Spit Take

May. 29th, 2025 01:00 pm
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Posted by Jen

"You know what? On second thought, I'm really not all that hungry."

 

Thanks for the offer, Lynda O., but I've really gotta split.

*****

P.S. Unlike the name of that cupcake, these shirts have a certain... a-PEEL:

Cotton Hawaiian Fruit Shirts

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

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A historian's popular account of a well-known but surprisingly nebulously defined era.

Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer
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[personal profile] mrissa
 

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Sofía has been waiting for years for her twin brother Sol to return. He was taken away by their former owner, now employer, to serve as his valet during a stay at an expensive resort, and neither of them has been heard from since. Adalina, her owner's daughter and her best friend, insists on accompanying her--which means Sofía has access to the absolute most lavish and decadent aspects of the resort while she's searching for her father.

This is, however, a fantasy novel. So the resort is ominously not the paradise it seems. Instead of having her questions answered, Sofía gets lost in a jumbled spiral that even her scientist mind can't make sense of. No one around her seems to notice that anything is wrong, but the one thing she can hold onto--she hopes--is that she is there to find Sol, or at least find out what happened to him.

Most of the other specifics I could give here would be major spoilers, so I will just say some more elements of this book: intense grappling with the interpersonal ramifications of colonialism. Aro-ace heroine. Stubborn, imperfect, caring community members whose vision for their community doesn't always line up. Deeply weird magic happenings. And, of course, the titular Carnaval, in all its vivid glory.

Goose pair grazing park

May. 29th, 2025 06:49 am
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[personal profile] jhetley
Air temperature 57 F, wind south about 8 mph, partly cloudy. Nearest rain on the weather radar is over in Nude Hamster. Should be able to get my walk in.

(no subject)

May. 28th, 2025 10:27 pm
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[personal profile] jhetley
Crescent moon setting.

Mad Sisters of Esi, by Tashan Mehta

May. 28th, 2025 08:50 pm
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[personal profile] mrissa
 Review copy provided by the publisher.
 
I like books that don't follow a standard hero's journey or quest narrative, and wow, is this in that category. This one has--and this by itself should tell you a large part of whether you want to read it--a gigantic whale of space--in space? but also comprising space? and multiple worlds inside the whale, that part is certain. Doors into unfolding different worlds, all inside the whale.

The whale used to be something else, but *what* else is a spoiler.
 
So there is more worldmaking than worldhopping here, and the titular sisters--there are two pairs of candidates for the title--are trying to figure out what madness means in their context. It is not a book that is trying to make a commentary on mental health in our own context, or if it is, it's being very roundabout and obscure about it. But there is a lot about how cultures construe madness, sanity, fitting in and not.
 
And there are indeed sisterhoods, very strong sororal relationships. And also space whale. Which you might like, and if so, step right up, here it is.

Wednesday 28 May 1662

May. 28th, 2025 11:00 pm
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Posted by Samuel Pepys

Up early to put things in order in my chamber, and then to my Lord’s, with whom I spoke about several things, and so up and down in several places about business with Mr. Creed, among others to Mr. Wotton’s the shoemaker, and there drank our morning draft, and then home about noon, and by and by comes my father by appointment to dine with me, which we did very merrily, I desiring to make him as merry as I can, while the poor man is in town. After dinner comes my uncle Wight and sat awhile and talked with us, and thence we three to the Mum House at Leadenhall, and there sat awhile. Then I left them, and to the Wardrobe, where I found my Lord gone to Hampton Court. Here I staid all the afternoon till late with Creed and Captain Ferrers, thinking whether we should go to-morrow together to Hampton Court, but Ferrers his wife coming in by and by to the house with the young ladies (with whom she had been abroad), she was unwilling to go, whereupon I was willing to put off our going, and so home, but still my mind was hankering after our going to-morrow. So to bed.

Read the annotations

blood draw, etc.

May. 28th, 2025 06:39 pm
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[personal profile] redbird
I'm fine, as far as I know everyone's fine, but my trip to get blood drawn was more exciting than anticipated: the bus driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid either a bicycle or a pedestrian crossing in mid-block. She did that, checked to make sure that everyone on the bus was OK, then drove to the next corner, pulled over, and asked again if everyone was sure they were OK.

A few stops after that, someone asked me where he should get off the bus to get to "the little mall with Trader Joe's and MicroCenter." It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, because the bus we were on doesn't go there. So first I told him I wasn't sure, because this bus didn't go there, and then I started thinking about the problem. He said he wasn't good at directions, so I suggested a route that involved more walking but less chance of getting lost. I wound up signaling for his bus stop, and then telling him I was sorry, I'd forgotten they'd moved the bus stop, so [revised directions]. I should note, he didn't ask me for most of this, just what bus stop to use, and I was in the mood to do the extra bits.

The rest of the trip to Mt. Auburn to get blood drawn went smoothly. Once I got there, I had very little wait, and the phlebotomist did a very good job; I made a point of telling him so. On the way back, I stopped in Harvard Square to put more money on my Charlie card; buy and eat a slice of Otto's mashed potato and bacon pizza; and then went to Lizzy's to get Adrian a pint of non-dairy chocolate ice cream.

I was going to withdraw some cash from the ATM at the 7-11 at Comm Ave and Harvard Ave, but when I got there the screen said "windows 7. Press ctrl-alt-del to log in," which was literally impossible with the numeric keypad, so I just came home.
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The complete Deluxe Editions of Worlds Without Number and Stars Without Number, along with Wolves of God, Silent Legions, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Sine Nomine Corebooks (from 2023)

David Dastmalchian interview

May. 28th, 2025 02:29 pm
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[personal profile] marthawells
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/david-dastmalchian-murderbot-dexter-resurrection-interview/

"Now I feel much more comfortable advocating for [what I need]. To give you an example, on the set of Murderbot, going to my directors and writers, the showrunners, Chris and Paul [Weitz], and saying, ‘I'm really sorry, but on Wednesday at 2pm - I know I'm on the schedule that day, but is there any way I could be in my trailer for 45 minutes to have a therapy session?' and them being so supportive and loving and saying, ‘Of course, we will get you a Wi-Fi booster,’ because we were out in the middle of nowhere.

New music, old memories

May. 28th, 2025 09:58 am
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[personal profile] athenais
This evening I'm off to see perhaps the best known K-pop male idols in the world after BTS. Stray Kids are playing Oracle Park this chilly, overcast, windy Wednesday and I will be there dressed like it's Norway in March. They're not even close to one of my favorite bands, but I couldn't miss the chance to see them live. I like many of their songs and I know the show will be top tier entertainment. It will certainly be the biggest concert I've been to and I've been to some big Dead shows. The ball park holds 40+K although not all the seats will be available. I suppose it's like going to see Taylor Swift or Beyoncé only knowing their hits but wanting the "going to church" experience. I always find the big concerts elevate my spirits for days afterwards.

Meanwhile, I'm reading a book that's been on my wish list for awhile. It's Abraham Kaplan's Splendid Encounters: Memoirs of Collaborations, Interactions and Conversations with Many of the Most Celebrated Musicians of the Twentieth Century. The reason I'm reading it is because I studied under Abe Kaplan as a choral conducting major at the Universty of Washington and I remember him very fondly. As I read through his collection of interactions I remember him telling us some of these stories. At 19 years old I was completely awed by him having worked with all those famous musicians! Many of whom were his peers in New York music circles, of course, but New York was a foreign country to me and I just thought oh how random, how lucky, I wish I were talented and destined for a great career instead of the very probable tedium of working for a school district in Washington State.

He was a great raconteur and I learned a lot about music and conducting from him. The stories in this book are interesting, even if I don't always know the person the stories are about. My time in higher education studying music seems like a long-ago dream. Fifty years since I went to college! That somehow seems even longer ago than my high school graduation the same year. I wish I could remember more names of the students I was so close to at the time. I know some of the instrumentalists went on to prestigious symphonies and plum teaching jobs. Now everyone is retired, I imagine. It's pleasant to remember the music-packed days and long nights rehearsing or studying. Back then I was fully aware of what a privilege it was to immerse myself in music like that. It never came around again and I have never regretted for my choice to pursue that degree.

I don't know if anyone I was at a concert with will ever write a book about K-pop in the 2020s, but I'll have a lot of happy concert memories to make me smile just like this book does.

Photo of Oracle Park 05.28.25 Stray Kids concert by pixelactiv.ist at Instagram. Attendance 39K.
.
Photo by @pixelactiv.ist from Mission Bay of Oracle Park
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Sciona, the first woman ever admitted to the University of Magic, takes on Thomil, a janitor from a discriminated-against culture, as her lab assistant, and they both learn dark secrets about their world.

Thomil is introduced when his clan makes a desperate run across deadly ground to get to the safety of a city surrounded by a magical shield. The shield protects against bitter cold and the deadly Blight, which randomly zaps and dissolves people, but the area around the city is particularly Blight-infested. Only Thomil and his baby niece survive. When they arrive, they find that the city natives hate their race and has consigned them all as a permanent underclass.

Ten years later, Sciona, a well-to-do young woman in the city, is preparing for her magic exam to try to get into the sexist magic university, which no woman has ever passed. Though she does pass, all the male mages but her mentor hate her and hassle her. The only other person who's even remotely nice to her is Thomil, the janitor, who is assigned as her lab assistant as a cruel joke. But though Sciona is racist and classist, and Thomil is mildly sexist in an oblivious way, they find that they kind of get along...

Wang has an engaging, easy-read style for the most part, the intros to the two main characters are quite compelling, and despite the heavy-handed axes of privilege themes, Thomil and Sciona have a nice dynamic.

I said "for the most part." The exception is the magic system, which I think is basically computer programming via magic typewriters (spellographs). The wizards program a spell to access a specific area of the magical Otherrealm (which they can't see or sense in any way, so they're just plotting points on a grid) to grab magical energy or matter from it. But we get MUCH more detailed and lengthy descriptions of it, from long explanations to actual spells:

CONDITION 1: DEVICE is 15 Vendric feet higher than its position at the time of activation.

ACTION 1: FIRE will siphon from POWER an amount of energy no lower than 4.35 and no higher than 4.55 on the Leonic scale.

ACTION 2: FIRE will siphon within the distance of DEVICE no higher than 3 Vendric inches.

If and only if CONDITION 1 is met, ACTION 1 and ACTION 2 will go into effect.


The first half is Sciona and Thomil working on various spells, interspersed with very heavy-handed commentary on colonialism, sexism, and how Sciona totally gets feminism when it applies to her personally but is oblivious to all other isms. Sciona is an awful, self-centered person and Thomil is mostly perfect. Almost exactly halfway through, there is a shocking reveal. At least, it shocked many readers. It did not shock me.

Read more... )

Despite what the plot description sounds like, Sciona and Thomil do not have a romance beyond occasional sexy feelings. It's a magical dystopia/dark academia, I think similar to Babel (which I could not get very far into) but less anvillicious in that it does not have literal footnotes saying stuff like "This is a racist comment and racism is bad." (In the bookshop, I have Blood Over Bright Haven tagged "If you like Babel you will like this.") Sadly for M. L. Wang, this comparative subtlety got them some reviews on Goodreads accusing them of condoning Sciona being a bad person and endorsing her beliefs.

I did not care for this book but I can see how it would work for many readers, especially if they're shocked by the twist at the halfway mark.

Wednesday goose report

May. 28th, 2025 11:42 am
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[personal profile] jhetley
Four geese seen at the cemetery pond on my way out, two visible when I came back through. They can hide well when they want to.

Curled dock up, can't tell if it is blooming or not -- green flowers. Also equisetum, horsetails, I think at least two species. And the buttercups are spreading in that horse pasture. Which I complain about every year, but that gets me nowhere.

Got out on the bike, up to the golf course and back, viewing with alarm all the dig-safe graffiti on the asphalt. Looks very much like a few miles of new paving. That's a US highway, and I demand my taxpayer rights -- they can only pave roads when I don't want to use them. Anyway, did not die. Although my body reminds me that this is a possible outcome . . .

12.05 miles, 1:10:24

Summer "Lovin'"

May. 28th, 2025 01:00 pm
[syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

I don't really keep up with you young whippersnappers' schedules, but going by the cakes coming in I'm guessing summer vacation is starting up. Soooo...

 

Hey, hoopy froods, school's is out for summer!!

You know what's awesome about summer, besides throwing all those pesky grammar rules to the wind?

 

Jumping into pools of cubed green Jell-O, that's what:

During the Winter Underlined book tour I actually had a whole Q-and-A session derailed by a discussion on the practice of combining Jell-O with cake. Apparently some of you weirdos do that.

[ducking and running for cover]

That's not all summer is known for, though. There's also the ice cream cones:

(Honestly not sure which parts of that are edible...but I'm hoping the answer is "none of it.")

 

And steaks on the grill:

YUM.

 

And hamburgers:

(I like how even the fake plastic ants won't touch those "french fries.")

 

And hot dog pancakes:

This looks like a job for... the Special Pancake Victims' Unit!

*DONK DONK*

 

And then, after all that food, you get to stuff yourself into a bathing suit:

I actually look exactly like this in a bikini, only paler*. And with more muffin tops. (HEYO.)

(*People tend to think Floridians are super tan, summer-loving sun-worshippers. Hee! SO CUTE.  No, we're the ones huddled inside with the AC blasting, laughing at all you crazy tourists are out there getting heat strokes. We also own more sweaters than the average Alaskan, because there is no place colder in the continental U.S. than inside a Florida public building during the month of June.)

And then of course there are the fun-loving hordes of ants...

I swear these things are solar-powered.

 

Not to mention the blistering heat...

...and family vacations where everyone's miserable except the organizer of said vacation, who is homicidally determined to have a good time...

[One of my most cherished Disney memories is of the family collapsed on a park bench, moaning, while the Dad stands before them, screaming, "We're not here to RELAX, we're here to HAVE FUN."

"I'm having fun! I'm having fun!"

Plus there's nothing good on TV, and the neighborhood kids wake you up at oh-HAIL-no-thirty with their shrill little screams of glee and stomping feet, and all the parks and shops are crowded, and, and...

Huh. How long 'til Fall, again?

 

Thanks to Tracey D., Adriane M., Sam H,, Kerry L., Lauralee L., Aj M., Jill V., Julie G., Kristin M., and Becky C. for making us realize just how much we need a vacation.

*****

P.S. If you insist on being OUTSIDE in this heat, especially at, say, an Orlando theme park, at least do yourself a favor and get one of these:

Portable Personal Misting Fan

They come in a whole rainbow of fun colors and cost half what you'd pay at a theme park.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

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Lonely Rita has no end of meet-cutes with hunky men. If only Rita could stop shooting them in the head...

Kindergarten Wars, volume 1 by You Chiba

Return of the geese

May. 28th, 2025 06:53 am
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[personal profile] jhetley
Air temperature 53 F, wind northeast at about 1 mph, sunny. Pair of geese in the middle of the park, declaring it off-limits to any children and small dogs. I don't think they are nesting out there, as we don't have any open water within about half a mile. Planning a longer bike ride, up to the country club and back.

Turtle from the Kyzylkum desert

May. 28th, 2025 02:43 pm
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[personal profile] pilottttt posting in [community profile] common_nature


For more details about our trip to this desert (in Russian), see here: https://pilottttt.dreamwidth.org/445028.html

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Reading, writing, plant photography, and the small details of my life, with digressions into science and computing.

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