sraun | Network

https://spikesgirl58.livejournal.com/6550740.html

Six words – what can you make of them? You have up to 100 words and a week to figure that out. It can take the shape of a poem, prose, drabble, or even just a sentence - anything you want. Be silly, creative, but most importantly, have some fun!

On Friday, we can post the results and see how we all did!

The words:

Cause
Thick
Shaky
Control
Befitting
Relationship

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oursin

I do not think these are healthy or useful ways to look at SEX. Notches on the bedpost was bad enough, or how many times per night they could Do It, but really, these are taking the whole thing to new levels.

My boyfriend sees sex as a competition he is losing. How can I change his mind?:

He feels like he doesn’t perform enough (he does) and worries he isn’t big enough (he is!). He grew up without a father – the father’s fault – and I wonder if this has something to do with it. How can I assist him to see sex as non-competitive?:
Response:I assume he doesn’t think he’s losing the competition with you, somehow, but with imagined manly foes, comparisons, symbols of everything he (imagines he) isn’t?

I suppose there isn't actually some scoreboard somewhere out there Rate My Manly Performance but I wouldn't entirely rule that out, alas.

Because of this: Sperm-racing investors blow $10 million on ‘seed round’ for sports venture:

Last weekend, Zhu flew to YouTuber David Dobrik’s slick white Los Angeles mansion, collected the sperm of three influencers, and injected it onto a small race track as a crowd gathered in the living room. The competitors — Harry Jowsey, Jason Nash, and Ilya Fedorovich — watched a video of their swimmers, overlaid with animated tadpoles, zoom to the finish line.

Apparently, 'Zhu insists he has a deeper, more profitable mission: to gamify health and build an empire around male fertility'.

Yeah, well, I'm over here going

a) tortoise and hare, and are those sprinters whooshing right past the ovum in their mad gallop?

b) bit of an assumption that they are actually, you know, viably fertile, which I don't think at all correlates with speed. Motility is one thing, having what it takes to fertilise that ovum is another (and haven't I read something somewhere about It Is The Ovum That Chooses? Heh.)

c) Mary Ellman's image in Thinking About Women: 'the activity of ova involves a daring and independence absent, in fact, from the activity of spermatozoa, which move in jostling masses, swarming out on signal like a crowd of commuters from the 5:15.

oursin

Happy birthday,

violsva!

tamaranth

2025/151: Is a River Alive? — Robert Macfarlane

...the Mutehekau Shipu’s mode is, surely, purely flow, I think, and its grammar of animacy is one of ands and throughs and tos and nows, of commas not full stops, of thens not buts, aura not edge, of compounds and hyphens and fusings, silver-blues and grey-greens and mist-drifts and undersongs, process not substance, this joined to that, always onrushing, always seeking the sea and here and there turning back upon itself, intervolving, eddying in counterflow to cause spirals and gyres that draw breath into water, life into the mind, spin strange reciprocities, leave the whole world whirled, whorled. [loc. 4333]

If a corporation can be treated as a person, why can't a river? Macfarlane explores three river systems -- the Rio Los Cedros in Ecuador, the Mutehekau Shipu in Canada, and the three rivers braided through Chennai -- and combines poetry, spirituality and adventure in a philosophical discussion of what constitutes 'life' and how a river is part of the 'polyphonic world', important and valuable not just for how it can be exploited but for its own intrinsic qualities.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: rejuvenated

calimac

Four years ago, I attended the last performance of San Francisco Opera's production of Cosi fan tutte, having been persuaded by a review by Lisa of the Iron Tongue. Yesterday, I attended the last performance of Opera San José's production of Cosi fan tutte, having been persuaded by a review by Lisa of the Iron Tongue.

I found it a less ideally superb performance than San Francisco's, though all the ingredients were good. Certainly there was some excellent singing on display. Soprano Emily Michiko Jensen as Fiordiligi (she's going on to play the title role in Madame Butterfly in their next production) shone the brightest with some powerhouse arias. But I like duets and ensemble numbers best in opera, and for me the highlight of the entire piece was the duet in which Guglielmo (baritone Ricardo José Rivera) wooed Dorabella (mezzo Joanne Evans) in Act 2. Their low voices blended perfectly together. Rivera has an impressively powerful voice, stronger and deeper even than that of Dale Travis as Don Alfonso. Were it not for Travis's age, I'd have suggested they exchange roles.

Nicole Koh as Despina was not only a good physical comedian, she was able to express comedy in her singing voice as well. That laves Jonghyun Park, a good clear tenor, as Ferrando. Sets and costumes were basic 18C; the men's disguises were more than a little thin. Assistant conductor Noah Lindquist led this performance.

The gimmick of this production was having the audience vote, online during intermission, on how the characters would pair off at the end. In this performance they went with their original partners, which is what the text says; but I wonder how it would have been handled had they all split up or the men had gone off together, which were two of the other options. Maybe it would have looked like the end of a performance of Measure for Measure I once saw, in which Isabella spurns the Duke's hand and walks offstage. But that would have been a pretty sour ending for this production of Cosi, whose director said he was seeking a return to the comedy at the end.

sholio

We watched Silo (AppleTV) seasons 1-2 over the past week or so. General reactions:

Click here

Draggy and depressing first season, really fun and engaging second season with an infuriating letdown of a season ending. (Even sudden surprise Jessica Henwick could not salvage that hot mess. Which apparently is the books' fault, but still.) I enjoyed most of the season two character arcs enough that I'm pretty happy to consider it a satisfying 2-season show. Maybe I'll write up more details later?

Feel free to ask me questions in the comments. I have not read the books it's based on, though I get the impression the show follows the book trajectory pretty closely.

Exchanges:
- Currently have a placeholder signup in for

festivids. I need to finish my signup (closes on the 30th).
- Almost certainly signing up for

amperslashexchange, currently in nominations.
- I haven't signed up, but extremely tempted by Back from the Dead Flash Exchange, currently in nominations/signups (til Oct 3).
- Biggles holiday exchange is definitely running again! Planning post and polls here at the comm.

I don't have plans to do Yuletide this year, unless the FOMO gets to me too much.

siderea

Hey, quick temperature check. I've been reading a lot of media I don't expect my readership to read, and now I'm a little disoriented to who knows what.

Poll #33668 Geopolitics awareness check

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 15

What country do you currently live in?

What is your age?

12-19
0 (0.0%)

20-29
1 (7.1%)

30-39
2 (14.3%)

40-49
6 (42.9%)

50-59
2 (14.3%)

60-69
2 (14.3%)

70-79
1 (7.1%)

80+
0 (0.0%)

To the best of your knowledge, if the US were to go to war tomorrow, against what country would it most likely be?

minoanmiss

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apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250928.html

What is creating these unusual spots?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250928.html

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: amused

xinas_island

The kitty cats had their vet check-ups and shot updates this week. We have a new vet, as the old one retired, and the new gal is quite nice so far. We like her quite a bit. Very personable.

The four kitties all got their normal immunizations, but also rabies shots were encouraged so we had them give those as well.
Everyone faired well, except poor Beanie.

She had an allergic reaction about an hour after the shots, and kept throwing up until bile was all that was coming out of her. Poor baby.
We rushed her back to the vets, and they saw her right away and gave her anti-nausea shot, as well as an allergy shot, and we were told to give her a half a benadryl 3 times a day (for up to three days) to make sure she is all good again.

She's been lethargic from the benadryl, but other wise all has been good now, no more throwing up.
So thank goodness for that.
Tomorrow is her last dose of benadryl, sweet baby, and I think she's gonna be just fine.

Current Location: Vancouver Island

austin_dern

When we called off the beach trip last weekend we thought, okay but this weekend we should be able to. Not on Saturday, because that was to be a big pinball tournament at MJS's pole barn out near Kalamazoo and those are rare and special events. But Sunday, weather holding up.

The weather did hold up, but our energy didn't. Between the early rising we had to do for the tournament, and the full day spent going around playing sixteen qualifying rounds of pinball plus side stuff, and eating way too much of the potluck dinners, and sticking around to see if JTK would ever lose, we got home late and with not enough stuff done. So with understanding reluctance we called it off again. Maybe next Sunday, which the long range forecast says will be an even warmer day somehow. But we needed today to recover and to do miscellaneous work around the home.

Among those bits: finally getting to the pet store and remembering to find a replacement vegetable bowl for our rabbit. The plastic bowl we'd been using had a plastic frame to hold it onto the cages of her pen --- giving her something to stand up and grab stuff for --- and we kept forgetting to look for replacements. (And, at the risk of sounding defensive, the pet store keeps food dishes in a weird place well away from all the other small animal stuff.) This new one is a ceramic bowl, held in place by metal wires, so it's less likely to break off and even if it does break off, the ceramic bowl has a flat base so it can be used by itself. The plastic bowl had this little hinge that was meant to secure it in the holder and that makes it rest off-level on the floor.

And then yes, there is that whole ``pinball tournament'' thing I let go with just a passing mention. Don't worry. You're going to hear all about that too.

Next in pictures ... we went to Cedar Point on Saturday, the 2nd of November last year. The final day of their operating season which means --- since we also went to Eclipse Day in April --- we got to Cedar Point as early and as late in the year as was possible for 2024. We had a couple reasons to do this and catching the latest possible day was only one of them. Getting an amusement park ride as close as we could to bunnyhugger's birthday was another. But finally ... you'll see.

Establishing shot. The park was tolerably busy which is going to happen for a Saturday with good weather even if it was finally chilly.

Also Sandusky might have been on fire? Not sure. It didn't seem to be a problem later on at least.

Frankenstein outside the Kiddie Kingdom, looking good and grabby.

And here's what we were really there for. The ride operator on the Kiddie Kingdom carousel had told us the week before that they had sold the ride to the Ohio State Fair and the ride would be gone next year. So we had to get back for a last ride just in case it turned out to be true.

The rumor was false; the carousel was still in Kiddie Kingdom this year, and apparently the Ohio State Fair has bought a carousel on its own so Cedar Point won't be losing this to there, at least. Since that knowledge lay in our future we wanted to get last rides on the rabbits particularly.

A warning. The ride will close at 10 pm ... forever? No, turns out.

Trivia: Lake Erie's sea level is only about 541 feet above the Hudson River's, but the (original) path of the Erie Canal required locks to raise and lower boats a total of 661 feet. Source: Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation, Peter L Bernstein.

Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 73: Loch Mess, Clotland, or, Messy Business in the Loch! Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.

my_spikesgirl58_feed

https://spikesgirl58.livejournal.com/6550268.html

conuly

and now Callie is angry at me.

**********

( Read more... )

petra

I used part of my stuck-in-bed-with-owies day to catch up on my story index of 2025, at the end of which I discovered I never finished updating the one from 2024. 2024 will have to wait, because at the moment I am just floored by how many fucking limericks I have written this year.

If you subscribe to me on AO3 and you don't like my poetry, I am so, so sorry (insincere). This will continue unabated, as I just came to the (un)fortunate realization that I can do limericks for Kinktober.

For anyone whose ears perked up at the mention of Kinktober, here's a possible kink list for you.

Current Mood: poetic
Current Music: The apples fermented inside the lamented

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

We are 24 hours into tag approving! We began with 6078 individual fandom nominations to sort (where if two people submitted the same fandom, that would count twice towards the total). We have 3687 fandom nominations still to sort. Please review the questions below to help us sort them quickly and correctly!

Please link your nominations page if telling us what to do about your nomination - thank you! Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

If we've processed any of your nominations and something doesn't look right, please comment (with your nominations page) to tell us about the problem and how you think it should be corrected. Questions are welcome.

Aliens (1986) - These characters are also nominated under the broader fandom Alien (Original Movies 1979-1997), so we would like to merge your nominations in with the rest of the original movies.

Bibi Blocksberg (2002) - Nominator, do you specifically only want the first movie, or may we approve this as the canonical Bibi Blocksberg (Movies 2002 2004)? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Book of Night - Holly Black - We also have evidence for this fandom as the Charlatan Duology, and another participant has nominated it under that name. We’d like to combine your nominations, but please get us in touch if there’s a reason that won’t work. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Clocktaur War Series - T. Kingfisher, Swordheart - T. Kingfisher, Temple of the White Rat Universe - T. Kingfisher, The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher - We have some overlap in these nominations. The fandom as a whole is eligible, so we could combine them under Temple of the White Rat Universe, or the Temple of the White Rat Universe nominator could have their characters split into the other fandoms if you are willing to do that. Please comment with a link to your nominations to help us sort this out!

Cousin Bette - Honoré de Balzac - Nominator, you may see some oddities as we get this set up separately from La Comédie Humaine. Pardon our dust, and hopefully you’re used to it by now! Let us know if anything looks wrong when the final tagset is released.

Designing Women - Nominator, please email us (see contact information in the footer).

Dragonfly - Ursula K. Le Guin, Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin - Our understanding is that these are all in the same continuity. We are planning to combine Earthsea and Tombs of Atuan, especially as there is character overlap in those nominations. Dragonfly nominator, do you have concerns with folding that nomination into Earthsea as well? If so, we would appreciate help understanding exactly what you’re looking for and how to differentiate the larger Earthsea universe.

Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede - We won’t approve the character nomination Morwen's Cats (Enchanted Forest) as they are all individually named. Nominators, could you please each choose a cat? (Scorn has already been nominated.) Please link your nominations page when you reply.

MAIJO Otaro - Works - We don’t approve fandoms consisting of all of a creator’s works, and the nominated characters appear to come from at least 2 novels. Nominator, could you pick one of Maijō’s works to nominate, along with the associated characters? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

夢中さきみに。| Muchuu sa Kimi ni (Manga) - We also have a nomination for the Anime; the nominator of that fandom says they have not read the manga but believes these could be combined if needed. Does the Manga nominator have a preference? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Nominator, please email us (see contact information in the footer).

Nescafe Advertisment - While this is a canonical fandom on AO3, it’s under review to be renamed, so we’ll approve this as Nescafe "Arctica" | "Polar Explorers" Advertisments (Russia) which is the likely new name. However, we’d like more information on the characters. We’re not sure which of the men is “First Polar” and which is “Second Polar”; some works in the fandom use Ivanov and Petrov. Also, we haven’t seen a polar bear in the 3 ads we’ve found - can you link us to the one that has the polar bear, please?

老洞 | The Old Miao Myth (TV) - Nominator, for the character Jin Bong, are you looking for Chin Pong? We’ve checked several sources and want to confirm whether this is a romanization issue or something else.

Outcast (Video Game series) - this has been nominated with character 'Any' and no other characters. If you mean you are interested in any characters, we will approve this without characters, but we wanted to check just in case there is a character actually named Any. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - Nominator, please email us (see contact information in the footer).

Prophet - Sin Blaché & Helen Macdonald - could we please get more information about 'Prophet' as a character (aside from being the title)?

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025) - Nominator, please email us (see contact information in the footer)

Tennis RPF - We have separate nominations for 2020's Men's Tennis RPF (characters: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Terence Atmane) and 2025 Grand Slam Season (Tennis) RPF (characters: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner) - may we combine these under the former fandom name? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

marthawells

The audio version of “Data Ghost” my short story from the recent Storyteller: the Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology is now online at Pseudopod!

https://pseudopod.org/2025/09/26/pseudopod-995-data-ghost/

Also, Queen Demon, the sequel to Witch King, will be out on October 7, in ebook, hardcover, and audiobook narrated by Eric Mok.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/queen-demon-martha-wells/b7abd63577bd30a5?ean=9781250826916&next=t

lee_bella posting in

anime_manga

This is probably the shortest fall anime season preview I've written. There are lots of sequels this season. The nostalgia trend continues with a reboot of Cat's Eye (the first episode is already out) and the second season of Ranma 1/2. Disney Twisted Wonderland Season 1 will finally be out at the end of October.

As always, I'm only including the series I'm interested in. For a full list of anime airing this fall season, see AniChart.

( 2025 Fall Anime Season Preview. )

( 2026 Anime and Beyond. )

my_spikesgirl58_feed

https://spikesgirl58.livejournal.com/6549827.html

What was the last card you sent?

What was the last card you received?

What is one occasion you always remember with a card?

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sraun

November 2024

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Who I'm Reading Today

Network

The Six Word Challenge

Good morning!

Menz B Weeerd

(no subject)

2025/151: Is a River Alive? — Robert Macfarlane

so do all opera reviews

Updates

Poll: Sense of geopolitical awareness [pols, US, war]

Reverse Freckles

(no subject)

Ninja Balls

Annual Vet visits before the weekend

I'm Gonna Chow Down My Vegetables

Good Night!

Accidentally worked 9 days in a row

There once were subscribers so patient

Nominations Queries Post 1

Short Story

2025 Fall Anime Season Preview + 2026 Anime

Just Wondering

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November 2024

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