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Small Victories
Sep. 14th, 2025 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lil_m_mosesSeems the new house next door may still happen this year after all. We'd been thinking it was too late to start, but came home early this week to find new property corner stakes in our yard. While I was photographing them a neighbor noted that when other new houses had previously gone in, they'd excavated and done the foundation in the fall, and built in the winter. That's what they did with my mom's house 40 years ago too, so *shrug*.
With those stakes, I discovered I have about 8' less side yard. If I had to guess, our lot's about 200' deep, so on the plus side, that maybe 1600 sq ft was a significant chunk that I didn't have to mow today. It also helps explain why I've always had so much trouble with weeds (besides the fact that that edge is beside a weed field) and lack of sprinkler coverage along that edge.
With those stakes, I discovered I have about 8' less side yard. If I had to guess, our lot's about 200' deep, so on the plus side, that maybe 1600 sq ft was a significant chunk that I didn't have to mow today. It also helps explain why I've always had so much trouble with weeds (besides the fact that that edge is beside a weed field) and lack of sprinkler coverage along that edge.
podcast friday
Sep. 12th, 2025 07:20 amsabotabbyMy major podcast news is that I finally finished listening to Mike Duncan's French Revolution series. A phrase I remember from the foreword to the copy of Ulysses I read as a teenager always sticks in my head: "you put it down with the triumph of a general suppressing a revolt," or something like that. I commend the effort it took to make this podcast—it's nso much research and writing and analysis and it's an incredibly good history of the French Revolution.
But.
Nothing really sticks in my head. This is possibly because Mike is more interested in dates and names than I am, and more interested in military strategy than either he claims or I can understand. But it's also a factor of his voice, which he can't really help, but I'm quite allergic to what I call NPR Voice. I just kind of drift off. It's kind of like, "this happened, and then this person did this. How droll." I have the same problem with Conspirituality sometimes, and pretty much all the time with Democracy Now. It just slides off my brain. Nevertheless it's worth listening to if that is not a problem for you.
But.
Nothing really sticks in my head. This is possibly because Mike is more interested in dates and names than I am, and more interested in military strategy than either he claims or I can understand. But it's also a factor of his voice, which he can't really help, but I'm quite allergic to what I call NPR Voice. I just kind of drift off. It's kind of like, "this happened, and then this person did this. How droll." I have the same problem with Conspirituality sometimes, and pretty much all the time with Democracy Now. It just slides off my brain. Nevertheless it's worth listening to if that is not a problem for you.
Reading Wednesday
Sep. 10th, 2025 07:34 amsabotabby Just finished: Nothing.
Currently reading: Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman. I'm getting near the end of this and it's so good. By the way, fantasy authors, this is how you do worldbuilding. Fellman isn't concerned with why things work as they do, the details of how the post-apocalyptic New York functions or why Stephensport is stuck in time; everything is character, narrowed to the focus of Griffon and Etoine. Even Zaffre's rebel activities are in soft focus—we know there are revolutionary trans nuns (hell yeah) but Etoine is so hyperfocused on her, and what she represents, that the scale and scope of their rebellion are outside the scope of his understanding.
And it's just written so well. There's a subtle strangeness to all of the language that is just weird and offputting enough to feel like journal entries of two men across a gap of time and culture, not only from us, but from each other.
Currently reading: Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman. I'm getting near the end of this and it's so good. By the way, fantasy authors, this is how you do worldbuilding. Fellman isn't concerned with why things work as they do, the details of how the post-apocalyptic New York functions or why Stephensport is stuck in time; everything is character, narrowed to the focus of Griffon and Etoine. Even Zaffre's rebel activities are in soft focus—we know there are revolutionary trans nuns (hell yeah) but Etoine is so hyperfocused on her, and what she represents, that the scale and scope of their rebellion are outside the scope of his understanding.
And it's just written so well. There's a subtle strangeness to all of the language that is just weird and offputting enough to feel like journal entries of two men across a gap of time and culture, not only from us, but from each other.
podcast friday
Sep. 5th, 2025 06:55 amsabotabbyUnlike most weeks when I hem and haw, there was no question this week when I saw the titles of these two episodes. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff covered two of my favourite historical anarchist weirdos this week, one of whom I'm quite obsessed with. Each episode is a standalone despite the format, but you're going to want to listen to both.
The Surprising Stories Behind Foosball and Air Mail Part 1 is about Alejandro Finisterre, who for my money is one of the most interesting people who ever lived. A lot about his story brings happy tears to my eyes. He's best known for inventing foosball when he was a teenager, but (spoiler) he lived to age 87—outliving Franco and Spanish fascism—and did a whole bunch of other things, all of which are also cool as hell. He was a poet, publisher, and anti-fascist activist and also, from all reports, a lovely guy. Come for the foosball, stay for what's probably the best hijacking story of all time.
The Surprising Stories Behind Foosball and Air Mail Part 2 is about Nadar, who is most famous as the guy who took the first aerial photo and was one of the first celebrity photographers, but again, he did all kinds of other stuff. I actually did know about the hot air balloon thing during the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, as well as his politics, but Margaret goes into a lot of detail about the many incredible things he got up to. Do yourself a favour and Google his photos if you haven't seen them, and then go and learn about his backstory.
The Surprising Stories Behind Foosball and Air Mail Part 1 is about Alejandro Finisterre, who for my money is one of the most interesting people who ever lived. A lot about his story brings happy tears to my eyes. He's best known for inventing foosball when he was a teenager, but (spoiler) he lived to age 87—outliving Franco and Spanish fascism—and did a whole bunch of other things, all of which are also cool as hell. He was a poet, publisher, and anti-fascist activist and also, from all reports, a lovely guy. Come for the foosball, stay for what's probably the best hijacking story of all time.
The Surprising Stories Behind Foosball and Air Mail Part 2 is about Nadar, who is most famous as the guy who took the first aerial photo and was one of the first celebrity photographers, but again, he did all kinds of other stuff. I actually did know about the hot air balloon thing during the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, as well as his politics, but Margaret goes into a lot of detail about the many incredible things he got up to. Do yourself a favour and Google his photos if you haven't seen them, and then go and learn about his backstory.
Reading Wednesday
Sep. 3rd, 2025 06:55 amsabotabbyJust finished: Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. I'll describe the plot of this comic to you and I suspect you'll have one of two reactions: 1) why the fuck would you read this? or 2) I must read this IMMEDIATELY. It was described somewhat in snippets by some goth-type person sitting on the far side of the table from me at a bar and I heard just enough that I had reaction #2.
So, this comic is about a girl who wants to be a pro-wrestler because her mother was basically the best. Only, no one will train her because her mother died in a ring accident. She's recruited into a tournament by a necromancer, and the prize for the tournament is that he will resurrect one person of the winner's choice. Only catch—it's tag-team, so she has to find the one person who will also agree to resurrect her mother if they win: the masked luchador heel who killed her mother. He agrees for reasons more complex, as it turns out, than guilt, so off they go to the necromancer's castle in space, only to realize that Earth is the only planet on which kayfabe exists; everywhere else, it's for real. The story ends with ( spoiler )
If you read that and went "fuck yeah! that sounds metal!" this comic is for you. I don't read many comics anymore but this is one of the best I've read in ages. IMO more stories should be about wrestling in a necromancer's space castle.
Currently reading: Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman. This is the second one I've read by him and I think he's one of those authors who writes books that are very laser-targeted at my particular tastes. It's about a young trans man, Griffon, who was adopted at 15 by an older trans couple, Etoine and Zaffre, both of whom are artists. This is in some kind of far-off, post-climate collapse future; transphobia is definitely still a thing, and Griffon's biological father is a real piece of shit about it, but isn't quite expressed in the same ways. Etoine and Zaffre are originally from a city-state called Stephensport, ruled by a prince and frozen in time, and have come to New York as refugees/emigres. Their little family was happy together, but his adoptive parents don't talk much about their pasts. After their deaths, Griffon reads Etoine's diary, kept when he was imprisoned awaiting execution, to try to find out who his parents really were. Where I'm at now, Etoine has made a career as a portrait painter, starting with an "elector," who is some kind of undead woman who lives in the stone yard. Do I know what that is? No, but I am intrigued whether or not we find out.
Everything about this is fucking awesome. Fellman writes this deep-seated pain and ever-present threat of violence in a way that's poetic and reminiscent of 19th century literature, the descriptions are strange and comment on their own strangeness, and his worldbuilding is deft—just enough to make you intrigued and never at the risk of a lore dump or anything so prosaic as that. It's the antithesis of the cute queer found family story—yes, they are wonderful characters who I love immediately, but no one talks about their feelings or processes their trauma. I'm so into it.
So, this comic is about a girl who wants to be a pro-wrestler because her mother was basically the best. Only, no one will train her because her mother died in a ring accident. She's recruited into a tournament by a necromancer, and the prize for the tournament is that he will resurrect one person of the winner's choice. Only catch—it's tag-team, so she has to find the one person who will also agree to resurrect her mother if they win: the masked luchador heel who killed her mother. He agrees for reasons more complex, as it turns out, than guilt, so off they go to the necromancer's castle in space, only to realize that Earth is the only planet on which kayfabe exists; everywhere else, it's for real. The story ends with ( spoiler )
If you read that and went "fuck yeah! that sounds metal!" this comic is for you. I don't read many comics anymore but this is one of the best I've read in ages. IMO more stories should be about wrestling in a necromancer's space castle.
Currently reading: Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman. This is the second one I've read by him and I think he's one of those authors who writes books that are very laser-targeted at my particular tastes. It's about a young trans man, Griffon, who was adopted at 15 by an older trans couple, Etoine and Zaffre, both of whom are artists. This is in some kind of far-off, post-climate collapse future; transphobia is definitely still a thing, and Griffon's biological father is a real piece of shit about it, but isn't quite expressed in the same ways. Etoine and Zaffre are originally from a city-state called Stephensport, ruled by a prince and frozen in time, and have come to New York as refugees/emigres. Their little family was happy together, but his adoptive parents don't talk much about their pasts. After their deaths, Griffon reads Etoine's diary, kept when he was imprisoned awaiting execution, to try to find out who his parents really were. Where I'm at now, Etoine has made a career as a portrait painter, starting with an "elector," who is some kind of undead woman who lives in the stone yard. Do I know what that is? No, but I am intrigued whether or not we find out.
Everything about this is fucking awesome. Fellman writes this deep-seated pain and ever-present threat of violence in a way that's poetic and reminiscent of 19th century literature, the descriptions are strange and comment on their own strangeness, and his worldbuilding is deft—just enough to make you intrigued and never at the risk of a lore dump or anything so prosaic as that. It's the antithesis of the cute queer found family story—yes, they are wonderful characters who I love immediately, but no one talks about their feelings or processes their trauma. I'm so into it.