December 10th, 2025
posted by [syndicated profile] slacktivist_feed at 09:29pm on 10/12/2025

Posted by Fred Clark

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.
rachelmanija: (Books: old)


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.
jesuswasbatman: (BLOOD AND TITTIES FOR LORD CHIBNALL!!! ()
antisoppist: (Christmas)
posted by [personal profile] antisoppist at 11:04am on 10/12/2025 under
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!'.
adore: (star)
I recently watched this gorgeous C-pop performance.



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.
December 9th, 2025
bluapapilio: Eiden from nu:Carnival (nuC Eiden)
bluapapilio: Lil Black Cats & Ghost from LINE stickers (lil black cat + book)
posted by [personal profile] bluapapilio at 09:38pm on 09/12/2025 under ,
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

Mood:: 'full' full
bluapapilio: geralt and jaskier from the witcher show (thewitcher geraskier)
bluapapilio: Bakugou, Todoroki and Midoriya from Boku no Hero Academia (BnHA BakuTodoDeku)
posted by [personal profile] bluapapilio at 01:31pm on 09/12/2025 under ,
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' hungry
dancing_serpent: (YnM - Touda - Santa Serpent)
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
conuly: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] conuly at 07:47am on 13/12/2025
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.

********************


Read more... )
conuly: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] conuly at 10:25am on 12/12/2025
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... )

******************************


Read more... )
antisoppist: (Christmas)
posted by [personal profile] antisoppist at 09:31am on 09/12/2025 under
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.
December 11th, 2025
conuly: (Default)
posted by [personal profile] conuly at 04:14am on 11/12/2025
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
December 8th, 2025
bluapapilio: conan from detective conan yawning (dcmk conan yawn)
posted by [personal profile] bluapapilio at 11:34pm on 08/12/2025 under ,
 

 I read BL Mangaka Shusshou Host wo Kau and rated it 6.5/10. 

 I read the BL White Liar and rated it 8/10! 

 I reread volume 2 of Junjou Romantica

 I read volume 1 of Basara, a tragic but enthralling start, I'm scared but excited to read more. 

 Read Hana ni Kuchizuke, it was a mess in ways but I want to continue with the series and see if there's more growth. I gave this a 7/10.  

 I reread Kashinfuu and rated it 6.5/10. 

 I read ch. 13-22 of Ouji-sama Nante Iranai, a balm to the heart as always! 

 I finished volume 1 of Red Raven and I definitely look forward to reading more! 

 I read volume 13 of Natsume Yuujinchou and it was perfection as always. 
bluapapilio: 腐 (from fujoshi) kanji (Kanji 腐)
bluapapilio: Lil Black Cats & Ghost from LINE stickers (lil black cat + book)


Chapter 52:
Matoba sent Natsume a letter, who lost it when he got distracted by an amateur exorcist sealing a youkai.

Lmao Natori. Natsume visited him to ask how to finish sealing the youkai that guy left but Natori was sleeping - Hiiragi told him to keep ringing and then as soon as he heard it was Natsume he came storming through the house to answer looking artfully tousled. xD

What was that secret room?? Nyanko-sensei's suspicious look. 😆

I - what? Natori said some of his colleagues having a rough time must've left that phone-call but...it was literally a curse.

Okay so he comes from an old exorcist family but those with the ability died out until he came along, and exorcists think he's stealing their clients now. When he got to know Natsume he was looking for an ally, but now he's 'just happy to help Natsume'.

The letter from Matoba got sealed in with the youkai and Natori found it!

Chapter 53: Anybody who upsets Natsume is evil in my book, go away Matoba. 😡

Exorcists are being attacked and one of them is possessed by a youkai. Natsume was forced to go to the meeting to figure out who and he's able to help take down one of the minions. Natsume still wants to leave but he thinks of the words Natori said and decides to stay and protect the ones he cares about.

Chapter 54: These exorcists don't give a fuck about youkai. Strong = good, weak = useless and ultimately they're entertainment. :|

I'm a little confused about Natori's gecko and Matoba's eye. Matoba said Natori might lose the gecko, that's why it doesn't go on the leg, and Matoba said as long as a youkai is targeting his eye he'll have its power(?).

Now I want to know what all the letter said, since it was apparently long.

Wait, was it Natori's shikigami that stopped Matoba from touching Natsume's hair? :')
 




~Specials~


Nishimura and Natsume:
Nishimura and Natsume's first meeting when Natsume transferred there.

Nishimura making fun of Natsume's nightmare. 😭

Yeesh, just because Nishimura's brother is struggling doesn't mean you can neglect Nishimura, mother!Nishimura.

Seems like Nishimura's older brother has a lot of weight on his shoulders, being expected to have perfect grades and attitude to 'inherit the family'.

Kitamoto and Natsume: Oh, we get to see Tanuma's transfer too. He and Natsume were so alike, acting in ways people couldn't understand, but at least Natsume could clearly see the youkai around him.

I wish Nishimura and Kitamoto could know the truth, I think they would be supportive even if they were afraid, but the risk of them getting hurt is too high, like with Tanuma...

I'm so happy the mangaka wrote these two special chapters!
Mood:: 'uncomfortable' uncomfortable
bluapapilio: cale, on and rion looking at gold coins from trash of the count's family (totcf)


"Trash of the Count's Family"

[NovelUpdates Page]

Chapter 40: Cale trying so hard not to listen to Raon going on about the Prince's dyed hair/eyes. 🤣

“… Mister Cale seems to be a bit like me.”

He clocked Cale like that, not that it was hard really when Cale used the exact same tactics.

Is this the first time we learn the Crown Prince's name is Alberu Crossman?

Not knowing meant there was no chance of him getting caught up in it.

You're too funny, Cale. Good luck with that!

Lol, Cage being cheeky and calling Cale 'our little brother' on the way out.

Chapter 41: Lock offered him and his siblings as knights to Cale but Cale helpfully pointed out that that would be putting them in danger, not protecting them. 😅

Hmm so he plans on using Lock to get an ancient power for him so he can sell it to the 'Queen of the Jungle' for money. 🤔

Aw, nice convo between Billos and Cale!!

Ron finally makes his big move, what will Cale do...

Chapter 42: Cale is letting him go assassinate whoever, but he's giving him one year, as he'll need him then, and he has to write Cale now and then.

Taylor can walk again!! So the deal went through.

Cale really likes to jinx himself huh.

Chapter 43: Cage got excommunicated like she wanted. 😆 Taylor being so happy for her is so cute, their friendship is so nice!

“It has already been 30 years since this king has received the blessing of the sun to rule over this kingdom.”

Dude, you only got this position by murdering your family, not because you inherited it or deserved it.

The blood-crazed mage is called Redika, lol.

Cale's lucky no one is paying attention to him or they'd see his unusual behavior.


Chapter 44: Aw, Raon being so proud for saving everyone. =')

Redika put the last two bombs on suicide bombers and they couldn't be stopped, so Raon used his shield and Cale used his!! *glued to screen*

Chapter 45: Aw damn, some people ended up dying anyway...

Raon's response to thinking Cale was really hurt really shows how much he cares plus the weight of saving someone who's only known pain. And considering how young Raon still is...

Lol at the Alberu/Cale 'fraudulent hug'.

Chapter 46:
The crown prince did not keep up his act now that he knew he and Cale were of the same type of people.

This is go great, it's not often Cale can be on the same page with someone!

Interesting, Raon knows Alberu is very strong, but unlike Cale who showed his secret card to save people, Alberu did nothing when the servants and soldiers around him died or worse.

‘I thought he was a good person, even if he had a tendency to use people.’
But that was not the case.

Hans may be quite spirited and silly sometimes but he really is a good deputy butler.

Rosalyn anticipating things also makes things easier for Cale.

On and Hong finally moved toward the Black Dragon to get a sense of relief by the dragon’s side. The strongest, cutest, and nicest individual in this room was this Black Dragon.

My heart! I want to see them cuddlinggg.

Raon pointing out that Cale worked hard too. :')

Alberu really isn't human? And he thinks Cale might not be. X'D

Chapter 47: Watching both Alberu and Cale suffer through this conversation really is hilarious.

One corner of both Alberu and Cale’s lips started to go up as they started to smile. Their smiles were pretty similar.

🤣

Ahh everyone is going to split up now. :( I know none of them will want to be away from Cale for long. And Raon, On and Hong, and Beacrox will still be with Cale as well as Hans. I wonder where the children will still in the Henituse territory?
Mood:: 'exhausted' exhausted
bluapapilio: 腐 (from fujoshi) kanji (Kanji 腐)

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