Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!

Someone tried to record American Idiot from third(ish) row center orchestra section. As in approximately ten feet (tops) away from the stage.

No, really.

'Tried' being the key word, of course (Gerard was having none of that bullshit).



I actually cringed away from my computer screen from the sheer, overwhelming secondhand embarrassment. Some people...*facepalm* (amusing side note: Le Boyfriend has christened the guy responsible for this as "Dipshit McFucknuts". Apt name is definitely fucking apt).

In other news, today is Le Boyfriend's birthday and so we're actually de-hermiting out of our apartment to go out to dinner \o/ Also, I just have one scene left to write (and the usual nitpicking) and the first part of my GK/AI crossover is good to go! Expect it sometime in the next 48 hours.

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"What is easy is seldom excellent..." -- Samuel Johnson

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Cheers.

ETA: Le Boyfriend was telling me about a kid in one of the classes he student teaches -- more specifically, meeting with this kid's mom earlier tonight at the school's open house. The kid's mom tells Le Boyfriend that her son is big into military things and that she's trying to get him to read more in general.

Guess why Le Boyfriend told me about this. Go on, guess.

I wound up writing down a list of six or seven books (including GK and OBA), including mentioning that a couple of them had T.V. or movie adaptations, for Le Boyfriend to give to this kid's mom (or the kid himself). I just wanted to note down for posterity that my rampant geekery actually served a productive, educational purpose, since I'm pretty sure this counts as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Dear Powers That Be in charge of American Idiot,

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT? I'm not joking, this doesn't even constitute a valid publicity stunt (since Justin Guarini is so ragingly irrelevant), so I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION RIGHT THE FUCK NOW BEFORE I HAVE TO START SETTING PEOPLE ON FIRE.

Already readying the (weirdly appropriate) letter bombs,
emerald_skies


At first I was like


but now I'm just like


THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies..." -- George Bernard Shaw

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Cheers.

P.S. - Today, I also found out that I can develop a significant risk of seizures if I miss even a couple of days of my bipolar medication. I guess that's one way to make sure people take their meds...

First of all, a letter:

Dear certain denizens of sf_drama,

I've seen y'all go to some pretty impressive lengths in snarking someone (or several someones), but I've never been disappointed in such a large number of you until yesterday. You lot really fucking outdid yourselves in this here post.

I'm so disgusted by the fact that any one of you considered a post to a mental health support community fair game -- especially considering that it seemed to me like the poster was having a bad day in brain chemistry land. I suppose I'd be okay if someone spoke to the poster directly about the issue (since bigoted statements should be addressed in some way, regardless of mental health), but airing the post for a bunch of strangers to lambast was just incredibly gross to me.

There are other issues I have with that post, but that's another rant for another day so I'll just say that the above was my biggest problem.

In the immortal words of Sixta: "UNFUCK Y'SELVES!",
emerald_skies


And, on a more interesting (and mostly less rage-inducing) note, some further Batman!AU, but with an important caveat first:

From here on out, the story is going to occasionally have some pretty violent moments. This part in particular isn't traumatizing or anything, but just keep this in mind in the next few parts.

I get the sense that most of you can handle some violence, but I don't want to catch anyone by surprise.

With that being said, on to the Batfic!

Title: Celer, Silens, Mortalis (Part 6)
Authors: emerald_skies and mcl4r3n
Summary: In which Brad loses his temper, Walt saves the day (in more ways than one), and someone gets lucky.

( 'You don't think he turned around to keep looking for Nate?' Walt asks... )

Think of that as a peace offering (of sorts) for the evil cliffhanger of last time. Meanwhile, I'll just be over here boggling at the fact that this sucker's hovering around 20,000 words (by a few hundred give or take) and mcl4r3n and I still have some distance to go with the plot /o\

Stay tuned for the RHPS Glee episode reaction post and, provided my sudden ungodly influx of schoolwork doesn't crush me, possibly my KFH review post. Of course, every time I say I'm going to do that damn review post, life gets in the way and I wind up having to postpone it *grumble*

In the mean time, have this gi--

ALL GLORY TO HYPNOTOAD

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"Man knows so much and does so little..." -- R. Buckminster Fuller

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Cheers.

All right, that's it.

Internets, I'm normally pretty tolerant when it comes to actions taken for theme months. This usually includes how everything turns pink for breast cancer awareness in October.

But I just picked up my prescription sleeping pills from the pharmacy and discovered the lid of the bottle is pink (when they're usually white).



Really? Really? I mean, at least this actually goes toward a charity (Google "walgreen's pink promise"), but I still think that's going a bit too far.

On the other hand, it could just be me. According to Le Boyfriend, I've been extra grouchy today (never mind that saying something like that to someone, grouch or not, probably doesn't do wonders for mood).

Cheers.

Dear specific few denizens of ohnotheydidnt,

I have a few things to say concerning y'all's reactions to this article:

1) Black paint =/= blackface. There's more to it than that.

2) To those of you who are like "It's not blackface/racist if it's a black person doing it LOLOLOL", search "blackface" on Wikipedia and read carefully. Go on, I'll wait.

Meanwhile, I'll just be over here in the corner waiting for this post to end up on sf_drama. Given how fast the comments were coming as I was reading, even money says it'll be there before noon.

Sincerely,
emerald_skies


Dear American Idiot,

Please, please, please don't close until next year. Please? It'd just be cruel to yank this out from under me just when it looks like I'll finally be able to see it. I'm not exactly sure how to beg an entire show, but I'll figure it out if necessary. For the moment, I'm borrowing Stark's pout as my begging face:


How could you say no to that face?

Much love,
emerald_skies (aka yet another far away fangirl)


Stay tuned for a True Blood block post, I'm going to try to have the last three eps up today since the finale has aired. Afterwards, I'll just be off somewhere lamenting the fact that the party's over until next June.

On the other hand, Glee and Supernatural are starting up soon, so I s'pose things could be worse in T.V.-land.

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"Mysteries are not necessarily miracles..." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Cheers.

Internets, there is a cicada (or some other variety of chirpy/shrill thing) on the wall just outside my window and IT WILL NOT SHUT THE FUCK UP. And I am without sleeping pills, so it startles me awake every time it decides to start back up again.

Plus the people below me just started playing loud, crappy bass-heavy even as I write this entry. Bear in mind that it's approximately one o'clock in the morning here -- normally, this wouldn't be a problem for me, but I am actually trying to rest up so I won't zombie my way through my SEVEN A.M. THURSDAY MORNING CLASS.

So, basically, this is me right about now:


with just a little bit of


If all this starts up again tomorrow night, internets, I will show all parties involved whole new terrifying vistas of suffering. Why worry? Because when I get sleep-deprived, I get creative *eyetwitch*

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"All life is an experiment..." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Cheers.

Ahoy there, internets! I come bearing the news that I'm almost done with my Supernatural write-ups and the exciting (well, if you're me) announcement that my muse might finally be starting to unstick a bit. I've been having flickers of ideas lately, which seems like a good sign.

But first, many thanks to idrilfinial and ladyseraph_756 for sending me Dessert Waffles <3 Like everyone else, they made me hungry as hell (but I loved them anyway).

Also, in an amusing anecdote of the "LOL my life" variety, I got a mass email this morning from the president of my university to tell me that some miscreant hacked one of the servers that Health Services uses. Addresses, prescription numbers, social security numbers and a host of other sensitive information (except credit card info, thank God) for 27,000 students/staff/faculty got out to some unknown party.

My reaction:



Le Boyfriend's reaction:



Oh, the perks of higher education.

Anyway, I'll be off here in the corner finishing my Supernatural write-ups. I also finally persuaded Le Boyfriend to watch Generation Kill all the way through (which we're doing as I type this), so I'll have to post an AAR of that later :D How go things for y'all? Spam me, talk about your days, whatever strikes anyone's fancy. I'm feeling chatty.

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"Photography helps people to see...." -- Berenice Abbott

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Cheers.

WHAT THE FUCK? Youtube ganked the video of ASkars's madcap (possibly drunken) hijinks! RAAAAAAAGE!

Fuck you too, Youtube. That is all.

NEVERMIND, chapmangrl has saved the day because she is, of course, made of awesome.

Cheers.

*sigh* Ho boy. I've tried to wait as long as I could to give my temper a chance to cool down, but I just can't take it anymore. I need to say something.

fandomsecrets, I'd like a word with you. Or, as I clarified once before, a select few of you.

Someone posted this over in fandomsecrets:

Sometimes this place drives me fucking insane.

Why?

Because of the way the majority of the fans treat the subject matter.

The subject matter is a "dramatized" version of Marines in the Iraq war back in the early days.

What really gets my goat is them excusing their ignorance of the actual issues faced by the service members, and the state of current affairs in the war. That they refuse to read up on the news and truly understand why it was so much suck, and would rather go on fantasizing about making them fuck each other. The actors, of course. Not the real people. Because that would just be gauche.

Look, this isn't some silly fictional bullshit about space Marines flying into Io. You're disrespecting them by not acknowledging what they did, where they did it, and what it meant to their culture and the American culture. While you might get into high umbrage, and defend them/yourselves by saying, "Geez, it's just fandom/only fictional, lighten up," remember two things.

1.) This was NOT fictional.

2.) There is a saying among American servicemembers, particularly those who were deployed and in combat, regarding popular thought on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. "Thank you for protecting our right to go on not giving a fuck."

And that is exactly what you are avoiding: giving a fuck.

Because you don't want to make yourselves feel bad by reading nasty, disheartening accounts about the war, and the people in it, and just want to think about "fictional" Marines screwing each other in their ranger graves under Humvees.

...

First of all, I commend this 'nonnie for the vehemence of his/her opinion -- it's rare for me to actually feel the vitriol in something I read actually coming out of my computer screen.

(On the other hand, this could be the lack of sleep talking).

( Now... )

There's probably some redundancy or other variety of fail in there somewhere (I haven't slept in like 36 hours), and it's entirely conceivable that I've completely missed the mark in terms of what the comment was getting at, so don't be surprised if this post goes through some revisions and/or additions. I'm sorry if I got excessively angry, I'm extremely protective of the GK fandom and proud of how awesome it is, so someone judging it so hard kinda made me go into mama bear mode. I'm actually amazed I got such a coherent post out of the haze of anger and sleep-deprivation going on in my head right now.

Meanwhile, I'm insanely proud of how awesome the fandom is being about this (so far). Please continue being awesome, GK fandom, and know that

(I used the vuvuzela version because I think they're funny and wanted to lighten the mood a tiny bit)

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"Evil is whatever distracts..." -- Franz Kafka

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Cheers.

Edit to add: The 'nonnie speaks again!

To be sure I couldn't give a tinker's damn about what people think is sexy/handsome/hot/fap fodder and whatever. Have fun, it's not hurting anyone.

What I do have a problem with is a marked disinterest in the war outside of the original source material. They were originally published as a way to allow civilians an understanding of the war, and in some sense have it become part of our larger social and cultural story. In some way, it was supposed to introduce facts about the war to people who would otherwise have little to no basis on which to understand it.

This war is still happening now, and when people refuse to understand it outside of one isolated context, or refuse to understand it at all outside of the people (i.e. "characters") that are being fixated on, it verges on a brand of willful ignorance. Some people in fandom CHOOSE to remain ignorant of the war, and the problems that arise for servicemembers because of it. Either because the wars has little effect on them as an idividual, or because it just makes them feel bad reading about it. Not everyone ignores it, but those that do are those that this secret was about.

To those of you that DO go out of your way to learn more about the men and women and their situation both in Iraq and Afghanistan: thank you. People being knowledgeable about the war makes a huge difference in how it affects our society, as well as other countries' societies. The social climate is affected by everyone, not just soldiers and politicians, and the more we understand what it is that is happening, the more good can come out of it.

It's probably one of the biggest ways you can respect the people that are involved with the conflict. Just try to understand it, and be involved with how you understand it affects us.

Ignoring the war and the issues it causes in favor of making the Marines (in this case) do what you want them to, and pretend that this is somehow making you learn more about it is really just bogus.

Basically, if you really respect them, learn what you can about what you're doing. And not just by watching an HBO miniseries; that's a start, but don't stop there.


Because apparently the problem can now be summed up by "Learning about the military: you're doing it wrong". Nice mind change there, 'nonnie. ( My response is this: )

TL;DR - Just because people approach a topic differently than you doesn't make them ignorant or disrespectful or otherwise somehow inferior, and it doesn't make you better either. It just makes you sound snobby and condescending.

In Racefail 2010 news, apparently the author responsible has friendslocked both her apologies, thus removing a lot of important conversation from public viewing.

Internets, I am at a loss. The only thing I can coherently phrase about that (otherwise I'm restricted to flabbergasted spluttering) is that it lends credence to my theory that the apologies were issued in the first place in an attempt to make the shitstorm stop, rather than out of any actual contrition.

Holy crap, that was an impressive run-on sentence. Anyway! The most obvious guess as to reasons for friendslocking is to keep out trolls, but I have to wonder if some of it was an attempt to restrict her feedback to (at least by her hopes) more sympathetic points of view.

I hope that fails. I hope her friends call her out on this crap. She shouldn't just get to walk away from it when PoC (and anyone else hurt by this sort of thing) have to live with the pain or, arguably worse, the resignation that yet another mainstream(ish) medium has failed yet again.

Also, in the course of poking around some of amazonziti's excellent linkspam, I came across an incident in which someone contacted the SPN Big Bang mods to ask for a rule against exploitative/racist works and the mods responded thusly:

"We're not going to across-the-board censor what people create."

Which, when taken at face value (that is to say, ignoring the question), sounds fine, I guess. But consider the existing rules for the challenge (which I found in one of the links), ways that mods already "censor" people's pieces:

1. Stories must have a minimum length of 20,000 words. There is no maximum length.
3. The central story element must focus on characters from Supernatural OR on Jared and/or Jensen.
3a. In Supernatural fics, at least one character must be a canon character (one seen on-screen). Any Supernatural pairing is allowed.
3b. In RPS, any pairing is allowed, as long as either Jared or Jensen is one of the central paired characters.
FOR EXAMPLE: Misha/Jared or Jensen/Genevieve is allowed, Misha/Genevieve is not.
ADDITIONAL: Yes, you can write a menage or "moresome" as long as Jared and/or Jensen is part of that grouping.
6. AU's are allowed. Crossovers are not.
8. Stories must be beta'd.

And yet a rule against exploitation/racism is evidently going too far. I don't even know what to say to that that isn't capslocked expletives, so I'm going to let Nathan Fillion say it for me:



Also, I wanted to go back and clarify something I said in one of my earlier posts -- more specifically, when I said to comment where y'all see fit but asked to limit bullying/personal attacks wherever possible. I belatedly realized that this sounds vaguely like the Tone Argument, which isn't how I meant it at all. Quite frankly, I think the Tone Argument is a gigantic pile of B.S. on an epic scale, what I was getting at is a request to avoid stalker-esque, scary-bordering-on-illegal behavior. I'm not trying to spare anyone's delicate little feelings in this whole fiasco.

What I should've said, I guess, is to try to avoid doing or saying things that you'll regret later (such as death threats or telling offending parties to kill themselves). I know you're a reasonable and (mostly) sane lot, internets, but anger can bring out some pretty surprising things in people so I just felt like that needed to be said.


Urgh. I'm getting a sense of general ennui from my flist, so I'm thinking about doing a Happy Post to try to recharge our emotional batteries; a party post of sorts in which everyone posts pictures, gifs, music, fics, etc. that makes them happy in the hopes of making other people happy. Sort of like my Gifstravaganza post but with a theme and a more general scope. Thoughts?

*glances up* Holy Great Wall of Text...jeez, have a gif for y'all's time


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"I say that justice is truth in action..." -- Benjamin Disraeli

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Cheers.