wembley | Network

Name: C.K. or Chester
Age group: mid-to-late 30s -- 36 specifically.
Country: USA
Subscription/Access Policy: 18+ only. No Harry Potter fans. No antis. No Chappell Roan stans (I see how y'all are treating my man and I don't like it.) For a more in-depth 'about me', follow this link.

Main Fandoms: Culture Club (the greatest band of the '80s! I write fic for them and sometimes cross-post deep dives from my website on them.)
Other Fandoms: Linkin Park, WWE, Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Fannish Interests: Fanfiction mostly, and doing deep dives on my many OCs.
OTPs and Ships: Culture Club: Boy George/Jon Moss, Roy Hay/Mikey Craig; Linkin Park: Bennoda [Chester Bennington/Mike Shinoda]; Wrestling: Hartbreak (Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels), Shawnter (Shawn Michaels/Hunter Hearst-Helmsley), Candy (Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton); and then I have a lot of ships in my fandoms involving OCs.

Favourite Movies: The Room (lol), Pretty in Pink, Borat, Major League, man there's so many and I can't think of all of them.
TV Shows: I actually don't watch TV.
Books: Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart by Martha Hart
Music: I listen to a lot of '80s. My faves are Culture Club (and yes, that means I like Boy George's solo work too), a-ha, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Information Society, New Order, The Cure, A Flock of Seagulls, Real Life, Johnny Hates Jazz, Mr. Mister, Oingo Boingo. Then outside of '80s music I like Massive Ego, $uicideboy$, Linkin Park, and Fort Minor.
Games: Sonic the Hedgehog (1, 2, 3), Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Pokemon, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, GTA series, Hitman series, WWE series, Tomb Raider (original games series), Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2, Legacy of Kain series
Comics/Anime/Misc: Not really into much comics or anime, but my fave anime is Death Note.

Current Mood: sleepy

larryhammer

Holy crap, how did I only notice this AFTER posting yesterday’s links?!? The people who brought us Krill Waves Radio posted at the start of last April a 1-hour mix of skeleton shrimp to headbanging to instrumental metal, under the Kriller Waves Radio label.

People. They just invented Brinecore. As an April Fools joke.

And it RULES.

---L.

Subject quote from Let’s Go Crazy, Prince and the Revolution.

askamanager_feed

Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/03/lets-talk-about-times-when-you-said-the-exact-wrong-thing-at-work.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=37123

A reader writes:

I had an awkward moment the other day with a client and it made me think that others have probably made similar mistakes, and it could be fun to hear from everyone.

I’m a lawyer and working with a client preparing to testify about their innocence after being in jail for decades. I was in the prison working with him earlier this week, and he was doing really great work, and as feedback I kept telling him he was “killing it!” As in, “You’re killing it!” And, “Great job killing it!” Alison, he’s unfairly in jail for murder and has been his whole adult life. I know that, and yet for the life of me Could. Not. Stop. Saying. It.

In my subsequent reflection and shame, I realized others must have similar stories of just saying the absolute wrong thing to the wrong person at work. If you’re ever thinking of a call for stories, I bet these would be good!

By all means, let’s have at it in the comment section!

The post let’s talk about times when you said the exact wrong thing at work appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/03/lets-talk-about-times-when-you-said-the-exact-wrong-thing-at-work.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=37123

thewayne

"I think a president should not have learning disabilities, okay?... Gavin Newsom admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia -- everything about him is dumb."
-- Trump

"We have a smart president, whereas in the past we've had dumb presidents."
-- JD Vance

So let's see. We have a governor who has overcome a learning disability to become very high achieving, versus someone with, as far as we know, no learning disability who has achieved very little and instead chosen to do nothing except bully, extort, rape, molest, steal, threaten, belittle, insult, and I could go on. And we also have a lackey who changes political positions with the slightest change in the wind. Said lackey who also failed to learn from his predecessor that he's likely to get thrown under the bus the moment that the going gets tough for his boss.

Truly a pair made for each other.

kareila

Got the syllabus for the next symphony season today. The only evident choral works are the Mozart Requiem in October, the Messiah in December, and Holst's Planets in May. Nothing that I haven't done before. Also I would much rather be in the audience for the next Planets performance instead of waiting in the wings to sing the difficult high notes for Neptune and missing out on the rest of the piece entirely. So. I am entertaining other options.

The obvious one is to go back to handbells, especially since our church's handbell group hasn't had enough participants to perform for a couple of years now. If I'm not rehearsing with the symphony on Monday nights, I'm free to rejoin the metro handbell group that I've gigged with in the past. They will definitely want me back if I'm available.

There's also another high level choir that is holding open auditions over the next few weeks. I've heard them perform once before and they're very good. So I'm going to see if they're interested in me. But I don't know yet what their rehearsal schedule is if they are.

Meanwhile, Robby has expressed tentative interest in joining the symphony chorus himself, since the last time he did any large scale singing was in college, and it was the Mozart.

Current Mood: thoughtful

smallhobbit posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Umbrella Plant
Fandom: Original
Rating: G
Length: 5 photos and some text
Summary: Like its owners, our umbrella plant is unconventional

( Umbrella Plant )

stonepicnicking_okapi

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway. . . .
He did a lazy sway. . . .
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!

( Read more... )

Beloved, Or If You Are Murdered Tomorrow by Elizabeth Acevedo

Watch on YouTube

prettygoodword

marocain (MAR-uh-kayn, mar-uh-KAYN) - n., a heavy cross-ribbed crepe fabric, usually made of silk, wool, or both.

Known in full as crepe marocain. From French (crêpe) marocain, Moroccan (crepe), from Maroc, Morocco, from Medieval Latin Marrochium, Marrakech/Marrakesh.

---L.

jstordaily_feed

Posted by H.M.A. Leow

https://daily.jstor.org/caste-and-culture-in-kolkatas-chinese-leather-trade/

https://daily.jstor.org/?p=330408

Cultural taboos around purity have made leather work a controversial industry in India, with occupations such as tanning largely limited to members of marginalized groups. In fact, the trade in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) is dominated by an unlikely set of outsiders—Hakka Chinese, who make up the bulk of the Chinese community there. Since arriving in the city in the 1910s, they have “found a profitable niche in Calcutta’s leather industry,” observes anthropologist Ellen Oxfeld, who studied this group in the 1980s. They live and work on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata, in a swampy district called Dhapa where she observed “open sewers through which the byproducts of the tanning process flow.”

This environment has led Oxfeld to investigate how the Hakka community’s role in Indian society parallels the inferior status of lower castes and so-called “untouchables.” “[I]n many Indian villages the untouchable outcasts are found in distinct quarters outside the village proper,” she remarks. “The peripheral geographical position of the Chinese within Calcutta’s urban space is in many ways analogous to that of an untouchable community within an Indian village.” Indeed, even the Indians living near Dhapa are from the untouchable Chamar caste, and many are employed by the Hakka either as factory laborers or as domestic servants.

Barrier between waterbody and drain carrying leather industries waste in Dhapa, Calcutta, 1993. via Wikimedia Commons

Unlike other non-Hindu minorities in India—such as Christians, Muslims, Parsis, and Jews—the Hakka have not adopted elements of the caste system in their community. As one Hakka informant starkly put it to Oxfeld, “We don’t have castes. Your blood doesn’t matter. We have classes. What matters is how much money you make.”

“[F]rom the point of view of the Calcutta Hakka, any job is worthwhile if it is a profitable source of income,” Oxfeld explains. “While tanning is viewed within caste ideology as a polluting occupation, one performed only by a particular untouchable caste, Dhapa Chinese consider tanning a good business because it is so lucrative.”

Besides leather-tanning, smaller numbers of Hakka entrepreneurs are also engaged in hairdressing, shoemaking, or running restaurants in Kolkata. At the same time, the Hakka hold themselves apart from the other local Chinese—namely, the Cantonese, who mainly work as carpenters, and the Hubeinese, who are dentists. “They usually refer to themselves as ‘people of Meixian,’ thereby distinguishing themselves not only from other Chinese, but even from Hakka who do not come from Meixian, Guangdong, from which all Calcutta Hakka originate,” says Oxfeld.

“But the Calcutta Hakka use the word lao, translatable as ‘fellow’—a word connoting a vulgar person, a hillbilly or hick—when referring to the Cantonese or Hubeinese.” Besides refusing to refer to them as ren or “person,” the Hakka also view other Chinese as morally and culturally suspect. One informant told Oxfeld that “those Cantonese… mix Hindi and English in with their Chinese,” while another disapprovingly contrasted the stereotypical lifestyles led by Cantonese counterparts with how “Hakka keep working hard.”

More to Explore

A photograph of trash pickers from the Waste Matters Project

Waste Pickers Unite!

Livia Gershon

October 2, 2025

As one family’s story reveals, labor organizing and the development of a co-op for waste collection has improved conditions for precariously employed workers in India.

Yet the cultural distinctions among the Chinese of Kolkata often go unnoticed by others. Most Indians in Kolkata “are not aware of language differences,” such as the cultural gap between the Cantonese and the Hakka, and “usually refer to the Chinese as one group.”

“In fact, for most Calcuttans, the tanning area is a place to avoid—a slightly mysterious, even dangerous location,” says Oxfeld. She cites a local youth’s impression that “people are rather intrigued by the Chinese because they have, you know, they have their ‘walled city.’”

Given their association with a foreign origin and their involvement in what is seen as “a particularly degraded occupation,” Oxfeld argues that the Chinese community occupies “an outsider status greater in degree to that of other immigrants.”

Weekly Newsletter

But the role that Kolkata’s Hakkas have had for nearly a century may be vanishing. Amid tensions between India and China, many Hakka left Kolkata from the 1970s onward, with Toronto as a top destination. There, they took up “a variety of occupations,” including factory jobs, “rather than in a specialized ethnic niche associated with a degraded occupation.”

“[H]ow will the Calcutta Hakka identify themselves and be identified?” Oxfeld asks. “Will the next generation still refer to themselves as ‘people of Meixian?’ Or will they instead see themselves as descendants of Chinese Indians or as members of a more vague and amorphous category of Chinese Canadians? Will they speak Hakka at all?”

The post Caste and Culture in Kolkata’s Chinese Leather Trade appeared first on JSTOR Daily.

https://daily.jstor.org/caste-and-culture-in-kolkatas-chinese-leather-trade/

https://daily.jstor.org/?p=330408

otpcutie posting in

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james_davis_nicoll

John Maraintha wanted to rebuild his life. Instead, he was marooned on a backwater world in the middle of a first contact crisis.

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

neonvincent

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: weird
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Gremloe Twitch stream

gingicat

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

neonvincent

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: wind in the trees

otw_news_feed

Posted by an

https://www.transformativeworks.org/transformative-works-and-cultures-releases-issue-no-47/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=280595

Transformative Works and Cultures has released Issue No. 47, a special issue on Gaming Fandom guest edited by Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones.

Essays in this issue explore fan creativity in gaming fandoms and discuss a number of fan-made works and productions, including fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, mods, and fan-made games.

Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as:

We accept submissions for our general issues on a rolling basis. We particularly invite fans to submit Symposium articles.

TWC’s issues in progress include:

We accept submissions for our general issues on a rolling basis. The general issue is always released on September 15.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/transformative-works-and-cultures-releases-issue-no-47/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=280595

queenslayerbee

I answered some questions I got on an ask game I posted here.

Cassandra Cain

How I feel about this character. She's one of my favourite DC characters, and one I consider amongst the best yet tragically most underused in the franchise. Her original run was superb (even if it declined in quality overtime, its final arc and her character development remains better and shows more promise than most of what DC's done outside its flagship heroes.
All the people I ship romantically with this character. So many women LMAO. I'm not kidding. Way too many. I have a WIP called "Five women Cassandra Cain slept with after breaking up with the love of her life" and containing myself or even picking just five was a struggle. Kate Kane, Barbara Gordon (in an unrequited love way tbf), Stephanie Brown, Rose Wilson, Diana, Onyx, Brenda Miller… Name me a female character I can see as at least a little bit queer and there's at least a 50/50 chance I can picture them together.
My non-romantic OTP for this character. In canon, Barbara. In my own imagines where I can totally see them becoming best friends, Mia Dearden. Oh, and Tai'Darshan.
My unpopular opinion about this character. Bruce is no better with her than with his other charges, and certainly no "girl dad." And I see Stephcass as doomed and incompatible, in the end.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. In my wildest dreams, her corruption(-then-return) arc would've like. Actually good lmao.

Frodo

How I feel about this character. I've only read LOTR once, a few years ago (in newsletter format, when Dracula Daily and its imitators were all the rage). I can't say I have in-depth thoughts about him (or about much about the saga), but I liked him, more than I expected. I once talked about seeing similarities between him and my first original protagonist, actually.
All the people I ship romantically with this character. I don't strictly ship it myself (to me shipping requires actively seeking out the ship, fanworks, etc.), but it's easy to see why people like Frodo/Sam. Though if I were incline to shipping something with Frodo, I think Frodo/Gollum is where it's at lol. I love a good dark-mirror pairing.
My non-romantic OTP for this character. Golum, for the same reason.
My unpopular opinion about this character. Well, the LOTR fans I've met in person have all gone on about how Frodo isn't All That Great and Samwise is The REAL (Sole) Hero of LOTR, or a much better and character, and I disagree with that. Sam is admirable in many fronts, but I find Frodo very aspirational and, frankly, more interesting.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. I can't think of anything. The one change I always want to do to LOTR is basically "hey what about putting more, and more relevant, women in here?", so I guess that's what I would've done with his companions lol. Or with Frodo himself. Bring in Frodelia.

Willow Rosenberg

How I feel about this character. Willow is a character I sometimes saw myself reflected in a bit too much for my liking, in ways that maybe aren't obvious at first sight, which could be uncomfortable sometimes LOL. That said, with every rewatch I've done since I first watched the show, I've found myself loving her more and more. I'd consider her one of my top favourite characters in the entire 'verse. This could mean I'm winning the self-esteem war xD
All the people I ship romantically with this character. Tara, Faith, Kennedy, Kendra, Buffy, Amy, Anya… I'd probably add more women to the list if I had the show more recent LOL.
My non-romantic OTP for this character. Buffy. And although I'm saying this a bit begrudgingly because I do have my issues with the guy (though not as many/not the same as other people's), Xander LOL. Their scene in the season 6 finale always made me sob.
My unpopular opinion about this character. I don't even know where to begin LOL. I feel Willow, like many others in this 'verse, is a very polarising character, so every opinion seems fair game. I think liking Killow/Wennedy (?) is relatively unpopular, though.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. I have seen people say they wish the show had done more with her Jewish faith. On the one hand, I think it could've been interesting to explore something like that vis a vis paganism, but honestly she never felt all that observant to me and I don't know that I'd believe any ~crisis of faith stuff with her, on that front. But that could've been interesting too, showing her reject cultural and religious practices, etc.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Ghost - Mary On A Cross

smithsonian_history_feed

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-quaker-woman-eavesdropped-on-british-soldiers-plotting-a-surprise-attack-and-surreptitiously-warned-george-washington-180988348/

Lydia Darragh defied her commitment to pacifism by spying during the American Revolution

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-quaker-woman-eavesdropped-on-british-soldiers-plotting-a-surprise-attack-and-surreptitiously-warned-george-washington-180988348/

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/3/19/ohhh-biiig-stretch-and-such-a-yawn

Via uso_otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2026/3/19/ohhh-biiig-stretch-and-such-a-yawn

kazzy_cee

Yesterday was lovely and sunny and very warm for March (18ºC/64ºF). In the afternoon, Mr Cee and I jumped on a train and headed for the National Portrait Gallery for a U3A art history tour, "Women of the NPG".

The National Portrait Gallery has subtly changed over the last ten years, and more and more portraits of women and better explanations about their lives have appeared on the walls. Our guide pointed out quite a few, but there are others that I think deserve mention in Women's History Month, so I've added my favourites to this post as we took the 90-minute tour.

Photos under the cut (as usual) with explanations of pioneering women who were very famous and influential in their day, but were quietly ignored for years until fairly recently.

( Read more... )

The tour was very interesting, and I'm glad I could also see the extra important women's portraits (although, of course, there are many, many more in the art gallery!).

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wembley

February 2026

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Page Summary

midnight_heavenly_bodies in addme_fandom - Reposting since it's been a bit and I have a couple updates.
larryhammer - “what’s it all for / you better live now / before the grim reaper come knocking on your door”
askamanager_feed - let’s talk about times when you said the exact wrong thing at work
thewayne - Today's Doonesbury Say What
kareila - performance options
smallhobbit in fan_flashworks - Plant: Photos: Original: Umbrella Plant
stonepicnicking_okapi - Poet's Corner: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes & Beloved...by Elizabeth Acevedo
prettygoodword - marocain
jstordaily_feed - Caste and Culture in Kolkata’s Chinese Leather Trade
otpcutie in fandomcalendar - Bucky Barnes | Aromantic Bucky Barnes presents: Aromantic Bucky Barnes Fest (2026)
james_davis_nicoll - What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed
neonvincent - Be Scared
gingicat - the obituary is up
neonvincent - Max Headroom and Art of Noise
otw_news_feed - Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 47
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 19-03-2026
queenslayerbee - character asks
smithsonian_history_feed - A Quaker Woman Eavesdropped on British Soldiers Plotting a Surprise Attack—and Surreptitiously Warne
daily_otter_feed - Ohhh, Biiig Stretch! And Such a Yawn!
kazzy_cee - Another art history tour for Women's History Month

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Network

Reposting since it's been a bit and I have a couple updates.

“what’s it all for / you better live now / before the grim reaper come knocking on your door”

let’s talk about times when you said the exact wrong thing at work

Today's Doonesbury Say What

performance options

Plant: Photos: Original: Umbrella Plant

Poet's Corner: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes & Beloved...by Elizabeth Acevedo

marocain

Caste and Culture in Kolkata’s Chinese Leather Trade

More to Explore

Waste Pickers Unite!

Weekly Newsletter

Bucky Barnes | Aromantic Bucky Barnes presents: Aromantic Bucky Barnes Fest (2026)

What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Be Scared

the obituary is up

Max Headroom and Art of Noise

Transformative Works and Cultures Releases Issue No. 47

Interesting Links for 19-03-2026

character asks

A Quaker Woman Eavesdropped on British Soldiers Plotting a Surprise Attack—and Surreptitiously Warne

Ohhh, Biiig Stretch! And Such a Yawn!

Another art history tour for Women's History Month

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February 2026

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