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Elizabeth Sandifer

@elsandifer / elsandifer.tumblr.com

That bitch at Eruditorum Press
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Anonymous asked:

Any thoughts (and prayers, sorry couldn't resist) on Trina Robbins passing away?

I remember her mostly from grad school, when one of the numerous bits of unpaid labor foisted upon me was moderating the Comics Scholars listserv, a job that was approximately 80% her by volume. That wasn’t because she was some outrageous and badly behaved asshole or anything, to be clear. She was just a committedly tenacious poster who, as a non-academic researcher, was always a slightly odd fit for that listserv, and so butted heads. Which, what a great way to interact with Trina Robbins. Like, what else do you want from knowing her other than her being a bull-headed feminist who kept causing problems on an academic listserv? Fucking perfect.

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Anonymous asked:

Will you explore the roles of Matt Strevens and the BBC Studios in future Whittaker's posts?

I’d love to, but very little of the behind the scenes has leaked.

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Anonymous asked:

Is there a Patreon tier that would let me submit an album for Penn's reviews?

Yeah, we’ll add it to the $25 level.

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Anonymous asked:

have you read Robert Shearman's We all hear stories in the dark?

No. Should I?

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Anonymous asked:

what was the easiest/hardest Whitaker script to write about?

Dunno. Not done yet. Resolution bogged me down for like a year, so I suppose I’ve got to give some credit to that one as challenging. Praxeus was quite quick, meanwhile. As was Ascension/Timeless Children, which I did on the plane back from England.

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In the Futch piece you bring up the idea that "at the end of the day that first pang of desire to be other than we were was about cis women." Is that a generational thing, you think? Are there young trans people today whose first spark of Gender comes from trans people? Or does the distinction speak to something more fundamental?

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Ooh, cheeky to ask about a Patreon-exclusive essay.

I think that the first time you see a trans woman or broadly register that they exist is pretty huge, and probably always has been, but I think that the numbers game is still going to make “first pangs of gender” something that generally happens with cis women, except in the relatively rare situation in which someone is literally raised by trans parents. (And it is notable, to my mind, how often children of trans parents are trans.)

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itsady

when i was a kid we only had windows 95 and we had to sharpen the points of our mouse cursors with pocket knives to make them precise enough to click things reliably

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elsandifer

I grew up on Windows 3.1, which was before we had metal tools to sharpen them. Awful stuff.

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Anonymous asked:

Are you aware of any archive of earlier episodes of Shana Wolstein's podcast Oi Spaceman! (before ep75), or are they now basically lost media?

I’m not the person to ask—EP never had anything to do with that podcast.

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reblogged
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mini-wrants

When absolutely 0 of Biden’s accomplishments have made any kind of news, and we’ve been fed a steady diet of fear and panic for 3 years, no one gets to be shocked when he loses the next election to Donald 2.0.

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

It’s easier to protest against a president you don’t like then to actually remain in charge and keep pushing ahead, even if small, consistent accomplishments are all you receive.

I know I’ll never be missing an election in my life again (barring some kind of major medical event).

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

Low cost hearing aids, lower and $0 student loans, concrete investments in green architecture…there was an announcement like 2 days ago to replace all leaded pipes out of US cities over the next 10 years, which will be an absolute boon in jobs for construction workers and can make our homes safer for kids. I’m sure I’ll see a headline in a year, “Biden’s lead pipe program causes drivers traffic headaches.”

Republicans want 20 foot concrete barriers topped with barbed wire across the entire southern border, and Democrats want amnesty and ease to citizenship for just about anyone who crosses, and it really seems like until a compromise is made somewhere in there, Republicans will continue to turn out in massive numbers to elections because God told them to, and Democrats will continue to stay home because the last president didn’t accomplish 100% of their goals and voting for an imperfect president is a personal and ethical failing.

Now take that mentality and spread it over every single social and economic issue.

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lennat2

I remember how utterly scared and angry we were sone years ago when Trump was trying to bankrupt the USPS. People were talking about it left right and sideways, asking people to buy from the USPS gift shop, start a stamp collection, anything. Then, Biden got elected and put a huge stop to that by getting rid of the unfair laws that only the USPS had to abide by. Overnight, the USPS was saved, and how did everyone react?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

About a month ago, BAM, it was restored because Biden appointed a Democratic leader to the FFC. Did anyone talk about it? Nope. I saw ONE post.

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ansodie
okay, so as much as I think that Biden was the least shitty of two garbage presidential candidates, and as much as I disagree with some of the things he’s done… …I have to admit that the Biden-Harris administration has done more for the average American’s life than any other I can remember in the last 20-30 years. even with a congress made up of majority spoiled toddlers who would rather kill a man than vote “yes” to save a hundred thousand, they have:
Not only that but:
  • as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic
  • provided massive student loan debt relief
  • ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods
  • Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that
  • are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits
  • reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)
I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

Please register and vote in 2024.

Avatar
bogleech

I just know there's shitheads in the notes who think a post like this constitutes an endorsement of Israel but the Republicans are going to undo all these things, attempt their 2025 military police state plan, and fund Israel anyway. Nobody is going to survive another trump term.

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elsandifer

Glancing at emissions levels, nobody is going to survive a Biden term either. (This is not me disagreeing that he’s far preferable to Trump. But Trump isn’t uniquely apocalyptic; he’s just a uniquely shitty apocalypse.)

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unnounblr

Wasn't there proposed legislation like the Green New Deal and Build Back Better that would have at least done better on emissions, and which had Biden's support, but got watered down to the Inflation Reduction Act that does a lot less about emissions because the other bills couldn't get the support to get past the filibuster because the House and Senate have been deadlocked?

Like, it's probably the case that even those bills wouldn't have been enough and things would still be apocalyptic, and, like, one of the challenges to the better bills was that some of the democrats that are in congress are heavily corporate, and Biden isnt much better than them and it's easy for Biden to say he supports a bill that he knows will never reach him.

But, like, I'm not really sure the presidency has that much power over an environmental apocalypse caused by climate change, in the current U.S. system. Nuclear apocalypse, and various forms of martial law are where the presidency matters.

I broadly agree that we cannot vote our way to not cooking the planet, yes.

(And again, I think things will be appreciably better in numerous ways with Biden as President compared to another 4+ years of Trump.)

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mini-wrants

When absolutely 0 of Biden’s accomplishments have made any kind of news, and we’ve been fed a steady diet of fear and panic for 3 years, no one gets to be shocked when he loses the next election to Donald 2.0.

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

It’s easier to protest against a president you don’t like then to actually remain in charge and keep pushing ahead, even if small, consistent accomplishments are all you receive.

I know I’ll never be missing an election in my life again (barring some kind of major medical event).

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

Low cost hearing aids, lower and $0 student loans, concrete investments in green architecture…there was an announcement like 2 days ago to replace all leaded pipes out of US cities over the next 10 years, which will be an absolute boon in jobs for construction workers and can make our homes safer for kids. I’m sure I’ll see a headline in a year, “Biden’s lead pipe program causes drivers traffic headaches.”

Republicans want 20 foot concrete barriers topped with barbed wire across the entire southern border, and Democrats want amnesty and ease to citizenship for just about anyone who crosses, and it really seems like until a compromise is made somewhere in there, Republicans will continue to turn out in massive numbers to elections because God told them to, and Democrats will continue to stay home because the last president didn’t accomplish 100% of their goals and voting for an imperfect president is a personal and ethical failing.

Now take that mentality and spread it over every single social and economic issue.

Avatar
lennat2

I remember how utterly scared and angry we were sone years ago when Trump was trying to bankrupt the USPS. People were talking about it left right and sideways, asking people to buy from the USPS gift shop, start a stamp collection, anything. Then, Biden got elected and put a huge stop to that by getting rid of the unfair laws that only the USPS had to abide by. Overnight, the USPS was saved, and how did everyone react?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

About a month ago, BAM, it was restored because Biden appointed a Democratic leader to the FFC. Did anyone talk about it? Nope. I saw ONE post.

Avatar
ansodie
okay, so as much as I think that Biden was the least shitty of two garbage presidential candidates, and as much as I disagree with some of the things he’s done… …I have to admit that the Biden-Harris administration has done more for the average American’s life than any other I can remember in the last 20-30 years. even with a congress made up of majority spoiled toddlers who would rather kill a man than vote “yes” to save a hundred thousand, they have:
Not only that but:
  • as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic
  • provided massive student loan debt relief
  • ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods
  • Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that
  • are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits
  • reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)
I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

Please register and vote in 2024.

Avatar
bogleech

I just know there's shitheads in the notes who think a post like this constitutes an endorsement of Israel but the Republicans are going to undo all these things, attempt their 2025 military police state plan, and fund Israel anyway. Nobody is going to survive another trump term.

Avatar
elsandifer

Glancing at emissions levels, nobody is going to survive a Biden term either. (This is not me disagreeing that he’s far preferable to Trump. But Trump isn’t uniquely apocalyptic; he’s just a uniquely shitty apocalypse.)

Avatar
Anonymous asked:

Which forthcoming Alan Moore work are you most looking forward to - The Moon And Serpent Bumper Book of Magic or the first Long London novel?

Moon and Serpent has fifteen years of anticipation behind it.

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reblogged
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neil-gaiman

Hugo Award Follow Up:

I think it's fair to say that the astonishing thing is how enthusiastically the American, Canadian (and British?) people involved in the Hugos took to censorship. I'm proud of the whistleblower, and am still puzzled by the removal of Sandman Episode 6. But this appears to have been what was going on:

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elsandifer

One remarkable thing about this is the revelation that ballots were excluded for being part of a slate.

Dave McCarty, the administrator responsible for the 2023 Hugo Shitshow, was also on the committee for the 2015 Hugos. Those were the ones where a bunch of low rent fascists called the Sad Puppies used slates to completely dominate numerous categories. At the time there was much handwringing about the Hugo rules and the inability to do anything about the slates. And yet now the very same administrators are asserting their absolute authority to exclude any works and ballots they want.

So why didn’t they invalidate the fascist slates in 2015?

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Anonymous asked:

Any thoughts on the 15th Doctor audition piece? The script is on the BBC Writersroom now

It’s nonsense. Would make terrible television. But that’s not what it’s for—it’s for moving through a collection of tones that Doctor Who will have to take so that you can evaluate a performance. And, given that the resultant casting was brilliant, it’s hard to fault it.

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Anonymous asked:

Will the release of the DW scripts change how you approach some of the research for the parts of the show that are not yet written or change some things for the book that are left of Tardis Eruditorum?

I mean, no more than the availability of any other script ever has. They’re sometimes interesting sources, but it really depends on the approach I’m taking with a given episode. I tend not to go super deep on secondary sources for the sake of it these days.

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Anonymous asked:

Church on Ruby Road podcast?

Probably not happening. Haven’t heard from my guest since early December, and it’d be weird to rebook it now.

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Anonymous asked:

Has your opinion on NK Jemisin changed much since The Broken Earth trilogy? Do you still like that trilogy?

I think the Broken Earth trilogy, and especially The Fifth Season, remain one of the three genuinely landmark pieces of SF/F of the twenty-first century. (Gideon the Ninth and Manhunt round out my list) Since that… well, I didn’t think The City We Became worked at all, and I’ve yet to get around to the second book in that series. Saw her give a talk at Cornell last fall that I quite liked, though I wish Cornell had left time for a real Q&A that allowed for pushback and probing instead of just letting three professors offer variations of More of a Comment Really. I think that she falls into a slightly facile liberalism somewhat regularly, but I think that about almost everyone. I think she badly misjudged the Isabell Fall situation, but that she also got left holding more of the bag than was fair.

But at the end of the day these are quibbles, and making too much of any of them would flagrantly be holding a Black woman to a ruthlessly high standard because she attained a position of prominence. Like, she wrote The Fifth fucking Season, a firmament-rocking work of sheer audacity. It’s ridiculous to significantly alter one’s opinion of her because she wrote a mid follow-up and tends towards vapid “Yes We Can”isms when discussing practical politics.

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