Reigniting My Love For Phase One Of Marvel
Jun. 10th, 2025 08:34 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
scalziwhatever_feed
In recent years, I, like many others, have pretty much completely fallen off the Marvel bandwagon and stopped watching all the Disney+ shows, the spin-offs, even most of the theatrical releases like Madame Web and Brave New World. Whatever your reasoning is, whether it’s because there’s simply too much stuff to get through, because the original gang we all loved is long gone, or you’re just burnt out on superheroes, tons of other people are in the same boat as you.
For me, I’ve been wondering so much lately what it is for me. Why don’t I like Marvel anymore? When Marvel hit it big and came out with The Avengers in 2012, I was 13, and boy howdy did Marvel take over my teens. I was pretty damn obsessed. I had Tumblr posts and fan art saved on my iPhone 5, would talk about all the movies and superheroes with my friends, see every movie on opening day like my life depended on it, all that typically teen fan type stuff.
So what happened? Is it that I’m getting older, or did Marvel content just genuinely get worse and worse as the years went on? Is it some of column A and some of column B?
It was just about right after having seen Thunderbolts that I was really thinking about this question a lot, when a video came up in my recommended section on YouTube.
The video was called “The Lost Art of Marvel’s Phase One,” and was part of a series called Detail Diatribe from Overly Sarcastic Productions. If you’re on the internet and also a nerd, you probably already know who Overly Sarcastic Productions is. While I had heard of them plenty and even seen a mythology video from them once or twice, I never really got into them.
But how could I resist a two-hour video essay over Phase One of Marvel, the phase that pretty much changed not just my life but society as a whole? So I took a chance on it, and immediately loved it. So much so that I started watching OSP’s other superhero videos, and now I’m here to recommend them to you.
They put out “The Lost Art of Marvel’s Phase One” about three weeks ago, and I would recommend starting with this one, like I did. In it, they talk about what made everyone fall in love with Marvel in the first place. Are we all just wearing rose colored glasses and remember them being better than they were? Especially for people like me who were younger when they came out, is our nostalgia blinding us into unearned fondness of these movies?
While it is almost two hours long, I genuinely don’t feel like any part of this video essay drags or is boring, as they talk about so many different things and keep their points moving along consistently. They go over the characters specifically of course, like Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, even Hulk, but they also go over how well the creators did at weaving together the overarching narrative that comes together in The Avengers.
This video made me realize, you know what, fuck yeah I liked Marvel. Shit was good. Like genuinely good! There’s so much to love about Phase One, and so much to love about our original group of super pals! I’m not ashamed that I liked, and am still fond of, Phase One. I hope this video inspires some of that in you, too.
After loving this video so much, I of course had to watch another one of their Detail Diatribe videos called “Captain America The Winter Soldier is the Best MCU Movie” which came out only two weeks ago. Why? Because I have been saying that exact thing for years. But, they can explain it better than I can, so you should listen to their video over it:
This one is also two hours long, but when you’ve been saying FOR YEARS that The Winter Soldier is the best Marvel movie, those two hours really fly by. This one is such an important analysis of not just Captain America as a character, but also Black Widow, and the relationship between these two throughout the film. It also talks about the importance of Hydra and how this movie is a damn good political thriller/espionage movie that I feel like we did not know Marvel was capable of at the time!
Moving away from Marvel, I just listened to their Detail Diatribe over Superman a couple days ago, and since Superman is my favorite superhero, I want to share it with y’all!
Superman is my favorite and I’m sick and tired of people saying he’s boring! He’s not boring! Y’all don’t understand the art, and most importantly, heart, of Superman, and hopefully this video will make you see how awesome he is. And you guessed it, it’s almost two hours.
I have absolutely been loving these videos (and a couple others, such as their Doctor Strange one) and I hope you do, too.
My parents were being killjoys by saying that they didn’t understand why I’d spend two hours watching something like this, and that you can just say “The Winter Soldier is the best MCU movie” without needing to talk about it for two hours, but I wholeheartedly disagree! So I’ll keep watching my two-hour videos and keep recommending them to you. You’re welcome.
On a real note, though, if the idea of sitting there and watching a two-hour video is daunting or seems like too much, I’ll go ahead and tell you I didn’t actually watch a single second of any of these videos. I only listened to them. I listened to them in the shower, on my drive to the store, while I was folding clothes, etc.
You don’t have to sit perfectly still and have your eyes glued to the screen the entire time to watch these videos, y’know? You can still enjoy the points they’re making and think about the ideas they bring up without feeling like it’s a chore to sit there and watch two hours of PowerPoint slides.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy what OSP has to say about these characters and movies we’ve all loved at some point in our lives. I know I did!
Do you have a favorite superhero? Which Marvel movie is your favorite? What do you think of all the shows they’ve come out with? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
My daughter got a new job
Jun. 10th, 2025 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
watervoleHobbies can sometimes lead to useful transferable skills.
Decades ago, I ran a commercial postal RPG called 'Delenda est Carthago' It even won an award.
I employed several people over the years - one interview was with a Dr Who fan, the kind who knew every detail of pretty much every episode.
That was what got him the job - it demon stated his ability to get involved with a fantasy world and to learn all the relevant details. And he turned out to be a very good GM.
My daughter hs a volunteer at Little Woodham - the 17th century replica village. She's become a dab hand at entertaining the visitors with leather-working demonstrations, all sorts of interesting historical facts and also by organising groups of children into being the crew of a canon! (I gather the kids absolutely love it, even the ones who get 'killed' by standing in front of the barrel when loading it, etc.)
Turns out that this is a transferable skill also. It was her time at LIttle Woodham that got her an interview with a company doing coach tours (she has a bus-drivers licence, but that wasn't the critical element). They were looking for someone could entertain the passengers as well as drive them safely.
Monday Passenger: "You're very knowledgeable. How long have you been doing this? It must be a couple of decades."
Lindsey: It's my first day...
She'd done a lot of research and stacked up anecdotes about all the places they would pass en route. A bridge Winston Churchill fell off as a boy; another bridge that had a Civil War fight where a dozen cavalry held off around 200 infantry, stuff about Lulworth Castle, etc.
So, if you ever take a coach tour from Bournemouth rail/coach station to the Jurassic Coast, maybe you'll meet her!
And Now, a Moment of Flowers
Jun. 10th, 2025 03:38 pmscalziwhatever_feed
Because they’re pretty, and the US is a mess in ways that will take a lot to essay, and I just got back from travel and apparently caught a bit of con crud in Phoenix and so am kind of low energy at the moment. So: Look! Flowers! I figure the rest of the Internet will catch you up on the rest of it. Here, have a bit of pretty.
— JS
Just Another Day in Paradise (Monday)
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:35 amlydamorehouseHowever, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.
Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin
I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.
At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.
Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.
The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.
Moosey view.
I did not see moose here.
I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.
Much of my hike was just woods.
Image: wooded path
However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:
Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,
pameladean !)
Image: star flower
This is one of my longstanding grouches and you are all probably used to it
Jun. 10th, 2025 03:13 pmoursinMy attention, as they say, was drawn to this: Why Have So Many Books by Women Been Lost to History?
The question itself is reasonable, I guess, but what is downright WEIRD is they actually namecheck Persephone Press's acts of rediscovery -
- and one of the first books in their own endeavour is one that PP did early on and being Persephone is STILL IN PRINT.
And one of the others has been repeatedly reprinted as a significant work including by Pandora Press.
Do we think there is a) not checking this sort of thing b) erasure of feminist publishing foremothers?
Okay I pointed out that even Virago were not actually digging up Entirely Forgotten Works (ahem ahem South Riding never out of print and paid for a lot of gels to get to Somerville).
However, this did lead me to look up certain rare faves of mine, and lo and behold, British Library Women Writers have actually just reprinted, all praise to them, GB Stern's The Woman in the Hall, 1939 and never republished. Yay. This to my mind is one of her top works.
Also remark here that Furrowed Middlebrow are bringing back works that have genuinely been hard to get hold of, like the non-Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons, and the early Margery Sharps, and so on. (Though Greyladies had already done Noel Streatfeild as Susan Scarlett.)
Confess I am waiting for the Big Publishing Rediscovery of EBC Jones. Would also not mind maybe some attention to Violet Hunt (unfortunately her life was perhaps so dramatic it has outshone her work? gosh the Wikipedia entry is a bit thin.)
just some reflection:
Jun. 10th, 2025 10:08 amalicevangeline- I like that kids were given a choice of maroon or white for their gowns. I think traditionally girls wore white and boys wore maroon, but in 2025, we don't like to be that binary; so kids just picked a color. (Says t anyway).
- They didn't have to parade in alphabetical order. They just walked with one or two buddies and carried an index card with their name on it, so when their time was called, they could hand the card to the coordinator, who proudly announced them. (There is a picture of him holding his card very tightly, and I get it, because it was his one job...)
- Some of the caps were extravagantly decorated! But on the morning of, Ty grabbed 2 handmade buttons and we popped those on. Good enough and very on-brand for him.
- It was indoors due to rain. And it was crowded, but not THAT hot - mostly not enough room for our femurs!
- It wasn't that long either - started at 10, ended at 11.
- I also liked this about the speeches: I guess seniors applied (and were selected) to be commencement speakers. We had 2 and they were good. One was an Artist and the other is one of my little buddies from the rotary club - one of those kids who is athletic, gorgeous, brilliant, and also very kind.
- Her dad was the guest speaker, she made a cute joke about that too. And you know what? He's a soccer coach and runs a pizza shop. I think you might understand why that's cool - often times, guest speakers are Big Shots. This fella is a successful guy, sure, but he is more importantly super nice and also generous (he said he must have given free pizza to the right people). I absolutely love this.
- His speech was great. Someone said it was the best they'd heard. He did remind us that pizza always helps (and someone else reminded us comfortable shoes are always worth it), but one of his main points is that everyone begins as a stranger to you - even your kids began as tiny strangers! And that made me cry a bit!
- He also said: “Your identity is not what you do [for a living] but who you are. Degrees, titles and fortune are worthy aspirations but will never replace the timeless virtues of kindness, humility, generosity, integrity and love for our family and friends.” (I got this from the newspaper write up :) )
Girlkid:
- I did a catchup sesh with her therapist yesterday. Points:
- Although she does have disordered eating (a couple things behind that), Kiddo only has about 30 minutes worth of Willingness To Be In Therapy at a time, and they are making progress with her DBT/ distress tolerance. She is learning and using strategies.. I will talk more about this chat later maybe but
- With that 30 min parameter, and that Kid doesn't even want to talk about food, we won't be able to do anything with eating/body in session, so external help is a maybe -- but again, she doesn't even want to talk about it.
- I explained my rabbit hole to Summer Residential Therapy and there are a couple great points:
- Even though reddit and reviews hate those places, a lot of that is coming from that it's not the kid's choice to be there. Take the reviews with many grains of salt. They can do good work.
- That said, she's not struggling ENOUGH for a program like that. It's constant, but she's not actively trying to unalive herself, and we don't want her to pick that up from the others there.
- So it's not a terrible idea, Alice, but it's also not the right move right now.
- However, the step in-between weekly therapy and residential would be IOP - intensive outpatient - and there are virtual programs. Therapist gave me a referral to two and I called one.
- It works like this: 3 days x week of group (with 3 different sessions in each) plus 1 session of individual and one of family therapy. Eating disorders & anxiety & neurodivergence and the LGBT experience are all in their repertoire.
- Here's where I'm at now:
- Continue with the assessments/application for the program
- Because of How She Is (spicy, obstinate), she might hate it? she might not want to do this? so that's a discussion
- However, sitting around the house bored WILL NOT WORK for any of us.
- I need to take a chunk of time to help structure her summer.
- That'\s part of why the IOP now - to take available time (summer) to work on mental health.
- She is also interested in skipping 8th grade and is leading that process, so I'm meeting with her principal about that next week. I mean, she's 12 so she doesn't entirely get to decide - her opinion is but one of many factors - but she has valid points and we will proceed.
- She may need to take summer school classes online if she goes this route.
- So my 'create a summer structure' will have to factor that in but also it kind of depends on how that convo goes. And if the principal says no, do we talk to the high school principal?
- Otherwise, summer is 3 days of horse camp for her, 1 week of trad summer camp for kids with autism who are shy to try new things.
- Everything else is 'shrug emoji.'
- I also might sign her up for Hero's Journey Minecraft club..
From This Day Forward by John Brunner
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:00 amjames_davis_nicoll
The sudden, shocking, return of Shockwave Reader. Will the living envy the dead?
From This Day Forward by John Brunner
My Favorite Bit: Jim C. Hines talks about KITEMASTER
Jun. 10th, 2025 12:00 pmmaryrobinettekowal_feed
Jim C. Hines is joining us today to talk about his novel, Kitemaster Here’s the publisher’s description:
Nial Sarnin is twenty-one—far too young to have lost her beloved husband, Jika. One year after his death, Nial prepares to fly a kite sewn from his wedding shirt, believing it will carry Jika’s spirit to the stars.
But instead of drifting gently skyward, the spirit kite moves under Nial’s direct control, revealing her as a Kitemaster—a rare gift in a world forever ruled by winds and magic.
Her newfound powers attract Captain Wolf of the kiteship Midnight Rain. With runaway Prince Vikaan, Wolf seeks to thwart Queen Kavaya’s ruthless ambition to dominate the skies and conquer all neighboring kingdoms.
Nial may hold the key to stopping Kavaya’s brutal reign and saving countless lives—including those she loves most—but only if she learns to master her extraordinary gift in time.
Every gust of wind promises hope, renewal, and a chance to reshape a world teetering on the brink in this inspiring tale of loss, resilience, and transformation.
What’s Jim’s favorite bit?
I’ve been told that you never truly learn how to write novels. You just learn (hopefully) how to write this novel. Then you have to learn how to write the next one, and the one after that, and so on.
After twenty-plus books, I find that advice to be infuriatingly accurate.
I spent longer than usual learning how to write Kitemaster. A key lesson was the importance of wonder.
That’s where the seed of this book was planted, after all. There I was, twenty-plus years ago, innocently reading a science fiction novel, when I came across a random bit about fighting kites that made me go, “Oh, wow. How cool!”
As I wrote and rewrote Kitemaster, I kept coming back to that feeling. I wanted the characters and the readers to experience that same sense of wonder. Like when the protagonist, Nial, discovers her magical gifts. And then the first time she goes up in a kiteship.
One of my favorite scenes comes a little later, when Nial is flying on the Midnight Rain with her new friends Xao and Vikaan. It’s nighttime, and the night river is flowing across the sky. That ribbon of visibly moving stars is very different from our own sky. And every once in a while, a star falls from the night river…
A cluster of stars spun along the southern edge of the night river, but one star in the group wasn’t moving with the rest. It was like a group of dancers where one person was performing a completely different routine. The rogue star twinkled with a hint of red as it moved against the current, drifting slowly south.
“I see it,” I whispered.
In some respects, I imagined the night river as a Van Gogh painting brought to life. Van Gogh captures that same sense of swirling movement. Flying on the Midnight Rain, Nial is treated to a clearer view than most have ever seen.
The star continued on its path. The red tint was brighter now. A tail of red-rimmed light began to grow from the star.
Fear tickled my rib cage. Left alone, that star would fall until it struck the ground with such force that it cracked the world, as legend said had happened once before, more than a thousand years ago.
A shadow flickered across the night river. It looked no bigger than an eyelash, and it moved so quickly I wasn’t sure I’d really seen it until Xao whispered, “Dragon.”
My heart pounded. My sweaty hands tightened on the rail. The two starfalls I’d seen in Allon-Li had been short-lived, and I’d never spotted a single dragon, but everything was clearer this high up.
The star continued to flee the night river. It passed behind a feathery cloud, painting it in a stripe of red light.
A second shadow shot across the sky in pursuit, then a third. They crossed the starlight in tighter and tighter circles.
“Use this.” Xao pressed a cold metal tube into my hand.
I ripped my attention from the night river long enough to identify the object. “Is this the captain’s spyglass?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know you have it?”
“I don’t have it.” Xao grinned. “You do.”
Side note: I love Xao. He’s one of my favorite characters ever.
With an exasperated sigh, I rested the spyglass on the rail to hold it steady. I carefully pulled the end of the scope until the stars jumped into focus. “Oh, ancestors…”
Through the spyglass, the star was like a lavender pearl wreathed in red fire. The tail was a brushstroke of red light. I tried not to blink. I was afraid of what I might miss.
A dragon flew through the circular field of the lens, too swift for me to see any details. The star broke apart in a flash of light. Shouts and gasps erupted behind me.
Chunks of star fell like burning rain. Larger fragments shattered into smaller ones as the dragons attacked again. Then, one by one, the burning sparks began to vanish.
Another cloud drifted past. By the time it moved on, the star was gone, every piece devoured by the dragons.
My hands trembled as I lowered the spyglass and returned it to Xao. Whatever else happened, I would never forget this night.
Nial’s reaction draws in part on my experience seeing a total solar eclipse for the first time last year. (Pics on my website, if you’re interested.) I remember the anticipation, the slow buildup as the moon edged over the sun … and then the absolute awe of totality. The sky darkened, the air cooled, and the sun turned into a fragile ring of light.
That’s the feeling I wanted for this book. Not every moment is as big and dramatic as starfall or a solar eclipse, but wonder comes in all sizes, and it can come even in the darkest of times.
I hope this book brings some light and wonder to the world.
LINKS:
BIO:
Jim C. Hines just realized he’s been writing for thirty years now. Whoa…
He’s the author of the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy, the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy, and the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes.
Jim won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in English, and lives with his family (including several rather ridiculous pets) in mid-Michigan.
2025/088: The Walled Orchard — Tom Holt
Jun. 10th, 2025 08:08 amtamaranth
...how Athens came to have the most pure and perfect democracy the world has ever seen, in which every man had a right to be heard, the law was open to all, and nobody need go hungry if he was not too proud to play his part in the oppression of his fellow Greeks and the judicial murder of inconvenient statesmen. [p. 46]
I owned a paperback copy of this novel -- actually two novels in one volume, Goatsong and The Walled Orchard -- for many years but did not read it. Suddenly, recently, the time was right and I was very much in Ancient Greek mode: and I am now much more familiar with the glories of Classical Greece, and the horrors of the Sicilian Expedition, than I was before. (See, for instance, Glorious Exploits.)
The narrator of the duology is Eupolis of Pallene, a gentleman farmer and writer of comedies, from his childhood survival of the plague, which left him scarred and ugly, to his old age. Entwined with the Peloponnesian War and the Sicilian Expedition are the triumphs and disasters of Eupolis' career as a dramatist and his ongoing feud with rival playwright Aristophanes( Read more... )
BVC Announces About Last Night by Michele Dunaway
Jun. 10th, 2025 06:01 ambookviewcafe_feed
About Last Night
by Michele Dunaway
Pregnant by her billionaire boss—can a near-death accident reveal true love
Billionaire playboy Shane Jacobsen can’t remember the night he spent with his personal assistant, but Lindy can, especially since it’s left her pregnant. Once he figures out what happened, they’re married for convenience. Only trouble? Shane’s closed his heart. But when a devastating accident threatens to tear them apart, Shane must confront his fear of love before he loses Lindy forever.
The Jacobsens, Book 4
REVIEW
Author Michele Dunaway deftly captures the challenges of transformation and love in ABOUT LAST NIGHT… Lindy’s determination to leave her job and create a life apart from Shane demonstrates the tenacity and independence that make Dunaway’s heroines such a delight. However, her hero departs radically from the norm. Rather than a mature, wise man with his life together, Shane is a spoiled, flightily man who must set priorities and radically change his ways if he wants to win Lindy and their child. Although Shane has a lot of growing up to do, however, he has a heart of gold that will see him through the greatest challenges of his life. A delightfully fresh tale with unexpected twists, ABOUT LAST NIGHT comes very highly recommended.
– Amazon
____
Michele Dunaway is a best selling author of contemporary romance that’s hometown sweet with a hint of spice.
Buy About Last Night at the BVC bookstore
Read a Sample
Prologue
Jacobsen Enterprises External E-mail
From: Joe Jacobsen, CEO, jjacobsen@ jacobsen.com
To: Shane Jacobsen, sjacobsen@hmail.com
CC: Blake Jacobsen, bjacobsen@jacobsenministries.com
Date: Friday, April 13
Subject: Job
Shane,
Happy birthday, Grandson!
Now that you are twenty-five, I’m going to ask you once again to join the family company. I’ve attached a job description that I hope will finally tempt you. I’ll stop by your place Saturday to discuss it with you.
P.S. Your grandmother and I expect to see you at the estate this Sunday for Easter dinner. Be there at five and feel free to bring that lovely assistant of yours, Lindy. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.
J.J.
Chapter One
It had been the best, and worst, sex of her life. As Lindy Brinks sat up in bed, she wondered how she could have done it.
Wait.
She knew how. If she hadn’t learned that poignant lesson the first time, the man still sleeping beside her had made the second and third lovemaking experiences even more satisfying and more invigorating. His chiseled body had been hard and muscular under her fingers, smooth to her touch, and damn if she hadn’t been swept away all night long.
No, the real question wasn’t what she’d done or how she’d done it, but rather why. For in making love with Shane Jacobsen, Lindy had just made the worst mistake of her twenty-eight-year-old life.
Shane Jacobsen was infuriating. Mind-blowing. Condescending. Phenomenal. A womanizer.
Her boss.
And she’d made love to him with her brown eyes wide open, her five-foot-seven body more than willing. Oh yes, definitely more than willing.
As Lindy looked around Shane’s bedroom, she knew she had no one to blame but herself. No one had forced down her throat the strawberry daiquiris she’d drunk last night during Shane’s twenty-fifth birthday celebration-slash-pool party. After Shane handed her the first red slushy concoction, Lindy had made the subsequent trips to the bar all by herself. She really had no excuse for her wanton behavior.
Grimacing, Lindy climbed out of bed, careful not to wake him. She tripped over something soft, and as she caught herself against the bed, she saw Shane’s comforter beneath her feet That had been tossed aside early in the evening. Lindy cringed as she stepped over it. Shane Jacobsen was a playboy to the nth degree, so why had she let herself join his long line of female conquests? Being Shane’s personal assistant, she knew every single detail of what he was all about.
Fool! Fool! Fool!
Mentally cursing herself, Lindy slipped into her undergarments and touched her hair. The back of her head felt like a rat’s nest, and she tugged, desperately trying to use her fingers to straighten the blond strands snarled by the pleasures of the night before. The morning-after movement sent a sharp, searing pain between her eyes, reminding Lindy again exactly how much alcohol and how little sleep she’d had. Fixing her hair without a brush was hopeless.
A small groan escaped Shane, and distracted by the sound, Lindy took a moment to study the man sleeping on the rumpled sheets. For three years she’d worked for him, watching women practically throw themselves at him, including the buxom redhead who had been nibbling on his ear when Lindy had arrived at last night’s party. And despite herself and her desire to do otherwise, she couldn’t blame those women for falling for Shane. There was no denying that he was beautiful.
His straight, naturally surfer-blond hair fell forward into his face, and Lindy resisted the urge to sweep it back from his high cheekbones and chiseled nose. No, last night she’d already had her hands in those strands way too much. She’d committed enough mistakes for one evening, and she certainly didn’t need to start over now that the sun was up.
But wasn’t that one of life’s little ironies? She hadn’t planned on staying at his party, especially after she’d realized that Shane, who never drank, had had several of the daiquiris himself.
Lindy remembered cringing, knowing that Shane had been on some pretty impressive painkillers after wrenching his knee during a basketball game the Wednesday night before. No wonder he’d been having such a good time. The label, the one he’d obviously ignored, had said not to mix the medicine with alcohol.
But that was typical Shane. He thought he was invincible. And being his personal assistant, aka keeper, she’d stayed, especially after he’d detached himself from the redhead, come over to her side and shouted, “Everyone, this is Lindy, the love of my life. Lindy, everyone.”
It had been like something from a classic teenage-angst movie. “Hey, Lindy,” various faceless people had shouted, and then Shane had pressed a frozen strawberry daiquiri into her hand.
“Come on, Lindy. Let’s have fun,” he’d said, and then he’d swept her along, never quite allowing her to leave his side. So when he’d turned to her later that night, telling her that he needed a birthday kiss, she’d given him just one.
But then his seeking lips had demanded another, and then another.
And Lindy, freed by the alcohol she usually avoided like the plague, had let him lead her right down the path of temptation and eternal destruction. And kissing him—no, she didn’t need to think about how wonderful that had been or how good his lips had felt.
She watched Shane nestle deeper into the fluffy down pillow. Thankfully his eyes were closed. Like all his siblings and cousins, Shane had inherited the Jacobsen blue eyes—light blue with an outer darker rim. The promise of wickedness and pleasures evident in his gorgeous eyes had been her absolute undoing last night.
Lindy turned away and started searching for the rest of her clothes. Embarrassment stole over her as she discovered various pieces, including her jeans, in the living room.
Finally dressed, she stood in the doorway to Shane’s bedroom and allowed herself one last look. The white sheet had slipped to his waist, revealing the well-muscled chest she had palmed with wild abandon. Lindy resisted the urge to cover his nakedness with the sheet. Best she never get that close to him again.
She slipped on her flats and walked stealthily to the pool-house door. Moving out was something his grandfather had been hounding him about of late. But why should Shane move when he commandeered, rent-free, the entire two-thousand-square-foot pool house that sat on his father’s estate?
Besides, it wasn’t as if Shane ever saw his world-famous parents. This month they were somewhere in Australia doing charity work and evangelical revivals. With a global ministry that filled stadiums, Blake and Sara Jacobsen were usually quite embarrassed about their wayward, playboy son.
That was when they remembered him at all, which was why their son had thrown the impromptu party. Lindy sighed as she reached for the door handle. She couldn’t blame her mistake on Blake and Sara’s forgetfulness. Even if Shane had been raised mainly by nannies, and even if he stayed close to home just to be a thorn in his parents’ sides, sleeping with him was no one’s fault but her own.
As Lindy turned the doorknob, she took one last look at the living area. Shane’s shorts lay near the coffee table and empty beer bottles were everywhere. Had Shane had beer, too? Even though he had the reputation of a playboy, in her three years of working for him, Lindy had never seen him liquored up like he’d been last night. She shook her head to clear it, wincing as the pain hit her forehead again.
The writing was on the wall. Fool, she cursed again as she pulled the door shut behind her. Time to find another job.
I’ve never been so happy to be labeled as”GROSSLY NORMAL AND UNREMARKABLE.”
Jun. 9th, 2025 07:15 pmthebloggess_feed
Five Stories About Time Travel on a Limited Scale
Jun. 9th, 2025 12:40 pmjames_davis_nicoll
No rules, no bureaucracy, just some randos messing around with the past, present, and future.
Five Stories About Time Travel on a Limited Scale
Last week was very mixed
Jun. 9th, 2025 05:06 pmoursinLast week was the one where there was PANIC over whether I would have new supply of prescription drug; credit card issues including FRAUD; and also bizarre phonecall from the musculo-skeletal people about scheduling an appointment which suggested they hadn't looked at my record or are very very confused about what my next session is actually for.
HOWEVER
Though I began writing a review on Wednesday, did a paragraph, and felt totally blank about where it was going from there, I returned to it the following day and lo and behold wrote enough to be considered an actual review, though have been tinkering and polishing since then. But is essentially DONE.
And in the realm of reviewing have received 3 books for essay review, have another one published this month coming sometime, and today heard that my offer to review for Yet Another Venue has been accepted, where can they send the book?
While in other not quite past it news, for many years I was heavily involved in a rather niche archival survey, which is no longer being hosted in its previous useful if rather outdated form but as a spreadsheet (I would say no use to man nor beast but it does have some value I suppose). But there is talk of reviving and updating it (yay) and I have been invited to a meeting to discuss this. Fortunately I can attend virtually rather than at ungodly hour of morning in distant reaches of West London.
Also professional org of which I am A (jolly good?) Fellow is doing a survey and has invited me to attend a virtual Focus Group.
Oh yes, and it looks as though a nerdy letter about Rebecca West I wrote to the Literary Review is likely to get published.
(no subject)
Jun. 9th, 2025 11:18 amalicevangelineI am a parent of a very recent high school graduate
My inlaws came and visited and then it rained and then they went
the Quality of air is very poor; might be why we are sick
me and dan and megan have sore throats and heads all full of ick.
I'm at work but she is home with ty and dan and Polish friend
the latter two are working but the former has nothing to tend.
He earned three thousand and five hundred dollars through his scholarships
And one was for the most improved of students in the fellowship...
Ok that last one was a stretch, i just mean of the 120 hs seniors he got the "most improved student" scholarship, which is nice.
Clarke Award Finalists 2000
Jun. 9th, 2025 10:21 amjames_davis_nicollWhich 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
11 (22.9%)
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
36 (75.0%)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
37 (77.1%)
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
8 (16.7%)
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
4 (8.3%)
Time by Stephen Baxter
11 (22.9%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Time by Stephen Baxter
Just Another Day in Paradise (Days 1-2.5)
Jun. 9th, 2025 09:19 amlydamorehouse
The moon (and traces of Northern Lights) over Bearskin (from Cabin 1)
Yesterday, as usual, we stopped at several sites along Highway 61. We had a late lunch at the “world famous” Betty’s Pie. I do not know if this pie is truly well-known throughout the world, but it was, as they say, damned good pie.
The three of us at Betty's Pies.
As has become typical of us, we stopped to do some agate hunting about a mile north of Two Harbors at Flood Bay. We had to backtrack from Betty’s, but we didn’t care. My family simply cannot be hurried once we’re in vacation mode. Once we’ve made it to Duluth (to-du-loot!) vacation mode has fully activated. “Oh? The thing we wanted to see was back there? Sure, let’s turn around!”
Me and Mason agate hunting at Floor Bay.
I’m not ever sure what an agate looks like when it’s not polished. Not that it matters to any of us. Shawn hands out plastic baggies and we find a nice spot and start hunting. On this trip, it was extra windy. It was already decently cold, maybe mid-50s F/ 10 C. We joked that the windchill made it below freezing! Shawn had to hike back to the car for extra layers.
But, we had a great time just relaxing and sifting through the rocks on the shores of the world’s largest freshwater lake. (And, as Mason loves to point out, a lake so cold that if you’re shipwrecked in it, you don’t rot!)
Mason beach combing
Next was a pitstop at Gooseberry Falls. Sometimes, like a lot of travelers this time of year, we only stop long enough to do our business and then push on. This time, however, Mason and I decided to make the short trek up to see both the high falls and the low falls. Shawn, meanwhile, saved her knee (which is mostly doing well, but technically still in recovery,) for the next beach and hung out in the gift shop looking for, among other things, sweatpants for Mason who—for reasons all his own—decided not to pack any pants for the trip. Only shorts!
Gooseberry Falls, in my opinion, is almost always worth the detour.
Image: Gooseberry Falls
I only remembered after we’d left that I forgot to get my State Park passport stamped! We decided, however, that we would stop in as many State Parks as we could on our route back. Mason and I are also planning a day trip out to Devil’s Kettle, so I have be sure to remember to bring it with me to that hike!
I had advocated for a stop at Iona’s Beach this year but changed my mind after experiencing the wind at Flood Bay. Maybe the weather will be more cooperative on the drive home. Instead, we decided to pull in at Silver Bay to get a gander at "Rocky Taconite."
Image: Rocky Taconite at Silver Bay.
Our last beach of the trip up to the cabin was Cutface Creek Pullout (14 miles north of Lutsen, mile marker 104.) This beach is famous for its thomsonite. Again, I have no idea what thomsonite looks like in the wild (although this might be the year I may have found a piece. I’m going to try polishing it up when we get back home), but this beach generally has cool rocks because it has a ton of mini geodes.
Again, we dawdled. I have no idea how long we spent combing the beaches and listening to the waves. This beach was less windy; it was much more of a natural windbreak/cove.
We managed to miss official check-in at Bearskin (6 pm), which we often do (even leaving the Twin Cities at 9 am), and so followed the instructions to get the cabin key for check-in the next morning. It was still light enough out that Mason and I made the walk up to the Lodge to pick up the aluminum canoe that they on the beach for us out for us. We paddled it to our dock, bungied it up to our private dock for the night, and then settled in for a dinner of brats on the grill.
I fully failed to make a decent fire our first night, but luckily both Shawn and Mason are better skilled at this than I am.
This morning (Sunday) we woke up to rain.
Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge to check in. Because of all of the forest fires that are active in Minnesota right now, the Forest Service has been doing a lot of clearing of what they call “ladder trees,” but also underbrush. The place looks… a little devestated. At least in comparison to what we’re used to. I have been excited to resume my hiking of the ski trails this year and so I wanted to be sure to ask the staff about good trails for less… husbandry, we’ll say. They nicely pointed out where on the map they thought the Forestry Service hadn’t gotten to yet. So, after a quick jog back to Cabin 1 to make sure I had my inhaler, I headed off. I’d intended to slowly get my “sea legs” back, but I missed a turn off and hiked all the way to Rudy Lake.
Image: a pristine lake (Rudy Lake) in the middle of nowhere.
Oops.
It is cool, however. Like, this is a lake you simply can not get to without walking to it. There are no roads to get you here.
However, I am a little sore and may have overdone it already on day one. Hopefully, with a bit of rest and Aleve, I’ll be back at it in no time.
Image: trout lily