Out with the old, in with the new (Clinic, resolutions, tech)

First, it's been a while since Father Corleone showed up at the clinic. However, the newer, younger priest - the one who was calling "they won't help you, they'll only hurt you!" as women went in and then shouted "You need to ask forgiveness!" when they came out -- well, he named himself when he told a black man walking in "Come talk to me! Bro, I'm chill!" Out with Father Corleone. In with Father Chill. (The other escort simply called him "ChillBro.")


Second, the laptop my dad gave me just crashed for the third time in two months. So I wailed on facebook that I'd have to buy a Windows 8 laptop after all (as I had sort of planned before furlough frelled everything) and found out about a decently priced reliable computer reseller in the neighborhood. It's going to take me the rest of the afternoon to transfer files from the one I'm typing on and get the new one all set up the way I want, but out with the unreliable secondhand laptop and in with the one with a year's warrenty.


And finally, I have decided to start a new New Year's tradition. As I tootle around the house, I'm taking things that are perfectly useful but have no use to *me* - the backpack with the tags still on it, the handsets and answering machine from the now-defunct landline, presents that have languished in the present drawer for years waiting for The Right Person - and I'm putting them into a basket. As people come for parties or just to hang out through January, they may poke through and take what they please. Out with the stuff I don't need, into the hands of people who want it!

Little Victories

I'm tentatively pleased with the new laptop. Nice, springy keyboard (important considering how much writing I plan on doing on it) and I got it set up in around 3 hours. Which is pretty good for a standing start from raw from store to completely personalized.

New tag, to go along with another new resolution. This last year, I didn't write down the little victories - the tiny changes that make life incrementally better. Like taking a week's worth of socks that match my work pants and putting them in a little box away from the rest of the (large) sock collection every time I do laundry, significantly shortening my "where are those socks?" digging every morning.

So now I'm writing them down. It's early for 2014, but:
- ending the landline (thus ending another bill *and* a maintenance headache)
- corralling socks
- getting a laptop with a warranty (as the inheritor of Dad's castoffs, I've been without that for a while)

Musings on Night Vale and Race

I still need a Night Vale icon. Thank you Pixlr!

So, Jeffrey Cranor has announced that they are changing the voice of Carlos specifically because he doesn't feel that it's right for him to continue to do it and take the role away from a Hispanic/Latino man.

Which is a good thing and I'm all for representation. There's simply not enough of it in American media.

On the other hand, I do wonder what kind of representation (if any) they were thinking with Cecil - voiced by a weedy white guy, often drawn by fans as a weedy white guy with tattoos and/or a third eye and/or a wide bleached streak. So far the Night Vale creators have steadfastly refused to actually describe Cecil aside from belatedly give him a full name, and I hope they continue to not describe him because then *anyone* can be Cecil. (In fact, I voted for the winner of the Carlos/Cecil t-shirt - on sale only through the end of this month, kids -- specifically BECAUSE it did not show either man's face.)

However, if they're talking about representation in actors, specifically, we are left with the fact that

canonically look completely identical.

And now I don't know if they're hinting that they see Cecil as a black guy or that if they simply felt just as strongly about making sure that there was representation in Night Vale voices. Because there was a *lot* of white on that stage during the live recording of Mayoral Debate.

But on the other hand, this is a show where the ONLY canonical detailed physical description is of a man of color. Tamika Flynn is the only other one who is described at all, although much more vaguely, and what we know could fit any race, really. Cecil, Steve, Earl, Josie, Dana, John Peters - you know, the farmer - none of them are ever physically described at *all.* Nightvaleofcolor is totally right - there's nothing saying there's any white character in that town at all.