I traveled in both June and July, recklessly spending my two weeks of vacation for the year within the span of weeks. I was seeing family members both trips, including two different sets of people who had moved during the pandemic and who's new places I hadn't seen yet. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Then I fled the heat (temporarily) and went north to see family and some very long acquaintances (I would call them very old friends, but they aren't really *that* old).

I got back from my second trip a week ago Sunday, and started feeling icky on Monday. A COVID test turned up negative, but I have an extremely pernicious head cold and I'm exhausted.

However, I've consumed lots of media in the course of my travels and illness!

Movies

• Faraway - the person I was with when I watched this one prefers to watch rom-coms because they are a romantic. I loathe rom-coms. We settled on Faraway, which is set in Croatia, has subtitles (some of the time) and is a bit of a riff on Under the Tuscan Sun. It was a weird and quirky little movie that made both of us happy. Highly recommend. Available on Netflix


• Elvis - everything I would expect from a Baz Luhrmann movie with a musical subject. Tom Hanks, for all he is/was America's boyfriend, does very well in the roles were he's the villain (see also: Cloud Atlas). The movie was just so very sad though. HBO Max.


• Nimona - I watched this one with zero expectations or information, other that it had started life as webcomic (?). Wow! What a brilliant movie! Highly, highly, recommend! Netflix.


• Knives Out and The Glass Onion - Yes, I've watched both of these movies before. However, we watched with the one person who hadn't see either movie and it was so much fun to sit there with him while Benoit Blanc did his thing. I also enjoyed watching the movies again to make sure that the writers and directors did the work - meaning that they showed their hand when they claimed they did. I can confirm that we saw everything that Blanc did. Amazon Prime.

TV Shows

• Julie and the Phantoms - this is my go-to comfort show. It's only 9 hours long. I still love it.


• Outer Banks S2 - I watched some of these episodes with the person referenced above, and they had this to say, "This show is exhausting." Perhaps that's why I can't seem to binge this one. I like this show a lot, love the treasure-hunting, mystery-solving, Scooby Gang aspect of it. I'm impatient with the romances, especially the central one (this is my big complaint about Shadow and Bone also). My pattern is - I get through one season, watch the first ep of the next, and then drop it for a while. However, it has inspired me to write, and I've signed up for the iddyiddybangbang with the fic.


• The Witcher S3 - apparently just part one of season three, which I did *not* realize going in and was extremely confused about where they left things. I'll have to weigh in once the season is complete.


• Never Have I Ever - I'm up to season 3 on this one. I'll have more thoughts once I finish, but I'm loving it so far.

That's pretty much it. I'm reading two books simultaneously: The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams and Leviathan Wakes by James Corey. I'll have thoughts once I finish.

After last week when I posted multiple times due to things for various challenges posting, I haven't done a single thing this week. I'm behind on the sunshine_challenge, although I've planned a few things.

But here's what I've been up to the past week:

Movies

I watched The Sea Beast, mainly because Karl Urban. *gestures at my everything* But it was beautifully animated (except for the actual 'beasts' they seemed too digital), and a great story.

I saw the trailer for Wakanda Forever. I may have to get over my superhero movie disdain and see that one. Lots of interesting stuff coming out of San Diego Comic Con. It's nice that it's back, but on the other hand, I still shudder at the idea of being amongst crowds.

TV Shows

I started watching The Bureau of Magical Things, which is nice and light bit of fluff. I skipped a few eps here and there that were making me roll my eyes too hard. But overall, a nice distraction.

I've signed up for an advanced screening of Sandman, but we'll see if I'm available to watch when it happens.

Creative Stuff

Most of my mental focus for creative things has been on art. I had an idea for a fic and wrote down one sentence. ^_^

I did two pieces for the drawesome scribble challenge.

I finished up a Skill Share class on typography with Procreate, which was very fun and informative. I also learned a lot about how to use Procreate better. I find that with Procreate, iPad, and Apple pencil, my digital art is much more satisfying than previous attempts with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop or Corel Painter (?). It feels more natural for me. I suppose if I was a professional artist and had Photoshop on something like a Cintiq, I would become relaxed with that. As a hobbyist, I really can't justify those huge (and expensive) things.

I'm working my way through a Skill Share class about developing my own style. I feel like I can competently put an art piece together (the craft of it) but I don't have any specific art style. Unlike other quickie classes or YouTube videos I've watched on the subject, it doesn't say things like "Draw with a stick". The first part has been very reflective and analytical - gathering examples from artists whose style I like, really looking closely into what I like about them, and then annotating the pics I've saved with my conclusions. Doing the same with art pieces I've made. The next part is a massive project (26 pieces) on a theme of my choosing. I've started the beginning steps of that, which includes a lot of hunting down images and practicing. I'm enjoying the class very much, but it is *very* time-consuming, so I pick it up as I have a chance, and put it down when things get busy.

Life Stuff

The heat has been brutal; I feel like it's draining my brain cells. I hate struggling into work clothes when I'm sweaty as soon as I get out of the shower. As far out as my weather app goes into the future, we have no rain and 100°+ heat in store. The days are getting shorter though - this has to end some time.

My daughter and I went to our town farmer's market yesterday and got some vegan jerky, among other things. It was good, but not good enough to buy on the regular considering the price. Also, I don't really feel the need for meat substitutes in my life. Like, I tried Impossible Burgers, but honestly, I'd rather just have a black bean burger. I don't miss the flavor or texture of meat and don't need replacements.

Challenge #1

In your own space, update your fandom information! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Hello! I go by ‘seleneheart’ because ‘raederle’ was taken when I first set up my Livejournal back in 2003 (I’ve been kicking around for a while). My identity on non-journaling websites is ‘Raederle of An’. So if you run across that, it’s probably me. Both names are from beloved books. My pronouns are she/her. I fall on the Star Wars side of the space epic debate, and am more of a Fantasy fan, although I do enjoy me some Sci-Fi. I watch the extended versions (yes, 12 hours worth) of all three Lord of the Rings movies on odd-numbered years on Christmas day (although I’m not the slightest bit religious - the day is for other reasons), including this year. And I cry every time.

I’m fascinated by fairy tales (myths, ghost stories), and have adapted many of them for many different fandoms. Some of them are pretty obscure - I have quite a few fairy tale books to use as reference so the odds are good I’m going to adapt one you’ve never heard of before. I’ve even smushed elements from several tales into one story (And one memorable time, I made a fairy tale from a tale that was in a completely different reality from ours). Someday I will make a post and collect the links for all the ones I’ve written into one place and include all the fandoms. We’re talking somewhere between 20-30 tales.

I’m also a huge science nerd and read as much science stuff as I can, and try to learn new things about it. As a result, my journal is full of random science info and videos. I'm also a nature girl, although currently stuck in a large city. Someday, if I get my way, I'll go back to the woods. Oh, yeah, and I'm a hockey fanatic. I believe it was Chris Rock who said, "There are no casual hockey fans."

My journal is sometimes personal, but most of the time I don't really vent on here. It's more my ponderings of fandom and the state of the world. I'm pretty passionate about accessibility in web design, especially in simple things like journal coding.

In addition to writing sporadically, I dabble in various art mediums from digital art to painting to ceramics (I love wheel throwing). I’m constantly watching tutorial videos or taking classes.

I’m fortunate enough that I can work partially from home. By profession, I’m a lawyer, which takes up a lot of my mental energy that I would otherwise use for creative works. I keep a bullet journal that I decorate, and very much enjoy the open-endedness of bullet-journaling, where I can change up what I'm doing on a whim. I have a planner for my work life, which I decorate a tiny bit with the stickers that came with it (however, I love watching YouTube videos of people who go crazy with stickers in their planners). I love planners, and while new ones are nice, there's something I find very satisfying about a planner at the end of the year - the pages are covered with my writing, there's a few coffee stains here and there, the cover is showing its use.

I dabble in graphics like icons and banners when I have the time. I was able to participate in a couple of challenges and share some of the traditional art I did on drawesome. I think I completed one story this year. Although I started one that will be pretty long if I can get up the motivation to finish it.

Current Fandoms: Julie and the Phantoms, Avatar: The Last Airbender (yes, I know I'm late to this one), Stranger Things, due South, and Letterkenny. I feel something stirring, a change in the air perhaps, but I'm feeling like I'm going back into the Lord of the Rings fandom.

In the past year, I've consumed these things: ( cut for length )

Transformative Works Statement: Blanket permission is given to use any of my stories to make podfic, translations or other transformative works with proper credit. It would be awesome to have a link to anything created, but there's no need to ask for permission - please go ahead!

I'm currently tiling my laundry room floor and I'm exhausted.

May the Force be with you!

I'm trying to convince my kids to finish our re-watch of the first six episodes that we started last summer.

But after we finished The Empire Strikes Back, there's was a debate about what to watch next. Should we continue in the order that they were released? And watch Return of the Jedi? Or should we go get the back story now that we know who Darth Vader is? And pick up with either the The Phantom Menace (most people don't want to watch that one at all) or Attack of the Clones?

The debate derailed our re-watch.

But my daughter has two exams today and my son is probably got a raid set up for tonight. *glares at offspring*

Challenge #3: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

In your own space, tell us who, from one of your fandoms, would you most want to have dinner with (or tea, or a random afternoon visit), And why? This could be a creator, an actor, a costumer, a set designer, a director, a character, a composer, anybody! What would you talk about? What are you dying to know?


One of the directors I most admire is Baz Luhrman (yes, I even liked Australia). His visual style and aesthetic is so striking. His movies always have amazing music, whether it's the perfect pop songs in Strictly Ballroom or very current music in Romeo+Juliet or The Great Gatsby. Or holy crap Moulin Rouge!!! A heavenly melting pot of music! With him would come his wife, who does all the costumes for his movies, and Catherine Martin contributes heavily to the overall look of the movies with her choices in costume design. Look no further than Romeo+Juliet or Moulin Rouge. I'd love to chat with this power couple, pick at their brains for their inspirations and influences.

I got a free seven-day trial of HBO Max so I could watch Bohemian Rhapsody. It was interesting watching it after also just having watched Rocketman, although these were vastly different movies.

On the surface, both movies would seem to be similar: queer British rock stars who first hit big in the 70s. However, Rocketman was a jukebox musical, while Bohemian Rhapsody was a more straightforward biopic. Both took liberties with history and were produced by the musicians in question (Brian May in the case of BR). And both featured John Reed in an interesting bit of historical intersection.

Overall, I liked both, but the slight edge goes to Bohemian Rhapsody because I love Queen's music whereas I'm mostly 'meh' about Elton John.

I think Bohemian Rhapsody carried more emotional weight, not just because of Freddie Mercury's death, although that is a huge part of it. Still makes me sad that we lost him like that. With the climax of the movie featuring Queen at Live Aid, the movie carried the weight of history as well, and the "greatest live rock performance ever". And I can't say enough about how well that part was done. Amazing. This movie will stick with me for a while.

Also!! Cameo by Adam Lambert as an extremely tempting trucker!!!

Not that I really planned to, it just turned out that way. I have a free month of Hulu and I'm trying to get through all the movies I wanted to watch. And Black Sails.

First was Rocketman. Loved it! I really liked that they did it as a jukebox musical, and added all the surreal elements that musicals can have. I have Elton John songs stuck in my head now. Although I'm sort of meh about his music. Some I really love, but some I find overly sentimental. And some I appreciate in other contexts. Like Tiny Dancer. I didn't like that one until Almost Famous.

Next up was I, Tonya, which is one that I can actually remember happening. Really strong cast, obviously. I find it a little sad that Tonya Harding's accomplishments will always be overshadowed by her mistakes and bad judgment. I still don't know whether she was in on the plan or not. I have very vivid memories of the Lillehammer Olympics, maybe because of that story line.

Then last night, I watched Loving Vincent. Which was breathtaking. And made me cry. The basic plot synopsis: A year after Vincent Van Gogh's death, a young man who had been the subject of one of his paintings tries to deliver the painter's last letter and in the process ends up investigating his death. Also --> you say it goff?

I can recommend all three movies if you're in the mood for biopics!

I watered my new plants. And I voted. That's how I'm celebrating. And wearing an Earth Day shirt.

I had planned a nap for later, but the people behind me are getting a new roof today, so it's noisy. And I don't have any window treatments on most of the windows on that side of the house. It faces north, and I have lots of plants that like the diffuse light.

After voting, I went by Michael's to grab some sterling silver fish hook style earring wires. I have a pair of earrings that I love but the wires turned a terrible color once the plating wore off, and sometimes they irritate my ears. After consulting with a friend (uisgich) who makes jewelry, I discovered that the process was pretty simple. The new wires appear to have the '925' stamped onto them, indicating that they really are sterling. In any case, the new ones look much better.

Last night, I watched Love, Simon, a cute, teen rom-com. Where's the ones for the girls though? Then onto Game of Thrones. ( spoilery thoughts and uninformed speculation )

I read the first book 22 years ago when it first came out, but was very busy at the time and decided that I didn't need another unfinished, epic fantasy series in my life. I finished the book, and never picked up another one. Yesterday, I made a pact with a friend, that if GRRM ever finishes the whole thing, I'll go back and read them all, even A Game of Thrones. Assuming I live that long.

Gonna go make avocado smoosh on toast for lunch.

No words.