{ split subject }

since I already fell off the hiatus wagon...

i. oh my laptop oh my laptop!!! MY PRECIOUSSSSSSSSS. I picked it up yesterday (they were all, "oh, we called you on friday but your voicemail didn't work"), better and faster and cleaner than ever, and have since only put it down to sleep. I have whined much less than I COULD have, I think, these past (almost) two weeks; I really don't know how I functioned without it. 24 hours later, I'm mostly done recopying and reintegrating and reinstalling and redownloading everything, with Leopard and shiny new icons (largely BSG and candy hearts)! *bouncebouncebounce*

ii. we could still really use some help pimping majoritython in related communities, folks. I'll suck it up and hit choc_fic; meanwhile I'd love to get SGA circles involved.

iii. thearchive2! that is the only BSG content of this post. I'm quietly imploding.

iv. last night was "I'm Not There" with Todd Haynes, but I hated the film (and also "Far From Heaven" -- though I passionately love his early short "Dottie Gets Spanked") so I had little to say to him. since each of the interwoven stories featured a different actor, character, and genre, there was nothing to give the whole ANY coherence except one's extratextual knowledge of Bob Dylan canon. of which I have not an iota. what I was left with was an ENTIRE MOVIE ABOUT MANPAIN (how hooooooorible it is to be a famous rockstar), my very least favorite media theme. its one redeeming feature was that a good dose of the manpain came in the guise of Cate Blanchett, who was insanely hot. and David Cross as Alan Ginsburg is never not funny!

v. adding to the hilarity: the fact that I woke up yesterday at the ungodly hour of 8:30am in order to be on campus for a 10am workshop with Todd, only to discover that the workshop was actually TODAY. I maintain that nothing good ever came of mornings! all's well that ends well, though, since I told ljconscript my sob story and she relented and didn't make me go! so today I never had to change out of my pajamas.

vi. in other *facepalms* of late march: does anybody need an HP #94 black ink cartridge? I accidentally bought the wrong one.

vii. I had the First Big Meeting with whkc, and she was disconcertingly nice to me (last time she mostly yelled at me to write faster). she says I'm on track (which is very fuzzy math -- I should have TWO chapters written by now) and have an intervention in new media studies! I was worried that as soon as I actually got critiques on my work I would become demoralized about the entire dissertation, but thankfully the experience was quite the opposite.

viii. _plasticity_, poojapooja and I just finished off the last of the spaghetti sauce that _plasticity_ made me even though I called him a "promiscuous bibliophile." the problem with cooking is that, after doing a heaping sinkfull of dishes, we're left with... a heaping sinkfull of dishes.

ix. I'm going to roller derby in Boston a week from saturday. any takers??

x. to celebrate Pythia's resurrection, I will now post my Top Five Recent YouTube Finds. I've noticed that my steady stream of video genius has slowed to a trickle now that I'm not teaching undergrads, but you people do occasionally come through in your job as my internet filter, so let me return the favor:

( under the cut )

I'm supposed to post about livejournal's current round of erratic account suspensions, in case any of you haven't already heard. short version: after apologizing for the strikethrough07 debacle, LJ went on to suspend several more HP fans for explicit content in what has been termed boldthrough07. LJ seemed at times to claim that the content was illegal under child porn laws (and may also have referenced copyright law), though these claims are questionable on either count. under LJ's TOS, however, they unquestionably do have the right to suspend a user at any time for content they deem inappropriate (legal or not). while there are legitimate objections to the way LJ has handled the situation (as reported by blogs and CNET), sending inconsistent messages to their customers, a lot of the problem may be endemic to the larger legal climate that LJ is stuck with, and we should do what we can to agitate for online civil liberties (on both fronts: obscenity and intellectual property). so I'm not inspired to migrate to an LJ clone, but if fandom_flies does manage to create a fan-run non-profit social network someday, I'll totally join.

I'm also supposed to post about racism, but wow am I uninterested in the wank. I really do want to be an ally on this issue, though, so I'll just thank _plasticity_ and poojapooja for calling me racist on a regular basis. eta: zvi_likes_tv just posted a newbieguide to being an anti-racist fan, and since I'm adding that I'll also add: choc_fic as a name for the characters-of-color comm? SRSLY??

mostly I just want to LOL @ BlogWarBot (via nerd_dog):

( if I acknowledge my privilege, do I get a cookie? )

we're a little obsessed, right now, with looking for an apartment. and maps of LA captivate me on any day of the week. it's such a sprawling, accidental, tumorous city -- disheartening, I said today, that we've gotten so much *worse* at urban planning over the past several centuries. the rule seems to be that any through street must change names, and any street that keeps its name has to start again at a different place at every intersection. this area, which we might call Hollywood and Parts East, is where we spend 90% of our time:



the mnemonic we made up for me today, for the major east-west streets (north to south), is "Furry Hawkeye Says, 'SMell Me, Baby! eta: 3 Ways Only, Please'" (and for n-s: "Furry Little Hawkeye Claws Very Gently While Nuzzling Very Vehemently"). our current house is approximately where the number 2 appears in the lower right corner. the green areas, diagonally from the lower left to the upper middle, are a golf course, the Hollywood Forever cemetery (Paramount is the same-sized chunk just below it), and the Barnsdall Art Center. the Hollywood hills begin at the top of the map.

i. you too can have a Potter/Weasley 2008 bumper sticker for only $3! I'd be much obliged if those of you who are more in HP fandom than I would PIMP this around. it's a fanboy friend of my brother's who's making them, and I don't think he even intends them to be slashy, which is lolarious. that's actually the only point of this post. we're going to see teh movie tomorrow if we can get tix EEEEEEEEEE!

ii. I've been forcing the denizens of Shoemoney Haus to imbibe their RDA of viral video, as is my wont. so if you want a review of YouTube's greatest hits, according to me, here's a playlist of things we've been watching.

iii. I'm also still at imeem, twitter, plazes, librarything, flickr, various del.icio.us-es, OurChart, friendster (old skool!), majoritython, and cyborganize. you know, in case you were wondering.

iv. I slightly updated the TV shows post. currently watching Green Wing, a COMPLETELY INSANE and delightful British dramedy, and rewatching Bad Girls. and of course BIG LOVE on actual television. next up: John From Cincinnati (which ljconscript has ORDERED me to watch), Elizabeth I the mini-series, Doctor Who series 3, 30 Rock, Eureka, Veronica Mars season 3, The Office Season 3, and then maybe Carnivale if we run out of everything else (which seems unlikely).

v. kittenz are still ADDICTIVE cute! IJS.

i. MOAR PR0MTZ PLS! I petered out a bit while moving, but I'm trying to get back in the habit of one per day (have to complete the first ten asap so I can then post my Buffybot drabble there).

ii. two of my stupendous students last semester, themattcatt and kenthaines, make TV (they're like Derek and Will! or Clark and Michael! or Aaron and Tommy!). they're in LA as we speak pitching their latest web series, Upstaged. check out the first episode below -- more on youtube or blip.tv.


iii. seriously, nobody's on Plazes? it just went out of beta and on relaunch it has new twitter-like features in the "Plazer" application (actually that's sort of annoying -- I wish I could just integrate the two somehow).

iv. I have officially changed my plane ticket to fly out of nyc on june 17, so there will be a visit! I'm probably coming to town on wednesday the 13th but that's negotiable. saturday I'm spending with clyde_man.

v. normally I wait to post until I have 5 things to say, but these were too time-sensitive. so I will just conclude with: loltheorists!

thanks to jarrow (who probably qualifies for annihilation on the basis of this alone) I've watched this video about 10 times in the past two days. I have forced everyone I know to watch it. it's utterly moronic, but in that uniquely internet way where it passes completely through moronic and back out the other side into GENIUS.



not safe for work, or religious people without a sense of humor. if you want icons, the kosher treats are at kirbybits's hut.

and while I'm here, your life is also not complete if you haven't seen Titanic: The Sequel, Teen Girl Squad, and other viruses.

p.s. I want nothing to do with SGA or its fandom, but I'll totally make an exception for David Hewlett's celebrity twitter.

p.p.s. look what happens when I leave them alone for the weekend! untimely writing-related death.

I've been thinking about Fraggle Rock lately, for no apparent reason. I have these incredibly psychedelic and slightly terrifying memories of it from watching as a small child.



"fraggles are a noble race." _plasticity_ and I have determined that I'm TOTALLY a fraggle.

after having made it through today, work, for those playing along at home, is surprisingly under control thus far. also, I taught YTMNDs again. GENIUS.

not like I pay attention to birthdays, as a general rule, but this one's my girl! iamsab, here are some virtual presents I collected for you:

_Ellen Page to play a teenge lesbian werewolf!

_speaking of lesbians, Lizzie the Lezzie is a cartoon featuring an adorable and disconcertingly vulgar little girl (actually, it reminded me of spycookies)

_plus, Cuddy/Cameron apocafic (so literary as to be a bit wtf, but still, apocafic!)

_"medical reviews" of House episodes (that link from mitconvergence, a blog that might be worth reading for professional reasons)

_have you seen Meerkat Manor? it's like your lion show -- only less cool than lions, obviously

__plasticity_ thinks we should watch this early Cronenberg movie about sex-starved zombies (among others, no doubt -- they're planning a zombie film fest at Brown for Halloween!)

_I believe your dastardly plan to get me addicted to NCIS has succeeded! despite the fact that, yeah, this whole schtick at the beginning of season 4 where Tony is supposed to somehow not be a wanker totally isn't working for me. I had a dream about Ziva (the official benchmark of TV addiction) wherein she had a hot nemesis (doubtless based on the Iranian spy she kills in 4x01) who she kept having hot sex with against her will. and I saw the Very Special Gay Episode where Gibbs calls Tony "honeybuns" and pets his head. this is my revelation: Gibbs is to Tony as Roslin is to Starbuck. I mean, this is exactly the dynamic my girls have in my personal faniverse, where Starbuck is Roslin's sidekick. discuss amongst yourselves.

_it looks like I AM on fellowship for all of next year! I'll move out of my apartment on June 1. there are various uncertainties and dramas about what sort of situation I should move into; I need to continue to have a bed and a bookshelf and a dresser in providence, is the bottom line. but I'm ready to talk about my Shoemoney office, for real.

the rest of you are going to have to bear with my absence these next few months. I'm working basically nonstop until after my orals (march or early april). livejournal is rather hopeless right now.

I'm woefully behind on lj again, for no good reason. and I've been keeping this list of things I'd like to post about, if I were ever to have time to post, which I don't for the foreseeable future (blah blah insanity-until-mid-march-cakes, see cyborganize and tvhere for updates). so I might as well do one of those entries where I make a list of the things I'll tell you more about at some later date (or not):

i. speaking of behindness, of necessity I've been bookmarking a whole bunch of your fic for a rainy day, including everything yuletide (nor have I gotten to much of anything on the previous list *facepalm*). my apologies!

ii. I feel a bit like the apocryphal lesbian with the U-Haul, that is, all this talk with iamsab of weddings and babies (the things that clyde_man, for the record, has never wanted with anyone, least of all me) is perhaps ridiculously premature. but the thing is, it works in surprising ways (surprisingly rich and quotidian ways). and I don't believe that comes along very often in a lifetime.

iii. you should join this thing that wearemany discovered. it's totally addictive! you can update it from the site or by IM or txt (though I'm having trouble setting that up) or software with a little blurb about what you're doing. and there are multiple ways to track people, too, that I'm still figuring out (there's some sort of RSS feed of me, for example eta: twitter_pjulie -- and there'll be another one that includes me plus all my friends, I think, WHEN I HAVE THEM) -- don't you want to keep track of me?? and it's far less big brother-ish than plazes, though I'm also still addicted to that. also, I went ahead and joined OurChart. *eyeroll*

iv. shananaomi made girls gay for us as requested! your votes were taken into account.

v. I spontaneously switched from Eudora to Mail without quite realizing what was happening. I mean, I like Mail, but Eudora and I have been together for over 10 years! but there was the import mailboxes button, and *bloop* I'm joining the 21st century.

vi. my best and only LA celebrity sighting this trip was Ethan Phillips -- aka Neelix on Voyager! actually em did the spotting with her special kung fu, since it's a challenge to recognize him without the elaborate makeup. he sat down next to us at Cafe 101 on my first and samdonne's last morning. BUT MEANWHILE EM SAW GRACE PARK! she stood in line behind her at Starbucks; tragically, I was not with her at the time.

vii. I have "crazy BSG dreams" on my list, but the dreams were ages ago and now I've totally forgotten them! eta: and then LAST night I dreamed and dreamed about hanging out with Mary McDonnell. it was sort of wonderful and sort of torturous.

viii. I've been contemplating writing up an eloquent position statement on the flailing over how Kara's recent "tomcatting around" is out of character and/or bad and wrong, neither of which I believe is true. but that's fatally low on the list of priorities. so all you get is this snip from an email to mandysbitch: a) I DON'T think Kara is a bad person. I think she's being true to the parameters of her relationship -- Anders makes clear that he knows about this arrangement and accepts it. I have a VERY hard time blaming folks for being in love with two people [see further: my strange lack of h8 for McDreamy]. the way she's handling it may seem like a rationalization, but it's one that works for her and her partner, and I don't think Lee's proposal that they both leave their spouses is any more objectively moral (in fact, Lee is perhaps a BIGGER dick, as he seems to have NO concern for Dee's feelings). b) well, many would say this IS out of character for Kara, and offer various evidence from her earlier dalliances (basically that Gaius is the only random hookup she had, and even then she was thinking of Lee, and she has been anything but callous with others' affections and her own). OK fine, but I STILL think there's some underlying sexist disapproval of the promiscuous woman going on here. although Kara hasn't had many onscreen hookups, her promiscuity was always implied, and that's always been one of my FAVORITE things about her character. (plus somebody made Brokeback Galactica [Lee/Anders], which is totally FTW!)

ix. we were watching Big Love as a family in Ptown, joking about clyde_man and hir three wives (only s/he swapped pixieslap for me in boston, so we were never all there simultaneously). I'm the 2nd, but I don't think I'm much like nikki. lucky is totally barb, except for how clyde has to be bill+barb, what with being the breadwinner plus the one who does all the cooking and scheduling. it was really quite adorable. then we mapped it out for Shoemoney Haus too! in that version, I'm very much margene, which makes perfect sense.

x. have I mentioned that I love television? everything (see the list in my sidebar) is starting up again, yay. plus I have this ambitious list of things to learn, which goes something like:

The Book Group (UK)
Elizabeth I (miniseries, Helen Mirren)
Bleak House (miniseries, Gillian Anderson)
Yin Yang Yo (Disney cartoon that steph's in)
Freaks and Geeks
30 Rock
Veronica Mars seasons 2+3
At the Hotel (miniseries, Canada)
Kink (documentary, Canda)
The Office (US), with clyde_man

I'm still not sure where to find the canadian ones, so holler if you can help. also, I need Passion Fish and everything else with Mary McDonnell, pretty please. youtube has a whole bunch of clips of her on ER!

I'm back in Providence as of JUST NOW, if that wasn't apparent...

one thing the Wellspring pix didn't capture was the HULA HOOPING! it was the HIT of the wedding weekend, among adults and children alike. seriously, this my new LIFESTYLE CHOICE. I predict it will be the next FITNESS CRAZE! fantastic core and lower body workout, plus it's aerobic. plus, FUN and TOTALLY ADDICTIVE!

but the odd thing is: apparently this is actually a WEDDING trend. I mean, another person who I reported this to told me they hula hooped at a wedding reception. and then, while I was ordering a hula hoop of my very own (the favorite of Curves members!), I saw THIS. WTF?!?

eta: curiouser and curiouser! apparently wearemany's friend wrote a BOOK about nontraditional weddings with the working title, get this, And the Bride Wore a Hula Hoop. oh em gee!! in the end it was called Offbeat Bride.

i. one "star journal" left to grade, folks, ONE (the longest one, probably 40 pages and requiring comments at the end -- but still only one), and I've haplessly failed at finishing my semester by today (which is now yesterday). so I'll send it off in the morning (so help me!) and poke at LJ for a bit and then devote what will hopefully be a sizable chunk of the rest of the day (and night...) to my getyourtoaster:Starbuck story which, frankly, is all I've actually been interested in working on for the past week and counting. but it's daunting, and I can't multitask. if I don't finish it tomorrow I'm DEAD MEAT. meanwhile, in the course of procrastination, I spiffed up my lj layout a bit (working off css by faceon) and uploaded some new "loyalty" squarethings (including this shiny new default, which features cygnus). so things are looking up. wasn't I supposed to become less busy, though?

ii. your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help spread the word about our final project: Opensaurus, a playful, educational, and activist celebration of copyleft and the public domain. At Opensaurus, you can:

- Learn about copyright issues and free culture through the humorous drama Tales of Opensaurus.
- Send ecards of Creative Commons-licensed images to your friends, and add more images to share as ecards.
- Sign email petitions urging copywrong corporations to cease and desist sending cease and desist letters! You can also create your own campaigns.
- Watch and share Hallmark-style video cards supporting Creative Commons, as well as other CC-licensed videos.

the other group did a workshop and BYOMP3 party for their final project, so as a reward for poking around our site you get audio! an entirely random selection that, in the opinion of a dance-phobic nerd who doesn't listen to popular music (namely, me), has good danceability. surprise songs!

( ysi links )

this message will self-destruct (probably in less than 24 hours -- I sent them last thursday night, I think).

iii. I was going to ask lj for advice, as follows: I need a sidebar-type indicator that displays my location (city). far tinier than WAYN, perhaps along the same lines as imood. preferably with social-networking capability and/or an SMS interface, but really the only crucial feature is that I be able to update it quickly and easily.

I need this because I'm going to be running all over the place this summer (and thereafter), providence nyc boston etc. without a lot of advance planning, and you want to be able to keep track of my whereabouts, don't you??

but then I went to Johnny Rocket's with _plasticity_ (we've been attached at the hip, lately -- studying together virtually every day), who was in the midst of research for his paper on ubiquitous computing, and he said "Have you heard of Plazes?"

which led to one of those mind-blowing moments when the most intimate, intricate efflorescences of my subjectivity converge with my intellectual passions in a technology of daily life.

in short: every time I go online, Plazes logs my location and puts it on a map. it does this automatically if I'm using my own laptop; otherwise I have to log in. if it's not a location (a "plaze") where I or another Plazes user has been before, I can define its name and attributes.

there's such poetry to the idea that I, an internet-based lifeform, can leave this trace ("traze") of my physical presence every time I touch cyberspace.

and there's also such profoundly totalitarian potential implicit in this fantasy of complete tracking. I was reading this book, The Innocents, about convicts who are exonerated of their crimes after years in prison, and one of them has become an advocate of GPS anklets that log your movements at all times, a perpetual alibi.

basically I could write a paper about this right now, but I'm bundling my more extensive thoughts in with the post about privacy that cyborganize is (theoretically) going to write. but in terms of the practical concerns, I did think a lot about safety when I was configuring my profile. not that it wouldn't be easy to stalk me if you put your mind to it, but there's something about this sort of powerful aggregation of the virtual-RL intersection that seems to invite it (or at least to generate those anxieties). you can make your info visible only to your Plazes "friends," but that does me no good since none of you have joined yet (hint hint). so I opted, counter to my usual practice, to include as little identifying information about myself as possible (no name, photo, URL), and of course to give no street address for my house and other private spaces (I did put addresses for the office, the cafe, etc.).

the site's in beta and has got some bugs still -- Xs aren't showing up in the right spot on the map, for one (complicated issue with generating lat/lon data and google maps licensing, apparently). but it's going to be one of those next big things.

iv. IT'S HERE!
by Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their secret love child I WANT ONE. and so help me, I want a black (gratuitously more expensive) one! curse you, apple. not that I'm particularly fond of black laptops (pink, I say!), but I'm even less fond of white ones (no offense to parents of ibooks). I've been saying I'll wait for back-to-school specials at the computer store, but I don't know if I can hold out until august -- I actually made an invoice today at the online store and emailed it to myself. I CAN at least hold out until I've plowed through some of the computer-y stuff on The List. or, at least until they sell neoprene sleeves in the right size, natch.

v. another Real Sex sighting on tuesday, heh. "Excuse me, did I see you on TV?" when I was all in sweatpants and grading emergency mode, too, but at least it was a bright spot of amusement in an otherwise dismal day.

honestly, I didn't forget about you. a light semester, as my coursework winds down, was an irresistible temptation to fill up my life with an imbalance of frivolity. traveling every weekend (except this past one, when I'm grading papers), and it's all very lovely, but the lack of time in my house, in front of my computer is making me cR4z3D. my lj is in a semi-permanent state of emergency, wherein I'm fighting to keep my head above two-weeks-back on the flist, and still haven't read everyone's january. and I'm far too obsessive to just let it go, so don't even ask. meanwhile I'm scheduled straight through april, at which point I may finally be able to start the course proposal and field lists -- which is what I'm really supposed to have been working on all along. time, she is a cruel mistress.

i. new york peeps, mark your calendars: I'm in town from sunday march 26-sunday april 2 for a little thing we call SPRING BREAK. aeonian and I plan to conduct a Starbuck-writing chain-gang workshop, and quasiradiant, you should come.

ii. I've said it before: Battlestar Galactica is the greatest TV show ever made. which is not to say that there's not a several-ep slump here and there, but in between it frakking blows my mind over and over again. seriously, my brain is short-circuiting from the continuity and the politics and the ev0l r0b0t mindfrak and the HOT LESBIAN SEXXX. ( 2x18 ) the girlslash pairings are proliferating liek whoa, and if you don't believe me you should read jennyo's post on the subject (and my extensive comment down at the bottom). and then I wrote up this absurd table o' girlslash pairings.

and this isn't BSG-specific, per se, but I do get excited about stunt-doubles.

eta: oh! other TV, how sorely neglected you are -- I hate to break it to you, but really you're in a whole different league from BSG. after a shockingly atrocious beginning, The L Word has magically resurrected S.3. did leisha haley stage an intervention?? it's actually *boggles* kinda good -- but maybe it's just that I give mad props to any show where a trannyfag fucks a gayboy. in other gay news, Bree/Lynette has finally returned to Desperate Housewives eeeeeeeee, just when I was about to despair of it ever being sexy again. it almost makes me forgive Dr. Evil Marc Cherry. and OMG THEY KILLED STACEY! YOU BASTARDS!! I think I need to find Sisters, or something, and go on a Sela Ward bender.

iii. you know I've been musing about the slash possibilities of Mary Poppins, my original girlcrush. my mom claims to know nothing about it, so it must have been one of the tapes at my dad's house -- which makes perfect sense. the miraculous caretaker who leaves almost as soon as she appears. but I happened to catch a bit of "I love the 80's strikes back: 1982" on TV the other day, and what were they talking about but Annie! and I remembered that Mary Poppins actually isn't my first girlcrush, that actually when I was maybe four (apparently, since I was born in 1978) my favorite game with my best playmate (who I called Annie, even though it wasn't her real name) was to run up to a mom and yell "be Miss Hannigan!" and then flee screaming. this game was intensely thrilling, erotically charged with danger. which also makes perfect sense in a tape from my mom's collection -- the tyrannical and monstrous bondswoman whose clutches one always wishes to escape. I mean, how creepy and fucked up is this movie?! in addition to the fact that Annie has to essentially seduce "Daddy" Warbucks ("do you like my bathing suit?"), there's this child abusing harlot who sings about "Little Girls"! and how much do I crave Miss Hannigan chan fic now?? >>>>;)

iv. a few sites I joined:

_blingo.com is an interface for google searching that randomly awards prizes sometimes. if you're going to be using google anyway, why not get a shot at a prize, right? there's a plugin for the firefox searchbox and an IE toolbar. use this link to sign up, because that way if you win I win too.

_yelp.com is a friendster-like social networking site, but it focuses on providing actually useful information, namely reviews of places/things in your area. use it! and then add me as a friend.

_Where Are You Now is again like friendster, but this time for tracking your trips in order to coordinate with others (both this site and the previous are via my cousin). I feel that I would use it more if I knew anyone else who were. add me as a friend too!

v. after months, even years of successfully avoiding timewasting computer games, I started in on sudoku. curses on your head, you evil addictive puzzle! it's insanely satisfying, like better than crosswords (my previous computer game diversion) in every way, because crosswords involve a lot of slippery language and guessing and knowing stuff, whereas sudoku is clean, pure logic. I had to read up on strategy to be able to do the "medium" ones (shut up! -- they're hard), whose recalcitrance was the initial source of my obsession on friday, so now I'm actually beginning to understand how the thing works. just what I needed, right?

and now I'm off to vancouver for SCMS!

DEAR LORD I FINISHED MY PAPER! *boggles*
it's 30 pages on the dot -- just a few lines short
the first line is: "On February 26, 2005 I made my second ever mobile post from my cameraphone to my public LiveJournal blog, the first which featured a picture of me" :). and it has this icon as an illustration on the first page (it's by iamsab, by request -- I did not credit you in the paper, sorry). "I am a cyber-exhibitionist."

I'm leaving on friday for CT - NYC - the Poconos - Australia... eeeeee!
tomorrow is a strap-on party at my house >;P

TODO: winter break
• pack (for both winter and summer!)
• holiday cards (last call for addresses -- you might want to check because at least one person's info didn't go through)
• LJ comments (and also I believe I'd be more expedient at replying to comments if I could do so instantly from within the email -- so I'm going to try to work out how to send my comments to a special webmail where this works, since it doesn't in Eudora)
• index of student projects (see below)
• Gay Girls S.2 (I temporarily dumped my 13GB of music off my internal HD to make room for the files, so I can work on it while I'm on the road)
• academic site software updates
• write course description
• edit 2 conference papers (for march and april, so I don't HAVE to do them, but it would save me the work while I'm in the midst of the semester -- they just have to be hacked down to size)
• omg drabbles! (and maybe some collaborative writing?)
• some journalling, part LJ and part perhaps not
• read trashy books -- some kid stuff and lesbian romance I have on hand
• plan sydney convergence
• defriending

a brief word about that last one. I have known for some time now that the amount of time I spend on lj is unsustainable. I've been pondering various ways to cut back, and there's really no way around it -- I'm going to have to do my first defriending-of-sorts. next semester I begin the process of preparing for my exams and my original course, and I have to focus in a new way on being self-motivated and working independently. plus, I'm going to have internet access only sporadically over break -- so this seems like the right time.

I have thus far defriended only a couple of people who I don't think will notice because they haven't been around in forever. but if you do notice, and you object, just give me a holler and I'll put you back into the more elaborate process. those who the elaborate process concerns will be hearing more about it soon.

*

I forgot to mention that my students did 9 amazingly creative and educational digital media projects on friday! I feel like it was a crash-course for ME in the latest and greatest internet trends. I learned about:

• skype -- an internet phone service modeled, rather remarkably, on IM. I wanna do it! who'll talk to me? I'd have to buy a headset, though.

• YTMNDs -- there were a couple going around LJ last week, but I had no idea what a fascinating repository of emergent and self-organizing cultural and political commentary this site is! my mind is boggled -- and I laughed till I almost cried. why are there not more fannish YTMNDs?? or are there? the technological threshold is ridiculously low compared to vidding -- all you need is an image (often photoshopped and/or animated) and a sound file to upload. yet (as with the 100x100 square, only exponentially) you can compress so much meaning into such a simple form! it seems like this is a medium that should have creative 'shippers creaming their pants. I think I shall pop over to ob_fangrrl soon and challenge people to come up with Oliska-themed ones -- they lend themselves beautifully to snark.

• mappr and geotags/geoblogging! another thing I'd love to try to do in my copious free time -- apparently there are various places where you can look up latitude and longitude coordinates for a location, including maps.google. anyway, that group did this project.

• perverted-justice.com -- which I already knew about, but had not delved fully into just how completely INSANE the whole process/organization is. yes, YOU TOO can impersonate an underage girl (or boy?) in order to entrap ONLINE PREDATORS in chatrooms, and then ruin their lives by publishing their personal information on TEH INTERNETS. dear lord, it is terrifying but BRILLIANT -- welcome to the network society. also, is the name not wonderfully ambiguous? I must DL the Dateline specials. see also the wiki entry.

• QR codes (a Japanese thing, of course) -- 2D bar codes that are scanned and read by software in cameraphones.

• the XBox game Fable, which looks awesome! I don't play video games, though -- but I like to watch other people play them.

and so on. I'm going to make an index of all the projects for my site -- and a couple of the best hypertext essays too. lord, TAing this class was fun!

I can't believe this hasn't shown up on LJ, yo: The O'Reilly Factor snuck a reporter into Brown's queer SexPowerGod dance so that they could pontificate about the OMG GAY DEBAUCHERY.

here's a direct link to the video (let me know if you can figure out how to download it) // BDH response 1 // BDH response 2 // isgillhere_blog's letter

beyond the inaccuracies in the report and its generally obnoxious tone, the biggest problem is that they showed extensive footage of nearly-naked students without blocking out their faces. extremely disrespectful, and probably unethical.

that said, all the blame doesn't lie with O'Reilly. SexPowerGod is indubitably problematic. we used to throw a similar party at Swarthmore, and every semester there was much debate and frustration over the fact that it was more of a licensed outlet for a sort of carnivalesque homophobia than a safe and exciting party for queers. when the QA's most visible event is known as a place for straight people to get naked and fucked up (probably in the opposite order), it's not just FOX sending the message that what the gay community is all about is uninhibited sex. now, I'm not blaming the QA and the party organizers: I've been in their position, and I know how hard it is to struggle with that dynamic. this is the QA's fundraiser, so obviously it has to appeal to the mainstream of the campus. and the individual behavior of the party's attendees is also not under their control (a record number of students were treated for alcohol poisoning -- and no alcohol was served at the party). but the pattern is troubling. I remember what it felt like to ask myself: why are *we* doing all this work to plan an event for *them* to have fun? but then we really tried, you know, creatively. we moved it out of the big hall to a building with a number of smaller, more intimate rooms. we invited amazing drag performers. we organized a same-sex kissing booth (which, one memorable year, d/evolved into my first orgy).

also, though, if you're going to try to create a space for people to cut loose sexually, BAN CAMERAS! I mean, this reporter was walking around with a camcorder, and apparently he wasn't the only one -- I certainly wouldn't have been comfortable there, and you know what kind of parties I'm used to.

and this article, mostly for my reference: Surveillance Cameras on Campus Triple

mkay, NOW I'm stressed out. my happy-go-lucky attitude has inevitably left me in crunch time this weekend. apologies to everyone whose posts and comments I'm behind on -- I'm knuckling down.

on monday:
• give big fat lecture
• grading meeting, which means I have to have preliminary notes/grades for all the assignments done
• seminar, before which I must I have done reading and writing for said seminar
• meet with other professor about seminar paper, which meeting I have no time to prepare for so I'm going to have to wing it

no problem.

then the rest of the week will be finishing up the grading and writing paper topics etc. as on friday wearemany is coming!

wish I had more to say about the lecture, but the notes are still in the infancy stage. will post them at cyborganize if they turn out semi-coherent (and pass them on to tsenft, who I still owe email to *waves*). I'm planning to phonepost (assuming I can get reception in there) the first 5 minutes (or however much it lets me) of the lecture there. so if you wanna swing by between 12:05 and 12:45 my time on monday and leave a comment, please do (it doesn't have to be deep and/or erudite) -- I'll probably check back at the end to see if there are any nibbles. kind of like a half-assed version of backchannelling.

is it strange that I'm going all split personality? how I've been thinking of the scene of virtual me in relation to my students is that I'm not attempting to hide it (just google me, heh), but I'm also being discreet enough that they could avoid it if they so chose -- hence my decision not to have this LJ attached to anything that I explicitly give/show to them.

I did my femsex workshops last week, and they weren't as fun and satisfying as they normally are. I think I'm pushing myself toward the next level pedagogically, holding myself to higher standards. everything from being aware of the problems with my body language (when I slouch, fiddling with my rings, how often I say "um") to the larger issues of what my objectives are and how to structure a presentation to achieve them. I demand a lot of myself as an educator, and have been given really no opportunities to formally learn these skills (one of the problems with grad school, imho).

*

in case I don't manage to post again before then -- I'll be in Boston the weekend of turkey day. mazily, captain_sam, will you be in town saturday/sunday?

Seen on the Green is cool! I posted one picture from here to test it, and I'll definitely be doing more. I *heart* moblogging microsurveillance art! and I try to avoid posting pix of unsuspecting strangers chez moi, so here's my chance!

( why I love ROME [spoilers thru 1x08] ) *goes to happy place* eta: afterellen.com's article [spoilers through 1x11]

also, I'm rather nonplussed lately about what I perceive as my increasing inability to conceive that any TV character (really, any person) could/should possibly be straight. I mean, it's good for me to watch TV with normal people, because then when I'm all like "oh, so Inara is clearly in love with Kaylee" (I watched the first episode of Firefly, btw), somebody is there to go "um??" it's like the girlslash goggles are permanently fused to my face. which is more disturbing when it comes to reality then when it comes to TV shows. though I know reality is a slippery beast.

I'm drinking the juice out of the empty pickle jar. is that weird?

( oh, and Lost can bite me )

1. (I'm back! since friday. been running around and the first phonepost didn't go through -- but here I am.)

2. where no TV show has gone before ~ Salon.com on Battlestar Galactica (view an ad first to read it for free) (I am really, really trying to convince you to watch this show! -- look, the article even compares it to West Wing, which is what I've been *saying*)

3. Traditional marriage, with its long history, was upended by heterosexuals ~ by Stephanie Coontz, NYT

4. "va va va voom... endless leg and body, to this torso that was magnificent... she has this knockout body and face... " ~Kate Mulgrew on Seven of Nine (4th season DVD interviews) [hee!]

5. NY POST = BADFIC! omg, I'm sure this is making the rounds of HP comms already, but I'm not reading them these days, and since you need to sign up to read the article, I'm reposting it for you here: WORD WIZARDS, By BARBARA HOFFMAN (and various extremely nerdy teenagers) [speaking of nerdyness: I just ordered the british version of HBP from amazon.co.uk :P]

( published fanfic! (for the 3rd time, apparently )

I'm in a laundromat in Rome! coin-operated internet :P. millenias-old ruins sprouting from the heart of a sprawling metropolis, which has apparently aggregated around them.

60 pages, and already in love with Wicked. I was perplexed about why it has a fandom -- but duh, it's fanfic! need bookverse Elphaba icon...

go, bounce_n_jiggle, who was quoted in the NY Times! also, I should link to NOLOSE

so *this* is my last post before I leave, scouts honor. I'm really supposed to be finishing up some things at the moment. but,

1. when I was having dinner with sebsan8 last week, discussing the rather ambitious number of fic projects I've taken on this summer, I decided to take a Pledge. I shall call it the NO MORE BUNNIES Pledge. plot bunnies, that is. because, while it is all well and good that I've made writing fanfic my priority for these rare months of vacation, life probably shouldn't (and indeed, can't) continue like this. at some point in the not too distant future I should really make getting some papers revised and published my main project, or starting on my fields, or even writing original fic. but I keep coming up with new and irresistible ideas. I simply must put a stop to this. and this is not entirely implausible, as I was already on fandom hiatus once before, for several years. so other than the stories on my list for this summer (6), and the ones already on my long term to-do list, I hereby pledge that I will not commit to any more fanfic projects of longer than drabble length.

( deliver me from temptation )

2. more kayaking pictures! if you are living in or visiting nyc, you seriously must go kayaking this summer. it's FREE! here's the official information (I've only been to the pier 26 location, not 72nd st.). things to know:

• yeah, it sounds lame, only being out for 20 min. and having to stay in the protected area. but the protected area really isn't that small. and you can always go more than once if the line isn't too long. it's really really fun!
• you will be sitting in a pool of water, so bring dry bottoms and wear/bring shoes that can get wet. you'll also want to bring a lock so you can leave your stuff in a locker. remember to wear sunscreen and bring water to drink.
• I recommend leaving time to get a bbq burger afterwards at pier 25 -- which also features mini golf, bike rentals, and batting cages (none of which are free, alas). it's also near the lovely battery park.

3. yet again, I wish I were Canadian. that's via Tristan. who also informs me that 36C and 34D bra sizes are identical -- does this make any sense to you?? she says VIctoria's Secret told her, and I guess they should know. eta: isilya says it's true! "A quick explanation: cup sizes go down as rib sizes go up. A 32D, a 34C, and a 36B all have the same cup size, but the rib (or "band") sizes are very different. This means, for example, that all those cup sizes will have diameters of 5 inches, but that the rib sizes and shoulder straps will greatly vary." she recommends wearing the largest cup size (and hence smallest rib size) that fits for best support. also, while I'm here, don't you want to be one of the cool kids?

4. went on a highly productive online shopping spree for clyde_man's birthday/father's day/general appreciation presents yesterday, woohoo! got ( cut because even though s/he was consulted about all of these, s/he now forgets what I ordered and wants to be surprised ) hurrah! clyde pays the rent, buys the groceries, cooks, and cleans the house, and I do the dishes and laundry -- pretty good deal, no?

5. I had a dream that mandysbitch, mazily, michellek and I were all hanging out. each of us was coincidentally wearing something rainbow-colored, and I was excited to take a picture of us with my cameraphone and blog it :)

also, ( the book meme )

1. it's mind-boggling how much time I can spend sitting in front of the internet. I imagine I could spend, say, a two-week retreat in a proverbial (wired) cabin in the woods just doing all the puttering I'll never actually get to outside of fantasy-land. just for the record (and because I fetishize lists), here are the projects I would someday accomplish online, in a perfect world:

( etc. )

2. the above list does not include fic writing -- which is of course my #3 priority this summer (after papers and traveling). Die J/C Die is happening again, hurrah! so I should try to work a J/C breakup into my Janeway opus so that I can submit it. even more exciting is the BSG slash frackufest! since I was already planning to write BSG, I signed up -- you should have no trouble guessing which challenge I grabbed. come play!

3. also today I ordered gay!books for summer reading so I can finally quit the club: Djuna Barnes, cheeeeezy romance, porn star portraits, exercise! [eta: this package never showed up -- drat]. and I posted my fandom lecture notes.

4. aaaand various friends and acquaintances are always sending me nyc apartment queries, but I can never keep track of them. so I made a board. obviously this is no craigslist, but it will help me make myself useful, at least. if you are currently looking for or getting rid of an apartment, remind me so I can list it. or better yet -- post yourself. you can now login to projectjulie.net with your LJ username (as yourljname@livejournal.com) and password. eta: if you're interested but don't want to subscribe to projectjulie.net automatic email updates, here's an LJ feed of available apartments that come my way: pj_nycapts

5. I suspect that some of you will appreciate dirtygirl_icons (see sample above). in return, could you YSI-me the infamous felicity/marcia makeout clip if you have it?? as I'm late on the flist I missed out on the first round of sharing. in conclusion, http://www.gender-news.com (via warlordkittens) is, ahem, "A Ministry of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood." not quite as impressive as http://lesbianstudies.com and http://www.savethemales.ca, though. and don't forget, http://godhatesshrimp.com.