sundries

[rm]

Yesterday was full of misadventure beginning with getting from Naperville to Union Station (and stopping at the French Market for Patty to buy the coolest pasta ever) and then getting to the University of Chicago from there (it wasn't the long train ride or the sketchy neighborhood, it was the ENDLESS walking) so Patty could go to the Oriental Institute Museum.

Coming back, we saw what looked like a better public transit option on a map, but that turned out, to be a rail platform that we entered through what seemed an abandoned, over-sized janitor's closet and I swear we could have been murdered by monsters and never discovered EVER it was so desolate. We sat on this totally abandoned platform for about 30 minutes until there were signs of other people, and even then we thought we might be lost in the twilight zone with them. It was truly fucking freaky.

Patty took a picture of me down one end of the platform that sorta conveys how desolate and awful it was, but actually looks about 100x less disturbing that it was, and that's saying something as the pic is called rachinahorrormovie.jpg



But eventually we got back, ate at P.F. Chang's, bought lots of Fanny May candy (I hate their gluten notification policy which is all wrong), and sat at the man-made stream in Millennium Park (we did not get on the lawn because of a concert, we're planning that for tomorrow after or during hanging out with People in Chicago Who Conduct Themselves Differently Than Me) and in fact started swing dancing in it at once point. While it was a day often filled with misery, we were really, really happy by the time we got back to the hotel, not because the day was over, but because we actually had a great time.

Today is the wedding we are here to go to. I have just shaved my legs and yesterday I bought expensive shoes since I decided Chicago in the summer is too hot for menswear. I'm not really sure that was the best decision, but it is what it is, and the shoes are really great.

Look, I don't live in Europe and so I don't know if France offering to pay gypsies to leave is an annual and apparently unremarkable event. However, I've been INCREDIBLY disturbed by the discourse I've seen about it around LJ. So there you go. I have friends who are Roma, including those who read this journal, so don't be an asshole when discussing this okay? (And, btw, I shouldn't have to say that. You should just not be assholes whether someone who might get upset is watching or not, but since that request tends not to work, I'm trying this one).

Now 25% of Pakistan is underwater. China is having mudslides. tammypierce has a brief roundup of how you can help. There is also an lj auction at help_pakistan.

Hey, lindalee_ makes cool jewelery. She also has some crap going on in her life right now AND is having a sale at her Etsy store. Check it out if you're in a shopping place.

Double-rat sighting. Have I mentioned I love the Union Rat? LOVE.

Remember how Target said it was going to give money to some pro-LGBT candidates to make up for the $150K donation to Emmer? Yeah, well they changed their minds. Even shorter version: Target = still bad. via jiawen.

Apparently, women who want equal pay to men just have "a fetish for money" and need to "choose the right partner at home." I can't even describe the depths of my rage.

Hey, I volunteered to write a thing in the next 24 hours, but I can't remember some things about CoE I need to know, so Do Jack and Ianto have the argument and confession about Jack's family before or after the beans incident? Where is the place they are hiding out (i.e., how long of a drive)? Do we have a sense of time of day for when they go marching into Thames House as related to time of day for whatever scene we see them previously? Thanks!

azn_jack_fiend has a great thing about Jack, Torchwood fandom and slut shaming and you should read it. And, while she doesn't share her reasons and mentions it only in passing, I'm going to say I completely agree with her about the phrase "sex-positive" being problematic. My reasoning in super brief: it creates unnecessary pressure on everyone to be sexual in a certain way at a certain level and some people have perfectly good reasons not to be sex-positive or sex-focused (which is often what sex-positive is used to mean) and that doesn't make those people less awesome or in any way wrong. So yeah. Totally. Read her thing.

Covert Affairs has been renewed for a second season.

I have mosquito bites. They hate me.

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Covert Affairs has been renewed for a second season.

Drat! There goes Fiendish Plan 2.0!

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

help_pakistan

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hahahahahah, I know.

As Christian said to me "HOW DO YOU CAST THAT?" and I dunno. I mean, I could write paragraphs about why it's hard and what you're looking for and I still don't know.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Sadly, based on the treatment/call sheet, Chris Gorham would be an excellent casting choice.

But he's already got a job. Boo.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Agreed. And a smarter one than one of the fandom speculations I keep seeing: Chris Pine. I get that thought, but could write an essay about why that's a bad plan.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Oh! The Oriental Institute! You were in my old neighborhood. That platform looks and sounds pretty darn familiar, too...

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I love me some Chris Pine, but no. We only need one ego-fuelled smarmosaur on Torchwood, and we have one who's name is Jack. (Although, the argument could be made that Owen also filled that role.)

I'm not sure who I'd cast, other than Chris Gorham.

Probably some unknown.

FWIW, check out and episode or two of Jake 2.0, and you see Chris Gorham doing an awesome job at being a Proto-Rex.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's the 59th Street Metra.

[snakeling]

France offering to pay gypsies to leave is an annual and apparently unremarkable event.
Not annual, though it's been done before, usually more discreetly. The reason they're publishing it right now is because one of the major ministers is embroiled in a corruption affair *and* Sarkozy's opinion ratings have never been so low. So he falls back on his favourite scapegoat: them there brown people that drive up crime, never mind that his politics haven't been helping any.

I can't wait for the next presidential election, and I hope that the Left can get their act together before. :/

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. I love Chris Pin too, but no.

And I agree it needs/wants and unknown, but I don't know we'll be that lucky.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I have only been to Chicago a few times, but that platform looks very familiar to me when I went on my GLBT Bookstore Adventure.

EDIT: OR maybe because desolate Chicago El platforms all look the same.

[byzantienne.livejournal.com]

-- oh no wonder.

I used to avoid that station.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It was all apocalypse-y.

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

Only those that volunteer to leave get paid. The rest are evicted without compensation.

So far I've quelled the urge to yell "WHAT ARE YOUR COUNTRYMEN DOING?" at my French coworkers, but only just.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's completely, completely fucked in my book. Most of the discussions I've seen around LJ are, however, "people are overreacting; Europe just pays them so they don't bother the tourists during the summer, then they come back and live on welfare" which pretty much makes me want to start screaming.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

Oh, French Market! I love getting pistachio cake at Vanille! And chocolates from Canady, YUM!

I took Younger Monster there a few weeks ago, when we were in the city for the Bon Jovi concert, and he was just fascinated. We don't have such a thing here in Toledo, the closest we get is our tiny little Farmer's Market. He had such a hard time picking out lunch, but was thrilled that what he essentially did "eeny, meeny, miney, moe" for turned out to be really good. (Huge, crusty sandwiches from Chicago Organics).

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Ah! I'd guessed Metra, wasn't sure what platform. That is a particularly desolate station indeed. I actually found it kind of peaceful once I was *on* the platform (entering the station and up the stairs was another matter), but I'm weird.

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

Not sure about the family and the beans, tried to look for transcripts and have found days 1 to 3 here - http://beccaelizabeth.dreamwidth.org/tag/transcript - cannot find days 4 and 5, but that can just be me being blind. The place they hide in is a warehouse in London (previously owned by Torchwood 1 - hence Ianto knows about it)

hope this helps

[rm.livejournal.com]

If we had known where we were and that it definitely had a train that would come, we could have been cool with it. But we weren't sure it wasn't so abandoned someone forgot to lock it up.

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

CoE answers:

1) after
2) The warehouse? I don't know.
3) The beans discussion takes place during Day 3(see Day 3 transcript). Then, the confession happens during Day 4 ((see Day 4 Part II transcript). Then Jack immediately goes off and tries to menace Frobisher, at which point it's still day. The attempt on Thames House happens during the day. It's a bit confusing.

[rm.livejournal.com]

1. Thank you!
2. Okay, I have "London" but "London" is huge and they apparently needed a car, so, I can put that far away.
3. Oh! That's useful. I have more wiggle room in there than I thought. And shit... right, that day is WAAAAAAAY too long (although I can confirm that the the entrance to Thames House moment is afternoon light from my own skulking about).

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

It doesn't help that a) the platforms are ancient and have been retooled for as little money as possible to accommodate the current set-up, and b) it's primarily a commuter train, so it's not very forthcoming in information for newcomers.

Which makes it all sound sensible, not creepy. No, it's totally creepy. I still vividly remember the first time I took that train (same station! But many years ago...). The damp and the rust and the weird light. And then into this completely quiet and still sort of space, totally exposed. Apocalypse-y is right on the money.

I am now wondering how I can feel all nostalgic for the apocalypse, but there you are. I blame recent milestone birthdays, at least in part. I miss Chicago.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Remember how Target said it was going to give money to some pro-LGBT candidates to make up for the $150K donation to Emmer?

I'm not sure that would've been enough to get me back as a customer anyway, though it would've been a start. It is heartening to see that their shareholders are also kicking up a stink over the company's donations policy. Granted, that seems to be more about, "why didn't you see this coming and not expose us to a boycott," but I'll take added pressure from wherever it comes. Target's response has been so bad, though, that I'm not sure what it would take to get the bad taste out of my mouth and convince me to go back.

It's also dismaying to hear that HRC apparently has no intention of lowering Target's Corporate Equality Index rating over this, which brings the usability of their whole CEI into question.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've had so many problems with HRC for years I am not surprised. They don't get my money (Lambda Legal does), and I'm sick of telling them why on the phone.

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

LJ should know better than that now. They are relocating an entire group of nomads in a thinly-veiled political gambit.