Entry tags:
Speak Up Saturday
Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?
Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?
sandrine @ dreamwidth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sandrine) wrote2025-07-12 02:43 pm
sandrine) wrote2025-07-12 02:43 pmEntry tags:
Murderbot S1 thoughts
The Murderbot episodes only being about half an hour each and released weekly really worked for me because it meant I didn't put it off and have it remain on my 'to watch' list infinitely like so many other shows. I actually watched the season finale on the day it was released.
I'm feeling conflicted about Gurathin because a lot of his attitude and prickliness rubbed me the wrong way, but on the other hand, him downloading Murderbot's memories and storing them in his mind in the finale was touching. I think him gradually overcoming the antagonism and suspicion might have been ship fodder for me if a) I found Gurathin more attractive and b) his change of heart had been given more room to breathe.
The finale was the weakest point of the season for me in many ways. There were many moments in it that I liked, but the shift between the penultimate episode and the finale was too jarring for me. Yes, the time-skip made sense narratively because we got almost everything from Murderbot's POV, and he was not online for whatever happened between the episodes. But he was also not present for some scenes they included in the finale (like the PresAux team negotiates with Corporation Rim for Murderbot's release) so if they broke POV anyway, they might as well have given us the aftermath of the beacon launch and the trip back home.
And I admittedly also disliked the ending. I haven't read the books, so I don't care about following the book storyline, and Murderbot taking off like that was just disappointing, and if they hadn't renewed the show for a second season, that would have been a downer ending. I'm not sure how I feel about a S2 that has less focus on Murderbot's interaction with the team because now that they made me care about these characters, I really want to see more of them.
Murderbot S1 (spoilers!)
I really enjoyed the show overall. I came for Alexander Skarsgård and admittedly mostly stayed for Alexander Skarsgård, but the wry humor of Murderbot's narration was really fun, and I loved his delivery and how sympathetic he made the character. And him just wanting to be left alone and watch his soap operas in peace is so relatable! It took me a bit to warm up to the team, but they grew on me (like they grew on Murderbot… so this might or might not actually have been an intentional writers' choice) with their earnest sincerity and their often misplaced optimism. Mensah in particular was very sweet and easy to like, and I was quite fond of Ratthi – bless, he's so hellbent on being 'Seccy's' friend! :DI'm feeling conflicted about Gurathin because a lot of his attitude and prickliness rubbed me the wrong way, but on the other hand, him downloading Murderbot's memories and storing them in his mind in the finale was touching. I think him gradually overcoming the antagonism and suspicion might have been ship fodder for me if a) I found Gurathin more attractive and b) his change of heart had been given more room to breathe.
The finale was the weakest point of the season for me in many ways. There were many moments in it that I liked, but the shift between the penultimate episode and the finale was too jarring for me. Yes, the time-skip made sense narratively because we got almost everything from Murderbot's POV, and he was not online for whatever happened between the episodes. But he was also not present for some scenes they included in the finale (like the PresAux team negotiates with Corporation Rim for Murderbot's release) so if they broke POV anyway, they might as well have given us the aftermath of the beacon launch and the trip back home.
And I admittedly also disliked the ending. I haven't read the books, so I don't care about following the book storyline, and Murderbot taking off like that was just disappointing, and if they hadn't renewed the show for a second season, that would have been a downer ending. I'm not sure how I feel about a S2 that has less focus on Murderbot's interaction with the team because now that they made me care about these characters, I really want to see more of them.
primeideal (primeideal) wrote2025-07-12 09:05 am
primeideal) wrote2025-07-12 09:05 amEntry tags:
(SFF Bingo): The Birthday of the World And Other Stories, by Ursula K. Le Guin
I'm pretty sure I've read one book by Le Guin before (this would have been ~15+ years ago so I'm not sure on the details): "Changing Planes," a collection of various worldbuilding descriptions of fantasy worlds accessed from the liminal space of airport terminals. Not much plot, just descriptions. The K. in Ursula K. Le Guin is for Kroeber; her father was an anthropology professor at Berkeley who, among other topics, studied Ishi, an indigenous man from California who was the last of the Yahi people. So this is quite the setup for SF as anthropology.
The reason "The Birthday of the World," in particular, was on my radar was because it contains two of Le Guin's three stories about "sedoretu," a complex social structure where culturally-sanctioned marriages are in groups of four; this premise has taken off in the fanfiction world, because sometimes you're like "this character has a hard enough time trying to find one partner, how would they handle it if they were expected to marry three?" So I wanted to know how more about how worldbuilding worked in that setting--how are names handed down? That kind of thing.
There are eight stories in this collection, most of which are set in the "Ekumen" universe she's used as a setting for many of her novels and short fiction. And several share the themes of "slice of life that's more about revealing the setting than a big plot or conflict."
"Coming of Age in Karhide"--same world as "The Left Hand of Darkness" (which I haven't read), about a planet where the people are mostly human but experience gender and sexuality very differently from Earth people. The changes that come with puberty (or menopause) are weird and scary for everyone, no matter where you are in the galaxy; part of why we have rituals is to help us cope with that. It raises some questions I've seen in a contemporary context about "what kinds of things do people tolerate if they believe they're inevitable, but would rebel against if they thought an alternative was available?"
"The Matter of Seggri"--snapshots from a planet with a very skewed sex ratio and how it evolves over the centuries. One thing that this and "Coming of Age" both did well was depict how children's play is a mirror of what they see in adult society--when kids on our world "play house" or act out stories with their stuffed animals, they're imagining what it means to be "the mother" or "the father," and even if this is a very limited understanding, it still tells you something about the world they live in. Which is oftentimes more interesting or revealing than just depicting the adults doing adult things.
"Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways" are the sedoretu stories. In this world, you can only have sex with someone of your same moiety. This is a very big taboo; cross-dressing to adopt a different gender is okay, if that helps with the marriage balance, but the moiety division is more fundamental.
In the introduction (which is great, and has some very funny asides), Le Guin describes "Solitude" this way:
There are some abrupt jumps when it seems the most interesting stuff is happening offscreen (Luis' friend argues with him about religion; a moment later, Luis is elected council leader because everyone likes him, even the religious people). But overall, this one was really compelling.
Bingo: Five short stories. Hot take: at least some of the stories ("Coming of Age in Karhide," the sedoretu ones) are sufficiently slice-of-life, "low stakes, minimal conflict" to meet the spirit of "Cozy SFF." (I don't think "Old Music and the Slave Women" counts in any sense of the word.) I have no idea what I'm actually going to use for that square, something like "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" doesn't do it for me.
The reason "The Birthday of the World," in particular, was on my radar was because it contains two of Le Guin's three stories about "sedoretu," a complex social structure where culturally-sanctioned marriages are in groups of four; this premise has taken off in the fanfiction world, because sometimes you're like "this character has a hard enough time trying to find one partner, how would they handle it if they were expected to marry three?" So I wanted to know how more about how worldbuilding worked in that setting--how are names handed down? That kind of thing.
There are eight stories in this collection, most of which are set in the "Ekumen" universe she's used as a setting for many of her novels and short fiction. And several share the themes of "slice of life that's more about revealing the setting than a big plot or conflict."
"Coming of Age in Karhide"--same world as "The Left Hand of Darkness" (which I haven't read), about a planet where the people are mostly human but experience gender and sexuality very differently from Earth people. The changes that come with puberty (or menopause) are weird and scary for everyone, no matter where you are in the galaxy; part of why we have rituals is to help us cope with that. It raises some questions I've seen in a contemporary context about "what kinds of things do people tolerate if they believe they're inevitable, but would rebel against if they thought an alternative was available?"
"The Matter of Seggri"--snapshots from a planet with a very skewed sex ratio and how it evolves over the centuries. One thing that this and "Coming of Age" both did well was depict how children's play is a mirror of what they see in adult society--when kids on our world "play house" or act out stories with their stuffed animals, they're imagining what it means to be "the mother" or "the father," and even if this is a very limited understanding, it still tells you something about the world they live in. Which is oftentimes more interesting or revealing than just depicting the adults doing adult things.
"Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways" are the sedoretu stories. In this world, you can only have sex with someone of your same moiety. This is a very big taboo; cross-dressing to adopt a different gender is okay, if that helps with the marriage balance, but the moiety division is more fundamental.
What is a moiety? a Gethenian asked me, and I realised that it’s easier for me to imagine not knowing which sex I’ll be tomorrow morning, like the Gethenian, than to imagine not knowing whether I was a Morning person or an Evening person. So complete, so universal a division of humanity — how can there be a society without it? How do you know who anyone is? How can you give worship without the one to ask and the other to answer, the one to pour and the other to drink?
I wanted to know more about the stereotypes associated with these. Are Morning people or Evening people the ones who ask, or pour? When you meet someone new in a big city, how do you tell their moiety--would people introduce themselves the way some people in our world make a point of introducing themselves with gender pronouns? I didn't feel like the stories really fleshed that out for me. (Which means I'll just be left to my own devices if I ever decide to write fanfiction with this conceit.)In the introduction (which is great, and has some very funny asides), Le Guin describes "Solitude" this way:
the concern of the story...is about survival, loyalty, and introversion. Hardly anybody ever writes anything nice about introverts. Extraverts rule. This is really rather odd when you realise that about nineteen writers out of twenty are introverts.
We have been taught to be ashamed of not being “outgoing.” But a writer’s job is ingoing.
I'm not sure I would agree! The premise, at the start, is that this is another anthropological story; Leaf wants to learn more about the world of Eleven-Soro, but finds it very difficult to talk with the people there, because they barely have any social structure. Her Hainish colleagues think it might be easier for children who grow up in Sorovian culture to understand and make sense of it, and so Leaf raises her son Borny (eight) and daughter Ren (five) on Soro. Years later, Leaf and Borny want to go back to their spacefaring society, but Ren wants to stay. The Sorovians are not "a people;" they are "persons," and Ren wants to be a (solitary) "person." Leaf is aghast and believes she's failed if her child is rejecting all the opportunities of high-technology life in favor or an isolated existence in the jungle.
In some ways, women have a stronger social structure and slightly better lives than men on Soro, so the fact that Borny wants to go back to the Hainish ship and Ren doesn't is understandable in light of that. But I think their ages at the beginning are also significant. Borny can remember a time before Soro, and appreciate what the space station has to offer, much more clearly than Ren. Everything Leaf experiences makes lots of sense--if an ethnographer can never really get an objective, bird's-eye, view, the only way to understand a culture is to live in it authentically, then maybe the only way to do that is to do it from childhood...she wouldn't want to interfere with the native Sorovians and abduct them away from their home, but it feels different leaving her daughter to experience what seems to be a much lower quality of life.
If it was just a story of "extraverts versus introverts," then I might feel more aligned with Ren's attitude of "I don't need a big social structure, I'm just me." But I think there's an asymmetry in that it would be easier (not easy, but easier) for a Hainish person to choose a life more like the isolated Sorovians, than for a Sorovian to make the reverse decision. There's a lot of discourse about "is it a weakness of liberalism that it doesn't tell people what the good life is, or is it a strength that it allows different people and different subcultures to pursue different versions of the good life?" Our world, and Hainish spaceships, are not perfect, but I'm grateful for the different opportunities and technologies they allow.
"Old Music and the Slave Women" is a follow-up to "Four Ways to Forgiveness" (haven't read that either), stories about a Hainish observer on a world full of slavery and, in this installment, civil war. He gets captured by the pro-slavery government, spends some time getting tortured, then awkwardly tries to make small talk with the (former?) slaves like "haha, I, too, have been tortured in the cages!" Is this trauma dumping as bonding opportunity, or cringey "guy who has only been tortured for a couple hours can't possibly understand people who have been slaves their entire lives?" I don't know. There were some poignant reflections on what it means for a family of slaves to have a child born into freedom, even if he only lives for a few years, but on the whole it was very bleak.
This isn't specific to any particular story but I will note that Le Guin is extremely blunt and to-the-point about the facts of life. Societies and family units differ widely across all the settings, but I found a lot more explicit discussion of penises, vulvas, fucking, and rape than in most of what I read. Which can be useful and illustrative, but sometimes gets wearing. (The sedoretu stories were probably the least explicit in this regard. Yeah, their rituals and structures are different from ours, but these are very conservative, socially considerate and rule-following people.)
"The Birthday of the World" is about a society that worships their monarchs as deities (but then it falls apart). There's a first-contact story going on behind the scenes, but the narrator is only observing it at a distance, so her interpretations are intriguing but we only get a little of it. Inbreeding is bad? IDK. It's not exactly "slice of life with no plot" but neither is it "characters making meaningful decisions and traditional plot." Slice of death.
"Paradises Lost" is longer than the others, explicitly set close to Earth and not part of the Hainish continuity. And it's also great. The setting is a generation ship that's going to travel for 200 years to explore a new planet, and how the people who spend their whole lives in transit might (or might not) find purpose. The contrast between how the original ("Zeroes") generation who left Earth fear they may have cheated their descendants, versus how the descendants actually feel about the whole thing, is fascinating. The beginning is a stream-of-consciousness about how a fifth-generation spacefarer might try and fail to conceptualize Earth:
In some ways, women have a stronger social structure and slightly better lives than men on Soro, so the fact that Borny wants to go back to the Hainish ship and Ren doesn't is understandable in light of that. But I think their ages at the beginning are also significant. Borny can remember a time before Soro, and appreciate what the space station has to offer, much more clearly than Ren. Everything Leaf experiences makes lots of sense--if an ethnographer can never really get an objective, bird's-eye, view, the only way to understand a culture is to live in it authentically, then maybe the only way to do that is to do it from childhood...she wouldn't want to interfere with the native Sorovians and abduct them away from their home, but it feels different leaving her daughter to experience what seems to be a much lower quality of life.
If it was just a story of "extraverts versus introverts," then I might feel more aligned with Ren's attitude of "I don't need a big social structure, I'm just me." But I think there's an asymmetry in that it would be easier (not easy, but easier) for a Hainish person to choose a life more like the isolated Sorovians, than for a Sorovian to make the reverse decision. There's a lot of discourse about "is it a weakness of liberalism that it doesn't tell people what the good life is, or is it a strength that it allows different people and different subcultures to pursue different versions of the good life?" Our world, and Hainish spaceships, are not perfect, but I'm grateful for the different opportunities and technologies they allow.
"Old Music and the Slave Women" is a follow-up to "Four Ways to Forgiveness" (haven't read that either), stories about a Hainish observer on a world full of slavery and, in this installment, civil war. He gets captured by the pro-slavery government, spends some time getting tortured, then awkwardly tries to make small talk with the (former?) slaves like "haha, I, too, have been tortured in the cages!" Is this trauma dumping as bonding opportunity, or cringey "guy who has only been tortured for a couple hours can't possibly understand people who have been slaves their entire lives?" I don't know. There were some poignant reflections on what it means for a family of slaves to have a child born into freedom, even if he only lives for a few years, but on the whole it was very bleak.
This isn't specific to any particular story but I will note that Le Guin is extremely blunt and to-the-point about the facts of life. Societies and family units differ widely across all the settings, but I found a lot more explicit discussion of penises, vulvas, fucking, and rape than in most of what I read. Which can be useful and illustrative, but sometimes gets wearing. (The sedoretu stories were probably the least explicit in this regard. Yeah, their rituals and structures are different from ours, but these are very conservative, socially considerate and rule-following people.)
"The Birthday of the World" is about a society that worships their monarchs as deities (but then it falls apart). There's a first-contact story going on behind the scenes, but the narrator is only observing it at a distance, so her interpretations are intriguing but we only get a little of it. Inbreeding is bad? IDK. It's not exactly "slice of life with no plot" but neither is it "characters making meaningful decisions and traditional plot." Slice of death.
"Paradises Lost" is longer than the others, explicitly set close to Earth and not part of the Hainish continuity. And it's also great. The setting is a generation ship that's going to travel for 200 years to explore a new planet, and how the people who spend their whole lives in transit might (or might not) find purpose. The contrast between how the original ("Zeroes") generation who left Earth fear they may have cheated their descendants, versus how the descendants actually feel about the whole thing, is fascinating. The beginning is a stream-of-consciousness about how a fifth-generation spacefarer might try and fail to conceptualize Earth:
The blue parts were lots of water, like the hydro tanks only deeper, and the other-colored parts were dirt, like the earth gardens only bigger. Sky was what she couldn’t understand. Sky was another ball that fit around the dirtball, Father said, but they couldn’t show it in the model globe, because you couldn’t see it. It was transparent, like air. It was air. But blue. A ball of air, and it looked blue from underneath, and it was outside the dirtball. Air outside. That was really strange. Was there air inside the dirtball? No, Father said, just earth. You lived on the outside of the dirtball, like evamen doing eva, only you didn’t have to wear a suit. You could breathe the blue air, just like you were inside. In nighttime you’d see black and stars, like if you were doing eva, Father said, but in daytime you’d see only blue. She asked why. Because the light was brighter than the stars, he said. Blue light? No; the star that made it was yellow, but there was so much air it looked blue. She gave up. It was all so hard and so long ago. And it didn’t matter.
I mean, this is fantastic:
The history in the bookscreens, Earth History, that appalling record of injustice, cruelty, enslavement, hatred, murder — that record, justified and glorified by every government and institution, of waste and misuse of human life, animal life, plant life, the air, the water, the planet? If that is who we are, what hope for us? History must be what we have escaped from. It is what we were, not what we are. History is what we need never do again.
There's one part that's like "what if there are two types of people, people who need religion and symbolism and those who don't" that, like Anathem, was pretty iffy. But the narrative undercuts that: some characters try to tell "noble lies," if only by omission, in order to work against a potentially dangerous religious faction. One of the main characters points out that this is very contemptuous of the ordinary people who they're trying to convince, and potentially just as dangerous as the religious extremists themselves.There are some abrupt jumps when it seems the most interesting stuff is happening offscreen (Luis' friend argues with him about religion; a moment later, Luis is elected council leader because everyone likes him, even the religious people). But overall, this one was really compelling.
Bingo: Five short stories. Hot take: at least some of the stories ("Coming of Age in Karhide," the sedoretu ones) are sufficiently slice-of-life, "low stakes, minimal conflict" to meet the spirit of "Cozy SFF." (I don't think "Old Music and the Slave Women" counts in any sense of the word.) I have no idea what I'm actually going to use for that square, something like "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" doesn't do it for me.
littlerhymes (littlerhymes) wrote2025-07-12 11:24 pm
littlerhymes) wrote2025-07-12 11:24 pmEntry tags:
Sydney Film Festival 2025
I saw a bunch of movies at Sydney Film Festival, several weeks ago. My favourite was probably The Circle (2000, Jafar Panahi) screening as part of a Panahi career retrospective. He's an Iranian director who has been persecuted, imprisoned, and forbidden to leave Iran at various times, and has won numerous film awards.
This movie is set over the span of one day, starting in a hospital maternity ward and ending in a prison cell, giving glimpses into the lives of women under the Islamic State regime. A grandmother laments the birth of a girl because it will mean her daughter (the baby's mother) is likely going to be divorced by her husband; a young woman newly out of prison tries to secure passage home; a woman tries to secure an abortion; and so on, through all the hours of the day. It's so skilfully directed and so naturalistically acted and shot, each storyline bleeding into the next so simply. Panahi was present at this screening and took questions after the movie (some much worse than others, as is the way with public Q&As).
I also had a great time, in a very different way, with Lesbian Space Princess (2025, Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese). Princess Saira of Clitopolis, a world entirely peopled by lesbians, must go on a quest to rescue her ex-girlfriend, who has been kidnapped and held hostage by Straight White Maliens. This is a silly, funny and very Australian animation with art in a style that reminded me of Adventure Time. The humour is mostly as obvious and silly as indicated by the names; and the other villain of the story, aside from the incels, is Saira's own lack of self-esteem.
There's some very knowing nods here - there is a "problematic (space) ship", the main character's magical girl moment is straight from Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of the other main character is from a "gay-pop" group who runs away from overwork, etc. This session was introduced at the film festival by the directors, who said "we are two nervous people, between us we made up one confident person who could direct this movie."
I liked The Mastermind (2025, Kelly Reichardt). Set in 1970s against the backdrop of the student protests against the Vietnam war, a struggling suburban dad decides to rob a museum of several artworks. He recruits a few people and so begins a rather terrible heist. This is a slow moving, understatedly funny movie, watching all of his schemes unravel in the most obvious ways.
And I liked Twinless (2024, James Sweeney) - when Roman's twin Rocky dies, he ends up at a grief counselling group where he meets Dennis, who has similarly lost his twin Dean. The two strike up a friendship, with Roman the gruff hockey loving straight guy from Idaho, and Dennis the urbane gay guy. Then the movie flashes back, and there's several very funny and/or devastating reveals. It's structurally interesting and the black humour made my neighbour physically cringe at times with second hand embarrassment.
And then there were 2 movies I straight up did not enjoy. Both were documentaries unfortunately lol.
Tokito (2024, Aki Mizutani) subtitled "The 540-Day Journey of a Culinary Maverick" is purportedly a documentary about chef Yoshinori Ishii, who opened a new restaurant in Japan in 2023 after many years living and working overseas. I say 'purportedly' because this is nothing more than a glossy advertisement. It is beautifully shot, gorgeously filmed, but it is just an ad.
The Shadow Scholars (2024, Eloise King) is a documentary about Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori's research into the world of "contract cheating", focusing on the booming trade in Kenyan writers selling their work to students in the global north. The subject is fascinating and I was so interested to hear from the Kenyan writers - these intelligent writers who are capable of doing the work on their own merit but the credit and qualifications go to the privileged students who can buy their labour, reinforcing global inequalities. However - it's a very clumsy and vague documentary that spends a lot of time on filler interstitials - my god, yet another panning shot of Oxford?
This movie is set over the span of one day, starting in a hospital maternity ward and ending in a prison cell, giving glimpses into the lives of women under the Islamic State regime. A grandmother laments the birth of a girl because it will mean her daughter (the baby's mother) is likely going to be divorced by her husband; a young woman newly out of prison tries to secure passage home; a woman tries to secure an abortion; and so on, through all the hours of the day. It's so skilfully directed and so naturalistically acted and shot, each storyline bleeding into the next so simply. Panahi was present at this screening and took questions after the movie (some much worse than others, as is the way with public Q&As).
I also had a great time, in a very different way, with Lesbian Space Princess (2025, Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese). Princess Saira of Clitopolis, a world entirely peopled by lesbians, must go on a quest to rescue her ex-girlfriend, who has been kidnapped and held hostage by Straight White Maliens. This is a silly, funny and very Australian animation with art in a style that reminded me of Adventure Time. The humour is mostly as obvious and silly as indicated by the names; and the other villain of the story, aside from the incels, is Saira's own lack of self-esteem.
There's some very knowing nods here - there is a "problematic (space) ship", the main character's magical girl moment is straight from Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of the other main character is from a "gay-pop" group who runs away from overwork, etc. This session was introduced at the film festival by the directors, who said "we are two nervous people, between us we made up one confident person who could direct this movie."
I liked The Mastermind (2025, Kelly Reichardt). Set in 1970s against the backdrop of the student protests against the Vietnam war, a struggling suburban dad decides to rob a museum of several artworks. He recruits a few people and so begins a rather terrible heist. This is a slow moving, understatedly funny movie, watching all of his schemes unravel in the most obvious ways.
And I liked Twinless (2024, James Sweeney) - when Roman's twin Rocky dies, he ends up at a grief counselling group where he meets Dennis, who has similarly lost his twin Dean. The two strike up a friendship, with Roman the gruff hockey loving straight guy from Idaho, and Dennis the urbane gay guy. Then the movie flashes back, and there's several very funny and/or devastating reveals. It's structurally interesting and the black humour made my neighbour physically cringe at times with second hand embarrassment.
And then there were 2 movies I straight up did not enjoy. Both were documentaries unfortunately lol.
Tokito (2024, Aki Mizutani) subtitled "The 540-Day Journey of a Culinary Maverick" is purportedly a documentary about chef Yoshinori Ishii, who opened a new restaurant in Japan in 2023 after many years living and working overseas. I say 'purportedly' because this is nothing more than a glossy advertisement. It is beautifully shot, gorgeously filmed, but it is just an ad.
The Shadow Scholars (2024, Eloise King) is a documentary about Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori's research into the world of "contract cheating", focusing on the booming trade in Kenyan writers selling their work to students in the global north. The subject is fascinating and I was so interested to hear from the Kenyan writers - these intelligent writers who are capable of doing the work on their own merit but the credit and qualifications go to the privileged students who can buy their labour, reinforcing global inequalities. However - it's a very clumsy and vague documentary that spends a lot of time on filler interstitials - my god, yet another panning shot of Oxford?
lunabee34 (lunabee34) wrote2025-07-12 08:57 am
lunabee34) wrote2025-07-12 08:57 amEntry tags:
lab results are in
1. I've been on tenterhooks waiting for my lab results from my initial consult with Dylan's rheumatologist. I will never, ever allow their phlebotomist to stick me ever again. She stuck me five times, including in my hand and down my forearm, and I still am bruised up to hell and back. To add insult to injury, she then refused to stick me anymore and I had to go to an independent LabCorp. That phlebotomist stuck me once and it didn't even hurt. I'll be getting all my lab work done there from now on. I had it done on July 3, and I've been so antsy to get the results but the holiday clearly backed everything up. Anyway, I got the results today, and they are super fucked up! Hooray! I am testing positive for things I did not before on previous tests and on tests I've never taken before. She also sent me for an interminable set of x-rays on my knees and back. I am really hopeful for a diagnosis, but who knows. I've been disappointed before. It looks like the most likely possible diagnoses will be lupus, mixed connective tissue disease, and/or ankylosing spondylitis (hence all the x-rays). We'll see. She might just tell me I'm old and fat. *sigh*
2. ( Stranger Things recs )
2. ( Stranger Things recs )
it only hurts when i breathe (spikedluv) wrote2025-07-12 07:23 am
spikedluv) wrote2025-07-12 07:23 amEntry tags:
The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, July 11)
I went downtown like ‘usual’ and hit CVS (I needed one item that I have gotten there in the past and they didn’t have it!), Price Chopper (for a couple of veggie items to go with meals), and the Bakery (for Pip’s deli meat). I also got in a walk around the park and stopped at the veterinarian on the way home for Ti's special dog food.
After unloading the car and putting everything away, I got to mom’s ~10am and stayed until ~3pm. Today’s chores, before and after I went to mom’s, included: two loads of laundry (both washed AND dried, one folded), hand-washed dishes, hard-boiled eggs, grilled steak for Pip's supper, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.
I started and finished the next two Inn at Holiday Bay cozies and watched the current ep of Murderbot.
Temps started out at 65.7(F) and reached 93.7. It was hot. Thankfully I didn't need to spend much time outside.
Mom Update:
Mom had just finished cleaning the bathroom when I arrived! ( more back here )
After unloading the car and putting everything away, I got to mom’s ~10am and stayed until ~3pm. Today’s chores, before and after I went to mom’s, included: two loads of laundry (both washed AND dried, one folded), hand-washed dishes, hard-boiled eggs, grilled steak for Pip's supper, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.
I started and finished the next two Inn at Holiday Bay cozies and watched the current ep of Murderbot.
Temps started out at 65.7(F) and reached 93.7. It was hot. Thankfully I didn't need to spend much time outside.
Mom Update:
Mom had just finished cleaning the bathroom when I arrived! ( more back here )
facethestrange (facethestrange) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sid_guardian2025-07-12 12:48 pm
facethestrange) wrote in sid_guardian2025-07-12 12:48 pmEntry tags:
My latest Guardian fanworks
2 Weilan drawings, 2 Weilan fics, 1 Zhubai fic. :)
I'm Fine, Xiao Wei by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Catching Hurt Character as They Collapse, Character doesn't realize how badly they're hurt until they collapse, Character who is clearly not fine insists they are fine, Hurt/Comfort, Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan gets injured in battle and tries to walk it off until he can't anymore. (He still doesn't think there is a problem, though.)
Renewed Interest by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Accidental arousal while cuddling for comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Awkward Boners, Cuddling & Snuggling, Spooning, Blushing, Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan may be exhausted, but he's not this exhausted.
Diplomatic Emergency (1091 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan, Guo Changcheng
Additional Tags: Fuck Or Die, Extremely Consensual Fuck or Die, Established Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Implied Sexual Content, Fade to Black, POV Alternating, POV Outsider, Humor, Hand-Wavy Dixing Powers (Guardian), hand-wavy post-canon, a lot of hand-waving in general, Guardian Bingo
Summary: "I'm fine, you don't need to worry," Zhao Yunlan replies. "It feels a bit like my skull is exploding, but I'm fine. Oh, and everything is a very curious shade of orange, but I'm sure I can sleep it off."
"Orange? What did you drink last night?"
Tomorrow (376 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Alcohol, Attempted Seduction, Hand Kisses, Drunk Shen Wei (Guardian), Tenderness
Summary: Oh, Xiao Wei, I don't think you should drink this.
That's not something anyone can say to the Black-Cloaked Envoy in the company of his subordinates. So Zhao Yunlan doesn't.
Lie to Me (292 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Characters: Bai Yu (Actor), Zhu Yilong
Additional Tags: Not A Happy Ending, but they love each other a lot, not a happy ending for Weilan either, is this character bleed? it's not NOT character bleed
Summary: "They really wanted it to be true."
Bai Yu knows exactly what Long-ge is talking about — Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. And, more importantly, not Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan.
I'm Fine, Xiao Wei by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Catching Hurt Character as They Collapse, Character doesn't realize how badly they're hurt until they collapse, Character who is clearly not fine insists they are fine, Hurt/Comfort, Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan gets injured in battle and tries to walk it off until he can't anymore. (He still doesn't think there is a problem, though.)
Renewed Interest by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Accidental arousal while cuddling for comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Awkward Boners, Cuddling & Snuggling, Spooning, Blushing, Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan may be exhausted, but he's not this exhausted.
Diplomatic Emergency (1091 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan, Guo Changcheng
Additional Tags: Fuck Or Die, Extremely Consensual Fuck or Die, Established Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Implied Sexual Content, Fade to Black, POV Alternating, POV Outsider, Humor, Hand-Wavy Dixing Powers (Guardian), hand-wavy post-canon, a lot of hand-waving in general, Guardian Bingo
Summary: "I'm fine, you don't need to worry," Zhao Yunlan replies. "It feels a bit like my skull is exploding, but I'm fine. Oh, and everything is a very curious shade of orange, but I'm sure I can sleep it off."
"Orange? What did you drink last night?"
Tomorrow (376 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Alcohol, Attempted Seduction, Hand Kisses, Drunk Shen Wei (Guardian), Tenderness
Summary: Oh, Xiao Wei, I don't think you should drink this.
That's not something anyone can say to the Black-Cloaked Envoy in the company of his subordinates. So Zhao Yunlan doesn't.
Lie to Me (292 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Characters: Bai Yu (Actor), Zhu Yilong
Additional Tags: Not A Happy Ending, but they love each other a lot, not a happy ending for Weilan either, is this character bleed? it's not NOT character bleed
Summary: "They really wanted it to be true."
Bai Yu knows exactly what Long-ge is talking about — Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. And, more importantly, not Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan.
landingtree (landingtree) wrote2025-07-12 08:45 pm
landingtree) wrote2025-07-12 08:45 pmBook-buying vow + thing I wrote before Popes became topical
Until I turn thirty, in about a year's time, I will not buy any books for myself unless they are:
-audiobooks.
-by a personal friend.
-for a book club.
-by Gene Wolfe or Tanith Lee.
Other people may buy me books, and I may buy books for other people, but I am not allowed to cheat using either of these facts.
~
Free-writing #2
~
First pope blue, tall, scowling. Second pope smaller and cursed. Third pope rotated, screaming, then popped. At this point the equipment was recalibrated. Fourth pope knew nothing of sin; this pope was kept. Fifth pope explained all real politics as a cheese factory and seemed promising but was terminated when its growth became exponential. The committee is worried about the sixth pope as its termination process was interrupted; it is suspected that this pope was rescued and taken home by employee Angela Smythe and investigations into her disappearance and a series of murders around Crabtree Lake are ongoing. Equipment was reset to most conservative values. Seventh pope resembled a pope. Eighth pope specifically identical to Pope Benedict XVI. Greater deviation was introduced. Eighth pope blue, porridge-flavoured. Ninth pope entered radioactive fusion and damaged main test chamber. Experimental protocols mandated a shutdown for re-evaluation and the entire project was deemed a failure, with no return on investment and no product saleable to the client. During this time it is now known that a further twelve popes were generated by Dr Alvarez using a sophisticated procedure for zeroing all sensor readouts; the committee was informed of the problem when one of its members read the manifesto co-written by Alvarez in the morning news. It is the position of the committee that Alvarez had not been an extremist Collyridionite prior to his joining the Institute but had instead neglected exposure procedures clearly stated in the safety manual. Background checks performed by the Institute’s hiring department are vigorous and no atheist or extremist staff members can have been admitted to the papal generation chamber.
The committee can guarantee that all equipment related to the project has been rendered nonfunctional. The advance of the Alvarian Popes toward Rome continues, but the government of Italy has the complete co-operation of the Institute and effective countermeasures will have been deployed by this report’s time of issue. The identity of our client remains confidential at this time.
-audiobooks.
-by a personal friend.
-for a book club.
-by Gene Wolfe or Tanith Lee.
Other people may buy me books, and I may buy books for other people, but I am not allowed to cheat using either of these facts.
~
Free-writing #2
~
First pope blue, tall, scowling. Second pope smaller and cursed. Third pope rotated, screaming, then popped. At this point the equipment was recalibrated. Fourth pope knew nothing of sin; this pope was kept. Fifth pope explained all real politics as a cheese factory and seemed promising but was terminated when its growth became exponential. The committee is worried about the sixth pope as its termination process was interrupted; it is suspected that this pope was rescued and taken home by employee Angela Smythe and investigations into her disappearance and a series of murders around Crabtree Lake are ongoing. Equipment was reset to most conservative values. Seventh pope resembled a pope. Eighth pope specifically identical to Pope Benedict XVI. Greater deviation was introduced. Eighth pope blue, porridge-flavoured. Ninth pope entered radioactive fusion and damaged main test chamber. Experimental protocols mandated a shutdown for re-evaluation and the entire project was deemed a failure, with no return on investment and no product saleable to the client. During this time it is now known that a further twelve popes were generated by Dr Alvarez using a sophisticated procedure for zeroing all sensor readouts; the committee was informed of the problem when one of its members read the manifesto co-written by Alvarez in the morning news. It is the position of the committee that Alvarez had not been an extremist Collyridionite prior to his joining the Institute but had instead neglected exposure procedures clearly stated in the safety manual. Background checks performed by the Institute’s hiring department are vigorous and no atheist or extremist staff members can have been admitted to the papal generation chamber.
The committee can guarantee that all equipment related to the project has been rendered nonfunctional. The advance of the Alvarian Popes toward Rome continues, but the government of Italy has the complete co-operation of the Institute and effective countermeasures will have been deployed by this report’s time of issue. The identity of our client remains confidential at this time.
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-07-12 12:18 am
sholio) wrote2025-07-12 12:18 amEntry tags:
Another Murderbot TV fic, Temperature Flash, and Hurt/Comfort-Ex
I wrote another Murderbot 1x10 episode missing scene.
Echoes (gen, 2500 words, Gurathin-centric)
Summary redacted because of spoilers; basically Gurathin's POV on some of the events of the finale.
A few notes on the fic (spoilery for both fic and episode):
• We know Murderbot has trouble figuring out what it's feeling, but I also think it's very plausible that Gurathin has the same problem, if not as badly. He's repressed so much for so long. Asking himself to identify exactly what emotions he's feeling is something that some therapist or other taught him to do.
• This is not necessary context for the fic and it's entirely subject to interpretation, but what I was thinking when it wrote it is that Murderbot using "its" for augmented humans in its last line of dialogue to Gurathin is actually MB doing roughly the same thing (except more emotionally positive) that Gurathin is doing in the episode of the show where he's arguing with Mensah and calls it "he" and then corrects himself to "it." It's over-identifying and doesn't even realize that it's doing so; I mean, it's worried about Gurathin, obviously, and that's why it's here, but there's also a certain amount of "we are the same kind of creature" going on here, even though it doesn't realize it's relating to him on that level. It knows that he might have damaged himself with the data overload because it also knows that it might damage itself in a similar way, and he has much less storage to handle it. And it's just kind of subconsciously being concerned about him as it might be concerned about a fellow construct, or itself, having taken damage. Of course neither of them parses all of that consciously.
In other events, Terrible Temperature Troubles Flash Exchange revealed gifts tonight! I got two absolutely delightful gifts - An Official Complaint Against the Universe (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo, hypothermia and h/c) and Consequences of Cold (Biggles, Biggles/EvS, snuggling when chilled). I loved them!
And finally,hurtcomfortex author reveals were tonight. I wrote Sleepover (MASH, 1700 words, Margaret POV) with huddling for warmth and light comfort after nightmares.
Echoes (gen, 2500 words, Gurathin-centric)
Summary redacted because of spoilers; basically Gurathin's POV on some of the events of the finale.
A few notes on the fic (spoilery for both fic and episode):
under here
• I kept tweaking Gura's final line to Murderbot, so it might be a bit different if you read an earlier version. (I felt like I needed to soften it from how it originally was. They are hard to write! Especially keeping their edge when they're so soft in the final scene.)• We know Murderbot has trouble figuring out what it's feeling, but I also think it's very plausible that Gurathin has the same problem, if not as badly. He's repressed so much for so long. Asking himself to identify exactly what emotions he's feeling is something that some therapist or other taught him to do.
• This is not necessary context for the fic and it's entirely subject to interpretation, but what I was thinking when it wrote it is that Murderbot using "its" for augmented humans in its last line of dialogue to Gurathin is actually MB doing roughly the same thing (except more emotionally positive) that Gurathin is doing in the episode of the show where he's arguing with Mensah and calls it "he" and then corrects himself to "it." It's over-identifying and doesn't even realize that it's doing so; I mean, it's worried about Gurathin, obviously, and that's why it's here, but there's also a certain amount of "we are the same kind of creature" going on here, even though it doesn't realize it's relating to him on that level. It knows that he might have damaged himself with the data overload because it also knows that it might damage itself in a similar way, and he has much less storage to handle it. And it's just kind of subconsciously being concerned about him as it might be concerned about a fellow construct, or itself, having taken damage. Of course neither of them parses all of that consciously.
In other events, Terrible Temperature Troubles Flash Exchange revealed gifts tonight! I got two absolutely delightful gifts - An Official Complaint Against the Universe (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo, hypothermia and h/c) and Consequences of Cold (Biggles, Biggles/EvS, snuggling when chilled). I loved them!
And finally,
hurtcomfortex author reveals were tonight. I wrote Sleepover (MASH, 1700 words, Margaret POV) with huddling for warmth and light comfort after nightmares.
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-07-12 09:14 am
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-07-12 09:14 am"not only can live outside those systems, I can thrive as who I am."
I see so much of myself in this person's life! I knew they were my age before they said, just from their description of junior high.
And of course so much is different too. I wish I could write anything as good as this.
MetaFilter (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-07-12 08:02 am
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-07-12 08:02 amYou're Not Ready for This 'Premium Economy' Seat
Through the feedback loop of consumerist culture, Anna Uddenberg investigates how body culture, spirituality, and self-staging are intertwined with the mediation and production of subjectivity by new technologies and circulation of forms. Her practice integrates approaches to gender while acting as a space for reflecting on taste and class, appropriation and sexuality, pushing these questions into new material territories.
Mad Scientess (nanila) wrote in awesomeers2025-07-12 08:27 am
nanila) wrote in awesomeers2025-07-12 08:27 amEntry tags:
Just One Thing (12 July 2025)
It's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-07-12 06:08 am
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-07-12 06:08 amThe New (Ocean) Dark Age
Facing rising temperatures, a spike in acidity driven by an influx of carbon, mass habitat destruction, and inescapable pollution, the world's oceans haven't had it easy. But in an ominously literal sense, the situation may be even darker than we realized.[Futurism]
misura (misura) wrote in smallfandomfest2025-07-12 08:16 am
misura) wrote in smallfandomfest2025-07-12 08:16 amEntry tags:
fanfic, The Alienist (tv), John/Laszlo, Laszlo finds out what really happened at Paresis Hall
Title: Sweet Delilah
Author: misura
Fandom: The Alienist (TV)
Pairing/Characters: John/Laszlo
Rating/Category: PG13/slash
Prompt: Laszlo overhears a conversation and finds out what really happened to John at Paresis Hall
Spoilers: first season, second episode
Summary: In which John and Laszlo fail to have a conversation about what happened at Paresis Hall.
Notes/Warnings: posted to the AO3
Author: misura
Fandom: The Alienist (TV)
Pairing/Characters: John/Laszlo
Rating/Category: PG13/slash
Prompt: Laszlo overhears a conversation and finds out what really happened to John at Paresis Hall
Spoilers: first season, second episode
Summary: In which John and Laszlo fail to have a conversation about what happened at Paresis Hall.
Notes/Warnings: posted to the AO3
Free for All Saturday, Week 28 [DW Edition]
↑↑↑ Available dates:
July 29 & 31
August 5 & 7
August 12 & 14
Good time zone, everyone. :3 It's a good day (night?) for a Free for All, don't you think? There are no themes to follow for prompts or fills. If you've had any ideas this week that didn't really work with Tuesday's or Thursday's posts, today's your chance to prompt 'em. Be free, and have fun! ✎
Just a few rules:
1. No more than five prompts in a row.
2. No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
3. Use the character's full name and the fandom's full name for ease in adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
4. No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
5. If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the spoiler cut.
6. If your story has possible triggers, please warn for them in the subject line!
Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt
Are today's prompts not catching your eye? No worries, because we have plenty of older prompts that just might do the trick! You can browse through the comm's calendar archive (here on LJ or here on DW) for themed and Free For All posts, or perhaps check out Sunday posts for Lonely Prompt requests. (Or, you can be like me, and try to save interesting prompts as you see 'em... and then end up with multiple text doc files full of [themes + links + prompts] that you can easily look through and search for keywords.) Multiple fills for one prompt are welcome, by the way! Oh, and you are very likely to find some awesome fills to read as well, and wouldn't it be nice to leave a comment on those lovely little writing distractions? ~_^
We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2025 collection.
If you are viewing this post on our Dreamwidth site: please know that fills posted here will not show up as comments on our LiveJournal site, but you are still more than welcome to participate. =)
If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word!
A friendly reminder about our posting schedule: Themed posts for new prompts go up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day for new prompts of any flavor. Sundays are for showing Lonely Prompts some love, whether by requesting for someone to adopt them or by sharing any fills that you've recently completed.