Belladonna Lee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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potterfests2025-09-07 07:22 pm
lee_bella) wrote in potterfests2025-09-07 07:22 pmThe Life of a Showgirl Fest: Sign-up Open Till November 3
Fest Name: The Life of a Showgirl Fest
Links: Tumblr | Rules | Sign-up
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A HP fic and art fest inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album The Life of a Showgirl. Sign-up is open till November 3.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions: None
Timeline:
Sign-up: September 3 - November 3
Works due: December 3
Posting: TBA
Links: Tumblr | Rules | Sign-up
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A HP fic and art fest inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album The Life of a Showgirl. Sign-up is open till November 3.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions: None
Timeline:
Sign-up: September 3 - November 3
Works due: December 3
Posting: TBA
Belladonna Lee (lee_bella) wrote in potterfests2025-09-07 07:19 pm
lee_bella) wrote in potterfests2025-09-07 07:19 pmPumpkin Spice Fic Fest 2025: Claiming Open Till October 29
Fest Name: Pumpkin Spice Fic Fest 2025
Links: Tumblr | Discord | AO3 & Rules | Claiming
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A HP smut fic and art fest with a tarot card theme. Any HP pairing is welcome. Claiming is open till October 29. Sign-up form is not required. To participate, upload your work to the AO3 collection.
Ratings Restrictions: Must be either Mature or Explicit
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1k; maximum 10k
Art: None
Timeline:
Claiming starts: September 1
Submissions due: October 29, 10am GMT
Reveal: October 31, 10am GMT
Links: Tumblr | Discord | AO3 & Rules | Claiming
Type of Challenge: Prompt fest
Description: A HP smut fic and art fest with a tarot card theme. Any HP pairing is welcome. Claiming is open till October 29. Sign-up form is not required. To participate, upload your work to the AO3 collection.
Ratings Restrictions: Must be either Mature or Explicit
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1k; maximum 10k
Art: None
Timeline:
Claiming starts: September 1
Submissions due: October 29, 10am GMT
Reveal: October 31, 10am GMT
Muccamukk (muccamukk) wrote2025-09-07 03:03 pm
muccamukk) wrote2025-09-07 03:03 pmTwo Prompt Fests
spook_me posted: Spook Me Multi-Fandom Ficathon 2025All fandoms are welcome. Stories can be Gen, Het, Slash or Femslash. All ratings are accepted.
We have TWO new Creatures this year: RAVEN and GRAVEYARD
I have royally failed at this the last like five years, but I do want to keep trying. It's really my favourite prompt fest.
fandomgiftbasket posted: Spreadsheet of All RequestsHere is the spreadsheet of all requests!
Link.
There are two sheets on it. The first one is a list of all baskets sorted alphabetically by username, and this is where I'll keep track of the number of gifts. The second is every single fandom request posted individually in alphabetical order, for ease of finding. If you spot anything missing or any mistakes, let me know ASAP.
I don't have a basket this year, but hope to maybe write drabbles or something? Possibly?
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-09-07 10:50 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-09-07 10:50 pmEntry tags:
vital functions
Reading. Lake of Souls, Ann Leckie: finished the Radch stories; on to The World Of The Raven Tower!
The Painful Truth, Monty Lyman: in progress; not yet Cross with it but also not yet Impressed by it.
More Dreamwidth catchup.
Listening. More Hidden Almanac!
Eating. SO many tomatoes.
Exploring. Poked around Preston a very little!
Growing. ... SO many tomatoes. More watering system established at plot (so hopefully all the peppers will still be alive and well upon my return). Sowed some probably-past-it seeds.
Observing. A saw a deer on the drive up to Preston! A proper big one with antlers and all! We were very impressed.
Also the local owl Yell.
trobadora (trobadora) wrote2025-09-07 11:43 pm
trobadora) wrote2025-09-07 11:43 pmGuardian Slo-Mo Rewatch
I don't know where the day went, or the weekend. How is it almost midnight already?!
Anyway: Over atsid_guardian we've kicked off another rewatch - a slo-mo one this time, half an episode per week. And since we've already done the "take an epic amount of notes and write epic post" kind of rewatch, this one's going to be a bit more relaxed. *g*
Here's the first post, episode 1, part 1.
Anyway: Over at
sid_guardian we've kicked off another rewatch - a slo-mo one this time, half an episode per week. And since we've already done the "take an epic amount of notes and write epic post" kind of rewatch, this one's going to be a bit more relaxed. *g*Here's the first post, episode 1, part 1.
Capy (paperghost) wrote2025-09-07 04:10 pm
paperghost) wrote2025-09-07 04:10 pmEntry tags:
thinking
As much as I say that I'm (theoretically) not opposed to using AI to assist art and for thumbnails as a reference point and you do the rest, I'm not sure how I feel about it in practice. I think that might fall into a similar sphere as students using AI for college. Yes, theoretically you can use it to grab sources or as a springboard for whatever the fuck people do in college, but at what part do you actually learn from the process of trying?
Not to mention most time spent using AI, even "thoughtfully" is just training. So the minutes trying to command it to do X, avoid Y, to get to Z... Could've easily been spent just finding the references and resources yourself. Jesus. I try to be nuanced but so much motivation behind "AI addiction" as a shortcut is just being babybrained.
Not to mention most time spent using AI, even "thoughtfully" is just training. So the minutes trying to command it to do X, avoid Y, to get to Z... Could've easily been spent just finding the references and resources yourself. Jesus. I try to be nuanced but so much motivation behind "AI addiction" as a shortcut is just being babybrained.
the_shoshanna (the_shoshanna) wrote2025-09-07 09:40 pm
the_shoshanna) wrote2025-09-07 09:40 pmEntry tags:
Today involved much more walking, but many fewer epic failures!
Last night at dinner, Geoff and I ordered a pint of beer and a half-pint of cider. When a different waiter arrived with the glasses, he asked, "Who has the cider?" I do appreciate it when they don't assume.
I had a hard time getting to sleep. I think I hadn't been aware of how stressed I was about how badly the day could have gone, even though in fact everything ended up fine; and also about my first indoor restaurant meals in five and a half years. I ended up taking an antianxiety med, which did the trick, and I slept deeply and well until seven am. Meanwhile poor Geoff apparently had anxiety dreams! (Partly because his son is terribly anxious at all times, and especially about us doing this trip, and self-soothes by unloading his anxiety on Geoff. 🎶It's the circle of li-i-i-ife 🎶)
Today was forecast to have intermittent light rain. What it actually had, all morning, was heavy rain and strong winds, on one of the harder hikes of our trip. "Not a long day, but a hard one," said the company's description, with 750 meters of cumulative uphill. My feet are all tingly now...and some of my toes hurt. My rainwear protected me well, but the rain cover on my pack, well, epically failed. Nothing that would be hurt by getting wet was in it -- except my passport. It, and all the clothes we wore today, are now draped around tonight's hotel room, and will hopefully dry out by tomorrow! Which is supposed to be sunny again. That makes me happy, but Geoff, who can overheat scarily easily sometimes, remarked that if today had been blazing sun the way yesterday was, he'd have absolutely died on the steep uphills.
We were mostly following Offa's Dike (ancient miles-long earthwork dividing England and Wales) and the Shropshire Way path, and once we were out of the town we started in (which took ten minutes, these towns aren't big!) it was pretty much all through fields: mostly sheep, often cattle, once a couple of horses. To get from one field to another we were either climbing over stiles or going through what are delightfully called kissing gates; believe me, by late afternoon we were grateful for every time we could go through a kissing gate instead of hauling ourselves over a stile!
Around midday we met a family (?) coming the other way: looked like two brothers in their late twenties and their dad. We chatted for a few minutes about the weather; they had hiked through hail! One of them commented that there are three types of fun:
1. You enjoy it while you're doing it;
2. You don't enjoy it while you're doing it, but you enjoy looking back on it;
3. You don't enjoy it while you're doing it, and you don't enjoy looking back on it, but it makes a great story.
We loved that and are totally stealing it. Today was some of each. There were some fucking grueling uphill slogs...
At one point we came to a gate into the next field, and a herd of cows were right there on the other side of the gate: maybe twenty or so, including several nursing calves and a bull. We were not going to walk into the midst of that crowd! So we hung out on the other side of the gate for a while, occasionally saying things like "come on, guys, go over there," "yes, you're moving away! Be a trendsetter!" or just, because it was obvious, "Moooooove!" While they eyed us grimly and largely refused to do anything except relieve themselves torrentially on the path we'd be walking. Geoff got a couple pictures of the nursing calves. Eventually they did slowly saunter away a bit, and once they were all a couple dozen meters away -- most especially the nursing calves, their mothers, and the bull, we for sure know not to come too close to, or between, them -- we slipped through the gate and walked gently past them to continue on our way.
We also met a couple of horses in another field, who hoped very very much that we would have treats for them. Which we did not, but that didn't stop them from following us for a while. In that field we met a local man (from Clun, the town we were heading for), out on a four-mile circuit hillwalk with his dog (and he must have been seventy, a great inspiration to us), and when we stopped to chat with him I was startled to find one of the horses had come up behind me and was nosing hopefully at my backpack!
Anyway, the rain mostly stopped around midday, though it did spit again a few times, and there was some glorious mist over the fields and hillsides. After seven hours we finally staggered into Clun and tonight's hotel. Our room's en suite bathroom is up three stairs, we have to go uphill yet again just to pee! Oh, the humanity.
Tomorrow's hike is not so bad, and the forecast is for sunny and cool. The day after's, though, is harder than today's; today had 750 meters of cumulative uphill, and Tuesday's has 800. Tomorrow morning we'll phone the cab company that moves our main luggage from place to place and hopefully arrange to get a lift with the luggage for part of the way that day. Because NO.
(The shortened option only cuts the cumulative uphill to 600m. Yikes.)
ivyfic (ivyfic) wrote2025-09-07 04:44 pm
ivyfic) wrote2025-09-07 04:44 pmEntry tags:
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
I watched the movie The Prestige in theaters back in 2006, but don’t think I’ve seen it since. I picked up the book recently, which is not very similar to the film.
First I want to start with some content warnings (highlight for text).
Warnings for miscarriage, graphic child murder, and—and I can’t believe I have to warn for this in a book largely set in the nineteenth century—graphic descriptions of death from AIDS. Amazingly, many things you’d have to warn for in the movie are not in this book. The book didn’t fridge any women at all!
Short version—this is horror. The film is kind of horror, a bit, but not the way the book is. As someone who is only occasionally into horror, oh man was this my kind of horror. It’s an incredibly good book, highly recommended, just brace yourself.
( The non-spoiler discussion )
And that’s about as much as I’m going to reveal as non-spoiler. If this book sounds interesting, absolutely go read it.
( The spoiler discussion )
This is a much better book than it is a film. And for as much as there is overlap with the film, I wish I’d read the book unspoiled. But I’d never have read the book at all without the film, so.
First I want to start with some content warnings (highlight for text).
Warnings for miscarriage, graphic child murder, and—and I can’t believe I have to warn for this in a book largely set in the nineteenth century—graphic descriptions of death from AIDS. Amazingly, many things you’d have to warn for in the movie are not in this book. The book didn’t fridge any women at all!
Short version—this is horror. The film is kind of horror, a bit, but not the way the book is. As someone who is only occasionally into horror, oh man was this my kind of horror. It’s an incredibly good book, highly recommended, just brace yourself.
( The non-spoiler discussion )
And that’s about as much as I’m going to reveal as non-spoiler. If this book sounds interesting, absolutely go read it.
( The spoiler discussion )
This is a much better book than it is a film. And for as much as there is overlap with the film, I wish I’d read the book unspoiled. But I’d never have read the book at all without the film, so.
rosa_heartlily (rosa_heartlily) wrote2025-09-07 08:56 pm
rosa_heartlily) wrote2025-09-07 08:56 pm
...and begin again!
A year ago I was having a normal sort of Saturday, playing Trek to Yomi, and watching Umbrella Academy and Who Do You Think You Are?.
Today was agape breakfast at church and included the final chapter of Colossians. Someone commented that our 'thoughts and prayers' can provide comfort and encouragement to others. This lifts the burden of feeling we have to solve everything to help - knowing that people WANT to help may be enough.
It rained most of today, so I didn't get to the garden - not that I had much planned.
I finished Roki. The ending was very satisfying. It took about 12 hours - the YT walkthroughs are 7-8 hours, so I'm quite happy with that. I was missing 6 trophies and they are very doable, with a walkthrough so I don't miss anything. I have restarted and there is actually quite a lot of foreshadowing. I'm getting through it a lot quicker this time, even with three tabs open on my laptop - one for collectables, one for trophies, and one for the walkthrough, because I couldn't find a single walkthrough.
Otherwise, it's been a very quiet day, which is a Good Thing.
Today was agape breakfast at church and included the final chapter of Colossians. Someone commented that our 'thoughts and prayers' can provide comfort and encouragement to others. This lifts the burden of feeling we have to solve everything to help - knowing that people WANT to help may be enough.
It rained most of today, so I didn't get to the garden - not that I had much planned.
I finished Roki. The ending was very satisfying. It took about 12 hours - the YT walkthroughs are 7-8 hours, so I'm quite happy with that. I was missing 6 trophies and they are very doable, with a walkthrough so I don't miss anything. I have restarted and there is actually quite a lot of foreshadowing. I'm getting through it a lot quicker this time, even with three tabs open on my laptop - one for collectables, one for trophies, and one for the walkthrough, because I couldn't find a single walkthrough.
Otherwise, it's been a very quiet day, which is a Good Thing.
yhlee (yhlee) wrote2025-09-07 03:33 pm
yhlee) wrote2025-09-07 03:33 pmneedle lace WIP
Perhaps overly ambitious for a project, but I'm doing this as a fun hobby fidget with no expectation it'll turn out "well." (In real-life, this is fiber-based trolling.)
I started this a few years ago but life got busy.
(Technical details posted elsewhere toprototypediablerie.)
I started this a few years ago but life got busy.
(Technical details posted elsewhere to
prototypediablerie.)
carenejeans (carenejeans) wrote2025-09-07 01:22 pm
carenejeans) wrote2025-09-07 01:22 pmEntry tags:
Write Every Day September 2025 - Day 7
Quote of the Day:
"I have pulled out one thread from the tangle or tapestry of that particular time, and nothing in my account is untrue, except perhaps the coherence of a story, when really there were many stories, or the heap of events and details and imperfect memories from which stories are spun."
— Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby (2013).
Today's Writing:
I did a bit more file clean-up (eeerrrgh) and 317 words not totally relevant to the essay I'm working on NOW, but will be useful later.
Tally
( Days 1-5 )
Day 6:badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme
Let me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. And remember, you can join in at any time!
"I have pulled out one thread from the tangle or tapestry of that particular time, and nothing in my account is untrue, except perhaps the coherence of a story, when really there were many stories, or the heap of events and details and imperfect memories from which stories are spun."
— Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby (2013).
Today's Writing:
I did a bit more file clean-up (eeerrrgh) and 317 words not totally relevant to the essay I'm working on NOW, but will be useful later.
Tally
( Days 1-5 )
Day 6:
badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilmeLet me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. And remember, you can join in at any time!
escritorzuela (queenslayerbee) wrote2025-09-07 09:58 pm
queenslayerbee) wrote2025-09-07 09:58 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
FIFTEEN DAYS TILL MIA DEARDEN DAY
We welcome all sorts of fanworks, of any length, form or shape. You're encouraged to post anything and everything pertaining Mia's character and, if you want it reblogged here, feel free to @ us or tag your posts with #aSpeedyEquinox.
➶➶➶
YOU'RE ALL JUST JEALOUS OF MY JETPACK (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
myjetpack_feed) wrote2025-09-07 06:46 pm
myjetpack_feed) wrote2025-09-07 06:46 pmMy cartoon for this week’s Guardian Nooks Autumn Reads special:
ALTMy cartoon for this week’s Guardian Nooks Autumn Reads special:
and here’s a preorder link for my new book of cartoons:
mrissa (mrissa) wrote2025-09-07 02:14 pm
mrissa) wrote2025-09-07 02:14 pmEntry tags:
Castoff, by Brandon Crilly
Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author is a friend, as you will find out if you read to the end and see that I am in the acknowledgments for the honestly light and easy work of being Brandon's pal.
Good news for those of you who wait until a series is complete to read it: this is the second book in a duology! So you can just pick up Catalyst and Castoff and read them together, if you haven't yet. I'm going to try not to spoiler the first book too much, which is going to leave me vague, because this is definitely my favorite kind of sequel: the kind where the consequences follow on hard and fast from the first book. Happily for those with shaky memories, there's a quick summary at the beginning of this one.
So there are airships! There are strange vast somewhat personified forces! There are people working out their relationships in the face of personal and social change! It's that lovely kind of fantasy novel that almost might be a science fiction novel in its concern with human interactions with truly alien intelligences. I love that kind. I want more of that basically always. And if it can come with airship adventures alongside the ponderings of the nature of intelligence and caring about others, even better. Very glad this is about to make it out into the world so I can talk to more people about these books.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-07 02:11 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-07 02:11 pmGreen Energy
These clear windows can secretly produce solar power
Cholesteric liquid crystal coatings enable transparent, unidirectional solar concentrators compatible with modern windows.
Scientists have created a transparent solar coating that turns ordinary windows into clean energy generators without affecting clarity. Using cholesteric liquid crystal layers, the coating redirects polarized sunlight to the window edges where solar cells collect it. A small prototype already powered a fan, and full-sized windows could boost efficiency 50-fold while cutting the need for costly photovoltaic cells.
Useful, if it's affordable.
Cholesteric liquid crystal coatings enable transparent, unidirectional solar concentrators compatible with modern windows.
Scientists have created a transparent solar coating that turns ordinary windows into clean energy generators without affecting clarity. Using cholesteric liquid crystal layers, the coating redirects polarized sunlight to the window edges where solar cells collect it. A small prototype already powered a fan, and full-sized windows could boost efficiency 50-fold while cutting the need for costly photovoltaic cells.
Useful, if it's affordable.
kathleen_dailey (kathleen_dailey) wrote2025-09-07 03:42 pm
kathleen_dailey) wrote2025-09-07 03:42 pmTrek rec
I'm aware that my taste in fic can be a bit outré, and that the kind of off-centre stories (and characters) that I like aren't for everyone. But for those who are searching for something different from the current brand of Trekfic, ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
nonelvis's "The Satchel" offers a very welcome change.
To say too much about this clever and well-written 2,000-word story would be to spoil all the fun. I'll just note that the author causes Pelia and Jett Reno to enter into some shady shenanigans--and posits a believable and in-character explanation for Reno's connection with Starfleet. Recommended reading.
To say too much about this clever and well-written 2,000-word story would be to spoil all the fun. I'll just note that the author causes Pelia and Jett Reno to enter into some shady shenanigans--and posits a believable and in-character explanation for Reno's connection with Starfleet. Recommended reading.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-07 01:46 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-09-07 01:46 pmBirdfeeding
Today is sunny and mild, a beautiful fall day. :D
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.
I picked 6 groundcherries.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I hauled out the hose to water the new picnic table and the septic garden.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I watered the patio plants, old picnic table, and house yard plants.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- We reeled up the hose.
I watered the telephone pole garden and the savanna seedlings.
Crickets are singing.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.
I picked 6 groundcherries.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I hauled out the hose to water the new picnic table and the septic garden.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- I watered the patio plants, old picnic table, and house yard plants.
EDIT 9/7/25 -- We reeled up the hose.
I watered the telephone pole garden and the savanna seedlings.
Crickets are singing.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
shadowhive (shadowhive) wrote2025-09-07 06:51 pm
shadowhive) wrote2025-09-07 06:51 pmEntry tags:
How does it feel to lose?
Two posts in one day, but I finished Wednesday season 1 and have thoughts that might fade before next post
( Read more... )
( Read more... )