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sonofgodzilla: the new zodiac (neko-hime)
[personal profile] sonofgodzilla
Ito Momoka is so new to us that as of February 2024, she had not joined AKB48.

Itomomo!


The nineteenth generation were announced on 17th March of last year following auditions that must have taken place whilst Itomomo was either still in Stardust’s theatre group, Always thankyou, under her stage name, Kitano Nana, or just after she had left. Here we are in June 2025 and, at the time of writing, we are one day away from the announcement of AKB48’s sixty-sixth single featuring Itomomo as a member of the senbatsu. In fact, not only is Itomomo, a member of a generation who debuted just last year, in the senbatsu for this single, she’s joined by one of her peers, Hanada Mei, as well as a whole host of overseas members. If you could sense my excitement about Yagi Azuki being a member of Masaka no Confession’s senbatsu, imagine what I am like at the moment, waking up so early on a Saturday and watching this stream and just reeling from the wild decisions management are finally making.

What do we know of Ito Momoko then, a girl who has barely been in the group a year. Born in December 2003, the first time most overseas fans possibly became aware of her was as one of the four kenkyuusei members featured in Masaka no Confession. Before that, however, Itomomo had made several appearances on B sides since Koi Tsun Jatta last year. One of the B sides was in fact a Wcentre with Sato Airi, Pin to Kita, something that should have communicated to us all that management expected big things of this girl.

Dedicated Japanese fans will have had a chance to have met Itomomo a long time before us, however. Her theatre debut came a month after the revelation of this new generation, beginning with performances of the tenth kenkyuusei stage, Soko ni Mirai wa Aru, a post-OUT OF 48 gathering of members of the seventeenth and eighteenth generations now bolstered by the new trainees.

Clearly, she made an impact, or, at the very least, management were banking on her making an impact, as at the end of September, she got a solo photo shoot in gravure magazine, B.L.T. Maybe part of this was by merit of her being the oldest member of her generation at 21—and by the way, I am really trying my best not to think about the fact that kids born in 2003 are 21-years-old—but whatever the case, it seems that Itomomo is more popular than us overseas fans could have guessed, even appearing on some of Nantettatte AKB48’s big songs like LOVE Machine and MomoClo’s Ikuze! Kaito Shoujo, even appearing on the album with a solo cover of the Honeyworks Hayami Sora song, Kawaikute Gomen—you know, the one covered by Takane no Nadeshiko.

Perhaps domestic fans might think it absurd that we’re so late to the party when it comes to appreciating Itomomo’s talent, but with the sixty-sixth single around the corner, I really think that’s going to change. I keep telling you that we’ve been on the cusp of a new age of AKB48, well, friends, now we’re at the tipping point and new members like Ito Momoko and her peers in the nineteenth generation are definitely going to push us over!
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
[personal profile] kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: YA/Children's

Wildwood is a 2011 children's novel by Colin Meloy, also known for his work as frontman for the Decemberists, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. It follows the adventures of two pretty much contemporary American children, Prue and Curtis, as they set off into the woods to rescue Prue's baby brother (who was carried off by crows) and discover a secret civilization of people and talking animals who have lived in the Impassable Wilderness for centuries and are now locked in a brewing war for control over it.

Things that would have made me love this when I was a kid:

• The world-within-a-world element. A magical society living just outside a regular city? Hell, yeah.
• Rich and vivid language, with an appealing narrative voice.
• Its worldbuilding (although I'm going to put a pin in this), which generally walks a nice line between whimsy and grit, with rules that establish themselves with a light touch.
• The length. This is a brick by children's book standards. It's well-paced and the sort of a thing that could keep a voracious reader busy all the way to their next trip to the library.
• Its sensibility about the independence of kid protagonists in the real world.
• The nomadic society of bandits and their king.
• The illustrations, particularly the full-colour inserts.

This didn't quite hit for me as an adult, but I'm glad I finally checked it out after years of meaning to.

I think the main thing that kept me from really loving it was wanting a little more interiority for the main characters. I get that the book is aiming for more of a fairy tale and Narnia vibe, but: 1) some of the characters' important choices really do hinge on personal decisions and relationships, and 2) this is a 540-page book. Fairy tales aren't built to run for 500+ pages, and it's longer than the first two Narnia books put together. I found myself craving more depth and emotional weight, especially as it went on.

For example... (Cut for Moderate Spoilers) )
Getting back to that asterisk next to the worldbuilding, I also found the story's decisions about diversity (or the relative lack thereof) occasionally distracting. I get it. Portland's pretty white, by design, and was even more so fifteen years ago. There are really only two characters from the real world and their direct relatives, and it wouldn't necessarily land well to be like, "All the characters of colour in this story are people lost in time, living in the woods."

But at the same time, among the predominantly 19th and 20th century settler-coded residents of the woods, you get these moments of groups with Indigenous coding who are either talking animals or white people—with the stereotypical two stripes of war paint and feathers in hair showing up in a picture of the latter. The text takes pains to characterize this group as Celtic, but that raises its own questions when a reference is made that seems to place them there before that territory's colonization, positioning a "since time immemorial" Irish population in the Oregon wilderness.

I often found myself looking at the aesthetics and thinking about those musical festivals full of severed pieces of Indigenous, Roma, and Celtic cosplay and felt like the fantasy here might be coming from a similar place.

The overall whiteness (and straightness, for that matter) of the book kept standing out because it's such a long story with such a huge cast. I did quite like large swathes of this book, but I think the length worked against it because the text kept offering more without necessarily offering more, if that makes sense.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I have no idea if the subsequent books address or change any of this. I'm not racing to pick up the next one, but I might flip through it at the library sometime to see what it's like.

An Excerpt )

Psycho Chicken

Jun. 4th, 2025 04:59 am
scripsi: (Default)
[personal profile] scripsi
Ever since the TACO acronym hit the news, I've had this Modern Talking parody running rent free in my head. So I will be genereous and share it...

Tuesday night.

Jun. 3rd, 2025 10:18 pm
hannah: (Stargate Atlantis - zaneetas)
[personal profile] hannah
In trying to tidy my closet and the dresses I've got in there, I'm now seeing how many "nice" dresses I have that cover a fairly wide variety of situations. It's nice to see that the ones I bought well over a decade ago are still largely holding up well.

In other news, while my sister in law E. and my brother J. are planning on going to Cancún, I somehow doubt they're at all interested in visiting the Chicxulub crater. Some people just don't know how to have a good time.

I just think it's pretty

Jun. 3rd, 2025 09:06 pm
chase_acow: cowboy on a horse against a colorful sunset (cowboy colorful)
[personal profile] chase_acow
I never know if anything or anyone is actually popular, but I saw this Anthony Hurd's art because his book it coming out, and I just love everything. He does some really interesting surrealism in his i was born in a gay bar show and his dark optimism series. Also, he does some really good cacti.

But mostly my attention turned to his most recent work and the content of his book. He arts queer cowboys that include men in dresses, bipoc, and older men. It's really colorful, I love the blocking, and everything feels so tender. You can decide if it's tender like a bruise or not.

Gay Dreaming. There are several galleries if you back out to his main site.



I'd like to buy a print for my birthday.
possibilityleft: (back)
[personal profile] possibilityleft
Finally, June! I'm getting my second tattoo this weekend!

*****

books! )

Couple Blake Lively Links

Jun. 3rd, 2025 03:33 pm
muccamukk: Text: Let me just go in the next room and crochet, while you have cigars and brandy and talk about beheadings. (HL: Men's Business)
[personal profile] muccamukk
Forbes: Taylor Swift And Blake Lively: Subpoena, Spectacle And Scrutiny.
IMO, dragging Swift in just to get attention, and then pretending Lively is the one dragging Swift in is just showing off how little Baldoni's team has on the legal side.

Reminder: Lively is suing over violations of her (and her female costars') right to a safe workplace. Leave Taylor Swift out of this.

The LA Times: Blake Lively backed by advocacy groups in legal fight with Justin Baldoni over #MeToo speech law

I don't think it's being reported enough that Baldoni's team is trying to strike down the law protecting survivors of sexual violence and discrimination from defamation suits. As in, get it declared unconstitutional because suing your victims should be part of Free Speech. Holy Fake Feminism, Batman.

Here's more about the law that Lively is invoking because this is a labour issue: Legislation to Protect Survivors of Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Discrimination from Weaponized Defamation Lawsuits Signed by Governor.

Here's a Bloomburg piece about on of the "inspirations" for why California decided it needed this law [archive link]: Ex-FTC Commissioner Faces Storm of Sexual Harassment Claims.

One of the women in that case helped put together one of the amicus briefs [PDF of court document], so that the law she helped draft, intending to protect people like her, doesn't get struck down. She has now been stalked, harassed and doxxed for speaking up in support of the law, because the Lively hate train people are truly free of hinges.

PRIDE 2: Tai/F'lessan

Jun. 3rd, 2025 05:47 pm
senmut: Ramoth and Mnementh's mating flight (Pern: Dragons Mating)
[personal profile] senmut
Outside the Flight (350 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragonriders of Pern
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: F'lessan/Tai [Dragonriders of Pern]
Characters: F'lessan [Dragonriders of Pern], Tai [Dragonriders of Pern]
Additional Tags: Established Relationships, Asexuality
Summary:

F'lessan and Tai talk about it.



Outside the Flight

F'lessan reached, and at the flinch, drew his hand back.

"Tai?"

She rolled over, eyes full of sorrow.

"Shh," he immediately said to the look, hating that she looked upset. "Can I just hold you?"

At that, she scooted over on the bed, and he settled on his back, to keep stress off his bad leg.

"I know Zaranth and Golanth are… involved," she said softly. "I… don't feel it. Like when she rises, and eventually it does break through to me."

He nodded, then kissed her hair. "I love you. Not your body. And… sometimes I think even if those other riders had been careful, it would be like that for you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Your passion, it's in the books, the stars, in doing all we can to be ready for what the skies throw at us," he continued. "I don't want you afraid to share our bed. I don't want you to think that just because our dragons are doing things, that we have to."

She pushed up on her elbow to look at his face seriously. "You enjoy it."

"But I enjoy you feeling safe and comfortable more," he said, not denying it. There was a reason he had at least three kids scattered across Pern already. "I love you, Tai. Just as you are."

"I feel unnatural, to not want to be like that," she admitted softly. "It was easier, blaming it on how the flights made those riders. But … I know it's not like that, and yet I still don't… want to."

He pushed up enough to brush a kiss across her cheek. "Cuddling is fine? Little kisses? Just sitting or lying near?"

"Yes?"

"Then that's what you have my promise to share with you," he said, coaxing her to lay back against his shoulder.

She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply, and then let it out slowly. "I'm not a freak?"

"No. You just have more in common with my best friend's dragon than anyone else on this planet."

She giggled, to be compared to Ruth, as fabulous as he was. "I love you too."

end-of-May check-in

Jun. 3rd, 2025 06:06 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird posting in [community profile] thisfinecrew
It's been a slightly quieter month since the last check-in, but still busy:
May posts )

Thanks to everyone who posted. Here's a check-in poll to tell us what you've been doing:

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12


In the last month, I

View Answers

called one of my senators
7 (58.3%)

called my other senator
7 (58.3%)

called my congressmember
5 (41.7%)

called my governor
0 (0.0%)

called my mayor, state rep, or other local official
2 (16.7%)

did get-out-the-vote work, such as postcarding or phone banking
0 (0.0%)

voted
0 (0.0%)

sent a postcard/email/letter/fax to a government official or agency
6 (50.0%)

went to a protest
2 (16.7%)

attended an in-person activist group
0 (0.0%)

went to a town hall
0 (0.0%)

participated in phone or online training
0 (0.0%)

donated money to a cause
6 (50.0%)

worked for a campaign
0 (0.0%)

did textbanking/phonebanking
0 (0.0%)

took care of myself
7 (58.3%)

not a US citizen, but worked in solidarity in my community
1 (8.3%)

did something else (tell us about it in comments)
2 (16.7%)

committed to action in the coming month
3 (25.0%)




As always, everyone is free to make posts about any issues and actions they think the comm should know about. You can also drop some information into a comment to our sticky post if you'd like the mods to do it.

If you're looking for information on anything else, you can use our tags to check for any ongoing actions or resources relevant to the issues you care about. I try to keep the tag list up-to-date. If you need a tag added, you can DM me.

DocWho

Jun. 4th, 2025 12:19 am
dhampyresa: (SCIENCE SMASH)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
8 episodes is way too short for Doctor Who. The core of the show is the Doctor + Companion(s) relationship(s) and there isn't any time for that in these Disney seasons.

Mail Call!

Jun. 3rd, 2025 03:49 pm
senmut: two lynxes butting heads, side shot (General: Lynx Love)
[personal profile] senmut
[personal profile] sweettartheart, that card is a delight. Thank you.
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija


A historical children's novel by a Ukrainian-Canadian author, based on Ukrainian teenagers and children forced into slavery during WWII. After watching her neighbors and finally her family getting dragged off by the Nazis, Lida, a Christian Ukrainian girl, is kidnapped along with her younger sister. They're immediately separated and Lida is sent to a horrendous work camp. She's skilled at sewing, which keeps her useful and so alive for a while. But then the Nazis need bombs more than uniforms...

This book is an impressive feat of walking the line between being honest and straightforward about how terrible conditions are while not being too overwhelming for children to read. Lida and the other girls endure and try to support each other. Lida gives a Jewish girl her crucifix necklace to help hide her identity, and an older girl advises Lida to lie about her age so she isn't killed immediately for being too young to work. The German seamstress Lida works with (an employee, not a prisoner) is occasionally casually kind to her, but also gets a gift of looted clothing from a probably murdered French woman, and gets Lida to meticulously remove the woman's stitched-in initials and re-sew them with her own. A Hungarian political prisoner, who gets better soup than the Ukrainians, advises Lida to say she's Polish, as that will improve her her food. Later, Lida muses, It seemed that just as there were different soups, there were different ways of being killed, depending on your nationality.

Read more... )

The book is interesting as a depiction of an aspect of WWII that isn't written about much, a compelling read, and a moving story about some people trying to keep hope and caring - and rebellion - alive when others are being as bad as humans can get. It's part of a trio of books involving overlapping characters, but stands completely on its own.

The afterword says that Skrypuch based the book on her interviews with a survivor.
glitteryv: (Default)
[personal profile] glitteryv
One of BTS' most popular variety shows is called Run BTS. After airing 156 episodes, the show (which anyone can watch for free ninety-nine via this playlist on BTS' official YouTube channel) went on hiatus due to the start of Enlistment Era, i.e. Chapter 2.

Given how well he knows ARMYs, Jin decided to launch a spin-off version titled Run Jin. Across 36 episodes, Jin gets in all types of shenanigans. I'm not going to go thru every eps, just some of my faves.

Gonna start with "Squid Jin-Game"--a take on Squid Game. This time with no gore or death, but plenty of HELLA LULZY moments. The standout in these two episodes is Dongpyo, a 22-y.o. idol who was in X1 and Mirae. He's since gone solo. I love his dynamic with Jin.



Ghost Post!

Jun. 3rd, 2025 12:05 pm
omens: squirrel (ghost)
[personal profile] omens
It's funny, because I feel like I'm spamming about Ghost ALL THE TIME, but I looked thru my dw to figure out the last photos I posted of her so that I wouldn't repeat pics again and it turns out the last Ghost Post was in February. 🫠

SO! Ghost backlog! With bonus green yard transformation, lol.

March: the dead time )

April: last snow, first green )

May: fully and abruptly GREEN )

sholio: (B5-station)
[personal profile] sholio
I haven't rewatched more B5, but I was watching various early episodes earlier this week for vid clipping purposes, and I'm still thinking about that.

Full series spoilers, mostly Londo related )

stuff

Jun. 3rd, 2025 01:48 pm
tielan: ant in a line diverges because: bookstore (books - shiny)
[personal profile] tielan
Remember the days in ye aulde fandom when someone would just stop talking to you and you never worked out why?

Ghosting, before it became common.

--

Just put in my expense requests for the start of May.

--

Hockey training has been cancelled because we don't have a coach, and we don't have a game on Sunday (long weekend in Australia: the King's birthday). I'm trying to get people over to the local club for dinner and drinks but...it's always a bit tricksy. Just me and a couple of other women, I think.

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escritoireazul

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