Network

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

Community Thursdays

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Tutorials" on

getting_started.

* Posted "Gaming" on

girlgamers.

* Posted "Ostara" on

goddessfolk.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

guides

Tutorials

soc_puppet has posted "Finding Friends and Things to Do on Dreamwidth" and "Uploading Images to Dreamwidth" on

newcomers.

Entry tags:

FIC: Celebrity Edition (Heated Rivalry, M)

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

Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I've been making the rounds to all the SoCal stores to discuss our upcoming system transition and get a better feel for some of the stores' current processes, particularly for their accounting department, and today I went down to San Diego. Long day of driving, which sucks, but it was nice to see the store again after a long while, and I did make a lot of progress on my current audiobook!

2. Tomorrow I have a lot of meetings, but the first one isn't until 11, so I'm going to take my time in the morning to make up for how long today felt (I didn't even get home until after seven, and I left around 8:30 this morning).

3. Carla and I are not fans of the warm weather, but the cats sure love having the front windows open.

If there happen to be any TV Tropes editors here

Would it be possible to "Wrongfully Attributed" added to my entry?

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Inspector George Gently

Entry tags:

books,
meme

Did not make yoga

I was going to but I started to feel very nauseated and cold. Came home sat down to play a game, woke up an hour later. I'm feeling a little better but not great. Not going was the right call.

Got the midterm grades in. Can't wait for the crying tomorrow.

I looked up the Ohioana book festival because I know it's up and coming but there was a library staff change and the festival was canceled. I'm bummed and angry. I didn't make it last year for reasons and now I don't know if it'll ever be back.

What I Just Finished Reading:

The Snow Child - depressing

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. Would have been better without the misogyny and sexual abuse (but would it be Ellison without the misogyny?)

What I am Currently Reading:

Violet Thistlewaite is not a villain any more so far, I really like this one

With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia, and Luna Park history

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Because Becky Mahoney and I know each other, I boosted a Bluesky giveaway for her upcoming vampire novel Thrall (coming out next month!) in the spirit of friendship and then was somewhat surprised to discover that I had in fact won the giveaway -- surprised but delighted, obviously, since I've loved all of her previous books even when they weren't LUCY CENTRIC DRACULA RIFFS!! focused around a COLLEGE PIRATE RADIO STATION!!!

The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.

Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.

Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!

It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.

Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )

Entry tags:

AU5k: Two Post Deadline Pinch Hits, Due March 29th

Minimum: 5000 words, or a comic that is 5 pages or 20 panels long, or a podfic 5000 words or greater
Due: March 29th at 10pm EDT

PH 22 - NoPixel (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF, 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs

PH 28 - DCU (Comics), Gravity Falls, Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Claim via emailing TavinaFanfiction@gmail.com or by commenting at https://au5k.dreamwidth.org/15169.html
Thank you for considering our pinch hits!

Entry tags:

Superman Unlimited #11: Time Paradox

( Read more, )

Entry tags:

陈情令 | The Untamed: Moments of Revelation by Meyari

Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang (background), Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (background), Lan Xichen, Jin Zixuan, Meng Yao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: R for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Major Character Death
Length: 133,987 words
Creator Link:

meyari
Themes: Siblings, Time Travel Fix-It, Women Being Awesome, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: As the Jianghu collapses around Jiang Cheng's ears, his borrowed core begins to fail. Wei Wuxian has one final trick up his sleeve, though the only person who can use it is the one person who has no core of his own: Jiang Cheng. Time travel may be impossible for everyone else, but Jiang Cheng has one slender, delicate chance to save the entire world. Of course he has to take it no matter what the cost might be.

Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme, I thought of this story. While time travel fix-its and core reveal fix-its are both common in the fandom, this story handles both tropes in ways I haven't seen any other story do. It also features amazing original characters, including several badass women of the Meishan Yu sect, and gives Jiang Yanli one of the best storylines I've ever seen. The rating is because there's still a war, and some characters still die, but it's a far different war, and they are far different deaths.

I do feel like I have to provide a caveat that this could use a serious line edit, by which I mean there is a grammatical or spelling error in nearly every sentence. It really says something that, despite this, I couldn't put the story down, and devoured all 100K+ words of it in the space of two nights.

Fanwork Links: Moments of Revelation (please note that this is archive-locked to AO3-registered users)

Entry tags:

Post Deadline Pinch Hits for High Adrenaline

Due: March 29th, 10pm EDT
Minimum: 10k or 10 page/25 panel comic
To claim, please comment on the pinch hit post: Here

PH 1 - [SAFETY] Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Crossover Fandom, Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV)

PH 2 - Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV 1984), Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (Video Game), [SAFETY] A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman, [SAFETY] Art in the Blood - Brian Stableford, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Dark Shadows (1966)

PH 6 - [SAFETY] Bullet Train (2022), [SAFETY] Kraven the Hunter (2024), The Fall Guy (2024), Gladiator (Movies - Scott)

PH 11 - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom, Crossover Fandom, [SAFETY] 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), Grimm (TV), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 绅探 | Detective L (TV)

PH 12 - Crossover Fandom, 崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game), 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), [SAFETY] Original Work, [SAFETY] 恋をするつもりはなかった | Koi wo Suru Tsumori wa Nakatta | I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love (Manga), 网恋翻车指南 - 酱子贝 | Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating - Jiàng Zǐ Bèi, The Handsome Salesman At Work Is An Ideal Master, ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon

PH 14 - [SAFETY] When the Angels Left The Old Country - Sacha Lamb, The Fairyland Series - Catherynne M. Valente, [SAFETY] Wind Will Rove - Sarah Pinsker, [SAFETY] Into the Woods - Sondheim/Lapine, [SAFETY] The Forbidden Book - Sacha Lamb

PH 15 - 내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo, 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 괴담에 떨어져도 출근을 해야 하는구나 - 백덕수 | Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story I Still Have to Go to Work - Baek Deoksoo, 내가 키운 S급들 | The S-Classes That I Raised (Webcomic), [SAFETY] Original Work, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, 恋与深空 | Love and Deepspace (Video Game), Crossover Fandom, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening

PH 16 - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Manga), [SAFETY] BCV: Battle Construction Vehicles (Video Game)

PH 18 - [SAFETY] Point Break (1991), [SAFETY] The Collector Series (Movies), Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Video Games), [SAFETY] A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (TV)

Thank you for considering our pinch hits!

Entry tags:

f: water the roses - flavor foley

Water the Roses - Flavor Foley: Fanart: stuck within my head

Title: stuck within my head
Fandom: Water the Roses by Flavor Foley
Rating: G
Content notes: Embedded images. Bright colors were utilized, which may cause eyestrain.
Artist notes: Drawn with Krita, page/canvas templates via Electric Zine Maker. Drawn in around an hour, mainly to practice using the convert (linework) to alpha color filter. Title is derived from the song lyrics.
Summary: Fanart of the GUMI design from Flavor Foley's song, Water the Roses.
Challenge: 509 - Plant

( stuck within my head )

Time To Have The Talk

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5789

Here, Have a Nice Little Sunset

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/18/here-have-a-nice-little-sunset/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59806

Spring will be here soon! I can tell by the sun!

(No, seriously, I can)

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/18/here-have-a-nice-little-sunset/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59806

Entry tags:

Fire is under control, celebratory linkspam? :D

+ London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution.
“This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, one of the organisations behind the report. “This isn’t just happening in one corner of the world; from Warsaw to Bangkok, cities are proving that we have the tools to solve this crisis right now.”

+ Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery.

+ Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall.
Beavers became extinct from the wild in England more than 400 years ago due to hunting for their pelts, meat and glands.
The charity said beavers were increasingly recognised as one of nature's most important keystone species - animals whose presence shapes entire ecosystems.

+ The river otter’s remarkable comeback.

+ European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women".
Significantly, the vote gathered support not only from left-leaning groups but also from the majority of the European People's Party, the largest and most powerful center-right bloc in the European Parliament. The center-right support drew sharp criticism from the far right: the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against the resolution and denounced its exclusion from negotiations over the text. The European Conservatives and Reformists, the group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, also voted against. But their combined opposition was not enough to block the resolution, which passed with support from a broad cross-ideological majority.

+ Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent.

+ Why comics needs its own Criterion Closet, an inside look at THE STACKS.

+ stop counting. what you love matters..
Cardiff University's Dr Lucy Bennett put it well in that same piece: "Once taste is turned into a scoreboard with ratings, competition then inevitably follows." Which, yes — but I'd push that further. Competition doesn't just follow. It replaces something. In the war to protect a number, the actual shows get swallowed whole. Nobody in these review threads is talking about what made "Ozymandias" so devastating, or what any of these subsequent shows did differently. They’re just defending territory. The number had stopped being a representation of the thing and had become the thing itself.

+ Marvel Comics has the optimisation sickness.
The current status quo at Marvel seems to be that if a storyline is successful they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed. If a storyline isn't successful enough they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed.

+ The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.
Chris Button, an Australian tech journalist and former contributor, wasn't pleased to see his old profile alongside the AI authors. All of his former articles were edited to include closing sections pointing to casino and betting guides. He attempted to have his author profile removed by emailing the new management of GamesHub, but he never received a response. However, he no longer appears on the Meet the Team page. Button is disappointed with what the site has become. "Seeing GamesHub transformed into a site promoting gambling is devastating, not just for those who wrote for the site, but for the industry the publication championed", he said.

+ Friendly reminder that The Importance of Being Earnest is available to watch for free a little while longer. Chaotic fun, highly recommend.

Entry tags:

3/18/2026 Inspiration Trail

It was quite pleasant on Inspiration Trail this morning thanks to a nice breeze. I had a rocky start but was on the rise before the sun came up. Also after the sun came up. As I said.:) Anyway, once I actually got started I had a reasonably productive morning. Finally Wilson's Warblers! and a Western Flycatcher. There were Blue-gray Gnatcatchers where they were four days ago, and still a White-crowned Sparrow singing near the parking lot, but either he changed songs or it's a different individual. Biggest surprise was a Varied Thrush in the dense trees towards the top of the trail. ( The list: )

There are usually a few American White Pelicans on San Pablo Reservoir, but this morning a large flock, thirty-five or so, was gathered near the far shore. I don't know where they went, but when I next looked they were gone.

Current Mood: annoyed

Entry tags:

About Facebook These Days?

If anyone's trying to reach me via Facebook these days, I'm having issues navigating the site these days. At least until 10 PM most nights. The pages load up slower than I'm used to these days...

Entry tags:

daily

Daily Check-In

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Wednesday, March 18, to midnight on Thursday, March 19. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34382 Daily Check-in

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 18

How are you doing?

I am OK.
11 (64.7%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
6 (35.3%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
5 (27.8%)

One other person.
9 (50.0%)

More than one other person.
4 (22.2%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Write every day! - March 2026 - Day 18

Tally:
Welcome post
( Days 1-10 )
Day 16:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 17:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 18:

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

~ ~ ~

ysilme here: 174 words for the new fic and a bit over 2k of meta and writing-related nonfic.

Entry tags:

reading

wednesday reads

What I've recently finished reading:

Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.

Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.