The Pitt rolled in like a storm and fans were captivated by the real time shift of doctors and nurses at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. But one of the show’s beloved favorites will not be returning for season 2.
Tracy Ifeachor, who played Dr. Heather Collins, is now not returning to the show for season 2. Apparently it was not Ifeachor’s choice, according to Variety. The show does take place during one shift at the hospital and with season 2 being set during the Fourth of July in Pittsburgh, maybe it was just decided by the writer’s room that Dr. Collins wasn’t needed for season 2. Whatever the decision, it was met with a lot of mess on the fandom side of The Pitt.
A woman shares a video of the awkward moment her new boyfriend ends their relationship after catching her looking at an ex’s house on Zillow.
In a video with over 6.5 million views, a TikToker who posts under the account @squiddyclothing stares blankly away from the camera. She nervously fidgets with her sweatshirt.
Elmo is a beloved character. So much so that even adults are still very open about our love for Elmo. Color all of us shocked when suddenly Elmo’s official account on X was posting antisemitic remarks, yelling about the Jeffrey Epstein files, and other non-Sesame Street appropriate tweets.
“Elmo’s X account was briefly compromised yesterday by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop, the company responsible for Sesame Street, said in a statement to CNN.
The 2020’s! Whoever thought that humanity would make it this far? With the way that speculative fiction and sci-fi writers have been writing about the future, I’m just as surprised as you! While we haven’t yet been killed off by climate change, malevolent AI, or a hyper-advanced alien civilization, it’s still possible that humankind could round out this decade with our own destruction. In the meantime, here are 10 of the best sci-fi books of the 2020’s, a little bit of reading material before the potentially immanent end of the world.
The Vanished Birds
(Del Rey)
In The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez, time dilation is a trip. No one knows this better than Nia Imani, a starship captain who makes her living schlepping goods across the gulf of space at the behest of an interstellar mega-corporation. While most of her friends, family, and lovers are reduced to dust at the end of her light speed jumps across the stars, Nia finds an unlikely friendship with a non-speaking boy who one day appeared in the wreckage of a spaceship. Little does Nia know, this boy possesses the power to “jaunt” – i.e. travel instantaneously across the heavens. The big businesses controlling space travel are covetous of the kid’s power, and this sci-fi surrogate mother/child duo will have to flee from the long arm of corporate influence. If you’re looking for a tender space opera about found family and sticking it to the man, this novel is a must read.
Was this Pilates instructor racist or just oblivious? Despite its origins as an exercise for injured and disabled soldiers and dancers, Pilates has become a wellness-world staple. This is especially true among a predominantly white, affluent crowd.
Depending on where you go, group classes can range anywhere from $15 to $100. Some people report that in order to go regularly, they spend about $350-$400 a month.
James Gunn’s Superman hits theaters this last weekend and with it came a lot of annoying responses to the film. Including the MAGA crowd saying that the film was “woke” because Gunn correctly pointed out that Superman is an immigrant.
So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it somehow got so much worse. The official White House account posted an image of President Donald Trump with the writing “A Trump Presidency” on the Superman poster. It also included Trump’s face on Superman’s body in the midst of his ICE raids of immigrant families.
The Doctor and Alex are at odds in an Uncharted universe as the younger man attempts to prove himself
The Eighth Doctor’s Uncharted adventures continue as he and some select friends and frenemies fall headlong into an alternative universe. Placing Paul McGann’s Doctor for a sustained run of stories in a pocket universe where the rules of physics hit a little differently has been done before, of course. But Pursuit offers up four stories that while perhaps more safely traditional, are certainly more cohesive than the Divergent arc of yesteryear when both the universe and Big Finish’s monthly slate of Doctor Who was a fraction of its current size.
Anyone dipping into Uncharted 2: Pursuit after skipping Uncharted 1 will likely find the opening here wildly confusing. Admittedly, those who’ve heard the first set won’t be much better off. However, that seems to be largely the point. It mirror our heroes’ disorientation as they try to get to grips with a completely foreign universe.
All you really need to know is that Alex, an alternative timeline doppleganger of the Doctor’s dead great-grandson, has decided he can do better and stolen the TARDIS. Cass, who herself is ‘supposed’ to be dead if not for the ever shifting timelines of the Time War, is by his side on his escape. Though, for her, it’s as much about keeping the possibility of reconciliation open. Meanwhile, the Doctor is in hot pursuit, hence the title. For that purpose he’s commandeered the ramschackle ‘time raft’ of the morally very, very dark grey Hieronyma Friend.
Spoil of War focuses on the auction for an object of cosmic importance so vaguely defined it’s hard to worry too much about the outcome
In theory, this should all feel very lightweight, without much at stake. It’s not ‘our’ universe, after all, and the awareness that half the cast will likely reset back into non-existence sooner or later, is never far away. Even the otherwise neat idea of Friend being played by a different actor almost every episode risks making them seem inconsequential.
That’s certainly an issue with opening story Spoil of War. The episode dumps Alex and Cass right into the middle of negotiations for a potentially universe changing McGuffin. One of the key aspects of this Uncharted universe is that it’s one where the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey succeeded way back in 1978. They’ve now adopted the title of Time Lords, complete with elaborate ‘battle collars’ for themselves. But as the dinner party for the auction bidders turns hostile, it’s genuinely a little hard to care who winds up with the mysterious device. Spoil of War’s not helped by being by the Doctor and Alex being so fresh from last time’s falling out. It means that this episode spends an awful lot of time on moping, sulking, and moaning.
Some of the cast of See Saw. (l-r) See-Saw – Felicity Cant, Lizzie Hopley, Sonny McGann, Emma Campbell-Jones, Clive Hayward (c) Big Finish
The Tale of Alex performs some smart timey wimey moves, as the Doctor and Alex must choose between two equally awful timelines
The Tale of Alex succeeds much better, neatly inverting Doctor Who norms. The Doctor arrives on a planet only to find the people hate him as a notorious villain. Alex, meanwhile, is lauded as a much anticipated hero, destined to save the colony. The episode seizes the opportunity for the set’s unique conflict with an equally unique structure. The whole planet keeps shifting back and forth between two possible outcomes – one the result of the Doctor’s plan and the other what happens if Alex succeeds. Both time travellers are trying to save everyone, but both realities predict disasterous consequences. There’s one in which the population goes through a seemingly endless famine. Yet the alternative is one in which a plentiful food supply drives anyone who tastes it mad.
It provides, ironically, fertile ground to explore how alike the Doctor and Alex are. Unfortunately, that similarity includes some of the same critical character flaws. Meanwhile, their essential conflict, with each thinking they know best, or needing to prove they don’t need telling how to solve every problem, comes into focus to be a highlight of the set.
See-Saw and The First Forest feature more playing with time, with one’s scares balancing the other’s hopeful fairy tale
See-Saw continues the theme of time going wrong in excitingly new and awful ways. The Doctor and Friend finally catch up to Alex and Cass but are divided by Time itself. With hints of Stephen King’s The Langoliers, they find themselves in an eerily deserted London, as if caught in the gap between one moment and the next. What’s more, the two groups can’t perceive each other, but are subject to the effects of the others’ actions. Meanwhile, a mysterious voice in the darkness and fog calls out half finished nursery rhymes. But should the Doctor and Alex finish the pattern or ensure it never, ever is?
The result is a dark and unsettling story that plays up that essential horror movie terror of knowing your next move could be lethal, without remotely understanding the rules by which the game is being played.
The rules of the The First Forest are equally weird or wonderful. This time, though, they’re explained by a rather more pleasant figure in old hermit Abidus. It’s a wood straight from the creation myths of the Time Lord, somehow real in this Uncharted universe. The idea that simply walking its paths and trails will bring you forward or backwards in time is a lovely mix of science fiction and fairy tales, as is the idea of the Forest itself narrating everything that happens within its borders. The Sontaran Time Lords are back again, but feel more like a genuine threat this time. With the TARDIS out of commission, the scramble to get everyone working together to escape the Forest. The result is some proper tension, and some truly dastardly Sontarans at their vicious best. (Not counting the endearing, almost Strax like Sharron.)
Pursuit brings the Doctor and Alex’s conflict to a satisfying resolution that leaves the ‘old man’ and his young relative on a more equal footing
Inevitably, the Doctor and Alex finally have their long overdue heart to heart. It’s one of Pursuit’s greatest successes, too, bringing everything to the resolution that always seemed pretty inevitable, but without making the whole arc seem like it was a waste of time.
As has become pretty standard for these Eighth Doctor Time War sets, Pursuit ends with few definitive resolutions. Instead there’s yet another new mission to pursue, born from the frayed loose ends of the last. It adds to the sense of the Eighth Doctor at this point in his life simply struggling to keep one foot in front of the other, pushing always forwards. Capturing that slight edge of desperation is perhaps Uncharted’s greatest strength. This is a Doctor exhausted trying to keep all the plates spinning amid the hurricane that is the Time War,
The Doctor’s still determined to make sure he and his friends don’t go gently anywhere, even as he sees the good night drawing ever closer.
Doctor Who: Pursuit. Cover by Rafe Wallbank (c) Big Finish
Doctor Who: Uncharted – Pursuit
The Doctor and his great-grandson Alex have been driven apart. In an uncharted universe, the Time War is on a very different path. A new force rules Gallifrey and will stop at nothing to gain the military advantage.
As Alex and Cass career through the cosmos in a stolen TARDIS, the Doctor is in hot pursuit, with a duplicitous Friend by his side…
Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted: Pursuit is now available to purchase from just £24.99 (download to own) or £30.99 (download to own + collector’s edition 4-disc CD box set), exclusively here. Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies and will not be repressed.
These days, it seems you can’t outright own anything anymore. Everything is rented or requires a subscription to work. Even when you think you’ve bought something, like a digital movie or game, those are subject to licensing agreements. This means they can be deleted from your library if the hosting company loses the rights to the media.
One HP customer has highlighted how frustrating this trend is in a viral TikTok.
“Some heroes don’t wear capes.” That’s the modern idiom a woman bestowed on a Target employee after the worker swooped in and saved the day during a shopping trip. While the interaction may have been solid proof of the kindness of strangers, viewers didn’t see it as wholesome.
Why did a Target worker pay for her items?
In a viral clip, Elsa (@elsa_power123456789) shares a single photo of her and her friend at the Target self-checkout. But they’re not the only ones there. Standing beside them is a Target employee, looking at the checkout screen. The text overlay reveals the situation that led Elsa to dub the worker a “green flag.”
In the summer of 2000, a big-budget superhero movie was about as far from a sure thing as Hollywood could imagine. The state of the genre was dire: Batman’s popularity was on the decline after fans rejected director Joel Schumacher’s campy take on the caped crusader. Additionally, Superman was too much of a do-gooder for edgy, Y2K-era audiences. The success of Blade a couple of years earlier suggested superheroes still had potential. However, there was no guarantee that one R-rated vampire movie could prop up an entire industry.
Enter the X-Men, who blasted and clawed their way into theaters 25 years ago on July 14, 2000.
A woman’s experience with a cashier has people questioning whether people’s basic math skills are in a steep decline. Canada-based Viktoriya (@viktoriyaonline) revealed in a TikTok how a cashier’s mistake led her to be $15 richer.
Viktoriya shared her story to 230,000 followers, saying she needs folks to “start paying with cash because I think people are really bad at math.”
Was a woman making Starbucks workers’ lives harder, or was she being “gaslit?” According to TikTok viewers, it’s the latter for a customer who went to pick up her mobile order only to be chastised for doing so.
In a viral clip, TikToker Quela (@quela_fowler) films herself at a Starbucks drive-thru picking up an order she ordered through the mobile app. However, what was supposed to be a smooth interaction made her feel thrown off after a manager got “upset” with her.
Starfury Events bring the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz to a new three day Doctor Who convention
Starfury Events have announced a new Doctor Who convention for 2026. Flux will take place at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham for three days, from the 13th to 15th of March next year. What’s more the Starfury newsletter reveals the first two guests for the convention: Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill.
Whittaker and Gill, of course, starred in three seasons of Doctor Who together between 2018 and 2022 as the Thirteenth Doctor and her beloved companion Yaz. This year the pair returned to those roles for new Big Finish audio dramas, beginning with this month’s Vampire Weekend. Starfury are still to announce the rest of the guest list, but have promised it will include stars from both Doctor Who and Torchwood.
There will only be weekend tickets for Flux, with no daily entry. This may disappoint fans on a budget, but should lead to a more relaxed atmosphere where fans are under less pressure to squeeze everything they want to do into one day.
Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill (c) Oliver Bowring
More guests will be announced in the months to come
The event will begin on the Friday afternoon with the opening of Event Registration, and in the evening there will be an Opening Ceremony.
On Saturday and Sunday the day will begin with Photo Sessions in the morning. Following that are Guest Talks / Q&A Sessions beginning around lunchtime. In the afternoon there’s an Autograph Session and a party in the evening.
The Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday evening evening, prior to another party.
Standard tickets for Flux are £135, and includes entry to all the Q&As and opening and closing ceremonies, one free autograph from each ‘regular’ guest, and a souvenir booklet. Gold tickets are £280 and also include one free autograph from each ‘bonus’ guest. Gold ticket holders also fet priority seating at the Q&As, and entry into a Friday night meet and greet.
There will be professional photo opportunities but these are at an additional cost. Fans with both standard and gold tickets will also be able to purchase additional autographs from both regular and bonus guests.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear for the moment if Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill will be considered ‘regular’ or ‘bonus’ guests.
A Fort Lauderdale woman sparks safety concerns after sharing her experience with an Uber driver who locked his doors and asked to kiss her.
What did this driver do?
On May 11, Lauren Becker (@lauren.becker30) posted a TikTok about an Uber driver locking the doors and attempting to kiss her despite her saying no. The video has elicited concern and outrage. It has reached over 487,000 views as of Monday.
Comics creators Tula Lotay (Groupies, Barnstormers, Somna), Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Saucer Country), Kim-Joy (Turtle Bread), Curt Pires (Stillman, Simulation Theory, Wyrd), Michael Conrad (The 99 Legs, Neptune, Doom Patrol), and Becky Cloonan (Wonder Woman, Somna, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys) test their knowledge against each other in a fun-filled game show in the categories of literature, movies, TV, music, comics, food, and drink. You may get asked a question, too! Bring your game face. Moderated by David Hyde (Superfan Promotions).
The old creative model advised creators to put all their energies into one specific “brand,” but today, many comics writers also work in other mediums: novels, screenplays, children’s programming, radio dramas, etc. Melissa F. Olson (Archaic), Rachel Pinnelas (Creepshow), Mark Russell (The Flintstones), Paul Cornell (The Might Avengers vs. the 1970s), and Meghan Fitzmartin (All-Star Superman audiobook) have a candid discussion of why some writers move across different mediums and the various challenges, benefits, and drawbacks to bouncing back and forth.
Each year the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers presents the Scribe Awards to celebrate outstanding works tied to popular licenses, such as novelizations of movies and TV shows, as well as numerous original works set in the worlds of Star Wars, the MCU, the DCU, video games, popular TV shows, and much more. The awards event at SDCC includes a lively panel discussion with current nominees and past winners. Hosted by New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry, president of the IAMTW.
Award-winning writer Scott Snyder (By a Thread, Batman), acclaimed writer Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), celebrated writer Taki Soma (Alienated, Sleeping While Standing), acclaimed writer Curt Pires (Stillman, Simulation Theory, Wyrd), and rising star Omar Morales (Major Thomás, LA Strong) give a soul-baring, behind-the-scenes look at how to write comics. Moderated by award-winning TV and comic book writer Marc Bernardin.
Go behind the scenes with Legendary Comics, the publishing arm of the studio that brought you A Minecraft Movie, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Dune parts 1 and 2, and hear the latest about their comics, graphic novels, art books, and other tie-in publishing across all of the company’s franchises. Panelists include Brian Buccellato (Justice League v Godzilla v Kong 2), Rosie Knight (Monsterverse Declassified), Paul Cornell (Monarch: The Lost Adventures), Drew Zucker (Canto, Monsterverse Declassified/Monarch), and David M. Booher (Monsterverse Declassified, Canto). Be sure to brush up on your Monsterverse and Dune lore for a special giveaway!
Hugo award–nominated sci-fi writer of TV, comics, and prose Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), Hugo Award–nominated artist/colorist/writer Taki Soma (Alienated), Eisner Award–winning artist Michael Avon Oeming (Alienated, Galaxy of Madness), acclaimed writer Curt Pires (Stillman, Simulation Theory, Wyrd), and rising star Omar Morales (Major Thomás, LA Strong) discuss the best in science fiction and their newest comics featuring highly imaginative concepts, including advanced technology, space travel, dystopian societies, and extraterrestrial life and why these concepts are so fun to play with in comics and beyond. Moderated by journalist Ernie Estrella.
Bloomsbury Presents: Introducing Marvel Age of Comics—The first authors to contribute to Bloomsbury Academic’s new collaboration with Marvel will dig into the specifics of how each approached their subject with moderator Barbra Dillon (co-founder and editor-in-chief of Fanbase Press). Chris Ryall will preview his examination of the Daredevil: Born Again books and how they forever changed the ways super heroes and their secret identities have functioned; Paul Cornell will focus on The Mighty Avengers as icons of the 1970s; Ytasha L. Womack explores the hugely successful reimagining of one of the most popular super hero characters as Afrofuturist and Latinx in her upcoming Spider-Man: Miles Morales; and Stuart Moore tells the story of Doctor Strange, one of Marvel’s most bizarre, otherworldly heroes, discussed against the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s.
I’ll also be doing some signings, which won’t get announced until Tuesday, because…
There’s a Special Blog with a Big Surprise Coming on Tuesday!
Keep this page bookmarked, because this Tuesday, 15th July, I have a major announcement to make! (It’s not Doctor Who.)
Commando Release Date and Cover
‘The Longest War’, by myself and the great artist Steve Yeowell, will be Commando #5881, out on 16th August. It’ll be in many UK newsagents and superstores, I’ll have copies at Thought Bubble, and nearer the time you’ll be able to order it by post here at Mags Direct.
Rachael Smith and I Do a Video Interview!
Rachael and I took part in a wide-ranging live interview with Nigel from Mayamada in his Casual Conversations with Comic Creators series. He proved to be a great interviewer, and we got deep into the creative process, and talked a lot about how Who Killed Nessie? came about. It’s a really good one. You can see it on YouTube here.
I’m a Guest at Caption!
On the afternoon of Sunday, August 17th, I’m going to be a guest at the Caption Small Press and Comics Festival in Botley, Oxford. I’m on the Networking in Comics panel. Do come along if you can!
Gnomes of Lychford and The Lychford Collection
On 9th September, Tor.com Publishing is releasing the sixth book in my Lychford series of rural fantasy novellas, Gnomes of Lychford. It’s a re-editing of the serial I ran on this newsletter, and I’ve taken the opportunity to sort out a couple of little plot problems. I think it’s my best Lychford book, and, weirdly, it’s a great jumping-on point, because everything about the series is explained at the start. You can read all about it here.
“An unlikely group of supernatural creatures terrorizes the sleepy village of Lychford. Okay, they’re gnomes. That’s not a spoiler: you worked it out it from the title. When an ancient prophecy clashes with an unfortunate modern design aesthetic, the people of Lychford must band together to put out fires (both literal and metaphorical) to save their town before the king of the Gnomes (King Greg, and it’s dangerous to laugh at a gnome) calls in the terms of an old promise. Trouble is: no one knows what the promise is, nor how to fulfil it. It’s going to be a long night.”
And also up for pre-order, and out on the same day is The Lychford Collection, which contains my first three Lychford novellas. (Cover design for both by FORT.)
Who Killed Nessie?
On 18th September, Avery Hill will be releasing a bookstore edition of Who Killed Nessie?, the graphic novel by myself and the great Rachael Smith.
And on Saturday, 20th September, from 1pm-2pm, Rachael and I will be signing the book (copies of which will be on sale) at Waterstones London-Piccadilly!
Those of you who backed the graphic novel on Zoop, don’t worry, you’ll be getting a unique edition with a different cover. (And you’ll be getting it first.)
“A cosy comedy murder mystery… with a monstrous twist! Lyndsay Grockle has just started her new job at an isolated hotel. She’s trying to get over heartbreak. She’s amazed to be left in sole charge just before a big convention. When the terrifying guests start to arrive, she realises why: this is a gathering of the fantastic beasts of myth and legend! The attendees ask her to stay in her room and let them be. But when the Loch Ness Monster is found dead, there’s nobody else they trust to solve the murder. She may not entirely believe in them… but they believe in her! Lyndsay is going to have to dig deep into her own fears and vulnerabilities to discover… WHO KILLED NESSIE?”
The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s
I’ve got a book coming out from Bloomsbury that’s part of a new range of popular studies of Marvel Comics! The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s is fully illustrated with panels from the comics, and is my journey through how Marvel’s main super team navigated that difficult decade. This is very much a labour of love for me, a book I’ve wanted to find a way to write for the longest time.
And now there’s a release date and a pre-order link!
Our application has been accepted, so I’m pleased to say that Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be tabling at the wonderful Thought Bubble comic convention in Harrogate on November 15th and 16th. (You can find the full list of exhibitors here.)
Of Intrigue and Espionage
I have a story in this just-announced forthcoming volume from Stars and Sabers publishing, which is due out in October 2026. I’m in good company, as you can see from the full announcement here.
Telefantasy Time Jump
The new podcast from me and Lizbeth Myles covers the history of SFF on TV, from 1953 onward, with our regular episodes (on the 14th of every month) covering a show released that year in the UK, and the Patron Bonus episodes (on the 28th) covering a show from the rest of the world. The shows for July (covering 1959) are Noggin the Nog and The Twilight Zone. The main episode is available free wherever you get your podcasts. To get the bonus episode, you need to follow us on Patreon at £3/$3 or above. (And you get access to seven years of Hammer House of Podcast bonus episodes!) You can find all the info here.
My Ko-fi and eBay Stores
I’ve re-stocked my Ko-fi store, where you can buy my books and comics, signed and personalised, for shipping worldwide.
Similarly, I’ve now re-stocked my ebay store, full of Bronze Age Marvel comics at bargain prices.
My Linktree
You can now find all my social media links, my website/blog and links to where you can buy my books, in one place here, thanks to Linktree!
A Nashville woman’s viral TikTok about a Hinge match canceling their second date due to a “stronger connection” has ignited debate over the emotional toll of dating apps.
“When I say I’m done dating, I’m done dating,” said one TikToker, Andrea (@ajdsing94), in a viral video from May 11. The video has amassed over 190,000 views as of Monday.
A woman noticed a secret shopper next to her while at Target. Then, she was approached by an employee and asked to check out her items despite walking around the store like any other customer.
In a video with 65,000 views, TikTok user @myjaabaandz pointed out that a secret shopper was following her around Target and acting “weird.”
Finding an expensive product on sale is a win. One that is marked down to a penny? An almost unheard-of bargain. One Home Depot customer achieved this difficult feat by scoring a paint sprayer for just a penny.
@ticklesdealz has an impressive 21,000 following for posting content about “clearance deals, hacks, tips, and finds.” This time, he brings more than 38,000 viewers on a trip to Home Depot.
Today I relistened to The Doomsday Quatrain, a 7th Doctor audio, because I was feeling too something to sit and read. But then I was feeling too fiddly to sit and listen so I started playing Wrath of the Righteous again, because there's an Achievement I skipped on Core and I'll have to replay past defending Defenders Heart to have another go at it. But then the audio finished and I didn't start another one and I got stuck playing Wrath on a difficulty I do not find fun replaying the bit I have done So Many Times so I was actually bored. And then it was morning.
Somewhere in there I formed the impression that The Doomsday Quatrain doesn't have much going on except The Twist, and that the elements of the story do not support each other, so it's kind of three things in a sack. Okay, the racism and violence parts from the two sets of aliens fit together. I just never did see why the guy on the cover was in it. Maybe I missed the good bits by replaying the game. But mostly I was not fascinated.
I'm also rereading the Murderbot series. It's action with an unusual and surprising protagonist with a lot of the usual signifiers of Hero who actively refuses a lot of the other parts. It gets blown up a lot, thinks it is bad at its job, and considers its fighting style to be Throw Self At Other SecUnits and see which one is repairable after. It keeps saying it would rather watch media but doing complicated corporate espionage and client retrieval. It's about asserting personhood in societies where slavery is normalised and the well meaning neighbours are often clueless. There's a lot going on there. Good to read. Shall go see if I read more this morning.
Fandom: Sinners Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Smoke, Stack, Sammie (Preacherboy), Annie, Mary, Bo Chow, Grace Chow, Delta Slim, Pearline Content Notes/Warnings: none Medium: digital art Artist on DW/LJ: n/a Artist Website/Gallery:doodlesnoff on tumblr Why this piece is awesome: A great montage of them all dancing at the Juke, before everything goes to hell. I love the warm colours and the joy. Link:"for a few hours, we were free"
Title:Claudia de lioncourt Creator:haflacky Prompt: colored art Fanwork Type: fanart Fandom: Interview with the Vampire (TV) Character: Claudia de Lioncourt Rating: G Warnings: none
Over the years, companies have offered special promotions to engage customers in finding a specific item, code, or puzzle in exchange for prizes. Typically, a lucky winner can win the grand prize, which is usually money. After one woman attempted to redeem the $10,000 golden specialty Starburst grand prize, she was heartbroken to learn she was unable to claim it.
In a clip with 17.2 million views, Connecticut-based TikTok creator Kiya (@yeaathatskiyaa) films her mother holding a Starburst Original bar in plastic wrap from the 2010 Hunt For Gold promotion.
We all know a Bath and Body Works enthusiast: waiting for the next drop of special edition candles, who considers the semi-annual sales a holiday, and whose home is adorned with plug-in wallflowers. The company they revere, however, is being badmouthed by an alleged disgruntled ex-employee. According to them, the home fragrance brand is not as wholesome as it seems.
In a viral TikTok, Taylor Clark (@taylor.clark112) “exposed” the so-called secrets Bath and Body Works “hides from you.” But how true are they?
You ever dream about the apocalypse and wake up more tired than you started? I actually dreamt about packing for the apocalypse. Great big trunk to pack, yet far too small compared to my Big Finish collection. Obviously this is a problem worth losing sleep over.
In unrelated news, it has been bugging me recently that one reviews place I see keeps guessing wrong things about genre and then rating stuff poorly based on it not being that genre? Like, Murderbot doesn't have enough gags for a comedy. Or the Sandman doesn't use his powers enough. I mean complaining Dream doesn't manipulate people's dreams is like complaining God appears to leave people free will when he could simply fix everything by not doing that. Missing the point by rather a lot. Yet they had perceived him as some kind of fantasy superhero, so, they thought he wasn't very good at that.
... so now I'm wondering what kind of genre makes my life seem awesome. And frankly as post apocalyptic survival goes I'm doing flipping awesome. So that's nice.
A customer has questions for Nabisco after purchasing a box of Nilla wafers from Walgreens and noticing that the product seems to have dipped in quality from the version we knew and loved in our youth.
In a viral TikTok, Heather (@heatherfishcreations) says she paid $6 for the box of cookies at Walgreens, which she admittedly probably could’ve gotten for less elsewhere. However, she wanted to do a quick trip rather than a whole grocery run for her treat, so she opted for the convenience store instead and paid the higher price.
The absolute explosion of canned cocktails in the U.S. can’t be missed. You’ll see the ads online, and the shelves in any grocery store’s alcohol aisle are packed with names like Cutwater, High Noon, and Golden Rule.
And while they aren’t exactly cheap—most canned cocktails average between $3 and $6 a can—they’re still more affordable than the $10+ cocktails you’d pay for at a bar.
If your dryer stops working, you might want to ask yourself: When was the last time it was cleaned? After one woman’s Samsung dryer bit the dust, she decided to investigate and was appalled by what she discovered.
What’s inside this Samsung dryer?
“So, you know how they say, ‘House fires start from your dryer?’” TikTok creator Breaun Osborne (@breaunosborne) asks over 161,000 viewers. “Our dryer stopped working. So, I am taking apart.”
An experience an author and a babysitter had in a Target has women everywhere agreeing that women have to look out for one another.
Children’s author Jerrica L. DeLaney (@j_o_jones) says in a TikTok that she stepped in to rescue a stranger from a man who was “harassing” her in Target. She was so concerned for the girl that she followed her to her babysitting job.
If you’re like me, you’ve got a color that you buy everything in if it’s available. For many people, this extends to cookware, especially if we’re talking about the high-end French brand Le Creuset. Known for its colorful enameled cast iron cookware, the brand inspires several customers to pick a signature color for all their cookware, creating a unified aesthetic for their kitchen.
Well, one TikToker thinks you should turn this practice on its head—if you’re bold enough, that is.
A server recently revealed that she received a paycheck for $0. People are blaming her.
Lucy’s (@lucybb14) check shows that she worked 73 hours as a server and 4.5 hours as a bartender. Her hourly wage for waiting tables was $2.13; for bartending, it was $5.15. This adds up to a roughly $180 check, all of which went to pay taxes and other withholdings.
A shopper at Walmart checkout taps one star on the customer feedback screen—something they say they “always do.” It’s petty, relatable, and strategic, according to thousands of commenters.
The clip from Florida-based creator @killintimecastinlin has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. It has also received considerable attention due to the potential impacts he and other one-star diehards can have on Walmart workers’ job security.
The age of free water at Starbucks is no more. In January, Starbucks rolled out several changes per the new CEO’s aim to “return” to the old Starbucks. Several–both customers and employees–were opposed. One of the most divisive changes, however, has been about Starbucks’ free water policy.
A United States Postal Service Worker found out the change the hard way after walking into the coffee chain for some water, only to be sorely disappointed. In a viral TikTok, USPS worker @melaninglowesthetics shares her disbelief with over 737,000 viewers, sparking controversy around Starbucks as a whole.
A woman is vowing to move out of Florida after she got robbed not once, but twice, after a trip to Walmart resulted in her losing her purse—and car.
In a viral clip, TikToker @guynabella shares her devastation at waking up and finding her husband’s car missing from their driveway. But it was no mystery.
I apparently haven't posted since Sunday. 🖖 Hi 🌞 I started watching 12 and Clara and then paused to ponder how Clara is immediately the person I remember and am vaguely annoyed by, and it seemed rather abrupt to me this time. Some of it is her reaction to the regeneration. It does not make her more likeable, or more relatable to the long time Doctor Who viewer, in theory. But I actually had some problems with this regeneration at the time for unreasonable reasons, since Children of Earth was not fun. So it is a bit interesting watching my own reactions there. I think the bit about Clara's ego is... new. New? Felt new. And not improved. But her changing actually makes sense after the whole Impossible Girl thing. But part of the Impossible Girl thing is how impossible it is for it to have happened any more? So *big shrugs*. And I'm not sure how new she is vs how different the situation is. The job is a progression, the confidence suits, what is feeling new? I also think the romance is... for one, not my sort of thing, but for another, not seeming at all romantic to me? Interesting story, sure, the Doctor parallels and the soldier stuff and the tangled up times and everything, certainly a lot of story is going on there. But I don't get why they like each other or are acting that way so. *small shrug*
I have watched up through Listen and I am more interested than I remember being the first time.
But then I picked up the headphones again and have listened to 7 and Mel adventures from Big Finish.
Bang Bang a Boom is not my thing.
Fires of Vulcan is interesting twists amid a lot of Romans I didn't much like listening to. But part of the point is their values don't mesh well with ours so the audio did what it set out to do. So, good, but not always fun.
Flip Flop lost my sympathy by making the bad guys a bunch of blind beings who enslave people to be their guide and who get their own way by complaining anyone disagreeing with them is a hate crime. They call themselves a minority and when it is pointed out they have 90% of the planet they say something like numbers aren't much to do with being a minority. In short this story did not feel like it was punching up, and I did not want much to do with it. I relistened it on fast forward. The alternating structure was a bit interesting in theory but does appear to leave us with two of the Doctor and Mel leaving the planet for further adventures, so I am not quite convinced. The specifics of the story didn't seem to be worth the elaborate setup. Didn't like it.
Unregenerate was one I put off listening to because its stated setting of run down asylum but evil doesn't really have a good side or good options. The story starting with someone doing the classic deal with the devil visit and then coming back on the last day of their deal recipients life to take them to the asylum? Pretty classic as horror set ups go, but, I do not want horror set up asylums. Honestly, neither mental illness nor mental healthcare need making scary. But Mel was quite emphatic about countering some prejudiced statements from a character of the week, so that bit was as good as it is getting I guess. Once the specifics of the alien experiment got made clear it was pretty interesting, ( Read more... ) So I'll just cut tag it so it can remain a mystery if anyone wants to listen to an audio from 2005. I liked a lot of bits of it but the evil asylum spin loses it a star.
Last of the Titans isn't something I remember listening to before. 7 on his own, meets a nice seeming new sapient who pilots a planet eating ship. ... I don't actually remember how this ended but the options were all sad. Okay so I listened the end again. Big kabooming. Well that's a bad ending for a young being. I never like that, it's another case of inventing a mentally ill person to blow them up.
Robophobia at least had the mentally ill person survive the story. I didn't much like how the Doctor communicated in this, yelling about people having to listen to him isn't the useful bit of the communicate, he should have led with the urgent words. Mysterious and manipulative only excuses him so far. The Doctor, traveling alone, meets Liv Chenka, who is interesting enough already. I like how the story arc goes through how everyone gets scared and then swings them back. Who they blame always makes enough sense. And I liked the robots. I feel like it's unlikely there's no course in an entire solar system except the self sacrificing one but as a story beat yeah alright.
Clicking through those adventures reminded me of the thing in the Big Finish app where you cannot seperately unload the interviews and music. If they filed all those bits under bonus you could save so much space. They are nice extras and I always like listening to new chatty bits, especially after the scarier stories, but I wouldn't carry them all around in my phone at all times when I could be carrying more main stories.
My week had a bunch of story in but doesn't feel like it had much week. It's the sleeping backwards but getting woken up a lot, it makes it all feel blurry. Still, pretty okay. 🤞
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