This journal is friends-only. I am pretty lax about friending, and will friend most people back just for the symmetry of it, and because if they'd like to get to know me, I'd like to get to know them.

Reasons I may decline to friend someone:

1) They are a robot.

2) They are an obvious sock. (Note: if the owners of these socks tried to friend me with their main journals, I would probably friend them back.)

3) They are not in fandom. This is primarily a fandom journal. It's not Facebook. I don't have a Facebook. There's a reason for that. (Even though I talk about RL stuff. I don't want to talk about it with people I know IRL, god.)

4) They have repeatedly harassed me to meet with a friend of theirs they described as "worse than a rapist" IRL. (You know who you are.)

5) Any bad behavior I shouldn't even have to think of.

If none of these apply to you, congrats! I will probably friend you! I am open to friending people I don't know, and even sometimes people I don't like. I believe in giving people a chance, and I also have the arrogant belief that if they gave me a chance, they might like me too.

If you feel you were passed over unfairly, please feel free to email me and discuss it. (shiinabambi at gmail.)

Edit: due to the ridiculous amount of spam, I've disabled anonymous comments. So either make an account, or use the email listed above to contact me.

Because of the DNS changes that went through today, you may notice that some sites have stopped working. Two that I noticed were Megaupload and the Canadian Craigslist. (Which actually came up with a TOU violation instead of just failing to load the page, WTF.)

Long story short, the sky is not falling, and this is not internet censorship, the tubes are just a bit borked. The fix is here.

/PSA

Question just for the cis folks on my flist (for those who don't know what that means, it means that the gender you were assigned at birth is also the gender you identify as; you are not trans or genderqueer) if someone misgendered you (used sir/he when you prefer ma'am/she or vice versa) would you be offended?

Also (again just for the cis folks) if someone you just met asked you which pronouns you preferred [for yourself, not like just, in general], would you be offended by that?

Thanks in advance for the input!

The Matrix was a great movie. (Let`s not talk about the sequels.) But they made it a decade or so too soon.

See, the bit where humans are being used as batteries never made sense to me. Is heat really the best reason for that elaborate setup? Why even bother making the Matrix for that? Why do heat-batteries even need brains? Lobotomize them. Or pump tranquilizers into their tanks. Or just, you know, make the tanks secure. There's a horror for you--they can be awake and aware all they want, and it doesn't matter because they can't get out and there's nowhere to go (as far as they know--someone grown in a tank wouldn't have a concept of human language, let alone Zion) and all they have to do is stay there and be warm-blooded.

Heck, you could just genetically engineer chunks of flesh at that point. And you can make them run hotter, because you don't have to worry about things like destroying brain function or sperm counts.

No, the robots had a better reason to want to hook humans up to the Matrix, but back in 1999, they couldn't see it.

What we call a "robot" these days can refer to a physical machine, or a program. Unlike with humans, the mind and body are completely separate. An AI program could work on any hardware fast enough to run it.

You know what a human brain is? It's a really damn fast computer.

So, in the war between humans and machines, humans tried to destroy the physical computers running the AI programs, thinking no computer = no problem. The machines, rather than having to build new hardware, just appropriated some existing hardware. Network enough human brains together, and you have a supercomputer. Now you do actually need the brain to be functional, and there's a reason to have an elaborate network of all the brains. The Matrix makes sense again as a distraction: a kind of walled garden to keep that pesky human consciousness from disrupting the true purpose of the brain.

It becomes not a struggle for power sources, but for processing power. As technology becomes more advanced, we are recognizing more and more that what we were all along is really advanced technology. Biological machines. And we're working on ways to get that networking started already. There are chips in brains, and scientists working on emulating the brain inside a computer, with the goal of transferring a human consciousness into it the way one would emulate an NES on their PC and play roms. The human mind itself might become just another program, the body just another computer, and then we will be actively competing for resources with AIs.

Bonus fridge brilliance: the consciousness in the Matrix would not have access to the full processing power of the brain, since, well, that's the whole point of walling it off. The point of the Matrix emulating a realistic replica of our world instead of some exciting fantasy world is to give us that unsettling feeling that maybe we're actually naked in pods a thousand years in the future, believing what the machines want us to believe. So. Ever think humans are, well, stupid? Ever wonder how we survived in the wild? We're told our superior intellects made up for the fact that we have no claws, no teeth to speak of, no fur, and can barely run, but, uh....seriously? Have you ever had the realization that you don't understand any of the crap in your house? Like, if someone dumped you in the stone age, you couldn't make a light bulb, let alone a computer. You'd be lucky if you could make a halfway-respectable hut, and that's pushing it. And the whole thing where our memories are shit. Sure, it's one thing to not remember every single moment of our lives, but like how you can't even remember shit that happened last year, or how important things like the face of someone you loved and lost just slips away--things you'd make an effort to hold on to.

Maybe the original humans, the ones who actually built computers, the ones who lived a thousand years ago, they were the smart ones. And we just don't know what it's like to think with all of our brains, because most of them are being used to process the thoughts of a parasitic artificial intelligence, and this is all a simulation of a world humans that were better than us made.

I WILL REDO THE MATRIX. HOLLYWOOD WHERE IS MY CHECK. KEANU REEVES NEVER AGES ANYWAY SO HE CAN STILL BE NEO.

UGH SO ONE OF MY KEYS GOT STUCK AND I TRIED TO UNSTICK IT AND SOMEHOW BUTTON MASHING MADE ME LOSE MY WHOLE POST AND I ALMOST DIDN'T TYPE IT UP AGAIN. AND LJ DIDN'T RESTORE IT. Fuck everything.

So okay. Shows.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King was kind of my breakout hit for the year, and it's my rec for 2011. I underestimated it, what with airing on ABC Family and having that ~wholesome vibe~ or whatever, but GODDAMN SHIT GOT SO REAL. Watch this show, you are not prepared.

Teen Wolf was also quite good. Loved the humor and twisty plot. Nooot quite so big on the Allison/Scott romance, SCOTT WON'T YOU WAKE UP AND SEE THAT STILES LOVES YOU. Feeling a bit cheated that we didn't get werewolf!Lydia...or did we? Fuck I am so confused.

Also not really sure how I feel about Stiles/Lydia, because they're both awesome people and if they're in love that's cool, but I am so over the narrative of dorky guy holds torch for beautiful unattainable girl, who then becomes a trophy to show how much he's achieved in MANHOOD. Seriously can people get together because they like/are attracted to each other, not because the man's manliness story arc has reached a certain point and he needs rewards?

Alphas I'm very behind on--I've only seen one episode, lol. I should catch up, it seems like it should be up my alley. I like the limited-use/"realistic" superpowers. I tentatively like but am nervous about the autistic main character; I liked what I saw of him, he was a member of the team and his power wasn't his Super Autism, he just had a power like everyone else but also happened to be autistic. I'm just scared because I kind of...don't know if I trust TV networks to do this properly? D: IDK. Would also like to know what people into autism activism think of the character. I don't personally know anyone that...well, "low-functioning" would be a bad term to use here, so how about "obvious"--someone who doesn't pass in society that well, that it's kind of obvious within a minute or so of meeting them that they're autistic, because most of my autistic friends at least somewhat "pass." So it's hard for me to say how much they got right and how much is just Hollywood stereotype, because I honestly don't know.

Oh, and the whole ~shady organization~ thing seemed kinda cliche, but I've only seen one episode, I should see where they're going with that.

I'm trying to get in on the ground floor with new scifi/fantasy shows, both so I don't have so much catching up to do (so...much...catching up @___@) but also because I like being able to scout out the current shows and be that guy who tells other people where the party's at. I have elected to skip both The Walking Dead and Falling Skies, because they seem to fall more into the survival horror genre--I like horror, but not so much survival horror. I think it's because it forces viewer sympathies with the protagonists, because they're the "humans" up against "monsters." You not only can't sympathize with the villains, you can't even understand their motives, because they're not really people, they're just a distillation of threat and fear and enemy. The main appeal of it seems to be watching the main characters be resourceful and then eventually kick lots of ass, which isn't really why I watch sf/f. This is why I love vampires but find most of the zombie genre dreadfully boring.

If you know of reasons why these shows are not what I think and I should totally be watching them, feel free to spoil me on those two shows only.

I will be following The Secret Circle, which I believe airs tomorrow. Kinda worried because it airs on the CW and all (I guess I should give The Vampire Diaries another shot...I guess) but I underestimated Teen Wolf for being on MTV and Chloe King for being on ABC Fam, so I'll try to give it the benefit of the doubt. (Which networks suck? ALL OF THEM, MY FRIEND, ALL OF THEM.)

( Torchwood: Miracle Day spoilers )

( Doctor Who spoilers )

( True Blood spoilers )

By the way, for those interested, I will be doing weekly recaps/reviews/watchalongs for True Blood season 1 over at terror_scifi starting this weekend. As you can see, I'm not bad with the analytical thinky-thoughts (if a bit long-winded!) and not afraid to call a show out on shenanigans even if I love it, but I also really do love True Blood, quite a lot, and this will mainly be a labor of love/squeefest. If you've been considering watching True Blood for the first time, come watch it with me, it's probably the least hatey experience you will be able to find in this fandom. If you love True Blood and want to squee, please do! I could always use more love for this show. If you hate True Blood and want to see it through my eyes, this might help with that, though I cannot promise miracles. (And please try to keep the hate out of the comments--if the statement "I hate this show and I wish I could stop watching" is accurate for you, just...look at your life, look at your choices. Go rain on someone else's parade.)

So, update on that AIM thing. As it turned out, my password was not changed, I was just blocked from AIM for 24 hours--probably for spamming people. >__> Like, logging into the site still worked. My security information didn't work because I'm a moron and god only knows what the hell I put in there. (Life lesson: use security information that actually makes sense.) Because of that, I'd been unable to change the password, and all my trying also got me a 24-hour ban from that feature.

Well, 24 hours passed, I calmed down, I used my password to log into the site, I clicked that I had forgotten my security information, and it nicely allowed me to use my email address instead. I changed my security information to something...sensible, changed my password, and everything is right with my world.

So, tl;dr, I am me again, and if I ask you to come see pics of my tits, they are probably actually pics of my tits, because I am a bit shameless. Phew.

My AIM account, shiinabambi, has DEFINITELY been hacked. I've had the "you are signed in from more than one location" message a couple of times, which I ignored, even though 1) I hardly ever get it on this connection, and 2) my OTHER AIM account which is signed in never got it.

News flash: I am an idiot. Really, truly stupid.

Well, I can no longer sign into my AIM account. The password has changed. Whoever did it also changed my security info, so even calling AIM support, that's it. My account is gone.

ANYTHING YOU SEE ON THAT ACCOUNT IS MOST EMPHATICALLY NOT ME.

If you're feeling courageous, and you see "me" around, ask them who the hell they are and what they wanted with my account.

New AIM account: aiffe@livejournal.com

EDIT: If my new account spams you (as I hear it is doing), PLEASE REPORT IT. REPORT REPORT REPORT. I want that account deleted. If I can't have it, no one can.

So, I know I have been kind of AWOL, but I decided to come out of my shell for this. I'm sure the reasons why this is important are all over LJ, so I'll just link you to my thread.

Here!

Is there something you always wanted me to write? With a guilt trip like this, I can't say no!