A Lightkeeper's Log

3:53AM - Sticky: Contact Info

Between the fall and spring equinoxes, approximately, I will be in Uganda.

Incoming calls on my cell phone are free. I'm not sure what the reception will be like at all the sites though. The number from North America is 011-256-752-682-949. Please remember that I'm in the +3 time zone, which is eleven hours later than PST.

My sail mail address there is

My Name
c/o ACTS
PO Box 901
Mbarara
UGANDA

All letters would be most welcome, However:

• The post office reliably steals anything that looks interesting, so plain envelopes or postcards work best. No packages.
• Sometimes regular letters don't make it either, so if you are sending more than one, numbering them might be a good idea (then at least I can tell if I missed something).
• Count on two weeks for a special delivery letter, and three to four weeks regular post (therefore don't send me anything after the end of February).

I will probably check my e-mail once a month or so, and that is perhaps the most reliable way to pass on information.

I'll try to update my blogs at the same time. No promises.

For the month of April, I'll be in France.

No sail mail there, of course, but I should be able to check my e-mail more often.

12:43AM - Which Is Lacking in Content, but Full of Fun Links Stolen from People I Like

Muccamukk, your pirate name is
First Mate Francis the Cutthroat

What is YOUR pirate name?

Thank you ltlj for the following. Here is John Sheppard barefoot, riding a horse down a beach. Here is John Sheppard waving and blowing kisses (and many people admiring his ass)!

For those who like Teyla in that last, ileliberte has drawn her looking epic and entirely hot. steammmpunk, on the other hand, has drawn Teyla like an image from one of my favourite Rilke poems.

From Smart Bitches: take this naughty American history quiz (every time you get a question right, the teacher takes off another piece of clothing. Not Work Safe, Obviously.

From naewinter: 6Apart would like to mine you for information. Doesn't that sound like fun?

From nenya_kanadka (for rohan_lady): Quenya Lapseparma the Elvish Baby Name Book.

Good day, got about a third of my to-do list done, which is good as I'm here for three days -g-

I'm trying to decide if I should buy a one-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings to lug to Uganda (and leave there, probably). I only have The Ionian Mission for fun reading, but there should be books there. I also have quite a lot of sci fi/fantasy, which I am really hoping whoever I'm sharing my tent with will at least tolerate.

11:40PM - Rec

ileliberte made this really amazing picture of Teyla for cesperanza's for fic Written By the Victors.

That seems to be the fic in fandom right now, and I must admit that I liked it a lot. All the different perspectives and the epic story telling really turn my crank. I think I would have liked it better had it not been McShep, and had she treated Weir a little differently, but otherwise, it really is quite stunning.

Though it does bring me back to wanting to see fic where someone from Atlantis gets sent back to Earth and actually likes it better there. I would miss home.

11:09PM - Random Movie Question

Do you think I'm the only person in the world that Philadelphia Story royally pissed off? Because... GAH!

9:54AM - Movie Review: Stardust

I saw this a week ago, and wrote down a review at the time, but I've decided to include it here instead of letting it get bogged in the retro-post later.

I think the word that describes that movie best is "ordinary." ( No real spoilers, just an over all reaction. )

1:01AM - So There's This Vid...

Most of you in SPN fandom have probably seen Luminosity and Sisabet's Women's Work by now, but if you haven't you really, really should.

Remember that essay that monkeycrackmary wrote a while ago? Yeah, that didn't actually hugely change in season two. I have some hope for season three though.

I need to go watch Buffy slay things and scrub my brain for a while now.

11:09PM - Distracting Myself

I've been meaning to do with for a while but haven't got around to it. There was a meme involved but I've lost it, so feel free to make your own. Here are twelve songs that I currently listen to way more than can possibly be good for me. A lot of times I can't explain why I'm so taken with them. Many are old favourites, but some are new to me. In no particular order, and with apologies for the megaupload links:

Wailing Jennys - "One Voice"
Canadian Folk Music. I saw them this summer again, and find the intertwining voices absolutely entrancing. This is perhaps their finest song.

Jim Byrnes - "12 Questions"
Canadian Blues. I saw him this summer too. There are better, and more interesting songs on this album, blues pieces that show of his guitar better and have lyrics with actually content, but for some reason this really grabbed me.

Dougie MacLean - "Mary Queen of Scots"
Scottish Folk Music. Another summer favourite, though I might also stalk him just a little. This was the song he didn't play. It's one of my favourites, I find it haunting and intriguing, and I went to everyone of his shows, and he didn't play it. Here it is, though recordings never could do him justice.

Tom Lehrar - "Smut"
American Comedy. acaciaonnastik gave this one to me originally, and I've been listening to it of late. Couldn't say why -g-

Sugarcult - "Los Angeles"
American Rock. I got this off a mix somewhere and have been pretty much obsessed with it ever since. I actually honestly don't know why.

Muse - "Time Is Running Out"
British Rock. Ditto.

Dire Straits - "Brothers in Arms"
American Rock. I think this is the only Dire Straits song I know, but I've been obsessed by it for years.

Amy Winehouse - "Back to Black"
British Rock. I think if Mae West lived in the twenty-first century, she'd be Amy Winehouse. I may be developing a crush.

Lennie Gallant - "There Must Be Another Song"
Canadian Folk Music. Saw him again this winter, where I first heard this song and immediately fell in love with it.

Sorten Muld - "2 Søstre"
Danish Techno Murder Ballad. I first heard this song when I was twelve or so, and have been obsessed with it ever since. I the lyrics are appalling, but that voice...

Greg Brown - "If I Ever Do See You Again"
Ameican Folk Music. A sad love song from my favourite singer. I've only seen him once, years ago. He has a voice like really good sex.

Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto - "Corcovado"
American/Brazilian Bossa Nova. Dad's trying to teach me to play a stripped down version of the melody line on the guitar (which I haven't played in ten years). With a lot of counting, tapping and profanity, I can manage to plunk out the first four bars. Some of the time.

I tried to put up a download them all at once option, but my connection's not having any of it tonight. Sorry.

10:27PM - IBARW: Character of Colour Meme - Djaq

So rydra_wong had the idea that the best way to talk about characters of colour in our various fandoms was outright squee and pimping, which I'm totally down with.

I would like to pimp Djaq from the Beeb's new Robin Hood series. ( Spoilers for series one and a couple pictures )

3:41PM - IBARW: First Nations Characters in Sci Fi

I'm posting this locked to start. All critique and comment welcome. Please tell me if I'm being horrible/ignorant/condescending/outright offensive. That way I will hopefully look slightly less idiotic when I link it to the main ibarw list and people who don't know me see it.

I wasn't really going to post anything at all for this, but I sort of got called on that in this post by mahoni, so here goes:

I read about half the articles and sites linked from the ibarw, and didn't actually feel hugely educated. I took enough sociology and anthropology in college to know the facts of racism in North America, white privilege and all that. I have commented on race and the portrayals thereof in shows that I watch. I still couldn't think of anything to say (hey, challenge: try to read all of those in an afternoon without your brain melting). I tried to think about ways that I had been racist (which was fun, considering my white guilt and deeply engrained embarrassment squeak), or racism I had seen around me. Most of the articles were about African American or Hispanic people, which, living on the west coast of Canada, haven't been huge issues in me life (though -insert only vaguely true comment about having black friends here-).

Something I have a little more experience in is what is called in this country "The First Nations" (aka Native Americans, aka Indians, aka any number of terms which will never, ever appear in this blog). This is a lump term for incredibly diverse groups of people traditionally speaking about sixty different languages (that's just in Canada), living in every climate imaginable, and following many, many different faiths. In the media, First Nations people appear to be rather homogeneous, when they appear at all, which is rarely. The people I grew up around are almost invisible in the media I watch the most. I remember Skeena Reece, a First Nations comedian, commenting about watching a YouTube video with a First Nations child in it, "So I watch this thing, thinking, 'Okay, little girl, now how are you going to represent me and all my people.'" (Good paper on that here).

In all of sci fi/fantasy on TV, I can think of four reoccurring First Nations characters, one of whom is actually Hawaiian, and therefore probably should not be included in the category (though as they technically are a "first nation," and they faced similar colonial policies, and, frankly, because I have so few examples otherwise, I'm counting Hawaiians. If anyone finds this offensive, I will change it). None of them are women. I have no doubt that others have posted more detailed, squeeful, and fitting tributes to these characters, but this seems the best I can do.

( Cut for Length, Pictures and Spoilers for season three of BSG and seasons one and two of SGA )

11:46PM - A Trio of Quickie Recs

Top Ten Winchester Reactions to Wank on Livejournal by deirdre_c (Gen, PG)
Hilarious. If you can't imagine these comments, I'm just not sure you're watching the same show.

Let's All Go To The Drive-In by maevebran (Het, Vala Mal Doran/Daniel Jackson, PG)
Funny and sweet, and kind of perfect of their relationship.

A View From the Door by io_aenaria (Het, Rose Tyler/Tenth Doctor, R)
From the point of view of a novice nun (who is not, I believe, a cat), watching Rose wait for the Doctor. I found the world and symbolism very beautiful.

1:23PM - Anyone Else Get One of These?

This was LJ's offical response to the letter I e-mailed a couple of places:

Dear [muccamukk],

Thank you for contacting us. Your request has been transfered to the Abuse Prevention Team, since it deals with questions of LiveJournal policy.

In regards to this specific incident, LiveJournal management has made a statement, which can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/241884.html, to clarify the question of material dealing with the sexualization of minors.

I am very sorry that LiveJournal's policies have been communicated in such a confusing manner; I know that LiveJournal management is trying very hard to be as explicit as possible while dealing with a very confusing and challenging set of circumstances.

I hope that the post made in lj_biz last night can help clarify some of your questions, and I'm very sorry for the delay. LiveJournal management had hoped to have the post available sooner, but given the challenging nature of the situation, the very difficult issues surrounding these problems, and the strength and passion of the emotions involved, I know they felt that it was better to take some extra time and work harder to make sure they addressed things in as clear a fashion as they could.

Regards,
Cassie
LiveJournal Abuse Prevention Team

Well, that certainly was helpful.

Oh Well.

6:36PM - Silly Meme From <lj user

List twelve characters! Don't read my answers until you've listed your own characters if you’re wanting to fill this out later:

1. Donna Noble
2. Jack Harkness
3. Buffy Summers
4. Teyla Emmagan
5. Elizabeth Swann
6. Vala Mal Doran
7. Cameron Mitchell
8. Aragorn
9. Bob (from Dresden Files)
10. Djaq (From Robin Hood)
11. Benton Fraiser
12. Dr. John Watson

( Read more... )

12:48AM - Well, We Made the News...

"In traditional fandom response, fans have been flooding the posts at LJ News with angry responses and cat macros."

For some reason, that makes me giggle every time I see it.

It's the link at the bottom that really makes the story, though.

5:53PM - Since everyone else is making statements, I guess I'll get mine in now...

I don't have a problem with LJ not allowing content that is illegal in the country it's based out of. I don't even have a problem with them creating a little leeway by expanding on that definition a little bit. It's their site, and they can do what they want. If we don't like it, we don't have to stay here.

However, as they are a business, and claim to want to be fair and reasonable, I really wish they would do a few things differently. Mainly:

1. I want them to make absolutely clear what is allowed and what isn't. No grey areas, none of this "standard for artistic merit" crap! I mean, who the hell decides that? If you don't want sex involving minors, or pictures of sex at all, okay. I'm not going to be happy about it as the latter at least has nothing to do with US law so far as I know, but as I said, their site, just tell us what the rules actually are.

2. I know that the Terms of Service allow for suspension without notice, so they are well within their legal rights to ban people. However, it seems in the interests of running a good business to give warning before hand. This is especially true of the art of the two members who were recently banned. They claim that they did not feel that their work was in violation of the ToS (in that it did not involve minors), and had received no warning or request to take it down. They just woke up banned for life. This arbitrary policy makes it very difficult for us to work with Six Apart in an effort to get along peacefully. They are chasing away their paying customers.

3. I want the strikethrough back. If someone is banned, I want to know about it, and I want to know why. If nothing else, so that I can avoid ban-worthy behaviours myself. Taking away the strikethrough stinks of sweeping things under the carpet and general dishonesty.

4. The concept of a "Report Abuse Button" on every page is abhorrent to me. We're smart boys and girls: we can doubtless find the e-mail address and paste a link. There is no need to add such a strong Big Brother Is Watching vibe to a friendly site like this.

Perhaps all the above makes me look a little spineless, why am I not standing up for my rights? Well, for one I'm choosing my battles. Secondly, I think that there needs to be a little give in both sides for things to work out here. I stayed last time because I felt that Six Apart was doing that. Now I'm not so sure.

I'm sending a similar version of this off as an e-mail.

6:12PM - Harry Potter Meta, No Spoilers

So I did the good old Myers-Briggs test, and got the same answer that I always do, only now with a comparable Harry Potter character attached (it's possible that I've done this one before, so apologies in advance if you've heard this rant already).


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Which is kind of why I have a huge problem with the while Harry Potter universe, and a lot of other fantasy worlds. I do love the books, and the characters, and have enjoyed them throughly, but I've always had the feeling that there wouldn't be a place for me in them. I'm not one to follow the rules under every circumstance, and I do believe in the power of civil disobedience to overturn bad laws, but generally I strongly feel that rules and laws exist for a good reason, and are generally for the benefit of everyone, and really ought to be followed. There's a quote from A Man for All Seasons that runs like this:

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

But in Harry Potter, people who believe in rules, and order and the established order are people like Percy, generally straight-laced and blinkered, too doggedly loyal to see anything other than what they want to, and too trusting in the system to be able to act to save it. Throughout the books, Law and Order, as represented by the Ministry of Magic, is either no help at all, or actually gets in the way. Hermione, the most rule-abiding of the students to start with, is seen as brave when she goes against her nature and becomes a rebel, and as a bit of a stick in the mud when she refuses to.

Candy over at Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels mentioned in her review of naominovik's His Majesty's Dragon that:

Laurence himself is a breath of fresh air. Romancelandia is populated with rogues--in Dungeons and Dragons terms, most heroes are either Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral. Laurence, on the other hand, is just a touch stiff-rumped... he loves his proprieties, and he’s a big proponent of order and discipline. He comes across as an utterly convincing product of his time and upbringing, and I hadn’t realized how heartily sick I was of the alpha hero who forges his own path, devil take the hindmost, until I encountered Laurence.

Which made me say, "yeah, that's exactly it!" (though that wasn't actually my favourite book ever, I did really like Laurance). And maybe a story about people who respected the rules would be rather boring, but that's kind of what I relate to most, so I'm not prepared to be hugely rational on this point. It's why I generally like detective stories about actually police officers better than ones with PIs, and why I've never been able to stand most guy novels about rogue-whatever-they-ares.

Yes, Harry Potter is a children's book, and therefore there's a certain emphasis on freedom from adult rules and structure, but it strikes me that there could be a at least a little respect for the adult world with is rules in there somewhere too. (Not that I think there would be much of a place for me on the absolute other end of the spectrum, in the Chronicles of Narnia, as my crimes already considerably outnumber Susan's.)

Each fictional universe has it's own range of acceptable of behaviours allotted to heroes, villains, and stuffy people who get in the way, while my personality remains roughly fixed. In each book, I look to see where I fit in, and if I'm Percy Weasley here, I'm not seeing a huge amount of overlap in values.

12:02AM - Some Old Loves, Apparently, Never Die

I haven't been hugely into McKay/Sheppard of late, for a couple of reasons: we get enough of it on the show that actual slash seems a bit superfluous at times; I sometimes feel that tPtB are ramming those two down my throat at the expense of characters I like more, Teyla, for example, and they have a vaguely crazy fen (a category which, granted, doesn't exclude many 'ships, but still). Also, there seems to be so much Victim!Rodney/Evil!John\Abused!John/Woobie!Rodney\whatever freakishly strange OOC people one can think of, and many no sane person would dream of. So aside from the odd thing by rageprufrock, who I still adore, it's not really my pairing any more.

But every once and a while, I'll see a picture of the two of them together, an icon or something, and they're just so adorable and dorky that I just kind of have to fall in love all over again and watch a bunch of vids or something.

This one, for example:

12:32AM - And Bringing in August...

You know how the Doctor, especially in his Tenth incarnation, tends to go off on very strange rants and tangents? I was just rewatching parts of 310 "Blink" and remembered the best bizarre dialogue in the whole third series. ( Not especially spoilery for the plot, but cut anyway. )

9:25PM - Obligatory Note

So the Atlantic coast people and others in the sunrise direction have undoubtedly laid hands on the Book by now. I wish them a very merry time reading it. I will probably snag a copy off of one of my cousins in August or so, but have already deliberately spoiled myself.

Still, I declare this LJ a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Free Zone from now until then. It's not that I don't care about the book, I just don't want to ruin it for someone who stumbles in.

ETA: Also, this spoiler free commentary on spoilers is pretty awesome, thanks to cruisedirector for the link.

9:34PM - Two Stargate Recs

Title: Precious Are They
Author: lite_bright
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Words: 1,400
Rating: PG
Summary: Teal’c remembers. “Unending” tag.
Notes: The first time I saw this, after I was done crying, I wondered, "But what about Teal'c?" This answers that beautifully and perfectly.

Title: Inundation
Author: ltlj
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Words: 3,200
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The flood and the subsequent mudslide that had buried the gate were pretty bad, but at least the rain had stopped. And nobody was dead.
Notes: Short, funny and beautifully done, about everyone being crabby, and wet, and stuck together on a really amazing planet.

9:00PM - Doctor Who Season Three (and More)

So I've been thinking about this all weekend, on and off, and here's the scattered contents of my brain: ( Long. Typos. Spoilers for all three of the new serieses )

( Thumbnail Episode reviews based perhaps of hazy memories )

Okay, think that's out of my system. For now anyway. There may be more later.