#anyway i haven't seen most of these but it's exciting how long this list is getting

[libraryleopard]

updated this letterboxd list i've been curating for a while of films featuring trans actors playing trans characters, it's over 200 films long now so that's cool

[curseofaphrodite]

PRE-OWNED RECORDS

Sirius Black x muggle!reader || fluff

summary: the time Sirius sneaked away from Hogwarts to see you.

The thrift store looked as cozy as ever, which was the obvious effect of a place filled with things that people had previously loved. The crooked statues and trinkets near the door, the sound of a Little Richard record playing somewhere behind the back, the huge stack of battered old books — all of them made you excited like the very first time you stepped inside.

You looked at the boy you came with and saw a gleam in his eyes that you haven't ever seen before.

"Pretty, isn't it?" you asked, taking a brown butterfly hairclip from the basket near him. Sirius still hasn't finished taking in the shop's eccentrics.

"It's so cool," he said in awe.

You laughed. You could see why he'd be so surprised. Sirius Black had been homeschooled all his life, or that's what he says anyway. All you know is that your strange, rich, pretty neighbour never comes out of his house unless it's the holiday season. When you ask him about it, he says his mother is old-fashioned and traditional. You hadn't understood what he meant until you saw her once yourself. From her attire to her cold glare, that particular cameo still gave you shudders.

Even the times you do see him, he's covered in leaves and dirt, as if he climbed down the window without anyone seeing. Sometimes you wonder if you ought to get him legal help to get him emancipated. But he never looked physically harmed, but he never looked completely okay either.

Str̥angely enough, your holiday friend wasn't out on a holiday though. This visit was right in the middle of the school year. When asked about it, he said something about apparition or desperation that you just decided not to ask further. He looked particularly worn out that day, so you decided to take him to somewhere he'd never been before, which happened to be a very long list. The thrift store was close, so that's the story of how he ended up gawking at the records beside you.

"Who's your favorite?" you asked, actually curious. Apart from his unusual attire and confused looks when you mention anything from music, you haven't had the faintest clue as to who he even listened to.

"Stubby Boardman?"

You blinked. "Uhm, you mean Buddy Holly?"

"Yeah, sure." Sirius looked more interested in the records before him. He brushed past the unorganized stack with a faraway look in his eyes. He then turned to you questioningly. You jumped a little and looked away because you realized you might have been staring a little too much at him.

"Look at this!" You were thankfully saved by the orange and red album in front of you. You reached for it gleefully, making a happy sound. "I've been looking for this edition for such a long time! Oh, I can't believe they have it!"

"Are they any good?" he asked, matching your level of excitement.

"The best," you sighed, hugging it closer.

This particularly sweet moment was cut short when you heard a small commotion at the front of the store.

Sirius's face showed immediate panic. "I knew that cat looked familiar!" He said, rushing to the cashier's area.

"The cat?" you blinked in confusion, then followed him.

A woman stood in the spot, wearing the biggest black hat you'd ever seen. She had small spectacles and smart, shrewd eyes behind them. She looked exhaustingly mad, as if she'd been in plenty of situations like this before.

"I'm still learning the ropes of apparition?" Sirius tried, smiling meekly. "I've no clue how I've ended up here."

"Mr. Black, you've excelled in apparition and rest assured, even the most horrible student wouldn't end up hundreds of miles away from where they are. I'm sorry to interrupt your date but you're coming with me right this instant!"

"Who is this?" you asked. The woman turned her gaze on you, and the wheels seemed to turn in her head.

"Let's go," she said more sharply.

"I enrolled in a boarding school?" Sirius directed the answer at you, though it sounded more like a lame excuse. The woman did not look happy to be ignored. "I've to go now but I'll explain everything when I'm back okay?"

"No, you won't!" the woman said shrilly.

"I'm sorry but you all have to leave," the cashier said, looking like she's had enough. "We don't have squabbles inside the store."

Sirius looked a tiny bit sad. Being unofficially thrown out of the store was not how you thought how the day would go, but you sighed and walked out anyways.

Your phone rang. It was your father, asking you to pick up the groceries on your wy back. By the time you hung up, both Sirius and the lady was nowhere to be seen.

----------------------------------

"You're young and that's a fancy word for naive," Minerva said, walking or slightly running down the hall. Sirius struggled to keep up.

"She's going to understand."

She stopped in her tracks and Sirius almost crashed into her.

"That's not what I meant. How do you think your mother would take the fact that you're friends with a muggle? Let alone more than friends?"

Sirius blushed. "There's not more—"

"Oh, I'm not stupid. But that's not what this is about either. You're bringing her to her doom if you keep visiting her under Walburga's nose."

"She's all I have at that place!"

"That's not true. There's a person in your own house who needs you, but you seem to forget that."

"Regulus is like the rest of them. He's not who he was," Sirius said promptly. His words were harder than before. "If you doubt it, look for the mark in his arm."

Without waiting for her reply, he stormed away. To hell with the detentions, he thought. I have to do one more thing back in my town.

----------------------

The next morning, the first thing you thought of while waking up was the boy with dark long curls and brown pretty eyes. You wondered if you dreamt him up.

There was a part of you that wanted to be mad that he left without a goodbye, but you actually didn't mind. Something said he'd be back soon enough.

"Hey kiddo," your dad knocked on your door and walked in, holding something familiar in his hands. "Someone left this at the door. Must be for you."

You gasped, grabbing the red and orange record from his hands.

"How—?"

"There was no note." He shook his head. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a secret admirer. Now come down to the kitchen, we made pancakes."

"I'll be right there," you mumbled, examining the album once again. Once he left the room, you immediately went to the player.

While you took out the record, you noted something eerily familiar to dog hair sticking on the sides.

THE END

------------------------------------

masterlist | KOFI | commissions

[sanguineterrain]

could I request a fic with insomniac!reader and tim? i love your writing im excited to see how you make his character your own! <3

thanks for the request! first time writing tim... kinda nervous like I'm on a first date 🫣 hope you like! this one isn't as mushy gushy as my usual fics (jason) so yeah. also my knowledge of yj is purely through fic 🤙

tim drake x gn!reader. tw insomnia, tim being so awkward but maybe... there are feelings... who can say. tim's character is so interesting to me (probably because I identify with him the most lmao).

****

It's really, really nice of the team to let you stay over tonight. Like, really nice.

You haven't even done much. You're pretty much a nobody in the superhero world, not even a D-list hero. Certainly not anybody that should be hanging out with the likes of Wonder Girl and Superboy and, God, Tim freakin' Drake.

Kon was just overly generous in his cool, brash way, herding you into a spare room after last night's battle. After tonight, you'll politely break away from the team to give them some reprieve. It didn't escape your notice that they didn't hang out last night like they usually do.

You've been awake for an hour now, listening for sounds of life in the corridor. If you were home, you'd already be on the couch watching crappy TV. But you really don't want to run into anyone here.

Maybe you have some chamomile tea leftover from the last time you stayed over. You hadn't stayed the whole night, slipping away without interference as most of the team had gone to their own homes.

You get up, stretching and popping joints. It's always a little cold in the Tower, and it wakes you up as you walk to the kitchen first. You're as quiet as you can be in heating the water and finding the tea.

You take your mug and head to the den. As you enter, you freeze.

Tim turns his head from his place on the couch. The blue light from the TV makes him paler, and his eyes bluer. Sometimes, he looks so much like Bruce Wayne, it startles you.

"Oh," you say, unsure what else to say. Your brain is tired and fried. "I... was just looking for my watch."

That's definitely your dumbest lie. You don't have a watch. Tim sure as fuck knows that.

His eyes flick to your wrist, as if reminding you both how stupid your lie is, then to your mug. He mutes the TV.

You stay where you are. Tim stands, obviously shouldering his own bout of insomnia.

"It's... you can come in," he says, just as awkward as you.

That's comforting. Tim's usually so suave, the few times you've interacted. He's all Gotham Heights, his upbringing never quite sloughing off no matter how many times he's probably tried to blend in and not be so... private school.

"I was just going to bed," he says quickly.

"No, you weren't," you say. You don't mean for it to come out so shrewd. Tim looks a little startled.

"I mean, you don't need to go," you add. "I'll take this to my room. It's fine. Sorry."

"No, I've been here too long anyway. I should work on my case."

Here's the thing. It's not that Tim avoids you because in order to do that, you'd have to see him more than three times a year.

But there's a distance. You've tried not to take it personally, tried to chalk it up to the fact that you're introverted and Kon and Bart are Kon and Bart, and Cassie's too straightforward to beat around the bush, and you've somehow won her over, which is nice.

And Tim is just... cautious. Paranoid.

Those are understatements, and you can't imagine the psychological damage caused by being raised by Batman, but, well, you've seen the previous and current Robins, so you can hazard a guess.

Anyway, Tim kind of acts like an unsocialized cat with you. You once mentioned it to Kon, in nicer words, but he dismissed you, saying, "Whaddya mean? Rob likes you!" Which had assuaged nothing, but whatever.

"I won't be here long," you say, as a last-ditch effort to not make it feel like you're kicking Tim out of his own space. "I just, uh, couldn't sleep."

He watches you in that freaky Bat way, like he's trying to determine if you're a threat or not. Jesus.

"It's hard for me to sleep after a battle," you add, trying to show your belly. That's how it feels, being around Tim Drake. Like you always need to be vulnerable first. Like you're in a battle of wills you didn't know you entered.

He doesn't sit down, but he does say, "Me too."

You nod and drink your cooling tea. "There's more tea in the kitchen if you want. Chamomile."

"I'm... good. Thanks."

You edge over to the armchair diagonal to the couch and sit.

"You can work in here," you say. "Unless, uh, it's too distracting. I'll keep the TV muted."

His laptop is on the other side of the couch. Tim is still, only his eyes moving from you to the laptop.

"I don't wanna push you out," you say.

"It's really fine," he replies immediately.

It's so not fine. This isn't boding well for your insomnia. You're definitely going to be agonizing over this interaction all week.

"I won't bother you," you say.

"I didn't say you would."

Then what's the problem?

Slowly, Tim returns to the couch. You look away, so it doesn't seem like you're watching his every move (you are), nor is Tim clocking your every move (he is).

He settles on the couch and opens his laptop. You drink and try to figure out what's playing on TV. It looks to be a rerun of Columbo. You smile.

"You like Columbo?"

Tim looks spooked that you're still talking to him, but he answers. "Yeah."

"Me too."

You watch Columbo silently look for clues. Tim types, fingers flying over the keyboard. Then his fingers pause.

"I used to watch it with Dick," he says. "When I first became Robin."

You nod, giving him your full attention. "Yeah? He seems like the type."

"He does a pretty good impression of him. He likes detective shows."

"You don't?" you ask.

Tim shrugs. "They're fine. I guess I just hate how predictable they can be."

"Of course the boy genius would say that," you say, smirking.

Instantly, Tim's face turns to stone. He hums, looking back at his laptop. You blink. What happened?

"Sorry. That was a joke," you say.

"I know," Tim says, any trace of warmth gone.

You're startled by the shift. "I don't—I wasn't making fun of you. I mean, you are smart. Really smart."

Tim carefully looks at you. "...Thanks."

You nod clumsily. You should've just stayed in bed.

It's quiet for a long time. You're trying to muster up the confidence to escape to your room when Tim speaks again.

"People have said stuff like that to be facetious. I... reacted without reading your tone."

It's not an apology, but it's probably the closest thing you'll get.

"It's okay," you say.

Tim nods. His shoulders aren't so tense, though his posture is atrocious when he's off-duty.

He gets up and gives you the remote. You take it, smile small. Tim retreats.

"You can unmute it if you want. I don't mind."

So you do, and you and Tim spend the next hour half-watching Columbo and half-watching each other. Eventually, your tea finishes, and the episode ends, so you get up.

"I think I'll try and sleep," you say.

Tim nods. "Good luck."

You hum. "Thanks. Good luck with the case."

"Yeah. Thanks."

You wash the mug and leave it on the dish rack. Then you escape back to your room. You really do feel like you could sleep again. Maybe Columbo reruns are the magic ingredient to a good night's sleep.

[ghostfish-cookie]

Welp guess who's back again. Simultaneously took longer, and shorter than intended, but I've got something in the works, but have something to show for it now at least!

It's an AU that is.. yet to have a name, but the basis is that all cookies have animal features! :]

With that in mind, here's the two designs I've got so far!

(Putting them under a cut so the post isn't too long, lol)

Pure Vanilla, a sheep with warm wool, and an equally warm smile. The king of the Vanilla kingdom, he's a gentle and calm healer, and though he has incredible expertise in magic of all kinds, retains healing and protection as his specialties. He really likes his space and his privacy, despite how friendly he is.

I'm not sure about the staff I gave him, but we'll see... It still has the same functionality as his usual orchid staff, just.. a couple more flowers that are much, much smaller. His usual outfit is the one on the right, which is basically his canon outfit, but with the addition of lotsa fluff, hehe! The left is an alternative outfit inspired somewhat by the Pastel Blue costume, because I love it a lot hehehe!

Shadow Milk Blueberry Milk, an eccentric and theatrical rabbit who lives in Pure Vanilla's dreams, quite literally. His situation is somewhat of a mystery to Pure Vanilla, but he knows the rabbit is rather lonely without him. Blueberry Milk is full of jokes, excitement and energy, making every night entertaining through a handmade stageplay, or an intriguing conversation. He's incredibly intelligent despite his chipper and lax attitude, which shows clearest in deeper conversations.

His design is very inspired by the statue seen in Episode 7, though also with definite use of Shadow Milk's current design, and referencing his sprites a little, especially for colors. He might get some design changes over time, mostly adding some details perhaps? His outfit feels a little too plain for him methinks... haveta think about it I suppose :3

In Pure Vanilla's dreams, he'd made a friend unlike any other, and they ended up becoming closer and closer to each other after years and years of talking each and every night. After all, Blueberry already knew Vanilla's deepest secret, so for once, there was nothing for him to hide... which I'll get into later. ;]

I will note, some other characters and their animals have been figured out but not too many. I have most of the other ancients, and some of the other beasts though!

(EDIT: SOME DETAILS LISTED BELOW HAVE BEEN RETCONNED ALREADY... SORRY ABOUT THAT.(When I have a masterpost, I'll be so powerful...))

Dark Cacao: Moose Golden Cheese: Bird(Wow, shocker.. still haven't figured out what kind yet though, because it will be more specific than 'bird') White Lily: Mantis(Possibly Orchid Mantis) Hollyberry: I'm trying to decide between Draconic or a Bear.. hmm...

Mystic Flour: Spider Burning Spice: Lion Honestly don't know enough about the other two beasts to decide for them quite yet methinks..

Here's some more loose ideas I have for other characters:

Werewolf is going to be a wolf, obviously. Cream Ferret, Fig, Kumiho and Cream Unicorn are along the same lines for obvious reasons. Crunchy Chip will also be a wolf most likely(unless I get a better idea(unlikely)) I think Rye should be either a cow or horse I would like the faeries to be bugs, specifically along the lines of butterflies and moths The mer cookies like Crimson Coral, Sorbet Shark, Frilled Jellyfish, Squid Ink, etc. probably will mostly remain how they are, and same with the dragons. Chili Pepper might be a raccoon, or a weasel because I think it'd be funny Strawberry I think is gonna be some kind of cat. Not sure about Wizard and Gingerbrave right now though

Anyway, I'll be back later, Fish out ✌️

[isekai-crow]

2024 Winter Anime Lineup (Master Post?)

First post for a new blog where I'm going to try and record my opinions, break downs, comparisons, and various degrees of squees about anime!

The lineup for this year's Winter isn't as packed as the 2023 Fall season was, but that's always the case. It sure is still causing my To Watch List to keep getting longer... but more importantly because it's so lacking in big name shows one of my most anticipated shows gets to shine...

SOLO LEVELING

俺だけレベルアップな件

LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!

I'M SO EXCITED FOR MY SHADOW BOY TO FINALLY ARRIVE!!!

also, holy CRAP look at all this TRADITIONAL FANTASY!!! There is even a decent selection of non harem Isekai this round too! And a lot of awesome sequels/continuations!

Anyways, here's what's on my to watch list for this season! I'll be posting about them in their own or other threads as I figure out how I want to set this blog up. My reasons for WHY I'm watching what I'm watching

Definitely Will Watch!

Solo Leveling / 俺だけレベルアップな件

Apothecary Diaries /薬屋のひとりごと(Continued)

Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi) / ダンジョン飯

The Villains Day Off / 休日のわるものさん

Undead Unluck / アンデッドアンラック(Continued)

Fire Hunter (Hikari no Ou) 2nd Season / 火狩りの王

High Hopes / Might Drop / Taking My Time

Sasaki and Peeps / 佐々木とぴーちゃん

The Witch and the Beast / 魔女と野獣

Doctor Elise / 外科医エリゼ

Cherry Magic (THIS ENGLISH TITLE LMAO) / 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい (DEF WATCHING THIS ONE NOW)

Shangri-La Frontier / シャングリラフロンティア　(Continued)

Beyond Journey's End / 葬送のフリーレン (Continued)

Gonna Give Them A Few Episodes

Mashle Season 2

Fluffy Paradise / Isekai de Mofumofu Nadenade Suru Tame ni, Ganbattemasu (I'm doing my best in another world to pet fluffy creatures)

Ishura

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic / 治癒魔法の間違った使い方

Blue Exorcist / Ao no Exorcist (OUT OF LEFT FIELD THIS ONE)

Delusional Monthly Magazine / Gekkan Mousou Kagaku

This is already insanely long, so the second half of this essay about what I think is below ↓↓↓↓

DEFINITE WATCH LIST

SOLO LEVELING - I've been waiting for the solo leveling anime since BEFORE the anime was ever announced, re-reading the webcomic/manhwa multiple times and just HOPING someone would animate these gorgeous shadows. It is a very well done power fantasy with only squints of romance, and while I'm sad it's been localized to Japan (and all the fuckery that comes with of Korean erasure), I got to see the first two episodes at the World Premiere and I. Am. So. Hype.

APOTHECARY DIARIES existed completely outside of my head space, and my initial response at the premise was, Raven of the Inner Palace? I wasn't actually expecting much from it and then the first few episodes BLEW ME OUT OF THE WATER and now I'm obsessed.

DUNGEON MESHI is one of those manga I've heard about, but tried reading and it was too slow paced for me (I say, currently slogging through The Boat Arc (TM) of Hunter x Hunter), but the anime gives it life and I think I'll enjoy this alot. I love cooking anime and fantasy, so this will be fun!

KYUJITSU NO WARUMONOSAN is just straight up Crow Bait. That curly bowl cut, the gap moe of a villain who loves cute things, and voiced by fricken Shintarou Asanuma!!! (I know him as Samatoki from HypMic, other's will know him from the "Fucking Bullshit" song from Carole and Tuesday, and a host of other roles) Also, all the pretty sentei / power ranger boys!!! I'm so hype, in the most relaxed chill way for this.

UNDEAD UNLUCK is so weird in that it involves a lot of random sexualization, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable like Seven Deadly Sin's random gropping did, maybe because there is actual implied consent involved. Fuuko and Andy are Poly and I love them for it. And the world building is TOP NOTCH.

FIRE HUNTER - If you haven't seen season one, you are missing out. A darkly beautiful post-post apocolyptic alternate Japan-esque world, from the POV of a young girl, and a young genius boy having to let himself be manipulated by capitalism to survive, and gods? a magic system? but so soft that it's barely there even while being a full on fantasy story.

High Hopes or Taking My Time

SASAKI AND PEEPS- What a weird little show that has the weirdest combination of isekai, the most "this is fine." salaryman, and a fricken' CHUNIBYO BIRB. I've already watched the first episode and it feels like there are two magic systems going on and its a bit confusing, so we will see how this plays out!

WITCH AND BEAST - I keep wanting to call this Beauty and the Beast, because the beast is a rad bad ass looking lady, and the witch is certainly one of the most beautiful undertakers I've ever seen. I think he carries his boyfriend around in his coffin backpack, so I'm hype to see WTF is up with that >o>

DOCTOR ELISE - Why do manhwa I read keep randomly popping up as anime??? This is a vilainess turned good story, and supposedly the market is full of these, but none of them are the good ones I've read, so I did a double take of happiness when I saw this. THIS ONE IS GOOD. An spoiled princess gets killed, is reborn in Korea and becomes a doctor, only to be killed by Airplane-kun, and winds up back in her old body where she decides to become a doctor again! The prince is even not your typical icy asshole! (although maybe he is a little at the beginning..)

CHERRY MAGIC - THIS FRICKEN ENGLISH TITLE GOOD LORDS ABOVE. I'm dying. I'm also excited to see this one play out and I'll be hiding behind a pillow giggling like a mad lad while I do. It's been a while since there's been a good BL that's not SAD (looking at YOU Given and Banana Fish, but avoids eye contact with Sasaki and Miyano) so hopefully it doesn't dip into that territory. Going into this one mostly blind as to the premise apart from the obvious Gap-Moe with the love interest.

SHANGRI-LA - I started watching this on a whim as the Fall season started to wind down, and found it to be a good potato chip to have on in the background. I'll probably continue watching it, but not weekly.

FRIEREN - This is what I watch when Jujutsu Kaisen hurts too much to keep going. I'm only a few episodes in, so it'll be slow going, but I think it's about to pick up it's pacing a little where I'm at, and it'll be good comfort food to have.

MAYBES

Mashle Season 2 - The pacing was SUPER WEIRD in the first season that despite all of it's shitting on the properties of she-who-shall-not-be-named, the end of the season kind of fell flat. I wanted to like it more, so I'm hoping Season 2 does that for me.

Fluffy Paradise - I love isekais with an adult in a child's body pretending to be just super smart, and this doesn't feel like it's going to do that, but still looks cute none the less. I'll give it a few episodes, but will quickly drop it if my watch list is too long.

Ishura - Is this what life is like for D&D Characters when they hit level 20? I HOPE SO. I LOVED the Legend of Vox Machina, and hope this has the same sort of vibes, but I'm going in blind!

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - Love me some fucked up healing magic. Please DO NOT let this be ANYTHING like Redo Healer. I refuse to watch that even those FUCKED UP HEALING MAGIC IS FUN. But this. This I want to see. Please let this also not be a harem. I'm fine with ~vibes~ but please no actual harem that's not actually Poly.

Blue Exorcist - THIS IS TOTALLY OUT OF NOWHERE. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?????? I remember the last season feeling like a disappointment? But can't remember why? Gonna see if this is worth re-watching the seasons from like... a decade ago.

Delusional Monthly Magazine - I watched the PV and had no fucking clue what was happening. Therefore, I will be watching a few episodes to sate my curiosity about WTF OR possibly just get myself even more confused and rage quit. lmao

I've watched the first few episodes of a couple of these, and will be watching a few more tomorrow, so Next Goal: Post a write up or three about what I think!

[adam-raki]

[ I wanna have a quick rant about Adam (2009). Yes, there is a TL;DR at the end.

Now, I love this movie. It means a lot to me. It's probably very obvious due to the way that I've dedicated my whole account to it. Still, I think people tend to fundamentally misunderstand this movie - and I wanna talk about it.

Let me first say that it isn't perfect. A better movie would have, for example, employed an autistic actor (despite how much I adore Hugh Dancy's performance) and made various other changes that I will not be bothered to list. Is it a perfect representation of autism? No. But, is there a better representation out there? Personally, I don't think so. It's hard to define what 'good representation' is.

I've actually heard this reviewed as a 'bad' or even the 'worst' autism movie ever, which I think is an unworthy assessment.

A lot of criticism of this movie boils down to people just not relating to Adam's personal experience as an autistic adult - and that's fine. Having autism is such a diverse experience, and I can understand the frustration of the representation being almost exclusively cishet white men who like STEM (trust me, it infuriates me too). Still, some autistic people ARE like Adam, and that's also fine. Some of us don't find his character exaggerated at all (like me, who found the shot of his multiple boxes on cereal in the cupboard painfully relatable). A more varied set of autistic characters need to be seen in cinema... including ones like this.

But, the reason why I have a problem with this movie is also why I love it so much; it's uncomfortable. I haven't re-watched it in so long because it genuinely makes me upset. It's uncomfortable to watch Adam mistaken as a predator and watch the miscommunication between him and Beth (per the "were you excited?" scene and the fakeout where you think he's pestering her for sex, but he just wants to practice for his interview). It's uncomfortable to watch him continually shut down by the people around him. It's uncomfortable to watch him misunderstood, mistreated, and left on his own when his partner couldn't be bothered to understand him. It's raw and a little bit ugly.

Was this what the movie makers were going for? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe it really was meant to be a 'pity the autistic' movie for neurotypicals, but I think that would be reducing it to something that it isn't. Yes some of the scenes are jarring to watch. It's less so romantic and comedic than it is awkward and kind of heartbreaking. But maybe that's the point.

Adam 2009 is very much a product of its time. I mean, it's roughly 15 years old now so I wouldn't have expected much. Yet still, it manages to be nuanced, showing the flaws in both sides of Adam's and Beth's relationship and how it ultimately doesn't work out (literally, almost exclusively because of Beth, not Adam).

I'm not telling you if you should or shouldn't like this movie. I happen to really dislike a lot of movies that are praised by viewers and critics. I don't even particuarly find this movie to be all that impressive in the narrative sense - but it hits hard. At least to me, it's the most authetic experience of my own struggles as someone on the spectrum. I hate how accurate it is, and I hate how much I see of myself in Adam sometimes. It's difficult to watch. And I love it.

TL;DR for this - Adam 2009 is flawed as a movie, but many of its facets are misinterpreted as bad representation unduly. I think it's supposed to feel awkward and uncomfortable. Some of us on the spectrum relate to that and good representation can't possibly cover every single autistic experience.

Anyway - if anyone has thoughts on this, I would love to hear them! You don't have to agree with me. Just be nice (or I'll be upset). ]

[blackdigitalrose]

I didn't have time to write up yesterday but kicking off Fridays;

Egads, I know nothing about them but I just love these designs! They're just so pretty! A back to basic look, where less is more once again; it does feel Precure outfits have become more messy and cluttered as times gone on.

Now this is listed as a Winter 2020 anime... which means this series alone is already full of awkward ironies. Which I assume would explain its short run time at only 45 eps and I would say it'd be safe to wager that it is going to hinder the show in the second half especially in some ways.

Anyway, it definitely has a strong start though, there's a lot of unique angles in this.

The intro and outro are quite catchy, the intro is quite basic and casual, it doesn't really tell anything, more like an elaborate slide show of the main trio just hanging out with some Precure bits mixed in but its the Outro that gets me, once more, it just feels like it wouldn't be out of place in an Aikatsu performance line up, this one has an especially strong case.

Two eps in and they've already had a falling out, now that's a record, despite how it concluded, it does leave a sour feeling against Rabirin.

3. As for Nodoka, this is quite a unique take and one you can definitely get behind, you do feel for her and she doesn't feel like she's been overdosing on sugar but rather she's making the most of what she can due to lost time and this actually puts a limitation on her, which I imagine she'll work on overcoming as the series progresses.

3. Another thing in this shows favour I find so far is how proactive/involved and personable the fairies seem to be, they aren't just a Fairy serving X with duty Y, they do seem to have a bit more going for them, they can even contribute to the battle despite being transformed. Also, lol at the royal dog idea... and that name is a constant double take, I just keep reading it as teatime. Do wonder what made them choose the animals they did though?

٩( ᗒᗨᗕ )۶ He has a little inflatable chair! He's adorable!

4. Although maybe a point off for Daruizen... that's just gross, he's attacking people with dandruff? Shindoine is a pre- Zakuro, feel like that may be just need to become a niche little club of its own and while her summoning method is easier to stomach, does make you concerned for how the third one is going to summon... -.-''

5. This! The whole exchange ♡♡♡

I'm loving the dynamics of these two, it's so sweet, supportive and precious!

However, this is where I have concerns, most lists I've seen rate Fontaine quite low... so now I'm worried her debut is her peak... but also a point for, while underwhelming, such an obscure focus, especially on track and field... not sure how the high jump could tie into anything in the long run compared to other events, like discus or javelin but definitely different.

6. So much individuality included and a bonus point for looking nothing like their civilian selves.

I'm excited but wary, I haven't seen much support for Healing Good but I look forward to the next 3 eps.

[panelshowsource]

it's actually been leaked for some time, although — and not to sound whiny — any time i've posted it or just talked about it i've gotten 10+ anonymous messages telling me i'm the devil and ruining the establishment of taskmaster with my irresponsible gossiping. so i didn't post about it and deleted any of the asks/convo about the new cast, even though ofc everyone has had tonsss of thoughts about it 😅

anyways would have laid down my whole life betting john robins (one of THE most obvious future tm contestants, being such a good friend of alex's!) and joanne mcnally would be on so i feel very vindicated — and excited! — in that regard! we're gonna have a great time :)

someone sent an anon asking about people i'd bet — not who i want, but who i'd bet — would be on the show so i'll think more about that and post later this week! the series will def have more seasons so i'll try and get some guesses in heh

OMG ME TOO her name is mabel! she's sooooooo cute ≧◡≦

hello anon!! actually you don't need me for this, it was recently posted on tv_bunny :)

enjoy!

she's great! she reminds me a lot of roisin, in that when she's not doing her semi-pre-written joke material, she's supremely good at hanging, bantering, fitting in with the vibe. i really appreciate that when it comes to panel shows particularly! but i can't say i've seen much of her standup

(wait — can i digress for a second — roisin is one of the ONLY recurring catsdown contestants who actually brings in sensible mascots that have the purpose of helping her/bringing her luck, and her presentations of them are always so hilarious and she deserves more credit for that)

+ not important but i really like her voice

thank you for sending her well wishes <3

i appreciate the message and you weren't the only person to say this, but i think some people are only part-way informed as to her journey reclaiming her name. her intention was never to scrap the nickname shappi or stop people from calling her that; it was 1) to reconcile her experience growing up in the uk with her name and how that led to her committing to shappi as a teen, and 2) to be published, credited, and billed as shaparak in professional capacities. she has clarified many times, including here and here, that it is totally acceptable to call her shappi; people on tv & radio still call her shappi after formal introductions, like in the new wilty when everyone calls her shappi throughout the entire episode; her social media handles are still shappi; and so on. she's shaparak, but that doesn't mean she "no longer goes by shappi". there is some confusion here i think some people are taking her journey, which was lovely to follow, as rejecting shappi — but that isn't the case.

i already updated her tag to 'shaparak khorsandi' a while ago and would definitely credit her full name where necessary, but socially, colloquially, like in the quick text post i made asking people to give shappi some love, there is no disrespect in calling her that! of course, plenty of people are credited by one name and are regularly called another/a nickname, like olivia colman who is actually called sarah by her family and colly by most everyone else. she seems really happy with having done her book and her recent show under her full name, and it's been beautiful to see her come around to love shaparak as much as she has loved shappi :')

btw for anyone who doesn't know, shaparak means butterfly in farsi!

hahahahaha that is hilarious

long story short is just that keith lemon is a disreputable character (and i mean character literally, he's not real, he's played by leigh francis!) who spends a lot of his energy shouting and oogling over boobies etc

i think it's fair to say hating on white supremacists does bring us all together 😅

i'm sorry i haven't seen it! but ugh tamsin greig is one of my longest-time crushes fr i actually think the friendship between her and stephen mangan is one of my roman empires. i have a list of scripted tv rewatches i plan to do this year — the thick of it, peep show, and so on, some of my faves ever — and green wing is def on the list so maybe i'll add friday night dinner!

—————

PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS / NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS FAQ / TAGS / ASK

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

hello.

reading your answer to the last ask made me feel warm, I had read it multiple times and each time after I lied down, zoned out, letting myself to feel or smile at certain parts (like where you talked about Russell and calling him peter pan. good nickname:)).

reading your share of story and even others on tags touched me deeply. you were right about to feel 'they get it' btw, it put me at ease how you or others get what I said. I was a little worried about misinterpretion about last ask I sent, so you can guess how I felt by the answer, when I got a long touching answer where you were talking with passion about sparkstember (and any other things about sparks)

I had watched the links you sent me and the concert in 2014 was a real masterwork in another level, their performance shook me by core to the point i wished I could go back in time and get ticket for it (if tim traveling was real(or is it real?) watching sparks on London hall would be def on my list)

in the end thanks for giving me hint about the sparkstember, I checked it out and would like to participate(not sure how much of it probably not all of it but I want to try) plus I'm not worried about my anon mask, at least not anymore. rather keeping it because I find joy on looking for my answer rather than I get notification. beside I think you had figured who am I long time ago(unless you haven't so I would eat cake to that)

Hey, I am really glad it made you feel that way :) You can bet other people felt the same way reading what you wrote, me included! It's never stopped being special to me, that we've got Sparks and this lovely fandom.

... that 2014 concert is one that makes me wish for time travel too. I'd definitely go see it again ✨ Something that doesn't come across at all in videos is how beautiful the lights in the hall were as well, it was just stunning in every single way, absolutely magical. (I'd also go see some 21x21 shows, the Exotic Creatures Of The Deep show, and Balls. But the great thing is that the thing I'm most excited about is the shows the future holds 💖 No time travel necessary 🌞)

I had indeed figured out who you were some time ago, but I'm all for letting people eat their cake ^^ So you can be anon on here for as long as you like :) I've really been enjoying your asks and I'll always continue to have a million things to say about Sparks and their work. So yeah, inbox is always open.

Anyway, I really look forward to seeing you around with Sparkstember! Also (and this goes for anyone who may be reading this): don't worry if you're not familiar with some of Sparks work yet. There is so much to explore with Sparks and it's a beautiful thing to take your time with! It doesn't matter how much you know or don't know, or how long you've been around: if you like Sparks you like Sparks and that means you have a place here. (Even after 12 years I'm still learning new things! It's great!)

I couldn't decide on my parting gift for there is too much to choose from, and so today... I'm giving you memes :)

Number 1, number 2, number 3 and number 4.

Also there's a little special day coming up for the Sparks fandom in... 4 days. (Don't worry, you don't need to do anything or look anything up. You'll see it on your dash when the time arrives, can't miss it 🌞)

------

Edit: wait here's the parting gift for this ask! (Maybe you've seen it already by now but it's just really nice anyway.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by S P A R K S (@sparks_official)

[restlessreveries]

Okay I'm gonna ramble a bit about that silly fairytale-ish NemxSym AU that's been living in my head for... A Lot of months. Because I've been awake long enough to not worry about it and I will probably worry about it later but that's a future Lini problem.

So basically this is kind of a fairytale AU, fey and kingdoms with knights and princesses and stuff like that. Originally it was SolxSym because I'm pretty sure it sprouted from one of Hirokiyuu's three sentence writes, but as all things goes it eventually turned to NemxSym in my head.

It started off with Sol being the only royal heir of the kingdom they're living in, and them needing to strike an alliance with the sorta-close fey kingdom because idk reasons, outside human enemies and they can't afford the fey getting on their bad side too? It's not exactly fleshed out but I haven't planned on writing anything serious about it anyway so -shrug-. Whatever, the alliance is very important.

Sooo yeah, in the original, it was Sol x Sym, but as time moved on, I figured "Nem would do that if Sol was in love with someone else because she's protective like that." Which is really just an excuse to further my NemxSym agenda. but it works (She's high up enough on the nobility ladder that it works in universe).

The start is, rough. In a way? Nem is scared because marriage wasn't exactly on her to-do list and nobody really knows much about the fey and how they work? Like everyone is wary, but they do need this. And of course this silly fey prince is Sym who is very excited to be staying in the human kingdom and learning more about them, because he's very bored with how stagnant are among the fey. (the fun of long lived races and all that).

But... surprising her, he's also very respectful and understanding of her situation. He keeps his distance, puts a hand up in pretense of holding her but it's just to fake a kiss during the wedding. Happily spends the wedding night sleeping on the couch (after having been confused about her being nervous about it because he really had no plans on intimacy) and probably keeps sleeping there until they get separate rooms after a few weeks.

So her life continues mostly the same. Unexpectedly. She kind of does keep her distance though, because she doesn't really like the thought of being married and he is a bit odd and she really has no idea what to expect there so... it's just easier not to engage? Which Sym is perfectly fine with, he's all smiles and friendliness towards any human he meets, even though most of them takes Nem's lead and avoids interacting as much as possible. Which, really, doesn't seem to trouble him...

Except it does. Only, he's so adamant on respecting people's boundaries that he refuses to show that over the course of like two years, he becomes very lonely. Having gone from being surrounded by his own kind to living alone among humans who spare him as few words as possible and often finds excuses to leave the room he's entered (this displacement and loneliness is a bit of a nod towards "Disable the Array"). Until one day his sister Constellation comes to visit which has him suddenly a lot happier than people have seen him in a long time.

Only problem is that she sees right through his charade and calls him out on it. That she's never seen him so miserable before and how does he imagine this will go over if their Queen finds out how the humans are treating him? If Constellation can see through him so easily there's no way he can hide how he's doing, should the others come by, and then the alliance is pretty much garantueed to be broken. And yeah, she's going to have some words with his wife, because he really should at least have some support there.

And of course, he's instantly all up in arms about it, protesting because he genunely doesn't want Nem to be burdened by this. She's already dealing with enough, having been forced into this situation in the first place. He'll sort this out. Definitely, just don't put this on her.

So Constellation relents, but comments that he'd better up his theatre game before the fey queen finds out, or actually find a way to sort this out. So that's a fun little bit of pressure 'cause you know, it's not like he was dealing with enough already.

And as if we haven't invoked enough silly tropes already, this is where we add accidentally spying on a conversation somehow. With Nem (and maybe Sol?) overhearing the entire thing and having a bit of a realization that things aren't going so well after all and they do need to fix this somehow. (and also, he's been keeping this to himself to protect her? That won't 'cause difficult feelings at all.)

So later that night Nem's just, suggesting to Sym do something together the next day, to which he is surprised and delighted at first, but then she kinda nervously keeps going? Just listing a bunch of different things and parties and stuff they could attend and Sym gradually goes from happy to a sinking realization and that fake happy mask gradually dropping.

"... You overheard me speaking to Constellation?"

"No! I mean- maybe a little bit, but-"

"I see..." -the most forced attempt at his usual soft smile ever- "Please don't concern yourself with it. The last thing I wish for is to burden you further, I'll get this sorted out."

And then he absconds to have his own little breakdown because she knows now, and she's going to feel bad no matter what he does and he can't just fix this? And meanwhile Nem is having her own little moment of "Wtf why didn't I realize this sooner? He's been notihng but kind and I've just been avoiding him? Two years and I haven't even tried to make friends?"

It may or may not end with Nem kicking down the door to his room to actually sit him down and have a long chat about all of this because yeah, neither of them went into this with the intention of love, but they can at least try to be civil and upfront with each other.

After that it kinda settles into a standard slowburn of gradually realizing that they actually do enjoy hanging out with each other, and with Nem (and Sol contributing) being more openly friendly with him, other humans starts to feel more at ease chatting with the odd fey and... yeah, it sorts itself out eventually. Slowburn romance and all.

(Also I feel like the first thing Nem suggests for their real activity together after their proper talk is that they go for a ride around the area together. Sym agrees because he's happy to be included. Sym has never ridden a horse before. Nem finds it hilarious when this thousands-year old fey turns out to be terrified of even a light trot around the castle grounds. It's a good ice breaker.)

...Okay, now I'm gonna crawl back in under my rock and let future Lini deal with the regrets.

[campgender]

ROY KENT? toxic masculinity-roy fuckin kent? oh hell nah, sorry in advance, this is gonna be long, you just jinxed yourself mentioning that. ;_; whoever said that did NOT watch enough of that boy because his masculinity is beautiful and there's genuinely nothing toxic about it at all. like, we did not watch him suck all his bitchiness up to have a relationship with his girl just for him to get called toxic. not to mention...

FIRST on my list of his display's of butchness: this is Roy "I gave my girlfriend head while she watched a video of me crying my head off" fuckin Kent! Y'all are not gonna pin him for toxic masculinity, c'mon. If that ain't the most butch-ass shit I've ever heard of...

SECOND: I'd put a lot more weight into the suggestion of toxic masculinity if he'd stayed the way he'd been at the beginning of the show but this is a man who grew a fuck-ton even in just the first couple episodes, not to mention throughout the show (which I haven't finished).

He's not a bully, which is surprising for such a hyper-masculine character. Hair as far as the eye can see, with a beard, furry thighs and arms, a low growly voice-But for all his swearing and other foul language, he isn't a bully. He doesn't pretend, he says no, and he sets clear boundaries, but even with children who he has loads of power over, he's very careful to never cross the line into bullying. He jokes, clearly knowing the children, barking orders and playing ball. He has a niece and even though he doesn't understand the book wrinkle in time, he reads it to her and only after getting three quarters through does he go to ted to demand what the fuck its supposed to be about.

THIRD: the way sometimes he looses speech and yet he STILL. FUCKING. COMMUNICATES. beautiful. Which rolls straight into FOUR, which is the way he communicates! He's very clear, very blunt, obviously. But its not just that. Its how as we get to know Roy Kent, more and more, we see how when he gets overwhelmed or annoyed, he often steps back from the situation so that he doesn't blow his temper at someone he likes or someone who doesn't deserve it...which is very, dare I say it? chivalrous! Its not a word you think when you think of roy kent, but he is! He's chivalrous! He isn't quite comfortable around rebecca, think of early season 2, but when he sees she needs it, he tells her she deserves the goddamn world in a partner, not just "fine", and he didn't tell her that because he had to! Keeley would've left it and he could've gotten away with a minimal answer. He told her because she deserved to hear it and he knew that and he's a fucking kind person!

just like that time at the end of season 1 when he and keeley were photographed by that man and he stole the photos and then handed them to keeley and gave the man back his camera. he could've smashed the fuckin camera. he's exactly the type of person to smash the camera! but he didn't. why? because they cost a shit-ton of money and because he wanted keeley to have photos of their first date. ;_; its called CHIVALRY. which. is. BUTCH. AS. FUCK. need i go on?

roy kent's masculinity is beautiful, it's a joy to behold, it's butch as hell, thank you, i hope you don't mind me dropping an essay in your askbox, sorry abt that.

OH SHIT YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED IT. you haven’t seen what they did to my bestie in the finale 😭😭 how they MALIGNED his NAME — if you do watch it come hmu though bc holy shit am i still livid.

anyway. yes to all of this!!!!! especially how he communicates while also losing speech <3333 i get so fucking upset every time someone calls him repressed bc like. he literally isn’t!!! he’s very aware of & in touch with his emotions!!!!!!!!!! what he is is stoic & it’s bc 1) he’s autistic 2) y’all are assholes. like. i feel like fucking crying every time i think about the scene in s1 when he’s just been benched: keeley’s excited but kind of impatient “oh, so you are ready to talk about real stuff now!!” and the way it makes it seem like a bad thing for him to need some time to process. & then her really sarcastic & dismissive response when he says how scared he is of losing what the entire fucking country has made his sole identity:

I think men that feel sorry for themselves are so sexy. And if you start telling me how hard it is that you play a game for a living, I think I might come.

i see fucking red!!!!!!! the show multiple times (including in the finale) belittles his feelings and/or throws away his characterization and then treats that like a #Feminist moment. & like in the previous example, yeah keeley prompts phoebe to say how she sees roy & that’s a sweet moment, but keeley never actually apologizes or says how she sees or thinks of roy outside of sex.

& then in s3 honestly his apology letter to her made me feel ill. like there’s a difference between owning your shit — which i do think she deserved an apology for him breaking up with her out of nowhere — and saying everything is your fault. that’s not growth, that’s still self-hatred. and like i understand keeley was going through a lot but i don’t think it was fair to him for him to confess his love & her fuck him while like. presumably knowing she doesn’t want to get back together.

i’m also so fucking livid about the show comparing roy and FUCKING RUPERT????? in that scene, again for some sort of shallow #GirlBoss moment. fuck that fuck the writers fuck like most of the fan attitudes i’ve seen.

also the way the “roy is sorry for not understanding keeley” scene is played — yeah, he should’ve communicated better, but she just started yelling at him out of nowhere & revealed she’d been complaining about him being clingy to all their colleagues. and she never apologizes for not talking to him sooner & her bottling her feelings until she exploded at him???? instead he apologizes for doing….. something she’d never told him she had a problem with.

i’m working on a fic about this aspect but the show has no fucking sympathy for his becoming disabled and it’s so transparent. obviously ted lasso in general is really bad at acknowledging systemic issues — “just be a goodfish!!” :))) — it’s a liberal show & you should overcome adversity by individual work ie therapy & forgiving your oppressors. but like there’s literally no acknowledgment after that scene when he gets shut down by keeley in s1 of how ableism affects roy’s self-image.

as a disabled person whose mobility impairment started with a knee issue in sports, i also think the show did a fucking shit job with his disability in general. like they played it for a laugh — you might not have watched 3x11 yet so feel free to skip this paragraph but “i played injured all the time / you can’t go up stairs!!” followed by jamie still playing injured to, what, make a point about forgiveness?? shows how fucking seriously they took that, and roy was walking up stairs earlier in that very episode.

similarly, “everybody run to the bus… except roy!” earlier in s3 was an emotional moment for me bc like oh they’re acknowledging how this affects his life!! …..and then they showed him running (on pavement!!!) with jamie all the fucking time. like sure not every knee issue is the same as mine, okay, whatever, but either be consistent or throw in a line about him having a good day today or something. jesus fucking christ it’s so ableist & careless & disrespectful.

anyway my hot take is that as they’re written, keeley & roy shouldn’t be together not because, as brenden fucking hunt put it, “he has work he needs to do on himself first,” but because she doesn’t respect him & fundamentally you can’t make compromises with people who think how you are is wrong.

i do really like keeley especially in s1, i think a lot of this is fuck-ups on the writers’ parts that keeley were she a real person either wouldn’t have done or would’ve apologized for. but as it’s written? fucking yikes.

anyway that got really off track from your thoughts lol but i absolutely adored reading this, it was a delight & i would love to hear more any time 💓💓💓

[lavender-sunhaven]

So how do we feel about that update

because I'm obsessed

Sheds are changing my life. This is exactly what I wanted. I'm so happy.

(this got really long so I'll put my thoughts under a read more! spoilers for, the update I guess!)

I am speedrunning sheds immediately. I have already found some places to set them up and figured out how I can fit my entire crafting operations into 2 sheds. Now I just need to move over all the stuff in the chests in my one barn so that I can replace it with the shed and put the barn elsewhere.

Then I can use shed 3 for storage as I've wanted so badly so I don't need nearly so many hecking chests everywhere. Shed 4.... I actually don't know what I'll use it for yet. I actually have options! Maybe I will dress it up like a cute little room, or keep some of my pet collection in it, or fill it with stuffed animals, or see if I can make a cute little flower shop like Lavender would want.... I'm excited. I have options again. And assuming I can find somewhere else to put my other barn, that opens up a lot for me.

Also the barn upgrades are great. They don't take up any more space than before, they look cool, sure they give me more junk that I have to remove to fit more animals in but that's always the truth so it's neat. Now I have... ladders I guess. But I can store them in my shed!

But also. Nel'Vari barns. I am. SO excited

the moment I saw. that they had added in a frog barn animal. I knew. I would need Nel'Vari barns immediately. I love him I need 10 of these things right now immediately

All the new animals are so cute! I'm excited to get stuff set up so that I can put them places and gain their resources.

To that end, though, I realized that Nel'Vari barns were going to require me to actually do Progression that I hadn't done yet (because so far I hadn't really found anything I wanted that required Nel'Vari mines stuff. I knew I wanted to get there sooner or later, but just... didn't need to yet). I have a fire under my butt again and I'm actually making progress which feels amazing. Trying to seriously manage multiple farms is going to be a problem but what I really need to find a spot to do a massive amount of wheat production which will help with all the barns. It'll be complicated, but I'll figure it out.

uhhhhh oh yeah more RNPCs happened. They're cool! I like Kai, I've met him and I like his stuff so far as I've seen it. I haven't met Vivi yet but I can't WAIT to forcefully befriend her. Wesley is... Wesley. I'm happy for him. I'll befriend him eventually, probably while I'm in the middle of running around Nel'Vari doing mine stuff.

The house customization I haven't been able to play a lot with yet but I will more when I have my sheds figured out and money to waste. Playing Mix and Match should be fun, and I'm glad they're planning to put out more in the future! Even more stuff to look forward to~

Also now sometimes ghosts come and water my crops and I love them. Me and the ghosts are buds.

But also... this list... ohhhh man this list. I love this list. I'm p excited for most things on it but ESPECIALLY Farm Structures and WG and NV fruit trees. I LOVE fruit trees. I have a whole orchard section on my farm. Passive income is my JAM. Black market? Birthday? MORE RNPCs? I'm looking forward to all of these so much. Race-based dialog I know is something a lot of players have been looking for for a long time so I am interested to see how that gets put in! More dialog is generally good and they seem to have the personalities of the characters pretty well in hand so hopefully they'll just be fun fluff things and Lavender will finally be able to relate to Kitty and Catherine and they'll be best Amari buds forever (And then with Vivi too!)

Anyways I just wanted to spew my thoughts everywhere for a bit because I've been having so much fun again. Tell me your thoughts! Anything you don't like? What do you want to see in the future?

Bonus: Claude continues to have a hard time fighting the vampire allegations.

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

Watch It Or Drop It - A 2024 Drama Challenge

As always, the impending chime of a brand New Year just around the corner is stirring up the age old urge to Sort My Life Out somewhere deep inside me and rekindled the burning flame of No I Really Mean It This Time once more.

So far this has meant deep cleaning my house with a fervour rarely seen outside of the pages of the most fanatic of Cleaning Tiktokers (something which will definitely have faded even before the clock strikes 12), setting up a planning and organisational system so that my life can go smoothly for once (that will probably last until summer after which point I'll be so sun addled I'll stop caring about to-do lists altogether), and forcing myself to confront my mountain of unread books (by placing them accusingly next to my bed so I can wake up and fall asleep to them until the growing sense of guilt forces me to hide them in a cupboard).

No a bad start if I may say so myself. It's not even 2024 yet and things are already looking Sorted.

Joking aside though, while there are, as there usually are, big (potentially life changing) goals that I want to work towards this year and which will take a fair bit of work and/or courage on my part to make happen, there are also smaller ones. Manageable ones. Silly ones. Ones that'll make the whole year just a little bit more fun. For example: clearing my MyDramalist Want-To-Watch list.

Because there are 84 dramas on that list and while some of them haven't aired yet, over two thirds of them are fully complete and sitting patiently, ready for me to watch at my own leisure whenever I want.

And, unfortunately, up until now I've been so over-faced with how many dramas there were waiting for me that I didn't want.

At all.

As in I was actively avoiding watching anything off my Want-To-Watch list.

As you can imagine this has been frustrating because 1) this is the opposite of what a Want-To-Watch it's for (I put the dramas on there for a reason after all) and 2) not very conducive to making the big, scary number go down, quite the opposite in fact.

So I've found myself at a bit of an impasse.

And to break that impasse I have come up with (what I hope is) a foolproof solution (because there is nothing more fool than having to trick yourself into doing something you want to do anyway).

The Watch It Or Drop It Challenge

Rationale:

I have been avoiding watching dramas on my Want-To-Watch list because:

1) I'm feeling overwhelmed with the amount of dramas currently on there and end up feeling time pressured to watch them all.

2) Linked to this, I'm worried about making the "wrong choice" (i.e not enjoying which ever drama I pick and being disappointed about something I was previously excited for, being in the wrong mood for a drama I would have otherwise enjoyed) leading to analysis/choice paralysis where I end up being unable to pick anything at all.

As such I need a system that:

1) Takes aways the element of choice, at least in the initial stages.

2) Removes some of the pressure to enjoy every drama I pick and allows me to celebrate both a "watch" or a "drop".

Rules:

1) Dramas are selected completely at random using a random number picker (this random number picker to be precise, isn't she gorgeous?).

Unless it hasn't aired yet (in which case I obviously can't watch it, I'll do a lot for this challenge but not bend time and physics) I have to give it a go. I can't spin the wheel again. What I get is what I watch (or drop).

2) I watch it or I drop it (self-explanatory, really, given the name of the challenge but it's something my brain clearly needs reinforced otherwise we wouldn't be here in the first place). A drop has just as much "value" as a watch in terms of continuing my learning curve about my drama tastes and there's no shame in not liking something I thought I would enjoy.

3) I can take as long as I need to decide if it's a watch or a drop, the only condition is that if I am watching it, I actually have to be enjoying it. This is not an endurance test or an exercise in how long I can guilt myself into watching something (5 minutes before the end of the final episode is the current record by the way, incase anyone's interested), this is me making sure I...

4) ✨ Have fun ✨ There are many things in life that aren't fun, watching dramas should not be one of those things (although they are allowed to make me so uncontrollably, that I will allow, nay even encourage).

🎉 And there we have it! My own little challenge for 2024 🎉

I'm feeling very pleased with myself but let's see how long I can keep it up, unless something drastic happens I'm planning to start a little early and pick the first drama tomorrow. I'm going to be post the whole challenge here (which dramas get picked, pre-watch thoughts, whether I watched or dropped it and why, etc) for accountability's sake because I know myself well enough to know that if I don't then this whole meticulous plan isn't happening. I also think it could be a nice little momento, if this whole challenge is successful, something to look back on from the time I bravely took on and defeated a list of my own creation.

And so without further ado,

[justapayneaway]

The Paul Brothers suck so agree with everything u said. Also no matter how positive lizzo is to ppl, she's on my shit list too. Girl did entirely too much with her comments. For someone that always gets hate and get bullied by the internet u would think she'd have more empathy but she had to show out bc she's friends with H&N. But anyways... I'm happy he seems to be in a better place. Zayn too. I'm so happy he's back. The teaser of that podcast has a lot of dad content and I already saw most ppl are just talking about dad zayn.. I guess now that he signed to a new team and he's older too, I get the feeling he understands he has to play the game now if he wants to grow. At least for now. I just hope he at least gets what he wants artistically and Liam too. They deserve good things if they're gonna play the game. It's worked out for the other 3 so..

The thing is, and I don't want to trash Lizzo because she is important and she is helping bring some stereotypes down in the industry which I think is major right now, but what she did was incredible dangerous! Not only her, but all the celebrities or semi-famous-influencers that jumped on the "hate train" against Liam using 10/15 seconds clips taken out of context to generate a certain narrative!

And once again I say that even though I don't agree with that whole podcast, nothing that Liam said was as major as people made it to be! There weren't any new information about the band that we didn't already knew or guessed. The problem was that people (aka fans from certain fandoms) used things out of context to start a trend. And here is the dangerous thing... these people that have a real influence (Lizzo and other influencers/celebrities) made videos/tweets against Liam that just created this snowball effect. The media didn't help either, of course!

But things got out of hand and they had no concern for the impact this had on someone who wasn't okay and needed real help! Bullying is never the answer and sometimes I wish these people had the guts to say "You know what? What I did was wrong and I'm sorry!"

In regards to Zayn, I haven't seen the whole podcast yet but I'm excited to see that he is back and promoting his music! We know that things about the kid will be used a lot this time around, but if it helps him get into a place where he does have complete creative control of his music then I don't mind.

It makes me sad that these things need to be used, but we're used to it even with Liam. So as long as they're okay with it and just getting opportunities to show their work a bit more freely then it's okay by me :)

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

Hi! So sorry in advanced haha. fair warning,,,This will be a LONG ask. Just saw your hiatus pics and wanted to tell you how excited I am about these! Not trying to nag AT ALL BTW, just love fan-girling with others who don’t mind the yapping haha. Sorry for the all caps, I just get excited lmao.

Some Kind of Disaster - OH MY GAWD, I LOVE this idea! The best friends to lovers with a separation between is SO GOOD, THE YEARNING AND THE REALIZATION OF FEELINGS.

English Blood // American Heartache - a sequel to the above? HMM YES PLEASE. Newt is my first love in the Maze Runner series (that damn accent) and I can totally sense the sassy conversations between Newt and Gally and I am HERE FOR IT. With an ESTABLISHED BOYF!GALLY?! MHM YES PLS THANK YOU

Bark Like You Want It- THE CLOSET RUT FIC, YES GAWD BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! The idea of this MAN freaking out just by you scent?! EXCUSE ME?! Love that for us. Anytime I read the word “rut” whether it be from Gar or Issac I think I start foaming at the mouth not going to lie. 

The One Where They Get Caught- HOLYEEE MOLYEEE, this idea with @/star-mum, THANK LORD FOR YOUR BRAINS, y’all come up with the most wonderful ideas! The protectiveness of Scott as a brother is a must, ESPIECALLY if it results in a secret relationship. 

The One Where Stiles Wears Panties- I just read this with the surprised pikachu face with BLUSH all over. Both of my BOYS ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Love that it is in the same universe as Stupid For You because it gives me an excuse to reread that masterpiece as well hehehehe.

Water Fountain- I would like to start with saying YAS A HARRY POTTER X SLYTHERIN!READER!!! It’s like you’re in my brain. My Slytherin self giggled at this pic description because RAHHHH WERE DATING DRACO AND A LOVE TRIANGLE?!? Yes thank youuuu. 

The One Where You Accidentally Drug Ron With Sex Pollen- GULP THAT TEMPORARY TITLE. Of course this fool would add a strand of his hair in your shit just backfires. WELL WHAT CCAN YOU DO GET OVER HERE.

The One Where Ron Dates A Slytherin- a god ole fluffy fic ! Yay another Slytherin reader, THANK YOU FOR THE REPRESENTATION!! :) *GULP* I love a protective man, more specially protective RON RAHHH.

The One Where JJ Fucks The Nanny Against The Counter- the idea that’ll isn’t opposed GULP YES LAWD. younger nanny vibes and I LOVE IT.

The One Where Spencer Fucks You With His Cane- I get this I totally do, the realization of spence finding out why we have been acting so weird is going to be TOO GOOD. Mutual pining YES PLS SHOW ME YOU LOVE ME.

GMFU- OH MY GOD THIS IS PERFECT. Scream is my favorite franchise and love me a good duo. Of COURSE THEY WOULD BE A DOU that’s PERFECT. Fear kink hubba hubba

I am really glad that someone is excited about my WIPs!

and it is hilarious because I am working on none of the ones you mentioned here because I have gotten back into working on The Walking Dead stuff. this morning I was actually working on a TWD PWP fic that I actually think I am going to finish relatively quickly (and it will probably end up being my first fic of the year) - but I really hope to finish a lot of these fics this year

and it also really needs a title, so I am turning back to my list of whore songs to give it one lmao

anyway, I am really glad that you are excited about the WIP list!!! for those of you who haven't seen it/haven't read through it yet, my list of WIPs/list of fics that I want to work on this year is right here. (I am working on some of the TWD fics from that list if you are interested, so definitely pay special attention to that section)

[alfvaen]

Leap Novel

Here comes another book roundup post, for the books I read in February 2024. What are the odds? It's amazing.

Actual book list and ramblings below the cut, so let me just say that's there's potential spoilers within for Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Kristen Painter's Comarré series, and maybe more.

At the end of January I had managed to get myself a little bit ahead on my Goodreads challenge, which I usually take advantage of by knocking off one of the thick books which can sometimes clog up my shelf. (Maybe if I set my Goodreads challenge count a little bit lower, I could read more of them…but maybe at the moment this is about the right level of long books for me anyway.) This slot was for a "female diversity" book, which presented me with a few choices (for some reason I have a lot less trouble with this one than I do with the male diversity slot), and I even had three possibilities which would result in my finishing off a series…N.K. Jemisin's The World We Made, C.L. Polk's Soulstar, and the one I went with, because it was the thickest of the three…

Fonda Lee: Jade Legacy, completed February 9

I first ran across Fonda Lee at the When Words Collide festival in Calgary, where she had YA SF books like Zeroboxer and Exo, but then Jade City came out and I was intrigued. I enjoyed the first two books, which are set in an interesting alternate world which is kind of analogous to our own. The map is completely different, but most of the places map to our world if you squint. The story centers around the island of Kekon, which is vaguely Japan-coded (though, for instance, there were no nuclear bombs dropped on it in their All Nations War, so it's not exact). It's set in an era which is basically the late 20th century (people have cars and phones, but not as many computers). But there's also jade, which is special.

Many of the inhabitants of Kekon are Green Bones, which means that they can wear jade and use it to do extraordinary things--healing, telekinesis, sensing other jade users, protecting themselves, giving themselves strength, etc. Others can also use jade, but only with the help of dangerous drugs. The Green Bones have formed into various clans, and at this start of the story Kekon is mostly divided between two rivals, No Peak and Mountain, who between them dominate the Kekonese government, and are frequently engaged in bloody internecine conflict. Mostly we follow the Kaul family, the leaders of No Peak, in a family saga which makes me think of, say, James Clavell (though admittedly I've only ever watched the "Shogun" miniseries and haven't read his actual books) or maybe The Godfather (which I haven't even watched), or at least what I think they would be like.

By the third book the (surviving) main characters from the previous books are moving into middle age and we're getting a new generation rising up, and we're covering lots of other territory--particularly Espenia, the American analogue, which is in a "Slow War" with its rival Ygutan (Russia), and who is eager to use jade for their military but still forbids Kekonese immigrants from using it. The book is probably as long as the first two books in the series combined, but there are a lot of plot threads and characters to follow, and plenty of exciting scenes and satisfactory resolutions. Well done. (There is a novella set in the same world, "The Jade Setter of Janloon", which I should probably read sometimes as well.)

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study In Scarlet, completed February 11

A few decades ago I read something called The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes, a book I'd borrowed from a friend named Julia. I don't know if I'd read any actual Sherlock Holmes before then, though I was of course aware of him (how not?) and had seen bits of various adaptations. That book contained a number of stories, as well as the novel The Hound of The Baskervilles. It was years before I learned that what I had read was by no means the entirety of the Holmes cycle, and that there were in fact three other novels: A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of Four (or is it The Sign of The Four? I've seen both), and The Valley of Fear. At some point I picked up a huge coffee-table book "complete" collection, which seems like it does contain the novels as well as various collections. (Though it's not everything Doyle wrote--I have read a collection called When The World Screamed of mostly non-Holmes stories which do not seem to be in here.)

What gave me the impetus to actually maybe read them, though, was my reading, last year, of Sarah "Katherine Addison" Monette's Angel of The Crows. Not related to the magnificant The Goblin Emperor as the other Addison works have been, this was in fact an homage to Sherlock Holmes, in which the detective is an angel named Crow, in a London with other supernatural creatures such as werewolves. It became clear, as I read the book, that it was likely doing more than just "a tribute to Holmes", but that it was recasting several actual Holmes stories into this alternate supernatural London. In particular I noticed that there was a "Sign of Four", and then something that definitely reminded me of The Hound of The Baskervilles. So it was at this point that I decided to put A Study In Scarlet on my virtual shelf.

According to Goodreads, it was a mere 120 pages long--and in this monstrous collection, the pages were large enough that that was reduced to 52. So after spending so long on Jade Legacy, it seemed like a nice short change of pace, something I could polish off in a couple of days. But also, those couple of days would be on a weekend, so I wouldn't have to lug this gigantic book to and from work (I like to read at lunchtime, you see). Oh, sure, I could grab a copy from Project Gutenberg and just read that, but this seemed more convenient.

The story itself is, apparently, the one in which Holmes and Watson first meet; I wasn't even sure such a thing existed for years, that we might have just started with their relationship already established. But apparently not. And apart from that…well, it's a Sherlock Holmes mystery. As a novel it's a fairly short one, as established, and it would be even shorter if it weren't for the bizarre insertion, into the middle, of the actual backstory of the murderer and his victims, which is practically a mini-Western. It involves homesteaders in Utah, a tragic love story, and somewhat demonized Mormons (Doyle apparently apologized later for mischaracterizing them in this novel). And it really doesn't fit--there's no sense in which this is part of Watson's transcription, and the murderer, when revealed, basically gives a summary of the story which is quite sufficient. I can only presume that this was an early work and Doyle got better later.

After reading this, I skimmed over the Angel of The Crows version and discovered that the vast majority of the details were all but identical; in particular, the names of the characters involved in the mystery were exactly the same. The major differences were that the dead girl who the murderer was avenging was actually an angel in this version, and the memento he carried was an angel feather rather than a wedding ring. Oh, and that the family one of the victims was rooming with, whose son was a suspect, were actually werewolves. But apart from that, it was really quite close. So much so that, it turns out, Angel of The Crows is more similar to Pride And Prejudice And Zombies than I was expecting. …So perhaps I should let a little more time pass before I try The Sign of Four.

Guy Gavriel Kay: All The Seas of The World, completed February 16

After the Holmes story, and still needing a male-author book for my cycle, I decided I might be in the mood for a more straightforward fantasy. I briefly contemplated another thick book--Ian Esslemont, Steven Erikson, and R. Scott Bakker all have large volumes which have been stuck on my shelf for a while--but I decided I didn't really want anything that thick. Instead I spotted the most recent Guy Gavriel Kay, which was a more 500 pages (instead of 700-900) and picked that one up instead.

I've been reading Kay for a while--I don't think I read The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy when it came out, so it may not have been until Candas Jane Dorsey (again) encouraged me to read Tigana that I tried him. I did love Tigana (though it is one of the few books where I recommend skipping the prologue, which I found quite dire and mostly irrelevant to the rest of the book), and the Fionavar books as well, and have since read everything of his. I don't like all of them--A Song For Arbonne didn't land for me, or The Last Light of The Sun--but they're mostly good. Most of them are set in a fantasy Europe, and after Tigana there is very little in the way of actual magic. Often they are tied closely to real historical figures or events.

Also, though this book is not marketed as a sequel to anything, it is literally crossing over with the previous book, A Brightness Long Ago, with some of the characters showing up. It also makes reference to "Al-Rassan" from The Lions of Al-Rassan, as the "Asharites" (Muslim-coded) have now been drive out of that land by the Jaddites (Christian-coded), not to mention the expulsion of the Kindath (Jewish-coded), and it's been renamed to "Esperaña". So it seems like everything from at least The Lions of Al-Rassan onward (I don't know about A Song For Arbonne, frankly, or The Last Light of The Sun), with the possible exception of the ones set in fantasy China, are in the same fantasy Europe.

Lois McMaster Bujold: Mirror Dance, completed February 21

Returning to my Vorkosigan Saga reread… As I may have mentioned before, I inserted the Dick Francis book into my reread schedule to simulate the lengthier gap between Brothers In Arms and Mirror Dance (three years in-universe) which has caught me off guard in other rereads of the series. But this begins my favourite sub-sequence of the saga.

I was prepared to dislike Mirror Dance when I first read it. I bought a membership to the 1994 Worldcon, which was in Winnipeg, closest it had come to us, and we were (perhaps foolishly) prepared to even drive there. But then we came over all poor and couldn't afford it after all. But I had made an effort to read the Hugo nominees so I could vote informedly. For the 1995 Hugos I also read all the nominees (my 1994 membership allowed me to nominate, I believe, but not vote--did I get a voting membership? Probably not, if we were still poor), or at least four out of five of them. I read Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings, John Barnes's Mother of Storms, James Morrow's Towing Jehovah, and Nancy Kress's Beggars And Choosers…but I didn't read Mirror Dance because it was in a series and I hadn't read the others yet. I was plumping for Mother of Storms, personally. But Mirror Dance won…and I kind of resented that.

Luckily, by the time I got around to read it in the context of the series, I was willing to forgive it, and now it's one of my favourites, along with Memory and A Civil Campaign. (Komarr is also okay, I guess.) In particular, I like the middle of the book, where Mark goes to Barrayar…in fact, I'd have to say most of my favourite Vorkosigan series moments take place on Barrayar. Great scenes with Cordelia, Gregor, Ivan, and introducing Kareen Koudelka. I also like the opening chapters, where we compare and contrast Mark and Miles's impressions of the Dendarii Mercenaries.

So obviously it's a direct sequel to Brothers In Arms, but almost as much it includes elements introduced in "Labyrinth", and we probably spend more time on Jackson's Whole than we do on Barrayar. It ties up nicely at the end, back on Barrayar.

(But Memory is my absolute favourite, and I can't wait to read that one again…)

Ruth Ozeki: A Tale For The Time Being, abandoned February 22

A few years ago, my wife was a judge for the Sunburst Awards, a juried award for Canadian speculative fiction. (I was briefly on the organizing committee for the awards at its inception, but didn't stay for too long; I have no talent or inclination for such.) This resulted in her getting shipped boxes of books from various publishers for consideration, and in theory she had to read all of them, though in practice she bailed out on some of them partway through. It turns out that not every publisher sends all of the books that are under consideration, and you're not supposed to say which were included and which weren't. But A Tale For The Time Being was on the shortlist for the year, so it's safe for me to mention it.

I liked the title, because you could read it as "for the time being" meaning "for now", but you could also postulate the existence of a "Time Being" for whom this tale was intended. So I was curious about it. I suppose I could have put it into my "diversity" slot, as I believe the author is Japanese-Canadian or something like, but I left it in my "trying out" slot, which meant that I gave myself permission to bail on it early.

It seems like there's three stories going on in this book--a Japanese girl who was writing in her diary; a writer named Ruth (?!) living on the west coast of Canada who finds said diary (sealed up in some flotsam, with a cover that identifies it as Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu"); and, at least alluded to, the story of the girl's great-grandmother. The girl confessed to being suicidal; the author thinks that her diary was swept across the ocean because of the tsunami.

I wanted to get engaged in this book…but it didn't happen. Authorial self-insert characters (with the same name as the author, no less) lose points for me…80 pages in, we didn't actually get into the great-grandmother's story, just the girl's father, who was also suicidal after he lost his job; and...I don't know, on the second day, I just didn't want to pick it up again. I asked my wife what there was for speculative elements, and she said just some mild magic realism. So, basically, this was Japanese-flavoured CanLit. Maybe at another time in my life I would have read the whole thing, but I just wasn't in the mood this time.

Kristen Painter: Flesh And Blood, completed February 27

Time for another female author…I wasn't sure what I was in the mood for, so I decided to look at some of the books that had been on my shelf for a little while. I'd read the first book in Kristen Painter's Comarré series back in 2017, and liked it. In some ways it was a standard urban fantasy…but it was set in the future, in the world of 2067, which I found intriguing. My wife hadn't finished the series, so, like the Kelly Meding series, it had made me want to try it too. Though apparently I still waited a few years to go on.

In this world, we have vampires, of course, but we also have comars (feminine comarré), who start out as normal humans but have special properties (possibly conveyed though their gold tattoos, I can't quite remember) which makes their blood particularly valuable (and tasty) to vampires. It may also grant them longevity. So we have Chrysabelle, a comarré who is bonded to her patron Malkolm (who killed her original patron in the first book). But Malkolm has a curse which means that he can't drink from someone without killing them. This has apparently led to a certain distance in his relationship with Chrysabelle, even though they are clearly coded as The Romantic Couple for the series. But mostly what's keeping them apart is pride and stubbornness, which I don't find particularly winning.

So we have Chrysabelle and Malkolm being annoying; we have a surfeit of scenes from the POV of Tatiana, our nemesis for the book, a stupidly arrogant vampire from Europe (mostly we are in "New Florida"); we also have a subplot with Malkolm's friend Maddoc "Doc", a shapeshifter trying to bring back his ghost lover, and a new character named Creek, a badass dude from a mysterious secret society who seems mostly to be there to start a love triangle with Chrysabelle. (Not that I don't mind the occasional love triangle, but some are done better than other. And these days I feel that you always need to acknowledge that one of the possible resolutions is a polycule.)

Only Tatiana and Doc seem to be proactive for most of the book; the rest of the characters spend most of their time reacting. Things just happen and they're dragged along. The future setting barely affects the course of the book; it might as well be set in present day for most of it. Eventually we do get to a sort of resolution (though not the one I was hoping for, alas), which is satisfying in some ways but not in others, and some of those ways feel like ham-handed attempts to leave threads dangling for future books, or reach the ending the author wanted even if if doesn't quite fit any more. All in all, mostly problems that could have been resolved with, perhaps, a few more drafts…which it didn't get.

I had bought the third book at some point, and I was considering just going and finishing the trilogy to wrap things up…but it turns out it's not a trilogy, it's a pentalogy. So I guess…no. I won't bother. Cut my losses, put the books into my donate boxes, don't pursue any further. Pity, it could have been better.

That's all the fiction books I finished this month. I mean, it was a short month, and I read Jade Legacy, so that's slowed me down a bit. Currently I'm reading You Feel It Just Below The Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson, but I'll be finishing that one in March so I'll talk more about it then.

I did finish a non-fiction book, though. It's one that I started a few months ago and kept losing enthusiasm for and setting aside (which I allow myself to do for nonfiction in a way that I don't for fiction)--We Are The Nerds by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin, a book about Reddit, which I'm sure I bought as a remaindered hardcover as I do a lot of my nonfiction books. I wasn't sure I was going to finish it at all; the early part is all about tech bros and startups and crap and I just wasn't feeling it. I should say that I've never spent a lot of time on Reddit--the only time I recall posting there was to mention that I had figured out how to decode the binary format of Crusader Kings II "iron man" save files, and I never bothered to go back and share the details--so I don't have a lot invested in it, and maybe that would have helped. I might have been more engaged if I knew some of the names, or some of the important site events. As it was, I managed to slog through to the end, and then I shrugged and also put it in the discard box with the Ruth Ozeki and the Kristen Painters. I have another few nonfictions books I'm in the middle of, but more likely I'll try another new one, maybe one from the library. Though first it'll probably be another month of comics on Marvel Unlimited (I'm up to December 1993!), and maybe another issue of OnSpec or another Love & Rockets book or something.