sundries

[rm]

After a few brutal days of work today is slated to be normal. Even light. Which means Patty and I will see each other before dark, go out and do something nice, etc. And while I do need to work a bit this weekend, I will also have time for things like laundry and doing the cleaning necessary to put some new furniture in place.

Okay. I don't have to decide about this Cardiff business now. In fact, it can wait a few weeks, and, even more than that, if I flip out and decide to change my mind about it last minute, I can afford to do so, so for now, I'm just going to Let It Go. Is it wrong that I care more about getting gluten-free Fabulous Welsh Cakes than the Ianto-factor? Why, WHY is that a sentence in my life?

Best compliment on the paper yet? "It makes me want to watch Torchwood." For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available. Now that I've done feeling not-ready-for-prime-time about it, I'll keep you posted.

I know some of you have been eying the Thomas Canty art on debsliverlovers. Prices have just been dropped on two of the original drawings. Everything by him there is still a steal. If you haven't visited the auction recently you should.

It is strange to think that big, faraway objects in the solar system actually look different now than when I was a kid. It's sort of like going to the Upper East Side and being all "hey, remember when this was such-and-such restaurant" but, you know, JUPITER.

We come from the stars: a newly discovered type of supernova explains why we have calcium in our bones.

China's most famous swinger sentenced to three years in jail. It the New York Times, be prepared for annoying tonal quality.

Meanwhile, a teacher who got in trouble for allowing her eighth grade students to use the sexual slang they understood in a lesson regarding HIV has won an initial court ruling on the subject. Absurdly, what she did conforms with state regulations on how to teach the unit and she was dismissed for "use of language that tends to cause fear, physical or mental distress." WHUT?

It seems that me, you, and the whole of the Internet has been super cantankerous over the last few days. Which isn't to say we all shouldn't be or that I'm apologizing. I've just noticed a personal sense, and I think I'm not alone in this, that the uncomfortable issues many of us wind up discussing here have led to more upset and difficulty than in the past. I'm not sure what it is, other than the more unpleasant cousin of Outrage Fatigue. I wish it didn't feel like that.

BP is behaving very badly. There's how they've treated the rig survivors, preventing journalists from doing their damn jobs, and their lies or total incompetence about how much oil is really spilling. Also would someone please ask racist Rand Paul to explain why he thinks Obama criticizing BP, a foreign company, is unAmerican? Wait, please don't. I'm sick of all this "any random bullshit anyone says is true" game.

Metafilter helps save two women from human trafficking. via shadesong.

Bill O'Reilly, trans people, Ewoks, WHUT?????

Deadline for Dragon*Con academic programming is May 30. I should totally submit something, but have no idea what. I should probably take on another piece of the Great Death Project, but I'm enjoying my brief break from it right now. Does anyone have any thoughts on anything they'd like me to have a go at at D*C?

I always feel bad because I don't tend to take on comics in any of my pop-culture work, and the D*C academic track is rightfully wanting comics content. There is a whole comics component to the Death Stuff (in large part thanks to Wendy Pini's awesomeness at Gallifrey, who gave me multiple places to start), so I could totally submit on that, but it's A Lot of Work, that I possibly don't want to be doing this summer before Patty's off traveling a lot.

Last night on Buffy: "Tabula Rasa." I really, really, love Spike/Buffy. And Giles/Anya wasn't so bad either. And hey, this is so where RTD got retcon. Also, Willow, you are a dumbass.

Comments

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Outrage Fatigue is a really good name for it; it sums up the way I've been feeling at any rate. I shall likely be crooking that particular descriptive in the future!

Calcium? Hmm. I thought we were billion year old carbon!

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

I really, really, love Spike/Buffy.

YAY. They are my favorite times a billion! =D

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I LOVE Spike/Buffy, even when it's not pretty or easy, but this very moment is so, so pretty. And I can finally use this icon here! ;)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available. Now that I've done feeling not-ready-for-prime-time about it, I'll keep you posted.

Does a happy dance!!!!!!! YAY!

I cannot wait to show my IRL TW friends your paper :D And be able to cite in the future!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?!

[iterum.livejournal.com]

That Metafilter thing is amazing.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available.

Awesome! I look forward to it.

Giles/Anya wasn't so bad.

I like Giles/Anya rather a lot, actually, though I'd never have thought of it prior to "Tabula Rasa." And I think you're right on the retcon.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I have way too much love for the Spuffy. As you know.

And this show does not go easy on it. Which I love. Which some people hate. And there are ugly moments. I'm interested to see how you respond to them.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

I've been crankier lately because I've finally stopped hiding my inner crank. :-) No, seriously, it's a good sign. I need to stop bottling this shit up.

On the teacher who got hauled into court for doing her job: man, I want a neatly transcribed list of those words, including the two Yiddishisms for the male sexual organ.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

It's sort of like going to the Upper East Side and being all "hey, remember when this was such-and-such restaurant" but, you know, JUPITER.

I LOL'ed. :D

Tabula Rasa is a great ep and I share your opinions on it. The next five eps are completely... WHOAH.

[elisi]

For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available.
Hurrah!

It seems that me, you, and the whole of the Internet has been super cantankerous over the last few days.
Yeah. I've opted out and am sitting on the back porch with Buffy and Spike.

Last night on Buffy: "Tabula Rasa." I really, really, love Spike/Buffy.
Oh I am SO looking forward to seeing what you think of the rest of the season, partly because I am a Spuffy shipper who fell for Jack/Ianto, when I thought I'd never fall for another 'ship in the same way. I just like my couples messed up... (Spike/Buffy make Jack/Ianto look healthy. No really.)

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

It seems that me, you, and the whole of the Internet has been super cantankerous over the last few days. Which isn't to say we all shouldn't be or that I'm apologizing. I've just noticed a personal sense, and I think I'm not alone in this, that the uncomfortable issues many of us wind up discussing here have led to more upset and difficulty than in the past.

My fault, sorry! I infected the internet with my PMS.

Won't happen again.

[sevendayloan.livejournal.com]

"Tabula Rasa." I really, really, love Spike/Buffy. And Giles/Anya wasn't so bad either. And hey, this is so where RTD got retcon. Also, Willow, you are a dumbass.

Yeah, pretty much all of this. Though you know, I think I might be the only one didn't hate the magic abuse storyline. I mean, I don't love it or anything, but at the very least it convinced me to never ever get addicted to drugs. *thumbs up*

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

"For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available."

Awesome!

"Does anyone have any thoughts on anything they'd like me to have a go at at D*C?"

Sure! I'll throw a suggestion out there: something about rebooting in relation to characters (not necessarily character death)? It seems to me like the model for popular US comics, TV series and action heroes is to go through lots of reboots. When either the character or the setting changes too much from the original, the entire thing just gets started over again from scratch. But the Whoniverse seems different because the rebooting is very self-conscious, sort of tongue-in-cheek. I go through periods when I hate rebooting because it just leads to the same story getting told over and over again, but if you love the big character-driven epic type of stuff, the appeal is unavoidable... anyway, that's the type of thing I'd love to hear your analysis on, although there may already be a lot of papers on it that I don't know about.

[rednwhiterose.livejournal.com]

Also would someone please ask racist Rand Paul to explain why he thinks Obama criticizing BP, a foreign company, is unAmerican?

I promise, not all of us from Kentucky are crazy. Cross my heart. Also, this article talks about how Paul's civil rights comments when unnoticed by the national media (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100520/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2167_13). An interesting read, if nothing else.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Metafilter helps save two women from human trafficking

Wow, that's amazing and wonderful.

Last night on Buffy: "Tabula Rasa."

I enjoyed that episode, but dear gods the season takes an extreme nosedive after that. OTOH, the Buffy/Spike stuff remains interesting, if also on occasion very Joss.

[angstzeit.livejournal.com]

I think the Rand Paul thing is quite telling. The right wing people like him keep telling their followers it's about America and Jesus, when their real god is money.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I get you on the outrage fatigue. I have semi-regular brown outs where there's so much shit happening that I just want to say "shit is happening. Again. Like it always has and like it always bloody will because people are evil, vile creatures" then I spend a few days getting extremely drunk and being very hermitty.

[lorem_ipsum]

For those of you asking, the conference is apparently going to make all the papers web-available.

I'm glad to hear that, because I'm wildly curious about your paper.

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

Woah! I use that exact exercise in translating slang into medical terminology (as well as breaking the ice) when I teach about HIV/AIDS!

For cripes sakes it is is nationally recognized sexuality ed curricula!

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I found it illuminating that Tabula Rasa Spike imagined he was Angel, essentially.

honestly, Giles/Anya makes more sense than Xander/Anya.

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting the thread from Metafilter. Hey, it even made the Newsweek blog.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

That metafilter post is incredible. Definitely going to boost the signal on it later.