sundries

[rm]

Last night Patty and I went out to a lovely dinner on a pier on the west side. This was marred only by how slammed they were, and so it took forever to get our order, which also would have been fine, had I not had to deal with other random pushy New Yorkers as I waited for it. Also, we should have brought jackets. When the sun went down it got cold fast. But I ate prosciutto wrapped asparagus and you didn't.

I've been trying to figure out where to stay in London. This is complicated by the completely intolerable hotel reviews people leave on sites. Last night I got fed up after I read "I will never book online again. In ethnic neighborhood! Not safe for women!" SO SO SO ANGRY, and yes, European hotels for solo travelers feature Very Small Rooms, get over it. Right now I'm thinking about the Easy Hotel in Victoria. Again, if I don't just go back to our place in Brick Lane. It arguable I felt so at home there because it was the first thing we saw in London, but I really, REALLY did, and really, REALLY didn't in a lot of the places I sort of felt like I "should."

Apparently building a mosque near the WTC site is controversial. The idea that this is somehow an issue is so offensive the mind boggles.

With the closure of St. Vincent's home birth is being rendered effectively illegal in NYC. nex0s has more.

Atlantis comes home for the last time.

The rent-controlled and rent stabilized apartments of NYC. FYI, while all such apartments are bargains, not all such apartments are bargains like that. Ours is stabilized and we pay $1450. My parent's place, which is huger and way more awesome than ours is also stabilized and I think they pay about $2200 now. This may be rude to discuss elsewhere, normal here.

Another subway hero.

Allies to US: Get Over It. Sometimes the hardest thing about dealing with life in the US is listening to all the fear, day in and day out, not just about gays, but about EVERYTHING. No wonder I have anxiety. No wonder we all do. It's the shark attack principle, and I hate it.

New York State again tries to pass a bill against anti-gay bullying and discrimination in schools. New York's dysfunctional senate will probably see its death. Again.

Hey, do you all know about Kickstarter? I should really, really consider this as an option for some of the projects I have lying around (everything from the chihuahua infestation mockumentary to where I want to take the mourning project next).

Last night on Buffy: Someone actually said "rape," Buffy & Spike are almost having a relationship, everything else is falling apart. The rape thing was both appropriate and necessary, and weirdly jarring, since Buffy spends a lot of time being about rape without talking about rape. So that was interesting. I also feel like I can't really comment on that aspect of this episode without having seen Dollhouse.

Comments

[sevendayloan.livejournal.com]

Which Buffy episode was this? I can't remember which one you're on.

I'm heartened to see that the anti-bullying bill has made it to senate at least, but the fact that it's "languishing" doesn't seem to be a good sign. Does the NY senate have a history of that sort of thing? [/ignorant Californian]

[rm.livejournal.com]

The New York State senate is very conservative. These things always pass the the Assembly and then stall out in the Senate, which is not only conservative but filled with criminals and corruption (not hyperbole -- it's got everything from constant ethics violations to various people on trial for domestic violence and then sometimes various senate factions decide to convene as a shadow senate and not in the proper senate in protest and NOTHING EVER GETS DONE).

For Buffy we are on "Dead Things."

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

My problems with the NY Legislature are on both sides of the aisle. There's no lack of bills that are passed by the Senate that die in the Assembly for lack of a sponsor (or at least it was like this in years past), and you surely have to "pay" Sheldon Silver to get anything through the Assembly. I think it's kind of a scam, so that legislators in both houses can appear busy to their constituents but still present a need for them to get re-elected so they can try again in the next session.

See, the thing about "Dead Things" that bugged me is that the Trio crossed the line but the dialog remains predominately about how they are still the same ol' goofy nerds who would just as soon debate which Star Trek captain was best as take over the world. And they haul out the trusty "all women are whores" anvil just in case we need to be reminded that they really are Bad Guys. For the love of me, I don't know if I like the Willow storyline or just hate it less passionately than The Trio, Buffy/Spike, and screwing around with Dawn.

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

See, the thing about "Dead Things" that bugged me is that the Trio crossed the line but the dialog remains predominately about how they are still the same ol' goofy nerds who would just as soon debate which Star Trek captain was best as take over the world.

I think that's actually fairly accurate to the severe "Nice Guy" types. Rather than admit they've done something horrible, they find ways to rationalize what they've done & who they are.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Agreed - while I hated all of Season 6 after the musical, I found Dead Things noticably less bad, and think that the episode did a good job of showing that Warren really was an utterly monstrous person and that the other two were complicit by ignoring this and going along with him.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Goddamn, has Atlantis really been in service for a quarter century? Well done, NASA.

[elisi]

Oh Dead Things. One of my favourite episodes ever. I don't have time to delve into it, so I'll link to this excellent meta, which highlights the parallels to 'Life Serial' (amongst other things). No spoilers (except some very, very vague ones), although avoid the comments. Oh, and it always breaks my heart the way the scene in the alley mirrors the Faith-Buffy's-body beating up herself...

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

OMG! Thanks for the link to the meta! It's the type of discussion I love!

[elisi]

Totally my pleasure! (I love me some meta too, but it was tricky finding something non-spoilery.)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

The idea that this is somehow an issue is so offensive the mind boggles.

Totally agreed. If nothing else, besides being a place of worship, I've heard it's being pitched as a general community amenity in a neighborhood that (ime) rather loses out between the Financial District and TriBeCa's toniness. I can see the CB's anxiety about pulling down and rebuilding on the lot rather than gutting and retaining a characteristic structure of the neighborhood, but that's an issue the community needs to thrash out on its own merits without added Islamophobia seasoning.

[beccaelizabeth]

they actually said rape in some broadcasts. not so much on the early evening one on the BBC.
http://www.slayageonline.com/essays/slayage8/Burr.htm
paragraphs 9 and 10

I remember the essay, I don't now remember if I even watched the BBC evening broadcast

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna stick my head out here as one who (barely) made it through Season One of Dollhouse and could not make herself go back for a second helping of Season Two (and yes, I know the big Boyd spoiler, which only reinforces my decision not to have seen that).

For me, at least, Dollhouse goes off on a weird tangent from Whedon's other work. I found it to be much more heavyhanded in its Sex Trafficking Bad message, and much more disjointed to show this by having the main characters (both male and female) run around in skimpy clothing.

Really, it came off to me as Wolfram and Hart: Division of Sex Trafficking.

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

Wow... I hadn't heard that news about homebirthing in NYC. that's INCREDIBLY unfortunate and makes me really mad. :-/ Also sad that this is the first I've heard of it.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I had the same trouble looking for a hotel in London. I finally chose one near Kensington Palace because I want to go to that exhibition you talked about. Also, I don't want to do a whole lot of 'here, there and everywhere' in my tourism this time around. Speaking of that exhibition, does one need to buy tickets ahead of time, as in now, or can I wait until I get to London?

[rm.livejournal.com]

You can wait to do it until you get there. We just walked in and did it without a problem. And yay, I am so excited that someone else I know will go see it.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

By the way, what kind of advice do you have for a solo traveler in London? I'm generally used to having someone help me navigate, and I won't have that on this trip. I'll probably end up being the dumb tourist standing in the way while she tries to figure out where she is.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The second you get to the airport but a "London A to Z". It is an absolutely IMPOSSIBLE city to navigate without. Also, be aware that those Tube maps are not to scale and lots of things are just a block or two away from each other but seem farther on the map, so it helps to look at the A to Z to figure out if you should be on the Tube or not.

Despite my frustration at not having anything resembling a grid system there, my gut feeling on which direction would be interesting was oddly nearly constantly reliable, FYI.

Also, at night while I did not feel unsafe, the level of public drunkenness was much higher than I am used to experiencing and I felt more on guard against male harassment because of it, although women seem to be no more a target than any other passing object.

Also, be sure to buy your ticket to Cardiff online way in advance, as the train fares go up very fast in the week before travel and can get prohibitively expensive.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

The lack of a grid system was something a friend of mine commented on as being a challenge. In terms of major cities, I'm most used to New York and Chicago, which are very very grid-oriented. I have an iPad now, so I've been downloading London apps onto it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It is the least grid-y place EVER. Sydney's pretty non grid, but that was absolutely EASY compared to London, which, if anything, felt like a non-grid version of DC -- like I had to walk the wrong way to get where I was going, a lot (a comment that may not make sense unless you're a DC person).

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Thinking more about this, I think my main issue when traveling, esp. traveling along, is sensory overload. It's a big issue for me anyway, and it's worse in situations where I don't quite know what I'm doing or where I'm going. And that's why I do tend to rely on gridded street systems a lot. I love places like New York with numbered streets.

[m-nivalis.livejournal.com]

If you have difficulty navigating, I suggest using the bus and not only the tube*. That way you can visualise where you're going, and not have the Moment of Lost (TM) when you exit a tube station by a different exit than last time and end up not knowing in what direction you ought to be going. You can download bus route maps (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/maps/buses/busdiagrams.asp) (the central London area map ought to be enough for most touristy stuff) on Transport for London's web page. The area map also shows the tube lines, which may come in handy.

Also, I second rm in checking where exactly the tube stations are IRL, as sometimes it's easier to walk to another station than trying to change lines.

*: Obviously the tube is quicker, particularly if you go longer distances or in rush hour.

[weirdquark]

My roommate and I stayed in a hostel by the British Museum a few years ago. I don't know if they have any age restrictions, and if you have one of the multi-person rooms, you do need to deal with college students looking for drunken hook-ups, but being right across the street from the British Museum and within walking distance from the West End was pretty awesome.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Because of the nature of my celiac disease, I can't really do hostel environments.

[justpat.livejournal.com]

I will do all that I can to help get this chihuahua film made. The world must know the truth!

sex messages

[ronieprocter.livejournal.com]

Cheers for writing about this. FYI - here's some more info about sex messages (http://www.sexmsgs.org) you might like!