The Friday Five for 20 March 2026

Mar. 19th, 2026 03:19 pm
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[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were suggested by [personal profile] melagan.

1. What was the reason you began a Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account (or both)?

2. How many DW or LJ communities do you subscribe to?

3. Do you have a favorite community or one you check out often to see what's new?

4. How did you pick your user name?

5. If you could change your user name, would you?

The following bonus questions are brought to you by the fact that I (anais_pf) have been unable to access any page of LiveJournal for more than a week (and therefore cannot post to The Friday Five there):

6. If you have a LiveJournal, are you currently able to access it?

7. Do you have any information about why one would be unable to access LiveJournal?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

EDITED TO ADD: Today for the first time in a while, I am able to see on my computer that LiveJournal does indeed exist. However, when I try to log in, I get the message "Your IP address is temporarily banned." I will try again later. I hope someday to access LJ again. Thanks to all who tried to help!

more stumbling through ancient poetry

Mar. 19th, 2026 09:48 am
radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)
[personal profile] radiantfracture
As usual, true scholars, please forgive my dilettante's sense of discovery over things you have always known.

When searching for some examples of "pleasing the heart" as erotic joy, as per [personal profile] sovay's information, I arrived at this (in the ETCSL).

A love song of Shu-Suen )

§rf§

1. Well, a balbale, but the immediate internet is of limited use in defining this except as a form that uses variety in repetition.

2. For those interested, the transliterated Sumerian given for this phrase is dcu-dsuen cag4 dmu-ul-lil2-la2-ke4 ba-ze2-be2-en-na-ju10.

I assume the subscript numbers refer to different versions of the cuneiform character. I dunno about the superscript d.

Media Roundup: On the Mend (I hope)

Mar. 19th, 2026 11:53 am
forestofglory: E. H. Shepard drawing of Christopher Robin reading a book to Pooh (Default)
[personal profile] forestofglory
I’ve been sick for the last week or so which meant there was a lot of time to sit around reading but I didn’t have a lot of energy to write things up. But now I’m doing better so have a media roundup! (This isn’t everything I read while sick because some of it I didn’t have the energy to write up, and also I’ve been slowly reading Batman: No Man’s Land and if I write something about it, I’m going to do so after I finish the whole story. )

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi— For kiddo’s school book club. This is so not my kind of book and I wouldn’t have read it if the kiddo hadn’t insisted. I just find contemporary books with political themes really really stressful! So this book about a Syrian-American boy in 2016-2017 was really not my cup of tea. So I think it was doing ok at being the book it wanted to be, but that book is not for me. Also the whole book was in poetry, and I don't think that actually added much – but also I’m not really a poetry person.

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton by Ryan North and Mike Norton— Since I've been reading a lot of superhero stuff an algorithm showed me this, and it's got a cute dog and is written by Ryan North so I thought I'd check it out (What has Ryan North been up to since Squirrel Girl? Maybe I should find out. Maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl)* This was a bit darker than I was expecting! And did really feature the elements of North’s style that I remember enjoying alot (witty dialogue and certain wacky over the top-ness) Though still mostly a sweet story. (Content note: abusive training/animal harm, animal death, children in peril)

Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks and Lumberjanes: Campfire Songs— These are single issue Lumberjanes stories by a bunch of different writers and artists. I enjoyed the variety! I think my favorite story was the one that had Last Unicorn vibes (Look I watched that movie a lot as a kid)

Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Lumberjanes original graphic novel – this was honestly a little disappointing, I didn’t feel like it really captured the vibe of the original comic. It did not help that this was one of those graphic novels with a very limited color palette (black, white and green) and I really missed the colorfulness!

Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Another lumberjanes graphic novel – I liked this one a lot better. It probably helped that my expectations were lowered after the first one but I do think it was a better story overall as well.

The Ribbon Skirt: A Graphic Novell by Cameron Mukwa— A middle grade graphic novel about Anang, a two-spirit and nonbinary Anishinaabe kid, who wants to wear a ribbon skirt to an upcoming powwow. This is very sweet! There are talking turtle spirits! There’s also Anang’s friend who is uncomfortable with Anang’s identity and kinda transphobic about it as heads up

* after writing this I did look up what Ryan North has been up to, some library holds have been placed. Also I noticed that he has PDF’s of all of his academic papers available on his website and I think that’s very charming and helpful of him.

performance options

Mar. 19th, 2026 10:17 am
kareila: Ariel in human form, regaining her voice (ariel)
[personal profile] kareila
Got the syllabus for the next symphony season today. The only evident choral works are the Mozart Requiem in October, the Messiah in December, and Holst's Planets in May. Nothing that I haven't done before. Also I would much rather be in the audience for the next Planets performance instead of waiting in the wings to sing the difficult high notes for Neptune and missing out on the rest of the piece entirely. So. I am entertaining other options.

The obvious one is to go back to handbells, especially since our church's handbell group hasn't had enough participants to perform for a couple of years now. If I'm not rehearsing with the symphony on Monday nights, I'm free to rejoin the metro handbell group that I've gigged with in the past. They will definitely want me back if I'm available.

There's also another high level choir that is holding open auditions over the next few weeks. I've heard them perform once before and they're very good. So I'm going to see if they're interested in me. But I don't know yet what their rehearsal schedule is if they are.

Meanwhile, Robby has expressed tentative interest in joining the symphony chorus himself, since the last time he did any large scale singing was in college, and it was the Mozart.

Unusual Names - Now With More Porn!

Mar. 19th, 2026 01:00 pm
[syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

You know what’s better than unusual names? NOTHING!

And here are some of the names on my list:

Gus:

 

Ellen & Philip:

 

Georgia:

Try not to call your friend Georgia "Gorgia" from now on. JUST TRY.

 

Dallas:

Way to OWN that line spacing, baker.

 

Sophie & Reilly:

Oh, the irony. It's a two-fer!

 

???

Is this a real name? Please let this be a real name. If only so I can imagine someone saying, "Well, I should head over to the preschool to pick up my Porn."

Or, "Would you ask the babysitter to watch Porn for me?"

Or, "Hey, Mom, I posted pictures of Porn on your Facebook page!"

Or, "Thanks to Porn, I haven't slept in a week and my house is full of stinky diapers."

[gigglesnort] Yep, it's official: someone needs to at least name their dog/cat Porn, STAT.

***

Um, so I had more cakes to post, but I seem to have completely derailed myself with the Porn thing.
(Bet all you cubicle workers know what I mean, EH? Heyoooo!)

So here, let's just go out with a bang:
(Or did we do that already?? [Ok, Ok, I'll stop.])

I guess the lawyers insisted.

(And I can't even tell you what they renamed Piglet.)

 

Thanks to Andi V., Amadie H., Bryar, Jennifer A., Mark B., Rich G., Holly S., & Rachel F. for helping make today's post especially classy. (POOP AND PORN 4EVA!!!)

*****

P.S. Here's a (hilarious) reminder that English is almost as confusing as these cakes:

P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Mar. 19th, 2026 09:05 am
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


John Maraintha wanted to rebuild his life. Instead, he was marooned on a backwater world in the middle of a first contact crisis.

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Thankful Thursday

Mar. 19th, 2026 11:00 am
mdlbear: Wild turkey hen close-up (turkey)
[personal profile] mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

  • Colleen, whose birthday was Monday. We had about fifty years together, and most of that time was good. Even the bad times taught me a lot.
  • My kids, and a chance to sit down with them and eat ramen for lunch. NO thanks to the sushi place that was closed for the afternoon because of a little snow. In Seattle?! Come on!
  • J, M, et. al., who gave me a place to stay last week. Also, being able to sleep in unfamiliar places. Also, CPAP.
  • Whales.
  • Translation software built into browsers and phones. And flashlights built into phones. One less thing to carry.

home and energy thoughts

Mar. 19th, 2026 07:49 pm
tielan: (AVG - maria 3)
[personal profile] tielan
What if I don't want to run the electricity in my household like a standard Australian household?
 
thinky thoughts )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
Would it be possible to "Wrongfully Attributed" added to my entry?

(no subject)

Mar. 18th, 2026 10:50 pm
skygiants: Nellie Bly walking a tightrope among the stars (bravely trotted)
[personal profile] skygiants
Because Becky Mahoney and I know each other, I boosted a Bluesky giveaway for her upcoming vampire novel Thrall (coming out next month!) in the spirit of friendship and then was somewhat surprised to discover that I had in fact won the giveaway -- surprised but delighted, obviously, since I've loved all of her previous books even when they weren't LUCY CENTRIC DRACULA RIFFS!! focused around a COLLEGE PIRATE RADIO STATION!!!

The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.

Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.

Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!

It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.

Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )

[#293 | Rough Seas] Challenge Post

Mar. 18th, 2026 10:17 pm
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[personal profile] fanweeklymod posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Challenge 293:
ROUGH SEAS
The ocean might be beautiful, but it isn’t safe.

Maybe there’s a storm rolling in, whipping the waves into peaks that tower higher than ships while ominous clouds gather overhead. Maybe the tide’s going out, pulling the waves along the shoreline into treacherous riptides. Maybe there’s something lurking in the depths, stirring up the surface. Whatever it is, right now, the seas are rough.

How do your characters handle it? Are they skilled sailors or swimmers, risking the waves easily? Or would they rather stay on shore and watch?

Write a story about rough seas.

BONUS GOAL: “Never turn your back on the sea.”

If your submission features this line, it will earn an extra point to be tallied in voting!


Challenge ends Monday, March 23 at 9:00PM EST.
• Post submissions as new entries using the template in the profile
• Tag this week's entries as: [#] submission, 293 – rough seas
• If you have questions about this challenge, please ask them here

[#292 | Daydreaming] Results Post

Mar. 18th, 2026 10:16 pm
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[personal profile] fanweeklymod posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Here are this week's votes tallied, and below the cut are our winners for Challenge #292 – Daydreaming!

This week's finalists are... )

Total Challenge Words Written: 3332

Congratulations to both of you, and thank you to everyone who took the time to cast their votes! [personal profile] autobotscoutriella will be making this week’s banners, so keep an eye out for those next week.

You may now post your Challenge 292 entries to any additional communities, blogs, archives or sites as you'd like! We also have a FandomWeekly AO3 Collection if you'd like to add your stories there!

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