sundries

[rm]

Our plane is still scheduled for tomorrow, but the fucking volcano erupted again overnight. We don't know what's going on. Current command decision is that if we get to the weekend with no end in sight and flights are getting out from the continent, to try to get to the mainland and see what we can do. Unless the airline specifically directs us to Spain, we'll probably head towards Amsterdam, as it's closer and we've more resources there.

The French government has also announced that getting its people home is a priority, while the US government position remains "keep in touch, bye bye."

If you need help or can offer help related to volcano displacement and travel delays, visit http://volcanohelp.eu/

Patty's feeling a lot better, but I now have her cold.

Last night we ate in this _amazing_ Sicilian restaurant we found in an alley. Patty ordered the spaghetti carbonara that the menu said helps to maintain David Hasslehoff's good looks (he's apparently been to the restaurant several times as evidenced by photos on the wall). I had grilled sausage and lentils in gravy marinara-type sauce.

Some days are like this: Ianto Jones (_IantoJones) is now following your tweets on Twitter. *headdesk* Which one of you is it?

We've started Buffy S5 and Angel S2.

IS THERE NOTHING RTD DID NOT LIFT FROM Angel? I mean, down to the fucking camera angles. And then at one point Lorne says to Angel, "Love the coat," and I thought I was losing my mind. By the way, I love Lorne with every fiber of my being.

Also: Angel/Cordelia/Wesley -- still _so_ doing it. Although I see strain there, since this Wesley/Gunn bickering thing is so ridiculous, and Cordelia has her weird thing with SuperRich Nerd and Angel's shit with Darla is so about to hit the fan. Why, why, why is there not any awesome poly fic about all this shit?

Yesterday the crap fandomsecrets thread was about trans identities. Today it's ljsecrets in with one about genderqueer identities. If you have something to add, it might be a good thing.

Amazon.com made a grant to an LGBTQ writing retreat. Anyone know if this is a sort of apology for AmazonFail?

A pregnant ten-year-old, raped by her stepfather, is now the focus of the abortion debate in Mexico.

More as it happens....

Comments

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

God, the flight thing is just rubbish, isn't it? And there's a constant sense of incredulity for me, watching the news and feeling baffled and helpless and very faintly hysterical at the thought that my travel plans hinge on A VOLCANO IN ICELAND. I mean, granted it's not invasion by daleks, but it's still pretty bloody ridiculous.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's also frustrating because it seems we COULD chase airport openings around Europe to get out, but it would cost us thousands of dollars, but unreliable and a lot less comfortable than what we're experiencing now. It's hard to know what to do.

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

Word. Yesterday I did find myself wondering about the viability of returning to Bangkok overland - but that would be in the event of things staying like this for a LONG time, and I'm hoping and assuming that they won't. It does feel a little like one's caught up in the opening acts of some epic disaster movie (or, well, in my case a black comedy), but I'm still working on the assumption that it will All Sort Itself Out Somehow.

::headdesk::

[alterjess.livejournal.com]

I sincerely hope you won't need this info, but Seat 61 (http://www.seat61.com/sitemap.htm) does have guides on getting from Europe to Asia without flying.

[torenheksje.livejournal.com]

Ah, that would explain our skies again this morning. I think you two need to start house-hunting in the UK at this rate. How frustrating!

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

I so hoped someone would make that icon.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

I loved your response in the genderqueer discussion.

Hope your flight situation gets resolved soon. It's so weird reading about it, because we're just so unaffected by it here -- I mean, obviously a lot of people have had their travel plans disrupted (apparently GDL is stuck here, lol), but our airports are all normal, our mail is normal, etc.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I do so hope you get out tomorrow - but, just in case you don't, I'd like to suggest two linked London secrets to check out. Wish I'd thought to tell you about them earlier. Sir John Soane's Museum is in Holborn, on the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields (note that the inns of court are lovely to visit in themselves). He was a neoclassical architect who remodeled this house in the late 18th C for his family and his considerable collection of art and antiquities, most of which is still in its original setting.

And he and his wife are buried - under a monument he designed, which is said to've inspired the look of the old red phone boxes - in the second secret spot: the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church, in Pancras Road just NW of the Eurostar station. Also originally buried there was the Chevalier d'Eon, the famous transgender French spy, along with the feminists Mary Wollestonecraft and William Godwin and several other semi-notables. It's an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

HR rumors, supported (?) by two instances that I'm aware of, say Amazon seems to be making a fair number of openly queer hires for mid-range positions but I have no idea if it is a recruitment policy, a couple of queer managers reaching out, or completely random.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Gosh it really has been years since I've seen Angel. I wonder if one of the reasons I clutched onto Torchwood was also due to Nostalgia, though I was never really into Wesely as I was/am into Ianto. I recognise certain parallels, but with Torchwood I had a feeling of freedom and with Angel there was a feeling of constant restraint, if you catch my drift.

Why is abortion, especially in those circumstances, even a debate?! *boggles* I know this makes me sound heartless, but the cut-off date of the abostion in the article is so totally arbitrary seeing as it wouldn't be viable at this point any way and down to the very core of the issue, this little girl is alive in vivo and not in potential!

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's funny, because you know I identify with Jack and not Ianto at all, whereas with Angel I don't identify with Angel at all, but spend a lot of time being all "I don't hate myself as much as Wesley. I don't. I swear!"

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Awww, if it's any comfort I think you're more graceful that Wesley.

Being the baby that I am it's only now-ish that I'm getting Angel, which I didn't before. It's true it's an adult oriented show, which I didn't grok at the time and I see Buffy so differently than I did ten years ago.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am more graceful than Wesley, but the wounds are similar and the peptalks I give people are almost identical.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Yep, I get the same way with Willow, which for years people have told me I'm exactly like... which is bothersome on many levels.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

I ♥ Lorne.

N.
(I don't have an Angel specific icon, sooooo....)

[kayleigh-jane.livejournal.com]

Just fyi, flights are leaving for JFK as of tomorrow from Schiphol.
London-Schiphol Airport is about five hours by train (see the NS Hispeed website (http://www.nshispeed.nl/en/england/london-by-train)).

If you need any help while in the Netherlands, let me know, allright?

[laufeyette.livejournal.com]

Lorne ♥♥♥

[firinel.livejournal.com]

you and naamah_darling are much more eloquent at saying almost exactly what I would've bumbled at saying.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

IS THERE NOTHING RTD DID NOT LIFT FROM Angel?

I suppose it depends on if you mean, "Is there any aspect of Torchwood that isn't an homage to Joss Whedon?" or "Is there anything in Angel that did not wind up in Cardiff with its serial numbers filed off?"

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

This!

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"IS THERE NOTHING RTD DID NOT LIFT FROM Angel?"

Not a thing.

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

Lorne is, without a doubt, the shiniest gem in that show.

Andy Hallet was so so deeply talented and I miss him more than I ever did Glenn Quinn. With quinn it was almost a foregone conclusion (scuttlebut of the drug use had been swirling around...hey, I live in an Industry Town, what can I say).

But Hallet's death just knocked me sideways out of left field.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I know. He is one of the people I still moutn, like Jim Henson.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Lorne is amazing, and in S3 (what the hell season am I on now?) he has an AMAZING two-parter. IT ONLY MAKES YOU LOVE HIM MORE.

[natf.livejournal.com]

…and, eventually, miss Andy Hallet all the more. Lorne was the best thing about "Angel".

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Your posts have been especially fascinating -- what stories you'll have to tell! Which makes me wonder if you've seen this, "an open call to designers, writers, photographers, illustrators, art directors and anyone else who is stranded by the ash cloud, and would like something to do."

I hope you make it home soon!

[elisi]

And then at one point Lorne says to Angel, "Love the coat," and I thought I was losing my mind.
I swear, when Ianto uttered those immortal words, I almost fell off the sofa! (As did every other AtS fan who was now watching TW. And then we didn't stop squeeing for a very long time! ♥)

And oh I miss Lorne. I mean, I miss them all, but Lorne hurts more.

Also - air travel, yay! Hope this means you'll get back home soon.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

And oh I miss Lorne. I mean, I miss them all, but Lorne hurts more.

*nod*

There's one for me that might hurt more, but that would be spoilery.

I still sometimes think about the last scene of the show and wonder when the hell we're gonna get to see What Happens Next?

[elisi]

I still sometimes think about the last scene of the show and wonder when the hell we're gonna get to see What Happens Next?
You could read 'After the Fall'? Flawed, but good.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

IS THERE NOTHING RTD DID NOT LIFT FROM Angel?

Apparently not.

And then at one point Lorne says to Angel, "Love the coat," and I thought I was losing my mind.

I'd totally forgotten about that.

By the way, I love Lorne with every fiber of my being.

Me too! Lorne's awesome.

[paulshandy.livejournal.com]

Yes, Lorne was a useful addition to the show. He is both the audience and author avatar at the same time. As the author avatar, he can say things to keep the plot moving, but as the audience avatar he can observe the show's goings on and comment on them the way we wish to: to the characters instead of to the screen. He likes them but is not one of them, so can say things they won't say to each other. Plus, they gave him style. The only problem with the character is the ill-defined extent of his powers. They are like the sensors on Star Trek: only as good as the story needs them to be.

But some of his lines just made me wish to do the dance of joy. (You'll get the joke later). He was far more useful as a character than as a psychic.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

Lorne is my favorite character in the Buffyverse.

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

IS THERE NOTHING RTD DID NOT LIFT FROM Angel?

Nope. Reading your posts has reminded me how extremely similar the shows could be. There was a gap of a year or two between Angel and Torchwood for me, so I saw the similarities, but it wasn't as acute as how you're seeing them, I don't think. I'd forgotten about Lorne saying "Love the coat."

Lorne was all-around wonderful. One of my favorite characters on the show (though I liked them all, for the most part).

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

The story about the pregnant girl makes me sick. That poor girl. :(

Also, Lorne is pretty great. :)