The Proud Atheist and the RDF disappoint...

So I was on Facebook, and as I 'like' the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, I saw the following on my feed:

The T-Shirt at the link?  Obviously features a caricature of a fat guy stuffing an entire feast into his face.

GJ GUISE
WAY TO BE ASSHOLES
YOU'RE MAKING ATHEISTS LOOK REAL GREAT THERE

AND RDF GJ PROMOTING THAT
YEAH YOU'RE LOOKING MORE AND MORE PROGRESSIVE EVERY DAY

WE COULD PROMOTE REASON AND SCIENCE
OR LET'S JUST MAKE FUN OF FAT CHRISTIANS
THAT IS BOTH REASONABLE AND SCIENTIFIC RIGHT?
HA HA FAT PEOPLE ARE FAT
HA

My mother is Mrs. Bennet

Today my mother told me that the song that she and I will dance to at my wedding is My Little Girl by Tim McGraw.

THIS SONG. THIS ONE.

1. I don't even like country music, and I would find this kind of thing really embarassing!
2. Can you tell my mother's never been married and fetishizes weddings, like a lot?
3. THE BRIDGE IS SO INSULTING TO THE PROSPECTIVE GROOM.
   I know he'll say that he's in love / But between you and me. he won't be good enough
   WTF THAT IS NOT A WEDDING SONG
4. I'm not even in the sort of relationship where marriage is part of the game plan.
5. And as far as my mother knows, I'm single.  Hence the title of this blog post.
6. This song is explicitly from the perspective of a father? Which is kind of a sore spot for me, since I was raised by an abusive alcoholic single mother.
7. Hey, thinking about that last bit, my mother is not actually going to be invited to any wedding I might hypothetically have someday in the distant future.

I suppose the fantasy won't hurt her for now since god only knows if I'll do a wedding in my life, but Jesus Christ is this just so disconnected from reality.  I'd almost feel bad for her, if watching that video didn't make me feel like I need to take a shower.

This is my brain, and I live in it.

Muse is away from the blog right now.

Please enjoy this lovely image of John and Sherlock supporting queerness.

Other things in life have been taking up a lot of my time lately, which I'm sure you've noticed.  This happens periodically in the life of an academic, I've noticed.  Scramble/crunch time, followed by stretches of maintenance and catching up.  I've also been writing some fiction lately, which has taken some not-insignificant amount of time away from blogging.

Plus it's convention season!  The Bay Area Renaissance Festival is rapidly approaching, and after that there's 221BCon and TimeGate.  All these things will be wonderful, and also time-consuming.

If you want to keep track of my face, I have some recommendations:

1. The Face... book?  The thing is, I only friend people I know, so that's only applicable to people who know me in meatspace.  And if you do, we're probably already Fbook buddies.
2. Here is my tumblr.  You can follow me if you'd like!  Only recommended if you like Superwholock gifs and lots of pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch and Misha Collins.
3. My twitter is just over to the right there.  Your right, yes.  You might have to scroll up or down, but I have been assured it's there.
4. Oh god am I actually posting this here yes I am
   Here is my newly created Archive Of Our Own account!  I've been writing Johnlock fanfiction, and if any of it is good enough to share, there's where I'll be putting it.

I'm re-evaluating what purpose blogging serves in my life right now.  I'd like to kick back up with regular updates, but I don't know what I should make those regular updates.  Reviewing things I'm watching?  (Supernatural, if you must know.)  Posting about what happens in my life for therapeutic purposes a la John Watson?  Reviewing sciencey things to help me remember stuff?  I don't know yet, but I'll be thinking about it.

Why you should be on Tumblr:

And also ruin my ability to post on my actual blog, because I'm spending too much time on Tumblr.

1. This chill-inducing mash-up of Blinding by Florence and The Machine and Doctor Who
2. SuperWhoLock.  That is, the amazing fandom crossover between Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock.  Seriously, this shit is bananas, B A N A N A S.  Check out these gifsets: [1 2 3]
3. There is also a version of SuperWhoLock that mixes in the Avengers, and that is also the best
4. Benedict fucking Cumberbatch, I am just saying
5. That is where I lurk online when my energy is low because GRAD SCHOOL IS HARD, so if you're a fan of what I do here on this blog, I am much more accessible there

This is actually cross-posting to Tumblr, so, HI TUMBLR.  I have the option of cross-posting Tumblr to this blog... but I don't think any of us want that.  No, no there are some things best left contained, and the feels/gifs I have featuring Benedict Cumberbatch are probably part of that.

Happy Anniversary!

Today's the day that John met Sherlock.  (2009 BBC Sherlock, that is.)

I wonder if John's visiting Sherlock's grave.

I might have to write that later.

You told me once that you weren't a hero. There were times I didn't even think you were human. But let me tell you this, you were the best man, the most human human being that I've ever known, and no one will ever convince me that you told me a lie.  So, there.

I was so alone, and I owe you so much.

Please, there’s just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Sherlock, for me. Don’t be dead. Would you do that just for me? Just stop it. Stop this.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I might die.

Africans in the Diaspora signal-boost

Excerpt from When Doing Good Goes Wrong: One Woman’s Story about White Saviorism in Africa:

Meet Lindiwe
During my 6-month Africans for Africa project last year, I met Lindiwe (not a real name), a retired, 60-something year old African woman. Lindiwe had been running an orphanage out of her own home for the past 10 years. The government had agreed to offer her some money every month to care for up to two children, but the amount was no where near what she needed to care for the twenty-seven she’d taken in. 

You see, most of their parents had passed away from HIV/AIDS, or abandoned them when they moved away to find more work. Lindiwe could barely afford to replace their tattered clothes, let alone their school uniforms. If not for the charity of a wholesale grocery store that donated canned goods each month, Lindiwe wouldn’t have been able to feed the orphans in her care at all. 

But, one day, a young white American couple (that had been backpacking through the region) arrived at her doorstep, and offered to help Lindiwe raise money from abroad. The plan was to set up a non-profit in the U.S. to serve as a fiscal sponsor (i.e. serve as an umbrella organization) to the orphanage, which would enable them to collect tax-deductible donations from their network back in the states. Lindiwe couldn’t believe her luck. And, perhaps she shouldn’t have. 

Read more...

I was going to promote this, and then it sold out

If you haven't already bought a ticket, you should be jealous of people who are going to...

... in part because YOURS TRULY is going to be a panelist there!

I'll be at the first panel, covering predictions for S7, the 50th, and beyond.  (Hoo boy, do I have some things to say about that, let me tell you.)  Then again at the Relationships in Who panel, and then the very last panel which is Tennant vs. Smith.

All the props to Ken Spivey and company for organizing this thing.  That man is *the* reason I found the local Who convention scene in the first place.  And his hair is oh so fluffy!

If you do happen to have a ticket, I'll be very recognizable.  I'm cosplaying as The Corsair - and coincidentally, the whole thing happens over Gasparilla, the Tampa pirate festival.  Molto bene!

An auspicious day

Barry gave a really nice speech today.

(Transcript available here.)

It does give me a fuzzy, that the second inaugural address of the first black President is on MLK Day.

Here's a thing to ponder today, a day of history made and history in the making.

GJ, The Onion.

Wow.  The Onion hit it right on the head.

Content note: contains violence, dead bodies, mayhem and carnage.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-6-best-dresses-at-the-golden-globes,30897

Wow.

...

Dear The Onion:

Love, Muse