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Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: California
Current Music: Like Real People Do - Hozier

Introducing myself

Name: Robin
Age group: 30s (36 to be exact)
Country: United States
Subscription/Access Policy: I try to subscribe to everyone who subscribes to me. At this time, I do not grant access because those posts are meant to be personal.

Fannish Interests: It changes quite a bit, and I am always looking for new fandoms. Right now, Good Omens, Vampire Chronicles/Interview withe the Vampire, Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Welcome to Night Vale, Disney, Bridgerton, Wednesday, anime, Wicked, books, classic literature and Taylor Swift are especially close to my heart.

I like to post about: Things that are going on in my life and my interests. I am trying to post more fannish stuff!
About Me/Other Info: I just finished graduate school, and I am currently trying to figure many things out. I also am legally blind and use a screen reader.

What Happened To The Cast Of Little House On The Prairie

https://www.tvline.com/2024187/what-happened-little-house-on-the-prairie-cast/

It's been 50-plus years since Little House on the Prairie premiered. Here's what happened to the series' main cast in the years since its last episode in 1984.

https://www.tvline.com/2024187/what-happened-little-house-on-the-prairie-cast/

NBC Sets 2026 Midseason Schedule: Tracy Morgan's Tina Fey Sitcom, Revamped Voice, Hunting Party Seas

https://www.tvline.com/2024879/nbc-2026-schedule-midseason-premiere-finale-dates-list/

NBC has shared its 2026 midseason schedule, including the premiere of Tracy Morgan's new sitcom, The Voice: Battle of Champions and The Hunting Party Season 2.

https://www.tvline.com/2024879/nbc-2026-schedule-midseason-premiere-finale-dates-list/

Entry tags:

idle memories (while resting LIKE A POTATO)

Apropos of recent attic archaeological finds (no, I mean from my actual attic*), there was a time when Mike and I were talking about funnymen and who-knows-what, and I conflated two names. This yielded "Victor Borges" instead of Victor Borge, and THAT yielded a good several minutes of improvisatory Fordeana covering labyrinthine comedy and surrealist punctuation.

Anyone else remembering points of departure to Mike-spiels is invited, nay, implored, to post them here.

Sincerely,
Elise,
who is still recuperating from COVID by RESTING LIKE A POTATO

* Yes, the attic of which Lois McMaster Bujold said, at first sight, "It really IS the attics of Vorkosigan House."

What to do when ICE raids your workplace

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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prompt: #468 - endless

FUGA: Melodies of Steel - Stalemate

Title: Stalemate

Fandom: FUGA: Melodies of Steel

Characters/Ships: Baum/Stollen

Rating: PG-13/slash

Note: potential spoilers

( Read more... )

Car Size

https://xkcd.com/3167/

'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.'

https://xkcd.com/3167/

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Wednesday has now had the porcelain inlay done

What I read

Well, most of the time it was One Clear Call, which had (as had preceding volumes) a certain amount of resonance with contemporary events.

Read The Scribbler Annual no 1, which was a change of pace.

On the go

Dipped a bit more into Some Men in London, 1960-1967.

Started the final book in my review pile, which is pretty good though also raises, I think, some interesting points for discussion. (And as a rather tangential thought, during the heyday of lesbian murder mysteries from feminist presses, were there any set in wymmynz communes?)

Have also started a re-read of The Golden Notebook - given how long it is since I last read it, so much seems very familiar.

Up next

Still haven't got to the latest Literary Review. Otherwise, dunno.

Entry tags:

cthulhu mythos,
rpg

Another Bundle - Ken Writes About Stuff

This is a big bundle of small supplements by Ken Hite for the Gumshoe system games from Pelgrane Press:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/KenWrites

About two-thirds of this material has been in previous bundles, the rest is new.

While I'm a fan of Hite's writing, I'm not a huge fan of the Gumshoe system, so mainly use these things as a source of ideas for other games. Right now I'm trying to get a LOT done before the end of the week, month, and year, and can't give them much time, but the price is pretty good and it looks like you're getting a lot for your money. I think it's worth a look.

Entry tags:

bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

39 Mythos-history-fringe-weird treatises from Pelgrane Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

Why David Hasselhoff Wouldn't Let Leonardo DiCaprio Star In Baywatch

https://www.tvline.com/2023640/david-hasselhoff-leonardo-dicaprio-baywatch/

Baywatch fans may be surprised to learn that a young Leonardo DiCaprio almost appeared on the show. That was until David Hasselhoff nixed the idea.

https://www.tvline.com/2023640/david-hasselhoff-leonardo-dicaprio-baywatch/

Stana Katic To Lead CIA Spy Drama Entangled, Created By Absentia EP

https://www.tvline.com/2024727/stana-katic-entangled-new-tv-show-cast/

Entangled will star Stana Katic (Castle, Absentia) as one half of a married couple of CIA spies. Here's everything we know so far.

https://www.tvline.com/2024727/stana-katic-entangled-new-tv-show-cast/

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fandom: quatermass

why I love Quatermass and the Pit

I’ve been rewatching Quatermass and the Pit for the last week, which is apparently something I do every few years and then never write anything about. It’s a black and white BBC serial from 1958, to our eyes science fiction horror though a massive leap beyond genre in its own time, and I love it very much. I honestly think it’s perfect. There isn’t anything I’d change except put more women in it and even so at least it does have one brave 1950s lady scientist academic trying her best. Could be worse if not by much.

So the Quatermass in the title is a person – named by writer Nigel Kneale with what he called the weirdest name in the phonebook; he’s Professor Bernard Quatermass, a restrained, charming British academic in charge of something called the British Experimental Rocket Group. By the time we meet him in the Pit, there aren’t so many rockets; Quatermass the pacifist is in the middle of being told the military are taking over his research; that his planned moonbase is going to be used as a place to build up armament. No one mentions Sputnik or the USSR, but no one has to. This was absolutely on-the-minute current when it was made. Quatermass is furiously angry and kind of heartbroken; then he discovers an old friend of his has a very similar problem, and decides to be a dick to his new employer while he solves it.

There really aren’t a lot of rockets in this story! Matthew Roney, Quatermass’s old friend, is a paleontologist, who has discovered an ancient site of prehistoric hominids in… Knightsbridge. (There’s been construction, ok.) But deep down in the pit there’s also an unexploded bomb (!) left over from 1944, so the military have taken over. Quatermass plays silly buggers with the army folk until they leave Roney alone, and then hangs around to see what happens next. That’s the set-up. And I love it, largely because Quatermass is incredibly charismatic (he was played by five different actors, but this one is my favourite) and also just… you can see here how the series was an influence on every SF, horror or fantasy thing to ever be on television. It’s so fucking interesting and intelligent.

But then. Everything that happens next is creepy in the best way. ( creep creep creep - rather than cut tag the most horrifying bit of the serial, I have simply not included it so this is cut for length not horrors )

I wanted to finish off this extremely long post about a seventy-year-old piece of television by posting a snippet of it, but I actually couldn’t find anything. Perhaps even better: this was the noise the Martians made inside people’s heads, courtesy of the Radiophonic Workshop. And Hob’s Lane, where the Pit was dug, is in my icon.

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Marvel: Black, White & Blood and Guts #2

( False Gods )

Driver's license, upstate NY, and hockey connections

I got my driver's license today on the third test! I was fighting for my life to wake up and fully eat my breakfast and everything, actually walked to the bus stop an hour early by mistake due to setting two of my alarms wrong last night and then had to walk back, had an upset stomach on the day and then like three scary random situations and two big mistakes in a row in my driving lesson on the way to the test, so my teacher asked if I wanted to pull over in a parking lot and calm down. Which I did. First time that's happened in a lesson! But then the test itself was actually uneventful. No big mistakes on my part and no scary traffic situations or close calls, and I handled myself well and recovered from the minor mistakes correctly, I was just... DROWNING in stress and white-knucking it to remain as calm as possible. The examiner told me that my main thing is just that I'm too stressed while driving and have to calm down (YUP, KNEW THAT!!!!). Apparently I was gripping the steering wheel way too hard, which I wasn't aware of but that doesn't surprise me at all.

Aaaaaanyway, on the final drive back from the test to the driving school my driving teacher told me he lived in the US for four years, and I said, oh, where? When he was 20 he moved to the New Jersey area and played on a minor team (now defunct) that feeds into the NHL Jersey Devils, actually, he said, in Albany. And I was like hey!!! I lived in (a suburb of) Albany for three years as a kid [before the disastrous life-ruining move to Alabama at age 6, I did not say, but just try going from Montessori school in upstate NY to shitty authoritarian public school in Alabama some time and see how you like it].

So. Anyway. I told

waxjism this story like "Hahah, and then we met here in Finland! Isn't it funny?" but she immediately was like, "There's a Wikipedia list of all the teams that feed the NHL!" and started combing around through the internet until a few minutes later she called, "Is this him?" and showed me his headshot. Apparently he was also the captain of our local Liiga hockey team in 2015, around the time we were going to quite a few matches, and one of his kids is currently on that team. Welp.

As I mentioned recently, I was planning to buy a milk frother so I could make lattes once passing, originally. But if I can't source decaf matcha and chai tea domestically, I wouldn't be able to make my favorite two lattes (those are the two I've been dying to make myself). I have not gone looking for those yet. I should order some old-fashioned stove black (polish) for our woodstove though, although that will not be nearly as exciting. My caffeine-free trial is still in effect until early December.

A new, better day

Yesterday had a fair amount of frustration, disappointment, sad and fail in it. It was a rare bad day but today will ensure that rare stays rare. I will insist on it.

It wasn't all bad. Every year for the past decade +, my friend, Scott, has sent me a calendar from New Zealand. They are all big beautiful wall calendars. I have a spot where I hang each one and toss it when the next year's arrives. I used to not appreciate them as much as I do now. His calendar came yesterday and he's broken the bank. It's one I will never ever toss. It's a masterpiece.

He took 13 photos - from their trip here last Summer and from New Zealand and made a calendar just for me. I love sheep so here's the cover.

And look at January!!! This is at Timber Ridge's front door taken just before they left.

The other months are full of fun stops they made like the Corn Palace. It's just a masterpiece. December is a beautiful iconic shot of their town. The whole thing is just a delight. I love it

I did end up going to Fred Meyers yesterday. It's a very large store. It's a huge grocery store but also a huge everything store - clothes, shoes, kitchen, bedding, etc. It's on the other side of town from here and kind of an ordeal since it is so big. Lots of people from here shop there, just not me. They do have stuff that other places don't so it was interesting and GREAT for steps. (And my leg that has been really bothering me, did not. so yeah.)

Among other things, I picked up a package of Boston Creme Pie poptart pastries. The woman in front of me in the checkout line had a fit when she saw them. She checked out, paid for her stuff, and then went back to get them. I had very low expectations. But, I tried one last night and, dang, it was delish!!

But, check out the price difference between QFC and Fred Meyer! They are both owned by Kroger. QFC is very near here so it's where I always go. I would not have been surprised by a small price difference but this difference is sure not small. Wild.

Today, an 'executive' of LCS which is the company that owns/runs Timber Ridge is coming to discuss continuing care here. I just went to the LCS website to see if I could get some dets on him. The website has photos and bios of about 35 executives. The guy coming today didn't make the cut. His title is Vice President/Senior Director of Operations Management. So... apparently he's all title and no clout.

The promise here is continued care. You live here independently, then, when needed, you move to assisted care and then, when needed you move to nursing care and then you die. It's pretty straightforward EXCEPT there are often no nursing beds available when needed and NEVER enough assisted living apartments. And, no room to build more. So all these old people are looking ahead and getting very twitchy. It's been the top concern here since I moved in. So the company is sending this guy with the title to soothe the natives. I might go.

Ooops I just realized that I don't have enough time to go if I swim first. Oh well, they are having two sessions so I'll just swim now and go to the second one. I sure don't care enough to give up my swim.

10 TV Episodes That Were Banned After Backlash

https://www.tvline.com/2024168/tv-episodes-banned-after-backlash/

Here are 10 episodes of television shows that caused so much uproar among viewers, for one reason or another, that they were banned from airing.

https://www.tvline.com/2024168/tv-episodes-banned-after-backlash/

Entry tags:

bundle of holding

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)

The 1997 Second Edition of Over the Edge, the acclaimed Atlas Games tabletop roleplaying game of surreal danger on the conspiracy-ridden, reality-bending Mediterranean island of Al Amarja, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)