fuck the oscars

right. you know... it's always fun to look at pretty people and their clothing choices (for me, anyway) but i can't get over the feelings of utter disgust that show induced in me last night. here are some of the reasons:

- steve martin's obnoxious and irrelevant gay jokes. thongs? poodles? is this the fucking 1970s? we've moved on asshole. and i usually really like steve martin... but with those comments and his constant reduction of actresses to sexual objects... ulch.

- the booing of michael moore. fuck them all. they gave him a standing ovation when he won. they were standing up, thinking prettily to themselves, oh, he's so brilliant. he has such great things to say. and then they booed him when he tried to speak... when he tried to make the only meaningful comment about the war anyone made that night. and not only him, he was standing there with all the other documentarians.

- because, yes, chris cooper and adrien brody and susan sarandon and whatshisnamefromytumamatambien were subtle and acceptable in their expressions of desire for peace... but that doesn't mean much. seriously, how vague can you be? it's not like war happened by itself. 'i wish for peace' is a lovely sentiment... but someone has attacked someone else here. and whether or not you share my belief that bush and his cohort are in the wrong, you must see that wishing or flashing peace signs isn't going to make one bit of difference. at least talking about the source of the problem could potentially lead to better understanding and learning from gigantic mistakes such as electing (or not) the wrong person.

and you know, maybe there was more. but i fell asleep before best actress. and i don't regret that. i knew TTT wouldn't get best picture. it's more of an annoyance to me that they didn't get art direction and film editing and such. alxamdulillah that PJ doesn't work with those people in mind... that he has more respect for the books and for his intended audience than that.

thanks for all the birthday lurve.

i had a desire to personally thank every single lj friend who wished me a happy birthday on friday. because it meant a lot to me - and cheered me significantly on what started out as not the most exciting of birthdays. but, time is short so, i'll just say to everyone of you thank you!!!. and offer some love:
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

also! two wonderful, amazing people dedicated drabbles to me. both are beautifully schmoopy and angst-free. and yes, i love the angst, but i was incredibly delighted to have happy drabbles to read on my birthday. and they are so, so lovely.

starbuckle wrote a harry/ron! eee!
and holographis wrote a harry/draco. yummy.

and big love to fearlessdiva - she knows why, ::wink, wink::

mrow

( my birthday weekend )

just can't stop ranting today

ugh. i don't know why i just did that. i followed a link in hominidj's journal to some photographs of the killing of american peace activist, rachel corrie, by an israeli bulldozer. it's so clearly cold blooded murder that it goes beyond shocking and disturbing. thank goodness our government doesn't support evil activity like that. oh... wait...

i think this ties into to what i was trying to say in a comment in iscaris's journal earlier... i get really frustrated when people point to protestors as a significant source of dismay in times like this. especially having been at some protests and having seen the way police create tense and frightening situations out of peaceful gatherings. and hearing news report after news report about protests that go something like there were large protest in suchandsuch city today, 50 people were arrested. but how many people were there? what were they saying? were there any speakers? was there any meaningful dialogue?

dismay should be aimed at the pathetic coverage of the protests. dismay should be aimed at the violence being inflicted on innocent people - on all sides of this war. at the difficulty of hearing what's really going on and why. i want people to be raising their voices... but to speak their minds, not to complain about other people who are raising their voices.

i'm no heroine

this song has been on my mind lately, for various reasons. just thought i'd share some words. ( i'm no heroine - ani difranco )