worryingly jolly batman

Something for the last week of poetry month: "The Most Beautiful Love Poem of All Time" by Hera Lindsay Bird is really something. She also has a name of which I am truly envious. (Hera Bird. Come on.) I must disclaim at this juncture that Hera is a v good friend of my flattie and I've met her a few times and like her a lot but this poem is really fucking great anyway. You might also like "The Memory of Light".

Also, I got a meme from owlbeer which went something like:

1. Comment here to get a letter from me.
2. Post at least 5 songs beginning with that letter.
3. Give other people letters! It's the circle of music memes.

She gave me S and, uh, I picked 21 songs:

( sort of themed )

Zip of the lot here.

Now I'm going to go back to my horrendous google spiral trying to figure out how good Jonathan Toews' French is. Since my French is a) actually French, lolQuebec and b) no longer good enough to do anything except occasionally read a news article, I have to rely on youtube comments and horrifying message boards. (Why do I want to know this? I don't know. I don't understand enough French to get anything interesting out of his French interviews, frankly Quebecois just sounds weird ... whatever. Amusingly enough reports range from "He speaks very good if not perfect Quebecois" to "he's okay but he has a weird accent" to "actually I think he has a French accent when he speaks English" [I think he's just super Canadian FWIW]. Why does this entertain me to know? IDEK.)

So guys, u guys, china_shop recently mentioned that she felt that instantaneous silly LJ stuff has mostly gone to Twitter and she missed it and that's probably true and stuff and that's the only reason I'm giving this an actual post BUT. BUT.

You know that building Castiel jumps out of in Supernatural 6x03, you know, this stunt?

Or, alternatively, you know the shrink's building Tegan-or-is-it-Sara is trapped in in the music video for The Con?

LOL TOTALLY THE SAME BUILDING (I think anyway), check out the curlicues on those iron balconies, y'all! (Better picture of the building here or at 0:02 in the video.)

probably people noticed this already but IT MAKES ME LOL OKAY. tegan & sara and supernatural are not exactly natural allies.

In a viciously successful attempt to procrastinate on my marketing assignment, over the past couple of days I have:
( cleaning-related )

( craft-related )

( music-related )

Also, I've been watching television. Including Supernatural. ( spoilers for eps 6x01-03 )

Leave a comment saying "Harmony" (or "Drusilla" or your favourite vampire name, or "Sassy" or your favourite ship name. Sassy, by the way, is the pairing smoosh for Sam/Castiel, and I think it is HILARIOUS. It goes so well with their matching bitchfaces.)
- I'll respond by asking you five questions.
- Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
- Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.

I got questions from sixth_light and lady_larla.

( questions from Lucy: The Real World, NZ blogosphere drama, best book I read lately, and food. )

( Questions from Tas: slebs, books again, time travel, Sarah Palin, and a seriously overworked answer to a music question. with uploads! )

That was so much fun imma do that other meme that I've never done: ask me anything. (Anon commenting is on at LJ and DW.) I don't promise to answer everything, but I'll at least think about it!

paintmarks sent me snowflakes! Thanks hon :)

So today I started my new job, reference checker & proofreader at the Waitangi Tribunal. Because they planned for me to start actually doing my job on Wednesday, and before that basically had a bunch of style guides and one or two articles for me to read, by 1pm today I was like "doo doo doo... nothing to do!" (I mean, really.) So my boss got me started on reading this book on the Waitangi Tribunal called, um, The Waitangi Tribunal: Te Roopu Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi. (Ed. J Hayward and N Wheen for anyone who wants to go look this up, which I don't know why you would want to do, but whatever.) It's basically a bunch of chapters on a bunch of different aspects of the Tribunal - history, procedure, etc. A couple of chapters compare it to other nations' methods of dealing with indigenous peoples' land rights, and one chapter was on Canada. Want to hear something really, really horrifying?

So British Columbia has been pretty slack on acknowledging that First Peoples have any land rights at all. They finally got around to it a while ago, like maybe 15 years or so, and established the BCTC - BC Treaty Commission, which is a tiny bit like the Waitangi Tribunal in, like, a few ways. Not very many. But you want to hear the best difference, and by best, I mean worst? So the BCTC is funded 8% by the federal gvt of Canada, 12% by BC itself, and 80% by... a loan to the First Peoples of BC. In fact these various tribes etc now owe CDN$177 MILLION, over about 50 claims, and NONE of the claims have been resolved - only one of them is CLOSE to being finished. The BCTC is only authorised to give out CDN$7 million per claim. Do you see what's happening here? Hi, guys... we took your land and left you impoverished and for a couple of hundred years we refused to acknowledge that you might deserve or need any kind of compensation at all, and now, hey, you can have it! But any money that we give you you're going to have to give right back to pay off the costs of us admitting that we did something wrong! Neat, huh?

-- this is all current to when my book was written, about 2003-4, I think. But even if they've fixed it since then - and I note via Wiki that it's now the British Columbia Treaty Process, but other than that nothing particularly encouraging - how does that kind of thing even happen?

Also, because I feel like it, a meme via deutscheami (of whose hints I didn't get a single answer, but never mind.)
1. Put your iPod on shuffle
2. DO NOT write down the lyrics of the first 15-20 songs to come up.
3. Describe what the song is about. Be creative.
4. Cross out the songs when your friends guess them in the comments.
( away we go )

I have my interview for the publishing course at Whitireia tomorrow morning. Advice and well-wishes gratefully appreciated!

Did you know there are people who actually prefer Artie's solo work to Paul's?

I'm just. I'm SPEECHLESS.

Wait, no I'm not. Really? "Garfunkel" is better than "Graceland"? Are you really going to commit to that? Do not get me wrong: Artie has an incredible voice, he's talented, Benedictus is one of my favourite songs and I think, for example, a lot of the songs on "The Paul Simon Songbook" really suffer in comparison to their later recordings with the duo instead of Paul solo.

On the other hand? "The Paul Simon Songbook" was recorded in an hour, and a lot of it is original content, and it's still an awesome album. Artie just can't say that about any of his solo work.

This post brought to you by Amazon reviews. On the plus side, I finally found out where one of the songs on my zillion burned, unlabelled, sans track names or any kind of identifying information, Simon & Garfunkel songs is from (It's Wonderful World - not the song you're thinking of - on one of Artie's solo albums *but* it does feature Paul, which was why I was so confused - it sounds like an S&G song) AND figured out that one of them is Gone At Last which I have been jonesing on lately - I'll call that a win.

For the record: I would probably pay money to get my hands on Cuba Si, Nixon No and non-DRM protected versions of any of the Tom & Jerry songs. Anyone want to bribe me? that would totally be how. Especially Cuba Si, Nixon No which AFAIK is not legally available ANYWHERE. The Tom & Jerry stuff I could possibly get with some effort.

Hey, so, instant opinion required: I'm making a mix cd for my little sister who just turned fourteen. The title of the mix is "Everybody Has To Have A Fourteenth Birthday" and so far it features such highlights as Ani Difranco "Untouchable Face" (fuck you, for existing in the first place/and who am I, that I should be vying for your touch?), Garbage's "Bad Boyfriend" (self-explanatory!) Rilo Kiley "A Better Son/Daughter" (and sometimes when you're on you're really fucking on / and your friends sing along and they love you / but the lows are so extreme that the good seems fucking cheap) Rob Zombie "Living Dead Girl" and, well, you get the picture. (There are also a whole bunch of songs that don't say fuck! I swear. KT Tunstall and Corinne Bailey Ray! Seriously.) I did resist putting on Poe "Not a Virgin" because, um, I do have some standards as to what I'm going to give to my little sister, right.

So my question is: I'm looking at the Dresden Dolls and I'm torn between "Bad Habit" and "Sing." I would go with "Sing", which I prefer, except "Bad Habit" is so much a 14yo song. But tell me, is it wrong to give your little sister a mix cd with a song about cutting on it? :-/ I JUST DON'T KNOW.

I've always wanted to make a fanmix, but they seemed so... overdone in most fandoms. So I have the distinguished pleasure of making what I think is the first fanmix ever in the fandom of my heart: "I'll Burn You Down," a Dairine Callahan fanmix. Warning for emo girlpop.

The first time I read High Wizardry, the book in which she's introduced, I really didn't like Dairine that much. But I came to realise the error of my ways - and in apology, present a fanmix for the much-loved Dairine Callahan.

( covers, tracklisting and uploads right this way )
As ever, let me know if a link you want runs out. x-posted to fanmix.

Stuff which I am digging right now:

- Lucid 3 - Rock & Roll Thieves

- Fly My Pretties: Live At Bats (Bag of Money - Singing in my Soul - Fly My Pretties)

- Beautiful Collision (Get Some Sleep - The Be All and End All)

- Prehistoric Park, crazy British mockumentary about a zoologist who travels back in time to capture animals on the brink of extinction and return with them to a modern zoo. The best bit about it is the way it takes itself totally seriously, so they have trouble finding good grounds for the ornithomimus, the woolly mammoth won't eat, and so forth. Absolutely hilarious. Sundays at 7:30.

- Thomas Hardy and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The dude is so damn atheist and he can't shut up about it, it's adorable.

- Spring in Christchurch. The daffodils are blooming, cherry and peach trees are blossoming, there are actual ducklings on my actual campus and two days ago I was lying on a lawn reading the aforementioned Tess and being very still and Mama Duck and three little ducklings came up to me and actually walked on me. They tried to eat my fingers. I am so not kidding. I nearly died of the cute.

- Vogels wheat-free bread. I don't know if I mentioned, but I went onto a wheat-free diet a month or two ago (by choice, not allergies, and I have been generally feeling better since) and man do I miss bread. And pasta. And pizza (okay, I've cheated on that one.) And oreos. And cake that I don't have to make myself with fake flour that cost fifty bucks to the ounce (okay, *slight* exaggeration). But mostly? Bread. I don't even like vogels bread as a rule but I swear to god I have never enjoyed marmite on toast as much as this, including the times when I'm sick and it's the only thing I can keep down. It's the best thing since sliced bread, except it doesn't actually come sliced.

- the keywords for this icon. (Um, Runaways spoilers.)

- spoilers for Supernatural S2. I'm not actively looking for them, but I'm unfussed about stumbling across them (with the very specific exceptions of not wanting to know anything at all about 2x01.) The ones I have come across I've found generally pleasing, which puts me in the minority, but hey, y'all just don't know hot when you see it. *is shallow*

( stuff I am not digging now; TMI )

Aaaaand it's been awhile since I did the lyric meme, and I'm booooored. So! You know the drill, 20 songs, random select, favourite lyrics, I post 'em, you guess artist & title.

1. I'm asking you please no!
It isn't right, it isn't fair,
there was no parking anywhere!
The Parking Ticket/No Parking - OMWF
sennical promptly followed by a good half dozen others including the information that Marti Noxon sings this, which I never knew!

2. Now when the radical priest come to get me released
We was all on the cover of Newsweek.
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon
manic_subbie

3. And if I seem awful distrusting I am
You said you wouldn't do it again,
You said we wouldn't do it again.
Time that you go,
Time for you to see,
You're not helping yourself by hurting me.
Better - Brooke Fraser
shoeless_girl

4. Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gaberdine suit was a spy;
I said, be careful, his bowtie is really a camera.
America - Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel

5. No man could understand,
My power is in my own hands
Ooh- people talk about you,
People say you've had your day.
Princes of the Universe - Queen
botrytis

6. Dreamin' awhile, schemin' awhile,
you're sure to find happiness,
and I guess, all of those things
you've always pined for.
I Can't Give You Anything by Love - The NZ Secondary Schools' Choir
-- Catherine D, who saw this and actually texted me in her glee; congrats, Cat. :P

7. Love ends in a fire,
Fire through the streets,
Set them alight.
Say After Me - Bic Runga
chattycheese

8. Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight,
Gotta kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight.
Lovers in a Dangerous Time - Barenaked Ladies
nenfea

9. Baby's good to me,
You know she's happy as can be,
You know she said so.
I Feel Fine - The Beatles
nenfea

10. Snakes in the grass beneath our feet,
Rain in the clouds above,
Some moments last forever,
and some flare out in love.

11. And as for me, as for me
I made my mind up back in Chelsea,
When I go I'm going like Elsie!
Cabaret - Liza Minelli (Cabaret OST)
keymash

12. So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen.
Your Song - Ewan McGregor et al (Moulin Rouge OST)
keymash

13. And sappy songs about sex and cheating
Bland accounts of two lovers meeting
Make me want to give mankind a beating.
And you might say it's self-destructive,
But you see I'd kick the bucket
Fifty times before I'd kick the habit.
Bad Habit - The Dresden Dolls
manic_subbie

14. To be together in this air we breathe,
You say forever, but I know you've gotta go
What is it you are, are you a dream?

15. And though you say that it's OK with you
Although today has run away from you
I won't believe you tonight.

16. But now she might leave
Like she's threatened before
Grab hold of her fast
Before her feet leave the floor
And she's out the door
'cause you want
to keep her in your pocket
You've Got Her In Your Pocket - The White Stripes
manic_subbie

17. Her whole world's come undone
From looking straight into the sun.
Janie's Got A Gun - Aerosmith
keymash

18. Blood loss in a bathroom stall
Southern girl with a scarlet drawl
Wave good-bye to ma and pa
Scar Tissue - RHCP
chattycheese

19. Things ain't cooking in my kitchen,
Strange affliction wash over me.
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire
Couldn't conquer the blue sky.
Weather With You - Crowded House
manic_subbie

20. With the lights on, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us.
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
keymash

Every time I do this meme I remember just how much Simon & Garfunkel I have on here (about one and a half gigs, which is not insignificant on a 40G harddrive.) I, um, cheat with this meme, and only put on the first two S&G songs. :P Otherwise it would be about half them - I don't know why, as I do have another 15 or so gigs of, you know, different artists. Just one of those things, I guess.