just call it something and move on

[greygirlbeast]

Most of yesterday was spent on the Joey LaFaye proposal, fleshing it out from one page to three. My agent liked the one-page version very much, but agreed with me that it was thin. Remarkably, at the end of the day I was not in a foul mood (as is usually the case when I'm forced to do stuff like this). In the evening, Spooky took me out for Thai, and there really wasn't much else to yesterday.

The second Raven/poem auction has begun. This one's Raven Black. And I see we already have a bid on Raven Red. No reserves on these auctions. Raven Green and Raven Blue will go up later this afternoon. The winner of each auction will receive, along with the raven in question, a signed and numbered copy of "Nest." Only four copies of the poem are being released, exclusively for this auction. The ravens are gorgeous, and it pains me to see them go, but Georgia Power says I can't heat this wind tunnel of a house for free. Note, also, I would prefer to sign each copy of the poem to its winning bidder (or someone hesheit would like it signed to), to avoid resales. If you have any questions about the raven/poem auctions, just ask. There are photos of all the Ravens Four up on squid_soup, and here's the link to our main eBay page.

Lately, I've felt like complaining about homophobia in America is akin to complaining about suffering in hell. Nonetheless, pkbarbiedoll writes, regarding one of the Superbowl ads:

Have you heard about the candy bar ad? In short, there was an ad for a Mars, Inc. candy [Snickers] featuring two butch male mechanics. One had a Snickers bar, and the other began eating from the other end until the two mouths met in a kiss. Both men are aghast and begin ripping hair from their chests. Sounds funny on the surface. But there were two alternate versions of the same ad on the Snickers website. One was called "Motor Oil" and after the men kiss, one drinks motor oil while the other guzzles antifreeze (being sick or committing suicide is better than being gay). The other was called "Wrench". After kissing, one man picks up a wrench and beats the other man with it. In the closing moments of "Wrench" the second man pushes the first man's head under the engine and slams the hood closed.

Next to these alternate versions was a montage of football players commenting on the ads. "That ain't right" was repeated by several players, of course they were referring to the men kissing not the homophobic violence celebrated in the ads. Mars has since removed the advertisements from their website. Thought you'd want to know (not that you buy those crappy candy bars in the first place).

I haven't seen the Mars ads (or any of the others), but I expect they're up on YouTube. Oh, wait, here you go. I have now seen one frame of one of the Snickers ads. Here's a comment on the Mars ads from the Human Rights Campaign:

The makers of Snickers and its parent company at Mars should know better. If they have any questions about why the ad isn’t funny, we can help put them in touch with any number of GLBT Americans who have suffered hate crimes. This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country.

And I might add it haunts no small number of gay and lesbian adults off the playground. Anyway...

Today, I need to get to work on a piece for Sirenia Digest #15 (February). The platypus says "Hop to it."

Postscript (8:44 p.m. CaST): I just learned that Daughter of Hounds remains on the Barnes and Noble SF/F trade list, coming in at #44. Thanks, Liz!

Comments

[kambriel.livejournal.com]

I was in Colorado last year, and right on the corner of the park I used to hang out in at lunchtime there was a large crowd of high school students hanging out around a van. At first I figured it must be some kind of glorified ice cream or catering truck parked right across the school's main doors for lunchtime. They weren't selling food, but hatred. The van had huge full colour posters of anti-gay imagery and hateful slogans that basically came down to encouraging violence against those that "God Hates". At first, I had hopes that the students were surrounding the van protesting, but it looked more like a party scene! I was going to back up and take pictures to post, but it was such and ~ugly~ scene, that I didn't have the stomach to share it.

Had I still been a student there, I would have felt hunted. Hunted not in a parking lot behind a gay bar, but hunted in school where you're supposed to be in a safe environment. Living in "bluest of the blue" Massachusetts made my memories fade in regards to just how bad it can be in other areas. I really thought we'd have moved beyond all this by now.

[edwarddain.livejournal.com]

Lately, I've felt like complaining about homophobia in America is akin to complaining about suffering in hell... ...And I might add it haunts no small number of gay and lesbian adults off the playground

Ain't that the sad truth?

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much you know about our boy Grandpa Theobald's so-called lovelife, but Wired's Table of Malcontents has an excellent little piece today (http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/02/the_mysterious_.html) about HPL's wife, Sonia Greene. You may wish to consider her for a Sirenia skit. She used to date Aleister Crowley before she ended up with ol' HP.

Incidentally, I think the sequel to Howard Phillips and the Flowers of Yuggoth is going to involve him marrying Sonia Greene, ending up in New York City, and having to fight evil monsters as Al Crowley tries to get her back.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

She used to date Aleister Crowley before she ended up with ol' HP.

Okay. I did not know that. And it seems Very Significant. I can't recall Joshi mentioning this in H. P. Lovecraft: A Life.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

Comments after the article suggest that the connection between Ms. Greene and Mr. Crowley were fictitious. There are links to the HPL website and to the Fortean times (consider the source), but the links would seem to be a little incredible. Would a struggling middle-class milliner have time to be consorting with the Great Beast 666? Probably not. But, when have we ever been interested in the grim, sterile realities of life? Perhaps Ms. Greene had a sordid youth? She was -1 at the time of her marriage...

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Comments after the article suggest that the connection between Ms. Greene and Mr. Crowley were fictitious.

Indeed. Those lines in the article have now been struck-through by Wired. I think this proposition, given the facts of Greene's life, is a bit beyond improbable, and I see no evidence to back up the claims. It's too audacious a claim to make without offering some solid shred of evidence.

[derekcfpegritz.livejournal.com]

That is because, strangely enough, he didn't mention it. Her relationship with Crowley is actually quite uncertain, as are most of the details of her life. She certainly had a thing for strange men, though, and being a rather strong-willed and independent woman it wouldn't surprise me if she'd been attracted to a magnetically-weird personality like Crowley. It does seem weird, though, that she would've gone from lying with the Great Beast himself to ham-fisted, clutzy ol' Howard....

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Sharing your more-than-annoyance over the Snickers ad. I've gone from my initial "Ohhhh-kaayyyy..." reaction on Sunday to hearing about the related stuff online and thinking "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??!"

On a happier note, you might enjoy the 2-disc reissue of the soundtrack of The Nightmare Before Christmas: She Wants Revenge covers "Kidnap the Sandy Claws." (I also like Fiona Apple's version of "Sally's Song," and Marilyn Manson goes nuts on "This Is Halloween." It also has a few of Danny Elfman's demos for the songs, and that's especially neat.)

[rowancat.livejournal.com]

Off topic but you may find this fascinating. Your name is a bit to the
South of H P Lovecraft :)
http://www.literature-map.com/howard+phillips+lovecraft.html

[wishlish.livejournal.com]

I watched that Snickers ad, and was amazed at how a company could spend $2+ million destroying their brand. That spot was successful at alienating 100% of their customers. Way to go!

Still...Prince at halftime. Swoon.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

That spot was successful at alienating 100% of their customers.

I would not be so optimistic. I doubt Mars will suffer any significant financial repercussions for the ads. Too few Americans care, and even fewer (gays included) are willing to do anything about it.

[wishlish.livejournal.com]

There might not be organized protests over the ad, true. But it did nothing to make me want to go out and buy a Snickers bar. If enough people just stop buying Snickers for a month...well, that has to hurt somehow, right?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If enough people just stop buying Snickers for a month...well, that has to hurt somehow, right?

To me, it seems very unlikely that enough Super Bowl viewers (or those who've heard about this afterwards) will have been offended to stop buying Mars products, or those of its parent company.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, Snickers has pulled the ad (http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/06/news/companies/snickers/index.htm?cnn=yes). Though the article doesn't mention the most annoying parts of that campaign (the alternate stuff online and the reactions to it). No idea if the websites are going away, and I'm not interested in checking.

re:the dream

[activistgirl.livejournal.com]

A day late and a buck short, but are you sure the turquoise humanoid wasn't Stephen Hawking? The dream reminded me of black hole theory, specifically the information paradox. There was just a show on the Discovery channel on 01/27 that I watched. Amazing schtuff.

Ef snickers, BTW!
I <3 HRC!

Re: the dream

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

specifically the information paradox

Indeed. The parallels are there. I suspect that's one of the sources my subconscious was working from.