#in the tradition of the annual book post i will list them all at the end of the year with some amount of thoughts

[lambergeier]

boy the final tally of comics i've read since september or whatever is going to be Substantial

[hoodienanami]

in the first of what will hopefully become an annual tradition, i've decided to make a post to commemorate my favorite books, movies, and music that i experienced for the first time this past year!

my schedule was pretty packed with both the personal and professional but the art lover grind never stops. not even when a branch went through my roof! so here's my favorites of 2024 in no particular order:

books

the devil finds work (1976) - james baldwin

the heebie-jeebies at cbgb's (2006) - steven lee beeber

the secret public (2024) - jon savage

how to hide an empire (2019) - daniel immerwahr

as usual my favorites are all nonfiction with three out of four of them focusing on pop culture. i'm always eager to listen when brilliant people talk about music and movies. baldwin, beeber, and savage provide great insights into some of the 20th century's best (and worst) art and artists through the lens of racial and sexual politics. immerwahr's history of the american empire was also fascinating and a real eye-opener for me. thank you @chateauofmymind for recommending it to me, it's an essential piece for anyone living in the usa

hopefully i'll read more fiction in 2025. and more books by women

movies

young soul rebels (1991) - isaac julien we are the best! (2013) - lukas moodysson swing girls (2004) - yaguchi shinobu the living dead girl (1982) - jean rollin

once again i have to thank @chateauofmymind as they're the reason i watched all four of these fantastic movies. young soul rebels, we are the best!, and swing girls rocketed up into my favorite movies of all time list incredibly easily, they're just so infectious and so damn good. young soul rebels in particular is the best punk movie i've ever watched. the living dead girl was also lovely, i should have watched it way sooner

a special shoutout to martin (1977) by george romero. it's a truly wonderful picture but it's not on the list because i feel like i need to give it another watch as i was a bit too depressed while watching it the first time to give it the focus it deserved

music

fine art (2024) - kneecap megan (2024) - megan thee stallion carnival (2024) - sheena ringo the doors (1967) - the doors

i finally listened to the doors self titled all the way through and goddamnit it's really good. light my fire nearly made it onto my spotify top five most listened list. goddamnit jim morrison. anyway, 2024 was a fantastic year for three of my favorite modern artists. kneecap's fine art was definitely the highlight, what an amazingly put together album. megan and ringo's albums blew me away too, it's been very exciting to keep up with them and see where they're headed musically

another special shoutout to i'd much rather be with the girls by donna lynn/i'd much rather be with the boys by the rolling stones and i wanna o.d. by the demolition doll rods. they're singles not albums but they deserve a mention due to how much i love them

well that's about it! happy new year and here's to enjoying more books, movies, and music in 2025!!

i've got a few things planned for this new year that you guys should get excited for...no spoilers though, you'll have to wait and see what's in store. until then, hoodie says mwah! love you all!

[gaelic-symphony]

hi!! :)

i hope this isn't weird, but i love reading your posts about judaism to learn more from it. i don't follow any religion but i love getting to know them from people who do

and if you don't mind me asking, what are your favourite things about it? <3

i hope i have expressed myself well and you don't mind this 🫶🏼

I actually love this ask, and I'm so glad you sent it! There are so many things I love about Judaism, it would take me forever to come up with a list of them, but here are a few of my favorites:

I love our everyday rituals. I love keeping kosher and going to the kosher supermarket. I love that every time I eat or go grocery shopping, I'm affirming my connection to my people and my ancestors. I love that we have blessings for the most mundane human activities like washing our hands. I love ending every week with Shabbat. I love how it gives us a day to rest and reflect and be thankful before we start a new week, and I love having the weekly marker of Shabbat to track the passage of time. I love that you don't have to subscribe to any particular version of Jewish theology or believe that we do these things because Hashem commanded us in order to participate fully in these rituals. You can do them just because you find meaning in them. You can do them just because you're proud to be Jewish and follow the traditions of your ancestors.

I love our holidays. So many of them commemorate our survival against those who tried to wipe us out: Purim, Chanukah, Passover. Every year, we tell the story of our peoples' perseverance. We reflect on the strength and courage of generations of Jews before us that allowed our continued survival into the present day. Other holidays are seasonal markers of time. Tu B'Shvat is a little over a week away, and it's our "new year for trees," the time of year when the earliest trees start to bloom in the Land of Israel. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark the end of the old year and beginning of a new one, and give us the chance to leave our mistakes of the past year behind and learn from them moving forward as we start fresh with a brand new year. Sukkot is a traditional celebration of the annual harvest. And other holidays, we're just so happy to be Jewish that we need to throw a party about it! Shavuot celebrates the Israelites receiving the Torah from Hashem at Mount Sinai, and then we celebrate the Torah again on Simchat Torah, when we read the very last verses of the book of Dvarim and start all over again with Bereshit.

I love our music. Our daily prayers are set to music, with special nusach (melodies) for Shabbat and holidays. When we read from the Torah or the books of the prophets, we chant the words to the same melodies our ancestors have done for centuries. We sing as a way to connect with each other and with Hashem. We sing the psalms of King David, and we sing wordless melodies we call niggunim. We've developed our own styles of secular, non-liturgical music and dance: klezmer and canciones, the horah and the Yemenite step, and many, many more!

I love our scholarship. Our scholarly tradition is one of questioning and arguing, neither of which are viewed negatively in Jewish tradition! We love to ask ourselves "what if" and "why," and the point isn't so much finding a singular answer as it is the process of engaging with the text. Does it really matter as a real-world issue whether there are any Pokemon that would be kosher to eat? Of course not! But that's exactly the type of thing we love to argue over, and if the ancient rabbinic sages like Hillel and Akiva and Rashi and Maimonides were alive today, I guarantee you they would have opinions on the matter.

I love our joy. There is so much joy that comes with being Jewish, a joy we feel just for being alive against all odds. Most of our prayers are not asking Hashem for the things we want, but thanking Hashem for the things we have. We have a brachah we say specifically to thank Hashem for the opportunity to fix what is broken in this world. Our history has rarely been a happy one, but we have always found reasons to rejoice. We danced and sang and celebrated our holidays and life events even in the Warsaw Ghetto. This past December, during one of the saddest, heaviest, and scariest times for our people since the Shoah, Jews all over the world celebrated Chanukah like we always do. In the midst of our mourning, we found joy. Literally and figuratively, we came together as a tribe to create light in the darkness.

[christiansorrell]

RPG Read-through: Himbos of Myth & Mettle

After my recent read-through of .dungeon//remastered (originally posted to Twitter), someone there was like "I really like your old read-throughs. Have you put those somewhere else for when Twitter inevitably dies?" I hadn't! So here is a read-through I did last year about one of my favorite releases from the last few years Himbos of Myth & Mettle! - Christian

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

Time to read-through one of the most fun games I've played this year: Himbos of Myth & Mettle by Maxwell Lander!

Right out of the gate, this game has such an exuberant, fun energy to it, and I like the voice throughout the writing. The concept could be done much more impersonally/traditionally, but it really wouldn't carry the same feel at all.

Straightforward d20 roll-under system with guidance to create drama and fun over everything else. I've played with the dice chain optional rule and enjoyed it! It's something I love in other games and it's fun to see its inverse here (smaller dice are better).

Interestingly, the system has a mixed success component as well - although you may not expect it with the d20 base. It takes something like your ability modifiers from a traditional game and makes that into a window of error that gets you success with a complication.

The magic system is a lot of fun here. Any himbo can use their Heart stat to attempt superhuman or supernatural things. You answer some quick questions to determine the cost and roll to see if you pull it off. There's an effect table too if things go wrong with some wild results.

The Heart system is a good encapsulation of what I enjoyed about this when I've had the chance to play it. It has this vivacious, positive, and often cartoonish energy to it where things almost always go big, in good and bad ways. It's very heartfelt (no pun intended).

Fun art (by Mary Verhoeven) and quotes throughout this book too. I wonder if these were real player characters from playtesting or maybe in-universe Legends of Himbodom?

One of the most memorable lists of player stats out there. It stresses letting players use most stats for most things. Doing something very courageous in combat? Roll Breast over Thighs. Flirting with an NPC to distract them while you pick their pocket? Roll Lips over Hands.

Death is rare, rather Himbos take Scars when they fall to 0 Heart (acting primarily as health but also "mana" to some extent). Each scar makes them more and more jaded, a bit more negative. After 4 scars, they retire - becoming a hero maybe (yes, heroes are bad here!)

There are special abilities, skills (gained from a lifepath system), and Heat (a bonus pool that reflects how sexy you are in the moment). I had a lot of fun with the special abilities in particular when I played.

D20 tables throughout help build the tone really well. It's clear what kind of characters this game is focused on after looking these over. I really like lifepath systems in games, and this one is surprisingly extensive. It's fun to roll a random character and see who comes out.

Tips section gives some guidance about trying to create a different type of story and different types of conflicts than you typically see in fantasy RPGs. I really like the take on Heroes here. It's a great twist on the genre (and is probably more accurate, honestly).

It's got two adventures in the back, including the 12th Annual Fresh Meat Games which was the adventure I got to play through at EFCon. It's a local festival and competition that the PCs join to test their mettle in front of big crowds. Lots of fun.

Nice little thing: there's a library check-out card holder on the back inside cover with little character sheets in it!

That's the game! It's a lean little book, quick to read and quicker to play. It's got a straightforward central system with fun twists and tables throughout to ramp up the drama and really the entire text just exudes a unique, over-the-top, heartfelt tone I love.

It's available digitally for $10 USD on Itch!

The hardback version is great - really nice quality, it has a ribbon and those cool sheets in the back! I'd recommend picking it up HERE.

Lastly if you'd like to hear more from me, you can do that in my monthly newsletter (includes an article, an RPG freebie, and a list of cool stuff from myself and others over the last month): https://meatcastle.substack.com

[adarkrainbow]

Lost media quest: H&G Epic Tales (part 3)

Last time I ended my post while exploring the defunct epictales.com website. There was one page of this website (preserved in the Wayback Machine) that I did not add in this post: the About page.

The About page not only describes the Epic Tales line, but also lists the full staff that worked on this project. Here is what the website contains:

EPIC TALES™ is a developer and publisher of interactive storybooks for the iOS platform. EPIC TALES presents its own unique interactive adaptation of the imaginative and magical stories found in fairytales, folklore and world mythology.

All of our tales are narrated by our central storyteller, a most likeable dwarf named Silvertongue who used his magic to let our books and stories come to life. Each storybook offers stunning hand-drawn animations, a revamped storyline, original music scores, and spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers deep into the story.

EPIC TALES allows you to not only enjoy magical worlds and enchanting tales, but to experience them more closely than ever before.

We, the people at EPIC TALES, are always inspired by stories that fuel our ideas and imagination. We are storytellers, animators, and composers that gladly indulge ourselves in folklore, mythology, and the many tales and stories that have captured our imagination for generations. The result is a talented team of people driven to create original storybooks that are filled with whimsical characters, spellbinding environments, and interactive surprises. By combining creativity with technology, and talent with expertise, we hope to constantly produce exciting tales that bring every page to life. EPIC TALES is a joint venture between Cloud Castle Interactive and Anikey studios.

EPIC TALES Paul Hanraets, Founder of EPIC TALES and producer

Albert ‘t Hooft, Partner and creative director

Paco Vink, Partner and lead artist, animator

TEAM MEMBERS Lou Attia, Narrator and voice actor

Martin van Spanje, Software engineer

Joost van den Broek, Music composer

Arjen Schut, Sound designer

Sjan Weijers, Background clean-up artist

David Muchtar, Animator

Jelle Brunt, Animator

Ruben Zaalberg, Animator

The website also briefly offers descriptions/curriculum of the staff members:

Paul Hanraets Paul Hanraets has been a creative entrepreneur since 2002 when he co-founded Red Road Media, a media agency specialized in video games. Successful projects undertaken by Red Road include: Benelux largest annual game event Gamexpo, the tv show GAME FACTS broadcasted by TMF/MTV and the freely distributed game magazine Games Guide. In 2008 Paul founded Cloud Castle Interactive and was involved in the development of smaller game projects which further awakened his passion for the creative industry. As an immediate result Paul founded EPIC TALES, a developer of interactive storybooks for IOS and GAMBITIOUS an equity based crowdfunding platform dedicated to the games industry.

Albert ‘t Hooft & Paco Vink Albert 't Hooft and Paco Vink both studied traditional animation at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam before they founded Anikey Studios in 2007. Anikey is an award winning animation studio which specialises in hand drawn 2D digital animation. Anikey creates independent and commissioned animations for television, films and games which have an emphasis on story, characters and fun. Anikey's first two independent films 'Paul & the Dragon' and 'Little Quentin' won several awards at international film festivals. In addition on working on the new EPIC TALES titles, Anikey is developing the first hand drawn animated feature film in the Netherlands since 30 years.

Lou Attia Working with the likes of Disney and Sesame Street, Lou Attia has been a professional voice-over artist for over 15 years. After studying professional vocals in London, England, Lou landed a radio host position at 104.2 Nile FM in Cairo, Egypt where he became Creative Director and then Program Director of the station. Throughout his seven years on the air, during which his morning show went on to be the No.1 listened to radio show in a city of 16 million, Lou continued to do voice-overs for numerous commercials, shows and features. In 2010 Lou moved to Toronto, Canada where he is currently a full time voice-over artist, writer and TV show host.

Martin van Spanje Currently co-owner of LayerGloss Digital Publishing, Martin used to program and design on 8-bit Sinclair machines in the eighties. Then came Macs, digital audio, ten years of IT-projects and finally, iOS. Nowadays he lives his life surrounded by Objective-C code, and he sometimes thinks cornflakes look a bit like people. Oh, and he doesn't do Twitter.

Joost van den Broek Joost van den Broek is a producer, composer, arranger and keyboardplayer based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Starting out as a keyboardplayer for several metalbands like After Forever touring all over the world, he finished his conservatory with honour in musicproduction, keyboards and classical arrangement. Since then he been working as a freelancer in his own studio on several productions, compositions and arrangements, for acts/events like: Ellen ten Damme, Symphonica in Rosso, Wende Snijders, Games in Concert, Ben Saunders, Qlimax. Epic moviescores and/or/in combination with (pop/alternative)rock is what defines his style the most.

Arjen Schut Arjen Schut is a sound designer based in Hilversum, The Netherlands. As a freelancer Arjen has worked on numerous projects, both on location and in his own studio. Arjen is involved in sound effect creation for all sorts of media, but has a strong focus on interactive and animation projects. International blockbuster Killzone 3 being one of the larger projects.

I have taken upon myself to contact some of these artists, just in case they were open about talking or sharing information about the animation they worked onto. Is it a bad idea, or a good one? I don't know but that's the most straightforward direction one can take. I will warn you if I ever receive any response, positive or negative.

I forgot to link before the official page, on the Anikey Animation website, for their work on Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Not only does it contain large, high-quality screenshots of the artwork, but their "Production" page also has one concept art for the storybook. They also list the credits of the app as such:

Title: Epic Tales - Hansel & Gretel

Release: 2012

Directed by: Albert 't Hooft & Paco Vink

Animation by: Jelle Brunt, David Muchtar & Ruben Zaalberg

Backgrounds by: Paco Vink & Sjan Weijers

Music by: Joost van den Broek

Sounddesign by: Arjen van der Schut

Producer(s): Paul Hanraets for Cloud Castle Interactive

AppAdvice still has a page dedicated to the application. There is also a review by the MacTrast website that is quite interesting because, while today the pictures contained within it are "dead files", in the Wayback Machine you can fetch them back, and they are pretty rare screenshots of the game! Here's an additional Dutch article I forgot to add earlier. Again, not much to add since they all basically just announce the game's release and rephrase the storybook's commercial description.

I also don't think I have added this to my previous posts, but Cartoon Brew also had a page for the app's launching, which contained this text:

The Hague, the Netherlands — April 24, 2012 — Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook is the first in a series of tales as told by Silvertongue, the likeable dwarf and storyteller, and is now available on the Appstore for IPad and IPhone.

Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook offers a world filled with whimsical characters ranging from pesky gnomes to witty dwarfs; from brave children to wicked stepmothers and cunning witches.

“But we are not just another fairytale App,” says Paul Hanraets, founder and producer. “What sets Epic Tales apart from other storybooks are the incredible production values. Each of Epic Tales storybooks are digitally hand-drawn by our award winning animators, and offer stunning 2d animations, professional voice acting, original music scores and ambient sounds by game industry veterans. These elements combined offer spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers even deeper into the story.”

“Of course, our alternating witty and wacky humour and the high quality of our animations are amongst the things that separates Hansel and Gretel from other storybooks,” says creative director Albert ‘t Hooft.”However, what ultimately distinguishes Epic Tales is the implementation of our central storyteller, Silvertongue the dwarf.” Using the magic of pesky gnomes, Silvertongue brings the stories to life and narrates them.”Silvertongue used to be quite the adventurer, travelling the world in search of the most intriguing tales and stories, and now looks after your storybook collection in his humble bookstore. He is a truly gifted storyteller who can take an audience from a gasp of fright to a roar of laughter in just the twist of a phrase.”

Epic Tales is a series of high quality, interactive fairytales that allows you to not only enjoy enchanting tales, but to experience their magical worlds more closely than ever before. Children will love the sense of wonder and discovery,while adults will certainly appreciate the clever and wacky humor.

A final piece to add to the dossier so far is Muchtar Productions' page for Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Muchtar Production is the WordPress website of David Muchtar, a 2D animator and illustrator who worked on the Epic Tales animation as a (I quote) "Rough and Clean-up animator". He notably put within his portfolio an important number of concept art for the game's character designs. But, as with last time, I will keep it for the NEXT post!

Or... an almost final piece. I wanted to keep this for a much later post, but I ultimately decided to share it here. I vaguely described before one unofficial source for content about "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales". And that is an online review, a Youtube video, by a Youtuber named "Crazy Mike" specializing in app reviews. Here is the video, and the reason why this video is important (beyond it being the last remaining video review - unless I manage to get back the one from the defunct website) is because so far it is the only visual recording we have of the app outside of the trailers. Not only that, but at one point Crazy Mike opens the list of chapters within the app - which gives us a full glimpse of the story's main episodes, with thumbnails of each "tableau". Mind you, it is tiny details at the bottom of the screen so we can't get much of it... But with all the additional material I gathered, it will be a key element in my reconstruction of what the storybook looked like and was about.

[rabbitcruiser]

Towel Day

Towel  Day on May 25 is an annual holiday created to celebrate author Douglas  Adams by his fans. Adams wrote the classic sci-fi novel, “The  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” This day was organized in memory of  him after he suffered a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. His fans  wanted to find a way to commemorate his life’s work, and after having  one towel day, its success made it a yearly event. On this day, fans  carry towels around everywhere they go. Today, we are celebrating this  holiday with a towel wrapped around our necks because, we too, love  Douglas Adams!

History of Towel Day

Towel  Day is celebrated on May 25, two weeks after the date of Adams’s death  in 2001 — May 11. The day has, over time, received the status of being a  kind of ‘‘geek holiday’’ due to its connection with the popular series.

Why  a towel? It’s said the towel holds much importance in “The Hitchhiker’s  Guide to the Galaxy.” Adams wrote about towels as being the most  helpful item for an interstellar traveler. In chapter three of the book,  he writes, “A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing  an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value  — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold  moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded  beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep  under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of  Kakrafoon…” and so the uses go on.

Adams’s strongest advice was  “Never go anywhere without your towel.” This day has been celebrated now  for 19 years and is a great occasion for science fiction fans all over  the world to come together and rejoice … with their towels. It is said  that Adams was a humorous writer and witty character and that this day  reflects his lovable silliness.

Towel Day timeline

1978 An Oeuvre is Born

Douglas  Adams's radio series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is  broadcast for the first time — kickstarting a long line of adaptations  into other formats.

2001 Wrap It

The first Towel Day ever is celebrated on May 25, 2001, just two weeks after Adams's death on May 11.

2012 Mind Bogglingly Big

In January, the Huffington Post lists Towel Day as a cult literary tradition.

2013 The Good Towels

The Norwegian public transport company Kolumbus gives away special towels to customers.

2015 What is the Universe for?

On  Towel Day, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti signals a Towel Day  greeting and reads from ‘‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ from  the International Space Station.

Towel Day Activities

Carry a towel

Use a line from the series

Visit the website

The  hardcore fans of ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ will be carrying a  towel around for the day, so grab your towel and join in! Just make  sure that it’s clean. Take a photo of you wearing your towel, and upload  it to social media with the hashtag #towelday.

Weave  in some of the phrases from the ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’  into your conversations. Try "Life, the Universe, and Everything",  "Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them around  to dinner", "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so", or "I love  deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." It may  confuse folks around you, but those who know, know.

Check  out the towelday.org website and see what everyone else is up to on  this day. Inspire yourself and find other ways to celebrate or join in  with others as a group in your area or even your country. Or be a  go-getter and make your own Towel Day event that fans can attend.

5 Facts About Douglas Adams

An asteroid is named after him

He appeared in a famous TV show

He was friends with David Gilmour

He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro ... but there's more

He wrote a few "Doctor Who" episodes

In 2001, Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project discovered an asteroid and named it 25924 Douglasadams.

Adams  apparently made a brief appearance as an extra called Dr. Emile Konig  in an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus — he also contributed to  the writing of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

An  avid musician himself, Adams owned between 24 and 35 left-handed  guitars, appeared on stage at Pink Floyd's 1994 gig at Earl's Court in  London, and named the band's album that year, "The Division Bell."

Adams  was an environmentalist and loved animals, campaigning on behalf of  endangered species for most of his life — in 1994, he climbed Mount  Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit to raise awareness for Save The Rhino.

He was a contributing writer for several episodes of the famous British series, "Doctor Who."

Why We Love Towel Day

Online antics

Book marathon

Galaxy binge session

You  can get loads of information on the day from the twitter account  @towelday and the official website, towelday.org. You can find out stuff  like information on the life of Douglas Adams, details on the  “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” radio series, and interact with the  7,000+ fans who follow this day.

This  holiday gives us a chance to read or reread Adams's life’s work. Go  back and immerse yourself in the trilogy of  “The Hitchhiker's Guide to  the Galaxy” as well as “Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency”, “The  Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” and many more titles that made Adams so  beloved.

This  day also gives us a chance to binge on the shows linked to Adams. So  watch a movie or a TV series derived from his books. Do it with your  friends and carry your towels together. Celebrate this great author and  come together to watch some good and classic TV.

Source

[atariaction]

Kay’s 2023 Wrapped

Well, that about wraps it up for 2023, which means it’s time for my letter summarizing the computer history work that I did in the past year. I’ve been writing these letters since 2016, making this my eighth annual letter. I wish I had started this tradition in 1996, the year that my computer history efforts began when I launched the Digital Antic Project, which grew into Classic Computer Magazine Archive.

My goal this year was to publish six interviews on Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast. I published just one. (It was a good one, with Rodrigo Castro about Atari in Chile. Why not six? My Internet Archive work and, simply, a lack of momentum on interviews. Once the process is going, it’s going! But getting that engine re-started is hard.) My goal for 2024 is to publish 15 interviews, which I fully expect to actually do. Between us over the years, Randy Kindig and I have published 436 interview episodes on Antic. Our collective goal is to reach 500 by the end of 2025. So to keep my end of the bargain, that means I’ll publish 15 interviews in 2024.

Scanning, though! I turned all sorts of rare paper material into easily-searchable digital material at Internet Archive. I scanned a lot of Atari newsletters, including many from Hughes El Segundo Employees Association Atari Computer Enthusiasts, South Bay Atari Computer Enthusiasts, and West LA Atari Users Group.

In other scanning news — let’s talk about MicroTimes. MicroTimes was a California-focused computer magazine that was published from 1984 through 1999. It was there in the thick of it, published in the state that brought us Silicon Valley. I wrote for MicroTimes for a few years starting in 1992. So I am especially proud of this: 41 issues of MicroTimes magazinewere added to Internet Archive in 2023, bringing the collection to 62 issues. Here’s the long-story-short summary of 10 years of effort: I made this happen. I willed it to happen. More issues will be added in 2024.

I also added two more books to the collection of Russ Walter’s Secret Guide To Computers at Internet Archive. The newest additions are hard-to-find editions from 1976, about BASIC programming and computer applications.

My Scantastix project (if you don’t know what that is, here’s a short article describing it) did some great work: we scanned 321 items totaling 22,577 pages. The scans include some rare Microsoft material, even rarer pamphlets and manuals for Compucorp computers (have you ever heard of them? The computer that came with them is on its way to Vintage Computer Federation) and so many Apple II manuals. Check out all the latest additions here.

Also, a weird scanning side-quest happened this year: My friend Cabel Sasser handed me a pile of more than 50 DAK catalogs, which I scanned for him, then he wrote a blog post about them that blew up the Internet for a few days. It’s a fun read.

Once again, I processed and edited videos of the presentations at Vintage Computer Festival West 2023and VCF East 2023. And I helmed a project to rescue audio from VCF West 2003. These were recordings that were made of talks twenty years ago, then the tapes were lost, then found, then given to me, then it turned out that the tapes were recorded terribly. It took a small team of people to get any sound at all from those tapes then turned into something listenable. They include the voices of C. H. Ting, Jef Raskin, John Ellenby, and Gary Starkweather, who have all passed since these were recorded.

When I interview a programmer, I ask the person if they have any source code. I interviewed Jay Jaeger, creator of the Atari Program Exchange version of Space War, in 2016. At the time he said he had the source code… somewhere. I contacted him from time to time to ask about that source code. (I have a “nag list” of people that I contact from time to time to ask them about some material or other.) Patience and persistence paid off. Just a few days ago, in December 2023, he found the assembly language source code and sent it to me to share.

A bit of personal archiving: I write for Juiced.GS magazine, which focuses on the Apple II. I uploaded all of the articles I've written for Juiced to Internet Archive, spanning 2015–2022. There are some interviews, some product reviews, and some nice little reminisces about the old days of microcomputers. (I released them under a Creative Commons license, so if you want to republish an article in a non-commercial computer club newsletter or something like that, go for it. My agreement with the magazine says that they get exclusive rights to articles for a year. So my 2023 articles will be shared online a year from now. In the mean time, it’s a good magazine: if you like Apple II, subscribe!)

My work at Internet Archive as the curator of the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications is certainly one of the reasons I’ve had less time and energy for computer archiving. 2023 was my first full calendar year in this role. I hit my one-year anniversary in August! But there’s sometimes a nice overlap between the two efforts. For instance, in 2023 I archived several ham radio related programs for Atari computers and a few for DOS machines and even a handful for CP/M that were rescued from 8-inch floppy disks.

There’s something else, something that I’ve been teasing for years. In my 2018 letter I wrote “There’s a particular archiving project happening in 2019 that is really big and really important for microcomputer history. I’m not ready to talk about it, but hold your breath and cross your fingers.” Then at the end of 2019 I wrote: “That project depends on the help of one person who has been battling ongoing health issues. It is still very much at the front of my mind, and *crosses fingers* will move ahead this year.” It didn’t, and it couldn’t, but with patience and persistence, it’s finally happening. It’s already started, and I can’t wait to have something amazing to show you in 2024. Keep holding your breath and crossing your fingers just a little while longer.

If you support my archiving work on Patreon, thank you! Also please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Internet Archive, the non-profit online library that hosts all of my scans and interviews.

I hope we all have a pleasant and productive 2024. May your patience and persistence pay dividends.

[fullregalia]

and i took that personally.

I actually was going to use this headline for 2022, but (Taylor’s Version) seemed a better fit at the time, and looking back on ’23, well, I really did take this year personally. 

One charge I am not beating is that I quote The Tempest every time I write about the ups and downs of aging: “Nothing ... doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange.” However I’ve yet to find something that captures how bizarre life is better than the phrase “rich and strange.” This year was certainly no different. If you couldn’t tell from the abstruse posts about feeling insecure online, I definitely Went Through It (or at least lower case went through it, lest I be too overly dramatic here) with a strange friendship with a semi-notable person this year. It burned bright and fast and like all other normies who come into the orbit of people with a modicum of notoriety, even if you can hang, it hurts to get dropped for a shiny new thing. The best thing for me to do was to step away from Twitter in August and never look back. Sometimes I miss knowing what stupid thing is going on online (#GagCity) however, if I ever get around to finishing my novel, it’s great fodder for plot. (“How do you serve cunt in a roman à clef way?”)

Besides that personal drama, which wasn’t too bad (frankly, I just got caught up in a one-sided friend crush that took up a majority of Qs 2 and 3), the year was filled with so many interesting things: The movies are back, baby! Country music’s revival won me over. I went to Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland, and I met a special needs Alpaca named Waffles in Litchfield, CT. Succession ended (RIP Kendall I could fix u), and The Bear’s Copenhagen episode made me cry. I read 30 books, and not all of them were garbage (though some of them truly were). I discovered a brown butter buttermilk cake recipe that I can't quit. It felt like live events were properly in the mix again too; I was able to convince more people to go to Cyclones games with me, but I’m still hitting up Lincoln Center solo (don't men know this is a big date flex??). And how could I not brag about seeing my favorite artist, Ed Ruscha, in the flesh at the opening night of his retrospective at MoMA. But I’ll get into all of that and more below. 

Since this annual recap is not a tradition I’m willing to step away from and never look back (yet), here are my highlights of 2023: 

Books

Thanks to my SAD in the winter, I plowed through the bigger novels in Q1 (e.g., Confederacy of Dunces, I Have Some Questions For You, Birnam Wood). Though the best books I read this year were slimmer like Big Swiss, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, and Trespasses. I believe someone tried to trendcast this, but I think short books have been a thing since ... checks notes ... people started reading? I am still trying to figure out if I cared about The Guest, but I suppose a sense of low-lying dread and hating the narrator meant it worked. I tried to add more urban history into the hold list (NYC, LA, and Palo Alto), but couldn’t get through the latter two before year-end so that’s going on next year’s reading challenge. Seeing as I do LA every January anyway, I’ll save the California books for the West Coast.

I’m a little disappointed that there weren’t many novels I couldn’t put down this year. But I really did focus on contemporary fiction and I think next year I should spend more time on both nonfiction and “canonical” works that I still haven’t gotten around to yet. That is, it may be time to start reading like my dad.

Music

If Spotify is to be believed (it is), I was in.my.feelings. this year (I was). My erstwhile friend crush was a huge Country head, and I am grateful that brief friendship brought more Country--both classic and contemporary--into my life. (I have joked that women will inhale an entire discography/filmography/oeuvre in a weekend for a crush, but honestly show me the lie.) I’ve always been into Americana and bluegrass, but it was good to dig deeper into true country. At the pottery studio I would start with Johnny Cash and just let the algo take it from there for the next 3 - 4 hours. Beyond the musicians I was already listening to a lot (John Prine, Willie Nelson) I listened to more Townes Van Zandt, Nikki Lane, Jess Williamson, and Tyler Childers. 

But of course my top artists were the same as every year: Coltrane, Paul Simon, Prokofiev, Steely Dan. Dean Wareham came up huge for me because I think I played “The Last Word” maybe 400 times this year. You get to the 2:53 mark with the sun shining on Memorial Day Weekend? That’s heaven on earth.

Music was my sanity this year more than it usually is. I had my sad playlist (Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, SZA) for the myriad breakup walks; my Drake playlist for running; my jazz playlist for cooking; and my work party afterparty playlist was even dowloaded by the bar for future use because I spent HOURS figuring out the best arrangement of Beyoncé into Fleetwoord into Dua and they got it. 

I also spent a lot of time behind the wheel with the windows down listening to prog rock, too. Told you I was going through it.

Movies

As the year progressed, my already incoherent listening habits became very movie-forward. That is, I started putting on more movie soundtracks to work to (Nebraska hive we stay riding!! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross run me over with a truck!!!) and I basically only ended up listening to podcasts about movies (Big Pic, Blank Check, Rewatchables). But the synergy between music and movies was strong this year, as evidenced by the thrilling re-issue of Stop Making Sense and the Eras/Renaissance films. (As always, I implore you to listen to Wesley Morris about everything, forever.)  

After leaving Twitter, Letterboxed became my primary Social Network (lol). Thankfully it’s helping me keep track of what I watched this year. I did a lot of back-list catching up: I watched all the Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films in time to catch The Boy and the Heron the week after I got to The Wind Rises. In no particular order, my favorites: American Fiction, Oppenheimer, No Hard Feelings, Fallen Leaves, Past Lives, Maestro (but that’s because of Lydia Tàr), and because I quite sensibly spent most of this year catching up on Tom Cruise’s entire filmography, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, pt. I. This man will do anything to save cinema! I love it!!!!

The Lawyer Movie Draft match up of Blank Check and Big Pic was one of my favorite podcast episodes of the year. I definitely re-watched The Firm and The Pelican Brief after it. Luv u too, Michael Clayton.

Odds & Ends

My two goals this year were to leave NYC once a month and see a concert/show once a month. I was close to 100% on both, which was nice. If you go to Dublin, be sure to check out Bar 1661. I had an amazing lunch at this Italian place in Bern, Switzerland. If you are in London, I demand you go to Fortitude Bakehouse. As always, the BEC on a croissant at Arethusa is a religious experience. And Zapp’s chips + oysters + wine + this view in Maine = I can die happy. 

I saw three live podcast tapings--my second time seeing both Odd Lots and Who? Weekly and my first time seeing How Long Gone (I’m not proud of it, but I love those two bros and John Early was a great guest). Relatedly, Kate Berlant's one woman show lived up to the hype and Just For Us made me laugh enough I told my folks to see it. I finally saw ABT do Romeo & Juliet at the Met, and there were too many classical concerts to count (highlights being: the Made in Berlin string quartet at Lydia Tàr's Berlin Philharmonic, the Emerson String Quartet performing Shostakovich No. 12, and Chamber Music Society presenting the full Brandenburg Concertos).

On the TV front, for what I lost in Succession this year, I look forward to getting back in Industry next year. My "Smooth Brain Award" for best background streaming goes to And Just Like That and Suits for being too dumb to function. A friend has promised to watch The Curse with me, but that has yet to materialize. At some point I'm going to have to get Apple TV back so I can finally watch the new season of Slow Horses, the first two seasons of which I binged in about a week in February.

Since I’m not actively tweeting, I’m going to put my in/out list here. I was actually on the money with some of my predictions from last year (all light yellow everything and bankruptcy is chic again) however none of you fools got on the “friends holding hands in an 1800s novel way” and I didn’t see enough old bay fries at the bar to make me happy. Let’s see if I can improve my trend casting odds for 2024:

IN: robin’s egg blue, Acting Like You've Been There, cassis and soda, Harvey Wallbangers, Meg Ryan's curly hair in When Harry Met Sally, pretending you know how to sail, whistleblowing, marbled paper, voice notes.

OUT: hard seltzer, oversize blazers, Substack, the pop punk revival, calling things “transcendent,” renter’s insurance, engagement announcements on social media (just get married), Reykjavik, Threads.

I’m probably wrong on all fronts! This take on my predictions is likely also my mantra for 2024. Happy New Year, and to the two to three people who read this whole thing, may it bring you peace and prosperity. Praying the world becomes a little easier to be alive in next year, though I’m not sure that’s how things work these days. If I don’t abandon this effort entirely next year, I’ll be sure to recount what rich and strange experiences came about...

[beyondxmeasure]

Was definitely looking for more light hearted shows when mentioning fluffy. I will definitely at them to my list to watch.

I had noticed much my shows were like early 2000s I blame HBO for that. I got a subscription this year and was reminded of them.

Sons of Anarchy is also one of my favorites and can't believe I forgot about it. I started following Charlie Hannam's Carter because of that show.. Have you watched the Mayan spin off by chance? Also for old time shows did you watch Anne with an E.

Speaking of Matt Bomer have you watched The Last Tycoon? It has him and is set place in 1930s I believe. It was canceled after one season though. If I remember correctly it was based on a book by Fitzgerald

Don’t blame HBO. They have some great content. It’s an easy thing to get sucked into their vortex. That’s around the same time I got on my own and got a cable subscription with HBO so I know the 2000s stuff and most of their catalog pretty well.

SOA is fantastic. I’ve watched it 3x through and it still holds up. Don’t come for me about the possibly problematic language or tones in some areas… it’s a show about an outlaw biker gang. It’s bound to be a bit problematic. I did start watching Mayans spinoff but it was at a time when I was staying with my parents who had cable. I soon moved out and only had streaming services and I think it wasn’t available to me… either that or I forgot about it. Either way it didn’t leave enough of an impact for me to finish it.

It wasn’t bad, I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters like I immediately did with SOA. Maybe I’ll try again…

Although Ive heard good things about, Ive never gotten around to Anne With An E. It is my Netflix queue though! But I am so attached to the original A of GG CBC/PBS mini-series that I’m kind of afraid to tarnish my fond memory. It’s an annual family tradition to watch it the day we bring home our Christmas tree.

Yes, I know of The Last Tycoon! I remember putting it in my queue ages ago, probably when I first watched Downton Abbey or Peaky Blinders and got in the mood to watch all the things remotely historically adjacent. But I never got around to watching it. I think in part because it was only one season so I didn’t want to get invested. But I recently (post-Fellow Trav) revisited the trailer and am definitely planning on diving in soon!

Going back to your last ask about fluffy shows, and referring to my first list…. Definitely check out Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek for feel good shows. They will both fill you with loads of laughter and leave your heart immensely full.

Happy New Year, Nonny! 🎉

[acelucky]

2023 - End of year favourite films, books, games & albums

As is an annual tradition for me, I like to share with you all my favourite media consumed and books read during the past year. Though I never include TV Shows and am not sure why, maybe next year!

Normally I make a separate post for everything, but today decided to lump them together - it's more for my own reflection that anything else. I've struggled to name 10 favourite books and felt it was a bit of a weak year film wise... Game wise I mostly played just 2 games. Music is where I struggled. It's been an odd year, a great year with some amazing trips - New Zealand (and Singapore), Budapest and Ireland. Some wonderful comedy highlights, a few comedy lows, a new internal job and many other ups and downs. It's probably why there were gaps in my reading and not so many games played.

Not all of the following were realised this year, some were late 2022 and some even earlier than that, but I just got to them this year.

Favourite 10 Films (by no means are some of these the best!)

Barbie - Greta Gerwig

Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan

65 - Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

Napoleon - Ridley Scott

Saltburn - Emerald Fennell

No one will save you - Brian Duffield

Barbarian - Zach Gregger

Guardian's of the Galaxy Vol 3 - James Gun

Talk to Me - Danny & Michael Philippou 

John Wick Chapter 4 - Chad Stahelski

Cousins - Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith (Okay this is number 11, I couldn't leave it off!)

Favourite 10 Books of the year

The Mad Women's Ball - Victoria Mas

MilkFed - Melissa Broder

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne

Grief is the thing with feathers - Max Porter

Life Ceremony - Sayaka Murata

Garth Merenghi's Terrortome

Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe - Thomas Ligotti

Lapvona - Ottessa Moshfegh

Gyo - Junji Ito

The final girl support group - Grady Hendrix

Favourite 10 Albums of the year

Sleep Token - Take me back to eden

Lana Del Rey - Did you know there's a tunnel under ocean boulevard

Father John Misty - I love you, Honeybear

Sparks - The Girl is crying in her latte

IAMX - Fault Lines

Avenged Sevenfold - Life is but a dream

Myrkur - Ragnarok

Electric Callboy - TEKKNO (tour ed)

Creeper - Sanguivore

Honourable mention to Gabrielle Aplin - Phosphorescent, two of the songs on the album (Skylight & Mariana Trench) are songs I've had on repeat and absolutely love. I enjoy the rest of the album, just not quite to fit into my top 10. Blink 182 - One More Time is another that was very close, I just haven't listened to it quite enough yet.

Song wise an honourable mention to 'Calm Down' - Rema & Solidarity - Gogol Bordello

Favourite 5 Games of the year

Bramble: The Mountain King - Hand's down, my favourite game of the year.

Persona 5

Fallout 4 - Yes, I finally started playing this again and am nearly at the end of the main story. I did play a few hours of Starfield, but wanted to wait until I'd finished this first.

Frog Detective - I loved this game so much.

Night at the Woods - This is me cheating, I've played it through twice before...it's been on a list in a previous year too. I just haven't played much new stuff this year.

I got Harvest Moon: Winds of Athos & Detective Pikachu Returns for Christmas, I also bought myself the AC: Valhalla DLC's - it is likely all three will be on my list next year.

[neyatimes]

SZA, Ice Spice and more

Barack Obama is weighing in on the songs and books we should all be diving into this summer. The former president turned cultural tastemaker shared what he’s recently been listening to and reading on Thursday in the annual tradition of sharing his summer lists. “Check them out and let me know what I should be reading next,” he wrote in his social media post about his recommended books. Obama’s…

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Pining John Pt. 2

Please if you have any pining!John fics (like Sherlock accidentally hurts him like he did molly with the Christmas gift) I would absolutely love that!! Thank you so much😊(submitted by @thediamondwoman)

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: hi! New Johnlocker here, this is a fic rec ask, but do you have any fics where John is pining/suppressing/ignoring his feelings for Sherlock? Preferably after TRF, and without Mary in the way, and a slow burn one (sorry for all the preferences just one with pining John would be fine) and thank you for being a blog currently reading all your metas and they are amazing <3333

@i-love-books-and-so-do-you asked: hullo!! *waves* i’m in the mood for some pining john, so i was wondering if you have any good ones? preferably with a happy ending

and may i just say your blog is GORGEOUS like all your fic recs *chef’s kiss* thank you for the literal best johnlock content <33

——-

Hi Lovelies!!!

First of all, thank you for your love for my lists! LOL! These asks just keep coming in, so it looks like I’m overdue for another pining John list!!

That said I do actually have pining John fics, and enough to start a second list! As I re-read fics, I’m able to keep adding all the old ones I didn’t tag ages ago to lists, so that’s fun, hahah. Hope you guys don’t mind me just combining all the pining into one list, hahaah. I get more fics that way LOL!

Enjoy, and feel free to add your own, friends!

See also:

Pining John

Pining Sherlock || [MOBILE FRIENDLY VERSION]

Mutual Pining

Mutual Pining Pt 2

John’s Away (and Sherlock’s Not Okay)

Caffeine and Adaptive Programming by DemonicSymphony (E, 5,540 w., 1 Ch. || Androids AU / Bond Fusion || Android Sherlock, Coffee Shop AU, Pining John Hinted Bond / Q, Toplock) – Sherlock is a coffee shop android slowly falling for a regular customer. But he's not supposed to be able to feel emotions.

London Gods by a_different_equation (E, 11,092 w., 5 Ch. || American Gods Fusion || Magical Realism, Sex Magic, True Love, PTSD John, First Kiss/Time, Marathon Sex, Sensuality, Genie Sherlock, Human John, Internalized Homophobia, Star-Crossed Lovers, Soul Mates) – Sherlock Holmes is a jinn who does not grant wishes. However, when Dr. John H. Watson, recently returned from the war in Afghanistan, gets into his cab by "accident", it might not even need magic to grant both men their deepest wish: love.

There's So Much Labour Just in Breathing Lately by Susan (E, 12,708 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF / Mentions of S3 Events, Romance, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Grieving John, Mutual Pining, Meddling Mycroft, Therapy, Ambiguous Hopeful Ending, Infidelity) – The dreams he hated most – the ones that left him a sweating, shaking mess when he woke – were the ones in which Sherlock was just Sherlock. Laughing or drinking tea. Sitting across the table from him at Angelo’s eating pasta. Trailing his open hand behind him on the way to the bedroom. “C’mon, John. I’m about to have my way with you.”

On The Fence by BeautifulFiction (T, 13,770 w., 1 Ch. || Fencing, Case Fic, First Kiss, Insecure John, Pining John, Hug, Greg Finds Out) – The murder of the King's College fencing champion leads to revelations about Sherlock's past. Will it be the point that tips them from friends to lovers, or will they remain on the fence?

The Invocation of Saint Margaret by Ewebie (E, 15,831 w., 1 Ch. || POV John,  Crossing Timelines, Light Angst, Fluff, Series 3 John / Series 1 Sherlock, The Matchbox, Mushy Romance, First Time, Bisexual John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Sensuality, Emotional Love Making, Snippets of Time) – When Sherlock Holmes opens the matchbox from The Sign of Three and John finds himself years in the past, back to that first dinner at Angelo's with a much younger Sherlock Holmes. Is he dreaming?

Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all.

The Case of the Vanishing Pants by SwissMiss (E, 44,025 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, Post-TRF, Case Fic, UST, Homophobia, Friends to Lovers, Pining John, Showering Together, Couple for a Case, Sherlock’s Bum, Fantasies, Jealous Sherlock) – Five times John and Sherlock lost their pants in the course of a case.

Only To Be With You by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (M, 40,768 w., 4 Ch. || Black Mirror / Future AU || Character Death, Future Technology, Sickness/Cancer/Illness, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, First Person POV John, Pining John, Heart-Wrenching Angst) – I tell myself that next time I’ll come near this same place again. Wait around for the mysterious stranger in his coat to dash past me, hot on the heels of a new criminal in black. I think this all the way back to my Exit, planning where I’ll wait and what I’ll say when I see him. Scheming on how to get his name. It’s only once I reach the Exit Point door that I realize two hours and forty-five minutes have passed, and I realize that this won’t be the last time I Visit. It won’t be the last time at all.

Inscrutable to the Last by DiscordantWords (M, 48,842 w., 6 Ch. || Post-TRF, Alternate S3, John’s Blog/S3 is a Story By John, Divorce, Marital Difficulties, John is a Mess, Emotional Reunion, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Grief / Mourning, Pining John, First Kiss, Adorably Clueless Sherlock, Nostalgia, Love Confessions, Eventual Happy Ending) – He wasn't Sherlock, he couldn't work miracles. All he'd ever been able to do was write about them.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

Isosceles by SilentAuror (E, 56,609 w., 7 Ch. || Post-S4, POV John, Original Male Character / Sherlock Dates Another Man, Love Triangle, Jealous John, Virgin Sherlock, Sexual Coaching, Angst, Romance, Domesticity, Unrequited Feelings, Miscommunication, First Kiss/Time, For a Case, Friends With Benefits, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Spooning) – After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date...

White Knight by DiscordantWords (M, 69,840 w., 13 Ch. || S4 Compliant/Post S4, Marriage For a Case, Jealous John, Pining John, Janine / Sherlock Fake Relationship, Serial Killers, Case Fic, Undercover as a Couple, Weddings, John is a Mess, Misunderstandings, Wedding Planning, Jealousy, Drunkenness, Love Confessions, Angst with Happy Ending) – Green. The word green was used to convey a great many things. Illness. Envy. Inexperience. Standing there amidst Janine's chattering bridesmaids, watching Sherlock furrow his brow and study fabric swatches, watching him smile and simper and flirt, John thought it a remarkably apt colour choice. Because he felt quite sick to his stomach, he feared the source of said sickness might very well be jealousy, and he had absolutely no idea at all what to do about it. Or: Sherlock needs to fake a relationship for a case. He doesn't ask John.

Thermocline by J_Baillier (M, 83,557 w., 14 Ch. || Scuba Diving AU || Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Marine Archaeology, Asexual Sherlock, Horny John, Relationship Drama, Technical/Scuba/Wreck Diving, Slow Burn, Underwater /  Medical Peril, Doctor John, Hurt Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, John POV, Protective John, Body Appreciation) – John "Five Oceans" Watson — technical dive instructor, dive accident analyst and weapon of mass seduction — meets recluse professor of maritime archaeology Holmes. As they head out to a remote archipelago off the coast of Guatemala to study and film its shipwrecks for a documentary, will sparks fly or fizzle out?

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w., 37 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel., Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

[curiousconch]

Seasons Change in Circles (Part 1)

Spinoff Synopsis: As the holiday cheer begins, Alex and Gabe finds themselves in the opposite sides of the celebratory spectrum. A figure from Alex's past attempt to bridge the gap between them, in time before the year closes and another season begins.

Book/Pairing: Choices - Laws of Attraction / Gabe Ricci x MC (Alex Keating)

Words: 600+

Rating/Warnings: Teen / language

Author's Notes: This is a two-part mini-series I wrote to answer the prompts requests (which will be in bold) for Alex & Gabe. I know it's been long since I posted anything here, but a promise is a promise. Wanted to share this to everyone who loved, and still loves Alex and Gabe. Thank you for your continued support, regardless of me being in hiatus. See you in part 2!

This was inspired by the song Circles by Post Malone. Disclaimer: Some characters belong to Pixelberry. I am merely borrowing them.

Winter Night, In a penthouse in New York

I honestly don't fucking get the hype of the holidays.

Well, maybe, that was then. But now...

Alex thought to herself, as she stood leaning on the glass wall of Gabe's spacious penthouse suite. All of the things that she discovered about her lover made her a little sentimental.

Gabe, for all of his bravado, had an weird fixation for the holidays.

Ever since the harsh New York winter came around, he had just became so... cheery. His usual snark was replaced by a borderline-creepy glow in him that emanated from his every waking moment.

Even as Alex watched him sleeping soundly on his beige couch, she could still feel his obsession for all things merry and bright.

It was obvious by the Christmas tree that stood in his living room, where décor of various shades of red hung and a string of fairy lights clinging along the edges of its leaves. It cast a soft yellow light against her outline.

Tonight had been the first time she saw the Christmas tree up close.

He explained once that Rob loved Christmas. And Gabe lived to its full as a sort of annual tradition to honor his memory.

Her lips pursed, tightening the furrow in her brows as she shifted her gaze to the city lights outside.

It was snowing.

Unlike Gabe, for the last decade, Alex wallowed in the bad memories that seemed to accompany the snow. Every time she closed her eyes and thought of the cold, white powder on the ground, she was instantly reminded of the night she lost everything.

She'd avoided anything that came with the season, spending most of it either alone or lost in a sea of revelers as a bartender.

And now, it's being shoved in her face.

She shuddered.

Alex had a sudden need to run away, far, far from it all.

And that's exactly what she did.

***

A few hours later

Gabe's deep slumber was interrupted by the incessant ringing of his phone.

He groaned, lazily grabbing it and shoving it to his ear.

Before he could say anything, he heard a loud roaring from the other end of the line.

"Gabriel Ricci?" a vaguely familiar female voice said.

His eyes opened. "Yes?" Glancing at the caller ID, he abruptly sat up.

It can't be.

Now fully awake, his mind became alert and confused. He looked at the armchair opposite him, the usual leather bag and the black heels nowhere to be found.

He looked once again at the screen. Alex Keating.

"Hello? This is Heather, Alex's best friend." He barely heard the words behind the boisterous racket of background noise.

"Why are you calling from her phone?" Gabe asked, standing up.

"Oh, well... It's a long story," the voice sighed. "Can you come here please? Alex needs you."

With that, she mentioned a name of a dive bar they frequented.

"Are you coming?" she inquired, when he heard the faintest sound of Alex's inebriated giggle.

Gabe frantically went out the door, grabbing his coat as he headed out. "Stay there. I'm on my way."

***

From the below prompt request:

Tag list: @adiehardfan @pixelnathayes @starryjieun @latinagiraffe @sarcastic01lily @spookycolorpeanut @ophrookie @suitfer @thegreentwin @mkatschoicesblog @made-of-roses @lillijil@kachrisberry @weaving-in-words @peonierose @wanderingamongthewildflowers

@choicesficwriterscreations @lawsofattractionfanfiction

[acrossthewavesoftime]

I hope you aren’t cross with me for answering this question in a post, but I didn’t want to be dependent on the character limit for direct messages, so here’s a little post. :-)

If I remember correctly, you did ask me once before, and alas, I still have no idea. The closest I can offer you is The Female Sailor, which dates to approximately 1710.

That however, does not necessarily mean anything at all; considering the wealth of dancing instructions, books and annual releases such as Playford’s English Dancing Master or Thompson’s Country Dances, not to speak of the many, less famous others, I’d say chances that the one internet rando you know who does that sort of thing is familiar with this one specific dance or knows exactly where to find it were low from the start.

The ‘problem’ with country dances is, they’re vastly different from what would count as traditional ballroom dancing nowadays in that each melody has a distinct choreography. Consider now the amount of country dances in existence, and it becomes nigh impossible even for professionals to know them all. That’s also why different instructors or dance groups often have drastically different repertoires; there are just so many to choose from. To illustrate this, as I was chatting with my dancing instructor about personal writings as sources on dances and the social events connected to dancing, I mentioned reading about a Scottish tune and accompanying dance called Mony Musk in Elizabeth Simcoe’s Diary, which I knew because I have a background in making traditional (albeit Irish, not Scottish) music and thus had come across one or the other video of people dancing to the tune and assumed it was fairly popular and well-known. Well, she’d never heard of it before.

There is a reason why modern-day historical dance events are either regulated by sending you a list of choreographies to study beforehand, or opt for a person explaining each dance to the room while dancing. Historically speaking, particularly the latter option isn’t even that off; when a specific dance was requested, the leading couple (i.e. those who requested it) would show how it is done to their immediate neighbours, causing the dance to ‘travel’ down the rows of dancers who’d proceed to observe and then join in with a little delay.

Of course, I looked around some databases and indexes, but sadly couldn’t find what you are looking for.

As for the naming of country dances, the people who choreographed them needed to come up with a distinctive title for each dance, because on account of the sheer number of dances there were, vague descriptions such as “the one with the dos à dos“ or “yet another double minor longways” wouldn’t have helped.

…Which is how we end up with the most randomly named country dances such as Wooden Shoes, The Chestnut, Johnny I’ll Tickle Thee, Excuse Me, or, my favourite, Lawyers Leave Your Pleading. It’s probable the person coming up with the name often just let themselves influence by their immediate surroundings. There are also lots of country dances named for places, people both real and fictional or specific dates and holidays. Current affairs or patriotic sentiments could also inspire a choreographer in need of a name (e.g. Marlborough’s Victory, His Majesty’s Health), not to speak of the slightly more risqué titles (e.g. Frisky Mollie’s Delight, Buxom Betty).

So who knows, maybe the person who named The Female Soldier was indeed inspired by Deborah Sampson, particularly if the dance was of local origin. I would guess though that particularly in the case of dances whose titles were chosen as references to current events, people (unless really famous like e.g. royalty) and pop culture of the day, these would have faded over time, particularly since these dances enjoyed a long history, with some of them, e.g. from the first Playford manuals in the mid-17thcentury, still being danced in the early 19th century.

Perhaps the document you found the reference in might be helpful in uncovering The Female Soldier. Are there any other clues? I know my way around the dancing manuals of the British Isles to some degree, but perhaps looking for American publications might be an option worth exploring? Assuming the title does indeed refer to Deborah Sampson, I’d guess she would have been more famous stateside than in Britain.

Happy searching, and be assured that you’re not the only one searching for an obscure dance; my goal is to find the mysterious Le Jupon rouge (The Red Skirt), a French dance Elizabeth Simcoe enjoyed on one night out partying in Québec.

So, to everyone out there: if you happen to know The Female Soldier or Le Jupon rouge, please contact @benjhawkins or myself! :-)

[swanlake1998]

Article: The Black Ballet Celeb Taking On Racism in Dance

Date: June 21, 2021

By: Mary Scott Manning

With a raft of Instagram followers and a modeling contract, the Washington Ballet’s Nardia Boodoo is as close as it gets to a pop celeb in the rarefied world of ballet. Now she’s trying to make that world more fair.

A ballerina, by definition, does not speak—at least not with words. The body is her language, and she spends her life mastering its vocabulary, usually at others’ direction: a casting list on the wall, a choreographer’s instructions, a critic’s review. For dancers of color, this fact has been doubly true.

But last year, after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, and organizations across the professional spectrum were called out by people of color for furthering systemic racism, the overwhelmingly white world of ballet wasn’t spared. One of the most influential voices in that conversation was a dancer with the Washington Ballet, 27-year-old Nardia Boodoo.

You may have seen her onstage, one of the company’s five Black dancers, or in the pages of Marie Claire—she’s a model repped by Wilhelmina who has starred in campaigns for Tory Burch, Chanel Beauty, and Nike. She began dancing only 13 years ago, but Boodoo, whose roots are Indo-Trinidadian, has soared into the pantheon of ballet celebrities, the object of teen worship and the subject of fan art (plus at least one look-alike doll).

What was never visible was the racism she endured on the way up. “Despite the fact that I work hard in rehearsal, throw myself into my art form and perform on international stages,” as she put it on Instagram on May 31, 2020, “when I return home”—to Bethesda—”I’m still most likely to be questioned and harassed for walking my dog late at night in an affluent area…that I reside in.”

This month, Boodoo appears in one of the Washington Ballet’s latest productions, choreographed by the renowned Black dancer Silas Farely. Yet some of her most important recent work has occurred behind the scenes over the past year as she pushed the company to own ballet’s history of prejudice and its responsibility to change. “She’s just been a really, really important voice in helping us to galvanize and discuss all very important issues,” says Julie Kent, the company’s artistic director, issues that “haven’t really been addressed previously, and not just at the Washington Ballet but in ballet as an art form.”

When Boodoo started training at 14, Misty Copeland was making history as American Ballet Theatre’s first Black soloist in two decades, following trailblazing Black ballerinas such as Lauren Anderson and Raven Wilkinson. Boodoo’s peers at the Baltimore School for the Arts, meanwhile, were majority-African American, a “strong base,” she says, for a young artist of color. Boodoo earned a scholarship to Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet, then landed a coveted sport in the Washington Ballet’s studio company while still a teenager.

Leaving home, though, occasioned her first experiences with racial bias in ballet. “I’ve had someone who holds power say to me, ‘Well, because you stick out so much in the corps, you have to work so much harder, because everyone’s going to be looking at you,'” she says. “That’s not my fault that you only have one Black girl in the corps.”

It was the classic conundrum of a second generation. She wasn’t the one who broke down the door. But she still had to contend with an environment that was less than welcoming. And the pressure to fit a stereotype needled her. Virtually every professional Black dancer feels it: having to straighten curly hair, receiving costumes with mesh that doesn’t match their skin tone, wearing the pink tights that make light-skinned dancers look lithe but appear to chop inches off those with darker complexions. Sometimes Boodoo’s colleagues would make hurtful comments. “Stupid things,” she recalls, “like ‘Your hair smells like Black-girl hair.'”

Rachael Parini, a friend and the only other Black dancer when Boodoo joined the company, remembers when they were asked to wear white powder in Giselle, a tradition in the ballet but a loaded proposition for Black performers. At a rehearsal, the stager hollered over the loudspeaker: “Rachael and Nardia, why are you blue?” The powder apparently had turned their brown skin another hue under the cool stage lights.

Parini describes her friend as a force—”not one to back down from a fight.” But back then, the women endured the routine microaggression quietly. For all its glamour, a ballet company is a workplace like any other, governed by hierarchies and unwritten social codes. With one big difference: There’s usually no formal human-resources department. “You sort of get this vibe that this is how it is,” says Boodoo. “The more subservient you are…the better and the more instruction you’ll receive…the further your career will go on.”

After starting to model, Boodoo met a photographer who was perplexed by her acquiescence. He described how the New York dancers he knew were much more assertive. It was a revelation: Boodoo’s confidence and following grew. She became an apprentice at the Pennsylvania Ballet, then returned to DC, becoming a full company member in 2019.

By the time the country was protesting for racial justice and dancers of color began organizing over Zoom, she was ready to speak out. “To all the dancers that don’t feel supported by their companies,” she posted to Instagram on June 1, 2020, “I think it’s time to make some changes and to hold them accountable.” Andrea Long-Naidu, a former New York ballet star and a past teacher of Boodoo’s, looked on with pride: “When I had her at Dance Theatre of Harlem, she wasn’t aware of her powers yet.”

Seeing her staff in pain after George Floyd’s Killing, Kent convened an all-company Zoom. Voice cracking, Boodoo recounted her experiences, explaining that the bias often presented itself as overtly as it did implicitly: The problem wasn’t simply getting passed over for a role but also being told her face looked “too ethnic” for the part.

Kent, who is white, listened on the other side of the screen, distinctly aware of the vulnerability on display among her dancers. A former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, she performed on global stages and had a part in the beloved 2000 movie Center Stage. “I have a unique role and responsibility in order to move [the art form] forward,” she says, “and allow for the kind of career and love that I had to be possible for as many people as possible.”

Kent inherited one of the country’s most diverse companies from her predecessor, Septime Webre, who had recruited worldwide and electrified the institution’s cultural cachet. She had added 16 dancers to the corps, almost half of whom identify as BIPOC—and now they were hurting. There’s also the matter of competition. The Ballet has to compete with bigger acts imported by the Kennedy Center. In some ways, its relevance hinges on broadening ballet’s historically older, white audience with admirers whose woke-ness won’t tolerate notions of “diversity” that predate Black Lives Matter—or that feel performative.

Kent formed a working group with members from every department to tackle issues of inclusion and equity, and an outside consultant has been guiding their monthly meetings and homework. Boodoo, who represents the performers along with Oscar Sanchez, a Cuban dancer, had expected pushback. But her fan base and platform—a social-media audience that, at nearly 50,000 on Instagram, is within striking distance of some top New York ballerinas’—would have been tough for the company to ignore.

As wider discussions started, though, it became clear that white privilege was a new concept to some. Boodoo was dismayed that some colleagues were unfamiliar with certain civil-rights leaders, so she helped organize a remote study of the book The New Jim Crow. To prod management, she and fellow colleagues of color met privately to hash out ideas for the company at large. It’s been exhausting to divide her energy between institutional matters and the rigors of performing: “You want to just focus on your art form, you just want to focus on being beautiful, being a strong dancer, and contributing to the task at hand.”

Partly because of Covid limits on gatherings and partly because they had to start with building a shared vocabulary, the working group’s progress has felt slow. But they’re in the process of finalizing recommendations to address the places where inequity creeps in. Money, donors, time, and institutional commitment, meanwhile, all could limit their progress. The group, for instance, envisions a Nutcracker free of racist tropes—in particular, the traditional Arabian and Chinese dances, which play up offensive cultural stereotypes. But ticket sales help fund the annual budget. Will the public support changes to the beloved show? Can the company handle that financial risk?

The stakes—Black dancers continually being overlooked or leaving ballet—feel higher now that the work has begun. Still, Boodoo says she feels hopeful that the company will evolve. “She’ll be someone,” says Long-Naidu, “that’ll go down in the history books of Black ballerinas.” An artist who championed a new act for the ballet, or at least one who tried.

[rabbitcruiser]

Towel Day

Towel  Day on May 25 is an annual holiday created to celebrate author Douglas  Adams by his fans. Adams wrote the classic sci-fi novel, “The  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” This day was organized in memory of  him after he suffered a sudden heart attack at the age of 49. His fans  wanted to find a way to commemorate his life’s work, and after having  one towel day, its success made it a yearly event. On this day, fans  carry towels around everywhere they go. Today, we are celebrating this  holiday with a towel wrapped around our necks because, we too, love  Douglas Adams!

History of Towel Day

Towel  Day is celebrated on May 25, two weeks after the date of Adams’s death  in 2001 — May 11. The day has, over time, received the status of being a  kind of ‘‘geek holiday’’ due to its connection with the popular series.

Why  a towel? It’s said the towel holds much importance in “The Hitchhiker’s  Guide to the Galaxy.” Adams wrote about towels as being the most  helpful item for an interstellar traveler. In chapter three of the book,  he writes, “A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing  an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value  — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold  moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded  beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep  under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of  Kakrafoon…” and so the uses go on.

Adams’s strongest advice was  “Never go anywhere without your towel.” This day has been celebrated now  for 19 years and is a great occasion for science fiction fans all over  the world to come together and rejoice … with their towels. It is said  that Adams was a humorous writer and witty character and that this day  reflects his lovable silliness.

Towel Day timeline

1978 An Oeuvre is Born

Douglas  Adams's radio series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is  broadcast for the first time — kickstarting a long line of adaptations  into other formats.

2001 Wrap It

The first Towel Day ever is celebrated on May 25, 2001, just two weeks after Adams's death on May 11.

2012 Mind Bogglingly Big

In January, the Huffington Post lists Towel Day as a cult literary tradition.

2013 The Good Towels

The Norwegian public transport company Kolumbus gives away special towels to customers.

2015 What is the Universe for?

On  Towel Day, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti signals a Towel Day  greeting and reads from ‘‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ from  the International Space Station.

Towel Day Activities

Carry a towel

Use a line from the series

Visit the website

The  hardcore fans of ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’ will be carrying a  towel around for the day, so grab your towel and join in! Just make  sure that it’s clean. Take a photo of you wearing your towel, and upload  it to social media with the hashtag #towelday.

Weave  in some of the phrases from the ‘‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’’  into your conversations. Try "Life, the Universe, and Everything",  "Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them around  to dinner", "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so", or "I love  deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." It may  confuse folks around you, but those who know, know.

Check  out the towelday.org website and see what everyone else is up to on  this day. Inspire yourself and find other ways to celebrate or join in  with others as a group in your area or even your country. Or be a  go-getter and make your own Towel Day event that fans can attend.

5 Facts About Douglas Adams

An asteroid is named after him

He appeared in a famous TV show

He was friends with David Gilmour

He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro ... but there's more

He wrote a few "Doctor Who" episodes

In 2001, Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project discovered an asteroid and named it 25924 Douglasadams.

Adams  apparently made a brief appearance as an extra called Dr. Emile Konig  in an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus — he also contributed to  the writing of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

An  avid musician himself, Adams owned between 24 and 35 left-handed  guitars, appeared on stage at Pink Floyd's 1994 gig at Earl's Court in  London, and named the band's album that year, "The Division Bell."

Adams  was an environmentalist and loved animals, campaigning on behalf of  endangered species for most of his life — in 1994, he climbed Mount  Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit to raise awareness for Save The Rhino.

He was a contributing writer for several episodes of the famous British series, "Doctor Who."

Why We Love Towel Day

Online antics

Book marathon

Galaxy binge session

You  can get loads of information on the day from the twitter account  @towelday and the official website, towelday.org. You can find out stuff  like information on the life of Douglas Adams, details on the  “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” radio series, and interact with the  7,000+ fans who follow this day.

This  holiday gives us a chance to read or reread Adams's life’s work. Go  back and immerse yourself in the trilogy of  “The Hitchhiker's Guide to  the Galaxy” as well as “Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency”, “The  Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” and many more titles that made Adams so  beloved.

This  day also gives us a chance to binge on the shows linked to Adams. So  watch a movie or a TV series derived from his books. Do it with your  friends and carry your towels together. Celebrate this great author and  come together to watch some good and classic TV.

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