silveradept: Domo-kun, wearing glass and a blue suit with a white shirt and red tie, sitting at a table. (Domokun Anchor)
Silver Adept ([personal profile] silveradept) wrote2025-09-17 09:47 pm

Sex and Violence, Tech and Violence, and some genuinely neat stuff - Early September 02025

Let's begin here with celebrating fifty years of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and fifty years of what might be the most unique theatrical experience someone goes to when they go to see Rocky. (And the fact that while the thing on the screen stays the same when you go to see Rocky, everything else changes depending on where you are and what time it is.)

Organizations that fail to consider intersectionality in their diversity, equity, and inclusion will create things like employee resource groups that only capture a part of someone's experience and that elide the places where the intersectionality is unique and important. Which should make you unsurprised, but also horrified, that the Institute for Museum and Library Services budget is being given directly to propagandists for a project that will present a white man-centric view of history and demand that we all believe it as the sole and only truthful narrative of the United States.

James Dobson, creator of such abominations unto his God as Focus on the Family and the Family Policy Alliance, has gone to receive judgment at 89 years of age. Our world is far better off without him, and the damage that he has done to the world would take generations to heal if he were the only one doing his kind of damage. But like so many others, he has disciples and followers, and they will continue to perpetuate his damage into the world for generations to come.

A man who believed that violence was an answer, and who aggressively sowed the wind wherever he went, has reaped the whirlwind, killed by the violence he promoted, by a gun that he believed should have more rights than the people killed by it. He is no longer able to use his organization to promote and encourage harm to others.

The fallout from such, and plenty of other things, inside )

Last out, Bohemian Rhapsody translated and performed in Zulu and with the visual and singing styles of several other African traditions. It's worth a watch and a listen, absolutely.

The concept of Queer Time, where the signifiers of "adulthood" like marriage, children, and houses are not achieved on any kind of regular time, if at all, and therefore queer adults have to find their own ways of demonstrating to the community that they are full grown-ass adults.

And the iconic Atari CX-10 joystick as a decanter for drinking, along with a couple of Atari-logo glasses.

(Materials via [personal profile] adrian_turtle, [personal profile] azurelunatic, [personal profile] boxofdelights, [personal profile] cmcmck, [personal profile] conuly, [personal profile] cosmolinguist, [personal profile] elf, [personal profile] finch, [personal profile] firecat, [personal profile] jadelennox, [personal profile] jenett, [personal profile] jjhunter, [personal profile] kaberett, [personal profile] lilysea, [personal profile] oursin, [personal profile] rydra_wong, [personal profile] snowynight, [personal profile] sonia, [personal profile] the_future_modernes, [personal profile] thewayne, [personal profile] umadoshi, [personal profile] vass, the [community profile] meta_warehouse community, [community profile] little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
torachan: karkat from homestuck headdesking (karkat headdesk)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-17 08:24 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I got my covid and flu shots today. Since I didn't have any meetings or other time-sensitive things this morning at work, I just stopped in the same medical offices where I'd made my appointment for next week and asked if they were doing walk-ins, too, and they were. Had to wait about ten minutes or so, but otherwise it was over pretty quickly. Carla hasn't been able to get hers yet because she's sick. D: (First test said not covid, but she's going to keep testing throughout the duration to make sure. So far I am not showing any signs of catching it, but we'll see. It is hard to avoid each other in our smallish house, though at least since it's summer all the windows and doors are open and the fans going all the time, so there's a lot of air circulation.)

2. Molly just loves this scratcher/ball toy. Sometimes for the scratcher, once in a while for the ball, but mostly just to lie on. It's apparently very comfy.

torachan: a cartoon bear eating a large sausage (magical talking bear prostitute)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-16 09:04 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. My knee is sore today but the other aches and pains I had last night when trying to get to sleep seem to have gone away in the morning.

2. I had two meetings today and both were cancelled!

3. I made an appointment to get my covid shot next Monday, which was the soonest I could get an appointment, though I might drop in tomorrow on the way to work and see if they have any walk-in availability (it said limited walk-ins online), as there is a location offering them close to work.

4. Ollie has such impressive eyebrows.

kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
kaberett ([personal profile] kaberett) wrote2025-09-16 10:24 pm

tired. so tired.

Have spent most of the day asleep.

  1. Attempt #2 at pineapple-from-trimmed-top has NEW LEAVES.
  2. I am also fairly sure that attempt #2 at lemongrass is taller than it was when we set off on our terrible adventures about ten days ago.
  3. Actual bed. Favourite mattress.
  4. I got to make someone's entire day by sending an "... I think I have your object" e-mail.
  5. Leftovers for dinner: curry from the crew party on Sunday night. Didn't have to think about food. Extremely grateful for this fact.
purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
purplecat ([personal profile] purplecat) wrote2025-09-16 08:32 pm

Costume Bracket: Quarter Final, Post 4

Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.


Outfits below the Cut )

Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!

Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!

Costume Bracket Masterlist

Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.
azurelunatic: A metal sculpture of a walking duck with a duckling on its back, in front of the University Place Library (ducks in a row)
Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) ๐ŸŒบ ([personal profile] azurelunatic) wrote2025-09-16 01:10 am

Colonoscopy week.

I'm not looking forward to this.

On the other hand, I wasn't thinking with some of the usual parts of my sense of humor when I was picking out my non-red jello for Liquid Diet Day (24 oz food service pack) and rolled the wrong citrus out of three: orange.

I could have had lemon jelly.
https://youtu.be/ioudby-xooc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_Jelly
torachan: (Default)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-15 08:43 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I slipped and fell during my walk this evening, but thankfully I just got my clothes wet and skinned my knee, nothing serious. I was walking down a hill and could see that someone had been watering and got it all over the sidewalk, but there weren't any puddles I didn't anticipate there being any issue walking through it, but some of the sidewalk squares were completely smooth rather than rough as they usually are, so there was no grip to them and I slid and fell and scraped one knee. It looked bad but when I got home to clean it up, it turned out most of the mess was dirt and there was only a little scraping and bleeding. Could have been a lot worse! Thankfully I had my phone with me and could have called Carla to pick me up if I hadn't been able to walk, but I made it home on my own.

2. I had several meetings today, which didn't leave a lot of time for actual work, but I did finish another of the tasks I've been assigned. I'm making progress!

3. Jasper's so casual.

purplecat: Rose from Doctor Who (Who:Rose)
purplecat ([personal profile] purplecat) wrote2025-09-15 07:18 pm
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
rydra_wong ([personal profile] rydra_wong) wrote2025-09-15 08:33 am
Entry tags:

"If you like Dark Souls, it's hard to shut up about Dark Souls"

For anyone who may be Dark Souls-curious, here is a very long video essay of which I've only watched part (because I'm trying to limit spoilers) and of which I mainly want to rec part -- the first 30 mins or so, where the essayist discusses something that the mythology about the gameโ€™s supposed uber-difficulty tends to obscure, namely the gorgeous, generous array of different tools and options that it gives you for engaging with its difficulties, and how it tries to teach you to use them:



I think this is some of the stuff that prompted me to declaim โ€œDark Souls loves me and wants me to be happy.โ€

The game is difficult, it is intended to be difficult (and I still don't know if, for me, it will at some point be insuperably difficult), and progressing and learning through difficulty and failure is the core gameplay loop. As mentioned, it took me a total of seven hours to beat the most recent boss, the Capra Demon. I am currently camped out in the Depths, where I intermittently fall through holes and get cursed by basilisks. I recently got invaded for the first time, by a player who watched as I ran directly under a slime and got enveloped, facepalmed*, and then waited politely while I extricated myself before murdering me**.

And yet my major feeling at this particular moment is of being spoiled (in the pampered sense, not the knowledge sense): I have too many good weapons to try (my beloved halberd, now upgraded to +7, a Balder Side Sword -- a rare and coveted drop -- and a Black Knight Sword)! I'm having to actively try not to over-level! I have so many upgrade materials! I have the world's largest stockpile of charcoal pine resin (purchased on my endless boss runs back to the Capra Demon, so I'd spend any souls I was carrying and not distract myself with losing or trying to retrieve them) so I can make my weapons burst into flame any time I want! I have opened the latest incredibly-convenient shortcut! There's a handy new merchant just before the next boss! I am holding an armful of presents and Dark Souls keeps trying to pile more on top!

{*I went off immediately afterwards to Google "dark souls how to facepalmโ€, but it looks like you have to join the Forest Hunter covenant to learn that emote and I have other plans. Still tempted, though.}

{**I had expected to loathe being invaded โ€” and had initially planned to play offline mainly to avoid that, but did not for reasons which need to be a different post โ€” but in the event, it was brief, non-inconveniencing, and actually pretty funny.}
azurelunatic: "Where's the goddamn NERF BAT when you *really* need it?" Animated cartoon tech support loses her cool.  (nerf bat)
Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) ๐ŸŒบ ([personal profile] azurelunatic) wrote2025-09-14 09:35 pm

๐Ÿพ๐Ÿฅ‚ About 24โ…” years of good fucking riddance

Goodbye to bad rubbish BJ, who could make simple things like Madonna being active in the music industry longer than most people of our generation being aware of, plus she didn't look in her early 40s at the time, into some kind of sinister conspiracy theory situation.

You were an absolute jackass, and I honestly don't care if you're alive or not except that I might need to avoid you.

Thanks to Votania and Darkside, who helped me realize what a bad friend BJ was, never mind as a prospective life partner and spouse. Bleck.

This random thought brought to me by the death of Charles Entertainment Kirk, which would probably have been making BJ's circles flail in panic, and hearing a Madonna song on the Doof. (A back episode, we didn't have a SunDoof that I'm aware of.)
torachan: anime-style me ver. 2.0 (anime me)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-14 09:08 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I finished another puzzle this morning.



This was from the same company as the pottery one, so it has weirdly shaped pieces and curves and flat-edged pieces that aren't actually part of the border, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it was fun to do. This brand doesn't have a ton of puzzles that actually appeal to me, but I wouldn't rule out getting something from them in the future.

2. It was nice and overcast for most of the day today but soooooooo muggy. But I'd rather have overcast and cool(er) and muggy than sunny and hot and muggy.

3. I made another rhubarb pie this morning. We still have so much rhubarb lol. After having so much trouble finding it for years, we went a little overboard buying it from the lady at the farmers market. But it's all nicely chopped up and portioned into baggies in the freezer, so we can take our time using it.

4. On one of our walks today we saw the giant tortoises out in the yard and they were eating carrots! We do see them fairly often, but usually just eating grass.

5. Tuxie!

kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
kaberett ([personal profile] kaberett) wrote2025-09-14 11:59 pm

vital functions

Reading. Tiny bits of Solutions and Other Problems and The Painful Truth.

Listening. More Hidden Almanac.

Exploring. Chester, including Chester Zoo!

Eating. Almost all of my favourite field foods, including raspberry and lemon curd toasties, noodle pots with the addition of the prepped salad bits (spinach! red onion!), the giant lemon and sugar crepes, and flapjack. ("Almost" because the cake options CHANGED.)

Observing. The Milky Way. Something that might have been some kind of satellite or might have been some kind of shooting star. CHESTER ZOO, etc. At least one field bat.

torachan: nepeta from homestuck (nepeta)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-14 03:34 pm
Entry tags:

Weekly Reading

Currently Reading
A Gallery of Rogues
72%. Sequel to A Dictionary of Scoundrels. Middle grade murder mystery. I hope there will be more in the series after this as I have enjoyed these a lot. I'm listening to this one as an audiobook and like the narrator.

The Murder Next Door
64%. Historical f/f murder mystery. I'm enjoying this so far, though I had to keep checking to make sure this really was the first in the series as it kept referencing things at the beginning that made it sound like there was another book before this.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
No progress.

Recently Finished
Just Another Dead Author
I enjoyed this! Looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Map of the Stars
Final book in the York series. Despite being over 500 pages long, it felt really rushed and slapdash at the end, and left a lot of loose ends. This series had a lot of really neat ideas and was overall a fun read, but seemed to have trouble wrapping it all up satisfactorily. (A huge number of reviews on Goodreads have similar caveats.)

Eerie Basin
Short horror story about a woman who wants to take over the bar she works at when her boss retires, but he refuses to, saying that it's cursed. This was all right, but felt very predictable.

The New Girl
Cute middle grade graphic novel about a girl who moves to Quebec from Romania and struggles to fit in due to the language barrier. It seems to be heavily inspired by the author's own childhood, but set in the present day.

I Left the House Today!
Collection of web comics from the author of the book above. I actually did not realize that when I chose them (they were both showing on the new section in Hoopla), and The New Girl is definitely the better of the two. These comics were fine, just observations about life in general, but nothing that really grabbed me.

Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri vol. 18
torachan: arale from dr slump dressed in a penguin suit and smiling (arale penguin)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-13 09:50 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. The weather today was sooooo nice. Overcast most of the day with some sun in the afternoon.

2. We had a nice morning at DCA. Left before the sun finally broke through the clouds, and before it got crowded.

3. We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home, and since it was still overcast and I was feeling like another walk, I decided to walk home from there (about a mile and a half) and let Carla drive home with the shopping. I stopped at the farmers market on the way for some fruit leather and juice. No watermelon lemonade, but there was calamansi juice.

4. Gemma looks annoyed at being disturbed.

torachan: (Default)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-13 04:15 pm
Entry tags:

2025 Disneyland Trip #62 (9/13/25)

We have not done an early morning trip in almost a month, but Carla's been wanting to go on Soarin' and the best time for that is when the park opens, plus there's some waffles I'd been wanting to try at Schmoozies, and while they could be a dessert as well as a breakfast, Schmoozies closes at eight, which makes it inconvenient for evening trips.

Read more... )
torachan: an orange cat poking his head out from blankets (ollie)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-12 08:21 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. Weekend!

2. I got an email from Kaiser this morning that they will have the new covid vaccines available starting the 15th, walk up or appointment. Thankfully we're not in a state that's requiring prescriptions, but I was wondering when they would start having them available and now I know! Carla got her flu shot when she was at the doctor's the other day, but I still haven't gotten mine, so I'll get both together and get it all done at once.

3. Chloe just loves her sunny window.

torachan: a cartoon kitten with a surprised/happy expression (chii)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-11 08:02 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. I took another walk after lunch today. It does feel nice to get out, even if it really was too sunny and I felt kind of drained afterwards. (I really wish the streets around my work had more shade!)

2. I think I took out just the right amount of stuffing from my new pillow. I feel like I'm sleeping more soundly with it.

3. Look at this cutie girl.

torachan: tavros from homestuck dressed as pupa pan (pupa pan)
Travis ([personal profile] torachan) wrote2025-09-10 09:55 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. Most of the stuff is gone from the curb. Hoping someone will decide to take the chair, too.

2. Last night before bed, I took a bunch of stuffing out of my new pillow (filled up a gallon size ziploc bag) and that seemed much more comfortable/similar feel to when I first unboxed it and before it fully expanded. The fully expanded size was definitely too full for me. The filling seems to redistribute very well once some is removed, and doesn't leave it feeling lumpy. If I need to adjust further, I can, but for now this seems about right.

3. Ollie is so big...

cesy: "Cesy" - An old-fashioned quill and ink (Default)
Cesy ([personal profile] cesy) wrote2025-09-10 05:45 pm
Entry tags:

I <3 fandom

I really appreciate when authors of longer fics occasionally put a note in the author's notes at the end of a chapter saying it's a good break point if you're binge-reading. Because yes, sometimes I do find it hard to stop, and it helps to have the author say that the next few chapters are intense and flow closely and you might prefer to pause before them rather than in the middle of them.