#blog roundup

[burning-academia-if]

I decided on doing monthly updates for BA, so I'll be doing a brief overview of November's progress! I'll also add an 'around the blog' section because some notable things happened/were posted! I doubt this part will be monthly, but if I have a busy month here, I'll add it since I know it's easy to miss some things!

Progress Report:

Updated the demo back in the start of November with general fixes.

Finished the (very rough) first draft of Chapter 1! Current word count is just over 23k, but I'm going back to edit and add scenes/flavor text.

Added scenes/notes to the general outline.

Finished Chapter 2's detailed outline.

Decided to officially add in the poly routes! (remind me to update the main post with them at some point lmfaO). These routes include: Beck/Rook for Dawn and Day paths, Rook/??? for Night path, and Rhea and Zoe for Dawn and Dusk paths! Beck/Rook and Rook/??? are triads ie all 3 of you have romantic feelings for each other. Rhea and Zoe is a V ie they both have romantic feelings for you but not each other (although they'll have a close friendship).

Around the blog:

Painted and posted all the RO portraits!

1k follower bonus stories: Rook's and ???'s

Favorite ask/answer: Some facts about MC's family and Orpheus/Eurydice

General:

With all that out of the way, progress may slow a bit and I might be a little more scarce because I finally got a job! I can't say when Chapter 1 is going to be out, but it should be no later then January (I also made a chaotic decision to do two game jams in December because why not?). This is mostly because I want to finish setting up all the stat pages and have them ready for the next update as well! I'm guessing after edits Chapter 1 will total anywhere between 25k to 30k words. With all that being said, have a very wip preview of chapter 1:

[Text version]

'...You...are..."

You grimace, eyes blinking once. Then twice. You've never slept walked before in your life, but now you find yourself with one hand bracing against the sink counter in the bathroom. Your other hand hovers, palm out, gaze latched onto it by an unknown force.

"What…?" You stumble back, eyebrows furrowing as you take a look around you. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.

[sewgeekmama]

Keane Interest: Holiday Edition

[books-for-humanity-global]

What do books and secret superpowers have in common? You’ll be surprised by the answer—and how they can ignite change in underserved communities. Read on to uncover this unexpected connection!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Johnlock Fic Recs Fic Rec Roundup: May 25 to May 31/25

NEW

Virgin Sherlock Pt. 3

Fight Fics

5FF: May 30/25

REBLOGS

Good Omens / Ineffable Husbands (March 2020)

Matchmaker Mycroft

Cute-Drunk Sherlock

5FF: April 25/25

MASTERPOSTS

ACD / Victorian Sherlock

Toplock and Podfics

Jealous John Because of Other People

[sadaveniren]

Why none of this matters

Sada's Yearly Post Christmas BG round up I guess?

A study of 2015 (since we've lost a lot of resources since BG started)

Shit from 2015 with Evidence

1. She got a nose job while pregnant

Left: the “night” of the conception*. Right: her at the London 1D show in September, “pregnant”

*Louis didn't go home with Briana she instead spent the night with Calvin, Ashley and Oli (the two were dating) and there’s a pillow fight video of the four of them while Louis "slept upstairs" that @luckyagain found 🤗🤗

2. The Disappearing Christmas bump

Left: Briana on Christmas 2015 (8 months) Right: Lottie in July 2022.

3. The only bare bump pic we got of her… with her 2016 face

4. She didn't even use her own pictures to post her baby belly

Left: Picture of "her" pregnant belly with no mole. Right picture of her stomach post pregnancy with a mole (also, this is just me but while you may be able to convince me there is a belly button piercing with no jewelry on the pregnant belly, as someone who had a belly button piercing AND a pregnancy that's.... the right picture is not what that looked like post pregnancy)

Shit I can't find evidence for* but I saw with my own fucking eyes

1. The fucking changing timeline of her pregnancy in the early dats (10 weeks to 12 weeks pregnant after we bitched about it being too early)

2. Is it a girl? Is it a boy? The Clarks sure don’t know and also Briana did have a baby show- wait no she didn't have baby shower. No baby shower for Briana.

*probably because i didn't bother to reblog it at the time because 2015 was fucking wild and I honestly didn't think I'd need to - you know - archive EVERYTHING. And the few people who did have since deleted/were deleted by tumblr 🙃

Shit that isn't "evidence" but always bears repeating

It's not real

2. Dirty Dancing Tweet and one of the subplots of Dirty Dancing is a pregnancy thing.

3. The! Pregnancy! Announcement! Was! About! Larry!

4. Were they friends? Were they enemies? Who knows! Not us!

5. This was 2016 but GOD THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Her post partum attire was WILDLY inconsistent with someone who just gave birth.

I will forever die at the thought of wearing a fucking mini skirt* so many days post partum holy shit.

*reminder the time period post her birth was convoluted as all hel probably to try and get us confused and mixed up in the future (no i don't think they intended bg to go on this long)

And ultimately... even if you can excuse all that, just remember, she literally can't be the exception for everything.

Thank you for your time please enjoy some of the stuff I wrote about last year:

Believe in the Douis break up rule

You're not crazy or dumb or weakfor being frustrated for this

Try not to let shit affect you!

Some more long posts I made last year

Remember! Time is BG's best friend because people end up forgetting a lot of shit that's happened!

[pasta-pardner]

Reading Roundup: "Partners"

Written by Robert Wayne, 1987. Read January 2025.

Hey y'all! My goal for the year is to read more often, so I think I'm gonna start posting book reviews in addition to the other fannish stuff on my blog. My review for this novel is under the cut!

I picked up this novel while on a trip with my husband in Tombstone, Arizona. I haven't seen much info about it online yet, probably because it's a few decades old and it appears to be self and/or indie published.

Apparently, the author of "Partners" cowboyed professionally for years, and his main goal with the novel was to tell an authentic story in a contemporary western setting that resonated with his own experience. Wayne lists his work as a combination adventure and romance novel, but I would argue that the romance elements were very back-seat. I'm willing to bet that far more pages were devoted to the bounty hunt plot and the platonic friendship dynamic than any of the romances.

I read the first edition from 1987 (not the newer edition from 2005). This version of "Partners" came with a sticker referencing old western bootleg laws. Neat! I feel lucky to have found a copy, seeing as I doubt this book ever got widespread release-- and I don't live in the west.

Anyways ! Here are my thoughts on Mr. Wanye's novel:

Firstly, the easy-going chemistry between the two leads is definitely the soul of this novel. I really, really enjoyed RC and Curtis-- in pretty much all of the strange situations they got caught up in.

The novel's prose is pretty good too. This may be a strangely specific compliment to give, but I think "Partners" is at its strongest when it comes to describing old people. Scenes at the nursing home and at the grandparents house were incredibly vivid. Every elderly character in this novel pops off the page like a real flesh-and-blood person.

The descriptions of the natural landscapes and the horse care & tack procedures were also quite vivid, but sometimes to the point of feeling a bit formulaic. As much as I love detailed descriptions of locations, sometimes just listing the species of shubbery felt too face-value.

But the weakest part of this novel is definitely the plot. It feels kind of aimless and meandering, like a strange amalgamation of western subgenres thrown together. It's hard to explain, but this feels like a story that was written without an outline. I figure the author sat down at a typewriter, week after week, writing the chapters piecemeal-- without an overarching idea of why or how they were going where they were going.

Lots of elements (like RC's dad, wanda, the fixed up shack, gold panning, etc) have almost zero payoff by the end of the book. Removing these characters/locations wouldn't affect the plot in the much, so they end up feeling extraneous. The chapters are fun to read while they're happening, but the big-picture plot certainly could've been stronger. Though I was invested in the characters and the prose regardless of what was happening, everything outside of the bounty hunt plotline felt like an episodic event with not much of a resolution.

Tldr; character-driven, likeable leads, multiple sections with colorful prose... but a meandering, low-payoff plot. I definitely recommend "Partners" if you'd like to read some cowboy slice-of-life, though.

[fingertipsmp3]

Came up with a really silly theory that the trucker at the end of Toy Story 3 who picks up Lotso and attaches him to the front of his lorry is Daisy post-transition

[bloodmaarked]

➷ monthly book round-up: february 2025

books read: 5 [1 DNF] [-44%] average rating: 3.38 [-11%] average speed: 8 days [=] total pages: 1,109 [-55%] yearly goal progress: 13/100 [13%] best of the month: my name is why, lemn sissay worst of the month: at night all blood is black, david diop

3.5* reads:

butter, asako yuzuki

my name is why, lemn sissay

midwinter murder, agatha christie

3* reads:

at night all blood is black, david diop

DNFs:

star daughter, shveta thakrar

currently reading:

the ten thousand doors of january, alix e. harrow

the fraud, zadie smith

evil eye, etaf rum

[fibula-rasa]

Watch More Movies Notebook: September ‘24

(and a few things from August because I didn’t have the time to update last month!)

This month's blog journal features two contenders for best new-to-me films of the year (from Argentina and Brazil respectively), a handful of Depression-era shorts that range from absurdist comedy to Jungian fable to psychological actuality, plus one for the Sad Clown Hall of Fame (I've decided that's a real thing). Also included: a round up of recent posts and a preview of what's coming up this month.

Favorite New-to-me Films of the Month

(listed in order pictured above, L to R)

As always, if any other films catch your eye, but you need specific content/trigger warnings, feel free to ask and I’ll try to oblige!

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

I, the Worst of All / Yo, la peor de todas (1990)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

María Luisa Bemberg’s film adaptation of Octavio Paz’s study of the life and work of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana was a 17th century polymath from (what is now) Mexico and the film recounts her struggles to continue her work and her relationship with the vicereine of New Spain.

This is easily one of my favorite new-to-me movies of the year so far. Biopics often feel formally stodgy to me, but Bemberg’s film is highly visual and plays with time, space, and symbolism, revealing emotional truths in ways that avoid going artificially melodramatic. The relationship between Sor Juana and the vicereine unfolds beautifully and both actresses, Assumpta Serna and Dominique Sanda, are fantastic. I would recommend checking this one out even if you haven’t read any of Sor Juana’s work—in fact, watching this movie will likely motivate you to get reading! 

——— ——— ———

La cartomancienne (1932)

[letterboxd | imdb]

An experimental short about a lovelorn young woman seeking advice from a fortune teller. Jerome Hill’s first directorial outing is a Jungian fable peppered with references to supernatural folk beliefs. It’s evocatively constructed and has a great rhythm to it (paired with Hill’s original score). It’s a real gem!

——— ——— ———

Little Geezer (1932)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Theodore Huff took a mess of New Jersey ragamuffins, dressed them up as grown ups, had them act out half-remembered scenes from pre-code crime movies, and gave us the gift of Little Geezer. I found it genuinely funny, but, even if you don’t vibe with Huff’s sense of humour, you might get a kick out of how clearly the kids enjoyed playing gangsters or the shocking novelty of the kids smoking, drinking, carrying tommy guns, etc. Greta Garbage’s impression of Garbo was surprisingly great though??? Might not recommend this one as freely as the two above as Huff so densely packed Geezer with references you may need to have seen all of the movies referenced to pick up what Huff is putting down.

——— ——— ———

The City (1939)

[letterboxd | imdb]

A short, five-part documentary about American city planning produced for the New York World’s Fair of 1939 might be a hard sell for some, but with its truly outstanding creative team, The City is more compelling viewing than you might assume! The City was conceived by housing advocate Catherine Bauer, written by documentarian Pare Lorentz (The Plow that Broke the Plains) and Lewis Mumford, directed by Ralph Steiner (H2O, Mechanical Principles, Surf and Seaweed) and future MoMA director Willard Van Dyke (Hands), assisted by Henwar Rodakiewicz (Portrait of a Young Man in Three Movements), and scored by Aaron Copland. I might have some personal bias here as I grew up in NJ and have lived in New York and Pittsburgh, but as a modern viewer, I found The City to be an interesting window into the past.

——— ——— ———

White Paradise / Bílý ráj (1924)

[letterboxd | imdb | Watch at Národní filmový archiv]

Looks like Christmas X Criminals also has a tradition outside of the English-speaking world! Anny Ondra plays Nina, a whimsical young orphan under the guardianship of a nasty tavern keeper. On Christmas Eve, Ivan, a man framed for a crime against Nina’s parents, escapes prison to spend one last holiday with his ailing mother. Together, Ivan and Nina with the aid of a travelling puppeteer uncover the true bandit, exonerating Ivan and freeing Nina.

Bílý ráj is a charming film shot on location in the Šumava forest in Bohemia. Don’t be put off by the overly literal English translation of the title, the connotations are off by modern standards! This will be a solid recommendation for the coming winter months and I’m thinking about putting together a little list of some of the best Christmas X Criminals movies out there. If you have any underappreciated/underseen instances of the trope please suggest them to me! Bonus: it has a wonderful poster!

——— ——— ———

Seeing the World, Part One: A Visit to New York, N.Y. (1937)

[letterboxd | imdb]

This cheeky short by Rudy Burckhardt is a mock travelogue about visiting New York City. Referencing both Traveltalks shorts and the city symphony films, Burckhardt playfully jumbles genres and the film’s acerbity doesn’t overstay its welcome with a ~10 minute runtime. Also, Seeing the World features Joseph Cotten’s first screen role!

——— ——— ———

The Golden Clown / Klovnen (1926)

[letterboxd | imdb]

The great Gösta Ekman turns in one of the best silent film performances I’ve ever seen in this. Ekman plays Joe Higgins, a talented young clown in a travelling circus. Joe is in love with Daisy, the stunt rider and daughter of the circus’ owners. A twist of fate results in Joe becoming a top performer, headlining his own theatrical production in Paris. Unfortunately, Joe becomes a workaholic and Daisy gets romanced on the side by a caddish fashion designer. Both of their lives fall apart after they decide to divorce. A.W. Sandberg does a phenomenal job of heightening personal tragedy to an epic scale. I was astounded at how smoothly Ekman performed twenty years worth of aging in two hours. As much as I enjoyed this film (and cried over the finale), it did leave me wondering if they make movies about happy clowns? CW/TW for suicide.

——— ——— ———

April Fool (1924)

[letterboxd | imdb]

An occasional habit of mine is to watch silent comedy shorts during my lunch break. One afternoon this month, I watched three Charley Chase/Jimmy Jump shorts. They were all winners, but April Fool was my favorite. On the first of April,  Jimmy Jump gets blindsided by pranks when he arrives at work. Jimmy swears he won’t get pranked again and makes a bet with his coworker (Noah Young). Chaos ensues. The other shorts I watched, Publicity Pays (1924) and A Ten-Minute Egg (1924), were also good, though not as tightly constructed. Publicity Pays features an especially sweet and well-behaved monkey BTW.

——— ——— ———

Footnote to Fact (1933)

[letterboxd | imdb]

A harrowing short by Lewis Jacobs documenting The Great Depression in New York City. Originally intended to be part of a series that wasn’t completed, Footnote to Fact survived on its own (thanks to Anthology Film Archives) as a stream-of-consciousness rhythmic portrait of the quotidian horror of the Depression. Honestly, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this earlier, but I’m glad to have finally remedied that.  Worth checking out, if you’re in a place to handle it. TW/CW for suicide and depictions of real dead animals (in a butcher window).

——— ——— ———

The Hole in the Wall (1929)

[letterboxd | imdb]

After a major train accident, The Fox (Edward G. Robinson) and his crew are forced to rework their phony psychic scheme. When Jean (Claudette Colbert) knocks on their door, fresh off a prison sentence for a crime she didn’t commit, she takes on the role of their faux medium. Jean has her own revenge plot in mind: kidnapping the granddaughter of the rich woman who framed her. 

I came across this movie when reading about Robert Florey’s feature films and I’m glad I did—as a big fan of both Robinson and Colbert. Robinson doesn’t have all that much to do in the movie, but he’s very charming in it. Colbert gets the most to do with the conflicted Jean—a woman who chooses a life of crime only after a life of crime was chosen for her. But, the real reason this overlooked pre-code made this list is that the climax of the film was such a shock to me! I won’t give it away in case you decide to check it out yourself, but I never anticipated that!

——— ——— ———

Quilombo (1984)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

I’ve had really great luck working through my watchlist lately. Yo, la peor de todas is certainly on my best new-to-me list for the whole year and so is Quilombo! Quilombo is a fantasticized telling of the true story of Palmares, a free community of escaped slaves in colonial-era Brazil. The film primarily focuses on the events surrounding the fight to remain free of Portuguese authorities while Ganga Zumba and later Zumbi led the settlement. As I’m not Brazilian, this history was largely new to me and it’s been enriching to learn more about it. To me, this film seems like a great entry point. It’s stylish in a meaningful way, has a fantastic soundtrack (which I’ve already listened to twice since watching the film), and the production design, editing, and performances are all super. Also, Quilombo is a film worth studying if you want to see how a filmmaker can artistically condense a large span of time to fit feature length without awkwardly hopping along a timeline of events like a slideshow brought to life.

——— ——— ———

Monthly Round-up

In case you missed it, I spent the better part of the last few months constructing and heavily researching “Cosplay the Classics: Nazimova in Salomé.” There were so many compelling avenues to go down that I split the cosplay into two and a half parts!

Part One: “The Importance of Being Peter” covers Nazimova’s creative decisions in adapting Oscar Wilde’s play for the silent screen—illustrating both her filmmaking techniques and her keen awareness of her core fanbase: young/independent women.

Part Two: “Artists United?” details the struggles Nazimova had in getting Salomé released and finding its audience. This part describes how the American film industry was growing and changing in the early 1920s and how Nazimova’s independent productions fit into (or didn’t fit into) that landscape. I also aimed to complicate the oversimplified narrative of Salomé as a flop by collecting and analysing data surrounding its release in comparison to her Metro films.

Part Two Point Five (a.k.a. Cosplay the Classics: Post-script) will be up soon. It’s a slightly shorter piece covering Salomé’s place in cinematic Orientalism. Stay tuned!

——— ——— ———

Since the last notebook installment, I made themed gif/still sets for:

The Golden Clown (1926)

Salvation Hunters (1925)

(which I talked about in the last installment of WMM Notebook)

Danse Macabre (1922)

Yo, la peor de todas (1990)

A Day in Santa Fe (1931)

(which I talked about in the last installment of WMM Notebook)

I also made some gifs of my Salomé cosplay, because I was so pleased with how the wig turned out I needed to show it in motion!

——— ——— ———

In addition to the follow-up to “CtC: Salomé,” I’m working on a quick how-to rundown of the cosplay, in case you need some Halloween inspiration! 

I’ve also got a slate of spooky-season appropriate gifs/stills to post here on tumblr for October. 

Until next time, Happy Halloween and Happy viewing!

——— ——— ———

☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

[ask-ubausagi]

(@michaels-roundup) Cormac observes the Ubausagi for a moment before forgoing any sort of introduction and inspecting the surrounding area for suitable materials for the nest to offer to the Ubausagi

“Thank you!”

[3/10]

@michaels-roundup

[sewgeekmama]

AB Kitchen, Back to School, a Pineapple and P&G Everyday

[avomagazine]

Every week, we bring you a treasure trove of captivating music videos from lesser-known, new and intriguing Japanese artists who deserve your support! Join us on this extraordinary musical journey as we shed light on the artists who often go unnoticed but leave an unforgettable impact. We also maintain a YouTube Music playlist.

This week, we highlighted music videos from: 🍙 PLOTOLEMS 🍙 ツバメおおよろこび (Tsubame big joy) 🍙 oono yuuki band 🍙 いまみれん (Imami Ren) 🍙 THE DO DO DO’s 🍙 DISTRESS 🍙 寝込みかんぱにゅら (Nekomi Campanula)

Since 2020, AVO Magazine has been curating a list of seven music videos by Japanese artists and bands across various genres, from pop and rock to metal.

Enjoy the music!

[queenangst]

embarrassing the rate at which i read things

[striveattemptfail]

2024 fic roundup

i was not tagged but i stole this from @gossippool who kept open tags lol. originally created by @cheeseplants~!

for stats, i'm only answering for the fics i posted on ao3 this year (ie: i'm not including wips or random pieces i posted on tumblr, mainly for clarity)

alrighty, let's go!! /o/

—————

What fandoms do you write in?

mainly deadpool and wolverine + one (1) yuri on ice lol

How many words have you published in 2024?

20,488

an insane amount bc i haven't posted to ao3 since jan 2023

and even then i only started posting again in sept 2024

absolutely wild imo

What is your greatest achievement this year?

to reiterate the above ^^^ point: writing and posting at all

What are your favourite top three fics you wrote this year?

(listed in order of personal preference)

1) You'll be there to push me up the hill • poolverine • 5.4k • Five times Logan finds out something new about Wade's friendships, and one time Wade finds out something new about his relationship with Logan. —— this is my fave fic i've written this year bc it's 100000% self-indulgent and i regret nothing aside from wishing i had it beta'd before i posted lol

2) Feel your way • poolverine • 2.7k • aka: Yet another Honda Odyssey fic lol. —— i still can't believe i wrote and posted smut for the first time in years—and it's not half bad! i feel like a lot of my smut isn't actually as hot as i want it to be 😅😑

3) tanoshii omoide • victuuri • 600+ • In interviews, and generally in public, Yuuri always says his happiest memory is landing his triple axel for the first time. —— i also can't believe this is the first victuuri fic i've ever posted publicly. yoi is the reason why i'm a weeb and i still very deeply adore this anime. perhaps one day i'll share the rest of my victuuri brainworms but who knows! certainly not me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What have you learned?

mainly that i missed writing

i've been stagnant creatively for a long time and completely forgot how much i actually like writing

(no jinx, oh my lord)

What fic did you want to do but never made it off the ground?

omg

so many

i have dozens of wip documents of varying lengths, and even more notes of fic ideas ranging in detail from a single bullet point to "why the hell haven't i just turned this into proper sentences yet bc it's practically written!!!"

one in particular that i think about a lot is a poolverine/cabledom + x-force miscommunication leads to getting together fic

alas, i have not the knowledge nor skill to give this the attention and care it deserves 😩😔

Did you beta any fics?

ye!!

i beta'd this messed up but brilliant bleach fic by @comatose--overdose (tw: rape and deception—tread carefully!)

so fucked up, 10/10, would recommend if you want something messy and hot lol

What ideas are percolating for next year?

once again: so many lol

here's a few off the top of my head: aforementioned poolverine/cabledom miscommunication, professor/student poolverine au, poolverine mind-meld, animalistic!logan poolverine fluff, vanessa clocking that poolverine absolutely fucked on the DL, symbrock missing scenes fic that i didn't finish on time for the premiere of venom: the last dance, continuing my darndest things series, this one jayroy + lian action fic that just will not leave me tf alone........

i can keep going bc i have so many ideas 😅🙃

will i actually get to any of them next year? at this point you can toss a coin in a wishing well and get the same results bc i truly do not know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Who do you want to thank?

big, mega, overly-excited shout out to @comatose--overdose and @broosepayne for beta-ing and idea throwing all goddamn year with me ❤️❤️❤️

i am tackling each of you to the ground and crushing you with my my arms Ɛ=Ɛ=Ɛ=(づ￣ ³￣)づ

tagging: if you have the letters S, A, and/or F in your url, consider yourself officially tagged! (-ω-)ゝ

[theoverstimulated]

This week's post is a roundup of 10 pieces other people have written that have inspired me lately.

If you're looking for action items, hope, inspiration, and/or ways to move forward, give them a read.

[ask-imaginary-dreamers]

(Michaels-Roundup) Michael runs up just barely stopping in time to not crash into everyone "Hi Flicker! It feels like FOREVER since I saw you last!" there's a thunk as Jeremy smacks into the tree behind him "Michael! You said you'd help me walk!" Michael: "Oh...right, sorry Jeremy!" Jeremy manages to make his way over and plops down "Ugh, my nose..." Michael: "Who's the deer and monkey?" Jeremy: "There's a deer??"

@michaels-roundup