abyss_valkyrie: made by <user name=magicrubbish> (Default)
[personal profile] abyss_valkyrie
20 icons of none other than Zhu Yilong for celebrity20in20. :D All icons are free to take and use. Comments are loved!

Preview:
  

20 Zhu Yilong Icons )

ISO a unicorn backpack

Apr. 23rd, 2026 11:41 am
the_shoshanna: Michael from the original TV Nikita, suffering (my fandom suffers)
[personal profile] the_shoshanna
No, not that kind. The hard-to-find kind.

I carry a backpack rather than a shoulderbag, because I like to have my hands free and I don't like the way a shoulderbag can flop down in front of me when I bend forward. Also it's easier to carry a lot in a backpack, which is important for grocery shopping, day hiking, etc. For a decade or more, up until last summer, my everyday carry was a basic Jansport school-type backpack. But while we were in Wales I realized that a) the rain cover I'd put on it was useless (almost lost my passport to water damage, YIKES) and b) it was fraying dangerously thin. Which, after so many years, it was entitled to do! But that has sent me on A Quest.

I'd made do with that basic Jansport for years, but now that I'm exploring options, I have very particular requirements! And I can't find a pack that meets them, argh.

I want a 28- to 32-liter capacity, a proper hip belt, and a flat back so that I can put an iPad or a folder of papers in it, against my own back, without risking them getting bent. (In other words, not a curved-for-ventilation back like this one.) I very much want panel loading rather than top loading, which I find awkward and inconvenient, although I might settle for top loading if everything else were amazingly good. It's hard for me to imagine a really good pack without load lifter straps. And I'd love it to have shoulder straps styled after running vests, with lots of storage, although now we're getting into "I want sparkles on it!" territory.

On the spot in Wales, I bought a pack at a local Trespass store. Its hip belt was reasonably good, but had no storage pockets. It claimed a 30L capacity, but I think it lied; it felt more like 25. And when I bought it I wasn't thinking about the fact that the curved back was going to be a dealbreaker; I didn't have the iPad or a portfolio of papers with me and since it hadn't been an issue with the old Jansport, it didn't occur to me. So when we got home I offloaded it; tried unsuccessfully to sell it and ended up giving it to Geoff, who wants to give it a try.

To replace it, I bought a North Face Surge 2 off Poshmark. It claims a capacity of 32L, but it sure doesn't feel like it; more like 25? And it's relatively heavy, which isn't great for day hiking. It does have a flat back, but its hip belt, although it exists (and can tuck away when I'm just carrying a light load around town), is fairly minimal, doesn't transfer as much weight as a proper one would, and also has no storage pockets.

So I bought an REI Venturi 30 off Goodwill. It has much better capacity while weighing less, and a good hip belt. I think the torso may be a little short for me, but it's okay. However, the photos I scrutinized online before buying it still misled me; its back is curved. I've bought a storage clipboard to put the iPad and papers in, but it's still a bit of a kludge; it's an awkward thing to pack other things around, and it's a bit flimsy.

Meanwhile I've kept on surfing alllllll the dealer and review sites, looking for my perfect pack. For a while I thought I'd found it in the Osprey Tempest Velocity 30; I love Osprey packs in general (that's what I use as luggage), and this one was where I learned that running-vest-style shoulder straps are a thing and fell in love with the idea. I almost bought it -- but the fact that it's not only top loading but has a stupid little flap over the top, rather than a proper lid, killed it for me. (At least at list price; if I can find a used one going cheap, I might give it a try.)

Then I stumbled on what may actually be my unicorn! The Arc’teryx Aerios 30 looks absolutely amazing and I wants it, precious, I wants it nowwwwwwwwww.

It's discontinued, nobody has it in stock, and I can't find anybody selling a used one. Sigh.

ETA: I swear I didn't see any yesterday, but today there are a handful of them showing on eBay! ...but they are CA$400 and up, not counting any import duties or taxes because they're all coming from the US or Asia, and I'm certainly not paying that much for something I can't return, and possibly not for something I could, since I have a hard time imagining that even this pack is that good. I mean, I paid US$33 for the REI Venturi, and it's acceptable.
beccaelizabeth: my Watcher tattoo in blue, plus Be in red Buffy style font (Default)
[personal profile] beccaelizabeth
I am above page 750 in the Justice League Dark omnibus I am reading
and very few of them in this quarter were worth my time.

I don't think it's just me being out of practice reading comics, it really is meaning mash.
They spend about two frames on any given strand of story and then try to make of it a tapestry.

There's no emotion here, just endless motion.
Hollowed out parts that could be characters if you took them to doll repair shops.

I don't even know if it would make more sense with a different selection of issues.
I don't think making sense is something it is particularly devoted to.

And the general feeling of intro outro being all it will ever do continues.
I know they were rewriting their world but it keeps reframing everything and then not giving us anything to put in the new picture.

There isn't a lot of John Constantine or Zatanna in this even if you pick relevant bits out
and I am starting to understand why the fanfic I read only seems to refer to like a half dozen issues
because those ones had a bit of story and some feeling attached.



I am a grumpy person today.


Also, trying to read this ridiculously heavy thing keeps squashing me to the point of feeling sick.

I do not however think that is the primary reason I'm getting bored and annoyed here.




It was however potentially funny earlier on in this reading, when John went somewhere he can neither lie nor shut up. They said the most shallow and obvious things that way, but it's a fun idea.

Also they used John's nightmares to make him obviously extremely informed and scheming, which is interesting.

And it gave him a little explainer box when he went to steal someone else's magic, which actually undermines the amount of writing they've put in to making him seem dodgy, but his motivation for the day was, magic nearly ate him so he doesn't want to leave other people to be messed around by it. Kind of works but every time they flatten him out they leave bits behind. Magic nearly ate him yet he keeps reaching for more magic, can't leave that out.

Zatanna demonstrated she was a hero who would save the innocent rather than attack the guilty, then became miss not appearing in this book.

So, bit boring.


Maybe it'll get over the stupid crossover stuff soon and have a story again?



ETA at 8pm: It did indeed get back to actual story. Turns out the bit I got entirely bored of was three hundred pages of 'Trinity War'. Now it's back to being actually Justice League Dark and Constantine issues it has a finite number of characters. Still mostly John though. Or this universe of John anyway. I kind of like the bit where he held an artefact that makes people evil and he was mostly just depressed since he's seen it all before. I like this bit with the Nightmare Nurse curing him. I pretty much dislike how what is named as a team book is so emphatic about him being the main character. And I keep on having to stop and be annoyed that the evil he's confronting is all this DCU multiverse stuff with the magic macguffins and big costumed whatsits instead of actual grounded at least a smidge political stuff. But then there was one issue where it kind of attempted to link it back to that? Domestic violence and homelessness actually got into the story, instead of just Darkseid and a house made of nightmares.

Basically there's bits that make the animated stories make a lot more sense, and bits where it is telling solid story, and bits that I want to harvest for useable parts.

But they're playing a very different game than the other media or versions of John and it's reminding me of all the reasons I don't read many comics.

April: Bingo

Apr. 23rd, 2026 04:41 pm
prisca: (sweet short mod small)
[personal profile] prisca posting in [community profile] sweetandshort
It's bingo time again. Let's have some fun with the following table:

dangerelegant
lostsilence




To complete the challenge, grab all the prompts and blackout the card. You can do single works or combine the four prompts in one work.
No one will blame you when you decide to do only one or two prompts, though.

Allowed are fics up to 500 words, small poems like haiku or similar, icons (100x100 px), and small graphics up to 500 px width x height. Please stay to the maximum, even if you decide to use all prompts in one work.

All fandoms, genres, and ratings are welcome, as are original work and real-person work.

Please tag your work with all relevant tags.

This challenge runs until April 30, at midnight in your time zone.

:::

Challenge Reminder:
10 out of 20
This and That
Rare Words

Community Thursday

Apr. 23rd, 2026 11:18 am
vriddy: Link from Legend of Zelda taking aim with a bow (taking aim)
[personal profile] vriddy
Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Commented on [community profile] anime_manga.

Commented on [community profile] bnha_fans.

Commented on [community profile] common_nature.

Thursday @ 7:57 pm

Apr. 23rd, 2026 07:57 pm
alisx: A demure little moth person, with charcoal fuzz and teal accents. (Default)
[personal profile] alisx

Scenes from the Shelter:

1. Lady who organises the volunteers taking around what looked like an induction group. One of them broke off when they saw me: “Did you work with [cat’s name]?” Sure did; was there when you adopted her, in fact. She was an older cat with health issues, who’d been there a long time. Well, her new cat mum showed me a photo of her sitting on the back of a sofa in the sun, gazing peacefully out an apartment window. Perfect.

2. There’s been a cat in one of the wall cages who bit when it was brought in and has spent the last few weeks hiding under a towel and hissing every time anyone opens the door. Including this morning, according to the notes. Except, when I went to feed it this afternoon? One teeny hiss then ten minutes of purring and rubbing all over the bars and my hands. I don’t know what changed, sweetheart, but I’m so glad.

Leave a comment.+

abyss_valkyrie: made by <user name=magicrubbish> (Default)
[personal profile] abyss_valkyrie
Sooo, there's a comm dedicated to ships at [community profile] ships20in20! I only found out a few days ago and decided to sign up with the couple Adachi X Kurosawa from the Japanese version of Cherry Magic.
The category icons had to be made from the video inspiration of Top Gun Maverick soundtrack-Hold my hand by Lady Gaga, so I took the inspo from 5 various moments which you can see below.
Song lyrics are from Taylor Swift's Stay Stay Stay.
Comments are loved. All icons are free to take and use.

Preview:


20 icons and ALTs of Cherry Magic )

Vid Rec: Laugh Track

Apr. 22nd, 2026 09:18 pm
hannah: (James Wilson - maker unknown)
[personal profile] hannah
Laugh Track [Fanvid] (0 words) by periru3
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: MASH (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Sidney Freedman & Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, B. J. Hunnicutt & Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, B. J. Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce
Characters: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Sidney Freedman, B. J. Hunnicutt
Additional Tags: Fanvids, Embedded Video, Mental Institutions, Infant Death, Angst, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Episode: s11e16 Goodbye Farewell and Amen
Summary:

All I am is shreds of doubt.



Goodbye Farewell Amen: the vid. periru3 took the prompt and ran with it to suitably heartbreaking triumph.

Last week in my life:

Apr. 22nd, 2026 06:25 pm
witchpoetdreamer: (Default)
[personal profile] witchpoetdreamer
Finished reading The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne today. It was an entertaining read, but most of all, it gave me fodder for a new (and absolutely empty) fandom XD The characters were really interesting and I wished to have stayed with them for much longer, so I'll do just that I think! Not before I am done writing the Terra X Cinderella fanfic though, but I'll write down a few ideas for sure!

I've completed another notebook/journal, the first of the year. I started it at the tail end of 2025, so it lasted me more or less 4 months, which is pretty regular for me, although a lot of the time they last more like 6 instead. Considering I've been writing a lot more in general this year, I'm pretty pleased with this. That journal was an A5 (a pretty standard size for my notebooks in general), but this new one is an A4 with blank paper that I begun as a sketchbook and wow, I love how easy it is to make collage in it and just fill it up with more than just my writing. I've also pulled out my typewriter and I've really enjoyed typing stuff on it and sticking it in my journal, it allows for a good amount of freedom on my favourite medium: paper.

Getting a bit nerdy about typewriters )

Last week has been pretty quiet. The slow internet experience continues to do me good, even though I sometimes struggle still with the self-pressure of *being* online. Nothing anyone can do, I just ride the waves of discomfort and get better when the next one rolls around. Obsidian has become a constant fixture in my computer usage, always there when I feel the need to type something without wanting it to be on the internet. I've been very fond of the mono font I'm using on it, the same as DW's HTML post format. For coding or for writing, it's certainly a good font that whispers "create" whenever I see it (not that I've started coding yet, I just know it's the kind of font I always see when I see code XD). It's honestly impossible to ignore.

I think that's all for now! I'll probably come back with a longer review of the Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne soon, there is a lot to say about the book but I want to put some order in my thoughts besides "I like those characters" before sharing more about it.

I hope the week is treating you well! What's something that made you particularly happy today?

Lake Lewisia #1386

Apr. 22nd, 2026 05:11 pm
scrubjayspeaks: Town sign for (fictional) Lake Lewisia, showing icons of mountains and a lake with the letter L (Lake Lewisia)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
For a while, as he signed an apartment lease that didn’t seem to have any sneaky clauses and visited a food pantry that didn’t seem to be trying to convert him to anything, his fear got worse instead of better. Where was the next conman, seeing an easy mark, or the next bully, seeing a helpless victim? It took a long time for him to accept that walking into the bakery looking scared and overwhelmed would get him offered a cup of tea on the house, all his fears just old wounds in this place, willingly tended by others.

---

LL#1386

Thursday @ 9:39 am

Apr. 23rd, 2026 09:39 am
alisx: A demure little moth person, with charcoal fuzz and teal accents. (Default)
[personal profile] alisx

My most controversial homophobic opinion is that "Pink Pony Club" is actually really fucking mid.

Leave a comment.+

erinptah: (daily show)
[personal profile] erinptah

Rereading the middle of Volume 3 (Seven Seas edition), which brings us to the end of Volume 4 (TokyoPop edition). This one has vampires in it! Good times.

As usual, I’m posting the individual reactions on Mastodon and Bluesky, then rounding them up in the blog. Previous roundups in my PSOH fandom tag. You can pick up the books with my affiliate links here.

Still haven’t figured out who “Madam C” is. Keeping an eye out…

Cover art of D with a globe full of orcas


sage: close up of a red poppy (season: spring)
[personal profile] sage
The Vampire Lestat new trailer


gnu MinoanMiss/Rubynye
update on Ny's cause of death: she had an asymptomatic covid infection, which caused the heart attacks, which caused the brain edema.
Covid: Speaking Out About Rubynye (1268 words) by werpiper
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work, Public Health - Fandom
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Me | Fanwork Creator(s), Rubynye
Additional Tags: COVID-19, Death
Summary:

Dearly loved fandom artist and author Rubynye died of covid, at age fifty.

She was a precious friend to me, and I talked about this at a memorial held for her online six weeks after. These are my notes.

GNU Ny.



books (Cline, Cline, Jackson Bennett, Puhak, Kingfisher, Wodehouse) )

yarning
2 kickbunny orders! one green and one gray. Discovered late Saturday that I didn't have enough light green or enough gray yarn to finish either bunny. I got the green at walmart, but I had to order the gray from Amazon. (Evil empires either way, but cheaper than any other option.) Still putting them together, slower than usual, due to busted thumb.

healthcrap
Tendinosis in my left thumb again, from distal all the way to the wrist. Really super annoying. Almost as annoying as going to the allergist for a shot and being denied one because I'm having to use albuterol with my symbicort at night to stop me from coughing all night. And there was no earlier appt for me to move mine to (a month out), so I guess I'm not getting back to maintenance dose after all. She did prescribe me some nasal antihistamine I forget the name of, and they're delivering it, so I don't have to drive all the way over there again. SIGH.

astrology )

#resist
May 1: No Kings 4: the general strike

I hope all of you are doing well! Happy Earth Day! I hope y'all can enjoy a bit of nature today! <333
duckprintspress: (Default)
[personal profile] duckprintspress
A pink background decorated with rainbows and dashed lines in the colors of the lesbian pride flag. The text reads, “Lesbian Visibility Week Bundle; 94 sapphic & lesbian books for $40 USD; 4/20 - 4/26; exclusively on Itch.io”

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! Three Duck Prints Press titles – Moongatherer by Willa Blythe, Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley, and the anthology She Wears the Midnight Crown – are part of this awesome bundle of an awesome 94 sapphic and lesbian books for only $40!!

SAPPHIC E-BOOKS! GET YER DISCOUNTED SAPPHIC E-BOOKS NOW ONLY ON itch.io!


duckprintspress: (Default)
[personal profile] duckprintspress
A flier-esque graphic entitled A Big Gay Market. Below this is the Duck Prints Press logo, and another circle beside that has text that reads "I'm a vendor!" Additional text reads, Next Market Sunday April 26th, Rain Date Sunday May 3rd, Washington Park Knox St. Mall Albany NY 11 am - 4 pm. At the bottom are a couple QR codes next to "learn more" text, the url www.abiggaymarket.com, and logos for "our beneficiaries" (unirondack and queer youth advocacy retreat) and current sponsors (gabriella romero, Deirdre Brodie, the flour bender, and In Our Own Voices/IOVO.)

Spring has sprung, which means it’s time to get back outside and enjoy some sunshine, pleasant temperatures, fresh flowers, and of course the first A Big Gay Market in Washington Park of 2026! The forecast is promising sunny skies and mild temperatures, and there are gonna be almost 100 vendors around the Knox Street Mall, plus a community area, kids tent, wellness section, and even live music! I’ll be there, of course, and I’ll have both our most recent projects (before they become available on our website) – Monsterotica: Tales of Unusual Courtship and Coupling and Into the Split by Tris Lawrence, along with leftover merch from both campaigns and some other not-yet-released merch. I’ll have some new deals, too, so I hope you’ll come say hi.

Check out the vendor list, schedule, and more on the A Big Gay Market website! See ya there!

 



[April: Rare Words] Icons

Apr. 22nd, 2026 03:30 pm
tarlanx: Sun coming through green trees (GEN - Summer 2 - sun-leaves)
[personal profile] tarlanx posting in [community profile] sweetandshort
Challenge: April: Rare Words
Prompt: Apricate (sunbathe)
Fandoms: Martyrdom of St Sebastian, K2, Zuma Beach, Adventure Inc

Martyrdom of St Sebastian - Apricate by Tarlan K2 - Taylor Brooks - apricate by Tarlan Zuma Beach - Apricate by Tarlan Adventure Inc - Mac - apricate by Tarlan
 

~Love that for you.

Apr. 22nd, 2026 03:32 am
zarla: tiny yanni and zex (iadoreyou)
[personal profile] zarla
OKAY gonna make the Tomodachi post, haha. Well it's not complete, I found out how to batch-edit to get them all to a smaller size and all, and I got up to like 660 caps before I figured I should just post what I had lol. 660 caps is kind of a lot. MEMORIES OF THE OLD SCREENCAP ADVENTURE DAYS...

Anyway, I also put together all the little clips I recorded of them into one Youtube video so you can see them all pretty easily. A lot of the fun of Tomodachi is hearing their weird little Mii voices as they talk which you can't get across in screencaps. |D Also their little movements are super cute too!



In particular I think Temmie's voice is very cute, haha. Gaster's voice is incomprehensible which was an idea I stole from Robyn but it's SO GOOD

ANYWAY LET'S GO

Who will make the cut )

Alright that's enough for now lol.

lj post

Profile

hushpiper: tell her that's young / and shuns to have her graces spied / that hadst thou sprung / in deserts where no men abide (Default)
hushpiper

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