This is not what I had planned to do tonight, but I don't feel too bad about it.

( Where to look... Nyssa's chest or the bird on that grumpy guy's head?* )

* Liberties may have been taken with situations and dialogue.

Based on the PECs program that has been used for my daughter at home and at the Geneva Centre:


http://www.proloquo2go.com/

Proloquo2Go™ is a new product from AssistiveWare that provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone and iPod touch.

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This times a billion.

Here's what Phil the Bad Astronomer had to say about it, if you're interested.

queenofdenile asked for it, and I hadn't intended to do it for a while. But then the thoughts started circling my head, and I had to get them out to move on to other things.

So here. Let me dive into a bit of an exploration of the feminist text of Billy. This isn't an episode review, mind. I'm getting feminist here, so join me and put on your feminist goggles or feminist hat or feminist coat or whatever particular feminist adornment you need.

Let's establish some things first.

Billy's power, as explained in the episode, is that he's able to bring out men's "primordial misogyny". This gave me pause the first time I saw it, because I don't think misogyny is in any way natural. It's something learned, not innate. The phrasing threw me.

Now the writers may well have intended it to refer to some intrinsic trait that men share deep down. But let me offer an alternate interpretation of the line that I will use throughout this post.

First, let me use one of my crazy visual metaphors to illustrate. Let's pretend we're all fish (just...go with me, okay?). And we're in a big-ass aquarium. Full of water, naturally. Okey-dokey, we're the fish, the water's our culture. Now imagine someone squeezes a few drops of food coloring into the tank. The coloring diffuses and taints the entire tank given enough time. Soon, we're swimming in food coloring.

Can you see where this is going? Big hint: Food coloring = misogyny.

Misogyny taints the background of our culture. It's unavoidable. And absorption of that misogyny is, likewise, unavoidable.

In this way, "primordial misogyny" is referring to this misogyny ingrained in our culture, left over from the far more blatant misogyny of our past. "Primordial" refers to a beginning. Something that is the origin of its kind. The phrase is referring to the fact that our society was previously steeped in misogyny. As years have passed, we've become more progressive, but that misogyny - that originating misogyny - still lingers. Like the food coloring in the tank. You'd have to replace all the water to get rid of it.

( Spoiler: Lilah pwnz Billy )

So...this might be the excuse I've been waiting for to write that babyfic I've been meaning to get around to....

Day of Indulgence, right here. Write whatever the heck you want, without judgment. Check it out.

Also, I know I've got six zillion comments to reply to (and how much do I love how my super-angry post last night took off that way?), but it might be a bit before I do because MY SISTER'S GETTING BACK FROM EUROPE TONIGHT!!!! These have been a very long three months without her, and I expect over the next couple of days to be spending most of my time with her, so don't think I'm neglecting you: I just love her more. ;) But who knows; I may post seven drabbles tomorrow. We'll see. Fab prompts, people!

Also, this tag should have existed long, long ago.

Title: you go to my head.
Characters: Barney, Robin. [Barney/Robin]
Rating: PG
Words: 1,580
Notes: AU from The Goat. What if they had said something the morning after?
Summary: He kisses her just a little harder and pretends not to hear anything.

They sit in silence now.

ETA: Since I'm fairly new here, can anyone direct me towards some NPH icons? Thanks!

Speaking of apocryphal gospels, here's an excerpt from Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Like most apocryphal gospels, Lamb covers events not mentioned in the biblical Gospels, such as Jesus's first encounter with an abominable snowman, and his trip to China to learn kung fu. Here's some context for the scene below: In the passage immediately preceding the one below, a young Jesus (called by his Hebrew name Joshua) complains to his friend, Levi who is called Biff, that He has received no answer to His prayers to His Father for guidance. "My beloved Maggie" is Joshua and Biff's friend Mary of Magdala, whom Biff has a crush on on.

From Lamb, chapter 3

   It had been getting darker by the minute in the olive grove, and I could barely see the shine in Josh's eyes, but suddenly the area around us was lit up like daylight. We looked up to see the dreaded Raziel descending on us from above the treetops. Of course I didn't know her was the dreaded Raziel at the time, I was just terrified. The angel shone like a star above us, his features so perfect that even my beloved Maggie's beauty paled by comparison. Joshua hid his face and huddled against the trunk of an olive tree. I guess he was more easily surprised by the supernatural than I was. I just stood there staring with my mouth open, drooling like the village idiot.
   "Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all men. For on this day, in the city of David, is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Then he hovered for a second, waiting for his message to sink in.
   Joshua uncovered his face and risked a look at the angel.
   "Well?" the angel said.
   It took me a second to digest the meaning of the words, and I waited for Joshua to say something, but he had turned his face skyward and seemed to be basking in the light, a silly smile locked on his face.
   Finally I pointed a thumb at Josh and said, "He was born in the city of David."
   "Really?" said the angel.
   "Yep."
   "His mother's name is Mary?"
   "Yep."
   "She a virgin?"
   "He has four brothers and sisters now, but at one time, yes."
   The angel looked around nervously, as if he might expect a multitude of the heavenly host to show up at some point. "How old are you, kid?"
   Joshua just stared, smiling.
   "He's ten."
   The angel cleared his throat and fidgeted a bit, dropping a few feet toward the ground as he did so. "I'm in a lot of trouble. I stopped to chat with Michael on the way here, he had a deck of cards. I knew some time had passed, but . . ." To Joshua he said, "Kid, were you born in a stable? Wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger?"
   Joshua said nothing.
   "That's the way his mom tells it," I said.
   "Is he retarded?"
   "I think you're his first angel. He's impressed, I think."
   "What about you?"
   "I'm in trouble because I'm going to be an hour late for dinner."
   "I see what you mean. I'd better get back and check on this. If you see some shepherds watching over their flocks by night would you tell them—uh, tell them—that at some point, probably, oh—tens years or so ago, that a Savior was born? Could you do that?"
   "Sure."
   "Okey-dokey. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men."
   "Right back at you."
   "Thanks. Bye."
   And as quickly as he had come, the angel was gone in a shooting star and the olive grove went dark again.

Christopher Moore (born 1957)

Previous Advent posts:

2003: Advent 1955
2004: Virgin and Child
2005: Greetings!
2006: The Annunciation
2007: Blue Madonna
2008: All That I Want and Stars

As you know, Superman is from the planet Krypton. What you may not know is the name of the star around which Krypton revolved: Rao. My whole life, I've operated under the assumption that Rao is pronounced to rhyme with "wow". But just a few minutes ago as I was watching Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, I learned of a New York restaurant called Rao's -- and they pronounced it to rhyme with "mayo." So now I'm worried that I've been pronouncing the name of the star wrong all these years. I hope I will be able to get to sleep with this issue hanging over my head.

Go here and leave your address so that I can send you holiday greetings. Let me know if you'd like a Chanukah card.

Come on, that's an order.

I am going back to dieting again. In December. Which puts me officially on the Crazy Person list. Wish me luck, guys.

OH, SCREW YOU, KRIPKE.

SCREW. YOU.


ETA: Oh, yeah. Spoilers in the comments.

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So. Apparently, I have written so many fics that I can't fit them all in one sticky post. For some reason, this makes me depressed, maybe because of my inability to complete any of the novels I've been meaning to write for years (though! I'm super excited about the one I'm sort-of-kind-of working on! It's this Southern Gothic fantasy thing with ghosts and roadtrips and cousins and probably Civil War reenactors. And crazy, scary trees. Because I'm like that).

So I'm working on overhauling my Master List of Fics, and I'm thinking of putting drabbles and crossovers together in one post. Though I fear this will lead to them being neglected.

Anyways, because I should be working my Yuletide fic, and because I'm feeling kind of blah because it's dark and rainy and generally nasty outside, I need something to distract me.

So! Drabbles. Ficlets. Whatever you want to call them. I'm offering. Give me a fandom, a character/pairing, and a prompt. And this time, no Buffyverse stuff, please? Unless it's a crossover. Then it's acceptable. Things tend to skew heavily Buffy-wards with my flist, which is no surprise, but I want to branch out a bit right now.

Aaaand...GO!

Just for the novelty.

1. I don't mind Connor like I think most people seem to. I mean, I wouldn't wanna be his friend or anything, and I don't fangirl him in any way. But I think he's an interesting character, and I feel sorry for him. I don't wanna huggle him, but I would like to give him a friendly cuff on the shoulder and hand him a beer.

2. I prefer S4 to S3. Why? Cause S3 has Holtz (boring), inane false prophecies (annoying), pregnant Darla (infuriating), and Fred at her most useless (gah). S4 has Faith, Angelus, Jasmine, and...well...Cordy goes off the rails, but I'm not saying I think it's the greatest thing EVER. I just prefer it to S3. But I'll take S2 over the both of them.

3. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO KILL LILAH OMG I LOVED HER SO MUCH!!!!!! *misses Lilah already*

4. The Wesley/Fred/Gunn triangle still provokes me into an angry rage of I DON'T CARE. I actually didn't mind Fred/Gunn this time around. Then I remember how that ends, and how it's like it didn't even happen at all because Wesley gets the prize Fred by the end. This makes me grumble.

5. Wesley's character is ruined for me because of the skeevy Fred stuff. I liked him up till S3. Then I hate him.

6. So my dream team of AtS cast members by S4 apparently is: Gunn, Lilah, Connor, and Lorne. Everybody else just annoys me. FAIL.

7. Finally, LILAH!!!! NO, REALLY, GUYS, WHY'D SHE HAVE TO DIE???? *flails in grief*