Two posts ago, I mentioned that I'd discovered a new UK band called "People in Planes." I've got to say, my love just keeps on growing!

Alan and I went to go see them at a club in Seattle, but when we got there, we found the club was tiny! It was a little no-cover pub next to a community college. There were only about 20 people in the room and the stage was very close. At that close distance, I felt more close to the performers than I do to college professors during class! o_O

After a fun warm-up band, People in Planes took the stage and I realized that the band had been part of the audience the whole time, just watching, drinking, and chatting with folks at the bar. Instead of an audience of 20, it was more like an audience of only 15 plus People in Planes themselves.

They took the stage and were very cool. They'd just flown in and said they were literally in South Wales that morning. I never would have guessed that they were jet lagged and full of alcohol (everyone but the vocalist was really putting 'em away at the bar!) because when they took the stage they were in the zone.

It was like the vocalist was in another world, pouring his heart into the songs. The skinny lead guitarist was rocking out and put on quite a show, hopping across the stage and really thrashing, but smiling all the while. It was clear just to watch them that they love what they do. They were so intense and professional, I would have thought they were performing for a huge auditorium of adoring fans instead of for a few handfuls of people, most of whom had never heard of them before. (Alan and I went wild with applause after each song, of course, which got the rest of the room clapping louder, too.) We brought their CD and got a couple of the guys to sign it.

( Video beneath the cut )

I love the video above. ♥ Really. Plus, as you can see, the lead vocalist is pretty cute. (At least I think so, but then, I like my boys pretty femmy) Does anyone else thinks he looks like a grown-up Atreyu from the movie The Neverending Story?

Again, they've got a certain sensitivity that I resonate with and that many other bands lack. I love how this video plays, with the vocalist being observant of the pain, conflict, and distractions of all the people around him. Instead of being lost in his own world, thinking only of himself, he's clearly thinking of others, looking at them, concerned.

He goes around passing out mysterious pieces of paper. The papers' meaning is never really revealed, but I think of them as "love notes" for the strangers he passes. Little encouragements, words of validation and assurance. I'd love to live my life like that: Observant of what other people are going through, passing out "love notes" of comfort, breaking free of this "me-centered" culture of ours and being part of a sympathetic, empathetic community.

Hey There,

Did you hear what Senator McCain said about the Fair Pay Act--a bill that would have helped make sure women receive equal pay for equal work? After it was defeated in the Senate, he said that the solution to employment discrimination was for women to get more "education and training."

This is outrageous! McCain is hugely misinformed: Study after study shows that women are paid less than men for the same work even though they have the same education and training. And his statement also sends a really offensive message that the pay gap is OK.

I just signed on to this public statement calling out McCain and urging him to support efforts to help guarantee women equal pay for equal work--can you join me? You can also submit your resume, which MoveOn will deliver right to McCain to prove to him that women have the right qualifications--what women need is equal pay.

http://pol.moveon.org/fairpay/?r_by=-9261376-2f09g8&rc=paste

Alan recently discovered a UK band called People in Planes through a free download of their latest single, "Pretty Buildings" (which can be heard in its entirety here on their official site.

The song was beautiful and we listened to it on repeat enough times to come up with our own stories of what the lyrics might mean. I'm sure it's not the same as what the band intended, but any song that makes me think and dream and connect the lyrics to something else in my life is a success in my book.

I looked them up on YouTube and found their videos and other songs were fantastic. Here was the artistry, social awareness, and sensitivity that I missed so much in Panic at the Disco's latest CD.

( 'Pretty Buildings' video beneath the cut )

I love what an affirmation it is of artists. And I don't mean 'artist' in the lofty, pinky-finger-extended, overly-intellectualizing sort of way, but just people who create art. People who write fanfic, who make papier-mâché, YouTube movies, or collage for the fun of it, who make dioramas and photo stories for their dollfies instead of just buying and collecting them.

More and more, I find myself drawn to creating art and others who make art, too, regardless of how "low" our culture perceives those art forms. I also find myself increasingly disgusted with America's consumer culture--the drive to consume, to buy, to define oneself with brand names and physical aesthetics over compassion and character.

I love this video for how it depicts artists as creators of beauty, even without the affirming presence of a romantic partner, "perfect" products (the art of both looks rather simple) or a luxurious home life. It's contrasted by a couple living the post-modern American dream--clean, expensive surroundings, and beautiful bodies. They should have it all, but their life looks sterile and miserable by contrast.

Most of my friends already know how down on TV I am and that look on the woman's face at 2:05 sums it all up perfectly for me. She looks dead, like a zombie as she consumes whatever she's watching. I think the man's actions at 3:30 made me say, "Heck yeah!" out loud when I first saw it. It's a refreshing affirmation for me to feel like I'm not the only one who feels that way, that another band is even making videos about it instead of adding to the slush pile of music videos with the opposite message: to make more money, consume more, fit the mold, define yourself with accomplishments, wear the right clothes and the right body...

People in Planes are playing at a club in Seattle tomorrow and Alan and I are going to see them. I'm so stoked. =)

( Here's that strawberry-rhubarb strudel recipe I promised in my last post. Very tasty! )

According to the "Which Yaoi Series are You?" meme, I'm Zetsuai/Bronze.



( Would a meme lie? )

My first thought was, "That's not me!" I reveled in a good angsty story when I was in high school and for most of college, but recently angst really isn't my thing. I avoid drama in my life whenever possible, cutting out the crazies from my cyber-life and avoiding flame wars instead of stirring the pot. It seems like this world of ours is messed up enough without scripting additional angst for it.

But then I think, Is that hypocritical of me? I wrinkle my nose at super-angst in movies and anime, but I look at my own fiction and it's horrifically messed up. ( A twisted mind surfaces through writing.... )

I've been having fun cooking a lot lately. I dunno why; maybe I just happen to be landing on a bunch of new recipes. That and I suddenly got sick of pasta and feel like making tons of stuff with rice. Alan's a big fan of all things strawberry-rhubarb, so I made some strawberry rhubarb strudel tonight that turned out awesome. *_* Let me know if you'd want the recipe...

I like to be very frank and personal in my posts, so I've decided to half-lock this journal.

All general discussion posts are left open, but my personal stuff (and most posts over 1 month old) are locked. This journal is updated daily so you can see how many posts are hidden vs. public.

Please comment here to be added or just add me and I almost always add back. =) If you like reading, don't lurk--comment! ^_^ All my most interesting and fun posts are the personal friends-locked ones. That's also where the cute pics of my uke boyfriend can be found.

Don't be shy. I'm very friendly and I love meeting new people. Everyone is welcome, but please leave intolerance at the door. I enjoy the company of passionate people with open minds. =)

Dee becomes frustrated as his love for Ryo blooms but his sex life dwindles. Are the two doomed to suffer from imbalanced libidos?

Chapter 3: An intimate look in JJ's perspective on his love for Dee and the anguish of yearning beneath the surface.

Libido Chapter 3

JJ drank him in with his eyes. Still beautiful. Dee was always good for that. His shirt hugged his chest, revealing hard muscles beneath the thin layer of charcoal gray cotton. JJ knew from their days together on the force that Dee believed it important for cops to be in peak physical condition. He’d said that if even one criminal evaded arrest because he was in poor shape, that was one too many. A fit body was as important a tool to an officer as a gun or a radio. Earlier, JJ had wondered if settling down to domestic life with Ryo would change any of that, if his body would go soft from too much home cooking, from romantic evenings at home instead of nights at the gym. But Dee looked as good as ever—better even. Ryo had full access to those strong arms, the hard flat stomach, the muscular buttocks that filled out his jeans so nicely it was criminal…

Ryo, I hope you appreciate what you’ve got, you lucky bastard. You’d better be treating him right…

Dee’s interest was flagging fast. His green eyes flitted again toward the door.

( Read on at FanFiction.net... )

One last kitty video! A smitten owner wrote this song about his new bengal kitty. It's a catchy tune and as funny as some of the Weird Al songs I love so much. That's one bloodthirsty kitten!

( Video Beneath )

When engineers fall head over heels in love... with cats! My brother sent me this video and it's fun to see some other guys who love their kittehs as much as Alan and I do. Let the geekery commence!

( Video: An Engineer's Guide to Cats! )

Only 60 more pages to edit and I'm done revising my novel. There are certain scenes that I'm so sick of reading and reworking that I could be sick just thinking about them. >_o I'm no perfectionist (faaaar from it) but I'm sure any fanfic writer knows the feeling of proofreading a certain chapter for the Nth time and feeling ready to collapse. As I'm re-reading now, I'm finding a few chapters that read a little on the dry side, but that would be very interesting if told from a different character's POV. ...Unfortunately that requires a re-write for those scenes/chapters. At least I'm learning that often a re-write from scratch is easier than trying to cut-n-paste rework the existing scene.

I cut way too many corners on my first draft. Uuurgh. Last year, it took all my willpower just to get the first draft written. Feeling stressed and sorry for myself, I'd sometimes skimp a tad on the effort while writing, thinking I'd have ample energy during the revision phase. Ha! Learned the hard way that's not exactly the case. It's less stress to edit than to write, but burn-out and exhaustion is the new problem du jour. Imagine writing the same story for 16 months or painting the same mural for hundreds and hundreds of hours. @_@ I still love the story and my characters, but the individual chapters are making me see cross-eyed. Thank God I've got a few other people reading this, too, because I've seen so much of it myself I see right past a few minor continuity errors. (One bullet ricocheted off the monster's bone frill so there should only be 5 bullet holes, not 6 in its side...)

On the plus side, I've learned so much from the entire writing and editing process in this book, I know the second and third books will be much easier on my brain. I've learned the discipline to sit down and write daily even when I don't feel like it, I know more about my strengths and weaknesses, I can write a stronger and more consistent first draft so the editing will be easier. I'm already looking forward to novel #2, but I can't let my focus waver until I'm done with this first one. (Or I'll be so glad to put it down after working on this monster that I'll never want to pick it back up again...)

I feel confident this first book has a good shot at being published and I'm even more confident that my subsequent books will be. I should be done by the end of the month and then it's time to submit to literary agents and start writing my next one.

My book is cross-genre, but best described as steampunk so I was especially delighted to find these killer-cool steampunk Star Wars custom models someone made. The concept alone is amazing, let alone their construction! o_O

Tagged by tsubaki_dono

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 random things, facts, goals, or habits about yourself. At the end, choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names & why you chose them. Don't forget to leave them a comment (you're it!) and to read your blog for instructions. You can't tag a person who has tagged you. Since you can't re-tag me, let me know when you've posted your blog so I can read the answers!

1. I've had one of my fanfics plagiarized before. It was an embarrassment of a Weiß Kreuz fic I wrote when I was 17 and one of my readers was the one who brought the plagiarist to my attention. The really embarrassing thing was that the person who reposted my fic started it with an author's note like, "I wrote this fic so long ago, I forget what series it's from." ...What? Isn't that admission of guilt right there? o_O How could you possibly forget what series the fic was from when the characters' names are right there? I guess she liked my fic for the writing rather than the fandom.

2. When I was a little kid, I used to talk to myself constantly when I was alone. Instead of just musing out loud to myself, I worded everything like first-person prose. I'd be playing with my toys in the backyard and say something like: "The forest was too quiet and I couldn't see any of the other wolves. 'Where is everybody?' I said, 'We have to move!' " Even when I was playing alone, I was constantly 'writing' fiction.

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Consider yourself tagged if you like.

Ugh. In this man's humble opinion, the newest Panic! at the Disco CD is absolute garbage. Trash. Detritus. Excrement. I think this has to be the most disappointing follow-up album I have ever purchased. Jeez, and I thought the newest Linkin CD was a let down! >_o At least with the LP album, I thought it was a disappointment by LP's own standards. Panic!'s "Pretty. Odd." is a disappointment by any album's standards.

Absolutely everything I adored in the first album has done a 180 to everything I can't stand. Ballad-like lyrics are replaced by nonsense rambling. The bittersweet tone has been replaced with bubbly 60s perkiness. The swirl of classical instruments in rock has been replaced with random musical genres including some kind of hillbilly hee-haw nonsense that could make your ears bleed.

I'd been warned by a friend that the first album was driven by the lyrics, but in the second album the lyrics were more of an afterthought. Holy crap, it shows. Yuki Eiri would shit a brick if he had to read these. If you're at all like me and the lyrics are one of the the most important aspects of your musical enjoyment: Don't buy this album!

"When the Day Met the Night" alone made me want to claw my eyes out. Here's a little hint, Panic! lyricist/s: The entire notion of an interaction/dichotomy between the sun and the moon is not only a literary cliché in this century, but it was clichéd over 1,000 years ago! The schmoopy-woopy lyrics are no improvement on the theme:
"Would it be alright [[sic]] if we just sat and talked for a little while, if in exchange, I give you a smile?"..."That's okay as long as you can make a promise not to break my little heart." ((Excuse me a moment while I regurgitate my roast beef sandwich. That spicy mustard's going to sting coming back up.))

I have to confess that Panic!'s first album, Fever, really had me smitten in part because of its sensitive themes. One of the first things that I fell in love with was the original twist of male vulnerability and humility--themes almost unheard of in our culture's grunting, chauvinistic view of postmodern masculinity. One song's narrator responds with "poise and rationality" even when he has every right to scream in anger. The entire song "But It's Better If You Do" was stark and refreshing in addressing sexual anxiety and loss of innocence in a young man. (Again, a rare theme in this culture where males are supposed to be blasé about sex and eager to throw away their naïveté with both hands.)

Now all traces of the humility and weakness are gone, replaced with the gag-inducing egomania with such self-absorbed lyrics as:
"It's the greatest thing that's yet to have happened. Imagine knowing me. It's the greatest thing you'd ever imagine, but you'll never know until you're there."
"...a few of my famous friends..."
"I'm putting out the lantern. Find your own way back home"
"She held the world upon a string, but she didn't ever hold me... It never made her happy, because she couldn't ever have me... She couldn't ever catch me."

Of course, I'm sure some people loved the newest album. It's polarizing, but somebody's bound to like it. All I'm saying is that if lyrics are important to you, I would advise strongly against this one. If you loved the first album, be cautious about the second one because it's nothing like the first. I'm usually quite strongly against downloading music, but in this one instance, I'd recommend a "try before you buy." Try before you buy total crap, that is. =p

Alan and I went to a guinea pig rescue shelter up by Seattle to get a new baby pig a couple weeks ago and we met with great success! Our new boy is only 4 months old--he was born in the shelter because his mother was pregnant when she was dropped off--and beautiful glossy black. Seriously, this pig shines he's so glossy and there's not a spot of different color on him. Even his eyes are deep black. The glossy blackness made me think of a raven, but I thought "Raven" was too unoriginal a name. Instead, I named him "Poe" (after the raven-loving writer) and I think the name suits him. I could definitely see Poe being the shy, literary type. ^_^

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