disgracetoscholars | Member Posts

Now that the word's gone out round these parts about our dear friend MM, I have access-locked the entry per request of her significant other.

Please consider access-locking your entries for now, to honour her wishes.

Hugs to all of you. <333

(Comments are screened, if you wish to discuss anything, or feel free to private message.)

full_metal_ox

Current Mood: desolate

2 January 1976 - 3 March 2026.

(Image source: Shagai (October 2007), by Yaan on Wikimedia Commons; manipulated through the decisions of a conscious sapient being using https://ezgif.com and https://www.lunapic.com/editor/)

extrapenguin

While I didn't have any song titles in all lowercase, I do have some in all uppercase! All by the same band! So I picked the one with a music video.

a song title that is in all uppercase
Illumishade - ELEGY

Watch on YouTube

These guys are more on the symphonic rock end. Very light and soothing.

Another Side of You by Illumishade came out in Feb 2024.

prompts under the cut

a song you discovered this month
a song that makes you smile
a song that makes you cry
a song that you know all the lyrics of
a song that proves that you have good taste
~~a song title that is in all lowercase~~ newest release
a song title that is in all uppercase
an underrated song
a song that has three words
a song from your childhood
a song that reminds you of summertime
a song that you feel nostalgic to
the first song that plays on shuffle
a song that someone showed you
a song from a movie soundtrack
a song from a television soundtrack
a song about being 17
a song that reminds you of somebody
a song to drive to
a song with a number in the title
a song that you listen to at 3am in the morning
a song with a long title
a song with a color in the title
a song that gets stuck in your head
a song in a different language
a song that helps you fall asleep at night
a song that describes how you feel right now
a song that you used to hate but love today
a song that you downloaded
a song that you want to share

tinny

TV finished

Nothing, sob.

Okay, maybe I could count the complete video of Wu Lei's birthday livestream (from his birthday in December) which I found on youtube? It's about an hour long, and I watched that a few times until I understood at least some very small parts of it. Yay? That took up a lot of time, too, lol. eowuli on twitter promised to sub it, but I haven't seen a subbed version of it yet. The raw is here on youtube.

TV new (ongoing)

I'll count Saint Pierre here. The second season has started, and I have now watched one episode. I had forgotten how much getting used to Arch's French accent takes. I had no trouble with it (loved it, in fact) by the end of season 1, and I'm surprised that I'm apparently starting from scratch again now. I don't know why I missed the show so much, but I did, and I'm happy to have it back. The first ep took me right back into the town and the characters. I'm looking forward to the season.

TV continued

The Company (16/30), the time-traveling cdrama. I watched eight episodes of that this month. Still enjoying the BL vibes, wondering if they really put them in there intentionally or if I'm just wearing slash goggles. Peak time travel shenanigans in ep 10, then they set logical boundaries, and then immediately broke them again, lol. :D They are adorable. I'm definitely enjoying the show more than I thought I would, even though I expected more time machine shenanigans in the latest plotline, but my guess as to what had happened was completely wrong, lol. :D Overall, now that I'm about halfway through: I find some of the show a bit preachy, but not overly so. It hasn't turned me off yet. Most of it is just fun, and I find it surprisingly engaging! It's on viki.

I watched four more episodes of The Cross-Dressed Union, now on 22/24. It really is a fun watch, and even the grasslands sidequest was kind of satisfyingly resolved and integrated into the rest of the plot. I was surprised. Sadly, I then lost track of it, I really should just finish it, there's not much left. I definitely rec it. It's on youtube.

Three eps of Bridgerton Season 4! Watchalonging this, and we're all caught up now for the second part of the season. I loved the Queen in ep2! I didn't expect them to make her this obvious. Her reaction to Agatha's announcement in ep1 was pretty obvious to me, but seeing it play out like that was *chef's kiss* and made me cry. For some reason, I'm not really invested in Violet's storyline anymore this season? I liked it better last season. But her line in ep4 was hilarious, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. :D My favorite character continues to be Penelope. <3 Sophie is starting to grow on me, too. The cliffhanger after ep4 is painful, but I thought it was quite logical. I have no complaints, really.

Two eps of Our Times (05/38), the 90s retro "IT students go professional" cdrama with Wu Lei and Hou Minghao. I still just find Wu Lei and Hou Minghao in (ugly!) period dress and hairstyle very very adorable. The bromance vibes are through the roof. So far, all lead characters are being trodden on repeatedly, to really firmly establish their underdog status. I'm sure that'll change throughout the show, but for now, this is exactly my thing. The embarrassment squick is relatively strong so far, but I made it through and am confident I will continue to do so. (I now have an active icon for it. That escalated quickly. :D). It's on wetv and youtube.

TV (dropped)

Nothing, I hope?

Shows for which I have fewer than 5 eps left but haven't watched a single one all month: The Long Ballad (1) and Love on the Turquoise Land (4). /o\

Rewatches/Watchalongs

The Nothing But You watchalong is now on ep 20. \o/ Enjoying the hell out of this watchalong.

Bridgerton season 4 hasn't gripped me. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not watching it on my own, or if it's the show itself. Who knows. We do both enjoy it, though.

The When A Snail Falls in Love watchalong is now done! \o/ The last episode was actually a little better than I'd feared. I don't regret watching it. We have now also started Nothing But You, I can never watch that too many times. <3

extrapenguin

My February Ballet Experience was watching the Dance Theater of Harlem when they came to Paris earlier this week. (For the first time in 40 years!) The black girls turned out in force, and thus I was slightly less overdressed than usual. Also the Parisians did actually dress up for the Saturday evening, though uh very elevated basics, heavy on teh basic.

General notes:
The dancers looked to have a bit more muscle definition than usual; I think this is because the American ballet style (Balanchine) is aggressively BOING BOING, meaning that the ideal dancer has more fast-twitch muscle fibers, and is thus more inclined to put on visible muscle definition.

Both shows were ~2:30 long. Neither was one ballet through, but more of a idk variety show, with three half-times, all of which contained a different set of choreographies. More "look what we can do" than telling a story, y'know? (Except for their Firebird; thoughts on which below.)

This was mostly less pure ballet and more of an old and new together thing, with there being some pure ballet stuff, but also a straight-up jazz dance number, and an extended modern-ballet blend set to Motown/Stevie Wonder afrobeats. This one was cool, with the blend including incredibly specific ballet #moments, like Giselle's transformation sequence, seamlessly blended in. There was also a pure ballet section, where the lead danseur performed the Bluebird variation.

The current artistic director and lead choreographer is I think incredibly talented in this blend of classical ballet and other styles, as well as choreographing for things done in canon (in the round). The formations (lines of overlapping dancers etc) were well executed, too.

The star of their show/grand finale was the Balanchine choreography of the Firebird. Which. Um. The dancing was great! The costumes were pretty! The problem was George Balanchine going "The Americans cannot sit still for 45 min; I will make this 20 min". And the Firebird is a ballet that has zero fluff!

So, what were the changes?

Firebird variation #1: heavily abridged, in a way that takes away from her birdlike nature imo

Firebird & prince pas de deux: heavily abridged and rearranged in a way that makes the narrative progression make zero sense

Prince & princess: this one was mostly preserved, I think? The golden apples dance of princess and the other women (handmaidens, in this production) was very much shortened, tho

Koschei confrontation: heavily altered so that instead of the prince struggling against this powerful evil sorcerer whom he has no hope of defeating, they wrestle a bit, I don't think he was even losing, and then he summoned the Firebird for idk shits and giggles

Infernal Dance: COMPLETELY DELETED

like seriously, the Firebird just poofs up and everyone falls over? no making people dance until they drop? no THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE BALLET?

Firebird variation #2 (keeping Koschei's minions asleep): here she just waved her hands at them and made them roll away (so that the dancers could do a quick costume change), KOSCHEI INCLUDED, then she just danced in place a bit as FILLER

Koschei's death: did not happen. He simply exited stage left, not even pursued by a bear. prince was AWOL and did not retrieve any glowy soul eggs

Wedding tableau: This one was cool! The floaty afrofuturist Caribbean fish costumes of the women made the walking around of this bit look nice, and the Firebird appeared and was suspended in the air

So uh. The company is great, and you should definitely see them if you can, but the American Firebird sucks ass, regardless of performance. Really wish they'd do the original 45-min Firebird with those costumes tho.

sartorias

Yu know the world situation, which adds its mite ( for definitions of "mite,"watch out for falling pianos) to the stress closer by. The worst of it is feeling helpless to do much besides donate money to the outer stresses and listen as I can to the inner. Which I have been doing, in spite of our income dwindling. But this is a common plight.

My brain did go into revolt, and a bit of OT3 fantasy comedy of manners unspooled itself over the past month and a half or so. I wouldn't mind that happening again because it keeps me busy--besides various books and TV shows. But none of those have lit my fire quite as much as having a brainmovie again.

I do have Katherine Arden's latest here, and it looks good. But it's called The Unicorn Hunters and appears to be based on the tapestries so splendidly displayed in New York. Very handsome tapestries, but whew. Those boys strutting their tight breeches and little short jackets and perfect hair were a bunch of brutes. The tapestries illustrate an exercise in human cruelty, and the news is kind of overflowing with that, so I'm waiting for the right mood for the book.

II've done some rereads, and some new reads, I continue to listen to audiobooks while trudging my daily steps.

Oh! edited to add: I watched the Plympics ice skating and ice dancing. Some really lovely stuff, though they do seem to be obsessed with the quad spin.

anchorpoint_ua

Я слухаю це... не знаю, чому...

Watch on YouTube

Оригинал записи на Дыбре

tinny

The February round of

ships20in20 was an inspirational round on the theme of Valentine's day. There were provided textures and fonts and a ton of inspiration icons. I enjoyed it! I hope you do too.

Nothing But You

( 20+4 icons, most of them Wu Lei related )

Every single comment is treasured. All icons shareable! Concrit welcome. Check out my resource post for makers of textures and brushes I use.

Previous icon posts:

extrapenguin

Today I came across this factsheet on autism comorbidities (sleep issues, hypermobility, cardiovascular, immunology/MCAS, gastrointestinal, long COVID, chronic pain, reproductive, jaw/dental stuff), and a) I really need to get back into the melatonin game for my sleep issues, and b) it turns out that L-theanine ("caffeine of tea") is an analog of glutamate, and can thus be metabolized into GABA, which autistic brains generally have less of. So my tea habit is a medical expense!

(WRT the autism comorbidities mentioned, I def have the sleep issues, bruxism, a food allergy, and I guess some non-hEDS hypermobility? I bruise moderately easily, but my floppy joints are my shoulders, I've never dislocated anything due to good muscle tone, and my fingers and wrists are turbo normal, leading to me never getting over the threshold score in any assessments lol.)

Also I have good news WRT VidUKon: I can't be there in person, but my in-person commitment was altered to be only the Saturday, so I can watch the Sunday programming in peace! This year's themed vidshow is Unfinished Business, with vids for sources that e.g. were cancelled before their time, had a rushed ending, etc. So now I'm trying to think about canons that fit. My little lesbian shampoo commercials etc, short though they may be, don't count imo, as they all tell nice self-contained stories. The Star Wars Sequels, maybe, for Finn, but idek. Does anyone have any canon recs? I am willing to invest max 10h in your science fiction or wuxia that was cancelled (possibly mid-airing) or which has an unsatisfying ending.

For regular premieres, I currently have two finished vids. One is Star Wars Sequels (for my vid album); the other is for the Firebird ballet. I think I'll take a look at the full program and then decide which one I want to be my VidUKon premiere.

extrapenguin

The original prompt for today was "a song title that is in all lowercase" ... which, uh, I have zero (0) songs like that so I came up with an alternative prompt:

newest release
FlowerLeaf - The Wake

Watch on YouTube

This is the first song I heard from the band, and instantly got me preordering the album. Also it's the freshest single, dropping a month ago.

Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf came out last Friday, 20th of Feb 2026.

prompts under the cut

extrapenguin

Current Music: FlowerLeaf - Silksong

Procrastinating on my Tit4Tat assignment and listening to today's new release, Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf. (Kimara, I think you might enjoy The Wake!) But! I have also been reading! ...Dante Alighieri.

This is the 700th anniversary edition, translated by J.G. Nichols. It's ... surprisingly hand-hold-y. Like, each canto is prefaced with a prose explanation of what happens in the canto (spoilers!!!!), and adds footnotes in support of readers who can't count (e.g. "So in the smallest circle, at the centre" is footnoted as "The ninth and last"; Inferno XI) and who can't keep track of pronouns (sooo many occurrences of "Named Person, did this and that, and lo, a slightly long description! Is he¹ still alive?" with a footnote on "'He' refers to Named Person"). Judas Iscariot is given an explanatory footnote. ("Who betrayed Christ") One would think that anyone operating on even a pop culture osmosis level of Christianity would realize that the Judas dude being specially punished in the hell for betrayers is probably the one who betrayed Jesus.

Anyway! I have read Inferno, and just started Purgatorio. The translation is eminently readable, with transparent verse. (I guess I'd hoped for a slightly more showy take to mine for fic titles, but I'm not complaining.) Also Dante and Virgil's relationship, though probably considered normal enough by the standards of the period, comes across as very homo by present ones: Dante is incredibly appreciative of Virgil guiding him through the way, gets carried around by him, and kisses his cheeks with gratefulness on multiple occasions. Not really that many thoughts, but. Reading. Classics. I fully expect to go WTF at Purgatorio and especially Paradisio, because uhhh not a Christian at all lol, but hey, at least I can say I read them.

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有辱斯文 - or - A disgrace to scholars

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有辱斯文 - or - A disgrace to scholars

Member Posts

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Anklebones for Nye.

Monday Music Meme

Fannish February

TV finished

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Rewatches/Watchalongs

Ballet Experience: Dance Theatre of Harlem

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Коли мені хріново

20 lovey-dovey icons for ships20in20

My Tea Habit Is a Medical Expense & other stories

Monday Music Meme

Inferno

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