sundries, really random evening edition

[rm]

Today, I am a real actor. I am holding my first residuals check. Which seems like as good an excuse as any to email my publisher and find out where my royalties check is that I think was already supposed to be here. I suppose I should use the teeny tiny sum to actually buy a copy of the movie that earned me the thing, yeah?

Can I just take a moment to say how utterly fabulous Keith Olbermann's suit and tie combo is tonight? Yes, yes I can. And yes, yes it is.

I am working on my entry for America's Next Great Pundit RIGHT NOW.

One of the reasons I haven't posted at great length about healthcare and healthcare reform and the utter fuckery of insurance companies and everything else is, to my great shame, the simple fact that I am overwhelmed with rage and horror on the topic, so much so that I don't know how to talk about it.

What do I address first? That my mom had to pay for her own MRI to be sure her cancer was in only one breast because the insurance company didn't cover it? Or that my health is permanently fucked because our system doesn't believe in preventive care or take auto-immune diseases seriously? Maybe I should talk about how as a woman I have to pay higher insurance premiums because of the assumption I'll have children, but when I explain to my carrier that I'm gay and not planning to inseminate, they still won't let me drop that part of the coverage, because apparently they know more about living my life than I do. And none of that comes even close to this, which really encapsulates the utter fuckery of everything right now:

Chelsea Caudle began signing her text messages this summer with a countdown. At 14 years old, she knew no better way to express what was coming. Day Zero was to be Oct. 7, the day Dad left for Army basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C. He was moving 950 miles from their home in Watertown, 950 miles from Mom.

He was leaving, even though Mom was sick with ovarian cancer. Even though he had been at her side through two long, miserable rounds of chemotherapy. Even though she now faced the likelihood of a third.

In fact, Dad was leaving because Mom was sick.

In March, he was laid off from his job as a raw materials coordinator for a plastics company called PolyOne, where he'd worked for 20 years. His severance package had provided several months' salary, but by August the paychecks were winding down. Soon the cost of his family health coverage was going to triple, then a few months after that, nearly triple again. They needed coverage so Mom could fight her cancer.

Dad's solution: a four-year hitch in the Army.

Are you following the equal marriage rights fight in Maine? If you're not, I don't blame you, as this shit is ugly and exhausting and isn't something we should even be having to deal with. But, alas, you should be paying attention since right now the vote looks tight and we don't have enough election history or polling data on this stuff to have a good sense of who misrepresents what to pollsters. What can you do? Visit Protect Maine Equality and donate or give or spread the word as you can.

A similar situation is brewing in Washington state, which is basically a "marriage in all but name" thing, but is waaaaaay better than nothing. darthhellokitty says get your info here.

Everyone else had already commented on these Ralph Lauren photoshopped ads from hell, but I need to comment too. Look, I'm skinny as hell for a number of reasons including a genetic disease, and more or less that means I have privilege because our society treats skinny people better, and that's its own problem. BUT WHAT THE SHIT IS WITH THESE ADS? It's like someone sat around going "Okay, you know those people with skinny privilege? We need to make sure they hate themselves too. EVERYONE MUST FAIL." WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay, so now you're depressed and miserable about the horror of American politics and culture now. I understand. Go read tw_babiez instead. It's just been updated. (OMG, the Jack/Ianto moment on page 36! OMG, so cute!)

That too saccharine sweet for you? Here, have some utterly filthy porn. That's a link to Endotherm a Torchwood fanfic by curriejean. It's Jack/Ianto. It's porn. And it involves an enema, but like Ianto Jones, this fic is discreet and uptight in all the right ways, meaning it's really, really, I promise, not squicky AND totally hot. Just trust me, okay?

Mere text porn not doing it for you? Or maybe you jsut don't trust me because I rec'ed an enema fic. Anyway, regardless, I ask you, do you know about Male Submission Art? Someone or other in Torchwood fandom turned me on to this site, and I love it so much, mainly because it's so eclectic: photography, art, M/F, M/M, threesomes/moresomes, and everything from fully clothed relatively subtle images to really, really naked porntastic, OMG DO NOT LOOK AT THIS AT WORK, stuff. There could be more diversity on the site in terms of race and body types, but there's some and hey, they take suggestions, so if you send them stuff... anyway. Yay Internet.

Hey, does anyone have a link that sums up the various facets of the SFPA fail going on?

Comments

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

Publishers in general have a poor history of sending royalty cheques in an efficient and timely manner, but to their credit, they generally do eventually arrive.

[ckd]

Yeah. The "public option" should not be "get your ass sent to a war zone". (It shouldn't be more frightening to lose your health coverage than to face IEDs.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I almost couldn't get through the linked article its so wrenching.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

We've got Referendum 71 here in Washington state, to either maintain or remove the "Everything but marriage" act, which brings domestic partnership here all the benefits except actually being called marriage - which is sort of insulting, but I guess better than nothing.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Do you have links for me on it? In terms of advocacy/donating/volunteering? I'll add.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Here, this one seems to cover everything:
http://approvereferendum71.org/

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Added.

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

I love Male Submission Art,

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

Also I would love to see him do some trans male stuff, because msa made me feel much better about myself as a trans masculine sub.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Totally. There's a fair amount of diversity in what's there now, which makes me think/hope that he'd be amenable to expanding that diversity if he gets good submissions (for lack of a better term) from folks.

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

his other blog is good too, which is about him being submissive.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'll check it out. My relationship with kink has shifted around a lot over the years, but anyone being smart about it anywhere is all to the good, regardless of how much bandwidth I have for reading it.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

So far as I can tell, there are plenty of links from Male Submission Art (putting the pictures in context) to both the mod's own blog and to other blogs on the topic at hand, and they all seem to be very smart about it. As you say, all to the good. Funnily enough I think I'd been linked to it before but forgotten about it until you reminded me of it, so thanks indeed!

[maymaym.livejournal.com]

I would love to find and include more imagery of transgendered individuals.

Your criticisms of the site not being diverse enough are totally fair. It's something I look for all the time, but it's extremely hard to do because (by its nature) MaleSubmissionArt.com is a mirror onto the rest of the Internet. I don't create visuals for the site, I only curate what exists.

As what exists in the form of submissive masculine imagery on the Internet is almost exclusively white and cisgendered, it's very unlikely that I'll find trans stuff as often as not-trans-stuff. Which is exactly why I not only welcome, but actively encourage suggestions.

If you have any material you think would be appropriate for the site, please do send it in to me (http://malesubmissionart.com/submit?type=photo).

Thanks again for the kind words on my work. I really appreciate that.

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

maymay - the man who runs Male Submission Art, will take submissions (don't have to be original work), guidelines here:

http://malesubmissionart.com/submit?type=photo

He won't necessarily republish it, if he doesn't feel it fits with what he's looking for but it's a definite option to increase the variety of work presented. Also, I can't recommend looking at his April 1st 2009 images with their associated essays highly enough. They're a perfect example of what's wrong with porn these days and maymay commentary is a cogent and a good way to begin teasing apart the meanings in porn.

Finally, you may find this interesting, he is one of the developers of the ‘kink for all’ conferences/activities - you can find a link on the site, I belive. They are sort of DIY kink conventions; everyone who attends is expected to participate in some fashion. The last one was in NY.

It's been a real pleasure looking at the porn being written in Torchwood, the willingness to explore the erotic in things that are traditionally looked on with disgust (and to also look at the different meanings sex can have for people). It's also been very interesting to me to look at the huge discrepancy between what (mostly) women are doing in fandom - hey, we need more pervy porn! let's start a comm just for that! - vs. the common cultural ideas of what women (mostly) like. I have thinky thoughts about that, somewhere, mainly on how it's changed my perceptions, and tolerance, of our public distain of sex vs. our private fascination with it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I totally know about those Kink for All things, but they're always when we're out of town. Eventually we will get there, and that's good to know. I feel like all the blogs I tend to check our regularly somehow connect back to that event.

And yay, thinky thoughts!

[maymaym.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind words on MaleSubmissionArt.com and for mentioning KinkForAll (http://wiki.kinkforall.org/). The next KinkForAll unconference will be on November 21, in Washington DC. Check it out at http://tr.im/kfadc (http://wiki.kinkforall.org/KinkForAllWashingtonDC) and/or read the KFADC press release (http://kinkforall.org/?p=84). I would love to see more discussion like the type that I'm reading on this comments thread. We've even had some presentations about fanfic and erotic writing in the past that were really fantastic (http://isaacsapphire.livejournal.com/10443.html). Doing a google search for one of the event tags brings up loads more information. For instance, here's all the videos from KinkForAll Boston on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/tag:kfabos).

[rm.livejournal.com]

You're wellcome, and thanks for dropping by. My partner and I are in NYC (and I'll be flying back from Switzerland during the DC event (I used to live there, so it's always vaguely plausible that I visit)), but I will make a point to try to get to the next one around these parts.

I shall add the links to my growing NaNoWriMo procrastination list.

[maymaym.livejournal.com]

The best way to make sure the next one happens at a time when you can participate is to participate yourself. At the very minimum, you can propose a date for the next one on the mailing list (http://wiki.kinkforall.org/UsingTheKinkForAllMailingList) that works for you. ;)

Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Your mother had to pay for that MRI? That is such outrageous bullshit! Gods above.

I read that article yesterday and just cried.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. She had one that insurance paid for. But the doctor couldn't tell if there was cancer in both breasts or not. Insurance said she had to wait another six months to find out. She said fuck that and paid $2,000 to find out no, it was just once breast. But what if she hadn't had the money? And what if the news had been bad?

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Best wishes to your mum. I'm not sure how to respond exactly to the news that she has cancer in only one breast. I mean, that's good news in a lousy situation.

I'm paying $200 a month for health insurance. I know people who can't find a plan and couldn't afford one anyway, so I count myself lucky ... which is fucked up.

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

I feel weird when I hear things like that given as proof of luck at having a good provider.

I pay about NZ$35/month. That's, oh, a tenth of what you're paying. And if I look at a receipt for one of my standard quarterly prescription costs, I'm paying $15 four times a year and getting a government subsidy of $244.38 on each trip.

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's messed up. Unfortunately, where I live and based on my own past experience and what I know other people are going through, I have to consider myself "lucky".

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks. THis all happened right when Patty moved in, so it's been about two years now. SHe wound up getting into a trial program that tested cancer cells to see if they would be responsive to chemo. Hers were not, so she had a mastectomy and that was it. She's been cancer-free since.

[weirdquark]

A friend of mine is a resident in a hospital where they've been getting some H1N1 cases and have had to do this ridiculous run around with contamination suits, etc. to avoid spreading it around. She says one of their nurses was exposed to a relative with probable H1N1 and now has fever, cough and general aches and pains. My friend wrote the nurse a prescription for tamiflu, which is apparently not covered by her insurance and which costs $175 out of pocket. If they have ten nurses go down with the flu, they'll basically be crippled. Their insurance does not cover things that will make their hospital workers able to function. That's my favorite insurance fail of the day.

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

Glah. that's... stupid.

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, but I believe it was actually Ralph Lauren who perpetrated those particular awful Photoshopped ads.

In more pleasant topics, I'm also a big fan of the Male Submission Art site. Happy to see it getting some love here.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Fixed. Thanks!

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

I only wish Babiez was a cure for all the healthcare and political drama. There will never be enough!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

There are not words for my exasperation/fury with the state of health care access in this country - I've not posted much about it for many of the same reasons it infuriates you so.

I still love the "We're Torchwood - wanna play?" panel.

Very much enjoying the Male Submission site :)

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

And the worst part? I read that Army article and said "Oh that isn't so bad." At least they found a way to get her coverage - I know too many people who don't even have the Army option, like the folks I know who are thinking of divorcing so he doesn't get stuck with paying her medical bills *after she dies*.

I can't be rational and sensible about this shit when I've been kicked off Medicaid again and people I care about are dying from lack of care.

[afterthree.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to the Male Submission Art blog. They have some amazing photography there! :D

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to Male Submission Art... hmmm, I wonder what I'm going to write about in my Seminar about Porn this Semester.
*ponders ponders*

[phaetonschariot.livejournal.com]

On photoshopped ads - that link contains the suggestion that beer ads should have warnings too such as

“Use of this product will not win you the love of magnificent women, unless they drink the beer. And plenty of it.”

Which is an extra, albeit subtle, fail. Being drunk does not cause you to fall in love. It causes you to be unable to consent to sex, and to do it anyway.

[gelasius.livejournal.com]

Anyway, regardless, I ask you, do you know about Male Submission Art?

I must thank you profusely for pointing me at this site -- I will be sharing it far and wide. I love the commentary on the photos almost as much as the photos themselves. Almost, I said. :)

[gement.livejournal.com]

Eee! I can't look at work, obviously, but I was just turned on to MayMay's journal recently (in response to a comment thread about presentations of femininity, masculinity, and odd combinations thereof) and was blown away. This is another reminder that I need to go look at his carefully selected dirty dirty pictures.

(If you haven't seen his blog, it's MaybeMaimed. I don't remember the full URL and daren't search at work, but that'll find him if you're curious.)

[maymaym.livejournal.com]

The full URL of my blog is http://maybemaimed.com (http://maybemaimed.com). Couldn't be simpler! ;) Thank you so much for the kind words. It means a lot to me that people appreciate how much effort I put into these things.

[curriejean.livejournal.com]

O_O! Thank you for the rec! I didn't realize, until gement mentioned it. Then I had to come searching. Now I know why it got so many hits! <3