May Round Up (11,883 words, 13 works)
May. 31st, 2025 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Single fics, by fandom, by posting date (related fandoms may be organized by chronology)
( Single fics )
New Original Works posted at
sylph_and_asp this month
( Original Works )
( Single fics )
New Original Works posted at
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
( Original Works )
the same sexual politics as a 17th-century religious fanatic but in a woke way
May. 31st, 2025 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Flew home. I have been on Too Many Flights in the past two months, and as a result, the "movie" section of the in-flight entertainment screen no longer has any unexamined pleasures for me. Thus I went into the "TV" section, and thus I watched the first five episodes of Watson, a current CBS procedural that dares to ask, "What if Sherlock Holmes John Watson was a modern-day doctor who solved medical mysteries?" It is fairly terrible; the most interesting thing about the show is that a member of Watson's team of doctor-henchmen is ~~evil~~ and forever solving problems with amoral and pragmatic panache. She's fun! The series should be about her! (The other interesting thing is that the show has Randall Park playing "Moriarty," which is a delightful casting choice.) But unfortunately, everything else about the show seems brain-dead. It's a shame!
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) -- I was underwhelmed by DEAD RECKONING and I continue to be underwhelmed by the second part for the same reasons: too solemn, too self-serious, too sodden with "lore." These movies were better when each entry was a different director doing his own little thing and there was limited concern with "continuity." I will die on the hill that GHOST PROTOCOL was the zenith of the series.
With that said: the submarine sequence in the movie's back half was incredible and just about worth the ticket price.
(I also could have done without Hayley Atwell's sexy CPR scene in the film. It was weird when the earlier M:I films banished Ethan Hunt's brunette wife and then hooked him up with a different brunette; it is even weirder that they have removed that brunette and replaced her with a third brunette. What are we doing, script writers??)
Nobody (2021) -- The gag is "Bob Odenkirk is John Wick," but it's a good gag!
A Man Called Ove (2015) -- I'm always down for a crusty grump gradually revealing his gooey center, though I could have done with 50% fewer flashbacks to younger, hotter, nobler Ove.
Stray (2022) -- Beat it! Six hours total. In conclusion: really striking visuals (the run-down neon robot cities! the giant eyeballs in the sewer!!), but every time an interesting idea is raised, it gets anxiously watered down so that the player is never "confused." Not only does this cat understand language, but these robots have recreated entirely human-like societies! And wear clothing! And have children! Everything is very familiar in the far, far future, little player, don't you worry!
Also, there is too much cat death in this game. (To the degree that turning off animations of the dying cat is an option in the game's menu.) In particular, the "chase" sequences are frustrating and difficult, and they represent a distinct tonal shift from the rest of the game, which is all about slowly solving untimed puzzles and doing simple fetch-quests for robots.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) -- I was underwhelmed by DEAD RECKONING and I continue to be underwhelmed by the second part for the same reasons: too solemn, too self-serious, too sodden with "lore." These movies were better when each entry was a different director doing his own little thing and there was limited concern with "continuity." I will die on the hill that GHOST PROTOCOL was the zenith of the series.
With that said: the submarine sequence in the movie's back half was incredible and just about worth the ticket price.
(I also could have done without Hayley Atwell's sexy CPR scene in the film. It was weird when the earlier M:I films banished Ethan Hunt's brunette wife and then hooked him up with a different brunette; it is even weirder that they have removed that brunette and replaced her with a third brunette. What are we doing, script writers??)
Nobody (2021) -- The gag is "Bob Odenkirk is John Wick," but it's a good gag!
A Man Called Ove (2015) -- I'm always down for a crusty grump gradually revealing his gooey center, though I could have done with 50% fewer flashbacks to younger, hotter, nobler Ove.
Stray (2022) -- Beat it! Six hours total. In conclusion: really striking visuals (the run-down neon robot cities! the giant eyeballs in the sewer!!), but every time an interesting idea is raised, it gets anxiously watered down so that the player is never "confused." Not only does this cat understand language, but these robots have recreated entirely human-like societies! And wear clothing! And have children! Everything is very familiar in the far, far future, little player, don't you worry!
Also, there is too much cat death in this game. (To the degree that turning off animations of the dying cat is an option in the game's menu.) In particular, the "chase" sequences are frustrating and difficult, and they represent a distinct tonal shift from the rest of the game, which is all about slowly solving untimed puzzles and doing simple fetch-quests for robots.
A very long story very short and super elided
May. 30th, 2025 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The other day, Dr. IM and Dr. Hematology were talking about how I was fine to go home. Pretty much right then right there. I pointed out my primary presenting issue was cellulitis, which had not resolved, that we had just changed meds, and that New Dr. ID wanted to monitor the switch closely, noting we might have to go back to IV instead of PO. So I asked about that, and they backed down.
Today, Dr. IM comes in and says we really have to talk discharge, I point out the current efficacy of the new meds - including some unexpected but welcome stuff happening, note that my hemoglobin is still pretty darn low and, "if you send me home today, it's going to take all my hard fought energy, I am going to sleep for two solid days, and I will likely totally lose my appetite again, right after it has started to return."
He replies, "I just can't justify it to Medicare."
"Medicare? Why do you have to justify it to Medicare?", I ask.
"Because you have Medicare..."
"I don't have Medicare; I have Cigna, and it's a self-funded policy. I am sure that my employer would want me here as long as it takes to actually feel better."
"Oh. Why did I think you have Medicare? Okay so we'll keep you over the weekend, and revisit on Monday."
OMG. I now have so much sympathy for folks with Medicare... because it is clear that their models don't include comorbidities.
Today, Dr. IM comes in and says we really have to talk discharge, I point out the current efficacy of the new meds - including some unexpected but welcome stuff happening, note that my hemoglobin is still pretty darn low and, "if you send me home today, it's going to take all my hard fought energy, I am going to sleep for two solid days, and I will likely totally lose my appetite again, right after it has started to return."
He replies, "I just can't justify it to Medicare."
"Medicare? Why do you have to justify it to Medicare?", I ask.
"Because you have Medicare..."
"I don't have Medicare; I have Cigna, and it's a self-funded policy. I am sure that my employer would want me here as long as it takes to actually feel better."
"Oh. Why did I think you have Medicare? Okay so we'll keep you over the weekend, and revisit on Monday."
OMG. I now have so much sympathy for folks with Medicare... because it is clear that their models don't include comorbidities.
(no subject)
May. 30th, 2025 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Boston Ballet production of Maillot's Romeo et Juliette has turned out to be not only my favorite Boston Ballet production that I've seen so far but also tbh one of my favorite Romeo and Juliets full stop. It is Taking Swings and Making Choices and some of them are very weird but all of them are interesting.
( we're just gonna go ahead and cut for length )
( we're just gonna go ahead and cut for length )
Whumpex Post Deadline Pinch Hits - Due June 9th 10PM PST
May. 30th, 2025 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Rules and Guidelines | Current Pinch Hit Post
PH 10 - Noblesse (Manhwa)
For more details/to claim, view the pinch hit post.
Fandom50: #13
May. 30th, 2025 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The year is 1988. The shoulder pads were dying, skirts were high, Keds were in style. And don't forget the parachute pants. Huh, I was dialing down in being a cinephile.
~ Beetlejuice - OH YEAH! Geena Davis Crush Ignited. Also hella fun.
~ Willow - WILLOW!!!! Such a good, fun movie.
~ Big - Saw this in theater with Mom, really enjoyed how they handled it.
~ Who Framed Roger Rabbit - BOB HOSKINS made this movie. Just. He acted against the animation SO PERFECTLY.
~ Die Hard - Did you know this was a July release? Funny thing is, Alan didn't actually make an impression on me as an actor of note for this one.
~ Tucker: The Man and His Dream - Saw this in theater with Mom. And I absolutely loved it for Bridges. He so fully GOT the man he was playing.
~ Young Guns - Hello my beloved heart throbs! (there's been a dearth of westerns in these posts)
~ Alien Nation - I am, without a doubt, a fan of both the movie and the TV show. And feel like it should have left a bigger presence in pop culture.
~ The Accused - Watched on VHS with Mom, and it was another one of those serious talk movies. Hard, in some ways to watch, because my aunt had been attacked the year prior.
~ The Land Before Time - Ya know, despite being a mom, and showing some of the franchise to the kids, I don't think I have ever seen this one in English? Like a few other movies, I watched it in French class.
~ Oliver & Company - MY BELOVED VERSION OF OLIVER TWIST, as told with cats and dogs. "If this is torture..." AHH CHEECH.
~ Scrooged - Once upon a time, a preferred version of Dickens' Christmas Carol. I rewatched in recent years and... well, Carol Kane is funny.
~ Beetlejuice - OH YEAH! Geena Davis Crush Ignited. Also hella fun.
~ Willow - WILLOW!!!! Such a good, fun movie.
~ Big - Saw this in theater with Mom, really enjoyed how they handled it.
~ Who Framed Roger Rabbit - BOB HOSKINS made this movie. Just. He acted against the animation SO PERFECTLY.
~ Die Hard - Did you know this was a July release? Funny thing is, Alan didn't actually make an impression on me as an actor of note for this one.
~ Tucker: The Man and His Dream - Saw this in theater with Mom. And I absolutely loved it for Bridges. He so fully GOT the man he was playing.
~ Young Guns - Hello my beloved heart throbs! (there's been a dearth of westerns in these posts)
~ Alien Nation - I am, without a doubt, a fan of both the movie and the TV show. And feel like it should have left a bigger presence in pop culture.
~ The Accused - Watched on VHS with Mom, and it was another one of those serious talk movies. Hard, in some ways to watch, because my aunt had been attacked the year prior.
~ The Land Before Time - Ya know, despite being a mom, and showing some of the franchise to the kids, I don't think I have ever seen this one in English? Like a few other movies, I watched it in French class.
~ Oliver & Company - MY BELOVED VERSION OF OLIVER TWIST, as told with cats and dogs. "If this is torture..." AHH CHEECH.
~ Scrooged - Once upon a time, a preferred version of Dickens' Christmas Carol. I rewatched in recent years and... well, Carol Kane is funny.
Returning Pinch Hits 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
May. 31st, 2025 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
These pinch hits will be due Sun 15 Jun 2025 at 10:00PM EDT. Please reply to this post with the number and username that you want to claim (all comments are screened). You can also send an email to prisonerex.mod@gmail.com to claim.
( PH 3 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem Musou: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, 殺し愛 | Koroshi Ai (Manga), Limbus Company (Video Game) )
( PH 6 - Team Fortress 2, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison, Scream (Movies) )
( PH 7 - Doctor Who (1963) )
( PH 8 - Vlad Țepeș (1979), Felvidek (Video Game), 15th Century CE RPF )
( PH 9 - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù )
( PH 3 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem Musou: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, 殺し愛 | Koroshi Ai (Manga), Limbus Company (Video Game) )
( PH 6 - Team Fortress 2, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison, Scream (Movies) )
( PH 7 - Doctor Who (1963) )
( PH 8 - Vlad Țepeș (1979), Felvidek (Video Game), 15th Century CE RPF )
( PH 9 - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù )
GenPrompt Bingo: Diaries and Journals
May. 30th, 2025 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Ignite the mind’s spark to rise the sun in you (300 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: M.A.S.H. (MASH) [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Margaret J. "Hot Lips" Houlihan
Additional Tags: Introspection, Memories
Summary:
Margaret hadn't actually kept a diary during her first war. By the second, she had picked up the habit. But she had taken all of the letters, so carefully saved, always packed in the bottom of her bug-out bag, and pieced together her memories in a journal of sorts.
The letters had served to remind her of antics, as her correspondents replied to ask more about this incident or that. She was glad of it, having opened that era of her life more frequently than later diaries, reminding herself of what had built her into the woman she had become.
Word would come of those who had passed on, and she would flip through, remembering them alive and sharing the survival in war with her. She had cried, and the journal bore marks from those tears.
Sometimes, she remembered the woman she started the war as. Father's disappointment for not being a son, father's hope for another medal-studded soldier… oh but she had been shaped in his shadow too much to know who she could be in those first months.
She touched the page where she had carefully fixed snapshots of each of her nurses, finger lingering under Kellye's picture, remembering how bold and firm she had been in the face of adversity. Ginger and that others — Margaret had learned to be human, but still firm, by coming to understand what her nurses needed to make it through the hell they lived in.
Other pictures, with one of the few serious shots of Hawkeye, were also lingered over, while a smile touched her lips at Klinger in one of his fabulous costumes.
She was tired this time, looking at her memories. What life might have been if she hadn't known them…
…her eyes closed, fingers placed near her colonel's picture.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: M.A.S.H. (MASH) [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Margaret J. "Hot Lips" Houlihan
Additional Tags: Introspection, Memories
Summary:
Margaret looks back...
Ignite the mind’s spark to rise the sun in you
Margaret hadn't actually kept a diary during her first war. By the second, she had picked up the habit. But she had taken all of the letters, so carefully saved, always packed in the bottom of her bug-out bag, and pieced together her memories in a journal of sorts.
The letters had served to remind her of antics, as her correspondents replied to ask more about this incident or that. She was glad of it, having opened that era of her life more frequently than later diaries, reminding herself of what had built her into the woman she had become.
Word would come of those who had passed on, and she would flip through, remembering them alive and sharing the survival in war with her. She had cried, and the journal bore marks from those tears.
Sometimes, she remembered the woman she started the war as. Father's disappointment for not being a son, father's hope for another medal-studded soldier… oh but she had been shaped in his shadow too much to know who she could be in those first months.
She touched the page where she had carefully fixed snapshots of each of her nurses, finger lingering under Kellye's picture, remembering how bold and firm she had been in the face of adversity. Ginger and that others — Margaret had learned to be human, but still firm, by coming to understand what her nurses needed to make it through the hell they lived in.
Other pictures, with one of the few serious shots of Hawkeye, were also lingered over, while a smile touched her lips at Klinger in one of his fabulous costumes.
She was tired this time, looking at her memories. What life might have been if she hadn't known them…
…her eyes closed, fingers placed near her colonel's picture.
Loretta Swit
May. 30th, 2025 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It's not just losing an icon, both the actress for herself and for the roles I loved.
It's losing my paternal grandparents all over again.
Night time with Granny was Johnny Carson and M*A*S*H. Me eating crackers on Papaw's side of the bed. Waiting for him to call us on his lunch from the post office.
Thank you, Loretta Swit, for those memories.
It's losing my paternal grandparents all over again.
Night time with Granny was Johnny Carson and M*A*S*H. Me eating crackers on Papaw's side of the bed. Waiting for him to call us on his lunch from the post office.
Thank you, Loretta Swit, for those memories.
Podfic!
May. 30th, 2025 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
[Podfic] Five Titan Encounters (32 words) by mistbornhero
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics), Leverage
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Roy Harper, Parker (Leverage), Garfield Logan, Sophie Devereaux (Leverage), Dick Grayson, Alec Hardison, Victor Stone, Nathan Ford, Donna Troy
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Podfic, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: Download, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics), Leverage
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Roy Harper, Parker (Leverage), Garfield Logan, Sophie Devereaux (Leverage), Dick Grayson, Alec Hardison, Victor Stone, Nathan Ford, Donna Troy
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Podfic, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: Download, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Summary:
Five moments a member of Leverage encountered a Titan
Podfic of Five Titan Encounters by Merfilly.
Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
May. 30th, 2025 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Where the Axe Is Buried
4/5. A near future scifi thriller about the violently authoritarian surveillance state (it’s Russia) where the president is downloaded into successive bodies which the population steadfastly pretends not to notice, and the western european powers that have “rationalized,” i.e., installed AI prime ministers. A book about regime destabilization, and surveillance shadows, and thought control, and inception.
I was reading perfectly acceptable books, and then I picked this up and was like oh damn. Now this is good writing. This is tight (less than 100,000 words, probably) and intense and strange and bleak and hopeful. It stradles several genres and as such I suspect will not satisfy a lot of people: too literary and ambiguous for some, too much thriller for others. But this really landed for me.
Dense, chewy, controlled, beautifully written. Terribly sad on the costs of defying authoritarianism. Hopeful, in a complicated way.
Content notes: State violence Disappearances, camps, etc.
4/5. A near future scifi thriller about the violently authoritarian surveillance state (it’s Russia) where the president is downloaded into successive bodies which the population steadfastly pretends not to notice, and the western european powers that have “rationalized,” i.e., installed AI prime ministers. A book about regime destabilization, and surveillance shadows, and thought control, and inception.
I was reading perfectly acceptable books, and then I picked this up and was like oh damn. Now this is good writing. This is tight (less than 100,000 words, probably) and intense and strange and bleak and hopeful. It stradles several genres and as such I suspect will not satisfy a lot of people: too literary and ambiguous for some, too much thriller for others. But this really landed for me.
Dense, chewy, controlled, beautifully written. Terribly sad on the costs of defying authoritarianism. Hopeful, in a complicated way.
Content notes: State violence Disappearances, camps, etc.