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1) I'm thrilled to say we've been getting contributions steadily at threeforthememories and I just sent out my post today. The session closes on Monday the 24th, midnight UTC so post soon or come visit the ones made!

Something I noticed is that although the DW interest "2020" has been used by two other people (who never updated their accounts), there is no other person/community that has used "2021."

2) I finished S1 of Raised by Wolves and apparently S2 will begin in a few weeks. However I'm not that interested in seeing it. ( Collapse )

I also watched Encanto yesterday and liked it well enough but don't have much to say about it either. I liked the animation and the music was fine. It is definitely nice to see a Latino story on a big stage, especially in a family movie.

I tried out Miracle Workers and saw all of S1. The concept was great but I didn't find the show that enjoyable or funny. I got through one episode of S2 and realized I didn't care to see any more.

3) We're losing HBO Max in 3 days but have lost more options quietly. Only in November I began to search out live TV options channel by channel and cost-wise to see if switching from DStream would be worthwhile after an announced price hike. I discovered on January 1 when trying to record the Rose Parade that we'd lost HGTV (which we normally never watch). And then as we prepared to switch, I discovered we'd lost more than that. ( Collapse )

4) Almost a year old but still relevant Like it or not, tech companies can use your phone location data to map social distancing:

"An analysis by mobile app intelligence company Apptopia found Unacast’s SDK in all kinds of iOS and Android apps, including smart TV remotes, period trackers, games, free wifi locators, weather forecasters, and step trackers. You can always turn location tracking off for those apps, but some of them obviously need the location services to be able to work at all."

"But this means that a company you’ve likely never heard of has a lot of data about your phone and, by extension, you. That data includes your device’s unique advertising identifier; location data specific enough to detect which fast food restaurant the device is in and how long it’s been there; and the network name and MAC address of the wifi router the device is connected to."

5) Old Version is a website which stores older software including OS, multimedia and graphics programs, and office and file sharing programs.




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1) Saw the series Jett on HBO Max and was sorry there was only the one season. It didn't end on a cliffhanger but it also wasn't neatly tied up. I was interested to discover it was fairly recent, 2019, and got cancelled in 2020 because Cinemax was stopping original content production (no doubt part of the mess AT&T created with its mergers and buyouts). It was a shame because it was a well plotted series that included various heists and also had a domestic side that didn't drag down the show. This may have been due to the nature of the lead character. Carla Gugino was quite good in it.

2) I liked Luther less, though I watched the whole series. ( Collapse )

I've since started Raised by Wolves which had an interesting premise but I haven't watched enough to see where it's going.

4) An interesting read about the history of monsters and horror films in the U.S. and how this spread to attractions and the growth of Halloween as a holiday.

5) Although this article focused on how U.S. journalism is very US-centric in its assumptions about readership, I would say this was just as true about who it expects its readers to be within the U.S. Some examples of comments from international readers: What is a Snickerdoodle? What is a quarterback? Why do people care about college sports? Why do you only count American citizens among the dead you have killed in a war? The scarcity of rapid Covid tests? An assumption that’s not true for many countries. Student loans? Not a thing in most of Europe. Universal healthcare? Not perceived as “socialism” in the majority of the world.

I would argue that assumptions about how capitalism should work is a huge one in the way that topics are discussed and is a never-questioned perspective. Also, the idea that the U.S.'s nationalism is common in the rest of the world.



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1) Taking your enjoyment however small, forcing you to take care of yourself and being prepared if you don't, plus couple goals and the kind of welcome we all wish we got.

2) Finally got to see The Eternals. I liked it, but I can see why it might not have done the usual box office, even outside of a pandemic. ( Collapse )

Also, side note, given that LEGO Star Wars shorts keep popping up on Disney+ I am rather perplexed as to why this isn't true of the Avengers ones as well. I wouldn't have known about the new Loki one but for someone's gifset.

3) Watched the Matrix Resurrection and liked it. I definitely thought it was the best installment since the first one. ( Collapse )

4) Speaking of movies, forecasting the future isn't easy but at least one movie apparently got a lot of things right, even if the date was a bit too early for the worst effects.

5) This past month has been list making time and I have already watched a number of shows listed by Henry Jenkins as his favorites last year. I was most intrigued by Bosch, particularly as I plan to get an Amazon subscription sometime in the next few months. Anyone recommend it?



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1) I want to alert anyone reading or scrolling by that threeforthememories is now open and anyone who wants to join in can do so before January 24th. I'm planning to share my own post about 2021 over this next week, but we've gotten a number of others already! If you can think of 3 photos you've taken that describe your life in 2021, please do join us with your own post. And if not, visit the ones already shared 🧐

2) I've watched the first two episodes of Boba Fett. If anyone else is also watching, I wanted to mention that there are conversations about it in two places that I know of, the disneyplusshows and dreamwars communities. ( Collapse )

3) I wanted to point out communities for Star Wars as it seems that conversations are popping up around DW regarding increasing fannish interaction through communities. I have long wanted to see a wider group of regularly active communities, ones that actually thrive instead of having sporadic activity.

There are two conversations in particular I want to single out. The first offers a number of suggestions for maintaining activity on DW and I was particularly happy to see the suggestion to revive 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth among them. It's something I mentioned last month when making my offer to sponsor someone's paid account for a year. (So far, no takers). If it doesn't stir this year I think I'll look into doing that, because it seems the owner hasn't been around for years.

The other was about communities where people involved in particular activities can ask for tips, encourage others, and find support. I shared a few communities I know about but I'm sure there are more.

I also wanted to remind everyone about the tracking feature on DW to stay aware of new additions to ongoing conversations, as I used it myself for both these posts.

4) I also watched the first episode of Around the World in 80 Days. Thought the approach to Around was fine (though Tennant is so distractingly thin in it).

I also watched Show Me a Hero on HBO Max as we will be cancelling the service later this month. Like The Wire, it had a slow beginning to me but was focused on an incredibly relevant bit of political and racial history which seems even more cutting now than when this was first released (and the events themselves weren't that long ago). ( Collapse )

5) A reminder that lots of new works have entered the public domain thanks to the New Year! Among them many sound recordings, works by early film stars, and Winnie the Pooh and Bambi!



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1) Otters chasing a butterfly is utterly hilarious, as is a puppy learning that cold is a thing.

2) I've been going through a lot of the British Baking Show for the last 2 weeks. It makes for good comfort viewing. I first saw the seasons with Prue so it was Mary Berry who was the substitute for me. I liked her just fine but I prefer Prue. But I do miss Sandy and I thought that Mel and Sue were really good and it was sad that they left.

One thing I think is under estimated about the show is the set dressers. I do like the little bits of nature used as cutaways, but I also found myself admiring the setup in the side tent where Paul and Prue were discussing the technical challenge. I think the overall look and colors of the show are a part of its appeal. ( Collapse )

3) IP law is so nuts and out control in the U.S. that you have situations such as news sites at risk for simply reporting on stories nearly a decade ago.

4) I got directed to this Top 2021 Songs list at Rolling Stone because of Mickey Dolenz's inclusion on it (I would have chosen a different song from the album, but nice to see it there). Two things struck me, the first being the choice of the Beatles "Oh Darling" starting the list at #25. A bit of a cheat as it's just a version of it as they work on it, and not one ever meant to be heard, but the commentary amused me.

"It’s the conversation they couldn’t stop having, from “Hey Jude, don’t let me down” to “Don’t Let Me Down” to “Oh darling, I’ll never let you down.” It sets up the funniest scene in Get Back, when the lads pretend they just suddenly noticed these songs add up to a story. John: “It’s like you and me are lovers.” Paul: “Yeah!” George’s double take is an all-time top 10 Bitchy George moment."

The other is of Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" (at #1): "What does it mean that Taylor can rework a fan-fave deep cut, a song that never got any kind of airplay, flesh it out for 10 minutes, and turn it into a Number One hit… Just this: There is nothing in the universe as powerful as a woman who can’t be scared out of talking her shit…The crazy journey of this song is one of my favorite music stories of my lifetime. Hers too, probably."

5) I was startled to get an automated call asking me to look out for a lost dog. Apparently there's a service that automates searching for pets. Pretty sure there's a limited number of places where "Horse" would be an option.




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1) I have a fondness for ships where one character is the grumpypants and the other is the optimist. Also, you might want to rethink that classic question about fighting one big duck or many small ones after seeing what a duckpocalypse might look like. And Hop on Pop animal style.

2) Finished off Hawkeye, though I'll have to wait on the new Matrix as Mike wants to watch them together and needs to catch up on the series. I went into it Hawkeye with no particular expectations and ended up quite enjoying it. ( Collapse )

3) Finished posting my series of 2010 mourning dove nest and baby photos on Pillowfort, which you can find under this tag -- just scroll back to the first post.

4) Interested to read about all the companies creating electric planes, most going after passenger markets but some like Amazon developing them for cargo delivery. These are expected to go into production and use faster because they will not have to clear the sort of safety hurdles that apply to a passenger fleet.

However the idea of these electric planes is not only hopeful for reduction of carbon emissions but the possibility that they will be useful for shorter hop flights because they must stop to recharge anyway.

5) This stat leaped out at me while reading about environmental journalism: " While 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions, some of them are still funding pseudoscience and climate change deniers. Scientists and journalists in the U.S. and Europe are now attacked for exposing the harm that predatory capitalism does — a situation not unlike how social leaders at the helm of environmental justice movements have been attacked for centuries for exposing the same thing. Now journalists in the global North are the ones being labeled “too engaged” and “biased.” "



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1) Injury solidarity and 'tis the season to gift friends.

2) I'm looking at episode 2 season 6 of The Great British Baking Show and they're talking about how hot it's going to be in the tent while the bakers are trying to make a chocolate dessert. And what catches my eye are the men with two layers of clothing including flannel on top and the fact that the co-host is wearing a sweater on top of a shirt! Why is everyone not in a T-shirt in the summer anyway, much less in a tent filled with ovens baking and hot lights for filming?

3) Some people may have already seen Stephen Colbert's tribute to LotR's 20th anniversary (which was very fun). However I was curious about what people think really is the #1 film trilogy? And by what criteria? (Through length alone, LotR was more like 4 movies).

4) It's rather sad that these things need to be spelled out as a 2022 resolution but it certainly lays out what the news media should have been doing all along for far more reasons than nationalist threats.

5) Decided to do the year in review meme with some alterations:

1. Your main fandom this year?

I would have to say Star Wars. The new SW canon content was not particularly great – The Bad Batch, Visions, and a somewhat mixed follow-up season of The Mandalorian. But these were the stories I was eager to dig into. I had already shifted into reading SW fic last year and I have really enjoyed a number of them this year.

2. Your favorite film watched this year?

I watched quite a lot of movies this year, in part because HBO Max was releasing them simultaneously at home, plus skipping around streaming services means picking up more stuff than I might otherwise. The one I was most looking forward to was Spiderman but I'm not going to the theater to see it, so that and Eternals will have to wait.

I had to look through my movies tag for this year to recall what I saw. I was pretty meh on a lot of it, but it did remind me of The Bankers. I can definitely recommend that one. I also recommended Those Who Want Me Dead which was a good action movie and Greyhound which was very suspenseful, and Judas and the Black Messiah which was both informative and powerful. ( Collapse )



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1) Saw episode 5 of Hawkeye and found it intriguing. ( Collapse )

2) I always enjoy seeing the 100fandomicons challenge results. So many different fandoms to pick out and some fun choices for the prompts!

3) Following up again on the issue of feeds, the community dw_feed_promo exists both to promote any feeds you start as well as to find out what's been added. It hasn't been very active but the most recent posts there give a good insight into how much interesting stuff can be subscribed to.

4) I thought that this article meandered rather too much, especially in the sections detailing what we'd consider medical quackery, but there were some interesting bits about mitochondrial function and what sorts of energy we can measure. It seemed to me that a lot of the low energy issues the author has weren't a big mystery to explain, though how widespread they may be is eye opening:

"[A] University of North Carolina study that found that eighty-eight per cent of Americans suffer from some metabolic malfunction. “That means that roughly one in ten of us is able to process energy the way our bodies are designed to,” she said. “It’s an epidemic. Our fundamental pathways have been hijacked by the Western diet and life style. Disordered blood sugar is a big driver of most inflammation and chronic disease. It’s not just diabetes.”" ( Collapse )

5) One of the less well-understood inputs into these algorithms is keyword blocklists. "These are lists of words that the ad tech industry uses to exclude advertising from running on particular news stories…programmatic ads can be excluded from news stories that include words such as “Trump” or “Biden,” as well as “Black,” “Hispanic,” “Asian,” “gay,” or “lesbian.”

The result is that much of the advertising inventory on news sites is deemed brand-unsafe. A significant share of the ad inventory of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times falls into this category. For sites serving Black or gay communities, 70% of the ad inventory can be excluded because so many of their stories include words that keyword blocklists have deemed too risky for ads."

Also, because "algorithms don’t differentiate between misinformation sites and quality publishers" Comscore estimates "that $2.6 billion worth of online ads from blue-chip companies annually run on sites that advertisers never intended." This money is supporting the misinformation industry and it's because it's so much cheaper to have automated ad placement as opposed to human selection.



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1) When you're not the A team.

2) As some have probably heard, Michael Nesmith of the Monkees died this week. I liked this quote from a Rolling Stone article (a publication which would have reviled them at the time), because it's so true about canons generally:

“The Monkees were playing live by this time, and the lyric to this was inspired by that.” Nez, with his solo-folkie background, was stunned by the sight of 20,000 fans. “Every time we played, an extraordinary thing happened. The performance turned us into something we weren’t offstage, which was the Monkees. Peter calls it the ‘fifth thing.’ It was the audience. They were there to bring this thing into reality, to make actual what the television show had portrayed. It was really about them. The lyrics come from a post-concert realization of the reality that had just occurred, the Monkees coming to life as the audience. Maybe that’s a little metaphysical.”

3) Birds Aren’t Real, or Are They? Inside a Gen Z Conspiracy Theory "What Birds Aren’t Real truly is, they say, is a parody social movement with a purpose. In a post-truth world dominated by online conspiracy theories, young people have coalesced around the effort to thumb their nose at, fight and poke fun at misinformation. It’s Gen Z’s attempt to upend the rabbit hole with absurdism."

4) Kind of fascinated by the discussion of 2.5-D fandom "linking fictional worlds to real life. They focused on SKAM which "combined a transmedia, innovative format, intended to engage youth, with a more traditional “summary” episode every week, which engaged older audiences." The story tried to "appear ‘real.’ This meant that fans of the series visited the very real school the series’ characters attended, for example, and were able to follow the characters social media accounts and comment on their posts, which blurred the boundaries between what was fiction and what was not."

5) I got a lot of feedback about the meta newsletter feed I set up last week so I went to take a look at the subscriptions to it. It has grown quickly. What is striking to me is how little people subscribe to feeds on Dreamwidth. I mean, on the one hand, we have a lot of feeds set up here, so one might think that it's just that people have a wide range of interests. But in fact, only 24 feeds here have more than 100 subscribers! (And at the rate it's going, this new feed might even make that list by year's end). That's because most feeds have fewer than 5 people subscribed. ( Collapse )



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