mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)
([staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance Oct. 25th, 2025 08:42 am)

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

Chess is a show I know entirely through the cast recordings; if I recall correctly, it was such a thoroughly Cold War project that the liner notes referred to the two chess players as only "the American" and "the Russian". The new book by Danny Strong turns it into a (even more) melodramatic period piece, with the chess matches not simply a allegory for political tensions or a way of obtaining minor diplomatic concessions but tools for averting World War III. The Arbiter is dragooned as a narrator, who exposits both the global situation and the personal interactions with the characters, partly through a series of very bad and very obvious jokes.

Freddie Trumper, American grandmaster and obnoxious wunderkind, is challenged by Anatoly Sergievesky, mordant, depressed, and engaged in a clandestine flirtation with Freddie's chess second and lover, Florence Vassy. Freddie is notoriously a weak point in the original book, so prone to anti-Communist slurs, misogyny, and temper tantrums it is impossible to extend him much sympathy. The new version mitigates this by giving him bipolar disorder and medical noncompliance, and also by casting Aaron Tveit. Tveit is indeed so good and so charismatic that I was on Freddie's side way more than I expected, although not enough to take self-pity anthem "Pity the Child" seriously. (The rest of the audience seemed less skeptical.) Lea Michele as Florence is just as strong vocally, and almost as strong in terms of acting, though unfortunately without much romantic chemistry with either partner. (The closest any scene comes to a sexual charge is Freddie's sleazy half-assed attempt at persuading Anatoly to throw the game in Act II.) Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly is the weak point in Act I, where I had the same opinion as I had of his Sweeney Todd: he's got the potential to be great, but he isn't quite there yet. He really needs to work on his emoting, which is too flat even for the murderous Sweeney or the dour Anatoly. He is greatly handicapped in Chess by having to affect a Russian accent, which I really hope the production drops. But! He pulled out all stops in Act II, both for the songs and the acting, and won me over with his intensity and vocal power.

So basically: the book is still flawed and they need to cut the runtime, particularly in Act I. This was the second night of previews, so there's still time for changes before the show technically "opens". If we're lucky, they'll start by cutting the topical jokes.

But the point of Chess has never been the book; it is the score full of bangers and power ballads. The music is by ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and the lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice. And the musical performances are GREAT. I am still guiltily fond of the kinda-no-really-very-racist "One Night in Bangkok" (which can plausibly be explained as Freddie's typical white guy take on the city) and which in this production is a camp masterpiece. I am seriously tempted to see the show again just for that.

Ahoy there, adventure gamers! [community profile] monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your jam rum rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.

Monkey Island text logo

Yesterday was Miss Erzabet No Biting's first vet appointment since right before we moved. Not only was it time, but we were hoping for information or answers about her inappropriate voiding (how the vet referred to her peeing and pooping anywhere she felt like), and (what worried me most) the very slight intermittent tremor of her head that has developed.

The vet's diagnosis, now confirmed by the blood tests: she has developed hyperthyroidism. I'm waiting on the call from the vet where he'll give me more information. I did some quick research and it looks like the two main treatments are either daily meds or having radioactive iodine injected into the thyroid, which involves a multi-day stay at the vet. I still kinda-sorta prefer that option to meds, because she isn't easy to pill. But then again, how will she react to being somewhere strange and away from me? The last time we did that (when she was at a kitty emergency place because of difficulty breathing) she refused to eat or drink, and spent two days hidden under the blanket in the cage. 

Shockingly, she was such a good girl about going to the vet! Previous trips involved her fighting being put in the carrier, peeing herself, and being completely silent and hyperventilating. There was none of that this trip! She was very vocal, but didn't sound distressed, thank goodness. It took her about three minutes of being home before she forgave me and was trying to herd me to the couch for cuddles.


Have I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to the new Florence + the Machine album? SO MUCH I NEED IT NOW NOW NOW okay fine I'll wait for Halloween.

This weekend I did a bit of spellwork that I learned about online: wring writing. You think of a phrase that sums up something that's been troubling you or something that you want to let go, then write it over and over on a piece of paper until the paper is completely blocked out. Write the phrase on top of the phrase until individual words can't be seen. Then burn the paper, take the ashes, and put them in a jar with whatever things say "protection" to you. I used salt, cinnamon, and roses.

Let me tell you, this spell takes ENERGY. I haven't been that wiped out from a magical working in a very long time; once I was done with everything, I was hit with the shakes and had to flop for a bit. BUT, I certainly felt lighter after it. I'm going to do this with the particular phrase I settled on ("I can't ask for help") for the next few weekends.

When I told my therapist about this bit of spellwork, she was fascinated. She said she was probably going to adopt it herself, and also told me that doing it was my "therapy homework" for the week. More proof my therapist is the correct one for me.
alierak: (Default)
([personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 am)
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.
cupcake_goth: (Vampire Governess)
([personal profile] cupcake_goth Oct. 14th, 2025 02:38 pm)
So many random things happening. Don't expect this to be linear.

- The teaser trailer for season three of Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat has arrived! I am in a state of giddy fangirl screaming and I want the season RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT. I also want a CD and tour shirt. Anyway, remember how when the casting for the show was announced that I was super-skeptical of Sam Reid, and then I watched episode 1 and said "Yep, that's Lestat"? My god, the man has obviously been possessed by the spirit of my egotistical rock star vampire boyfriend, yesssssssss. 

- I'm trying to decide if I want to watch The Talamasca, which is based on Anne Rice's books. On the one hand, I've always been interested? Charmed? Something? by the idea of a supernatural observer group and have always wanted more details. On the other hand, I'm concerned that the show will be more like The Mayfair Witches than Interview with the Vampire, and I'm not up for hate-watching another show.

- I bought another Beetlejuce corset-back blazer from La Femme en Noir, with the intent of dying it pink. I'm not worried about how the fabric will take the color, I'm just not sure how to dye it. There's no way it'll fit in my dye pot, which means I either need to get a Rubbermaid tub and fill it with near-boiling water and dye, or bribe a friend with a top loading washing machine. 

- Not only am I going to see MCR in L.A. next year, but I'm now going to a Ghost concert in Seattle in Feb. I don't listen to them a lot, but I think they're entertaining and put on a wonderfully theatrical and over-the-top show. 

- The Powers That Be are having fun dropping anvils on me via cartomancy: every card for the past few weeks has been about focusing on my magical practices and putting energy into what makes me happy and grounded, because, as the 10 of Wands hit me with yesterday, OH HEY I'M OVER-EXTENDED AND COURTING BURNOUT. (Thank god I'm not using one of the bitchier decks right now.)

- Bloodmilk Jewels has released limited edition pendants of comedy and tragedy jack o' lanterns. Peev got me the comedy one, with the caveat that it'll be my Christmas present. I'm dithering on if I want to buy the tragedy one so I have the set to wear as part of my 24/7 neck mess. I think I do, because I need to be better at acknowledging difficult and upsetting things/emotions/situations happen but I don't need to keep my brain in them. But still, $260. Ooof. 
thefourthvine: A weird festive creature. Text: "Yuletide squee!" (Yuletide Woot!)
([personal profile] thefourthvine Oct. 13th, 2025 11:09 am)
Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hi!

I am going to provide you with all the details I can, because that is who I am as a person. Thank you so, so much for writing in one of these fandoms. See you on the 25th!

(And if you're not my writer, thank you for looking at my letter! I am entirely open to treats of any length.)

Likes/DNWs and General Stuff )


Between Silk and Cyanide -- Leo Marks, Leo Marks, Forest Yeo-Thomas )


blink-182 )


Blue Prince, Worldbuildling, Simon P. Jones )


Nomads, Eileen Flax, Veronique Pommier )
wickedgame: (Nick | Heartstopper)
([personal profile] wickedgame posting in [site community profile] dw_community_promo Oct. 12th, 2025 08:37 pm)


Join LGBT Rainbow, a rainbow pass-it-on icon challenge focused on LGBTQ+ characters from any media.

[community profile] lgbtrainbow
.

Profile

shaina: (Default)
Shaina

Most Popular Tags

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags