extrapenguin

Well, this was the easier semi final - the blood bath will happen tomorrow.

I was not convinced by the show that Austria put up. The beginning with the little movie and Vicky Leandros was fine, but the hosts were... not good at all, very stiff. I did not expect much from Victoria Swarowski since she's also a host for Let's Dance and well, I'm almost immune to her non-existent hosting qualities by now, but the male host was extremely cringe, my God...

The interval act with the acrobatics group was very good, but the song about Austria/Australia was... a mess, not funny at all. (The Kangaroo fursuit was very good, though.) That quiz show skit also went on faaaar too long.

I'm predicting bad things for the upcoming shows...

Anyway, on to the songs

( The songs )

tielan

I'm trying to organise a weekend away, first weekend in June. Only had the idea last week, sent an email out, got about a half-dozen interested people, but the price of accomodation is going to be the sticking point.

Just sent out another email to check budgets, will have to wait to hear back. I'm pretty sure at least two women, and at least one couple will come - their finances are reasonably in order. The others... I'm not sure.

Oh well, if it all collapses, I could drag a couple of friends out maybe. Just do a day trip on the Saturday instead maybe.

sovay

After more than seven months out of work, the degree to which I can afford anything above the bottom rung of Maslow has become truly minimal, but as soon as I discovered Quinquis' eor (2025), a shape-shiftingly electronic, primarily Breton-language album of mermaids and the sea, I leapt for it like it was mackerel. I heard first the all-night love-churn of "Morwreg" (2024), but the irresistible drag sirens of "Dec'h" (2025) sealed the deal.

The copy of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld's Duck! Rabbit! (2009) which I sent my godchild for his first solstice was familially referred to for years as Baby's First Wittgenstein. I have no idea what Wittgenstein would have made of this cartoon, but I'm impressed.

I am not sure that I am much more than physically extant at the minute. I am clearing the refrigerator and the countertops. I am absorbing as much sunlight as I sleeplessly can. Yesterday kicked off with a doctor's appointment that was too early in the morning to be as unhelpful as it was and only dropped the bar from there, so this afternoon I made sure to secure a half-dozen donuts from the reliable Lyndell's and eat a jam-filled one as soon as I had finished walking home. The neighborhood smelled like alternating drifts of lilac and mulch. I have had the same headache since the weekend and am hoping it is related to the sexing of the trees. The nine o'clock advent of leafblowers to our block was inhumane.

Current Music: Quinquis, "Dec'h"

dine

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ysabetwordsmith

This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about reading as a way of becoming an expert in a given subject. Read Part 1: Introduction to Becoming an Expert, Part 2: Architecture, Part 3: Dance, Part 4: Music, Part 5: Painting, Part 6: Poetry, Part 7: Sculpture, Part 8: Conflict Resolution, Part 9: Cooking, Part 10: Coping Skills, Part 11: Gardening, Part 12: Relationship Skills, Part 13: Repairing, Part 14: Survival Skills, Part 15: Archaeology, Part 16: Biology, Part 17: Chemistry, Part 18: Linguistics.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth Part 19: Meteorology

Meteorology is the science of studying the atmosphere, weather, and climate with an emphasis on weather forecasting and the management of information relating to droughts, floods, fire seasons, and other weather-related phenomena. Related fields include aeronomy, biometeorology, climatology, hydrometeorology, and space weather. All of this relies on accurate data, the acquisition and sharing of which is under attack from multiple angles. Here on Dreamwidth, check out

birdfeeding,

common_nature,

environment,

green_joy,

green_living,

localweather,

science,

scienceworld.

hpdrizzle is a weather-themed Harry Potter fanwork fest.

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth April 25-May 15

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260512.html

fred_mouse

(this is dated 2025-10-05; I suspect I had plans to write more or edit it down, but I no longer care)

Today I got to completely baffle another non-binary individual (I'll call them Q). Because I have a simplified explanation for gender that I trot out as a 101 explanation when I'm not in a situation to actually do the proper couple of hours Ally Training spiel.

In this explanation, I get my new ally to think of a graph (in person there is a lot of hand waving around), where across the bottom is how much someone considers them self to be a woman - at the left, 0%, at the right, 100%. And likewise, up the side is male, where at the bottom is 0% and the top 100%. And I said that lots of women might put themselves right at the bottom right. But that say, someone who is a tomboy might still think of themself as 100% woman, but maybe 10% man. And yes, I get that I'm doing some dodgy things about defining femininity here; the person I was talking to is in their late 70s or early 80s, and while they absolutely are an ally, they haven't ever had to think about this.

But my explanation kept being interrupted as Q kept going 'what'? They truly were expecting me to explain using a line, with man on one end and woman on the other. They had a moment of 'are you treating these as independent variables'? And I was yes. yes I am. Because how much 'man' I feel on any given day appears to be completely independent of how much 'woman' I feel on any given day. And yes, actually, I agree that it is more accurately an n-dimensional whatsit (Q is doing a PhD in mathematics, they understand so much more math than I). But this is what works when I only have a little bit of time to explain.

ysabetwordsmith

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Current Mood: busy

dragonofeternal

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Current Mood: WATARU'S WORKING THE POLE
Current Music: Kotonoha Cantabile ~ ALKALOID

sonofgodzilla

From Kanagawa Prefecture to you! Nagatomo Ayami joined AKB as a kenkyuusei in 2016 and debuted alongside Taguchi Manaka, Suzuki Kurumi, Taya Misaki, and Yamauchi Mizuki, and it feels somewhat ridiculous that we have yet to talk about her! As of Colorcon Wink, Ayamin has been a familiar face in the senbatsu, appearing successor single Koi Tsun Jatta and due to return for the recently announced 68th single due in early August.

Ayamin is the dependable older sister type at age 25, always there, always supportive despite her concerns regarding her own capability when it comes to dancing. In 2017, she was moved over to Team K, then under the stewardship of Minegishi Minami before passing to fifteenth generation member, Komiyama Haruka, and, at the last, to Manaka in 2022. As Manaka was taking up the reins in Team K, however, Ayamin was heading towards the last ever iteration of Team 4, then under Kuranoo Narumi. Team 4 was the last team Ayamin was assigned to before the final big rearrangement in 2023 and where we are to-day.

Throughout her time in AKB, Ayamin has been keeping things ticking over, appearing regularly in the theatre and also in plays based on Majisuka Gakuen &c. Because we've just had two entries in a row about sixteenth generation members and their impending graduations, I have some small amount of trepidation in saying this, but when I mentioned above that it was ridiculous that we have not already spoken of Ayamin, it is because I genuinely think she is one of AKB's future stars, a member whom we will soon see as centre in an upcoming single. Having attended university in 2019 and then withdrawn a year later in order to focus more on AKB, there's no doubting Ayamin's commitment to the group, so this really gives me some hope. Last year, her first photobook debuted, this year I expect us to see a lot more of her!

Ayamin is super cute; she has the sort of charm and presence of older idols from previous eras. Her number of fans is definitely only going to increase as we see more of her in the senbatsu!

Ayamin!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: somewhere
Current Music: Carcass - Cross My Heart

cornerofmadness

Today I came home which seemed to take 12 years instead of a few hours. Ha. I do believe I am incapable of being in the Cincinnati area and NOT stop at Jungle Jim's It's over 200,000 sqft of space with SO. Many. international isles, regular grocery store, toys, meat shop, cheese shop and cigar bar, beer and so much more.

So many choices. I need none of it. I want all of it. I got my usual red bean and lotus paste Japanese buns, cheese buns, halva and baklava (yeah 90% of this is either chocolate, baked goods and cheese). I was going to get kimchi but it leaked on my hands so I left it.

I got cookies from holland, speculaasbrokken, the size of my face! British and German chocolates. Stared at the dutch licorice but didn't get it. Also passed on the salmiakki (I think I tried it once and didn't like it), found fried strips of banana from Indonesia (OMG these are amazing). Apparently they had bought a ton of mint flavored violet crumbles because they were selling it for .99 a big ol' bag (bought two, wasn't sure I'd like because I don't need this much candy) Also found Vlasic dill pickle 'cheese' puffs. Ooo.

Found a garlic/asiago cheese bread (it's tasty but not as cheesy as I'd like). But oh man I lost my damn mind in the cheese cave. I got nearly a dozen types (I've opened several) The gorgonzola dolce vero wasn't as bluey as I'd like it. I found a gouda with wild nettles (haven't opened it yet) something called garlic noir (yes tastes like roasted garlic), a fig/honey goat cheese (so smooth it barely has a goat tang) smoked cheddar (always a fave) and two big blocks of gjetost which this is the only place I can find that cheese and they don't always have it. I was so excited.

Rocket is so mad at me, he came inside and said fuck you and went back outside. I haven't seen him since. Snort.

And my entire feed was flooded by this news PCOS has been renamed Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome.. NOW maybe we can stop going it's just women's problems, lose some weight and take birth control pills and break out of the misogyny and fucking research it. I love that one article said it's undiagnosed 70% of the time something I've been saying to my students for two decades because I have it. I make sure we discuss it and there is NO WAY it's only 5% which is what has been in the literature because there is almost always 2 other students with it in each class. (to be fair my current ob/gyn took it seriously but there isn't treatments because 'hormones make women too hard to study' oh bullshit)

Will it get studied? Probably not in America with RFK and Trump in charge of the medical arena and the moneys for science.

Have fannish 50 (with some recs and stuff)

The questions I got from kitarella, I'm using Buffy for this

Day 2: Favourite episode - So hard to pick one but if I had to chose it's either School Hard or Band Candy, still in the shows early days. One gives us Spike/Drusilla who are still my favorite couple in the entire show and the other gives us Giles being bad.

( all questions under here )

a little thing called belief Hazbin Hotel

A Young Man's Fancy Stargate Atlantis

Regression The Owl House

Barely Coping Torchwood

Sect Leader Jiang's 31 step program to happiness
陈情令 | The Untamed

Camila Mama Week 2026 The Owl House

Finding Dusty Boxes Teen Wolf

No Judgement Hazbin Hotel

Kept Hazbin Hotel

House Cleaning Teen Wolf

Indulgence Hazbin Hotel

Hope. Law & Order: Criminal Intent

The Long Road Home The Amazing Digital Circus

Poisoned Kiss Hazbin Hotel

Ice Time Teen Wolf

Preparing for the Storm Stargate Atlantis

Sleepless, Waiting Torchwood

Local Transport Torchwood

Proper Storage 911

She Opens Her Eyes (She Closes Her Eyes) Hazbin Hotel

A Slow Quickie Hazbin Hotel

Snip, Snip, Snip Hazbin Hotel

Pillows Stargate Atlantis

Unexpected Trouble Teen Wolf

Like and Know. Hazbin Hotel

Friends Indeed Torchwood

Customer Is King Hazbin Hotel

Jaw-Dropping Hazbin Hotel

Aftershocks Stargate Atlantis

Escaping the Memories The Professionals

Current Mood: drained
Current Music: Hudson & Rex

i_like_the_stars posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Project Sekai: Colorful Stage!
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: WonderlandsxShowtime; Kamishiro Rui, Kusanagi Nene, Ootori Emu, Tenma Tsukasa
Content Notes/Warnings: N/A
Medium: Digital, mixed media
Artist on DW/LJ: N/A
Artist Website/Gallery: n_ps_7 on twitter
Why this piece is awesome: I love drawn art on top of photos! It's such an obvious clash that never fails to excite me. Here, the characters are almost seamlessly blended in. The colors of the photo are sooo nice, too.
Link: https://x.com/n_ps_7/status/1684498799421718528, backup link

torachan

1. Carla's toe seems to be healing up really well. She went out for a short walk tonight (first time doing more walking than just around the house or going to the store since Friday) and it didn't hurt or make it bleed or anything.

2. I bought some black sesame honey spread today at work and it's so good! I had it on the last of the Costco croissants and the flavor of the croissant was a little too strong for it, but I think it would be just perfect on toast.

3. Chloe's such a cutie.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: impressed

rocky41_7 posting in

booknook

Title: How to Love Your Daughter
Author: Hila Blum
Translator: Daniella Zamir
Genre: Fiction, family drama

The other book I finished during my voyage through the southwest was How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir. This was book [checks notes] #17 from the “Women in Translation” rec list. It’s about an estranged mother and daughter; as the mother peers through the windows of her adult daughter’s house from across the street, she ponders what went wrong in their formerly loving relationship.

How to Love Your Daughter is a cerebral kind of novel that swims back and forth between Yoella’s present, desperately reaching after the daughter who’s walked out of her life, and Yoella’s recollections of raising Leah.

The twists and turns of their relationship are subtle, almost too subtle. Both characters come off slightly neurotic, fussing about every minor interaction and seeming, to me, to invent problems where none really existed. In the end, it’s not so much a long-deteriorating relationship, which is what I expected, as it is Yoella making one decision that forever alters Leah’s perception of her.

“No one warned me my love could destroy her,” Yoella says about Leah at one point and that’s the core of it. Yoella adores her daughter, almost beyond reason. And it’s that very willingness to put Leah above everyone and everything else that eventually pushes Leah away from her, which is such a perfect tragedy.

I saw another review that said this book was both too long and too short, and I think there’s some truth to that. There are drawn out middle sections which don’t necessarily add much, but the ultimate break and subsequent efforts at reconciliation by Yoella don’t get as much room to breathe as might have benefitted them.

However, the ending is an exquisite microcosm of the tension of the whole novel, leaving you wondering about unreliable narrators and perceptions. Some people felt that Yoella gets off too easy—I would recommend rereading the section where Leah talks to Yoella about her reality/fantasy of Dennis writing her a letter.

I don’t know that either Yoella or Leah comes off as really sympathetic here, but they do come off very human, full of flaws and self-justifications and irrational reactions. And maybe sometimes it’s just human nature to create a tragedy where there didn’t have to be one.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: awake

theskyisnew posting in

capseroo

ROCKY IN PROJECT HAIL MARY

819 CAPS, DOWNLOAD

This was an interesting cap set to do. I cried over a rock again.

( More pics )

torachan

I originally hadn't been planning to go wait in line before the park opened, but with not being able to get any fast passes, I figured we'd better get in there early, so I went down to the park entrance around 8:30 for a 9am opening. It was super crowded, so I messaged Carla to join me ASAP, but I was wondering if she'd be able to find me in the crowd. Thankfully, while it was a huge mass of people at first, we were funneled into security lines and I was able to get in the line closest to where she would be coming in, so she was able to join me pretty easily.

( Day two! I probably should have split this into two... )

hannah

Someone canvassing for an upcoming local election talked to me today, and not wanting to walk off in the middle of a sentence, I stopped to talk to them for a bit. She didn't know if her candidate had a stance one way or another on compost or the proposed pied-à-terre tax, and encouraged me to check out a Youtube video. I pointed out if I couldn't look up her candidate, find the website, and find the link to the video on the website, she'd need to have a talk with the campaign manager.

I also said I wasn't going to watch the video, I was going to read the transcript since I can read faster than they can talk. I also said I wasn't going to go to any local debates, just look up the candidates' positions and track records and vote from there. She asked why I wasn't concerned with interviews or debates, and wanted to know why I didn't want to hear about their passion.

I told her passion was what cost Carter a second term.

From the look on her face, she wasn't at all prepared for me. Not for someone who didn't want passion informing their vote and not for someone to cite Carter. Especially when she said she hadn't known anyone who voiced wanting to vote Reagan in 1980.

I agreed the hostage situation was a factor, and suggested that if he'd been harsher in the debates - "Hey, Reagan, did YOU piss radiation for six months?" - it would've helped, but passion was no small part of it. So I didn't want to expose myself to any of it and would rather judge the candidates by their actions and political alignment.

I don't know what she hoped to find, and I don't think I was it. Nevertheless, I got some entertainment out of it, so I can't say I'm all that upset about having been waylaid this afternoon.

Current Mood: naughty
Current Music: Suburban War - Arcade Fire

sanguinity

Intro/FAQ

My check-in: A paragraph, so far.

Day 12:

glinda,

Day 11:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

glinda,

sanguinity,

sylvan_witch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 10:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

( More days )

When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!

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Page Summary

sunshine304 - Reaction to the 1st semi final of Eurovision 2026
tielan - trying to organise a weekend away
sovay - Ne 'z in ket da gorolliñ
dine - architecture is politics
ysabetwordsmith - Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Meteorology
apod_feed - (no subject)
fred_mouse - From the lost drafts folder: On Gender
ysabetwordsmith - Hard Things
dragonofeternal - RED-or-DIE~
sonofgodzilla - AKC Courtneyyyyyy Culture Festival #221: Nagatomo Ayami
cornerofmadness - Jungle Jim's
i_like_the_stars in fanart_recs - Untitled PJSK Art by n_ps_7 (SFW)
torachan - Daily Happiness
princessofgeeks - LEGO is my other fandom
rocky41_7 in booknook - Book review: How to Love Your Daughter
princessofgeeks - Greece 2026
theskyisnew in capseroo - rocky; project hail mary (+819)
torachan - 2026 Universal Studios Trip #4 (4/7/26) Universal Studios Japan
hannah - Erasing all the streets.
sanguinity - Write Every Day: Day 12

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Page generated 13 May 2026 09:16

# If you're great at leaping — bite the sun! #

Network

Reaction to the 1st semi final of Eurovision 2026

trying to organise a weekend away

Ne 'z in ket da gorolliñ

architecture is politics

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Meteorology

(no subject)

From the lost drafts folder: On Gender

Hard Things

RED-or-DIE~

AKC Courtneyyyyyy Culture Festival #221: Nagatomo Ayami

Jungle Jim's

Untitled PJSK Art by n_ps_7 (SFW)

Daily Happiness

LEGO is my other fandom

Book review: How to Love Your Daughter

Greece 2026

rocky; project hail mary (+819)

2026 Universal Studios Trip #4 (4/7/26) Universal Studios Japan

Erasing all the streets.

Write Every Day: Day 12