Wake the Sun

* Princess Project update - I've resolved Al, Jasmine, and Genie's backstory to my satisfaction, done a ton more research, and am in the process of plotting the overall arc and individual 'episodes.'

I've... also turned Pride Rock into a gay/queer club (with Zazu and Timon as rival drag queens ((Zazu is also the manager)), Nala as assistant manager and occasional bartender, and Simba ((pansexual and fiercely in love with Nala)) as the too-young owner with a vision. Chicha ((Emperor's New Groove)) djs there on Saturday nights). It was originally set dressing for a Rex/Hernando side story I was entertaining myself with, but at this point it's so developed I might as well use it in the main piece.

wishfulclicking, I'm so sorry, this probably isn't what you had in mind when you asked if the Lion King was going to be included.

* I'm rewatching Buffy - currently halfway through season 2 and mostly enjoying the heck out of it (aside from the race!fail and culture!fail and lookwe'retalkingaboutrapecanwehaveacookienow!fail). The last (and first) time I watched it was my freshman year in college - I had a friend who told me 'wait until you get to the fourth season - there's somethings that happen with Willow that I really think you'll relate to' - thus continuing the 'everyone knew I was queer before I did*' trend.

* There was a football game last night! I won't talk about who won because zanzando might not have seen it yet, but. There's always the commercials. Which were, for the most part, really terrible. Really, really terrible, and misogynistic, and buffoonish. To counter that you can see the Planned Parenthood response to Focus on the Family's spot here, Racebending.com's response to The Last Airbender's spot here, and rm talks about one of her favorite ads of Superbowls past over on her linkspam.

* My personal favorite Superbowl ad (I'm admittedly biased on a number of fronts):



* Another ad (not Superbowl related), totally unexpected and beautiful:



* And today's music video of choice:



* or what felt like everyone. To be fair, nepenthe totally didn't know, she just laughed for a long time when I came out and then was very supportive.

* I am sick, but not sick enough to stay home from work. This is the worst kind of sick (you know. of the petty illnesses. it is not as bad as being sick sick).

* On upside, I was also not too sick to go on a date last night. It went well!

* Holy cheese but the energy bill is high this month. Have we really been running the heater that much?

* I've been watching TEDtalks on my ipod on the ride to work (I <3 my ipod) - Ryan Lobo: Photographing the hidden story was especially good.

* The more I think about it (and listen to his recent podcasts), the more I think I should take Dan Savage off my top 10 favorite internet people I don't actually know list. I like the frank way he talks about sex and relationships, but the guy has some seriously unexamined male privilege going on.

* I'm doing research for the PRINCESS project (which, seriously, needs a better codename) and could use some assistance ( finding articles/blogs on North Africa (Jasmine), Chinese-american communities (Mulan), street culture in NY and DC (Aladdin), etc. ) Ahaha, and this is just the tip of the research iceberg (also looking into: the FBI, Library of Congress, DC police department, Latin (cimorene, did we decide where Blanca was from?) cinema, LP activist groups, the diplomatic community in DC, professional investigators, opera, organized crime, and on and on).

* And a meme, ganked from poisonivory: Ask me one fandom-related question in the comments. This can be fandom specific, general, or about fandom/lj stuff/fic writing/etc. in general. Favorite character, favorite moment, unpopular opinion, something about a fic of mine... whatever. Wackiness encouraged.

I should be working on my Yuletide letter (or, you know. working). Instead, I'm reading a ton of ST:Reboot fanfic and mentally rolling around in Neal/Peter/Elizabeth White Collar glee. I've never had an OT3 before, it's so *shiny*.

Which tangentially relates to the unfortunate amount of time I spent on the bus this morning, musing on the Aladdin/Jasmine/Genie dynamics in the Disney Princess cop show AU I'm not writing.

So this post isn't a *total* waste of time, here are some TED talks y'all should check out:

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story: Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty: Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing.

Pretty sure I got both of these from the_future_modernes.

Oh! And copperbadge is hosting a Job Fair over on his LJ - I'd recommend heading over even if you're not looking for work, see if there's advice you could offer.