The Starry Night, the Starry Sea (2)
Nov. 4th, 2025 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scaramoucheBut over time.... ho boy! I don't know exactly when it happened, but there was a period where the positive comments slowly thinned out and then an outright tonal shift into majority frustration and complaints, because:
- The Female Lead, who was introduced as spunky and rebellious against social norms for women's roles and crossdressed in order to pursue her dreams, turned into a weeping, helpless heroine whose only recourse to having any sort of agency is to cry and beg;
- Which contrasts even more unfavourably with a side character who continues to be spirited and stubborn to stand up for what's right through the whole show;
- Also the singular central conflict of the entire show is a long misunderstanding due to a single villain character who dies before getting any sort of comeuppance or realization. A long con by a villain may be typical, but there's usually other subplots and the conflict itself has its starts and stops, instead of a single pressing weight of stress that gets worse and worse as EVERYONE falls for the lies put into a place by a single mastermind. There's no storytelling rhythm to it, just frustration.
(*watching = I skipped a lot, especially towards the end when people kept dying and there was no catharsis.)
As for me, I thought the show was indeed frustrating for the same reasons, but I knew it would have a tragic ending from the beginning because it's a prequel! Obviously it's going to end badly. But I think most viewers did not and hoped that all that suffering would be rewarded by peace and happiness instead of a last minute rugpull of death. I think the uploader saw that wall of rage coming so they went and UNLISTED the final episode for the show outright.
The episode is still up, but I had to find it through someone else's playlist instead of their own channel. Which is, you know, fair enough if they don't want to get swarmed with negativity (not that they have to read it, but I understand). But that still made me go 👀
Marissa Lingen's Writing Workshop Processing Vertigo
Nov. 3rd, 2025 02:26 pmjesse_the_k posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
access_fandomMarissa Lingen (mrissa here) is a disabled SF writer. She’s been publishing short stories since 2001—over 200 so far. Most of her work is quite short, and I’m delighted at how her subtle implications generate detailed worlds and relationships.
Her disability experience informs her work. One of my faves is “A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places”, free to read in print or in audio at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Like the author, the viewpoint character has vertigo.
Her monthly newsletter alerted me that she’s
leading a writing workshop where people can process their vertigo experiences through the written word.
FREE
23 November 2025 1700 GMT
must register in advance or more info
ar220@st-andrews.ac.ukFULL DETAILS:
https://dateful.com/eventlink/1965359842
She’s eager to spread the word to people directly or indirectly affected by vertigo—please share the Dateful link far and wide.
Free Story, Essay & Interview
Book Log: Fuck Yeah Video Games
Nov. 3rd, 2025 09:05 amscaramoucheAnyway some years back I was an avid watcher of
Regardless, back when he announced that he'd written a book, I ordered it as a way to say thank you for all those hours of entertainment, which is why I have a copy of Daniel Hardcastle's Fuck Yeah Videogames. It is, in my opinion, near incomprehensible if you don't already know Daniel and his brand of humour, as it is an irreverent list of various video games he loves and some he does not, the history ("history", in places) of various video consoles, plus a healthy dollop of semi memoir in the little stories he tells about himself, his family and friends, in explaining the way various video games make him feel. It's less a book and more like longform stand up in text form, I think. Maybe the audio version would be better, as someone who's enjoyed his rambling, but in text form I found it a bit tiresome.
At the back he lists his 100 favourite games of all time and I was shocked to see Outer Wilds was not there (he introduced me to the game!). Then I checked, and oh the game came out in 2019 and he finished writing the book in 2018, which explains it.
“Dateful” Simplifies Timing Online Events
Nov. 1st, 2025 02:11 pmjesse_the_k posting in access_fandomMy cognitive impairments mean I always mess up time zones. I’ve participated in many events in the past five years. Only one managed to sense my current time zone and adjust all the info on their site to match. (And of course I can't remember which one it was.)
Which is why I love https://dateful.com. It’s an excellent tool when you’re communicating across time zones. It’s free. It features:
- Time Zone Converter: convert between major world cities and timezones instantly as you type
- World Clock: up to 20 clocks to see how the rest of the world can participate in your event
- Time Calculator: adds and subtracts times, dates, and durations
And best of all:
- Eventlink: create a link that converts an event’s time to the user’s current time zone and day. You can add an event title, description, and URL (meeting link or a web page), and you can offer an “add to my calendar” which works with Apple, Google, and Outlook.
All that info in a single link. You don’t need an account, but if you create one, you can go back and edit your Eventlinks.
I’m able to do these things with the keyboard; I welcome insights from readers using adaptive technology.
Crime Scene Zero
Nov. 1st, 2025 02:36 pmscaramoucheMy most recent simplified conclusion is that Crime Scene Zero was fine overall, as I really enjoyed two episodes, was mostly positive on one, and didn't like two. (For reasons to get into shortly.) This seemed like a bad ratio until I rewatched bits of seasons 1 and 2, and realized that because those seasons had 10 and 13 cases each, compared to Zero's 5 cases, they FELT better because there were more cases I enjoyed, when the actual ratio of % per season enjoyed is similar to Returns and Zero.
Important to note that BOOOOOO, Hong Jin-ho didn't come back AT ALL, for either Return or Zero. He was an original cast member! Jin-ho, why! He probably has reasons, but I am still sad. But to my surprise, he has been in multiple episodes of Running Man, which I stopped watching ages ago, so maybe I'll.... find those..... maybe. I would've thought that Running Man isn't his style, but what do I know about the vagaries of reality TV celebs.
( Haha I got thoughts. )
We're part of a movement: The Electrical Eggs
Oct. 29th, 2025 06:05 pmjesse_the_k posting in access_fandomWhen I started working on WisCon access in 2007, some kind soul (name lost) gave me a black teeshirt printed in tactile gold--with both Latin letters and braille. It sang the praises of ELECTRICAL EGGS, who advocated for handicap accessibility in the 1970s and 1980s. I loved the shirt but didn't know their history.
So I was thrilled when the September 2025 Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, volume 14 number 2, starts off with Eric Vero's article:
Oral History of The Electrical Eggs: Science Fiction, Disability Activism, and Fan Conventions
https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/1262
The journal offers PDF, HTML, and "simplified HTML" versions of each article; all are open access, peer-reviewed, and Creative Commons licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
ABSTRACT
Before the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990, American science fiction fans in southern states organized, collaborated, and practiced accessibility at conventions. This grassroots movement began with the work of Samanda B. Jeude and a coalition of other science fiction fans who fought for visibility and access to convention spaces. In this oral history of their organization, “The Electrical Eggs,” I interview two key members decades after their participation in making conventions accessible. I complement these oral sources with brief histories of the role of eugenics and ableism in science fiction and the rise of disability activism in America. Although, the science fiction fandom still faces historical forces like ableism that have been present since its beginnings, the work of the Eggs is a testament to the power of collective action to provide accessibility in fan communities.
It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton – The Dark House
Oct. 29th, 2025 05:31 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
wwdn_feedAnd we’re back! My podcast, It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton, returns today with a spooky story to celebrate the spooky season.
This week, it’s The Dark House, by AC Wise.
A photographer’s obsession with an unsettled subject exposes two friends to a darkness that won’t be contained by frames…
It’s so good! I had a great time narrating it.
If you’re interested, take a look at my Patreon for a feed with no ads and a bunch of cool behind the scenes extras. If you subscribe before 5pm Pacific tomorrow, you can watch me do a live reading of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Oh! And starting today, you can get most of the Patreon stuff through your Apple account with Apple Subscriptions, if you prefer to do it that way.
I love that I get to do this, and it means more to me than you know that so many of y’all tune in and love it with me.
I’m around all day today, and I’ll be checking in here if anyone wants to talk about the show.
Book Log: Goddesses, Whores, Wives & Slaves
Oct. 29th, 2025 01:28 pmscaramoucheI admit, although the topic itself is interesting to me, I found the prose hella dry and the style tough to get through at points. But then I realized that the book was published in 1975, during a very different time of historical scholarship! I still find it dry and heavy-handed in places, but I can appreciate the groundbreaking feminist view of analysis, and the necessity of spelling things out clearly in order to argue against common perception of the time, even if it's tiresome to read now. Particularly enjoyed Pomeroy mentioning her male historian predecessors who made assumptions about women's attitudes back then due to the societal blinders they had about the women of their own time (eg. assuming women are happy with their lot).
One thing I will take away from the book with the glee is the description of how in ancient Athens, high class women were kept secluded at home and away from the eyes of men who weren't family, with exceptions to go outside behind a veil. That is... the purdah. Ancient Athens, birthplace of the modern concept of democracy, practised the purdah, the same way medieval Arabia did. (Low class women and slaves were allowed to go about freely without the veil, same as in medival Arabia.) That's rather funny, I think!
Bare Bones Convention Accessibility Timeline
Oct. 28th, 2025 08:50 pmsoc_puppet posting in access_fandomIt's far from perfect, since I'm still almost entirely self-taught, and I built it on the convention I used to run Accessibility for, so there's some stuff that's not exactly universal, but hopefully it'll help someone out there!
( Convention Accessibility Timeline and Jobs )
This is far from perfect and from comprehensive both, but if you work on Accessibility for a convention, or are looking to get started doing so, hopefully you can use this as a sort of template to build around or tweak to your needs. Suggestions in the comments are very welcome, though I don't know if I'll be up to incorporating them into the post. Questions are also very welcome; I'll do my best to answer how I dealt with things, but anyone who wants to is free to chime in!
I've got more info to share as well, but I'm going to hold off on that for another post or two, as this one wore me out a bit already 😂
Edit: For clarity, since I was just overthinking it: This isn't a comprehensive list of services that were provided at the convention I worked; it's just a behind-the-scenes look at how I was involved in setting up some of the services we provided. (Plus some that I never got around to, like the ASL interpreters and Braille documents 🤦♀️) If you want inspiration for that, I suggest looking around for convention Accessibility Policies. Those should list out the various accessibility measures that a given convention has in place.
New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:46 amysabetwordsmith posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promogoals_on_dw is a community for people who like goals and goal setting. A key focus is New Year's resolutions, that being among the most popular contexts for such activities. Although the most common time is January 1, "new year" can also refer to other calendars or cultures, whatever works for you. Alternatively, just pick a time that works for you and go for it. You can introduce yourself or make new friends here. We talk about different goal systems, pros and cons of resolutions, arts and crafts for tracking goals, human psychology, and more. You can share your resolutions or other goals. There are weekly check-in posts in January, and monthly ones in the rest of the year, for folks to talk about their accomplishments. December-January is the most active period, and it starts ramping up in November as lots of people begin thinking about their goals for the next year.
2025 New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals is the guide post for this years goal-setting activities.
For more details on relevant topics, see "Things You Can Talk About Here."
( Read more... )
Newcomers
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:41 amysabetwordsmith posting in dw_community_promonewcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.( Read more... )
Aryana
Oct. 28th, 2025 09:56 amscaramoucheHowever! Ofelia tries to assert some financial independence by selling cheap lunch food, hawker style, and we're supposed to go, YAY @ her, and BOO @ Elnora for belittling Ofelia's efforts. But! Ofelia has chosen to sell food in the same dang office building, and I think it's hella tacky to take money from your VERY RICH husband's employees, even if you are selling food to them. It's not wrong, but if I were an employee I'd be side-eyeing that fam.
Superman '78
Oct. 26th, 2025 05:35 pmscaramoucheThey're continuations of the Christopher Reeve Superman universe, and I was excited to read them, though when the plot kicked in I paused and had the very distinctive thought, "Oh no... bad things are going to happen to Clark! I don't want bad things to happen to Clark!" Even though bad things have to happen in order for there to be a story at all, but there was a funny mismatch in my brain because the Reeves Superman movies are so comforting and familiar and safe, while you don't know what you'll be getting with new canon! ("Canon", of course.)
Anyway both stories are charming and earnest and funny, but nowhere near as goofy as the movies were*, which I think is a consequence of trying to tell a story set in that era now, with our modern sensibilities and nostalgia and reverence tangled up in each other. Plus, it may just be the format, since there's no cinematic pauses or dramatic music to amp up the feeling, but I felt there was less weight to the stories, though the first story literally up-ends the status quo by ( spoilers ) Clark makes his typical choices and sacrifices in both stories, but he's noble and at most sad about it. He doesn't get angry or have break downs as he does in the movies.
*The plot and resolution of The Metal Curtain is goofy but in an idealistic way, where doing the right thing immediately has his "enemies" realizing that Superman has good intentions and doing a heel face turn. It's not goofy in a Superman-turns-back-time-by-flying-really-fast or throwing-nukes-into-the-sun-creates-a-sun-based-villain way.
Also! Very funny that the plot of the first comic sounds like what James Gunn said the second Superman DCU movie is going to be about, namely ( potential spoilers for a future DCU movie. ) That's this comic!
It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton Returns October 29
Oct. 25th, 2025 07:36 pmwwdn_feedGood news, everyone! My podcast’s test season earlier this year was received with such enthusiasm, we immediately got to work on building the machinery that would power a full series. It took all summer, as I and my team applied what we learned we could do differently or better going forward. I only wanted to do all that work once, because I want to do this podcast for years to come. I think we nailed it, and I think I get to hand off everything but the narration to the rest of the team.
So I can so happily shout from the top of a mountain that It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton Returns October 29th with a spooky story for the spooky season! And that will kick off at least FORTY new episodes.
FORTY!
I am so excited, I made a video about it.
I’ve been reading submissions from Michael, our content editor, and reaching out to authors for permission to narrate their stories. Can I tell you how warm it makes me feel when they tell me they enjoy my work? How happy and grateful I feel when an author tells me they already listen to my audiobooks?1 Every single story I have read has been incredible for a different reason. I can’t hardly wait, as the Replacements said, to narrate them. I’m so grateful that I am getting to do what I love for my job. If you’re already subscribed to the podcast, please accept my warmest thanks; I wouldn’t get to do this without you.
One of the unexpected delights has been the Patreon. I did a couple of live AMA things there that were surprisingly fun, so we’re going to do that again, and more often. I’m hopeful that I can even do some author chats, where we can get to know the people who created these stories I’m reading to you. Last time I looked, there were 485 paid subscribers, and like 300 others who are checking us out. That blows me away and I’m so grateful for the support, I’m going to do a special, live, narration of a spooky story, chosen by Patreon, next week. If you’re interested in seeing that, there’s plenty of time to sign up.
A statistically significant number of people asked me if I would ever be on YouTube, but I never wanted this to be a video thing. For me as a performer, I can’t serve the words on the page and play to the audience on the other side of the camera. Imagine going to see someone do a reading in a theater, and they never once look up from the page. It’s weird, right?
But so many people wanted us to be on YouTube, we figured out a way that I think will solve that problem. I’ll introduce the episode on camera, and then the story will be an audiogram. Done and done. There’s no content at the channel right now, but as soon as there is, I’ll share the link.
Okay, one last thing: Yesterday, I remembered that I had done a narration of Ur Fascism for Radio Free Burrito about five years ago. I felt like it was a good time to resurface it, so I did. And if you want to listen to my favorite episode I have done of RFB so far, with a full production and music and the whole thing that I did entirely by myself, I’m so proud of The Cecil Hotel.
I’m supposed to say that you can subscribe to It’s Storytime With Wil Wheaton wherever you get your podcasts, even if that particular link goes to Apple for stupid SEO reasons.
That’s all for now. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.
- And my EMDR therapy is really working, because I can finally find space to fully feel all the joy without being afraid that it isn’t real, or that I’m stupid for letting myself get my hopes up
︎
Database maintenance
Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in dw_maintenanceGood morning, afternoon, and evening!
We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)
I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.
Ta for now!
Frustration....
Oct. 24th, 2025 11:50 ammdehners posting in fucking_meds1st, it was filling delays. They were either out, on order or some other excuse but it never was more than a couple days without. Supply chain issues. Now, it's getting worse. This month I've run out of Cardiac, Diabetes and HIV meds(the latter still hasn't been filled. "Backordered"). Thankfully, the Diabetes meds that were out were the oral so I could titrate with my Insulin.
Last month, after going through Withdrawal symptoms when my Lyrica was out I started weaning myself off it. I'm down to once a day and no more withdrawal. I'd been doin my BP meds every other day until it got filled. Now, it's been almost a week since I've been out of 2 of my HIV meds. 1st time since the late 90's I've missed ANY doses.
A positive situation is that my Partner of 30 yrs is in a nursing home and our last cat died of Cardiac insufficiency so no one depends on me. Well, I feed the neighbor cats but I'm pretty sure they're indoor/outdoor cats so they'll be ok when I'm gone.
I used to joke that when Chuck and the cats were gone I'd just go on Comfort Measures but it looks like it might not be a choice.
Sincerely,
Pat
Chess (Imperial Theater, New York City, 9/17/25)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 01:37 pmcoffeeandinkChess is a show I know entirely through the cast recordings; if I recall correctly, it was such a thoroughly Cold War project that the liner notes referred to the two chess players as only "the American" and "the Russian". The new book by Danny Strong turns it into a (even more) melodramatic period piece, with the chess matches not simply a allegory for political tensions or a way of obtaining minor diplomatic concessions but tools for averting World War III. The Arbiter is dragooned as a narrator, who exposits both the global situation and the personal interactions with the characters, partly through a series of very bad and very obvious jokes.
Freddie Trumper, American grandmaster and obnoxious wunderkind, is challenged by Anatoly Sergievesky, mordant, depressed, and engaged in a clandestine flirtation with Freddie's chess second and lover, Florence Vassy. Freddie is notoriously a weak point in the original book, so prone to anti-Communist slurs, misogyny, and temper tantrums it is impossible to extend him much sympathy. The new version mitigates this by giving him bipolar disorder and medical noncompliance, and also by casting Aaron Tveit. Tveit is indeed so good and so charismatic that I was on Freddie's side way more than I expected, although not enough to take self-pity anthem "Pity the Child" seriously. (The rest of the audience seemed less skeptical.) Lea Michele as Florence is just as strong vocally, and almost as strong in terms of acting, though unfortunately without much romantic chemistry with either partner. (The closest any scene comes to a sexual charge is Freddie's sleazy half-assed attempt at persuading Anatoly to throw the game in Act II.) Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly is the weak point in Act I, where I had the same opinion as I had of his Sweeney Todd: he's got the potential to be great, but he isn't quite there yet. He really needs to work on his emoting, which is too flat even for the murderous Sweeney or the dour Anatoly. He is greatly handicapped in Chess by having to affect a Russian accent, which I really hope the production drops. But! He pulled out all stops in Act II, both for the songs and the acting, and won me over with his intensity and vocal power.
So basically: the book is still flawed and they need to cut the runtime, particularly in Act I. This was the second night of previews, so there's still time for changes before the show technically "opens". If we're lucky, they'll start by cutting the topical jokes.
But the point of Chess has never been the book; it is the score full of bangers and power ballads. The music is by ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and the lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice. And the musical performances are GREAT. I am still guiltily fond of the kinda-no-really-very-racist "One Night in Bangkok" (which can plausibly be explained as Freddie's typical white guy take on the city BUT) and which in this production is a camp masterpiece. I am seriously tempted to see the show again just for that.
Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Island™.
Oct. 23rd, 2025 11:10 amarcanetrivia posting in dw_community_promomonkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your 