(no subject)
Jul. 7th, 2015 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* My thoughts are with the people of England, on this the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on British soil.
* A big chunk of Canadian forest burned Sunday. It was so bad our sky looked overcast and everything smelled of burning. I was having trouble breathing and am still recovering. Folks, I live in the lower forty eight. O.o Apparently there were big evacuations and a lot of hospitalizations. Given how bad it was here, I can only imagine how bad it was closer to the burns. Stay safe folks.
* Donald Trump doubled down on his Mexacans are rapists racists comments and has attacked Jeb Bush for marrying a Latina. Ted Cruz is backing Trump on the anti-Mexican racism thing.
* I think FOX news getting to arbitrarily decide who gets to run for President on the Republican side is a terrible idea. Look, the currect primary system is a mess. caucuses are terrible for reasons I've written about elsewhere and Iowa and New Hampshire are not representative of the country as a whole. (I think we should have five states, one in each of six regions, be first on a rotating basis. it would be a lot fairer and make more sense). Letting Roger Ayles personally pick between candidates with significantly smaller poll gaps than the margin of error is vastly worst.
Here is what I think they should do, and I'd be suggesting the same it it were the Democrats with a field of 20+. It would both be fairer and make for pretty amazing television. Take the whole field of vaguely credible candidates. Figure out what a manageable number per heat would be. I'm going to say six here, but someone better at this might adjust that. Assign a number from most popular to least. Pair them up so that the say, top three and the lowest three are in the last heat together. The next highest and lowest are together in the second to last heat and so on. Run a couple of heats a night until you run out. Everybody gets a chance to have their say and a little spot light time. Everyone gets a chance to be brilliant or terrible or whatever. The people get a good look at what they are like under pressure. The mid-level candidates get a chance when eyes are fresh. Odds are the last debate will be _fascinating_ and get lots of attention. It's fair, it's democratic, and it's likely going to make great sound bites to please the network and the pundits. Can we do that please?
* Yep. Cosby used Quaaludes on a woman to rape her. He swore he did in court despite his more recent denials.
* "Chris Christie: Media owes me apology:"
* "Girls who have sex are like tape that loses its stickiness. Seriously?:" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/03/girls-who-have-sex-are-like-tape-that-loses-its-stickiness-seriously
* "President Obama commutes non-violent drug sentences in move to reduce mass incarceration:" http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/president-obama-commutes-non-violent-drug-sentences-in-move-to-reduce-mass-incarceration/
* "Teenager’s Jailing Brings a Call to Fix Sex Offender Registries:" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/us/teenagers-jailing-brings-a-call-to-fix-sex-offender-registries.html?_r=0
* "San Francisco high school to offer LGBT studies class:" http://college.usatoday.com/2015/07/04/san-francisco-high-school-lgbt-class/
* Hijras voice anger at gender test failures: http://www.gulf-times.com/mobile//bangladesh/245/details/445746/transgenders-voice-anger-at-gender-test-failures
* "Recognize us as women, transgender group tells govt:" http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/recognise-us-women-transgender-group-tells-govt
* "Happening Now--#BlackOutPride Action Disrupts Chicago Pride Parade:" https://radfag.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/happening-now-blackoutpride-action-disrupts-chicago-pride-parade/
* Facebook continues to bully trans people to "keep people safe." No word from Mark Zuckerberg explaining how letting individual transphobes lock transfolk out of their account makes those trans folk safer. "How Facebook Taught One Transgender Man What It Feels Like To Be Totally Cut Off:" http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/07/03/3676827/facebook-transgender-real-name-policy/
* Petition: "Light the White House in the transgender pride flag colors on November 20th, the Transgender Day of Remembrance.:" https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/light-white-house-transgender-pride-flag-colors-november-20th-transgender-day-remembrance
* The crop of maroon lilies was huge this year and they looked glorious backlit by sunlight. the last of them is dying now, but the white and pinks are in various stages of getting ready to bloom.
* I've been of the opinion for a number of years that Spiderman and Superman need a ten year moratorium on reboots. They are boring. No one has thought of anything new or clever to do with them in movies. I would make an exception for a Poc Spiderman that weaves in new themes that could go with that, but yet another Straight is WASP Spiderman is dead dull. The other day I thought of a thing they could do to make Superman interesting to me again. Hear me out.
The answer is not to make Spiderman gritty and assholish, which was what DC was doing last I checked early in the comic book (New 52 Reboot). No, the answer is right there in the origin of the character himself. Two Jewish teenagers living in a mostly immigrant community in the 1930's came up with him. 1. They were worried about the rise of Hitler in Germany. They were worried about bullies on both an individual and an institutional scale. Later, Superman fought the KKK. Seriously, they used actual KKK passwords and ritual to mock the real KKK and by fictional Superman fighting them, correctly depicted the Real world KKK as the villains they were and are. Bullies, ant-Semites, segregationists, lynch mobs. Superman at is best has always been standing up for people who have less power against those with more power and privilege trying to use that against people. Superman at his best is about justice. 2. Superman is an undocumented immigrant, who came to this country fleeing a cataclysm that destroyed nearly his whole race, something of very immediate and personal importance to those writers. Superman in his origin is both a refugee and an immigrant. He came to this country, worked hard, and attempted to fit in. DC's ideal super heroic American is a working class immigrant who loves this country and fights constantly to make it better. By fighting bullies.
Can you think of any hard working immigrants being bullied who are in need of protection from modern racists and modern Lex Luthors trying to exploit and harm people who work for a living? Because I an think of a whole lot of groups that could use super man right now. I can think of a whole lot of working people, both immigrant and born here who could use justice right now. So why not do that? Put the justice back into the Justice League. Make Superman relevant again. Cast someone with a Latino, a South Asian, South West Asian, or North African ethnic background. Have him stand up for ordinary folk: for voting rights, for people striking for a living wage, for people being attacked for how they look or what they wear or what sort of accent they have. We have plenty of real life 1% super villains out there. Why not spin a little of that evil in to modernize Superman's enemies. I think it could work, and it would actually get me to shell out scarce coin to see a Superman movie.
* Ebay Time:
AUTUMN FANCIES 2013 (LE, Halloweenies): (Company says: Dry grasses bathed in amber light, muted by gentle shadows.) Top of label.:http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301667294922?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* My RL oldest continuous friend is doing a fundraiser: http://www.gofundme.com/x9g7q2k
* Trying to stay afloat until August: http://www.gofundme.com/cuovws or Lethran@gmail.com
* A big chunk of Canadian forest burned Sunday. It was so bad our sky looked overcast and everything smelled of burning. I was having trouble breathing and am still recovering. Folks, I live in the lower forty eight. O.o Apparently there were big evacuations and a lot of hospitalizations. Given how bad it was here, I can only imagine how bad it was closer to the burns. Stay safe folks.
* Donald Trump doubled down on his Mexacans are rapists racists comments and has attacked Jeb Bush for marrying a Latina. Ted Cruz is backing Trump on the anti-Mexican racism thing.
* I think FOX news getting to arbitrarily decide who gets to run for President on the Republican side is a terrible idea. Look, the currect primary system is a mess. caucuses are terrible for reasons I've written about elsewhere and Iowa and New Hampshire are not representative of the country as a whole. (I think we should have five states, one in each of six regions, be first on a rotating basis. it would be a lot fairer and make more sense). Letting Roger Ayles personally pick between candidates with significantly smaller poll gaps than the margin of error is vastly worst.
Here is what I think they should do, and I'd be suggesting the same it it were the Democrats with a field of 20+. It would both be fairer and make for pretty amazing television. Take the whole field of vaguely credible candidates. Figure out what a manageable number per heat would be. I'm going to say six here, but someone better at this might adjust that. Assign a number from most popular to least. Pair them up so that the say, top three and the lowest three are in the last heat together. The next highest and lowest are together in the second to last heat and so on. Run a couple of heats a night until you run out. Everybody gets a chance to have their say and a little spot light time. Everyone gets a chance to be brilliant or terrible or whatever. The people get a good look at what they are like under pressure. The mid-level candidates get a chance when eyes are fresh. Odds are the last debate will be _fascinating_ and get lots of attention. It's fair, it's democratic, and it's likely going to make great sound bites to please the network and the pundits. Can we do that please?
* Yep. Cosby used Quaaludes on a woman to rape her. He swore he did in court despite his more recent denials.
* "Chris Christie: Media owes me apology:"
* "Girls who have sex are like tape that loses its stickiness. Seriously?:" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/03/girls-who-have-sex-are-like-tape-that-loses-its-stickiness-seriously
* "President Obama commutes non-violent drug sentences in move to reduce mass incarceration:" http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/president-obama-commutes-non-violent-drug-sentences-in-move-to-reduce-mass-incarceration/
* "Teenager’s Jailing Brings a Call to Fix Sex Offender Registries:" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/us/teenagers-jailing-brings-a-call-to-fix-sex-offender-registries.html?_r=0
* "San Francisco high school to offer LGBT studies class:" http://college.usatoday.com/2015/07/04/san-francisco-high-school-lgbt-class/
* Hijras voice anger at gender test failures: http://www.gulf-times.com/mobile//bangladesh/245/details/445746/transgenders-voice-anger-at-gender-test-failures
* "Recognize us as women, transgender group tells govt:" http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/recognise-us-women-transgender-group-tells-govt
* "Happening Now--#BlackOutPride Action Disrupts Chicago Pride Parade:" https://radfag.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/happening-now-blackoutpride-action-disrupts-chicago-pride-parade/
* Facebook continues to bully trans people to "keep people safe." No word from Mark Zuckerberg explaining how letting individual transphobes lock transfolk out of their account makes those trans folk safer. "How Facebook Taught One Transgender Man What It Feels Like To Be Totally Cut Off:" http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/07/03/3676827/facebook-transgender-real-name-policy/
* Petition: "Light the White House in the transgender pride flag colors on November 20th, the Transgender Day of Remembrance.:" https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/light-white-house-transgender-pride-flag-colors-november-20th-transgender-day-remembrance
* The crop of maroon lilies was huge this year and they looked glorious backlit by sunlight. the last of them is dying now, but the white and pinks are in various stages of getting ready to bloom.
* I've been of the opinion for a number of years that Spiderman and Superman need a ten year moratorium on reboots. They are boring. No one has thought of anything new or clever to do with them in movies. I would make an exception for a Poc Spiderman that weaves in new themes that could go with that, but yet another Straight is WASP Spiderman is dead dull. The other day I thought of a thing they could do to make Superman interesting to me again. Hear me out.
The answer is not to make Spiderman gritty and assholish, which was what DC was doing last I checked early in the comic book (New 52 Reboot). No, the answer is right there in the origin of the character himself. Two Jewish teenagers living in a mostly immigrant community in the 1930's came up with him. 1. They were worried about the rise of Hitler in Germany. They were worried about bullies on both an individual and an institutional scale. Later, Superman fought the KKK. Seriously, they used actual KKK passwords and ritual to mock the real KKK and by fictional Superman fighting them, correctly depicted the Real world KKK as the villains they were and are. Bullies, ant-Semites, segregationists, lynch mobs. Superman at is best has always been standing up for people who have less power against those with more power and privilege trying to use that against people. Superman at his best is about justice. 2. Superman is an undocumented immigrant, who came to this country fleeing a cataclysm that destroyed nearly his whole race, something of very immediate and personal importance to those writers. Superman in his origin is both a refugee and an immigrant. He came to this country, worked hard, and attempted to fit in. DC's ideal super heroic American is a working class immigrant who loves this country and fights constantly to make it better. By fighting bullies.
Can you think of any hard working immigrants being bullied who are in need of protection from modern racists and modern Lex Luthors trying to exploit and harm people who work for a living? Because I an think of a whole lot of groups that could use super man right now. I can think of a whole lot of working people, both immigrant and born here who could use justice right now. So why not do that? Put the justice back into the Justice League. Make Superman relevant again. Cast someone with a Latino, a South Asian, South West Asian, or North African ethnic background. Have him stand up for ordinary folk: for voting rights, for people striking for a living wage, for people being attacked for how they look or what they wear or what sort of accent they have. We have plenty of real life 1% super villains out there. Why not spin a little of that evil in to modernize Superman's enemies. I think it could work, and it would actually get me to shell out scarce coin to see a Superman movie.
* Ebay Time:
AUTUMN FANCIES 2013 (LE, Halloweenies): (Company says: Dry grasses bathed in amber light, muted by gentle shadows.) Top of label.:http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/301667294922?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* My RL oldest continuous friend is doing a fundraiser: http://www.gofundme.com/x9g7q2k
* Trying to stay afloat until August: http://www.gofundme.com/cuovws or Lethran@gmail.com
(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-10 08:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-07-10 11:09 am (UTC)