midnightsjane

because no one, not even me, cares that the heat is almost out again at work. Dad's like you've been saying this for a decade. Because it's true every winter. Let's never fix a thing at my school.

Though yesterday was strange. I was walking in the hall of my building when a young lady says 'I love your hair.' I thank her, pleased. 3 seconds later....was she on the phone with someone else? she's not one of MY students. Why did she say that? My hair is awful. Literally my entire life I was bullied for what my hair was like. I find it hard to accept praise for it.

Also I'm on a fanfic reading hiatus until I clear off the half dozen library holds.

What I Just Finished Reading:

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Vampire Hunting - hated this

Queen in Comics! By Emmanuel Marie - not a bad prose/graphic novel mix little bio. How, I don't know, but I had no idea Freddie was raised in the Zoasterian faith

Werewolf at Dusk and other Stories - David Small - three short stories, illustrated by Small.

What I am Currently Reading:

A Curious Kind of Magic - so far an interesting not-quite-cozy mystery

Sugar and Vice - oh look another baker cozy mystery, this one set in Florida. Even with the eye rollingly stereotypical amateur sleuth this is sort of fun.

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia and Zombie Day Care and the library books including one on Sally Ride and one Alison Bechdel who did Fun House. I hope this is better than that thing. (I needed a book about a character who does pilates. This graphic novel has that)

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Inspector George Gently

shadowkat

So, I'm scrolling through my Dreamwidth Correspondence List, and finding all sorts of interesting things!

* Disney attempts to create a fun marketing meme only to delete it when it goes unexpectedly wrong..except you can't easily delete things on the internet

"Social media changed the marketing game forever. Nowadays, brands gain popularity and "street cred" by engaging with folks in comment sections and through relatable posts. It's estimated that when brands reply to comments on Threads, it boosts their engagement by 42%.

However, some posts on social media can turn against big brands, and that's exactly what recently happened to Disney. "Share a Disney quote that sums up how you're feeling right now!" they prompted their fans. But they got a little more than they anticipated: people really let them know how they were feeling, especially about the social and political state of the country. [Americans aren't happy campers, needless to say.]

And, in a moment of poor judgment, they deleted the thread, resulting in a "Streisand effect": instead of going away, the screenshots from the thread went viral."

* Donate what you can - Cross Stitch Patterns to Support Minnesota Non-Profits and Mutual Aid

"As a crafter, I believe in 'craftivism' - a form of activism that uses craft to convey political or social messages. Not only that, but during times of hardship, trauma, and chaos, craft, art, and joy is a form of resistance.

Patterns are created using Floss Cross and manual adjustments - NO AI ART HERE.

The idea is this - FREE cross stitch (alpha) patterns. They can be used for cross stitch, needlepoint, and more. My only ask is that you read about and check out the links I have posted to various Minneapolis/Twin Cities/Minnesota nonprofits and mutual aids and donate if and where you can, whether it be monetarily or by sharing and amplifying these organizations."

[I'm not really a crafter - I am more of a fine artist - so I'm just sharing it with you. Well unless you can poorly knitted scarves, blankets and hats (some unfinished) - crafting, in which case yes.]

* Lore Olympus Will Be Amazon Prime Video's next Animated Show

Webtoon's hit Greek myth romance is getting animated courtesy of Prime Video and the Jim Henson Company.

[Jim Henson Company? Interesting.]

I'd rather they made the Buffy Comics into an animated series, particularly the Last Slayer (which I adored) about a 50 something Buffy and Spike hooking up, and training Willow/Tara's daughter after both died, in an AU version of the verse. But that's just me.

ranunculus

Still chugging away at the tie-dye project. The whole tie-dye kit looked exactly like what it was: the end result of someone who was doing small scale commercial tie-dye who stopped suddenly. She had all kinds of poorly labeled stuff, things she had purchased from other people at a very low cost, and stuff that a single person doing the dying would know, but not an outsider. Huge bottles of dye with the label almost completely washed off, application bottles that were not washed out with two or three names on the bottle. Dyes in dozens of identical containers with only the tiny print on the front to identify them. Dyes for which there were no swatches and swatches which there were no dyes. I can't function very well in that kind of chaos. I'm methodically cleaning everything, labeling things with easy to read labels, making swatches for the colors that are missing them, and so on. I may do a couple more shirts, mostly for M, to use up the dye I have mixed. When I'm done everything will be clean, labeled and sorted into boxes by color family.
It is cold today and overcast after a string of beautiful sunny days. Tomorrow isn't going to be much warmer, but the sun is supposed to be out. I plan to go down and groom the arena to kill all the tiny grass plants that are trying to come up in it. While I'm there with the tractor I'll hook up the post hole digger and try to put in a couple of posts on the new fence line at Winter Quarters.
My burn permit finally arrived. Sadly today is not a burn day. I'd like to dispose of the brush from that tree we cut up a couple of days ago.

selenak

hannah asked: I'd love to hear you talk about assorted public transportation options you've taken while traveling, both domestically and internationally, and whether or not any stuck out to you for any reason.

Domestically: Well, it's practically a German cliché to complain about Die Bahn, but the truth is that while it truly is in a bad state, due to sixteen years of conservative ministers of transport defining their office as "lobbying for Mercedes, BMW and Audi" and endlessly delaying necessary repairs of the railway system, I still consider our public transport system my favourite way to travel within Germany. Both the trains, and in cities the busses and streetcars and underground trains. In most cases, it's possible to reach any given destination by train and from the railway station by local public transport. And one great invention that was added in, I think, the second Pandemic year, was Das Deutschlandticket, meaning a ticket you pay per month and which you can use for all public transport within Germany that is not - forgive me using now traumatizing initials - ICE or IC. (ICE in Germany means our fastest trains, to put it simply. ICs are second fastest trains. Both are the type of trains which can bring you from Munich to Berlin in less than five hours.) Which means that if, say, you live in Munich like me, and go to a conference in Hamburg, you do not have to buy extra tickets to use the public transport system in Hamburg, you can simply use your Deutschlandticket . Very neat indeed.

Anyway, the terrible state of our railway system means that currently practically every second long distance train is late, but there are a lot of them, and you do get notified at least an hour before the supposed departure of your train, so you can, using the Bahn app,, easily find a replacement connection. Well, most of the time. Not that people without a mobile device and internet access are screwed, and the are still a considerable part of older folk for whom this is true. Yours truly, in her fiftyseventh year of life, does not have this problem and thus can navigate the perils of the public transport system while using its benefits. Which I still very much prefer to taking the care, believe me. I am a German who isn't crazy about the Autobahn.

Internationally: Back in what turned out to be the last year of the Soviet Uniion (I think? 1991?) my APs and self spent two weeks in Russiai, one in Moscow and one in Leningrad/St. Petersburg, respectively. Among the many memorable things in Moscow were a couple of subway stations which looked like mini palaces, complete with chandeliers. I dimly recall being told these hailed from Stalin's era and were meant to demonstrate how well off the people were in the worker's paradise, which sounds like him, and of course looking like mini palaces does not enhance the usefulness of a subway station, but it still was an unexpected and impressive view! Also, the APs and yours truly actually managed to get to all the sightseeing spots we wanted to visited via the Moscow Metro and armed with a guide book and a map, so all hail the public transport system in Moscow in the year 1991. That same journey also included going by train overnight form Moscow to Leningrad (as it was still called), which worked fine, and while the cabins were hardly luxurious, they were comfortable enough for such a journey.

I also remember the main railway station in Madrid which includes a palm tree garden to relax in, which was lovely. And the cable cars of Lisbon from when I was there two or so years ago; last year, there was a terrible accident featuring one of them, so I don't know whether they'll still continue to be used that way, but they certainly were a signature part of the city (and usually you stand when using them, because they're that crowded.)

The country other than my own where I used the public transport system most often would be the United Kingdom. Generally, I've found British cars to be less comfortable but far more reliable than German ones, and the one time when I did a criss cross journey through the country on my lonesome, I got pretty much anywhere by train easily. As for the London "Tube", it's responsible for some occasions with much adrenaline pumping and transpiration from when I needed to reach the airport but was stuck in the Picadilly Line unexpectedly, but so far - knock on wood - in each of these cases, I did manage to reach the airport in time after all. Oh, and the one time I had to go from Heathrow to Oxford via bus directly, it worked perfectly as well, so good on you, British busses.

Let's see, what else? Oh, right, I once had a chance to housesit a palazzo in Venice for ten days which was awesome, and while I went everywhere on foot, I did take the vaporetto now and then, which was fine, as was the train connection to Padua when I used the chance to see the Giotto frescoes there.

The other days

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Bamberg

cornerofmadness

damn near had to zip my jacket this morning (it was 14 F) Less said about work the better (still dealing with the issues of that mix up) but the funny thing is we were loaned (from another failing program) the autoclave and incubators. So I went in to see how they were going as my researchers are ramping up. The autoclave isn't put together (and the fuse box is MIA) and NONE of the incubators are done. Me and DM were working on them. It's like incubators by IKEA and it's ALL in German and nothing is complete (I have a German student, I might drag him in there) It's so dumb I'm laughing.

Today was Cheese Cake and Golden Girls at the library. Just bring/eat cheesecake and watch a couple episodes of GG. It was packed. I was someone's hero because I gave her some of my lactose pills (she forgot hers). You'll share them? Yes, of course. It was fun except....for the two tables in the back who just kept talking thru the entire first episode we watched. Like fucking non stop. I really wanted to say hey, STFU. We're here trying to enjoy ourselves but we can't even hear teh show. I hate that women are so well trained to be 'nice' that sometimes making waves is hard. And then they had the audacity to shove in a couple pieces of cheesecake and then left without watching the first 30 minutes all the way thru. Didn't care. Glad they gone.

Came home. Realized OMG the authors zoom is tonight and I'm exhausted. I shook it off. Wrote over 2500 words in 1 1/2 hours. Well yay for me.

No fannish 50. I'm too tired again.

Also dummy went outside this morning. Refused to come back. I'm like of all days to go out and run off rocket. He's back and he's fine.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Killer Confessions

shadowkat

It was bitterly cold today. In the teens (F) with windchills factoring in the single digits (F) this morning, and got up to the twenties by midday.
Tomorrow it may make it to 30 F degrees - which as I told Breaking Bad this morning is relatively balmy. If we make to the 40s, so New Yorkers may start wearing shorts.

My living room overhead (ceiling) light has gone out. So I'm using the lights in my window (the tree and the snowflake lights), along with the little planet light (my niece gave me for Xmas one year), and two small desk lamps. The Super's wife popped by just as I was departing the shower to attempt to change the light bulb in the living room - but alas she needs tools - so her husband (whose not feeling well or under the weather) may have to do it after all.

Knees hurt today - it's the commute. The steps, and the walking through the bitter cold. And work was a mixed bag. I ran into folks from Jamaica (aka the head honchos behind all my project managers) and the negative energy emanating from them - made me physically ill. It took me two hours to recover. Thank god, I'm in Manhattan now and not in Jamaica, Queens, and far away from them. The folks I'm sitting near including Breaking Bad don't have that type of energy.

***

I'm following the news but out of the corner of my eye? I'm kind of giving it the side-eye? Or through my fingers, like I'm watching a horror film? Told mother that I wanted to be in galaxy far far away, albeit not the Star Wars galaxy. I might be willing to tough it out in the Star Trek verse, but not the Star Wars one. Nor would I want to be in BSG, Farscape, or Doctor Who's verses. Definitely not Tolkien's. No, I think the only one I could survive in would be Star Trek's. (Which is ironic, considering I was afraid of Star Trek at the age of 9.)

Also conversations on Lord of the Rings popped up.

Would I go on an adventure with Gandalf? No way in hell. I would run in the opposite direction if I saw Gandalf coming my way, and possibly try to hide (assuming one can hide from a Wizard). Gandalf has a tendency to send you off on a journey, abandon you to your own devices half way through, and forget about you.

***

Buffy and Angel Rewatch.

I'm enjoying Buffy S7 at the moment more than Angel S4, although Angel S4 is a mixed bag? Everyone works but Cordelia and Connor - who clearly are miserable. Writing those two characters out at the end of S4, and replacing them with Spike was a stroke of genius. I know folks liked them? But I'm finding both to be annoying. (And apparently the actors weren't overly thrilled portraying them at that point either.)

Buffy S7 - I'm really enjoying. It's spending more time on the supporting characters. Also "Selfless" (Episode 5) - the Anya centric episode is fantastic and among the best of the series. ( Read more... )
God, I love this show. It is by far my favorite television series.

ranunculus

I got M's two shirts done in the colors he requested. ( Read more... )

ranunculus

Mark O. came up today to "help". He has been one of my deer hunters for 25 years and is a really nice guy who is very helpful indeed. At random I chose to work on the tree below the garden. Back in July of 25 several of us cut down a really big blue oak that had been mutilated by PG&E tree crews. We got the tree on the ground and just left it there. A few weeks later I spent a couple of hours cutting off some of the smaller limbs and chopping up some firewood. It barely made a dent. Today Mark piled brush and loaded rounds into the Gator while I cut. I started out using my little Stihl 250 (Belin) which works great for limbing things up but isn't powerful enough to chop up bigger diameter limbs. When the branches got to about a 1ft diameter I switched to Rosie the big 391 with a 25 inch bar. I'm always impressed with that saw's power. It just chewed through that oak like it was nothing. The saw doesn't do anything fancy it just chops down through wood in a straight line. I chopped up limbs until even Rosie was slowing down a bit. Here is Chena very unhappily sitting on the log. There was some critter hiding from her down there...( Read more... )

cornerofmadness

So I'm off today and I decided I didn't want to spend it in this apartment even though I should be here working on the 10001 things I need to be doing. Is it frigid out? You betcha. Am I going? You betcha. Especially when the power failed again just for a few seconds but lately it's been doing that off and on all day.

Chillicothe OH was doing the restaurant thing that they do in NYC, which I think I mentioned so I pick three places to hit. I went to Paper City Coffee. If they had a special for this event it wasn't listed. It's a nice enough space. The two ladies ahead of me were raving about the maple bourbon latte. I decided why not? The chairs were not great in this place but it's clean and bright and I found parking on the side street for free (on Paint St which is a main artery it's pay to park). It doesn't taste like maple or bourbon. It's not bad but it wasn't what I was hoping for. It's not as good as Rost was but that's gone and the Connect Cafe that took its place fucked up a peppermint mocha so I guess Paper City can be my coffee place when I'm up there

I went to Hometown Hibachi where I did have to pay to park (it's a buck an hour so it's not too horrible and I always have quarters) It's 2 pm. this place is small, about a dozen tables. There was ONE open and three of them had families with babies howling. They also didn't offer the promised event special which fine. I wanted the chicken katsu ramen any how. Got instant fomo when I saw the hibachi meals (next time) The ramen was spicier than anticipated but good. The katsu was a weird choice on my part it wasn't cut small (and that reminded me of when I was with ELD and got something similar at her ramen joint) so it was awkward if tasty. I'd go again.

TJ Maxx had a bunch of stuff I needed, boring things like shower mat (mine's ripping) and shower curtain liner (I was trying to clean my ancient one and I'm like why? It's less than my cup of coffee) I tried their Aldi because it looked bigger than mine down here. It wasn't. Got more cheese.

Came outside and the wind had picked up. If I had a tarp, I could have sailed home, no engine on. It was wild out there. Speaking of that I had to put the rags in my door to keep the draft out. That's when Rocket decides I MUST GO OUT. Five mi nutes later.... Also I tried to see the aurora again. No dice.

it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is 10 a song you know all the words to. There are SO many

( here are a few )

here's the whole prompt list

( it's under here )

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

shadowkat

Had today off - since it's MLK's Birthday. (It's also a day of service, but alas, I'm being insanely lazy and resting my knees.)

Found out last night that my niece passed her EMT training and is a now a certified EMT. Also she may end up in Georgia at some point in May, with a course on how to prevent fires by setting them (burning off brush). My lovely niece is well on the way towards her goal of becoming a forest ranger. It's actually easier to protect trees than people. People are difficult. So, I'm glad she shifted from human rights to environmental protection and forestry.

I'm really enjoying my re-watch of Buffy and Angel. The later seasons hold up better than the earlier ones do - partly because the later seasons were done in the early 00s and not the late 1990s. So while there's still the errant - "I ran like a girl" - the other characters snort at it.

Season 7 and Season 4 Angel actually have some well-written episodes in there. Deep Down - S4 Angel, where Wes searches the ocean for Angel and rescues him, and Angel, Gunn and Fred confront Connor is a good episode. And Wes has become very interesting.

Also, the first episodes of S7 are really good. I find the series more entertaining now than I did when I initially watched it. Maybe because while I don't remember most of the details, I remember the final result, so don't have quite the same anticipation or worry that I had when I first watched it - when it aired for the first time in 1997-2003. Also, I'm not as invested in the romantic "ships"? I know they are all doomed. So, it's comforting in a way it wasn't back then. And, I'm not trying to figure out where it is going, or pulling it apart like a puzzle to figure out what will happen next. There's something to be said for not over-analyzing the plots of television shows?

Buffy S7 Takeaways?
( Lessons through Beneath ME )

And Angel S4 is more enjoyable than I remembered. It's kind of obvious though that the writers are writing out Cordelia.( Read more... )

Wes's arc is more enjoyable than Cordelia's. ( Read more... )

They brought in Gwen to chemistry test her against Angel and Gunn, as a potential replacement for Cordelia - I can tell. She got a back story and everything.

I don't remember most of this - or enjoying it nearly this much.

**

Outside of television watching - I did another watercolor. Not perfect. This is of a confrontation between a little old woman with a walker and big truck that I saw ages ago in Jamaica, but can still visualize.

selenak

Given all space and time, and all history and fiction, which offer of adventure would you be most likely to accept - and which one would you definitely decline?

ffutures asked.

Well, I'm tempted to say "none, because I'm chicken and would rather read about those adventures than experience them". But that would be a boring answer, and there are some which don't carry the risk of dying of smallpox or being turned into a Cyberman, one presumes. So, let's see....

Fictional: To get the obvious out of the way first: assuming that I'd live in a universe with the Doctor in it for real (the only universe worth thinking about, according to the Master, who ought to know), and that I would not live in one of those eras where one can google at least asome appearances of his which ought to give me an inkling about the risk travelling with him involves... I think I'd say yes if 'Thirteen offered me a trip with the TARDIS. She's not my favourite Doctor, but she conveys trustworthiness if she wants to, and even if I did manage to look up her companions, thehir rate of not just survival but lack of heartbreak (Yaz always excepted) at the end of their travels with her is promising. Most of the other Doctors would in real life make me think "nah, you seem to be interesting and/or crazy, but I wouldn't trust you to bring me home again".

I would definitely say no to Gandalf. Especially if I were in Bilbo's position. Firstly, stagemanaging an intrusion by loads of uninvited guests is just rude, and secondly, no way you're getting me anywhere near a real life dragon to be torched. No thank you. And that's before we're talking about the travel conditions. I can't ride, and while I do like long hikes, taking these in eras where I could get eaten by trolls... no, really not. I'm just not Burglar material.

Real: If I was dared as Nellie Bly was to travel around the world in 80 Days a la Jules Verne, with a newspaper paying for it, absolutely, I would have tried my best.

Would not have joined: any expedition involving the Artic. I like snow in winter, and I also like to ski, but I like it with the perspective of afterwards returning my heated apartment and being able to take a luxurious long hot bath. Not from the perspective of someone looking for the North West Passage on a sailing boat in the 18th century or someone racing to the Pole in the 20th century. I like my limbs unfrozen and uneaten, thanks.

The other days

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Munich

cornerofmadness

Let's talk about main characters for a moment. Your MC cannot be entirely passive. If they have a goal (as they should) then they have to do something to work toward it. They cannot sit and wait for their friends/mentors/family propel them forward to do it.

When I was young I didn't like Frodo. I liked LotR a ton (to the point 13 year old me planned to name her firstborn Aragon) But I never liked Frodo. At 12-13 I didn't really know why. When I watched the movies I realized it was because Frodo never does a damn thing. If not for Samwise and the rest, he'd have died within 48 hours and Sauron would have won.

Today I stumbled over this YT short and realized they had put their finger directly on my issue with Hazbin Hotel S2. As much as I enjoyed it, I did not enjoy the Morningstars who are, arguably, the MCs. Charlie, if you don't want to click the short, basically does nothing. She has her goals of redeeming sinners, proving Sir pentious was redeemed and protecting her friends.

For the most part, she doesn't act. She spends most of the more important moments, the time, she was the MC (and the leader) needed to act, having panic attacks instead or acting on impulse that does nothing. She relies on Husk to do therapy as well as bartending. She relies on Vaggi to run the entire hotel basically alone. She never corners Alastor to get him to do stuff. She never asks a thing from Angel (reinforcing the idea that she sees him as useless) until she bullies him into doing something he didn't want. When everyone is about to die in the finale, Emily has to step in twice when it's obvious Charlie isn't.

A lot of fans felt let down. I know I felt let down and I'm not a giant Charlie fan. I liked her (less this year) but even if she wasn't my favorite character, I needed her to do something as a MC (other than flail around foolishly). By contrast, Buffy was actually not my favorite character but she acts. She makes mistakes too but at least she acts.

If everyone had to depend on Charlie or Frodo alone, probably everyone dies. I'm not saying your MC can't have help. Of course they can. We need the secondary characters to do things too but if they're doing the heavy lifting and your MC is sitting back waiting for them to do so, then maybe you have the wrong MC or you need to find how to give them some agency.

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Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Killer Relationships

ranunculus

Phoebe came over on Friday. We spent several hours pulling her tye-dye tubs off the shelves in the carport and going through them. They were all jumbled up. Phoebe sold tie-dye for a while and had lots of odds and ends that needed to be sorted. Ultimately she took three large tubs of stuff away. The rest of the stuff is pretty well organized and labeled. We were planning to do some dying that day, but decided to put it off to the morning.
Saturday morning I dumped old dye bottles and rinsed them out. Shirts, handkerchiefs and a couple of sweatshirts went into the soda bath. M picked out some colors and Phoebe and I began mixing powdered dye with water and urea. Before we could actually start applying dye Dave and Kim arrived. We had a nice, social lunch together which was just perfect.
Then we got back to dying. I got 2 shirts done for M before quitting. Donald got a long sleeved shirt tied up in a mandela pattern and dyed. Phoebe, who had more time, got four shirts and one sweatshirt done.
Today we washed out yesterday's shirts and I did 5 more. Hope we like them! Donald's shirt came out great. Pics tomorrow.
My obstacle day for next month is filling up already, which is very encouraging.

shadowkat

January Question a Day Meme

15. If you could, would you like to be a little bit taller or a little bit shorter?

I'm okay with my height. But if I could get rid of the slight curvature of the spine, and the rounded shoulders - I'd be happy. Genetic curse.

I'm 5'11 and 44 inches or 6 foot, when I can stand up fully straight. Most of it is in my legs, I'm all limbs.

16. Do you have a favourite genre of music?

Not really? My taste in music as in all things is wildly eclectic and moody? And changes at will. It's easier to list the genres I'm less fond of? Anything high pitched, with a lot of amp feedback - doesn't work for me. Also, I need to understand the lyrics? So most opera doesn't tend to work for me either - I don't like high soprano. Nor do I like to be punched in the face with music? So a lot of rap and heavy metal tends to give me a headache, I do like some of it though. (I like Nine Inch Nails for example).

17. The US celebrates Hot Buttered Rum Day today! Have you ever tried it?

Yes, not a fan. Too sweet.

18. It’s Sunday – what was the best part of last week?

Saturday. I'm a fan of Saturdays. Today, I felt guilty for not doing anything. Saturday? I never feel guilty for not doing anything. I think it's the pseudo-religious upbringing? Or that usually I go back to work on Monday and get the Sunday scaries.

***

As mentioned in the last post, I finished the much-maligned Buffy S6, which is still among my favorite of the seasons. ( Read more... )

Almost done with Angel S3 rewatch - and this season is actually much tighter plot wise than Buffy S6. Like Buffy S6, it does have a handful of weak episodes (mainly featuring the Grooslaug). But overall - it's better than I remembered it. It does help that I don't remember most of it at all.
I really have forgotten most of both series.

What's interesting in Angel - is how everyone enables Angel. ( Read more... )

shadowkat

Time got away from me last night - as it often does whenever I ramble on - and I wasn't able to finish writing down my thoughts on my rewatch of Buffy S6 (up to Villians) and Angel S2 (up to Forgiving).

It's snowing again, but not as heavy, and the floakes are much smaller. They almost look like sleep or rain, but they are definitely snow. I love it when it snows in New York City - it quiets the world just a nudge, blankets it in white, and it's pretty. All I hear on this quiet Sunday morning is the hissing and creaking of radiators. And since I woke up to a cool bedroom (64 degrees - I'd put on my window fan last night since it was too warm in the bedroom to start), I'm grateful for the heat now. It's 76 degrees F in the living room. Much colder outside of course - in the low thirties. But alas, it stopped, leaving but a trace.

Rewatching Angel and Buffy, I've picked up on various things that seem rather obvious now, but for some reason or other I didn't pick up on the first go around? I think it was because I was watching it embroiled in the fandom, and other fans can influence what I see on screen.

( Spike getting a soul instead of removing his chip )

There's a lot of foreshadowing in Angel S3 about Cordelia, Gunn and Fred's arcs. Also, it's made clear in S3 that Angel cares about his son, and possibly the people who help him. He literally would throw everyone under the bus to save Connor and himself. This is sharply contrasted with Buffy who only sacrifices herself for Dawn, and doesn't put Dawn above all else.
She cares about Dawn and protects Dawn, but she is also invested in saving Willow - who has gone dark, and even fought her, and betrayed her.

There's two episodes in S3 that foreshadow Fred's death in S5. ( Read more... )
Cordy's demise is also foreshadowed - she's made part demon, and rarely gets visions now - and no one questions it. Including Cordelia. ( Read more... )

Angel who refuses to forgive Wesley for taking his son (in an ill-advised attempt to save him), is now faced with a son who can't forgive him for all his misdeeds, and refuses to hear his side of the story. ( Read more... )

The best part of this arc is Dark Wesley. The episodes Loyalty through Forgiving are better than the ones that come after, and the difference is the first three focus more on Wesley and the later focus on Cordelia and Connor - who are weak links. ( Read more... )

I finished all of S6 Buffy today - and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the last three episodes. ( Read more... )

What surprised me about the end of S6 - is the writers felt the need to show us Spike hunting his soul and undergoing the trials to get it. ( Read more... ) Equally interesting - is Willow is saved by the love of her best friend who has known her entire life, wants nothing from her, and just loves her because of who she is. Platonic love. Same with Buffy - Buffy falls in love with her sister, and wants to show her sister the world - they bond and climb out of the ground together. Willow sends them into it, and together they climb out. Anya stays with Giles, she doesn't go after Xander, instead she stays by Giles side, and shows her platonic love for her mentor and co-owner.

Giles saves Willow - by dosing her with good magic or the magic that connects her to humanity, to those around her - her soul.

Both shows poke at the addictive nature of sex, romantic love, and power. Often using the metaphors of blood and vampirism. ( Read more... )

I'm enjoying my re-watch far more than expected. I find both shows oddly comforting in a way, and it's fun to watch them without the greek chorus of a fan board in the background, with it's own demands and views on what is happening on screen - often clouding what I see myself. Truth of the matter is - people see different things, and relate to different things? Some people related most to Connor, some Cordelia, some Wes...or on Buffy? Some Buffy, some Spike, etc. No one sees the same show or performance, no one perceives it the same way, or thinks about it the same way. And that's the way it should be, I think?

At any rate, my takeaway from Buffy S6 - is while it is an uneven season, overall an enjoyable one. I like it a lot better than S1, 3, and 4. I tend to prefer the later seasons - I find them more relatable than the early ones?

cornerofmadness

When it looked like we weren't getting the snow they said I packed up and went to Point Pleasant to bum around. I will admit the coffee grinders coffee house isn't my favorite (and dudes DO NOT put the coffee of the day at some side table. Put that near the register. I totally wouldn't have bought that) got writing done. At this point Capitol One's bot texts me again about Best Buy trying to get payment for their protection membership pushed thru (this is 200$, I don't want it and this will become important)

I go to the Mason Jar antique store/country store/shit shop and I find the best thing ever. Star Trek salt and pepper shaker. I don't even haggle over the price. I ALMOST did for two other items (I am not good at this mind you) One was a pressed glass pitcher and two goblets of BLACK glass and the uranium glass juicer (both were 35$ each. Both remained in the store).

I spotted a blue glass horse bookend and thought

evil_little_dog will marry me if I get her that for her birthday. I swoop over. It's 60$ for one book end. They don't have the other. I decided I didn't really wanna marry ELD anyhow.

I waltz down the street (with my ST shakers) to the Point Pleasant Trading Company which specializing in cryptid shit. (btw cryptids are absolutely saving PP from oblivion. there were tourists everywhere. In Jan. In the cold.) They had absolutely gorgeous Mothman/Flatbush Monster/Loveland Frogman/Big Foot t-shirts. I don't need a 35$ t-shirt(the number of the day is 35) They had an amazing cardigan with mothman and the silver bridge. No Dana you DO NOT need a 60$ cardigan. But it's in my size. NO. Bad Dana. And the upstairs was rocking. they've added sound to the Black Light Mothman Experience Indoor Mini Golf (Why will NO ONE play with me? WHY)

I bought nothing there and crossed the river back into Oh and headed to Remo's this absolutely terrifying local treasure of a hot dog stand inside a (collapsing) house. Got lunch. (because I forgot my freebie thing for the Mexican place) Went to the library to get more books for popsugar because I can absolutely read this many at once, right? (ha) I did not go to the Lego exhibit they have right now. It opened this week and had 20000000 kids in it (well it felt like it at any rate)

Went to the boba hut. My credit card is declined. Naturally. Because I'm going to Aldi's next. I know why. Remember that Best Buy thing? Yeah so Capitol One decides OMG red alert (in spite of me telling them it's fine two days ago when I THOUGHT I had canceled that membership). They texted me we'll close this card and send you a new one. I'm now steaming. At least I have another card.

I hit Aldi's. Get cheese I don't need. I don't even remember which ones. Got some frozen things I don't need (like I needed cheese) go home with my boba. I'm a mile from home when one bursting boba wings up that straw at mach 1 and straight into my vocal cords and pops. Mango liquid shoots down my bronchial tubes and like any good asthmatic tube, they immediately clench up and fill with mucus. By the time I park, I'm crackling and wheezing like I've pneumonia and in need of a trach. every time I cough I taste mango. How much fluid was in one tiny boba?

I get inside, deal with Best Buy and this time it went thru because I got the survey of sadness. Why did you leave us? I call up Capitol One and I'm coming in hot now. We'll close this card. No chucklefuck you won't. I explain 4 times what happened, told them every charge that should be on that card this week. Those aren't fraudulent? NO. In theory I can use this card again. If I can't heads will be on pikes.

And

fandomtrees released. Let me share my cool gifts plus all the ones I wrote (I get the feeling the other Hazbin folk either aren't Huskerdust shipper or saw I had 3 fills and moved on because only one person took up on my HH prompts and did two (including my new icon)

My Gifts

Hazbin Hotel Icons So pretty

softer addictions Hazbin Hotel, NSFW

But What If There Was a Demon vs Dinosaur Cage Match? Angel the Series/Buffy the Vampire Slayer (by [Bad username or unknown identity: spikedluv)] La Famiglia I'd love if some people read this one as it's original fiction and I feel like maybe I should revisit it down the road.

Of Slayers, Sisters and Sleepovers Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Heirlooms Past and Future Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Fernweh The Raven Cycle

Biergarten Blues Grimm

Murder Most Midsomer Murder She Wrote/Midsomer Murder

Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By Hazbin Hotel

The Things to Which Fate Binds You Hazbin Hotel

A Very Vee Sinsmas Hazbin Hotel

A Wake For a Snake Hazbin Hotel

You Had Some of the Best Times You'll Never Remember With Me, Alcohol Hazbin Hotel

And have a couple pictures from the Welsh New Year Thing Last night

( under here )

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Inspector George Gently

shadowkat

Haven't done a lot today, outside of watching it snow - big heavy snowflakes falling lightly to the ground. Heavy wet snow. Not a lot of sticking. Well, that and knee exercises - lots of knee exercises, and watching of television, and scrolling through dream-width correspondence list.

Apparently sci-fi writer John Scalzi got an asteroid named after him (or a minor planet)? And the ultra conservative comic strip writer behind Dilbert died of cancer. (I can't say I ever liked the comic strip Dilbert all that much? It was okay in 1990s, but it slowly derailed into misogynistic and racist jokes by the early 00s.) Oh, and Cincinnati Chili may well be an acquired taste? (I've never had it - nor want it. I don't like Texas Chili. I only eat vegetarian chili? I don't tend to like meat in it - and grew up with beans.)

Binged Buffy and Angel episodes today. Of the two, I have to say Angel S3 Episodes 15-18 work better from a plot and character stand point than Buffy S6 episodes 15-18. I think David Greenwalt/Jeffrey Bell and Tim Minear were slightly better show-runners than Marti Noxon/David Fury and Joss Whedon.

Normal Again and Entropy are actually good episodes. They work on multiple levels. But, the problem with Normal Again and Entropy - is I'm relating more to Spike and Anya, than Buffy and her friends? It's an interesting flaw and a risky one.

Both episodes get across the changes in Spike. And how confused he is. It's also clear from both - that the writers need Spike to leave - or the rest of the season won't work.
( Normal Again and Entropy )

I decided to watch Seeing Red after Entropy. The two episodes go together. Or build up to each other. When they originally aired in 2002, folks who were downloading or watching the episodes via satellite television in colleges around the country - ended up watching "Seeing Red" before Entropy. People watching Broadcast Television or Cable saw Entropy, people watching via satellite feed saw Seeing Red. Can you imagine what happened online? Yup, the fandom exploded. I was watching on Broadcast Television or Cable - so saw the episodes in order. The people who didn't, kind of reacted badly and spoiled everyone else.

Seeing Red is an uneven episode. The writer has to do several difficult things in this episode:
( Read more... )

cornerofmadness

So going by the older calendar this week was actually New Years for Wales and we had a party. I was...disappointed not in the event but over the fact that I was literally the ONLY faculty member to show up. At least I was well received. For that matter neither did any of our students. The only rep my school had was the Welsh liasion, two of our success coaches, the choir director, me and two faculty from Buckeye Hills (does the more certificate type jobs). Got to mess about the with mari lywd and then got roped into the twmpath dances. It's a lot like square dancing. My knee was going What the Actual Fuck Dana? We're only a month from the 5 year anniversary of being broken. You wanna revisit that? Stop jumping around one m.

Nope, knee, suck it up. Dance baby dance. Are we good? fuck no. Was it fun? Yes. I also got to make a little puppet mari lwyd. Why? because NO ONE brought their kids. If there wasn't the 20 Welsh students here on tour (your parents let you come to America?!?) there would be just like 6 of us. I wish it had been better attended but it was fun.

Watch on YouTube

Now I FINALLY got my lab fixed. Registrar is like you never sent the paperwork. Oh really? Found it, the email it was in etc etc. Yeah I did. Eye roll

I have a story for today. It'll be chapter one of a long fix-it (or maybe more correctly S3 speculation). I'm only posting it here because it's not quite ready to go to AO3 mostly because I have one WIP right now and I don't want two right now. It's pretty much where I want it to be though.

Title: I Need to Go Home (And Salvage What's Left of My Soul)

Summary: Angel has thrown himself to the wolves and refuses to go back to the hell, sinking deeper into addiction and hell with Valentino. Husk and the others will not let him be destroyed there. They will get him home and they have from an unexpected source.

Rating: teen

Notes:Written for Spikesgirl58’s 6 words and the six words were Skillful, Answer, Decide, Extra- small, Plucky, & Husheda and for the allbingo prompt of Madam Satan and the lyrical titles bingo prompt of Chart Topper. I chose Lost All Control by Seether.
( story under here )

And here are my fannish 50 fandom recs

State Visit Stargate Atlantis

Proper Appreciation Torchwood

Passion And Desire FAKE

Tonight The Professionals

Satisfaction. Hazbin Hotel

The Hazards of Exploring Atlantis Stargate Atlantis

Adjacent Hazbin Hotel

Rest In Peace Torchwood

Meeting Old Teachers Stargate Atlantis

Leave the Lord of Starving Faithful Hazbin Hotel

i taught him that Helluva Boss

all my blood, for the sweetness of his laughter
Arcane: League of Legends

M is for Murder Murder She Wrote/Mistletoe Murders

Vastra/Jenny Week 2026 Doctor Who

I Lived Here, I Loved Here, I Thought It Was True. Hazbin Hotel

Medical Emergency Torchwood

Blue Stargate Atlantis

Too Late, Too Late Hornblower

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (a love for a love) Merlin

Current Mood: sore
Current Music: beat bobby flay

shadowkat

Difficult, long, and tedious work week requiring a touch more patience than I wished to give it - not helped by the cold snap. Although my knees did appreciate it, since I need to ice them anyhow. Nor helped by issues with subways earlier in the week, resulting in more walking and more steps.

But it's Friday, finally! Thank god. And I've got a three day weekend - since we get Martin Luther King Day off - most people do in NYC.

I can sleep in. Rest my knee. And get some chores done. Also maybe a few watercolors.

Been entertaining myself with Buffy podcasts - which require little to no attention, and I find entertaining. Did learn a few things? ( Read more... )

It's really hard to know what is true and what isn't in this day and age. Information Age, my foot - more like Mis-Information Age.

***

Finally finished re-watching Hells Bells - I've mixed feelings about this episode. It's alas a Xander episode - which well pretty much tells you everything right there. That said - it's a mixed bag? When the story is focusing on the Scooby Gange or main leads, it's actually pretty good? But when it shifts to the twenty or so never-seen, rarely seen, and never to be seen again - ancillary characters - it loses focus. ( Read more... )

I realized today why I find this show so comforting and feel the need to write about it. It's central theme is "don't give up, life is painful and hard, but don't give up, the people you meet throughout it - make it worth it". I think that's why I love the later seasons - I find them oddly to be the most relatable.

**

PT went okay. He said that it's the muscles around the knee that are sore and hurting, because they are weak or strained, so to ice them and do the exercises.

**

I'm not enjoying the Angelica Huston Memoir as much as the others, partly because...I don't much like Angelica Huston? ( Read more... )

cornerofmadness

Honestly we didn't get a lot of snow but under it was ice. On the road between Jackson and Gallipolis (the two places I talk about all the time) had TWO five vehicle crashes and multiple small ones including the fire chief getting run over by someone who doesn't know what red lights mean (he was transported to the same trauma center I had been in) By 1 pm the most of it had melted but you know what I'm not arguing with a day off.

Mom, of course, thinks any spare second I have should be me cleaning. She's not wrong but still...that said I DID pick one major project and I did it, namely three bins of sockets and undies and a huge ass pile of clothes (still mostly socks) so I made 5 piles, summer socks, winter socks, fuzzy socks, socks I don't want period and lonely socks looking for mates.

So the piles are gone. The undies are gone because why in the name of god was I holding onto them. Many socks ready for donation and two uncomfortable realizations.

1. I have more fuzzy socks that any one human should. I know some are tight and need to be donated. Some have holes that I wear in bed in the fall/early spring while reading if my Raynaud's kicks in. Well pick two pair Dana and toss the rest.

2. That was NOT a bin of old undies. Under them was dozens of printed out stories, catalogues for book clubs that have been online only for YEARS and books. WTF? At least the books are now out on a shelf, the catalogues in the recycler and I'll sort the stories later to see what needs read and what can hit the recycler.

I did finish the last two stories I could possible write for

fandomtrees and maybe if we're lucky everything will release this weekend. Both of the recipients had 2 by the time I got these done but that's fine. Now they have 3.

I found a place in Pittsburgh I need to visit (and I thought about a little vacation right there in the city if it's not crazy expensive) the weeping glass

I have some community recs this thursday

fandomtrumpshate is gearing up so if you want to look it over to join in an raise money to do good now's the time.

And I got a few communities (new to me) from

tozka that looked cool. Check them out

vintageads I think I'll need to join this one. It'll be a good source for historical fic

bookclub_dw This is a monthly book club where members of the community host book club discussions once a month. - I don't need a new one but maybe you do

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

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midnightsjane

December 2022

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Page generated Jan. 23rd, 2026 01:53 am

Reading

Just books

Interesting Tid-Bits from my DW Correspondence List

Update

January Meme: Public transport Options while Travelling

Today was a tad chilly

Tuesday is cold but...watching Buffy and Angel to comfort itself

Tie Dye

Wood

MLK Day

More Buffy/Angel rewatch, among other things...

January Meme: Adventure in Time and Space to Accept or Decline

Writerly Ways

(no subject)

Question a Day Meme and other things..

Buffy S6 and Angel S3 Rewatch

I took the day off

(no subject)

Welsh New Year

Friday...finally...now to sleep and dream of other days

Snow Day

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December 2022

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