territorial pissings

More thinking about the movie;( Major spoilers! )

About Dolezal, race, and transgender issues;

Okay, first off; nobody questioned her ethnicity before I think because they assumed "well, who'd want to fake being one of us and put up with the bullshit we go through?" This is at a slightly different level from the usual way people may claim First Nations ancestry while not having to put up with the worst gunk Indians put up with (a little more on that below as that is hugely about money).

So setting aside my biases (I'm obviously pretty biased towards transgender folks, as we're talking about my friends here, and by definition that means I trust what they say); why would someone claim to be, and bust all kinds of ass to find recognition as, a largely less empowered group? Usually the only answer to that is "someone who's finding a solid footing in identity which they'd previously lacked." You'll notice that there are thousands of people who transition gender; thousands of people who bust all sorts of ass to feel more in touch with their heritage, even if it's a heritage which has been largely undervalued; there are even a few dozen people each year who decide they're going to put up with the bullshit Jews face, because a Jewish identity is comfortable at some level. By comparison this makes one person who used her ability to pass as Black to her advantage (and if she passes visually, that implies it isn't always advantageous for her either with white or Black people!). One.

Which of course gets to my next point. Which is better, that you give everyone the benefit of the doubt and one or relatively few people exploit that? Or that you give nobody the benefit of the doubt, avoiding any chance of manipulation at the cost of being less compassionate? The choice here is obvious if you're more inclined to be a berkenstocky love-fest softy or if you're more obsessed with punishment, threat and wrong. Remember we're the same society that eagerly makes poor people jump through hoops to prove they might merit benefits, with prominent members who feel basic health care deserves being earned somehow, who feel we need stricter and less questioned law-enforcement. And one can see that attitude manifest elswhere in race and gender discussion. The giant outpouring of condemnation indicates something very basically nasty and vicious about people's belief in threat.

In fact I'll also point out that I feel this whole thing has been presented in a horribly prejudicial manner. I don't know much at all about Spokane, but I can tell you that if I were going to mention a place right on the frontlines of civil rights disputes I'd probably name some place like LA, Oakland, Chicago, or NYC. Even Baltimore or St. Louis wouldn't be places I would not think of without knowing better; Spokane's way down the list. The worst thing Ms. Dolezal's apparently done is claim descent she doesn't have. Compare this to how the media might handle similar right-wingers or what offenses they might offer.

Lastly, again, I would like to mention that as Americans we have a huge blind spot about money where race, and gender, issues are concerned. We seem to adore making racism, sexism and homophobia into clear cut topics devoid of financial impact; the bad guys are some obvious racist screaming the N word while curb-stomping a Black kid, or from the other side, a hypothetical "fake" woman sneaking peeks at high school girls in the shower or someone not actually Black claiming they are, that sort of thing.

Yet you look at all of this, and a lot of it's about money. Even something as basic as "I can't get married, which impacts my taxes and health insurance costs, or credit to get a car or house" is a huge thing and that barely gets into stuff like covering the costs of HRT and therapy, or trying to support a family on a fast-food-worker's current salary, or the way it's more affordable for poor Latinos trying to get a footing to live by a refinery, and just what that means to health. I keep feeling that a lot of gunk going on in this society requires better infrastructure and regulation to resolve, and infrastructure or regulation are anathema as they might cost the wealthiest few in this country a little bit of profits (tell me, what definition of capitalism doesn't benefit from having a larger number of healthier consumers with more income to buy product?). And I find this frustrating.

So I saw Mad Max; Fury Road. It's ridiculously awesome. If you're the sort of person who went "I wish the truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark lasted an hour," this is your movie. Some thoughts; ( Spoilers below )

Toon x DnD; black and white Fleischer inspired dungeon with improbable traps (per Bingo's Initiation), (1/6)

monsters appearing must really be able to squash and stretch and can be imagined as being voiced by Cab Calloway (ropers/mimics/etc); (2/6)

characters start with a limited number of Musical Routine Points, which they can use to nullify trap/monster effects, (3/6)

and may earn more "MRPs" by describing the musical routine or by creating lyrics. (4/6)

Scenario is timed to mimic length of a 1930s animated short. If the PCs have remaining MRPs, they loot the dungeon with a happy dance. (5/6)

If the PCs have no remaining MRPs characters are assumed to have raced home in one of those weirdly anticlimactic Fleischer endings. (6/6)

OH YEAH MICHAEL WHELAN.

What makes it a GOLDEN SPIRAL? GOLDEN PASTRY. With REAL FRUIT FILLING. You get a big delight in every bite of this old compositional rule!

And then you subdivide your composition by a square, and then a smaller square, and then a still smaller square... #GoldenRatio

until eventually you stop trying to actually draw something and just obsessively construct smaller and smaller squares. #GoldenRatio

AND YOU CAN'T AVOID THE #GoldenRatio OR THE #RuleOfThirds. YOU ARE STUCK BEING OLD RENAISSANCE MASTER BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE...

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO COMPOSITIONALLY, YOU MUST, AND WILL, SUBMIT. So chill out, 'cause if it isn't utter shit you probably did it right!

guys guys THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING so I woke up early and hungry and walked 2+ miles to and from breakfast and then my hosts woke up hungry.

So we made breakfast and now I'm HAVING SECOND BREAKFAST, in a place FULL OF FERNS. In my bare feet. I'M LIVING THE HOBBIT DREAM.

Any moment now I'm going to start smoking and singing bad filk about Beren Half-Hand and Luthien the Fair, or about how I like hot baths.

Oh water cold we may pour in need down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed!" (I'm enough of a nerd to do this from memory...)

"But better is BEER if drink we lack and water hot poured down the back!"

* deletes meaningless musical number about hot baths to make space for meaningless action sequence in movie.*

JRRT; look this is my fanfic so I'm including a folk song which doesn't further the plot but builds the idea that middle earth is old & big.

PJ; look this is my fanfic so I'm including a part with high angle shots of Bombur rolling over orcs in slow motion, to "Spybreak."

Y'know, if I'm gonna go for dweeby and silly, let's go all-out. Time to take my shirt off and watch me some #AmokTime.

Jim apparently has decided to clamber on ladders today. Also; "The tiny little dresses on the spaaaace girls!" - Frank Zappa #AmokTime

Wow, I forgot Theodore Sturgeon wrote this thing. Oh man, that bass riff. I swear that riff is THE BEST THING in #AmokTime.

OH NO HE HAS A COMB! HE'S GOING TO STAB JIM IN THE TOUPEE! #AmokTime

What do those big pictures at the top of the bridge do anyway? Are they some sort of scans or weird motivational posters? #AmokTime

Come to think of it, why is the science station a standing-room only thing that flashes you in the face? #AmokTime #poordesigndecisions

Gee, cause snapping angrily at the guy with some sort of psych issue is really gonna help here, Bones. #AmokTime

Oh man, TERRIBLE tangents in these camera shots.

Wow. I'd never before gotten the irony that Spock, actually, was hoping that being half-human would mean he's too rational to do Pon Farr.

Geez I realize it'd involve what Starfleet issue socks look like but doesn't anyone take their boots off before napping, in the future?

You'll excuse me please while I make gagging noises at the sexism. Yeah I know it was the 60s and future gender norms were different but ew.

Gah, SO Elfquesty. Also, uh, isn't she like his fiancee not his wife until he kills someone for her? Murdercee or something. #AmokTime

I understand "this gong sounds awesome, let's bong it!" is illogical but hitting it again won't get them to show up sooner. #AmokTime

"Vhat, these nice gentiles show up from off-plenet for a vedding and you can't even offuh them a cup coffee or maybe a danish?" #AmokTime

The only people cool with T'Pring's decision are T'Pau & bardiche dude and that's only cause it gives them an excuse to be jerky. #AmokTime

Ugh, what's with all the tangents in every close or collar shot in this episode? It's REALLY BUGGING ME.

Aww DUDE that burst of flame from behind Spock suggests he just cut one. Lotta fiber in Nurse Chapel's version of Vulcan cuisine. #AmokTime

"I'll just knock him out with my patented two-fisted downwards swing. It ALWAYS works especially when my shirt's ripped." #AmokTime

MELEE COMBAT WITH THE LIRPA LOOF! Soon to be followed by the deadly WIN-DECKS and the horrible SWET SOKS. #AmokTime

T'Pau and bardiche dude are SERIOUSLY enjoying their assholitude. "Oh, you didn't KNOW it was a combat to the death WELL TOO BAD." #AmokTime

T'Pau, at least a complete n00b can figure out something like a monk's spade - what is this ahn-woon bullshit? you really ARE a total prick.

And now the two dudes are gonna roll around with each other in dirt with testosterone levels out the wazoo. Oh my. #AmokTime

"Hey STON! Enjoy that you're now engaged to a total backstabbing little weasel!" #AmokTime

I am fuming about news from Indiana. Hopefully, this will backfire by providing a court case and therefore legal precedent for saying this is bullshit.

Rather than lash out about how people choose to express their understanding of Christianity, I will point out that any government which scapegoats a group is inevitably distracting its citizens from something, and in this case it's painfully obvious that these guys are covering for their inability to provide infrastructure, accountability, or prosperity.

What kids your generation might not understand is that, back in the 90s, there really WAS time for Klax. #KlaxWave #OooWOOO

THE SPICE EXTENDS LIFE. THE SPICE EXPANDS CONSCIOUSNESS. THE SPICE IS VITAL TO SPACE TRAVEL. *dumps dijon mustard liberally onto sausages*

Everyone who's ever been shadow cast for Dune wants to be Feyd-Rautha or the Baron because they get the best musical numbers.

I mean aside from her initial "What's in the Box?" number (admittedly dynamite)the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam barely gets ANY lines.

"Whoa! They have begun to fold space!" *ssssuck* *sssuck* *KOFFKOFFKOFF*
"In other words time for a rave with the space fetus!"

"HAIL MUA'DIB, SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE. AND HOW CAN THIS BE? FOR HE IS THE KWISATZ HADERACH."

"What do you mean, 'Paul Atreides approaching?'"
"On a giant sandworm. Shall I alert the Emperor?" #MuaDibPictureShow #IWannaGoooo

"Guild skyliner approaching Planet Caitain."
"Guild Navigators, march below me to the presence of Emperor Shaddam IV."

"The tooth? You can't handle the tooth!" #AtTheLateNight #ScienceFiction #MovieShowwww

*follows up the music that goes with Dr. Yueh's betrayal with "Dentist" from "Little Shop of Horrors." SAY AAAAAGH

"Take your hand out of the box and look at it."
*Paul stares at his hand*
"NOTHING! There's NOTHING in the box! STUPID! YOU'RE SO STUPID!"

"The forms of canle have been observed! Well?"
*gestures. Harkonen troops laugh nervously as expected*
*Dance Magic Dance musical number*

"ONWARDS MY BRAVE FREMEN! LET THIS BE KNOWN FOREVER AS PAUL MUA'DIB'S DAY!"

"ShaHUCH! Mua'DIB!"
"Korba's hit! I'm going in after him!"
"IMPETUOUS BOY! OH WELL WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER ANYWAY!" #LargeBeardyYellingMen

GLYPTODONT GLYPTODONT FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GLYPTODONT
WEALTH&FAME HE'S IGNORED PALM FRONDS ARE HIS REWARD
LOOK OUT HERE COMES A GLYPTODONT

GLYPTODONT GLYPTODONT ARMORED RODENT A GLYPTODONT
IS HE STRONG LISTEN BUB
HE'S GOT A TAIL SHAPED LIKE A CLUB

re superhero theme tunes. My idea for a Hulk theme. You'd have some sort of opening lyric about BRUCE BANNER PHYSICS GENIUS, AND THEN...

... the instrumentals would simply become random noises and banging drums, and the vocals would be incoherent yelling for about a minute...

... and then you'd get this surf guitar reverb and the lyrics would just be HULK.

The Grid is a digital frontier & he's basically envisioning packet transfer, but what I know about that doesn't match how Tron Legacy looks.

"I've seen Seabees glittering in their armor at the biCMOS gate. And now all these... memories will be lost like tears in the rain." #Nerdy

Okay swapping out Daft Punk soundtracks b/c I can talk kinda more coherently about Zentraedi & space guitars than about packet refresh rate.

#BritishSexPositions the "Bitsa Wispa." The "Curly Wurly." The "Dairy Milk Giant Buttons." The "good Lord, you don't just TALK about that!"

"Tories and Britain's working classes," recommended only for people with a LOT of experience with anal fisting. #BritishSexPositions"

Privatizing British Rail," #BritishSexPositions

#BritishSexPositions and of course, there's celibacy, better known as the "BBC's fair representation of Green Party candidates."

CRAP it's the part of Krull where Colwyn's broken the transaxle and is just grinding metal and the Wolfen are closing in. #HornerSoundtracks

And then they beam down to the Genesis planet to find the Glaive! #HornerSoundtracks

[K] So. I'm seriously thinking of doing the 50 Shades movie run. Dressed in leathers. Carrying a notepad to say what they do right and wrong.

[K] I am *also* seriously considering walking to the front window dressed, and with a straight face say "One for Spongebob Squarepants, please."

@K Fifty Shades of Spongebob, about Spongebob and Patrick hitting each other with paddles because they think it's hilarious.

@K ... and it'd feature Squidward as a shibari expert who knows the Real Way to do BDSM and that the pair are Doing It Wrong.

@K ...and it'd have a vague plot about Plankton trying to sell posture collars to outcompete our heroes' shop, "Mr. K Leather."

"Instead of a Dark Lord you shall have a QUEEN! My scales are like armor! My claws are like knives! ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!" #Drgns

"Hot Partly Naked Reptile Women" is one of D&D's tropes much like "Robed Skeletal Figures." I'm sure Paizo HAS tried to combine them.

The Pathfinder Guide to Hot Partly Naked Reptile Women. (There's at least 3-4 monsters that fit that theme.)

thump thump BANG
cynodont cynodont EINS ZWEI DREI VIER
I WANT TO BE WITH THE CYNODONT GIRL
I COULD BE HAPPY THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH HER

(Oh yeah. When I filk "Cinnamon Girl" I'm thinking of the Type O Neg cover. Sort of like the way "Spider Man" is the Ramones version right?)

IS HE STRONG LISTEN MA
HE'S GOT TUSKS IN HIS LOWER JAW
LOOK OUT HERE COMES THE GOMPHOTHERE

So put me in the wheelchair and in the time machine
Hurry hurry hurry to the Oligocene
I can't control my fingers I can't control my spleen

You are my soy sauce, my only soy sauce o/~

Am disappointed that 50 Shades of Grey has nothing to do with how after falling through Moria with the Balrog, he becomes Gandalf the White.

1. So I grew up in Georgia and somehow managed to miss many of that state's redeeming features.

The Indigo Girls met and started playing music at the Decatur high school I passed on my way to ride MARTA in to get to Sword of the Phoenix; REM and the B-52s were I guess too edgy and Queer-positive for anyone in my high school to like, and my father's taste in music (classical and some jazz and folk rock) dominated everything at home; I never got to explore Five Points; down the way from me, some guys who were all afire to completely revamp how we saw roleplaying games (to be fair, they did a lot) started a gaming company called White Wolf.

Eventually I graduated high school and went to The University of Michigan. At the time, forging exotic out of state drivers' licenses was a quick way for underage students to get alcohol, so out of state students were instantly popular to talk to. The two questions I got most frequently were "where's your accent?" (my parents are New Yorkers, and my accent is some weird hybrid of Brooklyn/rural Georgia/metro Atlanta which sounded pretty midwestern even before I lived in Michigan for a while) and "do you like REM?" I'd be anxious to appease people and so I'd say yes to that second question.

This meant that when I started investigating pop music, REM was one of the first bands I wanted to try listening to, and of course since they were REM, they totally blew my mind.

2. These days I actually love playing the cleric. Clerics have awesome role-playing hooks as part of their religions, and when you're the cleric, the default action of healing allies starts out great - then you get to have some cool other spells, and you can still wade into combat or snipe from a distance in a way arcane classes can't.

When I was fresh out of Georgia, though, cleric was the role nobody wanted. This is enough editions of D&D ago that fighter classes and thieves got to do the exciting chunky damage, druids had limited healing abilities, bards weren't a viable option for someone who wanted to play with other personalities and abilities and still do healing, and you couldn't just buy up Wands of Cure Light.

I was also trying to be A Good Jewish Boy, because that's what my parents insisted and I hadn't thought to try anything else yet, which meant on Friday nights I'd trundle to Hillel and daven and walk back to the dorm. As the days grew shorter and Shabbas services started earlier, I'd start getting back in time to play D&D - but not quite back early enough to stake out the exciting ranger/thief/whatever roles. I got to be cleric a lot, ironically as a result of being religious.

3. I actually have had that quintessential Old Guy experience, Walking Uphill to School During a Blizzard. Here's how it happened;

As the inclement weather warnings rolled in, the University administration was in one of its periodic pissing matches with the TA union. The union's take on it was that no way were their TAs showing up to class and the administration ordered that there was going to be class those days, no matter what. So I walked from my spot off campus, uphill to class and man, it was cold and huh, that's a lot of snow and not a lot of visibility, but winters down south do not feature blizzards and I figured it was some sort of Michigan thing. It probably does it all the time here, right? By the time I got back from nearly empty classrooms and even more snow I found out that's what I'd been in, a blizzard.

"If he gets on that flight without coffee, you'll regret it." #ReplaceMovieLinesWithCoffee

"I quit because I had a bellyful of bad coffee. But then, I'd rather have halitosis, than be drowsy." #ReplaceMovieLinesWithCoffee

"I've seen coffee you people wouldn't imagine. Traditional brews in Ethiopian restaurants..."

"I've seen lattes glittering in their cups in indy shops in Austin. And now all that java will be lost like tears in the rain. Time to nap."

Wanna see Epic Rap Battle; Treebeard vs. Groot. "I am Groot I am Groot I am Groot I am Groot." "Hoom. Let us not be hasty, Master Groot."

"Do you like our owl?" "It's artificial?" "Of course it is." "Must be expensive." "Very. I'm Rachel." "Deckard." #moviequotes

Just smush reimagined noir films together! The Strangers came & made Replicants to test out the parameters of humanity by mixing memories.

John Murdock is trying to figure out his past by going to Toontown, which everyone knows about but where nobody's actually been...

In a surprise twist he's a Replicant and the weird bald aliens are actually cartoon characters!

And of course the movie's defined by characterful scenes like Jennifer Connolly singing "One More Kiss Dear" in the club.