Yeah, I'd be interested in learning about the development of the two.

I've never come across anyone thinking of it as rude or inconvenient, it's just part of the culture, I guess?

I'm not certain on how they developed, too, but there are a lot of similarities, yeah, especially in British derivatives. NZSL and ASL (as in Australian) are really similar, and British Sign Language is only another step away. American Sign Language is pretty different in that it uses primarily finger-signs, if I'm not mistaken - but I can still get the gist of what people are saying, which is pretty interesting.

There are definitely "loud talkers" in sign languages, and often it's not just that their signs are larger and more expressive, but they'll make more noise as they do it.

Watching him perform this is amazing. I came across it a few weeks ago, and the lines "When you peel layers of clothing from his skin / Do not act as though you are changing dressings on a trauma patient / Even though it's highly likely that you are" just oh man hits home so hard.

I think he's wrong when he talks about the songs not giving an insight into Laura's life (he says "the life she's leading now", which I also take issue with - the album deals with a lot of stuff she's - and other trans people - have been dealing with all their lives, not just after coming out). To me and to so many others I know, they hit home real hard. So many people connect with them. They don't give insight to him, I'd assume because they weren't meant to.

When he talks about the tracks he doesn't like, and how they're obviously very personal to Laura and affect her deeply, it sort of highlights my views on the album - sure, it's been created and released for general consumption, but in no way was it made for cisgender people. It's the same reason he talks about not seeing or feeling any "legitimate overpowering emotions" on the album - I certainly do, and I know others who do. It's not meant to explain anything, or give any political or social insight, like he talks about - it's not meant to provide solutions to any issues. It's an output of emotion and solidarity, in a really similar way to her coming out. When she came out all of a sudden so many of us had this new role model, this person of relative fame we could look up to and follow and connect with - something pretty important in the punk scene, I think. The album does a similar thing - he's right in that it confirms already held ideas, but he's wrong with the audience. It's not for LGBTQ supporters to nod their heads along to, it's for trans folk to connect with, to feel and know that someone understands, to see Laura dealing with so much shit, with cisgenderist media doing their usual thing and asking extremely personal questions, delving into stuff she doesn't necessarily want to share. But she does share a lot, and it's inspirational to see her doing so well - on a personal level, seeing another musician do this is amazing. Seeing her wife stick with her is amazing. I connect with both the album and her a lot, and I think that's what makes me love the album so much - and I think that's the point.

I've always been a bit uncomfortable with formalist analysis of any form of art, too - I can see the importance of analysing formalist elements, but placing these above conceptual or contextual things seems a bit redundant.

Yeah, I was absolutely fascinated by the whole thing. Vultures are sort of one of those things I haven't thought about in years and years - they're not really prevalent at all (at least where I am). As soon as I opened up the article and saw the pictures I was struck by their odd beauty. It's sad that something so integral - and mostly not recognised for their importance - is dying out in such a way.

As for the painkiller, it's interesting that it only affects vultures - everything else that feeds off those cattle is fine. Fascinating yet sad sort of coincidence that their main food source has been unintentionally poisoned with something that affects only them.

They had an exhibition a few years back on the Art of Video Games. Nothing new, I think.

(I wrote a thing about it a while back)

I'm finding this conversation very interesting, particularly because my experiences have been pretty different to emisaurs.

For me, and most other trans*folk I know, gender identity is a huge deal. I'm starting to identify myself as trans* a lot more because I see it less as a medical condition (though it is, for sure) and more a part of who I am. It's something that I'm - proud isn't the right word, but it's a similar sort of feeling - of. It shapes so many of my experiences, the good ones far outweighing the bad.

I think the other huge impact on this for me is my gender identity itself and that I don't feel entirely female. I feel trans* and nonbinary is part of my gender identity and that most of the time I can't introduce myself as a woman (or a man, for that matter).

I dunno. This was going somewhere when I started but I'm all over the place today. I think, speaking entirely personally here, trans* as an identity has formed a better community for me than trans* as a medical condition.

Ah, awesome! I think I might stick with OpenShift for now, seeing as I've got it all sorted and haven't had any problems yet. I'm not expecting huge amounts of traffic (well, not for a while, anyway) so it should do.

Ooh, this is cool! Is ghost hosting now? I might have to look into it (I'm hosted on RHCloud at the moment, which isn't costing anything, but I'm willing to bet Ghost's hosting service is pretty nice). Is this the default theme? I can't quite tell.

Ah, awesome, thanks so much! It always makes my week when I hear people have enjoyed it.

The Less than Zero comparison makes me especially happy - it's one of my favourite books. I actually read it a couple of months after writing Against the Current, which is interesting.

Thanks!