I spent this afternoon on and off researching viking stuff. As you do. Look, if you weren't obsessive, you wouldn't even be here your our damned self.

Viking gene This is interesting because of the displacement of the original population of Scandinavia by the proto-Norse speakers. I know you don't care, but I do. On this podcast I was listening to today, the lecturer cavalierly discussed the etymological mystery of the origin of the word "dog" like it was a given fact that it is a mystery, too, which made me laugh. Oh, historian, you're so cute!

*

Amber's tired of my writing shit that's not ST, so I half jokingly said I would write a vampire AU. Guess what, now I'm signed up for startrekbigbang and I have an honest to god PLOT already. I hate her so hard, you don't even know.

Maybe *this* will be the end of the vampire thing? I hear the crickets chirping and the sound of distant laughter from the PacWest.

*

Some advice for making your fannish experience more pleasant (and mine, too).
Kiss and make up. Now, let's segregate ourselves for the betterment of all. People who disagree with her, you take journalfen and AIM, the rest of us will stay here and ignore you.

*

One last thing for tonight. There are like ten people in TB fandom, so here is a fic I demanded and received, post episode coda! Unauthorized Expenses Go love her, we'll get more!

Ok, I got this off of someone/place on my fl, downloaded it and closed the tab. If it came from you, please tell me and I will credit.

Viking lectures If this is jacked, let me know, it seemed to be on Warp Ridiculous upload speed, so it might be.

I WONDER WHY I DOWNLOADED THAT!

I really don't know that much about vikings, frankly. I know about the formation of Normandy and the Norman contribution to the Crusades and about the Kingdom of Rus being viking as well (yeah, as in RUSSIA), but nothing too in depth. That stuff never held much interest to me because I've always been vaguely creeped out by the elevation of Norse culture thing...can you blame me? But I decided to get over myself and do some research here. Like you do.

Guess who got this really wrong...yeah, you guessed it, our girl Charlaine. AMAZING.

Pro tip: you don't even have to pick up a book or go to the library anymore, through google you can get etexts of scholarly works. You don't have to have a phd to write a novel about a time and a place not your own, but at least wikipedia it?

*

Anyway.

Let's make some distinctions:

Mocking people for shit they do online is completely under the heading: if you don't want to be quoted/become infamous/get wanked don't say the shit. That means people do see what you do. Sometimes that gets blown out of proportion, sometimes people make things up about you, sometimes you have to take it on the nose for shit you did a long time ago. Alright, fine. Maybe not fair, but we know this is how it goes.

You're crossing a line when you bring up what people do off the internet. I don't care if that's talking about their kids, what kind of car they drive, if they went to college or not, and you damn sure better not touch who you think they may or may not have slept with.

I am the first person to mock starfuckers (trust me on this one, kids), but it's actually none of your damned business unless someone says to you "hey, I'm banging Misha Collins." Then, yes, you are free to laugh. You are not free to stalk the person and start a jihad against them. How do you know, maybe she is? I think people are getting confused: just because you've heard of the person X person is rumored to have done Y with doesn't mean it's ok to harass them about it. Would it be ok to harass them about it in RL if the person that you'd heard of was your neighbor? Imagine walking up to someone you know casually at work and saying "hey, I hear you're fucking the boss." ??? Would you do this? Would you think it was ok for someone else to?

Gossip online doesn't function like it does in the real world, because everyone can come behind you and read what people are saying about them. However, how harming is this kind of sexual politics gossip in real life, pretty damned damaging, right? Surely you've seen it ruin someone. Why participate in this?

So, to sum up: mocking someone for typos and writing the same story over and over is acceptable according to our standards (if not ideal or best practices), harassing someone about their real or fictitious sex life is not. Ever. What is wrong with you? I wish I could call your mama.

Hey, you know what would be cool? If I could get someone else to write this garbage FOR me! Oh well, since that's still not happening, how about some post-apocalypse Sam Winchester smashed up with True Blood vampires? Why not. It's either that or read wank, right?


( SPN/TB: when the levee breaks )

Hello, Tuesday, this is what I got!

My granddaddy has swine flu so he's not eating, of course. Today I made two kinds of soup (potato and corn chowder with corn he grew himself) and indicated to him that if he didn't eat it he'd have to deal with serious nagging (update: he ate). In the process of gathering the ingredients for the soup and commencing to cooking I managed to give myself a goddamned heat stroke! I have become a pussy. Between the black interior of my car and clogging up my pores with a megaasston of lotion I just frazzled myself. When you see black spots on the edge of your vision that's nature's warning sign that you should sit down a moment.

I think the last time I had a heat stroke was in Tennessee. Galling, truly, to a native Floridian.

Anyway, the heat stroke did not prevent me from cooking the soup, because I am made of heartier stock than that shit.

I'm sure you're excited to learn that this year I am tackling learning all the family preserve recipes and relearning to can. This is mostly a keep busy project for my grandfather since he (like all old folks) likes to be useful. So I asked him to help me and so now we have a project. A jar of home grown stewed tomatoes in December is one of the simple pleasures of life. I pity you city mice. EXPECT CANNED GOODS FOR YOUR HOLIDAYS as I expect this should turn...epic. (I don't do things in half measures, for those new folks.)

( True Blood )

Where is all the fic? Damn. I think there are 11 people in the fandom is the problem. *weeps blood like Bill*

Spoilers for the books in the comments.

UPDATE: Stoney is actually writing the damned Twilight/TB xover fic of crack par excellence click click click

You know what I haven't talked about since the week Star Trek was released? This show I like called Supernatural.

cracked spn spin


I was really hoping for some post finale spec fic this summer, but that was because I forgot what happens in the summer--drought, heat waves, and wank!

Let us discuss in comments 1. what you think is going to happen next season and 2. what you would have happen next season if you were Princess Sparklepants of Universal Control. Personally, I would split the show into two shows--one would be about Castiel and the angels with their various bullshit adventures (there would be a lot of administrative garbage with paper filing and heavenly edicts about eating the last of the ice cream) and 2. Sam in hell as the new Boss (so, yeah, basically, the comic Lucifer but recast with SPN dudes, blow me).

( Dead To the World )

As per usual, the comments are full of crackheads musing on cock and Glambert, apparently, but most importantly there are spoilers for aired episodes of True Blood if you don't want to see that sort of crap.

I am skipping summarizing the second Sookie book because it's the outline for the second season of True Blood and I don't want to spoil people. I am generally against spoilers, unless it's for Smallville and then I think you need to go in with as much immunity to the pestilence as possible.

( Club Dead )

The next book, Dead to the World is the only one you should read. Maybe we should form a book club and read it chapter by chapter for the lulz.

Alright. This is the Pam and Eric's human minion story. Or the first one, who the hell knows.

( True Blood: if you wanna be happy honey don't you mess around with me )

So the day has come when I do believe I am going to stop reading metafandom entirely. THANK GOD, you all moan. In my defense, I believe the community did used to be about metafannish inquiry and musing more than a redux/preview of fandom_wank (a naval-gazing enterprise of wank clusterfuck, if you will). I think the community is a good example of what happens when neutrality and a hands-off approach to debate goes wrong. There is no quality standard as to what is meta and what is grudge bitchery. Sometimes I honestly do like to hear people banging on and on about, say, what IS NC-17? or why do people have white text on black background lj formats? or where did the woke up a girl trope come from? That can be entertaining to someone like me (and if you judge me, I'll judge you about your obsession with wingfic right back)!

But I just can't handle it anymore. The bandom implosion has actually bucked me off of metafandom finally. Mostly my issue is this: one cannot control one's reputation in a viral environment like fandom. I think most of us who've been around a while know that. We can semi-manage our personal reputations in a variety of ways: staying off certain coms, not acting like a dickhead on other people's journals, answering comments on your own journal in a rational manner, not sounding off on wank (see how I am failing?), and so on. This only goes so far, though. There will be situations where you come off like an asshole even when you're trying to be nice. You will lose your temper when you don't intend to and this will be written in stone in your comments for eternity for people to read and misconstrue. You will get sucked into grudge wank by a friend. This happens, all you can do is realize it's happened to everyone and keep in mind when people are badmouthing someone else that maybe, just maybe, they're just a human like yourself who pissed off the wrong people.

This happens on a larger scale with the reputation of fandoms as a whole as well. It will probably happen to a fandom you're in. Some fandoms you're in might really be that bad. Just because you're in a fandom with a bad rep doesn't mean this taint necessarily transfers to you as an individual. Sure, some weirdos might assume you're a crazy mofo because you're in HP fandom. And? Look at their 72 bufu icons, and remember judge not lest ye be judged, asshole. Sometimes you might be part of the problem and not realize it. I will mea culpa that for myself in Smallville fandom. OH BOY. (Backbenchers stop knocking the table with your shoes.) We all have our moments/fandom of infamy/or maybe that's just me. However, a person can pass through a certain fandom and have nothing whatsoever to do with the drama--and we all know that, or the sane ones amongst us do. You can be in HP fandom and happily graze on the Himalayas' worth of fan production and never had even tangential interactions with the big wanks. Probably the majority of the fandom have had this experience. Likewise you can be in a fandom for ten minutes and cause a nuclear meltdown if you're a special enough snowflake, and that does not reflect on the fandom as a whole. We know people who cause massive wank over and over, ok, we read metafandom.

What is my point, you say? Some fandoms, like some fans, get a rep. This is how things work. Bandom has a rep that transcends the fandom, just like HP does and Supernatural appears to. There is no way to manage this or alter what people think of the fandom. My question is, why do you give a shit what people you don't know think about you, your fandom, or a community in your fandom? To be quite honest, I don't care what people I *know* think about me, my fandom, or communities in my fandom.

And on that note, adios to metafandom, and I welcome a blissful new era of Star Trek porn on my fl and invite you to unburden yourself likewise.

Also, if you need something to do to help curb your metafandom addiction, check this out. (215): i got kicked out of Barns and Nobles cuz i put all the bibles in the fiction section from the irreplaceable stoney.

Ok, so I'm going to do the book summaries for the Southern Vampire novels (how does one have the audacity to name their book series this? I mean, not that I respect Anne Rice, but didn't someone get there before this chick?).

If you're easily offended then you're on the wrong journal. No Sookie apologists need apply! (This is intended mostly for people watching True Blood who don't want to suffer through the books. I did it so you wouldn't have to! Paypal donations accepted.)

( Dead Until Dark )

People are starting to beat the bushes to find out if they need to file a missing person's report. I AM NOT DEAD YET. Sorry to say, haters. I had a family reunion and other family-related titillation going down. In the five minutes a day I wasn't cooking, cleaning, or talking someone off a ledge I was finishing the fucking Sookie Stackhouse books. I'm nothing if not a obsesso crazyass completionist, folks!


( more on Sookie (and a lament for the lack of literacy of the copy editors employed by Ace) )

I've decided to employ [!] as a sign for sarcasm hither forth on these here internets, and I encourage you to also adopt the notion so that we can cut down on time-abusing "oh, I was kidding" exchanges.

So in response to this post and comment threads I wrote my friends something. I think I got in at least three requests, maybe four.


I put up a warning sticky post, so if anything ever changes w/ my writing, I will amend that, but this falls very solidly within the stated parameters.



( ST Reboot: Wait until daddy gets home... )

EVS! Don't look at me like that.

eta: Yeah, this. About conversations.


Chicks in TOS. I skipped to this from that Vulcan peen article. I think it's pretty cool for people who are writing for where_no_woman or just in general.

( True Blood )

Now, tonight, should we just have a party post without any actual content in the post itself? We have already discussed the weighty matter of vulcan peen, what is today's hot button issue? I know Liz is going to have a couple and stroll by with a poll on space VD or something.

I'm waiting for it to cool down enough to make peach cobbler. Well, kind of. Like peach cobbler filling with a toasted pecan crust deal. Idk, I'm winging it here, folks!

I know I'm supposed to be working on the second part of my marriage fic, but that didn't happen today. I do have a pretty firm grip on what's going to happen in it, though. Should be super crunchy crack.

Because I have no fic for you, I'll tell you a story about my cousins--

The other day we're all having dinner and half my family is talking political conspiracy theories. I appear to have a couple Obama is a secret Muslim people in my family--WHAT?--when my cousins start discussing the Percy Jackson books. If you haven't read those, give them a go, 'cause they're fun. Anyway, so this conversation slides into one about Supernatural. I DID NOT INSTIGATE THIS.

Me: Wait, you mean, like, the show?
C1: Yeah, it's about brothers who fight monsters!
Me: Yeah, I know what it is. It's my favorite show.
Aunt: So, this is a moment where you rewind what you just said and realize you'll never live it down.
C2: Same! [Meaning she agrees with my aunt.]
Me: THIS is supposed to be embarrassing?
C3: [on her iphone] OH MY GOD, ROBERT PATTISON WAS HIT BY A CAB!
Me: I really don't think I have anything to be embarrassed about here, also oh, damn, are you a Twitard, Cousin?
C3: HAHAHAHAH YES! [effusive crazy talk about Twilight]

*sad cat face* She has scene hair and wears cool clothes (and I hope isn't reading this--if you are, oh well, don't tell on me).

TWILIGHT! Oh well, at least C1 likes Supernatural and explained to everyone in depth the plot to Mystery Spot extemporaneously for no apparent reason aside from the fact that she appears to find that thing that happens in it over and over lolarious. Great enthusiasm for violence, of which I approve.

Vulcan peen?

So the first big meltdown of the summer is over headers on fic. Whoa, talk about the dark horse winning the race.

It's not surprising to see this going down: folks who think people should be better people at variance w/ folks who think that people have the right to do whatever they like. This is a primary disagreement with people in the world, so it will extend to fandom, the internet, and space. Don't know what I'm talking about? You are not on metafandom! (And therefore, probably a much happier person than I am.) *insert one of those emoticon sad face things*

Round up.


Quite honestly, I do think that warning for rape is probs best practices. I mean, that does seem to be a good thing to do. There seems to be some breakdown here over whether the author thinks the fic contains rape, and that's a philosophical question. I mean, it's one that makes Dollhouse suck so hard, right? Some people don't see the world like you do, this will keep happening, either try to convince them to agree with you or move on.

I think my opinions on this warning debate are kind of like a man's opinion on abortion: pointless, because it doesn't apply to me. In this case not so much because I refuse to use headers AT ALL (which is true and one of the many ways I am a self-indulgent asshole, one of very, very many), but because I don't write fic where people get raped (I mean, WTF?) or die anymore. (I was in Buffy and Angel fandoms, after all, you don't write vampire stories unless someone's being killed/sexually violated...right?)

OH WAIT! Ok, so I do have an opinion--if it's a vampire story, isn't it only logical to assume people are going to die? Or is this a "check your higher thought at the door" situation? I mean, we do tend to baby-proof the electrical outlets in fandom for the sake of being "understanding" a lot. Aren't there entire genres where people should walk in the door realizing that death and various other bad behaviors are likely? Isn't that the point of a horror story?

This isn't an either/or scenario. Sure, people can come to a consensus on S&P on what should get a warning--however this DOES NOT currently exist. If you thought it did, you were wrong on the internet. It really doesn't exist. Yes, I think most people are in agreement that certain things are probably best warned for <----------- this is not an absolute, it's contingent on this: what the author chooses to do. Do you want people to absolutely warn for X thing? You can agitate for this line in the Fandom FAQ, but you can't force everyone to conform to your standards. Even if you call them mean girls or claim they are Very Bad People.

You've staked out the Moral High Ground, warning fans, but there are no Laws here. There are only people like you who probably are as clueless about things as you can also be.

Also, part of having something really bad happen to you is the aftermath, sometimes you'll have shitty days. If I could knit a giant blanket to wrap up everyone in the world, I would. I would get under it myself as I have my own past awful experiences, too, but I can't ask the world to accommodate this, just hope they would choose to out of the kindness of their hearts. Most people have grinch hearts, sucks, yet, them's the breaks.

eta: I will rephrase--please don't link on metafandom.

Ok, can someone hook me up? When the Obama clips from the dinner tonight and the Hodgeman bit go up somewhere, can you link me? My true love J doesn't get MSNBC and didn't get to see this wonderment. WOE, right? WOE WOE WOE.

Oh the CBC they just compared Supernatural to The Wire, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under...WHAT? The scene they played was Dean crying, too! hahahahaa Oh lord. Also, Iranian Revolution Take Two and the call in is about downloading television?

Ron Paul was the one Congressman to vote against the crappy, weak-willed Iran wrist-slap decry (or whatever they're calling it). I was seriously hoping it was some Democrat actually standing up for human rights instead of a crackpot Republican, but if it had to be a crackpot, might as well be the most entertaining of the current batch.

Before this election situation, I was firmly with the Obama strategy of reengaging Iran in hopes of actually going back to the pre-Bush Iranian behind the scenes engagement. Now, not so much. Sometimes the lack of any depth of understanding by Americans about politics really scares and freaks me out--Iran has always been one of those cases. I mean, Bush's (can we even call it that? Cheney's maybe) FP legacy isn't just the Iraq fiasco, but lead to what's going on in Iran right now. It is, once again, our fault, basically. YAY! Go Team USA. Fucking hell.

Obama also said that it was "not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling."

Yeah, this is so fucking beyond incorrect. However, what the hell else can we do? We blew our regime change load already and lost the opportunity to engage Khatami because of our OWN election fraud. This is rage, btw.

Politico reported that the White House worked to tone down the language: 'We made it clear that we didn't want to make the U.S. a foil in a debate that has nothing to do with us,' a senior administration told me this morning. 'This is a debate among Iranians.'"

A DEBATE? How do you have a goddamned debate with the army? No. This is where Obama loses the wackadoodle left (me). Absolutely NOT. This is so absolutely unacceptable.

Wait. We're calling those Saudi reeducation camps therapy now? Oh, ok, then. Dial me into the continuation of Orwellian propaganda coming from the Bush administration. Isn't this guy supposed to be fishing or killing other animals over on his farm these days? Christ. You were always irrelevant, George, and as sad and pathetic as I find you, I can only pity you are a tool of history if you remain silent. Now I hate you again. STFU!

But back to Iran (I fell down a Huffpost hole):

This is the problem with the long-range FP strategy that Obama is going with: yeah, it makes sense as long-term FP strategy, but sometimes shit happens and you have to react. The problem with having a strictly non-interventionist FP is that it's morally repugnant. This is same damned thing that happened in the Clinton administration. Why does the American left have to have no teeth? Interventionism doesn't not equal warmongering. Christ, and they even have Joe Biden in the administration. He must be losing his entire mind. LISTEN TO JOE BIDEN, YOU IDIOTS. I don't even think there's all much we can even do (I mean, because, you know, engaged in two wars on either side of Iran...*takes a valium*). I understand all that, but so? Isn't what Obama sold us to get in the Oval Office the dream that we'd Do Better? This is not doing better.

Idk, I'm completely disgusted with the Democrats. Again.

Ok, I'll stop now.