(no subject)

Nov. 16th, 2025 06:41 pm
watersword: Colin Morgan as Merlin in Merlin (2008, BB) (Merlin: Merlin)
[personal profile] watersword

Yesterday's treadmill session was the longest yet and incredibly boring, even with A Court of Fey and Flowers distracting me. I ended up with the beginning of a blister and no willpower left to resist the prospect of samosas and saag paneer at the Indian restaurant down the block, but honestly $45 for three meals is pretty reasonable.

And then I was awake from 4:30 to 6:30 and am not happy about it. But I made decent hash with fried eggs for breakfast and put the cast iron re-seasoning in the oven alongside a packet of garlic, and made a small pot of cranberry applesauce with red wine on the stove, and sent the robovac trundling around my bedroom, so I rescued my Sunday from a pretty dismal start.

Yet again I have to go to campus more than once this week, and this can only end badly.

Pluribus 1.03

Nov. 16th, 2025 01:59 pm
selenak: (Breaking Bad by Wicked Signs)
[personal profile] selenak
An episode that felt a bit like it was (stylishly) treading water, but in its last ten minutes did make up for it.

Spoilers somehow have never watched a single episode of Golden Girls… )

Raddysh reaches in and pulls on Wood

Nov. 15th, 2025 07:35 pm
musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
[personal profile] musesfool
When I was a kid, the Italian bakery in my neighborhood had all the usual types of fancy butter cookies and pignoli and tricolor cookies etc. but they also had a selection of less fancy cookies - like sesame cookies and S cookies and anginetti etc., and what we used to call chocolate sprinkle cookies, which may have started out similarly to butter cookies but were sturdier/crumblier, piped in a swirl, and covered with chocolate sprinkles. That bakery closed a long, long time ago (though you can still get frozen pasta with their name on it at the supermarket), and I have been trying ever since to recreate those cookies, with little success.

Today I baked the butter cookies from the Dolci cookbook (pic), though I didn't bother with sandwiching them with jam, and instead added chocolate sprinkles, and 1/2 tsp almond extract in order to try to recreate the taste of those old cookies. They are pretty close! They might need to be slightly less sweet, and probably cook a couple of more minutes, but they're the closest I've come so far. Also, I had the correct piping tip AND you don't chill the dough until after you pipe the cookies so it's a much easier proposition all around.

I also made the King Arthur small batch focaccia, but it never rises as much as they say it should during proofing. Still rises nicely in the oven and tastes great though.

The timing all worked out really well, even though I didn't plan ahead. Sometimes I get lucky since timing is generally the hardest part of cooking for me.

Ha! The announcer was like, "low event hockey, with only 5 shots" and now the Blue Jackets are getting a penalty shot! Igor stopped it though.

*
devinwolfi: Keeley Jones (tumblr)
[personal profile] devinwolfi posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: clark x alicia - run away to mars
Fandom: Smallville
Music: Run Away to Mars - TALK
Duration: 3:20

DW | Tumblr | AO3

Read more... )

Speak Up Saturday

Nov. 15th, 2025 04:32 pm
feurioo: (Default)
[personal profile] feurioo posting in [community profile] tv_talk
Assortment of black and white speech bubbles

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

this evening (a to-do list)

Nov. 14th, 2025 06:47 pm
china_shop: Guo Changcheng writing in his notebook (Guardian - rookie taking notes)
[personal profile] china_shop
  • read through story A and return to beta
  • write story B from the zero draft I made yesterday ✅
  • catch up on comments ✅
  • catch up on email ✅
  • political submission! *stabs things* ✅
  • read ✅ (briefly)
  • Yuletide canon review
  • play with coloured pencils ✅
  • change vacuum cleaner bag ✅
  • make/eat dinner ✅
  • early night ✅

I might manage four of those? The last two are non-negotiable.

ETA: Some of those check marks are from over the weekend. :-)

musesfool: debbie and lou from o8 (it's what i'm good at)
[personal profile] musesfool
Today at work, they announced that we will be getting a COLA, retro back to July 1! My boss also floated a potential promotion for me (really, the work would mostly stay the same, but the title and money would be better) for after the new CEO is in place. We'll see if that ever happens. It would be cool if it did, but I won't hold my breath.

I thought I had other things to say, but I fell asleep on the couch after I logged off work and now I'm all fuzzy-headed.

*

Just a memory of your face

Nov. 12th, 2025 08:47 pm
gwyn: (bucky with mask)
[personal profile] gwyn
Frankenstein made me sick! Not because of the gore or anything, but for the first time in six years, I caught a freaking cold. I mean I knew it was a matter of time before I picked up covid or a cold or the flu if I was insisting on going to the movies, because I cannot go to a theatre and not eat popcorn. It's simply not possible. So I end up unmasked for most of the running time. But I had forgotten how terrible a cold can be, and it's lingering and lingering for me (yes, I've tested many times, and while I know that home tests show false negatives all the time, I'm pretty sure the tests are right and it's not covid). I'm so sick of the coughing and snot.

All that on top of surgery on my back for melanoma (a word I've dreaded my whole life, what is it with me and cancers starting with M?) in situ. Which isn't as bad as it could be, but is still fairly bad and scary, and the biopsy site on my forearm is "something we have to watch" and got infected, so that was fun. I have to go in to the dermatologist tomorrow before chemo because I have a "spitting suture" on the back. But otherwise, she said the surgery margins were good and they got all of it, so I just have to cross my fingers that the spot on my forearm doesn't get worse. Cancer just stalks me.

Anyway. I thought I'd try to do that alphabetical list of fics that's been going around as a distraction. I just picked things mostly at random, not for any real reason, I guess. (And following the rule that A and The don't count as first letters.) I have learned through this that I have an inordinate amount of stories starting with I and L and W. I should work on that.

A: And the Whirlwind (Logan, Laura)
B: Better Left Unsaid (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
C: Cellies (MCU, Captain America, Thor, Bucky & Loki)
D: Dipping Toward the LIght (Sunshine (2007), Mace/Robert Capa)
E: Every Picture Tells a Story (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
F: Five Cakes Marcus Thought Were Bombs and One He Knew Was Fire (The Bear, Marcus)
G: The Gift of Forgetfulness (Pacific Rim, Herc Hansen/Stacker Pentecost)
H: Heliotrope (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
I: I can't remember how this started (but I can tell you exactly how it ends) (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
J: Just Passing Through (Schitt's Creek, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, David/Patrick)
K: Knight-Errant (The Expanse, Amos Burton/Chrisjen Avasarala)
L: lucida/ obscura (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
M: The Moon Cannot Be Stolen (Life (tv series), Charlie Crews & Ted Earley)
N: Not My Cross to Bear (The X-Files, Skinner/Scully)
O: On Beds of Sorrow (The Fast & the Furious, Dom/Brian)
P: The Perfume of Kismet (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
Q: nothing!
R: Reverie (Captain America, Black Panther, Steve/Bucky) OMG I'm almost finished finally
S: The Sun Was the First Star We Knew (Sunshine (2007), Mace/Robert Capa)
T: There Must Be a Joke In Here Somewhere (The Middleman, Captain America, Wendy Watson & Bucky Barnes)
U: Urban Legend (Captain America, Steve Rogers)
V: The Valorous Vampire (Buffy, Angel & Buffy & Spike)
W: Welcome to the Party, Pal (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Captain America, Steve Rogers & Jake Peralta)
X: x=y (The X-Files, Mulder/Scully)
Y: You Can Have the Town, Why Don't You Take It? (What's Your Number? Ally Darling/Colin Shea)
Z: nothing!

Me-and-media update

Nov. 13th, 2025 05:01 pm
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
Pandemic life
My mother-out-law's birthday dinner on Sunday was my first meal inside in a crowded restaurant in a long time.

Previous poll review
In the "Time is" poll, 48.9% of respondents answered "relentless", and 31.9% said "elusive". In ticky-boxes, "blue-haired punk red pandas" and "colouring in" tied for second place (51.1%) after hugs (72.3%).

Reading
Finally finished Five Red Herrings. It was fine -- I mean, it kept me reading till the end. I missed Bunter being more active, though. Now I'm a quarter of the way into Have His Carcase.

In audio, I'm still listening to Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, read by Candida Gubbins, and I've also started Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, read by Morag Sims and Will Watt, which is fun so far, though I'm slightly perplexed by the choice to have Alice's dialogue be American but her inner narration to be British. Also, I was hoping Will Watt would get more to do; I've really enjoyed some of his other performances.

Still dipping back into Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker. And I forgot to mention last week that I tore through Alison Bechdel's Spent! a while ago, before returning it to the library at the last minute.

Kdramas
Typhoon Family is getting a bit "this script was written in crayon", but I'm engaged and I like the main characters. I miscounted the Mystic Pop-Up Bar episodes; we finished yesterday. It was good but didn't quite hit me in the feels. (I'm a bit neutral on Hwang Jung-eum.)

Other TV
Nobody Wants This -- season 2 is less of the cross-cultural stuff and more "addressing psychological quirks", which isn't as interesting to me. Oh well.

Half of the latest season of Slow Horses -- the episodes always feel so short! I guess this is what successful pacing is like. A bit grimmer than earlier seasons, but I'm enjoying Ho a lot. (It helps to have read the book, I think.) We're finishing that tonight.

All of You (Apple+) -- a movie starring Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots, which maxes out on the "pining while fucking" concept. Great chemistry and Big Feels.
Spoilers. Contains infidelity and an unhappy ending.


Rewatched some Bluey, plus a couple of episodes of Krapopolis season 3. :-)

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Letters from an American, Tech Won't Save Us, and Ex Urbe Ad Astra.

Writing/making things
I came up with a great title for a fic I'm working on and am now 20% more motivated to finish it up and post it. Other than that, I feel like I'm still juggling a bunch of things, but my general intention is to finish this one, bash out a flashfic for the FISH challenge on [community profile] fan_flashworks, and then dig into my Yuletide assignment, for which I've been doing canon review.

Note to self: Don't forget about Guardian Bingo!

I bought a pack of coloured pencils yesterday and have been watching a few Youtube "technique" videos and practising blending. I still can't actually draw, but hey.

Life/health/mental state things
Down Under writers' hour is currently at 10am New Zealand time (8am Melbourne time). In winter, when it's at 8am here, writers' hour is the first thing I do in the day; that means I get started early, spend most of the morning at my keyboard, and sometimes spud in for the afternoon too. In the transitions periods (when only one half of the globe has switched into or out of daylight savings), it's at 9am here, and I generally try to get the dishes done beforehand. This sets the tone for the day -- I do more chores overall, more offline stuff. Now writers' hour is at 10am: I get up and exercise, then sit down mid-morning to write. By the time I'm done, it's 11am, and if I have lunch plans, I have to get my skates on pretty quickly. And because I've primed myself to exercise, I've been going for walks more in the afternoon and generally being more active. Which is great, but... *grabbyhands at keyboard* tl;dr, I am controlled by scheduling.

Good things
Coloured pencils, and colour generally. Guardian and the Slo-Mo Rewatch. Sleep. Podcasts. Kdramas. Biking, TV-watching dates, walking. Chocolate. You all, hi!!

Note: Poll results are private; please vote freely.

Poll #33831 Making friends with chatbots
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 54

In the last seven days, I've used AI

for work
5 (9.3%)

for fun / personal reasons
0 (0.0%)

for interacting with organisations
0 (0.0%)

against my will
14 (25.9%)

not at all, that I'm aware of
36 (66.7%)

other
1 (1.9%)

ticky-box full of fandom-adjacent profic
15 (27.8%)

ticky-box full of fish fish fish fish fish
19 (35.2%)

ticky-box full of vague groaning noises
19 (35.2%)

ticky-box full of alpine octopuses practising their yodelling
21 (38.9%)

ticky-box full of hugs!
36 (66.7%)

Snow No One Seemed to Be Expecting

Nov. 12th, 2025 03:32 pm
yourlibrarian: Our Romance Spike and Dru (BUF-OurRomanceSpikeDru-_ophellia)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian
1) Maybe given that Sunday morning's snow was light and disappeared when it hit the ground, no one was expecting it to stick. But it sure did. As a result, our complex had not salted stairs or sidewalks and had not plowed parking lots. And the local roadways hadn't been either.

The stairs had snow 2 inches deep on them, so I descended carefully Monday morning. The snow was very powdery so it brushed off the car easily. Funny thing though, the snow came from the southeast side. The other side of the car? Completely clear, no snow at all. Read more... )

I was thinking of how booking your own appointment online is rarely the convenience it's supposed to be. It's never worked for me at my medical group because I can't do it without inputting a mobile number. When I was trying to do it for car maintenance appointments, it would turn out the appointments didn't sync with the in-office calendar they had. And here, had I spoken to a person they would have known the doctor wouldn't be in on Monday at all.

2) Watched a multi-episode documentary on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. I suspect that the various revelations would be unlikely to emerge with any living subject, or without the sort of research that went into it while they were still alive. Read more... )

3) First posted over at [community profile] tv_talk, Paramount has just cut 1000 jobs and 1000 more job cuts are expected. They want to reach "$2 billion in expense cuts across the company." That's more than most companies and some countries are worth.

Job cuts after an acquisition aren't surprising. It usually happens in a frenzy, and some positions come back once the losses start leading to problems. But a line in this news story, as well as another article coming out the same day, made me start thinking about where big cuts are likely to come from.

"More than 800 people — or about 3.5% of the company’s workforce — were laid off in June, prior to the Ellison family takeover. At the time, Paramount’s management attributed the cuts to the decline of cable television subscriptions and an increased emphasis on bulking up its streaming TV business. In 2024, the company eliminated 2,000 positions, or 15% of its staff." (emphasis mine) Read more... )

4) Speaking of TV habits, a study about people's searching behavior finding content on streamers indicated 46% of those surveyed are having more trouble finding what they want, and are more willing to cancel their subscriptions because of the difficulties. Searching time can run from 12 to 26 minutes. Many users also use the Internet to find information rather than the apps themselves.

The answer for many companies is to embed more AI with an eye to making their services able to answer general questions as well as viewing related ones.

5) More streamers are using pause ads. Personally I don't mind these, especially if they only take over the screen as an opt-in feature. I pause stuff often for different reasons, and as long as the ads aren't interrupting my viewing, they can have the screen.

That said, there are plans afoot to use AI to tie ads into the show action as well as localize your viewing. "Amazon has begun to offer the format to local and regional advertisers, says Jenn Donohue, director of local ad sales at Amazon Ads. Commercials from regional banks or community grocery stores can often be extremely meaningful to viewers, she says, and “there’s nothing more important than making it very relevant to the experience that I’m having as a viewer.”"

Poll #33829 Kudos Footer-550
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

Want to leave a Kudos?

View Answers

Kudos!
7 (100.0%)



(no subject)

Nov. 12th, 2025 01:22 pm
green: a wolf taking a drink from a pond or lake, its reflection visible and clear (stock: wolf)
[personal profile] green
I can't keep saying 'I miss the COMMUNITY of fandom' and then not do anything to contribute to/foster said community.

I'm writing, though. Lots of writing. I've been working on this one fic for about 6-7 months now. Just hit 50k on it. I'm hoping the first draft is almost done. And then I will have lots and lots of editing. But I have faith in this story. I think it's going to be good.

Two goats from across the street came to visit me today while I was taking out the garbage. I love goats! But I did not know these goats, so that made me wary. Another neighbor came along and tempted them back home with Cheez-Its.

Right now there is a physical therapist here in my home with my mother. Mom needs help. She's not using the walker she got, but then again there aren't many places she wants to go where she can use it. She wants to be outside, but the yard is bumpy and the wheels on the walker/rollator can't handle the terrain.

We've also got a companion from an agency who comes in twice a month who can take mom to places or pick up meds or vacuum and dust the house. It takes a lot of pressure off me, but it's only one day every other week. (So far)

Ummmm not much else going on. Meg is doing well. I'm hanging in there. We're alive.

Frankenstein (2025) (Film Review)

Nov. 12th, 2025 10:50 am
selenak: (Malcolm and Vanessa)
[personal profile] selenak
The short version: visually gorgeous (I expected no less from del Toro), well acted, but alas, it reminds me of nothing as much as a certain type of fanfiction - grovelfic, in lack of a better term - I used to find annoying back in the Highlander days, aka the ones where not only Cassandra is the true villalin but Methos was the fluffiest Horseman of the Apocalypse ever and Duncan profoundly apologizes. I mean, it's not that extreme, because Victor is something of an narcissistic jerk in the novel (though not only), and the Creature, who is my favourite character in it anyway, is very much the product of unearned abuse before he starts dealing out death and horror, but good lord. What Del Torro did in his version is really the type of fanfic that absolves the favored woobie (or do we say blorbo these days?) from any wrongdoing whatsoever, thereby unintentionally taking something crucial from what makes the character away, and shoves it upon the unfavourite. And that's before we get to "hat is the geography of this story anyway?" and "why got spoiler engaged to spoiler in the first place?" Mind you, if I had never ever read the novel, I suspect I might have loved the film, beccause as I said - terrific looks and good acting - but as it is, I have to consider the adaptation aspect, and here I have to say Penny Dreadful remains uncontested champion for best rendition of both the Creature (Caliban, just that there is no misunderstanding) and Victor Frankenstein in both their flaws and virtues and (Mary) Shelleyan themes. Runner up isn't this one, but the Branagh movie, which, yes, Kenneth Branagh in his slightly megalomaniac self indulgent Coppola phase, and he softens Victor's characterisation a bit (though not to the degree Del Toro softens the Creature's), but still, of all the adaptations I've seen, it probably sticks the most to the actual novel. (While Penny Dreadful's versions of the Creature and Frankenstein stick most the the spirit and characterisation.) (James Whale's two Frankenstein movies are their own artistic creations which while founding the pop culture idea of both the scientist and the creature are really their own independent things, sharing little but names and not even those at parts.)

The spoilery version wonders whether everyone is telelporting at different plot points )

In conclusion: maybe do an original script the next time, del Toro? I really wonder whether the crazy geography and all the other technical issues would have mattered to me if I hadn't been comparing book and film, or whether I would allowed myself being swept away by the spectacle, and the characters as presented in the movie. But I do suspect some of the characterisation questions would still have remained.

threadbare tapestry unwinding slow

Nov. 11th, 2025 08:56 pm
musesfool: Sebastian Stan is trying to seduce you (drunk off all these stars)
[personal profile] musesfool
So I'm back on my HGTV bullshit again, and I just watched an episode where Egypt and Mike designed "the ultimate bachelor pad" for a dude who plans to entertain his friends and family for cards and football games, and who has two enormous dogs, and they put a WHITE COUCH in his living room. Who DOES that?

Otherwise, it was a nice reno - the three-seasons deck especially. But a white couch just seems like a terrible idea for 99% of people, let alone a guy with 2 huge dogs.

*

TV Tuesday: Cancellations

Nov. 11th, 2025 11:19 am
yourlibrarian: OTH-SadPenny-hodsmal (HOR-SadPenny-hodsmal)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk



Cancellations are usually a sad affair. Sometimes shows even get a renewal before they get cancelled again. Which show's cancellation hit has hit you the most?

(no subject)

Nov. 10th, 2025 07:37 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
The questions were originally suggested by newagebastard.

1. What’s harder to live without, chocolate or alcohol?
I probably like my glass of wine with dinner more.

2. Does the color yellow remind you of anything?
Spring, daffodils, brightness.

3. Who most annoyed you last week?
Democrats who folded.

4. Do you have a cutesy romantic nickname for your partner (or previous partners)?
I sometimes call the cats "honbuns".

5. What is your favorite Stephen King movie?
I've only seen one that I know of. I'm not a scary movie fan, but I watched the first "IT" miniseries long ago and liked it. Scary enough for me.


It's that time of year when I try to stockpile things I'll need in Nov/Dec, so that the closer I get to the holidays, the less I have to go anywhere. Bathroom necessities, kitty litter, make sure I have cleaning products, food that can go into the freezer. Batten down the hatches.

Thinking of a movie I want to stream on Thanksgiving. Maybe, Nobody 2?
musesfool: drs abbot and robby of the pitt (you did not desert me)
[personal profile] musesfool
5 things make a post:

- This New Yorker profile of Costco was super interesting, I thought, as I ordered several pounds of pecans from Costco to make holiday gifts for various co-workers.

- The Giants once again had a lead for most of a game and then lost, plus their rookie QB ended up with a concussion. I texted the family group chat that that should be enough to finally fire Brian Daboll, and sure enough, today he got canned. Woof. What a miserable few seasons it's been. Hopefully whoever the next coach is (and the current interim coach) will protect Dart a little better.

- Will the Rangers ever win a game at MSG this season???

- It's the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, so give the song a listen. It still makes me cry every time I hear it. "Does anyone know where the love of god goes / when the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

- I don't have a fifth thing.

*

(no subject)

Nov. 10th, 2025 11:10 am
watersword: Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann from the epilogue of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, & the word "elizabeth" (Pirates of the Caribbean: epilogue)
[personal profile] watersword

Realized after my most recent gym session that I'd been misreading the training plan and I have accidentally skipped about half a training session so far, and sessions are going to take longer than I thought. Whoops. The good news is, I also realized that this is a great opportunity to watch Dropout, give that reading on my phone at a 3mph pace is not super comfortable. So fingers crossed I actually like Dimension 20!

I made squash dumplings and banana bread and if I can make myself get off the couch, will bake gâteau invisible and a fresh loaf of bread. How is it possible that I picked up my CSA box on Friday, went to the farmer's market on Saturday, got some groceries Sunday, and yet I still need to buy more ingredients for food? Also I would like a gold star for excavating the frozen bananas, it is really hard to keep weird-shaped things like whole bananas organized neatly, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

musesfool: Inara (i know where beauty lives)
[personal profile] musesfool
My sister texted me yesterday to let me know she's sick so I shouldn't go over there today, so I did not. So today, instead of making pie, I made Chinese pork buns (pic). I made the pork yesterday and used the leftovers today - I used boneless country ribs because they are fairly cheap and I don't like dealing with bones. I can't seem to get a good boneless pork shoulder these days - last time I ordered a bone-in one, it was supposedly 3 lbs, but it was 2 lbs of bone and 1 of meat, which is not the best ratio for the money - so I go with the boneless country ribs instead (the ones from Costco are especially good).

*

I shouldn't have been so enthusiastic the other day about how much better I've been sleeping, because of course, on Friday night, I had a terrible night's sleep, tossing and turning and just unable to stay asleep after several hours of trying to fall asleep. Last night was much better. *hands* Sometimes, it just be like that.

While I was lying awake, I was thinking about Dungeon Crawler Carl, as I have been wont to do lately, and trying to figure out his relationship with Bea, because I find it kind of baffling. spoilers through book 7 )

*

Pluribus

Nov. 9th, 2025 01:03 pm
selenak: (Jimmy and Kim)
[personal profile] selenak
Pluribus is the new show Vince Gilligan created, and whose first two episodes premiered on Apple TV, with Rhea Seahorn as the main character. After her stunning performance as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul, it seems Gilligan felt inspired, and no wonder. I still think her not winning any awards of what she did with Kim is one of the great injustices of tv world. Anyway: While the show is set in Albuquerque like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it belongs to a quite different genre and in a way has Gilligan go back to his X-Files roots. With the stunning cinematography of BB/BCS, and some (based on those first two eps) great twists on the whole invasion/hive mind/zombie tropes and genre. Also, Gilligan's and his fellow artists ability to quickly create three dimensional feeling side characters with just a few minutes of screen time shines, and the way he can connect visceral emotion and horror on the one hand and black humour otoh.

Spoilers are wondering just what saving humanity really means )

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of how the show continues to deal with those questions. Well done, Gilligan, I'm hooked!


****

In other news, having recently made a trip to Vienna, I posted a gigantic historically themed pic spam here!

What We Don't Want

Nov. 8th, 2025 07:39 pm
yourlibrarian: Tony Stark yells at Doctor Strange (AVEN-TonyYellsatStrange-ebsolutely.png)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian
1) Amazon plans to deploy automated translation of books into non-English languages.

2) Chances are so many past shows have been cancelled due to inaccurate measurements. While that's no longer true for streaming content, it still is for cable and broadcast. Read more... )

3) Alarming stats about AI slop: "There's a streaming platform called Deezer... And they're one of the very few platforms that... actually set up a AI detection algorithm..And back in January, they reported that 10% of those [new] songs were AI generated, and they don't allow them on the platform. But then a few months later in April, they said 18% of the songs...delivered were AI generated. And just a few days ago, the September report came out and the number is up to 28%. And so I think ... we're just not even given a choice about whether we wanna see this or hear this stuff or not."

4) When reading this article about how people given the right information refuse to change their wrong take in the face of evidence, I was reminded of an unpleasant encounter this week. The writer of the article concludes that this is a social media issue, but I think it's worse than that. Social media has exacerbated behavior where people always have to be right. Read more... )

5) Yet what a difference it makes when an employee makes an effort to help. I had a WalMart gift card which I knew worked because I had used it in May. A few months ago when picking up other meds and groceries I tried to use it. It wouldn't scan. I asked for help and after trying it a few times, the clerk said I'd have to go into a regular cashier line because only they could input the card number. Given the line and having to rescan everything, I just paid with credit and left. Read more... )

Poll #33818 Kudos Footer-549
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

Want to leave a Kudos?

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Kudos!
7 (100.0%)



rusty-halo.com

I blog about fannish things. Busy with work so don't update often. Mirrored at rusty-halo.com.

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