sundries

[rm]

Just got email about my 20th high school reunion. How is that even possible? On the survey about possible dates for it, it offered a list of check-boxes for why we might be attending including things like "reconnecting with friends" and "networking." I resisted saying something intolerably snarky in the "other" box.

If you are a New York resident wishing to contact your state senator about the possible gay marriage vote today, Empire State Pride Agenda makes it easy. Thanks regyt. You think, "hey, it's New York, this'll be easy." Wrong, aside from all sorts of weird state politics that this thing has gotten tangled up with, New York is actually a largely conservative state on social issues that just happens to have New York City (and apparently Albany and its environs) attached to it. And then there's this guy. In the Bronx.

jimhines has some interesting things to say about unconscious bias and the all-male Publisher's Weekly list.

via lipsum: AMA comes out against DADT.

Scalzi on why writers are often broke. I can't really emphasize enough how poorly most types of writing pay. Once you have multiple books out that you've earned out your advance on and are providing you with regular meager royalty checks, things start to get better, but do you know how hard it is to develop that sort of income stream? And how long it takes? And I say that as someone who doesn't have a lot stuff out there and still makes more dosh from writing than a lot of writers I know for a variety of weird reasons.

Deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This! This is the universe as it lives in my heart. ETA: new working link

Last night, while in the midst of a very bizarre phone call and simultaneously cooking dinner, I accidentally stabbed my thumb with a knife. Today it hurts a tad.

Dude makes his garage cosplay PanAm.

It bugs me so much that journalists can't seem to figure out the difference between hijab, niqab and burqua.

Comments

[manycolored.livejournal.com]

The Capital region is pretty liberal!

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

Aside from poor pay, writers (and freelance artists) pay out the nose to cover self-employment tax. seanan_mcguire has been posting about her recent experiences with this.

[rm.livejournal.com]

As someone who just spent years paying off over 10K of IRS debt, oh I know.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

The part of the Diaz article that made my jaw drop was this:

"...My religion is against gay marriage. It means, I don’t agree with what you do. But let’s go out. Let’s go to the movies. Let’s be friends."

I don't even know how to begin to deal with this.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I'd like to deal a very swift kick to that condescending ass.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The expectation that we're supposed to be grateful buddies to those who would judge us brutally and use faith as an excuse and shield, aggravates me beyond the telling of of it.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yet another paving-stone on the road to hell.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Mr. Diaz you are a bigot. Plain and simple. And I don't associate with bigots.

I wonder what his reaction would be if I say that my faith believes that black people are inferior to white people (it doesn't, just postulating)?

Would he want to be my friend and have a drink with me?

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

One thing that has kicked me and many writers I know in the ass is the IRS. Saving adequately for taxes at year end is *much* more difficult than people estimate. When you're chronically waiting for pittance checks keeping up with month-to-month expenses looms much larger than the quarterly or yearly check you need to send to the IRS. Even if you religiously manage to sock away 1/3 of what you earn, it sometimes turns out not to be enough in a weird way you weren't anticipating.

Not to mention the relative ease of doing taxes when you have an employer and an easy return. Doing taxes as a contractor and self-employed person with a variety of income streams is a whole level of pain different.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Word. I rarely have fewer than 10 1099s, W-2s etc.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Contemplating the “other” box: “‘Don’t say revenge, don’t say revenge...’ ‘Revenge!’ ‘That’s it, I’m outta here.’ [SFX: footsteps, door slamming.]” I would also be strongly tempted to write in “gloating.”

Oh man, why were those 90 seconds cut? That sequence is what movies are for!

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's it beautiful? And while Alan Rickman always was too old for the part, it's the only moment where I really get that sense of the fact that the HP universe is about the tragedy of young men. I can see it there. WHY DID THEY CUT THAT?

[marita-c.livejournal.com]

Deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This! This is the universe as it lives in my heart.

>:(

They deleted THIS!?
I promised myself that I was done being angry about that movie. Guess not.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Alan Rickman. Thank you, rm, for linking to such a perfect example of how actors bring much more depth to a role than what ends up on the screen.

I hear you on New York politics. I'm in Philly, which is really part of New Jersey as far as Pennsylvania politics are concerned.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Rickman was, like most of the adult HP actors, always too old for the role (these are young men when the series opens; Snape dies before his 40th birthday), but here I can see that this was supposed to be the tragedy of young men in his eyes, and I'm SO PISSED IT WAS CUT.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

That deleted scene was, I dunno, only one of the most important scenes in the movie?

It was heartbreakingly shot, told all that we needed to know from the ground's POV, and they excised it? Boo.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

It looks like the vote probably won't go forward after all.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

The HP deleted scene has been taken down from YouTube. *sigh* Hopefully it'll turn up again (soon, I mean) because judging by the comments here, it was awesome.

[rm.livejournal.com]

try now. I've just changed the link to a new one that's working at the moment.

[iamradar.livejournal.com]

That link you posted from Scalzi hits every nail right on the head and then some.

I was volunteering at the World Fantasy Convention this past weekend and wow, this list could be quite the "bingo" card. I even include myself in this...math is not my friend, and I have trusted people with my money in the past that now I would not even trust to feed my cat.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

It bugs me so much that journalists can't seem to figure out the difference between hijab, niqba and burqua.

In general, or American ones?

[rm.livejournal.com]

At the moment, Wall Street Journal ones in particular. I see it a lot in US media though.

[spicklething.livejournal.com]

Of all of the hacking out of important imagery from HBP to make the film, why in the world did they decide to leave THIS out?

*head desk*

At the very least, it would have made a truly haunting preview. It sets the tone!

As for Rickman being far too old for the role, since I adore him as Snape and he truly has made the role his own, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that he is twenty years too old for the role. Because a HP film 'verse without Rickman would be just wrong.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I was stunned by the scene where the HBP revealed xirself to Harry, and I was thinking "You're the what now? Oh, right, the title of the movie. Now I have to re-read the book to remember why I used to care." So not only was it too much editing, but they didn't even go after the right stuff.

I think cutting that scene is a metaphor for the lost potential of the entire movie franchise. It's like they must have realized that it was too beautifully artistic and therefore would alienate a teenage audience. It still makes me cringe how they can hire Dame Maggie Smith for six movies and never give her a scene that is worthy of her talents.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Scalzi hits it on the head again.

I have 7 novels currently out. This year? I've made $2000.
Which is about what I make on my day job in a month, after taxes and insurance.

And the Harry Potter link is wonderful.

[sethg]

When I was an undergrad I took a class in SF writing from Joe Haldeman. In the first class he reported that according to government statistics, the only occupation that made less than "writer" was "migrant farm worker".

I am finally returning to fiction writing after a hiatus of years, not because I expect that my sterling prose will earn me Dan-Brown-like riches, but because OMG THE PLOTBUNNIES ARE EATING MY BRAIN.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

My 10 year reunion was meant to be in 2008. I got no contact re: such an affair, and eventually touched base with a friend who still lived in town about what happened. Apparently my graduating class did not have a 10 year reunion. There was just a random gathering of alums.

I can't help but feel a little bit cheated somehow.

Also, I cannot say enough good things about Jim Hines. The man's been awesome to me on a personal level, helpful to me when I have questions about writing and publication, and he's committed as hell to his causes. Plus, his books are a hell of a lot of fun.

It bugs me so much that journalists can't seem to figure out the difference between hijab, niqba and burqua.

Indeed. IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, PEOPLE.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

My ten year reunion was apparently a lot like yours. The 20th just happened and I think many people did go. I did not. I would rather eat broken glass.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Wow, do I not miss living in the Bronx. EEK. Your poor thumb. Do you at least have fun bandaids?

[browneyedgirl65.livejournal.com]

That deleted scene is in the DVD?

Try not to stab yourself anywhere with a knife. It's an excellent general principle I try to live with myself :D

[rm.livejournal.com]

As an extra, yes, not re-edited in.

[dvanulya.livejournal.com]

Well, where I live, there are no hijabs, but shaylas. It's also niqab, not niqba. And a burkha is probably not what you call a burkha. But I could be wrong.

[rm.livejournal.com]

fixing embarrassing fail-y typo on niqab. Thank you.

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

I decided that I wasn't going to my 20th after there was a question about if any of us had grandchildren or not. Grandchildren. I'm 39! Fuck that. Alabama, gota love it

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

My mother had grandchildren by her 20th. OTOH, she also had stepdaughters.

Some people still marry and breed immediately after school.