kaydeefalls | Reading

Current Mood: sad

I've been slowly making my way through some of the new vids from this year's Festivids and, oh, do I miss vidding. A song that I used in a vid myself years ago came up on a Spotify playlist earlier, and I could still pretty much see the entire vid playing in my head as I was listening to it.

Part of me really wants to try to get back into it, but I know that I don't have the spoons for it. Not right now. I'd basically be starting from scratch when it comes to the various programs needed to properly vid, and even if I were to somehow get the spoons together to go to the trouble of getting everything I'd need? I'd still have to find the time for it. I barely have time to write fanfiction sometimes, and I can fit it in at work or on the bus - neither of which would be an option with vidding.

But, oh, that doesn't make me miss it any less.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2735.html

Episode 2735: Executive Summary

It's interesting here that Kylo didn't collapse until after the sword was turned off. What if he'd collapsed while it was still on? I guess the movie wouldn't have received a PG rating.

How can you use this in your own games? Well, you can adjust the gore settings to suit the maturity and preferences of your players. Describing gouts of blood and bits of limbs or intestines flying everywhere isn't the norm in most games, but you can definitely turn it up if that's the mood you want to go for, such as if you're emulating the vibe of a slasher film. Just make sure all your players are on board for it.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

For having just been stabbed with a laser sword, Kylo is awfully talkative. That's just comic text of course, but he's also still sitting upright after having fallen down. I'd say he's probably bleeding out at the moment, but laser swords cauterize where they cut, so this might just be shock.

Anyway, you should just leave him here, Rey! I know you're not going to just chop his head off now that Kylo's on the ground as that's more obviously evil, but at least just forget about him and go find his ship! He'd mentioned having another pyramid, so stealing that and getting off this wreck with Finn and Jannah should be the priority. Oh, and chuck that goofy lightsaber of his off the wreck as well; nobody needs something like that.

So what's "I won't be" supposed to mean here, anyway? Are we going to have an obvious time travel component now where Rey tries to stop herself? That would be really weird for Star Wars, but I can't think what else that would mean. It's hard to undo something that's already happened without time travel.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2735.html

ranalore

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Location: gettin' ready to call it a night

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muccamukk

Niel Gaiman is trying on a redemption tour.

I should've stayed in fucking bed.

muccamukk

Watch on YouTube

I used to love K'NAAN, but I hadn't seen this one, and ran into it because it was a past winner of the award Raye just got for "Ice Cream Man" (the Harry Belafonte Best Song For Social Change Award).

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3202/

Originally, the ceremony used a variety of rodents and mustelids, but over time most people agreed it made sense to standardize on a specific individual ground squirrel in Pennsylvania.

https://xkcd.com/3202/

muccamukk

Misc PSA from various BlueSky users: If you see the research study conducted by Ayagdos, don't participate in it. It's run by transphobes.
More details in the thread.

Fandom Stuff!

bring her bleeding heart to me promo banner

fiachairecht's annual Dark Femslash Comment fest!

halfamoon is currently running with daily prompts for fanworks about female characters. (I'm not even trying to participate this year, but I love that it's still going.)

dreamersdare: Stuff I Love: Top Ten Edition (February Challenge)
Each week in February, you are challenged to write a themed top ten list, with a focus on different aspects of media.

Fandom Stuff: The Hockey Gays Edition

CBCArts: Heated Rivalry's Harrison Browne is fighting the good fight for trans hockey players | Here & Queer (Video: 11 minutes).
There is zero mention of HR in this video, but Browne's current project sounds cool!

Province of Canada: Sign Up for Fleece Updates
I guess fans lost the push to make that fleece official merch for the Canadian Olympic team in like two weeks, but you will be able to buy it at some point.

Out Sports: Empty Netters host privately called Heated Rivalry ‘trash,’ show creators ‘losers’ and ‘cowards’
Ah, there's the hockey culture I know.
ETA: The guys have apologised, and there are misrepresentations in the article I linked (because the reporter is shitty). However, I think the underlying homophobia stands.

Canadian Politics
House of Commons: Petition e-7005 (Health)
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to ensure all eligible residents of Canada can access required healthcare, including gender affirming healthcare, as outlined in the Canada Health Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
(Open to all citizens and residents of Canada. Don't forget you need to confirm your signature via email.)

CBC: Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild — Greenlandic Inuit and their fight for independence (Podcast: 49 minutes, no transcript.)

Parody Site: Sponsor a Separatist!
(Possibly mean spirited, but I got a laugh out of it.)

The Tyee: As Supports Dwindle, Violence Against Sex Workers Is Up
Women are worried that conditions could lead to another serial killer operating in the Lower Mainland. A Tyee deep dive.

U.S. Politics ( Cut for those who need the break )

musesfool

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Stray Italian Greyhound - Vienna Teng

Bridgerton season 4, part 1: ( spoilers )

So yeah, I definitely think this season has been firing on all cylinders (excellent musical choices as well, especially the Paramore cover), and thankfully we only have to wait a few weeks for part 2.

*

muccamukk

(Layout from

thewitchoftheforest right here.)

1. In what areas of my life do I need a fresh start?
Ten of Pentacles

2. How can I nurture myself at this time?
Five of Cups

3. What practical ways can I do this?
Eight of Wands (Reversed)

4. What seeds of intention should I plant?
Eight of Swords

5. What must I do to nurture those intentions?
The Priestess.

Like fucking fine, I guess! It's reasonable advice. Not in love with both the Five of Cups and the Eight of Swords in one reading, but that's not out of line with how things have been going, either. I like the Priestess.

settiai

Current Mood: impressed

holly_poly went live earlier today, and my gift this year was a lovely Baldur's Gate 3 F/F/F longfic. 💕

We're Stronger Now. Lae'zel/Shadowheart/(Female Black Dragonborn Eldritch Knight) Tav. 11,343 words. Set in Act 3.

chacusha posting in

crackthewip

Hi WIP-pers! Hopefully you've had time to sign up for Crack the WIP 2026 (if not, the sign up post is over here). Now that we're one month into 2026, let us know how your projects are going! Have you decided on your WIP yet? Added some words or work to it? Done some daydreaming about it? Been finishing up some other work in preparation for sitting down with your WIP?

Feel free to share a short/small snippet if you like! Also, feel free to encourage people in what they're working on too. (If someone is venting/complaining about their WIP, though, please don't assume they want advice unless they explicitly ask for some!)

umadoshi

Current Mood: exhausted

One link, which hopefully won't be paywalled: "Rachel Reid's wild Heated Rivalry ride" at The Globe and Mail. The whole "local girl makes good" element of the HR show taking over the world is a very nice cherry on top of the whole thing, and I really liked this profile.

Reading: I'm maybe 30% into Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl and wavering about continuing. I've gotten better about DNFing things, and this time I actually have the book out of the library, so the good old financial sunk-cost fallacy isn't in play. But I still don't like DNFing.

I've also read some more of Braiding Sweetgrass and reread vol. 2 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

Watching: Crunchyroll wasn't in the mood to work when we attempted to watch last week's ep. of Frieren, so we're two episodes behind on that. (Annoyingly, Netflix keeps saying it thinks we'd love the show, but only has season 1.) Hopefully we'll get caught up on the most recent ep. of The Pitt tonight.

On top of those currently-running things, we're now one episode into Midnight Mass.

Playing: Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven continues to delight me.

Weathering: There's another storm heading in, due to arrive tonight, but it looks like it's veered enough that our local forecast is now for a somewhat more reasonable amount of snow than I'd been hearing before yesterday evening or so. Apparently it's also bringing fairly high winds, so there's the usual "will the power stay on?" worry. (Our neighborhood has been really lucky on that front this season, and

scruloose and I are pretty well prepared, so it's not a huge worry.)

Working: I turned in the final volume (!) of Pet Shop of Horrors on Friday and immediately tried to switch to the next volume of Now That We Draw, since that's due mid-week, but my brain was Not Having It; I suspect it was the sheer tonal dissonance as much as anything. But then yesterday, what with the storm warning and all, I basically did the last four-fifths of the book in one sitting to make sure I at least had a workable draft, and now my brain is pretty crisped. (It's not a very text-heavy or tricky rewrite, and the translators make it pretty painless, so four-fifths is a lot at once but not the feat it would be with some series.)

So now I have a draft with just a couple tweaks still to be made and a final read-through to be done, and I'm tempting fate a bit by not trying to get that all off my plate today, but I think letting it rest for a day before reviewing it is extra important given that I did the draft so fast. So I'm gambling a bit, but also have something I can submit with caveats if need be, if we do lose power for three days or something.

Sleeping: Sleep has been distinctly Not Great for the last few (?) nights. I've been doing decently at getting to bed in a timely fashion and mostly not taking forever to fall asleep, but I've been having even weirder and more stressful dreams than usual and it's all been very restless.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2734.html

Episode 2734: Catch-Jujitsu

Rolling to avoid danger or consequences is often a thing in many games. Less often, it might be stated in the rules that a player may elect to automatically fail such a roll, without even bothering to roll the dice. This provides the option of deliberately wanting to get hit or take the damage or suffer the danger. It's not often that it would come up during a game, but in many cases it realistically should be an option, even if the rules don't explicitly allow it.

On the other hand, there may be cases where you can't consciously choose to fail at avoiding danger. For example, if elves have an innate resistance to charm spells - maybe it's something they can't turn off. So you don't necessarily have to allow voluntary failures all the time.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Definitely saved by scene changes, though I was not expecting Kylo to get stabbed. Even with the argument points Kylo was making just two comics ago that fit with this outcome, it still seemed extremely unlikely an outcome. Okay, if I'd thought things through more, someone was going to end up injured or dead here barring another spaceship rescue. I'd been hoping we'd get an arm or leg loss, so Kylo losing his stomach is a little extreme by comparison.

Hmmm. So how does this all square with that japor snippet Kylo has now? Does it just not work anymore as its warranty expired? Will Kylo end up making a miraculous recovery after Rey leaves him for dead? For a really unsatisfactory option, was this all just a vision that happened to get so out of hand that Finn and Jannah saw it as well? Admittedly, that would solve the problem of Kylo showing up on the planet and at this wreck so fast, but something was solid enough for Rey to grab and stab with.

I do like how this all works out to prove Pete exactly wrong. It even took me a moment to realize what happened too!

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2734.html

muccamukk

I'm still really enjoying it! I think episode three was a little woobly for me (I don't enjoy school bully plots, even if they come to a good resolution), but the others have been great, and I love how the episodic nature is letting us get to know all of the characters better, not just focusing on Caleb and Ake (though Caleb and Ake are great!). And there's 1.5 queer couples!

I like how much of it is about building a better future. The characters come from different cultures, and come with a certain amount of damage because the stable government hasn't been there for them, and that's an organic part of the plot too. So, the kids are trying to grow up and figure out who they are, and they've also found themselves at a pivot point of history, when the Federation tries to decide what it wants to be. It's a lot of the same themes as DS9 dealt with in the later seasons (though in that case, fending off what the Federation ought not to be, which I guess Picard was trying to do too, but in a very cludgy way). I like the credits being about growth and building (though could take or leave the theme), and the show also being that.

And yes I have been watching Jessie Gender again, but one of the things I agree with her about is how it's not leaning very hard on nostalgia, or trying to recreate a Star Trek the show runners grew up with, which honestly a lot of post-Voyager shows have leaned on. (Though Discovery didn't especially land for me, and I never gave it enough of a chance, I think it at least was trying to do something different, so it makes sense that it created the setting for SFA.) Like the shows I loved most, and which re-invented what the show could be in the '90s, they're not on a ship called Enterprise, and they're not on an exploratory mission backed by the strength of the Federation (and don't forget that people loathed every single one of the '90s shows on grounds of: "They changed it, and I don't like it!") The main challenges in SFA are different because the main characters are students, but the way of poking at moral themes remains. The show is about them building a better world, personally and politically, with respect for and in conversation with the world building that came before, but not beholden to it as a prefect object, and I'm really loving that.

(The mix of earnestness and silliness reminds me of this hilarious short by

SoOkayHeresTheThing: What It's Like to Watch Star Trek. Summarised in One Minute.)

I especially really liked these specific spoilery things: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x02 and 1x04. )

Two beats that I absolutely hated, for balance: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x01 and 1x02 )

ranalore

Current Mood: mischievous
Current Location: high cold snowless desert

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musesfool

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Not Enough Time - INXS

I should have done the boiling milk in the new pot thing last night, but I didn't so my bread-baking was a little delayed until I did that, waited for the pot to cool, and cleaned it, so the dough could do its second rise in it. The dough does rise, so that was not an issue at all. I might have overcooked it a titch - the bottom was a darker brown than I'd prefer - but it's a beautiful boule (pic). It only tasted okay, though, I guess we'll see how it tastes tomorrow and the day after, and with butter instead of cream cheese. *hands*

Then this afternoon I watched the Miracle on Ice documentary on Netflix, which was really good - that team is the reason I became a hockey fan, and specifically a Rangers fan, so they have a lot to answer for! Kidding! I'm kidding. It was lovely to see so many of them in the present, watching them watch their younger selves.

And then after dinner, I watched the s3 premiere of Shrinking, which made me laugh a lot and also tear up. They are all so ridiculous and I love them. And I read it already got renewed for a season 4! So that's good.

I also did the January recs update:

unfitforsociety has been updated for January 2026 with 17 story recs and 1 vid rec in 3 fandoms:

* 16 Heated Rivalry
* 1 The Good Place story and 1 Avatar the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra vid

If you are reading HR fic, there is probably nothing new there for you, since most of those recs came from you all, but maybe there's something new for you to enjoy? I still have so much Batfamily fic open in tabs that I want to get back to reading, and still more HR fic and some Pitt fic open as well. I've just been mostly unable to settle in with any of it, and have instead been slowly continuing my DCC reread, with occasional notes. *hands*

*

dhampyresa

Over course of the first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms the main character's name goes from "Dunk" to "Ser Duncan the Tall".

At this rate, the last episode will just be him introducing himself.

elipie posting in

festivids

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festivids_mod posting in

festivids

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settiai

Current Mood: tired

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

renay posting in

ladybusiness

This week I learned about the Golden Poppy Award! I'd never heard of it before.

The California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA) presents the 2025 Golden Poppy Awards in recognition of the most distinguished books written and illustrated by creators who have made California their home.

There's tons of categories, I made a direct dash to the Octavia E. Butler Award for science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Winner: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Kill the Beast by Serra Swift
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
Red City by Marie Lu

I dug into the Intergalactic Mixtape archives to see what reviewers were saying about these books, because this is one of my most favorite nerdy things to do. I had reviews for Automatic Noodle, The Night and the Moth, Notes from a Regicide, and Red City. Alas, I had none for Kill the Beast, which is interesting because it came out in October, after I had expanded my review sources. But! The mixtape is still a baby.

If you like reading multiple opinions of books, this may interest you! ( Read more... )

muccamukk

Because I haven't seen many people note it, ( U.S. politics, specifically the church protest )

Also in the news today: Melissa Nathan, Justin Baldoni and Johnny Depp's Crisis PR attack dog, she of all the rat fucking and smear campaigns, is (shockingly!) in the Epstein files quite a bit. She did crisis PR for both Jeffrey Epstein, and the Alexander brothers (currently on trial for rape).

Of course, there's still an army of bots in YouTube comments sections insisting that Baldoni did nothing wrong, and is just the nicest guy, and it's all that evil witch's doing. Etc.

musesfool

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: The Great Divide - Noah Kahan

Ugh, this week felt like it was EIGHT WEEKS long, and everyone I spoke to at work today agreed. I did not get everything on my to do list done but I don't even care. There was no way I was focusing on much after a 2 hour team meeting. I logged off at 4:45 and took a glorious nap, and then put together the dough for everything bread, which I will bake tomorrow.

In other news, I was so sorry to hear Catherine O'Hara died. RIP. What a legend!

*

I really enjoyed last night's episode of The Pitt. Again, my brain is soup, so I'm not really up for saying much about it, but I did literally yell, "NO!" when the credits rolled. Sometimes I am okay with an episode ending (or at least it feels like it reached a good stopping point) but last night was not one of those times.

This weekend, I will watch the new episode of Shrinking, plus the new episodes of Bridgerton, and possibly I will continue with Pluribus, which I didn't love but kind of want to see why everyone else raves about it. It could click at some point or it could be like Severance, which I also don't love the way many other people do. *hands* Sometimes, that's just how it goes.

*

settiai

Current Mood: accomplished

When it comes to Baldur's Gate 3, I try to have at least three playthroughs going at any given time. Specifically, I try to have one playthrough (or more) that's currently in each of the three acts of the game, so that I can switch to a different one if I need something new. Once my Act 1 playthrough reaches Act 2, I'll start a new one. (Or sometimes I'll start a new one before then. I don't always have just three playthroughs going at once. Three is the minimum number.)

On that note, Taviana is currently in Act 3 while Apophis is currently in Act 2. Which means I also have an Act 1 playthrough going right now as well.

Meet Lilith, my resist Dark Urge.

Minor spoilers for Act 1, but nothing for later ones.

( More under the cut. )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3201/

There's also a proof without content of a conjecture without content, but it's left as an exercise for the reader.

https://xkcd.com/3201/

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kaydeefalls

January 2026

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Page Summary

settiai - Vidding
darths_and_droids_feed - Episode 2735: Executive Summary
ranalore - and now, for something completely threesentenceficathon
muccamukk - Ugh
muccamukk - Music Monday
xkcd_feed - Groundhog Day Meaning
muccamukk - Links List: Total Mixed Bag!
musesfool - this feeling calls for everything I can’t afford to know
muccamukk - Tarot Reading for Imbolc
settiai - Holly Poly
chacusha in crackthewip - February progress post
umadoshi - Weekly proof of life: media intake | impending weather | manga work
darths_and_droids_feed - Episode 2734: Catch-Jujitsu
muccamukk - Some Fairly Surface Level Star Trek: Starfleet Academy thoughts
ranalore - no historians were harmed in the making of this product
musesfool - attempting to make sense of my aching heart
dhampyresa - Someone stop this man!
elipie in festivids - Guess the Festividder 2025
festivids_mod in festivids - Festivids is live!
settiai - Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 1/30 Game
renay in ladybusiness - Golden Poppy Book Awards 2025: Octavia E. Butler Award
muccamukk - A couple political/religious comments
musesfool - but we ain't friends, we're just morons
settiai - Baldur's Gate 3: Lilith
xkcd_feed - Proof Without Content

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Page generated Feb. 4th, 2026 02:02 am

fellow explorers

Reading

Vidding

Episode 2735: Executive Summary

Transcript

and now, for something completely threesentenceficathon

Ugh

Music Monday

Groundhog Day Meaning

Links List: Total Mixed Bag!

this feeling calls for everything I can’t afford to know

Tarot Reading for Imbolc

Holly Poly

February progress post

Weekly proof of life: media intake | impending weather | manga work

Episode 2734: Catch-Jujitsu

Transcript

Some Fairly Surface Level Star Trek: Starfleet Academy thoughts

no historians were harmed in the making of this product

attempting to make sense of my aching heart

Someone stop this man!

Guess the Festividder 2025

Festivids is live!

Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 1/30 Game

Golden Poppy Book Awards 2025: Octavia E. Butler Award

A couple political/religious comments

but we ain't friends, we're just morons

Baldur's Gate 3: Lilith

Proof Without Content

Profile

January 2026

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