sundries

[rm]

Wrote the abstract for the comics piece of the fan mourning project and submitted it to the D*C academic conference and the Comics Studies conference that happens in NY in conjunction with NYCC. I am made of awesome.

Death (expound). Something else passes out of the world. It makes me sad. I think it's a fabulous examination. FABULOUS. But then my education was a little odd. Also, the question about "does the presence of Nazi uniforms change the moral character of an orgy?" is pretty amazing too.

A real person needs real help to keep her apartment and her child. The Internet did it. Over $2,000 has been received. $1,200 of that will keep this woman in her house with her child. Of the rest, money that donors did not ask for back if the goal was met will be used to give the woman gift cards for groceries and other necessaries.

A WWII love letter from Brian to Dave.

We're getting a new subway map. I hope it's not as annoying as the one London has (NOT PROPORTIONAL).

Dispatches from the Other. A new edition of The Second Sex is coming out, with material formerly removed and in a much better translation.

A student studying for a PhD related to the Jack the Ripper murders has just been arrested for, you guessed it, killing prostitutes. The article is infinitely more bizarre than that though. It includes both the information that he shot one of the prostitutes with a crossbow to the head and that he liked to take his pet monitor lizards on on leashed walks. I'm not proud, but this is the most riveting thing I've read in AGES.

Why being part of the audience matters. Also, in places, this rant is laugh out-loud funny.

Last night on Angel: Oh my god, Wesley! You try to do the right thing and everything goes to shit, you poor bastard. Also, you all notice how it's Wes who keeps winding up with all the severe injuries? Something is percolating in my head about him as The Hanged Man.

Prediction: time works differently in hell, Connor will be back as an adult, soon, and everyone will try to avoid telling him that Angel is his dad. Also, that fucked up time-hopping demon? I have a bad, bad feeling about him as in he might be one of the team or Connor or something, and his trying to kill Connor was about trying to end his own personal eternal misery.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

When I read The Second Sex the second time around (yeah...) in Hebrew into which it was translated a couple of years ago I was shocked at how much more info there was compared to the edition in English I'd read before. What with it having been translated by a biologist back in the 50's.

Glad the Anglophone world gets to read it better!

Re: Angel: LOLZ at your prediction :D

[rm.livejournal.com]

prediction now expanded!

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, that letter.

*sniffle*

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I know...

Signal boost requested

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

thdancingferret lost her job -- due to "absenteeism" because of health problems from her cancer, chronic pain, etc. Wishing Well is having a fundraiser for her, to get enough money to see her through to being on some sort of public assistance.

Re: Signal boost requested

[rm.livejournal.com]

I'll post it tomorrow. Remind me if I forget I've been discovering that people can really only digest one of these things at a time.

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

Jack the Ripper guy: The Law & Order: UK ep is just writing itself in my head.

I, too, was saddened by the passing of the one word essay. I may take it up as my new final examination strategy.

[byzantienne.livejournal.com]

... huh. I am kind of sad about the new subway map. The one we have is perfectly good.

(... I say this as a lifelong New Yorker who despises simplification, but still.)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

IDK, I think the bus bubbles were a bit obtrusive (admittedly I'm not a lifer in NY).

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Wesley really is The Hanged Man in many ways. Poor guy. LOL about your Connor prediction. I can't wait for you to see what happens now.

[soukup.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad if a new and less abridged version of The Second Sex is on its way. I also find it really ironic that the attitude of that NYT writer (if that's not too generous a term) provides such a clear example of the type of misogyny that made the book necessary in the first place. I wonder if she's actually read it? Or anything at all about gender politics, actually. Jesus.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I like the new map! (You can look at it here). It looks like it will make transferring ground-level-vision to underground even easier.

Angel

[iterum.livejournal.com]

You've now reached the point where, since you have been identifying with Wesley, I thought you might be moved by the baby plot.

[chickenfried-jo.livejournal.com]

OMG that letter! I'm all teary and sad now. Poor dear lovely man. What a story. I'd read that book. Even if it made me cry. Is it bad and wrong of me to see a fanfic made from it? Is it disrespectful? I don't know anymore...

[rm.livejournal.com]

My reaction was wanting to write a play, so no, I don't think creative expression in response to real life events is wrong.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

A crossbow???

[rm.livejournal.com]

TO THE HEAD.

[stephl.livejournal.com]

Wesley, despite his Watcher training, is not so great with prophecies, it turns out. (Also, during this season, there was a joke that Wesley kept getting so many grave physical injuries that by the final season he would just be a head in a jar.)

Also, the question about "does the presence of Nazi uniforms change the moral character of an orgy?" is pretty amazing too.

I totally agree.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Maybe the Face of Boe is really Wesley.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I have lost track of how many times I've warned tourists that they can't use the subway map to estimate walking times because it's not proportional ("Notice how there is no indication of scale." "Ohhhhh, yeah."). Also, I think getting rid of the service guide is a mistake -- I can never remember the differences between rush hour, evening, and weekend service on the various lines. But I do like the cleaner, brighter appearance.

Crossbow to the head?!? And then dismembered and dumped in the river. Jesus Christ.

I loved thefourthvine's post about being a writer's intended audience. Among other things, it fanned my desire for a Wonder Woman movie, because it would be a refreshing change to see a female, super-powered big-screen protagonist without daddy issues -- oh, and whose mom is alive! Also, how much do I love that the next big plot arc on Chuck is apparently going to be the search for his long-lost mother?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Prostitute murders: Latest update now says cannibalism is involved.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

I'm very sad to hear about All Souls giving up that exam. I'm with you: I think it sounds like a ridiculous amount of fun (and not a bad way to assess candidates, either, when taken as a part of the full battery and not as the single essay on which decisions are made).

I hope to God they didn't give it up because they're finding that candidates aren't up to it any more. There are ways in which that wouldn't surprise me, but I would find it hideously depressing. Enough so that I'm not going to look any further in an attempt to find out.

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

Grrr. That review of the Second Sex (which I have not read) is really annoying. The reviewer ignores the fact that women-controlled, easily accessible birth control was still in its infancy when the book was written (the pill), and pregnancy and childbirth were still significant causes of death for women – and I'd imagine that would have an effect on the perceptions of motherhood, pregnancy and childbirth.

She also has the usual, unproven but popular 'gender personality characteristics are inborn' that is in vogue right now, but I hate. The reviewer also seems to be happy to pass on what seems to me to be a myth about how young women feel joy and celebrate their first menses – the majority of women I've talked to, this is not the case … though I may be getting a select population.

I do sympathize with the translation issues; French is not an easy language to translate into English, for all the two are fairly closely related. However, it sounds like both the old and the new were not translated by anyone with any … knack for translation.

[arianhwyvar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ugh ugh ugh on that 'girls are thrilled and honored to get their periods!!!11!!OMG!' Even for a lot of us who had been educated such that we knew what was going on -- and that we were not in fact injured or dying -- I think 'disgust and horror' is closer than 'excitement and pride.' And I assume that when The Second Sex was written, it was much more common for girls not to be taught about menstruation in advance, and thus to experience their first menses as a pretty horrifying and alarming thing.

[raaven.livejournal.com]

I feel compelled to note that when that Angel episode aired in the US, it was the last before a long (6 week, maybe?) hiatus.

Made.Me.Nuts.

That said, it remains one of top 10 favorite Angel episodes, largely because it kicks off one of our first real glimpses of Dark!Wesley. Wesley in a dark place is a very, very wonderful thing.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Lizard walking is not all that unusual. When I worked in television one of the control operators had one that would sit on the control panel ( lots of little lights for heat ) and walk around the station on a leash. Likewise I've seen people who rollerblade with their lizards perched on their helmets. I considered getting one myself for a while , but the idea fell to the wayside.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

That review of the Second Sex; I think I opted for laughing over crying. Esp. the section on motherhood. Let me tell you something, Ms. du Plessix Gray...

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

Oh, that letter. That letter. Thank you for sharing it.

And I see that you're in the middle of the fun times with Angel. Can't wait to see your reactions soon.

[therumjournals.livejournal.com]

gah, that letter made me cry :-(

also i read that paragraph about the jack the ripper thing to my husband and he said "i bet that guy was in the UK." was it that obvious? ;-)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

The Jack the Ripper student/serial killer is morbidly fascinating, but damn hard to read about. True crime is fascinating to me, but not recent cases - I mean, I KNOW JtR is dead and can't kill anymore. This Griffifths guy.... eurgh.

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

I fully understand. Back in 4th grade I remember reading Agatha Christie and watching Columbo. In high school I used to read pulp fiction detective stories. Read quite a bit about JtR. One day decided to try to read a book about the Boston Strangler. I actually had nightmares where I never had before. I still haven't finished that book.

I think it was the true crime aspect of it. I can read about JtR because he's dead and not going to hurt anyone. But reading about modern ones (especially where they haven't caught the guy or are unsure if they have the right guy in custody) give me nightmares.

Fail. Fail. Fail.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

So, I'm reading the article in the Times Online, and come across this gem:

Mr Cameron added: “I think we have to deal with the causes of this problem. The causes are drug abuse — a massive problem — we’ve got to get to grips with drug abuse. I think we’ve also got to do more to get people who are involved in prostitution to help rebuild their lives. “Also, I think we have got to be much tougher on kerb crawling. It is illegal; that aspect of it we really should clamp down on.”

That's right - prostitution is to blame for this serial killer.

(I'm presuming that kerb crawling is British for street-walking.)

Re: Fail. Fail. Fail.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Kerb crawling is what's done by people who want to pick up prostitutes, not the prostitutes themselves :) Not that I'm usually in the business of making Cameron out to not be a huge tool, but in this instance, he's not quite that huge.