sundries

[rm]

From the Department of Know Thy Enemy: Extremely triggering stuff about Pastor Jeff Owens who preaches that "we should stop burning flags and start burning fags."

Every time I see a casting notice for background players for a scene in a gay club that goes on and on about how actors must be comfortable with the scene and being perceived as gay in the role and must say so to be considered, I just want to weep. It's background work, and isn't it our job to pretend, and aren't we in New York City?

Votes on DADT repeal too close to call.

The two cadets receiving the highest honors in this year's graduating class at West Point are both women. (Scroll to the bottom, it's the last story).

Appearance-based discrimination. In the past, I've been told I'm not a team player for refusals to wear makeup in the workplace. These were jobs that involved sitting at a desk and writing and in no way required feminine performance. You know, except for the part where they did, because they people I worked with, whether they wanted to admit it or not, wanted something something pretty to look at. Every time I've been out of an office job and needed one, I have worried that I wouldn't be able to get one because I am not attractive enough in traditionally gendered ways, and am not capable of being such on a day in and day out basis - the disconnect, it shows. And the thing is, I'm pretty much way above average in looks, and yet, this type of shit terrifies me, and I don't think that's just because I'm neurotic. Telling, isn't it?

Harlem churches fight for survival.

In the wake of Diana Gabaldon's need to say something about fanfiction in the least informed or appropriate way possible, lots of other people have been weighing in on the subject of fanfiction, and I find most of the discussion annoys me: not just the fear, self-importance and people who aren't lawyers playing lawyer; but also, conversely, lots of people who support it or are neutral on it or squicked by it but get that it's an unavoidable part of cultural discourse going on in its defense. Like a lot of things that are up for discussion, I find myself less irritated by the content of the discussion than that the discussion is even happening. Not that it shouldn't be. It's just -- does anyone think this is a manner of discourse that is ever going to go away? Because it's always been here. If we say it's bad, will people stop dialoguing with narratives and artifices this way? Not gonna happen folks.

Does anyone have budget hotel recs in London? I could stay where Patty and I stayed, but it's, despite being a budget hotel, running at over 80 quid a night for when I'm there, and that's ABSURD (although, I may stay there anyway, as I loved the location). Zone 1 or Zone 2, clean, safe, no shared bathrooms.

Similarly, anyone have hotel recs for Bristol? I've a list of places from the Uni, but it's not helping me make decisions at all.

Last night on Buffy and Angel:

The Willow magic addiction plotline continues to blow and is stupid. The idea of the problem with magic being that it's bad or the easy way out, contradicts the rest of the show's mythology. The problem isn't magic; it's Willow.

Meanwhile, invisible Buffy for the win. Also, poor James Marsters. That's what we call a bad actor day.

And on Angel we have an episode that exists merely to get the cast into nice clothes. It's overwraught, and ridiculous and at times sort of moving. The facial expressions of the tragic ballerina as she danced were great. And every single moment of Wesley's life from here on out is going to be a misery, isn't it? I can't tell you how glad I'm watching this show now as opposed to at other points in my life.

So the dude with the watch and the nest of vampires and all that shit? It's like there was a storyline there and no one told us what the fuck it was. Dead boyfriend? Something that gets explained later? Really confusing and upsetting, actually, because of my suspicions of what it was and the total execution fail.

Comments

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

The last time we were in London, we booked through GoToday.com and managed to stay walking distance from kensington Town Hall and Portobello road at a very nice little hotel with enormous bathrooms. I can't recall the name of where we stayed, but if I find it, I'll let you know.

As far as appearance discrimination, I have been there (along with a dose of regional discrimination). When I first moved to New York, I had several temp agencies tell me that I couldn't get a job without direct NYC experience (for general clerical work, mind) unless I was willing to look a certain way. I had one woman tell me specifically, with gestures, that I needed to highlight my assets (and she indicated by chest) by wearing tailored dresses that also showed some leg. She told me it was a disgrace that I had worn a pantsuit to an interview.
I told her that my assets were my computer skills and walked out, but I really hit so many walls just because I had come here from the Midwest. I was called Dorothy at 90% of my interviews, and I was criticized for all kinds of random things - too heavy (was only about 130 at the time), too lightly-complected, nails too short, etc. People can be nasty creatures. :(

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hit reply before mentioning Buffy. I despised the magic as addiction plotline! I felt it was terribly insulting to just wreck such a positive and upbeat character to push their own personal writing agendas. If they wanted to deal with addiction, there were plenty of people who could have actually had a real (drug) addiction to deal with instead of suddenly making magic into heroin. At the time, I remember there being a big backlash against pagans because some dumbasses thought that this was further proof of how evil magic was. Having watched people go through major addictions, I thought it was trivialized and forced, and having grown up in a mostly pagan household, I was a ball of fury about the show I liked being so insulting.