(no subject)

[cleolinda]

So, ice skating. I came out of the final night with an immense respect for both Emily Hughes and Sasha Cohen for continuing to fight and sell even after falling down (Cohen, particularly, because she biffed her first two jumps but it didn't kill her spirit; Hughes, particularly, for having so much spark and showmanship and recovering so quickly at such a young age). These two were particularly impressive after watching some of the early competitors skate limp programs, some of which were lifeless from the word go, but others you saw die on the vine right in front of you after a bad mistake. I feel bad saying it, but Miki Ando was just painful to watch. Meanwhile, Shizuka Arakawa was gorgeous and strong, and I think she fully deserved the gold, but at the same time, I drew more inspiration from Hughes and Cohen. I mean, I fuck up a lot. Not in the sense that I fall on my ass a lot, although it has been known to happen--it's more in the sense of missing a deadline, missing an opportunity, losing a contest, getting a rejection, and it's the guilt from one disappointment that keeps pulling me down to a second, and a third, and a fourth. Anyone who can go out there, fall down, and jump back up and immediately go into a flourish and grin--anyone who can START her program by falling on her ass TWICE but stay on that horse and ride it home to a silver medal--is okay by me.

(sunshine95: "Johnny Weir is also apparently obsessed with Russia...and Christina Aguilera. Yeah, I don't know either.")

(Tonight: Champions gala, whee!)

Dear Girl Scouts: Please come by my house and sell me cookies.

Dear Money Tree: Please spring up in the back yard. I have to pay my taxes and my COBRA. Oh, and the Girl Scouts are coming.

Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement. People, WTF?

I know there's a seeming issue of racism here on the part of those of us freaking out, particularly since the UAE has been "a solid friend" to us, but part of the problem is that the administration has spent a good five years now conditioning the American people to go into a killing froth at the mere sound of the word "Arab"--I mean, if you want people to overlook the non-sequitur quality of going after Saddam when we're actually trying to catch bin Laden, and the fact that the invasion of Iraq was made possible by the non-existent WMDs, you focus on making the American people as scared and punchy and outraged as possible. And now they're just like, "Yeah, we're gonna sell port operations to the United Arab Emirates. What?" And, as marcusisabadass points out, And, lest we forget Mr. Protect-America-At-All-Costs-Including-Civil-Liberties, the 9/11 attacks had more direct connections to the UAE than to Iraq. From the CNN article: "Two of the hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks came from the Persian Gulf country, and most of the money for the plot was funneled through the banking center of Dubai." Gawker kind of sums up what I want to say here: Except for All Those Times I Told You That You Need to Worry About Security. My concern has almost nothing to do with the UAE itself and everything to do with the mixed signals coming from the administration.

Also, I completely concur: "Just what in the hell is going on here? Why is Bush willing to ignore a federal law, piss off his own party, and put his "strong on security" reputation (well-deserved or not) at risk over this? It's come out that a couple guys in the administration have ties to the Dubai company, but that alone doesn't seem like enough. There's something even deeper going on here, and somebody needs to find out what it is."

The South Dakota senate passed a bill to criminalize abortions. Here's a scary hypothesis as to why it got passed now.

"Generation Debt: Why Now Is a Terrible Time to Be Young." Man, the linkspam is just cheerful today, ain't it?

Bono Among Nobel Peace Prize Nominees. I debated which linkspam section to put this in, honestly.

"Brokeback" rides into US popular culture. Honestly, I would have to say that the tidal wave of jokes and parodies indicates that we're accepting the movie, or trying to; I think it's a positive thing. You might get tired of homemade Fill-in-the-Blank Mountain movie parodies, but I'd rather see those than protests at theaters.

Diane Duane has decided how she wants to self-publish and distribute The Big Meow. Hit her blog if you're interested in reading it.

Question of the day: "Does it take a long time to get to be so shameless?"

Terrifying new celebrity couplings, including K-Fed's possible new mark. Meanwhile, Swank and Lowe patching things up?

Lawsuit reveals Netflix sends frequent renters to the back of line.

Pianist collapses, dies at performance.

Body snatchers plunder Alistair Cooke's corpse?

Aske Chaucere, parte the firste: fair Geoffrey has the answers to all your problems.

Illinois governor confused by 'Daily Show' bit.

PerezHilton.com Presents: Gwens! Possibly the best production values of any "Ring! Ring!" animation ever.

The Comment That Made Him/Her an Ex. Compiled from Salon Table Talkers.

Harassed NY pedestrians strike back with camera phones and blog.

dailydigestnews: The new Spider-Man 3 teaser poster; Supergirl?; Cary Elwes gets a TV pilot; Philip Seymour Hoffman obligated to bark Oscar speech? (Note: since I'm now doing 2-3 entries a day, friending that journal, if you're interested in it, may be a good idea.)

Comments

[elbales]

♥ ChaucerBlog ♥

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Was it just me or was Dick Button extra snark filled last night? He even got Scott Hamilton in on the action at points (granted, Miki Ando had it coming). He was just craaaaanky last night. I started laughing when he went off about the laces being untucked. Anyone playing the drinking game would have been hammered in 10 minutes.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The Duane link is broken-- it appears to have two URLs mashed together.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

...and lest I lose my manners entirely, thank you!

[lostieborden.livejournal.com]

I can't believe my governor isn't hip enough to watch the Daily Show. I am ashamed!

(But thanks for the link anyway...)

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Thing is, the Daily Show is so politically important to people under, oh, 35 that it's astonishing he didn't know. Politicians can't afford to be ignorant of comedy shows. What kind of public relations advice is he getting?

[conejita-diabla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I've always gotten the impression of extreme cluelessness from good ol' Rod, so I'm not surprised. I thought the most shocking thing was how well he handled himself on camera, relatively speaking. He came off much better than I expected...

[conejita-diabla.livejournal.com]

If you like the NYC bloggers, have you seen Dog Shit Girl (http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2005/07/009078.htm)?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heh, no. It is kind of unsettling, the article's right--

Online discussion groups crackled with chatter about every shred of the woman's life that could be found, and with debate over whether the Internet mob had gone too far.

I see this on Fandom Wank a lot, on various sides of a wank (and sometimes in the FW comments itself)--people become so incensed that they start looking up personal information and it becomes this Seek and Destroy mission way out of purportion to the original "crime," or even simple faux pas. It kind of reminds me of that adrenaline-rush madness that comes over you in the last five minutes of an eBay auction--you're willing to throw away hundreds of dollars BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO WIN!!

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

Funny that the Netflix thing seems to have been kept a secret - the rental site I just joined is quite open about having a similar policy.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Oh, and while I'm spamming your journal today, Cleo, I give you Johnny and the Russian girls:
http://tinyurl.com/h3j9g
(click to enlarge the picture accompanying the NYT article)

[punkiejeannien.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just saying this because I'm not a huge Cohen fan (met her, she's a bitch, THAT girl from high school and all), but I think I do draw a lot of inspiration from Arakawa. She almost didn't compete at all in Turin, and decided to anyway. Along with Slutskaya, I also think it's amazing that she's stuck with the Olympics (particularly figure skating) to her age-- I feel silly saying that since she's only a couple of years older than I am, but that's sports I suppose. Biggest props for inspiration, though, of course go to Slutskaya. Man, what a kick ass girl.

On a somewhat related note... is it just me, or did it seem that just about everyone was off their game in the Olympics this year? Specifically skating? I mean, everyone's sick and fallng down... just seems odd to me.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

Biggest props for inspiration, though, of course go to Slutskaya.

I just have to chime in and agree. When she got up after her fall and still smiled, and kept trying (even though she must have known she'd just blown her chances at gold), I cried a little out of sheer admiration for her courage. And when you consider what she went through to get there...man, there just aren't words.

[conejita-diabla.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm tempted to syndicate Chaucer Blog so I can have it on my flist. Anyone else interested?

[maetang.livejournal.com]

I'd subscribe to that!

[scotchwhisky.livejournal.com]

"And thus, take two pintes of hagen dasz dulce de leche, a ful seson of buffie the vampyre slayre, and calle me in the morninge."

<3.

[conejita-diabla.livejournal.com]

Weird...it didn't find it when I searched, but when I went to syndicate it, it looks like it already had been done. Regardless, I present to you:

chaucerhathblog

[rhapsodeeinblue.livejournal.com]

Because everyone else chills with a glass of wine and lit candles, Johnny Weir. Heh. He's such a diva, and I love it.

[leucocrystal]

Oh man, it would totally make my life if Bono won.  He won't, but it's still awesome he was nominated. :)

[pinstripe-bindi.livejournal.com]

The thing that freaks me out about the UAE is that they were one of only FOUR governments to recognize the Taliban. The Taliban were so beyond-the-pale even by fundamentalist (as opposed to SUPER-DUPER-OHMYGAWD-FUNDAMENTALIST) Islam's standard's, yet the UAE was cool with them. And the company is state-owned, so the metaphor of foriegn governments still doing business with American companies even if they disagree with Bush's foriegn policy really doesn't hold water.

I think you're right about all the Brokeback jokes meaning that we're (as a society) accepting the movie. That makes me feel a bit cheerier.

All pro-choice women in South Dakota should refuse to have sex until this bill is overturned.

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

"All pro-choice women in South Dakota should refuse to have sex until this bill is overturned."

Ohhh, snap. xD

[lots42.livejournal.com]

PBS sayeth that the Dubai folks are only buying a PART of the ports. Other people are being contridactory on whether they are taking over security or not.

And you know what disturbs me? When -anyone- says 'The country must be suspected because a criminal came from there'. That's like implicating the entirety of Canada's goverment in raping boys because a boy rapist came from Canada.

And I probably forgot but why are so many people convinced that Bush seemingly confused Saddam and Osama? Why couldn't we have tried for both bastards at once? What's wrong with that as a concept? Nothing, IMHO

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The perception, I think, is that because we threw our resources behind going after Saddam, Osama slipped through our fingers. I don't think he confused them at all--the issue was that he *wanted* to get at Saddam, so since we were going after Osama anyway, he diverted us into Iraq at the (unintentional) expense of catching Osama (in my opinion). I'm sure Bush thought we could do both. He and his administration also thought Iraq would greet us with flowers and ticker-tape parades and we'd be out in a month, and you see what happened with that.

Also, what they're saying isn't so much that the terrorists came from UAE in a simple sense but that the nation's infrastructure may have condoned or even helped them. That's what the blurb about "most of the money for the plot was funneled through the banking center of Dubai" is getting at.

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

I saw the results on the torino webpage and was so mad I didn't even watch the skating. What frustrates me most is that Irina really deserved the gold four years ago. Fucking Michelle Kwan, everyone wanted her gone so badly they marked everyone else down to hand her the medal on a silver platter and she couldn't even skate cleanly on home ice. (Yes, I'm bitter. Can you tell?) Slutskaya isn't likely to show up for the next Olympics, she's too old, and let's face it, too sick. Did you see her skate a couple of years ago, just coming back after her heart surgery? It was heart-breaking, she could barely jump singles. Sasha Cohen is my favourite after Irina, but seeing as how her mom is Russian, I feel patriotically justified in rooting for her =P

[bwaypella.livejournal.com]

Geez, that's kind of harsh against Kwan. No, everyone didn't "want her gone so badly they marked everyone else down". Irina, Michelle, and Sasha are all great competitors and none of them have Olympic gold. Which basically proves that one night every four years does not a legacy make.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

O, the Chaucer!! Thank you thank you....

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Let me know what I can do to help with the Big Meow project, by the way. In terms of getting people over there to read it, I mean. : )

[skripka.livejournal.com]

Potential linkspam for you:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0223gop-adoption23-ON.html

I'm kind of in love with this guy.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

That? Is awesome.

[georgie21.livejournal.com]

About the South Dakota abortion thing... I found something here (http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/02/why_scotus_wont.html) about that.

"While the justices make legal decisions, they are fully aware of the political impact of their actions. Even assuming Roberts and Alito are prepared, someday, to overturn Roe, they might well think it would be perceived as blatantly political to reach out, so soon after arriving at the court, to the first frontal assault on Roe that comes their way."

[maverickgirl.livejournal.com]

On the SD front: of course it's not a coincidence that it came up now. Alito feels that Roe is unconstitutional and that's why he was appointed, in spite of the fact that Bush waffled earlier, "I'll never appoint a Justice who would overturn Roe vs. Wade." It's all about Constitutional interpretation... I happen to think the 9th Amendment says something about our right to choose, but whatever. Apparently women can't be trusted to make the right choice about their bodies - which is where I'll stop, otherwise I'll launch into the government interest rules on passing race, gender, and sexuality laws.

As for the ports deal - well, you're exactly right, this might not be so scary if the administration hadn't conditioned everyone to fear even the word 'Arab,' so now the public is supposed to be okay with a country with the word Arab in it? On the upside, hopefully the UAE has realized that if any harm comes to these ports, they'll be the first ones blamed. Maybe they'll be motivated to, you know, not bomb us on that basis?

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

I'm very pro-choice, but I've heard some pro-choice folks argue that the actual reasoning isn't as sound as it could be in Roe. What I would love is if this bill got to the Supreme Court and was overturned, affirming choice as the law of the land.

[bacardibreezer7.livejournal.com]

That hollaback website is so frickin wonderful. I'm gonna start doing that to guys who are rude to me. I know I don't live in NYC, but I agree jerks like that need to be made fun of. :) Thankfully in Thailand guys don't really call out in vulgar ways to women - they do make comments such as, "Hi, you're really beautiful!" or "Oh! What a beautiful woman!" but they say it politely and they don't call out loudly or anything. I get my fair share of these "nice" comments since I'm a Westerner and they think my white skin is pretty, and this sort of stuff I can handle since it's very polite and a compliment. But I'm moving back home to Australia in 3 months and there are some dickheads who think it's alright to shout out crap to girls on the street - woe betide any of them who take me on. :)

Roe v. Wade

[newbia.livejournal.com]

Blegh. -_- Cleolinda, can you please do me a small favor? I can't post on the Fandom Lounge because anonymous posting is banned, and the create-an-account feature is broken. Vampslayer04 posted: "I see your point. I think I really have gotten a skewed perception of what the pro-choice side really is. Twelve/thirteen years of private/Christian schooling. Most of what I know about the issue did not come from them, truly.

I really stand somewhere the two really militant sides of the debate. Not quite sure where though, now."

I want to tell her about ProCon.org (which you already posted on your linkspam) and http://www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm (which you should probably put on your linkspam too). It's a great site--the most unbiased take on abortion I've found.

Thanks so much! ^_^

Re: Roe v. Wade

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Unconventional, but done. : )