sundries

[rm]

Patty has been experimenting with heirloom beans. Last night she made some which, hand to god, taste like baked potatoes with a hint of bacon. Sadly, the texture of beans still squicks me deep into my soul.

supergee is offering a scholarship to this years ICFA. Any over-21 PoC who cannot get university funding to attend ICFA is eligible. This includes airefare, hotel share, conference entrance and meals. More info at his journal.

Pets can get the hamthrax!

CNN asks if you could become a celebrity stalker.

New York's women-only residences.

Wait, wait, WHUT? There's a former Miss California "opposite marriage" Carrie Prejean sex tape?

Waters of Mars! Annoyingly this is airing in the UK when I am in Zurich, and I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to see it, as I'm missing the DWNY viewing gathering. Actually, can anyone get this video to play past the first ten seconds? Anyone have a better link?

Girl Number 9: I'm currently a day behind. So far my verdict is Day 1 = awesome; Day 2 = terrible; Day 3 = good energy, but I don't care. The thing continues to interest me for form and participants, but it's not really my bag. I'm curious if it will pull out something interesting for us in the end. As copperbadge so smartly said, it really is a cross between Law & Order and Saw. I loathe the mere existence of Saw.

Time for a funny story: A few days ago, someone who is in the same fandom as me, and therefore knows or at least meets some of the people who work professionally in that canon, was twittering about posting a new story of hers featuring a character with the same first name as a pro I know. Based on the places I thought she said she was going to post it, I assumed it was RPF about this guy that I'm friends with. Now, I'm totally pro-RPF, but you know, if I saw that, I wouldn't be able to un-see it, and I don't want to think of the dude that way, so despite curiosity, I was resolutely ignoring the issue and even stopped myself from asking her about it. EVENTUALLY, I ran across the fic by accident. It totally was NOT about the guy I know, but a fictional Torchwood character and a gerbil or a hamster or something! When you assume, kids, you make an ass out of U and ME. That's the lesson for today.

So, the new V series. First, confession. I went to college thinking I wanted to be a war reporter because I had convinced myself of that back while watching V when I was twelve and thinking that character Mike Donovan was just the bomb.

Anyway, it's not bad. It's not really good either. Alan Tudyk's Q rating must be off the charts. He's so funny looking, but I watch him and I smile.

I thought the show did a great job of punching the emotional "aliens have arrived and this is what you've always dreamed of" buttons. I hate, as much as I expected, that they've changed the WWII allegory to post-9/11 stuffs. But even more than that, omg, can we not call the Visitors "the V's?" First it's confusing if you also watch True Blood where "V" is vampire blood taken as a drug. Secondly, it has an ugly, awkward cadence. Third, the first time the V gets spray-painted in the original series that means something. But, oh yeah, right, the Resistance metaphors have all been changed. *sigh*

Meanwhile, out in the real world, there's this serial killer situation in Ohio. I feel like it's been getting less media attention than past serial killer things, and I'm curious about in this in a "race in the media" way as the perp and the known victims (only one has been identified so far, and only some of the bodies were recent enough to be demographically identifiable) turn out to be African American. Conventional wisdom says that black serial killers are really rare (this may not be true, however, as a Google on the subject brings up webpages about a ton of different serial killers all listed as "the only known black serial killer"), but while supposed rarity often excites the media, that seems, unsurprisingly, not to be true when it comes to race. I've never worked a crime beat though, but I know some of you have. If anyone can shed light on whether this coverage is as different as I think it is, I'd be interested.

Via reannon: Apparently women make men stupid, but men don't make women stupid -- science says! I can see people extrapolating from this in all sorts of really ugly ways.

Apparently the Yankees won the World Series last night. Normally I pay at least marginal attention to these things, but I didn't notice until this morning.

NaNo! I'm still a bit behind on quota, but I got over a stumbling block last night that was slowing me down, so I'm relieved about that. I also realized that the one critical thing I hadn't done in my advance planning was really lay out when specific things happen in the time line. This is critical in this book, because the timeline is so condensed -- it starts on a Thursday at 6am in L.A. before we move to Chicago, and other than the denoument (which really, could be a lead in for a sequel set in L.A., god help me!) is done by 3pm the following Monday. Time is very precise in this shit.

On the other hand, I have established 3 distinct voices for my girls. News that particularly excites me: Hope is no longer coming off like a ditz, and Jean is just totally amazing and a surprise to me. Ashley I nailed a couple of days ago, so I'm not even worried about that. Several minor characters have also been established, including the 22-year-old gay secretary in Jean's department, and a recurring "fat guy in a dragon suit" who may be my new favorite person in the whole thing; I want to hug him.

Various backstory things have also been resolved, including the origin of Hope's email address (people, I just created a fictional B-movie called Con Vixen 77; god help us all). Also, I'm winding up with way more character diversity than I thought I would which is fantastic, but seeing as it's set at a con in 2010, I think I'm actually going to have to mention RaceFail in passing in the book.

Yesterday, I registered email addresses for Ashley, Jean, Hope, Evan and Stacey, which means that I will soon switch all those to the right thing in the text and will be putting up an excerpt (some of which you've seen a rough version of) on the NaNo site.

Additionally, my plan is to spend December editing and then send it to willing critical readers to look at while I'm away in the first half of January (so I'm not around to bug you). If you're willing to be a critical reader, let me know. I have a few people I already want to ask because they have skills in calling my shit on specific key issues (i.e., Jill, you're on comics duty; Sam or Sharon, if you'er willing you're on Chicago duty). Any fannish PoC who's willing to read for and call me on any RaceFail on my part (I already do have at least one reader who can address these things from personal experience, although our long-standing writing partnership means she's more likely to yell at me about my sentence length, hence the desire for more eyes on this issue) in this thing would be particularly desperately appreciated, since two of the three main women are PoC, and I would prefer to refrain from showing my ass and making people unhappy. I realize, of course, this is the Department of Not Your Job and my asking is potentially intrusive and privileged.

I'm probably going to try to keep my initial reader list down to about ten, but if you're interested in a hardcore way (as opposed to "gimme book now!" -- which you know I love too), please let me know.

I can't believe I'm getting this done. I can't believe this is happening.

Building with whole trees.

I'm trying, very hard, not to be politically angry today, as I found it unenjoyable yesterday, both because I literally felt my own blood pressure go up, and because the whole sorry affair involved lots of assumptions that were sort of irrelevant and unhappy-making, so I'm going to cover a few of them below and then let it go, although I'll probably have some more generalized thoughts on queerness in America right now sometime vaguely soonish.

1. Actually, I support the right to bear arms pretty strongly. I've been hunting more than once in the past, and I'm going to a shooting range with some folks in L.A., and I'm looking forward to it because I haven't been in ages. I've probably forgotten almost everything I know. I am also pro-choice, and, although I don't talk about it much, aggressively anti death penalty. The assumption that one political belief or fact about my life means that the rest of my views can be easily and obviously predicted isn't accurate or fair.

2. I give a great deal of money relative to my income to a number of organizations each year. These include Lambda Legal Defense, various political campaigns, and specific Donors Choose programs. Some of my Holiday gifts this year will probably be from Heifer International, and I am also planning on donating to Clitoraid and a few others. I go to protests and work for causes I believe in when I can, which is less than I would like. The idea that I am just whining in my journal and not doing anything about the issues I care about, when I give money and time in addition to speaking on these topics on panels and such when I have the opportunity to do so is ludicrous. Also, this journal is a platform. Maybe not a very big one, but I know it sometimes mobilizes people to take action when they might not have otherwise. So hey!

3. I'm not sure how to even address the whole "you're lazy/poor/use your disease as an excuse" thing when it's also put up next to "you're a horrible elitist" thing that also goes on around here. Look, I had a fantastic education, in large part through luck, and got out of college without debt mostly through hard work and a good scholarship. I'm privileged not to have certain financial burdens and to have parents that took risks to make my life different from theirs. I'm old-fashioned and arguably conservative in my feelings about tradition, language and even clothing in ways that I am coming to recognize can sometimes feel fail-y to other people. I am trying to stand by who and what I am, which is something very complicated and something I'm very proud of, while also trying to fail better. I resent a society that measures my worth by how much money I make or what professional success I have, and despite how much I brag here, I largely don't talk about the fact that I work hard and make money in a way that really should preclude some stripes of Republicans from saying I don't count because I'm not self-reliant. If this paragraph is intensely confusing, that's because sometimes I'm intensely confused by people's assumptions about me.

Yuletide sign-ups are open; I need to get on that.

In less than two months, Patty and I leave for our cruise.

Which reminds me (since Patty asked for cruise book recs yesterday), does anyone have any YA fic recommendations in Spanish? I'm doing a lot of Spanish-language reading for my job lately, and I'd like to continue to develop that skill. Without a dictionary, I think my reading level is probably at about the 8th-grade level, but that's not really easy yet. So I think that's sort of the level of thing I am looking for.

Comments

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

Re: the serial killer coverage.

It seems about normal at this point. Not that I keep track of such things. But it doesn't seem any different than any other coverage.

[delle.livejournal.com]

I don't pretend to be any kind of expert, but from where I'm sitting (admittedly Clueless White Girl so there's definately a possibility I'm missing something) I've seen lots of TV coverage of the Ohio horror. And a lot of media fussing (which is a bad word, because these questions need to be asked) about why he wasn't being watched closer by authorities.

The thing I haven't heard about is the rape in California. If I didn't read blogs and newsfeeds on the Net, I never would have heard about it. That troubles me.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've been mostly reading online news about the Ohio thing, and it seems more buried on the webpages than I'd expect. I'd been largely missing TV coverage, so that may be a factor there.

Thanks!

[sykii.livejournal.com]

My brain parsed "hamthrax" as "anthrax for hamsters."

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hamthrax is my favorite random Internet slang EVER.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I feel really, really terrible.

I almost got a chuckle from the fact that the county Coroner in the Ohio serial killer situation is named Frank Miller.

Also, the whole "why does this neighborhood smell so awful?" "Oh, it's the sausage factory" thing is right out of fiction.

YIKES.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Patty filled me in on the sausage factor last night. I couldn't get over it.

[vichan.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Interesting take on the topic - there's been plenty of coverage here in Cleveland (obviously), so I hadn't really noticed that it's not being covered in the national news.

On one hand, there's the chance that society has been growing numb to it. I kind of feel like if this had happened a decade ago it would be all over the news. (I also noticed yesterday that CNN's list of "most popular topics" had some story on Jessica Simpson at the top, and Cleveland's serial killer was listed fourth. I'll refrain from making a cynical comment on that.)

Around here, there is a LOT of discussion popping up about race on this case, and the discussion has nothing to do with the media. If you check out the articles on the topic at the Plain Dealer, take a look at the comments. The discussion in the comments turns to race on every single article.

A lot of blame is being placed on the police department. I don't think the police are racially driven to search/not search for missing persons, but I do think there were a hell of a lot things about this case that they could have done... better. There's going to be a whole lot of questions surrounding their reaction (or lack of) once this initial hype dies down. I'm predicting a royal reaming of the Cleveland police in a few months.


_{Also, the FBI has stated that the racial diversity among serial killers is pretty much the same as the US population. I'm trying to find where I remember reading that, but it was probably in one of my books on serial killers. *sigh*}

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the texture of beans still squicks me deep into my soul.

Thank Sk0d , I'm not the only one.

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

Me too! I try really hard, but the best I can do is puree them and hide them in chili.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I'm going to a shooting range with some folks in L.A.

I go on a fairly regular basis to a range here in NJ. If you want to come along some time let me know. I can provide toys.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I'd love to! NYC blows since you can only shoot a rifle without a carry permit and getting a carry permit is a clusterfuck around here.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'd like some discussion in the media of why the police might have decided, in that particular neighborhood, to ignore complaints about smell and assaulted women. I'm betting race is involved. I'd also like somebody to acknowledge that when women of the street disappear, NOBODY CARES, which has a lot to do why many serial killers (Green River!) go so long without serious investigation.

[rm.livejournal.com]

We live in a neighborhood where we see a lot of missing persons signs, clearly made my hand, all the time. It seems like a fact of life here, and I think people just assume you know, people aren't around because they've chosen not to be, but I think it's a hideous assumption and it worries me, not for my own safety, but just for the many possible implications.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Here's a YouTube of the thing you were trying to watch, I only hope it works.

[evil_plotbunny]

Re: Waters of Mars

Check my lj late Saturday/early Sunday for a locked post. ;)

[stephl.livejournal.com]

I hate, as much as I expected, that they've changed the WWII allegory to post-9/11 stuffs.

It's not even metaphor in this series -- the aliens (most of them) ARE terrorists. Or, I should say, the show is calling them terrorists right away, so there's no metaphor. And I have to admit I'm glad that they didn't try to make it a metaphor, because I don't think, in this specific show, that it would have been done with a deft, light touch. It would have been an overt, clunky, heavy-handed cliche.

That said, I'm curious to see how the show handles the literal terrorism.

I'm a sucker for the conflicted-priest storyline, so they've got my viewership for at least these first 4 episodes.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I think if the serial killer was killing white ladies or little girls, you would see more coverage.

Totally up for more serious reading later on if you want me to - I can volunteer on space detail, different sentence structure and Russian slang.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'm totally going to need you on Russian. But also, you were just going to get stuck with the thing anyway, as you do.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

Re: YA reading in Spanish:

Isabel Allende has a YA fantasy trilogy starting with Cuidad de las Bestias. I couldn't really get into it because it's one of those YAs that starts with the mother having cancer, but it's not a difficult read.

If you have not read Como Agua Para Chocolate, it's the first novel I managed to finish in Spanish. A really good read and not very difficult. I haven't read any of Laura Esquivel's other novels, though.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ex-adarog.livejournal.com]

Some stripes of Republican, I think, assume that if you work and are self-reliant, then you're going to define yourself by your job and it will be the most important thing in your life and you will talk (or write) about it all the time.

Which is no more true for me than it is for you.

[marcmagus]

Re V: I started to respond, then I realized I was more using your talking about V as a jumping off point for the post I wanted to make about it.

I totally agree with you about the "V's" thing; that's just weird. Especially since they've provided us with a perfectly good name to call them.

I actually thought it missed on those buttons, partly by a really early from-above view of the ship that made it less amazing, partly by giving us too much of a "they're really antagonistic" vision too quickly. There was definitely some great stuff mixed in there along those lines, though.

[weirdquark]

Apparently women make men stupid, but men don't make women stupid -- science says!

The article mentions the possibility of boys doing better at single-sex schools so they don't waste their time trying to get girls to pay attention to them.

That's funny, because I'm pretty sure I've heard it argued that women should go to single-sex schools because otherwise they waste their time trying to impress their male classmates. (I've also heard of studies that show boys do better in co-ed environments and girls do better in single-sex ones.)

Possibly we should just get the jump on "women are evil temptresses; science says so" people and start spreading the "men like to blame women when they [the men] won't take personal responsibility for their own actions and bad decisions" argument.

[rm.livejournal.com]

(I've also heard of studies that show ... girls do better in single-sex ones.)

Those are largely because studies have shown that teachers of both genders tend to call on male students more often. In a co-ed classroom, girls can disappear as part of the intellectual landscape. Even at the college level, where women significantly outnumber men in many programs.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Sandra Cisneros's books would fall under the YA category. I haven't read anything other than The House On Mango Street, but the summaries of her other books seemed pretty interesting. I'm also pretty sure most of them were originally written in Spanish.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

I would be the worst celebrity stalker ever. There are two ways I see celebrities:

1. Oh, they're a celebrity. Big deal. They seem normal to me. "Hi, how's it going? Yeah, that's right. I think you're just another person. I'll take your autograph, though. Liked you on that show." GDL falls into this category.

2. OMG I LOVE HIM/HER OMGWTFBBQ THEY'RE TWO FEET AWAY. I CAN'T EVEN LOOK OVER THERE. I couldn't even approach the Bruce Boxleitner table at D*C. Because! TRON! and Babylon 5! Ask the people I was with. They'll tell you. Ditto David Duchovny. I LOST MY SHIT AND COULDN'T EVEN LOOK AT HIM UP CLOSE. I suspect I would be like this around John Barrowman so it's just as well if I am never in the same room.

So I fail at stalking.

[franny-glass.livejournal.com]

I'd find some Christopher Pike books in a spanish language edition. Best YA books ever. (IMHO) :-)

[graene.livejournal.com]

re: Nano - My last few trips have made clear to me just how much I really grew up in the 'burbs despite identifying as a Chicagoan. However, I am still willing to be a critical reader in addition to the 'gimme book now' aspect of my interest.

on Spanish - no recs, but my sister has always sworn by getting copies of Agatha Christie's books in whatever language she's trying to immerse herself in as they tend to be easily available at used stores in that country and her memory of the original means she can skip carrying the dictionary around with her. Something you might try.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAAA! you read tony fic!
the name was purely incidental, i assure you (also, i had nothing to do with this, NOTHING!)

[count-to-seven.livejournal.com]

We honestly didn't realize the connection until after we'd already written it. Since it was actually the_hawk who named the hamster, we felt we had to go with it (how many long suffering non-fandom partners are willing to name your questionable fic characters?)

[sethg]

Regarding V: In his order assessing a $20,000 fine against a "Birther" attorney for filing frivolous motions in order to get President Obama's birth certificate, the judge remarked, in a footnote on page 27:

"The Court ... has actually received correspondence assailing its previous order in which the sender, who, incidentally, challenged the undersigned to a 'round of fisticuffs on the Courthouse Square,' asserted that the President is not human."

De facto President Obama must release his original X-ray films so we can see whether or not he is an alien lizard in human disguise. If not, we'll know he has something to hide.

[marcmagus]

sethg_prime++

[sociallyawkrd.livejournal.com]

RE: cruise let me know if you need anymore rambling information. There can be some tricks with CCL and it can be nice to know.

[rm.livejournal.com]

We're sailing Holland America (are they related), but any general stuff to watch out for is always helpful.

[sociallyawkrd.livejournal.com]

They aren't! For some reason I thought you were hitting CCL's private island and jumped to conclusions.

Pack extra hangers. That is the absolute best thing we did. I shoved them in every empty spot we had.

Make sure to get coral safe sunscreen if you do snuba or snorkel because it is pricey there.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Ahah.

I didn't know sunscreen had to be coral safe. Where do you even get that?