Galvanizing

The Count of Monte Cristo, Masterpiece adaptation

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:33:58 GMT

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. I love the sprawling disparate characters and plotlines, and how as the book goes on, each seemingly random plotline or character links up until everything comes together in the end. Back when electronic devices couldn't be on during flights, it was the book I brought for plane reading because I knew I wouldn't finish it before I got to my destination. I still remember reading it as the plane pulled away from the gate at O'Hare, being utterly engrossed, and not realizing until the flight attendant's announcement that we had been parked on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for our turn to take off.

So when the Masterpiece adaptation showed up on PBS, I watched it with anticipation and hesitation. Would this do justice to one of my favorite books, or would I be shouting at my screen?

Turns out, yes to both.
( episode-by-episode notes )

On balance, I think this adaptation does a decent job of conveying the theme of revenge and when it goes too far. The casting is great; Mikkel Boe Følsgard in particular is very right for Villefort, and Nicholas Maupas does a good job of portraying Albert's transition from carefree boy to chastened young man. And the costumes and sets are excellent; I have a much better mental image of the Carnval scenes now. I don't agree with all the choices the showrunners made to compress a sprawling novel with a bazillion characters and over-the-top plotlines into eight hours and a reasonably sized cast, especially when adding plotlines that aren't in the book. But the visuals are excellent, and overall I found it worth watching.

(Still, WTF, EPISODE 3???)

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recent reading: 2/3 of the Harper Hall trilogy

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 02:41:57 GMT

When I read a print book that I own, I write the date I finished the read inside the back cover. That's how I know it's been almost exactly 19 years since I last reread Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, the first two books in the Harper Hall trilogy in McCaffrey's Pern universe.

The story is about Menolly, a musically gifted girl from an isolated fishing village who escapes from her unsupportive family and through luck and her own talent ends up as a rare female apprentice in the Harper Hall (and forms a mental bond with nine fire lizards in the process). It's classic YA "misfit kid finds their place", "modest protag turns out to have superior abilities", and "girl proves she's just as good as the boys".

As a high school student immersed in band and orchestra, I adored these books. I reread them over and over and over. I took them with me to the music camp I went to for three summers; being at that camp felt like what I thought living in the Harper Hall must be like.

Decades later, I still enjoy them. It's nice to escape into a world where people love making music together and you might Impress a fire lizard as a bonus. The Suck Fairy's treated these well; they're not free of problematic aspects, but the books don't have the dubcon/noncon/draconids-made-me-do-it material that a lot of the other Pern books have (indeed, that Dragondrums, the third in the triology has). They're adolescent wish fulfilment, overall done well.

(I don't have a copy of Dragondrums that I know of; if I did, it got purged. Piemur's fun as a side character but isn't who I want to spend a book with.)

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AO3 meme

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:56:11 GMT

Via stonepickingokapi and smallhobbit, a look at my AO3 stories:

1. Most Hits: Not Yet Dead. A Sherlock Holmes ACD/BBC crossover in which Sherlock is trying to solve the mystery of the original Holmes's death and begins to suspect that he may be Holmes's reincarnation.

2. Second Most Kudos: For Science. Sherlock/Anderson, written for the sheer challenge of it.

3. Third Most Comments: A Study in Squawking. The story I wrote after having a dream that BBC Sherlock was a parrot talking to a psychiatrist; on waking, I found the psychiatrist part harder to believe than the parrot part.

4. Fourth Most Bookmarks: For Science.

5. Fifth Most Words: Ann Arbor. Crossover between Cabin Pressure and Ghostbusters (2016), written in all-dialog format.

6. Fic With Second Fewest Words (That's Not a Drabble): Agincourt. A Cabin Pressure parody of Henry V's Agincort speech.

7. Seventh Most Common Relationship: n/a -- I only have four works with a relationship tag.

8. Eighth Drabble Posted: n/a -- I've never written a drabble.

9. Ninth Most Common Character: Abby Yates from Ghostbusters 2016. (Although technically she's in a several-way tie for third most common, but she's ninth on the list.)

10. Tenth Mature and/or Explicit Fic: n/a; I only have four.

11. Eleventh Most Recent Completed Fic: Cookie's Country. Cookie Monster hosts a cooking show.

12. Twelfth Most Recent Story in Your Sixth Most Common Tag: n/a; there's only two. This meme is clearly geared towards more prolific ficcers.

13. Favorite Title That Isn't from a Poem or Song or Shakespeare or The West Wing: Gamol-léac, a retelling of the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercials.

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more Yuletide recs

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 17:38:55 GMT

just my job five days a week (1838 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Martian - Andy Weir
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mark Watney
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Log Entries
Summary:

Log excerpts from the notes of Mark Watney, Interplanetary Celebrity, circa 2039.

Jeeves and the Birdcatcher's Costume (11429 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster (TV 1990), Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Reginald Jeeves/Bertram "Bertie" Wooster
Characters: Bertram "Bertie" Wooster, Reginald Jeeves
Additional Tags: Humor, Mistaken Identity, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Class Differences, Pining, First Kiss, POV Bertram "Bertie" Wooster, Misunderstandings, Identity Porn, oh to flirt with your gentleman's gentleman at a masked ball!, Yuletide 2024
Summary:

But here, now, was my chance. I was not the young master to Jeeves now - in fact, Jeeves, in his current role, had no y. m. at all. He was a gentleman of means and breeding, and I a rather fantastically attired birdcatcher of presumably Viennese extraction; and two such fellows could hold a conversation without any wayward “sirs” inserting themselves where they were not wanted.

Or: In which a gentleman and his valet both attend a masquerade under false pretences.

Two amazing Shakespeare retellings:

Ammurapi, King of Ugarit (14581 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: Late Bronze Age Collapse RPF, Hamlet - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ammurapi of Ugarit, Queen Eḫli-Nikkal, Niqmaddu III of Ugarit, Tanhuwatasha of Hapissa
Summary:

The crops are failing. The sea people are invading. Your beloved father’s corpse is barely cold and your mother has swanned off to marry someone else. You are King Ammurapi of Ugarit, and is it any wonder that your mental health is not great right now?

A loose retelling of Hamlet set during the Late Bronze Age Collapse.

Riddles and Affairs of Death (8150 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hecate (Macbeth), Three Witches (Macbeth), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Noir, Past Hecate/Lady Macbeth, Offstage Macbeth/Lady Macbeth
Summary:

"I tossed the newspaper on the desk, pushed back my chair, and grabbed my coat and hat from where they hung on the hook near the door. Time to go out and find some hard facts about this.

Duncan King had been dead for less than a day, but the whole thing was already starting to stink."

In which Hecate Jones, PI looks into a suspicious death, and grapples with the shadows of her past.

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Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:23:36 GMT

Fics I'm enjoying in Yuletide so far:

Semasiography (1551 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Arrival (2016)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Louise Banks, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, POV Outsider, Non-Linear Narrative, Language
Summary:

I’m fifty-six and I’m wearing a black suit at Louise Banks’ funeral.

Greater and Stranger (1777 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Desdemona (Chalion), Ruchia (Chalion)
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Canonical Character Death, Character Death
Summary:

Learned Ruchia lingered too long in Darthaca; her demon is supposed to pass to a Physician waiting in Martensbridge, but what if she doesn't make it that far?

The Wanderers (9818 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Penric, Desdemona, Ista, Annaliss dy Teneret, Foix dy Gura
Additional Tags: Some OFC/OMC death, Yuletide, Yuletide 2024, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

My daughter, I know you no longer believe in the five gods. You have told me many times that this faith is something left best behind in childhood. That it dies in stillbirths and illness and all the ills the gods never keep away. I know that these stories will not make a new made convert you any more than you can return to childhood, and what a horrible thing that would be.
Tell yourself instead that I collected them for you as entertainment. Even if you have no faith in the Father or Mother, have faith that this Mother loves you.

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Five Questions meme

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:44:54 GMT

→ Comment with "Questions, please!"
→ I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
→ Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
→ Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

From troisoiseaux:

1. What is your favorite hobby? Is there a hobby you'd like to try, but haven't?

The #1 spot cycles between various yarny crafts and genealogy. Knitting and spinning satisfy the urge to do something with my hands; genealogy gives me the satisfaction of doing a combined logic puzzle and scavenger hunt.

I'd like to learn to play trumpet. I've played piano and clarinet, and had a year of violin as a kid, but I've never learned a brass instrument.

2. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?

Jacob Englebrecht, who lived in Frederick County, Maryland in the 19th century. His diaries are a major resource for anyone doing Frederick County genealogy or history, and while I think he'd drive me up the wall if I went on a trip with him, he'd be fascinating to talk to for a dinner (plus he might have dirt on some of my relatives).

3. Is there a piece of media you read/watched when you were way too young for it?

Arguably the Bible, which I read a great deal of in church at ages 8-10 because the sermons were boring and this was an acceptable way to occupy myself. Tons of sex and violence and people behaving really badly!

4. Is there a piece of media you wish you'd encountered earlier in life?

Two come to mind. The one that I could've encountered earlier in life is Gary Moore's song "Over the Hills and Far Away", which came out in the 1980s and which I heard for the first time a bit over a year ago. I love this song and am sorry that it wasn't part of my life earlier. It's my musical catnip -- good rhythm, tune and accompaniment inducing inchoate longing, good story.

The one that I couldn't have encountered earlier in life? Honestly, Twilight. I read about half of it when it came out and decided I was done, but if it'd been around when I was sixteen I would have adored it and had it as a beloved fandom.

5. What is your second favorite color?

Yellow. My favorite color is blue or purple or teal or bluish turquoise, depending on the day; they're all colors that I look good in, so are top choices when I'm buying clothes or yarn. But yellow is what I'll turn to as an accent color. The color of dandelions makes me happy. My hallway is painted a bright yellow. I can't wear yellow against my face; I'm not going to knit a yellow sweater or hat or scarf. But I love it paired with a blue.

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recent reading

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:01:03 GMT

Susan C. Pinsky, Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD. This would be useful for someone who hadn't read a wide variety of books on organizing, or who'd mostly read books focusing on setting up attractive and complicated systems rather than systems that prioritize function over looks. I didn't come away with any great insights, and several of her suggestions turned out to be things I did already.

I also thought some of her suggestions made assumptions about availability that aren't necessarily valid. For example, yes, getting rid of physical media frees a lot of space, and it's a great idea if you're not going to rewatch/relisten to/reread that item. (As I age, I'm also realizing that many of my old books are going to be harder for me to read in non-electronic format; that's made me reevaluate whether I want to keep the borderline cases.) But "you can just stream it" assumes that you're always going to live somewhere with good internet and that the streaming service or library will always have what you want. Or "throw out all your socks and replace with 7 identical pairs all in the same or at most two colors" -- obviously I'm ignoring that one and sticking with my bazillion pairs of hand-knit socks, which I mostly find enjoyable rather than burdensome to pair up after running the sock wash. But I also can't easily find commercial socks of the fiber content, thickness, and durability of the ones I used to buy. Yes, in theory if I get rid of a tool and then find no, I should've kept it, I can buy another...and chances are the replacement will be more poorly made than the 20-year-old item I originally had.. Pinsky's central message of "You will have a much easier time organizing your stuff if you're organizing less stuff" is valid, but "you can always replace it if you find you did need it" isn't always the case.

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The Tragedy of Brinkwater

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 02:02:20 GMT

A few months back, when I was taking advantage of Newspapers.com's free-access weekend to do some genealogy research, I ran across a column of book reviews in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2 September 1888. Various books were described as "educational, "charming", "wholesome", etc.

And then there was The Tragedy of Brinkwater by Martha Livingstone Moodey:

"This is a murder story. A woman is accused, with the help of her son, of having murdered her step-son. The story is not a good one, nor is it very well told. Murder stories, to be good, ought to be able to harrow one's feelings—to send, so to speak, cold chills up and down one's back, and to render one altogether very uncomfortable. This story does nothing but bore one."

One-star review from 1888? Of course I had to track it down on Google Books and read it.

TL;DR: Yeah, it's bad. Which is a shame, because there's a potentially good story buried in the Noble Suffering Of Virtuous People.

( summary and cast )

( the solution to the mystery )

This could have been a really fun melodramatic romp. It ended up being a compelling letdown.

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map-making apps?

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 01:13:40 GMT

Youngest has expressed an interest in making fantasy maps on the computer; he pointed out the site Inkarnate as an example.

Does anyone have suggestions of such a website that has a free option and that allows use by kids under 13? Or can anyone recommend a standalone Windows program that does this and isn't extremely expensive?

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recent reading

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 04:35:25 GMT

Rachel Lynn Solomon, Business or Pleasure. A romance between a ghostwriter and an actor whose memoir she's writing. It was a fun read, and the bits of fictional scripts from the actor's projects were a nice touch.

I feel like I'm reading and rereading Lois McMaster Bujold all the time, but I realized I haven't actually reread the Vorkosigan series in at least ten years. While the general outlines are enmeshed in my brain, it's been long enough that the words are fresh, and there's many little details I didn't remember. (For example, I remembered the cremation at the end of Cetaganda, but the bit where the stream of plasma is shot straight up into the sky was an image that I had no memory of.) Currently I'm on the Miles Errant ebook volume -- "Borders of Infinity", Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance.

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recent reading

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 17:07:03 GMT

Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Historical fantasy set mostly around the western Indian Ocean in medieval times. A middle-aged woman who retired from piracy to raise her daughter takes on one last job, which of course turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous than expected. I thoroughly enjoyed Amina's POV and the worldbuilding. There are some gruesome bits, but they're telegraphed far enough in advance that I could skim them and don't have the images stuck in my head.

Nilima Rao, A Disappearance in Fiji. A mystery novel set in Fiji in 1914. Akal Singh, a Sikh Indian police sergeant, has recently been transferred in disgrace from Hong Kong to Fiji. There he's assigned to investigate the disappearance of an Indian woman who was an indentured worker on a sugar cane plantation. It's not a comfortable read -- the book does not gloss over the racism and prejudice that Akal experiences -- but it's an interesting setting and a good mystery.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 00:07:26 GMT

Recent reading:

Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age is a delight if you're up for the body count. Four women who've retired from being professional assassins discover that the organization they've spent the past forty years working for is now trying to kill them; they competently kick butt and take names.

Jessie Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a nice cozy mystery. The victim is clearly a total shit; the suspects are fascinating people and all had good reason to off the victim; I have great sympathy for Officer Grey. Only quibble:

( vague spoiler )

Claudia Gray's The Murder of Mr. WIckham was a decent mystery and a fun Austen continuation. While I'm not sure I buy the portrayals of all the Austen characters, they're congruent with the people they are in Austen, only with different traits emphasized. And the two original characters are delightful together. I've already put a hold on the sequel for when the library gets it.

I'm in the middle of a reread of Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Family books. They were a favorite read when I was a kid, and they hold up very well. (Hmm, I should read these to Youngest once we finish Swallows & Amazons....)

I finally brought myself to reread AJ Hall's The Queen of Gondal series for the first time since the author's death. Great Sherlock fic series that rewards rereading, and while the series is never going to be finished, at least the end of the final installment is a solid ending and not an eternal cliffhanger.

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Yuletide rec

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 05:55:29 GMT

If you're a Eurovision fan, this Yuletide fic is absolutely worth reading (and watching and listening to).

#New channel created: Trying to win Eurovision 2022 (1922 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Subwoolfer (Band), Give That Wolf A Banana - Subwoolfer (Song), Eurovision Song Contest RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Keith (Subwoolfer), Jim (Subwoolfer), Original Non-Human Character(s)
Additional Tags: Chatting & Messaging, Time Loop, Banter, Meta and Crack, Time Travel, Music, Worldbuilding, Yuletunes
Summary:

Subwoolfer didn't win Eurovision?

In YOUR timeline maybe!

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it's Stan Rogers time

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 06:00:23 GMT

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Five questions meme

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 05:58:13 GMT

From smallhobbit:

1. Are you currently crafting a particular project at the moment? Or is there something you fully intend to pick up when you have the time.... I have a lot of WIPs and UFOs. If we limit it to projects I've touched in the past couple of weeks, I'm working on an infinity scarf using Xandy Peters's Fox Paws pattern, the Honeycomb vest, and a couple of vests for my kid's stuffed animals. I recently started the 17 Equations scarf, which I expect is going to take me at least a couple of years to finish.

2. Which book(s) would you say were the ones you enjoyed most this year? I've mostly been rereading old favorites this year. My favorite new book so far is the latest print Penric & Desdemonda collection Penric's Labors; I'd read two of the novellas already but hadn't read "Masquerade in Lodi", so that was fun.

3. What is your favourite season, and why? Autumn, because it finally stops being hot (though this year that didn't happen until a couple of weeks ago). Spring is a close second because of the wildflowers. (Both, however, come with allergies, which keeps them from being unmitigated pleasures.)

4. How will you celebrate Thanksgiving, and are there family traditions you still keep or have rejected? Spouse's and my family tradition used to be to go to folk dance camp, but Covid interrupted that, and we probably won't start going again; Spouse has trouble sleeping in the beds, and I've grown sufficiently out-of-shape and creaky that I can't enjoy the dancing like I used to. So we're going to have a simple roast turkey and dressing meal at home.

5. Which part of the States would you most like to visit? I'd like to see the Grand Canyon someday.

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Friday Five meme, 23 September 2022

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 23:47:55 GMT

1. How many stars can you see in the sky at night where you live? (Not looking for an exact number here, just a general description.) Under a hundred.

2. What is your favorite constellation? Orion.

3. Are you able to see and identify any planets in the sky? Which ones? Venus and Mars reliably; Jupiter I can usually guess at.

4. Have you ever seen a satellite orbiting above the earth? Yep! Spouse and I check out Heavens-Above regularly to see when the ISS is passing or when some other bright satellite is visible.

5. Have you ever seen a rocket blasted off into space? Only on video.

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recent reading

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 00:28:44 GMT

Kerry Greenwood, Death in Daylesford. Finally managed to finish this one, with the reread of the rest of the series to give me momentum. When I first tried to read Death in Daylesford, I set it down in boredom a couple chapters in. Most Phryne Fisher books start with either a bit of the mystery or some interesting situation in the family that reveals something new; this one starts with Phryne and Lin in bed, not exactly a novel circumstance. The book could have just has easily started with chapter 2 without losing anything, and Lin's thoughts on the planned lake and the displacement of the Chinese folks who lived there could've been a flashback when Phryne saw the soon-to-be-lake.

Once I got a bit further into the book, it became more interesting, but there was a lot going on in this book. Multiple mysteries in Daylesford; the mystery that Ruth, Jane, and Tinker are solving back in Melbourne (which I found a bit too dark, and the solution made sense but didn't satisfy); Hugh's issues with the temporary substitute for Jack (which makes me wonder if Greenwood is having trouble writing book-Jack after TV-Jack and therefore decided to get him offscreen)... Everything got resolved in the end, but it wasn't quite as satisfying as usual.

It's the first Phryne Fisher book in seven years, so I'm not surprised that it feels off. On balance, I'd have been fine if the previous in the series Murder and Mendelssohn had been the final Phryne Fisher book. Death in Daylesford does have decent final paragraphs, and if it turns out to be the last book then it's not a terrible way to end the series, but it's not great.

Gabe Hudson, Gork, the Teenage Dragon. A fun read if you can cope with the violence level; I mostly could, but there were some scenes that I didn't try to visualize because it would've been too much. Gork's voice is great, and the worldbuilding is great, and it's very entertaining. That said, while the romantic resolution works fine, the resolution of the rest of the story is abrupt and I don't buy it.

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recent reading

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 05:45:25 GMT

I'm rereading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries in preparation for a second attempt at Death in Daylesford. The reread is going in a zigzagged order; I tend to read more on my ereader since it's always on me, but while I have the whole series in print (I've decided it merits analog backup), I don't have them all in ebook. So at the moment I'm reading Murder on a Midsummer Night in print and Murder and Mendelssohn in e.

I thoroughly enjoy Phryne and the people she gathers around her, though it's getting to be a large enough crowd that it's unwieldly to check in on everyone in every book. Murder and Mendelssohn isn't one of my favorites; I enjoy a good Sherlock fanfic, but I'd have enjoyed this one more with a few more serial numbers filed off. The choir members are interesting characters, though.

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Friday Five meme, 22 July 2022

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 22:57:30 GMT

1) What's the most cluttered spot in your home? If I have to pick one, the back corner of the living room.

2) What's your method for decluttering? Get rid of the obvious surface trash; put away the stuff that has a place. Beyond that, it depends on the stuff. I have two big snags in any decluttering project: first, when a lot of the clutter is someone else's stuff, and second, dealing with unwanted stuff that is too good to throw out, or that could be disposed of in a better way than dumping it in my trash can.

3) What are your favorite cleaning products? Simple Green, store brand version of Windex, and plain water.

4) What helps get you motivated to clean up? Visitors. (Which is one reason our living room hadn't been straightened up in a year and a half.) Or not being able to find something. Or just being tired of living on a set for a show about hoarders.

5) What's the most organized spot in your home? The bathroom cabinet.

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Friday Five meme, 1 July 2022

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 23:37:53 GMT

1. What's your favorite crafty activity? Toss-up between spinning and knitting.

2. What got you into it? Knitting: my grandmother taught me when I was nine. Spinning: I saw people's really nifty handspun yarns and decided I wanted to learn to do that myself.

3. What was your favorite arts & crafts project as a kid? Favorite to make? Probably the musical notes sweater that I still have and wear. (Advantage to 1980s big baggy styles: they still fit when you're significantly older and 100 pounds heavier.)

4. What has someone made for you? My dad made me a nice wooden box that can be locked with a little padlock, though I don't use the locking function these days.

5. Are there any unfinished projects in your life you need to pick back up? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (pause for breath) I did a lot of cross-stitch many years ago, but stopped after having kids -- I can knit and watch a toddler more easily than I can cross-stitch and watch a toddler. I'd still like to finish the Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Sampler, though.

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Friday Five meme, 24 June 2022

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 23:33:05 GMT

1. You have superpowers! Are you a hero, a villain, or just trying to get by? Just trying to get by.

2. What's your origin story? On a backpacking trip through Europe, I was in Salzburg, resting on a bench on a hill and looking out at Alps, when a voice from a nearby grove said "Give me the ring you're wearing and I will give you power!" Since it was a cheap RenFaire ring, I decided it was worth the risk. Immediately, I started hearing Mozart in the background.

3. What is your superpower? When I focus on a person or a scene, I hear the corresponding soundtrack. Based on the music I hear, I can tell whether my conversation partner wants to hang out with me, con me, or get in my bed. I can tell that this couple here hates each other even though they're smiling and this couple here is madly in love even if they're not looking at each other. I can tell when a crowd is about to get ugly or when a meeting is starting to go south. I can tell that the footsteps behind me at night are someone who wants to rob me or someone who's just trying to remember where they parked. At its best, when I think of an action, the way the music changes in that moment tells me whether it's a good or bad idea.

4. Every superpowered individual has a weakness. What's yours? Alcohol; it makes it impossible for me to focus on one individual or group and filter out others. The cacophony is debilitating.

5. What is the most mundane use you've put your powers to? Do you use laser vision to cut your hair, for example? When I think about the cover of a record album or CD, I can hear the tracks, so I have a book of album cover art I use instead of Spotify.

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Recent Reading: Frances Hodgson Burnett, In Connection With The De Willoughby Claim

Sun, 29 May 2022 05:34:00 GMT

In Connection With The De Willoughby Claim is one of the most batshit Hodgson Burnett books I've ever read. It's also one of the most cringe-inducing.

So, Tom De Willoughby is an indolent postmaster and shopkeeper in a small town, estranged from his more prominent family in another city because he never found a career appropriate to a gentleman. He did have a little medical training, which comes in handy when a strange couple shows up in town and the woman dies after giving birth. The man leaves town after the woman's burial, and Tom adopts the baby girl, later named Sheba.

The slow reveal of the identity of Sheba's parents is one running plot thread. About halfway through, another plot thread related to the book title comes in, where Tom and his nephew Rupert file a claim over some family land that was damaged during the recent war.

You see, the small town where Tom lives is in North Carolina, the city where his estranged family lived is in South Carolina, and the book is set over about 1850-1870.

Think about how Hodgson Burnett handles lower-class characters in her British-set stories. Now imagine that applied to American slavery and post-Emancipation. Yeah. Uncle Matt, the freedman formerly held by Rupert's father and later working as Rupert's servant, could easily be the old British family retainer that stays with the scion of the house when the family has fallen on ruin, but with the slavery context added, and with no characters who are former slaves going "shaking the dust of this plantation off my feet so hard you'd think the Dust Bowl was two generations early" to balance him out, yeah. Cringe. (Also, Uncle Matt describing himself with the n-word? More cringe.)

There is plenty of interesting batshit story in this book, plus some scathing commentary on how women receive social consequences for out-of-wedlock pregnancy that men avoid, and a sharply realistic look at the problems Tom and Rupert run into when trying to get reparations for their land. (Tom's father/Rupert's grandfather was a Union supporter, so a little cringe was averted.) If you're a Hodgson Burnett fan, you may find it worth reading. But go in prepared.

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Friday Five meme, 27 May 2022

Fri, 27 May 2022 17:56:30 GMT

1. Do you buy and use canned food? Yes. If I were the main food prep person in the household I probably wouldn't buy as much as Spouse does, but I'd certainly have some on hand.

2. What is your favourite canned food? Tuna. And when I'm sick, Campbell's chicken noodle soup.

3. Do you like some canned food better than the fresh or dried version of it? I can't think of one I like *better*, but I like canned beans about as well as fresh-cooked-from-dried beans.

4. Do you have a can that just sits at the back of the cupboard? has anything weird happened to it? or do you still plan on using it in the future? There is a can of mandarin oranges in our cupboard. I have no idea why Spouse bought it or what is planned for it. But it still has a year before it expires, so.

5. What is the weirdest thing you have seen canned? No opinion. If a food's preservable by canning, then presumably someone's going to can it.

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Friday Five meme, 13 May 2022

Sat, 14 May 2022 00:57:48 GMT

1. Where are you right now? Home.

2. Where would you like to be right now? Right here, just by myself and expecting nobody else home for at least a couple of days.

3. Where have you always wanted to visit (but have not yet)? The Grand Canyon.

4. What is the most peaceful place you’ve ever visited? I-10 through the desert of Arizona and New Mexico. Between towns, if you pull over and stop, you will hear nothing but the wind. (And then when a car does come by, they'll stop to check on you, because there might not be someone else along for hours and they're making sure you aren't in trouble.)

5. Where do you want to visit in your dreams tonight? That place that looks like my house but with an extra room.

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Friday Five meme, 8 April 2022

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 20:41:40 GMT

1. Do you like children? For short interactions, sure. For long interactions, depends on the kid and their age.

2. How many children would you like to have in the future? Zero. The ones I have are plenty, and while the factory still belches smoke, it's unlikely to make shippable product.

3. What if you were expecting sextuplets? I would be on the phone to adoption agencies, because just no. I can't afford the daycare, and Spouse is too old to cope with one more baby, let alone six.

4. If TLC offered to share your life on TV, would you accept the offer? Nope. I worry enough about strangers judging me as it is; I'm not going to invite them to do it.

5. What would you name the sextuplets? Threnody, Ambergris, Lupercalia, Callifragilistic, Majorca, and Steve.

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