Telephone MV Ficlet: too many hits off this memory
Feb. 22nd, 2026 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kat_lair***
Title: too many hits off this memory
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Telephone - Lady Gaga ft Beyoncé (Music Video)
Pairing: Beyoncé Knowles/Lady Gaga
Tags: Ficlet, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Post-Canon, Kissing, Vaginal Fingering
Rating: M
Word count: 491
Summary: Gaga likes making memories more than she likes revisiting them.
Author notes: Well, in a perfect illustration of 'never say never' here is a surprise new installment of the show me your teeth series after, uhh, over ten years. But a) I heard a rumour of Telephone pt2, and b)luckyzukky's prompt of i took too many hits off this memory (from 'Hold Me Tight Or Don't') at likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash Febrary Ficathon proved inspiring. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know.
too many hits off this memory on AO3
( too many hits off this memory )
***
Title: too many hits off this memory
Author:
kat_lair Fandom: Telephone - Lady Gaga ft Beyoncé (Music Video)
Pairing: Beyoncé Knowles/Lady Gaga
Tags: Ficlet, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Post-Canon, Kissing, Vaginal Fingering
Rating: M
Word count: 491
Summary: Gaga likes making memories more than she likes revisiting them.
Author notes: Well, in a perfect illustration of 'never say never' here is a surprise new installment of the show me your teeth series after, uhh, over ten years. But a) I heard a rumour of Telephone pt2, and b)
luckyzukky's prompt of i took too many hits off this memory (from 'Hold Me Tight Or Don't') at likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash Febrary Ficathon proved inspiring. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know.too many hits off this memory on AO3
( too many hits off this memory )
***
40 Days of Drabbles > Updated
Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:57 pmflareonfury
Inspired by
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
adventdrabbles, I will be posting daily prompts at 40daysofdrabbles from Ash Wednesday to Easter, prompts will mostly be winter/spring themed things. Any fandom (minus RPF/Reality TV), pairing or rating is allowed. Feel free to combine with other challenges! Minimum word count is 100 words, but no maximum.
Our first five prompts are now up! Feel free to start writing or follow us incase a prompt jumps out at you!
Or want to suggest prompts? Have questions?
So check out
40daysofdrabbles!!The original purpose
40daysofdrabbles is just to write 40 drabbles about whatever you want to focus on, or ask your friends for prompts/ships/fandoms - this is open year-round although it originally started as a personal challenge ages ago for Lent. This still applies if you want to combine the two events.Check out the profile page for more information!
WoT Ficlet: Appleading
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:13 pmkat_lair***
Title: Appleading
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Wheel of Time (technically just the books but it's not really contradicting anything re the show either)
Pairing: Liandrin Guirale & Moghedien, Liandrin Guirale/Moghedien
Tags: Ficlet, Control, Power Dynamics, Choking, Torture
Rating: M
Word count: 632
Summary: In an old townhouse in Amador, Liandrin begs with eloquence she didn’t even know she possessed. It’s a wonder what fear can do, to loosen tongues and inhibitions.
Author notes: Response tomerryfortune's prompt of You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have (from 'It’s Hard to Say ”I Do”, When I Don’t') over at likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash Febrary Ficathon. Takes place during Book Five when Moghedien catches the Black Ajah in Amador. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know. Except for the title which is me mangling the English language on purpose. For my amusement.
Appleading on AO3
( Appleading )
***
Title: Appleading
Author:
kat_lair Fandom: Wheel of Time (technically just the books but it's not really contradicting anything re the show either)
Pairing: Liandrin Guirale & Moghedien, Liandrin Guirale/Moghedien
Tags: Ficlet, Control, Power Dynamics, Choking, Torture
Rating: M
Word count: 632
Summary: In an old townhouse in Amador, Liandrin begs with eloquence she didn’t even know she possessed. It’s a wonder what fear can do, to loosen tongues and inhibitions.
Author notes: Response to
merryfortune's prompt of You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have (from 'It’s Hard to Say ”I Do”, When I Don’t') over at likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash Febrary Ficathon. Takes place during Book Five when Moghedien catches the Black Ajah in Amador. This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know. Except for the title which is me mangling the English language on purpose. For my amusement.Appleading on AO3
( Appleading )
***
Celebrity20in20 - Round 19 - Hong Pichetpong
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:14 amreeby1020 Hong Pichetpong icons for celebrity20in20
Preview:
*Icons are free for use.
*Credit and comments are nice.
( Read more... )
celebrity20in20
Preview:
*Icons are free for use.
*Credit and comments are nice.
( Read more... )
Kat Consumes Media
Feb. 20th, 2026 11:54 amkat_lair***
Kat Reads Books
The Judge, the Jailer, and the Thief by Gemma Walker: Alex is freshly out of prison and has a heist of a lifetime to pull, if she can just repair the relationships with her family and also her ex girlfriend who she needs on the team. Rebecca is an ambitious judge waiting on a promotion that needs some encouragement to happen, all the while supporting her girlfriend of 20 years prepare for the celebration of the fancy tower building she's the architect of. Jimmy, a disgraced detective, wishes to regain his glory days or at least not lose them, except there's a documentary crew poking about an old case of a thief he and Rebecca put away a long time ago... Okay. Here are the things I enjoyed about the book: everyone was believably imperfect. The plot was complex and pulled it off pretty well, like I saw one of the main twists coming, but not the other. No big deal made out of the queer rep. The writing was pretty engaging. Here are the things I struggled with: I didn't really like any of the characters. The final decision Alex made endeared her to me more, but up to that point everyone was just... willing to do and say unpleasant things for reasons they justified to themselves. The omniscient pov was also something I haven't read in ages so it took a while to get used to it and the 'head hopping' was frequent and happened in. every. scene. It also made all the scenes really long because 'x said this, feelings/thoughts description' followed by 'y said, another feelings/thoughts description' etc ad infinitum. Most of the scenes were people talking instead doing, and everyone's emotions went from one end to the other like ten times in each scene. And on one hand, that's realistic as our emotions obviously fluctuate but on the other, we are rarely that fucking conscious of it so to have it described every time that she was delighted and then scared and then excited and then apprehensive and then and then in every. single. conversation. was exhausting. The core plot was good and I liked the found family theme, but then not to even show the central heist in detail from Alex's pov felt like such a cop-out. I gather there is a sequel coming, I am ambivalent about picking it up but I also want to know what happened to some of the characters, e.g. entirely unclear if Rebecca ever got any comeuppance or not. Argh. In summary, the book could've used a tighter edit.
Kat Watches Things
Our Flag Means Death season 1: Has anyone not seen this yet? Just me then. One of those things that I knew I would enjoy but just hadn't gotten around to. Two men in their middle years find a way to break out of their society imposed boxes, deal with their trauma and freedom to be themselves. And also find each other. Oh and they're pirates (yes both, how dare you) with a delightful ragtag found family crew. Also everyone is queer. An extremely satisfying watch as a queer middle-aged person especially. The two leads did a spectacular job. I will get to the second (and final) season eventually, just not sure I'm emotionally ready.
Kadonnut: Joulupukki (Missing: Santa Claus): A cute children's movie from 2015 where four kids are invited to visit Christmas land and have to find the missing Santa Claus who has been kidnapped. Or has he? It was pretty fun with the different elves, some stilted acting but okay, like exactly what one might expect. Bonus points for the rap battle that was genuinely funny.
Pastori ja Ruma Kuusi (The Pastor and the Ugly Christmas Tree): A short film about a new pastor/vicar who wants to bring people together to decorate a Christmas tree outside a shopping centre. Predictable but I really enjoyed the guy who played the vicar, he was fun.
Despicable Me 3: A rewatch but still good. I love Minions and I cannot lie. Gru unites with his twin brother, loses and regains his job, shenanigans. The Minions!
Hotel Transylvania 1-3: First was a rewatch and involves Count Dracula working through his human related trauma because his daughter falls in love with one. Second was also a rewatch and centres on Mavis and Jonathan's monster-human family and whether or not their kid is a vampire and if that matters and to whom. Adorable. The third movie in the series I hadn't seen and focuses on a family vacation on a monster cruise where the captain has an ulterior motive which may or may not involve Drac's heart... It was fun but the romance aspect felt a little forced. I did enjoy all the details about the cruise and how everyone was spending it. Out of the three, the second movie with its family/identity focus is my favourite.
Code 46: This was in BBC iPlayer's Valentine collection, said 'dystopian romance' and so J and I clicked on it randomly for background watching and then ended up going WHY THE FUCK IS SHE DOING THAT and YOU COULD DRIVE AN UBOAT THROUGH THE PLOT HOLES. I mean... We enjoyed that part. The movie itself... Okay, in 2077, for reasons, a lot of the population is in vitro fertilised/grown in identical clone batches (yes, I know, it does not make logical sense, ignore the actual science). So if you want to procreate the old fashioned way you have to do a genetic screening first to check that you're not genetically related and in violation of Code 46... Anyway. The story goes that a fraud investigator enforced with an empathy virus, arrives in Shanghai to figure out who is smuggling out insurance papers that are the only way to travel between highly protected population hubs. He falls in love and sleeps with the perpetrator instead. All within like 24h. Already unbelievable. And then... Everyone makes absolutely batshit decisions, the Code 46 sure is violated, the woman bears the ultimate consequences, there's a super uncomfortable consensual non-consent scene that both of us made 'ewww' faces at and... Idk. This sure was a film I've watched. Is all I can say.
Mulan: Rewatch, still one of my favourite Disney movies.
Mulan, the live action remake: Possibly a part rewatch? At times I felt like I'd seen it before and at other times not so no idea. I... Didn't mind it. The cinematography was gorgeous and the changes to the story (the dragon was a phoenix, the love interest was not the captain but just another soldier, there was a hot witch) were understandable and worked decently. I liked that the love story didn't get anything beyond a flash of abs and some hand touching really. I did come out of this eyeing the Mulan/Xianniang (the hot witch) interactions with interest.
Zootropolis: Probably a fifth rewatch. No regrets. Still love it.
***
Kat Reads Books
The Judge, the Jailer, and the Thief by Gemma Walker: Alex is freshly out of prison and has a heist of a lifetime to pull, if she can just repair the relationships with her family and also her ex girlfriend who she needs on the team. Rebecca is an ambitious judge waiting on a promotion that needs some encouragement to happen, all the while supporting her girlfriend of 20 years prepare for the celebration of the fancy tower building she's the architect of. Jimmy, a disgraced detective, wishes to regain his glory days or at least not lose them, except there's a documentary crew poking about an old case of a thief he and Rebecca put away a long time ago... Okay. Here are the things I enjoyed about the book: everyone was believably imperfect. The plot was complex and pulled it off pretty well, like I saw one of the main twists coming, but not the other. No big deal made out of the queer rep. The writing was pretty engaging. Here are the things I struggled with: I didn't really like any of the characters. The final decision Alex made endeared her to me more, but up to that point everyone was just... willing to do and say unpleasant things for reasons they justified to themselves. The omniscient pov was also something I haven't read in ages so it took a while to get used to it and the 'head hopping' was frequent and happened in. every. scene. It also made all the scenes really long because 'x said this, feelings/thoughts description' followed by 'y said, another feelings/thoughts description' etc ad infinitum. Most of the scenes were people talking instead doing, and everyone's emotions went from one end to the other like ten times in each scene. And on one hand, that's realistic as our emotions obviously fluctuate but on the other, we are rarely that fucking conscious of it so to have it described every time that she was delighted and then scared and then excited and then apprehensive and then and then in every. single. conversation. was exhausting. The core plot was good and I liked the found family theme, but then not to even show the central heist in detail from Alex's pov felt like such a cop-out. I gather there is a sequel coming, I am ambivalent about picking it up but I also want to know what happened to some of the characters, e.g. entirely unclear if Rebecca ever got any comeuppance or not. Argh. In summary, the book could've used a tighter edit.
Kat Watches Things
Our Flag Means Death season 1: Has anyone not seen this yet? Just me then. One of those things that I knew I would enjoy but just hadn't gotten around to. Two men in their middle years find a way to break out of their society imposed boxes, deal with their trauma and freedom to be themselves. And also find each other. Oh and they're pirates (yes both, how dare you) with a delightful ragtag found family crew. Also everyone is queer. An extremely satisfying watch as a queer middle-aged person especially. The two leads did a spectacular job. I will get to the second (and final) season eventually, just not sure I'm emotionally ready.
Kadonnut: Joulupukki (Missing: Santa Claus): A cute children's movie from 2015 where four kids are invited to visit Christmas land and have to find the missing Santa Claus who has been kidnapped. Or has he? It was pretty fun with the different elves, some stilted acting but okay, like exactly what one might expect. Bonus points for the rap battle that was genuinely funny.
Pastori ja Ruma Kuusi (The Pastor and the Ugly Christmas Tree): A short film about a new pastor/vicar who wants to bring people together to decorate a Christmas tree outside a shopping centre. Predictable but I really enjoyed the guy who played the vicar, he was fun.
Despicable Me 3: A rewatch but still good. I love Minions and I cannot lie. Gru unites with his twin brother, loses and regains his job, shenanigans. The Minions!
Hotel Transylvania 1-3: First was a rewatch and involves Count Dracula working through his human related trauma because his daughter falls in love with one. Second was also a rewatch and centres on Mavis and Jonathan's monster-human family and whether or not their kid is a vampire and if that matters and to whom. Adorable. The third movie in the series I hadn't seen and focuses on a family vacation on a monster cruise where the captain has an ulterior motive which may or may not involve Drac's heart... It was fun but the romance aspect felt a little forced. I did enjoy all the details about the cruise and how everyone was spending it. Out of the three, the second movie with its family/identity focus is my favourite.
Code 46: This was in BBC iPlayer's Valentine collection, said 'dystopian romance' and so J and I clicked on it randomly for background watching and then ended up going WHY THE FUCK IS SHE DOING THAT and YOU COULD DRIVE AN UBOAT THROUGH THE PLOT HOLES. I mean... We enjoyed that part. The movie itself... Okay, in 2077, for reasons, a lot of the population is in vitro fertilised/grown in identical clone batches (yes, I know, it does not make logical sense, ignore the actual science). So if you want to procreate the old fashioned way you have to do a genetic screening first to check that you're not genetically related and in violation of Code 46... Anyway. The story goes that a fraud investigator enforced with an empathy virus, arrives in Shanghai to figure out who is smuggling out insurance papers that are the only way to travel between highly protected population hubs. He falls in love and sleeps with the perpetrator instead. All within like 24h. Already unbelievable. And then... Everyone makes absolutely batshit decisions, the Code 46 sure is violated, the woman bears the ultimate consequences, there's a super uncomfortable consensual non-consent scene that both of us made 'ewww' faces at and... Idk. This sure was a film I've watched. Is all I can say.
Mulan: Rewatch, still one of my favourite Disney movies.
Mulan, the live action remake: Possibly a part rewatch? At times I felt like I'd seen it before and at other times not so no idea. I... Didn't mind it. The cinematography was gorgeous and the changes to the story (the dragon was a phoenix, the love interest was not the captain but just another soldier, there was a hot witch) were understandable and worked decently. I liked that the love story didn't get anything beyond a flash of abs and some hand touching really. I did come out of this eyeing the Mulan/Xianniang (the hot witch) interactions with interest.
Zootropolis: Probably a fifth rewatch. No regrets. Still love it.
***
Wednesday What I'm...
Feb. 19th, 2026 10:26 amreeby10Reading
- I read some more of The Artist's Way. I've long given up on actually following it, but I am interested to see if I can get anything from it anyway.
- I finished reading (after accidentally hiding and just recently finding) Chupacabra by Roland Smith (Marty & Grace #3). I love this series! It's very fun, and also, who wouldn't want to read about cryptids?
- Ficwise, I've mostly been reading VegasPete and PondPhuwin. I'm working my way through my read later.
- The roommate and I finished 2gether. Certainly not one of my favorites, mostly due to the MC being so painfully oblivious it was mostly just frustrating. But still a pretty fun show. Though I do think it's funny that neither of the main actors has done any other BL afterward lol
- The roommate and I started watching Lover Merman. The production quality is pretty garbage, but I'm enjoying it. I saw people freaking out about the incest side ship, so I was very intrigued, but it a) turned out to be pseudo incest at best and b) was not really important or even shown much. Ahh well. I hear the last episode gets extremely bonkers, so that's exciting...
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Cat for Cash. Still cute. Satang is showing up in the next episode, so I'm very excited for that!
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the last episode of Melody of Secrets. Mostly just sweet and domestic for the last episode, which was a bit surprising. But not unwelcome, there was enough drama lol It was indeed a weird show and I didn't love it, but ForceBook and JuniorMark were worth it.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Dare You to Death. We're now two episodes from the end, and I do not think they are solving this case lmao I mean, they will, but not in a police way, more an accident way, I think. My pet theory on the killers doesn't look completely right, but I am intrigued that the prevailing theory since the beginning looks like it might be.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of My Romance Scammer. The messiness continues, and I love it! It's so funny to see the scammers digging themselves into more problems when they could just... stop scamming and have loving husbands??
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Duang With You. Continues to be sweet and silly. I love Por's ice prince character so much.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Yesterday. This show is bonkers lol I wasn't sure about the back and forth timeline, but I think it's working so far, and it's definitely keeping me engaged wondering what the fuck happened in between.
- We haven't watched as many series this week, because we've been watching the Olympics! I've been recording my favorite events (figure skating and speed skating primarily), so we're a bit behind, but it's been fun. We watched the wild men's figure skating singles, most of speed skating, and we're working our way through ice dance rn.
- Catching up on a very back episode of Ouija Broads that I skipped for a long time since it was one of the hosts and her husband instead of the regular hosts. It's been not bad though.
- The company that produces most of the Thai dramas we watch, their music production arm had a big three day concert this weekend with all their groups as well as some solo artists. So we've been watching a million clips of all the performances and shenanigans.
- Nothing.
- Nothing.
An actual up to date little post of nice things
Feb. 18th, 2026 07:15 pmthisbluespiritI thought it might make a change to write something here and post it straight away, instead of in two weeks or three or four months, idk, shocking but still. (I continue as before, getting a little more useful with every few days.) In the meantime, here are some fannish things that made me happy in this last week:
1. Another Enigma fic! \o/ 0_o
All Tapped Out (665 words) by misura
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Enigma (2001)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom Jericho/Hester Wallace
Characters: Tom Jericho, Hester Wallace, Wigram (Enigma 2001)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Vignette, Missions Gone Wrong
Summary: “What the bloody hell was that?”
2. Sesskasays, whose Classic Who reactions I have enjoyed so much... is going to be doing Blake's 7! I did not dare really hope, but yay. I cannot wait for her to meet Servalan.
3. Small Prophets, on the iPlayer, a 6-part comedy from Mackenzie Crook, who did The Detectorists. It has all the mix of slow build, appreciation of small things & being v down to earth of the former, with actual supernatural ingredient in shape of six humunculi that Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) grows in his garden shed, for reasons. I haven't watched most of ep6 yet, but cannot imagine it producing any reason in the last 27 minutes for me not to rec it warmly here.
4. Another magnitude of miraculous on from Enigma-fic - a Rufus/Adam vidlet for A Fatal Inversion (Jeremy Northam & Douglas Hodge in 1991/2) from someone on YT:
Like. This is why I wrote Rufus/Adam fic that nobody wanted! And this doesn't even have the shots with the dinner party and the make up, but, lol, I feel like it is a much more compelling argument for watching it than me saying it's very good. XD
Anyway, creative people continue to be a Good Thing is all. <3
1. Another Enigma fic! \o/ 0_o
All Tapped Out (665 words) by misura
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Enigma (2001)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom Jericho/Hester Wallace
Characters: Tom Jericho, Hester Wallace, Wigram (Enigma 2001)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Vignette, Missions Gone Wrong
Summary: “What the bloody hell was that?”
2. Sesskasays, whose Classic Who reactions I have enjoyed so much... is going to be doing Blake's 7! I did not dare really hope, but yay. I cannot wait for her to meet Servalan.
3. Small Prophets, on the iPlayer, a 6-part comedy from Mackenzie Crook, who did The Detectorists. It has all the mix of slow build, appreciation of small things & being v down to earth of the former, with actual supernatural ingredient in shape of six humunculi that Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) grows in his garden shed, for reasons. I haven't watched most of ep6 yet, but cannot imagine it producing any reason in the last 27 minutes for me not to rec it warmly here.
4. Another magnitude of miraculous on from Enigma-fic - a Rufus/Adam vidlet for A Fatal Inversion (Jeremy Northam & Douglas Hodge in 1991/2) from someone on YT:
Like. This is why I wrote Rufus/Adam fic that nobody wanted! And this doesn't even have the shots with the dinner party and the make up, but, lol, I feel like it is a much more compelling argument for watching it than me saying it's very good. XD
Anyway, creative people continue to be a Good Thing is all. <3
What I was watching... um... in summer?
Feb. 17th, 2026 08:33 pmthisbluespiritI've had this post stashed away since late November, meaning to come back to it and write something more sensible about The Stone Tape that wasn't how much I wanted to icon Jane Asher's face. The reviews were already at least a couple months out of date, I think. Then life intervened and alas, I have even less brain now than then, so I should get on and post it anyway.
Eye in the Sky (2015)
This was one of the later things I pulled off Jeremy Northam's CV. The JN tumblrs reckoned it was a good one - and it was.
It's about an international military and political operation to capture the three top leaders of an Islamist extremist group in Somalia, with various layers of people involved via video conference - the UK Colonel in charge (Helen Mirren), the US soldiers running the 'eye in the sky' (Aaron Paul, Phoebe Fox), the Somali agents on the ground (esp. Barkhad Abdi), and a small group overseeing it from a meeting room in Whitehall (Alan Rickman as General Benson, Jeremy Northam as the Minister in charge, Monica Dolan as PR), plus various others who need to be consulted, including Iain Glen as the Foreign Secretary. And right there in the middle of it all, is Alia (Aisha Takow), a child who lives close to the target house.
( Cut for more details )
Smartly made modern film, but also exactly the kind of knotty moral problem and intelligent writing you'd have got in a Play of the Month.
Talking of which...
Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape (BBC 1972)
I this via Talking Pictures, after having heard of it forever, and it was great! I really loved it. The creepy concept, the scientific approach - I really wished I had screencaps so I could icon Jane Asher in it (she was wonderful generally, not just icon-able) and everything. The way that the misogyny was used was also great, and took me by surprise because I had felt my one other Nigel Kneale did give way to a 1960s/70s misogynistic trope that I had seen too often by that point, but perhaps the "seen too often" part was more of the problem, because this just made me sit up and do the, "Oh. oh" moment for real. Highly recommended if you like any brand of creepy UK 70s TV. (It IS creepy/disturbing, though. This is not a chirpy watch that will end well, please do note). It starred some other people who weren't Jane Asher, too, like Iain Cutherbertson and they were all also good, I just didn't want to icon them and their face and their red hair in quite the same way. XD
So glad I finally watched it & I enjoyed it even in summer, when I so often can't manage TV downstairs.
Official Secrets (2019)
EitS having been so good, when I realised that this one (featuring one of the 2 brief cameos that are all JN has done since 2016) was also directed by Gavin Hood, I checked for a cheap copy & obtained it poste haste. I really liked this too, and watching them close together made me think even more highly of both - this is the story of a real incident from 2002, while EitS is a theoretical piece behind its tension, but underneath, they're both smartly done morality plays with excellent casts. (Incidentally, there are 3 actors who feature in both - Monica Dolan, John Heffernan and Jeremy Northam).
When I looked up both films online the first description is always "underrated" and the Guardian apparently ran a piece for Keira Knightley's 40th earlier this year recommending a top list of her films to watch, and put Official Secrets at no. 1.
Official Secrets isn't as tightly contained as EitS, as it's based on a real UK whistleblower incident from 2002, but which ended up not having much effect, so it's a really unusual thing to tackle (& as faithfully as this - they had a lot of the real people involved in the production in some way or other). As before, it's a large but excellent cast (Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Adam Bakri, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Indira Varma & more).
( More under here, although not really spoilery )
Anyway, after watching both, I got excited by clearly liking a director's stuff, so I looked up what Gavin Hood had done since - and the answer was nothing, dammit! (Before that he did Wolverine and Ender's Game, which are not tightly done morality plays. I mean, I assume not?? But I might need to investigate the first half of his CV more closely sometime. He has something upcoming lurking on imdb, which sounds more similar, but I'm not sure if that's real, or just a production hell mythical something or other.)
Eye in the Sky (2015)
This was one of the later things I pulled off Jeremy Northam's CV. The JN tumblrs reckoned it was a good one - and it was.
It's about an international military and political operation to capture the three top leaders of an Islamist extremist group in Somalia, with various layers of people involved via video conference - the UK Colonel in charge (Helen Mirren), the US soldiers running the 'eye in the sky' (Aaron Paul, Phoebe Fox), the Somali agents on the ground (esp. Barkhad Abdi), and a small group overseeing it from a meeting room in Whitehall (Alan Rickman as General Benson, Jeremy Northam as the Minister in charge, Monica Dolan as PR), plus various others who need to be consulted, including Iain Glen as the Foreign Secretary. And right there in the middle of it all, is Alia (Aisha Takow), a child who lives close to the target house.
( Cut for more details )
Smartly made modern film, but also exactly the kind of knotty moral problem and intelligent writing you'd have got in a Play of the Month.
Talking of which...
Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape (BBC 1972)
I this via Talking Pictures, after having heard of it forever, and it was great! I really loved it. The creepy concept, the scientific approach - I really wished I had screencaps so I could icon Jane Asher in it (she was wonderful generally, not just icon-able) and everything. The way that the misogyny was used was also great, and took me by surprise because I had felt my one other Nigel Kneale did give way to a 1960s/70s misogynistic trope that I had seen too often by that point, but perhaps the "seen too often" part was more of the problem, because this just made me sit up and do the, "Oh. oh" moment for real. Highly recommended if you like any brand of creepy UK 70s TV. (It IS creepy/disturbing, though. This is not a chirpy watch that will end well, please do note). It starred some other people who weren't Jane Asher, too, like Iain Cutherbertson and they were all also good, I just didn't want to icon them and their face and their red hair in quite the same way. XD
So glad I finally watched it & I enjoyed it even in summer, when I so often can't manage TV downstairs.
Official Secrets (2019)
EitS having been so good, when I realised that this one (featuring one of the 2 brief cameos that are all JN has done since 2016) was also directed by Gavin Hood, I checked for a cheap copy & obtained it poste haste. I really liked this too, and watching them close together made me think even more highly of both - this is the story of a real incident from 2002, while EitS is a theoretical piece behind its tension, but underneath, they're both smartly done morality plays with excellent casts. (Incidentally, there are 3 actors who feature in both - Monica Dolan, John Heffernan and Jeremy Northam).
When I looked up both films online the first description is always "underrated" and the Guardian apparently ran a piece for Keira Knightley's 40th earlier this year recommending a top list of her films to watch, and put Official Secrets at no. 1.
Official Secrets isn't as tightly contained as EitS, as it's based on a real UK whistleblower incident from 2002, but which ended up not having much effect, so it's a really unusual thing to tackle (& as faithfully as this - they had a lot of the real people involved in the production in some way or other). As before, it's a large but excellent cast (Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Adam Bakri, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Indira Varma & more).
( More under here, although not really spoilery )
Anyway, after watching both, I got excited by clearly liking a director's stuff, so I looked up what Gavin Hood had done since - and the answer was nothing, dammit! (Before that he did Wolverine and Ender's Game, which are not tightly done morality plays. I mean, I assume not?? But I might need to investigate the first half of his CV more closely sometime. He has something upcoming lurking on imdb, which sounds more similar, but I'm not sure if that's real, or just a production hell mythical something or other.)
7+3 rainbow heated rivalry icons for lgbtrainbow
Feb. 17th, 2026 09:02 pmtinnyBecause those rainbows really work best when viewed as a set, here's my submission for the fourth special round at lgbtrainbow:
I didn't watch many lgbtq+ things that I liked last year, but Heated Rivalry exceeded all my expectations. \o/
( 3 alts )
lgbtrainbow:I didn't watch many lgbtq+ things that I liked last year, but Heated Rivalry exceeded all my expectations. \o/
( 3 alts )
midterm elections
Feb. 15th, 2026 11:46 amtinnyI'm not even from or in the US, and don't usually post about the politics there, but I thought I should share this post by my flister mecurtin:
It's necessary to plan ahead to have the necessary momentum by the end of the year. Here's the full post:
Indivisible's 2026 Strategy Arc: Toward Enforcing the Midterm Elections
mecurtin:
"If it seems as though Trump plans to steal the midterm elections, you’re right. If it seems as though there’s no way to stop him, you’re wrong. But if you think the institutions we already have are up to the job of stopping him, you’re also wrong.
I’ve been attending Indivisible’s weekly “What’s the Plan?” meetings with co-founders Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin for almost a year now. Indivisible’s strategy for the whole year is built around the midterm elections."
It's necessary to plan ahead to have the necessary momentum by the end of the year. Here's the full post:
Indivisible's 2026 Strategy Arc: Toward Enforcing the Midterm Elections
RIP spikedluv
Feb. 15th, 2026 10:03 amkat_lair***
I'm incredibly saddened to learn about the sudden passing ofspikedluv earlier this month (obituary here and some comments on the latest post on her journal).
I don't actually fully remember when I first met her but I suspect it was throughsmallfandombang (I gather the participants are in the process of seeing if they can transfer the community control over), where I did some art on quite a few years, including on one of spikedluv 's fics. She was such a stable and active fandom presence, running and modding and supporting events and activities. She was a prolific writer and a poster, and I will miss her regular life, reading and watching updates on my flist dearly. She was a kind, big-hearted person, who loved her family and pets, and welcomed people into her life without reservation. She had a kind comment for me often, on fic and real life updates both.
It is difficult to accept how someone was such a big part of your daily life and now there is very little opportunity for closure. It doesn't seem likespikedluv had anyone close IRL who would've been able to update her DW about her passing. We don't know what happened. She posted on the morning of her death, and obituary only says she passed in a hospital. An accident? A sudden heart-attack? Knowing wouldn't make a difference to the outcome but it's a human urge to find a reason.
On that note, please make sure a trusted person has a spare key to your online life, just in case. AO3 offers an option to set up a fannish next of kin. This article is a few years old but good starting point for information re various platforms (note UK legal context)
***
I'm incredibly saddened to learn about the sudden passing of
spikedluv earlier this month (obituary here and some comments on the latest post on her journal). I don't actually fully remember when I first met her but I suspect it was through
smallfandombang (I gather the participants are in the process of seeing if they can transfer the community control over), where I did some art on quite a few years, including on one of spikedluv 's fics. She was such a stable and active fandom presence, running and modding and supporting events and activities. She was a prolific writer and a poster, and I will miss her regular life, reading and watching updates on my flist dearly. She was a kind, big-hearted person, who loved her family and pets, and welcomed people into her life without reservation. She had a kind comment for me often, on fic and real life updates both.It is difficult to accept how someone was such a big part of your daily life and now there is very little opportunity for closure. It doesn't seem like
spikedluv had anyone close IRL who would've been able to update her DW about her passing. We don't know what happened. She posted on the morning of her death, and obituary only says she passed in a hospital. An accident? A sudden heart-attack? Knowing wouldn't make a difference to the outcome but it's a human urge to find a reason. On that note, please make sure a trusted person has a spare key to your online life, just in case. AO3 offers an option to set up a fannish next of kin. This article is a few years old but good starting point for information re various platforms (note UK legal context)
***
wow i actually drew a comic and it's only february
Feb. 14th, 2026 10:27 pmjavertHey everynyan! It's me, Samifer, posting... on Dreamwidth...
I'd really like to get back into the habit of checking my reading page... :') Maybe next week... In the meantime I thought I'd use this post to write down some stuff I'd like to get done soon:
- Start working on commission stuff I've been putting off (sketch for one; concept for other)
- Make a page for Citrus Con 2026
- Crosspost stuff I haven't crossposted to teamflare
- I'm like 99.99% sure there was something else I meant to include but now I can't remember it anymore
My hope is that my next post here will be my Official 2026 To-Do List (No Pressure But Still It Would Be Nice To Get That Stuff Done)... Until then, to try to get into the habit of posting art here, I'd like to crosspost my entry for perfworldweek! It's a comic I've had sketched out since December, but I used the ship week as an excuse to finally finish it. I think overall it took me a week-ish to make, which seems fair enough for a six-pages B&W comic with shading and some backgrounds.
I've actually been getting back into making comics FOR REAL since Legends Z-A came out, which is nice. Not all of them have been multiple pages long but I did draw a two-pages one, and I have two other thumbnailed (one is another two-pages one, the other is four-pages) which is more than I can say I've done comics-wise since like. 2022 probably. So, you know! Progress!
Anyway, here's the comic. Putting it under a cut and all of that. Be warned that it contains spoilers for Pokémon Legends Z-A!
( troisième homme )
The comic has also been posted on Bluesky, Tumblr, and even AO3, if you want to check it out there!
Another thing that's on my 2026 agenda already is finally archiving my old French fic on AO3... I've made a pact with a friend who's doing the same thing. I don't know if it's going to help but it's nice to have someone to back you up. We're doing a buddy goal on the app Finch (no idea if anybody else who's subscribed to me here uses it, but it's one of those habit tracking apps... you take care of a little bird... it's not guit-trippy at all which is cool. It's actually helped me build some morning habits, I think???)
That's about all I've got for today... I hope you're doing well, as usual! You should definitely check out what's been made for the ship week, there's some good stuff in there! \o/
40+6 icons for retro_icontest
Feb. 13th, 2026 05:11 pmtinnyThe current round at retro_icontest is the Icon Crossing round from somein30. I had been working on sets for 2023 and 2024 already, but never finished them. I'm using this round to post those icons I made then, along with the new ones. I also randomized new pairs for 2025 and made new crossover icons for those. As suspected, this was so much fun, and I made a lot more icons than expected. In fact, I don't think I've ever made this many icons for a contest in one month before. Some of them are hilarious crack! :D Luckily, retro_icontest has no upper limit, so here you go:
Enjoy!
05.
-> 
31.
-> 
32.
-> 
( 40+6 icons!! - Lots of Wu Lei PLUS 2 Heated Rivalry, 3 DMBJ, 2 Zhu Yilong, 1 Guardian, and 1 Bai Yu )
Comments are love - and concrit, too. <3 Take and use as many icons as you like, credit is appreciated. Texture and brush makers: here in my resource post.
Previous icon posts:
retro_icontest is the Icon Crossing round from somein30. I had been working on sets for 2023 and 2024 already, but never finished them. I'm using this round to post those icons I made then, along with the new ones. I also randomized new pairs for 2025 and made new crossover icons for those. As suspected, this was so much fun, and I made a lot more icons than expected. In fact, I don't think I've ever made this many icons for a contest in one month before. Some of them are hilarious crack! :D Luckily, retro_icontest has no upper limit, so here you go:Enjoy!
05.
->
31.
->
32.
->
( 40+6 icons!! - Lots of Wu Lei PLUS 2 Heated Rivalry, 3 DMBJ, 2 Zhu Yilong, 1 Guardian, and 1 Bai Yu )
Comments are love - and concrit, too. <3 Take and use as many icons as you like, credit is appreciated. Texture and brush makers: here in my resource post.
Wednesday What I'm...
Feb. 11th, 2026 11:14 pmreeby10Reading
- I read Lost Boys by Kaname Itsuki, which is a yaoi manga based on Peter Pan. It was... fine, idk. Not as interesting as it looked.
- Ficwise, I'm still bopping between JunDylan and VegasPete and having a good time :) Currently I'm reading a JunDylan fic called Too Aware, Regrettably Aroused by Polikuro. Enjoying it a lot!
- The roommate and I finished Boys in Love. Again, very cute and sweet! Wish PoddPapang would have gotten a bit more screentime, but I really did enjoy all the kids.
- The roommate and I watched The Wicked Game. The quality of this show was pretty garbage, but it was quite fun. I really liked DaouOffroad and I want to see more of them.
- The roommate and I started watching 2gether. Very fun so far! I love some fake dating with one side definitely having feelings and the other too dumb to notice lol
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Cat for Cash. Continues to be very cute.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Melody of Secrets. They seem to have wrapped everything up with one more episode to go so like... what's gonna happen now??
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Dare You to Death. I am so sure I know who the killer (or one of??) is and I am hype! Also, JoongDunk are so cute.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of My Romance Scammer. Very good! I love that things are already starting to get messy lol
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Duang with You. So silly and fun! Really enjoying TeeteePor.
- The roommate, best friend, and I watched the first episode of Yesterday. Interesting so far! I am digging FortPeat's vibe.
- This was the week for new music apparently! There have actually been several others, but these are the ones that have been stuck in my head:
- No Way by LYKN. Very catchy and I love the red velvet suits.
- Bad Boy No "DO" by CLO'VER. Also very catchy and cute.
- My No. 1 Duo by the Gen 5 DMD boys. Again, very catchy lol
- I wrote my Candy Hearts assignment. My first time writing this ship, and I think it came out very well!
- Wrote a little more on a Thundercloud Rainstorm fic.
- Also wrote a poem.
- I did the fourth lesson of Pimsleur's Thai. I'm starting to feel confident about being able to say a few full sentences, so that's nice. There's a couple of phrases I'm really struggling with, but hopefully they'll click eventually...
- Read some more articles about figure skating. There's a couple of books I'd like to read but I'm having a hard time finding copies, so we'll see.
Starfall Stories 52
Feb. 11th, 2026 08:31 pmthisbluespiritStill catching up on crossposting some rainbowfic:
Name: Sweet Interlude
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #11 (Marriage)
Supplies and Styles: Silhouette
Word Count: 2343
Rating: PG
Warnings: None?
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Leion Valerno/Viyony Eseray. (A rather slight linking piece).
Summary: Leion and Viyony attend a wedding.
rainbowfic:Name: Sweet Interlude
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #11 (Marriage)
Supplies and Styles: Silhouette
Word Count: 2343
Rating: PG
Warnings: None?
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Leion Valerno/Viyony Eseray. (A rather slight linking piece).
Summary: Leion and Viyony attend a wedding.
quick checking in!
Feb. 10th, 2026 01:53 amjavertDreamwidth is absolutely broken for me right now and I have no idea why LOL, but I wanted to make a post because it's been over a month and also I missed out on doing snowflake_challenge (which I am a bit sad about...) and ALSO there has been shit going down that pisses me off and if that could be the catalyst that gets me to blog again I would not complain.
2026 has been... something. In many ways!!! But I'm determined to keep on keeping on and to have a good time no matter what... I never did end up making that post looking back on 2025 or whatever it was I wanted to do, but maybe that's for the best in retrospect... I'd still kinda like to write down stuff I'd like to do over 2026 though. So maybe I'll try doing that once, huh... Dreamwidth fixes itself on my end... (If it's still broken tomorrow I'll try to figure that out, or something...)
In light of the ongoing attempts to Crack Down On Pornography I've also been contemplating posting some of that on here, especially stuff I'm not as inclined to share elsewhere right now lawl. So there might be some of that in the future? If there is, rest assured the "worst" of it will be posted under cuts with warnings and probably friends only. So there is that o7
Anyway I picked the worst time to make a post because it's almost 2am and I need to SLEEP but here's a further quick rundown...
1) I'm still so deep in the Corbeau/L mines you guys. Check out the chibi I drew for mycandyheartsex letter... I wanted to share it here a month ago and then I never ended up doing it so here it is now!!!
2) THE PROTOMEN ACT III CAME OUT AND I'M STILL FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT INTERNALLYYYYYYYY literally listening to it right now lol. I ordered a physical album but it's going to be delivered to a friend in the US so I won't get it until the summer... Also I was so excited to get it I didn't think to check the rest of the store and now I'm sad I didn't get the The Good Doctor Part 2 poster considering it literally features my ship </3 Maybe I'll try to get it later... But in the meantime you should look at it because it rules...
3) It's![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
perfworldweek right now!!! Actually saying this made me realize I forgot to advertize it starting on fandomcalendar today OOP. Maybe this is what I should do before going to bed actually lmao.
Okay this was chaotic as hell and I have no idea what it's going to look like considering how fucked up this is on my end but hopefully it's not too bad ??? I'll see you later o7 wait before I go you should check outpkmnkinkmeme if you haven't seen it yet... Okay now I'm leaving au revoir o7
snowflake_challenge (which I am a bit sad about...) and ALSO there has been shit going down that pisses me off and if that could be the catalyst that gets me to blog again I would not complain.2026 has been... something. In many ways!!! But I'm determined to keep on keeping on and to have a good time no matter what... I never did end up making that post looking back on 2025 or whatever it was I wanted to do, but maybe that's for the best in retrospect... I'd still kinda like to write down stuff I'd like to do over 2026 though. So maybe I'll try doing that once, huh... Dreamwidth fixes itself on my end... (If it's still broken tomorrow I'll try to figure that out, or something...)
In light of the ongoing attempts to Crack Down On Pornography I've also been contemplating posting some of that on here, especially stuff I'm not as inclined to share elsewhere right now lawl. So there might be some of that in the future? If there is, rest assured the "worst" of it will be posted under cuts with warnings and probably friends only. So there is that o7
Anyway I picked the worst time to make a post because it's almost 2am and I need to SLEEP but here's a further quick rundown...
1) I'm still so deep in the Corbeau/L mines you guys. Check out the chibi I drew for my
candyheartsex letter... I wanted to share it here a month ago and then I never ended up doing it so here it is now!!!2) THE PROTOMEN ACT III CAME OUT AND I'M STILL FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT INTERNALLYYYYYYYY literally listening to it right now lol. I ordered a physical album but it's going to be delivered to a friend in the US so I won't get it until the summer... Also I was so excited to get it I didn't think to check the rest of the store and now I'm sad I didn't get the The Good Doctor Part 2 poster considering it literally features my ship </3 Maybe I'll try to get it later... But in the meantime you should look at it because it rules...
3) It's
fandomcalendar today OOP. Maybe this is what I should do before going to bed actually lmao.Okay this was chaotic as hell and I have no idea what it's going to look like considering how fucked up this is on my end but hopefully it's not too bad ??? I'll see you later o7 wait before I go you should check out
pkmnkinkmeme if you haven't seen it yet... Okay now I'm leaving au revoir o7