|
|
Monday, December 7th, 2009
| |
10:57 am - holiday wishlist meme
|
Step One
Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post so that the holiday joy will spread.
Step Two
Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it. Once a wish has been granted, it will be crossed off my list.
You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.
There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.
( my wishes, which are a bit bizarre-o land, are below; please post a link to your wish posts in comments )
|
|
(49 locusts | plague )
|
| Sunday, December 6th, 2009
| |
4:44 pm - useful? not useful?
|
|
| |
1:06 pm - sundries
|
My perpetually late werewolf story is going to be done TODAY. I have been plowing through it this morning and will continue to do so. Because it needs finish. And the editor needs it like forever ago.
Bristol: still don't know. Trying not to obsess (as opposed to what I've been doing for weeks?)
Patty has a cold.
Nothing sucks more than finding out about a conference stuff I'm working on would be perfect four 5 days after the abstract deadline.
‘Whitening’ the Résumé. I've heard about this before from friends, and I've even been told to use Rachel on my own resume lest my own unusual name trigger racist assumptions. Even so, the article is still shocking to me and a really clear sort of look at "here's one result of systemic racism."
Twenty years ago today 28 people at École Polytechnique were shot by a gunman who ultimately killed himself. He actively targeted women, separating men from women in some rooms he entered and then shooting the women, to, he declared "fight feminism."
Los Angeles Episcopalians elect lesbian bishop.
The IAF auction is almost over. It ends tomorrow, in fact. There's some gorgeous stuff bid now It all benefits the Interstitial Arts Foundation, which supports the type of art many of you reading about this care about.
Bizarre YouTube thing on a look back at the Beatles from the year 3,000.
You know what I like? When my Amazon ranking has only three digits!
New upstairs neighbors. I'll be frank, they sound like the sort of very straight and normal 20-something women that intimidate me.
Yesterday was filled with Costco related aggravation in which I at first could not join because I don't have a driver's license and then was told over and over my passport would be acceptable if it was a "New York State" one. I had to explain, OVER AND OVER again that passports are not issued by the state, but by the federal government, and then come home in a snow/sleet-storm to get various proofs of address. I was finally able to join (and hey, they're gluten-free chicken basil meatballs are amazing) and had another irritating conversation with them about a household card for Patty ("do we have to prove domestic partnership or just her address?" "what do you mean?" "the form says close family, we are gay, do you need a domestic partnership certificate? or just proof that we live in the same house?" all of which somehow lead us back to this idea of New York State Passports).
|
|
(56 locusts | plague )
|
| Friday, December 4th, 2009
| |
6:12 pm - from the department of The Internet Is Often Inexplicable
|
|
| |
12:48 pm - sundries
|
Okay, I've have GOT to make our holiday cards this weekend. And I shall!
OM NOM NOM. Indian food awaits us tonight.
Cruise planning! Last night we narrowed down a lot of the short excursions and even made some final decisions, so I think Patty is booking those today. We still have other stuff to sort out, some of which we can just do on the damn boat. She's amazing at this stuff, I just get overwhelmed and confused. Things we're doing include a national park, seeing stingrays and boating to various secluded places. I think we're also going to see some big rocks and weird lizards, sail on a Siamese junk, and I'm crazy excited about just walking around Willemstad, which seems like a fascinating town and has the old synagogue in the Americas.
OMG, cruise clothing. I'm good with all the dressy stuff (white evening gown, black evening gown, red cocktail dress, tux, two suits & three dress shirts). And the semi dressy stuff (three Trashy Diva dresses and various slacks & dress shirts). And the bathing suits (two!). But you know what I fucking fail at? Casual clothes. Um.... like shorts. And a cover-up for the bathing suits. And sneakers. And I need to get on that. I feel really weird in shorts and I don't even know why. Patty's going to help, because mostly I'm like "I don't know how to do this!" I should also probably actually get an actual pair of jeans. And I really need to book the waxing appointment. I can't be bothered with hair removal most times these days, but if I'm going to wandering around in a bathing suit and heels on and off for ten days, I can damn well wax (not because it's my civic duty (because it's not), but because, hey, it really does make your legs look longer and more toned, who doesn't want that?)
Oh yeah, we have appropriately running water again in our place.
A tiny, tiny black kitty has joined the ranks of the garden kitties. He was being shown the food people leave for them by the grey garden kitty this morning. Really frigging cute.
These DARPA weather balloons could win you 40K USD.
Coming out in Hollywood. These articles appear every so often, and it's interesting to watch their evolution as they focus on just how disastrous it is or isn't for a given career. Contains the usual bullshit of "if everyone knows I"m gay, how will they believe me as straight" yadda yadda. But it's interesting, because the converse -- straight people playing gay characters, no one ever questions the believability of that. We just hear that it's all brave or heroic or whatever. And I think other than the obvious homophobia in that statement, there's a more interesting thing going on that points to the very nature of homophobia: as a culture we believe anyone could be gay! we are suspicious! and everyone is suspect! Interesting when we notice where the fear comes from.
Fun with Google Adsense: if you use the word "struggling" a lot in a post, you get ads for rehab centers. If you post porny fanfiction, you may get an ad for "EZLube" car maintenance chain. That's beautiful, is what that is.
Bristol said we would hopefully know "within the week" to folks who sent in abstracts on Monday. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I'm now guessing Sunday morning, since that's when I found out about something else academic in Britain that I submitted to once upon a time.
Speaking of Bristol, but unrelated to that issue or possible trip -- when Patty and I go to London in April, we're thinking of popping up to Ireland (probably Dublin, but not necessarily, but we have friends there and I've not been since 1995) for a few days. Anyone have any thoughts on the best/cheaptest/fastest way to do that as I know there are a number of options, none of which I know much about?
Remember that thing I posted the other day about Chase and NOM. Well ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) keori remains on it, and Chase has already declared that NOM is inelligible for funds in their charity thing. The article also mentions the third party vendor that supplied the list. They may just be determining what's a charity based on 501(c)(3) designation, but if so, their system sort of blows. So the third party provider may be worth contacting. We really don't want NOM lurking on a widely distributed charity list.
Have we heard of the Bo-Tax? The idea is to help pay for healthcare reform through a 5% tax on cosmetic procedures. A lot of people think this sounds good. But some people think it penalizes women who are devalued by society if they look older than 30 (actually follow the link and discover that if you are over 25 and female, the fact that you want to fuck is yucky and weird in the heterosexual pop-culture landscape). Scarily, this may be one of those things where everyone's sort of right (except the people promulgating the puma, cheetah and cougar asshattery), even if we still can't get the difference between "need" and "want" through our heads as a nation.
Today I gave an old friends useful advice in email. Less useful advice was administered on LJ and contained the phrase "as long as we're avoiding marriages on the astral plane, we're probably good."
shadowravyn points us to Gives Me Hope which is random anonymous stories of people not sucking. Except: since anyone can post anything, it can have moments of being condescending/rage-inducing and as selasphorous points out in comments, can be particularly rife with ableism.
fabricdragon is keeping a list of Lj'ers who could use help from other LJ'ers. If you've got funds or resources to spare, please check there or the post I made earlier today.
|
|
(47 locusts | plague )
|
| |
11:43 am - two other people who could use your help
|
So, the Internet stepped up fabulously to help out britgeekgrrl. It's been a remarkable bright spot in a really sad situation.
Of course, sadly, the world and other people's sorrows stop for nothing, and there's two other people on my friendslist who could really use your help.
The first is dr_is_in. I've not met her in person, but people I know have, and she's who she says she is and what's going on with her husband, who's seriously ill is really happening (she's been very forthcoming about procedures, facilities, etc., and I put all these details in so you can make informed decisions and because there are people online who do lie about tragedy. I've bumped into a few on LJ over the years, and it's NOT COOL).
So here's the deal. dr_is_in's husband has been ill for a long time, and she's always been aware that his life expectancy might not be as long as either of them would like. But this year, he got really sick much sooner than expected. He got so sick, in fact, the doctors told her repeatedly that he had just days to live.
Miraculously, he's fighting back (seriously, this guy is so tough it's freaky), but the road is going to be long and hard. He's got weeks left in the hospital and will probably need home care for a long, long time. In the meantime, dr_is_in hasn't been able to work in weeks in order to stay by his bedside, both because there were concerns he might pass at any minute (there was the initial downward slide, then he coded as he was climbing back up, etc etc) and because she's been dealing with that usual thing where if someone isn't advocating for a patient in the hospital things can go very, very wrong.
Odds are, she won't be able to go back to work for a few weeks at least, and when her husband comes home, the expenses are going to be huge. Even with insurance and help from family, this is all creating a big financial problem.
At the request of some of her LJ friends, she itemized her expenses for December and January, and basically, she needs about $2000 to keep the rent paid and the lights turned on, and gas in the car to get to and from the hospital (where she sleeps some nights) and food, and all that really basic stuff, that I think when we're middle class we don't think people like us could wind up struggling for.
Well, she's struggling. Most of the posts about her husbands health are unlocked, so you can read up on the whole thing at her journal. She's also a member of Torchwood fandom (which is how I know her), and if you have some funds to spare this season (I know it's hard for us all, and I know the hat's just been passed), PayPaling her some help at ( click for email ).
*
The other person on my friendslist who could use your help right now is alumiere whois unemployed and has several chronic illnesses. She is also a real person I've never met, but folks I know face-to-face have. Right now, she's not only looking for a job (maybe you can help?) she's also trying to afford medication and testing to get a better sense of what's going on with her and to treat it. She is asking for donations. Please check out her journal and see if you can help her with work, funds or maybe even a lead on free mammograms in her area (that's one of the things she needs to get done).
Thanks!
|
|
(11 locusts | plague )
|
| Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
| |
7:37 pm - The National Organization for Marriage is not a charity
|
Chase is giving money to charity this holiday season. They have some Facebook page or other about this.
Chase has a reasonable definition of eligible charities for this project:
"Eligible charities must be 501(c)(3) organizations with an operating budget of under $10 million, and must meet the other listed requirements. A Charity that, by itself or through an affiliated entity, discriminates on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, medical condition, citizenship, ancestry or marital status is not eligible."
Despite this, the National Organization for Marriage is on the Chase charity list. Odds are if we send Chase nice and informative letters, this will get corrected quickly and efficiently.
Details here: http://keori.livejournal.com/312571.html
|
|
(13 locusts | plague )
|
| |
5:57 pm - in point of fact
|
|
When you say something anti-gay and I point out the bigotry of your statement, I'm not the one being hateful.
|
|
(67 locusts | plague )
|
| |
10:15 am - sundries
|
Patty will be headed home to Ohio on December 17 and returning on January 1. I'll be on my own for New Year's which is a bit superstitious and odd for me, but I'll get her back on the first, so it sorta solves that too! And she'll be around to keep me sane for cruise packing on the 2nd!
Our household is in the midst of a full-fledged Plants vs. Zombies addiction.
Tonight we have a bookstore date to look at some travel books to plan our cruise excursions.
What really killed Jane Austen? No, it wasn't zombies.
in Lebanon there's a high suicide rate amongst domestic workers from abroad related, it is suspected, to abuse from employers.
The price of the gamble on gay rights. I came of age as a gay person during AIDS. And man, the 80s were weird: The Berlin Wall, Tiennamen Square. And I keep thinking, through that distorted lens of teen romance and tragedy and change on the news that part of the problem must surely be that while we are fighting for our lives, we're not actually goddamn acting like it, are we? Sometimes I think we are too used to losing to know how to win.
On the push in France to require digitally altered images of people to be labeled as such.
carlanime alerts us to the fact that Canadian quarters are not secret spy devices. Apparently, at one point, the US government wasn't so sure.
The solid security gates of NYC have been banned, but business owners have until 2026 more or less to replace them. This New York is a different country than the one I grew up in.
Doctor Who: Through Time and Space is out today from IDW and has a story by _tonylee_ and Paul Grist in it. See, he's not just your favorite malevolent presence at cons, he makes stuff too!
The Book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivias and Particularities will be back in stock on December 5 with Amazon. You can order now and have it in time for the gift-giving holiday of your choice.
bentley tells me a friend of hers, doubtful_salmon is doing a stand-up comedy show in NYC in a location that, she hears tell (yes, this is true), used to be an S&M club. This says more about the horror of the life of a stand-up comic than just about anything else could (and that's no aspersion on the BDSM scene! Just on being a comic!). Anyway, now that my own joke has fallen flat, doubtful_salmon says it's at Comix on 14th and 9th on December 12 at "about 4:30 p.m." It's a private show (that I'm being exhorted to promote on LJ, so you know, for definitions of private), so you have to call to make a reservation at 212.524.2500 (she thinks). Ask about cover or table charges when you call, as the comic was unsure if there's a cover or if you just need to buy a couple of menu items or what (whatever it is, it's pretty cheap, that's the point there). (Pro tip: when promoting your stuff know precisely when it is and how much it costs and be sure of the phone number for reservations).
My day is going to be long and crazy, but there are two other cases of People on LJ I Know Who Could Really Use Your Help, that I'll be posting later. So you've been warned or some such.
Bristol: the waiting is still driving me mad.
WHY DOES OUR HOUSE SUDDENLY HAVE NO RUNNING WATER?
Dammit, I did not get a Yuletide pinch hit I really, really wanted. I sort of want to write the story anyway, but not sure if I will.
|
|
(25 locusts | plague )
|
| Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
| |
2:28 pm - marriage equality in NY State
|
As I've mentioned before, even earlier today, marriage equality stuff in NY State is weird.
Due to unrelated political drama in the state capital, the issue has largely been side-lined, along with the rest of the legislative agenda for a while now. And, since NY State recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, there's been a certain lack of urgency on the subject.
Our assembly as passed a bill for marriage equality three times. But our state senate is notoriously conservative and this has largely been a fight no one wanted to have or thought we could win.
Well, the fight is happening right now. And no one knows what the outcome will be (very weird for a state body that hashes everything out in private before anything happens in public, often leaving public debates meaningless on done deals).
But it seems the discourse on the bill is remarkable in and of itself.
ETA: voting is happening now, after a long, rambling and pretty weird speech from Senator Duane, a gay man who has been at the front of this fight for a while.
ETA2: watching the vote now. It looks like we're going to lose.
ETA3: "The bill is lost."
ETA4: and now there will be nattering about "momentum" from the bigots; cowards one and all.
|
|
(46 locusts | plague )
|
| |
10:59 am - sundries
|
If you're in the Boston-area, here's a new burlesque troupe to watch. They're having a big debut soon, and I've had the pleasure to see several of their dancers before. Check it out. They know their stuff, and have a better sense of the history of teh art than many, many other groups I've seen.
It's Nutcracker season! The Klezmer Nutcracker, that is. The Klezmer Nutcracker is ellen_kushner's holiday show for young audiences (although there's plenty of cool stuff for grownups so you won't be bored) that combines Jewish mythology, klezmer music and dancing en poite (that's new this year). Not just for kids, and not just for Jewish kids. Also, there's a peacock. Look, just trust me on this, okay? Tickets tend to sell out a few days before each performance, so book now.
A Jew in London.
Walking into work this morning I saw a well-dressed man in a suit talking in a men-explain-it-all way to a well-dressed woman in a suit. The conversation? "They have horns, they drink the blood of babies." I have to assume/hope he was talking about anti-Semitism as opposed to being anti-Semitic.
This was all over Twitter yesterday: Little Green Footballs, apparently a conservative site, has a piece up called Why I Parted Ways With the Right. It's like a voice in the wilderness.
dsmoen has some good thoughts on the grieving process. kyburg also offers comment.
verasteine has written a long meta on heteronormative sexual/relationship dynamics in slash fiction that I haven't had time to read yet (it's been a rough week), but is surely worthy of discussion. I'll catch up soon!
On that note, Torchwood fen may want to take a look at blue_fjords's Torchwoo AU that begins with Dr. Harkness and Nurse Jones: Kenya (it later moves on to both Ghana and India). What's interesting is that it takes romance novel tropes that are so often a part of the "heteronormative sexual/relationship dymamics" mentioned above, and, despite them being central to the story, refuses to bow to them. People get hurt and people get rescued, but there are no damsels in distress here. At all. It's worth reading to see how she does it.
When you keep talking about how sick and wrong you are for writing slash, even when you're doing it playfully, you may be unintentionally sending an unpleasant message to your queer friends both in fandom and not.
You have heard about the proposed law in Uganda that would punish 'aggravated homosexuality' with the death penalty, right? In case you missed it, this isn't just Uganda's outrage. It's ours. Prominent American conservatives are tied to the thing. It's stuff like this that means it's always risky for anyone to be out ever, because these people have power here, want more power here, and you never know when or how you're going to lose your safety. That's the problem with paranoia, that's why it's impossible to excise: sometimes, you think, it will keep you alive.
Apparently the legislative clusterfuck in NY State and the ensuing low-level of coverage on equal marriage rights in the state may just make everything work out. The Assembly passed the bill last night. The Senate is voting today. And things look... possible.
Hey, it turns out that Meredith Baxter is gay.
An interesting piece about the Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club which I was actually once in for a day for a marketing event. It's a pretty amazing space, and it's a pretty amazing thing that they've been doing there for 90 years.
I am participating in the fanfiction love meme.
Take a look at this gorgeous bit of steampunk art. It's a kid's push toy.
|
|
(49 locusts | plague )
|
| Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
| |
9:52 pm
|
Thank you to everyone who helped out britgeekgrrl earlier today. You helped to take her mind off on a practical worry in a terrible time.
Unfortunately, her husband, dancingshaman, passed away earlier this evening. Please keep them in your thoughts.
And please in your own lives, say what you have to say, and live how you need to live. It may be a too often repeated sentiment, but stuff like this brings home, at least to me that some things shouldn't be procrastinated.
|
|
(18 locusts | plague )
|
| |
11:22 am - a good you can do
|
britgeekgrrl's husband has been battling cancer for a couple of years now. Sadly, that battle is almost over and sooner than was expected. If you've ever lost a loved-one you know that death-related expenses can be massive, even when choosing the most affordable and simple options, as is the case here. Cremation and associated costs are expected to run about $1,400 and it's just not in a budget that thought the timeline on this was going to run for several more months. As kshandra notes in her own post on the subject, we're "also hoping to cover Johanna's day-to-day expenses for a while as she sadly does not qualify for Family Medical Leave Act coverage and only has about 45 hours of PTO available to her at work."
I've known britgeekgrrl online for years and have met her at cons (she is a costumer and, as I put it, of the Whoniverse (a fandom, it's worth noting, that has led to a lot of discussions around here about the connection between death and hope)), although I've never had the pleasure of meeting her husband. I've watched her struggle with the little bullshit life deals all of us and figure it out, and then, sadly have to rise to this particular set of events with dignity and focus in conditions where it would be hard for anyone to have either.
There's not much we can really do for other people, and all of us wind up with our own set of circumstances, but I really believe -- I have to believe -- that there's service and value each in seeing people in, through, and out of this life, even if we don't have children, even if we never have to tend to a loved-one near the end.
So this is me asking for a favor, not just because britgeekgrrl and her husband need your help so that the end of their time together isn't focused on funereal financial worries, but because in a awful situation this is a good you can do even if death is not just a tragic thing, but an ordinary thing.
So, if you've got and money to spare, and I know many of us don't in this economy and this season, please PayPal a little bit to johanna_mead@yahoo.com Please select Gift (under Personal) under transaction to reduce the Paypal fee situation. Boosting the signal is also welcome.
I would very much like her to be able to stop worrying about the financial aspect of at least the cremation today, and I believe we can make that happen.
ETA: britgeekgrrl reports that the cremation and related expenses have been covered by everyone's generosity. Additional donations she's received will also allow her to bring in home nursing aides to make this easier on both her and Alex. THANK YOU, INTERNETS.
|
|
(31 locusts | plague )
|
| |
11:00 am - sundries
|
54 years ago today Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
Today is also World AIDS Day. Everything xtricks says about the impact of AIDS on our global society is true. Meanwhile, South African President Zuma (a source of controversy on a pretty large number of issues), seems to be addressing the AIDS crisis there, a significant break from the delusional and deadly policies of the previous president, Thabo Mbeki.
An image of West Point cadets reading while waiting for President Obama to speak. I note that the cadet in the far right of the picture is reading Gates of Fire, which, in its final pages makes the assertion that's worth the entire book, which is that the opposite of love is fear.
I'm getting really sick of this world where we just redefine words and decide facts aren't facts because we don't like them. When you show up to a party uninvited, that's called crashing, whether you like it or not. This is true even if the party is at the White House and you are an aspiring reality TV star.
Did you guys see Maziar Bahari on the Daily Show last night? Riveting stuff. For those of you who don't know Bahari is a Newsweek journalist who was recently released from prison in Iran. Part of what landed him there was participating in a Daily Show segment.
The Land That Never Was: A New York Times photo essay on Dubai.
When it comes to finding a job, a college degree doesn't close the race gap.
My book on Amazon is currently listed with a 3 - 5 week ship time, which means you won't get it before Christmas. This shouldn't be the case, and we're working to fix it. However, if you need a copy for the holidays, you can also contact me directly or order from B&N.
Actors, now older, pose as the characters they once were. via fortysevenbteg.
The Berlin Wall has fallen but a forbidden zone lingers in the minds of deer.
Also in Deer News: One has apparently swum to Governors Island and is now in the process of being rescued.
I have received fabric swatches from Duchess Clothier for new shirts. This process mostly highlights how persnickety I am. I like the plum, but maybe the color is a little too bright. I like the more subdued plum, but I don't like the slight sheen to the cross-hatched pattern on it that only I would probably notice. I like the french blue, god do I like the french blue, but the fabric itself is so fine and delicate, and I never think of french blue that way (geez, I wonder why). I like the green and grey stripey thing, but how would I wear it? Not with a suit surely, I'd look like one of my old Italian relatives. Open at the nick with just slacks and maybe a waistcoat? Yeah, that would probably be awesome.... but really? Hrrrrr. Then there's the blue and white stripe, which in my head is way too casual for a suit unless I do it with white cuffs and collar, which would make a beautiful shirt, but yuck, so Wall Street. And then there's the white with the progressive blue pinstripes, and the swatch is just too small for me to tell. Really, the only thing I know is that I hate the red. I should just ask Seyta what she thinks. The peach pinstripe she steered me too last time was the one I was the least sure about and is now the one I like the most.
I've been having a lot of unpleasant dreams lately, all about pretty real-world things all involving my friends. In the end, we all always come out of the bad situation okay, but this is getting annoying. It's more real-world processing than I'm interested in remembering. Throw in stuff about fencing and Doctor Who fandom, and I'm apparently Working Out Some Issues.
Wow, someone just made a funny at me in email about the Warsaw pact. *Blink* My life is a bit odd.
|
|
(14 locusts | plague )
|
| Monday, November 30th, 2009
| |
9:54 am - sundries
|
One of the weirder outgrowths of working on ConSweet, especially amongst friends who have seen some of the text or were there when this thing was birthed in my drunken little head, is that people have a tendency to forward on certain sorts of geek celebrity gossip to me, like this gem about the guy who plays Gregory Goyle in the HP franchise that redstapler sent me. It includes photos of furniture involved in an alleged "sex-romp" during this past weekend's Collectormania.
One of the funny things about ConSweet is that it's not actually about geek!stars behaving badly, although they do, a lot both in RL and in my novel. It's about people finding their feet in lives they never thought they'd have even if they were, in some cases, fantasized about -- sometimes that means in being famous, but it also means in being beautiful, or in being the girl who's dad really wore tinfoil hats and eventually killed himself. It about learning how not to be ashamed and how to have a good time and how to like yourself even if you aren't yet ready to let people love you.
And I figured all that out, because redstapler sent me tawdry gossip. That's fucking AWESOME.
I've never seen my acafen friends as worked up as we all are about Bristol. The abstract deadline is today. Signs indicate we'll known _very_ soon. I'm in a tizzy myself and trying not to think about it. Our collective state of being about this really could be a paper itself, and I'll talk about my own intensity and emotions about it once I know whether or not I'm in.
Need another way to patronize LJ'ers with stores/products/crafts? Visit Mall of ShadeSong.
This Married to the Sea is trufax. Language not safe for work. Image utterly harmless.
If you're not paying attention, and you might not be, since, like Political Outrage Fatigue, you may also have Financial Collapse Fatigue -- the Dubai market/economy is finally taking the dive we've all known it was going to take for a while. The thing is, this will have ripples into the West. Possibly a lot of ripples, since UAE investments (particularly real estate) were one of the "safe" investments when everything else tanked and since Sharia-compliant products have been an increasingly significant strategy for many western financial firms (especially in London). The thing about the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, is that these markets were always explicitly artificial, and that should have been a warning sign from the beginning. Instead, that artificiality was the lure for Western investors who felt philosophically in sync with the idea that you can just will wealth into permanent being; and you arguably can -- if you're a magician. The folks that make up our global financial markets? Not so much; they are high-rollers that can largely afford the risks of market collapse in the areas in which they play. Sadly, however, financial market collapse effects people way beyond them, including those who don't know they've opted into the market or, in fact, explicitly aren't participating at all.
Speaking of economics: Sex, health insurance and abortion.
Demjanjuk is on trial for Nazi-era war crimes in Munich. I find it eerie. WWII is still happening. Over and over. But it won't be, in our lifetimes. Eventually, there won't just be no one left to testify, there won't be anyone left alive to try. The Demjanjuk case is particularly disturbing because he's actually been tried and convicted before, but that verdict was overturned as a case of mistaken identity. The whole thing is an eerie, eerie mess relying on documents from over sixty years ago.
The new Abney Park album comes out tomorrow. The two preview tracks from it that Robert posted to the band's MySpace (only for you, Abney Park, will I go to fucking MySpace) last night are great. The new sound is very narrative inspiring to me.
I am now on Google Wave. Now, I might just be old-fashioned (my first email program was PINE, and I lament its loss in my life; it was all I needed), but so far, to me, Google Wave is like a useless mutant hybrid of Facebook and Twitter and not as amusing as either. And I don't even like Facebook.
This kitten is so cute you will explode. via the entire Internet.
current music: Bertine Zetlitz - This Moment
|
|
(27 locusts | plague )
|
| Sunday, November 29th, 2009
| |
9:59 pm - Torchwood fic rec
|
|
| |
12:52 pm - sundries
|
In all my "omg, Switzerland is so racist" rambling, everyone assured me the Swiss ban on minarets wouldn't pass that it was just their wacky far right mucking about with referendums to make noise. Maybe, I was just overreacting as an American in a country where I didn't speak the language and was on a trip that wasn't supposed to be fun anyway. I hoped, to be frank, that I was just being an ugly, uptight American, looking for the worst about the whole thing.
Yeah, apparently not. The Swiss ban on minarets passed. Thoughts relevant to this (and a lot of action from rightist parties in various countries) here. (thanks to ellen_kushner for that last link)
amberite brings us Daleks in Need.
Okay, the Daleks were just a distraction from the noise Kai Owen and John Barrowman are making at Collectormania. Apparently TW, S4 has been confirmed for 13 episodes. Or more accurately, in an actors making noise to make things happen way, S4 is about to be confirmed for 13 episodes.
Right, now, I know a lot of people are all "Torchwood is dead to me," and I'm perhaps even more "not ready yet" about this than I was about CoE (knowing what I knew going into it and trying to convince myself It Wasn't True), however, 13 episodes is REALLY EXCITING. If they'd just done another short series, it would have been very easy not to address the aftermath of CoE emotionally as it would be all action all the time. But with 13 episodes? Well, we're really going to have to see Gwen dealing with the risk to her life and her family that is Torchwood. We're really going to have to see Jack processing Ianto's and Steven's deaths and possibly dealing with Alice and/or a new romantic relationship (or avoiding same). We're going to have to see the organization re-staff and deal with a world in which Everyone Knows Terrible Things. This is EXCITING.
I have to say though, I will be really sad if filming considerations means the memorial for Ianto at Mermaid Quay comes down before I get to see it. This seems likely, and is seriously frustrating considering I am hopefully giving a paper related to said subject at a conference soon.
Also, once again, this is my first ever TV fandom where I got into the show before it got canceled. As per usual, I find this shit exhausting, but hey whatever. I suspect this means more TW novels too, which is nice, especially as the most recent batch were good as actual books, although I still need to finish up and write about The Undertaker's Gift, which I found problematic.
I guess I was listening to Abney Park's The Wrong Side a lot right around when CoE aired, as it just came on my shuffle of a giant list of songs in forever, and I had a weird little *bam! ouch* moment about it all.
Last night Patty and I got our tickets for the spring season at BAM. Because I'm stupid, we bought tickets to The Tempest for the weekend I'll be in LA, but at least she'll have something awesome to do while I'm gone. We also got a few that may well be when she's already left for a dig, but I'm sure we can each find people who want to accompanying us to ART.
We're planning to go to the bookstore to look at travel books about our cruise destinations on Thursday night to consider excursions and then book that at the end of this week too.
Abortion is now more personal than political this piece argues. Whether we like it or not, when the political intrudes into our personal lives, sometimes, we have to make the personal political once again. That's one of the aggravating lessons of being gay, and one that people who support the ability to choose abortion would do well to remember before it's a desperate issue.
Tiger Woods's car crash = not interesting.
A history of letter writing.
|
|
(31 locusts | plague )
|
| Saturday, November 28th, 2009
| |
12:12 pm - sundries
|
I'm having one of those periodic things I have where I want to knit. I'm a pretty lousy knitter. I can do a scarf, but that's about it. But in posting all those LJ small businesses yesterday, a bit of yarn jumped out at me.
Anyway, this led to the following horrific observation on Twitter: @racheline_m: Why hasn't someone made a 456 knitting pattern yet? Everyone wants a knit, vomiting, 3-headed turkey, don't they?
Which then led to the horrifying personal observation -- you guys know I live on the 4/5/6 train, yeah?
Okay, the White House gate crashers? met the President. I really, really, will be deeply, deeply annoyed if these people aren't in a world of trouble. Free passes on this sort of thing will just encourage more of it, and in our reality TV world, people will always rise to the challenge of self-promotional asshattery.
The houses of NYC.
Last night we went to see A Streetcar Named Desire. It was an exceptional and very funny production and the director tried to bring as much ambiguity to it as possible (maybe everyone is crazy, maybe everyone in a liar), but at the end of the day, it's still a weird play trapped in the moment of its creation and that moment's conception of sexuality and insanity. Still, it was a fine, fine thing, and it's interesting to me, the degree to which I can now recognize which performers came out of NIDA and which didn't, by very specific performance ticks. And, of course, being a mostly NIDA alum production, spectacular and intelligent sets.
I've just been linked to this: GDL (blond! and with Stephen Fry, and I think a chick that was in Spooks). It was good for a giggle early this morning, although it suffers more than a bit if you're lacking various England/Wales contexts.
I hope everyone is having fun at Chicago Tardis. Can I be right in that I'm not hearing eight billion pounds of squeeing out of it due to the lack of Torchwood boys as guests? People, squee anyway, some of us do still care.
bodlon points out the Frenzy of Fail that is this article about a transwoman over at the Boston Herald.
Oh my god our cruise is in five or so weeks and I still need to: find the right shoes for my tux (which will be here in a couple of weeks), buy a suit bag, double-check on my gluten-free food stuff for the trip, make sure Patty and I have all the wardrobe stuff we need (like post-swimming coverups), order various cruise extras (from our excursions to random luxury things for the room for our departure), and on and on and on. I can't believe we were originally booked on something department December 10th. Man, I am so glad this isn't happening until January.
OMG, tux! Also am excited to see the swatches that Seyta is sending me for the new shirts I'm ordering. I love my shirts from Duchess a ridiculous, ridiculous amount. I may have to go with a dark blue one too, since I lost my dark blue one from Uniqlo, and I do absolutely need one in that color for cosplay at Gallifrey One anyway.
Okay, I really need to stop being depressed about NaNo, and just go back to writing my book without the collective frenzy and get that damn werewolf story done. Just do it. Blah.
Plants vs. Zombies music video. I blame Patty.
Wanting to Want. A six page article in The New York Times about female sexual desire? This can't end well. Actually, I'm still only on the first page. With the raisins. WHUT? you ask. Yeah, just... have fun.
Yet another article claiming that Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle is gender, and that women don't like her because they're jealous ... or something. Maybe women don't like her because fewer women go for anti-choice, anti-gay politics AND because women can't believe this is the level of discourse they have to keep looking at this thing on. Aaaaargh. I'd argue women can't let Sarah Palin go, because men won't let them.
Anatomy of the Tauntaun sleeping bag.
current music: The Clockwork Dolls - Blades in Autumn
|
|
(65 locusts | plague )
|
| Friday, November 27th, 2009
| |
2:18 pm - sundries
|
"Turkey" (it's chicken in my mother's house, but we all collectively lie about it) and various holiday accoutrements were consumed. Patty got an early Christmas gift from my parents and leftovers were taken home.
I finally saw Revolutionary Road. I didn't actually recognize myself in it at first (I look so femme, curvy, gentle and young!), but then found myself having rather acute nostalgia for those three days of filming -- my weird chemistry with Cal ("oh my god, are you guys dating, you look so in love?" from like every member of the crew, when we had no time for or interest in each other off-screen. It was very weird, but in retrospect I think a lot of it was that we both understood the time and the gender performative nature of it, and were happy to play), the rush of signing a film contract for the first time, the lonely hotel room in CT, the freakshow that were the young girls being all into LeoDio and so forth). Anyway, I thought I fucking sparkled, and name in the credits was pretty fabulous.
The film itself I found to be visually beautiful and chock full of Sam Mendes's obsessesions (some of which are now predictable to the point of annoying, which is a shame, since I love both American Beauty and Road to Perdition. The film rendered the period beautifully and faithfully, but I still found it to be suffocating (as it should have been) and without point. Lines that were clearly meant to be astute and tragic observations on the human condition struck me as obvious, and there were few, if any, characters I had sympathy for (perhaps the secretary that was sleeping to DiCaprio's character?). I certainly don't need my media to be entertaining or feel-good, but Revolutionary Road strikes me as the type of picture a lot of people hold up as serious art that tells us something about the human condition (as theoretically opposed to my various genre interests), and I found it told me nothing I didn't know, but then stories of heterosexual suffocation are not my stories.
I think at twenty-five this film would have moved and devastated me. There were moments where DiCaprio's facial expression or wounded-boy logic were so similar to Michael's that I wanted to leave the room. As little sympathy as I had for this film's characters, it also left me with little for myself -- just relief.
Also watched a bit of the SyFy James Bond marathon, which, I'll confess, I found a little bittersweet (fellow Torchwood fen understand). Also, I keep forgetting how much I ship Bond/Villiers in Casino Royale. Okay, someone totally needs to write me Ianto's horrible, and yet oddly sweet, Bond/Villiers fanfiction.
Tonight we are seeing Cate Blanchett in A Streetcar Named Desire out at BAM.
The anatomy of the White House gate-crashing incident further examined.
Recently, a man was murdered on the subway in a dispute over a seat. A photography student captured the murder in progress with her camera. Warning: graphic photos at link.
Upstairs, downstairs drama in the world of New York City's doorman buildings.
Still trying to get my head around Chris Eccleston and Naoko Mori being cast as John Lenon and Yoko Ono.
Patrick Stewart writes of the domestic violence that was a centerpiece of his childhood.
Man, you listen to one kitschy Clancy Brothers song out of childhood nostalgia and last.fm just runs wild on a theme.
sykii has posted some utterly dreamy kitten pictures.
|
|
(30 locusts | plague )
|
| Thursday, November 26th, 2009
| |
11:45 pm - LJ Black Friday
|
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
