elisi: (Tea)
A collection of... things I have been meaning to share.

One thing outside the cut, in case there are people who haven't seen it:

French politician Claude Malhuret critiqued the United States' shifting stance on Ukraine and targeted President Donald Trump in his remarks during a general session of the French Senate on Tuesday 4 March 2025.
Watch the whole thing.




Read more... )

In positive news, the weather is gorgeous and spring-like.
elisi: (Green (Iran) by schmiss)
Just one thing (the day got away from me):

Petition: Bring a little girl inuk greenlander ZAMMI BACK HOME

(Denmark is a lovely country. It's also a colonial power, and colonisers, alas, just keep on.)
elisi: (Grrl power)
Via [personal profile] shadowkat.

Les Misérables Epilogue Scene Performed at the White House Governors Ball by the US Army Chorus


Singing Truth to Power <3
elisi: Remember Remember the 5th of November (V for Vendetta)
So, I fell into the rabbit hole of Kendrick Lamar's superbowl halftime show. (Disclaimer: I have never watched the superbowl - or the halftime show - ever before, and could not have named a single Lamar song before this. My interest is cultural rather than musical.)

That said, I have watched a number of Josh Johnson sets about the Lamar and Drake feud, so I had some background knowledge. However the performance itself turned out to be this dense and complex thing, full of symbolism, and well. That's my jam. ^_^

ETA: Outside the cut. Here is Josh Johnson talking about Kendrick, where he came from and why he does what he does. As always, starts as a fun set and then... digs into stuff far deeper than you would expect:




Videos under the cut )

Now the thing is that Kendrick Lamar is obviously coming from this from within his own culture, the struggle of his own community. And I think this is why it resonates? If you speak your own truth, others will recognise it.

And I think all of it ties in with this Black History Month thread about The Black Panthers.

Snippet:

To this day, if you find a white trades person over the age of 50, and ask them what "It's not race, it's class" means, many can tell you. If you ask them "Who is Fred Hampton" many can tell you. If you ask them what a "rainbow coalition" was, many can tell you.

Why does an old, white, union steel worker in Detroit know who Fred Hampton is?


'They not like us' the whole stadium chanted with Trump right there.

If you want an anthem against the oligarchs and the 1%, there it is.
elisi: Remember Remember the 5th of November (V for Vendetta)
Under a cut, I realised that some people need to get away from it all. 🫂 Take care of yourselves.

Read more... )

Outside of the cut, because we need good news also:

Tumblr link: JD Vance managed to fuck up theology so badly that the fucking pope had to issue a statement saying he got it wrong

(Read the whole thread. <3)

ETA: Direct link to the Pope's letter:
Lettera del Santo Padre ai Vescovi degli Stati Uniti d’America, 11.02.2025
elisi: Remember Remember the 5th of November (V for Vendetta)
From Mastodon:

By popular demand, a single post to boost global switch day across multiple platforms on February 1st 2025.


For those who can no longer get behind Musk or Meta's new policies and feel like switching (e.g. from #Whatsapp to #Signal, from #Instagram to #Pixelfed or from #X to #Mastodon) I made you some graphics to use freely in communicating with your contacts.

Let’s lead by example 🙂



Move-Day-One.png

Move-Day-Two.png

Move-Day-Three.png

And on that note, a few other useful guides:

How to permanently delete a Facebook account

Migrating from Substack to self-hosted Ghost: the details

The Cyber-Cleanse: Take Back Your Digital Footprint
elisi: He's a Freudian cesspool of random impulse and deep insecurity. There's no one who can control that. (Homelander)
From S4, episode 7 of The Boys. (No spoilers)



This is the best thing since Smile Time.
elisi: He's a Freudian cesspool of random impulse and deep insecurity. There's no one who can control that. (Homelander)
Musk responds to backlash over gesture at Trump rally: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."

From this week's Private Eye, presented without comment:

Private-Eye.png

~

We have been watching S4 of The Boys very very slowly because it's so grim. But the satire is also SO on point. A couple of days ago we watched episode 6, where (spoilers) a presidential candidate tells a room full of billionaires the following:

"The truth is America is not a democracy. The word "democracy" makes people feel safe. But the founders never trusted the masses, because the truth is, the masses are f*ck¡ng stupid. Anyone who owns a "Live, Laugh, Love" mug shouldn't have a say in how a country is run. People are a labor force that need a kind, but firm hand. There are no nations. There's Apple, Exxon and Berkshire Hathaway. Corporations are the real superpowers here. You should be able to operate without any regulation or restriction whatsoever. After all, you're billionaires. You are smart enough to know what's best. Bottom line? You support me, and that is what you'll f*ck¡ng get."

It'll be interesting to see if S5 (the final one) will be allowed to air [uncensored]...
elisi: Edwin and Charles (Calliope)
Watched/Listened to this recently and thought I'd share because it's very good, very thoughtful and very indepth. It's not about Neil Gaiman as such (no unpleasant details, no delving into the allegations), instead it grapples with how we interact with texts and creators.



Icon by me. It's Calliope from 'Episode 11' of Sandman S1 - an extra episode that's not part of the main story. If you have watched it, you'll know the significance. The text is "He is nothing, he is just a malaka".

I don't speak Greek, so I checked wiki:

While it is typically used as an insult, with its literal equivalent in Commonwealth English being "wanker” and “jerk off” in American English, the meaning varies depending on the tone and context used. It can be an exclamation of pleasure, an expression of dark horror, a cry of anger, a declaration of affection, and other different things. Common alternative meanings include "asshole", "motherf*cker" "jerk" or "idiot", and the contrasting "dude", or "mate", depending on the context. It has been described as "the most used Greek slang word".

So there you go. A useful word for when speaking of NG. It was NOT used with affection.

(The allegations are even on the BBC now.)
elisi: Five (The future's shit) (Darkest timeline)
Josh Johnson: Why They’re Turning On Elon (excellent as always)



Why I'm quitting the Washington Post
Democracy can't function without a free press

Israel’s UNRWA ban is a spectacular own goal
By banning UNRWA, the Israeli government has unwittingly elevated Palestinians and their right of return to a higher level of global protection. (From November)

Also tumbled across this article:

X sees largest user exodus since Elon Musk takeover

Which isn't a surprising development, but it also reminded me that:

On Friday, X will adopt a new terms of service policy that for the first time explicitly says all users agree to let their posts be used to train artificial intelligence, like the company’s generative AI service, Grok.

Anyway here is my basic 'How to Mastodon' post. *g*

(Not even going to link to the whole facebook stopping fact checking.)

ETA: Just to make you smile:

Mexican President Perfectly Mocks Trump With Proposed Name Change For U.S.
(via George Takei on Mastodon)

2025

2 January 2025 04:46 pm
elisi: 'This is fine' meme (This is fine)
2025.jpeg
(x)
elisi: Niko excited (Fanfic)
Readers, make sure you have all your favourite Ao3 fics downloaded.

Now this isn't just about A03 or civil rights organizations. This could be applied to any 501 organization. That includes churches, schools, museums and library support organizations. All sorts of support organizations like soup kitchens or places like goodwill. Those are all non-profit organizations and they all have a 501 status. This is a threat to every civil organization we have that is meant to help the public.

So please contact your representatives. Please look this up on Twitter and click the link so you can call your representatives and voice against this. Because there's a hell of a lot more at stake with a bill like this than just AO3. People's lives could be at risk.


USians - there are a lot of links on the post on how to contact your representatives.

Rest of the world - best save your favourite fics, just in case.

(Squidgeworld is also a 501c3 nonprofit registered in the United States. Presume FF.net is also and so on...)

ETA: How to download: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/downloading-fanworks?language_id=en
elisi: (Democracy)
"Armies may rise, hearts may fail, yet still, light endures and is mightier than strength. For in its presence, all darkness must flee."
Celebrimbor, Master Elven Smith, The Rings of Power

(We finished watching S2 last night. If you have seen the show, you'll know the significance of the words. And under which circumstances they were spoken.)

(Also re icon, then Moffat was so on the money.)

The news

14 July 2024 05:37 pm
elisi: Five (The future's shit) (Darkest timeline)
My opinion on the news is that none of this would have happened if Trump had been in jail, like the convicted felon that he is.

[community profile] thisfinecrew has a good post with many resources
elisi: Aziraphale worried (Oh no)
This feels like a repeat of Joss Whedon, just worse. :(

I've barely skimmed the surface of the story, but if you are curious (or don't know what I am talking about) [personal profile] snickfic has a post.

Here we go again...

ETA: The German version of Tor has an article:

https://www.tor-online.de/magazin/mehr-phantastik/neil-gaiman-und-co-wir-muessen-aufhoeren-menschen-auf-ein-podest-zu-stellen

(Nevermind the allegations, the stuff he apparently admits to (??) is bad enough. *sigh* I have not yet had the bandwidth to delve into any of it, but it looks bad.)
elisi: Fourteen is not Ten (Older)
Henry Kissinger died. Rolling Stone did not pull any punches:

Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies
The infamy of Nixon's foreign-policy architect sits, eternally, beside that of history's worst mass murderers. A deeper shame attaches to the country that celebrates him

And as an anti-dote (and staying with Rolling Stone):

David Tennant accepts the Television Award for Doctor Who: “one of the great honours of my life”

Celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who, the beloved show has won the Television Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards