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Music recs: Gregorian, Hayley Westenra, Heart August 17, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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Starting with a multi-artist cover band.

Gregorian – Gregorian-chant-inspired covers of pop/rock songs, full choir and all. They record in churches and only pick songs that are “translatable into the 7-tone scale,” which I assume is more historically authentic. (Gregorian playlist. Switches to non-cover-music Gregorian chanting around track 175.)


(Pink Floyd)


(Sarah Brightman)


(Celine Dion)


(Simon & Garfunkel)


(anyway here’s Wonderwall)

Hayley Westenra – operatic new-age classical-pop singer. Apparently has songs in over a dozen languages — including Maori, Japanese, Spanish, and (since she did a version of “May It Be”) Quenya. (Hayley Westenra playlist.)

Heart – classic ’70s rock, lots of big hair and power ballads. (Heart playlist.)

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Tuesday Works Roundup, 8/13/19 (Jem and the Holograms, Wolf Park, art requests, and more) August 13, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in But I'm A Cat Person, Leif & Thorn, Works Roundup.
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But I’m A Cat Person
Ensemble Attack (wallpaper | Cybele, Blake, Reseda, Patrick, Ilsa, Kara Lynn, Poe | worksafe)

Leif & Thorn
Dramatic Rowan (sketch | Rowan | G)
Let’s Have A Drink (art | Stanczia | worksafe)
Magical Holly and Ivy, Unite (art | Holly, Ivy | worksafe)
Sea You Tonight (art | Hyacinth/Hazel | worksafe)

Jem and the Holograms
Blaze It (art | Blaze | worksafe)

General/Miscellaneous
Wind-up bird (reward sketch, worksafe)
Dharma (reward sketch, worksafe)
“Help, I want to make a new webcomic, how do I start?” (helpful blog post)
Ina (exchange art, worksafe)
Cerise (and a spider) (reward art, worksafe)

This Week in But I’m A Cat Person:
The extra-long favorite-character poll!

This Week in Leif & Thorn:
Hyacinth, Hazel, and Vine have heart-to-heart conversations while buying some skulls.

Multifandom recommendations (Temeraire, Red Dwarf, Good Omens, Good Place, Sailor Moon, Murderbot, Yuri on Ice) August 7, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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  • Temeraire | Laurence/Granby/Tharkay, dragons | T | From, and To, and Why
    Laurence’s talent for repression, Tharkay’s for self-denial, and Granby’s for exploding when he just can’t take it anymore finally come to a head. Also, Temeraire and Iskierka nearly get everyone killed.
    series:temeraire,pairing:laurence_granby_tharkay,trope:polyamory,fic:one-shot,trope:hurt-comfort

  • Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Mamoru/Fiore | M | Rose Seed
    After injuring Mamoru, Fiore takes him back to his home, the Flower Asteroid, and begins to heal him. However, healing Mamoru is not Fiore’s only intention. He plans to finally make Mamoru understand that he is his.
    series:sailor moon,fic:one-shot,trope:non-con,kink:tentacles,pairing:mamoru_fiore

  • Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Usagi/Mamoru, Helios, Shitennou, Inners | G | Cardinal King
    This is the reversed story of Sailor Moon centering on Mamoru Chiba, aka Cardinal King, and his four Heavenly Kings as they search for the Earth Prince and the Golden Crystal. Aided by Helios and a mysterious figure named Jewel Tiara, they fight against an evil Queen and her four senshi henchmen, who also search for the Golden Crystal so that they could use it to unleash an ancient evil force to take over Earth once and for all…
    series:sailor moon,pairing:usagi_mamoru,fic:chaptered

  • The Murderbot Diaries | Murderbot, cargo transport | M | The Ship Who Vidded
    I might have sat there forever or at least until my power cells ran down if the cargo bot hadn’t started talking to me again. It was bored out of its mind. Well, obviously it didn’t have a mind, which was part of the problem. It was a sophisticated bot with a lot of processing ability and almost nothing to process.
    genfic,series:murderbot,fic:one-shot

  • Yuri!!! on Ice | Victor/Yuuri | M | Lonely Hearts Club
    Victor meets Yuuri after the World Championships in Detroit and mistakes him for a male escort. Yuuri fails to correct him. (Canon-divergent AU)
    fic:chaptered,series:yuri!!! on ice,pairing:yuuri_viktor,kink:identity porn

Sorry, liberals, there are only 23,328 genders August 6, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in News Roundup.
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“[Boag] was shocked at the size of this population, which he’d never before encountered in his time as a queer historian of the American West. Trans people have always existed all over the world. So how had they escaped notice in the annals of the Old West?” (Some not-well-thought-out use of the phrase “assigned sex”, but worth reading anyway.)

““M” and “F” didn’t always appear on the federal identity document. In fact, sex was not directly listed on U.S. passports until 1977.”

“I believe that gender reassignment surgery is a right but I didn’t know what surgery would mean for me. […] Even my friends who’d had the procedure couldn’t really explain what would happen, so I made my decision without proper information about possible outcomes. I’m writing this essay to offer a small window so that other trans girls have more information than I did.”

“‘He was rightly classified as a man’ in the medical records and appears masculine, Stroumsa said. ‘But that classification threw us off from considering his actual medical needs.’”

“And that, these devout fundamentalist Baptist women all knew and believed, was simply wrong. The life of the mother, they all knew — with utter confidence and moral certainty — was more important than the potential life who wasn’t expected to survive this difficult pregnancy.”

“The idea that millions of sperm are on an Olympian race to reach the egg is yet another male fantasy of human reproduction.”

“We couldn’t see the [Alzheimer’s] plaques in the brain until 10 years ago because we didn’t have the technology. So now that we have the technology to find the plaques, we actually understand that we probably misdiagnosed women forever. And that could be one of the reasons why some treatments don’t work that well in women.”

“Until the 1960s, scientists considered the idea of a cancer-causing virus to be preposterous. At the same time, more than 8,000 women a year were dying of cervical cancer, and researchers couldn’t figure out what was causing it. […] Way back in the 1950s, bacteriologist Sarah Stewart pioneered the concept that viruses could lead to cancer—and was almost thrown out of the scientific community for her heretical ideas.”

There’s a species of fungus that has 23,328 distinct sexes. “Individuals of any sex are compatible for mating with all but their own sex. However, there are two genetic loci determining the mating type, locus A with 288 alleles and locus B with 81 alleles. A pair of fungi will only be fertile if they have different A and different B alleles; that is, each sex can enter fertile pairings with 22,960 others.” Sorry, liberals, there are only 23,328 genders. And 368 ways for these mushrooms to be gay.

Multifandom Recs (Murderbot, Marvel, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Pet Shop of Horrors, Labyrinth) July 31, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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  • The Murderbot Diaries | Mensah, Murderbot | G | Circadian Rhythms
    This is the thing about your neural pathways expanding with practice. Sometimes you open your mouth and say a thing without meaning to, and it’s because you’re better at understanding humans than you thought you were.
    fic:one-shot,genfic,series:murderbot,trope:trauma

  • The Murderbot Diaries| ART | G | Need to Know
    All I wanted was for construction to be completed so that I could be launched and begin researching. Unfortunately, human illogic tends to delay things, and they were the ones running the project.
    fic:one-shot,genfic,series:murderbot

  • Captain America | Steve/Bucky, others | T | tin soldiers
    In his 2009 book on Captain America comic books, war photography, and American propaganda, Everett claims: “There is nothing to suggest that either the graphic novels issued during the war or the photographs taken during Rogers’ stay with the Howling Commandos can serve as a basis for a queer reading of Rogers and Barnes’ relationship. But even more importantly, there is nothing to suggest that such a relationship ever existed in the first place, and as such, those queer readings are not only misguided, but also libelous”
    fic:chaptered,series:marvel comics,pairing:steve_bucky,fic:socialmedia

  • Red Dwarf | Lister/Rimmer, Holly, cats | G | Three Million Years
    We all know the insufferable smeghead Arnold Rimmer was brought back to keep Lister, the last human alive, from going insane trapped in Deep Space, but what if there was more to the story? Three million years is a long time, even for the dead.
    series:red dwarf,fic:chaptered,pairing:rimmer_lister,trope:amnesia,trope:hurt-comfort

  • Red Dwarf | Lister/Rimmer, Holly, Todhunter | T | The Madness to his Method
    Only a few months into his time on board of Red Dwarf Dave Lister becomes witness to Arnold J Rimmer’s bizarre exam preparations. Everyone on the ship tells him to just ignore it, but fearing the Second Technician is in a very bad place Lister can’t. Soon it is clear he was right to worry.
    series:red dwarf,fic:chaptered,pairing:rimmer_lister,trope:hurt-comfort

  • Red Dwarf | Rimmer/Lister, Low Rimmer | M | Getting Low
    When Low Rimmer ends up on Starbug at the end of the episode, Lister decides to try and rehabilitate him. Can he really turn this work of pure evil from heinous to huggable?
    series:red dwarf,pairing:rimmer_lister,fic:chaptered

  • Labyrinth | Jareth, Sarah | G | Lucky 13
    “Won’t you even look at me?” he purred. She pictured claws sinking into her flesh. He’d spin her blood into rubies, hang them from spider’s silk, and wind them tight around her throat. A collar, a choker. A leash.
    series:labyrinth,fic:one-shot,pairing:jareth_sarah

Monday Works Roundup, 7/29 (Cucumber Quest, Pokemon, Steven Universe, Sailor Moon, etc) July 29, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Leif & Thorn, Works Roundup.
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Leif & Thorn
Angel Leif and Demon Kale (art | Leif/Kale | worksafe)
Sun Drop Diamond (art | gem!Szélanya | worksafe)
Miniature Enthusiast (art | Lulen, Sigrún | worksafe)
Time Mage, Over Time (art | Acai | worksafe)

Cucumber Quest
Cucumber and Peridot (art | Cuco, Peridot | worksafe)

Pokemon
Ivysaur Trainer (art | Ivysaur, trainer | worksafe)

Sailor Moon
Chronos and Thanatos (art | Setsuna, Hotaru | worksafe)

Steven Universe
Crystal Rhodonite (art | Ruby/Pearl, Sapphire | worksafe)

General/Miscellaneous
Snek (reward art, worksafe)
Namesake (reward art, worksafe)

This Week in But I’m A Cat Person:
Inter-chapter hiatus to work on Volume 7!

This Week in Leif & Thorn:
The end of Juniper’s night, and a whole bunch of memes.

Music recs: Full Blown Rose, Genesis, Giant July 27, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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Well, this post came together fast. Mostly because of the first artist….

Full Blown Rose — polished, dramatic pop/rock. Turns out they never released a whole album, just 14 disparate songs (only a few of which got official releases on soundtracks). Surprisingly good songs for that track record! (Full Blown Rose playlist…such as it is.)

(Including good cover songs.)

Genesis – soft prog rock, vocals by Phil Collins, with a range from “mainstream romantic pop” all the way to “nightmare from the POV of a mouse.”

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a deeply surreal fantasy/dream/psychosexual/anti-consumerist single continuous story that’s worth listening to in full. (Genesis playlist.)

Giant – eighties glam-rock power ballads. (Giant playlist…with some songs from similarly-named bands mixed in. They run out of glam-rock Giant by track 55.)

Music recs – Delta Goodrem, Emmy Rossum, Fefe Dobson July 24, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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A string of female solo singers this time around. Didn’t plan it that way, it’s just how the alphabet lined up.

Delta Goodrem – contemporary piano pop-rock. My favorites are her wilder, more evocative songs, but she does more traditional-type love songs too. (Delta Goodrem playlist.)

Emmy Rossum – dreamy new-age hurt/comfort pop. Sadly, she’s only released one original album, along with one Christmas album and an album of cover songs. Apparently she’s too busy being an award-winning actress to do more.

Her voice sounds oddly processed in a lot of the original songs — not in a bad way, it gives them a distant ethereal quality, I just wish I knew what it was called. It’s not present in the cover songs, and her vocals do fine standing alone, so it’s more than just autotune. (Emmy Rossum playlist.)

Fefe Dobson – punk/rock power pop. She’s got a running thread of songs about “young woman’s anger about gender politics and how they screw with her relationships.” Mostly from a clear straight/cis point of view, but “if I was a guy, here’s all the [obnoxious] things I would do while dating girls” sure works on a lot of levels. (Fefe Dobson playlist.)

Multifandom Recs (Jeeves & Wooster, Murderbot, Temeraire, Harry Potter, Better Off Ted) July 24, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Uncategorized.
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  • Jeeves | Jeeves, Wooster, ensemble | T | Jeeves and Wooster 1/2
    As if problems arising from a recent vacation touring cursed ponds weren’t enough for Bertie, Aunt Agatha has invited him for a visit, and you can be sure her motivations are nothing good.
    pairing:jeeves_wooster,series:ranma 1_2,crossover,crackfic

  • Jeeves & Wooster | Jeeves, Bertie | G | Who’s A Good Boy Then, Jeeves?
    Jeeves was still Jeeves, but he was also not Jeeves, albeit in a Jeevesian fashion. To put it plainly, the man had an unnerving way of acting like a dog at times. Even with his enormous perspicacity, the blighter saw nothing amiss.
    fic:one-shot,series:jeeves & wooster,pairing:jeeves_wooster,kink:puppyplay

  • Jeeves & Wooster | Jeeves/Bertie | M | So Small A Thing
    In which Bertie, through no fault of his own, is shrunk to the size of a mouse. Jeeves is more than a little soupy about the whole thing, but it all works out for the best.
    series:jeeves & wooster,fic:one-shot,pairing:jeeves_wooster,kink:tinies

  • Temeraire | Laurence/Tharkay, Granby/Little, Iskierka, Temeraire | G | And Then These Idiots
    John is just trying to live a quiet life with his not-so-quiet daughter Iskierka when Tenzing bulldozes into his world with an injured sailor. Now he has two new roommates and an unwilling front-seat to an epic romance – or he would, if Tenzing and Laurence could get their act together.
    series:temeraire,fic:one-shot,pairing:granby_little,pairing:laurence_tharkay,trope:kidfic

  • Harry Potter | Harry/Draco, Snape, Dudley, McGonagall, Ginny/Luna, ensemble | M | Shibboleths
    Muggle Immersion co-Professor Harry Potter spends his days hanging with his son, reading to his “dog,” teaching magical kids about the internet with his cousin Dudley, and irritating Snape’s portrait. He’s understandably annoyed when his cosy life is interrupted by the Headmistress hiring on Draco Malfoy to be Hogwarts’ new Ancient Magical Cultures and Spellcasting professor. But then the explosion happens, and it turns out they’ll all need Malfoy’s knowledge if they want the magical world to survive.
    series:harry potter,fic:chaptered,pairing:ginny_luna,pairing:harry_draco

  • Better Off Ted | Ted/Veronica, Rose, Lem, Phil | G | Albania Seein’ You
    “It’s just a little fugitive situation, that’s all. A few run-ins with the Education Minister of Albania, a couple martinis, a gun or three, and then boom, you’re on the run for two years until you can escape to America and run a company—you know how it is.”
    series:better off ted,fic:one-shot,trope:marriage,pairing:veronica_ted

Music recs: Dan Fogelberg, Darren Hayes, Delain July 12, 2019

Posted by Erin Ptah in Recommendations.
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Okay, I’ve decided, I’m doing four songs per artist now.

Dan Fogelberg: soft folk rock, soft pop/country, lots of melancholy ballads. Nobody does wistful nostalgia better. (Dan Fogelberg playlist.)

Darren Hayes: pop with a boy-band-y vibe (though it’s only the one guy), sometimes with dubious electronica tangents. Previously the lead singer of Savage Garden — I’ll do recs for them later. (Darren Hayes playlist.)

Delain: symphonic metal, featuring a keyboardist who left Within Temptation. Not as deep into fantasy-goth, more inclined to dramatic-realism-goth. (Delain playlist.)