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TV & Media.

First of all, click this to get a scary look at exactly how much photos are tampered with before they're put on the covers of magazines. It's an animated gif, I don't recognize the woman in the photo but gods, they've changed her a ton.

Secondly, being at home without Internet has resulted in me watching more TV along with my sewing projects, and I've yet again managed to get myself hooked on stuff that hardly anyone else watches!

1. Help! I'm A Teenage Outlaw!

This airs at 11:30PM on Nick and features a twelve-year-old who found out that his mother was a highwaywoman before she dies, and now needs to carry on the family tradition. It's set in 1643, and his sidekicks are Lady Devereux (a name I've always loved) disguised as a fellow peasant called Deedee and Moses, a ten-year-old inventing genius. Deedee is actually the smartest of the lot, and although there's only one season of this show, it's funny and easy enough to follow. Kinda like Big Wolf on Campus, except cuter.

2. Boston Legal

I've only seen one ep of this show but in that one ep, there were two heterosexual men that have sleepovers, a kickass African female lawyer, an old kickass woman lawyer that's the boss of an incompetent African laywer and white lawyer, and a female judge. Talk about diversity and a good way to yank in Fans of Color (FoC).

3. Monk

Okay, this I got into last night, because of Numa. She sat down and watched two and a half eps with me, and the best way to get me into a show, any show at all, is to watch it with me. If you can explain it to me and be there to chat to, then I'm more likely to pay atttention to the show. In this case, it was funny enough that I think it's worth watching some more of. I know that someone else on my flist also mentioned it to me once, but I can't think whom, unfortunately.

The mention of Fans of Color made me think about the music I liked -- I've attended three concerts in Boston so far (Flogging Molly, Placebo and Placebo again) and both times, I was the only South Asian there. Not just the only South Asian girl, but the only South Asian, full stop. Sum 41 has a South Asian guy on drums, I think, and Damage has a Sri Lankan lead singer but apart from that, the music scene that I'm aware of seems to be split mostly between white and black, with J-Pop and J-Rock also starting to creep in. I mean, punk is angry lower middle class or upper-middle-class-pretending-to-be-lower, punk rock and pop punk are mostly the same. Hip-hop, rap and R'n'B tend to be black-dominated, and I have no idea about hardcore but from what I've seen from what Savior's shown me, that's white-dominated.

Good thing I ID myself more by my gender than by my race, huh?

Oh, and I found out what AS/S stands for. *dies*

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Hm, well, bear in mind that I only watched two eps and a half. It was also a little hard for me to focus on her because I kept thinking "Sharon!" instead of "Natalie!". I did think that it was sweet how she was so protective of Monk during the talk show, though, and that she was being really patient with him, all things considered. So quite cool.

INSANE! (Well, she doesn't like the mohawk either. XD But thank you. Oddly enough, that did make me feel better though now I'm cringing a little and wondering if maybe I should go sign up for the gym even though I'm dead exhausted after work. And my co-worker doesn't read, doesn't know about Tibet or British colonies, so I think she's an idiot, personally. And I'd rather be smart and a size ten than be dumb and a size six, if it comes down to it. But I have no idea how anyone can consider it friendly to shred someone else's self-esteem by offering totally unasked for opinions on their weight -- I just showed her some old photos of me because she wanted to see what I looked like with medium length hair, and how my hair looks has nothing to do with my weight, damnit! And hah. Full body paper bag dress, like the Paper Bag Princess? I used to love that story as a kid.)

Ay-yiy-yi-yi-yi. Maybe they're just clever and it has nothing to do with being Asian? Maybe -- *gasp* -- they have a sense of humor and because they have similiar tastes in what they find funny, they hang together? Is that so hard to believe?! And what the hell, Asian skin is an Asian SUIT? Does she have any idea what a storm she'd kick up if she said 'black suit' when refering to black people? SERIOUSLY?!

My best friends have been American-Swiss-Austrian, Australian-British, Russian, British-German-Austria and Bengali. Nice mix there. Mongrel pride? The Other, for Sri Lankans with proper patriotism, is usually Tamils, thanks to the Civil War. I'm not sure what my personal Other is, assuming I have one, so it's the same question as you -- except I know that I'm the Other to racist Austrians, from experience, and you might be the Other to anyone against racial blending?

Natalie to me is defined by the fact that she's way less protective and competent feeling than the last one. Or, the last one was less perky and friendly, but Natalie's been all "Come onnnnnnnn, Mr. Monk, you have to! I have [x] that I have to do! You'll be fine on your own! *bolts!* *cue scene of a distraught Monk wailing "NATALIEEEEE! NATALIEEEEE!" and being helpless* *cue! zany! misadventure!*" where the last one seemed way more capable and aggressive and proactive with him. Sharona was more the "tough broad" stereotype, Natalie was more the "sweet little lady" stereotype. Both were blonde single mothers, iirc.

(Again, our culture is a strange one. Isn't size ten completely normal and fine, though? I mean I'm skewed because even Angelina Jolie gets amazingly unattractive to me when she's gone size waytoofuckingskinnyIdon'tlikelookingatyourbones, I don't know what's supposed to be "normal" and where "pretty" becomes "gaunt" anymore, but man. I'd way rather see people like you who don't tear their own self-esteem to shreds every time they look in a mirror and actually require idiots to intervene and tell them they should be embarrassed of how they look. Way better to realise they're idiots and occasionally feel like shit because of it than go through life telling yourself you're hideous.)

The "Asian suit" still kills me. It's so unbelievable, double-take inducing. I kind of love it because the fact that that kind of stupid exists, and in NYC of all places. Man.

That's the one thing I love about American maybe more than anything else, is our sheer number of "mongrel" people, whether it's interracial mixing or just intercultural. I doubt I qualify as mixed enough someone against miscegenation would correctly identify me as anathema without being told (but who knows, maybe I'm a sucky judge, I don't quiz nearly enough people to know who I look mixed to and who assumes I'm just a funny looking [whatever I'm pegged as]) but I guess that's an other. As bigots go I think I'd get hit so hard for not being straight they'd forget to do a bloodline check or measure if my eyes were too slanty.

Ahhh. Okay, then. And it seems a little excessive to have Beecher locked up in such a scary prison if all he did was accidentally run over some kids. *somewhat intrigued by this show but still unsure about the male nudity* Is it full-frontal and lingering or just kind of flashes?

I think JoJ is pretty and oh, okay, Dresden Dolls I know. I wouldn't call her pretty, but yeah, trying for it and definitely striking, again.

I only found out about them yesterday, from Numa, but the lead singer's a lesbian who's friends with Kate Moss. And common means that I've never seen it IRL. Only in Velvet Goldmine, Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire, Billy Elliot and that's it, I think.

Ewwwww at the idea of being spit on!

Uh. I mean that crossdressing guys AREN'T common in the sense that I've never personally seen anyone do it. XD

Yeah, and that's a plot-point later on (his judge comes back to him in tears to apologize for giving him an overharsh sentence, given he's been raped, tortured, had all his limbs broken, survived a riot, gotten hooked on heroin, killed people, etc. etc. etc. etc. all for just driving drunk and managing to hit a girl on a bike) but that's his first season character concept; weak and emotional AA lawyer from Important Family gets chucked into maximum security with crazy Nazis and it's completely out of depth. I'm rewatching the pilot now to see how early into the show the nudity shows up and how frequent. People get thrown in the hole naked at least once an episode, but most of those aren't full-frontal shots and with the exception of Keller (who doesn't show up for a season anyway, coinciding with the increase in floppy full-frontal shots) they're not typically long shots either.

They're too stereotypically goth. And what a shot for your resume. "I'm a lesbian who's friends with Kate Moss." I'm talking in reference to the music scene; effeminate guys in a band? Whoa, stunner! It's so typical and socially acceptable (within the scene itself if not elsewhere) that I can't see it as progressive almost half a century after the fact.

Never go see GWAR. For many reasons, but not wanting to be soaked in bodily fluids, artificial and otherwise, is a big one.

I haven't seen the girl before, so I can't compare the two of them, I'm afraid. But there was one ep where she got impatient with Monk for not picking up her cellphone when she was expecting a date, and another where she got really nail-biting-angry over Monk being shredded on a talk show. I don't particularly like how obvious they make it who the bad guy is on Monk, though. A little mystery is fun.

(Size eight is the max for a model, size fourteen is the average American size, and -2 is the best size, supposedly. Size 0 is what most models want to be. And yeah, I'm usually fine with my body and my face, but constant nagging from my mother and comments on how thin she was when she got married are kinda annoying. And my coworker's comments just came straight out of the blue and really kind of shocked me into 'bzuah, what the hell, how is this her business?!' defensiveness.)

Asian suit. MAN. Was she wearing her stupid suit when she typed that? I can't BELIEVE anyone would still write that, though it makes me think of someone going Wapanese-psycho and skinning an East Asian person to try to fit in better.

Your eyes slant DOWNWARDS, Savior. Clearly, you are Other. ^_~ And not-straightness can be hidden a lot more easily than the slantiness of your eyes, so it's not as obvious to bigots just casually glancing around for targets.

Oh good, at least they address it (...omg what the fuck?!). Hm. Floppies. They're a little scarring. Really. Sian went around going 'FLOPPY' at me just to watch me wince at the concept. Occasional glimpses shouldn't have much more than a keyboard flailing reaction from me, I'd guess.

Awwww. They're the first alternative band I ever listened to, I think. And the Kate Moss thing is important because the lead singer is actually a bit stupid -- she spoke out very strongly against supermodels but then was friends with Kate Moss and all, "She's not bisexual, she married a guy and had kids, a bisexual wouldn't do that" and "yeah, supermodels are bad but she's not like them, Kate's special". Ouch. And oh, okay. My early music exposure was Elvis, golden oldies and then boy bands and none of them wore dresses, weirdly enough. Alt music is fairly recent for me, maybe only five years-ish or so since music isn't my fandom and crossdressers are still rare in my corner of it.

I have no idea what GWAR is, but I'll avoid it. Definitely.

Yeah, Monk's not huge for detective skillz as much as it's for "how can he catch the bad guy with no evidence and a million crippling phobias! lawlz!"

(Bah. Who cares. It's all determined by a herd instinct to imitate whatever class of society's on top at the moment, in this moment people who can afford to starve themselves, bizarre concept that is, and tan compulsively. If you're happy and healthy, I don't see why anyone should care, or why being any particular not-obviously-sickly weight should make anyone categorically worthless/unattractive. "Worry about your own complexes, world, not trying to foster them in other people.")

Asian suit! Like the woman suit in Silence of the Lambs. Kawaii!

I still want to know what genetic groups share that trait. All I've come up with is it closely resembles certain Korean people, which does track with the fact that ma mère is/was periodically mistaken for Korean, but there's got to be some specific peoples that have that going on, especially since afaik I have no Korean blood whatsoever. Why does the world ~~and by world I mean wikipedia~~ not know.

(Omg at which part!) and yeah, I was happy it was eventually...noticed that it was amazingly stupid to put a guy like that in with all the gangbangers and lifers. And yeah, if we finish House and watch Oz or something, we should have a five second delay where I click early and can go "FICKLE AVERT THINE EYNE" five seconds before the flopping starts.

...She is kind of stupid. And your exposure timeline is hilarious.

Of the two eps we finished watching, Numa guessed how it was done in one and I guessed the other.

(Well, I'm tan! Yay! XD Naturally tan probably doesn't count, though, and Asian build means that your weight settles on your butt and not usually anywhere else. I think that as long as I can fight and move and walk fourteen kilometers without being in pain, I'm okay. And I think that I look kickass, which isn't necessarily the same as pretty, but it works for me.)

Yeah! Like that! Slanty eyes and all! Desu desu ~~~

I thought that it was also Native American? Or have you dropped that for a dead lead?

Annnnd I need to leave office now to go to an eye appointment, so catch you tomorrow. *hugs* Take care, Saviorling. Screen Oz for floppy-safety for me.

(OMG at the 'raped, tortured, had all his limbs broken' bit, mostly). It seemed weird to me when I was reading the summary of the show, but I thought that it had to be explained at SOME POINT. And we're still at Season 3 of House, right? I got my mother to watch an ep with me the other day and she liked it, though it was a repeat on my grounds. And there's a fantastic 'I feel pretty' music video on YouTube for Wilson and Chase that makesme crack up and yes, good plan, you can be my safety-screener for Oz when we start watching it.

She is definitely stupid, which is sad. And hey, I LOVED Elvis. I still have his entire discography. And multiple CDs! Lilo made me empathize with her SO MUCH because of her love for Elvis!

*runs out the door to eye doctor now*

I know I've seen pictures of at least one tribe that did have that exact eye configuration, but I couldn't relocate them or remember the name, so I can't track whether they're one I have any connection to or not, so it dead-ended. Theoretically yes, it's a Native American trait, but we knew that, so it's not progress. I mean, theoretically I have six million Korean ancestors I know nothing about, I wouldn't know.

Don't let them gouge your eyes out, it'd make screening too easy.

(That was cringe-worthy. Happens the first episode so quick your head spins. The limb-breaking, second season, but Beecher's whole career in Oz is an epic disaster.) And yes! I think. I don't know. Did anyone keep track? We should find out at some point. Like before the fourth season starts.

So.... what does it stand for? *Peers.*

It fully revolves around total mysogynist asshats, but Spader does it so well and wittily that I don't really care. (And omg Shirley, I love her~~~)

XD Good work.

Albus Severus/Scorpius

XD I'm the only person in all of HP fandom to ship Hugo/Scorpius instead. I mean, if AS/S is the new Harry/Draco, then I have to ship Hugo/Scorpius, because my ~~submarine~~ ship is Ron/Draco.

I AM PROUD TO SAY I WROTE ONE OF THE FIRST AS/S FICS ON THE INTERNETS.

Uh, hardly anyone watches?

xD I watch both Boston Legal and Monk.
A lot of people watch Monk.

Flipped through comments also.
Main characters on BL are quite sexist. XD Just warning you.

(Let's not ignore the part where he ends up in love with a sociopath that kills himself. I think that has to be included in the category of 'epic disaster'. But oh man, okay, I'll bear that in mind.) Hm. I think that we just sort of kept track as we went along, because we were usually watching laaaate at night. I can check which titles seem familiar today at work -- if people in my dorm are still doing group watchings of House as it airs, I could probably take my laptop down with me and chat with you even while watching the fourth season (yay for wireless!) unless it airs during my evening class.

Six million Korean ancestors, all telling you to straighten up and stop being a disgrace to the family? I think that I'd pass on that, thanks. *considers your eyes again* Are you sure you never had an accident with a roll of duct tape?

HAH. I hit myself in the left eye with my mascara brush this morning. It was over an hour ago, it STILL hurts, and it keeps tearing up.

Clearly, mascara and eyeballs don't mix. Ow.

Is that what Koreans do? I want to know what my whole genetic dealy's excuse is.

WHY ARE YOU AWAKE AND ONLINE RIGHT NOW. WHY AM I.

(Comparatively being locked into a co-dependent relationship with a sociopathic serial killer who kills people as make-up gifts isn't all that bad. Keeping in mind that in his first 48 hours in Oz he gets a swatiska burnt into his ass. I think what happens to Beecher's kid is the ultimate in epic disasters, though, if you skim past the limb-crunching scene.) Yes. I have nothing coherent to add. House. Four in the morning.

(...Ohmygod, SWASTIKA? If Oz is meant to stop people from drunk driving, they sound like they're going to succeed. I mean, this is making me glad that I don't drive at all! And, uh, eye staring on top of everything else sounds like it could be the killer straw.) Okay, checked it on Wiki. Last ep we watched was Lines In The Sand, aka episode three of season three. Still plenty to go through.

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