I lost my fake ID, but you lost the motel key

[sovay]

How today has gone: the noises I just made on discovering a not completely empty bag of cough drops in the farthest corner of the counters in the kitchen are more traditionally associated with the lottery. Have some links.

1. I am delighted that sholio has made a gifset of Bill Maxwell from The Greatest American Hero (1981–83): "FBI agent and absolute weirdo."

2. Courtesy of moon_custafer: cogent thoughts on having feelings about problematic art. "And so if Harry Potter or BA or Voltron or whatever other problematic thing was your lifeline it's okay to be upset that it was yanked away from you by bigoted creators and racist corporations and bad writing. It's okay to mourn that thing, to miss the joy it brought you, to think back on the good memories you had of it, to not want to jump on the hate bandwagon, to be upset when people mock the people like you who cared about it."

3. Courtesy of ashlyme: Judith Bingham's Salt in the Blood (1995), a maritime ghost story for chorus and orchestra, full of chanteys and fragments of ships' logs. I want a libretto.

P.S. Courtesy of my father: "Meet the Sea Slugs That Chop Off Their Heads and Grow New Bodies." It should maybe come with a content warning for video, but personally I cannot resist statements like "Self-amputation, known as autotomy, isn't uncommon in the animal kingdom. Having the ability to jettison a body part, such as a tail, helps many animals avoid predation. However, no animal had ever been observed ditching its entire body."

Comments

[heron61]

Voltron is problematic? I haven't seen it since the 80s, so I had no idea.

[sovay]

Voltron is problematic? I haven't seen it since the 80s, so I had no idea.

I haven't seen it ever, so without asking the internet, I got nothing.

[vass]

Having the ability to jettison a body part, such as a tail, helps many animals avoid predation. However, no animal had ever been observed ditching its entire body.

I admire these pioneers in the treatment of neck pain.

[jesse_the_k]

Yessss!

[sovay]

I admire these pioneers in the treatment of neck pain.

I genuinely resent it wouldn't solve all my problems! It's much more appealing than any of the consciousness-uploading scenarios.

[kenjari]

I have access to a pdf of the Cd booklet for Salt in the Blood, which includes the libretto. I can email it if you like.
(You can always ask me about tracking down music stuff - it's literally my job and I really enjoy it.)

[sovay]

I have access to a pdf of the Cd booklet for Salt in the Blood, which includes the libretto. I can email it if you like.

I would love that. Thank you so much.

(You can always ask me about tracking down music stuff - it's literally my job and I really enjoy it.)

(I keep not wanting to impose! I will try to remember to impose more!)

[larryhammer]

:adds "autotomy" to the queue for prettygoodword:

[minoanmiss]

You run PGW? I LOVE PGW!

[jesse_the_k]

As a latecomer to the marvels of PGW, I want you to know that as soon as I saw autotomy I thought "wonder if that's appeared on prettygoodword?"

[sovay]

:adds "autotomy" to the queue for prettygoodword:

Yay.

(Also this entire thread.)

[selkie]

For your amusement, my 4 am post-suffocation-nightmare (spoiler: a window had been left open, I was not suffocating, just pollinated) reaction to the slug video:

THE POOR SLU-UH-UGGGSSSSS
What if they secretly really liked that body and we can't know, because
THEY ARE SLUGS, SLUGS OF THE SEA

This morning: ew the detached bodies basically solar-powered themselves for months before decomposing, this is how the puny humans get super fucked in the slugpocalypse

[ashlyme]

*hugs for nightmares*

[sovay]

spoiler: a window had been left open, I was not suffocating, just pollinated)

Oh, well, that's . . . better. I've had the same nosebleed since seven a.m.

What if they secretly really liked that body and we can't know

I like to think that self-regeneration does not lead to dysphoria!

This morning: ew the detached bodies basically solar-powered themselves for months before decomposing, this is how the puny humans get super fucked in the slugpocalypse

We just need to incorporate more chloroplasts! Aren't we always saying it would be easier to photosynthesize?

Why'm I wearing your class ring?

[chanter1944]

See comment subject line. Thanks, now the quoted song is stuck in my head! I don't even like it much. :P

Re: Why'm I wearing your class ring?

[sovay]

Thanks, now the quoted song is stuck in my head! I don't even like it much.

I'd never heard it before sholio's vid for The Greatest American Hero, so I'm very fond of it!

[minoanmiss]

Dang, I should have sent you a jar of citron-ginger-hooney. I don't know when next I can get to the Post Office.

[sovay]

Dang, I should have sent you a jar of citron-ginger-hooney. I don't know when next I can get to the Post Office.

No worries! I appreciate the thought and will enjoy the honey if-whenever it arrives.

[rachelmanija]

Wouldn't it be amazing if it turned out that the solution to diseases that don't affect the head was to rip your own head off and grow a new body?

[jesse_the_k]

Based on my experiences with the medical profession, non-zero doctors have already put this into practice.

[ashlyme]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Salt in the Blood! I'm going to hunt down the CD.

I liked sea slugs before I read that article. Now I seriously respect them.

[sovay]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Salt in the Blood! I'm going to hunt down the CD.

I'd never even heard of the composer, but she got chanteys, drowned ghosts, seabirds as spirits of lost sailors . . . I couldn't identify any text from Dracula on hearing, but I bet it's from the scenes of the Demeter. And the moonsail.

I liked sea slugs before I read that article. Now I seriously respect them.

My favorite sea slug, Stiliger ornatus, is also a sacoglossan. I am trying to determine whether it can do the new-body trick. (I'll still love it even if it can't.)

[spatch]

Turns out William Katt once confirmed at DragonCon that Robert Culp was eating real dog biscuits and if you read further down the thread, it also turns out that Culp would apparently eat anything as a challenge.

This pleased a fan so much they made their own vegan Bill Maxwell dog biscuit crackers. And who says television isn't truly inspiring.

[sholio]

Okay, that's adorable and I'm glad I know it.

[radiantfracture]

I giggled at the gifs.

[sovay]

I giggled at the gifs.

It's not the only thing he's like, but he really is like that. I feel like I tempted irony somehow by posting about favorite characters and then forty-year-old pop culture smacks me out of nowhere with another one.

[swan_tower]

"And so if Harry Potter or BA or Voltron or whatever other problematic thing was your lifeline it's okay to be upset that it was yanked away from you by bigoted creators and racist corporations and bad writing. It's okay to mourn that thing, to miss the joy it brought you, to think back on the good memories you had of it, to not want to jump on the hate bandwagon, to be upset when people mock the people like you who cared about it."

I can't help but suspect that some of the current . . . I'm not even sure what I want to call it. Charged atmosphere, maybe? With the implication of possible lightning strikes coming out of it? . . . around that kind of thing has to do with what you were railing against in this post. When the things you like aren't merely things you like, but statements on or components of your identity, then any problem in that thing or on the part of its creator feels much more like it contaminates you. At which point it becomes much more necessary for you to disavow it as firmly as possible, or at least to feel like you have to, lest you be judged by everybody else. But maybe the answer is to not treat these things like core parts of people's DNA, such that any appreciation for the text entails identification with and therefore support for the text in toto and the creator as well.

[sovay]

But maybe the answer is to not treat these things like core parts of people's DNA, such that any appreciation for the text entails identification with and therefore support for the text in toto and the creator as well.

I essentially agree with this entire comment, down to the static charges. I think the only distinction I would draw is that there are books, movies etc. that become core parts of a person's DNA and it's fair to discuss them with that level of importance, but that's different from expecting the person to be held to account for them.

(Your use of the term contamination is also spot-on, and I wish it were easier to remove the conversation from that framework. It is weird, weird Christian spillover from where I'm sitting.)

[asakiyume]

"I am not! I'm a wonderful liar!" is a great line.

And perhaps no animal had ever been observed ditching its entire body, but I think many of us have had times when we'd like to....

[sovay]

"I am not! I'm a wonderful liar!" is a great line.

I really like Bill.

And perhaps no animal had ever been observed ditching its entire body, but I think many of us have had times when we'd like to....

On an almost daily basis. (Then I get a nine-hour nosebleed and realize I'd have to ditch my head.)