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You don't have to fly into the sun
( Take a little comfort from the little you've done. )
After which I ate dinner, read a little, and passed out for about an hour and a half. Family and friends have been sending me pictures of No Kings, the necessity of which I hate and the turnout of which I cheer. My mother told me about her favorite sign she did not carry: a photograph of the butterfly, the only orange monarch we need. I loved everything about the spare, specific exploration of marginalized languages and historical queerness in Carys Davies' Clear (2024) until the slingshot of the ending as if the author had lost a chapter somewhere over the side in the North Sea. Since the Cape is still autumnal New England, I am drinking mulled cider.
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Flashing by . . .
But today the weather was perfect for the protest gathering at a very busy five-points intersection here on Martha's Vineyard, with A LOT of people and some winsomely unique signage. Lots of laughter and horn honking, and although there were two protesters for the current regime, and a couple of cars went by with passengers waving thumbs down, there was no violence whatsoever. Yay! I wish that would be true everywhere.
Interesting patterns in signage; many quotes from the Bible and from the Constitution, and so very many crowned clowns. One frog, one unicorn, and a bee. Many, but not all, were my age or older.
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for the record
Protest in a New England town (pop. 15K) today was excellent, well over a hundred people at any given moment, very cheerful, with attendees from toddler to octogenarian (several people using mobility aids), and much support from the cars driving by. One person was in an inflatable pig costume, and another in a dinosaur costume.
Unfortunately, we could not park near the corner with the dinosaur, because our sign read NO KINGS (EXCEPT FOR T.REX) because the small human I was attending with wanted to make sure his support for T.Rex was clear, and frankly I think we had the best sign there. Someone brought a kazoo, which added an excellent element of whimsy to the proceedings.
Good job, everyone, let's do this again until we stop needing to.
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Saturday breezed on by....like it always does
( Read more... )
***
The UU Church has a Devotional Poetry Writing Group. I flirted with it. But I'm wary of anything regarding the writing and sharing of poetry. ( Read more... )
UU Church is also featuring a singer/song-writer for tomorrow's service, who is (apparently) popular? I hadn't heard of them before the Church newsletter told me about him - but I'm also not really into religious music? While I have, as you've no doubt figured out by now, widely diverse taste in music, there are few genres I rarely listen to? They are "traditional classical opera", "electronica" (depending on the electronica), "religious music", "gospel", "choral music", "rap" (depending on the rap), and heavy metal (depending on the heavy metal). So, as result, I hadn't come across this person, who I think is trans, and is creating queer religious music and going across the country with it.
Anyhow...I checked them out last night, and their song, entitled Ploushare Prayer by Spencer LaJoye.
Folks, they made me cry? It really moved me. I was surprised.
( Ploushare Prayer Video )
But not sure I can deal with the crowd that will converge on the church tomorrow to hear them play for free. I'll do it on Facebook or Zoom instead. No steps. Sleep in. And better acoustics, not to mention I can see more.
***
Pain and fear of large crowds kept me from participating in the No Kings Day. I hope it went well. More to the point? I hope it accomplishes something?
Ah, it's getting darker earlier now. Sunset was at 6:30. My heart goes out to my brother - whose heating and cooling system has failed him. He's tried to get it fixed multiple times. The first time, they came out, he paid them, they claimed that they fixed it. They didn't. They came out again, claimed to fix it, they didn't. Then they got bought by someone else. Who kept claiming they didn't get my brother's calls or emails, and came out, and then well up and disappeared. So he found a new company - and the whole system has to be replaced. He has a wood burning stove - but it's not going to heat the entire house, and his bedroom is one floor below it, and heat rises? And it gets cold up there? And my brother gets cold easily. [I'm so glad I rent. Let all of that be somebody else's problem. We've had hitting issues - but they tend to get resolved quickly - since there's about 100 people affected.)
****
Television
1. Weirdly I'm enjoying Angel the Series better now than I did way back when I first watched it in the late 1990s. If I was to hazard a guess - I think it would be lowered expectations, and no longer wanting Angel and Buffy to be together - or being disappointed that they aren't? I wasn't in the fandom until roughly 2002 - or midway through S6. ( Read more... ) At any rate - I'm enjoying Angel more now. Partly, because I like Angel, Wes, and Cordelia better now than I did twenty five years ago. I find them a bit more relatable and comforting. They are all a tad lost, and doing the best they can to make things work, while flailing miserably most of the time. The writers dig down into classic noir tropes.
And, I like how most of the writers veer away from the classical hero trope. For all the times, Angel succeeds, he also fails miserably. In the Scourge? The seventh or eighth episode, he attempts to sacrifice himself heroically - but his speeches to Doyle about why he sacrificed his humanity and a life with his one true love to pursue the cause, backfires on him in a huge way. ( Read more... )
Moving on to Parting Gifts - which I didn't like the first time I saw it, twenty five years ago, I do now. It's a great study in characters and contrasts. Also demonstrates how Wes, Cordy and Angel work slightly better than Doyle, Angel and Cordy did. For one thing - they get it across pretty quickly - that there are 0 romantic feelings between Angel/Cordy or Cordy/Wes. ( Read more... ). They also set up each character's skill sets. ( Read more... ) But mainly, within a short period of time - they set up the problem, the on-going villain (WRH law firm in the shadows), and the relationship dynamic between Angel, Cordy, Wes. And I realized while watching that I like all three, and all three actors in spite of myself?
I prefer watching this outside of a fandom superimposing its views onto me?
I can find it comforting and enjoyable on my own. Also, no longer caring who ends up with who, or romantic ships - makes the show more interesting?
I was never much into romantic relationships on television shows? I much prefer the platonic friendships - they are more interesting to watch, and less frustrating - particularly within the noir/horror genre.
2. The Diplomat S3 - this is fun. Want sparkling funny witty dialogue - this is it. Good actors. And excellent political satire. Also, even though the President in this series was responsible for an act of terrorism? I still prefer Allison Janey as President to the one we currently have. I'd rather live in the world of the Diplomat? Sad I know. But here we are. And, sigh, Rufus Sewell is hot. This show just makes me laugh. I'm not binging it this go around - I'm letting it last. Then I may rewatch from the beginning.
[I'm still watching Poker Face and Rain Maker on Peacock, just slowly.]
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Farmer's Market -- 18 October 2025 (Chili Pepper Day, 27th of Grape-Harvest, Year 234)
Also, the local No Kings rally was along the street at the market -- there were 3 inflatable shark costumes, 2 unicorns, at least 2 guys in tricorn hats (one was in a complete outfit, probably a RevWar re-enactor). Cars driving by kept honking in support.
I was wearing my magnolia shirt from Morning Witch, my green canvas jacket, flared jeans, and fake snakeskin shoes. I got a number of compliments.
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So, sometimes E and I have been watching Mom
We're supposed to believe that the protagonist of the series is a recently sober waitress, single mom. One kid's dad is nonexistent, the other is there but he certainly doesn't pay any child support. Her own family is definitely not helping out - indeed, she has to help her mother, who is also recently sober!
Dialog establishes that her nonsober life was pretty chaotic - evictions, jail time, the works.
And their house is fucking amazing. Three bedrooms for a mom and two kids, which to my NYC eyes is astonishing, and everything matches. None of the furniture has cigarette burns or scratches or crayon marks, nothing is missing a drawer pull or, indeed, a drawer, all their windows have curtains - matching curtains, even! - and all their lights have lampshades, none of their comforters are frayed around the edges, there's no food or drink stains, the doors all close properly....
You know, it occurs to me that I may be revealing a bit more about my own childhood home than perhaps I want to, so I guess I'll stop here. But seriously, set and costume design have some questions to answer, because they really didn't think any of this through. I can see such a tidy house from a waitress who is diligent about estate sales and thrifting - though probably none of it would match, it would be eclectic in a classy way. Or I can see nice furnishings from an alcoholic with a bigger income who was managing to keep a fingerhold on being functional in a way that this family clearly wasn't before the show. But c'mon!
( Read more... )
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Late Friday Five
1. How long ago did you join LJ (or DW)?
I don't know for sure for LJ since I have long since deleted it, but I know it was around 2005 or 2006. I definitely remember having it by 2006 because I distinctly remember participating in FMA and other anime-related communities. I had known about LJ for quite a while before I joined it, though. I am pretty sure that I also had a private journal on one of the more obscure LJ clones... Ujournal, I think? Does anyone remember that?
For DW, I joined in 2013 when I was starting college and just trying to get back into fandom and stop lurking around so much. It helped get me into Welcome to Night Vale back in the day.
2. How did you find out about LJ (or DW)?
For LJ, Various anime websites that linked to it. I am thinking of LELOLA, in particular. For DW, I just followed everyone else here.
3. If someone introduced you to LJ (or DW), is s/he still on your friends list?
I learned about it because of
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4. Have you introduced anyone to LJ (or DW)?
No, it's my own little oasis away from people I know in the real world. I haven't led any fannish people here that I know of.
5. Is your LJ (or DW) public or friends only, and why?
Public because I try to keep my personal details vague and don't think anyone I know in real life could find their way here. I have thought about changing my stance for some entries just to be safe, though.
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Artwork for "The Small Print" by LilyK
by Banbury
Summary provided by the author: Bodie and Doyle investigate an MI9 sleeper network created to take out Soviet spies who have infiltrated the British organisation known as Central Intelligence Five.
Words: 0, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
- Fandoms: The Professionals (TV 1977)
- Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
- Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
- Categories: M/M
- Characters: William Bodie, Ray Doyle, George Cowley, Murphy (The Professionals), other canon charactres
- Relationships: William Bodie/Ray Doyle
- Additional Tags: Drama, Case Fic, First Time
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a comic exists

Meanwhile, I've obtained a secondhand wide-format color printer locally so we'll see how setup goes.
ETA: Wide-format printer (up to 13"x19") is go! (See comments for test printouts.) I'm currently (still) setting up via Ka-Blam + Indyplanet for print on demand because I refuse to deal with fulfillment because my health is f*cked, but for DIY home zines + comics for friends & family or or prototypes or for selling locally, this should be more than sufficient.
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Another beautiful day!
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Exciting life update
It keeps it simmering juust at boiling point so it cooks covered and unwatched without making a big bubbly mess.
I got a Panasonic 8 cup Rice and Multicooker because it was the cheapest smallest one I could find with that kind of setting. It cooked 1 cup of rice + 2 cups oat milk as pudding without trouble, but I'll have to see if it copes with a single cup of regular rice.
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For anyone who enjoys synecdochic being the Pope's Anger Translator
Okay! This is going to take a while so I had to finish some stuff first, but: Why Da Pope Fucking Up Opus Dei Is A Huge Fucking Deal: a thread
I believe the proposed reforms are currently leaked/not confirmed yet, but this is fascinating.
(ETA: the previous round of Pope-exegesis.)
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And deregulate the couple at the bottom end
( Penny on the water, tuppence on the sea. )
Being now officially unemployed after an internal ten and really fifteen years at the same job and having Robert Carlyle on my mind, I should probably just rewatch The Full Monty (1997). Tomorrow I plan on a salt marsh.
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I know we all laughed at the blue liquid used in pad commercials
Maybe they could've eased us into it gradually, with purples?
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I read The Incandescent, which has gotten decidedly mixed reviews from all of you
But - am I supposed to feel most sympathetic towards the ( Read more... )