Rec me mysteries and mystery-adjacent media, please!
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gremdarkI love mysteries and heist stories, but I have trouble finding good ones that scratch that particular itch. Does anyone have recs?
I am particularly interested in books and television, but I would happily watch a good movie if you know the perfect one. Fantasy elements and/or strong worldbuilding are a definite plus. If something isn't necessarily a traditional mystery or heist but is similar to things I've listed below in other ways, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not a big fan of cops, but am willing to tolerate them for a strong story.
Behind the cut, I've listed stories I've particularly enjoyed and stories I've bounced off.
( Data Points )
I am particularly interested in books and television, but I would happily watch a good movie if you know the perfect one. Fantasy elements and/or strong worldbuilding are a definite plus. If something isn't necessarily a traditional mystery or heist but is similar to things I've listed below in other ways, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not a big fan of cops, but am willing to tolerate them for a strong story.
Behind the cut, I've listed stories I've particularly enjoyed and stories I've bounced off.
( Data Points )
(no subject)
Mar. 21st, 2026 03:30 pmgremdarkThis time I remembered to queue up two hours' worth of music before locking myself out of my phone with my focus app. I use Focus Friend, which is bare bones enough that I don't need to think about it too much when I use it.
Today's missions are to clean the kitchen, tidy surfaces in the living room, and declutter the bedroom. We ran dishes this morning, and our roommate is out of town, so there's one less person around to make messes. Not too much to do. In between I'm hoping to keep plugging away at my Rare Kink Buffet fills. I had hoped to write multiple short ones, but what originally seemed to be a short idea is ballooning into a multichap. So we shall see. Wish me luck!
Progress! The house is a little cleaner, and I've added about 1200 words to my Rare Kink Buffet fill. This is chapter three, which I had hoped would be the last chapter. I also hoped chapter two would be the last chapter, so it appears that the length of this one is just utterly out of my control.
Today's missions are to clean the kitchen, tidy surfaces in the living room, and declutter the bedroom. We ran dishes this morning, and our roommate is out of town, so there's one less person around to make messes. Not too much to do. In between I'm hoping to keep plugging away at my Rare Kink Buffet fills. I had hoped to write multiple short ones, but what originally seemed to be a short idea is ballooning into a multichap. So we shall see. Wish me luck!
Progress! The house is a little cleaner, and I've added about 1200 words to my Rare Kink Buffet fill. This is chapter three, which I had hoped would be the last chapter. I also hoped chapter two would be the last chapter, so it appears that the length of this one is just utterly out of my control.
(no subject)
Mar. 20th, 2026 02:00 pmgremdarkWell, I've locked myself out of my phone. I have snacks, music, my laptop, and a list of things to do to make the house nicer to be in. Let's see what I can get done.
Progress! The cat boxes are clean, there's a nice fire built up and ready to light for when our friends come over later this week, and I did a round of dishes before dinner.
Instead of writing, I rewarded myself with a nice sunny lie in the front yard, where I witnessed a minor car accident. Two drivers tried to go at a four-way stop simultaneously. Luckily the damage to both cars was minor and the drivers, from what I overheard, were civil about it.
Now that we've eaten and tidied, I'm going to take a crack at my Rare Kink Buffet fills. Knowing myself, I probably have 2-3 productive hours left until I get too sleepy. It's spring break, so free time isn't in short supply. I'll go to bed fairly early and be glad of the rest.
Progress! The cat boxes are clean, there's a nice fire built up and ready to light for when our friends come over later this week, and I did a round of dishes before dinner.
Instead of writing, I rewarded myself with a nice sunny lie in the front yard, where I witnessed a minor car accident. Two drivers tried to go at a four-way stop simultaneously. Luckily the damage to both cars was minor and the drivers, from what I overheard, were civil about it.
Now that we've eaten and tidied, I'm going to take a crack at my Rare Kink Buffet fills. Knowing myself, I probably have 2-3 productive hours left until I get too sleepy. It's spring break, so free time isn't in short supply. I'll go to bed fairly early and be glad of the rest.
Embarrassingly, today I'm living up to the young-people stereotypes :/
Mar. 20th, 2026 01:51 pmgremdarkThe local school districts are starting spring break today, so there's little substitute teaching work to be had. What little there is gets snapped up seconds after the listings go live. So I'm giving myself the gift of sun, writing, and light chores.
When I want to force myself to do non-phone things instead of doomscrolling, I like to lock myself out of my phone with a focus app. Usually I set up a long music queue before I do. Today, I forgot. I stared sadly at the two hour countdown on my phone screen, knowing I'd be so much more productive if only I could listen to something. Then I looked across the room at my record player and felt a bit silly.
In my defense, the record player has bluetooth, so I use it as a giant bluetooth speaker a lot of the time. I'm still embarrassed. At any rate, I'm listening to a Simon and Garfunkel record right now.
When I want to force myself to do non-phone things instead of doomscrolling, I like to lock myself out of my phone with a focus app. Usually I set up a long music queue before I do. Today, I forgot. I stared sadly at the two hour countdown on my phone screen, knowing I'd be so much more productive if only I could listen to something. Then I looked across the room at my record player and felt a bit silly.
In my defense, the record player has bluetooth, so I use it as a giant bluetooth speaker a lot of the time. I'm still embarrassed. At any rate, I'm listening to a Simon and Garfunkel record right now.
Media Post
Mar. 17th, 2026 07:01 pminchoatewordsMovies: None. Really need to get on that AFI list!
Television/Streaming: the recent episodes of Taskmaster New Zealand. It's a fun group. Also a couple of episodes of Buffy, season 3: "Revelations" and "Lovers Walk." I'm not completely sold on Faith at this point; sometimes she annoys me. I'm happy Spike is back. Is he a dick? Yes. But I do enjoy him as a character.
Books: I read Sing Unburied Sing by Jessmyn Ward for our DEI book club at work. Ward has been on my list for a while, and I can see why her books have won awards. The writing was really good, and I thought the atmosphere of the place/time was well-done (rural Mississippi). There is a LOT to unpack here about family, and the impacts of racism, and poverty, and drugs, and there might be a little TOO much going on in the plot and that muddies things a bit. The book is told in mulitple points of view, and while that can be well-done, you have to make sure the voices are distinct enough. JoJo, the young boy in this story, sounds a lot like his mother, Leonie, and that was confusing. There were some good elements here, though, and I'm sure we'll have a lot to discuss at book club.
I did not finish The Sirens by Emilia Hart for my other book club. I got about 20% in before I could not read anymore. The motivations of the main character did not make any sense to me and she did not seem relatable at all. That doesn't always have to be the case, but also, if you are going to make some weird choices, you have to find a way to explain why the character would do those. (For example, the main character here is a journalism student and loves investigating things; yet, when confronted with a situation where asking some questions would absolutely be the thing to do, she just . . . doesn't. She stays put and cleans the apartment instead. The fuck)?
I'm currently reading An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, as we just finished the Bridgerton season it's based on. They have changed some things and these books are ridiculous but I wanted a little bit of fluffy stuff in between other books.
Video Games: Playing Bendy and the Ink Machine. It's been occasionally frustrating when I get lost, haha. I love the art style, though. And the "cartoony horror" is not that bad, a few jumpscares of creepy things.
Listening to: Moving on with the Rolling Stone Top 500 albums, I listened to Black Flag's Damaged, number 487 on the list. This album was number 340 on the 2012 list. Rolling Stone blurb:
This is not really my style of music. Most of these songs blended into each other for me, but I did like "TV Party" and I can see why this album is a seminal work for this genre.
Television/Streaming: the recent episodes of Taskmaster New Zealand. It's a fun group. Also a couple of episodes of Buffy, season 3: "Revelations" and "Lovers Walk." I'm not completely sold on Faith at this point; sometimes she annoys me. I'm happy Spike is back. Is he a dick? Yes. But I do enjoy him as a character.
Books: I read Sing Unburied Sing by Jessmyn Ward for our DEI book club at work. Ward has been on my list for a while, and I can see why her books have won awards. The writing was really good, and I thought the atmosphere of the place/time was well-done (rural Mississippi). There is a LOT to unpack here about family, and the impacts of racism, and poverty, and drugs, and there might be a little TOO much going on in the plot and that muddies things a bit. The book is told in mulitple points of view, and while that can be well-done, you have to make sure the voices are distinct enough. JoJo, the young boy in this story, sounds a lot like his mother, Leonie, and that was confusing. There were some good elements here, though, and I'm sure we'll have a lot to discuss at book club.
I did not finish The Sirens by Emilia Hart for my other book club. I got about 20% in before I could not read anymore. The motivations of the main character did not make any sense to me and she did not seem relatable at all. That doesn't always have to be the case, but also, if you are going to make some weird choices, you have to find a way to explain why the character would do those. (For example, the main character here is a journalism student and loves investigating things; yet, when confronted with a situation where asking some questions would absolutely be the thing to do, she just . . . doesn't. She stays put and cleans the apartment instead. The fuck)?
I'm currently reading An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, as we just finished the Bridgerton season it's based on. They have changed some things and these books are ridiculous but I wanted a little bit of fluffy stuff in between other books.
Video Games: Playing Bendy and the Ink Machine. It's been occasionally frustrating when I get lost, haha. I love the art style, though. And the "cartoony horror" is not that bad, a few jumpscares of creepy things.
Listening to: Moving on with the Rolling Stone Top 500 albums, I listened to Black Flag's Damaged, number 487 on the list. This album was number 340 on the 2012 list. Rolling Stone blurb:
MCA refused to release this album, denouncing it as “immoral” and “anti-parent.” High praise, but Black Flag lived up to it, defining L.A. hardcore punk with Greg Ginn’s violent guitar and the pissed-off scream of Henry Rollins, especially on “TV Party” and “Rise Above,” which came with the timeless smash-the-glass salvo “We are tired of your abuse/Try to stop is but it’s no use.” Punks still listen to Damaged, and parents still hate it.
This is not really my style of music. Most of these songs blended into each other for me, but I did like "TV Party" and I can see why this album is a seminal work for this genre.
Chore Accountability
Mar. 17th, 2026 12:10 pmgremdarkThis always works for my brain when it's buzzing, and it's BUZZING today. So here's a post for me to edit with updates as I get writing done and tidy the house. ADHD meds, save me from myself! I've locked myself out of my phone for 120 minutes, so my only options are writing, chores, and staring into space.
Wrote a few hundred words on a Rare Kink Buffet prompt. When I'm this jittery with directionless ADHD energy, my cleaning hack is to do roughly five units each of several tasks instead of trying to pin myself to one. So I put away about five dishes, folded five pieces of clean laundry, and picked up five things from the bedroom floor.
200 words of a different Rare Kink Buffet prompt. I can really feel the hyperactivity (and associated misery) today. Absolutely horrid. I put away five more dishes, folded the rest of the laundry, cleaned the stovetop and counters, and spot-vacuumed the corners and under furniture. I know I took my meds this morning because I was there when I took them and the drink I got to take them with is still on the table. But I sure FEEL unmedicated and I'm glad I don't have to drive anywhere this afternoon.
200 words of a third prompt. I took a break for lunch, then put away the rest of the laundry and five dishes and cleaned the toilet. Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. Would you believe it if I told you that current geopolitics have me kind of on edge?
400 words of another prompt. I put away the rest of the dishes, then loaded the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher and did some vague kitchen tidying. It's beginning to look cleaner in here.
Wrote a few hundred words on a Rare Kink Buffet prompt. When I'm this jittery with directionless ADHD energy, my cleaning hack is to do roughly five units each of several tasks instead of trying to pin myself to one. So I put away about five dishes, folded five pieces of clean laundry, and picked up five things from the bedroom floor.
200 words of a different Rare Kink Buffet prompt. I can really feel the hyperactivity (and associated misery) today. Absolutely horrid. I put away five more dishes, folded the rest of the laundry, cleaned the stovetop and counters, and spot-vacuumed the corners and under furniture. I know I took my meds this morning because I was there when I took them and the drink I got to take them with is still on the table. But I sure FEEL unmedicated and I'm glad I don't have to drive anywhere this afternoon.
200 words of a third prompt. I took a break for lunch, then put away the rest of the laundry and five dishes and cleaned the toilet. Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. Would you believe it if I told you that current geopolitics have me kind of on edge?
400 words of another prompt. I put away the rest of the dishes, then loaded the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher and did some vague kitchen tidying. It's beginning to look cleaner in here.
Tumblr... grr.
Mar. 17th, 2026 11:59 amgremdarkFor those who aren't active on Tumblr right now, a tl;dr. A new update to how notes on reblogs work, which has so far rolled out on desktop and to some mobile users, is breaking the way most people use Tumblr. Each reblog-with-text now has its own likes, comments, and notes section. This means that not all interactions on posts are visible to the OP. Artists are in an uproar, but this also breaks aspects of the block function and removes the ability to turn off reblogs on posts that have been reblogged with text.
With that in mind, I've tentatively offered to give mutuals and longtime followers of my personal tumblr access to this account if they DM me. I'm nervous about that, because I like keeping my online identities pretty siloed. I'd previously only connected this account to my fandom identity. I have a good group of followers over there, though, and I'd be sad to lose them.
I don't think this is The Big One where everyone flees the Tumblr site like rats from a sinking ship, but it does feel as big as the 2018 porn ban, with the added uncertainty that these changes rolled out the day they were announced. The Changes blog on Tumblr has blithely said that they can see the userbase has strong feelings, which they claim they'll monitor over the "next weeks" of this rollout. I'm certainly concerned and making backup plans.
Those of you who use Tumblr, what do you think of all this? What are you planning?
With that in mind, I've tentatively offered to give mutuals and longtime followers of my personal tumblr access to this account if they DM me. I'm nervous about that, because I like keeping my online identities pretty siloed. I'd previously only connected this account to my fandom identity. I have a good group of followers over there, though, and I'd be sad to lose them.
I don't think this is The Big One where everyone flees the Tumblr site like rats from a sinking ship, but it does feel as big as the 2018 porn ban, with the added uncertainty that these changes rolled out the day they were announced. The Changes blog on Tumblr has blithely said that they can see the userbase has strong feelings, which they claim they'll monitor over the "next weeks" of this rollout. I'm certainly concerned and making backup plans.
Those of you who use Tumblr, what do you think of all this? What are you planning?
Performing some traffic maintenance today
Mar. 14th, 2026 01:04 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
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dw_maintenanceHappy Saturday!
I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!
If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.
Film Diary January abnd February 2026
Mar. 13th, 2026 11:32 amamado1 January:
Jan 16: Black Phone 2, rollicking good fun, absolutely hilarious, new favorite horror movie. When the Grabber came out on his sinister little ice skates I fell in love.
Jan 17: American Psycho, fav. Finally made Rich watch it.
Jan 18: Longlegs, which I love but STILL doesn't stick in my memory after multiple rewatches. I'm astonished to see it here and realize I've rewatched it that recently.
Jan 31: What Lies Beneath, with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Ghost movie. Very long and a bit tedious at times but I'd still call it a bit of a forgotten gem. The way Ford is written as an abusive husband is perf, and to me at least it reads like real lived experience from the writer.
Feb 04: Bomb Hunters, documentary on Cambodian scrappers.
Feb 04: Iron Lung, Markiplier's new movie.
Feb 06: Shadow Magic, Chinese film from 2001-ish about the introduction of silent films to China.
Feb 08: John Carpenter's The Fog.
Feb 16: Blades of Glory, yeah the ice skating movie with Will Ferrell. Unabashed fan of this film. The real Yuri on Ice.
Feb 19: Power of the Dog rewatch. FFFFFUCK it's so good.
Feb 20: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Genuinely, the musical sequences are so skilled.
Feb 22: 8 Seconds (the Lane Frost story).
Feb 24: The Endurance (documentary)
Feb 27: The Quick and the Dead - the made-for-TV HBO Western with Sam Elliott, 1987. Not the Sam Raimi one from 95.
Feb 27: This Boy's Life, AMAZING EXPERIENCE watching this with my dad and listening to him giggle at all the sad parts.
Feb 28: Dead of Winter. Not fantastic but worth a watch. Basic thriller with admirable pretensions to art.
Feb 28: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Yuri on Asphalt. Did NOT remember the fully passionate French kiss between Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell at the end.
Jan 16: Black Phone 2, rollicking good fun, absolutely hilarious, new favorite horror movie. When the Grabber came out on his sinister little ice skates I fell in love.
Jan 17: American Psycho, fav. Finally made Rich watch it.
Jan 18: Longlegs, which I love but STILL doesn't stick in my memory after multiple rewatches. I'm astonished to see it here and realize I've rewatched it that recently.
Jan 31: What Lies Beneath, with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Ghost movie. Very long and a bit tedious at times but I'd still call it a bit of a forgotten gem. The way Ford is written as an abusive husband is perf, and to me at least it reads like real lived experience from the writer.
Feb 04: Bomb Hunters, documentary on Cambodian scrappers.
Feb 04: Iron Lung, Markiplier's new movie.
Feb 06: Shadow Magic, Chinese film from 2001-ish about the introduction of silent films to China.
Feb 08: John Carpenter's The Fog.
Feb 16: Blades of Glory, yeah the ice skating movie with Will Ferrell. Unabashed fan of this film. The real Yuri on Ice.
Feb 19: Power of the Dog rewatch. FFFFFUCK it's so good.
Feb 20: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Genuinely, the musical sequences are so skilled.
Feb 22: 8 Seconds (the Lane Frost story).
Feb 24: The Endurance (documentary)
Feb 27: The Quick and the Dead - the made-for-TV HBO Western with Sam Elliott, 1987. Not the Sam Raimi one from 95.
Feb 27: This Boy's Life, AMAZING EXPERIENCE watching this with my dad and listening to him giggle at all the sad parts.
Feb 28: Dead of Winter. Not fantastic but worth a watch. Basic thriller with admirable pretensions to art.
Feb 28: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Yuri on Asphalt. Did NOT remember the fully passionate French kiss between Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell at the end.
Spring-ish
Mar. 12th, 2026 01:55 pmpshaw_ravenI have had a long-standing fascination with ancient Egypt, and this morning I learned that Thoth had a female counterpart - Seshat. This is a lengthy piece about them but an interesting one. Seshat is known as the Mistress of the House of Life, which was what they called the small libraries attached to temple complexes. These were a sort of shared working space where scribes could research, write, etc. She was also known as Foremost in the Library. Another interesting note is that while there are depictions of women holding scribe's tools, indicating that they could write, Seshat is the only woman depicted in the act of writing.
There's a cold front coming through again, which I welcome, because I am not enjoying 90 degree days. Let me have a little more cold weather before summer starts beating me up. We've opened the windows back up and the change is wonderful. I slept very badly last night and I'm trying to not just fall asleep right now on the couch. I'm having a cup of coffee, then I'll try doing some yoga.
I have plants to set out in the garden, though it's going to be chilly enough for a couple of nights that we might throw a frost blanket over the beds just to keep them from getting too cold shocked. The key lime tree that I had declared dead ... is putting out leaves. It'll need a pretty radical pruning but it's alive. So all four trees made it through the freezes, and the yuzu took no damage at all.
I need to catch up my notecards for St. Felix, but I'm finally seeing how the particular story arc I started will play out. No need to push the plot right now, I feel like writing some more world-building pieces and introducing characters. Yes, Jonesy will be back. :D I kind of want to do something where I can mention some of the schools there - Atalanta Springs High, where they have a superb girls' cross-country team, and the St. Felix High Wampus Cats. Go cats! And since I mentioned putting Handsome George on the county seal I should probably work on drawing one up.
I've been so lazy today I haven't even practiced the ukulele or anything. I did manage to bake some bread but man, I am dragging.
There's a cold front coming through again, which I welcome, because I am not enjoying 90 degree days. Let me have a little more cold weather before summer starts beating me up. We've opened the windows back up and the change is wonderful. I slept very badly last night and I'm trying to not just fall asleep right now on the couch. I'm having a cup of coffee, then I'll try doing some yoga.
I have plants to set out in the garden, though it's going to be chilly enough for a couple of nights that we might throw a frost blanket over the beds just to keep them from getting too cold shocked. The key lime tree that I had declared dead ... is putting out leaves. It'll need a pretty radical pruning but it's alive. So all four trees made it through the freezes, and the yuzu took no damage at all.
I need to catch up my notecards for St. Felix, but I'm finally seeing how the particular story arc I started will play out. No need to push the plot right now, I feel like writing some more world-building pieces and introducing characters. Yes, Jonesy will be back. :D I kind of want to do something where I can mention some of the schools there - Atalanta Springs High, where they have a superb girls' cross-country team, and the St. Felix High Wampus Cats. Go cats! And since I mentioned putting Handsome George on the county seal I should probably work on drawing one up.
I've been so lazy today I haven't even practiced the ukulele or anything. I did manage to bake some bread but man, I am dragging.
