and then read the books, and I gotta say, I think the author and I fundamentally disagree on a key principle of storywriting.

I believe, strongly, that if you have two viewpoint characters, or two love interests, or two viewpoint characters who are also love interests, then they need to have balanced problems - and, ideally, the interaction of those two characters should affect those problems in some way - by making them realize that they have problems, by making them realize that those problems aren't so bad, by solving or exacerbating those problems - who knows? But they need to start off with the same level of problems, and then by the end of the plot those problems need to have been changed in some way.

And pretty much that never happens in these books. Just look at the two that make up the TV show. We have two couples.

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This opinion on problems was brought to you by: The Overnight Shift! I have so much time on my hands, guys!

The 1916 (Olympic) games were cancelled due to an international dispute occurring during that year

A dispute that left millions dead, sure. Not how I'd describe WWI, but okay.

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Still haven't seen Heated Rivalry but I glanced at one of the books in a bookstore last night, and realised that I had the characters backwards! Based on pictures, I'd assumed that the dark-haired one was Ilya Rozanov and the ginger one was Shane Hollander. I'd figured that Rozanov was part Kazakh (or could well have been part Korean, like Viktor Tsoi) – but the guy who actually turns out to be playing Rozanov doesn't look Slavic to me at all. I can only see him as having a severe case of American Canadian Actor Face. This has been an interesting collision of racial assumptions.

National Craft Month – March 2026

In March, it’s the end of winter and a great time to blossom outward into National Craft Month to show what you’ve been making by hand during the short, cold days of the season past.

Admittedly, the word “crafting” covers a whole lot of territory. At one time, the word “craft” was synonymous with “trade,” meaning skilled labor in a particular area, such as weaving, engine repair, carpentry, etc. It was not uncommon for guilds to be founded based upon a shared set of skills in these and other areas of production. But in current times we’ve come to understand that “crafting” refers to those skills practiced more creatively and with a vision unique to each artisan. Some examples are knitting and crocheting, scrapbooking, leatherworking, wood burning, fly tying, jewelry making, anything created by hand that has an artistic aspect to it but is not strictly “fine art.”


What are your craft plans for March? I've got several possibilities but haven't decided which to try next month.

allbingo will be running this fest in March:
[recurring]
National Craft Month Fest hosted by nsfwords
This is a fest focusing on the myriad joys (and frustrations) of Crafting.
Posting will be March 1-30.

What the hell sort of question is that? Of course I'd pay up! I have money, pride, and my teeth, and of the three, I can least afford to lose the last. Wouldn't almost anybody submit to the shakedown? That's how protection rackets work, after all - everybody does the same math and comes to the same conclusion as I just did.

(Of course, the context was "I think this company was rude to me over the phone, therefore I decided to live without hot water and heating because I have my principles" so, you know, I guess we have different approaches to life?)

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You can watch episode 1 here.

Also, since I have a few videos:

( Hobey Baker, probably gay hockey player from the early 20th century )

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( Curling and all the nitty-gritty )

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( The magnetic shadow effect )

(Mission Rejected, if you're curious)

and they took the time at the start of the most recent episode to talk about a charity in Minnesota that will bring food safely to people. I don't have the name of the charity, it's not on their website right now.

But what really struck me is that they spent a few minutes on this and never once mentioned or even alluded to why some people might need food to be delivered safely.

I'm not sure what I think about that, but I'm sure I don't like it much.

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Or is something up with the create entry page?

What witchcraft is this?

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