Please immediately log into your Facebook account, go to your security settings, click on your LEGACY options, appoint a loved one (or, better yet, some random friend of a friend who will be HELLA CREEPED OUT) to be the custodian of your page once you’re dead, and then the system asks you to…(best part, wait for it)…
.
.
.
….compose a message for them to receive from BEYOND THE GRAVE. You can go funny or dark or sincere! I may change mine every single day for the rest of my life until I die.
I loved this piece on fashion designed FOR people with disabilities:
Mobile phone inside of Knee of pocket: A knee pocket was designed for a wheelchair user who has difficulty accessing front pockets and has no use for back pockets. But aren’t we a sitting society who frequently has to adjust our sitting position to access the phone in our pocket? Who wouldn’t benefit from an easily accessible pocket, one that our most relied upon items won’t fall out of.
MADONNA WAS TEXTING DURING HAMILTON, this is a real low point even for Distressing Recent Years Madonna.
Cirque du Soleil is….now owned by US and Chinese investors.
Those Ortbergs, man, keep ’em coming.
Are you a writer of color? GET ON THE LIST. Jazmine Hughes and Durga Chew-Bose are making a searchable database so editors like me won’t have any excuses.
ok i have watched all of Daredevil now, come talk about Daredevil
There is an elaborate strategy in how one times the six “random” sets of mountain climber gliders (all the way down to the end of the gym and then all the way back.) Obviously, you want to do more of them in whichever station has THE WORST EXERCISES, so you can do fewer of the terrible exercises before the buzzer goes, but, of course, the mountain climbers are themselves terrible! TRX pull-ups are the worst exercises.
I am here to talk about Daredevil.
I am also here to talk about Daredevil.
Those fight scenes tho!
MrChouffe made the excellent point re: the fight scenes that, unlike most fight scenes in most other things, the ones in Daredevil are actually a) directed as though they’re a part of the show, not just a gratuitous sock’em thing, b) written as part of the show and crucial to plot advancement, and c) they are RIDICULOUSLY well choreographed to the point where they don’t actually look choreographed.
The fight scene between Murdock and Stick. WHAT.
The way that my best friend described it (he watched before I got a chance to, because he’s a Stay At Home Dad) was that “you could feel every punch.”
I thought that was a very apt description.
It is indeed, very apt. I don’t typically cringe or hide during comic-book-based fight scenes but there were several in the later episodes that I almost couldn’t watch.
I think also the fight scenes and violence serve to inform character (example: the now famous car door decapitation scene). There’s a Korean drama I like called Gaksital that did this sort of thing quite well also, and it was through watching that show that I realized that I actually do like action and fight scenes. It just has to actually have a larger purpose within the story.
Oh, for sure. Fisk, especially, in this case–every time he’s violent there’s a reason. We see him beat Murdock to a bloody pulp, with absolute control over every movement and emotion, and we see him lose his temper and throw a table across a room. Fisk is a calculating, controlled person except when he isn’t, and his physicality definitely displayed that.
Also, how sort of weird was it that Fisk became nearly more sympathetic than Murdock by the end??
Yeah I found myself rooting for Fisk, especially during the scene where he’s talking to a comatose Vanessa. No “I’ll change and become a better man”, no “I’ll give up this life that put you at risk,” just promising a roaring rampage of revenge.
Why do I like that so much what is wrong with me
UUUUGGGHH YESSS. I was so afraid he was going to be like “darling I love you this crimin’ ain’t for me let’s retire and live in a flower-filled valley!” Instead he made her a very Fisk-appropriate promise and I was like “GOOD.”
I have many, MANY feelings about Fisk/Vanessa. At certain points *cougheverythinginvolvingKarencough* I was like, can we go back to Fisk and Vanessa? because I could watch that shit for hours;
Like, say what you want about Vanessa, but she goes on dates with straight white dudes like I do: armed, suspicious, and slightly hostile.
Needless to say I loved her immediately.
I also appreciate that her response to his immediate and utter devotion and worship is acceptance tinged with a little healthy disdain. She accepts it as her due, but is going to make him sweat a little til she decides if she’s into it or not.
Plus I loved the story she tells him that basically goes “yeah so this guy fed me a line, and I knew it was a line, but also I was in the mood for some D, so I rolled with it. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
VANESSA 4 LYFE
Also, I like how he sort of hesitatingly reveals that he is a criminal mastermind who is going to kill and destroy a lot of stuff in order to (possibly) improve a pretty small corner of Manhattan, and she thinks about it and says, “Yeah, okay. I’m into it. Let’s go.”
Everything about their relationship is weird and special and perfect and I admit I was kind of verklempt at the end when she and her giant diamond have to leave without him.
But of course she DID leave, because if she stayed to fruitlessly get caught up with him, then how would she begin plotting her revenge?!?!?
Exactly. EXACTLY. And the best part about their relationship is that he knows she can be counted on to leave with Wesley 2.0, follow instructions, and lay the groundwork for his inevitable escape so that they can be reunited and rain pain on all who dared cross them.
They’re just the bestest.
I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO HER PLOTTING.
Life goals, man. This is my relationship style to a T.
Same here, dude. A girl can dream.
That fight scene was SO GOOD. wow.
The fights were visceral and I liked that they actually had to take some time to recover from them, they had real impact (ok not as much as reality but this is still a superhero show).
I recently had surgery that involved a fair amount of stitches and every time he would just get up and causally tear his wounds open I was like NOOOOOOOOO.
My favorite moment in all of the show is at the end of that crazy hallway fight scene in episode 2, when Matt finally manages to punch out that last guy, and the force of throwing the punch knocks him over through a door.
I loove that fight, where he is basically stumbling through the whole thing barely holding it together. Plus microwave to the face.
Yes! It’s so much more interesting to watch a fight in which you can see everyone involved getting worn out, and the henchmen don’t just go down and stay unconscious after one good hit. Plus, THAT UNBROKEN SHOT THOUGH
(plus microwaveface)
I think my favorite part is the bit before where he’s fallen down and whenhe gets up he’s leaning against a wall for a second before pushing himself off to deck / kind of fall on someone.
YUP
And actions (ie. fights) have consequences. In that 5 minute single take fight in the hallway, you could feel his exhaustion, but he kept getting up. It’s very rare to actually be able to knock someone out with a single punch, so the Russians kept getting up and coming at him. Oh man, when he grabbed the kid at the end, I wanted to cheer. I was INVESTED in the outcome of that fight.
Also, when people get beat up, they are actually hurt. They need time to heal and they have bruises. Like real life.
I am INTO this show. But I keep waiting for him to say “as you wish”.
Or maybe for an ROUS to show up?
YES. I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT.
Time for some weird mash-up fan fiction. The past couple of episodes I’ve watched strongly evoke “waiting for Wesley to fully revive”, but without the benefit of a holocaust cloak and a wheelbarrow. I could make this happen.
Hahah, especially because at first they keep referring to him as “the Man in Black.”
Am glad the writers revised that nickname.
I am also here to talk about Daredevil.
Who else here thinks the most amazing scene in the show was Karen killing Wesley? Shockingly I did not see that coming, & it was BRILLIANT
Yes! Throughout that episode I was waiting for either Karen or Ben to die (figured it’d be Ben because he seems like the type of character that shows like to kill). I was shocked when it was Wesley.
I was kind of sad to see Wesley go – he was such a good villain! He actually really loved Fisk! But I was also pretty impressed that a show that started so inauspiciously* regarding its treatment of women ended up fridging a male character.
*for me – I found the writing stilted for the first few episodes and I hate the trope of having the bad guys kidnap and traffic women in the opening scene to prove to the audience that they’re really bad
I was shocked that it was both of them!! I loved both characters and am kind of baffled about who’s going to round out the show now that they’re both gone!
I watched that episode late last night and I had to stay up and watch another episode because WHAT. YES.
I have one episode left and I’m unprepared.
I liked it but it did not redeem Karen for me. The show needed way less Karen and WAYYYY more Claire.
And, of course, way more Claire + Matt making out. I may or may not have made inappropriate jokes about wanting to be the filling in that sandwich.
I think they said they only were able to get Rosario Dawson for 5 episodes, unfortunately. I think she will be linking all the new Netflix Marvel series together though.
YES. And I mean, the entire show Matt is agonizing over his soulll and whether he should kill Fisk and absolutely everyone is weighing in with an opinion and then Karen.
Grabs the gun.
This isn’t the first time I’ve shot someone.
And does it.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that. At first it felt a bit like the show was saying her soul wasn’t important, but later on Foggy tells Matt that he shouldn’t kill people because he’s so Catholic it’ll destroy him. Now I feel like it’s less a discussion of souls and more a discussion of the decisions people make, how they feel about them, and how they think the decisions reflect on them.
Also, it highlights how Matt’s insistence on not killing people is a luxury. He’s so good at fighting that he can both protect himself and disable the other person without resorting to murder. Most people do not have those abilities.
Yeeeeessss this is exactly how I feel! That one scene really helped to bundle the show’s entire ~moral plot perfectly imo
You know I am always here to talk about Daredevil.
I can’t stop writing fluffy Daredevil fic, I need help.
I can’t stop READING Daredevil fic, it is a serious problem. I marathoned the show the first weekend, because AMAZING SHOW, and since then I’ve just kept refreshing the AO3 page. Please keep writing more, I like yours a lot!
It’s actually really interesting, I’ve never watched the birth of a new fandom like this. You can see people filling in all the usual fanfic tropes and establishing some Daredevil-specific ones and it’s so fun to see happening. But mostly I have a problem, you’re not actually supposed to read straight through all the AO3 fics that exist, right. I think I used to have standards, I’m not sure what happened to them.
My girlfriend and I have only watched the first four episodes so far, but we’ve already moved to shouting things at the TV in an affectionately heckling manner and/or coining catchphrases for various characters. Every time Urich shows up onscreen, for instance, we just cry “I USED TO BELIEVE IN THE NEEEEWS.”
The quote of the night last night, though, was “She’ll never go to supervillain prom with me now!”
“pfff, I don’t care about Marvel superhero slash” I said a week ago.
“HE ONLY EVER NEEDED HIS FRIEEEEEEEEEEEND” I wailed, beating my head against my desk two days ago.
“I can’t believe you listened to Karen’s heartbeat without her permission!”
Beautiful cinnamon roll, too good, too pure, etc.
Maybe this is the show’s fault, and maybe it’s Charlie Cox’s fault for having such a precious sensitive face, but part of me felt like they almost did TOO good a job of humanizing the superhero trope. This was the first time I’ve watched a superhero thing and genuinely thought, “Oh, honey. I think you can let the city figure this one out on their own. You need a vacation and a physical therapist and a hug.”
Jesus there is nothing I want less than a history of my Google searches. Why not just call it “My Neuroses, Exes, and Stupidity On Parade” and be done with it.
(Also Toast my dad is quite sick and I am losing my mind with worry because I am 700 miles away and cannot help and also have a million issues of my own and I really really really need to have a sick day sometime soon to just…relax for one day. One day. But I don’t get paid for sick days, so…it is really hard to justify to myself.)
Now is the time for a clone. I know I want one. She doesn’t have to be perfect. She just has to sit there and look busy and not pee on the carpet.
The tricky part about a clone is that she would be me personality-wise, too, and therefore equally lazy.
Oh honey. That’s so hard on so many levels. If it would calm you down to take a day off, it’s probably worth it. If the monetary loss will stress you out even more, it probably isn’t. Sending lots of good thoughts to you and your dad.
I am sending good vibes in your direction 🙁 You deserve all the good stuff that can possibly happen to a single person and I really hope things turn around for you soon!
tons of hugs coming your way. if i could dress and act as you and give you a day, I would <3
Many many hugs to you. It sucks big time that things just keep piling up, I hope they stop doing that soon.
Ugh I’m so sorry about your dad. Would it be possible to maybe be extra cautious about spending for a pay period before taking an unpaid sick day so that it evens out? I really hope you get out of that job soon 🙁
So sorry. <3 I will keep you and your Dad close in my thoughts, and I really hope you can get the rest and break you need.
I’m so sorry, I know how it is when everything is so precarious and stressful and money is tight and then just one more dang thing happens and you don’t know how to handle it. Hang in there, one day at a time. I hope your dad gets better soon.
I hope things go as well as they possibly can. Definitely take time for yourself in any way you can squeak it out. Sometimes a fifteen minute commitment to give all your concerns free reign to take over your mind will help quiet it down and allow you some productive hours afterwards. Keeping a good thought for a good outcome.
Can we keep the Daredevil spoilers in the replies? Pretty please! I’m only 5 episodes in!
i’m only through 4, let’s talk about awkward weirdo Fisk/crazy decapitating with a car Fisk! Also how Daredevil should listen to Claire, esp regarding body armor.
OMG, I’ve been annoying my bf by saying this like every other scene! Maybe kevlar is too heavy, but surely there’s some middle ground between that and a long sleeved t-shirt?? That said, I do appreciate that even though the show is super violent, that they show that it hurts.
Oh Fisk. Vincent D’onofrio creeped me out on Law & Order, and he is basically playing the exact same character now.
I have had a deep and abiding crush on Vincent D’Onofrio for like 8 years now, and yes, I am properly disturbed by how it is continuing through his role as Wilson Fisk.
yes! i cannot binge watch this show.
i need between violence breathers!
Madonna. No. This is where we draw the line.
I saw Hamilton this weekend (IT WAS PHENOMENAL) and I don’t understand how you could take your eyes off the stage, let alone text, ESPECIALLY through the second act. There are no lulls! Shit is always going on! IS SHE DEAD INSIDE?
(Seriously though it’s amaaaaaaazing, if you are near NYC and can get in on the lottery please attempt it or go buy tickets for the Broadway transfer that’s happening this summer, THIS SHOW BLEW ME AWAY.)
(Also Lin-Manuel Miranda was incredibly kind to me when I saw him in the lobby and told him how much Heights meant to me and how great Hamilton was and he is a champion selfie-taker, so Madonna deserves her punishment.)
I FLEW TO NEW YORK SPECIFICALLY TO SEE HAMILTON AND IT WAS THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE AND I AM SO SAD I LIVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY SO I CAN’T SEE IT EVERY GODDAMN DAY.
IT’S SO GOOD RIGHT
how much did you cry I CRIED A LOT
I CRIED SO MUCH. Basically from when she was burning the letters until the end of the show, though I got upgraded to ugly sobbing during the final duel/finale. My friend and I had second row seats, and when we were stage door-ing, Leslie confirmed that he could see us crying from the stage. MY PROUDEST MOMENT.
I WISH SO HARD THAT I COULD DO THIS NEVER HAVE CHILDREN THEY WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE
I am seeing it twice in August. I AM TOO EXCITED!!!
Even if the show is boring, it’s super rude to text during a show.
Yes, it is inexcusably rude to text during ANY show, because it is phenomenally selfish and unfair to the actors as well as the patrons! Should’ve been clearer about that.
(TWICE! So jealous!)
I was just in NYC! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this musical beforehand? I did see Fun Home, though, which was fantastic.
I’ve heard barely any of Fun Home, but I’m gunning for it to win every single Tony this year. MORE AWARDS FOR BABY LESBIANS 2015.
See, I’m super torn, because I want Hamilton to win ALL of the Tonys, but Fun Home!
Well the good news is that Hamilton won’t be eligible for this year’s Tony Awards, so Fun Home can sweep this year and Hamilton can sweep the next!
I’m DYING to see Fun Home- I looooove the soundtrack and I’m just sad I wasn’t able to fit it into my three show weekend when I was out there. ALL THE TONYS FOR FUN HOME, PLS (especially since Hamilton won’t be eligible until next year)
My dad kept saying “Fun Home is opening that weekend! You should go!” like I would have been able to get tickets to opening night on a whim. I WISH.
Fun Home was incredible! I saw it last week. I’ve been listening to the cast recording from the off-Broadway run NONSTOP.
I love Lin-Manuel, and I love that he told stage management she was not to come backstage after the show. You KNOW she was only there for the photo op. SO DELICIOUS.
I LOVED YOUR SELFIE WITH LMM!!!! ALSO AAAAAHHHHH HAMILTON WAS PHENOMENAL!!!! need that cast recording IMMEDIATELY
SEPTEMBER.
He said so on Twitter. They’re going to record it during the break between the off-Broadway closing and Broadway previews, and release it as a double album in September. And since it’s a double album, that means they’ll be including THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW.
BUT SEPTEMBER IS SO FAR AWAAAAAAAY
I saw Hamilton in February and it blew. my. mind. Possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen. If Lin-Manuel Miranda doesn’t win the 2016 Pulitzer for drama, I will be shocked. And I’m seeing it again in August because my dad decided that my mom should see it too, so we bought tickets to see it a second time and I am THRILLED.
Have watched entire season as of last night. Is anyone NOT annoyed by Karen or…? Karen really seems to be the audience-stand-in character, the normalish one we are supposed to relate to — the outsider who gets swept up in all the neighb intrigue, etc. — but I just don’t care about her or her plot or anything. Which would be okay except she is the only woman with a lot of screen time, and so it annoys me even more that she’s kind of lame. I hope the writers address this somehow next season.
WHY isn’t Rosario Dawson in EVERY episode, come on show
YES THANK YOU. My Token Male Feminist Friend kept getting mad when I complained about the women in the show and being like “what about Karen” but man she’s irritating, and for the longest time her plot feels completely irrelevant– and when it becomes irrelevant, they immediately stop investing at all in her interests in/motivations for pursing it.
Have you finished the season yet? I have and something happened that I think was an attempt to make her interesting, but any bonus points are canceled out by other irritating/horrible things! (okay was trying to write this with no spoilers but it’s not very satisfying)
The action itself was so so so unconvincing, even if her reaction to it was slightly more so. I dunno. Karen’s bland, and Claire is interesting, and I found Vanessa absolutely fascinating and Gao was probably my favorite character in the whole damn show. Unfortunately, my level of interest in the female characters apparently is inverse to their screen time.
VANESSA.
That is all.
Yeah what if Gao doesn’t come back? She’s the best!
I bet she will come back. Twenty bucks says Daredevil, Season 2 is going to be nothing but “mystic war between the Triads and the Yakuza”.
On the one hand, it’s going to get crazy pretty fast, and I liked the sort of gritty, “punching Russian criminals” vibe, but on the other hand, there is going to be so much karate-flipping dang.
A friend who is more into street-level Marvel characters than me thinks she’s an Iron Fist villain and will likely be the big bad of that show. That’d be cool.
Well, there was (pretty recently, I think?) a kind of a big shakeup of Marvel’s resident magic ninja organization (The Hand) and the magic evil Chinese guys that Iron Fist is always getting tangled up with, that lead to Daredevil becoming the magic ninja king of Hell’s Kitchen.
My guess is that Netflix is actually looking to do something like the Avengers but on a slightly smaller scale, and they’re setting the scene for a lot of crossover stuff with the Luke Cage / Iron Fist / Jessica Jones business.
Yes that’s true! I keep forgetting that that happened for some reason… (assuming we’re talking about the thing with Wesley?).
YES! And then her behavior w/ Ben. And Ben’s wife, even. The WORST.
She’s racked up a hell of a karmic debt, that’s for sure
Rosario Dawson should be in every episode of every show, but especially this one!
It’s a sad indictment of her original characterization, but she’s better than she was in the comics. Not that it’s particularly hard, considering her most notable storyline was written by Frank Miller.
I’m just glad Rosario is going to be in all the other series, I desperately need her to be best friends with Jessica so they can roll their eyes at the men around them and get shit done.
Yeah I was angrier about Rosario Dawson’s scenes because every time Karen’s stuff was awful I was like “well at least she’s not trying to heal Matt through love” “well at least she’s not addicted to crack” “well at least she’s not dead.” Pathetically low standards I know but it set expectations low enough that I enjoyed the nice little moments with Foggy and Ben she has through the series in between the suckier stuff with her.
With Night Nurse it was like “ugh I hope they don’t have her pouting at ALL the superheroes while she enables their bullshit because I can barely take half an episode of her making out with Daredevil.”
I mentioned it above but I think they could only get Rosario Dawson for 5 episodes, but at least she will be back patching people up in AKA Jessica Jones and any other series they are making.
I loved Karen. I thought she was complicated and had agency. But then, I seem to have feeling at odds with most on the show. Vanessa is fine, but I don’t get what she sees in Fisk at all. I mena, he’s rich and makes breakfast, but otherwise he’s a violent inarticulate rage baby.
Last Noodge update FRFR…
I accepted the job in Oregon, felt very good about the decision, then went home after work – to the house where I lead a charmed life with the Boo, where I’ve lived for 4 years – and felt tremendously sad and anxious and cried for like an hour before dancing, catching up on Outlander, and going to bed feeling sorta confused and lost. Normal emotional response?
And any toasticles in the Medford/Ashland area – let’s make plans to meet up and become good friends, yes?
Hugs to you. Change is hard, even when you’re pretty confident it’s a good change!
Totally normal. When we closed on DreamHouse in DreamLocation I cried for a week, because leaving the town where we’d met and fallen in love, and both universally detested, was so hard.
Congrats! I wrote a post encouraging you to take the leap, but then it got eaten by am-I-actually-logged-in-to-ID issues.
I think that there’s a grief in every parting, even when the parting is “only” with a place. And grief is super-tricksy in how it arrives and departs or maybe doesn’t depart.
Might I suggest also befriending some Portland Toasties? The four-hour drive rapidly becomes as nothing, if you have the ability to schedule a long weekend and have a free place to stay. I’m in DC now, but my Portland high school’s drama department regularly put together a field trip to see a batch of plays during Shakespeare festival.
That’s an excellent idea, especially as I anticipate that we will be in Portland regularly to see shows and shop and get our city fix…
Portland Toasties roll call?
Hi, from the city of roses! Best wishes for a smooth transition to Oregon!
That sounds totally normal to me! I cried when I traded in my car for pete’s sake, so I can imagine when we finally move out of this annoying apartment in a city we both kind of hate, I will be a disaster.
I cried when I took off my CA license plate and replaced it with UT plates, so, change
Oh dear, yes! We are now 99% sure that we will be moving soon, and the confused and lost feeling is certainly hovering around the edges of all the excitement. Here’s to adventure though!
Hey there, Ashland Toastie here. Yay for more Toasties in Southern Oregon! I’ve lived here for almost 4 years, and I have lots of opinions about it, if you’re interested.
Also, it’s hard to find housing and more expensive than the other Jackson County towns, but I promise you that living in Ashland is worth it.
YAY! so I’m not especially interested in many negative opinions right now, because I may just freak out and run away to east Asia. BUT! I’m super interested to know that you’re there, and hopefully we can meet once I’m there! And it’s good to know that Ashland is the best place to set up shop around there.
And, is it worth it to live in the town area proper, and are there things around there (restaurants and shops and bars etc) within walking distance that make it nice? We’re used to city living, and walking to our local brew pub or ice cream place if the mood strikes us, and I think this would be a nice way to take the edge off of moving to a smaller town. If there is a town center like that, what are the street boundaries? THANKS!!!!
Oh, most of my opinions are positive! I really like it here.
YESYESYES, it’s worth it to live within walking distance to downtown Ashland. I’m carless, so I’m biased, but YES. Ashland is technically a town of 20,000, but the Oregon Shakespeare Festival brings in tourists from around the world, so the downtown is much more developed and hip than you’d expect in a town of this size. Plus all the outdoor opportunities (right on the PCT, biking, rafting, etc), plus right on the I-5 corridor between Portland and San Fran, plus the beautiful weather here. Anyway. You know on the map of Ashland where 99 splits into two for half a mile? That’s downtown. Most of the housing around there is great.
Also here is a list of things I love about Southern Oregon: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (3rd or 4th best professional theatre company in the world), Crater Lake National Park, seriously the weather even though we’re in a drought, the bike lanes, the small town bus system, the growers/farmers markets, the Britt Festival has a few good shows every year, the wineries, the Shop n Kart grocery store, etc etc I can go? Do you want me to go on?! I have lots of favorite restaurants, and you mentioned ice cream (Mix is the best hands down!), and yeah. There are some beer/wine festivals coming up, if you’re moving here soon.
THIS IS WONDERFUL, PLEASE GO ONNNNNNN
(my anticipated start date is 6/8, pending licensing etc)
I think that’s Medford Beer Week! I can’t find much online about it, but they seem to update their Facebook page? There’s always a “Brews, Burgers, and Bluegrass” festival – last year it was at a winery. There’s lots of great breweries and wineries around, and a few distilleries too.
The Rogue Valley Messenger is our new free paper. It’s the best print paper in Southern Oregon, and it’ll give you a really good feel for the area.
The best tacos are at La Tapatia in Phoenix, and the best cocktails are Jefferson Spirits (Medford) and Brickroom (Ashland). Jacksonville is uh quaint and good for an afternoon stroll, and the Quady North Wine Tasting Room there is great.
Also we’re only 3 hours from Jebediah Smith State Park (redwoods!) and the Pacific Ocean.
THERE ARE JUST SO MANY THINGS.
Damn now I want to go to Ashland!
Well, it’s probably a more practical Toast commune option than super expensive condos in New York City.
It probably has fewer potential commune locations with their own rock climbing walls, though.
your detailed ranking of drinking and taco venues leads me to believe that 1.) this will be a great place to be for us for a bit and 2.) you are likely a kindred spirit. thank you thank you thank you! <3
…and I started following you because your advice was so spot on and helpful, and we are definitely moving to ashland, and if you hear of any great 2 bedroom rentals in the town center you should DEFINITELY come back here and comment to let me know, and we should DEFINITELY get a mini toast meetup going when I get there, early June. YAY! and you’ll get to meet the Best Boo as well, which – everyone should be so blessed. Thanks again!!!
Yayyayyay, so glad I was helpful! Let me know if you need any more info!
And yes, mini Toast meetup for sure.
The whole Rogue River area is gorgeous and lots of hiking, camping rafting, skiing, etc. Jacksonville (outside of Medford) is a fun little town–where a large part of the town is on the historical register, I think the oldest building is from the 1850s when it was founded. In the summer they have a music and arts festival there in an outdoor amphitheater, as well as other concerts throughout the year. It being Oregon, there are a lots of wineries. You’re not too far from the Oregon Caves national monument, which isn’t the biggest cave system, but pretty cool and there are some hikes and waterfalls around the caves.
Sending you good energy. I’m moving soon – to the place I want to live to do the job I want to do (really! it’s all good things!) – and I still catch myself getting really, really anxious and confused. Change is just hard, but you’re not alone!
Totally normal. Every single time I have moved or made a big life decision, I have been excited right up until the point where it became real. Then suddenly I was filled with dread and regret and “nooooo why did I do this.” But every time it’s been great once that feeling wore off.
I have wept silently the first night in any new house, flat, hotel room, my whole life. Staying the night at grandma’s? Crying. Leaving home to a new house with Mr. Robinn? Crying. Coming back home when rental didn’t work out? CRYING.
You are definitely normal.
Nicole, I have a question about your workouts! I notice that there’s usually both red and blue marker — are those, like, parallel tracks? One color is the regular workout and one color is the super-advanced version, or something like that? I have no idea what any of the exercises are so I can’t tell if they match up, but that’s my theory.
Yes! The one on top is standard-issue, the one underneath in a different color can either be harder OR easier, or just easier on wrists, etc.
But… HOW does Facebook know that you’re dead?
FACEBOOK KNOWS ALL
I got a “you might know this person” that I’d met, briefly, on the old Salon/Nerve/Onion personals. I mean years ago. There was nothing connecting us.
Plus I think Facebook wanted to be a dick. “Hey, loser, she’s still really pretty. How ya doin’ over there?…….Not too good!”
I think the idea is that your designated person will be able to log in once you’ve died and memorialize your page, and then they’ll receive your message. So yeah nobody had better make me their designated person because I cannot be trusted.
There’s actually a whole process! I think you have to show an obituary?
It doesn’t necessarily have to be the designated person who requests that a page be memorialized.
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/65131902831…
No matter who makes the request, the designated person would get the message/access.
This idea terrifies me. WHO WOULD I CHOOSE? WHAT TO SAY? Yikes.
Someone actually has to submit an obit: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/65131902831…
Nicole posting her workouts makes me miss Feel the Burn! We haven’t had a new column in a while. Nicole, I want to feel the burn again!
I would love to read a Feel the Burn on choosing a gym.
I AM HERE TO TALK ABOUT DAREDEVIL AND THE DAREDEVIL FANFIC I CAN’T STOP WRITING AND THE FACT THAT FUCKING MADONNA WAS TEXTING DURING “HAMILTON” AKA THE GREATEST MUSICAL OF OUR TIME. WHAT THE FUCK, SHE IS A GARBAGE PERSON.
I am interested in your Daredevil fanfic tell me more
So you can find it here and they’re all ridiculous and silly and I might be contemplating one where Matt and Foggy start leaving each other avocados in ridiculous places because apparently this is what I do now.
YES I AM SO HERE FOR THE FAN FIC. AO3 has a surprising lack of Matt/Foggy fics and that just makes me sad!
Don’t worry, it’s getting there. At least 50% of the (admittedly few) Daredevil fics are Matt/Foggy. We haven’t reached Stucky levels of fic, but we’re on our way.
Does anyone else ever think about how if Facebook is still around when we’re 90 its’ gonna be really creepy and sad because it’ll basically be a big virtual graveyard?
. . .I guess now at least our loved ones will be able to communicate with us from beyond the grave still.
Like those video tombstones in “Serenity”. Just without Gina Torres leaving us flowers.
And without that, what is the point, really?
Ooh, the sting of truth.
Ehh, by that time we’ll probably have uploaded our own consciousness into it and we’ll live forever. But on facebook, which is essentially hell.
Oh christ you’re right and that’s horrifying.
Well, I hadn’t thought about it.
I finally got Daredevil rolling on Sunday and watched the first three (and made sure ppyajunebug knew).
The bit about the Russians moving in has put “Jubilee Street” firmly back in my head. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VdIEOMHHsE
Watched most of Game Of Thrones last night and was STUNNED. STUNNED. To see that http://asongoficeandlolz.tumblr.com/ is back without warning. I lit the beacons of Gondor, I was so excited (and I’d had a good amount of New Belgium Ranger). Especially since the guy at The Backlot isn’t recapping this season (normally the second funniest recaps)
So, more Daredevil tonight? No….because I’m going to see Peter Hook’s Joy Division show. Some people don’t like him doing it, I just hope it sounds good. It probably will. So…..*tomorrow* night…..I’ll have new Flash and SHIELD to watch and….well, I better make good use of my day off Thursday because I won’t have another day off until…NEXT Thursday.
What I’m saying is I find Deborah Ann Woll attractive so I’m glad she’s on a show that I want to watch. (See: back section of Interview magazine 1997 “Who’s THAT? Who’s Alyson Hannigan??……oh, she’s on that Buffy show) (Alyson Hannigan still hasn’t been on a show I want to watch) (Is there a pattern? No, I think it’s coincidence, I’m not interested in Nina Dobrev) (Rosario Dawson is really cool, I’d forgotten she was going to appear)
And Robert Smith is 56 today. This is my favorite Cure song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzP75pDq4g
PLS TO BE INFORMING ME WHEN YOU WATCH MORE BECAUSE PEOPLE WATCHING DAREDEVIL FOR THE FIRST TIME IS MY FAVORITE THING.
Is Lenscrafters still all “about an hour”, cause I’ve got an appointment Thursday and that’s obviously important TV time right now.
Okay, I’m watching last night’s SHIELD, the Daredevil should resume in the morning.
YAAAAAS KEEP ME UPDATED TOMORROW I MUST KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS
Jeepers.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT-eH5MP1R4
Happy birthday, Mr. Smith!
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=01282005
“This is perfect. The driftwood will remind him about eternity.”
Thank you to the designer who thinks about disabled people. The pockets by the knees are a genius idea.
Wheelchair fashion is a neglected field. Also wheelchairs and walkers and canes could use a design update. They are offensively ugly.
It sends a message that disabled people don’t matter enough to have nice things.
Why do strollers have cup holders built in but wheelchairs don’t? A wheelchair user will need that more than a baby or parent and use a wheelchair longer than a child needs a stroller.
With all these hip rich white people re-designing every goddamn thing (pens, coffee makers, kitchen implements, lamps…) you’d think someone would’ve tackled wheelchairs and canes and walkers by now!! I’m sure there are plenty of disabled people who would love a matte white wheelchair with a minimalist design!!
I would love to buy a matte white minimalist wheelchair. I would enjoy a colorful cane.
The philosophy seems to be that our stuff has to be plain and utilitarian, and we should not ask for more.
I think I’ll decorate my wheerlchair
It makes me think of the essays about the cost of disability I’ve been reading recently, and who, ultimately, pays for these devices. Of course they have to be ugly and utilitarian, disabled people must be punished for requiring government assistance to meet their every-day needs!
It also makes me think of my friend who is part-time wheelchair bound and after…five years? how long have I known her??… she still doesn’t have a chair that actually fits her properly, much less is easy to manoeuvre or just not ugly, because she doesn’t have the money or fancy insurance to get one. 🙁
I have seen colorful canes. Hang out at a well-to-do church or with a fashionable octogenarian (my MIL) and you will see amazing variety and artistry in canes among her friends.
I just set my facebook legacy person and the message was sent immediately, not from beyond the grave?
You’ll be stone dead in a moment, don’t be such a baby.
Mine was not! THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH LESS COOL.
Yeah I was definitely hoping to auto-creep someone out after death.
The good thing about watching Daredevil (and about watching anything that involves people doing karate or backflips) is that it reminds me to exercise more.
Anyone here want to invest in my idea for a gym where the TVs all show Bruce Lee and superhero movies, and all the personal trainers teach you kung fu and backflips?
I think that’d make for a successful enterprise.
I would invest.
Yes, I will invest all my hard earned grad school dollars, please let this gym become a thing
I started doing muay thai 100% because of how badass Tony Jaa looked in Furious 7. I fully support your gym idea.
I think it will be called Badass Academy.
…and School for Kids Who Want to Punch Well
School of Physical Misandry
Toasties, this is really more of an Open Thread thing, but I can’t wait until Friday.
I live in an apartment and my next door neighbor has loud sex A LOT. Usually at 11pm-1am (sometimes for the whole 2 hours!) Not only am I uncomfortable hearing it, it keeps me and my dog awake. Even when it’s not loud the low moans get my anxiety up waiting for the wails. I put in headphones with rain machine AND an audiobook, but can still hear it. What to do? I don’t want to tell her what she can and cannot do in her home (she isn’t friendly to begin with. I tried to introduce myself when she moved in and she brushed me off) but I need sleep.
Any ideas?
I would start with a note (“You might not realize how sound travels…”) and if/when she ignores it mention something to your building manager.
The anonymous note is probably the best course, but…
I am often tempted (but have not been quite pushed to the breaking point yet; my neighbor thankfully does not seem have the same stamina as yours) to blast a deeply unsexy song in retaliation, like, I dunno, Yakety Sax, or that very sad Sarah Mclachlan song from that ASPCA commercial.
i just made a very undignified snort/chortle noise at “yakety sax,” thank you.
Oh look, me too!
A note may or may not have the desired effect, but is it possible to rearrange your bedroom so you’re not so near that wall? Putting a wall of bookshelves, perhaps, on the adjoining wall to buffer the sound? Cover that wall with cork tiles?
This. I displayed a large quilt on the wall between me and my noisy neighbors. I also bought a cheap radio to park against that wall, between quilt and wall, speakers pointed at wall. Turned it on when their noise was too much for me. Volume was permanently at “high”. Then I worked on finding a better apartment.
I feel your pain. There’s a woman who lives in a DIFFERENT BUILDING THAN ME, across the way, and I can constantly hear her having the most extremely fake orgasms I have ever heard. Like I’ll fall asleep to it at night and wake up to it in the morning. And I know they have to be fake because nobody can possibly actually be having an orgasm while screaming “YES! YESSSSSS! YESSSSSS” at the top of their lungs for 45 minutes straight.
I am thinking of leaving a note on the door of her building that says “To the woman I can hear having obviously fake orgasms from the next building: I’m sorry our patriarchal, pornified society has made you feel like you have to scream like a banshee everytime your boyfriend so much as touches you. Please check out the following sex-positive feminist resources and learn to truly explore your own pleasure. And in the meantime, please keep it down”. The only reason I haven’t is I’m not 100% sure what building it is.
This is both amazing and horrifying.
imo get a cheap bullhorn and deliver your critique in the moment. don’t stop until they do
I did go ring the doorbell once. After almost an hour.
see that’s asking for a further invitation, which is a mistake. They don’t want a frank and objective third-party live appraisal of their performance, but they clearly need it. What you’re hearing is, unconsciously, a cry for help.
Please, a list of sex-positive feminist resources?
*puppy eyes*
Ha, you know I actually had not started putting the list together, and now am having trouble remembering all the things I read during my Feminist Sexual Awakening?
But I do remember that this book had a huge impact on me: http://www.amazon.com/Yes-Means-Visions-Female-Wi…
And this is the link I send to my lady friends when they’re worried they’re being sluts: http://persephonemagazine.com/2011/06/the-power-o… (it’s very geared to straight women though so apologies if that’s not your thing).
And also Feministing has been running a great column called “Fucking with Feministing” with a lot of great stuff in it!
Hope this helps! Lately my general misandry has been overruling my sexual adventurousness, so I’m not as full of resources as I normally would be.
Bless you. I will go exploring!
Yay! I only hope my neighbor has this positive a reaction when I bellow it at her through a megaphone.
We can but hope…
In addition to the aforementioned notes and talks with the landlord, you may consider the approach employed by my parents, who as newlyweds shared a wall with a couple who had loud fights instead of loud intimacy: they staged a fight of their own, complete with slamming and yelling and curses, at the time near when they were usually subjected to same. If you are not up to recreating amorous sounds yourself (with or without assistance), I suggest any number of videos widely available and a strong set of speakers pointed at the wall.
Good luck.
As someone who has been the next door neighbor (SORRY I PROMISE though technically we were upstairs), I would encourage the note (or the other creative suggestions below) before you involve the landlord. Never have I been more mortified than when my husband told me our landlord had called him – and I wasn’t even *part* of that conversation. Knowing my deeply introverted and shy husband as well as I do, I can only begin to imagine how uncomfortable that conversation was for him, not to mention our poor landlord. We would have been happy and responded appropriately to a note, I promise.
(A few months after this happened, our upstairs neighbors – two young-twentysomethings – had a threesome with some dude, and my husband and I were just amused and delighted, particularly by the post-threesome conversation, which we could hear every word of. No landlord calls were necessary, though that was the only time it happened, that we knew of.)
Sad news!! The comic book store near my office is closing. Everything is 40% off today. Inventory is dwindling but can you help me build a shopping list?
We already have complete sets of: Fables; Y: The Last Man; Sandman; at least one other big series I’m totally blanking on. Husband also likes Ex Machina and DMZ. On Comixology we read Saga, Chew, Locke & Key, and Dial H. We have NOT read: Lumberjanes, Sex Criminals, Rat Queens, Ms. Marvel.
What should I get?
Lumberjanes, Sex Criminals, Rat Queens, Ms. Marvel. Seriously, start with those. Also anything by Paul Pope! Also DEFINITELY the hardback edition of Saga. I’ll add more then I think of more (I’m at work now) 🙂
Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye? Definitely Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye. And Mark Waid’s Daredevil!
Thank you! I asked Facebook too and they added: Squirrel Girl (if can find), Help Us Great Warrior, Alias, Marvel’s new Star Wars (?), Fatale, and Wytches. I should probably set a budget before I go …
And I am scared of Paul Pope because of Batman’s terrifying teeth in Batman: Year 100. I realize this is not logical.
Thank you! I went with the following list:
Lady Killer (or Ladykiller? unclear) – Dark Horse – did not have
Squirrel Girl – got issue 3
Ms. Marvel – did not have
Help Us Great Warrior – did not have
Lumberjanes – got a few recent issues
Sex Criminals – did not have
Rat Queens – had only a recent issue, I did not get
Alias (Bendis)- did not have
Marvel’s Star Wars – did not have
Fatale – they had, but my boss scooped me and bought all of them. I will borrow them.
Wytches – did not have
Morning Glories – did not have
The Pulse (Bendis) – did not have
Fraction’s Hawkeye – did not have
Waid’s Daredevil – did not have.
I also got a couple issues of Fables spin-off Cinderella, some other G. Willow Wilson thing (Mystic?), and some Grue the Wanderer for my husband.
Super bummed about losing this shop. It’s always been very welcoming, no weird looks or snarky behavior about women customers.
Ms. Marvel for sure. Have you read Young Avengers? That’s another one I adore. Seconding the Hawkeye and Waid’s Daredevil. If by some chance, they have Bendis’ Alias or The Pulse, those are also amazing. If you want something weird and kinda fucked up, I’m a fan of Morning Glories as well (though I’m waaaaay behind).
I don’t read that many non-web comics, but if they have a shelf of webcomic printed books like my local comic shop does, then maybe Digger, Dicebox, and Family Man? None of them is super extra popular, so they might not have them, but on the other hand if they do have them then they might not have sold yet.
Brother Orange and Matt Stopera were on Ellen! This is my favorite story ever, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tIoGNKfhaU
I kind of reviewed/recapped Daredevil, if anyone would like to read: http://ozgeburcaka.tumblr.com/post/116722026440/d…
Ooh, the sting of truth.
Jeepers.
<img src="http://www.jaynagyphoto.com/DD8.png">
"It hurts, doesn't it?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT-eH5MP1R4