Meh. Whatever.

This journal will probably be semi-friends only from now on. Fandom stuff may or may not be f-lcoked. Please comment in this entry to be added if you so desire.

Sounds like fun to me!

Originally posted by neo_prodigy at Spirit Day

Protect Insurance Companies PSA on Funnyordie It's funny but it's sad too, I think. I don't get why people are so afraid of the government reforming healthcar-as far as I'm concerned the insurance companies can go straight to hell--most of them anyway. Denying coverage for someone to have a life-saving treatment to protect their profits and bottom-line?! 

Good Orient has some reasonably priced, nice-looking Asian clothing. I like this kimono inspired dress. I like the jewelry too. Now, if only I had some money. *sighs*.

So, I'm really enjoying ookami_kasumi 's fanfic. You can find them easily here. I'm especially liking Kitsune bi (Donuts fic), Bound (a Natsume's Book of Friends fanfic), and Indecent Exposure (Naruto fic: Kakashi/Iruka). She really does her (I think she's a she) into Japanese myths and customs. I'm not sure familiarity with the fandoms are required for enjoyment of the stories. I'm only familiar with Naruto's source material but I enjoy all the fics I've read by her equally. She occasionally makes grammar mistakes and word substitutions (where for were) but I like her fics so much I overlook it and it's not constant. It's only occassionally.

OMG. Found this. North Carolina church plans Halloween Bible BURNING.

Marc Grizzard, of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina, says that the first King James translation of the Bible is the only true declaration of God’s word, and that all others are “satanic”.

Pastor Grizzard said: “I believe the King James version is God’s preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God… for English-speaking people.

“We are burning books that we believe to be Satanic.”

As well as inappropriate translations from the original Hebrew and Aramaic, the pastor and his associates will be burning books by various Christian authors, as well as music of every genre.

Heretics according to this psycho include Billy Graham, Rick Warren,and even the MOTHER THERESA is a Satanic author according to this wackjob.

Is it just me or are these people insane?!?

Oh yeah, my fave bit: The book-burning is hoped to be a social event, with a barbecue laid on for attendees. It is not clear whether the meat will be grilled over the heat of burning Gospels.

Really? A social event with a barbecue? I don't know whether to laugh or scream in horror.

 

The NASA moon did succeed after all. Excellent. I'm looking forward to reading about the results.

The Tron Legacy trailer is up. I'm so excited. I can't wait for it to be released. Looking back, I think Tron may be responsible for my love of futuristic looking vehicles, especially motorcycles.

Oh, yeah, there's a femslash blogtalkradio show/podcast, called Femslash for Fans, hosted by Allaine. I liked his Harley/Ivy fics (needs a little work on his scene transitions but the fics are otherwise recced) so I thought why not give his show a try?  I've listened to most of the shows and I like it for the most part. He tends to speak quiet and his guests, fanfic authors, louder so I have to play with the volume a little but it's okay. You can download the podcasts.  I've found femslash fandoms that I'm interested in such as PepSi (Peppa/Silva, which is based on a Spanish soap opera show........I've watched some of the clips so far and it's much better than US portrayals so far of a lesbian relationship). It is a soap opera though so expect typical soap shenangians. Too bad I can't find a slash version/podcast, so far anyway.

Is it just me or is NCIS LA a redone, wannabe Fastlane? NCIS LA is  way less sexual than Fastlane.  I like the characters of LA  but the show reminds of a NCIS version of Fastlane, which I adored and was extremely pissed off when it was cancelled. I still miss Fastlane's slash sub(over)text. No, really. The main pairing was also an African American and white guy (in slash and on the show--police partners). They acted like they were a long-term married couple. Their boss, a woman, refused to discuss her sexual orientations, which fueled my femslash tendencies (she shared a kiss with a criminal she was tracking and it didn't seem to upset her). Wasn't the greatest show but I adored it anyway. I'm liking LA much more than I expected to. I think I even like it more than NCIS (hate Ziva, HATE her, she ruins the show!) even though I adore Abby, Ducky, and Gibbs.

The physicist advisor to the Big Bang Theory has created a blog, the Big Blog Theory, where he discusses the physic ideas used on the show. It's kind of interesting. It just started.

There's a music/performance group called Witches in Bikinis. I've heard a couple of their song and LOL'ed all t the way through them.

Archaeologist discovers Count Dracula's cellar. Eh. Interesting if true.

The Real Story of Nazi Egyptology Interesting. Need to finish reading it.

So, Pirate Bay has been sold and is going legit. Eh. Best of luck to them but I think the people who bought it will end up regretting it. I don't blame the PB founders in the least for selling it though for 7.7 million. I would have done so myself. I never used it much but I did think it was an excellent tracking site.

This is just too funny! Rose, et al. "The bra-strap injury: should men have lessons?" British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 2001. Yes, it's an actual research, published article. Hahahahahaha. I mean seriously?! Here's an entry that explains it--sounds fishy to me! Physical therapy for that?! Hah.

In order to raise money for the Point Foundation, which "provides financial support, mentoring, leadership training and hope to meritorious students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression," an Internet art auction will be held from July 20th-24th. " Original art pieces have been donated by several notable artists including nationally syndicated cartoonist Paige Braddock (http://comics.com/janes_world/); illustrator, artist, and animator Erika Moen (http://www.erikamoen.com/); and award-winning cartoonist Megan Rose Gedris (http://rosalarian.com/)." More artists are listed on the front webpage. You can click through and see the art that has been donated interests you.

If only I had a job and some money, *sighs*. There's a couple of pics that I like but this one with the tentacles (not sexy really, the couple kisses, but it may not be worksafe 'cause of the tentacles or the fact that both of them is female) is kind of weird but sweet.

ROTFLMAO. I'd never would have thought of Jane Austen and Zombies before but now I really wanna see it! "The news was announced in the recently released novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," which recounts the struggle of Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters to simultaneously annihilate the undead invading their idyllic community and to marry well. Were it just the zombies, the Bennet sisters would surely triumph, armed as they are with advanced weaponry knowledge and Shaolin martial arts training. Unfortunately, however, aliens, vampires, robots and dragons are also about to descend on the village."  

Let's not forget the Predator vs. Jane Austen movie either (pics!).

This has got to be the funniest movie review ever written. I made the mistake of reading it late at night and almost couldn't stop myself from waking up my roomie with my laughing. It's Michael Bay Finally Made An Art Movie, which reviews Transformers. I love the review and the movie.

I thought the Transformers: ROTF was funny. These movies, if done right, will probably be even funnier. Yeah, I loved T:ROTF, so sue me. I even kind of think it's better than the first one. Of course, I'm not looking for Oscar potential or even a lot of sense although I did follow the plot-- what there was of it. I'm looking for Transformers and this movie has plenty, much more than the first one and not just in number of them. I'm talking about being on screen, transforming, and battling and this movie has plenty of them, including number. I thought the movie was funnier than most movies billed as comedies and that the reviewers just need to get a sense of humor.

OMG! Man, Christopher Handley, arrested and convicted of owning child "porn" because a few of the 10,000 manga he collected has child "porn" in them, i.e. images of "children" (?) (the articles I've read don't state if the images are teens or actual children and I really don't care--they're manga drawings, damnit! ETA: one article said the images (all of them?) were pre-pubescent.). The man is not a pedophile--no background of it or images of actual, real children were found during the investigation, which ensued after the U.S. Post Office decided to open a package of his from Japan that contained manga that had images of child "porn" in it. I want to know why they decided to open the package in the first place.

Here's brief article about it: U.S. Manga Obscenity Convictions Roils Comic World Has links to the other articles about it. From the article: "The 39-year-old office worker was charged under the 2003 Protect Act, which outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and which lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Handley’s guilty plea makes him the first to be convicted under that law for possessing cartoon art, without any evidence that he also collected or viewed genuine child pornography. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison."

Matt Thorn has an article and links to other articles that are well-worth reading concerning the case. From his article: "But whether I would like him or not, or think he is a “nice guy” or not, is irrelevant. It’s also irrelevant that I personally find lolicon manga, and a lot of other hentai manga, to be offensive and disturbing. As others have pointed out, to support free expression is not just to defend expression you like, but rather to defend expression you despise. 

The chilling bottom line is that an American may very well go to prison for acquiring and looking at drawings of characters who do not actually exist."  Emphasis mine. Totally agree and totally freaked out now.

Comi-Press: Down the Slippery Slope--The Crime of Viewing Manga is one of the best articles I've read on the subject. It starts out discussing the Whorley case (a man previously convicted of viewing real-life child porn) and then discusses the Handley case. "Christopher Handley's circumstances were vastly different from Dwight Whorley's when law enforcement officers followed him home from the Post Office on May 23, 2006. He had just picked up a package from Japan containing manga. A thorough search of his home turned up only more of it: some 1200 magazines, hundreds of DVDs, laser discs and videotapes, and an untold number of images on computer, but no child pornography or even images of nude minors. Handley was a collector of manga, not lolicon, and the vast majority of the manga and images he possessed contained no fantasy representations of minors at all.[18] The fact that a small amount of it represented fictional pre-pubescents and fantasy portrayals of sadomasochistic or violent sex, however, meant that Handley faced a sentence ranging from a minimum of 7 years and 3 months in prison to a maximum of 9 years.

What does a small amount mean? By the government's count, he received or possessed more than 150 but less than 300 such images in total. Not 150 to 300 magazines, but cartoon pages with one or more panels or individual jpgs. " And we're talking about 150 to 300 images in 10,000 volumes of manga! Not even collected in volume.

Also from the Slippery Slope: "Soon, if the so-called "Safety Act," currently pending before Congress, is passed, the sentence for receiving even a single prohibited cartoon in violation of Section 1466A will jump from "not less than 5 years and not more than 20 years" to "15 years or for life." [34] Life. For cartoons." All emphasis mine. According to the article, just looking at such images on the Internet is punishable and convictable--you're receiving child "porn"--and if you draw it, you're in "production" of it and also prosecutable.

I have no words, really. Talk about thought control and police. Do I need to now hide my fic recs (the Sky High recs I just posted are about teenagers--Will/Warren). Am I going to be arrested for that? Do I need to make my memories private to prevent government snooping? Where does it stop? How do you define a child? Yes, a thousand times yes, go after the real-life child porn producers and molesters but leave drawings, cartoons, anime, art, and anything that doesn't involve real-life anybody (adult, child) alone. I feel like I'm now living in 1984/Farenheit 451 even moreso.