paraka. Network

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Mood busy

Tags:

followfriday

jaggedwolf

The Apocrypha

A follow-on to my years-ago reading of the Bible. I did recognize the the stories of Judith and Susanna, but I reached peak entertainment with Tobit, where Tobit’s son Tobias goes off to collect some of Tobit’s money from another city, only to end up marrying Sarah, who keeps marrying guys who get demon-killed during the wedding night. An angel intervenes, all is fine, yada yada, but the thing that got me was when Tobias is like sweet, okay, let me go home and let my parents know everything is chill, and his father-in-law is like. No. You must stay here a whole fortnight in celebration. So Tobias’s poor parents back home are like wow...our son is dead probably...we are very sad...until Tobias finally shows up to clarify things.

Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne

Book covering seven distinct eras of Paris, from the 12th century to the mid-20th century. Probably not the best pick for someone who didn’t know much French history — frequent visits to Wikipedia were made — but informative nonetheless. Has the foibles one would expect of a book written by an old British guy. (E.g. opening the book saying London is a dude, NYC is ~ambiguous~, and Paris is certainly a woman + describing some lady as seducing her own father in a way that made me go “hmmmm”).

The Importance of Being Young At Heart by R. Zamora Linmark

Ken Z is a teenager living in the Pacific island nation of South Kristol, about to graduate high school and obsessed with Oscar Wilde. He’s spending an afternoon bunburying in a fancy mall when he runs into Ran, a guy his age from South Kristol’s richer more militaristic neighbor, North Kristol. Thus starts a whirlwind romance.

I was optimistic at first, for even if I didn’t quite jibe with these teens I was curious as to where the tensions between the countries might lead. The answer is: nowhere. Ran disappears but we don’t ever find out why, and Ken Z’s coping with it isn’t that interesting. Sort of felt like a whole lot of nothing.

The most compelling bit was Ken Z’s confronting Oscar Wilde (yes, he pops up here and talks, don’t worry about it) about letting himself be taken advantage of by his lover. Of course I have no idea how accurate that is, but I enjoyed the argument.

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare getting his gory B-movie urges out. Read this because I was going to watch a production of it, which was as bloody on stage as it is in the text. (Perhaps technically less so, given the absence of one death in the opening act.) Even if you didn’t know it was a tragedy, you’d probably know Titus is fucked once he refuses the position of emperor. My guy, what did you think was going to happen?

The production I saw genderswapped the uncle, Marcus Andronicus, which I enjoyed. It removes one of Titus’s sons and Titus’s killing of him in the first act, which somehow made it feel like there was a more suspenseful build-up to the violence of this play. (Even though Titus does kill the firstborn of the Queen of the Goths. A more suspenseful build-up from the perspective of the Andronici, I suppose.)

Remains true for me that I can enjoy watching/reading bloody murders and self-dismemberments, having it wrap around to so exaggerated it’s comical, but this does not not really apply to sexual assault.

Titus roping both his children into holding his lopped-off arm and their dead brothers’ heads, complete with Lavinia holding her item in her teeth, remains so stupidly funny to me lmfao. I wondered if the production would cut that bit and it did not.

Tags:

mine: reading

torachan

Recently Finished
A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery
Newest Saffron Everleigh mystery. This one took a long time to get to the murder! About half the book! That's a little too long IMO, and it felt a bit draggy, but once things got going it was good.

How Could You
Graphic novel about queer college students and their messy relationship drama. This was cute.

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna vol. 6
I had no idea a new volume was out until I got a notification from Amazon. It's been so long! I vaguely remember hearing something about it going on hiatus and in the afterword the author talks about having gone through a really bad depressive period where she couldn't draw anything. I'm glad she got through it and was able to draw again. This is such a great series and this was worth waiting for.

Nodame Cantabile vol. 13-15

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weekly reading

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3261/

Brace yourself--the chirp gets pretty weird.

https://xkcd.com/3261/

sholio

In spite of my total lack of interest in any/all sports, I am following the World Cup for literally the first time in my entire life. Having your country (co)host it really makes a difference; who knew?

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sports

torachan

1. I started playing an indie Zelda-like called Elementallis. It's a lot of fun!

2. I have been meaning to take the two Tobiq backpacks we decided we'll never use again to Good Will to donate them but just haven't gotten around to it (well, I tried once and even though their donation center is supposed to be open from 7am, the shutter was closed when I went by around 8 or 9 and I haven't tried again). Then Carla went through her clothes the other day and pulled out three bags of stuff to donate, so since I was off today and wanted to take a bike ride in the morning I decided to see if I could fit all the clothes in the backpack(s) and then load those on my bike basket and I could! I just had to fasten the one with the clothes on with bungee cords so it stayed in place, but it all fit nicely. I waited until the store part of Good Will was open, just in case the shutter was closed again, then I could go inside and ask about donating there, but the shutter was open when I arrived and I was able to drop off all the stuff. Now there is not a pile of stuff for donation in the middle of the garage floor.

3. All day I've had that lovely feeling where you remember that it's Friday, not Saturday, and there are still two more days of the weekend.

4. Tuxie!

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hannah

The topic about building a relationship with my sister in law E. came up again at dinner tonight. It came up at a time when I was a little buzzed from hard cider and wine, which helped considerably. That is, it helped me keep enough distance from anything I might've been feeling to listen to what was being said and hear what was being implied. Yes, I was forceful last week about being astonished E. hadn't ever seen purple or orange cauliflower. I thought I'd been sharing something wonderful about the world. She didn't see it that way and apparently, nobody else at the table did either. But I'm not feeling torn up about it. Honestly, I'm not. My parents and I are all in agreement that it'd be nice if she didn't take her phone out at the table - keep it in her pocket for the comfort of knowing she can call 9-1-1 right then and there, sure, but taking it out and having it around, not so much. If they're unwilling to challenge her on it because the threat is that she won't come, I can understand that. She's the mother of their granddaughter. However, she's the wife of my brother, and it's only because my parents implied they'd rather I not mention it directly to her that I'll keep it to myself. Things of that nature. I explained to them I felt rather slighted, to put it mildly, when she didn't eat the bread I'd baked, and I'd kept that to myself at the time. I knew I didn't know a polite way to ask about it that'd have a chance of getting her to genuinely eat some and I wasn't willing to go for impolite at the time.

Dinners are getting harder. There's less to talk about with my parents, especially when it's just me. But there's no one else.

I'm hoping next week's easier inasmuch as there's going to be someone else around. I don't know about that yet. I don't know about tomorrow, either. Rumor is that my brother J. and his daughter A. might come over, but there's no saying when, not even a vague idea. Possibly afternoon, maybe evening. There's been no forward movement on anyone going to the country. It's looking less and less likely either of my brothers will be there. As such, I probably won't be either. Not for any serious length of time, at any rate. I'd like to find a way to communicate to my parents there's no room for negotiation on my part, not unless they keep to a set of promises made well ahead of time. As those promises would call for a significant change in behavior on their parts, I've got no reason to make any plans.

Mood cynical
Music Court and Spark - Norah Jones

teaotter posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: nothing you can do to change it back
Fandom: Wiseguy (tv)
Content notes: spoilers for the whole Sonny Steelgrave arc, panic attack
Challenge: Real
Length: ~350 words

Summary: Sonny wakes up.

( Read more... )

musesfool

Clutter has been redistributed, cake has been baked, ziti has been put together and is in the fridge ready for the oven tomorrow, and the dishwasher has been run twice. I unfortunately did not get the baguette I ordered with my groceries, so tomorrow I will bake a loaf of KAF Italian bread so I can make bruschetta as an appetizer, since I did get the diced tomatoes.

I don't really have much other news. I read that the Dungeon Crawler Carl tv show got greenlit (I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about the fact that Matt Dinniman posts to the subreddit occasionally and also how similar and yet different the fan-types there are, but I'm sure you can guess what most of them are; I just wish they'd recommend more than the same three non-DCC books to each other), but I just can't see how Peacock is going to air this show, especially if it's live action? Idek how that is possible, given that the main character is a talking cat who can shoot lasers from her eyes. Yes, I know, CGI, but that is SO EXPENSIVE (they just cancelled that show "Ted" for being too expensive because of that and that was only for the stupid talking teddy bear), and that isn't accounting for the healing fairy, the ice fairy, the shape-changing tank lady, the talking goats, and the crocodile-headed guy! Not to mention the velociraptor, the mobile meatball, and the sapient sex-doll head! All of whom are regularly recurring characters. Some of it can certainly also be practical effects and makeup, but I'm really curious to see what it looks like if it ever even goes beyond an announcement. And that's not even getting into the intense amount of gore, the nudity, and the barrage of sex jokes, etc. (and the anti-capitalist themes).

*

Mood accomplished
Music The Shape I Found You In - Girlyman

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senmut

I challenge you all to leave a comment on something that is positive and meant to lift the spirits of the person you interact with.

Mine was in the flesh: a grandmother down the street was watching her grandchild play, and I both complimented her hair and how polite the not-quite school-age child was. She LIT up for both parts!

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rl: meme

torachan

Pride Nite doesn't start until nine, though there is a mix-in period starting from six, but there's not any event exclusive stuff happening during that time (except that you can start ordering event food from 8pm), so we planned to get there around eightish.

( Read more... )

Tags:

disney

schneefink

Cheers for me making the monthly rec post not in the last week :)

Have some SGA fantasy AUs!
(I knew I wanted to rec the first two and then I went looking for more featuring John as Damsel in Distress at one point, but sadly they either were not fantasy AUs or no longer accessible online.)

A Clear and Different Light by

sholio and

naye
85.4k (+32k sidestories), fantasy AU, McShep + team
Summary: Rodney McKay, raised by a pod of telepathic whales. John Sheppard, mage with fae blood. Teyla Emmagan, rune-scientist. Ronon Dex, winged soldier. On the waystation of Atlantis, they're about to become embroiled in an age-old war against a brutal enemy.
Why I love it: Whaleverse!! I love the whaleverse, and I can never be objective about it; my first posted not-commentfic was an epilogue for it, Respite, because I wanted even more of the beautiful h/c. That was great and also the plot with scary enemies and the worldbuilding and the team feelings.

The Bearskin Cloak by

HorridPorrid
59.2k, fairy tale/fantasy AU, Ronon + team
Summary: After everything he's ever known has been destroyed, Ronon stumbles into the magic-thick forests of Atlantis. When he accidentally frees two strangers from a cruel trap, he realizes old enemies still spin their wicked plans. An enchanted prince, a cursed city: Ronon's fight has just begun. (Inspired by: The Traveling Companion by Hans Christian Anderson)
Why I love it: This is such a good fairy tale and adventure, with scary enemies and desperate plots and daring rescues, always a joy to reread.

A new history of Captain John Sheppard, HM Aerial Corps, and M. Rodney McKay, Esq., FRS, with the Captains Emmagan and Dex, late of the West Indies by

sheafrotherdon
15.7k, McShep + team, Temeraire AU
Summary: . . . composed from a great number of actual surveys; and other materials regulated by many new scientifick observations of their Affections and Masculine Virtues. Drawn up from the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders, And from the Papers of M. Rodney McKay, Esq., FRS; In One Volume, written by A Lady of Quality.
September 1811, Halifax, Nova Scotia: His Majesty's Aerial Corps stand ready to welcome new additions to their number; an expedition late of the Antipodes.
Why I like it: Very good fusion/crossover, and I love the warm atmosphere.

Damper by

michelel72
25.6k, ~urban fantasy AU, Teyla & Rodney
Summary: Teyla Emmagan (C.W.El.E., L.W.M.) and Dr. Rodney McKay (C.W.El.F., Ph.D., Ph.D.) are hired to investigate an anomalous geological development, but they soon learn much more is at stake.
Why I like it: Teyla & Rodney are such an underrated pairing, and this was one of the fics that made me realize that. I really like the character voices, the element-based modern magic system, and the adventure. The epilogue A Few Small Repairs is also great and very warm.

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recs,
sga

gelliaclodiana

In my new life, apparently I write letters for exchanges other than Yuletide.

crossworks is one of my favorite exchanges, because I love crossovers so much; the thing I love most about them is seeing characters from different canons interact in ways that shed light on who they are, even if they themselves are not aware of the parallels or contrasts between them. What happens when they meet? Does it change one of their worlds? Do they hook up? Do they hate each other? Do they save the world together? I am in fact a sucker for dramatic irony! This is why I usually request crossovers rather than fusions -- because I want the characters from the different canons to meet each other -- but as far as making the crossover work you are welcome to pretend that the two universes have always been the same, or smush them together oddly, or make a wormhole, or just handwave the whole problem.

I love both gen and crossover-pairing stories, and I absolutely think "it would be hot" is a good enough reason for any crossover. I like f/f, m/m and f/m and strongly prefer pairings where the characters interact as equals.

General likes: egalitarian relationships; competence; fish-out-of-water moments; bittersweet endings; dramatic irony, canon-divergence AUs; complicated villains; adventures and heists; saving the world

DNW: D/s and related dynamics including omegaverse and petplay; anal sex; harm to children; noncon; non-canon-setting AUs; explicit content for characters under 17; MCD for requested characters; threesomes or moresomes.
I have some canon-specific DNWs which are in the notes for the specific request.

( The Regency, and maybe magic )

( The Regency and also Time Travel )

( we do bones or maybe wraiths )

( Romans in Space )

( politics, economies, empires, loyalties )

Tags:

crossovers

darkjediqueen posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Becoming More
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Explicit Sex
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Relationships: Ilya Rozanov/Shane Hollander
Tags: Established Relationship, Angst, Happy Ending
Summary: This time it becomes more real.
Word Count: 7,365

( Becoming More )

umadoshi

Another week where I'm off from Dayjob as much as on, and next week will probably be the same. Once I'm through this burst of back-to-back deadlines I'll check my lieu-time balance and see if I need to cut back to two days off each week during the summer (or if I'd rather take a full week or two off rather than clocking in a couple days each week). I've got a draft on one manga volume and am almost halfway through the second (and got a good dent into one of the other two before my deadlines got shuffled); OTOH, while I haven't signed paperwork yet, it sounds like I'll be doing another simulpub series, and I don't know when work on that will start. (Simulpub is inherently stressful, especially since it inevitably runs headlong in Dayjob crunches, but I'm very glad to have been offered this title.)

I just finally got around to a small bit of tech admin I've been meaning to do for ages. Most of the time when we have music up and running in the main living area of the house (as opposed to on our own in either of our offices), it's a Radioparadise stream, because we both generally like the mix. (Main mix or mellow mix!) Our musical tastes overlap enough that there's plenty we both like listening to, although we also each have music that the other doesn't really care for/about. A while back I started saving the link for any songs that really caught my attention; I'm very slow about really getting to know any new-to-me artists, since I'm mostly exposed to them through individual songs (fanvids are a common source), and now, months (or more likely a year or two) after starting to do that, I've finally shoved them all into a Qobuz playlist. (I still need to log back into Spotify and figure out exporting playlists from there.)

(The playlist is all of seventy-one songs. ^^; I think the number is probably so low because I almost always have to be listening closely enough to catch lyrics for a song to pique my interest.)

Once my brain switches over from one primary fandom to another, it's usually an absolute change, but over the last few days I've been having Newsflesh pangs--no creative urges or anything, but it's noticeable enough to be startling. And yesterday someone commented on one of those fics, which don't exactly get a lot of attention, being so old and for such a small fandom that hasn't had new canon in over a decade.

One of these days I'll probably reread the books, even though rereading anything is pretty rare for me. I wonder what'll happen in my brain then. (For that matter, IIRC I haven't reread Fruits Basket since I adapted the second fanbook; the second anime series is a pretty good adaptation, but I'll never know what I would've thought of it if I'd still be in the fannish grip of the manga series when it came out.)

I was (obviously, I guess) extremely confident when I got my first tattoos that I wouldn't regret them, even though they're fannish and I knew Newsflesh wouldn't have that hold on me forever, because nothing does, even though years tend to pass between the times my monofannish brain latches onto something new. But it's still a relief to be so far on the other side of it now and to have had it pan out that way in practice.

Mood thoughtful
Music Máire Brennan - To the Water

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itsnotmymind posting in

fandom_icons

Icons from the movie Encanto:

The rest here.

Tags:

encanto

rachelmanija

June is the month where every time I post about my shop, brave internet warriors call me a pedophile and a groomer. Joke's on them though: every time they comment, the algorithm boosts my post and gets my shop more publicity.

I had fun creating a display for Pride. The books rotate - I have lots that fit the categories I highlighted. Which slogan is your favorite?

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paper & clay

pegkerr

As I mentioned in my last post, my granddaughter M's first birthday was this past week. Fiona and Alona decided to combine the celebration for Alona's Master's degree and the change in Fiona's career, along with M's birthday, into one big party.

We were incredibly lucky on the weather: after several weeks of miserable humid heat with poor air quality, the day dawned with comfortable air temperatures and beautiful clarity. The view over the lake was gorgeous. A large circle of friends and family had been invited out to my sister Betsy's beautiful home in Mound on Lake Minnetonka, and 75 people RSVP'd yes.

We had a truly lovely afternoon. There were a number of children, and they enjoyed themselves romping in the sun, playing lawn games, and dancing through the bubbles thrown off by the bubble machine. We had Middle Eastern food catered in as well as nibblies and desserts. Betsy had set tables out on the lawn, and I was included in many lively conversations. It was great to catch up with everyone. M has several great-grandparents, and they all gathered in Adirondack chairs on the lawn overlooking the lake to visit and pass babies around.

M had her own smash cake to taste and destroy, a definite highlight of the event. She was extremely happy all day.

A wonderful day.

M is just on the verge of walking, and whoa, her parents' lives will soon be changing accordingly.

Bottom left corner, Fiona and Delia sit at a table at a party, smiling. Behind them is a table spread with party food. Bottom right corner: a collection of gift bags. Center: white sheet cake with the message "Congratulations on it all!" Above that: Fiona and Alona smile at the camera. Between their heads at the top: a baby's hands smush into a yellow cake.

Celebration

24 Celebration

Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

Mood happy

Tags:

oursin

Moar and moar on performative reading, sigh: Booksmaxxing: how reading became sexy (haven't we been here before?)

***

I haven't actually read the whole of this yet, but on reading and the sexxy, it goes the full academic: Romantasy and the quest for cliteracy. Abstract:

Romantasy – a hybrid genre of romance and fantasy – is well known for its explicit ‘spicy’ content. Like romance fiction, female desire and pleasure are central to the narrative. Drawing on textual analysis from three popular romantasy series, this article examines the genre’s potential to foster cultural cliteracy: or the recognition and understanding of the clitoris as a central site of sexual pleasure. It explores how depictions of clitoral stimulation, female sexual response and orgasm function as a form of public pedagogy on female sexual embodiment. Through detailed sensory description, romantasy offers rich narratives of female pleasure that contrast the often disembodied and risk-focused approaches that pervade school-based sexuality education. While the genre is not without its limitations, it is argued that romantasy provides readers imaginative, safe spaces to engage with the embodied, erotic and emotional dimensions of sex, gender and relationships. In doing so, it offers valuable counternarratives to patriarchal and phallocentric discourses that continue to constrain how female sexuality is understood and expressed.

***

People have been going WO WO SYMBOLICKAL METAPHOR about this: ‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a different take (bless 'em):

Although this marks the end of the Major Oak as a living tree, it does not mark the end of its story. The iconic oak tree remains a powerful presence in the landscape and an enduring part of our cultural heritage. The tree and soil beneath it will continue to be a vital refuge for wildlife and the knowledge we have gained by looking after the Major Oak will help preserve other ancient oaks across the country. Its legacy will live on through its saplings and the legends associated with it, with plans being drawn up with our partners, and the tree will continue to be a vital refuge for wildlife.

***

Honestly, this secret org sounds like a cross between the school playground and Versailles of the Sun King with who rates and why. I guess the 'got sand kicked in his face' is an aged trope (it was in ads for some body-building thing) but we feel some such back-stories must be in play.

***

'Here they come building their big fancy Stonehenges, two wooden posts was good enough for us....': Archaeologists believe they have discovered an earlier, much simpler version of Stonehenge about 3 miles (5km) away from the prehistoric monument.

***

A different kind of heritage: Glassy Junction, Southall: the definitive history of ‘London’s first Indian pub’

***

Today in London history [last Tuesday]: RSPCA founded in West End coffeehouse, 1824.

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tinny

Here's my set for round 43 at

icons10in20! I enjoyed making these summery looking icons. I hope you like them, too:

Teasers:

( 10+6 icons )

Every single comment is treasured. All icons shareable! Concrit welcome. Check out my resource post for makers of textures and brushes I use.

Previous icon posts: