Please read this post from giandujakiss.

I know that my Republican friends skip my political posts, lest they become as incensed at me as I currently am at their party, but please, PLEASE, if you are planning to vote McCain/Palin and have read this far, please take a moment to read gianduja's post. It probably won't change your mind, but please, please read it and look at what they're saying. Look at what they're encouraging their followers to think.

My one comment there:

Terrorism
noun

1. The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.

So... who are the terrorists, again?

A newspaper columnist in Virginia "jokes" in his column that Obama would hire Ludacris to paint the White House black, give foreign aid to Africa so "the Obama family there can skim enough to free their goats", replace the 50 stars on the U.S. flag with the Islamic star and crescent logo, and that his drug policy would be to raise taxes to pay for his "inner-city" political base.

Shockingly, the columnist is also the treasurer of the Buchanan County, Virginia, Republican Party!

TEE HEE!

Meantime, Sarah "you betcha" Palin, in a cunning move to show that she does read newspapers, references this New York Times article as proof that Obama is "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

Of course, she leaves out this part of the article: Obama and Bill Ayers (the founder of The Weathermen) are not friends--not "palling around"--they're hardly acquaintances. Their infrequent contact stemmed from the fact that both were professors at the University of Chicago, and were on a board of directors together. Ayers's activities with the Weathermen occurred when Obama was eight years old.

*nose wrinkle, wink wink*

From kita0610 via lamardeuse: AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka speaks about institutionalized racism and voting for Obama at a steelworker's convention in July.

Hey, Sarah Palin--I got your Joe Six-Pack right here.

CBS News reports mistaken, human-error-based, or just plain illegal purging of voter rolls (the voter rolls cannot be altered within 90 days of a Federal election, yet are continuing to be purged as I type this). Several of the states engaging in the illegal roll purging are battleground states. Shocking, I know. We're talking tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of eligible voters who will show up at the polls and find they are not registered.

Here is a summary of the Voter Purges Report from the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's School of Law. (You can also download the full report in .pdf format.)

Here are some other ways battleground states are making sure that many Democrats citizens are ineligible to vote.

Check your registration status here or here.

How come this isn't all over the news? And even more (pathetically) shocking, when did CBS grow a pair?

ETA: pun comments below: "In a federal election, every voter has the right to fill out a provisional ballot. Anyone who shows up at the polls and is told s/he is not eligible to vote should demand their right to a provisional ballot and continue to contest the issue until his/her ballot is counted." Should have included that before.

Governor, I served with Ms. Teen South Carolina. I knew Ms. Teen South Carolina. Ms. Teen South Carolina was a friend of mine. Governor, you are no Ms. Teen South Carolina.

Got no honey, because we fucked up the planet so bad that all the bees are dying.
Can't eat apples, because I gotta put 'em in a cardboard box and sell them on the streets for a nickel each.

L'Shana Tovah, everybody!

Here's the sentence:

"Humanism stresses that we control our thoughts and desires rather than the world in which we are a part of."

Now, ignore how bad the sentence is in general. The specific part I need a name for is this--what she *means* is that WE, rather than the world around us, control our thoughts and desires. But what the sentence *says* is that we control our THOUGHTS, but we don't control the WORLD.

What's the name for that? Dangling participle?

Browsing the trailers at Apple, I found, um. This.

It is an alt-rock opera about a dystopian future where organ donations are failing at an alarming rate. A company called GeneCo has found a biotech solution--but it comes with a steep price. If you miss a payment, they send out a repo man to get the organ back.

All-singing, all-dancing, forced-organ-removal alt-rock opera. And, as one might expect, there is an exclamation point in the title - REPO! The Genetic Opera.

But all of that? Only leads up to *the cast*.

Anthony Stewart Head as Nathan Wallace, a loving father leading a double life as The Repo Man.
Alexa Vega, whom some of you might remember as the daughter in Spy Kids, as his sweet daughter Shilo, who has a rare blood disease and is kept in the house at all times by Nathan.
Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag (an opera singer, natch), who was a friend of Nathan's deceased wife and is godmother to Shilo -- also next on Nathan's repo list.
Paul Sorvino as Ritto Largo, head of GeneCo.
Nivek Ogre, from the band Skinny Puppy, as Pavi Largo, one of Largo's sons.
Bill Moseley, a staple of horror films, as Luigi Largo, the other of Largo's sons.
Paris Hilton as Amber Sweet, Largo's daughter.

There are fifty-seven songs in the movie, with titles that range from “Needle Through A Bug” to “We Started This Op'ra Shit!” to “Tonight We Are Betrayed” to “Depraved Heart Murder at Sanitarium Square” to “Who Ordered Pizza?”

So, this is different.

So, two mysteries solved. beebalm has my copy of House of Leaves, and I lent An Abundance of Katherines to my Young Adult Novel professor.

But my copy of Jane Eyre has gone missing.

Seriously.

What.

ETA: Entirely unrelated, but oh my gosh. Paul Newman has died. I knew he was very old and frail, and it was expected, but still. Paul Newman has died. I'm not yet processing.

I posted yesterday that I couldn't find several books I knew I owned. I figured maybe, maybe I'd lent all four out over the years and never got them back.

Now it's three more books. I can't find my copies of Fahrenheit 451, The Golden Compass, or An Abundance of Katherines, which I only bought and read four weeks ago.

That makes seven specific books I've looked for in two days which simply are no longer in my possession.

What. The. Hell.

I do this every year in the hopes that, since my friendslist changes a bit every year, new people will see it and post in their own journals.

There seems to be a perpetual misconception floating around fandom that Yuletide Treasure (livejournal and website/archive) is for slash writers only. This is NOT true; the purpose of Yuletide is to flip out and kill people generate stories for fandoms that have little-to-no fanfiction. Yuletide includes gen, het, slash, RPF, RPS, and anything else you can name, so long as the fandom meets the criteria which deem it "obscure".

The official website FAQ explains it by telling; the fiction archive will eat your brain explains it by showing. Choose your poison. :D

Please pass it along, if you think people on your flist might not know this!

tzikeh: Every book I'm trying to find is missing! I bet I lent them to people. I bet I lent them to people and I can't remember who has them and I'll never get them back.
shrift: This is why I never lend anything out.
tzikeh: No, seriously - Wicked? Missing. House of Leaves? Missing. Martian Chronicles? Missing. The Eyre Affair? Missing. How is this possible?
shrift: The Underpants Gnomes are branching out.

Goddammit, I need those books. WTF, literature thieves!

In other news, I kicked Derrida's ASS. More on that tomorrow.

A poll for all, Kindle or no Kindle.

( Easy Reader, Mmm, mmm mmm. )

Anything else to say about Kindle? Please comment!

Because, really, if anybody did it for the lulz....

But it also applies to this quote from the Freudian week of my literary criticism class:

"She (i.e. the representation of all young women, upon developing a sense of inferiority to males upon discovering that they have penises and she doesn't) decides her lack of a penis is the punishment for some wrongdoing (probably masturbation); she gets furious with her mother for not giving her a penis, and for not having one herself; she feels contempt for the entire female sex, herself included, which is without such an important organ. Also, she feels the clitoris to be so inferior that she gives up masturbation entirely (emphasis mine).

What.

Are you kidding me.

ETA: Best Drama, baby! That almost kind of makes up for the What.

Just a reminder - tune in for the Emmys at 8 Eastern / 7 Central on ABC.

Since the Emmys usually beat out the competition, Mad Men will not air tonight. That is the only reason I am using this icon. There is no other reason; it is not, for example, a suggestion of which show I would like to see win all sixteen Emmys it is nominated for. Nothing like that.

I will probably live-blog the Emmys, and since I think it's time-delayed on the West Coast, I'll lj-cut.

Oh, and over on CBS at 7 Eastern / 6 Central is the 40th season premiere of 60 Minutes. They have some guys named Obama and McCain being interviewed. Whatever, I guess.

The University of Chicago Press is having a humongous book sale on October 7 & 8. Over 20,000 books for sale at $5 a pop, regardless of original price. The sale runs from October 7 and 8, 9am-5pm.

The sale is at International House in the assembly hall. Street address is 1414 E. 59th St. For more information, call 773-702-5328.

(zomg books) (arrrrr books)

#1 - Jacques Derrida can "kiss" my "ass".

#2 - Can anyone explain to me how the MSRP for House Season 4 can be $59.98 for total of 16 episodes, while the other seasons's original MSRPs were that or lower, and had 24 episodes on them? Plus there isn't even a gag reel this time?

WTF, Fox?

and the fact that I can *hang out online again starting tomorrow*--a challenge appears!

THE PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE EMOTICON CHALLENGE

<3 --

Heart, or asshat? You decide!

Who's got one for me?

Grad school has so eaten my time, my brain, and all those other things I need in order to exist that I forgot House premiered last night. Completely forgot. I wasn't even thinking "oh, I'll stay on campus after my last class and join up with other students to review material for the midterm because I know the TiVo will get the premiere of House". I had no "today-premiere-House" anything in my head at all.

And when I got home and I *did* remember, I didn't go to the TiVo to watch it, and I didn't start a download. I just thought, "Possibly, I will get to see the episode some time this weekend."

Holy crap. Am I becoming a NORMAL person? This will not stand.

David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest (a book I recommend to anyone who loves great books), among other works, has hanged himself.

He was a master of words, but I have none.

Someone convince me I shouldn't even be thinking about buying this, or these. Especially because right now I can hardly afford to feed myself, let alone pay my tuition.

Okay - memage: There are 30 questions. Answer each question with one name. Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits. If you want the questions mailed to you, you have to swear to do the meme yourself.

1) cereta
2) greywingnut
3) iamsab
4) melina123
5) byob_kenobi and carla_scribbles (Is, not seems!)
6) sanj
7) bluerosefairy
8) cesperanza
9) yahtzee63
10) amilyn
11) sdwolfpup (in fandoms, at any rate, and it's SO DAMN CUTE!)
12) pipsqueaky
13) thebratqueen
14) itsthewa
15) uh... I honestly have no answer to this. Even in jest. I'm just not seeing it.
16) tjonesy (in the good way!)
17) j00j (again, in the good way!)
18) casirafics I have no idea why I have this image. But it's true. In the very best way!
19) st_crispins (big-time)
20) laurashapiro
21) itsthewa again - at least as far as my circle of friends goes. ;)
22) Oh, lord. elynross, basingstoke, lydiabell, xenacryst, jacquez, carla_scribbles, ... too many to name. Oh, and Dorinda: coming soon to an lj near you. We hope.
23) elynross is the closest I can get to a real answer? But in the best way!
24) Oh, God. Too many choices.
25) latxcvi
26) Nobody.
27) sockkpuppett
28) I... what?
29) I don't have a truthful answer here. BUT, to play along, then heresluck, debchan, katallison, killabeez... the list goes on. We need a word for women that is the equivalent of "bromance". (And I'm betting that statement pretty much gives away what question #29 is.)
30) You guys. You GUYS. I love you guys. GROUP HUG!

When you see this, post a quote ("or forty-two", haha) from Douglas Adams.

My favourite piece of information is that Branwell Brontë, brother of Emily and Charlotte, died standing up leaning against a mantelpiece, in order to prove it could be done. This is not quite true, in fact. My absolute favourite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees. -- The Salmon of Doubt

Balloooooooon!

Manipulated (mashed-up?) from this promo poster (the others are cool too! No spoilers in them, for them as worry).

Man, I learn something new about how inept I am at Photoshop every time I make a new icon. How do you cut off someone's head and move it around? Why can't everything I ever want be sized in a perfect square so that I can make an icon of it? Also, why can't the tv shows provide us all with their titles as alpha channels?

Balloooooooon!

( a few calming words for my fellow Dems: )

For today's electoral map, click here. That's *today*, people.

"So, Sambo beat the bitch!" -- Sarah Palin, in public, after it became clear that Obama would be the nominee.

And yeah, the article only gets better from there.

Anyone who has read House of Leaves, hie thee hence to today's xkcd.

OMG I may never stop laughing. Also I was just looking for my copy *last night*.

Freaky, dude.

Stairs! We have found stairs!

LOLCATS magnetic poetry set.

Oh, yes, it shall be mine.

The Wire, Seasons 1-4, for $150.

I have no idea if this is a one-day sale or what, but that's a savings of about $50 (and that's on a good dvdpricesearch day).

Not viewable by anyone outside the UK.

Can anyone steal that fucker and put it somewhere on lj help?

Bold those statements which are true of your life experiences. So, this was interesting, but it's definitely not as simple as bolded statement=truth.

( class meme )

Yes, I was massively, massively privileged growing up, if money is the sole criterion required to be counted among the privileged. But--and trust me on this one--money don't mean shit as far as happiness goes.

Four men were arrested in a hotel in Denver near the Democratic National Convention, where they planned to assassinate Obama during his acceptance speech.

police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and methamphetamine.

This handbag was featured on an episode of What Not to Wear. I have tried every possible avenue I know to get in touch with someone who could tell me where they bought it. Does anyone either recognize the bag, or know how to get in touch with an actual person at the show? (The bag is likely from a boutique in NYC, so I know my chances are slim for visual recognition, but I thought I'd give it a shot.)

( images ahead )

Thanks!

I wish we'd gotten on that "Fannish Greeting Cards" project that was in... cesperanza's lj, I think?, because I'd post an "I'm sorry for your fannish loss" card for the SGA fans on my flist. Oh, SciFi, why must you hurt everyone? Suck.

In other fannish news, it's time to start thinking about what I'm going to request for Yuletide. I'm gonna bookmark this entry and add ideas as they come to me. So far (some of these might be disallowed, but I don't know yet, so):

Shawshank Redemption
Jekyll (UK)
Invisible Man
Sherlock Holmes
Batman Begins / The Dark Knight
Quantum Leap
Mad Men
The Wire
How I Met Your Mother

Other suggestions are welcome. :D

Anyone have any of these textbooks you might be interested in loaning / renting / selling to me?

Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed by Mary Klages (ISBN: 0826490727)

Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture (5th edition) by Stanley Baran (ISBN: 0073511919)

Literature for Today's Young Adults (8th edition) by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Kenneth L. Donelson (ISBN: 0205593232)

The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Colonial Period to 1800 (Volume A) (ISBN: 0618532978)

The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Early 19th Century: 1800-1865 (Volume B) (ISBN: 0618532986)

Huzzah for ridiculous textbook prices!

Speaking to reporters about the situation in Georgia, Sen. John McCain denounced the aggressive posture of Russia by claiming that "in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations."

I. What. He. That. It.

I fully expect to see McCain on the news any day now looking like General Stockdale at the VP debate. Or possibly staring at the camera, smiling, and saying "I had Jell-O today!"

WHAT.

My father needs a website created for his self-owned business (meat and seafood purveyor for restaurants in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut). He already owns the domain name he wants, so that's taken care of. The site he would like it to resemble (not modeled on, but in concept and execution) is DeBragga and Spitler. All text content and photos would be provided, as well as some graphics, but he might require the designer to come up with some (simple) graphics as well. He will need someone who can provide/do everything for him but acquire the domain (find the right host for the right price, discuss whether or not he will want to be able to update it on his own, explain back-end vs. front-end design, etc.).

The thing is, he doesn't really know which questions to ask. So you may have to talk him through some stuff in detail. He also has no idea what it should cost (flat rate, per-hour rate, monthly freelance check, etc.), so you'll have to have your own info for him on how you do business.

He'd like to get started talking to a designer sooner rather than later, but this is a *really* easy build for anyone who has up-to-date experience with websites (there isn't going to be any complicated back-end programming from what I can tell, though you'll have to sort out with him if he wants to allow his customers to order online or not), so it's a pretty good gig where you can charge whatever the traffic will allow.

If you're interested, drop me a line at tzikeh aaat thechicagoloop dut net with the subject line "MEAT" *g*. You do not have to be a professional web designer; I'll be vouching for the names I send him. You don't need to send me a resume or anything--maybe point me to a website you've designed/maintained. (It's okay if it's fannish; he won't see it.) After you look at the DB and S site, let me know the basics of how long you think it would take you to do that, what kind of work schedule you'd like, etc.

He pays well. ;)

Thanks guys!

Yesterday I asked for any magical realism movies you guys could think of (it occurs to me, belatedly, that perhaps I should have included a few main traits in order to help define it). You can still comment, so if you have some that aren't already there, please do.

Today - movies that make you cry! The crying can be because you're sad, happy, angry, or just overawed by the power of motion pictures themselves (I love when that happens). Also, the crying doesn't necessarily have to happen at the end; I cried on and off during WALL-E and I'll probably do the same when I see it again. *snf*

A few of mine (and let's get some of the more obvious out of the way early): Schindler's List, The Color Purple, E.T. (fuck you, Steven Spielberg).

Also The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Shawshank Redemption, Cinema Paradiso (if you don't cry at that final scene you are *dead* inside), Wings of Desire, Remains of the Day.

GO! Please list as many as you like, and maybe add a few words about why they make you cry.

Local Hero, Pan's Labyrinth, L.A. Story, Milagro Beanfield War, Field of Dreams, Amelie.

More please?

Amazon is offering the first four seasons of The Wire at a truly astounding discount--about $24 each. I have never seen a season of The Wire go for anything less than $45. MSRP is $60. This is an insane sale.

The catch: you have to buy all four seasons together. That comes to $95.50 if you choose the free shipping option.

If you're a Wire fan, though, you know this is worth it.

BTW, go now -- this is today's Gold Box sale, and at the end of the day, it's gone.

Can you guess the movie just by looking at one letter from the movie's poster?

Got eleven at first glance, but now I need to sit and stare at it a while to see if I can do more.

If anyone who watches Mad Men saw tonight's episode and is still awake, come and find me on chat. All of my chat names are on my info page.

Really, I *have* to talk about That One Thing.

This one is a general mix of clips, mostly from last season, and a few clips from this coming season which are not plot spoilers. The song is "Love Me Dead" by Ludo ("you're hideous and sexy!").

This one is a FOX promo, with all the attendant melodramatic voice-over crap ("but what House will do... is the BIGGEST TWIST YET!"), and it does spoil a plot point which is likely to be the focus of the first few episodes, but if you saw the end of last season, it's hardly an unexpected storyline. Also, icon. Very, very icon, in a dark way.

This one has the same spoiler revealed in the previous trailer, but with a much lighter take on it. The song is "Wrap It Up" by Whitey ("GET EVEN!"). And again, I say, icon -- this time not so much dark as, well, fucking funny.

OMG WTF TORNADO!

In the 21 years I have lived in Chicago, I've never seen a weather report that said "TAKE COVER". I've never heard the tornado warning siren go off except when they test it on the first Tuesday of every month. I've never heard the guys on Chicago Public Radio say "get underground, stay away from windows, in fact put a blanket over your head if there's any glass nearby at all."

So, I packed Artemis into her carrier and went down to the building's basement. I found six other tenants, two with dogs, one with her baby, and we all sat around on the recycling bins and listened to the radio. shrift, intrepid frontierswoman that she is, stayed in the condo and texted me when the tornado warning was lifted.

See, if only the original settlers had had cell phones....

These posters premiered at this year's Comic Con - and I want them all.

HOWEVER. I must take Ozymandias to task. On his poster, he is quoted: "I don't mind being the smartest man in the world. I just wish it wasn't this one." Hey, Ozymandias! If you're the smartest man in the world, how come you didn't use the subjunctive there? Huh? Huh? WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW, OZYMANDIAS?

Loser.

Poll time!

ETA, DAMMIT I forgot Psych, Doctor Who, and Ace of Cakes. Ah, well. It's always something.

Poll #1232876 Pinky, are you watching what I'm watching?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I am taking this poll!

I have been watching / am currently watching / will be watching when it airs / catching up on:

I'm likely to tune in to the pilot episode(s) of:

tzikeh:

While the 16 Emmy nominations Mad Men has garnered (including Best Drama, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, and two nominations for Writing) proves that it's packing a punch in Hollywood, this little tidbit of news illustrates just how thoroughly it's worked its way into the zeitgeist.

In Sunday night's second-season premiere of AMC's Mad Men, conflicted ad man Don Draper is introduced to Frank O'Hara's excellent collection of poetry, Meditations in an Emergency....At The New York Times's Freakonomics blog, Steven J. Dubner yesterday noted how O'Hara's book jumped from an Amazon sales ranking of No. 15,565 to 161 as of yesterday morning.

Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman and Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber to star in Law & Order: London.

No, I am not making this up.

I have Firefox on both my desktop (should we really call it a "desktop" anymore, since the computer part goes on the floor?) and laptop. Firefox on my desktop is all set up with bookmarks and settings and so on, while I never bothered to do much configuring with the laptop one. Of course, this makes it totally annoying to use the laptop for web browsing. Is there a way to export all my Firefox settings and bookmarks and toolbars and so on so that I can import them on the laptop?

So much has been posted about LH and her wiki that it's often impossible to find exactly what you're looking for or what you need to back up your personal evidence. In order to collect the maximum number of references and refutations to laura hale with the minimum amount of work, a delicious account called fanhistoryexpose has been created. Anyone who cares to can send links to the account to be archived. (You can learn how to send a delicious link here.)

If you care to, delicious-tag any posts you've read/seen with the tag fanhistory:expose, if you have an account at delicious. The more people who do this, the easier it will be to collect the most information.

It would also be useful if people who have posted about LH lj-tag their own posts with fanhistory:expose as well.

Please pass this information along (link here, or cut and paste the whole post, either is fine); the more we codify the tags on delicious and lj, the easier it will be to find what we need and to amass proof.