ghostpuppet | Reading

Вот наконец и доехала до нас книга Кирилла Горячка о легендарном Дзиге Вертове и его не менее легендарном фильме, с которого, по сути, началась вся история документального кино. Напомню, что это – тот же самый проект, в рамках которого мы уже получали картинки из раскадровки к «Ёжику в тумане». Книгу я пока только пролистал (детальным изучением буду заниматься по мере наличия времени), но с первого взгляда понял, что ради её издания проделана огромная работа. Не могу не радоваться каждый раз, когда вижу, как при моей поддержке рождается нечто подобное.

Ну а теперь – традиционно про Артура Хусаинова и его грандиозное велопутешествие из Москвы во Владивосток. На сегодняшний день он добрался до Байкала, преодолев по пути бесчисленное множество подъёмов-спусков и повстречавшись (внезапно) с факельной эстафетой Омск — Владивосток. Ближайшие его планы – сделать «круг почёта» вокруг Байкала и ехать дальше на восток. Весь его маршрут, начиная с моей предыдущей сводки, см. под катом:

( Смотреть маршрут Артура Хусаинова )

Что же касается проекта иллюстраций к венку сонетов Макса Волошина за авторством художника Михаила Садыкова – то он на сегодняшний день завис на 43%, хотя до окончания сбора осталось только 9 дней. Словом, скорей всего – в пролёте. Буду перераспределять средства на что-то другое.

Current Location: Ташкент, Узбекистан

cornerofmadness

So say I as I get in the car to come home. We met Lucky Uncle's wife. It was her birthday over the weekend and in a few days it'll be the first anniversary of his death so we took her out to one of her favorite restaurants: Chinese. Always dicey for a diabetic but I usually do decently in selection. This one had a dish that was represented by a hot pepper and a ginger sauce. I ended up with a sauce so sweet it was ridiculous (it also had no heat and no ginger) but my aunt is like Sheldon and is already a mess so I didn't want to send it back and give her reason to go off. I figured it won't be too much worse than general tso's which I can eat with a mild bump in sugar.

This one sent my sugar so high it was beyond what a Dexcom could read. (Yes I took my insulin, yes I'm fine, it's back down to under 150).

Okay this ride in the graphic looks like fun

Challenge #4

Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
Creative: Write from the perspective of a house or other location.

Not much is making me smile. However I DO have a list of things I love to talk about. As for a story, well I don't have that either BUT I did finish an original horror story today that has a cabin in the woods as a central location. It's not quite on point but there you go.

1. Books My genres are mostly mystery SF/F/UF and horror (all of these both adult and YA) see me on wednesday for my current reads

2. music, I will listen to almost anything. see me on mondays for music

3. cooking, I don't share recipes as much as I should. I watch a ton of YT cooking channels

4. history, it's my jam. Love historical books fiction and nonfiction, also follow history YT channels

5. Museum, I love them even little ones. Yesterday I went to a local one for a town next to where I grew up and learned Jay Livingston wasn't the only famous person out of McDonald PA, we have one woman who won 8 emmys and one pulitzer prize winning photographer

6. gardens, I will try to make gardens and museums cornerstones of my tourism but it's not just about the big beautiful gardens and conservatories, I do garden (not as well as I used to now that I'm getting old and more disabled) but I love talking about it

7. science and medicine, I am a doctor and now a biology professor, I love science and sharing links. I'm good with biology and chemistry. I'm not great with physics, astronomy and archaeology fascinate me

8. writing, I'm a published author (points to the above reading genres), I love talking about writing, looking for beta reader/critique group members in search of a group, see me on Sundays for writing links and open calls

9. cats! Well animals in general but I'm a cat person. I take care of the outdoor cat (who does not want to be indoors which sucks because he's FIV+) Rocket refuses to be inside but he is also the most amazingly friendly cat. Some jerk dropped him off. I tried to rehome him then (4 years ago) because I was barely walking after nearly losing a leg and didn't want to be tripping over a cat just then. See how well that worked out (He's also cat number 42 I've rescued from this place)

10. My fandoms! Star Trek is my forever fandom. My biggest fandoms (in terms of me getting eaten alive by them and me writing scads for) were Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the series, Fullmetal Alchemist (still my absolute favorite anime/manga), Prodigal Son (I am still bitter about its cancelation), The Owl House (ditto about the bitter) and my current obsession, Hazbin Hotel. I'm into a lot more (especially manga/anime) so if any of those are yours let's talk (or if there's a mystery/cop drama, SF/F/Horror show, anime/manga I haven't mentioned ask if I'm into it)

And it IS Musical Monday. I'm currently doing the alphabet using the last 5 years only (But you can share from whenever you please). I'm up to O

( Ooooooooo )

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: The Proof is Out There

loganberrybunny

Public

164/365: Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium, Birmingham
Click for a larger, sharper image
I couldn't resist that subject line! What you see here is the very last weeks of Perry Barr Stadium in Birmingham, mostly known as a greyhound track. I have little time for greyhound racing, and I suspect the decision to amalgamate both this and Monmore Green in Wolverhampton on a new site at Dunstall Park (already a horse racing track) elsewhere in Wolverhampton only puts off the inevitable for a few years. The sport is in steep and probably irreversible decline and the days when the Greyhound Derby at White City, London attracted 92,000 fans, and the sport was beaten only by football for total attendances in some years, are long past. As I say, I'm not keen on greyhound racing itself. I'm more saddened by the fact that the Birmingham Brummies, the speedway team who race here, will go out of business altogether when the stadium is closed next month to be redeveloped for housing.

Greyhound racing is on its way out for several reasons. First among them is concern for animal welfare, more so than with horse racing. The sport is also almost totally dependent these days on internet betting, which means both tiny crowds (in the hundreds) and a nearly impossible task in attracting new blood in the shape of families. The format of greyhound racing means short races with long gaps, and there's far less peripheral entertainment (food, bouncy castles, etc) than at horse racing courses. Regardless of the Dunstall Green move, even without England following Wales' imminent ban¹ I suspect greyhound racing will effectively die in Britain in the next decade. Most people, including me, are unlikely to mourn it -- but the stadium is a part of Birmingham's sporting and social history, so I thought it worth documenting before it disappears entirely.
¹ This is largely symbolic, as only one Welsh track remains anyway.

I was mostly in Perry Barr for boring reasons unconnected with the stadium, but I will note that the suburb is also home to the far more successful Alexander Stadium, the biggest athletics venue in the UK (capacity 18,000) and the host for the athletics competitions in the 2022 Olympic Games. The other notable feature is a medium-sized shopping centre, which has fewer closed units than some (though certainly not none) and boasts a quite decent Wetherspoons, the Arthur Robertson. The pub is named after the first member of local athletics club Birchfield Harriers (still in existence) to win an Olympic event, when he took gold in the three-mile run at the 1908 Games in London. The still-continuing bin strike was sadly obvious in the startling amount of litter on the verges, though oddly a few streets away (still in Birmingham) things were a lot less unpleasant. Still, Perry Barr could really do with some proper community-centric redevelopment. We'll see.

Current Mood: thirsty

conuly

Nonstandard and informal are not synonyms. Dialectal and informal are not synonyms. Regional and informal are not synonyms. You can speak formally even if you're speaking a nonstandard regional dialect.

Everybody needs to stop saying that dialect words are, ipso facto, informal.

Edit: On a different note, omfg this dude.

*************************

( Read more... )

puddleshark

thewayne

Bill is, in my ever so humble opinion, one of the most brilliant musical comedians. I'd rate him up there with Tom Lehrer and Eric Idle and above them in many ways (Peter Schickele is still #1 for me). If you ever want to have a lot of fun, just cruise YouTube for Bill Bailey videos and you should have a good time.

In this one, he pays tribute to one of his favorite bands, one of the first techno bands, Kraftwerk.

Watch on YouTube

disneydream06

This Week's Movie Quote...

S.: Got a smoke? No?
A.: Sorry I don't smoke.
T. B.: He didn't recognize you. Now what?
S.: Nothing... He's a human now

Poll #33357

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1

View Respondents

Which Movie Does This Quote Come From?

View Answers

Collector
0 (0.0%)

Day Watch
0 (0.0%)

The Turkish Gambit
0 (0.0%)

I Don't Have A Clue...
1 (100.0%)

Last Week's Movie Quote...

Margaret Tate: What am I allergic to?
Andrew Paxton: Pine nuts, and the full spectrum of human emotion.

It comes from the 2009 romantic comedy "The Proposal".
It starred Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, and Betty White.

Watch on YouTube

Those Who Knew or Guessed Correctly...

gwendraith

adminbear

meathiel

sidhe_uaine42

christalin80

davesmusictank

man_of_snows

mrdreamjeans

merlinwon

seaivy

disneydream06

From the less than fantastic "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous",
And showcasing the less then fantastic clothes and hair of the 80s,
Comes the fantastic voice of Patti LaBelle singing about her new attitude...

Watch on YouTube

sabotabby

You are not prepared.

( many )

moxie_man

allaboutweather! I hope it was a good day. I'm late 'cause I was on the road yesterday.

ndrosen

Here I am awake; I’ll try to get some more sleep before I get up for breakfast and the day’s work. I went to the farmers’ market Sunday morning, and in addition to other products, I found Methley plums available at the Twin Springs Fruit Farm stand, as their email newsletter had said. It’s too bad that these plums are delicate, and only available during a short season, because after tasting them, you will be unsatisfied with plums from the supermarket. I ate three small plums as part of lunch, and look forward to more.

cornerofmadness

I am sad. This is the second time in 6 weeks when I've run into a changing deadline from a publisher. I had finished a story I was pretty happy with. The pay for this open call was high. I KNOW the deadline because I checked it repeatedly. Got the beta edits back, checked to triple check the word count...and the date is changed. It's frustrating. It feels like a waste of everyone's time. Yes, I can probably find another open call this will fit eventually but this bullshit of closing early and changing deadlines sucks.

I'm trying to see it from their point of view. Maybe they have SO many submissions they can't handle it and close early. Still, I can't be checking every day to places I plan to submit to see if this is going on. Most of these publishers don't have blogs. Maybe they tell duotrope or another service something they're making a change but I don't know. You can't watch them all.

How do you all keep track of deadlines/places you're interested in?

Not the writerly ways i planned to give but this is what you're getting

Open Calls

Odysseus Odysseus from Greek Mythology

Horrorsmith’s Teen Forge Novel Line Young Adult speculative fiction of any genre

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Dark Waters Volume 3 Whatever “dark waters” means to you – stories of trepidation, the unknown, the dangerous, the creepy, the suspenseful.

Space and Time July 2025 Window Stories with speculative elements

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in July 2025

39 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for July 2025

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Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Star Trek OS

conuly

but it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.

This is... not so great, really.

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( Read more... )

loganberrybunny

Public

163/365: The Holding Pens, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
My cheery historical reading today has been on the ancient Neo-Assyrians of around 700 BC, who -- it turns out -- were absolutely detested for their apparent revelry in cruelty. They not only went in for flaying alive, impalement and much more besides, but unlike other harsh empires they made a point of depicting the atrocities on their monuments as a way of ruling by fear and terror. They called this "calculated frightfulness", and they were hated for this even by other civilisations in that violent age. From what I've gathered, which is inevitably partial (in both senses) this contributed to their downfall, with some other rivalries suspended for a joint assault on the Assyrians.

Meanwhile, back in the modern world, it was a mere 28 °C today. I still had an ice cream, though (orange and dark chocolate flavour) and was very glad to get it. Today's 365 photo comes from Wribbenhall (the part of Bewdley on the eastern bank of the River Severn), very close to the Severn Valley Railway viaduct -- in fact, that's just about visible in the extreme top left. This is what's left of the Holding Pens. Before the railway arrived in the 1860s, there was a butcher's shop close by, and this is where animals were kept before slaughter. The more regular of the holes you can see in the sandstone are artificial, and once held fence posts and the like.

Current Mood: hot

jazzy_dave

Carlene Bauer "Frances and Bernard" (Chatto & Windus)

A fictional love story told through letters, “inspired by” the real life correspondence of Flannery O’Connor and Robert Lowell. Since I know virtually nothing about either of these writers, I had no issues with what was true or not in this novel about two intelligent people who can’t find a way to make their relationship work.

The author described the theme of the book to Publisher’s Weekly as “what happens when someone effusive, passionate and grandiose {Bernard} gets involved with someone tough-minded, cranky and aloof {Frances}.” While Bernard is instantly likeable and Frances seems cold in comparison, once his manic depression becomes problematic, Frances’ reticence to become romantically involved with him becomes more understandable and my sympathies switched to her side. Here are a couple of quotes to give you an idea of the heartbreaking nature of their relationship:

Bernard, in a letter to Frances: “I love your suspicion--it means your mind is always sharpening itself against the many lies of the world--but right now it is killing me. So I am going to ask you to write me a letter convincing me that you believe me. You do not have to tell me that you are in love with me, and you do not have to tell me how you feel about me. You have to write and tell me that you believe I love you.”

Frances, in a letter to a friend: “He will call four separate times at work; I can’t answer it the first three times, and the fourth time, when I pick up, he’ll say: “Why didn’t you pick up before? You’re Florence Nightingale, you’re supposed to pick up. I could be bleeding on a field in Turkey.” We laugh, it’s funny, but the fact remains: He has called four times in a row in a span of five minutes. . . It makes me want to hide from him sometimes in embarrassment--I have maybe a tenth of his energy, and I often wonder when he will realize that he’s in love with a slug. Whirlwinds can’t love slugs. They need other whirlwinds, don’t they? Or mountains.”

I finished this book over a month ago and it’s stayed with me and I would even consider re-reading it, which I, on the whole, never do. A good satisfying book that I will certainly will reread at some point.

spiralsheep

- "Terrorism": having difficulty comprehending that I live in a time when Labour leader Keir Starmer and his starmtroopers have decided to crimialise peaceful protest as "terrorism", including 100 or so people from across the UK arrested and facing 14 years in prison each as "terrorists" because they held up marker-pen-on-cardboard signs reading "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."

People holding handwritten cardboard signs reading, "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."

- Decided to celebrate something I love everyday.
9: The clouds I saw from a peak hour traffic jam were fabulously fluffy cumulus sky-sheep.
10: Wizo the Fleming. His name. And his son Walter fitzWizo. Both C12th. That is all. P.S. Pembrokeshire Council have wisely decreed the creation of a Wizo Trail for cyclists.
11: 7.30am tuneful recorder playing in an otherwise silent neighbourhood (no cars). I'm imagining an enchanting Good Neighbour of the faerie folk, but around here it was probably a bearded old hippie, lol.
11: a female Large (Cabbage) White butterfly, Pieris brassicae, flew across in front of my face then perched on the hedge next to my head so I could observe it about a hand length away, and note its wing patterns and antennae colours in detail.
11 bonus: my front lawn was suddenly full of happy, laughing, shrieking, playing people (mostly young). Get ON my lawn! Curtains were closed so I didn't twitch them to find out if anyone was in dress-up but there are usually one or two.
12: brief visitation in my home by a large patterned brown moth that was one of those "why aren't day-flying moths called butterflies?" beauties.
13: just laying in bed very early this morning, half-awake, and knowing I didn't have to get up. Mmm.

- Birb log: whenever I see the new taxonomy for Jackdaws I think about that redditor who people mocked for years for saying Jackdaws weren't crows / Corvus or whatever it was they said.

( Birb log )

disneydream06

Today it is my great pleasure to send out...

*~*~*~*~*GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES*~*~*~*~*

To my friend,

allaboutweather.

I hope you have a spectacular day. :)

AA Happy Birthday 9

puddleshark

The "Lynton and Lynmouth funicular Cliff Railway opened in 1890 and is the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world..." www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/.

I popped briefly into Lynmouth for tea on my recent visit to Exmoor, and of course I couldn't resist taking the cliff railway, clanking my way up to Lynton, and back down again.

( A few pictures of Lynmouth )

jazzy_dave

Paul Morley "Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City" (Bloomsbury Publishing)

This is a bit of a re-read as it is a very esoteric history of pop, which I like. A ride in a very fast car. Insightful and entertaining. Lots and lots of lists some of which will interest you and some won't. It will alomost certainly make you curious about some artist or genre you have never heard of. Plenty of philosphy and ideas - for example a discussion of celebrity. Goes well beyond a history of pop and leaves out as much as it takes in. Eclectic and wacky. I still take it off the shelf to get inspiration as to what to listen to next- or what to challenge Amazon music with.

I have always been that adventurous with music, so I would definitely recommend this book to the very curious music lover.

sabotabby

If you're playing along, try to ID the whales. Also some forest pictures and some dead fish that wash up en masse this time of year.

( whales! )

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Samantha Jo

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Page Summary

pilottttt - И снова краудфандинговые новости
cornerofmadness - Mom, I don't feel well
loganberrybunny - Going to the dogs
conuly - Today's five second mini-rant:
puddleshark - (no subject)
thewayne - Bill Bailey on Kraftwerk
disneydream06 - (no subject)
disneydream06 - Songs From The Movies.....
sabotabby - Whale photos (and one puffin)
moxie_man - Belated B-day shout-out to...
ndrosen - Methley Plums
cornerofmadness - Writerly Ways
conuly - Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food
loganberrybunny - Like a wolf on the fold
jazzy_dave - Book 31 - Carlene Bauer "Frances and Bernard"
spiralsheep - In which there are 52 times Our Heroine improves her habitat, week 28
disneydream06 - (no subject)
puddleshark - Lynmouth
jazzy_dave - Book 30 - Paul Morley "Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City"
sabotabby - Photos (mostly whales)

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Page generated Jul. 15th, 2025 07:28 am

The Life & Times of a Time Weary Wombat

telling time by the setting sun

Reading

И снова краудфандинговые новости

Mom, I don't feel well

Going to the dogs

Today's five second mini-rant:

(no subject)

Bill Bailey on Kraftwerk

(no subject)

Songs From The Movies.....

Whale photos (and one puffin)

Belated B-day shout-out to...

Methley Plums

Writerly Ways

Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food

Like a wolf on the fold

Book 31 - Carlene Bauer "Frances and Bernard"

In which there are 52 times Our Heroine improves her habitat, week 28

(no subject)

Lynmouth

Book 30 - Paul Morley "Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City"

Photos (mostly whales)

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January 2025

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