I am suspicious about the origins of this meme, because nobody's said where they got it, AND YET somebody on my flist/rpage was soliciting lists of "favourite" tropes the other day. CURIOUS. Also, I don't know if I'm supposed to just talk about my general feelings on these tropes, or specifics about writing/reading them??? Idk. Blind memeage!

I got it from kanata, anyway.

( trope meme! )

Probably I'll do the end of year one in a little bit. First, I have to heat up some roti and veggies'n'squash-in-jalfrezi.

...I am suddenly craving crusty cheesey bread sticks. Wtf?

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

(This entry brought to you by: the last two episodes of the Savage Lovecast and Twitter.)

1. Okay, the thing that bugs me most about this whole "women's sexuality is fluid!!! So lesbians won't always be lesbians and vice versa versa!!! It are proved by the sciens!!!" thing is that a) shut up, and b) it sounds like just another round of dictating female sexuality and sexual identity and stealing female sexual enfranchisement and saying teh vagineh make us flakie (no, it's the Crisco). Also, c) what about those of us who might have been assigned, raised, and bodied as female, but don't identify as such? Is "women's" gender identity fluid too??? What about those of us who've taken corrective steps? What about those of us who are men??? Also, also, d) stop giving the "I don't believe in homosechality" idiots fuel for their stupidity fires.

Lastly, and I feel this is my strongest and most eloquent argument: e) shut up.

2. Gay men are not special. The end.

3. Which isn't to say I don't like gay and/or queer men (holla), 'cause yes, obviously, I do very much, just. You know. They're not special.

4. And now for something completely different:

# 20:54:49: a party animal or something kinda flamboyant like a seahorse @moony6 I'm just reading a book and now I'm curious. What animal are you?
# 21:10:24: RT @josh_patton: @petewentz Seahorses are androgynous. How fitting.

Oh my gosh, stop it Pete Wentz. And you too, Josh Patton. Whoever you are. Besides a big honkin' enabler.

(I know the FOB bits of bandom are getting withery, but, okay, I also know some of you still give a crap. Would anybody besides me read Pete ageplayin' as a tween girl? Obviously written by me, lol. Who the fuck else would write that shit.)

5. Right! Time for some more Taylor Mali! "Like, You Know?/Speak with Conviction" (don't get so excited about Mos Def you miss the first bit of the piece, which is sort of what happened to me) and "The Impotence of Proofreading" (HILARIOUS and TRUTHY and YESYESYES).

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Ivan E. Coyote comes back (only about halfway, but still) from the "butches and femmes go together like hydrogen and oxygen all the time 4evaz!!!" failcliff with her most recent Xtra West column: "Throwing in the Towel."

The next day, I hung the freshly hemmed and pressed sand-coloured velvet draperies in my living room, and stood back to appreciate how well they complimented the dark olive accent wall and the bone-white window trim.

What can I say? It has pretty much been five years since I have had a stable, solo, sexy roof over my head. I am nesting.

I sat at my desk and wrote: "Enjoying my new draperies like I do does not make me any less butch."

And again with the stream of comments. One of my friends wrote that butches are supposed to keep thoughts like that to ourselves. Someone said that draperies could be butch as long as there were no pink bows on them. Someone else suggested that we needed a word for a butch metrosexual. This began a longer discussion on the various types of butch, soft butch, stone butch, old school, fag butch, gentlebutch, dandy.

I should say that all of this was fairly good-natured, and everyone's feathers went for the most part unruffled, at least on the page. But something about the whole discussion bugged me, and it got me to thinking about it all.

The phrase "fragility of queer masculinities" gets tossed in, which makes me really happy. Nom nom, queer gendering, nom nom.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

I just spent an hour writing a comment on this post (about the One True Way to Write Kinkfic), when I could (SHOULD) be cozy at home with Rafael and some hot leek stew. Obviously, I need that "someone is WRONG on the internet" xkcd icon.

Except that they're not entirely wrong? Just--I don't know. The demanding, knowledge-ier-than-thou tone bugs me. I've been doing kink with other people pretty intensely for almost six years, and I don't think I know everything about it--certainly not enough to tell the whole of fandom how to write it properly/appropriately/safely. I barely feel qualified to do a Gchat consultation about kinky phone sex, lol.

IDK, IDK, IMMA GO HOME AND HAVE SOME LEEKS NOW, K? BYEE.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

eta: 0. Because this is actually the most important thing: I would really, really like my BND package to arrive tomorrow or even on release day. That would be stupendous. Avoiding the spoilers is already killing me. Shipping gods, hear my plea. (ALSO, Patrick Stump, you're ridiculous[ly lovely and awesome]. I feel your nickname-correcting pain so, so deeply.)

1. I just completed my random, month-long review of Sports Night. Seriously, guys. Seriously. I miss that show so much (I miss Dan, a lot, and also Casey a little bit, and Dana! And Jeremy and Natalie's Jeremy/Natalieness. And I don't like to think about how much I miss Robert Guillaume in general, so), and I didn't even watch it when it was on TV. Why don't they make 'em like that anymore?

2. I signed up to get an AO3 beta account. I want to state for the record that I find the OTW's name to be pretentious and annoying, but I'm interested in seeing and being part of a resurgence of archive-based fandom.

Also, while characterizing transformative works-based fandom as a "predominantly female culture" is technically true, I don't like it. That's a personal thing, and I doubt it (the descriptor or my feelings about it) will change. I don't necessarily think the phrase needs to change (see above re: technically true), but I do think it's important for trans and non-female fans to speak their presence when the phrase and its less-kind kin get thrown around.

3. I'm going to buy a corkboard tomorrow. Because I need it for planning stories (I have a three-page skeleton outline for the LTROI AU, oh my god) and my life. Being/getting organized scares me, because it presents huge potential for failure, and also huge potential for success. Nonetheless, important. I think I need a new hammer, too.

4. "Breaking, Standing" - ¡Forward, Russia! (Because other bands don't have enough punctuation in their names.) "When it weighs too much, think of it as seven times the weight! But when it costs too much, consider it, but don't come to me for aid."

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. I'm having a lot of fun writing this LTROI AU, which is weird, 'cause it's, like, dark and depressing and shit. I think what makes me happy about it is crunching/squishing up the words and rolling them around in my mouth, my hands, and then putting them on the screen. Writing is like cooking, sometimes? Or clay work? Idk.

Also, working so far off the edges of my imaginary, ephemeral list of "ways you know you're reading BJ's fic!" is exciting. Freeing. Etc. etc.

The misery will come when it's actually done and I start feeling like an asshole because seimaisin pretty much just posted her fantastic vampire!Patrick story (read it!). My life is hard, guys. Hopefully I won't finish it for another six months and everything will be fine. *thumbs up*

2. So anyway, February is my ninth anniversary as a fic writer (visual evidences). I'm concerned that if I don't jump the gun and do something to commemorate, I'll forget and miss my actual tenth anniversary and then I'll be upset (what, there's a law that says it's gotta come in fives and tens???). I think what I'm going to do is have the website fully up and running (even though I don't want to look at all my WW fic, oh my god), and maybe do a "best-of" (audience participation? Do you care?). Because if there's one thing we here at [and chimeras] are all about, it's reccing our own work.

3. In other news, I can't stop listening to "For Your Entertainment" and bursting in to laughter every other line. It's like "SM Cowboy" and Britney Spears had a baby wearing calving gloves. I don't know!

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

"In One Easy Lesson" by ladyjanelly. CW RPF, Jared/Jeff, Jared/Jensen. NC17. Warning for kink.

This isn't quite a rec, and not quite an anti-rec, either. The writing is good, the characterization is good, but the author is doin kink rong in so many ways.

( Not in the usual ways, though, and I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. Possibly TMI kink talk within. )

The moral of the story is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a bad mentor! And that I like to complain!

*
Today, I'm going to estrellada's church and being on a panel about LGBT things for the youth group. WHOO. No, I'm actually pretty excited about it. I like talking about myself. Also, I grabbed my union's LGBT resource pamphlet in case I need a quick definition or something.

Happy All Saints'? Lol.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Whenever I consume a non-Earth-based "future of humanity"-type scifi/specfic thing (BSG, Firefly, Space: Above and Beyond, etc. etc.), I like to pretend that the new worlds and civilizations were discovered because of the stargate network (and/or intelligence derived therefrom). I wish I had the patience, imagination, and self-confidence for committed writing in any of those fandoms, because duuuude. Best crossover(s) ever.

Anyway. Working my way through S:AAB on DVD. I totally forgot I shipped Vansen/Hawkes the first time I watched this. Lol my secret het past. ALSO, my thing for authority figure/subordinate relationships goes back further than I thought, see: McQueen/Hawkes (n'aww, science experiments in love).

...So, yeah. In current fandom news, which people might actually care about, I'm on the fence regarding this idea about doing a sex- and kink-positive challenge/meme where the positivity must be of a certain kind and is enforced and mandatory, etc. I mean, totally go have whatever challenge/meme you want to have, and if it's encouraging well-written sex- and kink-positive fic, that's totally awesome.

( this got kind of long and text-blocky and really has nothing to do with the first part of the entry. so. cut! )

I think I'd rather do another iteration of sosodirty, to be completely honest. *shifty eyes*

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. Today's XKCD is a birthday present for me, and I won't hear otherwise, dammit. BAGELS???

2. I wasn't fishing for happy birthdays with my last post, btw. Not this one either. And I should have stated that this year's birthday will be better than last year's simply because my dad's not in the hospital this year. So there's that.

3. BJ's Succinct & Awesome Movie Revue for Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt fix World War II and possibly period war movies in general. The end!

( spoilery reaction is spoilery and also thinkity. )

4. Travis has a PSA for fandom-types regarding a recently-posted survey.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Two dispatches from pinko commie liberal homo land:

1. Boycott Whole Foods/Capers, pls.

John Mackey is a right wing libertarian. He's a union buster. He believes that corporations should not be criminally prosecuted for their crimes. He has just launched a campaign to defeat a single payer national health insurance system.

And he's the CEO of Whole Foods.

(I don't really appreciate "libertarian" being used as an epithet there, tbh, but whatever I didn't write it. Also, lol America trying to get socialized healthcare while my provincial government is trying to strangle us into giving it up. WHEE.)

2. I discovered yesterday that my financial institution of choice, Vancity Savings & Credit Union, granted $50 000 to the Vancouver Women's Health Collective to start Lu's Pharmacy. I'm pissed off and I'm gonna write a fucking letter about this. If you're a Vancity member and aren't into refusing trans and intersex women healthcare, please do the same. That's my goddamn money, kthx!

Here is a blog post from another member regarding the letter she wrote to our CEO. Use the online complaint card, or e-mail them directly at feedback@vancity.com.

Okay, that's all. Let us now return to our regularly-scheduled teevee vuing, grease consuming, and pornfiction reading.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Origins of the Journey cover (at the veeery end, sry), with bonuf once-in-a-lifetime video of a FOB practise (at Fuck City, no less), and said Journey cover (assisted by Bden; shitty audio quality/damn hot PVStump alert).

All I'm saying is, the more video I see of them, the more I would totally add Pete/MHoppus to my list of things I'd read, if there were any (the void is probably a good thing, though). I would've said that in my comment on the ICH post, but Pete is lurking again and I'm just not in the mood.

Anyway, I have to go to work again now. Ugh. Why does this happen almost every day?

(I have Saturday off, though!!! Eee!!!)

eta: Oh my gosh wtf, I just noticed I credited thepurpleswitch on an SN icon I use on LJ. I don't even remember making that decision. It's pretty funny, I guess; lolmybrain.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. First, bandomish thing. "Pretty Lies" by The Dudes. Listen (at Last.fm, also). Now imagine this: PVStump x Glambert cover. Yes? Yes, I think so. *wise nod*

(It would be the best most accidentally!gay cover since Kid Rock and Nickelback did "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)," lol. Perhaps with bonuf JTroh on lead guitar. Hmm.)

(Also, The Dudes are pretty neat. They're from Alberta.)

2. Sry Pete, that's not actually argyle. If there's no overlay/crosshatching/whatthefuckever, it's just diamonds. (Yes, if it turns out to really be argyle, I want it. Gawd.)

3. I'm working on a tattoo design that is a non-ugly revisioning of the "trans symbol." We'll see. (Lol random Hebrew character.)

4. ( random, possibly unpopular, entirely probably politically rong characterization meta. )

5. ( random spn meta, circa 'the rapture.' oh yes, i went there. )

6. Yeah, the first thing is the important one. Just, ugh. Those two on stage together would murder me. Height differences are totally my sekrit kryptonite, guys.

1. It's really kind of amazing to find a new person who, you know, they lift their arm and there's a spot right there for you and it's just right. Now I can has threeeeee (...to whom I'm still speaking, lol).

2. Late-night music-listening last week resulted in a mix called "Exanimate." I don't know if I want to share it, but I will, 'cause I'm a completist.

3. I keep leaving school-type things too late (by, like, two days, or a week), and I think my subconscious is at work here. Stupid subconscious--get out of my way, dammit.

4. Been trying to replace my internal invective towards other people ("idiot!" "Assface!" "A pox upon you!" etc.) with metta phrases ("may you be happy;" "may you be well;" etc.). It's hard, and when I'm really, really angry at someone, trying to do lovingkindness at them in my head just makes me want to cry, like there's a wall missing between what I'm feeling and what I'm doing, if that makes any sense. Anger as a defense mechanism to keep people from seeing they've hurt you, o rly Beejay? No wai.

5. The poison of mindfulness: once you've started, you CAN'T STOP. AGH.

Two oldish/obscure FOB interviews: Joe (December 2003; notable for Joe wanting you to say no to heroin!!!), and Patrick (February 2005; notable for being conducted during the UK tour where Pete wasn't, and also for Patrick being a rambling rambler who rambles and makes no sense. And Prince).

I suppose it's good I found these, not just 'cause they're neat, but because I went to put them in my FOB ma.gnolia, and discovered that ma.gnolia is no more. It would've been nice of them to e-mail me with this news. At the address I supplied to them every time I logged in to the damn thing. Ugh. So many random interviews, gone. And some good non-LJ fic, too. Bleh.

In another vein: "Sizeism in Fandom - My Thoughts," a post prompted by an spn_j2_bigbang story that I saw, upchucked a little over, and then didn't say anything about. I'm wondering why I didn't, now.

(Also, tiiiiiny quibble with the above post--she says we talk about gender in fandom, but we don't. We really don't. Recently, somebody posted a whinier version of my ancient open letter regarding "genderswap"--??? We don't talk about gender in fandom. We talk about sexism, feminism, misogyny, gender in our source texts, and whatever the fuck "community of women" means, but we don't talk about gender in fandom itself. If we talked about gender, we wouldn't be talking about cisgender women all the time. Just saying.)

( note to self: regarding october trip. )

I need a "gender rights are human rights" shirt. And this one.

1. Ahahaha, awesome STXI vid to a Journey song. It's labelled Kirk & Spock, but it's totally all the slashiest bits of the movie (I want to complain here about how a character having a girlfriend doesn't preclude the epic, transdimensional MFEOness, but I think I should just write the K/U/S fic instead. If I could write at all, bleh). Also, if I'd done this vid (lol no), I would've made Kirk the smalltown girl. Just saying. I'm not a fan of Kirk always being the girl, but goddamn, New Kirk often being the girl (when the dynamic is intentionally heteronormative) works for me.

2. One of the guys on the morning radio show I like made the "Wed Wings" fuck up today and I laaaaaaaughed. Oh Dan Rydell, I miss you.

3. Somebody claiming to actually be named Shannon Stumph commented on the last bit of story I posted, saying she found it by Googling herself (NEVER EVER DO THAT, oh my gosh, Mikeyway is a wise man). I Googled her too, and there are apparently Stumphs right here in the Lower Mainland, which kind of freaks me out, idk. It might actually be a fairly common name, but having an uncommon last name has taught me that everyone with a given weird surname must be related everyone else with that name. All the time.

4. I kind of want to watch some s1 SPN, because I miss Dean, but right now I'm feeling very much like all the things about Sam I hate, so I don't think it would be a good idea. Ugh, over-identifying with a character you dislike most of the time is not of the good.

5. The VIW course yesterday was pretty good--more about shifting paradigms and challenging workplace conditions that contribute to violence (which is good and totally should be taught and done, etc.) than about conflict resolution and how to deal when violent situations occur (which would be more useful in the interim), but whatevs, my union.

I think that's all I feel like telling you people about today. Have a good one.

eta: Happy Birthday, Pete Wentz. Thirty looks good on you, don't fuck it up. ♥

I've noticed that several people from both my flists have gotten interested in Canadian history in the last six months or so--specifically, Canadian history around "race relations." I won't presume to know the reasons for this interest (read: This Post Is Not About RaceFail09, No Really), but I would like to talk a little bit about terms. Or, a term, and then some alternatives.

The term in question is "Native Canadian." I can understand why Americans might simply "Canadianize" a common American phrase, however, it's incorrect. I've also seen "Canadian Indian" (from "American Indian") which is just--wow. If it wasn't a grossly entitled thing to do, I'd be offended by that. I don't know why "Native American" and "American Indian" are accepted by Native Americans themselves. "Native Canadian" is incorrect and not a common term, and, like I said, "Canadian Indian" just might actually be offensive (no matter what the government tells you).

There are legal and governmental phrases containing the noun "Indian": Office of Indian Affairs, Status Indian*, Indian Act. These uses are regrettable and should damned well be changed, but hey, I'm not in government, so. In my lifetime, it has become less and less acceptable to use the word to refer to a person or group of people (unless the person or people are actually from India). I understand that "Indian" is widely used in the US, but it's just not the same here. It's used by the population in question amongst themselves--kind of like The N Word--but I wouldn't use it unless I was making fun of white people who use it seriously.

Simple "Native," no "Canadian," is generally okay, with the super dignification of a capital "N." Personally, I think it's problematic at best, but maybe I've read too many colonial/imperialist texts. It kind of begs the question "native to what?" since the First Nations and Inuit were immigrants too, once upon a time, and there was no such thing as Canada when they got here. There's a neato short story by Thomas King about a woman who gets stuck at the Alberta/Montana border because she refuses to declare her citizenship as anything but "Blackfoot." Anyway.

So, there it is: "First Nations." It's commonly used, abused, and accepted (except by the government!) as an umbrella term for all indigenous people who aren't Metis or Inuit (don't ask, 'cause I don't bloody know). Hell, "indigenous people(s)" works fine too.

In recent years, "Aboriginal"/"Aboriginal Canadian" has come in to fashion. I find it problematic for the same reasons I dislike "Native," and as long as "First Nations" and "indigenous people(s)" seem to be favoured by the people I'm talking about, those are what I'll use. Your mileage and grammatical/historical pedancy may vary.


*Oh my god, the Book of Negroes is on Wikipedia. \o/

( a tl;dr CV in case you're curious about how i'm qualified to speak to this shit. )

*

Now for some serious business: I'm not the only one who thinks tipsy!Patrick doing "Ulysses" at karaoke would be amazing, right???

[Standard Faux Nice Person Disclaimer: my flist is awesome and I totally respect their opinions and views, etc., excepting those which involve eating babies and/or denying the Holocaust. I just generally like to have a policy of speaking honestly about things, especially when I'm posting in my own journal.]

I've read some recent posts regarding the bandflesh wank--from people outing themselves as non-asshole members of the comm (whoo! Good for you! Thank you! No, seriously!), from people calling the self-proclaimed "nice kids" on stuff (*thumbs up*), and from survivors of meat world "mean kids"/ex-"mean kids". All of the posts I've read have left me with some rather more thinkity thoughts on bandflesh/"mean kids", and I would like to show you them.

I'm not a nice person. I try, because I honestly believe that nice is better than not-nice, but I'm not. I've said some pretty unjustifiably mean things in my tenure on this planet, on and off the internet. So when I bitch and say mean shit about hate comms, "say whatever you want" comms, "for the lulz" comms, and/or anonymemes in general, I'm not speaking as someone who has right to, investment in, or desire to claim an identity as a "nice person." Because I'm not one.

( is it therefore hypocritical of me to bitch and complain about 'mean kids'? TL;DR. 14A for language. )

Anyway. I'm pretty sure those are all of my thinkity thoughts. Hopefully it makes sense, even though it doesn't really go anywhere besides the "how much can we really ever know about ANYONE???" place. I haven't tried to write something that flowed logically in, um. Five years? No, only four. Still.

The made-up fandom verb "chinhand" has returned to my flist, and I am pleased by this.

My ten favourite MG/B songs post has turned into a miniature primer. At least there aren't any pictures?

(Yet. Argh.)

Late to comment as usual, but: Patrick, Patrick, I could read your ramblings for DAYS. Seriously. His hot, intelligent, thinky little brain, you guys.

It's interesting to me that people wish he'd been doing this many and these kinds of interviews all along, because really--who wants to hear an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old spout off about art and product? These opinions and beliefs and philosophies have been percolating all these years, and frankly I think, in today's Western culture, it's a rare person who should be taken seriously* (as an artist or otherwise) before they're twenty-one or twenty-two. That's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

And now I have to go to work. Where I drive a bus. Because I flunked out of college. It's all relative, yo.


*For values where "taken seriously"="get to be famous/published/recorded/etc." Because I'm not a complete asshole, and I was a teenager who liked to spout off about art and product, and while my opinions were valid among my friends and the adults who supervised us, I did not in any way deserve to be on television or get a book deal; I'm just saying: I didn't really know what I was talking about, and neither do 99% of kids these days.

"your art is controlled by people who do not care about art."

Subliminal text embedded in this video. I find it honestly adorable how they're all ~artists now. Like, claiming it as an identity.

Anyway. "Document" won the Poll On Unfinished Works, so now I have to finish it. Fuck you, democracy. I'm going to look like 2001!Bill Clinton when this is over, aren't I?

Trans!Pete is called "One Today And Tomorrow Another," stolen from this poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran martyr. I was clicking around Wikipedia and stuff and found it, and that line caught me by the wrist. Idk. I'd originally wanted this story to be more about trans sexuality, etc., but it's turned into something about perception and bodies and identity and trans as a mental health issue. There's still a little porn, though.

Hey, how about I write instead of talking about it all the time. Awesome plan. Bed first.

Dear people on the internets who save things to del.icio.us,

Okay, can I just. Look. For the love of Mike, don't ever, ever, ever say one of my stories has "girlfriend-sharing" ever, ever, ever again. I cannot stress this enough.

One time was, like, funny. I laughed. Ask estrellada. I laughed quite a bit. But twice? For real? Two people think this is a valid way of describing what I wrote? An arrangement where it was the girlfriend's idea? Where it is abundantly clear that women are not resources or commodities which can be shared? REALLY?

Yeah. You know what. Never mind. I don't actually want to have this discussion with you. How about--you can call my fics whatever dumbass things you want, because that's totally beyond my control anyway, and I will continue to laugh, because the only other thing I can do is cry and I'm not that fond of crying. Awesome, sounds good. *thumbs up*

You're all utterly ridiculous,
BJ/azurejay

PS: Also, I am not a girl. Thank you for saying I'm one of your favourite authors, but seriously. Not a girl.