> For people worrying about the upcoming LJ changes there’s some further information that you might want to look at here. To summarise, apparently we’ll be able to turn off the infinite scroll on the f-list page and we’ll be able to “customise background images”, which suggest we’ll be able to limit the amount of white space or develop a work around for it. Also, paid accounts aren’t being removed: “the concept of buying something that's called a "paid account" is what will be removed -- extra features will be done as add-ons and add-on packages. Existing paid or permanent accounts at that time will be treated as premium/elite accounts that will have access to even more features than exist right now.”

> I thought about doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I realized that actually I don’t want to write a novel right now. I’d actually be more pleased with myself if I managed to finish some of the fanfics that I’m working on and, of course, I need to do my Secret Santa fic for be_compromised. So I’m going to have a fic finishing month instead. I aim to finish: the Secret Santa fic, the Clint/Natasha His Dark Materials crossover fic from a promptathon prompt, and the Sherlock/Secret Garden thing at least. Onwards!

> Joss Whedon, US politics, and the zombie apocalypse (with thanks to franztastischfor the link), because Joss is boss.

At some point you write too much to sensibly fit it into comment boxes, heh. I haven’t read everybody else’s comments on the series and I’m sure that I’m missing lots of things, because there’s an awful lot packed into it. This is just me trying to get my thoughts together and tease out some overarching themes, since my brain has been taken over by this verse. Do throw your own thinky thoughts this way :D

Some Thoughts on Themes in the 'Small Acts' series

Welcome to the small acts verse

Written by workerbee73 and bob5fic with an epilogue from sugar_fey. You can find the Master List for the series HERE.

( ‘Words are weapons like anything else,’ Clint points out in 'softly she carries me' and in 'bait' it’s said that ‘they never talk about it’, what they do with each other. In the 'small acts' verse it’s not about what’s said but the actions that people take. Read more... )

I have no idea what thinky thought chats Bee, Bob, and Sugar have been having about this verse, but those are some of things that have been running through my brain. What about everyone else?

It’s been Disability Awareness Day in my part of the world today. Emphasis on the awareness. It’s okay not to be comfortable around disability, it’s okay to have questions, it’s okay not to know how to ask those questions, but I believe that it’s not okay to ignore anyone and a whole lot worse when sometimes it appears that whole swathes of society don’t even exist.

I was chatting with my Gran the other day about a book that we’d both loved and I mentioned, as part of a discussion, that I believed one of the characters thought that their husband was bipolar or had a mental illness. My Mum said to me later that it wasn’t right to bring that up, because my Gran is apparently bipolar. Now, I knew that she was taking medication for a mental illness and I’d helped her with depression in the past, but I think it would have been useful to have been aware before now. Not that labels help, but my Gran had been given this label and living with it. I once lent her my high school biology textbook, because it’s amazing the things that I take for granted that I’ve been taught, so what might she have been thinking about being called bipolar? My Dad asked why shouldn’t we talk about it and that’s my stance. I think things need to be talked about and aired. Disabilities, be they mental, physical, or otherwise, don’t need to be hushed up. The more open we are, the more we all learn, the better.

So, if anyone would like to talk to me or ask me questions about disabilities: my Gran is bipolar, my sister has Downs Syndrome, I have spent a lot of time with kids and young adults with disabilities, I’ve had a friend with cerebral palsy, a cousin in a wheelchair, and I’ve spent time with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Personally I just wear glasses and learnt sign language; I’m mostly an outsider and regardless everybody’s experiences are subjective anyway. However, if you want to chat, about your experiences or living with people with disabilities, here’s a chance :)

And this is me, so I’m going to throw some recs at you as well *grins* and feel free to throw recs back:

( Avengers, X Men, Harry Potter, and Sherlock recs )

( Book recs )

( Film and TV recs )

If you don’t know what it is: every year on Joss Whedon’s birthday people worldwide put on screenings of Serenity, a film based on a cancelled TV show that by rights shouldn’t have been made but was, to raise money for Equality Now, who work globally to protect and promote human rights for women and girls.

Joss explains why equality is important, not just for women but for everybody, in his Equality Now award acceptance speech in 2006. ‘Why do you write these strong women characters?’ he keeps being asked and he answers in his own Joss way.

He also wrote When I Speak for Equality Now’s 20th Anniversary Celebrations:



The rest of the celebration, including other works by Joss, can be found HERE.

For the 2011 Can’t Stop The Serenity event Joss had this to say:



Recently I read Past the brink of tacit support: Fan activism and the Whedonverse by T R Cochran (2012), which is an academic article with some interesting thoughts. “Whedon inspires independent critical, thinkers,” according to Cochran, and Whedon fan activists “represent a growing population of grassroots media, cultural, and even sociopolitical reformers.”

Well, we do try. And it’s a beautiful thing to see.

If you’re in the UK, the closing date for the Equal Civil Marriage Consultation is tomorrow. Denying two people committed to a life together the right of marriage on any basis, be it gender, sexuality, disability, or anything else, is discrimination. It really is that simple.

Apologies if I’m spamming you, since I’m throwing this all over the place, but do take the time to go to the consultation site and have an opinion. Thanks.

Meta from someone with little comics background. Essentially a look at Black Widow in The Avengers and Iron Man 2 with some comics snippets.

With thanks to workerbee73 with her wonderful meta and discussions, surreallis who asked questions and got me thinking, and everyone who joined in the discussion on the Alphabet wars thread on be_compromised. Meta referred to is from here and here by workerbee73, here by gyzym, and here by marinarusalka. Fics that deal with Natasha being remade and have influenced these thinky thoughts include RED by waldorph and Chrysalis by sugar_fey.

Some Thoughts On Black Widow, Remaking, And Reclaiming

( I’d like to go down the road of saying that, brainwashing or not, Natasha has been ‘remade’ more than once, in different ways, and to take a look at the themes of identity and names. )

In the spirit of the End of Virginity Challenge here are a couple of fic recs for ‘first time’ stories with the ‘why’ I like them whited out because of fic spoilers (highlight to read):

An Interruption of Gravity by bendingsignpost (BBC Sherlock, John/Sherlock, R, 1,800 words)
Summary: This is the seduction of Sherlock Holmes and John plans to make it last. Sherlock, of course, has other plans.
Why:*Because Sherlock decides when to move things along and John is okay with that. Because it gets huge points for the difficulties of having sex not just in a shower but under a shower that is over a bathtub. And because, most importantly, it shows how even if a ‘first time’ isn’t perfect it can still be right, if it’s with the right person, if it’s what you wanted to do, and that you can smile about it afterwards. That it can be fun. *

Moving The Furniture by sam-storyteller (Avengers, Steve/Natasha, R)
Summary: Steve thinks about sex a lot, and he'd like to have some, if he could just stop being an idiot around the people he'd like to have it with.
Why:*Because sometimes the awkward part is the ‘first time’ of getting to the ‘first time’. Because Natasha and Steve are so matter-of-fact and open and consensual and wonderful together. And because ‘first times’ don’t always have to be with the love of your life to be good, but with someone you respect, who treats you right, who is a damn good friend. There are lots of kinds of ‘first times’. *

Sex and Telepathy by blind_author (X Men: First Class, Charles/Erik, NC-17)
Summary: Most people can’t pinpoint the moment when they first become aware of sex. Charles can. Just a quick look at Charles’ telepathy and how it might shape his attitude towards sex.
Why:*Because it’s not just about the ‘first time’ Charles has sex, but the first time he’s aware of sex, and the first time he’s aware of distinctions within it, and different first times. Leading up the ‘first time’ he trusts someone enough to be completely himself, to let go, because it makes you vulnerable in so many ways. And because that ‘first time’ doesn’t go how he saw it going, over too fast and not exactly what he was looking for, but it was good anyway. *

On Love and Lust At Mutant High by Jenn (X Men, PG13-NC-17, 32 stories, total of 94,358 words)
One of the seminal X Men fics told from St. John’s point of view as the kids at Xavier’s grow up. There are love triangles and adult interference, confusion and hormones, alcohol and trust issues. And if that weren’t enough, of course there’s a ‘bad guy’ out for blood.
Why:*Many, many types of ‘first time’ are present in this fic along with many combinations of characters and dealing with emotions. Just. It’s epic, but it’s one of the best ‘growing up’ type stories around. *

Discussion of the End of Virginity Challenge, the fics recs, and more fic recs all very welcome :D

So, SOPA/PIPA are off the table. For now at least. (Some info here and here.) It's a relief, but I can't help thinking it'll have a rethink and come back later.

What's going around now is Black March, which is essentially a proposed boycott of the media industry this March. In principal it seems like a good idea: showing the big corporations that without their customers they have nothing. But I just don't think it'll have much impact overall.

A boycott is essentially doing nothing and that's hard to measure. How will the industry know who is boycotting and who just can't afford anything in March, or who just didn't want to buy anything in March? And sure, they'll be a cut in profits, but it won't be the decision-makers at the top of the pile that will feel the impact of that, it'll be the everyday people in the customer facing roles, stacking shelves and suffering through the recession already.

People standing up and saying something, signing petitions and making noise, cluttering up the inboxes of officials, mithering, making a splash in the news - that I believe would make more of an impact in this case (and I like to think it's contributed to the tabling of SOPA/PIPA).

I've been chatting with people lately about what constitutes protesting and what's an effective form of protest. Any thoughts, in relation to Black March or otherwise?

SOPA/PIPA. If you haven't heard of them, or are wondering what the Wiki and Google blackouts are about, take a look at Protect IP - a link I posed a while ago on Facebook, but I don't think I put it on here - and What Is SOPA?. I'm pretty sure my f-list is already up to speed :) but, where you can, pass it on. As a bunch of artists and creators including Neil Gaiman say (much more politely than I would frame it) in this open letter, this is censorship on a harmful and dangerous level. It will effect all of us.

For those of us outside of the US, mahmfic passed onto me from Wiki:
I don't live in the United States. How can I help?
Contact your local State Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or similar branch of government. Tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will affect sites outside of the United States, and actions to sites inside the United States (like Wikipedia) will also affect non-American readers -- like you. Calling your own government will also let them know you don't want them to create their own bad anti-Internet legislation.


Thank you and on a happier note, here, have a lovely video in which a book store comes to life :)

World Aids Day today. Durham Student Union did a release of 1000 balloons to raise awareness. Awareness of issues is always good.



There are some facts on the World Aids Day website that people should be aware of and a few articles on ontd_political here and here with some chatter going on in the comments.

Also, Durham University now has a Center for Sex, Gender, and Sexualities which has evolved from the Gender and Sexuality Research Network. Yay us :)