What fresh hell is this?

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'Coal black is better than another hue
'In that it scorns to bear another hue
'All the water of the oceans
'could never turn a swan's black legs to white
'although she lay them hourly in the flood.'
--Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus

I look at some people's tongues, and all I can see is the Kool-aid red they've been dyed.

Wow, I knew this was coming, but I didn't see it THIS fast:
Lost cut of Metropolis premiering at Berlinale.

I may actually see it this year, after waiting since I was... oh, 9 or 10! :D

...I now have an audio gesture of Hannibal Lecter saying '...toughened your nipples, didn't it.'

I'm horrible.

So End of Time: Part 2 aired: RTD's last helming and authorship.
Some thoughts follow.

( READ NOT the Spoiler-Cut of Rassilon )

Nice work, Mr. Tennant, and thank you for bringing The Doctor back so emphatically, Mr. Davies. Godspeed you both.

So one of the neighborhood crack-junkies- one who's always polite and fairly decent to deal with- liked my scarf.
And I thought about how the scarf came to me: as a completely unexpected gift from a friend-of-a-friend. For which I paid nothing. And I knew she was outside for the night... and it is pretty freaking cold.

So, I gave this random homeless woman- or at least strongly-disadvantaged woman- something to keep warm.

Happy Christmas, everyone.

Only really commenting on this because I read it on my Blackberry while killing off a peppermint mocha, which amused me.

...but what do we call it when:
-person not of color writes a story and does her/his level best to get inside the headspace of characters who are of color, and treats them as respectfully as she/he can
-persons of color go off on (to paraphrase) white imperialist cultural genocide- and refuse to even read the story / view the film?

I'd be horribly disgusted if a black guy did a movie about white people, and white people were horrified and up in arms because he doesn't understand the white culture so obviously they shouldn't even see the movie, myself. And I wouldn't be disgusted at the director; I'd be disgusted by the white people shrieking about their culture being misappropriated. So... why is it that if a white guy makes a movie that's framed in his understanding of non-white culture, it's cool to throw racist epithets at him?

No, I really am not trolling here: I'm genuinely startled at what seems to be a huge degree of duplicity, from where I'm sitting. I can certainly see going 'yeah, Kevin Costner? You're clueless about my people, and let me tell you why, utilizing my informed opinion as to what you missed in your movie, and my quite simply larger grasp of the issues you glossed or missed'. I don't think it's cool to run around spouting off 'oh yeah my mother's brother's friend said her husband thought that Dances With Wolves is horribly racist so I'm gonna run it down everywhere, and never see it' everywhere you go... Hell, why would you need to slag Dances With Wolves for being racist? It's a Kevin Costner movie, that right there is enough argument to never see it in your life.

Eeh. Anyway. Am I completely insane, or is there a point to not going off about a work of fiction that you haven't encountered even 1% of?

EDIT:
OK, I definitely have a better handle on what I was missing, here- many thanks to all!
I think some of this question came up after last night's movie watching: the housemate brought home a recent Mexican sci-fi film named 'Sleep Dealer'. Very good movie- I recommend it highly if you either speak Spanish or have patience to read subtitles- which is a discussion of the border politics in southern California / Mexico (I fear I didn't catch where the main character's hometown was, more specifically than 'it's in Mexico, and that definitely is too dry to be the Yucatan'). I think watching it had some hand in this issue cropping up to be discussed, rather than me just putting the question aside.

So a thought occurred to me:
Straight couples have little discussion required about who's doing what to whom. There's an emphatic 'this is how it plays, homey' about who's putting what in where; if you want to vary from that (and good on you if you do!), there's discussion to be had. But most people won't vary.

Gay couples? It's a negotiation every night. Maybe I don't feel like giving head tonight. Maybe I just don't want to fuck your ass senseless tomorrow night. Is that something wrong with you? no. Might it take a good bit of coercing to get that across? yes.

Chripes, no wonder a lot of older gay men seem so lonely.

So I smoke outside of the building I live in. Foul habit, & this discourages me from just shuffling out of bed and lighting up. instead, I THINK about having a cigarette before having one.

Was outside having a smoke in front of the church next door. Woman pulls up in front, and I civilly engage in 'do you want me to play parallel parking curbside guru? OK, I'm game... back up a bit, back up, a bit more, a bit more-- okay STOP- pull forward and straighten it out a bit...' for a fair while. She gets out of her car and greets me, then cheerfully and chirpingly invites me to join the congregation...
...and I politely turn her down, wish her a happy Christmas, and going back in, realize-
I'm wearing my '667: Neighbor Of The Beast' shirt.

...is when you mention you don't think people should allow the internet to get them wound up about something, as it's clearly unhappy-making and uncomfortable- and the response is to get wound up about that something in your direction.

I guess there is a sequel floating around in my mind for the novel.

And it'll require much research in Paris, Nantes and that weird little building some whacked-out Jesuit priest made in south-east France (if memory serves).

...but Oral Roberts died today.

I think I'll be wallowing in glee at someone else's damage, thanks.

...So watching Battlestar Galactica, I'd always assumed Michael Trucco- the guy who plays Anders- was somebody I'd seen in something else. Stumbled across something and realized why I know him...
...he's 3 months older than I am, and his home town was my home town. Our mothers were good friends and we spent a lot of time hanging around with each other as kids.
*cough*ty years ago.

Ow. My brain hurts.

So it occurred to me that I haven't documented the lasagna recipe in Many Years, and it has changed pretty dramatically since I last posted it. As I'm doing it again today, I figured this was a good time to put it up again.

( Not for the faint of stomach )
NEW
HELPFUL
TIP:

Trader Joe's does these lovely pre-baked slabs o' tofu that are seasoned. I figured I'd give that a go this time, picked up the savory ones.
Perfect consistency, and it has a rather savory smell indeed!

Another million thanks to karjack for her recipe- I've tweaked it back and forth, here and there- I couldn't have done this without her recipe to build from.

THIS is exactly why I am dubious about the USDOJ, in a nutshell.

Today is so fired it's not even funny.

Given that it seems that I'll be down here more often, it's starting to look like imbecility to keep renting hotel rooms. So out of curiosity- other than Venice, where do you think I might enjoy living, in greater LA? Ideally, a short commute to eastern-edge-of-West-Hollywood.
Silverlake?
North Hollywood?
I kind of liked what I saw of Burbank, last I was down...

Why, exactly, is it that the religion which comprises over 2/3rds of the people who are religious in the US has somehow had a major portion of its members get their heads stuck on the idea that they're somehow a persecuted minority? The religion whose tenets get printed on our damned currency, no less?
Hurry up and make your Conservative party, Sarah Palin. And take all the crazy religious nutjobs with you to it-- and show us all how badly you fare without associating yourselves with an organization that's not intrinsically religious. Do it quick, though, Jeebus is coming and you'll want to do this before the Rapture!