52/457: Stocking Up

Jun. 5th, 2026 10:14 pm
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[personal profile] rejectomorph
Groceries were acquired Friday, with adequate success. Most of what I ordered was in stock, including my donuts. There are things to cook during the brief cool period coming up in the middle of this week, and sandwich fixings and microwavables for the hotter days around them. Tonight I microwaved, as it is still beastly hot out. In fact, today was the day I finally turned on the air conditioner. I hated to do it, but it was that or suffocate. I won't be able to open the windows and turn the fan on for a few more minutes, and I'm counting them down until I can get to sleep. Shopping days are exhausting.

(no subject)

Jun. 5th, 2026 07:28 pm
lycomingst: (giles tie)
[personal profile] lycomingst
Anthony Head passed away.

Giles was the one I most wrote about. He was the one I had the most thoughts about.

My brush with darkness

Jun. 5th, 2026 03:27 pm
loganberrybunny: Drawing of my lapine character's face by Eliki (Default)
[personal profile] loganberrybunny
Public
 
I don't really know why this memory came into my head earlier on today, but here seems as good a place as any to share it. Way back, I would guess in the mid-late 1990s, I was in either Birmingham or Manchester, I can't remember which. I was walking down some nondescript street, and some well-dressed guy standing outside a building asked if I wanted to see a free self-help video in said building. Another man of about my age was there too, and he too was asked. These days I'd almost certainly have walked on without stopping, but I was less confident then. We both accepted the offer.

We were shown into a reasonably spacious lounge with a big (by 1990s standards) TV and the well-dressed guy turned it on. Straight away it was very clear who was making this video, as a big Church of Scientology logo appeared on the screen. My companion and I looked at each other, shrugged, and carried on watching. It lasted maybe 20 minutes and it was a weird mixture of really basic stuff about believing in yourself, and utter gibberish. Nothing that outrageous, though – nothing you wouldn't find in some of the odder corners of various more mainstream groups.

I'll admit I was just very slightly nervous. At that time my view of Scientology was that it was a money-making scam and not much more. I'd once flicked through the enormous Dianetics book the COS had donated to my local library (apparently this was a thing) and found it extraordinarily boring and stupid, but now it was just the two of us in that room. Our guide had gone off somewhere after switching the TV on; we never did find out where he'd gone. So my nervousness was mostly that we'd be pushed into buying a useless piece of propaganda for a money-making scheme. But there was a tiny sliver of "Are they going to let us out again?" I didn't really believe that, but I was a less confident person then, as I say. Yes, even less than now!

After 20 minutes, the video (an actual VHS tape in those days) ended, and we waited for our host to reappear. But he didn't. Neither did anybody else. We were just left sitting there. Nobody came to thank us for watching, or to show us the way out, or indeed to try to sell us anything. We could hear vague office-like sounds from elsewhere, but we could hardly start walking down strange corridors in a building we didn't work in. After about five minutes, we looked at each other again with a mutual "Huh?" expression, stood up and walked back into the street. Again, we met nobody.

And that was it. The only immediate thing it did was to convince me never to do that again, and I didn't, but really I was mostly irritated at having my time wasted. I knew almost nothing back then about the far more sinister testimonies of abuse and exploitation within the COS. There were fewer of them anyway, the web was in its infancy and I didn't have home internet until 1999. But now I've recalled that incident, I can't help but wonder whether watching that little video in that building was someone's first step into being drawn into the trap. It's a rather haunting thought.

podcast friday

Jun. 5th, 2026 06:58 am
sabotabby: (jetpack)
[personal profile] sabotabby
 I haven't posted a Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi episode in awhile so here is one on Alien with Rachel A. Rosen. Given that the film is almost 50 years old, it's easy to forget how good it was and how much it had to say about patriarchy, capitalism, AI, and...labour organizing? Kinda. There's also a discussion about the McLaughlin Planetarium, the latest science/education-related institution bulldozed by the Ford Regime.

Film post: Evil Dead II (1987)

Jun. 4th, 2026 11:37 pm
loganberrybunny: Drawing of my lapine character's face by Eliki (Default)
[personal profile] loganberrybunny
Public

Evil Dead II (1987) film poster
Evil Dead II (1987)
Horror comedy | Letterboxd 4.0/5 | IMDb 7.6/10 | BBFC 15

First up: this didn't have anything as obviously indefensible as holding a real, powered chainsaw over a woman's neck in the first film. So good start! Actually this is a more entertaining film all round, dropping any real attempt at seriousness and simply going all-out for over-the-top blood and Bruce Campbell crashing into things a lot. There's some fun stop-motion animation, the acting seems a little better, and the dialogue is often funny. The plot isn't exactly coherent, but I don't think that was the point here. Groovy. ★★★★

52/455-456: Steamy

Jun. 4th, 2026 06:50 am
rejectomorph: (caillebotte_man at his window)
[personal profile] rejectomorph
The heat has taken me to annual hell, and I have come very close to total non-functionality. Uneaten foods clogging the refrigerator will prevent me from buying as much stuff as usual when I shop this week (tomorrow, in fact— how time flies when the air threatens to spontaneously burst into flame!)

Anyway, two days have sort of passed while I've been sentiently comatose, which is the state of having your brain turned off while feeling every scrap of misery to which the world is subjecting your flesh. I sleep fitfully and wake with as much discomfort as I've ever experienced. So far I haven't turned on the air conditioner, partly because I want to avoid the expense, and partly because my brain just isn't focused enough to do it. I think today might be the day it finally gets its act together long enough to prevent my death by heat stroke.

The middle of next week is to bring brief near-respite, being two days with highs in the seventies, and one of which has a possibility of morning showers. This is not the goodish news it might seem. Rain on warm days this time of year too often is accompanied by electrical activity, and that could mean wildfires get started.
And then four days after the showers will be the first day in the forecast with a high of 100. The dreaded triple-digits are here! And it will be followed by a nocturnal low of 68, which doesn't qualify as actually low at all.

This when I start thinking of San Francisco, with its lovely, cool summer fogs. I try not to recall its exorbitant year-round prices. Or how much I hate traveling. Oh well, maybe Safeway will finally have my donuts in stock again. Something I can eat without even turning on the microwave.

Photo cross-post

Jun. 4th, 2026 11:56 am
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker


I think gym class might be paying off.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Miscellany at large

Jun. 3rd, 2026 11:41 pm
loganberrybunny: Drawing of my lapine character's face by Eliki (Default)
[personal profile] loganberrybunny
Public

I didn't have the most enjoyable start to today, it has to be said. Walking down the road in Kidderminster, I realised that I needed to find a Possibly TMI ) But yeah, not the nicest experience!

Things improved after that, not least because it stopped raining. I went back to Tesco and bought one of the spumante flavour filled wrapped croissants – they have an excellent Eastern European section, and this Polish product was only 45p. I was going to have a cup of tea there, but in the event I ended up in Greggs in Weavers Wharf. It's a traditional tiny one, but there were seats, so that was nice. Later on I was in Caffè Nero with a tiramisu latte, which is a very rare treat for me! That was because Vodafone had dished out one of their occasional "coffee for a pound" offers.

It seems extraordinary to think that barely a week ago it was 32 °C and blazing sunshine. Now we're back in the mid-teens with not a lot of sun at all. It's not terrible weather, and thankfully the clouds are mostly light rather than that horrible gloom you can sometimes get. But even so, I'd like somewhere in between, really! The lawn is growing at quite a rate, too, and I'm not looking forward to mowing it again when the weather finally holds off for long enough. Still, it's either that or pave it all over, and I'm not someone who wants that – or indeed decking – instead of grass.

Laila graduated from preschool

Jun. 2nd, 2026 11:41 am
dorchadas: (Azumanga Daioh Chiyo-chan bus gas)
[personal profile] dorchadas
Congratulations, Laila!

2026-06-02 - Laila's preschool graduation
With two of her teachers, Ms. Flores on the left and Ms. Bel on the right.

It went pretty well, all things considered. There was a cute dance performance to Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" that Laila sadly did not get to participate in--we saw her just sitting in the audience and weren't sure why she wasn't on stage until we remembered that she had a fall risk and wasn't even allowed to climb stairs herself without someone holding her hand until the end of May, so dancing and spinning on stage is definitely something that the school wouldn't have let her do. She did okay watching the performance until the certificate ceremony started and she noticed us in the audience, then she wanted to come sit by us and started crying on stage. Emoji Kawaii heart But she got her certificate and came over to us after. She had a little school bus toy that the bus driver must have given her in the morning.

For a little bit she was shy with her teachers, but she gave them all hugs before we left. Her teachers asked us if she was going to be at the same school the next year and we sadly had to tell them that she wouldn't, since we don't live in the school zone and we'd have to put her into the lottery and try to get her in. They tried to tell us to ask the principle for a special exception, but it's really nice to be able to walk Laila to school and have school be just a few minutes' walk away. And Laila did have a good time at her old school, but I'm glad she had such a good time at her new school for the short time she was there.

Now to Laila's first summer vacation!

Bonus: Two of Laila's classmates, Malachi Faust and Lottie Cornelius, should team up to fight crime.
fox_in_me: fox.in.me (Default)
[personal profile] fox_in_me


📝 Оригинальный текст записи
Привет всем, кто всё ещё читает меня. Иногда мне кажется, что таких людей осталось совсем немного, но, наверное, именно поэтому и хочется продолжать писать не ради громких мыслей, а ради ощущения, что где-то по ту сторону экрана кто-то всё ещё способен остановиться и просто прожить вместе с тобой несколько минут жизни.
Несколько дней назад мне удалось выбраться в одно очень тихое место прямо над морем. Там почти никогда нет людей, только редкие отголоски музыки из заведений наверху, шум машин с дороги и ветер, который постоянно гуляет по склонам. Я сидел среди высокой травы и смотрел, как медленно наступают сумерки: сначала небо становится мягче, потом появляются первые звёзды, а следом спутники и огни, движущиеся над горизонтом. Когда-то, в 2022 году, любой движущийся огонёк в небе казался чем-то опасным, чем-то, от чего внутри всё сжималось. Сейчас же небо стало настолько насыщенным этими точками, что кажется почти живым, словно оно всё время движется, дышит, меняется, танцует)
И компанию в тот вечер мне неожиданно составили ёжики. Самые обычные, маленькие, шуршащие в траве рядом со мной. Они не убегали, только сопели и возились возле ног, будто ждали чего-то. У меня с собой была клубника, и я делился ею с ними, хотя прекрасно знаю, что ёжики куда больше любят мясо. Но в тот момент это казалось чем-то удивительно правильным - сидеть над морем, слушать ночной город вдали и кормить клубникой маленьких колючих существ, которые почему-то решили провести этот вечер рядом со мной.
В последнее время я всё чаще ловлю себя на желании уйти куда-нибудь с ноутбуком и просто писать среди людей, но в одиночестве. Есть в Одессе кафе с названием «Интроверт», и меня почему-то очень тянет туда. Может быть, из-за самого названия. Хочется однажды сесть там у окна с чашкой крепкого кофе, открыть пустую страницу и наконец написать что-то настоящее вне дома, не между звонками и делами, а в каком-то другом внутреннем состоянии.
И почему-то именно в тот вечер я снова вспомнил историю «Бурана». Советской космической программы, которая появилась как ответ американским шаттлам. Пятнадцать лет работы, тысячи инженеров, огромная страна, строящая корабль, который должен был летать в космос и возвращаться обратно. «Буран» действительно совершил свой единственный автоматический полёт, а для его транспортировки создали «Мрию», тот самый украинский Ан-225, крупнейший самолёт в мире. Но ирония этой истории в том, что всё это в итоге оказалось никому не нужным. После распада СССР программа умерла, сам шаттл годами стоял в ангаре, пока в начале двухтысячных на него просто не рухнула крыша. Столько лет труда, мечтаний, человеческой веры и в какой-то момент всё превратилось лишь в воспоминание и архивные фотографии.
Наверное, именно поэтому мне так страшно наблюдать, как быстро люди обесценивают прошлое, подвиги, чужую боль и даже целые поколения. Когда-то 9 мая воспринималось как что-то священное почти для всех. Сейчас отношение изменилось до неузнаваемости, но ведь те люди, которые действительно прошли войну, ещё живы. Их осталось очень мало. И, наверное, одна из самых страшных вещей в жизни это чувствовать, как пережитое тобой становится ненужным или забытым. Я хорошо знаю, что такое обесценивание. И знаю, как тяжело жить с этим ощущением внутри.
Хотя жизнь, как ни странно, всё равно продолжает цепляться за самые простые вещи. Сегодня, например, я снова ездил по секонд-хендам. Есть в этом какой-то почти детский азарт : заходить в один магазин, потом в другой, искать что-то своё среди сотен чужих вещей. В итоге я купил пять вещей по цене одной новой футболки из обычного магазина, и, конечно же, среди них снова оказались мягкие игрушки, которые я почему-то до сих пор очень люблю. Наверное, мне нравится не сама покупка, а процесс поиска, ощущение маленького живого приключения, где ты неожиданно находишь что-то, что почему-то вызывает радость.
Потом был рынок, свежие овощи для супа, обычный вечер, запах свежего базилика, сельдерея и другой зелени и летнего воздуха из окна. И где-то между всем этим я наконец занялся ремонтом своей гитары.
Скоро она снова станет живой.
Этой гитаре уже больше двадцати лет. Она появилась ещё тогда, когда я долго откладывал деньги на свой первый инструмент. За эти годы многое менялось: города, работа, люди рядом, обстоятельства. А она каким-то образом осталась со мной. Наверное, поэтому я отношусь к ней не просто как к вещи.
Когда я приехал забирать её из музыкальной лавки, неожиданно задержался там почти на час:
Этой гитаре уже больше двадцати лет. Она появилась ещё тогда, когда я долго откладывал деньги на свой первый инструмент. За эти годы многое менялось: города, работа, люди рядом, обстоятельства. А она каким-то образом осталась со мной. Наверное, поэтому я отношусь к ней не просто как к вещи. И вместе с ремонтом я снова оказался в музыкальной лавке. Наверное, для меня такие магазины всегда были особенными местами. Там редко встречаются случайные люди. Обычно это те, кто по-настоящему любит своё дело. Немного творческие, немного странные, иногда настолько увлечённые, что забывают о времени. Когда я пришёл забирать гитару, парень за прилавком не просто вернул мне инструмент. Он начал рассказывать про какие-то новые маленькие электроукулеле, компактные бас-гитары, необычные модели, которые недавно появились. Потом разговор перешёл на дерево, на то, как разные породы влияют на звучание инструмента, почему одна гитара живёт десятилетиями, а другая остаётся просто набором деталей. И в какой-то момент я поймал себя на том, что просто стою и слушаю. Наверное, я был первым посетителем тем утром, но дело было даже не в этом. Мне нравилось смотреть на человека, который настолько любит то, чем занимается. Он говорил о гитарах так, как другие говорят о любимых людях. И я вдруг подумал, что таких мест становится всё меньше. Может быть, мне только кажется, но современный мир всё чаще звучит иначе. Когда-то музыкантов узнавали по инструментам. У каждого была своя гитара, свой звук, своё лицо. Сейчас многое стало электронным, быстрым и удобным. А мне до сих пор ближе живая музыка. Та, в которой слышно прикосновение пальцев к струнам. Та, где есть небольшие ошибки, случайные шероховатости и дыхание человека. Наверное, потому что всё настоящее несовершенно. И именно поэтому живое. :::
А ещё мне всё чаще попадаются истории украинцев, которые уехали работать за границу: люди живут в машинах, вместе копят на квартиру, проходят через тяжёлую работу, постоянную усталость, бытовые сложности, но делают это вдвоём. И меня почему-то очень трогают такие вещи. Не успех, не деньги, а именно наличие рядом человека, с которым можно вместе идти к какой-то цели, даже через очень непростую жизнь.
Наверное, именно это я всё чаще начинаю ценить больше всего.
Не громкие слова.
Не достижения.
Не бесконечную гонку.
А возможность однажды просто сидеть рядом с кем-то вечером, смотреть на море, слушать ветер и понимать, что, несмотря ни на что, жизнь всё ещё продолжается.


Note translated in assistance with AI GPT

Hello to everyone who still reads me.

Sometimes it feels like there aren’t many people left, but perhaps that is exactly why I keep writing—not for grand ideas or important conclusions, but for the feeling that somewhere on the other side of the screen there is still someone willing to pause for a few minutes and simply share a fragment of another person's life.

A few days ago, I managed to escape to a very quiet place above the sea. There are almost never any people there—only distant echoes of music drifting up from restaurants below, the sound of cars passing along the road above, and the wind that endlessly wanders along the slopes. I sat in the tall grass watching the evening slowly arrive. First, the sky softened. Then the first stars appeared, followed by satellites and moving lights along the horizon. Back in 2022, every moving light in the sky seemed threatening, something that made your chest tighten instinctively. Now the sky is so crowded with those tiny points of light that it feels almost alive, as if it is constantly moving, breathing, changing, dancing.

Unexpectedly, I was joined that evening by hedgehogs. Ordinary little hedgehogs rustling through the grass beside me. They didn't run away. They simply snorted, shuffled around near my feet, and seemed to be waiting for something. I happened to have strawberries with me and shared them, even though I know perfectly well that hedgehogs would probably prefer meat. Yet somehow it felt exactly right—sitting above the sea, listening to the distant sounds of the city, and feeding strawberries to small prickly creatures that had, for reasons unknown to me, decided to spend the evening nearby.

Lately, I often catch myself wanting to take my laptop somewhere and simply write among people while remaining alone. There is a café in Odesa called "Introvert," and for some reason I keep thinking about it. Maybe it is the name itself. One day I would like to sit there by a window with a strong cup of coffee, open a blank page, and finally write something real—not at home, not between phone calls and responsibilities, but from a different state of mind altogether.

And for some reason, that same evening I found myself thinking again about the story of Buran. The Soviet space program that was created as an answer to the American Space Shuttle. Fifteen years of work. Thousands of engineers. An entire country building a spacecraft designed to travel into space and return home. Buran successfully completed its one and only automated flight. To transport it, the An-225 Mriya was built—the largest aircraft ever constructed.

The irony is that none of it was needed in the end.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the program died. The shuttle sat abandoned inside a hangar until, in the early 2000s, the roof simply collapsed on top of it. So many years of work. Dreams. Human belief. And at some point it all became little more than archived photographs and fading memories.

Perhaps that is why it frightens me to see how quickly people devalue the past, the sacrifices of others, entire generations, and even pain itself. There was a time when May 9th was regarded as sacred by almost everyone. Today attitudes have changed beyond recognition, yet many of the people who actually lived through that war are still alive. There are very few of them left. And perhaps one of the most painful experiences in life is realizing that what you lived through is slowly becoming irrelevant or forgotten. I know what it feels like to be diminished. And I know how heavy that feeling can become.

Yet life, strangely enough, keeps holding on through the simplest things. The other day I spent hours wandering through second-hand stores again. There is something almost childlike about it—moving from one shop to another, searching through hundreds of forgotten items, looking for something that somehow feels like yours. In the end, I bought five things for the price of a single new T-shirt. Naturally, among them were a couple of stuffed animals because, for reasons I still don't fully understand, I continue to love them. Perhaps what I enjoy isn't the purchase itself but the search—the feeling of a small adventure where you unexpectedly stumble across something that brings genuine joy.

Afterward there was the market, fresh vegetables for soup, an ordinary evening, and the smell of basil, celery, and summer air drifting through the window. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I finally got around to repairing my guitar.

Soon it will be alive again.

That guitar is more than twenty years old. I bought it after saving money for a very long time to afford my first real instrument. Over the years, cities changed. Jobs changed. People came and went. Life itself changed. Yet somehow that guitar remained. Perhaps that is why I can never think of it as just an object.

When I went to pick it up from the music shop, I ended up staying there for almost an hour. I've always loved places like that. Music stores rarely attract random people. Most of the people there genuinely love what they do. They're creative, slightly eccentric, and often so passionate about their craft that they lose track of time completely. The young man behind the counter didn't simply hand my guitar back to me. He started talking about tiny electric ukuleles, compact bass guitars, unusual new models that had recently arrived. The conversation drifted toward different types of wood, how they shape an instrument's sound, why one guitar seems to develop a soul over decades while another remains little more than assembled parts.

At some point I realized I had simply stopped talking and was listening.

Perhaps I was his first customer that morning, but that wasn't really the point. What fascinated me was seeing someone who genuinely loved what he did. He spoke about guitars the way other people speak about those they love. And suddenly it occurred to me that places like that are becoming rare.

Maybe it's just me, but the modern world seems to sound different now. There was a time when musicians were recognized by their instruments. Everyone had their own guitar, their own sound, their own identity. Today so much has become electronic, convenient, and immediate. Yet I still find myself drawn to live music. Music where you can hear fingers brushing against strings. Music that contains tiny imperfections, rough edges, and the breathing presence of another human being.

Perhaps because everything truly alive is imperfect.

And that is exactly what makes it real.

Lately I also find myself noticing stories of Ukrainians who left to work abroad. People living in cars together, saving for apartments, enduring difficult jobs, exhaustion, and endless everyday struggles—but doing it side by side. For some reason those stories move me deeply. Not because of success. Not because of money. But because there is someone beside them. Someone with whom they can move toward a goal together, even through a difficult life.

Perhaps that is what I value more and more these days.

Not grand words.

Not achievements.

Not endless striving.

But the possibility of simply sitting beside someone one evening, looking out at the sea, listening to the wind, and understanding that despite everything, life is still moving forward.

Reading Wednesday

Jun. 3rd, 2026 07:01 am
sabotabby: (books!)
[personal profile] sabotabby
I assumed Dreamwidth was down the last few days but nope, my VPN no longer likes it, anyway. Hi. Whoops.

Just finished: Night Night Fawn by Jordy Rosenberg. I loved this, I need you all to read it 1) to understand certain aspects of my identity and 2) so that I can scream about it with someone else. 

I want to particularly note the prominence of Exodus, which is a book/film that had a huge influence on me as a kid, turned me into an insufferable Zionist for a couple years, actually had a massive role in ending the Hollywood Blacklist, and no one ever talks about as a work of Riefenstahl-esque propaganda. Night Night Fawn devotes a large segment of its middle act to the film and its role in shaping Barbara's relationship with Israel, as well as with her husband and ultimately her son (who she names after a secondary character). 

Anyway, it is really good. Incredibly good.

Currently reading: The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed. This is the third novella in The Annual Migration of Clouds, which I haven't read, but it follows a side character on a completely different story. So. Post-apocalypse, climate catastrophe, weird parasitic infection, society trying to rebuild. It's set in Alberta, which is cool. Henryk, who has made some kind of mistake that has led to a death back home, leaves his relatively safe community to travel to his uncle's much less safe village, where there are still raiders and bears. But, critically, there is a tree farm, which is vital in regrowing the forest. Everyone is deeply unfriendly to him. It's kind of cool reading the third in a series when you haven't read the other two because so much of the worldbuilding is backgrounded. Also, she's just a hell of a writer.

52/453-454: Swelter

Jun. 2nd, 2026 07:49 pm
rejectomorph: (Default)
[personal profile] rejectomorph
The heat is back with Drumph-scale vengeance, and I've spent the last couple of days cocooned indoors with windows and blinds closed until well after sunset. I'm still miserable, of course, but at least I don't have to squint, except for that brief time when I must go out to check the mailbox. I try to leave that until dusk, to minimize my exposure to light.

Right now, my computer is giving me the weather in Sacramento, where it thinks I am, and where it is 69 degrees and clear. My telephone, which knows I am in the mini-metropolis, truthfully informs me that it is still 82 degrees, which is getting close to the indoor temperature, which is currently 80. I should be able to open the windows and turn on the fan in about an hour. I hope I can stay awake until then. If I fall asleep, which the heat is seducing me to do, I won't get the job done, and I'll end up sleeping in a sea of my own sweat until after midnight. I hate summer.

One pleasant thing happened. A web site suggested I listen to music by a guy named Tigran Hamasyan, so I did, and it turns out he writes piano stuff like he's channeling the ghost of Eric Satie but with occasional side trips to middle eastern jazz. I actually like the stuff, and I'm exploring more of his pieces. Here is my favorite so far, one called Lilac:

Film post: Shrek (2001)

Jun. 1st, 2026 11:40 pm
loganberrybunny: Drawing of my lapine character's face by Eliki (Default)
[personal profile] loganberrybunny
Public

Shrek (2001) film poster
Shrek (2001)
Animated fantasy comedy | Letterboxd 4.1/5 | IMDb 7.9/10 | BBFC U

A friend saw this recently and was unimpressed. It turned up on the iPlayer the other day, so I thought I'd give it a watch, having not seen it for many years. I wasn't quite as disillusioned with it as said friend, but it's a good way short of a classic for me. It does a job, there are some amusing (though not hysterical) jokes, the soundtrack is decent and the cast is... well, let's just say Eddie Murphy grates on me in more than small doses, which is a bit of a problem here.

The animation has undeniably dated, though it wasn't as intrusive to me as I'd worried it might be. There is however a quite extraordinary amount of toilet humour for a U-rated film: I simply assumed it was a PG until I looked it up. I don't like toilet humour, so that didn't help here. There is a nice story in amongst it all about accepting people for who they are rather than their looks, but it's rather buried beneath everything else. All in all? Okay, I suppose. ★★½

Question thread #151

Jun. 1st, 2026 07:44 pm
pauamma: Cartooney crab wearing hot pink and acid green facemask holding drink with straw (Default)
[personal profile] pauamma posting in [site community profile] dw_dev
It's time for another question thread!

The rules:

- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer and in this comment thread.

Wakey wakey!

Jun. 1st, 2026 09:01 am
dorchadas: (Blue Rose)
[personal profile] dorchadas
I mentioned in our recent Laila update that we were trying to teach her to stay in her room in the morning for a bit until an alarm went off, so that she wouldn't come waking us up at 5:30 a.m. The very first day she heard the alarm of Jake from Yoto saying "Wakey wakey! Rise and shine!" we heard her get really quiet in her room and she kept bringing it up during the day. The next few days it was rough, and we ended up having to turn off the alarm because she wasn't in her room at the time when it went off. She was pretty sad about that, but we told her, you have to be in your room at the right time if you want to hear Jake say "Wakey wakey!"

Well, after those first few days of difficulty she took to it without any problems and hasn't been coming in to get us before 6:15 a.m. (the time we set the alarm for--we're planning to gradually creep it forward to 6:30 a.m. and leave it there). It worked so well in fact that today I woke up naturally, went to check my watch, and was surprised to see it was 6:57 a.m.! I immediately got up and ran into Laila's room to see if anything had happened to her but as soon as I opened the door I saw her lying in bed, wrapped in blankets, awake, and she said to me, "Jake said wakey wakey!"

Well, the bus comes at 7:25 a.m. so we had to hurry her out of bed and through her morning routine quickly and get her on the bus, which we did. And I'm feeling well rested thanks to an extra 45 minutes of sleep. But this does mean I can't rely on Laila to be our alarm anymore and will have to start setting my own regardless.

Hoisted by our own petard. Emoji Kawaii frog
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