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Finished Famesick by Lena Dunham, which I really.... enjoyed does not feel like the right word, because it is basically a memoir of getting chewed up and spit out by the fame machine at the same time as she was suffering from chronic health issues and struggling with substance abuse and she apparently just has godawful taste in and/or luck with men, but it is an engaging and - despite the heavy content - frequently funny read. Prominently features various celebrities who I'd say I was abstractly aware of as famous people who exist, but I found that this didn't necessarily change my opinion of, say, Jack Antonoff or Adam Driver— like, not in the sense that I don't credit Dunham's narrative, it's just that my brain did not really connect my indignation over Dunham's increasingly selfish/useless boyfriend to that guy from that band, or the coworker who sounds like a walking red flag (but, even in her own memoir a decade later, she seems more enamored with than put off by??) with that guy from that movie, etc. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Mostly, I think, because I didn't really have preexisting opinions about any of said famous people; I enjoy the music of both fun. and Bleachers, but 100% could not pick Antonoff out of a lineup of white guys in hipster glasses.)
Read Operation Heartbreak by Duff Cooper, technically a 1950 fictionalization of WWII's Operation Mincemeat— a deception operation to convince the Nazis that the Allies planned to invade Sardinia, not Sicily, by way of "secret" plans planted via dead British officer washing ashore in Spain; in recent years, the subject of a book, a movie, and a musical— although only the last ~20 pages (of 155) have anything to do with/map onto the story of Operation Mincemeat (which was still classified in 1950, although Cooper apparently learned of it from Churchill as dinner gossip and Ewen Montagu published his own account only a few years later). Instead, it is mostly the very bleak life story of one Captain William "Willie" Maryngton (barely filing the serial numbers off of Mincemeat's faked Major William Martin here), a born and bred soldier with the misfortune of being too young for WWI and too old to be shipped to the front in WWII, who finally achieves his life's goal of seeing "action" only after he dies of pneumonia and is used in a deception operation to convince the Nazis that etc. etc. Can't really put my finger on the tone, beyond bleak— the dialogue frequently has the gung-ho feel of a propaganda film, but I feel like there's kind of a cynical edge, overall? The most interesting character in this is actually Willie's foster brother Horatio "Horry" Osborne, the son of a military family who pursues his dreams of becoming an actor instead, but— after a lifetime of insisting that the Army wasn't "going to get [him] in their clutches"— immediately joins up when WWII breaks out, motivated by his "profound hatred of injustice and cruelty," and is almost as quickly killed in battle. (RIP Horry.)
It's interesting to compare what we know now about the IRL Operation Mincemeat to Cooper's fictional Operation Heartbreak: in the novel, Maryngton's death provides the operation with a ready-made cover story, vs. the real-life work that went into carefully constructing an identity, down to the pocket litter. (Although someone does still write a love letter to send off with him: in this case, the secretary who does so is the aforementioned Horry Osborne's younger sister! Who Willie has been in love with for years! And had in fact recently turned down his proposal!) On another interesting note, the afterword on the IRL Operation Mincemeat, written circa 2004, dismisses Glyndwr Michael— the "real" Major Martin, an unhoused man from Wales who died (whether intentionally or accidentally) from poison— as a possible identity for the body used, positing that "a postmortem might have discovered [his real cause of death] and the risk would have been too great." Happy to pass this along to anyone who'd like to read it, btw, otherwise it's going to local little free library.
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Audio
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Jun. 6th, 2026 @ 02:34 pm
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Our Favorite Queer Audiobooks for Audiobook Appreciation Month
June is Audiobook Appreciation Month! While we talk a lot on our blogs about all the books we read, we haven’t talked much about how often we don’t “read” those books so much as listen to them! A lot of our rec list reccers love audiobooks and rely on them for various reasons. Thus, we wanted to celebrate by highlighting some of the great books that have audiobook versions we loved.
Current Mood:  busy
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Masters of the Universe (2026) no-spoiler reaction (TLDR: It's fun!)
I saw Masters of the Universe (2006) at the theater light night. I had a lot of fun! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I did not expect what they made, which is a joyous campy subtly-clever romp that got me smiling soon, and smiling more and more the longer it continued. Children and adults who never knew this IP can have a fun time fully as much as those of us '80s children who somehow still know, say, Queen Marlena's origin, or who Teela's mother is, or the name of every action figure in our brothers' and cousins' and neighbors' toyboxes.
Never has watching a movie felt so much like playing with action figures.
I have seen the trailer, and very much look forward to watching this movie.Current Mood: busy
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Today is mostly cloudy and quite warm.
I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 6/6/26 -- I started weeding the center of the telephone pole garden.
EDIT 6/6/26 -- I did more weeding the center of the telephone pole garden.
EDIT 6/6/26 -- I did more weeding the center of the telephone pole garden. I am past the halfway point. Yay.
.Current Mood: busy
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AO3 Link | Not In My Head (1211 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Babylon 5, Star Wars: The Clone Wars [2008] - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: CT-7567 | Rex, Alfred Bester [Babylon 5]
Additional Tags: Crossover, Walk Into A Bar
Summary: Bester escaped the island, but ran afoul of something else taking him to the GFFA for better or worse.
Not In My Head
Escaping the island had been easy enough, ahead of the trap that the leader of the resistance was. He'd have to regroup, but the PsiCorps lived in him, would be the salvation of all in due time. Telepaths under strict rules, laying down the foundation of society for the others to live in? One way or another, that would be the reality of life, just as soon as Alfred Bester found his feet planted on solid ground again.
His mistake, though, was in thinking the galaxy as a whole was done throwing curve balls.
Maybe it was a remnant of the Shadow War. Maybe it had been a nascent threat brought fully to life from the Vorlon meddling in humanity. Either way, when Bester reached the coordinates he'd memorized from a very early memory of meeting the Director, it was not the haven he'd made himself believe it would be. His genetic code, delivered in a drop of blood, activated the technology without any hesitation.
The device that came up around him pushed through every shield he'd ever built more effortlessly than Ironheart could have done. What it saw and recorded rendered a judgment to his helpless mind, his body frozen, before triggering a random implosion of quantum events to shunt the catalyst of so much suffering into a time/place far from this one.
Captain Rex, formerly of the 212th, currently in command of the 501st without either of his Jedi for back-up did not like the look of the ridged ovoid with a panel missing. At least he had found the 'meteor' they had tracked before finally breaking the Separatist stranglehold on the system.
"You deserve a light mission. Just scout it out, figure out if it's a weapon, and then get the legion back up. Snips and I will handle this thing for Master Tiin and be right back."
The skepticism Rex had felt then was nothing like the bad feeling he now had. This thing had been occupied, based on the scans. And no one was visible.
"Jesse, get the unit formed up and prepped for return to the Resolute," he called over his comm. "My squad and I have a tracking task now."
"Yes sir, Captain." The man waited a beat, then continued on personal frequencies instead of the regimental one. "Keep yourself alive, little brother."
Rex snorted. Jesse liked throwing around that he was a very early decant, but it did help unwind Rex's nerves.
"Alright men, let's find where the being went, probably headed for that town over there. Light jog, eyes and ears out!"
Bester had staggered his way to what passed as civilization, felt more than understood an overpowering relief in the locals. They seemed human, but the language was not any of his. Fortunately, he could filter through minds swiftly, accommodating his needs nearly as fast as he'd acquired clothing that let him blend in better.
There were a few non-humans present, and those, he avoided. He'd paid enough attention to other species to know that telepathy came in varying degrees, that the senses of a human were considered disadvantaged by many, and that just lifting the language wasn't going to let him pass as a local.
The idea that there were many worlds, that technology was so far in advance of this particular place elsewhere, gave him a yearning to find such. Rifling more minds told him to stake out a cantina, and he should be able to find a pilot and ship… once the newer military that had run off the other military left the system.
The people he'd taken information from were skeptical that they hadn't just exchanged one yoke for another, and Bester wondered if he might do better by using his abilities on a member of the occupying army to get away from here.
There was a lot of frustration building in the back of Rex's mind as the locals were the most unhelpful sapient species he'd seen in quite a few systems. No one had seen anything strange, couldn't point to strange arrivals, or anything… outside of making back-handed mentions of the G.A.R. troops.
It was enough to make him wonder why they even bothered to break places like this out of Seppie control.
"Alright, we're going over to that cantina, and I have enough credits to get us all one drink," Rex told the four men with him. "Nurse it, listen, and if you do start talking, try to keep it nice and calm. They don't seem to like us any better than their former occupiers, but we have to know who was in that pod, in case it's a bio-weapon or something else the Seppies dreamed up."
He passed out the currency that General Kenobi had put in his keeping for discretionary maneuvers, and they headed to the building with live music and plenty of people to scout for their objective. Rex had to believe that the discipline would hold up, that there wouldn't be any fights with the locals.
None of his men would embarrass him to the General or Commander that way, after all.
Fate was smiling, if Bester was willing to believe in such mysticism. Five of the soldiers, wearing armor with blue markings against the white, all of it heavily scarred by the war they were a part of. A cursory search of the four that had shifted out among the patrons of this dive told him their purpose. They were seeking him, thinking him to be a potential threat.
The one who had stayed at the bar was the officer. That was the one Bester needed. He would not go into the introduction without understanding that one intently, and he prepared to slice through the man's experiences to best craft the story he would use to insinuate himself near something like a power, to begin pursuing his dreams in this far away place, away from Vorlon manipulations and Shadow plots.
Rex had survived having Asajj Ventress in his head, controlling him, and managed to still find a way to warn his Jedi that he'd been compromised. There might not have been a real reason for him to realize he wasn't alone in his head this time; whomever it was wasn't the witch, holding him against a wall by his throat after all.
But he did know. More, he knew where the source was.
Maybe it was working hand in hand with Anakin Skywalker so much, or honing his instincts to keep track of the padawan-commander.
Either way, his blaster was in his hand and he was turning before that intrusion caught the intent.
One clean shot, and the stranger — looked human — slumped at the table he'd been keeping between him and the world.
"Sorry for the mess," Rex said quickly, and put the last of the credits on the bar, as his people moved to acquire the body.
Turned out, with the body not belonging to a local, they didn't care all that much about the stranger's fate, leaving the G.A.R. men to do as they wished.
Rex decided they'd recover the ovoid, put the body in stasis, and turn it all over to the Jedi when they got back to puzzle it out.
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It was an interesting moment just now, as I transitioned between two ways of using my hands. Because I was, a few moments ago, helping adjust the feet on Tuesday's shelf unit she's putting up, hard biting plastic that barely turns, needing help from wrench and then still feeling the edges dig into my fingertips with every turn.
And then that's properly set, and so I return to my knitting for a moment, and the yarn is suddenly so soft against me. It feels beautiful and kind and startling. I do not usually feel like I get to feel things that are soft like that.
I like it. It's probably not actually any kind of metaphor, but I still like it.
(note to self: sometime when you're back in Boston, properly write up the definitely-a-metaphor post about your doctor who scarf that's been percolating for months now.)
~Sor
MOOP!
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Crafts
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Jun. 6th, 2026 @ 12:03 pm
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Gert’s quilt exhibition
My friend Gert (who used to be on LJ back when!), who is an avid quilter, is showing some of his work at the Bartholomeus Gasthuis in Utrecht, together with Maria, his former boss from when he worked in a quilt fabric store. We went to the opening, and after cutting the ribbon, Gert showed every quilt to us and explained some things about the fabric and techniques used, but also what he wanted to express with that quilt.Current Mood: busy
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I had a medical procedure scheduled for this past week, but I was uncertain whether it would be able to go forward because of my cough. If the anaesthesiologist said the cough was too severe, it would be canceled.
Accordingly, my priority this past week was quiet and rest, trying to get my cough to calm down. Annoyingly, the air quality in the Twin Cities remained problematic, so I couldn't sit outside on my porch.
So I stayed behind shut doors, near my air filters. I took showers with shower bombs infused with peppermint and eucalyptus. I drank oceans of tea to try to calm my coughing. I ate cough drops until I was sick of the taste. I curtailed my exercise.
I simply rested.
(My efforts were successful and I underwent the procedure last Thursday. I was recovering yesterday, which is why this collage is a day late.)
Image description: A door is ajar at night. Light outlines the crack, but the opposite of the door is a field of stars. An owl at rest sits peacefully in the lower left corner, eyes closed. Upper left corner: a blooming white poppy (signifying rest) with a glowing full moon shining at its center.
Quiet
Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.Current Mood:  peaceful
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Posted by languagehat https://languagehat.com/semantic-antics/ https://languagehat.com/?p=19813 Back in 2010 I posted about the death of Sol Steinmetz, rabbi and etymologist; now a longtime LH reader has sent me a copy of his 2008 book Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning, and it’s a pure delight. In the introduction, he says:
Changes in meanings make language flexible and malleable. But how do words take on new meanings? The study of meanings and the changes of meaning that words undergo is called semantics (from Greek sēmantikos “having meaning, signifying”). I’ve titled this work Semantic Antics because many English words have changed meaning in fascinating, unusual, and unexpected ways. Those are the words I focus on in this book.
[…]
As a language consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary, I was fortunate to have had access to the OED’s treasury of historical citations, which I used to trace and illustrate the development of meanings discussed in this book.
His very first entry, about “A1,” taught me something I didn’t know; after citing the first use in the sense ‘first-class, outstanding’ in Dickens’s Pickwick Papers (1837) — “‘He must be a first-rater,’ said Sam. ‘A, 1,’ replied Mr. Roker.” — he explains:
Dickens adopted a technical shipping term, A1, and used it figuratively. The shipping term was created by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, a British publication founded in 1760 by Edward Lloyd to circulate and exchange shipping news among merchants and underwriters. Lloyd published his first Register of Ships in 1764, and in it he devised a system for classifying the condition of every registered ship. In this system, the top classification was A1, the letter A denoting a first-class condition of a ship’s hull, and the number 1, a top condition of the ship’s stores. When shipping merchants would describe a ship’s condition as being “Al,” it was the highest praise they could assign to it, and so inevitably the term passed into figurative use as a synonym of “first-class, excellent.”
And paging through it I see all sorts of entries I look forward to exploring; many thanks, Brian! https://languagehat.com/semantic-antics/ https://languagehat.com/?p=19813
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Posted by Zach Weinersmith https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/yes 
Click here to go see the bonus panel!Hovertext:
This is one of those jokes where the moment I finish drawing it I realize someone has probably already done it. But then, given that this is recursive, there's at least some layer of Doom on Doom that has not yet been achieved.
Today's News:
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/yes
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Reading: On the fiction front, over the last couple of weeks I read:
--Remember You Will Die (Eden Robins), which is SF told entirely through news and obits and correspondence and does some very neat things. It didn't give me any particular feelings, but I enjoyed it.
--The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Shannon Chakraborty), which is pretty much a delight from start to finish.
--The Book of Love (Kelly Link) unfolds in all kinds of interesting ways and had a lot of...emotional momentum?...for me, although I didn't come away with deep feelings about or attachment to any of the characters.
--The Everlasting (Alix E. Harrow), which I finished a few days ago and have seen several people discussing since (probably because it's up for a Hugo). I liked it more than some of you did, but didn't love it.
I haven't started another novel(la) since. After talking to Kas (who's most of the way through the series-so-far) last weekend, I went ahead and put the second Dungeon Crawler Carl on hold, and somehow my brain seems to think that's what I'm going to read next, which is awkward given that I don't expect it to arrive in the super near future.
On the nonfiction front, I read a bit more of Braiding Sweetgrass, flipped through some gardening books, and started rereading Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace in hard copy (I read it in ebook almost exactly a year ago). I really like the feel and the spirit of this, and it's packed full of information that flows in a way that makes it hard for me to actually retain a lot of said information. I picked up the hard copy from Book Outlet in hopes that having a physical book would give me better odds of actually being able to usefully refer to bit of it.
Watching: Some more of both Justice in the Dark and Witch Hat Atelier.
Growing: Yesterday we acquired and planted five tomato seedlings (and a few other seedlings that still need planting). More on that in another post later, hopefully.Current Mood:  hungry
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The Way of Ressiliencce (1277 words) by CinnamonBunWrites
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jedi Master Character(s) & Jedi Padawan Character(s), Clone Troopers & Jedi Characters (Star Wars)
Characters: Lissarkh (Star Wars), the only canon character in this fic, Original Jedi Character(s) (Star Wars), Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Jedi are space Buddhists and you cannot change my mind, Pro Jedi, jedi order, a mix of legends and canon lore, Philosophy, Martial Arts, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, no beta we die like the Republic, canon is an orchard and I am baking a single pie, Oneshot, Jedi June Appreciation Event 2026, Jedi as Found Family (Star Wars), Clone Troopers and Jedi as Found Family (Star Wars), Jedi Training (Star Wars), Jedi Culture & Customs (Star Wars), Editing what editing
Summary: Week 1 Prompt: Resilience
Knight Lissarkh starts a demonstration Soresu for her Padawan learner, discussing its philosophy, and ends up with more than one student.
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Well, someone's got to keep Elon company.
This is what you get for cutting small but essential programs. You don't want to spend pennies so you must deal with a pound of cure... if there is one.
Are we winning yet?Current Mood:  cynical
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On our way home from Bolton Abbey, we had lunch with J and J in York. York was a detour from our homeward route, but not by much; we were delayed by traffic in Harrogate, and it seems we cannot take the car to York without making a complete circuit of the walls (which would be a pleasure if we weren't already running late). We reached our destination - our favourite tapas bar in Fossgate - to find J and J waiting for us, enjoying a glass of sherry. It was the staff who greeted us with "What sort of time do you call this...?" Only now does it occur to me that the correct answer is "Spanish time!".
This - and the excellence of the tapas, and the pleasures of the wine list, and the joy of enjoying the latter (well, both of the aforementioned, but especially the latter) with people who enjoy it as much as we do - is why this is our favourite tapas bar. The company and the conversation would be excellent anywhere, and they were, and it seemed like no time at all before we left J and J with their dessert (more and different sherry) and set off for home.
Seen in the hundred yards or so back to the car paek:
The rain which had been threatened for days finally caught up with us on the A19, and when it came it was impressive: thunder, lightning, torrential downpour, and flooding on the road (although this last thankfully not until we reached Shincliffe, nearly home).
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Like many, Anthony Stewart Head - ASH, as we often referred to him in our reviews at the time - first came to my fannish attention as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer . There were two more roles that immediately come to my mind when thinking of him - not that I haven't seen him in more, but these are the ones that are staying with me - the villain, Mr. Finch, in the Doctor Who episode School Reunion, and Uther Pendragon in the BBC series Merlin. You could call Uther the anti-Giles in some ways: the father and mentor figure who while loving his children (and being willing to die for them) messes them up in a very Philip Larkin way, absolutely unwilling (most of the time) to accept responsibility for his own deeds and looking for scapegoats instead . And yet charismatic enough to evoke loyalty in many people, and vulnerable enough that one usually pitied Uther even when despising him. Merlin was a show primarily aimed at a young audience, but ASH never gave anything but a three dimensional, complicated performance.
As for Giles. He once said, joking or otherwise, that he originally started out with the persona Hugh Grant embodied in 1990s rom-coms as a basis, and you can see that especially in the early episodes, but it quickly became so much more. Not least because having this particular actor to write for meant that Giles got fleshed out in terms of backstory ("Ripper", and of course ASH's trained voice as a singer was used in later seasons) and participation in the overall narrative beyond delivering exposition. He had both expert comic timing (see also the episodes in which Giles gets to be his teenage self, or ends up transformed into a demon), and a wonderful ability for character drama even without using his voice - I'm m thinking of Giles' expression when it turns out Buffy kept the fact Angel is among the (un)living again from him. Or, to put it as unspoilery as possible, his final scene with Ben in season 6. His mentor scenes with Buffy (and on occasion some of the other Scoobies) could be incredibly tender - the s2 scene in Innocence in which Giles comforts Buffy in the car is one of the most memorable among many memorable Buffy and Giles scenes - and the wry, deadpan wit the writers gave him starting a few episodes in was more than a match for Scooby quippiness. For all this, he was never presented as perfect; in the big s3 episode which will end up with Giles choosing Buffy over the Council, he first starts out by following instructions that include drugging and manipulating a girl who trusts him. Speaking of s3, he could have done more for Faith before her fall, to put it mildly, and I'm with Joyce in her cold fury once she figures out Giles' role in her daughter's life and the fact he not just supported but encouraged Buffy keeping the whole Slayer saga from her. Giles being so very human meant that he didn't always get it right any more than the other characters. But he still was the mentor all of them wanted to have. And most of fandom, too, I dare say.
72 years isn't "young" anymore but in this day and age, it's no longer old, and too soon to die. But any time would have been too soon for this actor who gave me so much fannish joy for many years. Thank you, ASH. Thank you so much!Current Mood:  sad Current Location: Bamberg
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