thedeadparrot

The waiting is the hardest part

(posted by

minoanmiss on Nov. 23rd, 2025 04:48 pm)

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Locked Tomb AUs & A Wind in the Door

(posted by

petra on Nov. 23rd, 2025 04:00 pm)

I'm postulating the necro/cav AUs again, so I still might throw that AU fest, Locked Tomb fans. There's no release date on Alecto as of this writing, so that's not a useful target. But if instead I aimed for a y'all-come-create fest to release on May Day, as the opposite cross-quarter day from Halloween, that might work.

Postulate with me! Anyone who has a clever idea for a fest name is welcome, or a pair they want to see do this dance, or anything.

*

You know it's a good day when you get to use the phrase, "L'Engle-accurate cherubim."

Angels, shmangels -- I want Progo with ~~blue hair and~~ pronouns.

Weekly proof of life: reading | foodstuff | impending appliance shopping (>.<)

(posted by

umadoshi on Nov. 23rd, 2025 04:07 pm)

Reading: I finished August Clarke's Metal from Heaven (really good, with gorgeous writing) and read Into the Broken Lands, which was my first Tanya Huff book in...probably a couple of decades, honestly. Also really good. (I have a bonus soft spot for her because she was GoH at the local SFF con one year when I went in high school.)

Currently reading: Rebecca Mahoney's The Memory Eater.

And

scruloose and I are close enough to the end of Network Effect that we could probably finish it tonight if we really tried; annoyingly, it's due back at something like 6 PM today, and we can't get it finished by then, so we're gonna have to renew it. >.<

Cooking/Baking: I mentioned having apples we needed to bake with early in the month, and what we wound up going with was the Easiest Ever MOIST Apple Cake from RecipeTin eats, chosen in large part based on our available springform pans. It's tasty (we took the last pieces out to thaw for this evening), but I can't say "moist" is one of the first words it brings to mind. (It's not dry or anything, just...a perfectly pleasantly-textured cake.)

Tonight's dinner plan is Smitten Kitchen's Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Cabbage. (It calls for a green cabbage and we have a Savoy, but hopefully that'll be okay.) Last weekend when we were out erranding we bought said cabbage, some carrots, and some broccoli (all still in the fridge), and some spring mix (fortunately not still in the fridge), but then we had a HelloFresh box to get through.

Buying vegetables is presumably the first step to actually cooking them, and I made sure to at least mostly choose some that would last a while. >.> The Bee Wilson book I mentioned recently has a section specifically on learning/practicing different cooking techniques with carrots, so I'm hoping to actually make use of the bag of carrots with my own hands. We'll see how that goes.

Householding: The upright freezer in the garage has been making unhappy noises and needing to be poked at periodically to keep it running. Time to get a new one, I guess. >.< Everyone loves appliance shopping!

Masking.

(posted by

hannah on Nov. 22nd, 2025 11:48 pm)

This afternoon, out on the subway, someone complained about an unpleasant smell. I looked them in the eye and didn't say anything, letting my mask do the talking. There's so many reasons to keep them on in enclosed spaces, especially enclosed spaces where people take off their shoes, and I don't see a reason to go back to breathing unfiltered subway air.

It's looking to be a family hike this Thursday, and I still don't know how to feel about it.

Wanksgiving IV: A New Hope - Entertaining requests - Come one, come all

(posted by

petra on Nov. 22nd, 2025 07:08 pm)

Leave me a comment with a fandom I know + pair/group + kink, or just a kink, and I will write a Wanksgiving IV: A New Hope drabble (or more) of smut for you, to be revealed this coming Thursday.

Extra bonus points for scenarios having to do with this year's Wanksgiving theme. But you knew that, didn't you?

(no subject)

(posted by

marina on Nov. 22nd, 2025 09:55 pm)

An exciting update since my last post: I broke my ankle! *facepalm*

( anatomy of a work accident )

US Politics: Zohran Mamdani's nat 20 on the Oval Office charisma roll

(posted by

petra on Nov. 22nd, 2025 02:08 pm)

Mayor-Elect Mamdani was asked whether Trump is a fascist, and Trump's response to his hesitation was to say it was fine, and he could say it.

On the same day a bunch of Democrats in the House voted to condemn socialism.

I'm glad this timeline has you in it, dear reader, because the political side of things is driving me bananas.

I'm also glad the timeline has people in it who see this as a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a hot new RPS ship. I have zero desire to read the stories, but I love that they exist.

the faint sound of bears...

(posted by

celli on Nov. 22nd, 2025 02:28 pm)

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Media and Power: Introduction

(posted by

alias_sqbr on Nov. 22nd, 2025 08:51 pm)

I'm going through the free university mini-course Media and Power from the University of Iowa, and am going to try and take notes as I go. (Yes I do intend to get back to the Ursula K LeGuin book. One day. Shh)

This handbook guides students through concepts, content, and exercises that help them develop media literacy by understanding media and power. The authors want students to not only gain the ability to critically analyze the languages and discourses – textual, visual, audio, and code – that people use to create and interpret media content, but also to understand the overarching context: media possess immense power in contemporary societies around the world.

So far there has been A Lot of focus on US political reporting, which is very reasonable but is not actually my preferred area of focus.
( Read more... )

Are there bears in the forest?

(posted by

petra on Nov. 21st, 2025 10:00 pm)

I have more than the minimum word count of my Yuletide story and a vague ambition for how it will go from here. It is not done, but it is well and truly begun.

Food banks and food pantries - Donate & prompt me to write for you

(posted by

petra on Nov. 21st, 2025 03:32 pm)

Here is your friendly reminder, especially for people in the US coming up to Thursday's Big Eating Day, that if you donate 25 USD worth of cash or food to a food bank or food pantry, you can prompt me to write for you: fanfiction, fanpoetry, or original poetry, anywhere on the sliding scale from staid, metered verse to filthy limericks.

This applies to recurring donations too!

Mm, seasonal affective disorder and assorted political depression are fun

(posted by

petra on Nov. 21st, 2025 03:26 pm)

I worked on my 2025 story index and found myself capable of forming the thought: "O poor pitful barely-productive me! I have been so depressed that I have only posted 199 fanworks so far this year."

It is definitely time for a seasonally-appropriate vacation and a hug or twelve.

"Yes, but so many of them were limericks!"

Fuck off into the sun, inner critic. Just because I would've liked to have written novels and haven't does not make the things I have made entirely negligible.