sigelphoenix

This is, like, 80% snort-your-drink hilarious. I really love the Batfamily, but I also know that they deserve to have the hell mocked out of them. This ... is so very close to perfect.

I should add a WARNING for: derogatory usage of "psycho," "bitch," and "gay" (though for a few seconds each out of the 8-minute video), an un-funny sequence on Stephanie (not hugely offensive, just un-funny mocking, which makes me sad as a fan), and probably not being too funny if you aren't a little familiar with the Batman canon (you should, at least, know that there has been a series of different Robins).

I want to quote so much of this video, but it's funnier if you see it. So I will refrain, except for saying that you need to watch to the end for, "OH FUCK IT'S BATMAN AND HIS NAKED FRIEND."

Title: Getting to Know All About You
Characters: Urbanus, Nexus, Vilda
Word Count: ~900
Summary: Urbanus' first appearance.
Notes: This is a really old RP with ratzeo that I found on my flash drive. I'm not sure why I never posted it. It was more or less complete when I found it, so I just cleaned it up a bit for posting.

( Meeting the new baby )

Apparently I am very touchy about wine in cooking. I've used it maybe 3 or 4 times now. The first time, the wine flavor was way too strong, even when I followed the recipe (an orzo side dish) exactly, so I started reducing the amounts called for by recipes. But then I used the full amount when I made my first attempt at a risotto, since I hear wine is essential in risotto, and it was fine. But then, last night I made this panade, using the full amount of wine called for - and there's that too-wine-y nose-wrinkling overtone. Hrmph.

(The strange thing is that I like the taste of the wine just fine. It's a cheap Trader Joe's wine, but perfectly drinkable when I pour a glass to drink alongside the panade.)

My dinner for the past couple of nights has been a blackened grilled flank steak salad with a red bell pepper honey vinaigrette, based on these recipes from use real butter. I tried it on a whim, because I had all the ingredients on hand, but ... wow. It's really tasty. And fast - the vinaigrette is just a chop-and-blend, and while you do have to let the spice-rubbed steak sit in the fridge for a few hours, the actual hands-on time is a super quick grill.

My modifications were limited: I had a slightly smaller flank steak (closer to 1 pound), which just meant that a lot of the spice rub ended up sloughing off; and I cut the salt in half. I doubt you even need that much - I'm sure the salt does something, but I certainly don't need the taste of it, so next time I would even try 1/4 teaspoon.

My salad is similar to the one on the blog, and conveniently bought entirely from the farmers market: a butter lettuce-type lettuce (the sign at the stall was some fancy name I don't remember, but it looks like butter lettuce - $3 for a head literally over a foot in diameter), cucumber ($1), cherry/grape tomatoes ($3 for a small basket), and a garnish of diced scallions ($1 for a ridiculously huge bunch). Flank steak often goes on sale for $5/lb, so this whole ensemble, which yields about 4 servings for me, cost $13 plus a few pennies for the spices.

Also, when you put it all together with the dressing, the bell pepper and tomato and green onion and meat smells combine to remind me of pizza. o_o

I round out the meal with some bread. Yum.

... In completely different news, I'm reading the first volume of the new Batgirl. I ... like Steph. I do. And the writing is fun and the art is pretty without being excessively cheesecakey. It's all great, but I miss Cass so damn much, and I hate that we had to lose her for Steph to get her big break. There's only one place at the table, and the woman of color and the working class white woman have to compete for it?

Now, for those brave defenders of rich white men - I'm not saying that DC is being evilly racist and classist. But this just sounds a lot like a song that I've heard way too often. And, in light of this Batman, Inc. business and the possibility of multiple Batmans, as well as the actual existence of multiple Flashes and Green Lanterns - it's pretty galling.

I want to blather on about various things, including my horrendous chain of fuck-ups in the kitchen over the last two days, and my reactions to reading the (Cass) Batgirl series, but I don't really feel like I'd have much of a point. Not that you need a point to post on your own journal, I guess.

I am interested in doing this meme, though. I can do numbered lists even if I don't have a point.

Ask me my Top Five Whatevers. Fannish or literary or otherwise. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! Fandoms, ice cream flavours, cartoon moments, women in my fandoms, OTPs, ideal holiday destinations, goals for the future, celebrity crushes, books I wish would be made into movies, love songs. And I will answer them all in a new post (or in comments). Possibly with pictures.

Or ... I guess I could use one for the other.

( My top 5 kitchen fuck-ups in the last two days )

( My top 5 things that I like about Cass Cain/Batgirl )

Since I've been on a Batman kick lately, I made an avatar of Nightwing for my Rock Band band. I named him Dick. Rock Band helpfully informed me that this name is not what people consider "classy," and that his name will not show up on Xbox Live.

Also, I have dressed him in a ... shall we say, homage to his 80s Discowing outfit.

Also also, it is pretty amusing to have Dick sing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." I'm just saying.

*sexual violence trigger warning*

This should really be getting more press than it is: President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act last week, which will increase the power and resources tribal authorities have to prosecute crimes, most notably by deputizing tribal police to arrest non-Natives who commit crimes on tribal land; and by requiring federal authorities to record crimes they decline to prosecute, and share that information with tribal authorities.

Think about the context of these changes. Previously, tribal courts have been limited in their power to prosecute non-Natives. That authority lay with the federal government. But "[f]ederal officials have declined to prosecute more than 50 percent of violent crimes in Indian country, and a higher rate of sexual assaults."

So, Native authorities can't prosecute non-Natives who commit crimes on tribal lands. But the U.S. government fails to prosecute those criminals at least half the time. What do you think the result of this set of circumstances is?

Just one example: Native women have a higher lifetime rate of rape or attempted rape than women of any other ethnic group. And while women of all other ethnic groups are more likely to be sexually assaulted by men within their own ethnic group, Native women are an exception: over 86% of sexual assaults reported by Native women are committed by non-Native men.

Through our government, the U.S. is saying to non-Native men, "Go ahead and rape these women. They can't punish you, and we won't bother to." And then they do.

Yeah.

(Apologies to those of you who already know this, and don't need to be reminded of it. I wanted to post it un-cut because of the lack of awareness in most circles, even feminist or anti-racist ones. I still remember when I learned about all this - it was not that long ago.)

Read more on the law:
[Committee on Indian Affairs]
[Ms. Magazine]
[NPR]

Read more on Native women and sexual violence:
[Amnesty International USA]
[Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network]

Park51, a proposed community center that would be built near the former World Trade Center and include a mosque, got the go-ahead today. This is YAY.

However, the amount of opposition this project has faced is pure racist bullshit.

... and in whining-about-my-personal-irritations issues, I tried a new recipe tonight and followed the directions about how much salt to add, even though my gut reaction was to reduce it. I should've listened to my instincts. *grumble*