(Robin) Christina Lea's Internet Heat Sink
I sometimes find myself thinking about what I'll do after The Nameless Way . I'm still not sure. It's not that I don't have any ideas I'm excited about; it's that I have too many. And I talked a little in 2025 about what happens when I fail to keep my imps in line. One candidate is Ghosts of Blackridge , the one I actually started before I switched to Nameless Way. It's kind of a soap-ish horror…
As far as I’m concerned, the story of Jessica Jones ended with Season 3 of the Netflix show. To hell with this whole Daredevil Born Again bit, and all the spinoffs that dribble from the corner of its nerveless mouth. I was willing to give the parent thing a chance - I knew they'd mindlessly echo that unfortunate mess from the comics eventually - but they couldn’t just stop there. They had to add…
Much as I love Jessica Jones, I gotta show some love for the people who made Luke Cage. (I'm talking about the show here, but the original comics are also worth checking out.) Obviously, the gorgeous Harlem's Paradise set leaps out at you first. Then there's the music. Both the diegetic songs and the background music are perfect, giving it a delicious seventies exploitation feel. It's peppered…
I got on a plane to Indianapolis after three days of unrelenting anxiety with nights ranging from one to four hours of sleep. I normally prefer the road trip, but there were Reasons. Some of the anxiety was about the trip, but most of it was just my stupid life. Somehow I made it through the shoddy cardboard halls of an airport under construction (again) and shambled my way through two flights and…
I'm thinking about doing more with Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/christinalea/p/mary-shelley http://www.christinalea.com
Drop peppermint candy in glass. Pour bottom-shelf bourbon over candy. Marvel at the candy's complete failure to dissolve. Drink the appallingly un-minty bourbon anyway, while thinking about the choices that brought you to this point in your life. Keep up with future posts by following me ! http://www.christinalea.com
A while back, I lamented that it had taken me nine years to write 55,000 (now closer to 60) words of The Nameless Way , and I still had a long way to go. I was thinking about how that happened. I don't much feel like recapping 2024, at least not in public, but the New Year seems to be a good time to look back on the stuff I've been doing since I started this novel in 2015. I committed to the book…
Here's something you might have missed while you were smugly denouncing the first season of Iron Fist. It deftly illustrates what happens when you identify with groups and societies instead of yourself. Danny: The role he dedicated his life to winning was an empty honor. Everything he tried to glom onto was a disappointment. His company was corrupt. The school his girlfriend introduced him to was…
I was curious about the second Joker movie, partly because it made some people angry for silly reasons, so I thought I'd use my temporary Max pass to check it out. I didn't remember the first one very well, so I watched that too. That was one bland, depressing evening! Ugh. The first one had a few moments. It kind of worked for me, and the shots of the city were great. The second, just, ugh. The…
Sure, we all wish we knew what we know now when we were younger, but have you ever considered what kind of power you're tampering with? Think about it. In the present time, everything you know is sent to your younger self, who continues to learn from that point. When your younger self reaches the present time, the same thing happens, sending everything you started with, plus everything your new,…
I mentioned before that I had been digging into Tolkien for my commute book lately. So yeah, I finished Lord of the Rings (including the Appendices this time, which I'm not sure I've ever read straight through before), Unfinished Tales, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, I was especially fond of the narration by Martin Shaw on the last two. I had always been curious about Polidori's The Vampyre ,…
Random thoughts on S2E4 in no particular order. And yes, there are spoilers. Galadriel's status continues to nag me. It's not about her fighting and being hot-tempered. She probably would be past that phase by the Second Age, but I don't really care. It's that she's a subordinate in someone else's army. Tolkien has her settling in various places, but never answering to a king. But whatever. The…
Did you ever wonder if maybe Gandalf knew that Balrog from back in the day, back when they were both just a couple of maiar chillin' in Aman? Gandalf: You cannot pass! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! Balrog: Uh, my name's Rocky. Gandalf : Holy shit! Rocky? Long time no see, bru! It's me: Olorin! How ya been? Balrog : Ollie! Hey! Well, after the the Melkor gig fell through, I kinda…
It's been a couple of years since I went to Gen Con. We were still wearing plague masks last time. A few people had them this year, but they didn't stand out amidst all the other cosplay stuff. One disturbing change is that they replaced the carpet in the convention center. I'm not sure it even counts as Gen Con without that carpet . The drive to Indy went well. I mostly listened to audiobooks (…
55,000 words done on The Nameless Way . Not that impressive, considering it's taken me nine years and I'm not even halfway finished, but it's something. Keep up with future posts by following me ! http://www.christinalea.com
Never mind whatever else I said about X-Men '97. This episode blew me away. Keep the kleenex handy when you watch it. Damn. I already saw one person wish-speculating that this will all be undone because Cable showing up means time travel. And, look, I want characters I like to live and be happy as much as anybody else, but I hate when people turn powerful stories into jokes by "fixing" the sad…
I had been listening to audiobooks on the way home from work. I listened to Bonfire and Darth Plagueis and The Exorcist . I started listening to Book of Swords but it kinda put me off after a while. I'm not sure why. Anyway, I got out of the habit. The original idea was to read stuff that's new to me. Recently, though, I decided I needed some Tolkien in my life again so I started Lord of the Rings…
Adjusting all the clocks for Daylight Saving Time always makes me feel like a collaborator. Like, did I really do everything I could to fight this abomination before I recanted? Keep up with future posts by following me ! http://www.christinalea.com
I do these visualizations to meditate, sometimes. In one, I imagine all my financial/social obligations as a field of thick, clingy mud. It starts to pull me down, and I give myself to the Fire. The Fire burns brightly enough to dry the mud, and, as its vessel, I do too. We bake the mud into solid steps I can climb. We burn more. We burn brightly enough to cook the whole pit into a platform I can…
Here, have some cat pictures. Keep up with future posts by following me ! http://www.christinalea.com
I was scrolling through the "SuperHero" tag after posting last night's review and noticed that I never posted the rest of my Defenders session recaps. Some of these were just notes I wrote for myself, rather than for strangers to read, so there's that. Anyway, here ya go. Oh, and yes, one of my players who joined around this point just had to be a goddamn DC character. I apologize on his behalf.…
Checked out the first episode of Echo. I wonder if this is all we'll get to see of my beautiful Matt. I didn't really worry about that when I was watching She-Hulk because I wanted to watch the show anyway. This time... I dunno. I don't even like the main character, but liking the protagonist isn't a requirement. I went on, thinking, hey, even without Daredevil, it'll be nice to be back in some…
I wasn't going to bother with the New Year thing -- I barely mentioned it last year -- but, since the timing lines up with a couple of announcements I've been waiting to make, I figured that post might as well do double duty. The Announcements First, I put together a new edition of Stars, Specters, and Super-Powers . I did it mostly because it had always bothered me that I rushed it out with such…
This is my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special. I wouldn't argue that it's the best , but somehow it's special to me. Maybe it's some random association or because it was the first (for me, anyway), or maybe it's because he pops up at the end so bright and hopeful and excited about the future. "It's all waiting out there. And it's brand new to me - all those planets and creatures and horizons! I…
I was watching what appears to be the last episode of Loki and thinking, this guy doesn't deserve to be called Loki. He's a tool of authority, just taking the options someone else offers him, like a player in a bad GM's pre-scripted adventure. I don't think it'll be too much of a spoiler to say that I was pleasantly surprised that he *did* end up creating his own path, as any Trickster worthy of…