Couldn't have liked it more.
Apr. 17th, 2025 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hannahThis afternoon, someone told me my chocolate cake was as good as her mother's, which is as heavenly a compliment as I can imagine.
Also of note this afternoon, the slope of light through the sky and onto the buildings told me summer's on its way, and I'm happy to watch it arrive.
Also of note this afternoon, the slope of light through the sky and onto the buildings told me summer's on its way, and I'm happy to watch it arrive.
One last bell.
Apr. 16th, 2025 09:15 pmhannahI've commented before on how there's a better quality to cast-offs in New York City - classy trash, basically. Many people have, constantly and all over the place. Some people make careers off it. Personally, I just take it as it comes, like another very nice hoodie sweatshirt that's making its way into regular rotation.
Of note, today I talked to someone about the difficulties I've been having with submitting job applications or pitches to literary agents and how the difference with that is it's energy directed outward, while writing is energy directed inward and helps keep me going that way. I'm not sure what I'd need to do to get enough energy for both, but it feels good to put a set of specific words to it.
Of note, today I talked to someone about the difficulties I've been having with submitting job applications or pitches to literary agents and how the difference with that is it's energy directed outward, while writing is energy directed inward and helps keep me going that way. I'm not sure what I'd need to do to get enough energy for both, but it feels good to put a set of specific words to it.
Shots in the dark.
Apr. 14th, 2025 10:10 pmhannahAt the Seder last night, trying to make conversation, I asked the man next to me if he'd read anything good recently. He said he hadn't read much contemporary stuff in a while. I told him it didn't need to be contemporary, just something he'd read recently - if he'd just read The Tale of Genji, for example.
As it turns out, he'd recently reread certain parts of that one. We ended up talking about translations and philosophies behind preserving language and intent for a good while.
As it turns out, he'd recently reread certain parts of that one. We ended up talking about translations and philosophies behind preserving language and intent for a good while.
a SECOND fun media post has landed???
Apr. 13th, 2025 11:17 amseascribbleI realized that not only had I been watching media, I have also been listening to audiobooks on the longcommute.
First, I listened to Monstrous Regiment (the old edition read by Stephen Briggs, not the new one) which was very fun and charming. PTerry holds up, and the reading handled all the footnotes and parentheticals and choppy dialogue adeptly.
Then I listened to Master and Commander, read by Robert Hardy, which was DELIGHTFUL. I haven't read a Patrick O'Brian in probably...fifteen years, at least, and the audiobook really highlighted his sense of humour. I could only find Spanish editions of the rest of the series or I would have gone on listening to them all the way through.
I took a break for some podcasts, the usual Star War (A More Civilized Age, which I adore, but which many of my friends have beef with for their bad opinions) and This Podcast Will Kill You (highlights: Viagra, Retinoids, Allergies), Science Vs (mixed feelings on this, they cite their sources but sometimes I suspect cherrypicking), Sawbones (everybody loves a McElroy), and Gastropod (highlights, the World Seed Bank, Dishwashing, and the guest episode on dentists). Also occasionally Lingthusiasm (what it says on the tin) or Queer as Fact (solidly Fine, increasingly pissing me off with bad takes or methodology).
Then I started in on Becky Chambers Wayfarers series. I had already ready A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet but I started with that, and it took me a second to adjust to how fucking PEPPY and WHOLESOME everything was. I listened on 1.15 speed because you only get 2 weeks with library loans vs Hoopla so that might have contributed?
The other books in the series are stand alone so I listened to the last one, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, next and it was about the same as the first one, maybe a little more interesting in some of the themes it explored around politics, but it didn't really stick with me (possibly due to the format more than the content).
Record of a Spaceborn Few has definitely been my favourite of them, I think. I really liked the characters and the setting of the Exodus Fleet that has just been recycling and recycling since humans had to leave earth, and the idea that you can have both tradition and change, and cozy space utopia still has political problems. Also, she straight up killed a guy midbook in a freak accident that was just because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, and I love shit like that and didn't expect it from her.
A Closed and Common Orbit I'm about 1/4 of the way through, and it's pretty good as well. I like that the cast of characters is smaller and the stories are asynchronous, and I find them both interesting, the flashbacks a little more so. Chambers is really good at looking at things in another perspective, so she writes a good "high powered robot intelligence has to get used to limited humanoid body" experience.
I only have 2 (maybe 3, if I do get to stay with my employer) more longcommutes and 4 medium ones, so after this I'll probably go back to listening to podcasts on the commute, unless somebody has an audiobook they'd highly recommend? I listen to Murderbot at sleep time.
First, I listened to Monstrous Regiment (the old edition read by Stephen Briggs, not the new one) which was very fun and charming. PTerry holds up, and the reading handled all the footnotes and parentheticals and choppy dialogue adeptly.
Then I listened to Master and Commander, read by Robert Hardy, which was DELIGHTFUL. I haven't read a Patrick O'Brian in probably...fifteen years, at least, and the audiobook really highlighted his sense of humour. I could only find Spanish editions of the rest of the series or I would have gone on listening to them all the way through.
I took a break for some podcasts, the usual Star War (A More Civilized Age, which I adore, but which many of my friends have beef with for their bad opinions) and This Podcast Will Kill You (highlights: Viagra, Retinoids, Allergies), Science Vs (mixed feelings on this, they cite their sources but sometimes I suspect cherrypicking), Sawbones (everybody loves a McElroy), and Gastropod (highlights, the World Seed Bank, Dishwashing, and the guest episode on dentists). Also occasionally Lingthusiasm (what it says on the tin) or Queer as Fact (solidly Fine, increasingly pissing me off with bad takes or methodology).
Then I started in on Becky Chambers Wayfarers series. I had already ready A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet but I started with that, and it took me a second to adjust to how fucking PEPPY and WHOLESOME everything was. I listened on 1.15 speed because you only get 2 weeks with library loans vs Hoopla so that might have contributed?
The other books in the series are stand alone so I listened to the last one, The Galaxy and the Ground Within, next and it was about the same as the first one, maybe a little more interesting in some of the themes it explored around politics, but it didn't really stick with me (possibly due to the format more than the content).
Record of a Spaceborn Few has definitely been my favourite of them, I think. I really liked the characters and the setting of the Exodus Fleet that has just been recycling and recycling since humans had to leave earth, and the idea that you can have both tradition and change, and cozy space utopia still has political problems. Also, she straight up killed a guy midbook in a freak accident that was just because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, and I love shit like that and didn't expect it from her.
A Closed and Common Orbit I'm about 1/4 of the way through, and it's pretty good as well. I like that the cast of characters is smaller and the stories are asynchronous, and I find them both interesting, the flashbacks a little more so. Chambers is really good at looking at things in another perspective, so she writes a good "high powered robot intelligence has to get used to limited humanoid body" experience.
I only have 2 (maybe 3, if I do get to stay with my employer) more longcommutes and 4 medium ones, so after this I'll probably go back to listening to podcasts on the commute, unless somebody has an audiobook they'd highly recommend? I listen to Murderbot at sleep time.
media
Apr. 13th, 2025 12:30 amaethel1. Media: I watched Point of Order, the 1963 documentary film that's just a supercut of the televised 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings. It was fascinating--more engaging than I feared, and I might even want to watch it again. Provides full context for the quote "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
I'm starting on season three of Schitt's Creek and still fast-forwarding over some cringe interactions between the parents and the townspeople, but I really enjoy the interactions between all the family members, as well as pretty much everything the adult children do. I have nothing in common with the characters except in certain moments between the adult children and their parents that are Too Real.
2. Books: I finished The Return of the King and Beguiled, abandoned The Night Watchman, and am now reading Enlightened and A Memory Called Empire. I also recently started and finished Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor, published last year and set on a Welsh island in autumn 1938 with a dwindling population and no future. It is an excellent, short, enjoyable read, and the audiobook narrator has a Welsh accent. My favorite line: "And, God have mercy, never marry." I found it via a recommendation on a librarian's website here: https://jessamyn.info/booklist
I'm starting on season three of Schitt's Creek and still fast-forwarding over some cringe interactions between the parents and the townspeople, but I really enjoy the interactions between all the family members, as well as pretty much everything the adult children do. I have nothing in common with the characters except in certain moments between the adult children and their parents that are Too Real.
2. Books: I finished The Return of the King and Beguiled, abandoned The Night Watchman, and am now reading Enlightened and A Memory Called Empire. I also recently started and finished Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor, published last year and set on a Welsh island in autumn 1938 with a dwindling population and no future. It is an excellent, short, enjoyable read, and the audiobook narrator has a Welsh accent. My favorite line: "And, God have mercy, never marry." I found it via a recommendation on a librarian's website here: https://jessamyn.info/booklist
The promised fun post!!!
Apr. 12th, 2025 09:45 amseascribble(don't worry, I have a mixed life update for immediately after)
As I am sure everyone who cares has heard, the Murderbot trailer dropped! I was a little "ehhhhhhh" on the whole thing because did it REALLY have to be a white guy and how are you going to adequately portray all the digital feed stuff and ten episodes for one novella, really, but I think the trailer sold me.
I think the tone is perfect, from the way ASkars does both the internal wry dialogue and the external robotic dialogue to the little "humans...are idiots" reel and the song choice. The way its voice goes all starry eyed when it talks about Sanctuary Moon, it's just like us and our blorbos, and they found a way to capture that!
From a design perspective, the look of the armour has grown on me, and I like the design of the habitat sets and the crew's clothing. Can we talk about Gurthathin's goth nails? Adorable (I think I might find him kind of hot, oh no). Too soon to tell how the planet sets and the CGI will hold up, but so far they look good.
I can't figure out who Anna Konkle is playing (Overse, maybe?) but the snarky exchange with her is delightful. SWEET BABY BOY RATTHI IS JUST BEING RESPECTFUL? I am definitely a fan of that casting. "OOF EYE CONTACT" continues to crack me up but also resonate just a little bit too hard.
It's very funny because I follow Martha over on bsky and she likes every one of my goofy quote posts about the show. Getting a good grade in fan, which is both normal to want and possible to achieve.
***
Similarly, I am sure everybody who did not obsessively watch The Pitt is sick of hearing about it, but it really is very good! First of all, Noah Wyle practicing medicine on my TV like it's 1999 again healed something in me, at least briefly.
Everybody is talking about how wow this is such an accurate medical show, so realistic, much jargon, lots of blood! And that is true, I didn't have many things to complain about (perennially, tv CPR, but what are you gonna do, you can't break real life ribs I guess), but it is still very much a show (not a complaint, obviously, I have worked in hospitals, they're boring as hell except for when they're scary). Like, the DRAMA!!!! is cranked up, but it's all done in such a humanizing and interesting way that I (almost always) don't mind that it's a little over the top or that the exposition is sometimes just a little too clunky even for the framing devices of "transition of care" or "medical student education." I hope Noah Wyle finally gets his fucking Emmy for all his panic attacks and trauma flashbacks Acting. It's also frequently very funny, sometimes even slapstick, but it never tips over into too much. They did a good job with the emotional balance.
Given all of the everything, I really appreciate how they went full "masks are not controversial in their function" and "vaccinations good measles bad" and "abortion is healthcare" and "for profit medical system deeply broken and evil and chews up everyone involved in it except for the administrators." With some brief but consistent forays into "poor and black people get worse care." Dana's line about how "people have changed" and have less patience and more anger hit me like a fucking truck. NONE OF US ESCAPED WITHOUT TRAUMA.
( Spoilers of varying degrees of specificity )
Also, here is a post I made about if the residents/med students were cats.
As I am sure everyone who cares has heard, the Murderbot trailer dropped! I was a little "ehhhhhhh" on the whole thing because did it REALLY have to be a white guy and how are you going to adequately portray all the digital feed stuff and ten episodes for one novella, really, but I think the trailer sold me.
I think the tone is perfect, from the way ASkars does both the internal wry dialogue and the external robotic dialogue to the little "humans...are idiots" reel and the song choice. The way its voice goes all starry eyed when it talks about Sanctuary Moon, it's just like us and our blorbos, and they found a way to capture that!
From a design perspective, the look of the armour has grown on me, and I like the design of the habitat sets and the crew's clothing. Can we talk about Gurthathin's goth nails? Adorable (I think I might find him kind of hot, oh no). Too soon to tell how the planet sets and the CGI will hold up, but so far they look good.
I can't figure out who Anna Konkle is playing (Overse, maybe?) but the snarky exchange with her is delightful. SWEET BABY BOY RATTHI IS JUST BEING RESPECTFUL? I am definitely a fan of that casting. "OOF EYE CONTACT" continues to crack me up but also resonate just a little bit too hard.
It's very funny because I follow Martha over on bsky and she likes every one of my goofy quote posts about the show. Getting a good grade in fan, which is both normal to want and possible to achieve.
***
Similarly, I am sure everybody who did not obsessively watch The Pitt is sick of hearing about it, but it really is very good! First of all, Noah Wyle practicing medicine on my TV like it's 1999 again healed something in me, at least briefly.
Everybody is talking about how wow this is such an accurate medical show, so realistic, much jargon, lots of blood! And that is true, I didn't have many things to complain about (perennially, tv CPR, but what are you gonna do, you can't break real life ribs I guess), but it is still very much a show (not a complaint, obviously, I have worked in hospitals, they're boring as hell except for when they're scary). Like, the DRAMA!!!! is cranked up, but it's all done in such a humanizing and interesting way that I (almost always) don't mind that it's a little over the top or that the exposition is sometimes just a little too clunky even for the framing devices of "transition of care" or "medical student education." I hope Noah Wyle finally gets his fucking Emmy for all his panic attacks and trauma flashbacks Acting. It's also frequently very funny, sometimes even slapstick, but it never tips over into too much. They did a good job with the emotional balance.
Given all of the everything, I really appreciate how they went full "masks are not controversial in their function" and "vaccinations good measles bad" and "abortion is healthcare" and "for profit medical system deeply broken and evil and chews up everyone involved in it except for the administrators." With some brief but consistent forays into "poor and black people get worse care." Dana's line about how "people have changed" and have less patience and more anger hit me like a fucking truck. NONE OF US ESCAPED WITHOUT TRAUMA.
( Spoilers of varying degrees of specificity )
Also, here is a post I made about if the residents/med students were cats.