fiorenza_a

Further newbie notes on my impromptu binge-watch of Supernatural.

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• having reached the series nine finale, I'm still not regretting my impulse to binge watch clan Winchester. In fact I'm chomping at the bit to see whether and how the lads extricate themselves from the pickle the series nine finale leaves them in. These series finale cliff-hanger endings must have been a source of much fan angst and speculation when the series first aired. It must have been not unlike being a Babylon 5 fan back in the day. Very much looking forward to diving straight into series ten.

Onward with the newbie notes on my continuing impromptu binge-watch of Supernatural.

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• reached the series six finale and happily am thus far still not regretting my impulse to binge watch the Winchester clan. In fact I'm looking forward to diving straight into series seven.

Over the years I have met folk who were alarmingly obsessed with fans of Supernatural, and I've read some Pros/Supernatural crossovers. So I had heard of the Winchester boys. But I'd never actually watched the show.

But then a short window of binge-watching opportunity opened up and I thought, why not?

And then I thought, while I still can, and while there's still a fighting chance other folk can read them, I will post about my newbie thoughts.

So here are a few of the things that occurred to me while watching the first three series:
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• happily, thus far, I'm not regretting my impulse to check out the Winchester lads' doings and am quite keen to watch series four.

Apparently, Livejournal has updated its T&Cs as of 29th December 2025.

Livejournal says they have made changes to Sections 3, 4 and 5 regarding the description of the functionality available to users and the use of user data.

I can't see anything too drastic has changed in Sections 3 and 5, but Section 4.10 says:

The User is provided with access to the Service’s function for posting Content on a Blog with the «Personal» access level (all entries and comments are visible only to the User). The User can access additional functions of the Service such as creating public notes, messaging, and commenting after Registration/Authorization when the User fulfills one of the conditions: 1) using an Sber ID for Authorization or linking an account; 2) the User has an Account with the «Professional» package enabled; 3) the social capital of a user with a value above 500 (for more information about social capital, see the link: https://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/359.html, 4) a blog (journal) whose personal page is included in the Roskomnadzor list, 5) a blog (journal) that has received the verified status (https://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/442.html).

According to the t'internet, this is new and may affect my access to Livejournal since I can't see my account (or the communities I Mod) fulfill any of the specified conditions (unless extant accounts are included on the Roskomnadzor list by default...).

I'm not planning to do anything about this - including running around like Chicken Licken - but if the sky does fall in after all, and I do get chucked off Livejournal, I've been lurking on Dreamwidth for ages, so if you're so minded, you can come find me over there 😊

I got wind of tinturtle's 'Pros Christmas Coloring fest' in discoveredinalj's Discovered in the Wassail Bowl (basically, tinturtle told me 😄).

I've checked out the results so far and they're all different and they're all nicely done. Apparently, Pros need not fear for the future of fandom creativity (not that anyone was).

I especially liked theyokotaibani's multi-media approach:




I had a bash myself and the result turned out to be alarmingly vibrant - I took off on a primary-colour tangent after colouring Bodie's elf hat (and it's nice to see the elf hat on Bodie for a change!).




Also LiveJournal, in the person of Frank the Reindeer, at least I think he identifies as a Reindeer, has offered me the opportunity to create some weirdly affirmative personal calendar for 2026 (although, I have to admit the current animation is very festive).



I'm not particularly tempted by that, I don't want some overly-cheery Pollyanna message popping up the day Putin invades, or some doomster glumness from months before popping up the day Putin falls off his political perch and Russia becomes a vibrant democracy where we all want to go on holiday. Russia has some beautiful and historic places so it would be fab to explore it. (Anyone for a curtain fic where Trump and Putin retire to set up home at Mar-a-Lago?)

So I thought I might channel my multi-fandom vibes instead and see if I can't create a multi-fandom calendar where things taken from my fav shows or their fandoms pop up during the year.

Unarguably, the USA is a declining superpower. With suitable reverance for the whimsical caprices of history, which undo all predictions, within the next half-century India is likely to become the richest and most populous democracy. China the most influential dictatorship.

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The thing about democracy is that it has a price. Not an armchair-comfortable price, complacently added to coinage and sung in rousing songs. It is a price Europe learned the hard way. A price you must pay every single day. With every action or word. And that price is eternal vigilance. It means respecting all religions, not just the ones you feel comfortable following. It means including everybody when you say 'us', not just the people who look and think like you. It means listening to political opinions you don't agree with and trying to understand them. It means everybody gets a voice. And a vote. It means using reason when you disagree with something, not bully-boy tactics. It means having no truck with corruption. It means not peddling misinformation. It means having fair laws you enact and enforce fairly. And most of all it means defending everyone else's freedoms, even when you don't like the person or what they stand for. Especially then. And finally, when you have failed to protect your democracy in these lesser ways, it means not counting the body bags until tyranny is defeated.

During a recent discussion with tinturtle, it occurred to me that I haven't posted anything much recently so, as I'm overdue to make a Kapusta post, I thought I would do that.
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I was reminded recently in the aforementioned conversations with tinturtle that years ago I made a bit of a manip for a discoveredinalj challenge. I'd forgotten all about it, but subsequent conversations with tinturtle put in my head the idea of writing a story to go with it. I hadn't ever considered that there might be a story in it before. But now I think I might write one. So I thought I would share the picture again (the picture link takes you to the originally-sized DIALJ post):


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And finally, I'm toying with the idea of doing another 30/31 days of fanworks — but not at Christmas, although you're welcome to check out the original linked-to days this Christmas. If you follow the link, there's a post for every day of December and the individual fanwork links should still work.

Not quite such an epic gap since last posting, but a significant one in more ways than one.
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Life is poo - but the only viable approach appears to be to get on with it anyway.

Okay - so that's an epic gap, so this is an epic post...
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With very great sadness, having found my way back onto Lj (admittedly, intermittently, between IT disasters), I stumbled across a couple of posts about elmey. They had been reposted to the mfu_canteen from mfuwss by spikesgirl58. akane42me had posted that the lovely and talented elmey was desperately ill. Worried, I searched for more news only to have my worst fears confirmed. frau_flora had posted that elmey had left us in November last year. elmey was as her husband describes her: a smart, thoughtful and caring person. She was also a talented author. I rec'd one of elmey's stories in my December 2015 series of posts '31 Days of Fanwork': 31st December 2015 - Fear of Flying and I still recommend it. elmey's comment on my post is typical of her warm and self-effacing humour.

Please do also check out Elmey's other works on AO3 and FF.net. elmey's work amply demonstrates that the common prejudice about the quality of writing on The Pit of Voles is proved by many an exquisite exception. I say nothing astounding when I say elmey's presence amongst us will be deeply missed, it's a truth that needs no speaking.
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As many of you will know, in September 2023, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. lost its legendary Illya Kuryakin. Many lovely and heartfelt tributes from across the generations were posted, because after Soviet Russia's enigmatic answer to James Bond, David McCallum went on to carve a distinguished career playing other fan-favourite characters, not least as NCIS' Dr 'Ducky' Mallard.
dancingpony posted this vid to the mfu_canteen from Yummy's YouTube channel, which looks as sparse as mine, to mark Mr McC's passing. I must confess it wasn't a vid I knew - but somehow, it seems just right for the moment.


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EIIR: the late Queen:

Lastly, and although it's not strictly speaking a fandom, we were all fans in a way. Even those of us harbouring republican sentiments quietly conceded that the revolution would wait upon the Queen. So in this most fandomy of posts, let me mark that during the epic gap while I was away we lost our belovèd Queen. We had our ups and downs, but even when folk were at their most disapproving, we were really only waiting for an excuse to forgive.

We were all expecting the dreaded news. I don't think anyone believed that mysterious 'mobility problems' were keeping our Queen from doing the duty she had stalwartly discharged for decade after decade, until she seemed as constant a fixture in our lives as the elusive sun that seemed to disappear at the most inconvenient of Royal moments. Our Queen was a contemporary of Roosevelt, served like her husband and countless millions of her father's subjects in the war Roosevelt joined and fought with us. And like Roosevelt, we knew it would take more than 'mobility problems' to stop her. But we were all content in our denial of the truth hidden in plain sight, because the alternative was just too awful to contemplate.

But now we have moved to another place, and must face the brave new world of Kings and burgeoning republican sentiment, because time and tide wait for no one, not even constant and belovèd Queens.

I wasn't expecting a lot of attention to be paid to my Not exactly back - but nearly there post. Given my long absence, I was a trifle concerned that my journal would resound with the wind-blown eerieness of rolling tumble weed.

Happily, folk popped by - even some I didn't know. Which was nice.

But then I was informed that lj_top15_noncyr had reposted my entry without so much as a by your leave. 'My', I thought, 'that's a bit forward'. So I checked out Lj user lj_top15_noncyr and it turns out it's a bot account (or possibly Father Christmas' little elves weedling their time away in the off-season), So I subscribed to see what else it was picking up. And mostly, it has to be said, it's ohnotheydidnt style celebrity-obsessed dross.

But one or two things have popped up which have piqued my interest, the yuletide_admin post for instance, which led me to discovering yuletide has an AO3 collection. (If I already knew that, I'd forgotten it - and if I didn't, I should have guessed it!)

Anyhoo, not sure how long my fascination with seeing random rubbish pop up in my friends feed will last - but I have now subscribed to yuletide because I love the idea of obscure fandoms having a community, even if it's only at Christmas...

Bit of a sad day to resurrect myself but after much anguish (and completely rebuilding this computer - I'm afraid my hard drive and anything on it is likely irretrievable) - and spending two days with a professionally qualified IT bod (whom happily was prepared to settle for payment by chocolate) I have access to LiveJournal once again.

It's been a very sad 18 months with no IT at all except that which I could beg, borrow or steal. And no means of playing all the lovely vids I have - not to mention the DVDs...

I'm now trying to work out what I have lost off the defunct hard drive, for which there is very little hope. I'm hoping I rescued almost everything before it died - but time will tell.

Anyhoo, my life is hectic beyond belief until the New Year, but I am hoping to at least drop by as I used to do to see what Bodie loveliness ali15son has posted (so missed that) and to see where tinturtle is at with the latest turtley Bingo - I managed to see some posts by Googling on borrowed IT but, alas, couldn't comment.

Anyhoo, if anyone is still around, do feel free to drop by and say hello. And for those who care about such things - I hope to be scribbling and posting semi-regularly from the New Year.

I also hope to pop by the mfu_canteen, if that's still a thing, and I still have posting rights, to commiserate with everyone.

You know, I could become a fan...
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It's an odd, practically meaningless phrase - but if you ever had to explain it to a non-English speaker, you could do worse than point them in the direction of Lionel Blair, whose death at the age of 92 was recently announced.

The BBC quote Lionel Blair as saying in 2008: "People still say, almost in a derogatory way, 'Oh, you're a dancer'. Or, 'You're so showbiz'. Well what's wrong with that? I am. I love it. I'm thrilled to have been part of showbiz for so many years."

Variety and light entertainment have had a bad press for years. But like Abba's unashamedly poppy tunes, which for years suffered from the same untutored snobbery, they are held in affection in many hearts - and have given us some greats. Morecambe and Wise, to name but one - as I'm sure Eric would say.

So in remembrance of Lionel Blair, and in tribute to a much maligned style of showbiz, which lit up many a family living room in days gone by, why not watch Mr Blair displaying the twinkle in his toes in aid of the homelessness charity Shelter in 2009 - along with a host of faces familiar to UK TV audiences. For those who Pros, Mr B's dance partner in this charitable terpsichoreanism is Mr S:




And why not consider buying your Christmas cards from Shelter this year? They have t-shirts and a second-hand shop too...

This tickled my funny bone...

The US want the UK and Australia to host large radar installations so they can keep an eye on nefarious doings amongst the thousands of satellites that now circle the planet. So far, so geo-politically unfunny.

However, the BBC quote Lt Col Jack Walker of the US Space Force as saying the US is "in discussion" with the UK about putting the radars "possibly in Scotland or further south."

Those of you with even a passing acquaintanceship with the geography of the UK may be wondering how the discussion about potentially installing the facility further north of Scotland went....



Gurgle...gurgle...

(And if you're wondering why the Shetland Islands are in a box, it's because they don't fit on the page if the distance is done to scale - and yes, they do complain about it, quite a bit...)