Monthly Archives: January 2017

Art as commentary

(above image is a screenshot from Danbooru by Sima Naoteng note: url is safe for work; though most of Danbooru is not.)

So I discovered a bunch of absolutely hilarious fan-art depicting the 2016 US elections. I’m probably very late to the whole thing, but now I know why there’s a running meme-joke of Trump being the God-Emperor. (Or, at least if this art circle didn’t start it, they ran with it and made it awesome and freaking adorable.)

Notable to me is the depiction of Hilary and Bernie doing a lot of fighting in the background in a number of these, practically ignoring their actual opponents – a rather apt depiction of how it looked to me for a chunk of the elections. Yes, that’s Milo Yiannopolous  dressed as a commissar; though he’s not tagged as such in a number of the other pictures where he shows up. I’m not sure why Rubio is depicted as a cross between the Terminator and Darth Vader though. Jeb Bush is the ghostly figure in the background.

That is seriously the most adorable fanart of Ben Carson I’ve ever seen.

I’ll cheerfully admit I don’t know most of the memes – like the water bottle, or the shiny pants. I sort of understand some of the ones portrayed (like how Hillary, more or less backed by Obama, overshadowed Sanders. I kind of gather in later potrayals Carson’s supposed to be a Paladin from Warhammer 40k. Notably, the depiction of a number of the GOP standing in the way, but not really …effectively doing anything. I don’t get the depictions of Bernie as a druid at all, but apparently there’s a lot more discussion about the artworks on the doujin circle’s blog that I really should look at. Heck, I agree with this post. It somewhat helps that they have a character list – and I agree with the writer, I value freedom of speech, not freedom from speech. It was rather obvious that even though the writer was solidly on the Trump side, the writer and artist were careful to take care with the fairy personifications of the people here. They aimed to portray US politics in a lighthearted way, and I think they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

On a different note, I really, really like this. Clearly, I’m not the only one. Mattis FOR THE WIN. Appeasement doesn’t work.

 

Veering off to news discussion now though, I really like how the earlier artist depicted Big Media. Having read bits of news here and there, it’s rather stark to me that neither Big Media, nor the screeching socjus wankers have really gotten a clue and plunged straight off into the deep end (conveniently forgetting what their preferred candidate’s husband and party was okay with, really revealing their double standards.) Pulling more of the political correctness bullshit and trying to shame people into pretzel-bendover accommodation of the feelings of a few, an entirely useless and pointless ‘women’s march’ with a main organiser that supports Sharia law and then telling pro-life people that they hope those pro-life women get raped? By reinforcing and proving true every single negative stereotype about women that exists, you’ve only become the laughingstock of the rest of the world. Guzzle a cuppa of ready-mix and harden the fuck up! and actually do something that isn’t screaming and throwing tantrums and tampons – but that would take more effort and thought and doesn’t directly benefit you.

Also, really, all the rest of you doing protests that Trump isn’t your president and whinge about getting abortion taken away somehow by his being in the White House – I don’t see why America has to pay for your abortions and contraception; and last I checked, America wasn’t the entirety of the whole world. Australia is not the 51st state of the United States of America, and is still part of the Commonwealth… and Brits, the US hasn’t been part of the Commonwealth for the last few hundred years. Philippines, the US hasn’t been the colonial master since… World War II ended at least. If y’all want to behave as if we ARE part of the US of A, then move there (though if they tried I can almost imagine that there would be a number of private citizens buying their own bricks to donate to a wall to keep these idiots out!)

There’s a time and place for voicing your opinions. A library isn’t it, scaring your children isn’t it, nor is harassing someone you happen to sit next to on a plane (the cheering made me happy, as well as the response by the staff) and a whole massive list of stupid actions since he won – not one of those are it. Harassing someone you assumed would give you the soundbite you wanted? NOT IT. Also, win answer, dude. Refusing to do your job because politics/religion/opinion? I thought that was verboten, leftists! Or only for your side?

And WAY TO GO TRUMP! Being more pro-woman than any one of those Women’s Marchers ever are, with just ONE SINGLE ACTION. Thank you for speaking on behalf of not just unborn boys, but also unborn girls.

 

Transforming Furikake Gohan

So, I finally got around to making a chicken aspic, inspired by the second episode of Shokugeki no Soma. If you haven’t seen this anime, here’s the particular segment I’m talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSOBJ7FtM-A

This isn’t my recipe, but I’ve been wanting to try this ever since I saw that segment above. The recipe is included in the manga and has been posted on the Internet; and other people have tried doing it before me.

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Second Year

Today my baby Brandon would’ve been two years old. I think he would have been having a fun time today; though perhaps his birthday would’ve been much quieter than Vincent’s party a few days ago.

We gave him his presents – a toy tank and a toy helicopter, and his Grammy and Grampy sent a hand made card.

It’s the one with the little dinosaur on it. Brandon’s urn is the one with the birds. His brother Damien is in the smaller round urn next to it.

Rhys and I spent a little time reminiscing fondly about his birth, and a few delightful memories. I wonder about how he and Damien would’ve been like now, but that happens a lot. Perhaps his hair would have been gently curling, like his eldest brother’s was. We still can’t imagine him smiling, however, as he was a baby with a rather impressive scowl. I think Damien would have been the plague to him at the same time being a favourite playmate.

What could have been…

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Cake and work area

I’ve been busy RL with things; one of them is making my son Vincent a Minecraft themed cake. It’s not Pinterest worthy; but eh, he was happy with it and considering that I’ve never worked with fondant before, or done anything with fondant other than eat it, I’m okay with the way it turned out. The cake itself was yummy and fluffy and the children were greatly entertained by the fact that the sparklers were set into the TNT block’s ‘fuses’.

The other thing I did was to rearrange my workspace again. I’m rather pleased with how it looks so I took pictures.

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Elven Bread v2

So, over the holidays, I remembered to finally cook up some elven bread to share with my in-laws; taking advantage of the fact that my brother-in-law has a lovely wok to deep fry with. I try to cook dinner at least once or twice when we visit, and that night I commandeered the kitchen for a full dinner, and while it was cooking, whipped up dessert for that night (chocolate cake), a leche flan as a gift to my brother in law, (he also got the recipe) and a batch of elven bread to leave to rise overnight.

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All that fake news

I was looking for recipe posts to tag and came across the first ‘proper’ post I did here.

And laughed, cynically, because for all the screeching that alternative news sites are nothing but fake news…

the ‘proper’ news channels are sure good about faking up their news.

Gamer Wife Hamburgers in Gravy

This is one of my ‘I’m busy and I need to get food on the table’ go-tos. I usually make this with home made hamburger patties; but I reckon you could do well with store-bought. With a hearty gravy with mushrooms, I almost never have leftovers – and if there are any, it’s meant for my hubby’s lunch the next day. Well, if he leaves any – he’ll walk in through the door and one of the things he’ll ask me is when it’s ready to eat.

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Arroz Caldo

Everyone has a favorite type of congee. I love the Filipino version, called arroz caldo, which in typical Filipino form, can be eaten at all times of the day – breakfast, lunch, dinner, or merienda (well, more like a small meal between meals. Hobbits would love us!), or snack or as a side dish or opening item!  My family’s version is very garlicky and ginger-y. If you want to reduce the salt, use a low-salt chicken broth and omit the chicken broth cubes. Some folks like putting toasted, crispy garlic and onions on top, or chopped up green onions, or, in my case, cubed, fried tofu. Experiment with toppings if you like, but you might find that my recipe is flavorsome enough.

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