Lynn Flewelling's Blog, page 48

This

Thank you, loki_the_fraud for pointing this out. There are many others at Youtube, too.

The First Amendment Cuts Both Ways

It's all over the news this morning, so I won't even bother with a link. The US Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, says that the 1st Amendment protects the rights of the hate spewing Westboro Baptist Church to picket military funerals with signs that say that God hates America because of our permissive attitude toward homosexuality. A few choice sign quotes: "God Hates Fags" "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Thank God For 9/11"

From NPR: "Asked why anyone would bring signs reading "God Hates Fags" and "You're Going to Hell" to a funeral for U.S. military personnel, church leader Rev. Fred Phelps said last year, "When the whole country is given over to sodomy and sodomite enablers ... the country needs this preaching.""


And the worst thing is, the Supreme Court did the right thing. Phelps and his ilk are reprehensible, no question about it, but a ruling against their right to speak their minds in a public place would create the worst kind of slippery slope. I believe it is hate speak, but such a ruling would set a precedence for anything to be classified as hate speech and shut down. This would affect everyone from the press on down to individuals. It's awful, but necessary.

But that doesn't mean the communities where this plague descends can't do something about it. And no, I don't mean ax handles, tar, and feathers. That would be illegal. No, but you can identify them (post their photos so that the public knows who they are) and do things like:

Refuse to admit them to privately owned hotels, motels, or campgrounds. If they camp in public areas, charge them with vagrancy.

Don't sell them any supplies-- food, water, poster board, markers, etc.

Form peaceful human barricades: I love the Angels, who wear huge wings and use them to screen Phelps & Co from mourners. You could also stand so close to them that someone snaps and takes a swing at you. Then it's assault.

Have a surveyor very carefully survey the lines dividing public from private space and nail the protestors legally if they cross the line.

Those are just a few ideas, but I think finding legal ways to battle this kind of hatred is worth some thought. Other ideas?

I also firmly believe that Phelps's karma is going to catch up with him, and soon.

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him." The Buddha

Oscars zzzzzzzzz

I ended up watching the last third of the Oscars last night, while I knitted. They were pretty lack luster and unsurprising. The only thing I actually cared about was best soundtrack, and Inception lost out, though it did win for sound editing and something else sound related. Glad for Melissa Leo, whom I've liked since Homicide: Life on the Streets. She's been a very underrated actress. Best actor and film were pretty much a given. Happy for Natalie Portman, but again, not surprised. Showing Bob Hope and Billy Crystal only underscored what a bust Franco and Hathaway were. I say give Jon Stewart another chance.

Ho hum.

Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me

Don't panic, it was only my hard disk (I think that's what it's called. It's where the computer elves live, right?) which decided to get itself corrupted as I made my final save after three hours work yesterday. Not only were the changes and new material gone, the entire damn f@#**& FILE—half the book—had disappeared. Gone. Irretrievable, even for Dr. Doug, who rules all things Mac. Worse yet, Dropbox lost it too. Major FAIL! *insert more bad words here* I thank my meditation training for the calm I was able to manifest as Doug tinkered calmly away, as is his wont. (Doug is the calmest person I have ever met.) In the end, that file was gone, but the slightly older copy I had survived on my computer and the external hard drive. So today I start all over again on that section.

I don't hold it against my computer. We've gotten along well, and everyone gets sick sometime. In fact, in all the years I've been using Mac—and that's since the first one came out way back when—this is the first time it's ever happened.

So, focusing on my breath, I go back to work.

A short snippet

Alaya flirted playfully with Alec throughout the evening, but his thoughts were with ? and later Seregil informed him that he'd told the elderly Duchess Lansona that his first kiss had been with a rabbit.

"I thought she said 'first kill"!" Alec exclaimed. "I wondered why everyone laughed."

Places I've Been-- So Far

I don't get to travel nearly as much as I'd like to, but I've gotten around over the years.

Bucket list: Fiji, China, Japan, Thailand, Tibet, Nepal, India, New Zealand, revisit Greece and Tahiti (for at least a year!), Tuscany


Where I have been:

visited 17 states (7.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Whimsical Tea ware!

Just discovered potter Elizabeth Paxson, via matociquala 's LJ. I want a squid hugging my tea!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/skybirdarts

Judgmental Ostrich Bookseller

Never thought I'd be typing those words in that combination, but there you go. It's a great meme going around on Twitter.

http://www.quickmeme.com/Judgmental-Bookseller-Ostrich/?upcoming

Here are a few to get you started.

Wrong on so many levels

The ice cream truck just went by, playing "O Come, All Ye Faithful."

Movie Rec: Paranormal Activity 2

Suffice it to say, I am writing this from the safety of Panera.




I am such a sucker for a scary haunting movie! I liked Paranormal Activity I. It had a simplicity that lent it veracity while I watched. Of course you pick this sort of thing apart afterward, when your nerves are back under control, but at the moment, you are there, caught in all the dread and tension.

PA2 does not disappoint on either count. Yes, it hits a lot of cliches, but are they cliches because they fill out a mythic narrative? Ouija boards, old curses and the like are pretty hokey and didn't really help the plot, but inanimate objects suddenly moving on their own, doors slamming, threatened children, vigilant dogs, doubting spouses, and unseen things grabbing you and dragging you down three flights of stairs to the basement? Now that's the stuff of my nightmares. Literally. I used to dream of ghosts grabbing me all the time, and a lot of that went into the Tamir trilogy.

It also captured SoCal nicely-- rich pretty people with nice things, who can't believe that something so ugly has invaded their perfectly decorated space. The movie sets up the dynamics well: an older, widowed man with daughter from first marriage and younger wife and new baby boy. We see enough of them to like them, and care what happens to them. And we are warned from the outset with "director's notes" that people do die. You just wait to find out who, how, and when.

The movie is shot entirely from the perspectives of hand held video cameras and a home security system, which cycles endlessly through the same succession of shots. (one little fail; watch the coffee mug on the kitchen island. Either someone is very OCD with the placement, or they reused a shot a few times) In this way seemingly innocent things like a front walk or a pool skimmer take on a ominous air. (Especially when we see the skimmer crawl up out of the pool by itself.)

There are few gratuitous "fake boo" moments. When something finally does happen in those series of security shots, you jump because the tension has been so drawn out and built up. The special effects are the lowest tech, and far more effective than anything Industrial Light and Magic could throw at us.

You know a movie is good when afterwards you find yourself hesitating to walk down that dark hall for aspirin, or working at Panera the next day. ;-)