Bits and pieces, catching up
Feb. 23rd, 2026 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mificI've been busy lately with several things on the go - doing HR art for the ICE OUT donations challenge, recording a long SGA podfic for the Podfic Big Bang (And Hope by Sihaya Black), and trying to fit in recording a couple of shorter ones for Romancing McShep and Romancing SGA, as well. Oof. Plus a lot of HR fic reading. I've accepted that it's impossible to keep up in any meaningful sense, and just surf along reading stuff I see reccd or authors I know I like a lot, and the few WIPs I'm following. Eventually I guess I'll catch up with numerous gems in the fandom that I missed in this avalanche of new fics, many of them extremely good.
In terms of reading very good authors, I had an exceptionally obsessive episode today where I started a story by one of my fave HR writers and couldn't read it. Because (unlike in ALL their other fics) they'd chosen to do all the Ilya POV narration in Ilya-speak, with most of the articles dropped. Russian doesn't have separate articles, I gather, because the distinction between "a ball" & "the ball" is done with word order - which is why in English, Russians often drop their articles. An example:
1. Девушка читает книгу. (The girl is reading a book)
2. Книгу читает девушка. (The girl is reading the book)
In both sentences, the meaning is nearly the same. However, in Sentence 2, the placement of “книгу” (book) at the beginning, before “девушка” (girl), highlights the importance of the book and implies a specific book.
The parts of the fic where it was Ilya's dialogue were fine because that portrays his actual speech, but the narrative (for me) is his thoughts (internal narration) in tight 3rd POV and there's NO WAY he'd be dropping "articles" in his thinking in Russian. It made him seem stupid, which he very much isn't, and I couldn't bear to read it. So I just now copied it into Word and betaed it, adding back in all the articles from his narrative POV parts. If you recognise the fic, hit me up in a DM and I'll share the edited version. It's a bloody good fic otherwise, 9000 words.
Life's been quiet apart from reccing, writing, arting and podficcing, and I'm looking forward to a dinner out with friends this Wednesday. Also enjoying sweet corn, and the start of the stone fruit season, with gorgeous nectarines. My garden is blowsy and straggly now, in late summer, and I need to take some time (ha!) to trim it back a bit. It's still warm here, about 22-24 degC highs, usually, and drier of late so I'm still watering the entire garden by hand every 3 days.
One bloody annoying thing that happened was that my credit card was hacked back at the end of January (picked up via notifications coming up on my phone from my banking app asking me to approve a bunch of things I hadn't bought). Luckily all smallish purchases (kids? An unambitious thief, anyway) and I think the bank will refund them. But that meant cancelling that card and them mailing me another (a process I last went through several months ago). And then the mailed card never arrived (presumed stolen from my letterbox) and I got another couple of false transactions on the new card that I hadn't even seen yet! So yet another card cancellation and this time I got it mailed to my bank. I was very glad that after the last debacle several months ago I'd arranged a second credit card via my other bank (I have accounts at 2 banks for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture).
Anyway, in terms of recs:
- I'm reading all Evilharlowe's HR works on AO3 - they really are a fantastic writer.
- Happened on a great short edit that sets Shane and Ilya's tuna melt hiatus to a Chappel Roan song (The Subway - amazing song) - heartrending edit, very well done, but man, I wish it were a full-sized fanvid.
- Bringing to your attention this workout video by Hudson Williams. Leg day and his skincare routine are really paying off! (CN for casual mentions of eating extreme diets or 'not eating' to make his body fit acting roles. Which is worrying but probably routine for actors.)
- there's a LOT of HR podfic by now and every day there are 1 or 2 new ones. It's a great way to revisit fics I read and loved while I do art. For example,cathexys podficced Magneticwave's Clear to a Hedgehog. This link gets you HR podfic on AO3.
Enough for now. Waving at you all - hope things are going as well as they can.! 💗
In terms of reading very good authors, I had an exceptionally obsessive episode today where I started a story by one of my fave HR writers and couldn't read it. Because (unlike in ALL their other fics) they'd chosen to do all the Ilya POV narration in Ilya-speak, with most of the articles dropped. Russian doesn't have separate articles, I gather, because the distinction between "a ball" & "the ball" is done with word order - which is why in English, Russians often drop their articles. An example:
1. Девушка читает книгу. (The girl is reading a book)
2. Книгу читает девушка. (The girl is reading the book)
In both sentences, the meaning is nearly the same. However, in Sentence 2, the placement of “книгу” (book) at the beginning, before “девушка” (girl), highlights the importance of the book and implies a specific book.
The parts of the fic where it was Ilya's dialogue were fine because that portrays his actual speech, but the narrative (for me) is his thoughts (internal narration) in tight 3rd POV and there's NO WAY he'd be dropping "articles" in his thinking in Russian. It made him seem stupid, which he very much isn't, and I couldn't bear to read it. So I just now copied it into Word and betaed it, adding back in all the articles from his narrative POV parts. If you recognise the fic, hit me up in a DM and I'll share the edited version. It's a bloody good fic otherwise, 9000 words.
Life's been quiet apart from reccing, writing, arting and podficcing, and I'm looking forward to a dinner out with friends this Wednesday. Also enjoying sweet corn, and the start of the stone fruit season, with gorgeous nectarines. My garden is blowsy and straggly now, in late summer, and I need to take some time (ha!) to trim it back a bit. It's still warm here, about 22-24 degC highs, usually, and drier of late so I'm still watering the entire garden by hand every 3 days.
One bloody annoying thing that happened was that my credit card was hacked back at the end of January (picked up via notifications coming up on my phone from my banking app asking me to approve a bunch of things I hadn't bought). Luckily all smallish purchases (kids? An unambitious thief, anyway) and I think the bank will refund them. But that meant cancelling that card and them mailing me another (a process I last went through several months ago). And then the mailed card never arrived (presumed stolen from my letterbox) and I got another couple of false transactions on the new card that I hadn't even seen yet! So yet another card cancellation and this time I got it mailed to my bank. I was very glad that after the last debacle several months ago I'd arranged a second credit card via my other bank (I have accounts at 2 banks for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture).
Anyway, in terms of recs:
- I'm reading all Evilharlowe's HR works on AO3 - they really are a fantastic writer.
- Happened on a great short edit that sets Shane and Ilya's tuna melt hiatus to a Chappel Roan song (The Subway - amazing song) - heartrending edit, very well done, but man, I wish it were a full-sized fanvid.
- Bringing to your attention this workout video by Hudson Williams. Leg day and his skincare routine are really paying off! (CN for casual mentions of eating extreme diets or 'not eating' to make his body fit acting roles. Which is worrying but probably routine for actors.)
- there's a LOT of HR podfic by now and every day there are 1 or 2 new ones. It's a great way to revisit fics I read and loved while I do art. For example,
cathexys podficced Magneticwave's Clear to a Hedgehog. This link gets you HR podfic on AO3.Enough for now. Waving at you all - hope things are going as well as they can.! 💗
Routine Colonoscopy Countdown.
Feb. 23rd, 2026 08:46 amleecetheartist It's prep time. T minus 3 days.
Meal 1. Gluten free rice bubbles and vanilla yoghurt and 2 mugs of white coffee.
On the upside, yesterday was the Perth monthly fountain pen enthusiast meeting, so we sat around and talked, drew, wrote and looked at each others' pretty pens and ink and drank coffee or whatever everyone else was drinking.
Finished reading Network Effect to Rob and Mum last night, and we all started a rewatch of the serial. We'd eaten a delicious Indian takeaway, as a farewell to interesting food for me for 3 days. Mmm Vindaloo.
Meal 1. Gluten free rice bubbles and vanilla yoghurt and 2 mugs of white coffee.
On the upside, yesterday was the Perth monthly fountain pen enthusiast meeting, so we sat around and talked, drew, wrote and looked at each others' pretty pens and ink and drank coffee or whatever everyone else was drinking.
Finished reading Network Effect to Rob and Mum last night, and we all started a rewatch of the serial. We'd eaten a delicious Indian takeaway, as a farewell to interesting food for me for 3 days. Mmm Vindaloo.
(no subject)
Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:25 pmscifirenegadeHaving a panic attack while your friend is also having a very shitty time and having to help (while trying to not seem like you yourself are having a bad time) is sure an experience. Been trying to get over it with movies.
Zootopia's message is still a little muddy, but "Didney" would never do something like this now (Zootopia 2 not withstanding, no idea how good that one is). Goldeneye made me feel like a kid again. I always forget I enjoy James Bond movies. The difference is I'm an adult now, and can think of them critically.
As for new watches... 8½ is... overrated? I guess? It feels like a dream, it plays with its medium so darn well, but alas, I cared not for our director character. Maybe on a rewatch it's better, but I have no desire to do so. Sleeping Car though? Very very silly. Always nice seeing Madeleine Carroll in a not-drama. I have seen four talkies with Ivor Novello and in half of them he's the most obnoxious rascal (good, he plays them well). Lots of moving camera, not enough trains. I still enjoyed I Lived With You more, but somehow believed Carroll and Novello's romance more than Jeans and Novello.
(And I would believe his romance with me even more *cough*)
I have to thirst somewhere. My friends can't handle it, and it's not even as scandalous as Cairns's for Veidt's tight clothing :P
EDIT: Ah! Almost forgot!![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bethefirst is having its (optional) signups! tardis_remix is also having (obligatory) signups and prompt claiming!
Zootopia's message is still a little muddy, but "Didney" would never do something like this now (Zootopia 2 not withstanding, no idea how good that one is). Goldeneye made me feel like a kid again. I always forget I enjoy James Bond movies. The difference is I'm an adult now, and can think of them critically.
As for new watches... 8½ is... overrated? I guess? It feels like a dream, it plays with its medium so darn well, but alas, I cared not for our director character. Maybe on a rewatch it's better, but I have no desire to do so. Sleeping Car though? Very very silly. Always nice seeing Madeleine Carroll in a not-drama. I have seen four talkies with Ivor Novello and in half of them he's the most obnoxious rascal (good, he plays them well). Lots of moving camera, not enough trains. I still enjoyed I Lived With You more, but somehow believed Carroll and Novello's romance more than Jeans and Novello.
I have to thirst somewhere. My friends can't handle it, and it's not even as scandalous as Cairns's for Veidt's tight clothing :P
EDIT: Ah! Almost forgot!
bethefirst is having its (optional) signups! tardis_remix is also having (obligatory) signups and prompt claiming!
Art for DWBB - Let's Go Home
Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:17 pmamberdreamsIt's time for my fave boy's Bang! I snagged two great stories and this is the first of them, a really insightful look into Dean's psyche via a series of flashbacks by the talented need_more_meta. My first time working with them and hopefully not my last.
So with no more ado - the banner. Click on it to go to the story on AO3. 
And the main picture
(no subject)
Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:29 pmgaladhirI have just joined Bluesky, but it does seem to be very worthy and very focused on the big issues of real life, so I don't know how long I'll last over there.
I'm doing it again already, spreading myself too thin. That's it now. No other sites of social media allowed. I already know I can't keep up with one, let alone two. (Or three, in fact, since my non-writing real life friends and activities are all on Facebook.)
Good Omens Bingo Card
Feb. 22nd, 2026 06:43 pmmagnavox_23I've not gone down a particularly deep rabbit hole with season 3. it may be unexpected, it may be exactly what we're all imagining it to be. Who knows, variables, etc... Glad I have finally gotten to this with a mere 80 days to spare! Some of these I believe more than others, but an entire 24 spaces to fill is... formidable. *g* These may be subject to change with future data/spoilers/Sheen blabs... <3
I've also made a blank version of this layout if it is anyone's cup of tea.
(font credit is 'awakening' by Brittney Murphy designs)
(click to embiggen)
I've also made a blank version of this layout if it is anyone's cup of tea.
(font credit is 'awakening' by Brittney Murphy designs)
(click to embiggen)
100 Disney Things [016]: 4+1 better movies Wish could have been
Feb. 21st, 2026 11:45 pmchacusha100 Disney Things [016]
As I mentioned in my Wish review, the plot of this movie is kind of a hot mess. It very much feels like a movie that went through at least three or four major versions of the plot, and many of those elements are still hanging in the film like vestigial limbs, leading to a very disjointed and nonsensical viewing experience. Meanwhile, there are like 5-second sequences slapped on like pieces of duct tape in order to hastily close up glaring plot holes, which makes me think there was a strong need for this movie to release on a schedule and it was shoved out the door half-dressed.
Anyway, since this Franken-movie has the suggestion of three or four other coherent movies in it, I thought I would make some suggestions about how it could have been fixed by deciding on just one version of the plot and changing the elements to fully cohere with that central plot. So here we go: 4+1 better movies Wish could have been.
( 4+1 better movies Wish could have been )
Welp, that's done. About 4 hours of my life diagnosing this movie that I'll never get back. You can suggest topics for future posts for this meme over here.
The Birds Are on Their Way Back
Feb. 21st, 2026 05:06 pmseleneheartEarlier in the week, a flock of robins and a flock of starlings descended on the small ornamental cherry (?) (I'm not so good with ornamental trees) and devoured all the remaining fruit.
For the last two days, I've heard the geese overhead and today I saw a pair scrambling at speed for the pond in the woods behind my house. I love living here so much.
I put a suet block out for the winter - the birds in Texas usually devoured it, but it looks almost completely untouched. Maybe all the birds leave? I'm still adjusting to life in the northern forest, and I don't remember enough about how it worked when I was growing up in the mountains. Surely cardinals stay all winter?
I'm planning to clean out the seed feeder and get it out tomorrow. Maybe that will be more tempting.
For the last two days, I've heard the geese overhead and today I saw a pair scrambling at speed for the pond in the woods behind my house. I love living here so much.
I put a suet block out for the winter - the birds in Texas usually devoured it, but it looks almost completely untouched. Maybe all the birds leave? I'm still adjusting to life in the northern forest, and I don't remember enough about how it worked when I was growing up in the mountains. Surely cardinals stay all winter?
I'm planning to clean out the seed feeder and get it out tomorrow. Maybe that will be more tempting.
Fantasy story with loner male knight and cross-dressing female page
Feb. 21st, 2026 12:41 pmalias_sqbrI didn't watch Dunc and Egg but Cam did, and he found himself thinking about how fun it could be to have a story where a somewhat loner knight (disgraced/unproven/just antisocial, whatever) takes on a determined and surprisingly knowledgable page, who he eventually realises is a girl in disguise, and they have Adventures (but no romance, preferably)
He asked if I knew of any stories like that, since it feels like a really obvious premise, and I felt like I must have seen something along those lines by Tamora Pierce/ Mercedes Lackey etc but nothing came to mind. eg the Alanna series has the crossdressing page part but not the loner knight, Kel doesn't have the cross-dressing, etc.
So I come to you! At this point we're mostly just curious if it exists at all, but actual recs are definitely not unwelcome. Books/tv/movies, whatever.
He asked if I knew of any stories like that, since it feels like a really obvious premise, and I felt like I must have seen something along those lines by Tamora Pierce/ Mercedes Lackey etc but nothing came to mind. eg the Alanna series has the crossdressing page part but not the loner knight, Kel doesn't have the cross-dressing, etc.
So I come to you! At this point we're mostly just curious if it exists at all, but actual recs are definitely not unwelcome. Books/tv/movies, whatever.
An Appreciation Meme
Feb. 20th, 2026 10:50 pmbethctg
Because it's nice to let people know that we appreciate them. 🩵
In the spirit of love memes, this meme is a place to thank someone who's created something you love, or done something kind that you still remember after all this time, or who has made your fandom life (or your life in general!) better in some way.
One username per comment, but leave as many comments as you'd like! (Nominating yourself is fine!)
Feel free to nominate or leave appreciation anonymously, but the default is set to show who you are when you reply.
PROMOTE THE MEME & YOUR THREAD(S)
what ive been doin'
Feb. 20th, 2026 10:26 pmmeningioma
a patchworked pokemon thingy. idk what ill do with it...
my pouch i mentioned earlier. its a little ratty, but im proud of it. i made a second one for my good friend
boyhog02, but i forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her.also, I finished mahoako, a suggestion from my good friend
glitchblue what feels like forever ago, and pretty predictably, i loved it!
Tech Adoption, Personal Computers, and the Web
Feb. 20th, 2026 01:44 pmbiteshelterAs someone adjacent to IndieWeb and FOSS circles, I see discussions of tech adoption in my feeds often.
There are two arguments (or categories of argument) I’ve started collecting notes on because of how often I notice them. This is my attempt to process those notes. I’m curious to know what thoughts other people have on these ideas.
The first argument says that people naturally want to personalize tools that are part of their daily lives, and thus “healthy” personal computer usage includes using software and services that enable choice. The other argument says that people only use computers because they have to, so the tool’s effect on their lives should be minimized and thus streamlined as much as possible. That means avoiding customization and setting clear expectations for how software should be used.
The question this raises for me is: What does it mean for a computer to be personal right now? That is, what does a computer look like when it’s fit for the purpose of belonging to someone?
( Read more... )