It's two in the afternoon and thirty-four degrees
27 June 2025 02:06![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovayActually the temperature crashed by a solid thirty degrees Fahrenheit and with any luck will stay this moderately cool and dampish until everyone has rehydrated. Or we could just skip the next heat dome entirely.
I had worked up an entire rant about the scaremongering of this article and especially its anti-intellectual characterization of Zohran Mamdani as automatically out of touch because his father teaches at Columbia and his mother has directed films in Hollywood as if he were a Cabot who talks only to God when both of these professions especially in these days of DEI demonization mean something very different without whiteness and then I discovered that the author's big shtick is that she "came out" as politically conservative while an undergraduate at Harvard, at which point her already tenuous right to slate anyone for attending Bowdoin fared poorly on the pot-to-kettle scale. Anyway,spatch liked Monsoon Wedding (2001).
The Europeans (1979) turns out to have been the first foray of Merchant Ivory into costume drama and its modest budget gives it a slight, wonderful ghost-look of New England, nineteenth-century carriages on twentieth-century streets, the tarmac dirt-roaded over, telephone poles discreetly out of shot, the dry stone walls tumbledown in the picturesque rather than practically maintained day. I got such déjà vu from the Federal style of its historic houses—and the occasionally more modern construction of their neighbors—that I was reassured to see it actually had shot in Waltham, Concord, and Salem which I recognized from the red-bricked back side of the Customs House. Its autumn is the sugar-red drift of maple leaves, the pale punctuation of birches. Robin Ellis sports a moss-bronze corduroy coat and a waistcoat in pheasant paisleys I should like to bid for and a creditably mid-Atlantic accent, cast ironically on the colonial side of the plot of two sets of American cousins and their entanglement with a third, European set. I have not read its particular source novel by Henry James, but it has the light, sharp, not overly mannered observations, a sweet-sour bite in the chocolate box. In light of the setting, variations on "Simple Gifts" and "Shall We Gather at the River?" may have been unavoidable contributions to the score.
Because I had showedspatch a clip of a trumpet played into Jell-O, my attempt to explain Chladni figures netted us a 1989 Christmas lecture by Charles Taylor, after which we went through Delia Derbyshire's "Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO" (1967), Belbury Poly's "Caermaen" (2004), and finally thanks to what must have been a very confused sidebar landed on Les Luthiers' "Rhapsody in Balls" (2009). Today has been generally breaking-down-tired, but during the part of the evening where I was still working on implementing a bagel for dinner, WERS had the decency to play the Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" (1988).
I had worked up an entire rant about the scaremongering of this article and especially its anti-intellectual characterization of Zohran Mamdani as automatically out of touch because his father teaches at Columbia and his mother has directed films in Hollywood as if he were a Cabot who talks only to God when both of these professions especially in these days of DEI demonization mean something very different without whiteness and then I discovered that the author's big shtick is that she "came out" as politically conservative while an undergraduate at Harvard, at which point her already tenuous right to slate anyone for attending Bowdoin fared poorly on the pot-to-kettle scale. Anyway,
spatch liked Monsoon Wedding (2001).The Europeans (1979) turns out to have been the first foray of Merchant Ivory into costume drama and its modest budget gives it a slight, wonderful ghost-look of New England, nineteenth-century carriages on twentieth-century streets, the tarmac dirt-roaded over, telephone poles discreetly out of shot, the dry stone walls tumbledown in the picturesque rather than practically maintained day. I got such déjà vu from the Federal style of its historic houses—and the occasionally more modern construction of their neighbors—that I was reassured to see it actually had shot in Waltham, Concord, and Salem which I recognized from the red-bricked back side of the Customs House. Its autumn is the sugar-red drift of maple leaves, the pale punctuation of birches. Robin Ellis sports a moss-bronze corduroy coat and a waistcoat in pheasant paisleys I should like to bid for and a creditably mid-Atlantic accent, cast ironically on the colonial side of the plot of two sets of American cousins and their entanglement with a third, European set. I have not read its particular source novel by Henry James, but it has the light, sharp, not overly mannered observations, a sweet-sour bite in the chocolate box. In light of the setting, variations on "Simple Gifts" and "Shall We Gather at the River?" may have been unavoidable contributions to the score.
Because I had showed
spatch a clip of a trumpet played into Jell-O, my attempt to explain Chladni figures netted us a 1989 Christmas lecture by Charles Taylor, after which we went through Delia Derbyshire's "Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO" (1967), Belbury Poly's "Caermaen" (2004), and finally thanks to what must have been a very confused sidebar landed on Les Luthiers' "Rhapsody in Balls" (2009). Today has been generally breaking-down-tired, but during the part of the evening where I was still working on implementing a bagel for dinner, WERS had the decency to play the Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" (1988).(no subject)
26 June 2025 23:39sorcyressToday started with a goodly long walk.
Well no, it started with floppiness and a slow wake-up and close cuddling of my beloved, and then helping finish the last few pieces of a puzzle and breakfast and things like that. But the walk was the first thing of note!
We saw a frog -very exciting, it was green headed and brown bodied in a somewhat surprising way- and a number of wee little waterfalls and at least one house hidden in the woods looking abandoned and a grand number of interesting flowers. I ate some sorrel and probably didn't wind up in any poison ivy. And I got to hold hands with Tuesday, and pull ker close against me and snuggle as we walked and that was all extremely good.
Then there was lunch and a bit of trivia, and hugs goodbye, and Cameron and I got in the car and performed the long drive back home to Maryland. It was a bit over five hours total driving, but actually a quite jolly adventure. There was much exchanging of music! I heard some very good Mariana and the Diamonds and Enya in exchange for Kate Nyx and Vienna Teng. We mutually grooved to Chappell Roan, the place our venns diagramed. Later, as we drove through some quite hard rain and a splashy sort of thunderstorm, we exclaimed over the rainbow chasing alongside us, occasionally joining in the spray of the water on the road to look like it was landing just in front of our car.
And very good conversation, including swapping stories of how we wound up entangled with our sweeties. It's really damn nice to have a partner's family I can groove with, is what I'm saying.
Mom and Barb picked me up in Baltimore, and there were hugs all around which was lovely to happen. And more driving and a stint in the grocery store and bringing in some heavy bags of salt from the car (why carry the 40# bags yourself if you've got a childe to do it for you?) and my bags. Before I did all the carrying, I stopped on the lawn to watch the grove of fireflies flickering across the driveway. That was a magical moment --maybe I should go out again and check if they're still there? It might be too late now, being as it's well past eleven. Still, nothing ventured etc. BRB.
Okay there were still a few, mostly up in the treetops instead of at knee height, but as I was standing there looking, I heard a bit of a noise and I was like "huh, that sounds like rain but it's....it's getting louder and closer. OH SHIT" and run run run back up the drive. I did beat most of it --but only most. It was very jolly, especially since there was at least one pale flash of lightning as I moved. It's been a very good day for storms!
At mom's house, I curled up on the internet with Tailsteak for our regular Taskmaster date, which we haven't had in _ages_ and won't be able to have again for _more ages_. But it was good to get a couple episodes in! Gradually catch up, as it were.
Now mom's doing some scanning and I'm writing my words, and it's a good close to the day. I hope your days are also nice!
~Sor
MOOP!
Well no, it started with floppiness and a slow wake-up and close cuddling of my beloved, and then helping finish the last few pieces of a puzzle and breakfast and things like that. But the walk was the first thing of note!
We saw a frog -very exciting, it was green headed and brown bodied in a somewhat surprising way- and a number of wee little waterfalls and at least one house hidden in the woods looking abandoned and a grand number of interesting flowers. I ate some sorrel and probably didn't wind up in any poison ivy. And I got to hold hands with Tuesday, and pull ker close against me and snuggle as we walked and that was all extremely good.
Then there was lunch and a bit of trivia, and hugs goodbye, and Cameron and I got in the car and performed the long drive back home to Maryland. It was a bit over five hours total driving, but actually a quite jolly adventure. There was much exchanging of music! I heard some very good Mariana and the Diamonds and Enya in exchange for Kate Nyx and Vienna Teng. We mutually grooved to Chappell Roan, the place our venns diagramed. Later, as we drove through some quite hard rain and a splashy sort of thunderstorm, we exclaimed over the rainbow chasing alongside us, occasionally joining in the spray of the water on the road to look like it was landing just in front of our car.
And very good conversation, including swapping stories of how we wound up entangled with our sweeties. It's really damn nice to have a partner's family I can groove with, is what I'm saying.
Mom and Barb picked me up in Baltimore, and there were hugs all around which was lovely to happen. And more driving and a stint in the grocery store and bringing in some heavy bags of salt from the car (why carry the 40# bags yourself if you've got a childe to do it for you?) and my bags. Before I did all the carrying, I stopped on the lawn to watch the grove of fireflies flickering across the driveway. That was a magical moment --maybe I should go out again and check if they're still there? It might be too late now, being as it's well past eleven. Still, nothing ventured etc. BRB.
Okay there were still a few, mostly up in the treetops instead of at knee height, but as I was standing there looking, I heard a bit of a noise and I was like "huh, that sounds like rain but it's....it's getting louder and closer. OH SHIT" and run run run back up the drive. I did beat most of it --but only most. It was very jolly, especially since there was at least one pale flash of lightning as I moved. It's been a very good day for storms!
At mom's house, I curled up on the internet with Tailsteak for our regular Taskmaster date, which we haven't had in _ages_ and won't be able to have again for _more ages_. But it was good to get a couple episodes in! Gradually catch up, as it were.
Now mom's doing some scanning and I'm writing my words, and it's a good close to the day. I hope your days are also nice!
~Sor
MOOP!
popular culture
26 June 2025 22:51lauradi7dwI had not heard of the tiny chef until yesterday, when Nickleodeon cancelled his show. But I posted some Texas Hold'em videos in spring 2024
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/797646.html
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/811463.html
Here is the TC doing the TH dance
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/797646.html
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/811463.html
Here is the TC doing the TH dance
I'm not in the market for a raincoat
26 June 2025 22:24lauradi7dwBurberry has a series of ads on youtube that are one-minute movies, basically. Some of them contain in-jokes. This is the ur-movie with a snippet from each.
Welp, I've got way more tabs open than I can handle
1 July 2025 17:40conulyAnd don't even ask me about my email!
Also: Comicsrss got a cease and desist from Gocomics, so now all my gocomics feeds are borked. I should see if I can find those comics hosted somewhere else and get their RSS feeds, but ugh.
Also also: What to know about the COVID variant that may cause ‘razor blade’ sore throats
**********************
( Read more... )
Also: Comicsrss got a cease and desist from Gocomics, so now all my gocomics feeds are borked. I should see if I can find those comics hosted somewhere else and get their RSS feeds, but ugh.
Also also: What to know about the COVID variant that may cause ‘razor blade’ sore throats
( Read more... )
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
26 June 2025 17:22conulyI will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
**********
Link
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
Link
My mother's favorite saint probably was St. Fiacre
30 June 2025 15:03conulyHe's the patron saint of gardeners, and also taxi drivers (unofficially). See, an early and popular cab stand was at Hôtel de Saint Fiacre in Paris, and the carriages themselves began to be called fiacres, and it just spiraled from there.
What makes this even stranger is that he's an Irish saint.
*********************
( Read more... )
What makes this even stranger is that he's an Irish saint.
( Read more... )
This is another floating statistic....
26 June 2025 18:09oursinI admit this sounds rather startling, but then, being a historian of reproductive health among other things, I think of the fact that though we sometimes think our poor ancestresses were popping out progeny pretty much nonstop until death or menopause arrived, in actuality, fertility and subfertility were A Thing, historically. (Let us consider certain famed historical examples and a plethora of folktales on this theme.)
I have remarked heretofore about the assumption that Wo Unto The Sperms of the Modern Man, They Are Weak and In Decline, when I cannot see that there is any sound baseline of what the average male's average sperm count was and whether the little swimmers were even in prime condition at that even a very few decades ago. One assumes that any samples preserved in sperm banks (if they are and supposing they have not themselves deteriorated over time) would have been prime stuff from healthy young specimens. (Though given some of the stories that have come out about dodgy fertility docs, perhaps not.)
So this is not necessarily a story of Wo Wo Fertility B Declining, with side-order of Wymmynz B selfishly waiting Too Long to progenate, but of a problem which used to exist and was at the very least Not At All Easy To Fix (hopes and prayers, mostly, and try to relax....) has some chance of being resolved.
Okay, some percentage is presumably LGBTQ+ couples/constellations forming families.
And some of it is Older Mothers though again, historically, women have gone on Havin Babbyz well into their 40s and (Journal of Anecdotes Told to Me By Committee Members of Reproductive Health Charities) these days a significant % of abortions in the UK involve women who have misleadingly supposed from media myth that At Their Advanced Age their ovaries have shrivelled up and their fertility fallen off a cliff.
Though this is interesting:
The number of women freezing their eggs also increased sharply, with cycles up from 4,700 in 2022 to 6,900 in 2023. Egg freezing increased most among women in their 30s, but the number using their stored frozen eggs remained low, the report said.
Hmmmm.
Drabbles mois des fiertés, partie 8
26 June 2025 17:44flo_nelja22 juin : « Ça ne veut rien dire »
Twelfth Night, Orsino/Viola, PG
Un conte qui ne signifie rien sur AO3
23 juin : Les opposés s’attirent
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Homura/Madoka, PG
Distance sur AO3
24 juin : Polycule en V
Gundam Wing, Lady Une/Treize/Zechs, PG
Avec civilité et ressentiment sur AO3
Twelfth Night, Orsino/Viola, PG
Un conte qui ne signifie rien sur AO3
23 juin : Les opposés s’attirent
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Homura/Madoka, PG
Distance sur AO3
24 juin : Polycule en V
Gundam Wing, Lady Une/Treize/Zechs, PG
Avec civilité et ressentiment sur AO3
Five SFF Stories About Making Amends
26 June 2025 10:20james_davis_nicoll
People adopt very different strategies when it comes to making up for mistakes.
Five SFF Stories About Making Amends
Trade show! in! spaaaaaace!
26 June 2025 09:07mrissaNew story out today in Lightspeed magazine: All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. Visit the space gift shop trade convention and learn who's most likely to try to ruin things for all of us (hint: it's Earth people, UGH).
Don't miss the Author Spotlight discussing the story afterwards!
What I saw on the web on 2025.6.25
26 June 2025 06:57reblogarythm- Norwegian tourist says he was barred from entering the U.S. over a JD Vance meme, interrogated for hours, then had his records falsified
by Lindsey Weedston
https://www.dailydot.com/culture/norwegian-tourist-barred-from-united-states-jd-vance-meme/
continuing to discover reasons not to go to the US
via discord - I Think this Hot Sauce Might be Illegal
by Hank Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM633vhGCHg
an investigation of food labelling laws
via still not rss. why haven't i got an .rss feed for hankschannel yet? - Finding Edmonton's elusive firefly population
by David Bloom
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/finding-edmontons-elusive-firefly-population
in case you were wondering where to find them
via going looking because i was wondering - Sask. study finds apparent increase in urban moose excursions
by Darla Ponace
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/moose-urban-study-1.7570591
don't try to pet the very tall deer!
via rss
Golem100 by Alfred Bester
26 June 2025 08:50james_davis_nicoll
What could possibly go wrong with a little harmless Satanism between friends?
Golem100 by Alfred Bester
The World of Tasha Tudor
26 June 2025 08:07osprey_archerA couple weeks ago, I was browsing my favorite local bookstore when I happened upon a book about maintaining a kitchen garden. I picked it up and idly flipped through it, began to consider buying it because the advice seemed so well-suited to my garden and also the illustrations were so charming… and strangely familiar… so I flipped to the title page and shrieked like a tea kettle when I realized it was illustrated by Tasha Tudor.
Tasha Tudor, for those who don’t know, wrote and illustrated Corgiville Fair. She is also responsible for the iconic illustrations for Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, as well as a lovely illustrated edition of Emily Dickinson upon which I doted in my youth. She also put the core in cottagecore, living in a classic New England farmhouse atop a hill in Vermont with her Nubian goats and chickens and corgis and her many, many gardens.
So of course I bought Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens. And it reminded me that there’s a book about Tasha Tudor’s lifestyle, which is called The Private Life of Tasha Tudor, so I went to put it on hold… and it was gone! The library had weeded it! (The library is forever weeding things that I’m intending to check out as soon as I have the time.)
I consoled myself with Tasha Tudor’s Garden), which is full of gorgeous photographs of Tasha Tudor’s many gardens, full of roses and hollyhocks and crabapple trees. The focus is on the photogenic flowers, of course, as well as her lovely bouquets, but she also had a kitchen garden with plenty of fruit and vegetables and herbs… and also plenty of flowers, because why not? That made me feel better about the fact that my current herb and cherry tomato plants found homes on the theory of “Well, there’s some space between the flowers here…”
Anyway, fortunately the OTHER library has The Private World of Tasha Tudor, so you’d better believe I put a hold on it. They also have Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts, Tasha Tudor’s Dollhouse, and a documentary called Take Joy!: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor.
There’s also a Christmas documentary, and quite a pile of Christmas books, and of course Tudor’s many children’s books… but I already have so many books out that I’d better stop myself for now! There are so many books in this world and it’s both a blessing and a curse.
Tasha Tudor, for those who don’t know, wrote and illustrated Corgiville Fair. She is also responsible for the iconic illustrations for Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, as well as a lovely illustrated edition of Emily Dickinson upon which I doted in my youth. She also put the core in cottagecore, living in a classic New England farmhouse atop a hill in Vermont with her Nubian goats and chickens and corgis and her many, many gardens.
So of course I bought Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens. And it reminded me that there’s a book about Tasha Tudor’s lifestyle, which is called The Private Life of Tasha Tudor, so I went to put it on hold… and it was gone! The library had weeded it! (The library is forever weeding things that I’m intending to check out as soon as I have the time.)
I consoled myself with Tasha Tudor’s Garden), which is full of gorgeous photographs of Tasha Tudor’s many gardens, full of roses and hollyhocks and crabapple trees. The focus is on the photogenic flowers, of course, as well as her lovely bouquets, but she also had a kitchen garden with plenty of fruit and vegetables and herbs… and also plenty of flowers, because why not? That made me feel better about the fact that my current herb and cherry tomato plants found homes on the theory of “Well, there’s some space between the flowers here…”
Anyway, fortunately the OTHER library has The Private World of Tasha Tudor, so you’d better believe I put a hold on it. They also have Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts, Tasha Tudor’s Dollhouse, and a documentary called Take Joy!: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor.
There’s also a Christmas documentary, and quite a pile of Christmas books, and of course Tudor’s many children’s books… but I already have so many books out that I’d better stop myself for now! There are so many books in this world and it’s both a blessing and a curse.
surprising (to me) history of the Molotov cocktail
26 June 2025 07:26lauradi7dwI was wondering about the first use of a bottle with an accelerant and a wick, and how it became so widespread. The first documented use was 1922 by the IRA, but it was more heavily used during the Spanish Civil War, and then in Finland in 1940 an entire distillery switched to making them, in preparation for the Russian invasion.
https://www.britannica.com/technology/Molotov-cocktail
https://www.britannica.com/technology/Molotov-cocktail
Film Review: A Complete Unknown
26 June 2025 12:41selenakAs far as musical biopics go, they tend to be more of a miss than a win in many cases, with the plus side that at least you, potential watcher, get to listen to some good music even if the script fails. There are exceptions, i.e. films where both the music is good and the film doesn’t feel like a visualized wikipedia entry, for example, Love & Mercy, which escapes the formula by picking two distinctly different and important eras of Brian Wilson’s life instead of his whole life, with 1960s Brian on the verge of creating his masterpiece and having a mental breakdown played by Paul Dano and 1980s Brian, in the power of a ruthless exploitative doctor but about to freed via encountering his second wife, by John Cusack. The performances are great, the different eras are poignantly commenting on each other, and even were Brian Wilson a fictional character, the film would be worth watching. If Love & Mercy wins for originality with the template, Walk the Line (about Johnny Cash) wins for doing the formula expertly, in fact so well it became endlessly copied and parodied thereafter. James Mangold, who directed Walk the Line to a lot of commercial and critical success back in the day, waited for near two decades before going near another musical biopic again, but he did last year, resulting in A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, which courtesy of the Mouse channel I have now watched.
( You who are so good with words and at keeping things vague )
All in all: good, very good, though not great. But it’s the first film in a while where I absolutely want to have the soundtrack.
( You who are so good with words and at keeping things vague )
All in all: good, very good, though not great. But it’s the first film in a while where I absolutely want to have the soundtrack.
In which I read a bunch of stuff my kids told me to read
25 June 2025 22:16cahnE is at church camp and A just got the latest Percy Jackson: Senior Year Adventures from the library and has been reading it all evening, so I finally had time to write this up!
This is what I've actually been reading over the last six months/year and why I've been even slower than usual about reading everything else (although I did tell A. I had to take turns with the Hugo novels). For E this was mostly stuff she read for school that she wanted me to read so I could help her with her papers, while for A. this has been books he really likes and wants to... well, he doesn't want to talk to me about them really, he more wants to ask me questions about what parts I liked and whether I thought X was funny and so on.
( American Born Chinese, All American Boys, Frankly in Love, Raisin in the Sun, Keeper of the Lost Cities: 2-9.5, all of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson/Olympus/etc. series )
I am still working on Magnus Chase, and as I mentioned we just got the latest Percy Jackson: Senior Year Adventures (a much more low-key series) from the library, so I do have a few more to go...
This is what I've actually been reading over the last six months/year and why I've been even slower than usual about reading everything else (although I did tell A. I had to take turns with the Hugo novels). For E this was mostly stuff she read for school that she wanted me to read so I could help her with her papers, while for A. this has been books he really likes and wants to... well, he doesn't want to talk to me about them really, he more wants to ask me questions about what parts I liked and whether I thought X was funny and so on.
( American Born Chinese, All American Boys, Frankly in Love, Raisin in the Sun, Keeper of the Lost Cities: 2-9.5, all of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson/Olympus/etc. series )
I am still working on Magnus Chase, and as I mentioned we just got the latest Percy Jackson: Senior Year Adventures (a much more low-key series) from the library, so I do have a few more to go...
A history of the 21st century for Pittsburgh Pirates fans
26 June 2025 04:04![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
quomodocumque_feedSometime this August or September, Paul Skenes, in his second year in the majors, will become the pitcher with the most total WAR for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 21st century.
(He will pass Paul Maholm, who put together 11.8 WAR in his 7 years with the Bucs.)