3/21/26
intro
i thought about starting this blog yesterday during the Carantes reading group. someone mentioned something they'd recently read, and i thought that as often as i do that, it might be nice to have a place to put those things down so that i have a better chance of finding them when i want to. of course, i can't predict what's going to get stuck in my head and bubble up later, but i can at least record things that strike me in the moment.
reading
for Carantes, we read the first part of Josie Giles' series on William Sharp/Fiona Mccleod, a member of the late 19th-century Celtic Revival i wasn't previously familiar with. it seems pretty unambiguous that Mccleod was a trans woman, even if she was only able to transition in letters (just as the post notes that many contemporary trans people who, lacking access to medical or (IRL) social transition, exist largely on Discord or Substack (or perhaps BlueSky). i'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and some of Mccleod's work (with a big chunk of rock salt for the extremely made-up parts). we followed that up with discussion of Finn Longman's ‘“What manner of man is this Hound?”: Gender, Humanity and the Transgressive Figure of Cú Chulainn‘. i'm pretty much always game for a reading of myth that gets to combine transness and monstrosity, but i don't know enough about the Táin and its context to have any particularly interesting thoughts.
on paper, i'm reading Wuthering Heights for the first time. i never knew much about it besides what i could glean from the classic Kate Bush song and its incredible dance, but became interested sometime in the last couple of years when i learned that there is a ghost. i think my impression before that was that it was more of a stuffy period piece, which i have nothing against but which is rarely my first choice of reading (i do love a Merchant Ivory film, though!). it turns out it's actually full of fucked up little gremlins who all hate each other, despite (perhaps because of) the ties that bind them so closely to one another. which honestly makes it a bit of a slog sometimes, as Catherine or Isabella goes on about how awful Heathcliff is, and also how irresistible he is. straight people not being aware that they can marry people they actually like is perrenial, i guess. i haven't seen the new movie, but the soundtrack is an absolute banger.
listening
my latest musical obsession is the surprise new Neurosis album, dropped without warning this past Friday. i first heard them in 1996, late at night on Minneapolis's REV 105 radio station, which i still dearly, dearly miss. off the top of my head, the Rev introduced me to Neurosis, Ani DiFranco, Soul Coughing, Sepultura, and Aphex Twin, but there were probably more bands i first heard there. it was an incredibly special radio station, near and dear to not just my heart but to music nerds all over the Twin Cities. looking at the schedule here, i assume it must have been on a Friday night, possibly in the midnight Industrial REVolution slot but more likely Bumper to the Bone at 1 AM. they played the title track on Through Silver in Blood, which, like all of the artists i mentioned up there, i'd never heard anything like before, and it absolutely blew my mind. now, ten years from their last album and seven from kicking out their former lead singer for being an abusive piece of shit, they're back with Aaron Turner of Isis, Sumac, Hydra Head Records (to pick just three of his legendary projects!) on vocals and guitar, and an album that is a love letter to life and the world.
playing
i've been playing Resident Evil 7 for the last couple of weeks, which i picked up in a surprisingly inexpensive bundle with 8 and all of their DLC a month or two ago. it's gross and gnarly and creepy, and the Bakers are fantastic antagonists. i've beaten the main story and am working through the DLC, which so far is mostly pretty sleight. as much as the main character, Ethan, is just Some Guy who ends up in a truly fucked up situation, i like playing him better than commando Chris Redfield in the Not A Hero DLC; the cop/military aspects (which fittingly are increasingly blurred in these later games) of RE have never really appealed to me which is why i haven't actually played anything other than the original Gamecube release of RE4 (yeah, Leon is a cop too, but at least in that one he's far from home and mostly on his own). once i finish up the last bit of interesting looking DLC (End of Zoe), i'll probably take some time for something indie in my backlist before diving into 8 which is the one i'm really looking forward to on account of Mommy Dimitrescu.
making
i finished up my Runo sweater last week, knit in a beautiful deep purple alpaca/merino/linen blend. i love yarn that mixes animal fibers and linen or silk; they take the dye so differently and it creates a really lovely contrast and depth. hopefully i'll manage to get some pictures taken to put on Ravelry before the weather warms up too much more. my Wisterious shawl is nearly done, but on indefinite hold. i wasn't sure if i'd need more yarn than i'd originally bought, and by the time i did, the new dye lot available was completely different. such are the perils of using Malabrigo yarn. my partner found one person on Rav selling a skein of the same dye lot i started with, but then the seller wasn't able to find the yarn so at this point i guess i'm just keeping an eye out for a dye lot of Malabrigo Lace in Pearl Ten that's more on the purple side of its range. in the meantime, i'm a few inches into the Decadence blouse in black Malabrigo Silkpaca, using two different shades and sizes of gold beads. i decided to add the beads with a crochet hook instead of prestringing them as the pattern calls for, and i think it does look better but wow it was so much more work! prestringing is a pain but when you have several rows where every or nearly every stitch is beaded i can certainly see the appeal.
watching
we just finished up season 4 of Babylon 5, which is when they thought they were getting canceled and had to jam everything they wanted to do into one season. then they got renewed! i'm not sure what season 5 is going to be like, but something tells me it's going to be very silly.
outro
while i used to be an avid livejournaller, i haven't really blogged since the oughts. i thought i didn't really have much to say. but judging by the length of this post, i think i might actually have some things to say! i suppose we'll see if this becomes a habit, or just another abandoned project.