(no subject)

Via woodburner :

Handley, 38, faces penalties under the PROTECT Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1466A) for allegedly possessing manga that the government claims to be obscene. The government alleges that the material includes drawings that they claim appear to be depictions of minors engaging in sexual conduct. No photographic content is at issue in Handley's case.

"Handley's case is deeply troubling, because the government is prosecuting a private collector for possession of art," says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. "In the past, CBLDF has had to defend the First Amendment rights of retailers and artists, but never before have we experienced the Federal Government attempting to strip a citizen of his freedom because he owned comic books. We will bring our best resources to bear in aiding Mr. Handley's counsel as they defend his freedom and the First Amendment rights of every art-loving citizen in this country."

Mr. Handley's case began in May 2006 when he received an express mail package from Japan that contained seven Japanese comic books. That package was intercepted by the Postal Inspector, who applied for a search warrant after determining that the package contained cartoon images of objectionable content. Unaware that his materials were searched, Handley drove away from the post office and was followed by various law enforcement officers, who pulled him over and followed him to his home. Once there, agents from the Postal Inspector's office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Special Agents from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and officers from the Glenwood Police Department seized Handley's collection of over 1,200 manga books or publications; and hundreds of DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks; seven computers, and other documents. Though Handley's collection was comprised of hundreds of comics covering a wide spectrum of manga, the government is prosecuting images appearing in a small handful...

The rest of the article is here.

No words.  Too busy hiding my manga. 

character identification redux

Over at  fanficrants, there's a post about obsessive shipping that also covers one of my big pet peeves:  "Character identification."   A quote from the post:

favorite pairing is the best and complex and sophisticated despite evidence on the contrary and the fact that 90% of this person's belief are based on personal insight and in short project their own feelings and emotions onto the characters. As someone who has had addictions and has had experience in therapy, I will never use my own experience as an excuse to see the characters the way I want, much less glorify them. I can't stand it when threads that go well turn into personal rants about how the author misses the Point of Ship X because it wasn't written the way they wanted and that anyone who disagrees with them is treated like the scum between their toes and mentally incompetent. I just wanna post there and NOT discuss your retarded diatribes (even if it was something I agree with) because they are based on personal experience and PURE subjectivity.

See, here's one of my two big things* about character identification:  as soon as you start seeing yourself in a character, it's possible-and even probable, that you're also projecting onto a character.  Do you see the character wanting what the text indicates they want, or what you would want if you were the character?  If you see something between them and another character, is it because they actually are interested in that character, or because you would be if you were them?  If you see the other character reciprocating, are they reciprocating, or is it that you want them to reciprocate, because it would be giving your character what you think they want?

( cut for length )

*The other is that, like the varieties of "I wanted to be a boy when I was young" or "girls were mean to me in the 9th grade," and other emotion/history reasons it turns a discussion from being about fiction to being about the person.  Disagreement is no longer disagreement with their opinion, it's disagreement with them as a person, and casts them as your victim.  It's a defensive mechanism that's usually used when something can't be defended objectively, and the speaker doesn't want to admit that they may really not have much beyond personal wants and preferences to stand on.  There's nothing wrong with admitting that.

ETA:  I think I abused my right to use the word "here."  Then again, that's probably normal.

ETA 2:  It's been brought to my attention that a lot of this came up in a private conversation, and parts may have come up in other private conversations.  As I had mostly forgotten about the first, I may have forgotten about others.  I think I've said this before, but I promise, I never make any posts directed at a person to say I think they're wrong about something.  If I voice my disagreement, I do it with the person whereever it came up.  I don't believe in withholding my opinions or tailoring my LJ for others, but I also don't believe in public attacks on an individual.  Most of what I've said has been in open posts and conversations here before, though scattered, and what I'm talking about  is pretty common fodder at fandom_wank ,  hated_character ,  fanficrants , fandomsecrets (as both secrets and comments in discussions), metafandom , a few other communities, and a couple non-lj-related places I visit from time to time.  Pretty much all my fandom commentary posts are spawned from them.

(no subject)

Self, you got deli meats today and they are, indeed, very yummy meats.  In fact, you braved construction all over the place to get to them (well, that and H.E.B. is the only place in town that carries potstickers).  But they are for meals, not for snacking!  Especially when you are cooking dinner.

Bad Self!

(no subject)

Uhm...anyone ever get a (very mild) headrush from downing a glass of water in a couple gulps?

Never head that happen before.  I'm wondering if I'm just tired, drank too fast, or if there may be something wrong with the water (I didn't feel like going to the water store or one of those little water islands, so I just grabbed a "storebrand" gallon of bottled water today.)