...I kind of feel like I should have thought of that earlier. Thanks, le nub!

Ginger's response has more charm though.

I mean, yes, I've heard criticism of the whole women-writing-gay-men thing, but...I don't think it generally carries the same cultural and historical weight as blackface!!

Speaking as a gay man, I don't mind in a cultural sense when women write gay male characters or the intermediate variations of slash - writing about people that aren't just like you is a huge component of fiction. I'm annoyed when male couples are written with very heteronormative relationship dynamics—or worse, characterization that's basically that of teenage girls—but that's a matter of poor writing and research, not an indicator that some taboo social stricture is being violated strictly because of the gender of the writer.

Hell, if I've run across more moving writing about a romance between two men than that by Annie Proulx, it escapes my memory at the moment.

ita ! I demand you wear your skeleton hand necklace and take a picture for meeeeee! (I will eventually own one, once I'm gainfully employed.)

In case you've been wondering how to do those cool retro eye liner wings, my favorite Rockabilly model, Cherry Dollface, offers this tutorial.

writing about people that aren't just like you is a huge component of fiction

SF/F authors would be in a world of hurt if we could only write about people like ourselves.

Though it would explain much about Tolkien. Perhaps he was a wizard.

In case you've been wondering how to do those cool retro eye liner wings, my favorite Rockabilly model, Cherry Dollface, offers this tutorial.

I'm on the train and can't access YouTube right now - is that the one that uses scotch tape to make a stencil? Because I'm conflicted about that. On the one hand, hey, that would make doing winged liner easier. On the other hand, tape around your eyelids seems like a bad idea, and dammit, SOME of us just practiced with liquid liner until we got it right. t /gothy makeup snobbery

is that the one that uses scotch tape to make a stencil?

Oh no!

SOME of us just practiced with liquid liner until we got it right.

She's in this camp. But she does a good job of breaking it down for beginners. There's the tiniest little bitter laugh when she notes that if you fuck up with liquid eyeliner you basically have to wipe it off and start from scratch.

A little something to brighten your day.

David, maybe you can figure this out for me. Back some many moons ago, following links hither and thither on the internet, I came across an Australian fashion blogger who does vintage and had hair tutorials and stuff. No idea why I didn't bookmark it. Any ideas?