If you read my health update earlier, then this is the same post -- only I realized that I somehow inadvertently turned off the comments feature! *facepalm* Which I realized because it seemed odd to me that NOBODY CARED ENOUGH TO SAY ANYTHING. *cough*

Not that you need to say anything, but here's your chance. *g*

So, I went to the doctor last Tuesday, and the good news is: there's nothing wrong with me! No anemia, no blood sugar problems, no thyroid problems, no sleep apnea. The current working theory is that I'm overtired because I'm fat and lazy.

No, the doctor didn't say that, but he suggests trying to get more exercise, and see if that helps. I agreed that it's a good plan. I can always go back to the doctor if things don't change as I get more exercise, and it was the kick I needed to actually do that. Unfortunately, my first day of not very brisk walking for a mile resulted in back pain that laid me flat out for nearly a week (there were twinges pre-exercise, but I thought I'd just slept wrong, or something, and it didn't hurt or impede movement). I made it back to work yesterday, only to miss half of today due to insomnia and some intestinal problems.

This has all left me feeling cranky and kind of disoriented, as I always do when I've been hermitting (intentionally or not), and then I'm forced to leave my warm cave with its feline decor. I'm way behind on LJ, and really don't plan to try and catch up. In fact, I've done some pruning, because when I am reading LJ, I spend way too much time on it at the wrong times, and usually without a lot to show for it except a head buzzing with waaaaay too much input. Mostly it was comms that went, but there were a few people, too.

I'm trying to give myself permission to not feel guilty about it, but I will, just like I will always feel a little bit of sadness and miffedness whenever anyone unfriends me, regardless of whether I had them friended, or I already unfriended them, or what. It's like, what, suddenly I'm not interesting enough? You were just waiting for me to give in first? *g* Totally irrational, but. And I always dither about whether to say anything, or not, because hey, if I don't, maybe you won't notice! And if I do, maybe you'll compulsively have to check, and then you might have that feeling of slight sadness and miffedness, and ask yourself those questions.

It's not you, it's me. Ahem.

Tolerably early in life I discovered that one of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to presume to go about unlabelled. The world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog, not under proper control. -Thomas Henry Huxley

From melina123:

There are powerful interests pouring millions of dollars to support this proposition, and there are recent polls showing we're losing. So if you can, please give some money. The minimum credit card donation is $5. If you can give that, or $10 or $20, please, please do. Or sign up to phonebank. You don't have to live in California to help.

Seriously. If we lose, we're pretty much done with this issue in California for a very long time to come -- this is a constitutional amendment and it will be very, very hard to change if it's passed. If we fail at this in California, it will only be more difficult in other states.

Please repost this to your LJ, email it to your friends, do whatever you can to get the word out. Time is running out to get the truth out there. Please help in whatever way you can.

On the positive side, from bethbethbeth,

The Connecticut Supreme Court just overturned the ban on same-sex marriage (...and because it's based on the state constitution, not federal law, it apparently can't be overturned in a higher court, but only in the state itself)

Speaking of Wednesday's West Wing, and inspired by the recent "How long do you give it until the first Skinner/Doggett story pops up?" issue, I was going to ask "How long till someone makes the WW gay Congressman Skinner a relative of Walter Skinner and crosses the universes over along the Gay Gay Gay lines"--but before I could even sit down to type the question, I saw something on WestWingSlashFanfic about it. --Dorinda

So, there are various people I have obligated myself to, and other people who might be wondering (although it's not like extended silence is so very unlike me), so I've pulled myself out of apathy to post on the state of me!


( And the state of me, in a word, is exhausted.  )

In your rocking chair by your window shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel. --Theodore Dreiser

I've hit two queries about the deletion of flambeau's LJ on my flist today, so I thought I'd mention that she's had a slight weapons malfunction, but everything's perfectly all right now. She's fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you? everything's fine with her, no need to fret, she's just taking a break.

Margie: if SW original was new now, we'd have a whole Forcest category of fic...
torch: omg, I just sat here and thought about it for a few minutes and a whole scary fandom took shape in my head. I could see the *flame wars* between Luke/Leia shippers and Han/Luke shippers, with both of them uniting to hate those awful canonically correct Han/Leia people, and what about Vader/Luke or Vader/Leia omg no intergenerational grossness, and a vocal minority of Lando/Han shippers who complain about no one writing their wonderful pairing. And also there is so little het written because there is only one woman in the entire series. And everyone pretends they don't know those fans who are into Chewbacca/Han. or Chewbacca/anyone.
elynross: don't forget the tiny, passionate group of Palpatine/Vader shippers.
Margie: and that one story, where the Falcon is sentient and loves Han, who never realizes that she's sentient, but that's okay, because all she asks of the universe is to let her fly fast enough to keep Her Captain safe...
torch: and that story would get on every rec page for being so different and special, until people started complaining in locked posts that they really hated it and didn't get what was so great about it. I still love it though! even though i am friends with the author. which has nothing to do with it.
Margie: and someone would write a parody of how the Death Star really sacrificed itself once its beloved Darth went spinning off into space, and there would be a whole slew of posts about how "I don't understand why people think that story is funny, it's so SAD! The poor Death Star *died*!!"
torch: bwee hee hee. oh, fandom. You are funny even when you don't exist.
*elyn is officially in love with this fandom.

So, last year I'd hoped to go to Boston over Thanksgiving, to meet therienne's cat and see her new house (and aka_arduinna), but it just wasn't possible. This year, I decided I was going, and damn the expense!!! ...which is exactly what I thought I would have to do, since a flight for the dates I ideally wanted were showing me very little that would end up less than $500.

But hey, if you're willing to change flights multiple times, and let them tell you when to fly, which I am, i I can has flights for under $300, WHEEEE! And this year I have the added pleasure of getting a merryish in the bargain!

Of course, by the time I'm there for the nearly nine days I have to stay to get that price, they may never want me to come back. BUT I CAN LIVE WITH THAT.

Seriously, this makes the whole thing so much less stressful than it otherwise might have been. Sure, it's still money I could be putting towards something I really do need (I still have to fix the plumbing in the house, and possibly some of the electrical), but I don't care! *stamps foot*

This weekend? Is for writing. *firm look* I have three lovely people who paid for me to write for them, for Sweet Charity, and all of it is hideously late, so late that I've decided that unless I get these stories done, I can't sign up for Yuletide. And that would be SAD. Fortunately, one is almost done (and has been for way, way, too long, because I SUCK) and one is entirely plotted out. I don't know what's been keeping me from doing them, I really don't. (No, really).

(and NO, I'm not actually thinking about Yuletide yet. *hides head* GO AWAY YOU CAN'T MAKE ME.)

I am getting ready to watch the s2 finale of Prison Break, and for this I blame sdwolfpup and her wily ways. Not the vid, particularly, but the sheer glee and happiness I've seen her expressing for the show, and Michael/Mahone in particular. I quit it earlier just before it started getting really twisty! *g* Hopefully I'll catch up in the next week or so, and be able to watch as the season progresses.

basingstoke: only the japanese would make snack food out of semen and lima beans
jacquez: just as only the japanese would make porn out of cthulhu. that is one
messed culture, i'm tellin' ya.
basingstoke: I am extremely glad they are around.

...just thinking about posting a "I know I haven't been posting, and I may not for a while" is enough to trigger my multiple posting syndrome.

Kevin Smith doesn't review the new Star Trek movie in encouraging ways!

Smith: I saw a movie last night that I cannot talk about.

Host: Was it good?

Smith: It was phenomenal.

Host: Any stars, any break out stars, and do they trek?

Smith: The stars absolutely trek in this film. It is fantastic. Anybody who was worried doesn’t need to be worried–about this film I cannot talk about…It was in very capable hands. The director did a phenomenal job–the director and his crew. Top notch cast and the guy that plays the lead is an instant star. That dude is going to be so famous. He is so wonderful. He picked up a role that I would say is pretty challenging for someone to step into the shoes of, because it is a role that has been played before many times by the same guy.

And I love today's xkcd comic, especially the fifth panel. I see this very thing in media fandom fairly often, the mocking of another subculture, the implied superiority that hey, at least we don't dress up like animals and get a sexual thrill out of it! I find it kind of odd and amusing that it always seems to tie back to the sexual aspects for people who do this (as does the xkcd comic), not unlike non-slash fans thinking slash is always and only about sex. At least in my understanding, furry fandom covers a lot of non-sexual areas of furry interest, as well.

I always loved anthropomorphic animals, me. I blame Aslan! And Reepicheep! And look, the perfect excuse to use one of my furry-related sigs!

Ces: I have to say, poor furries, man!
* Ces loves the furries
Ces: I have totally supported the furries, and their rights to furriness.
Margie: [They get] slammed all over.
* Ces hugs them!
Ces: leave the furries alone! I don't want to look better than the furries; I want--we'll hire them a furry spokesperson!
Margie: Fandom: "We's not weird. We's srs fanz with srs busnss! We gots NPR!" Furries: "Lame. We got Gil Grissom" (make raspberry noise).
Merry: We're not saying they ARE weird. We are saying they have a terrible rep! You know why? Cuz they don't have US, out there in the media! Controlling the narrative! the Furries need us MOST OF ALL! WILL NO ONE THINK OF THE FURRIES?
Ces: Furry is just fury with an extra "r."
* Margie looks at Cesca.
Margie: have you eaten today, sweetie?
Ces: Fists of Furry!

After the successful experiment of putting American Gods online for free download/reading, Harper Collins is now offering Neverwhere for free download/reading.

I'm not even thinking about Yuletide yet, officially, but I will mention that this is a Yuletide fandom....

It's not a keeper, sadly; it "expires" thirty days from download. But still!

Stay away from old women who offer you shiny apples, don't touch any spinning wheels, and if any frogs ask you for kisses, get their dating histories first. The world's not as safe as it used to be. --Merry

I will not watch the remake of 90210 just because Tristan Wilds is in it. Though it is kind of entertaining to imagine that Michael managed to drag himself out of his old life and reinvented himself as a (probably) smooth-talking lacrosse playing high school kid in Beverly Hills. By way of Kansas.

It sure is nice to see him smile like that, though. :)

I hope that some day a small child will be tugging on a sleeve and saying "Look, Mommy, the intransigent moral rectitude of the antagonist's world view renders him humble to the point of arrogance!" Kids are so cute. - Joss Whedon

First, Flashpoint is getting a second season, yay!

Nathan Fillion's new show Castle has been picked up by ABC for the 2008-2009 year, along with Cupid, 2nd edition and a show I hadn't heard about, The Unusuals, with Amber Tamblyn as a cop in a Homicide Dept. with an odd sense of humor.

To go with Cupid, the CW has Valentine, Inc., about "a family of Greek Gods, the Valentines, whose purpose is to bring about the rare, strange, and often hilarious thing called love."

And I also hadn't heard that BET and Marvel are producing an animated Black Panther series, to debut early 2009. Anyone heard anything about the sneak peek they were supposed to have at Comic-Con?

It looks like BET is following AMC in developing its own slate of original series. The other ones that look most interesting to me are CIPHA, an animated sci-fi comedy series set in a world where hip-hop is outlawed (Will&Jada Pinkett Smith as exec prod), and Hannibal, also animated, telling the life story of the African king. I might also take a look at Somebodies, their only scripted series, a sitcom set in Athens, Georgia, about " a group of black slackers caught in that awkward period between college and a "real career" - when you're a nobody trying to be a somebody" -- based on the film.

It's actually a miniseries, but I'm going to watch Samurai Girl, which will air over three nights starting September 5th, about a Japanese girl who finds out her adoptive father is the head of the Yakuza, so she runs away, trains to be a samurai, and sets out to take down his evil empire!!! Girls with swords!

I thought about taking a look at Raising the Bar, because of J. August Richards (although I wish they'd just kept the last legal drama he was on), but I can't stomach the promos, with the long-haired, earnest young white male lead, and J. August only seen in one set shot of the whole group striding forward -- where he was on the back row, his face occluded by someone else's elbow, and in such a brief flash at that that I had to pause the Tivo and go frame by frame to make sure he was there at all.

My Tivo is under orders to alert me to many, many new shows this fall, if they ever appear. I'm looking forward particularly to The Mentalist, True Blood, and Leverage. I've seen the pilots for these, and watched the behind-the-scenes teasers for True Blood, and I really enjoyed them.

I have yet to see the movie, but I'm pretty happy to have more Star Wars with Star Wars: the Clone Wars.

I'm also going to watch Sanctuary, if I can get past Amanda Tapping's pseudo-British accent. And I already have the pilot appearing on the Tivo for Sons of Anarchy, about a motorcycle gang trying to protect their town from drug dealers and developers -- it has the very pretty Charlie Hunnam, with Katey Sagal as his mother.

Other fall shows I plan to give a try:

Fringe, described by its creators as a blend of Real Genius (really smart science types solving things with science--) Twin Peaks (--with a surrealistic FBI twist--), and The Fly (--as they investigate science gone wrong). I'm not kidding. The pilot has not so far wowed me, although I'm not done; sadly, except for Mark Valley, who I'm fond of for the sake of The 4400, the cast doesn't excite me much, either.

Crusoe, because "His desire to return to his wife and his strong and unlikely friendship with Friday are the only things that keep him sane." Yes, I am hoping for somewhat tortured, omg but I'm married!!! slash. How can I simultaneously have an aversion to "cheating on my spouse" fic and a kink? At least when the married couple is forcibly separated, apparently. Although they still don't seem to have cast Friday...? o.O But hey, it has Sean Bean, and Sam O'Neill, also, according to futon, "Daniel Defoe as BOOK." Although I'm not sure how they're going to do a man cast away on a desert island... and his family back home.

My Own Worst Enemy, because I like Christian Slater.

Dollhouse, which I await both in anticipation and with dread.

Eleventh Hour, because 1) Rufus Sewell, and 2) it sounds like my kind of semi-genreish thing.

Legend of the Seeker, in spite of apprehension of what I've been told of the series on which it's based, because there's so little fantasy on TV, really.

Life on Mars, because, um... I'm weak. And Jason O'Mara is pretty, and I can buy Harvey Keitel as Gene, and I can keep the real LoM safe and pure in my mind. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Others I'll take a look at, when and if they appear:

The Squad (A&E), the cops who investigate in prison, because I'm a sucker for police procedurals of all sorts, also prison sex.

Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, which I just read about and which I really hope makes it, because it's a fantasy about THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL HAVING ADVENTURES after she finds the aforementioned atlas, which is rumored "to have documented a fantastical world of adventure and magic that exists right beside our own." A GIRL. HAVING ADVENTURES. ON MY TV. That would be awesome.

Finnegan, which has Teri Polo, Billy Zane, and Will Yun Lee. Also, because female cop in charge police procedural! Hey, I love The Closer, In Plain Sight, and Grace, so.


I will also take a look at the animated series Krod Mandoon and The Flaming Sword of Fire, because, well. Just look at that title. How could I not?


Right now I'm watching S.I.S. on Spike TV, a backdoor pilot about an off-the-books special investigation squad in LA that tries to catch violent criminals in the act of committing violent crimes, I'm guessing so they can just kill them and thereby guarantee the public safety. I don't know what I think of it yet, except that it has an older, longish-haired and somewhat dissolute cum exhausted Peter Stebbins, and a PI played by Christina Cox. Curse them for cancelling Blood Ties.

Why, yes. I do watch a hell of a lot of TV -- and this is just the new stuff....

WARNING: This Product Attracts Every Other Piece of Matter in the Universe, Including the Products of Other Manufacturers, with a Force Proportional to the Product of the Masses and Inversely Proportional to the Square of the Distance Between Them.

Why is it I can never remember the lovely little incidental things that enrich my life, but the things that make me cranky and upset are indelible? Why can't I remember not to read/listen to the conversations/comments/con reports/meanness/viciousness? Why must people scurry around and spread malice, and misinformation and unkindness, when they only have part of the picture? Or at all?

I'm so tired of unkindness, of nastiness perpetuated in the name of truth/art/self-righteousness/they're jerks/they did it first, of taking a bad situation and making it worse, of people behaving badly about/towards other people in front of me, of people saying and doing things that forever change the way I look at them in miserable ways, of people feeling superior and judgmental and all-knowing and fuck it all.

And I'm tired most of all of knowing I do it myself. Fuck, do I hate life lessons. And food for thought. A friend of mine has been trying her best for the last few months to not badmouth people to other people, to not participate in the kind of bashing that we all do so well. I really need to follow her example, but it's not just about not saying mean-spirited things; it's so hard to know what you should do when other people are doing it in places where you just happen to be, particularly when it's about people you care about.

Addendum: this post is deliberately vague, and quite probably not about you. But if you thought for even a moment that it was about you, probably you should consider why you thought that.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest. -Confucius

So, I finally arrived home sometime after 10:30p on Tuesday night, after a trip that included (I think) a complete circling of St. Louis on 270 and a nap in a rest area, and I immediately unloaded the car, so it would be ready to take back to Enterprise too goddamn early on Wednesday. Sorry to the Chicago folks for creeping out before anyone was up -- thank you so much for taking me in, and curse you for exposing me to the British series of Gladiators. I'm resisting the siren call!

So, apparently I was at this con last weekend? I remember lots of banana bread, lots of gorgeous faces, fabulous outfits, some vids, and MANY, MANY HUGS, of which there were still not enough. The whole thing went almost obscenely smoothly, and I'm so tired I can't even think straight. I'm at work, after taking a day at home to lie under a herd of cats who didn't want to let me move, but it's going to take quite a long time to recover, I think.

My thoughts are with those most affected by the news of the cancellation of SGA, woe!

Johnny Smith lives for the peaceful moments before bedtime. During the day, he leads a normal life. He's got a lovely wife, a perfect home, and two charming children. But at night, Johnny Smith connects with the dead...It all frightens him, the blood, the desperation, and the ghosts. But the most frightening part of all is this: which death is his own? Can Johnny Smith, as Death, outrun his own end? Or is he living all of the possible eventualities? To find out, he must sleep again... and hope that he wakes in the morning. --Dead Zone, described on strangefandoms by Stranger 3 from watching the vid "A Day in the Life"

I'm hanging out at cereta's until Wednesday, having arrived around 9:30p last night. The car I'm driving is BIG and HIGH and totally nicer than any car I will ever own in my life, and in spite of the largeness, just barely held everything. My suitcase rode on the floor of the passenger side, so it was nearly as full as my wee car coming home last year. jackiekjono has a point about finding someone nearer the con to hold some of the crap it takes to put on the con, since I live in slight anxiousness (not really fear) of having an accident or something that takes nearly the entire con out of commission (note: I worry about the con, not me, um), but at least for now, there's not a lot I can leave with anyone else, in part because most of it shows up during the year. *g*

I drove through St. Louis and planned to call Lucy to give her a rough estimate of my arrival time, only to find that even when I had plenty of bars, I had no coverage. I had no coverage standing outside her door, and I really have to rethink using T-Mobile. The problem is that I virtually never use my phone, and I keep it at this point almost solely for trips and the occasional voice message, and it only costs me $20ish a month. None of the other places I've looked have plans that low, but I may look into a trackphone, or something. Any suggestions?

I'm feeling kind of dazed and exhausted, but hopefully the next day or two, and getting to the hotel early (I'm in on Wednesday, this year) will give me time to recoup. I always have grand plans of early nights for the week or two before the con, but then I do things like end up working until 1:30a on Saturday night (with a several hour break while I wrestle supporting member mailing labels into submission and print con-related things), then up until too late on Sunday finishing copying con-related things I should have had done days ago, and... yeah. Heh.

Anyway, I'm here, Lucy's gone to meetings, and I was in so late and slept through the family departure this morning, so I have yet to say hi to the kidlet (which is why I'm here, you know), but I have books, and kittens, and I'm going to go scrounge breakfast.

I'm ages behind on LJ, so I hope you're all well, and happy/holding it together/supported by your closest/getting a break soon.

I'm late pointing to this, in part because I'd hoped to contribute something this year, but it doesn't look likely. However, I highly recommend looking around at some of the posts that have been made. Each day ibarw is collecting links for IBARW posts, asking people to either comment in the daily post for that, or to tag their post on delicious using the for:ibarw tag.

August 4th-10th is the third annual International Blog Against Racism Week.

To participate, from ibarw:

1. Announce the week in your blog.


2. If you use a blogging system that allows post icons/pictures, switch your default icon to either an official IBARW icon, or one which you feel is appropriate. To get an official IBARW icon, you may modify one of yours yourself or ask someone to do so. Here's a round up of IBARW icons.

3. Post about race and/or racism: in media, in life, in the news, personal experiences, writing characters of color, portrayals of race in fiction, review a book on the subject, etc. (Linking back here is highly appreciated!) The optional theme this year is intersectionality.

For inspiration, here are the previous years' IBARW posts and last year's POC in SF Carnival IBARW edition. You can also check out this post or delicioused recommended reading for further resources.

We'll be compiling links for IBARW3 as well, both in the IBARW del.icio.us account and with daily round-ups on this journal. Here's the round-up post for Monday, Aug. 4, 2008.

Please to be noting that the nifty posting of links from del.icio.us to LJ is still undergoing troubleshooting, so right now, the best way to check for new IBARW links is the del.icio.us account.

PSST: It will help a lot on del.icio.us if you title your entry something topical, as opposed to just "Intl. Blog Against Racism Week."

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him. -Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

A few weeks ago people were posting about William Sanders, editor of Helix, and his unprofessional conduct. In reaction, a number of people either asked to have their work removed from the Helix archives, or sought to post their work elsewhere and remove their own direct links to their work on the Helix site.

From this comes Transcriptase, an archive of writers currently and/or formerly published by Helix.

Transcriptase hosts reprints of our stories and poems originally published at Helix. During the controversy, some of us removed our work from Helix; others left it up. There are valid reasons to make either choice, and we hope you’ll respect that we had difficult decisions to make. We offer our stories and poems at Transcriptase so that you can enjoy our work away from Helix, if you choose.

The site also includes individual comments from some of the archive writers about the whole imbroglio.

It's a lovely, simple site, and I'm so glad to see it come to be.

Wisdom ofttimes consists of knowing what to do next. -Herbert Hoover

the_pug has posted a new Carnivale vid that I really love, and about which I am completely biased. I think he made an excellent musical selection, chose an unusual angle (the Dreifuss family), and ended up with a strong, poignant, and rather chilling vid.

Death in the Family (available only as a download)

I particularly love the title/opening of the vid, and the progression of it, as it moves from the blood family to the carnies as a whole, and shows that they're all family, and family looks after its own.

caveat: I was a beta on this, thanks to laurashapiro -- you send me the very best! *g*

Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop. - Michelangelo

Neil Gaiman will be writing a two-part Batman story.

Two oversized issues. Due out in January. Illustrated by Andy Kubert. *swoon*

I just called my Visa card to fix something, and found myself being asked if I was the Neil Gaiman. I said yes, I was. "So," said the Visa person, "Are you going to be writing an episode of Dr Who?" --Neil Gaiman

absolutedestiny posted a reminder that signups are still open, but not for much longer! Last year I did Man in Motion with renenet, because I love that vid with a mad passion, and it was so much fun! I think I also popped up to do Copacabana, because Barry Manilow! And I know all the words!

Anyone got anything they've been thinking about, but they aren't brave enough to do on their own? I get pretty goofy by Saturday night....

Hey, LJ's back! Trippy! Surprisingly little of interest has occurred over here in the interim, mind you, but now I can rest assured that the instant the cat does something weird, I can tell the world. -UrsulaV

Yesterday, all in all, was a quite nice day -- and I spent nearly eight hours of it working. I still don't get how it is I can be more productive on a day when nobody else is at work, when it isn't the people at work that distract me from work. *g* Anyway, got a couple things done before working, got work done, came home and watched a few things and positively luxuriated in the thought that I still had all of Sunday! I knew I had things to do with that Sunday (VVC things, writing, vid beta), but it all felt doable!!

Today I wake up, it's a gray kind of day, and I didn't even want to get out of bed. Everything I need to do is just hanging over me, and I don't really want to do any of it! And it won't be the end of the world if I don't do it today (looks apologetically at those to whom I owe SC stories, I'm working on it, I swear!), but I can't settle.

And as expected, I'm hitting more tapes with macrovision problems as I dub the VVC library tapes to DVD. I actually got on the computer to see if the unit I'm using has any known hacks (no), or solutions (possibly; I've bought an intercept device that claims to work with the unit I have). And since there's no way to be sure which vids used commercial footage that will stymie the DVD burner, I end up wasting time and DVDs. I've already accepted that there's no way I'm going to be able to convert the whole library for this year; I simply started too late. And that's okay, because whatever I get done is more than we had, and it's a longterm project. It's still frustrating, though.

I've been dubbing some old Escapade tapes, and I'd forgotten how often vidders used to request that their vids not be included on the con tapes. It made sense; creating the tapes automatically degraded the visual quality of the vids as they went from 2nd gen to 3rd, at least. You had 1st gen (if you were lucky): the source tapes; 2nd gen: the vid itself; 3rd gen: copying the vids to the con tape). One that just hung on macrovision only had a third of the original show on the tape to start with. Mind you, all the vids appear elsewhere, on the vidders' own tapes, most of which I have. That's definitely one thing digital has improved on, though; once cons could switch to accepting digital files and con DVDs, most vidders were willing to let their vids be distributed on the DVDs, much to the joy of viewers like me!

I still need to get some copies of various con DVDs, and compile a library listing of everything that's in the VVC library, at this point. That's... going to take a while!

So, I'm off to not do the things I need to do for a little while longer, until the inner push is unignorable. I was thinking about a Mamma Mia/X-Files double feature today, but I don't think it's going to happen. Having been out of the house all day yesterday, following an inexplicably busy and/or social week for me (movie with friends/dinner with friends/hours at church/lunch with friends/concert in OKC/dinner with friends/work on Saturday, interspersed with sitting silently and dazed), I don't really want to even step outside.

Bah. *grumpy*

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. -Leonard Cohen

All Star Wars fans must watch (video).

lawpeeps, I'm looking at you!

tzikeh: [school's] kind of like The Amazing Race, except I don't get to go anywhere, and instead of winning money I have to go into debt. I don't even get Phil to hand me my diploma at the end. This season sucks.
Lydia: "My semester is broken! This is bullshit!"
tzikeh: omg *dead*
Lydia: that is literally the only thing I know about TAR.

I've never bought any X-Files, because I just couldn't bring myself to.

Now, thanks to tzikeh bringing it to my attention, and soobunny and jarslberg71 for an incredibly thoughtful and generous birthday gift*, I'M GOING TO OWN IT ALL.

One day only, all seasons of X-Files are $19.99!!! And yes, I even bought the despised seasons 8-9, because some day, when I have distance, I want to actually watch them all. *kof*

OMG HAPPY DAY AFTER MY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!


*Their gift pushed me from the "Maybe" to the "OMG MUST BUY WILL NEVER BE SO CHEAP" place. *g*

I have not watched this season at all, but I will watch the finale, if only because the family should gather to say a last goodbye to a relative that sat around on life support and drained everyone's good will. This will involve pizza. --tzikeh, on the XF series finale

When Batman Was Gay

Link courtesy of afterelton -- it's not really telling me anything new, but it's a clear and interesting exploration of the dramatic shift in tone from the Golden Age, during which Batman used guns and killed criminals, to the more surreal and absurdist Batman of the Silver Age, during the 60s and 70s.

The villain of the piece* instigator who wanted Batman cleaned up is Frederic Wertham, he of The Seduction of the Innocents.

Batman and Robin, Wertham charged, inhabited "a wish dream of two homosexuals living together." They lived in "sumptuous quarters," unencumbered by wives and girlfriends, with only an aged butler for company. They cared for each other's injuries, frequently shared quarters, and lounged together in dressing gowns. Worse still, both exhibited damning psychological characteristics: proclivities for costumes, dressing up, and fantasy play; secretive behavior and double-lives; little interest in women; and, most damning of all, neurotic compulsions resulting in their violent vigilantism. Indeed, Wertham argued, depictions of Batman and Robin were frequently homoerotic, visually emphasizing Batman's rippling physique and Robins splayed, bare thighs.

And he said that like it was a problem. *kof*

*(see comment here about Wertham and his motivations)

More from the writer of the article:

If Bruce Wayne was a paragon of upper-middle class white masculinity - wealthy, cultivated, and amiable - his secret identity represented the dark liberation found in the lurid city, cruising strange corners. Even if Batman's genitals were never portrayed coming into contact with Robin, Batman's crime-fighting lifestyle still embodied a fantasy of freedom from male familial responsibilities and, in a very real sense, from women altogether. Batman's world of the 1940s was almost exclusively male.

.... Like many closeted men, Bruce Wayne dated women to keep up appearances, so that no one would suspect that beneath his placid veneer lurked the sort of fellow who wrestled with criminals in dark alleys.

....DC began to introduce a series of other female characters to provide romances for Batman and Robin - Bat-girl in 1956 and Batwoman in 1961.

As Best notes, Bat-girl and Batwoman's complementary crime-fighting acted as a replacement for regular heterosexual courtship: rather than dinner and a movie, a romantic Batman took his girl out on rooftops. In this sense, Batman's crime-fighting became a sight for potential heterosexual productivity, a time when Batman could WOO! and COURT! The cast of female characters provided Batman with something of a full family, or at least the groundwork for one. Even if the bat-family never achieved full "normalcy," it at least blunted the edges of a lifestyle that was irreconcilable with the gendered expectations of the decade.

....Just as elites worked aggressively to purge society and government of homosexuality, so too did DC purge Batman of any social deficiency which could be interpreted or construed as "gay."

Was it enough? To satisfy the most vocal critics, yes. But, ironically, the move to surrealism and fantasy also pushed Batman into the territory of high camp, in which Batman's ostensibly heterosexual romances were suspiciously unbelievable. Indeed, in the camp world of the Batman television series, Batman's exaggerated and largely asexual romances seemed almost like a parody of actual heterosexual romances

The article also uses the fannishly oft-reposted images of the rainbow-colored Batman suits, Batman wondering what he's done to Robin!!! Bruce&Robin sharing a bed, "Batman's doing his best to sound gay," and... the image in my icon. *g* (which I flipped, yes)

Hello, good citizen! My name is Batman. You could be my assistant! Would you like that? Would you like to ride with Batman? --Snickers commercial

batdina and chopchica have started stilljewish, a safe space for fannish Jews and Jewish allies to discuss and share their experiences, both on and offline. From the userinfo:

This includes things such as discussion of Jewish characters in books, shows and movies; discussion of how Jews are portrayed in the media; discussion of our favorite holidays or foods; discussion about conversion, child raising, weddings, cooking and other life events; discussion about the antisemitism we see in fandom and in the world, etc. Because we are Jews, we’re sure there will be a lot of discussion.

The only topics currently excluded are Israeli policies/politics (cultural and religious convo welcome), "attacks or judging of other people’s Jewish choices," and obviously any kinds of isms.

And I think this is very important to keep in mind:

If you’re here because you’d like to learn more about Jews and Judaism, that’s wonderful, but it’s not remotely our job to educate you, nor is this community an educational space. Our main suggestion is to *listen*. Then listen some more. And some more. And make sure you leave your agenda and privilege at the door. Don’t try to tell Jews just how things *really* are for them. Don’t explain why you’re right and they’re wrong. If a member of the community suggests that you might be missing something? It’s a pretty good bet you are. If multiple members say the same thing? We’d shoot those odds up to 100%. And if you’re here to educate us? That’s nice; please don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

AWESOME.

Napped on my lunch break at 3am and had a weird dream that Jed Bartlett was Batman. This will not do. --Sanj

From afterellon.com:

...a reader...told us that the show is based on an Israeli television program, and that the main character...had a female ex. In fact, an entire episode was devoted to her former female lover.

"She finds her old girlfriend (who she left, heartbroken, awhile back), gets things started again and when it gets heated up in the bedroom she suddenly 'remembers' why she is straight."

Wow. With a story line so original and complex, I'm really disappointed that we may never see this amazing scene played out on U.S. television. Maybe they can substitute it with something less gay but just as visceral, like how Bella Bloom "remembers" why she's anti-violence after she punches herself in the face.

Yeah, I could really hope the US version won't recreate that ep, please.

"I don't want assistance. I'm not broken, and I don't need to be fixed." --Brett Beasley, gay cousin of J. Falwell, when Falwell denied knowing him and offered any assistance he could.

They've cast Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. I... can see this. It's one of the first things that's actually made me think I might have to take a look, really. They've also cast Michael Imperioli as Ray, which I can see, and Jonathan Murphy as Chris, about which I have no opinion.

But Harvey Keitel! I just. It's not that he's a particular favorite of mine, just. He's good.

...and now I am in the trenches of Retail Hell. There's a reason why we all wear red shirts, but honestly? It's not that bad.... The other cashiers complain (we are, after all, red shirts), but I cling to the belief that, like Guy from Galaxy Quest, I'm the plucky comedic relief, and I'll survive to the end of the show. --gritkitty

liviapenn has done a great roundup of links here, including a link I saw last night to a short video Laura put up on Elevator Pitches, a site that "that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their startups to the general public," and a couple links to other, similar sites.

As cereta puts it, "That's her model, the one she's been trying to get off the ground. Step One: Get fans to do the kind of work they've been doing for free because they love the source and love fandom. Step Two: Profit.

The bit about how she's deducting her cell phone and con trips is particularly choice. There have been cases of zine producers/sellers profiting from the zines they sell beyond the costs of producing and selling the zines (see: Mysti of Agent with Style), but this seems like a whole new level. This is digging up specific shit I'd never heard of, and it's really appalling, not just in the doing of it, but in the transparent way Hale is attempting to dupe, use, and abuse fans to her own benefit, with a complete lack of respect.

when they made her? the mold was recalled. --Luminosity

ithiliana is awesome. I and a lot of people I know have been angry about the issues involved here (with Laura Hale/Michaela Ecks/Purplepopple/partly_bouncy) for a long time, but I didn't have what it took to speak out like this (although many people have been trying to stamp out the small flames here and there as they see them).

Note: please do not click on any links to fanhistory and thereby boost the hits to the page. svmadelyn explains why, as Hale has been open about her desire to sell the wiki to a commercial buyer.

Luck is infatuated with the efficient. --Persian proverb

"Knight Rider" FBI Agent's Bisexuality May Be Dropped

The folks developing the Knight Rider series were on the TCA press tour, and the question came up of whether they were going to keep FBI Agent Carrie Rivai's implied lesbianism/bisexuality (in the movie, she's shown saying goodbye to a blonde in her bed). Apparently the new EP was taken aback, and said "We haven't explored her sexuality at this point."

I really love this bit:

"Gary really was given sort of carte blanche when we brought him on board, to not be limited by what had been done in the two-hour movie," said executive producer Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith). "And having sat in the writers' room with them, the stuff that he's managed to come up with for … the first eight episodes are so imaginative. A question like that almost feels small," he said, referring to the question about whether or not Rivai is still queer.

Emphasis mine.

It's small, because it doesn't matter to him. He's not concerned with the lack of representation of lesbian/bi women on TV, let alone LB women of color. It's not relevant to his plot, and he apparently hasn't spent much time thinking about this character, which doesn't incline me to want to watch, I have to say -- not because he hasn't thought about her sexuality, but because he doesn't seem to have thought much about her, outside where the plot takes her. Which is normal, but maddening.

The article gets into the reactions of others, including the actress, another EP, and other people who worked on the movie. Dave Bartis said he intended for Rivai to be bisexual, because that opened up a lot of possibilities. Poitier, the actress, read it in the script and thought it was cool, and moved on.

But apparently it confused Thompson, because it didn't go anywhere. "I didn't understand it on a number of levels," he said of the sexually suggestive scene, "'cause there was no payoff. It didn't go anywhere. I didn't see her — I didn't see anybody talk about it, you know, and to me, if you're gonna do something, you should do it and make it a part of the thing."

I'd be willing to bet that if it had been a guy in the bed, or the agent had been male, leaving the blonde in the bed, Thompson wouldn't have been confused and expecting it to "go somewhere" plot-related. In the same movie, the main character is in bed with a woman, and another woman comes into the room, strongly suggesting a threesome -- but did that go anywhere, beyond setting up some character traits for the main character?

And this next bit just PISSES ME OFF:

Thompson cited that time slot as a reason for why he wasn't sure whether Rivai's character could remain bisexual. "We're also an 8 o'clock show," he said, "and I don't know what they're going to let us do. I get nailed on everything in standards-and-practice world." ...He skirted the question of why a bisexual character would need to engage in explicit sexual activity on the air...

wtf. I mean, I get it. I get that there are still a lot of idiots in the world who believe that GLBTQ is intrinsically more salacious/sexual/risky in terms of censorship than straight sex. But it makes me so angry.

Nothing's definite, apparently, but I have mixed feelings about the next bit, because it smacks of the same kind of issues as racial 'colorblindness':

Asked if producers were de-gaying Poitier's character, Bartis said: "That's not the case. … I want to introduce characters that are not remarkable in their sexuality. It's not remarked upon, it's a fact of life, as Syd said about her character, her generation … and I want to see that reflected in television the way it is for her generation."

In response to the same question, Thompson said that de-gaying her was "not my intention at all," but then he added, "I have no intention of anything; I haven't thought that far ahead."

Love it all. The fear, the excitement, the guilt, the power for change, the unworthiness, the hurt feelings, the euphoric feelings, the anger, the movement, the whole process, it’s known as life. --anonymous

According to futoncritic:

Effective immediately "Flashpoint" will now run on Thursdays at 10:00/9:00c while "Swingtown" will head to Fridays at 10:00/9:00c.

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. -Leonard Cohen

Ron Moore interview by Maureen Ryan

( Interview bullet points )

There's also a transcription of the interview itself, in which they talk about the expanding length of the finale, and that it will definitely be a longer cut on DVD. As ambivalent as I am about BSG, in some ways, I'm still excited by the possibility of a Caprica series.

Descriptions below from futoncritic:

Warehouse 13 is about two FBI agents who are assigned to recover objects stolen from and objects that would appropriately be stored in the warehouse seen at the end of Indian Jones and the Ark of the Covenant. Not literally, but that's how it is in my head. *g*

After saving the life of the President, two FBI agents find themselves abruptly "promoted" and relocated to windswept South Dakota. Their new top-secret location is Warehouse 13 a massive, secret storage facility that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government over the centuries. In addition to searching the country for several missing objects discovered stolen from the Warehouse, their job is to monitor for new reports of supernatural and paranormal activity that could indicate the presence of another object they must investigate and safely bring back to the vaults of Warehouse 13.

Revolution is a futuristic take on the American Revolution, essentially, with a US space colony rebelling against taxation and struggling for control.

New America is a colony settled by the now-named 'United State of America' on a planet resembling our own, located 50 light years away. Echoing many contemporary issues and themes, it is a futuristic version of a new world's passionate fight for freedom. The expansive drama centers on the Hart family one of the founding families of New America. Tom, a former military man turned industrialist, is the patriarch of the family facing great pressure from the government to increasingly tax the colonists already heavily burdened. His two sons have struggles of their own with one rebelling against his industrialist grandfather and the old America, the other more radical one heading toward revolution. His 16 year-old daughter is simply trying to find her way in this world. Add to this a new local Governor torn between her allegiance to the colony and her desire for peace, and a young ambitious bureaucrat looking to bring the colony back under control.

I'd heard of both of these in passing, but not in any detail. I'm happy that Sci Fi is still developing actual scifi series, and not just reality shows, because they seem to have a lot of the latter in the pipeline for the fall.

And apparently they're developing a miniseries based on Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age. Unfortunately, they seem to have shelved development of series like Middletown, Witch School, Johnny Midnight, and Avery House, all of which sounded like shows I'd watch.

I'm trying to think of something deep and profound about how much I loved this. Unfortunately, I think I just died of squee and I'm not even supposed to be in this fandom. --katrimae

( I have a few thoughts. )


I try to avoid things I know have no art in their badness. -Rachael Sabotini

I had a really, really good weekend, this weekend. Tiring, but very, very good. And amazingly social, for me. It's not what I'd want every weekend, but!

Friday night I had a picnic with some other people of a certain age from church. This is a group I've been going to dinner with for a few months, about once a month. I don't know how long they've been doing it; it's clear that they all know each other better than I know any of them, and it's not a group I expect to become bosom buddies with, but it's nice to get to know them better, and it pulls me out of my shell a bit, and makes me feel more connected. They are mostly married, with children, and I haven't yet discovered any commonality of interest beyond the church, but it's pleasant.

The night ended sooner than I expected, though; we met around 6p, were eating by 6:30, and then it got to be 7:15, I realized everyone had their food packed up but me, and suddenly it was over sooner than I thought! One of the others said it was probably because it was too hot, and people wanted out of the heat, but I really didn't find it that bad, particularly for Oklahoma in July.

Saturday, I puttered around and got several of the VVC tapes dubbed to disc, and made a dent in clearing the kitchen table, and then was picked up for a trip to Tulsa and an IMAX viewing of The Dark Knight. This was awesome for several reasons, because BATMAN, because I'd never seen a movie in an IMAX theater before, BATMAN, and in large part because the couple who invited me were folks I've known in a more casual way for a while at work (monsterofmud and falfax), and are definitely people I've been interested in knowing better. *waves*

Also? BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN. BATMAN.

When we got there, was del