Join the Blackout!

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/new-zealand-goes-all-black-against-three-strikes

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/10018/New+Zealand+Websites+Go+Black+in+Protest+of+Copyright+Legislation

http://creativefreedom.org.nz/index.html

Once Again, DUMBass, Birth Control is NOT Abortion!

Bush is still trying to get this rule passed before he leaves office.
From Planned Parenthood:

The new rule is Bush's parting gift to the anti-choice
extremists who have supported him for the last eight years. The
rule could allow health care organizations that receive federal
funding to redefine abortion to include the most common forms of
birth control -- and then refuse to provide these basic
services. For any health provider to intentionally withhold
information about widely embraced health care options from a
patient is absolutely unconscionable under any circumstances.
The federal government has no business funding providers who do
not abide by this most fundamental standard of care.

Speak up today (last chance, I think) HERE:

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hhsnov08_ppol/forward/we3bew329ktjt6w?source=hhsnov08_ppol_e2

Please feel free to copy/paste this all over to spread the word and increase the protest numbers!

More Memery

You Are the Crow Pose

You have an amazing amount of strength. You don't need anyone but yourself in the world. You are able to life yourself up when times get tough. You know how to persevere. You are disciplined. You don't let pain or struggle be an issue for you. Even though you are very independent, you also have the makings of a great leader.

What Yoga Pose Are You?

Feast Day Thoughts

Turkey - Normally, I cook my turkey in a brown bag, coated with olive oil. It works wonderfully, but I'm feeling adventurous this year, and I think I'm going to try something different. I've never felt the need to brine (the bag method always turns out such a deliciously juicy bird)...but I saw in my free Bon Appetit magazine a method just called "salting"...wherein one rubs a salt/herb mixture inside & out, and then let it sit overrnight in the fridge before cooking.

As for the cooking proper, I think I'm going to do a wet-to-dry roast, and then glaze with a balsamic vinegar/pomegranate-apple cider/rosemary reduction.

Stuffing - will be my usual. Croutons (GF of course), mire poix, slivered almonds, sharp apples, butter, broth, lots of sage.

Sides - Alton Brown's squash/potato dumplings (with appropriate GF flour substitute, of course), and perhaps a batch of wilted greens. Cranberry jelly and either corn bread or buttermilk biscuits.

Dessert - Dunno yet. Maybe apple pie.

Memery!

This is from all over my flist, and looked fun to me:

You see me getting put into the back of a police car.
For what am I being arrested or detained?

The Austin Trip (part 1)

Pictures here: my flickr photostream

We didn't get to go to the Browncoat Ball last year, even though it was so close (in Philly), because we had just closed on our house and were in fullscale move-disarray. We vowed to go to the next one. When it was announced that the next one was in Austin, I was thrilled. I've been to Austin before, it's a fun place. I have relatives across the state in Midland, TX, and since I don't travel much, it offered an opportunity to hook up with them as well. My mom, who likes to visit my dad & younger brother in TX, decided she'd drive down from MO and they could all caravan over to meet up with us. So not just a Browncoat Ball, but practically a family reunion as well!

Originally, I really, REALLY wanted to take a train down there. I have an intense dislike of flying that has only become more severe with the privacy-invading security theater that has been getting more and more ridiculous since 9/11/01. And I LIKE trains, a lot. And it was a great tie-in to the first aired Firefly episode "The Train Job". A great idea, that alas, was not to be. It would have taken too much time, and the cost was extremely prohibitive. So we decided to drive instead (this was, of course, before the crazy gas-price-increase over the summer). Fortunately for us, by the time the Ball actually rolled around, prices were dropping. Whew!

Our car is fairly small (it's a 2001 Kia Rio), and we were taking a ton of costuming stuff, as well as food & stuff (we had an extended stay hotel, and dealing with gluten issues on the road is a hassle - so we brought a lot of stuff with), so we ended up buying one of these to tie onto the top of the car. It worked really well, though the way we packed it, it was a bit heavy for two people to manage. And I cannot tell you how many people asked us about "the body on the roof" throughout the journey (ours didn't pack up as plump as the one in the ads). Even funnier were those that didn't specifically ask, but followed us closely on the highway, or zoomed up beside us and paced us while staring intently at the roof.

It took us a LOT longer to pack up the car than we had anticipated. Our intended start time was between 9 and 10 am, and we didn't actually get out on the road until around 3pm. I had planned our stops on the way there using google maps estimated times. It was grueling, especially that first day when we started so late. I've learned that when planning drives in the future, I should add about 2 hours for every 5 hour stint per googlemaps; for stops, for traffic, for whatever time is mysteriously lost during road trips. Our first night was in Wytheville, VA (SW of Roanoke). It was fine, though we got not enough sleep, and our earlier stop at Outback Steakhouse in Hagerstown, MD had left me some variety of poisoned, so I had an aching gut and crankiness throughout the 2nd day.

The BB folks had asked after we registered where we wanted to be listed as from (info that ended up on the con badges), and we listed Martin's Bay, on the planet Athens. It was a random name I chose (though Athens is, of course, part of the world-canon of the Firefly universe), but as our anticipation mounted, we made up stories for ourselves about our fictional home. In our world, Martin is a big wheel, and many things are named after him. Imagine our delight as, after dinner, we stopped in Martinsburg for gas. It totally made our too long, exhausting day. I am still grinning like a loon, just thinking about it.

The next day was perhaps the most grueling. First, as I mentioned, my gut ached. Second, the road glare was really, really getting to . Finally, we were traveling up and down in the mountains. I have a very hard time popping my ears in mountainous situations. Gum doesn't really help, or swallowing. Mostly I need to yawn to make it happen. So my ears hurt, as well as my gut, and I was terribly cranky. And the drive was SO much longer than we had anticipated. We probably spent 12+ hours on the road, having thought we'd be about 8 1/2. It was exhausting. I don't remember what we ate that night.

Night number 2 was spent in Memphis, TN. Again, uneventful (though I now realize that I do have a fondness for Courtyard Marriott). Still not enough sleep. We got up on day 3 knowing that our longest leg was ahead of us, and that we could collapse at the end of it and stay in one place for 6 days. Ah, the holy grail of travel!

(to be continued, when I get around to it)

moar funny pictures

Attention McCain Voters:

It seems clear that as a McCain voter you are voting based on one or a combination of four basic qualities:

1. Ignorance
2. Fear
3. Racism
4. Greed

Please ask yourselves: Are these really the traits that you want to build the future of our country on? Are they really traits that you want to highlight in yourself?


(thanks to for the idea)

Good for a chuckle or three...

Fetal Rights

It's my opinion that everyone everywhere should watch this, but especially those in Colorado or South Dakota, or any state that is considering fetal rights as a ballot item.



Thanks to for the video link.

Squirrel!

It's a rainy, chilly morning. The Troll got ready for work and took off, and there's me, snuggled in bed with the cats, waiting to fall back asleep for a few hours.

thump*

I get up and look out the window (in another room) where the ladder is. There is a squirrel on the bathroom roof, trying to figure out how to get in.

me: "Git!" ::slaps window::

squirrel: ::ignores me completely:: Srsly, the little bastard didn't even look up.

me: ::pulls cat tree away from window, opens window, slaps side of house:: "Oy! You! Git outta there!"

squirrel: "Crap! Crazy monkey!" ::jumps onto the ladder and runs down a few rungs::

squirrel: ::stops and looks at me, clearly hoping I'll go away now::

me: ::grabs ladder & shakes it menacingly:: "Keep going, you!"

squirrel: ::gives me a dirty look and runs the rest of the way down:: ::stops at the fence::

me: "GIT!" ::rattles ladder again::

squirrel: ::takes off over the fence and into the neighbors' yard::

me: ::is feeling both smug and entertained, and is going back to bed now::


*In retrospect, I realize this was probably one of the cats, jumping down from the windowsill, but I decide to go check the extension ladder that is leaning up against the house, left there from this weekend's eave patching project**. It's tied to the house, but that doesn't mean some idiot might not decide to jump our fence and try to fuck with it.

**The eaves we patched, incidentally, for the specific purpose of keeping squirrels out.

Fungus Amongus

Though it may seem vaguely obscene, this is safe for work. It's fungus (plus the Anvil Chorus, always a great worktime soundtrack)!

Please get this guy out of government!

Happy Holiday!

To all those celebrating today, may your new year be more wonderful, satisfying, productive and loving than the last

Viva la difference

Maybe, for you, there really is no difference between the rethuglican and demoprat parties. Maybe, for you, the policies that each of them support won't effect your life directly. Maybe you think that there will be no economic difference (or you're rich enough not to care), maybe you hate the political process that exists here, or feel helpless about it. Maybe a zillion things that make you say "it doesn't matter". But for some of us, the difference is vital and direct and desperately close to the private spaces where we live our lives.

http://penknife.livejournal.com/363899.html

If I find more posts or articles that are this clear on the differences as I percieve them, I'll update this post.

Charities and Wall Street

Hurricane Ike created a TON of damage, not only in the southern states, but as far north as Ohio (where there are over a million households without power, likely for a week). In Houston, the food banks are all but bankrupt, and this comes on top of years of US food bank shortages*.

Food banks get their donations from 3 primary sources: the government, the private sector (which includes both individuals and corporations) and crop subsidies. Government sources and crop subsidies are both down - the former because of policies and the latter from a combination of crop failure and farms growing crops for ethanol rather than food. Donations from the private sector are way down too, because in this crappy economy people are too worried about paying for their own food (and gas) to feel comfortable giving funds or food away. Further, the upheavals on Wall Street are causing a distinct lack of corporate donors to these charities...not just because of the companies directly affected, but also all the companies who had investments in directly affected companies.

In short, the charities that are there to help out hurricane victims are themselves hurting. If you've got spare funds or food to give, please consider it. Cherie Priest has a good list of charities here: http://www.cheriepriest.com/2008/09/17/oh-no/ These people need help. Seriously.

*
http://is.gd/2LHd
http://is.gd/2LH5
http://is.gd/2LH1
http://is.gd/2LHH

LOVE the Daily Show

Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.

According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and had to go.

Read these!

sums up my feeings on the subject far more coherently than I, in my rage, am able to do. Also, he's giving a really good running summary of events.

http://pecunium.livejournal.com/333085.html
http://pecunium.livejournal.com/333327.html
http://pecunium.livejournal.com/333647.html
http://pecunium.livejournal.com/334007.html

Journalist Unlawfully Arrested at RNC

More info here:
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/1/amy_goodman_and_two_democracy_now_producers_unlawfully_arrested_at_the_rnc

The Dark Knight

I know that the topic of the day is Biden as Obama's running mate, but I don't know enough about Biden to have formed an opinion yet...and the Troll and I finally got around to seeing Dark Knight this weekend, and I feel like talking about it.

So here goes. ABANDON INNOCENCE, ALL YE WHO ENTER -- HERE BE SPOILERS.

Let me start with the opinion that Dark Knight was absolutely a terrific action flick. The Joker was brilliantly broken. Harvey Dent was, to a lesser extent, nicely complex. The gadgets and movement were very, very cool.The storytelling was exciting. In the end, though, I was disappointed. I've learned about myself that I really thrive on heavily character-driven fiction...and Dakr Knight, overall, just didn't make the cut.

"Really?" you might ask. "But what about what you said about The Joker and Dent?" Well, that's sort of the point. The Joker is awesome, Dent is pretty good. The other characters seemed terribly flat to me.

The Joker was reimagined, whether by writer, director or actor, in what I thought was an absolutely brilliant way. His stilted, strange gait shows him to be in constant, chronic pain. He clearly longs to die, but doesn't have whatever-it-is to kill himself, so he tries desperately to bait Batman into doing it for him. In some nice complexity, that's not his only motivation. He considers himself an agent of chaos, and he's the kind of smart that makes so many smart people outsiders. He soars far above Gotham's criminal base in intelligence and creativity. He has a knack for anticipating the possible options of the good guys, and creating ways of disrupting all of them, so that no choice is safe. His one goal, other than his own death, is to throw as many wrenches into as many works as possible before he goes. He gives different explanations for his scarring with such abandon that I have to wonder if he even remembers anymore what happened, and just how mad he is. This character completely fascinates me; so broken and so brilliant. A rare find; a smart, multi-faceted and interesting villain.

Harvey Dent is projected as the White Knight; not Batman's nemesis, but what Batman could be if he were able to work within the law. He shares the same passion for justice, the same desire to protect, and a similar driven quality, but he does it all within the law. He's noble, but not naive as some noble characters end up being; he's an idealist who has enough practical experience to be able to hit the criminal element hard...and knowing that he probably will never win, hits anyway. He recognizes Batman as something that Gotham needs, and fights to keep that identity hidden so that they can continue cleaning up Gotham...sacrificing himself (much more literally than he planned for) in order to do so. He's a nice, stable, smart guy who is doing a tough job to his best ability, and enjoying some success at it - and he is COMPLETELY unprepared for The Joker. I can't make a huge amount of comment on his transformation into Two Face, because frankly, the visuals distracted me too much for me to really pay attention to the characterization. Perhaps when it comes out on dvd I'll be able to tell more.

There is some really nice symbology going on with the White Knight/Dark Knight combo and foreshadowing the creation of Two Face.

I would have liked to see more depth in the other big players in the story, specifically in Batman, Rachel and Gordon, and in fact I think the movie suffered the lack of it. I would have liked to have seen more intense interaction within the love triangle of Rachel, Bruce and Harvey. Some intense emotional interaction between Bruce and Harvey. I mean, c'mon...these two guys are in love with the same woman, and they have incredible levels of respect and envy for each other. I want to SEE how much Bruce longs to be like Dent, able to be the hero in public, able to stay within the law and still succeed, able to be with the woman he loves without the fears that plague him. I want to see Bruce start to feel like a part of something positive with Rachel, Dent and Gordon, and I want to see that glimmer of hope ripped away by the Joker.I want to see that part of the Joker's power over Batman is that the Joker embraces the same darkness that Bruce fears and hates in himself. I want to see Rachel torn between the two sides of the same archetype, and to know how intensely she feels about both of them. I want to feel Batman's pain when it becomes clear that just as Dent sacrifices his career to save what Batman does for Gotham, Batman sacrifices his hopes of ever being an unequivical good guy to save what Dent did for Gotham.

Seriously, this movie should have been so wrenching and dark that I should have been sobbing in my popcorn at the tragedy of it all.

Instead I got a cookie-cutter Rachel, who was all but nonexistent in terms of character...not exactly unfamiliar treatment of a woman in a comic book universe, but disappointing nonetheless. Gordon wasn't any better, despite the possibilities for character growth here. Batman seemed to just be going through the same old motions, not adding layers of darkness to his character as he should have done in this story. The Joker's arrival, Batman's inability to outhink or even keep up with him, and the Dent/Rachel tragedy he set up should have completely wrecked him, but Bruce ended the movie not seeming any more lonely or broken than he started out.

This is completely worth seeing, and I even recommend seeing it on the big screen for the fabulous action and for the ability to focus on the subtleties of the Joker, but this movie, for me, lacked an emotional edge that I expected and hoped for in it.