allburningup | Reading

On the eve of what the media is promising will be a snowpocalypse, I offer you a few St. John's Cemetery shots from about a week ago when we had recent but less snow. The sky in them was very pretty. You can see the eight photos at my Flickr.

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It’s impossible to find snow boots at a brick and mortar store nearby, and my feet don’t let me pick something willynilly online. I’m facing this storm with breaking 30-year-old boots I have to stick plastic bags in and sneakers.

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I am so bored with Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. At this point, I feel like it's been going on forever without revealing much I actually want to know, like what Uryu's deal is (in the anime). It's been so long I barely care anymore. (The manga didn't take this long.) It looks pretty but that's not enough.

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I've been watching several videos from Captain Pikant, whom one commenter said was Bob Ross but with drum machines. I don't understand all the technical stuff involved but there's something so satisfying in how the different elements come together to gradually become the song you recognize. Also, it really makes you appreciate how much work goes into the music. The videos have a great aesthetic and moments of humor and are well edited, and the visualizer used gives the viewer an idea of the elements involved. Like, all the drum stuff in Michael Sembello's "Maniac" is, well, insane. At the end of each breakdown, they do an instrumental cover of the song.

So far, I've watched that, "Blue Monday," "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (it turns out the typewriter type thing in their music video I didn't understand was a drum machine), "You Spin Me Round," a drum machine analysis of three Nine Inch Nails songs, and a similar analysis of three Depeche Mode songs.

There was a lot more cowbell in the '80s than I realized.

I really want a Beatbunny T-shirt.

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"The Bad Touch" but it’s a Cyberpunk Club Anthem

Current Mood: cold

redbird

The world is on fire, but after ICE murdered someone else in Minneapolis this morning, I called both my senators and also Chuck Schumer--I called him a coward and said we needed him to do better, giving my old Manhattan zip code. Apparently enough people made enough calls, and Schumer said an hour ago that Senate Democrats won't provide the votes for a funding bill that includes the Department of Homeland Security.

It seems likely that Alex Pritti's murder mattered to people who were prepared to overlook their murder of Renee Good, because it shows that while ICE is profoundly racist, a white man with a gun permit isn't safe either.

I can't do much for my friends in Minneapolis, but if there's something that would be useful, please ask.

ETA: After posting that, I realized I could afford to donate some money. So, I followed the links on Naomi Kritzer's recent post, donated $50 to Minnesota Rapid Response, and bought a bunch of dental floss to a group that was asking for that.

runpunkrun

So I posted my Star Trek fic: Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor)!!

Going by file dates I started that one in 2020, so compared to all my other wips, it was relatively new. It took a lot of writing to finish because when I started it was really just a couple of paragraphs and then five handwritten pages. I quickly had a first draft, but it needed a lot of editing to connect the themes and refine Jim's voice. It's at the very start of his career as a captain and he's still a hot bro-y mess, and even though I found myself resisting his self-centeredness, I needed his actions to reflect that selfishness, and I think I hit a good balance of bro and personal growth. He can be taught! Spock, of course, is perfect. No notes.

Next up in my endless list of neglected WIPs: It should be my Pinto fic—which, as I recall, is all but done except for the last lines, fuck you, last lines—but instead, it's the G-rated Stargate Atlantis

kink_bingo non-sexual knifeplay fic about an extinct Satedan fruit. I gotta be me.

Looks like I last opened this in 2011 and it's basically complete. Let's gooooo.

rydra_wong

Mostly to create some space in my head. But holy shit, Minnesotans, you are extraordinary and we see you. Across the fucking ocean, we see you.

( Cut for US politics, violence )

How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota by Naomi Kritzer

runpunkrun

Photograph of a tray of eye shadows in a rainbow of colors, text: Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor), by Punk.

Author: Punk
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series
Pairing: Kirk & Spock friendship
Rating: Teen
Content notes: No standard notes apply.

Size: 1,600 words

Summary: It's maybe the first real conversation they've had where one of them isn't accusing the other of academic misconduct or not loving his mom.

Read it on the AO3 or here »

( Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor) )

A/N: Thanks to

garryowen for support and beta. Good to have you back, dog.

Reblog on Tumblr
Email | The Underground | AO3

rachelmanija

A teenage boy, Ambrose, wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. OS, the AI programmed with his mother's voice, reminds him that he's on a mission to rescue his sister, who went to Titan two years ago and sent out a distress call. And also, he has a surprise companion on a journey he thought would be solo: Kodiak, a teenage boy from the rival nation, who is ensconced in his own quarters and refuses to come out.

Ambrose, who is a typical teenager in lots of ways apart from being a genius and an astronaut, manages to coax Kodiak out and immediately starts thinking lustful thoughts about him. Kodiak, whose country is much more austere and militarized than Ambrose's, very gradually warms up to him.

And then what I thought was going to be a slow-burn gay YA romance in a science fiction setting takes a huge left turn. To be fair, it does still centrally involve a gay YA romance. But the science fiction aspect isn't just there as a cool background. It's actually a YA science fiction novel that has a romance along with a plot that goes in multiple unexpected directions, and is very moving in a way that's only possible because of the science fiction elements.

If you're a stickler for hard science fiction in which everything is definitely possible/likely, this probably has at least one too many "I don't think that's likely to work that way" moments for you. But if you'd like to read a fun and touching science fiction adventure-romance that will probably surprise you at least once, just read the book without knowing anything more.

( Spoilers! )

redbird

There's more evidence that the shingles vaccine reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease: two more natural experiments (in which people were offered the vaccine based on date of birth or where they lived). One of them comparED the older Zostavax vaccine with the newer Shingrix: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-the-shingles-vaccineagain

As the blogger, Eric Topol says, "If this vaccine was a drug and reduced Alzheimer’s by 20%, it would be considered a major breakthrough for helping to prevent the disease! But as a vaccine, it hasn't reached any sense of being a blockbuster"

rydra_wong

Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. They live there. It is their country.

They are legally Danish citzens. Greenland is largely self-governing, with the possibility of becoming independent if they choose to.

Denmark can't "sell" them or their country because Denmark does not own them.

And after a number of centuries and some debate, a general consensus was arrived at that selling people is not ethically acceptable, you know?

Even if they wanted to, Denmark can't "sell" Trump Greenland any more than the UK could sell him Scotland.

Also N.B. 85-90% of the Greenlanders are Inuit.

I am very certain that this is absolutely about thinking that Native people don't really count as citizens and they don't really own their land; it is Terra Nullius, and they can be sold off in a deal between the "real" nations of Denmark and the US.

(Or their land can be sold out from under them and they can just be forced elsewhere, which I'm sure Trump would be just fine with.)

If the US wanted to try to ethically acquire Greenland, it could talk to the government of Greenland and offer them a great deal with significant benefits if they wanted to become independent and then have a free association deal with the US.

Or rather, it could have, maybe, because now the Greenlanders are fucking pissed off and scared over the threats and offers to buy them, and if they have to choose between the US and Denmark they are unambiguously choosing Denmark:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/us-invasion-threat-greenland-trump-denmark

rydra_wong

A post by Naomi Kritzer:

https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/

This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.

(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )

rydra_wong

Their calendar is here -- creator sign-ups open on the 26th Jan:

https://fandomtrumpshate.dreamwidth.org/53196.html

Their list of non-profits they're supporting is here:

https://fandomtrumpshate.dreamwidth.org/53468.html

Apparently last year they raised $127K!

nestra

Wow, I only made one post last year? I'm here every day, reading, so I keep up with anyone still posting here.

I didn't put up the Yuletide polls this year. Just didn't have the oomph. It's been an oomph-sapping kind of year or so, hasn't it? (Fuck me -- just looked it up, and it's literally the one-year anniversary of that shitbag's inaguration.)

ANYWAY. Fun stuff. Things I have posted since...a while ago.

( 911 )

( Heated Rivalry )

The Pitt

Bet

So as you can see, I'm generally obsessed with those three things. Putting more silliness and gay porn into the world.

viridian5

I got my panoramic X-ray of my teeth done, supposedly covered by my insurance. And was told that I should get braces or Invisalign! Because apparently my orthodontist in the late '80s should have made me wear a retainer nightly for the rest of my life instead of just a few years. That was a kick in the head. But I don't see anything like the degree of overbite I once had, I'm not in pain, and there's no way Medicaid would cover it so it's not happening.

Having gotten the X-rays it demanded, Medicaid decided not to cover the crowns my dentist wanted me to get, surprising no one except possibly my dentists. This is a reason why I didn't want to pay for those X-rays myself. So instead I got two fillings. Plus, another filling I needed, and did them all in one visit. Ow. The worst part was that anesthetic injection that felt like the needle went all the way into the jaw joint and the dentist had to physically hold me down for it.

I dyed my hair red again last week, from how I'd gotten tired of my roots' dark brown growth and how my hair needed two different types of hair care (virgin roots versus color-treated and somewhat dry length) and how I appreciate any color I can give myself during the bleak winter. It's currently a somewhat gothy dark auburn-y red with some brown. My silver hairs are already reestablishing themselves, so shame on you, L'Oréal Paris, shame.

Current Mood: tired

viridian5

It took me forever to get through it, though the back half is easier to get into a flow reading it than the front.

With this book I ordered from the library, I didn't know it had "a novel" on the cover until I received it. And it has the kind of bs I associate with books that have "a novel" on the cover. This is why I prefer genre fiction.

( spoilers )

Current Mood: cold

rachelmanija

One rainy day Kanade, a high school student, finds a mouse-sized cat in his room. It's a fairy cat or "palm-sized cat!" They are elusive magical creatures which sometimes adopt humans, but mostly behave like ordinary cats. Only extra-tiny!

That's about it for the plot. What this manga is actually about is showing an incredibly adorable tiny cat being an incredibly adorable tiny cat. It's an incredibly adorable manga. Proof:

rachelmanija

In this engrossing historical novel, three storylines converge on a single target, a female Nazi nicknamed the Huntress. During the war, we follow Nina, one of the Soviet women who flew bomber runs and were known as the Night Witches. After the war, we follow Ian, a British war correspondent turned Nazi hunter, who has teamed up with Nina to hunt down the Huntress as Nina is one of the very few people who saw her face and survived. At the same time, in Boston, we follow Jordan, a young woman who wants to be a photographer and is suspicious of the beautiful German immigrant her father wants to marry...

In The Huntress, we often know what has happened or surely must happen, but not why or how; we know Nina somehow ended up facing off with the Huntress, but not how she got there or how she escaped; we know who Jordan's stepmom-to-be is and that she'll surely be unmasked eventually, but not how or when that'll happen or how the confrontation will go down. There's a lot of suspense but none of it depends on shocking twists, though there are some unexpected turns.

Nina and Jordan are very likable and compelling, especially Nina who is kind of a force of nature. It took me a while to warm up to Ian, but I did about halfway through. Nina's story is fascinating and I could have read a whole novel just about her and her all-female regiment, but I never minded switching back to Jordan as while her life is more ordinary, it's got this tense undercurrent of creeping horror as she and everyone around her are being gaslit and manipulated by a Nazi.

This is the kind of satisfying, engrossing historical novel that I think used to be more common, though this one probably has a lot more queerness than it would have had if it had been written in the 80s - a woman/woman relationship is central to the story, and there are multiple other queer characters. It has some nice funny moments and dialogue to leaven a generally serious story (Nina in particular can be hilarious), and there's some excellent set piece action scenes. If my description sounds good to you, you'll almost certainly enjoy it.

Spoilers! ( Read more... )

Quinn has written multiple historical novels, mostly set during or around WW2. This is the first I've read but it made me want to read more of hers.

Content notes: Wartime-typical violence, gaslighting, a child in danger. The Huntress murdered six children, but this scene does not appear on-page. There is no sexual assault and no scenes in concentration camps.

rydra_wong

This collection of links to local mutual aid funds, food banks, and other organizations doing work on the ground:

https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

rydra_wong

Elden Ring also has the summons mechanic.

Which is how the fandom ended up with a sort of folk hero who appears as a naked man with a jar on his head holding two katanas and soloes the game's hardest boss for you:

IGN: We Spoke to 'Let Me Solo Her,' the Elden Ring Community Hero We Need and Deserve

YouTube: Let me solo her. 3rd summon solo Malenia (you don't have to know the game to appreciate that this is someone doing something perfectly)

redbird

In no particular order:

*Last night, I talked with cattitude and adrian_turtle about possible text for my mother's gravestone. I emailed this to my brother today, with a note that these were what I was thinking of.

*I went to TJ Maxx to look for slippers. Disappointingly, there were none that came close to fitting: the ones that might have been in my size were all significantly too tight across the top of my foot. I was wearing thin socks (specifically, lightweight compression socks). It continues to be annoying that not buying slippers (for example) is as tiring as buying some.

*Also, my hips started hurting while I was in the store, so I decided not to look for other things, but headed home with only a quick stop at CVS, and not a grocery store.

*Today was definitely a good day to be outside; yesterday wasn't particularly, and tomorrow is likely to be a lot colder than today (with an afternoon high a little below freezing, so not horrible for January in Boston).

*I got email today from state senator Pat Jehlen, about a bill to ban the use of masks by law enforcement. This is noteworthy because I haven't lived in her district since 2019, and didn't think I was still on her mailing list.

*The skin on my fingertips, and on the rest of my hands, is doing a lot better. I will need to remember to keep applying the serious lotion, so it doesn't start splitting again. However, my shoulder is bothering me, which may be from doing a lot of mousing when I was avoiding using the keyboard.

redbird

As is sometimes the case, I only heard about Christie and his part in the anti-apartheid fight after he died.

Renfrew Christie was a white South African scientist and member of the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. He went to Oxford University and studied South Africa's history of electrification "so I could get into the electricity supply commission’s library and archives, and work out how much electricity they were using to enrich uranium," he told the BBC. That in turn let them figure out how much enriched uranium South Africa had, and many bombs it could build.

When he returned to South Africa, he was arrested and, after 48 hours of torture, wrote a forced confession, which he told the BBC was the best thing he ever wrote

noting that he had made sure the confession included “all my recommendations to the African National Congress” about the best way to sabotage Koeberg and other facilities.

“And, gloriously, the judge read it out in court,” Dr. Christie added. “So my recommendations went from the judge’s mouth” straight to the A.N.C.

Christie died of pneumonia last month, at the age of 76.

I'm linking to

siderea's post, which includes the text of the (paywalled) NY Times obituary.

rachelmanija

Brom was a fantasy illustrator before he started writing his own books. They all contain spectacular color plates as well as black and white illustrations, which add a lot to the story.

Krampus opens with a prologue of the imprisoned Krampus vowing revenge on Santa Claus, then cuts to Santa Claus being chased through a trailer park by horned goblins, one of whom falls to his death when Santa escapes on his sleigh drawn by flying reindeer.

But he left his sack behind, which is promptly picked up Jesse, who just moments previously was considering suicide because he's basically a character from a country song: he's broke; his wife left him, taking their kid with her, and she's now with the town sheriff; Jesse never had the music career he wanted because of poor self-esteem and stage fright, AND he's being forced to do dangerous drug smuggling by the crime lord who runs the town with help from the sheriff. Santa's sack will provide any toy you want, but only toys; Jesse, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, uses it get his daughter every toy she's ever wanted, so now his wife thinks he stole them and the corrupt sheriff is on his ass again. And so are Krampus's band of Bellsnickles, who also want the sack because it's the key to freeing Krampus...

This book is absolutely nuts. The tone isn't as absurd as the summary might make it sound; it is often pretty funny, but it's more of a mythic fantasy meets gritty crime drama, sort of like Charles de Lint was writing in the 80s. Absolutely the best part is when Krampus finally gets to be Krampus in the modern day, spreading Yule tidings, terrorizing suburban adults, and terrifying but also delighting suburban children.

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allburningup

January 2015

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Page Summary

viridian5 - I wanna hug you like an animal
redbird - (no subject)
runpunkrun - wips
rydra_wong - Minnesota linkspam
runpunkrun - Fic: Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor) [ST:AOS, Kirk & Spock, Teen, 1600 words]
rachelmanija - The Darkness Outside Us, by Eliot Schrefer
redbird - good news: health
rydra_wong - This is about selling people
rydra_wong - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
rydra_wong - Fandom Trumps Hate 2026
nestra - (no subject)
viridian5 - Things That Have Recently Happened
viridian5 - The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King
rachelmanija - Fairy Cat, by Hisa Takano
rachelmanija - The Huntress, by Kate Quinn
rydra_wong - Vouched for by various folks in Minnesota
rydra_wong - Side note re: Souls and summons
redbird - six things make a post
redbird - In memoriam: Renfrew Christie, who sabotaged South Africa's nuclear weapons program
rachelmanija - Krampus, by Brom

Style Credit

Style: Lilac for Crossroads by branchandroot
Resources: Secksy Purple

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Page generated Jan. 26th, 2026 01:02 am

distant sparks

Reading

I wanna hug you like an animal

(no subject)

wips

Minnesota linkspam

Fic: Maybe He's Born With It (Maybe It's GlaxosEpsilonYor) [ST:AOS, Kirk & Spock, Teen, 1600 words]

The Darkness Outside Us, by Eliot Schrefer

good news: health

This is about selling people

How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota

Fandom Trumps Hate 2026

(no subject)

Things That Have Recently Happened

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King

Fairy Cat, by Hisa Takano

The Huntress, by Kate Quinn

Vouched for by various folks in Minnesota

Side note re: Souls and summons

six things make a post

In memoriam: Renfrew Christie, who sabotaged South Africa's nuclear weapons program

Krampus, by Brom

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January 2015

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