lunabee34

1. Card from misbegotten and a box of masks from executrix! <3

2. We watched Ad Astra this past week, and I really liked it. ( spoilers )

3. We're watching 3Below on Netflix, the companion animated series to Trollhunters. I don't think it's as good as Trollhunters, and you definitely have to watch Trollhunters first, but I am really enjoying it. I would highly recommend both shows to everyone of all ages. They're just fun (and totally tug at the heartstrings). Fiona got the book on which Trollhunters is based for her birthday, so we're having fun reading that, too; we're only a few chapters in.

4. Avatar fic recs:

In the Hakoda is a good dad to Zuko subgenre, The Family Matters series by WinterSky101

In both the Hakoda is a good dad and someone finds out about Zuko's scar subgenres, The Crown Hangs Heavy by monpetitpois

5.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoy this novel for the nuanced portrayal of industrial life in a northern mill town. Gaskell definitely has her middle-class prejudices, and her thesis that the problems of industrialization can be overcome by good people of the working class and the good people who employ them coming to understand each other better is deeply flawed; however, her genuine sympathy for the working classes is deeply felt and she makes many good points that seem obvious now (like, of course, your workers get upset when you make decisions without explaining them).

I think most of us have a good idea of the terrible working conditions of the Industrial Revolution--dangerous equipment, people getting lung disease from breathing in fibers, children working in mines. But what I don't think we ponder too often is that many of the aspects of working that we take for granted--that our employers will dialogue with us about pay or policy or whatever--were not automatic and took a lot of fighting to become standard.

The book ends abruptly, but I absolutely adore the last two lines; John and Margaret are definitely in for a rocky reception from both their families.



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1. OMG, Avatar is so good. I can hardly stand it. So, after we watched the episode where ( ruminating on Azula + misc thoughts )

2.

The Industrial Muse: A Study of Nineteenth Century British Working Class Literature by Martha Vicinus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was really interesting. I've read the classic Victorian novels written by middle-class writers about the working class (Dickens, Gaskell, Disraeli, etc.), but I've not read literature written by the working class. This consists of a discussion of mostly poetry and song with a handful of novels. Very informative about Chartism and the music hall in particular.

FYI: There is a typographical error repeated throughout the book; in just about every paragraph, there are words smushed together that should have spaces between them and don't.



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3. Fiona has started testing for the gifted program. We went for the first round this morning. The teacher is testing a small group at a time for like an hour over a period of days so they can be socially distanced. Fi wore her little mask my mom made her. *my heart* This is the first time she's gone anywhere since March 15. Part of me is worried that she won't do as well as she would have if they had tested during the school year, but it is what it is.

4. Some poems I liked that I encountered in Women of the Beat Generation:

Helen Adam "Last Words of Her Lover"
Hettie Jones "Welcome to Our Crowd" and "Sonnet"
ruth weiss "For Madeline Gleeson" (reminds me of Atwood's "You Fit Into Me," which is quite possibly the best poem of ever)

1. So many wonderful birthday messages from you all. Thank you. *air kisses*

2. I just got a book from amejisuto about Eleanor Roosevelt. Yay! Thank you, sweetie. <3

3. One of my friends sent me several pairs of socks for my birthday, and the purchase of each pair donates a pair of socks to LGBTQ people in need (bombas.com/pride). These are the absolute most comfortable socks I have ever put on my feet, and they are all tricked out in rainbows. *loves*

4. Another friend dropped by to holler at me from the driveway and drop off some stickers and notepads and other stationery goodness which I love so.

5. Money from my parents and my in-laws! Whooooo! Pretty sure it's going towards a laptop, but even so, good to have. :)

6. ( Book review of Women of the Beat Generation )

7. We just watched the finale of season 2 of Avatar, ( spoilers )

1. Our good friends who give Emma the best presents and keep her in anime and manga sent her Cowoby Bebop for Christmas last year, and we didn't get around to watching it until this fall because we were watching Psych, and at seven seasons, it took us most of the year to finish the show.

Josh and I had watched in college, but my memory was super shaky. Josh apparently rewatches it once a year, but I'd only seen it the once nearly twenty years ago. I remembered what the characters looked like, the music, and how silly Ed is, but that was about it.

Emma loved it; how could you not? It's a great series. Lots of humor, lots of angst, sentient puppy. Pretty much perfect. We were both blindsided by the end, though. I'd forgotten that ( spoilers )

2. So Emma has started spending more time online. Her favorite pastime is googling stuff and looking at pictures. Somehow, she started googling Supernatural stuff and independently of watching any episodes decided that Castiel is the best and Destiel is the ship to ship. She'd come show me some Dean gif she found or some chibi Castiel fanart and squee and squee.

I asked her if she ever saw anything weird or that made her uncomfortable when she was googling stuff, and she said, "Oh, no, Mom. Google images don't truck with that." I told this to Josh, and he said, "That's because when I set up her tablet, I set her safety settings to only show pictures of baby tigers and Jesus." I died laughing.

Anyway, we started watching season 1 a few weeks ago. I was worried it would be too scary for her, but it's not. It's not as scary as I remember it being either.

Man, I love those first seasons. Dean doesn't have his Batman voice yet, and Sam's hair is so fantastic, and they both grin so pretty. And it's always raining so the car looks like a wet dream, literally. And the music, the music, the music. I hate how far the show eventually strays from that glorious use of music in the first few seasons. It's fun remembering little things, like how the end of season one with Sam slamming the trunk is the mirror image of the end of season two when Dean does the same.

3. Emma started watching Fairy Tale, which she loves, and is shipping the two male lead characters. She has drawn fan art of them and taped it to her wall. She says things like, "I know they're setting up Lucy and Gray as endgame, but it should be Grey and Natsu. It should be Gratsu, Mom."

When she's ready for it (someday in the future), there's like a thousand fics on AO3. LOL

Welp, as his brother Robb is out panning for gold in the Yukon, apparently Jon Snow is riding a direwolf over the volcano at Pompeii. *turns head sideways to look at the TV*

I am going to check alternate sources (thanks for the tip, umadoshi), but the Fruits Basket anime watch is on a bit of a hiatus because Netflix has stopped streaming. Instead, we have started watching Princess Jellyfish (which Josh and I are besotted with and which Emma thinks is funny but is probably not the best show we could have chosen to show her LOL) and the Natsume's Book of Friends anime. Natsume is sooooooooo good. I have cried approximately two times each episode so far. *joy* :)

Re: Princess Jellyfish, I have a question about the term otaku. My context clues skills are pretty good, and I have utilized the Wikipedia, but I'm curious about what those of you who are more familiar with Japanese culture than I am would say about the term. Tell me stuff, y'all. :)

WE JUST FINISHED ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK AND I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THIS SHOW OMG OMG OMG. *ahem* Is anyone interested in that or am I the only one watching? I can't remember if any of you posted about it or not.

I haven't posted here in forever, and I miss talking to y'all! Like a lot. Soooooooo, talking points.

1. I am a bit stalled out on my Phil/Clint epic mpreg story because they have finally stopped misunderstanding each other (for the most part) and are now on to the happy!bliss part of the classic h/c, aaaaaaaaand I do not give a shit about the comfort part of that trope at all, I realize. (or much of one, anyway; there are always exceptions) Give me misunderstandings of such magnitude that the suspension of disbelief required to make them happen and then perpetuate them is almost beyond human capacity, and I'm totally cool with it. Give me searing angst and confusion and deep sadness, and you have a happy Lorraine. When all that's over and the domestic joy part sets in? Apparently I have no idea how to write that, and I'm really concerned about the story just nose-diving in quality. We've all read a story that's dripping in tension and ooey gooey yummy anticipation, and then the characters start lounging on each other for twenty chapters and calling each other Snuggle Bunny and writing sestinas to each other's chocolate orbs. I do love domestic fic, and I do love kidfic; I just think I don't know how to write them. Or maybe the issue is that I don't know how to end this fic gracefully now that the major conflicts are over. I don't want to end too abruptly, and I know a great many of my readers are there for the happy!bliss part, and I don't want to shortchange them. Any advice?

2. We finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist, and wow. So very, very disturbing and so very, very good. I was very surprised by the ending, and I wonder if Brotherhood picks up where FMA left off, or if it's something else entirely.

3. Wreck-It Ralph was very cute. I was thoroughly entertained. Jane Lynch is a goddess.

4. You know you have been trawling old HP archives for too long when you seriously consider clicking on the Ron/Scabbers smutlet.

5. Present ideas for a ten year old geek? Emma has informed me that she's got enough books for now (and she totally does; she's got two shelves full of books she hasn't read yet, and she's working steadily through them, but not in dire straights at the moment) and that she has no burning desire for any gifts. "I'm pretty good right now," she says. LOL

Drabble of your choice for the person who can finish that lyric without google.

Josh went over to Daxton's, and I seem to be getting over my debilitating fear of using the internet. Whoooooo! So talk to me, people!

1. We recently re-watched Dragonball Z with Emma because she had gotten hooked on Dragonball Z Kai on Cartoon network. So we watched like all four million episodes of this show, and for the most part I was as charmed as I was on the first go round as a wee baby undergrad. But somehow on the first go-round, I missed the last episode or else did not want to come down from that cloud long enough to ponder its implications. Why oh why does Dragonball Z end with Goku turning into a douchebag? It's like he came back from Underworld an infantilized idiot. Am I wrong? Thoughts?

2. We are watching Inuyasha now with Ems, and I did not remember how creepy and scary the show is (monsters of ewness) but Ems has nerves of steel (she just recently told me, "Mom, I'm not sleeping with a nightlight anymore. That's for babies, just so you know). If you watch it streaming through Netflix you can only get the subtitled which at first I was irritated about, mostly because you have to have your eyes on the screen the whole time and can't go check on dinner or do other things while watching but now I am digging it. I love hearing the original voices.

3. I cooked spaghetti squash. It was awesome. I cut the squash in half lengthwise and baked at 375 covered in foil and cut side down for 45 min and then turned it over and baked 15 more covered in foil. Then I removed the seed and pulled the flesh away in strings from the rind. I put it in a pan and tossed over medium heat with butter, a little sesame oil, and some soy sauce. It's like the perfect canvas. You could do anything to it. It tastes like a milder and slightly sweeter yellow squash but it has the awesome crunchy noodle texture. What have you cooked awesome lately?

4. I just finished reading The Help. Also Joan Didion's Slouching Toward Bethlehem. Thoughts?

5. We watched Hugo. Lorraine cried. What did y'all think. ;)