Properly Awry

Jesus Fuckin' Christ. Can the world get any more ridiculous? Is there no sanity?
Art is art, whether it is literature, music, a movie, a painting, a sculpture...
So why is it suddenly acceptable to revise a classic novel to make it more politically correct? I find it truly sickening that someone has decided to take it upon themselves to change history - because changing a classic piece of art, regardless of format, is changing history. The only person who should have the right to change a piece of art is the creator of that art. If the creator is dead, I believe NO ONE should have the right to alter a creation. It is one thing to sell the rights or mass produce, or do a farce on an existing piece of art, particularly when the creator is dead, but it is another thing entirely to alter the art.
The decision to alter Huckleberry Finn is simply wrong.
Art is meant to challenge, to cause conversation, and sometimes to offend. To remove certain words is backhanded censorship and will cause the book to lose some of its impact on readers.
We need to stop censoring and PC'ing everything and instead have discussions about why the art was created in that way, at that time, why it was acceptable to use the word nigger in a piece of literature.
If we don't, before you know it feminists will be crying out to the Thought Police to have the word cunt removed from all existence, some of Shakespeare's more colourful language will be edited, and chickens will cry fowl when the term "chicken" or "chickenshit" is used to mean scaredy-cat (uh, oh, did I just offend cats?).
Shit happens, history is history, deal with it and leave the art alone.

PS - don't worry, I calmed down a bit and am no longer wanting to stab a baby, especially not yours.
PPS - The quote at the top is most likely the only thing crazy Charlton Heston said that I agree with.

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So, I managed to read 61 books in 2010 (no more, no less than 2009), below, in no particular order are my top picks. 
51 of the 61 were ebooks in 2010. Approximately 51 books were part of a series (though some were book 1 and I am unlikely to read book 2), this tells me I am either obsessed with series regardless of genre, or it's hard to find good stand alone fiction, so I stick with what I know.

I read an article today about a group (the Centre for Inquiry, Canada) that puts up "controversial" posters that question the existence of "God".  Their newest ad says Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence and then goes on to group Allah, Vampires, God, and Wizards together as examples of such "extraordinary" things (and yes, if God is a proper noun, then to me so are Vampires and Wizards, so there).


I think it's totally hilarious.

They say they want to spark discussion and debate, but come on, you just know the religious nuts are going to have a spazz about this. 

It seems that it's perfectly okay for churches and LDS posters to go up and preach religion, but a poster that questions religion?  A poster that groups God with Dragons?  That's gonna rub some people the wrong way (mostly shriveled, lonely people who rarely get rubbed).

I think it would be totally awesome if all the WoW players out there banded together in protest - Dragons, Gnomes, Elves, Witches and Wizards are all under fire here too.  Oh, and they better prepare for the onslaught of Edward-loving Twihards as well, their outrage (question the existence of Vampires will you!) may well cause the end of times as we know it.



For the record, I totally believe in Leprechauns.

Capes I made for my nephews:

and proof that they work:

I am a detail person, but sometimes I see the minutiae and fail to see the big obvious things.  Case in point: my new mittens.
My current "winter" jacket has 3/4 length sleeves, so I needed some gloves that had long(er) cuffs on them to close the gap.  I saw some Fossil mittens, I coveted them, but since they were not on sale I did not buy them.  But then I did (I had a coupon). 
They are the right length and a non-boring colour.  They have a flip top mitten so your fingers can be free or enclosed in warm cuteness.
They have no thumbs.
I did read the the tag that said something like "open thumbs for texting!", but I really didn't pay attention to what exactly that meant.
I bought them. I took the tags off, and the next morning I put them on and went - huh?
The thumb portion comes up mid-thumb, and then your thumbs are free for texting! But this also means your thumbs are free for frostbite! and free to look stupid!
I'm on the bus, and yes having the thumb free is handy for turning pages on my ebook reader, but otherwise I feel like people are staring at my hands thinking WTF is up with her gloves?

So, now I have some cute mittens that are nice and warm, except I will soon be thumbless unless I put another pair of gloves on underneath.
For $40 you'd think you'd get whole mittens.


The mittens












but mine are in a much cuter Viridis colour, and for that I will suffer:

When does it stop?
It seems ridiculous to me that Air Canada will now have to create a "nut-free" buffer zone around a passenger if they request it. 

I don't even see how this can be enforced, if I paid for a seat and I am unlucky enough to have to sit next to one of these fuckwads who actually had the nerve to pre-warn the airline that they required a buffer zone I'd be pretty annoyed.  What happens if a passenger brings their own food on board (which many do now since it ain't free anymore) and their personal food contains nuts?  Is the stewardess under instruction to rip a peanut butter sandwich away from passengers?

Does anyone wonder why it seems that there has been a ridiculous increase in nut allergies in recent years?  It's practically illegal to let your kid have a peanut butter and jam sandwich at school because it might somehow make its way into the mouth of a kid who is allergic.  When I was a kid we could take whatever food we wanted to school and guess what? No one died, kids weren't keeling over left and right.  It was totally normal to have PB&J in your lunchbox.  We were even allowed to bring juice to school.    

I'm allergic to morons, people who stink and assholes who speak loudly on their cell phones in public places - can I get a buffer zone too?




Post-post - I stumbled upon a school in the US that is nut-free and fish-free, so these kids are just fucked, no PB&J or tuna sandwiches, what has the world come to?

Obsession.  Compulsion. Fixation.

I've realized that over the past year or so, whenever I see a new colour of nail polish that I buy it.  I must have it.  Currently, one of the drawers in my coffee table contains 37 bottles of nail polish.  I'm guessing that's not normal.

Back in July I went to get a mani-pedi before my trip to Vegas, and I noted that I had more colour options at home than the salon had.  Again, I'm guessing that's not normal.

I'm also starting to wonder if changing the colour once a week (or so) and removing the polish, etc. will eventually cause me to have some sort of detrimental disease, that I am a human experiment for the nail polish industry.

Oh well, I like the pretty colours, and it's less expensive and time consuming than keeping up purple or pink or yellow hair on a regular basis.

So for now I will enjoy my Ruby Slippers, Brand New Skates, Under My Trench Coat,  In the Shadows, with Yellow Kitty.