Member Posts

Entry tags:

conclave,
movies

(no subject)

I'm kind of thinking that I want to rewatch Conclave. Just in the mood. There's something about watching a Good Film that I've already seen a couple of times that makes me appreciate it even more. You know, the costuming, the composition of thoughts, the set dressing. Stuff like that.

It'd be kind of fun to watch it with somebody else, but nobody I know in person is into it. Bummer.

And of course, a rewatch would be yet another chance to stare at the most beautiful brown eyes the world has ever seen (according to me, at the moment). Bloody hell I sure do hope Carlos Diehz will be in more movies in the future. He was so good in Conclave! And also he's very handsome!

Gotta' hand it to him, he sure does prove that it's never too late to try something you've always wanted to do, and also have a great time doing it. And also make Quite An Impression to tons of people, apparently. That last bit is outside reach for most and not what everyone's aiming for anyway, but points one and two are very achievable and always good to remember as a Possibility.

Entry tags:

Intersection of history and art history

A black and white photograph of a blind woman, taken by photography Paul Strand. She is wearing a large placard that read "Blind" and a small medallion that reads "Licensed Peddler" across the top, "2622" in the middle, and "New York City" on the bottom.

This is a photograph entitled "Blind Woman, New York, 1916" by photographer Paul Strand. One of Strand's techniques was to use a camera with a right-angle lens so that he could take candid photographs of people without them being aware that he was doing so — truly candid photographs. Obviously the right-angle lens wasn't necessary in this case, but probably still used it because he would have had it one the camera while out photographing.

I became aware of this photograph while in grad school for art history — one of my first major projects was a design for an exhibition of Strand's photographs, and this one of the 13 photographs I chose.[/1] And yet for all the time I spent studying this photograph in the course of preparing that project, there was one aspect of it that I didn't notice until today, when I saw it reprinted in an article on the relationship between blindness and photography (considering blind people as both subjects and recipients[/2] of photography) in the Fall 2025 issue of Art in America.

The aspect of the photograph that I hadn't considered is the licensed peddler medallion that she wears above the "blind" placard. From the title of the photograph[/3], we know the year that the medallion was in use. Additionally, the number on the medallion is clearly legible. This means that if the files of peddler medallion applications have been preserved[/4] and if they are accessible, it should be possible to determine the identity of this woman and to do a biographical/historical study of her.

At the time that I did this project, I was very new to art history, and so kept my art history practice distinctly separate from my history practice, but it's interesting now to look back at this photo and see this opportunity for historical study.

[/1] The exhibition was to have shown continuities in the genres of photographs that Strand produced at the beginning and end of his career, despite the changes in location and technology over that 50-year interval. It would have consisted of 6 pairs of photographs, each consisting of one photograph from early in his career and one from his late-career book Ghana: An African Portrait, plus one additional photograph. Each pair of photographs would have displayed one of six categories I identified in Strand's work: Still lifes, botanicals, cityscapes, candid portraits, portraits of machinery, and pictures of doors and windows. The 13th photograph would have been a posed portrait, which was a genre present in his late-career works but not in his early career.
[/2] "Recipients" is the best word I can think of here, since "viewers" is obviously incorrect. The author talks about using ChatGPT to generate descriptions of photographs.
[/3] Strand was of the school of photographers who believed that titles should be strictly descriptive.
[/4] Which I freely admit is a very big if.

Opera Atelier's remount of The Magic Flute

https://operacanada.ca/opera-atelier-the-magic-flute-straightforwardly-enjoyable-production/

Entry tags:

QOTD: On invention

“Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is also the child of impoverishment.” (Glenn Adamson, “Making Do,” Artforum, Summer 2025, p. 147)

I was particularly struck by this when I read it. So often I've heard the "Necessity is the mother of invention" proverb, but I'd never really considered how the necessity might come not from the nonexistence of the thing that was needed but instead from a lack of access to the thing. On considering it more, this quote seems related to William Gibson's "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed." (which is one of my favorite quotes).

Entry tags:

humor,
wtf

Information that's true, but at the same time absolutely useless

A. and I picked up a load of bread when we went to Costco the other day. As I was opening the package, I happened to look at the nutrition information box. The first thing I noticed was:

Servings per container: 18

And then immediately below that:

Serving size: 1/18 loaf

Not that I had planned to use the information from the package to portion out the bread, but this struck me as stupider than usual for portion sizes listed on packages. *eyeroll*

In case you've never been subjected to the stupidity of American package labeling, other dumb portion sizes that I've noticed are:

Multiple servings listed on a package that any ordinary person would consider to be single-serving (in order to lower the calorie count)
Number of servings that don't divide evenly into the size of the container (e.g. "Servings per container: About 3½")
Servings sizes listed in units that don't make actually portioning out the item easy (e.g. lunch meats that list portion sizes by weight when what would be really useful would be portion sizes by number of slices [which would be quite possible, since the slices are of uniform size])

Entry tags:

Craft - Eldest's quilt

Last weekend I got Eldest's quilt to the point that there is a 6x6 block section, which is now hanging on the wall. There are four more rows, being 24 blocks, that are to be made -- I had four of those done, so 20 to make. With the goal* of getting the top assembled by the end of the year I worked out that if I got two blocks done a week, by picking the fabric through the week and sewing one per Saturday/Sunday, that should be doable -- if I can maintain that rate, I'll be done by the 21st December, and then the uni will be on shutdown, and it is entirely reasonable to believe that I can assemble the rows (I might actually do some assembly ahead of that) and get it done.

I had some paper blanks to draw, which I did through the week (I was short four because of the mishap earlier with doing the margins wrong), and I've laid out three of the slightly odd ones. I sewed the first of those today, trimmed it, did a seam on the next, and declared that was enough. But it does put me ahead by a block and a half :) (the incomplete is a three pieces of fabric block, rather than a seven pieces of fabric block, so it is half done with a single seam. Yes, it is weird).

I had been underwhelmed with the selection of fabrics on the first block, but I trusted in the planning, and sewed them, and I'm really happy with the way they look. I might have to unpick the second one, because it isn't quite sitting right, but I might just trim it slightly differently.

I do have some other craft goals for the rest of the year, but if I only achieve one, this is the one that I want to have done. I have finished the second section of the brown / green blanket, I just have to cast on for the third (I'm picking up along the side, which is a new-to-me skill, and I am very much procrastinating. Going to go and lay it out now, and see if I can motivate myself to at least decide how many stitches I'm going to pick up :) )

* stretch goal: sandwich and start quilting; not plausible goal: bind / finish

Entry tags:

day-to-day life

Hello! Still here!

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well. I've been busy recently and so haven't posted, but I am still around. Yesterday I had my birthday (52) and today A. and I had our wedding anniversary (33).[/1]

Today I made my once-a-year trip back to LiveJournal (I have an LJ friend who wishes me a happy birthday by LJ message every year.). I looked around for a moment this time and noticed a couple of changes about the place: For starters, paid accounts are now called "Pro" accounts. And when you click on it (out of curiosity to see how much they cost now), you discover that they're priced in rubles now! I'm still pissed off about what happened to LJ. I love it here at DW, but I miss the people who got lost during the transition over.

[/1] Yes, we got married the day after my 19th birthday. In fact, we spent my 19th birthday in line at city hall getting out wedding license. We could have been married on my 19th birthday — when we went to the judge's office to schedule the ceremony, he wanted to just drag in a couple of secretaries to act as witnesses and marry us right then and there, but A. wanted her mother and sister to be there, so we put it off until the next day.

Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: Philip Glass

Yuletide Letter

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hi there! I am so happy that we matched for this Yuletide. This is my very first time participating, and I am excited to see what you come up with for me. As you can see from my requested fandoms, my taste is somewhat eclectic, and that goes for fic as well. Odds are that whatever you choose to write will work for me because I want to see your own creativity and unique take on things shine. Please be mindful of my DNWs and try to write something that is generally in line with the spirit of the work that inspired it unless otherwise noted. Other than that, I aim to be flexible and am eager to see what you create for me.

General DNWs: PWPs, scat, watersports, character bashing, non-con (dub con is fine), humiliation, infidelity, non-canonical character death, modern Aus for historical canons

General Likes: Humor, romance, witty banter, canon divergent Aus, character studies, missing scenes, hurt/comfort, soulmates, reincarnation, angst, mutual pining, post canon, first times, fluff, fake dating, epistolary, holiday and winter themes, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, established relationships, time travel

For more specific details about each individual fandom, please see below. Treats are very much welcomed and appreciated. :)

( Read more... )

Frustrating video of Prokofiev's The Gambler

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/10/16/frustrating-gambler-in-salzburg/

Entry tags:

body health

PSA, mental health day

PSA: everyone please remember to do your breast self-examinations. This is absolutely a half-arsed is better than can't be arsed situation.

Earlier this year a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. So far so good, chemo seems to have done its job, etc etc.

It made me realise I wasn't reliably doing my breast self-exams post endometrial ablation, because I no longer have a menstrual cycle to remind me. And so I've been doing them somewhat regularly, possibly more often than once a month, because more frequent is better than less, and time is a slippery concept. Also, my breasts never ceased to be lumpy post teen years, and I'm never entirely sure that I'll remember what the lumps feel like, so more frequently is better for me. I'm aware that my breasts get more tender cyclically. However, the left one became continuously sore on the outside edge and into the arm pit, so I raised it with my doctor, who sent me for mammogram and ultrasound. Which was this morning.

Surprisingly, the medicos were not concerned about the left breast. I was called back for additional imaging on the mammogram for the right breast. And then there were a lot more images taken of the right with the ultrasound, and the sonographer went and got the radiographer to declare if they wanted more done. The upshot is that I have something that wasn't there on the previous scan. They were discussing wait six months and rescan vs biopsy; I made a flippant comment about also having had a benign nodule in a lung, and one about how bright the bit on the image looked. One of those two things flipped the radiographer to 'right, biopsy, get a referral from your doctor'.

This is on the side I'm not feeling anything wrong at all. Which is why the reminder: keep checking for these things.

Also, I'm having at least a mental health half day, because the idea of reading about imaginaries of genAI is Too Much.

Entry tags:

french

FUCKING CLOWN COUNTRY

*plays La Marseillaise on the kazoo*

Classy but confusing Tales of Hoffmann

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/10/14/salzburgs-hoffmann-is-hard-to-decode/

Entry tags:

(no subject)

+ Long weekend. Had dinner with parents. Did a lot of faffing around aside from that. I feel like I didn't really do much aside from sleep and watch movies.

+ Some people invited me out to a thing, then cancelled but forgot to inform me. I didn't find out until the afternoon on the day it was going to happen, when I sent a text to check on the time (though luckily with enough notice that it wasn't a big deal). I'm still kind of annoyed about it. Like, on the one hand, I didn't really want to go to this thing anyway. On the other hand... dude, seriously? They want to reschedule, but I'm 50/50 on whether I'll decline.

+ Watched Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. Beautiful film, but very very artsy. It's an anthology of eight vignettes or "dreams", each inspired by an actual recurring dream Kurosawa had. Some are more fantastical than others. I'm glad that I took the time to watch it, but I'm also very glad that it was not my first Akira Kurosawa film - I don't think it would have been a good introduction to his work. Very recommended for Art Film enthusiasts though.

+ [Hetalia] Came across someone grumbling about the prevalence of SE/FI and the lack of other FI pairs, and on the one hand yeah I feel that, but on the other hand they were going on about how they've never seen work with other FI pairs except as a joke, and I'm like - hold on. Excuse me. Dude, you haven't been looking. Sure, there isn't a lot, but I've never seen a NO/FI or EE/FI shipper who wasn't 100% earnest and enthusiastic. There aren't a lot of fanworks out there, but there are some, and a lot of them are quite nice. Pairings other than those two are much fewer, but every so often something unexpected turns up. You just have to go looking, man. Or make your own. ...Anyway, it did remind me of a No/Fi story I've had notes for that I never did get around to writing. Maybe I'll try to write it when I'm on vacation in November. Not that I'll be sharing it with that asshole, but I do like the idea and it'd be nice to get it on paper.

Elegant Orfeo revival at the COC

https://bachtrack.com/review-orfeo-euridice-carsen-canadian-opera-company-toronto-october-2025

Entry tags:

What’s in my rucksack?

I’m eschewing the Friday Five in favour of a meme that the FF for this week seems to have revived.

From left to right, top to bottom, here are the items in the photo.

Rucksack. The brand is Herschel. It has a lot of internal pockets and carries a crazy amount of stuff, while also being pretty slim profile.
Noise-cancelling over-ear headphones. I cannot live without these and have no idea how I survived many years of long commutes on public transport before I bought them.
Coffee cup. Collapsible! Purchased from my favourite barista, a one-woman outfit operating out of my local train station.
Toiletries bag. I didn’t empty this out. It contains lip gloss, medicine, hand sanitiser and hand lotion.
Red pen. For correcting mistakes, many of which are my own.
Tipex. See previous item.
Laser pointer. An essential component of my job is lecturing and giving talks. There is never any guarantee that a laser pointer will be available alongside AV equipment, so I carry my own.
Pen. A freebie from a workshop or a conference, usually.
Multi-tool. This was a freebie from the Maui conference. It has lots of little swappable magnetic bits inside. I have only used the screwdriver bits so far.
Paper clip. You never know.
Notebook and pen. I go through notebooks (again, most of them are freebies) every couple of months. This is the latest in the series.
HDMI-to-USB-C cable. There’s no HDMI port on my laptop.
Two memory sticks. I borrowed the blue one from a colleague about two years ago and am now too embarrassed to return it. The minion is mine. He used to have trousers, but they fell down a stairwell and were lost in a basement.
Lucky pinecone. Keiki gave me this when we were in California. I carry it in one of the outer side pockets.
Packet of biscuits and a mango lollipop. Emergency food, which will probably be eaten by one of the children.
Macbook Air. Laptop from Institution A, my primary employer. I also have an HP Windows laptop from Institution B, my other employer. I am mostly indifferent to the Mac / Windows debate, although I will say that the Macbook laptop’s trackpad is far better.
Railcard. The train apps for railcards and tickets are notoriously unreliable, especially when you don’t have a good internet connection, so I still carry paper copies.
Glasses case. At the moment these contain my sunglasses, which are prescription and which I sometimes wear in winter to cut the glare from headlights when I’m driving. My untinted varifocals are usually on my face.
Universal adapter, USB cables, and a handful of coins. I prefer to be equipped to take advantage of charging points whenever I can, especially since I travel so much.
Fan. From the Louvre, featuring the Mona Lisa. Very good for public transport.

Please link your “What’s in my bag?” posts in the comments, especially if I haven’t commented on them.

Entry tags:

QOTD: Vincent van Gogh on learning

“I am always doing what I can't do yet in order to learn how to do it.” (Vincent van Gogh, in an 1885 letter to Anthon van Rappard)

I like this — I'm always trying to learn new things, so it makes me happy to see someone else feeling the same way.

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Book reaction: Solarpunk: Short Stories from Many Futures (Francesco Verso, ed.)

I just finished reading this anthology of solarpunk-themed stories, and I loved it. Most of the authors here were unknown to me, but that probably says more about me being out of touch with the current state of science fiction than the authors themselves. (Feel free to tell me in the comments which of the authors I mention I should know about [in your estimation] and which ones were unknown to you as well.)

The stories approach solarpunk from a variety of directions, examining a variety of different ideas and technologies. Some are set in a time of transition from the current world to a solarpunk world, while others are set further in the future, in a world that's more firmly solarpunk. I like that the authors aren't afraid to admit that a solarpunk world would still have problems.

Looking back over the table of contents, these are the stories that I'd most recommend, as they're the ones that seem both to have stuck with me best and to have had the most interesting ideas. - "Rules for a Civilization" by Jerri Jerreat - "Orchidaceae" by Thomas Badlan - "For the Snake of Power" by Brenda Cooper - "The Maestro of Small Things" by Francesco Verso - "Drawing the Line" by Gustavo Bondoni" - "Lizard Skin" by Lucie Lukačovičová - "The Lighthouse Keeper" by Andrew Dana Hudson

Two other stories that I enjoyed but that I rank lower because they centered on crewed space travel, which just doesn't really seem solarpunk to me were - "Have Space Bike, Will Travel" by Ingrid Garcia - "The Spider and the Stars" by D.K. Mok

Another story that I enjoyed reading but that I found myself pushing away from because of the technology used is Ken Liu's "Byzantine Empathy." I'm normally a big fan of Liu, both as a writer and as a futurist/worldbuilder, but I just can't believe that blockchain/cryptocurrency based on proof of work has any place in a solarpunk future.

This leaves you with about half a dozen other stories that just didn't really grab me strongly enough for me to want to recommend them to you but, as always, YMMV.

Before I end this longer-than-usual reaction, I'd like to take a moment to talk about the physical form of this book. It's a hardcover book produced as part of the "Beyond & Within" series from Flame Tree Press, and is produced to be pleasant to look at and to hold. It's got a foiled cover, marbled page edges, and feels comfortable to hold while reading. But there's one design choice they made that just irked me every time I looked at it: Solarpunk is one word, yet on the cover and the spine, they present it as two words, one below the other. I know that they know better — both the back cover and Verso's introduction spell it correctly — and it really bugs me that they misspell this important word, which may be unfamiliar to many readers, in the most prominent parts of the book. (Both the title page and the half-title page are based on the typography of the cover, and so also misspell the word.)

But leaving that unfortunate design choice aside, I highly recommend this book.

Alice Ho's "Dark Tales" played by Duo Concertante

https://myscena.org/john-gilks/cd-review-alice-ho-dark-tales-duo-concertante/

Entry tags:

haircare,
self

In lieu of a real post

today's important news is that I've cut all my hair off.

This has been planned since the beginning of 2023; with the 'when I'm obviously going grey' as the trigger point; I then waited until after the wedding. Hair at the back was long enough to repeatedly get caught in the waistband of trousers. Hair is halfway to packaged up to send to one of the wig making mobs. Thanks to chaomanor and maharetr for the loan of the clippers, and Youngest for a mostly even cut.

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

Comet says no

It's a grim, cold, foggy day. Comet is not at all interested in participating in it.