mapsandlegends

Vancouver con, yay.

2011-04-13T21:01:39Z

I'm sad that David Nykl is appearing on Thursday, I wanted to see him but no way can we make it by then. If anybody's going, I'll be there Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. We're going with general admission day tickets because I've already had my front row experience and I'm set for a while. I don't really need more autographs or photo ops. They're cool, but eh, I've already got a wall full of photos. Plus, I don't feel like giving Creation any more money than I have to, heh.

See everybody there!

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Disaster relief donations for Japan.

2011-03-17T22:30:27Z

Not ready to hop back into LJ yet, but I did want to say that LivingSocial is doing a matching donation to Red Cross Japan for disaster relief.

Donations are $5 and LS will match that donation.

http://livingsocial.com/deals/32115-5-for-10-donation-to-red-cross-relief-efforts

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Amazon.com

2011-01-19T20:48:26Z

If anybody is interested, LivingSocial has a 50% off deal for a $20 Amazon giftcard.

http://bit.ly/eyjGgt

(Even though it's at the Portland subsite, you don't have to live in Portland. :D)

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Holiday, be good to me.

2010-12-18T23:40:25Z

Some silliness that I made for stargateland.

The "Elf Hat Experiment" wasn't going quite as well as Sheppard had hoped.

For one thing, Rodney wouldn't stop asking, "Why do I have to wear the stupid elf hat? You're the one with the elf ears!"

P.S.

F34R MY 1337 PH070SHOP SK1LLZ!

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stargateland random crackfics

2010-10-26T03:40:06Z

( So I wrote something cracky for Stargateland. )

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Trigger warning: rape. If you can, do me a favor and sign this petition

2010-10-21T03:37:16Z

I'm a victime of sexual abuse. I don't talk about it that much here anymore because I don't post that much anymore. But when I read about it, it really hits me hard.

This story is the 2nd instance of people in authority using teenage girls as bait to catch sexual predators and the cops or teachers failing to protect the girls, leading to them being raped.

Now, according to another "bait" lawsuit (pdf) filed at the end of September, Hill v. Madison County School Bd., teachers and administrators knew that one of their students had been sexually harassing and propositioning girls at Sparkman Middle School in Alabama. However, no action had been taken against him by the school. So one teacher decided on the same tactic as Upper St. Claire's principal: girl-as-bait. The teacher coerced 14-year-old B.H.J., an African-American student who had reported being repeatedly sexually harassed, into meeting her tormentor in a bathroom, assuring her that they would "catch him." But nobody followed B.H.J. into the bathroom, and nobody stopped her from being raped; the teacher simply went back to her classroom and waited. B.H.J. is reported as being severely traumatized and in an almost completely non-communicative state.

Tell the Madison County School Board it needs to take immediate action to respond to the situation and make certain such incidents do not occur in the future. This means removing the teacher from her position, expelling the student rapist, and implementing policy guidelines on how schools are expected to deal with students who are sexually harassing their peers.

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PDX Crowded House fan?

2010-08-26T05:19:54Z

J has to work and since I won 2 tickets to see the Crowded House mini-concert at Kink tomorrow, I thought I'd give the extra to someone who really wants it. Does anybody want my extra ticket or know of someone who'd want to take my extra ticket? I don't want anything for it, since I didn't pay anything for it.

The concert's at noon and you have to show up at 11:30am, which is why J can't go. Let me know - if I don't hear anything by tomorrow early morning, I'll work something else out.

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OMFG.

2010-08-26T00:04:56Z

I never, ever, ever win jack shit. Ever, from anywhere, for anything.

So when I hit the button to enter Kink.fm's contest to see Crowded House live at Kink's studio space I though, "WTF, can't hurt."

I WON TICKETS. I'm going to a little concert to see Crowded House before I go to the big concert to see Crowded House. I need to get hold of Xzibit, stat.

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Whoa, Joe.

2010-08-13T10:21:43Z

I think somebody's getting frisky in his dotage.

Me and Ken tkl7 from costumes on 'The Other Side'. He's starting to look good after 2 weeks in the woods.
posted by joeflanigan

Here, Joe, I fixed this for ya:

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Too much free time, man, too much free time.

2010-08-04T15:18:00Z

I was sorting through screencaps and putting together my picspam for stargateland and I kinda went crazy.

I know what they're really offering the Wraith queen. ::nudge nudge, wink wink::

Sheppard kind of looks like a Night at the Roxbury guy, with his head bopping. Now just imagine playing "What is Love?" while they're dancing and you're all set.

( One more, of the McShep variety, ~500k )

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Target and Best Buy support anti-gay politician Tom Emmer (Boost Signal)

2010-07-30T04:22:02Z

Stay up-to-date:
Facebook: Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics
Twitter: #BoycottTarget // #TargetBoycott // #TargetFail

Target and Best Buy have given political contributions to Minnesota Forward, a political action committe (PAC) in Minnesota, which in turn used that money to fund campaign commercials for anti-LGBTQI gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Target gave $150,000 to MN Forward. Best Buy gave $100,000 to MN Forward. Tom Emmer is currently the only candidate MN Forward is supporting.

This is problematic because Tom Emmer is virulently anti-LGBTQI. He's the only anti-gay marriage candidate in the Minnesota gubernatorial race. He authored legislastion that would affect LGBTQI parenthood and adoption (defining parents only as the binary "mother and father"). From Abe Sauer of The Awl: "He has also fought "partner" language in wrongful death legislation. Also, Tom Emmer donated to, and posed with, a Christian rock band that supported the practice of executing gays in some foreign countries. Emmer's campaign actually gave the band OVER the legal limit."

I used to work at Target. It's a soulless bureaucracy that gives lip service to equality and then does bullshit like this. The only reason Target has ever cared about LGBTQI people is for the power of the queer dollar. They want our money. Just remember, Target's keyword is "diversity", not "equality". They are not the same thing.

Target is, and has been for the last 10 years at least, as bad as Wal-Mart. They do all the same things Wal-Mart does. They've been sued (and lost) for ableism, sexism and racism. They've slashed hours, staff, benefits and bonuses for low-level employees, they've ratcheted down the raise process so that they don't have to give more than 15-25 cent annual raises, even for high performers, and they engage in union-busting. Their merchandise is made in the same kinds of sweatshops and with the same slave labor, it just looks nicer. Target is not the magical unicorn of big box retailers, they're the little brother who always gets away with everything.

Do not accept Target's excuse about serving business interests, they're trying to confuse the issue. The issue is that through their actions they've given legitimacy and funding to a man who doesn't care if LGBTQI people live or die. To a man who has already made a concerted effort to strip away LGBTQI rights. No politician is truly against business, it's political suicide. The bottom line is that if they help Tom Emmer get elected, they have done a disservice to ALL LGBTQI people in America, and especially to their employees.

You cannot be for LGBTQI rights and support people who are anti-LGBTQI because those two things cancel each other out. If anti-LGBTQI politicians get elected, they take away LGBTQI rights.

Read more about Target, Best Buy and Tom Emmer at The Awl.

Oh, and check this:

Target's CEO Gregg Steinhafel and his wife each made maximum level contributions of $5000 to "one of the most anti-gay politicians in the entire United States — Rep. Michele Bachmann". Normally, I wouldn't be all that interested in where Gregg Steinhafel makes his personal political contributions, other than to consider him a douchebag and move on, but I bring it up for a reason.

From the article at Change.org:

It also begs the question how a CEO can say that his company's "support for the GLBT community is unwavering," when he himself gives money to a politician who would write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution if she could, and who believes that gays and lesbians are a threat to children.

I also made this interesting discovery in my research: Target just appointed a new VP of Government Affairs, Matt Zabel, who was Chief of Staff to anti-gay U.S. Senator John Thune. So Target just appointed this guy 6 days ago on July 23rd, and they made a $150,000 donation at almost exactly the same time where the money ended up supporting an anti-LGBTQI candidate. Coincidence?

It should also be noted that the people on Target's Board of Directors include the CEO of Wells Fargo, EVP of McDonald's, CEO of Xerox, CFO of Eli Lilly, to name a few. Most of the people on Target's board of directors are also directors on other high profile boards, and many of them are on the boards of companies that the individual Target board members directly work for. It's all very, very, very incestuous. So you can see how a move like this by Target will be watched and studied by people who can influence not only our civil rights, but the entire world's economy. Target's and Best Buy's PAC contributions help to set a precedent. This is more important than just political contributions, it has the power to affect all of our lives.

Target and its spokespeople continue to defend their PAC contributions. Along with Best Buy, they refuse to apologize for the outcome of their actions, or repudiate Tom Emmer. They keep repeating themselves about this contribution being just for the sake of their business interests and they won't admit that there's more here at stake than just tax cuts.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Don't spend your money at Target (or Best Buy).
I know some people won't be able to or want to avoid Target. In that case, do something to offset funding their careless, damaging behavior.
Boost the signal.
Write about this in your own journal or blog. Text it, Tweet it, put it on Facebook and MySpace. Tell people about it, talk about, let people know that Target and Best Buy are working against LGBTQI rights and are trying spin this story like it's no fault of their own. Feel free to copy and paste everything I wrote in this post. I abdicate copyright on this post. Take all of the phone numbers and email addresses and mail addresses. Use them.
Sign the Change.org petition.
Send the HRC letter.
Contact Target:
- Target.com contact form.
- Guest Relations: (800) 440-0680 (7am to 6pm CT, Monday through Friday)
  This one costs them money, use it.
- Main Switchboard: (612)304-6073 (8am to 5pm CT, Monday through Friday)
- Community Relations and Grants Information Hotline: (612) 696-6098
Contact the Executives at Target:
- Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel
  gregg.steinhafel@target.com
  Phone: (612) 696-6234
  Fax: (612) 696-6325
  
  Assistant:
  Denise May
  denise.may@target.com
  612-696-6243
- Matt Zabel, VP Govt Affairs
  matthew.zabel@target.com (I'm not sure if his email is working, I got a bounce back.)
- Susan Kahn, VP Communications (PR)
  susan.kahn@target.com
- Media Relations
  Eric Hausman
  612-761-2054
- Communications
  Target
  1000 Nicollet Mall
  Minneapolis, MN 55403
  (612) 696-3400
( Gregg Steinhafel's direct reports: )

And because Target has partnerships with numerous celebrities and designers, why not contact them as well to let them know you won't be buying their brands?

( Just a few names: )

Contact other departments, vendors, purveyors, buyers, etc.
Feel free to contact these people and let them know that you won't be buying any of the products they represent because of Gregg Steinhafel's and Target's monetary contributions to anti-LGBTQI politicians.
( The list: )

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Belated Birthday!

2010-07-28T06:05:27Z

I finally made you something for your birthday, gblvr! I stopped getting distracted by shiny things and made you your own shiny thing.

Lookit Lorne's little face!

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SGA: Art: Memories of Green

2010-07-28T02:15:40Z

Now that the masterlist has been posted at sgareversebang, I'm free to repost my art. I know some of you have already seen it, back when I linked to the post at sgareversebang, but I wanted to post it in my journal as well. The small version definitely loses something in the ensmallening, so be sure to check out the full version after the cut tag.

I intend to do a dvd-commentary at some point, which seems like it'll be a lot of work, but fun. Also, I don't tyipcally name my art, unless it goes with a story and then it usually gets the story name attached. This challenge was unique in that the artists created their art and then stories were written based on the artwork. Part of the process in submitting the art was naming it, so I chose the title from the Vangelis song. (Because I love Blade Runner and there's a lot of green in it, people. Yes, I'm lame. :D)

Title: Memories of Green
Medium: Photoshop collage
Notes: Beta: gblvr. The colors and themes for this picture were inspired by the covers of old sci-fi novels. This is probably the single most labor-intensive art project I've ever worked on, with the most layers (over 100), changes (basic composition changed at least 5 times), tweaks (eww, how did I not notice that before?) and mutations (unexpected but happy surprises). But in the end, it's my favorite project as well.

( Full image after the cut. ~400kb )

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Music Meme Day 4

2010-07-22T16:22:53Z

I had some vague thoughts about posting this yesterday. Then I promptly forgot. Now the 30 day meme will now stretch out to 90 days! :D

Day 04- A song that reminds me of something
Pearl Jam - Tremor Christ

When I was in my early 20s, I had a friend who was a few years younger and still in high school. She got sick at school one day and I went to get her since her mom didn't have a car (her mom was also deeply dysfunctional and I filled in when necessary, like that day). We drove around in the rainy spring weather in my little jalopy and listened to awful pop music on the radio, forging through fog and rain, talking and laughing. At one point, we decided to get out to inspect the underside of a cobblestone train trestle for no particular reason. We liked doing strange, unexpected things, so this was pretty typical. All the vegetation around the trestle was green and fresh and the air smelled like rain and grass. There were no cars, no people, no animals passing by and it felt like we were engulred by a bubble of quietude.

We looked around for a while, then got back into my car and went to the Ben and Jerry's on Guilford Ave (not there anymore). We went in and my friend talked to her friend who was working at the counter. Being the middle of the day, we were the only people there, just the three of us. It was a corner store with glass doors and big windows on both sides, and the temperature difference between outside and the inside was just enough to make all the panes fog up. Grey light filtered in, brightening the store, but we couldn't see out. We were in our own little world again, built of murmurs and music and the scent of newly baked waffle cones. "Tremor Christ" came on the overhead speaker and we fell into a comtemplative silence while the song played. We ate ice cream out of warm cones while Eddie Vedder sang, "Turns the bow back, tows and drops the line, puts his faith and love in Tremor Christ...". The spell was broken by the brash jangle of the Grateful Dead and we started talking again. We stayed a little while longer, making small talk, then left to explore the area from the comfort of the car.

That day has stuck with me for 15 years. My friend died in a car accident in 2001 and the moments we spent together that day are some of my favorite memories of her.

( All the rest of my days... )

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Music Meme Day 3

2010-07-20T03:57:04Z

Ha, I love how I keep forgetting to post these, so it's technically become the every other day music meme. At this rate it'll take 60 days to get through the meme, lols.

Day 03- A song that makes me laugh
Momus - Coming In A Girl's Mouth
I love this song, though Momus gets a little too clever for himself at times and should just keep his creepy, priveleged mouth shut.

( All the rest of my days... )

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Music Meme Day 2

2010-07-17T19:16:25Z

Day 02- A song that helps me clear my head
Erik Satie - Gymnopedies No 1
This is a really beautiful song, my favorite of Satie's, though I'm also partial to Gnossienne No. 4.

( All the rest of my days... )

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SGA Fic: Two ficlets

2010-07-17T06:16:16Z

I wrote these two teensy fics for the stargateland challenge. Sadly, nobody voted for them, but I still think they're pretty good.

Title: Waiting Around to Die
Rating: PG-13/Teen for violent intentions
Author's Note: Title from the Townes Van Zandt song.
Prompt: pain

Months of careful planning have led you here, to this same-seeming world like so many others but still different from your own homeworld. There is no dark above, save night, but you know how to craft dusk from dirt and metal. You know how to bury.

Long corridors will keep you safe, keep your prize hidden. No one will unearth your pretty gem. No Lantean will take back that which you've rightfully stolen. Sheppard is yours to break, yours to school. You will teach him the meaning of each deep, keening note of Vir's Keerteza as you first learned it, waiting in hungry, lonely exile for your chance to reclaim your galaxy.

If it takes a year, a decade, you won't stop until nothing is left of Sheppard but his shell. Keeping a Wraith fed and leashed as if it were a tevarina is no small feat, and sometimes you laugh with the same child's delight at having such a pet at your beck and call. And how the luck of Vrivik must have kissed you to encounter Sheppard at just the right time, and how doubly blessed must be the souls of your ancestors to have found all that you need on this world so unlike your own.

Pain is a tool. It tears you down, time after time, making you an alloy of yourself, old and new hardened into new form. But pain has more uses than building strength of character. Pain can be employed to achieve so much more when wielded by a skilled practitioner. Sometimes you poke at a sore tooth with your tongue just to relish the sweet frisson of pain that radiates outward from jaw to joints; you shudder at the sensation, nervous system flaring bright and hot with pleasure-pain. You will savor these next hours.

Title: Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: G/All Ages
Author's Note: Title from the Carbon Leaf song.
Prompt: hope

Hope is a new bloom in John's chest, buried under dark layers of weed and thorn. It is red and sweet, deep in his heart, unfurling over long months and years of knowing and loving. Love is a mathematical formula for John, and it goes something like this: the square root of a lifetime x (proximity + intimacy + friendship) = love.

sqr(Lf · (Pr+In+Fr))=Lv

His lips and tongue are unfamilar with the shape of these words, but they exist inside him, burned into his bones.He sees his own care returned in Ronon's stride as they move through the corridors of Atlantis in the early hours, feels it in the cool touch of Teyla's forehead to his, hears it in the fond cadence of Rodney's voice.

Each night that he falls asleep in his own bed, or Rodney's, each night that ends with him in his city, that seed of hope cracks open just a little wider. In his dreams, John arches up to face the sun of New Lantea and lets hope grow.

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Random video drive-by posting.

2010-07-15T11:38:45Z

Two videos today:

This 1986 clip of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy arguing about Nimoy's bike is hilarious. If you haven't seen it, watch it. I think the whole video is up at YouTube as well, from another user.
A 10 minute video animated across buildings, bridges and many other surfaces, which strives to tell the unscientific story of the beginning and end of life. It's really rather amazing, the amount of time and energy they must have put into animating a film via graffiti on walls, roofs and more, in such a huge scale.

Okay, I swear I will not post another thing until I've worked on my parody song for stargateland.

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SGA Reverse Big Bang!

2010-07-15T11:26:21Z

My SGA Reverse Big Bang artwork has been posted, yay! You can see my art here, along with its companion story. I ended up naming it Memories of Green after the Vangelis song from Blade Runner. Mostly because I'm lame and there's a lot of green in it. I'll post the full art here once the master list has gone up at the SGA Reverse Bang community. If you like SGA, go check out all the amazing art and stories and tell everybody what a great job they did.

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I've caught a meme.

2010-07-15T09:41:51Z

Achoo! It's the 30 day song meme, no antibiotic can kill it!

Day 01- A song that makes me happy:
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
Flood is my favorite TMBG album, it's the right mix of offbeat and musical. And how can you go wrong with songs about wearing prosthetic foreheads on your real head?

( All the rest of my days... )

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LiveJournal to purge inactive journals.

2010-07-15T02:06:38Z

LiveJournal has decided to start purging inactive journals. I know that some of you have lost friends who were LiveJournal users.

Please contact LiveJournal support (support@livejournal.com) ASAP with usernames so that you can ask them to switch those journals over to memorial status and keep them from being purged.

See this news post for the announcement. This is something LJ promised never to do, but they've gone against so many of their other promises that it's not surprising. I know this also affects other users for myriad reasons, this is just the one that strikes me as most pressing, and something for which LJ is actually offering a solution.

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I can't stop laughing at this.

2010-07-10T18:07:26Z

News item from KGW.com:

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A car full of people dressed as zombies crashed on Interstate 84 near downtown Portland on Friday, causing initial confusion by people who witnessed the crash.

Portland Police said the car was swerving in the eastbound lanes of the freeway just east of the Lloyd District just after 9:30 p.m. when it rolled over and crashed onto its top.

Emergency crews took five victims from the crash to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said that in their investigation they learned that the people inside the car were dressed as zombie costumes and they were headed to a party at the time of the crash.

Sgt. Greg Stewart said people who witnessed the crash initially thought the victims' injuries were much more serious, because of the zombie costumes.

"We're glad that everyone is alive, despite being 'undead'," Sgt. Stewart said, referring to the costumes.

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To quote The Cure: Hot Hot Hot!!!

2010-07-09T01:08:53Z

I think I'm going to change my ringtone to that in honor of the weather (since I've already got it on my phone). It's so thoughtful of the heatwave to come visit us here in the Pacific Northwest. Weather.com says that my local temp is: 94° F - Feels Like: 92° F. Thanks for that, Weather.com. Is that 92° with the wind chill factor?

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Stargateland: Team Atlantis.

2010-07-06T13:02:41Z

I joined teamatlantis at stargateland after seeing it on mercury973's LiveJournal. It's a fun community with participation based challenges where you can vid, write, make graphics and do all sorts of other things.

I joined a bit too late to get a sig tag made for me, so I made my own. Then I went crazy and made six more for other people to max out my points for that challenge.

( The sig tags I've made so far. )

I just noticed that with one exception, they're all Team Atlantis people and the majority are John/Rodney. It's obvious where my interest lies, eh? GO TEAM ATLANTIS!

I also wrote something for the writing challenge, but I can't post it until after the challenge closes and voting is done. I really enjoyed writing it, and it felt good to be writing again.

Of course it's a Sheppard-whump ficlet. Why is it that while I love McShep and fluff, I can only seem to write gen angst? There were three prompts: pain, hope and family. I'm sure you can guess which one resonated with me, right? Now I just have to write a second 100-500 word story for the same challenge - good thing you can use the same prompt twice! :D Though I may actually manage to churn out something using hope or family, who knows?

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Joe and David, a meta Photoshoppery effort.

2010-07-04T18:06:47Z

Since I was sitting too close in Minneapolis to get a good picture of Joe and David together, I decided to make my own Joe and David photo from my own Joe and David photos (where's Xzibit when you need him?). It's all very meta. I did feel sort of weird Photoshopping my own photos instead of someone else's for a change.

Sadly, they just wouldn't stand this close the entire time. I decided they should do it anyway. The pictures I used make Joe look like he's obsessed with David's coffee cup. Or maybe David's nipple (which is Sir Not Appearing in This Picture thanks to the cup). Can't say I'd blame him. /perv

Since this is a digital manipulation and not an actual photo, do not repost it.

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