| In which Emma is busy making props |
[21 Dec 2009|10:08pm] |
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music |
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The Muppets sing Bohemian Rhapsody |
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E: [collapses in a heap] I do not want to write to Santa!
K: [comes over, drags E up] Come on... stand up on your little Jewish feet... Now. Do you have crayons?
E: ...No...
K: Then you cannot write to Santa!
And on that note, Imma make cookies.
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| In which Emma misses singing Handel |
[20 Dec 2009|03:10pm] |
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music |
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The Hallelujah Chorus |
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My mother sent out this video to a bunch of her friends. It amused me to no end.
Good memories of singing "The Messiah" include that performance we did at Gettysburg where Dr. Natter told the audience not to stand during the Hallelujah chorus, since we were recording... and they stood anyway :D And we all fell in love with the guy in the second row who was, like, having a moment of religious rapture during that. It was one of those nice moments wherein you know that what you're doing matters.
Anyway, the below is a slightly different vision of Handel.
Today has been mixed. Shoveled the walk outside of T-stone, which sucked. Kevin took me out to Perkins afterward, which rocked. Fell asleep when we got home, and woke up feeling shitty. Oh, I don't want to go anywhere right now... but I have to go back and paint some candy cane quarterstaves.
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| big long post about gender and stuff aka LOOK AT ALL MY OPINIONS |
[17 Dec 2009|03:37am] |
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mood |
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 i miss my cat |
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1994! - untitled fall demo |
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CAMPUS RAPE INDUSTRY
This article is from last year, but one of the Something Awful goons linked to it and, honestly, I can't read the phrase "campus rape industry" without picturing a huge Victorian textile mill that has "RAPE" stenciled across one side of it. And indeed, the article itself is a brace of opinions that the owner of said factory might have voiced. Her confusion over condemning rape while encouraging sex toys was especially cute, and typical of the tunnel vision that clouds this topic - it makes perfect sense to me that sex can be, I dunno, FUN when it's between two people who aren't forcing it on one another. Hell, I think the idea that sex shouldn't be an unbearably awkward, call-and-response mating dance is great, and the sex toy stuff is a nice reminder that sex itself isn't a gross indignity and/or a tool of the oppressor class designed to strip women of their agency.
However, I do feel that straight men are kept out of the sex/gender/etc. dialogue unless they're apologizing for the shitheads in their ranks. Which, while nice, is meaningless if that's all they're allowed to contribute. Not that people should tolerate bigotry from bigots in the name of intellectual discussion, but a good number of us do have opinions that aren't always ignorant or invalid. And since a fair amount of the dialogue involves us and how we treat others, and a lot of assumptions about how we view ourselves, I don't feel that straight men are automatically intruding by asking questions or expressing how they see/feel about gender and sex.
I took a Sexualities class at G'burg where I would have been shut out entirely, had the professor not been such a cool guy about fostering actual discussion. There were maybe 15 people in the class, and at least 8 of them took serious umbrage with the questions I was asking about whether or not some subcultural behavior was healthy or not (the best example I can give at this hour is the book we read about transvestite prostitutes in Sao Paolo, whose take on relationships is incredibly fucked up). I also didn't appreciate the tone of the feminist pornography critiques we read - I thought they were angry, unsourced, reactionary screeds based more on what the authors already assumed porn was than what it actually is (an extensively categorized landscape of goofy fetishes). I wasn't trying to be mean or dismissive, but I've never been one to blindly accept identity politics and I never will. When left unchecked, which IP often is, it leads to pointless verbal contests about whose back has been lashed the most, which kills any momentum towards understanding and solving the problems at hand. I had classmates try interrupting me to defuse what I was saying, and was passive-aggressively told that, because I was a straight white guy, I had no right to my observations about what we were studying since I didn't and couldn't understand the material.
Again, the professor nipped that shit in the bud and did his part to not let the class devolve into a circlejerk (pun intended), and there were moments when I had to reassess how I felt about certain things (for example, that class changed my opinion of bisexuals entirely). But I've never forgotten how shocked people were when I applied my bullshit detector to that class; it was not a shock I had intended to produce among adults. I'm using this class as an example because I didn't want to cite a bunch of Internet arguments that I can't link to, and I understand that it's anecdotal evidence and blah bloo bloo. But I think I've made my point.
Before I go, let me be clear: I think the discrimination against gays and transsexuals is appalling - that people who are attracted to their own gender (which makes perfect biological sense as a natural cap on overpopulation) or stuck between genders somehow (having one's brain and hormones wired to one gender while the body displays another has to be incredibly uncomfortable) get treated like second-class citizens for things beyond their control says something extremely unpleasant about the national character. However I may personally feel about other, more voluntary gender movements, there is no justification for hurting them, denying them services, or excluding them from the basic trappings of citizenship. Love--real love--is incredibly scarce these days, but it is nevertheless a precious and wonderful thing. I will never see it as a threat to me.
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| guess what guys hey guys you'll never guess |
[15 Dec 2009|09:12pm] |
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mercyful fate - mirror |
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Welp, school and work are officially done for the semester. I am now free to do as I please until Friday, when I start the long trek home (stopping by VA for wrasslin' on the way) so my family can commandeer my life again. But I do love them so.
Also...
PUBLISHED AGAIN. Look for my story, "Damn Lights," in the February issue of The Nautilus Engine. Another piece of fiction that's found a home, and it's steampunky, to boot. Hooray! They turned down what I'd originally sent, but the editor told me he liked my work and was open to future submissions from me. I sent this story, which I wrote last semester, on a whim and he really dug it. I'd say it's been a good day.
Oh right, almost forgot.
BITCHES.
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| *om nom nom* |
[15 Dec 2009|12:06am] |
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 restless |
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The Pajama Sisters - It's Reindeer Men |
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Midnight cravings for baked goods = suck.
(thirty seconds later) ...I just found a cookie recipe for which I think I have all the components. omfg win.
Today was hella long. The show is in passable shape, though.
I need to stop having so much fun with rehearsal reports.
Tomorrow is a rest day. I am so glad. Dinner with the parentfolks. I am hoping for latkes.
Preheating the oven. This is a terrible idea.
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| Christmas food for thought |
[13 Dec 2009|12:35pm] |
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) saraphina_marie shared this, and it's worth passing on.
It's by no means a perfect argument, nor a scholarly article, and I'd certainly feel better about it with a couple footnotes or a source list, but what it is is a valid point of view, and one that is articulated in a way that a lot of people can relate to at this time of year. Not anti-Christmas or anti-Jesus or anti-Christian-- just a reminder that there's more than one reason to come together, be merry, and love one another during the winter months. We live in a big world with a lot of people, and it's just not as simple as Jesusbirthdaymonth.
Jesus? Not the only reason for the season.
On a vaguely related note, would any of my pagan friends reading this mind posting (or telling me in any other medium ^^) a little about the tenants of pagan belief? I've gleaned bits and pieces, here and there, over the years, but I've never had a solid sense of it, the way I can say "a Christian is more or less this," "a Jew is more or less this," "a Muslim is more or less this," &c. I suppose I could always just wiki it, but a more personal explanation is always nice.
And then to balance the otherwise serious tone of this post, here is a video of the Muppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."
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| Christmas tree overkill |
[13 Dec 2009|10:40pm] |
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Tis the season, so thought it prudent to share a picture of the most hideous tree I've ever seen, which I pass on my way to school every morning.
This is the Christmas tree that marks the highlight of Queen's Square Plaza in Minato mirai, Yokohama. To imagine its size, just think about how the boxed off area with the hearts is taller than me (at just over 5'5"). The entire tree is plastic, covered in more lights than those you see here, and the outermost golden lights are metal and plastic frames with lights embedded in them. This tree is literally caged into Christmas cheer!
There are light shows in the evening, complete with creepy strobe light bulbs and disappearing and reappearing light formations of clovers, hearts, and dolphins (I feel a Lucky Charms joke in there somewhere...). Needless to say, Christmas is an utterly commercialized holiday here, but it's emphasized less as a Santa-centered affair as it is a romance-centered one. Shiny lights are romantic, which is why the area I live in (with lots of bright lights around the bay) is a romance hot-spot.
However, occasionally one sees a Santa outfit on something. The other day I saw a Colonel Sanders statue outside a KFC dressed up in a Santa outfit holding a banana.
...
Yes, a banana. I still don't know why.
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| Jumping on the bandwagon |
[12 Dec 2009|10:54pm] |
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So I keep seeing "Oh hey look I'm finally posting" posts, and I suppose I should jump on the bandwagon. :P
I guess my last post was all "blablablah health problems." Things seem to be pretty good on that front now... *knock on wood.* Hopefully the only thing I have to worry about from now on is the Celiac. (Which is certainly enough on it's own... I would kill for a real sandwich, or pizza, or... you get the idea.)
( The Seattle Freeze )
*phew* I think that's everything.
Yay substantive post!
I guess when I don't really have boys as a concern and don't feel the need to be vague about them, I don't post nearly as much, and I save it all up until I have a lot to say.
That is all.
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| "...and they'll wave to you..." |
[12 Dec 2009|03:19pm] |
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 refreshed |
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Rosie Thomas - Pretty Dress |
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Hello, LiveJournal Land! Here is some content for real real.
Work at Z has been full of stupid-making this month. Not that I really mind being paid to sit around and do nothing for vast amounts of time, but afterwards, it still feels like a full day has disappeared into a black hole. The flip side of that is Nutcracker, of course-- I'm only in part time on that (a.k.a. the very beginning and very end of the week), so I am not going crazy from over-exposure as Kevin is.
T-stone work is decently balanced: Tahya's dance show last weekend (a danse oriantale showcase), 10 Tiny Dances last night (ten short dances choreographed for a 4'x4' platform, very cool), and a holiday concert tonight. And then Christmas City Follies officially takes over life for two weeks. I'm waiting on how next week's rehearsals go to decide how I feel about that.
Speaking of which, if people are in the area, the show goes up the 26th and the 27th. I would recommend the evening shows, as the afternoon shows are shorter "kids' shows," but a decent amount of the content crosses over. Let me know if you can come.
And if not, let me know if you're in the neighborhood anyway!
This week has been a bit suck, but got to sleep in this morning, which kicked a whole lot of ass. And if lounging around in your PJs until 2 pm is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Stole this song from the line-up last night. I think I like it a lot.
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| punk rawk report |
[12 Dec 2009|01:08am] |
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 lonely |
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bill monroe - workin' on a building |
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Went to CCAS tonight, but overall the show underwhelmed.
First off, it was Hipster Night. I do not like Hipster Night. As I told Stacy just a second ago, I don't like supposedly grown men who talk like valley girls and try to hide their shitty taste in everything behind a shallow understanding of irony. Listening to them talk is painful.
Some of them formed the first band, Spiky Dildo, and they played for like 5 minutes. That was plenty.
Eddie Brock were up next, and they weren't bad at all for local sloppy thrash. I snagged their demo on the way out.
Gnarly Rueage were okay - there were like 5 of them - but as heavy and powerful as they were, their songs were really unfocused. Not every single thing you do needs 8 tempo changes, guys.
American Cheeseburger...sucked. Their Myspace stuff is great, but the live show is lacking. I liked the first song, but not enough to hang out for the rest of their set, which sounded just like it. Nice guys, though, and the singer looked like the unwashed punk version of Jack Sparrow.
Deep Sleep closed it down - I was on my way to the bus because I didn't want to miss the last one, but their first two songs were good, as usual. I've seen them a shitload of times though, so I don't feel bad for missing one if it meant catching a free lift home.
More to say about other things, but no real drive to say it. This stupid time of year sends a black dog after me every time.
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| what? WHAT? |
[09 Dec 2009|10:48pm] |
Yeah, it's a post. A what??
Yo.
Figured if even JESS made a post, I owed one. :P
Nothing out of the ordinary happening with me, really, as my usual state of being horrendously busy hasn't changed since I entered the IUC. I've at least managed to have more fun on the weekends, though, which is rather unusual even for me.
Classes this quarter are almost over, but the way the program runs in the second quarter is that they tend to place you in classes with people who are at higher levels than you to ensure you have to try extra hard to keep up and progress. Needless to say, it's a giant headache and frustrating as hell. :P When was the last time I sat in a Japanese class and only understood 70% of it? Rawr! It's an unsettling feeling to have a constant reminder of how little you actually know.
But at least the Christmas/New Year's holiday is almost here! Despite having to write my FLAS application, there will be massive sleep. Also, the week of Christmas I've got like, four parties to go to, one of which I'm helping organize. I know we're going to have a lot of fun because the IUC people are great and I'm really looking forward to it, but in spite of all the good times I expect to have it makes me really miss being home with the people I really wanna see. :/
On the good side, I've gotten out with friends for crazy fun times in Tokyo lately. A couple of weekends ago we went to Ageha, the biggest club in Asia. (Yes, Paura, clubbing!) http://www.ageha.com/ This resulted in hilarious situations such as getting beckoned into a karaoke room by a bunch of French strangers to rock out to Bon Jovi and getting hit on by an enormous elf-looking guy from Helsinki. This weekend there's another awesome techno show or something at Ageha, and a friend's got free passes, so yay fun!
OH, by the way! My older brother finally proposed to Kim, and on top of that, Kim's pregnant! AHHH! AUNT PAURA! It boggles the mind, really. People have to stop like, growing up and having real lives and kids and shit. D:
Okay, update over. Off to try to be more productive. Love and miss you all. <3
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| school is DONE |
[08 Dec 2009|10:42pm] |
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 accomplished |
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der palast orchester - schoner gigolo |
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So today was my last class of the semester. THANK. GOD. I needed this semester to end, educational though it was.
One of my classmates was on her high horse about how the program's in-class critiques need to step it up and be more aggressive, and that we should take a more traditional graduate writing program approach to workshopping. I, uh, disagreed. But we were civil, which was the important thing.
I've said this before, I'm sure, but I didn't consider Johns Hopkins and other likeminded schools for a reason - I was too lazy to take the GREs. But my second reason was that they basically train you to be a throat-slitting academic, which also makes you a pretty boring writer because you're too wrapped up in one-dimensional competition to have fun and experiment. From what friends in their program have told me, a lot of JHU professors think constructive criticism is telling someone their work sucks without explaining why, or helping them develop it further. That's not helpful, and it's certainly not worth grad school tuition. Go work for a newspaper if unrelenting negativity is what you're after; at least then you'll be getting a paycheck.
I like the community UB's program is building. I think having colleagues who, over time, become more comfortable objectively considering each others' work is much more healthy for writers than trying to step on each other right away to get ahead. The stakes are too low for that behavior, first of all. Secondly, writing is a solitary art form. You can't go out writing with people, really, and you can't really foster a studio atmosphere for an art form that's 90% in your own head. If you don't have a colony of writers who actually want to help/learn from you, your work will suffer. And you'll hate writing. I think a rising tide lifts all boats in this situation.
Besides, our workshops are fine. My work certainly gets challenged, and not just by the professors. Granted, it's hard to get people to talk sometimes, but I've found my class' written commentary to be immensely helpful. We're just required to not be too prescriptive, and we can't make any snide comments without offering something to back them up. This is worlds away from my friend being told "this poem is immature and you're yet another boring confessional writer" from some New Yorker also-ran at JHU. I know all about the adolescent fantasy of telling classes full of stupid people how stupid they are because they're stupid, but in real life people who do this are pompous dickheads.
I have issues with the program as to how it prepares students for the design elements (it doesn't), but I totally understand and agree with the goals of the program, and I think that equipping writers with a fuller sense of aesthetics and a broader scope of inspiration is a terrific idea.
Now then, with that settled, can someone come up with a way for me to explain Google Apps to my brother?
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