Iconoclast

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 03:50:39 GMT

So, thanks to my exposure to HP fandom, I have heard of OBHWF.

I don't know, Harry and Ginny might have an unhappy marriage. Same with Ron and Hermione. It could be some sick incestous version of Closer or something.

Add in Percy/Draco, Bill/Fleur, George/Fred, and Charlie/Hand, and I'll bet I'll piss everyone off.

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 22:22:30 GMT

What should I use this journal for, since I haven't used it for a while?

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:50:16 GMT

I totally want to make a parody of this song about these wars.

And I say
Snape and Hermione bond over a petri dish,
That's the way we pair them, hon,
We're making shit up as we wish.
Canon and common sense,
They pose no threat to us,
Cause if we find we're in a bind,
They'd never fuck but never mind,
We'll pull something out of our behinds.
We'll just make some shit up.

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 20:46:26 GMT

Oh, and by the way: I'm not sorry for anything other than when I stop mocking people for what they said on-line and start seeing them as bad people. They are not. Everyone in fandom is the Thanksgiving turkey at least once. Some, more than others.

A MST of a very old joke

Mon, 06 Jun 2005 17:07:24 GMT

Anne Rice tackles the life of Jesus, and my fictional characters laugh at her.

Dear Reader,

For over ten years I've wanted to do this book--

BATSHEVA: Degrading New Orleans' Reputation Even Further?

Jesus in his own words.

JACOB: I am way more qualified to write that book than she is. I mean, my mom was Jewish, I barely knew my dad, I had long hair, and no one understands me.
BATSHEVA: I doubt Jesus was balding. Besides, just because no one understands you, doesn't mean you're the Messiah.

For five years I've been obsessed with

JACOB: Pissing away any talent she may have had?
BATSHEVA: More convoluted canon than George Lucas?

how to do it, and for
the last three years I've been consumed with nothing else.

BATSHEVA: Does that mean it took precedence over stuff like hygiene?
JACOB: You know that story about Queen Isabella not changing her underwear until a Dutch city was captured? Why am I imagining Anne doing something like that?

The ultimate questions, the ones distilled from a thousand others,
were so obvious as to be frightening.

BATSHEVA: Does writing about vampires drive you insane and over-dramatic, or does being insane and over-dramatic lead one to write about vampires?
JACOB: Where's a good editor when you need one?
BATSHEVA: I'm sorry, there are few editors with the sort of experience needed to deal with Ms. Rice. Experience like active duty in Mosul.

What does it feel like to be Jesus?

BATSHEVA: Probably very squishy.

What did it feel like to be God and Man as a child?...

JACOB: Being capable of starting a sandstorm when you have a temper tantrum?

In all my career, I don't think I've ever faced such a daunting task.

BATSHEVA: It was aided by liberal amounts of whiskey.

And there were moments when I came near to giving up. I prayed. I asked
for guidance.

JACOB [as Anne Rice]: God, I need some help.
BATSHEVA [in 'God' voice]: Anne, back away from the computer slowly.

I scrapped hundreds of pages.

JACOB [as Anne]: That bit about Jesus dropping out of society to surf the world is just not in character.
BATSHEVA [as Anne]: Suggesting that Jesus dated Akasha is a bit much.

At moments, I was on the verge of accepting that perhaps I couldn't do what had to be done here...

JACOB: Write a good book?

I'm not a priest. I can't be one.

JACOB: That's because you're in the wrong denomination.
BATSHEVA: No, no, let us praise the Holy One that she is not a priest.
JACOB [as Anne]: I will not cut up my painstakingly written sermons just because my parishioners are 'bored' and 'falling asleep.' You interrogate my work from the wrong perspective.

I'll never be able to go to the altar of the Lord and say the words of consecration at Mass, "This is my body. This is my blood."

JACOB: Shall I make the vampire joke or will you?
BATSHEVA: We'll hold off that until the sequel, when Jesus meets Lestat.

No, I can't work that magnificient Eucharistic miracle.

BATSHEVA: I can, however, turn beer into piss.

But in humility, I have attempted something
transformative which we writers dare to call a miracle in the
imperfect human idiom we possess.

JACOB: How can she use the word 'humble' when she has no idea what that is?

It's to bring Him here in the form
of a story, and that story is Christ the Lord.

JACOB: Matthew, Luke, John and Mark? Fuck 'em.
BATSHEVA: She has plans for a trilogy. Moses in his own words, and then, Mohammad in his own words. Let's offend all the Abrahamic religions!

Sincerely,
Anne Rice

Tue, 17 May 2005 00:48:25 GMT

I'd write House/Danny Elfman, but it will deplete the world supply of snark.

(Plus, what would he be doing in New Jersey?)

Oy, I mock again

Sun, 01 May 2005 16:01:36 GMT

So, the 'real life fairy Mary Sue' wrote something for NaNoWriMo. While I am all for creativity and realize that NaNoWriMo is about getting it down, not making it good, it made my head hurt. The 'every word in capitalized' is the author. The sarcastic remarks are mine. Oh, and there is a great bit about psychic vampires buried in a rant about vampires from limyaael.

Have You Ever Imagined What It Would Be Like To Ride The Wind’s Back At Twilight And Soar Among The Stars And The Glittering Sunset Coloured Mists As The Rest Of The World Lies Sleeping And Dreaming Beneath You?

EWAN: Some hazards of flying: air pollution; pigeons; airplanes.
BATSHEVA: Plus, in LA, sunsets aren't very natural looking. Nobody gets to bed by twilight, either.

Have You Ever Dreamed Of Dancing With A Faerie Creature Of Such Blinding, Ethereal Beauty, To Music So Haunting And Sweet That It Makes Your Very Soul Cry Tears Of Enchantment And You Feel That You’ll Die If The Dance Ends And You’ll Die If It Continues?

EWAN: That sort of thing leads to returning to your old hometown one hundred years later and turning to dust.
BATSHEVA: But it is all so cool and mystical!

Have You Ever Imagined What It Would Be Like To Possess Immortality?

EWAN: After two hundred years, it gets a tad dull.

The Memories You Might Create?

EWAN: The enemies with grudges longer than my arm and weapons that made even 'immortality' a relative term?
BATSHEVA: You're an assassin. People not liking you much goes with this whole killing people thing.

The Spectacular People You Might Meet

EWAN: And have to kill? And deal with their angry relatives?
BATSHEVA: Plus, it's not like it is easy to get a hold of Copernicus or Rambam or the like.

And The Incredible Events You Might Witness?

EWAN: Because actually witnessing the Black Plague decimate Europe is so much more vivid than reading about it.
BATSHEVA: It killed 1/3. Decimate means to kill one out of ten.
EWAN: Details, details.

Can You Imagine What It Would Feel Like To Watch, Un~Changed, Youthful, Beautiful, Magickal,

EWAN: Memo to fluffy fairy girl: not all of the fae are pretty.
BATSHEVA: Also, tildes are not like hyphens.

As All Of Those Whom You Love Age, Grow Ill, And Pass On To The Spirit Realms While You Endlessly Continue On?

BATSHEVA: That sounds like a counterargument against immortality, actually.
EWAN: Also, *cough* reincarnation.

The Tragic, Terrible Romance Of What It Truly Means To Be Immortal?

EWAN: More like tragedy lite: all the whining, none of the actual sorrow?

Have You Ever Dreamed Of Having The Power To Seduce, To Enchant, To Completely Bewitch ANYONE That You Desire?

BATSHEVA: I knew someone like that. Leanan sidhe. Left a friend of a friend when there was no more creative inspiration to suck from him. Friend of friend was getting off heroin, but returned to it. Overdosed. She almost killed my best friend. I have no desire to meet that bitch again.
EWAN: Admit, you want to get Ralph Fiennes in your bed, and if it is by magical means, all the better.

Of Having The Sort Of Un~Earthly Beauty That Legends Are Built Upon?

EWAN: The sort of legends that appear in awfulplasticsurgery.com?

Soul~Shattering, Otherworldly Beauty

BATSHEVA: That sounds vaguely painful.

Which Men Would Kill Their Brothers In Duels Over And Women Would Sell Their Souls To Claim As Their Own, Even If Only For One Single Night ?

EWAN: Because murder and degradation are funny when they are all about you.
BATSHEVA: On the other hand, you had women fight over you.
EWAN: That's because they thought I was Nick Cave and wanted my autograph.

Have You Ever Imagined What It Would Be Like To Sing With A Voice Which Angels And Birds Can Only Envy?

EWAN: I never talked to birds, but I have met beings you could call 'angels.' They have absolutely no interest in humanity, or any voices they might 'envy.' In fact, they are beyond envy or anything other emotion.
BATSHEVA: Yeah, and the last time an angel got envious, he fell.
EWAN: I thought that was a Christian idea.
BATSHEVA: Well, it was also part of Jewish apocalyptic literature. But you might be closer to the truth.

A Voice So Pure, So Achingly Perfect And Glorious, So Innocently Sweet, Yet Rich And Vibrant As The Colours Of A Hummingbird In Flight?

EWAN: All a setup for the wonderful singing of the character. What are they called? Mary Sues? See, bad things happen to people who boast about skills, if you know your fairy tales and mythology.
BATSHEVA: I doubt she is going to turn into a spider.

A Voice Which Haunts Everyone Who Hears It So That Ever After They Are Never Again The Same As Before?

BATSHEVA: In a jibbering and meeping kind way.

Or To Dance So Lightly, So Gracefully That You Could Glide Along On A Cobweb

EWAN: Warning: cobwebs are what a spider uses to catch food, super-fairy.

Or Turn Pirouettes On The Surface Of A Forest Lake?

BATSHEVA: And fast enough to get out of the way of a speedboat?

To Move With Such Fragile Delicacy That Even A Swan Looks Clumsy In Comparison?

EWAN: If the capitalization of every focking word wasn't enough, analogies are so flowerly I'm starting to get allergic.

Have You Ever Dreamed Of Shifting Shape?

BATSHEVA: I wish this would turn into a decent story. That count?

Changing Your Appearance At Will? Gliding Silently Through The Night Sky As A Falcon Or An Owl, The Wind Barely Rustling Your Wings?

BATSHEVA: Hearing "Cletus! Shoot it!" just before you die?

Running Swiftly Through The Fragrant Forest As A Fox Or A Deer?

BATSHEVA: Well, I could make the same joke, but maybe the hunter will be too drunk to shoot you?
EWAN: Right, shoot on sight then.

Or Rolling Through The Ocean’s Shimmering Waves In The Soft And Velvety, Sleek And Shining Body Of A Seal?

BATSHEVA: I know a selkie. She had to deal with colds and infections in human form after she swims. Oceans are polluted, you know. She's gotten much better since she moved to Alaska, by and by.

The Ability To Make Yourself Small Enough To Sleep Inside An Un~Opened Rosebud, But Powerful Enough To Have The Elements At Your Command?

EWAN: Screw the elements, it's a thief's wet dream! Make yourself small, swipe jewelry, hock them to some gnomes.

Have You Ever Imagined What It Would Be Like To Remember Life After Life In Different Times And Places?

EWAN: Some of it the stuff of nightmares.
BATSHEVA: I don't know, I had pleasant past lives. I had loving families, good jobs. Other than the occasional bout of poverty and a pogrom, my soul had a nice existence.

Lives As Queens And Courtesans, Princesses, Peasant Maids And High Priestesses, All The Way Back Into The Mists Of Time?

EWAN: Oh right, it was all romantic and pretty. No prostitutes, overworked peasants married at young ages, fishwives, no struggle, no pain.

Camelot And Avalon,

EWAN [mumbling]: Camelot was filthy. Vivienne, don't get me started.

The Courts Of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Charles II And The Versailles Of Louis XVI And Marie Antoinette?

EWAN: I take orders to kill from kings and queens. I have a dim view of monarchy.
BATSHEVA: Oh, come now, how Eurocentric. No memories of being a Bedouin matriarch or a consort of a Yoruba priest-king?
EWAN: No chance of wearing glittery ballgowns.

To Have Been Painted By J.W. Waterhouse, E. Blair~Leighton And Dante Gabriel Rossetti? Immortalized In Poem And Prose By Shakespeare,

EWAN: You were that man he dedicated those sonnets to?
BATSHEVA: Silly, she was the Dark Lady.
EWAN: Right then.

Keats And Byron?

EWAN: To catch Byron in bed with a pretty boy--or his sister?

To Know That Strauss Was Inspired To Write “The Blue Danube” After Waltzing With You And Gazing Into The Depths Of Your Colour~Shifting Faerie Eyes?

BATSHEVA: Oh, yeah, not like he was inspired by a body of water.
EWAN: Does that mean Wagner met a valkyrie or a dwarf?

That Mozart Created The Role Of “Queen Of The Night” In His Opera “The Magic Flute” Especially For You, Because Your Voice Was His “Ideal”?

EWAN: You're Marietta Alboni? Hello, Mari, you haven't answered my last letter.

To Have Been There On The Long And Starless Night When The Great Lady, Titanic, Met Her Death In The Icy Grey Atlantic Depths?

BATSHEVA: And of course, fairy princess here couldn't do something useful like try to get people in lifeboats.

To Have Fought The Romans As A Druid Priestess On Mona, To Have Learned The Secrets Of The Strega At Lake Nemi In Renaissance Italy And To Have Died By The Witch~Hunter’s Cruel Hand In Scotland In The Tempestuous 1700’s?

EWAN: Notice no mention of dying of childbirth, slaughtered in battle as civilian, or anything that mundane.

Have You Ever Dreamed Of The Moon Considering You Her Daughter? The Dryads Of The Trees Bowing Down To You As You Pass? The Naiads Of Streams, Lakes And Ponds Singing A Joyous Song In Your Honour Whenever You Come Near? Wild Animals And Birds Flocking To Follow In Your Wake And White Trefoil Flowers Springing Up In Your Footprints Wherever You Walk?

BATSHEVA: And she pisses champagne, craps vanilla ice cream, and farts glitter.
EWAN: She also doesn't sweat, she glistens.

Have You Ever Imagined What It Would Be Like To Be Able To Travel Between Worlds?

BATSHEVA: Yeah, well, having your street transported to the fairy realm is pretty freaky.

To Spend Half Your Life In The Astral Realms And The Faerie Courts And Half Your Life In What Mortals Know As “The Waking World”?

EWAN: Yes. You mortals think you get jet lag?

To Know That You Have Wings?

BATSHEVA: And that you have to duck through doors, because wings tearing hurt like hell?

To Know That Unicorns, Vampires, Ghosts,

EWAN: Vampires aren't people you want to meet in real life. I've got the scars to prove it.
BATSHEVA: Plus trolls, orcs, redcaps, harpies, nighthags aren't things that I would wish upon the human world.
EWAN: Neo-Nazis, al-Qaeda members, serial killers, con artists, and the assholes at the Nurmenberg trials and Abu Gharib aren't things that I would wish upon the fae world.
BATSHEVA: True, very, very true.

And The Pagan Gods And Goddesses Are Very, Very Real Indeed

EWAN: And want to kill you. Ask me about the time I pissed off Quetzalcoatl.
BATSHEVA: I met them. They are not always nice. Helpful to their followers, but nice is relative.

And That All Of The Old Myths And Legends, The Faerie Tales, Are Really, Really True?

EWAN: By Danu's blue cloak, I rather meet a troll than this cotton-headed mollycoodle.
BATSHEVA: Right, stock up on cold iron baseball bats.

And That They All Exist Today And Could Be Seen If Only Humankind Would Believe In Them And Open Their Eyes To Allow Themselves To See?

EWAN: And clap if you believe in fairies!
BATSHEVA [gives a golf clap]: Oh, you're still here. It worked.

All Of This, And So Much More, Is MY Life.

EWAN: Oh dear . . .

My Name Is Wynne, And I’m More Ancient,

EWAN: Was there doing garbage collection at Mu, she was.

And Yet, More Childlike And Innocent,

BATSHEVA: 'Air-headed' takes so fewer characters.

Than You Could Ever Imagine.

BATSHEVA: Oy.

I Am A LeananSidhe, Also Known As “The Faerie Mistress” Or “The Faerie Sweetheart”.

BATSHEVA [seething]: Leanan sidhe. I've got some other terms you may have heard. Self-absorbed, vain, heedless of who they take away from the physical world, who they left behind, and who they hurt. Bitch, you die now! [lunges at screen]
EWAN: [grasps her shoulder] Batsheva. Sue author. Not actually leanan sidhe. Might not even aware of what that means.
BATSHEVA: [slumps] Sorry. Bad memories.

In His Famous Poem, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” John Keats Wrote Of Me:

“I Met A Lady In The Meads, Full Beautiful - A Faery's Child, Her Hair Was Long, Her Foot Was Light, And Her Eyes Were Wild.”

EWAN: I read that. Keats was a good bloke, but all wrong. People who meet a leanan sidhe come to worse fates than hanging around a lake.

Some Would Call Me A Vampire, A Dark, Seductive Faerie Creature Who Sucks The Blood From Overly Romantic And Beautiful Young Men {Such As Keats, Shelley, Byron, Mozart And Countless Others} Who Then Burn Brightly With A Creative Flame Of Poetic And Artistic Glory Only To Suddenly Plunge Into The Darkness Of Dissipation And Die Young, Leaving A Pale But Gorgeous Corpse.

BATSHEVA: Oh, some ignorant people might call you that, you damn glittery idiot with absolutely no idea about the scarier side of these stories.
EWAN: Somehow, I think that heroin addiction would be much less painful than an encounter with these ladies.

This Is , Of Course, As Many Legends That Have Been Told For Centuries Are, A Slight Bit Away From The Actual Truth, So I Hope You’ll Allow Me To Set You Straight!

EWAN: Wonderful. If only I could set you straight. Maybe invite Baba Yaga for a chat with you.

What I Actually Am Is What Might Be Termed A “Psychic Vampire”. I Thrive On Lifeforce And Creative Energy!

BATSHEVA: Leaving them soulless husks when they no longer suit you. Yeah, I know you alright.

And It’s Quite Easy For Me To Gather Enough Energy To Survive By Performing And Drawing Upon The Creative Energy Raised By The Performance And Amplified By The Excitement Of The Audience!

EWAN: Ah, you steal energy from more people. Leaving them feeling a little listless and apathetic, unable to plan or dream or fantasize until they rest up and recover by their own resources. You're not killing one person, but your feeding method still leaves scars. Or have you decided that sort of thing didn't fit into your romantic fantasy of being a fairy princess?

No Need Whatsoever For The Pale And Wan Corpses Of Lovelorn Young Poets To Be Involved At All!

BATSHEVA: No, lovelorn musicians work just fine . . .
EWAN: Fiction. Clueless.
BATSHEVA: Right.

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 02:13:54 GMT

At least the teenagers hanging around batshit Sailor Moon cosplayer and experiencing her lack of concern for other people faced it at 16, and not at, say, 27.

At least none of them married her.

Commentary on two different wank threads

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 20:58:07 GMT

What is it about sex and childbirth that gets people to wank so much?

Oh, right. That wasn't how I wanted it to sound.

I have an idea for a web page

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 20:52:42 GMT

Or maybe a book, assuming that people will buy it.

When Prophecy Fails Electric Bugaloo: A Social and Psychology Study of Domlijah Tinhats

I will be examining them using Leon Festinger's conditions for prophecy and what happens when it fails:

There must be conviction.
There must be commitment to this conviction.
The conviction must be amenable to unequivocal disconfirmation.
Such unequivocal disconfirmation must occur.
Social support must be available subsequent to the disconfirmation.

Would anyone read the page?

Oh, and a site that references the infamous color coded shirt/'signs Dom and Elijah are so doing it page.

File under, 'this makes my UA campaign look lame'

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 18:38:20 GMT

Jenna Elfman: even crazier than being possessed by a ceremonial magician hell-bent on revenge.

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 01:22:25 GMT

Is it Constantine fanfiction if you haven't seen the movie, may not see it, but drool over their version of the Archangel Gabriel?

Tilda Swinton . . .

The measure of good music

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 02:30:13 GMT

The Muppet Show theme shines bright even in a language I wish I understood.

Yay Muppet Show theme in Hebrew!

More news of that fandom

Fri, 21 Jan 2005 03:33:10 GMT

Baby Boy Fonda-Elfman is not more than two days old, and people are already pinning their hopes of a Boingo reunion on his teeny and possibly pale shoulders.

Jesus Christ.

He's a baby, not a clone of his father. Most likely, he will do whatever pleases him when he comes of age.

And Billy Burton might not direct. Surprisingly, people have picked occupations their parents did not.

(And babies seem to be all around. A friend of mine delivered a son, another friend expecting, all them little humans popping up)

So, why am I not into opera?

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 02:21:57 GMT

So, at AllMusic, they have a section called 'mood.' Looking up the 'moods' of my favorite bands, here are the top moods.

Tense/Anxious
Quirky
Intense
Bittersweet
Theatrical
Cathartic
Sophisticated
Literate
Visceral
Nocturnal
Hypnotic
Trippy
Reflective
Eerie
Ethereal
Wintry
Detached
Wistful
Melancholy
Brooding
Ominous
Complex

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 03:42:03 GMT

Candybar dolls are addictive.

Wow, they have this?

(And I freely admit to being childish. That's why I shouldn't have children. And that noise and unpredictablity thing)

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:45:53 GMT

I am really starved for entertainment, but that is largely my fault.

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 00:37:43 GMT

So, I am taking a pledge from political stuff now that I've voted, but I gotta wonder about one thing.

Who would be up for fictional characters debating pundits?

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:01:18 GMT

I notice that there is a debate on vampires' rights.

As I see it, there is much involved. If they feed from consenting adults and otherwise leave others alone, I'm OK with that. If they commit crimes, they ought to have a fair trial and a just punishment. Considering their super31337 powers, that may require staking, psychics trained in banishing mind fog. I mean, we have expert witnesses for human criminals.

I reject any step toward genocide. Too many slaughters of human groups start with charges of them being a 'menace' to whatever way of life is going on. Do we really want to pioneer preternatural genocide?

I would also like to address this charge: "If we let them live, eventually human civilization won't be able to sustain the resources they consume." Oh, good God. If I have to deal with 'if we don't have children, the population will die out,' it's this sort of alarmist hoo-ha. Look, six billion humans are not in danger of extinction. Besides, vampires are somewhat smarter than other predators (including humans): they know that if they do not have a sustainable human population, they are going to resort to draining each other. Vampire cannibalism, yo.

If anything, they may agitate for some serious social reform. A national health care system, that may be the answer to fears of contracting a human's blood-born disease. A fed human is a tasty human, so let's stock food pantries. Who knows, with the American economy the way it is, one of them may revive 'the company town.' Have a nice job that won't get outsourced, donate a pint a month or so.

Let's not just show the advantages for the bleeding-heart (heh heh) liberals. Vampires have lived for centuries and can vote from a wellspring of tradition, custom, and moral foundation. Mind, some of those traditions and customs died out when Rome fell, but hey. Sacrifices to sun gods are protected by the 1st Amendment.

Also, with their tight clans of vampires with similar powers, and a few mystically-bonded servants, they understand the concept of 'traditional family values.' Take care of your love ones and make sure the government protects them too. They understand hands-off government, unless the government has some creepy super-strong FBI agents or something.

Plus, vampires are at least sentient. Now, zombies. Ew. Just ew.

I'm necronomist and I endorse this message.

Memo: Conservatives do not listen to Radio Disney much

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 17:10:09 GMT

World O' Crap features a guy that WorldNetDaily claims inspired Indiana Jones. Here is what he has to say about the music those durn kids listen to:

"Over the coming years, young Millennials (or Generation Y as some insist on calling them) will be pouring out of their teens and into their twenties to seize control of popular culture away from Xers. Say goodbye and good riddance to crotch-grabbing it's-cool-to-be-a-smartass sleaze. Say hello to music you can actually listen to (i.e., that's actually music), TV shows you can let your kids watch, and baseball caps worn normally."

Yep, music like Hillary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, shows like, er, Lizzie McGuire, movies like Mean Girls and I haven't seen any baseball caps on, so . . .

He must have been part of the 'boycott Disney because they don't burn gays at the gate of Disneyworld' movement.

I say, bring back grunge if this is what youse teens and twenties want to listen to.

Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:10:36 GMT

It is the height of lame when

1) You think of Tarot packs for two different sets of fictional characters

2) You play with doll makers to make avatars for said fictional characters (since most of the doll makers out there are female, I make ones of female characters).

3) You want to do NaNoWriMo, but you have no idea whether to do the short stories you were planning to do anyway, a novel full of the people in your head chatting or something by committee.

Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:05:31 GMT

So, a little man with no social skills and no smarts followed me from a otf_wank thread.

Thus, I am turning off anonymous commenting. Sorry.

Thu, 14 Oct 2004 22:44:21 GMT

I want want want want Fable. I want the Sims. I want a pony too.

Fandom with politics rambling

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 18:51:38 GMT

One of my favorite icon makers is pro-life (focus on the OMG gross aspects of abortion, because childbirth is just so clean and non-problematic), thinks the war in Iraq is justified (and focuses on the usual 'well, someone from al-Qaeda met up with some Iraqi in Prague, er, we think, um, it's not as substantial as the bits about other stuff, like say, warnings that al-Qaeda will try to attack' statements), and actually took the "You forgot Poland" remark seriously. She is also a fan of Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter? OK, gloves off. She's an idiot, doubly so for calling herself a 'libertarian.' Yeah, and not being for actual liberty. Nice. Then again, libertarians argue about that too.

Oh, well, it's friends-only (the public posts are the political ones). I started thinking why I disagree about Bush and abortion. Ann Coulter? When conservatives I know think she is not be taken seriously, I'll go with them.

In some ways, I can understand why people get into arguments. Never mind that contrary to some media fen think, politics has also seep into SF/F. Heinlein, anyone? One theme I find in the stuff I like and read is a distrust that one person has the answer. Think of Dune. I notice the younger Bush boosters have this image of him as this image of American strength, and I think that's bullshit. What I love about America is worship of eccentricity, distrust of authority and spats of encouraging of dissent (My inner history geek is saying 'You forgot the Haymarket arrests! Sacco-Vanzetti! COINTERPLO!'). He is no more cowboy than Marie Antoniette was a milkmaid. Incompetance is not the same as authenticity. Honest and authentic people admit when they make mistakes, not keep doing what they are doing, even when it is not working.

I may be on the ABBA bandwagon, but I am going there with a healthy amount of caution. Do I find some ideas of Kerry not very good? Yeah, on international matters other than Iraq, they are really not that much different. Abortion? I used to consider myself pro-life. I saw abortion as a horrible operation foisted upon women because of a double standard for mothers, for women who are in relationships and for teenage girls. Boys who had sex are cool, girls are whores, even after birth control, feminism and such. There are other beliefs branching from that: no doesn't mean no if you want sex, girls are to stand by their guys, so much more that hurt men, women, boys and girls. What most pro-lifers use is not helping: shame, absistence only education, and stricter laws. It reinforces the double standard. I should note I got that link (challenging some evangelical notions of women and God) from the icon maker's journal. Thanks!

I however think of a world with a 'strong' US trying to make other nations into client states or treating others as enemy states (oddly enough, pushing them to acquire scary ass weapons ie Iran) and a world where abortion is illegal but the double standard is still there. I do not see Bush tax policy (putting most of it on wage earners) or international relations as just or merciful. Science fiction writers think about the future, 'if this continues.' Fantasy writers think about the culture, 'what kind of world do you want or don't want.' I know that sounds awful high faluting, considering all those dragons and space ships. They ask what justice and mercy is. Tolkien did, Harlan Ellison did, Sturgeon did. I could go on.

Bush gets a lot of his support and vision from Christian fundamentalists. The sort who want Israel to be a white drawf: get real big and blow up so that Jesus can walk in. Oddly enough, except for the white drawf bit, that is also what is in the Quran. I consider places like Patrick Henry University, for Christian homeschooled students, focusing on politics and 'reclaiming this country,' and have what problem I have with homeschooling crystalized (not much different from public school in a 'sit down, shut up and repeat what I say' only with whatever beliefs the parent has). They have their own idea how they want the world to be, and sexually-active, religiously eccentric and opinionated unmarried women are on the bottom. This is also what will be like if either strict Shi'ite clerics, the Taliban or even stricter Wahabi clerics had their way. So, I've been watching Islamic fundamentalism when today's crop of mini-warbloggers were reading the original Sum of all Fears (with Jack Ryan reflecting on the 'rough justice' of the Arab Communists being beheaded in Saudi Arabia) and watching Rambo III (You know, the 'helping Afghani mujahadeen' movie).

(The neo-cons? Oh, that is another topic. Not all neo-conservatives are Jewish, but I wish they wouldn't push all Jewish people as neo-conservatives. And goddamn, they are such prudes!)

Everytime I see fundamentalists in my country, I get some idea why the Arab street might support fundamentalists. Never mind if they get harsh punishments for wearing shorts or challenging an iman's commentary on a verse. They know we are suffering and we feel isolated.

I read a transcript on an abortion clinic bomber. The normal couple said "Well, it's horrible, but what can you do when abortion is legal and people who don't want and think it's murder cannot be heard?"

I can almost imagine a Palestinian saying "Well, yes, the suicide bombings are horrible, but what can you do when Israel gets uncontinual support to launch attacks and kill civilians, and we are not being heard."

Everyone seems to have some justification for death and horror, for their own vision of the world, one where they are important.

Others write books about it. Sometimes they write about how dangerous some trends are (Orwell wrote 1984 as a fictional commentary on his essay Politics and the English Language, I think).

You build your world, and you decide who, some breathing human, not an abstraction, dies. If I have one truck with Bush supporters (as opposed to the adminstration), is that I don't think most of them know they made that choice. When I came to think that abortion should not be illegal, I realized that I am leaving that death of a human zygote to a woman. Never mind who the woman is, or if the zygote will grow up to be good, bad or just another shmo like me. She could be aborting Einstein or the anti-Christ, and even if she is my best friend, I have no say. That seemed less of a burden than taking responsiblity for the zygote growing into a human in a world where food is scarce, culture is iffy, death is certain and it is hard to be a decent human.

What if it was me? Well, I'm a barriers all the time girl. Unfortunately, one thing that pushed me away from the pro-life movement is defining sex as strictly for procreation. Not for love, not for comfort, not for bonding, not for neuro-chemical revelation. No birth control, no sex that is not intercourse (which is why some pro-lifers are anti-gay rights), strongly discouraging or not talking about masturbation, and seeing sexuality as fear rather than as fuel. If they told teenagers to wait until marriage and put their love of beauty, their capacity for feeling and their longing for closeness into art and religion rather than seeing it as something to push away, I might go for it. Given a choice between sex driven underground and people using it to control people, to relieve boredom, and to force love, I rather fight about the culture that tells them than can do that than drive the act underground.

So, I see it as a fight between fundamentalists and me. The War on Terra started as a war with Islamic fundamentalists, and is now a war against . . . someone who didn't have the WMDs who we were told to be afraid of and whose ties to Donald Rumsfeld are stronger than to Osama bin Laden? The random martyr brigades who want a world I don't think Iraqis want but who get cred from every stupid move the US makes? Whoever may get searched?

This is not the world I want. This will only get worse if Bush gets that second term. Hey, I might have a chance to influence policy if Kerry is elected. I do not believe that going down the wrong way 'resolutely' is what the country needs. I want a pony, too.

Bored fanfiction Sunday

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 17:25:24 GMT

Dear all:

There are some kinks I do not get.

Mpreg, for instance. Mind control (often labeled mc) is another. OK, there was this one mind control story, and the mind control was accidental (that is, the people she didn't mean to hypnotise ended up being her sex slaves). Never mind hypnosis is more, er, you sit relaxed and people talk and you go along with it.

For some reason, there is a lot of it in the Christina Ricci section of Celebrity Sex Stories Archives. Eek.

The one Lisa Marie story in non-con. That is just wrong.

Bad Cruxshadows fic. Huh?

Much of this I got from Portal of Evil. Portal of Evil: Making sad fanboys who play too many games of Counterstrike feel superior since 2000.