edithmorningstar

We were on the sofa together watching Murderbot so Purrcy had to come supervise. Not shown: how he was thwapping me with his tail to make sure I knew he was there. This shot makes it looks like he was watching the screen with us but I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

I've been watching Moon Embracing the Sun with

feklar42 and

libitina, which is my first kdrama. I have a question. I know that double eyelid surgery is extremely common in South Korea. Do we assume that most Korean actors/actresses have had this surgery, the way we assume that most (all) Western actors are on diets?

mecurtin

There was a brief but dramatic thundershower yesterday evening, & afterwards when Purrcy came out of hiding he DEMANDED pets, regardless of where I was or what I was doing. As you can probably tell.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Politics has of course been super stressful, I'll write up something under separate cover tomorrow or something.

Today, all afternoon, I attended the first session of the WSFS Business Meeting, which was as almost as emotionally draining as attending one in person but much more convenient. The Chair, Jesi Lipp (they/them) is a *master* at running a meeting and parsing rules quickly & logically.

Result for me: the Hugo Process Committee is continuing for another year (including me by default), and also stuff that I insisted on digging out & including in our report conforms to the second part of C.2 Dude, Where’s My Motion?, even though it wasn't required yet & wasn't even aware it was under consideration, just because it seemed so obviously necessary. So I definitely can bask, feeling like I made a real & meaningful contribution.

I've pledged the family not to overdo it for Hugo Process Committee 2.0, but I *am* going to maybe be the one insisting that we have regularly scheduled meetings & an agenda.

mecurtin

I finished taking the laundry out of this basket & put it down on its side for Purrcy investigation. It was worth snooping in, but not really good for long-term use, he found.

What's that in the sky? he wondered, after several days of rain & thunder-growler attacks.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

My back continues to be better, while not being anything like *all* better. Prednisone has the reputation of being Side Effects City, my biggest ones so far are dry mouth making my voice all scratchy, and a certain amount of ADHD/mania type behavior, trouble settling & sleeping. Only 3 more days of tapering to go, though.

Amid all The Horrors ramping up & up, here's something that's given me active joy in the past couple of days: Sir Ian McKellan joining Scissor Sisters onstage at Glastonbury Festival:

Watch on YouTube

My god, he's still got that full Royal Shakespeare voice.

It makes me cry a bit with joy at the end there, seeing Sir Ian being able to lead his people in a public celebration of being out & proud. And to see an old man being *venerated*, for once, admired for achievements but in this case also as a symbol of what people like those in the audience can have with age: a *full* life, a *long* life, a life with everything in it, despite what they may have been told. You don't have to be young to be queer, it's not a phase, it's part of a complete human life.

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

So...

I signed up for Apple TV the other day expressly so I and my weekly media-watching buddies could take a break from our usual Asian fare to see their production of Martha Well's Murderbot. (Heaven knows I don't need yet another streaming service, but...) We binge-watched the first 8 half-hour episodes last night.

I am astonished and delighted (and envious) with how well the show has managed so far to stick to the original story -- they are still in the first volume, All Systems Red. So great to see something that isn't part of the endless stream of media retreads and remakes we are plagued with. Casting is pretty great as well -- one could identify nearly all of the characters in their first appearance, before they even opened their mouths.

And they totally get the humor of the story. Granted the tales are action-heavy, but though the Tor book covers are wonderful pieces of art, nothing about them even hints that any humor will be found beyond them.

Given the dry commentary on corporate shenanigans in the stories, I was meta-amused by the fact that Apple streaming won't play on my Chromecast; happily my son the IT support found the way around (going directly from my laptop.)

It looks like the first season of these half-hour episodes will cover All Systems Red; let's hope it is successful enough to go on to another volume and season.

Recommended.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on July, 02

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25886740-murderbot-tv-adaptation-good

ursamajor

When

belladonna shares a tweet that got screencapped and put up on Insta:

@ madisontayt_: imagining a vegan who won't drink nyc's tap water because of the microscopic shrimp
@ TheWappleHouse: The what now

and I was like "Yeah! There was this whole thing about NYC's tap water possibly being not kosher because of copepods in the water supply a few years back. Which might've meant that NYC bagels, whose lauded taste and texture were credited to the tap water used to boil them, were potentially treyf. But then other rabbis weighed in and said as long as the proportion of these microscopic crustaceans was less than 1/60th of the total volume, it was okay by the principle of בטל בשישים (bitul b'shishim/beteil beshishim), thank you Shabot6000."

... and then I realized "a few years back" was 21 years ago.

Current Mood: silly

lannamichaels

Title: Drabble: Anti-Brooklynians.
Author:

lannamichaels
Fandom: Captain America
Rating: G
Archives: Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld

Summary: Aliens wrote Shakespeare, the Earl of Oxford built the pyramids, and Steve Rogers was never Captain America.

( I started this in 2019 and then ignored it every time I saw it instead of getting it to fit wordcount )

mecurtin

Purrcy was lying on top of the sofas and then Suddenly a Wild Hand Appeared! With Pets! it was pretty choice for everyone involved tbh

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby leans his head into a white person's hand that's reaching out to rub his face and body, as he sits on the back of the sofas. His eyes are closed in bliss, his whiskers and paws are stretched out, his nose looks very pink & cute.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby leans his head into a white person's hand that's reaching out to rub his face and body, as he sits on the back of the sofas. His eyes are closed in bliss, his whiskers and paws are stretched out, his nose looks very pink & cute.

One of the things I've been doing to deal with stress is occasional binge-reading of book series. Most recently Rivers of London, which I'd never read all of before.

I do like them, and they're cute and all, but I'm forcefully reminded of why I don't read police procedurals any more, or watch TV shows with law enforcement heroes. Because this is really a fantasy of copaganda, as well as a fantasy with copaganda. I mean, the very idea that murders are treated so *seriously*, with huge commitments of personnel & resources ... This has *got* to be a fantasy for the UK, right? It's certainly a fantasy for the US, where almost half of all murders are unsolved.

So I can't really like them unreservedly, I can't *wallow* in them, my disbelief won't suspend that far.

But! Good news today!

I went to the doctor about my sciatica, and he started me on a course of prednisone, and ... it already seems to be working? maybe? Could this be what not being in pain is like?

Honestly it feels very strange. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

lois_mcmaster_bujold_feed

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25878246-demonic-ox-e-cover-sneak-peek

Artist Ron Miller just finished it this morning...

Vendor page copy:

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox

"When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.

What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching."

***

All parts are now in the hands of my ebook wrangler at Spectrum, and will be uploaded to the usual vendors, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and Kobo, when her work queue permits, but with luck this coming week.

This cover was tricky. We started with more figures, and spent a long time in frustrated fiddling with them before figuring out that they actually didn't belong on the cover in the first place. Less is more.

Ta, L.

posted by Lois McMaster Bujold on June, 29

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25878246-demonic-ox-e-cover-sneak-peek

ursamajor

hyounpark and I wrapped up our extremely concert-filled June last weekend with two shows in Wine Country, backing up Andrea Bocelli and friends. Three rehearsals in ten days with almost entirely new-to-me repertoire - it felt good to have that kind of intensity of practice again. It's different from regular rehearsal, where we have a month, two, sometimes even three to slowly, steadily polish a single piece. Harder to cram into daily life, but always worth it.

Saturday was also Hyoun's birthday, so I was highly amused when the sound check opened with La donna è mobile from Rigoletto. Because I originally learned that melody in fourth grade as a birthday song!

( Archiving the lyrics here because I know I was able to find it on the internet at some point in the past, but no longer. )

( the rest of the Bocelli concert experience )

And now, my Wednesday nights are free for a (very) few weeks! (Summersings start July 23, and then after that we're right into rehearsals for Verdi; I hope I'll be able to cram in one or two Wednesday night Friends With Bikes rides during the time off, but we'll need to see.)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: ride e canta nel sole l'infinita nostra felicita // gloria a te!

mecurtin

During the heat wave this past week there was no Purrcy on the bed, but I woke up to him at my feet again yesterday and this morning. Lookit that face! Lookit how I touch that paw with a single finger!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wriggles on the bed to gaze lovingly at the camera human. His pupils are blown wide, his paws are in bunny position on his white fluffy tummy, one back paw is stretch forward toward the camera where a human hand reaches to touch a toe with a single finger.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wriggles on the bed to gaze lovingly at the camera human. His pupils are blown wide, his paws are in bunny position on his white fluffy tummy, one back paw is stretch forward toward the camera where a human hand reaches to touch a toe with a single finger.

I haven't been Purrcy-posting regularly for a while, because I've been tired and distracted and didn't have time -- because of the fascism, but also because of sitting outside in the spring and listening to birds. I'm trying to get back into it now, as you can see, but it's hard to keep in focus.

Also, my sciatica has been acting up, which means a lot of time just lying in bed, dozing or reading. I'm going to the doctor on Monday, hopefully I'll get a steroid injection or something similar & things will be better for a while. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

philomytha

Murderbot TV series eps 1-8
I've been intending to watch this for a while, and with RL being rather stressful lately I decided to spend some of the past few days decompressing by inhaling the whole thing. I enjoyed the books a lot, and I also loved this. It gives the sense of having been made with a lot of fun, a lot of love, and also a strong eye for putting in every possible ridiculously tropey situation they can plausibly squeeze in. It sticks to the book in broad outline, but in many ways it feels like a great fanfic version of the book: more subplots have been added, more Situations have been created for our favourite characters to experience and suffer, everything's turned up and embellished a whole lot. I strongly approve of this approach to screen adaptation.

( slightly rambling spoilery thoughts )

mecurtin

The other day I heard Purrcy scrabbling in the corner between our bedroom & the laundry room, and then hissing. When I went over to see what was up his tail was all puffed up, as he confronted a new experience:
a milk snake!

( cut for snake pic )

Purrcy was very excited, but wary--he clearly has a "snake instinct" that says this isn't normal prey, but something possibly dangerous. We weren't able to catch the snake, but we're pretty sure it went out the way it came in, it was pretty scared of us (& Purrcy).

Purrcy spent the next half week sniffing & searching for it everywhere, & also being v suspicious of all the cords & any long or snakelike toys. It's like his "snake instinct" was dormant & had to be activated.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks warily at a fuzzy blue, yellow and gray 'snake' toy where it lies next to the baseboard, wondering for the first time if it might be a real snake

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks warily at a fuzzy blue, yellow and gray 'snake' toy where it lies next to the baseboard, wondering for the first time if it might be a real snake

The bad part about Our Inside Snek Adventure is that I mentioned it to the housecleaner ... who turns out to be *horribly* snake-phobic. So much that just knowing there'd been a snake in the house, she was too scared to come this week. We're blocking up the Snake Holes, hoping that helps, & she'll try to come back next week.

I'm not going to tell her that this is the 3rd *species* of snake we've seen close to the house, which is made of stone, 100 yrs old, on a stony NJ hillside (others are garter & black racer). Mr Dr Science & I love it! He in the Atlanta suburbs, I in Champaign, IL, we were the kids who caught snakes & brought them in for show & tell in elementary school.

Gloria, our housecleaner, grew up in Jamaica, but she's a city girl through and through. She's prob. too old for snake therapy, I hope this works.

lannamichaels

I'm not sure if it's a sign of improving mental health (less hoarding/control tendencies!) or a sign of worsening mental health (lack of interest/care about things) in that after discovering that, no, even logging in with my RSS reader to ao3 won't make archive-locked fics show up in RSS feed, my reaction is: eh, that's the author's problem that I never see their fic, not mine.

I fully disagree with a lot of the reasons people lock their fic on ao3 (especially the way many people on tumblr frame it as them being "forced" to do so) but hey, it's their decision.

Once upon a time, if you wanted people to see your fic, you would do things about it. Maybe you'd send it to a mailing list. Maybe you'd post on a LJ community.

And now what people seem to do a lot of is just post it to ao3 and never crosspost about it anywhere. Their assumption is, you'll see it on Ao3.

But I don't. Because a small one fandom archive, sure, I could look at it every so often and see the what's new.

But I'm following a lot of ao3 tags and I am not checking ao3 for 1) any locked fics, which don't show up in RSS, 2) any fics posted to collections which, because of changes ao3 made years ago, do not show up in the feed if there are 20 fics posted since that was posted.

And once upon a time, I was like "I need to see all these fics, especially ones in tiny fandoms I'd never see otherwise!"

And now I'm just like. Meh. That's their problem that I'll never see their fic, not mine.

Possibly this is because my "to read" list is so very very long and so is my author subscription emails that haven't been read yet.

But also it's like. If you make it hard for me to find your fic. Then you're just like those people back on LJ who would post a fic to a community with a note that they were going to friends-lock the fic after 3 days, and if you want to see previous ones in the series, you have to get them to add you to their friends list.

Because honestly why bother. If you're going to make it hard for me to read your fic, then clearly you don't want me personally to read it, and that's okay. There's plenty of others, from people who aren't making it hard.

Because, no, I am not going to be checking every single ao3 tag even monthly for archive locked/collections fics. I'm sure some people are checking them frequently. Those people will read your fic. And that's fine, honestly.

But I'm not putting in the work. And if I miss the world's great fic because I don't see it, then yeah, okay. That's fine. Go with god, do your own thing. Not my problem.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28

un refrain courait dans la rue

Purrcy; kdrama

Purrcy; WSFS

Purrcy; Pride

Murderbot TV adaptation good!

(no subject)

"Drabble: Anti-Brooklynians." (Captain America) G

Purrcy, Rivers of London, my back

Demonic Ox e-cover sneak peek

the squirrels are in the tree

Purrcy in the morning

Murderbot

Purrcy and the snake

fanfiction as it is done

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February 2011

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