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Adventures in hemostat purchasing, part 2, apparently an ongoing series

Adventures in hemostat purchasing, part 2, apparently an ongoing series published on 1 Comment on Adventures in hemostat purchasing, part 2, apparently an ongoing series

Creative Habitat: Are those a scrapbooking supply?

Michael's: Try Aubuchon's or Lowe's.

Bibens Ace Hardware: Nope.

Home Depot: Perhaps you meant long nose pliers?

Me: NO I DID NOT.

Possible body for IH Luna head: Illusion Spirit 58cm girl

Possible body for IH Luna head: Illusion Spirit 58cm girl published on No Comments on Possible body for IH Luna head: Illusion Spirit 58cm girl

Whoa…Illusion Spirit is currently having a 12% off sale through August 24th. That means that their 58cm girl body is currently $228.80 at Alice's Collections. With an extra $40.00 fee for grey resin, that's $268.80 for a body. The event also reduces Illusion Spirit jointed hands by 20% off, so a pair of 1:3 female hands would be $60.00 + $15.00 for grey. Plus…Alice's Collections has free shipping on orders over $100.00.

Let's compare:

Illusion Spirit grey fem 58 cm body + grey jointed hands from Alice's Collections: $343.80

Illusion Spirit grey fem 58 cm body from Alice's Collections: $268.80

Angelsdoll grey massive fem – 82.2 points + shipping = $474.80

Angelsdoll grey slim fem – 82.2 points + shipping = $419.80

Suddenly my Angelsdoll points do not look so attractive in this case.

Update on the NYT’s anti-trans, anti-WOC poo-flinging

Update on the NYT’s anti-trans, anti-WOC poo-flinging published on 1 Comment on Update on the NYT’s anti-trans, anti-WOC poo-flinging

I couldn't use the NYT's form to send a message directly to the reporter who wrote that horrible article about trans women of color on Christopher Street, so I E-mailed the public editor, the executive editor and the president with the following:

I’m writing to express my disgust with Sarah Nir’s July 24th article about trans women of color on Christopher Street: “For Money or Just to Strut, Living Out Loud on a Transgender Stage.”

This article is just as revolting as the NYT's coverage of Lorena Escalera's death.

Do you seriously think it's acceptable to refer to the trans women of color in the article as "exotic…parakeets?" The term "exotic" is just a racist dogwhistle for "different and, therefore, unacceptable." Meanwhile, comparing women to birds dehumanizes them in a dismissive, sexist way. Thanks a lot for perpetuating the oppression and bigotry aimed at trans people and/or people of color, especially women!

I urge you to write about trans women and/or women of color with respect, treating them as equal human beings. Given the NYT's track record, though, I doubt this will occur.

EDIT: I just alerted GLAAD's Aaron McQuade, Director of News and Field Media, about the NYT's poo-flinging. I did this because he was the one who wrote on GLAAD's site about the NYT's poo-flinging at Lorena Escalera. Also going to submit an incident report on GLAAD's site.

The August Project: testing eyes and wigs

The August Project: testing eyes and wigs published on No Comments on The August Project: testing eyes and wigs

The seller liked August's open-eyed head, but I am fonder of her winking head, which I'll be using. Here's August with a wine-colored fur wig and an acrylic eye [unknown size] of green with a brown center. She came with both the wig and the eye. For some reason I'm thinking that the eye is 16mm???
Continue reading The August Project: testing eyes and wigs

Adventures in hemostat purchasing

Adventures in hemostat purchasing published on 1 Comment on Adventures in hemostat purchasing

August, my Buddy Doll April, came yesterday in pieces. I need to clean and restring her. Having never restrung a doll before [with proper tools], I seek hemostats, among other things. I called the local Walgreen's to see if they sold hemostats.\

Me: Do you sell hemostats?

Person 1: Let me check.

[long pause, hold music, boredom]

Person 2: Hello, Walgreen's.

Me: Hi, I was wondering if you sell hemostats.

Person 2: Can you spell that, please?

Me: H-E-M-O-S-T-A-T-S.

Person 2: What's a hemostat?

Me: It's a clamp thing.

Person 2: Is it an over-the-counter product?

Me: You know, if you aren't sure what it is, you probably don't carry it. Thanks. Goodbye.

I’m starting to hate the New York Times.

I’m starting to hate the New York Times. published on No Comments on I’m starting to hate the New York Times.

They just published another article about trans people, called "For Money or Just to Strut, Living Out Loud on a Transgender Stage." It's about young trans women of color on Christopher Street in the West Village in New York City. In the summer nights, some of them gather in this area. They enjoy the freedom to express their fashion sense and/or their desires openly. They do the usual activities covered under the rubric of "hanging out" for twentysomethings: talking, eating, dancing, arguing. Some of the women are sex workers.

I want to know more about the motivations of the women who moved here because they found it safer and more welcoming. I want to know more about the class conflict that they experience when they earn small money doing sex work in the vicinity of expensive condos. I want to know more about the daily lives of the women, activists and sex workers alike, who congregate on Christopher Street after dark.

And, thanks to the New York Times, I will never learn any of this from their coverage. I don't know where to start on how disgustingly problematic it is, so I'll start with the title. Calling the women's hang-out place a "stage" implies that their activities are false, untrue mimicry. Since the women in the article are, you know, living their damned lives,  the use of theatrical terms suggests that their lives are trivial and second-rate…probably in implicit comparison to the lives of the owners of the extravagant mansions lining the street.

The rest of the article goes on and on about how the women look, how they style their hair, what they wear, even comparing them at one point to "flocks of exotic — if risqué — parakeets." Hey look — it's dehumanization! Where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, in the reprehensible NYT coverage on the death of Lorena Escalera, who shared some traits with the women in this article: she was a trans woman of color in her 20s, and she had done sex work in the past.

Time for another letter, calling out the NYT's racism and cissexism. I should really cancel my subscription.

Adventures in scientific publishing, part 3

Adventures in scientific publishing, part 3 published on 2 Comments on Adventures in scientific publishing, part 3

Me: Please include your complete title page when submitting your revision.

Corresponding author 1: [includes abbreviated title page containing title and nothing else]

Me: Please include your complete title page when submitting your revision.

Corresponding author 2: [includes abbreviated title page containing title and nothing else]

Me: Please include your complete title page when submitting your revision.

Corresponding author 3: [includes abbreviated title page containing title and nothing else]

Me: ?!?!?!?!?!?!?

What I don’t get about Dollfie Dreams

What I don’t get about Dollfie Dreams published on 1 Comment on What I don’t get about Dollfie Dreams

I don't understand why the Volks Dollfie Dreams of licensed anime and manga characters are so expensive. More precisely, why do their prices inflate so horribly on the secondary market?

For example, here's Rise Kujikawa, a limited edition from this year. As you can see if you scroll to the bottom of the page, she sold for $605.00 on Volks USA, excluding shipping. I just saw her on the DOA marketplace for $1690.00, excluding shipping.

Here's Lucy Maria Misora, an LE from this year as well. She originally sold for $605.00, but I see her on the marketplace for $1200.00.

Finally, here's an unofficial set of pictures of Kana Unchou, an LE from 2009. She originally sold for JPY 58000.00, which, let's say, is ~$740.00. She's currently on the marketplaces for $1950.00. But don't fret — shipping is included!

I suppose their secondary market value increases so disgustingly because of a) scalpers and b) people willing to pay scalpers' prices. I still don't fathom, though, why someone would drop $2K on a soft vinyl doll that stains if you sneeze in its general direction. The question remains — who are these people willing to pay so much?

Lola Paprika will have new shoes!

Lola Paprika will have new shoes! published on No Comments on Lola Paprika will have new shoes!

I bought Lola Paprika some black loafers with white skulls on them especially for her relatively large feet. She can't stand in her high heels [except for that one time she magically stood somehow during my first photoshoot], and that's why I don't take her places. Soon she'll be able to go outside for photos!

Continue reading Lola Paprika will have new shoes!

Estate planning, part 3

Estate planning, part 3 published on 1 Comment on Estate planning, part 3

Well, it looks like I can't use Unsworth Law after all. Though I had a very good experience with the legal assistant, the primary lawyer says in his bio that he is on the advisory board of the Salvation Army, a disgustingly militant and profoundly anti-queer organization.

Guess they don't really care about us after all.

Millie, my Phicen Military Fun, arrives!

Millie, my Phicen Military Fun, arrives! published on No Comments on Millie, my Phicen Military Fun, arrives!

She came today! The first thing I did was…break her arm. I snapped the internal skeleton of her left upper arm, creating the clean break indicated by the arrow in the picture below. I immediately concluded that Phicen seamless bodies are CRAP. They're not poorly made; they're just contrary to the purpose of action figures, who are supposed to move and pose, not snap.
Continue reading Millie, my Phicen Military Fun, arrives!

What am I paying for?

What am I paying for? published on No Comments on What am I paying for?

There are quite a few BJD companies out there that make beautiful, well-sculpted, appealing BJDs for between $200.00 and $300.00. There's Elfdoll with its line of 14cm tinies, Fairyland with its RealPukis and PukiPukis, 5StarDoll with its 60cm line, Planetdoll with its entire stock, Angell Studio with all dolls <40cm, Dragondoll with dolls <70cm, et hoc genus omne.

Knowing this, I have to wonder why other companies [coughVolkscough, coughSoomcough] charge up to 4 times that amount. Obviously, I have willingly paid for multiple Sooms and Volkses, so I'm not complaining, just wondering where the markup comes in. I think we're paying for the brand. >_>

How is a law firm like a mattress seller?

How is a law firm like a mattress seller? published on No Comments on How is a law firm like a mattress seller?

Both of their Web sites go on and on about everything you could ever want to know about their goods & services, except for the prices. Getting information about prices from these estate planners is like pulling stumps with dental floss. You can do it, but the result feels decidedly unrewarding, compared to the amount of effort required.

I have officially run out of room…

I have officially run out of room… published on No Comments on I have officially run out of room…

…for BJDs. I thought I would keep them all on one shelf of a bookshelf, but that shelf only holds Janvier Jett, Lola Paprika, Araminthe, Sardonix, Sarah, Submit and Noodge. Dorothy is on the shelf below, which is fine because she’s only 14cm. Flower, Ginevra and Mellifer are on my desk, along with Nathaniel [who recently arrived], but my desk is also where the Me and My Muses dolls have a staging area and photo studio, so I have to move the hordes once a week when I shoot episodes.

Clearly the solution is to bring a few people to work! I have nothing on my walls anyway; my only decoration consists of a few toys. [My sweatshirt over the back of my chair does not count as decor.]

I should get a bookcase…for…um…my reference books! That’s it. To be fair, I do have some reference books, looking pretty silly, sitting on top of my filing cabinet. All 4 of them can go on the bookcase, and so can the some of the small populations.

While I’m at it, I should order a bulletin board.

While I’m also at it, I need to rid myself of all those 1:3 clothes I don’t want.

Prudie blames rape victim [probably not for the first time].

Prudie blames rape victim [probably not for the first time]. published on 3 Comments on Prudie blames rape victim [probably not for the first time].

A letter writer in her late 20s writes in Prudie's latest Slate column that she and her husband have negotiated the following boundaries: One time, they were drunk, and he was horny, but she did not want to have sex, so she shoved him away. They now agree, that, if they are drunk and/or sleepy, they should secure each other's consent before having sex. Good? Good!

Then they both got drunk. Her husband did not ask her consent, but she "went along," in her words. She concludes, "I can’t fathom how he could have ignored our agreement. Should I just drop it or am I right about feeling abused?"

In response, Prudie comments derisively on college codes of conduct that advise consent in sexual situations each time the participants start a new activity. She then contrasts such requirements to interactions in a married couple, where, she says, "implicit consent" can be assumed.

Prudie winds up by insulting the letter writer as "prim, punctiliious, punitive," while suggesting that the letter writer is abusing her husband: "Living in terror that expressing one’s perfectly normal sexual desire could end one’s marriage, and freedom, is itself a form of abuse."

Bloody hell, can we all see what's wrong with this response? The letter writer's husband forced himself upon her without obtaining her consent, as previously agreed. Why yes, in fact, that is rape. That's a problem!

Even if one has a hard time wrapping one's head around the fact that this interaction is rape [this is apparently Prudie's problem], one can at least admit that the letter writer's husband overrode a clearly stated boundary and thus disrespected the letter writer's autonomy and agency. This is also [at least] the second time that he has behaved in a similar manner. This is a red flag for, at worst, an abusive asshole and, at best, an individual so inculcated with cultural misogyny that he really needs to grow up and learn how to treat women like people before attempting further relationships. That's also a problem!

Prudie does not recognize these problems, however, because she is too busy making fun of the letter writer and talking out her ass about her ideal concept of marriage. Apparently, her vision of marriage includes unlimited license for one partner to rape the other. If the victim doesn't put out or even dares to feel disturbed about his or her agency being disregarded, the victim is being a poor partner. The victim's oversensitivity is stifling the rapist's "perfectly normal sexual desire." Don't you know that expecting a relationship based on mutual respect and enthusiastic consent "is itself a form of abuse?" The problem is all in the head of the victim, who should be lying back and thinking of Dan Savage. :p

That's rape culture right there: victim blaming, victim shaming and valorization of the rapist's feelings and experience over the victim's. And that's a problem!

The leadership of the Boy Scouts of America reminds me of the leadership of the Catholic Church.

The leadership of the Boy Scouts of America reminds me of the leadership of the Catholic Church. published on No Comments on The leadership of the Boy Scouts of America reminds me of the leadership of the Catholic Church.

Both organizations piss and moan obsessively about the evils of queer sexuality and trans identities while refusing to recognize the reality: namely, that queer and/or trans people exist within their ranks and that “ACK COOTIES GET IT AWAY!!!” is not a compassionate, acceptable, morally defensible to address these people.

I’m going to talk about the Boy Scouts because I have more experience with them than with Catholics. Sometimes I think that what happens in BSA hierarchy and what happens in local BSA troops are completely different. For example, all my family members involved in BSA describe an enjoyable experience of making friends, playing with their peers, going on adventures and learning fascinating things. I will not claim that everyone’s BSA experience is like this, but I will note that, in my admittedly unscientific sample, nobody mentions “pissing and moaning obsessively about the evils of queer sexuality and trans identities” as a primary pursuit.

What is wrong with the BSA leadership? Why are they so pathologically focused on what a very small number of people do with their bodies? Don’t they have better things to do, like run the damn organization?

Adventures in scientific publishing, part 2

Adventures in scientific publishing, part 2 published on No Comments on Adventures in scientific publishing, part 2

Me: Your references are out of order. [explains where the problems are and how to fix them]

Corresponding Author: I fixed them. [provides updated document with lingering errors]

Me: Your references are still out of order. [explains where the problems are and how to fix them]

Corresponding Author: Now I fixed them. [provides updated document with lingering errors]

Me: >_<

My Supervisor: Let the manuscript editors deal with it.

Manuscript Editors: >:(

Local news sources

Local news sources published on No Comments on Local news sources

I'm wondering if I should subscribe digitally to the Freeps. I need my local news and information, and the New York Times does not provide it, primarily because I don't live in New York City.

Alternatively, there's always Seven Days.

EDIT: Seven Days reports that the Freeps is circling the drain.

Grar.

Grar. published on 1 Comment on Grar.

I sold a doll, N'Yenya, actually; the buyer paid through Paypal. I looked all over for his mailing address and could not find it in Paypal, even under the Details link. I sent him messages by E-mail and through the Doll Page asking for his address. He never responded. Finally I told him that, if I didn't get his address by 5 PM EST yesterday, I was going to refund him and relist the doll. I did so.

NOW I get a message from him stating that he has a verified Paypal address. So? That doesn't help! What is it? I wrote back saying that I was willing to try again and provide a screenshot of me not having the address. Up to him.

I really hope this is all a stupid misunderstanding and that his mailing address is just hiding somewhere. Alternatively, I could also live with him being wrong and his transaction details actually lacking his mailing address. Anyway, can we just get the doll gone?

Bonjour, Nathaniel!

Bonjour, Nathaniel! published on 2 Comments on Bonjour, Nathaniel!

Nathaniel came today. She promptly told me that she was not interested in her fullset, except for the underwear and the boots. As is usual for most of the population around here, she garbed herself in a fashion disaster from my supply instead. See below.

She is convinced she's cool because she's wearing what makes her happy. And she's so out of touch with what's actually mainstream cool that her own style works for her!

I really like Nathaniel as a doll. She looks about 12 or 13, which is perfect because she's an SD13. I like her muted, default faceup and her little sculpted smirk. Because she's from 2005, she has yellowed, so her resin has turned a rich, golden color. It makes her look softer and warmer, I think.

I'm really not one of those people who can't stand yellowing. Resin will always yellow as it ages, and there's no escaping from it. Why bother keeping my dolls in their boxes or in dark rooms all the time in an attempt to stave off yellowing? I believe that my BJDs exist to be played with, posed, dressed, undressed and photographed, so I like to keep them out where I can see them. I accepting the goldening or browning of their skin tones as inevitable and even beautiful.

Continue reading Bonjour, Nathaniel!

A strange concept of Military Fun: Phicen’s 1:6 femfig of the same name

A strange concept of Military Fun: Phicen’s 1:6 femfig of the same name published on No Comments on A strange concept of Military Fun: Phicen’s 1:6 femfig of the same name

Phicen is a maker of 1:6 female action figures and clothing, known for their "seamless" body, in which most of the articulation hides underneath a flexible skin. They are currently selling a figure called Military Fun which proves, without a doubt, that their designers have weird senses of humor.

Military Fun, shown here on Phicen's company site, consists of a seamless Caucasian female figure body with a blond headsculpt that looks vaguely like Scarlett Johansson. Her brown tube top and miniskirt are apparently too small to contain her white underwear. She also has thigh-high, lace-up, bright green boots and a trench coat that matches her top and skirt. Nothing about this get-up screams "Military!" to me, much less "Fun!"

A quick glance at Phicen's other products shows that their target audience likes pretty faces, long hair, big boobs, realistic poseability, revealing outfits and extremely high heels.

Okay, I can play this game.

Here's my concept for a surefire bestselling Military Fun: headsculpt with noted similarity to current actress of the moment, long hair, seamless body with extra large bust and standard poseability, camo midriff-baring low-cut bolero top, camo short shorts, thigh-high green fishnets, big stompy black leather boots, some sort of hat, goggles [because goggles are cool], fingerless gloved hands AND LOTS OF GUNS. Or maybe just ONE BIG GUN, like a Gatling assault cannon, or whatever the hell Cy Girl Destiny's big honkin' piece was. Maybe some grenades and bombs too. Don't forget the harnesses and holsters! There — instant sell-out!

See — I know my audience! :p

That being said, I find Military Fun hilarious, which is why I purchased her. [Also she was only $60.00 at SithLord MacGyver's, and when was the last time you got a complete figure with painted, haired head, body, alternative hands, clothes and shoes/bootfeet for <$90.00? No, you old farts, I'm not talking about the glory days of the early millennium when you could buy Cy Girls for $30.00. I'm talking about modern times.] And I like her head…and her long green boots.

I haven't purchased a new 1:6 action figure in YEARS. This'll be my first Phicen and first seamless body too. I'll definitely report back when I get her!

Estate planning, part 2

Estate planning, part 2 published on No Comments on Estate planning, part 2

After my horrible experience with Clarke Demas and Baker’s disgustingly heteronormative policies, I searched for an explicitly GLBT-friendly estate planner in Vermont, vowing to ask if this one had up-to-date forms. One of the few firms whose site clearly mentioned experience with same-sex couples was Unsworth Law.

Preliminarily, I can say that my experience with Unsworth has been much better than my experience with Clarke Demas and Baker. For one thing, the firm is clearly in touch with reality. For another, the legal assistant sympathized with my outrage at Clarke Demas and Baker. She could actually say the words “same-sex marriage,” which shouldn’t be that much to ask, but which made me feel very pleased. I’m going to a general seminar by Unsworth about estate planning next week. Further bulletins as events warrant.

Oh hell, let’s just call it “pale purple.”

Oh hell, let’s just call it “pale purple.” published on 1 Comment on Oh hell, let’s just call it “pale purple.”

I seriously have a problem with the word “lavender.” I can never remember how to spell it, which is very unusual because I usually know how to spell most English words I run across.

L A V E N D A R ?

L A V A N D E R ?

I can’t think of any mnenomic device to help me remember the correct spelling either.

Hmmm, well, it is kind of like “lave” + “ender,” both of which I do know how to spell. Maybe I can remember it that way.

[To “lave” is a wonderful word meaning “to wash” or, metaphorically, “to soothe.” It rhymes with “save.”]

Hooray hooray, they’re going away!

Hooray hooray, they’re going away! published on No Comments on Hooray hooray, they’re going away!

Less than 24 hours after being posted on DOA, 2 of my 4 small BJDs that I am trying to get rid of have already sold: the Orient Doll So Ye and the PlanetDoll body/Soom Uyoo head. Gooooooooooooood riddance. Now if the other 2 would just get the heck out of here…

Dolls for sale

Dolls for sale published on No Comments on Dolls for sale

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?527892-OrientDoll-Orient-Doll-So-Yi-So-Ye-%28WS-%29-50-00

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?527894-Elfdoll-Tiny-Kai-14cm-mature-2nd-edition-%28NS%29-225

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?527899-Soom-and-PlanetDoll-Uyoo-head-amp-Mini-Riz-body-with-modded-neck-amp-breasts-%28NS%29-120&p=9227369#post9227369

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?527901-Elfdoll-and-Notdoll-Elfdoll-20cm-Doona-body-with-Notdoll-Miriam-head-%28WS%29-110&p=9227401#post9227401

Ready to read!!

Ready to read!! published on No Comments on Ready to read!!

I’m ready to read Nalo Hopkinson’s entire oeuvre! Partly because Midnight Robber sounds awesome [and has a cover apparently drawn by my favorite illustrators, Leo and Diane Dillon] and partly because I need an antidote to all those stories that treat Voudun like a lazy trashcan stereotype for “primitive evil magic.” [I’m looking at you, Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber, for just one of innumerable examples.]

The local library even has some of her books available for borrowing. Very surprising, given that Vermont is like the second whitest state in the nation.

EDIT: Oh no, Leo Dillon is dead! No more beautiful collaborations.

Heteronormativity at the estate planner’s

Heteronormativity at the estate planner’s published on 2 Comments on Heteronormativity at the estate planner’s

My financial advisor has been bugging me to make a will, power of attorney, health care agent, all that sort of thing, so I finally got around to scheduling an initial consultation. At my sister's recommendation, I chose Clarke Demas and Baker, a Vermont-based law firm, and scheduled an appointment.

I received a PDF intake form for a single person, but wanted a Word document so I could make notes on it. When I received the Word intake form, I noticed that it was for married people, but I decided to use it anyway.

Then I looked closely at the married intake form. It was divided into 2 columns, one labeled "Husband" and the other labeled "Wife."

Outrage overcame me. [It does that a lot these days.] We've had marriage equality here in the state since 2009, but Clarke Demas and Baker apparently refuses to accept reality by simply changing their forms to read "Spouse 1" and "Spouse 2." They may have experience doing estate planning for same-sex couples, but their forms betray what they really think of us: we don't exist.

I refuse to patronize a law firm that thinks I don't exist. My business is going elsewhere, and I'm telling them why.

EDIT: I just explained to the legal assistant my cancellation and my reasons. I said that they should update their forms. She said, "I apologize; we do have a form for that."

Now I'm really glad I'm not using their services. My God, if the legal assistant can't even say the phrase "same-sex marriage" and if, for some reason, there's a separate form [separate but no doubt "equal!"] for same-sex spouses, the firm clearly devalues me and my ilk.

Disabled people aren’t your metaphors, Susan Gubar!

Disabled people aren’t your metaphors, Susan Gubar! published on 1 Comment on Disabled people aren’t your metaphors, Susan Gubar!

I was all excited to read Memoir of a Debulked Woman, Susan Gubar's account of her diagnosis and treatment for advanced ovarian cancer. Since Gubar is a noted feminist literary critic, I expected a powerful combination of personal details and polemic yielding a strong, thought-provoking critique of the medical industrial complex.

I did not expect gratuitous similes about people with disabilities. At least twice in the half of the book that I read [before throwing it across the room in disgust], Gubar compares her social withdrawal and disinclination to talk about her condition to having autism.

NO! Your social withdrawal and disinclination is NOT like having autism, Susan Gubar. More accurately, your social withdrawal and disclination to talk about your condition correspond to your personal stereotype [also a cultural stereotype at large] of how autistic people act in social situations.

In any case, please shut up. You are not like a person who has autism. Only people with autism are like people who have autism. And do I need to remind you that people with autism are actual, real people, as opposed to fodder for your literary flourishes?

While I'm on the same subject, people need to stop using "blind," "deaf," "crippled" and other words that refer to people with disabilities as metaphors. No, in fact, you're not "blind" to the obstacles facing you or "deaf" to criticism and therefore "crippled" by your inability to heed advice. You may be inattentive to obstacles, heedless of criticism and therefore challenged by your inability to heed advice, so use the right words, rather than ones that don't belong to you.

Also, everybody, stop using any form of the word "lame" to refer to something that you think is pathetic, insignificant, not good enough, unconvincing, etc. Look at how many synonyms I just listed in the preceding sentence! Pick one of them instead, not a term that shows how horribly prejudiced you are against people with disabilities.

I mistrust books with reading group guides in the back.

I mistrust books with reading group guides in the back. published on No Comments on I mistrust books with reading group guides in the back.

They always signal to me that the book wants to be taken seriously as Important Literature. However, if a book has to try that hard to inspire Deep Thoughts [TM], it will never be anything more than a second-tier novel.

I also find reading group guides rather insulting. Do the publishers really think that little of the readers? Do they think that we can’t come up with our own topics of discussion? We’re not stupid!

I should really check the back of books for reading group guides before I decide to read them. I could save myself a lot of grief that way.

While I’m at it, will someone please tell Jodi Picoult that she should stop dressing up her books as Srs Bzns? She writes entertainingly good stories, not Classics For The Ages. And that’s perfectly fine…if she’s honest about what she’s doing.

People will take the weirdest stuff.

People will take the weirdest stuff. published on 1 Comment on People will take the weirdest stuff.

I thought fer sure that the PB body or the articulated Barbies would be the first things to go from my updated sales list, but no. In fact, someone pounced on the bag of Barbie, Obitsu and Cy Girl body parts that I've had sitting around for years, just waiting for the occasion [= never] when I want to try some body bashing. Well, Godspeed, my friend. At least I don't have to throw them out.

I guess this just proves the old saw: "One man's trash is another man's prune Danish." Huh.

I love you, Men Without Hats!

I love you, Men Without Hats! published on No Comments on I love you, Men Without Hats!

Some time ago, I created a Youtube playlist based on a concert DVD of Men Without Hats entitled Live Hats, and I love it. In concert, Men Without Hats sound less poppy and harsher, more experimental. Unfortunately, I don't know of any concert recordings of Men Without Hats, with the exception of Live Hats, which is only available on DVD, not CD, hence my constant resort to this playlist. Whenever I need some background music, I just cue this playlist up, and it automatically makes me happy. ^_^

P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU IVAN DOROSCHUK!!!!

Sometimes I really hate Windows.

Sometimes I really hate Windows. published on No Comments on Sometimes I really hate Windows.

Whenever I open files from the Web [where I do most of my work through an online manuscript processing system] and want to save them somewhere, Windows defaults to the My Documents folder. This pisses me off, as I would much rather use my desktop a) as storage for most frequently used documents and b) as a staging area for temporary files that will soon be filed elsewhere, then deleted.

Somehow, though, yelling, "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAVE IT TO THE DESKTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" does not change the default saving location.

Eventually, I figured out this morning how to change the default saving location to my desktop. I certainly didn't learn how to do this by right-clicking on something or using a contextual help menu or anything so easy. No, I had to type "change default save location windows 7" into Google and find the answer on a techy how-to Web site.

This is one of the reasons I hate Windows sometimes. It may be easier to get under the hood of Windows machines than, say, Macs, but you don't necessarily have any clue about what to do once you're there. There's a way to do pretty much anything you want to in Windows, but the challenge is finding this information, which is often hidden under right-clicks and submenus.

Don't even get me started on the latest redesign of Windows Media Player. In previous versions, you used to have the options of scrolling through your music up and down in lists of relatively unadorned text. I really like that method because I can see a greater amount of information in one glance.

Windows Media Player seems to have done away with that display option in favor of some sort of scrolling crapola left and right with clickable tiles of album covers. One gets only an album's worth of information on one screen, necessitating multiple scrolls to the left or right to get an idea of context. That's not how my mind works. Plus it's a huge waste of screen real estate.

Screw you, Windows Media Player. I want a media player that, you know, plays media, instead of making my entire collection into tiles that scroll from side to side. I'm finding another media player instead. YOU STINK.

P.S. Complaints about Windows are fine, but I don't want to hear about how much better your alternative operating system is. I am, however, interested in recommendations of alternative media players, as long as they play WMA files.

Goodbye, Kinneret.

Goodbye, Kinneret. published on No Comments on Goodbye, Kinneret.

Well, I just got word that the organizer of the split for Soom Epidia [whence Kinneret] decided not to do the split, so no Kinneret for me. I'm disappointed, but not extremely. I have Nathaniel coming as soon as I make the second payment on her, so, if I feel the need to play with someone new, she can be that someone.

Also the FLE car really needs its well-car checkup, which I postponed last week because I had to pay rent. So, overall, it's probably for the best that I am not getting Kinneret.

More 1:6 stuff — dolls, bathtubs and bodies — make an offer!

More 1:6 stuff — dolls, bathtubs and bodies — make an offer! published on No Comments on More 1:6 stuff — dolls, bathtubs and bodies — make an offer!

Greetings, folks. While I was picking up dolls to get rid of from storage, I also cleaned out my parts bin. Please make an offer on any or all of the things below! Paypal only, no fees charged.
Continue reading More 1:6 stuff — dolls, bathtubs and bodies — make an offer!

They’re STILL going away! [And coming back cough cough]

They’re STILL going away! [And coming back cough cough] published on 1 Comment on They’re STILL going away! [And coming back cough cough]

18 of 26 dolls that I want to get rid of have been spoken for! This riddance is going much better than I expected!

I'm also…uh…acquiring a 1:6er. Watch this space. CURSE YOU, ANDREA! :p

OMG! Someone bought Thomas!

OMG! Someone bought Thomas! published on 1 Comment on OMG! Someone bought Thomas!

For those of you who may not know, Thomas is an ex-boyfriend of Anneka, star of Love Has Fangs, and he's a horrible individual. I warned people on my sales list that the fig of him came with "outfit, glasses and innate douchebaggery," but apparently that didn't put someone off! Woohoo!

Whose cat is that?

Whose cat is that? published on No Comments on Whose cat is that?

This perky little cat started hanging around our porch yesterday, rubbing all over the slats in the railing and rolling over so I could pet its belly. Its presence irritates both my landlord and her two indoor cats to no end; Leo and Zing, my landlord's cats, glare at the outdoor cat, while the outdoor cat lazes around on the landing. After hanging around for over 24 hours, it jumped up and bounded away shortly after I snapped this picture. We have no idea who owns it, but it looks well-fed, and it's known in the neighborhood as a friendly feline of unknown origin.

P.S. As a completely irrelevant aside, I just had one of these [Wicked Whoopies orange creamsicle whoopie pie!!!], and it was delicious. Fortunately I bought it from the local Shaw's without needing to order a dozen online. :d
Continue reading Whose cat is that?

No hair up there

No hair up there published on No Comments on No hair up there

As an invdividual whose hair regularly flirts with non-existence [i.e., I buzz my hair with a #1 blade down to 3.175 mm every month], I appreciate baldness.

I especially like women with no hair on their heads or else only a few millimeters. Hair provides protection and conformity to societal expectations, especially for women, whose hair is seen as their "crowning glory" [adapted from 1 Cor 11:14-15]. A purposeful lack thereof on women, therefore, indicates a certain boldness in flouting cultural expectations. At the same time, since it lays bare one's facial features and the shape of one's head — containing lumps, dips, curves, moles and scars that are secret for most people — baldness also denotes in my mind an appealing frankness and vulnerability, a willingness to confront the world plainly, with unadorned honesty. I find women's intentional baldness a strong aesthetic statement, perhaps even a philosophical one.

My attraction to bare-headed women appears in my doll population. The aesthetic appeal remains the same, while the philosophical underpinnings are more along the line of being lazy and cheap and not wanting to spring for an expensive, high-maintenance wig. :p

Continue reading No hair up there

Helloooooooooooo, Kinneret!

Helloooooooooooo, Kinneret! published on No Comments on Helloooooooooooo, Kinneret!

I have officially entered a split on DOA for a dark brown Soom Epidia fantasy head [pointy teefs!] with faceup and human body with "extra pose" joints. Her name is Kinneret. "Kinneret" is a word probably best known for being an alternative name for the Sea of Galilee, Israel's largest freshwater lake. However, I always have known it as a girls' name based on the Hebrew word for "harp," which I think is just beautiful.

Sci-fi dystopia by alarmist bigot!

Sci-fi dystopia by alarmist bigot! published on No Comments on Sci-fi dystopia by alarmist bigot!

Please read Patricia Weber's ["La Jolla resident since 1953!"] letter to the editor [?] of the La Jolla Light. Then read the skewering by Shakesville commentators.

I'm not even going to get into it here. I'm just going to say that, apparently, in 2065, there is absolutely no communication whatsoever between the Earth and the Moon.

????????????????????????????????????????

No! You can’t use that word!

No! You can’t use that word! published on 2 Comments on No! You can’t use that word!

Do you have body integrity identity disorder? Well, that’s neither here nor there, since I really don’t care about your BIID.

I do care, however, when you start calling yourselves “transabled” and organizing your whole identities around the supposition that your experiences are analogous to those of people who are trans or who have disabilities.

First of all, you don’t get to use the word “transabled.” By doing so, you appropriate the terminology of the trans rights movement and disability rights movement. You dismiss the lived experiences and struggles of trans and/or disabled people by using their vocabulary as your metaphor. You’re therefore objectifying and dehumanizing trans and/or disabled people. You’re perpetuating discrimination and prejudice against these populations. Go find your own terms.

Second of all, neither do you get to claim that your oppression is like that of trans and/or disabled people. When you are murdered for your state of being and society finds your killer[s] understandable, justifiable, sympathetic and symptomatic of an entire social program that dehumanizes people like you with the goal of eliminating them, then we might be able to talk. Otherwise, you need to understand that being different does not axiomatically entail being oppressed.

[Prompted by a similar takedown on Womanist Musings.]

Heteronormativity at the dentist

Heteronormativity at the dentist published on 8 Comments on Heteronormativity at the dentist

Following up on my entry earlier this year about sexism on a customer service line, I present the following conversation, which happened between me and the dental hygienist this morning. I was actually finding the poking, scraping and drilling much less annoying than usual, thanks to the hygienist's sense of humor and skills. Then we started talking about mouthwash.

I asked for recommendations of alcohol-free mouthwash. I mentioned that "my fiancee" used mouthwash with alcohol, which I did not like because of its strong odor.

Hygienist: "What kind does he use?"

Me: "I don't know what SHE uses."

Conversation continued with recommendations.

So she automatically assumed that I was engaged to a guy because a) I look like a woman and b) the majority of marriages are between a man and a woman. However, given that spouses are not always 1 man + 1 woman, people should know better than to make that assumption, especially in Vermont, which is on the vanguard of marriage equality in the US. The definition of marriage has changed yet again, people. Get with the program!

P.S. My FIANCE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? What fiance?

P.P.S. Holy crap, the hygienist was not the only one behind the times. Just out of curiosity, I typed "define marriage" into Google.

Merriam Webster's online dictionary says:

"(1) the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage"

FAILURE. Just say "the state of being united to a person as a husband or wife…blah blah blah."

reference.com/dictionary.com says something similar:

"1. a. the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. Antonyms: separation.
b. a similar institution involving partners of the same gender: gay marriage. Antonyms: separation."

FAILURE. It's all the same institution.

Google's first dictionary result has the same problem:

"1. The formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife
2. A similar long-term relationship between partners of the same sex"

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT. It's not "a similar long-term relationship." It's the same thing!

Not until Wiktionary do we get a more accurate definition, talking about an exclusive union between two or more people. Subdefinitions clarify that, in some jurisdictions, marriage is defined as being between 1 man + 1 woman, while other jurisdictions allow 2 partners of any sex to marry. But the main thing is the exclusive union.

I actually like the Wikipedia entry the best, as it seems to capture the concept and purposes of marriage that have remained stable over time: "Marriage (also called matrimony or wedlock) is a social union or legal contract between people called spouses that creates kinship." Marriage is a grouping of people to create social units. Everything else varies. If you don't like that, you're on the losing side of history.

Getting rid of many custom figures, incl rarities and stuff by Andrea/DollsAhoy/an42!

Getting rid of many custom figures, incl rarities and stuff by Andrea/DollsAhoy/an42! published on No Comments on Getting rid of many custom figures, incl rarities and stuff by Andrea/DollsAhoy/an42!

Want dolls? Go here to see a list of what I'm selling, with details and links to pictures. 

I'm not sure what to charge on these, since they range from high-quality custom paint/reroot/outfit jobs [like Tamsin], to barely used, out of print figures [like Bering], to modified rarities [Sophie], to experimental customs [Margie]. Prices will range from just covering postage [for certain cobbled-together figs] to me actually trying to recoup my purchasing cost [for the high-quality stuff]. PM me, and we'll work something out. Paypal accepted, no fees charged.

List in progress, eventually to be updated with pictures for all.

Eventually, if I can't sell or give these away, they will be THROWN OUT. I'd much rather that they go to people who will use them, whether as display objects, characters, parts, etc.

P.S. If we make a deal, please be patient, as I have to get the figs from storage, find packing material, then somehow make my way to the post office. This could take up to a week.

Too many dolls: the reckoning

Too many dolls: the reckoning published on 1 Comment on Too many dolls: the reckoning

I just took a first pass at sorting out all my 1:6ers who currently are not out; that is, they're in boxes in storage. I divided them into 3 categories: ones to keep, ones to get rid of and ones I wasn't sure about. Then I modified the categories into ones to have out, ones to store and ones to get rid of. [The ones I wasn't sure about mostly became ones to store.]

Final tallies:

Ones to keep: 34
      Ones to have out: 21
      Ones to store: 13

Ones to get rid of: 26

Following are the ones I'm getting rid of:

Continue reading Too many dolls: the reckoning

Too many dolls!

Too many dolls! published on 1 Comment on Too many dolls!

Yesterday I went to my parents' house to pick up some 1:6 BJDs I'm getting rid of. I decided that I have way too many 1:6 action figs, defined as plastic 1:6ers, as opposed to 1:6 BJDs, which are made out of resin.

Therefore, I must get rid of some. Figuring out who to keep is pretty easy. The ones with the most sentimental value stay. In practice, that's a bunch of LHFers, including Anneka and Will and then [alphabetically], Absinthe, Baozha, Caveat, Chow,  Dom, Gemini, Janet, Mark, Pippilotta, Rori, Sibley, Velvette and Viktor. That also includes Jareth, Frank and Jennifer.

But who leaves? What about minor LHFers like Andrew, Davry, Marabou, Materyllis and Qingting, who are all one-of-a-kind and awesome-looking, but to whom I'm not as attached? What about Anneka's grandmothers? They're integral to the story, but I don't feel as strongly for them as I do the characters listed in the second paragraph, who are, uncoincidentally, mostly characters that I created very early on in the life cycle of LHF.

And then what about the non-LHFers like Bering and Dasu, who just look cool?

Eurk.

Anyway, I have visual aids to work from. This entry captures the majority of my 1:6 action figs, with the exception of Bering, AJ and Lilith [shown on far left and far right].

Drastically reducing supplements taken

Drastically reducing supplements taken published on 1 Comment on Drastically reducing supplements taken

I've been taking some supplements for a while now: women's multivitamin, calcium, omega-3 fish oil, vitamin D. There's no definitive evidence that omega-3 fish oil supplements or vitamin D supplements have any health benefits, so I'm eliminating them. Time to save some money and rid my nightstand of smelly useless pills!  I'm sure that I get enough vitamins and minerals from my food to stop taking the multi, but I'm not confident enough in the calcium distribution of my diet to stop with the calcium, though. Hmmm…

Craaaaaaaaap.

Craaaaaaaaap. published on No Comments on Craaaaaaaaap.

I have developed a crush on a 60cm BJD, Volks Emma. At the latest Chittenden County Doll club meetup, Lyrajean brought her Volks Masha, who I thought was an Emma, so I looked online for Emmas and decided I liked her better than Masha.

So cute, so cute, so cute! I'm sick of Soom's pillowy, liquid, androgynous sculpts [gasp!] because they can be really bland, but Emma has character. She reminds me of a real kid. And that little smirk… ^_^

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick and Lyrajean’s dolls

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick and Lyrajean’s dolls published on No Comments on Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick and Lyrajean’s dolls

Here are 2 more photos, courtesy of vermont chick, covering the dolls that I did not get pictures of because my battery ran out.

Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick and Lyrajean’s dolls

What the hell?

What the hell? published on 1 Comment on What the hell?

Today I learned that $20.00 of each of my paychecks has been going to a flex spending account. What the hell? I have never ever in my life signed up for one of those!!! HR is investigating.

This would have been good to know when I was paying for expensive surgery at the end of May. >_>

Needless to say, I'm NOT paying into an FSA this fiscal year.

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: some of Lyrajean’s dolls

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: some of Lyrajean’s dolls published on No Comments on Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: some of Lyrajean’s dolls

My camera battery crapped out [after 9 months on a single charge!!!] in the middle of shooting vermont chick's RealPukis, so I didn't get any photos of Lyrajean's dolls. Fortunately, vermont chick generously supplied those below.

Lyrajean's Volks F36 holds vermont chick's Pupu.
Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: some of Lyrajean’s dolls

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick’s RealPukis

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick’s RealPukis published on 1 Comment on Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick’s RealPukis

vermont chick brought an Iplehouse YID Harin [not shown] and her 3 Fairyland RealPukis! From left to right, Kaka, Soso and Pupu. Personally I think there should be a Wiwi to complete the scatological triumvirate. :p :p

Anyway, now that I've seen these in person, I really like Pupu more than I did when I saw the pictures. It's a very cute smile!

vermont chick got her RealPukis because she saw Noodge, my Soso, and thought she was so cute! She touched up her Soso's teeth so they can be better seen. Somehow this makes her Soso look even MORE devious!
Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: vermont chick’s RealPukis

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: Flower and Ginevra

Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: Flower and Ginevra published on No Comments on Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: Flower and Ginevra

Lyrajean, vermont chick and I attended a meetup yesterday at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction. I brought Flower and Ginevra. Flower's stupid ear fell off in transit, so that's why you're only seeing him from his good side. :p

Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 06/09/12: Flower and Ginevra

“Very special,” indeed!: Maxine Aston and authority in discussing Asperger’s syndrome

“Very special,” indeed!: Maxine Aston and authority in discussing Asperger’s syndrome published on 2 Comments on “Very special,” indeed!: Maxine Aston and authority in discussing Asperger’s syndrome

I was justing listening to Dan Savage's Savage Love podcast 289, in which a teenaged boy called up about expressing romantic interest in another teenaged boy, who happened to have Asperger's. This was the occasion to bring in British counselor Maxine Aston to discuss challenges and special considerations when communicating with people with Asperger's.

I immediately hopped over to Aston's Web site to investigate her credentials. She has a Master's of Science in health psychology. She specializes in counseling people with Asperger's and people who love people with Asperger's. She's also written a bunch of articles and books about people with Asperger's in relationships with non-Asperger's people. Sounds pretty qualified, right?

WRONG! The About Maxine section tells all: She writes, "I was once married to a very special man who was affected by Asperger syndrome…"

Pardon me while I barf! As far as I can tell, Aston does not have Asperger's. However, she presumes to be an expert on people with Asperger's because she's objectified them for years and years by studying them.

You can tell she has objectified people with Asperger's because she uses the dismissive and condescending term "very special" to refer to her ex with Asperger's. In my experience, the term "special" is frequently used by non-disabled people to place disabled people in a separate, subhuman category where they become silent, inspirational symbols instead of fully respected human beings. In fact, when I hear a non-disabled person describe a disabled person as "special," I interpret that word as a derisive insult. Aston does not respect people with Asperger's; instead, she feels pity and contempt for them.

Aston arrogates the authority to discuss Asperger's syndrome because of her neurotypical privilege. Paradoxically enough, she is assumed to be an expert in Asperger's syndrome precisely because she does not have Asperger's syndrome. She may be an authority on people without Asperger's in relationships with people with Asperger's, but that doesn't automatically make her an expert in Asperger's syndrome. The experts in Asperger's are the people who know what it's like to experience Asperger's day in and day out because they themselves have the condition. But they are frequently marginalized by the non-disabled majorities who participate in their objectification and suppression, therefore making it very difficult for people with Asperger's to communicate their experiences.

Man, now I have even more of a reason to loathe Dan Savage. Instead of having some people with Asperger's on to discuss their perceptions, communciation and advice, he perpetuated the dehumanization of people with disabilities by calling in a neurotypical "expert." Way to go, Dan Savage!

P.S. Is it pronounced "ass per gerrrrs" or "ass per jurrrrrrs?"

Crystallized while reading Postmortal

Crystallized while reading Postmortal published on No Comments on Crystallized while reading Postmortal

As much as I'm interested in the concept of the novel [a cure for aging and its effects on the world], I DO NOT CARE AT ALL about the adventures of the protagonist, a straight, cis, white, middle-class, able-bodied, US man with a societally acceptable body shape and a slag heap of unexamined privilege.

Seemingly THE ENTIRE WORLD revolves around the adventures of straight, cis, white, middle-class, able-bodied men with societally acceptable body shapes and slag heaps of unexamined privilege. They're tedious, boring, self-indulgent and overdone. Find a new narrative, people.

P.S. And if you're a straight etc. man whose protagonist happens to be a straight etc. man, you're suffering A FAILURE OF IMAGINATION. The world don't look like you no more. Get over yourself.

Jumpman on a modern compooper with joystick?!!!

Jumpman on a modern compooper with joystick?!!! published on No Comments on Jumpman on a modern compooper with joystick?!!!

It can be done!

http://www.1emulation.com/forums/topic/4678-new-at-commodore-64-emulation/

Goodbye, Eduard Khil.

Goodbye, Eduard Khil. published on No Comments on Goodbye, Eduard Khil.

Known online for being the Trololo Man, Russian singer Eduard Khil died yesterday. I didn't know about his iconic video until recently, which is too bad because, every time I see it, it makes me smile. Even though he's singing nonsense syllables instead of censored lyrics, Khil just looks so damn ebullient and joyful. How can you resist that?

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD part 3!!

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD part 3!! published on 2 Comments on OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD part 3!!

We also enjoyed Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?…except for the fact that time traveling somehow took up time, which made no sense to me. If you're in a time machine and can enter and exit any point in time that you wish, how could you spend time traveling through time? Stupid.

Anyway, I can download that for the Cow Manure 64 too!

Life is good.

EDIT: And Playful Professor Math Tutor!

EDIT 2: Bank Street Writer, anyone?

Hmmm, what was that program that we used where you could create illustrations from premade units, such as shapes, animals and people, and then add text??

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD! published on 1 Comment on OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!

I just bought a copy of Jumpman, my favoritest compooper game ever, on floppy disk for the Commodore 64! It was just $24.00!! I thought my desire to play this game as it was meant to [i.e., with a joystick on the original system, as opposed to with arrow keys on a modern emulator] would disappear since the time in 2009 when I first played it on an emulator, but I guess not. Apparently I'm on my way to acquiring an entire original C64 CPU/keyboard, monitor, disk drive and joystick. Fortunately they're cheap and plentiful.

S/He by Jesse Green: oh God, it’s so HARD being cis!

S/He by Jesse Green: oh God, it’s so HARD being cis! published on 1 Comment on S/He by Jesse Green: oh God, it’s so HARD being cis!

New York magazine has a feature about families with trans children. The subhead summarizes the article's angle: "Parents of transgender children are faced with a difficult decision, and it’s one they have to make sooner than they ever imagined." In other words, when their child announces a trans identity, how do the parents respond? Do they give their child anti-puberty Lupron shots? Do they research surgery on secondary sex characteristics before 18? Do they support their child's social transition at school and elsewhere? Or do they hold back?

When you think about it, this is nothing new. Parents, children have been deviating from your expectations from the beginning of time!! This feature articulates an age-old tension that just happens to manifest around gender identity. In pretty much every case, the best resolution for this tension is for the parents to accept their children as they are, not as they wish their children to be. For our purposes, this means that parents of trans children should respect their children's trans identities and support them in their transitions to the extent that they are able [with the recognition that drugs and surgery are a) not for all, b) pants-wettingly expensive and c) of course not covered by our wonderful patchwork insurance options in this country].

Frankly, I don't care about this story. It's just another whine about how hard it is for cis people to accept trans people, with the added unequal power dynamics of the cis people being parents to the trans people, who are their kids.

Get over yourselves, cis people; you're on the losing side of history. Trans people have always existed and will continue to exist, and your hand-wringing will avail you nothing. Sit down; shut up, and accept it.

Brave again

Brave again published on 5 Comments on Brave again

I previously pronounced Pixar’s upcoming Brave as bilge. I stand by that statement, despite the awesomeness of the protagonist’s hair.

Remind me against why I’m supposed to be excited about a headstrong princess defying restrictive standards of femininity and charting her own destiny, thus proving that she’s just as good as a man? That trope just reinforces the idea that a female character with self-knowledge has to be an egregiously ass-kicking iconoclast in order to determine her own life. It’s a form of exceptionalism that dismisses the much more interesting [and common] stories of the ways that women create their own stories in more ambivalent, less flagrant fashion.

Pixar/Disney clearly thinks it’s so great for doing Brave, like they’re supposed to get feminist cookies for pushing tired stereotypes. This movie irritates me so much, and it’s not even out yet!

Makies: customizable, printed-plastic, 10″, articulated dolls!!!!!!

Makies: customizable, printed-plastic, 10″, articulated dolls!!!!!! published on No Comments on Makies: customizable, printed-plastic, 10″, articulated dolls!!!!!!

Makies are the coolest thing I've seen in a long time: customizable, articulated, 10" dolls made of printed plastic. You design one online, adjusting all facial features with sliders, then choosing eyes, wig and clothes from a variety of options. They're like single-jointed BJDs, only without elastic! You can choose to leave your character digital, or you can order a plastic version of your character. The alpha session is currently open, with 20 of 100 slots left. One doll is 99 pounds including VAT [made in UK].

I would love to get one, but I don't have the money. I'd also like to wait until they have skin color options [currently only available in white] and adjustable body shapes. I hope this company succeeds and adds many more options. I've always liked online pixel doll maker programs, but have been annoyed at the lack of ability to actually have dolls made from the pixel characters. I'll be watching this company to see how it develops a little bit down the line…

Goddammit.

Goddammit. published on 1 Comment on Goddammit.

I think I need a new compooper. After just over 3 years, my current laptop now has problems. As I discovered when trying to install Adobe PhotoShop Elements, the CD/DVD drive does not register. This would not be a very big problem, as I rarely use it, BUT THAT’S HOW I INSTALL SOFTWARE. Interestingly enough, it was working a week ago, when I tried installing Elements the first time [didn’t work — faulty copy]. I don’t know what went wrong.

Fine. Be that way, you stupid compooper. I guess I’ll be getting another one.

While I’m at it, I should also get Norton AntiVirus and a [cough] legitimate copy of Manga Studio EX 4, which, I see from Amazon, is down to ~$80.00-90.00…finally affordable! I think I’ll leave Daz Studio on this compooper, though. I haven’t touched it in months. I will be able to transfer all my documents, movies and music over easily, as I have been backing them up on a separate hard drive with some regularity.

EDIT: Also need a lap stand that cools the compooper, as I use it on my legs all the time.

EDIT 2: A possibility. …Oooh, look — it’s in stock locally! Instant gratification!

EDIT 3: Here’s where I’m doing some comparison shopping.

50 Shades Freed: victory lap!!!

50 Shades Freed: victory lap!!! published on 4 Comments on 50 Shades Freed: victory lap!!!

I finished the book…and the series! God, I thought it would never end. After the official conclusion, there is, of course, an epilogue in which Ana and Christian gambol about with their son [because the Penis of Doom always generates a first-born son] and coo about their upcoming daughter. The epilogue contains awkwardly inserted flashbacks and serves no purpose whatsoever except to hammer home that Ana and Christian live happily ever after in true love, perfect bliss and harmonious, nurturing parenthood. Yeah, I'm not going to believe that until I read transcripts of their kids' therapy sessions.

And then, after the epilogue, we get a 50 Shades of Christian section, which, I assume, is bonus material supplied for the Vintage republishing. James gives us a first-person report of Christian's first Christmas with his adoptive family, the Greys, which adds nothing to the story because we've already been inside young Christian's head in the prologue when he was telling us about his nightmares. If anything, this section tickles my gag reflex, as James writes the 5-year-old Christian without nuance, realism or complexity. It's just…baby talk for pages and pages.

Just in case you haven't had your fill of redundancy, 50 Shades Freed finally, finally, finally closes out with Meet 50 Shades, an exhaustive recap of Ana and Christian's first two meetings from Christian's point of view.

Insights I gained from Meet 50 Shades:

1. Christian is an asshole.

2. He has the hots for Ana.

3. Even though he has no "subconscious" or "inner goddess," Christian's interior monologue sounds exactly the same as Ana's: repetitive, shallow and unindividualized.

4. Wow, that was a pointless section.

On second thought, scratch that victory lap. Now that I'm done with the 50 Shades trilogy, I'm too exhausted to put forth more effort. I just read 514 [book 1] + 532 [book 2] + 579 [book 3] = 1625 pages of erotic romance over 9 days. It was clearly a feat of endurance for which I should get a prize [preferably in the form of well-written erotic romance]. I understand the commercial impulse behind stringing the story out over 3 books and thereby making $$$ [or, for E.L. James, £££], but oh my God…the trilogy could have been easily cut down to 400 pages by a ruthless and judicious editor without losing any of the traits that make it such a gloriously bad read.

It's victory nap time instead.

Wow, Impldoll made an attractive doll for once!

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I've long cringed at the dolls issued by Impldoll. They've been producing a steady line of sculpts with bug eyes [which, in a field where big eyes are part of the Asian BJD aesthetic, is pretty hard to do!], minuscule pinched-up mouths and weird noses. Their Impl Child Joyce, an early doll, shows the too-close-together eyes, squinched mouth and, for a bonus, a very pointy chin that I've been talking about. Impl Model Mandy epitomizes the weird nose. Why is her philtrum 6 feet long?! And I have no idea what this googly-eyed monstrosity is [hint: it's an Impl Star Lauretta], but it's not coming to my party.

Imagine my surprise when they recently released Elvira. She's certainly not original or stunning, but she's very cute. I see in her the same traits that were exaggerated flaws in earlier sculpts, here and now refined into parts of a wholly conceived aesthetic program. Nice to know that their sculptors can learn from their mistakes.

50 Shades: “Fair point well made” ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

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Of all the recycled phrases in the 50 Shades trilogy, the one that's driving me up the wall the most is "Fair point well made." Ana and Christian say this about as often as they have sex, which is up to twice a chapter. Sometimes they even say, "Fair point well made as ever."

I have never heard anyone in my life say this, especially not a 26-year-old Harvard dropout [Christian] and a 21-year-old recent college graduate [Ana]. If people under the age of 30 who have been born and raised in the US want to acknowledge someone's opinion that they disagree with, they typically use one of the following phrases:

"Yeah, but…"

"Okay, but…"

"Touché."

If one feels the burning need to use the word "point," one could say, "Good point."

One could also say, "You have a point."

If one feels like being particularly snotty, one could also say, "Fair point." I've never heard anyone actually use that phrase in the wild, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. I think I've probably read it in a novel somewhere.

But "Fair point well made"?! What the hell? Who even says that? Is it some sort of Britishism? If so, I've never encountered it in any of the British literature I've read before the 50 Shades trilogy. [The author lives in London, England.] It could possibly be a function of E.L. James' fallback on her own British idiom and her lazy refusal to invest in any research that would make the voices of two US citizens in their 20s realistic and believable. However, I can't really tell much about the origin and current use of this phrase, because, hilariously enough, most Google results of "fair point well made as ever" point to pages lambasting the 50 Shades trilogy for this irritating verbal hiccup.

50 Shades Freed: Ana’s continued pregnancy and gooey maternal feelings

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Oh for God's sake! Less than 2 pages after fearing for her safety because she's pregnant, Ana suddenly changes her mind (p. 413):

"…Perhaps I shouldn't tell Christian. Perhaps I…perhaps I should end this. I halt my thoughts on that dark path, alarmed at the direction they're taking. Instinctively my hand sweeps down to rest protectively over my belly. No. My little Blip. Tears spring to my eyes. What am I going to do?"

Well, because this is a romance about a fertile, heterosexual couple, they will be brainwashed by Baby Magic into abandoning their previous agreement to postpone kids. The Miracle of Reproduction will overawe them, activating their dormant, but hereditary and totally natural, parental instincts. With surprising ease and no ambivalence at all, they will quickly convert to anticipation and adoration of their little Blip. Baby Magic is overtaking Ana even in this paragraph: Automatically characterizing her thoughts of abortion as a "dark path," she "instinctively," without any thought at all, develops protective inclinations. YAY BABEEZ!

I detest this trope so very much. I've discussed before, in relation to Bones' pregnancy on her eponymous show, the trivializing, insulting and misogynist ways pregnancy is portrayed in popular media. It compresses a range of emotional, intellectual and characterological responses into a single trajectory of blissfully complaisant, essentialized and instinctive [ergo brainless] femininity. It's pretty much always a horrible derailment of character that represents a descent into utter boredom.

This can't end well either.

50 Shades Freed: Ana’s pregnancy and ensuing ABJECT TERROR

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At the end of Chapter 19, Ana discovers that she's pregnant.
Continue reading 50 Shades Freed: Ana’s pregnancy and ensuing ABJECT TERROR

Gilbert Gottfried reads excerpts from 50 Shades of Grey

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As irritating and pretentious and unfunny as I find Gilbert Gottfried, I must admit that this fake commercial of him reading explicit excerpts from 50 Shades of Grey, less because of Gottfried himself and more because of the increasingly horrified expressions on the readers' faces. Needless to say, this contains explicit sexual language.

A few thoughts about 50 Shades Freed [book 3]

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I'm almost halfway through 50 Shades Freed, book 3 of the 50 Shades trilogy, by E.L. James. Forthwith, some random remarks:

1) Remember how I objected to Ana's sudden promotion from executive assistant to editor at the end of 50 Shades Darker, saying that it made no sense and that Christian should have been behind it? Well, he was. Okay, fine. I still don't think she's remotely qualified to be an editor, though.

2) Ana and Christian have a big fight about Ana wanting to keep her surname. This fight occurs about a month after they get married. Apparently they just forgot to address the subject before they got married; they must have been too busy "quirking" and "pouting" and saying, "Fair point well made." Seriously, people? You just neglect a subject that affianced couples notoriously have strong views on? You couldn't even be bothered to ask each other your preferences?

3) Speaking of fights, I'm way more interested in all of Ana and Christian's arguments than their sex scenes. In fact, after the first sex scene, I've been skipping them all and paying close attention to their disagreements instead. It's like Conflict Porn!

4) There's a notable amount of alcohol consumption in this trilogy. Before dinner? Have a drink. During dinner? Have a drink. After dinner? Have a drink. After sex? Have a drink. Hectic, worrisome day? Have a drink. Angry at your spouse? Have a drink. Nervous? Have a drink. Since they have sex, eat dinner, feel worried and get angry with each other frequently, Ana and Christian drink copiously. I'm waiting for someone to either get drunk and do something really stupid or to develop alcoholism. Or both.

Allen’s Law of Censorship

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The probability that a book will be challenged, banned and/or censored increases exponentially as the book approaches mega-bestseller status.

As a corollary, if a book or series hits mega-bestseller status, somebody somewhere will challenge, ban and/or censor it for one "reason" or another.

Libraries around the country are currently throwing fits about the 50 Shades trilogy. So infuriating. Censorship is wrong. I don't care if you disagree with the views stated in the trilogy. I don't care if you think it's pornographic. I expect my public library to offer reading opportunities, rather than remove them. Public services have no right to selectively and arbitrarily limit reading material like this just because someone somewhere thinks it's icky. "Ewww!" is not a valid argument against anything, from marriage equality to 50 Shades of Grey.

SHUT UP, Cassandra Clare!

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Cassandra Clare writes popular YA fantasy series. I have no problem with that; in fact, I enjoy them as mind candy. I really wish she would stop quoting British literature, though. In the Infernal Devices series, a quotation from some British novel or poetry begins every single chapter for no apparent reason. Furthermore, the characters spew poetry at inopportune intervals too. Why? Why? Why?

This incessant quoting serves no purpose. The pre-chapter quotes relate, sometimes in very strained, tangential ways, to the events in the chapter, but that's it. The characters' useless quotations do nothing to further the reader's understanding of the story or the characters, unless your understanding is furthered by knowing that the protagonist likes books. There's no thematic, sustained, interesting, clever or relevant treatment of the quotes or the works they're from. They don't do anything except waste space. At best, they prove the author's prowess in Googling public domain works of literature. Must be some sort of self-congratulatory textual porn for English majors whose intellectual achievements peaked with their close reading of Dickens' Great Expectations [snore] during their sophomore year at a small New England liberal arts college.

As an English major from a small New England liberal arts college [ask me about my close reading of Emily Dickinson!], I'm real impressed. :p

She’s passive-aggressive and he’s clueless! Perfect match!: sexism in The Muppets

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We watched The Muppets last night. It was a pretty cute movie, with most of the humor at no one's expense, but I was continually bothered by the rampant sexism on display in the plot between the 2 human leads, Gary [Jason Segel] and Mary [Amy Adams].

Gary and Mary have been dating for 10 years, but they don't even live together. They're not engaged either. Mary wishes that Gary would propose to her, but he does not. In fact, their 10th anniversary trip to Los Angeles ends up including Gary's Muppet "brother," Walter, in spite of Mary's obvious displeasure. Gary constantly privileges adventures with Walter over adventures with Mary, who acquiesces by trying to put on a brave face. When Gary forgets his 10th anniversary dinner with Mary, Mary goes back home, leaving a note that addresses the source of her upset only obliquely: "Are you a man or a Muppet?" Gary follows Mary back home and proposes to her. She says yes, blah blah blah, whoop de doo.

This entire plot could have been avoided if Gary and Mary had just had one single solitary stinkin' conversation about their expectations and desires. On a deeper level, it also would have been a much shorter movie if Mary hadn't been trapped by expectations about feminine passivity. If she loved Gary so much and wanted to marry him, why didn't she propose to him years ago? Why does she suffer Gary's callous, clueless behavior in silence, without speaking up for herself? Why is Mary such a spineless, retrograde drip? Why is Gary such an inattentive, uncommunicative clod? Does anyone really think this relationship is going to work out?

My favorite character was '80's Robot.

50 Shades: Ana’s dream job

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The plot with Ana and her sleazy boss winds up this way: The sleazeball harasses Ana, so Christian has him fired. Somehow, after only having been an executive assistant for a week, Ana gets the sleazeball's job, becoming head editor at Seattle Independent Press! Amazingly enough, Christian has nothing to do with her sudden promotion.

THAT MAKES NO SENSE. Why would the press stick Ana in the position of a seasoned executive? Even if her sleazeball boss has praised her work, she has no track record at the company, so why should anyone trust her? She also has zero related experience, her job during college having been cashiering at a hardware store. From what little we know, she's conscientious as an assistant, and, uh, she likes to read British literature. That's not enough to recommend her. As much as I object to Christian's abusive, control freaky behavior, if he had gotten Anna the sleazeball's job, that would have made been much more logical and believable, narratively speaking. E.L. James really doesn't know how to write.

50 Shades: Ana’s “inner goddess” and class warfare

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I got about halfway through 50 Shades Darker [book 2 in the 50 Shades trilogy by E.L. James] last night. It picks up several days after the end of the first book, when Ana and Christian break up, for reasons that I'm not quite clear on. When Christian proposes that they try again with a non-kinky, completely vanilla relationship [hah hah hah!], they're off and running [or, rather, bonking]. There's something of a plot in there too, involving Ana's new job at Seattle Independent Press, Christian's ex-domme, one of Christian's emotionally labile ex-subs, Christian's secret past, et hoc genus omne.

I'd like to talk about Ana's "inner goddess." Introduced toward the end of book 1, she appears in pretty much every other paragraph, usually in counterpoint to Ana's "subconscious." Like Ana's "subconscious," the "inner goddess" is personified, apparently as a multi-talented Olympic athlete, given her acrobatic performances of joy whenever Ana thinks about getting kinky. Beyond that, she serves no useful function; she's just a convenient image for James to use in describing Ana's lust. So, if the "subconscious" and the "inner goddess" do nothing to advance Ana's character development or the plot, why does James insert them on every damn page?! Characters in one's head can be interesting, compelling and revelatory if done with care, purpose and depth, but these are just useless, stupid and annoying.

On another note, I'm fascinated by the tensions of class warfare as exhibited by Ana and Christian. Ana seems to have grown up [from what I can tell — she doesn't have much history] in a middle-class family; as a college student, she had little spare money [hence driving the same beat-up car for three years], and she currently earns an entry-level publishing salary [which, let me tell you, is diddly squat] in her first post-college job. At this point, I'd call her lower middle-class, aspiring to higher, and rather anxious about money.

Meanwhile, Christian has millions, maybe billions. For the first few years of his life, he grew up in poverty, but, since adoption at the age of 4, he has been surrounded by ostentatious, fabulous wealth. He uses money casually and confidently, without anxiety about it at all.

Ana and Christian clash on financial matters. Christian spends exorbitant amounts on gifts for Ana, including a set of first-edition Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a laptop, a Blackberry, an Audi, an iPad, diamond jewelry and a Saab. He doesn't understand that this makes Ana, who earns much less, feel unworthy, subordinate, bought off and kept. He explains that he wants to "give [her] everything," that this is "how [he is]" and that this is "part of [his] world." Nope, he just wants to make her his objectified possession, as evidenced by the fact that he buys the publishing company Ana works for [ostensibly because he's jealous that Ana's boss shows interest in her, which is a great reason for a takeover]. He uses his socioeconomic privilege to control Ana's communication [laptop, Blackberry, iPad], transportation [Audi, Saab] and occupation [Seattle Independent Press]. It's like the 1% overruling the 99%, but with bonus secret childhood trauma!

50 Shades: insidious stereotyping

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After mulling for a few days, I've determined some of the most problematic assumptions underlying 50 Shades of Grey. As I've discussed, it is about a young woman, Ana, who embarks on a submissive, bdsm relationship with the dominant and slightly older Christian.
Continue reading 50 Shades: insidious stereotyping

50 Shades: the Twilight connection

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Yes, folks, just in case you were curious, E.L. James' 50 Shades trilogy started off as Twilight fanfic. It starred Edward and Bella in a bdsm relationship, and it was entitled Masters of the Universe. No word if Skeletor and He-Man were involved. I doubt it. That would have been interesting, and if it's anything these books aren't, it's interesting.

Ableist child murderer gets only 9 years

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This week has been a particularly enraging week. The NYT reports that Angela Norman "gets 9 years in teen's malnutrition death." Norman's daughter, Makayla, died at the age of 14, weighing 28 pounds, suffering bed sores and other signs of ill health. Makayla had cerebral palsy.

This was not a "malnutrition death." Norman murdered her disabled daughter by abusing her, neglecting her and starving her to death.

Ugh, I don't even know what to say any more.

Racism and dehumanization in a biography of Millie and Christine McKoy

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I've been reading Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Remarkable Journey of Siamese [sic] Twins from Slavery to the Courts of Europe, by Joanne Martell. It's a biography of conjoined twins Millie and Christine McKoy, who were born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851. Owned/Managed by a variety of people during their lifetimes, they toured with sideshows in both the U.S. and Great Britain as singers and dancers. They died in 1912.

Continue reading Racism and dehumanization in a biography of Millie and Christine McKoy

50 Shades: what is this relationship based on?

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As far as I can tell, Ana and Christian's relationship in 50 Shades of Grey is based on the following:

1. Their mutual sexual attraction.

2. Christian's abusive need to control his partners.

3. Ana's delusion that she can somehow change Christian.

They don't really understand each other; they don't communicate well, and yet they love each other. Since they've known each other only several weeks as book 1 ends, I opine that they are feeling infatuation, but not love.

Even if they are in love, they don't seem to like each other. By that, I mean that they don't enjoy each other's company, unless they're having sex. I do not have high hopes for this relationship being satisfying for both partners for any length of time.

50 Shades: done!

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Just finished book 1. The ending is abrupt, resolving nothing. I suspect that E.L. James initially wrote a single, much shorter story that was then strung out into a trilogy upon acquisition by an actual publishing house. God forbid we ever have a single novel that tells a complete story. Everything comes in threes these days. It's an extremely irritating privileging of capitalism over story.

And now to rustle up books 2 and 3…

EDIT: Awesome! They're coming [hur hur hur] on Saturday. I should donate them to the local library when I'm done.

50 Shades: insight into Christian’s character

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Christian, on page 135: "I want you to become well acquainted, on first-name terms, if you will, with my favorite and most cherished part of my body. I'm very attached to this."

Given the unusual lack of explanatory prose around this bit of dialogue, I think we're supposed to take this statement straight, at face value, without self-consciously mocking undertones.

Sorry, Christian. I can't take you seriously any more. Not only do you have a HUGE CLICHE for your favorite body part, but you also use the phrase "making the beast with two backs" as a synonym for "having sex." I have never heard anyone, much less a modern, 27-year-old dude from the U.S., use this phrase, Iago excepted.

James clearly has no concept of voice and how all people — and therefore characters — have unique, individual, internally consistent ways of expressing themselves.

NYT digs its own grave on coverage of Lorena Escalera

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Earlier this week, I fired off an enraged letter to one of the authors of a NYT article about the death by suspicious fire of Lorena Escalera, a trans woman of color. The article was a vile cesspit of sexism, transmisogyny, transphobia, racism, bias against sex workers, stereotypes, objectification, dehumanization, othering and probably many other forms of bigotry that I am not currently picking up on.

The NYT responded to the criticism with vacuous, unsympathetic justifications that positively reeked of unexamined privilege. GLAAD analyzed the paper's response, accurately describing many of its shortcomings. I should note that the GLAAD critique does not, however, recognize the NYT's bias against sex workers in the article about Escalera.

If the NYT really wanted to, as it claimed, "capture the personal [story]" of Escalera, why didn't it do what most writers of articles about dead people do and incorporate information from people who actually knew her? Some people among her social circle of friends, family members and fellow performers at the House of Xtravaganza would have provided comments on what they remembered her for and how much they missed her. Instead of interviewing the neighborhood ignoramuses who had no respect for Escalera as a woman or as a person, the NYT should have sought out quotes from people who saw her as she was: a fellow individual deserving respect. But no…the paper merely perpetuated multiple axes of oppression by selecting a narrative of dehumanization.

50 Shades of Grey: initial impressions

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I started 50 Shades of Grey, by E.L. James, first in the 50 Shades trilogy, last night. The trilogy constitutes a very drawn-out romance novel with bdsm themes, starring Ana as an inexperienced college graduate and Christian as a 27-year-old CEO and millionnaire. 

Let me tell you, folks — it's a treat! And by "treat" I mean "a book in dire need of a ruthless and judicious editor." I found myself rolling my eyes up to thrice a page at some infelicity of style or bizarre authorial choice. I fear I'm going to sprain my ocular muscles by the time this book is through.

In no particular order, here are some of my observations after about the first 60-80 pages [I forget where I stopped]:

Ana has an unusual relationship with her inner monolgue, which she, in her first-person narration, inaccurately terms her "subconscious." Her "subconscious" repeatedly appears personified, tapping its foot and rolling its eyes at one of her stupid remarks, for example. This gives the unintentionally hilarious picture of a homunculus inside Ana's brain, providing MST3K-like commentary on everything she does. It's an interesting characterological device if you want to explore it, but, of course, James doesn't, so Ana's internal divide ends up revealing nothing interesting about her.

Furthermore, Ana's inner monologue sounds off indiscriminately, no matter what the needs of the story. It's almost always repetitive. For example, when Ana admires Christian's office building, she describes it as "impressive." Okay, she's impressed. We do not need to know that her internal monologue is saying, "Wow." Ana's inner voices have a reaction to every single event in the novel, mostly along the lines of, "I feel horrible for doing [insert embarrassing thing] in front of Christian." Since Ana's body language and speech, also detailed in the text, clearly demonstrate her chagrin, her thoughts add nothing to either the story or her personality. In fact, she ends up coming across as literal-minded, unanalytical and kind of stupid.

On another subject, Ana keeps tripping over her own feet and falling into Christian's arms. She should consult her primary care doctor about this. I think she might have problems with proprioception.

Speaking of Christian, he too is a very odd duck. He has the most labile emotions of any character I've met recently. His feelings change from paragraph to paragraph, as he vacillates between leering at Ana, freezing her out, then getting angry that she's not acting the way he wishes her to [which, of course, he hasn't communicated to her at all]. His actions are extremely unusual, in that most people don't cycle through emotions so rapidly. His transparent, fluctuating facial expressions suggest that he was inadequately trained in the socially acceptable methods of monitoring and expressing his emotions.

We know that Christian has some painful secret past, so it's possible that James intended his emotional instability to manifest his internal damage. However, given the way that James completely fails to recognize opportunities to psychologize her own characters, even as she's writing these opportunities into the story, I doubt that I'm supposed to be considering what historical effects led to Christian's emotional problems. More than likely, James wishes us to read Christian's instability as the seductive moodiness of a typical romance-novel alpha male.

On a related note, I see nothing but trouble for Christian in any sort of bdsm scenario. An ideal scene requires explicit, trusting communication between the participants about their roles, interests and dislikes. Christian would much rather impose his will on his partners, instead of initiating productive dialogue. He's the sort of creepy dom who would touch people sexually without their permission and probably ignore their safe words.

A particular incident between Ana and Christian set off warning bells for me about Christian's abusive traits. In one scene, Ana gets drunk for the first time and impulsively calls Christian. She has a short chat with him, at which point Christian flies off the handle and states that he is coming to pick her up. He tracks her location by using data from her cell phone call. Conveniently, Christian arrives just in time to save Ana from being raped by a "friend." Ana pukes on herself and Christian [that's what I think of him too], then faints, waking up in Christian's bed in her underwear.

Look, Mr. Grey — I don't care how "justified" you are [according to the story] with the assault and the puke and the sexual tension. You are stalking Ana by finding her through cell phone data. You are assaulting her by nonconsensually removing her clothes. Furthermore, you are a classic abusive personality in the first place for using her phone call as an excuse to control and confine her behavior. You really are a repulsive individual. And if you "quirk" your eyebrows or grin a "sardonic" grin one more time, I'm taking away your poetic license.

The same goes for you, Ana. If you don't stop biting your lower lip and saying "crap" and "double crap," there will be consequences.

Today’s hilarious simile

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And now, for something more amusing, let's turn to John Scalzi's blog entry, "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is," which begins:

I’ve been thinking of a way to explain to straight white men how life works for them, without invoking the dreaded word “privilege,” to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon.

The entry itself goes on to analogize "straight white male" privilege as the easiest level setting in a video game. I sense some implicit Oppression Olympics going on in his analogy, so I can't recommend it unreservedly, but that opening comparison sure is hilarious.

Transmisogyny in the New York Times

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Wow, the NYT is the gift that keeps on giving.

Lorena Escalera, 25, died in a suspicious fire in Brooklyn, NY, last weekend, and the NYT was much more interested in her body, her clothing, how sexy her neighbors thought she was, her trans identity, her occupation as a sex worker and her participation in the House of Xtravaganza performing troupe and other details not directly relevant to the case.

Pam's House Blend pointed out just a few of the problems in the coverage here.

I sent a form E-mail to one of the article's authors, Al Baker, containing the following:

Your coverage of this story is sexist, transmisogynist and generally disgusting. Your inclusion of Escalera's trans identity is irrelevant to the tragedy of her death by suspicious fire. You add insult to injury by quoting a neighbor who misgenders her. Furthermore, the details about Escalera's appearance and sex life add nothing to the story, except to reinforce the stereotype of trans women as objectified prostittutes. The dehumanization exemplified in this coverage directly contributes to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of trans and gender-variant people every year. We deserve better.

Racism towards Nepalese pedicurists in New York City

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The NYT writes about Nepalese pedicurists practicing in New York City. These people, almost all women, face challenges if they move to the US. Some Nepalese women decide to go into the salon industry because licensure is affordable and relatively quick. When it comes to pedicures, however, some newly minted Nepalese salon workers balk:

Women in Nepal, especially Hindus, touch only their husbands’ or parents’ feet as a sign of respect, said Tara Niraula, an advocate of immigrants’ rights and a former administrator at the New School who was born in Nepal and is considered an expert on Nepalis in New York. To touch strangers’ feet is to show deference they have not earned, Dr. Niraula said, and to label oneself as low-class, or at least lower than the person whose feet are being handled.

A pedicure customer reacts to this cultural aversion with surprise and the following response: “You would think she was born to do this.”

Wow, how insulting. The customer's comment dismisses the salon employee's choices and hard work, not to mention the cultural differences and bigotry she endures. Instead, the economically privileged customer naturalizes a brown woman genuflecting in servitude before her by saying that the salon employee's skills seem innate. It's a subtle form of objectification that takes part of the same racist assumption that people of certain colors are just meant to be enslaved.

Appropriation of POC’s experience in Grimm

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In the most recent ep of Grimm, Big Feet, a Wesen, or human that can change into a therianthropic form, has been killing people. Monroe, a Blutbad Vesen and friend of Nick [who is a police detective and protagonist of the show], harbors Larry, the killer Wesen, in his house. Larry is injured, but Monroe does not wish to take him to the hospital because then people will recognize him as a semi-human creature and persecute him. "I don't want crosses burning on my yard," Monroe explains to Nick.

No! Grimm does not get to appropriate the real-life terrorism experienced by African-Americans and apply it to fictional bestial characters, especially when the fictional characters are played by straight white men. The show might think that it's being clever by giving a historical resonance to the treatment of Wesen, but it's not. It's using the lived experience of thousands of people as a rhetorical gesture, a shorthand for persecution. That disrespects the violence and suffering that African-Americans have endured in real life and implicitly dismisses their lives as figments of imagination.

Thanks for Fangs for the Fantasy for alerting me to this phenomenon, which is a continuing problem for the series.

Speaking of 50 Shades of Grey…

Speaking of 50 Shades of Grey… published on No Comments on Speaking of 50 Shades of Grey…

…I ordered it, primarily because sources tell me it's based on Twilight Saga fanfic [!]. I had so much fun with the Twilight Saga [see "twilight" and "breaking dawn" tags if you really care] that I think I will at least have a little fun with 50 Shades.

Also, concerning 50 Shades of Grey, please see the related parody video by Flula: entirely ridiculous and safe for work. You're welcome.

Anti-BDSM AND misogynist!: Philip Galanes of NYT’s Social Qs

Anti-BDSM AND misogynist!: Philip Galanes of NYT’s Social Qs published on 3 Comments on Anti-BDSM AND misogynist!: Philip Galanes of NYT’s Social Qs

I read advice columns for the same reason I watch mediocre TV shows. I gain entertainment not only from the stories told, but also from the advice supplied by the columnist and, frequently, the commenters. Plus there's always the opportunity to castigate the TV show or the advice column for how good it could have been.

Before I go into critiquing the NYT's most recent Social Qs, let me just say that the only advice column I can currently take seriously is Captain Awkward. She's a person with no official credentials to tell other people how to live their lives, but she, along with the trenchant commentariat, manages to provide practical, straightforward, explicit, helpful advice to the questioners. Be warned, though; she does use sexist slurs ["bitch" and "dick"], as well as ableist adjectives ["crazy"]. Despite her failings, I approve of her generally open-minded approach.

Now back to my original subject. In the most recent Social Qs, a letter writer says that her daughter's future mother-in-law loves Fifty Shades of Grey, a BDSM romance novel. "As a feminist," the writer dislikes the books and wonders how to respond when the future MIL asks the writer what she thinks of the books.

Philip Galanes, author of Social Qs, advises the following:

Engage your future in-law, mother to mother. Steer clear of judgmental terms like “offensive,” but try to get to the bottom of her excitement. Say: “I’d hate for a man to treat me or my daughter that way. What do you think the big appeal is?” She couldn’t object, and it might start an interesting conversation.

Good advice. When someone asks you your opinion of something controversial with which you disagree, you can neutrally state that you have a different view and, if you're interested, attempt to start a more general discussion and go from there. Of course, you can react in other ways [for example, "I don't really feel comfortable talking about that" is also perfectly acceptable], but this is a polite option.

I agree with the advice, but I resent the snide tone in which it's delivered. Galanes spends one paragraph of four answering the writer's question and the other three making sneery judgments about BDSM. In effect, he undermines his advice to be respectful and tolerant about things you don't know anything about by being derisive and dismissive about a subject with which he is [clearly] unfamiliar. Wow, he's really shoring up his credibility.

Besides an anti-BDSM stance, I also detect some misogyny in Galanes' response. Romance novels are predominantly read by women and, for that reason, are frequently not taken seriously, especially by male critics. Galanes' incredulity that female readers could find romance novel tropes interesting seems to subserve his distaste with Fifty Shades of Grey.

P.S. We're not even getting into the letter writer's assumption that feminism is incompatible with BDSM.

Investigating a person’s sex as part of my job!

Investigating a person’s sex as part of my job! published on 1 Comment on Investigating a person’s sex as part of my job!

I was in the very awkward position today of trying to find out the sex of a coauthor of an article for which I was sending a revision letter. I wanted to include in the letter that the doctor needed to update their financial disclosure and wanted to give instructions on how to do so.

I couldn't use third-person plural pronouns or "his/her" because the company objects to those uses. In order to avoid really awkward phrasing, I wanted to find out this person's sex so I could use the correct pronouns, and the person's name was not giving me any clues.

I eventually found information about the person's sex and completed the instructions with the correct pronouns. This situation highlighted for me the English language's need for a broadly accepted gender-neutral pronoun. Third-person plural pronouns are fine to me, if only conservative institutions would stop having grammatical fits about them.

Interestingly enough, I mostly avoid the subject of people's sex in my job because pretty much everyone we deal with is a doctor, so we just address them by that title.

Bye bye, Alcatraz. Hello, more Grimm and Once Upon a Time.

Bye bye, Alcatraz. Hello, more Grimm and Once Upon a Time. published on No Comments on Bye bye, Alcatraz. Hello, more Grimm and Once Upon a Time.

Of course Fox canceled it.

Crap.

It had absolutely no character development, but it sure was entertaining.

Meanwhile, in other news, Grimm has been renewed for a second season [on NBC]. Here's hoping that the show learns how to weave its meta-plot and mythology more evenly in with the stand-alone monster-of-the-week eps. I'd also like some well-developed female regulars, but I think that's asking too much.

Also renewed for another season was Once Upon a Time [on ABC]. How long will the show be able to string out its format of developments in Storybrooke, supported by flashbacks into fairyland? How will it perpetuate forward momentum without having Emma eventually break the curse and wake all Storybrooke residents up to their original fairyland lives? How will it develop sympathetic, fully three-dimensional female characters when all it's been relying on so far are stock types? The answers to all three are "it won't," "it won't" and "it won't." Man, that show annoyed me.

No, Mr. Wallek, YOU’RE “kind of bizarre”: rape culture at work in a stalking case

No, Mr. Wallek, YOU’RE “kind of bizarre”: rape culture at work in a stalking case published on 1 Comment on No, Mr. Wallek, YOU’RE “kind of bizarre”: rape culture at work in a stalking case

John Wallek, plumbing and heating inspector for the state's Public Safety Department, faces charges of stalking a much younger woman also employed by the state. Wallek harassed the woman at work, at home and online, messaging her with E-mails and Facebook posts for about a year, even after being told to stop.

For some reason, the Freeps interviewed Wallek, who stated, "It's all kind of bizarre. I just don't believe it has gone this far."

Look, folks — it's an embodiment of rape culture! Only in a society in which women are presumed heterosexual and automatically available to all types of attention from men, only in a society in which women's consent means diddly squat because, so many times, they are presumed to have granted it merely by existing, only in such a society would a man think that his possible conviction for being a misogynist ass would be "kind of bizarre" because it's going against the unstated expectations of man-woman interaction in this society.

Jeez, how "bizarre" is it that a woman wants to be treated with egalitarian respect and decency? It's mind-boggling. It's almost like…almost like…women are people too! Imagine that.

Suddenly, I bought more books!

Suddenly, I bought more books! published on 1 Comment on Suddenly, I bought more books!

Wow, this temporary free 2-day shipping deal with my Amazon Prime test membership is really liberating me to purchase books that I have long yearned to buy, but never gotten around to. Today's purchases include two books about conjoined twins [Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton], Sex Changes: Transgender Politics and The Development of Imagination [about paracosms!].

I'm quite curious about Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, the story of Millie-Christine McKoy, conjoined twins who were born into slavery in the US in the 1850s and became well-educated entertainers, dying in 1912. They were treated both as one person and as two. For example, their family called them Sister, but also gave them separate names. From what I recall of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, they had a joint sense of self, referring to themselves in the first-person plural. I look forward to finding more about Millie and Christine's concepts of their personhood as I read Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

Conjoined twins fascinate me. In One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal, Alice Dreger actually touches on two of my interests — conjoined twins and trans subjects — by discussing the case of conjoined twin boys who shared a set of genitalia. When they were separated, one boy got the penis and was raised as a boy. The other penisless boy was raised as a girl. I haven't read the book yet, but I'm eager to learn more about these twins, especially since their case addresses both non-consensual separation surgery and non-consensual genital change surgery. [NB: Non-consensual genital change surgery rarely goes well. See David Reimer for details.]

Non-consensual separation surgery and non-consensual genital change surgery both piss me off for the same reason. In both cases, people with abnormal bodies [either conjoined twins or people with ambiguous genitalia] are changed against their will. Guardians and/or medical professionals decide that the conjoined twins and the intersex people must be modified to find societal concepts of personhood. In the case of conjoined twins, they go against our deeply ingrained belief that a single person must have a single body. In the case of intersex people, they go against our deeply ingrained belief that a child's genitals must easily appear to belong to one sex or the other. So we cut them up because we have problems with them, not because they have problems with themselves. We disrespect the autonomy of such people and the self-acceptance that they show in the vast majority of the cases because we get queasy seeing two people share a body or a person possessing ambiguous genitalia. They're not wrong; they have no need to be altered; it's our narrow definitions of personhood that must be changed.

I can’t stop buying books!

I can’t stop buying books! published on No Comments on I can’t stop buying books!

Now that I have a month-long trial of Amazon Prime [free 2-day shipping!!!], I can't stop buying books. Yesterday I got Whipping Girl by Julia Serano and One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal by Alice Dreger. Today I got Alison Bechdel's two memoirs, Fun Home and Are You My Mother? Yum yum yum, so much to read!

Why does hypnosis go along with EFT [Emotional Freedom Technique]?

Why does hypnosis go along with EFT [Emotional Freedom Technique]? published on No Comments on Why does hypnosis go along with EFT [Emotional Freedom Technique]?

Looking on local hypnotists' Web sites, I see that several of them offer EFT services along with hypnosis. Why?

EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique, which is the theory that, by being poked in various places, people can cease bad habits, overcome negative emotions, cure sickness, etc., etc., etc.

Seriously, people?! Seriously?! Did you lose your critical faculties?

Maybe it's because they think that hypnosis is some magic panacea, instead of a nice little altered state where you can play with suggestibility and imagination.

Here come the gender police: “Dear Prudie” pisses me off yet again.

Here come the gender police: “Dear Prudie” pisses me off yet again. published on 5 Comments on Here come the gender police: “Dear Prudie” pisses me off yet again.

Recently a young woman wrote to Dear Prudie, Slate's advice columnist, saying that she is a self-described "tomboy" who dresses in casual clothes in accordance with the lax requirements of her job. Her boyfriend has been bugging her about wearing "more feminine clothes" and "makeup application lessons." He thinks her personal style makes her less employable. The letter writer wants to know what to do: "Should I change this about myself because he wants me to?"

Prudie answers by telling the letter writer a resounding YES. She advises the letter writer, "Dress for the job you want." In Prudie's view, this entails getting a personal shopper, visiting a makeup counter and reading Marie Claire and other women's magazines.

This incredibly stupid response enrages me. First of all, Prudie is collapsing two topics into one. The letter writer wants to know about how to deal with her boyfriend's campaign for her increased femmey-ness. She also mentions her boyfriend's belief that her self-presentation hurts her job prospects. Prudie rolls both topics into a single answer by focusing on the connection between the letter writer's style and her employability.

Let's separate out the two subjects: first, this "Dress for the job you want" stuff. I agree with the concept here, but I object to the execution. Members of the workforce today are expected to conform to ideals of professionalism, including adherence to an implicit or explicit dress code. Fine…follow the dress code. If you're in that aspirational phase of your career, it's always better to overdress than underdress.

However, Prudie assumes that aspirational dressing means going all femme. No, it doesn't. Less femmey work clothes for women exist, though they are few. I know because I am wearing them. 😛 Stop implying that "femme" is the only correct gender presentation for professional women, Prudie.

Second, let's deal with the letter writer's annoying boyfriend. He knows that the letter writer's gender presentation is more butchy rather than femmey, but he keeps trying to change it with a suspect justification about it affecting her employability. Basically, the letter writer's boyfriend does not accept her gender presentation, instead preferring to police it.

This is the real problem. Her boyfriend is trying to control her. Attempts at control combine with nagging to create resentment. Resentment leads to conflict and general nastiness.

Assuming good faith on the boyfriend's part, I have advice for him: He should express his preference and state his reasons once, then shut up about it and wait for a cue from the letter writer. If she wants to pursue his suggestion, fine. If she puts him off or ignores him [which it kind of sounds like she's doing], he should be perceptive enough to notice that she does not wish to pursue his suggestion, and he should keep his gender policing to himself.

I also have advice for the letter writer: She should consider the general concept of aspirational dressing, but ignore everything else Prudie says. She should pursue a change in her gender presentation only if that's what she's truly interested in, without anxiety or coercion. However, she should also know that her gender presentation is perfectly fine the way it is and that it is possible to be a butch professional woman. Either way, she should tell her boyfriend to quit with the gender policing. If he doesn't, she should get a better boyfriend, one whose head won't explode at the thought of a woman wearing a pantsuit to an interview.

“Transgender Voice Surgery”

“Transgender Voice Surgery” published on No Comments on “Transgender Voice Surgery”

I came across a text ad on Amazon.com that said:

Transgender Voice Surgery — Travel to Korea for Cutting Edge Voice Feminization Surgery. Call us. <Web site>

"Cutting Edge?" Yikes!

They could have said "new and improved" or "technologically advanced" or "the latest techniques," but no…they had to use slice-and-dice imagery. How gruesome and unattractive. I don't think the creators of this ad took a moment to think about the implications of their phrasing. Blech.

Fringe: Letters of Transit SPOILERS!

Fringe: Letters of Transit SPOILERS! published on No Comments on Fringe: Letters of Transit SPOILERS!

I just watched the episode, and it was the worst ep of Fringe I've ever seen. We've had eps without one of the three main characters before, but never eps as crappy as this.

This show succeeds on the strength of its triangle created by the three strong main characters, Olivia, Walter and Peter. They all love each other, and their love bridges universes and reaches through time and apparently makes anything possible. They play off each other in an entertaining manner and draw the audience's sympathy and interest. Removing one character temporarily from the triad show the importance of the triad all the more vividly [witness the Peterless eps at the beginning of this season], while removing two of them at the same time, the way Letters of Transit did, removes the show's dynamism and hook. I don't care how awesome John Noble is as an actor [though he is awesome]; Walter alone, as he was for all of about 5 seconds of this ep [until Peter showed up at the very end] cannot carry an ep of Fringe himself.

Having established that this ep was particularly stupid for removing Olivia and Peter for most of it, I would also like to say that it failed spectacularly by eliminating Olivia completely from this ep. [Somehow Anna Torv got top billing in this one, though she did nothing.] What the hell, Fringe?! Olivia is the mainest of main characters. She is the protagonist, the one we've grown attached to and invested in. The unspoken rule of narrative is that every single chapter has to involve your protagonist [prologues and epilogues excused]. This was neither a prologue nor an epilogue, and thus it constituted a completely Olivialess irrelevant tangent. I don't care how interesting an ep of Fringe is. If it doesn't have Olivia in it, it doesn't count. This glaring structural flaw of Letters of Transit left me feeling narratively cheated.

Also the characterization of the Observers as Nazi-like dictators with a lust for power and control contradicts everything we know about these passive, morally ambivalent, wise, yet also emotionally kind of clueless characters. If that's the direction the fifth season is going in, I have better things to watch. I was really hoping for a wrapup to all the plot threads about the shapeshifters and the machine and Peter's reappearance and why he's so important and the holes in the universes and Olivia's "recovering" memories and Walternate's capture of Olivia and how the hell David Robert Jones came back and where the Observers came from, etc., etc., etc., NOT the Fringe team struggling against some cheaply imagined dystopia.

Fringe renewed for 5th season!!!

Fringe renewed for 5th season!!! published on No Comments on Fringe renewed for 5th season!!!

Hooray! I just found out today that one of my favorite TV shows, Fringe, will be renewed for a 5th season. This will be its final season, a truncated one with only 13 eps, but I think that will give the series plenty of time to address its many plot threads and arrive at a satisfying conclusion.

Happy [early] birthday to me!: I got some new books!!!

Happy [early] birthday to me!: I got some new books!!! published on No Comments on Happy [early] birthday to me!: I got some new books!!!

I ordered $150.00 worth of books today from Amazon. I don't think I've ever bought so many books for pleasure at one time [purchasing college textbooks does not count]! Spoils include Mindfulness and Hypnosis by Michael Yapko, Beyond Binary [genderqueer sci fi!] by Brit Mandelo, Engines of Desire [dark fantasy and horror collection] by Livia Llewelyn and Laird Barron, Trans/Love by Morty Diamond, plus some stuff that I am not mentioning. I'm very exciting for all these cool queer and trans books to arrive on my doorstep. God knows I'd never be able to get them from any library in this state…

Would-be hypnotist stymied by lack of knowledge

Would-be hypnotist stymied by lack of knowledge published on No Comments on Would-be hypnotist stymied by lack of knowledge

Sometimes I really dislike living in Vermont.

This is the book that I want: Mindfulness and Hypnosis: The Power of Suggestion to Transform Experience by Michael Yapko.

Before I drop some money on it, I'd like to read it to see if it's pertinent to my interests.

NO LIBRARY IN THE STATE HAS THIS BOOK.

Well, Bailey/Howe Library at UVM used to have it, but they lost it.

In contrast, the Somerville Public Library [where I used to patronize] in Somerville, MA has several books on hypnosis, including some how-tos. And I could have ordered Mindfulness and Hypnosis there successfully through interlibrary loan.

Dear God, are there any how-to introductions to hypnosis in this state that I don't have to BUY?

Apparently not.

Today’s frustration: expensive books, also, nothing in the library

Today’s frustration: expensive books, also, nothing in the library published on 1 Comment on Today’s frustration: expensive books, also, nothing in the library

Why are all the books on hypnosis so expensive?!?!?!?!?! I swear, it's some sort of conspiracy by the authors to reserve information about hypnosis for those who can afford to learn its secrets or something. There are NO [reputable-looking] books about hypnosis under $15.00!

Relatedly, the library has a single, solitary book in the adult collection about hypnosis, and it appears to be a discussion, rather than a how-to manual. ARGH.

And God forbid you want to learn anything about hypnosis online. It's all either porn or suspicious Web sites that want you to pay.

Welcome, Mellifer!

Welcome, Mellifer! published on No Comments on Welcome, Mellifer!

I ordered a Soom Metato. Bet you didn't see that coming, huh? :p He's fullset except for the outfit, which, to me, looks like a really lazy skirt that couldn't decide whether it wanted to ride high or low. Instead, I'm ordering him this Biweekly Clothes outfit, which looks more dignified.

Mellifer, as, he has informed me, his name is, will arrive probably in July to join the local fairy troupe. At this rate, they've got to start earning their keep; they can't just stand around looking pretty. :p

Awkward Black Girl! ^_^

Awkward Black Girl! ^_^ published on No Comments on Awkward Black Girl! ^_^

Thanks to Racialicious, I just watched episode 1 of Awkward Black Girl. It's a first-person Web-based comedy series with short eps about ABG's awkward social life. Issa Rae, the creator, director, writer and star, is hilarious. Watch her express her frustrations by secretly writing rap lyrics in her bedroom. There's 1 season of 12 short eps out so far.

Ginevra and Flower!!!

Ginevra and Flower!!! published on No Comments on Ginevra and Flower!!!

I took some quick pictures of Ginevra and Flower because a fellow DOA member wanted comparisons between male and female Soom Faeries. The photos are nothing special, except for the last shot of Ginevra, which captures her petulant beauty and her striking, glowy resin color.
Continue reading Ginevra and Flower!!!

What the heck is “verbage?”

What the heck is “verbage?” published on 1 Comment on What the heck is “verbage?”

"Verbiage" means either "verbosity" or "specific wording." Yeah, I know that. But what is this "verbage" I keep hearing about?

"Verbage" appears in contexts where "verbiage" is appropriate. Therefore, I think that "verbage" is a mispronunciation of "verbiage." I think it's kind of a stupid word, especially since "verbiage" is perfectly fine, but, the older I get, the more descriptivist and the less prescriptivist I become in my thoughts about language.

"Webinar" is still a stupid word, though.

OH MY GAWD, we have to obey the law?: whiny ableist dingdongs strike again

OH MY GAWD, we have to obey the law?: whiny ableist dingdongs strike again published on 2 Comments on OH MY GAWD, we have to obey the law?: whiny ableist dingdongs strike again

Some businesses in New York City are complaining that lawyers join forces with people with disabilities to sue said businesses into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Shorter article: “‘We don’t want to obey the law,’ some businesses whined. ‘P.S. We hate disabled people.'”

Look at me, playing the world’s saddest song on the world’s smallest violin. >:

“Diet Sard, now in fun size!” and “being Soomed”

“Diet Sard, now in fun size!” and “being Soomed” published on No Comments on “Diet Sard, now in fun size!” and “being Soomed”

First, Soom made Sard, the May Monthly Doll for 2008. A typical Soom sculpt, he had pillowy lips, limpid eyes and androgynous lines. He was a limited edition with horns, hooves and wings. People went bananas over him, as evidenced by this actual comment made by a fan on Sard's sales page:

Is there any chance he will be restocked next year during the same time as his original release? I really wish I would have gotten this boy and I'm so mad I didn't. I'd be willing to sell my kidney for a Sard!

Tragically, Sard appeared for sale for a mere month, leaving many potential Sard owners distraught.

Then Soom realized they could get their racket on [as if they didn't already have so many rackets going] by, second, making Dia some time in the end of 2008. Dia has the same head as Sard, with the exception of the ears. Dia has human ears, while Sard has elongated, pointy ears. As an unlimited doll without a special outfit or body parts, Dia represented a less expensive way for Sard fans to get their fix, this time with no chance of the doll going out of stock.

But Soom wasn't done yet. They like to release the same or related sculpts in different sizes, so of course they came out with Metato, the Faery Legend doll for April, in 2012. Yes, he has the same headsculpt as Dia and Sard, only on a smaller scale [1:6, not 1:3] and with different faery ears. As an excited poster on DOA remarked, he's "Diet Sard…now in fun size!" :p Though a limited edition with wings [resin ones, as opposed to Sard's feathery ones] and truly not that much cheaper than his bigger cousins, once you add up all the options, Metato represents yet another chance for Soom enthusiasts to get their Sard on.

I have no particular conclusion to make. I just admire Soom as a company, not only because I really like their aesthetic, but also because they know how to play the market, satisfying and tantalizing customers at the same time. It's really fun to watch and participate in the anticipation of new releases, the frenzy over teaser photos, the formulations of opinion when the thing goes on sale, the commiseration in the DOA "waiting room" threads, the increased excitement as shipping notices start issuing, the collective freak-out when the first owner pictures appear and the ultimate satisfaction of receiving one's own package and being Soomed all over again. [The most popular companies have adjectival forms of their names representing how enthusiastic one can be about them. I've seen people who are Soomed, Fairylanded and Iplewhelmed, but I've never heard of anyone being DollZoned or ImplDolled, presumably because the latter two companies sell less expensive dolls and thus have less prestige.] The fact that we're all being manipulated by a savvy business concern doesn't make the consumption any less fun.

I remain uncertain about whether to get Metato. On the plus side, I've always kind of wanted Sard because he was a Taurus doll, my astrological sign, and Metato is basically a smaller Sard with no hooves and better wings. Metato is in competition with Kremer [that's Flower's sculpt] for the cutest male faery so far, and he'd certainly play well with others, viz., Ginevra and Flower. Plus he's my favorite size! On the minus side, he's $485.00 without EMS shipping, which usually comes to about $50.00 to $60.00. 

P.S. Not that anyone cares, but I currently have 27 BJDs [OH GOD WHERE DID THEY ALL COME FROM?]. Soom is the number one maker, along with Elfdoll. I have 5 from each maker.

On what planet…

On what planet… published on 4 Comments on On what planet…

…are this man's twee, self-congratulatory, crabby, misogynist, ageist, sizeist, arrogant ramblings relevant? He seems incredibly put out by the fact that he's NOT a fashion-designing brain in a tank. We get it. You loathe people [except for yourself] and think that human physicality is revoltingly icky. Now do us a favor and keep your venomous bile to yourself.

Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Shion and goldi’s dolls

Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Shion and goldi’s dolls published on No Comments on Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Shion and goldi’s dolls

goldi brought her Fairyland LittleFee Rolly [with cute little teefs!], while Shion brought her DOD Kyrill. Rolly and Kyrill made fast friends!

Continue reading Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Shion and goldi’s dolls

Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Flower

Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Flower published on No Comments on Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Flower

Four people total came to yesterday's meetup at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction: me, goldi, Shion and Lyrajean!! We spent the full 2 hours [and even some overtime] talking ABJDs and taking pictures. First up, some photos of Flower. The light in the Koolvord Room at the library provides much clearer pictures than the light in my bedroom, so these photos of Flower really do him justice and show what a cutie he is!
Continue reading Doll meetup, 04/14/12: Flower

Weight loss for the bride to be

Weight loss for the bride to be published on No Comments on Weight loss for the bride to be

The New York Times has an article about women going on crash diets in preparation for their weddings. This, of course, represents nothing new or even unusual. It's still sad, frightening and self-hating, though. The women interviewed internalize a cultural hostility toward women and toward a diversity of body sizes, shapes and masses by literally cutting themselves down to a societally acceptable size. Like the horrible "giving away of the bride," which transfers ownership of the woman from her father to her husband, these wedding crash diets and other modern traditions for heterosexual marriages literally diminish participants and bodily reformat them into transactional currency to be objectified. "The greatest day of one's life," indeed.

P.S. Diets don't work anyway. At least 95% of people who diet gain the lost weight back.

P.P.S. Don't even get me started on how this article [along with so many other articles in the NYT that concern women, queers and trans folks] appears in the Style section. We're not good enough for the main paper?!

Yo, is this racist?

Yo, is this racist? published on No Comments on Yo, is this racist?

I just looked up impetus on dictionary.com to verify that the plural is impetuses. [It is.] For a quote that used the word in a sentence, the dictionary provided this shining gem by the horrendous bilgewhacker D.H. Lawrence:

"While the white man keeps the impetus of his own proud, onward march, the dark races will yield and serve, perforce. But let the white man once have a misgiving about his own leadership, and the dark races will at once attack him, to pull him down into the old gulfs."

Apparently this comes from a 1920s novel by Lawrence entitled The Plumed Serpent. Stupid condescending crap from the main character Kate.

Maybe the dictionary.com quote generator should exclude bigoted tripe, huh?

P.S. The title of this entry comes from Yo, Is this Racist?, a hilarious [and ableist] Q&A blog.

Ewwwwwwwwwww…/Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Ewwwwwwwwwww…/Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! published on 2 Comments on Ewwwwwwwwwww…/Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

We noticed yesterday that my work water bottle had yellow-green mold hanging around the bottom. :p Given that I haven’t replaced it since last July [it’s just a drug store water bottle with a squirt top], I decided to throw it out and get something else… This time my water bottle will be bigger and easier to clean…and I’ll put a recurrent reminder in my Outlook calendar to clean out the bottle at least every month.

In GOOD news, the best bread in the state is made just diagonally across the street from my workplace at Great Harvest Bakery. I go there at least twice a week to stock up. They’re very sneaky, in that they give out free slices of some of the day’s creations. That’s how they hook you… Since I became addicted last summer, I have tried many types of bread, including the following:

smoked Gouda and stout
pizza bread
nine grain
Gold Rush [a hearty bread with cornmeal]
Mountain Crunch [a sweet bread with gold and brown raisins and cranberries]
Popeye [has spinach]
cran apple orange
almond babke
brownie bread
challah
carrot cake cream cheese roll
spinach feta
apple cheddar
maple cinnamon chip
blueberry coffee cake
farmer’s white
farmer’s wheat
coconut almond tea bread
Mediterranean olive
green chili cheese
cinnamon swirl

They also make delicious BLT panini for lunch.

A new Soom Faery Legend: Metato, Keeper of the Heart

A new Soom Faery Legend: Metato, Keeper of the Heart published on No Comments on A new Soom Faery Legend: Metato, Keeper of the Heart

I really like Soom's Faery Legend line. And look — there's a new guy coming out: Metato, Keeper of the Heart!

You can't really see much from the teaser picture, except that it's a male doll, and he appears to have wing-like ears [like Flower, my Kremer] and REALLY AWESOME WINGS. I'm quite curious to see what his face will be like, as the headsculpt is always the determining factor for me in choosing a BJD. If I really like him, maybe I'll ask for him for my birthday!

Stay tuned…Metato debuts on April 12th. *fidget fidget*

Gay men who knit in the Northeast Kingdom

Gay men who knit in the Northeast Kingdom published on 2 Comments on Gay men who knit in the Northeast Kingdom

Once upon a time, at some point in the previous millennium, Jill and I came across an amusing personals ad in Seven Days. The poster sought other gay men who knitted in the Northeast Kingdom. We thought that his chances of finding someone else who shared all those identities was vanishingly small, and "gay men who knit in the Northeast Kingdom" became a standard reference for a ridiculously specific set of conditions.

Years later, I wonder how many gay men there are who knit in the Northeast Kingdom. Let's do the math, shall we?

The Northeast Kingdom is a region in, obviously, the northeastern corner of Vermont, containing Essex, Orleans and Caledonia counties.

Essex County = 6,306 people as of 2010
Orleans County = 27,231 people as of 2010
Caledonia County = 31,227 people as of 2010

That's a total of 64,764 people. We'll say that 50% of them are men.

That leaves 32,382 men. Let's say 10% of them are gay.

That leaves 3,238 gay men.

But how many of them knit? A 2003 survey showed that 1,300,000 people in the US know how to knit. Dividing that into the total population of the US in 2000, which was 281,421,906, we get a ratio of approximately 0.00462, or, rounding up, 4.6:1000.

Assuming that the ratio of knitters to the general US population remains stable from 2003 to 2010, that's about 15 gay men who knit in the Northeast Kingdom.

Yup, that's a vanishingly small amount. And that's not even getting into the probability that the 14 others will even see the ad that the 1 put in the paper!

“Tale of Love and Illness Ends in Death” or “Long Marriage Ends in Ableist Murder”?

“Tale of Love and Illness Ends in Death” or “Long Marriage Ends in Ableist Murder”? published on No Comments on “Tale of Love and Illness Ends in Death” or “Long Marriage Ends in Ableist Murder”?

"Tale of Love and Illness Ends in Death:" Oh, it sounds so tragic, the way the New York Times frames that headline, right? It must be the tale of a long-enduring affection severed by the death of one of the participants, leaving those still alive to mourn and soldier on, right?

Wrong.

Charles Snelling, 81, murdered his wife, Adrienne, 81, who had Alzheimer's, and then he committed suicide. That's what happened.

The NYT article goes on and on about how much Charles supposedly loved Adrienne, but the fact remains that he killed a disabled, mentally ill woman, arrogating responsibility for her life and death to himself. If a husband thinks it's his prerogative to end the life of a disabled member of his family "out of love," we as a culture have just sadly demonstrated, yet again, how little we value the lives and autonomy of people with disabilities and/or mental illness.

Working on Flower…

Working on Flower… published on No Comments on Working on Flower…

Flower, my Soom Faery Sprite of Slumber, came on Monday. I’m just now getting around to putting him together. He’s all strung and everything, but his eyes need to be put in, ears glued on, arms wired and wings magnetized. So far I have put his eyes in, glued on his ears, wired his arms and put the magnets in the sockets in his back. Tomorrow I will glue the magnets into the sockets in his wings.

Flower represents my first male Soom Faery, as well as the first Soom Faery I’ve gotten with a faceup and blushing. I’m not too thrilled with the silly blushing all over his delicate white body, but I love the purple, sparkly, shimmery blushing on his ears and his wings. Both his ears and wings remind me of flower petals…hence his name.

I love Flower’s gentle little face. He reminds me of Soom Sabik, a [very large] doll that I used to have. [I mostly got him because he looks like a small, portable, less expensive Sabik…with bonus shimmery ears and wings!] I do, however, think that his narrow, finely drawn head would fit better on a less muscular body. In fact, as with most of Soom’s sculpts, Flower’s headsculpt is versatile enough to be used for a doll of any sex.

Some owners of CW Soom faeries have reported that the CW resin starts to turn “beauty green” after exposure to even mild, indoor, artificial light! Sadly, I think that will happen with Flower. His head especially already has green undertones, even more noticeable than his body. However, now that I think about it, green skin — or skin with a green tinge — is perfect for a flower fairy, so I’m not too perturbed. Greenness will not detract from Flower’s beauty!

A picture of Flower without his wig follows, then a picture of Flower in his default wig, then a picture of Flower in Lucian’s wig [tee hee!]. I’m not sure what to do about hair for Flower. Unlike Ginevra, he definitely needs hair: a long, flowing abundance. His default wig, a poor quality, plasticky, light purple one, seems to be slightly too small, but maybe I can hot glue it into an acceptable position. I really want him to have purple hair! Alternatively, he does not look that bad in Lucian’s slightly larger blond wig, but he certainly does not appear as otherworldly.
Continue reading Working on Flower…

New books to read!!!

New books to read!!! published on No Comments on New books to read!!!

Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality by Margot Vice Weiss. See previous entry for details.

The Story of Vermont: A Natural and Cultural History by Christopher Klyza and Stephen Trombulak. I suppose this will overlap heavily with one of my favorite books about Vermont, Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape by Jan Albers, but I don't mind.

I am currently reading The View from Vermont: Tourism and the Making of an American Rural Landscape by Blake Harrison. It is about the history of tourism in the Green Mountain State starting in the mid-19th century and how the competing forces of urbanization, tourism and industrialization have shaped the landscape. It's fascinating!

Victim blaming in the Robert Bales serial killing case

Victim blaming in the Robert Bales serial killing case published on 1 Comment on Victim blaming in the Robert Bales serial killing case

So Sergeant Robert Bale killed 16 Afghan civilians when he was on tour in Afghanistan. And apparently his associates can’t believe it. They’re so sad for him.

In a New York Times article, At Home, Asking How “Our Bobby” Became War Crime Suspect, they’re truly shocked — I mean SHOCKED!!

Michelle Caddell, 48, who knew Sergeant Bales when he was growing up, watched a video clip of the news over and over and over again, mesmerized by disbelief. “I wanted to see, maybe, a different face,” she said, fighting back tears. “Because that’s not our Bobby. Something horrible, horrible had to happen to him.”

The article delves into Bale’s past, decribing his promising beginnings, glossing over a civilian assault, addressing Bale’s family’s financial problems and wondering about post-combat PTSD. Portraying Bale as a sad victim of external pressures, the article pities him. Poor white, cis, hetero guy! Look at what was done to him!

The narratives of shock and disbelief prevent the article from showing Bale as someone who committed  a horrible crime. They prevent his white, cis, hetero, military male privilege from being interrogated and criticized. They stir up the old fallacies driven into our heads by this rape culture of ours: “He’s such a nice guy; he couldn’t do something like that. Maybe the so-called victims somehow deserved it.”

Our culture needs to get over the “nice [straight, white] guy” myth. It’s getting in the way of important discussions about and changes that need to occur regarding the ills of hegemonic US masculinity, the mental health of military personnel, just what the hell we’re doing over there in Afghanistan anyway and how justice will be served for the 16 people that Bales murdered!

Violence Against Women Act meets opposition in the Senate.

Violence Against Women Act meets opposition in the Senate. published on 1 Comment on Violence Against Women Act meets opposition in the Senate.

The New York Times says that, among other reasons, Republicans do not want to support this anti-domestic violence legislation because "…it also dilutes the focus on domestic violence by expanding protections to new groups, like same-sex couples, they say."

What is the implication here…that there are no same-sex couples with women in them? That queer couples don't experience domestic violence? Both of these are patently false assumptions. I don't understand why more domestic violence prevention would be a BAD thing.

Clearly the Republicans just don't like people who aren't straight, cis, white, able-bodied, rich men. More than that, they actively want to kill them. It's a frightening world we live in.

Johnny Depp as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie

Johnny Depp as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie published on No Comments on Johnny Depp as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie

Native Appropriations says it better than I can. Johnny Depp as Tonto in the 2013 Lone Ranger film gets his look straight from a non-Native artist, Kirby Sattler, who basically admits to going for stereotypes and stuff he pulled out of his ass because he was a lazy person full of unexamined prejudice. [Sattler: "…I attempt to give the paintings an authentic appearance, provoke interest, satisfy my audience’s sensibilities of the subject without the constraints of having to adhere to historical accuracy." Shorter Sattler: "Stereotypes are easier than research. They look better too!"] Yet another opportunity to cast a Native actor or create an interesting, nuanced portrayal of a Native character goes down the toilet in a swirl of racism.

Polyglot animals!

Polyglot animals! published on No Comments on Polyglot animals!

Derek Abbott's Animal Noise Page tells you what the standard onomatopoeia is for animals in different languages. Interesting how a cuckoo basically says "cuckoo" in all languages shown! Snakes also pretty much all say "ssss."

There's also a fascinating section on animal commands, so you can find out how to say "giddyap," "whoa," "here kitty kitty" and "scat" in different languages.

EDIT: For more fun and to hear people actually saying the onomatapoeia [not just for animals], go to bzzzpeek. It's fascinating!

“Vocal fry”

“Vocal fry” published on 2 Comments on “Vocal fry”

Wow, ya learn something new everyday. I didn't even know that that low, grating tone that you put on the end of words sometimes even had a name, but apparently it does. The New York Times introduced me to the subject in an article about linguistic novelty among girls. Unfortunately, it's difficult to describe vocal fry, but you know it when you hear it. Here's a Youtube commentary on vocal fry, including some examples. In my experience, vocal fry seems to be an affectation to suggest sophistication, doubt, frustration or sarcasm.

What the hell is this poop?

What the hell is this poop? published on 1 Comment on What the hell is this poop?

Via Shakesville, this “editorial” is not only sexist, misogynist and essentialist, but it’s also completely incoherent. This is my favorite sentence, primarily because it makes no sense:

Anyone serious about thinking through the role of women in today’s civilization is doing worthless work unless they take the controversies on the right hand in hand with the unsuccessfully suppressed tensions on the opposite side of the spectrum, where disagreements far more volatile in their profundity roil respectable liberalism.

How does bilge like this even get published?? This is some of the worst writing I’ve ever come across in my life, and I’ve seen some doozies.

Now on track to becoming slightly more informed

Now on track to becoming slightly more informed published on No Comments on Now on track to becoming slightly more informed

Ever since last spring, I've been sad because my main source of news, the New York Times, put a limit on free reading to 20 articles a month. Recently I looked into digital subscription prices and discovered that I could easily afford a digital subscription at $15.00 a month. So I got one.

The thing is, I used my account information from an account that I created back in 1996, when I started reading the Times my first year in college. Therefore my user ID is "bowiegirl." Well, I'm not a girl, but the reference to David Bowie is still accurate! Ah, the good old days…

Ginevra the one-winged fairy

Ginevra the one-winged fairy published on 1 Comment on Ginevra the one-winged fairy

Today I worked on Ginevra, a Soom Spider Faery Sprite in magenta skin. First I tried gluing the magnets into her wings and back so that she could have articulated wings. One wing got stuck together at the magnets, so it couldn't pivot. When I tried to separate the magnets, the resin cup on her wing holding one of the magnets broke. There is no way to fix it unless I want a static, unpivotable wing on that side, which I don't, so I guess she's a one-winged fairy. Note to self: When gluing in magnets for future dolls' wings, let the Super Glue dry thoroughly on one part before hurriedly trying to assemble everything together.

Anyway, I then gave Ginevra a faceup. That means that I gave her brick red lips and very stylized eyebrows, and that was it. I'm not really one for detailed faceups, so good thing Ginervra didn't need one. She just wanted a little color to bring out the beauty of her headsculpt: the long eyes, the arched brows, the Roman nose, the plushy lips.

After sealing Ginevra's faceup, I dressed her in her full-set outfit minus the armwarmers and shoes. The raw edges of the black and magenta fabric, the loose layering and the mess of danglies all go well with my simple, messy faceup design.

I've had the hardest time deciding what type of hair to give Ginevra. Then, when I was taking pictures of her in her current eyeless and hairless state, it hit me: Like Sardonix and Noodge, Ginevra doesn't need hair! This solution appeals to my laziness and to my aesthetic sense. Any hair on Ginevra's head would distract from the beauty of her headsculpt, which I love for its hilariously crabby expression. So she just needs some eyes [the 6mm ones I got were too small — she needs 8mm!], and then she's done, waiting for her fairy comrade Flower, who will have two wings successfully attached.
Continue reading Ginevra the one-winged fairy

Doll meetup, 02/11/12: Janvier Jett

Doll meetup, 02/11/12: Janvier Jett published on 1 Comment on Doll meetup, 02/11/12: Janvier Jett

Three of us — me, vermont chick and goldi — met in the Koolvord Room, Brownell Library, Essex Junction, today for an hour of photos and fun, despite the bitter wind chill factors. See the next three posts for the pictures I took.

From left to right: vermont chick's Iplehouse Zera named Zofia, goldi's FairyLand Littlefee Chloe named Penny and Janvier Jett serenading them all.
Continue reading Doll meetup, 02/11/12: Janvier Jett

Out of perverse curiosity…

Out of perverse curiosity… published on No Comments on Out of perverse curiosity…

…I listened to a podcast of Dan Savage’s on which Ira Glass [of This American Life fame] was a guest, and oh my God…it was like a symphony of irritatingness. Two self-congratulatory, smug, recursive assholes thinking they’re the wittiest thing since [insert really witty thing here]. Dan Savage is quickly becoming a so-bad-it’s-good pleasure.

Techniques of Pleasure by Margot Weiss

Techniques of Pleasure by Margot Weiss published on 1 Comment on Techniques of Pleasure by Margot Weiss

So Margot Weiss wrote an ethnographic study of San Fran's kinky scene, Techniques of Pleasure, finding it much more conservative and less transgressive than it would like to believe itself. Weiss challenges BDSM's portrayal of itself [see review/interview in Salon], saying that:

It's not diverse. Weiss finds that, at least in San Fran, the community is boringly white in its racial homogeneity.

It's not wild. Strict rules govern scenes.

It's not transcendent. It's mired in consumerism [all those special toys!] and reproducing societal inequities.

I'm definitely interested in reading this analysis. In parting, I leave you with one of my favorite Onion articles: S&M Couple Won't Stop Droning On About Their Fetishes.

A new 1:6 scale saga: Me and My Muses

A new 1:6 scale saga: Me and My Muses published on 3 Comments on A new 1:6 scale saga: Me and My Muses

From the creator of the beloved Boston vampire melodrama Love Has Fangs comes a new serial starring 1:6 scale dolls: Me and My Muses. With new eps every Monday, Me and My Muses follows the adventures of Ellery Langrock, a young queer woman, and the various magical and sexy characters inside her head. Episode 1.1: "Introduction" is below. Please give me a comment; they make me happy!

Continue reading A new 1:6 scale saga: Me and My Muses

Doll meetup, 01/14/12: all dolls

Doll meetup, 01/14/12: all dolls published on No Comments on Doll meetup, 01/14/12: all dolls

vermont chick and I met in the Koolvord Room of Brownell Library, Essex Junction, yesterday. She brought her new Iplehouse Barahan, and I brought Sardonix and Noodge. I took 200 pictures [primarily because my hands were shaking], mostly of her Barahan, since he is so handsome, with his serene smirk. Below, pictures of Barahan, Sardonix and Noodge.

Continue reading Doll meetup, 01/14/12: all dolls

Work It, episode 2

Work It, episode 2 published on No Comments on Work It, episode 2

Summary: Jerkwad protagonists Lee and Angel actually go on sales calls. Angel gets results by stereotypically flirting and playing up "feminine" mannerisms. Lee gets jealous and accusatory, then tries the flirty style to great failure. Meanwhile Angel gets a date with one of the doctors he was selling to.

Analysis: Oh God, I can feel my will to watch draining away as I watch this show. I feel my mouth hardening into a permanent cringe. I thought that the collective scorn and criticism of the Internet and the known world would force this show back into the dank hole of "isms" whence it came, but apparently not.

The transphobia…because Lee can't describe how Angel looks as a woman without mocking him for stereotypically masculine traits such as big biceps and a broad chin!

The sexism and misogyny…because this episode just assumes without question that women using their sexuality in the workplace to get what they want is acceptable and appropriate!

The slut shaming…because Lee can't express his jealousy of Angel's success without intimating that Angel is a whore!

The trivialization of date rape…because Angel was going to drug his doctor date if the date put any moves on him!

The homophobia…because God forbid that two men touch in an affectionate or intimate manner!

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive list of prejudices evinced in Work It. The stupidity is multi-dimensional, much the same way as Dan Savage's bigotry, and no one entry can comprehend it all…maybe a series.

My favorite response to Work It was someone's tweet saying, "I think ABC left out a letter when they described this as 'the new hit show!'" LOL!

Sexism on a customer service line

Sexism on a customer service line published on 4 Comments on Sexism on a customer service line

So today I called Dental Dental of Illinois' customer service hotline to try to find out which type of Delta Dental I had. One of the first questions that the rep asked me, even before my name or ID number, was, "Who's the holder of the policy, your husband?"

Let's break that down…

The rep knew nothing about me, not even my name or my ID number, no personal information, except for that I sounded stereotypically feminine. He therefore automatically assumed that:

a) I was a woman.

b) I was heterosexual.

c) I was married.

d) I did not have insurance under my own name.

I can understand assumption a), but were any of the others warranted? NO! What stupidity!

P.S. MY HUSBAND?!?!?!?!?!? What husband?

Work It is a racist turd.

Work It is a racist turd. published on 2 Comments on Work It is a racist turd.

Besides being horrible for reasons I enumerated previously in my first two entries about Work It [1, 2], ABC's comedy about two men impersonating women to get sales jobs, the show is also racist as heck. Arturo of Racialicious discusses the show's racist crack about Puerto Ricans automatically being good at selling drugs, how this line has stirred criticism around the country and how the star who said the line has not responded at all. ABC, cancel this rotten mess!

Reasons that Dan Savage is a shit.

Reasons that Dan Savage is a shit. published on No Comments on Reasons that Dan Savage is a shit.

Dan Savage, a gay male advice columnist who writes for the Seattle Stranger, has some cachet among liberals/Democrats/progressives as being queer-friendly, pro-kink and open-minded, but he still has lots of privilege as a thin, white, rich, cis, married, U.S. man. I’ve collected several criticisms of his advice which should make you think long and hard before calling this columnist helpful, progressive and open-minded. In no particular order…here they are…
Continue reading Reasons that Dan Savage is a shit.

A review of the first episode of Work It

A review of the first episode of Work It published on No Comments on A review of the first episode of Work It

Earlier I wrote about ABC's new sitcom Work It, in which two men impersonate women to get jobs at a sales company. I just caught the first episode of this dung heap on Hulu. I am here to report that I stand by my earlier comments about all the show's prejudices and to report that it was, besides being offensive on many levels, poorly written with unfunny jokes, unoriginal characters and lazy execution.

A few especially stupid and offensive moments stood out for me after my cursory viewing:

1. In an early conversation in a bar, the laid-off protagonist commiserates with his two laid-off friends, a mechanic and a shuttle driver. The shuttle driver describes the recession as a "mancession," insists that women are "taking over" and predicts that soon men will only be kept around as "sex slaves" if women continue asserting their dominance. This character is factually incorrect; there is no mancession; women are not taking over, and the joke about "sex slaves" makes light of sexual abuse and rape. While the shuttle driver clearly serves as the "stupid comic relief friend" archetype, no one corrects him or calls him out on his behavior, thus reinforcing the idea that his false interpretation of events is acceptable.

2. While I have detailed earlier how the entire show is transphobic, one especially transphobic moment caught my eye. In a flashback scene where the protagonist, now impersonating a woman, tells the mechanic "how he does it," a saleswoman is shown at a counter. She sees someone off-camera and screams and recoils. The camera then shows the protagonist with makeup all over his face [including lipstick on his teeth, blech], imploring the saleswoman, "Help me, please…help me!" The laugh track resounds.

Now is the saleswoman [and the laugh track] laughing at a generally bad application of makeup or a man in drag? It doesn't really matter because the show is mocking the protagonist, who dares to "look bad" in makeup. The show thus looks down on the protagonist's gender presentation in that scene, allowing the interpretation that the saleswoman shrieks because of the "incongruity" in a stereotypically masculine-presenting person wearing makeup, a stereotypically feminine accessory. The rigid implicit heteronormative bias of the saleswoman's shocked scream militates against anyone who dares to deviate from traditional stereotypical masc/fem gender presentations.

I really hate this show. It's bad, and it's offensive.

“Barbie Trashes Her Dream House”

“Barbie Trashes Her Dream House” published on 1 Comment on “Barbie Trashes Her Dream House”

Carrie Becker did a series of 1:6 dioramas entitled "Barbie Trashes Her Dream House," in which 1:6 scenes were made to look as if taken over by messy hoarders. While some miniatures she used were Rement, others she made by hand. Check out the whole detailed set on Flickr!

1:6 tombstones

1:6 tombstones published on No Comments on 1:6 tombstones

I’m on a quest to find 1:6 tombstones. I need to make a 1:6 cemetery set for Ellery to hang out in and write in her diary in.

I could design some in PhotoShop Elements and print them out on a color printer, but I don’t want to make them because I am lazy. I typed in “miniature cemetery” and “miniature tombstones” and “miniature headstones,” etc., into search engines, but all I came up with were 1:12 miniatures. Too small! I eventually had the genius idea of trying Halloween decorations [“halloween miniature cemetery”]. But, at 9.75″ tall, the tombstones were more like 1:3 scale than 1:6 scale.

Rats! Thinking about what objects might be the appropriate size, I came up with magnets and salt and pepper shakers. A search of “tombstone” on Etsy revealed many salt and pepper shakers of the appropriate size. I decided against these because they all had silly poems about “Here lies Pepper/Salt” on them that would not have contributed to the realism.

Finally I discovered these tombstone magnets by Dellamorte Co., “curators of the reliquary macabre.” Each of the 3 magnets are around 3″ high, their silhouettes and symbols drawn directly from those I have seen on 17th and 18th century graves in places around Massachusetts. While they don’t have epitaphs, the magnets do have Latin admonitions common to tombstones of that era, all about the shortness of life and inevitability of death. While there are fewer of these ornate graves in Vermont [where Me and My Muses is set] than in, say, Massachusetts, these magnets look suitably sepulchral and about the right size [maybe a little small?], so I got them.

Further bulletins as events warrant!

EDIT: Well, shit. “Tabletop tombstone” in the search engine gets me all kinds of appropriately sized resin or plastic tombstones. I was just using imprecise keywords!!

I hate Lifetime Xmas movies part deux!!!

I hate Lifetime Xmas movies part deux!!! published on No Comments on I hate Lifetime Xmas movies part deux!!!

Yesterday, I watched another Lifetime Xmas movie, The Road to Xmas, in which a woman is happily engaged to an Italian man. He’s preparing a surprise wedding for her in Aspen and, when one of her photography shoots is canceled, she decides to fly out early to surprise him. When her flight is canceled, she hitches a ride with a widower and his teenaged daughter. The woman [naturally :p ] falls in love with the widower, conveniently discovers her fiance’s infidelity and dumps the fiance for the widower.

For a Lifetime Xmas movie, The Road to Xmas was surprisingly tolerable. This is probably because the movie itself was a road-trip romance that happened to occur arround Xmas, rather than a film in which Xmas plays a starring role as the holiday of cliched and enforced happiness for all.

Because I could watch Road to Xmas without gagging on holiday cheer, its problematic elements stood out all the more strongly: 1) homophobia and 2) domestic violence.

You see…the photographer’s fiance wasn’t just having an affair with some random woman…he was sexing it up with the male wedding planner. After unbelievable excuses, the fiance protests that he really wanted the wedding between him and the photographer to work out, which makes him seem like not only a cheater, but a cheater deluded enough to think that a straight marriage would somehow keep both parties happy when one party is secretly gay. After an entirely heteronormative movie, two gay characters appear only to provide a devastating [yet convenient] end to the photographer and fiance’s relationship, thus reinforcing the idea that gay people are selfish homewreckers.

I also objected to the domestic violence at the end of the film. When she discovered that her fiance was gay, the photographer swung her fists at him, slapping him and pounding him in the chest. He said something like, “Please don’t hit me!” or “Why are you hitting me?” Her response was something like, “It’s the only thing I can think to do, and it feels good.” The photographer’s blows against her fiance were shown to be ineffectual and comic, but just make the assailant a man and the victim a woman to see how chilling this exchange truly is. Can you imagine a male character justifying violence against a female character by saying, “It feels good”? Most people would recognize such a situation as the abusive behavior it is. When the assailant is female, however, and the victim male, the situation is minimized, diminished and played for comic relief so that the violence seems more palatable, even acceptable and dismissable! Vomitorious.

“Man down”: mocking men for “effeminacy” in Samsung Focus Flash ads

“Man down”: mocking men for “effeminacy” in Samsung Focus Flash ads published on No Comments on “Man down”: mocking men for “effeminacy” in Samsung Focus Flash ads

Hulu is playing ads for the Samsung Focus Flash smart phone these days, and both ads that I've seen so far piss me off because they both contain mockery of men who dare to deviate from culturally presecribed masculinity.

In one ad, a man tries on a pink shirt and black tights, then asks his friends via phone, "Do I look like an ice skater?" Despite his female significant other's assurance that he looks fine, his social network [whom he calls "the guys"] respond with jibes such as "Man down." These comments imply that Pink Shirt is losing his manhood by a) wearing such an outfit and b) allowing his female significant other to select clothing for him. Pink Shirt's peer group polices masculinity by teasing and shaming those who deviate from the machismo of current U.S. masculinity.

In the other ad I've seen, two men are threatening each other with things to post to Youtube. Friend A shows a video of Friend B crying at a movie, calling it a video of "a sad, sad man," with sad meaning both "unhappy" and also "pathetic" here. When Friend B teases Friend A about a comment from Friend A's girlfriend, Friend A threatens to post a video of Friend B in a shower cab in bathtub, washing his legs. Friend A impugns Friend B's masculinity by showing Friend B doing "effeminate" things such as crying at a movie or wearing a shower cab in the tub. The social network, like Friend A, who calls Friend B "a sad, sad man," responds instantly with derision.

I can't believe this campaign. The whole point of this phone is to easily update one's social networks, and the best way the execs can think to do this is by having the characters insult one another's gender expression? It's a sad, sad ["unhappy" + "pathetic"] view of social networks as promoters of rigid joyless conformity. It's also a sad, sad view of friendship as superficial togetherness masking secret wells of nasty criticism.

I hate Lifetime Xmas movies.

I hate Lifetime Xmas movies. published on No Comments on I hate Lifetime Xmas movies.

They all contain female protagonists who are over the hill at my age >:( [Eve’s Xmas] and who learn the true, fulfilling value of heterosexual marriage through the intervention of unrealistic “meet cutes” [His and Hers Xmas] or Magical Wise Negro fairy godfathers. Vomit vomit vomit. They’re sort of fascinating in a stomach-churning sort of way.

Repartee to bigots??

Repartee to bigots?? published on 1 Comment on Repartee to bigots??

On this thread on Dances With Fat about LGBT ally George Takei’s fat phobia, commenter Saffie brings a possible retort for people who stick their noses in and offer bigoted, shaming comments about her fat body:

My favorite response?

  • “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
  • “What loss?”
  • “Seems like your parents weren’t around to teach you manners. I just thought you must have lost them at a very young age.”

Recognizing that not everyone is raised by their parents and it’s not appropriate to bring up parental death to strangers who may have had parents who died, I would change this conversation as follows:

  • Bigot: [stupid comment]
  • Person: I’m so sorry for your loss.
  • Bigot: Bzuh?
  • Person: You seem to have tragically lost your manners. My condolences.

HAH HAH HAH HAH!

“One card is celebrating moms for all they do during the holidays.”

“One card is celebrating moms for all they do during the holidays.” published on 2 Comments on “One card is celebrating moms for all they do during the holidays.”

I just came across an outrageous online ad for Mastercard. It said that, if you sign up for this special, you can spend $200.00 online and get a $20.00 gift card. I have no objection to the particular promotion itself, but it's the framing of the promotion that enrages me. It's targeted explicitly toward moms, including the text in the subject line of my entry.

This ad assumes that…

1) Everyone viewing it does holiday [i.e., Xmas] shopping.

2) Those who do shop are mothers. Other people don't shop.

3) The best way to reward people for undergoing the aggravating, time-consuming, frequently stressful, often anxiety-producing business of shopping is to give them more money so they can do more shopping. That doesn't sound like a reward to me.

This ad just recapitulates the tired sexist trope that mothers are responsible not for a family's support or earning, but for a family's consumption and happiness [in the form of gifts]. The gift card that urges its recipients to spend $20.00 more than the $200.00 they already have, to mother more, to consume more, to do more for the holidays, to somehow be better mothers.

The kyriarchy is never satisfied. It denigrates women, but then expects them to achieve impossibly high standards of feminine "perfection." One can't win!

Doll meetup, 12/10/11: TIny Thai, Essex Center

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vermont chick, goldi, JustKate89 and I met this afternoon at Tiny Thai in Essex Center for some frigid pictures at the gazebo in the Essex Shoppes parking lot.

Attending were [L to R] vermont chick's Alchemic Lab Unoa Lusis, my Araminthe, JustKate89's Angel of Dream Mimi and goldi's Fairyland Minifee Chloe. They are all holding onto their hair because it was windy out!
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Prudie advises woman with blankie

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Advice columnists can sometimes give terrible advice, with Prudie from Slate being no exception. Being very cross with the cissexist, misogynist, fatphobic, ableist advice columnist Dan Savage, I was pleased to read some advice of Prudie's that made sense to me.

The questioner, a 27-year-old woman with a blankie, noted that her significant other did not like the blankie. Prudie said that, "after talking with blankie" [hah!], the questioner should let her significant other know that the blankie is not going anywhere. Prudie described the blankie as a harmless object that fills the space of lucky charm or security object in the questioner's life, and the blankie should not be derided or dismissed, as it is not doing the questioner any harm.

As someone who still enjoys snuggling with the teddy bear that I received for my first birthday, I approve of this message.

ABC’s new dung heap of a show: Work It

ABC’s new dung heap of a show: Work It published on No Comments on ABC’s new dung heap of a show: Work It

So I learned, thanks to Shakesville, that ABC has a new show coming out in fall 2012 called Work It. In this show, two cis straight guys pretend to be cis straight women in order to get jobs. How bilgey is that?

Oh, the horrible sexism. Shows like this, which pretend to be reflective about gender and sex but really aren't, usually end up cementing the vast, irreconciliable differences that supposedly exist between men and women. Shows like this also tend to suggest that, somehow, the male protagonists are better at being women [you know, fooling all those stupid cis straight wimmenz] than women are, thus denigrating the sex and gender of women.

Oh, the horrible transphobia too. Shows like this assert that it's funny when biologically male people try to radically change their gender presentation. Shows like this say that biologically male people who radically change their gender presentation will never successfully pass; they'll always eventually be seen as their "true," biologically male selves. Shows like this portray gender transition as fatuous and ultimately futile, preferring to see it as a comedic device, rather than a way that some people use to manifest their true identities.

Oh, finally, the horrible stupidity. It doesn't really make sense, given the barriers to employment that women face [such as pay disparities with men and risks of sexual harassment], that being a woman would somehow make things easier for our two cis straight guys. In fact, new challenges would crop up, not of the easily resolved comic variety, but of the deeply situated, kyrarchical kind. What a stupid show!

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