mrissa | Network

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the top 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.

So I watch a lot of Brit tv and these are 10 actors that I delight in coming across in a show. In no particular order.

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house_wren

Today I made baked apples from a recipe that appeared recently in The Guardian. In addition to nuts, dried fruit, lemon, and other ordinary things, it included tahini. The flavor was complex and surprising. Delicious, also.

Yesterday it was 50 degrees (F) and all the snow melted.

For almost 2 months I have been going to physical therapy and have done the exercises regularly for over six weeks. This is remarkable for me; I usually get distracted and stop.

I've never had a feeling of safety. For years I tried to find it, create it, etc. Some things happened that were unfortunate and any progress towards feeling safe evaporated. Happy to say I do have a good therapist. Thank heavens. Because the feeling of DREAD that I have is stifling.

Sometimes in the winter, when I pull my car out of the garage, a mouse, which has been hiding in the underside, will jump to the ground and run away over the snow. This time it was brown with a white tummy. One time it was a mama mouse complete with nursing babies.

Life is weird.

muscle_wizard

snowflake_challenge prompt:
Share your top 10 anything.

( The Top 10 Video Games That Rewired My Brain )

senmut

Hey I am actually reading.

After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations by Eric H. Cline, part of the Turning Points in Ancient History series, is currently 27% read. Given I began it last night... not bad.

I will probably check out the other books; the collapse of the Bronze Age has long been of interest to me. My largest concern is too much leaning into the Bible, referring to the Tanakh as "the Hebrew Bible", and I got weirded by calling a Jewish archaeologist as having been "ordained" as a Rabbi. I did not think that was the word.

Coolest factoid so far? The resurgent Assyrian Empire of the era had a Pony Express, with mule riders.

yourlibrarian posting in

everykindofcraft

I wanted something a little rough looking to go with this because the octopus is so shiny. Didn't have anything that fit the bill which was the right size, and I wanted to make this a bit longer of a necklace. So I used groups of metal bead ends along with some blue E beads for the ocean angle.

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shadowkat

Catching up on the January Question a Day Meme:

11. The first National State lottery in England was drawn in 1569. The first prize was £5,000, and other prizes included tapestries and high-quality linen cloth. How much does it cost to enter where you live (and have you ever bought a ticket)?

A couple of things? It wasn't initially successful in the US. the First National Lottery in the US which took place on November 18, 1776 was a colossal failure.

"On November 18, 1776, the First Continental Congress enacted a national lottery designed to complete with state and local lotteries at the time. The reason for getting in the lottery game was a simple yet important one for delegates of the thirteen colonies: help fund the costly Revolutionary War."

( And it's well complicated? )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotteries_in_the_United_States

12. In 1948, the first Supermarket in the UK opened - the Co-op, the country’s first permanent self-service store, in East London’s Manor Park. Do you use one specific supermarket to buy groceries, and do they have a loyalty card scheme you belong to? How does it work?

"Chain grocery retailing was a phenomenon that took off around the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States, with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (1859) and other small, regional players. Grocery stores of this era tended to be small (generally less than a thousand square feet) and also focused on only one aspect of food retailing. Grocers (and most of the chains fell into this camp) sold what is known as “dry grocery” items, or canned goods and other non-perishable staples. Butchers and greengrocers (produce vendors) were completely separate entities, although they tended to cluster together for convenience’s sake."

Although it is debated and most think it was Piggly Wiggly in Memphis in 1916.

A Quick History of the American Supermarket.

Yes. I usually go to Met Fresh, before that Food Town. And yes, they have the loyalty card scheme - Food Town gives you a free chicken, when you collect enough points. Met Fresh gives you a percentage off - but theirs requires putting in the number in a separate slot, and it doesn't always work. Foodtown, you just tell the cashier your number or they scan a card.

13. January is the best time to see the bright gas giant planet Jupiter in the sky – have you ever seen it?

Yes. But a long time ago, and not in NYC. Too much light pollution.

14. Mark Antony was born today in Rome in 83BCE. Have you ever seen “Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and Richard Burton as Mark Antony?

Yes, it's a horrible movie. I also read the Court case in a Contract's Law course in law school - where Twentieth Century Fox sued Burton and Taylor for misbehavior on the set and damages for delaying production.

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/239/913/2379197/

It got settled. The court case isn't about the lawsuit - it's about jurisdiction and whether it should be settled by New York State or Federal Court.

The movie is just bad. I couldn't get through it. They fell in love during it - resulting in delays.

celli

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seraphikiss posting in

addme_fandom

Name: fleur or mike
Age group: 21 - 29
Country: USA
Subscription/Access Policy: only given to those i know are 100% anti-censorship and adults. i do not tolerate politics or discourse

Main Fandoms: identity v
Other Fandoms: star trek (TOS), fire emblem three houses, fire emblem awakening, vocaloid, elder scrolls, star wars (OT)
Fannish Interests: writing, creating AUs, worldbuilding, headcanons
OTPs and Ships: joseph/alva, joseph/aesop, norton/orpheus

Favourite Movies: star wars OT
TV Shows: murder, she wrote
Books: epic poems
Music: okamep
Games: identity v, skyrim
Comics/Anime/Misc: angel beats

kenjari

The Tomb of Dragons
by Katherine Addison

This is the third Cemeteries of Amalo book. Here we find Thara grappling with the loss of the spiritual ability that makes him a Witness for the Dead. He continues helping his protege Tomasaran and thus is on hand when a murder is discovered at the opera house. He is also contending with an assignment to get a cemetery whose administration has fallen into disorder. However, these endeavors are upended when Thara is kidnapped to a mine with a dragon ghoul problem and finds himself acting as witness for said dragon ghoul in the matter of the nearly 200 dragons slaughtered by a greedy mining company over 100 years ago.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. I liked the way Addison subverted the murder mystery plot of the opening, but wove its resolution into the last third of the novel. I liked how the dragon plot commented on the evils that greed leads people into. Most of all, I liked spending time with Thara. His healing process was lovely, and his relationships with his friends even more so.

Current Mood: blah

chazzbanner

Did you know that there's a film from the 19490s called Dumblin Damnity? Say that fast, and remember to pronounce the n in damnity. :-)

This gem is thanks to the Word in Your Ear podcast automatic transcription. Double Indemnity, of course.

I finally got around to searching through my CDs for Bessie Smith: The Complete Columbia Recordings. I've decided to listen to one disc a day, ten discs in all.

Now I need to find my Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven collection.

Something I read recently (hmm) used the word "fonebone" - from Mad Magazine. I decided to google the word and found this article:

The Ultra-Mad Madness of Don Martin

-

helloladies posting in

ladybusiness

Adventures Elsewhere collects our reviews, guest posts, articles, and other content we've spread across the Internet recently! See what we've been up in our other projects. :D

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bookblather

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shadowkat

Another difficult commute - I swear, me and Transit are going to have words one of these days. (Considering I currently inhabit the same building that they inhabit - it could actually happen. Possibly in an elevator or in a hallway.) The R train was running with delays and on other tracks, skipping Whitehall Street again this evening. I wish I knew before I hobbled down the eight flights of steps. Someone pulled the Emergency Break again. So, ended up taking the 4 to Borough Hall Brooklyn and walked 10 blocks to Bergen, took the G home. The 4/5 also had delays due to a passenger being hit by a train but seemed to be fine by the time I got there. And the G was running with delays due to a incident with a train being taken out of service somewhere on 21st Street in North Brooklyn. Plus they had a police officer patrolling the G train. Knee was bothering by the time I got there - so icing. Hopefully can do exercises after dinner. Did exercises at work at least.

It's hard to find the time to fit them in, with work. Also hard to do the cardiac activity necessary to lose weight. Stupid knees.

My 83 year old mother is doing fine. I'm the invalid. Turns out a sedentary desk job is tough on the knees.

Oh, digestive issues woke me last night - but, have discovered a concoction that helps a sour stomach. (Gas pains, gastric reflex, and cramping or anything stuck in the esophagus).

1 teaspoon baking soda
Lemon juice
Mixed in a glass of water

It's basically home-brewed alka seltzer, but more effective. Works like a charm - takes about five to ten minutes to work.

Had two decent and reassuring conversations with higher ups today - so I feel a little less sidelined and more valuable than I did previously. They do see me as a valuable resource. (Actually I think Breaking Bad is the one in trouble - and has been for a while now. But I'm not.) I just need to be patient, and keep doing what I've been doing. Being helpful. And keeping my charts up to date.

****

More on Angel/Buffy Rewatch

David Greenwalt in the chat with Holtz, Lindsey, and Lilah actors - stated that Whedon had asked him if he wanted to do work on an Angel spin-off and show-run it for him. It was supposed to be dark and noir - similar in tone to what Greenwalt had previously done with Profit. The actor who played Holtz - came from Profit. Greenwalt asked for Charisma Carpenter - who played Cordelia - because he felt they needed humor and some lightness to the show, which was rather dark in concept. Also apparently they went too dark for the network in the second episode's original/initial script by David Fury - which initially had Angel killing the girl and licking blood off the floor of the bathroom. The network understandably went nuts - and said no, you can't do that.

The actor who played Holtz - brought up how he didn't view his character as a villain. And Greenwalt stated that they tried not to write characters as villains. That's kind of boring. And the other actors chimed in - that you never see your character as a villain, the character doesn't. But it is more fun to play them. Christian Kane (Lindsey) said he looked at it as - you're the company you keep. Lindsey was tainted by WRH. He said having his character be a villain but not quite - made him more fun to play, than to have him be a hero. It's better to have an edge. Romanov (Lilah) agreed.

I'm beginning to understand why I still love these shows - the cast, crew, writers, and fandom are so enjoyable.

**

The characters of Dawn, Riley and Xander with a few exceptions, have the worst episodes in Buffy for some reason. I think the writers either didn't identify with them, over-identified, or didn't know what to do with them? ( Read more... )

***

Angelica Huston memoir - Watch Me, which I'm listening to via audible.
It's well written. She really disliked Ryan O'Neal, who was violent and Huston describes as a bully with no conscience. She'd been in love with him for a bit - and in a very toxic relationship. He beat her and abused her, and it took her a while to break off the relationship and go back to Jack Nicholson.

She also writes about Roman Polanski - whom she lived next door to for a bit, and was friends with. Apparently they tried to get her to testify against Polanski in the "statutory rape" case - by offering her a deal to drop cocaine charges. ( Read more... )

Off to make dinner.

rionaleonhart

I've just returned from seeing Christmas Carol Goes Wrong at the Apollo Theatre, because I have reached full-on 'buying theatre tickets' levels of unwell about the Goes Wrong Show and its associated productions.

I caught a candid glimpse of Dennis's actor Jonathan Sayer just after I entered the theatre, as I headed towards the loos, and it felt deeply surreal.

A note I made before heading out to see the play: There's always the chance I'll get an understudy, of course, but, if he's present, I'm not sure how I'll cope with being in the same room as Robert's actor Henry Lewis, who is so hot it makes me genuinely nervous.

He was, in fact, there! As tall and loud and handsome as I could desire; I had a good view of him from my place at the side of the stalls. Although I do have a bone to pick with whoever decided to trap Robert in an enormous present box for most of the second act (quite possibly Lewis himself), which was very funny but did unfortunately obscure his excellent face.

Come to think of it, the 'if he's present' in my initial note accidentally ended up being an incredible pun.

Dennis, Jonathan, Trevor and Robert (♥) were played by their actors from the Goes Wrong Show; Chris, Annie, Sandra and Max were not. Everyone did a great job, but I have to give special mention to Daniel Fraser, who was absolutely perfect in the role of Chris. It's not easy to play a character when your entire audience is used to seeing another actor in that role! But I thought Fraser was magnificent.

Assorted notes beneath the cut!

( Notes on the stage production of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. )

The curtain that fell at the interval was an enormous replica of Robert Grove's CV (page 1 of 148). He lists 'Dog Ownership' as one of his skills, and his roles include 'audience member' for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the role of Robert Grove in 'Anecdote', directed by Robert Grove (venue: restaurant), every character in The Wind in the Willows (venue: 'shouted in street'), and Dracula in Immersive Dracula (venue: 'audience member's house (forced entry)'). In a production of Romeo and Juliet, he played both Romeo and Juliet. I'll be honest: I would watch the hell out of that.

He's perfect. If I were directing a play, I would cast him in every role, and I think he'd agree that this would be the correct decision.

isis

What I've recently finished reading:

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky, first book in the Echoes of the Fall series. This is a fantasy Bronze-Age-ish world where tribes not only identify with an animal-god, but tribal members can shapeshift into the form of that animal at will. Interestingly, people can see at a glance which animal-tribe people are part of, seeing their "soul"; each also has its own culture which seems appropriate for the associated animal, i.e. the Wolf people are pack-oriented, aggressive, dominating, while the Bear people are big and shambling and prefer their solitary caves. The story follows a teen girl, Maniye, who has two souls and therefore two forms - that of her father, the Wolf that raised her, and that of her mother, a captured Tiger - but it's more of an adult story than YA, even though it's largely a coming-of-age narrative. There are hints of dark things coming, the return of the "Plague People" who the people of this land came here to escape; these are people who have no souls, which again is something plainly visible. I liked this a lot! So I'm reading the second book now, The Bear and the Serpent.

(I should say, I really like the major Bear character, Loud Thunder, who basically wants to sit in his cave with his dogs and sometimes go out and hunt and not be bothered by, ugh, people, but unfortunately has a Destiny, and hates it. Also the major Serpent character - the Serpents in general are super interesting, sort of the wise elders of the world.)

What I'm currently watching:

We finished S1 and are now mid-S2 of The Empress. It's oddly butting up against The Leopard now as we're getting to the Italian provinces of the Austrian Empire agitating for freedom and a united Italy, even mentioned Garibaldi. I love the history of it all, the problems of an old world inexorably moving into the modern times, rulers having to face the collisions of the privilege they love and the reality of being a good leader. Also the costumes, especially the womens' gowns, are fantastic.

What I'm currently playing:

Still Ghost of Tsushima. It's so pretty! And I appreciate that there are a number of female swordsmen and archers, even if it's not strictly historically factual.

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
心 part 16
悲, sad; 情, feelings/conditions; 惊, to surprise ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=61

词汇
沉, to sink/deep/heavy; 沉默, silence; 沉重, heavy ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
你好像不怎么惊讶呀, you don't look that surprised
他这个人呀，个性太深沉，喜欢哑巴吃黄莲, this guy is too reserved, he likes to suffer in silence

Me:
不要这么悲伤的脸。
整个房子很沉默。

pkmnkinkmod posting in

fandomcalendar

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case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6949 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #992.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: indescribable

kitewithfish

What I’ve Read
Novel Length fanfic!
Super/Bat - The Long Hangover by CoffioCake – a comics-focused Super/Bat fanfic with a very delightful level of identity porn! “Clark knows he should take a break: His powers are on the fritz, he feels like shit, and Batman’s treating him like a liability. But Gotham's villains seem to have it in for Metropolis' Big Blue Boy Scout and Clark won't just wait around for answers. Batman might be the world’s greatest detective, but Clark Kent is one of the Daily Planet’s most tenacious reporters. This is definitely a job for Superman.” https://archiveofourown.org/works/5912137

Hannibal/Will Graham - Falls the Shadow by littlesystems - https://archiveofourown.org/works/23577121 Hannibal/Will Graham fanfic. “AKA an AU where Bedelia is Will’s psychiatrist instead of Hannibal, Will makes a series of increasingly questionable life choices, and no one should ever take Bedelia’s advice. Ever.” - A very indulgent fic where Hannibal and Will get a chance to meet under more romantic circumstances.

Sidebar: So I write this on Tuesday, a day after I applied a latte to my aging human body after 2pm and screwed up my sleep pretty drastically last night. So drastically, in fact, that I left comments on fic I was reading at every thirty minutes from midnight to 2am. Since caring is sharing, in no particular order, here’s some of the fic I read Monday night/Tuesday morning!

Fandom: Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy II The Golden Army
I got into a headspace about old Guillermo del Toro movies and ended up re-watching it. (Fun!) One thing I enjoy with del Toro is that he often carries character-types and themes from film to film, so that Nuada from Hellboy II and Nomak from Blade II and Quinlan from The Strain and The Creature from Frankenstein are all characters that shade into each other. It feels very fannish to me – wanting to play with similar characters in different scenarios.

I found some fic focusing on Prince Nuada Silverlance, the villainous and thinly veiled survivor of colonialism becomes genocidal threat dude from the second movie, pairing him with the fandom bicycle of John Meyers, Agent Rookie Who Needs Exposition from the first Hellboy movie. (They never meet in canon.) Not going to lie, some similarities to Thorin Oakenshield here – the quest to save a kingdom in the face of certain ruin, a quest that kills him? Not the same but not different! (Sidebar: I was hoping to see more fic of Abe Sapien/Nuada from the Hellboy II fans. In the film, Abe’s paired with the other twin, Nuala, and the twins have a psychic bond type thing that means they suffer each other’s wounds. It just seems like a trio pairing would make sense here!)

-To Swallow My Desire And Choke On It by Skelettoine – and sequel Bury me to the sound of your name - https://archiveofourown.org/series/4520452

-it’s all going To End in Spears by psychomachia https://archiveofourown.org/works/76350796

-One of these things by obscureshipyard - https://archiveofourown.org/works/31634057

Fic from other fandoms, in which people make very poor choices about their sexual partners for extremely human reasons:

Mo Dao Zu Shi fic - so low i can't see the high road (on my knees) by Anonymous (Restricted) - https://archiveofourown.org/works/33068710 – Very niche and fucked up pairing in Mo Dao Zu Shi modern au. What do you do when your best friend and foster brother from childhood, your first love and the one who you thought you’d spend your whole life with, shows up with a boyfriend? Jiang Cheng decides the answer is: Fuck his dad.

Batfamily - (you kept me like a secret) i kept you like an oath by gatheringwool - https://archiveofourown.org/works/43038276 A well written fucked up Bat Family fic -In Jason Todd’s POV - about the night where it is revealed that he and Bruce have been having sex since Jason was twelve. It goes as well as could be expected. Mind the warnings.

What I’m Reading Now
Sunrise in the East by wroth_and_ruin – aka “that Hobbit/Pushing Daisies Sentinel/Guide AU crossover that nobody asked for and nobody wanted but you're getting anyway.” I read this at the recommendation of a friend years ago and it is charming and holds up to multiple re-reads. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319923 This fic is fantastic if you like horny slow burns and cultural differences and Lee Pace.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – The second Hunger Games book. - Paused, bc hearing about fictional police crackdowns in Panem was… not doing it for me this week.

One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters – Book two of the Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries. 75% ish

What I’ll Read Next
I want to read some physical books I have around

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mrissa

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