Murderbot Day
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
https://filmstories.co.uk/news/murderbot-designing-a-future-world-that-doesnt-look-like-alien/
“I started out by taking the most ancient societies on each continent – Etruscans, Asian, European, and African cultures,” Chan tells us. “I looked at the most fundamental motifs and gathered them into a bible, then asked my team to imagine 100 generations from now, when the diaspora of Earth have chosen to live together in society. How would they evolve a unified set of symbols? A language that really honours where they came from.”
This informed the alphabet that can be seen in the decoration painted across the otherwise grey, corporate habitat the PresAux crew are leasing. At the same time, acknowledging how much of the crew is queer and polyamorous, the colours of the rainbow are also entwined into their decorations.
“All of that is mashed up but it has a fundamental logic to it,” says Chan.
* Interview with Akshay Khanna (Ratthi):
https://squaremile.com/style/akshay-khanna-murderbot-actor-interview/
I’m incredibly excited for people to watch Murderbot on Apple TV+. Sci-fi has been my favourite genre by a country mile forever, and being on a show like this has always been a career goal of mine. Frankly, I had too much fun filming that show, and getting paid to do it constantly felt like I was getting away with something on set.
And the show is just so good. I can confidently say it’s fantastic – and if you don’t like it, then I would gently tell you that it’s OK to be wrong sometimes.
* Interview with Sabrina Wu (Pin-Lee):
https://www.autostraddle.com/sabrina-wu-interview-murderbot/
And then once I got the role, I read the books and I was legit just blown away at how funny the books were. I just haven’t seen such a dry sarcastic sensibility with this kind of hero sci-fi stories. And then I also just really liked that it was in the tradition of I felt like Octavia Butler, where it’s like, “oh, this is a queer imagining of the future.” So I don’t know. I just thought it was a really sweet, funny, different world. I also, obviously every comedian who becomes an actor, their dream is to get to work on something with action to move beyond an It’s Always Sunny kind of comedy. I believe there was already an opportunity for me to be in a spaceship and shoot guns, and it just made me happy that it was genuinely funny source material.
* Video interview with Tattiawna Jones (Arada) and Tamara Podemski (Bharadwaj):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NllgfEekw9s
* And a video interview with Noma Dumezweni (Mensah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZpigqUqZXQ
* and a video interview with Noma and David Dastmalchian (Gurathin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=361cKOujISE
* And a video interview (with a transcript) with Alexander Skarsgard, Jack McBrayer, and Paul and Chris Weitz:
https://collider.com/murderbot-alexander-skarsgard-jack-mcbrayer-creators-paul-weitz-chris-weitz/
* And there is a profile of me in The New Yorker (!!)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/do-androids-dream-of-anything-at-all
coda (until I bring you home)
Jun. 13th, 2025 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Summary: Twenty years in prison and one night out.
Missing/supplemental scene from until I bring you home.
Fandom: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Characters: Klavier Gavin/Daryan Crescend
Rating: G
Warnings: Implied prison violence, brief disorientation at the beginning
Notes: I re-read until I bring you home again recently and it made me remember that my original notes had a potential alternate scene at the 20-year mark. It didn't end up in the final fic for a lot of reasons, but the concept was sweet, so I wrote it when I needed a quick project to get past a little writer's block.
( the first night out of prison )
SGA: Walk Beside Me by Rachel500
Jun. 13th, 2025 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Characters/Pairings: Gen. Teyla Emmagan & Sam Carter, Evan Lorne
Rating: Teen
Length: 8824
Content Notes: canon-typical violence, minor character death
Creator Links: Rachel500 on AO3, ArwenLune on AO3, ArwenLune on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Female relationships, Action/adventure, Friendship, Women being awesome
Summary: When a diplomatic mission is interrupted by the Wraith, Sam and Teyla wrestle their personal demons to work together and find a way back to Atlantis.
Reccer's Notes:
This is set soon after Sam Carter comes to Atlantis to replace Elizabeth, and both she and Teyla initially grapple with her new role. Teyla, unlike John and Rodney, had no prior knowledge of Sam Carter and can't help missing Elizabeth and not fully trusting Carter. Then a mission goes badly wrong and they're thrown together, and have to find a way through their feelings as they deal with the dangerous situation. It's a gripping read with interesting character explorations and a satisfying ending. There's also a podfic version, excellently read by ArwenLune.
Fanwork Links: Walk Beside Me on AO3
And the Podfic, read by ArwenLune
(no subject)
Jun. 13th, 2025 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(Why am I awake? who knows.)
What We Weading Wednesday
Jun. 11th, 2025 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Currently Reading:
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie - I remember reading a few early Abercrombie books and liking them while thinking they were just a bit overlong and overwrought. That's still my view, but I am weak to heists and this one is entertaining if you can stand Abercrombie's particularly grungy and body-fluid-spattered style.
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov - :sigh: I'd evidently put it on my holds list even though I didn't enjoy the last one very much, and I took it just with an air of "oh fine, whatever". I suspect that i am going to DNF this, as there will be the recurrence of a character who I thought was really stupidly dealt with in the last Robots book (someone who's let off the hook for a murder because of egregiously -ist reasons that I just can't overlook).
Just Finished: Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland and That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming. Both very good. The former is um..."pirates+heist+surprisingly complex interpersonal dynamics+hyperactive main character who is a Whole Mood". Loved it! The latter is "very light-hearted but still quite funny fantasy romance about two grumpy people falling in love oh and one is a dragon".
Up Next: I'd still like to read Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil by Stephen Batchelor again. Also I'll be picking up my copy of Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes today. I dunno, I have had a solid hit and a very bad miss with this author, we'll see how this one lands.
(no subject)
Jun. 11th, 2025 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
NIH scientists call on director to protect biomedical research
Hundreds of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a call for action they dubbed the Bethesda Declaration on Monday to push back against cutbacks and changes at the biomedical research agency.
I'd like to point out that the people who signed this are actual people who work directly for NIH. It is extremely brave for them to speak out like this, especially since it's so unlikely that anyone will listen to them.
Trails of Cold Steel: Moon Door IV: Beyond
Jun. 7th, 2025 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Pairings/Characters:
Laura S. Arseid/Duvalie, Ines/Ennea, Victor S. Arseid/McBurn
appearances by other assorted Cold Steel characters and hints of other ships Rating: M
Length: 22442 words
Creator Links: Rosie_Rues
Theme:
Grief/Mourning, Dreamsharing, Recovery, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, changing roles in life, loss of limb
Summary: With the Great Twilight over, Duvalie follows Laura home to Legram. She's not entirely sure why she's here, or when she's going to leave, but she can't bring herself to regret her choice.
Meanwhile, Victor's dreaming of the only man in the universe still willing to offer him a challenge...
Reccer's Notes: While I have read this fic several times, the most recent was some time ago, I always remember it as being roughly half of one ship and half of another- I note this here because one of those ships is M/M. In my rereading, I see the balance is more 2/3 to 1/3, with the bulk of it being the theme-compliant Laura/Duvalie, who begins as something of a lost and reluctant guest in Laura's home in the wake of the loss of the woman who saved her. The emotional metamorphosis of Duvalie's canonical hostility towards Laura- already very much blunted as the story opens, turn to friendship and later towards attraction is an absolute treasure. There are many smaller moments of many relationships of varying sorts between her and otter female characters throughout the story, some of which absolutely beg for stories of their own.
The M/M ships is Victor/McBurn, and they are a prominent part of the story- really a story occurring in parallel, but separately- until it suddenly isn't. While I don't want to dwell on them in this post as they are not germane to the theme, it bears mentioning that they are there in case they would turn anyone off from reading. But I will say that their development is quite astounding, a sword master who has lost an arm, a god who has lost his world and any connection to it and what they become to each other.
This fic deals with grief in many forms, over many different kinds of loss, from loss of friends, comrades in arms, loss of a limb, loss of connection to oneself and an entire world. It's all very sensitively written, and even the absolutely fantastical loss of a god from another dimension with his entire world somehow becomes much less fantastical than one might expect.
There are also themes of many different changes in life that come with time passing and with dealing with these griefs. Oh, and the very cracky-sounding, but utterly sincerely dealt with coping with the shock of learning that your father is banging the demon god from another dimension. (that needs to be a tag, ok)
This is just one of my favorite ever fics, by one of my favorite authors.
Fanwork Links: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45897169
Sonata in F You: Chapter 10
Jun. 7th, 2025 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Chapter 10: anything you say can and will be held against you
AO3
Summary: Two weeks after his brother's second trial, Klavier Gavin is arrested for murder.
Fandom: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Characters: Klavier Gavin/Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin/Daryan Crescend, Ema Skye, Miles Edgeworth
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Canon-typical violence, murder mystery, language
Notes: The chapter title is originally from the Miranda warnings, but for title inspiration purposes I got it from Fall Out Boy's "Just One Yesterday".
( chapter 10: anything you say can and will be held against you )
Taskmaster: Team of Sue by thingswithwings
Jun. 7th, 2025 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Characters/Pairings: Sue Perkins/Susan Wokoma
Rating: Gen
Length: 00:02:06
Content Notes: no archive warnings apply, and there are no video-specific warnings.
Creator Links: thingswithwings on AO3
Themes: Female relationships, Friendship, Team, Humor
Summary: If you're lost, you can look, and you will find me.
Reccer's Notes: This is gorgeous and hilarious as the Sues stumble about carrying out the endless ridiculous tasks, laughing, triumphant, and always there for each other.
Fanwork Links: Team of Sue
(no subject)
Jun. 6th, 2025 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(I really need to learn enough photoshop to make a Klavdar icon.)
Catholic school 1940's Quebec
Jun. 5th, 2025 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
I've been reading up on the historical Catholic school system in Quebec, and I've gathered that until 1960 there were commonly Catholic schools that were supported by public funds (officially ended in the 90's). I've been able to find the names of some of the girl's schools, but haven't been able to easily find the names of any of the mixed or boy's schools below the high school level.
Anyone know any specific schools that could have served a 10-year old, working class, Catholic boy in Montreal or Quebec City ~1940?
Thanks!
(no subject)
Jun. 5th, 2025 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(Okay, I might, but still.)
(no subject)
Jun. 4th, 2025 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hey. Hey brain? WE HAD TWO ORGANS REMOVED. That was the point of the two weeks off!!!
I might be bad at taking vacations.
King Falls AM: the gallery of our bones by ryyves
Jun. 3rd, 2025 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Pairings/Characters: Lily Wright & Pippa James, Jack Wright & Lily Wright
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 8,492
Content Notes: Alcoholism, Missing Persons, Grief/Mourning
Creator Links: ryyves' Ao3
Theme: Female Relationships, Character Study, Angst
Summary:
Spoilers for King Falls AM episode 68, set before the first King Falls Chronicles (ep 56-57).
It’s far from the last email Lily gets about King Falls. Sometimes the name is hidden in postscripts, sometimes bright as highways at midnight, and every time it catches in Lily’s heart like a frightened canary, yellow and waning.
Lily doesn’t delete them, not one. She files them away in a quiet folder of her work email, so she doesn’t have to see them in her inbox. There are things that can be said with distance, and this is one of them: that if she deleted every mention of King Falls, she would delete every rope thrown to Jack. Every hope, or something that runs even deeper.
Some fear, perhaps, that she is not where she is supposed to be.
Or: Pippa puts up with way more of Lily's shit than she should have to.
Reccer's Notes: This is such a wonderful character study that explores Lily's character and gives her and Pippa's friendship a spotlight. The writing style is beautiful as well.
Fanwork Links: the gallery of our bones
Ghosts (US): you drew stars around my scars by OpalEssence
Jun. 3rd, 2025 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Pairings/Characters: Hetty & Flower
Rating: G
Length: 708 words
Creator Links: OpalEssence
Theme: female relationships
Summary: Following Season 2, Episode 5, when Hetty meets Molly the maid, she must attempt to come to terms with the fact that Elias' betrayal was entirely of his own will and desire. Luckily, Flower is there to help her move forward.
Reccer's Notes: The author of this fic does a great job capturing how these characters speak, especially Flower. It is a reflective, but wholesome scene, one that I could have very much seen playing out in the show.
Fanwork Links: AO3
(no subject)
Jun. 3rd, 2025 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Come on, brain, we need dinner. If you really want to write that bad, we have other projects!