blue skins, brown skies, alien sex

j'ai dit ...

mardi

The fate of the Earth will be decided as it should be...

... in Mortal Kombat! (Annihilation)

I linked to a review which hated the movie for two reasons. 1) It was the first review I found. 2) I suspect that, under normal circumstances, I would feel exactly this way about it. But the first time I saw it was with the GIND, during the cheap morning show, in this huge Parisian multiplex in Les Halles, with French subtitles. Yes, in Paris, they will subtitle, as opposed to dubbing, showings of such mindless dren as Mortal Kombat 2. Because Parisians are, apparently, insanely obsessed with movies. Or, perhaps, no French person was willing to speak such stupid lines.

Anyway, there are three great things about MK2. One, it is deeply stupid. There is no pretense of greatness, style, or depth. (They go for a little wit, but you can just giggle at that. Laugh at them, not with them.) Two, the Wise Ancient Master (Rayden) keeps insisting that Liu Kang is the Earth's only hope. Five minutes into the film, everyone but Rayden has noticed that the Earth is irrevocably doomed, and could we please send Sonya so as to go out with a smidge of dignity? Third is Sonya Blade, who is just sort of lusty and blood thirsty and has a nice set of boobies, too. Actually, there are several sets of nice boobies, most of which belong to bad guys, so they wear very few clothes.

I mention this because TBS is showing it at 2 am Friday. Or maybe Saturday, I always get confused by the way Yahoo! lists stuff that early in the morning. It's not worth taping, it's not worth staying up for, but if you happen not to have gone to bed and are a feeling somewhat punch drunk, you might just have a good time.

lundi

American Patriotism

In the name of these United States, we have been encouraged to brand ourselves (wear red, white, and blue), buy consumer goods and stocks, and declare war on an as yet undetermined enemy. I find myself rather disgusted.

On the other hand, people are flooding the Red Cross to give blood, I've heard of four independent fan fundraising actions, and major networks devoted many, many hours of programming to coverage which, aside from its sheer repetition, was very good.

I don't like fanatacism and mindless swarming, but I do love people working collectively for good. Does the one call the other?

samedi

Long time, no see!

I haven't done any blogging in a long time. And now that I'm trying again, I find that I have too many thoughts and ideas to put down.

I'll start with noting one pleasant thing. Laurell K. Hamilton has a book coming out in October, Narcissus in Chains, which I don't want to buy in hardbook because I am curmudgeonly. When I went to the library and asked, they said that, yes, they did have it on order for as soon as it could be shipped, and then asked if I would like to have a copy reserved for me. Indeedy, I would. That was nice.

lundi

Je n'ai rien fait.

Of note:

1. The GIND has completed her move to LA. She's just waiting for DK, her new roommate to show up. (DK is not the GIND's new roommate's actual name. As far as I know, the letters D and K are not in the roommate's name. But if the new roommate has a cool psuedonym (or pseudonymous acronym) for herself, I do not know it. And DK is the name of John Crichton's childhood friend on Farscape, and the new roommate, who shall henceforth be known as DK, is a childhood friend of the GIND's. Actually, DK and the GIND have done some Farscape fan writing (not available on the net) together, which is kinda like how Farscape!DK and John worked on the Farscape 1 together. Okay, not really, but a little.
2. Got in touch with another friend, who is also in the process of moving. This friend does not have a clever acronym either. Will think of something later.
3. Went to Southern Gathering. Had blast. Watched two of the commentary tracks on the Farscape DVDs. For the love of god, if you have a DVD player, you must, must, must, must get the DVDs. Also, reportedly the video tapes look like shit.
4. Have been writing.

I haven't been reading much in the way of blogs. Have been reading fic. I think I may have to pick just three or four blogs that I really, really like to read and read those, if I, in fact, wish to continue reading fic. Not that I don't find the people currently on my list fascinating, all of them. But even though I have almost no social life, I find that reading all of the blogs, and doing any writing (whether in my blog or of fiction), and watching any TV, and reading fic seems to take up so much time that I get insufficient amounts of sleep.

Also, can't seem to get to Shrift and Nestra's site, except for their index page. I'm wondering what's up with that.

mercredi

XF musings

I thought about it some more, and the bare possibility exists that there was a reason for Doggett to send Scully to the town of his birth to have her baby. If, continuing the extended Birth of Christ metaphor, we view Doggett (or maybe Doggett and Reyes together) as Joseph, then sending her to the town of his birth makes symbolic sense, rather than just being a plotpoint that occurs because of the naivete of the new guy.

I'm not sure if having the JC (Jesus Christ, not Chasez) metaphor extended is comforting or not, but I would prefer that authors make decisions about their stories rather than let nonsense slide around in them. Or, if they're going to use nonsense, I would like a big warning going in. Sometimes nonsense is fun, but I want to be prepared for it.

Another thought (and this is a spoiler, so I'm putting some space:

S         F         N       S
P        O         E        E
O        R         X        A
I                     T        S
L                              O
E                              N 
R

Rumor is that the explanation for Mulder no longer fighting the good fight is that he's going to take a teaching position. The first reactions I heard were, "No frigging way!" and similar denials. But I thought about it some more, and there are a number of slash stories (usually M/Sk) where Mulder does decide that he's done e-fucking-nough for the cause, he hasn't gotten anywhere, and he wants his piece of the pie. If, and only if, Mulder is the guy taking primary care of the kid, I could believe that he'd settle down and teach.

Mulder is a guy who has to have a purpose and life, and I can believe that he'd be willing to at least try switching focus to nurturing someone. (I'm not sure that I believe he wouldn't go crazy with just a teaching job and a baby to involve himself in, but I can believe he'd try.) The other thing I like about this solution is that I can believe Scully would continue gallivanting across the country if she had someone taking care of her baby, and Scully is a good gallivanter (except for that portion of the last season when she started to show, and everybody's brains had been dug out with a dulll spoon. Hopefully, all brains will be returned by November.)

mercredi

The End is near

In a good way! I think I finished this story. It's the sequel to Piquant. It still needs revision, but it's got that whole 'beginning, middle, end' thing going on, I think. Does anybody beta Sentinel? I'd appreciate the help if you do.

mardi

The MAN is gonna get us all for RPS!

Some people object to RPS because they think it's going to cause the studios to come down on all slash.

Not being emotionally invested in RPS (although currently, I'm having this weird sexual fascination with the idea of Joey Fatone as a girl), I concede that it could happen. Because studio executives (you know, those people who brought us Big Brother 2? And that Desmond Pfeiffer show?) are often stupid. And the people RPSers are writing about, if they would want to sue because of RPS, would be doing it because they felt wounded and attacked, and people do stupid things when they're feeling really hurt.

But RPS is one of the least illegal fan activities I can think of (in the U.S. Defamation laws work differently in other countries.). Think about it:

1. You don't have to use an image which is copyright to someone else.
2. You don't have to use character names, settings, or scenarios which are copyrighted or trademarked to someone else.
3. You aren't asserting your statements are true, which is pretty much an absolute defense to libel in the U.S.
4. You are talking about a public figure, so the bar for defamation of character is really high in the U.S. And besides, you admitted at the top of your story that it's probable that Boy Band Member #2 is almost certainly not gay and definitely hasn't acted the way you have him in your story.

So, a scenario: some boy band member stumbles across some RPS, is shocked and appalled, and sues. If RPS fans are smart, they'll pull together the cash to put on a credible defense, because that'll settle the issue once and for all. The boy band member loses and all of his fans and millions of non-fan learn about this RPS stuff and it's now everywhere.

The studios decide that the genre of slash is creating too much negative publicity, convincing people not to become ardent television watchers because now they've got images of Kirk and Spock kissing in their heads. They crack down on media slash.

Some media slash fen go underground; it's back to the zine and the underground con. Some media slash fen gafiate. And a lot of media slash fen start writing RPS because ... it's the only thing that's legal.

So, if somebody wants to stop RPS, a crackdown is probably the wrong way to go. Actors and musicians getting up close and personal with the fans and telling them that it really offends you will stop some fans. Of course, other fans who would never have found slash will want to know what the fuss is about, and they'll discover RPS.

And once again, I say, this only applies in the U.S. Because the laws of other countries tend to more broadly interpret what constitutes defamation and libel and other words for words that are both illegal, insulting, and damaging.

That's what I think, anyway.

vendredi

Butch is not me

I finally went to get new glasses, something I've been half meaning to do for about three months. And I had decided that since I'd had these teeny little half frames for four years, I would go with something huge and butch instead. When I do, the woman who actually handles glasses and frames (is that an opthalmologist) tries to convince me I want something little, so as to fit my face and prevent me from having super huge lenses. Failing little frames, she thinks I should get lenses that are reduced in thickness. She does not offer much of an explanation, but she seems to think it is more aesthetically pleasing and also weighs less. I do not care. The point is for these to be huge, ugly, butch glasses. (I know you are wondering how my glasses can be butch. Well, I'm not a very butch person, so a little butchiness goes a long way, y'know?)

So, I picked them up Tuesday. Today, my right eye is killing me. I mean it hurts so bad that I'm thinking that maybe Frau Blueka and I could work something out. (FB is Crichton's nickname for an evil woman with a propensity for stealing other people's eyeballs.) So, I go to the optomotrist and say, "Eeek! Something is wrong. I am in pain. Make it stop." (Not in so many words, of course.) First they check the glasses against the prescription. Yes, the glasses are the prescription I was given. Then they check the prescription against my eyes. The prescription is perfect. Then they check and see if the lenses are correctly lined up with my pupils; they are. "Hmm," says the doctor. "The other possibility is that your old glasses were lined up incorrectly and the difference is driving you crazy. Bring us your old glasses and we will compare them." Eventually, I bring the glasses back to the store, and the doctor laughs to Bill, the manager, and says, "You don't even need to measure them. You can see the problem right there." The problem is that my new lenses are about three times as thick as my old ones. This means greater distortion around the edges and all sorts of things that equal a blinding headache. I give up my search for butchiness on the altar of comfort, and I have ordered new, smaller, cute gold frames that should come in next week.

Right now, my eyeball still hurts though, and I am discontentedly switching back and forth between my old glasses, which don't hurt my eye but also don't let me see to well, and my new glasses, which offer 20/20 vision and painful eyestrain.

jeudi

Dumb is me

Backups are important.

Backups are important.

Backups are important!

I didn't back up the ficlets at diary-x.com, and now it's down, and I don't know if it's ever coming back.

I have a strong desire to beat my head repeatedly against a wall, but I've been really afraid to do that since a guy killed himself that way on WitchBlade.

mercredi

Because I'll want to find it again someday...

YMMV is a multi-media recs site which does slash and gen (and maybe het, I'm not sure) for TS, ST, XF, B/A, WW, DS, and SW. I noticed them because they recommended (and hosted) Vivere by Rheanna which is an amazing Angel story set in the future. I don't remember how I got to the story originally.

chaque jour

rockers

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collective

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