jack

Posted by ephemeralnewyork

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/this-modest-bronx-memorial-to-a-forgotten-war-was-made-with-scrap-metal-from-a-sunken-battleship/

http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/?p=54324

New York is a city that tries hard not to forget its fallen soldiers, especially those who died in global wars with many casualties.

All over Gotham are Great War doughboys in bronze, solemn World War II-era plaques with the names of neighborhood enlistees, and celebratory statues and arches to honor the dead of the Revolution and Civil War.

But you don’t see many monuments to the Spanish-American War of 1898. What was that one about?

This 10-week conflict grew out of Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain. It ended with America declaring war on Spain, which quickly forced the Spanish to give up Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and made the U.S. a player in international affairs.

Most of the 2,446 U.S. casualties stemmed from tropical diseases, not combat. But that didn’t make a difference to the city leaders in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. They commissioned a Classical-style monument to the men of the borough who died during this brief but pivotal war.

Like many neighborhood monuments, it’s easy to miss. The memorial sits in a small patch of green in Graham Triangle at the intersection of Third Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and 137th Street—probably a busier intersection when it was dedicated in 1919.

Surrounded by a graceful iron fence, the granite pedestal supports a slender column with a globe on top.

The bas-relief on the pedestal is made with bronze from the USS Maine, per NYC Parks. This American battleship exploded and sank in Havana Harbor and is considered the spark (fanned in part by incendiary media coverage and the “remember the Maine” rallying cry) that ushered the U.S. to declare war.

Dedications of monuments were big events at the time, and the New York Times covered the parade and ceremony that unveiled the monument—as well as the base of a World War I monument that was yet to be completed at the south end of the triangle.

“A large crowd was present at the unveiling yesterday afternoon of a monument dedicated to the memory of men who died in the war with Spain, and of the base of a monument to be erected to the fourteen men of Local Board 1 of the Bronx who died in the world war,” the Times reported.

The World War I monument—a thicker column graced with an eagle at the top—got its dedication in 1921. The two memorials forge a poignant bond at this intersection of older Bronx buildings and newer public housing.

There’s a few other Spanish-American War memorials in New York, like the allegorical USS Maine monument at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park—paid for with donations by readers of William Randolph Hearst’s New York Morning Journal, which helped build the case for the war.

It’s a triumphant piece of civic architecture and calls out the names of the 266 U.S. sailors who died in the explosion. But there’s something appealingly graceful about the more modest Bronx memorial, which contains no names or exultant icons but a short inscription:

“To the brave men of Bronx Borough who gave their lives for their country in the war with Spain.”

[Last photo: NYC Parks]

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/this-modest-bronx-memorial-to-a-forgotten-war-was-made-with-scrap-metal-from-a-sunken-battleship/

http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/?p=54324

ephemeral_nyc_feed

Posted by ephemeralnewyork

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/the-midcentury-street-photographer-who-documented-new-yorkers-in-all-their-raw-grotesque-humanity/

http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/?p=54356

Lisette Model, born into an upper-class Jewish-Catholic family in Vienna in 1901, didn’t set out to be a photographer.

As a young woman she moved to Paris and studied music with Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg.

Through Schoenberg, she was introduced to the emerging style of German Expressionism, in which painters used aggressive brushstrokes and exaggerated forms to highlight the psychological turmoil of modern life.

After abandoning a music career, Model thought she would become a darkroom technician—then realized taking photos was more to her liking. She borrowed a 35 millimeter camera from her sister and set out to document men and women lounging on the beach in Nice.

“The nascent photographer lifted the camera to her eye and captured them in a series of images that draw out the awkwardness of their well-fed, well-dressed bodies and the fascination of faces modeled by age, which appear almost grotesque, but also striking, even sculptural,” states Artsy.

After marrying Russian-born painter Evsa Model in 1937 and immigrating with him to New York one year later amid growing antisemitism in Europe, she committed herself to a career as a visual artist.

Model published photos in magazines like PM and Harper’s Bazaar, and she became part of the city’s postwar photography community. The couple’s first Gotham home was in the Master Apartments on Riverside Drive.

Drawing on the influence of German Expressionism, she pioneered a different kind of street photography, relying on tilted angles and close-ups to expose the raw, unposed, and unbeautiful sides of her subjects and reflect their inner emotions rather than the city outside.

One of Model’s earliest photos, taken in the 1940s for Harper’s Bazaar, brought her to Coney Island (second photo). “There she found a corpulent woman in a black bathing suit and with a beaming expression that radiated confidence and joyfulness,” states Artsy.

“Model captured this woman—who would become immortalized in her photographs as the Coney Island bather—standing in a high crouch and lying on her side with her head propped up on one arm.”

Jazz clubs and the Lower East Side became popular haunts for Model. There she found her subjects in unguarded moments, displaying their imperfect humanity against an unsentimental (and often close-cropped) stage or streetscape.

Unsparing portraits weren’t her only focus. Model seemed to be captivated by street life of New York City, its vitality and mystery. She produced a series of photos that reveal the city’s many layers in shadows and glass reflections.

“Then, as now, the storefront served as mirror and stage, showcasing a performative play of products and pedestrians,” wrote MOMA under a 1939 photo exhibited in the museum: “Reflections, Fifth Avenue, New York.” (fourth photo)

In 1951, Model began teaching photography at The New School. Among her students was Diane Arbus, who she remained close to until Arbus’ suicide at Westbeth in Greenwich Village in 1971.

“There are obvious reasons for seeing similarities in their work: both focus on portraiture, both have chosen ‘extreme’ types of people as sitters, and both create renderings of people that are perceived by critics as ‘grotesque,'” wrote Shelley Rice in Artforum.

Model continued teaching and taking photos through the 1970s. In 1982, she died of heart failure. Intensely private, she seemed to give few formal interviews or publicly share thoughts about her craft.

She apparently did leave one simple piece of advice: “Never take a picture of anything you are not passionately interested in” is a quote often attributed to her.

[Top photo, “Little Man, Lower East Side,” National Gallery of Art; second photo, “Coney Island,” MOMA; third photo: “Lower East Side,” Sotheby’s; fourth photo: “Reflections, Fifth Avenue, New York,” National Gallery of Art; fifth photo, “Lower East Side,” MOMA; sixth photo: “Window Reflections,” MOMA; seventh photo: “Sammy’s, New York,” Whitney Museum of Art]

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/the-midcentury-street-photographer-who-documented-new-yorkers-in-all-their-raw-grotesque-humanity/

http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/?p=54356

crossover_chick

Yeah, it was a miserable day out, weather-wise -- rained the entire time and never got above 60, I don't think. Fortunately, it was decently warm inside the house, so I didn't feel it too much. Though what I did feel for much of the day was tired, because, again, I stayed up entirely too late last night. *shakehead* You're pushing 40, Vic -- you can't keep going to bed at like 2:40 AM. Despite this, though, I did manage to accomplish a few things of note:

Tumblr: It was a mildly-productive day over here on the tumbls – there wasn’t anything happening over on Valice Multiverse, and I got off to a slow start on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) thanks to the aforementioned tiredness. But I did manage to make a bit more progress on my “Valicer Eats God” post –

A) After QUITE a long period of pondering, I FINALLY came up with proper “Trait Expressions” for Victor’s “Lanky Limbs” and “Sticky Steps” traits (“Fast Feet” was easy – “Running from my problems is an acceptable way to deal with them,” based on the fact that he spends most of the film LITERALLY running from his problems XD)! For “Lanky Limbs,” I leaned into Victor being portrayed as shy and awkward around other people, hanging back behind his parents when they go to meet the Everglots and behind Emily when they first head up the tower to Elder Gutknecht’s and went with “I'll be back here if you need me” (as a Victor with his extra-long reach would be able to stay out of the action while still being able to help if necessary); for “Sticky Steps,” I thought about the fact that Victor climbed that damn cliff because he was that determined to avoid Emily and decided on “There is always a way around (or over) a dead end” (especially if you’re running from your problems :P). I think they fit well enough!

B) I also tweaked one of Smiler’s “Trait Expressions,” moving “Hey! Look at me!” from their “Dizzying Display (Bright)” trait to their “Languorous Lure” trait – I thought it made a little more sense for it to be tied to the Hypnotiser wheels than the Flasher!

C) And I did some work finalizing everyone’s Muppet-esque appearances in this world, completing Victor’s write-up while making a decent start on Alice and Smiler’s. For reference, Victor’s got a sort of “mothman” look going (antennae, big solid black eyes, a light covering of white fuzz on his body, and stubby blue wings sticking out of his back – useless for flying, but good for helping propel him along if he really needs to put on a turn of speed); Alice looks a lot like she does when she’s wearing the DLC “Cheshire” dress from A:MR, only with the horns and back spikes from AMA’s Ragebox form and a modified tail that can shoot her “Menacing Missiles” projectiles; and Smiler naturally is a mini-Marmaliser from the ride (though I’m probably gonna move the face display from underneath the robot to above it), with wire-like tentacles coming out of it.

*nods* Not bad. We’ll see if I can make some more progress tomorrow!

Fallout: New Vegas: Well, it was a tough day in the Mojave for poor Courier Victor, who spent most of this particular playsession getting shot, and twice dying. But he did prevail in the end, taking out the convicts in the Bison Steve and freeing Deputy Beagle! *pumps fist* And getting some decent loot along the way, which was nice. :) Allow me to tell you how it all went down in more detail below –

A) As per usual, I picked up where I left off last time – with Victor in what I presumed was the employee break room right off the side of the main lobby, having just cracked it open via the terminal on the check-in counter and looted what goodies he could out of it. With nothing else to grab in there (besides a key to a maintenance door I wasn’t sure I wanted – lockpicking XP is pretty much always better if you can get it!), I had him head back out, sneaking along behind the counter and peeking out into the room beyond –

To see a convict sitting on a chair just past the doorway leading into the main downstairs hallway. Unfortunately, he was too far away for Victor to get a good hit on him with his trusty 9mm pistol (at least per VATS), and before Victor could venture out much into the lobby, the convict got up and walked away. At least he never actually saw Victor! Victor thus chose to explore the lobby, finding nothing in the bent old trash can by the main door and noting the barricade made with some tables pushed up against another little counter that could be useful to hide behind should the worst happen. He then ventured around the tables toward the hallway beyond –

Only to end up backtracking behind the barricade as the convict in his hockey mask came back, presumably for another sit. However, now Victor was closer, he had a better shot of hitting the guy with VATS, so I decided to have him take a couple of shots at the guy’s arm. Victor thus lined up and fired –

And neither shot connected. Because I’m pretty sure they both hit the tables. *facepalm* Naturally, this alerted the guy to Victor being there, and he started shooting – Victor took a few hits, but managed to slip around the side of the barricade and hit the guy’s leg with a couple of VATS shots, crippling it. Unfortunately, all this gun play attracted one of the guy’s buddies, who ran in to help as the original guy headed off. Victor fired a few manual shots his way as he waited for his AP to return, then ducked behind the tables as that guy ran away as well –

Only to be replaced by a THIRD guy in a red sweater who was ready to party. By this time, Victor’s AP had come back, so he was able to get a few shots in at the guy’s head in VATS, crippling it – he returned fire and got Victor pretty good as he kept popping up and down behind the barricade separating them. *wince* Victor attempted to shoot him again once he had some more AP, but, as before, the barricade blocked all his shots. *sigh* And here I thought that stupid thing was going to help me! >( Fortunately, running around the side did bring the guy in close enough for another solid headshot, and that and a couple of manual shots finally took him down. Whew! Rough start to rescuing the deputy, I must say.

( And Victor’s not done being shot yet... )

Workout/YouTube: I’m pleased to report that Jon of Many A True Nerd uploaded the latest episode of his “Worst Wanderer” series (aka, to me, The Prequel Of Useless Steve), “Fallout 3: The Worst Wanderer - Part 2 - Laid To Waste,” early enough today that I was able to spend my entire stationary bike ride watching it! :D Though I did still have to finish up the last nine minutes after supper. Which, uh, was not a problem, trust me. XD Anyway, today’s installment of The Adventures Of Useless Steve In The Capital Wasteland revolved around him getting weapons (because Jon never got the pristine-condition 10mm pistol you’re supposed to get off Amata in the Vault 101 escape sequence, thanks to letting her keep to defend herself in her interrogation and then forgetting to ask for it before he left the vault, meaning his sole ranged option was his childhood BB gun) and money to buy the schematics for the weapon he really wanted, the Rock-It Launcher (which shoots junk at enemies), off Moira in Megaton. How did that go? Well –

A) After discovering that, for some reason, Moira wasn’t selling any proper guns in her shop, Useless Steve grabbed the bottlecap mine off her workbench for later (wasn’t even stealing! Moira’s nice like that), then headed to Moriarty’s bar to see if he could engineer a situation where one NPC killed another so he could steal the dead guy’s stuff. Such an opportunity presented itself in the form of Mr. Burke, the sleazy guy who works for Alistair Tenpenny and tries to get you to slap a fusion charge on the bomb in the middle of town so Tenpenny can blow Megaton up and stop it spoiling his view. Steve accepted the fusion charge (after failing miserably at trying to convince Burke to give him more caps for the job – 4% Speech checks are no joke :P) –

But rather than put it on the bomb, brought it to town mayor/sheriff Lucas Simms and let him know what Burke was up to. Simms promptly ran off to confront Burke, Steve following close behind –

And then, in the two seconds it took Steve to pass through the loading zone, Simms and Burke had their confrontation and Simms ended up dead. Jon was a mite confused as to why the two men didn’t do their usual back-and-forth so the protagonist could see it, but still took advantage of the opportunity to steal Lucas Simms’s duster, hat, house key, and – most importantly – his Chinese Assault Rifle! Which, unfortunately, only had 14 bullets. However, Steve was not bothered by this, because Step Two of his plan was to go and murder Mr. Burke outside for his 10mm pistol (which he had loads of ammo for) –

Except...well. It appeared that Jon spent a tiny bit too long explaining what was SUPPOSED to happen to us before looting the body, because when he stepped outside, Useless Steve could not find Mr. Burke so he could batter him to death with a baseball bat. Apparently the guy had despawned. *sigh* Well, Useless Steve is useless – it only makes sense that his world would also be useless.

( It’s Useless Steve! In A Useless Wasteland! )

*nods* Not bad for a Sunday. And now I really need to go to be before I stay up til almost 3 AM again. Tomorrow, only solid plans are work on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) drafts, get some writing done (as I need to get back to work on "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland"), and get in a workout -- we'll see what else I manage to cram in! Night all!

Current Mood: tired

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260524.html

What's that passing in front of the Sun?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260524.html

olivermoss

More context on why I couldn't spot the stairs on gmaps:

Stairs:

Up on the sidewalk:

There are some cool potential shots up there. Like with the last shoot, really need to go back on a rainy / misty day.

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!

alias_sqbr

Masterlist.

Some pretty intense scenes of children experiencing bullying and abuse in this Episode, it was well handled but distressing enough that I went through some sections at 2x speed.

This is only the a partial post because I very suddenly felt like stopping my summaries and working on my Theory instead, and want to post this part while it's fresh in my head.

( Read more... )

watersword

My sister spent ninety minutes on the phone with me, helping me rewrite the pollinator garden plan for the THIRD TIME, and she is truly the best and what the fuck is wrong with the Parks Department? Not everyone has a sister who is a literal professional expert on pollinator garden design!!!

celli helped with an Excel thing last week and my friend C. loaned me a cart so I could lug the giant bag of garden dirt up to the community garden, and I am so lucky in my friends.

I wrote the Tatler Fairyland story in slow agonizing 100-words chunks and I hate it, the voice isn't quite right, but it is 1600 words long and I do think the premise is fundamentally sound. I'm going to sleep on it and do a last read-through in the morning before I send it to crit group, at the literal last possible second. (How the fuck do I turn this deadline-driven writing practice into something that can produce a novel, I ask. How.)

Once I send the story to crit group, I will reward myself with ice cream and a meeting with someone from the group building a pollinator garden nearby and then I will send the pollinator garden plan off and call it done for now.

One of my favorite skirts has been mended and it was not even that hard. It's not a perfect fix but it is better than it was! I need to sit down and catalog my sewing stash so I know what mending I have and then I can prioritize. I impulse-bought a couple of patterns from Tammy Handmade and that also needs to be done. The makerspace will be great during the summer: air-conditioning!

This is the weirdest spring ever — a forty-degree (F) swing overnight? Impossible to deal with.

hannah

I know I set my alarm last night, and I don't remember turning it off this morning, but I must have because when I got out of bed, it was almost 9:30. I didn't panic because I prepared for this with canned coffee in the fridge and protein bars in the cupboard. I didn't panic when I got pretty well soaked by the rain, either, since I knew I'd be coming back to my place to strip off the wet clothes and do laundry.

Similarly, I've got sauteed zucchini in the fridge for upcoming breakfasts, and I'll soon put some beans on to soak to cook tomorrow. It's a bit of a domino effect and a commitment to a given outcome, and it's more of the same planning and anticipating. I don't know how much I'll be able to get done this week on assorted projects and tasks, but I'll be ready to get rid of excuses.

Current Mood: restless
Current Music: Strangers - The Kinks

senmut

Tell me one of the three following, and I will reciprocate:

1. A favorite fandom with what calls you to it
2. A favorite character and why they get your love
3. A song that you have strong positive feelings about

olivermoss

I decided to knock out the Linnton neighborhood stairs. There are ten or so, ranging from 10-180 steps. I'd spent a frustrating night trying to plot where the stairs where in my stairs book on an actual map. I creeped google street view, nada. I googled for info, and got broken links and broken images.

So, I just tossed myself at Linnton to see if I could find them. I found the problem - the stairs start/end at the sidewalk and the sidewalk is not at street level:

The location info in the book was a bit obtuse, but the reason why street view was no help was because it's street view, the stairs were out of the shots.

Real photo post later, but for now a cell phone shot from my lunch spot. I do love an overgrown staircase, but this was a lot:

If I found them all, and I think I did, that was ~850 steps up and also the same number down.

On the way home I hooped off the bus early because there's a coffee shop on the edge of residential Portland in a converted space. Real cute outdoor area, always wanted to try it. They had big pictures of iced coffee and iced tea in the windows so I went in to order an iced coffee. Sounded great after tromping up and down hundreds of stairs in the heat. They had no iced coffee. No tea either. So, I looked at their menu and saw drip coffee and I saw oatmilk as a creamer option. So I asked for drip coffee with oatmilk. Lady said they didn't serve drip coffee either, but she could make me a latte? I just turned around and left, leaving her to yell 'ma'am... MA'AM!' after me. But like... they don't have the drinks they have pictures of in the windows... the barista gave me a weird look for asking for an item on the menu? I just was not in the mood for whatever was going on there.

sweetsorcery

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

Current Mood: okay

mecurtin posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, May 24, to midnight on May 19 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34645 Daily check-in poll

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 17

How are you doing?

I am OK
9 (52.9%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
7 (41.2%)

I could use some help
1 (5.9%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
8 (47.1%)

One other person
3 (17.6%)

More than one other person
6 (35.3%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

lucymonster

Ready or Not (2019): On her wedding night, Grace's obscenely rich new in-laws rope her into a family ritual: she must play a game with them, chosen at random by drawing a card from a black box. All but one of the games are harmless; the "but one" is a murderous game of hide-and-seek, where the family has until sunrise to hunt down the target and ritually slaughter them. Guess which card Grace draws.

This was so much fun! Between this and Jennifer's Body, I've started feeling like Adam Brody should be some kind of Big Deal in last decade's horror movies, though Wikipedia tells me he hasn't actually appeared in much else. More to the point, Samara Weaving put on a truly fantastic performance. Grace had a grit and a will to live that were incredible to watch; all she was doing was trying to survive, but she quickly made herself a terror to the rest of the family, and I very much enjoyed her journey to becoming as much of a threat to them as they were to her. Her husband was the kind of spineless sack of shit it feels truly good to hate. I have a little while to wait before the sequel comes down to a sensible rental price on streaming platforms (it is very new and currently costs a full movie ticket amount to watch, but that won't last) and then I'm very much looking forward to seeing the continuation of her adventures.

Hush (2016): Maddie, a deaf woman and successful author, lives alone in the woods to work in peace on her next novel. One night she becomes the target of a sadistic serial killer. This was so damn good. Scary as fuck, sparing but VERY effective with its gore (the hand scene alskjhfalsjffd owwwwww) and has another wonderful female protagonist who never wanted any of this but, since she can't escape it, throws herself into the fight harder than her tormentor could ever have predicted. It is pure chance that I watched this and Ready or Not back to back, but between the fierce table-turning heroines and the hand gore, they make an unexpectedly good pairing, lol. The killer also put in a fantastic performance. I feel like he's going to stick in my head as a memorable villain for exactly how UNmemorable he is: normal dude, personable, casually chatty, utterly sick fuck. He is not the brightest spark, and there more than a few "dude how are you fucking this up so bad" moments, but I don't necessarily have a problem with that; there's no law that says killers all have to be ultracompetent masterminds!

Apparently there's also a TV show called Midnight Mass that is supposed to be an adaptation of Maddie's fictional bestseller. I'm finding TV shows harder to commit to than movies at the moment, but it has good reviews and I'd like to give it a go at some point.

hamsterwoman

Hugo homework continues. I'm posting about it real time on the sync read post, but also posting here as I finish things I consider stand-alone books (novellas and longer) and complete categories:

6. Annalee Newitz, Automatic Noodle – Hm. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Annalee Newitz prior to this, but I've read them and other people talking about their books, which set my expectations pretty low. And then

cyanmnemosyne finished this novella and described it as, “If I had been asked to blurb it, my blurb would be ‘Great for fans of the Monk and Robot books’” – and since I HATED the first Monk and Robot book – well, OK, I strongly disliked the book itself and HATED that it won the Hugo – that further lowered my expectations.

But actually I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book, where it’s all getting to know our plucky band of misfit robots, making noodles (I do want some noodles now), and traipsing around future!San Francisco, and getting to hear what NorCal is like post ?the war of secession?. So, I was pleasantly surprised for the first part of my reading journey. But then I got to the parts where there are supposed to be, like, emotional arcs? and maybe themes more serious than “yum, noodles!”, and from here the book worked considerably less well for me. ( More, with spoilers )

7. Naomi Novik, The Summer War – this isn’t new ground for Novik, but she’s doing a thing she does well, and that I enjoy her doing, so, like, no complaints from me. This hasn’t got, for me, the iddy appeal of Uprooted’s central relationship, or the poignancy of Miryem the well-realized Jewish protagonist of Spinning Silver, but I do really enjoy Novik’s fairytales as a baseline, and her fey, with their alien morality that makes them at once laughable and compelling, which is a neat trick. And Novik also just writes prose in a way I really enjoy, which is on display here, and which was a big part of how much I liked this novella. ( Spoilers from here )

Short stories: ( Tia Tashiro, Isabel J. Kim, Thomas Ha, J.R.Dawson, Samantha Mills, Effie Sieberg )

Short stories (6/6): Missing Helen > Wire Mother > In My Country > 10 Visions > Laser Eyes > No Award > Revise You

Novelettes:

( Never Eaten Vegetables, H.H.Pak )
( The Millay Illusion, Sarah Pinsker )
( When He Calls Your Name, Cat Valente )
( Rapport, Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy, Martha Wells )
( The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For, Cameron Reed )
( Kaiju Agonistes, Scott Lynch )

Novelettes: (6/6) Never Eaten Vegetables >> The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For > When He Calls Your Name / Kaiju / Millay Illusion (I keep fiddling with the order... I think the Valente one has more of a point, under the thicket of words, though admittedly I found 'Kaiju' more fun and 'Illusion' less of a slog > the ART one (I liked the additional ART canon, I love ART, but in no way is that worth a Hugo).

*

Taskmaster also continues:

Taskmaster s21e07 – Amy looks really cute in her patterned dress and her boots and with her hair like that! ( Spoilers from here )

John Kearns was the Taskmaster Podcast guest and, wow, I really do find him unlistenable. I multi-tasked through most of the episode, because otherwise I would’ve turned it off, and I did want to hear Ed’s thoughts on the episode, which I don’t think I got any of, just pause-ridden unrelated rambling from Kearns, and fell asleep during the last bit, which I’m not going to attempt to repeat. Ah well.

Taskmaster Australia s5e03 – I keep looking forward to Anisa’s outfits and she keeps not disappointing! ( Spoilers )

swaldman

I don't often buy tickets for the Orkney Folk Festival. Partly because I'm not very much into Scottish trad folk, partly because as the festival has gotten bigger I've found it less fun, and partly because my mental health hasn't been great for relaxing into folk music for the last few years.

I do tend to like American folk more than Scottish. For the last few years the Festival seems to have had an approach of mixing up different styles and spreading them across all their concerts, which hasn't worked for me; but this year they had a full event aimed at Americana. So I bought a ticket (£26! As I said, the festival's getting too big for its own good...)

Then it got to the afternoon of the show, and I didn't feel like going. I'd failed at getting anything done for a whole saturday[1], and I was feeling tired miserable, and I didn't think I could face three hours of noise and people. I went anyway, thinking there was a good chance that I would leave part way through.

I arrived and found that my seat in row B was not near the front but the second-to-*back* row. That's very very odd, although apparently cinemas do it. But actually a blessing on this occasion, because it got me some distance from the stage and thus a bit less intensity.

View from the back of the picky arena, showing how far from the stage Row B is!

View from the back of the picky arena, showing how far from the stage Row B is!

The sound for this gig was really good, even at this distance and even though it's in what is basically a sports hall (they had some drapes on one side and behind the stage, but nothing behind the audience). Good craft from the sound engineer, no doubt, but also, modern mini line arrays are amazing.

I enjoyed the evening. I wasn't able to relax and get fully into it, but I enjoyed it anyway. First there was Stoatfinger, a local group who tend to the American styles. Then a group from NYC that I didn't rate too much. Then, the main draw of the evening for me: Kenneth Pattengale - one half of the Milk Carton Kids, a duo that I've low-key enjoyed for a while. Considering how big a name that is, I was surprised that the place wasn't full - and I think he was a little too - but on reflection his gentle, contemplative, style isn't that close a match to the vibe of the OFF. I loved it.

Watch on YouTube

And then to round things off was a group from southern Louisiana. They were good, in a more upbeat style, but also made me think about something that seems obvious, but I've never considered before - that many of the old songs of Louisiana are in French. Perhaps that's mostly the white songs? I don't know. It was a mixed-race group, and they were casually bilingual in song.

Two men and one woman on stage under coloued lights. Fiddle, accordian and guitar.

Two men and one woman on stage under coloued lights. Fiddle, accordian and guitar.

I would really like to get my mental health back to a place where I can actually enjoy gig-going again...

[1] Yes, that's sort of the point of the weekend, but not something I always have time for. I realised later that this was the first day I'd had in nearly three weeks of not either travelling or being at work.

Current Mood: complicated
Current Location: Aberdeen

stardust_rifle posting in

little_details

My Extremely Square ass is writing a scene where a character does LSD, and they (AMAB NB) hallucinate seeing and fusing with a female version of themself- for the rest of the trip, their proprioception/body map is altered so that they feel as though they have a more "female" body shape (eg, breasts, wider hips).

My question is in the title- is fucking with the body's proprioception/body map/sense of touch in this way something LSD can do? Also, the contents of the trip are kind of plot-relevant, so if LSD can't actually do this, are there any hallucinogens that can (and that people take recreationally/Actually Enjoy Tripping On)?

Thanks!

shipperslist

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

elisheva_m posting in

little_details

Edit: Ok, another crap idea. Axing it. Got it. Thanks.

Context for this wee scene - shift handover between bodyguards, 1st speaker has drugged their boss because his gambling was out of control. Can't find the right search string to get around medical advice on mild sleeping pill sedatives etc, but I think diazepam probably isn't strong enough? Or maybe it is, or maybe only if enough is administered it would cause other problems. Not that anyone is particularly worried about an overdose but the scene is rather early in the novel for that to happen.

“You’re in for a rough day once he wakes up.”
“How bad did he lose?”
“I spiked his drink at 750,000 bhat.”
Pod shakes his head.
“We could just not let him wake up. Keep feeding him diazepam until we’re ready to deal with him again.”
“Is that what you gave him?”
“Rohypnol first, and GHB to mess with his memory. Diazepam cause we got home at 4 and I wanted the rest of the night off.”

sovay

It is undoubtedly a sign of improvement that in just the last week I have begun to dream and remember it for the first time in months, but now I get to be irritated that I am not camped out at the Harvard Film Archive for their summer repertory series of quota quickies and British B-movies, absolutely none of whose stars seem to exist in my waking life, let alone their directors or scripts. Most of them were crime melodramas. None had been recovered from the early filmography of Michael Powell. It has been so nearly impossible for me to watch movies, I appreciate my brain trying to make up the obvious loss.

Current Music: The Smittens, "Turn the Music Up!"

Network

This modest Bronx memorial to a forgotten war was made with scrap metal from a sunken battleship

The midcentury street photographer who documented New Yorkers in all their raw, grotesque humanity

Rainy Somewhat Tired Sunday

(no subject)

Editing in progress

Just one thing: 25 May 2026

Umineko Episode 4: Alliance of the Golden Witch Part 1

reminding myself that these are good things if a little stressful

Sunday night.

meme time!

One mystery solved. Another mystery...

Inspiration, please

Daily Check-In

Horror movies: Ready or Not, Hush

More Hugo Homework and Taskmaster ('tis the season)

Orkney Folk Festival 2026

Can LSD Do This? (And If Not, Are There Any Hallucinogens That Can?)

today's mood

sedative drugs

Chinatown, London Underground, you know it all sounds good to me