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.

[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]

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.

[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!

[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.

[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?

[rm.livejournal.com]

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

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Is there a sign up sheet? I'd like to get in on that, too.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yet another paving-stone on the road to hell.

[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.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Yes. This.

I've heard similar condescension from the anti-choice camp as well, and it's equally aggravating.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *sigh*

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

Aaaiieeowww. D:

[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.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

I remember the moment I realized Snape was 31 when he refereed Harry's Quidditch match and then spat on the ground. He was just a baby.

I thought the first couple of movies did a good job of making Rickman look like a younger man who was prematurely aged, before he got too old to pull that off.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

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

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Much as Rickman can't help but be awesome, I've been utterly impaled with flail since discovering Tim Roth was initially considered for the part (and declined to do Planet of the Apes - whoops). He'd have such a different energy it's hard to even imagine how that might have gone, but I really would have liked to see it.

[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.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

*nods* I hope someone with tech-knowledge was able to rip the YT to something that would be shareable and playable (apparently that is possible with some YTs).