burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Are Victoria's Secret ads inappropriate for a progressive website (because they objectify women)?

Yesterday morning at the gym, I saw GMA's segment on Marianne Kirby and Gabrielle Gregg.

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Seen today via Dave Chen: Abercrombie and Fitch banishes girl with prosthetic arm to storeroom because she doesn't fit the "look policy"

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Yesterday, I was reading a rant about the way Zoe Saldana's skin gets described in fanfic, and in reading something about Zoe Saldana getting described as "light-skinned," I read something (though I can't find it now) that commented that up until recently, being a light-skinned black person meant being the product of a white man raping/coercing a black woman.

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Marianne Kirby takes issue with Purex's “As things get simpler, they get thinner. They get better.” ad campaign.

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I read Marianne Kirby's complaint about Bravo's Fashion Show (and an even better blogpost from mo pie on Big Fat Deal) and I remembered something I had seen from Virgina Postrel.

As it turns out, Shapely Prose had already seen Postrel's article.

Sarah: My most charitable read is that she’s distinguishing the average weight from the mean weight.  Her argument, as I see it, is that it’s in the economic interests of the clothing companies to make clothes near the mean (rather than the average simply because that’s how they can maximize the number of people who can wear their clothes while minimizing what they spend on developing different sizes.

IOW, even though the “average” size may be a 14, that doesn’t mean that’s the single size (or range of a few sizes) that the greatest number of women can wear.  There’s a big range of sizes above a 14, obviously — and those all affect the average size, but that doesn’t mean that any *one* (or two or three) of those plus sizes is common enough to pull in lots and lots of customers, at least to a brick-and-mortar store.  So the sizes promising the greatest numbers of customers wouldn’t be the *average* size (or range of sizes), but the *mean* size, which (she claims) brick-and-mortar stores already do try and cater to.

Yes, Sarah, that was my read of it as well (and I wasn't actually going out of my way to be charitable).  Shapely Prose links to Jezebel's response to the article, which makes some really good points.

Speaking of fashions for fat ladies, Gabrielle Gregg's YoungFatAndFabulous has lots of pretty pictures (interestingly, I read "Beth Ditto, fashion's Magical Fatty" and then saw Gabi's "Beth for Evans" and "Ditto" posts).  Also, I love that the cover model for "Full-Figured Fashion Week" is a hott woman of color.

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Medical-related readings from today:

Problematizing the obesity=>diabetes stats.

A depressing story from "First, Do No Harm: Real Stories of Fat Prejudice in Health Care."

WLS may increase bone fractures

A small study by the Mayo clinic as reported on Forbes.com showed that one in five people they reviewed after weight loss surgery suffered a bone fracture within 7 years, on average, after having the surgery. The group showed nearly double the fracture rate in post-WLS patients as in other patients.

"We knew there was a dramatic and extensive bone turnover and loss of bone density after bariatric surgery," study senior author Dr. Jackie Clowes, a Mayo rheumatologist, said in a Mayo news release. "But we didn't know what that meant in terms of fractures."

You mean they really didn't realize that an extensive loss of bone density would lead to more fractures? Isn't that, you know, why osteoperosis is a concern in the first place, because the loss of bone density leads to increased fractures? They didn't realize that by putting people through radical surgery that reduced their ability to get proper nutrition might, you know, also prevent them from getting proper nutrition? Like Calcium and vitamin D? That makes for the strong bones? really? Never occurred to them?

That's what I always want to add to the end of the message that's been on the sign in front of Somerville Community Baptist recently -- "May 2009 Be Your Best Year!"

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Anyway, visit with the bff...

I met Ari at Davis T Wednesday morning, and she graciously put up with my request to stop and pick up groceries -- even though it was cold and snowing and I took us the long way.  (We were already at the College Ave. exit, so I figured we'd just walk up to the rotary and then over to the FoodMaster ... forgetting what a hassle that rotary is, and how much added walking there was since we didn't go up Holland St.)  I was gonna swing by on my way to pick her up from the T, but I had an email from Laurel to respond to.

The woman who bagged our groceries said, "Have a happy new year -- and a safe one, girls."  Ari joked about this in the parking lot afterward, as our only plans for the day were going to church.  I said, "Of course; we're going to get drunk on the Communion wine and then drive home."  (When I had bumped into MikeF at the library the other day, I had said that my best friend would be in town on New Year's Eve Day and staying through to the next morning.  He made some admonition about staying safe, which implied something about drinking and/or driving, and I said that we were planning to just hang out in my apartment.)  She agreed and said, "And then go out clubbing and have sex with dangerous men."

We are so awesome that while we were hanging out in my room, like every time one of us went to the bathroom the other would check email.  Hey, we've talked on the phone almost every evening for umpteen months, we kind of didn't have a lot to say to each other.  Though we are still clearly rather attached, as she called Thursday while waiting for her commuter rail home to debrief about her afternoon.  (It had been a whole four and a half hours since I'd seen her.)

I won't bore you with the mundane details of our 26 hours together, but I did want to note that I called you Megan, mjules, and Jules in the space of about 5 minutes, not even really consciously.

Ari's facebook Status (posted earlier in the evening) said, "is celebrating the new year with her best friend in Boston by hanging out and talking church."  Appropriately, we were actually literally talking church as the clock clicked over to 12:00.  (Last year she had been writing request drabbles, wanting to ring in the new year doing something she loves best.  This year, she said, she was doing something else she loved best :) )

While waiting at Park Street on New Year's Day morning, Ari commented on the Samaritans billboard, asking if they did that (meaning, the rainbow) on purpose.  She saw the rainbow and thought, "Oh, something gay," and then saw what it was and thought, "Oh, a gay helpline," and then read further and thought, "Oh.  I wonder if that was on purpose."

Our pipes broke -- but only the ones related to the washing machines in the basement; we could still wash dishes and flush the toilet and stuff.  But since both my housemate and I are going away this weekend (leaving tomorrow), we kind of wanted to get to do laundry.  She had already done one load, and she said she'd drop me at a laundromat on her way out that evening -- but they actually got fixed before she headed out.  (Our landlady lives upstairs, which helps us get stuff taken care of quickly.)

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Jumping back to Wednesday:

Dear Beloved,

Although it is snowing outside, we will still gather for Communion and prayer at 6:15. This evening is the crease between years, a year finished, full of joy and sorrow, and a year to come, full of hope and expectation. We will remember the year gone, and pray for the year to come. Come, if you can safely come. I'll shovel out the sidewalk on the Francesca side and light the candles.

Music for meditation will begin at 6:00 PM.

Laura Ruth

When I saw the listserv message with the "Rest and Bread" Subject line, I was worried that it was canceled, so I was glad to find it was not.  There was more of a turnout than I'd expected -- Liz and Ben, Gary, Jen, Kathy, Jenny, and us.

We really were first-in, last-out.  We got there about 5:35, which was a bit earlier than I would normally get there.  We walked into the chapel and I said, "It feels warm in here; Laura Ruth must already be here."  (The thermostat said 68F.)  We helped set things up, and Laura Ruth asked if we'd be willing to be readers (Keith was away).  So I intro'd the Psalm and Ari did the Sacred Text reading.  (She got complimented by at least two people.)

    Psalm 119:10-18
    Sacred Text: the Ecclesiastes 3 (NRSV) reading on a time for everything.  [I told Laura Ruth afterward that it throws me to hear that reading in a progressive church because I hear the passage as saying that there are times when each of the things listed is good.]
    Reflection: Laura Ruth talked about how we want to control things, but that's futile, and the best thing we can do is to turn our hearts to God.
    Echoing the Ecclesiastes passage (which she hears as a statement of just how life is) she read from one of the readings for the Jewish New Year (which she did say was in September -- I was worried there for a bit ... though Ari commented later that in the Reflection she talked about the January 1 New Year as if it were a part of the church calendar, which, no, the church's new year already happened at the beginning of Advent) and the whole time I was thinking of "Who Shall Live" video that Sneaker linked to back at the Days of Awe earlier this year.
    She invited us to hold our hands out, resting, cupped, and to think about, in one hand, "What could have been," and, and in the other hand, "What was not."  (Both Ari and I thought, but did not say, "But those are the same thing.")  She said that then she would invite us to think about "What happened this year" and "What we hope for next year."  After outlining this, she said something about "these two things," which in retrospect I think she must have meant these two sets of things, but at the time Ari and I thought, "But that's 4 things -- or 3, really."
    She said we were going to do this instead of our usual prayer format.  I don't like changing the prayer format.  I had prayer requests in mind, and they did not easily translate to this new format -- especially since it is implied that one is supposed to pair them.  It is bad enough that on Sunday morning the Prayers of the People are: our prayers for the world, our prayers for our community/s, our prayers for ourselves and our family/s, and our joys -- I am not good at compartmentalizing like that, but before they open the floor they go through that outline, and if I went there regularly I would get used to it enough that I would appropriately catalog my prayers in advance (like how I usually think of a Challenge and an Affirmation in advance of CAUMC small group).
    For Communion we had wafers.  (Apparently Laura Ruth hadn't had time to defrost the bread.)  Laura Ruth actually broke one of the wafers when she got to that part in the liturgy, which, um, good, but it is really weird to hear Jesus breaking bread and see this little white wafer being snapped.  We also said "This is the Bread of Life.  This is the Cup of Salvation," and I realized the next day that this felt weird because we usually say, "This is the Bread of Life.  This is the Cup of the New Covenant."
    Ari commented later that there was a responsive not in the bulletin -- "the gifts of God for the people of God" / "Thanks be to God."  I said I thought that was because Laura Ruth had tweaked the liturgy because there was a part where it said "the gifts of God" or something and I kept saying "Thanks be to God" and catching myself because that wasn't actually a moment where the congregation was supposed to respond.  But yeah, it's an intuitive response to me now, but it should be printed in the bulletin because it wouldn't be an intuitive response to all comers.
    Ari and I also talked about how at the beginning of Communion we do the unison Sanctus from the bulletin and then when we get to the Thanksgiving at the end everyone's put down their bulletins and forgotten that there's another bolded part and so there's this nice intro that ends with "printed in your bulletin" and perhaps the intro should be rearranged so it begins with mentioning that there's a unison bit in the bulletin.
    We're back to doing  "Abide With Me" as the Closing Hymn.  I was expecting a Christmas hymn (for we are in Christmastide), but I was actually pleased because "Abide With Me" is one of the things I would sing to myself while waiting at the train station and it was irking me that I couldn't remember all of the second verse accurately.
    Laura Ruth did the announcements and a Blessing/Benediction and said something about "until you come back here on Sunday" before closing with the traditional "Now go in peace, to love and serve God," and I assured Ari that we are not usually that pushy.

Speaking of directive worship [possibly I need a better shorthand term for this? but I can't think of one], I was glancing at Jeremy's blog on my GoogleReader, and his most recent post talks about how (in churches, as anywhere) "the language of insiders can be inhospitable to outsiders."

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One of the things I asked for for Christmas was microwavable glasses.  My aunt emailed me some options and I decided on these from Williams-Sonoma.  I figured 8.5oz would be fine, but my aunt asked if I was sure since they also have 13oz, so now I'm undecided.  Possibly I should go to the Williams-Sonoma store at Copley Place and see if they have them so I can look at them in meatspace and decide.  Anyone have any thoughts?

I am so much more zen about a lack of structured plans than I was years ago (for which I largely credit Joe), and this weekend's trip was testing my zen, but really I was good.  It didn't feel like a pseudo-birthday trip, but I enjoyed seeing people.

On my way up to Smith, I passed the art museum and was tempted to go see "Medea and Her Sisters: Leonard Baskin's Images of Women."  I decided I wasn't in the mood for art-ing (plus I've gotten spoiled and don't actually wanna pay money, even though I know that's lame 'cause I should be supporting stuff I like and I certainly do have disposable income).  I kind of regret this now 'cause looking at the exhibitions list there's also an Ansel Adams exhibit.

Allie and I made plans to hang out at Haymarket.  I got there early 'cause I was hungry.  My palate has expanded a lot since I left college (even since I first became a vegetarian -- something like 8 years ago) so I was bold and ordered Arroz a la Cubana -- black beans wither onions, garlic, spices; also: rice, banana, egg.  Yeah, I could only finish about half the black beans.  Much too flavorful.  Oh well.

I go a Nine-One-One (strawberry, watermelon, etc.) smoothie which was yummy.  [The next day I got an Above & Beyond which is strawberry and banana and stuff and peach juice, but the peach isn't overwhelming as I had worried it might be.]

Allie and I hung out for about 3½ hours.  We talked fannish stuff, of course.  Re: pairings, she said "You're much more adventurous than I," which is true, but makes me laugh because when we first met I was so mono-fannish and she was v. poly-fannish, so I still think of her as the fannish slut.  (Emma and I had a similar conversation that night, as she tends to be OTP-ish, and I'm much more of a Fanfiction as Schroedinger's Cat person.)

She also explained Mina de Malfois to me (I'd seen mentions but never bothered to investigate) and now I understand why Ari's interested in it :)

I was glad I was able to stay overnight after all, 'cause with Emma's Saturday work schedule I didn't get to see her until almost 8, and the last bus departs at 8:40pm.  So instead of getting a half hour with her, I got a solid 24 hours with her :)

We had dinner at Packard's, which is hardly a vegetarian haven, but I did get food -- mushroom caps with spinach and cheese, plus a giant basket of french fries (which the menu says are "slightly spicy" but which Emma told me aren't really, and I was v. pleased to find that she was right: they tasted like plain shoestring fries, which was exactly what I wanted).  She got cow and a strawberry daiquiri.  I got a Smirnoff Twisted Raspberry (the current Mike's ad campaign bothers me, so I don't wanna support them financially).

I was telling Emma how there was an "Advice I'd give to my 16-year-old self" meme going around not too long ago and how I really can't think of much for myself.  I've made bad decisions, but not only did they all come out all right, but if I had somehow avoided making that decision would I have also somehow obtained the knowledge that I gained from the experience?  Maybe I would tell myself to suck it up and take driver's ed anyway -- suffer through it with my friends and have less of the terror of driving that I do now.  [For those just tuning in, I have never so much as sat in the driver's seat of a car.]  But really, would I actually take any advice I would give myself (never mind the issue of knowing that something is a good idea but not being able to bring oneself to do it anyway)?

One of her roommates (Ali) got kittens: a male (grey, one month old, Wimsy) and a female (tabby, two weeks old, Wooster).  We know I'm not really an animal person, right?  These were so tiny and adorable, though.  However, after a few minutes, I was like, "Yeah, you are full of energy and require attention (including making sure you stay out of trouble); much like small children, I am glad you are not in fact my problem."

We turned the lights out around midnight but stayed up talking, and I'm inclined to agree with Emma's estimation that we didn't actually go to sleep until about 3am.  (karabair, she reads Cable&Deadpool.)

I actually woke up around 9am and thought about going to First Churches, but I felt gross ('cause unshowered) and would have had to leave a note for Emma or whatever, so I went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I did get a shower, though, for which I was grateful.

We went to Bruegger's and hung out with Cat and Laura some more.  (We had seen them briefly the previous evening.)

( discussion of representation of female creators/roles in Western literary canon, sff, and film )

Emma did a decent job of selling me on Remington Steele, and one of these days I really am going to watch Casino Royale.  Earlier, Sin City came up, and in surprise she asked, "Why haven't you watched Sin City yet?"

Oh, and she showed me the printout of her Senior Prophecy, and my face hurt from grinning reading it.

Over dinner Sunday night, Emma argued that humans (monkeys) are built to be meat-eaters 'cause we have pointy canine teeth and "predator eyes."  (Predators have eyes on the front of their heads while prey have eyes on the sides of their heads.)  The "predator eyes" thing was new to me.  I am not sold on the canine teeth 'cause we really don't have the bodies to rip apart raw flesh, and as far as teeth go I feel like our mouths are dominated by our molars (herbivore grinding teeth).  I've also heard that our long intestine is something found in herbivores -- that carnivores have shorter intestinal tracts.  Okay, the Internet gives me arguments both pro-vegetarian and pro-omnivore.  Honestly, I'm not deeply invested in the argument since for me it's primarily an ethical issue.

Emma talked a lot about her writing, and I feel like she's a writer and I'm really not.  I get story ideas sometimes, but even leaving aside the fact that I completely lack the discipline to finish anything (or even the ideas to sustain much), interrogating texts is much more where I feel at home.

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paper_crystals and musesfool had birthdays on Sunday.  Hope they were lovely.

Before class tonight, people kept saying it was hot out, which confused me, since it actually seemed fine to me [me who far prefers the cold].  (Oh, and I saw Cate and the bus stop, so we got to catch up.)

Edit: After class, Will and I were talking about preferred seasons, and he actually prefers the less-light of winter: (1) When he wakes up and it's dark out, he feels like he's on top of things, but when he wakes up and everything's already light and has been up for hours, he feels like he's already behind (2) In the winter, you can go to bed at 7pm if you want 'cause it's dark out so that feels legitimate, whereas in the summer it's constant going going 'cause it's always light out. /edit

The first half hour of class I felt like we learned more vocab than we had in like the past week's worth of classes, though that totally wasn't the case.  But we were doing stuff like all the major colors (including brown, black, grey, pink) and the seasons.

Edit: Also: Next week is our last week of classes. How did that happen? I mean, it's good, 'cause I'm gonna be away for most of August (which, ack, is soon), but still, crazy. ('S only a 5-week class.) And yes, I need to sign up for fall class (which is only one day a week, but 10 weeks). /edit

Walking up Holland St. on the way home, a black woman said to me, "Wut dat?"  At first I hadn't realized she was talking to me but she repeated it and I realized she was.  I was holding a styrofoam container which had half of a portabello mushroom, spinach, and bleu cheese panini; with a side of lentil salad.  So I just said, "Mah dinner."
     "Your dinner?" she replied, and we kinda laughed and kept walking (she was passing us going in the opposite direction).  I said to Will later that I was used to getting hit on but not used to getting asked about my food like that.  He said she liked my answer, though.  I'm not entirely sure, personally.  And I would actually be perfectly happy to give a street person food (not that she looked like a street person)

I came home to a piece of mail from Toni Morrison asking me to donate to the SPLC.  A gift of a minimum amount will get your name on the Wall of Tolerance, and they actually already give you you the certificate saying your name will be added (along with a set of address labels, which is par for the course), and I totally thought of the section in Max and Deepak's book about sending a dollar out with each copy of a survey and how it makes people feel obligated and leads to a higher participation rate.  Yes, I tried to remember what that was called.  Apparently it is the FITD technique?  (I had been thinking of that but thought this example was under a different category.)  I'll have to check the book draft at work tomorrow, 'cause obviously I don't trust wikipedia as the ultimate authority.
     Edit: Okay, the book talks about it in a section on "token unilateral concessions." Yeah, the "free gift" example wikipedia talked about is more FITD than the certificate.  Though the certificate isn't exactly a token unilateral concession (I would feel more comfortable arguing for address labels as such); though it does play into feelings of obligation. /edit

Heh.  I went out into the kitchen to put my lentil salad into a resealable container and pour myself a glass of juice.  OriginalRoomie was coming out of her room at just that moment (her room is right next to mine) and our subletter was also in the kitchen.  Now, we can do go days without seeing each other period.
     He asked how we were, and we basically grunted.  I asked her how her show was going, and she said fine. 
     He said okay, he was going, and have a nice evening.
     She said, "And, scene."

She said, "I have two days off in a row.  I finally have time to do stuff."
"Are you gonna spend half the time sleeping?" I asked.
"Yeah.  And spend the other half cleaning.  I may have to quarter it up to fit food in there, too."

Meh, the past couple nights do not bode well for me and summer.  The warm weather makes it harder for me to fall asleep, and all the water I'm drinking means I have to pee all the time.

We were coming back from getting lunch, and MaryAlice was saying she suspected she was dehydrated -- "You know that taste you get when you're dehydrated?" she said.  I said no actually I didn't and proceeded to tell the story of how on our first cross-country trip my mom, having learned from experience her previous cross-country trip, made sure we were never dehydrated.  Plus I'd spent the morning drinking my 27oz bottle (from CVS) of water.  She said all she'd had this morning was coffee.

The weather's been fairly mild, though, so I still have an actual appetite for food, which is good -- though I think the pseudo-fullness one gets from all that water has been messing with my ability to discern what I actually want to eat (or maybe that was just tonight).

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Tee hee from today's Metro (Transit Transcript):

South Station, June 15, 6:31 p.m. --- Officers were alerted by a station cleaner and security guard to a male and female engaged in sexual relations in the men's bathroom.  Officers identified the parties and escorted them from the area.

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I booked my hotel for Convo and found plane fare, but travelocity won't give me my password.

I also got information about the workshops, though I'm a bit confused 'cause it says "Please select EITHER a single track OR your top three workshop choices (you will be scheduled for two of the three)." but the schedule reads as follows (excerpted, of course):

Friday
3:00 PM          Workshops 1
4:30 PM          Workshops 2

Saturday
3:00 PM          Workshops 3
4:30 PM         Workshops 4

(I'm also trying to figure out why the name Amy-Jill Levine -- one of the speakers -- sounds familiar.) Edit: Got it, thanks in part to Rhi. /edit

I think I'm gonna go for the transgender workshops, 'cause I'm fairly well-grounded in queer Christian stuff (and there's always a wealth of information on that out there).  And yeah, I am totally flashing to HomoCon (tm Hedy) in this whole workshop selection process.

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I have little of interest to say about work stuff.

Full marks to Cambridge University Press website for ease of ordering.

"The Children Who Saved an Island" in Yankee which is full-size now; what up? (July 2007), the island in question -- Frenchboro, Maine -- is the island FUH has a house on, and where he'll be for his on-leave year.  (There are no street names, and you just pick up your mail at the post office, but if something requires a street address -- like FedEx or UPS or whatever -- I am to make something up 'cause it'll just go to this lobsterman on the mainland anyway who'll bring it over; apparently their preferred made-up street is "Sunset Boulevard," but I can make up whatever I want.)

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Katie and I went to the gym after work.

Since I'm only going 2-3 times/week I'm doing half-hour elliptical (interval program) and some weight room.
1mi @ 11:22min
2mi @ 22:53min
2.60mi @ 30min

I saw Prof.D. briefly and then in the locker room this woman asked me if we'd been an Extension School class a few years ago -- apparently I look v. much like someone from her "Archaeology of the Southwest" class.

Peter and I were leaving campus at the same time, so we were chatting on the walk to the Square.  (He seemed surprised that I've only worked here a couple of years.)
He asked about my dogtag, so I explained, and then he was asking me about Pride, saying he didn't think of Boston as a particularly gay-friendly city.
"Okay, it's not Provincetown, or San Francisco -- Castro District," I said.
He said, "Yeah, it's not San Francisco, but it's not even New York."  Checking his bio after I got home, he got his A.B. from Princeton and his PhD from Stanford.  He said you think of Boston as being largely "blue collar conservative."  I talked some about the size of Pride before we parted ways, but the whole conversation I was thinking about how, while admittedly in part through self-selection, I've found Boston+environs to be a fairly solidly gay-friendly place.

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Remember that ice cream etc. place between PJ Ryans and House of Tibet Kitchen, with the Italian name I could never pronounce or remember?  It's now Holland Street Cafe.  I suspect I only noticed that because there's a big Brigham's Ice Cream poster in the window.  I grew up with that, yo.  Like Ari, I think in hyperlinks; as I was composing the entry about this on my way home, my instinct was to hyperlink in a photo of the Brigham's from my Norwood youth, and then it registered that that image exists in my brain but probably not on the internets.

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"This woman is supposed to disgust you." (from viggorlijah off friendsfriends; also on BFB).  Not only is it an offensive sentiment, but the supposedly unattractive women look very happy (which is attractive in itself) and are really not that inherently unattractive.

Edit: It occurs to me that I now have a terrific image source for a "real women have curves" icon. (And voila. Okay, the upper text needs work, and really it should be in a curvy font, but my computer's being tetchy.)

Today's Zits comics strip made me think of you.  Go here, March 26.  I also enjoy this one :)

Also: You know that Netflix commercial "Hello madam, we are the romance movie you requested"?  I commented to my parents tonight that I would be rather disturbed if a movie I requested was happening in my house when I came home, like what if I requested CSI, dead bodies and all?  My mother said, "Cat would think she'd died and gone to heaven."

Edit: permalinks for the comics: first one, second one

I told my mom what Prof.B. had said and she said it sounded like I was doing good.  "Yeah, I try not to suck," I replied.  "Who has that line?  Buffy?  Willow?"  "Oh yeah!  'I didn't mean to... suck.'"  I am forever connecting things to Joss lines (and song lyrics) and we are quel impressed that my mom made a connection that didn't occur to me.

(Also: rock on, classics.  I now get the Harvard Magazine delivered to my house -- by virtue of being an employee, I suppose -- and the cover story is "Resisting Temptation: Economics discovers the irrational."  The cover image?  "detail from the 1909 oil painting Ulysses and the Sirens by Herbert James Draper"  I am amused that it is "©The Bridgeman Library/Getty Images")

I was looking at a catalog recently, and it has t-shirts saying "I'm Too Sexy To Be" and comes in 40, 50, and 60.  I would enjoy these shirts worn by someone older than the emblazoned age, but generally they really bug me.  The blurb says: "You're not getting older....You're getting better!  And our tees let the whole world know it," but that's not how I read them.

From TVGuide, February 27, 2006, interview [Craig Thomashoff] with Jorja Fox:

What do you do when you're not working on the show?  I've had a theater company for seven or eight years.  A group of us produced a musical last year.  It's called "Dear Bernard," [and it's] about a woman from a small town in England who moves to America to try and make it as a star.  We're taking the show to London in June.

Will you be in it?  I wish I had the talent to do musical theater.  I'd put together a band and go on the road.  We do have a lunchtime jam band on the CSI set, though.  Lots of crew people are in it.  Gary Dourdan (Warrick) plays a mean guitar and bass.  Robert David Hall [Dr. Robbins] plays guitar.  Marg Helgenberger [Catherine] plays piano.

Is an of this jamming going to show up in CSI?  I have been pitching an all-musical CSI episode for five years.  Grissom is in the lab and some chemical affects him badly and this whole thing takes place in his head.  While he's delirious, the show becomes a musical.  Everybody would have to sing.  Quite probably it would be the last episode ever.

I walk out of my work building and see one of those pseudo-steeples atop buildings lit up against the dark blue sky, and then I walk over the bridge and see so many city lights reflected in the dark blue water.  Beautiful.

Over in the_red_shoes, someone linked to a set of "I Love [city]" icons.  I was dissatisfied with the Boston one (#59 if you're skimming) so of course I searched GettyImages for Boston and will be making my own.

Also: icons from the trailer for the new Memoirs of a Geisha movie

Excerpt from an e-mail exchange from work today:
FA: "How much time do you need before your talk to prepare?  I’ll set aside time on your agenda depending on your response."
VisitingLecturerGuy: "I am flexible but 15 - 20 minutes is nice to catch my breath, make sure the presentation is loaded properly, and to use the little boys room."
Too cute.

MSNBC was on during lunch per usual.

Alabama governor calls for boycott of Aruba until Aruban govt. "fully cooperates" in hunt for missing blond white American [Alabaman, natch] rich girl who disappeared while in Aruba celebrating her h.s. graduation and left a nightclub with three young men.
Okay, I can see why people are frustrated with the local govt's investigation, but still, this is overkill, and I can't say I have all that much sympathy for this girl who disappeared.

Also during lunch: saw a casket ad, which beats out "I'm ready" (to begin chemo) for "They actually run ads for this?"

I worked on my Fred/Giles apocalyptic library fic today since apparently that's what I was in the mood for.  I started it in present tense, and I still feel like that works best, but damn it's annoying sometimes.
Day's word count thus far is 367.  I have had no focus all day.  Perhaps sleep would be of the good.

Other items:
- rilkeanheart made a really interesting post that has me thinking about Communion again.
- On the T this morning I saw a sticker for "Rage Against the T" but sadly the website is lame.

Why did it take me so long to go visit the Michaelson Gallery? Note to self: visit often

"You're too practical" -Felicia, to me, at lunch. She continued to say that i should be more fluffy, by which apparently she means whimsical. Somehow not something i ever aspired to. Meg says i'm whimsical, which coming from her i don't take as an insult. This became a theme, recounted at dinner, and Anna said, "The idea of you being fluffy scares me."

I also talked about my Inklings class and C. S. Lewis and Surprised by Joy and my fury at the ending and in my recounting some of my initial fury came across and Emma said that was the first time she had ever seen me really angry. This seemed so odd to me, but then of course i realized that i tend not to get angry at my friends, so they're unlikely to see me angry. Allie and i have had heated discussions (often via LJ/AIM) but i'm not sure i've ever gotten really furious, either in print or in person. Hmm.

Kate and Laura introduced me and Cat to Foamy. Foamy's Rant II reminds me so much of my younger brother. (I e-mailed said brother and he replied: "that site is awesome, especially the rants.") I agree with Kate that the Amityville toaster was definitely the best of the ones we saw.

[And if you need more procrastination: Super Bowl ads]

Cat and i went upstairs to Felicia and Hilary's room and were cryptic and Felicia asked what we were up to and Cat said "sex" because that's her answer to everything (well that and potatoes) and then realized what she had said (and Cat is SO straight) and we started dying of laughter.

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. When did that happen? I think part of my problem is that the weather has been so gorgeous that it doesn't feel like that 'long dark teatime of the soul' period i associate with Lent. Should i give up angsting about people liking me for Lent?

My BtVS-verse femslash ficathon assignment worries me.

I'm still deciding how i feel about Stacey's new haircut.

via scrollgirl (via tzikeh): gaypants icons and the following quote

All American writing gives me the impression that Americans don't care for girls at all. What the American male really wants is two things: he wants to be blown by a stranger while reading a newspaper and he wants to be fucked by his buddy when he's drunk. Everything else is society.
-W. H. Auden, in The Table-Talk of W. H. Auden

P.S. Meg called me "hella cool" and "more than a little bit brilliant"
*dies*

And edit the second: #9 here is so cute. (And having read the book, i enjoy the Stardust icons.)