Resurfacing after way too long
It's not that I'm dead, or that I don't care about any of you anymore, it's just that I've had a long bout of LJ apathy (probably not quite over yet). I'll gladly read your posts, and will sometimes comment, but posting seems to be a massive hurdle.
I think I've forgotten at least two friend's birthdays. Sorry. And happy birthday! Hope it was a really good one.
Life's been good since last post. A bit of dancing, bit of embroidery and having fun with the SCAdians. Someone in the gang had been so impressed with me that they had recommended me for an award of arms, and I got it during the last revel! I fear they want to see my arms embroidered on everything now...
I had a somewhat frustrating Easter when the fridge died on the Wednesday before. Luckily we could get a new one after only a week and a half, so it wasn't too bad (at my first house in Oxford they had - before I arrived, thankfully - had to wait three months for a replacement! (and that's why I prefer local private landlords as opposed to an agency)).
I've got a ton of links put aside for linking, so I'll just dump them here and clear out the cache:
I assume most of the scifi readers here are aware of the Hugo Award debacle and have read some/most of the outrage posts (if you've read all the outrage posts I'm not sure if I should be impressed or start organizing an intervention of "real life"). Being someone who is more interested in having interesting discussions than trying to win a debate, I found the following posts more useful for further thinking:
- Kari Sperring wrote all books are political - or, as a commenter said: "I write the kind of exciting stories I want to read. You keep bringing politics into your stories. They churn out tedious message fiction."
- The viewpoint from a conservative fan and writer: Exiles: Jaguar on the Hugos (over 200 comments and no shitflinging of insults - I'm impressed)
- On How Being in the Majority Exacerbates Bias - with math!
- Segueing into this: how the illusion of a shared culture can make empathy harder in the age of social media
- A study from the University of Kansas shows that many average voters with strong party commitments -- both Democrats and Republicans -- care more about their parties simply winning the election than they do either ideology or issues. And from what I've seen on the internet over the last few years, this definitely goes beyond any official party politics. I've stopped reading several sites where interest in the topic had to give way for mental health care when the (in)official standard promoted or accepted an us-them mentality and with sometimes a very narrow way on how you had to behave and believe in order to be defined as a proper person rather than the enemy.
It's been Easter, and selenak had posted the annual Easter Well pics - a tradition in Franconia (southern Germany). If you like insightful posts on tv-series and books, I recommend you have a look at her LJ.
Ursula Le Guin is 85 years old and to celebrate her work BBC radio did a short interview with her and radio dramatizations of The left hand of darkness (available now) and Earthsea (broadcast 27 April). They should be available internationally, as opposed to BBC tv.
If you love modern fashion, and have horrible regrets that you can't go to London and see the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A, BBC did a short tour of the exhibition. If you're not in the UK, you might need to do something with your IP address to be able to view it.
An important first step of fire safety
If you want to help restoring a Dutch 15th century prayer book, here's a crowdfunding project for you! Lots of pictures on the project's twitter page
Isles of Scilly seek police constable for the 'most enviable police job in the world'. Work might involve abandoned goldfish, lost seals and drunken rows over salt.
And for the category of "always more complicated", the identity politics in the famous interracial marriage case of Loving vs. Virginia.
I've enjoyed the following author interviews: Read for pixels 2015: Elizabeth Bear, New classics of SF with N.K. Jemisin and Ann Leckie and the Skiffy & Fanty show with Juliet McKenna. Always good to have something entertaining in the background while you embroider. Speaking of which, I have a Left hand of darkness to listen to.
I think I've forgotten at least two friend's birthdays. Sorry. And happy birthday! Hope it was a really good one.
Life's been good since last post. A bit of dancing, bit of embroidery and having fun with the SCAdians. Someone in the gang had been so impressed with me that they had recommended me for an award of arms, and I got it during the last revel! I fear they want to see my arms embroidered on everything now...
I had a somewhat frustrating Easter when the fridge died on the Wednesday before. Luckily we could get a new one after only a week and a half, so it wasn't too bad (at my first house in Oxford they had - before I arrived, thankfully - had to wait three months for a replacement! (and that's why I prefer local private landlords as opposed to an agency)).
I've got a ton of links put aside for linking, so I'll just dump them here and clear out the cache:
I assume most of the scifi readers here are aware of the Hugo Award debacle and have read some/most of the outrage posts (if you've read all the outrage posts I'm not sure if I should be impressed or start organizing an intervention of "real life"). Being someone who is more interested in having interesting discussions than trying to win a debate, I found the following posts more useful for further thinking:
- Kari Sperring wrote all books are political - or, as a commenter said: "I write the kind of exciting stories I want to read. You keep bringing politics into your stories. They churn out tedious message fiction."
- The viewpoint from a conservative fan and writer: Exiles: Jaguar on the Hugos (over 200 comments and no shitflinging of insults - I'm impressed)
- On How Being in the Majority Exacerbates Bias - with math!
- Segueing into this: how the illusion of a shared culture can make empathy harder in the age of social media
- A study from the University of Kansas shows that many average voters with strong party commitments -- both Democrats and Republicans -- care more about their parties simply winning the election than they do either ideology or issues. And from what I've seen on the internet over the last few years, this definitely goes beyond any official party politics. I've stopped reading several sites where interest in the topic had to give way for mental health care when the (in)official standard promoted or accepted an us-them mentality and with sometimes a very narrow way on how you had to behave and believe in order to be defined as a proper person rather than the enemy.
It's been Easter, and selenak had posted the annual Easter Well pics - a tradition in Franconia (southern Germany). If you like insightful posts on tv-series and books, I recommend you have a look at her LJ.
Ursula Le Guin is 85 years old and to celebrate her work BBC radio did a short interview with her and radio dramatizations of The left hand of darkness (available now) and Earthsea (broadcast 27 April). They should be available internationally, as opposed to BBC tv.
If you love modern fashion, and have horrible regrets that you can't go to London and see the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A, BBC did a short tour of the exhibition. If you're not in the UK, you might need to do something with your IP address to be able to view it.
An important first step of fire safety
If you want to help restoring a Dutch 15th century prayer book, here's a crowdfunding project for you! Lots of pictures on the project's twitter page
Isles of Scilly seek police constable for the 'most enviable police job in the world'. Work might involve abandoned goldfish, lost seals and drunken rows over salt.
And for the category of "always more complicated", the identity politics in the famous interracial marriage case of Loving vs. Virginia.
I've enjoyed the following author interviews: Read for pixels 2015: Elizabeth Bear, New classics of SF with N.K. Jemisin and Ann Leckie and the Skiffy & Fanty show with Juliet McKenna. Always good to have something entertaining in the background while you embroider. Speaking of which, I have a Left hand of darkness to listen to.