Welcome!

[lebateleur]

For anyone new to my DW who wants a bit of context, this post should help orient you. Feel free to comment or subscribe at will (and introduce yourself, if you like!) Pretty much everything I post aside from in-progress drafts is unlocked.

In general, I post about:

My Current Obsessions: Baldur's Gate 3, Whisper of Ravens

My Forever Fandoms Baldur's Gate, Blake & Avery, Discworld, Farscape, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Goblin Emperor, Imperial Radch, Lord of the Rings, Onmyoji, The Queen's Thief, Saiyuki, Silver Diamond, X-Files

My Fandoms of One: Akitsuki Koh's manga and novels, Paraic O'Donnell's The House on Vesper Sands, Naono Bohra's manga, Sugiura Shiho's 終点unknown

My Old Flames: Adventure Time, Bleach, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Castlevania, D-Gray.man, Death Note, Destiny, Dredd, Final Fantasy, Firefly, Good Omens, Harry Potter, Magnus Archives, MCU, Our Flag Means Death, Samurai Flamenco, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Vampire Chronicles, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Welcome to Night Vale

My Enduring Interests AEW, Anime, BL & danmei, Books, Calligraphy & fountain pens, Foreign language learning, Gardening, Irish traditional music, Manga, Roleplaying games, Tabletop gaming, Tarot, Yoga

My What Am I Reading Wednesday posts are here and my fanfic is here. Maybe one day I'll add my early orphaned works to my account.

2025 Multimedia List

Movies

Thunderbolts*

Podcasts

Live Music

A Perfect Circle

Babymetal

Black Veil Brides

Breaking Benjamin

Gossip

Mogwai

Primus

Pucifer

Solas

Staind

Tycho

Live Shows

Tabletop Games

Television

Adventure Time: Season 8

Adventure Time: Season 9

Adventure Time: Season 10

Dragon Prince: Book 7 - Dark

Computer/Console Games

Beers

21st Amendment - Hell or High Watermelon wheat

Aleworks Brewing - Coffeehouse milk stout

Allagash Brewing Company - Allagash White witbier

Anxo - East Coast Dry Cider

Alsin - Maybe Shark IPA

Aslin - Ontario IPA

Atlas Brew Works - The Precious One apricot IPA

Atlas Brew Works - Silent Neighbor stout

Beale - Peach Tea blonde ale

Bishop - Brown ale

Bishop - Red ale

Brewer's Art - Resurrection brown ale

Brouwerij de Halve Maan - Straffe Hendrik quadrupel

Brouwerij Verhaeghe - Duchesse Cherry Flanders red ale

Brouwerij Verhaeghe - Duchesse sour ale

Citystate - Kingman Extra stout

DC Brau - Auld Dubliner amber ale

Dewey - Frostberry Festival fruit beer

Guinness - Draught Stout

Honor Brewing - Silent Wings coffee brown ale

Magic Hat - #9 IPA

Oliver - Drink Me, I'm Irish Nitro dry Irish stout^

Oxbow - La Roma saison

Port City - Monkspell tripel

Potter's - Passionfruit Mosaic cider^

Right Proper - Shortest Night Baltic porter

Saints Row Craft Collective - Dark Necessities imperial coffee milk stout

Strongbow - dry cider

Three Notch'd - Watermelon Gose

Victory - Golden Monkey Belgian tripel

Albums Acquired

Adwaith - Bato Mato

Adwaith - Melyn

Adwaith - Solas

Isaac Anderson & Dylan Foley - The Palace Sessions

Ar Log - Y Ddwy Chwaer

Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant

Jesse Autumn & Friends - California Celt

Blondie - The Best of Blondie

Ronan Browne & Peter O'Loughlin - The Legacy

Bush - Golden State

Joe Byrne - Uilleann Piping from County Kildare

CAIN - The Collection: 2014-2019

CAIN - Lineage

CAIN - Moran

Nuala agus Tomás Ó Canainn - Beal Na Tra

Tomás Ó Canainn - the Pennyburn Piper Presents Uilleann Pipes

Ceoltoiri - Celtic Lace

Clannad - Fuaim

Cran - The Crooked Stair

Dylan Foley & Dan Gurney - Irish Music From the Hudson Valley

Deep Forest - Comparsa

The Dubliners - Jigs Reels & Hornpipes

Four Men and a Dog - Wallop the Spot

Ray Gallen - Man of the House

Giungla - Distractions

GLOIN - All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)

Gossip - Real Power

Gráinne Hambly - Golden Lights and Green Shadows (second copy)

Gráinne Hambly - The Thorn Tree

Gravity Kills - Perversion

PJ Harvey - All About Eve

PJ Harvey - I Inside The Old Year Dying

Helicon - God Intentions

Helicon - Live in London

Heilung - Lifa Iotungard

HELGA - Wrapped in Mist

Hiroe - Wield

Hò-Rò - Hex

Sayaka Ikuyama - Light

Invernalia - Sol Invictus

James Keane - With Friends Like These

Jinjer - Duél

Kilbride - Kilbride

Knacker's Yard - Jigs and Reels

Lambrini Girls - You're Welcome

Lilt - X

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Invisible Fields

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Seacht gCoiscéim na Trocaire

London Grammar - The Greatest Love

The Lonely Island - Incredibad

The Lonely Island - The Wack Album

Colm Mac Coniomaire - Cúinne an Ghiorria

Robbie MacGowran - Basically

Tom McGonigle & Robbie McGouran - Road Map of Ireland

Joe McHugh - AIRLA

Joe McHugh & Barry Carroll - An Mhéar Fhada

Mick Moloney & Silvia Woods - Young Turlough

Eileen Monger - Lilting Banshee

Nite - Darkness Silence Mirror Flame

Laurence Nugent - Traditional Irish Music On Flute And Tin-whistle

Laurence Nugent - Two for Two

Kim Robertson - The Spiral Gate

Roehind - Buile

Royksopp - Royksopp's Night Out

Royksopp - The Understanding

Ruefrex - Flowers For All Occasions

Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine

Solas - The Edge of Silence

Spell Songs - Spell Songs II: Let the Light In

Alan Stivell - Ar Pep Gwellañ

Sweeney, Carlos, McCartin - The One After It

Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You

Sweeping Promises - Hunger for a Way out

Thou - Umbilical

Trian - Trian

VA - Celtic Brittany

Väsen - Rule of 3

Pat Walsh - Simply Whistle

Wardruna - Birna

John Williams - John Williams

これで以上です。

Comments

[spikedluv]

Oh, man, I might have to read The Goblin Emperor again. I think I read it almost every year since I got sucked into it. Also *pets Farscape*

[lebateleur]

I'm due for my reread within the next few months. And I stalled out of a Farscape rewatch in the early days of the pandemic--that's definitely something I need to complete this year. ♡

[rekishi]

Ohhhh, Sugiura Shiho!

[lebateleur]

!!! Another fan! Which of hers have you read?

[rekishi]

I just last year, finally, finished up Koori no Mamono no Monogatari (I'd started it years ago while it was still in scanlation and then fell away from the whole animanga thing pretty thoroughly for Reasons and then found it on mandadex last year), and have read half of Silver Diamond. I need to get around to it at some point.

[lebateleur]

Oh, that's excellent. I go back and forth between whether I love Koori or Silver Diamond more. They're both so damn good. I have the final two volumes of Shuten Unknown on order (although who knows when they'll get here given covid delays). I was heartbroken when she announced she was retiring.

[rekishi]

Koori for me. I have a very soft spot for Blood. And I really love the Rapunzel retelling.

[enemytosleep]

I will fully admit I have been TERRIBLE about commenting this year, so I have seen and enjoyed many of your write ups without taking the time to comment. I sort of wish there was a kudos button here for those low energy days so I can more easily say that I saw and enjoyed what you (and others) have posted. I will aim to be better this year!

[lebateleur]

Oh no, don't apologize--commenting is totally optional! Thanks for even just reading. ☆

I also mean to be better about reading and commenting regularly, and keep the January momentum going throughout the year.

[littlelostcat]

Oh man, I am here for book blogs! One of my goals this year is to read more (fic and published). And I'm attempting to learn more languages -- it's going slow, LOL. I have a working knowledge of Latin (enough to get by) and can fudge my way through French. I'm now working on Spanish ... but I have about a dozen others I've love to learn, LOL.

[lebateleur]

Latin! Yes! I plan to dig in the the Latin Great Course this year to brush up. Which textbooks/resources do you use?

I keep meaning to learn Spanish as well--lots of chances to use it in day-to-day life--but I keep returning to Latin every time I start. ^^

[littlelostcat]

I'm a bit fan of Shelmerdine'd Intro to Latin. I'd like to go back through it over the next year or so.

I started French last year (although I took it in high school) because I plan to travel there next year if we can, but I can use Spanish everyday at work so I started learning that as well. I'm not *great* at it but I can definitely speak more now than I could.

[lebateleur]

Ooh, I have Shelmerdine but (am embarrassed to admit) I've never cracked it open. I learn best from grammar-focused texts, so I'm a big fan of Jenney's First and Second Year Latin. I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Cambridge Latin Texts, which have a small but thriving AO3 fandom.

That's excellent that you can use Spanish at work--being able to speak/read/listen to something everyday is (at least for me) a huge boost to learning more, faster.

[littlelostcat]

I like the Shelmerdine because at the end of each chapter they have a reading section, so you're learning the language/grammar and able to apply it.

I've never tried Jenney's Latin -- but I Just looked it up!

Yeah, it's nice because we also have a translator at work who I can ask questions but it's enough to get the basics.

[queenlua]

Hi! A little bird (ambyr) mentioned that you post about tarot things, which is very relevant to my interests, so here I am :)

[lebateleur]

Oh, welcome! Always nice to meet another tarot person. And I see you do book reviews too--even better. :)

[coyoteclaw11]

日本語話しますか？すごい～私は自分で習っています。何年始めましたが、あまり分かりません。What got you into tarot? I've always been interested in it, but I never know where to start.

[lebateleur]

初めまして！ええ、日本語話します。高校生の時、勉強し始めたが、私も今一人で習っているのです。

Believe it or not, a book by Alvin Schwartz (he of Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark fame) called Telling Fortunes introduced me to tarot when I was a little kid, and I've been fascinated ever since. As far as how to start, I think the best advice is to just choose a deck with art you like and play around with it to get familiar with the cards. Then you can start exploring which system(s)--astrological, Golden Dawn, intuitive--you like reading with.

日本語の勉強、頑張ってくださいね！

[spikedluv]

Howdy, friend! Oh no, I don't think I re-read The Goblin Emperor last year!! Must. Rectify.

[lebateleur]

You and me both! (I loaned my copy to a friend, and only recently got it back.) Perhaps a group read is in order?

[spikedluv]

That would be great!

[corvidology]

Over here from the Snowflake friending meme. We have a lot of mutuals and I have a lot of fandom of one loves but mine are Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean. :D

[lebateleur]

Hello, and excellent! I seem to be circling the C-fandom black hole (currently working my way through all the official MXTX translation) and welcome any other recommendations!

[corvidology]

I don't know if you've heard of it but there's a com for Chinese media in general called c_ent where you can find a lot of recs.

I have some promo posts up there for various Chinese dramas. I tend to favour found family, mysteries and M/M ships although I have one F/F one as well.

My lovely mate china_shop is very into tiny Korean fandoms if you're looking for people to friend.

[lebateleur]

I was not aware of that community at all--thank you!

Your C-drama likes sound very close to mine too. *off to check out your links, and china_shop's kdrama recs*

[kavyina]

Here from the Snowflake Friending meme -- Call of Cthulhu sounds interesting, how is it? I'm not super into Eldritch horror, but I do like TTRPGs, so I'm always curious what systems other than 5e are like (since 5e got me into TTRPGs, I have a certain fondness in my heart for it, but I know there's lots more out there). I've also played Gloomhaven (Spellweaver, which was the first mini I ever painted!) and enjoyed it.

As a fellow gardening person, I'm excited to start the northern hemisphere spring season here pretty soon. I think I'll probably make some posts on my journal about it and branch out (heh) into posting about my hobbies as well. I mean, what else is my journal for, right?

Also, as a fellow Fandom of One, I see you and appreciate you, even if I don't know the fandoms.

[lebateleur]

I've played 2.5 Cthulhu campaigns in total so nowhere near as much as D&D, but I enjoy it. For one thing, the set-up and mechanics often require a different style of gameplay (much more cautious and investigative-focused) than D&D, and I like that element of having to approach things like NPC encounters or combat differently than I would in a Forgotten Realms setting, if that makes sense. It also rewards creating and roleplaying different types of personalities, so that's fun too. As far as the Eldritch Horror goes, it is kind of fun to play something that has more psychological horror than you often get in D&D.

I'm really looking forward to Northern Hemisphere spring too, especially because ours has been very drab this year with no snow (defeating the entire purpose of winter) and because many of my plants made it through December only to mysteriously die in the past week or so, and I want the nurseries to open so I can get some new ones!

What are your Fandoms of One?

[kavyina]

See, and I'm definitely more cautious when it comes to exploring, meaning I absolutely cannot stand impulsive, "I stab everything" type 5e players (which I'm unfortunately stuck with in my current gaming group -_-) so Cthulhu sounds like it might be more my style, actually! I'll admit I'm not fantastic at roleplaying, but I want to get better -- I think part of it is just that the games I'm playing now don't center it the way some games do. So...I never really get a chance to practice, which sucks.

No snow here, either! Which you're absolutely right, that totally defeats the entire purpose of winter! If it's gonna be cruddy and cold and dreary, I want some snow out of it. It offsets the SAD.

Currently, my main Fandom of One is my beloved D&D 5e web series, Dark and Dicey. It ran in 2018 and the fandom has basically been dead since. There's no active fandom spaces for it, so I'm just posting into the void here on DW, hoping to share my writing and get other people into it, haha!

[lebateleur]

Yes! I'm just--if not more--likely to try to negotiate my way out of an encounter than Hulk Smash through it, and have never really enjoyed campaigns where I'm the only player with that inclination or the sole focus is on combat. (There was one where one player insisted on no less than 1 hour of combat every session...so you have my sympathies on your current group situation.) Because there's really no killing an Elder God with a shotgun, Cthulhu has much more emphasis on stealthing and investigating to avoid and/or get the advantage in any encounters to live long enough to run away. So that may actually be pretty well suited to your style.

As far as roleplaying goes...I would not say that I'm good at it, but I'm much better than I was! And part of that owes to just inserting it into the various campaigns I was in: I thought the DMs weren't into it, but in some cases that's because the players weren't doing it and once I/we did, the DMs incorporated more of it. (That said, I'm still likelier to narrate what my character's thinking or saying than to say it, and when I do it sounds modern. And I'm worlds away from doing accents or the like.)

It offsets the SAD.

Yes! It's very pretty and cozy when it's actually snowed. Otherwise, it's just anemic blue skies and cold. Boo.

Dark and Dicey definitely sounds intriguing. I've got to wrap up some in-progress podcasts and the like, but once those are done I might check it out.

[kavyina]

I might just have to try out CoC sometime then! Thanks for telling me about it! Roleplaying can be hard, but I feel like...I could be good at it, if that makes sense? Like, I feel like I have the ability within me to do it. I just need to practice! And yeah, I'd be hopeless with accents, too, so I feel you there...

Nothing cozier than curling up to watch the world go by on a cold, snowy day with a cup of something hot in your hands. Or a nice walk early in the morning when it's frigid and everything is still pristine and undisturbed! But, ah, I try to find the good parts in the weather I do get. Clear, frosty days have their place, too, as does seemingly never-ending rain.

Dark and Dicey is...well, truth be told, I'm really bad at advertising it, but if you have any interest at all in anti-hero campaigns and/or homebrew with a lot of potential for further worldbuilding, then I do recommend it. I love the DM's style and the characters and NPCs are enjoyable. Bonus: it's only 22 episodes, so it's a lot easier time commitment than many other D&D shows. (This is the silver lining of it getting cancelled after one season...sigh.)

[lebateleur]

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<I could be good at it, if that makes sense? Like, I feel like I have the ability within me to do it. I just need to practice!</i>

At least in my experience, it comes down to practice...like just about anything else. And the more I practiced doing it, the less self-conscious I felt and the less I have to think about what I'm doing as I do it<

<I>if you have any interest at all in anti-hero campaigns and/or homebrew with a lot of potential for further worldbuilding</I>

Yes, this sounds right up my alley. It's bookmarked and in the listening queue. And yes, length is the thing that's really prevented me from getting into, say, Critical Role or any of the other RPG podcasts. I'm not one of the people who can listen to a show while working or cooking or whatever and have more than glancing idea of what's going on while I'm doing it. I really need to just sit down and give it undivided attention, but I just don't have the time with all the other stuff I <I>also</I> want to do in a day...

[prisca]

Welcome to Snowflake 2025. I hope it will be as much fun as last year.