umadoshi: (kittens - Sinha - napping)
[personal profile] umadoshi
One link, which hopefully won't be paywalled: "Rachel Reid's wild Heated Rivalry ride" at The Globe and Mail. The whole "local girl makes good" element of the HR show taking over the world is a very nice cherry on top of the whole thing, and I really liked this profile.

Reading: I'm maybe 30% into Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl and wavering about continuing. I've gotten better about DNFing things, and this time I actually have the book out of the library, so the good old financial sunk-cost fallacy isn't in play. But I still don't like DNFing.

I've also read some more of Braiding Sweetgrass and reread vol. 2 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

Watching: Crunchyroll wasn't in the mood to work when we attempted to watch last week's ep. of Frieren, so we're two episodes behind on that. (Annoyingly, Netflix keeps saying it thinks we'd love the show, but only has season 1.) Hopefully we'll get caught up on the most recent ep. of The Pitt tonight.

On top of those currently-running things, we're now one episode into Midnight Mass.

Playing: Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven continues to delight me.

Weathering: There's another storm heading in, due to arrive tonight, but it looks like it's veered enough that our local forecast is now for a somewhat more reasonable amount of snow than I'd been hearing before yesterday evening or so. Apparently it's also bringing fairly high winds, so there's the usual "will the power stay on?" worry. (Our neighborhood has been really lucky on that front this season, and [personal profile] scruloose and I are pretty well prepared, so it's not a huge worry.)

Working: I turned in the final volume (!) of Pet Shop of Horrors on Friday and immediately tried to switch to the next volume of Now That We Draw, since that's due mid-week, but my brain was Not Having It; I suspect it was the sheer tonal dissonance as much as anything. But then yesterday, what with the storm warning and all, I basically did the last four-fifths of the book in one sitting to make sure I at least had a workable draft, and now my brain is pretty crisped. (It's not a very text-heavy or tricky rewrite, and the translators make it pretty painless, so four-fifths is a lot at once but not the feat it would be with some series.)

So now I have a draft with just a couple tweaks still to be made and a final read-through to be done, and I'm tempting fate a bit by not trying to get that all off my plate today, but I think letting it rest for a day before reviewing it is extra important given that I did the draft so fast. So I'm gambling a bit, but also have something I can submit with caveats if need be, if we do lose power for three days or something.

Sleeping: Sleep has been distinctly Not Great for the last few (?) nights. I've been doing decently at getting to bed in a timely fashion and mostly not taking forever to fall asleep, but I've been having even weirder and more stressful dreams than usual and it's all been very restless.
kingstoken: (Soft Crowley)
[personal profile] kingstoken posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Good Omens
Pairings/Characters: Aziraphale/Crowley
Rating: T
Length: 5437 words
Creator Links: iamtheenemy (Steph)
Theme: Inept in love

Summary: Crowley gets orders to seduce Aziraphale to the dark side. It goes about as well as you might expect.

Reccer's Notes: Crowley gets orders from Hell to seduce Aziraphale, and Crowley can't really bring himself to try, despite some half-hearted  attempts.  That's the first half of the fic, the second half is the two of them after the almost apocalypse, and it's very sweet, even if Crowley's brain stops functioning a few times. 

Fanwork Links: AO3

London exhibition trip

Feb. 1st, 2026 05:46 pm
dolorosa_12: (being human)
[personal profile] dolorosa_12
Matthias and I got back from London about an hour ago. We had a great time, but the Saturday portion of the trip was beset by an almost comical calvacade of chaos. (It's worth noting that we planned everything over a month in advance, with military precision — National Rail website and Google Maps open, planning every event with ample time in mind.) In list form:

  • The restaurant where we were booked to eat on Saturday night sent Matthias an email at 6am on Saturday saying that 'due to circumstances beyond our control,' they were 'closing permanently' as of Saturday.

  • When we opened the National Rail website to check that our train was still running (something we had checked and confirmed, as trains on this line on weekends are not always a given due to various pieces of track work), it showed no trains going to London at all. After some trial and error entering different start and destination points, we realised we'd be able to go to Cambridge North, then get on a train going to London Liverpool Street, get off at Tottenham Hale, and get the Tube on to our original destination. But this was going to make us late to our first booked exhibition at the British Museum.

  • I tried to phone the British Museum to check if being late would be a problem, but their phone box office is only staffed Monday-Friday.

  • Every seat on the train filled up at Cambridge North, and by the time we got to Cambridge main station, which was packed with a scrum of people wanting to go to London, all available standing spaces were filled. At each new station, I could see the crowds of people (for whom this is normally a very uncrowded train in to London) visibly spotting how full the train was and their faces falling in horror. We got later and later as more and more passengers tried to Tetris their way in at each new station.

  • We ran through the Tube, then found our way partly blocked by the weekly protest about Gaza, which I'd forgotten always started around Russell Square.

  • The British Museum had massive snaking queues to get through security. (Our original itinerary had us arriving there about forty-five minutes early, with time to get through the queue, which we knew would be long on a Saturday, drop off our bags, and amble into the first exhibition.) By the time we made it in, dropped our bags and coats in the cloakroom, and got to the first exhibition, we were half an hour later than intended.

  • We then whipped our way through the two exhibitions at absolute breakneck speed, so that we wouldn't be late to our lunch reservation (where I had had to provide card details when booking, so I knew they would charge me if we didn't show up). Half an hour per exhibition wasn't really enough time, but I'm impressed we managed it at all!


  • Lunch and the next exhibition at the Tate Modern were both fine, and happened as planned (I was particularly pleased that we managed to walk from Bloomsbury to the Tate, make it inside before it started raining, and emerge about an hour and a half later to find the rain had moved on, just in time for us to walk for forty minutes to our hotel! I now return to the ongoing chaos:

  • I always have a list of restaurants lined up that I want to try, so when we got the email cancelling our previous reservation I had another one in the list. This one didn't take reservations at all, but said that if no tables were available, you could get a drink at their bar or give your number to waitstaff and they'd phone you when a table became free, but I had forgotten that a) this was a stupid thing to risk in Soho on a Saturday night and b) that this place had become massively overhyped on social media, so when we got there, there was a queue of about fifteen groups lining up outside the door — no chance even to get inside and get a drink as promised! — and it was about to start raining again.

  • Some very quick work with my remaining list of restaurants and I managed to snag a booking for a place at 6.30pm at a pasta restaurant I had wanted to try. The only problem — at that point it was 6.25pm, so we sprinted down the street in the rain, and made it there in time to take the reservation.

  • And then they accidentally gave my dinner to a woman at the table next to us, and her dinner to me! This was rectified in about fifteen minutes, but it was definitely the crowning glory in a day that was characterised by chaos from start to finish.


  • Sunday, in contrast, was calm and lovely — breakfast in a little cafe with views of the Thames, the Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain (spectacular — if you have the ability to be in London before it closes, go if you can), where we inevitably bumped into a former colleague of Matthias and her husband, lunch in a sort of upmarket food court a minute away from Liverpool Street Station, and then a much less crowded train ride home.

    I'm glad we went, but that was a lot more everything than I had expected! And I still haven't managed to try the hyped viral Thai restaurant in Soho...

    Bridgerton Season 4A

    Feb. 1st, 2026 06:34 pm
    profiterole_reads: (The Secret Circle - Diana Adam Cassie)
    [personal profile] profiterole_reads
    Bridgerton Season 4A was fun!

    I'm not big on the Cinderella vibe, as the other stories weren't fairy tale retellings, but I'm super happy that this season is finally Bi!Benedict's turn.
    [syndicated profile] icanhascheezburger_feed

    Posted by Blake Seidel

    Winter is an especially tough time to be a stray cat. Especially with all the snow and ice blanketing the streets, it can only get more and more dangerous. That's why it was so impurrtant for this person to let in this orange cat in distress, who took the opportunity to get warm, comfy, and snuggle up next to their savior.

    Trying to survive as a stray cat is nothing to laugh at. You're surrounded by natural predators and man-made machines that you don't understand. Imagine coming across a highway as a cat - it must seem like one of the scariest things in existence. On top of that, you have limited access to food and shelter, and even less when the weather gets bad, as it usually does most winters. There's bad, and then there's this past storm kind of bad. Stray cats maybe have a chance of surviving an average winter, but no feline is equipped to deal with days of snow, freezing rain, and ice.

    That's why the phrase "If you're cold, they're cold. Let them in." is so important to take to heart nowadays. Even if you just let them stay in your bathroom with a makeshift litter box and some food. Or even if you let them in your garage with some blankets and water. Anything is better than having to face the cold with nowhere to hide. 

    Our orange cat today was let in, but if he hadn't screamed his fuzzy little head off, he might not have been heard. A kindhearted purrson heard his pleas, let him in, and helped warm him up and dry him off. He took no time at all to get comfy and cozy, finally resting after finding a safe place to sleep.

    If you see a stray cat outside these days, please consider helping them. You don't have to keep them, but you might help them live long enough to find their furrever home.

    lightbird: http://coelasquid.deviantart.com/ (Default)
    [personal profile] lightbird posting in [community profile] halfamoon
    Title/Link: A Kind of Rebirth
    Fandom: Hey Arnold!
    Character(s): Miriam Pataki, Helga Pataki, Olga Pataki
    Rating: Teen and Up
    Prompt: The Innocent
    Summary: She wasn’t quite a whole new woman, but she was getting better.

    Vid recs

    Feb. 1st, 2026 06:24 pm
    selenak: (Holmes and Watson by Emme86)
    [personal profile] selenak
    Festivids went online. I can't create vids myself, but I love watching them. Here are some which especially caught my eye this year:




    Babylon 5 : I loved all three of this year's B5 vids, but Marching On really is a love letter to the entire show, and I adore it.


    Conclave : The Devil you know : in which there is scheming, rise and fall, and gorgeous cinematography. Captures the spirit (and performances) of the movie really well.


    Elementary: Read my mind: my favourite incarnations of Holmes and Watson get a superb outing in this one.


    Foundation: So it goes: captures the grandeur, the insanity, the messed up parent/mentor/child (protegé) relationships really really well. (No material from the third season used as far as I can tell, if anyone hasn't watched it yet and doesn't want to be spoiled.)

    Knives Out Movies: Now you know: Sondheim/Knives Out OTP! Witty and moving take on all three leads, their stories and the connecting elements.

    Star Trek: Prodigy: Find your people: which is what our young heroes do so very well in this lovely show - and in this vid.

    Her day

    Feb. 1st, 2026 11:59 am
    tedwords: (Default)
    [personal profile] tedwords
     




    "There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    Friday night martini post: 

    Tonight is all about Krista, and let's just leave it at that.

    I mentioned this morning that I have always felt a bond with Krista, right from the start. I meant it.

    I remember, years ago, that there was a point very early in my relationship with Josie where we had a terrible fight. I mean, just awful. We were very closing to breaking up, and I was determined to move away to California and work in a shoe factory. What held me back? One major thing was the thought of never seeing Krista again. The thought of not being a part of her life, of not being there to support her, to help parent her, filled me with such sadness that I just could not endure.

    And here we are, four decades later, and I can truly say I made the right choice all those years ago, and have been there, a great big old honking part of her life. Her father. What an honor and pleasure it's been. I've seen her grow older, graduate high school, get her MBA, have a child, and still be that sweet inquisitive child I loved from the day I met her.

    So tonight, I raise a chocolate cherry martini and toast to my 40 year old daughter, who at heart is probably an older soul than I am. Here's to your 40s, dear girl. I love you to the moon and back.

    Postscript now that the weekend is almost complete:

    Friday was a lovely night, with all the family there to celebrate Krista's milestone. Perhaps unconsciously, Josie selected the location of our wedding reception for the party. It used to be a wedding venue, but now half of it is a pot facility and the other half is a restaurant. The food was good.

    Ashes was there, the first time we have seen each other in person since we started the reconciliation process. It went went fine. I was a bit nervous, I am sure she was, too, but the conversation was free and easy. Light and unencumbered by two years of silence. Probably as it should be. She had texted me earlier that she was a bit nervous to see my parents and Corb's mom, but that went fine. Dad had just returned from a casino where he won $2,000 on an eighty cent bet, and he handed her a hundred dollar bill and asked her to promise to be there for Christmas this year. It was sweet.

    Corb's mom was nice, as well. The last time Ashes saw her was at the wake for Josie's father and she deliberately snubbed Ashes, causing her (from what I learned later) to burst into tears and say "my grandfather died, too." I hadn't mentioned that to Diana because I didn't want her to feel bad, but I felt she needed to know, now. Glad I did. She turned on the charm and it seemed to go well.

    It was a late night. After the party, a group of us went to Josie's house to play games. Josie thumbed through a scrapbook my mom had given Krista and called up old memories. She saw photos of Prince. She asked if we could get married again. I laughed and said no.

    Last night Corb and I went to see his old work friends from APT, for their annual skanky swap. We had great conversations and talked about our hope for the end of a certain someone. Corb's friend Taylor is a passionate advocate for a better world. 

    LJ's husband Bob retired last year. He seems bored but also recovering from a foot injury that resulted in AFib. I told him my news, He said to make sure you keep busy. I very much plan to.

    On that note, ten weeks to go. I still cannot say anything until mid-February. It seems silly not to tell people. I plan to take advantage of the PTO days I will have accrued before April and plan to take the week of Presidents day off so we can go to Vermont. I guess that means I really have nine weeks to go. 

    Today, Corb is super achy and hasn't felt well in three days. We are hoping it is not kidney stones. We will take it easy until we have to go out to be with his...gulp...family. Greg's birthday. Corb didn't want either Scott or Greg at his birthday. 

    Another busy week has passed. I feel like I am in a slow/fast world right now. I want the next few weeks to speed up, but I don't want the world to speed up too quickly. I want to take it easier and really enjoy this wonderful place I am in.

    Why I Reject Fascism

    Feb. 1st, 2026 11:58 am
    jjhunter: profile of human J.J. with goggles and a band of gears running down her face; inked in reds and browns (steampunk J.J.)
    [personal profile] jjhunter
    Fascism is a form of social cannibalism; it will eat us everywhere it takes root, and it cannot help our species long survive.

    Fascism cannot fight climate change, because fascism will not admit limits to its control, not even self-evident limits imposed by basic properties of physics.

    Fascism cannot save our children, because fascism is too busy eating them first. Fascism cannot save white people from their own fears of slave rebellions and economic overturns, because fascism will eat them too when fascism has finished eating the rest.

    Everywhere fascism goes, it steals and gluts itself on the labor of the people it targets. It divides, and it eats, and it masturbates over its hollow assertions of power and purpose and ascendance.

    Most human societies have strong taboos against cannibalism. The ones that don’t have equally strong limits on when it is socially appropriate, or they themselves don’t long survive.

    Why do we allow cannibals to walk among us and openly pick their targets to maim and hurt and murder for their dinner tables?

    ___
    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
    [syndicated profile] icanhascheezburger_feed

    Posted by Mariel Ruvinsky

    Pay attention to stray cats in the winter, and you may end up with a companion for life. 

    We always say this to people - it's so, so important to keep an eye out for stray cats when snow hits. No cat should be left to freeze in the snow. And not every cat is built to be able to survive outdoor life on their own. The ones who are built for it do it. They find places to hide, ways to survive, to get through winter. The ones who don't end up in situations like this freezing frostbitten kitten

    If this person hadn't found this kitty on time, we don't even want to think about what would have happened to her. This cat was freezing and in really bad condition. 6" of snow is not something that anyone should have to deal with like that. And we can only be thankful that she was seen on time by someone who cared enough to go out of their way to help her. We can only imagine the relief she felt when she was taken out of the snow and wrapped up in that warm coat, finally on the way to her forever home. 

    Round 183: Inept in Love

    Feb. 1st, 2026 08:45 am
    runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
    [personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fancake
    Photograph of two kingfishers perched on a branch. One is surrounded by a cloud of pink love hearts and the other has a single question mark over its head. Text: Inept in Love, at Fancake.
    Bring out your failboats! Our theme for February is inept in love.

    These fools are unlucky in love—whether it's due to inexperience, obliviousness, social anxiety, or their own terrible choices—or are so in love they can't function properly. This trope is sometimes called "Idiots in Love," but as "idiot" is an ableist term, I ask that you don't use it in your recs, and just as there are all kinds of love, this theme is for all kinds of relationships.

    The tag for this round is: theme: inept in love

    If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

    Rules! )

    Posting Template! )

    Promote this round! )

    Valentine's Bingo

    Feb. 1st, 2026 04:36 pm
    smallhobbit: (Default)
    [personal profile] smallhobbit
    For [community profile] allbingo this month, there's a Valentine's challenge, for which I'm using the romantic prompts.


    DancingTaking It Slow
    Dinner for TwoLove at first sight

    Prompt: Paleo-Friendly

    Feb. 1st, 2026 08:34 am
    runpunkrun: silverware laid out on a cloth napkin (gather yon utensils)
    [personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] gluten_free

    Our prompt for February is paleo-friendly!

    A paleo diet is based on foods that could have been obtained by hunting and gathering back in the olden days and typically includes lean meats, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, and typically excludes dairy, grains, and legumes, though there is some variation in how people practice it. For our purposes, tagging something paleo-friendly means it's—at the least—free of dairy and grains. (Though some consider ghee (clarified butter) paleo, so that's why the tag's paleo-friendly; the hope is that it'll be amenable to changes that suit your particular needs.)

    To fill this prompt, you can:

    1. Slide into the comments of this post and share a link to a recipe, product, or resource and why you like it.
    2. Write up a favorite recipe and post it to the comm.
    3. Post a review of a related product or cookbook to the comm.
    4. Try someone's recipe and reply to their post (or comment) with any changes you made and how it turned out.
    Monthly prompts are only for inspiration and not a requirement. You can post whatever you like to the comm whenever you like as long as it meets the community guidelines.

    And, a reminder, you can now tag your own posts!

    Here's what's going on in the comments:

    2026.02.01

    Feb. 1st, 2026 10:28 am
    lsanderson: (Default)
    [personal profile] lsanderson
    ICE

    Building power
    ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
    Backing down isn’t an option’: Minnesota ICE shootings mobilize Americans to join ICE observer groups
    The killings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti have inspired people across the US to document federal agents’ activities in their communities
    Lex McMenamin
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/31/ice-observer-document-immigration-agents

    ‘We’re fighting for the soul of the country’: how Minnesota residents came together to face ICE
    Networks created after police killed George Floyd were reactivated to challenge Trump’s mass deportation policy
    Rachel Leingang in Minneapolis
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/01/minnesota-twin-cities-ice-protests

    Chicago mayor orders police to investigate alleged illegal ICE activity in city
    Brandon Johnson gives police ‘clear procedure’ to follow if they witness or get reports of agents involved in illegal activity
    Edward Helmore
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/31/chicago-ice-brandon-johnson

    More News

    Shooting at Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana leaves six people injured
    One person taken into custody after a mass shooting in Clinton leaves six injured, including a child
    Coral Murphy Marcos
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/31/mardi-gras-parade-shooting-louisiana Read more... )

    Greetings from western Canada

    Feb. 1st, 2026 07:51 am
    jonw: (Default)
    [personal profile] jonw posting in [community profile] addme
    Name: Jon (JD) Watson

    Age: let's just say I was a BBS SysOp before the internet existed.

    I mostly post about: day to say stuff. I tend to lean geeky/tecchy and Canadiana, but I think a lot about lots of things and post topics can get pretty random. I keep it clean, mostly, so you can safely check out my content to decide for yourself :)

    My hobbies are: journalling (privately, not necessarily online, but there is definitely overlap), writing, nerding out on home tech projects, self-improvement, and caring for my three dogs. If anyone ever asks you how many dogs is too many dogs, the answer is three.

    I'm looking to meet people who: are Canadian OR have geeky job/hobbies OR see normal things in deeper ways OR are sane Linux users (AKA, not the alpha-nerd type of boor) AND are tolerant of the incredibly diverse state the world is in AND kind to things and people that can do nothing for them.

    My posting schedule tends to be: Dailyish. Usually more than weekly but I doubt I can consistently hit daily.

    When I add people, my dealbreakers are: right-wing crap in all its forms, both overt and covert. And, honestly, politics in general. I firmly believe that social media is the worst place to get news or reliably accurate information on anything, and politics has emerged as the most divisive topic to date. Thus, I am not interested in getting involved in political discussions as a general rule.

    Before adding me, you should know: I overthink everything and will probably eventually bore you with some deep indepth post about the merits of square toothpicks versus round ones.
    smallhobbit: (Default)
    [personal profile] smallhobbit
     [personal profile] dreamersdare has issued a challenge for February, to take part in Stuff I Love, which can be as vague as anyone wishes.  Their particular challenge is a Top Ten version with a different theme each week.  Further details here 

    The first week is for Standalones in whatever media appeals.

    So, my list, in no particular order:

    1. Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake  I've seen it twice and both times have been sucked in, both by the drama, the humour, and the tragedy.  And I've written fanfic with the Prince, who has such great possibilities for his story.

    2. Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker  Which is such a brilliant take on the story.  I've seen it once on stage and also watched the televised version.

    3. Matthew Bourne's The Midnight Bell  A much smaller production, with only ten characters.  Based on the books by Patrick Hamilton, each character has so much potential, and I'm currently using them for drabbles for [community profile] small_fandoms drabblethon.  I've seen it twice, both times at Cheltenham, the first time was the premiere in 2021, and then again last summer, when the new production opened.  And when I got to speak to Sir Matthew Bourne - just to say how much I enjoyed it.

    4. Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty  Another new take on a classic story, but again really imaginatively retold.  I love the characters and use them in various fanfics, introducing them into other fandoms (just because I can)

    5. Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet  Moved to the Verona Institute, the staging and the music (Prokofiev) really add to the dance.  I've seen it twice - both times it's been a real gut punch.

    6. Matthew Bourne's The Car Man  Reworking of Bizet's Carmen, based in Harmony, a small town in central USA, which doesn't live up to its name.  Still very hot and sultry.  Seen it twice, the second time in a limited run in the Royal Albert Hall in London.  It's touring this summer, but I'm not currently planning on seeing it again this time.  (On the other hand, Cinderella will be next winter/spring's production...)

    And yes, these are all standalones, in the same way that a director can direct different films, or an author write different books.

    7. Casablanca because it's the best film of all time.  Certain scenes always give me shivers.

    8. Winnie-the-Pooh/The House at Pooh Corner  Okay, two books, but two doesn't make a series.  The original books by A A Milne, with the characters he created.  The different toys and their own characteristics and yet, somehow or other, they all live together in the Hundred Acre Woods.

    9. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff  Such a great book, which I've only recently read and wondered why I hadn't read it sooner.  It's a short book, being correspondence between a young American woman and an older English bookseller, it's also a great picture of England and the States in the 1950s.

    10. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson.  Another book I had had recommended and finally got around to reading, and only then because there was a copy available in the library.  Published in 1938 is a wonderful look at one day in the life of a down at heel governess who has the chance to life differently for a day, and not in the Cinderella sense.  If you've ever thought 'I must read this one day', then do so!

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    Mark T. B. Carroll

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