Scrips and Scraps and Rly Deep Thoughts

[alivemagdolene]

♠ I wish people would learn and acknowledge the different between nerd, geek, and dork.

♠ HTML is pretty neat. I love it and hate when I can't use it.

♠ I really like Target. Of all the big box stores, it donates the most to charity (according to Consumer Reports) and I seldom leave unhappy. It's a nice, very useful store. I'd like to replace every Walmart in the country with a Target.

♠ The Virginia Tech shooting was splashed across the newspaper in letters reserved for WAR but instead, said MASSACRE. For about a week we were in stunned, near 9/11 levels of shock, for a month the country never shut up about it, and then... it was gone. Just as soon as it came. Columbine's 10th anniversary stirred some talk, but otherwise that period of national mourning no one seems to remember. Best satirized here.

♠ For those that rally against public transportation, I have some sad news. Unless you never fly or own a private jet, riding on a commercial airliner is public transportation.

♠ I stopped reading "Cyanide and Happiness" after their "Depressing Comic Week" where a female character is raped and beaten.

♠ I remembered why I loathe Dane Cook while watching a recent special of his. Not only does he apparently frequently steal material from other comedians, his "Isolated Incident" had some of the most disgusting misogyny I've seen in awhile. The homophobic stereotypes don't help either.

♠ I wish people would learn and acknowledge the difference between goth and emo.

♠ I don't think cutting jokes are funny; it's a monstrous and fairly horrific thing. I've never experienced it, but I've had friends who have.

♠ I fucking hate the Disney princess garbage. A princess but not a queen. Think about that.

♠ I think you can be hospitalized for exhaustion. If you're rich that is.

♠ I hate Jeff Dunham (apologies to all Dunham fans that follow this blog). Here is a more articulate reason why than I can give.

♠ Male feminists (or frankly, even just men expressing feminist opinions) really turn my pages.

♠ I like the idea of, what John Waters calls "sexual terrorism". I think drag is a part of that. He describes drag kings picking up gay men in bars and-- surprise! I like drag in general. All gender is a form of drag to me.

♠ On a related note, I wish people would realize drag really doesn't have anything to do with homosexuality, it's just accepted far better in gay culture (to put it mildly).

♠ On a continued gay note, I don't know why (actually, yes I do; I get irked by things; surprise surprise!), but I hate that people think all gay men have anal sex and no straight men do. It's funny, with most of the guy friends I've had and have, it's actually the opposite.

♠ Dick Cheney wouldn't support gay marriage if his daughter wasn't a lesbian. This should surprise no one.

♠ Although I am staunchly pro-choice, I think this is actually a fair argument from the "pro-life" movement in response to the "Against abortion?" meme.

♠ If Ron Paul is so big about government interference in individual's lives, why isn't he pro-GLBT rights?

♠ Craig T Nelson's statements about being helped by the government made me laugh really hard. And genuinely.

♠ It's simultaneously annoying and amusing to hear how the internet isn't "real". Do little people just live inside your computer?

♠ I wish people would learn the difference between "slut" and "whore". I mean, it's more of a semantic thing.

♠ I really liked The Museum of Sex and think more people should go. It's really not what you'd think.

♠ Rarely a week goes by that PostSecret doesn't have something that rips at my heart. I've actually teared up from some of them.

♠ When people talk about "people-watching" I find it kind of creepy.

♠ I think glamour-bombing is a way to make the world a weirder, more wonderful place.

♠ Kindle is stupid. Don't believe that bullshit that you're "saving trees". When they produce a new version, what do you do with your old one?

♠ While we're on the environment, I'm more concerned with plastic than I am with consumption of paper. We desperately need more trees, but plastic will never biodegrade.

♠ I like and try to use the Guerrilla Girls' ideas of calling out sexism; rather than naming "the media" or "the fashion industry", name specific individuals and publications and hold them accountable.

♠ To say I don't agree with Ann Coulter is a grave understatement, but I think it's stupid to call her a man, or a transsexual, or what have you. That seems to be the go-to argument to discredit so many women.

♠ I'm always extremely touched when people go through my journal and read the old entries. I'm aware this is extremely lame.

♠ It's easier for me to type words than to write them. A pen or pencil in my hand is associated with drawing.

♠ I get claustrophobic around places/houses with little to no books. I don't think this is pretentious so much as just honesty: growing up, we literally had books in every room accept the bathroom, and at least a ledge's worth.

♠ I think Tori Amos and Billie Holiday both have an uncanny knack for getting the sound of pain just right.

♠ I know it's from a one-hit wonder pop song (O PRETENSION) but the lyric "I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me" strikes me as one of the most profound lyrics I've ever heard.

♠ I'm not a communist or a socialist, but I do believe commercialism has more sway on our culture than we'd like to admit. I highly recommend No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein and Consuming Kids by Susan Linn.

♠ Funny how so many on "the Left" such as Bill Maher and Michael Moore, think so little of women.

♠ I hate "oldies" being a category of music. It isn't.

♠ I get very touched by issues and organizations that deal with the bettering of young girls, trying to halt misogyny and sexism early on.

♠ Christianity shouldn't be synonymous with religion.

♠ I truly, deep in my heart and very scientific and skeptical brain, believe in psychism, reincarnation, ghosts, and workings (or "spells") and think it's not fair to assume that simply because someone believes in any or all of those things means that person doesn't respect and accept science.

♠ I don't understand science versus religion. Maybe it's my particular path, but I find something beautiful and the Divine easy to see in science.

♠ I don't get the idea of creationism amongst some Christians. God created everything, right? So He also created evolution. Evolution is just another part of God's creation. I had no problem accepting that as a Christian. One of the most useful things my mother taught me was when I asked her as child about how if God created the universe in seven days, how can the dinosaurs have existed? Her response was "What's one day to us is not one day to God." I guess I'll never understand why creationists don't see it that way.

♠ The idea of "bad foods" is stupid to me. Eat a balanced diet in moderation. If fast food/candy/"junk food" is a treat and not an everyday occurrence, I think you're fine.

♠ I dislike the fact "incest" has become synonymous with rape/sexual abuse from a family member. To me, it's like it makes the crime of rape/sexual abuse by someone that isn't a blood relation a lesser social atrocity (for example, if a father raped his daughter, that's worse than a father that raped his stepdaughter). And frankly, I think if two consenting adults that happen to be related by blood want to enter into a relationship, more power to 'em. I know plenty of people that had sex/a sexual relationship with people they considered brothers/sisters/fathers/mothers/family, the only difference being they weren't "blood kin".

♠ PETA does nothing for its cause other than alienate people that would otherwise reevaluate their thoughts against vegetarianism.

♠ I truly believe the internet has changed the world for the better.

♠ If you think you deserve reparations for your ancestors being enslaved, you should also have to trace your family tree entire and see what else you deserve. If some of your ancestors were also slave-owners (which was often the case), that should count, too. Reparations are not a reward for the bigotry and prejudice you personally have encountered in this lifetime. You're taking credit for an atrocity your ancestors suffered and agreeing to make that somehow healed by claiming it was your own.

♠ I'd like an iPod that holds over 1000 songs, a laptop, and a corset. These are my must-haves, particularly the first.

EDIT! DISCLAIMER: Rereading this old entry, I realize I might be the only one who sees this now, but since my positions on some of these issues (reparations, the legitimacy of that anti-choice graphic, drag culture, socialism) have shifted, I wanted to acknowledge that. I stand by some of this (particularly since some of it is just simple nattering about semi-random things), I don't stand by other parts. I thought about deleting it (despite the fact I am pretty sure I'm the only one who still reads these entries) or making it private, but becoming a better person and a better progressive isn't a static process and I want this blog to reflect that. This also isn't to claim "immunity" from my past statements, it's an acknowledgement that what I said was problematic and I've been actively trying to do better.

Comments

[chardonnay.livejournal.com]

- I avoid Cyanide and Happiness during Depressing Comic Week. Other than that, I'm usually fine with them.

-I love Dane Cook. Stealing jokes is a big no-no, but I love his material enough to overlook that point. I think his 'misogyny' is really exaggeration for the sake of a joke. I really don't think he believes every woman is like the ones he paints in his stories.

-They're Disney princess because they're supposed to be about 16 years of age. They usually have mothers who are Queens anyway.

-Ohhh snap! Claire and I are huge Jeff Dunham fans. Especially Claire. She's obsessed with the man. But I don't have a problem with you or anyone else NOT liking him (same goes for any other opinion I disagree with here)

-Why yes, you ARE just a little person who lives inside my computer! :D Dance, little person, dance!

-PostSecret restores my faith in humanity.

-I read all your posts, even if I don't comment in them.

-But the man in the radio calls it the oldies station! Therefore, it's oldies music! Don't confuse my poor little brain!

-Christianity SHOULD be synonymous with caring, kindness, love for all mankind, peace, harmony, and acceptance. *sigh* I wish.

-I'm not a believer in ghosts or apparitions, simply because I've had no contact with such things. But I believe they are real for other people, I believe other people when they tell me they've had run-ins with such things.

-If fast food/candy/"junk food" is a treat and not an everyday occurrence, I think you're fine. ..... *cries*

-I really, really will never understand a few things in this world, and incest is one of them. (other things I will never understand: polyamory (i am too hardwired for monogamy), people who like onions, and math)

-The internet has introduced me to SO's, best friends, and beautiful sisters like you! So I agree. ^_^

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

- Cyanide and Happiness made me laugh really so I followed it regularly and some of the old strips still do (and when someone posts a comic from them for whatever reason, I usually enjoy it) but I stopped, like I said, following it since the rape bit left a really horrible taste in my brain. I realize it's depressing comic week, but... I dunno. I think there are better strips about depressing things (which I'm sure they've probably covered) than someone getting raped and beaten.

- I was rather blasé about the idea of comedy theft (I mean, everyone takes inspiration from someone, right?) until he lifted a bit word for word nearly from Demetri Martin. And in Isolated Incident, the special I mentioned, he talks about not wanting to date a nice, talented, smart woman, and just dating "a real whore with elephant ears for a vagina". He goes on about how stupid and disgusting she is and how rather than go out for condoms so he can have sex with her (since there's no way he's going near her otherwise) he fucks her with his TV remote. That bit to me is hardcore misogyny; some women are respectable, some are just a receptacle for your jizz and disgust.

- It's the idea that these princesses are part of a culture that is idolized by women and marketed to young girls. "I'm royalty! I'm a princess!" grosses me out whereas the idea of a woman proclaiming she's a queen is more amusing than annoying.

- I know and that's why I put the disclaimer. :^/ I'm sure I've got oodles of stuff that you'd go "WTF" if you haven't already. ;^)

- I saw the BEST icon once that said "Livejournal: Since All Your Friends Live Inside Your Computer." XD That was a part of what I was talking about, but it was actually having to do with a TIME article that talks about paying for things that aren't "real" like mp3s. WTF indeed.

- Mine, too. :^) So does FOUND! (http://www.foundmagazine.com/), actually.

- ♥

- There's so many genres of music that encompass the '50s, '60s, and '70s, I don't like it having a big ol' umbrella term. Nertz to the Boomers, I say!

- I think Christianity should be synonymous with emulation of the teachings of Jesus (and not EVERYTHING in the Bible). What I meant was that I'm religious but I'm not Christian and I feel it impugns my faith to have the terms used interchangeably.

- That's an interesting way to think of it (and I mean that sincerely). I've heard people say that about the idea of divinity.

- Awww, I doubt a bit of candy every day is really gonna hurt ya. ;^) And actual chocolate I'm not sure quite counts as candy in some forms.

- In all honesty, I'm with ya on polyamory. But my creed is always "consenting adults" so... yeah. I mean, I can't grasp the idea of being sexually/romantically attracted to anyone in my family (with no offense to them) but I read of several brother and sister couples that are happy so power to 'em.

- Dawwww! *hugs* AGREED!

[chardonnay.livejournal.com]

I love you! *huggles*

[truthiness-aura.livejournal.com]

There's a pile here I agree with (Ann Coulter is not a man, and don't call her one; god help us, she's an honest member of our gender and we need to address her bullshit head-on), but I wanted to thank you for reminding me of "Bittersweet Symphony", which I immediately downloaded. I unabashedly love that song. Into little tiny pieces.

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

I remember that song from middle/high school and it being one of my first srs music moments. ^_^

In case you haven't gotten it already, iz here (http://www.sendspace.com/file/khnjak) fo' snaggin'.