(no subject)

[rm]

Patty and I had dinner with people last night. It was good and funny. It also tired us out. Tonight it's work, then laundry and packing and stuff for Chicago. All focus all the time. Also, yes, White Collar and Covert Affairs. More Buffy and Angel soon!

Oh hey, I made it to the final three in WIAD. Eeek. I feel like I'm on Project Runway, no challenge wins and going to Bryant Park.

Significant updates coming to my Dragon*Con schedule soon.

One-fifth of Pakistan is currently underwater.

Everyone should check out this piece on Tiger Beatdown that's actually several months old but I just got linked to today. It starts as a review of a book I have no desire to read because it sounds annoying. But the piece isn't really a book review, it's more about how we do discourse on the Internet. Note, I am not offering this to you in the spirit of "Oh, I have been wrong!" but in the spirit of "this sort of shit weighs on me all the time; there are no right answers more often than I'd like to think; sometimes I really hate myself; I try to do good; Good works -- very much including mine -- can be motivated by all sorts of things including spite and insecurity; God, there really is a lot of crap out there that needs to be called out; sometimes, this isn't fun anymore; please, tell me this is all hard for you too."

That said, check out Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the Muslim Community Center slated for lower Manhattan. This is a long one, complex, and goes to a lot of places. In some ways its far from Olbermann's best rhetoric, because it's so all over place, but I respect its meanderings because he says a lot of things in it that are right to say, that another writer might have left out because it makes for a less efficient argument. It is also, among other things, in places a difficult listen, especially if you lost someone at the WTC. But it's worth listening to, all the way through.

Same-sex marriages on hold in CA -- the Ninth Circuit is in this now. I have no sense of the timeline on this. Anyone? (ETA: see first comment for answer).

New law allows sex-trafficking victims to clear their names.

The mystery of the khipus.

There's a ghost stroller in Brooklyn and no one is sure what it means.

Restoring the world's last surviving wooden whaling vessel.

The angry flight attendant already has reality TV offers: I TOLD YOU SO.

God, what the fuck with the throwing rocks at Tila Tequila? And hey, when she'd become a blonde?

Things I'm not linking too because they are from the department of the obvious: "Only children as social as peers" and "Teen sex doesn't always hurt grades."

I totally need this jacket, Y/Y? via jeliza.

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

I have no sense of the timeline on this. Anyone?

According to NCLR, this means that all briefings must be in by Nov 1 and all oral arguments heard by Dec 6, and that while the 9th Circuit Court is not under any specific deadline for ruling after that, apparently having an expedited schedule like this means they're unlikely to sit on it too long.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I know that is speedy by these standards, but it's still sucky and sad.

On the other hand, good that they are stepping in, or else this would affect CA and nowhere else.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Just for a feeling of the speediness, a case is generally heard 15-16 months after being passed to the Ninth Circuit. Lawyer types are predicting that there will be a decision 2-3 months after the hearing, putting the total time around 6 months.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Just a comment on the most trivial part of it: until I saw that news report, I'd never even heard of Tila Tequila.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. They could, apparently, still rule that the Prop 8 proponents do not have standing to appeal, which would limit the ruling to CA. It's weird to be almost rooting for that not to be the decision in order to have the judgment expanded nationwide.

And it is still sucky and sad that it's getting dragged out longer, especially for people who'd hoped to be able to marry last week or this week. While it may prove better on a national scale that it plays out this way in the long run, that doesn't stop it sucking in the short run.

[rm.livejournal.com]

She was the star of a bisexual reality-TV dating show on MTV. It was one of those awful things it was IMPOSSIBLE to look away from.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The Tiger Beatdown piece: OH GOD YES THIS. Especially the lazy quoting of Internet Feminism bit. Who's got two thumbs and a rap sheet of that? THIS GUY.
I especially liked when she wrote, "The people who can look at a piece of art — or, hell, TV or pop music, those work too — and can only classify it as Oppressive or Subversive, or located at a greater or lesser degree of “problematic”-ness, according to current theories of what is or is not problematic. The lack of original thought, or of aesthetic judgment, is creepy: It suggests that we’re approaching this all like math, like a standardized test to which there are right or wrong answers, rather than as art, or (preferably) life, where what matters is not just your conclusion, but how you got there."

Again, I am so guilty of that. On the other side, it's nice to suddenly have the tools and the language to explain why something feels icky. The lazy part is when it's all you use.

The Tila Tequila thing: OH GOD HORRIFIC. First off, Juggalos are known for acting like Neanderthals. In fact, that's an insult to our early man ancestors.

Secondly, someone very cogently (with a side of victim blamey) said in another discussion of the situation: "While she was on stage and putting up with the abuse, it is kind of a mutual thing. I remember a punk show or two where the performers came off stage sporting a few cuts and bruises. But the second she left that stage she should have been in a secure zone and safe to her trailer, and from her trailer to her car." (source)

In that thread is some discussion of Woodstock 2 and how crowd control at these sorts of events, featuring these sorts of acts, are hot beds of violence, misogyny, and bad times all around.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. That explains why I didn't recognize the name; the only contact I have with most TV is when someone writes about it

(I hasten to say that I think there's nothing wrong with watching TV. It just doesn't seem to engage me beyond very rare moments)

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

As bizarre as it sounds, I'm actually OK with it. The court has explicitly said: "In addition to any issues appellants wish to raise on appeal, appellants are directed to include in their opening brief a discussion of why this appeal should not be dismissed for lack of Article III standing."

Which, roughly translates as "Please explain to the court, using very small words, why you are wasting its time with this."

I'd far rather there be small careful steps that block any possible loophole for opponents than a giant leap forward that leaves a big opening for appeal.

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

I definitely think it's a good idea to often interrogate your own arguments and why you're making them.

I'm still in the middle of a long, hard project to de-academicize my writing. For example, I stopped using the word "privilege" a few years ago. I don't talk about that choice a lot, and I would never argue that everyone should do the same. It's just a choice that's happened to work for me.

If I need to use the term, instead of following my first reaction to use the word "privilege", I actually take a few sentences to type out the exact specifics of what I mean. Often, those sentences are quite different from case to case, which leads me to believe that the word "privilege" tends to obscure some very important nuances when overused.

There are a lot of words like that...

Replacing the word "privilege"

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see more on just that bit. I'm sick of getting into derailment discussions about the meaning of the word "privilege".

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

You have to go to a site like TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/person/tila-tequila/) to get a better picture of the Tila Tequila thing, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture. There are numerous reports that she was warned about the hostile crowd, including by Insane Clown Posse (who say that they paid her ahead of time and told her that she didn't have to get on stage, but "Tila informed the group that she wouldn't back out of the performance because she's 'not a bitch like that'", then went on stage (with about four or five security guys running interference), responded to the crowd with "I ain't going nowhere" and "I don't give a fuck" and taking her top off (they have video of this) before leaving. They also have pictures of her injuries, and if she had to have stitches it would have been in the single figures; honestly, I've cut myself shaving.

None of which excuses the crowd, of course; throwing things like rocks and bottles (not to mention waste products) is never acceptable. But Tequila has a record of exaggerating or even fabricating incidents in order to get sympathy, and she was already talking lawsuit before she made it back to LA; I doubt that she'd win, although the prospect of seeing Tequila vs. Shaggy J in a courtroom might make me watch against my better impulses.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

Er, "I've cut myself worse when shaving."

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I guess that's "Violent J", I don't know my Juggalopedia that well.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I lost someone at the WTC and didn't find Olberman's Special Comment to be difficult to listen to.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

but in the spirit of "this sort of shit weighs on me all the time; there are no right answers more often than I'd like to think; sometimes I really hate myself; I try to do good; Good works -- very much including mine -- can be motivated by all sorts of things including spite and insecurity; God, there really is a lot of crap out there that needs to be called out; sometimes, this isn't fun anymore; please, tell me this is all hard for you too."

And maybe just because I'm a self-important bastard, but I kind of think if you're doing it right, this kind of thing is a given. Because I know I do it.

So you aren't alone.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm in a pretty low place about it all today.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

It was one of those awful things it was IMPOSSIBLE to look away from.

You haven't watched trainwreckian TV until you've seen "The Real Housewives of NJ".

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't be.

In the end, both of us, I'd like to think, are being the best people we can be online and off. There are going to be times when the words don't match the deeds or where things are just FUBAR online and off, but the effort is there and we're starting from the right places. All it means is that we are human and while being human sucks sometimes, we can't do more than that.

There are times when it is easy and times when it's hard, but as long as I'm being me and me isn't such a bad thing. It's cool. Same goes for you.

Apologies in advance, but I am a sap and I hug, so I'm going to *hug* you now.

*hug*

Hey, it's what I do. And I do it pretty well. :D

[marcmagus]

What's your point in belittling Tila's injuries and bringing up her taking her top off?

[Note: everything I've read says she took her top off in response to the crowd chanting "take off your top", and that the violence *increased* when she did so.]

[Note 2: you've cut yourself while shaving worse than that gash in her forehead that's plastered all over TMZ? I've had some unpleasant shaving mistakes, but never anything requiring stitches. I did gash my forehead open much like that, requiring about 8 stitches; it was a completely different sort of injury.]

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

That jacket. That jacket is awesome. And you totally have the hips for it. Sigh.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's possible for the table flipping episode to be beat.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

I watch it my wife, she loves the show, but I have to admit I'm hooked too.

The thing was that when last season ended on that note I was certain Danielle couldn't be back and that they couldn't do another season and it couldn't get worse.

Wrong on EVERY single count.

I may think too highly of humanity. :D

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

I think I've made my point pretty clear in the second paragraph. WRT your notes: 1) So what? (One of the things that I've noticed about some people's reaction to TT is that they treat her as if she's a child, because of her diminutive size and big eyes, but she's a 29-year-old experience showbiz professional. I think that almost anyone else would have seen a hostile crowd throwing stuff, gone backstage and told Violent J, "Well, unless you can come up with 100 square feet of chicken wire in a big hurry, I'm gone like a cool breeze.") 2) That "gash on her forehead" is more like a shallow scratch, with a slightly deeper cut (but still not really stitch-worthy IMO)on her cheek, and a slight bruise on her thigh. I shave my head and used to cut myself all the time until I switched to a better razor, and still occasionally give myself a nick behind the ears that requires a styptic pencil to stop the bleeding.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

I should also note that I, myself, have been hit by a rock thrown by a member of an angry crowd, bad enough to require stitches on my scalp. It wasn't something where I had the option of getting on a plane, going halfway across the country, getting close-ups of my injury for my Twitter feed, and then checking myself into the hospital, it was police car->ambulance->emergency room. So, yes, I'm highly skeptical of the seriousness of her injuries, based on personal experience.

[marcmagus]

1) The context in which you presented it suggested that you thought she was doing it to incite the violence, this doesn't seem to be the case. I take it you were rather trying to say that she was a fool for attempting to perform on a stage when being assaulted?

2) Still looks like a wound which requires stitches to me, but head wounds are kind of notorious for being deceptive in both directions (mine never bled, for instance).

So your point as I read it is that you believe TT to be exaggerating or even fabricating this incident, that her injuries are not as bad as they're being reported to be, that she was asking for it with her actions, and that, while people shouldn't throw rocks and shit at performers, these details are important to note in response to "what the fuck with the throwing rocks?" Is that an accurate assessment?

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Yup. Thank you.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

"Asking for it" is a rather heavily loaded phrase, and I don't believe that I'm interested in continuing this.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the Tiger Beatdown link.

I've spent the past year and a half, much of it obsessively, trying to navigate between truth, virtue, and my own experience, and I am screamingly sick of the whole claustrophobic thing.

I hang onto the idea that living well with people is a goal worth pursuing, that the anti-racist/anti-sexism conversation has a medium-sized piece of it but no more than that, and the game isn't nearly over yet.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Have you seen hackthis's tutorial on menswear for the Inception fandom? It is a thing of beauty. There are many pics, including one of what she claims is a short shirt* that costs $45,000, which may have caused me to suffer a mild stroke because CHRIST ONNA POGO STICK WTF?!?

* A shirt, not shorts, which would be even more lunatic.

[hoyland54.livejournal.com]

In more unambiguously good marriage-type news, the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples in registered partnerships couldn't be disadvantaged relative to married couples in inheritance tax. (See AFP (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iAkUXyFIDn8MzPpseBKy3FfYEVRA) in English and SZ (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/geld/bundesverfassungsgericht-homosexuelle-werden-beim-erben-gleichgestellt-1.989011) in German.) Apparently the ruling applies retroactively, as well.

I don't know enough about German politics or law to know the answers to the obvious questions. (Such as, why only inheritance tax and not income tax in the ruling? Is income tax equality likely soon, or is Volker Beck just saying it should be? Is Gleichstellung just a question of taxes or other rights? What do you call Gleichstellung in English, anyway?)

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

The initial brief addressing standing must be in by September 17. Note that the 9th can rule on the standing issue at any point after the brief is filed, even before the reply and answer are filed. Early rulings tend to be more common in the lower court, though.

That said, I can't think of a case offhand where standing has been quite this complicated in the 9th. When I was taking civil procedure classes, I read a lot of cases and motions, but few of them were appellate.

Though I agree with firefly_124, I think it's more likely that this particular case will lose on standing and thus apply only to California than it will offer standing and go all the way to the supremes in a way that's meaningful for LGBT rights for the entire country.

Of course, if the proponents lose on standing in the 9th, they can appeal to the supremes, and that may lead to a more general ruling. Let's just hope it's in the favor of equal rights if that happens.

[goseaward.livejournal.com]

Things I'm not linking too because they are from the department of the obvious: "Only children as social as peers" and "Teen sex doesn't always hurt grades."

Because of my job, my colleagues can be expected to be quite above the norm in intelligence. Yet I've heard from a huge number of them, "You don't seem like an only child..."

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that wanting this ruling to be extended nationwide is an overreach. I'm nervous that there aren't five votes for it no matter how strong the argument is. And having seen Bush v. Gore and Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, I don't get the opinion that the court is going to be hamstrung by its own opinions about restricting standing. They obviously are comfortable making exceptions when it comes to making rulings justifying their ideological vies.

I'm sorry there's a stay, but I'd be more sorry if there weren't and the marriages performed in the interim were voided if the decision were reversed. That's a whole different level of suck. I also have no reason to doubt that the Ninth Court is going to legitimize and strengthen Judge Walker's awesome ruling while dealing a blow to the notion that unaffected parties can appeal rulings.

[skitty-kitty.livejournal.com]

I may hate you for linking to that last site. ;)

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

Well, teen sex didn't hurt my grades at all. You can actually see an upward trend in my high school grades starting about when I became sexually though I don't think there was a causal link....

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

I have that fear, too. I'm so torn.

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

Or you could apologize for victim-blaming. You know, either way.

Sometimes, this isn't fun anymore.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

This is all hard for me too.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Not just rocks. Rocks, excrement, garbage, and other debris thrown by Juggalos.

And that's a sweet, sweet jacket.