Ahhhh-Choo. Pardon me, while I sneeze.
Feb. 13th, 2015 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I think I read smartbitches.com just for the humor. Here's a snippet of their review of the new Wachsowski brother's movie - Jupiter Ascending:
Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, an immigrant from Russia who works as a maid until aliens try to kill her and she is saved by Channing Tatum. Tatum is a space soldier half-albino with lycan DNA and elf ears who used to have wings but they were cut off as a punishment because he bit someone in disgrace. I did not make that up. He spends his time roller blading with his anti-gravity boots and brooding. He rescues Jupiter and she gets involved in space politics and she changes clothes and he rescues her again and after a sufficient number of repeats of this cycle the movie is over.
[Okay, as an aside, is it just me or has the US culture suddenly been inundated with Russians? It could just be me. I appear to be living in Little Russia at the moment. Actually, temperature wise, I might as well be in Russia. My next door neighbors are Russian. Actually everyone on the floor appears to be Russian and speaks primarily, you guessed it, Russian. In the elevator, an old man asked if he could speak Russian to me. When I said no, he asked if he could speak Chinese. Really? Really? It was a bit of a Twilight zone moment, considering for a while there it didn't appear the elevator would ever stop, it slid open the inner door, but before I could open the outer, it slid closed again - that is until it reached this guy's floor.
And at work, current cubicle wall mate and the sweetheart that I'm supervising, is you guessed it, Russian.
Shame I took French in school. Not that it did me any good. No facility for language.
Also the US public school system prior to the 21st Century sucked at teaching languages. We didn't get to take another language until middle school or "junior high" aka 7th grade or 8th grade. We only had two possibilities to choose from "French" or "Spanish". In retrospect, I probably should have gone with Spainish, but I'd fallen in love with French and France. Not that it would have done much good - I have an 8 year old's understanding of the language. I suppose it's a good thing that English became the international language. We can thank the British for that - they fought long, oh just about 100 years, and hard to ensure everyone spoke it. And we do.
Well, we try to at any rate. Some speak it better than others. ]
I don't know this movie sounds right up my brother's alley. He loves dumb movies like this - one of his all time favorites is..."Flash Gordon". My mother and I sat in stunned disbelief as he went on about the merits of yes, Flash Gordon. He also adores "The Hulk" (the original film version, with Nick Nolt, the had the interesting film style). Granted, I saw it with comic book geeks who ripped it to shreds during and after it. So that may have made a difference.
I'll pass though. I'm one of the few heterosexual women left in the world who does not find Channing Tatum attractive. His appeal is completely lost on me. (And yes, I saw Magic Mike.)
Can't wait to read Smartbitches review of 50 Shades of Grey. Actually, I can't wait to read the snarky reviews of that movie. Which believe it or not sold out two weeks before it's premiere. (Advance online ticket sales. Remember when you had to wait in an actual line, in the cold, the night before, in front of a movie theater...shivering? Well, no more. Now you can purchase them from Fandango or MovieFone weeks in advance. Personally? I prefer to wait for it to pop up on netflix or On Demand. Cheaper. Far more comfortable to view.) Talked to Russian cubicle mate about it - like 98% of the men in the US, he does not understand the appeal of the movie or the book.
Co-worker: Don't get the appeal of that movie. It's hardly oscar worthy.
Me: Nor Guardians of the Galaxy for that matter either. No big explosions.
On the other hand, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the appeal. Although someone did feel the need to write a lengthy article about it in Entertainment Weekly.
I can sum up the article - which is approximately 5-10 pages, single spaced, small type - in one or two sentences.
"It's a modern take on The Cinderella Wealth Fantasy Trope with S&M sex. Or the Pride & Prejudice Trope, except with lots of kinky sex."
It combines the two tropes, which Twilight also did (except Twilight added the immortality and vampire angle), hence the appeal. The tropes aren't exactly new. And they are so deeply ingrained in our culture - that having them thrown at you - is akin to throwing catnip at a cat.
2. I think I've come down with a head cold. Either that or I'm allergic to my work-place. Since I can't breath at home either - and feel like crap. I'm going with the cold. Made soup. Root vegetable butternut squash curry soup - pureed. Was going to make chicken vegetable, but the chicken went bad and had to be thrown out. I'd waited to long to use it.
Also made banana butternut squash walnut pecan muffins. Yes, I've gotten creative.
It's cold; I wanted to warm up. It also took forever, ended up eating at 8:30pm. Damn it.
3. Super's wife asks me where I'm from. It's sort of out of the blue, and I wonder why. Although, not that out of the ordinary. This question - I've been asked a lot in NYC over the years. It's a typical NYC question, mainly because 88% of the population is originally from somewhere else. There's an odd sense of solidarity in everyone being an immigrant.
Me: You mean originally? 17 years in Kansas City, although I've been in NYC far longer (18 which I prefer), 4 of the years in KC were actually in Colorado (which I preferred to KC), 9-11 in Pennsylvania, also preferred to Kansas. And 1-2 in Chicago (which I have no memory of, but most likely preferred to Kansas. I did not like Kansas, it was boring. Why folks choose to live there, I've no clue. I do not understand midwesterners. Although to be fair they don't understand me either. My Granny never understand why I moved to NYC, nor did anyone I knew in Kansas. Hence the reason, they live there, and I live here.)
Super: Ah Kansas.
Me: No. I've been here longer, actually. 18 years. Where are you from?
Super: Poland.
Me: Where in Poland?
Super: Krakow.
See? Everyone is an immigrant from somewhere. Curious why people leave their countries though...that has to be a lot harder than moving states. Big culture change, not to mention language barriers. And the xenophobia that you have to put up with? Is it worth it? I'm guessing it is. Cubicle mate tells me that it is.
Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, an immigrant from Russia who works as a maid until aliens try to kill her and she is saved by Channing Tatum. Tatum is a space soldier half-albino with lycan DNA and elf ears who used to have wings but they were cut off as a punishment because he bit someone in disgrace. I did not make that up. He spends his time roller blading with his anti-gravity boots and brooding. He rescues Jupiter and she gets involved in space politics and she changes clothes and he rescues her again and after a sufficient number of repeats of this cycle the movie is over.
[Okay, as an aside, is it just me or has the US culture suddenly been inundated with Russians? It could just be me. I appear to be living in Little Russia at the moment. Actually, temperature wise, I might as well be in Russia. My next door neighbors are Russian. Actually everyone on the floor appears to be Russian and speaks primarily, you guessed it, Russian. In the elevator, an old man asked if he could speak Russian to me. When I said no, he asked if he could speak Chinese. Really? Really? It was a bit of a Twilight zone moment, considering for a while there it didn't appear the elevator would ever stop, it slid open the inner door, but before I could open the outer, it slid closed again - that is until it reached this guy's floor.
And at work, current cubicle wall mate and the sweetheart that I'm supervising, is you guessed it, Russian.
Shame I took French in school. Not that it did me any good. No facility for language.
Also the US public school system prior to the 21st Century sucked at teaching languages. We didn't get to take another language until middle school or "junior high" aka 7th grade or 8th grade. We only had two possibilities to choose from "French" or "Spanish". In retrospect, I probably should have gone with Spainish, but I'd fallen in love with French and France. Not that it would have done much good - I have an 8 year old's understanding of the language. I suppose it's a good thing that English became the international language. We can thank the British for that - they fought long, oh just about 100 years, and hard to ensure everyone spoke it. And we do.
Well, we try to at any rate. Some speak it better than others. ]
I don't know this movie sounds right up my brother's alley. He loves dumb movies like this - one of his all time favorites is..."Flash Gordon". My mother and I sat in stunned disbelief as he went on about the merits of yes, Flash Gordon. He also adores "The Hulk" (the original film version, with Nick Nolt, the had the interesting film style). Granted, I saw it with comic book geeks who ripped it to shreds during and after it. So that may have made a difference.
I'll pass though. I'm one of the few heterosexual women left in the world who does not find Channing Tatum attractive. His appeal is completely lost on me. (And yes, I saw Magic Mike.)
Can't wait to read Smartbitches review of 50 Shades of Grey. Actually, I can't wait to read the snarky reviews of that movie. Which believe it or not sold out two weeks before it's premiere. (Advance online ticket sales. Remember when you had to wait in an actual line, in the cold, the night before, in front of a movie theater...shivering? Well, no more. Now you can purchase them from Fandango or MovieFone weeks in advance. Personally? I prefer to wait for it to pop up on netflix or On Demand. Cheaper. Far more comfortable to view.) Talked to Russian cubicle mate about it - like 98% of the men in the US, he does not understand the appeal of the movie or the book.
Co-worker: Don't get the appeal of that movie. It's hardly oscar worthy.
Me: Nor Guardians of the Galaxy for that matter either. No big explosions.
On the other hand, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the appeal. Although someone did feel the need to write a lengthy article about it in Entertainment Weekly.
I can sum up the article - which is approximately 5-10 pages, single spaced, small type - in one or two sentences.
"It's a modern take on The Cinderella Wealth Fantasy Trope with S&M sex. Or the Pride & Prejudice Trope, except with lots of kinky sex."
It combines the two tropes, which Twilight also did (except Twilight added the immortality and vampire angle), hence the appeal. The tropes aren't exactly new. And they are so deeply ingrained in our culture - that having them thrown at you - is akin to throwing catnip at a cat.
2. I think I've come down with a head cold. Either that or I'm allergic to my work-place. Since I can't breath at home either - and feel like crap. I'm going with the cold. Made soup. Root vegetable butternut squash curry soup - pureed. Was going to make chicken vegetable, but the chicken went bad and had to be thrown out. I'd waited to long to use it.
Also made banana butternut squash walnut pecan muffins. Yes, I've gotten creative.
It's cold; I wanted to warm up. It also took forever, ended up eating at 8:30pm. Damn it.
3. Super's wife asks me where I'm from. It's sort of out of the blue, and I wonder why. Although, not that out of the ordinary. This question - I've been asked a lot in NYC over the years. It's a typical NYC question, mainly because 88% of the population is originally from somewhere else. There's an odd sense of solidarity in everyone being an immigrant.
Me: You mean originally? 17 years in Kansas City, although I've been in NYC far longer (18 which I prefer), 4 of the years in KC were actually in Colorado (which I preferred to KC), 9-11 in Pennsylvania, also preferred to Kansas. And 1-2 in Chicago (which I have no memory of, but most likely preferred to Kansas. I did not like Kansas, it was boring. Why folks choose to live there, I've no clue. I do not understand midwesterners. Although to be fair they don't understand me either. My Granny never understand why I moved to NYC, nor did anyone I knew in Kansas. Hence the reason, they live there, and I live here.)
Super: Ah Kansas.
Me: No. I've been here longer, actually. 18 years. Where are you from?
Super: Poland.
Me: Where in Poland?
Super: Krakow.
See? Everyone is an immigrant from somewhere. Curious why people leave their countries though...that has to be a lot harder than moving states. Big culture change, not to mention language barriers. And the xenophobia that you have to put up with? Is it worth it? I'm guessing it is. Cubicle mate tells me that it is.
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Date: 2015-02-14 05:24 am (UTC)As for Russians... The Seattle area has had a huge Russian (and eastern European in general) immigrant population since we moved here 19 years ago (obviously, a bit longer, since there were a lot when we got here and we've only gotten more in that time). In fact, the woman who bought our last house from us was originally from Russia (we've kept in touch and have helped her figure out home ownership, since she had no experience with it). It does make a bit of a sense here, because we've got Microsoft and Boeing and tend to get a lot of folks in the tech industry moving here from all over. It does make for an even nicer variety of food.
2. Ugh. I am, fortunately, at the tail end of a head cold that became a raging ear infection. It's been miserable (and I finally went to see my doctor yesterday, who gave me antibiotics... and wow, have they worked). My husband was sick for about a day last week and I suspect I got it from him... he says folks at his office have been falling to it like dominos and I have friends on FB from all over the US and Canada who all sound like they've been dealing with the same cold. So, yeah... there's definitely something going around out there!
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Date: 2015-02-14 03:30 pm (UTC)I've been discussing Russia with co-worker. Apparently it's really hard to get ahead over there. The economy is in the toilet. And health-care is a bureaucratic mess. So, I can see why so many people are coming here.
2. Yeah, everyone in my office had some version of it. And most of the people at church. So, it's not shocking I've come down with it. I sort of jinxed myself this week - I was feeling proud of the fact that I hadn't gotten sick in two years. Well, that, and the fact that I'd eaten more sweet items (bananas, honey, fruit, half and half milk in chocolate (I don't do diary any longer)) than last year. So may have weakened by immune system as a result. Plus not enough sleep.
Hoping to remedy that this weekend.