Second star on the right

Okay, in this time of general blah and meh-ness, shaggydogstail is a genius. She has reminded me why I'm here.

Please play with me, and comment with the names of two characters. I will tell you why character A loves character B. I might answer with a drabble, a quick bit of meta, or a list. Or something entirely new and unexpected. Unlikely.


If you don't play with me, I may well go crazy and/or lose the will to live. *bats eyelashes. Somewhat tragically.*

And also because my reasons for agreeing with the essay I linked in my last post were not clearly articulated*, if you don't already know, and you want to find out more about the legal position in all of this, then...I am not the person to ask. I don't know nearly enough.

As I understand it, if an image depicts a virtual minor in a sexual situation and is held to be obscene, the penalties are the same as if the content in question was child porn. Which is not the same as being guilty of producing child porn. Furthermore, and more importantly, merely producing an image of a virtual minor in a sexual situation is not illegal, because it lacks the necessary obscenity requirement.

Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition is where I started. Title 18,1466A. is also helpful.

As always, there are posts on LJ that will do a pretty awesome job of explaining the whole thing concisely. particularly, giandujakiss and rivkat have good explanations.

I am done. Stick the biggest fork you can find in me. If I talk about this here again, I want someone to beat me.

*(I think Sixa cares more about appearances than the law, and I don't entirely blame them for it, and I think there are any number of people out there right now who would like to regulate LJ in ways we would all hate. About those issues, and the way fandom is perceived by outsiders, I think it was pretty correct.

***

I suppose I should have seen it coming. Everything else they've done has been monumentally stupid, so expecting this to be different was extremely naive.

Let me count the ways in which this post pisses me off.

( cut for length )

I honestly don't know what the answer is. There's no point in going in five or six different directions, and everywhere has its drawbacks, but Sixa either can't or don't want to fix this.

***

The fact that this song is playing really is completely coincidental, but, man, it is awesome. I think I might upload it later tonight. I might start doing that more. Please, please, Sixa, suspend me.

***

ETA: The terible secret of Livejournal is an essay well worth reading. It makes a pretty good argument that Sixa's policies, if not their methods, are perfectly understandable, which is one reason I honestly don't know what we do. There are no easy answers to any of this, not the way the laws are, or the way they seem to be heading.

***

Or is contacting advertisers to tell them LJ won't let people draw underage porn not the best strategy ever? I thought it had been given up as a plan after strikethrough, but apparently not. If I were pepsi, I'd probably be thrilled with this news, even if all of us did inform them that we weren't going to buy another bottle of pepsi ever again, OMG.

Otoh, the incompetence and lack of professionalism exhibited by Sixa staff has reached the point where I can only laugh. And laugh. It is completely baffling. I can only surmise that they are either constantly drunk or high, or they are, in fact, Bush appointees of some description.

***

I now know more than I ever wanted to about obscenity laws, and am not writing. I am going to go for a run, and then seriously do some. Seriously.

Oh, and as jadelennox pointed out, the laws really are sucky, and probably only going to get suckier, so here are the links to The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and ACLU, if you want to check them out.

Man, this is the least fun journal ever. Um, I love this song? I will write porn soon?

***

Sigh. This journal is a little lacking in fun lately, but if I could post yesterday for misuse of a word, then this deserves to be shouted about.

Beating Charges Divide La. Town Along Racial Lines*

Except the headline doesn't actually convey how horrifying this is.

As at hundreds of other high schools across America, black and white students at Jena High School in Jena, La., rarely sit together. The white students gather under a big shade tree in the courtyard, while black students congregate near the auditorium.

But last year, a few days into the first semester, a new student, a freshman African American, asked the principal at an assembly, if he, too, could sit under the tree. He was told he could sit anywhere he liked.

Three white boys on the rodeo team apparently disagreed. The next morning, there were three nooses hanging from the shade tree in the courtyard.

That's how it starts, but it's not how it ends. It ends with six black boys attacking a white boy. The white boy was so badly injured he was able to attend a party hours afterwards. The six black kids? On trial for attempted second-degree murder. One of them has already been convicted. After his court-appointed lawyer offered no defence.

From start to finish, there is a catalog of racism that will blow your mind. Seriously, the whole thing is just disgusting. If you haven't read it already (and from what I can gather, there's a pretty high chance you haven't, because it's getting so little coverage), I urge you to do it now. I did, and I can't actually comprehend it. It's surreal enough to be something from a movie or a book, and it should be something from history.

I am not preaching, but there are some links here, if you want to get involved, or donate cash to help, and an online petition here.

Even if you just want to link, it would be something.

*Thanks to meyerlemon for the link.

ETA: Just a heads up, musesfool has pointed out that it's getting coverage on CBS evening news tonight.

Most, if not all, of you have probably seen this already, so it's not necessary that I post this, but sometimes it's worth doing a thing anyway. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil , etc, etc.

daily_deviant is a Harry Potter comm that posts prompts for challenges. This week's prompt? Miscegenation. If you're not from the US, I honestly believe you might not know how offensive it is for some people. this wikipedia article gives details of what it means, and how completely fucked up all of it is.

Not knowing is fine. Because no one knows everything, right? And we all make mistakes. There's nothing wrong with that; sometimes it's how we learn. I would think that if we're told about those errors, and we have the opportunity to fix them, we would. Apparently, the mods at daily_deviant don't agree.

this post explains more. Apparently, being asked not to use one highly offensive word--not to change the challenge, just to change that one word--was...censorship. Of course it was. Because who doesn't want to hide behind that?

Seriously, I get that fandom is where we come to hang out and have fun, and generally we don't want to deal with all that complicated RL shit. And precisely for that reason, this is just wrong. We're a community, and even when we argue over ships and who said what on page 747, and whether Dean's shirt was blue in the first 5 minutes of episode 2, we're all here because we love something, and because we want to have fun. No group should be made to feel uncomfortable or less welcome, and this is exactly what this does.

There are more links here, and they're all worth a look.

I just came across this on friends friends:

Sex for the motherland: Russian youths encouraged to procreate at camp

Okay, let us be clear. This article isn't actually funny at all (and nor, particularly, is it about sex). It's also The Daily Mail, so I am automatically suspicious, and the author is more certain about our honesty about our past than I am, but what it says about Russia and the current regime is still alarming. However, um:

Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp's mass wedding. "They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must
not happen to Russia"

*dies*

Remember the mammoths! I can't even. Dude. I must find ways of making this my answer to everything.

***

On a totally different note, a transcript of JK's chat this morning

I think it's a pretty interesting chat, and I generally like her, but every now and then I am completely baffled, because she says something like this and seems to entirely go against what her books are meant to say:

J.K. Rowling: The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can’t be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union.

Uh, okay. Not entirely sure what that has to do with how he turned out, but okay.

It is pretty interesting, though, especially if you want more info on what the characters from Harry's generation do. Sadly, no more info on Sirius, though.

***

Man, I am just in a fucker of a mood, alternting between clingy and get the hell away from me, for no good reason I can find (I mean, there are a couple of small things, but I think I'm pissed off about them because I'm pissy, rather than them actually being the reason for me being pissy.)

I had an awesome dinner last night, too, which was both delicious and cheap, and today has, thus far, been really perfectly fine, so I should just stop bitching. Outlook for this happening isn't particularly good, though.

I am mostly not talking to people, and not saying anything that would be either incredibly embarrassing or incredibly bitchy. I hope. Sigh.

***

That said, The Comic Con transcripts are, however, making me very happy (spoilers for season three). Kripke really is hanging around fan sites somewhere, and I really appreciate how much he goes out of his way to reassure us.

And I love that Jensen knows about the car engines, or at least knows more than anyone else. I love that a lot.

Also, ( cut for spoilers for S3 )

Hmm. This has made me feel better. I love this show, people.

***

Can you tell, by the fact that I'm updating to tell you all about the state of my emotional well-being, that I'm meant to be writing? Procrastination is nobody's friend.

Maybe I'll flounce out of fandom forever. That would be an interesting way I haven't tried before of wasting time, and probably get me out of the fic I need to write. It might be fun for you guys, too.

***

So I went to Florida, and obviously I came back, and I really meant to make a post with details of awesomeness (like I want a swimming pool, and the weather was awesome, and the country music was...country music, and I saw a clock which, I swear, had a picture of Jesus on the cross right in the middle of it). And then I didn't quite get around to that.

I would also have told you what I thought of O11 (awesome) and OotP (Oh, Sirius! though I still don't think they are the kind of books that necessarily make good films), but I didn't do that either.

What I will now do is say happy birthday to shaggydogstail, because I've just realised I missed it. Sorry. I hope you had a good day.

And now for recs of awesomeness.

inksheddings wrote the most glorious SPN/HP crossover. If you haven't read it--and well, why not--I won't spoil it, because it's much better not to know, imo, but it is hilarious and the voices for both fandoms are absolutely perfect. inksheddings is attempting to blame me for it, and let me tell you, I am more than happy to take responsibility.

Also, because I continue to be incredibly lucky, musesfool wrote me seriously gorgeous Sam/Dean schmoop. Guys, the summary of this story is five ways Sam knows Dean loves him. There is no way this could not be awesome, but it's schmoopy without sacrificing characterisation, and all the hard parts of their lives are still there, which, for me, just makes the happiness they do find even better. Oh, boys.

And while you're over there, may I also recommend reading The Trouble with You Is the Trouble with Me? Which is also, interestingly enough, beautiful Sam/Dean schmoop. It's getting harder and harder for you to pretend you don't have crazy OTP tendencies, Ms P.. I'm just saying. But seriously, it's a lovely story, lyrical and with a Dean voice that I adore.

***

Man, I need to write my harlequin fic. Seriously. I spent the morning answering comments and looking for my bank card, which I put down the other night and which then disappeared, only to turn up under my bed. And yay! for actually being able to go for dinner now, but...now I'm actually going to go for dinner. This means even less writing time. The degree to which I'm going to die is no longer funny. I hate you all.

Title: Sixes and Sevens and Nines
Wordcount: 2,976
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Summary: "I am totally going to turn this game around," Sam says. "I thought you should know."

Notes: Thanks to musesfool for the beta. Title taken from Tumbling Dice.

For esorlehcar. Apparently, I am incapable of finishing birthday fics on time, but happy birthday!

***

( Sixes and Sevens and Nines )

***

Two, three, four things about DH. I swear, it started out as two. Much of this could also be called, "Why reading outside your flist is bad."

( Spoilers, of course )

I'm not sure how I have managed to be finished for so long and not actually update, but finally, my reaction to DH.


The short version is I loved it.

( cut for many spoilers )

Now I will possibly go to bed, because my sleeping habits could do with not being screwy for at least a day or two.

DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE READ TO AT LEAST PAGE 82. I REPEAT, DO NOT READ.

( Spoilers obv for DH )

I'm totally going to bed.

I have, right beside me, a copy of the book. I was excited, though mostly I thought it was incredibly weird that it was finally finishing, but now I can't wait to read it. It's still weird, though.

What else is weird, and also sort of ridiculous, is that I have Remus/Sirius fic that no one will want to read right now. But I wanted to write it today, so I did, and it'll probably be completely irrelevant tomorrow, so here it is.

See you all in a bit. Have fun!

***

The Hopeless Belief That You're Flying Not Falling, 2,220 words, Remus/Sirius.
"I knew I wasn't dead," Sirius says.

For musesfool, in lieu of actual birthday porn. Thank you for the prompt and the beta. Title from Tom McRae.

***

( The Hopeless Belief That You're Flying Not Falling )

**

I am heading out the door (possibly into a storm of epic proportions, I don't know), but I had to post on this highly momentous day.

Happy birthday musesfool! I am incredibly glad I know you, and you are awesome in many, many ways, completely separate from your porn writing and all the craziness you put up with from me. It could be a whole other list, actually, and you know how I love making you those.

You're funny and smart and distracting as all hell; you bring all the best squee, and you always listen when I want to rant and bitch and whine (not that I would). You brought fulgurites into my life, to say nothing of Tom McRae, or, in fact, Dean and Sam. I would also say you were thoughtful and generous and kind, but I know you have a reputation to keep up, so I won't. She totally is. You are an awesome writer, and an awesome beta, and an even better friend, and if you ever leave me, I will totally hunt you down.

I hope you're having a wonderful day. You deserve a whole year of them. And there will be fic when I get back.

*hugs*

It is that time of year, ladies and gentlemen, for family bonding. To which end, I will be in Florida for the next two weeks. I'll be bringing the laptop, so I will have internet at least a couple of times (more if some awesome person has wireless I can mooch), but if any of you write or see anything you think I would like, then let me know, please? Pretty pretty please?

And now, I should probably go to bed. Be good while I'm gone, you hear? Don't break fandom or the internet, and remember, porn is your friend.

*smooches*

Okay, because musesfool is awesome in ways that defy description, she has written me truly lovely Dean/Sam schmoop, the awesomeness of which also defies description. You should all go read it--like, right this minute--and see for yourselves.

For Thine Is the Kingdom --Sam isn't sure what changed or when, or maybe it's that nothing's changed at all, but he can just see it more clearly now, has the perspective of distance and time to show him that it's always been there, drawing them together even when he was trying his hardest to pull them apart.

It's hot and hopeful, without ever losing what makes them Sam and Dean, and it has an awesome build up, and an ending that makes me stupidly happy. Also, the middle kind of owns me. Not to mention that it has determined!Sam, which is one of my favourite things, as I may have possibly alluded to now and then.

Thank you again, sweetheart. I think maybe I owe you some porn now. Some more porn, if you want to get technical, although I know you really don't.

Okay, I didn't post about this last night, because I couldn't really decide, and now I've thought about it, and well...it wasn't the best fifty minutes of television ever, was it?

( Spoilers for The Last of the Timelords )

***

I saw Shrek last night, too, which was all right, though not nearly as good as the first. More excitingly, I saw the OotP trailer (I think I had a dream about it last night, where the whole film was basically just really bad porn), and I naturally said, "Oh, Sirius," a lot. And then the Stardust trailer, which looks absolutely awesome.

Now maybe I will write. Or go out for dinner, instead. It's still under discussion.

When you see this on your flist, quote Doctor Who.

"no! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna rescue her. I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then I'm gonna save the earth,
and then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last, stinking dalek out of the sky."

"But you have no weapons. No defences. No plan!"

"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death?"

There should also be honourable mention for:

"If I believe in one thing, I believe in her."

I haven't actually been talking about Doctor Who this time around, mostly because I kept missing the episodes, but I am avoiding capslock flailing only with great willpower at the moment. Half an Hour!

I am also now finding it very tempting to look at spoilers, in a way that I haven't all week. I will not cave now, however. I really will not.

***

Also, I posted some, um, gen fic last night at the very awesome spnflashfic, which, if you haven't already checked it out, you totally should. And then write fic for it. *nod*

The Road Goes Ever On and On , 1,300 words. Sam turns twenty-five on a Friday, and Dean's still here.

I had to cut part of this because it didn't fit, but there is something in here that makes me incredibly happy, and I love it. And I very rarely say that about anything I write, at least so soon after finishing.

***

Now for food, and then tV, and then maybe the cinema. Or something.

***

And, okay, according to my brother, someone just tried to crash a burning car into Glasgow Airport. Jesus fucking Christ. The world can stop being crazy any time it wants now.

Title:An Instant's Width of Warmth Disclosed
Author: luzdeestrellas
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Rating: Adult
Word count: 3,041
Summary: Sam's frozen. Dean has to warm him up.

Notes: Thanks to javajunkie13 and merryish for not mocking my unrepentant schmoop the encouragement and handholding, and to musesfool for the beta and general awesomeness. Title from Emily Dickinson.

ETA: Because I am an idiot, I forgot to say that sevenfists and her post of awesome Sam love is entirely the reason for this fic. You should all blame her for the schmoop levels.

***

( Dean draped Sam's arm over his shoulder and practically carried him the ten feet to the car )

***

Feedback is adored.

And this gets its own separate post, so it isn't in with all my waffling.

Happy birthday, destina! I really hope you have an awesome day. You absolutely deserve it.

And I didn't realise it was your birthday so soon. So now I guess you're owed two ficlets, huh?

I had the most awesome freak-out last night. Seriously, it was quite legendary, and if I ever wrong musesfool in any way whatsoever, she will probably post it for public consumption and be all, "She is crazy! I told you she was crazy!"

Though, in summation, so you can understand what she had to suffer, it went a bit like this:

Vic: "I am writing porn. Hot, awesome porn."
Me: "WE HAVE ENTERED A TIME OF BLACK DESPAIR AND ANGST! EVERYTHING IS RUINED! I HAVE GIVEN UP PORN FOREVER!"

I...am only slightly exaggerating. Possibly, not even at all. I blame hormones. Either that, or I'm just so tired now that it's all become pleasantly numb, and later, it will turn out I really am still a lunatic.

But now, my moment of Zen.

( spoilers for that SPN thing )

In conclusion part the second, musesfool is awesome. I don't know how you put up with me, sweetheart, but I'm glad you do. Don't ever leave me!

Uh...guys? Anyone read the SPN spoiler going around? Thoughts?

I have perspective, you know. I do.

I hate being this attached to a show.

You know who I love? Tom McRae, that is who. So awesome and talented and funny. Really, I know how good he is, and I am still always blown away by it, because his performances are always incredible--even tonight, when he had manflu.

There wasn't a full band, just Tom, Oli (I love him, too, and I kind of think if I were actually into RPF, I'd be the girl writing the really obscure Oli/Tom. When I wasn't writing the Jared/Jensen. Ahem), and keyboard Olli. I really like the full band, but I think maybe I prefer it when his songs are stripped down and acoustic; his songs really suit it, I think.

He had this awesome moment where he was like, "Apparently, I've made a pop album. The Sun says I'm dumbing down." And then there was this irony-filled pause. "I have nowhere else to go from here." Sigh. I love how snarky and judgmental he is. I also love that he generally does seem to enjoy playing here, and likes to tell us how amazing we are.

Anyway, set list, replete with pointless asides from me:

( cut for those of you who don't care. )

***

The trouble with never having really good weather is that when it happens, there is never any AC. I thought I might actually die. Or, you know, something less dramatic. I did consume about three pints of orange juice. However, I had dinner outside for the second night running, and that is probably never getting old. Apparently, the weather isn't going to hold, but I am going to try and force it with the power of my mind.

I had something else to say, but now I don't know what.

I have a t-shirt. Actually, we both do, which wasn't really the plan. By the end we'd changed our minds, 'cause we figure he needs all the help he can get, and it is pretty cool. Grey, with the album cover.

Also, Steve Reynolds broke his collarbone, and still played. Possibly a little out of it on painkillers, and possibly there were tears over...something, I'm not quite sure what, but still, kudos for doing that.

Once more with feeling: blah blah blah. Writing responsibly is apparently this week's issue. And my sensible policy of keeping my mouth shut has apparently been lost somewhere.

( Cut, though for once, I'm not all that wordy. )

***

And now I'm late. Awesome!

1. It is finally nice enough to qualify for summer. This pleases me a lot. I will sit outside and edit, and listen to music, and it will generally be awesome.

2. I have written the worst story the world has ever seen. I say this a lot, as musesfool could tell you, and most of the time it's that I can't objectively judge at all so soon after finishing. But this time? This time I think I might actually have done it. Oh dear god.

3. On the chance that you haven't already read it, this very awesome post says pretty much everything I think about Dean and his relationship with women. musesfool just said it in fewer words and more coherently than I would've, if I'd had to make it.

Title: We Are Here and It Is Now
Author: luzdeestrellas
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Rating: adult
Wordcount: 2,122
Summary: Sam listens, every time like it's the first time he's heard it, like he used to listen to the bedtime stories Dean would tell him.
Notes: Thanks, as always, to musesfool for the beta. Title from H. L. Mencken.

***

( June slides away, like a slowly drawn curtain )

***

Feedback is very much appreciated.

Or something.

I have been for coffee, which turned into an awesome cheeseburger, possibly with magical powers of achieving Nirvana, and I am back, and...

Okay, this whole LJ thing is kind of fascinating, especially if you can separate out the personal aspects, because, for serious, you could not make this shit up. And obviously it's still annoying, yadda yadda yadda, but, well, I'm easily distracted. And now I'm bored. The world ain't gonna end tomorrow. Probably not even the day after that. So, in celebration, or protest, or whatever, if anyone wants, feel free to leave a prompt with two characters, and possibly I will tell you how they first kissed, or I will write you a pornlet, which ever you would prefer. Any of my fandoms--SPN, O11, FNL, HP, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, I am easy.

They will probably be written on Friday, since I have other things to finish before then. *whimper*

***

Also, apropos of nothing, except I thought I'd talk about something else, did I mention I went to see Pirates? In shock news, I did not particularly like it. It's really weird, because in fandom, most people I know seemed to really enjoy it, and outside of that, almost everyone I know hated it, and I know some huge Johnny Depp fans in rl. It's very odd. But, yeah, it felt too long, and just...there were times it didn't even feel like a film, so much as a spoof. Meh. Mileage, it varies.

Anyway, that is all. I am going back to thinking about all the frightful things I'm sure many people would rather I didn't. Porn, baby!

***

ETA: Um... this news article on the whole thing is kind of ruining my calm. Oh, LJ, Was it a decision based on legal grounds, about which you had no discretion, or wasn't it? Enquiring minds want to know.

And while we're at it, could you have a more screwed up method of communicating with your customers?

Quick heads up: fiction DOES NOT equal reality. Shocking, isn't it?

Okay, guys, should it come to it, I am luzdeestrellas on GJ. Hopefully it won't come to that, but, well, I spent a lot of the weekend, even while I was backing up, being all, "it wouldn't make sense for them to do this," and we all know how that worked out.

If I said everything I wanted to on this subject, I'd still be here on Friday, so I won't. It's moronic and self-defeating, and someone, somewhere, needs to be taken out back and beataen.*

After a lot of ranting, I am leaning towards the view that it isn't *actually* LJ's fault, because they're only doing what they have to if it's reported to them, except...if that's the case, I'm not sure any account with an illegal interest should be allowed. I get that there might be legal reasons why that isn't so (the CDA safe harbour thing, which I do not know enough about to speak to), but I'm not entirely sure how they can delete purely based on user interest, which they obviously have the power to search by, and then leave some accounts with that interest. I would think that's willfully closing your eyes, and I'm not sure how they could get away with that, not if they're honestly trying to claim that merely having the interest is tantamount to "coordinating, soliciting, and participating in" illegal activity. I call so much bullshit on that, anyway. Someone needs to be checking their definitions, methinks.

It also seems to me that the journal can express an interest in the activity, provided that the activity is condemned, so it's only the profile that's the problem. Um...okay, stupid much? And also showing the people they actually want to catch exactly how to avoid being caught? Why yes, I do believe it does do that.

And, in fact, suspending accounts without warning, in complete contrast to what the FAQ states, is also ridiculous. So, yeah, still a little ranty at LJ.

I am more ranty about the stupidity of people who can't tell the difference between thought and action, and I just. There's nothing we can do about that, which is the most annoying thing.

I don't know.

If it really is only morons for innocence behind it, then maybe, fingers crossed, from here on out, we might be able to fly under the radar. I mean, sure, it might involve modifying interests, and I am not suggesting for a second that this hasn't been horrible for the people involved--god, I'm not--but it is perhaps not going to spread much farther., It's gone far enough, though, and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable. And angry. Not to mention that I'm not actually convinced we're done yet. Sigh.

*Please don't delete me for saying that, 'kay? I do not encourage the taking outside and beating up of idiots. Mostly.

So, I've been thinking about AHBL Part 2, or specifically, Dean's part in it, and, cobbled together from comments on dotfic's post, and emails with musesfool, this is finally what I've got. Possibly a little rambly, because some of this is still me thinking out loud, and as much to get my own thoughts in order as anything else.

( spoilers, obviously for both AHBL 1 and 2 )