My scrap of dirt

I have reached saturation point on the GRE. Studying more is making me increasingly grumpy and I don't think I'm retaining any more at this point. I've been studying for this with some regularity for 2 months now; I don't know what I'll do tomorrow if I don't do well, because I desperately just want to put it all behind me.

For some reason yesterday I got the urge to change layout to something that would showcase photos I love a little more. So today I designed a banner and changed color scheme and everything. The result is here. I wonder if I'll change a couple of photos - I kinda wanted Jordana Brewster and Grace Park in there. But right now this mozaic of photos makes me very happy - it's got actors I like and friends, it's got smiles and quiet moments, it's got boys and girls with long and/or unkempt hair and it's got color and b&w and it's really close to what I had in mind so. I'm happy.

On a related note, Kate Winslet is such a beautiful woman.

Right. Going to transcribe or something for a bit.

[adapted from a post by lvs2read with permission]

So, I don't know how much everyone's been following the latest brouhaha here in LJ-land, but here's some links for those who might be interested:

First, LJ decides to eliminate Basic Accounts without telling current users so in the latest news post:
http://news.livejournal.com/106731.html?thread=68451051

Then, someone discovers that LJ is filtering their 'popular interests' list:
http://stewardess.livejournal.com/287615.html?format=light
http://stewardess.livejournal.com/287615.html?format=light

Then, someone else calls for a one-day strike of LJ:
http://stewardess.livejournal.com/288147.html?thread=5877907#t5877907
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/394838.html
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395310.html
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395125.html


ruric also posted a good analysis of why erasing Basic Accounts makes little sense, even with the (disdainful) arguments put forward by Anton Nosik (who works for SUP though I'm unclear under what title).

I've been, generally speaking, failing to get truly upset at LJ for the way they've been wanking us around (and I don't deny they have, I think they've been making awful and EXTREMELY problematic choices), though I can't really explain why. I've also been VERY uncomfortable with the automatic anti-Russian backlash there was when SUP's takeover was announced, which means I am STILL uncomfortable with any comment I see suggesting 'I told you' because the original statement was based in unjustified xenophobia and so to validate it like that is just plain problematic.

Anyway. The decision to take away Basic Accounts, however, is really bothering me. I hold three accounts at LJ and all three are paid accounts - though one of them I haven't paid myself in a while now (the other two is because I'm weak when it comes to icons and RPing) - but the basic accounts are really important to me. I want to have the possibility of free use of LJ, even if I don't use that opportunity. It's a matter of principle, absolutely, I want anyone who wants to blog on LJ to have that possibility and not have to be burdened by ads if they don't want to, and can't afford a paid account. I want my financial contribution to LJ to be my decision, not something I was forced into.

In terms of business, I think it says a lot about your ethics and the quality of your service when you offer viable free service (basic accounts might not have many add-ons and options but they work as well as any other accounts and you're not excluded from participating in anything), and your users choose to pay anyway. It's sign of a good, healthy business, and maybe more importantly - it's the right thing to do.


Re: the strike, you can expect not to hear anything from me on LJ on Friday GMT.


EDIT: Brad, the creator of LJ, posts about the decision to get rid of Basic Accounts, and makes a very good point about content and networking and community as the base of LJ's health.

"The paid users, while minimal, paid enough to keep the site running, and brought in enough revenue to keep growing the site, and paid our salaries. The free users, while not paying, were extremely valuable because they produced the content that the paying users were there to consume. You know, the whole network effect thing?"

I've been working on my new LJ layout and it happens to have the "Links list" option which I decided to take advantage of. The idea is these links are resources on the two main topics I'm interested in: LGBT issues (and by extension, gender studies/feminism) and ecology. I'm also adding links to news websites that I think can be considered as references when you're trying to keep up with what's happening in the world.

As an afterthought, I added links to books that I think are essential if you want to be informed on these questions.

If you can think of any website/books that really should appear in one of the lists, can you let me know? It's not supposed to be a comprehensive list - just a few pointers, but I obviously don't know all the references on these topics, so the links I chose aren't necessarily the best.


Thanks to a friend, I just found a link to a documentary that had caught my attention during the European exchange in Jerez. "It's elementary" explores the possibilities and actions of teachers who have chosent to acknowledge gays, lesbians and bisexuals in class (specifically in the elementary school setting). It's really good, and a perfect document to study for my research paper next year.

While surfing on that website, I realized there are many videos that would probably be very interesting (as a rule, but also in particular for my research), including "Let's get real", "Straightlaced" and "That's a family". The problem? They're so expensive. I think I'm still going to try and get copies of at least a couple of those once I'm in Canada.

Download the zip file.

Zip file contains 132 mood images, all in jpeg form and 140x75px. If you're not sure how to put this mood theme on your LJ (for all account types), you can find instructions here.

Credits :
Pictures used are from all over the place, but a number of them are photographs taken by abby_i, naughtyelf and myself.

- Please comment if you take.
- Please credit.
- Yay Sean!

See the whole mood theme over there. I'm not totally happy with all the pictures (especially anything angry/annoyed) but that's really the best I could find, so if you have pictures that would fit much much better, I would love it if you could let me know!

Gus Vant Sant, about his movie Elephant and school shootings:

"I think that the kids will probably be the best audience [fore Elephant]. I think they recognize the "answers" as scapegoats and red herrings. They know that the answer is way more unpredictable than having a specific answer. These are the signs to look for – if you do so – it will be safe. If you look for these signs – than you can fix it before it happens. The teens in this country are smarter than that, they know that it is less curable. It requires more thinking than that in order to come up with a resolve."

"It's not that I don't want you involved in the characters, but I wantyou involved by watching them, an observation, the way documentarianFrederick Wiseman sits back and lets things occur. We could haveinvented a more traditional psychological narrative. I have my ideaswhy Columbine happened, but that's not this film. I wanted a poeticimpression rather than dictating an answer. I wanted to include theaudience's thoughts."

"We didn't want to explain anything. As soon as you explain one thing,there are five other possibilities that are somehow negated because you explained it in one way. There was also the issue of finding an explanation for something that doesn't necessarily have an explanation."


As you may have guessed, I watched Elephant again today. It was less intense than expected, but still an amazing movie. The direction in particular is just stellar - it feels like each shot is its own photograph, constructed carefully. Artistically I'm really amazed by the movie. As for the story itself - I still find it's one of the best (and most truthful) portrayal of school life ever filmed. The whole of it just feels so fluid and real. Anyway, I made a lot of captures and writing is not the good outlet, I made icons. I ended up changing my whole set of icons, and my whole layout, and I'm pretty happy with it - I love that quote, it says it all.

On that note, I need to finish The Moonstone tonight. I've also found the episodes of Transgeneration. It's really bewildering that everything about trans would come my way now.

I'm back in Rennes, where I can enjoy super-fast connection. Hmmm, goodness. It's funny how you get used to the best so easily, when really the connection I have in Paris is great compared to a slow one.

Anyway, gakked from miss_kao :

"Without You I'm Nothing"


What's Your Inner Placebo Song?
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Also, I was in an icon mood yesterday, so I did a bunch of them. I'll choose a couple of them once the elections have come and gone in the US... ( On to icon frenzy )