signal boosting from celandineb.

Gender identity on LJ

LJ is going to start requiring gender identification with new account creations, and they are removing the 'unspecified' option.

More info here.

Hat tip to gblvr for the info.



Heather adds:

fuck thaaaat.

I have eight DW invites if anyone wants.

+ Back at work today, feeling fine. It's wet and icky outside, though.

+ zahrawithaz reviews Beauty and the Beast (Merls 2x05). Or rather, the characters of Merlin do. Better than the episode in some ways. *g* I love Merlin to extremes, I seriously do, but this reminds me how many people I know on my own f-list who could write a better show than we actually have.

It's kind of weird/funny that the shows and source material that need the most help are always the ones with the big fandoms. As much as I'd love to be able to roll around in Being Human fic all day for example, I have to admit that it's just a better show, it doesn't need holes filled in with fic and such, so people don't flock to it.

+ Glee fic continues to be better than the actual show. Giving Quinn and Kurt and Sue etc. much better treatment. I do wonder if there's any fic about Tina or Mercedes, though.

+ randomneses alerted me to this bullshit yesterday: Howard University's Hilltop mag has a staff editorial that details the ways students can prevent getting into dangerous situations at night. Money quote:

As well as making themselves look like easy targets by distractions or lack of awareness, female students are often guilty of another serious offense-strutting through the streets of Washington, D.C. in badly chosen attire (...) If walking through the streets in seductive club attire isn’t a blatant call for sexual harassment, then nothing is.

Do I even need to rant about the ways in which that passage is infuriating? Because yeah, you really want to send a message to college kids of all sexes that girls who dress however the hell they want to are asking for whatever happens to them. Fuck that.

+ That's all for today, must finish coursework for class later, and oh yeah also, am at work. :P

+ My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the Philippines, in Samoa and Tonga, and everyone with family there.

What you can do to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana (via lassiterfics):

1. Help for Typhooon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines - This is a good place to keep up with news, with active situation map and a list of ways you can donate. If you scroll down, there is a list of US-based donation drop-off points, though it's just California, New York, and New Jersey. You can also do credit card and PayPal.

2. Ondoy Places to Donate Relief Goods - This GoogleDocs has a more comprehensive list of how to donate under the 'Online/International' category.

3. SPREAD THE WORD.


+ Not like everyone doesn't already know about this, but it bears repeating. Everyone in the entertainment industry (everyone everywhere, really) who is petitioning to free Roman Polanski? Fuck you all.

The longer I look at the list, the more names I recognise, the more ragey I get. Of all the things, of all the people to fight for and to place your well-known names behind. Fuck that.

+ Also, Merlin fandom, don't even start. Just please, don't even. That's all I have to say about that.

So, Caster Semenya's been placed on suicide watch.

She's eighteen fucking years old. I certainly hope the press and the people currently chewing her up and spitting her out as if the fact that she's not like them means she's there for their consumption, to satisfy their curiosity and damn her feelings, are pleased with themselves.

In light of that, would just like to point to karnythia's post on Race, Gender and the Oppressive Public Gaze.

I didn't watch the VMAs, but apparently I needn't have because Twitter has exploded with news, so, two things:

If anyone reading this plans to be within close proximity to Kanye West, could you please deliver him a swift kick to the junk? I mean, I'm not even sure I could identify a Taylor Swift song if I heard it on the radio, but what the actual hell.

If anyone reading this plans to be within close proximity to Beyonce, could you please deliver her a hug and some cookies for being a complete class act after winning Video of the Year and giving the mic to Taylor Swift so that she could give her rudely-interrupted acceptance speech?

THANKS. FOR YOUR TIME:



Back to fic. AND GUYS. No work tomorrow. *\o/*

Whoa, whoa, spoiler cuts, people.

I mean. I know we're all excited about all the new series that are premiering soon, and I am too, and my willpower is shit anyway even when I am trying to avoid spoilers, and it's not like people can't do whatever they want in their own journals, I know that, and like I said earlier, my scrollbar works and my fingers are quick...

...but seriously, cuts please? Especially when posting to communities? I mean. I'll do it for you guys, too.

Deal?

:/

+ Today at work we had our normal bi-weekly Friday meeting, even though it's Thursday, because Boss is out tomorrow. Now it feels like Friday. Meh.

+ What part of "if you don't want to read/discuss/participate in meta, then DON'T" do some folks not get? Have peoples' scrollbars stopped functioning, or do they somehow think they should be able to dictate what other people want to talk about as well?

+ Supernatural starts tonight! I can't wait to see what happens. For those of you who love the show but will still be compartmentalizing the race and gender issues, like me, ABW has An Open Letter to Eric Kripke. And seriously, don't read if you're afraid your squee might get harshed or something, idk.

+ The Beatles: Rock Band is out, and OH MY GOD DO WANT. Why am I so broke, f-listies? Whyyyyy?

+ Actually, there's something I'm NOT cranky about today, and that is MERLIN. Guys, I have Merlin on the brain. Is this what TV fandoms are like? Because with HP fandom we only got new canon every couple of years, so the mass fandom flailing was few and far between. But if I'm going to get THIS BOUNCY every time a couple of promo pics or a trailer is released over the next thirteen weeks? I am afraid I might, like, pull something.

+ Though Merlin is on the brain, I happen to be writing epic Potter fic at the moment, which is kind of cool. (inell is the master of plotbunnies, by the way.)

+ I missed Glee and Leverage because I was politicracking last night. Oh well, I look forward to catching them tonight. :D

+ Also, Ronon is pretty in my icon. No reason to be cranky about that!

I don't know how many of you have been following the whole fanfiction survey thing over the past couple days in which the mods of kink_bingo were approached to participate in a 'study' because there are 'scientists' who want to 'research' slash fanfiction/slash fans as 'insight' into how women think, and why it's so very 'different' from the way men think. (too many airquotes? I DON'T THINK SO.)

If that sounds like bullshit, it's because it is. Here's just one of the many round-ups as to why. (with extra pointage to eruthros' post because that documents the original correspondence.

Besides being a crime against experimental design, it was insulting as hell. And I am mostly posting about it now because I just got home from class and found THIS.

I'm now pretty sure ogi_ogas, the 'scientist' who first approached the mods, is a troll. To wit:

Well, slash is kind of the female equivalent of the straight male interest in transsexuals.

WHAT.

At least it gives me an excuse to use my new crazycakes icon.

ETA: Know what's awesome? THIS POST I AM ABOUT TO LINK: "Stand back! I'm going to try ~*science*~"

Actually, linkspam is the place to go for roundups and extreme lulz on the subject. Fandom is awesome, you guys.

Oeeerr, so I've made some new friends this week. XD Hi and welcome to my journal and everything! ♥ I just want to say that I do not normally rant this much. Fannish babble will return after these scheduled messages.

THAT BEING SAID: The Marriott Hotel in Stamford CT is being sued by a woman who was raped at gunpoint in its parking garage, in front of her children.

Their response? She was careless, negligent and "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities," according to court documents.

yep, that's right, folks:

"proper use of her senses and facilities."
"proper use of her senses and facilities."
"proper use of her senses and facilities."



Because everyone knows that women with good sense don't get themselves raped. DIE IN A FIRE, Stamford Marriott. And also, FUCK YOU.

Trying to discuss the health care bill on Twitter, 140 characters at a time, with folks who don't appear to even know what's in the bill, is generally not advisable. It only leads to headdesking.

That is all.

Dear New Person Who Has Transferred To Our Building,

You seem like a perfectly nice, well-intentioned woman. Really. But you work on a campus with people who hail from all over the world, from Mongolia to India to Nigeria to Greece. Additionally, you look old enough not to be new to this field, and for pete's sake, you're a scientist. So, when you introduce yourself to me and I tell you my name, and you express your relief at finally meeting someone with a normal, easy-to-pronounce name, I hope you'll understand why the smile drops rather comically off my face. Please understand that saying stuff like that aloud doesn't exactly reflect well on you, nor is it funny just because you are talking to another American with a western name.

Also? 'Hong' or 'Raj'? No less difficult to pronounce than Heather. Try it! You'll see.

With exasperation,

Me

p.s. Nice to meet you, too.