frenzy | Network

(originally posted on january 21st, 2026, on livejournal)

20 aria of the beech forest
20 neighborhood story
70 pretty guardian sailor moon

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It's all a lot. Despite today's heartbreaking photo (and related local news story) making the rounds online (no, not that that other awful photo), and despite this physician news conference protesting current federal actions, I feel like the national news cycle is trying to move on to other shiny things, avoiding any need to say what's clearly evident in this situation.

As the ongoing occupation by over 3,000 ICE agents stretches into its third week — with no clear end in sight — I’ve received a steady string of messages from increasingly concerned friends across the country. They all start the same way: Uh… is this really as bad as it looks from the outside? My answer to that question is easy: no, it’s worse.
- How much can a city take?" (The Verge)

There aren't many things that get world religions to agree, but this event does. Dozens of faith leaders representing religions both major and minor in Minnesota held this joint statement yesterday. Their event during the general strike is apparently being organized by ISAIAH, but I couldn't find a page specifically about it on their website. Despite the forecast of bitterly cold temperatures (-27C/-17F to -22C/-8F) on Friday, I intend to be there in downtown Minneapolis for the 2pm march. This general strike is now endorsed by the state AFL-CIO!

Watch on YouTube

There are, however, good bits of journalism. I recommend the following:

On the Front Line of Minnesota's Fight with ICE, audio podcast from New York Times
Inside Trump's War on Minneapolis - What We Saw on the Ground", video from Zeteo
ICE vs. People of Minnesota: Community Resists Trump's Militarized Crackdown – Special Report, Democracy Now
This Week in Politics | Explainer", Heather Cox Richardson, USA historian

I queued that last link to the bit where the historian specifically talks about Minnesota and why we were a bad choice by Trump to start this escalation. We haven't given him (and the rest of you in the USA) the invocation of the Insurrection Act. I've said repeatedly on this blog over the years that Minnesota has a different kind of conservative politics, still aware of community responsibility. (I did, however, give up that estimation of them in this post last year, when they tried to literally steal a majority voice in the state government.) This historian mentions that civic mindedness specifically and how it relates to our current situation. That whole YouTube video is worthwhile. It's an hour well spent, from past world history to a conclusion with hope about the future. I need to learn more about these "ad hoc committees" as they relate to the new world order of "diplomatic variable geometries". It sounds initially like the demarchy that I keep advocating. I'm not sure, though, if that's what they mean by those new terms.

Here is one of the fills I wrote for

threesentenceficathon. It got such a lovely response, I decided to share it here first, although I'll be posting more later.

For the prompt: any, any, "Strange, the way it felt like home – to wander through the dark, alone."

DARK AND LIGHT

The night was a familiar companion, dark and comforting, like the only home he’d ever known, but at the same time empty and cold now that he’d let the only light in his life walk away.

Sleep was elusive as always, fractured by nightmares of the worst times and taunting visions of what might have been, still, the 3:00 am knock at the door was as startling as a gunshot… especially since he felt who was on the other side with every fiber of his being.

When Sonny opened the door, Rico stood there with a bag slung over one shoulder and a sheepish but hopeful expression on his face; underneath that, though, was the echo of the same desperation, loneliness, and love that had swamped Sonny ever since they’d said goodbye… he let the light in.

end

Current Mood: flirty

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Current Mood: cheerful

Had some Downton Abbey estate blend tea. Went to Berkeley Bowl to buy more tea, coconut Pu-erh in this case. I was going to get some of Berkeley Bowl's deli takeout Chinese food for lunch but they don't do that anymore so I got some Mexican food in the next block and then went home.

Current Music: Martin Scorcese Blues soundtrack

Public

355/365: Birmingham Hippodrome
Click for a larger, sharper image
I was in Birmingham today. I didn't have much time to myself, but I was able to have coffee in the Dragon, which was nice as it's the pub a group of us had our post-UK PonyCon meal in last year. A lot quieter at 10:30am today, though! Here's a photo of the Hippodrome, Birmingham's largest theatre (capacity 1,935 seats), taken with a wide-angle setting hence the odd angles. The pavement decoration is because this area is right on the edge of the city's Gay Village. And the theatre district, obviously. And Chinatown (hence the name of the Dragon). And just down from New Street station. And only a few hundred yards from the UK PonyCon 2025 venue. And rather wet this morning!

Current Mood: lethargic

That is not a sentence I want to read at any time in the morning.

(In celsius terms, it's -10 and feels like death.)

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( Read more... )

📝 Оригинальный текст записи

Прерывая мое молчание, хочу поделиться несколькими мыслями о последних событиях в моей жизни. Истории будут позже, но сейчас -несколько наблюдений.
Недавно я давал интервью изданию BBC. Это был длинный разговор, связанный с боевыми действиями, и прозвучал прямой вопрос, на который дипломатично сложно ответить: достаточно ли делают «партнеры» для Украины?
Это глобальный и сложный вопрос, на который я хочу ответить своими ощущениями из города, где относительно спокойно, в отличие от прифронтовых территорий. Попробуйте представить мегаполис без электричества: светофоры не работают, в домах и офисах нет тепла и воды, а на улицах -темнота, туман, дым от прорванных теплотруб и пожаров с запахом гари. В этом городе безумный трафик и тревога, и картина становится более ясной.
Не читая новостей, я узнал, что МВФ выделяет Украине деньги, но при этом ставит условия -сокращать субсидии на коммунальные услуги. Это делает жизнь людей еще тяжелее. Никто при этом не предлагает сначала поднять зарплаты, пенсии и соцвыплаты до европейского уровня, как и оплату военных, чтобы не унижать их, я уже не говорю о пенсионерах.
Я не жалуюсь на холод или отсутствие электричества -мне повезло быть там, где есть возможность согреться. На боевых позициях, в замерзших окопах, этого нет.
Но просто собрать мысли и сосредоточиться на внутренних вопросах сложно, когда за окном вспышки взрывов, окна дрожат от ударных волн, и понимаешь, что происходящее от тебя никак не зависит. Я не описываю здесь, как города стирают с лица земли, а лишь делюсь тем, как это ощущается в городе, где проходят воздушные атаки.
Вывод прост: понять и полностью прочувствовать всё это невозможно. А спрашивать о том, достаточно ли помощи -не понимая, что вся эта ситуация продолжается именно с позволения этих «партнеров» -нелепо

Note translated in assistance with AI.

I want to break my silence and share a few thoughts about what’s been happening in my life recently. The longer stories will come later, but for now, this.

Recently, I gave an interview to BBC. It was a long conversation about the war, and at one point they asked a direct question: are the “partners” doing enough for Ukraine? It’s hard to answer that diplomatically — it’s such a vast, complex question. But I want to try to explain it through what I feel here, in a city that is relatively calm, far from the frontlines.

Imagine a metropolis without electricity: traffic lights don’t work, there’s no heat or water in offices or homes, and at night the streets are dark. There’s smoke from broken heating pipes, fires, the smell of burning, fog, chaotic traffic. You start to see things differently.

I recently heard that the IMF has allocated money to Ukraine, but with new conditions — reducing subsidies on utilities. It makes life harder for ordinary people. No one talks about raising salaries, pensions, or social benefits to European levels, or paying the military fairly so they aren’t humiliated. The elderly are not mentioned at all.

I am not complaining about the cold or the lack of electricity — I am lucky to have a place where I can stay warm. On the frontlines, in frozen trenches, there is nothing like that.

Even just gathering your thoughts here is hard. Outside, explosions flash, windows shake from shockwaves, and you realize that none of what’s happening depends on you. I am not trying to describe how cities are destroyed; I am simply sharing what it feels like in a city under active air attacks.

The truth is: you cannot fully understand it, not unless you’ve been there. Asking if the help is enough — without understanding that the situation continues under the very permission of these “partners” — is absurd.

Living here, you feel the contrast every day: the relative calm of the city, the small routines you can manage, and the chaos that touches you even from afar. It makes you realize how fragile everything is, how small your control, and yet how necessary it is to simply observe, survive, and carry on.

Watch on YouTube

A Minnesotan friend read out to me a social media post that went something like "If you know any Minnesotans, you'll know that we take every opportunity to bring up Minnesota and Minnesotan things." The next sentence started something like, "If we manage to expel this ICE invasion..." but I don't remember properly because by the time I heard that much of this sentence I was already sitting up from where I'd been lounging on the couch, so when the sentence ended with "...you'll be hearing about it for the next twenty years."

"Twenty?!" I said. "We're still talking about the Halloween storm of 1991 and that's more than twenty years ago! I think people will be hearing about this for, more like two hundred years."

He scrolled down and chuckled, read out a comment that might not have been understandable because he was still laughing, but I knew what he was saying "This comment says, 'I remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991.' "

Speaking of October 1991, I was just thinking the other day we'll be hearing about the World Series of 1991, and 1987, at the very least every time it's another 5 or 10 years after those dates, for the very least as long as any of those players are still alive.

I said that I remembered hearing about, like, the 5-year-anniversary of that time there was a raccoon on the MPR building.

We are never gonna let you forget, you'll be hearing about this for ever. I guarantee it.

I can't wait (to be talking about this in the past tense).

This is a very brief selection from a much larger 1988 book I found in a free box, Brazilian Women Speak: Contemporary Life Stories. It is a life story from a woman involved with Brazilian spiritualism (more specifically, umbanda). The book is still miraculously in print, and there is a screen-readable version for the print-disabled on archive.org.

Citation: Patai, Daphne. “ÂNGELA: ‘In Spiritualism There’s Real Equality.’” In Brazilian Women Speak: Contemporary Life Stories, 109-110, 120-125, 364-365. New Brunswick: Rutgers,1988.

( Book selection about the orix�s possessing and incorporating into people involved in the umbanda religion. �ngela herself hasn't been possessed, but it's nevertheless and everyday part of her religious life. )

Well, there's flu in my mother's residence and she's recovering from a cold (though says she tested negative for flu and COVID), so the weekend visit with friends is canceled because they can't risk me bringing anything into their space, and the weekdays visit with other friends was already severely cut down because of recent stresses in their lives but now is further reduced to just meeting up for a short walk because they can't risk it either. I do not like this timeline.

(To be clear, I absolutely understand all my friends' reasons and I'm glad they made the calls that are right for them! And we've all planned to see each other when I hope to come down again in April. I'm just sad not to see them 1. at all 2. much now. also I was hoping 1 would want to watch HR with me)

On the other hand, this means I'll be going home before a big storm hits this weekend, which if I'd kept my original schedule might otherwise have ended up delaying me for an extra day, which would then make things tight at home because we're planning to go to Montreal right after I get back. Everything happens for the tolerable in this not yet the shittiest of all possible worlds.

I managed to finish two books this week despite the competing pressures of work, gaming, and other socializing, and aim to have a few more honkers wrapped up within the next few days.

What I Finished Reading This Week

Internet Security Fundamentals - Nick Ioannou
This self-published freemium book covers exactly what the title suggests it will. Because it's free and frequently updated, the editing is atrocious: typos, omitted words, garbled sentences, and occasionally mistakes that utterly change the meaning of what Ioannou surely meant to say (e.g., the equivalent of accidentally omitting the word "never" from the following sentence: "The absolute most important thing you can do is to never leave your doors unlocked when you go out.") That said, this book is free, it's frequently updated, and the information is solid and presented in a fashion that won't overwhelm readers who need an introductory explanation of these concepts and practices; if you're looking for a book that does just that, you could do far worse than this one.

After the Forest – Kell Woods
This book was excellent and I will eagerly read anything else Woods writes. Set in 16th century Germany against a backdrop of interstate conflict, witch trials, and religious intolerance, it tells the story of the folktale Hansel and Gretel's titular characters (Greta and Hans here) after the woods; that is, as adults, post-witch and -oven, and -gingerbread house. The setting is fantastic, the descriptive language is fantastic. The blend of historical fact and fairy tale elements is fantastic. The pacing is fantastic. The characterizations are wonderful and strike the difficult balance of depicting characters with believable strengths and weaknesses without slipping into caricature or melodrama, and desires and agency without relying on anachronism or unrealistic motivations or capabilities. This is a definite winner, and I will read it again.

What I Am Currently Reading

Mannaz – Malene Sølvsten
I've got just about 100 pages to go and can't wait to see how the trilogy concludes.

Freya the Deer – Meg Richman
There I was, calmly reading the prologue, when Richman casually dropped a sentence that came out of nowhere like a blow to the face. "Gripped me from the very first page" is a cliche in book reviews, but the first page of this volume delivers a mean jolt, and so far Richman has the chops to keep the momentum going.

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 1 – Xue Shan Fei Hu
Mannaz, After the Woods, and Freya the Deer were all affecting my nightmares, so this has become my bedtime reading, a job to which its unapologetically, gleefully over-the-top premise is perfectly suited.

What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.

これで以上です。

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What are your crafting goals for 2026?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

This all-new Dead Air Bundle presents English-language ebooks for Dead Air: Seasons, the post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game from Italian publisher The World Anvil Publishing about a Blighted world forever changed.

Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons

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Current Mood: excited

Last year I participated in

halfamoon for the first time. I enjoyed it and have been looking forward to this round. The prompts for this coming round (beginning Feb 1) have been posted HERE.

Per the mod, this year is all about archetypes. So I've listed the seven feminine archetypes on the odd number days and then something that plays against that on the even number days.

I’m including the prompts here because I need to think about them some. Yes, I’m thinking they’ll all be Jessica again, but that’s not set in stone.

( prompts )

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Nothing! I’ve watched a lot of tv and did a lot of writing in the last week, which didn’t leave much time for reading.

What I am Currently Reading: Still working on Husband Material (London Calling) by Alexis Hall.

What I Plan to Read Next: Probably the other library book I have out as I've only got one renewal on it.

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Public

What's Up, Doc? (1972)

This is a 1970s attempt to recapture the energy of the screwball comedies of a third of century earlier – and on the whole it does it very well. A lot of that is down to Barbra Streisand, whose Judy Maxwell is magnetically watchable even when she's being impossibly annoying, which is much of the time. Ryan O'Neal as Dr Howard Bannister looks just enough like a younger Michael Caine to be mildly disconcerting, but he does well too. Not all the jokes land perfectly, but there are so many of them that you don't have to wait long for a better one. The plot is absurd, but it's meant to be so that's okay.

An absolutely fantastic car chase scene, like a cross between Bullitt and Wacky Races and one which instantly became a favourite. The weak link is Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn), not because of her acting but because of the dated and embarrassing "hey, his actual fiancée is dowdy and whiny, isn't that amusing?" running joke; one late line about her in a courtroom scene is truly awful. Fortunately the rest is so enjoyable as to make this a largely thoroughly entertaining hour and a half. ★★★★

Current Mood: amused

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frenzy

January 2026

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Network

※82 (110 icons)

it's a lot

3 Sentence Ficathon fill: Miami Vice

Heated Rivalry rec

(no subject)

The Hippodrome. No horses in sight, boo

Brr! "14F, feels like 7"

Breaking My Silence: Thoughts from the City/Живое ощущение войны

I'm gonna need a tag for this aren't I, goddammit

ÂNGELA: "In Spiritualism There’s Real Equality"

sigh

What Am I Reading Wednesday - January 21

Check-In Post - Jan 21st 2026

Bundle of Holding: Dead Air: Seasons

The Night Manager S2

Actual good news!

Half A Moon 2026

Wednesday Reading Meme

A reminder

Film post: What's Up, Doc? (1972)

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January 2026