maharetr

DVDs

Ella Enchanted - Very pretty reworking of some of the fairy tale tropes, especially focused on the fickleness of fairy gifts and human nature. There are some cringy scenes, and I really really struggle with the pushing of the agenda finding a perfect ever after partner is a thing that teenage girls/young women should be looking for (and yes, a little bit there is that for the young man, but he seemed that bit older). I'm dithering on giving this one away, or whether I would watch it again (will check with youngest). 7/10
Finding Neverland - Aii, movies that make me cranky. There is 'based on a true story', and then there is 'killing someone off at the wrong point in history so that you can make a scandal where there wouldn't have been one'. Supposedly about JM Barrie, his friendship with the Llewellyn-Davies family, and the writing of Peter Pan. I'm not intending to ever watch this one again, because shouting at the screen is not actually one of my hobbies, regardless of how much I indulge in it. 3/10
Hinterland, S1E1 "Devil's Bridge". Billed as a "Welsh Noir Crime Thriller", it wasn't surprising that this was on the dark side, and that the crime aspects opened with quite the nasty crime scene. There are a lot of dark elements in this story, and in some ways it isn't the opening murder that is the darkest part. I'm hoping that some of these will continue into the other episodes of the season, because there are historical crimes/events referenced that haven't been dealt with. I'm not going to specifically reference them here, because learning about them is an important part of the story, and wouldn't want to spoiler people who might be inclined to watch it.

Books

ICO: Castle in the Mist by Miyuki Miyabe. Novelisation of the computer game of the same name. Very pretty story, lush language and detailed set pieces. Pacing is a bit wonky, probably reflecting said origins as a computer game. Some fascinating world-building, but no idea how true it might be to the original game. 8/10
The Traitor and the Tunnel by Y S Lee. In this, the third of the four existing Mary Quinn mysteries, author Y S Lee has upped the ante, sending Mary in to the royal household to investigate a sequence of petty thefts. The story feels even more convoluted than the previous one that I read, which is quite the challenge. Characterisation is detailed and considered, the world-building and sense of place descriptive and evocative (although more so at the visual level than the tactile or olfactory), while the story thunders on at a great rate. An enjoyable read. 8/10
The Wicked and the Divine: Imperial Phase Part 1 by Gillen/McKelvie/Wilson/Cowles (Vol 5 of the trade paper back collections of the comics; issues 23-28). The conspiracy elements are ramping up, the remaining avatars are splitting in to camps, and the woman who might have been able to explain what was going on shared tidbits of information unevenly amongst her favourites before her death (in a previous volume) so no-one really has any idea of how bad things are going to get. The plot line of the coming Great Darkness gets a lot of attention, and the morality of the gods gets delved into. 9/10

I'll note that I'm not being particularly critical in my reading, or it might just be that these three really were all of a level. I enjoyed them, I'd probably be willing to reread them, but I'm not really feeling like recommending them all over the place. Except maybe the Lee, because actually that one has a lot of really interesting details that I don't see elsewhere (the graphic novels have a new conceit, but there are two many complex conspiracy theory comics out there for me to point to this one as special).

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Are you hungry like the wolf? Or do you have to install microwave ovens or walk like an Egyptian despite your baggy trousers?

It's come to my attention that 80's Inc are playing at the Carine on Saturday 21st - that's this Saturday. Earl of the golden voice and Louise of the magic flute and sax gave Swancon attendees an energetic show this year, now come and see the whole of this impressive 6 piece band strut their Best of British 80's stuff.

My mum was so impressed she's coming with us!

We've seen them play several times and they're terrific.

The 'best of the 80s
– UK' show will feature songs made famous by the likes of Simple Minds,
Queen, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Rick Astley, the Eurythmics, Depeche
Mode, Bananarama, Madness, The Clash, Wham , Tears For Fears and David
Bowie. Many other well known artists will be covered.

You can buy a ticky ticket here https://tickets.oztix.com.au/Default.aspx?eventId=77080

Band's website here - https://earlcolemusic.com/80s_inc/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107887485468519838860/stream/d69cdeb4-cb1a-4572-b58c-9a9e22fe664c and scroll down for my reviews of 80's Inc shows from the past performances.

Bidding is open over at

fandomlovespuertorico.

cap_ironman is accepting prompts for its holiday exchange community prompt pool. Read more here.

"Native-Land.ca: Our home on native land". Searchable map of North America's First Nations territories and pre-colonial histories. "There are over 630 different First Nations in Canada (and many more in the USA) and I am not sure of the right process to map territories, languages, and treaties respectfully - and I'm not even sure if it is possible to do respectfully. I am not at all sure about the right way to go about this project, so I would very much appreciate your input." (From

umadoshi)

Death of a Modern Wolf by J.B. MacKinnon for Hakai Magazine
Once feared, vilified, and exterminated, the wolves of Vancouver Island face an entirely different threat: our fascination, our presence, and our selfies.

This wolf essay is really worth a read. I've worked with similar problems here (and know many of the people interviewed for the article), and it really frustrating and sad. Fortunately, our local animal has so far come to a happier ending.

(On a related note, I'll post the quiz answers this afternoon.)

Hello, sweet swappers! As promised, SWAPS ARE HERE. SWAPS ARE SWAPPENING.

If you are new to swaps, or to Yuletide, and curious about what the heck I'm talking about, our brand-new 2017 FAQ is here! If you are old to swaps, read on!

( 2017 SCHEDULE! REMINDERS! SIGN-UPS! )

Questions? Comments? First check out the FAQ, and then, if that doesn’t sort you, feel free to comment either here or there, or email us at yuleswaps at gmail!

<3 K

Current Mood: swappy!

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(Canadian Edition)

Oh hey that's kind of cool: Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag symbol of change, acceptance for Indigenous Nova Scotians.

And they're adding an acknowledging the land bit in all their publications. Baby steps, but steps all the same. Good for you, Nova Scotia.

FUCK YOU, QUEBEC: Quebec set to pass law banning face coverings for anyone receiving public service — even a bus ride. (Couillard government will hold vote on Bill 62 aimed at establishing 'neutrality of the state.')

No, seriously, what is the matter with Quebec!? (I mean, I know the answer is "racism" but still, wow.)

Not Canadian, but cool: Black Panther trailer.

Conclusion: T'Challa's mom is SMOKING. I'm sorry. I'm shallow. (but she IS.)

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politics

I wrote a thing: It’s meta!Jensen Ackles/meta!Jared Padalecki, from The French Mistake. Your guess is as good as mine about where that came from.

( show me your teeth )

( Cannibalism )

( Laurie Penny essays )

( When Affirmative Action Was White )
( Business bad habits )

Crossposts: https://rivkat.livejournal.com/465810.html

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Arrrrrgh, so Ruby's orthotics appointment at PMH will not come up until next July.

I feel a strongly worded letter to the Minister of Health coming up.

Also, can anyone recommend a good, cheapish orthopedics place? The quotes from the private providers recommended by PMH were all around $500 and I was really thinking more like $100.

Tags:

nf1,
ruby

This post is for SIGN-UPS ONLY. If you have questions for the mods, please go here to ask them.

Okay, so this is how it works:

This challenge runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30th. The goal is to write something every day for thirty days. What that something is, is up to you. All fandoms or original work is welcome, all pairings, all genres. Sounds simple enough, right?

What YOU need to do:

1. JOIN THE COMMUNITY. I cannot emphasize this enough. Sometime between October 1 and October 30, you need to join the comm. Any attempts to join the comm after October 30th (U.S.) will not be accepted. Sign ups by people who have not joined the community will not be tracked.

2. COMMENT TO THIS POST. Make a comment to this post with your daily word commitment. Minimum commitment is 100 words per day, every day, for 30 days. There is no max, but try to keep it real.

Reminder: everything you do in this comm revolves around the subject line of your comment. You will need to go to the comm to input information as some LJ Styles do not show/give a subject line when commenting.

When commenting to this post, use the following format:

Subject: Sign Up: [username], [word count]

Example: Sign Up: Paleogymnast, 100

3. REPORT IN EVERY DAY. When the prompt post for the day goes up, comment with your word count for the day, in the required format (more on that later). If you like, you can also include a sample of your writing or a link to it, but you are not required to show your work.

And that's it. Your friendly neighborhood mods will take care of the rest, tracking your count and reporting days. At the end of the month, we'll post the (positive) results.

So come on! Sign up! Get your friends to sign up! You know you wanna! (*psst* It’ll be fun!!)

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Hello, everyone! It’s your new mod here returning to this wonderful challenge for my third year as mod! And it is time to get this comm in gear for another year.

I am pleased to announce the

mini_wrimo comm is open for business again! If you've wandered by and aren't sure what mini-nano is about, you can find our mission statement on our profile page, here.

What does this mean?

We are officially accepting new members again! (Remember you need to JOIN the comm before you can sign up!!)

Spread the word,

mini_wrimo is coming! This is fun! Exciting! November is our month to get that pesky writing project finished (or off to a good start). So sign up today (well as soon as I get the sign-up post up!) and tell all your friends and get them to join too. It will be awesome; I promise!

Sign-Ups begin! (Our sign up post will be going up shortly. And sign ups will continue until October 30th.)

Your lovely mod is also looking for some help with banners for this challenge! I can do them myself if I absolutely have to, but I would love, love love to get some help on the banner front. The more the merrier. The more help I get, the faster we will all get recognition and rewards at the end of the challenge! So, if you would like to help with banners for this challenge, they would be most welcome!

If you have any questions, ask them here (comment on this post) and we will do our best to answer them promptly. Please make sure you've read our profile info, as it may already have the info you need!

As I am only in my second year of modding this comm, I will have to ask you all to bear with me. I will try to get everything posted on time and in the manner to which you are all accustomed, but there is a learning curve, and I am still learning, so bear with me, and I promise not to make too many mistakes.

Welcome back! We are going to have a great mini_wrimo for 2017!

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Hello, beloved swappers! Don’t worry, swaps IS happening, as always! Sign-ups post will go up, ummmm, soon. I meant to kick us off around the beginning of the month, but #life #got overwhelmed by the idea of needing to rewrite this FAQ, tbh. Sorry!

This year! We have moved to Dreamwidth, because Yuletide has moved to Dreamwidth, and because it seems like most of our constituency has done the same. We will probably continue to crosspost to the Yuletide LJ community in some capacity, linking back to DW posts and providing a forum for LJ-only swappers to continue to ask questions and make contact when their yahoo emails inevitably fail. ;)

Tags will remain the same: “omnomnom” for candyswap, “who likes books” for bookswap, and “nice cuppa” for drinkswap (er, just as soon as I'm able to request their creation on DW). As on LJ, we strongly encourage swappers to track tags for the swaps they are interested in.

(Go to your DW Account Settings >> Notifications afterward, to make sure all the tags you wanted definitely took!)

And now…onward!

( FAQ! )

But seriously, when are sign-ups going to be open for Yuleswaps 2017?

Soon, I swear. Tonight, I hope, but realistically, might be more like tomorrow or Tuesday. I will get it together. I promise. Swaps will happen.

Happy swapping, swappers!!!!

Kat (and sleeps, in spirit)

Current Mood: festive

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I am so bad at this updating thing.

Between having a week off work and then getting sick (again), I've been spending a lot of time on the couch binge watching. Here is a list of tv stuffs I have been watching in the last month or so:

The Good Place: I find this fun, but now that I am caught up and have to wait for weekly episodes, each one feels short.

Glitch: season two - so good, so interesting, but now we are more into the SF of how people came back from the dead, and less into their personal histories.

Bojack Horseman: I watched the entire 4 seasons in just over a week. I'd assumed this was yet another mean and sarcastic cartoon for adults, but I ended up caring a lot about the characters, even the mean and sarcastic ones.

Star Trek: Discovery: I think I want to like this more than I actually do, but it doesn't matter as I am utterly smitten with Michael Burnham and want her to be happy, which means I'll probably keep watching forever.

Dance Academy: seasons one and two on Netflix, season three on iview - I find this silly show for teenagers about a Sydney ballet school surprisingly charming and easy to watch.

Grace and Frankie: Another show I didn't watch before and then devoured in a few sittings. I have loved Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda since I was about 12, and they are a delight to watch together. Some good stuff about ageing and being single older women. I find some of the story lines a bit clunky, but there is good natured humour to keep me watching.

American Vandal: Who drew the dicks? I wasn't sure about it but the mockumentary format really works, and the kids actually look and act like teenagers and their theories are so dumb that it's beautiful.

The Good Fight: A spin off from The Good Wife and does assume background knowledge for some plots and characters. I like Rose Leslie's character, strange to see her playing and American, but she does it well. It still does that annoying thing of ever so slightly fictionalising actual people and events and the episode with the character who was Not!Milo was one of the weakest.

I am frustrated with Netflix for making new shows I want to watch which only air weekly. I guess it's because they want to sell them to other networks, but it sucks.

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Of all the new-to-me books by Stephen King that I’ve read in the last year, this and the middle Dark Tower books are the ones I’ve re-read the most. I’ve re-read Duma Key three times in the last two years, and I can tell it’s a book I’ll keep coming back to. Here’s the first page:

How to draw a picture 

Start with a blank surface. It doesn't have to be paper or canvas, but I feel it should be white. We call it white because we need a word, but its true name is nothing. Black is the absence of light, but white is the absence of memory, the color of can't remember.

How do we remember to remember? That's a question I've asked myself often since my time on Duma Key, often in the small hours of the morning, looking up into the absence of light, remembering absent friends. Sometimes in those little hours I think about the horizon. You have to establish the horizon. You have to mark the white. A simple enough act, you might say, but any act that re-makes the world is heroic. Or so I’ve come to believe.

Imagine a little girl, hardly more than a baby. She fell from a carriage almost ninety years ago, struck her head on a stone, and forgot everything. Not just her name; everything! And then one day she recalled just enough to pick up a pencil and make that first hesitant mark across the white. A horizon-line, sure. But also a slot for blackness to pour through.

Still, imagine that small hand lifting the pencil ... hesitating ... and then marking the white. Imagine the courage of that first effort to re-establish the world by picturing it. I will always love that little girl, in spite of all she has cost me. I must. I have no choice. Pictures are magic, as you know.

On the one hand, this is my favorite prose passage in the book. On the other hand, the entire book has that same atmosphere and themes: the magic of art, the bleakness of loss, the terror of opening a door into darkness, human empathy and connections, and, always, how making a mark on paper is both simple and difficult, the dividing line between nothing and everything.

Unusually for Stephen King, Duma Key is set in on the Florida coast – an incredibly vivid and atmospheric Florida, which becomes enough of a character in its own right to make the book a very satisfying sea-soaked, sunset-lit Gothic.

I am pleased to say that this is one of the least gross King books I’ve read, bar a rotting ghost or two. It’s also one of the scariest, in a very classic “terrify by keeping the scary stuff mostly off-page” manner. The Big Bad is never quite seen directly, and is one of King’s creepiest and most mythically archetypal figures.

It’s also one of King’s most heartbreaking books. Almost all the characters are really likable, and if not likable, than still very human. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon opens with, The world had teeth and it could bite you with them any time it wanted. Duma Key is about the beauty and magic and redemption of the world, but also about the teeth.

It begins with a wealthy self-made man, Edgar Freemantle, getting into an absolutely horrific accident while visiting one of his job sites. He loses an arm and gets some brain damage; he’s barely out of the hospital before his marriage has ended, his life as he knew it has ended, and he’s on the brink of suicide.

After some talks with his psychiatrist, he ends up taking up art, which he’d enjoyed as a boy but never pursued, and moving to a cabin in the Florida Keys. There he meets a chatty guy, Wireman, who’s the caretaker for Elizabeth, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s – both of whom have pasts which slowly, heartbreakingly unfold over the course of the book. Edgar finds that painting is his new passion and genuine talent… but his paintings are odd. Eerie. And they can change things…

The first half of the book follows Edgar as he recovers from his accidents, explores his new talent and gains critical and commercial success, and loses some old friends and gains some new ones. The emotional and physical recovery from the accident and its fallout (which doesn't mean he'll ever be the same as he was before) was incredibly well-done and vivid. I don't know if it was technically correct, but it felt very believable.

In classic Gothic fashion, there’s creepy stuff going on simultaneously, but it’s comparatively subtle. I found this part of the book hugely enjoyable even though tons of scenes are just Edgar painting or eating sandwiches and shooting the breeze with Wireman. On the one hand, it probably could have been shorter. On the other hand, I could have happily gone on reading just that part forever.

And then the creepy stuff gets less subtle. A lot less subtle.

This has an unusual story arc. I’m putting that and other huge spoilers behind a cut, but I’ll also mention that even for King, the book has some very tragic aspects— ones which he’s explored before, but there’s one I’ll rot13.com (feed into the site to reveal) because it’s a specific thing that people may want to avoid. Gur cebgntbavfg’f qnhtugre vf xvyyrq. Fur’f na nqhyg ohg n lbhat bar (n pbyyrtr fghqrag) naq irel yvxnoyr, naq vg’f gur ovttrfg bs frireny thg-chapurf va gur fgbel.

If that’s not a dealbreaker, I suggest not reading the rest of the spoilers because even though if I’d sat down and tried to figure out where the story was going, I probably could have, the experience of reading it feels unpredictable; you can guess the outlines but a lot of the details are unexpected.

( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/1295791.html

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So I wasn't gone gone, but I did spend less time online, and read a lot, and I think that settled me out a bit?

My conclusion, after all that, is that Discord and I are not mixy things. I keep picking fights on it, and it's not a good look, and I should just... not. (Nenya: "You pick fights on tumblr at the time!" Me: "But I MEAN to pick fights on tumblr; they just sort of happen on Discord.") Since I don't have the bandwidth for tumblr (fights or no fights), my ip is blocked on irc, and I don't understand twitter, I'm going to try to post more here. Hooray! (And since the site went to HTTPS, I don't get randomly logged out any more! Double Hooray!)

I mean to do a picture post soon too.

TV Watched:
Also think I need to not watch Star Trek Discovery right now. I can't add "and Starfleet sucks" to my list of problems this year.

Watched the new episode of Legends of Tomorrow (3x01) and enjoyed having my silly show back. I think that they made the Legends look worse than they (usually) are for effect, and I'm wondering what Rip's DEAL is, but yay! Silly show back! Now we just need to finish getting the band back together.

Movies Watched (mostly as perspective yuletide offers):
Hidden Figures (2016), which was not as good as the book, had enough NASA over-simplification to make my eye twitch, and really didn't need Kevin Costner in it that much, if at all, BUT was otherwise delightful. It's hard to say no to a movie whose premise is "Woman walks into room and does math, everyone cheers!" I liked the differences in approach of the three main characters, their interactions and friendships, and how they each figured out how to get through. Also: SPACE!

The Big Country (1958), which was the first Gregory Peck western I've seen where he didn't try to rape anyone, and therefore the best of the three. Otherwise it didn't blow me a way. The filming was gorgeous, and he was pretty slashy with Charlton Heston, but the romances were a bit flat, and the feud that drove the storyline was predictable (though a step up from The Yearling with Righteous Poverty vs Unrighteous Poverty, but isn't everything a step up from The Yearling?) Anyway, nice to have that man's face on my screen again.

Moonlight (2016), since Nenya hadn't seen it. Perfect. Beautiful. Loved it all over again. Amusing cast overlap with Hidden Figures.

Books read (I keep missing Reading Wednesday, so here we go):
Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman by Cathy Wilkerson
Reading this back to back with Assata, one couldn't help but notice that this was longer than it needed to be, but on the other hand, I'm young enough to have appreciated the context Wilkerson provided. I also appreciated the constant call backs in how she talked about her thinking at the time, and what allowed her and blocked her from seeing the flaws in it. It gave a really good read on what it felt like to be in a cult, and how Wilkerson emotionally progressed to the point where she needed to be in one. Also why she left and how that felt.

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett, narrated by David Colacci
Absolutely fascinating read. The author is largely pulling from the published accounts (plus ship's logs) of the voyages, but tells the stories well, and ads in great biological context to the adventure story. The contrast between the two groups of shipwreck victims was fascinating, and I love all the details of how one group was able to build things and prosper (though poor seals).

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, narrated by Paul Ansdell
Solid ghost story. I enjoyed listening to it as the narrator was very good.

Her Every Wish (The Worth Saga #1.5) by Courtney Milan
I was like, That's it! I've had a day! I'm reading a romance novel. And this was a good romance novel. I liked the heroine's determination to make her plan work, and her conflict with the hero was believable and came to a reasonable resolution, as did the plot. It didn't on the whole have any of the delight that I associate with Milan well done. I miss the Brothers Sinister series.

Me Sexy: An Exploration of Native Sex and Sexuality edited by Drew Hayden Taylor
I really enjoyed this. I loved how varied the essays included were, and especially that it included three queer authors all with very different perspectives. I liked the language lessons, and the essays that dealt with the effects settlers had on the different cultures. It was very well put together, informative, and often funny. I probably could have lived without the Boyden essay. I often don't get his writing.

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Super cute middle grade book about a 4th grader who accidentally starts a library out of her locker, and then ends up taking a stand on freedom of speech. It was very sweet and quite funny, and most of the kids actually sounded like they were 10-11. It was probably a touch didactic, but not annoyingly so.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kmmerer
Loved this book. Loved the combination of cultural history and beliefs, personal experience and science. Loved the compassion and insight of the storytelling. Loved the descriptions of plantlife in all the places she'd lived and loved. Loved the ideas, and proposed solutions. Need to read again soon.

Did Not Finish:
Legacy (The Sharing Knife #2) by Lois McMaster Bujold
I read two hundred pages of this and realised that I didn't actually care, skimmed to the end and sent it back to the library. I enjoyed the first one a fair bit, so I'm not sure from whence my apathy about this one, but I sure wasn't invested in a story that should have been my jam. Oh well.

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
Listened to a hour and a bit of the audiobook, and was pretty put off, basically. The narrator was overacting, but mostly it was so dreary and had some really odd fatphobia stuff. I'm... probably missing the point.

Ice Diaries: An Antarctic Memoir by Jean McNeil
I'm 100 pages in. I've been 100 pages in for... a while. The writing itself is gorgeous and insightful, but I'm just not invested in this woman's life. Back to the library it goes.

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I missed the Yuletide sign up.

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yuletide

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Femslash Exchange 2017 is open! The original fiction stories look especially tempting; also, there's Jane Eyre/Helen Burns. Off to read my gift story (resistance fighter/glamorous '40s singer) now!

Also, have two cats hugging:

Crossposts: https://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/1295491.html

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American politics:
Pull The Football - Save the World
(Even if you're not American, spreading the word seems like a good idea.)

Rebecca Solnit on Harvey Weinstein, Hillary Clinton, and Blaming Women for the Acts of Men. Or, An Incomplete List of Things That Are Not Men's Fault.
(I have spoken. Which I do. Which is one of my faults; I am crafting an apology for that out of dynamite and backhoes which will be ready presently.)

Fandom:
Highlander Secret Sants Sign Ups!
(Open through the 15th)

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politics

Culture consumed

But then I ask myself:

This year Swanconners saw the duo, now see the whole band!

Mostly Links

Yuleswaps 2017: SIGN-UPS ARE OPEN. Stop, Drop, and Swap!

is catwaxing on cbc

Reading the News

New story and nonfiction

orthotics

2017 Signups!

2017 Welcome and Questions

Yuleswaps: Frequently Asked Questions [as of: October 2017]

media consumed

. . . so like:

Duma Key, by Stephen King

Back, Media Reviews, Plans

Damnit

So, small social behaviour tip for anyone who might need it:

Also, have some brighter things

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