Overheard on Dreamwidth

New from Torment Nexus Industries: THE BAD IDEA BEAR!

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 19:24:59 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

dissectionist: Back in MY DAY, we had to read Penthouse Forum letters into a tape recorder and put the resulting tape into a first-gen Teddy Ruxpin. Nowadays kids don’t even have to work to turn their teddy bear into a creep.

Context reports FoloToy’s Shock and Surprise! at what happens when you feed a kid’s toy OpenAI.

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Funny how nobody belongs to The Common Herd.

Sun, 25 May 2025 22:27:04 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

This eternal verity from thanekos:

There's never yet been a definition of " ordinary people " without some kind of self-aggrandizing exclusion.

Context is a scans_daily post on Nightwing #125 and law enforcement arms escalation.

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Inquiring minds want to know!

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 03:39:58 GMT

Posted by: soc_puppet

thevagabondexpress posted:

my cat just made a sound that's exactly like the vibration noise my phone makes when you plug it in. who is charging my cat.

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Creativity lies outside the Stock Adjective Box.

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 19:22:24 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

conuly:

YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL ME THAT THE FORTRESS IS LARGE AND IMPOSING.

The word "fortress" is enough to suggest both those things. Save your description for the next time the protagonists stop by a cute and dainty fortress.

cactuswatcher:

The cute and dainty fortress stood on the hill before them in the cloudless moonlight.

"So cozy, cheerful and welcoming!" exclaimed Lord Freddy. "Our mildly irksome foe, Sir Sydney, must surely be within. Let us start the preparations for a lavish brunch to draw him and his army of jolly-good chums out in the morn."

…It just writes itself!

hudebnik: Fight fiercely, Hahvahd, fight fight fight...

darkoshi: That sounds like the start of a jolly good story!

cellio: Does the Barbie line include a fortress? It should! Surely a Barbie fortress would be cute and dainty!

hudebnik: And pink?

cellio: Well of course. I don't think they're allowed to make non-pink Barbie stuff.

Context is guarded by Narnian Mice and the Rabbit of Caerbannog.

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Stories can offer windows as well as mirrors.

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 18:34:16 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

An important reading and social comprehension skill:

One of the great skills in life, I have found as an adult, is knowing when you're not part of a conversation. Sometimes you're allowed to sit in on the conversation while your friend and their sibling talk about family stuff, but that doesn't mean you're part of the family, it just means you're here for it. A lot of the stories in Weird Black Girls are very much in that category: am I actually part of the conversation about the use of violent punishment in Black American families as an attempt to ward off white violence from Black children and/or a reflection of white violence through the parents, refracted through a fantastical lens? I sure am not. That is someone else's conversation I am sitting here listening to. And while these stories are not all that specifically, a lot of them touch on themes that are not really mine to dig into. It's not "I'm not the target audience for this" in the sense of "I don't appreciate this work," because I did appreciate this work. It's "I'm not the target audience for this" in the sense of "I am literally not the person being addressed here." But I can still stand by and find it interesting.

Context: mrissa reviews Weird Black Girls, by Elwin Cotman.

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Look with your sneef!

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 22:09:07 GMT

Posted by: azurelunatic

"Look with your sneef, not with your teef"

(That's how I say to the cats that investigating something by sniffing it is fine, but biting it isn't. They have no idea what I'm going on about either way.)

umadoshi has cats and an (artificial) tree.

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Caesar’s wife was above suspicion.

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:57:04 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

jamoche on gendered classroom assignments:

So mostly what I do here is write fanfic. Much to my surprise, as I never scored very high in creative writing. (I blame the teachers - when we covered Julius Caesar the girls and boys had different assignments. Girls got "what is Caesar's wife thinking during the assassination?" I put "not much, since she wasn't there so she didn't know it was happening". That didn't go over very well, for some reason.)

Context? It’s right there in her profile.

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Important Marvelverse travel tip.

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 15:47:04 GMT

Posted by: full_metal_ox

donnblake on Latverian airport security:

The correct answer to "Do you have anything to declare," in a Latverian airport is "Reed Richards is a MEDDLING FOOL!"

Context: things go differently with Eddie Brock and his +1.

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vass encapsulates the heartbreak of involvement in party politics

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 19:41:40 GMT

Posted by: rydra_wong

It's like having a really intense horse racing hobby where you can either be rich enough to throw away money over and over on buying horses and watching them lose, or you can be a regular punter and spend money you can't afford losing bets, or you can volunteer as an unpaid stablehand even though you're allergic to hay and bending over sets off your back problems and you're not actually good at it, because there's no other job you have the relevant skills to help with and at least you're involved, and meanwhile everyone else in the barn with you seems to have been born knowing the pedigree of every horse and jockey and owner going back a century and also each othe

we interrupt this analogy with a breaking news bulletin: your horse is a TERF.

Context is reviewing disaster wizards.

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bleodswean knows that Dreamwidth = hygge

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 20:06:40 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

DW is just so cozy, innit? LJ was that cool neighborhood bar. DW is a hidden knoll beneath an ancient oak where picnics are spread out on the grass.

I feel I need to give a content warning for once: the main part of the entry talks about grief and mourning after losing a loved one, therefore context wants you to decide for yourself whether it's alright to click the link.

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HEWWO???

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:58:02 GMT

Posted by: sylvaine

I suggested that the regular jello is Strawberry, and the Starburst pink stuff might be Stwabewwy. "So with extra OwO, then?" Belovedest asked.

Context is leftover jello flavours.

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some people have a substitution problem

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 15:57:14 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

I cooked something last week and, no joke, there was some nitwit in the comments talking about how she subbed beef for pork, left out the soy sauce, made any number of other changes, and then gave the recipe one star because it didn't taste good? YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE RECIPE, BRENDA. You made whatever other unholy concoction of ground beef and ditch water you described in your comment.

Context is pshaw_raven being a wiz in the kitchen.

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if you do start RPF shipping people who are genuinely ok people,

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 02:55:13 GMT

Posted by: msilverstar

Honestly, the reason I drifted out of this RPF fandom isn't that the main people involved betrayed me horribly; they just fell in love with wonderful people that they got on well with, and after that I didn't want to ship them with anyone else, but also shipping the real relationships felt not fictional enough? So I wandered out, and quit RPF altogether for awhile. So there's your other lesson: if you do start RPF shipping people who are genuinely ok people, they will go on to have nicer lives than you managed to imagine for them and all your fic is outshone. (Possibly the real enemyship these past two days is me/rpf.)

Context is melannen enemyshipping recs for UK panel shows RPF

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Defending Daphne

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 18:31:58 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

YouTube video: "A hundred years later, Daphne du Maurier herself couldn't have conjured up a mystery like this one..."
Taylor: *purses his lips*
Me: *silently watching him, wondering if he'll say it*
Tay: >:(
Me:
Tay: >:(
Me:
Tay: *pauses the video* "I'm sorry, but Daphne du Maurier ABSOLUTELY COULD HAVE--"

QWP from draculard in a no-context environment.

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sara is willing to put in the work

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 18:33:53 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

It's going to be real hard for me to have ten abortions next year, given that I'm single, isolating due to the pandemic, and I was sterilized in 2006, but I find the President's domestic policy agenda so compelling that I guess I'll give it my best try.

(Context is Jen "I'm done with your shit" Psaki vs Owen "But will our tax dollars pay for sinful abortions??!!" Jansen.)

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brownbetty makes a fair point

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:24:18 GMT

Posted by: rydra_wong

The question you doubtless have by this point is, Betty, you read all 700 hundred chapters of this? Why? Are you okay? This seems like a terrible decision, what led you to it?

And the answer is: None of us are okay, look out the window!

Context has finished reading a novel "of astounding tedium, moral myopia, misogyny and general repellence".

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antisoppist reacts to Trump's bout of ALL-CAPS TWEETING

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 17:43:32 GMT

Posted by: rydra_wong

Gosh. When I was on steroids I just bought coats on the internet.

Context is locked, QWP.

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QWP from draculard

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:57:08 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

Other reporter at the meeting: "What's the word?"
Me: "The word?"
Reporter: "Yeah"
Me: "Any word?"
Reporter: "What?"
Me, confused: "Uh, diaphanous. Uh, gracile."
Reporter: "What's going on in your town."
Me: "Oh, the word"

(Context is non-existent and also, locked)

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Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:58:29 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

'Am I spelling cannoli correctly? Autocorrect says no, but the only alternative it's offering me is "cannonball." For what it's worth, I won the Weaselbiscuits County Spelling Bee in fifth grade, so this is a matter of professional pride. The headline was "Fifth Grader Masticates His Way to Spelling Bee Victory," which is not the sort of thing you want the paper to say about you in fifth grade.'

QWP from draculard. Context is asking the question whether you'd eat poisoned cannoli.

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sonofgodzilla explains the struggle of self-promotion

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 19:04:45 GMT

Posted by: honigfrosch

"It's really difficult because I want people to basically pay me to write but I don't want to a.) be accountable for what I write and b.) make concessions towards what people want to read. :p"

(Context is having a zine shop during Small Press Day)

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green_knight on life during this pandemic (at least in these first few months)

Sat, 27 Jun 2020 20:16:43 GMT

Posted by: bibliofile

'[G]et through the supermarket without anyone breathing on you' is the shittiest live roleplay game ever.

QWP.

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Not about ethics in game journalism as such

Wed, 06 May 2020 19:45:18 GMT

Posted by: monanotlisa

QWP:

"I am trying to be professional in this goddamn webconference that just won't end, and not fuck around on my phone or anything, but I can see a dude playing Nintendo. I SEE YOU, YOU DICK what's ur switch code are you playing animal crossing??"

(This is no-context theatre.)

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Did Someone Ask For an Aubrey-Maturin Modern AU?

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 11:34:56 GMT

Posted by: jjhunter

"If [Capt. Brett Crozier] has a best friend who is a surgeon I'm going to fall apart long before anybody sets up as an independent contractor smuggling PPE."

- adrian_turtle, Reverse of the Medal

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Sat, 16 Nov 2019 17:11:46 GMT

Posted by: redbird

You call it a bubble; I call it a carefully curated group of inspiring humans.

(Context is not happy about the idea of sorting accomplishments by decade.

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lavendertook on the issue of nicknames

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 05:53:53 GMT

Posted by: conuly

*chews tobacco, adjusts mask, and pushes back cowboy hat*

You knew the risks when you named him, ma'am. it's a hard world full of people who would steal the shirt off your back for a carwash while using baking soda for toothpaste. Where people put violets in terrariums and shoe laces in the gutter. You can't expect people to use the form of a name you want for your kid any more than you can expect them to put chlorine in a pickle jar, let alone direct your kid to the right class room.

It will get worse, ma'am, before it gets better. That's just the nature of things. So either you get used to it, or you get a trebuchet. Every time one of them suckers gets it wrong, you fling a female sheep at them. They say, "Andy" look up in the air and shout, "EWE!" Next time, they'll say, "And . . . er . . . EWE." Eventually, it will come naturally. And they'll know not to cross you, ever.

It takes grit to live in these parts., ma'am. Let alone the steely resolve to make people use the form of the name you want for your kid. You know what you gotta do. It's either that, or get a slurpy and head back to civilization, and you don't seem like the faint-hearted type to me. Give 'em hell and your kid will be grateful to you for the rest of his days. Maybe not so crazy about you at 4:23 pm EST, but you can't have it all.

*pushes down cowboy hat, jumps on trusty adult tricycle, and rides into the sunset*

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