Aryana (50.2% completed)
Sat, Feb. 14th, 2026 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scaramoucheI'm 95 episodes into 189, which means that I'm at the halfway mark! Kambal Sirena and Mutya both finished their entire runs with less than 95 epiosdes, but Aryana is still going. I can see why, because even with the parts that are repetitive and slow, there's more story to go, and the characters are nowhere near the catharsis you'd expect for certain kinds of family and relationship tropes.
I haven't mentioned it before, but while Aryana is still within that particular teleserye weight class, I do like that they make the effort to foreshadow, by introducing characters or plot points multiple episodes before they become relevant, instead of throwing a new soap opera plot turn the main characters' way out of nowhere. Well, the show still does that, but there's also clearly some planning and forward-thinking involved. Eg. We are given teasing glimpses of Adrian and Stella's ex a few episodes before we're told who they are and they enter the main stories.
There's also thoughtfulness in a particular editing trick the show loves, by intercutting between two emotionally or thematically mirroring scenes in order to make a point, eg. they will intercut between a scene of Aryana arguing with with her mother about their family, with a scene of Megan arguing with her father about their family. There's deliberation in the pacing and storylines that they've put together, and that's neat.
Speaking of Stella's ex, I was wrong when I assumed that Stella was cheating on Victor! (Because of the show's teasing of a mysterious man who's been calling Stella.) Instead this guy is Stella's ex who is blackmailing her, and is possibly Megan's biological father. I kinda like this storyline even if it does feel inorganic compared to other storylines, in that it feels like the show had to add ONE telenovela conflict into Megan's family that had nothing to do with Aryana, and perhaps as part of an argument that Stella is a bad partner to Victor.
The tropes say that Ofelia has to be reunited with Victor, but the show hasn't done the work for it yet, and I was actually enjoying that while Aryana and Ofelia were saw-trapped by Aryana's situation on Love Triangle Island, which was happening at the same time when Ofelia had an ulcer that needed immediate surgery, which made Everyone in that storyline go bonkers.... far far away Megan, Stella and Victor were having the most loving family time they've EVER had since the show started. Victor made it up for his Aryana-insane behaviour to Megan in a realistic way, and everyone was legit happy! They're a happy family! Which is fun and makes it genuinely upsetting to think about how this happiness is going to be ruined when Aryana comes back into the picture. (Which is also why I think they added the Stella's ex storyline, so it's not all Aryana's fault.) I think it would be fun if the two families become friends and Ofelia gets a new love interest, but my guess is they're not gonna do that.
Also Aryana's third love interest has shown up, following the Love Triangle Island blowup that had Aryana shutting down both Marlon and Hubert (though it was more Marlon's fault than Hubert's, ugh). Considering the youtube comments mentioning him before, I wasn't expecting the show to take almost half its runtime to bring the new guy in. Adrian is a surly little sadboy, who's traumatized over his mother's drowning death, and so far I don't care for him because a surly boy who is surly to everyone just isn't fun. May that change soon. I think Marlon's reaction to Adrian will be hilarious.
I haven't mentioned it before, but while Aryana is still within that particular teleserye weight class, I do like that they make the effort to foreshadow, by introducing characters or plot points multiple episodes before they become relevant, instead of throwing a new soap opera plot turn the main characters' way out of nowhere. Well, the show still does that, but there's also clearly some planning and forward-thinking involved. Eg. We are given teasing glimpses of Adrian and Stella's ex a few episodes before we're told who they are and they enter the main stories.
There's also thoughtfulness in a particular editing trick the show loves, by intercutting between two emotionally or thematically mirroring scenes in order to make a point, eg. they will intercut between a scene of Aryana arguing with with her mother about their family, with a scene of Megan arguing with her father about their family. There's deliberation in the pacing and storylines that they've put together, and that's neat.
Speaking of Stella's ex, I was wrong when I assumed that Stella was cheating on Victor! (Because of the show's teasing of a mysterious man who's been calling Stella.) Instead this guy is Stella's ex who is blackmailing her, and is possibly Megan's biological father. I kinda like this storyline even if it does feel inorganic compared to other storylines, in that it feels like the show had to add ONE telenovela conflict into Megan's family that had nothing to do with Aryana, and perhaps as part of an argument that Stella is a bad partner to Victor.
The tropes say that Ofelia has to be reunited with Victor, but the show hasn't done the work for it yet, and I was actually enjoying that while Aryana and Ofelia were saw-trapped by Aryana's situation on Love Triangle Island, which was happening at the same time when Ofelia had an ulcer that needed immediate surgery, which made Everyone in that storyline go bonkers.... far far away Megan, Stella and Victor were having the most loving family time they've EVER had since the show started. Victor made it up for his Aryana-insane behaviour to Megan in a realistic way, and everyone was legit happy! They're a happy family! Which is fun and makes it genuinely upsetting to think about how this happiness is going to be ruined when Aryana comes back into the picture. (Which is also why I think they added the Stella's ex storyline, so it's not all Aryana's fault.) I think it would be fun if the two families become friends and Ofelia gets a new love interest, but my guess is they're not gonna do that.
Also Aryana's third love interest has shown up, following the Love Triangle Island blowup that had Aryana shutting down both Marlon and Hubert (though it was more Marlon's fault than Hubert's, ugh). Considering the youtube comments mentioning him before, I wasn't expecting the show to take almost half its runtime to bring the new guy in. Adrian is a surly little sadboy, who's traumatized over his mother's drowning death, and so far I don't care for him because a surly boy who is surly to everyone just isn't fun. May that change soon. I think Marlon's reaction to Adrian will be hilarious.
multifandom icons.
Thu, Feb. 12th, 2026 11:41 amwickedgame in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
iconsFandoms: Bad Behaviour, Heated Rivalry, Legend of the Seeker, Maxton Hall, Nancy Drew, One Trillion Dollars, Saved by the Bell, Shadow & Bone, Stranger Things, The Expanse, The Wheel of Time, Twinkling Watermelon, Warrior Nun, We Were Liars, What It Feels Like for a Girl, Y Golau
rest HERE @mundodefieras
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mundodefieras Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell
Thu, Feb. 12th, 2026 02:00 amflareonfury in fandom_iconsMade for halfamoon Day 11 - The Explorer. As soon as I saw the prompt I had to do my favorite female explorers - Sydney Fox (Relic Hunter), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), and Nell Jackson (Renegade Nell). Sydney and Lara could also represent Day 9 - The Scholar and Nell could represent Day 5 - The Outlaw.
Preview
Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell.....
halfamoon Day 11 - The Explorer. As soon as I saw the prompt I had to do my favorite female explorers - Sydney Fox (Relic Hunter), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), and Nell Jackson (Renegade Nell). Sydney and Lara could also represent Day 9 - The Scholar and Nell could represent Day 5 - The Outlaw. Preview
Relic Hunter, Tomb Raider, Renegade Nell.....
(no subject)
Wed, Feb. 11th, 2026 02:01 pmlakeeffectgirlWhen I went for my annual physical in December I confessed that I can no longer stand up straight (plus not being able to walk more than a few steps without an aid), and my NP was like, "Hmm how about physical therapy? And also you need to get in with the neurologist again." - except neurology couldn't get me in until July (apparently the neurologists in my hospital system have certain things they will/won't take patients for and I have a bunch of stuff that ruled out several providers), so the NP's office decided to send me right to neurosurgery, and neurosurgery ordered a bunch of MRIs, since I haven't had them done in more than a decade. MRIs complete, aaaaaand both my NP's office and my physical therapist were like, "Oh hey your MRI reports are up on the patient portal but don't Google anything!". Yeah, I have done enough reading on my various conditions over the years that I only needed to look up where the noted vertebrae (with yet another birth defect) are located in the spine. So! The spinal cyst that was drained in my original 2013 surgery has refilled, which would explain why I can barely walk these days.
I was not really surprised - my neurologist at the time of the original surgery said basically that it would push back needing mobility aids by about ten years, and I made it almost exactly ten before needing to use one full-time. I will not be surprised next week when the neurosurgeon tells me I should get the cyst drained again, and I'm going to guess I'll need the shunt version this time. (The cyst forms because cerebrospinal fluid isn't moving the way it should and the shunt moves the fluid elsewhere so it doesn't fill up the cyst again.) Again I say: where is my robot body?
Physical therapy basically makes me laugh, my therapist is so earnest about it and I'm like, this is a skill babies can do and yet you have to hold on to a belt as I walk down a hallway so I don't fall over, it's ridiculous. Last night we had to do a progress update for insurance so it was a re-do of all the original walking tests I did at the end of December, and even though I don't feel like I have made any progress at all, I did the tests with the Rollator the first time and did them with the cane this time, so that automatically counts as progress for insurance.
I was not really surprised - my neurologist at the time of the original surgery said basically that it would push back needing mobility aids by about ten years, and I made it almost exactly ten before needing to use one full-time. I will not be surprised next week when the neurosurgeon tells me I should get the cyst drained again, and I'm going to guess I'll need the shunt version this time. (The cyst forms because cerebrospinal fluid isn't moving the way it should and the shunt moves the fluid elsewhere so it doesn't fill up the cyst again.) Again I say: where is my robot body?
Physical therapy basically makes me laugh, my therapist is so earnest about it and I'm like, this is a skill babies can do and yet you have to hold on to a belt as I walk down a hallway so I don't fall over, it's ridiculous. Last night we had to do a progress update for insurance so it was a re-do of all the original walking tests I did at the end of December, and even though I don't feel like I have made any progress at all, I did the tests with the Rollator the first time and did them with the cane this time, so that automatically counts as progress for insurance.
It's always you by silliesart (SFW)
Wed, Feb. 11th, 2026 10:46 pmmific in fanart_recsFandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: traditional art - pencil and white ink
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: silliesart on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A gorgeous double portrait of Shane and Ilya on the phone during Ilya's Russian monologue. Beautiful work!
Link: It's always you, backup link here
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: traditional art - pencil and white ink
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: silliesart on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A gorgeous double portrait of Shane and Ilya on the phone during Ilya's Russian monologue. Beautiful work!
Link: It's always you, backup link here
Just having some thoughts today
Mon, Feb. 9th, 2026 08:02 pmscaramoucheThe algorithm feeds you more of what you already like, so this is likely to be a snapshot of a subsection of certain social media platforms (instagram and youtube, because I've seen it myself; tiktok and twitter, as reported to me by friends since I'm not on either; maybe others). Within this subsection of certain social media platforms, you'll find that if there are posts or videos praising Malaysia or showing photos/footage of major Malaysian cities, there will be comments from my fellow Malaysians jokingly decrying it as AI, or fake news, or "actually this is Singapore/Thailand/Indonesia, please don't come to Malaysia, we still live in trees". It's a whole joke and in-joke, and some non-locals have figured it out and play into it. We will be there, in the comments, refusing to directly claim the positivity from outsiders.
I've seen some comments claim that this trend is because we're afraid of overtourism. That may be the motivation of some, but IMO not the major one.
With a disclaimer that this is my personal impression of why we feel and respond this way, and of course I can only speak to those of my own social and business circles that have discussed this, and I think that younger generations have their own interpretation of it. I think the real reason goes back to how we used to feel in the 1980s and 1990s, as a South East Asian country that the international community didn't really know about. Oh, people know about our famous neighbours: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia. But we kept getting left out of the global conversation; an afterthought in news, business dealings and pop culture, or folded in/mistaken for our more-famous neighbours.
After a while, I believe, we preferred it that way. Being low-key means we don't get sucked into geopolitical drama as much, and the global perception of us (IF ANY) would be so wrong that it's easier to laugh about it than get upset. (The "we still live in trees" was a legit thing for years, before we took it.) Singapore can get the high-profile billionaire expats. Indonesia and Thailand can get the cultural exposure. To not know about us is to have no expectations about us, which is to be pleasantly surprised by us, if you visit.
Because we know very well what our shortcomings are. We love our food, our cultures (major lion dance troupes are ours!), our mishmash of identities. But we also know our infrastructure is uneven, our cities are not walkable (with only a few exceptions), our salary levels are not competitive, conservative populism still reigns, LGBTQ people might as well not exist (though they do, in the cracks of plausible deniability), and that we can be insidiously bigoted in ways that aren't obvious without context. But on the flipside, our standard of living has improved in such a way that a lot of us don't realize it has improved: our metro lines are great, some of our government services are better than some more advanced countries, our banking and payment systems are excellent, the multiculturalism is so ingrained that we take it for granted until non-locals point out how unusual it is. So while we do feel pride in ourselves, whatever that means, we also don't feel that being loud about it is the right way to go.
It's not self-deprecating, I think. More like, it comes from an awareness that we can do better and wincing preemptively before our ugly bits get exposed.
I've seen some comments claim that this trend is because we're afraid of overtourism. That may be the motivation of some, but IMO not the major one.
With a disclaimer that this is my personal impression of why we feel and respond this way, and of course I can only speak to those of my own social and business circles that have discussed this, and I think that younger generations have their own interpretation of it. I think the real reason goes back to how we used to feel in the 1980s and 1990s, as a South East Asian country that the international community didn't really know about. Oh, people know about our famous neighbours: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia. But we kept getting left out of the global conversation; an afterthought in news, business dealings and pop culture, or folded in/mistaken for our more-famous neighbours.
After a while, I believe, we preferred it that way. Being low-key means we don't get sucked into geopolitical drama as much, and the global perception of us (IF ANY) would be so wrong that it's easier to laugh about it than get upset. (The "we still live in trees" was a legit thing for years, before we took it.) Singapore can get the high-profile billionaire expats. Indonesia and Thailand can get the cultural exposure. To not know about us is to have no expectations about us, which is to be pleasantly surprised by us, if you visit.
Because we know very well what our shortcomings are. We love our food, our cultures (major lion dance troupes are ours!), our mishmash of identities. But we also know our infrastructure is uneven, our cities are not walkable (with only a few exceptions), our salary levels are not competitive, conservative populism still reigns, LGBTQ people might as well not exist (though they do, in the cracks of plausible deniability), and that we can be insidiously bigoted in ways that aren't obvious without context. But on the flipside, our standard of living has improved in such a way that a lot of us don't realize it has improved: our metro lines are great, some of our government services are better than some more advanced countries, our banking and payment systems are excellent, the multiculturalism is so ingrained that we take it for granted until non-locals point out how unusual it is. So while we do feel pride in ourselves, whatever that means, we also don't feel that being loud about it is the right way to go.
It's not self-deprecating, I think. More like, it comes from an awareness that we can do better and wincing preemptively before our ugly bits get exposed.
2587 / Fic - The Pitt
Sun, Feb. 8th, 2026 02:07 pmsiriaPhysician, Heal Thyself
The Pitt | Gen | ~1200 words | Episode fic for 2.05. Thanks tosheafrotherdon for betaing.
(Also on AO3)
( Within the first ten minutes of examining Debbie Cohen, Robby knows exactly what's wrong with her. He knows it in his gut. )
The Pitt | Gen | ~1200 words | Episode fic for 2.05. Thanks to
sheafrotherdon for betaing. (Also on AO3)
( Within the first ten minutes of examining Debbie Cohen, Robby knows exactly what's wrong with her. He knows it in his gut. )
