Sundry points

Point the first (the important one)
As per libby_drew  and others on my flist, please take a minute out to follow this link. It tells an angry-making true story of an elderly gay couple who were separated against their wills and one left destitute after the death of his partner because the state chose not to recognise their relationship.

Do you know someone who doesn't believe it's important that gay marriage be allowed? Read them this story.

Do you live in the US and want to do something about the injustice in this case? Write to the papers that are linked from this additional post here.

And if you know any Tea Party activists who are expending an incredible amount of energy making demands about the government respecting the rights of private citizens, point them in the direction of this cause, because this is a genuinely egregious intrusion into the private lives of two Americans. I would love to see them deliver a bit of support for this genuinely conservative cause (because the rights to liberty, property and happiness are actual core American values, as opposed to the rubbish that is put forward as conservatism these days.)

Point the second (the enjoyable one)
I had lunch with frankkincense  and treacle_tartlet ! And the Treaclette! And by lunch, I mean iced chocolates and macarons. But it was at the Art Gallery, so it was cultured! frankkincense  is trapped in Australia for at least a few more days, thanks to Eyjafjallajokul. She has a place to stay and cities full of people who are happy to keep her, so all is well. However, I am starting to wonder if I ought not have Mr B drive down to the airport and lend our tent to stranded British backpackers. If you have some near you, toss them a tarp! The poor buggers will have spent all their cash long before they were stuck wherever.

Gordon Brown's gone one step better than this, of course, and sent three Royal Navy ships in to pick up stranded Britons. There is talk of using Spain as a hub to fly people into, and then the Royal Navy to pick them up from there. Obviously this is not as dramatic as Dunkirk, really, but it's still a bit exciting. I'm a firm believer in the use of armed forces for civil emergencies, and I must confess that I'm a bit jealous as it would be tremendous fun to go home on an aircraft carrier!

Poor everyone who is trapped, though. I do sympathise very strongly, and am feeling very lucky that my December adventures were comparatively very minor.

Point the third (the recappy one)
More weekend snippets will filter out through the week as I catch up on sleep. Two days later, I am still thinking that James Marsters is just a bloody nice chap. Karl Urban levels of nice. Marsters had a very interesting tack on his fame which was that, like the Grateful Dead, his presence at cons facilitated fans to have a fun experience with each other, meeting people of similar interests and backgrounds and making friends. It was a refreshingly sane approach to the whole idea of American-style celebrity.

As well as sane, he was funny. Someone asked him how he felt doing sex scenes, and he replied: "They yell 'action' and suddenly I'm a prostitute. Getting paid to do something sexual with someone ... there's no way around it. And I'm wearing make-up."

He gave advice: "Guys, if you want lots of kisses from your women, shave. John Barrowman didn't."

And he revealed a little of life on Torchwood: "My girlfriend directed that kiss [with Barrowman], she was sitting right there on a stool, directing. So we'd do a take, and we'd look at her, and she'd be like 'Ooooooh yes! But you need to do another take.' And we'd look at [the actual director] and he'd be nodding along."

I think that Marsters's girlfriend sounds like quite a lot of fun, too.

Sundry points

Point the first (the important one)
As per libby_drew  and others on my flist, please take a minute out to follow this link. It tells an angry-making true story of an elderly gay couple who were separated against their wills and one left destitute after the death of his partner because the state chose not to recognise their relationship.

Do you know someone who doesn't believe it's important that gay marriage be allowed? Read them this story.

Do you live in the US and want to do something about the injustice in this case? Write to the papers that are linked from this additional post here.

And if you know any Tea Party activists who are expending an incredible amount of energy making demands about the government respecting the rights of private citizens, point them in the direction of this cause, because this is a genuinely egregious intrusion into the private lives of two Americans. I would love to see them deliver a bit of support for this genuinely conservative cause (because the rights to liberty, property and happiness are actual core American values, as opposed to the rubbish that is put forward as conservatism these days.)

Point the second (the enjoyable one)
I had lunch with frankkincense  and treacle_tartlet ! And the Treaclette! And by lunch, I mean iced chocolates and macarons. But it was at the Art Gallery, so it was cultured! frankkincense  is trapped in Australia for at least a few more days, thanks to Eyjafjallajokul. She has a place to stay and cities full of people who are happy to keep her, so all is well. However, I am starting to wonder if I ought not have Mr B drive down to the airport and lend our tent to stranded British backpackers. If you have some near you, toss them a tarp! The poor buggers will have spent all their cash long before they were stuck wherever.

Gordon Brown's gone one step better than this, of course, and sent three Royal Navy ships in to pick up stranded Britons. There is talk of using Spain as a hub to fly people into, and then the Royal Navy to pick them up from there. Obviously this is not as dramatic as Dunkirk, really, but it's still a bit exciting. I'm a firm believer in the use of armed forces for civil emergencies, and I must confess that I'm a bit jealous as it would be tremendous fun to go home on an aircraft carrier!

Poor everyone who is trapped, though. I do sympathise very strongly, and am feeling very lucky that my December adventures were comparatively very minor.

Point the third (the recappy one)
More weekend snippets will filter out through the week as I catch up on sleep. Two days later, I am still thinking that James Marsters is just a bloody nice chap. Karl Urban levels of nice. Marsters had a very interesting tack on his fame which was that, like the Grateful Dead, his presence at cons facilitated fans to have a fun experience with each other, meeting people of similar interests and backgrounds and making friends. It was a refreshingly sane approach to the whole idea of American-style celebrity.

As well as sane, he was funny. Someone asked him how he felt doing sex scenes, and he replied: "They yell 'action' and suddenly I'm a prostitute. Getting paid to do something sexual with someone ... there's no way around it. And I'm wearing make-up."

He gave advice: "Guys, if you want lots of kisses from your women, shave. John Barrowman didn't."

And he revealed a little of life on Torchwood: "My girlfriend directed that kiss [with Barrowman], she was sitting right there on a stool, directing. So we'd do a take, and we'd look at her, and she'd be like 'Ooooooh yes! But you need to do another take.' And we'd look at [the actual director] and he'd be nodding along."

I think that Marsters's girlfriend sounds like quite a lot of fun, too.