Thursday, March 19th, 2026 09:17 pm
Thursday, March 19th, 2026 08:00 am
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 11:56 pm
Tags:
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 08:41 pm
So...two groups are fighting at the moment in the media.
My insane Union vs. Crazy Org and well the Feds in the middle of it. The Feds took the unions side, which is interesting although doesn't mean all that much, since the Feds on the Board of Review were pre-existing the current administration (of which we shall not name - spits).
That's just anxiety inducing.
( Read more... )
The other group is far more entertaining and much less anxiety inducing, mainly because I don't have a stake in any of it, and am mostly ambivalent.
Buffy vs. Hulu, (with well, a Zen Like Chloe Zhao somewhere in the middle?)
SMG (Buffy) announces Hulu axed the Buffy reboot with no warning, and it was because of one exec who hates Buffy and never liked the original show.
(So of course the journalists do some digging to find out who the executive in question is, because really, who in their right mind hates Buffy? - Some random executive isn't exactly helpful?)
Deadline outted the Executive...because of course... (honestly the journalists in our media have way too much time on their hands? There's either too many of them or...they just can't figure out what to do with the abundance of news already out there? Granted this is less anxiety inducing than the rest of it.)
Here's Deadline Article.
"Here is how Buffy: New Sunnydale went from a dream reboot two decades in the making, with Gellar starring and Oscar winner Chloé Zhao directing, to a discarded pilot. There were issues — as Deadline reported on Saturday, the original pilot was “not perfect”; some called it “not great.” Yet, after a well-received rewrite with a lot more Buffy Summers in it, no one expected the pass. Written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, whose previous credits include Poker Face and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the pilot would have turned the attention to a new young slayer, commonly referred to as Nova. She was played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and The Lowdown star Ryan Kiera Armstrong. It's said that the premise, initially seen as promising, gradually fell apart.
( Rest of the article )
And Here's Hollywood Reporter's Article on it via People Magazine -
( article below the cut regarding Gellar's take in an interview with People and Hollywood Reporter )
"A statement obtained by People noted that because Disney owns the Buffy IP, the project cannot be shopped elsewhere."
***
What did Craig Erwich green light - or what programs did he champion?
Erwich Interview with Hollywood Reporter on Future shows
Erwich shows
"Craig Erwich will now oversee 20th Television and 20th Television Animation, with Karey Burke and Marci Proietto reporting to him. Craig will continue to lead ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals."
https://deadline.com/2026/03/debra-oconnell-disney-craig-erwich-20th-television-1236757197/
In retribution? Someone leaked the alleged 2024 Buffy Pilot Script. Note - this was written in 2024, and has since been rewritten and tweaked. Also, I know Marsters (per interviews) was contacted in late 2025 - they'd shown interest in his return. And rumor has it that - they made the new script more adult, it was a 90 minute pilot, and more like a streaming show with a bigger budget, and everyone had liked it per the above.
***
I've not read the leaked script. There's no evidence it's actual? And we all know by now how much scripts change from paper to screen while shooting, often to the point in which very little on the draft makes it to screen.
I can't say I'm surprised it got axed. ( Read more... )
The online fandom, being contentious and fractious as ever - is fighting over it on various social media platforms - FB, Reddit, and X. I've seen the Reddit and FB fights, also one on X. There's several factions?
( Buffy fans are fighting over the Hulu/Buffy war )
This all rather entertaining, but not all that surprising? Fandom. Sigh. Fandom.
It is a nice distraction though from other...less entertaining and more worrisome problems, of which we shall not speak.
The leaked script sparks fanfiction ideas in my head. I'm tempted to write fanfic based on that synopsis. It's interesting. I can see all sorts of interesting things they could have done with the show and the general concept.
Stupid network/studio/streaming service executives with no imagination.
This is why I'm glad I'm not a television writer or television actor or working in television. As nutty and frustrating as my work in transportation and construction is? It's relatively sane and stable in comparison. The frustration alone would kill me - if I worked in television. Damn, that's a hard business.
So, just in case someone out there wants to get a book, novel, idea, what have you - produced and developed as a television series? Read the Buffy vs. Hulu fight, and find another career to invest yourself in. Trust me, the pain and suffering isn't worth it.
For every show, Whedon got produced - he had twenty others that never made it, and then he got cancelled - by the actors from his first successful (and possibly only really successful) television series.
My insane Union vs. Crazy Org and well the Feds in the middle of it. The Feds took the unions side, which is interesting although doesn't mean all that much, since the Feds on the Board of Review were pre-existing the current administration (of which we shall not name - spits).
That's just anxiety inducing.
( Read more... )
The other group is far more entertaining and much less anxiety inducing, mainly because I don't have a stake in any of it, and am mostly ambivalent.
Buffy vs. Hulu, (with well, a Zen Like Chloe Zhao somewhere in the middle?)
SMG (Buffy) announces Hulu axed the Buffy reboot with no warning, and it was because of one exec who hates Buffy and never liked the original show.
(So of course the journalists do some digging to find out who the executive in question is, because really, who in their right mind hates Buffy? - Some random executive isn't exactly helpful?)
Deadline outted the Executive...because of course... (honestly the journalists in our media have way too much time on their hands? There's either too many of them or...they just can't figure out what to do with the abundance of news already out there? Granted this is less anxiety inducing than the rest of it.)
Here's Deadline Article.
"Here is how Buffy: New Sunnydale went from a dream reboot two decades in the making, with Gellar starring and Oscar winner Chloé Zhao directing, to a discarded pilot. There were issues — as Deadline reported on Saturday, the original pilot was “not perfect”; some called it “not great.” Yet, after a well-received rewrite with a lot more Buffy Summers in it, no one expected the pass. Written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, whose previous credits include Poker Face and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the pilot would have turned the attention to a new young slayer, commonly referred to as Nova. She was played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and The Lowdown star Ryan Kiera Armstrong. It's said that the premise, initially seen as promising, gradually fell apart.
( Rest of the article )
And Here's Hollywood Reporter's Article on it via People Magazine -
( article below the cut regarding Gellar's take in an interview with People and Hollywood Reporter )
"A statement obtained by People noted that because Disney owns the Buffy IP, the project cannot be shopped elsewhere."
***
What did Craig Erwich green light - or what programs did he champion?
Erwich Interview with Hollywood Reporter on Future shows
Erwich shows
"Craig Erwich will now oversee 20th Television and 20th Television Animation, with Karey Burke and Marci Proietto reporting to him. Craig will continue to lead ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals."
https://deadline.com/2026/03/debra-oconnell-disney-craig-erwich-20th-television-1236757197/
In retribution? Someone leaked the alleged 2024 Buffy Pilot Script. Note - this was written in 2024, and has since been rewritten and tweaked. Also, I know Marsters (per interviews) was contacted in late 2025 - they'd shown interest in his return. And rumor has it that - they made the new script more adult, it was a 90 minute pilot, and more like a streaming show with a bigger budget, and everyone had liked it per the above.
***
I've not read the leaked script. There's no evidence it's actual? And we all know by now how much scripts change from paper to screen while shooting, often to the point in which very little on the draft makes it to screen.
I can't say I'm surprised it got axed. ( Read more... )
The online fandom, being contentious and fractious as ever - is fighting over it on various social media platforms - FB, Reddit, and X. I've seen the Reddit and FB fights, also one on X. There's several factions?
( Buffy fans are fighting over the Hulu/Buffy war )
This all rather entertaining, but not all that surprising? Fandom. Sigh. Fandom.
It is a nice distraction though from other...less entertaining and more worrisome problems, of which we shall not speak.
The leaked script sparks fanfiction ideas in my head. I'm tempted to write fanfic based on that synopsis. It's interesting. I can see all sorts of interesting things they could have done with the show and the general concept.
Stupid network/studio/streaming service executives with no imagination.
This is why I'm glad I'm not a television writer or television actor or working in television. As nutty and frustrating as my work in transportation and construction is? It's relatively sane and stable in comparison. The frustration alone would kill me - if I worked in television. Damn, that's a hard business.
So, just in case someone out there wants to get a book, novel, idea, what have you - produced and developed as a television series? Read the Buffy vs. Hulu fight, and find another career to invest yourself in. Trust me, the pain and suffering isn't worth it.
For every show, Whedon got produced - he had twenty others that never made it, and then he got cancelled - by the actors from his first successful (and possibly only really successful) television series.
Tags:
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 07:10 pm
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang (background), Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (background), Lan Xichen, Jin Zixuan, Meng Yao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: R for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Major Character Death
Length: 133,987 words
Creator Link:
meyari
Themes: Siblings, Time Travel Fix-It, Women Being Awesome, Trauma & Recovery
Summary: As the Jianghu collapses around Jiang Cheng's ears, his borrowed core begins to fail. Wei Wuxian has one final trick up his sleeve, though the only person who can use it is the one person who has no core of his own: Jiang Cheng. Time travel may be impossible for everyone else, but Jiang Cheng has one slender, delicate chance to save the entire world. Of course he has to take it no matter what the cost might be.
Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme, I thought of this story. While time travel fix-its and core reveal fix-its are both common in the fandom, this story handles both tropes in ways I haven't seen any other story do. It also features amazing original characters, including several badass women of the Meishan Yu sect, and gives Jiang Yanli one of the best storylines I've ever seen. The rating is because there's still a war, and some characters still die, but it's a far different war, and they are far different deaths.
I do feel like I have to provide a caveat that this could use a serious line edit, by which I mean there is a grammatical or spelling error in nearly every sentence. It really says something that, despite this, I couldn't put the story down, and devoured all 100K+ words of it in the space of two nights.
Fanwork Links: Moments of Revelation (please note that this is archive-locked to AO3-registered users)
Pairings/Characters: Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang (background), Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (background), Lan Xichen, Jin Zixuan, Meng Yao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: R for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Major Character Death
Length: 133,987 words
Creator Link:
Themes: Siblings, Time Travel Fix-It, Women Being Awesome, Trauma & Recovery
Summary: As the Jianghu collapses around Jiang Cheng's ears, his borrowed core begins to fail. Wei Wuxian has one final trick up his sleeve, though the only person who can use it is the one person who has no core of his own: Jiang Cheng. Time travel may be impossible for everyone else, but Jiang Cheng has one slender, delicate chance to save the entire world. Of course he has to take it no matter what the cost might be.
Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme, I thought of this story. While time travel fix-its and core reveal fix-its are both common in the fandom, this story handles both tropes in ways I haven't seen any other story do. It also features amazing original characters, including several badass women of the Meishan Yu sect, and gives Jiang Yanli one of the best storylines I've ever seen. The rating is because there's still a war, and some characters still die, but it's a far different war, and they are far different deaths.
I do feel like I have to provide a caveat that this could use a serious line edit, by which I mean there is a grammatical or spelling error in nearly every sentence. It really says something that, despite this, I couldn't put the story down, and devoured all 100K+ words of it in the space of two nights.
Fanwork Links: Moments of Revelation (please note that this is archive-locked to AO3-registered users)
Tags:
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 09:54 pm
Jenny: Pretty flimsy excuse for coming by to see me.
Giles: You should have heard the ones I threw out. I just, I wanted to, uh... see how you were doing.
Jenny: I'm doing pretty good, actually. I've stayed out of mortal danger for three whole weeks. I could get used to it.
Giles: You should have heard the ones I threw out. I just, I wanted to, uh... see how you were doing.
Jenny: I'm doing pretty good, actually. I've stayed out of mortal danger for three whole weeks. I could get used to it.
~~Ted~~
[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

- Holes (Buffy, PG) by badly_knitted

- i guess i'll always miss you when you're not here (Willow/Tara, T) by N1_Adora_Fan
- Destinies Put On Hold (Drusilla/Spike, G) by CamellCat

- Too Close to Death (Wesley/Reader, NR) by readingbookelf
[Chaptered Fiction]

- Put Me Down, Chapter 27 (Buffy/Faith, E) by Inspectorrr
- Bound by the calling, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Faith, E) by vampireslayerr
- A Hundred Years of Spike, Chapter 36 (Buffy/Spike, M) by voidslayerworks98
- Blood and Hunger, Chapter 3 (Crossover with The Walking Dead, E) by Celticwitch70
- The End Is Now, Chapter 16 (Buffy/Giles, E) by KatyAmberAuthor
- Welcome To The Hellmouth, Chapter 18 (Crossover with Supernatural, M) by Lalla527
- Painting Over Scars, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Giles, E) by noctola

- Gonna Lose the Chains, Baby?, Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by RealtaCorcra
- I Know You By Your Heart, Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, R) by scratchmeout
- Being Earnest, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Tikiriaaa
- In the Dark, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by NotYourGrave
- Slayer in Hell, Chapter 3 (Crossover with Hazbin Hotel, NC-17) by DeamonQueen
- 10 Things I Hate About Riley Finn, Chapter 16 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Kazfox
- Two Faced, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, R) by LeoTheLion

- squared, Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by jewelram
- the whole kit and caboodle, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by jewelram
- Villainess, Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, R) by ClowniestLivEver
- Boomerang, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Gabby
- Idiosyncratic Use of Advanced Dimensional Folding as Mediated Through an Organic System, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by zinjadu
- Home Sweet Home, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms
- Short and Spuffy 26, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Sarahvampgrl
- A Glimpse in the Night, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Sarahvampgrl
- Phlegmatic, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Girlytek
- Short and Spuffy, a collection, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Sirabella
- Captive Audience, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Grief Counseling
- A Series of Unfortunate Spins, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by VeroNyxK84
- In friendlyh recompense, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, R) by LadyInQuest
- Betty and the Bleached, Chapter 16 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Dusty
- Dearest Gentle Slayer, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by LadyInQuest
- Riding Shotgun on the Hunt, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by VeroNyxK84
[Images, Audio & Video]

- Artwork:Prophecy Girl by jayhashands
- Artwork:“Hello there, gentle viewers!” by spookyrabbit87
- Artwork:ripper!giles/young john constantine by mohich
- Artwork:[BTVS scene composition exercises] by rosiejoyart
- Comic: [The Hero of Three Faces update] by paulgadzikowski
- Craft:[Assorted Buffy cross stitch patterns] by batstitchnerdycrossstitch
- Gifset:Buffy Summers + Outfits (44/∞) by clarkgriffon
[Reviews & Recaps]

- [Leaked Hulu pilot script review] by hamliet
- btvs episodes ranked by how central buffy and willow's relationship was to the story by buffyandwillow

- Buffy Season 1 Is Bad… and That’s Why It Works by EJ Moreno
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer S4E14 'Goodbye Iowa' REACTION by Simple Reactions
- "I got catfished by a robot…" Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1, Episode 8 by Southernbelle Reacts

- Podcast: Episode 125: Forever by Gym Was Cancelled
[Fandom Discussions]

- [Accidental Bangel fan] by thread-bare-theoretician
- [BTVS shouldn't predate Twilight] by yearnforthebog
- [Restless appreciation] by salvanmarly
- [Spuffy in Superstar] by selkiemaidenfae

- Funny caption by multiple authors
- Gingerbread, Current Events and the Axing of New Sunnydale by multiple authors
- My suggestions for Angel episodes to watch if you have never seen it by multiple authors
- Is Season 5 good? by multiple authors
- So Kristine Sutherland... by multiple authors
- Night Of The Comet - The proto “Buffy” by multiple authors
- Why not a Fray show? by multiple authors
- A new take on the Buffy Revival by camboid_innit
- SMG hate by multiple authors
- Man I need a lot of willpower to keep watching the final season by multiple authors
- So why does Amanda say that people at school thinks Buffy is a high-functioning schizophrenic by multiple authors
- Spinoff not based on a Slayer? by multiple authors
- Xander is growing on me by multiple authors
[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

- Interview: It's share time, Buffy! Two Chatty Kathys! - hanging out with Dagney Kerr by All Bronze, No Brains!
- Publication: Sarah Michelle Gellar hopes canceled Buffy reboot pilot doesn’t see the light of day | P6 Radio via Page Six
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 08:42 pm
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 09:12 pm
Title: stuck within my head
Fandom: Water the Roses by Flavor Foley
Rating: G
Content notes: Embedded images. Bright colors were utilized, which may cause eyestrain.
Artist notes: Drawn with Krita, page/canvas templates via Electric Zine Maker. Drawn in around an hour, mainly to practice using the convert (linework) to alpha color filter. Title is derived from the song lyrics.
Summary: Fanart of the GUMI design from Flavor Foley's song, Water the Roses.
Challenge: 509 - Plant
( stuck within my head )
Fandom: Water the Roses by Flavor Foley
Rating: G
Content notes: Embedded images. Bright colors were utilized, which may cause eyestrain.
Artist notes: Drawn with Krita, page/canvas templates via Electric Zine Maker. Drawn in around an hour, mainly to practice using the convert (linework) to alpha color filter. Title is derived from the song lyrics.
Summary: Fanart of the GUMI design from Flavor Foley's song, Water the Roses.
Challenge: 509 - Plant
( stuck within my head )
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 08:00 pm
1) Curious events yesterday. A takeout place we order from every other month or so couldn't be reached. Its website was not working over a half hour period. I looked up their number and at least 3 other sites listed the same one. Called it and was told it was not a valid number. Since I wanted more oranges, I figured I'd stop by to see if the restaurant had closed down.
Nope. They seemed completely unconcerned the website was down, and told me I'd used the wrong number (also seeming completely unconcerned a wrong one is widely available!) But at least we are not down yet another restaurant.
2) Got many yummy oranges but this store sells them by count not by weight. So I picked all the largest oranges I could and I swear some of these are bigger than both fists.
3) Nesting time for ducks is great for all the adorable little fluffs we will be seeing soon. It is definitely not so when we have to keep watching drakes attacking the female ducks. This week there was one poor female attacked simultaneously and sequentially by 5 drakes. She was finally able to get out of the lake (I felt half sure she had drowned) and one followed her and kept attacking her on land, which was the first time I'd seen that happen.
4) Was watching Life of Chuck and can I say I am incredibly tired of the romantic convention of looking at stars together and (usually the man) pointing out the constellations to the person they are wooing. Come up with something else!
That said, it was a nice little film. ( Read more... )
5) Belatedly I was not impressed with the Oscars. I was glad there were only 2 of the nominated songs sung and that there was no opening number, but I also would have preferred to skip that whole pre-filmed Conan bit and just have a very strong monologue (which I didn't think it was). ( Read more... )

Nope. They seemed completely unconcerned the website was down, and told me I'd used the wrong number (also seeming completely unconcerned a wrong one is widely available!) But at least we are not down yet another restaurant.
2) Got many yummy oranges but this store sells them by count not by weight. So I picked all the largest oranges I could and I swear some of these are bigger than both fists.
3) Nesting time for ducks is great for all the adorable little fluffs we will be seeing soon. It is definitely not so when we have to keep watching drakes attacking the female ducks. This week there was one poor female attacked simultaneously and sequentially by 5 drakes. She was finally able to get out of the lake (I felt half sure she had drowned) and one followed her and kept attacking her on land, which was the first time I'd seen that happen.
4) Was watching Life of Chuck and can I say I am incredibly tired of the romantic convention of looking at stars together and (usually the man) pointing out the constellations to the person they are wooing. Come up with something else!
That said, it was a nice little film. ( Read more... )
5) Belatedly I was not impressed with the Oscars. I was glad there were only 2 of the nominated songs sung and that there was no opening number, but I also would have preferred to skip that whole pre-filmed Conan bit and just have a very strong monologue (which I didn't think it was). ( Read more... )
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Thursday, March 19th, 2026 01:08 am
+ London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution.
“This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, one of the organisations behind the report. “This isn’t just happening in one corner of the world; from Warsaw to Bangkok, cities are proving that we have the tools to solve this crisis right now.”
+ Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery.
+ Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall.
Beavers became extinct from the wild in England more than 400 years ago due to hunting for their pelts, meat and glands.
The charity said beavers were increasingly recognised as one of nature's most important keystone species - animals whose presence shapes entire ecosystems.
+ The river otter’s remarkable comeback.
+ European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women".
Significantly, the vote gathered support not only from left-leaning groups but also from the majority of the European People's Party, the largest and most powerful center-right bloc in the European Parliament. The center-right support drew sharp criticism from the far right: the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against the resolution and denounced its exclusion from negotiations over the text. The European Conservatives and Reformists, the group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, also voted against. But their combined opposition was not enough to block the resolution, which passed with support from a broad cross-ideological majority.
+ Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent.
+ Why comics needs its own Criterion Closet, an inside look at THE STACKS.
+ stop counting. what you love matters..
Cardiff University's Dr Lucy Bennett put it well in that same piece: "Once taste is turned into a scoreboard with ratings, competition then inevitably follows." Which, yes — but I'd push that further. Competition doesn't just follow. It replaces something. In the war to protect a number, the actual shows get swallowed whole. Nobody in these review threads is talking about what made "Ozymandias" so devastating, or what any of these subsequent shows did differently. They’re just defending territory. The number had stopped being a representation of the thing and had become the thing itself.
+ Marvel Comics has the optimisation sickness.
The current status quo at Marvel seems to be that if a storyline is successful they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed. If a storyline isn't successful enough they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed.
+ The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.
Chris Button, an Australian tech journalist and former contributor, wasn't pleased to see his old profile alongside the AI authors. All of his former articles were edited to include closing sections pointing to casino and betting guides. He attempted to have his author profile removed by emailing the new management of GamesHub, but he never received a response. However, he no longer appears on the Meet the Team page. Button is disappointed with what the site has become. "Seeing GamesHub transformed into a site promoting gambling is devastating, not just for those who wrote for the site, but for the industry the publication championed", he said.
+ Friendly reminder that The Importance of Being Earnest is available to watch for free a little while longer. Chaotic fun, highly recommend.
“This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, one of the organisations behind the report. “This isn’t just happening in one corner of the world; from Warsaw to Bangkok, cities are proving that we have the tools to solve this crisis right now.”
+ Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery.
+ Two pairs of beavers released in Cornwall.
Beavers became extinct from the wild in England more than 400 years ago due to hunting for their pelts, meat and glands.
The charity said beavers were increasingly recognised as one of nature's most important keystone species - animals whose presence shapes entire ecosystems.
+ The river otter’s remarkable comeback.
+ European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women".
Significantly, the vote gathered support not only from left-leaning groups but also from the majority of the European People's Party, the largest and most powerful center-right bloc in the European Parliament. The center-right support drew sharp criticism from the far right: the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against the resolution and denounced its exclusion from negotiations over the text. The European Conservatives and Reformists, the group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, also voted against. But their combined opposition was not enough to block the resolution, which passed with support from a broad cross-ideological majority.
+ Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent.
+ Why comics needs its own Criterion Closet, an inside look at THE STACKS.
+ stop counting. what you love matters..
Cardiff University's Dr Lucy Bennett put it well in that same piece: "Once taste is turned into a scoreboard with ratings, competition then inevitably follows." Which, yes — but I'd push that further. Competition doesn't just follow. It replaces something. In the war to protect a number, the actual shows get swallowed whole. Nobody in these review threads is talking about what made "Ozymandias" so devastating, or what any of these subsequent shows did differently. They’re just defending territory. The number had stopped being a representation of the thing and had become the thing itself.
+ Marvel Comics has the optimisation sickness.
The current status quo at Marvel seems to be that if a storyline is successful they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed. If a storyline isn't successful enough they'll publish too many comics about it and it will get derailed.
+ The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.
Chris Button, an Australian tech journalist and former contributor, wasn't pleased to see his old profile alongside the AI authors. All of his former articles were edited to include closing sections pointing to casino and betting guides. He attempted to have his author profile removed by emailing the new management of GamesHub, but he never received a response. However, he no longer appears on the Meet the Team page. Button is disappointed with what the site has become. "Seeing GamesHub transformed into a site promoting gambling is devastating, not just for those who wrote for the site, but for the industry the publication championed", he said.
+ Friendly reminder that The Importance of Being Earnest is available to watch for free a little while longer. Chaotic fun, highly recommend.
Tags:
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 06:35 pm
Tags:
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 05:13 pm
What I've recently finished reading:
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I'm a sucker for technology-infused magic, and I really liked the sort of computer-programming-magic here; in general the worldbuilding reminded me a bit of the TV show Arcane, which of course has its "magitech", but the main similarity is the elite vs the underclass (who they exploit), and the dark truths behind the marvels of the city. However, the characters are one-dimensional, with stereotypical views that either clearly cast them as the villains or that make it obvious the narrative will be about their realizations that change their views. I will say, though, that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the ending, as I applaud the writer for choosing the more realistic and interesting path over what you might expect from YA.
Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes by Leah Litman, who is a law professor and co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, which I've never listened to, but I have heard her on NPR and other people's podcasts. I agree with her main thesis, that the Court has gone off the rails by picking and choosing their "legal principles" by whether or not they agree (ideologically) with the outcome that will result, which frankly stinks. It's well-researched, with lots of cites and notes. However, each of the five chapters is presented using the conceit of a particular show or movie, and as I was only familiar with most of them through osmosis, this didn't really work for me and sometimes seemed overly pop-culture-cutesy. (Like, Barbie - the movie, not the toy - is used as the lens to examine overturning Roe vs. Wade; Game of Thrones tells us that Winter Is Coming For Voting Rights; Mean Girls don't want to sit with LGBTQ people.) For an old Gen-X-er like me it seems like unnecessary metaphor, but maybe it will land better with people who want more glitz and meme in their nonfiction...but in that case, maybe a relatively dense book about law is not what they will be reading? I also will gripe about the editing, which seems particularly poor in the last chapter where Litman misspelled Ronald Reagan's surname and gave the same Neil Gorsuch quote twice within a few paragraphs.
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 07:38 pm
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 10:47 pm
I left so many things out of the zoo post on Saturday (that I have still not gone back to add in) but the one I am telling you about today (aside from the dwarf mongeese, which I mention only in passing) is Snake, But What If Unicorn:
( Read more... )
This Creature is Gonyosoma boulengeri, the rhinoceros ratsnake. The accompanying distractions included, gloriously,
The function of their majestic nose-points is unknown as we still have a lot to learn about these beautiful animals.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 04:53 pm
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 05:40 pm
⌈ Secret Post #7012 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.

( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 15 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 08:55 pm

Sign-ups are still open for the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange, a multimedia exchange covering the Guardian drama, the novel and RPF.!
This is a reverse exchange with a two-part sign-up process: first you make your offer, and then you choose from everyone else's anonymised offers to make your requests.
General info/rules/schedule
Come and join us - sign up with your offers! Sign-ups are open until 11:59pm UTC on Friday 27 March 2026. (What time is that for me?)
And if you're on Discord, Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr or elsewhere for fandom, please help get the word out by promoting the exchange there. We have a tumblr post you can reblog, a promo graphic and text on the General info post, or you can make your own.
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Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 12:20 pm
(Thank you FOB/Pete Wentz for always providing entertaining song lyrics.)
Everything is ugh. My back is having one of its stretches of hurting and feeling fragile, so my life involves lidocaine patches and dipping into the stash of muscle relaxers and heavy-duty pain meds. I've been having an upswing in different types of migraines, and I suspect the main culprits are weather and stress. All I want to do is sleep, and my mood can generally be described by that Charles Darwin quote of "I am very poorly today & very stupid & I hate everybody & everything". With a large side of "meh". I really want a doctor to prescribe the historical treatment of going to the seaside for a week (with the appropriate servants to take care of me and bring me dainty treats while I sit with my feet in the ocean).
Today is particularly ugh, as we lost three writers yesterday and I need to cover their work while we hire new writers for those positions. (Yeah, read between the lines there and you can probably guess what happened.) Thankfully, I talked to my boss and asked how this would work with my current projects, and she told me that my number one priority right now is to focus on the writing/being a writer, and once those positions are backfilled, I'll go back to my Program Manager work. So at least I don't have to worry that I'm being held to two sets of different standards. But still, stressful.
Meh.
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One thing that's been entertaining me is going through my Tumblr archives - prompted by a post going around asking people how long they've been on Tumblr oh my god 2010 really?! - and finding a lot of fun content and a lot of pink & black eye candy. But I realized (a bit too late) that I shouldn't read my text posts from 2011, because that was the worst year of my life. Dear Powers That Be, that isn't an invitation to go "hold my beer!" and try to overshoot that. I don't need that.
Everything is ugh. My back is having one of its stretches of hurting and feeling fragile, so my life involves lidocaine patches and dipping into the stash of muscle relaxers and heavy-duty pain meds. I've been having an upswing in different types of migraines, and I suspect the main culprits are weather and stress. All I want to do is sleep, and my mood can generally be described by that Charles Darwin quote of "I am very poorly today & very stupid & I hate everybody & everything". With a large side of "meh". I really want a doctor to prescribe the historical treatment of going to the seaside for a week (with the appropriate servants to take care of me and bring me dainty treats while I sit with my feet in the ocean).
Today is particularly ugh, as we lost three writers yesterday and I need to cover their work while we hire new writers for those positions. (Yeah, read between the lines there and you can probably guess what happened.) Thankfully, I talked to my boss and asked how this would work with my current projects, and she told me that my number one priority right now is to focus on the writing/being a writer, and once those positions are backfilled, I'll go back to my Program Manager work. So at least I don't have to worry that I'm being held to two sets of different standards. But still, stressful.
Meh.
---
One thing that's been entertaining me is going through my Tumblr archives - prompted by a post going around asking people how long they've been on Tumblr oh my god 2010 really?! - and finding a lot of fun content and a lot of pink & black eye candy. But I realized (a bit too late) that I shouldn't read my text posts from 2011, because that was the worst year of my life. Dear Powers That Be, that isn't an invitation to go "hold my beer!" and try to overshoot that. I don't need that.
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 07:35 pm
Title: Aberglasney Gardens - Magnolias & Camellias
Fandom: Original
Rating: G
Length: Collage of 9 photos
Summary: We visited Aberglasney Gardens in Wales on Monday, and the magnolias and camellias were blooming
Fandom: Original
Rating: G
Length: Collage of 9 photos
Summary: We visited Aberglasney Gardens in Wales on Monday, and the magnolias and camellias were blooming
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