It’s the last Friday before Christmas and I’m the living, walking example of not ready…here’s this weeks list of stuff that I read and want to share..
1) Last Friday there was a shooting in the US. I like living in a country that had pretty strict gun laws but don’t think I should be telling another country what they should do. I’ve seen lots of articles and tweets about it and my heart breaks for the parents and family of the 20 children and 7 teachers. This seemed like about the best response…
Despairing sources confirmed that the gunman, armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle—a fucking combat rifle, Jesus—walked into a classroom full of goddamned children where his mother was a teacher and, good God, if this is what the world is becoming, then how about we just pack it in and fucking give up, because this is no way to live.
2) I haven’t seen this advert, but I’ve heard loads about it from my friends who have seen it.
Mothers are told that they are competent and hard working (which is nice), while slyly being exhorted to work until they drop and spend money they don’t have on things nobody has room to eat. Fathers (and men more generally) are told that they’re childlike, workshy creatures of uncertain taste and questionable hygiene; every so often a distant cry of protest goes up about this characterisation, but the ad machine rolls relentlessly onwards.
3) Sarah Rees Brennan recaps The Hobbit: Part One
DWARF KINGDOM: *laid waste*
THRANDUIL KING OF THE ELVES: We should go help our sworn allies, the dwarves. That’s why I came wearing my shiny battle tiara!
ELVEN LIEUTENTANT: Sir, your son young Prince Legolas has got hold of that movie Brave, thrown out all his silken frocks and set up a strict five a.m. to nine p.m. archery schedule at the elven court.
THRANDUIL: Wait, what? What? No! I left strict orders that my elven subjects should do my will and PARTY DOWN!
THRANDUIL: Screw this! We’re going home.
THORIN DREAMBOATSHIELD, PRINCE OF THE DWARVES AND INTERNATIONAL DWARF PINUP: … Elves are assholes.
OLD BILBO: And Thorin never forgave. And he never forgot. And he never got any less dreamy.
4) At roughly the same age, I completely agree (although I’ve always loved John Lewis)
Instead, at the stage at which spots are usurped by wrinkles, one’s relationships are sounder, a support network in place. Constant drama is supplanted by a sense of oneself as a fait accompli. One is less of a daughter, less of a partner, more of an individual, even – perhaps, especially – if one happens to be a parent. Rather than being weighted down by expectation, one can simply do as one wants.
5) The rising numbers of rough sleepers in London. I’ve noticed it and think that it’s only going to get worse with the new Housing Benefit rules coming in.
No London mayor can correct that calamity alone, but if the current one made half as much noise about it as he does lobbying for tax cuts or new airports it would help – and might improve his record on tackling rough sleeping too.
6) Instagram is changing it’s Terms of Service. To do what everyone else already does.
The relevant policies of Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, the parent companies of Instagram, YouTube, and Flickr, respectively, are similar. Yes, Instagram’s new terms of service also contain a confusingly worded follow-up sentence that could be misread as allowing it to sell your photos to advertisers without compensation to you. But so could all the sentences above—if not for the fact that every single one, including Instagram’s, is preceded by a sentence clearly stating that you, and not the site, own all of the content you post to it.
7) Angst from the lovely Christina at D for Darymple. If you know Christina, you know she can’t maintain this for too long, just keep reading to the end!
My first impulse was to run, escape – hide. God only knows what I blurted out by way of goodbye as I gathered my things together and stumbled to the door.
Nic Dempsey 