#score: 4

[misireads]

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

[ audiobook, listened in finnish ]

two women born on the same day, in the same area of london, have a chance meeting on their joined 45th birthday. one of them, alix, is a famous podcaster and the whole book is framed as a podcast and netflix true crime documentary series about the events that unfolded after the other woman, josie, asked if alix could do a podcast episode on her because her life is "about to thoroughly change" and she wanted alix to document it. josie is a bit unusual from the get-go, and alix is intrigued enough by her to agree. both women also have problems in their marriages, which josie tries to use as some bonding leverage, but during the recording sessions for the podcast, she gradually reveals more and more about just how fucked up her marriage and entire life has been.

things escalate when a badly beaten up josie appears at alix's door one night at 3am, saying that her husband attacked her. but this is only the real beginning of alix finding out what she's gotten herself into by connecting with josie.

➕ this was the first book in a long time that had me OBSESSED from the start, i couldn't stop listening for like three days straight. clearly a novel written for true crime documentary fans, which i am. the structure of the whole book follows the true crime doc format, with an innocuous enough introduction part and sinister hints dropped here and there, and then things start escalating little by little. this story even comes with baked-in descriptions of people saying something dramatic for a cliffhanger and then the screen fades to black and the netflix episode ends. jewell really nailed the mood with this one.

➕ given that the title literally says nothing about this is true, it was fun to try and guess which parts exactly were falsified. but the fucked up thing was that josie is written as a decently likable character in the beginning, so even the reader almost refuses to believe that she would be lying. she wouldn't, right?? the poor woman who's lived in an older man's shadow all her life and is only just starting to find her own spotlight!

➖ this too started dragging a little towards the end, it was on track to be a 5 based on the beginning because i was just that hooked, but then the excitement and momentum died a bit towards the end… the points were hammered in a bit too excessively during the uhhh climax. and the very end… could have lived without that.

➖ walter's character is so thoroughly disturbing, that left me feeling i have no idea what the fuck i just read. judging by reviews, everyone kinda feels the same way.

⭐ score: 4 -- i feel like i would have wanted to like this more than i did in the end. still, it was a really solid thriller experience, exactly what i look for. i think i'll try a couple more jewell novels next.

[yippee-optimistically]

ii think i have . a crush. but u know i had to redraw tha panic attack scene 🗣️🗣️🗣️

+joy bc she is cute! and the og sketch for one of them bc shes so funny 2 me

inside out 2 was soo good i have a crush on maya hawke i thinkg

[formulanni]

Dear lord please double Logan Sargeant’s misfortune and give it to the British this weekend 🧎‍♀️

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time

[mattymartin]

↳ TYSON JOST SCORES HIS SECOND OF THE SEASON | CAR v. NYI | 12.17.24

[elbiotipo]

Perhaps the worst game design choice in Skyrim is when you are told to go kill nameless bandits who you can't talk to and just exist as random enemies, and then when you're fighting one they yell "I yield" and you're okay, that's fair, I'm just here to get some random sword I don't actually want to kill you and after all, the game tips say that if they yell "I yield" you can sheathe your sword and they'll stop fighting

Then you find out that's COMPLETELY FALSE, the game does NOT allow you to do that, the nameless bandits like all enemies in the game are programmed to fight to the death, and that's what you do, you fight them to death, because they have no names no lives or anything, they are there to keep attacking you and fight to the death for a chest with 124 gold and boots with a bonus to enchantment.

Or what's worse, the game makes them yell "PLEASE NO MORE" or "I YIELD" JUST as you deliver the killing blow. It would be an interesting comment on violence in videogames if it wasn't just a fakeout because the nameless bandits aren't actually coded to do anything but to fight you to death.

Okay, that's a bunch of poor game design choices, not just one.

[seyvia]

It's giving 90s/early 2000s suburban hot mom in a sitcom right? RIGHT!?

default skin: cartoony skin by @somewhereinstrangetown

default eyes: soft eyes by squeamishsims

[wileys-russo]

good afternoon to everyone who celebrates victory

[skruttet]

them using snufkin's theme for the joxter is the best decision and also makes me want to lie on the ground and cry for the rest of time

[3416]

he looks so good i might die

[misireads]

Myrrys ("Sage") by Anniina Mikama

[ physical book, read in finnish ]

a charles dickens-esque story with a sprinkle of magic set in the kainuu region of finland in the famine years of early 1800s, niilo is an orphaned boy living in poor conditions as a slave in a wealthy-ish farmer family. his life is shit, especially thanks to the cruel master of the house, but he cannot complain since the family bothered to take him as a small child when his mother died.

one day, a local sage takes niilo as his apprentice as the payment for curing the family's son's leg that's mauled by a bear. niilo is scared of the sage at first because of his reputation as a witch doctor doing black magic in the middle of the woods, but the man turns out to be a fine lad and the first person ever who treats niilo as an equal human being. they live together for almost a year, going through all sorts of experiences and little adventures together, and become close friends.

➕ so this is a book for younger teenagers, it was in the children&teens area at the library, so it has a juvenile vibe that softens the harsh themes a lot. it's a mid-length book, almost 400 pages, and somehow felt simultaneously very long, like the story felt very big for a book of this length, but was fast to read because there's a lot happening all the time also due to the YA nature probably. there are several episodic chapters where niilo and martin go hunting, niilo helps a man out of a frozen lake, etc.

➕ martin the sage is a very sympathetic character, i liked him a lot. niilo has less personality but he's meant to be the young hero character coming from poor conditions and thriving when someone actually likes him and gives him the chance, i find that very dickens-like. there aren't exactly any flaws about him, he's perfect at just about anything he does in the entire book, his "flaw" is that the farmer family doesn't like him. the real MVPs of the story are the pastor who helps niilo to reconnect with his family and the farmer family's son who has the truest character development arc.

➕ the finnish mythology elements

➕ beautifully written, this author's commitment to descriptions of nature and especially the woods is no joke

➖ i don't really like stuff set in historical finland, like the aesthetics of this sort of old-timey living conditions shit are off-putting. i don't even care about museums with this theme or anything.

➖ i was expecting this to have more fantasy elements… the first spread before the real book begins opens with a spell in the archaic finnish style so i really thought that was supposed to set the tone, but it was just kind of a minor element in here after all. i mean it's important, niilo saves the day with his forest magic several times, but overall… just not as much mythology stuff as i expected. honestly my expectations got in the way once again because i was hoping this would be like teen lit about finnish mythology set in modern times so when i realised very early on it's not, it kinda flattened my mood and the start was very slow for me because i was like ehh… meehhhhh…. a farm house in northern(ish) finland in the 1820s….. bleh.... do i have to read this.....

➖ juhani the master of the farm house is such a comically evil character. but i feel like that too is a dickens-esque character archetype? there's the mean, wealthy man who turns out to be fradulent on multiple fronts and it comes down to the young hero to prove it to everyone. still, i just kind of wanted someone to grab an ax and toss it at his head like, five pages in

⭐ score: 4 -- i teared up reading the final page and am not even sure why, maybe some line struck a chord or it was just the story coming to an end. but i never cry at anything so that has to be the sign of a great book

[hypogryffin]

just a kuma kinda mooda

[whirlpool-blogs]

Q: Who do you think will score the first goal tonight? Jack: I’m gonna say… I’m gonna go: Matthew Tkachuk, or Jake Guentzel.

[lynzishell]

Prev // Next

Transcript below the cut:

Spencer: Mom! Can I sleepover at Amy’s on Saturday night? Iris: Did her parents say it’s okay? Spencer: They said it’s okay if you say it’s okay. Iris: That’s fine with me. Just remember we have Aspen’s birthday party on Sunday, so I’ll pick you up at ten am sharp.

Spencer: Yay! Thanks mom! Iris: Hold on, come back here and give me a hug, I’m leaving. Spencer: Where are you going? Iris: I told you; I’m going out with a friend tonight. Spencer: When will you be home?

Iris: Late, probably after you’ve gone to sleep, but I’ll be here when you wake up in the morning. Spencer. Okay. Iris: Be good for grandma, and no tablet until you’ve done your homework and practiced your violin. Spencer: I know. Iris: Alright. Hug?

Iris: Love you. Spencer: Love you too.

Iris: I’m heading out. Megan: Bye sweetie, have fun! Alexander: Iris, will you send your brother in on your way out? Iris: Sure.

Iris: Hey, dad wants you inside. Asher: ‘kay. Where are you going? Iris: Out.

Asher: Ezra again? Iris: Yeah. Asher: Must be going well. Iris: It is. But I haven’t told anyone else about him yet, so keep your mouth shut, okay?

Asher: Relax. I’m not gonna say anything. Iris: Okay. I have to run. I’ll see you later. Asher: See ya.

Asher: This is beautiful, what is it? Alexander: You like it? Asher: I love it. Alexander: Good. It’s yours. Asher: Wha- Really? Alexander: Yep.

Asher: Atlas, c’mere. Are you hearing this? Atlas: What is it? Asher: It’s the score for our game.

[morrigan-sims]

The Moon

upright: intuition, uncertainty, confusion, secrets reversed: fear, deception, anxiety, misunderstanding

[right-side-up version of the reversed version under the cut]

Of course I had to do a tarot card for Carrion, but I wasn't sure what one to do until my dear beloved friend Angel (who happens to play Valeska, the little warlock who has completely disarmed Carrion) suggested the moon.

Not only is this card perfect for Carrion, I love it because I get to play with and subvert the typical idea of a moon + transformation combo, a werewolf. (Carrion's transformation isn't tied to the moon, but yk.) For example, his "monstrous" form is pictured with the new moon, and his "normal" form is pictured with the full moon, which is the reverse of the typical werewolf lore. Which is fitting given that Carrion's "monstrous" form is the hidden secret.

The meanings of the reversed card are just so fucking perfect for Carrion and his transformation. He's dead set on killing his former mentor who left him for dead in chains. But the whole thing is at heart a huge misunderstanding, because Theodore really didn't have any other option. (He was duty- and oath-bound to protect the rest of the Order, and given that Carrion Reverence had just attacked a member of the Order, he had to choose between Reverence and the many other people he was sworn to protect. It wasn't an easy decision, to the point where he literally lost his divine magic because of regret from leaving Reverence behind, but from the perspective of a Knight Commander, it was the right one.)

And the fear and anxiety are pretty self-explanatory. People are afraid of Carrion's transformation, but he's maybe even more afraid of their reactions. He doesn't want to be experimented on or killed or locked away somewhere. While he hated his transformation at first because he thought it made him a monster (and he still carries more internalized self-loathing than he'd ever admit out loud), now he sees it as a tool, a weapon, a way to protect himself and keep himself safe from anyone who might want to hurt or capture him. (Ignoring the fact that without the transformation no one would want to do those things to him...)

[intriga-hounds]

the sauce is finally getting some appetite back…i’ve been feeding her primarily burger patties the past several days just to get calories in her, but today she finally chowed down on some puppy kibble and a can of wet food. i think i managed to get about 700 calories into her today, when it’s been a struggle to get her to do anything over 200 since day 21. by day 32 she was a pound lighter than she was the day she was bred—despite being pregnant. today is day 38 and the puppies should start growing rapidly now, so they need lots of fuel. relieved that we finally seem to be getting out of this morning sickness funk.

[crimescrimson]

Ada Wong & Leon S. Kennedy: Original Vs Remake Volume Two [Reunion | Boat Ride | Captured | Nothing Personal | Seperate Ways]