I Know What You Did Last Autumnal Equinox

You know how, once you finally feel like you know a place, and you've got the hang of things, and then you have to leave, and you are all saddened by this despite other reasons you shouldn't be? Yeah, that's kind of how I feel right now. Inexplicably, perhaps, for other reasons, but meh.

In other news, this is hilarious: We got that Broll!!

Yep, that's the place to be here in suburban virginia, but don't get me wrong I love it very much. Free Wi-Fi that is faster than the one at Panera (my previous source of internet), and better yet, megavideo loads! This means I can catch up on more tv shows (I just started Torchwood) given that finding a reliable place to download episodes for most shows is pretty much impossible. I forgive the store its corny name(Wi-Not Stop), the cheesy announcements and cheesy christian music playing next to the gas pumps. haha.

As for my internship, I have been doing lots of filming so far, and a little bit of editing. I have come to the conclusion that video editing is 10% creativity, 90% figuring out how to organize and store the obscene amount of data in a manageable way. Especially if you are doing all your work on your laptop, 500 GB external hard drive, and your own software that you managed to obtain through variously legal means. It amuses me that if I did not own my own computer/software/external hard drive, it would be much more difficult for me to do what my internship stipulates, given the crappy computers and significant lack of software at the park. Plus, all computers are PCs and only have earthlink as a browser, which I think gives you an idea.

I have also continued working on building a cheap steadicam, and I will be interested to see how much this will work. I got someone from maintenance to build the basic structure of one, but the only weight he could find was one that was way too heavy and not disk-shaped. So, today I brought my camera and steadicam to Ace Hardware and tested it out using a bolt, washer, and flange(which is disk shaped). Worked soooo much better. The apparatus still pitched a bit, so I waited on purchasing the flange (the instructions suggest a barbell weight) but perhaps the solution here is just to practice using it. However, at least I now can see that achieving good results is possible, whereas with the previous weight the system would just swing a lot and was not an improvement over handholding. Another theory I have about this, which I may write into the author of the $14 steadicam page once I experiment a bit more, is that you need to pay a lot of attention to the weight of the pipes in comparison to the weight of the camera. The camera I am using has flash memory and is not mini-DV, as is typical for newer consumer-grade cameras. So, it is very light and small. Thus the weight of the pipes- and especially the handle- is a bit too much for it. In fact, I'm not even sure the handle should be there as it throws off the otherwise evenly distributed weight of the rest of the system. At least the handle should be smaller than the rest in comparison, or made of a different lighter material.

But, hopefully if I figure this out I can get some really cool shots; when experimenting in the hardware store today I could already see potential.

From the ever-addicting tvtropes:

Somewhere in byzantine tax codes (Toy Biz v. United States), dolls representing humans end up getting taxed heavier than toys not representing people (such as dollhouse tables or kitty cats or whatever). To capitalize on this during the release of the X-Men movie, attorneys for Marvel successfully argued that mutants are not people. They got the favorable tax rate, and the X-Men's main message gets completely broken. This sets a worrying legal precedent...

Omg. So much hilarious irony and missing the point here, don't you just love executives? Nothing is sacred, nothing! Also, this is entirely why bad things happen in the world- we don't read enough fiction, which would warn us!

Behold: Twilight Edward Body Shimmer !
Taking the worst part of the movie/book and marketing something out of it? No big surprise there! Of course the real worst thing about this product is that people buy it and it apparently sold out at one point.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL wow.
Making fun of Twi-heads: it never gets old.

How do these people remember to put their socks on before their shoes each morning?

And by "these people" I mean the markers of these ballots that are being disputed in the Norm Coleman/Al Franken race. Some are just weird-someone wrote in "Lizard People" all over the ballot but then also voted for Al Franken. I have to say I am tempted to argue that a copy of these ballots should be posted all over polling stations as what not to do. Cause I think when people mark their ballots they have no clue that if it's a close race, respectable people are spending valuable time arguing over whether a vote for lizard people is a vote for Al Franken.

***


In other news, I am super excited for Stephen Colbert's christmas special this sunday. It will be awesomesauce! You should watch it too!

So, can anyone tell me wtf is going on in this picture?

Like, Barack Obama wearing a shower cap pregnant with dwarf Hillary Clinton?

I don't know; it's my best guess.

For context, this picture is linked from a commenter on this post , where a girl from the group Life in the Field (a college Republican group) makes the lulziest and most obviously fake claim about being mugged by a black Obama supporter who carved a backwards B into her face and apparently put black makeup on her eye. For more lulz read her incredibly fake twitter page.

The worst part is the person who put this picture up is in it and actually proud of it. Wow.


ETA: never mind, there are moar pictures and it is in fact even creepier than I thought. Obama is so inexperienced that bizarrely shaped blobs of fat and Hillary Clinton's head will explode from his stomach! Seriously, what it is with Republicans and their bizarre sexual perversions? There are just so many more tasteful and non-repulsive ways to Rule 34 political figures.

ETA 2: LOLOLOL srsly view all the pictures in the photostream it's the best worst thing evar. This photo, for instance, speaks even more to the CRs COMPLETE DELUSION omg. If they'd studied ANY POLITICAL SCIENCE AT ALL they'd know that candidate's leads always go up right after their convention-and then the lead drops down again. Statistics and history, they are IN THE TANK.

After viewing these buttons and about 3000 different bumper stickers on cars (example: Hockey Mama for Obama), I very much want a sticker that says "DEMOGRAPHIC MEMBER FOR OBAMA". Hopefully it will give me ironic hipster cred (but then maybe not, cause the slogan lacks scare quotes).

Caring about the environment, after all, is a girly liberal thing a manly Republican does not concern himself with.

ps check out livingroomcandidate.org, where the video is from-the site catalogs pretty much every tv ad for the presidential candidates since 1952. It's pretty amazing what has changed-no candidate even in 1992 would have ever dreamed of airing an ad like mccain's "celebrity" ad. Most ads focused on, you know, actual issues with a smattering of look how much the smiling candidate cares about babies. Also, the 2008 ads are across the board worse regarding writing, subject, quality- like this one omg wtf:

We got it after the first time you said it! srsly! Yeah, nothing pisses me off more than obvious propaganda and manipulation. Especially when it's bad and doesn't work!

Republicans are now responsible for more affirmative action than Democrats or liberals will ever be. Also, I think I know why Republicans constantly bleat about how affirmative action means putting a drastically unqualified person in a job instead of a qualified person (when most of the time, that's not how it works)-it's cause that's how they do it.

So I'm back! I really didn't do a ton more of note at Terminus after I posted. I spent pretty much the entire weekend at wrock shows-friday night, saturday night, and sunday afternoon- and the ones at night went so late I wasn't very good at getting up in the morning afterwards. I also stayed up all night Sunday which kinda killed me for the next day, but was sooo much fun. I got to hang out with the cali wrock people, which was fun. I knew (or knew of, through Ginny) most of them but I hadn't really talked extensively to them. It was kinda funny meeting Brandy and Rachel and being like Hello! So you're the people who stayed at my house that I never met! ( Cause I went to bed at maybe 1, they got here at 4 and woke up after I had to leave in the morning).

And also, the 6 in the morning discussions of squick-worthy pairings and artwork -that is always hilarious fun, it's true. (Actual fanart seen at Terminus-but plz don't let this color your opinion of fandom- old dumbledore naked with another man(I suppose the reanimated corpse of Grindelwald??) and bows in his hair-auggghhhh!!! Did not need to see or think about!! Why can't you people draw Grindeldore when they were young? Those drawings are cute and I actually like that pairing! But I digress. And uh, no offense to the artist who is on LJ somewhere, so I hear).

Other conclusion from Terminus-wrock is like, infinitely better live. I mean, you need to get the CDs so you know the songs ( I think that would have increased my enjoyment of the shows cause I didn't know most of the songs) but listening to the songs after seeing them live ends up being a bit of a disappointment. Cause some of the songs were just amazing live. I love the people too, the community that wizard rock creates. I think too, that it's just amazing to see people freaking out and singing with no accompaniment the same obscure song. Omg, it was THE BEST at the end of the Bon Voyage Ball when the last song had been played, the lights were on, but the wrockers didn't want to stop partying and had to end the party the way all wrock shows (apparently?) end-that is, with the song, "The Weapon We Have is Love". And so everyone was singing it, the tune and lyrics were nearly comprehensible, and it was just wow. AWESOME.

It's also interesting that while I am suffering the typical post-con depression, it's not quite as sad as after Sectus, cause the advantage of an American con is it's not like I'll never see anyone again. In fact most of the really cool people I've met seem to live in California.

The other thing that apparently happened on Wednesday (before I got there) was the wrockers managed to totally piss off the hotel and, I imagine the people at the Gospel singing convention that was happening simultaneously (prediction: they will prob never book a convention at the same time as a harry potter one again) by breaking a chandelier during the song 'Draco and Harry' because they were jumping and dancing so much, and they were on the second floor because the hotel booked them there at the last minute. The Gospel people on the first floor eventually had to leave cause the ceiling and chandeliers were shaking so much. Another interesting thing about wrockers-they don't dance so much as jump. As one girl was telling me at Terminus(paraphrased) "I have to remind myself that most other people don't dance like that."

Monday I toured Chicago with my roommates which was fun even though I was rather exhausted from staying up all night. We went to the navy pier and touristed.We also got deep-dish pizza, which my roommates were dying for and apparently Chicago is famous for. I then came back and proceeded to take a long nap, which unfortunately left me with little time online (the coffee shop with free wifi closed at 9:30). To make a somewhat long story short I then missed my flight the next day because I think my brain was in a sleep-deprived haze that didn't comprehend that yeah, O'Hare is much farther away than Midway (I came in from Midway and left from O'Hare-note to self-bad idea leaving from different airports). And then, the next next possible flight I could be on got delayed from 5:00 to 7:40, so I didn't get in to San Francisco airport until 12:00. When I would have been at San Jose at 4:30. Yes, much drastic brilliance on my part.

( santa cruz etc )

Anyway, I'm now forrealz back home and am attempting to clean my room (=daunting task) and sell books on half.com. Tomorrow, I'm going to participate in the production part of the 48 hour film thing, so that should be fun.

It's been loads of fun so far-but waaay different from Sectus. I mean, Terminus is super fun and all, but pretty much nothing will compare to Sectus, and, you know, ENGLAND.

The first A++ thing I want to comment was the venue we went to last night for a wrock show. Tons of bands playing, most I didn't know. I was somewhat tired during it, though I'm very glad I stayed for the Whomping Willows at the end. BUT. It was, like, a spectularly designed venue! First of all, air circulation! Why can't more clubs be like this? It was actually kind of cold, and they had air blowing through the place. It wasn't too crowded or too loud (though that's prob because it's wizard rock). Whoever designed this also had the genius to make the floor before the stage slope slightly downwards so people in the back could see. There were also plenty of places to sit and chill if you wanted to. And, great set list, DJing; I regret that I was a bit too tired to fully enjoy. Anyway, I'm mostly commenting on this after my experience seeing Harry and the Potters at The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco a few weeks ago, which was crowded, hot, and not quite as fun an atmosphere as this one.

Another great thing is that a bunch of bands, including more I recognize, are playing tonight. Yay! I just wish it didn't go so late. I missed seeing most of the Wizard Rockumentary this morning cause I accidentally overslept. But it's okay, cause we bought it and we also talked to Megan and Mallory(the directors and producers) afterwards (and got a picture with them, cause hey two sets of twins).

We also went to a few presentations/panel discussions and whatnot, and an R/S meetup. In which Ginny got a great picture of a girl cosplaying Tonks (with the pink hair; the cosplaying possibilities with Tonks legitimize the existence of the character in my mind) next to a sign saying "Remus/Sirius slashers" that some girl had made.

I am currently sitting in a wonderful coffee shop, called Caribou coffee, that is nice and friendly and notStarbucks and has these really wonderful blended fruit teas (which are disgusting at most places that sell thing like that, but not here). I am sad panda that they don't exist at home. Oh, and qualification of statement: the coffee shop and free wireless are great, but not their censoring: apparently afterelton.com is blocked, which is STUPID cause though it's gay-oriented, there is NOTHING approaching porn or non-PGness on it! WTF! And it's not even a generic gay site or anything, it's about queerness in the media, which is a little different. And, and, livejournal and encyclopediadramatica are not blocked, and there's some way worse stuff on there, for sure.

My sectus photos are indeed located here. (Yay picasaweb, an actually good photo place-but no wonder, since it's google.) regasssa, your photos are here as well in their own album conveniently sorted. It should also be noted that I have quite a few more photos, but they were taken on ginny's camera so I don't have immediate access to them now.

I divided my pictures into selected photos and other photos-basically, the selected photos are the good or representative photos that would possibly be interesting to someone who didn't go with me, and the other photos are similar to the selected photos, or kind of bad, but might be interesting to those that hung out with me for the sake of being comprehensive.

I'm also kind of a fan of this photo I took of the london eye (completely randomly and unintentionally, I might add).

Behold the nomming bunny!

Check out this post by Orac about the crazy antivaccinationists and vaccine-causes-autism crowd, led by Jenny McCarthy and David Kirby and a few others.
Despite being a non-expert on the topic I still found this picture really hilarious:

(There are a few other pictures from protests that are hilarious as well).
But back to the sign-some of those chemicals. Seriously, sucrose? OMG ALERT THE MEDIA! THEY ARE POISONING OUR CHILDREN WITH MINUTE DOSES OF SUGAR! SURELY THIS TOXIN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR AUTISM!
I'm also amused by the mention of hydrochloric acid, which I've spilled on myself quite a few times in chem lab, and is(at least in dilute concentrations) standard for high school chem labs across the U.S. And that's just what I'm familiar with.
And as Orac notes,

Antivaccinationists are also not too concerned with getting the actual niceties of the chemistry right, confusing ethylene glycol (antifreeze, which is not in vaccines) with polyethylene glycol (PEG, which is in some vaccines and is also in a number of skin creams, toothpaste, and medications, including laxatives) or ethyl ether (the flammable anaesthetic) with polyethylene glycol pisooctylphenyl ether (Triton X-100, a kind of soap/detergent). Nor are they concerned with getting the niceties of the biology right, either. They like to mention "aborted fetuses," as though vaccines were somehow made from aborted fetal tissue, when in reality some viruses are grown in cells derived from an aborted fetus nearly 45 years ago. Antivaccinationists know that, but they like to try to feed in to religious objections to abortion by playing this gambit, which is in reality no more than a variant of the "toxin" gambit, although at least they've gotten a bit smarter about it and don't say "tissues" anymore. The whole bit about "monkey cells" is pretty dumb as well. Some viruses are indeed grown in monkey kidney cells, but it's not as though these cells are retained in the vaccine. There's a little step called "purification" that antivaccinationists seem to think that manufacturers forget

But this stuff probably works-all you have to do is convince enough of the credulous that anything with a vaguely incomprehensible name is a toxin that will kill you, you've done your job well.

I like what this commenter said:

I remember reading an old issue (mid-80s) of National Geographic as a kid. A chemical company (Dupont or Dow, I'm not sure...) had an advertisement that showed an orange with an ingredient label. It contained a huge list of scary-sounding chemical names that you would find if you isolated every "natural" compound in the fruit.

The point was that "chemical" was not a bad word, and that big science words did not imply evil-scientist polts to poison children.

I still think of that ad everytime I run across people using fear-mongering to oppose genetic engineering, chemical research, or medical products.

I kinda want to photoshop a scare mongering image about oranges and bring it to one of these rallies and see if anyone got the joke.

You know the fires in the Santa Cruz mountains happening right now? I can actually smell the smoke from where I am at home. And we're pretty far away.

Apparently they had to close down the 17 because of zero visibility, which makes me really really glad I went to Santa Cruz last weekend when I had to.

I totally loooove graphs and data sets that analyze social phenomena, so obviously I am a fan of the NameVoyager Type in any name and see its rise and/or fall in popularity through time, compared with other similar names! It's super addicting. I have so far found out the rather unsurprising facts that certain pop stars' names will jump in popularity, then decline when no one remembers them. Did you know boys were still named Adoph to an appreciable extent even in the 60s? And no one is named mildred or gertrude or bertha anymore.

This reviewer gave the film 5 stars, let's remember.

Pros
The movie moved very well and told the story in depth.

Cons
I would have liked more scientific information... or maybe their isn't any.

Nooooo really? Intelligent design, no scientific information? Shock! Especially considering that the scientific information that did exist in the film, they appear to have copied without permission from Harvard's Inner Life of the Cell video.

I feel like this person might be reachable, though, since they aren't categorically slamming "Darwinism" or evolution.

Sometimes, I manage to convince myself that the world is largely rational, and what isn't is simply holdovers from childhood, beliefs people can't get rid of because of various emotional/they've-done-it-forever reasons, things they've never thought about questioning.

Then I come across things like, holy crap people actually believe this stuff?

At least she appears to be honest about some of it, like skirting around saying that basically none of the herbs/spells/whatever the crap at the pagan store is actually going to help you break up someone else's relationship or start one of your own. Except that apparently spells based on ancient mythology will do other stuff!

That said I think it'd be sort of amusing to work in a pagan-type store, even though ethics/lack of skill at lying would get the better of me eventually.

(and the rest of the comment thread is also worth reading for the wtfery. basically this is the sort of thing that will astound me every time, because I tacitly assume paganism to be more fun/pretend than Srs Bsns, even though i know it shouldn't think of it as universally that way)

But it does now!
Therefore, witness a sea lion sniffing my shoe:


and
( albatross mating dance )

Where are all the politically-minded over-18 naked gyrating male torsos in this election cycle?

The hillary boy is an idiot 16 year old, a pale imitation; the self-described 'obama boy' is 41 years old, and you will see no singing and dancing there. Neither are shirtless, and both have significantly reduced production budgets, if any at all.

Then again, since the media has spent a lot of time asking me if we as a country are ready for a black/female/mormon/batshitinsane president, they did not have time to discuss whether we as a country are ready for politically-inspired objectification of male torsos*. And internets research reveals that we are not. Perhaps we will have to wait until next election cycle, momentarily consoling ourselves with the pathetic amount of political fic being written and gyrating male torsos found elsewhere.


* And non-heteronormatively-conforming male torsos? Don't even think it!