author: Graham Joyce
name: Jen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/18
date added: 2016/01/18
shelves:
review: Sadly romantic retelling of Stephen King's The Langoliers, taking place in the Overlook Hotel's less angry European cousin, starring Lyta Hall from Neil Gaiman's The Doll's House, set to Tori Amo's Winter.
“Happy 52nd birthday to the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama!
When it was time for Michelle to apply for college, some of her teachers tried to discourage her from applying to Ivy League schools, believing that Michelle had no chance of being admitted. Dismissing their doubts, Michelle went on to graduate magna cum laude from Princeton University and earn her J.D. from Harvard LawSchool.
By January 2009, the same little girl from the South Side of Chicago would become the first African American First Lady of the United States.
First Lady, thank you for being such a positive role model and reflection of excellence. Happy Birthday!”
BB-8 excitedly beeping about her adventures with Rey and Finn to her dad and it’s not that Poe isn’t fascinated but it’s 4am and BB-8 literally hasn’t shut up since they were reunited, babbling what roughly translates to:
“-and then Rey fixed my antenna and then we met Jacket Thief who was actually Finn and then we got on the millennium falcon and and and!!!! Then we met Han Solo and!! Squid monsters and cantinas and forests filled with bad guys and and!!! Dad! Dad. Dad are you listening?! Yeah so then-”
““Companies are not loyal to you. Never believe a company has your back. They are amoral by design. Build multiple streams of income.”-Molly Crabapple”
1. “He’d never beat Trump or Cruz in a general election.”
Wrong. According to the latest polls, Bernie is the strongest Democratic candidate in the general election, defeating both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in hypothetical matchups. (The latest Real Clear Politics averages of all polls shows Bernie beating Trump by a larger margin than Hillary beats Trump, and Bernie beating Cruz while Hillary loses to Cruz.)
2. “He couldn’t get any of his ideas implemented because Congress would reject them.”
If both house of Congress remain in Republican hands, no Democrat will be able to get much legislation through Congress, and will have to rely instead on executive orders and regulations. But there’s a higher likelihood of kicking Republicans out if Bernie’s “political revolution” continues to surge around America, bringing with it millions of young people and other voters, and keeping them politically engaged.
3. “America would never elect a socialist.”
P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The problem is we now have excessive socialism for the rich (bailouts of Wall Street, subsidies for Big Ag and Big Pharma, monopolization by cable companies and giant health insurers, giant tax-deductible CEO pay packages) – all of which Bernie wants to end or prevent.
4. “His single-payer healthcare proposal would cost so much it would require raising taxes on the middle class.”
This is a duplicitous argument. Studies show that a single-payer system would be far cheaper than our current system, which relies on private for-profit health insurers, because a single-payer system wouldn’t spend huge sums on advertising, marketing, executive pay, and billing. So even if the Sanders single-payer plan did require some higher taxes, Americans would come out way ahead because they’d save far more than that on health insurance.
5. “His plan for paying for college with a tax on Wall Street trades would mean colleges would run by government rules.”
Baloney. Three-quarters of college students today already attend public universities financed largely by state governments, and they’re not run by government rules. The real problem is too many young people still can’t afford a college education. The move toward free public higher education that began in the 1950s with the G.I. Bill and extended into the 1960s came to an abrupt stop in the 1980s. We must restart it.
6. “He’s too old.”
Untrue. He’s in great health. Have you seen how agile and forceful he is as he campaigns around the country? These days, 70s are the new 60s. (He’s younger than four of the nine Supreme Court justices.) In any event, the issue isn’t age; it’s having the right values. FDR was paralyzed and JFK had both Addison’s and Crohn’s diseases, but they were great presidents because they pushed forcefully for the right things.
“If both house of Congress remain in Republican hands, no Democrat will be
able to get much legislation through Congress, and will have to rely
instead on executive orders and regulations. But there’s a higher
likelihood of kicking Republicans out if Bernie’s “political revolution”
continues to surge around America, bringing with it millions of young
people and other voters, and keeping them politically engaged.“
“In any event, the issue isn’t age; it’s having the right values. FDR was
paralyzed and JFK had both Addison’s and Crohn’s diseases, but they
were great presidents because they pushed forcefully for the right
things.“
Oh. So we WEREN'T all assuming that the remaining movies are gonna be all about the ear drag? Because that's what I'm assuming. Luke redeemed their father, Leia redeems the son.
honestly Leia should’ve been the one to confront Kylo on that bridge. we know he has daddy issues (“he would’ve disappointed you” he says to Rey) but until proven otherwise I’m gonna assume he’s a total mama’s boy. just imagine. imagine Leia strutting out to him on the bridge. “BEN CHEWBACCA ORGANA-SOLO YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HOME RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO BE GROUNDED FOR LIFE, YOUNG MAN” and he just takes off the helmet and sniffles “okay mom” and awkwardly shuffles over to follow her out
his middle name is chewbacca im dead
anyone who doesn’t agree that his middle name is chewbacca can unfollow me right now
The best explanation I’ve heard so far for why R2 only woke up at the end, is that he actually does start booting up when BB8 first finds him; he just has to get through 10 years worth of updates before that.
also fun fact: if you replace bb-8 with a puppy, the force awakens instantly becomes a rom-com about a tiny concerned dog going on a quest to find a date for its charming but lonely owner, and comes back with two excellent prospects in tow.
No ok but I actually met him. Several of my colleagues and students were hired to do some assessments for several manmade and natural ponds on his property. He wanted to maintain them with several different fish populations so that kids nearby could fish and have a good time.
While we were working he rode up in his four wheeler with a terrified look on his face. I never thought I would see a former football player on the verge of tears, but boy howdy he nearly was. Several of us stop what we were doing and go over to see what was up.
“I was running the tractor through the field and almost hit a fawn.” He says.
Now, for reference, it’s pretty common to have farmers run over and kill fawns. The defense mechanism of fawns when they are young is to lay down low and not move…which obviously isn’t great for when there’s a tractor. It happens all the time, but it can be pretty bloody. It’s not a pretty sight.
So, thinking that maybe such a gory scene unnerved him and that we may have to dispose of the body, I say “Mr. Brown, is the fawn still alive?”
He says “Yes, I took it to the barn…but I’m afraid the mom won’t take it back because it has human scent on it.”
The myth about “human scent” is a common one, but it’s just that…a myth. But still, this guy was absolutely terrified that this little deer was going to live the first few weeks of its life without a parent. He was distraught.
Luckily my professor/boss was like “Don’t worry Mr. Brown, if you return the fawn relatively close to the spot that you found it, the mother will come back. The human scent thing is just a myth. The fawn will be alright, just be sure to keep the barn quiet so that the fawn doesn’t panic.”
Mr. Brown’s face lit up and he let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God” he said “I was so worried.”
And that’s the story of how I met the sweetest man ever: Mr. Jason Brown.
"She can't distort the story if the story already belongs to her"
See, here's the thing. Protagonists, by their very nature, exist to distort the story. If these characters weren't exceptional, they wouldn't be the reason there's a story to tell in the first place. There would just be "Well, this is the way things were, and they stayed like that forever."
“I genuinely wish that everyone would delete the word “Mary Sue” from their vocabulary. In its original, fanfic usage, it described a character who was, yes, usually female, but whose greatest crime was not perfection: it was twisting the story. A Mary Sue in that sense literally walks into someone else’s world and makes everything about her. Flash forward to the modern day and it’s a rare female protagonist who doesn’t get accused of being a Mary Sue, and hence worthless. Here’s the thing: she can’t distort the story if the story already belongs to her. The protagonist, regardless of gender, is awesome and interesting and has a milkshake that brings all the boys, girls, or genderfluid space pirates to the yard, because that’s why they’re the star of the story. So calling female protagonists “Mary Sue” is sexist, belittling, and reduces them in a way that is very rarely applied to their male counterparts—even when those male counterparts are just as guilty of being a little too perfect to be real.”
okay but seriously: what if Finn is the revolution
what if the story gets around the barracks in whispers – you know a stormtrooper can’t scratch an itch without everyone knowing – and some of the whispers are horrified (treason, betrayal, a trooper gone rogue) but others are trembling with hope. he wouldn’t kill for them! he stole a ship and they couldn’t stop him and he’s free!
and suddenly the AWOL rate spikes as stormtroopers on assignment see their chance and slip away into the night. I could find my family. I could live a normal life. I never have to hurt anyone again.
but there are a few who stay, too. they cautiously seek out others like themselves. they work out codes and signals. at first it’s just the rank and file, but then a disaffected squad leader tells them about a conversation between officers that he wasn’t supposed to hear. and so the conspiracy spreads.
hardly anyone remembers Finn’s number, but every last one of them knows who he is. he’s the one who got out. he’s the one who wouldn’t kill for the Order.
two years later, when the conspirators seize a capital ship and deliver it to the Resistance, the captain asks if her crew can meet “the stormtrooper who made it out.” He was the first, she explains. We all should have known it was wrong, but he was the one who showed us.
General Organa smiles – it’s too rare a sight, these days – and thinks maybe now he’ll understand just what a miracle he is.
Ok i wrote up this whole thing about this comic and then wordpress ate it. The gist – tone policing is complicated and i’ve tried to present some examples. Tone policing is not an excuse to be abusive or shitty towards an individual, but it is a way to mute and dismiss activism towards systems of oppression as being too aggressive, hostile, or emotional. There is a difference between ‘that’s a shitty argument’ and ‘you’re a shitty person’. Regardless, if you hold privilege in a certain area, you do not have to remain in discussions around oppression that are too intense for you, but you may not tell someone that their emotions are bad. Emotions – anger, fear, grief, frustration – these galvanize our activism. To numb them is to cut out the heart of what we are trying to change.
My other post was too nuanced but it’s gone and I want to eat dinner now.
It always baffles me that people think their time is somehow more valuable than others, and that they deserve to get paid a hundred times over even though we ALL have the same 24 hours a day- you, me, the President, Donald Trump- we all can only work so hard in a day. There’s nothing that will convince me that a CEO deserves to get paid his lowest wage worker’s yearly salary in the span of 15 minutes. There’s no reason someone working a full time job- ANY full time job, no matter how ‘low’ you may consider it, shouldn’t be able to afford at the very least to survive on their own. The time you spend at work is time lost from your personal life, and time is something we can’t get back. Regardless of what you’re doing at work, if you work full time you deserve to be fully compensated.
Christine had looked down during the meeting to find that her right hand had begun to change – claws, hair, the whole nine yards. It was Bob’s irritating voice, his endless self-promotion, and his glaring incompetence. “C’mon, c’mon,” she said to the hand, willing it to relax and change back. Later in the day, during another meeting, Christine felt her gums begin to itch – the biological calling card for her teeth dropping down. “Ugh,” she said aloud, not meaning to, and Laura had given her the stink eye. It was Laura’s non-stop talking-with-nothing-to-say and the revolting giggly hair tosses. She excused herself to go to the bathroom (to sit quietly in one of the stalls and get control). Not even close to the full moon and she wanted to (quite literally) gut the place and leave. “I’m turning in my resignation,” Christine said to Hopper before she left, putting the paper on his desk. “Are you kidding me?” he replied, shocked. “What are we going to do without you?” “Survive and thrive,” she said, meaning it in every possible way.
“Bad books on writing tell you to ‘WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW’, a solemn and totally false adage that is the reason there exist so many mediocre novels about English professors contemplating adultery.”
I can just see a manager following the cat through the store, explaining that, "No, you can't just keep coming in here, Tiger, you know we banned you, it's like you don't even respect my authority here."
so, look. the capital city of my country just got kamikaze bombed today. jakarta, indonesia. i live a few hours from there. you know what got bombed? a mall. but the terrorists didn’t just target the entire mall, they specifically targeted American shops. McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks. right after, the terrorists started shooting the police and citizens. The officials speculated that it was ISIS. but you know what?
there is no #prayforjakarta trending in twitter. do you know how my people responded right after the bombs and the shootings? the workers continued working. the drivers continued driving. the cooks continued cooking. we know that this is a terrible and sad event, yet we do not want to remain in the past and retaliate against those who did against us. when paris got bombed, they got global support and coverage. all the first-world countries encouraged paris to bomb syria right back. and they did. obviously, i’m not speaking against paris and the people at all, but i’m just saying that indonesia, a muslim country, got terrorized by ISIS, and even without support of acknowledgement, we managed to mourn and move forward. just that. none of us blamed america (since they specifically targeted american-brand shops), nor syria, since we know that ISIS is NOT syria, which many, many people seem to have forgotten. we blame ISIS. we do not want to blame those who did nothing to us. i myself am catholic, and yet i do not hate any of my muslim friends and fellow citizens.
i just find it odd that when a first-world white city was bombed, everyone freaked out and told them to bomb syria right back, and yet when a muslim country is bombed, nobody seems to care.
why is #prayforsyria not trending? why is #prayforjakarta not trending? why is it that when ISIS terrorize muslim countries, everyone seems to turn blind?
and hey, i’m not going to apologize for my bad english.
Listen. please do Not make this tweet into a meme. this tweet is good and pure and hilarious all on its own do not make it suffer the same fate as spiders georg thank you
tumblr: i have made a Meme you: you fucked up a perfectly good tweet is what you did. look at it. it’s got anxiety
“Planned Parenthood has filed a major lawsuit against the Center For Medical Progress (CMP) and its head, David Daleiden. The suit stems from the deceptively edited videos that CMP released last summer, in an effort to show Planned Parenthood officials engaging in illegal activity regarding the sale of fetal tissue.
The suit alleges that by engaging in the undercover video recording of Planned Parenthood employees, CMP has broken federal law, as well as state law in at least three states. According to The Hill, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California president Kathy Kneer told reporters, “Today, Planned Parenthood is going on the offense.”
