Chatterday! Open Thread

This is our weekly Chatterday! open thread. Use this open thread to talk amongst yourselves: feel free to share a link, have a vent, or spread some joy. About the only content-related rule is to keep this thread for things not covered in other threads over the past few weeks.

What have you been reading or watching lately (remembering spoiler warnings)? What are you proud of this week? What’s made your teeth itch? What’s going on in your part of the world?

Today’s chatterday backcloth, a premature baby deer, comes via The Daily Squee.

babydeer

48 thoughts on “Chatterday! Open Thread

  1. Well, here I am! I think this might be my first comment on FWD, actually, although I’ve been reading since the public rollout…I’m intimidated by the awesome y’all project.

  2. Did anyone else have a problem with the commercials for the House season premiere? I wasn’t watching FOX at the time (now I just watch it for the Simpsons), but the ads ran during TDS/TCR on Comedy Central.

    They were quite triggering for me – I spent 4 horrible days in a psych ward. I wanted to watch to see how they handled it, but I know I couldn’t stomach it.

    Another random thing – how often do people assume your illness/disability defines you? Even my doctor falls into this – I can’t be laughing AND sick. Even at my sickest, I’ve always had other interests. (mostly so the depression wouldn’t take over) And I’ve always been able to crack a joke (appropriate or not) and laugh. You have to, to survive.
    .-= Kaitlyn´s last blog ..The Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment =-.

  3. I’m reading On Death and Dying, which I am embarrassed to admit I hadn’t read before, despite being pretty well read in that area. It’s a really fascinating read, and it’s especially interesting to note various anachronisms from the period it was written.
    .-= meloukhia´s last blog ..Being Classy =-.

  4. The book I’ve been reading lately is called, uh, [i]Evolution’s Rainbow[/i]. I’m reviewing it for the Gender Empowerment and Diversity centre at my university. It’s really quite interesting–it looks at same-sex activity and atypical gender presentation in animals, as well as intersex animals and stuff. Animal queerness generally, really.

    It later deals with people, I think. I just haven’t gotten that far. I feel TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED to review it, because I’ve never taken biology, but…there you go!
    .-= Dorian´s last blog ..Library Racists: A Rant =-.

  5. i am tired and looking forward to flopping on the couch. (as soon as i catch up on my google reader…) i just finished reading ‘hunger games’ by suzanne collins which was amazing and captivating – set in a dystopian future united states where every year, the government forces teens from the various regions to fight to the death in a complex survivor-esque televised game show. our girl (an independent young woman) subverts the dominant paradigm, etc.

    i picked up the sequel today and am excited to dive into it!

  6. my librarian LAUGHED AT ME when i asked when/how/if i could obtain a copy of ‘hunger games’ so i just buckled and bought it. had to buy the sequel too – i’m seriously afraid to start reading it tonight because i Will Not be able to go to bed until i finish it!!

  7. I may break down and buy the sequel…I just checked the hold list and I am #135. It’s probably worth owning, right? I’ll read it again, I’m sure.

    I have a cat sitting on my legs, well, lying actually, upside down, waving his paws in the air occasionally and making little “merk? mrrrt? brrrt!” noises.

    This pleases me.

  8. I just read Blood Politics for an Anthropology class on Identity. It’s about identity in the Cherokee nation – it was actually a pretty easy read for an academic work.

    I just started “The Marriage Bureau for Rich People.”

    I watched the 2005 Telugu movie Mahanadhi last night. (There’s a more famous and probably better movie of the same name that came out in the ’90s, is in Tamil, and stars Kamal Hassan.) I got this without researching it. The songs were good, but the violence was so OTT and boring.

    I’m not sure what I’ll watch tonight – I’m thinking some cheesy ’90s Bollywood SRK goodness.
    .-= Kaitlyn´s last blog ..The Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment =-.

  9. Great. Now I have to read this book too, because it sounds awesome. SEE WHAT YOU’VE DONE?

    Also, I miss my cat now, because he’d basically do exactly what you’re describing, meloukhia. I haven’t seen him in, like, a year and a half =( [he’s with my stepmother’s brother in Massachusetts, I believe]
    .-= Dorian´s last blog ..Library Racists: A Rant =-.

  10. Hunger Games sounds like an interesting book.

    I went to Plato’s Bookshop on Thursday, among many things, and bought two biographies (of Iris Murdoch and Margot Fonteyn) and four classical fiction books, of which I am reading Madame Bovary for the second time and Mrs Dalloway for the first (in a complete edition, and in print: as opposed to being a short story and online). Also there is Romola by George Eliot (I adore my Renaissance history) and The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.

    I have also been admiring cute baby animals, especially ones with teeth! And been happy about white tigers/lions being born. Three little sisters/princesses.

    I have been stressing out a bit about Stephen Fry and his comments about the Law and Justice Party and how the British Conservatives are getting involved with them as Members of the European Parliament.

    And there have been so many developments. What I consider nasty developments. Mainly to do with children being given away/disrupted.
    .-= Adelaide Dupont´s last blog ..Running sheet for Key Concepts and Development: prelim and first draft, with pics and sounds! =-.

  11. For the record, I would like to point out that this baby dear is so cute that it actually makes my black, withered, evil heart quiver a bit.

  12. Loki (the cat who is lying on me) used to eat electrical cords when he was a kitten. This is why all of my lamps have relatively new cords.

  13. Everyone’s reading fun stuff. I read a chapter of an unpublished book about the history of ideas in the Soviet Union that I can’t actually explain because I didn’t understand it. But the person presenting it was probably the politest person I’ve interacted with in the university so far, and that was very nice.

  14. That baby deer is absolutely made of adorable.

    I’ve been dithering over whether I can/should/have a right to claim the label of PWD. I mean, yes, there’s the depression and the severe ADD and the PMDD and the dysmenorrhea and the DID and that’s just the diagnosed ones…. but I can rationalize myself out of anything >_<
    .-= Shiyiya´s last blog ..Letter to a Hawaiian senator =-.

  15. Adelaide, I read Romola not too long ago, and loved it. The edition I borrowed also had an interesting essay about how Eliot, even with her incredible historical accuracy and depth of research, still fell into some characteristically Victorian misunderstandings of Renaissance thought.

    That book also made me like Savonarola a bit more than I had; my high-school European History class led me to believe he was just another John Edwards type bellowing biliously about how You Sinners Are All Going to HELL!, but in Romola he seems to be trying hard to push for democratic government in Florence. He’s a very complicated figure, and Eliot clearly finds him compelling and sympathetic but she doesn’t hero-worship him either.

    (I also really, really like Mrs. Dalloway; it’s my favorite Virginia Woolf book.)

    What I am reading now: finishing up Natalie Angier’s Woman: An Intimate Geography, which I am really liking. She’s funny, she loves the subject, *AND* she really knows her biology. Which is good, because the book spends a lot of time on subjects I’m quite familiar with, like genetics, developmental biology, and how hormones work. I’m watching the current season of “Dollhouse” on TV and the second season of “Mad Men” on DVD.
    .-= Lindsay´s last blog ..Link Roundup, Feminism-and-Disability Edition =-.

  16. I am in bed with Fey (cat) lying between my knees. She was dreaming a few minutes ago, woke up, had a sneezing fit, and is now curled up and relaxing. I thought I knew a really cool description of the actual social model (as opposed to misconceptions) that I read on someone’s blog recently but I can’t find it. I am posting from my iPod which I still find amazing (it is also a communication device that now allows me to talk while lying on my side).
    .-= Amanda´s last blog ..Breathtaking to behold: talking back to dismissal =-.

  17. I’ve been reading a book called Sexuality and Socialism. In general, I like it, but I find it weird that it has made it half way through without a mention of the Socialist Party of America, the biggest socialist group in this country’s history.

  18. Hi Dorian! Do not be intimidated at all, you are quite welcome here. 🙂

    Shiyiya, my advice would be, go with your feelings, it’s your identity. And remember, these things can change. You don’t even have to decide for sure right now, if it’s a point of stress for you, you can come back to it. 🙂

    I am reading The Little Princess by Frances Hodgeson Burnett. Your books sound really interesting, everyone, I will have to bookmark this thread.

    I have been feeling pretty nauseous for days for reasons that will become apparent to most of the feminist blogosphere in less than twelve hours (good things, don’t worry! :)). Also because I have a bug or something. I also received some excellent news from a certain ableist organisation which made this year one of the worst ever for me. The news essentially means I can move on with my life and never ever have to deal with them again. No further repercussions. I was so happy I just shook and sobbed. And I’ve been feeling *physically* better, you know? I sat up the other day at my desk and wrote blog posts, and will probably have the energy to do so again (I’m in bed right now) when I’m over this bug or whatever it is.

  19. I’m re-reading The Polio Paradox, by Richard L. Bruno. I went through it the first time lightning-fast to get to the advice part and start implementing changes. Now I’m going through it slowly and carefully to try to understand the physiological stuff.

    I’m also brainstorming a novel for National Novel Writing Month–the goal is to get 50,000 words in 30 days. I woke up this morning thinking about characters and plot lines and got all excited about it. Now: Where is my copy of First Draft in 30 Days?
    .-= Virginia S. Wood, Psy.D.´s last blog ..9/11 still killing =-.

  20. I’m in the same boat as Shiyiya.

    Chatter away? Venting too? In that case I am still somewhat fuming over one of the articles I saw posted about FSD. The only good thing is I’ve had more time to work out why & so I think I can go back & address more facets of it now. I think I know how to break through to others. I think I can do it but later; I need to go out today.

    My tailbone is hurting me in the last few days. It’s been coming & going for a few months now. It’s better than it was a few days ago.

    I have like … 4 books on my desk right now. 2 of them are about pelvic pain & 2 are about travel… Guess which ones i’ve been reading more regularly? I buy all these books & then it takes me too long to finish them because I get distracted.
    .-= K´s last blog ..Hey, IPSA e-mailed me back! =-.

  21. After spending six hours getting stuff moved and cleaned up and organized — for a certain value of cleaned up and organized — yesterday so I can work from home I’m pretty deep into spoon debt so not reading anything now. I’ve got bookmarks in Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Since I’ve been plugging Candas Jane Dorsey a lot recently I’ll probably reread her Black Wine and A Paradigm of Earth (the latter of which includes one of the best characters I’ve read who has a disability — she uses a wheelchair, is in turn cranky cheerful optimistic angry resentful. There’s even depiction of how the house (shared among several people) is altered to make it more accessible to her — a process I recall her being involved in, though that may be me attributing a bit more awesome than is actually present which I sometimes do with works I like a lot.

    Speaking of works I like a lot the wife and I have been watching The Wire and we just got to the end of the second season and it’s still ZOMG THE BEST THING EVER ON TV HOLY CRAP. It’s not always easy to watch; they don’t flinch from depicting bigotry accurately. But it’s the definitive answer to CSI’s (implied) claim that showing police work as it actually is done (with, y’know, technology that exists) is too boring and audiences won’t stick with it.

    I’m proud of actually working thirty-five hours this week. Going on in my part of the world and making my teeth itch: Dallas still fails at police work when it comes to race. Not surprising in the town that held a referendum on renaming a major street and threw out the results when the Latin@ community organized better than everyone else and César Chávez Boulevard won. We can’t have a major street in a big city in Texas being named after some Mexican, after all. People might get the wrong idea. (Textual note: The previous two sentences are meant to be bitter and sarcastic. It’s one of the ways I express contempt.)

    I’m going back to bed now to rest up before my Exalted game tonight. Have big fun without me, y’all.

  22. Aww, that deer is so cute! I want one! LM says I can’t have one 🙁 He also says I can’t have a turtle or a frog because the cat will eat them, I can’t have a spider because He’s afraid of spiders, and I can’t have a snake because they’re hard to look after and the cat won’t like it and might try to eat it, and He doesn’t like snakes. I’m allowed to get chickens though, once we have a house ^_^
    .-= PharaohKatt´s last blog ..The Spoon Theory: How Does It Affect You? =-.

  23. a) i love me some connie willis!
    b) i LOVE ME some wire! best. show. ever.

    i find myself awake rather early on a saturday, so have been mucking about with music videos on youtube. getting ready to head out for a costco run to get supplies for the union leadership retreat i’m hosting at my house tomorrow. (i can’t stop being an advocate in every single part of my life…) i should also probably do a bit of cleaning (and change the cat litter!) before that happens.

    anybody have any halloween costume ideas?

  24. I’m not a good source for costume ideas. There was one year in my entire life I did not dress as a cat. It was the year my mother dressed me as a bunny, and I hated it. I think I was five.

  25. My favourite costume ever was when I went as Queen Elizabeth I. I don’t know how involved you want to get, though. But it was an awesome costume.

  26. Kaitlyn, my dog back at home (other side of the country ;)) is a Chow/lab mix. I couldn’t *heart* her more.

    I think I posted a picture once… yes, here!

  27. There was! Alas, I don’t think there are pictures, but I went all out, neck ruffs, powdered wig, chalky skin and all. I think my costume weighed about 50 pounds all told, and the skirts were wide enough to get stuck in a few doorways.

  28. One of our cats is so skinny and long that every time he arches his back, he looks just like that stereotypical Halloween Black Cat Pose. I wish I had a digital camera, just so I could take a picture of him.

    Another of our cats (we have 5) used to love the DVD menu for the movie Eight-Legged Freaks. A spider runs across the screen every few seconds, and she’d try to catch it. She was more fun to watch than the movie. I should try putting the movie on again, to see if she’ll still do it.
    .-= Tera´s last blog ..Rosemary =-.

  29. Hello! I was pointed here by a friend, and I’ve spent most of this week paging through your posts going, “This. And this! And THIS!!!” A lot of them – especially those about mobility issues – mirror my own experience (I have AVN). Y’all are awesome.

    I’m working on a piece for my own blog about ‘inspirational’ disabled people, and how their stories are sometimes (often?) told and used in an ableist way. Would you be interested in using something like that on this site?

  30. My aunt and uncle keep chickens. Also, goats and children (they’re up to three of each). They’re very country-life, which is cool.

    Re: Hallowe’en. I’m being Liza Minnelli! Because I don’t get to do drag nearly as often as I would like to. And Hallowe’en is always a good excuse to dress up.
    .-= Dorian´s last blog ..Library Racists: A Rant =-.

  31. When I was growing up (we lived in Northam, ya country!) we had chickens and at some point ducks. My mum used to take in chickens that used to live in batteries, and let them live with us until they died. We didn’t get as many eggs from those chickens as we did our home-raised chickens, but that wasn’t really the point of having them.

    We also raised lambs that had either been abandoned by their mothers or had something happen to their mothers. We had this old, fat golden retriever who used to baby them and look after them, so cute!!

    My favourite ever chicken was one I named Snowflake. She looked like this. (Small, white, Silky Bantam chicken)
    .-= PharaohKatt´s last blog ..The Spoon Theory: How Does It Affect You? =-.

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