Is one of you guys this person on Facebook? Will friend back if you are, but I don't friend people I don't know. Comments are screened (for real, I promise).

Speaking of screened comments, guessing game for Three Ships is screened now, too, if you want to make a guess before authors go live in a couple of days.

Church. It makes me go ♥__♥

Quick Britglish question: What would Giles call this article of clothing? Wiki seems to be telling me "vest," but I'd like the flist's opinion.

ETA: Research on the internets confirms that said article of clothing is a "vest." For those who loved the USian one so much, Marks and Spencer, Paul Smith make vests. This is apparently a singlet (from behind). Sometimes disturbingly young-looking girls model vests and pants in the middle of a field.

Though clothiers seem more likely to call the object in question a "vest top" when it's meant as outerwear, but I think "vest" will be fine.

More ETA: Now I'm just link spamming you.

But Miss Selfridge makes vests and boobtubes, and I am cracking myself up trying to imagine Giles ever calling any article of clothing EVER a boobtube.

From Dorothy Perkins one, two, three.

Some v. basic Vests from Wolsey. (By the by, this is a Wolsey singlet.)

This is a camisole, but this is a vest, per Peacocks. But you cannot see the true AWESOME of that top without zooming in on the sparklies.

A vest from Republic and, I kid you not, a hooch rosewater vest. And here's a singlet t-shirt, though it's also called a "racer back vest."

And none of this is getting drabbles written.

E I swear for the last time TA: Hotties in tanktops. And vests and singlets and in the case of Helen Mirren, NO TOP AT ALL.

Following links from IBARW posts, I ended up looking at James Loewen's Sundown Towns project (there's an associated book):

From Maine to California, thousands of communities kept out African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, etc.) by force, law, or custom. These communities are sometimes called "sundown towns" because some of them posted signs at their city limits reading, typically, "Nigger, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On You In ___." Some towns are still all white on purpose. Their chilling stories have been joined more recently by the many elite (and some not so elite) suburbs like Grosse Pointe, MI, or Edina, MN, that have excluded nonwhites by "kinder gentler means." When I began this research, I expected to find about 10 sundown towns in Illinois (my home state) and perhaps 50 across the country. Instead, I have found more than 440 in Illinois and thousands across the United States. This is their story; it is the first book ever written on the topic.

There's a list of suspected Sundown Towns on the site and -- sadly unsurprisingly -- the town I lived in for the last six months -- and its nearest neighbor; we lived right on the border -- are on the list. They're probably not still Sundown Towns, but as recently as twenty years ago, within my lifetime, there are anecdotes about African Americans being driven out of town.

But the thing is, besides my absurd and awesome gladness to be back in an urban area, that this doesn't terrify me. It sickens me, and and it saddens me, but it doesn't terrify me to think about doing the grocery shopping in, driving in, fetching the mail in, taking a walk in, just LIVING IN, Anytown Kansas. Because I'm white. And I have privilege.

[IBARW caveat: I'm a white cisgendered able-bodied lesbian USian English-speaking middle-class college-educated Christian]

[Today: links to and discussions of articles about trans* PoC in the U.S. and Thailand, with bonus musings on identity, visibility, alliance, and privilege ( are all under the LJ cut )

1. We went to two libraries today and now have library cards in TWO awesome systems. LOVE.

At the KC library, in the lgbt section, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the number of books available -- I was just pulling out everything that interested me and realized I had too many to carry -- and as I left I felt personally distressed at the memory of a girlhood without those books available. And it's not my girlhood -- I was so amazingly lucky; I never felt a lack of books. But looking at THIS selection, I felt how meager the pickings were in my hometown, and the knowledge that people -- people I know, people I'm related to -- had no books, or had hateful books, or had chapters from reference books that they clung to because it meant they weren't alone -- and I was overwhelmed. And grateful and greedy, because I can read as much as I want, because I have all the books I could possibly want right at my fingertips, books about my tribe.

2. Porn battleeeeeee! Finally. Go prompt!. Thanks, flistflist.

Poooorrrrrrn.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Phil 4:4 NIV.

1. Wordle. It is a great invention. I... seriously, I love how it lets me see frequency in graphic format. Love it. Just... the way stories coalesce around names. I'm working on this fic for kink_bingo and I plugged what I have so far into worldle and just YES. It shows me what's going on. The themes just pop. Whysoawesome.
2. In one of those temporary spazzy bandom places and reading Pete/Patrick. It makes go EEP in this way that just... EEP okay. Eeep.
3. zomg femslashy porn battle! I don't know how I missed the prompting session, but now there's this page of prompts so go and write and read and porn and eee.
4. I finished Men at Arms and it was kind of awesome. I am glad, for it seems that I actually am capable of reading Discworld, so long as I have the proper motivation. And raedbard pointed me to Thrill-Seeking, Vetinari/Moist bdsmish that makes me go guh. So, guh.
5. Mmm... !mother-in-law gave us t-shirts! Yes.

Three things I did well today:
1. Woke up.
2. Ate meals, kind of.
3. Read words not on my computer screen.

This was linked on the flist (which I am way behind on and can't catch up; sorry!) in an entirely different context, but dude. Wee Joss article, mostly about E.Dushku's career, BUT:

We were impressed that Dushku held such sway over Whedon and wondered if he had that kind of bond with other actors. Whedon said that he's closer on a daily basis with Buffyverse alumni like Alyson Hannigan, Amy Acker, and Alexis Denisof.

By "closer" he means "having sex" you know.

(-:>

My hat, it is made of tin.

Pandora has introduced me to Joni James and she is made of heart. She sings traditional songs that I was already familiar with but dude, her voice is so gorgeous and pure. I have found myself thumbs-upping basically all her songs that play on my Greensleeves station.

The wikipedia Lamest Edit Wars page is very cute. (If nothing else, ctrl-f for "cute." There is a picture.)

I do it for the joy it brings
because I'm a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
I do it because it's the least I can do
I do it because I learned it from you
and I do it just because I want to
because I want to - Ani DiFranco, "Joyful Girl"

1. This year was the year! for Harry Potter fannishness. First there was Deathly Hallows, best book ever this year, certainly! At least that I read! It totally revitalized my interest in Harry Potter, so much so that I wrote fic, worked on my WiP, joined a Harry Potter community, which inspired yet more fic, and was so excited about item #2 that it warrants its own itemization. Because Harry Potter is amazing, and my beautiful, beautiful dark haired boys. ♥
2. And then JKR outed Dumbledore! Which is still so awesome I can't get over it. Yes, I know, problematic, not denying it, but. DUMBLEDORE. Is the greatest wizard the world has ever known. And is gay. SQUEE.
3. And in sports news, it doesn't get much better than the second WORLD SERIES victory in my lifetime! Go Red Sox! Etc!
4. There was Yuletide (sorted by fandom). I don't know which is more awesome, the fics I had written for me (Marilla/Matthew! MAIN STREET!) or the fact that I finally recovered my writing mojo (FOR KEEPS I HOPE) or the great fannish outpouring of togetherness as we banded together to achieve the entirely possible goal of TWO THOUSAND fics. That was in fact pretty awesome, and the lovely feedback/recs I've gotten? ONLY ICING. This was my second year doing Yuletide and I don't know how I'd finish my year without it!
5. Mmm, Main Street. Does it count as a fandom if it's only two? (That is, me and my SECERT YULETIDE AUTHOR!) Either way, I'm so excited about new canon from Ann. I love the series to bits and pieces and I love having something to look forward to every few months in the AWESOME SHINY FABRIC STORE category. (OH LOOK. Here is a November letter from Ann, all about how she fell in love with Paula upstate New York. Oh, Ann, never stop being you.)

Three things I did well this year:
1. I did not have to default on any ficathons! I was only a little bit late with one, and that was because my power went out.
2. I helped to run forty_or_better (my contribution was coming up with the name and submitting my fic three days late, and kindkit was an awesome mod) and helped with one round of femslash_minis!
3. I didn't write as much fic as I would have liked, but with hogwarts_elite and yuletide, I pretty much doubled what my output would have been otherwise! Turns out last minute panic really is the impetus for producing insane amounts of fanfiction!

Two things I am looking forward to [doing (better)] next year:
1. If there are no objections from the viewing audience, I would love to make femslash_minis active again!
2. MOAR FIC!
[edit, bonus] 3. Also, I'm going to try to be better about betas in the coming year!

And Joss said, "Look at this thing I made," and I said, "Fine, I'm just your SLAVE."

Dollhouse.

and another (Go Sox, indeed!)

++

NaNo people? (I know you're anxiously waiting for me to tell you what the heck I'm working on.) Not tonight, baby. I have a headache neckache. And All Saints' heartache.

Joss Whedon Interview.

That has to do with my love of Wesley, and let's face it, my love of Alexis Denisof, who is, apart from being a dream to work with, staggeringly versatile.

I am JUST SAYIN'. Joss/Alexis-as-Wesley OTP.

Sane about canon, frelled-up about race, and I'm still working on those drabbles.

I have v. little interest in Joss's actors outside their native habitats, but wow. Summer Glau talks about an upcoming role and could Joss/Summer be any more canon? Aww.

Finally someone did it so I didn't have to:

Cross-gen and/or incest porn battle at alixtii's place, now accepting prompts. :)

I put my name in the anonymous tell me what I should or could and probably won't write more of meme here.

Eighteen most requested pairings in femslash07 so far:
Buffyverse - Buffy/Faith - 12
Firefly - Kaylee/Inara - 10
Veronica Mars - Veronica/Mac - 9
Buffyverse - Dawn/Faith - 8
Stargate: Atlantis - Elizabeth/Teyla - 8
Buffyverse - Darla/Drusilla - 7
Firefly - Kaylee/River - 7
House, M.D. - Cameron/Cuddy - 7
Stargate: SG-1 - Sam/Vala - 7
XMM - Rogue/Kitty - 7
Bring It On - Missy/Torrance - 6
Buffyverse - Fred/Harmony - 6
Doctor Who (new) - Gwen Cooper/Toshiko Sato - 6
Grey's Anatomy - Cristina/Meredith - 6
Bring It On - Missy/Isis - 5
Buffyverse - Buffy/Cordelia - 5
Buffyverse - Cordelia/Faith - 5
Doctor Who (new) - Suzie Costello/Toshiko Sato - 5

And the most requested pairings in wildcard fandoms:
Gilmore Girls - Rory Gilmore/Paris Geller - 4
The West Wing - CJ/Kate - 4
X-Men comics - Jean Grey/Emma Frost - 4
Bend it Like Beckham - Jess/Jules - 3
Bones - Brennan/Angela - 3
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Lena/Bridget - 3

[A rare public gleee!post]

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it.

1. I talked to my girlfriend briefly.
2. Yuletide is done, done, done, and handed in!
3. Meg wrote me The Art of Losing and Picking Up, which is girl!Giles/Willow and girl!McKay/Willow. It is JUST POSSIBLE that Meg knows my kinks.
4. I had super fantastic betas for my Yuletide fic.
5. I caught an embarrassing typo in my Yuletide fic before submitting it.

Three things I did well today:
1. I finished my Yuletide fic. (Are we sensing a theme?)
2. I went to work.
3. I finally journaled a little.

Two things I am looking forward to doing (better) tomorrow:
1. Starting my secret slasha fic.
2. Stalking the Yuletide Pinchhit Yahoo! Group to see if I can write another. Yegads, I am lame and LAME.

Things learned from tonight's metafandom:

1. McKay and Weir, still not siblings! (Actually, I knew this already. Apparently it is knowledge uniquely implanted in my brain from watching a completely different show from the one everyone else is watching.)

Also not siblings:
-McKay and Sheppard
-John and Teyla.

Every time I see this argument, I feel compelled to point and boggle and cry.

2. There are filking BNFs. Who knew?
3. SGA fandom, still made of win. And by that I mean I am so far removed from this fannish experience that it's hard to believe Gateverse was my life for a few years. And gateverse boyslash. I realize there are unscary parts of the SG-fandom to this day, but there are also scary parts. Yes.
4. Studio 60 is endangered or doomed. Which. Not surprising. But the all-important question is -- will there be more you-know-who before it goes?
5. whedon_updates. I did not know this existed. Huh.

Behind the cut, image collage:
( the cut )

At the journal of meyerlemon, share your secret fic desires, and people will totally write them for you! (At least, that is the goal.)

When CJ, like, bends down -- like to pick up the phone, or something? -- she looks just slightly off-balance, slightly akimbo, and it's just so lovely, because it's everything about her, her height and her vulnerability and her awkwardness and her grace. It really delights me, and makes me love her even more. Because, you know, I didn't love her enough before.

++

What do people think about Jane Espenson's blog entry from Monday [link]? She essentially says that there are TV shows that are story-driven (Law and Order), ones that are character-driven (I read everything as character-driven, so I'm bad at distinguishing these kinds of shows) and then a third class -- shows that are "idea-driven," by which she mostly means skiffy. The examples she gave included Twilight Zone, which is this sort of TV in its purest form -- wee little stories that are not about the characters at all but neat -- sometimes evocative -- morals wrapped up in a yummy sci-fi wrapper.

I first off am not a genre-fan per se, so I always feel like I'm speaking from the outside in these discussions. I love many sci-fi and fantasy works (it says so in my userinfo!) but I am, nearly almost always, in it for the characters rather than any particular speculative elements. I find the idea of world-building really fascinating, but when it comes to particulars, my brain doesn't really function the right way. (In a similar way, I really, really love the idea of fans who work out the schematics of spaceships and so forth, but have no interest in doing that kind of play myself.)

One of the things I love about speculative fiction is the way it allows creators to play with metaphor -- the way being a mutant is like being a gifted teenager AND like being Jewish AND like being gay AND like being disabled, and yet at the same time it is none of these things. And being a Slayer, or being a vampire, or being an alien, or exploring alien cultures, again, they play as metaphors and they also play as reality in their respective 'verses. But what Jane is talking about is not metaphor so much as allegory, which is not something I'm so interested in.

Anyhow, in my limited reading and viewing of sci-fi and fantasy, I very rarely say, "Gosh, this would be great, except the characters are all flat and the theme is being delivered with an anvil." (I think mostly what I think is, "This would be really great if there was less action-adventure and more ship.")

I'm going back to watching West Wing, now, which is all about how pretty CJ's hands are.

++

Yay, the end of "The Midterms" is really great and makes me happy. In involves ( Read more... )

I almost deleted the whole bit about Jane's blog out of fear that I would offend someone or my words would not make sense. I think that what with being blocked on writing fiction, scared of writing meta, and about to have a nervous breakdown in my meatbrain, this is a great time to be starting grad school two weeks from today, now yesterday. Yes.

++

Maybe we could play that meme where you request a rant about something?