new beginnings stock-taking & introduction + what i'm watching/reading/thinking/caring about

[cimorene]

Hello, new people and fellow rediscoverers of DW!

In light of Tumblr Exodus I thought I would point to the bio in my profile and the blanket permission statement there (though in short: comments from new people are welcome; feel free to follow me; feel free to introduce yourself if we don't know one another; almost nothing is access-locked). For anyone newly subscribing to this blog, you may be interested in the introduction post 10 Things I Assume You Know About Me If You Read My Journal (this was a meme that went around LJ in 2006. I've just had it pinned to my profile & periodically updated)(though in short: I'm 36 and have been in fandom since 2001; waxjism is my wife).

I have been using Tumblr more than DW over the past few years, and am now making an active effort to increase my engagement here. (I need to look for more communities, I suppose.) I used to do 'what am I reading and what am I watching' sort of roundups here, and I haven't done one in ages; therefore, here's a hopefully comprehensive

Still invested and patiently awaiting the next sequel, albeit in many cases with critiques about past movie quality: MCU, Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Venom, Star Wars

Still invested and patiently awaiting the next season: Brooklyn 99 (1 season behind in Netflix Nordic), The Good Place (""), American Gods, Star Trek Discovery, Outlander, Legion (although we haven't finished the last season & I understand there's a controversy), Jessica Jones?

Still/perpetually invested: Poirot (Suchet/Christie), and relatedly: any new Agatha Christie adaptations, other Golden Age detective novels, 1920s-1930s generally historically & on film (eg Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries & Dandy Gilver by Catriona McPherson, but also Singin' in the Rain, Jeeves & Wooster, etc). Most notably, my Poirot screencap blog, Mais Oui Poirot, doesn't have any nsfw content, but its fate is still uncertain (when I leave Tumblr).

Still/perpetually invested, but not related to the Interwar period: Sherlock Holmes (ACD/Granada), Star Trek, any Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer, US home improvement series This Old House

Still bummed that it's over/please supply more meta: Hannibal, Black Sails, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Recently watched/rewatched/enjoyed: Monty Python's complete works (i.e. Flying Circus, Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Meaning of Life, & a bunch of interviews/documentaries); Bad Times at the El Royale; Venom; A Wrinkle in Time; Maurice; the Tron movies (lol); The Spy Who Dumped Me; Campion BBC; the Mission: Impossible movies; Hotel Artemis; Escape to the Country & Escape to the Continent

Non-fandom hobbies which will likely come up: knitting; fountain pens and fountain pen ink; dip pen calligraphy esp. italic, gothic & uncial; hockey (nhl mostly: leafs, stars, caps...); drawing (more like sketching though); nail polish

Other non-fandom interests: animals esp. cats, dogs, rabbits, sheep, goats, reptiles; art history; historical costume esp. 18th-20th century, ancient, early middle ages; ubuntu linux; interior design; Arts & Crafts movement & Craftsman/Mission/Prairie + Art Deco & Art Nouveau design/architecture; folk art and folk dress; jazz, mostly female jazz vocalists; shoes & shoe fashion; eye makeup fashion

 

Comments

[hebethen]

o/

I alas am a dry and barren wasteland, but on the off chance that you haven't seen it yet -- have you seen that really long academickish JS&MN article about the silenced given voice that was (re?)published in Strange Horizons years and years ago?

[cimorene]

I have this vague memory of reading a published article in among other meta about JSMN around the time the show came out, but I can't remember what it was about anymore - all the meta has melted together a bit in memory. So... maybe?

[hebethen]

Then just in case it somehow slipped through the cracks: Elizabeth Hoiem, "The Fantasy of Talking Back: Susanna Clarke's Historical Present in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell"

[cimorene]

Thank you! It turns out I had read it before, but I enjoyed reading it again and being reminded of which one it was!

[linbot]

I just discovered today while looking at my local cinema website that there's a new cut of Deadpool 2 coming out for Xmas with some Princess-Bride-style Deadpool-telling-Fred-Savage-the-story framing footage. So that's pretty odd?

In Australia it starts on the 13th, and there has been zero promotion for it. Hopefully, if you want to see it, you'll be able to find it.

[cimorene]

Hang on. I've gotta go upload a reaction image just to reply to this comment.

[hlagol]

So glad to have stumbled across a fountain pen person with other shared interests in common. Not that I need any ink enabling, as I've at least two lifetimes worth at this point. :)

[cimorene]

I like to order a bunch of related samples, and the last time I did that was like ... seven samples of different brown inks, and I forbid myself from ordering any more until I've tried all of them and decided which ones I want to buy in full size, and I haven't done that yet because I haven't used up the ink in my favorite pens... it's a fairly effective stalling tactic, but more so because I haven't been writing as much the last few months. I was on a binge of compulsive reading, and now it's compulsive knitting...

[hlagol]

Right there with you. I've a test tube rack full. I'm currently working through Colorverse Space Laika, Diamine Espresso, Rohrer and Klingner Sepia, and Platinum Sepia black. I like the Colorverse best but refuse to spend that much on a bottle of ink. Alas.

I try to write every day, but I too drift in and out of compulsive moods, and it's hard to muster up the energy at the end of a day, sometimes.

[cimorene]

I really thought deciding to do calligraphy would help with that because I'd have to practice, but then I realized that regular pens JUST WON'T DO so now I have a bunch of dip pens and parallel pens for calligraphy practice, which has its own separate notebooks, and I end up neglecting it too... 🙃

Wait, are those just the browns you're trying to use up, or are you also coincidentally at a choosing-browns-stage?

[hlagol]

I do hope you share thoughts and pics of your calligraphy practice! I've got Lloyd Reynolds book and keep meaning to get started, but well, motivation. I'm a sucker for italic, particularly those with really beautiful standard handwriting in the italic vein, like this person from the FPN forums:



...and yes, I am indeed also deciding on browns! Which are you considering?

[cimorene]

I have taken pics of it from time to time - the calligraphy I mean - but because it's just practice, it's certainly not good enough to take pictures for the express purpose of bragging about it, or demonstrating how to do it for other people, like the blogs of people who have done much more of it than me. It is fun though!

Here's my post in the summer from when I first opened the shipment of brown samples, three Herbins and Peliken Edelstein Smoky Quartz. I've got Pilot Iroshizuko Yama-guri in my stub nib now.

I already have Diamine Sepia, but it's so light it's more amber than brown, hence these samples.

[hlagol]

Thank you for the link, I'll be happily wandering through your ink review tag now.

[cimorene]

Ah, yes. I haven't done any of those since the brown samples. Making one of those whole-sheet reviews like I was doing before takes a lot longer than just writing or calligraphy practice, having to bring the dip pen nibs and a bowl of water and a paintbrush and the ink in its tube, and then having to protect the table and keep cats from walking on it... it's almost like a little art project.

[hlagol]

Your ink sketches are beautiful, but yes, I can imagine the setup. Hard enough to just fill from a sample without cat interference. :D

[weconqueratdawn]

Thought I'd introduce myself as, though I've been following you on tumblr for a while, I don't think we've ever spoken! :)

I am fleeing tumblr completely and moving on to places more welcoming which I think might be, overall, a more positive step for me. Tumblr's constant flow of stuff is super-addictive but not always very satisfying :/

(btw I used to read your lotr fic back in the day, when I was only a lurker!)

[cimorene]

Yeah, that's my problem, the visual flow IS addictive! It's the lack of proper interaction and words that is so unsatisfying. On Tumblr you DON'T speak to people as much as you would like to (although it can be easier to deal with when you don't feel up to interacting, of course)... it's like it's designed to make interaction as unwieldy as possible. DW can be nicely interactive, but it won't bridge that sensory divide and it just never has a high enough content volume to approach 'addictive'. I'd have to supplement with some other kind of photostream from elsewhere.

And I mean, hi, nice to see you, I recognize your handle and look forward to future interactions!

[weconqueratdawn]

I'm trying out Pillowfort as it could bridge the gap (stream plus interaction), but it's got a little way to go before it reaches anything like Tumblr levels. Until then, I've been reduced to Twitter - woe is me.

And thanks! :)