schneefink

Last weekend on a whim I decided to listen to the first episode of The Magnus Protocol while running, and that worked well so I decided that I'll try to use it as motivation: I'm only allowed to listen to new episodes while running. Early results are promising, usually in winter I'm happy if I go running once a week but I was an episode behind so I went running again today even though it's a busy week. (Busy month, really. A significant part is because of fun things but I'm still tired a lot.) And the third episode already came out today so I have a plan for this weekend.

( spoilers for the first two episodes of TMAGP )

I used to regret not doing more to refresh my Russian because it would have made it easier to read so much Russian fic. Now I regret it because there are by far not enough Ukrainian- or Russian-speaking volunteers at the welcome center for Ukrainian refugees and I wish I could have been of more help. Unfortunately I expect I will have plenty of opportunities to practice. Of course it would be smart to study at home but I am not at all sure I will manage. I feel like I have no brain for most of anything at the moment. There is just… a lot.

Tomorrow I go back to work after my vacation and I'm not at all looking forward to it, but it has to happen at some point. The vacation was worth it though, Paris was great. We went to many museums and even the opera (I hadn't expected a version of Cinderella where the stepsisters are not evil but I enjoyed it.) One of the highlights were the catacombs, soo many bones and arranged in pretty patterns too.

Another highlight was listening to the last nine episodes of season 4 of The Magnus Archives with dhampyresa, who had managed to avoid all spoilers, and being able to watch her reactions during such wonderful moments as that reveal in #158 ("…what?! Wait, go back…") and all of #160. It's so nice to be able to share the excitement/suffering, and being able to pet a cat at the same time (well, sometimes) is a very nice bonus.

TMA finished, and I already miss it. The final episode worked for me, which was a relief. ( mild spoilers )

DD has been telling me about it for weeks, but this weekend I finally checked out Superman & Lois and to my surprise I enjoyed it quite a bit. I really like Clark and Lois and their relationship, and Jordan and Jonathan and theirs, and others like Chrissy and Lana are interesting. There seem to be quite a few plots going on and I look forward to how they will develop in the second half of the season (and a bit wary of there being too much but we will see.)

I did not get much done this weekend but I did go for a run on Saturday and a long walk on Sunday in the sunshine, that was very nice. We still don't know the details of the new lockdown – sorry, "easter rest" – that will start next week, but it's unlikely that I'll have home office again. The university already said that there will only be distance learning for the rest of the semester, which is understandable and sensible; but I hate online lectures, I find it so hard to concentrate. Hopefully I will become better at that.

I felt frustrated because I wanted to post about TMA #187 but I haven't finished writing reviews for episodes #177-186, and only then did I realize that I don't have to write or post those first, I'm not actually obligated to review every episode. I'd still like to, there were some great episodes, but I can do that later. (Great excuse for a re-listen during the upcoming next hiatus, for example.)

So, #187! ( Spoilers for Checking Out )
Just over a dozen episodes left!
(I remembered why I stopped writing these reviews: they always end up taking longer than I expected.)

New TMA episode this week! I'm excited.
The break went over faster than I thought, but I still have time to do the TMA vid recs post I planned. (Most of them are on YouTube and called "animatics," but *shrugs*) There are many great ones, but these are my favorites of the ones I've found.
Spoilers until the end of season 4 for all of them.

The Riddle by Yan A
Song: "The Riddle" by Terry Mann, from The Scarlet Pimpernel
Summary/theme: For we all are caught in the middle of one long treacherous riddle…
Why I love it: A beautiful ballroom dance of suspicion and cautious trust and betrayal.

jon loves martin but he won't say he's in love by Blossombun
Song: I Won't Say I'm in Love - Susan Egan (from Disney's Hercules)
Summary/theme: *points at title*
Why I love it: The facial expressions and body language are so wonderfully expressive :D

Villains by Arazmis
Song: Villains Pt 1 by Emma Blackery
Summary/theme: "Welcome to the show." A tragedy.
Why I love it: Fantastic tragic horror atmosphere.

show yourself by Blossombun
Song: Show Yourself, Frozen 2
Summary/theme: Fantasy/archaeology AU, "jon goes on a wacky adventure in a spooky cave"
Why I love it: It starts a bit slow but builds up and has a great ( spoiler ) ending.

Are You Out There? by imperfectcircle
Song: Are You Out There? by Dar Williams
Summary/theme: A lo-fi Jon/Martin fanvid
Why I love it: I can't remember seeing a fanvid done like this before, with arranged paper drawings stop motion animation, but I love it, it makes for some great effects, and overall this is just lovely.

touch tone telephone by corpuscentauri
Song: Touch-Tone Telephone by Lemon Demon
Summary/theme: "Michael"
Why I love it: This is really captivating and a great Michael vid.

More TMA vid recs welcome :)

I've recently become more interested in trying out different RPGs, so I decided to support Wait For Me on Kickstarter, a 22-day journaling game about time travel and connection where you travel through your own timeline. That sounded too introspective for my taste, but then I got the idea of playing it as fanfic and that sounded like a lot of fun. I decided on Gerard Keay, and I convinced DD to play as Lan Wangji. We got the first prompt today!

Wait For Me, by Gerard Keay
Fandom: The Magnus Archives
Chapters: 1/22
Additional tags: Repeated time travel, canon-divergence (probably)
Summary: ( cut for TMA #111 spoilers )

I have no idea where this is going, but I look forward to finding out! Playing parallel with DD makes it even more fun, since it already looks like her fic (Wait For Me by Lan Zhan) and mine will be very different. I intend to post daily, fingers crossed I can keep it up.
(If the game sounds interesting you can still join now, or buy it later.)

I started writing this over a year ago. I finished a first version, but wasn't quite happy with it and never posted it; and then TMA #167 came out and I immediately realized what I could add to make it better.

Last Edition
2.2k, gen, spoilers up to #167
Summary: Gertrude and Mary have one last conversation.

I must have listened to "First Edition" two dozen times trying to get their voices right... At least I find it easier with an audio source.

More (short) TMA episode reviews. I love the show, but it is a tragedy and some weeks that's easier to deal with than others.
These episodes were a great showcase of how much the effect of each episode depends on what connection I have to the fears featured.

( 169: Fire Escape )

( 170: Recollections )

( 171: The Gardener )


And as an aside, I'm generally not interested in TMA RPF, but I'm so amused I can't help but point out that "not just for the sake of some audio" doesn't mean never.

I'm very busy with uni stuff rn, that's why I didn't get around to making a post for last week's TMA episode. Well, in theory. In practice I'm doing way too much procrastinating (…tomorrow is going to be busy) so I thought I could at least procrastinate by doing things I meant to do anyway.

( #163 In the Trenches )


( #164 The Sick Village )