The Fat Studies Reader edited by Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay (21 January)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (24 January)
Animorphs Volume 01: The Invasion by K.A. Applegate (2 February)
Animorphs Volume 02: The Visitor by K.A. Applegate (2 February)
Animorphs Volume 03: The Encounter by K.A. Applegate (2 February)
Animorphs Volume 04: The Message by K.A. Applegate (3 February)
Animorphs Volume 05: The Predator by K.A. Applegate (3 February)
Animorphs Volume 06: The Capture by K.A. Applegate (5 February)
Animorphs Volume 07: The Stranger by K.A. Applegate (5 February)
Animorphs Volume 08: The Alien by K.A. Applegate (5 February)
Animorphs Volume 09: The Secret by K.A. Applegate (6 February)
Animorphs Volume 10: The Android by K.A. Applegate (7 February)
Animorphs Volume 11: The Forgotten by K.A. Applegate (7 February)
Animorphs Volume 12: The Reaction by K.A. Applegate (7 February)
Animorphs Volume 13: The Change by K.A. Applegate (9 February)

Girl, Interrupted (11 January)

Can hardly believe I'm writing this. Ok I guess I can, he was 87 after all, but still... Howard Zinn passed away yesterday.

The article pretty well encapsulates how amazing Zinn was as a person. I never met the guy, and I really wish I had gotten a chance. He was a major voice of the left, a person of conscience, an early dissenter of the Vietnam War, a person Alice Walker called her most influential teacher (Alice freakin' Walker guys). His wife of 60-plus years died in 2008, so I've been a bit worried about him for a while.

I first read Zinn's A People's History of the United States in a class at Delta. At 15 I wasn't quite savvy enough to really appreciate it, and a lot of its significance went over my head. Nonetheless, I learned a ton, and I think that class laid the foundation for a lot of the later experiences that made me the bleeding-heart lefty I am today. I didn't read A People's History in full until about spring of 2007 when I took a library copy with me on my spring break to New Orleans. But that was it. I changed my major to history later that year and got my own dang copy for my birthday. It's pretty much my bible.

I also want to note how badass it is that he died doing laps in a pool at the age of 87. You go, Howard. May his memory be a blessing.

( me and my favorite book )

For today's Sunday Sweets Cake Wrecks totally featured a gingerbread house version of the Nittany Lion Inn!

Is it just me or is it very true-to-life? I know I recognized it immediately.



Thanks again for the kind words about Lucy. Still missing her a ton of course but feeling better and really excited to come home and see everyone.

And Happy second night/day of Hanukkah!

EDIT: You guys, I seriously cannot stop looking at this image, it gives me such a warm feeling inside. It really is time to head home.

Over break Chris brought up that he'd like to calculate my Dungeons & Dragons stats (I don't recall how we arrived at this topic) and he did! I've played D&D all of once in middle school and I've never been into it so much, but I love hearing Chris talk about it and the amazing creative stuff he does with it so I was all for it. Seeing it now makes me feel really badass XD Basically he made me a magical journalist.

( technical bits )

You know, I'm starting to think that some journalists are the adventurers of our reality and time. They travel to locales halfway across the world (sometimes less-than-legally) and willingly jump into dangerous or even deadly situations for the purpose of helping people out - not in a direct way, necessarily, but by bringing the truth to the world at large, where the people with the capability can do something more direct.

Hilary, being the journalist that she is, may have the best reasoning for adventuring of any of us. I'm totally inspired to play a reporter/adventurer sometime, by the way.

So, the nitty-gritty:

Hilary is a half-elf psion. It's a useful, non-flashy combination that emphasizes social skills and connectivity. I chose half-elf (the other half is human, by the way) because bridging cultural gaps is kinda the race's schtick. The natural Charisma and social skill boosts didn't hurt that decision either.

Her class was a bit harder to choose. Psions are powerfully mental people, without much in the way of flash or bang, but are plenty effective. They can do pretty amazing things with their mind alone - just like Hilary! She's like a telepathic blogger!

Now, skills were easy. Diplomacy helps her in interviews, as well as her ability to actually get information out there in public. Insight is her ability to discern truth from lies. Perception is her actual physical senses, which at the very least are way better than mine. Streetwise helps to pick up rumors and information from the street or gossip. Psion did not come with the Streetwise skill, so I threw in the "Revolutionary" background, which claims Hilary is some kind of political rebel... and hey, if anyone I know is a political rebel, it's Hil.

Ability scores were not too hard either. Hilary has very good mental scores, but her physical scores suffer some. She is very Intelligent, pretty wise and intuitive when she needs to be, and more Charismatic than she might let herself believe. Her Constitution is a little above average because in this case it represents her generally vitality, both mental and physical, rather than just her physical toughness.

Alright, so on to feats. Ritual Caster comes with the class - it lets you do special magics! I picked up amaneuensis (it means that you can Xerox things with your MIND) and Fastidiousness (it removes dirt and grime - always looking your best!). After moving around so much and being in the TRUTH industry for as long as she has, I figured Connected was a good feat to have - it boosts her Streetwise even more, essentially meaning that she no longer simply picks up gossip and rumors but can access the Internet WITH HER MIND. Human Perseverance represents that, even when Hil's down, she's stubborn.

Yeah! How intense is this? The powers section was, well, a little harder. Hilary in combat. Hmmmmm.

"Commander's Strike" is a big fancy name, but what it boils down to is Hilary yelling to one of her friends "Hey! Hit THAT guy!" and they do. Woo! Memory Hole I thought was fun; you know that memory charm they have in Harry Potter where muggles just kind of ignore things like Quidditch World Cups? Yeah, Hilary can do that, but targets can only ignore her. It doesn't last that long, so its not like Hilary would get lonely quickly.

Mind Thrust is where she does the Charles Xavier thing of forcing SO MUCH BRAIN into someone else's head and they can't handle it, probably falling unconscious or something. Ravening Thought is Hilary forcing some sobering info into someone else's head, and it makes them vulnerable to further mental attacks. Far Sight means that Hilary occasionally gains eagle eyes (no not literally). There really weren't many options at this point for those levels, unfortunately.

( my 'equipment' )

And that novel was my justification for the questionable mechanical choices! Woo!

Happy Halloween everyone! Looks like I'm not going to be doing a heck of a lot for Halloween this year (there's just too much going on right now) but I still want to share my good wishes. This was my favorite holiday during most of my childhood and I hope next year I'll be able to find a better way to celebrate, I comfort myself that this will at least be better than last year but let's not get into that...

I made some icons dedicated to The Path a while ago, actually before my Hilda icons but I wanted to save these for a special occasion. There are 33 of them, some better crafted and with better images than others. They're all made from promotional images and screenshots from Tale of Tales. No idea if icon-making is going to become a hobby of mine, I usually make a handful for myself on some obscure thing I like and then use maybe one.

( thirty-three )

Even looking at the icons makes me shiver a little. That game is spooooky.

All Hallow's Eve link party: Adorable spider treats from Bakerella, and beautiful cakes. Plenty of festive cake wrecks. These feminist Halloween costume ideas are also pretty cool.

EDIT: One more thing! I really wish I could play The Endless Forest so I could experience this.

Through aidosaur I came across some lovely 1960's pinups of this curvaceous character called Hilda. As with many things I fall in love with, I decided to make some LJ icons of her.

If you take any, credit Duane Bryers (the actual artist) and me (ie beneficentbeast) so peeps know where to find them. But if you forget me at least credit Bryers, these aren't really my images after all.

( fourteen of 'em )

Highly improbable flower bikinis FTW.

Because my mind is everywhere and I don't feel like putting together a coherent entry.

Thanks for your letter, Julia!

Here's how it works:
1. Go to www.flickr.com
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box
3. Use only the first page
4. Copy the html and paste for the answer.


( yup )

Hey folks, sorry for the lack of posts. I'll get back to posting about my actual life soon but for now I thought I'd share this e-mail I got from Bitch Mag. I didn't realize they got so little from the newsstand price! The offer mentioned below is over, it being after August 15, but it's still only $6 an issue for an excellent magazine. I'm subscribing as soon as I move and I think you should too! Thanks :) (there are also a few Photo Booth shots at the bottom in case you miss me)

So you say you love to buy Bitch on the newsstand. That's cool, but here's a little pop quiz for you: How many cents of every dollar you spend on an issue of Bitch at the bookstore or newsstand goes toward paying expenses like our staff, writers, and rent?

Is it:
A) 90 cents
B) 75 cents
C) 15 cents
D) less than 1 cent

If you guessed "D," you're right.

Depressing but true: After paying for printing, postage, and distribution, Bitch gets less than 7 cents for each issue we send to stores. That's just $.009 of each dollar you spend.

Lots of you have told us you love to support Bitch by buying it at your favorite local bookstore or magazine shop. And as much as we love that you support independent book and magazine sellers, the fact of the matter is that buying your magazine at the store benefits the newsstand industry much more than it does Bitch.

But! If you subscribe to Bitch, almost all your money goes directly to pay for the production of your favorite magazine. No middle people, no random surcharges. And what that means is a better-funded magazine with a stronger future. More subscribers today means more issues of Bitch in the future.

And that's why we're coming to you today -- to ask you to join the Bitch 500. As many of you know, Bitch is relaunching this September with an awesome revamped design, great new features, and lots more to come over the next year. We're also raising our subscription price from $19.95 for four issues to $24.95. But before we do that, we're striving to snag 500 new subscribers at the old price. Subscribe or renew your existing subscription before August 15, and you'll get a year of the new, improved Bitch at the old, wallet-friendly price. It's a deal, right? Right! So don't just subscribe for yourself -- tell a friend. Tell two friends. Tell all the friends you've got.

Take the Bitch 500 pledge and subscribe today! Friends don't let friends buy Bitch at the store!

( Photo Booth shots: cool stuff I got in the mail edition )

My Women's Studies paper on female rabbis in Toronto, because I'm kinda proud of it.

( here it be )

Hey everyone! Just a reminder that I'm doing Blogathon today over at loveofblog and I'm still open for prompts and/or donations. Have a nice day :)

( misogyny in various Buddhist texts )

I've never considered myself a "gamer" but I definitely enjoy games from time to time. Probably part of the reason I'm not a gamer is that there aren't enough games like this: The Path. It's a psychological horror interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood that explores the vulnerability and danger of girlhood. Remind's me a lot of American McGee's Alice personally. It looks beyond awesome and unfortunately my version of Mac OSX isn't recent enough to play it but there's a free trial and it's available for Windows and Mac so you should all try it out (plus it's only $10!). Though be aware the it seems to be very scary and is not for everyone.

So of course I haven't played it yet but it got me ruminating on gaming culture and how insulated it is from mainstream culture and how all that works. I think it's something that goes both ways, that people who consider themselves more mainstream tend to shy away from games from fear of seeming nerdy, while at the same time gamers are so conscious of being seen as weird that they jealously guard their own subculture and can sometimes get clannish and narrow-minded about the whole thing. It just makes me sad because I wish there were more games like The Path but the industry (as well as other media industries) are so intent on churning out different takes on the same thing. There's of course the male-centered aspect of the gaming world too, another thing which makes female-centered games like The Path rare. This article examines similar themes with more game-savvy than me.

Tale of Tales, the folks that created The Path also have a beautiful Furcadia-meets-Princess Mononoke chat client (or something like that? Windows only, unfortunately), and, oddly the only one I've been able to play despite my fannish ranting: The Graveyard, essentially a sad poem in 3D.

Here's some stereotypical gamer boys talking about The Path. The part where they talked about how it "made them think" is adorable. For the record, they enjoyed the experience.


Off to study more with Tharaga, whee!

I don't know what's keeping me from writing lately. Ok, I guess I do know. For a week or so I've had a nasty little cold and then my period came so the past two days I've been a self-imposed hermit, though I have gotten a lot of reading done. None of it's for class but I'm relatively up-to-date on class readings so I figure it's ok.

Under it all I'm distracted and scared and sort of want to live in this apartment, forever with my Tolkien and my Said and my hamsters, and not have to face the world and all its hatred and violence. Not that anything's happened to me, as usual I'm very lucky and privileged and probably shouldn't complain. I'm just really upset about Dr. Tiller's death and then this terrible shooting at the Holocaust Museum in DC (links below this time). I'm scared of all the hate, though I know it's always been there lying dormant but that doesn't make it less frightening. I'm scared for my friends who are Muslim and/or of color, I'm scared for North America's Jewish communities. I'm scared for pro-choice activists and poor women.

I'm also angry. Angry that people with brown skin are still targets of curiosity and suspicion simply for being who they are while white men who commit terror are seen as lone actors instead of members of violent, repressive ideologies. I'm angry that their white male privilege makes this possible. I'm angry that people still blame "The Jews." I'm angry that people take everything at face value and internalize subtle racism without knowing it and then don't care.

( Happy News: the new Jewish American Girl doll, reading Tolkien and Said )

So here is my angry link party:

-Holocaust Museum shooting on Racialicious (excellent discussion in the comments w/ links) and an article about the guard that died.

-Segment about Dr. George Tiller, a late abortion provider who was shot to death at church. His successor of sorts.

-A young Pakistani-American man being held in jail for the past two years on flimsy terrorism charges (he's literally been charged for letting a guy who gave socks and ponchos to Al Qaeda crash at his place) without trial. A DN! segment on him. Can I get a WTF?!

-And just to add something inspiring, the last speech of Edward Said in 2003.

Going home, going home, going home. For a full week, plus a day. It feels like it's been forever, I'm very excited.

The interview went great. Ryan North can't draw, Dinosaur Comics actually is his day job, and he is pro-Lego. If The Varsity doesn't publish the entire interview, I'll put it here.

Best Democracy Now! ever: A non-hysterical look at Pakistan that puts my paper to shame and I'm glad. Seriously, if you're wigging out about Pakistan, watch it. A smart critique of journalism today and why the business is failing. Don't know whether it makes me hopeful or more scared, but there it is. Also the Kent State shooting 39 years later and a new documentary about the mismanagement in China that meant avoidable tragedy in that big earthquake. It's a tearjerker by the end, but worth it. (Full episode here)

From thefridayfive

1. If you could live in any period in history other than now, when would it be?
Probably the 1960s. But seriously, we're living in an endlessly fascinating historical period.

2. What knowledge or skills do you think you'd have to learn to be able to fit in your chosen period of history?
Protestin', a good instinct for staying out of sketchy situations... I know what drugs to avoid.

3. If you could take just one thing from the modern world back with you, what would it be?
Comfier bras?

4. What period in history would you hate to have lived in?
Any place whenever it's war-torn, especially the battlefields of WWII and the Shoah. The initial settling of Europeans in North America: Native hating, Puritanism, and diseases to go around.

5. What thing from the past would you like to see make a comeback?
Strong American far-left politics like those that came out of early 20th century labor disputes. A system where third parties have a fighting chance (it hasn't been this way forever).

Wish me luck against the pig flu! I am so angry at mainstream media for bowing to the pork lobby or whatever and calling it "H1N1" If I see that anywhere I'm calling it either "heinie," "piggy," or NAFTA flu.

So yeah, it was rad. Awkward and confusing at times because my friends were the ones running the event (and were thus busy all the time), and because I didn't know anybody else. But nonetheless well worth it and rad.

Here's some info about the holiday itself, and some Reuters photos of the holiday being celebrated in India (much better than mine).

Apologies for the blurriness:




A smiling Keerthena.

( festival of colors )

After the epic insanity that was yesterday, I'm very happy to say that I did nothing today. Ok, I went to the grocery store, fed the hamsters, and did a short interview, but basically nothing. I do want to get some work done this weekend, but it shall be done slowly and without fuss.

And now for lolcats and friday fives...



( high school and weather )

PS If you love John Lennon, and I know you do, you should join this keen new group lennonites. If for nothing else, it rhymes with "Mennonites."

I sent e-cards to my Irish grandma and my dad the night before. In the morning I found my dad had sent me a thank-you e-card which was sweet. Originally, I expected to have a packed day but the person I was going to interview canceled at the last minute and the sex-ed seminar I was going to attend with some Centre friends got canceled last minute too, so it was actually a relatively low-key day. I had plenty of time to buy cupcakes because the 17th of March is also my friend Tharaga's birthday!

In all photos, people are named left to right. For people I don't know as well, names are likely misspelled, sorry!

The only cupcakes I could find, not surprisingly. For the record Tharaga is Tamil, not Irish, but the cupcakes were a hit nonetheless. The plastic shamrocks are actually little rings (I asked Tharaga to marry me with one :3).

The birthday girl and Denise, who I met for the first time that day.

( MOAR )

The party was relatively brief, as Tharaga had to leave on a 6-o'clock train to get home (she moved back to the suburbs after her first year). After that the mood went down quite a bit, as everyone's exam-induced tiredness came out once the sugar-fueled partying was over. Nonetheless, it great to finally spend time with friends. I really want to make friendships more of a priority from now on. These folks are close friends and I hadn't seen many of them in months. That is not acceptable.

As St. Pat's has been approaching I've been thinking a lot about the holiday itself and my own Irish heritage. I'm 1/4 Irish and I know little to nothing about the culture, I'd like to change that. Perhaps when I have a little more free time, this summer maybe, I'll check out some books on Irish history. I've also been thinking of how much of a joke St. Patrick's Day has become in North America. Basically people use it as an excuse to pinch each other, drink beer, and make fools of themselves. That's a slight exaggeration, but not that much of one. So I'd like to get to the bottom of that as well, the meaning of St. Patrick's Day. (Or something like that. The "meaning" is probably something about Christianity and/or masking an old pagan festival, but I'm still curious.)

Fun St. Pat's links: Two pages of cake wrecks with Irish themes. Plus former Irish President Mary Robinson at an international women's conference and faulting the "War on Terror" for eroding human rights standards.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Two childhood favorite films come to mind, both of which had a strong impact on my future interests, and both of which I still consider myself a fan.

My very first favorite movie, and the first film I willingly saw in theaters, was The Lion King. I'm happy to say it still ranks among my favorites, and is one of the choice few Disney movies I can still stomach. I remember seeing the trailer on TV and asking my mom to go see it, which was significant because up until then I disliked movie theaters, possibly because my parents had dragged me to see grownup (boring but not scary) movies when they couldn't get a babysitter. We later bought it on video, and there was a point in my life where I watched it nightly. I never bored of it. I had a Lion King poster, and a large stuffed Simba (which I still have) among other toys. The film jump-started my fascination with wildlife, particularly lions of course, and I think the reason Hamlet became my favorite Shakespeare play has a lot to do with the fact that The Lion King draws from it. In high school I saw the re-release in Imax theaters and discovered that I still cry when Mufasa dies.

( more fan-obsessed ramblings and elementary-school confessions )

Since The Lion King is generally considered to be one of Disney's masterpieces and The Nightmare Before Christmas is now considered to be something of a cult classic, I like to think I had good taste in film as a kid. Either that or I'm blocking out all the crappy movies I liked (to put it in context, I liked Spice World when it came out). Or some combination of both.

A side note: I was reading an article, I think on TV Tropes so it may be a half-truth, but: The Lion King and Pocahantas were made during the same period. Apparently the people working on Pocahantas were considered the "A-Team" of Disney, whereas the the Lion King team was the "B-Team" or whatever. Pocahantas was considered to be the more prestigious project, and expected to be more of a success. Also according to Wikipedia, Elton John thought he was getting the short end of the stick doing music for Lion King. He thought working on "Hakuna Matata" was the low point of his career. Irony!!

Relaxing and trying to get caught up in work without messing things up to royally, ie what I'm usually doing at this time of year. And of course reading blogs voraciously, which may or may not be helping me get any work done. So another link-roundup post, yay! I hope these are interesting to people; if not, feel free to skip this post. The links may seem a little incongruous (I wonder if I should even put them all in the same post) but I want to share some of what I've come across lately:

First, one of the big stories on Democracy Now! today: a Palestinian astrophysicist who's been working at Virgina Tech is reunited with his family after having lost one of his children in the recent conflict (fair warning, major tearjerker). He was interviewed by DN! in January, and as a result of the publicity his family was allowed to leave Gaza. It's a heart-wrenching story, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales seemed close to tears while interviewing him, they're usually pretty stoic considering the kind of issues they cover (you can see a recap of his first interview in the more recent piece). It's remarkable: after everything the father's been through, losing his son and being separated from his family during the conflict, he's not vengeful in any way and calls for a peaceful solution to the conflict. I don't know what else to say but it's an excellent segment (the rest of the broadcast, including a piece on racial disparities in drug-related law enforcement, is also super informative).

Halfway through this lecture on computer games for girls I was thinking "haven't they ever heard of Purple Moon?" before realizing that the video is over 10 years old and this lady is one of the people who created Purple Moon! I loved Secret Paths in the Forest when I was little and it's really interesting to see the research and process that went into the games. I never played any Rockett titles myself (though I had some of the novels that were released, no joke there were novels!) but now I'm thinking about my old plan to buy up out-of-print Purple Moon titles and play them. Because that would just be awesome.

And for your daily dose of cute: Dev Patel and Anne Hathaway getting star-struck and flirty all over each other. I checked and she's 8 years his senior but I'm still kind of rooting for them. It seems a little contrived at points so I almost wonder if their "people" or whoever set it up to get rumors going? Either way, I love it. Skip to 0:38 for the cuteness if you're not big on Clint Eastwood.

Oh, and one more thing. I'm on Twitter now. I tend to be hesitant about joining new social networks because I feel like they're always going in and out of style, or starting out cool and getting taken over by ads. Hence my bitchy beginning at Twitter (no offense intended). But I like the short and quick aspect of it. It's challenging to say something meaningful in so short a post, and I like challenging my own verbosity. So we'll see where it goes, no guarantees.

This is weird. No offense to Plath fans, but if I could have picked my own I would have gone for Emma Goldman. Probably got Plath because I picked the "pen mightier than the sword" philosophy. So what's your Nation-ality?