skygiants | Reading

This spooky ghost story has a central pairing that I feel like I may have requested as an original work: Widow/Female Fake Psychic/Ghost of a Female Bog Body.

My Darling Dreadful Thing is set in the Netherlands in the 1950s, which is a selling point all by itself as I love unusual settings. Roos is a young woman whose abusive fake psychic mother forces her to participate in her fake seances. But though Roos does not communicate with the spirits sought by the desperate, grieving customers, she actually does have a spirit companion, a bog body whom Roos has bound to her and named Ruth.

Roos is delighted when Agnes, a biracial (Indonesian/Dutch) widow, takes her as a companion and spirits her away to her neglected Gothic mansion in the middle of nowhere. The mansion is otherwise occupied only by Agnes's sister-in-law, Willamine, who is dying of tuberculosis, and has a marvellously bizarre Gothic history. Roos falls hard in love with Agnes, with whom she has a surprising amount in common.

But this whole story is being told in retrospect, as a series of interviews Roos is having with a psychiatrist who is trying to determine whether she's mentally fit to stand trial for murder. Something very bad happened at the mansion...

( Read more... )

Very enjoyable, very gothic, very atmospheric. I'm excited to read van Veen's other two books. I looked her up to see if she's actually from the Netherlands (yes) and learned that she's one of a set of non-identical triplet sisters! I don't think I've ever read a book by a triplet before.

glitteryv

So after months of waiting and high expectations, BTS released Arirang, a.k.a. THE BEST ALBUM OF 2026 (just in case y'all were curious as to how I feel abt this AWESOMECAKES musical journey that's sent me into astral projecting since I sat down to listen to it last night at midnight. Current faves are NORMAL, Body 2 Body, FYA, and Like Animals. But, seriously, the ENTIRE album is magnificent.

The guys did a full hour and 25 livestream on YT where they talked a little abt the process that resulted in this album (including things like WHICH SONGS DID JIMIN WAS AGAINST? HOW MUCH INPUT DID EVERYONE ACTUALLY HAD? WHAT HAPPENED IN LOS ANGELES?) + some mild spoilers for their docu next Friday.

Unfortunately, RM got injured during practice so, although he will be onstage tomorrow, he's wearing a cast AND won't be doing any choreo (obvs).

In any case, it's deffo a good look at where BTS is at in terms of their bond AND their goals AND career AND how they feel abt where everything is nowadays. It's an excellent window into BTS' world (including a lot of razzing of RM, praise of Jin, cuteness from Yoongi, sassiness from Jungkook, insight from Hobi and V.)

Watch on YouTube

lydamorehouse

Once again, I have failed to post anything beyond once a week. Ugh, I suck. Sorry, everyone!

To be fair to me, Ramadan has only just ended (happy Eid to those of you celebrating today). Ramadan has meant several late nights for me, as I've been doing anti-ICE patrols--though one of my groups actually had people patroling in the wee hours of the morning--like, 3:00 am! I wish I were the sort of person who could have done that? I bet the Dispatch calls were fascinating. And, maybe it would have inspired a vampire story or two, who knows?

Part of me will miss this. In particular, I will miss the Night Owls.

The Night Owls (which actually start at the fully normal hour of 8 pm) are an interesting group. It's a group resistance Signal call for anyone up and about until dawn, no matter where they are located. So, I've had people on with me that were coming in from exo-suburbs and even nearby small towns.

The culture of a lot of the Signal calls is that commuters and stationary/foot/bicycle patrolers say pretty quiet and only turn their mics on to do a plate check. This varies from community to community, of course, with some dispatchers encouraging more back and forth or doing round-robin check-ins. It really depends on who your "Guy/Gal/Enby in a Chair" is. There's things specific to specific groups too? My hyper-local community always signs-off with "Have a great night, Fuck ICE" in the same sort of casual tone you might tell a partner "Love ya!" before hanging up. I joke that I can always tell people from my area when they show up on the larger calls because they still do this even when its not the culture of the call? Other dispatchers sound a little thrown to hear folks from my neck of the woods just casually signing off with a happy little swear. There are also cool acronyms that I'm not fully privvy to, like some folks from the other side of the river apparently say: SSFI for Stay Safe, Fuck ICE. I tried to say that today since there are lot of little ears around the mosque during Eid, but my dyslexia was like... UH GO SLOW... so totally outed myself as NOT one of the cool kids, after all. :-)

But the Night Owls are their own special crew. Their chat is actually vetted, but the call is open to anyone commuting, etc., late night. Once daylight savings time hit, my stationary patrols started at 8:30 pm so I joined the Night Owls. The Night Owl folks are just chattier? Largely, I think because it is often the same crew--people who do the late shift UberEats or whatever other driving gigs they might have.... people who are just up all night. They will talk about their favorite energy drinks or talk about the usefulness of jumper cables or sometimes even awkwardly attempt to flirt over Signal voice chat. Ocassionaly, someone will break in with a startled, "Y'all, I just saw the world's biggest rat run across west 7th! And I used to live in Mumbai!" There was a whole discussion that spanned several nights about the ICE agents on Grindr (a gay dating app).

I got invested, you know?

These people became some Real Life version of my own personal soap opera. I am going to admit that I have clearly formed some parasocial relationships with certain code names.

That being said, they were really there for me when I needed it. There was an incident that I haven't blogged about a couple of Wednesdays back where my plate check came back hot, or shall we say VERY COLD, possibly even icy if you get my drift. I was stationary (on foot), alone, and dispatch very kindly asked me if I wanted a drive-by from one of the other commuters in the area. This icy vehicle was also stationary? We had clocked each other? Like, they were parked and the three of us had made eye contact. So, my voice jumped an octave higer than I intended and I was like, "Uh, yeah, I would not hate that, dispatch. Thank you!"

Y'all, within MINUTES rescue arrived.

Rescue was a gender fluid person on bicycle patrol. This fully bearded, beautiful human being rolled up in 10 F/ -12 C degree weather in a skirt and Wicked Witch of the West striped tights. They had a high-powered telephoto lens camera with them and, I kid you not, the sight me--this tiny, fat lesbian on a phone--and this amazing person arriving on a bicycle caused my icy van to decide THE THREAT WAS TOO BIG (which, honestly, was the most ICE-like move they made). They fled. I reported that my sus van was on the move to dispatch and I could hear commuters everywhere leaping into action. I am sure my sus van had a tail before they turned on to the next biggest throughfare.

When I had to sign out, I heard the Night Owls making sure someone would continue to swing by to keep an eye on the mosque. I was so thrown by this experience that I didn't remember to text our contact inside the mosque until I got home, but I only live minutes away, so they got the word out for people to be extra careful that evening, too. I don't know, of course, for sure the folks we chased off were who we were afraid they might be, but I'm just as happy to have freaked out any other potential bad actors, you know? I swear that right now, in the Twin Cities, you do not want to be a "local, independent pharmaceutical entrepreneur" because some commuter has eyes on your business!

So, I think this is why I feel kind of connected. Like, these are my comrades in arms (or by phone, as in the case of the Minnesota Resistance).

Happy Eid, but good-bye my dear Night Owls! SSFI*!

====
I'll still be doing rapid-response work, but probably no longer at night.

newredshoes

Things about this month, just for context:

One week on three different work schedules

One week on a hellish 5:30-1:30 morning newsletter schedule that actively makes me ill and wrecked my ability to either do anything or recover

Finishing up my big vintage Coach feature, which I'm so excited about and want to devote deep-work time to, but!!!!

Closing + packing + arranging contractors (yesterday: floor refinishers; today: guy who checks out the heater; tomorrow: painting?!!! with friends, though, yay!)

Dog care as Gingko gets increasingly anxious about the apartment being taken apart

Election coverage at work!!!!! Mega projects, late af night on Tuesday!!

WTF is happening with bsky blowing up finally spotting antisemitism and still not handling it well at all

Oh gosh, right, my formerly dislocate left elbow hurts more

My period is coming and I am always hungry and exhausted.

I can't tell if I'm farther along in packing than I should be or way, way behind. But the rooms are getting less full, the boxes are filling up, the things I'm listing on the Buy Nothing group are being claimed, and if I swing this, I won't have to move again until I damn well choose it. (This move, while welcome in many ways, is because the guy who owns this condo told me a year ago that he wanted to sell this spring, so.)

I'm sure there was more to say. I have to donate my books somewhere that will give me cash and not just store credit, because wow, dangerous. I have to set some timers to just get things in boxes, because we're running out of time to thoughtfully sort things. I have to start work in two minutes. I cannot wait for life to be routine and boring again!

Current Mood: spent
Current Music: "California," Rufus Wainwright

shipperslist

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pauraque

The Ainu are an indigenous people native to northern Japan and nearby parts of Russia. Kayano Shigeru (1926-2006) was a leading activist for Ainu rights in Japan, and eventually became the first Ainu member of the Japanese legislature. But his career in the Diet came after the publication of this book, which mixes memoir, history, and ethnography.

Kayano relates what he knows of his people's oppression in the 19th century, when the Japanese government pushed many Ainu groups onto marginal land and conscripted people for forced labor at minimal pay. This leads into his own childhood, when his family's generational poverty was exacerbated by his father's alcoholism. As a young man Kayano came to feel ashamed of being Ainu, culminating in a demeaning job at an Ainu-themed attraction, performing sacred dances five times a day for gawking tourists.

But the tourists' ignorant questions sparked Kayano's realization that there should be a real Ainu museum curated by actual Ainu people and fostering respect for their culture. He was inspired to travel the Ainu lands collecting one traditional tool or piece of clothing at a time (and always paying the people who made them) and eventually succeeded in opening the museum and renewing his own sense of pride in his heritage.

This short book highlights important issues, but I have to be honest—I found the presentation pretty dry. Maybe it's partly the translation? I also noticed that Ainu women weren't given much attention; Kayano has a wife, but her only character trait shown in the book is "supportive of her husband". But I'd say the book is still a good resource on a significant figure in global indigenous rights.

(As an aside: This book was on my TBR list for at least 15 years. This year I'm really trying to either read some of the long-time lingerers or admit I'm not going to read them, so having read this is a great success for me!)

sovay

How has this month been going? I woke up to spring and didn't even realize. It looks the part: the occasional crocus, a faint fluff of clouds in a harebell sky. Hestia is absorbing the sun-flood from my desk. I will be celebrating the equinox with an MRI. My major accomplishment of yesterday was successfully wresting a permit from the Parking Department. I am filing a request for an intercalary year.

Current Music: Boyracer, "Unknown Frequencies"

dolorosa_12

The birds are singing, the evening light is beautiful, and my salad greens, herb, and cucumber seeds are sprouting in the growhouse. It's a lovely start to the weekend.

Today's Friday open thread prompt is courtesy of a suggestion from

lirazel: what are some types of food that only taste good when handmade/made on a small scale (as opposed to the industrial scale supermarket version)?

My immediate response was 'what type of food doesn't taste vastly better when made on a small scale by hand?' but then I thought a bit more, and realised there were quite a lot of foodstuffs where the difference is non-existent (homemade chips where you chop up a potato and roast it in the oven or deep fry it are no more delicious than the fast-food equivalent), or where the effort involved to make it by hand far exceeds any reward in better flavour (condiments in particular: I'm not going to make my own soy sauce, harissa, dijon mustard, etc, you know?).

However, I'd say that beyond the 'too much effort required' category, in my experience most other types of food are better if they're made on a smaller scale. The biggest one for me is baked goods. There is no bread, cake, pie, biscuit, or pastry on Earth in which the mass-produced supermarket (or otherwise industrial-scale) version tastes better than, or even remotely equally good as, the homemade or expensive artisanal bakery version. (I admit to some significant bias here. I worked part-time from the age of 15-23 — the first years of my working life — in artisanal bakeries/patisseries, the first thing I look up in every place I visit is the most highly recommended bakeries/patisseries, and I'm just in general a massive baked goods snob, which is somewhat hilarious in that I'm a very good cook, and comically, catastrophically bad at baking.)

What are your equivalent foodstuffs, if any?

princessofgeeks

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shipperslist

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rydra_wong

James Davis Nicoll: Let’s Talk This Over: What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Yes I pre-ordered it blind, have you even met me.

asakiyume

If you have dyslexia, what strategies helped you master writing? Was there anything that helped when you were of school age? If you weren't able to deal with it during school, how have you dealt with it since then?

If you have kids with dyslexia, how have you helped them with the task of writing?

conuly

And every one of those recs is better than the books. Well, I've shared my opinion on the books, the problems and characterization are insufficiently balanced for dual viewpoints.

But anyway, that's not what I'm thinking about. What I'm thinking about is Fabian and his generically shitty parents who clearly don't care about him very much. ( Read more... )

conuly

For

minoanmiss

chestnut_pod

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princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: cheerful

torachan

1. All week I have consistently felt like it was one day further into the week than it was, and not for any reason I can pinpoint (like there wasn't anything that was on a different day than it usually is or anything), so there were a couple times today when I was like, glad it's Friday and then realized there was still another Friday, but now tomorrow is actually Friday for real and then the weekend! And in two weeks from today I will be on a plane to Japan!

2. It was so hot today I could barely take a half mile walk today at lunch, but I did stop and get a delicious teriyaki beef sandwich and freshly made lilikoi malasada while I was out.

3. Chloe really loves relaxing on Carla's bed, especially on the top half. She's got this nice window there, too.

musesfool

I have watched some TV!

Shrinking: ( spoilers )

Abbott Elementary: ( spoilers )

The Pitt: ( spoilers )

Here is a cool video interview with Alexandra Metz, who plays Garcia. I don't think there are any spoilers past earlier s2 episodes.

*

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Mulholland Drive - Gaslight Anthem

hannah

In DC, safe and well-fed on ramen, my friend and I waited for the bus to her place. I looked around in the full night of a city I’ve rarely been to, in a neighborhood I’d never visited, and couldn’t shake an odd feeling.

Then it hit me, and I had to say, “Holy shit.” I’d needed a specific spot for something in a novel, and it’d looked familiar because she’d taken me to a spot just around the corner.

It wasn’t quite deja vu. More likes dream where you know the building already, even though you’ve never been.

Current Mood: full
Current Music: nothing now

delphi

Dandelion is a very sweet short film starring Ava Lalezarzadeh as Margaret, a queer teen in the foster care system in the 1970s, and Vic Michaelis as Joyce, the volunteer trying to find her a new placement after she's kicked out of convent school. The short's a lovely standalone, but I was really happy to hear it's being made into a full-length movie!

Watch on YouTube