31dec2023

Really, Slate deserves some credit for running their health and exercise column for a year, summing it up, and then stopping the series, because they're absolutely right, a) people love reading this stuff and b) there's really only so many ways you can tell them the way to health-span is adequate sleep, wholesome food and exercise that you actually enjoy doing.

Not to mention that it seems perfect for the last page of the year. Aaaand, here's the penultimate reprise gift...enjoy.

30dec2023

Ah, the deliciousness of snarky reviews...

There is a subset of humanity out there who, instead of enjoying themselves by reading books, or playing games, or watching films (like normal people) instead vastly prefer to read in-depth reviews of the books or games or videos—to the point where they might not even actually interact with the original work.

I am one of those people, so when I saw this...

That, of course, made me immediately interested in critiquing it, which… might not have been the most sensible decision, since it led me down a rabbit hole of writing increasingly detailed notes about a book which has in fact been out of print for so long that nobody cares any more, most of which notes have ended up being about aspects of the book that aren’t even directly related to the pro-life arguments. So, yes, I question my life choices.

Add, say, the political element of politicized themes close to my heart (anti-choice, frex) and the prospect becomes even more enticing.

I knew I was in for a treat.

Besides the deep dive there were also a couple of cool links, and those are the reasons I specially wanted to post: reframing one's uterus not as a cradle, but fortress, designed to protect, not the fetus (or child to be, if you prefer) but the mom.

Being pregnant is no joke: it can, and does, kill. Even if it doesn't kill you, it can permanently disable you in ways large and small; and even if it doesn't do that, it can still be an absolutely miserable experience.

As a previously pregnant person, I applaud this.

Or we have the rebirth (ahem) of a giftwrap.

29dec2023

Scalzi has been doing an Advent Calendar's December Movie Comfort Watch, and I've failed to see a surprising number of the films; but even I've seen adaptations of Dickens’ Christmas Carol —last year, a truly dreadful CGI animated one that nevertheless was available in Japanese, so watch it I did.

Everyone, of course, has their favourite versions, generally the one they grew up watching (this story wasn't part of my growing-up experience, so I don't have a definitive version); but the nice thing about this story is that there are lots of good versions, and oddly enough, one of truest adaptations of the classic Christmas ghost story is evidently...the Muppet version.

It also has really authentic costumes, and if learning about 1830s and 1840s fashion is your jam, or watching experts geek about their favourite topics is your idea of a comfort watch, you could do worse than listen to Abby Cox, costume historian, bliss out about period puppet clothing for half an hour.

Or you can check out another entry in my 12 days of gift(decorating)mas.

28dec2023

Yesterday I featured a post about a man whose pet octopus only had a lifespan of 18 months or so—not very long for such an intelligent creature. Which serves as a lead-in for my thoughts on today's topic...

Because a while back I promised to talk about my current favourite (ongoing) anime, which would be Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, (or more literally Funeral Frieren, i.e. 葬送のフリーレン, though it's usually rendered “the Final Farewell to the Dead” (somewhere^[1] I found a discussion by the creators, who claimed they liked the implicit humour in a ‘Funeral Frieren’) ...葬送 also can be rendered as undertaker or slayer, and that also definitely comes into play.

So it's not surprising that many of the (German) names evidently have meanings relating to the characters’ personalities, or at least, a bunch of commenters had said so:)

Anyway. Lord of the Rings and all the high fantasy it's inspired tells of the party's quest to defeat the Big Bad; this heroic fantasy starts where these kinds of stories typically end, after the quest has been successfully completed—a nice change of pace, which you see once in a while; but what I don't recall seeing before is its exploration in the way the characters, owing to vastly differing lifespans, experience time's passing.

I kind of wondered if the creators were thinking about the pain so many pet owners experience because their fur-babies live just fractions of their own lives. Many cat and dog owners, in my experience, have mourned the pain of losing their companions after a decade or two; but perhaps what drove the point home most sharply was someone who kept rats: they loved them, but they only live, at most, about three years, the blink of an eye, which sounds significant but passes before you know it, as any parent can tell you.

What if your main character experienced their personal relationships that way? In addition to humans, the story features dwarves and elves, who live hundreds or thousands of years respectively.This, along with ‘found family’, is the theme for Frieren, and it's beautifully done. I found the soundtrack especially effective, but everything in this relatively quiet, calm story is superb. Highly recommended.^[2]

Or you can have this gift, which I felt also came together well.

27dec2023

I'm really, really really trying to be upbeat, at least between the Solstice and New Year's —Peace on Earth, goodwill to all and all that, so, via bb here's a pretty sweet story about a guy (Mark Rober, for those of you into that glitterbomb series;), not realizing that these intelligent creatures are not captive-bred, and therefore who decides to build a complex maze for his pet octopus to ensure she can survive a return to her wild home.

Spoiler: she gets to go home. But there's a final twist...

Come to think, there's a bit of a melancholy and not completely-unrelated twist to today's giftwrap post as well.

26dec2023

When I was a child visiting relatives in Missouri for Christmas, I remember thinking how odd the weather was—no snow, and much warmer than what I was used to. —Now, we have that weather here: today was in the 50s, so warm we could eat comfortably outside on the deck, which, since a member of our party had a cough, was providential—he could wear a mask for visiting, but not eating the special holiday bread his girlfriend had specifically requested I make for their visit.

But while convenient for us today, it's part of a saddening trend: I don't miss the slush and ice, tire tracks through dirty snow that refroze and was hard to ride a bike over; but one of the bennies of living where I do is distinct seasons, and winter always made me appreciate the other three.

Yes, this morning's mist was pretty when I did my Sunday bike ride a day late (and the peace and quite was absolutely lovely—even fewer cars!); but I wish there had been snow to go with it.

And here's day 2 for what I hope will be 12 days of gift decoration. Enjoy.