#5 Penguin Reviews

[brightbeautifulthings]

When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson

"If people bear the trauma of their ancestors, doesn't it follow they also bear their rhapsodies? If there is generational pain passed down, mustn't there also be generational joy? If there are family curses that drop through time, mustn't there also be family blessings that do the same?"

Year Read: 2024

Rating: 5/5

About: In the time of forever, Theo Fall disappeared, leaving his family cracked down the middle. His wife, Bernadette, chef of The Blue Spoonful, leaves out dinner for him every night. Twelve-year-old Dizzy Fall sees ghosts in the vineyard and just got dumped by her ex-best friend. Her older brother, Perfect Miles, talks to dogs and hasn't been to school in weeks. Her oldest brother, Wynton, hung the moon and plays violin like he's been possessed. They each have an encounter with a rainbow-haired girl (possibly an angel, Dizzy thinks), who is secretly the key to all of them. When tragedy strikes, the four of them will have to unwind the secrets that led to Theo's disappearance to save each other and heal a generations old family curse. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Penguin. Trigger warnings: fratricide, sexual assault/pedophilia, abusive households, car accident, severe injury, mental illness, depression, drug/alcohol abuse, neglect, bullying, infidelity.

Thoughts: I'll Give You the Sun is one of my favorite books of all time, and I couldn't wait to get my copy of When the World Tips Over. It has everything I love about Jandy Nelson's writing: gorgeous, inventive prose; lovable, heartbreaking, fully-rounded characters; a sense of place like I'm actually living in their town for a while; just enough magic (mostly the kind we make ourselves) to fill me with wonder; and intricate, complex family dynamics that keep me guessing. Nelson's writer voice is one of my absolute favorites, and even though the story and the characters are new, I can "hear" her in this book like I'm talking to a beloved friend.

As with many of my favorite characters, I'm confused about whether I want to know Cassidy or be her, with her rainbow hair and many tattoos of words and poems. She's the spark that sets the Fall family in motion, but her complicated history keeps her out of Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory. Though they're all a bit magical, Cassidy is as real and complicated as any of the Fall siblings. My heart broke for her so many times while she was growing up with her mother, who struggles with untreated mental illness. (I'm also completely in love with rosy maple moths now--the way my soul would leave my body if I ever saw one outside.) Felix was my second favorite character, a friendly giant with clashing clothes who appears when Miles most needs someone to ground him.

All of the Fall family are interesting and well-drawn, though, and the only place the novel lagged for me a bit was in the Time of Forever stories. I enjoy the way Cassidy tells the history of the Fall family, part fairy tale and part Gabriel García Márquez-style magical realism, but I did occasionally feel that they were a little too long/frequent and that it was pulling me away from the main story. There was a major Aha! moment when one of the plot elements finally clicked into place for me, and as always, Nelson is an expert at tugging all the threads of her many characters together into one coherent and beautiful tapestry. I love the Fall family like they're people I know, and I can't wait to revisit them on many rereads to come.

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

I forget sometimes you guys have not watched half the shows I have,

you guys would EXPLODE if I tried to explain mort lore.

(from yk dream works's Madagascar?? yeah that guy? little brown lemur? yeah fucked up, almost completely crazed fever dream lore.)

anyway I was thinking about the cinematic parallels with chef and Chris from total drama and how it's literally the same fucking thing that happens in Hannibal mostly.

murderous eccentric loved by many: Chris

manipulates, doesn't care how many he kills because it's exciting: Chris

mutilates and disfigures people for his own enjoyment: Chris

wealthy: Chris

gets sent to jail because he's a fucking murder: Chris

pulls a good guy and turns him evil and is gay for him: Chris

I can go on and on, uh you may be saying

"what the fuck?? that happens in this show??? what's it even rated??"

it's PG, guys.. it's a kids show. total drama is surprisingly dark, it's awesome I suggest it if you like weird shows that are a spoof of survivor.

but my god is the show literally just Chris being fucking murderous and gay for chef the entire time.

THIS MAN HAS KILLED 78 PEOPLE HE CANNONICALLY WENT TO PRISON FOR IT. CHEF LITERALLY GOT HIM OUT.

(mostly it was the show getting another season, idk how they got him out of jail. 100% it was chef tho)

like they are full on murder husbands, this show is so chaotic and cringe but mostly just "CHRIS WTF" it's fucking great.

literally inlove gay murder husbands, it's fucking crazy how similar it parallels Hannibal (2013) while being older than it.

I love this show it's awesome.

[lilibetbombshell]

[imperotenebre]

Antstream Arcade PS5 gameplay 4K - The Legend of Silkroad e Penguin Attack

Due titoli molto validi

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour: Top 5 Reasons to Read SUCH CHARMING LIARS by Karen M. McManus! #tbrbeyondtours

Hello, hello! Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the TBR and Beyond Tours blog tour for Such Charming Liars, the latest from queen of YA thrillers, Karen M. McManus! I've got all the details below, along with my top 5 reasons to read this great thriller, which released yesterday so is now out in the world!

About the Book

title: Such Charming Liars author: Karen M. McManus publisher: Penguin Books release date: 30 July 2024

The newest mystery from the author One of Us Is Lying, the Queen of thrillers, Karen M. McManus! When mother-daughter grifters set out on their final job, the heist gets deadly and dangerously personal.

For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.

Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.

Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.

Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.

Add to Goodreads: Such Charming Liars Purchase the Book: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org

About the Author

Karen M. McManus is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her work includes the One of Us Is Lying series, which was turned into a television show on Peacock and Netflix, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, Nothing More to Tell, and Such Charming Liars. Karen’s critically acclaimed, award-winning books have been translated into forty-two languages and have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.

Connect with Karen: Website | Instagram | Goodreads

Top 5 Reasons to Read

1. It's Karen McManus, one of (if not THE) reigning queens of YA thrillers! Need I say more?

2. Now Karen takes on con artists' kids, who find themselves in trouble when that "one last job" goes south.

3. I love that the FMC and MMC are *not* romantically involved with one another, but rather have a pseudo-stepsibling relationship. And our FMC actually doesn't get romantically involved with anyone; rather it's our MMC who finds an adorable guy!

4. Along those lines, I just love the relationship between Liam and Kat. Even though they haven't seen each other in 12 years, an early shared trauma has bonded them in a way they didn't realize until seeing each other again. Throw Augustus into the mix, and these three have a great dynamic that's so much fun to read.

5. I absolutely raced through the last 20%--just could not read and flip pages fast enough! What a banger of an ending!

6. As a bonus item, I will say I did part of my reading via the audiobook, and I would definitely recommend it! The narrators for Liam and Kat did a great job.

**I would like to note, if you're sensitive to domestic violence, please be aware that there is one on-page, relatively short memory of a DV incident. I wasn't expecting it and had a bit of a breakdown, so I want others to be aware of that. I'm happy to tell you more if you want to DM me.

Rating: 5 stars!

Make sure you check out the Bookstagram tour too! You can find my post here, and the full schedule is here.

[booksteacupandreviews]

Children's book for 5-10 years

Hello readers! Here are reviews of four children’s books for ages 5-8, featuring themes ranging from thrilling adventures and heartwarming animal stories to inspiring protests and captivating biographies. Whether you’re a parent or teacher, these books are wonderful additions to any child’s bookshelf, sure to inspire and motivate young readers. Children’s book for 5-10 yearsPuppy Trouble by…

[dispatchdcu]

The Penguin #5 Review

The Penguin #5 Review #penguin #batmanonebadday #twoface #DCEU #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #dcu #dcuuniverse #art #info #NCBD #amazon #previews #reviews #batman #darkknight #detectivecomics

Writer: Tom King Art: Rafael De Latorre, Marcelo Maiolo, Stefano Gaudiano, Scorpio Steele, and Clayton Cowles Publisher: DC Comics Price:$3.99 Release Date: December 26th, 2023 With the dust settling in the aftermath of the Gotham War, Penguin’s gather­ing the final member of his team before his return to Gotham…but who is this mysterious villain and what’s his connection to the Dark Knight?…

[mrs-stans]

Sebastian Stan describes the 'big reactions' from New Yorkers over his A Different Man transformation: 'I was terrified'

The actor and makeup artist extraordinaire Mike Marino unpack Stan's dramatic prosthetics turn.

By Nick Romano

Sebastian Stan was so determined to work with Oscar-nominated makeup artist Mike Marino on his film A Different Man that the actor was willing to undergo a social and professional experiment.

As Edward, the 42-year-old Marvel star would play an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis, or NF1 for short, who undergoes an experimental procedure that radically changes his face, only to then emotionally spiral out of control when he loses the part he was born to play to Oswald (Adam Pearson), someone with NF1 who lives a much fuller life than Edward ever led, pre- or post-procedure. Stan needed the man who made Colin Farrell unrecognizable as Oz Cobb for The Batman and HBO’s The Penguin to pull off such a feat.

Since Marino was already busy on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Stan walked the few blocks from his apartment in New York City’s SoHo district to Marino’s home every morning around 4 or 5 a.m. “Then you just wait till they're ready for you on set,” Marino remembers saying to him. On some of those days, Stan would kill time by wandering Manhattan in full makeup until his call time. “I walked up and down Broadway, basically,” Stan, sitting in the New York offices of studio A24, tells Entertainment Weekly. “It was a busy street. I was terrified, but I would just go get a coffee or sit.”

Sebastian Stan is unrecognizable as an actor with facial deformity in trailer for A Different Man

Stan doesn’t consider himself to be a physical actor, and yet his body of work might suggest differently. Even when the costume shoulders the bulk of the transformation, such as playing Tommy Lee in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, his body language molds to match the look. That skill is especially prominent in A Different Man (playing now in limited release). “Even alone, being able to only look out of one eye and then having one ear more covered immediately changes a lot,” he says of Marino's makeup effects. “It changes how you stand. It changes how far away you are from people, how you look at people. I felt oddly on my back foot more. It's a defensive reaction because you want to be prepared in case something's coming, that you have enough time to react.”

“What we get is such an incredibly passionate, skilled actor that can hide within a true character,” Marino tells EW in a separate conversation on Zoom from his SoHo apartment, part of which serves as the mini studio where Stan’s makeup application occurred. “He would actually now have a chance to live with people's reactions and how they were treating him.”

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

That experience informed Stan’s entire performance, and it became important for him to do so, even outside of the mornings' wait time. He would often stroll away from set on the Upper West Side in between breaks or setups. “New York is pretty evolved in a lot of ways, but I still got some big reactions from people,” he recalls. “Like, ‘Oh s---!’ ‘Oh f---!’ ‘Look at that!’ It was scary to experience. It was hard to experience. I felt powerless in those situations in some way. And, I guess, a lot of that is how Edward feels in the film.”

Sebastian Stan transforms in the discomforting drama A Different Man

Other reactions were less intense, but equally informative. While standing at a stoplight, for instance, Stan noticed the difference between those pedestrians avoiding eye contact completely, compared to those trying to discreetly steal a look or offer him a forced smile — all bystander reactions that director Aaron Schimberg incorporates into the movie. "I don't think it always comes from a bad place," he says. "Sometimes people just want to connect or feel okay. It's actually about their own experience. It's not even about you. It's like they're in that moment feeling something that's funny to them and they're trying to deal with it. They don't know how."

Marino wanted to be involved with A Different Man thanks to his love of the 1980 film The Elephant Man, loosely based on the life of Joseph Merrick, who lived with a facial disfigurement. As a 5-year-old, the movie scared Marino. But as he fell in love with the art of makeup transformations on screen, he came to see it for what it was: "a beautiful" and "touching story," he describes. "That really made an indelible mark on my life."

He would need that motivation for the obstacles that Stan's look on A Different Man prompted. "There were many technical challenges," he recalls. "It is very difficult to do makeup that thick where they have very thick areas. So I had to really balance what was too big, what was too small. I still need the movement of Sebastian to come through. I still need his own face to drive the makeup and not have it look purely like a mask. I studied Adam's photos. I really analyzed him and tried to balance how I can make it work for Sebastian."

Sebastian Stan calls out journalist who refers to his new character with disfigurement as a 'beast'

Stan has another transformative part coming out soon, the buzzed-about and already-controversial performance of young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. Because he's now promoting both that film and A Different Man simultaneously, it's been interesting for him to think about the ways in which he approached both jobs.

"I've been finding strange parallels that I never really thought about," he remarks. "There's some similar themes being explored in terms of truth, self abandonment, denial of reality to some extent. I think these last couple of roles have required a different degree of physicality. One, obviously, is specific, a real person. But I think about that, of course. You have to, because everyone walks differently and everyone carries things in their body differently. Sometimes you gain access in a different way to things by simply changing a physical aspect of yourself."

The greatest compliment he received for that kind of work on A Different Man, even more than the glowing praise he's seen from the critics, came from Pearson's mother. "After she saw the film, she was like, 'All I ever wanted was for someone to walk in his shoes for one day, to know what it's like, and you were able to do that,'" Stan remembers of their exchange. "I came close to that, I guess, in a way, to feel that kind of invasiveness that he probably felt at some point in his life, walking around."

[nanowrimo]

Beyond the Word Count: A Book Editor's Guide to Writing a First Draft

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a beautifully designed writing app for fiction writers. Today, they've partnered with Kelly Norwood-Young, former book editor for Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House, to bring you some pro tips on writing your first draft:

In my career as a book editor, I’ve reviewed hundreds of manuscripts. I've seen the joy of authors creating compelling tales, but also how disheartening it can be to rewrite a disjointed story. I’m here to give you some strategies to address common pitfalls so that you not only reach your NaNoWriMo goal, but also lay the groundwork for a manuscript that truly deserves to be called a gripping novel.

1. Have a plan.

Even if you’re more of a ‘pantser’ than a ‘planner’, it's really helpful to have an outline. I have two favourite approaches for this: the structure-first approach, and what I call the ‘Phoebe Waller-Bridge approach’.  

The structure-first approach

There are a lot of narrative frameworks for story structure, but the most foundational in Western fiction is the three-act structure. Here’s a handy guide that breaks each of the classical three acts into a day-by-day guide to NaNoWriMo: 

8-day guide to Act 1

14-day guide to Act 2

8-day guide to Act 3

The Phoebe Waller-Bridge approach

I love this quote from Phoebe Waller-Bridge: ‘I’ve never thought structure first. I’ve always thought material first, jokes first, character first ... But knowing the end really helps. Then you just go as far away from the end emotionally as you possibly can.’  

Sketch out your major story arcs, your character’s desires and conflicts, and the world they inhabit. The more you know your story's world and inhabitants, the less you'll stray into scenes that lack purpose or create plot and character inconsistencies. 

2. Keep the story moving.

Each word needs to propel your story forward. Superfluous details or tangents that don’t serve the narrative stall the momentum you’re trying to generate for your reader. 

There’s a trick you can use to move your story forward, called the question of reversibility. Ask yourself: How difficult would it be for my character to reverse their decision? The harder it would be for them to turn back, the more you’ve moved the plot forward. 

3. Plant clues carefully.

Plant important elements early and make sure every element, however subtle, serves a purpose (i.e. Chekhov’s Gun). 

Be sure to set up necessary components for your climax so that you can steer clear of Deus ex Machina (having that strong outline will help you here), and avoid red herrings unless they serve a clear, meaningful purpose (e.g. you’re writing a mystery and your readers expect some false leads). Misleading your readers without a payoff can erode their trust.

4. Write for the reader, not yourself.

‘There is only one thing you write for yourself, and that is a shopping list,’ insists Umberto Eco in On Literature. Even if writing, for you, is a therapeutic outlet, a form of self-expression, or a way to leave a legacy, you’re still writing to say something to someone else. Your story simply won’t be as strong if you forget your reader’s perspective. 

5. Keep daily editorial notes for your future self.

While editing should wait until at least December, end each day with a brief reflection, noting any off-course deviations, potential inconsistencies, areas to research further, or moments of inspiration to revisit when you start editing. 

These daily notes will be invaluable during the editing process, helping you to remember insights that are no longer fresh when you come back to the manuscript later.

6. Embrace the first-draft mentality.

There’s a lot you can do to ensure that your first draft is the best it can be before the end of November—but just as important is to understand that all first drafts have flaws.

As a book editor, I've witnessed manuscripts transform, sometimes unrecognizably, from their first drafts. Embrace the uncertainty and creative detours—because it's from this beautiful chaos that your story will find its true voice. 

Kelly Norwood-Young is a seasoned book editor and proofreader with comprehensive experience across various facets of manuscript editing. Her background includes roles at Pan Macmillan and Penguin Books, extending into a successful freelance career working with award-winning authors. Kelly's work, known for its precision and sensitivity to the author's voice, has been integral to the success of both new and established writers globally.

Try out First Draft Pro: All NaNoWriMo participants can use the discount code NANOWRIMO2023 for 20% off a premium subscription to First Draft Pro! Offer expires January 31, 2024.

[ghouldump]

IWTV is one of the only shows nowadays that’s giving REAL television. Like actually having real intriguing dialogue and scenes. Nowadays idk, but tv has been lackingggggg. The only show I can think of rn that’s really good is The Penguin (DC) and His Dark Materials.

Like back in the day you’d have iconic shows that had 10s across the board, like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, the early seasons of Supernatural, etc. Shows that were servingggggg. Even early Vampire Diaries was giving. But nowadays it’s like every show wants to imitate those shows, instead of being original and entertaining on their own, causing a sense of emptiness in them, idk. They lack a lot.

But IWTV, despite being an adaptation (coz a lot of the recent book to screen adaptations nowadays are so shit), is somehow so original and so coolllllll.

Yess, I haven’t watched the penguin yet but it’s added to my list because of the good reviews I’ve heard, so I’m definitely gonna check it out.

But I agree so much, a lot of the new good shows are crammed into 8 forty minute episodes, and they take forever to come out with a new season *cough* stranger things… but every thing else always feels rushed and not as passionately made as it was just a few years back.

I miss the old days too, I could find an amazing series with 5-7 seasons long and at least 16-20 episodes.

[kuwdora]

Year In Vidding Review: 2024

Year-end round-up/meme: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Fanvids

January Bones (The Fall of the House of Usher, ensemble)

May Wobble (Monkey Man 2024, Kid action tribute)

June Dirty (Shadow and Bone, Crows ensemble + Kaz)

July Dead of Night (The Witcher Netflix season 3, Yennefer/Thanedd/Yennefer/Geralt)

August Every Step That I Take (Shadow and Bone, Kaz Brekker)

September Only Happy When It Rains (Stigmata 1999, Frankie Paige(/Andrew Kiernan))

December You're Gonna Go Far Kid (The Witcher Netflix, Aplegatt) Losing My Religion (The Witcher Netflix season 3, Ensemble + Ciri)

Vidding Process Resources

A Vidding Primer - brief intro about the vidding process with resources + community links. 1700w.

A Guide for Discovering Fanvids - originally written in 2023 but archived on AO3 in 2024. How to use AO3 and tumblr to find fanvids. 709w.

How to Leave Feedback on Fanvids - originally written in 2022 for the Witcher Commnent Crawl but archived on AO3 in 2024. Examples of different kinds of comments. 1300w.

Vid Recs

Let’s Talk About Vids - I contributed a vid rec for this vidding zine, a zine run by @cosmic-llin with many contributors this year. Lots of great vids and vid talk!

Vid Rec Ask Game - I pitched the idea of a vid rec ask game during VidUKon and @heliological put this together with help from Gus and Emma. You can check out a bunch of amazing vidder’s recs here in the tag and in the reblogs.

Kuwdora Vid Rec Compilations: 2024 was the year of getting back into writing recs. I wrote over 120 recs for fanvids. I created a series called “Saturday Morning Vid Recs” which gave me a tidy deadline of when to complete/share recs. I wanted folks to see a lot of new and old vids that I’ve found incredible and hopefully encourage people to watch/share.

Saturday Morning Vid Recs:

FEELINGS & THAT DYNAMIC (12 recs, BIG emotional feelings and joy and soul)

Video Games (23 recs, featuring old and new vids)

Women! (23 recs, tv/film, animation, comics + more)

Space and Robots (22 recs, vidshow rec. Exploration, space, robots)

Animals (26 recs, cats, dogs, sea animals, grab bag of dinosaurs, bears, ducks and penguins)

Festivid Recs:

2023 Festivid Recs - Part 1 (9 recs, comedies, animation, theater productions, + more)

2023 Festivid Recs - Part 2 (5 recs, sapphics, badass fire)

Other Recs: The Locked Tomb Fanvid Recs (4 recs)

Vidding Meta+Process

Vidder Ask Game - I answered a ton of questions about my vids and vidding process which you can browse through the tag here for text and video and lots of navel gazing and links.

Naked Vid Draft Series (watch kuwdora make a vid)

Dead of Night (The Witcher Netflix, Yennefer/Thanedd):

Process Video: the first 30 seconds

First Draft Sneak Peek

Timeline Progress

Losing My Religion - vid outline, rough drafts, revision notes

Archiving Project - Kuwdora Vids on AO3

2007 Kuwdora Vids (95% complete)

2008 Kuwdora Vids (incomplete)

2019 Kuwdora Vids (incomplete)

The most complete archive list is this pinned post in my dreamwidth. Which you can see from the length why this is a an Ongoing Project to Archive.

Lots and lots of notes and thoughts and details about my 2024 vids, writing recs and trying to write about the vidding process. All beneath the readmore. These are the same questions I've been answering (more or less*) since 2007. 🤯 !! *I've dropped a few q's from the original meme over the years since they just didn't work for me. But it's 95% the same questions Since The Beginning, aha.

Overall thoughts:

This year I only finished 8 vids and I think I only have one WIP that I started in 2024 that I did not finish and it’s 90% finished so I might try to get that done before Festivids drops at the end of the month.

I spent a significant amount of time thinking about recs and writing recs. My vidding communities originated on journal platforms and the fractured nature of fandom spaces these days means there’s a lot of amazing things people have no idea exists, or they get recced behind discord walled gardens or at online cons. Or vids are passing under the tumblr radar because, as many vidders themselves have noted, tumblr is a very difficult platform for visibility/engagement for fanvids.

I get a lot out of watching vids in discord/con group watches but I really wanted to get back to writing/sharing recs. Cause these are really cool fanworks.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about my vidding process. This year I had a great desire to try and share about what I’ve learned and how I’ve engaged with this creative act, and how it’s been an enduring hobby for me for…18 years. Fuck. That meant I wrote a primer about the vidding process, I started archiving previous things I’ve written about vidding on tumblr. I’ve also started rummaging livejournal/dreamwidth to archive other things I’ve presented at cons and in interviews/community spaces about vidding.

Also trying to (slowly) archive my old vids on AO3. Not everything is on YouTube because of copyright or the source material has nudity/some other obscenity, so my pinned post in my dreamwidth remains the most complete list of my fanvids over the years. For now.

Final vid breakdown:

I made 8 vids. 5 of them were different sources. 3 vids were The Witcher Netflix, 2 vids were Shadow and Bone. Two films (Stigmata and Monkey Man). And a Festivid for the Mike Flanagan show The Fall of the House of Usher. 50% of my vids were ensemble pieces. 90% of these vids I finished in a month, two months at most.

Vidding Process notes:

My biggest hurdle was burnout and my inability to work on my old WIPs that I have been gnashing my teeth to work on and even rewatched the source for and got excited to work on again but didn’t manage to get any traction on them. But also I focused a lot of effort on writing recs and talking about my vidding process, which I think was a good use of the working brain I had left.

The Witcher Netflix remains my favorite thing to be vidding at the moment. I’m vidding so close to the source, so close to my fannishness about the the source, the various witcher canons, and the fandom. Those vids are probably less readable to those who aren’t into the show/fandom, but I fucking adore vidding this show.

Favorite Vid:

Dead of Night - My Witcher Netflix Yennefer/Thanedd vid of intrigue. I love the actress who plays Yennefer, and I really reallllly loved working on this. The feeling of when the verses and choruses were coming together was fannish euphoria. Dopamine of the highest degree.

Hardest to make:

None of these vids were hard to make. Which is something I’ve rarely been able to say when it comes to my vids. The hardest thing I encountered this year was my inertia. I’ve been so burnt out and dealing with job hunting fuckery and a toxic workplace that I just didn’t have the brain to start or work on anything that would be challenging me. I needed fun and frictionless this year, and that’s what I made for myself.

Most successful:

Dirty - Shadow and Bone Crows ensemble. I made this as a premiere for VidUKon. It went over SO WELL and I was elated to watch the chat stream by with cheers and to see some recs and comments come in on it. I let myself play a little with some After Effects transitions I had bought many years ago since I thought the song would greatly benefit from that kind of snappy slick editing. It was a lot of fun and the song went over really well with the audience, too.

My best vid:

These are all my best vids. Every year I feel more confident in what I’m making and how I’m making a vid. If I were to think about what an audience might say might be my best vid - it would either be Dirty/Crows ensemble vid or my Losing My Religion Witcher Ensemble+Ciri vid due to how well I nailed a specific tone and emotional atmosphere.

When it comes to technical/structural best I would say that would be Bones, my Fall Of House of Usher vid. That’s an ensemble vid with something like 9 fucking characters and it was so much to try and cram into a single vid. I framed the vid by beginning with the ending of the show and ended it with the ending of the flashback with Roderick and Madeline. The first Bridge/chorus I did a brief overview of the Usher family and the intrigue/deal with the Angel of Death. Then each verse I introduced two Usher siblings, and then introduced two more and kept stringing the Usher Horribleness along the timeline until it just kept Escalating. It was so much fun. This is the type of vid that is probably most appreciated to watch just after you watch the show when the source material is so fresh in your mind.

Most fun vid:

You’re Gonna go Far Kid, a super niche Witcher Netflix vid. This is not a fun subject, but it was fun to finally come up with a song for an idea that I wanted to do since the summer. This is the type of vid that will probably only make the most sense to people who have read both the books and are fans of the show because it’s a wry commentary about Netflix’s adaptation choices and how it really just…fell flat. My vid notes about this are longer than the actual vid and I rambled even more in the comments to mayoho about it. It’s fun but it’s also ridiculous and really made for that audience of like 4 people. Heh.

Favorite vid moments:

Dead of Night - 3:18-3:48 - Fighting and dancing and fucking. The choreography of this makes my soul vibrate. 🔥🔥🔥

Wobble - 2:08 - 2:18 - This action sequence makes me fucking cackle so fucking much. So much. I love it so much. I also love everything else in this vid, too.

And the entirety of Losing My Religion is my favorite vid moment.

Things I learned in 2024:

I learned it’s possible for me to set up structure to write and post/share vid recs. I also learned that I have quite a lot to say about vidding. I didn’t manage to work on or share anything about song choice (I started writing something for the vidding zine and didn’t get far because brain squish blahs) but I’m also quite happy with how well my vid recs and vid meta was received this year. I wasn’t sure about it when I started working on those projects but it was really gratifying to see folks were interested in what I had to say and share

I also had some revelations about what it is about songs that make my brain tick. Also I realized how my finished vids definitely reflect that “holy shit two cakes” meme you see floating around fic spaces. I’ve made the same exact vid several times and I’ve even been able to freak out (happily and incredulously) when I’ve been able to pin down my vidding style because of that.

I also am still coming to terms with letting go of vid WIPs while also still wanting to figure out how to hack my brain to get the motivation back because I genuinely am excited and want to be working on those vids.

I also learned that I am not going to get tired of vidding The Witcher Netflix and that’s probably not going to change for awhile.

In 2025:

Every year I have ambitious plans that inevitably get derailed. I say as much every year in this meme (go ahead and click thru previous years). The past two years I’ve been in burnout and my health woes are wearing me down in new ways so it’s been a struggle. I need to be less ambitious. But that doesn’t mean I can’t daydream and…have desires. Intentions, maybe. This is all with a grain of salt, right. I want to write more vidding process stuff but that's still ambiguous in my head.

And for the past 3 or so years I keep saying I’ve been wanting to work on my Moonhaven and my Green Knight vids. I’m still not ready to let those fall into my never-finish WIP pile. It’s been strange that I can’t seem to let these two go when I’ve been able to let go of other vid WIPs. So I want to figure out what this hangnail is in my brain about these vids are. Would be a dream to finish them.. I want to write more about my vidding process - and hope that others might find it interesting if I were to actually try and get out all these sticky intuitive things in my head and articulate them.

I want to write more vid recs in 2025, and possibly ping the vidding discord and Fan Tech discord for ideas to make vid rec templates/setting up automations for sharing recs more easily across platforms. I have so many ideas but also I keep spiralling out into burnout. I have at least 2 more Saturday Morning Vid Rec themes that I have vids for I just need to finish writing/formatting. And I want to do another round of Festivid Recs for the 2024 collection that will go live at the end of the month.

I want to continue archiving my old vids on AO3 and maybe remember to crosspost here on my main blog or my @kuwdoravids sideblog, and probably set up some automating crossposting to bluesky.

As for vid ideas. I have so many. I also think I need to set myself up wtih a combination of “vids that are going to be fun and easy to work on” and make sure I have myself set up with clipping so I can just ease right into it when I need the dopamine boost. But I also have a growing desire to finally work on some more challenging vid ideas that I’ve had brewing for awhile.

Some Vid Ideas for 2025:

Captain Janeway Kuwdora Thesis Statement Vid - I discovered my Janeway vidsong in 2019 and it’s been 6 years of rewatching and fannishly meditating on this vid. It might be time to embark upon this. The last time I spent this much time Actively Contemplating for a vid was for High Voltage and…this would be a similar type of Great Character Scope. Huge project though. I have DVDs to rip and 20+ episode seasons to trawl through and clip. But the end result… nobody would be ready. Maybe this year?… maybe.

Interview with a Vampire. There’s only two seasons here but during VidUKon @sandalwoodbox gave a panel presentation on audio editing and the season 2 finale was airing that weekend. My brain just had a cataclysmic idea. Not just an idea. An Idea. Something that would focus on POV and memory / unreliable narrators. This vid concept would be outside my wheelhouse because of the song / audio editing involved. Which is something I haven’t done before (or at least to this specific extent). So it’s scary and new in a way and I think might be really refreshing challenge for me to try.

Sydney Character Vid - The Bear. I’ve rewatched this show like 4 times already and I adore Sydney. I meant to make this vid in 2024 but just didn’t get to it. I have a song, I have the love. I just need to sit down and grind through the clipping process.

Black Sails/Andor. This might be a great vid for WisCon VidParty, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to make for a few years now. Andor season 2 is coming out at some point but I think I could make it without the second season.

Foundation - I have two Foundation vid ideas I keep bouncing around with. I adore the visuals and the actor’s performances so fucking much, and I’m obsessed with Salvor and Gaal. This is something I’m really keen on and am most likely to start and finish since it’s limited source and a relatively contained concept (while one vid would also a tribute to one of my favorite vidders that inspired me when I first started vidding). Also a good idea for WisCon Vid Party if that happens this year.

Now looking back on this list that I’m writing on January 1st 2025 will be fun because odds are I’m going to pop out another 4 Witcher vids and probably hiccup out three impulsive festivid treats that I didn’t think I’d make, lol. I mean I’ll make Witcher vids regardless, I’m just wanting to dream about my other vid ideas for now.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker

"'Because you don't want to? Or because someone else doesn't want you to?' 'Does it matter?' Jaq asked. 'It's the only thing that matters.'"

Year Read: 2024

Rating: 3/5

Thoughts: Queer horror is quickly becoming one of my new favorites in YA, but for whatever reason, I never quite clicked with this book. I'm not the biggest fan of strong religious themes, and had I read the description more carefully, I might have realized I wasn't the best audience for it. I really struggle with religion as a form of oppression, and quite apart from any supernatural threats, the main characters' home lives are horrorshow enough, to the point it's actually painful at times to watch their parents force them into the personalities they find pleasing. Their very real circumstances are far more frightening than the monster in the woods.

That being said, I did find the supernatural aspect a bit lacking, particularly at the end when it's all finally revealed. I think it's partly that my investment had simply checked out at that point, but the villain/confrontation is a bit lackluster. On the other hand, I very much enjoyed the gender-swapped Grease that Fern is putting on at their high school. 10/10 would go see that, where can I get tickets? Although this wasn't the right book for me, there are plenty of teenagers and young adults who face this kind of oppression and homophobia every day. I hope it finds its way into the hands of its right readers and gives them hope. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Penguin.

[artoatsblog]

What your favorite Nick toon says about you but it's EVERY Nick toon

Doug- When you were asked what you wanted for Christmas, you said "plan white bread."

Rugrats- You're a "90's kid" who wants the modern cartoon enjoyers to get off your lawn.

Hey Arnold-Same as Rugrats, but 5 time worse.

Rugrats (2021)- You only said this one to piss off the above two.

Ren & Stimpy- You're a gay man and all you OCs are ugly men who you need to kiss each other or else you'll die (This isn't an insult, you're the strongest member of our society.)

Rocko's modern life- You relate to at least one character way more than you would like to admit to others.

CatDog- Weird furry.

The angry beavers- Weird furry with taste.

Aaahh!!! Real monsters- You like the idea of Tim Burton's movies but your too cool to actually enjoy them, also your probably non-binary.

Kablam- As a kid you wanted to make something with this exact energy and now, you're a youtuber.

Oh Yeah! Cartoons- same as Kablam but you really miss Cosmo's old voice.

The wild Thornberry's- You worship the ground Tim Curry's walks on SO BAD.

Rocket power- Honest 90's kid.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 1-4- You're annoying about seasons 5+.

SpongeBob SquarePants seasons 5+- You know better than me about those people being annoying about seasons 5+.

As told by ginger- You were going to say Hey Arnold, but you didn't want to be lumped in with certain other people.

Action league now- You made at least five short films that look exactly like this.

Chalkzone- Your playlist for working out has the theme song for this show looped for five hours and nothing else.

The fairly oddparents- Your trans, and you hate no other person more than Elmer Hartman.

Invader Zim- You were a vary emo kid/teenager in the late 2000's (same, no shade)

Jimmy Neutron- you're really glad that that you picked the show in "Jimmy Timmy power hour" that wasn't made by an asshole.

All grown up- Come on guys "As told by ginger" is right there.

Avatar: the last airbender- I don't want to hear the lore of the fantasy book you wrote.

Avatar: the legend of Korra- Same as atla but You also made a LOT of shipping fanfics.

My life as a teenage robot- Transfem.

The X's- You don't exist, if you're going to go into the comments and say this is your favorite Nicktoon, you're lying.

El Tigre- This is just the good version of Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom- That was a Joke don't yell at me.

Mr. meaty- You want this odd but cool type of puppetry to come back (if you thought I was going to make fun of this one your wrong.)

Tak and the power of Juju- Your enjoyment of this show is based entirely on the fact that you liked the games.

Back at the barnyard- Shitposter.

Fanboy and Chum Chum- Shitposter but awesome.

Catscratch- Yeah, I think Wayne Knight's voice is hot too.

The mighty B- Gay.

The penguins of Madagascar- I don't have a joke for this one I just think you have impactable taste.

Planet Sheen- You always wanted Jimmy Neutron to have more "Rawr XD" swag.

T.U.F.F puppy- You ether are Jerry Trainor, or you have a Jerry Trainor stan account.

Kung fu panda: legends of awesomeness- You have a three-hour lore video on this franchise, and I hope it does well.

Winx club- You wanted to help them get free from Netflix.

Robot and Monster- It may just be me, but I think you might enjoy Dan vs.

Teenage mutant ninja turtles (2012)- You don't like rise of the tmnt.

Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles- You don't like tmnt (2012).

Sanjay and Craig- You used to freak other kids out with your scabs.

Monsters vs aliens- You can deny Coverton's rizz (sorry).

Breadwinners- Your about to go into every cartoon reviewers house with a shit ton of water balloons.

Harvey Beaks- In the middle/late 2000's you were more of a cartoon network kid, you loved Cowder.

Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket- Same as Harvey Beaks but with Flapjack instead of Cowder.

Bunsen is a beast- Your Elmer Hartman.

Welcome to the Wayne- You wrote at least one fanfic for the ending of this show.

The adventures of kid danger- We don't talk about this one.

Middle school Moguls- it's ok monster high is about to come to Nick for real.

The loud house- Your ether a sapphic girl or a straight guy with a DeviantArt account who needs to be punished.

The Casagrandes- Same as the loud house but with the added advantages, because if you have a DeviantArt account in this one you're more likely to have a normal relationship with your family.

It's pony- You don't hate the British as much as the rest of us.

Middlemost post- John trabbic III is such a bad ass name though, wait this show has Del the funky homosapien and Tony Hawk as guest stars, I might need to which this.

Star trek: prodigy- You really like Netflix original animated shows don't you.

Big Nate- You haven't read the books.

Monster high- You the perfect in-between of goth and prep.

Transformers: earthspark- Why does this show have better non-binary rep than most other shows...I mean they are called Transformers for a reason.

[lilibetbombshell]

[imperotenebre]

Faaast Penguin PS5 gameplay 4K - prime impressioni

Ennesimo f2p

[booksteacupandreviews]

Ostrich Girl by Lesley D. Biswas - children's fiction about wildlife conservation

Ostrich girl amazing and lovely children’s fiction about wildlife conservation that all kids will enjoy. Ostrich Girl – children’s fiction about wildlife conservation SynopsisReviewBook Links Ostrich Girl by Lesley D. Biswas Publication Date : February 5, 2024 Publisher : Duckbill Read Date : March 7, 2024 Genre : Children’s Fiction Age : 7+ Pages : 48 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of…