived her later life in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was within the region in which chinuk was commonly spoken. Her use of the language is a little different than what I was taught down here, but still entirely comprehensible to me. (And for people unfamiliar with chinuk wawa, she explains the terms that can't be deduced from context).

Warning for those who check out the Gutenberg edition: the included foreword about Johnson is as racist as all get out.


Rachel Poliquin (illus. Nicholas John Frith), The Superpower Field Guide: BEAVERS (2018)

Breathless, dynamic, humorous, chock-full-of-facts middle-readers book about why beavers are extraordinary. I learned a bunch of stuff, and have to agree: beavers are extraordinary! The illustrations are in a deft, mid-twentieth-century cartooning style that I found charming. Will definitely check out other books in the series.
anneapocalypse: Ariane Clairière, an Elezen Warrior of Light with light skin, green eyes, and dark blonde hair. (ffxiv ariane departure)
[personal profile] anneapocalypse

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Pairings: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light, Alphinaud Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Unrequited Minfilia Warde/Warrior of Light, Unrequited Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light, Pre-Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light, Alisaie Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Warrior of Light & Thancred Waters, Y'shtola Rhul & Warrior of Light, Midgardsormr & Warrior of Light, Hydaelyn & Warrior of Light, Urianger Augurelt & Warrior of Light, Minfilia Warde & Warrior of Light, Ardbert & Warrior of Light
Characters: Warrior of Light, Haurchefant Greystone, Alphinaud Leveilleur, Urianger Augurelt, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters, Emmanellain de Fortemps, Artoirel de Fortemps, Edmont de Fortemps, Alisaie Leveilleur, Minfilia Warde, Midgardsormr (Final Fantasy XIV), Tataru Taru, Ardbert (Final Fantasy XIV), Warriors of Darkness (Final Fantasy XIV), Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Unukalhai (Final Fantasy XIV)
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Survivor Guilt, Elezen Warrior of Light, Female Warrior of Light, Healer Warrior of Ligh, Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Religious Angst, Depression, Patch 3.0: Heavensward Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 3.4: Soul Surrender Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Canon-Typical Violence
Series: With Lilies and With Laurel (Part 1)
Length: 2557/82,000

Summary:

A heartbroken Warrior of Light struggles to come to terms with loss, and the world she has been left to save.

Notes:

This fic is a companion to Gentle Dark, which will begin posting next week. You don't have to read both, but I would recommend it! I will be posting them concurrently, but they can be read in any order.

This is the beginning of a series that will eventually be Urianger/Warrior of Light, but it'll be a bit before we get there, and the scope of this fic is well before that relationship turns romantic. Nonetheless, it is in these two parallel stories that their paths begin to converge.

My deepest thanks to [personal profile] larissa for beta reading. All remaining mistakes are mine.

Final Fantasy XIV is owned by Square Enix. This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction.

This is a work of fiction created for entertainment purposes, and is not intended to be instructional with regard to relationships, injury recovery, funerary customs, houseguest etiquette, religious angst, the care and feeding of horsebirds, or anything else.

( Read on AO3 )

...or below! )

Celebrating AO3’s 16th Anniversary

Nov. 14th, 2025 05:23 pm
[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by Elintiriel

AO3 is turning 16! It’s been another year of growth for AO3. Since this time last year, we passed both eight million and nine million registered users! We also passed 14 million, 15 million, and 16 million fanworks on the site, including one million works in Mandarin Chinese—the first non-English language to reach this milestone!

AO3’s committees have also done a lot of important work this year! Accessibility, Design, & Technology published multiple important code releases, including security improvements like sending you an email when you or someone logged in to your account changes your username, password, or email as well as new features like allowing you to use CSS custom properties in site skins or add tags to your collections!

AO3’s Tag Wranglers published four updates on “No Fandom” tags, which are tags that are not associated with any particular fandom. Many of the new tags they’ve made canonical (marked common) include commonly requested ones like Breeding Kink, Mind Break, and Rivals to Lovers. Check out the full list of new and modified No Fandom tags!

OTW Open Doors announced the import of five fanwork and two zine archives to AO3, including fanworks related to fandoms such as Harry Potter, Inuyasha, and Star Trek: The Original Series. You can look through all old import announcements by browsing AO3 news for the Open Doors tag.

Policy & Abuse published a series of important Terms of Service (TOS) Spotlight news posts that answered common questions about violations of AO3’s TOS. Check them out here:

We’re so excited about all the wonderful things that have happened this year and we can’t wait to see what future years bring!

Prompt!

To celebrate AO3’s 16th birthday, we want to prompt you to post a fanwork featuring 16 in some way! This could be a work about Season/Series 16 of a show, or a character with 16 in their name like Android 16 (Dragon Ball), or even a character celebrating their 16th Birthday. We encourage you to get creative! When you post your works on AO3 or social media, tag them #AO3Celebrates16!

Comment!

If you don’t feel like creating a work, that’s okay! Instead, celebrate this anniversary with us by commenting on 16 fanworks and recommending your favorite in the comments!

Thank you for celebrating 16 years of AO3 with us!

glitteryv: (Default)
[personal profile] glitteryv
Johnny O'Clock

A 1947 movie from J.E.M. Productions directed by Robert Rossen.

Johnny O'Clock (played by Dick Powell) co-runs a casino alongside Guido Marchettis (S.Thomas Gomez). He's a guy who knows all the angles, moves, scams, and whatnot. Harriet (played by Nina Foch), a hat-check girl, is someone Johnny's friendly with. She happens to be in a volatile relationship with crooked cop!Chuck Blayden (played by Jim Bannon).

Things get v. complicated when Blayden disappears and Harriet is found dead.

AND THEN, Nancy (played by Evelyn Keyes), Harriet's sister, shows up wanting answers. Not to mention the dangerous mess that is Nell (played by Ellen Drew), Guido's wife, who won't let Johnny go.

ON TOP OF ALL THAT, there's a cop named Koch (played by Lee J. Cobb) who keeps clashing with Johnny. (Personally, I got the feeling he was envious or jealous of him? #Unsure)

This is a CHAOTIC story, hahah. Everyone's acting is on deck. Dick Powell is someone who I first met in musicals, so it wasn't until much later that I discovered his noir movies. In this case, he plays the part really well. The film has extremely snappy dialogue, the kind that calls attention to itself. The artificiality of it all actually works; EVERYONE has at least two lines that are ridic witty.

It's a v. interesting noir.


Do I have any criticisms?

The story's kinda convoluted. There's the mystery of Harriet's death, the disappearance of the crooked cop, the mobster's wife who is obsessed with Johnny, and the viewer is never quite sure WHAT KIND OF CHARACTER Johnny actually is. OTOH, he's not a villain, but he's not an anti-hero either.

There's a scene where another character calls him out for being the type of person who not only will never pick a side, but who is also deeply selfish. And Johnny shrugs that character off. I do agree with that character's assessment of Johnny cuz, FWIW, you're never quite sure of his motivations. Even after finding out abt his background and how he ended up as a casino co-owner.

Finally, Powell has some chemistry with Evelyn Kayes (who I know as the wife in The Seven Year Itch movie with Marilyn Monroe.) But it's not strong enough.


Do I recommend it?

Sure. I had a good time watching it despite the jumbled plot and my ??? abt Johnny and Koch's motivations. I think you can watch it on Tubi (plus additional copies floating on YouTube.) Gonna give it a 2.9 out of 5


Queerness level:

None.


Le trailer

Thinking women

Nov. 14th, 2025 02:51 pm
oursin: Julia Margaret Cameron photograph of Hypatia (Hypatia)
[personal profile] oursin

I don't think we actually have to claim she invented science fiction, because to the best of my recollection and without going and looking it up, various people in the C17th were doing similar things. Also, honestly, why can we not claim women among the Great Eccentrics of History? What we like about Margaret Cavendish is that she appears to have heartily embraced this identity rather than having it plonked upon her by a judgemental world: The Duchess Who Invented Science Fiction.

Though I am slightly muttering under my breath about the women of the time who were also Doing Science and Being Intellectual in a rather less flamboyant fashion e.g. Lady Ranelagh, and indeed women in the Evelyn circle....

***

Quiet persistence and a lucky combination of first husband dying after a few years of marriage and sympathetic second husband (see also Mrs Delany): Mary Somerville – the first scientist - she taught Ada Lovelace, plus she lived to be 92. (You know, I am sorry for those women in science who died tragically young, but we hear a lot less about the ones like Dorothy Hodgkin who had a long and spectacularly effective career in crystallography while suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and actually GOT THE NOBEL. I also mark her up for persistence in humanitarian concerns.)

***

Okay, Amy Levy did die, by her own hand, distressingly young: but her personal archive, up till now in private hands, has now been acquired by the University of Cambridge Library: The archive of enigmatic 19th-century writer Amy Levy has a new home at Cambridge University Library

Harriette continues to be the worst

Nov. 14th, 2025 09:28 am
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
DEAR HARRIETTE: A friend and I were watching a popular TV series together. The show is based on high schoolers who struggle with substance use disorder, mental health, anger management, sexual exploitation and more. We both were making comments regarding our shock throughout the episodes, but at some point, my friend looked over to me and said he feels sorry for my future children. I was wounded. That is such a strong statement.

I tried to unpack with him what he had said, but I didn't get far. He shared that he thought my expectations were too aggressive and that no kid will be able to thrive around me. I think of parenting as a balance between structure and vulnerability, and I've always hoped I will be an honest and understanding mom. Neither of us has children, by the way.

I want my friend to know his harsh critiques impacted me and that he should be more mindful with his opinions in the future. Is it even worth revisiting this conversation? -- Bad Mom


Read more... )

Profile

sid: (Default)
sid

January 2015

S M T W T F S
    12 3
45678910
11 121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags