Texts From Superheroes
Apr. 6th, 2026 09:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
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A Bedazzling Book
Apr. 7th, 2026 02:38 amscalziwhatever_feed
At my event this evening in Upper Arlington, my interlocutor Tom Winegard presented me with this copy of The Shattering Peace, which had been bedazzled by his spouse as a gift to me. This is the first time that I had heard of bibliodazzling, but apparently it’s a thing people do all the time these days. I have to say I don’t mind the effect. The book is now at home in a place of honor on my shelf. I am bemused and bedazzled.
Also, the event itself was a lovely time! Thank you to everyone who came out to see us.
— JS
Hark! A meme!
Apr. 6th, 2026 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flamingswordThe 5 Spells Meme
You are a magician, and you you have immense power, but it can only be channeled into FIVE SPELLS. You can cast the spells on yourself or as many other people as you like, an infinite number of times. Your casting range is as big as you decide it is, but no larger than the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. No building Dyson spheres, sorry. I didn't make the rules. So: what are your 5 priorities? You can take as much time as you like to think it over, and it took me about 16 hours of turning things over in my mind.
My answers are:
1. Cause Disbelief - All within the affected area can suddenly spot the flaws that the caster can see in an idea, religion, or other form of dogma. Imagine if the whole planet suddenly spotted the massive flaws in capitalism, and instead of thinking wack stuff like "That's the exception that proves the rule" and dismissing the cognitive dissonance with a thought-terminating cliche, they thought "Hey, this has more problems than I was thinking it had. Maybe this isn't such a good idea to base our whole economy on." The world would be radically different within 5 years, and I wouldn't even need a guillotine to do it.
2. Heal Person - heals a person to maximum hit points. Cancer? LOL, NO. I don't think so.
3. Heal Trauma - heals a mind of the terrible things that happened or the terrible absences of connection that traumatize us and break our ability to form narratives and feel like real people. That next 5 years is going to look way different, and the 20 after it will be a golden age of growth if we can get past our aversion and psychic pain associated with growth, to which end:
4. Create Outrun Bullshit Drug - For 1D4 hours, a person taking this non-addictive magical drug will experience mild euphoria and easier physical pleasure, but their mind will work faster instead of slower - so fast that they can spot the bullshit that they've been trained to think but that they don't really want to believe. I want it to wear off fairly quickly so that people are incentivized to do the work on themselves that makes them better people. It might slowly change our culture towards more easy acceptance of the self, less hiding and holding shame, and less feeling trapped and frozen inside the wicked mess problem of being a person in a world that has been manipulated into being an unwinnable game.
5. Teleport - teleports self or others any distance within the Earth's orbit. This one is just for fun, because I want to take my besties out for Indian food. In like, Mumbai.
Credit for this meme goes toot_atma. A blank copy of the meme will be in the comments.
You are a magician, and you you have immense power, but it can only be channeled into FIVE SPELLS. You can cast the spells on yourself or as many other people as you like, an infinite number of times. Your casting range is as big as you decide it is, but no larger than the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. No building Dyson spheres, sorry. I didn't make the rules. So: what are your 5 priorities? You can take as much time as you like to think it over, and it took me about 16 hours of turning things over in my mind.
My answers are:
1. Cause Disbelief - All within the affected area can suddenly spot the flaws that the caster can see in an idea, religion, or other form of dogma. Imagine if the whole planet suddenly spotted the massive flaws in capitalism, and instead of thinking wack stuff like "That's the exception that proves the rule" and dismissing the cognitive dissonance with a thought-terminating cliche, they thought "Hey, this has more problems than I was thinking it had. Maybe this isn't such a good idea to base our whole economy on." The world would be radically different within 5 years, and I wouldn't even need a guillotine to do it.
2. Heal Person - heals a person to maximum hit points. Cancer? LOL, NO. I don't think so.
3. Heal Trauma - heals a mind of the terrible things that happened or the terrible absences of connection that traumatize us and break our ability to form narratives and feel like real people. That next 5 years is going to look way different, and the 20 after it will be a golden age of growth if we can get past our aversion and psychic pain associated with growth, to which end:
4. Create Outrun Bullshit Drug - For 1D4 hours, a person taking this non-addictive magical drug will experience mild euphoria and easier physical pleasure, but their mind will work faster instead of slower - so fast that they can spot the bullshit that they've been trained to think but that they don't really want to believe. I want it to wear off fairly quickly so that people are incentivized to do the work on themselves that makes them better people. It might slowly change our culture towards more easy acceptance of the self, less hiding and holding shame, and less feeling trapped and frozen inside the wicked mess problem of being a person in a world that has been manipulated into being an unwinnable game.
5. Teleport - teleports self or others any distance within the Earth's orbit. This one is just for fun, because I want to take my besties out for Indian food. In like, Mumbai.
Credit for this meme goes to
ot_atma. A blank copy of the meme will be in the comments.Ultimate Road Trip: Surprise! Buffalo!
Apr. 6th, 2026 07:45 pmgenderjumperNo bison were harmed or even slightly caught off guard during this journey.
BUFFALO NY (North Buffalo, North Park, Amherst, Kenmore): A-
In my research, I mostly kept Buffalo on the list because that was where Kiddo's father ended up and we promised her we'd give it real consideration. And as I whittled my top 15 down to my top 10 and then down to my top 5 or so, Buffalo quietly sat there and never really dropped in rankings. Before we got here, it had the distinction of being a well-rounded fall back: nothing exceptionally good about it, but literally everything is above average.
Through a dear friend, I met a local couple and one of them led us on a driving tour today. We cruised through all the "indie" neighborhoods, as she described them, and there were a lot! A lot of distinctive cuisine, shopping, and arts events. A lot of nice houses in our price range. A lot of positive experiences in every direction.
The car culture was probably the best surprise: our driving tour was during peak rush hour and we barely noticed. Everything is just down the way from everything else (even in the inner suburbs) and I couldn't get over how patient and friendly the other drivers were. The roads themselves look a bit rough from winter, but they're flat and navigable and uncrowded.
If we had planned a little differently, we'd stay here another night, though I don't know what else we'd need to see. Maybe tour a house for sale or meet a realtor. Maybe stick our heads in the local Subaru dealership and price a new vehicle.
The hardships of road life are getting to us both, and tomorrow we hit the road again.
BUFFALO NY (North Buffalo, North Park, Amherst, Kenmore): A-
In my research, I mostly kept Buffalo on the list because that was where Kiddo's father ended up and we promised her we'd give it real consideration. And as I whittled my top 15 down to my top 10 and then down to my top 5 or so, Buffalo quietly sat there and never really dropped in rankings. Before we got here, it had the distinction of being a well-rounded fall back: nothing exceptionally good about it, but literally everything is above average.
Through a dear friend, I met a local couple and one of them led us on a driving tour today. We cruised through all the "indie" neighborhoods, as she described them, and there were a lot! A lot of distinctive cuisine, shopping, and arts events. A lot of nice houses in our price range. A lot of positive experiences in every direction.
The car culture was probably the best surprise: our driving tour was during peak rush hour and we barely noticed. Everything is just down the way from everything else (even in the inner suburbs) and I couldn't get over how patient and friendly the other drivers were. The roads themselves look a bit rough from winter, but they're flat and navigable and uncrowded.
If we had planned a little differently, we'd stay here another night, though I don't know what else we'd need to see. Maybe tour a house for sale or meet a realtor. Maybe stick our heads in the local Subaru dealership and price a new vehicle.
The hardships of road life are getting to us both, and tomorrow we hit the road again.
It's been a week
Apr. 6th, 2026 03:46 pmnyykiOkay, a lot got done last week. The garage is in much better shape, my desk area is still in process but things are pretty much where they will live moving forward, and I found my ribbon microphone I bought from @.
My big tasks for the week are wiping down the 16x4 100' audio snake to get all the mud off it from when it was exposed to the elements and mud daubers nested on it, Finish getting my audio interface into the six space rack by my left shoulder, go through a few more crates in the garage and with luck locate my Mr. Coffee tea machine and European food processor, and maybe meet with a friend so she can show me a cool performance interface from Ableton. I also want to get a hold of my tech guy to get him over here to fix some things and get the mess in the Zen Room dealt with if I have time.
Chances are good I won't have any editing going on this week --lanalucy started a new job and she's going to take a couple of weeks to acclimate to the new work load, though my Brainz submission is done and we may squeeze that in somewhere.
I'm still not feeling like I've got formatting down on DW – is there a tutorial that goes through a wide array of things I can do here? And how much of the things I downloaded about LJ are still relevant here?
I got a hold of my state representative's office, and the nice lady I talked to there is contacting possibilities to get my roof and bathroom ceiling fixed; that's maybe in motion, and I'll be happy to have my bathroom back.
Other than that, not much going on here.
My big tasks for the week are wiping down the 16x4 100' audio snake to get all the mud off it from when it was exposed to the elements and mud daubers nested on it, Finish getting my audio interface into the six space rack by my left shoulder, go through a few more crates in the garage and with luck locate my Mr. Coffee tea machine and European food processor, and maybe meet with a friend so she can show me a cool performance interface from Ableton. I also want to get a hold of my tech guy to get him over here to fix some things and get the mess in the Zen Room dealt with if I have time.
Chances are good I won't have any editing going on this week --
lanalucy started a new job and she's going to take a couple of weeks to acclimate to the new work load, though my Brainz submission is done and we may squeeze that in somewhere.I'm still not feeling like I've got formatting down on DW – is there a tutorial that goes through a wide array of things I can do here? And how much of the things I downloaded about LJ are still relevant here?
I got a hold of my state representative's office, and the nice lady I talked to there is contacting possibilities to get my roof and bathroom ceiling fixed; that's maybe in motion, and I'll be happy to have my bathroom back.
Other than that, not much going on here.
smithsonian_hist_arc_feedLucy Worsley's PBS series highlights the emotional fallout of the conflict, with a focus on the British perspective
Melania, Part 2
Apr. 6th, 2026 10:04 amsabotabbyYesterday, reviewing the Melania movie nearly ended me, but like Christ, I have RISEN to give you the harrowing conclusion. Truly, no one has suffered for their art as I have. Except, I guess, whoever had to edit this nonsense.
( read on if you dare but horrors lie beneath )
( read on if you dare but horrors lie beneath )
Melania, Part 1
Apr. 5th, 2026 08:35 pmsabotabbyThis, for many of us, is a season of sacrifice. Whether we sacrifice terrible wine to the memory of slaughtered Egyptian infants and our regular bowel movements to the strange dictates of Bronze Age rabbis, or we honour the brief death and subsequent resurrection of a basically chill guy with a terrible fanbase, we swap temporary comfort for the greater good of the community. It is in this spirit that I bring to you the ultimate sacrifice, which is that I watched the Melania movie so that you don’t have to.
You’re welcome. Can atheist Jews be given sainthood? Because I would like some prayer candles with pictures of me in a blinged up goth outfit for what I have just endured.
A warning upfront: There is no way I can talk about this ahem-film without going into the sexual abuse of children, genocide, and the litany of grotesque crimes committed by the Trump regime and circle of ghouls around Jeffrey Epstein. It’s not funny but I’m going to make dark jokes about it because that’s how I cope with trauma. And dear readers, I have suffered trauma. I also cannot talk about this film without making some comments about people’s appearances, which I know is a sensitive point for many of us. If that kind of thing is triggering, might I suggest one of my reviews of slightly better movies like Left Behind or Atlas Shrugged?
( Here we go again. )
You’re welcome. Can atheist Jews be given sainthood? Because I would like some prayer candles with pictures of me in a blinged up goth outfit for what I have just endured.
A warning upfront: There is no way I can talk about this ahem-film without going into the sexual abuse of children, genocide, and the litany of grotesque crimes committed by the Trump regime and circle of ghouls around Jeffrey Epstein. It’s not funny but I’m going to make dark jokes about it because that’s how I cope with trauma. And dear readers, I have suffered trauma. I also cannot talk about this film without making some comments about people’s appearances, which I know is a sensitive point for many of us. If that kind of thing is triggering, might I suggest one of my reviews of slightly better movies like Left Behind or Atlas Shrugged?
( Here we go again. )
Next time, if you're real good, you get to see a Dracula cape.
The Absolute Best Carrot Cake Recipe To Make For Easter (Or Anytime!)
Apr. 5th, 2026 03:04 pmscalziwhatever_feed
Which dish is more suited for Easter than a carrot cake? None, I say! And lucky for y’all, I have the best recipe for you to try. This recipe is tried and true and absolutely delicious. Many people have said “this is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had!”
This Brown Butter Carrot Cake comes to us from Handle the Heat. It’s surprisingly quick and honestly quite easy, and it’s my go-to carrot cake recipe, even though browning the butter takes some extra time. It’s totally worth it!
I hope you give this recipe a try, and have a happy Easter, or just an awesome Sunday in general.
-AMS
Texts From Superheroes
Apr. 4th, 2026 09:00 pmtextsfromsuperheroes_feedTexts From SuperheroesFacebook | Threads | Patreon | Instagram | BlueSky
podcast friday no saturday
Apr. 4th, 2026 01:43 pmsabotabby Listen it's a long weekend, what even is time? I was around, I just fully forgot. As a mea culpa here are two wildly different podcasts I listened to this week.
No Gods No Mayors' "Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov" is about a gay Romanov failson who sucked and eventually got blown up (spoilers), and it's very funny for everyone except maybe the thousands of peasants who got trampled to death at Tsar Nicholas II's coronation. It's worth listening in particular for the intro, which talks about mayoral candidate Shayne McKinney, who is running in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and is also a vampire. And a landlord. And look, he is not a good guy but a great deal of fun can be had.
On a lighter note, a new-to-me podcast is Bill & Frank's Guilt-Free Pleasures, which is a music podcast that takes deep dives into earwormy songs that are actually great and you don't need to feel bad if you like them. Because of the ages of the hosts, their musical touchstones are more or less the same as mine, and they're also Canadian, so their radio and MuchMusic experience is roughly similar to what I listened to at the same age. I listened to a few of their episodes recently, starting with the one about "Fairy Tale of New York" to just make sure they had good opinions, but the one I just finished was "Crowded House: "Don't Dream It's Over" (with Dave Kitchen)" It's one of those songs that I don't often think about and yet the second I hear the opening notes, I'm like, oh, this is a banger. I really love the analysis of the little details of the music, which is not something that I really pick out on my own but the second they explain it, I realize why it works as well as it does. They have a bunch of episodes with overly emotional power ballads, which I am a sucker for, so I'm excited about working through the backlist.
No Gods No Mayors' "Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov" is about a gay Romanov failson who sucked and eventually got blown up (spoilers), and it's very funny for everyone except maybe the thousands of peasants who got trampled to death at Tsar Nicholas II's coronation. It's worth listening in particular for the intro, which talks about mayoral candidate Shayne McKinney, who is running in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and is also a vampire. And a landlord. And look, he is not a good guy but a great deal of fun can be had.
On a lighter note, a new-to-me podcast is Bill & Frank's Guilt-Free Pleasures, which is a music podcast that takes deep dives into earwormy songs that are actually great and you don't need to feel bad if you like them. Because of the ages of the hosts, their musical touchstones are more or less the same as mine, and they're also Canadian, so their radio and MuchMusic experience is roughly similar to what I listened to at the same age. I listened to a few of their episodes recently, starting with the one about "Fairy Tale of New York" to just make sure they had good opinions, but the one I just finished was "Crowded House: "Don't Dream It's Over" (with Dave Kitchen)" It's one of those songs that I don't often think about and yet the second I hear the opening notes, I'm like, oh, this is a banger. I really love the analysis of the little details of the music, which is not something that I really pick out on my own but the second they explain it, I realize why it works as well as it does. They have a bunch of episodes with overly emotional power ballads, which I am a sucker for, so I'm excited about working through the backlist.
Today I Am Ten, or, the Miracle of ScalziYears
Apr. 4th, 2026 04:25 pmscalziwhatever_feed
And you say to yourself, what? Scalzi, you are not ten years old today! You are just barely a month away from being 57! The only juvenile you are is juvenile elderly! Stop being a faker, you faker!
To which I respond: Yes, I am fifty-six and eleven(ish) months old… on Earth. But as you know, I have a minor planet named after me, and its orbital period is just a shade under 5.7 earth years long. If you were to position 52692 Johnscalzi (1998 FO8) on the day of my birth, today is the day it would have made its tenth complete orbit since then. Thus, ten ScalziYears. Today, I am ten ScalziYears old.
How will I celebrate such a momentous occasion? As it happens I have a gathering of friends at the church today. It’s for something else entirely but I might bring a cake anyway. And otherwise, I’m taking it easy. It’s nice that this time around it slots in just between Good Friday and Easter. Easter Saturday always feels a little left out of the holiday swing of things, I’m glad this year to give something to do.
My next ScalziYear birthday will be December 12, 2031, so you have lots of time to prepare. Get ready!
— JS
PS: that coin with my asteroids orbit on it was given to me by a fan at the San Antonio Pop Madness convention (whose name escapse me at the moment but they can certainly announce themselves in the comments), and it was super-cool to get it. The other side of the coin is just as awesome:
I have the best fans, honestly.
Star Wars: trade your heart for bones to know by blackkat
Apr. 3rd, 2026 11:33 pmbeatrice_otter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: Star Wars
Pairings/Characters: Jaster Mereel/Jon Antilles
Rating: mature
Length: 126k
Creator Links:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
blackkat
Theme: arranged marriage, novel-length, epic works, worldbuilding, psychic powers, never met in canon, marriage of convenience, cultural differences, AU, fork in the road.
Summary: A week after an attack that nearly killed him and his son, Jaster Mereel finds Mostross dead on a battlefield. His killer is a Jedi, grievously wounded, who Jaster takes into his care. By Mandalorian tradition, Jon Antilles owes him a life-debt, and Jaster is cunning enough not to let such a thing slip away.
It's meant to be an entirely political arrangement. It doesn't stay that way for long.
Reccer's Notes: Blackkat is a very prolific author who does an excellent job of taking medium-obscure Star Wars characters and doing really interesting things with them. Jaster Mereel is Jango Fett's adoptive father, and the Mandalore. (In canon, he was killed by Montross.) Jon Antilles is a Jedi who was abused by his Master growing up, but also learned some really obscure and difficult Force tricks from her, and spends his life wandering the galaxy alone as the Force wills. You don't have to know much more than that, as blackkat weaves a really interesting story about them, fleshing them both out deeply from what canon gives us.
Fanwork Links: trade your heart for bones to know
Pairings/Characters: Jaster Mereel/Jon Antilles
Rating: mature
Length: 126k
Creator Links:
Theme: arranged marriage, novel-length, epic works, worldbuilding, psychic powers, never met in canon, marriage of convenience, cultural differences, AU, fork in the road.
Summary: A week after an attack that nearly killed him and his son, Jaster Mereel finds Mostross dead on a battlefield. His killer is a Jedi, grievously wounded, who Jaster takes into his care. By Mandalorian tradition, Jon Antilles owes him a life-debt, and Jaster is cunning enough not to let such a thing slip away.
It's meant to be an entirely political arrangement. It doesn't stay that way for long.
Reccer's Notes: Blackkat is a very prolific author who does an excellent job of taking medium-obscure Star Wars characters and doing really interesting things with them. Jaster Mereel is Jango Fett's adoptive father, and the Mandalore. (In canon, he was killed by Montross.) Jon Antilles is a Jedi who was abused by his Master growing up, but also learned some really obscure and difficult Force tricks from her, and spends his life wandering the galaxy alone as the Force wills. You don't have to know much more than that, as blackkat weaves a really interesting story about them, fleshing them both out deeply from what canon gives us.
Fanwork Links: trade your heart for bones to know
The Ten Thousand Things
Apr. 4th, 2026 01:13 amgenderjumperNew ideas for storytelling I want to develop here (as practices toward future memoiring endeavors):
A Thousand Ways to Tell a Life Story: wherein I pick some recurring element of my life and recount touchpoints. Examples include:
A Thousand Lives to Tell a Story: building on my idea that though interesting things happen to me, my story is the least important to tell, this is just a catchy way to describe that process (and a nice counterbalance to the first idea.
A Thousand Ways to Tell a Life Story: wherein I pick some recurring element of my life and recount touchpoints. Examples include:
- karaoke
- road trips
- singing
- autism (I know flamingsword wants to see that one)
- etc.
A Thousand Lives to Tell a Story: building on my idea that though interesting things happen to me, my story is the least important to tell, this is just a catchy way to describe that process (and a nice counterbalance to the first idea.
Texts From Superheroes
Apr. 3rd, 2026 09:01 pmtextsfromsuperheroes_feedTexts From SuperheroesFacebook | Threads | Patreon | Instagram | BlueSky