Jealous Hearts

Still waiting for the Fallout New Vegas DLC Honest Hearts.  
(Hi, I'm a PS3 owner.)

Reeaaally want to see how Zion looks. I've been to Zion IRL. And Bryce Canyon. Have to admit, after Bryce, Zion seemed a bit of a let down. Which isn't it's fault. Let me show you.


This is Bryce.


This is Zion.

The approach to Zion, as you can see, is on the floor of the canyon.

The approach to Bryce is on the top, like it is for the Grand Canyon.

Being on the top rim makes it easier to see the magnificence of the place immediately. With Zion, you just can't appreciate the full scope. You have to go do the trails and get to an overlook. Which we didn't have time to do. So I'll definitely have to go back some day.

In any case, it should be a cool setting for Honest Hearts.

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.