purplehello98

With my computer and photography budgets for 2025 getting blown out of the water, I’ve looked to cut back in other areas. I had originally planned to use my Electrify America credits (like 700 free kWh remaining) before they expire in August to take a road trip to SF – but I killed that idea.

One big unknown in the 2025 budget was what I might end up spending if TWICE went on tour this year. My budget let out a sigh of relief when the group recently announced the schedule for their THIS IS FOR World Tour, Part 1. Part 1 allocates the last half of 2025 for stops across Asia and Australia. This means that Part 2, for the Americas and Europe, won’t be until 2026. I kind of expected this as major U.S. stadiums are dedicated to American football in the fall and winter. For 2026, I’ll budget for one or two visits to concert cities in the U.S.

brithistorian

I learned today about Chris Osmond's "Human Words Project," a way for writers to indicate that their work is 100% human words, i.e. not generated by AI. Here's the logo for it, which you can add to your projects, if you want:

Human Words Project logo

ETA: Note that this is not the original logo. The website was moved after the original logo was created. I took the liberty of editing the logo to reflect the current URL, and at the same time changed the size of the logo, deleted a lot of white space around it, and changed the file type to JPG (thus making the file MUCH smaller).

adore

I'm participating in The Wheel of Chaos in which we collectively pounce on our keyboards and become chaos gremlins for an unforeseen amount of time. Signups are here: link!

Current Mood: happy

retrogrrrl

I don't care to fuckin' call it a brand, yeah? But if the shoe fits, I might as well stick the label in it to make it easier to identify so people will leave me alone.

Sure, my punk has political undertones as it is my natural self. But if I were to make music it would not be so overt. After all, my personality and my taste is fun, passion, rebellion. It's implicit, not preachy. It's the combination and love letter of all things I love. The bands that I admire the most, that hit the closest to me, really put it into words. The Cramps, The Damned, Billy Idol, Motorhead, Toy Dolls...

Working class fun, subtle politics, full energy. That's really it.

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

2. Have you ever made a s'more?

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

haitangkitty

Watch on YouTube

"A heaven without you must be like hell"

The concept photos and concept cinema for this comeback were really amazing: bdsm, horror, scifi. Based on them lot of fans speculated this album was going to be like Dark Blood given the dark vampire vibes. But compared to that album, Bad Desire is more emotional, desperately romantic, and the sound is more fresh than dark. I would say this is top3 album from them. Dark Blood is number one and second is Romance: Untold daydream version. Based on the concept photos i had excepted maybe a little bit more from this album. But it's still very good overall. One thing that annoys me is that the title track Bad Desire is too short! It's a beautiful song and i feel like it should have been longer since it's an emotional song (if it makes sense?). Some people said it was underwhelming, but i see it as a similar emotional title track as Le sserafim's "Hot". But it definitely goes to my top Enhypen songs!

This album really makes me want to get into their vampire lore that their manhwa is about. (and also read more vampire sunsun fics...)

My favorite part is of course my bias Heeseung's heavenly vocals. Apparently he's been making a mixtape for a year now and recently posted a photo with a producer. I'm super excited for his solo because he is so talented.

Song ranking:
Bad Desire (With or Without You)
Helium (this is such a good song and Jay was one of the producers! Apparently he came up with the idea and had a major part in making this song)
Flashover
Loose
Too Close
Outside

Also with both Bad Desire and Loose i prefer the English version.

Current Music: ENHYPEN - Bad Desire (With or Without You)

saturnsissy

since they released ad rewards on EN project sekai, i JUST got a 4 star card from the random reward ad!? and it's LEN, whom i don't have many cards for! spreading good ad reward luck if you're a willing ad watcher!

here it is, in all it's glory~ prince of the stage!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder~

lovelyangel

MISAMO Japan Dome Tour 2024 “Haute Couture” Blu-ray box set

DHL today delivered the package from CDJapan on the actual release date of the MISAMO Japan Dome Tour 2024 “Haute Couture” Blu-ray box set. The box set came with a 40-page color photo booklet and 12 photo trading cards (3 Mina, 3 Sana, 3 Momo, 3 group). I guess I know what I’ll be watching in bed tonight.

brithistorian

My Google Alert on K-pop today included an article from The Korea Herald entitled "G-Dragon, Le Sserafim, Babymonster push on with overseas concerts amid COVID-19 surge in Asia". Since American news sources have gone radio silent on COVID, I ended up reading this article for infectious disease news rather than musical news. Here's the relevant part:

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Monday, countries including China, Thailand and Singapore have recently reported a notable increase in COVID-19 cases. While the situation in Korea remains relatively stable, the agency warned that a summer resurgence is possible due to international travel and regional outbreaks.

The NB.1.8.1 variant — now dominant in the affected countries — is known for its strong transmissibility and immune-evasive properties, although its severity and fatality rate remain relatively low. The KDCA is advising high-risk travelers to these countries to get vaccinated before departure.

brithistorian

3 June
- I'm in Love with the Villainess, vol. 3 (Inori)
- Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, vol. 10 (Yuto Tsukuda)
9 June
- Komi Can't Communicate, vol. 21 (Tomohito Oda)

lovelyangel

Coco from Witch Hat Atelier
1/8 scale figurine by Kotobukiya

Yesterday my Coco Figurine from Witch Hat Atelier arrived from CDJapan. I’m glad Kotobukiya issued a re-release of this sculpture as I had missed it the first time around. The sculpture is about 8.5" tall and is nicely detailed. I’m pretty happy to have this in my collection.

brithistorian

Pretty much every time I read a news story about Louisiana, I'm glad that I left Louisiana and am reinforced in my determination to never move back. Today is no exception: The Louisiana House has passed a bill banning chemtrails. You know, chemtrails? Those imaginary, thoroughly-debunked streams of chemicals that conspiracy theorists allege are sprayed from airplanes because they're too uninformed to understand the science behind contrails? Yeah, well, according to Louisiana legislators, those are no longer being used for mind control but instead are being used to control the weather, and Louisiana's not having it! (Because, of course, secret societies spreading chemicals through the air for nefarious ends are well known for their scrupulous adherence to state laws.)

On the bright side, they did at least have to foresight to include an exception stating that this law would not apply to "the injection, release, or dispersal of fire retardant or fire suppressant substances for purposes of extinguishing or suppressing fire, or to the aerial application of seeds, fertilizers, or pesticides for agriculture or forestry purposes." Of course, the exception would never have been necessary if they hadn't introduced their stupid law in the first place, so even the bright side isn't all that bright.

ETA: After Hurricane Katrina, A. and I did everything we could to convince her family not to return to New Orleans, but they insisted on going back. They don't seem happy to be there, and from time to time the idea of them moving will come up in conversation, but the combination of inertia and economics seems to have trapped them there. For the longest time A.'s mother would share any positive news story out of Louisiana, in an attempt to try to convince us to move back. She seems to have stopped doing that, but I don't know if this represents a change in her feelings about Louisiana or just an acknowledgement of the unlikelihood of changing our minds.

brithistorian

Today I got latest readership summary on my first master's thesis, on British educational policy, 1901-03. Apparently during the month of May, my thesis was download 10 times: Six times in Brazil and once each in Ecuador, Germany, the US, and Uzbekistan(?!). I wonder how many of those are going into training AI? (But like A. said "At least if they're using it for that, you know they're training the AI on something well-researched." Which is true — I spent hours sitting in the library reading Hansard's Parliamentary Debates on microform.)

retrogrrrl

There are two things cold stone rules I've got whirling around my skull anytime I have an existential crisis about my fashion and my presentation.

The first one: think of dress as social language. And the second: don't think about what you like, think about what you ARE.

But today a third mythical rule had become apparent to me, peeking out from the depths of my brain, hidden behind the crates of useless memories and horrible failures that I shoved deep into the shelves after they taught me nothing new in my time. There she was, a third rule that I feel has been kind of forgotten with the times. There is a time and occasion for certain attire. Or, as the kids call it through the colloquialism dictated by memery, TIME AND PLACE.

A simple fucking rule no one bothered to sit down and tell me. All I fucking got growin' up was that fuckwit rule that women should wear skirts. Y'can see how well that rule suited me, can ya? Dumb fucking rules. And that's my fuckin problem with fashion and fashion advice. It's always skinny fucks dictatin' me shit for my big ol' ass that can't even fit in normal commercial jeans, it's always people with the sense of a fucking rusted nickel tellin' me how to wear shit because they want people to be aesthetically pleasing or else they will create big ass mockin' campaigns on the internet but they never sit down and tell you about the fucking rules put in fashion's place to help guide us into creatin' a goddamn style that feels good, looks good and represents us. 'Cause guess what, they don't know shit either! They just regurgitate shit they either think is common sense or tips and tricks found in fashion magazines.

So now, at age "wouldn't ya like to fuckin'know" I have to sit down and learn the alphabet of a fucking language people purposefully made me inept in because they couldn't stand me expressin' differently.

Go fuck yourselves.

AGH!! Sigh.

But that aside, I have learned that maybe I will dress a little bit like a punk rock vampire during formal outing even if that's not how I dress everyday. And that's okay, time and place. At home I'll wear more toned down shit and it won't look like the way I do when going out, or maybe I'll look a lot more hip hop than punk when I dress casually to get grocery or running. That's okay, too! Time and Place!

But shit, I ain't even there yet. I have to, however, one day create my wardrobe and explore the realms of disappointment and frustration for not speaking a language properly. And that's going to be a real fuckin' pain in the ass when I get there. But I at least hope the guidelines can lead me in the right direction.

brithistorian

I'm currently reading the May 2025 issue of Artforum and wanted to share with you some of the things I learned and, in the process, demonstrate how my mind connects things. One of the current exhibitions reviewed in this issue is of paintings by Alex Israel at Gagosian Beverly Hills, which was accompanied by a reproduction of Israel's 2024 painting "Gas Station."

Alex Israel, "Gas Station" (2024)

Upon learning that this gas station actually exists, my thoughts immediately went to William Gibson's short story "The Gernsback Continuum" (published in Burning Chrome).

I then returned to the review, where the final paragraph begins with this sentence: "The works' very status as paintings—as art in a gallery—aligns them, moreover, with the long tradition of veduta painting, that of architectural scenes that don't necessarily demand forensic accuracy, edging sometimes into outright fantasy." Having never heard of veduta painting, I immediately looked it up (link here), and discovered I was familiar with this style of painting (the name comes from the Italian for "view"), just not with the word. From that page, I followed the link to capriccio, which is a form of architectural fantasy art and, again, something I was familiar with but hadn't known the name of. As it happened, one of the images illustrating the Wikipedia entry for "capriccio" was a piece by Giovanni Battista Piranesi called "Le Carceri d'Invenzione (The Prisons of Invention)."

Le Carceri d'Invenzione

This picture immediately caught my eye, because it reminded me of M.C. Escher's works, particularly "Relativity" and "House of Stairs".

This sort of connection-making, going from Alex Israel to William Gibson to Giovanni Battista Piranesi to M.C. Escher, bouncing back and forth over several centuries, is very much how my mind works. I'm constantly feeding in new bits of knowledge, which then bounce off of each other, make connections, and enable me to produce new things.

brithistorian

When I was a kid, the library summer reading program was one of my favorite events of the year. First of all, there were the events at the library, which were not only a lot of fun but also ensured that I got taken to the library at least once a week. Secondly, being encouraged to read lots of books and keep a list of the books that I read was a great thing for a hyperlexic kid. I'm like "Yes! Please reward me for something I want to do anyway!"

I've seen a number of people on social media talking about they wished there were things like the library summer reading program and the Scholastic book fair for grown-ups, and now there is! The American Historical Association is holding a Summer Reading Challenge!

The challenge is to complete at least three tasks from this list between June 1 and Labor Day:

Read a history of an event with a major anniversary in 2025.
Read a history of a resistance movement.
Read a history that uses material culture.
Read an edited collection, journal forum, or other multi-author work.
Read a history that's been sitting on your shelf too long.
Read a piece of historical fiction (novel, story, poem, play)

Right now I'm mentally taking task 5 off the table, because unless I go out and buy a new book for the challenge (which I don't anticipate doing), all of the books I read will be histories that have been sitting on my shelf too long.

I got started today, starting to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, with a goal to finish it by the end of June.

You can read more about the AHA's 2025 Summer Reading Challenge here, and if you see the hashtag "#AHAReads" around your social media, now you know what it is.

brithistorian

When I designed Rumkick's "Drinking Every Day" as a song of the day, silveradept asked if they were actually punk or if they were a manufactured group made to appear punk. I happened upon a couple of Rumkicks interviews yesterday, (here and here), and it appears that they are indeed actual punks!

haitangkitty

Happy Pride Month everyone!

Last year my plan was to watch more queer films and series during June but i kinda had a mental breakdown and wasn't able to lol. But this year i'm in a better condition and have some interesting works on my watchlist, so i can say with more confidence that i'm going to succeed this year!

This week I finished the Japanese BL "Our Dining Table". It's 10 episodes on Gagaoolala. It was truly a comfort watch. Series where found family and food play an important role. Loved it. It really moved me. I remember last summer i watched the Thai BL "Moonlight Chicken", which revolved around a restaurant and it was also a very nice comfort story. I realized i'm not in the right headspace for the psychosexual dramas i'm usually into. It's nice to watch something different for a change.

Currently watching:

- New Netflix K-drama "Our Unwritten Seoul".
I said in my review for Mr. Plankton that i rarely get interested in k-dramas nowadays but luckily there are exceptions like this drama. It's about the interconnected lives of twins, identity, growing up, surviving in capitalism, secrets, failure, workplace bullying etc. It also has some romance but it's not the main plot. Just the right amount relatable,deep,escapist, and funny.

Those two series have really made me think about my own life and living authentically as an adult. The BL is more about loneliness, family issues, and loss and the K-drama also touches on those as well as about social pressures and the life of an unemployed failure and an overachiever/burn-out.

Other stuff:

+ Interested to check out new Chinese BL "Moon and Dust".

+ Also the second season of J-GL "Ayaka is in love with Hiroko" will start airing on June 26th!

+ I decided I will continue the South-Korean lesbian dating reality ToGetHer since it's now legally watchable on Gagaoolala with proper subtitles. Still confused about the drama between the 2 contestant off camera, but i'm still interested to see what happens to the other contestants.

Current Music: Jungkook - Shot Glass of Tears

forestsofpine

Original fiction reading of the month included The Amalfi Curse, by Sarah Penner, which was fine, but not amazing. Maybe a little blander than I feel like a story about Italian sea witches ought to have been. Gorgeous cover, though.

And here are some of the fics I enjoyed in May:( The Pitt and SHINee RPF )

lovelyangel

Tsundoku Stack, May 31, 2025

As I promised in April, I focused on working through the manga in the tsundoku stack, even as I added six and then four and then one (Frieren, vol 13) more manga volumes. I’m happy to say that by the end of the day yesterday, I had finished all the outstanding manga. By total height, that amounts to about half the tsundoku stack.

( The Books I Read in May Below This Cut )

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purplehello98

June 2025

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Base style: Crossroads by branchandroot
Theme: Rarified by nornoriel

Reading

Kick the TWICE Can Down the Road

Human Words Project

//cracks knuckles

CRRUUUNK! Local girl exemplifies her punk.

The Friday Five for 6 June 2025

Album review: Bad Desire by ENHYPEN

prince of the stage~

MISAMO at the Tokyo Dome

News is where you find it

Books read, June 2025

Coco!

Louisiana is at it again...

People download things...

GAAAHH! Local girl ponders fashion stuff.

One thing leads to another

Summer Reading Program!

Apparently the real deal

Tell me, am I ever gonna feel again?/Tell me, am I ever gonna heal again?

May 2025 Fanfic Recs

Tsundoku May

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June 2025

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