For all in a twenty mile radius...

In case you haven't seen this:

And now, the Fallout New Vegas version:

Many thanks to Hark A Vagrant and the Fallout KinkMeme.

Letters From The Past

I'm a research fiend. I admit it. I love the hunt for obscure facts, the thrill of discovery... far more than the tedium of actually writing the stuff down. So I spend ages sorting through ephemera on tangential subjects that will never actually imbed themselves anywhere but inside my brain JUST BECAUSE that's my idea of a fun weekend.

So, I'm researching along on another book about Salem (no, there can never be too many, shut up) and I come across this. And I must share.

These are real, actual letters written by a third grade class in Salem as part of a school exercise, asking what they would like to be when they grew up. The first is fanciful, something you might expect from an 8 year-old:

This next one is from a boy with a startling grasp of the reality of being a soldier:

"Then I will come home if I am alive." That's sort of chilling to hear from a little kid.

But this last one, this one... for the consummate expression of bleak existentialist crisis, look no further:

I think this is worthy of an OMG.

Can you imagine being 8 years old and knowing the individuality of your life is meaningless? This is 1912. Women can't vote. They aren't expected to have a career - many jobs are simply not open to them. Their property is generally controlled by a father or husband. Elinor is in third grade and she already knows her future:

"I want to be married because there is nothing else to do."

Wilde and Uncensored

Have you read this yet?
A new uncensored edition of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray has been released.

What I find particularly amusing is the reasoning behind the censoring in the first place - the editor "Decid[ed] that the novel as it stood contained "a number of things which an innocent woman would make an exception to"..."

While it really annoys me that women are being used as an excuse by men, it also makes me laugh. Because I imagine if anyone had actually asked a woman about it, the conversation would have gone something like this:

Male Editor:  Would you be willing to read this piece of slash fiction?

Woman: Slash? I love slash! Gimme!

Male Editor: Dammit. You're supposed to be repulsed. The homoerotic subtext is right out in the open.

Woman: Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Hand it over NOW!

Male Editor: Well, no, I'm sorry. You'll have to wait until something called The Internet removes the editor-as-gatekeeper model and makes slash available to all.

Woman: Dammit.

Pigs Take Main Street

I honestly love our local news:

Police responded to five large pigs stopping traffic on Main Street. Two cruisers and Lt. Bob Hazelwood joined the effort to return the pigs to their pen. It wasn't easy. "One of those pigs is over 400 pounds," Hazelwood noted. Nor are pigs easily cowed. They don't move even when confronted or coaxed. Police eventually resolved the problem by shaking containers of grain, which the hungry pigs were unable to resist and happy to follow.

Giant Book Fair Coming to Los Angeles

When:
Saturday April 9 2011 from 11am to 2pm

Who:
Over 300 authors (including me) will be signing books from all genres.
$5 at the door.
You can bring your own books to be signed or buy books there.

Where:
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
404 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles California

More Info and a List of Authors Attending:
[link]