skywaterblue

I haven't been around DW at all much lately. Months, maybe. I'm sort of GAFIAted from active fandom right now. I'm not politically against anything going on, but it increasingly feels like pointless censorship of the best-intentioned sort while the rest of the world is fucking burning down. Just let old codgers like Manara do their thing. JLaw's still going to be an Oscar-award winning millionaire before she turns 30, guys, and maybe weird race porn on AO3 is just weird race porn. Who has time for this shit? I used to care so much, but man, I don't know. We've got bigger stuff going on in the world.

Ukraine. Israel whacking the tar out of Gaza again. ISIS beheading journalists. Syrian refugees. Ferguson. Robin Williams killed himself. Ebola spreading unchecked because we can't solve the first five of those things let alone get our shit together to help impoverished Africans check another plague.

August. What a bitch. I don't think anyone is going to think of August 2014 with any kind of fondness.

I graduated SAIC in May and ground through a couple of months of really bad unemployment and health issues that left me kind of taxed for everything, so that didn't help. I'm feeling great at the moment, however, and I started working part-time at Steppenwolf Theatre in their call-center fundraising department. Everyone is pleasantly artistic and supportive there, so far, from the Artistic Director on down and I'm surprised by how warm and nice it is even if my actual job is something I could have done pre-degree. I'm doing very well so far. It's paying my rent, too, just barely. Not my student loans, but hey. Rent.

Meanwhile, I got accepted into Northwestern University's new "Masters of Science in Creative Leadership" program, which I'm super excited about for a bunch of reasons - but I haven't been able to pay my deposit yet because of the unemployment thing. I'm trying to raise 500 dollars, and frankly, everyone seems either tapped out (I understand) or waaaaay over my struggles to get fancy degrees. I can almost understand that one too.

If you want to help, or can just share it, that would be great. Ideally I'd like to use this program to launch myself into some sort of media gig where I can afford to make the changes we all want to see... or at least get a full time job at a nice arts organization that will keep my life stable.



As far as fandom things go, I enjoyed "Guardians of the Galaxy" a lot for being refreshingly charming and funny. The final scenes of this season of "Legend of Korra" gave me a lot of deep feels. Mainly I just want to escape and unironically enjoy some respite from this world of horrors.

Yes, I have eaten a LOT of Ben and Jerry's this summer, I can tell you this.

I had the most heterosexual dream ever. I was back stage in some fancy London theater and some blond hipster orchestra kid started chatting me up. The first question was 'so you like classical music?' And I answered, 'Yeah, sorta,' because it is true that I do but it is also true it's not the first songs I reach for on my iPod. Then he asked me if I like Indian food. I said, 'I love Indian!'

He passed me a folded up piece of lined paper with one of those surveys like 'circle answer a if you like me' and I remember thinking, 'uh, are we sixteen?' But I thought he was hot and I was happy he was hitting on me so we made a date and then I left to text him the answers to his survey...

...and then I woke up and coughed on my pillow and thought: what. the. hell.

I hope?

I'm feeling crappy and burnt out. I was hoping it was just PMS, but it's sticking around, so ... yeah.

Things: I hit up First Friday pretty fucking hard this month. My mother basically made me go out with her but by the end I cut loose and had my own time of it. Saw all the major shows, ran into friends I haven't seen in a while. That guy from High School you haven't seen since High School, that person you secretly hate but must be nice to for political reasons, that person you've only spoken to on Twitter...

Brent and Ashanti have a cute kid, and I really approve of Brent's new style.

Then I went out on Sunday to "Shut Down The Strip", which did nothing of the sort. As Laurenn's husband pointed out later, it's hard to shut down the strip in protest if you're ALSO trying to be kind and thoughtful to MGM-Mirage for letting us walk through the Bellagio.

Between the two events, I am pretty sure I ran into everyone I know in Las Vegas.

I've been up to a lot lately. Elections. School. MUSHing. I met Rachel Maddow and had a gallery show. It's a lot and I've been doing way better at keeping it updated on Facebook and Twitter.

I'm going to try and recap some stuff though, as I'm kind of... eh, not really depressed but clearly not energetic enough to be getting more than the necessaries done. I need to make some art but I'm really blocked - I decided to do some bio comics called 'Famous for Vegas' rather than sort out the Israel trip.

This hasn't been helped by two things: one, my dad left on a two week vacation so I'm doing all the cooking AND fighting with my mom over cleaning the kitchen. The current argument is over how many pots and pans someone needs for a family of four. I personally think that we only need a couple, and I've convinced her to get rid of the ones with the black non-stick coating scratching off (because it causes ~*~cancer~*~ which I don't actually believe but is my magic bugaboo that can get her to do things). Except that of course, getting her to actually take the items to Goodwill is not possible.

Meanwhile, she keeps saying that she should have paid off my SAIC bill and my response is 'so give me the eight grand so I can go back to Chicago, then, I know you have it'. And her response is always some bullcrap about how her online cancer support group is going to go to (pick one): Switzerland, London, or apparently Jerusalem. And she needs the money so she can go for the miracle cure and/or scan which will save her from cancer.

(Bringing the hilarious, this conversation:

My mom: I should take you to Jerusalem with me! You know how to get around there.

Me: If by get around you mean, I know how to make the change on the public bus, then yes.

My mom: And they speak Yiddish there!

Me: ... um. I don't speak Yiddish. Or Hebrew, for that matter, but it doesn't matter because pretty much everyone speaks English there.

My mom: SEE. YOU KNOW NOW.)

My mom is under the recurring impression that all Jews speak Yiddish, and no, I don't know how it happened. I think she hears a lot of stuff at church and then doesn't bother to um, ask any of the people she lives with.

Anyway, so this conversation bookended me going and leaving the Vegas Valley Comic Festival, which was lovely but except for the Keith Knight panel felt like a lot of grousing about how hard it is (yes, it is hard) which wasn't exactly what I needed to hear.

So I went home and after eating the soup I had stuck in the crockpot, decided that life sucked balls and the best answer would be to pull the covers over my head and sleep until life stopped sucking. It's really a shame that this isn't actually possible.

I haven't been posting much, though I can't think of why. I've been entertaining myself by adding stuff to Fanlore. I've almost whipped the Pern page into shape, and I've been dipping my toes into editing the West Wing pages, which are all stub-like and sad. Please go over there and help me add stuff.

Which reminds me: I have a ton of AO3 invites if you want one. Your fic will not get a lot of feedback there, but it's a great archival space with a ton of nice features.

School starts on Monday. My mother is going away for two days. My Pell Grant arrived today and she made greedy grabby hands about it because I owe her five hundred bucks. We've been having a lot of fights because I wanted (briefly) to go work for Harry Reid's reelection but then I was reminded that I need a car because I basically have maxed out the jobs I can take without one.

Besides, I'd just be unemployed again in November. Fixing the moped up again will be cheaper than buying a car and leave me money to continue fixing the garage up into neon studio space.

On Monday, I have training to docent at the Neon Museum. I'm going to be leading tours there. My mother is going away, however, and will not let me drive her car so I guess I'll take the bus to get down there.

I had my first moped accident yesterday. I was being stupid and trying to go to Dr. Sketchy's at Dino's, even though I knew there was something wrong with the front brakes and they weren't working properly. Well, I don't use the front brakes that often - only when I need to stop very very quickly for some reason, so I was like, 'I'll be a careful driver and it'll totally be fine'.

( Gorey details. )

Anyway. Later last night after the fistful of Motrin kicked in, Mom and I went back and retrieved the moped. I was angry and felt like I didn't give a shit if I ever: a. rode a moped again and b. if the fucking thing got stolen. Forcing me to ride it home was a good lesson, though, as it wasn't as bad as I feared. Even though I knew it was still unsafe, it didn't feel that way. Get back on the horse and all.

Very cute film! The end song by Sigur Ros got stuck in my head - apparently Abby is a big fan. (She says that she doesn't like their new stuff because 'they discovered happiness' but that I would like the new CD.) Noelle, Shane and the baby were also with us.

And unexpected David Tennant was unexpected. (It's a blink and you miss it VO, like his appearances in the Big Finish audios.)

The one thing I really disliked, though, is that none of the other dragons in the film have remotely the charm of the lead dragon, Toothless. His design is full of appealing Chris Sanders-style. It feels like they probably brought him on to the project to redesign Toothless to be appealing, and they left the other dragons as they were. Which is a success because I want a plush Toothless like ten minutes after I left the theater, but sucks for plot reasons.

( Which is to say... )

It had the charm of making me remember what it was like to be eight, in that I left the theater imagining childish fanfiction where they meet a girl Night Fury dragon and she's like TEH AWESOMEST!!

Also, where's my fuckin' Pern movie? Sigh.

I skipped out on Gallifrey 2010 on Saturday to go to Disneyland with Shane, Noelle, Noelle's mom and my godchild. Pictures coming some time next week in a locked post.

The reason we went to Disneyland, aside from forcing a toddler to mug for pictures: CAPTAIN MOTHERFUCKING EO. Noelle's a big MJ stan - in fact, Tomorrowland was full of them. The Captain EO tribute only reopened last weekend so there were still Michael Jackson cosplayers and people with original merchandise roaming around. It was actually pretty cute.

I remember thinking that Captain EO was goddamn awful as a kid. It doesn't help that it was next to my most favoritest ride ever: Star Tours. My parents always wanted to go see Captain EO and I was like, 'NO DAMMIT MICHAEL JACKSON TOUCHES LITTLE CHILDREN, HE'S A PERV.' So they would get in the no-line for Captain EO and I would spend dumb money on Star Wars crap until they were done.

Okay so the point I'm coming to is this: I take it back. I take it all back. Captain EO is fucking amazing and I hope it sticks around for a while.

It is pure 80s nostalgia, like someone dug up a can of 80s from a closet long after they had ceased making it, and you all sat down to enjoy one last fresh taste. Francis Ford Coppola! George Lucas! Muppets! Terrible greenscreening and the oldschool 80s version of 3D with motion chairs that force you to chair dance to 'Another Part of Me'! (Yo Disney, I don't need encouragement for that, you know what I'm sayin'?)

So Michael Jackson is the Captain of a Muppet crew in a quasi-Star Wars universe. They have to deliver something to the 'Supreme Leader', who turns out to be a Borg Queen. Naturally, after they have many misadventures with something shooting at them, a holovid bossguy screaming and the Muppets making 'whoops, aren't we adorable' gags. And the Queen is pissed so the Muppet robots turn into musical instruments, so that Michael Jackson can have a dance off, while turning a bunch of Borg Drones into backup dancers through the power of song and sparkling lights.

And at the very end? The Borg Queen is revealed to have been Angelica Huston. Angelica Huston! How could I have ever crapped on such a thing of pure magnificence?

Picard never hit Q, but Picard also never defeated the Borg Queen through the power of song. Hence I am forced to conclude this: Michael Jackson is the true secret badass of all science fiction.

You all should go see it. It's rad, especially because everyone in the audience is in their early 30s/later 20s and thus remembers going to see it the first time/loving Michael Jackson/loving shit exactly like this during their misbegotten youth. The audience participation will give you a contact high of love.

Also, if you go, hit up the Star Tours on your way out if you ever loved it. They're scrapping it to replace it with Star Tours II: Now With More Pod-Racing! I am horribly depressed.

A lot of my friends have gallery shows opening up this Friday. devilc did this cool interview with Laurenn McCubbin which you should read.

Last night I went with Shane and Noelle to the Wynn Buffet for the first time. I have to say that Laurenn was correct when she said (months earlier) that the Bellagio is miles better. Still, that luscious cut of lamb t-bone is going to stick in my memory for quite some time. As is the octopus crevice, which was perfection.

Then we walked around CityCenter. Half the art isn't labeled. The casino seemed busy, but I can't help but think the interior space is cold and uninviting - the benches, in particular, all seem to be designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. As if someone had decided that CityCenter would be immensely high traffic, like an airport - without thinking about if anyone would actually like to stay a while and sit. Also I'm sure someone thanked God that Las Vegas eliminated interior smoking in most areas - because the designers used these ridiculous fabric paneled walls. As it is I have doubts on how those will wear from a style standpoint in the years to come, but imagining how disgusting they would have been already really turned me off of life.



This video is wondrous, by the by. Enjoy!

I was wired like a motherfucker last night, and didn't sleep until 4am. And then I did sleep, but didn't get up until noon.

All the news out of Washington DC is intensely depressing me. This Brown in MA Senate thing kicked it off pretty bad - I really supported healthcare reform long before it turned out I also desperately need it.

So that's one thing, and then the Supreme Court has to decide to get right-wing activist and throw out every campaign finance law on the books because of the misguided notion that corporations are people entitled to free speech. So we're back to massive corporate money in every election. God only knows how that'll impact Obama's chances in 2012. Part of me suspects it's some big conspiracy based on the fact that we've had one black populist President and now they'll do their damnedest to make sure other women and minorities can't possible raise the money to run.

And then late today, Air America - a radio station I admittedly don't listen to but support on principle, announced it's closing immediately.

Oh, and the liberal media office I used to work at fired one of the last co-workers I still liked who was working there last night. It's a bum deal.

It feels like we've ruined eight years of progressive political growth in less than a week.

In the meantime, once I got up I started working on a project to raise funds to buy myself some neon bending equipment. It looks pretty good. I'm waiting to hear back from the guy selling all the equipment about what kind of deposit I would need to put down tomorrow, if he decides to make a deal with me.

It's very nerve-wracking because I think this could be a really good move for me artistically, but it involves sinking a lot of my own money into it for uncertain results.