Life on Queen Street

So, it's -22 Celsius (-8 F) out there today and that's before you figure in the wind-chill. Everyone is bundled up to their nose (I'm wearing fishnet stockings under jeans because I had foolishly let my ownership of a pair of long-johns lapse) and the layers of hats and scarves and hoods narrows our vision and the cold turns our thoughts inward as toes and fingers turn painfully numb. Add an iPod or cellphone and the solipcism is complete, turning streetcars into discrete jostling entities, an archipelago of humanity - St. Thomas Moore never commuted to work on public transit in Toronto in January.

So, it is possible that I did not hear correctly when the sextegenarian man came up to me on the bus as I was pulling the bellcord for the next stop. Perhaps his tone was not as snotty as I thought when he said "I can't get past with you standing in the aisle with your bag in the way." Perhaps he was not the entitled fucking asshole who couldn't wait the 1.2 seconds for me to finish straightening and turn so that I was not standing in the way any longer that I thought he was. Possibly mouthing those sentiments as I made my way past the startled old lady to the front of the bus was inappropriate. Flipping him the bird from the sidewalk as I left the bus was definitely ill-bred.

Then again... it's January - everyone has bags and seven layers of coats and the relative agility of the Michelin Man. He could wait for a second or try "excuse me" before rolling out his castigating little lecture - dicknose fucktard shitbird...

"Canada on Strike" in which Canada plays the WGA.

One third of the way through, I'm still waiting for the funny. I mean the song was funny but... yeah, not so much.

*sigh*

Three thirds of the way in and still not funny. Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn't like the writers' strike. Yeah, I got the message after the first 4 minutes.

eta: if there's no money to be made on the Internet, why have Matt Stone and Trey Parker made all 12 seasons of South Park available online on an ad-supported FLV site? At first, I was just disappointed in a crap episode. Now I'm pissed off at the hypocrisy of two guys who run a non-union shop (animation is not covered under WGA/AMPTP contracts) pissing on the union. I have adjusted my icon accordingly.

Were I to begin this post by exhorting Lord Black to maintain a firm grip on his soap while performing his ablutions when finally domiciled in the penal institution of the court's choosing... Then again.

The Oxford English Dictionary, that never-emptying font of wisdom, describes hubris as "presumption, originally towards the gods; pride, excessive self-confidence" and, as of Monday, also Conrad Black.

I am amused that a man who takes such a manifestly banal and loquaciously prolix delight in his own linguistic dexterity should prove so completely oblivious to the role his own behaviour has played in his downfall. Indeed, it delights me. That he should face his own legal travail while finishing an autobiography of Richard Nixon and fail to see the parallels between them or garner a single lesson from perhaps the greatest fall from grace of the 20th century is almost one irony too many, it threatens to overwhelm the spiritual palate with the richness of the schadenfreude there evoked.

Then again, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

So, Hollywood Studio Head Fails to Do Job Properly, Blames the EVOL WIMMENS.

To which I say... You don't want to see scripts featuring women characters in lead roles, I don't want to give Warner Bros Studios my money.

Fuck y'all, I have Bittorrent and I live in Canada. Warner Bros Studios can kiss my ass.

Things That Made Me Cry Today:

· watching Jessye Norman dressed in le (?) drapeau tricolore singing La Marseillaise

· Land of Hope and Glory from the Last Night of the Proms album I bought from iTunes

· Jerusalem because it reminds me of my grandparents, Kit and Les, and it's just so beautiful and meant.

Things That Didn't Make Me Cry Today:

· the ass who I told to leave the driver alone on the streetcar this evening and, after I told him to take his own advice (he'd told me to be quiet) since I didn't want to listen to him, offered this riposte: "Well we have to listen to you eat, fatty."

Seriously?

Seriously?!

"Fatty" - that's the best your easily 30 pounds overweight, sweatpants and "Beerpal.com" t-shirt-wearing, platic bag and Two/Four-carting, 'I don't have the smarts to get directions before I leave but I will be an ass to the conductor because she doesn't know the way to buddy's house" ass could come up with: "fatty"?

My God.

I am stricken, stricken - I do not know how I shall ever manage to carry on, so mortally wounded as I am by your deadly wit! *swoons*

Or, y'know, not.

To paraphrase Churchill, tomorrow I'll be thinner but you'll still be a rude, mannerless jackass - only not as smart because your average jackass can, at least, find his way back to his stall at the end of the day.

Alas, since I'm posting about this, I can't claim to be completely unaffected after being insulted by such a specimen of Toronto manhood, but I'm kind of pleased with myself because my reaction was largely to be bemused: "we have to listen to you eat, fatty." Seriously? It was like I was suddenly transported back to grade 7/8 [aka junior high] - Oh, Noez, You Called Me Fat; I Must Go And Die of Shame Nowz - only completely different because, not being 14, I didn't quail and crumble inside, open up a psychic vein or anything else. Instead, it was like I showed up for a duel only to have the other guy pull a wiffle bat instead of a broadsword - you think you're going to hurt me with that? Seriously?

Dude, my dad's more verbally abusive saying goodnight after a family party (that was Thursday night, btw - and people wonder why I avoid men). Not to mention, people who wear droopy-ass track pants in public should not be casting no nasturtiums on the appearance of others.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel good and strong this evening, like I discovered that someone had filled in a chink in my armour while I wasn't looking. I was fat as a teenager and I'm fat as an adult (shocker) and it's something I struggle with, particularly in terms of self-confidence and self-esteem. I'd still rather have a body like Katee Sackhoff and I still have a lot of issues related to my appearance that leave me, at best, ambivalent about doing the work and committing to the healthier lifestyle that would bring me closer to that personal ideal. I'm not a happy fat person (I'm actually kind of a frustrated fat person since most of the things I want to do my weight makes more difficult) but I refuse to give in to the people and the prejudices that consider the breadth of my ass the most important signifier of my personal worth. And as long as losing weight seems to be giving into that segment of our culture, there's a very large part of my psyche standing there screaming "FUCK YOU, I'll lose weight when you stop being a vapid, fatuous, shallow fucktard" and giving moral heft to the part of me that would rather go home, take a bath and read a novel after a day at the office than hit the gym. But in spite of all that, I'm stronger and happier and more settled in my self and more confident today than I was before.

So, I guess maybe I'm a little grateful to Mr. Droopy-Drawers for showing me how far I've come because, yeah, I'm fat. But you're still an asshole.

On the whole, I think I'd rather be fat.

And why I'm bothering, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, one more time, repeat after me:

Characters in original works are not and can not be considered
"Mary Sues".

Anyone who says otherwise has no fucking idea what they're talking about and therefore are disqualified from participating in any further conversation.

Furthermore, Wesley Crusher is not a valid example of a "Mary Sue" in an original work: Star Trek: The Next Generation is itself a derivative work (which means that WC may be, in fact, a "Mary Sue". This point, however, is not germane at the moment).

To anyone who argues that Starbuck or Elizabeth Swann or whoever is a "Mary Sue" because the character is, in your opinion, flawless, always right, always wins, *cough*a female hero or POV character*cough* - not, of course, that misogyny has anything to do with this discussion (Although note we're discussing "Mary Sues") - I have a single question: Is Superman a "Mary Sue"? Is Batman? What about Luke Skywalker? Aragorn?

And if Starbuck is a "Mary Sue", what the fuck does that make Captain Kirk?

Assholes.

Colin Lindford is a ginormous asshole.

All right, who's for setting up a Canadian Women's Soccer Association since the asshat in chief appears to be clueless. I swear to God, the biggest hurdled facing International-level soccer in this country is the Canadian Soccer Association. They're a giant bunch of misogynist expats with their heads stuck so far up their asses they can see 1974 from there.

Grrrr. Arrrgh.

Commentary from a former Canadian Women's International here. Not surprisingly, the Yanks give their women's side $10 million compared to $150,000 for the Canucks. Seriously, that's pathetic. Seriously.

electricland wins today's 'which news story is most irritating' contest by a factor of blindingly solipsistic idiot to pack of flaming misogynist assholes.

"I'm the commander guy."

Seriously?

Seriously?!

1) The sewage she is gone from my bathroom. Alas, I still have to clean it, my rugs, my bath buddy, my slippers and, oh, heck - just about all my laundry and most of the rest of the apartment. Boo. Sucks.

2) The only thing worse than turning on your TV to discover another school massacre is to to turn on your TV to discover another pointless discussion of the gun registry. Yes, how terrible awful that people should have to inform the government that they own a gun. I mean it's not like we licence cars or anything. How about this, when I rule the universe, I'm taking all your guns away and then you'll really have something to complain about, eh? Until then just STFU.

3) Mike Duffy? Seriously - you're so on my "Shovels and Stakes" list. There should be some sort of law against that degree of pompous gasbaggery perpetrated on TV by somone who's not Rex Murphy.

4) Veronica Mars fandom and Superhero comic books - I love VM and I love Batman but about 84.69 per cent of VM "fandom" and the fanboy/creator circle jerk that is the Big Two these days makes me yearn for a cattleprod and an airlock to call my own.
   - Note that this doesn't stop me from a) haning around VM fandom or b) reading comics because that would be...
     oh, I don't know... smart?

5) Oh, BBC - Doctor Who, Torchwood and Life on Mars: if it weren't for you, I'd be forced to go read a book and then I'd be really difficult to get along with.

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On a different subject entirely, as much as I love Batgirl in all her variations, this is just not right.

Also, Fafblog just blomitted about 30 entries from 2006 on my friends' page - dude, it's not cool to spam the flist.

Canada to Ernst Zundel - Fuck you, Charlie.