Hence the "occasionally."

There's a similar, uh, dynamic with Charlemagne; apparently everyone alive with European ancestry's descended from him in some way (though that probably had more to do with the demographic catastrophes of the fourteenth century than with, say, the Saxon massacres).

While they spared Western Europe, they did finally crush what was left of the Abbasids and sack Baghdad (Hulagu did, anyway), which had a catastrophic effect on the Middle East and Islamic civilization resounding to the present day; Tamim Ansary's really good on this in Destiny Disrupted.

I've never liked Blade Runner very much, so it's great to see someone else have less than "OMG awesome" shit to say about it, wait until tomorrow though I might (sleepy here, too).

Underground, Season 1: I was theoretically pissed that this was canceled, and now, on the evidence of the first season, I'm practically livid. So good. There are some things to get used to, like the incidental music (it takes a few episodes, and I'm still not buying Bitsy's cancan), and some of the geography feels…

*Vaguely disapproving look on John Saxon's face*

I need to start networking on this; one of the guys I met at the Drink and Draws does one on Taptastic and I liked one Oliver recommended some time ago that was right up my alley. Hopefully something I can do this summer is refurbish my own WC menu so I can spread the (meager) wealth. For as much work as I've put into…

Happy Birthday!

My best chance for a romantic relationship kinda went up in smoke the other day. My social network is spent. Gotta start making new friends. In my 30s. Outside of work, school and completely avoiding the bar scene. And hope they can be compatible with someone like me and also not be interested in sex. So my basically…

Interesting point, not least as there was a not-inconsiderable strain of Southern opinion that considered Northerners in general a lower form of humanity for various reasons, ranging from perceived support for abolition to "slippery" mercantile acuity to a half-baked notion (that took far too long to die, and I'm sure…

Edward Said made this same point in Culture and Imperialism; it looks as if filmmakers have been getting tantalizingly closer and closer to something like that, from Wide Sargasso Sea to Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights a few years back, if not that in particular.

The cute LCS worker who puts together its Drink and Draws is heading for Ireland for study abroad this summer and has received much the same advice. Congrats!

Regrettably, it's a lot less interesting than it already sounds.

Sick the past day or so with fever and (now) bowel issues; I hate calling in sick. My brain was so scrambled last night I couldn't do the phone banking I'd planned to join in a (quixotic, as it happened) attempt to stop Michigan lawmakers from privatizing mental health services (no way that could go wrong, right?).…

Nice Go! Team/Sundays segue.

Happy Birthday!

Kate Beaton's Step Aside, Pops. She's wonderful and I love her.

What Are You Reading?

What seemingly non-controversial thing has gotten you in trouble with loved ones?

Rocket From the Tombs – Sonic Reducer
The Both – The Prisoner
The Creation – Making Time
King Khan and the Shrines – Land of the Freak
D'Angelo and the Vanguard – Betray My Heart
Joy Division – Transmission
Morcheeba – Be Yourself
Sleater – Kinney – One More Hour
Pink Floyd – Bike
Kelly Caldwell – Miami
Siouxsie and the…