glass_icarus | Reading

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/kpop-demon-hunters-wins-grammy-for.html

And Other Items of Note From Angry Asian America.

A Victory for 'Golden' Gives K-Pop Its First Ever Grammy Win

It's not the Idol Awards, but the Grammys ain't bad. "Golden," the anthemic smash hit from Kpop Demon Hunters, has become the first ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy Award. Performed by EJAE (who also co-wrote the song), Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, aka Huntr/x, it won Best Song Written for Visual Media. It was also nominated in three other categories, including Song of the Year. (Alas, Billie Eilish.) Still, things are looking pretty "Golden" for the Oscars next month...

Pardoned auto shop owner freed after rare government reversal

A day after Fong Khang received a pardon from the state of Minnesota, his mug shotlanded on a federal website touting “More Worst of Worst" arrests, packaged between photos of two convicted murderers and two sex offenders. Khang was freed January 28, after seven days in detention, when federal officials deviated from their usual practice and agreed to support his wrongful detention case.

Letter From Minnesota: "If They Take Me and Leave the Children..."

"All these years, that has been my goal. As a writer, I’ve tried hard to tell the stories of my people and others who have fled their homes in search of safety and a future, and now all these years later, I find myself wondering if I still have a home here in Minnesota, in America, in the world of the people who get to decide who is valuable and who is not, who belongs and who does not, who lives and who dies."

Playwright Keiko Green On Pulling Her Play from the Kennedy Center

Last month, Seattle Children's Theatre announced their decision to pull their two-week run of the play Young Dragon: A Bruce Lee Story from the Kennedy Center due to the impact of the Trump administration. Playwright Keiko Green talks about the decision, the fallout and the future of the play.

Kpop Demon Hunters Socks

And now you get these sweet Kpop Demon Hunters Socks. Pre-order from MADMIA

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/kpop-demon-hunters-wins-grammy-for.html

tielan

Yes, I'm back with the Georgian trip!

Day 1: Overview | Day 2: Vashlovani Nature Reserve | Day 3: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

-----

The night of the Jvari Monastery and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (still Wednesday) we stayed in a little vineyard tucked away in the back of beyond, which required a hike along rough tracks and up and down roads. Our luggage was (thankfully) taken by a very old jeep - Soviet era, we were told. It surely looked it!

A B&B up in the mountains

The vineyard had been owned by a former church minister, and they were still doing it up. The road there was a little rough, and a few of the women struggled somewhat with the path.

There was also almost no signal.

But there were kittens!

This night was a particularly bad case of "we can't eat anything, we're too stuffed full of food". I didn't even take photos of the food, I was so full!

And the next morning was no better.

Ruins and vineyards and buildings on the walk back down to where the bus awaited us in the morning:

Thursday: Uplistsikhe

Yeah, it's a bit of a mouthful...

Uplistsikhe Rock Village dates back to the 2nd Century BC, and translates to 'God's Fortress'.

The carvings and design of it indicate both pagan and Christian residency (a pagan temple's fire altars were filled in when the community converted to Christianity and the space used as a chapel/cathedral), and multiple cultural influences from outside Georgia are indicated by its architecture and decoration before it was sacked in the 12th Century by the Mongols.

There was so much of it to see, but we only had an hour, so it was a very truncated tour of a really interesting historical site.

And I spent long enough in the chapel that I and my roomie (only other non-American on the tour, apart from the 'host' who was local, and the 'organiser' who was ) lost the rest of the group on the way out of the site. I found the chapel particularly fascinating to me for the black Madonna-and-Child portrait, the layout of the space, and the "drooping arms" cross symbol, which is representative of St Nino's grapevine cross she carried to Georgia when she brought Christianity to that part of the world.

Oh yes, and the black Madonna and child!

No, not me! (I just realised the juxtaposition of the photos. XD XD)

More seriously, there was a woman in the chapel who was praying or observing her pilgrimage. I had to be quiet while she was there and even after she left, I had to be quiet because there was a woman manning the shop right outside the door. *sigh*

I find it a bit restricting, actually, that the chapels and cathedrals all demand silence of you. There are times for silence, of course. But there's also time to sing and be joyful - to shout to the Lord! To everything a time and a season, as Ecclesiastes declares. I did manage to sing a hymn in a chapel in Positano, Italy and that was fun!

Anyway, there was a tunnel we missed out on seeing because we didn't work out where the rest of the group went, and then we got stuck at the top and ended up having to go back down the way we came, whereupon we met the rest of the group and went along to the bus.

On the way to lunch, we passed through the city of Gori, which is Stalin's birthplace. Many of the older Americans wanted to hop out and have a look at it, and I hopped out because the architecture looked really interesting!

C'mon, tell me this isn't fascinating to the daughter of an architect!

Gori: birthplace of Stalin

The location is the house in which he was born. The neighbourhood was "bought out" (*cough cough* we know how that goes in the west, now imagine it in Soviet Georgia!) and everything else razed to bring you...this edifice of stone and magnificence...

The Americans exclaimed over the details of Stalin's life. Me? I looked around at the architecture (very interesting, oddly beautiful for what I think of as 'communist brutalism') and then out at the public gardens surrounding it, and the Georgian national flag flapping in the wind. And I turned to our Georgia guide, grinned, and said "Stalin would have hated it." And she grinned back.

It was pretty much a fifteen minute stop because we were already kind of late to lunch. But then, we were still kind of full from the previous night and breakfast, so it's not like we were rushing to get to eat!

--

Lunch at Sisters-in-Law winery. The owner used to be in the diplomatic service, but married a guy whose family owned land out in the countryside and now runs a restaurant that they built out of reclaimed everything. All the bricks, all the wood, all the furnishings found and repaired and now reused. It's very permaculture.

books and food and activism against an oppressive government: what it can look like

They're also very socially active (also very permaculture) to the point where they decided to close the restaurant this summer, because they wanted to participate in local protests against pro-Russia government and they were worried about retaliation. That's a dedication to the cause. There were assorted signs and stickers around the place that showed the sentiment of the younger generation about Russia, but the older generations often recall the good times of the Soviet Union and want that back.

Sounds a bit familiar, really.

They definitely had some permaculture books...

Also, there was a wine there that was absolutely amazing, and honestly I'd have shipped an entire crate of it back home except they didn't have any left over from that batch! *sigh*

A beautiful place with a beautiful couple doing good, solid things in the world.

--

Kutaisi
At this point, my memories are growing a little fuzzy. I shouldn't have put off typing this up for so long, and since I've been back, a lot has happened!

But I do remember that the dinner in Kutaisi was a bit ordinary, all things considered...

A walking bridge, quite close to where we were staying, and the last light of day.

rydra_wong

Artorias is a DLC boss.

Beating the final boss of Dark Souls puts you straight into New Game Plus, so you need to do the DLC first, but yeah. I have in fact completed the base game up until you enter the last area. And there is a general consensus that the final boss is not the hardest in the game.

The DLC bosses are all substantially harder than the base game ones, and I have two more left, so it remains to be seen whether I can beat them, but at this point the odds look decent that I will at least be able to finish the base game.

I would like to remind you all that my initial goal was to see if I could beat the tutorial.

starlady

Festivids went live on Saturday! I have still not watched most of the vids because I was at an Alex Pretti memorial bike ride on Saturday and then at some transit activist events on Sunday and I am trying to also do an Escapade premiere, but what I have watched has been great. And I got a great gift vid!

[VID] Find Your People (9 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Prodigy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Gwyndala (Star Trek), Jankom Pog, Dal R'el, Zero (Star Trek), Rok-Tahk, Murf (Star Trek), Hologram Janeway (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Crew as Family, Fanvids
Summary: You can't go it alone, everybody needs help

Really there can never be enough Star Trek: Prodigy vids as far as I'm concerned, and this one is full of great character moments and team/found family feels.

I myself made two Festivids this year, which means I'm already at 100% above my vid production for 2025, so I am very happy about that.

musesfool

Bridgerton season 4, part 1: ( spoilers )

So yeah, I definitely think this season has been firing on all cylinders (excellent musical choices as well, especially the Paramore cover), and thankfully we only have to wait a few weeks for part 2.

*

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Stray Italian Greyhound - Vienna Teng

tielan

pipe bombs in perth

Finally on the 26th of January ("Australia Day"), there was an Indigenous protest march in Perth.

During the march, someone threw a pipe bomb into the crowd. It was packed with metal shards and nails and suchlike. He failed to light it correctly so it didn't explode.

He was white. He was a he. That's all we know about it. And even that was mostly reported by the people who bring online news commentary, rather than mainstream media. (I saw it first with Cheek Media, myself.) You know why? Because "we aren't putting out his name because he is accused of..."

FUCK THAT SIDEWAYS WITH A RUSTY SPORK.

They had ZERO compulsion about publishing the names of the Bondi terrorists.

But a terrorist action done by a white guy? (It wasn't even billed as 'a terrorist action'. Well, excuse me for bloody well thinking that a FUCKING HOMEMADE PIPE BOMB tossed into a group of people who are supporting a particular racial identity isn't 'a terrorist action'.)

Oh no, can't publish his name!

conservatives, right wing, and please let our electoral system hold

In other political news in Australia, our 'right wing' is going down. Hard. Not only is their current leader (she's technically a "conservative moderate" and has lasted since the election) on the way out, but the Racists And Arseholes Party (known more conventionally as 'Pauline Hanson's One Nation') is on the rise - at least in sentiment. Whether that sentiment can gather the centre-to-right-wing conservatives in Australia is another question.

Our holding institutions right now are pretty much the Australian Electoral Commission and common decency, but how long those will hold is another matter. Watching what is happening in the US, being told what is happening by billionaires who own all the media properties, having a point of view RAILROADED through thanks to a lack of media discernment, and general outrage headlines...

I can't see my conservative friends here in my electorate (strongly conservative - one of the very few suburban electorates that hasn't gone "Teal") voting PHON. And they have to vote, and they can vote for the "least worst" option - ie. preferences. Plus, we have a very large percentage of "not born here" Aussies in this electorate, possibly one of the reasons that Old Guy down the road (and a bit further in) has his house decorated with PHON and Trump flags. Yes, Trump flags. In Australia.

Great moogly googly.

Anyway, we know the guy - he stumped up on Election Day 2025, put his little sandwich board up, stuck a plastic sleeve with the "Trumpet Of Patriots" party 'how to vote' card on, and went away.

That sleeve was touched pretty much twice. Once by one of us volunteers for the other parties gingerly looking to see what they'd recommended (even the conservative volunteers were eyeing it like it was fresh dogshit), and then once by a woman from the AEC whose job it was to go around collecting the 'how to vote' cards for each party in each electorate, so that the AEC could archive them.

We left the sandwich board after we packed everything away, and it was gone the next night.

In the end, hard right-wing support isn't non-existent, and probably never will be, but the current state of world politics, where right wing conservative parties get hollowed out by hard right wing racist fucks is sincerely worrying. I've never thought Australia is immune, but it's a worrying trend to finally witness happening, even if nothing comes of it. Grievance politics is hell on the system.

Maybe it mitigates with mandatory enrolment and preferential voting - we can hope - but if it does, that's on the system and the institution, not on anything else. Heaven knows the parties and the politicians are NOT HELPING.

NOT. HAPPY. JAN.

tielan

Some thoughts I put down at the time, and which I'm going to store here.

( Bondi Massacre: shortly after - the aftermath )

--

( a few weeks later/now a few weeks ago )

kaberett

Reading. Successfully completed the rereads of The Human Division and The End of All Things, and moved on to The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi. ( Read more... )

I did appreciate the way that the time elapsed in series-internal chronology and between publications matched nicely; that all felt very Correct on a hindbrain level.

And some unpublished poetry I'm not able to share but really want to, because it's very good.

Writing. The put-some-words-in take-some-words-out dance continues.

Watching. Bits of Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, and also Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, because the Child is having a special interests and his special interests include Howard Stark playing dad rock and also not being a terrible father.

Playing. We finished ridiculous puzzle #1! We spent a bunch of the afternoon working out how all the disparate rooms we'd managed to build fit together. It was bullshit, and extremely satisfying.

The Inkulinati run with the Exploders set-up continues astonishingly easy except, weirdly, against Hildegard.

Cooking. Extremely pleased with the results of the experiment of boiling swede + parsnip + carrot up with a tea strainer containing rosemary, slightly crushed black pepper, and a crushed clove of garlic (and indeed cooking it all the way to Basically All The Liquid's Gone in order to keep the flavours in). Will attempt to remember the fundamental principle of bouquet garni for next time I need to do this, if there is a next time.

Exploring. A bit of time in the City of London, during which I discovered that at least some of the lions on the Bank of England are sticking their tongues out.

Observing. Great tits at my mother's! Roe deer (I think) and a hare at The New Site. A Very Dramatic Moon.

Growing. Sciarid nematodes arrived and applied. Both orchids Definitely Thinking About Flowering. Jalapeño plants both conclusively dead but jalapeños themselves all harvested (whether I get around to smoking them is a different question).

siria

I'm so glad I brought an extra large quantity of tea back with me this time. A hot cup of tea is one of the few things getting me through the cold outside.

( Agatha Christie's Seven Dials )

( When Harry Met Sally )

redbird posting in

thisfinecrew

After a very quiet couple of months on this community, there were 16 posts in January. I’m not posting a round-up: this is a check-in poll, including space in the comments to discuss reither what you’ve done recently, or what you’re planning to do.

Also, I just noticed the comment from a month ago that we would probably need a Venezuela tag. If you need a tag added, please DM me.

Poll #34160 February check-in

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 25

View Respondents

In the last couple of months, I

View Answers

called one or both of my senators
15 (60.0%)

called my member of Congress
11 (44.0%)

called my governor
8 (32.0%)

called my mayor, state representative, or other local official
1 (4.0%)

voted
1 (4.0%)

did get-out-the-vote work, such as postcarding or phone banking
0 (0.0%)

sent a postcard/letter/email/fax to a government official or agency
12 (48.0%)

went to a protest
8 (32.0%)

attended an in-person activist group
4 (16.0%)

went to a town hall
0 (0.0%)

participated in phone or online training
4 (16.0%)

participated in community mutual aid
8 (32.0%)

donated money to a cause
18 (72.0%)

worked for a campaign
0 (0.0%)

did text banking or phone banking
0 (0.0%)

took care of myself
13 (52.0%)

not a US citizen, but worked in solidarity in my community
3 (12.0%)

committed to action in the current month
8 (32.0%)

did something else--tell us in comments
5 (20.0%)

As usual, you can comment on the pinned post or DM me if you want a tag added or other help with the community.

siria

The Long Goodbye
The Pitt | Gen | ~1200 words | Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for reading over this.

(Also on AO3)

( Dana has something to tell Robby. )

tielan

"Lamech, son of Methushael, said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me."

It's disproportionate violence to the imago dei, not merely sanctifying one over the other, but eliminating the other for daring to risk the one.

The ancient world said "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: as you have done, so shall it be done to you". We know the pattern of that through history. Blood feuds. Honour prices. Duels.

Our modern codes demand justice, yes, but part of the intent was to give grace for betterment or improvement. It was not a hand for a hand, nor even a hand for stealing, but a limitation for a while with the chance to make better. And sometimes people did manage to work out how to make better than they'd done.

And sometimes we just returned them to the situations they were in, that turned them back to the practices that got them in trouble, without any attempt to change what went wrong the first time.

Which worked about as well as one would expect.

Anyway, here we are, back at the violence of Lamech of the line of Cain - Cain who was marked by the blood of his brother, one like to him but unlike to him, also. Disproportionate violence to be visited on the 'lesser' - a hand for a injury, a life for an interruption.

Truly, humanity doesn't change, just goes round the block again with a fancier set of tools.

tielan

Went boating yesterday with friends. 33C-ish? Bright sun. Blue water. Good days.

I tried my hand at waterskiing again - at 430pm in the afternoon. A bit late for it, I think. After two tries, the skis came off, and I gave up. Earlier in the day, I'd have kept going because I was very nearly up on my feet! But by that stage, I didn't have the energy. Next time, gadget!

I may be a little sunburned, but it's mostly a 'glow' that will fade to a tan within a day or two. Then again, the temps are still pretty warm - today is supposed to be 30C, while tomorrow and Tuesday drop to the low-20s. Back up to 30s again later in the week, and then we settle into late 20s for (hopefully) the rest of the month. That'll make it nice and warm, but not enervatingly hot.

Anyway, I came home around 6pm, showered and washed my hair, played a little CivII, and lay down...

I vaguely remember the sisters on a call with Dad, and possibly removing the cats? I'm not entirely sure about that part. But I did pretty much fall asleep and dream, and then woke up properly around 6am this morning.

My body ached. Oof, waterskiing is hard, a lot of bracing needed. I felt it lightly in my shoulders and my core, that's for sure!

Anyway, I had to be up for some weekend work at 7:30 - about an hour's worth of stuff, standard things, nothing dire - and did some cooking, and a bit more CivII this morning.

Now that it's nearly 2pm, I might lay down for a nap. Again.

musesfool

I should have done the boiling milk in the new pot thing last night, but I didn't so my bread-baking was a little delayed until I did that, waited for the pot to cool, and cleaned it, so the dough could do its second rise in it. The dough does rise, so that was not an issue at all. I might have overcooked it a titch - the bottom was a darker brown than I'd prefer - but it's a beautiful boule (pic). It only tasted okay, though, I guess we'll see how it tastes tomorrow and the day after, and with butter instead of cream cheese. *hands*

Then this afternoon I watched the Miracle on Ice documentary on Netflix, which was really good - that team is the reason I became a hockey fan, and specifically a Rangers fan, so they have a lot to answer for! Kidding! I'm kidding. It was lovely to see so many of them in the present, watching them watch their younger selves.

And then after dinner, I watched the s3 premiere of Shrinking, which made me laugh a lot and also tear up. They are all so ridiculous and I love them. And I read it already got renewed for a season 4! So that's good.

I also did the January recs update:

unfitforsociety has been updated for January 2026 with 17 story recs and 1 vid rec in 3 fandoms:

* 16 Heated Rivalry
* 1 The Good Place story and 1 Avatar the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra vid

If you are reading HR fic, there is probably nothing new there for you, since most of those recs came from you all, but maybe there's something new for you to enjoy? I still have so much Batfamily fic open in tabs that I want to get back to reading, and still more HR fic and some Pitt fic open as well. I've just been mostly unable to settle in with any of it, and have instead been slowly continuing my DCC reread, with occasional notes. *hands*

*

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Not Enough Time - INXS

$unfitforsociety: (fractal swirls)$

unfitforsociety

Heated Rivalry

Adopt/Adapt by

aRegularJo
Yuna has questions. Ilya doesn't have answers.

Or

Ilya needs a mother. Luckily, Yuna is mother. <333

Duty of Care by

boopboop
"My father was very fair," Ilya says immediately, and it's got the rigid, almost mechanical emphasis of something practiced a thousand times. "If I was bad, I pay price. No problem."

"I think maybe we have a different definition of the word fair."

"Yes," Ilya admits. "Probably. Shane thinks so." Lovely look at David and Yuna caring for Ilya.

english as a second language by

Idday
Shane's been fucking Ilya Rozanov for a decade and yet somehow the more time they spend together the more he realizes how little he actually knows about Ilya, like, as a person. As a partner.

Again, he wishes he spoke Russian. That they had any shared native language besides sex and hockey. Really lovely.

from the cold by

stammiviktor
He was going to cry.

He was crying into Yuna's porridge. He was crying in front of David Hollander. Maybe if he did not move, David would not notice? This was ridiculous. It was just that Ilya was so full of feelings and they needed somewhere to leak from. They soaked his face and he licked them off of his lips. He was so hungry and depleted of electrolytes that they almost tasted good. Yuna and David take care of Ilya while he's sick. Oh heart.

Good by

ShanaStoryteller
The second dinner goes better than the first.

(Shane is his mother's son.) This is a super sweet look at Shane and his mom (and Ilya and Shane's dad). <3

how do you feel? by

exogenesissymph
Shane Hollander, interviewee, throughout the years. Nice look at Shane and his relationship with the media over the years.

how your garden grows by

moonsock
5 people who were pleasantly surprised by ilya rozanov Lovely!

I Like Jane For You by

Icopythefax
After a mix-up leaves Hayden with the wrong phone for three days, he ends up learning more about Ilya Rozanov and his secret girlfriend, Jane. I literally laughed out loud repeatedly while reading this. <3

It's hard but it's harder to ignore it by

losernotfound
the missing scene of David and Ilya while Shane and Yuna were talking outside. <333

Keep Pace by

toomuchplor
What happened when Yuna and Shane were talking. Quiet and lovely.

Messaging: Boston Lily by

HollowIsTheWorld
In which Hayden reaches out to Boston Lily about Shane's condition after he goes down on the ice. Despite his curiosity, he's determined not to pry... But things come out all the same. Oh boys...good thing Hayden is a good bro.

on the shoulders of giants by

theclaravoyant
After the MLH awards, Scott is surprised by a... well-wisher?
World Famous Asshole Ilya Rozanov Oh heart.

Rules for Survival by

Hatchigo
Shane's anxiety came from Yuna. What if Yuna went to the cottage instead of David? Lovely and plausible look at Yuna Hollander.

text me when you see this by

emilystopflying
Shane and Svetlana start texting. This made me laugh out loud.

The Waiting Game by

Rizandace
Hayden Pike and Ilya Rozanov are waiting for Shane to wake up after he took a bad hit on the ice. They get to talking. Aw, this is lovely.

You Have (81) Unread Messages by

Ravenesta
Sarah
Does anyone have the number for Shane's girl from Boston? I feel bad that they've been seeing each other for this long and we've never added her here.

Jackie
Oh good point! Let me ask Hayden.

Jackie has added Lily to the conversation

Lily
what
what is this FANTASTIC! <3

✭

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: ME! - Taylor Swift feat. Brendon Urie

unfitforsociety

The Good Place

Icarus by

shrift
Attempt #479 aka Chidi and the series of escalating disappointments. <333

✭

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Vids

We Didn't Start the Fire by

beccatoria
Excellent AtLA/LoK vid - perfect for this song!

✭

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Spirits in the Night - Bruce Springsteen

siria

Peachy
The Pitt | Gen | ~1100 words | Missing scene for 2.04. Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for betaing.

(Also on AO3)

( And there Joy had been thinking that the worst part of her day would be the constant stream of updates in the group chat about all the fun that everyone else was having without her. )

sanguinity

David Macaulay, Ship (1993)

Lengthy (96 pages!) illustrated for-older-readers children's book detailing an underwater archaeology expedition to investigate the wreck of a fifteenth-century caravel, finishing with a builder's journal documenting the caravel's construction. Lots of information about archaeological planning, research, and methods, followed by a similarly detailed section on historic ship construction. The illustrations and diagrams are as information-rich as the text. (When reading this aloud to

grrlpup, I often stopped to elaborate further on some detail in the drawings.) For a fully-illustrated picture book, the reading level is fairly advanced (verbose and with lots of specialized vocabulary), providing lots of opportunity for an older child to nerd out undisturbed. (An older child -- or me!)

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Paladin of Souls (2003)

Immediate sequel to The Curse of Chalion, plus a few years. Our point-of-view character is someone who was mostly dismissed in the first novel for alleged madness -- and in fact, her early motivations are wholly about getting out from under the "protection" of people who think she's mad.

Of course, once she does get out, adventures start being had. And she's mad about it, because she wasn't planning on having adventures, she just wanted to have a nice life being left alone on her own terms. Alas.

Ripping yarn, I liveblogged most of it to

phoenixfalls as I read it, things kept snowballing in that classically Bujold way, and much like in The Curse of Chalion we were a good ways into it before figuring out what the larger plot ultimately even was. There were a number of moments that made me laugh out loud. (When she experimentally kisses the literally too-handsome-for-his-own-good guy to see if it will break a spell, and he isn't fazed in the least, just kisses her back as if this happens every so often and he considers it "impolite to duck".) Ista reminds me more than a little bit of Cordelia, and I wouldn't call that a bad thing.

Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore (2025) -- DNF

I don't usually post about my DNFs (Did Not Finish), because why bother, but I did read about half of this, and was hugely conflicted.

( Did Not Finish )

Anyway, it's a month overdue and four hundred people are waiting for it at the library, and I keep thinking about other books on my tbr list that I want to read but I "have to" read this one first. Boo. I hate it when I can see the book I would have found compelling around the margins of the book the author actually chose to write.

angry_asian_man_feed

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/01/they-call-us-minnesota-nice-but-not-for.html

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.

What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

In this episode, we welcome poet/author/activist Bao Phi and Minnesota Star Tribune columnist Laura Yuen to discuss the ongoing and escalating crackdown by federal immigration operations in Minnesota. They talk about Laura's recent piece about her family and their citizenship; the temperature on the street, particularly in the wake of recent killings by ICE agents; the widespread fear and uncertainty among community members just trying to move through their lives; and the kindness of everyday Minnesotans who are helping each other survive the siege. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of being in Minnesota right now. This episode is sponsored by Chinese Republicans, a new play from Roundabout Theatre Company.

Read more »

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/01/they-call-us-minnesota-nice-but-not-for.html

ursamajor

Our choir director, giving us pronunciation notes in rehearsal this week: "We don't want to say 'NIEW-born child,' it's too nasal for our character. NOO-born child. Like, 'ooh, a baby!'"
Me, filters obliterated: "Well, of course, you don't say 'ew, a baby!'"
A: *overhears me, cracks up, can't stop laughing for like the next three minutes*

*

H, upon arrival in Albuquerque: "... why is there snow in New Mexico?!"
Me: "It's a mile above sea level! It's like Denver!"
H: "I thought it was going to be like the Bay Area, or Phoenix."
Me: "I did tell you to bring a jacket."
H: "Isn't like how you always tell me to bring a jacket and I'm usually fine without?"
Me: "Do you wanna build a snowman?"
H: "NO."

*

Weather reports out of Boston are crowing over the second major snowstorm incoming this week, bombogenesis over the Atlantic, and many of my friends there are freaking out about how this is happening on such a similar schedule to Snowpocalypse 2015. Though the current bet is that it'll probably remain out at sea and miss the New England coast for anything but a few more sprinkles.

While I am actually a bit envious of all of the pictures of the deep, freshly-fallen snow people have been posting, I'm also really, really glad that I don't have to shovel snow anymore. That I don't have to penguin-walk everywhere trying not to slip on black ice. That when I bike home at night, my fingers may complain (I was wearing gloves!), but 25 years in New England taught me to layer a wool sweater and a puffer vest. That I'm plucking lemons off the tree from our front porch - in January - and incorporating them into lemon chicken for dinner and wild rice pancakes for breakfast. (Said wild rice pancakes: I took Molly Yeh's recipe and accidentally doubled the wild rice, added cardamom and lemon zest, and grabbed a jar of cloudberry compote for ease of portability/topping; brought them to a breakfast picnic with bike friends this morning instead of our usual coffee because of the general strike.)

In related news, boston dot com posted a list of Boston's top 11 biggest snowstorms by accumulation since they started keeping track, and I was there for most of them, ahahaha.

1. February 17-18, 2003 - 27.6". This was right after Andrew and I had broken up, and I was absolutely blaming the giant snowstorm on him, hahaha. 😁 I lived in an apartment in the Fenway at this point, so thankfully I didn't have to shovel, and aside from having to go to work, mostly got to sit in my apartment and mope dreamily out the window, like the heroine in a romance novel at the nadir.

4. March 31-April 1, 1997 - 25.4". I'd gone to Boston for the weekend with college friends and escaped back to the Pioneer Valley just as the snow started falling. College dorm living sitch, so I didn't have to shovel, but whatever they used to keep the paths vaguely clear smelled like rotting bananas and soy sauce, and this was the kind of thing I got to learn about in my first New England winter, hahaha.

5. Blizzard of 2005 - January 22-24 - 25.4". I'd moved to an apartment in Porter, didn't have to shovel, but we had prime views out our window of people stumbling to the White Hen. I would, however, move into a place with a private patio later that year, which would require me to begin shoveling myself out in order to take the trash out. At least I also began dating a guy who had to shovel himself out, and we could commiserate together!

6. February 8-9, 2013 - 24.9" . Our final winter in Roxbury, where most of our shoveling was stairs, but a loooot of them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/VkNcd8iRrS/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
https://www.instagram.com/p/VkMsdvCRqB/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
https://www.instagram.com/p/VhsUnoCRlF/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

7. January 26-28, 2015 - 24.6".

9. February 7-9, 2015 - 23.1". These last two were part of Snowpocalypse 2015, and if you used one particular entrance to the Minuteman Trail to get to Alewife that winter, THANK ME AND

hyounpark FOR SHOVELING, because the snowplow drivers kept dumping all the neighborhood snow in the culdesac at the foot of our street and blocking path access! (As is, we couldn't get our car out of the driveway until like May.) And no, we did not have a snowblower, no place to store one. I had buff-ass biceps that winter. :P

And now the word "shoveling" sounds like technobabble since I've used it so much this post.

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: it's been falling all day long

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angry_asian_man_feed - Kpop Demon Hunters Wins a Grammy for "Golden"
tielan - travel: Georgia - Uplistsikhe and Kutaisi
rydra_wong - I FORGOT TO MENTION
starlady - Festivids!
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tielan - a couple of weeks old now
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tielan - we've reached Lamech, I see
tielan - summer heat, boating tired, and small things
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Page generated Feb. 3rd, 2026 08:58 am

then there are blackbirds

in a heaven of blackbirds

Reading

Kpop Demon Hunters Wins a Grammy for "Golden"

travel: Georgia - Uplistsikhe and Kutaisi

I FORGOT TO MENTION

Festivids!

this feeling calls for everything I can’t afford to know

thoughts on news thingies from the last week

a couple of weeks old now

vital functions

2585 / Seven Dials; When Harry Met Sally

February check-in poll

2584 / Fic - The Pitt

we've reached Lamech, I see

summer heat, boating tired, and small things

attempting to make sense of my aching heart

I never leave well enough alone

too loose to fake it

2583 / Fic - The Pitt

Recent Reading

They Call Us Minnesota Nice... But Not For ICE

the snow is coming down on our new england town

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November 2022

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