#i have a terrible memory and that includes remembering to mark things

[askgametime]

🐜 Recommend a fic that makes you laugh! A crack fic, or something that's just really funny!

okay, i actually generally don't answer asks on this blog, i create/reblog ask games to be used by others since i'm not really open for prompts right now and this blog isn't fandom specific. however, i guess i could provide a rec/recs, but since there's no fandom listed it will be random. and since i don't normally do these i'm going all out with a really detailed answer.

...alright, briefly traversed my bookmarks for fics i remembered being hilarious, and ironically, this is not at all indicative of the fandoms i spend the most time reading in, especially like, currently, but it's a small variety and they were all memorably hilarious so:

still alive but i’m bearly breathing by thessalonike (starblessed) / @julies-butterflies

Fandom: Julie and the Phantoms; Rating: T; Categories: Gen, M/M - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

So, Julie's got a possessed teddy bear. “It was just a flash of light, like a lava lamp exploded, and then, whoomph —“ Reggie mimes what, presumably, is a person getting sucked into a stuffed animal’s body. It involves a lot of flailing, a weird mermaid wiggle, and a moonwalk. “Alex was a bear.” CAN WE PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT, sings Alex — or Bearlex — into his plush microphone, with his tiny robotic voice. The sound box inside of the bear isn’t designed for speaking, only warbling… so every time Alex has something to say, he sounds like robot Freddie Mercury attempting karaoke. ALEX IS NOT A BEAR. ALEX IS INSIDE A BEAR. IT’S DIFFERENT. “Yeah, man, it sounds worse.”

Rec Notes: This one makes me cry laughing. Every single time. It's so funny. I believe after I watched JATP and binged a bunch of fics I read every single one of this person's works and they were all great. God, I need to rewatch that show, it's been a hot second.

Smoke Break by OrangeGaytor

Fandom: Disco Elysium; Rating: M; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

Shivers– Miles away, a young teenager takes his first ever hit of a joint. He inhales too deeply, and spit flies from his lips as he falls into a coughing fit. Pitifully, his friend pats him on the back, an embarrassed grimace on his face. Just as far away, a woman is locked to her couch, paralyzed by the 10 mg edible she took an hour and a half ago. The recommended dosage was half of a gummy, and yet, the chemicals overpower her, merging her into the cushions. Time passes as a dripping faucet, inconsistent, and runny. And here, in Martinese, a police officer has rolled the worst blunt known to all mankind. 

Rec Notes: Great grasp of game's format/feel, incredibly funny. I just love how it's worded. The summary is a great example--the pacing and punchline is just. chef's kiss.

No Speak, Only Batman by hitthedeck

Fandom: DC/Batman/Justice League; Rating: G; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1) (Part 5 of a series of oneshots)

Batman doesn't use words, those prehistoric, plebian things. Instead, he stares deeply into your eyes, waits for you to absorb his meaning, and leaves. Either that or he fights it out like a normal person. Or, in which Batman's unique communication style is spectacularly unhelpful.

Rec Notes: I don't even go here, but Batman produces so many excellent, excellent crack fics. This is one of the best. Honestly, this whole series is completely iconic. Please read them all.

Filet-O-Fish by moopyjoopy

Fandom: The Magnus Archives; Rating: T; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

Someone throws a Filet-O-Fish at Jon’s front door. Paranoia ensues. (rated teen for a few swears)

Rec Notes: Okay, I'm really not gonna have a lot to say for any of these other than "help please they're so fucking funny" but I cannot impress on you enough they truly are all so fucking funny. I don't even really go here, either and YET. Also, I just love this author. Master of humor, truly.

œuf ouch owie by miraculousunflower (ominousunflower)

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug; Rating: T; Category: F/M - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

Chat Noir enlists Rena Rouge's help to create an Aspik illusion. Absolutely nothing goes wrong. Ladybug smiles. “I wanted to drop by and welcome Aspik. I know it must be a little intimidating, being surrounded by so many veteran heroes…so, welcome! We’re glad to have you on board.” “I look like an egg!” Aspik announces, T-posing. Chat turns to Rena, feeling like he has been punched in the solar plexus. What the hell? he mouths. Rena grimaces, her eyes wide with panic. Stomach sinking, Chat remembers one of the first things he learned about the Fox Miraculous: that if Rena Rouge isn’t focused, her illusions go haywire. Oh, no.

Rec List: cannot emphasize enough this one makes me cry laughing every time. I don't know what it is, man. It's just so fucking funny. I haven't watched this show in years and still I go back and reread this when I remember it exists.

Sam Green and the Strange, Perplexing, Almost Bad, Very Confusing Night(s) by pukner

Fandom: Stranger Things; Rating: G; Category: Gen, M/M - No Archive Warnings Apply - WIP (1/2)

"'M I bein' kidnapped?" asked Harrington. "What," said Sam, alarmed, "No!" "Okay," said Harrington with terrifying agreeability, considering the words he was saying, "But like. If you were? It's cool, I've been kidnapped before." "Wh—" "It was, uh. A bunch of twelve-year-olds," said Harrington, sounding strangely pensive. Then, sadly, "They stole B'lly's car." Sam actually could not process anything being said right then. He started the car. "Hey, Harrington?" he said, voice strained. "Yeah?" "Let's stop talking for a while, yeah?" "'Kay." Or, in November 1984, Sam Green (or Freak, if he's at a gig) sees Steve Harrington stumbling home looking like roadkill. He drives him to the hospital, and never quite manages to get rid of him. In July 1985, Eddie Munson is very confused about this.

Rec Notes: Every work by this author is so, so good. I don't even go here--god, why is that a pattern on this list?--but I'm always excited to see them in my inbox. I only chose this particular one (a) by virtue of it being the most recent and therefore the one I remembered best and (b) Mall Goop.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Epistolary Bullying Campaign by viramine / @mvshortcut

Fandom: The Mysterious Benedict Society; Rating: T; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

"To LD Curtain (I refuse to believe you actually earned your doctorate): When I opened the newspaper over my nutritious breakfast this morning, I was greeted by the most terrible and disgusting sight in the world (your face). Now I am going to take several moments of your time to express my displeasure." Or, how did Curtain know they called themselves the Society, anyway?

Rec Notes: Iconic as fucking always. Top-tier author, top-tier comedy; have my hand in marriage, etc. Constance terrorizing Curtain is always wonderful but this is probably the best version of that. Great characterization, deeply hilarious and so so funny, always worth rereading over and over. The best, ♾️/10 stars

Geoffrey M'Benga: Vulcan (Love??) Guru by WerewolvesAreReal

Fandom: Star Trek (TOS); Rating: T; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

Post-Amok Time. “The only conclusion M'Benga can draw, based on all McCoy's questions about Vulcans, is that the man is enamored with Commander Spock. Someone should really tell him that pigtail-pulling stops being cute when you're eight.” Misunderstandings, genfic, humor.

Rec Note: Yet another author I always and without fail am absolutely thrilled to see in my inbox. And this fic? Regular reread. Absolutely incredible.

A dis-ass-ter by normal_thoughts_official / @normal-thoughts-official

Fandom: Shadowhunters; Rating: M; Category: F/F, M/M, Multi, Other - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

Simon and Maia find out what the Mark of Cain is in an... Alternate way. Namely, they can't get their spanking session on. The squad is called in to help.

Rec Notes: [announcer voice] FROM WRITING GENIUS NORMAL-THOUGHTS-OFFICIAL IT'S!!!! THE POLYCULE SPANKING ASS PORTAL FIC!!!! Truly so funny and from one of the best authors on this damn site, wonderful characterization, on point comedy, and impeccable taste as always. Blowing you a kiss. Tossing bouquets. Firing confetti cannons. Etc.

A Way Things Should Be by LullabyKnell / @lullabyknell

Fandom: The Hobbit (Movies); Rating: T; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (16/16)

In the Shire, hobbits say, "What lovely weather we've having." They also stir their teacups for four and a half clockwise rotations, place their left elbow seven-eighths down the way of the arm rest, and sniffled pointedly, which roughly translates to: "This tea is over-steeped and bland, your furniture is both uncomfortable and horrifically tasteless, and you're a twit of a host." And I think that's beautiful. ~ Hobbitish is a language of manners and etiquette, the dwarves don't even know that Hobbitish is a thing, and Bilbo is trying to keep a straight face and his peace of mind while the Company unintentionally keeps sexually propositioning him and challenging him to pie-eating contests to the death. ~ Actions speak so much louder than words.

Rec Notes: Truly a stunning fic. An absolute masterpiece. Hilarious, touching, perfectly paced. Incredibly long and well-thought out, great characterization, and again, I cannot stress this enough, hilarious. I once recommended this to a person out loud irl in real life on purpose. A person who had never heard of fanfiction. Admittedly I was a high-schooler at the time, so it's not like I had much sense (not that I have any now), but I still didn't normally do that. He thought it was hilarious, by the way. Read some excerpts out loud at lunch and had them howling. Wonderful fic, cannot recommend enough; so fucking funny and the premise is just. so good.

--- --- --- ---

And now, because I'm selfish, here's a few crack fics I wrote, because. why not, am I right? I'm already putting way too much time into this probably.

-- -- -- -- --

Rupert Mannion Is Batman (He Isn't)

Fandom: Ted Lasso; Rating: M; Category: M/M - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (13/13)

A series of bizarre, loosely related events occur, all kicked off by Trent absently mentioning that he may or may not have once hooked up with Rupert Mannion.

Author Note: I had so much fun with this one. It's not my most popular crack fic--even my most popular Ted Lasso crack fic--but it amuses me.

dreams of falling

Fandom: House MD; Rating: M; Category: M/M - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

House and, among other things: green couches, being kissed by Wilson, lightning-fast overthinking, and talking to himself.

Author Note: My first time writing House, and entirely on an impulse. I really like some of the lines in here, like Chase's brief appearance.

gemini schmemini

Fandom: The Mysterious Benedict Society (TV); Rating: T; Category: Gen - No Archive Warnings Apply - Complete (1/1)

"You're his clone?" demanded Kate loudly, looking between Mr. Benedict and Curtain. His what. There were a lot of answers he could give to this. No, who in the world told you that, we're twins, being the main one, or perhaps he could just turn to his brother and say, did you seriously fucking tell people you cloned yourself instead of owning up to not being an only child?! But looking at his brother, who was keeping his face utterly blank, Nicholas made a split second decision. "No," he said, looking his brother directly in the eyes, "Actually, he's my clone."

Author Note: I had a harder time choosing between my MBS crack fics because I think they're all hilarious. No false modesty here, if there's one thing I am occasionally good at it is being funny as fuck. Not reliably, but, you know. Anyway, I asked my friends to choose between three random ones I think are the funniest and this was the unanimous (of the two people that responded on incredibly short notice) vote!

And now...

[artistic-mathematics]

Analysis on Shadowheart, her relationship with "Mother Superior", and Shar

Spoilers for all three acts of BG3 below.

I just had the sudden realization that Viconia sent Shadowheart to retrieve the relic with every intention of letting Shadowheart die alone and as a nobody out of pure jealousy, all the while being thrown around like a ragdoll for fucking fun by the goddess she's devoted everything to because she's been gaslit and manipulated her entire life.

Viconia sent her on a fucking suicide mission (KNOWING that it was a suicide mission) and told her that her memories would be restored after she returned under the impression that Shadowheart was going to die. She knew that she was going directly against what Shar wanted (to convert Shadowheart and puppet her around like a plaything until she became Shar's obedient Chosen) and did it anyway because she considered Shadowheart to be a joke and decided that if Shadowheart was dead, then she would have to be the Chosen.

There's only a few things that Shadowheart knows about herself that aren't total fabrications (not including the fear of wolves, I suppose, though they did gaslight her into being terrified of them). She likes night orchids. She can't swim. She's a cleric of Shar. She has a Sharran wound that hurts sometimes -- and she doesn't really even know why it hurts, just that it hurts. The saddest part about this is that two out of these four things, maybe even three, are things that she most likely learnt via intuition. The only other things she knows? Her suicide mission -- to steal the githyanki relic and return it to Baldur's Gate. And the authority figure in her life (emphasis on authority) -- Viconia Devir, Mother Superior, and the things that she'd had done to put her in place.

Viconia wiped literally everything else from Shadowheart's life except for Shar and herself. Shadowheart has a better idea of who Viconia is than who she herself is, and it only gets worse because Viconia had marked her as "expendable". Meanwhile, Shadowheart is completely unaware, believing that she'll be rewarded greatly upon delivering the relic to Baldur's Gate (she doesn't even know where the House of Grief is, or where she's supposed to deliver the relic to specifically!). Except when Shadowheart does become a Dark Justiciar and shows up to overthrow Viconia, Viconia faces her and calls her a traitor anyway despite knowing that Shadowheart is telling the truth. (Note how Viconia doesn't call out "for Shar!" at the beginning of this battle.)

Everything Shadowheart knows about herself is either shit she was manipulated into believing or things she's figured out on her own. She doesn't remember anyone she was close with -- not her best friend Nocturne or any of the initiates she'd trained with. Meanwhile, it's outright explicitly stated that all of her companions -- both from those still in the House of Grief and those who were sent with her on the relic mission, were never treated this way. People in Shadowheart's past all know Shadowheart better than herself -- at least, they know who she used to be before the events of the nautiloid -- but that's just the problem at hand.

Shadowheart has zero sense of identity. Even at the beginning of the game, with the knowledge of being a Sharran cleric, she's struggling with herself. She very clearly is downright terrible at being a Sharran cleric -- I mean like yeah, she likes deceiving people and playing dirty, but she's horrendous at keeping secrets and worries way too much for people and animals than she cares to admit. Even as going down the Dark Justiciar path, Shadowheart's morals -- the ones that Viconia and Shar both tried to suppress -- stand in the way, especially in the House of Grief. When she's faced with her parents, deep down, she knows that killing them is outright wrong, despite everything that she was taught. If you let her do as she pleases, she makes a comment about just serving blindly, because it's just so much easier to do rather than continue with the mental battle that she's been fighting for years -- and note she doesn't even kill her parents intentionally in this route, and she falls to her knees grieving for these people she doesn't recognize because she understands suddenly, realizes that what it'd all meant, but it's far too late because Shar wipes her memory all over again, and her identity is now officially molded into someone completely unrecognizable.

The worst part about it is that Aylin was right about the "terrible blood price" -- the moment Shadowheart kills Aylin, she will never be free from Shar ever again. At this point, she's doomed to be within Shar's clutches forever, her only fate to end up like The Unclaimed (a story about a Sharran cleric who, as the title suggests, was unclaimed by Shar in death). Shadowheart will never be free from Shar as long as she allows her parents to live, and that is so ridiculously fucking petty from a goddess that already took EVERYTHING from this scared little child in the forest who got roped into Shar's undying animosity.

TLDR: Both Shar and Viconia fucking suck, and I want to fistfight Shar (and win, because genuinely, fuck this bitch.)

[spnrareshipbang]

“Every Relationship Has Its Stuff” - Wednesday, November 27

Author: autisticandroids (@autisticandroids)

Artist: arlingtonchamberofgay (@arlington-chamber-of-gay)

Beta(s):

Rating: Explicit

Featured characters: Jack Kline, Harper Sayles, Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester

Featured relationships: jack kline/harper sayles, background castiel/dean winchester

Length: 7k

Tags: coming of age, black comedy

Warnings: child abuse, violence

Summary: Jack sees a familiar face again, and sets about having some important teenage experiences.

Excerpt:

“Where am I?” His throat is thick with disuse. It’s as good a starter as any. Probably the most useful information he can find out, right now. Her eyes are very big.

“Oh, this is a shipping warehouse for a pastry company. I thought it would smell nicer.” She pouts a little.

“Yes,” Jack says, he can feel her hand, it’s slipped lower and his voice vibrates against it, “warehouses all just kind of smell the same.” His breathing hitches a little. “Or bad.” One time, Dean had him and Cas stake out outside a meat packing plant. He grimaces at the memory.

“Ugh, unfortunate,” Harper says, and rolls her eyes, flicking them up dramatically, and Jack strains his own trying to follow them, she’s so close, “I guess you can’t win ‘em all. So, did you ever get my letter?”

“What?” Her lips are slightly glossy. He can feel the movement of his own breath. “My letter. I sent it to Lebanon.” She stands to put her hands on her hips, and Jack feels the loss of warmth against his cheek.

“No, I mean- no. Sorry,” he says. Grasps for what she might want. “That’s sweet though. That you sent it.”

He’s right. She lights up.

“Thanks! I think letter writing is underappreciated these days, especially for love notes. I’m glad you’re someone who understands that.”

“Yeah,” Jack says, “Dean says old formats are always better. Like tapes, or vinyl. I think that includes letters.”

Harper nods.

“I like a lot of old fashioned things. Like dating! Nobody our age ever wants to go on a date anymore. They all just wanna use ‘apps’” - she makes the quote marks with her fingers - “to ‘hang out.’ It’s terrible. Do you like dating, Jack?”

“I’ve-” never gone on a date, he starts to say, but changes course when he remembers where he is, “I- yes! I like… going on dates.”

[picturejasper20]

A lot of people in the phandom talk about how Season 3 was when Danny Phantom went downfall, and while i agree with the idea, i believe that the series was starting to show some of these cracks in Season 2 that later collapsed on Season 3.

For starters, we have the Season 2 first episode ¨Memory Blank¨, whose main purpose was to give Danny a logo in his suit so they had to make the portal explode on him again. It is an episode that doesn't much sense in the timeline and it is very confusing. It doesn't change much aside from Danny having a logo.

Later we have episodes like ¨Reign Storm¨ and ¨The Ultimate Enemy¨, considered to be the peak episodes from the series by many for a reason. The issue with these episodes is that they were setting up for pretty interesting things- but they never had a proper paid off. I have talked before about how the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire never appear again after Reign Storm in spite of how important they were. There isn't any mention of them in the episodes that followed. The same goes to The Ultimate Enemy, a mutual of mine, @pedanticat, pointed out how the special was setting up for Clockwork to be a mentor figure for Danny, which didn't get much followed except for a later episode.

While "The Fright Before Christmas" has some good moments, it is frustrating how Danny has to put up with Jack and Maddie's childish argument that ruins for him and Jazz what should be a special time of the year. It is quite gross that a 14 year old teenager has to deal with something like this and the adults are never called out for it.

I do enjoy "Secret Weapons" a lot but one main issue it has is that it semi rewrites Jazz's character, making her be incompetent at ghost hunting when in previous episodes (My Brother's Keeper and Maternal Instincs) and later ones she isn't seen having this same kind of issue with using fenton gadgets. I believe it was written like this so the status quo wouldn't change much in the show.

From here is where things start to get more messy, with "Beauty Marked" having very cool things but giving a mixed message regarding gender (potraying all girls who like fashion and buy clothes as brainless and Sam being the only girl who is clever). Not terrible since it still fun to watch but questionable in message.

"Masters of All Time": Another dumb alternative plotline episode that doesn't add much to the series and was a whole wasted of opportunity of showing how Jack and Maddie's relationship with Vlad used to be before the proto-portal accident. Pretty insulting to previous characterization established for Vlad as antagonist among of a lot other weird messages and implications. Not much else to add that hasn't been said before in my blog or by some of my DP mutuals.

"Double Cross My Heart": I don't remember a lot of this one but i do know i didn't like the whole idea of Danny stalking Sam + ¨If someone else that isn't Danny likes Sam, it means that they are faking it¨. I do know that as whole this appears to be one of the most disliked episodes from the series.

"Reality Trip": Looking back this episode has a lot of really cool things, specially some exploration of Freakshow's characterization and Jack and Maddie as parents. The GIW being main antagonists is great too. The whole problem that brings this whole special down is that the events that take place don't have any real impact and most of the characters, including Jack and Maddie, lost their memories of learning about Danny's identity as Phantom. This has to be one of the most insulting moves the series did, all because for the sake of keeping the main status quo. It makes me wonder why Kindred Spirits couldn't have been the double part episode instead, since it is related to one of main plotlines (Why Vlad gave Valerie all that gear) and is about one of the main antagonists (Vlad Masters), something that was a lot more important that Freakshow.

As you can see, Season 2 was already starting to show problems that later defined the writing of Season 3. You have things like inconsistent characterization (From Secret Weapons to Masters of All Time), lack of proper continuity ( What i already said of Reign Storm ending and also Valerie not having a major role after Flirting With Disaster) and episodes with weird timeline plotlines that go nowhere and don't have a real impact. (Memory Blank, Masters of All Time and Reality Trip) It is a season that, aside from the first episode, it stays pretty well until the first half, then in the second half it kinda falls apart, with having some episodes that are pretty solid and others that are a mess for different reasons.

[rindragon-from-twewy]

Y'all never guess who the brainrot's been about today boiiiis-

Headcannon dump incoming; (spoilers for the ending) (I'm writing these from a post game perspective)

1: the most grandpa pyjamas you've ever seen. Wears his mask to sleep but wears one of those girlie-pop eyemasks with the big fake lashes over top so people know he's asleep (or at the very least, can't see)

2: Rollerskates round his penthouse to pass the time (occasionally), often blasting music through large stereos and his playlist is a terrible mix of classical orchestra and pop from between the 1970's-2010's

3: other hobbies include balloon crafts, card/magic tricks and decorating new masks <3

4: Ofc ik this one isn't real the way I drew it here but I like to think that he was sort of... cattle branded? With the 0001, a forever mark that he is the first and only 'successful' homunculus. Maybe I'd re-place it on the back of his neck? Since we never see there, canonically.

5: His favourite Pokemon is Mewtwo. He cried when he watched the first pokemon movie, balling at the "I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are". Like he called up Yuma right after fully sobbing about how "Mewtwo's just like me fr-" and then didn't shut up about it, so much so that Martina got him the shirt I drew him in

6: I feel like he wants friends but is just... deeply socially awkward. Now that all the secrets are out etc etc, he has no real reason to hide anymore but... there's just no real way for him to get out and socialize. It ends up with him considering Yomi's ex-lackeys to be the closest things he has to friends, since I like to believe they all work directly under him now.

7: Coming off number 6, I imagine him going to Yomi's jail cell to vent to him and then intentionally take the opposite of any advice Yomi gives him. This ultimately backfires as sometimes Yomi does actually give good advice simply in hopes it'll stop Makoto from coming back.

8: He doesn't actually know how to look after himself very well. Beyond keeping himself clean, that is. He has people clean his house and do all his cooking, he's got a decent sense of the value of money but doesn't really mind throwing his own saving's about on random whims. Does this mean he tries to buy people's friendships through gifts? Occasionally. Does it work? ...... sometimes!

9: Ok so I assume we're all in agreement that either Makoto or Yuma had to die their hair- I think it's safe to assume Yuma was the one to cut his hair short but I think maybe Makoto's the one to dye it. I think No.1 wouldn't have been dumb enough to go "I know, I'll dye my hair purple, nobody will notice the roots showing and come to the conclusion I erased my memory on perpous!" Cuz he's not that dumb- (I hope-) So, you may be asking. Why blonde? Cuz he's a barbie girl in a barbie world, obviously.

10: So I spent the whole time playing raincode like "Yuma's so kirigiri and naegi's kid or something-" And ofc I knew it'd stay a headcannon and not be real cannon but it's stuck. So yeah, Makoto named himself after who he remembered to be his father. I think, since Makoto wants to be a good person, he called himself after the good-est person he knew at the time.

This isn't all the rot but if u read all that then just know this is all eventually gunna be included in fanfics I plan to write-

I am a writer I promise I just don't have the movitation rn-

[mikuni14]

2023

Three clarifications: 1) all my opinions are completely subjective and based entirely on my feelings, 2) I definitely left out a lot of what I wanted to write, and I will probably remember it after the New Year lol 3) The Sign wins all the best categories, BUT the series isn't over yet. I included it in my list anyway (I also included Twins)

Unfortunately, 2023 is me continuing the trend started in 2022, i.e. dropping the series, sometimes even just before the finale. There are about 35 series I dropped this year (!!!!!). Some of them I literally stopped watching the moment MLs appeared on the screen, like Dinosaur Love. Sorry but nope. Why is this happening? Perhaps because of the huge number of series. Before, I watched everything, even the worst productions, because I simply had no choice. Now there are so many new series, also so many great older series that I can come back to with pleasure, that I don't regret dropping something, that in the past I would have forced myself to watch until the end. Life is too short to waste it on mid series 🤷‍♀️

My list:

Perfect relationships: Our Dating Sim, Jun&Jun, The 8th Sense, Love in Translation, MickTop - My Universe, The Sign, Twins, Our Dining Table, Sing My Crush, um, Destiny Seeker 😄

Perfect relationships minus this one thing (usually an awkward kiss, sorry, this is very important to me): Unitentional Love Story, Laws of Attraction. WHY. These are not Sotus times, it's 2023, there are no excuses, learn to kiss, it's the easiest thing to DO

Many series disappointed me, but most of all, the one in which I had such great hopes: Chains Of Heart, come ON, this series had EVERYTHING to become one of the best series this year!!

Characters most harmed by the plot: Boston and Babe. I will also never forgive Between Us for what they did to the most awesome couple ever: WinTeam

Interesting series that pleasantly surprised me with how different and unique they are: Be My Favorite, Bake Me Please

Series that I have watched until the end, that are a complete waste of time and that I have bad memories of: Step by Step and La Puie

Characters that were just plain awful and that I would avoid in real life: first and foremost, of course, that EUN JI bitch and Tae Hyung (The Eighth Sense) also Sangin (Sing My Crush), practically everyone from Only Friends, Phat and Saengtai (La Pluie), Pat (SBS), Wen (Moonlight Chicken), Charlie. I'm not writing about terrible parents, there were a lot of them this year

The craziest series I've watched anyway: Till The World Ends 🥳

It's been a year of shows about workplace romance, but only a few managed to portray it in a good, even cute way without creepy power imbalance: Jun&Jun, ODS, Love in Translation, probably Cherry Magic (still airing)

New stars✨ that rocked my 💖: Daou (LiT), Babe (The Sign), Frame (Twins), Guide (IFYLIA, Bake Me Please) and Mark Pakin, my king 👑

My obsessions this year: Jae Won (The 8th Sense), Charn (LoA), Yang (Love in Translation), Im Han Tae (Sing My Crush), Sprite, THARN and Phaya. Overall, 2023 was full of characters who were a wonderful mix of pathetic and crazy in love and who made me feel like 🥺😍😭🥳. These were the men (and boys) mentioned above, but also Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), Cheng (Chains of Heart), Pisaeng (BMF), Tinn (My School President), Mick (My Universe). I love all of them 💖

Hot guys 🔥: ok, there were a lot of them this year, but definitely Chi Jun (Jun&Jun), Yang (LiT), Im Han Tae (SMC), Palm (NLMG), Songkhram (Destiny Seeker), Way and Alan (Pit Babe), Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), Mark Pakin in all his roles, obviously Tharn and Phaya ✨

Characters that I always look at with fondness, that I watched with real pleasure,, who brought only high-quality content and made this year better for me: Tharn, Phaya and their friends (YAI), Tinn, Charn and their friends (NAWIN and the girls), Mick (MU), main couples from SMC, Jun & Jun, ODC and LiT, Our Dining Table, Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), MR. TIWSON 👑, Peach, Sprite (every time I write the names Peach and Sprite I crave a fruity drink 🍹)

Hottest scenes 🔥: everything that is happening in the PhayaTharn universe so far, and

With so many series from Thailand, surprisingly few made a huge impression on me, the same in the case of characters or couples that I was obsessed with and which I would happily rewatch many times. I was even more surprised by Korea, which, with an incomparably smaller number of series, still created real gems, fantastic couples and interesting, liked characters. It was Korea that gave me probably the most interesting character this year: Jae Won. Although Thailand shot a Tharn-shaped arrow straight into my heart at the very end of the year 💘

It was a very good year, hope 2024 will be even better. What I wish for myself and all of you, my lovely jellyfish bolsters 😘😘😘😘😘

I wanted to thank everyone here for being so awesome this year, everyone who wrote great reviews and funny posts and notes, everyone who worked hard to gif the best scenes and who promoted the series fiercely. I watched many of my favorite series only thanks to your gifs. I love you all so much, you are the best! 🥰

[zahri-melitor]

DC's Nuclear Winter Special #1 (2018)

I understand this to be a Santa-free zone, but when I stopped for a moment to consider skipping it I noticed it not only has Rip Hunter, but it has Superman One Million, so I am heading in out of fascination.

The Nuclear Winter Special - Rip Hunter. This is a very Mark Russell story, with all that implies. Using him for the frame story actually isn't the worst idea, as it spreads out the satire. It's on an 'Oogle' campus in the future and skewering tech bros.

Warmth - Batman 666 (groan). Why... why does Damian have a literal bat wing cape on top of his 666 coat? Why does DC persist with this potential future?

Also for the Lazarus Pit fiends (me among them) I note that Ra's has glowy green AND glowy red eyes during this story. Sigh.

Memory Hearth - Superman One Million. J'ONN!!!! THIS STORY INCLUDES DC ONE MILLION J'ONN!!! Okay that's the highlight of this entire issue right there. Also... 'Josh Johnstone' working on the Kent's farm as a handyman when Clark was little? I'm a sucker but that is ADORABLE, J'onn finding and spending time with the other alien on the planet.

Once and Future - Flash. This is Barry reminiscing on why being resurrected was a bad plan about how much he loves Iris and how they are separated by time and space and crises and villains destroying things.

Where the Light Cannot Reach - Aquaman. Arthur gets sent by some scientists to an abyssal trench to look for a radiation-eating microorganism to help with nuclear wasteland that is the earth and sea. He finds it and finds hope.

Last Daughters - Supergirl. Oh GOSH. Sometimes Tom Taylor really can write. In the nuclear wasteland, Kara finds Lucy, a two year old. Kara becomes her mother, and they spend the next two years travelling, until Kara can climb Mount Denali above the radioactive cloud. Kara gets up high enough to see sun, recharges, and then takes Lucy to the Fortress of Solitude, intending to put her in Clark's escape pod and re-enact the end of Krypton. But as Kara is placing Lucy inside, she remembers begging her own parents to come with her...and can't send Lucy alone. So they both squeeze in as Kara cannot abandon her child.

Last Christmas - Firestorm. In our post-apocalyptic world, Firestorm tracks down a nuclear power reading to a dead amusement park, and finds the Nuclear Family, whose power sources are all running down and who are celebrating a final Christmas together. He manages to help them run down at the same moment together (after they try to cause one last moment of destruction by feeding their remaining power to Firestorm to try and blow him up).

Northern Lights - Kamandi. This is a fascinating way to do the Hanukkah story, imo. It's a story of who you are and how your dead relatives guide you. (also it's Phillip Hester both on story and art, so I stared at the art for a while).

Nine Lives - Catwoman. It's Selina raising Holly Robinson's daughter Sophie in the apocalyptic future. (It does amuse me how many times Selina gets stuck looking after teenage girls over the years). Sophie is generous and gives away what they've stolen; Selina is pragmatic about keeping them alive.

Selina is preserving culture by stealing it to store; she goes off to stare at a Bast statue at the Gotham museum and stumbles onto a stockpile of rations at the same time. So she steals the rations, takes them back to Sophie, and tells her she can distribute them to others for Christmas (because Selina, at heart, is a soft touch).

The Birds of Christmas Past, Present and Future - Green Arrow. Ah yes, this story is reminding me why I tend to believe that Dinah has the worst taste in men (Ollie included), and so this is incredibly cathartic seeing Dinah having her own life and family that isn't just raising Ollie's kids. Go Dinah! This is not an apocalyptic future! You can be fond of and love Ollie and realise he's terrible for you!

[lettersleftunsent]

// the last falsetto //

dear you,

when i first listened to this song, i easily associated it with someone. the song makes me feel like i'm walking barefoot at the beach, feeling the warm sand in between my toes, my hair flowing freely with the cold breeze, and my chest feels light as i breathe all my frustrations out in the air. he feels exactly like that. he feels like sunshine.

but after looping it for hours and rereading the lyrics multiple times, i took back the association because it doesn't match. all along, there's an underlying reason why i liked the song, and now, i realize it may be because of you.

there's probably a million things i'd like to say to you, but honestly, i think it'd be best if i just ask — how have you been?

a part of me wholeheartedly wishes that you're well, and that you're living your best life. a part of me wishes you're happy. but the part of me that recognizes the pain you caused totally wishes the opposite. i can't blame her though.

do you even remember how we started out as friends? it was the 5th of december, and we had emptied a lot of bottles. we were both drunk, and you were muttering the most nonsense sentences the world has ever heard despite us having a sensible conversation because the alcohol already took over. when the morning came, we were waiting for everyone to finish getting dressed so that we can go home. you sat by me while i'm hugging my stuffed bear and asked "can i hug you?". you were clingy when you're drunk, and funnily enough, i am too so i said yes. i think that was the first out of the many hugs we get to share. too bad the count finally halted.

we met again that afternoon for a photoshoot, and you, despite sleeping so soundly on the jeep to the point that your friend carried you to his apartment, turned out pretty decent. you looked great, like you weren't hurling hours before. that day was filled with so much bliss, and it's vividly etched in my memory. little did i know, the 6th of december marks a start of a beautiful friendship — so beautiful that the world doomed it to end terribly.

i don't want to delve deeper into what we had because even i cannot verbalize what that was. was there even a concept of "us" or was it just in my mind? all these years, the chronic thought of asking "what are we?" haunted me and what's sad is that i will never know the answer to that. maybe it's better not knowing. maybe it's better to just settle with the fact that you were the reason why my life was filled with bliss for a certain point in time, and for that, i will be eternally grateful.

at the back of my mind, i have this small box filled with little details about you. i know the song you listen to when you need that little push. you know how to braid someone's hair because you do your little niece's hair. you have this certain hyperfixation on this one particular italian word. oh god, i still remember how you smell like -- intoxicating, gentle, familiar.

and at the same time, you knew things about me, things i never even had the chance to verbalize out loud, but you still knew because you paid attention.

it will always be a mystery to me how you knew that i loved that particular song to the point that you asked me to sing it with you. i will never forget every single time you braided my hair because you knew i loved it when people play with my hair. you knew i love stickers, so you bought one that matched mine.

your arms, up until now, are what i consider my safest place in this world. no one has ever come close to the way you made me feel that night – the security, the serenity, the peace, everything – and five years later, you still own a part of me.

i'd like to think we knew each other pretty well -- perhaps to be loved is to be known. however, like the seasons, you and i went through drastic changes. we outgrew a lot of things, including each other. although sometimes, i think about these versions of us -- the version of us who deeply knew each other -- where did they go?

at nights when i walk home alone, or during spontaneous karaoke nights wherein i sing duets with a different person, and whenever i get the urge to braid my hair in the morning before i go to work, the question lingers, "what if?"

i'd like to think there's a universe out there wherein we decided to give in to chance. there's probably a universe wherein i decided to tell you that i love you, and you eagerly said it back. there's probably a universe in which the yearning and pining were mutual, and the love was unconditionally reciprocated.

like the song we sang to each other, i'd come home after a long day because in that world, you'll be mine and i'll be yours.

but that's all this was gonna be – a "what if". ours was never a case of bad timing because we're never made to course through this lifetime together. what we were were just ships that pass in the night — meant to meet at one point in time, but destined to sail off on our separate voyages, never to cross paths ever again.

it's bittersweet that i couldn't even say that our time has passed because we never even happened, but i grew to accept that i was never meant to be a part of your story. not a sentence, probably not even a phrase. i never made a mark on yours, but do remember that you are a whole chapter in mine.

[the12thnightproject]

15 Questions for 15 Mutuals

@msviolacea tagged me here (read the questions and answers, but it's a longer post, so am copying the questions).

Were you named after anyone?

Actually, I was named "in honor of" my great-grandmother, whose name turned out to be double alliterative with my surname, so my parents then chose a different first name. My middle name was in honor of my other great-grandmother (and again they modernized the name, although in that case, I wish they hadn't, because "Lena" would have been a much more interesting middle name than "Lynn" which is what they ended up with.

When was the last time you cried?

Within the last week.... family tsuris.

Do you have kids?

Nope.

Do you use sarcasm?

it is my factory default setting.

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I have a terrible memory for faces, seriously awful, and I almost need to meet people three times before I can call their image to mind and match a name to it. Therefore, what I always do is try to find a unique feature that will help me remember them. So, it varies.

What’s your eye colour?

Brown.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. Not a fan of scary.

Any special talents?

Writing, I guess. If you go with less than usual talents, I have a really good auditory memory (better than my reading memory), and am pretty good at identifying people by their voices (probably a compensation for the terrible face memory), songs by the first few notes, dialogue from movies.

Where were you born?

Somewhere in the continental U.S. is as much as I am prepared to reveal.

What are your hobbies?

Reading, photography, walking, writing, video games, movies, ice skating (though... it's been a while).

Have any pets?

Two cats and they hate each other.

What sports do/have you played?

My parents, being of the opinion that their kids should always be busy and have hobbies, signed me up for every recreational sport available in my town - that included softball, floor hockey, horseback riding, swimming, golf, and tennis. I was terrible at ALL of them. As an adult, I learned how to figure skate, and was oddly not terrible at it (granted, I wasn't good either, but I did pass up through ISI 4 freestyle, and could land all the single jumps except the axel).

How tall are you?

On the shorter end of average.

Favorite subject at school?

English and journalism ... I liked history a lot, but all of the history teachers were just the sports coaches marking time until practice after school, so my history education tended to be self-motivated.

Dream Job?

Working screenwriter or television writer.

Now for the 15 tags .... only if you want to, no pressure:

@mllorei @bestbryn @selenacosmic @lyds323 @fighting-and-drawing @tele86 @ikeromantic @arrthurpendragon @venulus @violettduchess @katriniac @iphigeniainaulis @scorchieart @queengiuliettafirstlady

[zalrb]

I’m that same April/Arizona/Shane hate anon

When did you stop watching greys ? I’m only asking because I really enjoy your blog and POV and finally found someone who agrees that Arizona is terrible to Callie

I’m also curious if you’ve seen the part of greys where April and Jackson lose their first baby - it’s around the time Shane came in (season 9-11 I think)

Did you like Lexie ? I didn’t but disliking her is also unpopular. I don’t hate her l, I just don’t see her point. She’s cute with mark and they have a good relationship but character wise, she’s nothing special to me. When she came in season 4 as the daughter thatcher chose and raised instead of mer, I really disliked her just because at that point I was on Meredith’s side.

Also, do you remember Mer fighting with Cristina in s5 ? If so, whose side were u on ? Do you have an opinion on the mer and Cristina fight in s10 (I was totally on Meredith’s side on that btw)

It's funny because I recently rewatched the Cristina/Meredith fight in season 10 and I'm on Cristina's side 100%.

These are valid points. She even says it has nothing to do with being a mother

People get so wrapped up in her pointing out that Ellis never let up but her point was that because Meredith didn't want to be Ellis, which was valid, she let that --- at the time anyway --- affect her dedication to her work.

She didn't even say she was a bad surgeon, she just said that the two of them were in different places and they were and then Meredith twisted what Cristina said.

because she never said she couldn't do that, she just said that she slowed down and her priorities were different and they were.

In terms of the printer, Meredith's research, yes, she got it for the hospital to complete her research and she needed to complete her phase before the end of the week to get funding but Cristina had an actual patient who was running out of options and she was doing everything she could to save the patient's life. That should take precedence.

People hate that Shane intervened but what he said wasn't wrong, Meredith did make it emotional, she did make it personal and that's something that Meredith does frequently

and something Cristina had called her out about in their season 5 fight

So, I was on Cristina's side.

In terms of their fight in season 5, I don't really know if I had a side because no matter how you slice it, they were both wrong. Like, I definitely thought Cristina was right to tell Meredith that all of them failed their interns but she didn't report them and I thought she should've been punished for that and the fact that she didn't report them isn't Meredith's responsibility. At the same time, Meredith was kind of acting holier than thou when her interns were also a part of the situation and as for her not having her back, she doesn't have to but I mean she had Izzie's in season 2 and for all of their talk about being each other's Person, I can see why Cristina would be pissed but again, it wasn't really about sides for me with that one.

I stopped watching Grey's when Cristina left, which I think is season 10 but after season 2 frankly, Grey's gets kind of fuzzy for me because it was strange, I'd find, like, two seasons trash and then one season really good and then the other season mediocre but with one or two really stand out episodes so I have to refresh my memory and I definitely won't really remember much minor/side characters like Shane.

I went through a phase where I caught up on Grey's through youtube vids of certain ships so I'm fairly certain I saw the whole devolution of Japril which included when they lost their first child because I remember when Jackson tried to comfort her and suggested trying for another baby and April freaks out and then I believe she leaves, right? and then she comes back and wants him back or something then they have another kid and then there's a whole custody thing or something because I remember Jackson tries to talk to her and she slams the door in his face or something and he kicks it or something and I was like whoa, Japril got really toxic in the time that I haven't been watching.

Lexie:

With Lexi, I just didn’t get the point of her. Every time she was onscreen I was just like, why are you here, what do you bring, what IS your personality, are you just the nice mousy girl who got to have a father in Thatcher and then get annoyed at Meredith when she has hangups about the life you got when he didn’t fight for her? Like who ARE you and why do I care about you? That was me every time she was onscreen. I mean, that’s also partially my thing, I don’t think I’m a very forgiving person so her insistence on being a part of Meredith’s life and begging her to give Thatcher a transplant because he was such a good father to her even though he wasn’t to Meredith just bothered me and she bothered me.

[neim-batteries-not-included]

Hey! I was wondering if their is magic in ur fantasy world? If so, how does it work (are people born with it, can it be learned, etc?) I love ur stuff

Thank you so much!!

And there is very much magic within Kunirn, it's actually quite central to people's lives. Most living things, not including plants, have a soul to some degree- as they were all created by the gods. The word soul essentially just refers to any part of a being that isnt physical- ie thoughts, feelings, ideas and most importantly memories. I'll come back to this later.

The gods also have souls. Had?? Had souls?? They are semi-dead so. eh. I'll go with have tghtrnhj. But, gods' souls were different in that they contained what is in one language called yiw yiw is essentially the ability to perform magic- and ONLY gods had this for a while. it actually more closely translates to creation, or influence but its only ever really used in this context but long story short they were dying and were "man it would be nice to preserve ourselves and protect our idiot children" so, again cutting out some details, they did some fuckery with their souls- essentially dividing small parts of them between their mortal followers. (each god had different followers- living in cities dedicated to them, worshipping them, etc. there weren't exactly athiests on Kunirn, seeing as the gods were right there for everyone to see. but, even if someone didnt worship, if they so much as lived near one of the cities the gods decided to grant them the same shit as others. they were surprisingly not terrible sometimes like that) these small parts basically contained a diluted form of yiw. each gods' was different- thus granting different magical abilities depending on the yiw that was. kind of forcefully shoved into mortals' souls

from their it pretty much functioned the same as- say, eye colour. inheritance baby!! the magic that individuals could perform depended on their ancestry. there arent any "dominant" forms of yiw- it just is decided by what is more prominent in the bloodline. (soulline? i suppose you could say soulline.) if its an even split, it is left up to chance. this is quite rare, however. if it does happen, someone would likely find out what magic they can use via trial and error.

due to just how diluted the form of yiw contained within mortal souls is, it could have been lost in the second generation entirely. to remedy this, a cycle was put into place. when magic is performed, a memory- a piece of a soul, containing yiw- is removed and absorbed, so to speak, by the relevant god. that yiw can then be granted to another. the memory is decided on how powerful the magic being cast is- tier one being the least, three being the most. the higher the tier, the more important the memory- thus the higher the concentration of yiw. it is a written system- the writing serves as communication with the god, a request for enough yiw to perform whatever magic the mortal wants to. inks used to write are made of something connected to the god. generally, something they created- a plant, a mineral, etc. it simply adds a layer of clarity to the whole ordeal. written magic contains the magic being cast, the god, the caster's name (what they call themselves, no legal shit here), the target (if its a person, then whatever the caster knows them by- if its an object generally defaults to the closest to the caster fitting that description. or, it can be marked and the mark be used) and the tier- usually just represented by a number. the magic that can be cast wildly differs between- sets?? i dont. have a name for it yet hah. basically just the shit that groups of mortals can do based on yiw. i'll do a post dedicated to that at some point. probably. if i remember. in short, and because ive explained this quite terribly- mortal souls only contain enough yiw to maintain the cycle, not to independently perform magic, so they write shit to communicate with half dead gods to let them do stuff. magic that can be performed is really quite variable, and is decided by bloodline. it is by no means a perfect system, but it was put in place by the gods when they were scared and dying. still, it works. for now. it would completely fall apart, however, if the gods were to truly die. as it stands, they're kind of preserved in stone. lets hope that lasts, hm? sorry this took so long to reply to, i've been busy hah but thank you for the ask! and if anything needs clarifying dont hesitate to ask because my god i am bad at words today and i have. not proof read this ergrhgtduhj.

[riverdamien]

Into the Wilderness

he Wilderness of Compassion!

Sunday, August 4, 2024

"Jesus replied: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirst (John  6:35)

    As the years passed my dad seemed to grow wiser; during the last three weeks on an Ignatian Retreat in the Desert, and the anniversary of my father's death, he was very present and much wiser!

    I remember around six years old my dad was told by his doctor he would have to go to a tuberculosis sanitorian, for he had the disease.

    This place was in the middle of the Ozarks, and for three months he was there, he called with the news that the disease had vanished, he was joyful, believing it was a 'miracle.' He came home a changed man.

    Every morning he was up at 4 a.m. reading the Scriptures and praying; in his grocery store at noon, he took time away to do the same, and the last task at night!

    To me, it was just my dad's daily habits, but when he became ill with lung cancer his faith sustained him, and as he lay dying, he handed me an envelope with instructions to be followed after his death.

    So many people attended his memorial service they were overflowing from the door, and in this segregated small southern town there were black, white, Hispanic, rich, middle class, and poor, all a mixture of the rainbow coming together to remember my dad.

    Following his memorial service, I read the note instructing me to go to his business, remove boxes, and burn them; I had no idea why; and as I opened the safe, I found fifty or so boxes going back years, marked with the verse: ". . .As you have done it until the least of these my brothers and sisters you have done it unto me (Matthew 25:31-46)."

    In each box there were billing tickets, used for charging groceries, never paid, and in looking at the names I observed they were tickets from the  poorest of families, who had no money, my dad gave them groceries and charged them so that they might have  the dignity of paying for them someday, that night as I placed in one large pile, set them ablaze I felt my dad standing beside me, and heard Jesus saying, "Well done my good an faithful servant, enter now into my Kingdom prepared for you, Welcome Home!"

    These memories bring up a hunger for my past, a time of being included, loved, and cared for; but the past is long gone, and distorted memories of my past can easily lead me in ways God is not leading! Those memories can lead me from a way of compassion, into simply being a caregiver, unwilling to give my all, into trying to survive, and be accepted!

    Rather, I must continue to walk away from the rigid structures that label and separate us. My colleague, the Reverend Dana once said: "Religious people will destroy a person to keep a tradition.  Jesus will break a tradition to help a person.   It is into the desert of broken traditions and dreams I walk.

    Thomas Merton tells us: "There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is the only desert that shall flourish like the Lilly, for true solitude in the desert is walking, and caring for those no none else will touch."

    And so I choose to walk into the desert where life itself is a primal sacrament, the invisible sign of an invisible grace, into the window of the Divine! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

=============================

Homeless People Are Made in God's Image!

Come and Serve in the Desert of Compassion!

"Mayor Plans to Clear Homeless Encampments In San Francisco! (San Francisco Chronicle)!

Wednesday, August 7, 2024, We will Vigil at Noon!

Come Join Us!

=======================

"Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever. Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive. Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend. — Naomi Shihab Nye, “Kindness”

------------------

30th Anniversary Celebration

Victor’s Pizza

6 p.m.

November 9, 2024

WE ARE BEGGARS! WE REALLY NEED MONEY--Really Badly At theMoment!

FOR FOOD, SOCKS, HARM REDUCTION AND OTHER SERVICES!

P.O. Box 642656

415-305-2124

temenos@gmail.com

pay pal

www.temenos.org

(Temenos and Dr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!

Temenos Catholic Worker

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

Dr. River Sims, D.Min, D.S.T.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

I had to set aside my upgrade of some of the networking code changes I wanted to make on the project I’m on at work. That’s fine. I knew it would be a bit of a process to update this code and to be honest it may be a fools errand. But I still believe it would make the code more maintainable and eliminate two third party dependencies. But you have to be ready to sideline work like this when more pressing work shows up.

Here we go. I hope you enjoy the links this week.

Benj Edwards • Ars Technica

Gordon Bell, an architect of our digital age, dies at age 89

RIP 🪦

Tom Warren • The Verge

Microsoft has just announced a new Surface Pro, which is part of the new wave of Copilot Plus PCs. The new Pro, which is technically the “11th edition,” starts at $999, comes in four colors, and is powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X processors.

I don’t care about the AI stuff Microsoft announced and hopefully folks can turn it off because it sounds terrible but I do like seeing them ship new hardware with vastly improved performance. 👍🏼

Fingers crossed this one is a winner. 🤞🏼

Lance Ewing

There is nothing unusual about the outside of these disks, but there is something unique about the data that is stored on them, something that Sierra On-Line would have been totally unaware of and certainly wouldn’t have wanted them to include.

I love history stories like this! Back in my Visio days I was what we call a Configuration Engineer. I was in charge of our installer code and creating the final gold master disks — 720KB and 1.44MB — and CD, so I’m familiar with this process. I didn’t, however, have an imaging machine. We sent the masters out to a disk duplication service to mass produce them and put them in boxes with documentation.

Anywho, I never made a mistake like that, and this mistake was not the worst you could make. Hey, at least the code wasn’t there in plain text. You actually had to check space the OS has marked as free to find it. Remember kids, do a destructive format or a DoD wipe of space you’d like to be empty.

Kazuaki Nagata • The Japan Times

In a bid to break Apple and Google’s dominance of the smartphone app ecosystem, the Japanese government is looking to change rules on app markets and payments to stimulate competition.

Things are getting interesting for Apple and Google. At what point does Apple decide on a single strategy for managing the availability of third-party stores and installation of software outside of any store?

I can’t see Japan going for Apple’s “Core Technology Fee” but we’ll see as this moves forward.

John Gruber • Daring Fireball

Pixar Lays Off 175 Employees, 14 Percent of Staff, Shocking No One Who’s Tried Watching Their Recent Films

Harsh take from Gruber. The last Pixar Movie I saw was Onward and I liked it.

I don’t know if it’s that their movies are bad now. Maybe the magic has just worn off?

Jason Koebler • 404 Media

Google Is Paying Reddit $60 Million for F**ksmith to Tell Its Users to Eat Glue

This is a head scratcher. If LLMs are being trained on all of the Internet then we’re kind of screwed.

I’m not eating a pizza with glue in the sauce, ok. 🍕

Witney Seibold • /Film

Armitage didn’t even know his sword had been stolen until Peter Jackson brought it to his attention. He’d been equally surprised to have Orcrist join his possessions in the first place.

All I could think while reading this is how amazing it would be to have this sword hung above my fireplace. 🗡️

It’s a fun little story.

Chris Eidhof

This post is a look inside how (a small part of) SwiftUI works. I’m mainly writing this as part of my extended memory, so that I can go back to it and read about how it works.

This is the kind of post I need as a developer. Having experienced looks at part of the language you use daily is always helpful.

Swift continues to expand as a programming language and I wish the pace would slow a bit. I’m so far behind the curve it’s frightening. That’s what happens when you spend a year-and-a-half as a Director. Those dev skill wilt a bit and you get really far behind.

The good thing is nobody knows, or cares, if you’re using the latest and creates language features or frameworks. What they want is quality software.

I made note earlier this week that Tapbots beautifully designed and implemented Ivory app is written in Objective-C. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

(I reached out to Tapbots to see if that was still true. I didn’t receive a reply.)

Rachel Treisman • NPR

Elvis Presley’s granddaughter is suing to stop the planned foreclosure sale of his compound Graceland, alleging that the company involved not only forged documents, but doesn’t actually exist.

I really hope they’re able to get this sorted out in favor of Elvis’ estate. It seems Lisa Marie may have gone around the estate to get a loan from a dodgy entity that doesn’t really exist. I’ll keep an eye on this one.

Rich Turner • Microsoft Command Line

We are excited to announce the open-sourcing of Microsoft GW-BASIC on GitHub!

I’ve share my love for BASIC and it’s nice to see Microsoft release this code to the general public.

Hey, can you release the grammar for Microsoft Professional Basic v6.x? I’d like to have that for reasons. 😃

Sean Hollister • The Verge

At Build, Microsoft now says it’s adding native version control to File Explorer by integrating systems like Git, letting you see new changes and comments directly from the app.

They’re basically Sherlocking some small plug-in developers with these features. It was inevitable. I used an extension to File Explorer in the mid-2000’s with Subversion that did this very thing. It now does it for git.

Jamelle Bouie • The New York Times

All of this brings us to the most recent controversy surrounding the Supreme Court justice Samuel A. Alito. Not long after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, my colleague Jodi Kantor reported last week, someone in the Alito household flew an inverted American flag in the front yard. The upside-down flag, a sign of naval distress, was one of the preferred symbols of the movement to “stop the steal” — a statement of solidarity with those who disbelieved the results of the 2020 presidential election and fought to return Trump to office against the rule of law and the verdict of the Constitution.

Now we know. Some of the Supreme Court justices are in bed with American Oligarchs and the MAGA movement. They need to be dismissed from the bench.

For a Supreme to openly show support for the overthrow of our country is pathetic and he needs to be held accountable.

[thesnadger]

20 Great Horror Podcasts To Fall Asleep And Have Nightmares To

I listen to a lot of horror podcasts, and if you’re looking for a spooky recommendation for October, I am here to provide. These are my personal top ten (not in any order) and ten rapid-fire “honorable mentions” as well.

The Silt Verses – Strange, soothing folk horror. Two followers of an outlawed god travel their deity’s great black river, hiding from a police manhunt and encountering other weird gods that have flourished in forgotten rural territories. There is a god in your fridge, a god in your radio, a god in your deepest regrets, and none of that is a good thing.

The Hotel – Someplace beyond time and space is The Hotel, where guests check in but they don't check out *Vincent Price laugh* instead meeting a violent death at the will of the Hotel. The truly stand out part is the hotel staff, who end up getting most of the focus. The interplay between these terrible monsters who are all trapped in hell together is absolutely fantastic, horror office politics at its finest.

The Magnus Archives – Jonathan Sims’s job is to record statements of encounters with the supernatural. But the more he records, the more connections he makes between these seemingly disconnected tales of terror. A horror/tragedy with a deep emotional core, difficult moral questions, and just the right amount of humor. You’ve already heard of this one why am I even telling you about it, it’s good.

Unwell – Mount Absalom, Ohio is a small town, the kind of place where you don’t lock your doors at night. Where the ghost tour at Fenwood House runs rain or shine. Where buildings still bear the marks of the last great fire in the Burning Woods. Where you might hear echoes of conversations long past in the observatory on Chapel Hill. Unwell is particularly memorable for its fun, colorful characters and for its themes of history and loss. A Midwestern Gothic mystery about family, memories, and the things that haunt us in the end.

Down – A submarine called the Virgil enters a seemingly bottomless Antarctic trench. Its mission: to map the pit and collect samples of any scientifically interesting creatures within. But when an encounter with one of these creatures goes awry, tensions form among the crew, and they begin to wonder how safe they really are. All the while, the Virgil descends … and descends … and descends.

Mockery Manor – It’s the summer of 1989, and people are going missing in Mockery Manor theme park. It’s up to a pair of teenage sisters to unravel the mystery and catch the killer – if they can get past their own traumas and work together. If you like 80s and 90s horror/slasher movies, this one is for you. The audio production values are some of the best I’ve seen, and include in-universe pop songs and wonderfully atmospheric 90s horror synth.

I Am In Eskew – David Ward is lost. He’s found himself in Eskew, a place of steep and winding streets, where the architecture changes at will and the rain never stops. Eskew grips its people tight, and does not let go easily. These are David’s stories of the city that has claimed him, and of someone who is looking for him there.

Gospel Of The Flood – The world is sinking. Slowly, day by day, the continents are vanishing under the waves. This is the age of the Flood. We follow a priest who has lost his faith, as he searches for the people he remembers in this doomed and dying world. A tragedy/existential horror about faith, despair, kindness, cruelty, and the tide that carries it all away.

The Lost Cat Podcast – Our narrator is looking for his cat. It isn’t the nicest cat, nor the most well-behaved, but it is his cat and he misses it. As he searches he encounters many people, many creatures, and some truly terrible things. He’d like to tell you about them. The tone for this one fluctuates from story to story, from genuinely horrifying to purely comedic to incredibly soft and gentle.

Archive 81 – A man named Daniel Powell listens to some audio tapes. This will surely not have severe consequences for anyone. Melody Pendras interviews the tenets of a building where reality wears thin at the edges. A play from golden age of radio brushes against something mankind wasn't meant to hear. Two siblings attempt an occult ritual left by their estranged (and now deceased) father. It's a lot of weird analog horror with fun found footage scattered within.

(Note: Archive 81 is genuinely nothing like the Netflix adaptation of the same name. The plot is entirely different, the characters act differently, the podcast is a surreal cosmic horror while the adaptation is a straightforward demon cult and Netflix made Melody straight. Don’t mention the Netflix adaptation in this household we all hate the Netflix adaptation here.)

Honorable Mentions: (i.e., I like them but for one reason or another they weren’t right for the top ten.)

Midst - More Fantasy/Weird/Western than horror, but if you like horror you’ll love the monsters, the cosmic horror reality storms and the truly weird imagery. The unique narration style is like nothing else I’ve ever heard and keeps the energy high.

The White Vault S1 & S2 – Frozen tundra horror, similar vibes to The Thing, in a found footage format. I mostly recommend the first two seasons, because they’re the most solid and they work as a self-contained story.

Old Gods of Appalachia – Appalachian folk horror, angry ghosts and forest gods. Some characters and threads run through it but largely each season is its own setting and story.

Alice Isn’t Dead – A truck driver searches America for the wife she long assumed was dead. Soft spoken road trip horror slowly unraveling an inhuman conspiracy.

Woe.Begone – More scifi/thriller than horror, but good shit. What begins as a mysterious and violent ARG with real-life consequences becomes a search for the technology that makes the game possible. Great music, fun narrator, dark themes.

Death By Dying – The Obituary Writer of Crestfall, Idaho just can’t stop himself from investigating the mysterious deaths he’s supposed to be writing about. Very silly and whimsical, more black comedy than pure horror with big Welcome To Night Vale vibes.

A Voice From Darkness – Parapsychologist Dr. Malcolm Ryder helps those who suffer from supernatural troubles on his call in radio show. I’ll warn that the update schedule is a bit slow and not super consistent.

The SCP Archives – A podcast that takes stories from the SCP Foundation wiki and gives them voice acting, foley and the full audio treatment. Picks a pretty good variety, too.

The Wrong Station – Anthology podcasts are always a little hit and miss, but the fact that The Wrong Station keeps the same writing/VA team from episode to episode really helps keep it consistent. I made a list of my favorite episodes here.

Nightlight – Anthology podcast with creepy stories written by black writers and performed by black actors. Like all anthologies, you’ll like some stories better than others, but they cover a pretty wide range.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #6: Paperwork

Prompt: onerous || Master Post || On AO3

Lyse stared down at her never-ending pile of paperwork and sighed.

She had been well aware from a young age just how much work went into leadership; one of the few memories she still had of her father was of him crouched over a crate serving as his makeshift desk, reading reports by lamplight. Back then, the Resistance had been against the Mad King, and she could vaguely recall that some of her father’s work had been drafts for a constitution, a rough draft of what to, perhaps, put in place to govern Gyr Abania once the monarchy had been overthrown.

And now here she was, over twenty years after the fact, staring at a stack of reports and correspondence relating to how the Ala Mhigan council was trying to piece together a functioning government. Funny how things worked out like that.

Better late than never, she supposed.

Sighing again, Lyse took the folio that was on top of her “to do” pile, opened it, and got back to work. (Gods, how many had she done today?)

She remembered both Louisoix and Minfilia adopting similar hunched poses, too. The Circle of Knowing might have been small, but once in Eorzea and acting against the stated desires of the Forum, they’d been cut off from the majority of whatever funding they had had available to them. Louisoix had left Sharlayan prepared for that with his personal funds rather than anything from the Leveilleur family accounts—plus, as Lyse would much later find out, a few marks of credit snuck into his pack by Ameliance—and had budgeted ruthlessly; the memory of him chewing a quill into nothing as he balanced the ledger was one that she treasured. So many people, herself included, remembered him as a larger-than-life figure, when at the end of the day, he had merely been a man trying to do the right thing.

Minfilia hadn’t been a quill-chewer, but she had done most of her eating at her desk as she read through reports and organized them (in no way Lyse had been able to follow, but Tataru had—maybe it was something that made sense to anyone raised in Ul’dah). Honestly, it had been how Tataru had kept Minfilia fed; she had been terrible at keeping to regular meals, but if she was distracted with something else and had had a tray full of snacks in reach, Minfilia would absently graze as she worked. Maybe Lyse should start keeping snacks on hand, too, make the tedium at least somewhat enjoyable.

…No, that wasn’t wise. She was self-aware enough to know she’d polish off a tray of midye tava and leblebli and lokum and then get up to go look for more, instead of working.

Lyse signed off on the report she had finished, closed and set the folio aside, and took a moment to beat her forehead against her desk.

Don’t think about food, don’t think about food.

The next report she pulled down was, at least, genuinely interesting: one of Arenvald’s updates about the Silver Griffins. Raganfrid submitted his own reports, too, about the organization, but Arenvald’s were more colloquial—he probably had figured out it was Lyse receiving them, because she knew he could be as thorough and terse as Thancred at his most serious. Lyse read that one eagerly.

She was five reports removed from Arenvald’s when the door to her office swung open and Naago stuck her head inside. “Oi, workaholic,” she said, “fancy a spar?”

Lyse looked out the window wistfully; it was an absolutely gorgeous day. “I shouldn’t,” she groaned, “this pile gets bigger every time I look away from it for longer than five seconds.”

Her friend came over, poking at the pile. “This isn’t as bad as it was the day before,” the Seeker said. “Anything time sensitive?”

Lyse chewed on her lower lip. “Not really?” She glanced over at the outbox she kept on a side table, and blinked when she saw it was empty; huh, her secretary must have been in while she wasn’t paying attention to collect those. “I do those first thing in the morning, I know how slow I am.”

Naago nodded, and shouted out through the still-open office door: “Tilla, does Lyse have anything she needs to complete in the next few bells.”

“No!” Tilla shouted back. “Everything on her desk can wait another day or so.”

Lyse blinked, and Naago smirked. “This is why you have a secretary,” she said with a laugh. “They’re magical beings.”

“I really should know that,” Lyse muttered as she pushed away from her desk, the chair moving smoothly now that a carpet had been installed in her office. “Minfilia was a workhorse, but Tataru was a demon keeping the Scions organized. Who am I kidding, she still is.”

Her friend helped pull her to her feet. “Then utilize yours more! She’s there to help; you always bite off more than you can chew and need someone to knock sense into you.”

Lyse shrugged with a smile. “’Strue. But I will be doing the knocking around today.”

“Hah! We’ll see about that!”

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[opalesense]

nsfw headcanons

zhongli & gn!reader [NSFW]

1.1k words • ~9 min. read

summary: some headcanons of what zhongli is like in bed!

warnings: liyue arc spoilers, breeding

notes: you might be able to tell i got some zhongli favoritism by how long this is lol

zhongli, in his sophisticated and traditional nature, will be extremely respectful of you and will only have sex at times and places where you want to. he believes your body is a temple and he does not want to consistently impurify it with selfish human desires. very rarely will he force himself onto you (that's not to say that he wouldn't though, more on that later!)

he is always turned on when you're in his vicinity. one look at you will send his thoughts racing. he definitely won't show it outwardly all the time, but he is always ready when you are.

no sharing. at all, ever. you are his for as long as time exists. anyone who dares to even shoot a suggestive glance at you will meet zhongli's wrath, or at the very least, his cold, intimidating stare. he gets very upset if you even attempt to mention the possibility of polygamy in bed. he is very possessive.

there are two sides to zhongli in bed. he is either gently making love with you, relishing in the slow paced pleasure and heat of the moment, or he is purely animalistic, mindlessly destroying you and following instinct alone, paying no mind to what you want.

his gentler side in bed is simply a projection of his true love for you. he will endlessly praise you with words, loving the way your face lights up with each compliment and getting turned on when he knows he is pleasuring you. he will constantly be muttering that he loves you, cherishes you, and will never let you go. reminding you that he loves you while he's indulging in such a dirty act with you is VERY important to him.

slow, careful, and calculated moves. he will observe each twitch, moan, and facial expression you make to determine his next moves. if you're visibly uncomfortable, he will immediately try something else. if you're in extreme pleasure, he will make sure to remember what he is doing so he can do it again and again.

zhongli's incredible memory encapsulates your likes and dislikes in and out of the bedroom. he uses this to his advantage to overload you with pleasure every time. the more times you make love with him, the more he can use his knowledge to make each time an enjoyable one.

if you can remember the things he likes too, he will be overjoyed! he doesn't expect you to focus on pleasuring him though. in fact, each time you have sex is an opportunity for him to serve you.

he LOVES releasing himself inside of you. more on that later, but know that he doesn't like seeing his fluids splayed across your body or seeing you covered in tears or saliva. again, your body is a temple. to him, it must stay as orderly and pure as possible.

zhongli is not into hurting you or leaving any drastic marks on you for a similar reason. he doesn't mind leaving a hickie here and there, but that's probably the most he would do without feeling ashamed in himself, even if you asked for more.

he doesn't lean strongly towards dom or sub... that is, until you see his animalistic side. by then, he is undoubtedly a dom.

he can usually control his temper very easily. but if he's having a terrible day or something awakens the god of war, the unforgiving dragon inside of him, he will lose any ties to his normal human persona. he will immediately revert to his past self, the part of him that is engulfed in the thought of having domination over everything he lays a finger on – this includes you.

before being fully consumed by this darkness, he will make sure to get your consent for the things he will do to you. he wants to use that last spark of the kind, caring, and gentle zhongli that you're used to in order to ask for your permission. it is his utmost priority as soon as he can feel the darkness swallowing him.

but if he doesn't get to you in time or does not get your permission at all, you will need to restrict him somehow. otherwise, he will do everything in his power to get his hands on you no matter what. the urge is uncontrollable. it's unfortunate that you have to put up with this, but thankfully this rarely happens anyway that you don't mind dealing with a tied up, cranky, and extremely horny zhongli until the phase passes naturally.

admittedly, the first time you saw this side, you were terrified!

even though he will retain his human form, he will pounce on you with nothing on his mind but to conquer and make you fully his. that being said, he goes crazy at the thought of pinninf you down and breeding you, filling you up multiple times to guarantee that you will get pregnant, even if you can’t have children. it must be done multiple times. he is not convinced that one round is enough.

but during this phase, one round is pretty short! since he's focusing on reaching his goal to breed you quickly, he will make sure to get the job done as efficiently as possible.

he will use you mindlessly and treat you like a doll, a simple object made to pleasure him and him alone. he will not hear your cries, screams, or begging to stop if he is engulfed in rage. if you are not filled to the brim with his seed, he does not care about what you want or how you feel in the moment. even if you manage to get fucked unconscious somehow, he will continue fulfilling his pleasure as if nothing happened.

he might use another hole if filling one up wasn't enough for him.

if any cum spills out, he will make sure you pick it back up and swallow it to make sure all of him is inside you. a single drop wasted will make him angrier.

once the phase wears off and he's practically emptied everything he's got into you, he will apologize profusely and go overboard with aftercare. he probably won't have sex with you for quite some time, drowning in guilt even if you enjoyed it.

he will smother you in expensive gifts, luxuries, food, and acts of kindness for the next week or so. he cannot carry the guilt of doing such dirty things to you without compensation.

if you're the type to get easily bored or tired of the same gentleness he treats you with and want to ask him to purposely go through this phase of rage, he will politely decline. there is no convincing him that he should treat you so poorly, even if you tell him it brings you pleasure. he truly hates that side of him and hates taking it out on you even more. it doesn't remind him of very good memories.

but if you really nag enough all day, maybe enough to get him angry or annoyed with you? you might get what you wish for without him even realizing...