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Copenhagen trip

My mum and I were in Copenhagen for a week, and arrived back in the UK this time last Saturday. It was a glorious holiday; Mum and I are very compatible travel companions, in that we like the same activities (swimming, walking, eating, and art galleries) in roughly the same balance. Copenhagen was a good (if expensive) venue for all these things, with the added bonus of being extremely walkable and with a straightforward, well served public transport system. We were staying in Vesterbro, about midway between the central railway station and the hipsterish foodie meatpacking district, which worked perfectly for us — I'd recommend this as the ideal location to anyone else thinking of visiting.

I didn't keep a paper journal during this trip (I brought it, and then ... just didn't put pen to paper for a week). This summer has completely burnt me out, and I've found myself lacking in mental energy for long stretches of time, even during holidays. Therefore, rather than being a transcription (like my Shetland write-up), I'm just going to group everything under headings and talk a bit about what we did — assume the activities were spread roughly evenly over a week.

( New seas, new skies, new baked goods )

Until I visit my family in Australia in a few months' time, that's it in terms of holidays and travel for the year, and I feel extremely fortunate to have had the chance to visit Copenhagen, and have such an excellent time. If you have access to Instagram, most of the recent posts at my

ronnidolorosa are photos from the trip, pretty much echoing what I've written here.

Entry tags:

Three links with concrete actions

Two are in support of Ukraine, the third for UK citizens and residents specifically, in support of some university students from Gaza.

( Details behind the cut )

Entry tags:

writing

Writing Banners

Although I write a monthly writing post, I rarely manage to include any banners I have earned at the time. Last month I earned three, and, since it seems a shame not to credit the creators, here they are:

Firstly,

melagan ran a Dust Off Your Plot Bunny challenge. This was the perfect opportunity to write a follow up to Hilary Term 1920 and to take another look at life after WWI: Summer at Bag End Both are Hobbit (Jackson movies) AUs

Then

allbingo ran the Winterfest in July challenge. For the last few years I've been writing another instalment in my Spooks AU Love in All Seasons series and this year's A Slightly Different Christmas was the next. Delightful banner by

kiramaru7

And lastly there was

whatif_au Bingo All nine squares are in the series WhatIf AU 2025 bingo Banner made by

brumeier who runs the community and helps provide me with ideas.

Entry tags:

your city lies in dust my friend

I am currently sitting on twitch listening to the Convergence 27 Raid Train. It's been great for checking out new DJs and I now have a long list of bands and songs to look up later.

I'm sad about missing the people who are at physical Convergence this weekend and I really wish I could hang out with them in person, but... well you know.

Final Contractor came over last week so he could take some measurements. He's running behind on work orders (go figure) because most of his work is outside and his employees can't work a full day when the temperatures are over 30 C. Which makes perfect sense to me.

In the meantime, now that the painting is done I'm taking a break from big projects. I did zero house-cleaning while I was working on the yard and basement and the allergen level in the house is making me break out in hives on the regular. Doesn't help that I can't open the windows because the air quality is crap with all the wildfires. I'll spend August getting on top of that. And all the outstanding paperwork that's piling up on my desk around work permits and insurance claims. And catch up on appointments, if I can get that organized.

I haven't done great (yet) with scheduling exercise time, but I've putting aside time to write letters to politicians. I am so beyond pissed off at well, everything. I have no idea if it helps at all, but I figure it can't hurt and I have to do something with all this anger and frustration. And I'm too old to start a punk band.

Entry tags:

Rebirth - Mature 18+ AU Vampire Fic Inspired by The Last Duel (2021) & Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Fandoms: The Last Duel (2021) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Characters: Jacques Le Gris, Original Female Character, Marguerite de Carrouges, Jean de Carrouges

Pairing: Jacques Le Gris / Original Female Character
Era: 14th Century

Chapter 1 of ?
Word Count for 1st Chapter: 2,464

Summary:

An AU vampiric horror tale inspired by "The Last Duel" (2021) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992). While Jacques Le Gris as portrayed in the film is reprehensible, my story depicts a very different version of the character. Here, Le Gris is a man of honor, betrayed by the brother-in-arms he believed to be his true friend, and by the woman he believed to be his true love.

There's an old saying: "Be careful what you wish for". Perhaps Jean de Carrouges should have heeded this warning. While the corrupt knight revels in his revenge, the man he wronged has his own plans for vengeance.

But this is also a love story. Years ago, Le Gris fell in love with a mysterious woman. A woman he never forgot, as different from Marguerite, as the moon from the sun. She would be his salvation.

Rating: Mature 18+

( Click for trigger warnings and story link )

Entry tags:

canada fandom,
tv

Canada has come back to haunt me

Last night, Andrew and I and our tv-watching-with friend started The Sympathizer, a drama set just after the Vietnam war, about a Vietnamese double agent. It's structurally really interesting, and it has RDJ in multiple kind-of-gross roles, lol. Darkly funny, but deals with some really serious subjects.

Created by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, who are also showrunners. Yes, that Don McKellar.

It also, features Sandra Oh. I did not expect either of their names in the credits! :D

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

Entry tags:

Great first day

I'm too tired to do it justice (and friday's fannish 50 will probably be moved to tuesday). I hit a new museum here in town, Beyond the Battle out of the Adams County Historical Society. It was a nice idea and a small museum (with two enthusiastic older lady docents) It starts with local dinosaur findings, then a wee bit (very wee) on the local natives and then the making of Pennsylvania (and it's skirmishes with Maryland)

There was some on a famous local abolitionist and naturally quite a bit about the battle of Gettysburg and afterward (including Mag Palm who I learned about last year, the woman who beat up the slave catchers who came for her even though she was a freeborn woman)

It also went into the Spanish flu pandemic, WWI and WII I guess the Eisenhowers retired here.

But the really cool thing was 'Caught in the crossfires' It was set up like the sitting area of a typical house in the mid 1800s in disarray. You're sat in there and it's five minutes of what it was like in Gettysburg in those three days. The 'family' is in the basement and you can hear their voices as cannons and guns fire on the house with lights appearing in the 'bulletholes' in the walls, screams of animals and people and the floor shakes. They put effort into it (Not recommended for people with PTSD related to battle)

From there I went to the Shriver House museum and cracked the key as to when to get to downtown historic Gettysburg. Get there by 11 and you can find plenty of on street parking (during the week at least) The house was down up in period pieces and tells the story of the Shrivers. The husband was set off to war (thinking it wouldn't last long) while Hettie takes care of their two daughters and tries to keep the business going, a saloon in the basement and a two lane bowling alley (Shriver had sold off his farm and had a fair bit of money when he built this place.

It doesn't have a happy ending. I got the diary of the neighbor girl plus the one about the Shrivers (and a book on battlefield hospitals) These Shrivers are distantly related to the famous ones, like Arnie's wife.

Since the festivities didn't start until late today I went to the movie theater here on campus and saw Fantastic Four. I loved it with one major exception. I'm biased. I can't remember if FF was my first comic or if it was Justice League but I know Johnny Storm was my first comic book crush so there's that. I adored the mid-Century American feel (with the futuristic tech). What I liked, they reduced the origin story to a news clip since most of us know it and that Sue didn't get sidelined because she was pregnant.

What did annoy me: Reed, the world's smartest man, saying something stupid in a press conference that he could have not said a word about and for what? 10 minutes of drama? We could have done that a different way. Other than that, really liked it

At the con, I got to see my friends and I've already bought a few things. One thing they can do better (and I'll put that in my response if they do a survey) was tell us WHO are doing the panel talks. I went to one and it was Calamity Dawn and her cocktails which I didn't mind. I like her but I didn't even know it WAS her. Drank malort. don't rec.

I did notice that a lot of the usual actors aren't here in the vending room. Hmm, I need to look at them more carefully tomorrow. It's holiday shopping time.

I went dancing and I went to the magic lantern 'castel' presentation. I need to work magic lanterns into a story somewhere.

If I'm slow in answering you, sorry but man I didn't even get back til nearly midnight. I'm getting old for this place.

Write every day! - August 2025 - Day 8

Tally:
Welcome post

Day 1:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddes47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 2:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddes47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 3:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 4:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 5:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 6:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 7:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddes47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 8:

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

~ ~ ~

ysilme here: 1,2k words for me. Nearly 200 are for the first draft of a fill for

threesentenceficathon.

sylvanwitch here: 135 words of an alibi fragment. It was a long morning of editing student revisions, which seems to have given me a headache, so I'm happy I managed that many words, honestly.

Entry tags:

Silmarillion: By Other Means by SpaceWall

Fandom: Silmarillion
Pairings/Characters: Luthien/Maedhros
Rating: teen
Length: 66k
Creator Links:

SpaceWall
Theme: marriage of convenience, old fandoms, small fandoms, book fandoms, rare pairings, AU (fork in the road), pretend couple

Summary: Centuries after the arrival of the Noldor and the Teleri in Beleriand, a celebration of Morgoth’s defeat brings the Crown Princess of Doriath and the Crown Prince of the Noldor together. To save this newborn peace from their respective fathers, they’ll do whatever it takes. Including... getting married?

Meanwhile, Lord Fingon of Himring faces the monumental task of healing Morgoth’s ills.

--

They regarded each other with quiet understanding, all the vast majesty of their respective lineages rendered unimportant by the connection between them. Music wound through the trees; harp and flute, surely joyous in context, sounded lonely in their solitude.

Reccer's Notes: Fëanor is a very complex character in the Silmarillion, who both has reasons for what he does and also does some terrible things. Fanon tends to sympathize with him, and also make him a good father to compensate for his other issues. SpaceWall takes the opposite track, leaning into his selfishness, his arrogance, and his suspiciousness. And then asks, if he had survived on Beleriand, what would have happened? If Fëanor, brilliant and terrible, were in command of the Noldor? Some things are better, some things are worse, (and Thingol is still Thingol), and so at a crucial juncture Maedhros and Luthien step forward to try and prevent disaster and war between the Noldor and Sindarin. And, in the process, they both learn a great deal.

Fanwork Links: By Other Means

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Pride and Prejudice: To Bear is to Conquer Our Fate by Shem

Fandom: Pride and Prejudice
Pairings/Characters: Kitty Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Rating: 106k
Length: teen
Creator Links:

Shem
Theme: marriage of conveneince, rare pairings, old fandoms, book fandoms, epic works, novel-length, AU, happy endings,

Summary: The day after the Netherfield Ball, a simple walk through the countryside has wide reaching consequences for Mr Darcy and a certain young lady from Longbourn.

Reccer's Notes: This is such an engaging look at a very different pairing and what might have been. It's long, plotty, with lots of good character work and a great slow burn.

Fanwork Links: To Bear is to Conquer Our Fate

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The Queen's Gambit (TV): you wait and you wonder who'll take on your odds

Fandom: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Pairings/Characters: Beth Harmon/Benny Watts
Rating: Explicit
Length: 138,010 words
Creator Links:

paperclipbitch
Theme: marriage of convenience, future fic, slow burn, mutual pining, exes to friends to spouses to lovers, chess

Summary: “Don’t think of it as marriage,” Benny tells her. “Think of it as castling.”

Beth raises an eyebrow. “Am I the king or the rook in this analogy?”

Reccer's Notes: An amazing post-canon fic where Beth, frustrated by the period-typical sexism she keeps facing, marries Benny for convenience and now they’re stuck in a fake relationship full of unresolved tension, mutual pining, and all their messy issues (addiction, gambling, competitiveness). It’s smart, emotional, and so compelling. I loved every moment <3

Fanwork Links: you wait and you wonder who'll take on your odds

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

Entry tags:

vacation

My GPS still hates me

So I left this afternoon for Gettysburg. My GPS must have known this was its last chance to fuck with me because I ordered a new one (which didn't make it before I left) Mom had given me paper directions too from MapQuest (that still exists?!?) As I come up to the second service station on the turnpike the GPS says 10 miles to my exit.

I'm like...I thought I had to go through TWO tunnels and at least three service stations. So I pull off at the service station, check the paper directions. Both say I need to get off on US 30 E (and I know that's true) so I get off and that's when I remember my brother saying don't get off the first time it wants you to go off on US 30.

There's no way back to the damn turnpike. I'm now on the back country roads for 80s miles. I have to go through the Buchanan State Forest (which is more or less where I set my lesser known cryptid story that I just sent in). Up and down switchback mountains (hello Appalachia) with runaway truck ramps everywhere because it's so steep. At least Badlands Broncos are MADE for this kind of terrain (I mean this IS an off road vehicle which is what I told Hertz when they sent me a survey about how I liked day 2 of my rental, why do you have a fleet of off roaders?!?) I do get here without any troubles.

Only I'm here over an hour later than planned so there goes going to the movie theater tonight because by the time I check in and eat, it's like 10 minutes to go and I'm in no mood. Instead of unwinding with the Fantastic Four I go for unwinding with water aerobics in their pool which is deeper and bigger than anticipated.

The good news is the restaurant between this Wyndham and the Marriot next door is OPEN and gives me a better choice than eating here (overpriced) or going down to Perkins (and losing my spot in a very packed parking lot).

I will be leaving tomorrow morning to do a museum and hurrying my butt back while I can still park. I can walk to the movie theater. (the steampunk con doesn't start until 4)

For some reason they gave me a wheelchair room and I am a little upset about it because I KNOW there are wheelchair bound con goers. I didn't even ask for a handicapped room (maybe it came up with my Wyndham membership which I think that is on there). The hotel is sold out so it's not like I can move elsewhere in case someone needs this.

But I do question why hotels have wheelchair accessible rooms on upper levels? It seems like a danger if this place catches fire.

Community rec time

science since several of you said you like to see science posts

tv_talk Reviews, discussion and activities focused on TV content -- come find your peeps!

thankfulthursday a weekly gratitude check-in community.

fffc Froday Flash Fiction Challenge

Entry tags:

books

The Book of Love - Kelly Link

Finished The Book of Love by Kelly Link— this was a very good, very satisfying book, which feels like damning with faint praise, but I mean it as high praise: satisfying in the way that watching a Rube Goldberg machine is, or those "How It's Made" videos of weirdly specific machines, and also the way a good meal is satisfying. Honestly, this will be hard to top as my favorite book I've read this year. The broadest sketch of the plot is that three teenagers return from the dead to find that reality has re-knit itself so that no one remembers they were gone, and now they must solve riddles three (so to speak) to be allowed to stay, but I went in otherwise completely blind and am very, very glad I did, because the narrative unspools like the author is dealing a deck of cards, and each time it's like, how is she going to play this one? (It was sometimes clear to me - ( ... ) - but it usually wasn't.) I wish I could write this novel the coherent review it deserves but I just keep thinking about that one Maurice Sendak quote about how he responded to a child's fan letter and the mom wrote back he loved your card so much he ate it.

Write every day! - August 2025 - Day 7

Tally:
Welcome post

Day 1:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddes47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 2:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

goddes47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 3:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 4:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

glinda,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 5:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

chanter1944,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Day 6:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

callmesandyk,

carenejeans,

cornerofmadness,

luzula,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

yasaman,

ysilme

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

~ ~ ~

ysilme here: 581 words, some nonfic and some noodling around with a few

threesentenceficathon prompts to see if I can reawaken my earlier inspiration for these.

sylvanwitch here: Today, I finished up revising and rewriting chapter one and moved on to begin editing chapter two.

Entry tags:

Media Round Up: Making Progress on My Pile of Graphic Novels

As the title says I've actually read some of the pile of graphic novels that I got from the library! Things have been busy and I've been sick so progress has still been slow.

The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Faith Schaffer — A graphic novel about a teen girl who wants to be a samurai and an older jaded ronin. The tech level is handwavy feudal Japan but with cell phones, which I found distracting. I didn’t think the cell phones added enough to the book to be worth it. Content note: gore, grief and dying

Anzu and the Realm of Darkness by Mai K. Nguyen and Diana Tsai Santos— Graphic novel about a Japanese American girl named Anzu who has just moved to a new town and get accidentally swept into the underworld. I thought it was pushing a little hard on we can solve systematic problems like bullying with individual choices but it was mostly sweet. I liked the kind of cartoony art style and all the different mystical critters.

Dragon of the Lost Sea by Laurence Yep —I read this Chinese mythology inspired MG fantasy novel to the kid at bed time. I had read these books myself as a kid and I was a little worried that they wouldn’t hold up, but the suck fairy has not gotten them! It’s maybe a little weird that the dragons all have wings. Chinese inspired stuff written in English these days tends to be very strict about not mixing in more western elements like that but actually the mixing is fun. Anyways this is a fun adventure story with lots of characters with big personalities.

Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley,Casio Ribeiro, and Nikki Fox —A graphic novel about two girls who are both new at their high school. They decide to go on a quest to find all 7 volumes of an out of print manga they both never finished reading. I loved this! Both girls are charming and quirky in a geeky way, the manga story within the story was lovely. One of them does have a dead mom, something I generally avoid but by the time that was revealed I was hooked. It was super fun and charming!

Himawari House by Harmony Becker —A graphic novel about three young women from different places who move to Japan and end up living in the same house. It's a very slice of life with lots of food and friendship but also some sad moments. The author has a heartfelt note at the end explaining that she wrote on the accents because she wants to destigmatise having an accent. I have mixed feelings about it though because I find written accents way harder to parse than spoken accents.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: sofa
Current Music: whoosh of properly functioning a/c

Entry tags:

Dark Shadows: Angelique (The Devil Need Not Own You) by Laramie Dean

Fandom: Dark Shadows

Pairings/Characters: Angelique Bouchard/Barnabas Collins, Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, other canon characters

Rating: Unrated; my best guess is T for violence

Length: ~11,000

Creator Links: Link to author's blog

Theme: marriage of convenience, backstory

Summary: The witch Angelique married numerous times throughout her long life and liaisoned even more times. Her great beauty ensured attracting anyone she could use and discard.

Reccer's Notes: Angelique owned many family names throughout the 5 year run of the show, and this story encompasses her entire life from childhood on. The convenient marriage is the one to Roger Collins while she is disguised as occult student Cassandra Blair. This story rocks because literally each of her identities receives insightful exploration, though the main "Pairing" consists of Angelique/Barnabas, the most well-known of her loves. She loves too well and not wisely at all.

Fanwork Links: Angelique (The Devil Need Not Own You)

A new fandom tag, please?

Military science fiction, positioning of strands, and "center of genre"

Watch on YouTube

...this video is age-locked (18+) because I'm the asshole goose who used too many cuss words. But also, discussion of Game of Thrones, Foundation, etc with spoilers.

(A friend requested this and apparently I am INFINITELY interested in discussing big space battles and things go asplode.)

P.S. Aggro Goose is taking topic requests, especially around narrative in any medium. Leave a comment or email me! (yoon@yoonhalee.com)

(My real agenda is not what you'd think. I need to practice audio cleaning, including de-essers and de-plosives. Now you know!)

Entry tags:

Yet another farmboys-off-the-farm picspam

( It's Shaoxi's fault )

Current Mood: nervous
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

Entry tags:

picspam

How has it been a week

Since I've been to Fort Steuben (and still no pictures?) How is it am I leaving tomorrow? I got my rental today. I was hoping for a good SUV because I'm in the market.

I got a Ford Bronco. Sigh. If I wanted an off-roader this would be perfect. I mean it's got four settings for GOAT Mode. The gear shift is it a DIAL that you have to hold down a button and rotate it. OMG why? I would not buy this but it has 3000 miles and I'm ready to go.

I have two museums in Gettysburg I've not seen (which I should have time for when I get there and friday morning), I have both Superman and Fantastic Four at the movie theater that's in the hotel complex. I was going to do the ghost tour but I'll be tired. I'll try it sunday night after the con. I have too much planned for my day and a half in Hershey but I have my plans and NO spreadsheet (evil Little dog will be shocked) because all the museums in both towns are open 7 days a week

And watching Carnival Eats today gave me a bunny for the carnival horror open call. now to get on it

What I Just Finished Reading:

Monster Burger - urban fantasy not quite as fun as the first but still good. It's a fun book. There is a ton of fat issues in this like the other mystery I bitched about but in this case it felt...different. yes his guardian angel and kevin the roach pick on him for being fat but they're both mean. Lloyd knows his weight is an issue in monster hunting BUT his female partner does not mention it at all. I think that might be the difference

What I am Currently Reading:

The Wood - an urban fantasy so far so good

Dark and Dangerous Journey - WWII mystery arc

What I Plan to Read Next:

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it but i'm shelving it for a bit

( I have pictures for you finally )

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Ranboo stream

Entry tags:

Kindness is punk rock

So before I get into the main post, I opened the MCC cards Monday and Tuesday. Overall it was a good haul with 2 signed cards and quite a few shinies. Unfortunately some of them are multiples and are for ones I don’t care for, so I’m hoping there’ll be ways to swap. I am sad I didn’t get the rare Seapeekay, all of the Purpled or 5up cards or the Techno cards. I dunno if it’s worth getting an overstock box when they do them (I dunno how much they’ll be) but people are already selling rares for £15 a pop. Ouch.

The official discord is gonna be opening up trades so fingers crossed there’s uk people interested in ones I have.

Also damnit! I was watching a Fandom live thing on eBay and the price went down 40% and I was gonna try and get it once I’d put my money in. Alas I just checked and it’s gone, fuck. I should’ve just done it on mums and paid the money in there. Ugh that’s gonna annoy me cause it’s so hard to find. (Anyone know a site that has it?)

Anyway today was the cinema trip to see Superman and the mystery showing. To quote Mamma Mia ‘it’s an adventure it’ll be good for you’ so that was my mindset.

I did spent a bit of time looking around the town beforehand, mostly cause of getting to the bank. But damn it is sad. There’s one shopping arcade by the bank and it was just… it had three shops. Three. That was so sad.

From a charity shop I got a DBD of somehting called Paradise Lost and Dispicable Me 2 on blu ray and a purse that looks like a fox. From Game I picked up a black series figure (Morgan from The Mandalorian/Ahsoka/Tales Of The Empire) and a Vulpix and Ninetales set. From Smiths I got the Fantastic 4 comic, though it was sneaky, and two 2025 annuals.

Then it was off to the cinema. Before I saw anything I almost gasped cause the price of the ticket to the Superman showing alone would’ve been almost as much as the month long cinema pass, which is so crazy. So just this trip would’ve more than paid for it.

The trailers for Superman were largely the same as Fantastic 4 - The Odyssey, The Running Man (why does no one simply hide in nature instead of be in a city?), a wrestling thing with Dwayne Johnson (I missed the name and The Life Of Chuck which I know nothing about but I was surprised when it said it was by Stephen King cause it seemed so… I dunno not scary?

Also the trailers for the mystery film . Not a trailer but there was a weird kfc ad that felt cannibal coded because why did a group of people dip a cute guy into water and he came out as a breaded piece of chicken?? Anyway! there was a trailer for The Black Phone 2 and it looks so good that I wanna see it. What is it about October 17th though? There’s the Coheed gig I’m thinking of going to, Pokémon ZA and now this. Then there was Him which I’m really curious about. Then there was The Long Walk which still hasn’t sold me though it is funny that Mark Hamill is in both of the Stephen king trailers (and I didn’t realise he was in walk until comic con. Them there was The Conjuring and Weapons as well as one for Jaws’ 50th anniversary which I’ve not seen in a long time so maybe I will.

Anyway! Superman thoughts.

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After Superman I decided to try the cinema food cause of having the discount. There’s a little restaurant and it has nachos, pizza and a few things. Apparently you can get the pizza sent straight up to you in the cinema which is strange. I tried a capri pizza which was nice enough, though they gave you a strange device that beeps when the food is done, which was strange but pretty cool.

Then I went up for the ✨Mystery film✨. What was it? Find out under the cut.

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One worry I had was it’d end after a train came and I’d be waiting for 50 minutes for the next one. Luckily I could catch the train without waking. Funnily on the way to the station I noticed a restaurant called the Toro Steakhouse and then also a poster for Walsall pride. I didn’t even know the town had one?? It’s at the end of the month so maybe I’ll go if I have the energy. I might look it for more info.