![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 3
( Spoilers under the cut. )
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
689. RT Rewind: May 2016 Ads & Features
We’re going back to May 2016 to look at the Ads & Features in Romantic Times magazine. The kilts are kilting and the abs are ab-ing, and we’ve got some questions.
- How do we feel about the terms “book boyfriend” and “pre-con”?
- How much of the 2016 conference depended on Twitter to announce pop up signings and special limited time events?
- And do you remember how important Twitter was to a conference?
- How many different ways are there to photograph a very muscled shirtless man? I think we’re going to see all of them.
So hop into the time machine, we’ve got the snacks, and we’re off to May 2016.
Patreon folks, you have an extended cut of this episode, available through the app or through your private feed.
Listen to the podcast →Read the transcript →
Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:
We also mentioned Elyse’s review of Imagines, complete with Amanda’s specialty Photoshop.
Visual aids? But of course!
“His job is chin.”
The 2016 Men of Romance.
We were particularly charmed by Michael Foster, bottom right, who is wearing a big black puffy blouse unbuttoned but still tucked in (YEAH), and holding a big sword while standing in front of a major wind machine. Also, Vikkas Bhardwaj’s picture looks like his head was added afterward and it’s uncanny.
She’s ripping his clothes off! That’s pretty cool.
This is the centerfold image, or part of it. We spent a lot of time with this image: the hat. The jeans. The striped socks (is this Anita Blake!?). The giant rifle with scope and the even more giant bullets around her waist. Look, she’s even got a flask in her back pocket for when she’s done.
WTF?
If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.
More ways to sponsor:
Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.
Thanks for listening!
Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(no subject)
I got the ginger snaps I ordered from Philly and, oh, alright, I bought some hard to find Tastikakes, too. It’s beautiful weather now but this weekend, there’ll be more rain, I’ll have cookies and coffee and tv. I’m snacked up.
The tree I see outside my back window that was in full Fall foliage, glowing deep red and orange, suffered during a recent hard shower. Lost most of its leaves and now looks very forlorn. Know how you feel, bud.
I also bought some new sheets. I wanted to replace an old one that was just too small for the mattress and would keep popping off it. Most every day I’d have to wrestle it back on. I got a sheet that’s a deep rose color and I love it. And some patterned ones that don’t look as good as the photo of them, and there’s a top sheet I don’t need. Maybe I’ll make curtains from it to replace the window blinds the cats have severely injured.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Review: Jinkies and Minority Monsters

Jinkies! A Daphne/Velma Zine by Elise Schuenke
More an art book than a story but it contains utterly adorable snippets from the life of 2 gorgeous and adventerous women. There's fun encounters, domestic scenes and bonus Buzzfeed Unsolved references. I am 100% here for these feels.
If you like Elise's style I also recommend her other works Starcrossed and Still Here.

Minority Monsters by Tab Kimpton
Description: Greetings explorers, and welcome to Alphabet Soup Land! Want to learn about the not-so-invisible Bisexual Unicorn? The secrets of the Asexual Succubus? Or the previously unfathomable fathoms of the Genderqueer Merperson? If so, you’re in the right place! Packed full with comics of mythical monsters, field notes and information sections; this spotters guide of LGBT* and Queer creatures is the perfect companion for any adventurer.
Review: This is such a wholesome and fun approach to describing the different flavours of humans. But it's also quite nuanced and introduces some of the common mythconceptions and misunderstandings around different identities. The art is fun, colourful and inclusive. It might read a little condescending at times, but I mostly read that as minority fatigue. For an entry price of pay what you want it's worth checking out, even if only for a moment of dopamine.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I had no inkling of just how far the plates of our continents would crack
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
AO3 Servers
ao3_news_feed | October 2025 Membership Drive: The Systems You Support
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Books
Yesterday was International Pronouns Day! While it’d be rare to find a book with no pronouns, for this list, we’re focusing on books in English that have at least one character who uses pronouns other than he/him or she/her. Whether those pronouns are they/them, it/its, or neopronouns, we tried to get a cool variety on today’s rec list of 19 queer books. The contributors to the list are: Linnea Peterson, Rascal Hartley, MJ, Nina Waters, Alex, Terra P. Waters, and Shadaras.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Today's Smoothie
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What the hell?
Road maintenance, USA style, is variable, to say the least. Potholes are filled -- eventually. Cracks are often filled with a "drizzle" of asphalt. When the road needs refurbishing, it gets "chip-sealed." This is a process of laying down a thin layer of tar, covering that with a layer of small pebbles, and pressing it into the tar. It's actually pretty effective, after a period of "settling in" by being driven on. And finally, if the road warrants it, it'll be dug up and completely rebuilt.
So, the four-mile stretch between my road and the next intersection has been rebuilt. It's been a slow process that started back in April or May. (I've slept since then.) But now that stretch of road is finished, a little wider than it was (yay!), and smoo-o-o-oth. It's been a treat to drive on; we don't often get such a quiet, non-bumpy ride around here.
When I went to town on Monday, there were orange barrels beside the road. I figured they would block off sections as they applied the striping. When I headed home today, I discovered they had chip-sealed one lane; I assume the other will be done tomorrow.
I am absolutely dumbfounded. Why on earth did someone direct the workers to chip-seal a brand new road?!?? Maybe someone got roads mixed up -- they've chip-sealed roads to the east and west of this one. (I took alternate routes to get to town while the rebuilding was going on, so I got to see the chip-sealing "spread.") And I know the workers have to do what they're told. But wasn't there anyone on the team who could call someone of more seniority and say, "Hey, look, this is a brand-new road. Isn't this chip-sealing supposed to be going on a different road?"
I mean... if this road gets an unnecessary treatment, there won't be the funds for some other road to get the treatment it needs. Talk about government waste!
Or maybe this is a case of, "That's New Mexico." Right up there with the way they re-striped my road about 15 years ago, with double-striping (don't pass) the entire 8.5-mile length. I'm sure people complained; there had previously been plenty of places where passing was allowed. So, a few weeks later, they had to cover the 2nd stripe with black paint, in places where it was okay to pass. I just shook my head; such a stupid mistake to make, but seems par for the course around here.
My European and British friends... is road maintenance any more sensible over there than it is here?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(no subject)
( Read more... )
Also, volume 1 of AJ Demas' new serial (set in the same world as Sword Dance, but ~300 years earlier) is now available as an ebook from her website! I thought it sounded neat, but Ream as a platform didn't interest me.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hello! Still here!
Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well. I've been busy recently and so haven't posted, but I am still around. Yesterday I had my birthday (52) and today A. and I had our wedding anniversary (33).[/1]
Today I made my once-a-year trip back to LiveJournal (I have an LJ friend who wishes me a happy birthday by LJ message every year.). I looked around for a moment this time and noticed a couple of changes about the place: For starters, paid accounts are now called "Pro" accounts. And when you click on it (out of curiosity to see how much they cost now), you discover that they're priced in rubles now! I'm still pissed off about what happened to LJ. I love it here at DW, but I miss the people who got lost during the transition over.
[/1] Yes, we got married the day after my 19th birthday. In fact, we spent my 19th birthday in line at city hall getting out wedding license. We could have been married on my 19th birthday — when we went to the judge's office to schedule the ceremony, he wanted to just drag in a couple of secretaries to act as witnesses and marry us right then and there, but A. wanted her mother and sister to be there, so we put it off until the next day.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Poem: "New and Innovative Approaches"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
( Read more... )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Dentists and Disappointments
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(no subject)
Tried DLing Greek onto the upstairs tablet and it hung at 50%. Luckily it loaded instantly on the downstairs one so I can carry on with Themistocles. Though now I'm of two minds. If I enter a Greek word in, uh, romaji, google at once gives me it in Greek with its meaning first thing. Enter it in Greek and I get Greek webpages-- duh-- and need to click on the link to wiktionary which will eventually give me a translation if I scroll down to it after the Doric, Cretan, Lacedemonian, etc. etc. readings. Maybe sticking to romaji is the way to go.
Had my monthly visit to Sushi on Bloor with their Partager wine, and that was nice. Am currently simmering the bones from that chicken I roasted along with some organic celery that was disappointingly tough and bitter, hence useless for the Waldorf salad I'd intended it for. Plus parsley (a splurge) and bay leaves (do bay leaves actually add flavour?) and a large carrot and an ancient apple that might as well go in the stock as anything. Shall definitely strain this and use as stock, since I'm tired of finding tiny bones in my chicken soup. Must have food on hand because: rain most of the weekend plus autumnal crud in the walker's wheels. Expect to be housebound for a stretch.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Climate: A Grim Prognosis
Two days ago, the World Meteorological Organization reported the largest recorded level of atmospheric CO2 and the largest increase in a single year (a reminder that CO2 remains in the atmosphere for a very long time). It follows Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2016 Paris Agreement, which sought to preferably limit global warming this century to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, with a long-term objective of below 2.0 degrees. As COP30 approaches it increasingly becomes clear that voluntary agreements to a global problem is biased toward unenforceable lobbying even when adaptive and mitigative technologies exist and even when our first major tipping point (coral reef losses) looms, a situation that has been warned about for years even as fossil fuel subsidies increase - your taxes at work.
I am now in my third year as a climatology postgraduate, after many years of debating the issue and engaging in autodidactic research. When I started formal studies, it quickly became apparent to me that, despite international agreements and technological change, the most accurate trajectory was the RCP8.5 scenario; high-emissions, high-growth, high-population, the highest plausible temperature increase, i.e., the worst case scenario. Maybe it's the risk engineer disposition in me, but I think we should prepare against worst-case scenarios, especially when the costs are high. The problem is that they are so incremental; people understand the accretion of warming as explained by the popular metaphor of the "boiling frog" story that describes how people do not effectively react to creeping changes. Whilst it is a strong and appropriate metaphor, it is also a myth. A frog will react when the water is too hot for comfort. But I wonder whether humans are as clever as a frog.
Bingo: Blackout
Fandoms List
Captain Harlock
10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40
Kamen Rider Ryuki
Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Warrior Nun
Number One Sentai Gozyuger
Kamen Rider Gotchard
Choujuu Sentai Liveman
Ultraman Arc
Shin Kamen Rider
Aim For The Ace
Kamen Rider OOO
Kpop Demon Hunters
Kamen Rider Ghost
Kamen Rider Kuuga
Kid Icarus Uprising
The Outsiders
(Kamen Rider Series, The Outsiders, Captain Harlock, Gokaiger and Warrior Nun already have tags so don't worry about those. May I please have Fandom tags for the rest? Thank you for your time!)