sundries

[rm]

Of course, after Patty finishes her comps _then_ I wind up with a work weekend from hell. Today's goal -- no LJ after I post this. I want to be home, and I want to clean all the things (okay, one area of all the things), because I'm sick of letting it hover over me. Also, we have important things to do like seeing if Merlin still sucks.

Stranded is the magazine of the volcano. Put together on the fly during the Eyjafjallajökull-caused closing of European airspace, the magazine features stories by and about those stranded by the unprecedented situation. I'd actually been assigned a story and a photographer when we got a flight out, so I'm not a part of it, but I'm going to get a copy as an awesome souvenir of Patty and I's UK odyssey. Plus the $18.95 purchase price goes to benefit the International Rescue Committee.

New Yorkers: Tomorrow is primary day in our state. If you are eligible to vote in a primary please do so.

Gabourney Sidibe is one of 4 cover models for the new issue of Elle. Which seemed pretty awesome until jnanacandra pointed out in comments they they used photoshop to lighten her skin. Not cool, Elle, not cool. (We can also, I think, reasonably complain about the way we can't see her body. The shot is much closer than the other models).

Brutal, but still not Wolfram & Hart: The making and unmaking of partners at Goldman Sachs.

Kristof responds to the appalling recent piece in The New Republic about the value of Muslim lives to Muslims. If you missed the original item, he quotes the relevant bits.

From street vendor to shop owner.

Lady Gaga appeared at the MTV music video awards with an escort of four soldiers dismissed under DADT.

CNN has a bit of an oopsie with "Are gay characters bad for society?"

Interview with Baz Luhrmann from a while ago. It's 22 minutes long, and I don't think any of you care, but the thing where the reporter asks him a question while he's trying to pour tea and then he keeps gesturing with the Limoges teapot for a really long time is pretty lolzy.

The True Blood finale: I missed pretty much all of the season before, this, so I'm not engaged with it the way other people are, but I have some complaints:

1. Bill is a creepy asshole. He's also boring.
2. Not a complaint: Eric and Pam are the bomb.
3. Tara used to be the most awesome character. Now she's a bucketfull of kinda offensive cliches. The writers need to fix this.
4. Cement? For serious? It was lolzy on Torchwood and agonizing here.
5. Okay, the whole faerie plotline annoys the crap outta me.
6. Lafayette is awesome, so how about we don't turn him into another person with a crappy victim narrative?

I love heightened realities. But this show doesn't quite work for me. And yet, I still want to know what happens next.

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Comps are the last thing you have to do before becoming officially ABD. So: Yay! Or at least, yay once they've been graded, I guess.

[rm.livejournal.com]

What is ABD? So I know what awesome thing you are about to be.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

All But Dissertation!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh, I suppose that's not too helpful. It's not just a catchy acronym, but really an official status that means you are now cleared for hurdles such as certain grants and applying for jobs (though clearly some of those will not be happening for me anytime soon.)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Ahah! See, and here I thought it was a funny thing. I love that it's an official status called that. We will celebrate, possibly on fucking skype, when you get the word.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Adding to the definition, ABD means that coursework is over, and the dissertation is the last hurdle before the degree. (And a very big hurdle it is too.) When I was ABD, I kept a picture of David Duchovny on my cubicle wall to remind myself that he was ABD in English Lit and never finished.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

When do you know it's a go? Tee-shirt?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hahahaahahah. I love that.

ABD

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

How could you not know this? She is now(or will be in just a stech)free, free, free to make an actual bona fide original contribution to the sum total of human knowledge. It's all over but the thinking
This means that she already knows as much as someone with a professional degree not requiring a dissertation, and is just completely awesome.
Now she makes research!