Dear Yuletide writer

Oct. 20th, 2025 01:52 am
trobadora: (Discworld: Hogfather)
[personal profile] trobadora
Dear Yulewriter,

thank you so much for writing a story for me!

I've requested and received all of these fandoms before - some for many, many years - and I love them all. Two of them are related to my current main fandom (Guardian) through the main actors, so I might mention them more on DW, but please don't think that means I want my other requests any less! Regardless of what we matched on, rest assured that you really can't go wrong here. Just the existence of new fic for any of these fandoms and characters will make me incredibly happy.

My AO3 account is [archiveofourown.org profile] Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.

Everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go:

General Preferences

Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )

Fandoms and characters

Jump directly to:绅探 | Detective L (TV): Luo Fei & Huo Wensi )

L'Oréal 'Time Engraver' Commercials: The Time Engraver, Worldbuilding )

Nantucket trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha )

Ring of Swords - Eleanor Arnason: Ettin Gwarha & Sanders Nicholas )

Starfire series - Various Authors: Zhaarnak'diaano | Zhaarnak'telmasa & Raymond Prescott )

长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen & Gu Xuanqing )

1632 series - Various Authors: John Chandler Simpson )

Ahem. Lengthy as always. But I hope you'll find something inspiring in here, and most of all, that you'll have fun writing! :)

Daily check-in

Oct. 19th, 2025 07:52 pm
mecurtin: Icon of a globe with a check-mark (fandom_checkin)
[personal profile] mecurtin posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, October 19, to midnight on Monday, October 20 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33741 Daily check-in poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 11

How are you doing?

I am OK
5 (45.5%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
6 (54.5%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
4 (36.4%)

One other person
4 (36.4%)

More than one other person
3 (27.3%)



Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

AKICIDW: Guitar repair

Oct. 19th, 2025 05:39 pm
brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

OK, I need help from my guitar-playing friends - hopefully one of you will have the answer for this.

Lots of detail here, because I don't know what's relevant and what's not: About 10-12 years ago, I bought one of those Walmart super-cheap guitar and amp combos, then I never got around to learning to play it, devoting my time to learning ukulele instead. Today I remembered I still had that guitar down in the basement, and I realized that if I took off the 1st and 6th strings, then tuned the middle strings to G-C-E-A (from low to high), I would have converted this guitar into an electric ukulele. So I tried it. While I was at it, I moved the peg for the guitar strap to the other side so I could play it left-handed. I also ground 2 extra slots in the nut, so that the strings stayed the same distance apart for the entire length of the neck (like I'm used to on the ukulele). I put on the strings and tuned them with a digital tuner that I know to be accurate. The open strings were all tuned correctly, but any chord I fingered sounded wrong. So I fingered an F chord and played each note, looking at the tuner. On a ukulele, this has 3 open notes: G, C, and A, and 1 fretted note, F (1st fret on the E string). The G, C, and A were right, the F was sharp. Thinking that my changing the path of the strings might have changed their length relative to the placement of the frets enough that it might be throwing the fretted notes off, I tried putting one of the strings through the original slots so that it was the proper length. The open string was fine, but each fretted note was sharp. Oddly, each fretted was sharp by a different amount.

At this point, I've put it aside in hopes that one of you sees what's going on here. I see three possibilities:

  1. There's something wrong in how I'm pressing on the strings, and if I learn the right way, everything will be right.

  2. There's something wrong with the guitar that can be adjusted to make the notes come out right.

  3. There's something wrong with the guitar that's just a side effect of "cheap guitar" and it's really not fixable. (Or at least, not fixable without massive amounts of time and effort.)

Ideas?

sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Over the course of the last year, I read a bunch of stuff that was adjacent to our assigned reading for Humanities 110 book group. Some fiction, some non-fiction:

Eric Shanower, Age of Bronze
- Vol. 1: A Thousand Ships (2001)
- Vol. 2: Sacrifice (2004)
- Vol. 3, Parts 1 and 2: Betrayal (2008, 2013)


Epic graphic novel series aiming to tell the complete and coherent story of the Trojan War, weaving together sources from Homer to Shakespeare, as well as contemporary archaeological research.

an epic project )


Michelle Ruiz Keil, Summer in the City of Roses (2021)

A very loose retelling of the Iphigenia story set in 1990s Portland. With respect to "loose retelling", I spent most of the book mildly confused as to whether this Iphigenia and Orestes were meant to be those Iphigenia and Orestes. HOWEVER. I didn't really care about that, because I absolutely adored this portrait of 1990s Portland, and particularly of the feminist counterculture scene in and around SE Division and Hawthorne. (Remember when SE Division was working class and lesbian? I do.) Yes, those were the books we were reading that year, and yes, that was when Cinemagic played nothing but The Secret of Roan Inish for, like, a year. (Was it a money laundering scheme? [personal profile] grrlpup and I were never sure.) Our protagonist, Iphigenia, is five-to-ten years younger than we were (she in her last year of high school, us fresh out of college), but I remember that scene vividly. I only caught one anachronism: during the 1990s that wasn't the "Portland" sign yet; it was either still the White Stag sign, or (during the closing years of the decade), the Made in Oregon sign.

As a love letter to a particular time and place and social scene, it was amazing. Re the Iphigenia retelling, the heavy slide into magical realism at the end didn't really work for me, mostly in that it seemed to take narrative agency out of the hands of the characters. And for some reason
(spoiler)it's Orestes who gets sacrificed and turned into a deer? Because, um, feminism, I guess? Hm.
But whatever, that wasn't what I was here for. Loved the characters, loved the setting, loved their adventures, I hardly cared that it didn't stick the landing.


Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece, & Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean, 3rd ed. (1st ed 1996, 3rd ed 2014)

Veritable doorstop of a book at 700+ pages. I read the first half, at 360 pages: Egpyt and Greece, which also includes chapters about ancient Mesopotamia and the rest of the fertile crescent before we begin in on Egypt. In fact, this book almost perfectly mapped to our progress through the first year of our Hum 100 book group: every month we'd be assigned new primary sources in bookgroup, and every month I'd read the next two-to-three chapters in here to get the historical context.

Engaging and clear high-level overview of what we know about these societies, built from a combination of the literary and archaeological records. Some chapters are about the rise and fall of empires; other chapters are about the cultural goings-ons within and between those empires. There is a generous supply of maps, plus two sections of full-color plates of art. Plus lots and lots of in-text pointers to more in-depth discussions of this or that topic, should you want to dive deeper about anything. I know there's a ton of detail that didn't make it into this volume, but if you want an accessible high-level overview of these societies, their major figures, and what we know about what they did and made, this is superb. I enjoyed it immensely, and the only reason I didn't finish it is I lost my library access to it. (And also I just don't have the bandwidth to spend the next year reading about the Romans in depth on my own while simultaneously reading about Mesoamerica in book group.)

*sorrowfully removes my seven bookmarks so I can return it to the library*


John R. Hale, Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy (2009)

So, at some point along the way my Hum 110 bookgroup figured out that I was a maritime nerd (shocking, I know!), and decided that made me the in-group expert on triremes. (Spoiler: I knew jack shit about triremes.) But hey, classical Athens had a maritime empire, and its navy (and the sea battles it fought) was super-important in both Herodotus and Thucydides, and I'm game: I said I'd see what I could find out.

Lords of the Sea pulls from multiple sources to build a coherent and continuous history of the Athenian navy from Themistocles and his first advocacy for a navy (ca. 494 BCE), through Athens' defeat in the Lamian War and the death of Demosthenes (322 BCE, post-Alexander the Great). Includes diagrams and maps of the ships, the campaigns, and the battles, plus useful additional context for things that Herodotus, Thucydides, et al. did not feel a need to explain because they would have been obvious to Athenian audiences.

maritime nerdery )


Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles (2011)

Explicitly queer novelization of the Achilles-and-Patroclus story. This was wildly popular (and apparently still is -- even though it's over a decade old, at my local library there are perpetually 80-100 holds on the hardcopy and 100+ holds on the ebook).

Reader, I hated it.

woobify those gays! )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Mars being unfit for humans, there is no alternative but to make humans--or at least a human--fit for Mars.

Man Plus (Man Plus, volume 1) by Frederik Pohl

Write Every Day: Day 19

Oct. 19th, 2025 08:08 pm
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
"Sometimes [when we] talk about creativity, it can have this kind of feel that it's just nice...it's warm or it's something pleasant. It's not. It's vital. It's the way we heal each other.

In singing our song, in telling our story, in inviting you to say, "Hey, listen to me, and I'll listen to you," we're starting a dialogue. And when you do that, this healing happens, and we come out of our corners, and we start to witness each other's common humanity....

If you want to help your community, if you want to help your family, if you want to help your friends, you have to express yourself. And to express yourself, you have to know yourself. It's actually super easy. You just have to follow your love. There is no path. There's no path till you walk it." – Ethan Hawke, TED talk: 'Give yourself permission to be creative'

My day 19: Not much this morning. I started to plan my Yuletide sign-up, and I wrote an alibi sentence. This afternoon we went out for a late lunch (have to grab the opportunity when the sun comes out), took a bit of a walk along a stream, and saw Grace: a prayer for peace, a film about an Aotearoa / New Zealand artist (which is why this post is a bit late). Tomorrow I need to finish my flashfic.

The tally
Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 17: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 18: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

History Hike

Oct. 18th, 2025 11:27 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I tried to go to the foothills festival today (since there was no No Kings near me that wasn't at least an hour away and I'm not convinced I wouldn't have been fired if I had been seen). It was supposed to be at the art deco theater I had tickets for to see 'Night Mother. It wasn't open when I got there. I did see it in the news so where it was I have no idea.

Speaking of those tickets I went to the library to give them back.

Me: sorry I have an obligation friday. If you still have the list from the door prizes you can give these to someone else

Librarian - grabbing more tickets, can you go sunday?

me: nope I'm out all weekend

librarian - we'll think of something.

Me: use them yourself. It's a gift from me Byeeeeee!

So here was the history write up I've been planning to share for two days

Turns out not every ticket holder for the Uptown Upstairs history walk (there was over SIXTY of us, yay for that. They made over a grand on ticket sales) knew that Sixth Sense (the brewery I like in town) was a sponsor AND giving 25% off with the tour bracelet.

That included the bartenders (who asked management without a fuss) but damn, management TELL your bartenders there’s a damn event. Those poor women had no idea they were about to be overrun. I got a pumpkin spice martini (don’t judge) and I’m writing this down for me later vanilla vodka, bailey’s irish cream, cinnamon simple syrup and pumpkin spice liquor (that sounds pricey and unnecessary. I bet I could whip up the same pumpkin puree I use in coffee, yes it would be thicker but you wouldn’t need much). And I ordered their cheesy pickles (I haven’t been there in more than a year because someone new had taken over Arch and Eddie’s and it wasn’t as good. These were all new apps. I wonder if Arch and Eddie’s has these as they may be 2 different owners now) It was cream cheese, mozzarella and pickle spears in an egg roll wrapper. Very good but I got my 10$ app’s money’s worth out of it. there were FOUR of them. (I put those in the cooler in the car)

I can tell a) Lilian Jones Museum was not prepared for this many people b) again no one knows how to communicate. It was a good idea to break us into 4 groups (each group going to each of the four stops) BUT instead of letting the Leos (some young girl group who were our guides to the buildings) to rotate in a certain pattern, it was a fucking free for all and it caused problems.

I purposely joined the one going to the Masonic Temple first because it was the furthest down the hill and I thought ‘you have to hill climb to the rest and your car is at the top of the hill so start climbing while you’re fresh and at the end you’ll be on the same street as your car (as two stops were). I have always wanted in this temple but it IS an active lodge so no women allowed (we don’t have an Eastern Stars any more or I’d consider it. It’s all the way out in Vinton and I’m still considering it)

The temple was built in 1891 and it’s a cool building (I might think about trying the beauty salon in the downstairs as I need one. Mine closed) It was also four flights of stairs to climb. (it had a scary chair lift that no one offered to anyone because I wasn’t the only one with a cane) SO glad I picked this first. Also glad we stopped on the second floor first. It’s their social level with pool tables, kitchen and dining hall.

Upstairs just outside the temple itself is a masonic sword. This sword had been stolen by the Confederate soldiers by Morgan’s Raiders. However, Morgan was a Mason and he made them put the sword back (they kept the jewels and other bric a brac). The temple was interesting with three throne like chairs, some iconography with worlds on poles and naturally they told us nothing about any of that but went into every year of the history (no dudes, short keep it short).

The Masonic Temple )


We walked to the next nearest building, the former Stiffler building (is it me or does everyone think of American Pie when they hear that surname?) And already it’s off the rails. Another group beat us to it so our guide (the adult leader of the Leo’s) decided we were walking up town and coming back to this. But that’s all the way up the hill and down two blocks. No way I was backtracking. I just joined the other group. Stop me if you can!

Anyhow, Stiffler’s was a department store opening in 1923 but before that it was the IORM building, the Improved Order of the Red Man (oh dear god), another one of those men’s orders that were so popular 150 years ago. It had a sister organization the Improved Order of Pocahontas. One person was shocked that the group didn’t let white people into it until the 1960s (a woman way too old for this to have been a revelation, seriously).

They hadn’t turned on power to the upstairs in years (this is where that new antique shop is. I think I was wrong about it closing, along with the quilt shop and the back in time toy store). I should have brought a mask. Taking pictures it looked like a damn snowglobe. There wasn’t much left (the idea that an exit door was bricked over was haunting). They did warn us it was creepy ….and it kinda was. There was a rack of old clothes. A forgotten piano. A Pocohantas/Redman portrait that was succumbing to the elements), an ancient kitchen and a room that had a large hole in the wall. I looked in there and took pictures. The columns were painted. It looks like silk wallpaper peeling off the forgotten walled up room.

Stiffler's Department Store )


Now I’m more or less on my own so I hike up to the next building which was the one I wanted to see most. It was a used car dealership when I moved here (Dodge) and now it does a local taxi service but in the late 1800s it was the Grand Opera House. I KNEW it had to be something other than a car dealership in the pasts but I hadn’t known what. This one broke my damn heart. What remains tells you how beautiful this was but they gave us masks due to all the bird droppings inside (is this even safe for the workers down below?!?) We could only go so far because the floor isn’t safe (I repeat my question) .


I took all the pictures. ALL of them. Soon they will be all that’s left. One side had old shelves from the car dealership. The rest was the remnants of a fresco ceiling, hand drawn Greek goddesses and gods, cherubs, oh it had to have been beautiful once.


Funny thing is it never had permanent seating, just chairs that could be moved because a couple times a week they’d pick them all up so kids could rollerskate. It had live shows and in the 1920s-30s it had movies. Under the Gaslight was the last show there in 1937. A decade later it was Coll car dealership (which is what it was when I moved here) Which haha, THIS it the 1890s play that gave us the woman on the train track trope read more here.


I talked to the guide and commiserated. There’s not going to be any saving this building. It would take millions. It’s in private hands which takes it out of the realm of most grants. It’s going to go the way of the Memorial Building (they’re tearing it down right now). It’s a shame. This should have been saved. And seriously WHY if you had a damn business downstairs did you not at least keep the roof healthy?!?

1883 Grand Old Opera House )


I had one more building to hit, the old radio station. I’ve been downstairs when it was the radio station (they moved up the street to a less beat up place). I had no idea what this had been originally. I was there alone. The rest of my last group didn’t show up. We waited, the two young ladies so worried about me getting up the stairs. Babies, I’m fine. We waited more, no one showed and I said can I just go up alone?


Nope, they escorted me in case I fell (okay it’s sweet but it was obvious I could walk up effortlessly because either they built the stairs well and wide or they had be replaced sometimes in the century). So I get up there and the guide lit up seeing me (I think people skipped this building because from the outside it’s not as exciting) but as it turns out this was built as a Ford dealership in 1915.


Not only that, it has a ramp to the SECOND floor where the dealership was. Why? I don’t know. I mean there wasn’t much to see but I got some pics of the ramp (wait, girls you wanted me to walk down the ramp?!? Are you nuts?) And with that I was done. It was fun, worth the ticket price.

Ford Dealership )

Daily Check In.

Oct. 18th, 2025 06:05 pm
adafrog: (Default)
[personal profile] adafrog posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Saturday to midnight on Sunday (8pm Eastern Time).


Poll #33738 Daily poll
This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 28

How are you doing?

I am okay
13 (46.4%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
15 (53.6%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
10 (35.7%)

One other person
13 (46.4%)

More than one other person
5 (17.9%)



Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

a comic exists

Oct. 18th, 2025 01:01 pm
yhlee: a stylized fox's head and the Roman numeral IX (nine / 9) (hxx ninefox)
[personal profile] yhlee
Proof copies.

Candle Arc #1 comic proof copies

Meanwhile, I've obtained a secondhand wide-format color printer locally so we'll see how setup goes.

ETA: Wide-format printer (up to 13"x19") is go! (See comments for test printouts.) I'm currently (still) setting up via Ka-Blam + Indyplanet for print on demand because I refuse to deal with fulfillment because my health is f*cked, but for DIY home zines + comics for friends & family or or prototypes or for selling locally, this should be more than sufficient.
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Seven books new to me. Well, six and one replacement. Four fantasy, one historical, one horror, one science fiction. Two appear to be part of series.

Books Received, October 11 to October 17


Poll #33737 Books Received, October 11 to October 17
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 48


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (July 2026)
6 (12.5%)

Behind Five Willows by June Hur (May 2026)
16 (33.3%)

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher (August 2026)
31 (64.6%)

Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (June 2026)
4 (8.3%)

City of Others by Jaren Poon (January 2026)
19 (39.6%)

Starry Messenger: The Best of Galileo edited by Charles C. Ryan (November 1979)
7 (14.6%)

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva (January 2026)
17 (35.4%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
32 (66.7%)

Yuletide letter 2025

Oct. 18th, 2025 10:33 am
regshoe: Black silhouette of a raven in flight, wearing a Santa hat (santa hat)
[personal profile] regshoe
Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing me a fic in one of these lovely small fandoms! I've said a bit below about why I love each of them and given some prompts, but if you have a completely different idea you'd love to write then go ahead—I'll look forward to seeing whatever you come up with.

Fandoms are A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym, Hilary Tamar Mysteries - Sarah Caudwell, Howards End - E. M. Forster and Kidnapped - McArthur & McCarthy & Stevenson )

Write Every Day: Day 18

Oct. 18th, 2025 05:51 pm
china_shop: Guo Changcheng writing in his notebook (Guardian - rookie taking notes)
[personal profile] china_shop
"I used to wonder if it wouldn't be better just to haul off and quit hoping. Just protect my own inner brain, my own mind and heart, by drawing it up into a hard knot, and not having any more hopes or dreams at all. Pull in my feelings, and call back all of my sentiments... and, yet … the pleasures, and the displeasures, the good times and the bad, are really all there is to me.

[They] are the yeast that always starts working in your mind again... and then, all at once, no matter what has happened to you, you are building a brand new world again, based and built on the mistakes, the wreck, the hard luck and trouble of the old one."

– Woody Guthrie, in A Race Of Singers by Bryan K Garman

My day 18: My routine falls apart at the weekend (which is fine). I wrote a short meta post for [community profile] sid_guardian and left a meta comment on it. That'll do. Having a quiet night tonight, too.

The tally
Day 16: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 17: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Fannish Friday

Oct. 17th, 2025 08:52 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Okay I forgot I had a ghost thing today so you'll get the history stuff tomorrow.

As for the ghost thing, I went with TH to the Bossard Library for Stories of Ohio's Haunted Places. It was entertaining but not what I was hoping for. I was expecting paranormal investigation. I got stories instead. He was in his 70s and as he told the stories he'd reveal an antique that somehow linked into the story. So for me it sort of made them feel more like campfire stories than real but some I know of from other places like the Gray Lady of Camp Chase Cemetery in Columbus.

ALso he was a bit of a show man. Each item did a little 'haunted item' thing so he has some stage magic training. Over all he was fun.

Title: Can't Ever Keep From Falling Apart at the Seams

Summary: Angel has been pushed one step too far by Valentino’s abuse and comes undone. Luckily Husk is there to help him pick up the pieces only he’s not sure if his advice is helping.

Rating: teen

Notes: Written for whumptober 2025 for the day 9 prompt - “We’ll make it alright to come undone.”
Also written for Spikesgirl58’s six word challenge. The words were Pudding, Ground, Produce Continuous, Irony, & Illustrate and the lyrical titles bingo challenge for the prompt a 90s song. I chose Come Undone by Duran Duran

story under here )

And now some stories.


Kiss Her Goodbye Torchwood

Remorse Babylon 5

I Will Never Forget This Hazbin Hotel

Made to Be Broken Oz

Ending and Beginning Oz

Merry-Go-Round Oz

Routines Oz

Holidays in Oz OZ

Always Going Home Torchwood

Hangover Hell FAKE

Fool Me Once T he Owl House

It's Rather Complicated Hazbin Hotel

On Little Cat Feet The Trixie Belden Mysteries The Three Investigators

TOH Cookbook zine: From scones to hearth (my art contributions!) The Owl House

Do We Have a Plan? Helluva Boss

This Business is Cereal The Owl House


That’s Entertainment! Torchwood


Distracted The Fantastic Journey

Does This Help You Addams Family

failure shouldn’t be this cute 陈情令 | The Untamed

Changes in Leadership Teen Wolf

Essentials. Torchwood

Daily Check In.

Oct. 17th, 2025 06:12 pm
adafrog: (Default)
[personal profile] adafrog posting in [community profile] fandom_checkin
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Friday to midnight on Saturday (8pm Eastern Time).


Poll #33736 Daily poll
This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 26

How are you doing?

I am okay
13 (52.0%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
12 (48.0%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
9 (34.6%)

One other person
12 (46.2%)

More than one other person
5 (19.2%)




Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Last harvest before the frost!

Oct. 17th, 2025 10:58 pm
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)
[personal profile] luzula
Read more... )

That is only one representative of the large quantity of white pattypan squash we have left! They do keep quite well though. Alas, the butternut squashes did not have time to fully ripen. Nor did the acorn squashes on the table, but there were five mature ones we already harvested, so I'll get to taste them how they properly should be, at least (I've never had acorn squash before!). Still in the garden is the frost-hardy stuff: leeks, parsnips, swedes, salsify, brussel sprouts, kale, etc. ALTHOUGH I just thought to double-check how frost-hardy swedes are, and hmm, not actually so much, so this post was interrupted by going out to put fabric over them. I suppose we should harvest them tomorrow.
brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

A black and white photograph of a blind woman, taken by photography Paul Strand. She is wearing a large placard that read "Blind" and a small medallion that reads "Licensed Peddler" across the top, "2622" in the middle, and "New York City" on the bottom.

This is a photograph entitled "Blind Woman, New York, 1916" by photographer Paul Strand. One of Strand's techniques was to use a camera with a right-angle lens so that he could take candid photographs of people without them being aware that he was doing so — truly candid photographs. Obviously the right-angle lens wasn't necessary in this case, but probably still used it because he would have had it one the camera while out photographing.

I became aware of this photograph while in grad school for art history — one of my first major projects was a design for an exhibition of Strand's photographs, and this one of the 13 photographs I chose.[/1] And yet for all the time I spent studying this photograph in the course of preparing that project, there was one aspect of it that I didn't notice until today, when I saw it reprinted in an article on the relationship between blindness and photography (considering blind people as both subjects and recipients[/2] of photography) in the Fall 2025 issue of Art in America.

The aspect of the photograph that I hadn't considered is the licensed peddler medallion that she wears above the "blind" placard. From the title of the photograph[/3], we know the year that the medallion was in use. Additionally, the number on the medallion is clearly legible. This means that if the files of peddler medallion applications have been preserved[/4] and if they are accessible, it should be possible to determine the identity of this woman and to do a biographical/historical study of her.

At the time that I did this project, I was very new to art history, and so kept my art history practice distinctly separate from my history practice, but it's interesting now to look back at this photo and see this opportunity for historical study.

[/1] The exhibition was to have shown continuities in the genres of photographs that Strand produced at the beginning and end of his career, despite the changes in location and technology over that 50-year interval. It would have consisted of 6 pairs of photographs, each consisting of one photograph from early in his career and one from his late-career book Ghana: An African Portrait, plus one additional photograph. Each pair of photographs would have displayed one of six categories I identified in Strand's work: Still lifes, botanicals, cityscapes, candid portraits, portraits of machinery, and pictures of doors and windows. The 13th photograph would have been a posed portrait, which was a genre present in his late-career works but not in his early career.
[/2] "Recipients" is the best word I can think of here, since "viewers" is obviously incorrect. The author talks about using ChatGPT to generate descriptions of photographs.
[/3] Strand was of the school of photographers who believed that titles should be strictly descriptive.
[/4] Which I freely admit is a very big if.

QOTD: On invention

Oct. 17th, 2025 09:14 am
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[personal profile] brithistorian

“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is also the child of impoverishment.” (Glenn Adamson, “Making Do,” Artforum, Summer 2025, p. 147)

I was particularly struck by this when I read it. So often I've heard the "Necessity is the mother of invention" proverb, but I'd never really considered how the necessity might come not from the nonexistence of the thing that was needed but instead from a lack of access to the thing. On considering it more, this quote seems related to William Gibson's "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed." (which is one of my favorite quotes).

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