Reading

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: 'cause I speak of the pompatus of love

Entry tags:

movies,
superman

some people call me maurice

I finally saw the new Superman this afternoon and I enjoyed it a lot! The casting was exceptionally good - Nicholas Hoult was the best Lex Luthor since Rosenbaum, and I thought Fillion was just the right amount of bumptious asshole as Guy Gardner. (Do I wish we could get John Stewart in a live action movie? Yes. But I'm still so glad they didn't go with boring Hal Jordan.)

The writing for Clark was great and he and Lois had fantastic chemistry. Mr. Terrific was indeed terrific! Plus KRYPTO!!! ( spoilers )

*

Entry tags:

fanfic:murderbot

Murderbot fic: Natal Day Gifting

Bookverse-compliant except for Pin-Lee's TV pronouns, written for a Tumblr prompt.

Title: Natal Day Gifting
Word Count: 1400 words
Characters: Gen, Murderbot & Gurathin, PresAux in general
Summary: Murderbot gets dragged along on a birthday present shopping expedition. It enjoys this surprisingly somewhat more than expected.
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69306156

( Notes and Prompt )

( Fic under the cut )

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

d&d: pyra cantha

Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 8/15 Game

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Entry tags:

Murderbot promptfic from Tumblr

Cross-posting a couple of ficlets I wrote for Tumblr prompts earlier in the week.

***

1. A prompt for Murderbot and Gurathin undercover in the Corporation Rim. Originally posted here.

( 1000 words or so )

2. A request for de-aged Gurathin. Originally posted here.

( About 1100 words )

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Mets vs Braves on tv

Entry tags:

how that ball rushes up on you

I'm off work tomorrow and Friday - I have my annual eye exam tomorrow (they have sent me about 17 requests to confirm and I have each time but wtf) and I decided to just take Friday off for a long weekend - so I logged off work at 4:30 and ended up taking a long nap. I woke up to an intense thunderstorm with a truly shocking (pun intended) amount of lightning.

My brother had hip replacement surgery this morning and it went well - he is home already!

Baby Miss L loved the books - especially the Pete the Kitty goes to preschool one and I got adorable videos of her "reading" it.

Speaking of books, I did indeed finish the last 3 books of Dungeon Crawler Carl over the weekend and I was incensed that book 7 was not the end - there are supposedly 3 more books coming to wrap things up and ugh, I hate having to wait. This write-up on tumblr (vague spoilers for the whole series, as an enticement to read the books) is a great summary of why you should read it and then come talk to me about it. I am not even a cat person and I love Princess Donut! There is a wide array of female characters! There is a lot of gory violence and an unfortunate amount of fatphobia (i.e., any), but the anti-capitalist rage is real. I just hope Dinniman can stick the landing.

*

Where the fuck is my life going?

I am still here! <3. I'm just so seriously middle-aged, I've got everything on the boil rn. But I'm here if anyone needs me and still contributing to fandom in all the ways I can. You can also reach me at all the places you've always reached me--or other me, or any of the mes you may need.

Things I have enjoyed/am enjoying lately include:

* Killing Eve - I know, I'm super late to Killing Eve, but my sister loves loves loves it and so she asked me to watch it and so I'm watching. First two seasons obviously the best IMO, but she's asked me to see it through so I'm seeing it through.

* Strange New Worlds - its like 100% actual Star Trek! Also it's so fannish - like, look, there are episodes where I can tell the entire reason for the plot is to make sense of one weird moment in ST; TOS and you know what: I RESPECT YOU!! I SALUTE YOU!! YES, GO AHEAD AND FIX THAT ONE MINOR PLOT POINT in TOS, I AM YOUR AUDIENCE, I TOTALLY SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, GET DOWN WITH YOUR BAD SELF. Also, honestly, I will never be tired of Pike cooking, which is a bizarre characterization that I didn't see coming and which nobody I'm trying to pimp to this show ever believes until they see it. Also I would die for Number 1 and La'an. Also Pike cooks with cast iron and open flame in a spaceship. Really: I salute you, show. I am glad you are back! (Especially since no more Disco.)

* Bridgerton/Queen Charlotte - late to QC also, after watching Bridgerton, and thought it was actually really a notch above Bridgerton. (Which I did enjoy - I mean, I respect their commitment to the pleasure principle.) Glad to be caught up there.

* House - yes, yes, I know, I'm really kicking it like it's 2004 around here, but Tiberius, now a teen, had seen bits of it on the interwebs and was like, "Mom, do you know anything about this show House?" and I was like YESSSSS. YESSS I DOOOOO, and your aunt made a great vid of it! Whereupon I showed him astolat's "Bukowski" and we settled in for a watch/rewatch: we like to have a show we're watching together. He's into Trek also so we watched Discovery and Lower Decks and we'll watch SNW as a family now its back, but there's a lot of House to go through and that's a nice option too.

(Side note to those of you who don't have teens: what I did not expect is that Gen Z basically is getting culture in bursts of 10 seconds or less. He's seen literally BITS of House. He will tell me "I know that song--or well, I know 7 seconds of that song." Remember how there would be kids who wouldn't read a novel, they'd just watch the movie? My students now are like--THAT MOVIE IS TWO WHOLE HOURS? I seriously fear for the future, it makes previous claims of attention span deterioriation look PREPOSTEROUS. Holy shit. I swear, I spend so much energy trying not to be too judgy! But I am very judgy! Then again: this moment, this decade, really provokes judginess!! )

(Additional side note: Tiberius is super eye rolly because since middle school all the girls he knows are like "Wow, your mom is SO COOL," --because of course I am! I am really fucking cool, plus I helped to found the AO3 and all of that, so I am a high school rock star, and Tiberius is like, "please God save me from this hell" lol. Cause honestly there really is nothing worse than having a cool mom, I do get that, but I tell him he'll appreciate it later, when I'm dead.)

Current Mood: hopeful

Entry tags:

Video Games

Hey, it's a semi-fannish post! I don't make those very much lately. Let's hope this is the beginning of me getting back to that. 🤞🏻

As was probably obvious from my post last night, I'm trying to get back into the habit of playing video games again. It's one of those things where I honestly feel happier and more mentally stable when I'm making the time to play for a bit daily or at least every few days, but it's really hard to find the time and energy sometimes. Especially the last, uh, year or two. What with everyone going on IRL in various ways.

So, you know, I'm actively working on improving that.

( Rambling under the cut about my current daily schedule and how I'm trying to fit video games into it more regularly. )

That said, I am going to attempt to make posts here and there where I ramble about what's going on in whatever game and playthrough I'm focusing on at that time. I have no idea if I'll manage it, but I'm going to try. I really miss being properly fannish about things, and I want to at least try to get back to it.

Entry tags:

book post,
not fic

2025 Books, Post 8

Slowed down again! Busy part of summer and when I haven't been busy my brain has simply been either Gone or focused on my D&D game, since my whole table is writing D&D porn right now. But I'm through a batch now, anyway!

( A mixed bag this time! )

And that's all for this time! There were some good ones in this batch, but man, so few books are completely whisking me away this year, the two rereads on this list are for sure the best, and it's not even close!

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

fandom: baldur's gate

Baldur's Gate 3

I freely admit that I cackled a little when I saw this conversation happening in one of my D&D Discords. Especially since I was literally in the middle of playing Baldur's Gate 3 at that very moment. I feel like I'm being judged, but I can't really blame them when it's, you know, true.

Speaking of which, my gnome sorcerer/bard was very busy doing important things tonight:

In related news, I love the poly mod. Also? It works surprisingly well when combining these two romances specifically. Karlach and Wyll's relationship makes it very much come across as two Vs working towards a triad.

MCU meme thing-y

Hey! A wild meme that I can distract myself with while I pretend that I'm not worried as I wait for the vet to call me to pick Freya up. She's in getting two teeth pulled because her life long endeavour of 'everything is food if you try hard and believe in yourself' has finally caught up with her. It's not major surgery, but is under anaesthetic, and she's an older pup now...

Anyway.

( What parts of the MCU have I watched )

The funny thing is, everyone I've seen post this has had roughly the same arc of having been super into the early MCU and then gradually falling off. Whereas my arc is more like aggressive disinterest in the early movies shading into outright dislike of the OG Avengers, a brief period of, like, Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel that I actually really dug, that eventually turned into 'It's free on Disney+' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Entry tags:

books:ben january

Murder in the Trembling Lands (Ben January #21)

Working on belatedly writing up some books I've read lately.

A new Ben January book came out in July, and I had tremendous fun with it! This is one of the books in the series where Hambly goes Full Pulp with the plot, and she is delightful at it - buried treasure, pirates, abandoned houses crumbling in the swamp, identity shenanigans, long-lost relatives ...

( Spoilers )

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: and I howled at my ma in the driving rain

Entry tags:

i was born in a crossfire hurricane

3 things make a post:

a. So I hurt my back yesterday doing something normal and innocuous. Ugh. Everything about it is terrible. Icy-hot helps, and tylenol, but it was hard to find a comfortable position to sleep in last night. I did eventually get to sleep, but only for like 5 or 6 hours.

b. I did still manage to make this fried rice recipe with ground pork, but it's only okay. I think the meat could use more seasoning before it gets fried and sauced, and I'll probably stick with the Woks of Life recipe going forward, but it'll do for lunch for the week.

c. In other news, Baby Miss L is having a rough time going to school 2 days a week. I sent her a couple of books about it (including a Pete the Cat one, though it's Pete the Kitty in this case), so hopefully that will help (as much as anything helps other than time and patience). Poor kid - I wouldn't want to go be around strangers all day either!

*

Entry tags:

fandom

Fic anniversary

It was on August 11, 1999, that I (terrified, heart pounding, with a newly chosen pseudonym that I wasn't even quite sure I liked) hit Send on the message that put a Sentinel PWP called "Anoint" out on the SXF mailing list.

(This is really not meant to encourage anybody to go read that story, because I put it on AO3 for what felt like historical reasons, but I do not in any way think it's GOOD.)

I'm still happy to be here.[waves at old and new friends]

Current Mood: accomplished

Entry tags:

d&d: titansfall

Titansfall D&D: Summary for 8/10 Game

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

pets: garrus

=^.^=

Look at this sweet, innocent child who definitely wouldn't do something like piss all over my bed at 1am.

Oh, Garrus. It's a good thing he's cute. And that I know it was because of lingering issues from what led to the vet trip on Thursday rather than anything else.

Current Mood: drained

Entry tags:

pets: garrus

Oh, Garrus...

Welp. Garrus definitely just had an accident on the bed a few minutes ago. 🙃

I'm pretty sure it's stemming from the same issue that led to the vet trip a few days ago, so I can't really be mad at him. His timing is about as horrible as it could be, though, because I very much don't have the money to go wash multiple loads of clothes right now. Plus, you know, it's 1am which isn't great either.

My sheets and comforter are currently in the bathtub, and I'm going to see what I can do via handwashing to try and remove as much of the smell as possible. I'm trying to raise the $20 that I'll need to cover two loads over on Bluesky, so I'm hoping that throwing them in the bathtub will at least work as a stopgap.

August is, uh, certainly shaping up to be a month so far. That's for sure.

ETA: Okay, I have the money to wash and dry two loads, so I'm going to go get them in the washer now (and hope that there's nobody in the suite to the laundry room right now who I'll be disturbing). Hopefully I'm washing them fast enough that the scent won't have a chance to sink in at all. 🤞🏻

Entry tags:

MCU Meme

Stolen from

snickfic.

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

( the whole MCU under the cut )

In looking at this list, lmfao you can see precisely what year I quit the MCU. I have seen none of Phase 5 and don't really have any desire to seek any of it out. I honestly had not realized that there was a four-year gap between the last Marvel movie I'd seen in theaters and Fantastic Four! That is almost as long as I was actively in MCU fandom!!

Doing this meme also made me realize how few of these movies I have rewatched. Almost all of them were one viewing in the theater and then never again. Winter Soldier is definitely my most rewatched - I saw it four times in theater and have rewatched it more than once on DVD since then.

FWIW, I really liked Fantastic Four, and I have been thinking about going to see it again before it disappears from theaters. I liked that it was self-contained and that it felt very old-school both aesthetically and in its plotting. (It's tightly written, especially for a superhero movie. There are no scenes I'd cut, and that includes the big fight scenes/set pieces.)

I have negative interest in the Phase 6 movies that are to follow it, though. I don't know who the Avengers even are anymore, and I don't really care.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Mets pregame show

Entry tags:

books: dungeon crawler carl

he got a great charge on it

Arrgh, book 7 is not the last book! And the next one doesn't come out until next year! Arrgh!

*

Entry tags:

MCU meme

Stole this from

muccamukk.

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

( Big annotated list of movies/shows )

( Some nostalgic nattering about that )

Code if you want to do it yourself:

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

Phase One:
Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two:
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV 2013–2020)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Daredevil (TV 2015–2018)
Agent Carter (TV 2015–2016)
Jessica Jones (TV 2015–2019)

Phase Three:
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Luke Cage (TV 2016–2018)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Iron Fist (TV 2017–2018)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The Defenders (TV 2017)
The Punisher (TV 2017–2019)
Inhumans (TV 2017)
Runaways (TV 2017–2019)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Black Panther (2018)
Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018–2019)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Phase Four:
Black Widow (2021)
WandaVision (TV 2021)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV 2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Eternals (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Loki (TV 2021-2023)
Hawkeye (TV 2021)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Moon Knight (TV 2022)
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Ms. Marvel (TV 2022)
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (TV 2022)

Phase Five:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Secret Invasion (TV 2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
The Marvels (2023)
Echo (TV 2024)
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Agatha All Along (TV 2024)
Daredevil: Born Again (TV 2025-2026)
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Thunderbolts (2025)
Ironheart (TV 2025)

Phase Six:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Wonder Man (TV 2025)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Vision Quest (TV 2026)
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Avengers: Secret Wars (2027)

Entry tags:

tv:murderbot

Just Murderbot things

Check out this person's adorable manga-style art illustrating scenes from the first three Murderbot books. I love their art style!

I was thinking about how the adaptation for the next season might go.

( More about that )