larryhammer | Network

Posted by Kopal

https://www.themarysue.com/the-white-house-is-already-treating-greenland-like-a-u-s-territory-with-trump-planting-the-flag/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908780

Donald Trump and the White House posts an AI-generated image of Greenland as US territory

Last time we checked, there was no press conference, diplomatic announcement, or negotiation update on Greenland. Yet, Donald Trump posted an image of himself and his goons hoisting the American flag over Greenland’s soil. And the White House followed.

This week, Trump probably forgot to take his sleeping pills again. At around 1 am on Jan. 20, he posted an AI-generated image of himself standing on Greenlandic soil, hoisting the American flag. He is flanked by JD Vance and Marco Rubio, standing triumphantly in a frozen landscape, planting the flag. Meanwhile, a sign in the foreground reads “GREENLAND – U.S. TERRITORY – EST. 2026.”

https://www.themarysue.com/the-white-house-is-already-treating-greenland-like-a-u-s-territory-with-trump-planting-the-flag/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908780

the_mary_sue_feed

Posted by Ljeonida Mulabazi

https://www.themarysue.com/woman-leaves-hair-appointment/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908801

woman shares hair salon issue (l) hairdresser at work (r)

The idea of a “social media professional” is still fairly new. Not long ago, finding a hairstylist meant word of mouth, a recommendation from a friend, or walking into a salon and seeing who was available.

Now, for many nail artists, hairstylists, lash techs, and tattoo artists, business comes through Instagram feeds, TikTok clips, polished content, and influencer shoutouts.

https://www.themarysue.com/woman-leaves-hair-appointment/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908801

baggyeyes posting in

onesongaday

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Current Mood: sad

ysabetwordsmith

Snowflake Challenge 11: Granting Wishes

This challenge is a follow up to Challenge #5. You've made your own wishlist, now it's time to grant someone else's wish from theirs! This can be as simple as answering a question to creating something from scratch, one wish or many wishes. Let your inspiration run wild!

In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your own post with the wishes you granted if you feel comfortable doing so.

Be sure to check out other people's creations, whether they're granting your wish or someone else's. If you post any granted wishes elsewhere, we'd love it if you link them to this post.

A gold snowflake ornament is nestled amidst pine boughs

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

starspray

Hopefully this year I can keep up with these a bit better.

So far I've only read one book in 2026, but I also want to mention the last few I finished in 2025:

The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World, by Shelley Puhak - This is about two Merovingian queens, Brunhild and Fredegund--I didn't know anything about the Merovingians going into this, or much about that time period in Europe (6th century), so I learned a lot and it was really fascinating.

Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy, by Catherine Hanley - More medeival history, this time about Philip Augustus, who in spite of my interest in the Plantagenets I didn't know much about. This book is a biography focusing primarily on his relationship with Henry II of England and his sons, which is fun.

The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club books are always a great time. I think some of the various different POV segments were not quite necessary, but it didn't feel as egregious in this one as in the last Osman book I read (We Solve Murders, I think?).

And this year so far I've read:

Guilty by Definition, by Susie Dent - All the main characters work for a dictionary so there's lots of fancy vocabulary floating around, which was delightful to me. The story itself is also really great, the mystery engaging, takes place in Oxford. Tolkien got namedropped. I had fun!

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: I Will Never Die - Delta Rae

amaebi

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loganberrybunny

Public

What's Up, Doc? (1972)

This is a 1970s attempt to recapture the energy of the screwball comedies of a third of century earlier – and on the whole it does it very well. A lot of that is down to Barbra Streisand, whose Judy Maxwell is magnetically watchable even when she's being impossibly annoying, which is much of the time. Ryan O'Neal as Dr Howard Bannister looks just enough like a younger Michael Caine to be mildly disconcerting, but he does well too. Not all the jokes land perfectly, but there are so many of them that you don't have to wait long for a better one. The plot is absurd, but it's meant to be so that's okay.

An absolutely fantastic car chase scene, like a cross between Bullitt and Wacky Races and one which instantly became a favourite. The weak link is Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn), not because of her acting but because of the dated and embarrassing "hey, his actual fiancée is dowdy and whiny, isn't that amusing?" running joke; one late line about her in a courtroom scene is truly awful. Fortunately the rest is so enjoyable as to make this a largely thoroughly entertaining hour and a half. ★★★★

Current Mood: amused

james_davis_nicoll

Should we attempt to bring older works into the modern age?

Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works

silveradept

snowflake_challenge dropped their eleventh challenge, and it's a call-back.

Challenge #11

Grant someone's wish from Challenge #5.

( Merrily a wassailing... )

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: ROZEN - Master vs Master

duckprintspress

A graphic over a white background, featuring an ice cream sundae with a cherry and whipped cream on top and a couple brownie chunks and vanilla ice cream, as well as several hearts in striped like the wlw pride flag, and text. The text reads: An Excerpt from Missed Fortunes by Tris Lawrence. The spice of cinnamon explodes on Carolyn's tongue, enhanced by vanilla and cream. She licks the whipped cream from Serina's finger, savoring it as Serina withdraws, her cheek flushed. Carolyn's tongue tingles. "It's good." "It's the best," Serina corrects her softly, licking the last of the cream from her fingertip before she picks up her spoon and digs in.

Three books are included in our current Kickstarter, the three combined telling the full story of the Twinned trilogy by Tris Lawrence. The first book is Commit to the Kick; the second is Missed Fortunes, starring Carolyn, a young woman with predictive Talent that works through Tarot readings, and who is biromantic and asexual! She’s not entirely sure what Serina has in mind, or if she’ll be comfortable accepting it, but she’s definitely open to the possibility. And meanwhile, her Talent is changing in unexpected ways…

Blurb:

To solve the problem of now…
Remember what lies behind…
Pass through your hopes and fears…
…to the final outcome.

Carolyn knows the Emergence brought her a new community, but it also revealed the existence of people with magical Talent to the scrutiny of the world. Her high school life ended on a tumultuous note, but now that she’s a junior at Pine Hills University, her life has become stable. She has her twin Kit. She has her sorority sisters. She has her Talent and her Tarot cards.

But when the Tower appears in a reading, the world shatters and changes. Kit has left his predictive Talent behind, and Carolyn’s own predictive Talent is changing decidedly unpredictably. She’s seeing visions of fire and destruction, of Shadows moving in the darkness and intruding into the light. And her sorority sister Drea and Drea’s brother Alaric have returned from winter break, warning of looming dangers and the risk of Clan going to war.

Carolyn shouldn’t get involved—doesn’t want to get involved—but with the world crumbling around her and her predictions hinting at worse to come, she can’t imagine not doing what she can. To make matters worse, the only way forward is to reconcile with her past, but Carolyn isn’t sure how to do that nor why it seems so important to the world that she does.

Commit to the Kick and Missed Fortunes have both been released previously in print through Duck Prints Press; the third book of the trilogy, Into the Split, is coming out for the first time using funds from this crowdfunding campaign.

Learn more about all three books, and buy one, two, or all three of them, by supporting our Kickstarter campaign today!

(we hit our base funding goal yesterday, but we’ve got lots of great stretch goals for bonus content, and funding above our base helps raise the amount Tris Lawrence earns for her efforts in writing this awesome series of modern-with-magic books!)

oursin

What I read

Finished I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz, though will cop to only skimming the final section 'Fiorucci: the Book' (1980) about which I was a bit WTF? and 'what was she on?'

Over the weekend saw a review somewhere of the latest work by Madeleine Gray speaking well of her first novel Green Dot (2024) so thought I might see what it was like, especially as it was at a very reasonable price on Kobo - gave up about a third or so in. Did not care about the narrator or her situation.

A bit of sortes e-reader (inadvertently opening a book) started a supernatural thriller but I couldn't work out whether it was part of a series and I was supposed to know who these characters and their predicament were, or whether I was supposed to work it out over chapters jumping back and forward over time and didn't feel grabbed. May return because that might be me?

Dick Francis, Risk (1977), where I realised I have recently identified a Francis pattern such that I could finger a certain character very early on as likely to be implicated in bad stuff going down.

On the go

Have been dipping into Timothy d'Arch Smith, The Stammering Librarian (2025), some further collected essays, including one on a person of research interest, and a rather fun Anthony Powell parody.

Dick Francis, The Edge (1988), which is the one involving a lush train journey, with additional Staged Murder Mystery, across Canada (reverse direction to the way I did it).

Up next

Well, the local history society publications in which I was interested have been ordered and have arrived.

evewithanapple

Watch on Vimeo

Vid: House
Music: House - Charli XCX feat. John Cale
Fandom: The Black Phone (Movies - Derrickson)
Summary: ". . . other houses, the lights were dim, and with some houses they were almost out and I didn’t know the people who lived there. I’d get a feeling from these houses of stuff going on that wasn’t happy. I didn’t dwell on it, but I knew there were things going on behind those doors and windows." - David Lynch
Warnings: Canon-typical abuse and violence against children; suicide by hanging
Links: On AO3 | On Tumblr

seleneheart posting in

fandomcalendar

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wychwood

So far since I arrived here I have watched David Attenborough's new Wild London special, the first two episodes of Wandavision (cor, that's a weird one), and forty-five minutes of The Two Towers. Gimli is really very comic-relief in this one, which I'm not loving. It's more noticeable having recently read the books!

I also woke up at 03:18 yesterday morning and didn't manage more than a few minutes of dozing thereafter, so had a fairly miserable day; beaten, however, by my swimming buddy (who lives around the corner and has been kindly giving me a lift to and from swimming while I'm staying with Mum), whose brother was just diagnosed with CJD, of all things. Apparently there's one or two people diagnosed per million each year, but talk about appalling luck.

Anyway last night I got rather more sleep, so have felt much more at peace with the world today and even accomplished some useful work tasks. I'll need all the available brain for choir tonight, though, this piece seems to be taking a lot of work somehow even though it's Haydn and not exactly difficult.

I have read zero books, but I have made some progress on booklogging, so it's not all bad.

reeby10 posting in

snowflake_challenge

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #111 )

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

soemand

A few years ago, and many nm from here.

rydra_wong

Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. They live there. It is their country.

They are legally Danish citzens. Greenland is largely self-governing, with the possibility of becoming independent if they choose to.

Denmark can't "sell" them or their country because Denmark does not own them.

And after a number of centuries and some debate, a general consensus was arrived at that selling people is not ethically acceptable, you know?

Even if they wanted to, Denmark can't "sell" Trump Greenland any more than the UK could sell him Scotland.

Also N.B. 85-90% of the Greenlanders are Inuit.

I am very certain that this is absolutely about thinking that Native people don't really count as citizens and they don't really own their land; it is Terra Nullius, and they can be sold off in a deal between the "real" nations of Denmark and the US.

(Or their land can be sold out from under them and they can just be forced elsewhere, which I'm sure Trump would be just fine with.)

If the US wanted to try to ethically acquire Greenland, it could talk to the government of Greenland and offer them a great deal with significant benefits if they wanted to become independent and then have a free association deal with the US.

Or rather, it could have, maybe, because now the Greenlanders are fucking pissed off and scared over the threats and offers to buy them, and if they have to choose between the US and Denmark they are unambiguously choosing Denmark:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/14/us-invasion-threat-greenland-trump-denmark

mdehners posting in

gardening

Last month I was rereading one of Alaric Albertsson's books( think it was 'To Walk a Pagan Path') and there was a chapter on creating a calendar meaningful to where you actually live...so I decided that this was going to be one of my projects for this yr.
It's pretty simple; just Journal what happens each month in the natural world around you. I live presently in E Tennessee and actually, the Solstices and Equinoxes pretty well "map" here in Loudon County but we can fine tune things.
This yr, of course, had to be anomalous;>! Normally, within a couple weeks of Winter Solstice we get temps in the high teens. This yr until last week it had actually got to 70F! Now, it's "seasonal" with today in the 40's.Due to the warmth my neighbor's early Daffs budded up and right now they don't look like they'd recover. Me? Mine are breaking ground and at least one Snowdrop has buds, though most are just breaking ground a well.
We've also got Canadian Geese, Ducks and at least one Heron here on the inlet....a BIT early.
Preliminary name for 1st month; "Frikkn Freezing Moon";>!
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Skald Radio

marycatelli posting in

books

Scourge of the Spaceways by John C. Wright

Starquest book 5. And it is seriously a running story. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes.

( Read more... )

summerstorm

I'm happy to do more top 10s in this post, especially if they have to do with TTRPGs tbh, I forgot I love listing D&D things.

These past few days have been really stressful due to a combination of my sister hogging the washing machine, lack of money, PMS, and yet another delivery that was marked as received when it wasn't, which meant I had to call the store I ordered from yesterday to see if they can do something about that. I would have done it sooner but my brain was not cooperating in the slightest.

Today is -- extremely weird, to be honest, but I did get good news in the form of my mom's request for financial aid being approved and a date for when she'll get the first payment, which is a huge weight off my chest. We just need to survive until March 1, which is... fine? Probably? (Any help is extremely appreciated.)

But holy shit my brain is so confused, y'all. I do not get it. I don't get anything is how confused I am. Who am I. What do I do with my life. I have lists! I have Finch! I have a planner! I have a Trello with multiple possibilities of things to do! I have a page on my planner for stuff I want to watch/read/try! What is wrong with me. (It's my brain recalibrating, I assume. I've had to push down so much anxiety I've had nightmares every fucking day since last Monday. I don't not get it, logically. But feeling it is disconcerting.)

soemand

❄️ Winter claimed its first victim: my car battery, which took one look at the cold and quit. New one going in tonight.

Current Music: London girl, the pogues

fred_mouse posting in

unclutter

How did the decluttering of the work space(s) go? Did you spend time looking for things that could go, move a thing or two, or have a wildly successful week? Or did you work on a different space instead?

For week four we are moving from decluttering spaces in order to make them more welcoming to us, to making our space more welcoming to others. What this might look like

Is it difficult to get into the house? Option: work out what of the stuff in the front hall / entrance / verandah / front step is useful to have there, and deal with (some of) the rest. If that stuff is clutter to be rehomed, maybe make the getting it out of the house a priority
Is there nowhere for visitors to put things when they visit? Option: go through the shoe rack / coat rack / other storage and getting rid of what you don't use so that there is space for visitors to leave their shoes / coats / other when they visit
Is there nowhere for a visitor to sit? Option: Clear a second chair! Or a path to a second chair!
Are there too many choices of tea, and none of them good? Option: get rid of the stale tea so nobody accidentally gets served it. Do not suffer stale tea.
Have your serving plates / company coffee mugs / tea cups seen better days? Are there good ones that never get appreciated? Consider: ditch the dodgy, have the joy of using the nice ones (and if the nice ones aren't ever going to get used, is it time to send them out into the world to bring joy to someone else?)
if you have a car and are a person who provides transport, is there clutter in there making life awkward?

Remember, this is a gentle challenge, and if you get one thing progressed, that is a big win even when you can't give yourself the credit.

james_davis_nicoll

I read the press release and have no idea what this imprint will publish.

rydra_wong

A post by Naomi Kritzer:

https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/

This also has advice on how to start preparing for if and when this shit comes to your home state.

(If you are in Minnesota: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/how-to-help-twin-cities-residents/ )

just_ann_now

^Same userpic as last week, because it's still cold! Clear and sunny, so not bad for walking, but, still. They are talking about a SIGNIFICANT SNOW EVENT for us this weekend. We shall see!

What I Just Finished Reading

Sing Like A Fish:How Sound Rules Life Underwater, by Amorina Kingdon.

cairistiona, it was extremely readable and enjoyable! I learned so much. There is a fish, along the Pacific Coast, with mating calls! I can't even imagine. Less enjoyable, but still very worthwhile, was Birds at Rest: The Behavior and Ecology of Avian Sleep, by Roger F. Pasquier. (Academics should not be allowed to publish approachable, engaging prefaces to their books, if the books themselves are going to be pretty dry. That's deceptive!) *grin* But again, I learned a lot about avian behavior that had never occurred to me before. @

cairistiona, an even more enjoyable book about fish is What A Fish Knows, by Jonathan Balcomb, which I remember I really liked.

On the fiction side, Malinalli, by Veronica Chapa, had inconsistent characterization and confusing plotting. For Dreamwidth Book Bingo: Author's Debut, as well as Goodreads Tale Spinners challenge (Fairy tale or mythology retelling).

An absolute impulse purchase (boy, have I been doing a lot of that lately) was What If...Loki Was Worthy?. An odd impulse because I haven't been into Marvel in ages and am several movies behind. (Sorry, Captain America Sam. Sorry, Bucky.) If this book had been fic, it would be Crack!fic, an absolutely wacky and enjoyable ride. My absolutely favorite Loki Redemption fic, though, is "Monsters", by coneycat, the opening of her "Housemates"series.

What I Am Currently Reading

Today I ~~expect~~ hope to finish A Splendid Savage:The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham, by Steve Kemper. Burnham was a high adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer who I first heard about in reading about another high-adrenaline, restless explorer/adventurer, Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer.

What I Am Reading Next

I have a list of library holds as long as my arm, which I plan to pick up tomorrow. Which is crazy, because it isn't like I don't have another virtual stack of ebooks on my iPad. I just like walking to the library, I guess.

Question of the Day:

Snow:Yay! or Snow

(That would be me. It's not that I mind snow, per se - it's pretty on the garden, so peaceful looking, and we certainly need the moisture. It's the danger and difficulty of walking the days after.)

lydamorehouse

Image: no laser eyes this time, but this is a loon in the shape of the Rebel Alliance symbol from Star Wars.

So, let's see. Yesterday started out a little rough for me in part because I was feeling EXTRA anxious because helicopters were buzzing our neighborhood. So much information getting shared is people guessing at what's going on and people who seem to maybe be reporting on what's happening? But, it's often unclear where they are getting their information? So, it's very paranoid here.

What I heard was that ICE was back at the MidwayTarget just up the block from me, specifically targeting the protestors there. Target has been a target for resistance efforts because of the video that was widely circulated of Greg Bovino, the ICE commandant/literal SS officer cosplayer, stopping to take a piss flanked by his goons. Rumors have also circulated that Target is not what we are calling a "Fourth Amendment business." (For our international friends, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the US states that there must be probable/reasonable cause for search and seizure--including of our persons, our bodies--basically no one has the right to just snatch people out of homes or businesses.) So, here in the Twin Cities, if a business appears to cooperate with ICE, even to the point of not protecting their employees, people have been mad. And supposedly Target was compliant with ICE. So,the day before yesterday there was a big sit-in in Target. Yesterday, there was a group of people doing retail resistance? They would buy salt (or other metaphorically appropriate things) and then immediately return it, so that Target would have the hassle of all this merchandise to deal with and refunds to issue.

There was another rumor that ICE was at HarMar Mall in Roseville, which is literally a shopping mall? But, as someone who has taken the bus out in that direction, a lot of folks who might be targets of the gestapo do work in those retail stores.

What I should have done when the helicopters were circling was just get in my car and drive up to Target and see what I could see or head out to HarMar, but I was waiting for Mason to be up to find out what he wanted to do for lunch and whether or not he was going to his uncle Keven's to do some odd job work. Mason was justifiably cranky with me when he came down to find me in a state. As he pointed out, I can just go. He is an adult. Not only can he make himself lunch, he can figure out how to get to Keven's if need be.

But, having talked that through, Mason and I decided to drop by the folks I lovingly call the Food Communists and see if there was work to be done. Sure enough! We arrived in time to help load up one car that was delivering diapers. We packed several bags of groceries, helped load more stuff to go, and then spent the "downtime" making individual packs of various bulk food items, while chatting with neighbors--and one guy who and I am not kidding, came from the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota order to help with the resistance. That is 288 miles from us, about a 5 hour drive (if you drive without stopping.) People in the UK? He basically came from another world. (And honestly? A few more miles and he would have been coming from Canada.)

Speaking of my non-Minnesotan and foreign friends, here's

naomikritzer 's write up of things to do for us if you are interested in helping the resistance: https://naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/how-to-help-if-you-are-outside-minnesota/ Even if all you want is some links to reliable, detailed information about what is actually happening here, this is a good resource to start with!

My singing group was supposed to gather last night at 7:30 pm and I made an effort to join them, but I think I screwed up the where or the when because I wandered around in the place I thought they'd be and no one was around. To be fair to me (and them) it was supposed to be outside a church and there are a number of churches with similar names in the neighborhood and I suspect I just ended up at the wrong one. They sing every day, so I'll get other chances to join them.

I've been trying to also focus on feeding myself and my family, so yesterday I made a lovely mapo tofu for lunch and then we had bibbimap for dinner. Two rice meals, but both hearty, filling, and sustaining. I went this morning to get my blood drawn for all the various health checks, so I am remembering to take care of myself and my family. I've been joking that all of this stress has actually made me better about remembering to hydrate, so that's something.

And, with luck, I'll be running D&D this weekend. So, we can keep up our mental health!

Okay, everyone, stay strong!

rebeccmeister

Ugh, why is January so expensive??

Don't answer that. :^)

I knew a lot of these expenses were coming up. Still, it's a lot, watching all the money drain straight out of my bank account.

I'm hoping to make some time to scrutinize utility costs soon. Not that I think there's a whole lot I can change, just...I like to have a sense of the trends.

I'm going to need to do a fair bit of advance financial planning this year, just because of summer research travel plans and other travel plans and a couple of expensive academic conferences. In general that means I'm going to sink less money into coached rowing, and need to just buckle up and get exercise on my own. I can do that, I just have to make myself do it.

duckprintspress

I had a really busy weekend (vending 4 days, Friday to Monday, in a city 3+ hrs drive away) so my reading was relatively sparse, especially on graphic novels/manga.

1. What are you currently reading?

The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin: so far I'm a little iffier on this one than on the first, but I'm still enjoying it.
盗墓笔记 vol. 2 by 南派三叔: ugggh I hardly made any progress at all, sigh.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin: a lovely book that had, for me, a couple wrong notes that dimmed it a little. Specifically: 1. did not hate Robert Moses enough and 2. no Jewish or East Asian city avatars. It feels a bit of a slap in the face for the importance of those groups in the fabric of the city. I've decided that, lacking canon to the contrary, Brooklyn is Jewish because I Said So. (I am a native New Yorker and have lived in Manhattan - 18 years total - and the Bronx - 5 years total - so that influences my views a lot.)
Fragtime omnibus by Sato: modern GL with sort of super powers. I'd have liked it better if the characters hadn't been so... how they are.
Kase-san and Yamada vol. 3 by Hiromi Takashima: more jealousy stuff. what a drag.
That Times I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 6 by Fuse
How Do We Relationship? vol. 1 by Tamifull: modern GL. I appreciate the bit at the beginning making clear that whatever bumps they hit, that's where they end up, cause it made Teh Dramz feel lower stakes.

3. What will you read next?

Novels: my reading club is starting Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, and my Libby hold on Apothecary Diaries vol. 2 by Natsu Hyuuga came through, so. those.

Physical Graphic Novels: I don't expect to read any this week.

Libby Graphic Novels: My Libby isn't loading right now, somethings wrong with it, but I know my loan of Just Like Mona Lisa vol. 1 by Tsumuji Yoshimura is due within the next couple days, so definitely that. I can't remember what else off hand. I've got around 10 loans rn tho... wait, there it goes, finally! Okay, that's the only one due imminently. I got a copy of Cherry Magic vol. 15 through yesterday so I expect to be on that basically immediately, too. The only reason I didn't read it yesterday was I ran out of time.

goodbyebird

+ I'm so behind on Snowflake Challenge, and don't really have time to put in the effort I'd like or see all the cool entries. Boo work. If the Make A Challenge rolls around again, I've come up with a low effort entry; the big one will have to wait until next year.

+ Last night's dreams were a wild mess, featuring: a matrilineal sex cult, a documentary about comedians working on a SNL clone that got big after the show (with commentary), a musical number about period poops to the tune of I wanna dance with somebody. Not featured: me.

I haven't had the time or energy to read or watch anything this trip, I think my brain is lodging a complaint?

+

halfamoon is a fourteen day challenge celebrating female characters in fandom, and they're looking for volunteers to sign up for a calendar day (not a theme day) and read/view/appreciate the contributions for that day.

+ (saved for myself to look over later) European alternatives for popular services.

+ Democrats have managed to get all anti-trans riders stripped from the final appropriations bills (inc HHS and Ed).

+ Anti-Aging Injection Regrows Knee Cartilage and Prevents Arthritis.
In the study, the injectable treatment not only rebuilt cartilage but also stopped arthritis from developing after knee injuries similar to ACL tears, which are common among athletes and active adults. A pill-based version of the same therapy is already being tested in clinical trials aimed at treating muscle weakness associated with aging.

+ X-Files Reboot: Ryan Coogler Shares Exciting Plot Update.
“It wouldn’t be X-Files if we didn’t do both,” Coogler said about the show’s format. “We intend on having both monsters of the week and also the overarching conspiracy.”

If this man brings us back monster of the week shenanigans? PRAISE BE.

Current Mood: *sigh* make that moodtheme!
Current Music: KiNG MALA - Cult Leader

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: pleased

james_davis_nicoll

Nanao must chose between staying with her abusive family or accepting the offer of marriage from handsome, wealthy, sincerely considerate Yako. A dilemma for the ages!

The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru

osprey_archer

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, John Marzluff and Tony Angell. Full of fun anecdotes about crows bringing people gifts, playing with dogs and cats, gathering silently around the corpse of a fellow crow, etc. I found the neurology stuff very boring but I know some people are into that. In general I think we should move away from describing animals who do smart things as acting “like humans.”

Also Ngaio Marsh’s Singing in the Shrouds, because of course I couldn’t resist diving in once I’d bought it. This one features a serial killer, which to be honest is not my favorite kind of murder mystery, but it takes place on shipboard (Year of Sail strikes again!) among a cast of eccentric characters, which is my favorite kind of Marsh so I still had a great time despite the serial killer of it all. Stayed up late to find out the identity of the murderer and was quite satisfied with the identity of the killer if not the neat Freudian-ness of the explanation for the crimes, but listen, if you WILL read murder mysteries written in the 1930s-1960s or so, you’re asking for overly neat Freudian explanations of crimes and you know it.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve slogged about a third of the way through National Velvet, to the part where Velvet wins a horse in a raffle and also gets five horses from an old guy who writes her into his will and then immediately shoots himself. (!!!) Does it pick up from here, or is it more of the same?

I was briefly STYMIED in In the First Circle, because my copy is missing thirty pages!!! It looks like there was a production error, as the book looks perfectly fine (no pages torn out etc) but nonetheless jumps directly from page 476 to page 509.

However, I had the fortunate thought to check a different library, which helpfully had an ebook (of the same translation, even!). So I read through the missing pages and am now back on track, provided of course that there are no more nasty shocks of this sort.

What I Plan to Read Next

Hampton Sides’ The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook. Yes, indeed, Year of Sail continues.

troisoiseaux

In War and Peace, I've remembered a big reason why I largely skimmed over the "war" half when I originally read this a decade ago, which is that Nikolai Rostov is so so so so annoying.

In Damon Runyon updates, god, I love linguistic drift:

I wish to say I am very nervous indeed when Big Jule pops into my hotel room one afternoon, because anybody will tell you that Big Jule is the hottest guy in the whole world at the time I am speaking about.

("Hot", in the context of this 1930s gangster story, meaning "wanted by the police", but... LOL.)

the_mary_sue_feed

Posted by Braden Bjella

https://www.themarysue.com/toast-tablets-inflating-restaurant-bill/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908641

paying tablet (l) woman shares warning to customers when paying (c) chipotle front entrance (r)

Noticing that your restaurant bills are higher than usual?

For the most part, this is just because everything is more expensive now. While officials insist inflation numbers are low, shoppers aren’t seeing it. In fact, many find that getting even basic staples puts one at risk of breaking the bank.

https://www.themarysue.com/toast-tablets-inflating-restaurant-bill/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908641

g_uava

Crying and shipping seem all I do, yet I get through all my fanworks for my favourite ships way too quickly 😣 I always think I've created way more fanworks than I thought since it does amount to quite a lot relative to what's out there for my rare ships. Still too little by my own insatiable standards 😝 Fantasizing to not just board a large and bustling cruise ship but to enter the lost city of Atlantis lmao.

From when I started actively posting about my fannish interests, I wanted my volume and variety of fanworks to more closely reflect the level of my obsession, but I guess I get too self-conscious too soon when there appears to be few others screaming about their ships or just talking about character dynamics or character arcs. While I'm in my obsessive phase, I'm in a frame of mind to steamroll over my self-consciousness, and respond and comment on my own posts if that's what it takes to inspire and entertain myself while absorbing new influences and changing across time.

missdiane

It's 3F out aaaaaaaand my car won't start. I emailed in to attend the morning staff meeting via zoom instead. How annoying. The lights blink and tell me things aren't working but it won't turn over. Chances are it's a wimpy battery but google also tells me it could be thickened engine oil. I got an oil change at Valvoline when I could drive again after the surgery and we put in "the good stuff" so it better damned well NOT be that.

It's supposed to get near freezing early this afternoon so I'll try it again then and if it starts, I'll drive it around for a while but I won't do anything like go to the grocery in case it wants to get bitchy and not restart.

I got a new car last year for what, again? Oh that's right, tariff fears. Though it should be covered by warranty, I suppose. Hmph.

sabotabby

Just finished: Mavericks: Life Stories and Lessons of History's Most Extraordinary Misfits by Jenny Draper. I don't have a lot to add since last week. If you read my blog you will like this. It is my jam. It's a rather inspiring read for—look, I haven't written about politics in a public post in awhile but you know. You know.

Currently reading: Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror, edited by Dianna Gunn. This one I picked up because a lot of the authors in it are my kind of people, and it's a cool concept. There must be a particular subgenre of leftist, author-led anthologies, and like. I want to fix that subgenre. I want it to exist, but I want to push it like, a notch further or two.

Part of my problem here is absolutely personal, which is that I'm intensely phobic of pregnancy and childbirth, and so in order to ping as horror in my brain, a story has to somehow be worse than my own fairly intense reactions to the subject. A few of the pieces are but they're mostly "wow it would be awful to be pregnant in a dystopian regime that viewed women as chattel" well, here we are. I have the same critique of my own writing btw. You simply cannot write bad things fast enough to get your book out before those bad things are just an accepted part of reality. Plus a lot of the stories are earnest, which is one thing that horror can't be. There's one story about an anti-abortion protestor that goes straight for black comedy and it is excellent; so far it's my favourite.

shirebound

Happy Birthday to

monicaop and

slightlytookish! Hooray for your special day, ladies!

marcicat

Approximately once a year, work events conspire to arrange themselves so that I feel compelled to wear something other than a hoodie or t-shirt to show up in. (Usually meeting with outside vendors. There's no official dress code, but I generally try to hit the 'neither most formally nor least formally dressed' sweet spot.)

(PS: Yesterday one of the vendors wore suit pants, but with like, an ath-leisure top? This was distressingly similar to what I wore (non-jeans pants and a company-branded zip-up jacket). I say distressingly because the vendor immediately pinged my 'I do not like this person' sensor, AND we wound up sitting next to each other. I'd like to claim I pulled the outfit off better than they did, but who knows. I can say for sure that mine had more cat fur on it, and at least that's something.)

ANYWAY the original point of this post is that I have approximately two outfits that meet these incredibly vague 'looks like I tried but not too hard' standards, so it's a good thing we only have two days of meetings per week. Tomorrow: RETURN TO HOODIES.

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Larry Hammer

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Page Summary

the_mary_sue_feed - The White House is already treating Greenland like a U.S. territory with Trump planting the flag
the_mary_sue_feed - Brooklyn woman shows up 15 minutes early for $300 hair appointment. Then the Instagram stylist acts
baggyeyes in onesongaday - James Taylor, Fire and Rain
ysabetwordsmith - Snowflake Challenge 11: Granting Wishes
starspray - Reading Wednesday
amaebi - Emailing my federal legislators
loganberrybunny - Film post: What's Up, Doc? (1972)
james_davis_nicoll - Adventures in the Public Domain: On Updating Out-of-Copyright Works
silveradept - Snowflake Challenge 02026 #11: Wish-Granting Engine
duckprintspress - Twinned Trilogy Excerpt: A Whipped Cream Date
oursin - Wednesday attended the Fellows' monthly symposia
evewithanapple - Vid: "House" [The Black Phone]
seleneheart in fandomcalendar - Dreamwidth Book Club
wychwood - life ticking along
reeby10 in snowflake_challenge - Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11
soemand - Puerto Natales January 21,2015
rydra_wong - This is about selling people
mdehners in gardening - 2026 Project: Personal Calendar...
marycatelli in books - Scourge of the Spaceways
summerstorm - (no subject)
soemand - 🚗
fred_mouse in unclutter - January Challenge (4 of 5)
james_davis_nicoll - Admission of ignorance
rydra_wong - How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota
just_ann_now - What Am I Reading Wednesday, January 21, 2026
lydamorehouse - The Rebel Alliance
rebeccmeister - Bills bills BILLS
duckprintspress - WWW Wednesday
goodbyebird - In somebody else's story.
minoanmiss - Edible Art
james_davis_nicoll - The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride, volume 1 by Midori Yuma & Mamenosuke Fujimaru
osprey_archer - Wednesday Reading Meme
troisoiseaux - An unserious Reading Wednesday post
the_mary_sue_feed - Florida woman issues warning to customers who pay on Toast tablets at restaurants like Chipotle afte
g_uava - OTP Posting
missdiane - Better not be the oil
sabotabby - Reading Wednesday
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 21-01-2026
shirebound - Birthdays!
marcicat - workaday Wednesday

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Larry’s Pretty Good Reading List

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