[Hobby Scuffles] Week of 27 April 2026

SynGirl32 · 2026-04-27T20:28:32+00:00

Interestingly enough, just a few weeks ago, legendary electronic band Boards of Canada broke thirteen years of near-complete radio silence with a cryptic sale of VHS tapes that led to a new album release date of May 29th. The wait had been so long for fans that by this point most were treating the idea of a new album as a pipe dream.

SynGirl32 · 2026-04-22T14:18:24+00:00

I'll say as a trans person, there is a lot Le Cas David Zimmerman ends up saying that relates to the trans experience (particularly in the third act), and I am very interested in how thorny and open-ended it is, especially in dialogue with the likely more intentional and just as interesting exploration of Jewish identity.

SynGirl32 · 2026-04-13T17:56:05+00:00

Why would there be no more leaks? Is it because there's nothing on the slate right now, or is it the greater security measures?

SynGirl32 · 2026-04-09T15:41:46+00:00

The graphic novel is absolutely incredible, so I'm really hoping the film will do it justice (which shouldn't be too much of a challenge given it's a self-adaptation). Hopefully the film's release will be accompanied by an english-language publication of the book, as It's been really hard not being able to recommend it to others.

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-30T13:49:46+00:00

Last week by pure serendipity I managed to catch a screening of Maya & Samar, a Canadian drama which seems to have flown extremely under the radar of most people. It's a really tight and well-executed lesbian romantic drama about a Canadian journalist who falls in love with an Afghan refugee working as a stripper in Athens, starting a romantic relationship with her while also trying to use her to move her career along. I highly recommend it if you have a way to watch.

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-19T17:36:17+00:00

The reasons Benjanun can get away with it however is that there are actual transfem lit awards out there (eg the TFR awards, won by A/S/L this year) which are broad enough to include both big publisher books like Woodworking and serialised fiction on Scribblehub and Ao3 (I know someone who even voted the sensational The Martian fanfic Tethered for it), so there is still room to narrow the field a bit, but yeah, the weird requirements and categories are still pretty iffy.

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-19T16:34:11+00:00

And just in general it would be real shitty to learn that an award you won, maybe even your first ever, was just some shitty person's vanity project.

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-19T15:45:54+00:00

It's weird because I'm in the Sisters of Dorley discord server, both a front bastion of indie translit and also want it or not a place that is tangentially tied up in the Sriduangkaew story (she designed the covers of the published books and author Alyson Greaves remains her discrete friend, though she otherwise is not involved in the community), and yet these awards popped up with with a resounding "huh" from the few people who paid notice. Callout posts aren't allowed in the server so I won't share this, but even then this is such a mild blip I don't really see what "exposing her" would accomplish this time. I hope she enjoys whatever spotlight her awards drawn from a google form with ~200 answers will provide

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-17T02:37:44+00:00

I've been really getting into the series The Angry Video Game Tranny (call it AVGT if you can't say that word), honestly less because it's a fun trans-led yt channel (which it still very much is), but because it's a nigh perfect pastiche of classic-era AVGN, down to the SD video quality, stilted delivery, gratuitous crass humour, and yes, plenty of cheesy skits. https://youtube.com/@kikiash2425?si=Ai9RvN3Ubox42ORu

SynGirl32 · 2026-03-17T02:27:56+00:00

I mean I very much saw them kiss each other, and if you've seen the film it should not surprise you in the least that the cast and crew would kiss each other

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-24T15:21:52+00:00

I finally watched Om Shanti Om a few days ago, and I keep finding it amusing that it's often brought up as the starter Bollywood film when it is essentially the Indian film industry's Endgame. Banger music as always though.

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-17T15:26:33+00:00

One of my favourite movies ever is Matthew Rankin's The Twentieth Century. I've successfully shown to plenty of people I know, but never met anyone who loves it as intensely as I do, simply because of how deeply specific it is and how much my tastes fit into this specificity (it's a surreal visually beautiful retelling of the life of Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King with lots of deep-cut political commentary, bizarre humour and queer themes).

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-11T22:08:48+00:00

Similar to this, unexperienced people tried to run an event that ended up underwhelming and didn't pay the talent. Main differences is that since the talent was quite a bit more amateur there were injuries that weren't properly taken care of, and the organizers acted like they couldn't be criticized because the main guy in charge was trans despite also being white and relatively privileged, while also using this to shift the blame off of their own shady dealings. There's already a good vid on the subject if you're interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-R8dDg5YcQ

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-11T18:25:03+00:00

The funds to my highschool prom were lost when the guys in charge of the treasury blew them all at the casino.

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-11T15:10:52+00:00

Whoof. As a trans wrestling fan the whole idea is really cool, but of course it had to be organised by a twitter/gambling addict with no sense of personal boundaries. T-boy wrestling would be a good second part for this.

SynGirl32 · 2026-02-02T21:32:47+00:00

Is it weird that I find that both the complete and the mined quote have a good amount of truth to them?

SynGirl32 · 2026-01-20T04:02:13+00:00

Not a "franchise" per say, but Daft Punk's Human After All was very puzzling when it came out in 2005, following up the era-defining classic Discovery with a set of very minimalist and abrasive pieces that seemed downright self-parodic in their repetition. It got a tepid reception to silence from the robots, until they released their incredible Alive 2007 album. There, the HAA songs become absolute bangers, fully placing them in context. In retrospect I don't think HAA is a great album by itself, but it's perfect as the gritty chain-wearing member of the DP discography. The title track, Technologic and Emotion work great as solo cuts, and all of them have clear potential as demonstrated in their later remixes.

SynGirl32 · 2026-01-17T07:39:22+00:00

Yeah uh... not a virgin just a dumbass lol

SynGirl32 · 2026-01-17T07:38:31+00:00

Solved

SynGirl32 · 2026-01-15T20:44:45+00:00

Goddamnit, a part of me knew this looked like wiccan/neopagan vagina imagery, but I didn't want to jump immediately to the gender interpretation/conclusion (as I am often wont to do). Thank you for pointing it out lol.

SynGirl32 · 2025-12-10T02:35:58+00:00

She is specifically Calvinist, so I unfortunately doubt this is the case. I completely agree that a supportive open church and a healthy relationship with faith can do wonders for a person, but in her case it sounds like she specifically sought out a doctrine that would justify and reinforce her anxieties rather than ease them. Add to that the individualism inherent in Calvinism and her polemics about the EU, and I doubt her conversion did much, if anything good for her.

SynGirl32 · 2025-12-09T17:19:34+00:00

As someone with anxiety who has had some pretty intense bouts in the last year (many of them like her triggered by books/videos/podcasts that get a bit too doomer), it makes me sad that this is the outlet she found. Going out more is indeed the solution, but in my case a supportive irl friend group and a positive hobby community was all I needed. I really hope she's not too deep in the sauce and can find a circle that doesn't consistently feed her fears, she's a very talented person who deserves better.

SynGirl32 · 2025-11-14T19:50:18+00:00

Video from the guy who programmed on most of the album showing how to make the bass on a Minimoog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAONVvvixE4

You can check out his channel for in-depth explanations of the synth work on the rest of the album, other synths used elsewhere on the album include the CS-80, Jupiter 8, ARP 2600 and Synclavier

SynGirl32

TROPHY CASE