Reading

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Ink to Film Podcast Recording at WorldCon

If you missed the live recording of the Murderbot interview episode at WorldCon, you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-JRHSABM24

This includes the special message to me that the show's cast sent, which was awesome.

***

I'm still sick, but getting better bit by bit.

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food,
recipes

recipe invention success

So today I invented a new recipe which made Cub, who normally considers fish an ordeal he unjustly has to suffer at mealtimes, actively enjoy fish and request more of it, and so I am posting it here for posterity.

( salmon burgers recipe )

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What We Do In The Shadows (2019-2024)

Last night I finished watching What We Do In The Shadows, and this morning I was sweeping up the kitty litter from the floor, just like I do every morning, and the kitten was there helping me by grabbing the broom, just like he does every morning, and as I raised the broom above his head, explaining that I was trying to sweep, I could hear Guillermo and that tired, flat voice he gets whenever he's trying to explain literally anything to the vampires.

Cats and vampires: Neither of them understands, or cares, what you're saying. And they hiss at you when they're angry.

Entry tags:

games

… so I’m playing Dark Souls

That is a thing that is happening.

My standard joke here is that any game involving reflexes and coordination is going to be an excruciating experience of innumerable repeated failures for me, so I might as well play one where that's the point. This is only partly a joke.

Necessary context for anyone who has not met me IRL: I am dyspraxic as fuck. I was in my late twenties at least, possibly thirties, before I could catch an object being gently thrown to me across a short distance. My coordination, reflexes and ability to react to multiple inputs in real-time are so bad that I can't drive (or cycle on the road) because it would be OBVIOUSLY WILDLY DANGEROUS for me to even try (people would die). I have to buy special shatterproof crockery because otherwise my plate turnover is so high.

It was only with climbing that I learned that I can actually acquire motor skills, some of them, slowly, if I have unlimited time to practice them on my own terms.

Further necessary context: I'd been looking wistfully at the Soulsbornes for ages -- having seen videos such as Jonny Sims's Bloodborne streams -- as something that I'd probably love if I only had any coordination or ability at all to cope with having to react to multiple rapid inputs in real-time.

One of my climber friends has argued that Soulslike games are basically the same as working on a hard boulder project: you fail and fail and fail and fail and that's the process, each time you try to learn a bit more or try something new, and gradually you make progress, and eventually, hopefully, you don't fail.

And that's a process that I fucking love, and that works very well for my brain. Perverse stubbornness is my jam.

But when I look at something like Bloodborne -- the combat exchange is over before I can even track who's where and what's happened.

So I was thinking grumpily/wistfully and in secret about how what I really wanted was not an "easy mode," but a Soulsborne game that I could adjust the speed on (maybe set it all to 20-30% slower!), just so I could get my foot in the door, just so I could begin to maybe try.

And I watched more videos of other games, and somewhere along the way I watched people figuring out and/or being coached on how to get through the fight with the Asylum Demon at the end of the tutorial* in Dark Souls 1.

(I also read that Dark Souls 1 has the slowest and, in some people's eyes, "clunkiest" combat of the Souls games — not necessarily the easiest, but more tactical, less fast-twitch.)

And I thought, "... huh, I wonder, if I really worked at it, maybe I could beat the Asylum Demon? That would be kind of cool."

To be clear: I bought the game with the goal of seeing if I could beat the tutorial.

( Cut for length )

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In which our heroine asks rubbish questions

thefridayfive posted my questions this week so I suppose I'd better answer them, lol. As these represent some of my pet obsessions, the regulars already know what I'll say. Apologies for the repetitions.

( I'm interested in all your answers as usual. )
I've upcycled a few things, often trash or charity shop finds, but usually as art rather than for practical purposes. The largest is a garden sculpture that looks like curling art nouveau plant stems with leaves, that I made out of part of an old metal bed head I hauled out of the community woodland when we were clearing the rubbish dumped there. One of my friends makes flowers out of charity shop glasses and plates. I have a couple of slightly broken antique bottles I'd like the tops ground off to make vases.

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Daily Happiness

1. Just one more day until my four day weekend!

2. We had a nice dinner at Disneyland tonight. Waited until later to go down there, so it wasn't hot anymore (though it was still pretty muggy) and the traffic wasn't bad.

3. I feel like I'm already making good progress with tasks for this new project at work and the IT team was very happy with my report today. Also it seems there's interpersonal trouble again at one of the stores and I'm super glad it's not my problem anymore.

4. Silly Jasper.

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Trees and Flowers

I wish I'd had our car in this photo as a reference point for how large those trees were, At least in the next photo you can see a park building in the bottom left which gives you some idea. It was very impressive to be driving through these roads of giants.

( Read more... )

spinning cont'd

Current WIP: a gorgeous merino-silk-angelina blend.

Testing out a Dreaming Robots e-spinner, the Electric Eel Wheel 6.1. It's terrific and very easy to assemble and get running (at least after the learning curve on the Ashford Traveller treadle wheel). I hear the even more budget-friendlier Electric Eel Nano 2. (about $140 USD) 1 is fiddly, but I wonder. My use case for this is plying, which I find ungodly miserable.

Meanwhile, the local fiber animal is "helping" again. Cloud's floof is VERY spinnable so we're just randomly gathering catten floof while brushing her incredibly soft coat (she's mostly undercoat, and it's WILDLY soft).

(Sorry for the messy floor...I'm still under the weather and spinning is soothing/)

Forthcoming TTRPG Kickstarter: Ex Tenebris

Pre-launch for Ex Tenebris, a "a gothic space investigation TTRPG" forthcoming from Black Armada.

Beyond the dark emptiness of space, beyond dreaming, lies the Tenebrium. Only you can unearth its mysteries, defeat the twisted horrors that lurk there, and keep humanity from becoming prey.

In Ex Tenebris, you play a ragtag team of investigators, protecting the Republic of Stars from terrifying supernatural threats. You will face sorcerers and cults, dark technology from lost civilisations and the slobbering terrors lurking in the nightmare realm of the Tenebrium.

I will be writing a scenario [Update #2] for this game. :3

:goes back to orchestration homework:

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Star Trek AOS: For the Greater Good by reeby10 / cookiemom6067

Fandom: Star Trek AOS (Reboot)
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: G
Length: 1832 words; 11:27 minutes
Creator Links:

reeby10 ;

cookiemom6067
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: The Enterprise makes contact with an alien race who will only speak with a couple as representatives. Jim figures it's not a big deal to pretend he and Spock are together, but it turns out they play the role a little too well.

Reccer's Notes: Sliding in with one last rec for this theme. I'd forgotten about this story, but I happened to listen to the podfic this morning. It's a great example of a short marriage of convenience story that relies on what we already know to be a strong friendship between Kirk and Spock. In this story, a diplomatic mission requires Kirk and Spock to pretend to be a couple, but their clear bond (in the general sense, not the Vulcan sense) leads the planet's representatives to offer to hold a marriage ceremony for our favorite Starfleet officers. I like when outsiders are able to see the heart of things and call it like it is. This is such a sweet and gentle fic with a big helping of optimism. I'm sure someone needs that today. The podfic is also clearly and steadily read by cookiemom.

Fanwork Links:
For the Greater Good
Podfic by cookiemom6067

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Daily Happiness

1. I had a meeting at 6pm today, which I stayed at the office for but was then told everyone was just joining from their own desks (only four people in the meeting were there in the building, the others were in Japan) so I could have done it from home, which was annoying as my meeting before that had ended at around 3:30. But I did get a lot of work done on a project in the time between those two meetings, wheras if I'd gone home, I would have just said I was done with work for the day and did non work stuff until the meeting.

2. Gemma's soaking in the sun.

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dear author

Dear Fic In A Box Author

I use the same name everywhere so I am

beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

General Likes and Dislikes

other things to keeep in mind:

I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when the characters and/or actors are marginalized. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
I don't like it when marginalized characters get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
I like fluff
I like angst with a happy ending
I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
I like unreliable narrators.
I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong.
I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another instead of sweeping it under the rug.
Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll enjoy it if you do.
I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! Or if they canonically have a blind spot in that area, again, it's fine. But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
I like AUs, but not complete setting AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened.
I like the concept of sedoretu marriages.
I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon.
Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me.

I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general. I don't care for explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot). I love it when friendship is held up as important and not secondary to romantic relationships and blood ties.

Please no incest or darkfic. I define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end." I define incest as siblings and/or parents, cousins don't count.

I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.

Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.

I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.

( Fandom For Robots )

( Rivers of London )

( Goblin Emperor )

( DS9 )

( Star Wars Legends )

( Enola Holmes )

( Babylon 5 )

( Enterprise )

( TNG )

( Sense8 )

Entry tags:

weekly update

Me-and-media update

Pandemic life
( Colds and so forth. )

Previous poll review
In the Plaguefic poll, 46% of respondents were okay reading about Covid and related subjects, 52% didn't mind mentions, and 28% like it when characters mask sometimes, while 22% said there are aspects of the pandemic they avoid, and 22% prefer their reading matter to avoid the subject entirely.

In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 74%, followed by wallabies at a disco with 48%, and battery acid and protest signs with 36%. Thank you for your votes! <3

Reading
Audio: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, read by Candida Gubbins. This continues to be fascinating and put present times into dryly alarming perspective, in a "thus has it ever been" kind of way. Most of the names and all the dates are in one ear and out the other, but Palmer spins an excellent yarn and kindly gives key figures nicknames (Battle Pope!). I'm up to Lucrezia Borgia, ie, about halfway.

Library book: A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. I'm about halfway through this, too. Everything I know about Regency is from non-contemporaneous novels (Heyer), but still. These characters are clearly modern LARPers, but the central conflict is good.

Kdramas/Cdramas
I'm restricting my Nothing But Love rewatch to the exercise machine, to make it last.

Other TV
We finished Bookish. I came around to it in the end; the flashback to Book's long-lost love was heartrending. Looking forward to season 2.

Nothing else. It turns out I don't watch much TV on my own.

Guardian/Fandom
I posted a poll to

fan_writers about whether sharing is part of your creative process, and there's some great discussion there.

Upcoming in Guardian fandom:

guardian_wishlist sign-ups open tomorrow. And the Slo-mo Drama Rewatch starts on

sid_guardian next week. \o/

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses. Letters from an American. More Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which aside from being really fun, highlighted this line from Archer's Goon: Mum always said that you could tell what people were like by their houses. So naturally now I keep thinking about Guardian through that lens and wondering what everyone's living spaces look like). I tried a local politics podcast (RNZ, equivalent of NPR), but apparently our political commentary has been reduced to economics, blah.

Online life

I need to stop making discussion posts when my arms aren't great.
I've found the frame-by-frame key in VLC, and nothing will stop my screencapping now, mwahaha!
Randomly alternating my comments between Casual HTML and Markdown. What could go wrong?

Writing/making things
My DNW-kinkfic continues, as I turn 1625 words of zero draft into Draft 1.0. Ot1h, it's very freeing to know almost no one will read this; otoh, the zero drafting comes with that feeling people talk about with outlining, where the impetus starts to leak out of the balloon... I'm going to finish it anyway, and I need to hurry up so I can make stuff for Wishlist.

Life/health/mental state things
For most of my adult life, I needed 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night to function well and be healthy. A couple of years ago, I read an article about how people over fifty shouldn't get more than 8 hours, and actually 7 is better. (Cannot remember the reasoning.) My expectations and sleep needs immediately dropped to 7ish hours per night, for lo, I am profoundly susceptible to the power of suggestion. Except that this week while Andrew's been sick, I've been getting 8 hours, and I feel good actually. So much more energy. tl;dr: I am ridiculous.

Cat
Sometimes during morning on-the-bed strokes, Halle crawls between two layers of blanket, and I never know if she's calling time on the stroking, or if this is some hide-and-seek cat game I'm supposed to know the rules of.

Food
I cook mostly vegetarian when it's just me. ~~I really want a burger.~~

Good things
Immune systems. Fresh fruit. Several days of sunshine. Guardian. Dreamwidth activity generally. Cat. Andrew. LWS Writers' Hour. This cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" (Youtube).

Poll #33544 Cluedo

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

View Respondents

Your murder weapon of choice

View Answers

asp
9 (24.3%)

cyanide
6 (16.2%)

bulldozer
5 (13.5%)

heartbreak
7 (18.9%)

industrial freezer
2 (5.4%)

fright
1 (2.7%)

cassowary
19 (51.4%)

extremely elegant clothing
13 (35.1%)

other
2 (5.4%)

ticky-box full of musical frogs jamming away on their bongos
17 (45.9%)

ticky-box full of neglected-houseplant guilt
11 (29.7%)

ticky-box full of throwing coins into the wishing abyss
16 (43.2%)

ticky-box full of cartoon dogs going to the movies
13 (35.1%)

ticky-box of what would a Gamma/Delta/Epsilon AU look like? radioactive river permittivity?
8 (21.6%)

ticky-box full of vertical stripes
13 (35.1%)

ticky-box full of hugs
29 (78.4%)

Wavefunction Collapse

https://xkcd.com/3134/

Entry tags:

all: betas

Beta Request for Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Hello! I made a Barriss Offee/Ahsoka Tano vid, from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and I would love a second pair of eyes.

I have a couple specific things I'd appreciate feedback on (pacing/flow, coloring, effects) but I'd be grateful for any constructive criticism, honestly--regardless of whether you're familiar with the canon. This is my first full-length vid.

Some further information:

Length is 3:52
It was edited using Premiere
Content-wise, this is an F/F shipping video with some cartoon violence and flashing.

If you're willing to beta, please feel free to leave a comment below or message me. Thank you! <3

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Typhoon - Crooked Fingers

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trouble seldom sees what she leaves behind

So here's a question for you, especially if you do office-type work: when did people start sending pictures of things instead of actual documents in a work-related setting? And WHY???

I have had this happen repeatedly recently, and then instead of just going on with my work easily, I have to email back and ask for a version in a program that I can edit. (If I don't need to edit, I will sometimes just print it as a PDF so I can attach and send it to people, but that is still an extra step I have to take because someone else couldn't put their work in a work-appropriate format.)

Personally, I get not wanting to share a linked document - I do it but I kind of hate other people in my documents because of version control issues (...or maybe just control issues? 😬😬😬) - but anything is better than a useless JPEG pasted into the body of an email when what I ASKED FOR was a list of attendees for a meeting I may need to sort, or a purchase requisition that I will need to update.

As a related item, stop with the QR codes! Our HR department sends emails about training opportunities or other events and is like, "Use the QR code to register!" Like, how about no? And certainly not when it's an event to which we are inviting board members, some of whom are LITERALLY in their 90s and not tech-savvy. What is wrong with a nice LINK to a FORM on a regular WEBBED SITE?

I guess I am feeling very Abe Simpson yells at clouds today, but come on. These are not things that make work easier! (Well, maybe it's easier for the people who do this, but then they have to deal with my annoying follow up emails, so is it really easier for them???)

In other news, my younger nephew got a promotion that required him to move to California in a hurry, so he flew out last night. I will miss him! Who will I call now when I need a tall person to do things in my apartment??? (Just kidding! It's a great opportunity for him, and he is some kind of regional manager now with a region that includes Hawaii, so my sister and I are already like, "let us plan a trip to visit him IN HAWAII!" [note: I will likely never be able to afford a trip to Hawaii, but a girl can dream.])

*

Entry tags:

book report

Fly Trap, by Frances Hardinge

The continued adventures of runaway orphan Mosca Mye, her horrible goose, and Eponymous Clent, poet, thief, conman, and mentor.

This does a neat job of reminding the reader of the events and personages of the previous book, Fly By Night, while introducing a whole new city and its dark underworld. I enjoyed it even more than the first book. It's tense and inventive and the story doesn't let up for a second, with always something meaningful at stake.

Recommended! Though you'll probably want to read the first book first.

Contains: childbirth; incarceration; children in peril; rigidly enforced class system.

Entry tags:

In which I read therefore I am

Reading: 86 books to 27 Aug 2025 (and 5 dnfs).

81. Perspectives, by Laurent Binet (translated by Sam Taylor), 3.5/5.
A murder mystery novel set in Florence in the 1550s and using historical people as characters. I like the epistolary format and wide variety of correspondents. I especially enjoyed the conspiracy of idealistic artists against pragmatic politicians (and am not even miffed that the historians were all supporting the politicians). Also, Binet managed to pull off the only funny joke about the French military surrendering, and the person he chose to deliver it was the best possible choice.

82. The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, by Hiro Arikawa (translated by Allison Markin Powell), 3.5/5.
A Japanese, slice of life, composite novel or short story cycle that does exactly what it says in the title by introducing us to various railway passengers and their interactions.

Quote:
a person alone
without any kind of distraction
looking animated
is very conspicuous.
*

But none of the characters are alone for too long. Mostly a gentle and positive read, with multiple happy endings, although I didn't think the last two wrap-up stories in the suite were as good as the cycle they were concluding.

83. Accidental Darlings, by Crystal Jeans, 2025, historical lgbt novel, 4.5/5.

Lgb(t) historical-ish novel set in the interwar period, with a coming of age theme in a broadly found-family framework, and a style I can only describe as gothy Dickensian modernism in a surprisingly smooth medley without choppy changes of tone or key. The author is also particularly a Bronte fan. This novel was a serendipitous choice from the library because if I'd had an accurate description then I wouldn't've picked it: orphan, scary aunt, large dilapidated house, vicious servant, local bigots, ageing bright young things. I found it a compelling read with enjoyable moments and a well-earned fabulous ending, a smidgin of hope in a glassful of resilience. The in-jokes in the epilogue chapter boosted it overall from a 4 to a 4.5/5 because lmao (literally!).

Warnings: the dogs die (yes, two are murdered, but it's fair to add that humans also die through illness and accident), and emetophobes should avoid this (within the first 100 pages there's a child, a haemophobe twice, and a dog, and it doesn't stop there).

Quotes
- (I didn't know what kind of dog he was but he reminded me of an overgrown gerbil.)
[Me: corgi? Honestly, I need suggestions and opinions here, plz.]

( Cut for one of the v words, y'know like vuvuzela. )

Back

I'm back, sort of. We did a week of vacation after WorldCon, then got sick on the last day, so I'm still recovering. Covid tests were negative, so I think it's just a bad cold. It probably wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't had to do a full day of travel from 6:00 am to 10:30 pm to get home.

More later, but one of my favorite things was the really wonderful piece that N.K. Jemisin wrote about me for the program book.

***

Big thing I wanted to mention here: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/martha-wells-murderbot-and-more-tor-books

This is a 14 ebook Humble Bundle from Tor, (DRM-free as usual) and you can select a portion of the price to donate to World Central Kitchen.

Professor Emeritus Rai Weiss has passed

On a personal note, peace to Rai Weiss (https://news.mit.edu/2025/professor-emeritus-rainer-weiss-dies-0826) - physicist (co-won the Nobel Prize for detection of gravity waves at LIGO); learnt yesterday that he'd passed. I knew him only glancingly/socially (my husband worked with him as a grad student at MIT at LIGO Hanford) but I remember his extraordinary kindness and warmth.