tropicsbear: Alexandra Trese from Trese with her hair in a ponytail (Trese: Ponytail!Alexandra)
[personal profile] tropicsbear

Ballerina (2025) (8/10)

Ballerina is set between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, though the story focuses on new character Eve Macarro and her quest for revenge.

We were introduced to the Tarkovsky Theater, one of the Ruska Roma's bases, in John Wick: Chapter 3. There we see what John's childhood was supposedly like and where he probably had his training. What I, personally, found most intriguing about the theater were the ballerinas. Based on what we were shown, all the women in the Ruska Roma were trained in ballet, while all the men were trained in judo. But everyone was also an assassin, and everyone was tatted up and had gnarly injuries from harsh training. A female assassin who relied less on her looks and more on her physicality? Color me intrigued.

And Eve definitely didn't disappoint. Action-wise, I thought this was every bit as good as the main films in the John Wick franchise. It's actually a bit gorier because while John favors guns, Eve seems to have a fondness for grenades. (Let's not get caught up in the physics of whether you can blow someone up in close quarters without also getting blown up. Grenade-fu!)

Cut for length and mild spoilers. )

Random stuff:

  • Hard to pick a favorite fight, but I think I'll go with the flamethrower vs. firehose one. The primal scream Eve let out was 👌🏽 (Not counting this as a spoiler since the scene was in one of the trailers.)
  • I will admit that there's something the movie doesn't quite pull off that's in the main films, but I can't quite put my finger on what's missing. Which isn't to say that this is a bad movie—I think it's great—but there's something in the vibes.

Saturday Morning Exchange: My Gift

Jul. 12th, 2025 06:40 pm
senmut: Upper Torso shot of Slade Wilson from Justice League Crisis movie (Cartoons: DCAU Slade)
[personal profile] senmut
New Home (571 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Aristocats (1970)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Duchess/Thomas O'Malley, Berlioz & Marie & Toulouse (Disney: Aristocats)
Characters: Thomas O'Malley, Duchess (Disney: Aristocats), Berlioz (Disney), Marie (Disney: Aristocats), Toulouse (Disney)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Character Study, of sorts
Summary:

Thomas O'Malley reflects on his new home.

smilebackwards: murderbot (murderbot)
[personal profile] smilebackwards
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Darkly funny history of the lead up to the in-universe end of the world.

Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, And Still Live Happily Ever After by Bella DePaulo. A kind of hilarious hit job on the American cultural obsession with marriage.

In TV I finished:

Murderbot (season 1): I think this got better as the season went on. I have some mixed feelings about how the PreservationAux team was adjusted from the book and seemed more slapstick than competent sometimes but the finale was great and I love them and Murderbot with my whole heart. Love how much Sanctuary Moon content we got! Season 2 already renewed yay!

I also watched The Old Guard 2 and it was not great but I enjoyed seeing the characters again. KPop Demon Hunters, however, I fully recommend for a fun time.

And Foundation season 3 is back! Let's goooooo!
tropicsbear: Green silhouette image of Knuckleduster from Vigilantes: BnHA Illegals (Vigilantes: Knuckleduster silhouette)
[personal profile] tropicsbear

Vigilantes: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals (8/10)

Vigilantes is a spin-off story set before the events of Boku no Hero Academia which focuses on vigilantes in a world where being a pro hero is a viable career path. It expands the worldbuilding of BnHA beyond pro heroes and gives more historical information about how society developed after the appearance of Quirks. (Someone in YouTube comments said that Vigilantes is actually more academic about hero society history than BnHA which is more "My Hero Military Camp" sometimes. Absolutely wild and yet weirdly accurate.)

We're introduced to a new set of characters—college student Haimawari Kouichi, "freelance idol" Pop☆Step, and eccentric bruiser Knuckleduster—but lots of pro heroes from the main series appear in supporting roles as well.

Cut for length and spoilers (for the anime and some of the manga). )

Random stuff:

  • There's a distinct lack of protecting secret identities in this show. Kouichi spends more than half the time with his face out in the open even if they explicitly say that vigilantes are technically on the wrong side of the law. (Because even if they're doing good, they're not licensed.)
  • There's a trio of characters who are assholes to Kouichi and Kazuho in E01. Like, assault and beat up levels of being assholes. And yet there's some weird redemption thing going for them by the end of the season? We don't need this.
  • We get a fair share of Tensei AKA Big Iida in this show and I'm eternally grateful for it. We even get a minute of kid!Tenya struggling with his Quirk!! Cutie!!!
  • The animation quality's much more consistent compared to the recent seasons of the main show, and also just higher quality in general. Which is interesting because you'd think that the main series would get more love since it's the central canon. Checking on MyAnimeList, studio Bones produces the main series and Bones Film produces Vigilantes. Poking around the Wikipedia page, it looks like Bones Film is a subsidiary of Bones and different studios in Bones Film work on each series (Studio B for Vigilantes and Studio C for the main BnHA).
  • My per-episode reactions are in the comments of the corresponding posts over at [community profile] bnha_fans. Spoilers abound in the comment discussions, so beware if you check them out.
  • S02 is targeted for release in 2026!

They Fight Crime!

Jul. 10th, 2025 09:17 am
elf: Red & blue faces (Face Off)
[personal profile] elf
I'd forgotten how much I love https://theyfightcrime.org.

He's a lonely skateboarding shaman with a winning smile and a way with the ladies. She's a bloodthirsty wisecracking wrestler who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime!
He's an unconventional soccer-playing grifter in a wheelchair. She's an orphaned foul-mouthed socialite from out of town. They fight crime!
He's an oversexed ninja werewolf fleeing from a secret government programme. She's an enchanted snooty advertising executive with a knack for trouble. They fight crime!

something-something fic prompts )
erinptah: (Default)
[personal profile] erinptah

Edited version of an IBM rule: A  Computer Can Never Be Spiteful Or Horny, Therefore A Computer Must Never Make Art

Saw my first “did using an LLM screw up your business? We can help you find someone to fix it” ad in the wild today. (It was a Fiverr commercial on Youtube.) Wonder how many more of those are coming.

From 2023: Novelist Alexander Wales blogged a bit about trying to get an LLM to generate a publishable novel. He made a good-faith effort, took a lot of different thoughtful approaches, and documented enough of it to be a good read. Part 1: “I’ve been trying my hand at writing with the assistance of ChatGPT and occasionally other tools. Mostly, it sucks…” Part 2: “I’m still trying to get an LLM to write me a novel, and experiencing the first major setbacks while working on chapter 2.” (There is no post 3.)

And from this January: “A dad just can’t seem to figure out why his six-year-old daughter wasn’t impressed by the AI toy he gave her for Christmas. […] He writes that he cannot understand why his daughter disabled the dinosaur plushie’s built-in AI voice — opting, instead, to play with it like a regular toy, and dressing it with clothes she made.

LLMs are an interesting novelty the first time you play with them, but for people with actual creativity — whether it’s writers, artists, or Literally Any Child — you overrun their limits and get bored with them so fast.

(What really gets to me about the dinosaur one is the dad saying he “wasn’t able to really understand where’s the resistance.” Instead of approaching the problem as “let me analyze this toy to figure out why it hasn’t earned my kid’s interest,” he’s gone with “of course the toy is entitled to my kid’s interest, let me analyze her to figure out why she’s ‘resisting’.”)

From this week, a writer trying to get ChatGPT to quote/summarize some linked essays: “The lines you quote are not lines I wrote. They are not in the piece. What is going on here?”

Ending on a golden note from FFA: “Hi my name is Loquacious Techbro Midjourney ChatGPT Claude AI and I have long, beige, run on sentences (that’s how I got my name) with purple prose streaks and red flag tips that reach into the stratosphere and icy blue prompts that like using limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like 300 Ghibli characters smashed together(If you don’t know what that is get da hell out of here!).”

Daily Did July 8

Jul. 8th, 2025 10:49 pm
silvercat17: blue/white tiger in a cage and snarling (tiger)
[personal profile] silvercat17
 Cooked dinner for the first time in 2 years
Sorted laundry 
Did a load
Finished reading a book I started last year 

UC-X-Men Prompt Meme: First Date

Jul. 8th, 2025 03:59 pm
senmut: modern style black canary on right in front of modern style deathstroke (Default)
[personal profile] senmut
First Date (400 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Marvels [2023]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau
Characters: Henry "Hank" McCoy | Beast, Maria Rambeau
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence
Summary:

First Dates can be interesting.



First Date

Maria had spent time touching up her nails, dithering over which outfit to wear, deciding on the shoes that looked best with it.

Hank, for his part, had done all he could to tidy his appearance, currently stuck in 'blue', 'furry', and 'large', but he knew those factors didn't matter to her.

He showed up promptly — actually early but didn't approach the house right away — and rang the doorbell. She answered it, her smile lighting her eyes in a way that made Hank feel almost normal again.

"Shall we?" he invited, pointing to his car.

An explosion answered for her.




After dealing with the alien being chased by space cops — not Carol's set, thankfully — Binary and Beast sat up on a rooftop, drinks cups and to-go containers of food between them.

"For a date, it was a little rocky," she offered, smiling despite the bruise darkening her face.

"I promise you, I can do better," he replied, self-consciously smoothing singed fur on his arm.

She reached out and covered his hand. "Why don't you take me back to your place, and we'll see about the aftercare first?" Maria invited, and Hank had to suck in a deep breath of anticipation.




Treating each other's scrapes had led to their clothes being discarded, leading to a brazen challenge to see if they fit as well in a bed as they did in combat.

Hank was never going to feel anything short of awe for how easily Maria accepted his mutated appearance. He could only gasp and keep his hands on her lightly as she touched, petted, and kissed him. He laid back and let her have control… until she turned the tables, bringing his hand to her breast.

The half-slitted eyes gazing down as he touched her wrecked him, making her purr.




Maria could get used to the feel of Hank's body under her, the strength and dexterity he used in a fight leashed to their mutual desires. She might even welcome waking up with him… but she wasn't going to rush things. She knew he was struggling at times with who — what — he was.

She had experience managing that, and was still growing accustomed to her powers.

Now, resting in what was hopefully a brief respite, she ran a finger along his cheek fur, making him shift into the touch.

"Next date, fewer aliens."

He chuckled, and then saw to kissing her.


Written for uc_xmen drabble-a-thon/prompt meme on Dreamwidth, prompt: MCU - Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau - (any), it was supposed to be date night

Daily Did July 7

Jul. 7th, 2025 08:31 pm
silvercat17: code of Thundera (thundercats)
[personal profile] silvercat17
Not much today.

- brushed Spooky some
- rewatched Kpop Demon Hunters
- worked on stuff for RainbowLists
- added another prompt source for [community profile] rainbowlists 
- added tags to the untagged posts on the RainbowFic tumblr

Heads Up!

Jul. 7th, 2025 06:51 pm
senmut: modern style black canary on right in front of modern style deathstroke (Default)
[personal profile] senmut
[community profile] sylph_and_asp is members-locked access now. Just. I've got a lot of political posts over there from previous years, plus, as good as dreamwidth does try to protect us from crawlers, I feel better locking my writing down.

Daily Did July 6

Jul. 6th, 2025 11:15 pm
silvercat17: (Default)
[personal profile] silvercat17
 Gonna start this again instead of a paper bullet planner.
  • Washed linens
  • Planned meals for the week
  • Did check-in for the Consistency Collective
  • Screwed around on archive.org organizing favorites
  • Put tissue paper on lamp over my desk to diffuse the light

Now Collected in One Post

Jul. 6th, 2025 08:50 pm
senmut: a bright blue tribal seahorse (General: Tribal Seahorse)
[personal profile] senmut
Unwanteds (41367 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 30/30
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Original Universe, Superheroes, Post-Apocalypse, Rebuilding, Asexual Character(s), Queer Relationships, Magic-Users, Future Technology, Age Difference
Summary:

In the aftermath of the Collapse, life finds new ways, making new paths, and there are heroes rising from the ashes --

-- just as villains remain to tear it all down again.



Content Notes: Fascism as history and antagonist, liberty with cultural mythology, comic-book level violence

Author's Note: This universe has been built from the ground up with many influences of pop culture and history. It was began in 2005. I posted the last main part of the story in 2023. There is a prequel and sequel both forming in my plans for the future. When I began crafting it... we were not so far down the fascism slide in real life. I very nearly did not touch it again after 2016. Ultimately though, I needed to let the good guys win.

On Dreamwidth, must join comm (Click and scroll to the bottom for the beginning. SqWA account needed to read it in chaptered format at link above)
muccamukk: Close up of the barb on a wire fence, covered in frost, Background of blue fading to pink. (Misc: Bi-Wire)
[personal profile] muccamukk
The whole Diddy thing. It doesn't matter how much proof there is.

Brad Pitt, who is known to have struck his wife and his children then perpetuated lawfare on them for years to the point where several of his kids no longer want contact with him, has the number one movie right now. Best opening weekend of his career. Most of the coverage doesn't even mention the violence.

On the anniversary of Tortoise Media publishing allegations of rape and sexual assault against Neil Gaiman, Netflix is dropping season two of The Sandman. Meanwhile, Gaiman is forcing one of his victims into arbitration. Not because she's libling him, but because she broke an NDA. Everything's gone very quiet, which I assume is what he wanted.

Some thoughts from smarter people:

Rebecca Solnit: Cynicism Is the Enemy of Action.

Tarana Burke: Tarana Burke doesn’t define #MeToo’s success by society’s failure.
Some people want to judge the movement on specific outcomes, so when a case is overturned, Burke said, “people are like, ‘Oh the #MeToo movement has failed.’” Instead, she said, such outcomes are proof of the difficulty of the work.

“It’s not about the failure of the movement; it’s the failure of the systems,” Burke explained. “These systems are not designed to help survivors, they’re not designed to give us justice, they’re not designed to end sexual violence.”

“When we bind ourselves to the outcomes of these cases, we are constantly up and down with our disappointment, our highs and lows,” Burke continued. “What they tell us is just how much work we need to change the laws and the policies but most importantly, to change the culture that creates the people who commit, who perpetrate acts of harm.”

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