Things I have learned this week

[blamebrampton]

* In all the Evol BNFs kerfuffle, it occurred to me that I actually find my time in fandom hugely enriched by a group of such people, some of them BNFs, others often perceived as BNFs, a handful of BNFs of the Future and also the Exceptionally Talented Even Though They Would Never Think of Themselves as BNFs. Accordingly, I would like to thank some of them publicly. And so begins yet another ongoing project that I will finish someday, before Ragnarok. Happily, today marks the birthdays of two of the people I would have talked about anyway, so it is two birds with one stone time!

A very happy birthday to dysonrules , whose kindness, jolliness and overt glee are an example for everyone in fandom. I am a mile behind in reading your stories, I confess, because I am a miserable old bugger who needs to be in the right mood for happiness, but you write very good happiness! Thank you for all the encouragement and cheer you spread around the fandom, it makes this a better place.

Happy birthday, too, to lillithium . Your talent stops us all in our tracks on a regular basis, but it is the gentleness you share with us through your posts and photographs that makes me think we would all enjoy knowing you in real life. However, the seriousness with which you approach your fanart inspires me, and makes me more conscious that fanworks deserve the respect of whatever time and seriousness we can spare for them.

If anyone out there wants to nick the idea to thank their own fandom favourites, do feel free!

* One of my dearest friends in all the world has even dodgier taste in men than I had previously suspected. KRudd indeed!

* Some people on LJ make up for others who are cocks. furiosity  responded to the hacking of sarahtales 's journal with a brilliant post on internet security here. (Link goes through to Dreamwidth.)

* Red lipsticks that look brilliant on everyone else in the world will look cerise on me. Apparently, I make everything paler. This means that if the one great red lippy I own ever goes out of production, I am stuffed and will have to let go of my vamp look forever. Alas, vamp, bookish lesbian, and flower-bedecked garden girl are the only three looks I have. If I lose vamp, I will have to buy some plain glasses and cultivate librarian.

* There are 2.3 million prisoners in the United States, that's more than there are in China. One in four prisoners in the world is American. I think this could be a good argument against privatised prison systems, especially when coupled with the story of the Pennsylvanian judges who took bribes from private jails to give young offenders custodial sentences. That's not what the land of the free should be like.

* I knew that the actual court ruling on Prop 8 was always going to be a nightmare and suspect it may be the only thing the justices felt they could hand down given the centrality of of voting and voter initiatives in the American political climate. It remains a fucking dreadful law, based on ludicrous premises and lies.

* My friend Rai is something of a genius. Her ink drawing of the funeral of Fred Weasley is yet further proof.

Comments

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

This is a post of some brilliance. Love the fandom love, but that shouldn't surprise you given my "let's run through the meadows holding hands" visions of fandom. But I also love the juxtaposition of the lipstick musings with the US prison musings (stats, I confess, I was not aware of - thoroughly disturbing).

And yes, in all the birthday flurry, I have not commented to Rai yet on that pic but I kind of love it. :)

And hee to your looks - I only have two: disheveled grad student and disheveled mother. The only real difference between the two is that in one I wear a large backpack and hold books and in the other I wear a slightly smaller backpack and hold a screaming toddler. ;)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I am too old to carry off disheveled student anymore, and toddlers burst out laughing at the sight of me, so alas, I cannot steal your look! But I did see a girl on the train this morning who was doing EXACTLY my 1987 look. I glanced at her a few times to check out her dark red lippy and charcoal scarf, then realised she was sneaking glances at me, obviously thinking: 'Good lord, that could me be in 22 years time! I had better lay off the chocolate ... Though I like her lipstick ...'

[astarael02.livejournal.com]

I know this was waaay down your list of points in importance, but I have to ask- which red lipstick is it? *has a slight cosmetics obsession*

And also, I can't believe prop 8 is actually a real law. Just... how do they argue that it's a fair and good law to have?? I am seriously baffled. Sometimes I get so incredulous at the things people think it's not COMPLETELY WRONG to do, that I can't even think of a coherent response. I end up yelling or sputtering in the most ineloquent way. :(

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I started off my categorical fail in the hunt for a new red with MAC Russian Red, a colour that looks gorgeous on practically EVERYONE, but sort of manky cherry pink on me. Laura Mercier's M was the same story, as was Nars Velvet Matte Pencil in Dragon Red, Nars Jungle Red lipstick, Kavyn Aucoin Expert Lip in Poppia and several others I lost track of.

Nars Velvet Matte Pencil in Damned gives me a nice dark blood red, so I went with that, but Chanel Rouge Allure in Lover is the only red red that stays red on my skin.

The others were all gorgeous colours, though, only altered by my underlying bluey pallor. Mmmmmm, pallor ...

Though I have just tried the Mac lipstick over the Nars pencil, and it's good! Yay!

I go through make-up phases, and probably wear it on less than 20% of workdays, but I do like to know I can turn on my Hedy Lamarr when I want to ;-)

And as to Prop 8 the law, it's DIRE. Utterly mad. Spluttering is a perfectly rational response.

[astarael02.livejournal.com]

I've got red hair and the colouring that goes with it (well, I say red... it's ginger. Pah.) so it's really quite tricky finding makeup to suit me. In theory I think a red lipstick could work but all the ones I try look too pink or too brown. I want RED! Red makes me think of Marilyn Monroe and a sassy fanon Pansy Parkinson :D

I will check out the ones you mentioned. Any excuse to go to Sephora... :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes, pink and brown are the curses of red lipstick! I do recommend those brands, even though I found it hard to get the right tone, as they all have good pigments and last for ages. Not cheap, but lasting. And try a darker pencil to hold the lipstick red if you need it, the combination of the Nars and MAC is working a treat at the moment (though I need to take it off now and go to bed!)

I like red lipstick, it says sod off without me having to say a word ;-)

[drgaellon]

For the record, Prop 8 IS NOT A LAW. It is a Constitutional Amendment by referendum, which effectively made a previous law unconstitutional. The question before the Court concerned the STUPID clause in the California Constitution which allows "minor" amendments to be made by simple majority, but requires a "two-thirds" majority to change "fundamental" rights. Because of the disaster that is the California Constitution, the high court COULD NOT disallow Prop 8, which now stands. The same idiotic clause will allow a new referendum to repeal the amendment in 2010.

They need a Constitutional Convention, and they need to shred the existing Constitution and START OVER. No other state in the Union allows ANY changes to their Constitution by simple majority of a plebiscite without a waiting period, or a double vote (Massachusetts allows a simple majority - in two sequential voting cycles).

[astarael02.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm British... we don't learn about the US political system unless we choose to at university. I chose chemistry and french :)
I was uing the word "law" as a layman's term for a rule, not as technical vocabulary. I just don't think a political system should allow the treatment of a group of people as lower-class citizens, that's what I'm saying. But I realize that the complexities of a political system can allow this to happen sometimes, if there are enough people agreeing with it, however much my idealism would like to think otherwise :)

[drgaellon]

Well, the system is SUPPOSED to be designed to PREVENT the tyranny of the majority, and the courts are supposed to protect the rights of minority groups. The fact that the system has failed so spectacularly in this case only points up the deficiencies in the governing documents (i.e. the California state Constitution).

The problem now lies in the definition of "protected minority." California recognizes LGBT persons as belonging to a protected minority, and entitled to the highest level of legal scrutiny whenever their rights are threatened. Federal law does not, though DOMA has not yet been challenged in Federal court, and things like Colorado's Proposition 2 HAVE been found to violate the US Constitution. Taking THIS fight to SCOTUS NOW is likely to result in a ruling we DO NOT WANT.

[astarael02.livejournal.com]

I see. It seems like there's quite a way to go before there's true equality. Not just in California, but using it as an example. And this is the 21st century! It makes me sad :(

[astarael02.livejournal.com]

Oh, forgot to say, thank you for letting me know though. :)

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

*a billion squishes to you*

I'm sort of attempting an angsty-ish thing for bryoneybrynn's birthday, so I'll let you know when that goes up...

*shudders*
(I'll write it with my eyes shut.)

<3 you!!!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

HEE! I have been rereading some of my older WiPs and found that I have people in tears of emotion. The SHOCK! (I may have been drunk at the time of writing.) So if I can have people being emotive, you can have the angst. You can do it! (And loves you back, have a great birthday!)

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, loading up on copious amounts of alcohol first! I can do that! My other problem is that I'm turning a crackfic into an angstfic. (The crack just wasn't there. I wanted to delve into serious. *kicks*)

Do you have anything that doesn't make people cry?

LOL! (I'll read it, if so.) *is wimp*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

OH YES I DO! I have For the Public Good, in which there is much much comedy, though all of it about British politics, though some of that universal. And then there are my indefensible crackfics, A Single Wizard's Guide and Baby, Basket, Death Easters, alas, both of which are WiPs. And indefensible ;-)

You are going to regret asking, you know, the jokes are dreadful ;-)

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

WIPS? Oh no, I can't do those or I will pester you mercilessly until you block me.

Is the Public Good one finished? *clickies*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes! And I never block anyone! I just look at them askance ;-)

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

Me, either. I just ask, "WAT?"

[drgaellon]

I have been pestering the Divine Miss D horribly for MOAR ADAM AND STEVE... it's only fair that she pass some of the pestering on to you.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

And I shall send another of my regular missives to the Pope asking for a rational response to condoms. I like to go all out in my pestering ;-)

[drgaellon]

That seems to be a waste of time, paper and postage. Especially with THIS firebreather of a Pope.

(You confused me for a second. draykonis refers to dysonrules as "Pope Tealeaf the First", and I couldn't figure out why you'd be sending her letters about condoms... LOL)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh Cheryl, she would make a FAR finer pope.

I like to write to popes occasionally. They never listen, but they do archive everything, and I like to think that in a few centuries, historians will read my letters and say, 'Wow, people were REALLY annoyed ...'

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

Damn it! It's Lil's birthday?

I fail as a friend. *off to send grovelling email*

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

You have time, it's not tomorrow here yet. ;)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

It was my early birthday warning alert. The benefits of living in the future ...

[sassy-cissa.livejournal.com]

This means that if the one great red lippy I own ever goes out of production, I am stuffed and will have to let go of my vamp look forever.

I recommend stocking up. When my fav mauve coloured lip stuff stopped being made - I stopped wearing lip stuff every day... :(

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

BUGGER! Though I stopped dyeing bits of my hair blue when Directions stopped making the perfect electric blue dye, so I know how you feel ;-)

I think I will grab an extra one to have in stock just in case. Any more than that and I would feel a bit too obsessed ;-)

And if you like mauve, have you had a look at the MAC range? I have a lovely slightly mauve liptint from them that is really long-lasting and pleasant.

[lillithium.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for thinking of me. You have made my day a lot brighter :-)

I actually had a shitty day at work and cried myself to sleep last night (and woke up in the middle and then cried back to sleep again). Your awesomeness really made me feel a lot better. Thank you ♥ *hugs*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Oh Lils, I rather hate your workmates (because they are hateful!)

Your awesomeness has brightened up so many days for me, I am just glad that I could help you a little.

[drgaellon]

There are 2.3 million prisoners in the United States, that's more than there are in China. One in four prisoners in the world is American.

Also, NINETY-FIVE PERCENT of all prisoners in solitary confinement world-wide are in the United States. (This is trufax; I provide medical services for my county Department of Correction.) Our system of prisons has become more and more punitive and less and less corrective over the years, resulting in higher and higher rates of recidivism.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Which is exactly what a business that thrives on having prisoners would want. Seriously, whoever thought that privatising jails was a good idea??

[drgaellon]

Oddly enough, my jail isn't private; I don't think New York State permits it.

[shadowclub.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I have your lipstick issue with my eyeshadow... They recently discontinued my shade. WILL MY IDENTITY SURVIVE? Although, for me I tend to look different elasticities depending on my eyes/hair... it's very odd.

Government is a strange thing. I'm reading this book Descent into Chaos which is basically about America's failure to nation build in the Middle East... it's insane what all those politicians (not only in America) can get away with. *shakes head* But I'm glad that people like this are getting caught!

I ♥ fandom people!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

These things are important!

And it's so annoying when you find a brand that has everything right and then they change something. At the very least they could give a warning so that you knew to buy up!

I think that government often fails when it puts profits ahead of people, but then people seem very poor at supporting governments that focus on their needs yet cost taxes. More's the pity!

[rubyemerald-1.livejournal.com]

Did you by any chance learn today that Nathan Rees and Fred Nile have done a deal? Politics has no room it seems for humanity or integrity. It's just votes and dollars, dollars and votes.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes, I read that in the Herald. Not sure entirely how accurate the reports are, but it would not surprise me. The NSW ALP are shockingly bad at the moment. I rather like Barry O'Farrel, if only there were fewer religious loonies in his party, too. I wish we could take the best people from each set and for a government with them, as there are some good ones out there.

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

* There are 2.3 million prisoners in the United States, that's more than there are in China.

We were just talking about this at work! And it's worse than you think. For example, stiffer sentences are imposed against possessors of crack than there are against those who possess pure cocaine, thereby unequally penalizing the impoverished. The vast majority of our prisoners (I have heard) are incarcerated for non-violent drug-related crimes.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

And yet Dick Cheney is allowed to shoot whoever he likes! MADNESS! More seriously, it is a wholly deranged system.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

wow read a little into the comments... *head dizzy from all the cosmetic talk* I don't know if I can imagine you as a vamp... but that's probably because I tend to associate everyone with their user pics. :P *has weird image about medieval black-and-white dog typing on a keyboard*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Hee! Well, every now and then I just like to break out the red lipstick, and when combined with my colouring and penchant for retro clothing, it's where the look goes without any effort.

If it makes you feel any better, there is a general consensus among those who know me in person that my default look is 15th-16th century, so the little doggie is not far off!

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

LOL But yeah, this is one of those times when I'd like to live on just the same continent as my lj-friends. :P

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Well, I may well be in Latvia in August ... we could meet up halfway ;-)

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

Oooh, tempting! I'm not much of a world traveller (not that I wouldn't like to be) but if my financial status allows, I wouldn't mind. Are you going by plane?