sundries

[rm]

Good morning! I could do with much, much, MUCH more sleep as I was as I was up very late last night doing emergency edits for work. I'm about to wander into the office, make sure everything is fine and then leave so that I might rest, clean the house, spend time with cats, and otherwise BE A HUMAN.

Apparently, I've managed to get both my melancholy and mania a bit out of my system. Europe is exciting (I've been hunting for flights for Patty for her hop to CH); Dogboy & Justine is under control; the landlord finally cashed the rent check; etc. Tomorrow morning Patty and I have a digital date!

The NYMF closing party is Sunday. I don't know what to wear. Unlike the opening party, this is not a THING, but I should still figure it out. (I say this now; watch, because I am unprepared and not giving a shit, this be a THING. Just watch.)

Are you anywhere near New Haven? If you are (and you are in if you are in New York City), you should go to the Regency Assembly in New Haven. I am not sure I'll make it, due to work obligations and recording Inception: The Musical, but I'm sure going to try. But go, IT IS AWESOME.

As you may have noticed we've launched Kickstarter fundraising for Dogboy & Justine last night. Anything you can do to contribute or boost the signal is deeply appreciated. We are already at 11% of our goal, which is ridiculously exciting. Thank you!

Well, it's a strategy: Burglary suspect dressed as grass.

The etiquette of cancer. Mostly common sense, but the article is oddly funny. People suck.

The Ride: A Theatrical Bus Tour About New York. I'm sort of charmed.

Hey, Oprah is supporting "The Rally to Restore Sanity".

Raymond Castro, one of the people involved in the Stonewall riots, has died.

Being gay in the Bronx.

My Princess Boy is a kids book used as an anti-bullying tool in schools. A mom wrote it in response to the fact that her young son likes to dress us like a princess. Short article and video interview about it. The mom is super-honest about her process and initial discomfort with it, which is actually really cool. "There is more than one way to be a boy; there is more than one way to be a girl." Word.

I have come to the conclusion that product reviews on the Internet are basically useless. No. REALLY. Because there's only two types: "Best thing ever!" and "HATE HATE HATE" and no one saying either is necessarily rational. You just have to close your eyes and make a choice. I find that trying.

My mobile got a lot of rain in it yesterday, and now depressing the track ball isn't making stuff go. I can still hit the enter key, but I am annoyed. Will it self-repair as it dries out?

Another awesome picture with chite from my HS reunion:

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

That etiquette of cancer article is fabulous.

My favorite was this bit:

One day when I was in the middle of chemo, my daughter’s nursery school teacher said to me: “Aren’t you supposed to be looking worse during chemo? How do you get more beautiful every day?”

The way my mom looked on Rosh Hashonah 2008 was the most beautiful she ever was. She just looked so, so perfect. And it was right in the middle of her many treatments.

I wish I had a picture from that night.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

My Princess Boy...that video was just wonderful.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I find that trying.

Agreed. Unless the reviews actually say *how* or *why* there was a problem, if any, with the product, it's not helpful to say "OMG THIS SUX".

[rm.livejournal.com]

Even when they say, it's not helpful.

I'm looking at a two day film course. Every review is either "THIS CHANGED MY LIFE" or "I KNEW ALL THIS CRAP ALREADY FROM READING LOTS OF BOOKS."

Neither of those is helpful, neither of those speak to my needs, and neither of those make me hate the film business less.

I have a set of shit I need to learn, I'd rather not learn it by cluttering up my house with books I know I won't read systematically, and I'm totally okay with saying "I know nothing outside of the actor's view of these things right now."

But there's so much posturing in film. I'm already getting the heebie jeebies, less about the class and more about -- ugh, filmmaker boy culture.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Oh boy, course reviews, those I can't advise upon at all. And I have got the impression that filmmaker boy culture is pretty noxious stuff, yes.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yes, while I'll "say it with tits" to raise money for D&J, I'm going to dress like a hipster boy when dealing with this end of the film world, period. Because it may not help, but it will hurt a lot less than being an sort of not good enough object of desire.

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

Pittsburgh Filmmakers has some women who teach classes there. It looks like many are into photography but a few are into film. I don't know if they offer anything that would be of use to you, though.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

The answer to damp electronics? Put the device in question in a ziploc bag filled with rice. The rice will absorb the moisture, and your device should work properly again.

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest that. It should take several hours to a day for that to work depending on how damp the item is.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

if you have the sort of oven that can be set to under 200 degrees, placing the phone in dry rice in a bowl and convecting it will also work well.

RM, if this is one of the newer types of blackberries, it is also possible, GENTLY, to remove the tracking-ring and 'pearl', and use compressed air to dry the area under the trackball. I used to do this, then clean the 'pearl' itself with screen-wipes or something else that's mostly alcohol, and reassemble to fix phones all the time.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's less than a year old. Are there instructions somewhere for doing this?

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

absolutely! These are for BB Pearls, I don't know your phone model, but the concepts should be the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNP92EQDiUg and related videos.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8100-series-discussion-pearl/113889-how-clean-trackball-your-pearl-8100-a.html - verbal guide with thumbnails.

If you need other resources, or prefer a different learning style, let me know and I will hunt further. :)

[stardust9121.livejournal.com]

I came to suggest the same thing. I saved a whole laptop by submerging it in rice once.

[alt_universe_me.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking to the "My Princess Boy" video. I've actually known quite a few guys who used to play dress up with girls clothes when they were kids, including one of my exes. I'm honestly surprised that the mom was so worried about it at first, but perhaps maybe it was because he was doing it at the school? Anyway, I think I might check that book out for my son. He doesn't really have a preference for dressing up either way, but he loves books, and I think that one would be a good choice.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

On cancer etiquette: I know one should never read the comments, but is interesting to see the folks who get really bent out of shape over the author not being Little Miss Saintly Cancer Patient.

[magnetgirl.livejournal.com]

You should have seen the looks I got from people when I exhibited the gallows humor that got me & my mom & dad through his battle with Cancer, which ended 5 years ago with his passing.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't doubt it. But given the inherently absurd nature of cancer (rogue cells enthusiastically bringing about their own demise by killing the host in which they are running amok) why WOULDN'T you take that approach? Was anyone huffy enough to scold your late father for it?

When I sat and read a friend's copy of Susan Sontag's "Illness as Metaphor", it was this weird, "oh, I'm not the only person who noticed that" feeling. We have always been weird about cancer, even now when we know what it is.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Drop the phone in rice? That somehow absorbs the water and makes it work better (has been my answer whenever a phone gets soaked, and often does okay.

You're only allowed to miss the assembly if I also miss it. And I'm pretty sure I'm going, even if I have to borrow a car and drive all by myself to do so. (Wonder where all my CDs are...) So there!

~Sor

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

My feelings on product reviews are very mixed. I say that, as I read thousands of reviews every week for work, from shoes to groceries to clothes to financial services to cosmetics to restaurants to international field trips for high school students. Some people write thoughtful, useful reviews. Some people write vacuous nonsense. Some people write stuff so utterly unhelpful because it has nothing to do with writing an actual product review.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

"There is more than one way to be a boy; there is more than one way to be a girl."

Absolutely. That statement reminded me of something teaotter said a while back, which was that one of the problems she (who identifies very strongly as a woman) has with the fact that the sort of dismissal of & discomfort with being gendered that is common for much of our social circle is that it makes definitions of male and female very narrow and rigid and anything that doesn't fit within these definitions is considered "other", which is true for both scary conservatives who consider this "other" to be bad and fringe freaks like amberite & I who embrace this "otherness".

[magnetgirl.livejournal.com]

WOW! You're already up to $810 for D&J congrats!

[lookingaround17.livejournal.com]

Wow, that poor burglar looked ten times better dressed as grass than not--

[ms-daisy-cutter.livejournal.com]

Hi, RM,

I sent you an LJ message a couple of weeks ago about a friend who needs some help, but I'm not sure whether you've gotten it...

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

All I can think reading that burglary story is that Swamp Thing wants our stuff. Why Swamp Thing would bother sawing a hole in a bathroom instead of just showing up and going all Swamp Thing on us is between him, Alan Moore, and the police...