sundries

[rm]

I think Patty's brother and mystery driving guest arrive in the city at some point today. I know nothing. I think she knows nothing. It is possible her brother knows nothing. It will sort. Right now I'm just enjoying my Patty time before she heads off for a brief sojourn in Ohio.

LJ still seems to be being a bit special with the comment delivery. For those of us not talking into the void it's way not helpful. Oi.

Barring scheduling conflicts (since about 80% of my schedule there is still not determined), I will be reading a bit of my lesbian werewolf story at 3pm on Friday of Dragon*Con and a bit of ConSweet (OH CRAP, THAT IS SO SCARY) at 11am on Saturday of Dragon*Con. For those of you who have seen any part of the ConSweet draft, thoughts?

Bristol: Less than one week. SO EXCITED. Gluten-free bakewell tarts, come to me, I will eat your faces off, yes!

The SPLC is producing a film to address anti-gay bullying in schools and is raising funds to do it. Check it out if you're interested in contributing. via aviv_b.

A new study supposedly reveals that in her lifetime a woman will buy $25,000 worth of shoes. Ugh, let me count the ways, ugh. This is a meaningless bit of "look at these frivolous ladies" without comparing it to male spending on shoes (hint: men may buy less shoes, but they almost always cost more); considering expectations of what shoes a woman should wear (hint: coordination with every outfit and the way the discomfort that is expected to be professional requires that many women wear one pair to work and a different pair at work); considering shoe buying as a conditioned response to prove feminine credentials; considering the durability of women's shoes. In other words? Crap. Misogynistic crap. Ladies, you're not rich yet not because you get paid $.78 on a male dollar, but because you're buying too many shoes. Who fucking knew?

Interesting.... there's a theory going around that RaceFail-iest of films Avatar: The Last Airbender has been intentionally sabotaged by its editor. Now on one hand, professionals at that level of their careers do not do shit like that. On the other hand, you'd be surprised by the shit that goes down in the industry. No matter how unlikely, it's amusing to think about anyway.

An eleven-year-old's pet-sitting business.

Commercial flying wigs me out enough that the ants on a Virgin Atlantic flight back from LA were an extra trauma enough. But neither turbulence nor ants are as upsetting as maggots: "'These are anaerobic, flesh-eating larvae that the flight attendants don't have to sit with.'"

Plar!

In Boston? Go see my friends take their clothes off. Rogue Burlesque presents Bawdy Language.

graduate_maria auction items keep going up! Take a look, even though bidding isn't open yet. There's custom-etched glassware, a stenography starter kit with lessons, artists prints, fanfiction, autographed books and a tiny (not real) horse! I also have a few auctions to put up soon where I am providing some technical support to people. Anyway, please keep an eye on it and participate if you can.

Best thing about Torchwood being renewed? I don't have to watch Wharehouse 13 out of desperation.

Last night, we returned to Buffy! "Conversations with the Dead" is so problematic. It has so much going on and it jerks you around and it just could have been a four episode arc of awesome. The stuff with Willow and Tara is amazing and made me tear up, and amazing when Willow discovers the lie. The shit with Buffy and the dude she went to high school with is hysterical. The stuff with Dawn felt out of place and like it had the wrong energy (and is the greatest fakeout ever, because it's a set-up to make her believe the words of her "mother" and the thing that gives away that I presume this season's big bad is the devil himself -- oh these lies!). Andrew's plotline, although played for commedy and a bit "let's kick around the gay guy" actually breaks my fucking heart. Jonathan, well, he's a casualty of his own repetitively bad choices. Spike's shit was just confusing! But I was glad for the clarifications in the following episode.

Comments

[elisi]

Andrew's plotline, although played for commedy and a bit "let's kick around the gay guy" actually breaks my fucking heart.
I love Andrew's story. Keep watching. (Too busy to comment on the rest.)

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

The thing about the maggots that they didn't say in order to make it as inflammatory as possible is that maggots only eat dead flesh -- this is why they make such an excellent choice as a medical aid for the kinds of horrible (redacted for your stomach) types of infections that people with poor circulation can get. They're harmless to living people.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, just nasty. That quote cracked me the fuck up though. What passenger says that?

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

I tried watching Warehouse 13 once, but I fell asleep before it was halfway over... my goodness it was boring.

That's really great news about the SPLC initiative! The materials they have at teachingtolerance.org are fantastic. I've recommended them a lot of times for teachers or parents who want to address really complicated issues but are feeling so intimidated that they don't know exactly where to start.

I'm still torn up about the local 11-year-old boy who killed himself last year because of anti-gay bullying. The school could easily have saved his life if they had better education efforts in place, or even cared in any way.

[amberite2112.livejournal.com]

yeah, cuz all the girls who kill themselves over being bullied, what, disappeared suddenly? this has been going on for *years*, and some boy dies and there's suddenly a hoopla about it. B.S.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

The shoe thing is incredibly annoying.

I know this is tangential to the whole squick of the thing but...

Who says men don't spend as much? My husband has been running marathons (and therefore running about 40 miles most weeks) for about fifteen years now. He gets about 400 miles/pair of shoes and always has at least two pair in rotation. So six to seven pairs a year at $120 per and he is over $12,000 spent on running shoes in the last fifteen years (YIKES!)

Of course, they're for "serious" training not girly gym shoes so...

Further re: Maggots

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I have decided the only way bringing rotten meat on board an airplane is even remotely okay, is if it was done by an agent of Project Mayhem.

That's the ONLY WAY.

Re: Further re: Maggots

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean in order to have actual hatched maggots, it had to have been rotten for awhile.

[tommx.livejournal.com]

Originally Joss Whedon wanted to get Amber Benson to appear as Tara (as the First) in this episode. Azura Skye was effective, but it would have been pretty wild to have Tara say that kind of shit to Willow and for her to go all evil "My Smile is REEEEEALLY BIG" on her.

Ah well.

[jnanacandra.livejournal.com]

My recollection is that Amber Benson refused the part - she felt like it would have been a betrayal of the character and her fans.

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Re: The shoe thing
This is exactly why I don't read magazines like Glamour anymore, because not only are they misogynistic, they are also classist. And assuming I would ever have that much money to ever spend on shoes, I wouldn't. But this article is regarding women with disposable income. It doesn't even take into account women like me, who are single moms and paying back school loans. So, yeah. Article fail, ten out of ten. :)

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

I sort of love that first bar scene in ConSweet, but I've no idea offhand how well it would go as an excerpt.

And ugh, Warehouse 13. Between that and Sanctuary, SyFy hath provided us with example enough of how to do Torchwood badly.

[rm.livejournal.com]

That many voices is hard. I'm actually leaning towards the sex scene between Hope and Evan. Which is a bit cruel to everyone before noon, I realize, but the whole thing is so meta anyway....

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

The scuttlebutt about the comment notifs is either that the latest rollout of v-gifts has thrown the servers somewhat awry, or that there's so much wank in comments at the latest news post (an ONTD feed has been added to the homepage) that the comment servers are falling over.

[manycolored.livejournal.com]

As a generous estimate, I spend about $70-90 on a pair of shoes and buy 3 pairs a year (Even though I take good care of the leather, I wear shoes out very fast because the way I walk wears out the soles unevenly.) Assume I live to be 90. That's $24,300. It's pretty close for me.

I have a lot of shoes in the 3rd world sense, but all of my shoes are the right tool for the right job. I don't buy shoes for fun - can't because I have huge feet and refuse to sacrifice comfort for fashion.
For work:
* 1 pair black 2" heel ankle boots
* the same in brown
* 1 pair black 2" heel sandals
* the same in bronze
For chores and walking:
* 1 pair heavy-duty ankle boots
* 1 pair sneaker-sandals
Special use:
* 1 pair winter snow boots (shearling inside!)
* 1 pair hiking boots
* 1 pair barefooting sheaths
* 1 pair black pumps
* 1 pair shearling slippers

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I buy a lot of shoes, but it's more out of a desperate search for shoes that don't hurt. I've got a lot of joint pain in my legs, and now I've developed a Morton's neuroma in my left foot. I look longingly at cute little ballet slippers, but if there's no cushioning, they're not going to work. I was shopping for sandals yesterday. I tried on one pair that immediately had my good foot cramping up. So when I buy shoes, they're in the $70-90 range.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

Plar! - I WANT ONE!

re: buffy - i find the willow scene extra... something, given that amber benson refused to come back and do it b/c she didn't want to jerk the fans around

[amberite2112.livejournal.com]

plar!


because we already have canes....

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Favorite bit of the Airbender post? Last three sentences: "This is my theory. The Last Airbender was deliberately sabotaged by its editor, Conrad Buff. Possibly by just by letting M. Night Shyamalan have whatever he asked for.

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

What is this fascination magazines have with women and shoes? It starts to feel as if they are sublimating.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Magazines aimed at women are generally there to create the artificial need for high priced items with the vague promise of acceptance by society in general.

What I don't understand is how these same magazines can have "10 hot sex tips that will change your life" every other month, as advertised on the front cover. You would think that after a few years of this they would run out of ideas.

[hyrkanian.livejournal.com]

Oh please, Glamour, give me a break with the shoes. I have one pair of gym shoes 3+ years old, one pair of black 2" heels for dressy occasions 5+ years old, one pair of sandals from a thrift store a year ago, one super awesome knee-high pair of suede boots I paid $1 for at a yard sale years ago, one pair of riding boots I just bought on clearance, and one pair of rubber muck boots. That's about $250 on shoes in the past 5 years or so.

But then I'm not "normal" in that I hate shopping, for clothes/shoes/pretty much anything at all. Bah.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

While I am no where NEAR a shoe fiend Alan once told me that I wasn't allowed to have more shoes than I had fingers. Seriously.

At the time he only owned three pairs of shoes: Docs, black dress shoes, flip flops.

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

It's a shame about the Avatar: TLA movie. I really like the original animated series.

Ugh! Maggots are so creepy! I don't get how people aren't allowed to bring mashed potatoes on a plane because they are too close to gel (This happened to some friends after Thanksgiving) but someone can manage to get through security with rotting meat. Just... ewwww!

OT

[teacupdiaries.livejournal.com]

I just added you as a friend and wanted to say hello. I've seen you around on mutual friend's pages, as well as various communities, for years now and always like what you have to say.

Oh, and we're both coeliac sufferers so maybe we could trade recipes some time. :)

Re: OT

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hello and welcome! I don't bake much but it's always good to have other people around with the same food awarenesses.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Shoes - My first reaction was 'so what'. If you earn the money, you get to choose how to spend it. And its not just shoes. In our society there is constant pressure to look 'good', 'young', 'professional' on the one hand and criticism on how much money many women spend on makeup, clothes, nails, hair, waxing, etc.

And even if you don't spend a lot of money on this stuff there just is no end to the criticism you can receive from family or even strangers. In my case its my cats (mostly strangers- you spend WHAT?? on cat food, vet visits, toys) and my condo (you can't own a condo, you need to wait until you get marrriiieeedddd). That was 20 years ago, guess I'd still be waiting,LOL.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

This.

Have you ever noticed that there are , in your average store like Target , et all , at least 3 or 4 aisles dedicated to artificial augmentation for women? From fake hair, fake nails, hair color, cosmetics .... it's almost as if it's mandatory for social acceptance. The corresponding aisle for men is mostly shaving, soap,pit sticks, and get rid of grey kits.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Odd ... I've never paid more than $100 for a pair of shoes, but I always WTF at the cost of shoes for women. $200? $300? There is not even that much in material involved in some of them. Don't even think about having a size 13 male foot and trying to buy even the most fundamental woman's shoes. You have to have a credit card.

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Ha. I hear that comment about the size 13 foot! Where do you find heels if you need them? Any woman I knew with a size 12 or larger foot had to go to a specialty store (not Walmart or Target) or just buy men's shoes.

Imagine having a wide short foot. I can't remember my width right now, but length is a 6. Walmart and Target usually start their wide width shoes at size 7. 'Cause short feet should be skinny, y'know.

My mom used to wear a size 5. (Since using the wheelchair she's mostly stuck to slippers that kinda' look like shoes.) She never seemed to be able to find that size cheaply. My mom also used to have lot of dressy shoes (to match her outfits) because she worked for a tax preparation place. So of course you have to 'look professional' and have clothes that match.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

A new study supposedly reveals that in her lifetime a woman will buy $25,000 worth of shoes

19 pairs of shoes at one time - did they only survey women who make more than $50,000/year? I'm not certain that I know any women in Portland who own more than half that many pairs of shoes - yet another survey where the habits of some wealth people are passed off as being in some bizarre way the norm.

Airbender sabotage.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

I don't to know the facts, just yet. I just want to think about that. Amusing is not the word.

Comment Notification Specialness.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

I got the same notification four hours apart.

[chicleeblair.livejournal.com]

Hi. I've come across your LJ a couple of times in relation to different things, and we have similar interests around here, so I decided to bite the bullet and friend. Hope that's okay

[rm.livejournal.com]

Totally cool. Welcome.

Re: the maggots

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

I suppose you don't want to hear about the tick my dad found on a plane then?

[gatheringrivers]

(hint: men may buy less shoes, but they almost always cost more)

But I can get years of wear out of a more expensive pair of men's shoes (with hard daily use) much more easily than I can with a cheaper pair of women's shoes.

Still makes the women's shoes more expensive in the long run. (That said, there is a selection of more comfortable women's shoes from Crocs you might be interested in looking at. I got something similar to the "Casey" or "Ginger" model recently to wear with my suits. Helluva lot more comfortable than typical ladies shoes.)