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sweetandshort December: This and That
Theme: Winter

Fangs of Fortune - Zhao Yuanzhou Snow Fall by Tarlan GIF

For info: I created the icons first then used www.funnyphoto.net to add the falling snow... but then had to crop and resize the output images back to icon size.

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Content advisories: drunkenness, groping, unarmed violence, chaos, epic holiday partying.
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Watch on YouTube

Lyrics, as translated in the subtitles:

SCREAMING FANS: Bravo, Johnny!)

JOHNNY: I’m the singing killer
The singing killer is none other than me
When it comes to fighting and daring acts
Don’t belittle me
I’m the singing killer
Fist is a fist
Knife is a knife
Kung fu, judo, and karate
I specialise in all
If you dare,
Come and try me

The singing killer is me
I’m the singing killer
I dare to love, dare to hate
And most daring of acts
Don’t belittle me
I’m the singing killer
Pretty girls are pretty girls
Gold is gold
Girls and gold, though they’re fine
These in no way can compromise my heroism
If you dare,
Come and try

SCREAMING FANS: Johnny!

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Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/11/the-baptist-rebellion-vs-the-archdiocese-of-boston/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72239

Any church (or Archdiocese) that wants to thrive in a world where ICE roams freely needs to learn the lessons of William Knibb.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/11/the-baptist-rebellion-vs-the-archdiocese-of-boston/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72239

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ARTHUR (singing): ♪ Get dressed you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! ♪

DOUGLAS: Yes, perhaps save the full rendition for tomorrow morning.

ARTHUR: Thank you, Douglas! Best present ever! Oh – and actually that’s great, because I got an extra present for everyone. The other thing you left off my list, Skip.

MARTIN: Hmm?

ARTHUR: This!

MARTIN: Mulled wine!
(Arthur pours out glasses of the mulled wine.)

MARTIN: How lovely!

DOUGLAS (murderously): You ... took my Petrus ’05 ... and you ... mulled it?

ARTHUR: Well, not properly. I don’t have the stuff. But, you know, I whacked in some fruit juice and some sugar and the rest of the orange Tic Tacs, and then I just blitzed it in the microwave! It’ll be close enough!

DOUGLAS (murderously): You ...

MARTIN (interrupting): Of course it will be close enough! And it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it, Douglas?

DOUGLAS (murderously): Absolutely. Thank you, Arthur.

ARTHUR: Oh, you’re welcome! Merry Christmas!
(They clink glasses, drink, and then all choke and cough.)

CAROLYN: ... That’s actually rather good!

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Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/10/wrote-a-note-said-be-back-in-a-minute/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72221

Angie Clark Diller has some good thoughts about watching Hallmark Christmas movies in Potterville. Plus: Trinitarian constitutional law, the Trumpy smell of formaldehyde, leaking roofs, and a Nashville Satanic Panic update.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/10/wrote-a-note-said-be-back-in-a-minute/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72221

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An Icelandic horror novella translated by Mary Robinette Kowal! I had no idea she's fluent in Icelandic.

Iðunn experiences unexplained fatigue and injuries when she wakes up, but is gaslit by doctors and offered idiotic remedies by co-workers. (Very relatable!) Meanwhile, she's being semi-stalked by her ex-boyfriend/co-worker, her parents refuse to accept that she's a vegetarian and keep serving her chicken, and the only living beings she actually likes are the neighborhood cats that she's allergic to.

After what feels like an extremely long time, it finally occurs to her that she might be sleepwalking, and some time after that, it finally occurs to her to video herself as she sleeps. At that point some genuinely scary/creepy/unsettling things happen, and I was very gripped by the story and its central mystery.

Is Iðunn going out at night and committing all the acts she's normally too beaten down or scared to do while sleepwalking or dissociating? Is she having a psychotic break? Is she a vampire? Is she possessed? Does it have something to do with a traumatic past event that's revealed about a third of the way in?

Other than the last question, I have no idea! The ending was so confusing that I have no idea what it was meant to convey, and it did not provide any answers to basically anything. I'm also not sure what all the thematic/political elements about the oppression of women had to do with anything, because they didn't clearly relate to anything that actually happened.

Spoilers!

( Read more... )

This was a miss for me. But I was impressed by the very fluent and natural-sounding translation.

Content note: A very large number of cats are murdered. Can horror writers please knock it off with the dead cats? At this point it would count as a shocking twist if the cat doesn't die.

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Billy Blunt blew a little note on the mouth organ, and they started on their carol.

By the end of the first verse the Blacksmith was bringing his hammer down in time to the music, and it sounded just like a big bell chiming; and then he began joining in, in a big humming sort of voice. And when they finished he shouted out, 'Come on in and give us some more!'

So Milly-Molly-Mandy and Billy Blunt and little-friend-Susan came in out of the dark.

It was lovely in the forge, so warm and full of strange shadows and burnt-leathery sort of smells. They had a warm-up by the fire, and then began another song. And the Blacksmith sang and hammered all to time; and it sounded - as Mr Jakes the Postman popped his head in to say - 'real nice and Christmassy!'.

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I recently watched this gorgeous C-pop performance.

Watch on YouTube

He's so charmingly expressive. Someone in the comments said 'elegance of a noble with the playfulness of a youth' and that's absolute BARS.

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Used my book boardgame.

I completed 9/9 from my last challenge, it only took me...7 months...aha;; I enjoyed all of them a lot, I couldn't choose a favorite!!

Avatar: Cupid/romance (cover two books with 1 prompt)

Roll #1

An 8 and the 'generate from TBR' tile! This one always takes a while because I have to cull my old TBR I no am no longer interested in. OTL #793, which is Leashed #1: Howl, an SPN M/M & M/M.F anthology. It doesn't have an audiobook so I'm experimenting with a TTS app called Audify.

Edit: I started on this one, got #23 of the way in and realized it's 90% smut, I'm not big on PWP/tiny plot so I dropped it, I should have read the reviews first honestly, but sometimes I get too wrapped up in rolling/picking for the challenge without thinking;; SO I am replacing the book. I'll still use the same generated number now that I've removed Howl.

Ookaay after deleting several from my TBR I decided to go with a short story in What the Cat Dragged In, an M/M shifter romance.

Roll #2

A 2, prompt: featuring a group of friends. A few people I follow have read this and rated it decently: Gentleman Bastard #1: The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Roll #3

A 5: prompt: romance element ILYBSM, a Christmas-themed M/M/M. No audiobook.

Roll #4

A 10 and the generate from series title. There's no easy way to do this but here goes... I finally generated a page with a series I've started but it was the Door Into Shadow and it's been a while since I read The Door Into Fire, so I suppose I'll reread that first. It's kind of cheating since I'm not actually continuing a series buut. Too bad it doesn't have an audiobook version though. :( I actually own at least the first few physical books somewhere.

Roll #5

A 9, Chinese-inspired. I took Iron Widow off my shelf so it can't be that. Okay I've picked out a children's book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Roll #6

Aand a 12. Reward: this took me ages because I didn't have anything jumping out at me. I ended up choosing something nostalgic in Christopher Pike's Spooksville #1: The Secret Path. I have read this one before but I figure I should start from the beginning. I have the audiobooks and they're about 2~ hours each so easy-peasy. =)

Most looking forward to: The Spooksville book because nostalgia
Least looking forward to: The Lies of Locke Lamora bcs I don't know what to expect

Book TBR List:

[MM/SPN] What the Cat Dragged In
[Fantasy/Adventure] Gentleman Bastard #1: The Lies of Locke Lamora
[Holiday/MMM Romance] ILYBSM
[Fantasy/Queer] The Tale of the Five #1: The Door Into Fire
[Fantasy/Adventure] Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
[Horror/Fantasy] Spooksville #1: The Secret Path

Mood::

full

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Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/09/good-will-to-all-rejected-as-political-and-divisive/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72203

The Boston Archdiocese takes a stand for not taking a stand and emphasizes the true meaninglessness of Christmas.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/12/09/good-will-to-all-rejected-as-political-and-divisive/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=72203

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Mood::

hungry

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Used my manga TBR boardgame.

I finished 9/9 on my last board, that was a lot, and I finished them in 9 days too! I really enjoyed about 5 of them, the others were just 'fine'. I'm open to most anything for this new challenge.

Avatar:

Gon
Skill: Choose your own prompt once

Roll #1:

A 5, prompt: reincarnation. I couldn't make up my mind so I went with the first on the list, D.Gray-Man, though not sure who it's talking about since the char I'm thinking of had someone's memory implanted in them, not technically reincarnation.

Roll #2:

A 10, prompt: intimidates you. I just spent entirely too long updating my CR list on MAL ahh and then figuring out what 'intimidates' me. Finally I settled on Boku no Hero Academia. Something I haven't read in a while always intimidates me and this is one I've been meaning to catch up on for a while now;;

Roll #3:

A 10, lol now I get 'generate off CR' list. #120...omg Witch Hat Atelier! I think I remember what was going on last.

Roll #4:

A 12, dang, and the CR tile yet again. #42 which is more Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun.

Roll #5:

An 11 and the end. I got a lot of high rolls this time, huh. And so many shounen. Didn't need my skill. Gotta fit a BL in there with Kantoku, Neko na Ore wa Dame desu ka.

EDIT: How could I forgot my challenge to read all my psychical BL manga for this section. 😭 I still have several to go;; I already started on Kantoku so I'll just have to add this one after it: Kissing (Teiko Sasaki/Shoko Takaku).

Most looking forward to: The BL lol I'm so predictable
Least looking forward to: D.Gray-Man, I was annoyed at a thing or two going on last time

~Manga TBR List~

[Shounen/Fantasy] D.Gray-Man
[Shounen/Superhero] Boku no Hero Academia
[Seinen/Fantasy] Witch Hat Atelier
[Shounen/Supernatural] Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun
[BL/Smut] Kantoku, Neko na Ore wa Dame desu ka
[BL/Romance] Kissing

x3 shounen, x1 seinen, x1 BL

Mood::

hungry

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Welcome to Topic Tuesday! Right away I want to stress that discussion posts are always welcome to the community, you don't have to wait until a Topic Tuesday rolls around, and then maybe be disappointed by the current topic of discussion. Whenever you want to talk about something, please simply make a separate entry to this comm, no matter the week, the time, or the topic. All right? *g*

Today's topic is Your Highlight(s) of the Year. 2025 is almost over, so let's take a moment to look back. What were your highlights of the year? Which drama/movie/novel was your favourite, or made the year memorable for you? Did you fall in love with a new actor or singer? Or find a new song/piece of music that seems stuck in your head on an endless loop? Go into detail as much or as little as you like, and leave links if you want.

As usual, if you want to talk about spoilers, please use one of these codes to hide them.

or

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You'd think we'd get snow, but no. Tomorrow's forecast thus far calls for a "wintery mix". The only wintery mix I want is cocoa and marshmallows, not whatever the hell happens to fall from the sky like soggy doom confetti.

19F, jesus. At least it'll be warmer tomorrow. Warm enough to get a fucking wintery mix instead of snow, which is what we really want.

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So much awful stuff happens to the protagonists in the last third of the show that I often don't make it all the way through. It's worth it, though - my favorite character suddenly gets enough growth to become my favorite character, and the villain dies in a very satisfying way, allowing me to say ( Read more... )

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The pleasant custom of sending Christmas cards prevailed in Tilling, and most of the world met in the stationer's shop on Christmas Eve, selecting suitable salutations from the threepenny, the sixpenny and the shilling trays. Elizabeth came in rather early and had almost completed her purchases when some of her friends arrived, and she hung about looking at the backs of volumes in the lending-library, but keeping an eye on what they purchased. Diva, she observed, selected nothing from the shilling tray any more than she had herself; in fact, she thought that Diva's purchases this year were made entirely from the threepenny tray. Susan, on the other hand, ignored the threepenny tray and hovered between the sixpennies and the shillings and expressed an odiously opulent regret that there were not some 'choicer' cards to be obtained. The Padre and Mrs Bartlett were certainly exclusively threepenny, but that was always the case. However they, like everybody else, studied the other trays, so that when, next morning, they all received seasonable coloured greetings from their friends, a person must have a shocking memory if he did not know what had been the precise cost of all that were sent him. But Georgie and Lucia as was universally noticed, though without comment, had not been in at all, in spite of the fact that they had been seen about in the High Street together and going into other shops. Elizabeth therefore decided that they did not intend to send any Christmas cards and before paying for what she had chosen, she replaced in the threepenny tray a pretty picture of a robin sitting on a sprig of mistletoe which she had meant to send Georgie. There was no need to put back what she had chosen for Lucia, since the case did not arise.

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The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

*********

Link

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azdak

ICONS: Various Chinese Drama Fandoms

AAM: "I will confront you by Wednesday of this Week"

Theme from “The Singing Killer” (1970), by Roman Tam (as half-heartedly lip-synced by David Chiang.)

The Baptist Rebellion vs. the Archdiocese of Boston

Advent calendar 11

Wrote a note said be back in a minute

The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir

The War Between The Land And The Sea parts 1-2

Advent calendar 10

Liu Yu's live performance of "The Witty Gallant's Playful Matchmaking"

Game Check-in: NU: Carnival Ch. 2 (reread)

December+ Book TBR

‘Good will to all’ rejected as ‘political’ and ‘divisive’

Audiobook Check-in: "The Witcher: Sword of Destiny"

December Manga TBR 2

Topic Tuesday - Your Highlight(s) of the Year

Brr, it's cold out.

Finished a relisten to Wolf 359

Advent calendar 9

Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye

December