Was the prophet Isaiah really boring?

Dec. 24th, 2025 06:50 pm
lauradi7dw: leafless tree and gray sky (bare branches)
[personal profile] lauradi7dw
Or did he have knee problems?

Commonly read passage this time of year (this is the RSV translation. The King James version, as used in "The Messiah," starts every valley shall be exalted).
>>Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.<<

Wouldn't that make everything flat? Why would you want all land features to go away?

I don't know why there is an image of the singer standing on stairs not looking formal, but he sounds fine

Yuletide! :DD

Dec. 24th, 2025 03:42 pm
hamsterwoman: (ASOIAF -- holiday weirwood)
[personal profile] hamsterwoman
Yuletide has revealed! (a bit more than intended, LOL, but everything appears to be back in order now, thanks to some swift manual workarounds by the mods! ♥)

I got two wonderful fics, which both really, really surprised me. I was convinced that I was getting a Rivers of London fic, because when my gift popped up, that was the only fandom I had requested with stories, and there was a RoL fic that fit what I had requested, which had recently appeared, so of course I figured it was mine. Then a treat popped up the night before reveals, and the fandoms were unchanged, so I figured it had to be another RoL fic… except Varvara wasn’t tagged in more than one fic, so I was very puzzled. Until I remembered/realized that Lady Eve’s Last Con would not have been wrangled yet, so, OK, my treat was probably that. But it never for a second occurred to me that my main gift could ALSO be Lady Eve’s Last Con, so I was completely blindsided by it:

Forgetting is Musical (1214 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Esteben Mendez-Yuki & Sol Mendez-Yuki, Esteban Mendez-Yuki/Jules Johnson
Characters: Esteban Mendez-Yuki, Sol Mendez-Yuki, Ruthi Johnson
Summary:

Intimacy is a name given to an infinite distance.
Esteban has a few more things to learn.



It is a set of Esteban-centric vignettes, pre- and post-canon, and through this format it manages to fit pretty much ALL of my letter prompts into a single elegant package (all the more impressive because I know it was a late pinch hit). I loved getting a glimpse of the roots (heh) of Esteban’s interest in soil, the light humor, complicated family stuff, the abiding but very sibling-y love of his relationship with Sol, and a hopeful ending, the whole of it very poignant and warm.

I also absolutely loved my treat, which was indeed also Lady Eve’s Last Con, but still surprised me because it was for the crossover prompt I never expected to get, because I’ve been prompting crossovers since my very first Yuletide, in every fandom, and have never gotten any, until now! And not just a crossover between fandoms, but the specific crossover prompt that had greatly amused me when I was reflecting on the book:

Natural Habitats (2161 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow, Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Esteban Mendez-Yuki, Mark Vorkosigan
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Esteban escapes New Monte for an academic conference on Escobar, where he receives an intriguing business proposal.


This was such a fun fic! The crossover works perfectly, the universes blended seamlessly, the fun of the premise itself – but I’d posited it offhandedly, as a cracky plot idea, and my author took it deeper, into excellent character work where Mark and Esteban can relate to each other in interesting ways. And I love this Esteban’s POV, and his awkward flailing at an academic conference, and the uplifting win-win ending.

(It appears from the comments that it is entirely possible to enjoy this fic with only Vorkosigan Saga knowledge, so, y’all who are Vorkosiverse fans should go do that, and then you should read Lady Eve’s Last Con, and read the other fic too ;)

Anyway, so, both fics were a blast, in highly complementary ways. And I’m so pleased that Lady Eve fic now exists in the archive! :D

And I got a very nice comment from my recipient within an hour of the collection opening, so, Yuletide is being very good to me :D

Also, it’s nice to be able to read my gift(s) and comment immediately, instead of reading them either while falling asleep or still bleary pre-coffee, so I’m a fan of this new reveal time.

*

In non-Yuletide news – Merry Christmas to friends who celebrate! Or actually, Merry Krysa-mouse!

merrykrysamousefinal

(Backstory is that B made a joke, pronouncing "Merry Christmas" as "Merry Krysa-mas" and then L took it a step further to "Merry Krysa-mouse" [krysa = rat, for the non-Russian-speakers]. Of course, I embraced this new holiday, and was even compelled to illustrate it. You are looking at the pinnacle of my artistic ability, y'all. Drawn from "life" -- i.e. a rubber Halloween rat (which is no more, as it melted/disintegrated several years ago -- horrifying pictures available upon request) and a box of mouse finger puppets.)

We are having a quiet day after a very active Tuesday and before B’s return tomorrow, so I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit :)

Yuletide Haul 2025

Dec. 24th, 2025 04:51 pm
petra: Text: Archive of Our Own: Squee shared is squee squared. (Squee - Squee shared)
[personal profile] petra
Galavant:

Note the part where this is tagged as Original Music Composition! I GOT A GALAVANT SONG FOR YULETIDE!

THere is a bug de-anonymizing the collection, so with any luck, my author will be willing to post more than the sheet music and save me from my current predicament of "I can sorta sight-read but not that well." I love the Madalena voice in this, so perfectly discontent with her amazing lot! and there's MUSIC! Madalena's Ballad of Vast Success (1264 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Galavant (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Madalena (Galavant), Brief ensemble Galavant cast appearance
Additional Tags: Character Study, Inspired by the song What Am I Feeling (Galavant), Original music composition, Post-Canon
Summary:

Madalena stood on her balcony, in her castle perched high on a cliffside overlooking her vast and endless empire. "This is the best life has ever been. Everything I wanted is now mine... Yet sometimes it seems that there's something out there that eludes me, something I can neither buy nor take. But that's crazy! Who would dare deny me? Deceive or defy me? None at all! Well, almost none!"



Galavant 2:

The share button isn't working on Tad Cooper, a Life, which is an adorable summation of the life and times of Tad Cooper, as one can imagine from the title. I enjoyed the POV the author chose!

Slow Horses + Rivers of London:

My other Yuletide author took me up on my deep and soulful desire for Slow Horses + Rivers of London, and does great things with the interaction of law enforcement and Regent's Park, and the various characters. Spoilers for Diana Taverner's fate if you've only done the first book/show, but nothing that will surprise anyone. I love the way the mundane and magical intersect here:

The Spirit of Regent's Park (2370 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Slow Horses (TV), Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thomas Nightingale, Diana Taverner, Jackson Lamb (Slow Horses), Emma Flyte, Molly Doran
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Yuletide Treat, add some magic to your spy show
Summary:

Newly minted First Desk Diana Taverner visits the Folly to find out who this Thomas Nightingale fellow is, and learns a few things about London that are closer to home than she expects.



*

What I wrote:

2 stories!

Spot either and I'll write you a drabble. One of them is so me it hurts and the other is less obviously so but still extremely Petra.

Happy Yuletide!

Dec. 24th, 2025 01:03 pm
rachelmanija: (Autumn: small leaves)
[personal profile] rachelmanija
The Yuletide collection is live!

Enjoy browsing the collection! Leave kudos and/or comments if you enjoy a story! Comment here to recommend stories, and/or recommend them at the [community profile] yuletide comm!

I have three stories in the collection. Can you find them?

I shall now spend the rest of the day cuddling with my cats and reading Yuletide stories.

(no subject)

Dec. 24th, 2025 02:53 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
Dear Carolyn: I’m a year out from chemo and still officially cancer-free. Also, my hair is back to normal — yay. To celebrate, I had it dyed a beautiful violet shade, my favorite color.

Now my dad is giving me so much grief about it. He keeps asking why I need everyone to notice me and ask about my cancer. I don’t care if anyone notices my hair; I did it for me. The color makes me smile every time I look in the mirror. And if anyone does mention the color, I tell them I did it because I like the color purple. I never mention cancer at all. Why would I want to talk about that? I feel good, I can run and hike again, and I want to focus on things like that.

My dad refuses to accept my explanation, because he believes everyone who does anything he considers to be out of the ordinary does it “to get attention” or to “freak people out.” I can’t seem to convince him how stupid that is, that people do things because they want to and it makes them happy.

Can you think of a way to get through to him? I’m really tired of having to listen to him criticize my hair every time he sees me.

— Celebrating


Read more... )

Literal Christmas

Dec. 24th, 2025 11:36 am
ysobel: (Default)
[personal profile] ysobel posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
Dear Miss Manners: I have long been troubled by the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” specifically the intimation that if we don’t give the uninvited guests their figgy pudding, they “won’t go.”

How are we to address this request? I don’t want to be ungrateful for their wishes, but think that their insistence is a bit beyond what is considered polite and reasonable. Can you advise how to proceed?


What was that? Miss Manners couldn’t quite hear you over the ruckus made by the geese a-laying, the calling birds, the French hens and the turtledoves. The partridge, fortunately, appears to have passed out under the pear tree.

Christmas achievements

Dec. 24th, 2025 06:54 pm
shewhomust: (ayesha)
[personal profile] shewhomust
It is Christmas Eve, and this morning I submitted my tax return. That's the big one.

The milkman left five pints this morning, which will have to last us until Monday morning. We have succeeded in fitting it into the fridge.

I (we, in fact) have stripped the bed, and there is washing in the machine. I have placed an order with Ocado for just before the New Year (there's plenty of time to edit the order, but the delivery slot is reserved). [personal profile] durham_rambler went out this morning to collect his prescription and - above and beyond the call of duty - managed to snag a red cabbage (I'd been unsuccessful at both Sainsbury's and Aldi).

Yesterday we went to lunch with J: which was fun, but it's just the two of us now until D. and [personal profile] valydiarosada arrive for the New Year.

So we are ready for whatever the next few days may bring.

Season's greetings, everyone!

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 8

Dec. 24th, 2025 01:31 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 8 by SUOL

The story is approaching the conclusion. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes

Read more... )

(no subject)

Dec. 24th, 2025 01:10 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
This morning I woke up feeling absolutely miserable, mainly because my head was aching and I was very congested, plus my ear was showing signs of developing that mysterious pain. I took some Tylenol and lay back down with the problematic ear pressed firmly into the pillow, and eventually, after close to two hours, I started to feel marginally better. At least my ear had stopped hurting. However, I decided to stay in bed today, or at least, on my bed, because I rarely stay actually in bed all day unless I'm much sicker than I am right now.

Today has so far been much quieter than yesterday. My daughter has been out doing errands (i.e. shopping) all morning, and the girls are being fairly quiet upstairs under the eye of their father. Two of their favourite people are arriving to stay over Christmas later today; first, their oldest cousin L, who is in her late 20s, and second, S's son J, who now has a tradition of coming up here for Christmas. L is going to sleep in Violet's room but I'm not sure where J will sleep. Possibly in my daughter's office, because that's been used as an overflow bedroom before.

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Dec. 24th, 2025 11:42 am
sage: a white stag on a black background, captioned "Yuletide" (yuletide)
[personal profile] sage
books
The Fortune of War (Aubreyad #6) by Patrick O'Brian. Very satisfying, if occasionally super gross. I'm rationing these, because I'll be sad when they're over.

Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours: Local Developments and Long-range Interactions in the 4th Millennium BC by Cameron A. Petrie (Editor). 2013. I started this an age ago & put it down in the middle of the driest of dry articles. It's a lot of archaeology, and little of it is engaging, but I love the general subject matter so I finished it.

still reading: The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club #5) by Richard Osman. This one is failing to hook me.

yarning
I went to yarn group Sunday and had a good time, though I messed up the bunny I worked on there, doh. Adding a Made To Order option in my etsy shop for kickbunnies was a good idea. I've had several sales already, and also the burgundy and rose pink ones keep selling out. Etsy's color of the year for 2026 is "Patina Blue," or blue copper, which is basically teal, so I'm focusing on burgundy and teal now, while hoping the brown and yellow bunnies in the shop will eventually sell. A fun aside: my Santa from the Kitten Academy holiday card exchange drew a great, colorful scene in the card he sent -- a Christmas tree filled with cats and two kickbunnies looking up at them from in front of a fire in the fireplace. A very happy-making surprise!

yuletide
I've been volunteering as a SPAG beta on the Yuletide discord & have gotten to preview some really cute/sweet/charming fics! Fic reveals are THIS AFTERNOON!! and I cannot wait! \o/

healthcrap ) However, the flu is, and my brother has it, so Christmas is delayed until he gets better and has a few days off again, whenever that will be. At least I'll have Yuletide to keep me company.

Solstice
was Sunday at 9:03am CST. Happy YULE!! Welcome to the return of the light, northern hemisphere peeps! Happy Summer Solstice, antipodeans! \o/

#resist
Tuesday, January 20: #50501 General Walk-out, 2pm local time. https://www.FreeAmeri.ca

Wishing everyone safe travels and a very happy holiday season, whatever you celebrate! <333

How K is it, really?

Dec. 24th, 2025 11:07 am
lauradi7dw: braid with ribbon (daenggi)
[personal profile] lauradi7dw
NPR, WUMB, WERS, and others are putting out or preparing end of year best song lists (or maybe favorite songs?). I listen to the radio a lot, mostly those and sometimes 92.5 The River (what does that mean?) which seems to be a franchise of some sort, because there is a different version in western Mass that still calls itself The River. I have heard a lot of songs this year that I like, but I don't know most of the artists or titles because the DJs don't tell me often enough, and when they do I don't have pen and paper at the ready. I know my favorite Kpop songs of 2025, although almost all of them are in English. Should that count?
It was a big Kpop Demon Hunters year for a lot of the world. Golden was my head song for months, but I like a lot of the other songs as well.
A soundtrack list starts here
https://youtu.be/yebNIHKAC4A?si=8lCWbvXx-_b_jLsY
There was a short tiktok reposted on twitter of a cute little kid singing it but I can't figure out how to link it.
Does anybody need the movie screenplay? Here it is:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26438527-kpop-demon-hunters-read-the-screenplay-2/#document/p1

J-Hope and GloRilla Killin' it Girl (not my favorite of J-Hope's releases this year, but it stuck most in my head).



Stray Kids Do it



The Do It challenge dance performed by a Hamilton cast
https://youtube.com/shorts/ytBg-BJNQPo?si=efbis9e5_g6cQQ-5

WERS played Billie Eilish's "Birds of a Feather" a lot this year. Why is the group name just her name (Eilish is her middle name) when her brother Fineas is part of every project? Wouldn't Billie & Fineas made more sense?
I prefer the cover by Kim Seungmin



Here's one that's not in English (except I only know the English title)
Hwasa Good Goodbye



There isn't a standardized challenge dance for it, but people have posted little skits of themselves to the music, often including the sort of hand-wavy part at about 2:20.

But here's Hwasa singing in English, for Christmas
https://youtube.com/shorts/prgRbO-xJ8g?si=_gO574amExfd--Yb

This is K but not pop and it's not 2025, but almost (early December 2024). I have watched it a lot this fall. I think of it as the Santa's Helpers pungmul group

Christmas Eve

Dec. 24th, 2025 08:03 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
Yesterday, Noelle and I were chatting over the puzzle when John came out and asked me to come look at his computer - he couldn't get it to turn on. I told him no, that he needs to contact IT. He did not know what IT was. I told him, it's Brandon. Brandon has been to John's many times to help him. John said he didn't know a Brandon. It was pretty sad. But, no way would I touch his computer.

John was dying quickly a few months ago and put into the nursing wing. He is better now and maybe not dying tomorrow (he is 89) but he's lost many of his marbles. He still sleeps in his room in the nursing wing but spends his days in his apartment with his wife, Hazel, who is blind and does not have all of her marbles either. They have a son, Keith, who lives nearby. Before, he got sick, I used to help him with his computer. But, when he got sick, his son stepped in and stepped up and took over their finances but even so Hazel tells me they have been scammed by BECU three times now. I am sure she's not got all the facts right but clearly there are some computer/financial issues there.

John was not happy that I would not help him and I'm sorry about that but no fucking way am I putting my fingerprints on that bed of quicksand!

After he left, Noelle and I discussed it and she asked me what I would have done differently with Myrna that would have saved me from the quagmire of her family. It's a great question and I did not have answer and still don't. BUT I am getting more and more clear on what I will never do again!

Then, yesterday evening, I ran into Joan who said "I was going to come find you to ask you to change my bandage." I do not know what the wound is or how she got it handled but I assured her that NFW was I going to even get close to that. "Well, Bonny does it sometimes but Bonny's not here" Wait til Bonny gets back or call a nurse or your children. I do not do wounds. Ewww.

I want to make a sign for my door - or maybe my forehead - that says help and has a red circle with a slash over the words.

But, after all that, I came back here to my own place with my own cats and watched some good TV and knitted and wallowed in the knowledge that I do not have to go anywhere or do anything or even talk to anyone for the next few days. It was a lovely evening. I finished the book I was reading and slept like a log.

I think I will probably go swim a few laps this morning. And then my dinner will be ready for pick up about 4. And that's it for plans.

20251223_193219-COLLAGE
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

I wrote and sent (luckily could retrieve in time!!) an email to them from my erik@ address, rather than the Gmail address I've had since 2004 and use for bank stuff and parent stuff and... that's about it now.

I have never even started to do such a thing before, I don't know what happened here! I'm feeling fine today, so for my brain to be so addled is very weird!

Luckily (??), emails sent from the erik@ account from my phone often bring up an error message that means I have to fiddle around a bit to get them sent, and when that happened this time my blood ran cold and I quickly deleted the email altogether. It never got from "outbox" to "sent" so that should be okay!

But sheesh what a near miss!

It was an email about my birthday present too so very obviously from me, I couldn't say it was just spam or something.

oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
[personal profile] oursin

What I read

Well, the Katherine Addison Cemeteries of Amalo re-read continued: I managed to access Lora Selezh and on to The Witness for the Dead, The Grief of Stones and The Tomb of Dragons (the latter was the one where I first began experiencing weird lagging effects on the ereader).

On the go

Seem to have several things currently on the go.

Still dipping in to Diary at the Centre of the Earth, which is becoming compelling, especially as so much of it is set not quite in my neighbourhood but very close and has allusions to things like busroutes familiar to me.

Started Ursula K Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (1971), which have been meaning to do since discovering the movie is online available and wishing to refresh my memory. Do have a copy but it is a) somewhere inaccessible and b) 1970s paperback probably in disintegrating condition so shelled out for (v reasonable) ebook. Not very far in yet - wow it's a bit generic c. 1970 nearish future dystopia! - do we need so much futtock-shroudery from Haber about his dream-machine? (feel that this may have been editor thinking this was Necessary Exposition?).

Also have started Dorothy Richardson, Pointed Roofs (Pilgrimage #1) (1915), for online reading group, which after various struggles have given in and am reading via Kindle app on tablet because stutter mode is NOT what one wants with Richardson's prose. Do have 1970sish Virago edition somewhere in the book maelstrom but disinclined to the turmoil of trying to locate.

Up next

That seems like enough to be going on with but I am in expectation of Christmas books.

Rec-cember Day 20: Heated Rivalry

Dec. 24th, 2025 04:26 pm
falena: Group shot of the er doctors looking at carter's tailored labcoat in the pilot (er pilot)
[personal profile] falena

I already recced my fave Heated Rivalry fic on Day 5 when I focused on hockey romance more broadly, but since Heated Rivalry has taken over fandom by storm, I thought some more recs would go down well. Everything is Shane/Ilya because duh. Also, they were written before the show, but since the show is such a faithful adaptation of the book, it shouldn't be a problem.

Ilya Rozanov Gets Railed by [archiveofourown.org profile] GlitterCity 13K

“You didn’t like it the last time we tried it,” Shane said.

Ilya gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Was years ago. Maybe it is an acquired taste, like licorice.”

“You also don’t like licorice,” Shane pointed out.

“Yes, but I keep trying it because Luca likes it so much.”

“And then you make a face and tell him how awful it is.”

“When have I ever told you your dick is awful?” Ilya said, looking mildly offended. “I am its number one fan.” I kinda dislike the title because while there's of course quite a lot of smut in this, what makes this story is the amazing characterisation and the fantastic banter (see the quote). Podfic available!

you'd rather die than take your eyes off me by [archiveofourown.org profile] princebutt. 6K, Ilya is in a car accident. Shane hurries to be by his side, and outs them in the process. Set during the year Ilya is playing for Boston. AU.

there's no pretending by [archiveofourown.org profile] moonsock. 13 K. The term, he’s told, is temporary retrograde amnesia. Ilya doesn’t need the direct translation to understand: he forgot things. Ten years of things.

The Pitt

singing in unison by [archiveofourown.org profile] dotsayers. AU. Gen. Leah's sick the night before Pittfest. Robby gets his ticket back. I love a good ensemble piece. And an AU. Two of my fave things rolled in one.

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