in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha
Apr. 22nd, 2025 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
musesfoolToday's poem:
I Have News for You
There are people who do not see a broken playground swing
as a symbol of ruined childhood
and there are people who don't interpret the behavior
of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.
There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool
and think about past pleasures unrecoverable
and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.
I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings
do not send their sinuous feeder roots
deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives
as if they were greedy six-year-olds
sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;
and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without
debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.
Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?
There are some people, unlike me and you,
who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as
unattainable as that moon;
thus, they do not later
have to waste more time
defaming the object of their former ardor.
Or consequently run and crucify themselves
in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.
I have news for you—
there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room
and open a window to let the sweet breeze in
and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.
--Tony Hoagland
*
I Have News for You
There are people who do not see a broken playground swing
as a symbol of ruined childhood
and there are people who don't interpret the behavior
of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.
There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool
and think about past pleasures unrecoverable
and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.
I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings
do not send their sinuous feeder roots
deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives
as if they were greedy six-year-olds
sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;
and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without
debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.
Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?
There are some people, unlike me and you,
who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as
unattainable as that moon;
thus, they do not later
have to waste more time
defaming the object of their former ardor.
Or consequently run and crucify themselves
in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.
I have news for you—
there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room
and open a window to let the sweet breeze in
and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.
--Tony Hoagland
*
If anyone could use a morale boost
Apr. 22nd, 2025 05:17 pmrydra_wonghttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/protests-erupt-across-the-uk-after-supreme-court-ruled-against-trans-rights/
Many many pictures.
Also, more protests yet to come, apparently, with ones scheduled for Oxford and Cambridge.
Many many pictures.
Also, more protests yet to come, apparently, with ones scheduled for Oxford and Cambridge.
this picnic is no picnic
Apr. 21st, 2025 06:08 pmmusesfoolMonday miscellany:
- So what are the odds we get an antipope this time in addition to a pope?
- Sepinwall gave season 2 of Andor a good review (minor spoilers, I guess) - the first 3 episodes drop tomorrow and it sounds like they are doing 3 episodes a week for 4 weeks, as each one comprises a mini-arc. Trying not to get spoiled on the internet is sure to be a nightmare.
- I haven't done the AO3 stats meme regularly since 2018 because not much changes in my top 10. In 2021, however, I made note of some up-and-comers in the 11-20 slots, and it turns out that as of 4/20/25, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (i.e., the one where Dick convinces Jason to stop killing through the power of hugs) has crept into the top 10 by hits - it's number 9! (It looks like Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough) (the Steve/Bucky remix AU where Steve finds Bucky working as a barista) is the one that fell out of the top 10.)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc also made inroads into the top 10 by kudos, landing at number 5! Additionally, 2 Star Wars stories also found their way into the top 10 by kudos: There's Still Time to Change the Road You're On (in which Anakin time travels to the post-RotJ era and meets his kids) at 6, and deep as a secret nobody knows (AU where Leia tells Vader she's Padme's daughter and it changes everything) at number 8!
The 3 Avengers stories that dropped are again, Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough), plus Even a Miracle Needs a Hand (Clint/Darcy fake Christmas boyfriend), and with the lights out, it's less dangerous (Steve/Bucky, then and now).
According to these posts, I did not previously do the full list by comments, but I will note the appearance of deep as a secret nobody knows at number 3 on the comments list, and another Vader-and-Leia AU, Just a Little Bit of History Repeating, at number 10, with the VMars/Avengers crossover we travel without seatbelts on sitting pretty at number 7.
So I guess given enough time, these things CAN change.
- Today's poem:
Nothing Will Warn You
by Stephen Dunn
Nothing will warn you,
not even the promise of severe weather
or the threats of neighbors muttered
under their breath, unheard by the sonar
in you that no longer functions.
You'll be expecting blue skies, perhaps
a picnic at which you'll be anticipating
a reward for being the best handler
of raw meat in a county known
for its per capita cases of salmonella.
You'll have no memory of those women
with old grievances nor will you guess
that small bulge in one of their purses
could be a derringer. You'll be opening
a cold one, thinking this is the life,
this is the very life I've always wanted.
Nothing will warn you,
no one will blurt out that this picnic
is no picnic, the clouds in the west
will be darkly billowing toward you,
and you will not hear your neighbors'
conspiratorial whispers. You'll be
readying yourself to tell the joke
no one has ever laughed at, the joke
someone would have told you by now
is only funny if told on yourself, but no one
has ever liked you enough to say so.
Even your wife never warned you.
***
- So what are the odds we get an antipope this time in addition to a pope?
- Sepinwall gave season 2 of Andor a good review (minor spoilers, I guess) - the first 3 episodes drop tomorrow and it sounds like they are doing 3 episodes a week for 4 weeks, as each one comprises a mini-arc. Trying not to get spoiled on the internet is sure to be a nightmare.
- I haven't done the AO3 stats meme regularly since 2018 because not much changes in my top 10. In 2021, however, I made note of some up-and-comers in the 11-20 slots, and it turns out that as of 4/20/25, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (i.e., the one where Dick convinces Jason to stop killing through the power of hugs) has crept into the top 10 by hits - it's number 9! (It looks like Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough) (the Steve/Bucky remix AU where Steve finds Bucky working as a barista) is the one that fell out of the top 10.)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc also made inroads into the top 10 by kudos, landing at number 5! Additionally, 2 Star Wars stories also found their way into the top 10 by kudos: There's Still Time to Change the Road You're On (in which Anakin time travels to the post-RotJ era and meets his kids) at 6, and deep as a secret nobody knows (AU where Leia tells Vader she's Padme's daughter and it changes everything) at number 8!
The 3 Avengers stories that dropped are again, Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough), plus Even a Miracle Needs a Hand (Clint/Darcy fake Christmas boyfriend), and with the lights out, it's less dangerous (Steve/Bucky, then and now).
According to these posts, I did not previously do the full list by comments, but I will note the appearance of deep as a secret nobody knows at number 3 on the comments list, and another Vader-and-Leia AU, Just a Little Bit of History Repeating, at number 10, with the VMars/Avengers crossover we travel without seatbelts on sitting pretty at number 7.
So I guess given enough time, these things CAN change.
- Today's poem:
Nothing Will Warn You
by Stephen Dunn
Nothing will warn you,
not even the promise of severe weather
or the threats of neighbors muttered
under their breath, unheard by the sonar
in you that no longer functions.
You'll be expecting blue skies, perhaps
a picnic at which you'll be anticipating
a reward for being the best handler
of raw meat in a county known
for its per capita cases of salmonella.
You'll have no memory of those women
with old grievances nor will you guess
that small bulge in one of their purses
could be a derringer. You'll be opening
a cold one, thinking this is the life,
this is the very life I've always wanted.
Nothing will warn you,
no one will blurt out that this picnic
is no picnic, the clouds in the west
will be darkly billowing toward you,
and you will not hear your neighbors'
conspiratorial whispers. You'll be
readying yourself to tell the joke
no one has ever laughed at, the joke
someone would have told you by now
is only funny if told on yourself, but no one
has ever liked you enough to say so.
Even your wife never warned you.
***
Poetry month: For the New House by Ursula K. Le Guin
Apr. 21st, 2025 02:38 pmresonantFor the New House by Ursula K. Le Guin
May this house be full of kitchen smells
and shadows and toys and nests of mice
and roars of rage and waterfalls of tears
and deep sexual silences and sounds
of mysterious origin never explained
and troves and keepsakes and a lot of junk
and a flowing like a warm wind only slower
blowing the leaves of trees and books and the fish-years
of a child’s life silvery flickering
quick, quick, in the slow incessant gust
that billows out the curtains for a moment
all those years from now, ago.
May the sills and doorframes
be in blessing blest at every passing.
May the roof but not the rooms know rain.
May the windows know clearly
the branch and flower of the apple tree.
And may you be in this house
as the music is in the instrument.
May this house be full of kitchen smells
and shadows and toys and nests of mice
and roars of rage and waterfalls of tears
and deep sexual silences and sounds
of mysterious origin never explained
and troves and keepsakes and a lot of junk
and a flowing like a warm wind only slower
blowing the leaves of trees and books and the fish-years
of a child’s life silvery flickering
quick, quick, in the slow incessant gust
that billows out the curtains for a moment
all those years from now, ago.
May the sills and doorframes
be in blessing blest at every passing.
May the roof but not the rooms know rain.
May the windows know clearly
the branch and flower of the apple tree.
And may you be in this house
as the music is in the instrument.
SGA: Predatory by Frostfire
Apr. 21st, 2025 11:59 pmmific posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Gen. Steve the Wraith, Original male character, John Sheppard
Rating: Mature
Length: 1801
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Second person POV
Creator Links: frostfire on AO3
Theme: Outsider POV, genfic
Summary: More issues, Steve's and others'.
Reccer's Notes: This is told from the POV of a young Marine, on guard outside Steve the Wraith's cell on Atlantis. He battles with the pressure Steve puts on his mind and senses, made worse by possible unresolved issues from his past. Then Sheppard visits and comprehensively distracts the Wraith, and things change. An interesting perspective and character study, and I liked the second person POV which made it more immediate, being inside the guy's thoughts.
Fanwork Links: Predatory
Characters/Pairings: Gen. Steve the Wraith, Original male character, John Sheppard
Rating: Mature
Length: 1801
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Second person POV
Creator Links: frostfire on AO3
Theme: Outsider POV, genfic
Summary: More issues, Steve's and others'.
Reccer's Notes: This is told from the POV of a young Marine, on guard outside Steve the Wraith's cell on Atlantis. He battles with the pressure Steve puts on his mind and senses, made worse by possible unresolved issues from his past. Then Sheppard visits and comprehensively distracts the Wraith, and things change. An interesting perspective and character study, and I liked the second person POV which made it more immediate, being inside the guy's thoughts.
Fanwork Links: Predatory
UK people: disability benefit cuts
Apr. 21st, 2025 09:48 amrydra_wongRebellion is growing among Labour MPs, so if you have a Labour MP, now is a VERY good and important time to write to them to protest the proposed PIP and other cuts:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut
(If you have a non-Labour MP, hassle them too and see if they can be persuaded to do something vaguely useful.)
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut
(If you have a non-Labour MP, hassle them too and see if they can be persuaded to do something vaguely useful.)
reading
Apr. 21st, 2025 12:49 amcimoreneI finished reading The Abbot (Scott) and The Roots of the Mountains (Morris), but I haven't been able to take time to compose posts about them because I saved a ton of quotations and I really wanted to finish the sweater I've been knitting. I finished weaving in the ends today, so tomorrow I can block it.
Also the remaining Emily Wilson translations I've got are Roman plays by Seneca, not Greek tragedies, and I'm not liking them as much. Also the book is a pdf which is always a pain. I've got another William Morris reread and another Walter Scott novel set in the middle ages to read queued up, but I'm taking a break to reread the original Villeneuve Beauty and the Beast, which I've been meaning to get around to for a while, because it has hilariously elaborate fairy lore backstory but I couldn't remember the specifics.
Also the remaining Emily Wilson translations I've got are Roman plays by Seneca, not Greek tragedies, and I'm not liking them as much. Also the book is a pdf which is always a pain. I've got another William Morris reread and another Walter Scott novel set in the middle ages to read queued up, but I'm taking a break to reread the original Villeneuve Beauty and the Beast, which I've been meaning to get around to for a while, because it has hilariously elaborate fairy lore backstory but I couldn't remember the specifics.
Chen Qing Ling: Песенка льда и пламени (A Song of Ice and Fire), by kasmunaut.
Apr. 20th, 2025 03:19 amfull_metal_ox posting in fancakeFandom: Chen Qing Ling, Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Gen; M/M (background Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian); Cloud Recesses Rabbits, Lan Yi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 432
Content Notes: Corporal Punishment (referenced); written in Russian; written for WTF Modao Zushi 2022 (fandom_Wei_Wuxian_and_Co).
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Animal Death, Crack, fairy tale, Fluff, Rabbits, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat 2022, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat, Don't copy to another site
Creator Links: (AO3):![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
kasmunaut
Theme: Outsider POV, Animals, Cultural Differences, Folklore & Fairytales
Summary: И кролики могут быть верными. (And rabbits can be true.)
Author’s Notes: АУ: дорамоверс, вансяни вынесли кроликов из пещеры. (AU: Dramaverse, Wangxian brought the rabbits out of the cave.)
Бетыnoface и mummi. (Betas noface and mummi.)
Reccer's Notes: The POV character of this Russian-language fic is one of Lan Yi’s white spiritual rabbits—who, taken into the sunlit green world, suddenly has to adjust to not only a custody transfer but an alien habitat and way of life. This story alludes to the fairytales of the Snow Maiden and the rabbit who saved the Buddha, so be prepared for a similar tale of self-sacrificial devotion.
(And yes, the author addresses the question of how the rabbits subsisted in the ice cave—something a lot of Chen Qing Ling viewers had been wondering.)
Fanwork Links: Песенка льда и пламени (A Song of Ice and Fire), bykasmunaut for WTF Modao Zushi 2022 (fandom_Wei_Wuxian_and_Co)
Pairings/Characters: Gen; M/M (background Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian); Cloud Recesses Rabbits, Lan Yi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 432
Content Notes: Corporal Punishment (referenced); written in Russian; written for WTF Modao Zushi 2022 (fandom_Wei_Wuxian_and_Co).
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Animal Death, Crack, fairy tale, Fluff, Rabbits, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat 2022, WTF | Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat, Don't copy to another site
Creator Links: (AO3):
Theme: Outsider POV, Animals, Cultural Differences, Folklore & Fairytales
Summary: И кролики могут быть верными. (And rabbits can be true.)
Author’s Notes: АУ: дорамоверс, вансяни вынесли кроликов из пещеры. (AU: Dramaverse, Wangxian brought the rabbits out of the cave.)
Беты
Reccer's Notes: The POV character of this Russian-language fic is one of Lan Yi’s white spiritual rabbits—who, taken into the sunlit green world, suddenly has to adjust to not only a custody transfer but an alien habitat and way of life. This story alludes to the fairytales of the Snow Maiden and the rabbit who saved the Buddha, so be prepared for a similar tale of self-sacrificial devotion.
(And yes, the author addresses the question of how the rabbits subsisted in the ice cave—something a lot of Chen Qing Ling viewers had been wondering.)
Fanwork Links: Песенка льда и пламени (A Song of Ice and Fire), by
Daomu Biji: [ART] DMBJ Family Photos, by Thimblerig.
Apr. 20th, 2025 01:11 amfull_metal_ox posting in fancakeFandom: Daomu Biji
Pairings/Characters: F/M; Yin Xinyue/Zhang Qishan; Yin Xinyue, Zhang Qishan, Tanaka Ryoko (DMBJ Series), Wu Xie, Employee Da Wei (OC), Er Yue Hong, Zhang Qiling, Huo Xiangu, OC Narrator
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2,028
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, monsters (see Creator Tags), canon-typical monstrous transformation, in-universe RPF, in-universe genderswitch fic
Creator Tags: Art, vintage, Digital Collage, Dubious Historical Research, Ghost Moths (DMBJ Series), Blood Zombies (DMBJ Series), Black Snake Zombies (DMBJ Series), Hei Feizi, Snakes, Hydra Cypress (DMBJ Series)
Creator Links: (AO3):Thimblerig; (Tumblr): ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
thelaithlyworm
Theme: Outsider POV, Fanart, Historical Settings, In-Universe Lore, Research, Worldbuilding
Summary: So, yeah, I was rummaging through a box of photos that my gran had, and you'll never guess who was in some kind of official publicity still. Fo-ye! That guy was a looker.
I digitised it to share, and I've scrounged up a few more. I Am Engaging In History, so proud!
Author’s Notes:: // I futzed around with some screenshots and publicity stills to make them look 'vintage'. Not very deep, but hella fun.
// Images free to share, use, or remix, no credit required. (But if you do credit, please include the Pixabay source data as well.)
// Bon appetit.
Reccer's Notes: A 21st-century amateur history buff, rummaging through time-faded family scrapbooks, newspapers, magazines, and memorabilia, unearths a century’s wealth of photos, gossip, and pop culture about the great families of the Nine Gates (discovering in the process that, in Jess Nevins’ words, research is fractal.)
Fanwork Links: [ART] DMBJ Family Photos, bythimblerig.
Pairings/Characters: F/M; Yin Xinyue/Zhang Qishan; Yin Xinyue, Zhang Qishan, Tanaka Ryoko (DMBJ Series), Wu Xie, Employee Da Wei (OC), Er Yue Hong, Zhang Qiling, Huo Xiangu, OC Narrator
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2,028
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, monsters (see Creator Tags), canon-typical monstrous transformation, in-universe RPF, in-universe genderswitch fic
Creator Tags: Art, vintage, Digital Collage, Dubious Historical Research, Ghost Moths (DMBJ Series), Blood Zombies (DMBJ Series), Black Snake Zombies (DMBJ Series), Hei Feizi, Snakes, Hydra Cypress (DMBJ Series)
Creator Links: (AO3):
Theme: Outsider POV, Fanart, Historical Settings, In-Universe Lore, Research, Worldbuilding
Summary: So, yeah, I was rummaging through a box of photos that my gran had, and you'll never guess who was in some kind of official publicity still. Fo-ye! That guy was a looker.
I digitised it to share, and I've scrounged up a few more. I Am Engaging In History, so proud!
Author’s Notes:: // I futzed around with some screenshots and publicity stills to make them look 'vintage'. Not very deep, but hella fun.
// Images free to share, use, or remix, no credit required. (But if you do credit, please include the Pixabay source data as well.)
// Bon appetit.
Reccer's Notes: A 21st-century amateur history buff, rummaging through time-faded family scrapbooks, newspapers, magazines, and memorabilia, unearths a century’s wealth of photos, gossip, and pop culture about the great families of the Nine Gates (discovering in the process that, in Jess Nevins’ words, research is fractal.)
Fanwork Links: [ART] DMBJ Family Photos, by
thimblerig.Happy Saturday
Apr. 19th, 2025 04:20 pmcofax7Hey folks!
Still alive, still employed! Booyah.
Not loving the job right now: it's never boring, but I had never intended to be a manager of people, and it's really quite stressful. Plus, you know, ::waves vaguely:: the omnishambles of everything is not helping.
But I did take the Tornado out for a 7-mile hike this morning, and she behaved quite well, and we just did some agility practice, and she got six weave poles in a row! Five times! So great. (If you have never seen dog agility, it looks like this, although that's one of the top dogs in the UK, and the Tornado is just beginning her agility journey.)
I call her the Tornado because she is Very. High. Energy. (And tends to knock things over.) I fear she will be one of the dogs barking all the way through the agility course.
Anyway, I'm planning some vacation time this summer, although it feels a little weird to be planning an international trip at this time. I plan to do some judicious app-deletion before coming back through Customs, because that's the world we live in right now.
Currently very excited about both Andor and Murderbot! I've already gotten a tiny bit spoiled for Andor, so I think I will have to lock down my browsing for the next few days. I understand the next Star Wars animated show (after Underworld) is also going to be about Darth Maul, and I'm kind of dubious, but maybe they can do something interesting with it. Myself, I would rather have learned more about Omega's adventures in the Rebellion.
I'm halfway through this month's book for book club, but it's heavy going: Therese Raquin, by Zola. I have liked Zola: he's very grounded, very vivid. Not at all romantic. But these characters are really very unlikeable. I may end up skimming a lot to finish by Tuesday.
***
I feel like I'm running out of plotty time-travel fixit fics in which determined heroes (and heroines) go back in time and prevent the errors of their forebearers. I suspect I have not found the right tags on AO3...
In other news, I am listening to Mind the Tags, a charming podcast about fandom, specifically fic-writing fandom. And although the hosts are quite nice, they're so young, and I found myself talking back to them as they fumbled their way through a discussion of the early days of alt.tv.x-files.creative. They tried to talk about show-specific archives and auto-archiving and never even mentioned Ephemeral and Gossamer! There are plenty of us fandom Olds still around!
(Although, how cool is it that Gossamer is still up? WTF.)
Still, it's a very friendly and upbeat podcast full of enthusiasm for fandom and fannish institutions, so I encourage y'all to give it a try if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. I found them because one of the hosts got interviewed by Anne Helen Peterson on her Culture Study podcast, which is also great.
In other other news, I lined up a group of local pals to go see our local minor league baseball team next month! So that will be fun! I like minor-league baseball because it's cheap and low-stakes and you can sit outside and drink beer and eat corn dogs and it doesn't really matter except you're there with a crowd and it's just fun. And all the seats are good.
Still alive, still employed! Booyah.
Not loving the job right now: it's never boring, but I had never intended to be a manager of people, and it's really quite stressful. Plus, you know, ::waves vaguely:: the omnishambles of everything is not helping.
But I did take the Tornado out for a 7-mile hike this morning, and she behaved quite well, and we just did some agility practice, and she got six weave poles in a row! Five times! So great. (If you have never seen dog agility, it looks like this, although that's one of the top dogs in the UK, and the Tornado is just beginning her agility journey.)
I call her the Tornado because she is Very. High. Energy. (And tends to knock things over.) I fear she will be one of the dogs barking all the way through the agility course.
Anyway, I'm planning some vacation time this summer, although it feels a little weird to be planning an international trip at this time. I plan to do some judicious app-deletion before coming back through Customs, because that's the world we live in right now.
Currently very excited about both Andor and Murderbot! I've already gotten a tiny bit spoiled for Andor, so I think I will have to lock down my browsing for the next few days. I understand the next Star Wars animated show (after Underworld) is also going to be about Darth Maul, and I'm kind of dubious, but maybe they can do something interesting with it. Myself, I would rather have learned more about Omega's adventures in the Rebellion.
I'm halfway through this month's book for book club, but it's heavy going: Therese Raquin, by Zola. I have liked Zola: he's very grounded, very vivid. Not at all romantic. But these characters are really very unlikeable. I may end up skimming a lot to finish by Tuesday.
***
I feel like I'm running out of plotty time-travel fixit fics in which determined heroes (and heroines) go back in time and prevent the errors of their forebearers. I suspect I have not found the right tags on AO3...
In other news, I am listening to Mind the Tags, a charming podcast about fandom, specifically fic-writing fandom. And although the hosts are quite nice, they're so young, and I found myself talking back to them as they fumbled their way through a discussion of the early days of alt.tv.x-files.creative. They tried to talk about show-specific archives and auto-archiving and never even mentioned Ephemeral and Gossamer! There are plenty of us fandom Olds still around!
(Although, how cool is it that Gossamer is still up? WTF.)
Still, it's a very friendly and upbeat podcast full of enthusiasm for fandom and fannish institutions, so I encourage y'all to give it a try if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. I found them because one of the hosts got interviewed by Anne Helen Peterson on her Culture Study podcast, which is also great.
In other other news, I lined up a group of local pals to go see our local minor league baseball team next month! So that will be fun! I like minor-league baseball because it's cheap and low-stakes and you can sit outside and drink beer and eat corn dogs and it doesn't really matter except you're there with a crowd and it's just fun. And all the seats are good.
the indivisible wave of your body
Apr. 19th, 2025 05:40 pmmusesfoolI made these confetti cookies from Smitten Kitchen this afternoon (pic), but unfortunately, they are way too sweet for me. They are really easy to put together though, especially with the food processor, since you don't need to soften the butter and cream cheese before you get started, and there's no need to chill them before baking.
In other news, I watched the 3 available episodes of season 3 of Leverage: Redemption and enjoyed them, though there was some cognitive dissonance in seeing Noah Wyle as Harry Wilson after 15 intense episodes of The Pitt. Aldis Hodge gets more handsome every time I see him, and the gloves have come off in terms of the writing - they are not even playing anymore about how stuff that is legal still isn't right. Plus, there have been some fun guest stars: ( casting spoilers ) I look forward to the rest of the season!
***
I haven't posted any Neruda in a while, so here's today's poem:
Sonnet XLVI
Of all the stars I admired, drenched
in various rivers and mists,
I chose only the one I love.
Since then I sleep with the night.
Of all the waves, one wave and another wave,
green sea, green chill, branchings of green,
I chose only the one wave,
the indivisible wave of your body.
All the waterdrops, all the roots,
all the threads of light gathered to me here;
they came to me sooner or later.
I wanted your hair, all for myself.
From all the graces my homeland offered
I chose only your savage heart.
-Pablo Neruda
(Trans. ???)
***
In other news, I watched the 3 available episodes of season 3 of Leverage: Redemption and enjoyed them, though there was some cognitive dissonance in seeing Noah Wyle as Harry Wilson after 15 intense episodes of The Pitt. Aldis Hodge gets more handsome every time I see him, and the gloves have come off in terms of the writing - they are not even playing anymore about how stuff that is legal still isn't right. Plus, there have been some fun guest stars: ( casting spoilers ) I look forward to the rest of the season!
***
I haven't posted any Neruda in a while, so here's today's poem:
Sonnet XLVI
Of all the stars I admired, drenched
in various rivers and mists,
I chose only the one I love.
Since then I sleep with the night.
Of all the waves, one wave and another wave,
green sea, green chill, branchings of green,
I chose only the one wave,
the indivisible wave of your body.
All the waterdrops, all the roots,
all the threads of light gathered to me here;
they came to me sooner or later.
I wanted your hair, all for myself.
From all the graces my homeland offered
I chose only your savage heart.
-Pablo Neruda
(Trans. ???)
***
Lamb-petting Easter open house at the sheep farm
Apr. 19th, 2025 04:13 pmcimoreneWe went to Stentorp and petted the lambs!
Here's all the pictures on my pet photo blog
I got a sweater's worth of very soft brown finnwool too.
This is my favorite. I can't get over the expression of this lamb while Wax was petting it 😂. I want this reaction to everything:
Here's all the pictures on my pet photo blog
I got a sweater's worth of very soft brown finnwool too.
This is my favorite. I can't get over the expression of this lamb while Wax was petting it 😂. I want this reaction to everything:
the shape of wind against a sheet
Apr. 18th, 2025 09:10 pmmusesfoolI decided to make the King Arthur pretzel rolls again today (well, half the recipe to make 4 hero-shaped buns) - they only require a first rise of 1 hour and a second of 15 minutes so I could start them at 3 pm and be eating by 5:30. I proofed the dough in this nice bowl I have that has its own lid, and I did it in the unheated oven with the oven light on (I've never done it like that before but I've seen it recommended a few places), and about 50 minutes in, there was a loud popping sound, and it turned out that the carbon dioxide produced by the rising dough popped the lid right off! That had never happened to me before! I figured if that was happening, the dough was proved and it was. They turned out delicious. Definitely recommended.
Here's today's poem:
Singe
I read the tops of the poems, ten or twenty lines down.
In the beginning of the book, a man is leaving his wife
for a lover. By the end, the lover is tired of the man, who wonders
if he made a mistake. The book has the quality of a diary,
the beginnings of poems imply the ends of other poems, other days,
this is a man to know in the morning.
It's raining here, where the book lives for now, and the mood
of fog fits the sadness of the book, I hold it out the window,
bring it back and dry it off with my shirt.
I know a woman who knows the poet. I call her and ask
which tops of poems are true. She wants to know why I don't
finish the poems. I tell her I dreamed last night
I work inside a steam shovel, that the tops of the poems
are my sky, my white clouds. It's impossible to talk
to just one poet, and I'll feel the ears
of people I don't know floating behind me for a week.
There are two children in the book. They must be in college by now,
married or incapable of marriage. I believe the poet was honest
about their names, I consider finding and e-mailing them,
asking if they felt betrayed or like rock stars, some other kind
of celebrity, I suddenly want to know if they play tennis
or like Pop Tarts, if either drove up to see their father
and threw the book at his head, the stab marks on the cover
making him break down and apologize for the hurt, not the poems.
Calvino had an idea for a book that appeared to have been pulled
from a fire. What wasn't there would be as much of the story
as the little bells, the indentations of eye teeth in a pencil,
the shape of wind against a sheet. The bottom of this book
is on fire, is where the lies have fallen, where someone
tells someone they were never loved, where a body is rhapsodized
as the font of renewal, and eight pages later, deplored as snare.
I devise solace for the book: we should count birds, I tell it,
should ride a horse, you and I. Some other time I'll read
the bottom only, read this life and turn each page
with both hands, carry the words in the basket of my flesh,
carry them over, carry them safe, some other time, nor was it ever
too late.
—Bob Hicok
***
Here's today's poem:
Singe
I read the tops of the poems, ten or twenty lines down.
In the beginning of the book, a man is leaving his wife
for a lover. By the end, the lover is tired of the man, who wonders
if he made a mistake. The book has the quality of a diary,
the beginnings of poems imply the ends of other poems, other days,
this is a man to know in the morning.
It's raining here, where the book lives for now, and the mood
of fog fits the sadness of the book, I hold it out the window,
bring it back and dry it off with my shirt.
I know a woman who knows the poet. I call her and ask
which tops of poems are true. She wants to know why I don't
finish the poems. I tell her I dreamed last night
I work inside a steam shovel, that the tops of the poems
are my sky, my white clouds. It's impossible to talk
to just one poet, and I'll feel the ears
of people I don't know floating behind me for a week.
There are two children in the book. They must be in college by now,
married or incapable of marriage. I believe the poet was honest
about their names, I consider finding and e-mailing them,
asking if they felt betrayed or like rock stars, some other kind
of celebrity, I suddenly want to know if they play tennis
or like Pop Tarts, if either drove up to see their father
and threw the book at his head, the stab marks on the cover
making him break down and apologize for the hurt, not the poems.
Calvino had an idea for a book that appeared to have been pulled
from a fire. What wasn't there would be as much of the story
as the little bells, the indentations of eye teeth in a pencil,
the shape of wind against a sheet. The bottom of this book
is on fire, is where the lies have fallen, where someone
tells someone they were never loved, where a body is rhapsodized
as the font of renewal, and eight pages later, deplored as snare.
I devise solace for the book: we should count birds, I tell it,
should ride a horse, you and I. Some other time I'll read
the bottom only, read this life and turn each page
with both hands, carry the words in the basket of my flesh,
carry them over, carry them safe, some other time, nor was it ever
too late.
—Bob Hicok
***
