Member Posts

Entry tags:

This and that and the other thing

I woke up in a decent mood and started the day, happy and carefree - yet by the end of it? Grumpy. I think the world likes to chip away at us at times?
Also it's raining, and my right leg is bothering me again. It was fine this morning - more or less, but started bugging me again at lunch time. To cheer myself up - I got a discounted Grand Central mouse pad/post-card, and a NYC 2025 Guide Book (both discounted off by 20%). Also, got a matcha latte. (I'm in love with matcha lattes - with almond milk - they are unsweetened, have almost no calories, and healthy). Sitting at home now, with a heating pad on my back.

1. The Truth About Why You Keep Waking Up at 3AM

I've basically done everything that has been suggested. I'm working on the diet bit - because I think that may be a factor. I realized that my sleep deprivation over the years is most likely why I have some of the health issues that I currently have - well that and menopause and ceiliac disease are probably factors, plus genetics. Honestly there's never one solution or one cause, if there was, the pharmaceutical industry would be out of business.

2. My Buffy Re-Watch - has made me aware of a few things? I'm still in S2.
( Read more... )

3. I do not know what to make of Amanda Palmer. I tried to unsubscribe to her Patreon, but it keeps popping up in my inbox. And I keep deleting. And she keeps talking about how all she does is love, gets browbeaten by trolls, but fights back, and can't talk about what happened until the lawsuit is over. I feel sorry for her - she gets trolled, but I also think that she's been infected by Fame and can't let go of the addiction? What I don't get is why people troll her? I get the anger? But trolling solves little? We're all flawed, let people be.

4. Bono (U2) of all people gave me a smattering of hope today.

Bono on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Kimmel asks him where he stands on the Trump vs. Springsteen issue. He's of course in Springsteen's corner...yada yada yada. But what he says that gave me a smattering of hope is this: "I founded a non-profit bipartisan foundation called ONE and it is made up of a lot of conservative and highly religious people, Anglicans, Catholics, Fundamentalist Christians, etc and they are VERY angry about what the person they voted for is doing to their country and how he is dismantling various fundamental and important life saving aid programs such as US AID and the Peace Corps which have saved millions of lives from AIDS and other diseases and poverty around the world. Taking away programs of compassion and kindness - which are what America is all about. What we are about. So angry that trust me on this, they and we are about to make a lot of good trouble."

I can't emphasize this enough to anyone who stumbles upon my journal, there are numerous coalitions forming around the United States and Globally to fight this administration and it's project 2025 plan. And they are growing daily.

5. MTA vs. the Federal Government.

Tee Hee, the MTA is winning!

MTA: The Feds want us to give up congestion pricing and tell us how to control traffic and transportation in our city. But the Federal court prevented them from vindictively punishing us by removing Federal funding. We are not giving it up. Look here? The New York Times dug deep and proved it is working.

I feel sorry for the MTA, they are fighting everybody. Including idiotic talk radio hosts who think the subways are dangerous. They are not dangerous. I take the subways twice daily, five days a week and sometimes on weekends and to doctor's appointments, basically everywhere. They are safer than cars or buses. And far less stressful. Not to mention cheaper.

Very few people die on the subway. The worst thing I've seen on the subway was a man who was scarred from third degree burns on every inch of his body and begging for money. Also once during the pandemic - a homeless man with a knife. But we were perfectly safe - the conductor stopped the train, got us all off, and called for assistance at the next station.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Windhelm
Current Music: "Where There is Light" - VNV Nation

With Friends Like These

A few weeks ago, I installed a Skyrim mod that seemed to break the game. I don't even know which mod it was as I tend to install bunches of ten or fifteen at a time. Trying to figure it out, I uninstalled one at a time and then even mods that were already installed when the game still worked. Nothing did the trick. When I tried to start the game, nothing happened, like the computer didn't even know I'd double clicked the icon. So I had to completely uninstall the game and all the mods and start from scratch. It took almost three weeks to get the game back up and running in an acceptable modded state, just in time for me to try Varinia, the new companion mod from Maplespice.

Watch on YouTube

Maplespice is the creator of Remiel, an extremely popular follower mod and certainly by far the best one I've ever installed. Many reviews and forum comments on Remiel are about how amazingly lifelike Remiel's dialogue is. The average follower mod tends to be an embarrassing female simp who becomes obsessed with the player character in dialogue and then is overpowered in battle so that oftentimes it feels like the computer is playing the game for you. Sadly, I think this speaks volumes about the average heterosexual male fantasy these days; a hyper competent girl who's capable of doing any and all of the work and who for some reason rapturously adores you. Remiel, meanwhile, can get knocked down pretty easily (follower characters usually can't die) and, although you can start a romance quest line with her, it's more satisfying to avoid it. Here's some dialogue she has with another mod follower called Thogra gra-Mugur:

Watch on YouTube

It still amazes me all these great mods, into which people have put so much work, are still totally free.

So far, Varinia isn't quite as amazing as Remiel. Remiel feels more well rounded and I wonder if it was the mod author's inexperience that led to Remiel being loaded with a wider range of ideas. Varinia is a spy/assassin character, better suited for evil playthroughs. Maybe it's the narrower focus that makes her less satisfying. Though I wonder if the mod creator is afflicted by a problem I often think about affecting artists, which is a fear of the vulnerability inherent in creation. Art is about communicating something about our humanity and it takes guts to do that, or possibly a lack of awareness of just how vulnerable we're making ourselves. I think this is what often leads to a progression in careers in many media in which artists do their most popular, intimate work earlier on and somehow make progressively less satisfying media even as their skills are refined. Maybe Tim Burton would argue all day that Big Fish is actually a better film than Edward Scissorhands or Francis Ford Coppola would argue Megalopolis is better than The Godfather. On the other hand, I would say his Dracula is better than The Godfather so maybe there's hope for us old artists yet. And I haven't played that much with Varinia, maybe she improves.

Current Mood: nostalgic

Entry tags:

writerly,
year 2025

Not really Star Wars

I saw a poll on tumblr not too long ago, asking if people read their own fics. My guess is that one of the assumptions underlying the poll is that it's narcissistic to enjoy something you created yourself, which in my opinion is a crying shame of a stance to have because the author knows exactly the kind of characterisation and level of drama you like! And will avoid the squicks you do not!

I make this post because Andor brought interest back to some of the Rogue One fics I posted way back when, despite them being Baze/Chirrut and not Cassian-focused. I've gotten some lovely new comments and kudoses, and decided to check said fic out because I hadn't looked at them in years and... gosh, I wrote this? (This fic in particular, which is set just before the Battle of Scarif.)

I wasn't intimidated by canon lore and tried to fill the logistical issues of the movie and choreographed all these jokes??? How did I do that! (The implication being, I WISH I could turn this kind of ability on like a switch instead of staring sadly at a blinking cursor in a Word doc.) Past!me knows exactly what I like! Plus nothing that happened in Andor contradicts this fic as far as I can tell, which is magic.

Living in the night 'neath heavens torn asunder, you call on me to solve a crooked rhyme

It's Wednesday!

As expected, yesterday was utterly bugfuck at work. In the first four hours, I took 32 calls. I ended up around 44, because the afternoon, I was doing other stuff. Unfortunately, I was doing so much other stuff that I got very little of it done. I'm going to try to buckle down and get the PET queues down this morning, and then I'll work on calling people once those are done.

By the end of the day, I was wiped out. I went to the farmer's market and got some veggies, and then proceeded to be a lump the rest of the day.

Today, my lower back hurts. Not like I threw it out, but like I definitely pissed it off. It's not at all pleasant, and I dislike it.

I've been trying to figure out how much of the money I'm going to need to use, and how much I can save for emergencies. I'm not sure we're able to pay the rent in advance, I'll need to call the leasing office for that. The car is a definite, as is my credit cards. I plan to have a bit of fun with some of it. And the rest I'm going to sock away. I might put some of it in a CD, but most of it is just going to sit and be there if we need it.

The very first thing I'm going to do is get a pair of better seats for the Ghost concert. I've got my eye on a couple of seats that I'd like. Either via Ticketmaster or on Stub Hub or Vivid Seats. I'm hoping at least one of them is still there.

Then, I'll pay of the car. That's not going to go anywhere, so it comes in second. Then, the credit cards. Also not going anywhere. After that, I'm going to go get a haircut. Debating on getting it dyed as well. I don't know how well the gray would take the dye, but I'll give it a shot.

Okay, time to go eat something so I can take some ibuprofen. Everyone have an awesome Wednesday!

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

I gotta learn

I gotta learn how to use Google Sheets if I am going to run my own comm.

Entry tags:

More May Memage..and Buffy/Angel fandom bits..

More May Question-A-Day Memage (kudos to the individual who comes up with these questions, I tried it once, and sigh, it did not end well.)

20. Own up – do you have a drawer in your home with stuff you don’t know what to do with, or shove things that you’ll ‘sort out later’ in it? How often do you clear it out?

Yes. Sigh. (I can't remember if I answered this question previously?) And more than one. I'm extremely good at building nests and shoving stuff in drawers. Organized - I'm not. I'm a quirky absent-minded artist. Organization? What's that?

My brother once said he thought I should have become a librarian.
My mother and I both laughed at this. I do not think like a librarian - the only things we have in common is a fondness for books.

21. How would you describe the décor in your main living area?

Cluttered? Artsy? I have wooden Russian Dolls on the tv stand, candles in the window sill - one is a carved owl, self-made pottery, a flower under a glass, cards, a chocolate bunny rabbit, and a glass globe venus universe lamp that's very small. Also a picture of my niece. Then there's my painting station, which has a minuature easel on my desk, with watercolors, a completed painting, a stuffed frog on top of a paper holder with a magazine picture of Cillian Murphy from GQ, above which are two photos of sunflowers, next to that a small felt cube with paints and paper on top of it, and a bookcase overflowing with books, an hand woven basket, a ceramic Christmas tree, and on top of it a large photo on canvas of a sunset. I have knitted throws, and a large television (flat screen) ....it's obvious I'm an artist. Someone comes into this apartment - they'll think artist and writer.

22. Have you ever lived or worked in a skyscraper or high-rise building? Which floor?

I currently work in a skyscraper - on the 18th Floor of a 32 floor skyscraper in the Financial District of Manhattan. I also currently live on the third floor of a 77 unit apartment building, that is six stories.

So yes?

23. Have you ever tried non-alcoholic beer or wine?

Yes. It's not worth the indigestion.

24. Have you ever had a pedicure?

Many times. Highly overrated. And expensive. Not a fan. I don't like the feel of nail polish, also I end up with toe fungus. When I stopped doing that, the toe fungus went away.

25. Are you a fan of popcorn at the movies?

Yes and no? I wouldn't say fan exactly. I do like getting it however.

26. Today the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling event will take place to celebrate the UK Spring Bank Holiday. A 7-9lb (3-4kg) round Double Gloucester cheese will be rolled down a hill until someone catches it (you can see a video of the spectacle here). Are there any Spring Festival Events in your area?

I live in NYC. I'm sure there are? But I lose track. Nothing like that.
I know they are having a Met Opening Festival next weekend, which may count. Also there's the Macy's annual flower show. And the Cherry Blossoms at the Botanical Gardens.

27. Do you like lettuce? Any particular variety?

Yes, but I'm picky. I like power greens: Chard, Spinach, Kale, Pea Greens,
Baby Spinach, Argula, and Romaine.

I will not eat iceburg - it's like glass on my tummy. That's the cheap stuff.

****

My pictures via FB links are disappearing faster than usual. I may need to figure out Pillowfort or find an alternative soon. Damn FB.

***

I was bored and frustrated this morning at work - so I distracted myself by listening to youtube actor Q&A podcasts on my cell phone.

I listened to David Boreanze - who is kind of boring? But he did say a few interesting things.
( Read more... )

Also another Marsters Q&A. Marsters is far more entertaining and open with the audience. He genuinely enjoys interacting with the fans and the interviewers. He's an entertainer, and just loves being on stage and connecting with an audience. The man is so expressive - he's fun to watch and listen to.
( Read more... )

Time for bed.

So here's a picture:

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Knicks-Pacers on tv

Entry tags:

what a find by O. G.

I slept through for a full 7 hours last night! right up until my alarm went off, actually, without waking up once!

I also got some fantastic videos of Baby Miss L going nuts about TATOES and BROCCOLI and also some mouse game she plays on my sister's tablet. She is such a character! <333

I haven't started the new season of Poker Face or Andor yet - I am still in HGTV mode. No emotional investment, and it satisfies both my nosiness about other people's houses and my need to be judgy about other people's aesthetic taste without hurting anyone's feelings.

Every time someone says they want to go BOLD with color and their palette is black and white I want to punch them. (I'm not saying black and white can't be a bold choice, just that it's not a bold COLOR choice.) Everyone wants POPS of COLOR but then the color turns out to be greige. I just...find it wearisome sometimes. I get it if you are doing a quick refresh in order to sell, since allegedly neutrals sell better? But these are people supposedly doing their "forever homes" or their "dream homes" so why not pick something interesting? At least a little bit? In the downstairs powder room??? I'm begging you, please!

Ahem.

If you asked me what my preferred home decor aesthetic is, I would say beachy with lots of blues and greens in various shades, and okay, a lot of white, a little gray, and some occasional wood or wicker accents. Definitely would want hardwood floors (or LVP that looked like hardwood). I'd want a large zero-access shower with a built-in bench with some fancy tile, and I wouldn't want to waste space on a tub (or double sinks, since I live alone), but I would like more linen/towel storage.

I would obviously want a large chef's kitchen, with FULL SIZE appliances and a big range - I don't go for that countertop stovetop and wall oven set up, I'd want a bigass stove with six burners - and I certainly wouldn't put it (or the sink) on an island. I'd like a large butcher block work surface and a breakfast nook with an eastern exposure, but don't need a formal dining room or a ginormous island. I do like white upper cabinets, probably with reeded glass doors, and then a color on the lower cabinets - a cobalt blue, maybe, or a deep teal.

The place I might go a little modern/industrial/maybe even avant garde would be in the light fixtures. I have seen some WILD chandeliers and lighting options on these shows and some of them are gorgeous.

Obviously I worked a lot of this out in the time between going into contract on my apartment and finally closing, so I was able to pick stuff out that all kind of went together, because I absolutely understand being a renter for years and not really being able to put your stamp on a place. (all the people who already live in their own houses who have no sense of their own style, though - they kind of baffle me, because didn't they paint/decorate their house? I get maybe not knowing what your architectural style is but these are mainly people in their 30s and older - they should have some sense of what they like, shouldn't they, even if they can't pin it to a specific style?)

Anyway, I don't need people to do their own homes in my preferred style, and some of these homes turn out to be gorgeous, but it would be nice if everyone wasn't doing the same things across several different home renovation shows. I guess HGTV has a bit of a house style? But if you've watched any of it, you can see why Keith and Evan from Bargain Block are my favorites - they actually do a lot of fun different things (or they used to, anyway), where even if it isn't something I'd choose, it still has a strong sense of style.

*

New Substack post

Short takes -- three brief considerations of life in America now. COVID shots, travel advisories and Hegseth.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Harlem
Current Music: "The Opera" Final Fantasy VI Orchestral - Nobuo Uematsu

Entry tags:

movies

Render Unto Black Caesar What is Black

Watch on YouTube

An enterprising lad goes from shining shoes to ruling Harlem in 1973's Black Caesar. Fred Williamson gives a charismatic performance in this decently written blaxploitation film.

Tommy (Williamson) starts his way up the ladder when he grabs hold of a man's leg while he's shining his shoe so a gangster can gun the man down. From there, Tommy gets courier jobs before finally taking the initiative and killing someone wanted dead by the local mafia boss. In return, he asks for control of part of town.

The argument is pretty clear; the oppressed black man becomes the oppressor once given the opportunity, a sad, fairly common commentary on the cyclical nature of tyranny. Williamson's performance is good and impressively vicious and the film has a score and songs by none other than James Brown.

Black Caesar is available on The Criterion Channel.

Entry tags:

5 Things Always Make a Post!

1. I participated in Science! This involved an MRI of my right calf while at rest and before, during, and after doing a minute of movement. I got paid, and used part of it to finally buy the Shape Note song book a college friend (from choir) worked on. The next step is to try and make at least a few of the monthly sings in my neighborhood this summer, while I'm off from regular choir.

( Read more... )

With these words at hand, the future is a foreign land, so let's pray for more in 2024

It's a Tuesday that's going to be like a Monday! Work is going to be so psychotically busy today. It always is the day after a holiday. At least the day is going to go quickly. Tonight is the farmer's market, so I'm definitely going to go pick up some tasty treats.

Yesterday ended up being a mixed bag. Work was feast or famine. Some of it, I was sitting twiddling my fingers, but then some of it, I was stuck on the phone for a full hour with one oncology coworker scheduling 17 patients. I ended up with 29 for the day, which is a lot.

After that, it was onto our Arvandor game, which went really well. People got to be sneaky, and Jess' character had a good backstory reveal. And then, dracolich. I killed a player's character. Don't worry, they got better, but they were fully dead for a few seconds.

Tomorrow, the check will come! And I will put it in my bank account. And then, I will see how long they want to hold it.

I'm plotting what to do with some of the ill gotten gains. I mean, I'm definitely paying off my car. Aside from that, vet visits for both animals. And then we shall get a few things for the apartment, and then we shall have a lovely lunch with our friends, and then, we shall go see Ghost.

And with $448 less a month that I shall have to pay, I shall actually be able to get ahead of my bills. I'm so excited about this. I'm looking forward to being mostly debt free. That's going to be amazing. Maybe, I can rebuild my credit some!

Okay, time to get myself together for work. Everyone have an amazing Tuesday!

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

leverage

So I'm watching The Zanzibar Marketplace Job

I might need to start watching Leverage again regularly.

Nate:
Yeah, right, right, that's what I'm here to do: to get the egg back and clear your name.

Maggie:
But you're clearing my name with thieves! No offense, Parker.

Parker:
At what?

Entry tags:

(no subject)

- Saw some pap photos of most of the returning members of Oasis, got all excited, spent a bunch of time on the forum catching up with convos and speculation, reading linked articles, etc. Two months from today I will see them live! Ahhhhhhh!

- Tried American Psycho because Todd in the Shadows talks about it a lot and because I knew the director was a woman. Unfortunately these were not enough for me to care about satire of 80s capitalism. I DNFed about halfway through. Christian Bale was very good, though.

- I am rereading SA Harian's novel Briardark so I have some hope of understanding the sequel. The character writing is not that great, but the scary weird parts are SO scary and weird that it's worth it. It's also nice being able to reread knowing the biggest spoiler, and being able to interpret things in that light. Still, I'm excited to get to new material.

- Made a tiny bit of progress on an old Oasis WIP. Zero additional progress on H/C Ex. I have 1100 words, but now I need to write the rest of the story. I've got six days to do it in...

I must be crazy LOL.

---

Entry tags:

singing

(no subject)

Over the past three days, I have done nine attempts to record this song. All nine failed. I think I only even got close once. I am giving in and posting this one decent video I managed to get back on the 10th. I actually managed to get it imported into the computer as a .mov file that proved watchable and usable, so that problem seems to have just gone away by itself.

Watch on YouTube

I got scolded by YouTube in the process of uploading it for blocking their ads. But I probably never would have bothered, had their latest stunt of putting AI-dictated adds every five or so minutes hadn't pushed things beyond my tolerance. Honestly, I'm kind of glad I've never tried to make money off of these things. Though this one getting copybot-claimed by what looks like some sort of Brazilian company is kind of strange, but ultimately I only care about whether it gets blocked or not, and that, at least, my singing videos have managed to avoid so far.

Current Mood: uncomfortable

Entry tags:

book,
life: work

i had a frustrating day at work

and ended up spilling eye juice all over the place when my relief came in. It was definitely a feeling of helplessness at being poorly positioned to support my shift, pre-anxiety for a meeting on Thursday where I need to bring up issues and try to resolve them on behalf of my department with the big boss, an overreaction to a new officer who is of the old school gentleman class of casual touch, and then an embarrassment loop because I freaked out when he touched my back as we passed through a narrow spot in the stations and somehow it is now documented in his training file that he was reprimanded for not keeping his hands to himself. And like . . . you shouldn't touch people you don't know very well, but now it feels like my freakiness is on display for everyone to see. And if the LT comes down and tries to peer support me tomorrow, I'm gonna lose my shit.

I am a person, who in the past and apropos of nothing, started to daydream about how to get out of theralpy if an alien civilization showed up and I could save the world if I finished a session so they could know me completely. The world is doomed.

The Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara is available on Kindle Unlimited. And yeah, Amazon is bad, my public library system/Libby doesn't have the widest selection of m/m, and I love these books. The main character is an emotionally constipated porcupine who is trying to be better for the love of his life. The mysteries are so good, the clues are all there for you to figure out if it's your jam, and otherwise there's always a satisfying reveal. Anyway I think I've pushed these on y'all before, but I love them, I bought the ebooks, and if they were available in print, I'd buy those too.

I've also been drowning in nostalgia and reading all the old Valdemar books I loved in my childhood, but that's another post once I've finished the Storm books.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: A purple landscape
Current Music: "Бездельник" - Кино

Entry tags:

movies

A Guitar After the Apocalypse

Watch on YouTube

In a post-apocalyptic, post-gender world. a young woman follows her destiny as the "seventh son" of a genealogy of ramblers in 2025's O'Dessa. Sadie Sink is the captivating star of this film which is an entertaining adventure, though not really much better than the kinds of Mad Max knock-offs I remember from MST3k like Alien from L.A., City Limits, and Warrior of the Lost World.

The movie follows modern American leftist ideology so perfectly I was able to predict many things from scene to scene. When a priest shows up, I knew he'd be a villain. When an MC starts introducing a singer about to perform a sexy dance of veils, I knew the dancer would be a guy, and not even a strikingly beautiful guy. Much like the live action Cowboy Bebop adaptation, the movie sets out to be transgressive but can't help putting its gender non-conformists into boxes. So the gender fluid guy has to be a burlesque singer, again.

I assume Sadie Sink does her own singing and she's really good at it. The songs aren't bad at all and I like the willow design on her guitar. From a basic filmmaking standpoint, it's well made and the politics don't get in the way of the storytelling. I was genuinely interested in the fate of Sink's character and was rooting for her. The visuals were typical for the post-apocalyptic genre but not bad, especially if you're a fan of the genre, which I am.

O'Dessa is available on Disney+.

Entry tags:

The Weekly Good News Report from the American Resistance & It's Global Allies

As always, the good news depends on your perspective, and mileage may vary on this.

To the tune of We're Accentuating the Positive, Eliminating the Negative...and Hanging on to the Affirmative but Don't Mess around with Mr. in Between...sung by Aretha Franklyn (mainly because her version is the only one I like.)

A lot of it is just showing the positive results from non-violent resistance via the courts, etc. But basically as my source states: "We the people are pushing back and making good news." However, there's also a lot of positive environmental news - showing that progress happens regardless, and we are globally making progress in regards to managing climate change and preserving the environment.

1.The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction that will block the Trump administration’s unlawful reorganization of the federal government while the case proceeds.

( Read more... )

https://democracyforward.org/updates/massive-coalition-of-unions-non-profit-groups-and-local-governments-file-omnibus-challenge-to-unconstitutional-reorganization-of-federal-government/

The court filing can be found HERE

2.This week was the deadline for Congress to act on a resolution that could have overturned the ban on TCE [not to be confused with ICE, this is a toxic chemical]. But thanks to your voices, your stories, and your pressure—Congress didn’t act. The ban on TCE stands.

( Read more... )

https://toxicfreefuture.org/blog/we-finally-won-a-ban-on-toxic-tce-now-some-in-congress-are-trying-to-roll-it-back/

3. Calling for “freedom from partisan interference in programming,” administrative staffers at the Kennedy Center went public with a push to unionize following an overhaul of the institution by the Trump clan.

Go HERE

4. The MeidasTouch Podcast, a show critical of Trump, won Podcast of the Year at the Webby Awards.

https://www.newsweek.com/medias-touch-podcast-webby-award-donald-trump-democrat-2071984?emci=c60a435f-ab32-f011-a5f1-6045bda9d96b&emdi=d3638486-ab32-f011-a5f1-6045bda9d96b&ceid=417324

5. Trump’s support among Latino voters, including those who voted for him in 2024, is fracturing.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/exclusive-trump-losing-the-latino-voters-he-won-in-2024-equis-poll-survey-registered

6.Democrat Sam Sutton defeated his Republican opponent to win New York’s 22nd State Senate District special election — a district Trump won by 55 points in 2024.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5310726-democrat-sam-sutton-wins-new-york-seat/

7. New record for batteries in California (CAISO) On May 20, 2025, battery discharge crossed 10 GW for the first time. That was enough meet a third of evening peak demand. Solar moved fast, but batteries are moving even faster.

https://energycentral.com/c/em/batteries-hit-new-heights-californias-energy-mix

8. In 2019, California's state wide battery capacity was 770 MW. California’s Energy storage has surge to 15,700 MW - including 2300 MW added since last September. That means a clean resilient energy grid to meet peak demand.

https://energycentral.com/c/em/batteries-hit-new-heights-californias-energy-mix

9. Fusion overtakes scission April 2025: for the first time ever, solar power generated more electricity than nuclear worldwide.

https://environmentamerica.org/center/updates/theres-now-five-times-more-solar-than-nuclear-power-in-the-world/

10. For the first time, a surge on China's renewable energy output has led to a 4.7% drop in the countries carbon and missions despite a 2.5% increase in power demand. This marks is major mile stone and China's energy transition.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-clean-energy-just-put-chinas-co2-emissions-into-reverse-for-first-time/

( the rest )

There you have it. This weeks list of how people helped slay their monsters and change the world peacefully and without violence. Slayers every one.

And an advertisement.

"Three weeks from right now, people will be taking to the streets across the United States on No Kings Day. Over 1,000 events are planned in all 50 states. Find an event near you: Click on the link and enter your zip code to see all the gatherings near you."

https://www.nokings.org/?SQF_SOURCE=indivisible

Join us on June 14th, all across this country, when we all show up and say NO, we have no kings, we are a representative democracy and we the people have a say in how our lives are run. Let's stand up for those being harmed by these policies, let's take care of our communities, let's take care of each other."

[No pressure, I'm not doing it - I can't physically and mentally do it. I do this instead. But if you can - please do.]

And here's a picture:

Entry tags:

LONG OVERDUE media post.

FILMS and TV:
There was a new Wallace and Gromit movie, Vengeance Most Fowl. Apparently the studio made a deal with Netflix, but the film itself was in movie theaters for a brief window. During which I saw it! It wasn't up to the level of, say, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Still a fun and entertaining film, though. Next time I sign up for Netflix, I’ll be sure to rewatch it.

Later I rewatched Jurassic Park, which housemate A had never seen. We both enjoyed it, although some elements didn't age very well. I’m thinking specifically of the whole “Dr Grant doesn't like children but Dr Sattler wants him to like children.” Also, still can't quite believe they cast someone 20 years younger than Neil what's his face as his love interest. I mean, I can, but… Anyway, the special effects held up well, and the overall story was still super entertaining.

(Neil whatsisface is a babe, don’t get me wrong. And Dr. Sattler is obviously a consenting adult, and yadda yadda yadda - but generally speaking it’s not a romance that works for me within the story, so I’m happy to nitpick it.)

Oh! And I rewatched beloved film Arrival with housemate A - another movie she’d never seen. A. noticed Denis Villeneuve’s distinct lack of ANY HUMOR AT ALL, which is accurate to all of his films that I’ve seen so far. A bit of levity wouldn’t go amiss, Villeneuve! But we both (still) loved it.

Finally finished rewatching Rings of Power, which works even better on its second round: the story arcs are more perceptible now that the story is more complete. Good cast, good visuals, interesting takes on the source materials.

[edited to add: I haven't had time for Andor, season two yet! Hoping to watch it in June.]

BOOKS:
Seanan McGuire published book 18 (!!!) in her Toby Daye series - The Innocent Sleep. This one differs from previous books – the story is told from Tybalt’s POV rather than Toby’s. It worked well for me, and was a good change of pace.

I’ve read and/or listened to all of the novellas and novels in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Lots of fun even though I accidentally read them out of order. I’ll give the new show on AppleTV+ a try once I have any time for TV. ~~Maybe next month?~~ I have no idea when that's gonna be.

Alison Goodman has a trilogy that can be loosely described as Regency-Era Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fewer quips, more anguish about maintaining social standing in a highly stratified (and dangerous) society. I enjoyed all three. The first book is called The Dark Days Club.

Ben MacIntyre wrote The Spy and the Traitor, about Oleg Gordievsky, who worked for the KGB and then began feeding information to the West, due to ideological differences. His escape from Russia was thrilling–a nice sustained gallop within the story. I then read MacIntyre’s Rogue Heroes, about the history of Britain's SAS. Both worthwhile books.

T. Kingfisher continues to create both creative fantasy romance and the most hair-raising dark fairytales. Paladin’s Faith was the former and A Sorceress Comes to Call the latter. I’ll keep reading Kingfisher for both. (She also writes straight-up horror, which I sometimes have to avoid due to general squeamishness.)

Common theme in this post: revisiting familiar media. I re-read a couple of novels by Dick Francis, and listened to audiobook versions of two more novels by him. They’re very much centered in the time frame when they were written, which is… both good and bad, I guess. But Francis always did his homework for story settings and details, and while there are commonalities between the male protagonists, he also managed to make them distinct enough to feel worth reading. And hey–sometimes you want to read about a morally good guy dealing with bad situations.

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Happy Memorial Day!!!

Thank you to all who serve or have served in OUR MILITARY!