Sasha's Dreams

Movie notes

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:40:41 GMT

Not feeling so good today. I watched two movies lately which I quite liked:

The Last King of Scotland 2006. Rated R. James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington.

While not happy nor easy to watch, this movie is very captivating and fascinating. McAvoy plays a naive Scottish doctor (Dr. Garrigan) who travels to Uganda seeking work and adventure. By happenstance he encounters the newly-in-power Idi Amin. The two men are charmed by each other; Dr. Garrigan becomes an adviser to Amin, and Dr. Garrigan doesn't realize what he's gotten himself into until it's almost too late. I thought about this movie for days after seeing it, because it is such a powerful, subtle movie that takes you along with Dr. Garrigan's conflicted emotions. There are a couple of very violent/gory scenes and we did fast-forward through one torture bit. Also the actors really sell it, and it was filmed in Uganda. I loved this film and it will stay with me.

Repo Men 2010, Rated R. Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga.

I'm not sure why I never saw this movie nor heard much about it: it's really my kind of movie. Law and Whitaker play Remy and Jake, company thugs for a corporation called Unity. Their work is to (legally) repossess artificial organs from people who can't make their payments. Remy's marriage is on the rocks and he is thinking about switching his career path, even though being a Repo man is something he is good at. After an accident, Remy finds himself needing a new heart, and with his new equipment he also gets a conscience, putting him on the wrong side of Unity and the law. This is a fun Sci Fi action movie. It's somewhat bloody. (I disagree with Remy's interpretation of Schrodinger's cat, but ymmv.)

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Fic: Another Kind of Courage (Avengers)

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:41:09 GMT

Title: Another Kind of Courage
By: sasha_feather
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Pairings: Clint/Natasha/Steve
Content Notices: no standard notices apply
Rating: Super Sexy (Explicit)
Word Count: ~2000
Kink: Obedience (for kink_bingo)
Beta: anna_bird and were_duck, thanks buddies!
Summary: Natasha tells Steve and Clint what to do.

Also available on the AO3. Feedback always welcome.

( Read more... )

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Deep thoughts with Jack Handy: Belated Star Trek Reboot Edition

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:48:49 GMT

So I can't sleep, and I started thinking about the 2009 Star Trek reboot, and why I never bothered to watch it again after I saw it in the theater, even though multiple friends owned copies.

You see, in my experience, Star Trek was a happy place where Good won in the end.

( should I warn for spoilers? )

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Some things

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:26:21 GMT

futuransky: Radical queer agenda panel notes/transcript

Me in access-fandom: Masked vs. Blind

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I have been watching "Call the Midwife", which is a really lovely show. S1 is on Netflix; Season 2 is streaming on pbs.org. However: episode 2x04 is a Very Special Disability episode, about a baby born with spina bifida. I did try to keep an open mind here, but this ep need content notices for: Discussion of euthanasia of disabled babies, forced institutionalization of disabled babies and children, and lots of processing of abled people concerned PWD, including how difficult their lives will be, etc. There is also a character with anxiety, although I liked and related to her arc. The episode does actually end OK.

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Giving myself permission to make my life easier

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:33:29 GMT

I really liked this post by s.e. smith: In Defence of the Urban Car.

I am good at guilting myself about things. The "shoulds" can take the voice of a parent, or the voice of liberal politics, or just a general sense that I should be doing more things during the day. As a person with lots of pain and fatigue, I generally need to rest a lot and I often have low productivity. It also helps me to drive my car rather than walk or ride the bus. The bus makes me feel motion sick and sometimes anxious. Walking leaves me tired out.

Last spring and summer I would walk to the neighborhood dog park (about 4 blocks) quite regularly. Then in mid-summer my knee swelled up. I started driving to the neighboring town's dog park, about 4 miles away. For some reason, in my mind there were two choices: walk to the nearby dog park or drive to the further one.

Then at some point it occurred to me that I could *drive* to the nearby dog park, saving my knee, saving gas and time, etc. I could walk longer at the park because I wouldn't have to walk back up the hill to get home. It seemed a little ridiculous to get in the car to drive the short distance to the park, but on the other hand, it helped me a lot. So now, that is what I do. This decision was about giving myself permission to make my life easier, as a disabled person.

Having a diagnosis of RA did help with this act of "giving myself permission." Social support from others also helps. Sometimes people at the DP (dog park) ask if I live in the neighborhood, etc, and I will say in a self-deprecating way, "Oh yes, I should probably walk here, but it just makes it easier to drive, what with my knee," etc. And nice comments from friends and acquaintances in support do help. There is a nice parking lot there and plenty of other people drive.

Other places this applies in my life: Doing just one load of laundry instead of all of the laundry. Using the clothes dryer instead of hanging clothes on the line (except that the driers don't work very well!) Doing a few dishes instead of all the dishes. Breaking tasks up into small bits over time. Some tips on UnF*ck Your Habitat have helped because that site emphasizes small, manageable tasks, with built-in breaks: 20/10s are 20 minutes of cleaning then a 10 minute break. Also they recommend concentrating on a particular area of cleaning, one that you really notice when you are finished.

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Words and Deeds Love Meme

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:52:29 GMT

[Banner and link for the Words and Deeds love meme, hosted by jjhunter. It runs May 31st to June 13th. The Banner features a Monarch butterfly.]

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Dog Park adventure

Thu, 30 May 2013 20:20:57 GMT

I went to the park fairly early this AM. I don't know why I got up so early!

When I walked in, a man warned me and some other folks, "Don't go into that corner," (gesturing), "there are some abandoned dogs and a Pitt Bull attacking other dogs...." he rambled a bit and I couldn't understand entirely what he was getting at or why I should avoid the corner. Another lady almost got in a fight with him, accusing him of Pitt Bull prejudice (lolz). He said Animal Control had already been called.

Anyways, I am the sort of person who will go directly to the corner I'm advised to avoid by a slightly incoherent stranger, because I am curious and concerned. Indeed there were two dogs there: a small, white, shy dog that was perhaps a Terrier of some kind, and a very large un-neutered male brindle Pit Bill, limping a bit, who was super sweet and friendly. Attacking other dogs? Huh. He limped up to me for an ear scratch, then returned to the gate to whine pitifully. It broke my heart.

I just could NOT leave those dogs there alone. Other people went by and said "That's a shame," then walked on, when I told them. But I waited for twenty minutes or so with them. One other woman stopped to make sure they were OK. Me and Sorcha greeted the van with the woman from animal control, watched her catch the dogs, and I helped lift the big Pitt Bull into his crate.

They have gone to the Humane Society. I hope they either return home or find nice new homes! They were sweet.

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Wiscon 37 report

Tue, 28 May 2013 02:13:38 GMT

Thursday:
Shopping for Access Craft supplies with my pals which was super fun. In lieu of dinner or the readings I took a nap for two hours.
Then, Geekeoke! Met such_heights! Sang a duet with jackshoegazer. Yelled and screamed a lot.

I am very grateful to JacquelynGill for taking over blue tape responsibilities at WisCon! It's a big weight off my shoulders.

Friday I went to the Gathering, which I don't do every year due to noise, but this year I checked out the Hypnosis station (cool) and the clothing swap where I found a gray tuxedo jacket. meloukhia took the other tux jacket which was white. I wore the tux jacket for the next two days! It fits me about perfectly.

I tried to go to a panel but I was too anxious. I went to Natt Spiel for supper with some pals: laceblade, dimensionwitch, Jack, and Jaq. Then we had Opening Ceremonies, and the vid show. I attended almost the entirety of the vid show, and was in home and in bed by 2 AM. Dimensionwitch was my houseguest.

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On Saturday I ate at the hotel restaurant for lunch with some of these same buddies; I ordered a BBQ sandwich which was good but too spicy.

My 1 pm panel was lightning talks. I talked about Graphic works by women and very briefly about chickens. Another talk I really liked was by Kat Sweet who talked about using 3D printers for making sex toys. One person talked about Git Hub. The other talk was about shapes and emptiness in the universe, and how shapes are repeated large and small, over and over.

I panel surfed the 2:30 pm panels; not finding much I wanted to sit thru.

Next I attended "Food in Spaaace" which was super fun! The panelists all had great things to say. When going into space, would we pack food along? If so, how? Would we grow food on the ships? Who would grow the food and cook it? What about an edible space ship? What about having soil and mushrooms and trees on ships? Etc. There was some discussion of using 3D printers to make food. One person asked about how Star Trek replicators are supposed to work; I don't think there was a clear answer on this one. There was some discussion of military rations, of submarines and living at the South Pole / McMurdo. An audience member had been a cook at McMurdo and described that. It takes a large support staff to support 1 scientist. I asked about the ethics of vat-grown protein vs. eating a real cow, a la several books I've read, and the panelists had good things to say about that. Rich people might want the hand-raised real cow. Middle-class people might get the vat-grown protein but be lied to about where it's coming from. Also, what is the source of the original cells making up the vat-grown protein? It's hard to know the ethics of a tech that doesn't exist yet. "Firefly" came up a couple of times: food as currency, the plain food being eaten over and over again but improved with spices, the fresh fruit being high value. FUN panel.

I went to dinner at Himal Chuli with futuransky and her partner. We mushed together with some other fan people at this tiny restaurant.

I sat in for part of the Tiptree Auction, then went to the Glitch Memorial Panel. This was bittersweet but I appreciated it a lot. We talked about why we loved the game. There was a screen up and a computer; our avatars were shown and different screen shots. We all liked the whimsy, humor, and non-violence. Many of us who played are non-gamers, and we enjoyed the easiness of entry. It didn't require much hand-eye coordination, and there were no negative consequences to falling or dying. One panelist thought that the marketing failed: Glitch should have been marketed to non-gamers. Many of us discovered it by word of mouth. We all enjoyed the music and art. I especially enjoyed how there was no gender unless you wanted there to be, and the humor was not offensive. It was cooperative instead of competitive. Even the "griefing", such as tree wars, seemed minor and amusing. Conflicts such as people stealing herbs from community gardens were engineered out of the game. Altruism was built in.

I went by a couple of parties and then went home. My dog was a little stressed at being left alone all day.

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Sunday I ate lunch in the Con Suite with j00j and Claire I think.

At 1 pm I was on the "A Very Special Disability Panel." I shall rely on others to report about this.

At 2:30 I sat in on a spontaneous programming panel re mental health disability things.

At 4 I was on a great panel that I proposed called "Radical Queer Agenda"!!! With Timmi DuChamp, Mary Ann Mohanraj, Victor Raymond, and JoSelle V. This was super awesome. Futuransky was taking notes and I think someone else was tweeting it. (#RadQueer)

This was too many things in a row for me and I nearly melted down afterwards. I fled to Jesse's room for a while. Then we ate lunch in the restaurant.

I went to the Guest of Honor speeches but got restless and left before Kiini's speech. I wandered the parties for a while and ate delicious foods. At the Clarion West party I met a woman who has written for TV, and it turned out she wrote the vampire episode for Murder, She Wrote. I find it a little awkward when writers ask (at parties) if I am a writer. "Uh... no not really." "So what do you do?" "Uh...." Maybe I should work on that.

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Today I went to Sign Out and had Ellen Kushner re-sign Privilege of the Sword, which she'd signed for me in 2007 (my first WisCon!). LOL. One thing that was neat about my first WisCon was that I had just read a bunch of these books and suddenly these authors were right there in front of me!

I ate at Noodles with the fannish crew and went to the end-of-con panel and party before heading home.

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Thu, 23 May 2013 03:35:03 GMT

I am going to be at WisCon the next few days and won't be online much.

*Texting is a good way to reach me usually.

*I'm anxious lately and am going to try not to panic.

*I get a lot of headaches and may need to disappear for a while. I also may need to go home to take care of my dog.

*I probably don't want to shake your hand because I have arthritis. Fist bumps and curtsies and hat-tilts etc. are all OK. Hugs are good for people I know.

*People bringing me food and Dt. Mountain Dew makes me happy.

*I am donating some sweet stuff to the clothing exchange!

*Wheeeeeee!!!!

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Tiny Pictures, Finely Drawn: Graphic works by women

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:31:41 GMT

The reasons I like graphic works include:

They are gorgeous and fast to read, and fun to re-read. I can get a lot of information from them with a little bit of time investment. Some of the ones presented here helped me learn about other cultures.
When I have "reader's block" I can still read graphic works.
They are "picture books" for grown ups! Some have very complex themes. The combination of words and pictures convey emotions very well and make them very good and handling tough topics.

Most highly recommended:

Barry, Lynda. One! Hundred! Demons! About the awkwardness of growing up.

Bashi, Parsua. Nylon Road. Memoir of growing up in Iran and living as an adult in Switzerland.

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home. Memoir of growing up in a funeral home with her closeted father and somewhat dysfunctional family.
". Dykes to Watch Out For. Comics of lesbians and their lives in the 80s.

Forney, Ellen. Monkey Food: the Complete "I was 7 in '75" Collection. Memoir of her childhood and quirky, lively family; very funny.
". Marbles. Memoir of being diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.

Glidden, Sarah. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Memoir of a Birthright trip to Israel, which the author has many mixed feelings about. Watercolor.

Katin, Miriam. Letting it Go. A Holocaust survivor has an adult son who announces he's moving to Berlin. She must cope with this reality, and decides to visit Berlin with her husband. A coming-to-terms tale, in colored pencil.

Redniss, Lauren. Radioactive. A non-fiction book about Marie and Pierre Curie.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Memoir of living in Iran. Black and White.

Yoshinaga, Fumi. Ooku. Tiptree winner, this manga is a alternate Japanese history where due to a plague, women outnumber men 4:1. The female Shogun keeps a harem on men known as Ooku.
". Not Love but Delicious Foods Make me so Happy! A manga author and her friends tour different restaurants in Toyko and enjoy their food immensely. The author has various social disasters.

Recommended with caveats:

Bell, Gabrielle. Lucky. Whimsical comic diary of living in NYC as a young artist. Funny and endearing. caveat: contains the r-word which makes her sound like a jerk. Black and white drawings.

Medley, Linda. Castle Waiting. Really beautiful tale of a castle-as-refuge and a pregnant woman who journeys there. Fantasy with a domestic flair. caveat: contains racist depictions of gypsies. Awesome black and white drawings.

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Reading meme

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:42:13 GMT

Recently Finished

Maus I and II by Art Speigelman

I've thought about these a lot since finishing them.

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell

A funny comic diary and reflections on the author's life as a young artist in NYC. I loved this! She takes odd jobs, lives in tiny apartments with other artists, and hangs out with her boyfriend. She knows how to construct a funny and very short tale about her real life and the characters she meets. I wish she hadn't used the r-word a couple of times in this book.

Currently reading

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. A reread for me of this gorgeous graphic novel. It's a very comforting book. I hadn't noticed the racist portrayal of the gypsy woman before. :(

Monkey Food: the Complete "I was 7 in '75" Collection by Ellen Forney.

Very funny tales from Ellen's childhood. Her parents are Unitarian pot-smoking professionals. I'm not very far yet.

What will you read next

More comics! For my lightning talk at WisCon!

Not Love but Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! by Fumi Yoshinaga

And some other comics, specifically by women, especially by women who are women of color and/or Muslim. (Thank Twitter Friends for helping me!) Not all of these will be included. I obviously have to read and select from this list.
On my hold list at the library:
Air by G. Willow Wilson
Cairo by G. Willow Wilson
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (have read before)
The Sigh by Marjane Satrapi
The Magical Life of Long Tam Sack by Anne Marie Fleming
Nylon Road by Parsua Bashi
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga (have read before)
Forget Sorrow by Belle Yang
Everything by Lynda Barry (have read some of her other works)
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden (have read)

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WisCon 37 panel schedule

Wed, 15 May 2013 03:36:39 GMT

My WisCon Schedule is such:
( Read more... )
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My Lightning Talk topics are:
1. Graphic novels/comics/manga/memoirs written by women. I am in a glut of checking out comics and books from the library, and loving it. I plan to bring examples. The challenge will be limiting myself to 5 minutes.
2. Chickens
I can talk about keeping laying hens in the city or on a farm, why one might like to keep them, their uses and joys, and types of chickens. Also a bit about eggs.

But I would like some cute or catchy titles. Any ideas?

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Wed, 08 May 2013 23:20:45 GMT

I enjoyed Iron Man Three! It had heart and character, and was fun and exciting. Very enjoyable. Also PEPPER.

Some of the previews we saw:

The Hangover III: Seriously? Dudebros and Manchildren central.

Star Trek Into Darkness: I will see it and hope it doesn't suck

Thor II: Looks good! Jane and Darcy are in the preview, and Thor's mom.

White House Down with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. Eh.

Monsters U: the preview wasn't funny. Don't know if I will see this.

Currently Reading

Just started Maus by Art Spiegelman.

Recently Finished

Marbles by Ellen Forney, a really great graphic memoir about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was an engrossing read, with great art. Recommended.

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Reading meme

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:46:13 GMT

Recently finished

Saga volume 1, graphic novel, by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples.

were_duck and laceblade have been talking this series up, and they are so right (as expected). The art alone is worth the ticket price, although I got this from the library so paid nothing, heh. The story is also great. Can't wait for the next one. It's about a young couple who have just had a baby. They are military deserters from opposite sides of a galactic war, a never-ending war, and they have had enough. They are being hunted by their respective military forces and by bounty hunters. There is a nice mix of fantasy and SF in this universe.

Reading

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Non-fiction account of an Olympic runner, Louis Zampirini, turned WWII bombadier, who then survives in a life boat on the Pacific Ocean for 47 days. Where I am now, he's in a Japanese POW camp where the conditions are horrible. This book is intense! I told my girlfriend she had to read it too, and she swiftly caught up to where I was (and will probably finish before me).

I picked this book up because it's by the author of Seabiscuit, which I haven't read but I love the movie. Hillenbrand has CFS and is an accomplished writer. I'm really enjoying this book.

What I plan to read next

Is it worth reading the next Temeraire book? The one that took place in Australia was kind of boring. I do enjoy those books for light fun reading, and I see the new one is out, so I'm curious what people think of it.

I also have Cold Magic out from the library.

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Movie notes

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:01:58 GMT

Winter Nomads
French? with English subtitles. Seen at WI film festival. (I had a free ticket.)

I loved this film about shepherds who wander the countryside for 4 months to let the herd graze on leftover grass over the winter. It's a "fly on the wall" documentary with no explanations given. Pascal, a man perhaps in his fifties, travels with Carole, a young woman. They have 3 donkeys, four border collies, and about 800 sheep. They travel in beautiful countryside and through towns. They sleep on tarps and skins and eat food over a fire. It's an old way of life in a modern time. It was gorgeous and interesting.

The Sessions

This was a pretty solid movie about Mark O'Brien, a writer with post-polio syndrome, who hires a sex therapist. This film had a great cast and used a lot of Mark's words. It showed some of the realities of his life, was funny and as far as I could tell, realistic.

You can read his orginal essay in the Sun here.

What I disliked about the movie was its uncritical heteronormativity. That is to say; PIV intercourse was presented as being very important, even necessary!, to sex. Kink was not discussed. Adaptive devices weren't discussed in any real way.

Still I recommend this movie because there aren't that many films about disability and sex. And the cast is quite good.

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Reading meme

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:28:32 GMT

Recently Finished

James Tiptree Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips

This took me weeks to read, but I enjoyed it a lot. I especially enjoyed the correspondence between Tip/Alli and Joanna Russ, Ursula LeGuin, and her other pen pals. The way they responded to her revealing her identity as a woman was GREAT. I would have liked more of this and perhaps less of Sheldon's earlier life, but that's my own preference. The book is remarkably well researched. I want to go back and read or re-read some of Tiptree's stories now.

I read this book with my girlfriend (on some of your recs-- thank you!) and she enjoyed it a lot even though she's not into SF. It's interesting to me that Sheldon tried a bunch of different things in her life and didn't go back to school until she was 41. I also really enjoyed reading about the WAAC.

Letting It Go by Miriam Kitin. Graphic Memoir.

This is obviously the 2nd book and I haven't read the 1st, so I felt a little bit of a gap in my knowledge but not too bad. The author is a Holocaust survivor and artist living in New York with her husband. Her adult son tells her that he's decided to live in Berlin with his girlfriend. Miriam has terrible associations and does not take this well, but decides to visit Berlin anyway. It is drawn in beautiful colored pencil. I could especially relate to the author's physical reactions to her distress. I am astounded my memoirists-- how brutally honest they are in laying everything out on the page. This was great and makes me want to read her first book.

Now Reading

I just barely started The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. I mean that I'm still in the introduction and haven't really decided if I'm reading it yet.

Recently acquired

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which I picked up from the library today.

In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose by Alice Walker. Lent from a friend.

I seem to be in a non-fiction mood.

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Sorcha's stats

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 03:36:49 GMT

In the GPA newsletter, there's a link to the site greyhound-data.com, where I found this data on my dog:

She ran in 84 races between 2005-2007
She won 19 of them
8 offspring are listed, and they all appear to be from the same litter, born May 2008. I don't know if she had other puppies or not. She came my way in early 2012, so what she was doing in between there is a mystery to me.

Sorcha (SE's Double Take) was born 21 Dec 2003.

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Call the Midwife

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 02:07:26 GMT

Call the Midwife: 1.01 through 1.05

I love this show! It is based on the memoirs of nurse-midwife Jenny Lee Worth, who worked in the East End of London during the early 1950s. She lives in a house with nuns and other young nurses. She is at first shocked by the poverty around her and must get used to it. They serve a lot of women before and after the birth of their children, and also do some standard nursing care. The stories are great: very human, and if there is a message so far it is about compassion, love, and non-judgement.

The most striking thing for me is that this show is about women. There is a variety of roles and stations for the women too: well-respected nurses and nuns, working women, mothers, grandmothers, and prostitutes. Some of the women in the East End are excited by motherhood, but some aren't. Some live in destitution, others in relative security. There are four young nurses and four nuns. Their are three recurring male characters so far: the handyman, the doctor, and a police man, making the ratio 8:3.

There is some emphasis on "true love" and soul mates in the episodes I just watched which I find a little annoying. This is balanced, I think, by having other kinds of love on the show: love of work, service, God, children, animals, etc. The characters are wonderful and I highly recommend this show.

It's on Netflix streaming and there are subtitles.

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Quote from FB

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:36:19 GMT

Leigh Ann Hildebrand: I explain radical hospitality to my classmates by referencing the experience of arriving at a table where all the seats are already taken. Even if you've been invited to the meeting/dinner/event, if you arrive and there is no place to sit, there's a momentary experience of not-belonging. That feeling happens *before* people get a chance to offer a chair or move down or make room, and if there are additional factors like being already marginalized, being the only POC, the only woman, the only PWD -- that first impression can cast a long shadow on the organization. So I tell people, "Always have an empty chair. And if someone arrives to fill it, get ANOTHER empty chair. Make sure that there is always room at your table -- literally and metaphorically -- for the unexpected guest as well as the expected ones."

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One of those internet drama days

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:28:35 GMT

Holy shit!

Today there was an "April Fool's" post at Locus that was supposedly making fun of WisCon. You can read about it various places. Trigger warning for Islamophobia and general awfulness.

whump: Not Funny, Locus (includes screencap)

Locus Apologies and Takes it down: An apology

The author of the post shows no remorse at all, however, and gripes on his own personal blog about free speech: WisCon's Fail Feminist Fandom Brigrade Gets My Locus Post taken Down (includes transcript)

Also lots of discussion on Twitter.

In case you're wondering who "Belle Gunness" is, she was a serial killer.
Trigger warning for, serial killing? Wiki article about Belle Gunness. Thanks to kalmn for figuring that one out.

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Rec: Hockey RPF

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:47:40 GMT

Fastening One Heart to Every Falling Thing (51519 words) by thefourthvine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hockey RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin, Evgeni Malkin/Alexander Ovechkin
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulbond, Trope Subversion/Inversion, Spacetoaster
Summary:

Geno can't. Sidney won't.

This isn't my fandom and I know nothing about hockey. That said, I loved this story a lot. It's a great tale about neuro-diversity, and a wonderful subversion of the soul bonding trope.

The world of the fic is one where everyone is psychic to a degree, and everyone soul bonds with their mate. People are warned as teens to be careful about soul bonding too early through touch and sex. Geno is born without the ability to soul bond, thus is able to have casual sex. He's seen as a resource for this purpose; but this of course also leaves him lonely.

Sidney is born super-psychic and isn't taught to control his abilities. He is sensitive, doesn't like to touch, and adamantly does not want to soul bond, despite the nearly universal expectation that he should.

Sidney is told explicitly that he's not broken, but in fact he's significantly impaired by his abilities and must make accommodations daily. He resists therapy, and indeed his therapist is annoying, but therapy is ultimately what he needs. Geno is told that he is broken, but to my eye his problem is all social stigma: people assume that he can't have a partner, and therefore doesn't want one. He's internalized the stigma to a certain degree.

These two men play hockey on the same team and end up being really good for each other.

This fic is really brilliant and I highly recommend it!

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my dog

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:37:53 GMT

Here is another cute picture of my dog, which is reminiscent of that luck dragon in the Never Ending Story.

( cut for photo )

Once I get approved for the dog park email list, I'm going to send this note about my dog getting bitten today.

( angry note )

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A rant I guess

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 02:03:18 GMT

I slightly unwisely got into a discussion around this article on Jezebel: Will Everyone Please Eat Gluten Because You are Literally Killing Me Kind Of.

I disagree with the article. Full disclosure: I'm not celiac; I have done dietary restrictions but felt no better when I was on them so gave them up.

Point 1:

You see, when something that is medically necessary for some of us becomes something cool and trendy for the rest of the world, shit gets messed up. Waiters, thinking I am just another ankle-boot wearing Gwyneth wannabe, no longer take me seriously. It is actually harder for me to eat out now than it was a few years ago because a little dusting of flour on a piece of flounder equals a few days in bed for me.

The problem is people who prepare food wrongly. They are the ones responsible for the error and should be blamed. The article writer is placing blame on "fad dieters" and people who are doing it "just because". People can eat what they want and shouldn't have to defend their choices. Food preparers who make mistakes don't get to blame their mistakes on these people or these resulting cultural beliefs that "it's no big deal".

As an aside, this is also the reason I had a rare disagreement with a column by s.e. smith, this one about allergies: Food Allergies, Food Politics, and Taste. S.E. instructs us not to lie about food allergies, for similar reasons that Ms. Strauss does. I say, don't lie about what is in the food you make!! You can lie about your food allergies all you want, in my book.

Reasons people might dissemble about food allergies:
--It's easier than explaining your complex Syndrome
--It's more polite than explaining that said food gives you the runs
--Because someone actually is slightly allergic but wants to eat that chocolate anyway (my old boss)
--Because *!$#* why should people have to defend their food choices!

Point 2:
As I mentioned already, gluten-free is not the answer to your dieting needs.

This assumes that people do GF for dieting (weight loss) reasons, which may be true, I don't know. Most people I know do it for general health-related reasons: they want to feel better. They, like me, have Syndrome (TM) and are trying different things to see if anything works. They might be cutting down on gluten rather than eliminating it, because it's hard to change your whole diet at once. But I honestly don't care if people do this for weight loss reasons, as long as they don't talk about weight loss in front of me at length.

Point 3:
For those of you who swear off gluten not because you want to lose weight, but just because you think it will make you healthier: please stick with the whole wheat. Fiber is one of the most important things you can eat for health's sake and it is extremely difficult (and pricey, see below) to get your hands on when you are strictly gluten-free.

Fruits and vegetables have plenty of fiber!

Point 4:

Also, this life is expensive!

I imagine most people doing it "just because" have the funds for it. And actually, their demand might drive down prices for the celiacs!

Here are some reasons ("just because") people might decide to go GF:
--In solidarity with someone who is ill (I know someone doing this)
--To see if it helps them feel better
--Because they have an autoimmune disease, diabetes, or other illness
--Because sometimes fashions are actually on to some kind of good idea (see blue jeans)
--Because *$*%&^*! why should people have to defend their eating choices!

There is my rant for the evening.

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Reading meme

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:42:06 GMT

Recently Finished

About a week ago I finished The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski. Mostly I liked this book: the main character was sympathetic, the setting interesting, the ideas cool. It was slow at times, and there were too many ideas. So much was going on, and so many ideas were packed in, that the emotional arc was at times lost in all the detail.

I liked reading about the ultraphytes and the risks and rewards of living on a space habitat, especially going to college there. I liked the many characters: disability was normalized, as were different races, religions, and orientations. People of different classes were represented, and a new class system seemed to be emerging based on genetic cultivation. Scientists were well portrayed. Jenny, the main character, is mostly interested in botany and politics. She volunteers for EMS and a Habitat-for-Humanity-like group, and plays slanball. Meanwhile she has obligations to her famous political family and is mourning her deceased brother.

Whole sections of this book, however, could have been cut out and replaced with things that fleshed out the characters better, spending more time on their emotional development. Ken and Yola, for instance, are pretty 2-dimensional. Or just cutting those sections and not replacing them would have worked also. There is a good emotional arc in this book, and it would have been better served with more attention.
( spoilers )

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Today I spent the day reading Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore and I freaking loved it. It is brilliant. I don't want to give too much away, and I need to think about it some more. But in brief: it focuses on a young queen, bringing her land back from the disastrous rule of her sociopathic father. I loved the central conflicts in this story: truth and lies, seeking out painful memories versus covering up the past, how to heal and move forward when awful painful things have happened to a whole country. And this somewhat sheltered queen trying to figure things out. It was great!

Didn't read

The Female Man by Joanna Russ. I stopped after 50 pages. Couldn't get into it.

What I'll read next

Not sure! My girlfriend and I have been talking about reading a book simultaneously (you know what I mean), but haven't for sure decided which book. She reads mostly history, biography, memoir, some fiction. I read almost exclusively Sf/F but am also interested in books about social justice. Any suggestions?

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Community

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:05:54 GMT

( last night's Community )

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