Miss Cellaneous

Friend, food, and drink: generally a winning combination. In this case, the WIN! holds true in two instances.

1.
I don't know why or how, but in the year(?!) I hadn't seen her, I'd forgotten Anne is a fan! ( The joys of re-connecting, fannage in Germany, and also a sidenote on the Munich murders )

2.
The (fresh and divine) soup kitchen I often go to for lunch was closed, however, so Anne & I had to find another place. Where they admittedly served huge portions of tapas - we could have easily shared two, I think, at roughly five Euro each.

If only it had been good too. ( Details of FOOD. Also, PICS )

3.
Now, having returned after everything and hanging at the parents' (who are away visiting friends: sturmfrei!), I'm drinking Hakutsuru Draft Sake, which is fine, if not exciting, taste-wise. If you do have sake recs, bring them on.

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I wish the guys at the gym would pull up their track-pants so I didn't have to see their ugly underwear when they sweat at the six-pack-machine in front of mine.

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Works sucks right now. On the plus side, today I booked a flight to London to spend a long weekend with kangeiko - and athena25, and solvent90, and queenspanky and wingsmith, if they're up for it! (Alas, ciderpress will be on holiday. Alas-just-for-me; I'm thrilled she's enjoying some long-deserved time-off, not to mention -away.)

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For you under that rock there, a revelation: Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work. Triggery, but all others, trust'n click.

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Pattern recognition: A dialogue on racism in fan communities. I'd say "mandatory reading," but folks bristle at being told what to do, myself very definitely included. So yet again, just a strong recommendation.

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I thought about grouping her post with the above, but I'm pretty sure that immediate notion reflected all too perfectly how we tend to group things that should not be shoved into one corner. ciderpress wrote a thoughtful, utterly thought-inspiring post about fandom...but in line with one of my pet theories, she's not writing about fandom but society, fandom being just a micro-cosm reflecting general issues that we wish we've cast off. Oh, we wish:

"We are politically, geographically, economically and religiously disparate. We are women and men, young and old, queer and straight, able-bodied and disabled, different shapes, sizes, heights, we grew up happy and sad, we are survivors and we are those who have never known that kind of terror. To some, fandom is a political movement in itself and to others, it's a hobby. To many of us, it's both because we, and the world, are complex like that; fandom is a solace, a shelter, a community, an expression of subversion, a space where we may find like-minded people to geek out about bands and shows and books and share a particular reading of media. Sometimes, out of this, individually and communally, we create art."

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Y'all Anglo(ish) peoples have a long history of integrating German words outlining complex concepts into your languages. May I offer fremdschämen, too? I do have an example in mind, which sparkymonster mentions in this post.

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Via Sociological Images, The Good Guide -



which lets you see which companies contribute to the Republican or Democratic party. God (and pretty much the rest of the world) knows I don't believe the Dems are sent down from heaven to save us all, but I really don't feel the need to let my money pay for crazy crap like abstinence-only education, the Iraq War, anti-health care propaganda, and other fun-fair activities the Republican party in the US come up with.

Vote with your dollar - populist, yes. Sensible? Very, very definitely.

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I have more bookmarks. But as I think YOU have no more time, I'll postpone more...posting.

Good times in San Francisco and with thelastgoodname. They were, among other places, had in this Vietnamese restaurant.

( Obligatory food photos that might just make you hungry )

Now, I'm lying in whiskeypants's sofa-turned-guest bed. We both met bar_butterfly, enjoyed the first affordable pizza I've ever seen on this continent, and had a sales clerk elaborate on the values of six of the eclectic dozens of beer the store offered: drinks for our later viewing of Kill Bill 2 and Pan's Labyrinth, which is utterly gorgeous and haunting like few other movies. Watch it, just beware: this is not pure fantasy. Civil war, fascist dictatorships, and how this shapes and destroys human beings constitute the story, not a mere backdrop.

Speaking of society and history? grimorie spoke about the death of Corazon 'Cory' Aquino, the 11th president of the Philippines in her lj today - of the funeral, but mostly the love of the people for her. (Click her name; she's crossposting.) thelastgoodname has a post up that deals with college football and not-so-isolated racism.

I'm hardly a keen critic of newspaper or political magazine news on-line, fragmented and biased as they may be. But today? The differences of headlines I came across were striking.

Large screenshots under the cuts.

( How Obama Was Received in Russia )

( On the Uigurs and the Han in China )

As for the rest - the content, the connotations - I guess I don't need to babble on for long about the importance of more than a single source of that elusive Truth.

Granted, the articles may have offered a more differentiated view, then. And yet: the first impression, the browse-by image to your retina remains powerful.

Via giandujakiss:

Obama - oh no you didn't.

See blog mood.

Must wipe the floor and do the washing before the birthday-barbecuing at Mikey's later on, but if I don't post them now, I'll never post them:

• athena25: "[...]we are made to believe it's unsafe, we are indoctrinated, whether well-intentioned or no, into believing that the world is just somehow more dangerous to women than to men, and that we should do things to ourselves to protect themselves from this terrible, violent world.
  
  Fuck that noise."

• The New York Times, on House, M.D. (spoilers, duh): "Shamefully, I would have been overjoyed if the season finale had ended with House and Cuddy electing to spend the summer together in Corsica."
  
  While I'm not particularly interested in this pairing, the article raises interesting points. Also, ( re: both House and Bones - series finales! )

• Maha asks, "What Is the Purpose of a Health Care System?" - Post I, Post II.

• the_grynne presents the teaser poster and a few photos from Alejandro Amenabar's historical epic Agora, set in 5th century Roman Egypt.

• gnatkip tells us ALL about Better Living With Javascript (on DW).

• coffeeandink posted on "Access Lists: The New Friends Trauma," including a fascinating poll - and the ensuing discussion (on DW) covers just about all viewpoints, I think.

(Does adding "on DW" to links makes you, too, feel as if you were playing the old "in your pants" game?)

This rings too true.

You have to be rich to be poor.

(Link to Washington Post article.)

You might think I'm one day late, but I only now saw the link to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, Beyond Vietnam in mirabile_dictu's LJ.

And besides, is one ever too late with certain reminders of the truth? About Iraq, about the US, about people who don't share Bush's skin colour.

( Beyond Vietnam )

I'm returning to my Couch of Studying, buried in books, but oh, oh, you have to read this:

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.

(NYT link to Barack Obama's Speech on Race)


And, mostly as placeholders, for I don't have anything significant to contribute at the moment, still pondering interest and the lack thereof depending on place of origin, I link you to two ljposts regarding the race debate in fandom:


- ciderpress's personal, most profound and thought-provoking essay:

"We're still circling that first very crucial and yet very basic stage -- how to have a conversation about race -- instead talking about issues in depth. Instead of broaching the specific problems or discussing perspectives and complexities that are brought up in the initial question, we instead cycle the Kübler-Ross stages of [Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance]."

- blueraccoon's realisations and recommendations:

"I've never considered myself racist. I highly doubt many of us in fandom--if any of us at all--do. But you know, it doesn't matter what we consider ourselves. It doesn't matter what we say about our attitudes and what we think. What matters is what we do."

I had some pleasant chit-chat post planned yesterday--grundbuch's & my trip to the movies, a review of No Country for Old Men, a praise of the mean Cosmo he mixes--but the news about the Chinese military killing eighty protesters in Tibet, the news about a 'people's war' declared against separatism, made me too sad and angry at once. And I thought about about these developments and my reaction.

Because we see citizens' uprisings and dictatorial governments brutally squashing them all the time on the news; what's different about Tibet? ( ... )

Und dies illustriert, warum wir als Frauen über unsere Löhne und die unserer Kollegen offen sprechen--und die Konsequenzen ziehen--sollten. (Artikel in der ZEIT online, 7.3.2008)

"And this illustrates why we, as women, should talk openly about the money we and our male colleagues make, and draw the consequences."

I know I have asked this question before, but I cannot find it via googling my own lj, using ljseek, or my tagging system; 'twas before the latter was added.

Talking to grundbuch, we again touched upon the question of ( middle names in the US + POLL! )

Presentation in front of three wise men given and received metaphorical pats on the back.

Yesterday, I watched

1. ( Tatort: Verdammt )

& of course,

2. ( the Hessia Election 2008 )

I also bought ( a bottle of Primitivo )

In conclusion, a good Monday.

Earlier, an ljfriend asked for happy links. While I did find a German news site called good news too that informs us in a very nomen est omen way, it was a bit more challenging to find English-speaking sources of cheer. I did mention the time my father, upon my complaints, told me that back in the day, there used to be a magazine spreading nothing but positive news but that it was discontinued because people weren't interested, right? Right.

So. Seal babies, anyone? On to other topics:

Both livredor in an essay and redbird in a brief entry make good, interesting points about That Privilege Meme and how it's used.

( The privilege to ponder privilege. )

This Spiegel Online article picks up another topic I've been clandestinely fantasising about: Clinton or Obama? Why Not Both? I realise the great likelihood of a running mate as mainstream and Red State as possible, and it takes no imagination at all to envision the--possibly lethal--frenzy from the dark, seething underbelly of Republicana, but oh, it'd be so bold.

Also, this entry says a lot of what I have to say on the topic of Hilary Clinton and the hate-mongers trying to discredit her.

I've pondered this before but needed a moment to structure my annoyance.

Articles and features in the mainstream media unequivocally proclaiming women as more successful, girls as brighter, females as the future leaders of the world -- I've seen this seen this several times now, in the biggest magazines and newspapers in this country.

I don't like it.

Just yesterday, the lead article in the intellectual lifestyle mag of my newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, was called, "LADIES FIRST - Früher lächelten Männer über Frauen. Heute ist es umgekehrt. Ein Heft über die neue Macht der Weiblichkeit," the tag line translated as "In the past, men sniggered at women. Today, it's vice versa. An issue on the new power of womanhood."

( What's wrong with this? )

technosage made a very thoughtful and thought-provoking post about anti-Semitism and Jewish identity.

*

In fannish news, I still haven't read the latest contribution to cesperanza's œuvre or even properly indulged in other kinds of SGA love. Maybe when I'm done with these...last...ten...pages....

1. From rez_lo in this post of hers (emphasis mine):

You might want to take a look at the YouTube footage embedded in this post. It's pretty dramatic, in a buttoned-down kind of way.

James Comey, the former chief of law enforcement for the United States, telling a Senate committee how the President's legal counsel and chief of staff tried to coerce a hospitalized, drugged, post-operative Attorney General into signing off on an illegal program of covert domestic wiretapping. The U.S. solicitor general Director of the FBI felt it necessary to instruct the FBI agents who were present not to allow Mr. Comey to be removed from the room while the President's men were there.

It's some of the most dramatic footage I've ever seen, and the quietest, given the destruction it reveals. Edifices bigger and more important than the World Trade Centers. And the man who's speaking knows it.

2. Re: the FanLib discussion: astridv shares her two cents (and is promptly visited by one of the FanLib founders, like other participators in the debate, e.g. telesilla).

3. As an addendum to this earlier post of mine,

a) let me share this tidbit about the first transgender prom queen in Fresno. Remember the teen born as a girl but identifying as a boy nominated for Prom King? Yeah, same city. I don't know what they put in the water in Fresno, but whoa -- they should clearly supply all of the US, and more.

b) quotheravyn is giving us the metaphor of a big square where we can comprehensively locate gender/sexual identities and preferences.

livredor is one of the people whose thoughtful, calm words on any given issue I love reading:

However, I think much of the *pro life movement is actively evil*, even though I am broadly in agreement with the basic tenet that abortion is wrong. (emphasis hers)



( 6 BtVS Icons - Buffy - and 6 SGA Icons - Sheppard, 1x McKay, 1x McShep )

[Master List Link]

If you haven't already, go read coffeeandink's guide of How to Suppress Discussions of Racism.

vaznetti shares brief impressions and brings up an interesting point regarding the basis of discussion.

livredor also has a post about whether or not -- and how -- to contribute. I tend to believe I can always come up with something smart about any given topic, but she mentions several things I, too -- although from a yet again different background -- have my doubts about.

( Wherein I talk a lot yet manage to say much less )

In conclusion, I clearly have no clue whatsoever but am interested in further research; feel free to point me towards facts. Or mock. Or both.

...of course, other bloggers don't believe in this sort of motto week -- that's fine. I do, though; here's why.