forestofglory: Cup of tea on a pile of books (books)
[personal profile] forestofglory
I’m leaving for a short trip soon and I thought it would be nice if I could finish up some of the massive pile of library books I have sitting around before then, seeing as I don’t want to take them with me. I didn't read as much of the pile as I hoped but I did make some progress!

Many of these are nominees for this year's Eisner Awards, since I looked at those and put in holds for the ones that seemed interesting recently.

Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters—Graphic novel about Vern, who having lost his job moves home to Florida where it turns out his grandma has gotten him a job at a weird tech company. This was fun and zanny. There’s multiverse travel and kinda trippy art to go with it. The story is a bit didactic but I really liked the message so that worked for me.

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux—This a murder mystery set at an all girls school in the 80s. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice it wasn’t contemporary) Our main character is a recent transfer student who doesn’t fit in. I really liked this, the characters were compelling, the mystery was interesting, and the ending felt just right
Content notes are spoilerish Homophobia, underage sex, death of a teen


Globetrotters: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's World Tour by Julian Voloj and Julie Rocheleau—This graphic novel is inspired by real historical events – that I knew basically nothing about before reading this! All I knew was that Nellie Bly was a pioneering woman journalist. The subtitle makes it sound like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were traveling together but actually they were racing to see who could get around the world the fastest! I was totally riveted!
Content note: period typical sexism and racism

Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen—The second Detective Beans book, about Beans the adorable detective kitten. This one is a collection of shorter stories, my favorite was the last one with the bear and the moon!

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young—This is hard to talk about. It's a graphic novel about a group of friends who are looking for one of their friends who is missing, possibly dead. (They are all teens) its kinda creepy, but also kind of heartwarming? Anyways I enjoyed it a lot!

Tri why

12/6/26 23:35
dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Sometimes it feels like learning Breton/brezhoneg is an exercise in "this might as well happen". Take numbers, for example.

Brezhoneg English
Unan One
Daou / Div Two (masculine form) / Two (feminine)
Tri / Teir Three (m) / Three (f)
Pevar / Peder Four (m) / (f)
Pemp Five
C'Hwec'h [1] Six
Seizh Seven
Eizh Eight
Nav [3] Nine
Dek Ten
Unnek One-ten (eleven)
Daouzek Two-ten (twelve)
Trizek Three-ten (thirteen)
Pevarzek Four-ten (fourteen)
Pemzek Five-ten (fifteen)
C'Hwezek Six-ten (Sixteen)
Seitek Seven-Ten (Seventeen)

So far so good, right? But is 18 "eight-ten"? You bet your ass it isn't! It's "tri-wec'h", ie "three-six". This might as well happen.

[1] The "C'H" trigram is one letter [2]. It's a voiceless velar fricative (IPA: [x]), ie pronounced like the Spanish "j".

[2] Not to be confused, of course with the digram "ch", itself also only one letter.

[3] That "v" is a vowel, by the way. "V" is pronounced "o" but only at the end of words. THIS MIGHT AS WELL HAPPEN.
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ARB Roundtable

11/6/26 16:35
forestofglory: A hand writing in Elvish (Writing)
[personal profile] forestofglory
I'm took part in a roundtable on "Positivity, Negativity or the Secret Third Thing (Criticism)" which is now up at Ancillary Review of Books!
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I recently had to get a new mp3 player, because my old one stopped working. As I was filling it with music, I put all of the musical Hamilton on there and took the opportunity to relisten to the whole thing in order while paying attention rather than "whatever comes up on shuffle while I'm out and about doing stuff". Overall, I don't think my opionion has changed much from a decade ago, ie: I enjoy it overall, Leslie Odom Jr is the best singer of the bunch (unfortunately, Lin-Manuel Miranda is the weakest), I wish the women got to do more than just Be Romantically And/Or Sexually Entangled With Hamilton, Lafayette's French accent sure is Something, Huh and slavery is a bit glossed over, innit? I do really like the artfulness of the lyrics -- the way the words work is really nice, idk.

Anyway, there's a line in Cabinet Battle #2 that goes "If we try to fight in every revolution in the world, we never stop" and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
"Is swimming from the Château d'If to land actually doable?" (à la Edmond Dantès, the Count of Monte Christo himself)

The answer is very much yes.

Looks kinda fun, honestly.
dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Has anyone seen the cartoon adaptation of La Quête d'Ewilan? How is it?
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ARGOS BEST DOG

7/6/26 23:49
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[personal profile] dhampyresa
I saw a trailer for Nolan's Odyssey before watching Project Hail Mary in theaters and at first i was fun trying to guess who each character was supposed to be, but then they showed a dog and I was like "oh so I'm not watching this movie then, ok". Just thinking about Argos is enough to make me tear up ;_;
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Urgh

6/6/26 22:21
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I hate how DNFing a book means I stop reading/wanting to read for some time afterwards. Like. What's up with that?! Just because one book is bad doesn't mean all books (or even comics) are bad. That's not how that works! That's not how any of this works!
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:(

6/6/26 00:32
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[personal profile] dhampyresa
I am very saddened to hear of Marjane Satrapi's death.
dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I was out with a friend and we were talking so long I missed the last métro home. So I went back on foot, which took around 90mn and was quite lovely. I only had to check a map thrice, on account of my brilliant strategy of "follow Seine to [Landmark], know how to get home from [Landmark]". Idk why I'm feeling so proud of navigating a city I've lived in my whole life, but I do.
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dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
The problem with this book is that I'm French.

Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting is a novel about deconstructing a country's founding myth. Said myth is inspired by Arthuriana and, especially, Joan of Arc. I'm not against Joan of Arc motifs (hell, it's one of the things I love about Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine). I am also pro deconstructing founding myths! Including French founding myths, including Joan of Arc.

However.

However, I think if you're going to be deconstructing a country's myths it should be your own country. Whether its because the book is in English or the author is USAmerican or the fictional country is England-coded (the main narrator so far (25%) is called "Owen Mallory") or a combination but this feels particularly disrespectful. Leave Jeanne alone and go bother George Washington or something.
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forestofglory: Cup of tea on a pile of books (books)
[personal profile] forestofglory
I've been nearly constantly sick and/or overwhelemed for the last two weeks, but I did read some things!

The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, et al.— A story about a group of kids forming a cartoonists club and making comics that’s also an intro to basic comics making and concepts. I’ve been wanting to read a bit more comics theory. (I’ve read Understanding Comics, but that was a while ago) Anyways this was cute and fun, but didn’t really scratch my comics theory itch. Would probably be good to give to a kid who is interested in comics though.

Supergirl's Family Vacation written by Brandon T. Snider, art by Sarah Leuver— This is so charming! It’s one of those graphic novels that’s its own little continuity – Supergirl is 13 and lives with her cousin Superman and his family and feels overlooked as a superhero. Anyway she convinces them all to go on vacation and then adventure happens! They go on a space road trip! Natasha Irons is there (she’s Supergirl’s best friend) Lois gets to be awesome but doesn’t steal the scene. There's a short scene of Batman and Wonder Woman getting instructions to take care of the stuff while they are away!

The whole thing is just very warm. I love the manga influenced art, the expressions are great, the colors are great! At one point there are magical girl-esqe transformation scenes. It’s very cute and sweet!

Batman & Robin Eternal by James Tynion IV et al— This did a much better job than Batman Eternal at being a story about legacy, and was just more cohesive in general. Only being half as long probably helped some. I read this when I was sick and bit out of it so I feel like some bits of it went over my head.

Laid-Back Camp Vol. 15-17 by Afro— While I’m on my slice-of-life manga kick I thought it would be nice to get caught up with this series.. It’s still one of my favorites of the genre, it's got food, female friendship, and great landscapes. It does make me sad that I am too disabled to go camping though.

Lightfall books 2-4 by Tim Probert— I was going to read these a bit slower, but they were due at the library so I had to hurry up a bit. This series is really good! I love the art, it's evocative, plus there are great landscapes! Also I didn’t say last time but there is a very good cat! The story went in some unexpected directions and I want to know what happens next! Too bad it's going to be a while before the next book is out.


A new season of my beloved wacky Chinese reality show The Truth has started airing and I'm excited for it! It's been a while since I watched anything.

Project Last Chance

2/6/26 23:40
dhampyresa: (SCIENCE SMASH)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I saw the Project Hail Mary movie and I really enjoyed it. Stupid power of friendship (and science), making me cry.

There's a line at one point about Grace's former girlfriend now being with someone named Mark, and in my head it's Mark "The Martian" Watney because that would be fucking hilarious.
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(no subject)

1/6/26 22:56
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
Quick note that post-by-email and comment-by-email is (sometimes?) failing silently without actually posting right now! I'm pretty sure this is related to last night's shenanigans and will be fixed once Mark can finish the full fix for it, which he's working on, but if you've posted or replied by email in the last 24 hours, fish it out of your sent folder to check if it posted!

EDIT: This should be fixed as of around 7AM EDT! We *believe* everything that was stuck in the plumbing has been sent along to your journal or the comment thread it was meant for; it's definitely not where it was stuck anymore, at least.
renay: photo of the milky way from new zealand on a clear night (Default)
[personal profile] renay posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
It's hard to write about an advanced reader copy of one of the most coveted science fiction releases of the quarter. I tried, multiple times, to collect some thoughts about Platform Decay, the latest release in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I failed, every time, because my love for this series is immense, but also hard to quantify. Finding the words to describe sincere emotions? Ugh. Therefore, Platform Decay is already out, and you can read it now via your library or favorite indie bookstore!

Platform Decay is the eighth entry in The Murderbot Diaries, following our hero as it stages a high stakes rescue on Corporate Ringworld. It's working apart from its usual allies, it must infiltrate and escape the station with several squishy humans, and oh right, a former enemy asks for its help, complicating the extraction. Nothing can go wrong!

(Things immediately go wrong.)

To make matters worse, it's also dealing with an emotional health module. What's more stressful than a hostage situation in corporate territory? Mobile therapy. Murderbot must protect its humans (no pressure), avoid corporate forces that would love to slurp its kidnapped humans into corporate slavery (assholes), and navigate across a hostile station where one mistake could cost it everything (business as usual!). Read more... )

Happy June 1!

2/6/26 00:03
dhampyresa: Paris coat of arms: Gules, on waves of the sea in base a ship in full sail Argent, a chief Azure semé-de-lys Or (fluctuat nec mergitur)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Missed May 1 because I was sick, but here's your annual apotropaic picture of (plastic) lily of the valley (with bonus Miss Creant the cat).

Cat has (fake) lily-of-the-valley on her

(no subject)

31/5/26 22:00
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Robby has managed to put in a temporary fix for the site errors and things failing to refresh or not showing up where they should! The permanent fix is going to need Mark's experience, and unfortunately -- seriously, this literally never fails -- Mark has been on an international flight all day, because of course he has. (Never. Fails. He and I are not allowed to both take vacation at once.)

The site will work just fine with the temporary fix in place, things just might be a little slow here and there. We'll keep you updated.

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bookgazing

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