(no subject)

[gwydion]

* "The far left rises in Greece:"





* "Conflict in Israel and Palestine: Crash Course World History 223:" http://thecrashcourse.tumblr.com/post/109442620564/conflict-in-israel-and-palestine-crash-course#notes-container

* The American Family Association, an anti-gay and anti-Semitic etc. Christian hate group, decided to send 1/3 of the RNC, including Reince Priebus to Israel on a trip the hate group is paying for. The Israeli press noticed and is making enough of a stink that they have fired Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis, for anti-Semitic hate speech despite the fact that they are an anti-Semitic hate group in hopes it will calm the furor. The Republican National Committee knows full well what sort of people they are dealing with and don't care that they are doing something incredibly offensive. After all, in Republican mainstream political circles there is nothing shameful about believing that Jews should be bared from practicing their religion in the United states, for example.

* "GOP uses Loretta Lynch hearing to vent about Eric Holder:"





* "Pipeline ruptures raise desperation for inspectors:"





* Men saw him raping her and tackled him. He is actually barred from campus and facing felony charges instead of men standing around watching it the University covering it up, as is standard practice at most universities. It's good to see a university community actually doing the right thing. "Former Stanford swimmer accused of raping unconscious woman on campus:" http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-former-stanford-swimmer-accused-of-rape-20150127-story.html?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=649324

* "The best idea in a long time: Covering parking lots with solar panels:" http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/28/the-best-idea-in-a-long-time-covering-parking-lots-with-solar-panels/?tid=sm_tw

* "To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children:" http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/27/381888697/to-protect-his-son-a-father-asks-school-to-bar-unvaccinated-children?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150127

* "4 Truths About Female Ejaculation:" http://amyjogoddard.com/4-truths-about-female-ejaculation-the-debate-continues-5045

* "Gender Recognition Bill:" http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/gender-recognition-bill-1.2081573

* "This is the Proper Way to House Transgender Inmates:" http://quietmike.org/2015/01/27/proper-way-house-transgender-inmates/

* "Chile: Civil unions now legalized:" http://sdgln.com/news/2015/01/28/chile-civil-unions-now-legalized#sthash.5qHgEBxT.f8I5Tzk1.dpbs

* "Swedish swimming pool opens gender neutral changing rooms:" http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/28/swedish-swimming-pool-opens-gender-neutral-changing-rooms/

* "First transgender discrimination case to challenge ADA’s constitutionality:" http://www.post-gazette.com/business/legal/2015/01/27/First-transgender-discrimination-case-to-challenge-ADA-s-constitutionality/stories/201501260116

* "Saks Backtracks in Transgender Discrimination Case:" http://time.com/3682701/saks-transgender-lawsuit-texas/

* Sorrow's Knot was so good I had trouble putting it down to do things I needed to do.

* I have started both House of Cards and Black Sails. I am mesmerized by both in entirely different ways. It is hard to drag my eyes away to do necessary things. House of Cards is everything rm promised it would be, hitting so many of my sweet spots, it's like it was made for me. I literally spent an hour today contemplating what it means to love someone "like a shark loves blood:" the sexual voraciousness, but also it is the blood that leads the shark to dinner.... The dialog fills me with wicked delight. The relationship between sex, power, money, government, and media is so, so right and so electric. Black Sails... not nearly as heady, but also about politics, money, sex, and power, plus literal pirates instead of metaphorical ones. Thanks to rm and il_volpe for the reccies. Thanks to the library for giving me delicious food for my head.

* I made it through the first season of Orange is the New Black, despite it being triggery towards the end. No, it wasn't them reinforcing Pensyltucky's lies to herself, though you might guess that. It was a bunch of other things far too complex to explain. I really did love the variety of characters and plots on display. It was such a big deal for me when Sophia got her meds back. I love that Naya, one of the few pear shaped women in media, gets the romance and sex plot. Lea DeLaria is a treasure. Red is beautifully designed and acted. I am really fond of the track star lady, the little one with the big hair, Alex, Claudette, and on and on. I want to know Suzanne's story, and it creeps me out that people who claim to be fans of the show and that character use her slur name instead of her real one. The little addict was heart breaking.... Seriously, it's just Piper and her fiance and the associated tedium and the whole randomly being triggering for me thing that is the problem. I've been promised that season two is lighter on the tedious bits, so when the library gets it, odds are I'll keep on with it.

* I got so excited when I heard they were doing a female Ghostbusters, because that is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately I don't care for either Kristen Wiig or Melissa McCarthy's comedy. They are on the same list with Seth Rogan, James DeFranco, Adam Sandaler, etc., where I don't go to their movies since it's like fingernails on a black board for me. I wish I did like them. I know everyone else does, and Melissa McCarthy seemed very likeable as a guest on Craig Ferguson. I like both Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones well enough, but odds are I won't see the movie in the theater, because of the Wiig/McCarthy not being my cup of tea thing. Odds are, I'll give it a try when it reaches TV and odds are I will find Kristen Wiig frustrating and inexplicable and give up ten minutes in. This is sad for me, because I really want to see a female cast reboot of Ghostbusters that fixes the problems I have with the original franchise as an adult.

The thing is, that _that's okay_. I don't expect to be the intended audience for most things, and I am okay with not everything being about me. After all, I am someone who has had in the course of 45 years of life only two commercials ever that seemed designed for me, and am still startled on the rare occasion that a movie caters to my gaze. I can count characters I identify with even halfway on the fingers of one hand. I am actually really happy for all the people the Ghostbusters reboot will cater to. Fuck the douchebags hating on it because having women as main characters "ruins" an imperfect piece of art that was very much a product of its time and is better in memory than it is to watch decades later. Yes, there were cool things in the original. Yes, there were some iconic lines. The thing is, there was a lot of problematic stuff in there (which I've written about before), and for those of us who saw it when it was new? We where a lot younger then. Not everything we love as children and teens is as good as we think it is.

I hope this movie is brilliant, and I hope it makes people even happier than the original did back in the day. I hope all the internet assholery doesn't ruin it for people. I hope the script is so good that I can enjoy it with everybody else, even though it doesn't have to.

* Help my friends adopt two cats: http://djinni.livejournal.com/516743.html

* Our Financial Situation continues Scary: http://www.gofundme.com/cuovws or Lethran@gmail.com

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

i take it you mean the US House of Cards, yes ? I have strongly mixed feelings about that, mostly coming from regarding the original House of Cards miniseries (the first four episodes, not the subsequent ones that were originally released separately but that Netflix for example seems to think are all one thing) is one of the most perfect pieces of drama ever made; the differences in how class things work between them are absolutely fascinating.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I am watching the US version. I'll have to see if the library carries the UK version.