ratcreature | Network

ciexmod posting in

Event: Consent Issues Exchange (CIEX)
Event link:

consent_issues_exchange
Pinch hit link: https://consent-issues-exchange.dreamwidth.org/tag/pinch+hits
Due date: January 22 (negotiable)

Requests include fic and art. Works must be rated M or E for content showing non-consensual or dubiously consensual sexual acts. Please check the linked post for other details.

PH 7 - fic - Dragon Age (Video Games)

PH 13 - fic, art - Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon, Law & Order: SVU, RED (Movies), Succession (TV 2018)

PH 23 - fic, art - SK8 the Infinity (Anime), Winx Club, Super Dangan Ronpa 2

PH 25 - fic - &TEAM (Band), aoen (Band), Crossover Fandom, Dark Moon: The Grey City (Webcomic)

PH 33 - fic, art - 地獄楽 | Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku (Manga), Blue Lock (Manga), Haikyuu!!

Thank you for considering our pinch hits!

polyrecsdaily_feed

https://polyrecsdaily.tumblr.com/post/805738077794582528

Despair (The Sandman):

Despair, by Spyke Raven. Shrift: Two of the Endless. Of Despair, “Desire has always loved this sister best.“

https://polyrecsdaily.tumblr.com/post/805738077794582528

sage

( books (all Pratchett) )

yarning
Listed Rockstar Lestat & older Daniel Molloy made to order art dolls. Finished and listed the teal bunny from last week. Worked on donation hats & gave them to my children's shelter contact at yarn group on Sunday. Had a good time there, working on another hat. Sold a valentine catnip heart.

healthcrap
doc appt Friday, where I asked for a referral to get a shingles shot. Doc appt Monday, where we talked about my weird blood cells. I am still titrating off the med I'm slowly quitting.

#resist
#50501 Jan 20th Free America Walkout. 2pm local time.

I hope you're all doing well! <333

io9_feed

Posted by James Pero

https://gizmodo.com/meta-just-absolutely-gutted-the-best-part-of-quest-vr-headsets-2000710320

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710320

It is, once again, a very bad moment for VR.

https://gizmodo.com/meta-just-absolutely-gutted-the-best-part-of-quest-vr-headsets-2000710320

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710320

io9_feed

Posted by Justin Carter

https://gizmodo.com/why-is-avengers-doomsday-being-marketed-like-this-2000706181

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000706181

Marvel's been doling out 'Avengers: Doomsday' info in two different ways, and they both tell us what the film's ambitions are.

https://gizmodo.com/why-is-avengers-doomsday-being-marketed-like-this-2000706181

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000706181

james_davis_nicoll

A vast megadungeon from Expeditious Retreat Press for D&D, AD&D, and other tabletop fantasy roleplaying games.

Bundle of Holding: Halls of Arden Vul (from 2022)

siria

( Pillion )

( The Pitt, 2.01, 7a.m. )

sovay

My schedule for Arisia this year is minute, but a fairly big deal for me since the state of my health last allowed me to participate in programming in 2021. I mean, at the moment the state of my health is failed, but I'm still looking forward.

Dramatic Readings from the Ig Nobel Prizes
Saturday 3 pm, Amesbury AB
Marc Abrahams et al.

Highlights from Ig Nobel prize-winning studies and patents, presented in dramatic mini-readings by luminaries and experts (in some field). The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions about the research presented—answers will be based on the expertise of the presenters, who may have a different expertise than the researchers.

Cursed Literature
Sunday 4:15 pm, Central Square
Mark Millman (m), Alastor, Kristina Spinney, Sonya Taaffe

Some literature describes haunted houses; other books seem like they are haunted, as though the act of reading the book is inviting something vaguely unclean into the reader's life. Whether considering the dire typographical labyrinths of The House of Leaves, or the slowly expanding void at the heart of Kathe Koja's Cypher, some works leave a mark. Panelists will explore books that by reputation or their own experience, produce a lingering unsettled feeling far beyond the events and characters of the story.

SFF on Stage
Sunday 5:30 pm, Porter Square B
Raven Stern (m), Andrea Hairston, Greer Gilman, Sonya Taaffe, Stephen R. Wilk

Science fiction and fantasy have long been mainstays of live theater; William Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1595. Peter Pan introduced one of the 20th century's best known characters in 1904. In 1920, R.U.R. gave us the word "robot." Universal Studios' famous version of Dracula was adapted not from the novel, but the wildly successful Broadway play. That's not even getting into modern musicals like Wicked or Little Shop of Horrors. What does it take for genre to work in a live setting, and where have we seen it succeed (or fail)?

Anyone else I can expect to see this weekend? The ziggurat awaits.

Current Music: Wednesday, "Wasp"

io9_feed

Posted by Kyle Barr

https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-pc-memory-prices-are-too-much-to-handle-2000710305

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710305

The world's largest PC maker tells us why the next PC you buy may be more premium or less powerful than ever.

https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-pc-memory-prices-are-too-much-to-handle-2000710305

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710305

io9_feed

Posted by Passant Rabie

https://gizmodo.com/spacex-hit-by-another-workplace-injury-lawsuit-this-time-over-falling-debris-in-an-elevator-shaft-2000710249

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710249

The rocket company’s safety record continues to fall short.

https://gizmodo.com/spacex-hit-by-another-workplace-injury-lawsuit-this-time-over-falling-debris-in-an-elevator-shaft-2000710249

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710249

io9_feed

Posted by Germain Lussier

https://gizmodo.com/marty-supreme-almost-ended-with-an-actual-vampire-2000710371

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710371

The award-winning Timothée Chalamet movie mentions vampires—but at one point, the script went even further.

https://gizmodo.com/marty-supreme-almost-ended-with-an-actual-vampire-2000710371

https://gizmodo.com/?p=2000710371

pauraque

This is part one of my book club notes on As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, which is a title that I imagine might be relevant to the interests of a few of you here! I missed the first meeting so these are not the first stories in the book, which I will have to go back to when I have time.

"Peak Day" by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

( A person who (apparently) almost died of an aneurysm is 'saved' by an evil corporation and forced to work in a warehouse. )

"Hallelujah Here and Elsewhere" by francesca ekwuyasi

( A troubled queer woman goes through a rip in spacetime and visits an alternate version of her life. )

"Playing Dead" by Trynne Delaney

( An impoverished artist becomes a nanny for children whose blood is harvested by a rich dude to stay eternally young. )

"Mother, Father, Baby" by Lue Palmer

( An abuse survivor who was disbelieved by her mother is (maybe) haunted. )

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What are your crafting goals for 2026?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

oursin

What I read

Finished Dream Count - not quite up to her earlier works? all being a bit of the moment (starting in lockdown and so on)? Will see what comes out in discussion.

Mick Herron, Clown Town (Slough House, #9) (2025) possibly getting that series-dip effect a bit? And was I really supposed to be flashing on the Marx Brothers' stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera during one particularly fraught episode?

Matt Lodder, Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art (2024), which was very impressive (and copiously illustrated) and one guesses a bit of a passion project*. Interesting that there is a recurrent theme of tattooing coming out from being a subcultural thing among lowlives: when the story in fact is that they were the ones for whom body art would be being recorded for identification, in muster-rolls or prison records etc, and people of more genteel status would not be In The Record as being inked unless for some unusual particular reason. And that its being/becoming a fashionable thing has cycled around or maybe always been there. Also fascinating the links between tattooers and the development of a subculture/s.

*Yes, we would like to see what he's got portrayed....

I intermitted this with JD Robb, Framed in Death (In Death, #61), which had come down to the (nostalgic) price of old mass-market paperbacks (now defunct). Not one of the stronger entries, yet again, serial killer with very specific modus.

On the go

Eve Babitz, I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz (2019) collection of her journalism, 1975-1997.

Up next

Well, I don't suppose that the books from local history society - which I have now been informed are available and can be purchased - will arrive very shortly, so dunno.

rekishi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Basically, there's stuff moving around at work that might give me some development/work diversity opportunities. It's a natural flow from one to the other, but I don't know that I can really grapple with it/attempt to take on said new responsibilities right now. (Surgery + recovery, etc.) Still, it's nice to have an area that I could stand up and go "Yo, this needs doing and I have the skills, maybe let's have me move into this role."

In other news, my FMLA paperwork adventure (can I ever have a clam one of these?) continues apace. Luckily, my HR people know what's up and my surgery is super straight forward, and it's been flagged with them as a "I am waiting for paperwork, sorry it is late, here is why it's kind of late" and a priority for rubber stamping. Basically, everyone who's ever worked with me for more than a month knows and realizes I'm painfully meticulous with rule following and a huge goody two-shoes. Still, paperwork stresses me the fuck out.

I have, however, gotten most stuff in order. I need to buy a few small things and pack my bag, but I've organized the hotel stay (close to the hospital and less stress overall for transit to/from, post-op), pre-paid some bills, and printed out all my instructions.

I've also been cleared by my doctor for surgery. Which, there was a minorly hilarious mix-up with my lab work. I went to get it done last Saturday, but there was a mix up on what type of labs I needed (I needed pre-op non-fasting labs, they assumed I needed my fasting labs done), so when I walked into my appt yesterday, my doc was freaking out re: my results. Mind, I'd had breakfast the morning of the lab tests (Non! FASTING!), but when I noted that, the doc basically went "Oh, thank god. Also, great labs for having eaten an hour before!" *confetti emoji*

But! All my paperwork has been submitted! Now I just need to wait for approval. Fingers crossed, y'all.

Current Mood: hungry

raptureofthemoon

It's Wednesday. The second Wednesday of the new year. My second Wednesday back at work.

And it feels like it should be March or April because last week felt like a bloody eternity.

I'm trying to slow down, yes...but I would really prefer not feeling a slow down because the news cycle is full of heinous things.

On the positive side, the states sued Agent Orange over the child care funds and have a temporary restraining order in place.

On the negative side...modern Gestapo in Minnesota. And it's only a matter of time before they do the same things elsewhere. I'm encouraging people I know to take Stop the Bleed and First Aid training.

On a lighter negative side: the IBD cat has something else going on. We're thinking possible hyperthyroid, but we're waiting on blood work to come back. In the meantime, she's hungry, restless, chatty, sweet and occasionally peeing outside of the litter box and I am slowly losing my mind because the puppy pads are right there.

Ask me how much money I've spent on enzyme cleaner... It's probably in the thousands of dollars range at this point.

On the neutral side: today, was mammogram day. (Though as I walked through the hospital lobby, I saw a guy, all in black with a black balaclava and I did a double take and then a triple take. And I'm still not sure... IYKYK. I didn't see anyone else who looked sus.)

While standing next to the mammography machine, acting like a poseable doll while the tech moved my breast, laying it flat, smoothing it down beneath the plate, I had the thought that this was kind of like handling a chicken cutlet.

And then I got hungry because I hadn't yet had breakfast.

And now it's almost noon and I still haven't eaten actual food (the donut doesn't count).

I also haven't done much in the way of actual work. Morning appointments are great for getting things out of the way, but certainly put a dampner on my motivation to do anything else.

Four day weekend coming up, with MLK Day on Monday. I'm hoping to get back to my reading and other creative outlets and readjust my mood.

Unlike Arthur Dent, I think it's Wednesdays I can't get the hang of.