Aral
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Aral" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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05:28 pm
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Ranting about media lameness and race-baiting and freaky nationalist white supremacist crap
It is making me absolutely crazy how white American culture treats discussion of racism like it's a legal accusation being made, and so the burden of proof is always squarely on the shoulders of those who point out racial or racist meaning (one and the same in the dominant white American racial framework because we are supposed to be colorblind) in a given statement or act. Merely recognizing racial or racist meaning reads from a white American cultural point of view as an an aggressive act, and the defense is always "prove it!" It makes me crazy!!!
I was just watching CNN raise the issue of race-baiting in the McCain campaign's latest tactics in the most skeptical way possible, and they present none of the available examples of supporters at McCain/Palin rallies shouting out things like "criminal" and "terrorist" and "treason" and "kill him" in response to statements by McCain or Palin. Or the available examples of supporters turning on the media representatives in the crowd and specifically yelling racist things at an African-American reporter. No, because reporting those examples would actually support a reading of McCain's tactics that exposes the cynical and intentional exploitation of whatever racism they can stir up in their overwhelmingly white electoral base. And then Campbell Brown carefully insisting that the African-American commentator (who, you know, speaks for Black America) risks "crying wolf" by pointing out racism in instances like McCain calling Obama "that one." Because clearly that's an example where any racial or racist meaning is eye-rollingly "questionable." *SIGH*
Also, this Think Progress post about how annoying so many conservative "pundits" find Obama's correct pronunciation of Pakistan. Yeah, wow, it's pretty annoying to think we might have a President who does the leaders of other countries the courtesy of attempting to correctly pronounce their names (I am so fucking sick of hearing "Sodom" Hussein) or the names of their countries. We're Americans! We're a nation of "exceptionalism" (and don't get me started on how terrifying it is to hear that phrase continually tossed around by Palin--![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) zvi_likes_tv, it just gets scarier!) so we can call people or other countries whatever we want to call them. We have a special white Christian destiny to take over the world, so get out of the way! IT MAKES ME CRAZY!!!
Augustus Hill does not approve.
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01:35 pm
[Link] | So I'm having that very most favorite of all my kinds of bad days: the humiliating kind where you have to leave work because you can't stop crying, and maybe your heart keeps racing and your hands keep shaking sometimes. Hey, that's probably a panic attack or something, right? Yeah. Shitty day.
So now I'm in bed with licorice spice tea, and I'm watching Life on the Murder Scene, which I ordered for myself recently as a reward for the extra hours I've been putting in at my job. And I pretty much have one thing to say:
FRANKIE LOVES GERARD SO MUCH. *sigh*
Or two things to say because, also, I can't help it, I think Gerard Way is pretty deep. *SIGH*
(Hey, I'm okay. I really did have that kind of day, but I'm okay, I don't mean to be melodramatically self-dramatizing. *g* In fact, on my drive home, I couldn't stop crying, so I listened to "I'm Not Okay" on repeat because I thought it would make me laugh. It did! However, it didn't make me stop crying, so then I was pretty much laughing and crying all the way home, which was better, I guess? Also, I've gotta say, days like this make me way overidentify with Pete Wentz.)
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12:21 pm
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Ahahahaha! Can 7 year olds be emo??
Because I sure tried to be.
In going through my dad's things, every now and and again we've been finding stuff from when me and my siblings were kids.
My mom found this song that I wrote when I was seven and a half years old:
(presented with original spelling and punctuation--I always was a good speller, but I'm not sure what that one semicolon is about)
Panther Song
by Aral
I am a lonely panther,
A very lonely panther;
I roam around the plains,
Looking for my prey.
I'm cat teenage and lonely,
I wish I had a friend,
Any kind of friend for me.
I'm so lonely I'd do anything
For a friend.
Heh. I don't know, man. I don't remember being quite that lonely?
Of course, this would have been shortly after my mom moved me and herself to Seattle in the middle of second grade, so I would have just left behind my dad and most of my friends, including my best friend M.
Still, I'm pretty sure I'm engaging in the kind of narcissistic self-dramatization that Pete talks about in his Out magazine cover interview. Specifically the part where he talks about the appeal of the tragic misunderstood victimized genius archetype: "I have a bit of a consummate victim in my head....That's who I identify with throughout history. When I was 10 I would draw black eyes on myself because I thought it was cool. You're so into people who are tragic. You want to be that so badly. But you probably aren't really the tragic genius that you think you are." Um, yeah. Let's just say I can relate to Pete's self-awareness about this. And, at seven, that tendency apparently produced emo song lyrics from the point of view of lonely panthers.
My favorite line is: "I'm cat teenage and lonely." That's pretty awesome. Clearly at age seven I had found a way to tap into some universal adolescent emo-ness that translates across species. No wonder I haven't gotten over it yet. *g*
This is the only Pete icon I've made so far, but I kind of love it. I call it Pete's Naked Lonely Soul. Hee! ::hugs Pete Wentz::
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04:45 pm
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dropping a link for your pleasure and confoundment
Er, hi! Life has been sort of stupid lately, I haven't been on LJ much, but I have been watching a fuckton of cable news about the election, going on periodic YouTube binges, wallowing in multi-chapter bandslash kidfic, and watching a lot of porn.
This week has been kind of the peak of the stupid, at least on the work front, and so today I came home and poured myself a glass of wine. Hopped on LJ to skim the friendslist, and one of the first things I saw was nakedbee's link to this AMAZING video for some automated pipetting technology. It made me laugh SO HARD. As nakedbee said, "If you have any interest in boy bands, women scientists, or automated pipetting equipment you should watch this music video/commercial immediately!" I concur. Because, yes. *g*
It's just so entertainingly weird! I keep giggling, imagining the advertising pitch sessions for that. Was it in-house, produced by the automated technology nerds of Eppendorf International? You can download ringtones of the song! They posted the lyrics! I mean, what?? It is pretty brilliant. Definitely produced by someone who gets the essence of the boyband vibe. But...what???
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06:37 pm
[Link] | Life hard. Owe comments and emails. JOB STUPID.
Cindy McCain DO NOT WANT. DO. NOT. WANT.
Good = SGA tomorrow, new ridiculous and amazing bandom canon every single day, almost the weekend!
I mean it, really NO CINDY MCCAIN NO MCCAINS DO NOT WANT.
Oh, and ETA re: Sarah Palin: "Drill, baby, drill!" What the fuckety-fucking fuck was that shit?!? The way she delivered that was right up there with the creepiest things I've ever heard a politician say. And the way the crowd took up the chant?! CREEPY.
And also ETA: because AHAHAHAHAHA! Robert Davi narrated the video on John McCain! It makes me wish I had one of those Sheppard icons where he's shouting KOLYAAAAAAAA!
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07:21 pm
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My week, in brief
Had my dad's memorial over last weekend. It was an amazing, wonderful, nourishing, cathartic community experience. It left me completely exhausted, and I lost my voice for three days. I'll try to write more about it this weekend if I can because it was a pretty great weekend in spite of the emotional strain and practical stress. My dad's friends (who are also my friends) are the most incredible people.
Work absurdity levels reached a solid orange this week, approaching flashing red with ah-ooga alarms. So dumb I spent a lot of time laughing while dealing with stupid shit.
SGA IS CANCELED. What the fuck. I can't even process that. My characters!!!
The Cab. What? Why did I start watching videos of them on YouTube? Why am I reading Cash/Singer and Cash/Brendon? Why is Ian the cutest thing in the world?? No offense to any fans of the music, but it sooooo doesn't work for me. And yet I find them adorable and keep watching videos and searching for fic. *sigh*
Grilled corn on the cob is possibly the sweetest, most succulent, delicious food of all. Holy shit, yeah.
And that's about my week, right there. Looots of leftover food, lots of leftover miscellaneous beers, lots of Cab fic, lots of gooey feelings of love for all my friends, lots of bummed-outness about SGA, lots of ridiculous goings on at work that make a tall frosty can of Pabst sound pretty darn good when I get home every day.
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10:43 am
[Link] | Thanks, you guys, for the birthday wishes! I had a very nice and low-key kind of day. Delicious food, I took myself to go see Pineapple Express in the afternoon, and I watched Barbarella with my mom and brother in the evening. Both were pretty much perfect birthday movie choices, so that was fabulous.
I haven't been around LJ much lately, mostly just skimming the friendslist. My family is having our memorial for my dad this Saturday, and I've been trying to stay on top of organizing for that, and then reading a lot of PATD fic and watching a lot of tv and movies to wind down.
I didn't really read any IBARW posts yet, just skimmed a few, but I've bookmarked to go back and read more later. Looks like lots of good stuff!
I hope you all are well, and I'm thinking after this weekend, and after I come down from the memorial experience, I'll focus back in on fandom and LJ more again. I hope! I miss you all!
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08:57 pm
[Link] | I'm sure most of you have already seen this from someone else on your friendslist, but in case there are some folks reading this who will not have seen it before:
I have a dear friend who has PNH, a chronic, debilitating, life-threatening blood condition. Please read this fact sheet that provides a brief explanation of the how the disease works, what its effects are, and what obstacles people with PNH face to receive the only currently available, effective treatment of its symptoms, which is also absurdly expensive. Because of the extremely high price and a complicated medical/pharmaceutical funding system that is failing them, there are eight people living in one region of the UK right now who may very shortly lose access to the drug therapy that has changed their lives.
Those folks have created this blog to appeal to fellow UK citizens for help in petitioning the Health Minister to take the necessary steps to ensure funding for their continued treatment. Reading about how incredibly ill they will become a stupid, measly two weeks after they stop the medication...well, it just makes me feel incredibly helpless and furious at a system that makes life-saving medications financially inaccessible to severely ill human beings.
If you are a UK citizen, please go read the links above and take a few minutes to contact the Health Minister about the situation. Funding decisions will be made soon, so speaking up now could make a difference. If you're not a UK citizen but know someone who is a UK citizen and would consider taking action on this, please forward this info!
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09:50 am
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Bandom Alert: Have you all seen this footage???
Attention, in particular, my dear sparklyjammers and all current fans of bandslash who are also fans of Chris Kirkpatrick's crazy back-flip on the Pop Odyssey tour bootleg:
Go here to see Brendon Urie do a back-flip! WHAT??? Did you all know he could do that?! Why didn't you tell me?!?
I may have watched those few seconds a time or twenty this morning.
FYI, there's also some very enjoyable Spencer in that video.
Back to my regularly scheduled lurking around and commenting when I can manage it or the whim takes me.
ETA: Oh, hey, and while you're at it, how about this video, in which Brendon confesses to a reoccurring dream (since he was 6 years old!) of Kurt Russell from Big Trouble in Little China wrestling a rhino by, you know, grabbing his horn. Brendon Urie, WHAT??? Wow. That kid.
Okay, no, really, back to the mostly lurking, or perhaps the getting offline altogether and doing weekend chore type stuff. It was just a long week, and it's a YouTube kind of morning.
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11:28 pm
[Link] | So, of course, there have been things in both the first two eps of this season's SGA that make me want to shake TPTB and say "WHY SO DUMB???" But I am so happy to have my show back and both this week and last week my reaction could be summed up as: my characters, I want to hug you!!!
In other news, I keep dreaming about Gabe Saporta. Yeah, I don't even know. I mean, I love me some Gabe and Cobra Starship, but I don't have fannishly related dreams that often in general, and lately it's been like non-stop pop culture playtime in my dreams, and Gabe Saporta has featured prominently in several of them. Gerard Way has also made multiple appearances. There was one dream that involved both Jon Walker and Spencer Smith in pleasant ways. Mostly I remember that Jon Walker was wearing a t-shirt, and he was very, very warm to the touch. Like, when I touched his back through the t-shirt. He was warm, and I wanted to hug him. And last night it was Seth Rogen. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS. None of them have been sexytimes type dreams. Though there has been some enjoyable pre-cuddles type energy in some of the dreams. But it's all been more in the hanging out, good buddies, maybe we can cuddle as friends line of dream fantasy. WTF???
Look at my pretty icon! I can't believe I'm using a Brendon/Spencer icon before a Brendon/Jon icon. trixiesfic, I blame you! You and your evil Spencer Smith influence! Except not evil at all because I love Spencer. But, still. My first bandom icon using post, and it's Brendon/Spencer. *sigh* FINE. I LOVE THEM, TOO. *g*
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05:17 pm
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Life in the county
Last week I went to do laundry at the laundromat in the very small town nearby. While I was sitting in my car reading printed out bandslash (as you do) while my clothes were in the wash, I was startled by a sudden blast of "Everybody Dance Now" from the jacked up pick-up with huge fucking tires that had pulled into the parking lot a few spaces away. It made me laugh because redneck jocks blasting "Everybody Dance Now" is kind of hilarious. Flashbacks to the Wilson Phillips scene in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, you know? Then another dude in the parking lot walked over to the truck--clearly a friend from somewhere (high school maybe? they could have been young enough)--and flipped them some shit about the music. I heard one guy in the truck say, "Hey, you can't go wrong with Everybody Dance Now" while laughing kind of self-deprecatingly. But then he changed the music. To the "Dueling Banjos." I kid you not. Yeah. And then the truck guys saw another one of their friends walking across the parking lot, and one of the guys called out to him, "Hey, queer!" So the guy walked over, and they all hung around and listened to "Dueling Banjos" and shot the shit for a while.
I've got nothing deep to say here, really. But it sure did feel like the set up for some kind of four-way slash scene in a new PWP posted in the County Redneck Jock fandom or something. Just having a few thoughts about RPS and media slash, and how, in order to produce a slashy narrative, we sometimes read homoeroticism into what is also homophobia. And how dudes like some of the bandslash guys sometimes walk a very fine line between homophobic humor and humor that subverts homophobia.
Also, I know I've got a lot of unanswered comments out there, and, sorry. Sorry! Yeah.
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09:45 pm
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Oh, Canada!
Happy Canada Day!
Of course, because my router is dying, I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to make this post on Canada Day. But look! My wireless connection is back! For a few minutes, at least!
So! I was watching This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and I'm feeling the Canada love. I just saw a skit spoofing the Mac/PC commercials, with a Loonie and an American dollar. And, oh, Canada. I want to hug you. I know you have your problems, seriously, but the way you make fun of my country makes me want to cuddle you up and give you a smooch on the cheek. You make fun of Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and I want to give you a hug. You make fun of American pharmaceutical companies, and I want to give you a bigger hug. You make fun of Canadian politics, and I know just enough to be amused, and I figure that's not so different from American college students reporting that they get their version of the news from The Daily Show, right? *g*
My stupid cable company still doesn't actually carry Comedy Central, like, at all. So sometimes watching The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes (and occasional reruns of Royal Canadian Air Farce) seems like a reasonable substitute for this American deprived of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
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02:50 pm
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Update of briefness
Because I am apparently unable to maintain communication with anyone not in my immediate presence these days. *sigh*
I had an amazing trip back east! Good friend time and good con time! I will have more to say about that, by god, because its awesomeness deserves to be chronicled.
Now I'm back to work and this week I kind of got lost in the escapism of some bandom big bang stories and the usual YouTube cruising for bandom footage. I'm trying to regroup a bit this weekend and catch up on a few things, so maybe I'll get into a groove. That would be nice. There's shit I need to get done. I haven't vacuumed my bedroom floor since December, for example. *sigh*
Anyway, I'm even trying to catch up on some old comments, and I have yet to go on my post-con friendslist reorganization spree, but it's coming!
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07:45 pm
[Link] | Okay, I just saw the tv commercial for some global warming campaign thing that has Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson making nice, and I just...don't know what to think of that at all. I mean, obviously, I understand the point that environmentalism should transcend politics blah blah blah, but...Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson making nice. Huh.
Uh, yeah, hi! I've been swamped by life, some bad, some good, some boringly and consistently what it is. *sigh*
But! This Saturday I fly back east to visit a childhood friend in Baltimore, and then head to my very dear trixiesfic's place in DC--and then Con.txt!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Also: Obama, yay!!! My mind is duly blown. Wow. I feel like even 10 years ago, I could not have imagined that my choices for Democratic candidate might come down to a woman and a Black person. I respect what I've seen and heard from Obama more than any other electable politician in my memory. It blows my mind that I might actually be able to vote for a candidate that I legitimately respect, and, even more, that Obama could very possibly actually win. I just...whoooah.
I'll have my laptop (yay, laptop!) with me, so I betcha I'll end up posting more to LJ on this vacation than I have in months. Here's hoping.
I am so, so excited for this con and the chance to hang out with all my lovely smart fandom folks! *mwah* I love you all! I cannot wait to soak up your marvelous energy! But not in a creepy, energy-vampire, soul-sucking kind of way! :)
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06:13 pm
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More bandom, I know, I know
Here's the thing. Work has been busting my balls this week. Three full-time people, plus me part-time, doing the work of seven. Bullshit. And I miss my dad. And I want to go back to Escapade. And fuck all that, really. And bandslash folks have been ridiculously generous with the links and downloads and general sharing of happy fun times. So I've been listening to Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance a lot, and Cobra Starship sometimes. And watching and listening to a ton of My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy clips, and reading a ton of Pete/Patrick stories. And then just a tiny bit of Panic at the Disco, too, both YouTube clips and Brendon/Ryan stories. My del.icio.us bookmarks are growing daily. And that's just where I'm at.
Dude, also, okay. I now have evidence that Frank Iero and I are MFEO. So, I made this decision recently about a tattoo I want to get that my dad designed. I've had the basic concept and design for several years, but I haven't been able to figure out where I want to put it. Just recently I figured out that I wanted it to be on the inside of my right forearm. It was one of those things where once I figured it out, I just knew that it was completely right, and I wanted to go get the tattoo immediately. But I didn't. And then no more than a few days later, I had to sign a dress code policy at work agreeing to keep all tattoos covered, and we wear short-sleeved uniform shirts at my job. *SIGH* But, I decided that as soon as I leave this job for good, I will get my tattoo, and I want it visible because I'm kind of scared that I will let myself continue to work crappy office jobs that I hate forever because it's easy, and I'm lazy. I want a tattoo that doesn't allow me to do that, and I want it to be the one my dad designed. God, it's just so perfect, and I really, really want it now. But, I also need to keep working this job right now, and I feel a responsibility to see them through some upcoming transitions and do what I can for them while I'm there. They have continued to be incredibly supportive and accommodating, and I want to repay that by sticking it out while I'm living here and figuring out my other life shit. The day I leave, though, I am making plans for this tattoo, and that will be that.
( So I'm going where the best source of escapism is these days, and SGA is between seasons, and so I'll cut for the rest of my bandslash babble )
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05:11 pm
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Freaky!
The night I got back from California, I found two knitting needles on the floor under my bed, about a foot from the edge of the bed, lying crossed over each other.
Okay, it freaked me out, right? No one in my family knits or owns knitting needles. I've got a couple of rational, non-freaky guesses about how they might have gotten there, but they're both pretty unlikely.
Last week, I tried to print something from my mom's computer, and the printer stopped working after printing three pages. I was running late for work and didn't investigate beyond glancing at the printer and seeing that it appeared to be connected. I told my mom, and tonight she got around to looking at the printer. Both the computer cord and the power cord were unplugged from the back of the printer. Completely unplugged. So, okay, they might have both been barely connected and just barely staying plugged in, and then they simultaneously dropped from the back of the printer to lie on the table a couple inches away. Sure. But neither Mom's computer nor the printer have been moved around in a way that would cause both cords to unplug from the printer. And it printed 3 pages for me a few days ago and appeared to be connected when I looked.
What the fucking fuck? It's spooking me out!!!
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04:49 pm
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Another not con report - instead: bandom!
Fuck, sorry, I really wanted to write a con report. I had such an excellent time, and there are tales of pre- and post-con vacationing to tell, and I just made some solid life decisions and want to make y'all celebrate with me, but. Sorry.
All I've done since I got home from California is go to work, listen to music, read bandslash, and kick off my del.icio.us account with 57 (ETA: 58!) bandom links, nearly all YouTube clips of My Chemical Romance interviews or performance stuff. *sigh* People. These are just the ones I've bookmarked. I have watched SO MUCH footage of MCR (heavy on the Frank and Gerard, but also they are all YAY!) on YouTube in the last four days, good lord. So, hey, you've probably all seen everything I've bookmarked already, and I probably could have just gone to your respective del.icio.us accounts or whatever. But, see, I'd never really used YouTube before since I just recently finally got high-speed internet, and so I kind of got sucked into the endless chain of YouTube "related links." Whew. It's easy to get lost in that shit for hours, isn't it? But it was kind of a fun way to lose some time, I guess. It's addictive. What if I stumble across some magical golden find, some obscure delicious piece of canon that puts all others to shame?? Plus, if I like it, then I get to write commentary at del.icio.us to remind me why I have the link saved, which is fun. Good times!
Dude, but RPS fandoms are hard. I was talking to smallbeer about this when I was visiting her. I've been really enjoying being in a media fandom again in SGA. I like the tidiness of canon and what it enables me to do with my preferred slash pairing. I like the ease with which I can find work-arounds to canon female love interests, but in ways that do actually feel a little disrespectful when there are committed real life relationships involved in an RPS pairing. Like, I definitely don't think being married makes Gerard or Frank one tiny bit less potentiallly queer. But if I believe they're decent, non-stupid guys who generally care about the people they got married to, it does present more of an obstacle for my preferred slash fantasies, which tend to run to the ridiculously heternormative, monogamous soul-mates kind of story. *sigh* I know! So RPS fandoms where someone in a pairing is clearly legitimately involved with a real life person in a committed kind of way = TOO HARD. Also, big sprawling messy vast canon that never ends = WAY TOO HARD. We'll see how that goes, though, I guess. I never underestimate the ability of any given fandom to completely demolish any obstacles in its path to consume my attention. By next Tuesday, these two things may no longer be a problem.
So, I'm currently sitting with my laptop at my kitchen table, watching the woodstove while the fire gets going, and listening to Viva la Cobra!, and oh my god! I think this album is fucking AWESOME. I've been listening to it over and over in my car. So much fun! I've started checking out some Cobra Starship picspam posts, and I have a few interviews with Gabe Saporta bookmarked, but I've only read one of them so far. He seems like a smart, fun, non-asshole kind of guy.
I've also heard a little of MCR's music now that I've watched so many clips. Though, mostly that's been live performances with shitty audio, plus a couple music videos. Unsurprisingly, I think that I like them a lot better when they're tending toward the glam-->punk end of the spectrum, rather than the metal-->glam end of the spectrum. Gerard is a fabulous vocalist and performer--they're all fantastic performers. I mean, they look like a fucking kick-ass, super fun live show. And I am 100% in love with the song "Teenagers." Only as I've seen it in performance clips. But it's the most awesome kind of glammy punk adolescent anthemic rock out song ever. I generally dig their theatricality as performers, and they seem like guys I can respect, even when I want to cynically mock them for their earnestness. Thumbs up to MCR!
I have yet to really hear any Fall Out Boy. I've really only read FOB stuff as background in Frank/Gerard stories--usually Pete/Mikey, as one would expect. I feel like I've developed a little bit of an ability to distinguish the out of character stuff in MCR stories now that I've actually absorbed some canon. But I have no idea at all how to judge a characterization of Pete Wentz. So that's on the list for some canon to explore. I've got the NPR interview downloaded, but haven't listened to it yet.
I really will post a con report. I think I just need another weekend to get there. I got back at 2:30 am last Saturday night, and then my mom and I stayed up talking until 5:30 am. Which meant Sunday was a wash--I seriously spent the day sitting in my bed watching MCR clips on YouTube all day long. I took breaks to pee and eat and read a little of the newspaper. It rocked. And then I went back to work, which rocked less, but that's okay. So! Con report party in my journal this weekend woo-hoo!!
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10:01 am
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Not yet a con report
I tried to make a subject line out of the Britney Spears song, but I couldn't make it happen.
So, I had a FANTASTIC time at Escapade this year, in spite of how much more low-key the whole weekend was for me. Partly a bunch of people I usually see weren't there, partly just my own lower energy level. But it was an incredibly lovely weekend, and it was ridiculously wonderful to spend time with the folks that were there. I really missed seeing some of the usual folks, but there were also people there who I haven't seen in ages, and that was super nice.
I do intend to do more of an actual con report, but I haven't been able to get to it this week because I'm still on vacation, and I've been bouncing from my cousin's place, to my sister's, to my friend J's. Less internet time, and I've been using the little time I get to check email and skim through my abbreviated friendslist. I've bookmarked a bunch of con reports and other stuff, but I haven't read them yet. I fly home tomorrow and have Sunday as a recovery day before going back to work, and I intend to spend it mostly in bed with my laptop.
I haven't really gotten to the post-con friending extravaganza yet either. I did add a couple people, but when I get home I'm going to do an overhaul on the current friendslist and add some more people I talked to at the con. (Or, at least, that I was in panels with and thought were interesting.)
I saw brief mention yesterday about a new LJ policy disallowing the creation of new Basic accounts?!? What the fucking fuck. I've been hanging in here, and the thought of trying to move my own personal fannish infrastructure somewhere else seems really, really exhausting. But what the fucking fuck. I don't know. I'll have to go back and read more about what's actually happening there, too.
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06:02 pm
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Quick Escapade update
Heh, well, I just went to a bandom-related panel, Truth in Advertising, which was basically a look at the issues involved in the stage-gay wank of a while back. It was ably modded by treewishes and charlottechill, even though neither of them have a personal fannish investment in the topic. In fact, it was a very small group, and as far as I could tell, I was the only person in the room who identified myself as "in" bandom (Did you catch that, bandslash friends? I publicly stated that I was in your fandom!), and smallbeer and I were the only people in the room who could speak with personal fannish knowledge of the subject. I tried to represent! It was a super non-controversial panel, actually. No one was really having a problem with the issue of "stage-gay" and none of the lesbian or queer identifying folks in the room seemed to feel like their identities are being appropriated.
However! I look forward to a bandslash panel (or panels??) at Con.txt in which everyone else in the room will hopefully know more about the subject than me. Though, fuck, who knows how deep in it I'll be by that point--it's still months away. *g*
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12:02 am
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Hello from Escapade!
So, yeah, I'm in California. I flew down last Saturday, and I've been staying with smallbeer in LA this last week, and we drove up to the con today. I've been composing a jillion LJ posts in my head for the last few weeks, but when I click on "Post an Entry" and stare at the blank posting window, I find myself completely unable to follow through with the typing and the words and it's all just too hard. So! I will try to remember at least a few of the things I've wanted to post about.
First! Because I just remembered it a few minutes ago! If you are as crushed out on Ellen Page as I am, you might be as thrilled as I am to find out that one of her upcoming projects is the teenage lesbian werewolf movie Jack and Diane. Really! Teenage lesbian werewolf! And her co-star is Olivia Thirlby, who played her best friend in Juno. And it has animation from The Brothers Quay. Okay, so who's with me on this? Best idea ever Y/Y???
Oooh, and while I'm working on the subject of current celebrity crushes, I finally watched Michael Cera's webshow Clark and Michael, which is AWESOME. And hilarious and slashy, but mostly just all-around AWESOME. His friend and co-creator/star Clark Duke is a guy who looks like the cutest little baby dyke you could imagine and is quite funny himself. There's also this multi-part video interview with the two of them that all fellow Michael Cera fans should go watch immediately. Check out the adorable finger-stroking toward the end of the first interview segment, when they hold the microphone together. Oh, Michael Cera, if I ever see you in public, you will have to deal with a crazy, gushing, 36-year-old nerdy fangirl who will be utterly compelled to get in your face about how ridiculously cool you are. Fair warning.
And, let's see, speaking of seeing celebrities in public, I finally had a sighting today at the restaurant where Sinead and I had lunch before hitting the road. (This restaurant never lets me down! It's where I saw Fabio last year!) While we were eating, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen came in. We weren't sure it was her at first, but I was convinced once I got a good look at her face. And then she was joined by some random dude...and Al Roker! She was having some sort of lunch meeting with Al Roker! If it had been just her, I would have been satisfied, but what a crazy combo, eh? What kind of project could possibly require her to have a meeting with Al Roker??
In spite of nearly not having any celebrity sightings at all, I have had the loveliest week with Sinead. Very, very relaxing and low-key, which is just what I need right now. We've eaten delicious food, and we went for a couple of walks, including a trip to The Huntington Botanical Gardens, which was absolutely beautiful. We walked through the new Chinese Garden, the Japanese Garden, and part of the Desert Garden, and at one point I realized, wow, I feel really good. Like, peaceful and content and happy, and I realized that I really haven't felt like that in quite some time. Since way before my dad died. But I had this moment in the gardens of just feeling good, and it made me cry. Nature rocks. As does Sinead, and getting to just hang out with her in her house of comfort and plenty has been such a gift. She watched Superbad with me, which makes my fourth time, and that one scene still makes me cry from the adorable sweetness, and the rest of it still makes me laugh until I want to pee. (If you've seen it, I'm sure you know exactly which scene makes me cry. If not, be tantalized! It's a hilarious, raunchy high school comedy that could make you cry! Watch it!)
We also watched the SGA ep Missing to start getting us in the zone for our panel on The Women of Atlantis. I know some of you still hate that ep, but I really, really love it. I love Teyla in it so much I can't even stand it, and I love the way it functions as an introduction to Keller. The Women of Atlantis is the only panel I committed to this year. Escapade kind of snuck up on me, and my mind was just not in a panel-planning place at the time that panels needed to be suggested. (All my planning energy is pretty much used up right now. For example, my planning for this trip in general has been totally half-assed. But it's all working out! The lesson here? Don't bother putting too much effort into planning things because it's not really necessary! Heh. We'll see how far that gets me.) But I'm excited for a chance to talk about Teyla, and Carter, and Keller, and Weir, and Jeannie Miller, and Cadman, and all the Babes of the Week, and the Wraith Queens. I hope some folks are interested in coming out for it because I feel like there might be a bunch of different takes on these characters, and I'm interested to hear where people are at.
Okay. I'm going to suck it up and admit now that I have been partially pimped into bandslash. Partially! As I commented to bayleaf a while back, I am not done with SGA, and you will have to pry me away from my show with a crowbar to get me to leave that fandom yet. But, it's almost hiatus, and I'm well past the honeymoon "I'll read anything at all with my pairing" phase with SGA fic...so what better time for a new fannish fling?
trixiesfic sent me a bunch of links a couple weeks ago, and I dipped my toes in the water, and now I've kind of fallen in. So far I've only been reading My Chemical Romance fic and watching YouTube clips, mostly Frank/Gerard so far because the canon support just makes it so easy, and there's a fuckload of well-written stories. But I think all the boys in that band seem pretty cool, so I could maybe branch out. (I haven't seen enough canon involving him to know how much of a slashy vibe he has, but I think Ray Toro is awesome. I adore the way he seems like a straight-up classic rock kind of dude, dropped into this band of weird goth-punk nerds, but he's totally down with the freakshow. What's the deal there? Who does he get slashed with, and what's the canon for it?) Sinead played me the most recent Cobra Starship cd (which I LOVE OMG), so I've also been googling some interviews with Gabe Saporta and those folks, and I haven't read any Fall Out Boy fic, but I've followed some links to Pete Wentz stuff. I can, um, see why y'all get so much slashy mileage out of those guys. Good god. Anyway, I don't know how quickly I'll work my way through stuff, but if any of you bandslash folks on my friendslist want to give me links to your favorite stuff, I'm apparently now in the market for it. I know some of you have posted big picspams or primers and whatnot, so, hey, hook a girl up?
This is my first con with a laptop, and this hotel has free wireless (sort of, heh). Which means I may actually be able to post again while I'm here. My social energy is unpredictable, so I could end up bailing on folks and holing up in my room more than usual. Or not! I have no idea. If so, it could mean more posting. Or possibly just more surfing YouTube looking for clips of band boys making out on stage. *sigh*
After the con, I'm sticking around for another week to visit my sister, and my cousin, and my friend J. Speaking of social energy. We'll see how that goes! I'm hoping that I can ride the social high from the con all the way through next week.
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