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Current Mood: enthralled

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Friday Storytime- Our Flag Means Death

Café Spriggs

Chapter 12: Salsa Taquera

I'm not going back to that life.

~~~

“That C is a crescent moon,” mused Izzy, playing distractedly with the napkins at the counter. “What did he want?”

“He said your old friends want to see you, but I didn't tell him you were here. I didn't tell him anything.”

“Good man, thanks.” He squeezed Roach’s hand.

***

More days passed, but Ivan’s visit had a noticeable effect on Izzy. He went round scowling and gazing off into the distance, so much so that one day Roach interrogated him the minute the café closed.

“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “Your face is scaring the customers. Lighten up or we won’t have anyone left.” He was clearing up the kitchen and Izzy was hovering in the doorway near the fridge.

“My face…is not that bad.”

“Who was that guy, Ivan, to make you look like that?”

“Hm…Okay. He’s a member of the gang I was in a while ago.”

( Read more... )

The Friday Five for 15 August 2025

This week's questions were suggested by

aforkintheroad.

1. What is your favorite experience in your life so far?

2. What motivates you to keep going every day?

3. Where do you want to go in life? What do you want to accomplish?

4. Is there anything that you regret? Do you try to change it?

5. What is your most cherished gift you have received? Why do you cherish it so much?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac)

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One of my favorite things about TOS: men apologizing

J and I have re-watched three seasons of TNG, and the number of times I've felt that Troi or Crusher is 100% correct and Picard in particular is being an incurious asshole are getting... let's say, numerous. And in general, they seem to get out-shouted by the male senior officers in this "we're just being reasonable while you're being emotional" way that I find intensely annoying. Even when the plot ultimately justifies their perspective, they seem to get these vague acknowledgments in a private setting, not the unqualified public apologies they frankly deserve—because, IMO, the show itself doesn't feel they deserve them.

Meanwhile, when we marathoned TOS, I was pretty surprised by how much I ended up liking Kirk, and then I ended up loving him even more on some re-watches, despite the occasional dire writing ("Elaan of Troyius" can't make me hate him; my most beloathèd writer on TOS just decided that, in addition to writing Elaan as an unholy combination of Katharina from The Taming of the Shrew and just a racist caricature in general, Kirk was going to be Petruchio for a day and also that it'd be hot if France Nuyen roofied and had sex with him, which is, um, rape, but the episode doesn't understand its own plot the way e.g. "Wink of an Eye" or even freaking "Catspaw" understand what's wrong—and it was written by the same guy who wrote the virulently antisemitic "Patterns of Force" that goes out of its way to put Kirk and Spock in Nazi uniforms—just them among the main cast for most of the episode, for some reason, though it's unusual for them to be placed on a mission alone—and the script includes extra antisemitism directed individually at both Nimoy and Shatner on different occasions). There are a lot of reasons that TOS Kirk in particular ended up as my peak ST blorbo, even surpassing Spock's hold on my heart (though I love him deeply), but one of the reasons are scenes like these that TNG has very definitely brought back to mind:

KIRK: At least try cutting him off!
UHURA: Sir, if I could cut him off, don’t you think I—!
RILEY: ♪ I’ll take you home again, Kathleen— ♪
UHURA: Yes, sir, I’ll keep trying.
KIRK [apologetically]: Sorry.

KIRK: Yes, I’m aware of that, Mr. Scott.
CHEKOV: And, sir, the fact Earth took twelve centuries doesn’t mean they had to.
UHURA: We’ve seen different development rates on different planets.
SCOTT: And were the Klingons behind it, why didn’t they give them breechloaders?
CHEKOV: Or machine guns?
UHURA: Or old-style hand lasers?
KIRK [sharply]: I did not invite a debate. [pause] I’m sorry. I’m worried about Spock and concerned about what’s happened.

These apologies are quite simple, not emotional or dramatic or detailed at all, but that's fine. Just the acknowledgment that he was in the wrong and apologizing for it without hesitation or taking it to a face-saving private location or whatever, just saying it right there in front of everyone, is incredibly refreshing. In both of these, also, Uhura is one of the people he's responding to—it's possible that he's readier to apologize in such an open and unambiguous way because Uhura is involved and they're particularly close (their obvious and consistent mutual affection was another of the big TOS surprises!). I don't really think so (McCoy also freely apologizes on the spot multiple times, if less often than his behavior merits), but maybe Kirk's apologies are prompted by Uhura's involvement. However, if so, TOS going out of its way to show a very white-coded male hero publicly and correctly apologizing to the competent and justified Black woman who answers to him in front of his other subordinates doesn't make it any less welcome tbh.

(I'm definitely enjoying parts of TNG, but if several of the TOS movies frustrated me by moving towards 80s space explosions blockbuster when I was invested in the Having Things to Say Even if They're Deeply Flawed approach of TOS along with the visual experimentation, generally unexpected nuances of the characters, and sheer joyous camp of it all, TNG has seemed so painfully complacent 80s and essentially cautious in its fundamental perspective that I miss TOS all the more, its many faults notwithstanding.)

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Alien: Earth Trailer

Alien: Earth premiered this week and I've seen nothing but rave reviews. It's on FX/Hulu/Disney+ (Canada, US, UK).

Watch on YouTube

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Wednesday Word: Melomakarona

Melomakarona - noun.

An egg-shaped cookie-like dessert from Greece, melomakarona is a popular Christmastime treat. You can try making it yourself too!

Watch on YouTube

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Only Murders in the Building S5 Promo

Watch on YouTube

Premiere: September 9

After [season 4 spoiler] dies under suspicious circumstances, Charles, Oliver, and Mabel refuse to believe it was an accident. The trio uncovers a dangerous web of secrets connecting powerful billionaires and old-school mobsters.

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Tuesday word: Heyday

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025

Heyday (noun, interjection)
heyday Or hey·dey [hey-dey]

noun
1. the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime.: the heyday of the vaudeville stars.
2. Archaic., high spirits.

Origin: 1580–90; variant of high day, apparently by confusion with heyday

heyday [hey-dey] (interjection)
3. Archaic. (used as an exclamation of cheerfulness, surprise, wonder, etc.)

Origin: 1520–30; rhyming compound based on hey; replacing heyda < German hei da hey there

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Example Sentences
Early tracks from their 90s heyday, like a jubilant Morning Glory and a swaggering Supersonic, were greeted with roars of approval.
From BBC

Love has no issue leaning into the band’s 1960s heyday.
From Los Angeles Times

In its post-war heyday, the town of Morecambe was one of the UK's foremost seaside holiday destinations, with a thriving local economy and prestigious reputation.
From BBC

Though the “crazy woman” trope inevitably persists in some form, it looks far more hackneyed than it did during its late-millennium heyday.
From Salon

Meanwhile, broadcast viewership has plummeted, and the late-night audience has diminished to a modest percentage of what it was in its heyday.
From Salon

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TV Tuesday: Gift of Gab

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

An article citing Brooklyn Nine-Nine as having the most words per minute (as well as listing the least wordy shows) begs the question as to how much dialogue influences your preferences for shows. Does it vary according to genre for you? And what episodes without any/much dialogue stand out for you?

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They Thirst by Robert McCammon

The Kronsteen castle, a gothic monstrosity, looms over Los Angeles. Built during Hollywood’s golden age for a long-dead screen idol with a taste for the macabre, it stands as a decaying reminder of the past. Since the owner’s murder, no living thing has ever again taken up residence. But it isn’t abandoned. Prince Conrad Vulkan, Hungarian master of the vampires, as old as the centuries, calls it home. His plan is to replace all humankind with his kind. And he’s starting with the psychotic dregs of society in the City of Angels.

The number of victims is growing night after night, and so is Vulkan’s legion of the dead. As a glittering city bleeds into a necropolis, a band of vampire hunters takes action: an avenging young boy who saw his parents devoured; a television star whose lover has an affinity for the supernatural; a dying priest chosen by God to defend the world; a female reporter investigating a rash of cemetery desecrations; and LAPD homicide detective Andy Palatazin, an immigrant who survived a vampire attack in his native Hungary when he was child and has been hunting evil across the globe for decades.

Palatazin knows that to stop the Prince of Darkness, one must invade his nest. He knows it’s also a suicide mission. But it’s the only way to save the city—and the world—from vampire domination.

I’m pretty sure that this was the first McCammon book I ever read. It made me a fan. And it didn’t lose a thing in its rereading.

The entire story covers a week, a week in which the city will either be saved or fall. And in that week the reader gets to know the different characters. McCammon is up there with King when it comes to creating interesting and intriguing characters, so I wasn’t surprised when I came to be very involved in their lives.

It’s a slow build up as each character is introduced, the six who will fight against Vulkan’s plot. Their dread is palpable as they confront his evil. Yet still they go on, trying to save the city. And while some are aggressively working toward Vulkan’s destruction, others are reluctantly pulled in to the fight.

The ending is not the total ending, which was okay. The book would have had to be twice as long. But I wouldn’t have minded finding out more about the Headmaster. But McCammon has stepped away from horror, so the chance of a sequel is slim to none.

( Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-25 )

26. Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris
27. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
28. Three Wild Dogs by Markus Zusak
29. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
30. Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde
31. Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
32. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
33. Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
34. The Women of Troy (Women of Troy #2) by Pat Barker
35. The Conjurers by Marilyn Harris
36. The Regulators by Richard Bachman (Pseudonym), Stephen King
37. Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn
38. The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme
39. The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune
40. They Thirst by Robert McCammon

2025 I read Horror.jpg

Vampires
1. They Thirst by Robert McCammon

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Monday Word: Pannikin

pannikin [pan-i-kin]

noun

1. a small pan or metal cup

examples

1. Then, as it was yet early, and they were about to prepare their coffee, we boiled up ours, and, passing round the billy, filled our pannikins to the health of the enemy. The Siege of Mafeking by J. Angus Hamilton

2. A litter of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied for some time, and I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the chequered light, a pannikin and a half-full bottle of spirits standing in the corner. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

origins
early 19th century: from pan, on the pattern of cannikin [Dutch for 'little can'].

Current Mood: scared
Current Music: over your head - orla gartland

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i won't be scared forever!

If you know me at all you will know that I am terrified by most things? Like I’m pretty good at handling my anxiety and getting through everything but as a person I am so scared of almost everything about the human experience. I’m scared of bugs, snakes, rollercoasters, driving, debt, getting canceled, being hated, climbing trees, wasting money, spicy food, heights, plane crashes, being hacked, getting kidnapped, mystery symptoms, political tension, guns, knives, needles, heatstroke, sunburn, and so on and so forth. I’m not exactly proud of this fact about myself because it stops me from doing a lot of things that might actually be worth it for me to try, but I have to do it scared. SO! I have been trying my best to do things while scared. I’m gonna be talking about a few of them below, from least scary to most scary.

-

1. I tried an avocado.

Listen. I know the other things on this list are making me seem a bit insane, but trying avocado is a big fucking step for me after more than two decades of being bullied by my family for my eating habits. I was scared I wasn’t going to like it and that it would be a waste of money, I was scared that I wouldn’t know when it was ripe and that I would eat it when it was over or under ripe and that it would poison me and I would die. Thankfully, none of that happened. Well, I guess one part of it did. I do not like avocado because the taste overpowers the texture even though the texture is good. It’s so unfortunate. Oh well though. Now I know that I don’t like it so it’s a learning experience.

-

2. I’m trying to learn how to drive, I learned how to park (in concept).

This week’s driving lesson was really rough. LIKE REALLLLYYY rough. As a summary my partner is the one teaching me how to drive at the ripe age of 22, and I really do keep wishing that I had gotten this done earlier but we are living in the now. He said something that confused me about which way to turn the wheel when you are driving backwards and then realized he was telling me the wrong thing and backtracked, and it sent me into a whole spiral where I had to sit for like 20 minutes to calm down. I am thankful that he is so patient with me and I know that it was an honest mistake but boy! That sent me into a damn doozy. GUESS WHAT THOUGH! I still drove for like an hour after! And I did some good left turns with out over correcting and I dealt with a fucker in my neighborhood riding my ass AND increased speed. I am hashtag doing it! It’s really important to me to remember moments like this where I can have my fucking freak out and still get back onto the horse and deal with it.

-

3. I held a big ass ball python.

I feel like this requires a bit of background. My mother, in all her issues, was bitten by a snake as a child so bad that she had to go to the hospital and grew up with that fear and passed that fear down to her children. I understand why she is scared of them, but in her ignorance she created an unnecessary fear of snakes in her children instead of teaching us to be aware of our surroundings and to respect wildlife. Therefore, when I was going over to my friend’s house for a birthday party, I kind of assumed I would just be dodging their snake because I don’t like them. However, he was kind of cute! I sort of just watched at first and this snake was a fucking goober, not a single thought in that flat skull. He had to be gently massaged through a hole in a chair because he was kinda dumb and wanted to explore, and his head fit but the rest of his body… well… It was a struggle. I eventually got the courage to hold him after petting him a bit and studying his body language and he was so sweet. He kind of felt like he was trying to give me a hug. There was one point where he simply stopped moving around me cause he was like… “damn this is a warm rock” and he got sleepy and yawned. The yawn kind of spooked me so I handed him back off to his owner but he was actually so precious and I am reconsidering my opinions on snakes. I think I just have to start recategorizing them in my brain. Domesticated snakes are just like domesticated dogs, they have the ability to be mean but usually only when they are not taken care of properly or scared. Wildlife snakes and dogs (wolves) are a different story. A picture of me with the ball python is here! (https://postimg.cc/zHRc6FMV) trying to be as cautious as possible about sharing snake pics because other people might also have a fear of them and may not be ready for the journey of Not Being So Scared.

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topic: community promo

Community promo: Dreamwars, a Star Wars community

Do you like Star Wars? Disney is busy making TV shows set in the Galaxy Far Far Away: Acolyte, Andor, Bad Batch, Skeleton Crew, Visions... would you like a place to talk about them with people who might not be so much into TV shows in general, but will happily geek out with you about the five-second appearance of Glup Shitto in the background?

Come to dreamwars!

We're a Dreamwidth community about all things SW, from comics to movies to tabletop gaming, and everything in between. We do a weekly "chat post" every Monday, but you're welcome to just post into the community whenever - share a rec list, write a review, maybe start a watch-along? We'll be happy to have you.

Come say hi!

Current Mood: happy

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Sci fi Sunday Storytime- Blake's 7

Children Of The 7. Part 2: Forsaken Planet.

Rating: T.
Tags: post canon, original characters, Vila, Blake, Tarrant, Dayna, Soolin, Avon, next generation, humour, in-jokes, angst, parents and children, memory loss, crashes, rescues.

~~~

The Callandra crashes on Gosurus and the crew are flung out of the wreckage. Zori and the injured Kohl meet someone who looks very familiar; Brook and Eden hijack the flyer of an ice-cool pilot; Shannon, Eskil and Rex go to find the information they want at Vilaworld, a casino run by two former rebels. And the young rebels start meeting their relatives.

But Eden couldn’t wait any longer. “Mr Restal. Did you once know someone called Kerril?”
His head snapped round to face her. “Kerril? What about her?” That name rang long lost bells in his mind. What would have happened if he’d gone with her instead of staying on the Liberator?
“She’s my mum,” blurted Eden. “And you’re my dad.”

~~~~

Chapter 1: Old Rebels

Vila smiled as he walked along the gravelly path through the quarry-like scenery. It was early evening and still daylight so he didn't need to worry about being attacked. The large predators on Gosurus had long been killed off by hungry humans, the only ones left were little birds and lizards.

And no human on this planet would attack him and risk being thrown out of Gosurus society, because that meant death.

So Vila felt safe most of the time, even walking from his city apartment to a destination out in the countryside.

He adjusted his head covering and visor. Now he’d lost all his hair, he needed even more protection from the fierce sun than most people. He was carrying a backpack and a bag with treats in, too, for celebrating the occasion.

At last he reached the entrance of his friend’s house. He saw him every week, but today was a special day as it marked 18 years since they'd met again. After all the horrors of the Federation prison and what happened after that, he'd been determined to find his friend, and he had. He knew he was overly sentimental to celebrate the anniversary every year but this one link with his rebel past was very important to him.

He was glad the other rebels he’d fought alongside weren’t in his life anymore. They’d all sided against him. They’d sided with…But he didn’t want to spoil the day by thinking of that man’s name. He pushed the memory aside.

After he put his palm against the door scanner, the top hatch opened and he stepped into the lift, which was extra wide of course, and it slid down the shaft to the main living area, the door shutting above him. The coolness of the underground home was a relief after the still-hot sun outside.

When he stepped out of the lift, he shouted, “honey, I'm home!” That never failed to make him laugh, but his best friend didn’t find it so funny.

( Read more... )

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Sunday Word: Suzerainty

suzerainty [soo-zuh-rin-tee, -reyn-]

noun:
the dominion of a suzerain; the right of a country to partly control another; overlordship

Examples:

rom suzerainty over the Middle East, North Africa and more than a quarter of Europe to almost nothing by the end. (Melik Kaylan, 'The Ottomans' Review: Rainbow Empire, Wall Street Journal, December 2021)

The Chagatay rule extended through the heart of Central Asia, and to the south the Ilkhanid suzerainty, with its epicenter in Persia, overflowed into Turkey and Afghanistan. (Colin Thubron, Pleasure Domes and Postal Routes, The New York Review, July 2021)

When on 11 Aug 1947, the Khan of Kalat committed to 'negotiate' the terms of accession to Pakistan with Jinnah, Kharan, Makran and Labela categorically rejected Kalat's claims of suzerainty and interlocution on their behalf. (Inam Ul Haque, Balochistan and Pakistan: myths about accession and secession, The Express Tribune, September 2024)

After Bir Singh Deo's death in 1627, the Mughals invaded the fort and held it till Chatrasal drove them out of the Bundelkhand region and established his suzerainty. He made Panna his capital. (M P Nathanael, Where Valour Speaks, Tribune India, July 2000)

I think there may be a danger of confusing suzerainty with sovereignty. Suzerainty is a conception which is quite common in the East, where it is intended to signify a token prestige; but a suzerain has no right whatsoever to interfere with the autonomy of the vassal. (Volume 481, Hansard, November 1950)

In the meanwhile, De Berg hath already hinted that she might re-establish the republic under the suzerainty of Spain, and appoint me as her Stadtholder. (Emmuska Orczy, The First Sir Percy)

Origin:

late 15c, suserente, 'supremacy,' from Old French suserenete 'office or jurisdiction of a suzerain' (Modern French suzeraineté), from suserain. The modern use, 'position, rank, dignity, or power of a suzerain' (by 1823) probably is a re-borrowing and for the first 20 years or so it was treated as a French word in English. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

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I Found Another Osiris

Hyginus, in his De Astronomia, tells us the myths associated with various constellations; in his discussion of the constellation Βοώτης Bootes "ox-driver," tells us the story of Ἰκάριος Ikarios. Evidently, Ikarios was just and pious and so Dionusos taught him how to grow grapes and make wine from them. Once he had mastered this, he loaded up his ox-cart with wine and went around giving wine to the shepherds of Attike. Becoming drunk, they supposed that he had given them poison, and so they killed him and buried his body under a tree. When he never came home, his daughter Ἠριγόνη Erigone "Becoming Spring" worried, and after Ikarios's dog, Μαῖρα Maira "Sparkling," who had traveled with him, came home howling and whining, her worry turned to grief. The dog led her to his master's body, and the poor girl hung herself on the tree under which he was buried, and the dog lied down and died with her. Dionusus, pitying the three unjust deaths, placed them among the stars as the constellations Bootes, Virgo "maiden," and the star Προκύων Prokuon "guide-dog" (woof woof).

This seems to me to be yet-another dim memory of the Osiris myth, with Ikarios being Osiris, Erigone being Isis, and Maira being the dogs who guided Isis to Anoubis (who, in turn, helped her find the pieces of Osiris), making it another argument in favor of my Upuat/Procyon theory.

I think it's interesting that Erigone (= Isis) is the daughter of Ikarios (= Osiris), rather than his wife; this bears similarities to Kore (= Osiris) being the daughter of Demeter (= Isis) or Danae (= Isis) being the daughter of Akrisios (= Seth) and the illicit lover of Proitos (= Osiris). I guess the Egyptians had a high opinion of romantic love, while the Greeks had a high opinion of filial love.

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Sphinx's Riddle

WAIT A SECOND

When Sphinx asked Oidipous, "What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed," he answered "man, for as a babe he is four-footed, going on four limbs; as an adult he is two-footed; and as an old man he gets besides a third support in a staff."

This is a myth, and so a mystery teaching; therefore, while Oidipous's answer is "correct," it also hides the true answer, which is man's greater life. The one voice is the soul, which reincarnates in many bodies; the four limbs is when the human soul is originally incarnated in beastly lives, living without virtue; the two limbs is when the human soul is as a "normal" human, living the civic virtues; and the three limbs is when the human soul is initiated (cf. Hesiod receiving a laurel-wood staff from the Mousoi and Teiresias receiving a cornel-wood staff from Athene), living the purificatory virtues. Prior to that, the soul isn't individuated (being a part of the undifferentiated group-soul); after that, it isn't strictly human (or, indeed, strictly individual anymore).

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Speak Up Saturday

Assortment of black and white speech bubbles

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

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Friday Word: Kūlolo

Kūlolo - noun.

Kūlolo is a Hawaiian pudding-like dessert made from coconut and taro.

I'll defer to Wikipedia on the entymology:

The Hawaiian word kūlolo is a cognate of the Eastern Polynesian term "roro" which describes "brains matter, bone marrow; spongy matter," which itself is derived from Nuclear Polynesian "lolo" which describes "coconut cream or oil", while "kū" is a qualitative and stative prefix.

By Gregg Tavares - https://www.flickr.com/photos/greggman/2459987876/in/photolist-4Ko5G5-4Ked6B-GbVWqw-4iPXyg-EefFh9-Eno3mf, CC BY 2.0, Link

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Dogs Again

Oh!

𓃣𓃪𓃧
woof woof woof woof woof woof

There are three canines in the Isis myth: Anoubis, the guard dog; Seth, the dangerous wild dog; Upuat, the tracker, the guide. These are the just same as the three heads of Kerberos, the guardian of Haides, and they represent, collectively, karma in it's three functions: keeping the children safe, keeping the dead in, and showing the living the way back out.

Notice, too, how Anubis is depicted in hieroglyphs lying down; Seth, sitting; and Upuat standing; representing one growing more active as they develop...

Current Mood: shocked

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Friday Storytime- Our Flag Means Death

Café Spriggs

Chapter 11: Courgette and Lime Muffins

Some guy came asking for you. Kind of funny looking.

~~~

The days passed. While waiting for news of Lucius, Izzy and Roach muddled along running the café together, slowly getting into a routine. Izzy worked on the financial situation for two hours each day after the café shut, while Roach tidied up the kitchen and baked cakes and desserts for the next day. And of course Izzy tried all his most exotic treats.

On Thursday, Roach made rhubarb and custard cake bars, and Izzy’s verdict was, “they’re gooey but with a pleasant sharp-sweet contrast.” He ate all of those.

On Friday, he tried out cola cupcakes, and Izzy said, “Hm…they are quite nice and a bit fizzy.” Roach said, “fizzy Izzy.” And laughed even though his financial advisor/ waiter/ friend peered sternly at him over his glasses. Izzy didn’t eat all those cakes, however.

On Saturday, it was a strawberry and basil layered sponge, with cream slathered between the layers. This was Izzy’s favourite, he ate at least three slices and got cream in his beard and moustache, which made them both laugh a lot.

( Read more... )