Trump would HATE this...

Oct. 24th, 2025 07:55 pm
starwatcher: Western windmill, clouds in background, trees around base. (Default)
[personal profile] starwatcher
 
... ad about his oh-so-grand ballroom. (AI generated) We wouldn't want it spread around and shared over multiple platforms, now would we? (StarWatcher winks very obviously.)
 

I am the Hurt and the Comfort

Oct. 24th, 2025 09:55 pm
mific: (poetry warning)
[personal profile] mific



I am the Hurt and the Comfort


I am the evil tyrant, the abusive parent.
My charges are cruelly abandoned, tormented, neglected.
Trapped in small prisons their limbs strain, distorted,
They grow starved and pale, yellowed with hunger,
Allowed barely enough water to survive, brittle with thirst.

Then I am the saviour, making all things right.
I free them from their prisons, tuck them into lush new homes.
To the starved and the thirsty I give food and drink.
I bathe them in gentle water, straightening their abused limbs,
Debriding what cannot be saved so the whole may thrive.

This is about gardening.

God, how I love repotting.



2551 / Fic - IWTV

Oct. 23rd, 2025 11:17 pm
siria: (iwtv - armand is erotic)
[personal profile] siria
Parfum
Interview with the Vampire | Armand/Daniel | ~250 words | For [tumblr.com profile] trinityofone

(Also on AO3)

Read more... )

Still thinking about Babylon 5

Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:19 pm
sholio: trio of brightly dressed aliens (B5-Londo G'Kar Delenn)
[personal profile] sholio
... as one does ...

Spoilers for 5x12-5x16 )

Game: Kentucky Route Zero

Oct. 23rd, 2025 09:19 am
runpunkrun: chibi me with pigtails and fangs, text: punk (punk & disorderly)
[personal profile] runpunkrun
Kentucky Route Zero is a creative and thoughtful interactive story about debt, grief, and the relentless march of capitalism, but also creation, repair, and community. There are enough dialogue choices that I felt like I was actually engaging with the characters, who all have their own thing going on, and you're even given some choices about who you can hang out with or where you go next. Some choices will give you a deeper engagement with the story and some just add further texture to this world.

Because it's a story more than a game, you can explore the environment and talk to the people you meet and accomplish tasks you're assigned, but it generally plays out the same regardless of your choices. There aren't any puzzles to solve except for the mystery of wtf is going on, and you'll do most of that on your own time.

The stylized art contributes to the mystery because you'll want to know more, but can't. You view this world from a set distance and because you can't zoom in to inspect the details, there's a kind of remove to it, like you're in a movie and just have to go where it takes you. It's best experienced in a dark room because it's literally too dark to see if there's any light around you.

The story is messy, with the past sliding through the present, and many questions are left unanswered as you attempt to deliver some antiques to an address you can't find. You start out with Conway, a big rectangle of a man, and his old dog, who you can name Blue or Homer—I went with Homer—and along the way you meet people who join you and bring their talents and troubles with them.

The dialogue between the characters slowly reveals their histories and concerns, and at times you can even talk to the dog as a way to talk yourself through what you're thinking. The dog doesn't talk back, but all the other characters have distinct personalities, and I felt like I was building real conversations—and relationships—between them through my choices.

However, I had a real problem with something that happened about halfway through the game that made me feel used, and it colored the rest of the play for me. I could have just stopped there, at the end, and parted with it unhappy, but I couldn't shake the feeling I was missing something and so the next night I started it up again and gave it a second chance, with Blue.

I still have a big issue with that aspect of the game (it involves alcohol, an alcoholic, and a choice that isn't a choice), but my second playthrough picked up a lot of things I didn't see the first time, and I'm glad I gave it a second try. It's definitely a unique story, filled with wondrous things.

Recommended, probably, if you like worldbuilding, games with low stakes—you can't really make mistakes here, though I somehow managed—interesting characters, found family, and a world that's punched through with mysteries: abandoned mines, hidden caves, a moldy computer, an underground river, and of course the secret highway—Kentucky Route Zero.

I've got content notes down below, feel free to ask me for more details. I played this on my Android tablet through my Netflix subscription.

Now for my chronological thoughts as I was playing. Vague spoilers for the game throughout.

Homer )

Blue )

Contains: (metaphorical) amputation (maybe); alcohol and alcoholism; debt, foreclosure; dementia and the impending loss of an old friend; repeated references to the death of a child; dead horses, on screen; an old dog who has seen better days but keeps on seeing them; some sounds (mainly discordant electronic ones) made me very anxious, but there's nothing abrupt, loud, or jump-scary.

Accessibility: The game has white text on a black background, which you can't change, but you can change the size of the text and remove some glitch effects. You also can control FPS on the video and turn on captions for the audio.

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:50 pm
sage: image of the word "create" in orange on a white background. (create)
[personal profile] sage
books (De Nicola et al, Ben-Ghiat, Michelson, Thomson) )

healthcrap
The eye is gradually getting better but is still semi-borked. cut for mention of weight loss & nausea ) Also, I have some pain in the ass neighbors across the street who stay on their front porch day and night, talking nonstop en español, which is just on the edge of what I can't, at speed, distance, and through walls, understand. Though my brain keeps trying. Annnnd it all interfered badly with my sleep Sunday night. (I had to dig up my earplugs and I was literally *sweating* with aggravation.) OTOH, they have sort of respected quiet hours since late Monday. Trouble is, since the weekend, I'm not sleeping til after 4am now, even with it quiet. Even with going to bed at 9 and trying to read myself to sleep like usual. It's awful. I've already got a sleep disorder. I don't need this on top of it. /extended whine

yarning
Finished the calico cat stitch scarf, made a second one, sold it, and started finished a shorter one (~68-72 inches) in black (instead of taupe), cream, and orange. more yarning )

#resist
Nothing national scheduled yet. Mobilize has lots of small local things on their calendar, though.

I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333
mific: (dragon's eye)
[personal profile] mific posting in [community profile] fanart_recs
Fandom: Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Legolas
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: traditional art (watercolours)
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: mikhalson on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A lovely watercolour of Legolas in the woods. I like the delicate colours, and the second photo with the beam of light really brings out the forest around him.
Link: Forest prince in the cradle of his kingdom

Babylon 5 fic: Dedicated

Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:03 am
sholio: (B5-station)
[personal profile] sholio
More B5 fic! This is one that I wrote some time ago, but haven't posted mostly because I was completely stuck for a title, until the right one fell into my lap. (I'm honestly delighted with how the titles for this little series have been working out; they're coming out so nicely multi-layered.)

Dedicated (1600 wds, gen, mostly G'Kar)

This is a follow-up to Devotional, the one I wrote a while back in which Londo reads G'Kar's book, post-canon. When I wrote that, I liked the idea that G'kar at some point gets a chance to read Londo's annotations in his book ... so that's what this is.

Drawesome days 9-20

Oct. 22nd, 2025 09:31 am
mific: (Art brushes pencils)
[personal profile] mific
More prompt-combo art from the [community profile] drawesome Drawtober challenge. The pics are all made in Procreate - you can click on each one for the full-sized art.

Captain Haddock's Favourite Recipe - prompts "captain's favourite" & "recipe" (fandom: Tintin)
Soup is the captain's favourite recipe... usually.

Ice Dragons Against a Wispy Sky - prompts: "dragons", "ice" & "wisp" (original work)

Four Ways To Eat an Egg - prompts: "propped up", "glitter", "flat" & "squashed" (original work)

Stranded - prompts: "desert ruin", "flutter" & "daydream" (Stargate Atlantis)

They huddled in the shelter of the ruins, the Stargate dead behind them, useless with its broken DHD.
John held Rodney close to him, feeling Rodney's rapid pulse flutter under his hand, and dreamed of rescue.

runpunkrun: Dana Scully reading Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' in the style of a poster you'd find in your school library, text: Read. (reading)
[personal profile] runpunkrun
Published in 2010, updated with a new preface in 2020, and still very much worth reading in 2025. As Alexander says in the new preface:
In many respects, the core thesis of this book is more relevant today than it was ten years ago. It is now easier to see the patterns, the cycles, the predictable rhetoric, and the ways in which systems of racial and social control adapt, morph, rebound, and are reborn.
Alexander argues that the criminal justice system, specifically through the War on Drugs, perpetuates a racial hierarchy that's replaced Jim Crow as the dominant system of control over people—especially men—of color, just as Jim Crow once emerged to perform many of the same functions as slavery.

She briefly reviews the history of racialized social control in the United states, describes the structure of mass incarceration with a focus on the War on Drugs, looks at the role of race in the U.S. criminal justice system, considers how the caste system operates once people are released from prison, explores the many parallels between mass incarceration and Jim Crow, and reflects on what acknowledging the presence of the New Jim Crow means for the future of civil rights advocacy.

It's a moving, well-developed argument written in plain language, and if you're up for it here in the midst of the ever increasing horrors, I highly recommend it. Be sure to get the 10th Anniversary Edition.

2549 / Fic - The Pitt

Oct. 20th, 2025 08:21 pm
siria: (the pitt - dr robby swag)
[personal profile] siria
Bee's K-N-E-E-S
The Pitt | Jack/Robby | ~500 words | For [personal profile] sheafrotherdon

(Also on AO3)

Jack, Robby, and the NYT Spelling Bee. )
sholio: murderbot group from episode 10 (Murderbot-family1)
[personal profile] sholio
Yet another instance of the Whumptober prompts basically being used for creative inspiration, but not really whump as such.

I feel this works equally well for TV-verse (future) or bookverse (probably post-System Collapse, but it could be somewhere between Fugitive Telemetry and Network Effect).

No. 20: "That's New."
Symptomatic | Fancy Event | Resignation

450 wds under the cut )
sholio: aged sepia paper with printed text saying "If undelivered, return to Air Ministry, London" (Biggles-london air ministry)
[personal profile] sholio
I return to Whumptober! Obviously the days are completely off at this point, but I'm doing a bit of catch-up.

No. 13: “How dull is it to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished.”
Never Enough | Insignia | Forced Retirement

Biggles & EvS, late in canon (600 wds)
Also posted on Tumblr.

600 wds under the cut )
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