pauraque: Picard reads a book while vacationing on Risa (st picard reads)
After the events of The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest, this conclusion to the trilogy expands the perspective on the Earth-Trisolaran conflict beyond our two petty solar systems to a galactic, interdimensional, and finally universal scale. (Yes, this is the sort of book where rather than wondering if your favorite character survives, you wonder instead if there will be a habitable universe for them to survive in by the last page.)

This book took me a long time to read, not only because it's 600 pages but also because I kept stopping due to real life distractions. I also don't have the book anymore because it had to go back to the library. So I'm afraid this post is going to be more vibes-based than going into a ton of detail, even though seventy million things happened in the book that would each be worthy of detailed discussion.

My ultimate impression of the book (and of the series as a whole) is that there are a lot of things that the author and I will just never see eye-to-eye on, but I don't mind setting that aside because I like the way he explores his ideas even if I disagree with their fundamental basis.

cut for length )
proustbot: (But it was she and not the sea we heard)
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion (2001) -- I originally read this in 2006, and I've been listening to the audiobook, off and on, for the last six months. (Thank you, library system!) I liked the book in 2006; at the time, it seemed like a refreshing epic-fantasy inversion of all the huge doorstopper 90s fantasies (Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, etc). Listening to The Curse of Chalion this year, it now seems like a relic of a past genre moment: sturdy and steady and kind of ponderous and over-explanatory. On the other hand, that does make it a solid audiobook to be perpetually re-checking out between other library books! You will never be confused about what is happening or why it's happening! Somebody is always taking the reader gently by the hand to offer exposition!

I can now appreciate that the book is a fantasy remixing of Isabel I's 1474 ascension to the throne of Castile, and in that key, it's pretty fun pseudo-historical interpretation (and, maybe wisely, it does not even try to recreate the actual Isabel's particular program of religious consolidation and imperial expansion).

The Thursday Murder Club (2025) -- If you had asked me before today if I had strong feelings about the THURSDAY MURDER CLUB book series, I would have laughed at you. And yet! I guess I do, because I thought that this was a shockingly disappointing adaptation that fails to capture any of the weirdness or humor from the books. (Also, can't believe they did Bogdan like that!) The casting, however, is great; Helen Mirren is particularly excellent.

Battleship (2012) -- This remains such a confusing combination of bottom-drawer concept (Gen X board-game meets Michael Bay) and a cast and crew that is slightly too good for the material. Like, it's not terrible? Even though every part of it is deeply unnecessary?

(no subject)

Dec. 29th, 2025 08:53 pm[personal profile] tropicsbear
tropicsbear: Injured Shien from Saiyuki (Saiyuki: Injured Shien)

Today was a very chill day. In no particular order, I:

  • Went to the gym while the parentals did some shopping.
  • Reorganized a few rows in one of my bookshelves.
  • Organized two keycap sets into keycap organizer boxes.
  • Watched an episode of People Magazine Investigates while eating Cheetos Puffs.
  • Finished writing up my 2025 Year in Fic. (It's pretty short since I only completed two fics this year.)

2025 Year in Fic

Dec. 29th, 2025 08:15 pm[personal profile] tropicsbear
tropicsbear: (Mobile Legends: Carmilla)

Fics

Stats

Yearly

Number of fics: 2
Total word count: 2,957
Number of fandoms: 2

Less than 2024's output, in terms of both fic count (3) and word count (6,998).

Overall

Number of completed fics: 187
Number of fandoms: 22

Rest of the review. )

zarla: grunkle stan running (grunklestan)
Waa I keep wanting to make posts but I get so busy and all my ideas seem so long! December is such a busy month, haha. It's been raining a lot and it's cold! Mostly been trying to do requests but I did also put some time into making a novelty Hassy mug for myself lol. I'll have to post some pictures when it actually gets here. I've been lazy about replying to comments I'm sorryyyy

I've been considering getting a laser cutting type machine and a nice Ecotank printer to make some of my own stickers at points, but I haven't pulled the trigger on it. Would I really use them enough to justify getting them...? It'd be kind of fun to do little limited run stickers but I dunno! I don't know how in demand stickers are, haha. In my little store they don't move very quickly but maybe the designs I have just aren't grabbing people. :B I know some people don't like stickers because it's such a big decision to decide where to stick them which I can relate to lol. It could also just be fun to make stupid one-shot stickers for my own amusement. I dunno! It's an investment... a new printer would be a good idea though, the one I have right now is a mess. Even when I replace the ink tanks it still prints terribly. :/ Although I don't print things too often anyway... but maybe I would if it worked better.

I ordered a bunch of little things but they haven't come yet - another set of Papyrus shaker keychains, some little Gaster pillow keychains, some pins, a set of the connecting charms... I'm excited to get them but I'm worried about getting swamped when I put them up and they go live! The 15 shaker charms before sold out in like 2 minutes, haha. The next batch will have 50 shaker keychains... can I keep on top of it? Is there a way to streamline shipping a bit more? All questions I've never really had to think about before, haha. Sending people prints and stickers is easy, I can just stick them in an envelope with some forever stamps (in the US), but bigger objects are more complicated. :O I dunno! Just gotta see what happens when they get here.
(Incidentally, I did add some new prints to the store and restocked some sold out ones if you're looking for some, haha)

Anyway that's all boring I assume, what I actually wanted to post about is SOAP!! One of my lesser known hobbies is that I like getting soaps from small indie companies to try out, I like supporting small businesses and trying new scents. |D I have a few little bits of perfume here and there too I like playing with (from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, the classic that's still kicking, and Conjure Oils which sadly seems to have died), but mostly nowadays I like trying out unique soaps. So here are some of my recommendations! I dunno if any of you out there are interested in this kind of thing but maybe it'll be helpful. It's fun to get new soaps! It's nice to smell nice. :B

Generally I like foody or sweet scents more so than florals or incense, so those are the ones I'm usually looking for. But each site usually has a nice variety!

Mystic Water Soap - I LOVE the web 1.0 look of this site, it might seem abandoned at first but I JUST ordered a blackberry vanilla soap like five days ago and it came right away! So they're still out there, haha. I've ordered from them a few times, they're good! They also do manly soaps if you're more into that kind of thing.

Cat and Raven Designs - Really pretty bars and fun silly themeing for their soaps. Has a queer-themed collection that makes for good gifts for the other gays in your life! They have a Fresno Nightcrawler themed soap right now, how can you resist, haha. I've ordered from them a few times and the scents were very nice!

Contact Caffeine - Furry themed soaps, some of which have caffeine added for a pick me up! Well supposedly, I tried one or two of them with it and didn't really notice a difference. I've gotten some cheerful scents from here before, although I've never found a use for the stickers.

Royalty Soaps - Fancy bars, some of them with frosted tops! Which admittedly I find a bit intimidating, I assume the frosting also works as a soap... I've never ordered one, haha. But I have ordered some non-frosted ones and they were nice! They have a club too that lets you know about monthly themed soaps, I think, I'm not a member lol.

Shea Makery - Food themed soaps and candles and such that look super accurate to the foods in question! Like at a glance you'd really think they were cookies or pound cake. Smell just like them too, haha. I've gotten a few things from them that smelled delicious, although I will say I did order a grilled cheese soap at one point that got lost in the shuffle, although when I emailed them about it they sent it right away. These things happen! It was so pretty and smelled good too. :O

Haus of Gloi - Mostly whipped soaps with seasonal themes! I just got one from them (Ghost Puffs, from the Fall collection) that I haven't had a chance to try out yet but it smells delicious. They included a free tubelet of their Turkish Delight fragrance which was nice of them!

Lincoln Street Soap - Plain looking bars, but the one I just ordered (Apple/Oak) has a complex fragrance to it. :O Looking forward to trying it, haha. They included a free lotion bar of the Apple/Oak scent too. :O I like soaps but I've never been into lotion but I might give it a try.

Paintbox Soapworks - Pretty bars and glycerin soap! I just tried one tonight and it was very moisturizing, haha. It was a rose/lemon/vanilla one, although to my nose it smelled more rose than the others, but it could just be me. Still nice though! They also gave me a free whipped soap to go with it which was very kind. :O It was for a scent called Stretched on Your Grave (frozen loam, dessicated flowers, tears) that I'm not really into though sadly lol. I appreciate the generosity though!

Chikyu - Whipped soap with a HUGE scent list to choose from! I put in an order but it's still on its way, excited to see what it's like. I have heard the scents are strong but we'll see!

Witch Baby Soap - Very witchy as you can probably guess, haha. Very pretty bars with interesting scents! I ordered a few but they're also still on their way. Looking forward to it though!

Bath Sabbath - Very metal soaps, absolutely beautiful bars! Sculpted and painted and everything, they look incredible. :O I'd feel guilty using one even, haha. I haven't picked up a bar from here yet but I'm keeping an eye out for a good scent to try.

Ophelia's Soapery - Very pretty bars, although none of the current scents grabbed me. They might grab you though!

Studio Beige - Straight-forward bars, some with charcoal and clay and such if you feel fancy. I'm tempted by the lemongrass one but haven't committed yet, haha.

Itty Bitty Soap Company - Small selection but fun! Also set up on blogspot which is a first lol. I haven't picked one from here but I am thinking about it.

Nat Botanicals - Very minimalist looking soap, looks very clean! None of the scents here grabbed me just yet but I'm keeping an eye out.

Unearth Malee - Soaps with no palm oil! I was very tempted by the Lemon Drop one but refrained since I'd gone on a soap buying frenzy that night lol. I might come back to it later though.

Tree Marie Soapworks - Stunningly beautiful bars, but a very limited choice of scents. They're so pretty though!

The Indigenous Soap Company - A Hawaii based company, most of their soaps are themed around the islands. I'd like to pick one up someday but none of the scents quite grabbed me.

Little and Grim - More so perfume than soaps, although they do have some liquid soaps available! Not a lot of scent options though (for the soap, there's a ton for the fragrances).

-

Cattails Blvd - I'm including this more as a cautionary tale - I ordered a soap rock and never got it. :/ I tried emailing customer service and support several times to no avail. Sometimes that's just how it goes, but I'm not about to try again. Maybe some of you out there are willing to take the risk and see what the soaps are like.


Anyway if there are any other indie places you get soaps let me know, I like trying new ones. |D

lj post

Practical problem-solving.

Dec. 27th, 2025 08:31 pm[personal profile] hannah
hannah: (Stargate Atlantis - zaneetas)
Yesterday I learned there's curtains you can buy that are controlled by an app. I didn't get into the massive security concerns of this scenario because one of my clients has some and she was paying me to figure out what was wrong with them, not get a lecture. Besides, no small number of the issues involved were laid bare when she explained she'd updated the app and the app said the curtains weren't found on the network.

I knew the first step of figuring out if it's a hardware or a software problem was first making sure the machine's connected to the network - if there was a motor that responded to commands sent by the app, it was essentially working from a more advanced and less secure remote control. To check and make sure the motor had power to run and could connect to the app to begin with, I looked for where the power supply was coming from. It wasn't plugged into anything, instead running on 12 AA batteries. I figured that swapping them out for fresh batteries to see if that'd get them back online would narrow down the possible problems before we'd have to see if the curtains need an update.

My client called the company helpline, and they said that given when she'd installed them, it was probably a power issue and to replace the batteries.

I'd also helped her with a miniature flashlight that wasn't working. When she handed it to me, I pulled at it, inspecting the object, seeing what parts were detachable to find out where its batteries would be located - and in doing so, I got them realigned and working again.

When I explained my problem-solving processes to her and working through the possibilities to try to figure out the issue at hand, she gave me what I hold as a high compliment: "You should've been a mechanical engineer."
proustbot: (Durin and Albedo)
Made the long trek home, and now I am back in the bosom of the fam: watching terrible movies with my father, running errands with my mother, playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with my siblings. Our sibling chat right now is just variations on "MIME TIME?"

The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025) -- Watched on a plane. This film aspires to an overly earnest and retro corniness, in the same mode as Gunn's SUPERMAN, but nobody apparently told the Marvel script-doctors, As a result, there's all this tired background banter that is written as quippy ("Well, THAT happened") and then filmed/recorded flatly and confusingly ("Well, that...happened..."). Whereas James Gunn over in SUPERMAN knows how to film a corny joke set-up and frame a corny punchline!

The one memorable thing about the film is Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm, who gets the most interesting things to do in the middle of the film. Giving birth...in space! Screaming "KILL HER!" in the midst of contractions!! Nothing else in the movie is as weird and surprising as that mid-movie scene, including Kirby's increasingly rote character in the second half of the film.

Sinners (2025) -- Watched on a plane. Takes some wild swings but most of them connect. I hope Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler make one million more movies together, hitting every cinematic genre along the way.
tozka: white flora on a light blue background (winter flower on blue bg)
A puffy snowman sticker on a bright red pole. The snowman has a top hat, red scarf and little red mittens. It’s smiling!

📍Phoenix, Arizona - December 2025 / All Photos / Pixelfed

sonofgodzilla: (Acchan Christmas ~ !)
In 2005, I was terribly invested in pop music, it was the thing that was keeping me afloat. I had first encountered Morning Musume few years earlier, and Toei's hero shows followed shortly after, first Gaoranger, then Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger featuring Nagasawa Nao in the role of Nono Nanami. Being so far away from Japan, we had no real understanding of idol culture save for how we approximated what we came to know from magazines and websites. Anyway, long story short, I became an idol fan, and I started following both Nagasawa Nao and Yamamoto Azusa from Hurricanger. By the time 2005 had rolled around, we were five singles into Nagasawa's solo career, two on King Records, the rest on avex trax, whom she signed with in early 2004. I can't recommend her music to you, but at the same time, I have a cabinet full of records, and I was sad when, after 2007, the well dried up and the most we got was a "best of" record the year later, something that led to me feeling somewhat shortchanged by avex. Having said that though, it was also a relief as the material the label was giving her was pretty awful. Despite my resentment, avex were very proactive in the mid '00s, having launched the career of Hamasaki Ayumi and having a clear vision of the kind of idols they believed sold best—Hi-NRG songs and gravure photoshoots were the order of the day, and a lot of avex's acts did really well within the parameters of that milieu, dream were especially popular, if I remember rightly, as were PARADISE GO!! GO!!. To use an analogy that might be a little too niche, avex's idols felt like they were all from Ginza, and I think that was an approach that dominated the idol industry until AKB48's "idols you can meet" really blew the lid off everything.

In amidst all those pounding Eurobeat drums, the scent of excessive baby oil used in every gravure shoot, as you were beginning to feel a little lightheaded from all the hairspray used, there was always one thing that avex was good at doing, however, and that was promotion. If you were on avex, you were on billboards.

Nao-chan

~Yujo ni Ribbon~ )

[title card] december

Dec. 27th, 2025 05:03 pm[personal profile] tenderfeeling
tenderfeeling: (elric)

well. christmas came and went. i didn't write anything about it because i don't really celebrate!

it's... a... to me, it's like.. [flounders a little] it feels like another one of those social conventions that just makes other people feel bad, but this one seems to be more socially acceptable all around? i don't really know. it comes with a lot of pressure even to people who seem to appreciate holidays. my girlfriend got me a sonic plush, because they wanted to, and though i'm usually very resistant to receiving gifts (i... don't feel... like i deserve them, most of the time...) it would be cute and comforting to me so i'm pretty chuffed about it. little guy will be here around mid january as long as i don't forget to check in with customs.

mom got laid off, we're struggling, rent isn't paid, it's whatever. i've decided to stop stressing out about it and just take each day in stride. it doesn't make poverty less... stressful... to be in, but it keeps me from freaking the fuck out all the time because.. like.. that's not going to change anything. seems like everyone's a little fucked financially recently anyways. the state of the world worries me sometimes! but we've survived worse as a society.

i'm excited for 2025 to be over. it wasn't as bad as 2024.. i had a lot of good things happen and good times but ultimately it's overstayed its welcome. i know the mere passage of time isn't magical and it won't make things better but, you know... we use these measures of time as a matter of perspective more than anything.

in other news, i finally watched all of katanagatari (and am currently reading the novels).... AND simultaneously getting into trigun at the behest of my other partner (that's a story for another entry). all around really good and also you should watch katanagatari. please. please? for me? it's good. "why are you not talking about trigun are you less enthusiastic about it" don't even joke about it lad. i just keep getting shy because it's something i care about that someone else showed me so i'm a little bashful.

things are interesting, things are interesting... even if life is hard, i've been unlocking a sense of deep satisfaction about it recently. i think everything is going to work out. please hang onto hope, even, no, especially when it's hard. it may take a long time, and we may falter, but i think we're all a lot more capable than we think.

P.S.: it's 85f but feels like 100-something right now. i feel like a bowl of melted butter
tropicsbear: Iida Tenya from BnHA pointing at a piece of paper (BnHA: Iida discussing rules)

Personal rating 9/10

As always, my per-episode reactions are on [community profile] bnha_fans! I'll just blab about the season (and series) as a whole here.

The end of an era! I've been watching BnHA since 2017, after a screenshot of Iida from the then-current OP passed through my Twitter timeline. I thought he was a nice, square boi so I started watching the anime ... and ended up binge-watching the available seasons in spurts until I caught up.

Spoilers. )

As a whole, this season really drove home the point that most people—All for One not included lol—have the capacity for both good and bad, and things are never really black-and-white. While people are responsible for their own choices at the end of the day, society as a whole can still (and should be) improved to help everyone.

Random stuff:

  • I immediately wanted to read normal!AU fic of All for One and Yoichi, featuring AFO being a baka aniki, as soon as the backstory dropped 😂 I'm so predictable.
  • Y'all will never make me hate Iida's hair. He's my son, the goodest boi. The squarest son.
  • The art was consistently amazing throughout this season! Definitely went out with a bang on that front.

Fic title meme

Dec. 27th, 2025 02:14 pm[personal profile] tropicsbear
tropicsbear: Chibi Kamado Tanjiro from Kimetsu no Yaiba serving ebi tempura (KnY: Tanjiro cafe art)

Doing that meme that I saw floating around on my Reading page a while back because I currently lack the motivation to do anything else. (This took me way too long to write.)

How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

Cut for length and some commentary! )

⏾ 016

Dec. 26th, 2025 09:47 pm[personal profile] visualjyushi
visualjyushi: (Default)
I spent about two hours last night trying to figure out how to make English patches work on my modded ps vita. It was kind of a headache, but I did it. I'm excited about finally being able to play at least one of the Amnesia fandisks now. Also, Dialovers!!! It's kind of crazy that I've been into these series for a decade and am only now getting to play them... Wild. I just have to get through a short shift at work tomorrow, and then I have a week off to potentially play through some 👀

Before work today, I also finished styling a wig for one of my cosplans. My spouse is obsessed with Lyney from Genshin Impact and thrifted his cosplay hoping he'd fit in it, but it actually fits me better. So, I'm going to be my spouse's anime husband for one of our next cons. (I also like Lyney but not quite to the same extent LOL.) I finally got his wig done today. I just need to make some minor alterations on the cosplay itself before it's con-ready. It's looking like we're both probably going to be doing a lot of Genshin cosplays next year. Unless a new hyperfixation emerges...

I think around the time I started posting here, I mentioned working on a Cloud cosplay. Which I plan to do again!! His wig got totally destroyed by Boston wind and sitting in my car for days after that so... I will be fixing him sometime soon. I only wore him for one day, and it wasn't a con. I want to actually bring him to one next year!!! Especially since my partner wants to be Aerith again as well. The last time he wore her, I was Noctis instead lol.
tozka: A bit of green landscape against a riotous blue cloud-filled sky (van gogh landscape)

Happy Friday! Here's some links-- deliberately focused on positive things, to give some end-of-year cheer.

Media of Various Types

Food & Crafts & Art

Social Media

RSS Feeds

  • mixed color (RSS) a great blog about embroidery, sewing, dying, etc!
  • Winnie Lim (RSS) writes very enjoyable blog posts about life and the things that happen therein
  • sortition social is a community RSS feed reader! It selects a random feed from their (user-submitted?) database and added to the timeline for 7 days

<- previous linkspam | link library | all link posts ->

hamsterwoman: (ASOIAF -- Hermes Tyrell sandal)
B is back and appears to have somehow given me his jetlag, because I was awake around 5 a.m. and then got up about half an hour later so he could make me coffee and eggs, since he was making himself some.

I’m consequently a bit bleary for anything productive, but might as well post some Yuletide recs:

recs for Ballad of Wallis Island, Doctrine of Labyrinths, D&D:HAT, The Odyssey, Philosopher's Flight, R&G Are Dead, Some Desperate Glory, Summer in Orcus, and a couple of 5 min fandoms )

*

I think new fandom developments are unlikely in the next 5 days, so I might as well do the year-end fandom meme:

Fandom end-of-year meme: fandom meme #1 )
sonofgodzilla: (Acchan Christmas ~ !)
Title: Dreaming Doll
Universe: Mahou Sensei Negima!
Prompt: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: S02E09 - For Whom the Bell Trolls
Character(s): Konoe Konoka/Karakuri Chachamaru
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Carefully, she stole a glance at the other girl, her round face, her dark hair, the kindness of her eyes, the gentleness of her smile. All of this was so that she might confess her feelings, but what if you could fall in love with more than one person?
Length: 468 words
Author's Notes: WWTHYWC! #23. Merry, merry Boxing Day, friends 🎄🎉🎁💝🍰 Takes place around episode #24 of the live action show. also: external link.

chacha

Dreaming Doll )

Warm my bones.

Dec. 25th, 2025 08:18 pm[personal profile] hannah
hannah: (Jack Aubrey - katie8787)
My parents' apartment building is in a U shape, and on the roof, the bottom of the U is the social area - tables, chairs, plants, tiles. The two sides are closed off from general use - the water tower, electrical system access, stuff where you need it clear for safety.

I recently found out someone's been sneaking up onto the roof to smoke, and they've been doing it in the social area, or so close to it to make no difference. I figure that if they could smoke in their apartment, they would, so this is probably someone's kid, and it's easier to go to the roof to smoke than head out to the breezeway next to the building.

My concern's not any of that, but rather that they're doing it badly. When I was told about the sneaking, I remarked that they'd do better to sneak farther away from the social area so the smell doesn't linger. I said if it's cigarettes, they should do it over the breezeway so they can tap the ash away, and if they're really dedicated, they should bring along a tin of some kind to carry the refuse away with them to dispose of the evidence later. The smoking's one thing to protest, and what really gets to me is the person's total lack of tradecraft.

Profile

heartsfate: Wuthering Waves (Default)
Gaelle

December 2025

S M T W T F S
 123456
7891011 1213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Dec. 29th, 2025 10:02 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios