sundries

[rm]

I'm back and my body clock is COMPLETELY screwed up. We'll see how long I last at work. I kinda just want to wear crap, go in and get out. But part of me thinks I should be fabulous and then have some New York. I don't know. I'm totally having Chipotle for lunch though.

My mobile really is actually working again this time. If you need me, you can find me.

Blessedly, nothing went wrong in the apartment while I was gone. Of course, that meant our bathroom ceiling started leaking just as I went to leave for the office. They just looked at it, are checking the pipes upstairs to stop the ongoing issue, and will do repairs early next week. I am competent!

For some reason I ALWAYS set off the metal detectors in Heathrow, even though I never do in New York. I was patted down professionally, thoroughly and non-invasively by a female officer there (she did not touch my genital or breast area, but did check legs, thighs, sternum -- she did not touch my skin, she did not give me detailed warnings about what would happen next as the TSA pat downs seem to, which implies, to me, that all involved know what's going on with the TSA pat downs is not right, acceptable or effective). HOWEVER, as this transpired, the male agent also standing there (for men who set off the machine), told me to smile.

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine (no one orders random men to smile, and it's not my job to present my body/face in a way that makes random strangers happy), even when said in a non-smarmy way. I mustered all my cheer and said, "Dude, I know your job sucks, and it's not your fault, but this sucks for us too." Sigh. Anyway, as annoying/patronizing as that was, I think to myself -- TSA, what's so hard? Some people after a pat down or bag search are referred to a backscatter machine at Heathrow (where both the person its used on, and the images are both shielded form public view, but the machine itself is in a public area), but that's only seems to be as a last-case resort if other modes of inquiry can't resolve the issue. This was Terminal 5.

Wicked Wednesdays/Theater Thursdays and so forth should resume without time-zone and other interruption tomorrow (let me know if you have things you want to know). Meanwhile we have 21 days to raise the remaining $1,835. Eek!

Am leaning strongly towards not submitting anything for the PCA conference this year. On top of D&J, 2011 is going to be another big travel year and there's _way_ too much stuff up in the air right now for me to want to insert that into it just now. I doubt more than half of those up in the air things will be resolved by the deadline (December 15), so I'm just trying to be chill about it.

Bespoke crafting from Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, via the Ministry of Stories: Your Respect, Your Courage, Your Imagination Will Bring You Victory. Inspired by The Boring Store.

The red bees of Brooklyn: "When the sun is a bit down, they glow red in the evenings."

Trans woman strip searched, twice, in Israeli airport, for, it seems, the amusement of others.

When life and art converge: an actor with prostate cancer that has spread to the lymph system plays a dying Freud.

Just one reason the NY housing market gives me anxiety: income and guarantor requirements are onerous, and then there are the landlords who make you sign affidavits that you are not a prostitute (in fact, a remarkable number of the horror stories seem to involve women not being treated as adults or "respectable").

I'm not sure I could be more tickled by something this random: Anderson Cooper says Lady Gaga got him drunk on whiskey during an interview.

Kenya's Prime Minister calls for gays and lesbians to be arrested.

There is good and bad in this (and a lot of complexity when you'll note things haven't changed at all-gay guest houses -- gay women are more accepted than gay men; we're also not recognized as a cultural force and more expected to be assimilationist because people find us less threatening): lesbian guesthouse in Florida to welcome all.

India's first Pride celebration takes place in Delhi.

The ongoing Spiderman musical situation: what do we think, is it getting this much scrutiny because it's the most expensive musical theater production in history or because a woman's directing?

Despite agreeing that its existence is near inexplicable, I think Cowboys & Aliens looks pretty cool. Non-geek audiences, however, think it looks like next year's Snakes on a Plane.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I did not hear about the trans woman at Ben Gurion and a quick Google-Fu shows that it was pretty much not reported about the news outlets I usually visit.

Air port security in Israel is tight... but Jewish and citizen privilege trumps all. The racial profiling is crazy, or normal, depending on your perspective.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

That smile thing makes me CRAZY. I've never, ever had a woman say that to me, but easily dozens of men. GRRRRRR.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I did get it from a woman once, namely my 5th grade math teacher who thought it was funny that I'd cry in frustration in her class. It was all my Mom to do not deck her the one time she chirpily asked me, "So, do you still cry?" in front of a whole bunch of people...

It has taken me over a decade to realize that isn't normal behavior...

Which makes me wonder if the whole "Smile!" thing is a weird attempt to assuage the guilt of the person making the demand. Guys who do it seem to think every non-smiling woman is a manifestation of their Mom while angry?

[marchek.livejournal.com]

When life and art converge: an actor with prostate cancer that has spread to the lymph system plays a dying Freud.

I was there! Seriously, it was bizarre because it really did seem like his collapse on stage was part of the show. I'm glad the guy is okay (cancer aside). James, his parents, and I were all sad not the see the rest of the show because the dialog was really great. We were able to re-book our tickets for March and his parents plan on coming back to NYC just for it although I have my doubts that the same actor will be playing Freud at that time.

Just one reason the NY housing market gives me anxiety: income and guarantor requirements are onerous, and then there are the landlords who make you sign affidavits that you are not a prostitute (in fact, a remarkable number of the horror stories seem to involve women not being treated as adults or "respectable").

Did I ever tell you that the landlord formy union square apartment required that they personally meet both myself and Alan before we signed the lease because of a male prostitution business that had been run in our apartment building a few years earlier?

[tdanaher.livejournal.com]

Did I ever tell you that the landlord formy union square apartment required that they personally meet both myself and Alan before we signed the lease because of a male prostitution business that had been run in our apartment building a few years earlier?

Wow, a memory -- when the decision was being made as to whether we would be allowed to move into our current apartment, our current building manager actually came to visit us in our old apartment, because he wanted to see how much stuff we had and whether we kept it in order before he'd let us move into his building. (It worked out, we did the old trick of baking bread, and we put Segovia on the CD player which it turned out he was a huge fan of.)

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I choose to believe the hubbub around the Spider-Man Musical is a confluence of comics' place in pop culture right now, the cost and disaster seemingly around the production, and if it's anything about Taymor, it's because she's Taymor.

Everyone's waiting for her next Highway 61. (That's what they were calling the Bob Dylan musical, yeah?)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do think it's a combination of factors, but I also think she does particular irk the shit out of people because of what she does (THERE IS NO IRONY HERE) and what she does it to (beloved things people are fannish about, and, in this case, considered the domain of boys). I think that she's a she does make people sort of call out the dogs on her, or cover her in a way that makes gender seem an issue, when her work would reasonably engender the level of scrutiny it does no matter who she is. The Times just has a certain glee about her troubles that unsettles me.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Ah, I haven't been following the Times' coverage too closely.

The comics world is more in horror of what is being done to the property rather than by whom, and what horror there is in that direction seems more aimed at Bono and The Edge.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Most of the stuff I've seen seems to focus on the fact that this is a slow-motion train wreck starring one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. I suspect, if it actually happened, Jim Steinman's Batman musical would have gotten the same sort of coverage.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this.
I haven't seen a thing that's been implying that Taymor is anything other than hopefully the _saviour_ of this festering pile.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

The British and Irish reviews are, almost universally, going 'Oh holy GOD, the car-crash, oh man, make it stop, SOMEBODY LOCK BONO UP.'

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- I can picture a man being told to cheer up but not to smile, unless we're in a western and there's a drawn gun involved.

Speaking of, my reaction to watching the Cowboys and Aliens trailer online was an immediate and heartfelt FUCK YEAH.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought it looked great. But hey, I was on board at Daniel Craig in a waistcoat.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand was squeeing at being able to recognize the NM locations where it was filmed. Seeing a fistfight going down not far from where Georgia O'Keeffe lived and painted was an interesting contrast.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by Daniel Craig because he's (a) scorching hot and (b) kinda funny looking. For me, he's the male equivalent of a jolie laide (beau laide?).

Re: the Spider Man musical, I think it's mostly the sheer scale of the spectacle. I recall that the giant turntable in Les Miz, the chandelier in Phantom, and the helicopter is Miss Saigon got a lot of ink, back in the day.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

Welcome home! I hope your body clock doesn't give you too much grief while it's sorting itself out.

When random people tell me to smile, I give them my best full teeth snarl. Shuts 'em right the fuck up.

This is the second time that I've read the Lady Gaga has gotten a journalist soused. The first time was last year, when she took a journalist to a sex club in Berlin. Hilarious! I really like her. And the fact that this time, it's Anderson Cooper she was busily corrupting just makes me smile, because I like him, too.

[browneyedgirl65.livejournal.com]

The link around "in fact, a remarkable number of the horror stories seem to involve women not being treated as adults or "respectable")" seems to be missing.

It's funny about Lady Gaga... I don't care for her music, so normally an artist like her wouldn't impinge on my radar -- except that she keeps touching on issues I care about and doing things on issues that I care about. And this story with AC is pretty funny.

I was *actually* in a movie theater last weekend (HP7) so I saw the trailer for Cowboys and Aliens and I think it looks like it could be enormous fun. The group of people I was with seemed to think it would either be really, really good, or really, really bad (with the potential to be the sort of really bad that becomes cult-cool). I dunno. I just saw lots of eye candy...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Link fixed!

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

...what do we think, is it getting this much scrutiny because it's the most expensive musical theater production in history or because a woman's directing?

Or because the title is awful, U2 is involved, it's been about to open Any Minute Now for approximately 300 years, and historically, musicals about super-heroes are not instant classics?

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman! wasn't an instant classic!?!

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

The picture from the Anderson/Gaga article is too cute for this world.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should save it and rehost it for the benefit of the people at ontd_political. It did look like it was begging for the caption "Cheek chucking: imminent". :)

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Welcome back!

Different countries have different standards for how high to set their metal detectors. I have no idea where the US currently stands relative to other countries, but many other places had theirs cranked higher back when I flew international more often.

Re patdowns: I really prefer that they DO tell me where they are about to touch me, and so do most disabled folks and advocates. If I'm in pain in an area, or wearing a medical device, I want to know when they're about to touch that area. I've been getting patdowns for many years because of wheelchair travel, and they've always told me where they're going to touch me (at last if they're doing it properly and to proceedure). This was the case even well before the 'enhanced' patdowns.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Definitely, warnings are good. I'm just a little squicked by the TSA "now I'm going to touch you [fill in the blank], with the back of my hand" like that makes it better.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that part is odd. I can only assume that somebody thinks that "back of the hand" means "I'm not cupping and/or groping" and that therefore this needs to be emphasized.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The regulations also state the TSA may use either the front or the back of the hand, so it's just another factor in the confusion/misinformation/weirdness.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

We have the original 826 store, at 826 Valencia, and I love that it is a Pirate Store. I also love that the 826 concept has spread and is being executed so marvelously in its various formats.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

There is good and bad in this (and a lot of complexity when you'll note things haven't changed at all-gay guest houses -- gay women are more accepted than gay men; we're also not recognized as a cultural force and more expected to be assimilationist because people find us less threatening)

If we aren't inclusive, then we're Manhating Ballbusting Castrating Lesbian Separatists and are thus Terrifying and Wrong and Crazy and probably on the road to some sort of depravity caused by a dearth of dick.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Re: Spiderman- I heard some coworkers discussing how it sounds like a train wreck; when I asked who the director was, neither one could tell me.

[marymac.livejournal.com]

I think I've had that security guy at Heathrow. Snapping 'And how do you know I'm not going to a funeral?' shuts him up right quick.

Admittedly, I think he now thinks I'm killing my family left right and centre.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I am clipping and saving that one.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

HOWEVER, as this transpired, the male agent also standing there (for men who set off the machine), told me to smile.

There is not enough WTF in the world for that.

On the other hand, I have nothing but love for M of S and 826 and their whole ilk. I wish I lived nearer to one of their shops/workspaces so that I could do THAT for a living. (Also, how much do I love that the Boring Store sells a banana disguise for one's mobile phone? Enough to sing about it, that's how much.)

[(Anonymous)]

I know it won't really make a difference, but I'm a little sad reading the smile thing. I understand that it seems misogynistic, that only men will tell women to smile. But it's like holding the door: men shouldn't stop holding the door for women, women should also begin to hold the door for men. For whoever comes after you. It's polite, and it's courteous. Male suicide is so high because they don't feel people listen; because they can't talk. When women aren't around, men in the military can take on a more caring role towards one another. I think a lot of men could benefit from being asked to smile, to be honest. It brightens everyone to know that someone is happy. If you're looking uncomfortable, while they're doing their job, and they attempt to open a dialogue with you no matter how ham handed, they are at least caring that you look like you're not at all happy--isn't it better that this kind of thing is noticed?

I know you've said it's your right not to look happy when you feel like it, and smile when you feel like it, but if we all projected the same way, wouldn't the world be quite a miserable place? When no-one cares to make the simple interactions of daily life any more pleasant for anyone, you get... the TSA. You say he chose his job, but then you chose to fly. I agree it's unfairly gendered, but standing up for your rights isn't quite the same as saying "I'm ill-tempered, and you have to deal with it." ):

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

So, I was in the theatre for Harry Potter, and the trailer comes on for Cowboys and Aliens. Me and my brother (who have similar snark-styles) are basically going "this looks so amazingly awful" and then the title comes on and we both go YES! THIS! NOW!!!

Soyeah, I'm totally hopefully going to see it with him and with mom, because it would be AWESOME!

Also, Snakes on a Plane is like the greatest movie ever. Sothat.

~Sor