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Jan. 7th, 2018 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Suffered a vertigo attack last night. First one since 2016. I think it was a combo of things that brought it on. Any how...this is the best site that I've found regarding vertigo. .
My father began to suffer from it in the 1970s -- and was later diagnosed with Meunier's Disease.
He's lost all hearing in his left ear as a result. We also had to give up our remaining cat when I was in college because it was determined it was brought on by allergies. I don't own pets in part because of my own allergies and when the allergies get bad, I get vertigo attacks. (I'm allergic to dogs, cats, dust and mold.) I can be around cats and dogs in small doses, but can't own them.
Every time I start wanting a cat, I talk myself out of it -- because of the allergies.
Here's another cause and cure for vertigo:
It's hard to treat medically.
2. Enjoying Runaways on Hulu. But I'm not sure I can handle The Handmaid's Tale -- too many triggers. Partway through the first episode, and I feel rage engulfing me. I think this would have been easier to watch five or six years ago during Obama, but not now. It may hurt too much to watch. The series much like the book and film before it, is a horror series about a dark dystopian future, ridden with plague and toxins, that chose to enslave women to further the human race and justified it with a misinterpretation of biblical text.
It's not that violent, there's relatively little graphic violence depicted - it's more referred to. I didn't see the girl get her poked out -- it's referred to. (Although I may have been in the bathroom at the time). And they kick a guy to death (but we don't really see it -- it's shown more from a distance in a way. This is the least violent of the dystopian series. No, the violence is in the words, and its depiction of how women are treated -- utilizing the worst parts of the bible to justify their actions. It's violent in its ideas, yet weirdly lyrical in its depictions. There's a visual poetry to the series...that is lacking in others of this sort.
And it is well written, exceedingly so, utilizing Atwood's prose as a sort of voice over -- and say what you will about Atwood, she's a deft hand with poetic prose.
The set design and cinematography is among the best I've seen, as is the utilization of flashbacks to show how this came about, and why. Woman are slowly turned back into property, not permitted to own anything, to own money, to have rights -- considered weaker based solely on "physical" power. The series of choices made -- leads to more and more evil deeds by men and women enabling them out of fear, envy, or greed. Like most of Atwood's stories - women who worship men and have a clear gender bias towards men are not depicted kindly -- they are the monsters in the story. In some respects far worse than the men, they worship. It depicts how jealousy and envy and self-interest and egoism combined with religious justification and misinterpretation/reliance on biblical text to justify acts of horrific misogyny and fascism results in a hellish society. It depicts how electing people who hate people who aren't like them, who put one group above all others, falls into a dystopic fascist regime.
It's a scary series. Far more frightening than The Walking Dead, The Exorcist, or anything else on -- because of what is going on right now around the world.
I'm four episodes in right now...and wondering why I'm still compelled to watch. Perhaps hoping for a positive and cathartic resolution.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the right people are watching it. But perhaps. Our media is increasingly questioning what we are doing, and making us ask questions. That is the purpose of art -- to force people to see things in a different context, to ask questions.
The good news is -- I don't see us going down this path. Mainly because The Handmaid's Tale won the Emmys and is winning the Globes. Also, it's popular. And the MeToo# Movement is pretty much taking down the white male hierarchy in Hollywood bit by bit. And unlike the protests in Handmaid's Tale, the protests against Trump and his idiotic supporters are in the millions. Over 100 million marched against Trump in 2017. More people marched against him than attended his rallies or inaugration. Also all the wonderful acts of social justice around the world. Which actually is my problem with Atwood and this film, and my one major criticism -- it fails to show that most people don't support this in reality. It's a somewhat skewed sense of reality. Yes, there are evil people and misguided ones in the world, but there are the rest of us as well -- who continue to fight back.
Will state, it helps to watch The Handmaid's Tale while doing something else. Not giving it my full attention -- sort of takes the edge off. That and it's incredibly slow in places. It has less commercial interruptions for some reason than Runaways did. Not sure why.
3. Feeling slightly better. The fluid seems to be draining from my head to my throat. One of my friends suggested on FB that I use a really good antihistimine and ice pack on the back of my neck, it appears to be working.
4. Also saw...because I need lighter fare:
The Good Place -- "Leap of Faith", which was good, not quite as good as some other episodes, but better than most. The series does a rather good job of not only discussing philosophy but making fun of it -- specifically ethical philosophy. If you are at all into philosophy or the study of it, it is required viewing.
This week played with Soren Kierkegaard -- "Leap into Faith" concept. Blindly. Against all evidence to the contrary. Which really is what a leap into faith is -- the ability to trust someone, and not give into violent acts.
Or something along those lines.
It was funny in places, mainly because Chidhi, Janet, Danson, and Kristen Bell are comic gold.
Tahini and Jason on the other hand are slowly beginning to grate on my ever-living-nerve.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- sort of lost me. I had troubles following it at times. And found some of it a bit over-the-top. I get what they are doing, but I wish they scaled back a bit and did more musical numbers.
5. Finished All In by Simona Ahrnstedt
I picked up this book mainly because the setting was rather unique. It took place in Sweden, and dealt with the Swedish financial sector. And in some respects it reminded me a little of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo in its set-up. Except not nearly as violent, and less of a revenge fantasy. This is an anti-revenge novel -- depicting in detail why revenge does no real good.
Unfortunately, it's not that well written - which may be due to the translator, I really don't know. Although, it is better edited than many of the novels I've read recently. Making me think the Swedes have better editors or at least have editors. The descriptions and the dialogue are rather boilerplate or simplistic. With far too much emphasis on sexual description or navel gazing. This is unfortunately a common problem with contemporary romance novels. Historicals, weirdly are more descriptive and often have better dialogue than the contemporaries. Then long passages of the two characters contemplating if the other cares about them. The description? "They met at the restaurant, it had a nice fountain." (Okay not exact, but you get the idea.) Granted this a translation, but, if it weren't the Swedish place names, this could have taken place anywhere in Europe -- well anywhere that had Castles. Heck it could take place in upstate New York, with the big estates, and still work.
The writer is a clean writer, but not very descriptive nor a deft hand at dialogue. (Please read plays, they help.) Also somewhat repetitive. I started to skim at a certain point. Actually I skimmed a good portion of the second half of the book, so much of it was unnecessary.
The finance stuff? I've seen done better elsewhere - The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo comes to mind, as does Katherine Neville's A Calculated Risk. This felt rather simplistic, considering all the research the author did.
What worked? I liked the anti-revenge theme quite a bit, and some of the characters were interesting.
Also the female characters are strong women, smart, and in high powered roles. There is a strong feminist message, without degrading or belittling the male gender. The author also does a good job of showing how women can enable misogyny and sexism. Not quite as preachy as Margaret Atwood, but not as lyrically written either.
I'd be curious to see what one of her historical romance novels was like.
Apparently, I'm on a gender politics/feminist kick, but then so is my society. And it will be until men stop abusing women and treating them like property and objects, beneath them, and women stop enabling it. I see a shift happening...slowly, and things are far better now than they were twenty years ago.
I believe in 2020, most of the legislature and executive branch will be women. And by 2025, a woman will be President of the US.
Vertigo is a sense of rotation, rocking, or the world spinning, experienced even when someone is perfectly still.
Many children attempt to create a sense of vertigo by spinning around for a time; this type of induced vertigo lasts for a few moments and then disappears. In comparison, when vertigo occurs spontaneously or as a result of an injury it tends to last for many hours or even days before resolving.
Sound waves travel through the outer ear canal until they reach the ear drum. From there, sound is turned into vibrations, which are transmitted through the inner ear via three small bones -- the incus, the malleus, and the stapes -- to the cochlea and finally to the vestibular nerve, which carries the signal to our brain. Another important part of the inner ear is the collection of semicircular canals. These are positioned at right angles to each other, and are lined with sensitive cells to act like a gyroscope for the body. This distinctive arrangement, in combination with the sensitivity of the hair cells within the canals, provides instantaneous feedback regarding our position in space.
My father began to suffer from it in the 1970s -- and was later diagnosed with Meunier's Disease.
He's lost all hearing in his left ear as a result. We also had to give up our remaining cat when I was in college because it was determined it was brought on by allergies. I don't own pets in part because of my own allergies and when the allergies get bad, I get vertigo attacks. (I'm allergic to dogs, cats, dust and mold.) I can be around cats and dogs in small doses, but can't own them.
Every time I start wanting a cat, I talk myself out of it -- because of the allergies.
Here's another cause and cure for vertigo:
It's hard to treat medically.
2. Enjoying Runaways on Hulu. But I'm not sure I can handle The Handmaid's Tale -- too many triggers. Partway through the first episode, and I feel rage engulfing me. I think this would have been easier to watch five or six years ago during Obama, but not now. It may hurt too much to watch. The series much like the book and film before it, is a horror series about a dark dystopian future, ridden with plague and toxins, that chose to enslave women to further the human race and justified it with a misinterpretation of biblical text.
It's not that violent, there's relatively little graphic violence depicted - it's more referred to. I didn't see the girl get her poked out -- it's referred to. (Although I may have been in the bathroom at the time). And they kick a guy to death (but we don't really see it -- it's shown more from a distance in a way. This is the least violent of the dystopian series. No, the violence is in the words, and its depiction of how women are treated -- utilizing the worst parts of the bible to justify their actions. It's violent in its ideas, yet weirdly lyrical in its depictions. There's a visual poetry to the series...that is lacking in others of this sort.
And it is well written, exceedingly so, utilizing Atwood's prose as a sort of voice over -- and say what you will about Atwood, she's a deft hand with poetic prose.
The set design and cinematography is among the best I've seen, as is the utilization of flashbacks to show how this came about, and why. Woman are slowly turned back into property, not permitted to own anything, to own money, to have rights -- considered weaker based solely on "physical" power. The series of choices made -- leads to more and more evil deeds by men and women enabling them out of fear, envy, or greed. Like most of Atwood's stories - women who worship men and have a clear gender bias towards men are not depicted kindly -- they are the monsters in the story. In some respects far worse than the men, they worship. It depicts how jealousy and envy and self-interest and egoism combined with religious justification and misinterpretation/reliance on biblical text to justify acts of horrific misogyny and fascism results in a hellish society. It depicts how electing people who hate people who aren't like them, who put one group above all others, falls into a dystopic fascist regime.
It's a scary series. Far more frightening than The Walking Dead, The Exorcist, or anything else on -- because of what is going on right now around the world.
I'm four episodes in right now...and wondering why I'm still compelled to watch. Perhaps hoping for a positive and cathartic resolution.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the right people are watching it. But perhaps. Our media is increasingly questioning what we are doing, and making us ask questions. That is the purpose of art -- to force people to see things in a different context, to ask questions.
The good news is -- I don't see us going down this path. Mainly because The Handmaid's Tale won the Emmys and is winning the Globes. Also, it's popular. And the MeToo# Movement is pretty much taking down the white male hierarchy in Hollywood bit by bit. And unlike the protests in Handmaid's Tale, the protests against Trump and his idiotic supporters are in the millions. Over 100 million marched against Trump in 2017. More people marched against him than attended his rallies or inaugration. Also all the wonderful acts of social justice around the world. Which actually is my problem with Atwood and this film, and my one major criticism -- it fails to show that most people don't support this in reality. It's a somewhat skewed sense of reality. Yes, there are evil people and misguided ones in the world, but there are the rest of us as well -- who continue to fight back.
Will state, it helps to watch The Handmaid's Tale while doing something else. Not giving it my full attention -- sort of takes the edge off. That and it's incredibly slow in places. It has less commercial interruptions for some reason than Runaways did. Not sure why.
3. Feeling slightly better. The fluid seems to be draining from my head to my throat. One of my friends suggested on FB that I use a really good antihistimine and ice pack on the back of my neck, it appears to be working.
4. Also saw...because I need lighter fare:
The Good Place -- "Leap of Faith", which was good, not quite as good as some other episodes, but better than most. The series does a rather good job of not only discussing philosophy but making fun of it -- specifically ethical philosophy. If you are at all into philosophy or the study of it, it is required viewing.
This week played with Soren Kierkegaard -- "Leap into Faith" concept. Blindly. Against all evidence to the contrary. Which really is what a leap into faith is -- the ability to trust someone, and not give into violent acts.
Or something along those lines.
It was funny in places, mainly because Chidhi, Janet, Danson, and Kristen Bell are comic gold.
Tahini and Jason on the other hand are slowly beginning to grate on my ever-living-nerve.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- sort of lost me. I had troubles following it at times. And found some of it a bit over-the-top. I get what they are doing, but I wish they scaled back a bit and did more musical numbers.
5. Finished All In by Simona Ahrnstedt
I picked up this book mainly because the setting was rather unique. It took place in Sweden, and dealt with the Swedish financial sector. And in some respects it reminded me a little of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo in its set-up. Except not nearly as violent, and less of a revenge fantasy. This is an anti-revenge novel -- depicting in detail why revenge does no real good.
Unfortunately, it's not that well written - which may be due to the translator, I really don't know. Although, it is better edited than many of the novels I've read recently. Making me think the Swedes have better editors or at least have editors. The descriptions and the dialogue are rather boilerplate or simplistic. With far too much emphasis on sexual description or navel gazing. This is unfortunately a common problem with contemporary romance novels. Historicals, weirdly are more descriptive and often have better dialogue than the contemporaries. Then long passages of the two characters contemplating if the other cares about them. The description? "They met at the restaurant, it had a nice fountain." (Okay not exact, but you get the idea.) Granted this a translation, but, if it weren't the Swedish place names, this could have taken place anywhere in Europe -- well anywhere that had Castles. Heck it could take place in upstate New York, with the big estates, and still work.
The writer is a clean writer, but not very descriptive nor a deft hand at dialogue. (Please read plays, they help.) Also somewhat repetitive. I started to skim at a certain point. Actually I skimmed a good portion of the second half of the book, so much of it was unnecessary.
The finance stuff? I've seen done better elsewhere - The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo comes to mind, as does Katherine Neville's A Calculated Risk. This felt rather simplistic, considering all the research the author did.
What worked? I liked the anti-revenge theme quite a bit, and some of the characters were interesting.
Also the female characters are strong women, smart, and in high powered roles. There is a strong feminist message, without degrading or belittling the male gender. The author also does a good job of showing how women can enable misogyny and sexism. Not quite as preachy as Margaret Atwood, but not as lyrically written either.
I'd be curious to see what one of her historical romance novels was like.
Apparently, I'm on a gender politics/feminist kick, but then so is my society. And it will be until men stop abusing women and treating them like property and objects, beneath them, and women stop enabling it. I see a shift happening...slowly, and things are far better now than they were twenty years ago.
I believe in 2020, most of the legislature and executive branch will be women. And by 2025, a woman will be President of the US.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 02:14 am (UTC)But man, it sure sucks in the meantime.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 10:33 pm (UTC)So, I don't know for certain. Been trying to get an appointment with a specialist (Otorhinolaryngologist) all day. There's one in my area who appears to specialize in vertigo and issues related. Hopefully, I'll be able to schedule one tomorrow.
Stayed home today...felt too wobbly this morning. And been battling a sinus headache most of the day. But feel much better now.
And yep, worst thing I've felt is vertigo. Frigging scary.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 02:41 am (UTC)Hope you feel better soon!
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 10:37 pm (UTC)So, I jumped over to the "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" by the Amy Palladino-Sherman and Daniel Sherman -- the people behind The Gilmore Girls. And it's a lot of fun. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime. About a female comedienne in the early 1960s. Won the Golden Globe for best comedy. It's a happy show. Sort of the female equivalent of Mad Men.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 01:23 pm (UTC)Yeah, I agree. I thought they were developing Jason a bit last year with the Janet romance, but now...he feels a bit too much like a recycled joke. Tahani is at least growing a bit ...so there's potential there.