Quantum Bang is live
Jun. 1st, 2025 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starwatcherFor those who don't know, Quantum Bang is a super-sized version of Big Bang (fic productions, not the TV show). Stories are written in a variety of fandoms, and most are epic in length, with a number of art illustrations. Some will eventually appear on AO3, but some remain only on the QB site.
For the next two weeks, two (or sometimes three) stories will be posted each day. Here's a list of the titles, and what fandom is represented, that will be posted.
https://quantumbang.org/2025-posting-schedule/
Every year I tell myself to let people know, and every year I fritter away the time. This year, I'm finally taking a minute to actually make a post. And if you don't see anything that piques your interest, click on the Fiction Index to check out stories from the past six years.
Happy reading!
Television and Book Reports...
Jun. 1st, 2025 05:31 pmshadowkatHaven't accomplished much this weekend. It's been cool, and mostly overcast anyhow. I did spend a lot of time looking out on the treetops outside my living room window, and listening to actor podcasts.
The news, sigh. I don't know about you? But it is depressing me. And kind of makes me route for a sizable meteor, a tornado, or a green dragon to take out Washington, DC. Never felt that way before. I'm actually terrified of reading the news. Is it just me or has the world just gotten scarier since technology took off? Bad techies. Life would have been so much better if we paid techies and marketing folks fifty cents an hour or very little at all, and sanitation workers, tree planters, forest rangers, and climate change scientist more.
Reviews
1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler : I finished this on Friday. It took me forever, and I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it now? It's a science fiction novel about the consequences of climate change, with the federal government selling off lands to corporations resulting in societal collapse in the year 2025. A group of hardy and diverse souls decide to walk north to find land, jobs, or a place to live and pick up people along the way. Butler focuses on community building and kindness of strangers. While there is violence earlier in the novel, towards the end, it is less so.
The novel ends in the year 2027, and the next one Parable of the Talents begins in 2032, with flashbacks.
There's a romance, between the 18 year old heroine and a fifty-seven year old man in the novel that I found kind of odd, considering I'm fifty-eight.
Also the novel was published in 1992, and takes place in 2025-2027, so...
Some of the things in the novel she gets right about the future - we do have the beginnings of climate change. California is suffering from heat waves and wild fires. We do have an insane federal government that is trying to cater to corporations. What we don't quite have yet is slave labor, keep in mind this is Octavia Butler - and most of her novels tended to focus on slave labor, mainly because she was an African-American Female Science Fiction Writer in the 20th Century. Also, Butler doesn't quite understand state government. So, she gets an alarming amount right, but also quite a bit wrong, which gives me hope at least, if only a smattering.
It's a scarier book now than I think it was when it was originally published. And perhaps a more timely one. I recommend but with the caveat that it is unnerving, and disturbing in spots. I have the sequel, but am taking a break from it. It was slow going. I may like it once the current administration in DC is gone. Not sure I can read more of it now - hits a little too close to home and I'm terrified enough by the news.
2. Murderbot - started watching on Apple + and it's better than expected. It seems to follow the novels rather closely and Alexander Starsgaard is pitch perfect casting for the Murderbot. It's funny in places and charming in others, just like the novellas were. Murderbot is adapted from the novella All Systems Collapse along with the other novellas in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, which were initially published as e-books and audio books several years ago.
It has a widely diverse cast, and focuses on a group of hippie research scientists/geologists who purchase a cheap refurbished security protocol bot to take with them to a planet for a research expedition. The Corporations who control the rim planets they are visiting, require that they take a bot with them, so they take the cheapest available, Murderbot.
Murderbot - which is what the Bot calls itself, the government name is security unit, has hacked into its own system and basically watches television most of the time, when it doesn't save the stupid humans. We see most everything from its perspective. It has a rather funny running commentary, and we get parodies of space operas as the television shows it's become invested in.
(Murderbot reminds me uncomfortably of AI, to be honest. ( Read more... )
3. Andor S2 - I've seen one episode. It was good. Took a little while to get into, but well paced. It kind of throws you into the heart of the action without much lead in. And much like the previous season, there is a lot of hoping about between story threads and characters. Took me a little while to figure out where the characters were and what was going on.
It's a series about the beginning of the Rebellion against the evil Corporate Empire, and I'm not certain it's the best series to watch now?
Hits a little close to home in spots. Such as the bad guys discussing how they need to get a mining planet that specializes in silk clothing, to provide them with it's rick minerals for energy and fusion. The trick is to get the people to rebel, and they can invade and take over. And I'm thinking, this reminds me a lot of what is currently happening in the US government at the moment. I think I would have enjoyed this episode more if Kamala Harris had won or Obama was still President, just saying. As it is, it was giving me the heebie jeebies.
I do like the series, however, so will continue with it.
***
Currently reading:
* Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which is about an old cleaning lady at an aquarium who befriends a giant Pacific Octopus. I was told this was a happy book, or comfortable and funny read by folks online. They asked to rec happy or funny or comfort reads, and a lot of folks rec'd this one.
( Read more... )
On the Kindle.
* The Fair Folk by Su Bristow
"It’s 1959. To eight-year-old Felicity—who lives on a dying farm in England—the fairies in the woods have much more to offer than the people in her everyday life. As she becomes more rooted in their world, she learns that their magic is far from safe. Their queen, Elfrida, offers Felicity a gift. But fairy bargains are never what they seem. As an adult, Felicity leaves for university. Unfortunately, books are not her only company at Elfrida and Hobb—the queen’s constant companions—wield the ability to appear at any time, causing havoc in her new friendships and love life. Desperate, Felicity finally begins to explore the true nature of the Fair Folk and their magic. Her ally, the folklorist Professor Edgerley, asks, “What do they want from you?” The answer lies in the distant past, and in the secrets of her own family. As the consequences of the “gift” play out, Felicity must draw on her courage to confront Elfrida, and make the right choice. Interwoven with traditional stories and striking characters, The Fair Folk poses questions about how we care for our children, our land, and our love-hate relationship with what we desire most."
Reading in large paperback. Well-written and deliciously creepy in places.
*. And almost done with the audio book version of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the sequel to The Six of Crows.
( Read more... )
Heavily references Slavic and Eastern European Myths and Folklore, which I find nicely innovative, most things are Western European Folklore.
The news, sigh. I don't know about you? But it is depressing me. And kind of makes me route for a sizable meteor, a tornado, or a green dragon to take out Washington, DC. Never felt that way before. I'm actually terrified of reading the news. Is it just me or has the world just gotten scarier since technology took off? Bad techies. Life would have been so much better if we paid techies and marketing folks fifty cents an hour or very little at all, and sanitation workers, tree planters, forest rangers, and climate change scientist more.
Reviews
1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler : I finished this on Friday. It took me forever, and I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it now? It's a science fiction novel about the consequences of climate change, with the federal government selling off lands to corporations resulting in societal collapse in the year 2025. A group of hardy and diverse souls decide to walk north to find land, jobs, or a place to live and pick up people along the way. Butler focuses on community building and kindness of strangers. While there is violence earlier in the novel, towards the end, it is less so.
The novel ends in the year 2027, and the next one Parable of the Talents begins in 2032, with flashbacks.
There's a romance, between the 18 year old heroine and a fifty-seven year old man in the novel that I found kind of odd, considering I'm fifty-eight.
Also the novel was published in 1992, and takes place in 2025-2027, so...
Some of the things in the novel she gets right about the future - we do have the beginnings of climate change. California is suffering from heat waves and wild fires. We do have an insane federal government that is trying to cater to corporations. What we don't quite have yet is slave labor, keep in mind this is Octavia Butler - and most of her novels tended to focus on slave labor, mainly because she was an African-American Female Science Fiction Writer in the 20th Century. Also, Butler doesn't quite understand state government. So, she gets an alarming amount right, but also quite a bit wrong, which gives me hope at least, if only a smattering.
It's a scarier book now than I think it was when it was originally published. And perhaps a more timely one. I recommend but with the caveat that it is unnerving, and disturbing in spots. I have the sequel, but am taking a break from it. It was slow going. I may like it once the current administration in DC is gone. Not sure I can read more of it now - hits a little too close to home and I'm terrified enough by the news.
2. Murderbot - started watching on Apple + and it's better than expected. It seems to follow the novels rather closely and Alexander Starsgaard is pitch perfect casting for the Murderbot. It's funny in places and charming in others, just like the novellas were. Murderbot is adapted from the novella All Systems Collapse along with the other novellas in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, which were initially published as e-books and audio books several years ago.
It has a widely diverse cast, and focuses on a group of hippie research scientists/geologists who purchase a cheap refurbished security protocol bot to take with them to a planet for a research expedition. The Corporations who control the rim planets they are visiting, require that they take a bot with them, so they take the cheapest available, Murderbot.
Murderbot - which is what the Bot calls itself, the government name is security unit, has hacked into its own system and basically watches television most of the time, when it doesn't save the stupid humans. We see most everything from its perspective. It has a rather funny running commentary, and we get parodies of space operas as the television shows it's become invested in.
(Murderbot reminds me uncomfortably of AI, to be honest. ( Read more... )
3. Andor S2 - I've seen one episode. It was good. Took a little while to get into, but well paced. It kind of throws you into the heart of the action without much lead in. And much like the previous season, there is a lot of hoping about between story threads and characters. Took me a little while to figure out where the characters were and what was going on.
It's a series about the beginning of the Rebellion against the evil Corporate Empire, and I'm not certain it's the best series to watch now?
Hits a little close to home in spots. Such as the bad guys discussing how they need to get a mining planet that specializes in silk clothing, to provide them with it's rick minerals for energy and fusion. The trick is to get the people to rebel, and they can invade and take over. And I'm thinking, this reminds me a lot of what is currently happening in the US government at the moment. I think I would have enjoyed this episode more if Kamala Harris had won or Obama was still President, just saying. As it is, it was giving me the heebie jeebies.
I do like the series, however, so will continue with it.
***
Currently reading:
* Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which is about an old cleaning lady at an aquarium who befriends a giant Pacific Octopus. I was told this was a happy book, or comfortable and funny read by folks online. They asked to rec happy or funny or comfort reads, and a lot of folks rec'd this one.
( Read more... )
On the Kindle.
* The Fair Folk by Su Bristow
"It’s 1959. To eight-year-old Felicity—who lives on a dying farm in England—the fairies in the woods have much more to offer than the people in her everyday life. As she becomes more rooted in their world, she learns that their magic is far from safe. Their queen, Elfrida, offers Felicity a gift. But fairy bargains are never what they seem. As an adult, Felicity leaves for university. Unfortunately, books are not her only company at Elfrida and Hobb—the queen’s constant companions—wield the ability to appear at any time, causing havoc in her new friendships and love life. Desperate, Felicity finally begins to explore the true nature of the Fair Folk and their magic. Her ally, the folklorist Professor Edgerley, asks, “What do they want from you?” The answer lies in the distant past, and in the secrets of her own family. As the consequences of the “gift” play out, Felicity must draw on her courage to confront Elfrida, and make the right choice. Interwoven with traditional stories and striking characters, The Fair Folk poses questions about how we care for our children, our land, and our love-hate relationship with what we desire most."
Reading in large paperback. Well-written and deliciously creepy in places.
*. And almost done with the audio book version of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the sequel to The Six of Crows.
( Read more... )
Heavily references Slavic and Eastern European Myths and Folklore, which I find nicely innovative, most things are Western European Folklore.
RIP Peter David & Loretta Swift, and hands off the green dragon
May. 31st, 2025 05:49 pmshadowkatThe news keeps pissing me off. I need to stay away from it for a while - and stop sneaking peaks at it from time to time. There's apparently a lot of protests planned today in NYC, and a lot happened on the 27th. I'm no where near them - I live in largely residential area, with lots of trees outside my window and I work at the tip of the Financial District a stone's throw from Battery Park and the Ferries. The protests are in Midtown and the upper West and East Sides of Manhattan, where the tourists and the rich live.
Some sad news, just learned legendary comic book writer Peter David died at the age of 68. While writing a series of Spike comics for IDW, he coined or gave the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series character of Spike, his last name. William Pratt - it was a two-pronged inside joke. Prat means fool in British, and it is also the real name of screen legend Boris Karloff - William Pratt, who was a British Gentleman known for playing monsters. The television creators of the series loved the idea so much they kept it. But David is actually best known for his award winning runs writing for Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, X-men, and various others.
( Read more... )
He died of various long-running health issues, and complications resulting from kidney disease.
In addition, as many may already know, Loretta Swift dies at 87. Best known for the role of Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan from M*A*S*H. She was in the pilot of Cagney and Lacey, but they wouldn't let her out of her MASH contract, so the part was replaced by Sharon Glass.
**
Found on FB, not sure if it will post or not.
If you can't see it? It's an ad in the want ads of a paper, that states,
( Read more... )
Helen Gilbert of Unitarian Universalist Society: Nooo don't hurt the green dragon.
Me: Better yet? Can we convince the green dragon to fly over the White House and/or Marlago Bay instead? (With the caveat that the military refuse to kill it. Hands off the dragon, folks.)
Off to bed. I meant to write reviews, but I don't feel like it. Here's another picture instead. Hopefully it will post, no promises.
Some sad news, just learned legendary comic book writer Peter David died at the age of 68. While writing a series of Spike comics for IDW, he coined or gave the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series character of Spike, his last name. William Pratt - it was a two-pronged inside joke. Prat means fool in British, and it is also the real name of screen legend Boris Karloff - William Pratt, who was a British Gentleman known for playing monsters. The television creators of the series loved the idea so much they kept it. But David is actually best known for his award winning runs writing for Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, X-men, and various others.
( Read more... )
He died of various long-running health issues, and complications resulting from kidney disease.
In addition, as many may already know, Loretta Swift dies at 87. Best known for the role of Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan from M*A*S*H. She was in the pilot of Cagney and Lacey, but they wouldn't let her out of her MASH contract, so the part was replaced by Sharon Glass.
**
Found on FB, not sure if it will post or not.
If you can't see it? It's an ad in the want ads of a paper, that states,
( Read more... )
Helen Gilbert of Unitarian Universalist Society: Nooo don't hurt the green dragon.
Me: Better yet? Can we convince the green dragon to fly over the White House and/or Marlago Bay instead? (With the caveat that the military refuse to kill it. Hands off the dragon, folks.)
Off to bed. I meant to write reviews, but I don't feel like it. Here's another picture instead. Hopefully it will post, no promises.
Question a Day Memage - May and a bit of June...
May. 31st, 2025 01:13 pmshadowkat28. When was the last time you wore flip-flops (Zories/thongs)?
I don't tend to like them? They hurt my feet. I have high arches (kind of like Barbie), and I live in NYC which just....isn't conducive for thongs. Folks wear them. But city living and thongs don't quite go hand in hand. This is for folks who drive everywhere or live near the beach.
That said, I have a pair. And I last wore it? At the beach in Martha's Vineyard over seven years ago.
29. Do you like mustard? What type, and what do you put it on?
Yes. Grey Poupon or hot mustard. Although depends. I prefer fries with mustard. And mustard on a hamburger, hot dog, or in potato salad. I am not a mayo fan.
30. It’s the International Day of the Potato! What is your favourite way to eat potatoes?
My mother's potato salad, which had some mayo, mustard, and sweet pickles along with onion.
Also fried - either french fries or hash browns
31. It’s Clint Eastwood’s birthday – have you seen any of his films? Do you have a favourite?
Way too many. Hmm...The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or maybe Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley McLaine.
JUNE:
( Read more... )
Now, I'm ahead. Yay.
**
While listening to Schmactors this morning (they were discussing Madonna's music for some reason or other...) and one of the actors loved Madonna's music and the other didn't. And it reminded me of how I'd gotten into fights years ago with people over Madonna. I'm not involve with either individual any longer. One moved away and I barely see them on Facebook, the other, alas is dead (may they rest in peace). We didn't break up over Madonna. So no worries on that front.
Guess which side of the fight I was on?
( Read more... )
I don't tend to like them? They hurt my feet. I have high arches (kind of like Barbie), and I live in NYC which just....isn't conducive for thongs. Folks wear them. But city living and thongs don't quite go hand in hand. This is for folks who drive everywhere or live near the beach.
That said, I have a pair. And I last wore it? At the beach in Martha's Vineyard over seven years ago.
29. Do you like mustard? What type, and what do you put it on?
Yes. Grey Poupon or hot mustard. Although depends. I prefer fries with mustard. And mustard on a hamburger, hot dog, or in potato salad. I am not a mayo fan.
30. It’s the International Day of the Potato! What is your favourite way to eat potatoes?
My mother's potato salad, which had some mayo, mustard, and sweet pickles along with onion.
Also fried - either french fries or hash browns
31. It’s Clint Eastwood’s birthday – have you seen any of his films? Do you have a favourite?
Way too many. Hmm...The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or maybe Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley McLaine.
JUNE:
( Read more... )
Now, I'm ahead. Yay.
**
While listening to Schmactors this morning (they were discussing Madonna's music for some reason or other...) and one of the actors loved Madonna's music and the other didn't. And it reminded me of how I'd gotten into fights years ago with people over Madonna. I'm not involve with either individual any longer. One moved away and I barely see them on Facebook, the other, alas is dead (may they rest in peace). We didn't break up over Madonna. So no worries on that front.
Guess which side of the fight I was on?
( Read more... )
what walking?
May. 31st, 2025 01:59 amtwistedchickSometime during lockdown in the last four years, my arches fell. They had never been particularly high, but they felt fine in Birkies and so on. But now I am doing foot exercises to get them to show up at all, and if I don't it is really painful to walk any distance.
This cuts into my abiity to regain stamina and general fitness.
The exercises are starting to help significantly, so now all I need is a day or two without a major rainstorm or enough after a rainstorm that I won't be getting wet just by walking around near trees and bushes.
A friend told me that it takes at least 6 months to get one's energy back after COVID. Well, I was diagnosed Jan. 20 and it went for a couple of weeks actively and a few more overall. It took more time to be rid of the bad taste from the Pax than I expected. So I'm still within six months of it. I keep telling myself this.
The other thing that interferes with my health at the moment is variable tinitis, as in it comes and goes, and when it's there I have to find a soundscape in my CALM app that has that tone in it, so that the app's sounds distract me from the one inside my brain. Usually it works, but last night the inner sound had apparently retuned itself (autotune is the plague) and did not match anything on Calm except a wind in the trees, so I wasn't able to sleep, since the 'wind in pines' just didn't work. There is a downside to having perfect pitch and noticing when the inner-produced noises change.
This cuts into my abiity to regain stamina and general fitness.
The exercises are starting to help significantly, so now all I need is a day or two without a major rainstorm or enough after a rainstorm that I won't be getting wet just by walking around near trees and bushes.
A friend told me that it takes at least 6 months to get one's energy back after COVID. Well, I was diagnosed Jan. 20 and it went for a couple of weeks actively and a few more overall. It took more time to be rid of the bad taste from the Pax than I expected. So I'm still within six months of it. I keep telling myself this.
The other thing that interferes with my health at the moment is variable tinitis, as in it comes and goes, and when it's there I have to find a soundscape in my CALM app that has that tone in it, so that the app's sounds distract me from the one inside my brain. Usually it works, but last night the inner sound had apparently retuned itself (autotune is the plague) and did not match anything on Calm except a wind in the trees, so I wasn't able to sleep, since the 'wind in pines' just didn't work. There is a downside to having perfect pitch and noticing when the inner-produced noises change.
Confessions of a Theater Geek...
May. 30th, 2025 09:42 pmshadowkatHalf watching the West End Revival of Kiss Me Kate on Great Performances, and it's not very good. The one on National Theater Streaming is far better. Although the singer performing Lois Lane/Bianca is wonderful. And I like the intergrated casting. The difficulty with Kiss Me Kate is the misogynistic source material, and some of the Cole Porter songs do not date well, while others work quite well. Although the performances are quite good in places. And the guy who did the dance sequence for Too Darn Hot was a showstopper.
Yes, I am theater geek or a theater buff. Ask me about theater, and I can go on and on and on at length, with an almost encyclopedic knowledge. Same is true about television and film.
I fell in love with the theater in the fifth grade - when two tall black boys in a mostly white grade school in the 1970s put together a play as an alternative to playing baseball at recess. It was cold, and we had access to the gym. The play was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (actually twelve dwarves, we had a lot of folks involved). I was cast as one of the dwarves. I was a tall dwarf, but not that tall - since I was after all only eleven or twelve at the time. My first theater role was a dwarf. To understand how amusing that is? You need to know I was taller than everyone but the two kids directing the play. I think one of their names was DJ or TJ, can't remember. They were wonderful. Kind, smart, and a nice barrier against bullying. No one dared bully or tease me when they were present.
( Read more... )
Sorry for the tangent. Long way of explaining why I enjoy listening to actor podcasts.
Speaking of?
Schmactors is back - basically it's two character actors (James Marsters and his buddy, Mark Devine) from theater, television, voice, and film discussing you guessed it, theater, film, television and everything in between.
I have a fondness for character actors, I seldom love the leads. It's a problem, since it's hard to find anything that they are in. I think the reason is - that I was a character actor. I'm always crushing on actors that seem to only get a few roles, and everything else is hard to find.
I started watching Buffy because of Anthony Head, who I followed there from his previous role on VR5. I'd fallen in love with him - in the stage musical Chess, when he briefly took over his brother's role in the London run of the musical way back in 1988. I'd seen him perform it live - three rows from the stage, or maybe four rows. He blew me away when he sang Pity the Child in that run, and I was in love. (I took a course in London for two months - where we read plays, wrote reviews on the stage productions that we saw performed, and discussed them in detail.)
At any rate, it's getting late...so here's a picture that I painted of people I've seen on the subway, from memory, proof that the subway is perfectly safe. They are. Don't believe the idiots who say otherwise, they clearly don't live in New York.
[Note it won't last forever, because FB is quirky about its links.]
Yes, I am theater geek or a theater buff. Ask me about theater, and I can go on and on and on at length, with an almost encyclopedic knowledge. Same is true about television and film.
I fell in love with the theater in the fifth grade - when two tall black boys in a mostly white grade school in the 1970s put together a play as an alternative to playing baseball at recess. It was cold, and we had access to the gym. The play was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (actually twelve dwarves, we had a lot of folks involved). I was cast as one of the dwarves. I was a tall dwarf, but not that tall - since I was after all only eleven or twelve at the time. My first theater role was a dwarf. To understand how amusing that is? You need to know I was taller than everyone but the two kids directing the play. I think one of their names was DJ or TJ, can't remember. They were wonderful. Kind, smart, and a nice barrier against bullying. No one dared bully or tease me when they were present.
( Read more... )
Sorry for the tangent. Long way of explaining why I enjoy listening to actor podcasts.
Speaking of?
Schmactors is back - basically it's two character actors (James Marsters and his buddy, Mark Devine) from theater, television, voice, and film discussing you guessed it, theater, film, television and everything in between.
I have a fondness for character actors, I seldom love the leads. It's a problem, since it's hard to find anything that they are in. I think the reason is - that I was a character actor. I'm always crushing on actors that seem to only get a few roles, and everything else is hard to find.
I started watching Buffy because of Anthony Head, who I followed there from his previous role on VR5. I'd fallen in love with him - in the stage musical Chess, when he briefly took over his brother's role in the London run of the musical way back in 1988. I'd seen him perform it live - three rows from the stage, or maybe four rows. He blew me away when he sang Pity the Child in that run, and I was in love. (I took a course in London for two months - where we read plays, wrote reviews on the stage productions that we saw performed, and discussed them in detail.)
At any rate, it's getting late...so here's a picture that I painted of people I've seen on the subway, from memory, proof that the subway is perfectly safe. They are. Don't believe the idiots who say otherwise, they clearly don't live in New York.
[Note it won't last forever, because FB is quirky about its links.]
Forever Knight: FKFicFest 2025 (now releasing)
May. 29th, 2025 07:37 ambrightknightie in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomcalendar| FK Fic Fest 2025 |
fkficfest | FKFicFest A03 Collection
fkficfest '25 is releasing!We have 12 all-new Forever Knight fanfic stories this year. We're releasing one per day as long as they last to savor the goodness. So far, 4 are available to read! We're looking forward to 8 more!
Follow the reveals as they happen on our '25 AO3 sub-collection or DW community.
Do you remember Forever Knight (1992-1996) on CBS's "Crimetime After Primetime?" In local syndication? On the USA cable network or the original Sci-Fi Channel? DVDs? Streaming on Crackle, AppleTV, or Amazon? We still love our favorite vampire homicide cop and all his friends, enemies, lovers, coworkers, and car. Come play with us!
This and that and the other thing
May. 28th, 2025 06:01 pmshadowkatI woke up in a decent mood and started the day, happy and carefree - yet by the end of it? Grumpy. I think the world likes to chip away at us at times?
Also it's raining, and my right leg is bothering me again. It was fine this morning - more or less, but started bugging me again at lunch time. To cheer myself up - I got a discounted Grand Central mouse pad/post-card, and a NYC 2025 Guide Book (both discounted off by 20%). Also, got a matcha latte. (I'm in love with matcha lattes - with almond milk - they are unsweetened, have almost no calories, and healthy). Sitting at home now, with a heating pad on my back.
1. The Truth About Why You Keep Waking Up at 3AM
I've basically done everything that has been suggested. I'm working on the diet bit - because I think that may be a factor. I realized that my sleep deprivation over the years is most likely why I have some of the health issues that I currently have - well that and menopause and ceiliac disease are probably factors, plus genetics. Honestly there's never one solution or one cause, if there was, the pharmaceutical industry would be out of business.
2. My Buffy Re-Watch - has made me aware of a few things? I'm still in S2.
( Read more... )
3. I do not know what to make of Amanda Palmer. I tried to unsubscribe to her Patreon, but it keeps popping up in my inbox. And I keep deleting. And she keeps talking about how all she does is love, gets browbeaten by trolls, but fights back, and can't talk about what happened until the lawsuit is over. I feel sorry for her - she gets trolled, but I also think that she's been infected by Fame and can't let go of the addiction? What I don't get is why people troll her? I get the anger? But trolling solves little? We're all flawed, let people be.
4. Bono (U2) of all people gave me a smattering of hope today.
Bono on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Kimmel asks him where he stands on the Trump vs. Springsteen issue. He's of course in Springsteen's corner...yada yada yada. But what he says that gave me a smattering of hope is this: "I founded a non-profit bipartisan foundation called ONE and it is made up of a lot of conservative and highly religious people, Anglicans, Catholics, Fundamentalist Christians, etc and they are VERY angry about what the person they voted for is doing to their country and how he is dismantling various fundamental and important life saving aid programs such as US AID and the Peace Corps which have saved millions of lives from AIDS and other diseases and poverty around the world. Taking away programs of compassion and kindness - which are what America is all about. What we are about. So angry that trust me on this, they and we are about to make a lot of good trouble."
I can't emphasize this enough to anyone who stumbles upon my journal, there are numerous coalitions forming around the United States and Globally to fight this administration and it's project 2025 plan. And they are growing daily.
5. MTA vs. the Federal Government.
Tee Hee, the MTA is winning!
MTA: The Feds want us to give up congestion pricing and tell us how to control traffic and transportation in our city. But the Federal court prevented them from vindictively punishing us by removing Federal funding. We are not giving it up. Look here? The New York Times dug deep and proved it is working.
I feel sorry for the MTA, they are fighting everybody. Including idiotic talk radio hosts who think the subways are dangerous. They are not dangerous. I take the subways twice daily, five days a week and sometimes on weekends and to doctor's appointments, basically everywhere. They are safer than cars or buses. And far less stressful. Not to mention cheaper.
Very few people die on the subway. The worst thing I've seen on the subway was a man who was scarred from third degree burns on every inch of his body and begging for money. Also once during the pandemic - a homeless man with a knife. But we were perfectly safe - the conductor stopped the train, got us all off, and called for assistance at the next station.
Also it's raining, and my right leg is bothering me again. It was fine this morning - more or less, but started bugging me again at lunch time. To cheer myself up - I got a discounted Grand Central mouse pad/post-card, and a NYC 2025 Guide Book (both discounted off by 20%). Also, got a matcha latte. (I'm in love with matcha lattes - with almond milk - they are unsweetened, have almost no calories, and healthy). Sitting at home now, with a heating pad on my back.
1. The Truth About Why You Keep Waking Up at 3AM
I've basically done everything that has been suggested. I'm working on the diet bit - because I think that may be a factor. I realized that my sleep deprivation over the years is most likely why I have some of the health issues that I currently have - well that and menopause and ceiliac disease are probably factors, plus genetics. Honestly there's never one solution or one cause, if there was, the pharmaceutical industry would be out of business.
2. My Buffy Re-Watch - has made me aware of a few things? I'm still in S2.
( Read more... )
3. I do not know what to make of Amanda Palmer. I tried to unsubscribe to her Patreon, but it keeps popping up in my inbox. And I keep deleting. And she keeps talking about how all she does is love, gets browbeaten by trolls, but fights back, and can't talk about what happened until the lawsuit is over. I feel sorry for her - she gets trolled, but I also think that she's been infected by Fame and can't let go of the addiction? What I don't get is why people troll her? I get the anger? But trolling solves little? We're all flawed, let people be.
4. Bono (U2) of all people gave me a smattering of hope today.
Bono on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Kimmel asks him where he stands on the Trump vs. Springsteen issue. He's of course in Springsteen's corner...yada yada yada. But what he says that gave me a smattering of hope is this: "I founded a non-profit bipartisan foundation called ONE and it is made up of a lot of conservative and highly religious people, Anglicans, Catholics, Fundamentalist Christians, etc and they are VERY angry about what the person they voted for is doing to their country and how he is dismantling various fundamental and important life saving aid programs such as US AID and the Peace Corps which have saved millions of lives from AIDS and other diseases and poverty around the world. Taking away programs of compassion and kindness - which are what America is all about. What we are about. So angry that trust me on this, they and we are about to make a lot of good trouble."
I can't emphasize this enough to anyone who stumbles upon my journal, there are numerous coalitions forming around the United States and Globally to fight this administration and it's project 2025 plan. And they are growing daily.
5. MTA vs. the Federal Government.
Tee Hee, the MTA is winning!
MTA: The Feds want us to give up congestion pricing and tell us how to control traffic and transportation in our city. But the Federal court prevented them from vindictively punishing us by removing Federal funding. We are not giving it up. Look here? The New York Times dug deep and proved it is working.
I feel sorry for the MTA, they are fighting everybody. Including idiotic talk radio hosts who think the subways are dangerous. They are not dangerous. I take the subways twice daily, five days a week and sometimes on weekends and to doctor's appointments, basically everywhere. They are safer than cars or buses. And far less stressful. Not to mention cheaper.
Very few people die on the subway. The worst thing I've seen on the subway was a man who was scarred from third degree burns on every inch of his body and begging for money. Also once during the pandemic - a homeless man with a knife. But we were perfectly safe - the conductor stopped the train, got us all off, and called for assistance at the next station.
I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike
May. 28th, 2025 06:10 pmthe_shoshannaWhen I was ten years old, friends and I came back from seeing a James Bond movie and were playing at James Bond on our bikes, and I swerved too sharply, fell over, and broke my left leg. I broke both the fibia and the tibula, in fact, but they were clean breaks, very tidy. Hurt like screaming hell, though. As was the custom of the time I was in the hospital for several days and came out in a full-leg cast. My father, who lived some distance away, couldn’t get there right away and sent me a dozen roses in the hospital, which made the whole thing absolutely worth it; I had never felt so grown-up!
But that was the end of my bicycling career. For fifty years.
Now, however, I've moved to a small, mostly flat, navigable city, and I want to try getting back on that literal-not-proverbial bike! I fairly often have places to go and errands to run where driving feels silly but walking might take juuuuust too much time, and a bike seems like the obvious option. But do I want to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a new bike and run the risk that I won't enjoy it, or feel safely balanced after so long, or whatever, and will in fact end up not using it much? I do not.
Fortunately this city has a couple of nonprofit bike repairing and reselling organizations! So I stopped by one of them this afternoon and chatted with the head mechanic, and he picked out a bike for me from their (all donated) stock on hand, and we verified that it fits me. It needs some repair work and tuning up, which they will do over the next couple of weeks (him: "There's about six bikes ahead of you in line." me: "It's been fifty years, another two weeks is not a problem!"), and they asked for $125-$175, according to my ability to pay. I wasn't able to actually test-ride it, since it has no tires at the moment, but I was able to balance pretty well; I do feel pretty confident that I haven't forgotten how to ride a bike.
(And this time I hope to learn how to shift gears, too! Kid-me's bike was a three-speed and I just left it in second all the time.)
Now I just need to get a helmet -- which I do know to buy new/unused. And a lock. Whee!
But that was the end of my bicycling career. For fifty years.
Now, however, I've moved to a small, mostly flat, navigable city, and I want to try getting back on that literal-not-proverbial bike! I fairly often have places to go and errands to run where driving feels silly but walking might take juuuuust too much time, and a bike seems like the obvious option. But do I want to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a new bike and run the risk that I won't enjoy it, or feel safely balanced after so long, or whatever, and will in fact end up not using it much? I do not.
Fortunately this city has a couple of nonprofit bike repairing and reselling organizations! So I stopped by one of them this afternoon and chatted with the head mechanic, and he picked out a bike for me from their (all donated) stock on hand, and we verified that it fits me. It needs some repair work and tuning up, which they will do over the next couple of weeks (him: "There's about six bikes ahead of you in line." me: "It's been fifty years, another two weeks is not a problem!"), and they asked for $125-$175, according to my ability to pay. I wasn't able to actually test-ride it, since it has no tires at the moment, but I was able to balance pretty well; I do feel pretty confident that I haven't forgotten how to ride a bike.
(And this time I hope to learn how to shift gears, too! Kid-me's bike was a three-speed and I just left it in second all the time.)
Now I just need to get a helmet -- which I do know to buy new/unused. And a lock. Whee!