Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong'o Speaks About Beauty
Mar. 10th, 2014 10:00 am![[syndicated profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
queer_ya_feedThis powerful speech about beauty was made a few days before Lupita won the Oscar, as she accepted an award for Best Breakthrough Performance at the seventh annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon hosted by Essence magazine.
Namaste,
Lee
Namaste,
Lee
![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
synecdochicMondays, every week, let's celebrate ourselves, to start the week right. Tell me what you're proud of. Tell me what you accomplished last week, something -- at least one thing -- that you can turn around and point at and say: I did this. Me. It was tough, but I did it, and I did it well, and I am proud of it, and it makes me feel good to see what I accomplished. Could be anything -- something you made, something you did, something you got through. Just take a minute and celebrate yourself. Either here, or in your journal, but somewhere.
(And if you feel uncomfortable doing this in public, I've set this entry to screen any anonymous comments, so if you want privacy, comment anonymously and I won't unscreen it. Also: yes, by all means, cheer each other on when you see something you want to give props to!)
(And if you feel uncomfortable doing this in public, I've set this entry to screen any anonymous comments, so if you want privacy, comment anonymously and I won't unscreen it. Also: yes, by all means, cheer each other on when you see something you want to give props to!)
stuff that smells good
Mar. 10th, 2014 04:26 amsynecdochicA few months ago, sarah mentioned in passing that she'd like to start wearing perfume, but has hated most every commercial perfume she's tried and had very little scent experience to start figuring out what notes would smell good on her. One of my (many) Random Bits of Knowledge From My Misspent Youth is a pretty good mental catalog of fragrance notes and how they blend, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab aka BPAL fiiiiiinally redid their website to make it possible to search by note and not force you to go through dozens of pages to figure out what the heck you want, so I surprised her with a few dozen samples (aka "imps", don't get me started), for us to try.
(re: the "don't get me started": I respect the heck out of BPAL's ability to make it as a niche perfume house, they do make some really nice-smelling scents, and they do a great job of themeing, but the themeing goes to eye-rolling levels sometimes and the cult following can be a bit much. I got tired of dealing with said cult following while working the LJ abuse team: between the flame wars because somebody said something not nice about the perfumes or the fandom and the demands that we Do Something about people who arranged swaps/sales on-LJ and then failed to follow through, I developed a bit of a reflexive twitch whenever anyone said 'BPAL' for a few years. Still: they do make some very nice-smelling scents. For years, the only scent I would ever wear was their "413 U.S. 15 / Miller vs California", whichsquirelawrence bought me as a gift because proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and because Miller vs California was the court case that defined 'obscenity', a standard that's still used today. It smells amazing on me. This leads to sentences being spoken in the household like "You smell like obscenity case law!")
Anyway, we've been testing our way through the collection (and just placed another order), and sincerydra_wong has been doing a lot of writing about perfume and collecting posts of people writing about perfume, not to mention encouraging other people to post their sniffing notes on perfumes, I figured I'd share some of my (lightly-edited) comments on some of the things I've tested! I included both the stuff that smelled good on me and some of the stuff that didn't, but didn't bother with some of the ones that were just "put it on, sniffed, went AUUGH NO, washed off immediately" unless the review at the time was funny.
( Some of them are a bit giddy... )
sarah mentioned in passing that she'd like to start wearing perfume, but has hated most every commercial perfume she's tried and had very little scent experience to start figuring out what notes would smell good on her. One of my (many) Random Bits of Knowledge From My Misspent Youth is a pretty good mental catalog of fragrance notes and how they blend, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab aka BPAL fiiiiiinally redid their website to make it possible to search by note and not force you to go through dozens of pages to figure out what the heck you want, so I surprised her with a few dozen samples (aka "imps", don't get me started), for us to try.(re: the "don't get me started": I respect the heck out of BPAL's ability to make it as a niche perfume house, they do make some really nice-smelling scents, and they do a great job of themeing, but the themeing goes to eye-rolling levels sometimes and the cult following can be a bit much. I got tired of dealing with said cult following while working the LJ abuse team: between the flame wars because somebody said something not nice about the perfumes or the fandom and the demands that we Do Something about people who arranged swaps/sales on-LJ and then failed to follow through, I developed a bit of a reflexive twitch whenever anyone said 'BPAL' for a few years. Still: they do make some very nice-smelling scents. For years, the only scent I would ever wear was their "413 U.S. 15 / Miller vs California", which
squirelawrence bought me as a gift because proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and because Miller vs California was the court case that defined 'obscenity', a standard that's still used today. It smells amazing on me. This leads to sentences being spoken in the household like "You smell like obscenity case law!")Anyway, we've been testing our way through the collection (and just placed another order), and since
rydra_wong has been doing a lot of writing about perfume and collecting posts of people writing about perfume, not to mention encouraging other people to post their sniffing notes on perfumes, I figured I'd share some of my (lightly-edited) comments on some of the things I've tested! I included both the stuff that smelled good on me and some of the stuff that didn't, but didn't bother with some of the ones that were just "put it on, sniffed, went AUUGH NO, washed off immediately" unless the review at the time was funny.( Some of them are a bit giddy... )
Good Things
Mar. 10th, 2014 06:39 pmcalissaAs my last post probably indicated, things have been rather difficult on the work front recently. This weekend has gone some way towards remedying that, partly thanks to the fact that it was a long weekend locally. I spent most of it camped out on the couch, reading in my pyjamas. I also spent a few hours with a great group of local writers who were holding a mini writing retreat over the weekend at a house close by.
In fact, over the last few weeks there have been many good things helping to counterbalance the nastiness. Since so many of you lovelies have been struggling as well, I thought I would share some of these good things in the hopes that they will counterbalance more nastiness--and as a bit of a thank you to those that responded to my Little Things post (which I am still making my way through).
Let's start with the shinies. ( Ooo... shinies! )
Other awesome things that have kept me going:
In fact, over the last few weeks there have been many good things helping to counterbalance the nastiness. Since so many of you lovelies have been struggling as well, I thought I would share some of these good things in the hopes that they will counterbalance more nastiness--and as a bit of a thank you to those that responded to my Little Things post (which I am still making my way through).
Let's start with the shinies. ( Ooo... shinies! )
Other awesome things that have kept me going:
- My nephew (now four months old) is a wiggling bundle of energy. He can't yet walk or even crawl but spends a lot of time trying to jump around (especially when held). So my sister bought him a jumping harness which attaches to door frames and supports his weight enough that he can jump around. He absolutely adores this. My sister sent me a couple of videos and the cuteness makes my heart explode.
- My sister was also awesome enough to bring me giant, homemade chocolate-chip cookies.
- My grandmother was in town for a few days and I got to visit for a little while. It was nice to see her get another chance to nurse her great-grandson.
- I also got to cuddle my nephew at my dad's birthday dinner just the other night. (Yes, my family is awesome. I don't know what I would have done without them).
- Is there anything more joyful than a dog on a walk? (lizcommotion might argue that it's actually a dog playing fetch)
- And, of course, doggie cuddles are pretty wonderful.
- The leaves are changing colour with Autumn's arrival.
- Which means lots of Russian Caravan tea in the mornings. Yum.
- I've had some very interesting conversations on gender equality in anime (with specific reference to Log Horizon).
- In fact, my internet friends as a whole have been fantastic about keeping me going. So THANK YOU!
Americanisms
Mar. 10th, 2014 09:51 amdeird1It took me years to realise that Lily Aldrin being a kindergarten teacher meant she was teaching prep kids rather than 3 year olds.
And I only realised two days ago that, when Daphne Moon calls herself a physical therapist, she really means she's a physio - which means she's much more educated than I thought she was.
And I only realised two days ago that, when Daphne Moon calls herself a physical therapist, she really means she's a physio - which means she's much more educated than I thought she was.
Fire Tornado
Mar. 10th, 2014 02:11 amysabetwordsmithSee a fire tornado made with fans.
For those of you with pyrokinesis, it's not a hard trick to make fire spiral, although getting it to go straight up is harder.
For those of you with pyrokinesis, it's not a hard trick to make fire spiral, although getting it to go straight up is harder.
first impressions
Mar. 10th, 2014 07:46 amdeird1No longer being quite so jetlagged, I thought I'd resume my posting schedule.
Germany! Yay!
(Or, alternately, Germany! Grr!, depending on how I'm feeling at the time. Mainly this is connected to how much my ability to speak German is working.)
( ramblings under here )
How's everyone else going?
Germany! Yay!
(Or, alternately, Germany! Grr!, depending on how I'm feeling at the time. Mainly this is connected to how much my ability to speak German is working.)
( ramblings under here )
How's everyone else going?
Another Poem About The Heart
Mar. 10th, 2014 05:50 pmtreeWhen the floor drops out, as it has now,
you cannot hear the squirrel on the wire
outside your window, the wheels spinning
on the road below. You want only pity
and are presented with the unbelievable
effrontery of a world that moves on.
But wait: this is not the person you are.
You're the kind of person who
sits in dark theaters crying at the collarbones
that curve across the dancers' chests,
at the proof of a perfection they represent;
a person who goes out walking in a four-day drizzle,
sees a pot of geraniums and is seized, overcome
by how they can bring so much (what else
can you call it?) joy. You love the world,
are sure, at least, that you have. But be truthful:
you only love freely things that have nothing
to do with you. You're like a matchstick house:
intricately constructed but flimsy and hollow inside.
You're a house in love with the trees beside you -
able to look at them all day, aware of how faithful they are -
but unable to forgive that they'd lie down
leaving you exposed and alone in a large enough storm.
Jenn Habel
you cannot hear the squirrel on the wire
outside your window, the wheels spinning
on the road below. You want only pity
and are presented with the unbelievable
effrontery of a world that moves on.
But wait: this is not the person you are.
You're the kind of person who
sits in dark theaters crying at the collarbones
that curve across the dancers' chests,
at the proof of a perfection they represent;
a person who goes out walking in a four-day drizzle,
sees a pot of geraniums and is seized, overcome
by how they can bring so much (what else
can you call it?) joy. You love the world,
are sure, at least, that you have. But be truthful:
you only love freely things that have nothing
to do with you. You're like a matchstick house:
intricately constructed but flimsy and hollow inside.
You're a house in love with the trees beside you -
able to look at them all day, aware of how faithful they are -
but unable to forgive that they'd lie down
leaving you exposed and alone in a large enough storm.
Jenn Habel
and_ed @ 2014-03-09T22:40:00
Mar. 10th, 2014 05:40 amand_ed_lj_feedThis is not a review/recap of Hawaii Five-0. Its a flat out rant. Fair warning.
Okay so I cannot deny it anymore... Peter Lenkov and whatever other powers that be who have a hand in this season have clearly taken a page from the Tim Kring (Heroes) school of television production with its manifesto of: the way to keep things fresh and interesting is to take the absolute best parts of your successful show and render them completely unrecognizable because viewers really like it (and btw that was totally not why Heroes got cancelled, I swear). Also I'm pretty sure the Five-0 writing team have taken a seminar entitled: "The Unfairly Maligned Art of the Ret-Con: All the cool kids are doing it and no one really remembers the pilot, anyway, let alone the 75 or so episodes that have aired since".
I mean, seriously…what the ever-loving fuck?
I just watched Friday's ep on my iPad tonight and 4:30 minutes in, I just about threw the thing across the room. I've been bouncing back and forth deciding what I'm most outraged about since then. First, they finally, finally show us the PTSD we've all been certain Steve would surely have been experiencing all this time and instead of the 'Danny picks up the pieces' scenario that SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED and would have been so, so very awesome, Steve calls his new BFF. Of course he does…I knew and I'm sure everyone else did too, that after last week's set up, that call's going to Grover. That doesn't make it any less wrong wrong WRONG.
But as disappointing as that was, its nothing compared to the complete and utter re-write they just did of this entire series. Steve McGarret is devastated in the pilot by hearing his father killed - who doesn't hear Alex's haunting shout of "No!" echoing in their heads as they read this? He throws himself into finding Hesse, finding Wo Fat, unravelling the mystery of his parents lives and deaths and not-really-deaths…I mean, my god…think of his reaction when he finds out Hesse is still alive…think of the S1 finale…think of Steve's grim-faced push-ups in Hawala, think of him throwing himself out of a moving ambulance with a stab wound. But now, oh no, that was just a convenient excuse, all that Daddy issues and Mommy issues stuff, this has really all been about running from the memory of whatsisface that Show presented in exactly one episode and then promptly forgot. Obviously Steve's nightmares are about…friend I'm too outraged to remember his name. I mean, there's certainly no reason to have nightmares about hearing his dad's death through his sat phone or being tortured and then watching Jenna shot in front of his face, right?
I mean…I can't even.
And then Danny. My beloved Danny. When exactly did he become nothing more than comic relief? When did his team start thinking so little of him that they'd all talk about him behind his back? And Steve sets up a ride-along for Mom after Danny said no? What kind of utter douche does that to his friend? Not Steve. Steve would not do that. Steve might taunt Danny about his reluctance to have his Mom riding around with the frickin' head of SWAT (though its not like a ridiculously disproportionate amount of extremely violent and dangerous shit goes down in Honolulu or anything) but he wouldn't actually sneak around and set it up over Danny's strenuous objections.
And Danny saying Steve's not his friend anymore? In other circumstances, that might have been a cute bit but now that was just…ow…because hey, its not Danny that Steve's confiding in anymore is it?
So Danny's just there to snark and be laughed at and then occasionally bring us little moments of schmoop with Grace and now his mom (who, btw, got more interesting stuff in this ep than Danny's had half the eps of this season)?
And what's worse, now that he's been like this for so long, I don't see how they can fix it. How can viewers be moved by something like Danny's impassioned intercom plea to Rachel or his agonizing farewell to Matty or telling Steve his version of 9-11 while waiting for a bomb to kill them both... after presenting him so often this season as just a mean-spirited source of amusement to his friends and colleagues? I don't see a way for Danno to come back from this if they even wanted him to unless they pull a 1980's "Dallas" this-whole-season-was-someone's-dream" schtick. Which was utterly ridiculous but I would totally take it now and yes I AM that desperate to save this show from itself and my beloved characters from this show.
I'll bet you dollars to donuts...a dumb expression that still makes more sense than this show lately...that Danny is either completely gone next year having gone off to follow Grace somewhere or I dunno, maybe he joins the frickin circus or something the way this is going. Or else he'll be a recurring Kamekona level character so PLenkov can keep 'reassuring' us on twitter through the rest of this season and the break that Danny/Scott is not leaving the show when really he'll just pop up in a handful of eps next season for some comic relief. And Grover will be McGarret's partner/confidant/BFF because clearly he's a show favorite and popular with casual viewers who don't invest in the big picture plot or characters and just watch for some pretty people and pretty Hawaii and to see some shit getting blown up. Plus - and I mention this just as a happy bonus for them, not that I think they were specifically plotting this way - with Grover replacing Danny, you'll have non of those pesky 'is there something going on there?' vibes that have been such a source of delight to most of us in this corner of fandom. And seriously if any of you are seeing Steve making with the adoring grins and schmoopy eyes at Lou Grover kindly keep those thoughts to yourself lest you give me nightmares. ;)
I'm trying to joke there, but…I'm really just sad right now. I can't even find a sliver of optimism at the moment. I'm going to just go watch Season One and try not to cry.
More later (Hurley had some good lines and I was too upset even to look for a good 'Scott's ass' shot!) when I'm less knee-jerk ragey and more coherent.
And once I get caught up on SPN, expect a whole lot of Five-0 Season One related posts - and a picspam requested by the lovely
sara_wolf of all Steve's schmoopy smiles at Danny.
If you read all that and you're really loving this season, I'm sorry if I harshed your squee. But if we're on the same page here…anyone up for a group hug? I could really use it.
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Okay so I cannot deny it anymore... Peter Lenkov and whatever other powers that be who have a hand in this season have clearly taken a page from the Tim Kring (Heroes) school of television production with its manifesto of: the way to keep things fresh and interesting is to take the absolute best parts of your successful show and render them completely unrecognizable because viewers really like it (and btw that was totally not why Heroes got cancelled, I swear). Also I'm pretty sure the Five-0 writing team have taken a seminar entitled: "The Unfairly Maligned Art of the Ret-Con: All the cool kids are doing it and no one really remembers the pilot, anyway, let alone the 75 or so episodes that have aired since".
I mean, seriously…what the ever-loving fuck?
I just watched Friday's ep on my iPad tonight and 4:30 minutes in, I just about threw the thing across the room. I've been bouncing back and forth deciding what I'm most outraged about since then. First, they finally, finally show us the PTSD we've all been certain Steve would surely have been experiencing all this time and instead of the 'Danny picks up the pieces' scenario that SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED and would have been so, so very awesome, Steve calls his new BFF. Of course he does…I knew and I'm sure everyone else did too, that after last week's set up, that call's going to Grover. That doesn't make it any less wrong wrong WRONG.
But as disappointing as that was, its nothing compared to the complete and utter re-write they just did of this entire series. Steve McGarret is devastated in the pilot by hearing his father killed - who doesn't hear Alex's haunting shout of "No!" echoing in their heads as they read this? He throws himself into finding Hesse, finding Wo Fat, unravelling the mystery of his parents lives and deaths and not-really-deaths…I mean, my god…think of his reaction when he finds out Hesse is still alive…think of the S1 finale…think of Steve's grim-faced push-ups in Hawala, think of him throwing himself out of a moving ambulance with a stab wound. But now, oh no, that was just a convenient excuse, all that Daddy issues and Mommy issues stuff, this has really all been about running from the memory of whatsisface that Show presented in exactly one episode and then promptly forgot. Obviously Steve's nightmares are about…friend I'm too outraged to remember his name. I mean, there's certainly no reason to have nightmares about hearing his dad's death through his sat phone or being tortured and then watching Jenna shot in front of his face, right?
I mean…I can't even.
And then Danny. My beloved Danny. When exactly did he become nothing more than comic relief? When did his team start thinking so little of him that they'd all talk about him behind his back? And Steve sets up a ride-along for Mom after Danny said no? What kind of utter douche does that to his friend? Not Steve. Steve would not do that. Steve might taunt Danny about his reluctance to have his Mom riding around with the frickin' head of SWAT (though its not like a ridiculously disproportionate amount of extremely violent and dangerous shit goes down in Honolulu or anything) but he wouldn't actually sneak around and set it up over Danny's strenuous objections.
And Danny saying Steve's not his friend anymore? In other circumstances, that might have been a cute bit but now that was just…ow…because hey, its not Danny that Steve's confiding in anymore is it?
So Danny's just there to snark and be laughed at and then occasionally bring us little moments of schmoop with Grace and now his mom (who, btw, got more interesting stuff in this ep than Danny's had half the eps of this season)?
And what's worse, now that he's been like this for so long, I don't see how they can fix it. How can viewers be moved by something like Danny's impassioned intercom plea to Rachel or his agonizing farewell to Matty or telling Steve his version of 9-11 while waiting for a bomb to kill them both... after presenting him so often this season as just a mean-spirited source of amusement to his friends and colleagues? I don't see a way for Danno to come back from this if they even wanted him to unless they pull a 1980's "Dallas" this-whole-season-was-someone's-dream" schtick. Which was utterly ridiculous but I would totally take it now and yes I AM that desperate to save this show from itself and my beloved characters from this show.
I'll bet you dollars to donuts...a dumb expression that still makes more sense than this show lately...that Danny is either completely gone next year having gone off to follow Grace somewhere or I dunno, maybe he joins the frickin circus or something the way this is going. Or else he'll be a recurring Kamekona level character so PLenkov can keep 'reassuring' us on twitter through the rest of this season and the break that Danny/Scott is not leaving the show when really he'll just pop up in a handful of eps next season for some comic relief. And Grover will be McGarret's partner/confidant/BFF because clearly he's a show favorite and popular with casual viewers who don't invest in the big picture plot or characters and just watch for some pretty people and pretty Hawaii and to see some shit getting blown up. Plus - and I mention this just as a happy bonus for them, not that I think they were specifically plotting this way - with Grover replacing Danny, you'll have non of those pesky 'is there something going on there?' vibes that have been such a source of delight to most of us in this corner of fandom. And seriously if any of you are seeing Steve making with the adoring grins and schmoopy eyes at Lou Grover kindly keep those thoughts to yourself lest you give me nightmares. ;)
I'm trying to joke there, but…I'm really just sad right now. I can't even find a sliver of optimism at the moment. I'm going to just go watch Season One and try not to cry.
More later (Hurley had some good lines and I was too upset even to look for a good 'Scott's ass' shot!) when I'm less knee-jerk ragey and more coherent.
And once I get caught up on SPN, expect a whole lot of Five-0 Season One related posts - and a picspam requested by the lovely
sara_wolf of all Steve's schmoopy smiles at Danny.If you read all that and you're really loving this season, I'm sorry if I harshed your squee. But if we're on the same page here…anyone up for a group hug? I could really use it.
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(no subject)
Mar. 9th, 2014 11:03 pmstaraniseAmusements and diversions: This weekend recessional's sister ditched on their opera night, so she invited me to see Don Giovanni with her. This involved a bit of a scramble, because we now live about four hours apart and the middle two hours of that trip are a mercilessly punctual ferry. I ended up hung about with backpack, satchel, and plastic grocery bag to hold my entire opera toilette, and ironically looked so scruffy and overburdened that panhandlers visibly dismissed the idea of asking me for spare change.
I have something of a habit now of walking onto a BC ferry on one terminal looking like an impoverished grad student (en route to a job interview or opera) and walking off the other looking like a million bucks. I'd feel like a TV secret agent, if I didn't spend the whole boat ride doing my makeup on a cafe table.
Don Giovanni is a surprisingly woman-friendly opera. Elvira continues to be my favourite character in the Don Juan story, although Zerlina from the opera is awesome.
Meme: Ask me anything about my writing.
recessional's sister ditched on their opera night, so she invited me to see Don Giovanni with her. This involved a bit of a scramble, because we now live about four hours apart and the middle two hours of that trip are a mercilessly punctual ferry. I ended up hung about with backpack, satchel, and plastic grocery bag to hold my entire opera toilette, and ironically looked so scruffy and overburdened that panhandlers visibly dismissed the idea of asking me for spare change.I have something of a habit now of walking onto a BC ferry on one terminal looking like an impoverished grad student (en route to a job interview or opera) and walking off the other looking like a million bucks. I'd feel like a TV secret agent, if I didn't spend the whole boat ride doing my makeup on a cafe table.
Don Giovanni is a surprisingly woman-friendly opera. Elvira continues to be my favourite character in the Don Juan story, although Zerlina from the opera is awesome.
Meme: Ask me anything about my writing.
Serial Notes: The Linguistics Edition
Mar. 10th, 2014 06:00 amlynnoconnachtSometimes, it’s hard to know where to start a post, so let’s start with this sentence. Just to get the post started. I find linguistics an interesting and fascinating topic, so it’s little surprise (to me) that A Promise Broken has conlang elements to it. In fact, you’ll discover that it has lots of conlang elements to it everywhere and, because I am me (and contrary) I haven’t made a glossary available online. Part of it is that asking readers to figure it out for themselves will tell me which ones need additional explanations in-story. (I may not add them if I can’t get them to fit, but at least I’ll know about them.)
Anyway. One of the things that cropped up in writing the narrative was figuring out the best way to deal with non-binary gender. Currently, English only recognises the he/she binary. Eiryn’s society recognises (to an extent) that this is not the whole picture. Like most things, this isn’t a big deal, plot-important kind of thing. It just is. Some people in the story identify as non-binary and… that’s it. It’s not tied to plot, it’s not something that’d come up in conversation. The fastest and easiest way to acknowledge the gender these characters have is simply by having the narrative acknowledge their gender exists.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Mirrored from Little Lion Lynnet's.
Monday 10/03/2014
Mar. 10th, 2014 06:58 amdark_kana posting in ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
3_good_things_a_day1) Slept well.
2) Finished another book last night. ^^
3)
lhune is coming over this evening after work, for dinner and Rurouni Kenshin. XD