Fandom things

Jan. 6th, 2026 05:43 pm
sholio: A box of chocolates (Chocolates)
[personal profile] sholio
[personal profile] candyheartsex signups close tomorrow! I was going to try to do it this year, but ... I just don't think it's a good idea. I'm starting to really need a break from exchanges, so I'm going to take a couple months off (aside from the ones I already have, which will be over when Festivids wraps up at the end of January) and then show up again when H/C-ex signups open in March.

Amperslash is still looking for two pinch hits! You can find the details here at the Amperslash comm.

• PH 3 - 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 镇魂 | Guardian - priest

• PH 9 - Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn, Honor Harrington Series - David Weber, The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

If any of those sound like you might want to write them, the exchange has already had several delays and fingers crossed it'll be able to get them filled and open on time! I know there used to be some Guardian people around here; I don't know if anyone's still actively writing in it, or might be able to advertise the PH in Guardian-centric fandom spaces?

Stand up on your own.

Jan. 6th, 2026 09:18 pm
hannah: (Marilyn Monroe - mycrime)
[personal profile] hannah
Challenge #3: Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favorite character, anything at all.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.


Dear Fandom,

You've changed. That isn't a bad thing. I'd go so far as to call it a good thing.

I remember when we met - properly, that is. Not the shy glances, not the vague hellos, the genuine, meaningful introduction. When I announced myself. I'd better remember it; I did it several times. You had to, in those early days. Everywhere we met, even if I already knew someone there, I had to introduce myself all over again. There was some fun to be had in that.

I remember when it was just us, you and me. At least, it felt like that. When I didn't dare speak your name and hid behind euphemisms and vague half-truths. When the party was small enough you could fit it onto one dance floor. When I think back on it, the excitement of being private and secretive, of having something all to myself, was a powerful feeling.

You're not my secret anymore. You've come roaring out into the world, with everyone aware of you and many people taking you seriously. There's power in that, too. I know I've known you longer than most people out there. It's still not something I want to explain. I don't think I should have to, and even with so many people knowing about you, I'd rather keep things quiet. They know you their way. I know you mine. The way I know you isn't just the way I remember you; it's the way I'm constantly getting to know you. There's things I can say about how you used to be - the phrases, the trends, the arguments of the day, the sudden new shiny thing appearing out of nowhere - and most of those things are pointless, because there's always going to be arguments and trends, with some of those arriving new and some simply wearing new clothes and I love that I've gotten to know you well enough to recognize which is which. To parse where the impulse comes from. To perceive the motivations. What's happening now would've happened back then and it'll happen in the future.

That's part of what I love about you that I've only recently fallen in love with. I couldn't have loved it back when we met. I didn't know you well enough.

I miss the thrill that came from knowing you, just from knowing you. But people meeting you for the first time are feeling that same thrill themselves. I've learned enough to know that. I've learned enough to love that people are always falling in love.

Best,
Hannah

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

snowflake day 2: pets

Jan. 6th, 2026 09:28 pm
sixbeforelunch: julian bashir, no text (trek - bashir)
[personal profile] sixbeforelunch
Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom

I originally wasn't going to do this one because it got me thinking about Phoebe and I was sad, but then I decided I wanted to talk a little about Phoebe and let myself be sad.

CN: Pet death )

(no subject)

Jan. 6th, 2026 07:25 pm
yuuago: (Yuri on Ice - Phichit)
[personal profile] yuuago
Having one of those days where I feel like running off to live in a cabin in the woods. Or like, digging a burrow and never coming out.
[syndicated profile] neatorama_feed

Posted by Miss Cellania

The producers of the television show The Addams Family knew the audience would be familiar with the work of Charles Addams, who drew the family in cartoons for The New Yorker. Still, they wanted to go in their own direction and tell a story from the point of view of the family's butler, Lurch. John Astin would play the role. That's, of course, not how things turned out. Astin was perfect in the role of Gomez Addams, but casting calls went out for all the other roles. Plenty of people wanted to be in The Addams Family, and from the perspective of 60+ years later, they found the perfect actors. 

But you have to wonder about the other actors in the running. Vintage Everyday tells us about the 1964 casting process for the TV series, and gives us a gallery of those who tried out for the various parts. They threw their hearts into getting those roles, but all seem quite wrong to us now, especially the also-rans who didn't get the role of Lurch. -via Memo of the Air 

(Image credit: ABC Television

sauronnaise: Otis the scribe, waving his hand (Mission Cléopâtre - Otis)
[personal profile] sauronnaise
FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #1

Self-introduction o’clock.

Eh. There’s my sticky entry, but I suppose time calls for an updated introduction.

Here’s my petite personne in bullet points:

- Home gymbro (Caroline Girvan, Chris & Edi and Jasper Macdermot ftw)
- Currently being busy transitioning from twink to twunk (well, I surprise myself with using gay slang. It’s the one that fits best. Thank you, gay terminology)
- I want a six pack of abs. I miss my shredded abs. I'm getting there!

- I spend a lot of time outside
- I like birds. I have a guide on birds of Québec and the Northeast that I consult (we do have strange visitors every now and then). I recently bought a book on trees and plants in Québec and the Maritimes because I wish to be able to identify more than the basics

- My English is wonky because I only get to use it online (minus the occasional opportunities irl)
- Yet I did my undergrad in this language
- English is a difficult language. Whoever believes otherwise is a moron (ok, maybe not, but I dare them to write an entire lay). Or masters it like Tolkien
- Tolkien made me love English. And Tolkien made me love Tolkien. I own about 12 books by him

- I casually play a rpg gacha game called Onmyoji
- I’m not a big gamer, but I do like videogame scores
- I listen to various stuff, from niche doomgaze to not-so-niche Stray Kids’ and Ateez’s hit songs

I want to do the snowflake challenge because I aim to be more active on Dreamwidth. I’m quite bad at logging in, blogging and keeping up with others’ journal entries. In fact, online, I’m bad with whatever isn’t my close friends reaching out to me or work emails... Perhaps increasing my DW activity will entice me to work on my unfinished fics. Who knows. Not me lol


FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #2 – PETS

You will be delighted to learn that ‘pet’ means ‘fart’ in French.

I’m not part of the Path of Exile fandom, but their pet kiwi is adorable. It’s available on PoE 2. It follows you everywhere you go. You can smash it by accident, and it won’t die. I don’t fail to mention the kiwi to my friend who’s a PoE player everytime I see him.


FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #3 – FANDOM LOVE

The Tolkien fandom is rather not one entity, but rather, connected or disconnected communities. Either way, people are knowledgeable and passionate. It makes for great conversations irl and online. I fulfill my duty by luring people into reading the Silm.

People say what they want about fanfiction, but I’ve read several Silmarillion fanfics which prose, plotline, character development and character arcs, and so forth, were greater than those of published fiction. Being published fiction doesn’t preclude quality (I can attest with all the wacko things I read at college and university), and fanfiction doesn’t preclude mediocrity. I can thank the transformative side of the Tolkien fandom for it.

Two of my all time favourite authors happen to be fanfic authors (Darth Fingon and c1are. C1are mainly writes Onmyoji fics, most of which are in Chinese, but they translate some of their works to English).

The Guide That Doesn’t

Jan. 7th, 2026 01:00 am
[syndicated profile] notalwaysworking_feed

Posted by Not Always Right

Read The Guide That Doesn’t

Coworker: "Is that the guidebook they gave you at training?"
Me: "Yeah, they said I would need it when learning about the software."
Coworker: "Can I check it real quick? I need to remember what the real rules are, and which ones we as an office created out of trauma…"

Read The Guide That Doesn’t

(no subject)

Jan. 6th, 2026 07:59 pm
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
I'm sad the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve, but it helped a little to read that they ultimately chose to do so to make sure it could not be used against public media:
“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

I'm glad I have a PBS Passport membership that supports my local station and I'm thinking about upping my monthly donation amount.

Daily Check-In

Jan. 6th, 2026 05:58 pm
starwatcher: Western windmill, clouds in background, trees around base. (Default)
[personal profile] starwatcher posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
 
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Tuesday, January 6, to midnight on Wednesday, January 7. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34053 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 10

How are you doing?

I am OK.
6 (60.0%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
4 (40.0%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
5 (50.0%)

One other person.
2 (20.0%)

More than one other person.
3 (30.0%)




Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
 

[MOUNTAIN GOATS PLAYS LOUDLY]

Jan. 7th, 2026 12:50 am
spindizzy: A heartless standing on the stairs. (Heartless)
[personal profile] spindizzy
Happy new year!

I was having my regularly scheduled mope about nooooooooooooo I didn't DO anything last yeeeeeeeeeeeeear, where did the time gooooooooooooooo, as I do, and then I checked my Storygraph Wrapped notification.



Oh! Okay! That's where the time went!

(I got a subscription for Kobo Plus and Manga Plaza, and it turns out between those two I have A Lot of manga available to me. Whoops?)

Other things that I did last year:

  • Got more hours at work! Work is being a low-key shitshow because they keep cutting staff, to the point where one of the libraries has three members of staff. In a library that is open 8:00-21:45. ("Oh but we're cutting down on extra shifts —" The fuck you are, sunshine.) On the plus side, I got an extra 8.5 hours added to my contract every week, so I'm getting an extra ~£450 a month on my paycheque?

  • Had an absolute mad one in the January sales and bought a 3D printer.
    • It's a little one! A Bambu Lab A1 mini, and in the sale it was like £139? So a pretty good price, I think. The pro of this model is that it's basically plug and play, and as I wasn't sure if I was actually going to be capital-I Into 3d printing that was going to be my best shout. The downside is that it can only print tiny things, like 16x16x16cm. Small enough to be getting on with, just needs some fiddling.

    • I feel a bit weird showing off things that I've printed with it, because basically I had as much input in what comes out as I would with an actual printer. One day, I will probably get into the design stuff! For now, I'm poking Maker World and Thingiverse and trying out free stuff.

    • Me: I have printed so many boring useful things! D:
      Lex: Honey, you printed a torso with tentacles.

    • (My defence that it was for practical reasons – namely putting the Astarion BJD head I got on it so it's not sitting in a box – is apparently not good enough.)

    • Things I have printed off: tiny octopus friend, tools to make 3d printing easier, a little Solaire/Praise the sun guy as a combo xmas present/bribe for the IT Guy at work, stencils, two tiny jointed dragons that I need to reprint because the tails fell over both times, that torso with tentacles that turned out to be the same size as the head, so scratch that plan, a transparent computer mouse like the nineties never ended, and shelves.

    • Underrated feature of this thing: I can set it printing and then go do something else. I am multiplying the number of hobbies I can do at once!

  • Discovered that Travelling Man import books published by Rosmei (a publishing house that specialises in translating queer Chinese fiction into English, but crucially only has publishing rights in Singapore) and have been emotionally devastated by both Priest and Mu Su Li.

  • I HAVE A CRAFT ROOM NOW! We got our conservatory redone (... the most middle-class sentence I have ever written) and now it is my craft room! I have... Far too much stuff. I need to do a big purge and tidy, so that I can actually get at all of the craft stuff I have stashed away in there. But it's so nice! I have space for all of my desks, and room to move between them, and I have one of the HUGE cube bookcases in there to stuff things into. It's just currently wildly disorganised because of who I am as a person.

  • Accidentally stopped talking to everyone I know? Which sounds really mean. I should uh. Fix that.

  • Got new meds! It turns out that the ADHD medication I was on was aimed at Literal Actual Children so was the wrong strength, and the pharmacist who halved my med dosage last year was just a muppet who typed the wrong thing on my records. I managed to get that sorted out, so now I'm on Proper Grown-Up ADHD Meds and a higher dose. New meds are going... Fine? My insomnia is back and the negative self-talk is making a return, but apart from that it's good!

  • Turned 36! I am officially A Fandom Old now and I'm so excited!
[syndicated profile] snopes_feed

Posted by Jordan Liles

According to the story, Hanks supposedly questioned why Bondi refused to read a posthumous memoir by one of Jeffrey Epstein's best-known accusers.
[syndicated profile] snopes_feed

Posted by Emery Winter

Miller, a conservative podcaster and wife of a key Trump adviser, posted the map following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Well, some good news? I misread the Bed Bugs notice on the entrance of my apartment building. Not surprising - considering it was in tiny print. ( I brought home my reading glasses from work to read it properly.) I read after I asked a neighbor if we should be worried about it - and he looked at me quizzically, and said, not really, although I'm always concerned.

Then I read it. It stated:

Units: 81
Inspected: All
Infested:0
Cleaned: 0
Number found: 0

And the date of the inspection.

No wonder I was confused. Without my reading glasses, 0's look like 8's and 9's.

I worried about this all day long, went on the internet (which of course made it worse) - and finally convinced myself to read the sign in the lobby again, but with my reading glasses this time around.

Whew. No bed bugs in the building.

***

Now, I just have to figure out the will - first things first complete it, have it reviewed by lawyer, then sent, notarized and witnessed. And try not to worry about the knees. I'm icing both now. And hobbling very slowly up and down steps. Plus side? I'm grateful I moved years ago to this apartment complex - it's highly accessible for folks with ailments. It has a ramp to the entrance, so you can avoid the two steps. Then once inside - two elevators. So I don't have to go up and down the steps. And, I can either do laundry in the basement or send it out to be down - still without having to go up and down steps. I can also order food to be delivered to me.
Not certain about pharmaceuticals (other places yes, just not sure about my pharmacy).

***

Thought about the Spike/Buffy ("Spuffy") and Angel/Cordy ("Cangel") relationships, and Read more... )

I liked how the writers delved in the nasty consequences of using another person to "get off" or using sex as a drug. While alcohol and other drugs - are problematic, using sex as a drug is kind of similar to vampirism - in that you are using someone, with little care to how they feel, to get yourself off. Our society tends to handwave that - or generalize and state all consensual and kinky sex is bad, ie demonize the people and the act of sex (particularly if the act varies from whatever is considered the norm). (Let's face it - our global society and culture has serious issues regarding sex and sexual behavior. Always has. They also like to generalize (no despite what people might think we all don't experience sex the same way, our bodies are very different from each other, and no two people experience or need the same thing in regards to it, everyone is different). Part of our problem is - we can't talk about it in a way that doesn't involve ribald humor or running for the hills. A lot of folks can't say the words vagina and penis. And come up with other words for these parts of their anatomy.) One of the things I loved about Buffy is how the writers satirized societal views regarding sex and the culture's relationship to sex. Read more... )

Dept. of Checking Something

Jan. 6th, 2026 05:35 pm
kaffy_r: Bang Chan showing abs (Chan w/abs WHAT??!?)
[personal profile] kaffy_r
Testing, Testing

I'm going to post something without coding the text color, just to see if a change I made with help from [personal profile] muccamukk  will do that. 

Woo-hoo! It worked! 

第四年第三百六十三天

Jan. 7th, 2026 08:18 am
nnozomi: (Default)
[personal profile] nnozomi posting in [community profile] guardian_learning
部首
心 part 10
总, general/always; 怼, to flame; 恋, love pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=61

词汇
长途, long-distance; 延长, extend pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
什么东西总会有变化的, everything always changes
他是不是失恋啊, do you think he has a broken heart?
[no 长途 or 延长]

Me:
谈恋爱并不简单。
如果没有时间写作业,到下次延长也可以。
sturgeonslawyer: (Default)
[personal profile] sturgeonslawyer
What a joyous romp!

There are three and a half main characters here: the half is because the fourth, though unquestionably a major driver of the story, does not show up until the book is more than halfway through, and so will not be further mentioned in this review.

Nyaaaah.

The first of the three characters we'll speak of is Robert -- more properly, Gaius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax -- nth generation heir to a rather specialized pest-control business, the pests in question being dragons, the dragons being generally rather pathetic, small creatures endemic to the land of Bellemontaigne.

The only problem with this is that Robert has no desire whatsoever to exterminate dragons. When he can, he captures them alive and brings them home, learns their names (which they somehow tell him: the cute little guys don't actually speak), and trains them to be helpful around the house; they even make the beds. You'd think his mother, Odelette, would be more appreciative.

The next major character is Cerise, crown princess of Bellemontaigne. We first meet her holding audience for the princes who have come to seek her hand: in the Great Hall of Bellemontaigne, they take a number and she interviews them. They tend not to get past that first interview.

Royalty in this not-quite-Europe tend to be illiterate, but Cerise has been stealthily teaching herself to read (something she has in common with Robert, though neither knows this about the other). Her parents - King Antoine and Queen Hélène - have a vague notion that she should make a good match, but have never pushed her.

Finally, we have Crown Prince Reginald of Corvinia, the biggest and most acquisitive nation in the area. With his valet, Mortmain, he has been travelling on errantry, which is to say, looking for adventure, and quite happily finding very little of it. His father, Krije - a rather barbaric conqueror - has sent him out on errantry partly to make a man of him, and partly to get rid of "that idiot." He is handsome, with a perfect voice, chin, and just about everything else; his main flaw is that he is not in the least warlike.

He stumbles upon Cerise in a forest glen where she is practicing her reading and writing. He does not realize in the moment that she is a princess, but she falls instantly in love with him, and demands of her father that the castle (which is absolutely infested with dragons) be made spiffy and shiny and presentable.

Which, of course, means Robert. While disinfesting the castle, he meets Mortmain, and confesses his real ambition: he wants to be a valet to a noble, preferably a prince. Mortmain makes a deal with him: if Robert will teach Reginald how to slay a big dragon, and arrange for it to happen, Mortmain will teach Robert how to valet.

Of course things get much more complicated from there.

I am happy to report that Peter Beagle has lost none of the touch that brought us The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place, "Lila the Werewolf," and many more funny but heartbreaking fantasies since the 1960s.

Ten out of ten golden thrones.

Profile

elisem: (Default)
Elise Matthesen

January 2026

S M T W T F S
    1 23
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 7th, 2026 02:44 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios