But not the armadillo

Looking for stories

2026-04-05T23:42:13Z

A friend is looking for two older ST:TOS stories, and is not having much luck.

The first is K/S, and involves Kirk visiting a museum about the Taurus massacre. She thinks the author's name was something like Arroway.

The second is gen. In it, Admiral (then Captain) Nogura was captaining a ship that had picked up a 12-year-old Kirk freshly rescued from the Taurus colony. Kirk encounters a teenage Spock on the ship (he is there on his first voyage, to observe the science), and they hit it off.

Ring any bells? Any search suggestions?

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Predator: Badlands

2026-02-15T01:24:00Z

Currently watching Predator: Badlands, and am tickled that ( spoilers crossed the streams )

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Oh, yeah

2026-02-11T09:16:51Z

AHAHAHAHA. One of those wacky YouTube stories just called a plan elegant in its simplicity. BWEE!

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Yes. Just...yes.

2026-01-01T03:32:01Z

Just finished Stranger Things. No spoilers, except to say that I found it a very satisfying endings. Also, I want to take the whole series and make it required viewing for anyone pondering making a movie, tv show, comic or whatever, point to the gender roles, and say, "Learn, people."

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You can take the girl out of grad school...

2025-11-08T03:47:22Z

In the midst of a really sucky year (in addition to losing my mother, we lost our beloved little kitty last week, and of course, there's the shutdown), I've gotten addicted to a type of YouTube video. They're an absolute hoot, but being me, I can't help but overthink them.

The videos are readings of stories, written and read by AI. They're really, really bad: contradictions, logical holes you couple pilot a White Star through, repeating plot points, and that doesn't get into the inflections of the reading. The visual component is usually some random clips: nature, video games, etc. There are commercials in them, although I never see them, because adblock.

There are a bunch of repeating plots; most of the ones I watch involve the protagonist being taken advantage of or hurt in some way and then getting their due. Note: there is some selection bias, here. I pick certain plots to watch and ignore others, leading to the algorithm showing me more of them. Generally, the protagonist is a young adult with terrible parents who favor the protagonist's sibling(s) to a degree that would make Cinderella's stepmother blush. They use terminology from psychology a lot: "golden child," dynamics, boundaries, etc.

(Note: I'm not going to get into what appeals to me about these videos except to say that while I have gotten to the point where the word "dynamics" makes me shudder, I do now understand my relationship with my maternal grandmother, and how my older brother factors into that relationship, a lot better.)

The stories typically unfold in a similar way: the protagonist is the less-favored child in a wildly unequal dynamic. Their sibling gets diamond tennis shoes while they get dollar flip-flops. I exaggerate, but not by much. Eventually, they go to college, usually working three jobs because their parents don't help financially (while sending the sibling to private school), and graduate summa cum laude with a degree in finance, marketing, or tech. The sibling, btw, usually gets a degree in communications. AI apparently hates communications degrees.

Sometimes, the protag will become instantly successful - some become millionaires before thirty, some just exist in the kind of upper-middle-class arena. They always, always work insane hours, and seldom have a social life of any kind. In one variation, they will share a studio apartment with three people (I do not kid) while eating ramen every night for ten years to save enough for a down payment on a house/apartment/condo. Often, they will renovate said home by themselves.

Then, plot twist! Sometimes, the protag is gradually wheedled into supporting their parents and sibling(s), until a precipitating event (the parent or sibling finally Going Too Far) causes them to cut all support, at which point the banks will instantly foreclose on homes and power will be cut off by the next day. Seriously: banks and utilities companies work fast in these stories. Other times, when the focus has been the protagonist getting the house/apartment/condo, the parents will attempt to "reassign" said home to the sibling (who never works as hard as the protag, and often doesn't work at all; if the sibling is a women, she's trying to be an influencer, and if they're a man, he's an "entrepreneur" with lots of bad ideas), sometimes making a dramatic public announcement to that effect. The protagonist is then pressured by the family, including extended family, to continue the support/surrender the home. Eventually, they triumph in some way, sometimes by going no contact with the family, sometimes through legal action, sometimes through some kind of public gesture. Therapy is always involved, people talk a lot about boundaries and dynamics, the protagonist joins a hiking group, pot roast is served...it's all a hoot.

There are lots of themes in these stories. Many of them have a kind of Horatio Alger thing where someone becomes a billionaire by twenty-seven. There's a definite strand of Ayn Randian "no one owes anyone anything" ethos - one popular theme is the secret millionaire/CEO, where the protagonist is wildly successful but hides it from th family, and there is one particular plot line that is basically just the family discovering this at Thanksgiving. The sibling will then become indignant that the protagonist has been sitting on millions and has never shared with the family, which we are supposed to see as entitled and bratty. Which is very easy to do, because see: cartoonishly exaggerated favoritsm. It was actually that storyline that made a light bulb go off in my brain. Because guys? I think I have cracked the code.

Think about it for a second: all of these stories involve a person, usually a young person, working hard for money or possessions only to have an authority try to take those possessions and redistribute them.

It's socialism. The younger generation being bullied into supporting their parents? Social Security. No lie: there's one story where the protagonist is required from pretty much birth to contribute a portion of everything from paychecks to birthday money from relatives to the parents' retirement fund; the parents even sue the protag for their scholarship money. These ridiculous stories with their psycho-babble and bizarre understanding of the legal system are basically arguments for rugged individualism (see how hard the hero works?) and capitalism. I don't think it's any coincidence that so many of the protagonists go into finance, tech, or "fintech."

Side note: again, there's algorithm selection bias, here. While I read and even try to seek stories where the protagonist is actually a writer or artist (photography is very popular), the storylines I read most seem to lean toward the finance and tech careers, so there could be lots of other things I am missing. I'm talking about one particular genre of these videos, not the whole of them.

The family dynamics that seem to be the focus of the stories actually serve an interesting purpose. Because really, if you heard that someone had $30 million in personal wealth and had never given their parents more than a $50 Christmas gift, wouldn't you side-eye that person at least a little? But the parents are so awful, so outright emotionally abusive, ranging from utterly oblivious about their own biases to outright mean to Our Hero, that you're cheering the hero on for not sharing. And the sibling is an entitled brat. Why should they get any of the protagonist's hard-earned money?

This theme really shouldn't be a surprise. These AI tools that the various channel owners are using to create these videos were created by people who are likely to have a strong pro-capitalism bias. I'm not sure how much I think this is intentional or is just the AI just learning the biases of the creators. Well, no. I lie. I think it's both. Maybe that's paranoid of me, but these tools are created by people with a profound investment in capitalism and the preservation of personal wealth. I can absolutely believe that, on top of just being used to make money/sell ads, they are embedding certain political ideologies in the code, so to speak.

There's lots of other things pinging in my brain. I'm fascinated by what happens when a particular story is retold (the stories repeat a lot, with minor changes) with a protagonist of a different gender. There's often a very close best friend, and if in one case (with a male protagonist), I was genuinely expecting a reveal that he and a protagonist were a couple, in a story with a female protag, they did in fact go there. Just once, but they did. The verbal tics are interesting, too. There's always, for example, an accusation that the protagonist is being "dramatic," even when what they're doing is not dramatic in the slightest. The AI is also very fond of saying, "I didn't do this. I didn't do that. I just did this other thing." But this particular thing? Almost makes me wish I were back in grad school so I had the time and setting to write a real paper on them.

(Yes, I know I could anyway. I teach five classes, and did I mention things kind of suck right now?)

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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Aliens and Lost Boys (and Girls)

2025-08-16T19:20:48Z

I am having a spectacularly shitty week, for reasons I really don't want to talk about. Instead, I want to talk about Alien: Earth. Are you watching it? What do you think? I've watched the first two episodes, and I'm really enjoying it.

( Spoilers are right behind you. )

Anyone?

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An era passes

2025-04-21T11:35:58Z

RIP, Pope Francis. May you forever be remembered for your kindness, your openness, and for sending a Cardinal to lecture JD Vance about compassion.

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Help me find a book?

2025-04-17T03:03:55Z

This is embarrassing. I am trying to remember a book that I read, and very much enjoyed, some years ago (I have no sense of time passing since the Teen FanPerson stopped changing so dramatically from year to year). I own the thing in e-book format. But I cannot remember the title or author.

Edit: It's The Library at Mount Char. I recommend it.

( Spoilers, now that it's been identified )
Any bells?

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Calling all clothes hounds

2025-04-08T21:02:13Z

Does anyone here shop at Torrid?

I have a kind of embarrassing amount of "buy x, get X off" codes, and I can gift them to anyone with a Torrid rewards account (which I think you can sign up for without buying).

They have some truly gorgeous colors right now, colors you don't often see in spring. I'm utterly in love with this blue and this purple, and they have lots of both.

All I need is the address you're registered under, so feel free to DM me.

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For a friend

2025-03-23T03:10:03Z

Hey, all! I know many of you know mickeym, who has given fandom many a lovely story over the years.

She's in some dire straits right now, and could really use some help. I know everyone's tightening their belts, but if you could spare even $5, it would help keep a household fed and with running water.

{{Hugs}} to everyone.

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Update on the State of the Lucy

2025-03-07T23:47:14Z

WE GOT AN OFFER ON THE HOUSE! One that is more than we were asking for. One that is substantially more than what we owe. One that will leave us with some money to put back in savings. And we don't have to fix anything.

One thing we've decided to do with a little of the money is cross an item off my bucket list. The Teen Fanperson asked for a trip back to Phoenix for her graduation present (she likes the shopping), and we're going to try flying first class. I've always wanted to try it just once, and it may help me be less physically devastated by air travel than I usually am.

But that's really just a bonus. The best part is that in three weeks, we will be quit of that house, that street, all of it for good. It makes me a little sad to remember how happy and hopeful we were moving in, but, well, we got a second chance where we are now.

*\o/*

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State of the Lucy

2025-03-02T19:08:33Z

I’ll be replying to everyone who commented on my last post individually, but here’s my general State of the Lucy. Please note the cut texts.

( Family and employment. )

( Health – some weight talk. )

( Surprise Spirituality. )

( Work. )

( Fannish stuff and other nerddom )

( And then there's last week… )

So, that's basically what's going on with me. There's other stuff, like enjoying agonyaunt quite a lot, and grooving on the new Equalizer (the Queen Latifah version), and trying to find a balance between staying aware of what is going on in the U.S. and not falling into despair, but these are the major points.

Thank you all so much for checking in, and I will be responding to everyone, I promise!

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Grading Hell Theater: How're you doing?

2025-03-01T16:59:40Z

I have had the week from hell, for reasons that I would rather not repeat for the eleventy-millionth time. Suffice to say: it was bad.

I have papers to grade. I am not in a very good mood. This is a bad combination. So, you know what that means!

I had the rather melancholy thought last night that there are people I have considered, still consider, good friends who I haven't communicated with in any way in years. These are people who I not only knew in online environments, but saw face-to-face on at least a yearly basis. (the_shoshanna, if you're reading, it was flashing on a conversation we once had about salt in cooking that prompted this.) There are reasons for this, but most of them are depressing, so I'm not going to go into them.

So, today on Grading Hell Theater, I want to do something a little different. I just want to hear from you. Whether you're someone I have known for decades or someone I've barely interacted with, I want to hear from you. How are you doing? What's new in your life? Or just ongoing? What are you into, fannish or otherwise? If you're not comfortable with a public post, maybe message me. I'll post my own update tomorrow when I'm not feeling quite so melancholy.

And now: papers.

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Just checking in

2024-11-10T01:35:47Z

( Nothing Good. )

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Grading Hell Theater: Aunt Jess

2024-10-22T12:28:22Z

As previously mentioned, spouse and I are binging Murder, She Wrote. In fact, we're almost done with all eleven seasons. This has put me in a mood to discuss Jessica Fletcher: little black dress of crossovers.

Today on Grading Hell Theater: your favorite characters encounter Jessica Fletcher. Is she someone's aunt? Is it a random encounter? Does she save them when they're wrongly accused of murder?

As always, I'll start.

Jessica was never actually that close to the Sandburg side of the family. Her cousin Naomi was nearly a full generation younger than she was, and once Naomi got involved in the counterculture, well, a school teacher married to a real estate salesman was just too hopelessly establishment for Naomi to spend much time with. She did stop by once or twice after Blair was born, usually on the way to or from Canada (visiting friends who'd moved there to avoid the draft, mostly), but on the whole, her knowledge of Naomi and later of Blair was sparse.

So it was a pleasant surprise when she was visiting Rainier University to research a novel set in a group recently returned from an anthropological expedition to find Naomi's son working there as a TA. Blair, meanwhile, was delighted to finally get to know his famous cousin. His partner/roommate was a little more guarded, but overall welcoming enough.

Well, welcoming enough until the professor Jessica was consulting with was found with a stone dagger apparently stolen from a display of Peruvian artifacts. After that, he seemed to want Jessica as far away from anything to do with the crime as possible. He did grudgingly accept her observations, but mostly because he and Blair had arrived at the same conclusions. How they were arriving at those conclusions was a mystery in and of itself; Jim seemed simply to know things.

Of course, they eventually caught the culprit (an administrator who was being blackmailed by the professor), and Jim and Blair had Jessica over to their loft apartment for a surprisingly tasty home-cooked meal. She saw through their whole "roommates" facade in about five minutes, but she didn't say anything. She had a feeling it wasn't the only secret they were keeping from the world.

Your turn!

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Go ahead. Mock me.

2024-09-04T01:41:12Z

A few months ago, Spouse and I spotted Columbo on one of the free streaming services, and decided to watch all of the episodes. There aren't as many as I remember there being, actually, so it didn't take that long.

We were left feeling the love of dated detective shows, and well, there's Murder, She Wrote, right on Prime. And you know I loves me some Jessica Fletcher. It's amusing to realize that at this point, I am probably only a few years younger than Jessica was supposed to be when the series began, for certain values of amusing. I always said I wanted to be her when I grew up. Well, I'll have the "retired English teacher" part down in a few years, anyway.

And of course, what's especially fun is that, as we watch, I'm both consulting and updating my attempt to wrangle canon into something that makes sense, which, let me tell you, is no easy task.

(Side note: for reasons of RPG-ing, I've also been revisiting early SPN, and let me tell you, I still can't work out how the hell John Winchester was supposed to have been old enough to serve in 'Nam, especially when Mary's tombstone says she was born in 1959.)

So, yeah, two nostalgia trips in one ;). I still say Jessica is the little black dress of crossovers. I see a Grading Hell Theater in my future.

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Ah, fandom

2024-08-23T00:28:50Z

So, a little while ago, I got my first "this story is problematic" - in a bookmark, not a comment, which I'm going to assume is some practice I am not familiar with - on Secrets, the Nightwing/Superman story I wrote, God, 20+ years ago about Superman having given Dick the name "Nightwing, and then being the first person to see him in the costume, at which point, well, you can guess what happens ;).

The bookmark is in Spanish, so my understanding of it is so-so, but I think I got the point.

The "problematic" part is that the story does actually talk about Supes having known Dick as a child. In fact, the whole point of the story is that seeing Dick in the new costume makes Clark realize that he's not a child anymore, which is both the reason for the porny goodness and also light being shone on recent events with Batman. I want to emphasize: unless my translation is understating things, it's not a mean remark. Frankly, compared to a lot of the reactions people get to similar stories, it's pretty mild. And honestly, I've sort of wondered if I'd ever get a response like that. I mean, all of my stories take place when Dick is an adult, but that certainly hadn't stopped some of the more, shall we say, enthusiastic morals police.

And of course, I've gotten more kudos on that story since getting that bookmark than in the last few years combined. Which is to say, four or five.

So. That happened. How's you?

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Nightwing: The Leap

2024-05-14T01:25:11Z

It's so much fun reading Nightwing when the person writing him clearly loves him as much as we do.

Warning: this is going to be one long squee.

( Spoilers are ridiculously cute. )

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It's hard being an aging nerd

2024-03-27T01:15:11Z

Why do so few RPG books come in ebook format? And why are they all so hard to read? Tiny text, dark backgrounds...don't they know a chunk of their audience is, ahem, older, and thus might have visual issues? Hell, we're the ones with money to buy shit!

This post brought to you by me trying to re-familiarize myself with the Fate rules on accounta I might get to run some stories from the SPN/Incryptid game I ran before Covid, as a back-up to a Call of Cthulhu campaign.

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Query

2024-03-25T09:29:07Z

Okay, so I didn't manage 30 days! Would you believe the problem is that I've been too efficient grading? Bad Lucy!

In a completely unrelated note, I have a query for people more up on such things than I: has the labrys been co-opted by the "Gender Critical" movement to the point that wearing one would be seen as aligning oneself with said movement? I ask mostly because I have a couple of nice ones, and it would make me sad not to be able to wear them anymore, but I don't want to send any transphobic messages.

So, y/n/depends on context?

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Grading Hell Theater: Pi day

2024-03-14T20:00:10Z

It's Pi day, and even though I don't really have a lot of grading to do (just some catching up), I can't pass up this opportunity.

Your favorite characters. Pie. Discuss.

There is an inn in Redania that Jaskier always makes a point of stopping in because they have the best pigeon pie he's had since leaving home. And since the cook's pigeon pie is just about the only thing he misses about home, there's no need to go back there.

( DC Comics spoilers )

Your turn!

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Grading Hell Theater: Broccoli Test

2024-03-05T15:53:36Z

Okay, so I haven't managed to post every day. But! There is much grading to be done! I'm kind of stumped for ideas, so we're going to go with an oldie but a favorite: the broccoli test.

As explained by gwyn:

sherrold was the one who came up with the broccoli test idea when she was living in L.A. with a friend, C. As legend, and my mind filling in blanks, would tell it, Sandy and C were at the grocery store, on opposite ends of the produce section, and Sandy was trying to tell C to pick up some broccoli without shouting across the store at her. No amount of pantomiming and mouthing of the words could get the point across to C, and Sandy apparently told her (we were all in the midst of Professionals-mania then), "Doyle would have known Bodie wanted him to pick up some broccoli with just a raise of his eyebrow!" or something like that. Hence, Bodie and Doyle would have passed the broccoli test.

So, do your favorite characters pass the broccoli test? Do they accidentally buy carrots? Do they end up throwing the broccoli at each other?

Jaskier has spent twenty years learning to read whole volumes into one of Geralt's, "Hmm." So he obviously sees that Geralt wants broccoli. Whether he actually buys broccoli or buys something entirely different depends on how much he feels like messing with Geralt on any given day.

When it comes to Jaskier, Geralt doesn't actually have to pass any tests, because Jaskier will have composed an Ode to Broccoli and spent four days singing it non-stop by the time they get somewhere that actually sells broccoli.

Geralt and Yennefer, on the other hand, fail the broccoli test regularly and spectacularly. Jaskier and Ciri have alternately mock them for this or hide on produce-shopping days.

Ciri doesn't know if she would pass it or not, because none of the ridiculously over-protective adults around her let her go shopping for food. Fight monsters? Sure! Do possibly world-ending magic? Of course! Shopping for vegetables? Too dangerous.

Your turn!

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Grading Hell Theater

2024-02-28T17:14:35Z

I know, I know. I meant to post a Grading Hell Theater yesterday, but, well, I kind of graded the papers instead. But! I still have rough drafts to read. That counts.

I'm having kind of a meh day, so I'm going to go back to one of my all-time favorites, even if it has been over a decade since I've watched the show: your favorite characters find themselves on Sesame Street. Discuss.

Jaskier the Bard has found his home. Bright colors! Strange and unusual creatures, none of whom try to kill him! People randomly bursting into song. He does have to exercise care in what he sings; "Fishmonger's Daughter" wouldn't go over well here. But he has so much fun that Geralt eventually has to drag him away by the collar of his doublet. He makes it up to Jaskier later.

(Geralt, it should be noted, took one look at Sesame Street and fled to spend the day working on potions and his armor and other non-lethal tasks. There are some places monster-hunters don't belong.)

Yennefer of Vengerberg spends the day sitting at Hooper's store, sipping this strange but delightful beverage called coffee and generally unnerving everyone who comes near her.

Your turn!

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30 Days: New Computer!

2024-02-25T21:41:33Z

I missed yesterday, but I have a good excuse. I got a new laptop, on accounta my old one died.

My old one was named Tippetarius, so this one is named Tippetarius2. Thus far they are mostly a good computer, except that (a) I hate having to go through and set everything up, and (b) my Firefox sync didn't work, so I"m having to manually re-enter all my passwords, and (c) some programs that I hadn't updated have some changes I don't care for in the latest version. But, you know, mostly that's diamond shoes being too tight.

Do you guys name you computers?

Also, random aside: anyone else having to scramble to pay for meds because there is some nationwide issue with things not getting through insurance? Not being declined, just not going through at all.

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30 Day: Recipe

2024-02-24T03:07:09Z

The wonderful korafox and aragon1888 came by tonight for dinner, and I served a dish that I make all the time for family but have never made for guests before. It seemed to go over well, so I thought I'd post it here. We just call it tuna pasta, but it's really something like a tuna piccata.

I think I may have posted this here before, but hey: if so, it's been years.

Note: I am giving the ingredient amounts I usually use for two people, but all of these can be adjusted for taste. I use a lot of garlic. I mean a LOT.

Ingredients:
1 12oz can white tuna
1 bulb garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
extra virgin olive oil (just swirl some into the pan)
1/2 bottle good white wine (I use chardonnay)
1/2-1 cup lemon juice
Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated.
Pasta of your choice (I use angel hair)

Optional: red pepper flakes to taste, capers to taste

Directions:

Cook the pasta while you are doing all of this ;).

1. Put olive oil, butter, and garlic in a cold pan, and turn on to medium high. Let the heat rise until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant. (Note: add red pepper flakes with garlic if you want a little heat.)

2. Add tuna, breaking it up as needed. Mix and cook just a few minutes, until tuna is warmed.

3. Add lemon juice and white wine. Turn up heat to high. Let the liquid reduce by at least 1/2, or until it's a thick sauce.

4. Add al dente pasta to pan and let pasta absorb sauce. Add capers if you want them.

5. Dish out, top with parmesan to taste.

6. Eat.

It's best enjoyed with some of that good white wine.

Got a go-to recipe? Feel free to share!

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