cahn | Network

Knight in Shining Ardour
by

adore

My rage clawed out of my chest
And stood looking around fiercely for the enemy.

He was a radiant boy,
Never allowed to be anything else.

He blazed so that my eyes were drawn to him, fascinated.
Avidly, I watched him for what he would do next.
He didn't disappoint.

When he destroyed something, I was satisfied.
I had always wanted to be rid of it.
But I'd had too much guilt or too little courage.

When he screamed, I fell in love with his voice.
He was my rockstar.

When he cried, I collected his tears in a shot glass and cheered
Before downing them in one go.
They were a tonic.

What he killed made him more alive.

He was my knight in shining ardour
And I loved him best
When he crawled back in my chest
To recover in the warm dark quiet.

Current Mood: accomplished

reblogarythm

Is Microtonal Guitar a Cheap Gimmick? (Reacting to Your Comments)
by Brandon Acker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbST2iITQjk
his response to "Bach used equal temperment" is much more polite than mine would be
via youtube recommends

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

qian

My entire weekend got swallowed up by pineapple tarts, as I decided to make the tarts on Sunday. I made two batches of pastry, one batch with cheese and one without, following this recipe. I basically ignored the family for much of the day in order to do this, but still had to take various breaks to make lunch for the kids, eat myself, tidy up, intervene in quarrels, etc. So there were various shenanigans by way of: had to stop making tarts so put pastry in the fridge for too long and it had turned into granite by the time I returned to it; someone must have butt-dialled the oven so it wasn't the temperature I set it at and the tarts came out darker than they should be; threw away the egg wash then remembered I had 6 remaining tarts to egg-wash so they only got a milk wash and are not as pretty; etc. etc.

The cheesy batch of pastry in particular was terribly stiff and hard to work with; I couldn't roll it without it cracking all over. I think I might have overworked the dough? In any case, my pastry doesn't seem to come together the way What to Cook Today suggests it will, so I'm going to put a rewritten recipe for pineapple tarts below -- what worked for ME. Fortunately the resulting tarts all taste great. I keep eating them to try to figure out if I like cheese-free or cheesy better, but it's hard to decide!

( Pineapple jam recipe )

( Pineapple tarts recipe )

sakanawords

Check-in post for day 9!

Day 1:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

luzula,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

the_siobhan,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

shadaras,

Day 2:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

luzula,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

the_siobhan,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

shadaras,

Day 3:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

luzula,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

the_siobhan,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

shadaras,

Day 4:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

luzula,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

the_siobhan,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

Day 5:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

luzula,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

shadaras,

ashelterofpages,

miss_ingno,

Day 6:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

shadaras,

ashelterofpages,

miss_ingno,

Day 7:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

the_siobhan,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

ysilme,

goddess47,

ashelterofpages,

miss_ingno,

Day 8:

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans,

shadaras,

ashelterofpages,

sakana17

Day 9:

china_shop,

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

osprey_archer

I was quite excited about the picture book Only Opal: The Diary of a Young Girl, as I’ve been low-key obsessed with Opal Whiteley for years, and what could be better than a book about Opal illustrated by Barbara Cooney?

For those of you who don’t know, Opal Whiteley came to national attention in 1920 when the Atlantic Monthly published her childhood diary, in which young Opal wrote lyrical descriptions of nature and her animal friends, who have Lars Porsenna (the crow) and Brave Horatius (the dog). Some people were and remain bowled over by the beauty of her nature writing. Other people accused Opal of making up the diary wholesale. Would any kid really name a crow Lars Porsenna? It’s just too too precious.

I believe that the diary was real, though. Opal was an extremely bright child, and extremely bright children sometimes do things that strike people who don’t know them as completely unbelievable. She also suffered from a very unfortunate accident of timing, in that she fit perfectly a cultural archetype that was just coming under attack when she published her diary. A child of Nature, growing up in poverty but learning from the trees and the flowers and a few good, solid books (traditionally the Bible and Shakespeare, but in Opal’s case a book of historical figures).

After World War I this whole “child of nature” idea came to be seen as an offshoot of a sickeningly naive vision of human nature that had been exploded by the war. And then here comes Opal Whiteley, presenting to the world this diary supposedly written when she was five and six, which completely embodies this discredited vision. Well, it’s much easier to say “She’s a fraud!” than to wonder “Is there something in the child of nature idea after all?”

Unfortunately, as I recalled as I began to read the picture book, although I find Opal as a person very interesting, I can’t stand her diary. I think it’s a real diary, truly written by Opal as a child, but even in the immensely abridged form of a picture book, it does strike me as too too precious. “One way the road does go to the house of the girl who has no seeing” - good gravy, Opal, just say she’s blind. You named a mouse Felix Mendelssohn! I know you know the word blind!

But of course Barbara Cooney’s illustrations are lovely as always. I particularly liked the picture of the mouse Felix Mendelssohn asleep on a pincushion under a little square of flannel. Just the right level of precious.

lauradi7dw

Four months ago Bad Bunny (who is actually named Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, no relation to AOC)
let people know that pretty much all of his Super Bowl half-time show would be in Spanish.
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/994875.html

I detest American football (wikipedia puts it in a category of gridiron sports) with a fiery passion, but had a relative text me when it was time for the show, so I used my new antenna and tuned in, without having to view the game.

Watch on YouTube

Here's an article from wired this morning about all the set-up arrangements to turn a football field in California into part of Puerto Rico in a few minutes without hurting the grass on the field.
https://www.wired.com/story/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-behind-the-scenes/

There was music beforehand as well. All of it was good, but there were a couple of oddities with the broadcast - in addition to "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner," there was "Lift Every voice and sing," which was not shown on TV, as far as I could tell. It's on youtube. The announcer gave us the names of the ASL interpreters but they weren't shown on camera. Maybe people in the stadium could see them on big screens? Just before those, there was a short set by Green Day.
I don't use the I word as a pejorative because of its history, but was relieved in a way that Green Day was allowed to sing Don't want to be an American (i word).

I'm a fan of Charlie Puth, who was advertised as the singer of the national anthem. He was, but there was also an orchestra and a fabulous choir, unnamed on the screen.

Watch on YouTube

I don't know who won. The world will probably let me know.

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

( You're about to view content that the poster has marked as potentially inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

cmk418 posting in

halfamoon

Today's theme is The Scholar.

Here are some ideas to get you started: Also know as The Sage, she has studied and seems to have a wealth of knowledge at her disposal. She enjoys teaching others and gives good advice. What is she an expert in? How was her time at school? How do those around her react to her sharing her knowledge?

Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.

Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.

aurumcalendula

( possible spoilers for Starfleet Academy )

js_thrill

I'm always saying "why isn't this sci fi short story mostly descriptions of a game of baseball?"

js_thrill

Today we are treated to Some Swedish Trees

Watch on YouTube

I like this song a lot. The music reminds me a bit of the opening to Amy AKA Spent Gladiator, and the annotations return to Darnielle's meditations on his penchant for indirect narrative. The lyrics here leave one with a lot of questions, if you focus on them as a narrative, but (as Darnielle notes), the tone is not one of intentional secret-keeping. It is more like eavesdropping on bits of a story being told at a nearby table in a coffeeshop, and missing pieces as a result of only hearing the parts spoken loud enough to reach you.

Current Music: Some Swedish Trees — The Mountain Goats

rionaleonhart

The concept and characters of The Goes Wrong Show, the BBC theatrical comedy series best known for making me completely lose my mind, originated with The Play That Goes Wrong, an actual stage show that's been running in the West End for over a decade. And, well, I do live in London; if I'm going to go insane over a theatre fandom, I might as well take advantage of that!

Which is to say that Tem, Rei and I went to see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre last night. It was a lot of fun!

During our meal before the play, my housemates teased me a fair bit for my nerves about seeing my blorbo Robert Grove in person. I tried to express that it was less nerve-racking than seeing him on stage in Christmas Carol Goes Wrong a few weeks ago, when he was actually played by the role's originator, Henry Lewis, the handsomest man in the world.

Riona: It'll be fine. I've already seen him in hard mode. (realising what I've just said) ...so to speak.

I ended up blushing very badly over the course of this conversation.

Tem: You're glowing, Riona. Almost like you've had a rendezvous with the handsomest man in the world and you have some news to share.

The actor playing Robert was good in the role - he was very recognisably the same character, and he had a good strong voice, which I think is essential; you're just not Robert Grove if you're not acting as loudly as possible - but I was tragically unhot for him. It's not your fault, sir; you've got stiff competition. So to speak.

( Notes on seeing The Play That Goes Wrong on stage. )

It's interesting to watch The Play That Goes Wrong, which was the first major Goes Wrong production, and which the creators presumably assumed at the time would be the only major Goes Wrong production. It's very focused on the technical side of things going wrong, with the characters taking more of a back seat (although the characters are still very much there even at this early stage; everyone was easily recognisable despite being played by different actors), and it tries to cram in every disaster it possibly can. By contrast, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, their most recent stage production (not to be confused with the television special of the same name, which had a completely different script), was very character-focused and a lot more restrained when it came to things actually going wrong.

I really enjoy the 'things technically going wrong' aspect; it's a lot of fun, and always beautifully timed! But I'm also glad that, over time, the Goes Wrong universe has started to focus a little more on the characters themselves; I think it helps to keep the concept fresh.

file770_feed

Posted by Mike Glyer

https://file770.com/vaccines/

https://file770.com/?p=128197

Let’s celebrate The Universe Box‘s February 3rd release by Tachyon Press! I have opened the universe box that is my life, and will be sharing a piece of it every Monday. By Michael Swanwick: When Marianne was a lowly Micro 2 at … Continue reading →

https://file770.com/vaccines/

https://file770.com/?p=128197

lucymonster

It feels strangely awkward watching movies about people who talk and behave like me! I know I’m not alone in that; Australian cultural cringe is a well studied phenomenon, and we don't exactly have a local equivalent of Hollywood churning out all-Aussie blockbusters on a regular schedule. When I think of Australian cinema, I think of boring arts grant dramas that no one wants to watch and culturally hyperspecific comedy that we don't want anyone else to watch lest the world know us for the bunch of dags we really are. Fun, tropey genre films are supposed to be about Special Fake Movie People with accents I've never heard in person and manners that are upside down from mine.

And yet, as I'm learning through my local library's streaming service, there's some really good Australian horror out there. I couldn't tell you exactly where to find these overseas, but at least some of them appear to have had international releases, so for all I know, they're on Netflix for you guys. I'd be so thrilled to hear what people without my cultural biases think. :D

The Tunnel (2011): This is a mockumentary about a news crew who fall foul of a mysterious subterranean killer while investigating a lead related to Sydney's network of abandoned train tunnels. The tunnels are real, and I vaguely remember hearing spooky rumours about them during the early 2010s, which I'm now thinking may have been part of a guerrilla marketing campaign for this film, lol. Anyway, this one scared the everloving shit out of me. The vibes are fantastic, the mockumentary gimmick is executed flawlessly, and most of all everything was just so familiar. I used to get everywhere I ever needed to go on those exact Sydney trains. The characters are completely normal, relatable Aussies of the kind you could meet everyday on the street. The actual plot is a bit thin but I was happy to overlook the silly bits because it was just such a damn enjoyable viewing experience. And the monster was SO FUCKING CREEPY. Pick this one if you like mockumentaries and/or wish to know more about ya girl from dreamwidth's old commute.

Relic (2020): A mother and daughter drive out to a small town in rural Victoria to check on grandma, whose neighbours haven't seen her in days. She is missing when they arrive, but reappears in the house days later, unwilling or unable to explain where she's been. Her stately country house is covered in what looks like black mould and there's a terrible black bruise on her chest. This is a heartwrenching film about the grief of losing an elderly parent to dementia, and also a fantastic haunted house story full of dark family secrets, unanswered questions and unexplained paranormal phenomena. The creaky old house and the damp, miserable evergreen forest surrounding it threw me back to the days of visiting my own grandparents. It really does capture the highly specific atmosphere of a certain kind of well-off but precipitously ageing rural town in southeastern Australia; I swear I could almost taste the air. For whatever it's worth, the Russo brothers are credited as executive producers; I don't know much about movie production and have honestly never been sure what kind of role an executive producer plays, but hey, those were two names I recognised. Take or leave the name recognition, though - I loved this movie either way.

Talk To Me (2022): A group of South Australian teens acquire an embalmed hand that lets them summon dead souls to temporarily possess them. But one of their séance parties goes too far, and a malevolent spirit decides it doesn't want to leave. This is a mix of paranormal and psychological horror that's as much about grief (the protagonist lost her mother to a very obvious suicide that her dad won’t admit to her was suicide) as about bloodthirsty ghosts. I am not sure why reviewers chose to bill a movie this thoroughly depressing as "fun" - it was fun at the start, sure, but by the end it had descended to a truly tragic place. I liked it a lot! But it definitely belongs on the downer end of the mood spectrum.

You'll Never Find Me (2023): In an isolated trailer park in the middle of the night, a young woman knocks on an older man's door to beg shelter from a violent thunderstorm. The woman is desperate, drenched, and seems unable to get her story straight about how she got there or where she came from; the man is withdrawn and antisocial and was drinking alone before the woman arrived. They both seem frightened of each other. Something about the situation is unmistakably off, but what it is exactly, the film plays close to its chest for the first exquisitely slow hour. This is a quiet, cagey movie that ratchets up the tension through unnerving not-quite-normal dialogue and uncomfortable just-barely-off-centre close-ups so that when things finally start going overtly wrong at around the hour mark, it feels almost like a relief - pain is easier to bear than the anticipation of it. I don't often enjoy trippy, "what the fuck is happening here" type stories and I REALLY don't often enjoy stories that end in the particular kind of twist this one used, but in this case I was absolutely sold on everything. Brilliant movie. Raised my blood pressure so high I had to flop on the couch and just breathe for like half an hour afterwards. No notes.

vriddy

And I passed the 1M words written (not all of them edited!!) (yet!) this morning. It was so strange to add my daily couple of paragraphs to the Leopard/Tree fic knowing this was coming lol. Wow. Glad I had my little crisis about it last year so I can just nod at it today while I step above it (crisis: ✅). I think when I started writing again in 2020 and firmly settled on the "one million bad words before you can get to the good ones" mindset, I expected I'd feel at least competent when I reached the milestone. Alas. Maybe because of the crappy first half of last year, I feel like I lost 2/3 of what I knew and still have to relearn so much about my own process and how to (hopefully) write well -- I've done it once or twice before, surely I can again ;) Anyway, that's done! \o/ Next milestone, one million edited words??? Though I guess I'm not really measuring that in any way that's easy to track, haha. It'll work out ;D This is cool. Maybe I should bake a word count celebratory cake like I used to during the lockdowns. Though I'll have to write the digits on top very small with so many of them now XD (Edit: OR MAKE A BIGGER CAKE I GUESS!!!!)

I miss sitting down with the concept for a novel and having a long first draft to lose myself into ahead of me, but mentally I can't do that while I have two other on-going novels, especially with the Soul Thief still a first draft itself. I think maybe when the structural edits are completed, that may free up the mental slot for "Big First Draft." I started the prep work on that, spending some time thinking about why I wrote it and what I want to leave readers with before actually starting the edits, this time. Like, who is the actual audience, also.

( Rambles on who to share one's writing with... )

Anyway, reaching a big milestone you've been working toward for years is kind of incredible actually. I'm awed. I'm happy. If nothing else, I've proven to myself that I can stick with it. I've learnt a ton. I've made connections with people, both on the reader side and on the writer side. Met all of you here! And I'm so excited to learn even more in the coming 5-to-10 years, which is the time period I'd given myself for that original milestone, haha. ONWARD!! :D

dine

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

sovay

I am feeling non-stop terrible. I took a couple of pictures in the snow-fallen sunshine this afternoon.

( And be the roots that make the tree. )

spatch sent me a 1957 study of walking directions to Scollay Square. Researcher's notes can be unnecessarily period-typical, but the respondents themselves are wonderful. "You're a regular question-box, aren't you?" It turns out to be part of the basis for a seminal work of urban planning and perception. I like the first draft of the public image of Boston, including its conclusion that it is a deficit to the city not to be thought of as defined by the harbor as much as the river.