Rec-cember Day 8: ER

Dec. 8th, 2025 11:16 pm
falena: Group shot of the er doctors looking at carter's tailored labcoat in the pilot (er pilot)
[personal profile] falena

I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell anyone what this show is about, not least because the name is pretty much self-explanatory, lol.

If you haven't watched it at all, it's probably because medical dramas are not your thing or because you're very young and think that old television is not worth wasting your time over (your loss).

I grew up with ER, John Carter has been my first tv crush, I learnt English to be able to keep up with the show as it aired in the US...so I can't just be objective about it. Season 1 through 3 hold a very special place in my heart.

I honestly wish I had been in fandom back then, but I wasn't, so I'm sure I missed out on a lot of fic. Most of the fic I eventually read was in archives that are no longer online... Fannish life before the Ao3 came along was hard.

Through the Door by C.Midori. I can't believe I'm linking to FF.net! This story is 23 years old, guys. I remember loving it back then, I had it saved as a Word file on my computer, lolol. It's Abby/Carter, a ship I honestly don't remember much about and FF.net makes my eyes bleed so I haven't re-read it before reccing it, sorry. It does seem well-written. It was very angsty, this much I remember. Set around season 8, I think.

Two For The Show by [archiveofourown.org profile] jumpfall. 2.3K words. Gen. Set in the first season, I suppose. This is Carter!whump and H/C at its finest. I love found family stories. And true ensemble pieces like this, with excellent use of the medical setting.

three dates by [archiveofourown.org profile] cicak. 13.6K words.Cater/Benton. Set in season 2 or 3. Carter’s not sure exactly when he first learned about the patented Peter Benton Dating Algorithm, but it must have been early on, because he internalised it like it was any other scrap of information he’d gleaned and hoarded like a crazy person, like his GPA (3.8), his birthday (September 9th) or his blood type (B positive). Now, I personally don't see the Carter/Benton relationship as romantic. At. All. [archiveofourown.org profile] cicak writes so well and still keeps Carter and Benton completely in character that they just made me buy it.

The Pitt

Like Brothers We Meet by [archiveofourown.org profile] Siria. 17.5k words. Gen. After a chance encounter, Robby finds out that he's got a half-brother he never knew about—an emergency physician from Chicago called John Carter. A fair number of stories that try to tie in/blend ER and The Pitt while explaining the uncanny similarity between Carter and Robby have naturally popped up. This is the best of them all. Totally believable, blends the two canon seamlessly. Robby is our viewpoint character here. Fascinating read, highly recommended.

Inspiring Quotes - Why do we write?

NSFW Dec. 8th, 2025 09:29 pm
pushkin666: (TEXT - be open to whatever comes)
[personal profile] pushkin666
( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Clues By Sam (2025)

Dec. 8th, 2025 11:52 am
pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
[personal profile] pauraque
Life is hectic, so let's do a quick one!

phone screenshot shows a 4x5 grid of people represented by emojis, labeled with names and professions, stating logic clues such as row 3 is the only row with exactly 3 innocents

Clues By Sam is a logic game where you have to deduce who is a criminal and who is innocent in a grid of 20 people. Everyone tells the truth (i.e. criminals don't lie) and people's professions aren't hints (i.e. "sleuths" and "cops" can be innocents or criminals). Random guessing is not allowed; the game will only let you convict or exonerate someone if the clues you've uncovered give enough information to be certain.

I am not super great at this kind of formal logic puzzle, but I'm trying to get better, and I think this is a good one for people who are learning. The daily puzzles get harder throughout the week—Monday is the easiest—and if you're stuck you can get hints that highlight which clues you should focus on. There are options for better colorblind visibility (innocents are green and criminals are red by default) but I'm not sure if the game is compatible with screenreaders or not.

The game is free to play in your browser, but there are also two puzzle packs you can buy. If you sign up for the dev's email newsletter, there are also some free extra puzzles in there. Thanks to [personal profile] sineala for the recommendation!

Rec-cember Day 7: Rivers of London

Dec. 8th, 2025 05:19 pm
falena: cropped  image of waterloo tube station sign, reading only 'loo' (london)
[personal profile] falena

Rivers of London is an urban fantasy series written by Ben Aaronovitch (a Doctor Who writer). So far, it includes 9 books and loads of novellas. Set in almost-present-day London (IIRC the first book is set in 2011, the latest in 2018), I've heard it once described as "Harry Potter meets your standard British police procedural", and as back-cover blurb descriptions go it's not bad. It's just so much more than 'magic coppers', though.

The books are written in first-person and our POV character is Peter Grant, a mixed-race police constable and born-and-bred Londoner, with a touch of ADHD and the best British sense of humour. The books work because Peter is so damn likeable. Mind you, the books are also very British, which might be a selling point, if you're me, or put you off. The first seven books conclude a story arc, Aaronovitch knows how to play the long game, and are damn near perfect IMO.

The Rivers of London fandom used to be small but very active, but in recent years some people drifted away from it because they found it a bit uncomfortable to be fans of a series where the police is considered a force of good, I think. And I understand why. I am Italian, from Genova, I wouldn't be able to suspend my disbelief to read about Italian police being good guys (if you don't know what I'm talking about look up what happened during the 2001 G8 in my town). However, I have no problems romanticising bits of another country's police force, when they are represented by the likes of Peter Grant, Sahra Guleed and Thomas Nightingale. I'm afraid I'm not doing a good job of describing how awesome the series, is so I'll leave you with this introductory post by [personal profile] sixthlight, who was the BNF back then.

It's a new day [vid] by [archiveofourown.org profile] pollyrepeat. This awesome fanvid can totally work as a trailer for the series. I'm always so in awe of fans who can make vids for a canon which has no footage to offer as a starting point.

Longhouse by [archiveofourown.org profile] philomytha. This is such a great example of Peter's narration, and a casefile fic, and also a good example of the predictable main ship: Peter/Nightingale.

This(not) be the verse by [archiveofourown.org profile] leupagus. 3.8 K words. "Be honest, sir," I said, scrabbling for the left flipper, "I look like a moron."

"I’ve seen you look moronic before, Peter," Nightingale said, flicking the wheel right and sending us careening down a side street and me thudding against the left-hand door. "This does not even, as you put it, 'crack the top ten.'"

This is my fave of the most recent fics. It's got spoilers for, let's say, a development in Peter's life in the last two books? If you've read the books, you know what I'm talking about. Perfect Peter's voice and great interaction with Nightingale (totally non shippy). There are two podfic versions available! Haven't listened to either yet, but I plan on doing that asap.

I've Found a New Baby by [archiveofourown.org profile] knight-tracer and [profile] thefourthhvine. 13.6k. Peter/Nightingale. It's a sort of self-contained casefile of sorts, it can fit pretty much anywhere in canon before the last two books, I think, it's been a while since I listened to it. It's not particularly spoilery, I think. Peter finds a baby on the doorstep of the Folly. It’s an embarrassing cliché, I know, but there was an actual basket, made of what looked to be actual wicker, actually sitting there. It was oval and large and had spaces for handholds on either end; for a minute, I thought it was full of laundry, and my mind spun an image of a ghost laundress. Then the small hand emerged from the basket, waved around for a minute, and smacked down again. Brilliant Peter's voice and even better Nightingale's characterisation. The podfic is excellent!

Saving the big guns for last...As I said, [personal profile] sixthlight was the BNF in the fandom, for a reason. All her works are amazing. I miss her fic like crazy. Anyway, my all-time favourite is this: Wizardry by Consent. 62K words. It's an AU,a canon divergence one, and it's best enjoyed if you know canon to be able to appreciate the amazing worldbuilding and character work the author does when she takes our beloved characters on a new journey, starting from a simple change to the canon: Peter never became the Nightingale apprentice. Fifteen years after a headless body was discovered in Covent Garden, Thomas Nightingale is still the last wizard in Britain, and Peter Grant, newly appointed Commander for Community Engagement in the Metropolitan Police Service, has just learned the truth about the existence of the Folly. He has one or two questions. The podfic by [archiveofourown.org profile] lazulus is [insert superlative adjective of your choice here].

The Pitt

hard odds to beat when you're on all fours by [archiveofourown.org profile] loveism. Mel/Trinity. Femslash at its finest, perfectly in character and so well-written. I love me some Trinity Santos when people know how to write her well, and damn, Mel deserves all the good sex, so...

Picture Book Advent, Week One

Dec. 8th, 2025 08:21 am
osprey_archer: (yuletide)
[personal profile] osprey_archer
Picture book Advent is going strong! Since I usually don’t have a whole post worth to share about a single picture book, I’ve decided to do a wrap-up post each Monday with quick notes on each of the preceding week’s picture books.

Christmas, written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney: a retelling of the Nativity story, with excursions into the origins of various Christmas customs: Saturnalia as the source of the Lord of Misrule, Odin walking the world morphing into St. Nicholas giving gifts. (Hadn’t heard that one before!)

The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler’s Sons, written by Ruth Sawyer, illustrated by Barbara Cooney: an unexpected gem! Left alone on Christmas Eve, the three sons of a poor cobbler are visited by an incredibly grumpy elf/gnome-type creature who kicks them out of bed and makes them turn cartwheels - only for oranges and Christmas cookies and gold and silver coins to pour from their pockets! Delicious. A new story to me, and I’ve read so many Christmas stories that it’s always impressive to find something new.

I Saw Three Ships, by Elizabeth Goudge. Actually not a picture book, but a novella for children, a quick charming story about young Polly in a seaport who insists to her elderly aunts that they have to leave the doors unlocked on Christmas Eve for baby Jesus. The aunts refuse, but Polly manages to open a window regardless, and of course quasi-magical Christmas happenings follow.

An Angel in the Woods, written and illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop. Another banger in the vein of Lathrop’s The Fairy Circus. A toy angel, left on the windowsill with a candle on Christmas Eve, flies into the woods to bring presents to the animals.

The Animals’ Santa, written and illustrated by Jan Brett. More Christmas presents for the animals! One thing I love about Brett’s illustrations is that you often have the main story in the big illustrations, but also a little B-plot taking place in the borders. In this case, the main story is the animals discussing who might be the animal Santa (a bear? A moose? A wolf?), while the side story features adorable little mice in little red hats and green sweaters making little Christmas presents using forest goodies like acorns.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, illustrated by Jan Brett. The main illustrations are the various presents for the twelve days of Christmas (the seven swans a-singing etc.), while the borders show the tale of the singer and her true love heading into the forest to get a Christmas tree, then decorating it with her family. So charming. Each border has “Merry Christmas” in a different language, and then the illustrations reference that national theme, so for instance on “eleven pipers piping” the language is Scotch Gaelic and the pipers are bagpipers in kilts.

Christmas Folk, by Natalia Belting, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Did you know that Christmas also used to be Halloween? Okay, not exactly, but Christmas used to be the holiday where people got dressed up in costumes, went door to door demanding sweets, and set off fireworks, all customs that Belting describes in this story. (Cooney’s firework illustration includes a little girl with her hands over her ears. What a great detail!)

(no subject)

Dec. 7th, 2025 07:44 pm
skygiants: Hohenheim from Fullmetal Alchemist with tears streaming down his cheeks; text 'I'm a monsteeeer' (man of constant sorrow)
[personal profile] skygiants
The other movie I saw recently -- not on a plane! but in a real theater! -- was Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (do I need to spoiler cut this? well, let's be safe) )
22degreehalo: (PWAA holy)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: Explicit
Length: 18,992
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] benwisehart
Theme: Amnesty, Book Fandoms, Domestic, Established Relationship, Humor, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: The System gives Shen Qingqiu the ability to exchange B-Points for items, and what better way to earn points than by raising the satisfaction level of Zhongdian's favourite protagonist?

OR: The one where Shen Qingqiu starts seducing the fuck out of Binghe in order to enable his caffeine addiction.

Reccer's Notes: This one seems like it'd be just a fun kinky romp (which it also is!), but it's also very thoughtful about why Shen Qingqiu was reluctant to indulge in some of these things to begin with. Sometimes it's just his self-conscious personality, and sometimes it's because he was too quick to judge, but he's also his own person with his own preferences and traumas and those deserve to be respected, too! Really, the ultimate benefit out of this whole sequence of events might just have been allowing these two a sliver of genuine open communication, even if that's sometimes a hard-won lesson.

Fanwork Links: The Scum Villain's Sex and Pleasure Catalogue

trying to change momentum

Dec. 7th, 2025 07:25 pm
musesfool: key lime pie (pie = love)
[personal profile] musesfool
This weekend seemed especially short. I woke up this morning with a headache and spent a couple of hours just lying down with my eyes covered, waiting for the Excedrin to kick in. Then I planned to make cranberry orange scones but my heavy cream was frozen, so that was delayed until it was liquid enough to pour. The funny part is that the recipe wants it to be almost frozen when you use it, but not quite as frozen as mine was.

Anyway, after waiting a bit, I made the scones and they turned out well (pic - that is also my new grey "spatter" pattern quarter sheet pan, lined with parchment).

I didn't make the glaze because I'd planned to sprinkle the scones with cranberry orange sugar, but then I forgot to do that. *hands* They still taste good!

I also made that garlic and bread soup again, but I got distracted and burned my croutons. *sadhair* Soup is still delicious, though. I wish I'd remembered to buy some arugula so I could have soup and salad, but alas, I didn't think of it when I was putting my grocery order together.

Speaking of grocery orders, when did Costco stop selling the 3 lb brick of Philadelphia cream cheese? I need it for the frosting for the red velvet cupcakes for Christmas, but I guess I will have to spend a little more and get what I need from Stop and Shop instead. *hands*

*

Dear Platonic Ideal Creator,

Dec. 7th, 2025 03:46 pm
settiai: (Dragon Age -- offensive)
[personal profile] settiai
First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥

More details under the cut. )
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Lord of the Rings; How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Sauron, the Mouth of Sauron, Pippin, Sam Gamgee, the Hobbit community
Rating: General Audiences
Length: (Fic) 957 words; (Comic) 30 panels
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply
Creator Tags:

Erisif | Valarhalla: #i could have done something useful today #instead i wrote this #i hate myself
english-history-trip: #lotr #nonsense #well that was my day how was yours #why is sauron in a cave and then a tower #go to hell that's why #why is frodo bartholomew cubbins instead of a who #the answer won't surprise you

Creator Links:
(Fic):
Elisif: (AO3) [archiveofourown.org profile] Elisif; (Tumblr) [tumblr.com profile] valarhalla
(Fancomic): english-history-trip: (Tumblr) [tumblr.com profile] english-history-trip

Theme: Amnesty, Crack, Crossovers/Fusions, Just Plain Fun, Non-Fic Recs: Fanart, Non-Fic Recs: Fancomic, Poetry, Tumblore

Summary: Every being in Eä liked peacetime a lot…
But Sauron, who was also in Eä, did NOT.


Reccer's Notes: Elisif’s retelling of The War of the Ring in Seussian rhyming verse, firmly informed by The Lore, maps the Shire onto Whoville without introducing an anachronistic Christmas (that’s for Narnia.)

And then, in proper cumulative Tumbloric fashion, english-history-trip proceeds to remix Seussian illustrations to match. (Spoiler: Sauron does not experience redemptive cardiac enlargement; another character gets to preside over the grand climactic celebration.)

Fanwork Links:

Fic: AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135110
Tumblr: https://valarhalla.tumblr.com/post/190955320437/every-being-in-eä-liked-peacetime-a-lot-but

Fancomic: https://english-history-trip.tumblr.com/post/636994579930939392/english-history-trip-english-history-trip-part

(no subject)

Dec. 7th, 2025 09:55 am
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly in [community profile] agonyaunt
DEAR HARRIETTE: I have twin sons who are in college at different schools. They are good kids but a bit young for their age. I don't think either of them has ever dated. I have always taught them that they should have enough money to take a woman out on a date, and right now they aren't working. I offered to give them some cash to help them in case they do want to take someone on a date, but so far neither has taken me up on it. Have I done something wrong as a mother? Why are they so delayed? -- Arrested Development

Read more... )

(no subject)

Dec. 7th, 2025 09:49 am
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly in [community profile] agonyaunt
Dear Care and Feeding,

My sister openly doesn’t like me (and has said so publicly and directly), though we manage well enough for family events. I get along with my brother and his wife, but they are horrible at communication and interact with my sister more frequently. My dad gets along with all of us and is good at communication, but lives in denial of all weird family dynamics.

Around every holiday season or major family function, I get left out of crucial information regarding plans, transportation, emergency changes, etc. One consistent hurdle: Brother or Dad tells Sister something and assumes she will pass it on to me, and she doesn’t. I have explicitly told them both to stop doing this, and they just forget, leaving me scrambling when they ask why I haven’t RSVP’d/contributed to a group gift/etc. On the flip side, neither of my siblings is particularly good about getting back to me when I reach out to them, so asking directly doesn’t help either. (Brother and his wife are notoriously bad at responses with everyone, so it’s not personal, just frustrating.) One workaround I’ve discovered is to ask Dad to reach out on my behalf, because that guarantees an actual response, but it’s irritating that I have to resort to that to get basic information like, “What time do you expect me to arrive at your house?” Is there anything I can do to make this easier?

—It’s Mean Girls Meets Finding Dory


Read more... )

Absence, sweet absence

Dec. 7th, 2025 02:05 pm
dolorosa_12: (beach path)
[personal profile] dolorosa_12
This weekend ended up being a lot less eventful than originally planned, due to the combination of the week-long slow build-up to a cold finally descending with a vengeance upon me, and the relentlessly rainy weather (it's currently pouring). Other than a quick trip out to the market for food truck lunch and mulled wine yesterday, therefore, I've mainly been ensconced in the house, watching a film (The Killer, the absolute definition of style over substance in which a contract killer in Paris baulks at killing an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of a hired hit job, and things spiral from there), reading, editing Yuletide fic, and watching biathlon.

This week's reading )

I have another talking meme prompt for today, this one from [personal profile] vriddy: an anecdote involving an animal or pet.

This is a very Australian story )

I do also have a bunch of stored up links, but I think I might leave that for a later post. I hope everyone's been having nice weekends!

To-read pile, 2025, November

Dec. 7th, 2025 01:48 pm
rmc28: (reading)
[personal profile] rmc28

Books on pre-order:

  1. Platform Decay (Murderbot 8) by Martha Wells (5 May 2025)

Books acquired in November (and all read!)

  1. Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona) by Lois McMaster Bujold
  2. Goalie Interference (Austin Aces) by Kim Findlay [7]
  3. After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

Books acquired previously and read in November:

  1. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
  2. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
  3. Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan [May 2016]
  4. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan [May 2016]

Borrowed books read in November:

  1. Murder at the Grand Raj Palace (Baby Ganesha 4) by Vaseem Khan [3]

Rereads in November:

  1. Heated Rivalry (Game Changers 2) by Rachel Reid
  2. Tough Guy (Game Changers 3) by Rachel Reid
  3. Common Goal (Game Changers 4) by Rachel Reid
  4. Role Model (Game Changers 5) by Rachel Reid
  5. The Long Game (Game Changers 6) by Rachel Reid

Yes there's a TV adaptation of Heated Rivalry, no it's not available (legally) in the UK yet, also I have had no time to watch it even if it were. But watching it is very definitely in my future plans.

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

November books

Dec. 8th, 2025 12:33 am
littlerhymes: (Default)
[personal profile] littlerhymes
Artists in Crime - Ngaio Marsh
The Chosen and the Beautiful - Nghi Vo
Ocean's Echo - Everina Maxwell
Foxhole Court - Nora Sakavic

small month )

Pumpkin Patch 6 Results

Dec. 6th, 2025 11:44 pm
luminousdaze: The Minions 2015 movie, a smiling one-eyed Minion is dressed as a Dracula (Minions #2)
[personal profile] luminousdaze in [community profile] iconthat
Congrats everyone! 🎉🎈🏅 Thank you to all the participants and voters.
The tally when needed is in the comments of the voting post.
If you would like an award banner for this challenge, please comment below & request one.

Challenge 198: Pumpkin Patch 6 - Winners

1st Place icon
by [personal profile] abyss_valkyrie

2nd Place icon
by [personal profile] wickedgame

3rd Place icon
by [personal profile] picnicnic

4th Place icon
by [personal profile] wickedgame

Best Color icon
by [personal profile] magicrubbish

Best Crop icon
by [personal profile] tinny

Best Composition icon
by [personal profile] abyss_valkyrie

Mod's Choice icon
by [personal profile] spiderbraids


asakiyume: (feathers on the line)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Still not as online as I'd like to be, but here are some easy things to share. First, tendrils!

I planted some seeds from a passion fruit and got some seedlings, and I noticed the other day that they'd started sending out tendrils. Here one tendril is reaching round a ginger leaf:

passion fruit tendril reaching round a ginger leaf

I broke off a dried asparagus fern skeleton from the outside garden and brought that in for the passion fruit to climb on instead:

passion fruit seedling curling round a dried asparagus fern skeleton

And then I thought everyone could enjoy "Nope," demonstrated both by enlarged emoji and by Little Springtime. It was in my old hometown's public library for a display of picture books about saying no to stuff.

little springtime and nope sign

Now the verbal images. I was at R's place because I was going to take her and her kids to get green card photos, and I'd taken off my boots in the apartment. The boots are tall--they go to my knees. Her younger son looked at them standing by the door and said, "They're like military boots," and demonstrated marching. Which, wow. You compare a thing to things you're familiar with. I've been told the refugee camp these guys were in was close to active fighting.

And this last isn't so much an image as a metaphysical something-something. Or a failure of Google Translate. Or both. At a different point in the day, R and I were waiting in my car for her kids to get off the bus, and she typed a question into Google translate. I could see the English words change and rearrange themselves as she rephrased and added to the Tigrinya. The final result was:

How do I know what I don't know?

I wrote back, That's a very big question!

I think, based on her efforts to narrow down what she was asking, that she wanted to know about cars, about eventually getting a car, but the 10,000-foot-level question was a great one.

on the first roll of the dice

Dec. 6th, 2025 08:25 pm
musesfool: danny and rusty  (and the living is easy)
[personal profile] musesfool
I was so glad to log off last night and put a period on this work week. This morning, I had to be up for the cleaning service at 9 am, and they told me the company is closing, but the team who has been cleaning my place for the last 7 years is going out on their own and wants to keep me as a client, so I will get in touch with them in the new year to set up the new arrangement. I hope it all goes smoothly!

I also made another 2 lbs of candied pecans, so I have six jars filled and have to wash the other jars so they can also be filled.

Then I took a nap that felt way longer than it was, and so even though it's only like 8:20 I keep thinking it's 11:30 pm or something. Time is so weird.

*

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