Saturday 25 May 2013

Why Boycotting the Ender's Game Movie to Express your Displeasure at OSC's Stance on Gay Marriage is Ridiculous: a rant.

To preface: Ender's Game is a sci-fi novel written by Orson Scott Card (OSC), a very well-known sci-fi and fantasy writer. Ender's Game is kind of the sci-fi book, and I would highly recommend it to everyone. It's about a boy named Ender who is sent to a space station to learn how to defend the Earth against aliens ('the buggers' - it was written in the '80s) who have previously been involved in war with Earth. Ender Wiggin is somewhat of the last hope of Earth, and as well as cool sci-fi action, there's a lot of interesting psychological elements and sweet battle scenes.
Orson Scott Card, the author, is a devout Mormon. He is a prominent supporter of the Biblical definition of marriage and therefore vehemently opposed to homosexual marriage. Some of his quotes on the subject are quite verbally aggressive, stating he will destroy any government who tries to legalise gay marriage. He is, as you might expect from a devout Mormon, also very conservative in other areas, though his stance on this issue is most prevalent at the moment, due, I assume, to our current social environment where defending traditional perceptions of marriage to the exclusion of others is a relatively socially unacceptable thing to do, and given that the Ender's Game movie is coming out this November.

Please note that by calling marriage between a man and woman 'traditional' I am not saying I think that's all marriage is. I understand that my language could lead you to believe that I am against marriage equality for homosexuals; that's not what I'm saying. It can't be argued that man/woman marriage is the current tradition.

Before I get into the rant in the title, I just want to very briefly address another issue which is actually of more concern to me, but I feel like I can't blog about without it a) going on foreverrrrr because I have so many 'pinions and b) making me upset because reasons. But in summary, I'm sick of people's entire identity and personality being determined, in the eyes of others, by one factor. Last night on tumblr, there was one of OSC's quotes about how he doesn't support gay marriage, which was met with comments about how he is a 'vile, hateful, piece of shit', amongst other things. You know what? I'd bet you good money he isn't. It's a problem exacerbated by people's need to identify the failings in everyone around them, and then determine who that person is based on that one thing. OSC is not vile and hateful because he disagrees with your stance on gay marriage. He is not a piece of shit because on this matter, your opinions are not in alignment. Stop judging people based on one facet of their identity and wake the hell up and realise that everyone is just as complex, full of contradicting emotions and messy inside as you. Personally, I'd be pissed the f*ck off if people judged my whole personality based on my views on one issue, even if I agreed with you and you decided that made me awesome. I deserve more than that. I deserve to be seen as more than just one part of myself. And so does everyone.

So re: boycotting the movie, this is seriously the stupidest response to finding out OSC's stance on this issue that I can think of, for these reasons:

  • The rights have already been bought from him. While I'm sure he'll make a percentage of whatever profits there are, it's already done. It's already in the hands of someone else.
  • And that's exactly what it is - this is no longer OSC's baby. It belongs to another person. OSC is involved in production, but he is not the only one. There are many other people who are helping to guide this movie.
  • Which means, obviously, that OSC is not the sole, or even primary, beneficiary of the film. He is not the only person receiving money for this, and he will not be receiving the most money for this. Aside from the cast, there's the whole production team and crew, who by boycotting this film, you would be hurting a heck of a lot more than OSC. And it's not purely financial - the crew who won't get more money no matter how well the movie does are still going to be more successful if this movie is more successful. If they're crew on some bomb movie that no one goes to see, how much less work do you think they're going to get than if they were on the crew of the super box office hit of 2013.
  • I challenge you to find any movie ever where there has not been at least one person on the cast or crew who was against gay marriage, or some other thing you strongly believe in. Literally every movie, I would hazard, has had SOMEONE on it who doesn't agree with you on this matter. So why is this different?
Boycotting the Ender's Game movie because you disagree with OSC is the most irrational and honestly, kinda selfish response to this issue. I just. I don't get it. It makes me angry and sad and confused. 

Monday 15 April 2013

I want to, I do

I want to blog so much, but I've got too much uni work - dammit ANU.
Not even so much work like "I shall blog to procrastinate!" but so much work like "I have two exams next week, neither of which I have started studying for, a group presentation on Wednesday I haven't finished writing, and a group presentation in two week I haven't even really looked at so yeah, soz guys."

But in good news, this evening I saved a dog.
There's been probably 5-10 times in the last few years when I've been driving around with Ben and we've seen a dog wandering. Most of the times, the dog has been near its house, but I've still gone in and told the owner, because they should know their dog can get out.
One time, I chased a dog for like, 6 blocks because it ran way when I tried to help it and I wanted to make sure it didn't get run over.
Twice, including tonight, we've saved a dog near a busy road where the dog's house obviously wasn't nearby, and taken it to the pound. The pound have these holding cages, where you can take dogs out of hours and lock them there for the night. We always take a blanket for the puppy to snuggle into, and the pound has water for the dogs.
Tonight, we saved a little terrier. And I mean really saved. We were driving along Cooma St, in Queanbeyan, and there was a tiny dog running across the road, and two people standing on the other side. We pulled over, mostly to avoid hitting the dog but also because it looked like the two people needed a hand. I got out of the car and tried to call the dog over to me, but he (I don't actually know - I'm just guessing) was a bit frightened and ran across the road again, back to the other side. He was looking back at me, and would have come within about 20cm of being hit by a car that made no effort to slow or swerve, although the dog was so small the driver may not have seen it. Once safely (just) on the other side, the dog had a sniff at me, and was a bit suspicious because I smelled like my dog. Then something happened that freaked the puppy out, and he tried to run away. I grabbed him, knowing that if I didn't he would be too scared and go off running again. Because he was already frightened, he barked and tried to bite me, but I managed to get him in my arms and held him like a baby and he calmed down a bit. He licked my hands and my face.
I told the other people who had been trying to help that we would take him to the pound, so Ben and I and the dog got back in the car, stopped in briefly at my house to pick up a blanket, then went to the pound.
It's pretty awful at the pound. The dogs watch you helplessly as your drive away or lock them in the cage, and you don't know what's going to happen to them. But we put him in a cage with the blanket, which we made all snuggly for him, and there was a big bucket of water. He didn't drink anything while I was there though. I sat with him in the cage for a few minutes, trying to settle him down and make him feel better. He felt scared, and was shaking. He didn't really settle. We eventually had to leave though, and he stood at the door to the cage and watched us walk away with sad, bright eyes.
Then, Ben was driving home after dropping me home, and he saw a guy who looked like he was looking for something. Ben pulled over, and this guy owned the dog. When Ben mentioned we'd dropped him at the pound, the guy seemed to think that meant the dog might get put down or something, but Ben explained that the have overnight holding cages.
I haven't heard anything from the guy, though I left my phone number. But I'm happy that the dog found his owner.
And there was one time I saved a dog and got half of $20 and got to miss maths. Best day ever!

Hey, apparently I did have time for a blog.

Monday 8 April 2013

Oh, fancy pants!

Guess who just got offered a permanent position at my work?
THIS GIRL.
Lady.
Woman.
Apparently, calling women (above a certain age, I assume) 'girl' is infantalising an therefore sexist, because we don't call men 'boys' past a certain age. Or something.
But I'll talk about THAT tomorrow, because that is a whole other kettle of fishies.
This blog title just got a lot more relevant because I just got some new pants, between titling the blog and posting. They're not fancy by ohmygod they are so comfortable.
Anyway, top stroy today is that the place I've been working at sporadically since November 2011, temping here and there in holidays and during term, doing reception and admin-y bits, has just offered me an official job with them!
I've been temping through Hays this whole time, and while that's had some awesome perks, like being able to say "I'm the best temp in Chiswick!" (and that's about all), it's also been really unstable and a bit hard to organise, because I'm meant to do everything through Hays, but have such a good relationship with where I actually do the working things that I just tell them directly.
So I have to decide if I want to be casual or permanent part-time but either way eeeeeeeeeee!
I'm probably more excited than I should be, given that it's not like I got a new job or anything - it will be exactly the same work.
The real difference is now that I will be an official employee, I won't have to pay for my own meal at the work Christmas lunch. Booyah.

Though tbh, all this pales in comparison to these freaking pants. Kmart, I take back any word I have ever uttered against you. Have all my money in exchange for a never-ending supply of these pants, and tiny pillow pet keyrings, please and thank you and goodnight.
x

Sunday 7 April 2013

I think we should all just admit it's not happening and move on.

I will try and write a bit though.
Except for right now, because it's 1am, my bffffffffff is visiting from Melbs, and I just watched the LAST episode of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and am somewhat of an emotional wreck.
Well, only a little bit.
But today I mastered (I use that term loosely) the cup song from Pitch Perfect.
I've been able to do just the cup bit for yearsssssss, but now I can sing the song with it too.
And by "sing the song with it", I mean I can make the noises out of my mouth when they're meant to be made. They don't necessarily sound any good in any way at all.
So no, you'll probably never see any evidence of it, but just know that it prrrrrrrrobably makes me more accomplished than you.
And will drastically improve my quality of life long term.
Except for tonight, when I won't be sleeping because this goddamn song is SO STUCK IN MY HEAD.
But I'm basically Anna Kendrick, which gives me the right to be sassy and dismissive about Twilight (because I was previously very limited in my ability to do this ...) and wear excessive amounts of eyeliner, which I think we can all agree is something I have never been guilty of previously, and have them look attractive and just a touch badass.

GOODNIGHT.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Well, that was successful.

I lasted a day. A day of BEDA. After missing the first day.
My life is a constant success story.
So now we're changing things up; from this moment on, this will be known as BLoDiA. Blog Lots of Days in April. Which is objectively a terrible name but we're rolling with it because I'm already doing so appallingly.
I redesigned my blog. P. cool, huh?
I'm trying to find a new photo to replace the skulls (though I do like the skulls), but I can't find anything except many, many pictures of my face. I was considering making you a side-bar collage of my face in various locations but like, I feel like that might be bordering on obsessively self-involved and creepy?

Anyway, I was hoping to have a story to tell you. I don't.
Ah! Thank you, boyfriend!

I shall blog about my puppy.
Artemis is like, I wanna say 8 months old? She is a Kelpie, mostly, and we got her from puppy foster care. There's a picture of her a couple of posts back.
She is super playful. She would play non-stop if she could, and tries pretty hard to most of the time.
When we first got her, she liked tug-of-war but we made the mistake many puppy owners (including ourselves, with our previous puppy) have made before us: teaching her fetch.
If there's something else Arty likes to do other than fetch, I don't know about it. And neither does she.
It doesn't matter whether you're watching TV, eating breakfast, in the shower, sleeping. You are expected to throw the ball/rope/squeaky toy immediately. I have woken up with slobbery tennis balls in my bed. Sexahhhhh.
As anyone who has tried to train a puppy to fetch may have noticed, they're not particularly adept at dropping the ball. But we taught Arty that when we say "mine", she's to drop the toy or let go of the rope if we're playing tug-of-war. She's super good at this, because she is smart and lovely.
She also jumps to catch the toy. She did a full flip the other night, long ways. She's so dedicated to catching it, and so excited to play, that when you're about to throw it, her back legs quiver in excitement.
She cries when we leave. She cries and howls and barks and is so sad. It breaks my heart, to the point where often I won't go out on the weekends, if it means leaving her alone, because I can't stand to listen to her cry as I close the door behind me.
She is so happy when we come home. Her ears go flat against her head (which they do whenever she's really happy or contrite) and she jumps up on you and prances around, entirely stoked that you're home. Her prancing is hilarious.
She howls at sirens.
Her best doggy friend is Ben's dog Meg. They've got to the point now where they recognise each other's name. Like, if I say "Meg" at home and Arty hears, she'll drop her toy, look at me excitedly, then run to the front door. When we get to the door of Meg's house, Arty is so excited not just her tails wags - her whole back half wags. Then we let her off the leash and Arty runs inside and Meg spares a lick for my hand before chasing after Arty into the backyard where they'll chase each other around for hours. We can even get them to tug-of-war with each other. Also, despite both of them being girls, and both being desexed, Meg tried to hump Arty once, so that was pretty funny.
We're trying to get Arty to be a bit more cuddly, and it's working - though most people don't get to see it. Around too many people, she's just way too excited. But in the mornings and evening in particular, when she's really sleepy, you can sit with her for ages cuddling. As long as you let her lick your hands (face) while you do.
She sleeps inside.
Heaps of people seem to think Artemis is a bad name. It's not, don't worry.
That's my dog.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Meow

"BEDA?" she whispers, tentatively.
"You're a day late," says the harsh voice of reason and logic.
Well, close enough. They're still making April Fools jokes in America (Exhibit A) so I figure I'm pretty safe.
To start, and to help get me through the month of April and all the blogging and assessment it is sure to contain, here is a list of things I'm looking forward to over the next while.

  • Courtney coming to visit this weekend!
  • My birthday party
  • The jumping castle at my birthday party
  • Going to see Sir David Attenborough
  • Finding out if I get to be a LeakyCon volunteer
  • Finishing the semester
  • Never having to do bio psych ever again ...
  • ... hopefully
  • Going to Americaaaaaaaa
  • Going to LeakyCon
  • Meeting the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast at LeakyCon
  • The new Jane Austen web series replacing the Lizzie Bennet Diaries
  • Being a beautiful bridesmaid at my aunt's wedding
  • My aunt getting weddinged
  • Seeing Twisted, the new Starkid musical, in Chicago
  • Going to Mexico
  • Going on long plane flights
  • Coming back from my trip to my tax return
  • Planning maybe to go to Japan/Southeast Asia during the summer
  • Getting birthday presents
  • Being alive *crosses fingers* *touches wood*
  • Being about to make myself a cup of tea
  • Getting to read my book while I wait for mum to pick me up from work
  • Working and earning teh $$$
  • Getting desperate trying to think of more things, and still thinking of some pretty good ones
  • Going home to my puppy
  • and kitty
  • and rabbit
  • Seeing Warm Bodies next weekend
  • Also, seriously, LeakyCon
  • EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
  • BEDA? I think.
  • Game of Thrones, ooooooh Game of Thrones
I think that'll do. 

Also, if you're new here, BEDA = Blog Every Day in April. It's a thing. Be prepared for some missed days when I forget, some midnight blog posts, some weird and vaguely hysterical posts, some posts that say nothing of importance because BEDA sucks all my creativity and stories away quicker than I can produce them. It'll be a long road, my friends, but we'll trek through it together.
Though not really, because I'm the one writing these and it takes me like, at least half an hour while you spend ten minutes reading it, think "Oooooh, was that worth it?" and close the window. But hey. Tha's cool. No big.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Neighbourhood Power Struggles and My Apparently 'Killer' Cat - Adrienne's Suburban Chronicles: part I

This dopey fellow down below is one of my cats:

His name is Oscar, he's like, I unno, 4? He's a purebred Bengal, scared of everything, and adorably kinda slow. He is also a giant. He was the biggest Bengal the breeders had ever seen, and he's about twice the size of our other Bengal, who's the same age and his half-sister, Rosie. She is pictured below. Cuuuuute.
So Oscar, right? He pretty much defines scaredy cat. If he hears a car in our street and is somewhere 'vulnerable' (anywhere other than already hiding under the stairs/anywhere he's not currently sleeping) he freezes, and if someone (God forbid) actually ENTERS THE HOUSE, he is a blur as he runs to hide under the aforementioned stairs.
Oscar is also the biggest sweetie. Yeah, he's kind of like Seth Rogen in any Seth Rogen movie (your friendly neighbourhood stoner - though obviously we don't actually give our cat drugs, I can just imagine him being the kind of guy who's 25 and spends a disproportionately large amount of his time staring at a lava lamp), but he also loves teh cuddlez and patz.
Now, Oscar and Rosie have always been indoor cats. I don't know precisely why, though I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that our previous cat, Biggles, had always been allowed outside and had been bitten by a brown snake twice and eventually ran away. But Bengals are known to be quite active cats, and whether it's because of that or something else, Oscar was quite stressed in our house. He would go through periods where he would pee on at least 3 beds/chairs every week, to the point where my dad and stepmum considered getting rid of him (I assume 'selling him' get rid of him, not 'hit him in the head with a shovel' get rid of him). This is an option I could not and would not ever consider, and though it was made clear to me that I had absolutely no say in this, they decided that they would trial letting him and Rosie outside. If this didn't work, Oscar would be a goner.
So a few months ago, Oscar and Rosie were released into the (not very) wild lands of our backyard, and allowed to finally roam free among the grasses and drink from our very chlorinated pool. Yay, right?
And it was a yay! Oscar stopped peeing on stuff that wasn't intended for peeing. SCORE! He seemed happier and seriously loves the outside. SCORE! Rosie, well, she doesn't really care about outside but at least she has the option. SCORE! Oscar started beating up another neighbourhood cat. SCOR- wait.
About a month or two ago, Oscar came home with his belly sorta kinda ripped open. Later, a guy from the house directly behind ours came knocking at our door. Our cat had done $2000 (!) worth of damage to his cat. He wanted us to pay. We said no.
Oscar gets along well with Rosie, and with the other cats and dogs in the neighbourhood. Except this cat. I haven't seen this cat personally, but apparently it's pretty small and as mentioned, Oscar could cosplay as Godzilla. The $2000 worth of damage to The Other Cat was followed by another $1000 worth of damage, and then more. I don't know how much, exactly. I think there have probably been about 5 serious fights. After the second, we made an agreement with the guy who owns The Other Cat that we'd bring Oscar in at 4pm and they could let their cat out. This is kind of hard to do, because cats, amirite? They're not known for their immediate response to their owner's call. But we do try.
It hasn't really worked. Last night, they got into another fight. I should mention, Oscar hasn't come out of these unscathed, though he's doing a lot better than The Other Cat. He's had the initial belly-rip-open, a hole through his ear, been very shaken up, and countless other scratches. Obviously, this doesn't really compare to internal bleeding and broken ribs, but still. Worth mentioning.
The Other Cat owner wants to report Oscar as a nuisance. This afternoon, my dad spoke to Mrs Cat Owner, and she called Oscar a 'killer cat', which like - OK, he's messed up your cat real bad but it's not dead?
I feel bad for their cat. I really do. And I feel bad for them. It must be awful having your cat come home of an evening, and be bleeding everywhere or whatever and be in so much pain, and taking it to the vet and not knowing if The Other Cat is going to be OK or if the $3000 you've spent in vet bills for the last 2 months was for nothing. I can't even really imagine how awful, and what I'm imaging feels pretty awful.
But also, it's not necessarily Oscar's fault. While he clearly ends up winning the fights, there's no evidence of who starts them. While you'd think The Other Cat would have learnt by now to maybe stay away from this giant omen of terror [see above image], I also know that Oscar is a complete wuss. And I don't mean just with people. He's scared of Rosie, and she's half his size.
So now Mr and Mrs Cat Owner are threatening us and Oscar, and I'm worried one day he just won't come home, while there will be a freshly dug and covered hole in Mr and Mrs Cat Owner's yard. Because while I can understand how awful it is, I don't blame either cat. They're being cats. Yeah, it's terrible that my cat doing so much damage to your cat, but just because my cats wins, doesn't inherently mean it's his fault. And I don't want their cat to die just as much as I don't want Oscar to die. But they seem to see Oscar as this vicious villian who's a plague to (cat) society and should be treated like someone wearing a turban at an American airport. (I don't know if that's actually an accurate stereotype, but that's how mainstream media depicts American airports. I personally have never seen a turban wearer at an American airport, and nor have I seen an American airport treat someone differently because of a stereotyped identifier like a turban. I am also not saying that if you wear a turban you are or should be treated differently by American airports. Or their staff. FYI.)
Currently, Mr and Mrs Cat Owner are just fighting for their cat to have more time outside, which should be fine, as long as Oscar being inside more doesn't make him a stressed out Pee Machine again.
In conclusion, I want no dead cats, no injured cats, and happy times all around. I feel like that may be an unrealistic hope. And just because Oscar wins, doesn't mean he started it. If the tables were turned, would Mr and Mrs Probably Very Nice But Due to Their Attitude Seem Basically Awful pay for Oscar?

Just for a sense of completion, here are my other pets. They have no criminal record. Yet.
Cch Pounder

Artemis

Mittens