fancyflautist: (Editor 3)
[personal profile] fancyflautist posting in [community profile] su_herald
Willow: What are you doing here?
Buffy: Well, I'm patrolling!
Willow: Buffy, you're sick.
Buffy: No, I feel fine. I mean, I'm... the world's spinning a little bit, but I like it, it's kinda like a ride.

~~Killed By Death~~




[Drabbles & Short Fiction]


[Chaptered Fiction]

  • Dreamwidth Logo
    • Better Late Than Never, Chapter 1 (Buffy, NR) by slaymesoftly
  • EF Logo
    • Gonna Lose the Chains, Baby?, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by RealtaCorcra
    • Playing With Fire, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, G) by stellugh
    • Band Candy Baby, Chapter 51 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Tikiriaaa
    • Magic Mayhap: The Toothpaste Incident, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Sarahvampgrl
    • Ready for it?, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms
    • What's Left of the Night, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Sirabella
  • Sunnydale After Dark Logo
    • The Gift, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Corvidae
    • Revelations, Chapter 46 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Niamh
    • Come as you are, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by runningwithdragons
    • Once They Were Friends, Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Grief Counseling
    • On the Run, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by zinjadu
    • She, with all a monarch's pride, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by zinjadu
    • Better Late Than Never, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by slaymesoftly

[Images, Audio & Video]


[Reviews & Recaps]


[Community Announcements]


[Fandom Discussions]


Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Today was a better day than yesterday for various and sundry reasons. Read more... )

***

I finished the Angelica Huston Memoir - "Watch Me" - which isn't that memorable, outside of a bittersweet ending, wherein she makes the point that of everything she's done, it's her connections with family, friends, and others that meant the most. Read more... )

Currently listening to Twelve Months by Jim Butcher - narrated by James Marsters. Not Marsters best voice work but still rather good.
And still reading The Botanist's Assistant by Peggy Townsend- which is basically a mystery with an autistic sleuth, whose six foot tall, and middle-aged. It's okay - I got it as a Xmas present. But it's slow moving.
[Note to self- stop picking up books rec'd by Smart Bitches. This one was - looked great and I asked for it for Xmas.]

***

Buffy S7 Rewatch - Get it Done, Ep. 15

Doug Petrie, God Bless Him, is not a good script writer. His dialogue, ugh. Cringe. Yes, I know he was credited for writing both Beneath Me and Fool for Love, but I also know both those episodes were heavily edited and rewritten by the show-runners and executive producers (Marti Noxon and Joss Whedon). Whedon and Noxon wrote all of the Spike and Buffy scenes in Fool for Love, taking turns. While Petrie wrote the Riley scenes. (He states this in the commentary for the episode, that's how I know. Petrie told us.) Whedon also rewrote and refilmed, and directed himself the second half of Beneath Me. Petrie's script was so awful, Whedon rewrote it, and directed it, and brought everyone back to film it over the weekend. And you can tell the difference. The dialogue in the first half of Beneath Me is cringe inducing in places.

Petrie wrote As You Were and Get it Done, and they have the same problems. He doesn't know how to write for Spike, Willow, Anya, or Dawn. Buffy is okay for the most part. Also he sucks at plotting, there are plot holes in this episode that you can drive a truck through. You can tell they didn't plan it out.

The other difficulty with Get it Done is...the writers want to be color blind? Read more... )

I get what they are trying to do and the power metaphors are interesting on a certain level. And Buffy's refusal of the power at whatever cost - is interesting as well, and direct demonstration of how she is different from the First's take on her or Caleb. But, the execution is clumsy at best, and it doesn't totally make sense? Read more... )

**

This is more about S7 as a whole, not just this episode - when Buffy moved over to UPN, UPN let the show-runners and producers know that they had to fulfill a diversity quota. Read more... )

Get It Done - unfortunately didn't have a strong enough writer to handle the world building, the cultural stuff, and the large cast. That said, there's a few isolated moments in there that work however. Spike's fight with the demon does. I spent some time trying to figure out why soulful Spike would have issues fighting demons or taking a demon life? Read more... )

I also wondered why he needed to get the coat to be able to do it? And realized finally that it's clarified in Sleeper or the song, Pavlov's Bell - "trading coats and ringing Pavlov's Bell is how I nearly fell" - that's what Spike has been doing all along. Read more... )

Overall - an interesting but deeply flawed episode. S7 like all the seasons has some clunky episodes in the middle. This is one of them.

Make of that what you will...just my own mutterings for my own amusement.

Off to bed.

(no subject)

4 February 2026 05:20 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
So since I moved here my living room tv, not a big one, and all the cable paraphernalia have been on the floor. I don't watch much in there and I didn't want to spend anything to get a table. It was far down on the list of things to buy. But I was eyeing a coffee table at the Fred Meyer's (grocery and department store in one) and there was a floor model very marked down.

The other day I said, if it's still there I'll get it. Original price about $150, bought for $42. That said, it's a wee bit too big for the space but the room has a less 'first apartment' vibe.

But the story (fascinating as it is) is even more interesting, because the same day I bought it I got a check in the mail for $53. A result of signing up for a class lawsuit suing somebody for something. A day of profit and a new table.
kerk_hiraeth: Me and Unidoggy Edinburgh Pride 2015 (Default)
[personal profile] kerk_hiraeth
 
      TITLE: It Must Be Tuesday [for Halfamoon 2026]

      AUTHOR: kerk hiraeth

      FANDOM: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (based on Jet Wolf's Chosenverse continuation);

      RATING: PG;

      LENGTH: 200;

      CHARACTER(s): Buffy Summers; Faith Lehane; Andrew Wells; Rina Aymara (OC);

     SUMMARY: Buffy's life as The Slayer; General; Commander-in-Chief is not all grim; nor being buried in paperwork and schedules. Sometimes she gets to appreciate the surreal insanity of the life she has built for herself.

     A/N: Written for halfamoon's 2026 festival Day Two prompt of Guilty Pleasures; this is a kind of follow up to a 2013 fic of mine, A Slayer's Moon; or the Many, and Varied Paths of the Sun, which was set much more clearly in Jet Wolf's world.

             This is more loosely connected to her Chosenverse, as well as being part of a loose connected series following Faith's bizarre, to everyone, friendship with Andrew Wells or 'The Dweeb' as she calls him. Rina Aymara is a near full-blooded member of the Aymara nation; people who lived mostly live in the Andes in Bolivia (I'll likely update this by posting that old fic here, even though the old lj link still works).

            The Star Trek episode obliquely referenced is the fifth season Deep Space Nine ep, ''Doctor Bashir, I Presume?''

 

     Rinsing out her mug and placing it carefully on the mug tree; Buffy double-checked that her laptop was securely disabled for the night and left her office.

   As she locked the door behind her, her attention was drawn to what sounded like an argument coming from the direction of the senior staff's common room. Sighing in frustration she heard; approaching the open door, what sounded like Faith and Andrew...

   Peering around the corner she heard something about 'bashing something?'

   Sat upright Faith; arm outstretched, had a finger pointed straight at 'the Dweeb's' head.

   His arms were waving wildly in hurt frustration, while Rina Aymara was sat between them; attempting to chew betel nuts while trying to stifle laughter over what she had clearly instigated.

   Buffy, taking in the Star Trek episode on the TV, caught Faith's eyes; at once panicked; embarrassed and threatening, and threw up her hands defensively and carefully withdrew from the battle, grinning like a Looney Toons character.

   Safely clear she turned; shaking her head.

   Whatever it was all about was hardly likely to be any more bizarre than a fifteen year old 'mean girl' being told she was The Chosen One, meant to protect the world from Vampires.

 


    Goddess watch over you,


     

    kerk

 
  Some additional info...
   ###

  http://www.native-languages.org/bolivia.htm

 

  bolivianexpress.org/magazine-sub-item/71

 

   3. Rina Aymara = Aymara path. This unusual name is also quite controversial as it clearly shows the desire of the parents to reconnect with indigenous roots. It also denotes a pragmatic and ambitious personality, a life which will follow a clear path.

 

  1. Inti = Sun. he sun is a crucial deity for the Aymara; part of the sacred couple of Sun and Moon who, together with the Pachamama (Mother Earth) created the world. To be called Inti is an honour, and Inti has a responsibility to guide others; he has to work from the earliest hours of the day!
  ###

 




Oldest book

4 February 2026 09:44 pm
trepkos: (Default)
[personal profile] trepkos
We used to live in York, where there was an old church which frequently held charity sales of second (or more) hand books, which we used to buy each other as christmas or birthday presents back when we were poor!

One I still have was an etymological dictionary published in 1879. An older one is the complete works of Ben Jonson published 1858.

I also have an old Rubaiyat, which is undated, but like the Ben Jonson, has hand-cut pages.
beccaelizabeth: my Watcher tattoo in blue, plus Be in red Buffy style font (Default)
[personal profile] beccaelizabeth
I bought the Book of Many Things and as with many rpg books I haven't so much read it as flicked through and got distracted by specific sections repeatedly.

Harrowhall, the castle setting you get if you draw the Throne card, actually really annoys me.

For one, they say Keep to mean a whole castle with an outer wall and a courtyard. The Keep is the bit in the middle, not the whole thing. That's what the word means.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep

For another, the art work, the map, and the description, are not a good match for each other. Read more... )

It's sloppy, is all, just a lack of joined up thinking, and I don't know if it is keywording correctly for a DnD 5e product but in Pathfinder it is implying game mechanical features the map does not provide.

The map annoys me too. The shape of the castle is not one that you would design for a defensive structure.
Read more... )


I do like the size of the library. Even using Stronghold Builder Guide units there's room for 12 stronghold spaces in there, at least. That's room for 24 to 36 book lots, which is at least 8 comprehensive book lots for +4s in those rules, maybe 12. Which is all the knowledges covered. Only six master lots at 6 book lots space for +6 each in SBG terms. But the description says it covers all sorts, so a +4 may be implied by space constraints. Though you can also argue 15 stronghold spaces for even more Knowledges covered.
1, 3, 6 book lots for +2 +4 +6.
The description does mention speculative fiction though. Personal experience says you can fill a lot of shelves with spec fic.

In Pathfinder terms though a Book Repository is 4 to 12 squares, and there are... four times as many four square sections as there are stronghold spaces. Even 12 squares is smaller than the 16 squares in a Space. +3 to all Knowledges and a Magical Repository made of the previous owner's specialist collection is therefore supported by the text. With shelves a plenty to spare. Four squares does only mean shelves down the outside of a 10 foot corridor, the drawings only make it look like the shelves are five foot deep. All these ten foot gaps are so Large beings can browse without squeezing. Which is polite and accessible.
A +3 bonus is between the +2 one lot and +4 3 lots so I guess it has to be 2 book lots. Meaning you'd need 3 of it to be +6 sized. Meaning it would fit in the 12 squares not the 4.
... I am getting deja vu and probably wrote this down earlier.

All these bonuses are for one hour of study though. The number of books has to be pretty limited to get exactly the relevant stuff in one hour. And/Or theres an excellent card catalogue.

... or there's not much to know so it's easy to be brilliant...

Also Harrowhall states the whole group and bonus help together can find a specific book in 10 minutes.
I think maybe this is incompatible with the one hour knowledge, or maybe the book was mis shelved or deliberately concealed.


The Harrowhall also has an Observatory Read more... )

Also, there are big windows in the chapel and the throne room.
Or, bonus doors with bonus expensive vandalism.

Wait the Throne Room is on the ground floor and states its ceilings are 20 feet tall.
How? There's no gap above it, and the intro says rooms in Harrowhall have ten foot ceilings.
There's no steps down into the Throne Room, there's no steps up in the area above it.
This is a geometrically impossible feature that redesigns the whole ground floor of Harrowhall in contradiction to the written description.

I mean it helps for the illustration but it's explicitly said two contradictory things here.



I've been writing this for over an hour now and it's just me grouching about things no one else is reading.

But it is Sloppy. Three components of one physical description and the writing can't agree with the writing let alone the map and illustrations.

In a hardback fully illustrated in color Book I would hope for better.
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)
[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Hi all!

I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.

Thank you!

rahirah: (su_editor)
[personal profile] rahirah posting in [community profile] su_herald
Gunn: "So, are we talking Armageddon - or bad house number? Is it a bad event - or a bad guy?"
Wes: "It's not clear on that. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-clan, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind."
Gunn: "So it's a two for one. Isn't that nice."
Wes: "And I'm not sure on the translation. Ruination may in fact mean purification."
Gunn: "Purification? So this Tro-clan is a good thing?"
Wes: "I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in ancient Greek and in the lost Ga-shundi language it means both."

~~Angel Season III Episode #51: "Offspring"~~



[Chaptered Fiction]


[Images, Audio & Video]

[Recs & In Search Of]


[Reviews & Recaps]


[Community Announcements]


[Fandom Discussions]

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

Constantine tv

4 February 2026 01:48 am
beccaelizabeth: my Watcher tattoo in blue, plus Be in red Buffy style font (Default)
[personal profile] beccaelizabeth
Two more episodes of Constantine, before and after midnight, and I know I am going to be watching these again for details, but not in a plot way. John remains fascinating, everything else remains mostly okay with a side of horror only mentions the evil bits and is therefore bad with race.

I do like the recurring bit where John hands out his business cards and they're like deeply skeptical of the 'master of the dark arts' bit. Like okay, exorcism and demons, but they look at him and are not going to believe he has a BA, or possibly even a high school diploma.

I quite liked 'Jackass of all trades' as a description. Because how he does magic is going to piss off literally every tradition and they're right to call him on it, but also, he's right to say it works. Appropriation vs asking what it's all actually for.

John is fascinating and sympathetic and clearly not always right, and I like that in a story. Enough of a bastard to make more work for himself, arrogant and bad at listening but he tries when prompted, and so sure it has to be him that does the work, because who else is there? Only he keeps asking.

Legends is one answer, ish.

I want to see how this story plays out and the episode count isn't giving me optimism on that, but I'm not even reading the episode descriptions so I shall find out as I watch.


Tumblr has provided me many stills of John's tattoos but delightfully there are even more opportunities to see them.

Is good to watch so far.

Pirates!

3 February 2026 06:53 pm
masakochan: (Default)
[personal profile] masakochan


Hello, still alive!

I just don't have a lot to talk about. :(

February Uglies & Question a Day Meme

3 February 2026 06:18 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
My father used to tell me I had a bad case of the February Uglies. And alas, I do. February is a tough month. It's dark. It's gloomy. It's cold. Snow is usually on the ground. Everything looks dead. It has an annoying holiday (aka Hallmark Card Holiday - Valentine's Day), although at least it's paired with a bank holiday (President's Day).

I can't figure out if I need to bundle my Disney + and Hulu subscriptions yet? I don't care all that much about the Disney one, it's the Hulu that I don't want to lose. Apparently Disney is slowly phasing out their Hulu app and combining everything with the Disney + app. I wish they wouldn't do that, but I get it. It's probably cheaper if I bundle them. But I want to keep my shows on Hulu - and they aren't available on Disney yet.

Confused? So am I.

Between work, Physical Therapy, the internet, church....I live in perpetual state of confusion. Work confuses me on a daily basis - after five years of this, you'd think I'd have gotten used to it? Maybe just resigned.

Tortured myself by looking at trips to warm places that I can't afford to physically or financially visit at the moment.

Also tortured myself by looking at this thing - which is cool, but I can't afford it nor do I think I could get it to work effectively. (Facebook likes to throw stuff at me that I can't afford and don't really require.)

Enuf whinging.

At least I got my exercises done. (Although he didn't manage to send me the revised ones yet, so I did last week's program to the extent that I could. There's one that I think we discontinued, because I can't do it correctly at home.)

Need to make dinner, just don't know what I want to make. Thinking mac and cheese - the gluten free version. Although probably shouldn't.

***

1. What’s your favourite hot beverage? How do you make it?

Currently - matcha latte. Get a small teaspoon or two of matcha powder, a little hot water, then add almond/coconut milk, then head in microwave. (OR get it from a coffee shop with steamed milk of your choice.) (I also like cold matcha latte.)

Also, dark organic unsweetened chocolate, milk, steamed over a stove, add cinnamon and vanilla. Serve with whipped cream.

2. When was the last time you saw an original hand-painted painting?

Now? I'm an artist and there's one on my watercolor easel in process.
Also if you been following my journal at all regularly? You've seen one fairly recently as well. I've been posting my original hand-painted paintings.

If this means in person? Again for myself? Now. It's in the corner next to the windows, along with a stack of recently painted watercolors. I'm a painter? Specializing in watercolors.

3. Is there a book you’ve seen made into a film and been disappointed with the result?

Too many to count. The problem is what I see in my head is rarely what the film maker or adapter is viewing in theirs - so, obviously it will be different? There are exceptions but they are rare. I've learned from experience to put as much time as possible between when I read the book and when I see the movie. Or not to read the book first.

That said? I've been pleasantly surprised by a lot of adaptations. Particularly fantasy and sci-fi adaptations.

I remember being annoyed by the first film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire. Tom Cruise was horribly miscast in that role.
thisbluespirit: (winslow boy)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
In the midst of writing five ways Sir Robert and Catherine could have got together post-canon for [community profile] yuletide, the inevitable result was also thinking about what if they were just married already. And I hadn't yet actually written them for [community profile] 100ships or TWB for [community profile] 100fandoms, so I scribbled this down somewhere in between or after the assignment, and here it is.

when all the leaves are gold (1497 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow
Additional Tags: Community: 100ships, Community: 100fandoms, Community: allbingo, Post-Canon, Edwardian Period, Marriage, Suffragettes, World War I, (outbreak of), Vignette, Happily married Sir Robert and Catherine, Established Relationship, 1910s
Summary: Catherine and Sir Robert, making a marriage work.


([personal profile] edwardianspinsteraunt, the second section centres around the imminent announcement of WWI and fears in that regard, but only discussions of it, and the first section is entirely war-free anyway, so you are definitely safe there.)

Tuesday, 3rd February 2026

3 February 2026 03:01 pm
beck_liz: The TARDIS in space (DW - TARDIS in Space)
[personal profile] beck_liz posting in [community profile] doctor_who_sonic
Editor's Note: If your item was not linked, it's because the header lacked the information that we like to give our readers. Please at least give the title, rating, and pairing or characters, and please include the header in the storypost itself, not just in the linking post. For an example of what a "good" fanfic header is, see the user info. Spoiler warnings are also greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Off-Dreamwidth Links
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth, 2019
Blogtor Who: Review of Lovarzi Doctor Who Fourth Doctor Cardigan
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – The Whoniverse Show, 2026
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – Half the Picture, 2026
Blogtor Who: Doctor Who: The 2026 Yearbook

(News from [syndicated profile] doctorwhonews_feed and [syndicated profile] blogtorwho_feed, among others.)

Discussion & Miscellany
[personal profile] nwhyte on Mawdryn Undead, by Kara Dennison (and Peter Grimwade)
[personal profile] nwhyte on Time Trials: The Wolves of Winter, by Richard Dinnick et al

Fanfiction
Complete
What Is It? by [personal profile] badly_knitted (G | Ruby Sunday, Fifteenth Doctor)

If you were not linked, and would like to be, contact us in the comments with further information and your link.

Springfield, Ohio is up next

3 February 2026 01:43 pm
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong posting in [community profile] thisfinecrew
Via Naomi Kritzer on Bsky, this thread of ways to donate or volunteer:

https://bsky.app/profile/leeceelee.bsky.social/post/3mduanvydvs2q
burnhername: Faith pic with the word editor (SH editor Faith)
[personal profile] burnhername posting in [community profile] su_herald
JOYCE: So, what did you and Faith do last night?
BUFFY: Nothing. Uh... (smiles thinly) Nothing really important.
JOYCE: (gets a coffee mug) Don't worry. (grabs the coffee pot) I'm not gonna meddle in your slaying. (pours a cup) Just as long as you're careful.

~~Bad Girls~~




[Drabbles & Short Fiction]


[Chaptered Fiction]


[Images, Audio & Video]


[Recs & In Search Of]


[Community Announcements]


[Fandom Discussions]


Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

(no subject)

2 February 2026 04:45 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
I still have the books I bought at the library sale, having finished them and wanting to give them away. Can't go back to the library, they've made it clear they've washed their hands of them. So I was looking around for Little Libraries around town. Looking on and off and then forgetting about it.

But I found one on the map that seemed to be just up the street. The next street over from where I drive to get to the stores I frequent. I thought I should just walk over there. And after a while of procrastination, I did, the other day. Well, it was a longer walk than I envisioned (isn't it always?). It was a nearly two hour walk back and forth, though I was kind of shuffling at the end. My feet were aghast at my temerity.

But I saw a new neighborhood. There's somebody selling sourdough bread or has a little cafe; that was unexpected. It's a two lane street and at one point there are houses on one side and fields on the other. And, weirdly, the individual mail boxes for the houses are on the field side. You have to cross the street to pick up your mail. Why would it be more convenient for the mail truck to go up that side then the other?

Also there aren't many sidewalks on this street. We likes to feel rural.

Satire Site Makes Me Giggle

2 February 2026 06:33 pm
jesse_the_k: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040204184222/http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1031.html">Bitmapped "dogcow" Apple Technote 1013, and appeared in many OS9 print dialogs</a> (dogcow from OS9)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k

BugsAppleLoves.com summarizes 17 long-standing bugs in the Apple computing ecosystem, and calculates entirely bogus yet entertaining cost estimates for the time we Apple users waste -- while trying to select text on an iPhone or trying to maintain window sizing in macOS' Finder.

(At least it confirmed the iPhone text selection issues was not just me).