Book Review

Mar. 29th, 2026 03:19 pm
kenjari: (Me again)
[personal profile] kenjari
Bookshops & Bonedust
by Travis Baldree

This is a prequel to Legends and Lattes, telling the story of a summer from Viv's younger days when she had to spend a few months in a small seaside town recovering from a serious injury. While there, she befriends Fern, a struggling bookshop owner, has a sweet fling with Maylee, the proprietor of the best bakery in town, and meets Gallina, a gnome looking for adventure. Viv also has to deal with the threat of a local necromancer.
Bookshops and Bonedust was as charming and relaxing as its predecessor. I really enjoyed seeing Viv learn to love reading, and her genuine pleasure in helping Fern shore up her business. I didn't find the romance with Maylee quite as convincing, but maybe that's because I was comparing it to Viv's later relationship with Tandri. Also, it shows where the seeds of Viv's later desire to run a coffeeshop came from, as well as how Viv's ability to gather a found family is a consistent part of her character.

Monopoly 01.26 - Weekly Playlist 12

Mar. 29th, 2026 09:26 pm
prisca: (empire mod)
[personal profile] prisca posting in [community profile] fandom_empire

Week 12 (Last Week)

is started now. Good luck, everyone!

Under the cut, you find the weekly playlist. To check out what prompts/minimum/points are waiting for you this week, please visit the Board.

If you can't find your name on this list, you might be moved to the Hiatus List. This is not a punishment, but it helps to make the playlist clearer for everyone. You are always welcome to jump back into the game. Use three tokens to post two of your missed prompts.

This is the last challenge week. Don't hesitate any longer to use your joker card (15 tokens maximum) to earn more points.
Use three tokens, and you can create someting for a missed week, additionally to this weeks square.
Use two tokens to roll the dice again.
Use five tokens to move to any square of your choice (exception: go!, chance, jail)

Remember that you can earn extra points for finishing a row of streets or stations.
- a row of streets (3 of the same color) => Easy (2 / 3 points per street) = 2 extra points /  Difficult (4 / 5 points per street) = 3 extra points
- all stations (four) = 4 extra points
You might want to check out your already finished squares and use your Joker Tokens to complete a row.

To re-visit the rules go here.

Weekly Playlist )

There is a chance for even more points for those who did sign up for the Team Challenge.

Post all your finished works at [community profile] fandom_empire_workplace until Sunday, March 29, 18.00 UTC, but I will allow belated works until I've made the closing post. Countdown here.

Done This Week

Mar. 29th, 2026 12:21 pm
scrubjayspeaks: hand holding pen over notebook (done this week)
[personal profile] scrubjayspeaks
Well, at least the late days at work have mostly dried up. So I feel less like I’m trying to cram ten pounds of crap into a five-pound bag. My raise for the year kicked in, including the back pay. It is disappointing both on general principle, given how many departments I work for and roles I fill, and in practical terms, given that everything is so goddamn expensive.

Saturday, we went to the semiannual giveaway of compost from the green waste processing plant. We got rather a larger load than we had meant to, and the truck did not appreciate having to work that hard, but we made it home. This will go to the vegetable garden areas, mostly. In theory, our last frost date isn’t for another couple of weeks. In reality, I’m pretty sure we could have, and possibly should have, started planting out the vegetables a couple weeks ago.

I really want to go through and repot the succulents. It’s been a few years at this point, so they need it. It will let me consolidate the pots as well, as there are some dead ones to remove. It feels like I don’t actually get to do much of anything with the garden these days, apart from clearing weeds.

As usual, my issue is that there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written

Day job: 43 hours

Cooking: lemon biscotti (which I have been dipping into mashed up thawed raspberries as part of my work lunch for maximum decadence)

Gardening: weed whacked the north end of the property, watered the succulents, picked up the semiannual load of compost

Reading: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (I think I got the rec for this straight off Storygraph and it was, indeed, a very good match for me, a perfectly charming romance)

Watching: The X-Files season one, episode 18

Listening: Dream Life by Mary Epworth (“Long Gone” was one of the haunting weather segments from early Welcome to Night Vale, and yes it has taken me something like a decade to get the album, hush, it was quite nice, bigger variation in style than I expected)

Playing: I finished that mfing sorting game and I can’t tell if the satisfaction outweighs the resentment I feel toward it for how addicting the early moments are and how grindingly annoying the final sorting is

Clock Mouse: 100 minutes of planning work, plus 908 words written

Monopoly 01.26 - Weekly Score 11

Mar. 29th, 2026 09:10 pm
prisca: (empire mod)
[personal profile] prisca posting in [community profile] fandom_empire
Posting for week 11 is closed now. Thank you to everyone participating this week.

Regular Challenge
We have had a total of 13 participants this week.
2 Participants used joker tokens to move to a different place.


Maximum weekly points:
[personal profile] dianafortyseven, [personal profile] elian_panatomicpublishing, [personal profile] sinfulslasher and [personal profile] melime reached a maximum of 7 points.

Maximum regular points in total:[personal profile] elian_panatomicpublishing has reached 79 points.


Team Challenge
Team Alpha
2 participants
individual points will get counted after finishing a color
62 team points in total

Team Omega
4 participants
line red is completed and brings points fpr the team and fpr every participant who filled at least one red prompt
73 team points in total


Maximum points (regular+team) in total:
[personal profile] melime has reached 103 points.


To check out all scores, have a look at the Google Highscore Sheet. If you find an error or have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

The playlist for the last week will be online soon!
 

Culinary

Mar. 29th, 2026 07:37 pm
oursin: Frontispiece from C17th household manual (Accomplisht Lady)
[personal profile] oursin

Last week's bread held out pretty well, though got rather dry.

Enough left - though perhaps a bit too much on the dry side - to include in frittata for Friday night supper along with a yellow bell pepper and eggs also getting used up.

Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft rolls recipe, Marriage's Light Spelt flour, maple syrup, ground ginger: turned out a little on the dense side.

Today's lunch: the Mediterranean roasted vegetable thing: garlic cloves, red onion, fennel, baby courgettes, green bell pepper, red, yellow and orange baby peppers, aubergine; served with couscous - this time I tried M&S, and while the packet instructions are a bit misleading, turned out a lot better than Waitrose.

[syndicated profile] visualcapitalist_rss_feed

Posted by Gabriel Cohen

See more visuals like this on the Voronoi app.

Graphic showing the 20 highest-grossing films in history, ranked in and in timeline form.

Use This Visualization

Ranked: The Highest-Grossing Films in History

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • Avatar holds the title as the highest-grossing film in history, with nearly $3 billion in box office receipts.
  • James Cameron has directed three of the four highest-grossing movies.
  • Disney is home to most of the biggest movie successes in history.

Even as movie attendance struggles to recover from the pandemic-era onslaught of home streaming services, numerous big-budget films have raked in billions of dollars at the box office, including the most recent Avatar installment as well as two animated sequels.

This infographic ranks the 20 best-selling films of all time based on lifetime worldwide gross, using updated 2026 data from Box Office Mojo.

James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), with its over $2.92 billion in earnings, has been the highest-grossing film in history since its 2021 rerelease in China. The film previously held the title for nearly a decade before losing its position to Avengers: Endgame in 2019 for two years.

The Two-Billion Dollar Club

Including both Avatar and Endgame ($2.8 billion), only seven movies have ever passed the $2-billion mark in worldwide box office receipts.

The other five include 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.33 billion), 1997’s Titanic and 2025’s Ne Zha 2 (both $2.26 billion), 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens ($2.07 billion), and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ($2.05 billion).

The data table below lists the highest-grossing movies of all time as of March 2026.

RankMovieLifetime GrossYear
1Avatar$2,923,710,7082009
2Avengers: Endgame$2,799,439,1002019
3Avatar: The Way of Water$2,334,484,6202022
4Titanic$2,264,812,9681997
5Ne Zha 2$2,260,176,3702025
6Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens$2,071,310,2182015
7Avengers: Infinity War$2,052,415,0392018
8Spider-Man: No Way Home$1,921,426,0732021
9Zootopia 2$1,866,577,7712025
10Inside Out 2$1,698,863,8162024
11Jurassic World$1,671,537,4442015
12The Lion King$1,662,020,8192019
13The Avengers$1,520,538,5362012
14Furious 7$1,515,342,4572015
15Top Gun: Maverick$1,495,696,2922022
16Avatar: Fire and Ash$1,485,550,8052025
17Frozen II$1,453,683,4762019
18Barbie$1,447,138,4212023
19Avengers: Age of Ultron$1,405,018,0482015
20The Super Mario Bros. Movie$1,360,879,7352023

No director has more entries on the upper echelon of film history than James Cameron, who directed Titanic as well as all of the Avatar films, leaving him with three of the four highest-grossing movies in history.

Cameron notably directed the first film to gross $1 billion and the first two films to ever gross $2 billion. Today, while that club has grown to reach seven movies, Cameron clearly has the strongest double-billion track record.

The Hegemony of Franchise Films

James Cameron is notable not only for his film’s commercial successes, but also for the fact that two of his highest-grossing movies are the only non-franchise films to be found in the top-20 list. Franchise films may include spin-offs, sequels, remakes, or film adaptations of existing media properties.

Setting aside Titanic and the original Avatar, all of the other highest-grossing movies are franchise films. This includes the two Avatar sequels as well as five Marvel blockbusters, ranging from the four Avengers movies to 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.92 billion).

Ne Zha 2, the only non-American movie in the top 20, is a sequel to a 2019 Chinese film and was released in January of 2025 at the start of the Chinese New Year. Other recent animated hits, like 2019’s Frozen II ($1.45 billion), 2024’s Inside Out 2 ($1.7 billion), and 2025’s Zootopia 2 ($1.87 billion), are also sequels to beloved children’s films.

On the flip side, 2019’s The Lion King ($1.66 billion) was not a sequel but rather a CGI-animated remake of the 1994 Disney classic.

The Force Awakens, Jurassic World ($1.67 billion), and Furious 7 ($1.52 billion), all of which were released in 2015, are all sequels to existing franchises, as is 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick ($1.5 billion). Finally, 2023 films like Barbie ($1.45 billion) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.36 billion) are film adaptations of other media properties, in the former case a Mattel doll and in the latter case a Nintendo video game series.

The Mouse’s Decades-Long Domination

Film studios have clearly learned the value of a franchise film in keeping audiences coming back despite rising movie theater ticket prices. And given Disney’s unparalleled successes, it’s clear they’ve mastered the game best, leading to consistent chart-toppers every year compared to a few decades ago.

Following successive $4 billion acquisitions of both Marvel Entertainment in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney has been able to dominate the box office through its fan-favorite franchise films like Avengers and Star Wars.

In 2019, it expanded its reach by acquiring 20th Century Fox, bringing the Avatar series and the international rights to Titanic into the fold, although Paramount Pictures retains the North American rights to Titanic.

The Mouse’s competitors in the major American film studios have struggled to keep up. The only Warner Bros. film in the top 20 is Barbie, while Paramount’s only fully-owned success is Top Gun: Maverick. Notably, these two studios are also expected to combine operations soon, as Paramount attempts to acquire Warner Bros.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The 15 Highest-grossing Horror Movies of All Time on Voronoi.

Seed

Mar. 29th, 2026 02:35 pm
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
First contact as conducted by two groups of field researchers, both of whom want to observe the other without being observed.

Song rec

Mar. 29th, 2026 08:04 pm
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)
[personal profile] luzula
Now You Know by Anais Mitchell, which I stumbled on today, is SUCH a middle age song. It sounds like someone in perimenopause. It's not hitting me personally head on (among other things I don't think about children that way) but I found it gripping and beautiful.
jesse_the_k: kitty pawing the surface of vinyl record (scratch this!)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k

The musician explains:

In 2018, I recorded and filmed a cover of "Yellow" by Coldplay under my former name, Lots Holloway. In 2026, I returned to the exact same place to film it again, this time as Dylan Holloway (Dylan And The Moon). What you're watching is both versions, woven together.

Lyrics at the band’s page: https://www.coldplay.com/song/yellow/

Watch on YouTube or stream it here )

Birdfeeding

Mar. 29th, 2026 12:41 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny, breezy, and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.  A flock of blackbirds is flying around and singing.

I put out water for the birds.











.
 

[Fic] 2 Baker Street 2 Papas

Mar. 29th, 2026 10:38 am
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity
Back in 2016, I had just published what I believed would be my magnum opus, that massively multi-Holmes vid, Something Good Would Come From That. From the depths of my emotional crash afterwards, I strongly suspected I would never make anything else good again. To console myself, I wrote an id-fic for [personal profile] language_escapes' birthday: kid fic for an obscure Holmes and Watson adaptation. It was just for the two of us; no one else would ever care.

To my everlasting shock, it proved wildly popular.

During the next year or two, I noodled with other stories in the same 'verse, even writing a good 4-5K on one of them, but alas, I drifted out of Holmes fandom before finishing any of them.

But now I seem to be drifting Holmes-ward again? Or anyway, I've been pulling out old Holmesian WIPs and finishing them off.

Which is the long way of saying: here, have a sequel to Baker Street Papas!

Five Times They Didn’t Share A Bed, and One Time They Did

Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson (1980 Whitehead & Pickering)

Holmes/Watson, Mycroft

5+1 Things, Developing Relationship, Injury Recovery, Kid Fic, Only One Bed

Part 2 of Baker Street Papas

Mature; No Warnings Apply


To kiss a man in the heat of the moment is one thing. To cold-bloodedly change the entire basis of your relationship is another.

Holmes' wound festers. Watson blames himself.

Around 9K total, and I'll be posting updates daily through the end of the week. Only a short update today, but I figure at least some may want to re-read the original, so that's all right.

I hope you enjoy!

A week in Paris

Mar. 29th, 2026 06:31 pm
mtbc: maze B (white-black)
[personal profile] mtbc
R. and I are back from a week's tourism in Paris. I enjoy how we continue to find ourselves agreeing often: R. certainly sees why I prefer Paris to London, it's so pleasantly walkable. I am always happy to go back. )

Being dragged reluctantly into the modern world, I tried using public transit via smartphone ticketing. )

For me, Paris tourism is typically some combination of walking and Métro around central Paris visiting various attractions and just taking in the environment. We hadn't prebooked much so we had some freedom to go as our whims and increasingly aching bodies would take us. The weather was generally good, I consider us lucky. We kept sufficiently on the beaten tourist path that I scarcely had to attempt to speak French. )

The gardens varied rather. Many of them seemed to be wide, dusty, pale gravel paths, lawns, conical shrubs, cuboid trees, statues, hedges with right angles, etc. We wandered through the Jardin des Plantes which at least had flowers, a variety of rather well-grown ones indeed, though no fewer right angles. I think the Japanese might be rather better at the kind of garden I like.

Paris has a considerable abundance of publically accessible magnificent buildings that I enjoy seeing and being inside. I enjoyed a few of the museums. )

In this visit, we did not eat out at fancy restaurants. )

Last night's return flight was from Charles de Gaulle into Edinburgh so we took our usual commuting route, the train into Queen Street, as part of our journey back home to Glasgow.

Familia En Proceso | TOH AU

Mar. 29th, 2026 04:42 pm
[syndicated profile] ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Mnd0t_Ly

by

Phillip no es un bastardo, solo un loco paranoico con ideales de iglesia y prejuicio a lo no humano.
Caled sobrevivió a su reencuentro con Phillip.
Hunter es hijo de Caled y Evelyn.
Y Phillip ahora tiene que acostumbrarse a ser tío. ...y tolerar a su cuñada.
Ah, también sobrevivir a los ataques y críticas constantes de Flapjack, supongo.

Nada más que decir señores. Eso es todo.

Words: 4675, Chapters: 1/?, Language: Español

her competition smile

Mar. 28th, 2026 06:12 pm
somedayseattle: scared baby (Default)
[personal profile] somedayseattle
i>I Awoke With This Song Rattling In My Head. An absolute gem from the 1970's (I was there!)


Today was my first day changing my footsie bandages. Not a moment too soon. Jesus, how can that odor come from a human body? I aloo grabbed my first shower in 6 weeks. NEVER underestimate the power of a hot shower on the soul.

Took a bounce to the groceria to grab some on-sale chicken wings (already sold out. Had to get a raincheck 'cuz you know I loves them wings). We past the house of some yokel who had just cut his grass. The smell was beautiful and enticing and made me nostalgic for childhood. It was the perfect antithesis for my funky ass foo

Emira Blight... About Me...

Mar. 29th, 2026 03:03 pm
[syndicated profile] ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by EM_IRA

by

A sort of mini Autobiography, or "Bio".

Like an introduction to me and my family...

Words: 1039, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

[syndicated profile] ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Ohyeahitsallcomingtogheter

by

One would think that when one reincarnates in a work of fiction they would have their memories from birth, yes? Well kinda-

Words: 699, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

[syndicated profile] ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Passerine2007

by

When you have been raised in fire all your life, you learn to breathe the smoke. You learn to call the heat home. In a world where love has always been a lesson in pain, two children are forged in the same inferno.

Raised by the fiercest coven head, Terra Snapdragon, you were taught that violence was the only language to speak love and affection. Fire does not teach gentleness. Violence does not teach softness. Upon finally meeting someone who gave you something that your poisoned heart desires, you begin to speak in the only language you know.

Cursed with the same fate, Hunter, the Golden Guard, had spoken the same language. He'd learned at a young age that love was no different from pain. It bruises, it bleeds, it tears him down and breaks his bones. To care for someone means to leave a mark. To be loved means to be hurt.

Together, they will tear each other apart within the fire. To hold hands was to break their fingers, to speak was to split their lips, and to care was to stab each other's hearts. This is the only love they’ve ever known. And they will give it to each other until there’s nothing left but bone and devotion, grinning in the ashes.

Warning in A/N

Words: 8749, Chapters: 3/3, Language: English

Gaming

Mar. 29th, 2026 11:13 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
"'We were there in the 80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier.'"

guess I can get where they're coming from, but I don't think the current video game industry crash feels, specifically, "crashier." It feels worse and bigger, most definitely, which is what they meant, I'm sure, but it doesn't really feel much like an actual "crash" at all, at least not in the usual sense of such things.


This discussion post links to the original article about problems in the video game industry.

🥾

Mar. 29th, 2026 12:44 pm
soemand: (Default)
[personal profile] soemand
Quiet morning, mixtape spinning, the house still carrying that post‑walk chill. We’d just returned from our “hike”—a toddler‑sized expedition through the nearby park, where the shaded trails still held stubborn patches of snow and ice. “Walk like a penguin” became our mantra, part safety tip, part comedy routine. Halfway up the modest hill she stalled, ready to turn back, but we nudged forward together. Tiny boots, tiny steps, tiny victories. Grit doesn’t arrive fully formed; it’s coaxed out on mornings like this, one wobbly stride at a time.

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