friend's feed

 On the life front, I'm furloughed but so far still employed. Can't say I mind that much tbh. It's been an awful year and I needed the break.

***

I leant my niece Leviathan Wakes a couple weeks ago, and she texted me two days later "do you have the next book?" So I leant her the next three books. Then she's on her own with getting them from the library. I checked out the audiobook and relistened to LW too, and I forgot how much I really love these.

Now when I first read The Expanse it was a few months before the show started. I read books 1-3 with watching the show in mind, but then as so often happens, it was a long enough break that I didn't end up watching the show. I also took a break before reading book 4 (I don't think 5 was out at the time, or it was coming out soon, or something?), and didn't get to book 4. This is a very common pattern for me with in progress series. 

Anyway. My reread of Leviathan Wakes got me all excited again and reminded me how good they are and how much they've shaped how I think about modern sci-fi. So I'm waiting on Calaban's War on audio from the library (because my niece has our hardback copy) and after I got home from my orderly shutdown on Wednesday, I binged the first season of the show.

The show does such a good job! I'm really enjoying it! The vision of the world and bringing it to life is so cool. I'm really glad they brought in Avasarala in the first season because she is one of my favorite characters, and it really adds to the depth of the story from the beginning. 

***

While I wait for Calaban's War, I got Jade City from the library too. Jumping in the deep end on that one too. I'm only a few chapters in and it's good so far.

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Remember how last year, I watched (and wrote about watching) Mawaru Penguindrum, and paired it with the episode reactions from the Imagine Me & Utena podcast? And how the IMAU reactions had only gotten through episode 17, but they had been on hiatus for long enough that I figured they weren’t going to come back to it, so I went ahead and watched the rest of the show?

The IMAU folks came back! After a year-and-a-half gap, they started up again, and got through the rest of the series!

(It’s in my folder of “podcasts that stopped updating a long time ago, but didn’t officially finish, so I check in once or twice a year, just to see if anything’s changed.” And sure enough, something had.)

Overall, I didn’t like the Penguindrum anime. There were some good parts, even a few great ones, and I still listen to the music — but that wasn’t enough to outweigh all the parts that were bad/rushed/nonsensical/poorly thought-out/generally-unpleasant.

Still looking forward to finally finishing the IMAU recaps. If you’re a fan of the series, or even if you also didn’t care for it but ended up watching the whole thing, check them out. (Direct link to the RSS feed.)

Fandom: Nail Polish (Industry) (the AO3 tag, probably worded to disambiguate from at least two bands by that name. I’m calling it Nail Polish Blogosphere, since the characters are using and reviewing rather than manufacturing the nail polish.)
Pairings/Characters: Gen; OCs
Rating: General Audiences
Length: Only Once: 449; Only Once Remix: 1,960
Content Notes: modern in-universe folklore, nail polish connoisseurship, possible unreality, the sad beauty of transience
Creator Links: (AO3)Sineala; (Dreamwidth) sineala; (AO3) woodpusher
Theme: Uncommon Settings, Folklore & Fairytales, Friendship, Magic, Social Media
Summary:

Sinealla: The story of the most beautiful nail polish in the world.

woodpusher: Like a good manicurist, this story fills in some plot holes and smooths some rough edges from Only Once.

I was trying to boost my readership so welcome to the newly gifted.

Comments are welcome!

Author’s Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )

Reccer's Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )

Fanwork Links:
Only Once, by Sineala for Lysimache; Yuletide Madness 2011
Only Once Remix, by woodpusher for Sineala, Meltha, kuramas30, Viridian5, Qem, and Lysimache.

Братья Стругацкие - от утопии к антиутопии

Теос Медиа

БРАТЬЯ СТРУГАЦКИЕ – ОТ УТОПИИ К АНТИУТОПИИ

Еще при жизни они заслужили статус культовых писателей, им подражали, у них хотели учиться, на их произведения стали писать фанфики задолго до того, как это стало модным трендом. Так в чем же загадка миров братьев Стругацких? Почему их героям было тесно в утопиях о будущем коммунизма и в мрачных ландшафтах антиутопий они находили человечность и свет?

Говорим с Дмитрием Левочским об утопиях и антиутопиях Аркадия и Бориса Стругацких – «Стажеры», «Хищные вещи века», «Трудно быть богом», «Улитка на склоне».



Отсюда: https://www.youtube.com/live/ON3iYkuc0OI?si=vRCTR0Q4MNOyYrr2

Our trip had ended in San Francisco because I was there to attend the memorial of a friend's mother. The cemetery was a beautiful place.

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About three and a half days left till guardian_wishlist reveals, and we're excited to see the gifts rolling in! There are only 7 wishlists without gifts!

If you feel like making a little something, especially for the needier wishlists, please check out the spreadsheet!

And this would be a great time to reblog our Tumblr post, or post your own reminder to other platforms, if you're up for that. We have a reminder graphic on the promo post.

Thanks so much, everyone! We're cheering you on! *\o/*

Posting this by request, as she wrote it:

The Boston Globe is soliciting opinions on whether or not foster parents's views on children being queer or trans should be taken into account.

MSN link

Basically, we have to explain not only that water is wet but that if foster parents are allowed to dunk a trans kid into the tank of their transphobia the kid can drown in there. The Globe's editorial board termed this a matter of "personal views" and of DCF demanding foster parents be "perfect", which is glaringly disingenuous but needs to be spelled out to hopefully influence public opinion.

The Globe's address is community@boston.com.

Sign-ups are now open for hlh_shortcuts 2025, the long-running annual Highlander Holiday Shortcuts fanfiction exchange!

When:

• Sign-up: October 1 to 11, 2025 at 11:59PM CDT on AO3
• Receive assignments: By October 14, 2025
• Default deadline: November 20, 2025
• Submissions: By December 15, 2025 on AO3
• Stories revealed: The first on December 20, 2025 (the winter solstice, Duncan's birthday) and the rest a few per day as long as they last, per tradition

How:

• This year's collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/hlhshortcuts2025
• Instructions: HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Sign-Up Guide + HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Submission Guide + HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Defaulting Steps + Find a beta-reader / be a beta-reader

Yay, Highlander fun and friends! Come play with us?

Theme Prompt: #276 – Moonlit Kisses
Title: Under The Moonlight
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: It’s a beautiful full moon night, perfect for a stroll through a park…