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kathleen_daileyOn Saturday I spent a bit of time self-soothing with some awwwsome animal videos. They were all extremely adorable, but I hate that my first thought now whenever I see a creature doing something amusing and appealing is, “This is probably AI.” Even when there aren’t any immediately noticeable tells, I default to suspicion. About animal videos, FFS.
I stumbled across this article on Chicago’s old apartment hotels in Hyde Park. The authors start off by reporting that Edna Ferber was "forced out of" her New York apartment "the day before" she moved into the Windermere Hotel. Even though the statement is cited as coming from Ferber’s autobiography, I’m pretty sure that in 1923 she wouldn’t have been able to move from New York to Chicago in one day. But never mind—the article brought back memories of the days when apartment hotels were a thing in the city. I always dreamed that one day I would live an Eloise-like life in a downtown hotel, in a huge luxurious suite with many pets, many people to wait on me, and no parents to be seen. I came somewhat close when my family moved to the Madison Park Hotel in Hyde Park (mentioned in the article). But although it had a beauty salon, a "card room," a drugstore, a dry cleaner, and a rooftop terrace, the place was definitely downmarket compared with, say, the Drake or the Palmer House, which I (at age 12) knew to be my natural and rightful habitat. I remember the residential hotels in Hyde Park, many of which I walked past on my way to school. I dream of those buildings to this day.
I have a private mental list of AO3 tags that piss me off, and the one alleging that "Spock is touch-starved" is near the top. Much is made in canon and fanon about (1) the character self-identifying as Vulcan and his Vulcan genetic "half" being dominant, and (2) his wholly Vulcan attribute of touch telepathy. So not only would he lack the human affinity for hugs and cuddles (and not even all humans have that), but an unexpected and uninvited embrace or even arm-squeeze or handclasp would (if the Enterprise had an HR department, which to judge from numerous episodes it clearly doesn’t) constitute both psychic and physical assault. This is all part of the longstanding and widespread fannish preference for forgetting or denying, in the interests of woobification, that the character is meant to be an alien.
If there is a better summer Sunday at-home brunch than poached eggs, homemade cornbread, big green salad, and iced buttermilk, I really can't imagine what it is.
I stumbled across this article on Chicago’s old apartment hotels in Hyde Park. The authors start off by reporting that Edna Ferber was "forced out of" her New York apartment "the day before" she moved into the Windermere Hotel. Even though the statement is cited as coming from Ferber’s autobiography, I’m pretty sure that in 1923 she wouldn’t have been able to move from New York to Chicago in one day. But never mind—the article brought back memories of the days when apartment hotels were a thing in the city. I always dreamed that one day I would live an Eloise-like life in a downtown hotel, in a huge luxurious suite with many pets, many people to wait on me, and no parents to be seen. I came somewhat close when my family moved to the Madison Park Hotel in Hyde Park (mentioned in the article). But although it had a beauty salon, a "card room," a drugstore, a dry cleaner, and a rooftop terrace, the place was definitely downmarket compared with, say, the Drake or the Palmer House, which I (at age 12) knew to be my natural and rightful habitat. I remember the residential hotels in Hyde Park, many of which I walked past on my way to school. I dream of those buildings to this day.
I have a private mental list of AO3 tags that piss me off, and the one alleging that "Spock is touch-starved" is near the top. Much is made in canon and fanon about (1) the character self-identifying as Vulcan and his Vulcan genetic "half" being dominant, and (2) his wholly Vulcan attribute of touch telepathy. So not only would he lack the human affinity for hugs and cuddles (and not even all humans have that), but an unexpected and uninvited embrace or even arm-squeeze or handclasp would (if the Enterprise had an HR department, which to judge from numerous episodes it clearly doesn’t) constitute both psychic and physical assault. This is all part of the longstanding and widespread fannish preference for forgetting or denying, in the interests of woobification, that the character is meant to be an alien.
If there is a better summer Sunday at-home brunch than poached eggs, homemade cornbread, big green salad, and iced buttermilk, I really can't imagine what it is.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-07 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-08 12:14 am (UTC)In Spock's case, the "touch-starved" characterization just rings false to me (unless executed by a writer who takes the time to address complexities and consequences and, above all, lay some believable groundwork).
no subject
Date: 2026-06-08 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-08 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-07 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-06-08 12:21 am (UTC)