Media Roundup: Pre-Trip Reading
Jun. 14th, 2026 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryI’m leaving for a short trip soon and I thought it would be nice if I could finish up some of the massive pile of library books I have sitting around before then, seeing as I don’t want to take them with me. I didn't read as much of the pile as I hoped but I did make some progress!
Many of these are nominees for this year's Eisner Awards, since I looked at those and put in holds for the ones that seemed interesting recently.
Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters—Graphic novel about Vern, who having lost his job moves home to Florida where it turns out his grandma has gotten him a job at a weird tech company. This was fun and zanny. There’s multiverse travel and kinda trippy art to go with it. The story is a bit didactic but I really liked the message so that worked for me.
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux—This a murder mystery set at an all girls school in the 80s. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice it wasn’t contemporary) Our main character is a recent transfer student who doesn’t fit in. I really liked this, the characters were compelling, the mystery was interesting, and the ending felt just right
Globetrotters: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's World Tour by Julian Voloj and Julie Rocheleau—This graphic novel is inspired by real historical events – that I knew basically nothing about before reading this! All I knew was that Nellie Bly was a pioneering woman journalist. The subtitle makes it sound like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were traveling together but actually they were racing to see who could get around the world the fastest! I was totally riveted!
Content note: period typical sexism and racism
Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen—The second Detective Beans book, about Beans the adorable detective kitten. This one is a collection of shorter stories, my favorite was the last one with the bear and the moon!
Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young—This is hard to talk about. It's a graphic novel about a group of friends who are looking for one of their friends who is missing, possibly dead. (They are all teens) its kinda creepy, but also kind of heartwarming? Anyways I enjoyed it a lot!
Many of these are nominees for this year's Eisner Awards, since I looked at those and put in holds for the ones that seemed interesting recently.
Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters—Graphic novel about Vern, who having lost his job moves home to Florida where it turns out his grandma has gotten him a job at a weird tech company. This was fun and zanny. There’s multiverse travel and kinda trippy art to go with it. The story is a bit didactic but I really liked the message so that worked for me.
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux—This a murder mystery set at an all girls school in the 80s. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice it wasn’t contemporary) Our main character is a recent transfer student who doesn’t fit in. I really liked this, the characters were compelling, the mystery was interesting, and the ending felt just right
Content notes are spoilerish
Homophobia, underage sex, death of a teenGlobetrotters: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's World Tour by Julian Voloj and Julie Rocheleau—This graphic novel is inspired by real historical events – that I knew basically nothing about before reading this! All I knew was that Nellie Bly was a pioneering woman journalist. The subtitle makes it sound like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were traveling together but actually they were racing to see who could get around the world the fastest! I was totally riveted!
Content note: period typical sexism and racism
Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen—The second Detective Beans book, about Beans the adorable detective kitten. This one is a collection of shorter stories, my favorite was the last one with the bear and the moon!
Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young—This is hard to talk about. It's a graphic novel about a group of friends who are looking for one of their friends who is missing, possibly dead. (They are all teens) its kinda creepy, but also kind of heartwarming? Anyways I enjoyed it a lot!
Check-In Post - June 14th 2026
Jun. 14th, 2026 06:26 pmbadly_knitted posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
get_knittedHello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question: What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
I now declare this Check-In OPEN!
FAKE: Weak Alibi [Challenge 505: Weak]
Jun. 14th, 2026 05:58 pmbadly_knitted posting in drabble_zoneTitle: Weak Alibi
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Dee, OMC, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 505: Weak.
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Not everyone can have a good alibi when they need one.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Triple drabble.
Weak Alibi
Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 17, part 1
Jun. 14th, 2026 11:56 amchina_shop posting in sid_guardian
Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!
Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.
Episode 17, up to 22:31
Summary
We get Bao Laosan's tragic backstory, which Zhu Jiu uses to incite him to attack the SID. Shen Wei searches Dixing for Zhao Yunlan, starting (as far as we know) in the bar, where everyone is rowdy and disrespectful. He quells them with a display of power, and the quaking bartender whispers something in his ear. In Haixing, the SID team confront Bao Laosan, and he takes Lao Li hostage. Zhao Xinci, who has zero de-escalation skills, struggles with Bao Laosan and shoots him. The team are horrified. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan and Wu Tian'en are running around Dixing in search of the missing book. Shen Wei finds An Bai and friends and intimidates them for information about Zhao Yunlan's whereabouts. Zhu Jiu and Ya Qing talk about loyalty/ethics and Ye Zun, and we see Zhu Jiu's backstory, being bullied in his job as a palace guard. Zhao Yunlan and Wu Tian'en find an information broker. At the SID, everyone is upset about the case; Zhao Xinci tells them they did well and leaves, returning Zhao Yunlan's gun to Da Qing on his way out. Zhao Yunlan bargains with the information broker for intel, but the masked man stabs him with a poisoned syringe and reveals himself as Ding Dun. Zhao Yunlan falls to the ground in agony. Shen Wei arrives just in time to stop Ding Dun finishing him off. They fight with dark energy, and Shen Wei kills Ding Dun.
Quote
Ding Dun: You want to ask about marriage.
Zhao Yunlan: I... have been a huge asshole since the day I was born; so cold and heartless. I don't want marriage.
Detail
Ding Dun's sign says 包打听 which is translated in every version of the subs as "Knows everything." Google Translate rendered it as "Know-It-All" one time, and "Gossip" another, and Pleco as "nosey parker" -- which explains Zhao Yunlan's bemused reaction.
Questions
Do you have a favourite scene or line of dialogue from this half episode? On a scale from 1 to 10, how upsetting is it to see the SID façade crack? Is the bar the first place Shen Wei looks for Zhao Yunlan? Why do the bar patrons assume Shen Wei is an imposter Envoy? On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you blame Zhao Xinci for Bao Laosan's death? When Shen Wei intimidates An Bai and co, An Bai folds pretty quickly -- is that due to cowardice, latent respect for the Envoy, or some other reason? Zhu Jiu is unpowered in his backstory; when does he acquire his powers? When Wu Tian'en says he can't teleport anymore, is he telling the truth or lying to spare Zhao Yunlan's health and give him face? When Zhao Xinci tells the SID, "You are truly worthy of being members of the Special Investigations Department" (Viki subs), does he mean it, or is he just trying to cheer them up? Does Ye Zun want Zhao Yunlan dead, or is Ding Dun acting unilaterally when he attacks, or (third option) has Ding Dun conspired with Zhu Jiu and/or the Deacon to take Zhao Yunlan out? If the last option, does Ye Zun know their plan?
Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?
(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)
And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!
Posting Three Times in a Day Is Definetly Not Procrastinating
Jun. 13th, 2026 02:48 pmmuccamukkRe a conversation I'm having in comments with trepkos.
I think I've mentioned before that growing up without TV reception, I really only saw shows when I was visiting Grandma or one of my cousins, and therefore my knowledge of Star Trek was largely based on the novels, and the very rare episode I caught while in town, or that someone had on VHS (mostly TNG, which was airing at the time).
I relied on the secondhand knowledge provided by the novels, which would refer back to canon events in an entirely muddled way that made it difficult to know what had happened. I was therefore delighted to discover that James Blish had written narrative versions of all the Original Series episodes.
"Great!" I thought, "Now I can get all the details straight, and understand the references in the novels."
I forget how I figured it out, maybe one of the novels contradicted the Blish versions, or maybe it was in one of the other reference books (we had, at one point, the nitpicker's guides and the encyclopedia). But I worked out that Blish was not only changing details, but sometimes changing the entire endings of episodes! Shock! Betrayal! Horror! Imagine the most outraged 9-10 year old you've ever seen!
(In retrospect, I'm wondering if Blish was writing them from memory? Or possibly shooting scripts? Does anyone know? Knowledge of this must exist.)
However, I was actually kind of disappointed when I finally saw "Amok Time," because I low-key liked some of Blish's made-up details? Well, not most of them, but there's a beat in the ending that I fully imprinted on, and that isn't in the original episode. And I know this is blasphemy, because the original ending is fully iconic, with Spock smiling and almost hugging Kirk before he remembers he's not supposed to have feelings. However, hear me out. I went and found the Blish version on Archive.org (they're all there, if you want to delight in corny 1970s renderings of 1960s camp), and it goes thusly:
I know it's not a masterpiece of literary genius,‡ but it does hit the niche trope of "emotionally more open character comes upon emotionally closed character secretly having a good cry, and that leads tobanging revelations of true feelings." Which I could read a hundred thousand versions of and never tire of wanting more, and I have indeed included in at least a couple of my own fic. I'm not sure if this is the first time I ran into it, but it might have been? If so, Thank you, Mr. Blish!
Anyway, hi. I'm actually doing reading for history. Of 12th-century nuns, not mid-20th-century pop culture.
* Definite article in the original?
† Nurse Does Not Have a Last Name!?
‡ Look. The thing about being nine is you don't notice when the prose is Not Very Good.
trepkos.I think I've mentioned before that growing up without TV reception, I really only saw shows when I was visiting Grandma or one of my cousins, and therefore my knowledge of Star Trek was largely based on the novels, and the very rare episode I caught while in town, or that someone had on VHS (mostly TNG, which was airing at the time).
I relied on the secondhand knowledge provided by the novels, which would refer back to canon events in an entirely muddled way that made it difficult to know what had happened. I was therefore delighted to discover that James Blish had written narrative versions of all the Original Series episodes.
"Great!" I thought, "Now I can get all the details straight, and understand the references in the novels."
I forget how I figured it out, maybe one of the novels contradicted the Blish versions, or maybe it was in one of the other reference books (we had, at one point, the nitpicker's guides and the encyclopedia). But I worked out that Blish was not only changing details, but sometimes changing the entire endings of episodes! Shock! Betrayal! Horror! Imagine the most outraged 9-10 year old you've ever seen!
(In retrospect, I'm wondering if Blish was writing them from memory? Or possibly shooting scripts? Does anyone know? Knowledge of this must exist.)
However, I was actually kind of disappointed when I finally saw "Amok Time," because I low-key liked some of Blish's made-up details? Well, not most of them, but there's a beat in the ending that I fully imprinted on, and that isn't in the original episode. And I know this is blasphemy, because the original ending is fully iconic, with Spock smiling and almost hugging Kirk before he remembers he's not supposed to have feelings. However, hear me out. I went and found the Blish version on Archive.org (they're all there, if you want to delight in corny 1970s renderings of 1960s camp), and it goes thusly:
[Kirk] came gradually back to consciousness in the Sickbay.* McCoy was bending over him. Nearby was Spock, his hands over his face. His shoulders were shaking.
Nurse Christine† came into his field of view, and turning Spock towards the Captain, gently pulled his hands away from his face. Kirk smiled weakly, and spoke in a faint but cheerful voice.
"Mr. Spock—I never thought I'd see the day..."
"Captain!" Spock stared down at him, absolutely dazed with astonishment.‡ Then, obviously realizing what his face and voice were revealing, he looked away.
I know it's not a masterpiece of literary genius,‡ but it does hit the niche trope of "emotionally more open character comes upon emotionally closed character secretly having a good cry, and that leads to
Anyway, hi. I'm actually doing reading for history. Of 12th-century nuns, not mid-20th-century pop culture.
* Definite article in the original?
† Nurse Does Not Have a Last Name!?
‡ Look. The thing about being nine is you don't notice when the prose is Not Very Good.
A random post appears
Jun. 13th, 2026 11:32 pmmarina1. I seem to have, tragically, read all the alpha/beta/omega fics that exist on AO3 for The Pitt. Or at least, all the fics that are within my reading parameters. Note, this is not ship-specific! I'm ship agnostic when it comes to this show. Anyway, this is a tragedy, I am very sad. It makes me want to write my own fic (other than the ones I've already written) just so there's more of that shit in the world.
2. I wrote a short story recently, for the first time since... many years. Definitely for the first time since 2019, probably more than that. But I sent it in to a local anthology and it got accepted. So it will be published, in print, later this year. I don't know where that puts me in relation to finding my way back to my own voice when it comes to original fiction, but it is happening. And it is nice.
Another thing that's nice is that I wrote this story in about 2 writing sessions, across 2 different days during the same week. Before, short stories used to take me on average 6 months. They were the woooorst. The shortest it ever took me, for a story I needed to submit purely for a technicality and that I knew I could "slack off" on, took about 2 weeks. That story will never see the light of day, and I'm totally OK with that lol.
So, mostly this feels like a huge achievement for me as a writer, that I've done so much practice with my original work that I'm now able to produce something "high quality" enough to get published within such a short time. It didn't start out this way! Despite being a born anxious pessimist reality keeps annoyingly proving to me that things can improve if you invest the time and effort.
3. They're having an actual Heated Rivalry party here this week - by which I mean, a nightclub is hosting a Heated Rivalry night - and I am actually considering going lol. The party starts at 11pm, which is normal! Except I'm 16-23 anymore, which is the age range when I was going to nightclubs in that format lolol It's just so rare to have a fandom event IRL like this, that is a draw. It's also nice that I told some coworkers about it lol. Like I don't know if any of us will come, but it's nice to have coworkers I can share this with.
4. Work is... in kind of a holding pattern. ( work )
5. I've watched so much TV lately, but of course my schedule is currently ruled by The Vampite Lestat. The absolute MASTERPIECE. I'm obsessed with this show and I've read zero fic for this show, which tells you all you need to know about how good the canon is. And I've been reading fic for this universe since I was a teenager!
( spoilers for 3x01 )
2. I wrote a short story recently, for the first time since... many years. Definitely for the first time since 2019, probably more than that. But I sent it in to a local anthology and it got accepted. So it will be published, in print, later this year. I don't know where that puts me in relation to finding my way back to my own voice when it comes to original fiction, but it is happening. And it is nice.
Another thing that's nice is that I wrote this story in about 2 writing sessions, across 2 different days during the same week. Before, short stories used to take me on average 6 months. They were the woooorst. The shortest it ever took me, for a story I needed to submit purely for a technicality and that I knew I could "slack off" on, took about 2 weeks. That story will never see the light of day, and I'm totally OK with that lol.
So, mostly this feels like a huge achievement for me as a writer, that I've done so much practice with my original work that I'm now able to produce something "high quality" enough to get published within such a short time. It didn't start out this way! Despite being a born anxious pessimist reality keeps annoyingly proving to me that things can improve if you invest the time and effort.
3. They're having an actual Heated Rivalry party here this week - by which I mean, a nightclub is hosting a Heated Rivalry night - and I am actually considering going lol. The party starts at 11pm, which is normal! Except I'm 16-23 anymore, which is the age range when I was going to nightclubs in that format lolol It's just so rare to have a fandom event IRL like this, that is a draw. It's also nice that I told some coworkers about it lol. Like I don't know if any of us will come, but it's nice to have coworkers I can share this with.
4. Work is... in kind of a holding pattern. ( work )
5. I've watched so much TV lately, but of course my schedule is currently ruled by The Vampite Lestat. The absolute MASTERPIECE. I'm obsessed with this show and I've read zero fic for this show, which tells you all you need to know about how good the canon is. And I've been reading fic for this universe since I was a teenager!
( spoilers for 3x01 )
Random Doctor Who question
Jun. 13th, 2026 11:49 ammuccamukkSince apparently we're never going to find out what happened, and I'm not mad about that! /s
Does anyone have a rec for Gatwa!Doctor/Rogue fixit fic? Like a long h/c one with travails and shit.
I'd take other Doctors, too, but mostly want more Gatwa.
Does anyone have a rec for Gatwa!Doctor/Rogue fixit fic? Like a long h/c one with travails and shit.
I'd take other Doctors, too, but mostly want more Gatwa.
Check-In Post - June 13th 2026
Jun. 13th, 2026 07:14 pmbadly_knitted posting in get_knittedHello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question: What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
I now declare this Check-In OPEN!
A feline birthday | First market visit of the year
Jun. 13th, 2026 03:05 pmumadoshiBefore even more time passes, I want to tell you all that last weekend it was our Jinksy!bear (and Claudia!kitten)'s thirteenth birthday. I'm managing not to let my brain actually crunch the numbers to figure out exactly when in the coming year he'll (please, God) cross the line of "has now lived half of his life without her".
He's unmistakably showing his age, although he doesn't yet seem old. I can never shake the fact that when I was a kid, thirteen would have seemed OLD for a cat; it always seemed to be such a marvel when a cat lived well into their teens. (One of my childhood cats, Jenny, lived until afterscruloose and I moved home from Toronto! She made it to nineteen, which is still a fairly impressive age now.)
I will forever wish we'd had the chance to see what kind of little old lady cat Claud would have been, and forever be grateful for how long we've had Jinksy. He continues to be just ridiculously sweet. We are so lucky to have him and the blues.
Today wasn'tscruloose's first market visit of the year, but it was mine. They went to pick up a meat order at one of the year-around main ones last week, and that errand meant that we didn't go to the little in-walking-distance market when it had its first day of the season last Saturday. But today we made it out, and since there wasn't much of a crowd--presumably due to the steady, if not heavy, rain passing through this morning--there were still plenty of strawberries available when we got there. (I wasn't surprised that things were quiet with the weather, and obviously financial pressures are hitting so many people brutally hard, but it was still quieter than I expected, esp. given that it was the first of the strawberries.)
First market haul of the year: strawberries (two quarts), salad greens, a sweet potato, eggs, a small dense sourdough loaf, kimchi, and kimbap (the sort that look exactly like onigiri--triangular and fully wrapped in nori, rather than rolled).
He's unmistakably showing his age, although he doesn't yet seem old. I can never shake the fact that when I was a kid, thirteen would have seemed OLD for a cat; it always seemed to be such a marvel when a cat lived well into their teens. (One of my childhood cats, Jenny, lived until after
scruloose and I moved home from Toronto! She made it to nineteen, which is still a fairly impressive age now.)I will forever wish we'd had the chance to see what kind of little old lady cat Claud would have been, and forever be grateful for how long we've had Jinksy. He continues to be just ridiculously sweet. We are so lucky to have him and the blues.
Today wasn't
scruloose's first market visit of the year, but it was mine. They went to pick up a meat order at one of the year-around main ones last week, and that errand meant that we didn't go to the little in-walking-distance market when it had its first day of the season last Saturday. But today we made it out, and since there wasn't much of a crowd--presumably due to the steady, if not heavy, rain passing through this morning--there were still plenty of strawberries available when we got there. (I wasn't surprised that things were quiet with the weather, and obviously financial pressures are hitting so many people brutally hard, but it was still quieter than I expected, esp. given that it was the first of the strawberries.)First market haul of the year: strawberries (two quarts), salad greens, a sweet potato, eggs, a small dense sourdough loaf, kimchi, and kimbap (the sort that look exactly like onigiri--triangular and fully wrapped in nori, rather than rolled).