vidrecs | Member Posts

Gratitude / Self-reassurance / fighting against negativity bias!

1. The animals seem happy and content. I don't go to the barn every day and sometimes I feel bad about that, but I suspect I'm stressing over nothing, or channeling other stress into this area. The cat and dog make me laugh and are good companions. Again I stress sometimes with Sally the dog, but, it's probably easier to be crabby with her than with my family.

2. The house is reasonably clean, it's warm inside, the hot water is working, etc.

3. I have some friendly and wonderful neighbors.

4. My parents are doing well. My mom is so much better now that she's in the assisted living place rather than the nursing home. Just a huge relief.

5. I got to chat with two good friends today, Jesse and Emily, and it was a real mood lifter.

6. TV I'm enjoying: The Pitt, FallOut, Heated Rivalry.

7. On YouTube I watch the Handsome Podcast almost every single day. This is 3 queer comedians (Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin) chatting and being silly.

8. I've been playing Terra Nil on my laptop and I can't rec it highly enough. I feel like it is meditative in the best way and really helps my brain chill out. The game play is very similar to Sim City, but instead of building a city you get to reclaim wasteland and turn it into wilderness. Very easy to learn, but challenging enough to keep me engaged. Click-only means it's easy to play in bed with my beloved Left-handed mouse, and doesn't bother my right shoulder. Sound design is relaxing, the graphics are pretty. Minimal reading makes it migraine compatible for me, and i can control the motion. It's not timed. Thank you to my friend eruthros for buying this game for me.

svgurl

cultivativity is a community for cultivating creativity.

5soulmates is a prompt table writing challenge that focused on the soulmate theme

kingstoken has posted their 2026 Book Bingo Challenge.

kitarella_imagines is running Funuary, a fun/funny themed prompt challenge, through the month of January.

traumaticexperiences, a (psychological) trauma themed multifandom exchange, is open for sign-ups until January 16th, 8PM PST.

threesentenceficathon has posted their 2026 schedule. Prompting will open on January 17th.

seasonsofdrabbles, an exchange for the creation of drabbles and drabble variants which runs 4 times a year, is open for sign-ups until January 18th, 11:59PM EST. Nominations will also remain open until sign-ups close.

seasonalremix is a quarterly, trope-based multifandom event where you sign-up and write a 1-5k work that is a remix of some sort. The Winter Round is currently open for sign-ups until January 24th, 11:59PM GMT and you can find out more info (including where to sign up) HERE.

lul_soulmatesex, a soulmate themed exchange, is accepting nominations until January 25th, 11:59PM AM CST.

smallfandombang, a big bang for small fandoms, is open for artist sign-ups until January 31st.

ksspringfever, a Kirk/Spock community, is open for sign-ups and prompt collecting for Kirk/Spock Spring Fever until January 31st.

wipbigbang is running International Fanworks Day Mini Bang for works that are too short for the regular big bang (has to be less than 7.5k). The writing period started on January 9th and the earliest posting is February 1st and will go till the 15th.

crackthewip, a challenge to help you finish your WIPs, is running and accepting sign-ups during the first half of the year.

dirty_diana

Okay, I have successfully not defaulted on festivids and am trying to shake off the doomscrolling, and now I am going to rescue some drafts and catch up on January Posting! In order because that is simply How My Brain Works.

*

snowflake_challenge
1. The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I'm dirty_diana or sweeter_than. I write, draw, and vid, read and watch a lot of tv. I am hoping to get back into using dreamwidth a bit more steadily with this challenge, and also I guess enjoy some transformative fandom community vibes? Since I have been very much on the edges of that recently. Been reading other people's posts and feeling warm and fuzzy about everyone. ❤️

2. Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

I've never had a pet. Allergies. I do have a horrible antisocial roommate and surprise! she has a horrible antisocial cat that hates me for some reason. Pets from canons, hmm, Rivals has this very cute shaggy dog, Gertrude! Played by a cute little doggie actor named Ponti. Also in Rivals is the character of Rocky the horse, I think Rocky is actually a retired showjumper but now he gets to chill and eat grass and get pats. The Rutshire Chronicles series is generally full of animals, but in a very English way where it's all dogs and horses and many of them have jobs, lol.

*

and Talk Meme! still open for questions I can belatedly fill here.

Tell me about a small, nice thing you did for yourself recent(ish)ly? from

chase_acow

Do I do enough nice things for myself? Now I'm not sure. I am recently enjoying bulking up my art supply collection, even though frankly I owned enough art supplies to begin with. But I hang out on art tik tok, and to a lesser degree art youtube, and man those people are always showing you cool products. I am trying to not get sucked into the Being a Consumer of it all, but it is also worth it sometimes to not overthink whether you Deserve the fun thing, whether you'll use it enough or with the right skills, etc. I am currently messing around with acrylic paint markers? (Markers and pens are in general great for me because my nemesis chronic fatigue is never going to pull out an entire set of paints.) I did this raspberry lemonade piece for

doodle4doodle. I will show you all some more acrylic pen art at some point, but if I stop to scan things now this post will never get up, lol.

*

And I should say: for Yuletide I wrote The Heart of the Matter, a Rivals Rupert/Taggie fic. Pining, kissing. And featuring Gertrude and Rocky, in fact.

I got whatever you ask for, that’s what i’ll be by vialethe, also Rivals, Rupert/Taggie. RuTag are adorable in London, topped with a spicy daddy kink garnish.

It was a year where I didn't recognise many fandoms, but this Travelers fic was quite nice? Marcy figures out the holidays. And both the Blood on the Clocktower fics were just the right amount of mysterious and creepy.

That's it for now, the catch up will continue!

Current Mood: tired

kronette

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

archersangel

some time ago (like 7 years) me & my brother got an olive garden gift card from someone. we had wanted to use it for these breadstick (bigger than normal breadsticks) sandwiches they had, but we ended up missing the boat on those & they never brought them back.

we went in for lunch on tuesday. it was busy, but we didn't have to wait for a table. the silverware comes wrapped up in a huge cloth napkin& i'm not sure if it's meant to be used, or just keep the knife & forks (2 of the same size for some reason) together. they have coke products so we both got cokes & ordered Lasagna Fritta for an appetizer because my brother really wanted it. he got the lunch-size eggplant parmesan (substituting angle hair for the spaghetti) & i got the soup, salad, breadsticks lunch.
he was not impressed with his food, the eggplant slice was small & they must put oil in the water when they make the angel hair, because the sauce would not stick to it. he said the frozen eggplant parmesan from michael angelo's is better.
my stuff was just OK. i had a bowl of the Chicken & Gnocchi and Pasta e Fagioli (both piping hot!) the gnocchi was little balls, not the pillows with ridges i'm used to. neither of us liked the Lasagna Fritta, it was hard to cut. however, the coke was some of the best fountain dispensed coke i've had in a long time.
but now that we've gone, we don't need to go again.

this was our first time at olive garden & can now weigh in on the red lobster cheddar bay biscuits vs. olive garden breadsticks.
my brother gives the win to the biscuts. the breadsticks had garlic salt on them and he doesn't like garlic. even less when it's garlic powder or salt. and he thought they had too much butter spread/margarine on them, which gave them an odd sheen. he said it was a good thing that we never got the breadstick sandwiches considering the way the breadstick were.
i barely give the win to the biscuits, because they have cheese. both are kind of dry, but if the breadsticks didn't have the garlic salt, i'd give them the begrudging win.

and we have an opinion on the cheesecake factory rolls (despite never have been there) because we got them from wal-mart once. we are both of the opinion that it is a dressed up wheat bread & nothing special.

Current Mood: disappointed

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two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

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.

I kind of struggle with these things but I'll try. :D

1. I'm punctual. I like that I'm on time and even if I stress myself out a little when I work backwards, it's less stressful than the alternative. I don't mind being at the airport two hours early and I'm glad I can tell someone a time and unless there are certain unforeseen circumstances, I will be there then.

2. I'm fairly easy to talk to and am a good listener. I am best with at one on one or a couple of people, but I can carry a conversation if they're engaged and am happy to listen to other people/be a shoulder/offer advice if needed.

3. I'm a good baker and a decent cook. I can follow a recipe and can make the right modifications if needed and am aware of my limitations/can do what I know how to do well.

aurumcalendula

Jan 15 - 'Dream Job?' for

corvidology

( Read more... )

(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

svgurl

Challenge #6
Top 10 Challenge.

I decided to do two.

Top 10 Favorite Songs of 2025 (in no order; all links go to YouTube)
1. Ordinary - Alex Warren
2. Three Six Five - Shinedown
3. Golden - KPOP Demon Hunters/Hunter/X
4. The Fate of Ophelia - Taylor Swift
5. Undressed - Sombr
6. Abracadabra - Lady GaGa
7. Azizam - Ed Sheeran
8. Mystical Magical - Benson Boone
9. Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish
10. Sink or Swim - OneRepublic

Top Ten Things I Made in 2025

( image heavy )

aurumcalendula

Jan 13 - 'What have you read lately that has stuck with you, either for good reasons or for bad reasons?' for

serrico

( Read more... )

(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

aurumcalendula

I wish news stories would consistently include the name and number associated with legislation when talking about how [x] has been blocked or voted on.

duskpeterson

If you want to see Emor at its best, visit its City Court in session.

Actually, if you are staying with an Emorian acquaintance, it's unlikely you'll be given any choice about this. Emorians assume that everyone in the world is as enthralled with their laws as they are. Thankfully, Emorians are right to be proud of their law system, founded centuries ago by their Chara and council. This law system, known simply as the Chara's law, is one of the bulwarks of civilization in the Three Lands.

The best way to visit a law court is to prepare yourself beforehand by listening to an Emorian explain their law system to you. Any Emorian will do; even Emorian ditch-diggers know a good deal about the law. Indeed, even Emorian women do.

The City Court is not terribly formal, by Emorian standards, and the rules for behavior will be explained to you beforehand by the guards at its door. Wear your best clothes and be on your best behavior; otherwise, you can relax and enjoy the spectacle.

On your way out, be sure to visit the adjoining Law Academy, founded by the City Court in order to give advanced lessons in the law. The Academy does not try to compete with the traditional Emorian methods of learning law: tutoring, apprenticeships, and playing law-based games when one is a boy. Rather, the Academy provides supplemental education for Emorians who plan to apply for high positions in the law, such as at the palace. Most of the Academy students are between the ages of eight and sixteen, though students as young as four are accepted, if they plan to apply for a youth post, such as scribing or paging. On the other end of the scale, a few students are full-grown men who, because of unfortunate circumstances, missed out on the normal training in the law that virtually all Emorian boys receive. In recent years, many of these students have been former slaves. The Academy welcomes them all, even going so far as to pay the fees of any students whose slave service left them penniless.

[Translator's note: Emorians' obsession with the law is on full display in Law Links.]

extrapenguin

This week's entry is from 2015, rather than my self-imposed 2020 onwards; OTOH, it's the only actual answer to this prompt.

a song that makes you cry
Stratovarius - Shine in the Dark

Watch on YouTube

These guys are not (yet?) on Bandcamp; OTOH, the runner-up (I Wish, by Battle Beast) is up there.

prompts under the cut

a song you discovered this month
a song that makes you smile
a song that makes you cry
a song that you know all the lyrics of
a song that proves that you have good taste
a song title that is in all lowercase
a song title that is in all uppercase
an underrated song
a song that has three words
a song from your childhood
a song that reminds you of summertime
a song that you feel nostalgic to
the first song that plays on shuffle
a song that someone showed you
a song from a movie soundtrack
a song from a television soundtrack
a song about being 17
a song that reminds you of somebody
a song to drive to
a song with a number in the title
a song that you listen to at 3am in the morning
a song with a long title
a song with a color in the title
a song that gets stuck in your head
a song in a different language
a song that helps you fall asleep at night
a song that describes how you feel right now
a song that you used to hate but love today
a song that you downloaded
a song that you want to share

bluedreaming

That feeling when you’re reading a cnovel that’s actively being translated and you’ve caught up to the most recent chapter and you almost can’t bear to read it

it’s so good! and we’re only about halfway! though maybe if there are lots of extras like the first novel we’re closer to the narrative climax of at least this arc? but who knows

sanguinity

Is it too late to post about Yuletide? Surely not!

For Yuletide 2024, I tried to pick up a Hornblower-TV pinch-hit. Alas, even though I had the first part of the story written, I wasn't quick enough to get assigned the pinch-hit. Which turned out just as well, because the story stalled out and while I told myself I could post it as a treat, I never finished it. I ended up quasi-trunking it that spring as a hopeless job.

But in November I finally figured out what its plot needed to be (sadly, it would require a complete rewrite!), and then one of the Yuletide 2025 requests was even a better match for the overhauled story than the original 2024 pinch-hit would have been. So I rewrote it, and published as a Yuletide treat, hurrah:

The Worst Part of Waking Up for BromeliadDreams

Bush/Hornblower

Hurt/Comfort, Dying Declarations, First Kiss (is also the) Last Kiss (or it should have been damnit), Everybody Lives (as embarrassing as that is for some), When He Made This Bed He Wasn't Expecting to Wake Up In It, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

At the end of Loyalty, Bush is too late to save Hornblower. With his dying breath, Hornblower requests a kiss from Bush…

…only to wake up a week later and discover he's going to live after all. Damnit.

The title btw, was only meant to be provisional, but it was as sticky as fuck and time was tight and I never got around to changing it. I do realize it's the perfect title for a Folgers Incest fic (and I had a serious conversation with myself about whether I really wanted to waste such a great title on the wrong fandom), but in the end I don't have any real ambition to write Folgers Incest fic. And anyway, it's funny. So there it stayed, sorry for the earworm.

This morning I was tidying my WIP folder, archiving the stories I've finished since the last time I cleaned up, and remembered I still had the first version of the story, which is in Bush-pov. I still like it very much, and it's mostly all stuff that doesn't appear in the rewrite, except by implication.

So this morning I published it as a bonus:

Too Late, Too Late

Hornblower/Bush

POV William Bush, Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

Bush is too late to the beach to stop the firing squad.

Bonus Bush point-of-view on the beach scene.

One of the things I love about fic is that there doesn't have to be one canonical version; you can post alternate povs and alternate endings, and bits and bobs and scraps of things. And a lot of times people enjoy them! And if they don't enjoy them, they don't have to click. It's great.

So if Bush-pov on the beach scene is the kind of thing you might enjoy: enjoy!

umadoshi

What I Just Finished Reading: A novella and two novels since the last time I posted about books, I think: Automatic Noodle (Annalee Newitz), about sentient robots winding up running their own restaurant; Stone Yard Devotional (Charlotte Wood), a very-much-~literary~ book about a woman who winds up living with a group of nuns, although not a nun herself; and The Lovely and the Lost (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), about a search-and-rescue case from the POV of one of a trio of teenagers who're involved with the rescue effort, who was herself rescued from the woods as a child after she'd been there long enough to go feral and was (largely) resocialized and adopted by her rescuer. Many layers of family history and secrets in that last one, which was my favorite of the three.

(And since I've mentioned a couple of YA books recently where their flavor of YA really didn't work for me, I should say that The Lovely and the Lost is also very clearly YA but in a way I could work with just fine as a reader, despite being very much not the target audience.)

On the nonfiction side, I read The Crone Zone: How to Get Older with Style, Nerve, and a Little Bit of Magic (Nina Bargiel), which was...mostly odd, honestly. It's from the same publisher (and I guess the same...product line?) as Goblin Mode: How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck, which I read last year, and the presentation and vibe were really (I mean really) similar in a way that might've made more sense to me if they were also by the same author, but they're not. The Crone Zone's subtitle does accurately reflect its contents, so I feel weird saying "it's such a weird blend of exactly what it says it is", but...yeah. Not my thing.

What I'm Currently Reading: Chuck Wendig's Wanderers, which I chose at random from my ebooks and probably would not have started had I actually known anything about it. It's a 2019 novel that starts with a mysterious phenomenon where people just start...walking...somewhere, but also spotlights (*checks notes*) a world-changing disease, AI, and right-wing violence tearing at the seams of the US, all of which are being amply provided by reality. It's also pretty hefty, length-wise. And yet I keep reading.

I've also begun reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Robin Wall Kimmerer), as the starting point for my 2026 goal* of "aim to read at least one chapter of nonfiction each week" (swiped from a friend else-net). (Another goal is to aim to read a volume of manga each week, and that one hasn't been started in on yet, but we'll see how strict I feel like being about "each week".)

*I have a full bingo card of goals! I will probably share it at some point! But not this minute.

What I Plan to Read Next: K.B. Spangler's newest Rachel Peng novel, Inside Threat is out/about to come out! (It was supposed to come out this week, but Amazon dropped it early, so she's also released it on her website.)

Plus: What I've Been Watching:

scruloose and I are two episodes into Pluribus! I also recently watched Challengers. (A movie? So soon in the year?) Hopefully we'll get the premiere of The Pitt season 2 watched today.

Current Mood: tired

tassosss

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!

A Rec! This is my favorite long Shetland TV fic that I read in 2025. I could read a hundred fics like this.

Wait along (48545 words) by aurorlaura
Chapters: 17/17
Fandom: Shetland (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Duncan Hunter/Jimmy Perez
Characters: Jimmy Perez, Duncan Hunter, Alison McIntosh, Sandy Wilson, Rhona Kelly, Original Characters, Billy McCabe, Alan Killick, Original Dog Character(s), Cassie Perez, James Perez, Mary Perez, Isobel Tulloch, Donnie Tulloch
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Scotland, Case Fic, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Season/Series 06
Summary:

Jimmy Perez investigates a series of homophobic attacks while sorting out his and Duncan's co-existence. Various original characters pass through including a hound and some otters. There's some light day hiking, Lerwick Tesco, hints at alcohol problems, a bit of Alice Brooks, visits to Fair Isle and to The Lounge, and the return to Shetland of both Cassie and her half brother. Sandy's let off and Rhona's a hero. Tosh is dependable.

Why I liked it: Its one of the few longer Jimmy/Duncan fics, and it's well written, and hits the getting together while solving a case beats like a pro. It captures what I love about the characters from the show, Jimmy and Duncan's friendship, and lets it turn into something more without letting either of them drift out of characters. It's just a great story all around.

aurumcalendula

Jan 10 - 'I think my main problem with Section 31 was that what was clearly intended as the first season of a show, plot wise, was hacked together to make the plot of a movie. Provided you'd knew in advance there would be only room for a Georgiou movie, and bearing real life restrictions in mind (i.e. guest stars from other Trek shows can only appear as they are today or have to be recast), what should a mirror Georgiou centric movie have been about?' for

selenak

( Read more... )

(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

svgurl

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

Challenge #5
In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts.

1. icons/where to find icons of any of my favorite fandoms/ships, especially Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso) and Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1). More 9-1-1 icons that include Christopher too would be great. :D

2. icon tutorials for people who don't have photoshop/want to improve on skills

3. a mod icon for

comment_bingo

4. fanart for any of my fics, found at

svgurl410

5. New friends - on here, Tumblr (

svgurl410) and Discord (svgurl) are also welcome/appreciated! Especially if you want to talk about our common fandoms/ships and share fic ideas/brainstorm. :)

alias_sqbr

I finally got back to this! Masterlist.

The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.

It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
( Read more... )

alias_sqbr

Going through the free university mini-course Media and Power from the University of Iowa.
( Read more... )

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Multifandom vid recs. Yay!

Page Summary

sasha_feather - Gratitude / Self-reassurance / fighting against negativity bias!
svgurl - current fandom events
dirty_diana - meet me at the record store, to find out who i was before
kronette - (no subject)
archersangel - got over to olive garden
svgurl - snowflake challenge #7
aurumcalendula - January Talking Meme - Dream Job?
svgurl - snowflake challenge #6
aurumcalendula - January Talking Meme - What have you read lately that has stuck with you?
aurumcalendula - (no subject)
duskpeterson - FIC: The City Court and Law Academy (Tempestuous Tours)
extrapenguin - Monday Music Meme
bluedreaming - 📖💔🐟🐯
sanguinity - Belated Yuletide reveal: Hornblower, plus an extra
umadoshi - Weekly proof of life: media, if nothing else
tassosss - Snowflake #4: A Rec!
aurumcalendula - January Talking Meme - What should a mirror Georgiou centric movie have been about?
svgurl - snowflake challenge #5
alias_sqbr - Media and Power: 01 Unit 1: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition
alias_sqbr - Media and Power: Masterlist

May 2024

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Style: Early Edition for Five AM by winterfish

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