scarfman | Reading

#9: A book with more pages than the previous book
February: Keyboard Keys

Watership Down by Richard Adams.

I enjoyed it. There are some very emotional parts. I have some quibbles about the way interspecies communication is depicted, but they're quibbles. The Tolkienesque asides about language and translation are fun. Actually, the whole vibe is kind of Tolkienesque, in that it's about a big adventure being had by small creatures who live in holes in the ground and are very English in their manners and speech despite having no concept of what an "England" is. I found myself occasionally wondering if the various strange rabbit communities our heroes encounter -- the decadent artist rabbits, the totalitarian dictatorship rabbits -- are meant to be read as commentary on human communities; the only one I'm confident about is the bit where one of the folk tales about the mythical rabbit hero El-ahrairah takes a moment to have El-ahrairah express his disdain for Kits These Days That Don't Respect Their Elders Who Fought For Their Freedom In The War.

#10: A book published in a different decade than the previous book
March: "This" and "That"

1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman.

A re-read, because I was feeling like something light and none of the other options I was seeing for the March prompt were appealing to me.

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7022 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1003.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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fandomsecrets

[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #1004 ]

The first secret from this batch will be posted on April 4th.

RULES:
1. One secret link per comment.
2. 750x750 px or smaller.
3. Link directly to the image.

More details on how to send a secret in!

Optional: If you would like your secret's fandom to be noted in the main post along with the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret. If your secret makes the fandom obvious, there's no need to do this. If your fandom is obscure, you should probably tell me what it is.

Optional #2: If you would like WARNINGS (such as spoilers or common triggers -- list of some common ones here) to be noted in the main post before the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret.

Optional #3: If you would like a transcript to be posted along with your secret, put it along with the link in the comment!

capri0mni

Prompted by the Introduction Meme, over at

findingfriends, I checked my profile page, and realized this story I linked to, as an example of my writing, was on another site, which has since become unreliable. Since I don't want to lose it, I'm posting it here, instead.

It was inspired by the Czech tale "The Twelve Iron Shoes," the Grimms tale "The Cast Iron Stove," and the Norwegian tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon.'

Perhaps a Note of Interest: Because I composed this read aloud on stage, it's (mostly) in iambic pentameter, with the line breaks removed.

THE BAREFOOT QUEEN
By Ann Magill

In olden times, when wishing made things so, there lived a princess loved by rich and poor. So fair was she, in face, and heart, and mind, that all who knew her wished to bring her joy. She never raised a hand, or spoke a word, or took a step, except in sheer delight. And so she grew within the palace grounds, becoming even sweeter day by day, for kindness was the only thing she knew.

But childhood and time will never stay, and many nobles sought to call her "wife." The king, dissatisfied, dismissed them all. Each seemed too harsh or proud for her kind heart.

And then, one day, a prince arrived at court whose manner was so easy, warm and free that all agreed he was her very match. The wedding feast was held, and songs were sung, and tears were shed, when loved ones said "Good-bye."

The princess, for her part, was unafraid. The man beside her on the carriage seat was kind as any she had ever known. And though the land grew stranger with each mile, she only saw new wonders to behold.

( Read more... )

capri0mni

Just shy of two weeks ago, I caught an episode of the YouTube Channel/Podcast "The Rest is Science: Cognitive Ghosts," about weird perceptional things like de ja vous, and the uncanny sensation that there's someone in the room with you. In the very last chapter of the video, They talk about the almost universal experience of people in the process of dying having dreams of loved ones who've died before them.

And they mentioned the hypothesis that it could be the brain's way of distracting the dying person from the physical pain of their body shutting down. Which is lovely to think that your last thoughts in life will be of love. But I also think, that as a uniquely, intensely cultural species, passing on our values and knowledge and life lessons is just as, if not more, important than passing on our genetic material. So our brains go into overdrive, with all the fervor of a salmon swimming upstream -- reminding us of all the most important knowledge we've learned (love each other, forgive each other), so we can pass pass that knowledge on to those who will live after us.

kathleen_dailey

Watch on YouTube

100 percent AI, but fun to watch nevertheless. (For me, more fun than some parts of studio-produced Trek of recent years.)

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7021 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

All spoiler warning/content warning stuff today!

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Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7020 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 08 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7019 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 13 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

capri0mni

Will encourage me to spend more time here, I joined, and posted to

findingfriends.

My Introducing-Myself Post is here

The community's Sticky!Post asked that I post the code for their promo banner here. But it turned out to be large, fully saturated, and animated. So I'm just making my link big, instead.

kathleen_dailey

Via the the Copyediting-L list:

AI and Publishing: FAQ for Writers by Jane Friedman.

This information is equally valuable for editors, IMO.

kathleen_dailey

Just when I'm about to give up on finding a non-run-of-the-mill, TOS-centric fic that engrosses, provokes thought, and assumes a reader's willingness to reflect and theorize along with the author, AO3 offers me this:

"The Proliferation Problem (or: David Marcus Built a Garden Tool)" by InForestPlace

Rating: General audiences
Warnings: No archive warnings apply
Fandoms: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Fandom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - Fandom
Characters: David Marcus, James T. Kirk, Khan Noonien Singh, Carol Marcus

Author's summary: David Marcus died believing Starfleet wanted to weaponize his work. He was right that it was beautiful. He was wrong about almost everything else. A structural analysis of what Genesis actually was, what Khan understood immediately, what Starfleet could not explain, and why Kirk's hand went against the glass.

The author's note calls this work "meta-fic," but except for a specific mention of "TWOK" it reads like a wholly in-universe post-mission analysis, prepared by, perhaps, a respected military historian or political-science scholar, and delivered--not in an academic journal but in person at some high-level meeting, because the piece is informal, personal, and reflective--to very senior Federation policy makers and Starfleet leadership.

And this author can write: the style, pacing, and structure of the story are all very skillfully handled.

The story captured my interest from the very first line. An impressive find.

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7018 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

capri0mni

Something I've not even talked about on Tumblr, I don't think: I've started (obliquely) following the manga One Piece through watching review / discussion channels on YouTube. I totally avoided being intimidated by the length, by not giving a flying whatsit about starting at the beginning. I got into it when my one of my favorite sea shanty / folk bands did a cover of the English translation of Bink no Sake, and I wanted some context for the madness. So I just dove into the fan wiki, and, out of curiosity, looked to see what the current manga chapter/anime episode was at the time. And I've been following along from that point on ever since. I don't have to worry about missing necessary context or plot developments from the beginning, because for the fans who make the videos, drawing connections between almost 30 years of story details is their favorite hobby.
A deepening pet peeve: Foods being sold as "Healthy Substitutes for [X]," for whatever the health kick trend of the day is, instead of just being celebrated in their own right. It leads people to expect a different flavor / texture than what they get, which leads them to decide that a food tastes disgusting, but if it were in a different context, it would be delicious. And then, worst of all, when that particular trend is no longer trendy, that perfectly good food practically disappears from store shelves, and the price skyrockets.
A case in point: I've recently discovered nutritional yeast. It's sold and promoted as "A Parmesan Alternative for Vegans." It's good. But it's not Parmesan. I'd say, if I were to put in in a family tree of flavors, that it's a first cousin to Parmesan cheese (rather than its twin) on one side, and, on the other side, a cousin to those instant Raman noodle flavor packets (with a lot less sodium than either). It doesn't work at all as a binding agent the way the cheese does, though. I like to sprinkle it on salads already tossed in dressing (so that it will stick), to add some protein and umami.
Lately, I've been haunted by a Grimm's fairy tale that I've tried (three or four times) to rewrite / fix during my NaNoWriMo Days (which I have since disavowed completely, due to that organization's embrace of generative A.I.), and been thoroughly demoralized by each time, at the end. I don't know if I'm really drawn to try again, though, or if my mind is just retreating back to it as a distraction from other, real-world stressors I'd rather not think about.
At the end of last year, and the start of this one, I decided to get back to my love for the character, and murder mystery stories of, Lord Peter Wimsey. I'd watched the 1970 TV adaptations by the BBC on Masterpiece Theater as teen, and subsequently read a bunch of short stories. But there's a whole lot I never read. Back in January, I started reading the third novel, Unnatural Death, over at Project Gutenberg. But real life rudely interrupted me in the middle of Chapter Two. And I'm just now getting bak to it. Anyone want to join me in a read-along?

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7017 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 25 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

scifirenegade

So, Blood and Tea and Red String (2006), the love child of one person, made over the course of over 10 years, is my new favourite thing. If you want to make a dark fairy tale, embrace the fact it's still a fairy tale, which this movie certainly did.

Basically, the aristocratic Mice ask the Oak Creatures to make them the doll of their desires. They do, but they live the doll so much they offer the Mice's money back to keep it. The Mice steal it.

Reality and fiction mix. I feel like there's something about women being treated as objects (and then there's the spider woman). Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe it's just a surreal piece of art.

(Also, the water is made of, I think, that very transparent film one can use to wrap food or whatever. Lovely!)

Current Mood: happy

pedanther

( Alma, America, And... )

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fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7016 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

pedanther

. Our season of short plays opened this week, to successful audiences. There was apparently a positive write-up in the local paper, but I didn't hear about it until it was too late to get hold of a copy. The play I'm in is a collection of skits on Shakespearean topics, with premises such as "What if Julius Caesar had asked the soothsayer for clarification?" and "What if Lady Macbeth had had a really good lawyer?" and "What if Richard III had been taken at his word on the 'my kingdom for a horse' thing?"

. I didn't make it to any board game meets this week because they all clashed with dress rehearsals.

. Further experimentation with the cat-head ice trays has established that using orange juice instead of water makes the ice irregular enough that it doesn't cling to the mould. It also established that I don't really have a regular use for blocks of frozen orange juice shaped like cat heads, so I'm probably just going to stop using the ice tray.

. I didn't get around to watching the National Theatre Importance of Being Earnest during the week it was available free to watch on Youtube. This was partly because I was busy, and partly because, despite the stacked cast, I've never been particularly enthusiastic about this production. My least favourite kind of production of a classic comedy is the kind that seems to think that it won't be funny without a whole bunch of new gags slathered over it, and if this production isn't one of those then the trailers I've seen are doing a bad job of representing it.

pedanther

#9: A book with more pages than the previous book
February: Keyboard Keys

Watership Down by Richard Adams. I'm about halfway through, and enjoying it a lot.

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scarfman

The Hero of Three Faces - fanfiction cartoons

February 2026

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Page Summary

pedanther - Book Chain, etc, Week 13
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7022 ]
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #1004 ]
capri0mni - An Original Wondertale I wrote, back in 2006.
capri0mni - Watched a video, have had a ~Thought~ ever since
kathleen_dailey - They'll steal your tech right in front of you
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7021 ]
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7020 ]
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7019 ]
capri0mni - Since having more people in my Dreamwidth circles...
kathleen_dailey - Article on AI and Publishing by Jane Friedman
kathleen_dailey - The whole point of fanfic, part 3
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7018 ]
capri0mni - 5 things make a post: Getting unstiuck from my time away
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7017 ]
scifirenegade - Drinking My Blood Tea, Twirling My Red String
pedanther - Notes on a music collection, part 5
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7016 ]
pedanther - Week in review: Week to 21 March
pedanther - Book Chain, etc, Week 12

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Page generated Mar. 29th, 2026 12:08 pm

Paul Gadzikowski

Thanks for reading.

Reading

Book Chain, etc, Week 13

[ SECRET POST #7022 ]

[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #1004 ]

An Original Wondertale I wrote, back in 2006.

Watched a video, have had a ~Thought~ ever since

They'll steal your tech right in front of you

[ SECRET POST #7021 ]

[ SECRET POST #7020 ]

[ SECRET POST #7019 ]

Since having more people in my Dreamwidth circles...

Article on AI and Publishing by Jane Friedman

The whole point of fanfic, part 3

[ SECRET POST #7018 ]

5 things make a post: Getting unstiuck from my time away

[ SECRET POST #7017 ]

Drinking My Blood Tea, Twirling My Red String

Notes on a music collection, part 5

[ SECRET POST #7016 ]

Week in review: Week to 21 March

Book Chain, etc, Week 12

Profile

February 2026

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