silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
[personal profile] silveradept
Let us begin with an annual roundup of things that had to be removed from rectums, because people make bad decisions about objects without flared bases.

Trans women whose culture includes the quinceañera are celebrating the rite of passage for themselves as an important touchstone of their lives.

A white suit worn by Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway in a Star Trek: Voyager episode is about as loud a billboard declaring Janeway queer as you could get away with on television at the time. I get to be part of the Lucky 10,000 in understanding that suit and its origins, and so, hopefully, do you.

People familiar with the culture and traditions of Hawai'i explain why the live-action Lilo and Stitch disrespects that entire tradition, history, and the original animation's messages as well.

The ways that humans have for expressing affection for each other are greater than sex and romance, and many of those acts that WEIRD people would classify as sexual or romantic are instead culturally appropriate expressions of affection. Because there's still not an underlying acceptance of the idea that people can be affectionate to each other without it being sexual, and extra so for people of the same perceived gender.

What we think of as local culture and tradition is global culture and tradition. We have just forgotten that things like food migrate and then integrate really well into wherever they land. Which is why you will occasionally have someone yelling that Italians of an era before the tomato migrated out of the Americas are not having marinara sauce with their pasta. The idea that there is only one human culture, and what we have are a bunch of local implementations and place-and-time specific manifestations of it, is really rather true, but because our memories and our records don't always persist over time, we forget that we have already done this before. Repeatedly.

Research into autism that has done less assuming the neurotypical is "normal" and the standard continues to find things that are classified as deficits and disorders are often strengths and consistencies, just at a different angle than the neurotypical one.

Claudette Colvin, who was getting arrested for not giving up a bus seat in a segregated South before Rosa Parks became the face of it, has died at 86 years of age.

Murder most foul, an administration gone rogue, and techbros on the warpath inside )

Last for this entry, dressed as the pink ranger from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers / Zyuranger, Martha Root demonstrated how she had gained control of white supremacist websites, had the members talk to chatbots, and then deleted the sites live during the talk.

A plea to start posting the snippets of our lives again, rather than trying to figure out what would be the best for the algorithm or withdrawing entirely from posting because we are trying not to chase the unsatisfiable algorithm. I think that will be an easier task on sites where there is no algorithm to game, but the difficulty of getting people to those sites is that they also need to have their friends decamp to a compatible network as well, and that's not necessarily an easy sell, even if someone wants to leave a toxic environment. (And, as has been well-documented in places like the Fediverse, for minorities, it's a question of leaving one toxic platform for another, and evaluating whether or not the controls on the new platform are good enough that they won't get subjected to more harassment getting through their filters or not.)

The ways that people are using chatbots as social and erotic companions, even though a fair number of them know they're chatbots. Which is the kind of future the techbros would like - interactions as event flags with characters that aren't human and don't have human needs or changes in mood.

And a method that presumably allows you to not have CoPilot or other "AI" features in your Windows 11 install, and sets things up so that they won't reinstall themselves, either.

(Materials via [personal profile] adrian_turtle, [personal profile] azurelunatic, [personal profile] boxofdelights, [personal profile] cmcmck, [personal profile] conuly, [personal profile] cosmolinguist, [personal profile] elf, [personal profile] finch, [personal profile] firecat, [personal profile] jadelennox, [personal profile] jenett, [personal profile] jjhunter, [personal profile] kaberett, [personal profile] lilysea, [personal profile] oursin, [personal profile] rydra_wong, [personal profile] snowynight, [personal profile] sonia, [personal profile] the_future_modernes, [personal profile] thewayne, [personal profile] umadoshi, [personal profile] vass, the [community profile] meta_warehouse community, [community profile] little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)

watched: wake up dead man (2026)

Friday, 16 January 2026 03:22 pm
tozka: (movies tozka)
[personal profile] tozka
🎬 Wake Up Dead Man: Directed by Rian Johnson. With Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin. Detective Benoit Blanc teams up with an earnest young priest to investigate a perfectly impossible crime at a small-town church with a dark history. 🔗

What I liked: the cast; how the director/writer obviously had an itch to scratch re: Christianity and the State of Things Today and really wanted to Say Something; how it's structured like an Agatha Christie novel almost exactly, or at least some old fashioned one (which in that context the plot pacing makes perfect sense). I also liked the makeup/wardrobe, which didn't glam up any of the actors except maybe Josh Brolin.

What I didn't like: the overly long introduction sequence which focused on characters that made barely any impact and weren't even good red herrings; the people who need to hear about the kinder Christianity stuff wouldn't watch this movie anyway so it ends up kind of like, well...preaching to the choir.

Unbeknownst to me, my parents were watching it on the same day-- but it turns out that we liked/disliked almost the exact opposite things. They loved the long intro!

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #8: Process the Creative

Thursday, 15 January 2026 08:35 pm
silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
[personal profile] silveradept
We're over the halfway line at [community profile] snowflake_challenge, and this challenge wants us to introspect about how we turn things out.

Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.


Not exactly a process that has a lot of visible things )

community thursday (dec. 25-jan. 8)

Thursday, 15 January 2026 12:07 pm
tozka: title character hugging her pet dog (lady lovely locks hugs)
[personal profile] tozka

Welcome back to another Community Thursday! Original Community Thursday info here, if you're interested and want to participate, too.

This time I focused on posting to comms that haven't had a lot of engagement recently, partly just to show other people who may be looking that, yes, someone is interested in this topic! I'm going to keep doing it for January, too.

Posted/Commented

New-to-me Comms

  • [community profile] gamechangerhr -- a fan comm for Heated Rivalry/Game Changers
  • [community profile] bookclub_dw -- a monthly book club! The January book is The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst and the discussion goes up at the end of the month
  • [community profile] vintageads -- a community for sharing vintage ads from TV, magazines, etc.

Interesting Comm Posts

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #7: Be Nice.

Tuesday, 13 January 2026 06:58 pm
silveradept: The emblem of Organization XIII from the Kingdom Hearts series of video games. (Organization XIII)
[personal profile] silveradept
The dreaded "say nice things about yourself" challenge has appeared at [community profile] snowflake_challenge!

While we’re busy celebrating fandom, it’s good to remember to celebrate ourselves, too. Fandom is all of us! I know it’s often easier to talk about what we like about other people than it is to talk nicely about ourselves, but challenge yourself here --

Challenge #7

LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF.
They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want.


Challenge: Say good Things About Yourself. Difficulty: Very )

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #6: The Top Ten

Sunday, 11 January 2026 08:03 pm
silveradept: Domo-kun, wearing glass and a blue suit with a white shirt and red tie, sitting at a table. (Domokun Anchor)
[personal profile] silveradept
[community profile] snowflake_challenge has sent up number 6 on the challenge list, and it's one of the ones I struggle more with than not, the recommendations-related one.

Every challenge we try to make at least one rec post, and each year, we try to find a new way to make it fun for everyone. This year's attempt:

Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge.


The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the to 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.

Can't think of 10 of anything? That's okay, 10 is just an abstract. It's totally up to you.


This is one of those situations where being profoundly multifannish is a disadvantage, because a top ten list of anything may or may not make it to me. Or I might not get so deeply into a fandom to where there would be enough material for a top ten list. And while I read and enjoy the gifts that get sent my way in the various exchanges that I participate in, they don't necessarily cohere to any kind of top ten list of anything, either.

Eventually, a random idea will settle into my head, and I can go forward with it and see what might happen from there. So, here you are:

10 roles one person played during my formative years )

watched: the residence

Sunday, 11 January 2026 08:56 pm
tozka: (tv head)
[personal profile] tozka
🎬 The Residence: Created by Paul William Davies. With Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, Molly Griggs, Ken Marino. Inside the White House's staff residence and the lives which workers share with the First Family. 🔗

Binge rewatched The Residence today and I liked it much more this time around (tho I still think it's a bit too long).

In my first watch, I was too anxious to get to the solution and it became frustrating when they went on tangents. Knowing the solution and watching it again was much more fun. I enjoyed the humor more and caught some things about the murder motive that I missed the first time around.

I wish they'd do another season, or even a movie! I love the Cordelia Cupp character.

5 things is a post

Sunday, 11 January 2026 11:28 am
tozka: Set of 3 green books (books green set of 3)
[personal profile] tozka
1. All my apps are popping up "consent to let us sell your data for marketing" things, including ones I'm pretty sure never did when I was in the US. It pisses me off that they didn't do that in the US, actually, because I always select "no" and if they're not popping up, does that mean they auto opted me in? UGH.

Related, I'm seeing a few "content not available in your region" things for Imgur-hosted images, which is weird because WHY can't I see a fandom event graphic in the UK??

2. My search results are pushing UK-related sites up higher which is kinda fun. I searched for some historical facts (about canned goods) and had to keep specifying "USA" because it was showing me things from historical UK instead. Kind of brings home how much our experiences online are segmented and directed by invisible algorithms.

3. I've gone up to 3 cups of tea a day (and 1 cup of coffee) and am kind of concerned my teeth are going to be brown by the time I get back to the US in the summer...

4. The local Co-Op had a super special on bananas, one bunch for a mere 35p! I'm going to freeze them and use them for porridge and whatever.

5. Doing quite a lot of TV watching this week (mostly middling documentaries, tbh) and I've added a lot of things to my watchlist, as the owner has BBC and ITV and 5 as well as Netflix. She also lent me a huge stack of books I want to read, and I have some sightseeing things I want to do before I leave. So I'll be very occupied for the next two months!

3262. Snowflake #4: Recs

Saturday, 10 January 2026 08:47 pm
hitokage: (Default)
[personal profile] hitokage
Snowflake #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

instructions unclear ... so have some podcats! No links, look them up on your pod-catcher of choice. Or don't, it's entirely up to you.

99% Invisible - general nerdery. In theory, this is an architecture podcast, but it's so much more than that. Started off on the actual radio with episodes starting at ~5min and slowly getting longer over time as they moved firmly into Podcast full time. I'm still working my way through the archive, but worth the deep dive.

Rachel Maddow Presents - political history and commentary. I highly recommend all of them, but her latest, Burn Notice, feels especially important right now. It's US history we aren't taught but probably ought to be.

You Are Good - film commentary. I've fallen behind due to The Horrors. They've got an eclectic mix of films they've discussed from a "how we feel" perspective and it's always interesting, even if I'm not that familiar with the film in question.

American Hysteria - pop culture. Chelsey has sometimes fallen into the white leftist trap of talking out their ass, but they generally mean well and are trying to de-construct America's moral panics of past and present in good faith.

Astonishing Legends - paranormal/supernatural investigation. Pay attention to episode length before jumping in on this one - true episodes are usually around 1-1.5hours with some installments running as long as 4 hours and some stories being told over 3-4 parts. I've been listening to this one for over a year now and I'm still in the archives because of how long the episodes are. XD

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #5: Wishlist

Friday, 9 January 2026 11:08 am
silveradept: The letters of the name Silver Adept, arranged in the shape of a lily pad (SA-Name-Small)
[personal profile] silveradept
[community profile] snowflake_challenge's fifth request is upon us, and it asks us to do things taht some of us are not very comfortable with:

Challenge #5

In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts.


A few things that will hopefully be manageable )

3260. Snowflake #3: letter to fandom

Thursday, 8 January 2026 11:31 pm
hitokage: (Default)
[personal profile] hitokage
Snowflake Challenge #3: Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

As cheesy as it sounds, fandom is why I'm still here. Fandom is how I found my wife. Fandom is how I've survived some of the worst times in my life, from losing family to a drunk driver to trying to rebuild after getting walloped by Helene. So thank you, fandom. Thank you for being weird and wild and wonderful and openly queer even everything else is on screaming hellfire. Things are still wildly dystopian, but I'm doing what little I can to bring joy in spite of everything.

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #4: Page File

Wednesday, 7 January 2026 11:31 pm
silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
[personal profile] silveradept
[community profile] snowflake_challenge posted their fourth prompt, and I had to look at it a couple times before I started getting close to an understanding of what was being asked for.

On many of the fannish websites we use, our history is easily compileable into "pages". When we look back through those pages, sometimes we stumble upon things that we think are rather cool.

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!


Here's where I admit I don't use fannish websites all that much. )

3258. Snowflake #2: Pets of Fandom

Tuesday, 6 January 2026 03:18 am
hitokage: (rose maiden)
[personal profile] hitokage
Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

2025 stole my baby, Harley, and in the end, left us with just four foster fails, most of them special needs (and emotional scars and a resolve to not foster any longer):
* Expert Hider, aka Heidi, aka HooHoo. Tortie with very high anxiety (and a flea allergy). She's doing better with so few cats in the house, but she's still wound tighter than an eight day clock most of the time, even on meds.
* Habenero, aka Moonpie, aka Sheldon. Very Orange - we love him, but he's dumb as a brick
* Manicotti, aka Cooter. Tuxie (Burnt Orange) with cataract.
* Sandy Claws. Dilute Tuxie with dwarfism.

Other than Heidi, the cats are much more attuned to my wife. Heidi has decided I am Her Human and she won't even go to breakfast/dinner if I don't carry her out to her bowl.

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #3: Love

Monday, 5 January 2026 10:35 pm
silveradept: A dragon librarian, wearing a floral print shirt and pince-nez glasses, carrying a book in the left paw. Red and white. (Dragon Librarian)
[personal profile] silveradept
[community profile] snowflake_challenge has posted prompt #3, asking us to talk about the things we love about the communities that we are part of, or about the properties we form our communities around.

Challenge #3:

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.


It's often the people. )

The best thing I like about fandom is that it grows and evolves and produces new stories and new interpretations of stories, and new tropes and new ways of telling stories and smashing them together. The next best thing about fandom is how many people there are in it who are there to have a good time and to make community with others. Yes, there are always going to be people who feel like they have to defend their territory against all comers, or who loudly proclaim that their way is the only way and all others must yield, but most fans that I've encountered seem to be less concerned with purity, fortresses, or defense and are instead more concerned with community, mutual aid, sharing, and trying to encourage people who are in the fandom to stay in it or to getr even deeper into it. Maybe I just have good people around me and I've avoided the people who want to drag me into wars, but even if that's the case, the last thing I love about fandom (for this entry, anyway) is that it tends toward self-correction, and with time and maturity, most fen who stay, grow in ways that make their works better and their communities better.

(sitting at airport waiting for flight)

Monday, 5 January 2026 04:56 pm
tozka: Drawing of a caucasian person with longish brown hair and glasses holding a black cat (me with cat)
[personal profile] tozka
One thing I'll miss while in the UK (besides family obv) is my PBS Passport that I just got at the start of the year. It's very basic UI design compared to other streaming services, but it's chock full of things to watch. So many shows, some of them my favorites (This Old House) and some I've never even heard of (Travels with Yankee). Lots of British and European murder mystery and historical dramas, of course, but also fascinating craft documentaries, travel shows, history, nature, etc etc. AND no commercials in the middle of an episode-- just at the beginning, and they're all local ones which interest me way more (and there's only like 1-2 anyway).

Apparently PBS doesn't have int'l broadcast rights, neither can you download things nor use a VPN to bypass (apparently), so once I'm abroad I'll be cut off. :(

That said, I MAY have access to some of the British stuff because I'll be...in Britain.....

Maybe I can finish the 1983 Partners in Crime show then.
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