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Had a librarian come in to talk to one of my classes about research. She was talking about the relevance of recent articles versus older ones, while using sea turtle conservation as an example topic.

She said, “In this case, we’d probably find more recent articles more relevant to our work. If you go back too far, “sea turtle conservation” might mean how you make the turtle’s meat last long enough on the long sea voyage.”

I don’t know how much my students got it, but I laughed. Librarians are fun.
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I just remembered something that kind of made me laugh.

Years ago, I was writing a small, short, funny larp that was supposed to capture the feel of the Blandings stories of P.G. Wodehouse. None of his characters, but that kind of silly rich people in that kind of Interwar British country world. In that vein, I wrote a character kind of like the Honorable Freddie Threepwood, a good-natured but stupid posh ne'er-do-well, whom I named Gavin Alaric Post II-- in honor of his mother's beloved late bichon frisé, whose portrait still hung on the manor wall, to remind the second Gavin of all he could never live up to.

(That is, in my opinion, the second best joke in the game. The first is, of course, the reason why the earl's prize show pig Persephone is currently unable to compete, having come down with a case of porcine ennui.)

Anyway, one of Gavin's current problems, as shiftless Wodehouse gentlemen of his station are wont, is that he has fallen in love with a chorus girl, but already has a history of romantic entanglement with her sister. I decided to name his current lady love Bonnie Day as a bit of a cute pun, "bonne ideé" being the French for "good idea." It struck me then, that it might be equally amusing to call his former paramour "Molly Day," as my schoolgirl French led me to remember that "mal" is often the word for "bad".

I was feeling quite pleased with myself until, out of an abundance of prudence, I happen to actually look up how you say "bad idea" in French-- which as it turns out, is not "mal ideé" but actually "mauvais ideé". Yet again, I fail my many, many years of French education! I was quite put out, since I was feeling so smug in my own cleverness.

I can't remember if I used it anyway. Heh, I probably did. Even if it may have made me look dumb rather than clever! But I just laughed so much at the idea, I don't know if I could resist...
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“Texts from Avengers Tower”
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~

Summary: “There are a lot of great things about being on a close-knit team like the Avengers. The group text chains aren’t one of them.

The short video versions of the collection of funny conversations in text messages between the cast of the MCU.”

~~~

Previous Video Texts )

This text: The wilds of Canada, 2026. An unknown number to Logan. “Since were best buds blood bros heteroflex life partners now ur gonna b hearin from me aaaaaaaaaaall the time.”

~~~

23. - “Hundred-Way”




Follow on Youtube | Tiktok



~~~
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I am quite late with this, but as I have been absolutely slammed for the last two months, it’s been something of a theme for the whole challenge. Still, I wanted to make sure I do as I always do, and give an assessment of what I made over the course of the month’s writing.

This year’s challenge was easy in some ways and hard in others. I’ve consistently found the process most useful and productive when I had a project to work on, and so I used much of it for drafting pieces for Mrs. Hawking part 8, which Bernie and I have recently dug into. I made a fair bit of progress, though we still have enough questions about how it’s going to work that I expect the scenes I generated to need a ton of editing. Still, I’m happy for the forward movement on the project. I also returned to Dream Machine, which I haven’t touched in a while, and did a few more new Little Monsters and Texts from Avengers Towers bits, so there was a noticeable focus on comedy. Didn’t write as much other fanfic as I expected, or more than one or two bits of anything else.

I am disappointed to report, however, that for the first time in thirteen years, I failed to finish all thirty-one pieces before the end of the month. I’ve been dealing with some focus issues for a while now, but the real problem is the last handful of months have been totally slammed. Between work, chores, and family obligations involving travel, I lost a ton of time that led to me falling behind. I know it doesn’t really matter— this is a challenge I’ve arbitrarily set for myself, with rules that only I care about, and I ended up doing the same amount of writing in the end that I always do. But I feel kind of bad that my perfect streak of all that time is a little tarnished.

As I was drafting it, I felt like my quality varied a lot. I remember being very frustrated with some pieces, while others came very easily. Looking back through what I wrote with a few weeks’ distance, however, I’m actually pretty pleased with the general level of these pieces. The character voices seem on point, the jokes are strong where there are jokes, and I managed to give some meaningful character motion in the vast majority of the scenes. That’s actually not half bad, even though I know everything will need a lot of editing, both stylistic and functional. I really do strongly believe that you need to just get SOMETHING on the page, no matter how bad, as the first step to making something good.

The breakdown of projects I wrote for:

Hawking part 8 - 14
Texts from Avengers Tower - 3
Dream Machine - 4
Little Monsters - 6
Gentlemen Never Tell 2 - 1
Forever Captain - 1
Witchy - 1

And the breakdown of characters I wrote for:

1. Nathaniel Hawking - 9
2. Beatrice Hawking - 8
3. Clara Hawking - 7
4. Victoria Hawking - 6
5. Mary Stone - 6
6. Leah Lucchesi - 4
7. Twyla Boogieman - 3
8. Draculaura - 3
9. Venus McFlytrap - 3
10. Frankie Stein - 3
11. Ghoulia Yelps - 3
12. Heath Burns - 2
13. Josie Carraway - 2
14. Meryl Dresden - 2
15. Derek Kaplan - 2
16. Joanna Kerrigan - 2
17. Spectra Vondergeist - 2
18. Clawdeen Wolf - 2
19. Bucky Barnes - 1
20. Meredith Barry - 1
21. Clint Barton - 1
22. Lagoona Blue - 1
23. Abbey Bominable - 1
24. Peggy Carter - 1
25. Devon Chambers - 1
26. Zach Barry - 1
27. Cleo de Nile - 1
28. Ryan Dresden - 1
29. Gwen Galway - 1
30. Justin Hawking - 1
31. Reggie Hawking - 1
32. Logan - 1
33. Megan May - 1
34. Catty Noir - 1
35. Nate Reyes - 1
36. Barbie Roberts - 1
37. Steve Rogers - 1
38. Thor - 1
39. Toralei Stripe - 1
40. Arthur Swann - 1
41. Sam Wilson - 1
42. Wade Wilson - 1

Forty-two characters is a fairly large number, even for me. Last year I only wrote for thirty-six, thirty-seven the year before, and thirty-four the year before that. I averaged about three characters a scene, though most of them only had two while the largest maxed out at seven. I’ve always found it tougher to manage larger-cast scenes, so I’m surprised at how many there were this year to skew the average.

Favorite scenes? I thought I did pretty well this year, so I liked a lot. I enjoyed writing for Beatrice Hawking, with her enthusiasm for learning undercover work and managing her privileged background, such as in #23 - Just Powder and #25 - Tweenies.

#23 - Culture Not Costumes is a really funny Little Monsters bit, as is #19 - Relatable. I was also glad I was able to work out #14 - Special Ability, since I was chipping at that joke for most of the month. I’m fond of #26 - Two Sets of Tentacles if only because it’s a serious contender for weirdest thing I’ve ever written.

I also ended up really liking #31 - Derek in Hell, since it’s one of those scenes that I didn’t know where it was going to go until I wrote it. In fact, the only scene I don’t really like is #30 - In Murder’s Path, which doesn’t add anything to its larger piece and was the first of the two scenes I had to write past the end of the month.

Favorite lines? Lagoona’s weird, weird mini-monologue in #26 - Two Sets of Tentacles. Beatrice’s too-enthusiastic recitation of her melodramatic invented backstory in #25 - Tweenies. Nathaniel’s titular line in #24 - Got the Morbs. There’s some cute back and forth between Justin and Reggie in #17 - Let Me Tell You.

So, yeah, a lot of good came out of the exercise this month. Even if I was a little late getting it all done.
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Finished. Late, but finished. Thank God.

This is a Dream Machine bit that doesn’t have any paticular place yet. It’s based off of a fight Bernie and I have on a regular basis. With some polishing, it could be quite funny. But for now, just glad I’m done.



Day #31 - Derek in Hell )
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Ugh, I am so tired. I am so behind. This is so stupid. But at least it’s catching me up.



Day #26 - Two Sets of Tentacles )
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I can’t take credit for this idea; this was based on a suggestion from Bernie. He’s just acquired a 3D printer, and he’s offered to make accessories for me to use when customizing dolls. Yesterday we made a cool wolf’s head cowl that I thought I could use for a “Red Riding Hood, wolf hunter” doll, and that’s what made him suggest doing something with Halloween costumes. It resulted in a pretty damn funny joke. 😆

This image is a little misleading, but I think the gag herein is better…



Day #23 - Culture Not Costumes )
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I came up with this today while I was out running errands. It made me snort-laugh out loud in a grocery store, so I figure that's something.

Also, remember-- it's not the length of the piece, it's how you use it. ;-)



Day #19 - Relatable )
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So this could turn into something fun, but right now it doesn’t have enough direction. It would be fun to do another Justin Hawking story in the vein of Gentlemen Never Tell, but right now I only have bits and pieces of ideas. I like the idea that each time we tell a Justin story, it comes in the form of a semi-tall tale Justin is recounting to a loved one, so today’s scene is noodling around with a frame for such a story. In this case, I chose Reggie, Nathaniel and Clara’s son and Justin’s nephew, who like his sister Beatrice is finally old enough to be depicted onstage. This scene doesn’t really know what it’s doing yet— what the story is about, what it’s trying to say, what the set up is— but I like the idea of Justin as Fun But Maybe a Bad Influence Uncle in Reggie’s life.



Day #17 - Let Me Tell You )
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Today’s scene is a Text from Avengers Tower that was inspired by the meme below. It’s another one where a small feature of a character interaction is turned into a little observational joke. It’s dumb, but made me laugh. THAT’S ENOUGH FOR ME.



Day #16 - First Impression )
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This is an idea that was knocking around my head for Little Monsters for a while now, but I didn’t want to post it until I worked out something along the lines of #10 - Houses and Humans. It could be really funny if I figure out “epic adventure game” versions of normal human everyday activities to turn into sessions of their game. This bit needs polishing, but I actually think it came out pretty funny.



Day #14 - Special Ability )
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This picks up directly after #6 - Alien Parasite. Again, it’s silly and sitcommy, but I think it has potential to be really funny. Especially if I can make the Alien parody work somehow…



Day #11 - No One Can Hear You Scream )
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Okay, this is an idea I really like. Monster High released a doll of Twyla where she’s the DM for a roleplaying game with the accompanying dice and minifigures, and it made me think it would be really fun to write Little Monsters skits where they play their equivalent of Dungeons and Dragons. But since they’re monsters, they play as boring humans doing weird versions of human shit. Hilarious!

This bit is pretty random and thrown together, but I like the gag. It also occurred to me that I could buy, like, regular-looking Barbie dolls and stage their interactions to represent the in-game events, cutting between them and the “real” monster world. OH JOY MORE DOLLS TO BUY AND STORE. But it could be cool.



Day #10 - Houses and Humans )
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Just a silly Text from Avengers Tower. My favorite way to approach these is to notice a silly little thing about a character interaction and make a joke pointing it out. Today’s entry is very much in that vein, inspired by the party scene in Avengers 2.



Day #9 - Check In )
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Another Little Monsters skit, inspired by a funny meme I saw circulating. It fits into the vibe really well, and made for a very cute joke. It also will be an interesting challenge to film, seeing as the perspective from the dolls would put them under the bed, and shooting it to capture that will require some finesse.



Day #7 - Respect the Blanket )
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Another sitcommy bit for Dream Machine. Not sure where this would be used, but I know I want an element to be Ryan repairing his relationship with his adult kids. I thought it would be particularly interesting if his daughter Meryl, from whom he was completely estranged and who lives a totally anti-Hollywood life, also gets at his issues about getting older by being married and starting a family young. It also gives a chance for that very classic sitcom scenario of “trapped in an elevator with a pregnant lady”— and who better to force into that situation than Leah, who is incapable of being normal about anything?

In writing this, I wondered if maybe I could write an entire Alien parody, with Leah in the Ripley role, and, because I’m perverse, Meryl as the alien queen. SOMETHING TO NOODLE ON.



Day #6 - Alien Parasite )
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This one is really silly, as most of my Little Monsters skits are. It’s packed with dumb monster puns, most of which have a germ of something but need sharpening up. Also it involves like seven characters, which will be fun when the time comes to shoot it. But it has bits that make me smile.

While each one of these is supposed to be a totally stand-alone joke, I find myself picking up on the thread of Abbey being a new girl in school who is finding her place in the social hierarchy. Also, Mattel just released the G3 doll for a new character, the ghost girl Spectra Vondergeist, who totally strikes me as another Mean Girl type. So I’ve decided she’s the leader of another girl gang who can be a rival to the one consisting of Draculaura, Cleo, and Toralei.

I struggled to figure out the third Mean Girl in Spectra’s gang. I decided to use Venus McFlytrap— gorgeous doll —but she strikes me more as a cool creative weirdo than a queen bee. Still, I used that for a bit in here that actually is pretty funny. Turn your limitations into inspirations!



Day #5 - Girl Gangs )
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A ridiculous bit from the “Friendsgiving” episode I have been noodling on for Dream Machine. The premise of it is that when the shooting schedule runs over and everybody’s grumpy, nobody is able to travel for Thanksgiving. So Meredith tries to host everybody to try and raise spirits and do some team building, but folks are not feeling it. THEN HIJINKS OCCUR.

Other scenes I’ve written for this episode are, in rough order they would occur:

- ”Extreme Rendition”
- ”Friendsgiving”
- ”Emotional Potluck”
- ”Marching Orders”
- ”Competitive”
- ”Glorified Babysitters”

I think this one falls between “Marching Order” and “Competitive”. It’s very dumb and sitcommy, but with some polishing could be very funny. It also occurs to me that Devon should probably be in this scene, since he reacts to a certain character’s appearance. But I was trying to keep the character count down for some reason, so I kept some people out of the room. Still, I’ll have to fix that on a second pass.



Day #4 - Special Delivery )
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I saw the Deadpool and Wolverine movie last weekend and enjoyed it very much, as I tend to with Marvel movies— they just make me happy in an uncomplicated way. It also reminded me that it’s been a really long time since I wrote a new Text from Avengers Tower, so I better get on that.

The fun of this one was working to capture Deadpool’s, shall we say, particular speaking idiom. Besides his obvious colorful vulgarity, his sentences use vivid vocabulary, can be surprisingly complex in structure, and are jam-packed with imagery. One of the things I love to do in fan fiction is capture the spirit of the source material, particularly coming up with original dialogue that still sounds believably in the characters’ voices. Texts from Avengers Tower has the additional dimension of figuring out how those same characters would text, such that their voices come through filtered by the way they would use the technology.

I think I did an okay job of that here. 😆 Minor spoilers for the Deadpool and Wolverine movie.



Day #2 - Hundred-Way )
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Little Monsters
stop motion shorts by Phoebe Roberts

Previous episodes:
Episode 1 - Eat Your Heart Out
Episode 2 - Made Wrong
Episode 3 - Creeping Over
Episode 4 - The Right Words

This episode: New kid Abbey Bominable has to prove herself before she can sit with the coolest ghouls in school.

~~~

Episode 5 - "The Cool Kids' Table"



Written, shot, and edited by Phoebe Roberts

Featuring the voice talents of
Liz Salazar as Abbey Bominable
Jenn Benfield as Draculaura
Naomi Ibasitas as Cleo de Nile
Arielle Kaplan as Toralei Stripe
Coryn May as Frankie Stein

With technical help from Bernie Gabin.

From @ BreakingLightProductions on YT

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