Every day I'm shovelin' [^1]

Dec. 10th, 2025 09:49 am
brithistorian: (Default)
[personal profile] brithistorian

By the time today ends I will have shoveled our driveway and ways at least four times over the course of two days. We're finally getting a new garage door and opener, having needed one for several years. We had to wait for a non-standard-sized door to be ordered[^2], then once it arrived, we scheduled the installation for yesterday. Then, the night of the day before yesterday, it started snowing.

Yesterday morning, I called the garage door company to see if they would need to reschedule because of the weather. The woman I spoke to sounded almost amused by the idea. Since then, I have shoveled:

  1. Yesterday morning, so I could get our vehicles out and the technician could get his truck to the garage.
  2. Yesterday evening, so the technician could get his truck out of the driveway and I could get our vehicles back in.
  3. Early this morning, so I could get our van out and go to the doctor. This included shoveling the huge piles that the snow plows had deposited at the end of the driveway.
  4. Later this morning, when I got back from the doctor, I had to shovel the rest of the driveway so we can play vehicle Tetris[^3] and the technician can finish the garage door.

It's currently snowing, but not as hard as yesterday, so I may or may not have to shovel again when the technician has to leave this evening. Plus, I'll have to shovel the end of the driveway again when the city plows the sidewalks, which may or may not happen today. So I guess this winter's definitely giving me my exercise!

[^1] If you recognized the musical reference in the title, I'd like to offer my sincere apologies. If you didn't, please don't go looking for it — I doubt you need an earworm, and I'd prefer that you not think ill of me.

[^2] Because of course our house required a non-standard-sized door.

[^3] Right now we're forbidden to park on the street, so that the plows can run. When the technician gets here, A. and I will have to back our vehicles out of the driveway, then he'll back his truck up the driveway to the garage, then we'll pull back into the driveway. Then we'll have to do the whole thing in reverse when he leaves.

sovay: (Claude Rains)
[personal profile] sovay
As the title indicates, "Threnody for Five Actors" is a ghost poem for its subjects and its inclusion in On Actors and Acting: Essays by Alexander Knox (ed. Anthony Slide, 1998) is maddening because it is accompanied only by the note, "This poem is from an unpublished manuscript titled Screams and Speeches. The five actors named here were all victims of the Blacklist." First of all, you can't drop the existence of an entire manuscript at the very end of a slim selected works and expect the interested reader not to scream, especially when the only copy the internet feels like telling me about seems to be held in a collection in the Library and Archives of Canada, which feels currently even less accessible than the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Secondly, and speaking as a person who has been called out for the density of allusion in their stories and poetry, this poem could have done with some notes. The editor was obviously concerned enough about name recognition to parenthesize Julie Garfield as John and Bud Bohnen as Roman, but then why not list their dates so that the reader can see for themselves that all five actors died between 1949 and 1952, mostly of heart ailments, stressed by the hounding of the FBI and HUAC, at the grandly superannuated ages between 39 and 59? If you don't know that Mady Christians originated the title role of John Van Druten's I Remember Mama (1944), then her verse will make much less sense, but catching that one makes me wonder what other references I may be missing, such as in the stage work of Canada Lee or J. Edward Bromberg. Lastly, since it's the only poem I have ever read by Alexander Knox—instantaneously in October, but it's been a rough fall—if he wrote any others I'd like to be able to read them, even if just for comparison. Slide mentions his wicked limericks in the introduction, but unforgivably includes none.

We know by now that time does not take sides. )

With this one example to go by, he was a better playwright than poet, but except for the self-deprecation which should definitely have hit the cutting room floor, it's hard to want to edit much out of a poem with so much anger at the injustice of a country that wastes its artists in scapegoating xenophobia, besides which there's at least one good line per actor and sometimes more. He wouldn't even have been living in the United States by the time of its writing, having burned off the last of his contract with Columbia by the end of 1951. He hadn't burned off his anger. No reason he should have. I may be confused by the existence of his Hollywood career, but I'm still pissed about the politics that snapped it short. The twentieth century could stop coming around on the guitar any measure now. On Sunday, I'll be at the HFA.

Friends

Dec. 10th, 2025 02:07 pm
[syndicated profile] murderbot_ao3_feed

Posted by Polyhexian

by

The new SecUnit that 2.0 rescued does not move from where it's standing, staring at your recycler blankly. It's been doing that for twenty minutes.

Words: 1635, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Last Day to Nominate!

Dec. 10th, 2025 09:09 am
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[personal profile] rfemod posting in [community profile] rarefemslashexchange
There is a little over twelve hours left to submit your nominations! Nominations will close on December 10th, 10 PM PST. [Countdown to nominations closing] | [In your timezone]

I'm still going through them and will continue doing so after nominations have been officially closed so don't worry if yours has not been approved yet.

If you are looking to nominate, the guidelines are here.

The tagset is here.

Any questions/comments can be left here (anon is on, screening isn't) or can be sent to rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Wednesday Reading Meme

Dec. 10th, 2025 10:36 am
spikedluv: (winter: mittens by raynedanser)
[personal profile] spikedluv
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: And to All a Good Bite (Andy Carpenter Series) by David Rosenfelt and Framed in Death (In Death Series) by J.D. Robb.


What I am Currently Reading: The Serpent on the Crown (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have a library book out, so hopefully that.




Book 108 of 2025: And to All a Good Bite (Andy Carpenter Series) (David Rosenfelt)

I enjoyed this book! spoilers )

I don't know why, but I have a soft spot for the Christmas-themed stories in this series. This one was very good; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥




Book 109 of 2025: Framed in Death (In Death Series) (J.D. Robb)

I enjoyed this! spoilers )

This was a good story and I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

Christmas Cartoon Icons!

Dec. 10th, 2025 08:53 am
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[personal profile] 3am posting in [community profile] icons
❄️🎁🎄 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌 🎄🎁❄️


9 Christmas Cartoon Icons

Christmas Cartoon Icons!

Dec. 10th, 2025 08:53 am
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[personal profile] 3am posting in [community profile] iconic
❄️🎁🎄 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌 🎄🎁❄️


9 Christmas Cartoon Icons

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