Reading

Entry tags:

January Talking Meme

Pick a date in January and give me something to talk about! TV, books, movies, music, poetry, fandom, writing, food, travel, fictional characters (&/or pairings) and all of their feelings, whatever.

You don't have to be following me or ever have commented to request a topic. If you're doing the meme, I'll leave topics for you, too! Feel free to link me at any time if you want one.

Feel free to suggest multiple topics/dates (or to just leave a topic and no date - I'll fill it in).

(I reserve the right to decline topics I don't feel up to answering)

January 1 -

January 2 -

January 3 -

January 4 -

January 5 -

January 6 -

January 7 -

January 8 -

January 9 -

January 10 -

January 11 -

January 12 -

January 13 -

January 14 -

January 15 -

January 16 -

January 17 -

January 18 -

January 19 -

January 20 -

January 21 -

January 22 -

January 23 -

January 24 -

January 25 -

January 26 -

January 27 -

January 28 -

January 29 -

January 30 -

January 31 -

Entry tags:

(no subject)

The Secret of Us episodes 4 and 5:

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Fiona Apple - On The Bound

Entry tags:

Yellowjackets: Final Season Theories and Speculations

Ever since it was announced that the upcoming fourth season of Yellowjackets will be its last, I have been thinking about what that final season will entail, including theories and speculations of the explanations of everything that has been happening and what the ending will be like to wrap up the entire story and the arcs of the characters.

( My theories for the events in the show. )

( My speculation on the ending. )

Whatever the ending is going to be, at least it will be interesting to see how certain things are wrapped up.

Entry tags:

tv,
tv: clairebell

(no subject)

ClaireBell episode 7:

( spoilers )

My predictions based on the overall series trailer and the novelization:

( spoilers and speculation )

Entry tags:

A few good things (and one not so good)

My one Yuletide treat is finished, edited and sent for beta-reading. And that’s it when it comes to Yuletide treats from me this year. Because, and this is that one not so good thing, my right elbow started hurting a lot again.

Speaking of Yuletide - my gift appeared a few days ago, and I shook it. And I can’t wait to read it. Just ten days. But I have to say that for me it’s a bit of a pity that they moved works reveal from morning on 25th to evening on 24th. Usually it was around 10 am on 25th here, and at that time I could sit down and read my gift with no interruptions, and write a proper, enthusiastic comment instantly. Now it’s around 10 pm on 24th. I will probably be able to read my gift right away. But commenting, and reading other fics, will have to wait till the next day. I usually go to sleep around 10:30 p.m., and at this time a night I certainly don’t have enough mental power for reading and commenting on fanfic, just enough for watching fluffy dramas. 😊

Another good thing is news that Thai BL drama Mandate is coming to Gagaoolala. It starts airing there on December 19th. I hope it means that more people will watch it, since it will be more easily available than before. It’s such a good drama, I wish it had a bit bigger fandom.

Dramas I chose to watch lately are good, too. Especially The Price of Confession. I’m so enthralled by this drama that I barely watched anything else the last few days. I’m especially in love with Kim Go Eun, who is absolutely amazing and beautiful, and perfect. I still have an episode and a half to watch, which I plan to do tomorrow. I will write a longer post with a lot of gushing after I watch all of it. And if my poor elbow will let me.

Burnout Syndrome episode 3

Ok, I’m fully in a DewGun camp. Sorry, Off. 😊

More with spoilers (and one a bit NSFW pic) here.

Koh still annoys me a lot. And they gave him a sob story about his parents’ bankruptcy. And I don’t care, still don’t like him.

And, like I’ve said, there is a lot of red color on Pheem, too.

“Would you say it’s weird of me if I said I want his life to be even more fucked up, just so he keeps coming back to me?

Wow, Pheem, you’re not just weird, you’re fucked up and you’re an asshole. But I guess that’s why Mr “I find red flags exciting” Jira likes him. Even though for now it looks like that infatuation goes only one way, since yes, Pheem is down bad, as he himself admits. But Jira only goes to Pheem when he can’t get what he wants from Koh, and he wants a distraction.

But ahhh that interrupted make out... That brief kiss, and Pheem’s hand so high on Jira’s thigh...

burnout syndrome gun and dew in episode 3

That was so fricking hot, and I want more. 😍

Wake Up Dead Man

Netflix's Wake Up Dead Man, the third Knives Out movie, wasn't for me.

The first one had an interesting mystery. I guessed a lot about the second one, but it was pretty fun and original. I also guessed a lot about this one and found it quite depressing. Plus, we didn't even see Benoit Blanc's husband again.

Nice cast, though, especially Kerry Washington and Andrew Scott. <3

Current Mood: stressed

Entry tags:

Saturday mishmash--household stuff, dyed hair [and work stuff], and a few links

Luck was not with us in the first attempt at clementines this year. (The batch we got are far from inedible, at least, but...not very good.) They're such a gamble these years. :/

Our new freezer arrived a week ago, and the plan is to finally get it in place today once

scruloose gets back from a market run. That hasn't happened yet due to a combination of factors and timing, the biggest of which is the fact that it'll require shifting some things out of the garage onto the driveway to make room for us to work with two upright freezers in play. (

scruloose is going to take a stab at moving the old one out of its place without emptying it, via a hand cart, but we have no idea how likely that is to actually work. It'd sure be convenient, though.)

My hair is dyed! It is. Um. Very dark. By which I mean it's not so much dark purple as "functionally black with some purple highlights that are probably some of my silver hair, but there's less of that than there is silver, so it's a little confusing". Oh, well. It looks fine, other than maybe making me look a bit washed out, and I don't much care about that.

(I might care more when I finally get

scruloose to take a headshot of me to send HR at Dayjob so they can update my long-expired work pass. [Part of why I decided to finally just go ahead and dye my hair was in the name of having it done for this photo.] These days, the process involves just filling out a form and emailing that and a photo that meets their technical requirements to the department handling passes and also to my boss, presumably so the boss can look at the photo and confirm "yes, that is the employee in question". But this means we can make potentially-endless attempts at getting a photo I don't hate, and honestly, if I can live with the horror of my provincial ID photo, I can probably live with just about anything.)

A few links:

--

mrissa's annual lussekatter posts are always good for my heart.

--Jenny Hamilton's "Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition" (covering ep. 1-2).

--"‘Pushing Daisies’ Season 3 In The Works, Says Creator Bryan Fuller".

Entry tags:

weekly chat

Weekly Chat

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

Entry tags:

ICONS: Various Chinese Drama Fandoms

Created for

sweetandshort December: This and That
Theme: Winter

Fangs of Fortune - Zhao Yuanzhou Snow Fall by Tarlan GIF

For info: I created the icons first then used www.funnyphoto.net to add the falling snow... but then had to crop and resize the output images back to icon size.

Letifer by TD Cloud

Letifer by TD Cloud was amazing! A human cop and a vampire enforcer secretly team up to investigate serial killings.

If you love Vampire: the Masquerade and Kindred: the Embraced, you're in for a treat! There's a variety of vampire clans, each with their own specificities, and a bit of a noir vibe. The plot also has some interesting layers.

There's major m/m, as well as a lesbian side character.

Entry tags:

Theme from “The Singing Killer” (1970), by Roman Tam (as half-heartedly lip-synced by David Chiang.)

Watch on YouTube

Lyrics, as translated in the subtitles:

SCREAMING FANS: Bravo, Johnny!)

JOHNNY: I’m the singing killer
The singing killer is none other than me
When it comes to fighting and daring acts
Don’t belittle me
I’m the singing killer
Fist is a fist
Knife is a knife
Kung fu, judo, and karate
I specialise in all
If you dare,
Come and try me

The singing killer is me
I’m the singing killer
I dare to love, dare to hate
And most daring of acts
Don’t belittle me
I’m the singing killer
Pretty girls are pretty girls
Gold is gold
Girls and gold, though they’re fine
These in no way can compromise my heroism
If you dare,
Come and try

SCREAMING FANS: Johnny!

Entry tags:

books

(no subject)

Ballad of Sword and Wine, vol. 6 by Tang Jiu Qing (translated by XiA, Jia, and amixy):

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

DecRecs 2025 days 6-10

Here's the last several days of DecRecs!

Day 6
I am sick to day but I don't want to miss #DecRecs so you are getting an old favorite "Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

It's a delightful short story featuring fandom, friendship and robot pals!

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/

Day 7
I'm still not feeling great today so another old favorite for #decRecs "The Witches of Athens" by Lara Elena Donnelly is one of my comfort reads. It's everything that I want cozy SFF to be. Featuring sisterhood, coffee shops, and queer romance

http://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/the-witches-of-athens/

And since I mentioned cozy SFF this seems like a good time to link back to the piece I wrote about cozy SFF earlier this year -- "Domestic Labor and Community Building Rec List"

https://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2025/05/29/domestic-labor-and-community-building-rec-list.html

Day 8
Doing a little better today so I want to talk about my favorite drama I watched this year for #DecRecs
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung! It's a historical kdrama about a young woman who becomes a historian -- one of the people charged with writing down everything that happens in court for the historical record. It's so so good!

Things I love about Rookie Historian:
*It's thematically about history and why it matters!
*Young women succeeding at traditionally masculine jobs
*female friendship!
*it depicts but doesn't endorse monarchy
*The ML is a princess coded chaos mupet and I love him

Day 9
Since I just posted and annotated bibliography todays #DecRecs has to be Zotero!
Zotero is a free citation manager! It's great! I'm not an academic and am not writing papers for publication but I love it!
I have a lot of PDFs and they aren't always easy to sort through, but Zotero make it easy for me to find things! I can tag them and search.
I also love that I can drag and drop and Zotero will pick up any meta data!

Zotero is a great tool for fic research. I've used it to create bibliographies for several fics now (including an annotated bibliography for my most recent fic)
I generally create tag for each fic as go along and it makes it easy to find stuff again.

Day 10
Today for #DecRecs I want to rec Intergalactic Mixtape! This a SFF newsletter that my friend Renay started this year! It's got links to interesting articles and reviews, smart thoughts and recs! It's joy to get it in my inbox every week!

https://buttondown.com/intergalacticmixtape

Entry tags:

ClaireBell, kdramas and fanfic writing

ClaireBell episode 6

Yeah, that was what I expected. It didn’t make it less hard to watch. I even had to fast-forward a little bit, because I just couldn’t look at the screen.

More with spoilers here.

I identified with Claire so much in this episode. I’m an older sister, and what Claire did I would do in a heartbeat, too. I would exchange my life for my sister’s without even a moment of hesitation. I almost cried again because it made me so emotional.

I really need a happy ending for this drama. I hope both Bell and Claire will be released from prison. And it seems that this is what will happen. I think the creepy teacher’s sister will find out what her brother did to Cream. She now has Cream’s phone. And if I’m no mistaken they showed that Cream’s phone was recording when the teacher assaulted her. I can’t check it to be sure, because I’m not watching that scene ever again.

In kdrama news I dropped Moon River. I enjoyed it for the first six episodes, it was amusing and entertaining, but when the bodyswap ended the plot started being really convoluted and ridiculous, and not in a good way. And I lost interest very quickly. It took me three days to watch the 8th episode, and after that I decided that I don’t care at all what happens next.

But two other kdramas made it up to me for that disappointment. One of them is Dynamite Kiss that I only started watching because I read that my beloved Nam Goong Min will have a cameo in one episode. I watched two episodes and I liked them a lot. It’s lovely, funny, and mostly fluffy and I can watch it in the evening.

Because I definitely can’t watch a second kdrama in the evening. I’m talking about The Price of Confession – that dark thriller, which trailer I posted about a month ago. I started it two days ago and I’ve already watched four episodes. It’s very good. Very dark and intense (and a bit too gory for me sometimes, so twice I had to close my eyes for a moment or two), and Kim Go Eun is fantastic. And she looks absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to watch more tomorrow.

And in fanfic writing news I finished the first draft of my Yuletide treat. Yay, me! 😊 And I posted my new Big Dragon fic.

Sweet surrender (2339 words)
Fandom: มังกรกินใหญ่ | Big Dragon the Series (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mangkorn Akira Chitsanupongkul/Yai Alangkan Singhawatthanachok
Characters: Yai Alangkan Singhawatthanachok, Mangkorn Akira Chitsanupongkul
Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Dom/sub, Possessive Behavior, Spanking, Begging, Coming Untouched, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex
Summary:

Mangkorn has that look in his eyes. Yai recognizes it so well - this is the look Mangkorn has when he wants Yai’s surrender and Yai’s obedience.

It’s in Mangkorn’s voice, too, when he whispers “Undress” into Yai’s ear.

Yai takes his clothes off with shaking hands, desire lying heavy in his stomach, its flames getting stronger under Mangkorn’s hot and possessive gaze.

Entry tags:

Liu Yu's live performance of "The Witty Gallant's Playful Matchmaking"

I recently watched this gorgeous C-pop performance.

Watch on YouTube

He's so charmingly expressive. Someone in the comments said 'elegance of a noble with the playfulness of a youth' and that's absolute BARS.

Entry tags:

personal: cats

(no subject)

ah yes I should show y'all a picture of my precious darling tucked into the couch blanket <3 (sometimes she is ENTIRELY UNDER this blanket and I send a photo of a round lump to my friends and helpfully label it "catte".)

( cat photo under cut )

Entry tags:

Liao Biblography

For the Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction I offered to write a bibliography on a topic of the winner’s choosing. My friend Rae won the auction and asked me to write something about the material culture of the Khitan Liao or Jurchen Jin. I was not very familiar with either of these dynasties, but after some discussion and preliminary research to get a sense of what’s out there we chose to focus on Liao textiles.

The Liao Dynasty existed between 916 and 1125, roughly contemporaneous with the Song Dynasty. One of the reasons I wanted to research the Liao was that they are closer in time to bits of history I’m familiar with. Thanks to my love of The Long Ballad I got really into Tang history (618-907 CE), and more recently I’ve been working on translating stories from the Taiping Guangji (太平廣記), a group of tales compiled in the late 10th century– so I’ve been learning about that period as well.

Before I started the more in-depth research, I read a bit about Liao historiography, and I’ve included a few of those papers to help put the Liao in context, with a few other papers that aren’t on topic just for fun.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

Topic Tuesday - Your Highlight(s) of the Year

Welcome to Topic Tuesday! Right away I want to stress that discussion posts are always welcome to the community, you don't have to wait until a Topic Tuesday rolls around, and then maybe be disappointed by the current topic of discussion. Whenever you want to talk about something, please simply make a separate entry to this comm, no matter the week, the time, or the topic. All right? *g*

Today's topic is Your Highlight(s) of the Year. 2025 is almost over, so let's take a moment to look back. What were your highlights of the year? Which drama/movie/novel was your favourite, or made the year memorable for you? Did you fall in love with a new actor or singer? Or find a new song/piece of music that seems stuck in your head on an endless loop? Go into detail as much or as little as you like, and leave links if you want.

As usual, if you want to talk about spoilers, please use one of these codes to hide them.

or

Entry tags:

(no subject)

okay, some updates while I'm thinking about it at all:

1.
I never did say that I did get my ears repierced, did I xD But I did! It's been like a month! The piercer was like "so, let's just re-open those old holes, I bet they're still fine, just maybe a little finicky", and she was correct. A lot easier to heal from something that's just expanding old scar tissue than making a new hole in the body, obviously, which is good because tbh I wasn't excited about tending to a new wound.

So I can wear ear shinies now! I need to acquire more of them, especially more interesting studs that I can wear during work/aikido. xD Dangly earrings are pretty but inconvenient when doing very physical stuff.

she was ALSO like "you have skinny earlobes!" and I was like "uh?" and she was cheerfully like "this means that even the tiniest studs I have are going to be a little loose on you and the average stud will be noticeably loose" (true, btw) and then "do your ears get cold particularly easily?" (no, actually, they don't?). It was all very "this is not a body part I think about the variance in very often but yeah someone who does body mods/piercings sure would have thoughts about this!". xD

2.
The heater in our dojo, which has been dying for years, has finally given up the ghost. Considering that our dojo barely breaks even most of the time, uh, not good to need to replace that in the middle of winter. We shall see how paying for that ends up working, considering that it only broke like last Friday and we only got someone to look at it today, and they haven't provided a specific estimate yet (just a rough ballpark upon identifying the failed part). Fun times!

3.
It is WINTER and COLD now.

...yeah that's about it.

This does mean my cat will paw at the blanket I keep on my couch and then curl up in expectation that I shall Tuck Her In, which is absolutely adorable of her. <3

4.
I finished my Yuletide draft and made eyes at a friend who also knows the canon to beta-read it, so I don't need to worry about that until they get back to me. I had a lot of fun doing canon review for this one! One of those canons where I didn't have any particular ideas but did think it'd be fun to write for someone who had some prompts/thoughts about it, and: I was right!

5.
Talked to my dad yesterday about family and life and books, and it's very funny how at once I got so much of my taste in books from him and how much more willing he is to read moderately shitty epic fantasy than I am. Admittedly, this may just be a factor of age and that he grew up reading more stuff in that genre (by which I mean: Male Gaze Power Fantasy) than I did, and so has way more tolerance for it than I do. He's perfectly happy to read whatever else I place in front of him! And he enjoys it! He just also reads these. xD

6.
god, idk, did I have other things to say

work is work. it's fine. I would like more sleep. whatever.

7.
I'm still somehow keeping up with Critical Role: Araman? I zone out of combat (normal) but this mostly just means that I'm willing to listen to that while doing other things even moreso than the more story-centric content that I'll listen to while driving or doing dishes etc. I think the part I enjoy most is that they're doing multiple tables and focusing on one table at a time, but the opening scene for each episode is from one of the other groups, a teaser of what they're getting up to/going to be doing when the focus switches to them.

Entry tags:

tv,
tv: clairebell

ClaireBell episode 6

( spoilers )