Tá an caifé seo go deas. Chuaigh mé ann tráthnóna Máirt le mo chara. Bhí seacláid the agus císte cáise agam. Bhí mo chara tae agus donnóg sheacláide aici. Bhí na mhilseoga an-bhlasta. Bhí mo seacláid the rud beag rómilis ach bhí an tae foirfe. Bhí an foireann cairdiúil agus cabhrach. Ba maith liom ann dul arís.
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Hugo: Best Fan Writer - starting point
The finalists are:
- Cora Buhlert
- James Davis Nicoll
- Alasdair Stuart
- Bogi Takács
- Paul Weimer:
- Adam Whitehead
Another category in which everything is free to read online. Some of the fan writers already helpfully have their Hugo packets prepared and easily found on their respective sites too, which is pretty impressive. My starting point is that I sometimes read James Davis Nicoll's reviews and I've read some of Bogi Takács's work, but I haven't routinely read any of these finalists.
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Is é císte cáise an mhilseog is fearr liom i samhradh. An mhilseog is fearr
liom ná mionbhruar úll le custard i geimreadh.
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Is mise Seán. Tá zú mór agam. Tá an leon go deas. Tá an t-asal glórach. Tá an eilifint ollmhór. Tá an sionnach rua. Tá an bhó donn. Tá an turtar beag. Tá an madra gleoite. Tá na néin ag canadh. Tá na mic tíre ag dranntán.
Is mise Síle. Is maith liom an Fhrainc. Ní maith liom an Íoslainn. Is breá liom an Danmhairg. Is aoibhinn liom na Stáit Aontaithe. Is fuath liom an Eilvéis. Téim go dtí an leabharlann. Ní théim go dtí an tsaotharlann. Ní dheachaigh mé go dtí an bhialann. Chuaigh mé go dtí na háiteanna rúnda.
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Hugo: Best Fancast - starting point
The finalists are:
- Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
- Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced & presented by Claire Rousseau
- The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
- Galactic Suburbia, presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce and Tansy Rayner Roberts, producer Andrew Finch
- Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders
- The Skiffy and Fanty Show, presented by Jen Zink, Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, Alex Acks, Trish Matson, David Annandale, and The Skiffy and Fanty Crew
I'm not familiar with any of these, and I'm not confident of finding time to change that between now and voting time. But I have at least bookmarked the YouTube playlist (she helpfully made a "Hugo Voter Packet" playlist!) and downloaded some sample episodes from each podcast to listen to.
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Fannish stuff
New Murderbot novel today! It made me laugh on the first page and squeak aloud in delight in a number of places. I read it over the afternoon in and around doing a worse job than usual of supporting schooling.
In less happy news, Delfont Mackintosh theatres confirmed today that Hamilton performances in London are now cancelled through to the end of June, so this year I will not be continuing my self-indulgent tradition[1] of seeing it for my birthday. At some point I'll get contacted and offered a refund or an exchange for a future performance and obviously I'm going to go for the latter. Oh, I hope actors and theatre staff come through this okay.
[1] As I learned at DWCons, anything done more than once is a tradition ...
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Ní ghlacaim siúcra ar char ar bith i mo tae. Ní ólaim caife. Is fearr liom tae grúdaithe fuacht agus tógaim sé dubh.
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Tiny achievements
In my team's morning standup[1] today, my boss asked us for our "most ridiculous / useless achievement" of the weekend. He offered as his, that he and his wife had looked at their growing stack of papers for shredding, and had a bonfire of them instead.
Another colleague offered up fitting one of those little metal keyhole covers on his front door, and I said that I'd finished the paté in the fridge no-one else was eating before it went off.
What are your tiny achievements of the week?
[1] which is of course actually conducted these days sitting down in our respective homes ...
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Hugo: Best Fanzine - starting point
The finalists are:
- The Book Smugglers, editors Ana Grilo and Thea James
- Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice Marcus, senior writers Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus and Victoria Silverwolf
- Journey Planet, editors James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon and Steven H Silver
- nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, and The G
- Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
- The Rec Center, editors Elizabeth Minkel and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw
The only one of these I follow is The Rec Center, a weekly email of fan news and fanfic recommendations, which I've subscribed to for about 18 months now. That's also the only finalist where the 2019 output isn't easily viewable (but cunningly I already have the emails in my archive folder).
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An béile is fearr liom ná lón. Is aoibhinn liom burrito le muiceoil, pónaire, glasraí agus guacamole.
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Hugo: Best Semiprozine - starting point
The finalists are:
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
- Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart
- Fireside Magazine, editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher & art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White
- FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, editors Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell
- Strange Horizons, Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff
- Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
In this category, everything but FIYAH is available free online, supported by subscriptions / Patreons etc. FIYAH puts a list of contents of each issue, and also publishes a Spotify playlist for each quarterly issue. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Magazine and Strange Horizons also all publish podcasts of each of their fiction / poetry, and Uncanny Magazine publishes two podcasts per issue which cover some but not all of the content (as far as I can tell). Escape Pod is of course a fiction podcast to start with, but does provides transcripts of its episodes.
I subscribe to Uncanny Magazine & FIYAH, I had a subscription last year to Fireside Magazine, I support Strange Horizons on Patreon and I'm on Beneath Ceaseless Skies's mailiing list to get notifications of new issues, even if I don't always read them. I'll need to have a bit of a think about how I'll rank them.
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To-read pile, 2020, April
Books on pre-order:
- Network Effect by Martha Wells (5 May)
- He's Come Undone: A Romance Anthology with stories by Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang & Cat Sebastian (12 May)
- Two Rogues Make a Right (Seducing the Sedgwicks) by Cat Sebastian (23 Jun)
- The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho (23 Jun)
- Rogue Myths (Gatekeeper 1) by Layla Lawlor (1 Jul)
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal (14 Jul)(ebook order cancelled by publisher, sob)- Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor (18 Aug)
- Better Than People by Roan Parrish (25 Aug)
- Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade (6 Oct)
- How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole (1 Dec - was 26 May)
Books acquired in April
- and read:
- Above Rubies (Clorinda Cathcart's Circle 7) by L.A. Hall
- Torches: Acquaintance Old and New (Clorinda Cathcart's Circle 8) by L.A. Hall [1]
- and unread:
- Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang [1]
- The Switch by Beth O'Leary [1]
- The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells [2]
- The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells [2]
- The Siren Sea by Martha Wells [2]
- FIYAH #9 (Winter 2019) edited by Troy L. Wiggins + DaVaun Sanders [5]
- FIYAH #10 - HAIR (Spring 2019) edited by Troy L. Wiggins + DaVaun Sanders [5]
- FIYAH #11 (Summer 2019) edited by Troy L. Wiggins + DaVaun Sanders [5]
- FIYAH #12 - CHAINS (Autumn 2019) edited by Troy L. Wiggins + DaVaun Sanders [5]
- Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #38 (July 2018) edited by Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Thirty-Four(May/June 2020) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Chimedum Ohaegbu, and Elsa Sjunneson
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Thirty-Three (March/April 2020) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Chimedum Ohaegbu, and Elsa Sjunneson
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Thirty-One (November/December 2019) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Chimedum Ohaegbu, and Michi Trota [5]
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Thirty (September/October 2019): Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! edited by Nicolette Barischoff, Lisa M. Bradley, and Katharine Duckett [5]
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Nine (July/August 2019) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota [5]
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Eight (May/June 2019) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota [5]
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Seven (March/April 2019) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota [5]
- Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Six (January/February 2019) edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota [5]
- and previously read:
- Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
- Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
- Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer
- An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
- Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
Technically, I was subscribed to and therefore paying for the issues of Uncanny Magazine all of last year, but it doesn't count as acquired until I actually download and put on the ereader. (totally a rational and thought-out argument and not at all because I don't want to faff with editing them into the relevant to-read pile posts ...)
[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[5] Hugo finalist
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A Kate, a chara,
Tá súil agam go bhfhuil tú go maith.
D'fhan mé abhaile an deireadh seachtaine sin caite, cosúil le an domhan iomlán. Ach ní raibh mé leiscuil, rinne mé an-chuid. D'fhoghlaim mé Gaeilge Dé hAoine. Rinne mé obair an seachtaine (ceithre huaire) i lá amhain. Thóg sé os cionn ceithre huaire orm!
Chuaigh mé ag siopadóireacht maidin Sathairn agus cheannaigh mé bia na seachtaine don theach. Ní maith liom dul go na ollmhargadhaí anois. Tá sé
ró-iomad daoine agus tá strus ag baint leis. Chuaigh mé ag siúil tráthnóna Sathairn le mo páiste níos óige. Bhíomar fanacht ó daoine eile agus bhaineamar taitneamh as an grian. D'fhoghlaim mé mó Gaeilge oíche Sathairn, ach níor chríochnaigh mé obair an seachtaine dara.
D'itheamar iomad siaclaid Dé Domhnaigh. Rinne mé staidear Gaeilge níos mó chom maith.
Céard fútsa? Cad a rinne tú ag an deireadh seachtaine? Conas atá an aimsir leat?
Le dea-mhein,
Rachel
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Hugo: Best Professional Artist - starting point
The finalists are:
Just looking up those websites has given me a lot of pleasure - my art knowledge continues to be "I don't know much but I know what I like" - and I'm looking forward to taking more time to consider each of the finalists more carefully.
I'm pleased to see Galen Dara on the shortlist, I've seen her work frequently in Uncanny, Lightspeed & Fireside Magazines, and usually like it. I was lucky enough to get into a kaffeklatsch with John Picacio at Dublin Worldcon last year (although I came there sideways, through interest in his work founding The Mexicanx Initiative, which was a finalist for Best Related Work), which was a great experience.
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Chuaigh mé go dtí mBaile Átha Cliath anuraidh le mo fhear chéile. Chuamar ar an traein agus an mbád ó Cambridge. D'éiríomar ar an mhaidin mhoch agus bhíomar codlatach. Bhí an traein ó Londain go Holyhead an-lán ach bhí suíochaín compordach againn. D'fhéachamar ar an fhuinneog agus chonaiceamar an tírdhreach. Buaileamar le chairde ar an mbád agus labhraíomar le chéile ar feadh an bhealaigh. Bhí sé go maith.
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Léigh mé leabhair agus d'éist mé ceol. D'feach mé ceoldráma "Oklahoma" ar mo táiblead. Rinne mé staidéar Gaeilge ar mo ríomhaire glúine.
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Hugo: Best Editor, Long Form - starting point
The finalists are:
- Sheila E. Gilbert
- Brit Hvide
- Diana M. Pho
- Devi Pillai
- Miriam Weinberg
- Navah Wolfe
You can find lists of books published in 2019 edited by each of these finalists at this crowdsourced page at File 770, of which:
- Brit Hvide: 2 books on my wishlist
- Devi Pillai: 1 read, 2 on wishlist
- Miriam Weinberg: 2 on wishlist
- Navah Wolfe: 1 read, 1 on to-read pile
Devi Pillai edited A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, which I love so much, and Navah Wolfe edited The Twisted Ones by Ursula Vernon, which is one of the few marketed-as-horror books I have willingly read. (It won't ever be my favourite Vernon book, but it was a good read.)
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Thosaigh mé Irish 106 inné. Bhí mé go déanach a tosú. Déanaim an cúrsa seo ag an deireadh seachtaine agus tá an deireadh seachtaine seo ceithre lá. Déanfaidh mé obair na seachtaine gach lá.
Chuaigh mé go hÉirinn anuraidh. Bhí mé i mBaile Átha Cliath go d'fhreastail mé an comhdháil dhomdhanda finscéal-eolaíocht. Ní fhios agam cathain a rachaidh mé go hÉirinn aris.
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Bhí mé i Sheffield le mo chlann. Chuamar ar an traein ansin. Bhuaileamar le ár ghaolta agus labhraíomar le chéile an-chuid. Chuaigh mé ag siopadóireacht chomh maith. Cheannaigh mé mo chead péire scátaí oighear. Chuaigh mé ag snámh le na páistí. Thaitin sé go mór linn. Bhí deireadh seachtaine ar fheabhas.
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Hugo: Best Editor, Short Form - starting point
The finalists are:
- Neil Clarke
- Ellen Datlow
- C.C. Finlay
- Jonathan Strahan
- Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
- Sheila Williams
I'm a subscriber to Uncanny Magazine, edited by the Thomases, and a Patreon supporter of Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke. I keep up with neither magazine as much as I'd like, but I generally enjoy both of them. Uncanny Magazine in particular has a very high hit rate for me when I do make time to read it.
(I also had the pleasure of meeting Neil Clarke in his kaffeeklatsch at Dublin Worldcon last year, which I really enjoyed & learned a lot from.)
I have one of Jonathan Strahan's anthologies from last year, Mission:Critical on my to-read pile, and I've also been eyeing the Made to Order: Robots and Revolution anthology published this year.
Ellen Datlow edits a lot of horror, which I'm cautious of, and I happen not to have read any of the Tor.com short fiction she acquired last year, but that could be remedied (in a well-lit room during the day, etc). She also lists a couple of anthologies, and while I'm not touching a Best Horror of the Year anthology, I might risk the ghost stories anthology.
C.C. Finlay and Sheila Williams edit respectively F&SF Magazine and Asimov's Science Fiction, neither of which I subscribe to or read regularly, but because I'm already not keeping up with the things I do subscribe to, not for any stronger or more considered reason.
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Jessica Jones has a heart to heart moment with her kidnapper daughter
Posted by: brerrabbit
( Read more... )
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New Mutants D&D: Chapter 1- Road of Bandits
Posted by: iamrman
People seemed interested in my New Mutants Dungeons and Dragons story, so here is the first chapter.
( Read more... )
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New Mutants D&D: Part 2
Posted by: iamrman
Here are the rest of the New Mutants as Dungeons and Dragons characters.
( Read more... )
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Fan Art Whenever: New Mutants D&D Edition Part 1
Posted by: iamrman
I had the idea of crossing over the New Mutants with Dungeons and Dragons. The classes I have assigned to various characters don't necessarily correspond to canon D&D classes, so die hard fans will probably hate it.
( Read more... )
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John Constantine: Hellblazer #5 (2020) - "Scrubbing Up, Part Two"
Posted by: laughing_tree
Expect evil ravens, hipsters performing pun-magic and John getting drunker than you’ve ever seen him before. Fun. -- Si Spurrier
( Read more... )
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Fan Art Thursday: variations on a theme
Posted by: thezmage
Some MCU mashups from Liu-Psypher aka Prime Premne, who has designed most of my shirts
( Read more... )
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Post-Thursday Fan Art
Posted by: iamrman
I couldn't resist sharing some more fan art.
( Read more... )
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Fan Art Thursday
Posted by: iamrman
This is my first post here, so I hope I'm doing it right.
( Read more... )
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Let's try and bring this back - Fanart Thursday
Posted by: icon_uk
It used to be the tradition around these here parts to post fan art on Thursday, comic themed, but not comic published, art by fans or professionals.
So share your commissions or interesting art you've seen. (If in doubt, check with the artist it's okay to post it and if they say no, then it's a no!)
( Just for fun )
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Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #4
Posted by: cyberghostface
NSFW for gore
( Scans under the cut... )
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NoScans - It's always awkward meeting your ex
Posted by: icon_uk
As John Constantine proves in the new "Apokalips war" animated movie
( Do I LOOK mad? )
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Gotham High
Posted by: cyberghostface
"I always remember this quote from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, where he’s talking about the killers and he says something like, 'We came from the same place, but I walked out the front door and he walked out the back door.' There’s this feeling that they’re the same person, just with different circumstances. I wanted to put that in the Batman-Joker dynamic: They’re almost the same person, but Bruce has all this privilege and Jack has nothing. What does that do to who they become? And then there’s a girl in the middle — the hottest girl to ever walk the halls of high school [laughs] — and what does she want? It came out of trying to figure out all their desires. What does Jack bring to Selina that’s different from what Bruce brings to Selina? Ultimately you don’t know who she’s going to pick. You root for both of them, and there’s a surprise in the end." -- Melissa de la Cruz
"There’s so much of that Instagram culture and social media culture with teens today, so I tried to interject that into the style and look of the characters, specifically with the Joker character. He was the hardest character to visualize and design because he’s not your average villain. He’s almost not a villain at all, in a way. He goes back and forth where you sympathize with him sometimes and sometimes you see him as a villain. So I wanted to give him a look that played off both sides of his personality... In a weird way, the Joker character is the most like me." -- Thomas Pitilli
( Scans under the cut... )
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Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday
Posted by: icon_uk
In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like. Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.
The EU hosted a summit where over 40 countries and global organisations promised a starting figure of over $8 billion to the development of a covid-19 vaccine.
Much of the world is starting to experiment with opening up again in a new sort-of-post-Covid19 world, with places like Germany and Spain relaxing, gradually, some of the lockdown protocols, with strong limitations and provisos.
In New Zealand, consistent reminder that competent politicians exist Jacinda Ardern has suggested that the country may not have open borders for a long time to come.
In the UK, a phone app is being developed for contact tracingM and notification of people you may have been in contact with who develop Covid19, though in true current UK style, it's going against every other countries developed app by not using the personalised data storage method (Where your information never leaves your phone), but a centralised database, which is raising some concerns about the storage and disposal (or not) of this data.
The US government is planning on borrowing around 3 TRILLION dollars in the next quarter to pay for pandemic support initiatives. That's 3,000,000,000,000 (Which I only mention because I've never had a reason to type an actual number that big in a real world context!)
The US is also starting to open up in places, though the wisdom of this is being called into question by... well, pretty much everyone else on the planet, and a goodly number of the local population of course.
The Clone Wars seventh and final season came to an end with a frankly spectacular arc which saw Ahsoka Tano facing off against Darth Maul in the sort of iconic fight scene that, truth be told, the sequel trilogy was mostly completely lacking, at least on an emotional level), and giving us a chance to see the impact of General Order 66 from the point of view of Ahsoka, as well as the actual Clone Troopers who we have got to know and care about over the years of this series. THIS is how you do it!
The long overdue, repeatedly delayed, New Mutants movie was briefly appearing as forthcoming video on demand from Amazon, though without a release date, but it has now disappeared again. This DOES seem to suggest it might go straight to digital with no cinema release.
Also a new image of a new baddies form the movie have been released in the shape of the Smiley-Men.
And I've clearly been watching waaaay too much anime, or at least listening to too many anime soundtracks when a random video from something called Argonavis (A games based anime from what I can see) popped up and I thought "Gosh that sounds like Unison Square Garden" (who did "Orion o Nazoru", the belter of an OP for Tiger and Bunny) only to discover it's not, but it was written and arranged by two of the members.
In terms of podcasts, alongside old favourites like "Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men" (pretty much what it says on the tin and currently looking at Age of Apocalypse), "The NoSleep Podcast" (Horror fiction) and "The Arkham Sessions" (An actual qualified clinical psychologist, Dr Andrea Letamendi, examined, firstly "Batman the Animated Series" and is now looking at the "Doom Patrol" TV series for their depictions of mental conditions), I've just started Mockery Manor, a horror/mystery/drama set at a gloriously awful (and thankfully fictional) British theme park in the late 1980's.
So today's extra curricular activity for the community: What podcasts are you currently listening to that you'd recommend to others?
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ATLA: The Rift Part One
Posted by: tripodeca113
"After I signed on to do these comics, Toph quickly became my favourite character to write. Mike, Bryan, and their writing team made her so vibrant. I can close my eyes and hear her voice. We didn't include her in The Search for narrative reasons, but I really missed her. I'm glad we got to throw the spotlight on everybody's favourite blind Earthbending master here."
Gene Yang
(24 pages out of 72)
( Read more... )
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Happy Star Wars Day!
Posted by: icon_uk
An old, old, OLD and very silly post from our earlier incarnation back in Livejournal days!
( May the Fourth Be With You! )
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Quick notes
1) Because the quarantine is less hard on me than it is on others, I sometimes forget to give myself a break for the ways in which it is hard. Privilege doesn't mean nothing ever hurts. I'm gonna try to be kinder to myself about all this.
2) I'm now getting two weekly farm boxes. I'm not sorry at all.
3) We've killed off 18.5% of our consumer debt since January. We rock.
4) ( Plant diary for May 7 with a pic )
5) ETA: Oh, and my heart? Is not being nice to me this week. But I love it anyway.
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Plant diary 2020
On May 4th and 5th, mom and I planted a bunch of stuff in a square-foot-gardening box, and I'm going to start keeping a plant diary here. I'll put them under boredom cut tags. :-)
( Like this )
Plant babies!
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