Everything but...the kitchen sink
Nov. 16th, 2018 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Slowly making it through the old DVR recordings.
*Shows I may give up on? The Gifted and Riverdale. I find them frustratingly slow.
*The Connors was the highlight of the week. It and The Good Place are the best sitcoms I've seen in a while. (Keep in mind that I don't tend to like most American Situation comedies...I tend to prefer British humor to American, and find most American sitcoms to be copy-cats of each other. So I may not be the best judge of this.)
This week's episode was quite good. I laughed during it. It was more subtle in it's humor and had far less reliance on the cringe-inducing insult or slapstick embarrassment comedy that plagues the American comedic landscape.
That and I can relate to the people. They are my co-workers. And various extended family members.
Best bits?
Darlene being talked into going to Church to help DJ convince his daughter to go. (Darlene: You're asking me to put aside my atheism and that's really the only thing I believe in.)
Dan going to "Grief Counseling Support Group" and discovering this really doesn't work. (And yes, group therapy and support groups are exactly like that. Everyone talks about how miserable they are. No one is really helped. And you're prodded on how this makes you feel.) I laughed when Dan was like, eh, don't want to talk about it. Just listen. "No, why are you here? If you don't let us in, we can't come in!" So Dan tells his story. "Oh, that's very nice Dan, now who else wants to talk?" Dan looks at everyone bewildered. "I invited you all in, hello." Group moderator, "yeah, well we listened now we're moving on to the next."
Dan to Darlene: "I went to the support group, and everyone got up to talk about how miserable they were to live forever without their loved ones...and I realized the fun people all died. I'm going to ride my bike instead."
Darlene: Say hi to mom.
And the singing at the end -- which the stupid DVR cut off, dang it. Oh, and Dan's friend, the black actor whose name I forget, but his wife is Anne Marie? He plays Richard on Grey's Anatomy. So he's doing two roles and is great in both.
It's only had two off episodes this season, so so far so good. Turns out I was right, I would watch the show without Roseanne. I love John Goodman and Sara Gilbert, they've great chemistry.
This is Us
It's at its best when it is focusing on the children or offspring of Jack and Bec. Jack and Bec annoy me a bit. Although I loved her song in the last episode. But Kevin and Zoe's scenes were really good, particularly the scene where she tells him about her father and why. Also enjoying Toby and Chrissy Mertz's characters. Randall...admittedly annoys me, I do not know how Beth puts up with him.
New Amsterdam
I find it comforting. Freema Agyeman is in it -- the British actress from Doctor Who and Sense8? She played Martha Jones in Doctor Who, and the transgender's wife in Sense8. I love this actress. (I was among the few fans who preferred Martha Jones to Donna and Rose. My favorite Doctor Companions are: 1) Rory/Amy/Doctor Song, 2) Martha Jones, 3) Billie, 4) Donna, 5) Rose, 6) Clara. ) Also Ryan Eggold (the husband from The Blacklist -- who was the only actor that interested me in the Blacklist outside of Spader), and a few others who are also very good. I love the psychologist and the Indian Doctor.
The series tackles the medical system in NY and how it is broken. It focuses on the plight of a new hospital administrator at a major public hospital in NYC and his staff. I find it kind -- sort of a kind version of ER. Or ER meets St. Elsewhere.
I can totally see why it is so high in the ratings. People want to be comforted. Also it has one of the most diverse casts. Actually that's true of almost all of the new series. It's a requirement now. I find that re-assuring. You have to understand - I grew up in a time in which it was rare to see anyone who wasn't white in a televisions series, unless it was as a guest actor or a minor supporting role. And up until roughly 2010, my workplaces were mostly white with a few token minorities. Now, it's very diversified and in NY, a requirement. You can't work for a NY State Agency without employing minorities and women in some manner. That's progress. It's also becoming more and more the norm, and less a result of requirements. Just look at the commercials.
2. Books
I'm in a major reading slump.
No matter what I read...I lose interest in it quickly. I'm amazed I made it through the last book I read. And none of the books I've read this year would I necessarily rate highly or find all that memorable. I looked at the Good Reads -- Best of 2018 Voting Lists...and thought, I'm kinda paralyzed with not caring all that much. Also some of them...bewilder me. I don't really understand the popularity of Liane Moriarity who was touted in EW. EW does a lot of touting of best-selling writers -- who I don't find all that innovative or interesting. I've read two of Lian's books -- and they all deal with upper middle class suburban housewives who live in Sydney, Australia. The best thing about her books is they are Australian. Although you can't really tell where they take place, outside of the fact that there are a few words here and there that are well Australian English and not American or British English. But it's relatively minor. Contemporary English Lit is unfortunately a bit too heavy on the "Poor is me, I'm a bored rich white protestant with no life, whose lost my faith in God, and whatever am I to do?" Yeah, okay. Bored now. But hey, some of them are written in beautifully languid prose. (Not that I'd include Piccoult, Moriarity, and Moyes in that category.)
Am writing again, sort of, so that's something. I write for me. I have no interest in entertaining anyone. Figured out a long time ago that I wasn't put on this earth to entertain the masses -- which is a good thing, there's enough people out there doing that. We don't need more. No, I write to figure stuff out that is bugging me. Whether that be fictional or on this blog. I'm not sure I care if people read it half the time. Although of course I do to a certain extent...and for purely existential reasons..okay maybe not so much, like all writers, I want to communicate my thoughts with others and have their aid where need be in figuring stuff out. But I don't want to tell them stories they want or need to hear, nor do I care if I make any money. I'm just sharing my own unique perspective on things...and writing, I find, is the best way of doing that. If it were dance or singing or playing an instrument or drawing or knitting or creating sculptures...I'd be doing that instead. I think we all have different things that work for us and drive us...I sort of like the fact that they are different, but it is nice to find like-minded folks as well, who just...you know grok you?
3. Politics...Snowstorms...And Voting...
FB: Why do the Democrates dislike Nancy Pelosi so much?
Posters: Because they are insane misogynists!
Posters: She's a lightening rod for the other side!
Posters: She's a powerful woman!
Okay...why ask the question if you just wanted to put words in people's mouths? Honestly, no one in their right mind would answer you now.
For myself? I think she's too old. I'm tired of old farts running countries. Retire already. There should be a mandatory retirement age of 70. When you turn 70, you retire. No offense, but I think it is long past time for the Baby Boom Generation to retire gracefully and hand the reigns over to their kids.
Our Esteemed Mayor decided to have a press conference over the nightmare snowstorm that NY yesterday. Why he felt the need to do it today, and at 3PM, I do not know. But hey, he's the Mayor and of course the news outlets had to cover it.
We got three to four inches of snow -- it all melted by 10 am this morning. It was a lot of slush and slick roads. We knew about it ahead of time -- they told us that morning there was No'Rester coming.
It's not like we haven't had these before -- granted usually not this early. But it has happened.
NYC freaked out and there was a 25 car pile up on the GW bridge and lots of buses getting into accidents. (And this is why I hate traveling by bus or car, and prefer trains and subways. Seriously. I took the train and subway home and was perfectly fine.)
Friend: Everyone knows Buses are safer.
Me: Really? Since when?
Friend: No one thinks trains are.
ME: Apparently I'm no one then. And don't go whining to me when you get hurt in a bus accident.
FB: Paper ballots and scanners are the best method, no problems.
ME: Really? That's not my experience. We had a major snafu with the scanners being jammed and we're not certain half the votes were even counted.
FB: At least you have a paper trail. Mechanical errors equal voter suppression.
Me: Okay, why don't we trade places next election. You can stand in a mob of 200 people in a tiny room waving your paper ballot with the tiny bullets to keep cool only to find after two hours in said line...that none of the scanners are working and have to shove your vote in a ballot box, while other voters have been turned away and advised to come back later or are waiting out in a downpour.
Sometimes I think hell is other people. Which is why I need to take periodic vacations from them.
4. I found this poem on DW - posted in the poetry community. It's rare that I like a poem enough to repost it. Or that it moves me. But this one really did. It said so much by saying so little and so beautifully.
THE CAPACITY OF SPEECH
Austin Smith
It is easy to be decent to speechless things.
To hang houses for the purple martins
To nest in. To bed down the horses under
The great white wing of the year's first snow.
To ensure the dog and cat are comfortable.
To set out suet for the backyard birds.
To put the poorly shot, wounded deer down.
To nurse its orphaned fawn until its spots
Are gone. To sweep the spider into the glass
And tap it out into the grass. To blow out
The candle and save the moth from the flame.
To trap the black bear and set it free.
To throw the thrashing brook trout back.
How easy it is to be decent
To things that lack the capacity of speech,
To feed and shelter whatever will never
Beg us or thank us or make us ashamed.
*Shows I may give up on? The Gifted and Riverdale. I find them frustratingly slow.
*The Connors was the highlight of the week. It and The Good Place are the best sitcoms I've seen in a while. (Keep in mind that I don't tend to like most American Situation comedies...I tend to prefer British humor to American, and find most American sitcoms to be copy-cats of each other. So I may not be the best judge of this.)
This week's episode was quite good. I laughed during it. It was more subtle in it's humor and had far less reliance on the cringe-inducing insult or slapstick embarrassment comedy that plagues the American comedic landscape.
That and I can relate to the people. They are my co-workers. And various extended family members.
Best bits?
Darlene being talked into going to Church to help DJ convince his daughter to go. (Darlene: You're asking me to put aside my atheism and that's really the only thing I believe in.)
Dan going to "Grief Counseling Support Group" and discovering this really doesn't work. (And yes, group therapy and support groups are exactly like that. Everyone talks about how miserable they are. No one is really helped. And you're prodded on how this makes you feel.) I laughed when Dan was like, eh, don't want to talk about it. Just listen. "No, why are you here? If you don't let us in, we can't come in!" So Dan tells his story. "Oh, that's very nice Dan, now who else wants to talk?" Dan looks at everyone bewildered. "I invited you all in, hello." Group moderator, "yeah, well we listened now we're moving on to the next."
Dan to Darlene: "I went to the support group, and everyone got up to talk about how miserable they were to live forever without their loved ones...and I realized the fun people all died. I'm going to ride my bike instead."
Darlene: Say hi to mom.
And the singing at the end -- which the stupid DVR cut off, dang it. Oh, and Dan's friend, the black actor whose name I forget, but his wife is Anne Marie? He plays Richard on Grey's Anatomy. So he's doing two roles and is great in both.
It's only had two off episodes this season, so so far so good. Turns out I was right, I would watch the show without Roseanne. I love John Goodman and Sara Gilbert, they've great chemistry.
This is Us
It's at its best when it is focusing on the children or offspring of Jack and Bec. Jack and Bec annoy me a bit. Although I loved her song in the last episode. But Kevin and Zoe's scenes were really good, particularly the scene where she tells him about her father and why. Also enjoying Toby and Chrissy Mertz's characters. Randall...admittedly annoys me, I do not know how Beth puts up with him.
New Amsterdam
I find it comforting. Freema Agyeman is in it -- the British actress from Doctor Who and Sense8? She played Martha Jones in Doctor Who, and the transgender's wife in Sense8. I love this actress. (I was among the few fans who preferred Martha Jones to Donna and Rose. My favorite Doctor Companions are: 1) Rory/Amy/Doctor Song, 2) Martha Jones, 3) Billie, 4) Donna, 5) Rose, 6) Clara. ) Also Ryan Eggold (the husband from The Blacklist -- who was the only actor that interested me in the Blacklist outside of Spader), and a few others who are also very good. I love the psychologist and the Indian Doctor.
The series tackles the medical system in NY and how it is broken. It focuses on the plight of a new hospital administrator at a major public hospital in NYC and his staff. I find it kind -- sort of a kind version of ER. Or ER meets St. Elsewhere.
I can totally see why it is so high in the ratings. People want to be comforted. Also it has one of the most diverse casts. Actually that's true of almost all of the new series. It's a requirement now. I find that re-assuring. You have to understand - I grew up in a time in which it was rare to see anyone who wasn't white in a televisions series, unless it was as a guest actor or a minor supporting role. And up until roughly 2010, my workplaces were mostly white with a few token minorities. Now, it's very diversified and in NY, a requirement. You can't work for a NY State Agency without employing minorities and women in some manner. That's progress. It's also becoming more and more the norm, and less a result of requirements. Just look at the commercials.
2. Books
I'm in a major reading slump.
No matter what I read...I lose interest in it quickly. I'm amazed I made it through the last book I read. And none of the books I've read this year would I necessarily rate highly or find all that memorable. I looked at the Good Reads -- Best of 2018 Voting Lists...and thought, I'm kinda paralyzed with not caring all that much. Also some of them...bewilder me. I don't really understand the popularity of Liane Moriarity who was touted in EW. EW does a lot of touting of best-selling writers -- who I don't find all that innovative or interesting. I've read two of Lian's books -- and they all deal with upper middle class suburban housewives who live in Sydney, Australia. The best thing about her books is they are Australian. Although you can't really tell where they take place, outside of the fact that there are a few words here and there that are well Australian English and not American or British English. But it's relatively minor. Contemporary English Lit is unfortunately a bit too heavy on the "Poor is me, I'm a bored rich white protestant with no life, whose lost my faith in God, and whatever am I to do?" Yeah, okay. Bored now. But hey, some of them are written in beautifully languid prose. (Not that I'd include Piccoult, Moriarity, and Moyes in that category.)
Am writing again, sort of, so that's something. I write for me. I have no interest in entertaining anyone. Figured out a long time ago that I wasn't put on this earth to entertain the masses -- which is a good thing, there's enough people out there doing that. We don't need more. No, I write to figure stuff out that is bugging me. Whether that be fictional or on this blog. I'm not sure I care if people read it half the time. Although of course I do to a certain extent...and for purely existential reasons..okay maybe not so much, like all writers, I want to communicate my thoughts with others and have their aid where need be in figuring stuff out. But I don't want to tell them stories they want or need to hear, nor do I care if I make any money. I'm just sharing my own unique perspective on things...and writing, I find, is the best way of doing that. If it were dance or singing or playing an instrument or drawing or knitting or creating sculptures...I'd be doing that instead. I think we all have different things that work for us and drive us...I sort of like the fact that they are different, but it is nice to find like-minded folks as well, who just...you know grok you?
3. Politics...Snowstorms...And Voting...
FB: Why do the Democrates dislike Nancy Pelosi so much?
Posters: Because they are insane misogynists!
Posters: She's a lightening rod for the other side!
Posters: She's a powerful woman!
Okay...why ask the question if you just wanted to put words in people's mouths? Honestly, no one in their right mind would answer you now.
For myself? I think she's too old. I'm tired of old farts running countries. Retire already. There should be a mandatory retirement age of 70. When you turn 70, you retire. No offense, but I think it is long past time for the Baby Boom Generation to retire gracefully and hand the reigns over to their kids.
Our Esteemed Mayor decided to have a press conference over the nightmare snowstorm that NY yesterday. Why he felt the need to do it today, and at 3PM, I do not know. But hey, he's the Mayor and of course the news outlets had to cover it.
We got three to four inches of snow -- it all melted by 10 am this morning. It was a lot of slush and slick roads. We knew about it ahead of time -- they told us that morning there was No'Rester coming.
It's not like we haven't had these before -- granted usually not this early. But it has happened.
NYC freaked out and there was a 25 car pile up on the GW bridge and lots of buses getting into accidents. (And this is why I hate traveling by bus or car, and prefer trains and subways. Seriously. I took the train and subway home and was perfectly fine.)
Friend: Everyone knows Buses are safer.
Me: Really? Since when?
Friend: No one thinks trains are.
ME: Apparently I'm no one then. And don't go whining to me when you get hurt in a bus accident.
FB: Paper ballots and scanners are the best method, no problems.
ME: Really? That's not my experience. We had a major snafu with the scanners being jammed and we're not certain half the votes were even counted.
FB: At least you have a paper trail. Mechanical errors equal voter suppression.
Me: Okay, why don't we trade places next election. You can stand in a mob of 200 people in a tiny room waving your paper ballot with the tiny bullets to keep cool only to find after two hours in said line...that none of the scanners are working and have to shove your vote in a ballot box, while other voters have been turned away and advised to come back later or are waiting out in a downpour.
Sometimes I think hell is other people. Which is why I need to take periodic vacations from them.
4. I found this poem on DW - posted in the poetry community. It's rare that I like a poem enough to repost it. Or that it moves me. But this one really did. It said so much by saying so little and so beautifully.
THE CAPACITY OF SPEECH
Austin Smith
It is easy to be decent to speechless things.
To hang houses for the purple martins
To nest in. To bed down the horses under
The great white wing of the year's first snow.
To ensure the dog and cat are comfortable.
To set out suet for the backyard birds.
To put the poorly shot, wounded deer down.
To nurse its orphaned fawn until its spots
Are gone. To sweep the spider into the glass
And tap it out into the grass. To blow out
The candle and save the moth from the flame.
To trap the black bear and set it free.
To throw the thrashing brook trout back.
How easy it is to be decent
To things that lack the capacity of speech,
To feed and shelter whatever will never
Beg us or thank us or make us ashamed.