Unstoppable (I am wielding the power of friendship)
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ALTUnstoppable (I am wielding the power of friendship)
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petraI deeply enjoyed reading a Star Trek: The Original Series story in which Hanahaki is nonfatal and limited to Vulcans. I enjoyed it all the more because I didn't read the tags beyond noting that it's General Audiences and No Warnings Apply. Having now read the tags and finished the story, which ends hopefully, I recommend that you give the story a try if the idea of Spock coughing up flowers of unrequited love appeals to you -- but page down and skip the tags, unless there are common pairings in the fandom that you need to avoid.
love is an affliction
love is an affliction
Finally, time to write the book on you
6 Jun 2025 10:37 pmsovayAs it turns out, what goes on with my hand is that it's going to have arthritis, but with any luck on the same glacial timeline as the kind that runs in my family, and in the meantime I have been referred back to OT. Maybe there will be more paraffin.
My parents as an unnecessary gift for taking care of the plants while they were out of town—mostly watering a lot of things in pots and digging the black swallow-wort out of the irises—gave me Eddie Muller's Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir (2001/2025), which not only fits the theme of this year's Noir City: Boston, but contains such useful gems as:
One of the most common, if wrong-headed, criticisms of film noir is that it relegates women to simplistic archetypes, making them Pollyannas or femmes fatales, drippy good girls or sinister sexpots. People who believe this nonsense have never seen a noir starring Ella Raines.
Ella Raines is indeed all that and a drum solo on top, but she is not a unique occurrence and I can only hope that people who have not been paying attention to Karen Burroughs Hannsberry or Imogen Sara Smith will listen to the Czar of Noir when he writes about its complicated women, because I am never going to have the platform to get this fact through people's heads and I am never going to let up on it, either.
Anyway, I learned a new vocabulary word.
My parents as an unnecessary gift for taking care of the plants while they were out of town—mostly watering a lot of things in pots and digging the black swallow-wort out of the irises—gave me Eddie Muller's Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir (2001/2025), which not only fits the theme of this year's Noir City: Boston, but contains such useful gems as:
One of the most common, if wrong-headed, criticisms of film noir is that it relegates women to simplistic archetypes, making them Pollyannas or femmes fatales, drippy good girls or sinister sexpots. People who believe this nonsense have never seen a noir starring Ella Raines.
Ella Raines is indeed all that and a drum solo on top, but she is not a unique occurrence and I can only hope that people who have not been paying attention to Karen Burroughs Hannsberry or Imogen Sara Smith will listen to the Czar of Noir when he writes about its complicated women, because I am never going to have the platform to get this fact through people's heads and I am never going to let up on it, either.
Anyway, I learned a new vocabulary word.
(no subject)
6 Jun 2025 11:07 pmautobotscoutriellaRe-reading my own fic to get myself in a good writing headspace, and you know, Sonata may have taken more time/effort/plotting and gets more attention for good reasons, but until I bring you home absolutely slaps. I wrote it in something like six days on an average of five hours of sleep a night, and it still might be the best emotional arc I've ever written.
(I really need to learn enough photoshop to make a Klavdar icon.)
(I really need to learn enough photoshop to make a Klavdar icon.)
Roast Lamb à la Nagi + Leftovers Thereof
7 Jun 2025 11:30 amhighlyeccentricLast Sunday I had lamb, but had to go get more ingredients before I could make Nagi's slow-roasted middle eastern lamb shoulder. I ended up running too late to make it in a slow-cooker, and still short a few items, so I had-hocked it a few ways. The leftovers turned out amazing though, kept going all week.
( Spiced Lamb Shoulder )
Nagi serves hers with lemon herb couscous. I (being gluten-intolerant) recommend basmati rice, cooked with at least half the liquid being stock. You may wish to add sultanas to the rice.
Recommended toppings:
( Yoghurt sauce )
( Ful Medames )
Serve: Lamb on a bed of rice, with roast vegetables and the two dip/sauces.
Leftovers 1: Same thing, minus the yoghurt if you're taking it to work to reheat. If carrying it in a container to reheat, do include an orange wedge, and a dash of extra water, to infuse with the rice.
Leftovers 2: Ful Medames on celery sticks, as a component of Girl Dinner / Picky Tea.
Leftovers 3:
( Lamb and Feta Pizza )
Leftovers 3b: Leftover pizza.
Leftovers 4, which I made at the same time as the pizza:
( Spiced vegetable and bean soup )
Leftovers 4b: soup. Mix yoghurt sauce through if you're taking it in a container to work.
Leftovers 5: Wraps/soft tacos/thingy with fuul medames and lamb. If you have leftover mushroom / zucchini from the pizza, toss that in here. Add avocado if you have any.
Leftovers 6: at this point just "uses for ful medames", but ful medames mixed with Jack M's banana chili ketchup makes a good spread base for breakfast burrito.
This has been: a week of lamb and things that go with lamb.
( Spiced Lamb Shoulder )
Nagi serves hers with lemon herb couscous. I (being gluten-intolerant) recommend basmati rice, cooked with at least half the liquid being stock. You may wish to add sultanas to the rice.
Recommended toppings:
( Yoghurt sauce )
( Ful Medames )
Serve: Lamb on a bed of rice, with roast vegetables and the two dip/sauces.
Leftovers 1: Same thing, minus the yoghurt if you're taking it to work to reheat. If carrying it in a container to reheat, do include an orange wedge, and a dash of extra water, to infuse with the rice.
Leftovers 2: Ful Medames on celery sticks, as a component of Girl Dinner / Picky Tea.
Leftovers 3:
( Lamb and Feta Pizza )
Leftovers 3b: Leftover pizza.
Leftovers 4, which I made at the same time as the pizza:
( Spiced vegetable and bean soup )
Leftovers 4b: soup. Mix yoghurt sauce through if you're taking it in a container to work.
Leftovers 5: Wraps/soft tacos/thingy with fuul medames and lamb. If you have leftover mushroom / zucchini from the pizza, toss that in here. Add avocado if you have any.
Leftovers 6: at this point just "uses for ful medames", but ful medames mixed with Jack M's banana chili ketchup makes a good spread base for breakfast burrito.
This has been: a week of lamb and things that go with lamb.
my tastes are as predictable as death and taxes
6 Jun 2025 09:54 pmstardust_rifleMe: So, I’ve started watching Kowloon Generic Romance-
The Voices In My Head: So, let me guess, your favorite character is the intersex genderqueer with full body tattoos and a snake’s tongue who wants to get revenge on his rich father and whose sexual practices can be summed up in this Tumblr post?
Me: Aww, how’d you know?
The Voices In My Head: So, let me guess, your favorite character is the intersex genderqueer with full body tattoos and a snake’s tongue who wants to get revenge on his rich father and whose sexual practices can be summed up in this Tumblr post?
Me: Aww, how’d you know?
[pain] today's articulation
6 Jun 2025 11:53 pmkaberettA significant part of the problem is that we only start saying "all pain is in the brain" (or "the tissue isn't the issue" or whatever) to people with complex or chronic pain.
And there's a good reason for that! It's the same reason that I need to have a much more detailed idea of the fine detail of what an atom is and how it behaves than the vast majority of the population, for whom the Bohr model is perfectly adequate!
... and we need to explain that, we need to explain why we don't tell people with simple acute pain that All Pain Is In The Brain -- it's not because it's any less true for them, it's just that for most people most of the time they don't need to worry about that level of detail. But if you don't explain that, it sure do sound a lot like "your pain isn't real (unlike those people over there)".
Lies-to-children. That. That thing. That's a thing I need to explain.
My Favourite Greek Myth Retellings
6 Jun 2025 11:49 pmbooksbardsandbaselines Lately I’ve been thinking about how ancient myths are like really old houses: a little crumbling in places, haunted by problematic ghosts, but still full of mystery, beauty, and stories waiting to be told again (ideally with more emotional maturity and less casual divine punishment).
I love Greek mythology, but I really love when modern writers take those stories, dust them off, and give them new life—especially when they do it with lyrical prose, deep empathy, and a healthy suspicion of male heroes.
So here are some of my absolute favourite Greek myth retellings—and why I keep coming back to them like Odysseus to Ithaca (minus the decade-long detour and monster troubles, ideally).
🌿 Circe by Madeline Miller
Circe gets to be more than a witch who turns men into pigs (although… respect). Miller writes her with such grace and fury and introspection—she’s a goddess, yes, but also a woman searching for her place in a world that fears her power. Also, there's a very good lion.
⚔️ The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Look, if you’ve cried over this one, we’re in a support group together. Miller gives Achilles and Patroclus the tender, epic love story they deserve—and it absolutely ruins you in the best, most cathartic way.
🏺 A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Women of the Trojan War, assemble! This is like an ancient ensemble drama where everyone finally gets to tell their side. From Cassandra to Penelope to the goddesses themselves, Haynes reminds us that war stories are never just about warriors.
🧵 Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
A dreamy, lyrical dive into the Minotaur myth and its aftermath. Ariadne and her sister Phaedra get to shine (and suffer and rage and hope). Also: Theseus? Still the worst.
🔥 Elektra by Jennifer Saint
Ah yes, the House of Atreus: the original messy reality show. This one zooms in on Clytemnestra, Elektra, and Cassandra, and the cycle of revenge and trauma they’re tangled in. Lots of drama, no easy answers.
🏹 Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
We love a heroine who outruns the boys and keeps her bow steady. This one leans more into the adventure side, following Atalanta with the Argonauts. It’s fun, fierce, and makes room for her to be more than a sidekick.
🧠 Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes
Not a retelling, but a sharp, funny, deeply satisfying feminist look at how mythology (and later writers) twisted women’s stories. Pandora, Medusa, Helen, and others get their dignity back—or at least, their complexity.
If you’ve read any of these, come yell about them with me. If you haven’t—consider this your official invitation to dive in. Just maybe don’t accept gifts from the gods or make eye contact with a gorgon.
Which myth retellings do you love? Which ones do you want to read? I’m always ready to add to the TBR pile (it’s basically a ziggurat at this point).
[ SECRET POST #6727 ]
6 Jun 2025 06:19 pmcase posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomsecrets⌈ Secret Post #6727 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #961..
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
99PI Staffer Goes Deep Into Assistive Tech
6 Jun 2025 04:08 pmjesse_the_kKurt Kohlstedt has spent ten years creating audio and print stories for the design podcast, 99% Invisible. He also co-authored the 99% Invisible City book.
Last year, 99pi’s Kurt Kohlstedt suffered a severe injury that incapacitated his right arm and dominant hand. In the aftermath, new everyday challenges led him to research, test, and evolve accessible design solutions. These experiences set the stage for Adapt or Design, a twelve-part project of 99% Invisible in three acts, available at the short link 99pi.org/adapt
The Adapt or Design series includes many groan-worthy puns related to hands; six essays exploring assistive designs for people with one functional hand; three design hacks and mods that helped Kurt manage long-term rehabilitation; and three final essays diving deep into adaptive writing technologies including a free one-handed "mirror keyboard" for Windows PowerToys.
While the first article posted in April, I just heard about it via the 99% Invisible podcast 630, where Kurt and Roman talk about all these things.
it's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
6 Jun 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*
*
[Daf Yomi] Maseches Shevuos perek 1-4
6 Jun 2025 01:58 pmlannamichaelsNotes on the first 4 prakim of Tractate Oaths, of which two of them were not about oaths at all.
( Read more... )
The time Padmé lost an Amidala look-alike contest
6 Jun 2025 02:51 pmpetraPadmé, much like Dolly Parton, loses an Amidala look-alike contest. How many of the entrants are in drag? I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
There are definitely drag king portrayals of Anakin and Obi-Wan in their heyday, possibly including makeouts with each other and/or drag king clones.
Anyone who has seen The Empire Strips Back knows what drag!Luke Skywalker is wearing, and as for Leia -- well, I could insert any number of pictures of people doing Leia drag, in any number of costumes, and she’s not even royalty in this galaxy. Who even knows how many hotass drag kings lust after Han’s gender, too.
There are definitely drag king portrayals of Anakin and Obi-Wan in their heyday, possibly including makeouts with each other and/or drag king clones.
Anyone who has seen The Empire Strips Back knows what drag!Luke Skywalker is wearing, and as for Leia -- well, I could insert any number of pictures of people doing Leia drag, in any number of costumes, and she’s not even royalty in this galaxy. Who even knows how many hotass drag kings lust after Han’s gender, too.
Nostalgic Music Party!
6 Jun 2025 07:07 pmoursinAfter a few distinctly less than summery days, today has been quite sunny.
Okay, I think I've had some of these before.... maybe.
Summer Nights
The downside: Summertime Blues:
Not sure if Summer Wine is for drinking then, or made then, with sinister summer herbs:
Obligatory Lovin' Spoonful
Kinks chilling on a Lazy Sunny Afternoon:
Carole King another one wanting it to be over:
In which there are phrenologists and campness
6 Jun 2025 04:55 pmspiralsheep- Current reading quote: "My phrenologist has advised me to get more excitement in life, for the sake of my health".
- Friday Five with questions to warm the cockles of USian market researchers....
1. Have you ever been to summer camp?
No, we didn't have US style summer camps. Going camping (in tents or less often huts) for a weekend or even a whole week (!) with the Scouts / Guides &c used to be a relatively common childhood experience in the UK, and some schools went Youth Hostelling or to outdoor centres (usually owned by local councils before they were mostly privatised) for loosely geography/biology themed field study trips, but I never did. Specialised summer schools for formal study were uncommon, although older posher kids might attend a week or two for music or languages or whatever posh kids do when their parents want rid of them and boarding schools are on hols. Brits also used to have a lot of language student exchange trips with Europe usually organised by secondary schools.
2. Have you ever made a s'more?
I've seen them in USian movies and they appeared to be rubbery pink sugar melted over dry crumbly "cookie" sugar, thus removing the only joy of campfire toasting which is crunchiness. Why would anyone want to do that? I can only assume the level of advertising to children that would be seen as brainwashing anywhere else.
3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?
Yes, and so did all the rural kids I grew up with and my entire early adult friend group, and all the women's group members I knew, and all the greens and neopagans I knew (and probably most of the leftists at some point). Why wouldn't anyone living in a temperate climate, with predictable meteor showers &c, want to sleep out? I dislike camping though because it's too much faff for no reward: minimalist bivi bag or middle-aged mo-ho for me, ta.
4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
Ah, yes, the two sexes, and the owning of houses. Definitely another question aimed at my demographic, lmao.
5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
A comfy one, obv. Primarily cotton sheets / pillow cases (pillow case can be refrigerated in summer) and duvet with blanket over in winter. And when I was very ill a few years ago I swapped my hot water bottle for an electric heat pad at the foot end of my bed. [insert emoticon of comfy smugness here]
6. Have you had your bumps "read" by a phrenologist?
/jk, that's not a FF question. Have you though? I bet you have! You look like the type!! I can tell from the shape of your head!!1!! (I was persuaded to have a Kirlian photo of myself taken once. I refused to pay extra for a "reading" but the "psychic" insisted on persuing me to the door while earnestly explaining that I had a strong secondary female presence in my "aura" that was watching over me, lmao.)
- Friday Five with questions to warm the cockles of USian market researchers....
1. Have you ever been to summer camp?
No, we didn't have US style summer camps. Going camping (in tents or less often huts) for a weekend or even a whole week (!) with the Scouts / Guides &c used to be a relatively common childhood experience in the UK, and some schools went Youth Hostelling or to outdoor centres (usually owned by local councils before they were mostly privatised) for loosely geography/biology themed field study trips, but I never did. Specialised summer schools for formal study were uncommon, although older posher kids might attend a week or two for music or languages or whatever posh kids do when their parents want rid of them and boarding schools are on hols. Brits also used to have a lot of language student exchange trips with Europe usually organised by secondary schools.
2. Have you ever made a s'more?
I've seen them in USian movies and they appeared to be rubbery pink sugar melted over dry crumbly "cookie" sugar, thus removing the only joy of campfire toasting which is crunchiness. Why would anyone want to do that? I can only assume the level of advertising to children that would be seen as brainwashing anywhere else.
3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?
Yes, and so did all the rural kids I grew up with and my entire early adult friend group, and all the women's group members I knew, and all the greens and neopagans I knew (and probably most of the leftists at some point). Why wouldn't anyone living in a temperate climate, with predictable meteor showers &c, want to sleep out? I dislike camping though because it's too much faff for no reward: minimalist bivi bag or middle-aged mo-ho for me, ta.
4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?
Ah, yes, the two sexes, and the owning of houses. Definitely another question aimed at my demographic, lmao.
5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?
A comfy one, obv. Primarily cotton sheets / pillow cases (pillow case can be refrigerated in summer) and duvet with blanket over in winter. And when I was very ill a few years ago I swapped my hot water bottle for an electric heat pad at the foot end of my bed. [insert emoticon of comfy smugness here]
6. Have you had your bumps "read" by a phrenologist?
/jk, that's not a FF question. Have you though? I bet you have! You look like the type!! I can tell from the shape of your head!!1!! (I was persuaded to have a Kirlian photo of myself taken once. I refused to pay extra for a "reading" but the "psychic" insisted on persuing me to the door while earnestly explaining that I had a strong secondary female presence in my "aura" that was watching over me, lmao.)