Anime is definitely a weird and wonderful art form. RahXephon has just managed to have a skimpy-bathing-suit beach scene and a snowy-icy-cold Christmas theme in the same episode. The action of which all takes place in the space of maybe twelve hours. They literally had the characters in bikinis on the beach standing around looking mightily puzzled (and rightly so) as snow started to fall from the sky.

Oh, anime. Don't ever change.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided to sue the federal government over the DOMA.

Yes, you read that right. The state government is suing the federal government to bring down DOMA. Its grounds are that, because Massachusetts allows gay marriage but the federal government does not, the federal government is therefore denying Massachusetts the right to provide equal benefits for all its citizens, specifically the federal benefits of marriage.

Ooooh, this is going to be a fun show. This is the kind of lawsuit I like, the kind where the plaintiff challenges the respondent to put his/her/its money where his/her/its mouth is. That the plaintiff and respondent in this case happen to be a state vs. the federal government just means that it'll be all the more exciting.

Unfortunately, buried in there is a notice that anti-gay-marriage momzers are gearing up to try a Prop 8-style move against Maine in November. Be interesting to see how this one plays out with the voters of Maine. Maine isn't the most liberal state in the Union; on the other hand, everyone has seen the Prop 8 fallout, and a couple more states, including Maine's neighbors, have legalized gay marriage since then. I predict a lot of pressure on the voters in Maine from the rest of New England (maybe putting some additional pressure on Rhode Island, if anybody remembers that Rhode Island still exists?), and Maine voters may just be stubborn enough to resist outside pressure of the sort that caused California to cave.

So here we've gotten to the end of another story. Now that you've read the whole thing in context, any further thoughts about whether this is appropriate for FFN would be much appreciated.

There's a cat who has a minor role in this story, and you meet her here. Escalus's attitude towards her was, unfortunately, fairly common through the Early Modern era.

Also, you see the ultimate resolution of a minor legal issue from a few chapters back. This case wasn't taken from any particular historical source that I know of, but it did seem like a way to show Escalus being creative with the things that he's learned recently.

( 6. An Unaccustomed Spirit )



( Afterword )

Found and started watching an anime by the name of RahXephon. I only watched one episode, but I'm already intrigued. It's got nice artwork, a storyline with just enough coherence and hooks in the first episode, lively characters, a truly kickass score (I heard Wagner at the beginning, and what I think was Stravinsky toward the end; I'll have to go check on that), and the best design of Giant Mechas I've seen yet. These mechas sidestep many of the logical improbabilities of more traditional mechas; they have vaguely humanoid shapes, but they're clearly ships with particular weapons aboard, not just excuses to have giant robotic soldiers fight in the sky with swords. Some of the artwork reminds me a little bit of Rene Laloux's film Light Years (or Gandahar, which I think is the original French title), which has always been kind of a guilty pleasure of mine.

Am intrigued. This is going to be fun.

Even after a night of joy, the morning must come, and the real world must make itself heard.

( 5. Mistempered Weapons )

I have a quart of sour cherries. What should I do with them?

a) Hungarian chilled cherry soup
b) Lamb meatballs with cherry sauce
c) Something else luscious

Decisions, decisions . . .

All that flirting and negotiation that Escalus has been doing over the past two chapters is finally going to pay off. This chapter is definitely adult, and distinctly naughty.

It's also the reason that I'm hesitant about putting this on ff.n. So, if you read it, and if you have any thoughts about whether or not this story is appropriate for that venue, please let me know.

( 4. To Do Their Amorous Rites )

So I decided to go see the Chicago Pride Parade today. Previously, my best memory of it had been one year when my mother was visiting, and we were going off to do something on the West Side. We took the el to Addison Street, and while we were waiting for the bus, we got the immense treat of people-watching. The Pride Parade that year coincided with a Cubs home game, so nearly everyone who streamed out of the station was all dressed up for one of the two events. But this year, I wanted to go to the parade.

( Read more... )

Escalus has had a bit of a surprise and a setback in his plans. He might not be in the best mood this morning, but we'll see how he deals. There is a bit of spice in this chapter, but not much. Possibly of more interest is that we get a glimpse of What Escalus Does All Day.

( 3. Some Shall Be Pardon'd )

Willie the Shake himself observed that "the course of true love never did run smooth." And it seems that bumps in the road have a habit of growing over the course of the years.



( 2. Crush A Cup Of Wine )

Recently, at the library, I picked up a book called The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life, which is filled with craft projects. Some nifty, some kind of weird. One of the projects was a really simple make-it-yourself mosquito repellant. I figured that might be kind of neat to try, because commercial bug sprays smell funny and have strange chemicals in them that I'm not sure I want to have in my sweat.

Anyway, the recipe is pretty simple. 1/4 cup of some astringent (vodka, rubbing alcohol, and witch hazel are suggested; I used witch hazel), and 1 tablespoon of one of four essential oils (citronella, tea tree, cedarwood, or sandalwood; I used cedarwood), put them in a small spray bottle and shake to mix. You have to shake right before each use, but that's pretty much it.

I went out to the park to do some dissertation reading, and I tried out my new homemade bug spray. Whaddaya know, it worked! Mosquitoes would land and then just take right off again, so I have no bug bites. I smell like a cedar closet, but better that than smelling like DEET.

I may have to try some other projects from this book . . .

Happy Solstice, everyone! Time to celebrate with the first chapter of a new story! There will be six chapters altogether. A special note: for the moment, this story is only available on LJ, for reasons that I'll discuss below the cut.

Title: Tempering Extremities
Author: pargoletta
Fandom: Romeo and Juliet
Main Pairing: Escalus/OMC
Summary: The sudden addition of two hurt boys to the royal household of Verona is giving Escalus headaches. But the arrival of an old friend may help to solve some of his problems, even as it creates others. A Caro-verse story.
Rating: Hard R.
Warnings: Not an overwhelming amount this time. References to child abuse, and some rather liberal use of impolite Elizabethanisms in Chapter Four



( Introduction )



( 1. General Of Your Woes )

What do you even say to something as mind-bogglingly insulting as this?

This ad campaign almost makes me wish that I liked Bacardi Breezers just so that I could never buy one again ever for the rest of my life. The sad fact is that I had a single sip of one when I was nineteen, realized they tasted like cough syrup, and never touched them again. And I don't even buy Bacardi rum (I prefer Cruzan, because it brings back fond memories of my cousin's wedding), so I can't quit buying that to punish the Bacardi company with my wallet.

Feh.

The day had been going so well for me until I looked on the news and saw that some elderly anti-Semite has been arrested for shooting at people in the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

Fucker is 88 years old. That's a long time for hate to burn. My grandmother is that age, and she's old and frail and doesn't hear, see, or walk real well. This guy is enjoying robust good health, and what does he choose to do with it? Bring a gun into the Holocaust Museum and murder a guard. Just the kind of nice Wednesday afternoon activity for a racist white supremacist anti-Semite.

Fucker. There are days when I hate the world.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/06/04/nh_ties_gay_marriage_knot/

Six states down, forty-four to go. All of New England except Rhode Island now allows gay marriage, and Rhode Island's kind of a dump anyway. This one was an especially interesting fight, because New Hampshire is the reddest state in New England, reliably conservative where most of the others are reliably liberal. (Connecticut is split down the middle, but smart liberals know to play one side against the other, which is how, in 1992, Connecticut ended up electing itself a third party governor who ran on a platform of "If you elect me, I will impose a state income tax." Truefax. Lowell Weicker was a genius. But I digress.)

The tally so far:

Massachusetts
Connecticut
Iowa
Vermont (bill goes into effect in September)
Maine
New Hampshire

As Matt Groening wrote so memorably in his update of the classic rhyme for graduate students:

School's out, school's out
Teacher let the monkeys out
One was jailed, one prevailed
Both asked God, "How have I failed?"

In my case, classes are out forever. I just finished my last class. One transcription exam, one Special Fields exam, and one dissertation proposal are all that's left before I become ABD.

Wow.

Shamelessly swiped from wizefics:

Give me a character from any fandom, tv show, movie, book you know that I know and I will tell you:
a. My favorite thing about that character.
b. My least favorite thing about that character.
c. One person I would ship them with in their own verse.
d. One crossover ship for them I think would be neat.
e. One crossover universe for them I think would be even neater.
f. Their ship from hell.
g. Their song.
h. The title of their biography or autobiography.
i. The last bad dream they had.
j. How they're gonna shuffle off the mortal coil, if they haven't already.

Hillel sponsored an all-night Holiday Of Learning last night in honor of Shavuot, so I got to teach a Yiddish song workshop. I think it went pretty well -- I had five (eventually six) enthusiastic participants, who all sang, and who seemed to have a real interest in the songs of Yiddishland. We did some table songs, some folk songs, a lullaby, a love song, and a few Litvaks-mocking-the-Khasidim songs, including "As der rebe zingt," which allows everybody to make funny noises such as "Om nom nom nom nom" in a Cookie Monster voice. People got a kick out of that one, I think.

Afterwards, I attended my friend's bottle dancing workshop, where I learned that I have good hair for bottle dancing. Rough curly hair helps hold the bottle in place on your head, and then you can kind of teach yourself to do something like this:



I may have found something to do this summer when I'm not working on the dissertation proposal.

Gosh, it's been ages since I did a movie review! Partially, this is because I've been watching lots of Doctor Who and Torchwood, and partially because I haven't seen a whole lot of movies recently that have made a particularly review-y impression on me. But here's one that did.

( On The Other Hand, Death )

It's been a while, but I have a new fic! It's another Caro side story, from a POV that I haven't yet used in this 'verse.

Title: Strange Love Grown Bold
Author: pargoletta
Fandom: Romeo and Juliet
Main Pairing: Benvolio/Mercutio
Summary: Mercutio wakes in the night in fear. Benvolio sleeps at his side, and his presence encourages Mercutio to consider the nature of love and make a choice.
Rating: PG-13.
Warnings: Discussion of child abuse.



( Introduction )



( Strange Love Grown Bold )