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Jun. 8th, 2025 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thawreckaI've now watched to the end of episode 26 of Blossom. I could finish it this weekend, if I so choose. I appreciated that they made the terrible stepmother more complicated, sympathic and interesting (though no less terrible). I feel like the main male character is kind of terrible, and actually only kept in check by the female lead, though I'm probably not supposed to feel that way 🤣 But I find them kind of cute and appeallingly functional. Whenever he admires her strategies I'm charmed by it.
I went to see Detective Kien: The Headless Horror (2025) -- a Vietnamese somewhat supernatural historical detective thriller -- at a cinema one suburb over last night. The film was fine, basically about as 3 out of 5 stars as you can get. I liked it well enough. It's sufficient to the job. I was neither wowed nor put off. A lot of the detecting is about getting gossipy landed gentry to spill all the beans, so it's not on the Sherlock-y end of the scale (which I appreciate, tbh). I appreciated the flirtation between the two main characters was a flirtation between people who are not young. There's a subplot with arranged marriage drama with face-slapping and a whole thing with people hallucinating (or maybe not) a monster. Nice outfits and hairstyles; I don't know enough about Vietnam to say whether or not they're historically accurate, but they're visually appealing, and they signalled things like class status & etc. at a glance. I suspect this film is funnier if you speak Vietnamese, given moments when people laughed. There was a bit where red dirt was a clue, and the characters instantly assumed it was dirt that got blood soaked into it, but because I grew up in a place where the dirt everywhere is red I was surprised.
What I didn't like was people coming in late and walking in front of the subtitles. This always drives me crazy! And there were people using their phones during the movie. I guess this is often how the movie-going experience is now (though it depends on the film, I think? If it's an art film aimed at older audiences I don't often have this issue), but it's very annoying.
Also, the particular Hoyts I went to see this at renovated so that buying food and picking up food seem to be in completely different areas now and it was weirdly unclear which you're supposed to do first. That and it being at a shopping centre at night, so I missed my tram when I got out in the rainy dark, and then had to wait 20 minutes for an uber... I don't regret going out to see the film (even if it was just fine, I still feel enriched by leaving the house and seeing a new thing, and it's nice to add another country to my list of 2025 films), even if I was beset by annoyances.
I went to see Detective Kien: The Headless Horror (2025) -- a Vietnamese somewhat supernatural historical detective thriller -- at a cinema one suburb over last night. The film was fine, basically about as 3 out of 5 stars as you can get. I liked it well enough. It's sufficient to the job. I was neither wowed nor put off. A lot of the detecting is about getting gossipy landed gentry to spill all the beans, so it's not on the Sherlock-y end of the scale (which I appreciate, tbh). I appreciated the flirtation between the two main characters was a flirtation between people who are not young. There's a subplot with arranged marriage drama with face-slapping and a whole thing with people hallucinating (or maybe not) a monster. Nice outfits and hairstyles; I don't know enough about Vietnam to say whether or not they're historically accurate, but they're visually appealing, and they signalled things like class status & etc. at a glance. I suspect this film is funnier if you speak Vietnamese, given moments when people laughed. There was a bit where red dirt was a clue, and the characters instantly assumed it was dirt that got blood soaked into it, but because I grew up in a place where the dirt everywhere is red I was surprised.
What I didn't like was people coming in late and walking in front of the subtitles. This always drives me crazy! And there were people using their phones during the movie. I guess this is often how the movie-going experience is now (though it depends on the film, I think? If it's an art film aimed at older audiences I don't often have this issue), but it's very annoying.
Also, the particular Hoyts I went to see this at renovated so that buying food and picking up food seem to be in completely different areas now and it was weirdly unclear which you're supposed to do first. That and it being at a shopping centre at night, so I missed my tram when I got out in the rainy dark, and then had to wait 20 minutes for an uber... I don't regret going out to see the film (even if it was just fine, I still feel enriched by leaving the house and seeing a new thing, and it's nice to add another country to my list of 2025 films), even if I was beset by annoyances.
that double just loosened him up last night
Jun. 7th, 2025 10:22 pmmusesfoolI used decaf to make coffee granita last night, and I had it for dessert this evening along with a dollop of homemade whipped cream, and it seems to have worked out all right - no late evening side effects of caffeine that I can feel. And I think it's better later in the day as a treat than as my morning coffee, because I eat it so quickly and also it's sweet. I don't put any sugar in my regular coffee, but granita requires it so it doesn't freeze solid. I used vanilla sugar but can't really detect the vanilla (or, rather, differentiate it from the vanilla in the whipped cream).
Also, they were on sale, so I bought a pack of paper plates and they made cleanup after cooking so easy that I remembered why I used to use them regularly back before I had a dishwasher. My plan to replace my dead dishwasher is to try the 4th of July sales - Friend L is going to join me at the store to see if the model I want (Bosch) actually fits in the space I've got (and if it goes on sale - it did not for Memorial Day, that I saw, but maybe I don't need the more expensive/top-of-the-line model? It's just that it has something that will allegedly turn the machine off if it senses a leak, which seems like a good thing to have, especially when you live in an apartment above other people and are responsible if any leakage causes damages below you). Anyway, July is a three-paycheck month, which gives me some leeway for paying most of it off ASAP and not increasing my credit card debt any more than I have to.
*
Also, they were on sale, so I bought a pack of paper plates and they made cleanup after cooking so easy that I remembered why I used to use them regularly back before I had a dishwasher. My plan to replace my dead dishwasher is to try the 4th of July sales - Friend L is going to join me at the store to see if the model I want (Bosch) actually fits in the space I've got (and if it goes on sale - it did not for Memorial Day, that I saw, but maybe I don't need the more expensive/top-of-the-line model? It's just that it has something that will allegedly turn the machine off if it senses a leak, which seems like a good thing to have, especially when you live in an apartment above other people and are responsible if any leakage causes damages below you). Anyway, July is a three-paycheck month, which gives me some leeway for paying most of it off ASAP and not increasing my credit card debt any more than I have to.
*
interesting links to fascinate people
Jun. 7th, 2025 03:21 pmisisPaul Krugman talks with Ada Palmer about her new (nonfiction) book Inventing the Renaissance. I came at this from the Krugman side (he's a Nobel-winning economist who used to write for the NYT, and I subscribe to his substack) but I figured some of you would be interested from the Palmer side (I never got into Terra Ignota, though). I found it really interesting! I read the transcript, but there's a link to the video conversation as well.
Speaking of Nobelists, a v. v. srs study found that countries with greater per capita chocolate consumption produce more Nobel laureates - so eating chocolate makes you smarter, right? :-)
Speaking of Nobelists, a v. v. srs study found that countries with greater per capita chocolate consumption produce more Nobel laureates - so eating chocolate makes you smarter, right? :-)
it's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
Jun. 6th, 2025 04:24 pmmusesfoolThe Mets lost a game yesterday they should have won, but I guess it doesn't matter that much because they took the season series from the Dodgers, which means if they are both divisional winners and meet in the NLCS in October, the Mets will have home field advantage. I mean, it would have been nice for them to win on a day when both Atlanta and Philly lost, but I guess you can't have everything.
Anyway, staying up for the previous games in the series (they were out in LA) caught up with me and I couldn't keep my eyes open last night, so I ended up going right to bed at 8:30. It wasn't even fully dark yet! But I slept through till 4:15, got up to use the bathroom, and then slept through again till my alarm went off at 8:15, so I guess I really needed it. I had a lot of dreams, but the one that stuck with me was something where I was already in the hospital visiting someone, and the doctor was like, "we need to talk about your appendix, it needs to come out!" And I was like, "that's news to me since I haven't had an appendix since 1976!" (truth!) And she was like, "what?" and I was like, "what?" and then the dream moved on - I don't remember anything else.
There's really not a whole lot else going on. Work is busy - our CFO keeps trying to steal me away from my boss, but like, there's nothing in Finance for me to do? My main job is board support, and that belongs either in legal or the CEO's office, so...*hands* I guess if something ever happened to my position I might consider trying to transfer, but I just don't see how that would work. No one is indispensable, but no one else in this organization does what I do (and frankly, no one else wants to). If a new CEO comes in and has different ideas, that could be a problem, but I'm trying not to think about that too much. There are closer threats to my job right now. *gestures at everything*
*
Anyway, staying up for the previous games in the series (they were out in LA) caught up with me and I couldn't keep my eyes open last night, so I ended up going right to bed at 8:30. It wasn't even fully dark yet! But I slept through till 4:15, got up to use the bathroom, and then slept through again till my alarm went off at 8:15, so I guess I really needed it. I had a lot of dreams, but the one that stuck with me was something where I was already in the hospital visiting someone, and the doctor was like, "we need to talk about your appendix, it needs to come out!" And I was like, "that's news to me since I haven't had an appendix since 1976!" (truth!) And she was like, "what?" and I was like, "what?" and then the dream moved on - I don't remember anything else.
There's really not a whole lot else going on. Work is busy - our CFO keeps trying to steal me away from my boss, but like, there's nothing in Finance for me to do? My main job is board support, and that belongs either in legal or the CEO's office, so...*hands* I guess if something ever happened to my position I might consider trying to transfer, but I just don't see how that would work. No one is indispensable, but no one else in this organization does what I do (and frankly, no one else wants to). If a new CEO comes in and has different ideas, that could be a problem, but I'm trying not to think about that too much. There are closer threats to my job right now. *gestures at everything*
*
Made in Korea by Jeremy Holt (2022)
Jun. 6th, 2025 12:47 pmpauraqueNext up for Pride Month media, I read Made in Korea, a graphic novel about an android called Jesse who is purchased by a childless couple to be their daughter. Both the author Jeremy Holt and the illustrator George Schall are nonbinary (they/them).
I had mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, I really liked how the themes of identity and coming to know oneself were explored. Jesse's story is at least partly a metaphor for transnational adoption (Holt is an adoptee) and also resonates with more general feelings about not being the child your parents expected and needing to grow out of their narrative about you. Gender identity is directly addressed, which I love to see in an android story! It bugs me when androids uncritically accept a binary gender role based on the anatomy they're built with, even when the story digs into their personhood and free will in other ways. This book does not assume that an android built to look anatomically female is a girl, nor does it assume that if androids existed they would all be built with binary anatomy!
The major aspect that did not work for me was the plot element of ( a school shooting. (cut for content) )
So there was a lot that I liked, but also a pretty big section of the narrative that seemed totally out of place and mishandled. I don't regret reading the book and I think some aspects will stick with me in a good way, I just wish it had kept the focus on its strengths.
I had mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, I really liked how the themes of identity and coming to know oneself were explored. Jesse's story is at least partly a metaphor for transnational adoption (Holt is an adoptee) and also resonates with more general feelings about not being the child your parents expected and needing to grow out of their narrative about you. Gender identity is directly addressed, which I love to see in an android story! It bugs me when androids uncritically accept a binary gender role based on the anatomy they're built with, even when the story digs into their personhood and free will in other ways. This book does not assume that an android built to look anatomically female is a girl, nor does it assume that if androids existed they would all be built with binary anatomy!
The major aspect that did not work for me was the plot element of ( a school shooting. (cut for content) )
So there was a lot that I liked, but also a pretty big section of the narrative that seemed totally out of place and mishandled. I don't regret reading the book and I think some aspects will stick with me in a good way, I just wish it had kept the focus on its strengths.
What's Making Me Happy Today: Cloudward, Ho! ep. 1
Jun. 5th, 2025 12:39 pmdelphiCloudward, Ho! is the newest Dimension 20 campaign of actual-play D&D with its classic cast of comedy improvisers. This one is an aeronautical adventure set in a steampunk universe, about a motley crew who set out on a quest in search of a lost continent and the expedition that disappeared before them. The first episode just came out yesterday, and I really enjoyed it!
( Some Notes About the Premise (Moderate Spoilers) )
I'm looking forward to seeing where the campaign goes from here! Anyone else watching or planning to watch?
( Some Notes About the Premise (Moderate Spoilers) )
I'm looking forward to seeing where the campaign goes from here! Anyone else watching or planning to watch?
The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, ed. Yu Chen & Regina Kanyu Wang (2022) [part 5]
Jun. 4th, 2025 02:12 pmpauraqueThis is the fifth and final part of my book club notes on The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories. [Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.]
"The Woman Carrying a Corpse" by Chi Hui (2019), tr. Judith Huang
( Why doesn't she put it down? )
"The Mountain and the Secret of Their Names" by Wang Nuonuo (2019), tr. Rebecca F. Kuang
( Wreckage from satellite launches threatens a rural village. )
"Net Novels and the 'She Era': How Internet Novels Opened the Door for Female Readers and Writers in China" by Xueting Christine Ni (2022) [essay]
( What it says on the tin. )
"Writing and Translation: A Hundred Technical Tricks" by Rebecca F. Kuang (2022) [essay]
( Kuang discusses translation. )
the end
I was pretty impressed by this collection. The stories spanned a lot of different themes and styles, and while not everything was to my taste, the quality of writing was high and it's hard to think of any entries that didn't at least offer something interesting to think about. There was agreement among the group that it's a good starting point for Chinese SF/F but of course it can only be a small slice of a huge and diverse field. I'd be interested to explore further.
I may need to sit out the next book for scheduling reasons. But even if so, I will return!
"The Woman Carrying a Corpse" by Chi Hui (2019), tr. Judith Huang
( Why doesn't she put it down? )
"The Mountain and the Secret of Their Names" by Wang Nuonuo (2019), tr. Rebecca F. Kuang
( Wreckage from satellite launches threatens a rural village. )
"Net Novels and the 'She Era': How Internet Novels Opened the Door for Female Readers and Writers in China" by Xueting Christine Ni (2022) [essay]
( What it says on the tin. )
"Writing and Translation: A Hundred Technical Tricks" by Rebecca F. Kuang (2022) [essay]
( Kuang discusses translation. )
the end
I was pretty impressed by this collection. The stories spanned a lot of different themes and styles, and while not everything was to my taste, the quality of writing was high and it's hard to think of any entries that didn't at least offer something interesting to think about. There was agreement among the group that it's a good starting point for Chinese SF/F but of course it can only be a small slice of a huge and diverse field. I'd be interested to explore further.
I may need to sit out the next book for scheduling reasons. But even if so, I will return!
What I'm Reading: Wildwood by Colin Meloy (2011)
Jun. 3rd, 2025 12:27 pmdelphi✓ kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: YA/Children's
Wildwood is a 2011 children's novel by Colin Meloy, also known for his work as frontman for the Decemberists, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. It follows the adventures of two pretty much contemporary American children, Prue and Curtis, as they set off into the woods to rescue Prue's baby brother (who was carried off by crows) and discover a secret civilization of people and talking animals who have lived in the Impassable Wilderness for centuries and are now locked in a brewing war for control over it.
Things that would have made me love this when I was a kid:
• The world-within-a-world element. A magical society living just outside a regular city? Hell, yeah.
• Rich and vivid language, with an appealing narrative voice.
• Its worldbuilding (although I'm going to put a pin in this), which generally walks a nice line between whimsy and grit, with rules that establish themselves with a light touch.
• The length. This is a brick by children's book standards. It's well-paced and the sort of a thing that could keep a voracious reader busy all the way to their next trip to the library.
• Its sensibility about the independence of kid protagonists in the real world.
• The nomadic society of bandits and their king.
• The illustrations, particularly the full-colour inserts.
This didn't quite hit for me as an adult, but I'm glad I finally checked it out after years of meaning to.
I think the main thing that kept me from really loving it was wanting a little more interiority for the main characters. I get that the book is aiming for more of a fairy tale and Narnia vibe, but: 1) some of the characters' important choices really do hinge on personal decisions and relationships, and 2) this is a 540-page book. Fairy tales aren't built to run for 500+ pages, and it's longer than the first two Narnia books put together. I found myself craving more depth and emotional weight, especially as it went on.
( For example... (Cut for Moderate Spoilers) )
Getting back to that asterisk next to the worldbuilding, I also found the story's decisions about diversity (or the relative lack thereof) occasionally distracting. I get it. Portland's pretty white, by design, and was even more so fifteen years ago. There are really only two characters from the real world and their direct relatives, and it wouldn't necessarily land well to be like, "All the characters of colour in this story are people lost in time, living in the woods."
But at the same time, among the predominantly 19th and 20th century settler-coded residents of the woods, you get these moments of groups with Indigenous coding who are either talking animals or white people—with the stereotypical two stripes of war paint and feathers in hair showing up in a picture of the latter. The text takes pains to characterize this group as Celtic, but that raises its own questions when a reference is made that seems to place them there before that territory's colonization, positioning a "since time immemorial" Irish population in the Oregon wilderness.
I often found myself looking at the aesthetics and thinking about those musical festivals full of severed pieces of Indigenous, Roma, and Celtic cosplay and felt like the fantasy here might be coming from a similar place.
The overall whiteness (and straightness, for that matter) of the book kept standing out because it's such a long story with such a huge cast. I did quite like large swathes of this book, but I think the length worked against it because the text kept offering more without necessarily offering more, if that makes sense.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and I have no idea if the subsequent books address or change any of this. I'm not racing to pick up the next one, but I might flip through it at the library sometime to see what it's like.
( An Excerpt )
kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: YA/Children'sWildwood is a 2011 children's novel by Colin Meloy, also known for his work as frontman for the Decemberists, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. It follows the adventures of two pretty much contemporary American children, Prue and Curtis, as they set off into the woods to rescue Prue's baby brother (who was carried off by crows) and discover a secret civilization of people and talking animals who have lived in the Impassable Wilderness for centuries and are now locked in a brewing war for control over it.
Things that would have made me love this when I was a kid:
• The world-within-a-world element. A magical society living just outside a regular city? Hell, yeah.
• Rich and vivid language, with an appealing narrative voice.
• Its worldbuilding (although I'm going to put a pin in this), which generally walks a nice line between whimsy and grit, with rules that establish themselves with a light touch.
• The length. This is a brick by children's book standards. It's well-paced and the sort of a thing that could keep a voracious reader busy all the way to their next trip to the library.
• Its sensibility about the independence of kid protagonists in the real world.
• The nomadic society of bandits and their king.
• The illustrations, particularly the full-colour inserts.
This didn't quite hit for me as an adult, but I'm glad I finally checked it out after years of meaning to.
I think the main thing that kept me from really loving it was wanting a little more interiority for the main characters. I get that the book is aiming for more of a fairy tale and Narnia vibe, but: 1) some of the characters' important choices really do hinge on personal decisions and relationships, and 2) this is a 540-page book. Fairy tales aren't built to run for 500+ pages, and it's longer than the first two Narnia books put together. I found myself craving more depth and emotional weight, especially as it went on.
( For example... (Cut for Moderate Spoilers) )
Getting back to that asterisk next to the worldbuilding, I also found the story's decisions about diversity (or the relative lack thereof) occasionally distracting. I get it. Portland's pretty white, by design, and was even more so fifteen years ago. There are really only two characters from the real world and their direct relatives, and it wouldn't necessarily land well to be like, "All the characters of colour in this story are people lost in time, living in the woods."
But at the same time, among the predominantly 19th and 20th century settler-coded residents of the woods, you get these moments of groups with Indigenous coding who are either talking animals or white people—with the stereotypical two stripes of war paint and feathers in hair showing up in a picture of the latter. The text takes pains to characterize this group as Celtic, but that raises its own questions when a reference is made that seems to place them there before that territory's colonization, positioning a "since time immemorial" Irish population in the Oregon wilderness.
I often found myself looking at the aesthetics and thinking about those musical festivals full of severed pieces of Indigenous, Roma, and Celtic cosplay and felt like the fantasy here might be coming from a similar place.
The overall whiteness (and straightness, for that matter) of the book kept standing out because it's such a long story with such a huge cast. I did quite like large swathes of this book, but I think the length worked against it because the text kept offering more without necessarily offering more, if that makes sense.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and I have no idea if the subsequent books address or change any of this. I'm not racing to pick up the next one, but I might flip through it at the library sometime to see what it's like.
( An Excerpt )
Fancake Theme for June: Female Relationships
Jun. 3rd, 2025 08:07 amrunpunkrun posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomcalendar
fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules. This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
this team is so loaded with fire power*
Jun. 2nd, 2025 10:40 pmmusesfoolWork was nuts today, especially since I was out on Friday and some of my cow-orkers apparently just waited around for me to come back instead of sending an email themselves. Plus I had 2 committee meetings (unusual - we try not to do that unless we absolutely can't avoid it) but luckily 1 only lasted 15 minutes, so I was able to knock out the minutes in about a similar amount of time. *g*
Yesterday I roasted some ears of corn, and ate 2 for lunch and then scraped the other 3 into a big bowl and the added some crumbled up bacon, 2 pints of really beautiful grape tomatoes, some little pearls of fresh mozzarella, a sliced vidalia onion, and some salt and pepper, oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme, and dressed it all with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Delicious! I will make some orzo to add to it for lunch over the next couple of days and I am looking forward to it.
I also finally hit upon a good way to cook hotdogs without a grill - in the broiler. I don't eat them very often but a couple times during the summer I get a craving, so when they go on sale, I sometimes snag a pack and some soft, cheap buns to eat with them. Of course, since I have the palate of a 5-year-old, I still prefer ketchup on my hotdogs, but since I live alone, there's no one here to judge me. *g*
*The Dodgers, not the Mets. Sigh.
***
Yesterday I roasted some ears of corn, and ate 2 for lunch and then scraped the other 3 into a big bowl and the added some crumbled up bacon, 2 pints of really beautiful grape tomatoes, some little pearls of fresh mozzarella, a sliced vidalia onion, and some salt and pepper, oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme, and dressed it all with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Delicious! I will make some orzo to add to it for lunch over the next couple of days and I am looking forward to it.
I also finally hit upon a good way to cook hotdogs without a grill - in the broiler. I don't eat them very often but a couple times during the summer I get a craving, so when they go on sale, I sometimes snag a pack and some soft, cheap buns to eat with them. Of course, since I have the palate of a 5-year-old, I still prefer ketchup on my hotdogs, but since I live alone, there's no one here to judge me. *g*
*The Dodgers, not the Mets. Sigh.
***
Weekly proof of life for, uh, last week
Jun. 2nd, 2025 04:05 pmumadoshiIt was not a productive weekend for me--awkward, because I had great intentions of getting an initial dent into my next rewrite. I did at least make it as far as reading through the translation and making some notes, but that was very much it.
The one thing I managed was a fair bit of reading:
I finished Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice (a fun read, and I'll probably move along with the series at some point--I think I may even already have the second book--but I don't feel any urgency about it) and followed it up in rapid succession with Copper Script (KJ Charles) and Titan of the Stars (E.K. Johnston), both of which only came out last week. (Two books within a week of their shared release date probably isn't actually a record, but it's certainly not my norm.) Both were great, in very different ways. I knew Johnston had two books coming out in pretty quick succession this season (Sky on Fire releases next month) and that one of them has a planned sequel, but somehow I assumed right up to the end of this one that it was the July book. But no! It's this one! (Unless they both do.) I expect it'll be a fairly different book, and will be very interested to see how things play out.
I'm also still picking my way through The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. (Kobo thinks I'm 78% done.)
Watching:scruloose and I saw the S2 TLOU finale last weekend, and at some point I'll probably ask around for broad and specific spoilers for the game, and that may impact how I feel about it. (Bella Ramsey knocked it out of the park, though. What a fantastic cast all around.)
We're also up to date on Murderbot. My inability to remember any plot specifics at all from All Systems Red (given that it's the only book in the series I've read more than once) is both a bit funny and annoying.
Eating: The Zuni method of dry-brining and roasting a chicken was a success again. Unrelatedly, I gotscruloose to pick up an extra-dark maple syrup from a local producer, and we tried and enjoyed it last weekend. (This jug doesn't explicitly say "extra-dark" or anything like that, so it's possible it's not actually the one I heard mentioned, but it is very dark and they acquired it at the store that had been named, so I'm kinda assuming.)
Growing/Weathering: The lilacs have bloomed! It was windy enough yesterday, and rainy before that, that I was a little scared all the blossoms would blow right off, but that doesn't seem to have happened. I hope I remember to actually go outside and get some to bring inside.
The Sensation lilac [see icon, although that's not a pic of ours] is in pretty dire need of pruning, poor thing. The thought of actually making a(n approximately-)dated list of when to do specific garden things has passed through my mind, and if I'm lucky I'll actually try to assemble it. I think at least the last couple of years running we've looked up when to prune lilacs and then I've been thrown by the fact that our other one is a Bloomerang and presumably follows different rules.
The one thing I managed was a fair bit of reading:
I finished Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice (a fun read, and I'll probably move along with the series at some point--I think I may even already have the second book--but I don't feel any urgency about it) and followed it up in rapid succession with Copper Script (KJ Charles) and Titan of the Stars (E.K. Johnston), both of which only came out last week. (Two books within a week of their shared release date probably isn't actually a record, but it's certainly not my norm.) Both were great, in very different ways. I knew Johnston had two books coming out in pretty quick succession this season (Sky on Fire releases next month) and that one of them has a planned sequel, but somehow I assumed right up to the end of this one that it was the July book. But no! It's this one! (Unless they both do.) I expect it'll be a fairly different book, and will be very interested to see how things play out.
I'm also still picking my way through The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. (Kobo thinks I'm 78% done.)
Watching:
scruloose and I saw the S2 TLOU finale last weekend, and at some point I'll probably ask around for broad and specific spoilers for the game, and that may impact how I feel about it. (Bella Ramsey knocked it out of the park, though. What a fantastic cast all around.)We're also up to date on Murderbot. My inability to remember any plot specifics at all from All Systems Red (given that it's the only book in the series I've read more than once) is both a bit funny and annoying.
Eating: The Zuni method of dry-brining and roasting a chicken was a success again. Unrelatedly, I got
scruloose to pick up an extra-dark maple syrup from a local producer, and we tried and enjoyed it last weekend. (This jug doesn't explicitly say "extra-dark" or anything like that, so it's possible it's not actually the one I heard mentioned, but it is very dark and they acquired it at the store that had been named, so I'm kinda assuming.)Growing/Weathering: The lilacs have bloomed! It was windy enough yesterday, and rainy before that, that I was a little scared all the blossoms would blow right off, but that doesn't seem to have happened. I hope I remember to actually go outside and get some to bring inside.
The Sensation lilac [see icon, although that's not a pic of ours] is in pretty dire need of pruning, poor thing. The thought of actually making a(n approximately-)dated list of when to do specific garden things has passed through my mind, and if I'm lucky I'll actually try to assemble it. I think at least the last couple of years running we've looked up when to prune lilacs and then I've been thrown by the fact that our other one is a Bloomerang and presumably follows different rules.
Media roundup Apr-May
Jun. 1st, 2025 12:19 pmsuperborbButter: A Novel of Food and Murder, by Asako Yuzuki, trans. Polly Barton: A journalist gets a bit too involved in the worldview of a woman who has been jailed for allegedly killing her boyfriends, and who has garnered the hatred of the public for unapologetically prioritizing herself and being fat.
- The weight stuff was unexpectedly hard to read...
- The lesbian undertones were interestingly obscured by the protag's view, but also really pragmatically stated; in her world, going to a girl's school meant she was cast / cast herself as a prince character to the other girls.
- The food descriptions are quite good; I really wanted rice with butter and soy sauce after.
- Either journalistic standards in Japan must be very different or the protag must not be a very good journalist.
Didn't quite come together for me, the subtle commentary not quite refined enough -- like, it felt like it was trying to say stuff subtly, but did it really say anything in the end... I did like parts of it though, and it was a very distinct voice.
Interior Chinatown, by Charles Yu: Asian American studies 101. Not in a bad way necessarily, but not sure I came out if it having felt the content was new; however, the structure was very creative. I expected a little bit more oompf from the ending though. Still, a propulsive read.
The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker: Sequel to The Golem and the Jinni. Vibe is more of the same, and it doesn't really do a ton that was novel. None of the new characters were quite as good as the OGs. I enjoyed reading this, but it isn't a must read IMO.
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, by Henry Grabar: As the tin says. Some interesting case studies, nothing especially novel in the overarching argument, but ties it together. I didn't feel like the thesis was especially strong (seems that writing it during the pandemic should have changed said thesis more than it did).
In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden: A successful professional woman leaves her high status, respected position in London to join a cloistered Benedictine monastery. When Providence is part of the premise, it does Watsonionally explain a lot of "and then the protag was a great friend of someone random that solves their problem." I largely enjoyed this, the focus on living in community, the head hopping style as we learn about the nuns and their stories.
The Doors of Eden, by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A world much like our own is actually part of a series of parallel universes with different sentient creatures and a misfit group must save the world. I guess it being not actually our world might explain things like the UK having an SSN, but that was pretty weird. The cultures and worlds all had a sameyness and the characters, both human and non, felt quite thin. (It very definitely suffers from the 'whole world is just one culture!' trap.) It was a fine romp, but despite all the talk about Tchaikovsky having 'weird aliens,' I wasn't impressed.
Killingly, by Katharine Beutner: Based on the 1897 real-life disappearance of a Mount Holyoke student and telling a story of what might have happened and the people that might have been around her. [Rot13] V qba'g guvax n qbez sheanpr va 1897 jbhyq or ubg rabhtu gb perzngr n obql naq guvf vf npghnyyl rkgerzryl cybg pevgvpny? But otherwise what it says on the tin, though a bit thin and the ending is very pat. I liked the college students and their descriptions best, but otherwise, I would only recommend it to people who do like that kind of historical fiction.
https://368chickens.com/: I played across my phone and computer, so I dug into the code to check how many tries it took me -- 32 for the first win, then I think I got a method that worked. It does make me feel like a game theorist could come up with some interesting principles about winning based on the random chicken selector...
Jiang Ziya (2020) (DNF): Part two of the animated Ne Zha series. The fight scenes are pretty tedious, so I DNF'd in the end.
Ancient Detective (2020) (DNF): I don't think I'll ever come back to this, and I did follow the group watch until ep 16 / verdict was that it wasn't really worth finishing, so I guess I might as well boot this out of my drafts. It's a detective story, but in that boring way where it follows the standard detecting case solving storylines in terms of beats -- lots of talking over clues / people around to be witness, arguments about who is accused etc with everyone in the case standing around, then smaller discussions with a Watson. Finally, the killer admits to it after being confronted and explains his motivations, and the recap of how the crime happened is extremely lengthy. The medicine was bad (blowing on an open wound! Dry finger bones being attached to each other!) and the sound mixing was extremely bad. However, there were fun moments! The distinctive weapons were nice, and there were some genuinely funny scenes (the character that records all the happenings triggered some as that premise might suggest, and my notes say something about a sad poetry recitation being really funny, though it's been... over a year, so not funny enough for me to remember it that long afterwards).
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard (DNF): This was very much pop history, with minimal citation, and I didn't feel like it was scaffolding me enough for me to retain any of the info.
I have ALSO skimmed a number of sleep training books, but they are all useless.
- The weight stuff was unexpectedly hard to read...
- The lesbian undertones were interestingly obscured by the protag's view, but also really pragmatically stated; in her world, going to a girl's school meant she was cast / cast herself as a prince character to the other girls.
- The food descriptions are quite good; I really wanted rice with butter and soy sauce after.
- Either journalistic standards in Japan must be very different or the protag must not be a very good journalist.
Didn't quite come together for me, the subtle commentary not quite refined enough -- like, it felt like it was trying to say stuff subtly, but did it really say anything in the end... I did like parts of it though, and it was a very distinct voice.
Interior Chinatown, by Charles Yu: Asian American studies 101. Not in a bad way necessarily, but not sure I came out if it having felt the content was new; however, the structure was very creative. I expected a little bit more oompf from the ending though. Still, a propulsive read.
The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker: Sequel to The Golem and the Jinni. Vibe is more of the same, and it doesn't really do a ton that was novel. None of the new characters were quite as good as the OGs. I enjoyed reading this, but it isn't a must read IMO.
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, by Henry Grabar: As the tin says. Some interesting case studies, nothing especially novel in the overarching argument, but ties it together. I didn't feel like the thesis was especially strong (seems that writing it during the pandemic should have changed said thesis more than it did).
In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden: A successful professional woman leaves her high status, respected position in London to join a cloistered Benedictine monastery. When Providence is part of the premise, it does Watsonionally explain a lot of "and then the protag was a great friend of someone random that solves their problem." I largely enjoyed this, the focus on living in community, the head hopping style as we learn about the nuns and their stories.
The Doors of Eden, by Adrian Tchaikovsky: A world much like our own is actually part of a series of parallel universes with different sentient creatures and a misfit group must save the world. I guess it being not actually our world might explain things like the UK having an SSN, but that was pretty weird. The cultures and worlds all had a sameyness and the characters, both human and non, felt quite thin. (It very definitely suffers from the 'whole world is just one culture!' trap.) It was a fine romp, but despite all the talk about Tchaikovsky having 'weird aliens,' I wasn't impressed.
Killingly, by Katharine Beutner: Based on the 1897 real-life disappearance of a Mount Holyoke student and telling a story of what might have happened and the people that might have been around her. [Rot13] V qba'g guvax n qbez sheanpr va 1897 jbhyq or ubg rabhtu gb perzngr n obql naq guvf vf npghnyyl rkgerzryl cybg pevgvpny? But otherwise what it says on the tin, though a bit thin and the ending is very pat. I liked the college students and their descriptions best, but otherwise, I would only recommend it to people who do like that kind of historical fiction.
https://368chickens.com/: I played across my phone and computer, so I dug into the code to check how many tries it took me -- 32 for the first win, then I think I got a method that worked. It does make me feel like a game theorist could come up with some interesting principles about winning based on the random chicken selector...
Jiang Ziya (2020) (DNF): Part two of the animated Ne Zha series. The fight scenes are pretty tedious, so I DNF'd in the end.
Ancient Detective (2020) (DNF): I don't think I'll ever come back to this, and I did follow the group watch until ep 16 / verdict was that it wasn't really worth finishing, so I guess I might as well boot this out of my drafts. It's a detective story, but in that boring way where it follows the standard detecting case solving storylines in terms of beats -- lots of talking over clues / people around to be witness, arguments about who is accused etc with everyone in the case standing around, then smaller discussions with a Watson. Finally, the killer admits to it after being confronted and explains his motivations, and the recap of how the crime happened is extremely lengthy. The medicine was bad (blowing on an open wound! Dry finger bones being attached to each other!) and the sound mixing was extremely bad. However, there were fun moments! The distinctive weapons were nice, and there were some genuinely funny scenes (the character that records all the happenings triggered some as that premise might suggest, and my notes say something about a sad poetry recitation being really funny, though it's been... over a year, so not funny enough for me to remember it that long afterwards).
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard (DNF): This was very much pop history, with minimal citation, and I didn't feel like it was scaffolding me enough for me to retain any of the info.
I have ALSO skimmed a number of sleep training books, but they are all useless.
In Other Waters (2020)
Jun. 1st, 2025 09:57 ampauraqueHappy Pride! This month I'm going to be reviewing games and books by trans and nonbinary creators.
First up is In Other Waters, a sci-fi exploration game by Gareth Damien Martin (they/them). You play as an AI who's been abandoned on an ocean planet and doesn't remember why. You're reactivated by Dr. Ellery Vas, an exobiologist who came here searching for her missing partner and colleague Minae. The planet is teeming with alien life, but all the human research bases are deserted. Together you explore the sea, collecting data on the alien ecosystem and piecing together what really happened here.
I would recommend this game if you like:
- Ocean exploration
- Detailed speculative xenobiology
- Queer characters
- Thoughtful interactive fiction
( It's kind of like if Subnautica were a text adventure. )
In Other Waters is available for PC and Mac on Steam and GOG for $14.99 USD. There's also a Switch port, but I'd be hesitant about that; I found navigating the UI very awkward with a controller and switched to the mouse right away when playing on PC.
First up is In Other Waters, a sci-fi exploration game by Gareth Damien Martin (they/them). You play as an AI who's been abandoned on an ocean planet and doesn't remember why. You're reactivated by Dr. Ellery Vas, an exobiologist who came here searching for her missing partner and colleague Minae. The planet is teeming with alien life, but all the human research bases are deserted. Together you explore the sea, collecting data on the alien ecosystem and piecing together what really happened here.
I would recommend this game if you like:
- Ocean exploration
- Detailed speculative xenobiology
- Queer characters
- Thoughtful interactive fiction
( It's kind of like if Subnautica were a text adventure. )
In Other Waters is available for PC and Mac on Steam and GOG for $14.99 USD. There's also a Switch port, but I'd be hesitant about that; I found navigating the UI very awkward with a controller and switched to the mouse right away when playing on PC.
(no subject)
Jun. 1st, 2025 02:40 pmthawreckaI went to see The Phoenician Scheme yesterday, and alas, it's a fizzler. The opening is so strong, that I was genuinely excited! I felt that I was in capable hands. Very Wes Anderson, but the music gave the opening a sense of urgency and Benicio del Toro's physicality brought a degree of menace to it that I genuinely don't expect from his work. And then... it turned out to be a stiff, surface-y lukewarm rehash of the sort of thing he's already done in The Royal Tennenbaums and The Life Aquatic & etc. etc. Shitty patriarch reconnecting with child, sets that make everything feel like a dollhouse, a bunch of celeb cameos, a bunch of monotone line delivery. The comedy doesn't land. Mia Threapleton's acting style is too casual and monotone, to the point that sometimes it feels like a humorous juxtaposition to everyone else's OTT acting and sometimes she just seems like a bad high school drama student. And this is on the higher end of orientialism for his films. This felt like maybe he's entering a Tim Burton-esque bad parody of himself era.
It's a shame, because I actually really enjoyed his last two films: to me they felt like he was using his style to do slightly different things and evolve, and while they were certainly more niche than his most popular, they had just as much heart. Asteroid City felt like it connected so well with lockdown grief, and The French Dispatch is such a charming blend of styles in what is blatantly a love letter to The Paris Review. But this felt like it was missing its heart, just going through the motions. And why would you waste a guy like Benicio del Toro on bad comedy.
It's not all bad - Richard Ayoade's bit as the leader of a humorous stylish freedom fighter/thief gang is delightful, and Riz Ahmed's bits reminded me that he's very good looking. And the beginning really is so good, stylish and urgent with a dark humour underlying. The afterlife segments scattered throughout the film are also a highlight for me, and they felt like that was where the real story was. Honestly, I felt like he could have done more with those and less with the wacky mid century basketball nonsense.
It kind of makes me want to see Anderson do a film about a character with genuine menace. If this had turned expectations on their head, and instead of being another unnecessary shitty patriarch becomes less shitty through reconnecting with adult children story had been about a villain who stayed a villain and didn't reform it all, it would have been a much better story. But this is more of a deflated balloon of a film.
I'm still going to watch the next one he makes though 😂
I also finally went to see Sinners last night. I'm sure everything that could be said about that film already has, and I'm not particularly qualified to say it, because I discovered while watching it that my hearing loss is worse than I thought because I couldn't understand a lot of the dialogue. I'd like to watch it again once it's on streaming and I can use subtitles. It's obviously in dialogue with other vampire films, along with everything else it's doing. Great sound design; I felt especially wrapped in the music, but the way it used sound as an auditory flashback overlaid over the present of the story was also a highlight. Charismatic actors. I was especially compelled by Wunmi Mosaku as Annie.
There were parts that didn't work as well for me - Michael B Jordan passing something to Michael B Jordan did not, in fact, look as convincing as I'd hoped. I can't tell how much it's fair for me to judge characters for doing dumb things in a horror movie, when people doing stupid things when scared is often the fun of the genre for me.
But really, I need to watch it again with subtitles to truly judge the film because I couldn't understand half the dialogue.
It's a shame, because I actually really enjoyed his last two films: to me they felt like he was using his style to do slightly different things and evolve, and while they were certainly more niche than his most popular, they had just as much heart. Asteroid City felt like it connected so well with lockdown grief, and The French Dispatch is such a charming blend of styles in what is blatantly a love letter to The Paris Review. But this felt like it was missing its heart, just going through the motions. And why would you waste a guy like Benicio del Toro on bad comedy.
It's not all bad - Richard Ayoade's bit as the leader of a humorous stylish freedom fighter/thief gang is delightful, and Riz Ahmed's bits reminded me that he's very good looking. And the beginning really is so good, stylish and urgent with a dark humour underlying. The afterlife segments scattered throughout the film are also a highlight for me, and they felt like that was where the real story was. Honestly, I felt like he could have done more with those and less with the wacky mid century basketball nonsense.
It kind of makes me want to see Anderson do a film about a character with genuine menace. If this had turned expectations on their head, and instead of being another unnecessary shitty patriarch becomes less shitty through reconnecting with adult children story had been about a villain who stayed a villain and didn't reform it all, it would have been a much better story. But this is more of a deflated balloon of a film.
I'm still going to watch the next one he makes though 😂
I also finally went to see Sinners last night. I'm sure everything that could be said about that film already has, and I'm not particularly qualified to say it, because I discovered while watching it that my hearing loss is worse than I thought because I couldn't understand a lot of the dialogue. I'd like to watch it again once it's on streaming and I can use subtitles. It's obviously in dialogue with other vampire films, along with everything else it's doing. Great sound design; I felt especially wrapped in the music, but the way it used sound as an auditory flashback overlaid over the present of the story was also a highlight. Charismatic actors. I was especially compelled by Wunmi Mosaku as Annie.
There were parts that didn't work as well for me - Michael B Jordan passing something to Michael B Jordan did not, in fact, look as convincing as I'd hoped. I can't tell how much it's fair for me to judge characters for doing dumb things in a horror movie, when people doing stupid things when scared is often the fun of the genre for me.
But really, I need to watch it again with subtitles to truly judge the film because I couldn't understand half the dialogue.
What's Making Me Happy Today: Old Skies
May. 31st, 2025 04:11 pmdelphiI spent the last two days playing Old Skies, the newest point-and-click adventure game from indie studio Wadjet Eye Games, and I ended up loving it!
You play as the employee of a time travel company in the 2060s who accompanies clients—wealthy people, or academics with grants—to the past for nostalgic or educational experiences. She is also often hired to change the past, within the company's algorithmically defined parameters for what can be changed while preserving the "important" parts of the present timeline. As a result of her job, the protagonist is one of the few people anchored in the timeline who is aware of the constantly flickering reality around her, in a world that's always rippling with the aftereffects of these commissions.
It's a way of living that the protagonist begins to have more questions about as some of the cases she's handling start to overlap with each other and with her personal life.
The game has a lot of elements that I tend to like in this studio's games, including many well-developed NPCs to meet, puzzles that are interestingly varied but not fiendishly challenging, a point of view to the story, and some clever mechanics. Wadjet Eye has always leaned toward having diverse casts of characters, but this is definitely the queerest game from them that I've played so far, which was a happy surprise.
My usual complaints about Wadjet Eye games persist on just two fronts: 1) the voice acting is generally great, but there's always one or two odd choices in the mix that sound jarring, and 2) they obviously care a lot about music when it comes to licensed or commissioned songs, but the background soundtrack often just loops around in ways that don't match what's going on in a scene. But those are obviously very minor issues, and this was overwhelmingly a well-made and thought-provoking game that I had a great time playing and couldn't put down once I'd started it.
You play as the employee of a time travel company in the 2060s who accompanies clients—wealthy people, or academics with grants—to the past for nostalgic or educational experiences. She is also often hired to change the past, within the company's algorithmically defined parameters for what can be changed while preserving the "important" parts of the present timeline. As a result of her job, the protagonist is one of the few people anchored in the timeline who is aware of the constantly flickering reality around her, in a world that's always rippling with the aftereffects of these commissions.
It's a way of living that the protagonist begins to have more questions about as some of the cases she's handling start to overlap with each other and with her personal life.
The game has a lot of elements that I tend to like in this studio's games, including many well-developed NPCs to meet, puzzles that are interestingly varied but not fiendishly challenging, a point of view to the story, and some clever mechanics. Wadjet Eye has always leaned toward having diverse casts of characters, but this is definitely the queerest game from them that I've played so far, which was a happy surprise.
My usual complaints about Wadjet Eye games persist on just two fronts: 1) the voice acting is generally great, but there's always one or two odd choices in the mix that sound jarring, and 2) they obviously care a lot about music when it comes to licensed or commissioned songs, but the background soundtrack often just loops around in ways that don't match what's going on in a scene. But those are obviously very minor issues, and this was overwhelmingly a well-made and thought-provoking game that I had a great time playing and couldn't put down once I'd started it.
goes right back to that breaking ball
May. 31st, 2025 06:36 pmmusesfoolRecs update!
unfitforsociety has been updated for May 2025 with 13 story recs and 2 vid recs in 3 fandoms:
✭ 12 Batfamily
✭ 1 Star Wars
✭ 1 Avengers vid and 1 Star Wars vid
***
I bought some string cheese a couple weeks ago on sale and today I breaded and fried it into mozzarella sticks. So good to eat! So messy to clean up after!
I slept poorly again last night - I had to shut the window while it was raining, and I don't know if it's the barometric pressure that's been giving me these headaches, but I don't like it. At least this cool rainy weather meant I made it all the way through May without turning on the AC. It looks like I will probably start needed it next week though. Last year, I signed up for the thing where they charge you the same amount each month to smooth out the ups and downs, which I've grown to prefer to the $110 swings in my electric bill come summer.
In other news, I learned that there really is a cocoa shortage and I'm not imagining it. So I'm glad I stocked up from King Arthur. Unfortunately, the bag had a small tear in it, so everything in the box it shipped with was covered in a fine dusting of cocoa powder. 🤨 But I washed it all and transferred the cocoa into a ziplock so it's all nice and tidy now.
***
unfitforsociety has been updated for May 2025 with 13 story recs and 2 vid recs in 3 fandoms:✭ 12 Batfamily
✭ 1 Star Wars
✭ 1 Avengers vid and 1 Star Wars vid
***
I bought some string cheese a couple weeks ago on sale and today I breaded and fried it into mozzarella sticks. So good to eat! So messy to clean up after!
I slept poorly again last night - I had to shut the window while it was raining, and I don't know if it's the barometric pressure that's been giving me these headaches, but I don't like it. At least this cool rainy weather meant I made it all the way through May without turning on the AC. It looks like I will probably start needed it next week though. Last year, I signed up for the thing where they charge you the same amount each month to smooth out the ups and downs, which I've grown to prefer to the $110 swings in my electric bill come summer.
In other news, I learned that there really is a cocoa shortage and I'm not imagining it. So I'm glad I stocked up from King Arthur. Unfortunately, the bag had a small tear in it, so everything in the box it shipped with was covered in a fine dusting of cocoa powder. 🤨 But I washed it all and transferred the cocoa into a ziplock so it's all nice and tidy now.
***
REC: Untitled Chibi Jim by StarBramble (Our Flag Means Death, Jim Jimenez)
May. 30th, 2025 10:01 pmdelphiFandom 50 #18
Untitled Chibi Jim by StarBramble
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Character: Jim Jimenez
Medium: Art
Length: 1 piece
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: action/adventure, happy ending, portrait, clothing, blades
Description:
This is just super cute. I love Jim's adorkable moments on the show, and I always love a good juxtaposition of cuteness and deadliness. Jim's ready to star in their own stabby Little Golden Book here, complete with a loving representation of my favourite ensemble of theirs: the undercut, the mustard-colour shirt hanging artfully open at the collar, the suspenders, the earring. I just want to take them home with me.
Untitled Chibi Jim by StarBramble
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Character: Jim Jimenez
Medium: Art
Length: 1 piece
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: action/adventure, happy ending, portrait, clothing, blades
Description:
A chibi-style drawing of a smiling Jim Jimenez in a fencing pose with their dagger, dressed in their season 2 outfit.
This is just super cute. I love Jim's adorkable moments on the show, and I always love a good juxtaposition of cuteness and deadliness. Jim's ready to star in their own stabby Little Golden Book here, complete with a loving representation of my favourite ensemble of theirs: the undercut, the mustard-colour shirt hanging artfully open at the collar, the suspenders, the earring. I just want to take them home with me.