I would just like to pimp help_haiti, where people are auctioning off everything from fanfic to socks to tarot readings to try and raise money for Haiti. I'm sure everyone's aware of what's happened there, and how desperately help is needed.

So. Go bid on something, or even offer something if you can. You'll be helping Haiti and getting something cool.

You may have seen this already, but...



I feel like there's a wardrobe joke I should make...

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it, and general best wishes to those who don't. I'm about to head off to meet family, and we'll probably spend the next few days getting increasingly irritated with each other until I flee back here.

We're going to see Falkirk play Hearts on Boxing Day, so here's hoping we'll move out of the relegation zone as a late Christmas present! Although tbh I'm not holding out much hope. I think this season might be it. Anyway, wish us luck. We'll need it!

For my own amusement, rankings of all the bpal scents I've tried so far.



Glasgow (Wanderlust) *****
Embalming Fluid (Ars Moriendi) *****
Arkham (Picnic in Arkham) *****
Dorian (Sin & Salvation) *****
Titania (Illyria) ****
Bon Vivant (Bewitching Brews) ****
Wanda (Ars Amatoria) ****
Machu Picchu (Wanderlust) ****
Arcana (Bewitching Brews) ***
The Antikythera Mechanism (Steamworks) ***
Kali (Excolo) ***
Carceri D'Invensione (The Salon) ***
Snake Oil (Ars Amatoria) **
Water of Notre Dame (Bewitching Brews) **
Jolly Roger (Bewitching Brews) **
Miskatonic University (Steamworks) **
Blood Lotus (Rappaccini's Garden) **
Fenris Wolf (Diabolus) **
Shango (Excolo) *
Paris (Wanderlust) *

Bad reaction to: Tombstone (Wanderlust) and Tweedledee (Mad Tea Party)

This is how I know I like something: I want to start making charts and tables.

According to lj I last updated six weeks ago, which is just a silly amount of time. I've been failing at reading my flist and commenting as well, so if anything major has happened I'm sorry to have missed it. Although good luck to everyone doing nano! I hope you all get your 50,000.

I have:

Started writing my dissertation. Slowly. Seriously, it takes me about three days to write one paragraph. So I'm starting to panic.

Been cheering Arsenal, moping over Falkirk, and WTF-ing over Scotland. 3-0 to Wales? I'm glad Burley's gone, but also kind of disgusted at the treatment he's been getting in the papers. Did anyone else see the Sun yesterday?

Decided I want a bike for Christmas.

Been watching I'm A Celebrity (Ant and Dec = love) and X-Factor (Team Jedward!).

Become freaked out by a new colleague erecting what can only be described as a shrine to Jade Goody on her desk. (I'm serious. She started three weeks ago, brought all these photos in a few days ago.)

That's about it.

So, anyone else freaked out that it's only 36 days till Christmas?

I'm finding bpal very addictive - as if I needed something else to spend money on! My favourite scents so far are Glasgow (not just because of the name, I promise!), Dorian, Arkham and Embalming Fluid, with Titania, Bon Vivant and Wanda not far behind. There have been a few I've really not liked - Paris and Shango come to mind, while I've had allergic reactions to Tombstone and Tweedledee.

Anyway. Really long wishlist, all GC:

Bliss
Antique Lace
Fae
Scherezade
Blood Kiss
Gluttony
Vice
Lady MacBeth
Regan
The Apothecary
Cordelia
Hermia
Katharina
Othello
The Unicorn
Two, Five and Seven
Alice
Alice's Evidence
Cheshire Cat
Croquet
The Dormouse
Mouse's Long and Sad Tale
Queen Alice
'Tis the Voice of the Lobster
Florence
Mag Mell
New Orleans
Lyonesse
No. 93 Engine
Aelopile
Ladon
Deep in Earth
O
Seraglio
Harlot
Bordello
Black Phoenix
Aglaea
Bastet
Skuld
Loviator

I hope to try all of the above eventually. So, any other recs?

Has anyone else watched Stargate Universe? I finally got around to downloading and watching today. I was always going to - I know that there's been a ton of negative publicity, but SG1 was one of my favourite shows (I own every single episode on DVD), and while Atlantis got annoying, the first 2.5 seasons were at least entertaining.

Thoughts on SGU: Up until the last five minutes I found it fairly blah, but then at the end it became more like proper Stargate and I got all excited. Other thoughts:

- JACK! DANIEL! SAM! WALTER! MORE JACK AND SAM! And the ship was called the Hammond, I love that so much.
- I love Robert Carlyle and everything he does.
- The young lieutenant? No idea what his name is, but I liked him and he seemed interesting, with an actual personality and everything.
- Also liked Chloe. Though I'm not sure I'd have worn a leopard-skin print mini-dress while visiting a secret military base on another planet.
- The medic seemed a bit useless. Was that bouncy thing supposed to be CPR? And I'm not sure crying on your patients helps them.
- Eli annoyed me. I disliked him, and found the whole idea (recruit people through computer games?) ridiculous.
- Could have done without all the flashbacks.
- Renewed my resolve to learn some kind of useful skill, so that if I'm ever stranded on a space ship a billion light-years from Earth, I won't head the list of people to be sacrificed.

Overall, 6/10.

In other news, yay Arsenal! (Just don't ask me about Falkirk...)

We played well. Hit the bar twice, and forced some good saves. But.

As has been said in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and now 2009...

Next time.

(I still love our boys.)

I always know it's time to update when I start receiving messages asking if I'm still alive :). In my defense, I have been on holiday recently (to the Shetlands, which were OMG so beautiful, and through some miracle we had sunshine every day), and was without internet access.

I am currently busy:

1. Applying for another job, as a customer service assistant at Glasgow Concert Hall.

2. Looking for a new flatmate, since my current one is moving out next month.

3. Working overtime on my dissertation, which is way behind schedule.

I'm also very excited because I have tickets to see Arsenal play Celtic tonight! I can't remember how long its been since I last saw Arsenal play. I'm going with a Rangers fan, who'll be cheering on Arsenal simply because she hates Celtic.

I also saw Falkirk play Rangers, and thought we did much better than the scoreline suggested. For big patches we were the better team, it's just that every time they were the better team they scored a goal. Which is probably why they're fighting for the title and we're hoping not to be relegated.

And I just read that 120,000 people are going to be travelling in Glasgow, for the game and the U2 concert. I don't mind leaving really early going there, but getting back is going to be a nightmare.

I realise everyone's probably bored of hearing about Torchwood Day 4, but I've been talking about this in various places and just getting more and more frustrated, with the result that this is now much longer than I meant.

( Why I am pissed off: containing big spoilers for Day 4 and minor spoilers for Day 5 )

Why I love Russell T Davies:

For creating Queer as Folk and Torchwood, and bringing back Doctor Who.

Why I hate Russell T Davies:

WHAT HE THEN DID TO THEM.

( Spoilers for Torchwood Day 4 )

I've been trying to complete 50books_poc and 12films_poc. For those who don't know, they're challenges in which you try to read 50 books/12 films by authors/editors/directors of colour. You then review them in the appropriate comms. But I'm losing track of how many reviews I've done and what I've read, so I'm posting a list here.

And, BTW, if you're looking for something new to read, you should go see 50books_poc. There are some amazing books being written about there.

( Read more... )

FALKIRK = LOVE.

Just so you all know, Michael Higdon is my new god.

I didn't expect to be going to the game, but my uncle phoned on Friday to say he had a spare. The atmosphere was pure terror for the entire game, but at the end everyone just went mad, me included. I felt bad for Inverness, because their fans must be gutted, but...not too bad. Mostly I'm too relieved.

And we've now got the Scottish Cup to look forward to! And playing in Europe next season, and WE'RE STAYING IN THE SPL!!!

Although I do not want another season like this one, because as escapes go this was way too narrow.

But at least I now have BGT to help calm me down!

The pain is from something called Tietze Syndrome. Essentially it means I've injured the muscles connecting my ribs to my breastbone, which leaves me in extreme pain whenever I lie down/stand up/stay still/move/breathe. So, all the time, in other words. Thankfully the doctor was confident it should heal on its own.

I've sat two of my exams! The First Scottish War of Independence and Popular Rebellions in Medieval Europe, which both went better than I thought they would. Only four more to go.

And, I don't often talk about them, but I need to ramble about Falkirk for a bit. We've been bottom of the table for too long now, but resigning myself to relegation is just impossible. I know every team going down probably thinks this, but we're too good. We're in the Scottish Cup final, which means that next season we're going to be playing in Europe for the first time ever, and I should be feeling so excited about that. But it looks like we're headed down, and when I think about the troubles we had getting promoted (we kept being ruled out on technical rules that didn't seem to apply to any other club in the league) it makes me want to cry. Relegation would be disaster in so many ways.

But. We won our last game, even though we only had ten men and it had its dodgy moments. My love for Tam Scobbie grows every game. If we win against Kilmarnock next game we'll be off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone for the first time in ages. So I'm praying.

Also, I now also have a Dreamwidth account. Same username. Although I don't know how much I'll be using it, I thought it might be a good idea in case this 'fandom migration' actually happens.

Everytime I post recently it seems to be a rant about something GLBT-related. Still, it's better than talking about the football (For those not paying attention to the SPL, Falkirk are bottom and headed for relegation. I can't even write *cries* because it just feels to serious for that.)

Anyway. What I'm angry about this time:

Amazon have decided that their customers need protecting from 'adult' books. Except by 'adult' they don't mean porn. Collections of Playboy centrefolds, for example, are absolutely fine. By 'adult', what they mean is GLBT. Books relating to gays, lebsians, and transexuals are all having their sales ranks removed, and are thus being removed from the best-selling lists, becoming harder to find, and much less visible.

These dangerous books that we need protecting from include:

Young adult books such as Alex Sanchez's Rainbow High series.
Academic books such as The Dictionary of Homophobia.
History books such as Strangers: Homosexuality in the Nineteenth Century.
Autobiographies such as John Barrowman's Anything Goes.
Lesbian fiction such as Gerri Hill's The Rainbow Cedar.
Gay fiction such as Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain.
Parenting books such as The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians.
Children's books such as Heather Has Two Mommies.
Classics such as Mary Renault's The Charioteer.

Seriously. All those books, Amazon feels are adult books that must be kept hidden, and away from the best-seller lists.

Full list of books here, 'explanation' from Amazon here, link round-up here. Follow on Twitter here.

You can contact Amazon via your Amazon account (go to help and then contact), if you wish to do so.

My local bus shelter is now covered in posters for Lesbian Vampire Killers, a film in which the male actors from Gavin & Stacy discover a village where all the women have been enslaved by lesbian vampires. The 'Killers' part of the title clues you in to what comes next.

To quote Feminist SF, "in the space of a minute or two, I was reminded that to most of the straight people in this auditorium, I’m just a target. Not a real person. A straight man with an axe planning to kill lesbians is kinda funny, isn’t he? All jolly good fun.

I want this film to bomb and die at the box office. I want it more than I can tell you. I want it to be a massive, multi-million loss. I want the makers to quit. I can’t avoid the damn posters, I can’t avoid the damn trailer: but I can at least want never to see a sequel in the trailers, on the posters, on the Internet, in the film reviews."

Meanwhile, in South Africa lesbians are being gang-raped, beaten and brutally murdered in an attempt to 'cure' them, a lesbian in San Francisco was recently gang-raped and beaten for the crime of not being straight, lesbians in Iraq face torture and murder, while the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a fatwa calling for their 'punishment', and homosexuality still carries a death sentence in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, and Mauritania. Lesbians are being murdered, attacked and raped for no other reason than that they're different, and dare - shock horror! - to not want to sleep with men.

Films about killing lesbians? Not funny.

I saw someone else (marcella_riddle?) do this a while back, and thought it seemed fun. Who doesn't want to procrastinate by spending time staring at gorgeous women? Well, non-lesbians, possibly. But whatever. We know you're just waiting to be converted!

( I think the basic idea was to pick 20 people you would shag. Not dial-up friendly. 60 pictures total. Listed in alphabetical order, rather than a 'who would I like to shag most' order. )

Uni started again last week. I am loving my new courses. One I wasn't sure about (From Pocahontas to Post-Feminism: Women in American History) and now I have no idea why I wasn't sure about it, because it's so wonderful. The professor is excellent - one big flaw of a lot of women's history is that it tends to focus on white women. But we're going to be getting a lot on black and Native American women.

Think my essay question will be: ‘Colonial America allowed white women opportunities unknown in Europe, while at the same time stripping African and Native American women of the rights and powers they had enjoyed in pre-Columbian Africa and America.’ Discuss.

Do you not want to study all about that? Anyway, I'm also taking Women and Gender in 19th Century Europe (v good - v important time for lesbians), and the First Scottish Wars of Independence (ROBERT THE BRUCE! YAY!). The lecturer for that is so passionate. I keep expecting him to start yelling 'FREEDOM!' and lead us all on an invasion of England.

So, yeah. I'm happy and excited. By March I will hate them all and stab anyone who mentions anything connected to any of them. But for now it's good.

I'm 22 today! I got a huge bunch of flowers this morning, although sadly I have no vases so they've been divided up into pint glasses. But they still look and smell gorgeous.

And thank you booksbagsshoes for the account time! And shylemon, and anonymous (come comment?), for the virtual gifts. You are all wonderful :). Actually, a surprising number of people have remembered - it's quite forgettable, coming so soon after Christmas, but I've been getting happy birthday messages all day.

So I'm walking round with a big smile at the moment. Tonight we're going for Chinese then to FHQ. Uni restarts tomorrow, but thankfully my first lecture isn't till noon - so I may be out a bit late tonight!