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lotus0kidAh, well, now I know where I'm going by the end of this month, which is nice. I have an aunt who's willing to put me up for a while. This will be interesting- it's a pretty big house she's got, but I'll be sharing with her, two of her sons, and another cousin I haven't seen since he moved to California as a boy. I'll be sharing a bathroom with him, actually. So, yeah, nice to have that somewhat settled, even if it makes the looming loss of my childhood home all the more concrete.
Anyway, I have a meme! From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zombres:
Respond to this post with "Interests, please" and I'll pick seven of your LJ interests for you to explain in a new post.
carbon leaf
This is a band who... I feel guilty for not listening to more often. I have their album, Indian Summer. Bought it ages ago. And I barely listen to it. In any case, they have a cool sound that Wikipedia describes as “Celtic/Bluegrass rock.” Here’s probably my favorite song of theirs: This is My Song. Very clever, interesting lyrics here, besides being a rollicking example of this so-called “Celtic/Bluegrass rock.”
dance hall crashers
Another band that I also don’t listen to nearly as much as I used to. They have a good ska/rock sound, which I always appreciate, and female lead and back-up vocalists, which makes for some really fun harmonies. Example: Next to You.
no reservations
Full title: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. It’s one of the two Travel Channel shows I catch when I can. I like it because Tony gets to experience a ton of places in ways that I never would, even if I went there myself. And Tony is a sarcastic bastard who is nonetheless capable of appreciating the general awesomeness of life and communicating it to his audience in a highly entertaining way. I’d say this is a typical scene from most any episode. Street food is a big part of No Reservations.
operation swashbuckle
Ahh haha, I had a feeling this one would be chosen. Operation Swashbuckle is a DVD video diary made by a trio of performers that I know from the Maryland Renaissance Festival: Hack & Slash (and Todd). It features their adventures while doing performances at various U.S. military bases in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. Hack and Slash are a comedy sword-fighting duo, and Todd is a juggler/acrobat-type known as the World’s Greatest Trickster. Basically they’re a bunch of dorks. Extremely entertaining dorks. Here’s Slash doing the traditional audience call. You know, this reminds me, I had a Hack & Slash bumper sticker on the car that got wrecked in March. I have to remember to ask them for a replacement at this year’s Rennfest.
ETA: Another vid, this one with a song they actually sing on the Operation Swashbuckle DVD.
taijitsu
Not long after I finished my required half-credit of gym class in high school, I started taking taijitsu classes at one of the local martial arts schools. It was a really great school that taught extremely valuable self-defense techniques I’m proud and comforted to know. Also, since the school had classes for all ages, there were really solid lessons on respect, honesty, perseverance, courage- all that good stuff. There was a student creed we recited and everything (I can still recite it, actually). I made it to first degree red belt while I was there, which is two levels below black. I hope someday I’ll be in a position to earn my black belt.
the real tuesday weld
One more band. Kind of an odd one- you know you’re out there when iTunes labels your music’s genre as “Unclassifiable” (I would be proud of that, personally). Here’s my favorite song off their album The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid, L’Amour Et La Morte.
terry pratchett
Oh, Terry Pratchett. He’s my favorite author ever, that’s all. Through the Discworld series he manages to create a fantastic and unique universe WHILE getting at the heart of our own crazy existence right here. And he does it in such a humorous, intelligent, clear-headed way... it’s just astounding. I first read Good Omens in high school, and just knew I had to get my hands on more of this Pratchett guy’s work. So I started devouring the Discworld series, and thank goodness I did. I really don’t doubt it’s made me a better reader, and it’s probably made me a better person too. I'll be reading his books for the rest of my life.
Also, a quick rec if, like me, you'd like an entertaining distraction.zarla has gamely screencapped and written commentary for a variety of video games and yaoi anime films. I've spent most of today reading her yaoi commentaries, and they are pretty priceless, while also being a good education in that whole weird seme/uke thing they've got going on over there. Quite honestly, I find the seme/uke stereotype kind of disturbing. Not to mention lazy and unimaginative on the part of writers who utilize it. It seems obvious that that kind of relationship only works in an entirely fictional world, and it worries me to think that there are fans of it who don't realize that. I'm just hoping like hell my own work is free of those seriously effed-up relationship dynamics.
Anyway, I have a meme! From
zombres:Respond to this post with "Interests, please" and I'll pick seven of your LJ interests for you to explain in a new post.
carbon leaf
This is a band who... I feel guilty for not listening to more often. I have their album, Indian Summer. Bought it ages ago. And I barely listen to it. In any case, they have a cool sound that Wikipedia describes as “Celtic/Bluegrass rock.” Here’s probably my favorite song of theirs: This is My Song. Very clever, interesting lyrics here, besides being a rollicking example of this so-called “Celtic/Bluegrass rock.”
dance hall crashers
Another band that I also don’t listen to nearly as much as I used to. They have a good ska/rock sound, which I always appreciate, and female lead and back-up vocalists, which makes for some really fun harmonies. Example: Next to You.
no reservations
Full title: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. It’s one of the two Travel Channel shows I catch when I can. I like it because Tony gets to experience a ton of places in ways that I never would, even if I went there myself. And Tony is a sarcastic bastard who is nonetheless capable of appreciating the general awesomeness of life and communicating it to his audience in a highly entertaining way. I’d say this is a typical scene from most any episode. Street food is a big part of No Reservations.
operation swashbuckle
Ahh haha, I had a feeling this one would be chosen. Operation Swashbuckle is a DVD video diary made by a trio of performers that I know from the Maryland Renaissance Festival: Hack & Slash (and Todd). It features their adventures while doing performances at various U.S. military bases in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. Hack and Slash are a comedy sword-fighting duo, and Todd is a juggler/acrobat-type known as the World’s Greatest Trickster. Basically they’re a bunch of dorks. Extremely entertaining dorks. Here’s Slash doing the traditional audience call. You know, this reminds me, I had a Hack & Slash bumper sticker on the car that got wrecked in March. I have to remember to ask them for a replacement at this year’s Rennfest.
ETA: Another vid, this one with a song they actually sing on the Operation Swashbuckle DVD.
taijitsu
Not long after I finished my required half-credit of gym class in high school, I started taking taijitsu classes at one of the local martial arts schools. It was a really great school that taught extremely valuable self-defense techniques I’m proud and comforted to know. Also, since the school had classes for all ages, there were really solid lessons on respect, honesty, perseverance, courage- all that good stuff. There was a student creed we recited and everything (I can still recite it, actually). I made it to first degree red belt while I was there, which is two levels below black. I hope someday I’ll be in a position to earn my black belt.
the real tuesday weld
One more band. Kind of an odd one- you know you’re out there when iTunes labels your music’s genre as “Unclassifiable” (I would be proud of that, personally). Here’s my favorite song off their album The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid, L’Amour Et La Morte.
terry pratchett
Oh, Terry Pratchett. He’s my favorite author ever, that’s all. Through the Discworld series he manages to create a fantastic and unique universe WHILE getting at the heart of our own crazy existence right here. And he does it in such a humorous, intelligent, clear-headed way... it’s just astounding. I first read Good Omens in high school, and just knew I had to get my hands on more of this Pratchett guy’s work. So I started devouring the Discworld series, and thank goodness I did. I really don’t doubt it’s made me a better reader, and it’s probably made me a better person too. I'll be reading his books for the rest of my life.
Also, a quick rec if, like me, you'd like an entertaining distraction.
zarla has gamely screencapped and written commentary for a variety of video games and yaoi anime films. I've spent most of today reading her yaoi commentaries, and they are pretty priceless, while also being a good education in that whole weird seme/uke thing they've got going on over there. Quite honestly, I find the seme/uke stereotype kind of disturbing. Not to mention lazy and unimaginative on the part of writers who utilize it. It seems obvious that that kind of relationship only works in an entirely fictional world, and it worries me to think that there are fans of it who don't realize that. I'm just hoping like hell my own work is free of those seriously effed-up relationship dynamics.
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Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 02:57 am (UTC)LOL, the guy with Anthony Bourdain reminds me of Emile Danko. Also I really, really want a
hot dogsausage right now.I really don’t doubt it’s made me a better reader, and it’s probably made me a better person too.
I was just thinking this today. He's one of those authors that just really mean a lot to people, and for good reason.
I would like to do this meme but I honestly don't remember what's in my interests. Well, I'll do it, even if there's some odd stuff in there.
Heh, from that linked thing: "Gay mannequins IT MUST BE THE FUTURE!!!" Yeah, I may lose some time on that site.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 03:17 am (UTC)Hee, I didn't really think of it that way.
Either Danko or the hot dogs.His work is just so strong without being the slightest bit pedantic or inaccesible, it's fantastic.
Hm, well, let me see here: adamantine meat trumpet, naps, art history, not arithmetic, obscure words, trivia, and peter/claude.
Yes, you will, but it'll be fun, sometimes in a really awful wincing way. Allow me to double recommend Boku no Sexual Harrassment, it's the first one I stumbled on and it's hilarious.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 03:23 am (UTC)He's bald and Eastern-European, close enough.
I may be focused on hot dogs for other reasons.It really is, and it's just so full of ideas. Like it makes you think about stuff. While still having such amazing characters that you actually care about and know.
Heh, I'll do those tomorrow, at some point.
I'm reading the one she's titled "~Ai no Kusabi: More like Gay-derunner am i right", which is futuristic and hilarious and I was laughing so hard my mom came in to check what I was laughing at. All the billowy hair, though! Oh my god.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 12:30 pm (UTC)Yay! I'm going to try really hard to be focused on other things today as well.His characters are so wonderfully layered and real and interesting. We are so ridiculously lucky to have so many books with them.
Hee, that's an okay one. Honestly, though, it's kind of freaked me out- wondering if I've ever/if I will slip into seme/uke stereotypes when I'm writing. It kind of has me second-guessing stuff...
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 12:56 pm (UTC)*laughs* I wish I had more time to work on it today. Chore duty, now that my mom's home most of the day.Seriously. I could always do with more Watch books, as they are my favorite, but even the ones with new characters are wonderful.
There's one where the actual anime looks fairly decent if more...explicitly porny than I'm comfortable with. But yeah. Then you get the ones where one of the protagonists looks like he's twelve.
I think the concerning part for me is that with Plaude there's the age difference and the height difference and the fact that with their respective personalities it would be superficially easy to let them fall into those kind of stereotypes. But I think we avoid it pretty well, even given all of that, and it's especially noticeable with the sex scenes: I don't think I've ever seen Plaude writers go in for the sex scene where the seme overpowers the uke and rapes him until he likes it. That's the most disturbing part of yaoi, definitely, and their dynamic as we tend to write them doesn't lead to scenes like that. Plaude writers actually really good (I feel) at dealing with the possible power imbalance that can lead to yaoi stereotypes; Peter might be young and pretty and slight (S1 Peter at least), but even at his worst he's not powerless and he's not the "roll over and let the big strong man he's with do whatever" type, and Claude might be big and overpowering and angsty but he's got a sense of self control and self preservation that keeps things from getting yaoi-level ridiculously melodramatic.
Not that I myself don't fall into a couple of other stereotypes once in a while. But being aware of it and freaked out about it keeps you from doing it, so that's good, I think.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 01:27 pm (UTC)I have some chores I should really get around to. I'll probably do laundry today, and grocery shopping. And I have to be around when a guy comes to pay for and pick up our patio furniture.I could do with more Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. And speaking of new-ish characters, I'm very curious to know if the rumors are true and Vetinari really is grooming Moist as a successor.
That Legend of the Blue Wolves seemed not too bad
and not because they let the penises be visible. But yeah, ugh, that one. *shudder*Yeah, yeah, I agree. Superficially, it looks like a viable- maybe even expected dynamic. But the minute you actually consider the characters and their personalities, you realize it would never work in any non-crack scenario. And anybody who enjoys the "rape him til he likes it" trope needs to have their head examined, plain and simple. I know I could never go the full angsty sweeping melodramatic yaoi romance (a single IC snarky comment from either Peter or Claude would puncture that), I just kind of worry about little moments or behaviors that wouldn't ring true to the characters and would instead play into those icky stereotypes. I'm not sure I'd be able to catch all of them.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 02:07 pm (UTC)I'm trying to make my very own eggy in a basket. The first attempt was kind of a failure, but this one looks good!Oh, we haven't seen them in a while, have we? Heh, Moist. Probably the newest character I like the least, that would be interesting.
*laughs* It actually did seem pretty decent, didn't it? If a little, yeah, melodramatic.
The penises were kind of a shock. I'm still too westernly conditioned to be shocked by cartoon penises over real life ones.I'm skimming through the second part of that one. It's so hilariously horrifying.I was actually thinking about it after I posted and decided that if anyone's the seme in that relationship it's Peter: he's got the stalker eyes and the "I saw you in my dream now you must do what I want!" vibe to him, and in fic at least he's usually the instigator of anything sexual, and Claude does have the pretty blue eyes and the blond(ish, okay it's light brown) hair and the tragic backstory and the reluctance to be touched. And then I thought this might be the most ridiculous crack ever.
Yaoi is like slash, I think, in that it's mostly intended for women (I don't know if it's also mostly written by women) and I think it says a lot more about what women in Japan think about themselves than about what they think about gay men. I get the feeling that the gender politics there are the kind that make uke behavior just about what women's behavior is supposed to be, and no wonder it ends up a bit skewed, because those are not what we'd consider healthy relationship dynamics. The commonness of "Rape him till he likes it" as a trope just makes me think "Wow, female sexuality is not considered a good thing at all is it?" Like wanting sex is bad, you have be forced into it to remain virtuous, but you "might as well enjoy it" once it happens. *shudder* worthy, definitely.
I think being aware of the possibility of falling into the icky stereotypes is the best defense against them, though.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 02:49 pm (UTC)Good work, my friend!No, we haven't. Granny's just had a few cameos in the Tiffany Aching series. It's been a while since I read Moist's books, but I did recently see the mini series for Going Postal, which was pretty fun. I don't mind Moist, and would actually be okay with seeing him become Patrician.
It was really a decent enough story, with admirable leads and at least an attempt at a healthy relationship.
I just loved it when they entered the ever-expanding alternate bed dimension. That was very impressive.Oh god, no. No. We will neither of us write horrible, melodramatic, seme!Peter/uke!Claude crack fic. No matter how effing hilarious it could be. NO.
Yeah, we definitely need to keep that in mind. Japan's got a lot of things to its credit, but I seriously think it's got some severe, deep-seeded gender issues. You know, when you think of it that way, the really bad yaoi with the rape and psychological torture and wildly effeminate ukes... Assuming it's written by women, it's kind of like an unconscious protest, isn't it? A little Comedian-style, dare I say, embracing the whole sick mess and making it entertainment.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 04:21 pm (UTC)I was going to take a picture. But then my dad ate it, so.I kind of lost track of the Tiffany Aching series. Not because I didn't like them, just I think I may have forgotten. I just don't want the real Patrician to die. And yes he is the real Patrician.
Some of them are at least kind of interesting. The one with the porn stars was hilarious and the fact that you couldn't really play spot the uke was to its credit.
LOL, I would spend time in an alternate bed dimension, gladly.*snort* Shortest yaoi anime ever, I can just picture it.
I'd like to think that at least. And that maybe any men who see it think "Wow, that's kind of fucked up" and maybe realize that's just what they're expecting women to be like.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 04:45 pm (UTC)Aw, I'm sorry.I like it more than I thought I would, with my fairly absurd bias against YA fiction. Actually, his next book is supposed to be a Tiffany Aching one. Well, yes, of course I would never want Vetenari to die, but I'd just be okay with Moist taking his place.
That one was interesting- it kind of attempted to explore the difference between acting and real emotion. Not well, or coherently, but I appreciate the effort. I think the lack of visual seme/uke stereotypes was slightly lessened by the fact that the artists appeared to be too lazy to differentiate the characters' facial features in any way.
Ohhh yeah.Pretty much. Peter manages to come up with some slightly seme-sounding line... and Claude rolls his eyes, says this is stupid, and stalks off.
Here's hoping at least someone is paying that much attention. And that we can all successfully assimilate What Not To Do from it.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 05:36 pm (UTC)Ah, well. I'll try again after I buy some more eggs.Heh. YA fiction can really be pretty bad, but there's this new trend of gay YA fiction that I appreciate and read like a pervy old lady that I am. I suppose I'd be okay with Vetinari retiring. Maybe. If it were like the last book.
Yeah, it actually had a plot, which was semi-interesting. *laughs* I love that they had the same face, I don't know why, it was just so funny.
I love how most of the beds in these stories are just that freakishly large. Maybe they just seem that way because all the protagonists are so skinny, but still.And possibly punches him out cold. I shouldn't find that so funny, but I do.
I read an analysis of Twilight from someone who was raised Mormon and she mentioned how much of it seemed to be Stephenie Meyer working through her own issues with the church and her earlier marriage. It was interesting.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 06:25 pm (UTC)Gr, jeez, way to remind me I really have to go to the grocery store. Like, not later, right now. Okay, fine, just let me finish this comment.As much as I know it's so blatantly for the money, I can't help liking all the fantasy in YA these days. Oh, Vetinari could only retire. That is the single reason he would ever not be Patrician.
And I love how the dark-haired one wasn't just reluctant to be in a relationship, he was practically disgusted by it. I don't think you see that too often.
Seriously, the overall lack of attention to scale is pretty ridiculous for a professionally made film.I think it would depend on what the somewhat seme-sounding line was, whether Peter gets punched or not. Poor Peter, I sure hope it wasn't his idea to try this out.
Really? I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. It's either that or she's a marketing genius who deliberately created a story that millions of young girls could imagine themselves starring in and therefore make tons of money.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 06:39 pm (UTC)Mm, I should...probably...go today...or maybe tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow's good...There is a lot of it but it's all vampires and/or angels. I'm marginally more interested in angels than vampires but it's a close thing.
Maybe he just had fit of crazy or something and it happened.
Well, it could be both. They're pretty time-sucking but also hilarious, she does one for each book thus far.
Re: Interests, please
Date: 2010-06-12 07:27 pm (UTC)I'm glad I got it done. Couldn't get everything done I wanted to, because the dang post office closed at one, gr.Still, you know, that's a start. Start bringing fantasy out of the realm of the freaks and weirdos a little bit.
Heh, I think if Peter just came out with some seme-sounding line, Claude would laugh at him. And he would deserve it.
Ooh! I could do with hilarious and time-sucking, because Peter and Claude keep having JUST KISS ALREADY moments, but they've known each other for less than twenty-four hours, so it's getting kind of frustrating. Jeepers, and I thought I'd have trouble getting them together as quickly as Alicia and Devlin.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 03:12 am (UTC)But I'm really happy you found a place to stay! That has to be a major relief, even if you're not sure what it's going to be like with that family.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 11:57 am (UTC)