adastrafanfic | Member Posts

March 06: There Will Be Blood
March 11: If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?
March 13: Hamilton
March 13: Little Shop of Horrors
March 20: Drop Dead Gorgeous
March 21: See No Evil, Hear No Evil
March 22: Wicked: For Good
March 22: Zootopia 2
March 23: Zootopia 1
March 30: The Talented Mr. Ripley

Thoughts on each movie, in order

There Will Be Blood: Liked it deeply up until the end. Felt like the end kind of warped the obvious anti-capitalist anti-greed message of the movie. Or undermined it. Wish it had focused harder on the destruction of HW's relationship with his father, rather than his father's feud with Eli. At the same time I loved Eli and would have been sad if he never came back.

If Footmen Tire You: Very funny Christian propaganda piece I watched with the boys. Grindhouse schlock.

Hamilton: Don't come for me. I genuinely enjoy Hamilton. I hate Lin-Manuel's voice but I love this musical.

Little Shop of Horrors: Absolute banger, fucking love it. I've had people tell me, "You need to watch this movie, you'll LOVE it" since I was a kid but I never get around to it. Periodically people show me clips (like, after I got my wisdom teeth removed by the military in a torturous no-meds dentist visit, my friend Lopez showed me "I'm a Dentist") and it's gotten to the point where I think I've seen the whole damn movie, just out of order. Watched it with Rich and adored it.

Drop Dead Gorgeous: Madelgard recommended this one. Dark comedy about small-town beauty pageants. Favorite joke was at the very beginning: Home of the World's Oldest Living Lutheran.

See No Evil: Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder buddy comedy that reads as very gay. One of Rich's favorites since he was a kid.

Wicked: For Good - yeah, no, I had fun.

Zootopia 2: I thought this was awful until I rewatched Zootopia 1. Then I realized they're both awful, but Zootopia 2 wins because it actually made me laugh several times.

The Talented Mr. Ripley: Finally succeeded in watching this. I've tried before and was so turned off by Matt Damon's and Jude Law's performances that I couldn't finish it. The performances didn't seem as bad to me this time (but they did seem bad to Rich, who's never tried to watch this before) -- and I was able to watch it the whole way through. Enjoyed it a lot. Very different from the book, but in ways that don't really change the story, and DO help adapt it from book to film. Biggest difference is Ripley's personality/motives. The movie rehabs him a little, makes him less dark ... up until the end, at least.

amado1

Total: 11 books

- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler;
- This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff;
- The Six Loves of James I by Gareth Russell;
- In the Garden of the North American Martyrs by Tobias Wolff;
- The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes;
- The Trial of Charles I by C.V. Wedgwood;
- Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid;
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith;
- A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York;
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad;
- The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark.

The worst book was easily "A Light Amongst Shadows," but that feels almost unfair to say. It's a Kindle Unlimited gay romance. It comes very close to being ... like, built for me. Historical gay romance? Love it. Creepy boarding school, incest, CSA -- FUCK yes. Ghost children? Favorite horror trope. Yes please.

But no, it didn't work. Biggest problem was with the character voice. It's told in first-person by an upper-class teen living in 1870-1880, but he speaks like a modern-day teen who happens to be a teaboo and is desperate for his classmates to think he really spent the summer in London. Other big problem was that it didn't really work either as a romance or as a horror. Like, the horror element definitely took the backseat to the romance, but the romance itself was insta-love, so it wasn't interesting enough to justify side-lining the horror so much. (At one point, the main character casually tells us that he's been seeing ghosts every day and just didn't think to mention it).

Tobias Wolff really dominated my month. Really love his books. I downloaded a third book of his, a novel, but got distracted by a sudden strong desire to read about British kings. So James I and his son Charles took over the rest of my month. The thrillers and mystery novels are for my Detective & Mystery Lit class, and I enjoyed most of them, but couldn't really get into Raymond Chandler (I like his writing on a sentence/paragraph level, but I think structurally he struggles).

Annie John was excellent. Definitely the strongest novel I read all month. The Ox-Bow Incident was fun, but dragged BADLY in several spots. It follows a cowboy in 1885 who gets swept up in a lynch mob, and goes along with it despite his conscience screaming not to; much of the book concerns the men who DO speak up, and why they do it, and how they fail. The actual lynching scene is long -- detailed enough to be deeply uncomfortable but not gory. And there's a mean, depressing twist at the end that crushes one of the few good men even further. But it's a twist that feels necessary. Because right away, the characters with consciences start blaming the lynching on a scapegoat, a very easy scapegoat -- a wealthy rancher and ex-Confederate named Tetley. They convince themselves they had no way of stopping the mob because Tetley is just a monster; he loves cruelty and violence; he has no feelings. Then they find out Tetley has killed himself, and their excuses and justifications are swept away.

It feels cruel, like the author's decision to do this feels cruel, because the character most affected by Tetley's death is also the only guy who actively tried to stop the lynch mob. But I do think it's necessary, because that character might have done more than anyone else, but he still allowed it to happen. He admits he thought of ways to stop the mob and refused to take them. And three innocent men died as a result.

Anyway. Very fun book. Haven't seen the movie yet.

svgurl

I snagged this one from

senmut. :)

50 This or Thats

1. Bagels or donuts? Bagels though I love donuts too
2. Bar soap or body wash? Body wash
3. Being afraid or being embarrassed? Neither? I guess embarrassed though I do get second hand embarrassment easily and I hate it
4. Big bash or intimate gathering? Intimate gathering
5. Board games or video games? Board games
( #6-50 )

Blank version if you want to do it too!

<b>50 This or Thats</b>

1. Bagels or donuts? 
2. Bar soap or body wash? 
3. Being afraid or being embarrassed? 
4. Big bash or intimate gathering? 
5. Board games or video games? 
6. Bridgerton or The Crown? 
7. Cardio or weights? 
8. Carpet or hardwood? 
9. Clue/Cluedo or Monopoly?
10. Cook or do the dishes?
11. Damp socks or a pebble in your shoe? 
12. Dragons or unicorns? - 
13. Family vacation or solo trip? 
14. Fork or spoon? 
15. General admission or assigned seats? 
16. Give or receive? 
17. Hot cocoa or hot cider? 
18. Iced tea or hot tea? 
19. Italian food or Mexican food? 
20. Long car ride or short plane trip? 
21. Mountains or beach? 
22. Movie candy or popcorn?
23. Musical theater or concert?
24. Nightlight or no light? 
25. Ninja attack or pirate attack? 
26. Outer space or bottom of the ocean? 
27. Painful truth or comforting lie? 
28. Pancakes or waffles? 
29. Passion or friendship? 
30. Phone call or text? 
31. Pizza or tacos? 
32. Play or concert? 
33. Playlists or podcasts? 
34. Puzzles or coloring books? 
35. Rain or snow? 
36. Ramen or pho? 
37. River or lake? 
38. Roller coaster or Ferris wheel? 
39. Roller skates or ice skates? 
40. Salt or pepper?
41. Singing in the shower or singing in the car? 
42. Skinny fries or thick cut? 
43. Sneezing or coughing?
44. Snowboarding or skateboarding? 
45. Snowmen or sandcastles? 
46. Spicy or mild? 
47. Street food or fine dining? 
48. Subtitles or dubbed? 
49. Wine or beer? 
50. Zoo or aquarium?

I snagged this one from

queenslayerbee:

GIVE A CHARACTER
and I’ll break their ass down:

How I feel about this character
All the people I ship romantically with this character
My non-romantic OTP for this character
My unpopular opinion about this character
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

kathleen_dailey

Because today is the scheduled day for the Artemis II launch, here are a couple of classic filks: "Witnesses' Waltz," music and lyrics by Julia Ecklar, performed by Julia Ecklar, Catherine Cook, and Joey Shoji; and "Hope Eyrie," music and lyrics by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar. Both recordings are from the 1980s.

Watch on YouTube

And just because I've been listening to old filksongs this morning, here's Technical Difficulties' heart-wrenching (and tragically still relevant) "Lullaby for a Weary World." (Lyrics are transcribed at the top of the YouTube page.)

Watch on YouTube

suzume

For those of you not in the know, I live in a house with 8 cats. My younger sister is a vet tech, working at a nice place in San Juan Capistrano. Now Jo (Jojo, Jolene, Good Jo Hachiman (a la Gujo Hachiman), etc.) is our oldest cat. The last link to cats like Ana and Angel and Lily. She just turned 12 this past December.

Well, she's been taking Jo into her workplace for the past few days and today, they looked at her through an ultrasound and saw a huge, funky mass on her liver. If it's cancer/cancerous, they might not want to operate on it, but if it's not, there's a chance she could be operated on (seeing as they could remove a piece of her liver and it would grow back).

So, uh, please, please let her be in your thoughts/prayers!

Current Mood: sad. the saddest of the sad.
Current Music: "Mohammed" - The Dandy Warhols

kathleen_dailey

Watch on YouTube

100 percent AI, but fun to watch nevertheless. (For me, more fun than some parts of studio-produced Trek of recent years.)

egret

Starfleet Academy is cancelled and S2 will be the last one. This is sad because it's a good show. But the interests of the IP holders are not my interests.

I will cancel Paramount Plus and go back to my plan of buying all of Trek on DVD.

I saw a rumor somewhere that there's going to be a whole new Trek movie in a whole new timeline with all new people, unrelated to any prior show. But it's very much in preproduction. It may never happen.

Somehow I never thought I would outlive Star Trek. I guess technically I haven't yet so I guess fingers crossed I do!

Current Mood: sad

egret

My music situation:
Many years of subscription to Apple Music but with just a few playlists. I listen mostly via headphones because I struggle to remember to charge my bluetooth speaker, and I think my Apple speakers are outdated. Apple Music has the most complete library of my musical tastes. It's $10/month.

I currently have Amazon Prime and am wondering about ordering one of those Amazon speakers and just using Amazon Music, which apparently comes with Prime. I'm playing it right now on my Fire tablet and it seems fine. Then I could stop subscribing to Apple Music, although that means rebuilding my library.

I also have a ton of CDs from before my streaming switchover that I had intended to sell or donate but never quite parted with. My car has a CD player so sometimes I do play them. I see that now they sell CD players that will stream to bluetooth speakers - or I could simply buy an old-fashioned boom box. I could give up streaming music and go back to buying CDs. No playlists though. Although I guess I would still have Amazon Music for that.

Has anyone else wrestled with these issues and found good solutions? I'm interested in other people's experiences with giving up streaming or with switching from Apple Music to other providers.

Current Mood: lyrical

svgurl

latam is a community for people to come together to talk about Latin American music, films, food, culture, fandom, etc. The official languages of the community are Spanish, Portuguese and English.

vforvictoryexchange, a multi-fandom exchange about V-shaped polyamory ships, is open for nominations until March 27th, 10PM Eastern.

bitesizedfandomsex, an exchange for fandoms whose canons can be read, watched, played, or otherwise experienced in 8 or fewer hours, is accepting nominations until March 28th, 11:59PM Eastern.

narniaexchange, a community/exchange based on the Chronicles of Narnia books/movies is running a adult oriented prompt fest on AO3. Prompting is open and will close on March 30th.

fangfrenzyficexchange, a vampire themed (canon and AUs of non-vampire fandoms) fic exchange, is open for sign-ups until March 31st, 10AM Eastern.

Sunset Archive, a site using AO3's code dedicated to F/F, NB/F and NB/NB fanworks, is running its inaugural prompt meme. Prompting will close on March 31st but fills are open indefinitely.

fandom5k, a multi-fandom gift exchange for fic with a 5,000-word minimum and comics with a 5-page minimum, is accepting nominations until April 1st. It will then close temporarily and reopen when sign-ups do.

seasons_of_fandom, a multifandom community where you join a team and participate in challenges to earn your team points, is starting a new round on April 4th! Find out more info and sign up HERE. (And let them know I sent you if you do!)

seasonalremix, a quarterly, trope-based multifandom event focused on remixing an already existing work, has opened sign-ups for its Spring 2026 Round until April 11th, 11:59PM GMT.

suzume

I Asked 42 People to Send Me a Song From the Best Summer of Their Life (Hmm, I wonder what that pair of two people on the sand-colored album cover is...)

Or in general, all the summers in my life proceeding my cancer treatment:

(and after I sent this in, Jules responded to me that they knew and also liked this song! I felt so pleased~)

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "Summersong" - The Decemberists

kathleen_dailey

Via the the Copyediting-L list:

AI and Publishing: FAQ for Writers by Jane Friedman.

This information is equally valuable for editors, IMO.

kathleen_dailey

Just when I'm about to give up on finding a non-run-of-the-mill, TOS-centric fic that engrosses, provokes thought, and assumes a reader's willingness to reflect and theorize along with the author, AO3 offers me this:

"The Proliferation Problem (or: David Marcus Built a Garden Tool)" by InForestPlace

Rating: General audiences
Warnings: No archive warnings apply
Fandoms: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Fandom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - Fandom
Characters: David Marcus, James T. Kirk, Khan Noonien Singh, Carol Marcus

Author's summary: David Marcus died believing Starfleet wanted to weaponize his work. He was right that it was beautiful. He was wrong about almost everything else. A structural analysis of what Genesis actually was, what Khan understood immediately, what Starfleet could not explain, and why Kirk's hand went against the glass.

The author's note calls this work "meta-fic," but except for a specific mention of "TWOK" it reads like a wholly in-universe post-mission analysis, prepared by, perhaps, a respected military historian or political-science scholar, and delivered--not in an academic journal but in person at some high-level meeting, because the piece is informal, personal, and reflective--to very senior Federation policy makers and Starfleet leadership.

And this author can write: the style, pacing, and structure of the story are all very skillfully handled.

The story captured my interest from the very first line. An impressive find.