Moving to Wordpress for real!

Okay, I'm getting the hang of this wordpress thing, so let's give it a shot. The new blog can be found on my domain - katsudon.net! I need a better template, but it'll do for now I think.

I'll be leaving these posts up for a little while, but I guess I should probably delete this mess eventually. (Should I? Should I not? I've never had to move blogs before.) But either way I won't be updating this one any more if all goes well so please grab the new rss at katsudon.net!

Assault weapons ban press conference

Today Senator Feinstein proposed her new assault weapons ban. A friend of mine went to the press conference for it and this is what she had to say afterward:

There were a lot of good speakers; both Conn. Senators, the CT Rep from the district that Sandy Hook is in, survivors of VTech, relatives of victims of VTech.
Officer Charles Ramsey from Philedelphia had one of the most powerful speeches; he was really passionate about it.
They also had some examples of the weapons that would be banned on display: all of them are military style and don't belong on the streets.
Also, notably, the bill includes clauses that explicitly protect guns designed for hunting or sport, or require manual operation.
Call your representatives, call your senators, demand that they vote for it.
Well, it was a press conference, not an actual Senate meeting.
Also the NRA is throwing a bitch fit about it. Even though 74% of their membership support an assault weapons ban.
I want to call the NRA and throw the whole 'guns don't kill people' thing in their face.
People kill people. They just are able to kill a lot more people with assault weapons.
These are not weapons designed for sport, or hunting. They are designed to kill as much as possible, in as short a time as possible, with minimal reloads.
True, in the military they are used more for suppressive fire in combat, but the shooters in the mass murders of recent years always aimed to kill with the weapons.
40% of all mass shootings in America's history have happened in the last nine years since the expiration of the 1994 assault weapons ban.
Oh, also: there's a march for assault weapon control on Saturday in DC.

Re: inevitable argument that guns are just tools, guns don't kill people, etc etc:

The Following (of Kevin Bacon)

Watched the pilot on Hulu because, well, Kevin Bacon. And obviously I needed a bloody, disturbing and gross serial killer show in my life, which has been empty for the last 14 years since Millenium was canceled. The show opens with the guitar from Marilyn Manson's cover of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), which kind of tells you everything you need to know about the tone.


Kevin Bacon was appropriately Kevin Bacon throughout the entire first episode, so I guess I'll stick with him and see where it goes. James Purefoy (as Dr. Joe Carroll) was appropriately gross and creepy as the villain. And why is it that every single time in a cop show someone says, "You'll want to see this," I immediately know that no, no we will not. Ever.

The concept for the show has potential to be interesting, since it's basically Dr. Carroll the world's most evil and Poe-obsessed literature professor convincing his weird following of - serial killer fans, I guess? - nutty people to kill for him from prison. I'm expecting a lot of bad technobabble to explain how this will all work, though if they continue to give him access to the internet in the successive episodes they'd better have a damn good reason.

At this point, though, I'm really just expecting it to be a lot of hapless and good-looking young women (mostly blonde) getting messily killed every week by awful people while Kevin Bacon is deeply wounded yet sternly Kevin Bacon at them and there are occasional hat tips to Edgar Allen Poe to prove the script writers did pay attention in their English lit class.

Prove me wrong, The Following. I dare you. Be more interesting and give me a reason to keep watching other than the unutterable Kevin Bacon-ness of Kevin Bacon.

Don't you have something better to do with your time?

Look, this isn't hard. I saw something that bugged me. You don't have to agree with me that it's a problem. In fact, it's totally fine if you don't. We're all along the spectrum of human experience and I am comfortable with the fact that we're on different wavelengths.

That said, since I'm not you and you're not me, I'm entitled to my goddamn opinion.

This is the hardest part of discussions when it's about feelings and reactions instead of facts. Everyone is informed by their own life experience, and that life experience is likely wildly different from yours. Unless their reaction is downright inhumane, you don't get to tell someone that they're wrong to feel the way they do. Well, unless you want to come across as a dismissive asshole who has his or her fingers firmly planted in ears whilst chanting lalalala, and then sure. Go wild.

If you don't want to sound like a dismissive asshole, here's an example of what you can say: "I don't agree with you and I feel differently, but I see where you're coming from." It's really not hard. Cut and paste that if you like, until you can type it with feeling. You don't even have to give me credit. It's something every reasonable and empathetic human being should be able to say.

Also? "You shouldn't talk about this because children are starving in Africa" is also incredibly dismissive, for the record. And stupidly hypocritical, since apparently you don't have anything better to do with your time either. Those poor kids.

This is me. Every night.

End of the ban on women in combat

Surprise! Pentagon to end ban on women in front-line combat. I knew about the lawsuit back in November and got the sense that things were kind of moving on this front, but I didn't expect this one. Happy inauguration present, I guess?

Having never served in the military, I can only really speak to how it's looked from the outside. Like it's seemed really ridiculous to continue to keep women out of combat assignments when female soldiers have gotten wounded fairly often in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, considering the way combat in those wars hasn't stayed nice and neat on a battlefield. And I've heard over and over that combat assignments are the better path to promotion (is this true?) which would make keeping women out of those assignments beyond shitty.

That, and I think it's an intense pile of bullshit to keep women out of a job so long as we're physically capable of doing it. And what I mean by that is that I totally understand why in, say, firefighting you want someone to be able to drag at least a 150 lb person to safety when you might be depending on them to save your ass one of these days. And if a woman can do said dragging? There's no excuse to keep her out. 

Thoughts from actual military type people? I'd like to hear.

If you'd like to laugh yourself sick or potentially cause brain trauma from too much headdesking, read some of the comments on the CNN article. Apparently this is a bad decision because women have periods (if this is even potentially a problem, there is birth control that actually prevents this by the way), it's a scientific fact that men use logic and women use emotion (my emotions say LOL), and women are meant only to create and nurture life and we are disrupting the order of the universe (if that's the order of the universe it could use some more disruption thanks). 

I cannot even make this shit up. 

Good Boy

Yesterday my mom had her second dog, Willis, put to sleep. On January 8th, she had to let the first dog, Maxine go. They were both 14 years old. Maxine and Willis were littermates.

Anyone who has ever lost a pet knows how tough this is. They give us so much love and don't really ask for much in return.

I'm feeling pretty rough about this, myself. I haven't lived with my parents for over ten years, but I was there when Maxine and Willis were puppies. Hell, I was there for the first trip Mom took to see them after they were born. She and Maxine were basically best friends from the moment Maxine opened her eyes. Willis, my brother and I helped pick out. He was the most adorable, clumsy, doofy puppy out of the bunch.

Willis was the most adorable, clumsy, doofy dog when he grew up, too. He and Maxine were always there when I visited my parents. I'm going to miss them. They were both good dogs. In the end, that's the best thing you can say about a dog, isn't it? Simple, wonderful words for simple, wonderful little beings.

Good dogs.

Also, Jim C. Hines is awesome in case you didn't know

The BBC did a cool article about Jim C. Hines and his ongoing series where he tries to pose like ladies on fantasy/scifi covers. Kind of like live action Hawkeye Initiative, except instead of Hawkeye we have a real life SF author, which is infinitely cooler in my opinion.

This coming out in the same week as the sigh-worthy SFWA Bulletin cover is just a lovely juxtaposition, though, isn't it.

I buy stuff

I bought two things today that I'm very excited about, one for my head and one for my butt. Whee! I've been wanting a new saddle for my bike pretty much since I started regularly riding more than 20 miles at a time, and finally just did it because I was tired of my sit bones being in blazing agony by mile 23. I went for something more curved than the standard Bontrager saddler that came with my Lexa, and boy could I tell the difference. I did a 25 mile ride and it was like riding on a cushion of... uh... fake leather filled with gel, really.

Never underestimate the power and worth of a good saddle.

And the other exciting thing is I finally got a good pair of sunglasses, since I realized I'd need something to protect my eyes and block out the wind better now that I have contacts. These ones are pretty awesome - shatter proof, which is important, and they also come with three sets of lenses that are easy to change out. So I'll have a set of clear lenses for night rides and such.

Expensive, but very worth it. I'm not planning to use these babies for driving. I'm figuring a pair of cheap grocery store sunglasses ought to be good enough for that. But man, I look about a thousand times more badass now too. Bonus.

Contacts!

No, not this kind:

This kind:

I went to the eye doctor yesterday to get my glasses prescription updated and get measured for contact lenses. I left wearing a pair of contact lenses and feeling utterly euphoric.

I used to wear contacts, years ago when I still worked for AT&T - I had to stop after getting laid off because they would have been too expensive. The reason for that was because I'd developed an astigmatism, and I'd begun to get some blood vessel growth into my corneas; the way the optometrist at the time talked about it, you'd think I would be on the brink of death if I didn't switch to gas permeable lenses.

It's kind of crazy how technology has advanced in the last eight years. First off, my eyes are fine for normal lenses, which now routinely are made so you can sleep with them in (holy shit what). And the optometrist said he thought they'd correct enough for the little astigmatism I have without having to go fancy. So far, he seems to be right.

Oh yeah. And I wore the pair he gave me for something like twelve hours on the first day, and almost forgot they were in. Technology indeed. I can't begin to say how excited I am.

Even cooler, my glasses prescription has not changed at all, even though it's been three years since I last got a new pair of glasses. (I actually only went in because my lenses were getting scratched up enough to annoy me. And what I considered "scratched up" is nothing compared or other people, so I got some well-deserved teasing for being insanely anal retentive.) So - and this is the most exciting thing of all - the optometrist said I should be good to go for Lasik when I can afford it. 

I just. I am so full of happiness I can't begin to describe it. I've had glasses since I was in grade school, and my uncorrected vision is somewhere down in the 20/500 range. The idea of being able to just... wake up and see is mind-blowing. 

Not yet, of course. I haven't even started my real job, and I still have student loans to pay. But as soon as the loans are paid off, I'm going to start saving. And until then, I'm going to love the shit out of my contacts. (Which are also cheaper now than when I used to wear them. I live in the future.)

So, so very happy.

Sigh.

Rescued my SFWA Bulletin from the mail today. And... sigh. We're apparently celebrating the 200th issue with a muscular barbarian babe in a chainmail bikini with red poofy 80s hair.

I know we should celebrate our pulpy genre roots and take glee in them, and I try people, I really try. And the cover is always a fantasy/scifi thing, which I've always liked. But this? It doesn't even bug me so much as... sigh. Yeah, that.

Can I not even escape getting punched in the face by the unattainable "idealized" female body in my nerdy writer space? It's not like female writers are exotic specimens you only see on safaris or feminists (of any gender) in the organization have been shy about making their presence known. But it feels as if 'Bonus: we remind you of the pervasiveness of the male gaze!' should be in yellow under Bud Sparhawk's name in the lineup.

Sigh.

Double bonus - the Resnick and Malzberg dialog at the back is to sing the praises of lady editors and publishers. With, "She was competent, unpretentious, and beauty pageant gorgeous... as photographs make quite clear. Tell succeeding generations all about her [Dorothy McIlwraith], please." at the start.

Just... sigh.

And this is why research funding is important.

Lack Of Up-To-Date Research Complicates Gun Debate - which is to say there's not a lot of good, current public health research about violence and mortality as it relates to guns because congress has, over the years, basically prevented it using funding restrictions.

I hate this politicization of research funding. It goes beyond gross, beyond lying to win an argument, and somewhere into the realm of wicked. You can't make good decisions without good facts, without knowing what the world actually looks like. And defunding research because it's going to tell you facts you don't like is an act of contemptible, willful ignorance. Science isn't there to give you easy answers or make you feel good about yourself and your dearly held beliefs. (You listening, creationists? Of course not.) It's there to tell you what we're pretty sure is reality and then you get to figure out how to go from there, better armed with knowledge.

I'm glad this hasn't happened broadly to climate research in the US yet, though obviously some people sure wish it would. But at least something like climate change is a global issue, and there are many institutions outside of this country with an interest in tackling it, so the science could still continue, if hobbled. 

Defunding the research of uniquely American problems leaves us blind. And I guess leaves people free to make up whatever facts suit them. 

Goodie. 

But Rachael, asks my little gun-loving straw man, what if this research proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that guns don't kill people, they actually just shoot out teddy bears and baby smiles and make you lose weight and spontaneously lower all carbon emissions?

Then I'd change my fucking mind about guns and buy a small armory. Because sometimes being wrong is painful, but I'm a grown-up and I can deal with it. 

I wonder if, say, Wayne LaPierre could say the same thing. 

You know what would be great? If we could have some research and find out.

Utar the Radish Farmer

So, this is entirely @mbennardo's fault. LET IT BE KNOWN.

Support the arts! Form of: a British film documentary!

It probably goes without saying, but trying to have a career in the arts sucks. That was one of the reasons that compelled me to go back to school for geology instead of journalism, because there's always that ugly little voice in your head that keeps reminding you that there is debt, and you have to eat, and to do those you need this thing called a day job. (And hey, if the day job turns out to be an awesome career all its own like looking at rocks professionally, I can't complain, right?)

I can't speak for other countries, but in the US money for artists is tight and only getting tighter thanks to the economy shitting itself. And art of all sorts is important. It's ultimately about us and our relationships with each other, the greater part of humanity, and the universe as a whole.

I believe in giving when you can. Because some day, it will come back to you. I haven't been able to give as much as I would like to a myriad of causes and projects while I've been a grad students because, well. Grad student. That's going to change once I've started working.

And this project is number one on my list:

Dear friends,
I must assume you all have dreams, yes? Well, here’s ours:
We are attempting to make a documentary about the world of British Cinema. There’s more to it than just Harry Potter and James Bond, and we want to put a spotlight on it because it is a truly unique, but unfortunately, struggling, industry. However, we can’t do it without your help. Be a part of something truly great and help make a few dreams come true in the process. Any amount of donation and/or spreading word makes all the difference! Please check out our INDIEGOGO PAGE HERE, where we are campaigning to raise funds to make this documentary a reality. You can find tons more info about what we’re planning to do, how you can help and why the British industry is important.If we are funded successfully, we may just interview one of your favorite British actors or directors. We have a list, and it’s a pretty epic one. Check out the perks for donating. They include things like signed memorabilia from the interviewees, tickets to the premiere/after party for the documentary, your name in the credits or even an opportunity to contribute a question to one of the interviewees of your choosing. Even $5 helps. Or reblogging this entry. Or sharing the ‘IndieGoGo’ page on another social networking site like Twitter. Did I mention we’re on Twitter? You can follow us here: @BritishFilmDoc The smallest of effort from you - a short moment of your time - makes a world of difference to us. Again, here’s the LINK.
Thank you! 

I've already given my grad student pittance and have committed to significantly more once the real paychecks start rolling in. Why? Because I grew up watching a lot of British film and television. Because this is something I'd personally like to see. Because the people behind this project are awesome. And because helping other people achieve their dreams is a way to keep your own alive and well fed.

Sandy Hook "Truthers"

So yeah. This is apparently an actual thing. (ETA: Oh here. Have some more WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE.)

I need a kitty right fucking now okay.

I mean, I know I shouldn't be surprised, considering the unceasing plague of 9/11 Truthers and Birthers. Though Birthers (you know, the utter crackpots that are convinced President Obama is secretly foreign) seem relatively less disgusting compared to this.

It's all the usual question begging bullshit, pattern hunting and being bizarrely startled that coincidences and similarities are things that happen despite the fact that they happen constantly every day of our lives. This just makes me extra angry because it's a bunch of paranoid nuts dancing on the graves of children, mocking the grief of their families because they've convinced themselves that it's all fake and therefore it is all right to be utterly inhumane to other people.

I need a kitten or I'm going to have an aneurysm, I swear to fucking god.

I think what just pisses me off the most about this is that the entire justification for this conspiracy theory is that the government is going to take all our guns away! The way that straw man has been getting shoved down our throats, we're all going to be shitting chaff for the next three years.

It's like the making shit up Olympics - creating a sadistically unfeeling conspiracy out of whole cloth to justify something that no one is even proposing. Oh yeah, and being mean to the grieving father of a murdered little girl because that's totally okay when you don't live on the same plane of reality as the rest of us. Hey assholes. If you took off your tinfoil hat for five seconds, maybe you could read our brainwaves and get that we don't want your fucking guns.

Lookit that adorable kitty, helping with the laundry, and his adorable face. Breathe. Breathe.

Perhaps I speak only for myself, but you know what I do want? I want you to grow the fuck up. I want you to develop some empathy. I want you to leave your basement and get some professional help. I want you to have a grownup conversation with the rest of us instead of making like a seagull and shitting everywhere while shrieking at the top of your lungs.

I want you to realize that the world is a scary place, but the way you can truly make it less scary is to grasp reality with one hand, the rest of humanity with the other, and refuse to let go.

Kitten. Kitten kitten kitten.

Life of Pi

Finally, finally I got to see this movie. I promised myself that I would after I finished writing the introduction to my thesis, but then there was the apartment hunting trip and shitting myself over getting my novella written and whoops Christmas, so it didn't happen until now.

Worth the wait. And despite the fact that it was released back in November, the theater was still pretty crowded for a noon show.

(Some spoilers.)

Life of Pi is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. Every shot of it was its own paradise, gorgeous and full of color. And the tiger. Holy shit the tiger. CGI has come a long, long way.

Beyond how visually arresting I found the film, there is a lot to love. Suraj Sharma is just fantastic as Pi. And have I mentioned the tiger? Beyond how believable the Richard Parker was, what I loved was that he never stopped being an animal, and a wild animal at that. Pi and Richard Parker achieve an understanding of sorts, but there's always that gap of understanding between animal and man. The tiger never stops being a wild animal, even at the end when it walks away from Pi and into the jungle without a backward glance.

That was the part of the movie that made me tear up, when the tiger simply walks away and Pi still desperately asserts that he saw the animal's soul and it wasn't just his own feelings reflected back at him. So much of the movie is about the gap of understanding between humans, animals, and nature in general.

And then there is the alternate story that Pi offers as to what happened, opening the possibility that the tiger is an aspect of Pi himself. I like unreliable narrator stories when they're done well, and this one definitely was. In the end, you get to decide for yourself, which story is true. For my part, I think that both are.

In the movie, they say the story will make you believe in God. I knew about that going in and was a bit curious about it, since... well, not a believer, myself. I wondered if it would be preachy, perhaps. It wasn't; you'd hardly expect a Catholic Hindu Muslim to be grinding an ax for one religion anyway. But beyond that, to me it wasn't a story about religion or even belief; it was about trying to understand the unknowable, like the tiger, looking into its eyes and never being quite certain if it's just a reflection or a reality you can't quite touch.

Some might call that religion. I would just call it life.

Django Unchained

I can't think of the last time I saw a move with this much controversy around it, which ranges from Spike Lee's criticism of the movie making light of the horrors of slavery to conservatives predictably freaking the fuck out about the bit in the movie (and Jamie Foxx later joking about it) where Django points out that getting paid to kill white people sounds like an awesome way to make a living because ow my precious persecution complex. Oh, and people complaining about the use of the N-word in a movie set shortly before the civil war and involving slavery, when obviously no one ever talked like that back then. Though I find Amanda Marcotte's take on how damn meta the film is very interesting indeed, which goes right along with a lot of what Inglorious Basterds had to say.

But anyway. At this point, the discussion about Django and its meaning beyond a movie is fascinating and way, way beyond me. I don't feel like I have anything useful I could contribute as an average white female nerd who loves action-y movies, but I sure want to keep reading what other people who have different viewpoints from me have to say.

Now, beyond the socio-political tangle of Django, how is it as a movie?

Well, I loved Inglorious Basterds to an almost ridiculous degree. It was the first Blu-ray I ever bought, before I even grabbed a copy of Thor to replace my regular DVD. I think it's safe to say that if you loved Inglorious Basterds, you will love Django as well. It's got a lot of the same things going for it - underdog revenge fantasy where a shitload of people get messily killed and you feel pretty good about cheering for each and every bit of cartoonish blood spatter because damn, those are some awful people getting shot and shot and shot.

Jamie Foxx turns in an incredible performance as the title character. He just radiates indescribable amounts of badass in every second he's on the screen. Christoph Waltz does an excellent job of being just bent enough that you can almost forget at times that Dr. King Schultz is marvelously insane until he really starts talking. And Leonardo DiCaprio, my god. I don't even know where to begin. He was so utterly disturbing. Though of course, he couldn't have managed the depths of gross he reached without Samuel L. Jackson as the head house slave. Their relationship was one of the most messed-up things in an entire movie full of utterly messed-up things. But any time a film hits the really awful relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed when it's more subtle than a man being torn apart by dogs, it should make you just squirm.

The movie is beautifully shot - some of the locations up in Wyoming are just stunning - but I wouldn't expect any less from Quentin Tarantino. It's got that same mixture of discomfort and mayhem and humor that you'd expect as well. And unlike other movies of his (Kill Bill springs instantly to mind) this one doesn't ever drag or feel as long as its nearly three hour time, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

But I'll say this - it's worth the price of admission alone for the scene with the proto-Klan bickering about their newly-made masks.

Start Guide: Weightlifting

I talked about weightlifting generally before, but I want to get into a little more detail about how to get started, since it might be a little intimidating if you've, say, never taken a class.

Workouts

You really don't want to over train a particular muscle group. That can cause a lot of problems in the future. If you don't have access to a trainer, I would suggest looking up a workout online (you will be able to find them for free). I've been using this full-body dumbbell only 3-day workout, for example. Once you've picked one, stick with it. Don't add exercises to it, and substitute with caution. (Though for example I substitute bent row for wide-grip pull-up because I... can't actually do pull-ups.)

And as always - there is good pain, and there is bad pain. You will have sore muscles at first when you start lifting. That's a good pain. If your joints start hurting, or you start getting sharp pains instead of aches, that's bad pain. Stop and consult your doctor.

Technique

So you know how I mentioned technique before? That's the place where you start. Without proper technique you risk hurting yourself, or at the very least you won't get as much as you should out of exercising. Proper technique means, for example, not cheating by swinging the weights.

Technique first, then worry about the weight. Every repetition should be slow, controlled, and with good form. Watch a video for each exercise you want (Muscle & Strength has a good archive) and pay careful attention to body positioning and how the exercise is executed. If you have access to a mirror, it helps to watch yourself that way. (Though I can totally understand if you'd rather not; I find mirrors painful and distracting.)

This means aiming pretty low for weight to begin with; it's much harder to maintain good technique when you're struggling with heavy weight, and if you're a little shaky on technique to begin with it won't do you any good. For the first few weeks, until you're comfortable with technique, don't worry about lifting to failure or trying to max out or even about feeling a real burn. Just concentrate on doing it right.

Once you're okay with technique, then start ramping up your weights. It sometimes takes a little time to figure out just how much you should be lifting for a given exercise, how much you can do your sets with that will be challenging but do-able. Give it some time and test out different weights. Once you figure out where you should be, then it's a pretty simple matter of just bumping up another level of weight once you can do all your sets without struggling.

Quick vocab:
Reps = repetitions. The number of times you do a given exercise in a set. My preference is 6-10 reps in a set, since I'm in the high weight/low reps camp.

Sets = the number of times you do your target number of reps. My preference is 3 or 4 sets per exercise in a given workout.

A note on the high weight/low reps versus low weight/high reps debate. Both technically have their place; it just depends on what you're trying to do. High weight/low reps is primarily aiming for building muscle strength. Low weight/high reps seems to be where a lot of women gravitate, and often gets sold as "toning." Rather, it builds muscle endurance. Women are apparently supposed to like that better because they don't want to "bulk up" with muscle mass. It doesn't tend to work that way, though. I lifted for strength for two years straight and was on the weightlifting team for my high school, and I never turned into a bulked-out monster (and this even though I tend to put on muscle mass unusually well for a woman); achieving that kind of look requires a hell of a lot more work than any of us is going to be able or likely even willing to put in.

But I would also like to say - what the hell is wrong with a woman having some big muscles anyway? We get sold on low weight/high reps for weight loss, I guess, but it's better to build up muscle mass for that because it means you burn more calories resting. Muscular is sold as a manly thing, but it's really a human thing. We all have muscles, even if some of us (like me) cunningly hide ours under layers of fat. Lift in a way that you think is fun, lift because it is fun, and let it be what it'll be.

Strong is sexy. So is determination.

A Return to Weightlifting

I used to lift a lot in high school, which is (funny story) how I ended up destroying my right hip and knee. And then later gave myself rotator cuff tendonitis, because I actually really love weightlifting and have a tendency to overtrain if I'm not careful.

That's kind of why I've stayed away from it until now, but I've come to the conclusion that weight training is what's missing from my fitness routine, so I'm going back to it. (And hey, I've missed doing it.)

I decided rather than trying to come up with my own routine (since I don't trust myself for a lot of reasons) I'd look for one online. I found this three-day program for dumbbell-only lifting so I'm going to try that out. I've always preferred free weights (dumbbells and bars with plates) versus machines, plus I've got dumbbells at home and just needed a flat bench, so then I could work out at home. I have much better success with home workouts than going to a gym.

(Cat not included.)

The above setup cost me about $300. I ended up getting the stacked weights instead of individual dumbbells because they save space. This brand had reasonable reviews (I've heard a lot of bad stuff about the Bowflex variety) so we'll see how they work out. I'd say if you don't want to spend the money to buy things new, just scope Craigslist in a couple of months once the New Year's resolutions start dropping like flies. (Also, if you're in Colorado and come get them, I'm getting rid of my old dumbbell set, which goes from 5-12 lbs. Just light weights, sorry.)

So in honor of getting started for the new year, here are some basics for weightlifting:

Good technique is everything. The site I linked to has videos for each exercise, which is excellent. Proper technique in execution will (a) help build muscle better and (b) keep you from hurting yourself while you're doing it. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Don't overtrain. Don't just randomly add extra exercises to your routine. Find a good one that works everything over a week and don't hammer on one muscle group more than that. Are you listening, self?

Rest. Resting your muscles is as important as lifting. You need to give them time to heal before working them again or you'll just hurt yourself. That's why, for example, I'm only doing three days a week, with a day off between.

Go to the brink of failure. This means picking a high enough weight that you'll have to work, and aim to feel like you can't possibly lift it one more time at the end of your set. You don't want to actually get to the point where you drop the weights, though, since you can really hurt yourself doing that.

By the way, cats apparently love weight benches. Trying to get the little bastards off of it so I can do bench press is a feat of strength all its own.

Blogger vs. Wordpress

I've become increasingly frustrated with Blogger as a tool, particularly since it's pretty crap for cross-platform posting to anything by Google+. So I'm thinking about switching over to a Wordpress blog. I've used Wordpress a couple of times for the Clarion Blog and my Clarion Write-a-thon group blog, and I found the interface a bit confusing... but I think it's something I'd figure out pretty easily if I just sat down and played with it for five minutes.

Thoughts? Do you use Wordpress and if so, is it worth the switch? Is it really as useful as it appears to be? If you're one of the three people who reads my blog, would that just permanently stop you or would you follow along?

The end of the Violence Against Women Act

Okay, so it's been over a day and I'm still trying to think of some kind of coherent response to the House killing the Violence Against Women Act. Because all I can really manage is a keysmash of rage. I mean, the Senate, the place where good legislation goes to die, managed to get its shit together on this one. Back in April, for fuck's sake. You'd think this would be easy, right? Violence against women. No one's for that, right? Right? Just like no one's against puppies.

Apparently Eric Cantor didn't like that the bill would make it easier for Native American women to pursue their rapists with the tribal legal system. And others didn't like that there were expanded protections for immigrants and LGBT people. I'd say Cantor and his friends should be ashamed, but it's pretty goddamn clear they have none.

The Violence Against Women Act is supposed to get brought back this year. I'm not laying any money on if the House will be a bunch of shameful shitcocks again. My mom (a woman) taught me not to make sucker bets. Disgusted. I am just disgusted. And argh. Goddamnit. ARGH.

#@$(U#J)FGWEKOP@(!UI#jk.

2012 Stories

We're now into 2013 which means it's time to start thinking about awards for stuff from 2012! Woo!

I have three short stories that are eligible:

The Jade Tiger - Penumbra, March 2012
Comes the Huntsman - Strange Horizons, July 2, 2012
Entangled - Specutopia, July 13, 2012

Regarding Entangled, I'll be posting it on this blog in February since Specutopia seems to have gone defunct.

Please think of me kindly!

(Completely coincidentally, nominations are now open for the Hugo Awards, she types while ducking her head with shame.)

Moving Sale: Anime/Manga/Jpop Stuff

I've now moved, so it's all gone!

Here's a list of all my Japanese-ish stuff I'm currently getting rid of, which my friend Sin talked me in to posting. So - buy my crap! Reasonable rates! This will all go away in a couple of weeks.

This is how it will work:
1) Tell me what you want off of the list via comment or e-mail (katsuhiro at gmail). Prices are listed per item for each category so you should know how much it'll be. Shipping costs will be for flat-rate priority boxes, so you can eyeball rates at the US Postal service site. I would rather not ship internationally.
2) Send me money for items and shipping (paypal is best).
3) I mail you your stuff, probably the same day I receive the money.

English Language Manga ($3/volume)
Hikaru no Go 1-2
Trigun Maximum 1-5
Trigun 1-2
Saikano 1-4
Samurai Deeper Kyo 1-10
X/1999 1-6
Deathnote 1
Battle Angel Alita 4, 8, 9
Firefighter Daigo of Company M 1-5, 7-10, 17
Skyscrapers of Oz [18+ only]
Fake 1-7 [18+ only]
Finder Series 1: Target the Finder [18+ only]
I Can't Stop Loving You! [18+ only]
Black Knight 1-2 [18+ only]
Hayate the Combat Butler 1-2
Godchild 1
Zombie Powder 1-2, 4
Ouran High School Host Club 1, 9, 14
Vampire Hunter D Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane (novel)
Vampire Hunter D the Stuff of Dreams (novel)
Vampire Hunter D Raiser of Gales (novel)
Vampire Hunter D (novel)
Descendants of Darkness 1-6
Hana Kimi 1-2 (slight damage to back cover of #2)
Rurouni Kenshin 1-20
Kekkaishi 1-4
Appleseed 3-4
Appleseed Data Book
Black Magic
Vampire Hunter D Manga 1
Versus [Keiko Yamada] 1
Blood Sucker 1-3

English/Japanese Bilingual Manga ($3/volume)
GTO 1-3

Japanese Manga/Novels ($3/volume)
Clamp Duklyon 1-2
Megumi no Daigo 1, 2, 6
Erementer Gerad (blue) 1-3
Erementer Gerad (red) 1-3
Koucha Ouji 1
Akitsuki 1
Kamikaze Kaitou Jean 1-5
Imadoki (Watase Yuu) 1-5
Nanako (Watase Yuu) 1-5
D. Gray-man 1
Artonelico 1
Clamp Campus Detectives 1-3
Gun Blaze West 1-3
Watashi no Suki na Hito (Clamp)
Wild Rock [18+ only] (hilariously weepy uke alert)
Level E 1-2
Ayashi no Ceres 1-14 (Also have the three novels)
Yu Yu Hakusho 2-19
Koko ha Greenwood 1-6
Bleach 2-19
Reisei no Moribito (novel)
IQ84 (novel)
Yakumo Tatsu 1-10

Doujinshi ($3 each)
Full Metal Alchemist - Hellhound (Roy x Ed)
Hikaru no Go - Kisikaga no Hon (Kishimoto x Kaga) [18+]
KareKano - Kanojo ha... (het) [18+]
Digimon - Hot Apple Cider
X/1999 - X Motion
Harry Potter - Kaeru Choko (Harry and Ron)

Yu Yu Hakusho
Adamasu
Yume Bakari, Miteita (Hiei x Kurama)
A! (Hiei x Kurama)
Sekai de Ichiban Kimi ga Suki (Hiei x Kurama)
1993 Winter Special (private label) (Kurama x Hiei)
Swordsman
Crystal Silence

Senkaiden Houshin Engi
Mebiusu (Youzen x Taikoubou)
Treaumerei (Youzen x Taikoubou)

Megumi no Daigo
Rescue Guys Team A
Dogfight

Bleach
2006 Pekora Bleach Fan Book #6 (Ichigo x Orihime) [18+]
Unbalance
Cynicism
Mixture
Byakutou

Final Fantasy VII
Kachou Fugetsu (Cloud and Aerith, Tifa) [18+]
Peccato (Reno x Cloud) [18+]
The End of Childhood (Sephiroth x Cloud) [18+]

Gundam Wing
System H Second (Duo x Heero)
Snow Garden (Duo x Heero)
Dangun-Hero One (this involves Trowa stabbing someone with his bangs. No really.)
Tristan (DJ is bent)
4 x DJ that I am too lazy to translate the titles but they're all humor ones

Rurouni Kenshin
Tenku (focuses on Aoshi)
Rokinshia
Saikyou Combi (Saitou x Aoshi)
Crimson Revenge

Trigun
Trouble Gift (Wolfwood x Vash) [18+]
Bite the Bullet
Calling You (Wolfwood x Vash) [18+]

Region 1 DVDs ($8 each)
Samurai Champloo 1-4 (with box)
Ceres Celestial Legend 1-8
Wolf's Rain Complete Collection 1-2
Excel Saga 1-6
Petshop of Horrors Special Edition
Onmyoji

Region 2 DVDs (no subtitles) ($8 each)
Two-Mix Vision Formula 2000
Move Super Tune DVD
The Hakkenden OVA 2 DVD box set
Studio 4C Collection

CD ($3 each for singles, $6 each for CDs)
Ring/One, Two Step single
Dame! single
Houkiboshi - Yunna (single)
Asterix - Orange Range (single)
Fushigi Yuugi special CD single box
Try This Shoot (single) - Globe
Shima Uta (single) - the Boom
Super Eurobeat Initial D Millenium Box (5 CDs)
Violation of the Rules - Hal
I am... - Hamasaki Ayumi
Ayu Trance - Hamasaki Ayumi
Elegant Fish - Hayashibara Megumi
Move Super Tune - Move
Gold - Ijima Mari
B'z the "Mixture" - B'z
Eleven - B'z
Rurouni Kenshin OST1
Princess Mononoke OST (American release)
4 Pieces of Memories
Please Save My Earth OST1
Maho Tsukai Tai! OST
Lights 1&2 box set - Globe
Excel Saga OST1
Bubblegum Crisis As Sekira
Love Will Grow Final Fantasy vocal collection
Pray Final Fantasy vocal collection
Para Para Max 1-3
Boom Boom Satellites 8-track CD sampler
Grapefruit - Sakamoto Maya
Vampire Hunter D movie soundtrack
Animage 1-2
Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden OST
Wolf's Rain OST
Fushigi Yuugi Best Vocal Collection
Restoration Level 3 - TM Revolution
Ghost in the Shell movie OST
La. La. La. - Ohguro Maki
The Vision of Escaflowne OST

Art Books ($10 each)
Devil May Cry Graphic Edition
Neon Genesis Evangelion Photo File 02 Adam
Serial Experiments Lain Ultimate Fan Guide
CG coloring technique vol. 7 illustrations/explanations by Yoshitoshi Abe (2007, painter and photoshop)
Marmalade Boy
Hana Yori Dango Yoko Kamio Illustrations
Intron Depo 1
Soul Driver 2000 (this is a two art book set which will be sold together for $24; the first art book is all Weiss Kreuz)

Other
Weiss Kreuz Gluhen Tour 1998 VHS ($5)
Fushigi Yuugi trading card sets 1&2 (all commons) ($20)
Yu Yu Hakusho trading card sets 1&2 (all commons) ($20)

Achievement unlocked: haggis

So this happened:

It may not be immediately evident, but that's haggis, which exploded (with flavor?) from its sheep stomach container whilst cooking. My verdict? Tastes a lot like Bremer knipp, which tastes a lot like scrapple, which is a thing I grew up eating and still like when I'm not thinking too hard about my daily fat intake.

I feel like there was some expectation I'd be appalled by the entire haggis thing when it was given to Mike and I for Christmas. Look, one of the few soups I like is menudo and I grew up eating chicken hearts and gizzards and thinking they were a special treat. (Spoiler: I still do think that, actually. Mmm, hearts and gizzards and dumplings.) I'll basically try anything once unless it (a) still has the head attached because I have this thing about my food looking at me or (b) is something I'm ethically opposed to such as whale meat. I may think the jelly on top of a pork pie is utterly disgusting, but it's an informed sort of utterly disgusting since I actually did eat it in order to draw that conclusion. (The only exception I've made to this rule is for natto, because I literally can't get past the smell in order to even get it close to my food hole.)

Haggis is something a lot of American pop culture likes to freak out about since it involves sheep tripe that's cooked in a sheep stomach. Because I don't know, it's un-American to use the less glamorous bits of the animal. Personally, I think a culture that consumes that many hot dogs per capita and invented the Twinkie should probably just shut the hell up and quietly slink away.

So anyway, haggis: solid thumbs up, a good addition to the ground up tripe with beef fat repertoire of scrapple-lovers everywhere.

Les Miserables

Goddamnit, Anne Hathaway. Must you punch me in the heart and make me cry in every one of your scenes?

This movie has some amazing things going for it. Namely, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. They really make the movie with beautiful singing and intense emotion. I've seen Les Mis on stage before, and Fantine never made me cry like Anne Hathaway did. Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream was the angriest I've ever heard, and she convinced me. (And honestly, it makes sense for Fantine to be angry as well as despairing, because this wasn't how her life was supposed to be.) And I know a lot of people were side-eyeing the Hugh Jackman thing, apparently unaware of the fact that the man was in musicals on stage for years and even won a Tony. But it shows in this movie, it really does. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen do a pretty good turn as the scumbag Thenardiers as well, though HBC really just kind of felt like Mrs. Lovett revisited with a bit less cannibalism.

The rest of the movie, I had more reservations about. Russell Crowe does a technically competent job of singing, but he doesn't seem to emote very well when he does it. Which is too bad, since Javert is a character that takes a lot of conviction in song. There was only one instance in the movie (near the beginning when he fights with Jean Valjean in the hospital) that I really felt anything out of him, and the rest was... pretty flat.

I also honestly did not like the way the movie was shot. I know one of the great things about movies versus stage is that it lets us get right up there with the characters and see into their eyes. Which is great. But it would have been nice if the director had given the characters some goddamn space once in a while. I felt like 90% of the movie was closeups, and it started getting both claustrophobic and annoying after a while. Half the time I completely lost sense of place with the characters because you couldn't see anything but their face and a colorful blur for the background. I'm sure there were some nice sets and costumes in the movie, but I feel like I didn't see a hell of a lot of them. The face is important for expression, yes, but how about some arms? Some legs? For all I know, Hugh Jackman was wearing running shorts in half his scenes because we never see him below the shoulders.

Honestly, I prefer the stage production.

Is the movie worth seeing? I'd say yes. Anne Hathaway will ruin Les Mis for every other Fontine. Hugh Jackman is excellent. (You get well acquainted with the inside of his mouth considering the amount of time the camera spends staring down it, but hey, he's got nice teeth.) Is it worth showing to someone that's musical phobic that you'd never be able to drag to a stage production? Definitely.

But will the movie make you like Les Mis if you didn't before? Unless your problem was that Fontine didn't reach out from the stage and punch you directly in the emotions and you wanted a more intimate relationship with Jean Valjean's tonsils, probably not. Story and music-wise, it's just like the stage version. To quote my best friend's dad: "They sang and they died and they died and they sang and they sang and they sang and they died and they sang."

Basically that. But it does make a lovely bit of Oscar bait. If Anne Hathaway doesn't get a nomination out of this, I am going down to the award ceremony and flipping the entire goddamn stage.