The Friday Five for 19 June 2026
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thefridayfive1. What is your biggest waste of time in your home?
2. When at work, what is the activity that you find wastes the most time?
3. When getting busy with a date or significant other, what ritual could you do without?
4. What is the biggest waste of time on the Internet?
5. What do you do at a restaurant to waste time when waiting for your meal?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. When at work, what is the activity that you find wastes the most time?
3. When getting busy with a date or significant other, what ritual could you do without?
4. What is the biggest waste of time on the Internet?
5. What do you do at a restaurant to waste time when waiting for your meal?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
thursday things
Jun. 18th, 2026 12:10 pmisisI haven't finished any books recently, mostly because I ran out of fiction at hand and started in on some nonfiction that is requiring a lot of brain (Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime by Sean Carroll), and so is going very slowly as I absorb it. However as is typical (I'm sure there's a Somebody's Law on this) all my library holds came in at once, so I have also started The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which merit had recommended and sounded interesting - so far, it is indeed!
But we have watched a few things. First, we finally finished 1923, which is part of the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe, i.e. Yellowstone and related spin-offs. We had watched the first four seasons of Yellowstone, at which point I decided I didn't enjoy watching characters I dislike doing obnoxious things. We then watched the prequel 1883, which was generally more to my taste (we typically only watch historical, SF, or fantasy shows) but a general downer as although there were more characters I actually liked, they mostly ended up dying. So I was not really excited about 1923, but hey, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as cranky old western ranchers was certainly a draw, and I let B convince me. (Also, Jerome Flynn, who was Bronn in Game of Thrones, plays an interestingly nuanced villain, and Timothy Dalton (Timothy Dalton!!) plays a boringly un-nuanced villain who fortunately didn't have a pencil mustache because if he did, he would have been twirling it.)
Not-really-spoiler alert: I have come to the conclusion that the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe is not for me. There were three main storylines: the eeevil Irish sheepmen who want to take the ranch land, followed by the eeevil mining baron who wants to take the ranch land; the nephew, emotionally scarred by his WWI experience, who has become a hunter for the Crown in British Africa, and the British noblewoman who throws over her old life to be with him; and the Crow girl at an Indian boarding school run by basically eeevil priests and nuns, who suffers one beating too many and fights back and runs. These storylines were weirdly separate, with the only connection being that the old ranch lady played by Mirren writes letters to her nephew in Africa begging him to come back to help them save the Yellowstone - and much of his plot is the over-the-top trauma and drama involved in he and his new wife overcoming one ridiculous obstacle after another to get to Wyoming. I kept waiting for the runaway native girl plot to intertwine with the rest, but other than glancing very slightly off the nephew plotline, it never did; I guess it's intended to be prequel for another installment between 1923 and the present (one of the native actors was the son of one of the actors in Yellowstone, so I could see a possible connection being drawn), but I'm not going to watch it.
Also I would not believe I would ever say that a show has so much kinky sex it got boring, but. Yeah.
The ending was over-the-top and relentlessly emotional (yeah, I cried) and very on-brand for the TSCU. But I admit I was hoping Okay, I never actually believed that would possibly happen, but what we got just annoyed me by the pointlessness of all the dramatic struggle along the way. But I did like the cranky old ranch couple, and the theme of progress being good for some and bad for others.
The next thing we were planning to watch was Dark Winds S4, but B said, "You know, we just saw a lot of people shooting each other amid trauma and drama, and maybe something lighter would be a good palate cleanser?" He had recently watched (on his own) some movie about a golfer (?) played by Owen Wilson, and he was looking for other films Wilson had done and came up with Woody Allen's 2011 romantic comedy Midnight in Paris.
Which just proves how well he knows me, because this movie was absolutely up my alley: hack screenwriter hoping to become a novelist, on vacation in Paris with his fiancee and her parents, somehow accidentally travels back in time and meets famous historical literary and art figures! And it's hilarious and sparkling and the various historical characters are amazing. Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí. I didn't know Corey Stoll but his Ernest Hemingway was maybe my favorite. (I mean, all the dialogue was brilliant, it's Woody Allen through and through.) The ending is pretty obvious a mile off, but I found it satisfying.
merit had recommended and sounded interesting - so far, it is indeed!But we have watched a few things. First, we finally finished 1923, which is part of the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe, i.e. Yellowstone and related spin-offs. We had watched the first four seasons of Yellowstone, at which point I decided I didn't enjoy watching characters I dislike doing obnoxious things. We then watched the prequel 1883, which was generally more to my taste (we typically only watch historical, SF, or fantasy shows) but a general downer as although there were more characters I actually liked, they mostly ended up dying. So I was not really excited about 1923, but hey, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as cranky old western ranchers was certainly a draw, and I let B convince me. (Also, Jerome Flynn, who was Bronn in Game of Thrones, plays an interestingly nuanced villain, and Timothy Dalton (Timothy Dalton!!) plays a boringly un-nuanced villain who fortunately didn't have a pencil mustache because if he did, he would have been twirling it.)
Not-really-spoiler alert: I have come to the conclusion that the Taylor Sheridan Cinematic Universe is not for me. There were three main storylines: the eeevil Irish sheepmen who want to take the ranch land, followed by the eeevil mining baron who wants to take the ranch land; the nephew, emotionally scarred by his WWI experience, who has become a hunter for the Crown in British Africa, and the British noblewoman who throws over her old life to be with him; and the Crow girl at an Indian boarding school run by basically eeevil priests and nuns, who suffers one beating too many and fights back and runs. These storylines were weirdly separate, with the only connection being that the old ranch lady played by Mirren writes letters to her nephew in Africa begging him to come back to help them save the Yellowstone - and much of his plot is the over-the-top trauma and drama involved in he and his new wife overcoming one ridiculous obstacle after another to get to Wyoming. I kept waiting for the runaway native girl plot to intertwine with the rest, but other than glancing very slightly off the nephew plotline, it never did; I guess it's intended to be prequel for another installment between 1923 and the present (one of the native actors was the son of one of the actors in Yellowstone, so I could see a possible connection being drawn), but I'm not going to watch it.
Also I would not believe I would ever say that a show has so much kinky sex it got boring, but. Yeah.
The ending was over-the-top and relentlessly emotional (yeah, I cried) and very on-brand for the TSCU. But I admit I was hoping
this is actually spoilery
that well, Elizabeth, Alex, and Teonna were all pregnant, and the sweethearts of two of them were killed, so I figured Spencer would get killed as well and then the three of them could set up together in the huge Yellowstone house!The next thing we were planning to watch was Dark Winds S4, but B said, "You know, we just saw a lot of people shooting each other amid trauma and drama, and maybe something lighter would be a good palate cleanser?" He had recently watched (on his own) some movie about a golfer (?) played by Owen Wilson, and he was looking for other films Wilson had done and came up with Woody Allen's 2011 romantic comedy Midnight in Paris.
Which just proves how well he knows me, because this movie was absolutely up my alley: hack screenwriter hoping to become a novelist, on vacation in Paris with his fiancee and her parents, somehow accidentally travels back in time and meets famous historical literary and art figures! And it's hilarious and sparkling and the various historical characters are amazing. Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí. I didn't know Corey Stoll but his Ernest Hemingway was maybe my favorite. (I mean, all the dialogue was brilliant, it's Woody Allen through and through.) The ending is pretty obvious a mile off, but I found it satisfying.
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3 Things: Collages, Questions, and Backrooms
Jun. 18th, 2026 01:50 pmpeasina1. Collages, old and new
I have some new collages to share here! One is actually a gift fromstonepicnicking_okapi which I absolutely love, the others are mine, inspired by What We do in the Shadows (TV), Priums, the Alien prequel films, and general sapphic love ^^ (There’s some artistic nudity under the cut, if anyone would appreciate the warning!)
( Collages )
( Ask meme )
( Backrooms )
Thanks for reading, friends. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 👀
I have some new collages to share here! One is actually a gift from
stonepicnicking_okapi which I absolutely love, the others are mine, inspired by What We do in the Shadows (TV), Priums, the Alien prequel films, and general sapphic love ^^ (There’s some artistic nudity under the cut, if anyone would appreciate the warning!)( Collages )
( Ask meme )
( Backrooms )
Thanks for reading, friends. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 👀
Happy happy birthday to the glorious S.!!!
Jun. 18th, 2026 07:07 amclaudia603Happy birthday to the very best of the best!!
"Uh oh, it's June 18th! It's S.'s birthday, and I haven't gotten her anything!"
"Again?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."
"Perfect!!!"
And then this because it cracked me up.
And because this has been our life so much lately :D :D :D
Seriously, so much love, I hope today you enjoy with your family and mom and have special meal/treat etc.!!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
"Uh oh, it's June 18th! It's S.'s birthday, and I haven't gotten her anything!"
"Again?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."
"Perfect!!!"
And then this because it cracked me up.
And because this has been our life so much lately :D :D :D
Seriously, so much love, I hope today you enjoy with your family and mom and have special meal/treat etc.!!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Icebreaker Week: Day 4
Jun. 18th, 2026 07:22 amshmaylor posting in pod_together- Suggest ways that the podficcer(s) might be involved in the writing process that would work well for you.
- Suggest ways that the writer(s) might be involved in the podficcing process that would work well for you.
- If one or more group members become unhappy or uncomfortable with how the collaboration is going, what are your preferences for how it would be handled? (For example, a preference that your partner(s) tell you right away if something bothers them, a preference that they give you some time after telling you something heavy for you to process and respond, etc. Please note that for any conflict that cannot be resolved within a single conversation, we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE coming to the mods for support and not allowing things to escalate! Participants should also all feel welcome and encouraged to come straight to the mods without having talked to their partner first if that feels safer/better!)
- What is the maximum project length that works for you? Is there a period of time where your partner will not be able to contact you for many days? Is there anything else along these lines that you want to let your partner know about in advance?
Icebreaker Week: Day 3
Jun. 17th, 2026 07:15 amshmaylor posting in pod_togetherWe're at the halfway point of icebreaker week!
If you're finding that you're not able to answer the whole set of questions within a day but think they'd be valuable to go through, please feel free to spread the five days of icebreaker questions out across more than 5 days to fit your schedule.
This next set of questions is geared towards helping partners get more familiar with each other's work and creative process.
If you're finding that you're not able to answer the whole set of questions within a day but think they'd be valuable to go through, please feel free to spread the five days of icebreaker questions out across more than 5 days to fit your schedule.
This next set of questions is geared towards helping partners get more familiar with each other's work and creative process.
- Why do you create fanworks? What does it mean to you?
- Share a piece of a fanwork you're particularly proud of (a page or so of a written work, a few minutes of an audio work) and explain why you're proud of it.
- Read/listen to your partner's shared fanwork, and give feedback about what works for you about it.
announcing schedule for "burn, baby, burn": a mechabae zine - NO APPLICATIONS required!!
Jun. 16th, 2026 02:38 pmEmma Southon: Servus: How Slavery made the Roman Empire
Jun. 16th, 2026 03:56 pmselenakIf you've read the author's previous A Fatal Thing happened on the Way to the Forum and remember all the passages therein dealing with slavery and enslaved people, you have a pretty good idea of what this book is like. Servus: How Slavery made the Roman Empire is still written in Emma Southon's characteristic breezy, casual tone (while being very well researched and annotated), but despite previous books incluidng a whole lot of murder (one even devoted to it), this is definitely the darkest one by far, and she doesn't let the chatty tone interfere with it. Slavery in Ancient Rome: did not depend on race, was no less gruesome, brutal and dehumanizing for it. On every level. This said, Southon does use her trademark humor to great effect when telling the stories of individuals who did not perish, like this gem about Cicero's librarian: Prepare for a lengthy quote, because the passage illustrates what her writing style is like very well, and it's one of the few with a happy ending:
One name we do know is that of a librarian named Dionysius. He was ineslaved by Cicero and, in 46 CE, his name appeared in several of Cicero's letters because he had fled from his slavery. Dionysius first appears in a letter aaddressed to the governor of Illyricium, which was the area we now call the Balkans (...). In 46 CE, Cicero was one of the most prominent and famous men in the empire but had largely retired from politics in order to marry a teenager who had once been his ward. Thus, his letter was mostly general chit chat, and it ended with a request for a favour: Dionysius, Cicero's librarian, had disappeared. Somehow (Palpatine returned. No, not that), it had been revealed that Dionysius had stolen a large number of books. Whether he did this to sell for profit or for his own library we don't know but, like many enslaved people, he saw someone with a surfeit and skimmed some off the top, and got caught.
Realising a punishment was coming and it might be appalling, Dionysius decided to get out of certian danger. He travelled from either Rome or Tusculum to a port and managed to talk himself onto a boat out of Italy. He crossed the Adriatic Sea and, upon arriving in Narona (in modern-day Croatia), bumped straight into one of Cicero's friends, Marcus Bolanus. Recognising Dionysius, Bolanus got chatting to him. Dionysius held his nerve with extraordinary presence of mind, convinced Bolanus that Cicero had freed him and onctinued on his way. When Cicero found out from Bolanus about the sighting, he immediately wrote the surviving letter to the governor of the province asking him to send soldiers to search for Dionysius and return him to Rome for punishment. Nine months later Cicero was still writing to everyone he knew in Illyricum demanding that they use imperial and military resources to "sourch by land and sea" through the Balkans for his missing librarian. When Caesar sent an army to the province to crush some locals in 45 CE, Cicero added "the affair of Dionysius" onto their mission, offering to allow the commander to lead the librarian in his Triumph as a prisoner of war.
It seems that Dionysius was smarter than Cicero and had got as far away from Illyricum as he could the seocnd he saw Bolanus because he was never caught. I hope he lived a happy life somewhere beyond the reach of Rome.
There is a source problem if you want to focus on slaves in the ancient world, i.e. 99% of the surviving literary texts hail from the rich senatorial class who usually only bother to mention slaves when they have a complaint, and while many graffiti and also enscriptions on tomb stones by freedmen - and freedwomen ensure we also have direct testimony by the enslaved, it still isn't nearly as much compared to the 1%. So you have to be grateful for mentions in someone else's biography (like, say, Caenis the freedwoman in Vespasian's, or Asiaticus in that of Vtellius), while still aware that mammunited slaves successful enough for Roman historians to complain about their influence are very much not the rule of how the majority of enslaved people ended up. Given my recent reading of The Four Emperors quadrology, i.e. four novels which despite the title do not focus on the Emperors themselves in the Year of the Four Emperors but on the staff on the Palatine who kept the Empire running in the year between Nero's death and Vespasian's final victory, I nodded along to the emphasis about how most of the the work in practically every branch, but especially bureaucratic administration, ended up being done by slaves or freedmen, and flinched whenever the book got to the sexual exploitation of slavery (which started at an incredibly early age). On a lighter note, I was amused but not surprised to discover Emma Southon did like Spartacus: Blood and Sand ("That show contains bizarre, over the top aesthetics, but is one of the few Roman-themed TV shows to take the dynamics of slavery seriously.")
As with "A Fatal Thing happened on the way to the Forum", some of the most touching passages do hail from tombstone enscriptions by grieving parents commemorating their children (and thus illustrating, if it needs to be done, that living in an era of high chlid mortality and in an incredibly brutal system does not stop you from loving your child and wanting people to know about its sweetness or cheerful ways). And the constant snark about every Roman celebrity ever never gets old, either. In conclusion: a very dark book, but worth reading. Dionysius the escaped librarian needs his own novel!
One name we do know is that of a librarian named Dionysius. He was ineslaved by Cicero and, in 46 CE, his name appeared in several of Cicero's letters because he had fled from his slavery. Dionysius first appears in a letter aaddressed to the governor of Illyricium, which was the area we now call the Balkans (...). In 46 CE, Cicero was one of the most prominent and famous men in the empire but had largely retired from politics in order to marry a teenager who had once been his ward. Thus, his letter was mostly general chit chat, and it ended with a request for a favour: Dionysius, Cicero's librarian, had disappeared. Somehow (Palpatine returned. No, not that), it had been revealed that Dionysius had stolen a large number of books. Whether he did this to sell for profit or for his own library we don't know but, like many enslaved people, he saw someone with a surfeit and skimmed some off the top, and got caught.
Realising a punishment was coming and it might be appalling, Dionysius decided to get out of certian danger. He travelled from either Rome or Tusculum to a port and managed to talk himself onto a boat out of Italy. He crossed the Adriatic Sea and, upon arriving in Narona (in modern-day Croatia), bumped straight into one of Cicero's friends, Marcus Bolanus. Recognising Dionysius, Bolanus got chatting to him. Dionysius held his nerve with extraordinary presence of mind, convinced Bolanus that Cicero had freed him and onctinued on his way. When Cicero found out from Bolanus about the sighting, he immediately wrote the surviving letter to the governor of the province asking him to send soldiers to search for Dionysius and return him to Rome for punishment. Nine months later Cicero was still writing to everyone he knew in Illyricum demanding that they use imperial and military resources to "sourch by land and sea" through the Balkans for his missing librarian. When Caesar sent an army to the province to crush some locals in 45 CE, Cicero added "the affair of Dionysius" onto their mission, offering to allow the commander to lead the librarian in his Triumph as a prisoner of war.
It seems that Dionysius was smarter than Cicero and had got as far away from Illyricum as he could the seocnd he saw Bolanus because he was never caught. I hope he lived a happy life somewhere beyond the reach of Rome.
There is a source problem if you want to focus on slaves in the ancient world, i.e. 99% of the surviving literary texts hail from the rich senatorial class who usually only bother to mention slaves when they have a complaint, and while many graffiti and also enscriptions on tomb stones by freedmen - and freedwomen ensure we also have direct testimony by the enslaved, it still isn't nearly as much compared to the 1%. So you have to be grateful for mentions in someone else's biography (like, say, Caenis the freedwoman in Vespasian's, or Asiaticus in that of Vtellius), while still aware that mammunited slaves successful enough for Roman historians to complain about their influence are very much not the rule of how the majority of enslaved people ended up. Given my recent reading of The Four Emperors quadrology, i.e. four novels which despite the title do not focus on the Emperors themselves in the Year of the Four Emperors but on the staff on the Palatine who kept the Empire running in the year between Nero's death and Vespasian's final victory, I nodded along to the emphasis about how most of the the work in practically every branch, but especially bureaucratic administration, ended up being done by slaves or freedmen, and flinched whenever the book got to the sexual exploitation of slavery (which started at an incredibly early age). On a lighter note, I was amused but not surprised to discover Emma Southon did like Spartacus: Blood and Sand ("That show contains bizarre, over the top aesthetics, but is one of the few Roman-themed TV shows to take the dynamics of slavery seriously.")
As with "A Fatal Thing happened on the way to the Forum", some of the most touching passages do hail from tombstone enscriptions by grieving parents commemorating their children (and thus illustrating, if it needs to be done, that living in an era of high chlid mortality and in an incredibly brutal system does not stop you from loving your child and wanting people to know about its sweetness or cheerful ways). And the constant snark about every Roman celebrity ever never gets old, either. In conclusion: a very dark book, but worth reading. Dionysius the escaped librarian needs his own novel!
Icebreaker Week: Day 2
Jun. 16th, 2026 05:55 amshmaylor posting in pod_togetherDay 2's icebreaker questions are related to group work!
- What strengths will you bring to the group?
- What things do you struggle with when it comes to group work? (And, if you want, how can your partner help you with these things?)
- What are you hoping for from this collaboration experience? What would your dream version of Pod-Together collaboration look like?
- What's one thing your partner(s) could say or do that would feel really good to you? (For example, compliment your fanwork, offer to help with organization/beta/cheerleading, reach out to you to say hi every few days, etc.)
Star City 1.04
Jun. 16th, 2026 11:39 amselenakDarth Real Life continues to cut down on my internet time, but it does exist. Thus:
Star City 1.04: In which the show keeps surprising me by the rapid pace it puts its intrigues under. ( Spoilers now also include a female Indian scientist among their cast. )
Star City 1.04: In which the show keeps surprising me by the rapid pace it puts its intrigues under. ( Spoilers now also include a female Indian scientist among their cast. )
I love plastic
Jun. 15th, 2026 07:45 pmpeasinaHello, friends 🧡
First, I must apologise. Either DW glitched or I clicked ‘Mark All Read’ by accident, but I’ve been chatting with several people in comment threads for a while when my inbox suddenly went from 60+ unread to 0. The stress of finding everyone again in my admittedly disorganised inbox is too much at the moment, unfortunately. Thank you so much for every nice comment/reply. I won’t be able to keep those conversations going or say thank you directly, though I appreciate you and am very sorry. You are of course very welcome to poke me RE responses!
Moving on. I’ve been working with perler beads more recently. It’s relaxing (apart from when my cats want to get involved, ahh) and I have lots of plans. I’d like to make a perler bead version of every Pokémon I have as a plush and/or finger puppet. I’d like to make a perler bead version of (most of) the shinies I’ve caught in games too. I've also bought some special ironing paper that makes them glittery that I've yet to try. I also want to try to improve their edges by trimming them so they're square like pixels but haven't found the courage yet in case I mess up. I'm not sure if it's necessary but it would also be cool to try putting resin on them to make them super shiny.
( Perler pics )
Speaking of finger puppets…
( Pokemon finger puppets )
Finally, Sapphic Summer 2026 is happening right now! It’s a really fun little fest, with works needing to be 100 – 250 words. The idea of needing to make a fill to leave prompts is really doing it for me ^^ Come and join in the fun! I’ve made four little podlets so far and am having a blast.
I hope everyone is doing well 🧡 I'd love to hear what fannish events you’re taking part in at the moment, any shiny Pokémon you’ve caught recently, or something you’re looking forward to. Much love!
First, I must apologise. Either DW glitched or I clicked ‘Mark All Read’ by accident, but I’ve been chatting with several people in comment threads for a while when my inbox suddenly went from 60+ unread to 0. The stress of finding everyone again in my admittedly disorganised inbox is too much at the moment, unfortunately. Thank you so much for every nice comment/reply. I won’t be able to keep those conversations going or say thank you directly, though I appreciate you and am very sorry. You are of course very welcome to poke me RE responses!
Moving on. I’ve been working with perler beads more recently. It’s relaxing (apart from when my cats want to get involved, ahh) and I have lots of plans. I’d like to make a perler bead version of every Pokémon I have as a plush and/or finger puppet. I’d like to make a perler bead version of (most of) the shinies I’ve caught in games too. I've also bought some special ironing paper that makes them glittery that I've yet to try. I also want to try to improve their edges by trimming them so they're square like pixels but haven't found the courage yet in case I mess up. I'm not sure if it's necessary but it would also be cool to try putting resin on them to make them super shiny.
( Perler pics )
Speaking of finger puppets…
( Pokemon finger puppets )
Finally, Sapphic Summer 2026 is happening right now! It’s a really fun little fest, with works needing to be 100 – 250 words. The idea of needing to make a fill to leave prompts is really doing it for me ^^ Come and join in the fun! I’ve made four little podlets so far and am having a blast.
I hope everyone is doing well 🧡 I'd love to hear what fannish events you’re taking part in at the moment, any shiny Pokémon you’ve caught recently, or something you’re looking forward to. Much love!
