scarfman | Reading

Fiction books
Peter O'Donnell. Modesty Blaise (re-read)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, tr. Michael Guybon. The First Circle

In progress
Tanith Lee. The Silver Metal Lover
Helen Simonson. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (e)

Abandoned
Gene Brewer. K-PAX
Randall Garrett. Takeoff Too

Picture books
Chris Van Allsburg. Jumanji (e)

Non-fiction books
Isaac Asimov. A Choice of Catastrophes
Kyle Baker. How to Draw Stupid

In progress
Yuval Noah Harari. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Ursula K Le Guin. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (e)

quailfence

TBA, if I don't add in time check out past exchange letters for prompts and likes

scifirenegade

Women are evil and christianity is cool. Or so Flesh and the Devil tells me.

Typical American 1920s self-righteousness aside, one can see where each and every characters are coming from.

Spoilers for an almost one-hundred-year-old movie

I am forever angry at Leo trying to strangle Felicitas, though. That bit was brutal.

One thing you'll see in hardcore Veidt girlies is that, once you experience Die Veidt (TM), you are pratically immune to everything that is remotely sensual. Nothing can top him (this sentence is hilarious). And yes, that man is made of sensuality and bones. If you've been here long enough, you know how I feel about him.

Anyway, I howled at the screen every time Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were doing whatever this. (Not seen here, that cigarette scene)

(gif by

ironmaidenhead)

(Also not seen here, the homoeroticism between Leo (that would be Gilbert) and Ulrich (Lars Hanson). They're bi4bi.)

Another film that could be solved with polyamory.

EDIT: Last Night in Soho. First half is ace. Great representations of the horrors of being a woman and the romanticisation of the past. Second part threw it all away for psycho-biddy shtick. The eleventh Doctor and Emma were there.

Current Mood: pensive

scifirenegade

Films Watched

Body and Soul (1925)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2020)

The Last Warning (1928)

The Constant Nymph (1933)

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Flesh and the Devil (1926)

Books (for leisure)

Gay Berlin by Robert Beachy (as always smh)

Continental Strangers: German Exile Cinema, 1933-1951 by Gerd Gemünden

Arts

1 finished full piece (Above Suspicion)

1 unfinished piece (FP1)

Lots of dumb doodles

Words Written

That One Oberaertz Thing: 221 words (total 5024 words)

Barbara's Great Wine Search: 0 words, ugh

Pre-canon AadA fic: 292 words

Unfinished miscellaneous short fics: one fic (total 63 words)

Total: 576 words

Current Mood: pensive

pedanther

. This week marked the tenth anniversary of my first entry on 750 Words. That sounds more impressive if you don't know how many long gaps there have been along the way: my current streak, which has lasted most of the past year, is the longest time I've stuck at it before giving up for a few years, and in that time I've written more entries than in the other nine years put together.

. At board game club this week, the main game was Russian Railroads, a worker-placement game themed around building railways, with several different tracks, each of which offers different kinds of rewards for building on it. ( Read more... )

. I finished A Choice of Catastrophes, a non-fiction book by Isaac Asimov that I've been reading here and there since April. The hook is describing the ways that the world, or at least humanity, might come to an end, but along the way there are lessons in a wide variety of other scientific and historical subjects: to understand how the world might stop working, one first needs to understand how it works.
( It's good, but shows its age )

. I've had mixed experiences with the works of Tanith Lee: I loved her first novel, thought a couple of others were okay, and bounced off everything else of hers that I tried. ( And I've spent the last 25 years actively not reading The Silver Metal Lover ) I've made a good start, but I don't know how long it's going to take to finish, because I have a limited amount of cope for emotionally stressful fiction and when it comes down to it I'd rather be using it on catching up on the shows I've got behind on than dealing with a hapless teenage protagonist who, if I'm being honest, reminds me a bit too much of my own younger self.

. I happened upon an online listing recently for Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887 that had a blurb describing it as a "dystopian classic", which would be a surprise to Bellamy. I don't know if the blurb writer was expressing an opinion about Bellamy's vision of utopia, or if it's just that "dystopian" has become such a marketable label lately that the online booksellers are slapping it on anything even remotely related.

daibhidc

So, you might remember that, ages ago, I did a "10 Alternate Universes" about my own author avatar and his muse. And then compounded the nonsense level by making the "In SPACE!" AU a meta discussion about how I was trying to set it in a universe I knew almost nothing about because I liked that it had a Space Scotland.

Well, since then, a setting I am familiar with has introduced a Space Scotland, so I thought I'd give it another go.
( In SPACE! Again! )

kathleen_dailey

It's Pride weekend, and though I love the festive vibe I'm finding the Church Street crowds more difficult to navigate as I get older and slower. So yesterday I spent most of the day inside doing laundry, paying bills, clearing various in-boxes, and faffing around on the internet.

( Semi-trivial pursuits )

quailfence

Title: i've been wanting to ask you out
Length: 200 words
Fandom: ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Marcille Donato/Falin Touden
Characters: Marcille Donato, Falin Touden
Additional Tags: POV Falin Touden, Post-Canon, Love Confessions, Getting Together, hints of arospec falin touden, hints of autistic falin touden, (as in there's a few lines that can be taken as evidence for either/both of those things), Cheek Kisses, Kissing, Girls Kissing, Romantic Fluff, Double Drabble, Seasons of Drabbles Exchange Spring Round 2025, Gift Fic, Gift Exchange
Summary: “Falin.” She turned around to see a very nervous Marcille. “Um, I need to- I think you should know that, that I-”
Notes: Written for

worldunbent in the Spring 2025 round of

seasonsofdrabbles . Originally posted 3 May 2025

“Falin.” She turned around to see a very nervous Marcille. “Um, I need to- I think you should know that, that I-”

Falin tilted her head and asked, “What?”

“ThatI’mInLoveWithYou!” came out all in a rush.

“Oh, really?” Falin asked. She hadn’t noticed before, but looking back it wasn’t exactly a surprise either. “For how long?”

“I, well, I’m not sure when it started, but I only realized when we were bathing together after we rescued you the first time,” Marcille admitted. “I was still trying to figure out what to do when, well…”

Falin nodded in understanding. “I’ve been a little in love with you for a while, myself,” she said. She’d actually thought about asking Marcille out beforehand, but had decided against it - they were already quite close and happy with each other, as friends, so what would dating really change that much about their relationship? She wouldn’t mind being proven wrong now, however. “So, if this is your way of asking me if you want to date…?”

“I- yes! Absolutely!” Marcille grabbed Falin’s hand. “I, Marcille Donato, would absolutely love to be your girlfriend!”

Falin grinned and kissed Marcille’s cheek. She blushed, but happily returned the favor.

End Notes: Bonus info/headcanons that I couldn't figure out how to fit into the fic: Senshi, Chilchuck, and Laios all managed to figure out Marcille's feelings (I'm basing Laios being able to figure that out on the changeling section). Chilchuck told Izutsumi right after she joined, but she probably wouldn't have figured it out on her own even if given time

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Phantom - Unknown from the Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies soundtrack

scifirenegade

A bad night of sleep aside, I've come across The Constant Nymph (1933), with Brian Aherne. An obscure film, difficult to find, especially compared to its predecessor and sucessor (the 1920s film has Ivor Novello, the 1940s film has, iirc Charles Boyer).

I'm completely unfamiliar with the source material btw.

It says a lot about a film when the only character that doesn't get on one's nerves is a stereotype. Lewis (Aherne) makes me want to pull my hair out. Obnoxious, being creepy towards our other main character Tessa (she's cool with it though, they are soulmates after all). Tessa and the middle (?) sister are as if Lydia and Kitty from P&P we're bad characters.

Okay, the older sister and her husband were fine. The husband was played by Kurt Anders als die Andern (that being Fritz Schulz). Completely unexpected. Seeing him with a silly moustache, speaking heavily accented English, gliding along the seat like a cartoon character, was quite nice.

There were moments in which the editors wanted to have some fun. Double (triple) exposure, creative cutting, but overall it looks too conventional for its own good.

Not a fan.

Current Mood: the constant feeling of dread

pedanther

. I think I've found a good balance with the journalling, where I'm keeping a useful amount of notes about things I want to talk about and not spending an off-putting amount of time on it.

. At board game club, we played Power Hungry Pets and Space Base.( Read more... )

. ( Planning for the new financial year )

. I'm continuing to listen to The Hidden Almanac on the anniversaries of each episode's original release date. This week marked a milestone: ( Read more... )

. I had a productive week at work, and learned some new things.

. I went to see the Rep Club's latest production, The Great Emu War. ( Read more... )

. I finished the jigsaw puzzle I was working on in around ten days, and left it sitting around to look at for a few more days before taking it apart and getting started on the other jigsaw puzzle I got for Christmas. This one is based on a Star Wars movie poster, and is proving challenging: ( Read more... )

. At Parkrun, ( Read more... )

pedanther

#19: Read a book where the title is a different color than the previous book's.

First attempt: Takeoff Too!, a collection of works by Randall Garrett. I was introduced to Garrett through his Lord Darcy stories, which I really enjoyed (the elevator pitch is "Sherlock Holmes in a world of magic, with the occasional delightfully awful pun"), and then pretty much everything else of his that I've read has left me cold. ( The contents of Takeoff Too! proved no exception )

Second attempt: How to Draw Stupid, and other essentials of cartooning by Kyle Baker, which also counts for the May prompt in the Buzzword challenge (title contains "to" or "too"). Since I was reading out of idle curiosity I don't have a strong opinion about whether it would actually be useful to someone seeking to become a cartoonist, but I was entertained.

#20: Read a book whose cover clashes with the cover of the previous book.

First attempt: K-PAX by Gene Brewer; the edition I had on hand has a vibrant purple cover that clashes with just about everything. My quickest DNF of the year to date: I lasted 20 pages. It was shaping up as one of those books where two sock-puppets talk at each other in a way that's supposed to end up imparting important life lessons; neither of the two participants in the dialogue felt like real people, and to the extent that they approached real personhood neither of them was a person I liked or wanted to spend more time with or expected to have any insights into life that were worth sticking around for.

(And then I took the rest of the week off fiction reading and binge-watched Natural Six instead.)

quailfence

I finished Metaphor: ReFantazio on Wednesday and LOVED it! While I have a few issues with the game (namely Catherina's follower link and one mid-to-late game twist) they're pretty minor overall in what's otherwise an excellent game. The characters were likeable (or like-to-hate-able), the story was thoughtful and interesting, and the gameplay was super fun and engrossing. Junah was my favorite character, and I'd very much like to play it again

Current Location: Home

kathleen_dailey

( Cut for talk of death )

scifirenegade

Maurice de Vlaminck had questionable politics and questionable taste in art. (But we do agree in one thing: fuck Paul Gauguin.)

Vlaminck was the rare Fauve who took main inspiration from Van Gogh (okay, they all did, but the Gauguin influence was huge). And it shows. The colours, however, are more. More. MORE.

Genuine is like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but more. More. MORE. And just like Vlaminck, the predecessor is better in everything.

My first foray into ~ German expressionist film ~, over a decade ago, went like this: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem: How He Came into the World, Nosferatu, Orlacs Hände, Waxworks, Der Student von Prag. And some other films after that. Genuine being one of those, back when only an incomplete sub-50-minute restoration existed. Now that a longer, almost hour-and-a-half version exists (making the film near-complete now), it was time to go back to it.

Like Caligari, Genuine is detached from our world, the sets, makeup and wardrobe make sure of that. They are more abstract, however. And that's fine. Like Caligari, it has a framing device.

Genuine's (played by Fern Andra) wardrobe is the most interesting of all. Gaudy headpieces, dresses with big, geometric patterns with contrasting colours. Andra does acting in the way of interpretative dance, not quite the same yet not quite different from Conrad Veidt in The Hands of Orlac (hey, had to put my blorbo in somehow).

So the sets, the wardrobe and the acting make Genuine the character some otherworldy being, a powerful entity.

Plot is bleh. Style is the substance here, but comparing Genuine's style with its contemporaries, it falls short indeed. The whole package is one big step under Waxworks, which is also poor on plot, but looks incredible. It also features Ivan the Terrible having orgasms over people dying, which Genuine does not.

It's always nice seeing Hans Heinrich von Twardowski (Caligari, Spione, Casablanca). He's doing his best hetero acting here.

Ah, yes. Racism. So much racism. (They lynched a black man. Holy shit...)

This longer version simply adds more scenes for the framing device, and some context scenes for the story proper, which was nice. Didn't have to go "oh, so this is what we're doing now" as often as I did when I first watched it.

EDIT: Unrelated. Erdgeist available on the Digitaler Lesesaal of the Bundesarchiv.

Current Mood: anxious

scifirenegade

Murdle Volume 2 ended on a cliffhanger. Nooo... I feel like the puzzles were harder on this one, which was nice.

Had a wasp's nest growing on the front door. Right at the top, in the corner, very sneaky. Was the only one in the house who could hear the awful buzzing. Good, now it's gone.

The weather is also impossible here. Way to hot.

It's Hassie!

Here's a great resource on World War 1. Basically WW1 Wikipedia, written by historians.

Current Mood: restless

kathleen_dailey

Here in Toronto, the CTV Sci-Fi channel has started rerunning Strange New Worlds from the beginning. I guess this is the lead-up to the season 3 premiere in July.

I've only seen SNW one time straight through, so I'm looking forward to revisiting the episodes. I'd forgotten how strongly the show started off--hopeful, idealistic, suspenseful, well written, well acted, well directed.

It'll be interesting to see whether there's an identifiable point at which the showrunners' view of Spock changes from "serious-minded (but not lugubrious), highly competent science officer" to "deeply unfunny 'comic' relief." IIRC, the change in characterization occurred fairly gradually over the two seasons, but I'll be watching more carefully this time around.

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scarfman

The Hero of Three Faces - fanfiction cartoons

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Paul Gadzikowski

Thanks for reading.

Reading

Fiction log - June 2025

Battleship 2025 Letter

Same, Leo. Same.

Stats: June 2025

Week in review: Week to 28 June

One Alternate Universe - Daibhid and Bob

Lollygagging

I’ve been wanting to ask you out

I've Heard the Nymph is Pretty Constant

Week in review: Week to 21 June

Book Chain, weeks 14 & 15

Metaphor: ReFantazio review

Another friend gone

Long Genuine

(no subject)

SNW rewatch

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March 2025

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