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Sep. 22nd, 2019 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Sigh, "SmartBitches" strikes again -- I ended up buying another paranormal romance. The line that sold me? "Her in-depth study on the mohana and their mating habits would just have to wait. All that background reading on malevolent sex-obsessed dolphin shapeshifters for nothing." Bwhhahhahha! I just could not resist.
It's a story about an anthropologist who works for the League for Interspecies Cooperation and is sent to a town south of the Devil's Armpit in Louisana. She runs into a sheriff...who may also be a dragon in his spare time. What's not to love?
As an aside, apparently dolphins are in reality rather aggressive sexually speaking, and you should be careful swimming with them. (I was informed of this by someone on a trip in Costa Rica. Apparently he'd gone on one that involved swimming with wild dolphins and they'd warned people to be careful. Honestly I think that sort of goes without saying in dealing with all local wildlife that has never met you before, including the human variety.)
2. Learned today that Kansas is one of six statesin which you can now go topless legally.
Wales: Did you know you can go topless in Kansas now?
ME: Really? Since when?
Wales: I don't know. Once you cross the state line you can go topless. I think it's because they are libertarian.
Me: So, apparently you can go topless in Kansas now, it's one of six states.
Mother: Oh. Libertarian.
Except they are choosy about what they are libertarian about. We had a discussion with a libertarian in law school about the death penalty once.
Libertarian: I'm for the death penalty.
Me and friend: Yes, but if you don't want the government to tell you where to spend your money, whether or not you can buy a gun, etc -- why would you want to give them the power to kill you?
Libertarian: Oh I never thought of it that way. That's a good point.
States that women can go topless in: Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, and Oklahoma. (The general theme? They are all Western States and all have wide stretches of land with no people on them. So technically, why would anyone care? Now, if it were to happen in NYC that would be interesting.)
3. Scans Daily has taken over my DW newsfeed. They've gone nuts. And most of them don't really have journals that they post in. Fandom is interesting -- the comics fandom frankly scares the bejeesus out of me. I'm following a half-way decent portion of it on Twitter and Facebook, but not too closely. And NYC Comic Con? I don't think I can do that -- the idea of standing in line for autographs is cringe-inducing. How do you do this? Tempting but cringe-inducing. (Yes, I flirted with it, but if you don't buy tickets in June or July, you can't really go, or you'll only be able to see the peripheral fan oriented stuff.) This year they have "The Angel Reunion Panel" which is rather lame. It's basically everyone but Angel. (Amy Acker, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, James Marsters, J. August...and for some reason I do not understand Clair Kramer (who played Glory in Buffy)). They also have The Expanse Panel (I would like to see the Expanse panel) and The Winona Earp panel (which, ditto, although no Doc Holliday), and the Dawn of X Panel.
NYC Comic Con is no where near what San Diego Comic Con has become. There's some interesting fan related items -- like how to get a job in what you are passionate about, and how to be a Girl Boss in Comics.
I'm a weird fan. The only thing I want to do in fandom is discuss the television show, book, movie, comic, etc -- to death and beyond death. Analyze it. Tear it apart. Etc. Figure out what will happen next. Write crazy meta about its themes and symbolism. Or reviews. Whichever.
What I'm not interested in is -- everything else. Although I did do fan art, I just haven't shared it or kept it. But I did it. (I did a painting once of the X-men, and I did various drawings of Spike from magazines. I found his face interesting.)
Also wrote three fanfics, which I shared in a very limited way. I find fanfic difficult to write/share for two reasons : 1) I worked in copyright for various years and feel weird using someone else's original work to tell a story in a published format that is being shared with millions...it's one thing to do it in my head, 2) sharing it -- you have to deal with the fact that everyone hears and sees the characters and their arcs differently, and wants or fantasizes about different things for them. So unlike writing your own characters -- where the voice is whatever you dream up, writing someone else's requires it be the voice the original creator came up with...or close enough that the reader's will recognize it or approve. Fanfic is very much writing that is catered to a shared audience. And that makes it tricky. That audience is rather forgiving of things like grammatical errors, or poor writing habits, but is NOT forgiving of characters sounding or doing things that don't click in their heads. Also they seem to want a lot of explicit sex scenes and action scenes...and uhm, no.
It's a story about an anthropologist who works for the League for Interspecies Cooperation and is sent to a town south of the Devil's Armpit in Louisana. She runs into a sheriff...who may also be a dragon in his spare time. What's not to love?
As an aside, apparently dolphins are in reality rather aggressive sexually speaking, and you should be careful swimming with them. (I was informed of this by someone on a trip in Costa Rica. Apparently he'd gone on one that involved swimming with wild dolphins and they'd warned people to be careful. Honestly I think that sort of goes without saying in dealing with all local wildlife that has never met you before, including the human variety.)
2. Learned today that Kansas is one of six statesin which you can now go topless legally.
Wales: Did you know you can go topless in Kansas now?
ME: Really? Since when?
Wales: I don't know. Once you cross the state line you can go topless. I think it's because they are libertarian.
Me: So, apparently you can go topless in Kansas now, it's one of six states.
Mother: Oh. Libertarian.
Except they are choosy about what they are libertarian about. We had a discussion with a libertarian in law school about the death penalty once.
Libertarian: I'm for the death penalty.
Me and friend: Yes, but if you don't want the government to tell you where to spend your money, whether or not you can buy a gun, etc -- why would you want to give them the power to kill you?
Libertarian: Oh I never thought of it that way. That's a good point.
States that women can go topless in: Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, and Oklahoma. (The general theme? They are all Western States and all have wide stretches of land with no people on them. So technically, why would anyone care? Now, if it were to happen in NYC that would be interesting.)
3. Scans Daily has taken over my DW newsfeed. They've gone nuts. And most of them don't really have journals that they post in. Fandom is interesting -- the comics fandom frankly scares the bejeesus out of me. I'm following a half-way decent portion of it on Twitter and Facebook, but not too closely. And NYC Comic Con? I don't think I can do that -- the idea of standing in line for autographs is cringe-inducing. How do you do this? Tempting but cringe-inducing. (Yes, I flirted with it, but if you don't buy tickets in June or July, you can't really go, or you'll only be able to see the peripheral fan oriented stuff.) This year they have "The Angel Reunion Panel" which is rather lame. It's basically everyone but Angel. (Amy Acker, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, James Marsters, J. August...and for some reason I do not understand Clair Kramer (who played Glory in Buffy)). They also have The Expanse Panel (I would like to see the Expanse panel) and The Winona Earp panel (which, ditto, although no Doc Holliday), and the Dawn of X Panel.
NYC Comic Con is no where near what San Diego Comic Con has become. There's some interesting fan related items -- like how to get a job in what you are passionate about, and how to be a Girl Boss in Comics.
I'm a weird fan. The only thing I want to do in fandom is discuss the television show, book, movie, comic, etc -- to death and beyond death. Analyze it. Tear it apart. Etc. Figure out what will happen next. Write crazy meta about its themes and symbolism. Or reviews. Whichever.
What I'm not interested in is -- everything else. Although I did do fan art, I just haven't shared it or kept it. But I did it. (I did a painting once of the X-men, and I did various drawings of Spike from magazines. I found his face interesting.)
Also wrote three fanfics, which I shared in a very limited way. I find fanfic difficult to write/share for two reasons : 1) I worked in copyright for various years and feel weird using someone else's original work to tell a story in a published format that is being shared with millions...it's one thing to do it in my head, 2) sharing it -- you have to deal with the fact that everyone hears and sees the characters and their arcs differently, and wants or fantasizes about different things for them. So unlike writing your own characters -- where the voice is whatever you dream up, writing someone else's requires it be the voice the original creator came up with...or close enough that the reader's will recognize it or approve. Fanfic is very much writing that is catered to a shared audience. And that makes it tricky. That audience is rather forgiving of things like grammatical errors, or poor writing habits, but is NOT forgiving of characters sounding or doing things that don't click in their heads. Also they seem to want a lot of explicit sex scenes and action scenes...and uhm, no.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 05:43 am (UTC)Edit: I googled, it's been legal here (in the entire state) since 1992: https://www.amny.com/news/topless-parade-nyc-1.35488865
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/24/434315957/topless-in-new-york-the-legal-case-that-makes-going-top-free-legal-ish
Indeed, it appears to be legal in most states though not everybody knows the law:
https://gotopless.org/topless-laws
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 12:17 pm (UTC)Interesting. So whomever wrote the article is wrong? Or maybe they just don't know. Is it legal in Missouri?
I mean, I remember cops telling people not to or arresting them back in the 1980s...but not specifically in NYC. (I was living in Kansas and Colorado at the time.) But then I don't remember seeing any women going topless in NYC. Well, no one outside of my six year old niece, who doesn't really count.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 04:28 pm (UTC)Legally, the police have no obligation to know the law. They can arrest you for whatever, and if they're wrong they don't even get a reprimand.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 07:42 pm (UTC)I'm not surprised the writer didn't fact check (Fox News, need we say more?). I guess I should have -- but I honestly didn't think it was legal anywhere in the US. I was hunting an article that verified what my friend told me -- that it was legal now in just six states. (She must have got that from her family who watches...FOX NEWS). Sigh.
So, the police can arrest you for being topless, even if it is legal? Ugh. Meanwhile people are wandering about with colored guns.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 02:45 am (UTC)The trick do nothing. If they arrest you? Ask for the phone call or a lawyer. Don't talk without one. And if you are mistreated -- that can be used. And in the US, everyone has a right to an attorney, if you don't have one -- the court must appoint one.
I worked for the Kansas Defender Project for a bit.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 12:08 pm (UTC)Is this coming from personal experience?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 08:04 pm (UTC)That's an isolated incident. Be careful. Five bad cops doesn't equal 100. Also, I've had personal experiences in NYC, Kansas, and Missouri that show it's not true. Is there racial profiling? YES. I get your outrage and I share it, but I do not condemn all cops, and I don't condemn the police. And no the cops can't arrest anyone at any time for anything based on that incident. For every horrible incident there are good ones. A cop gave me money to get home, when I thought I lost my wallet once.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-24 12:44 pm (UTC)kerk