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Mar. 1st, 2020 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. This has been an odd winter in NYC. It's either sunny, crisp blue sky, and cold, or overcast, raining and in the fifties. We've had no snow as a result. Okay, not exactly true, we had a dusting, if you want to call it that, way back in November. Hardly worth mentioning. Today it's cold - sunny, pretty outside, the trees seem to be budding (I think they are confused, I know I'm confused), but cold. I know because it's chilly in the apartment. That's due to the wind.
I use this as an excuse to stay in doors and just relax. Away from people for a bit. Away from trains. And to look out a landscape of rooftops, budding trees, and clear blue sky. The rooftops are the triangular ones, of small houses, all set in a row. Deceptively residential in a city-scape, enough to make me forget if for a moment that I live in a city, bustling with noise, culture, and diversity.
2. Prodigal Son - I think, is over for the season. Or had it's season finale.
I watched the final episode "On Demand" because the last twelve minutes appeared to be cut off.
It's not quite as clever as the writers like to think. I've been able to figure it out fairly easily for the most part. And it feels at times to be rather formulaic, which is my problem with the broadcast television procedural. The only people that I've seen to do a procedural well - aren't writing broadcast television shows at the moment. David Simon was excellent at police procedurals - and he hired good writers, who wrote criminal procedural novels. Examples include "Homicide: Life on the Streets" which to date may well be the best police procedural that aired on broadcast television in my opinion. (Mileage, it varies, and I'm not in the mood to engage in lengthy debates on the subject.) And "The Wire", also by David Simon.
Another good police procedural was the 1980s Prime Suspect. Others, tend to be rather too formulaic for my taste, and this one, unfortunately, doesn't break from that mold.
It had promise when it started, but I'm beginning to see the formula now, and struggling a bit to stay invested or interested. I do like the actor playing Malcolm, but he hasn't really done anything new for several episodes now. And I'm somewhat disappointed in the direction the story has gone.
That said, there's some nice bits here and there - most focus on the characters interrelationships. And in the final episode - we are given insight into Martin Whitby, Malcolm's father. Why he did what he did and what if anything he cares about. It's nothing new or all that surprising, although Michael Sheen does a lovely job making it convincing and engaging. Also, there's some nice bits between Malcolm, Ainsley, and his mother -- which feel at times absurdly funny, not laugh out loud funny, more of the slight snort variety.
I don't know...overall, it was somewhat disappointing and I don't know if I'll continue watching next year.
3. Odd Job - What's it Like to be Real Life Disney Princess?
Basically an interview with a former Disney Princess.
So how did you get your foot in the door at Disney World?
I wish I could tell you that I glamorously walked in and they said, “We love you.” But I was in high school in 2008 [in Illinois], and Disney came to our school and talked about the Disney CareerStart program. Basically, you graduate school, go straight to Disney. I think it was to try and get kids into the workforce. I immediately told my mom that I wanted to do this, and she said, “Okay, maybe for a couple months.”
I didn’t start as a princess; you’re not allowed to audition for entertainment in that program. So I worked at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground first. It was glorified babysitting — you watch kids climb over this giant ant — and that was a lot of fun. At the end of the program, after three months, they held auditions for entertainment. They pulled me after the audition and told me I would be Pocahontas. Being half Asian and half white, that was a surprise. I put on the costume; they had me read a prewritten line. I’m from outside of Chicago, and they said, “Could you read that again, and this time don’t say ‘Poca-HAHN-tus.” They took pictures of me, and they said, “You’re in!”
When you’re working at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, is getting into entertainment the holy grail?
Oh, it feels like a hierarchy. Walking backstage in my yellow polo with khaki shorts, if Peter Pan would pass me, I would go quiet. It’s not like they say, “Listen, these people are so much better than you.” You just feel it. You feel like this is an iconic Disney character walking past you.
When you got to entertainment, how long was the training regimen?
It may be different now, but for me, the training was five days. When you’re accepted in entertainment, nobody is just a princess or just a prince. You have to be trained and approved in fur characters first. The first three days of training is sitting and watching videos of what you can or can’t do. Learning autographs. There’s a really creepy portion where you wear just the head and hands of the character. So you’re in business-casual but the hands and head of Chip and Dale. The last two days of training you go out into the park with character attendants, and meet people. It was wild to me, I thought the training would last about a month. And once you’re approved for fur, it’s two days of training for each “face character” [characters like Belle or Princess Jasmine that don’t wear a mask].
I was so stoked when I got through training, and then I did three weeks in a row of just Winnie the Pooh.
I had no idea that there might be a woman underneath the mask of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland. So the gender of the performer doesn’t matter much?
Yeah, so Mickey and Minnie, their heights are 4-foot-11 to 5-foot-1, so Mickey and Minnie are usually women. I have a friend who is a heterosexual cis male. He was Queen of Hearts for the first time; he did his set. I asked him how it was, and he was like, “Oh, my god, it was so fun. I was having dads kneel and kiss my hand. And I just walked back in here and took off my head and thought, ‘What the hell did I just do?’”
4. Dirty Secret - You Can Only be a Writer if You can Afford it
[I'm guessing it's how you decide to define "writer"?? Most writers I know and respect aren't novelists. But whatever.]
This is the second article in five regarding the UK Guardian's series on the rapidly disappearing American Middle Class. Tagline: "Two in five Americans would have a hard time coming up with $400 dollars in an emergency. In our new biweekly column, Lynn Steger Strong chronicles the disappearance of America’s middle class".
There is nothing more sustaining to long-term creative work than time and space – and these things cost money.
Two in five: our new series about the disappearance of the US middle class
Lynn Steger Strong
‘Like most other American systems and professions, delusions around meritocracy continue to pervade the writing world. ‘
Let’s start with me: I’m not sure how or if I’d still be a writer without the help of other people’s money. I have zero undergrad debt. Of my three years of grad school, two of them were funded through a teaching fellowship; my parents helped pay for the first. The last two years my stipend barely covered the childcare I needed to travel uptown three days a week to teach and go to class and my husband’s job is what kept us afloat.
I got connections from that program. I got my agent through the recommendation of a professor. Nearly every year since I graduated from that program, I have been employed by them. The thing I’m most sure I had though, that was a direct result of my extraordinary privilege, is the blindness with which I bounded toward this profession, the not knowing, because I had never felt, until I was a grownup, the very real and bone-deep fear of not knowing how you’ll live from month to month.
Other versions of this story that I know from other people: a down payment from a grandpa on a brownstone; monthly parental stipends; a partner who works at a startup; a partner who’s a corporate lawyer; a wealthy former boss who got attached and agreed to pay their grad school off.
Once, before a debut novelist panel geared specifically to aspiring writers, one of the novelists with whom I was set to speak mentioned to me that they’d hired a private publicist to promote their book. They told me it cost nearly their whole advance but was worth it, they said, because this private publicist got them on a widely watched talkshow. During this panel, this writer mentioned to the crowd at one point that they “wrote and taught exclusively”, and I kept my eyes on my hands folded in my lap. I knew this writer did much of the same teaching I did, gig work, often for between $1,500-$3,000 for a six to eight-week course; nowhere near enough to sustain one’s self in New York. I knew their whole advance was gone, and that, if the publicist did pay off, it would be months before they might accrue returns.
5. Ancient Mud Reveals an Explanation for the Sudden Collaspe of the Mayan Empire
The Empire took thousands of years to build and just 100 years to collapse. Apparently it's harder to build empires than collapse them? There's a lesson in there somewhere...
During their 3,000-year dominance over Mesoamerica, the Mayans built elaborate architectural structures and developed a sophisticated, technologically progressive society. But immediately after reaching the peak of its powers over the entire Yucatan Peninsula, the Mayan Empire collapsed, falling apart in just 150 years. The reasons for its sudden demise remain a mystery, but in a 2018 Science study, scientists found clues buried deep in the mud of Lake Chichancanab.
Deforestation, overpopulation, and extreme drought have all been proposed as the reason for the empire’s collapse. The most probable of those, argue the University of Cambridge and University of Florida scientists in their study, is drought. The evidence they gathered in the muddy sediments underlying Lake Chichancanab, which was once a part of the empire, underscore the devastating power of a drought on a population.
And here's the lesson...too many people, too little trees...On the news today they showed that since the Coronavirus began in China, the pollution levels in the Ozone have gone down drastically. There's less pollution in the cities or emanating from them. So...
6. Re-Think the Whole Fish Strategy - basically how to prepare and cook fish.
7. Have we murdered the apostrophe?
"Last year, the Apostrophe Protection Society was disbanded, having supposedly failed in its mission."
8. The Difference Between Worry, Stress and Anxiety
All I know is that I appear to suffer from all three, because it's not like there isn't anything going on in the world at the moment to worry about, is there? (sarcasm). Apparently I'm not alone, there's about 40 million people in the US that feel the same way.
Too worried, stressed or anxious to read the whole article?
Here’s the takeaway: Worry happens in your mind, stress happens in your body, and anxiety happens in your mind and your body. In small doses, worry, stress and anxiety can be positive forces in our lives. But research shows that most of us are too worried, too stressed and too anxious. The good news, according to Dr. Marques, is that there are simple (not easy) first steps to help regulate your symptoms: Get enough sleep; eat regular, nutritious meals; and move your body.
Working on the sleep part. The meal part isn't a problem.
9. Bizarre Rich People Secrets I Learned Undercover at the Canyon Ranch Spa
I can't paste an excerpt - it won't let me. But apparently if you eat too many carrots, your palms will turn orange. (By too many, 4 pounds a day. Although why anyone would want to - is beyond me. I'm currently on a celery kick, which is odd, considering up until this year, I despised celery. Although I'm not eating a pound of it - or anywhere close. Can't afford that. I eat about five or six stalks every few days.)
10. The Best & Worst Ways to Spot a Liar?
I use this as an excuse to stay in doors and just relax. Away from people for a bit. Away from trains. And to look out a landscape of rooftops, budding trees, and clear blue sky. The rooftops are the triangular ones, of small houses, all set in a row. Deceptively residential in a city-scape, enough to make me forget if for a moment that I live in a city, bustling with noise, culture, and diversity.
2. Prodigal Son - I think, is over for the season. Or had it's season finale.
I watched the final episode "On Demand" because the last twelve minutes appeared to be cut off.
It's not quite as clever as the writers like to think. I've been able to figure it out fairly easily for the most part. And it feels at times to be rather formulaic, which is my problem with the broadcast television procedural. The only people that I've seen to do a procedural well - aren't writing broadcast television shows at the moment. David Simon was excellent at police procedurals - and he hired good writers, who wrote criminal procedural novels. Examples include "Homicide: Life on the Streets" which to date may well be the best police procedural that aired on broadcast television in my opinion. (Mileage, it varies, and I'm not in the mood to engage in lengthy debates on the subject.) And "The Wire", also by David Simon.
Another good police procedural was the 1980s Prime Suspect. Others, tend to be rather too formulaic for my taste, and this one, unfortunately, doesn't break from that mold.
It had promise when it started, but I'm beginning to see the formula now, and struggling a bit to stay invested or interested. I do like the actor playing Malcolm, but he hasn't really done anything new for several episodes now. And I'm somewhat disappointed in the direction the story has gone.
That said, there's some nice bits here and there - most focus on the characters interrelationships. And in the final episode - we are given insight into Martin Whitby, Malcolm's father. Why he did what he did and what if anything he cares about. It's nothing new or all that surprising, although Michael Sheen does a lovely job making it convincing and engaging. Also, there's some nice bits between Malcolm, Ainsley, and his mother -- which feel at times absurdly funny, not laugh out loud funny, more of the slight snort variety.
I don't know...overall, it was somewhat disappointing and I don't know if I'll continue watching next year.
3. Odd Job - What's it Like to be Real Life Disney Princess?
Basically an interview with a former Disney Princess.
So how did you get your foot in the door at Disney World?
I wish I could tell you that I glamorously walked in and they said, “We love you.” But I was in high school in 2008 [in Illinois], and Disney came to our school and talked about the Disney CareerStart program. Basically, you graduate school, go straight to Disney. I think it was to try and get kids into the workforce. I immediately told my mom that I wanted to do this, and she said, “Okay, maybe for a couple months.”
I didn’t start as a princess; you’re not allowed to audition for entertainment in that program. So I worked at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground first. It was glorified babysitting — you watch kids climb over this giant ant — and that was a lot of fun. At the end of the program, after three months, they held auditions for entertainment. They pulled me after the audition and told me I would be Pocahontas. Being half Asian and half white, that was a surprise. I put on the costume; they had me read a prewritten line. I’m from outside of Chicago, and they said, “Could you read that again, and this time don’t say ‘Poca-HAHN-tus.” They took pictures of me, and they said, “You’re in!”
When you’re working at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, is getting into entertainment the holy grail?
Oh, it feels like a hierarchy. Walking backstage in my yellow polo with khaki shorts, if Peter Pan would pass me, I would go quiet. It’s not like they say, “Listen, these people are so much better than you.” You just feel it. You feel like this is an iconic Disney character walking past you.
When you got to entertainment, how long was the training regimen?
It may be different now, but for me, the training was five days. When you’re accepted in entertainment, nobody is just a princess or just a prince. You have to be trained and approved in fur characters first. The first three days of training is sitting and watching videos of what you can or can’t do. Learning autographs. There’s a really creepy portion where you wear just the head and hands of the character. So you’re in business-casual but the hands and head of Chip and Dale. The last two days of training you go out into the park with character attendants, and meet people. It was wild to me, I thought the training would last about a month. And once you’re approved for fur, it’s two days of training for each “face character” [characters like Belle or Princess Jasmine that don’t wear a mask].
I was so stoked when I got through training, and then I did three weeks in a row of just Winnie the Pooh.
I had no idea that there might be a woman underneath the mask of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland. So the gender of the performer doesn’t matter much?
Yeah, so Mickey and Minnie, their heights are 4-foot-11 to 5-foot-1, so Mickey and Minnie are usually women. I have a friend who is a heterosexual cis male. He was Queen of Hearts for the first time; he did his set. I asked him how it was, and he was like, “Oh, my god, it was so fun. I was having dads kneel and kiss my hand. And I just walked back in here and took off my head and thought, ‘What the hell did I just do?’”
4. Dirty Secret - You Can Only be a Writer if You can Afford it
[I'm guessing it's how you decide to define "writer"?? Most writers I know and respect aren't novelists. But whatever.]
This is the second article in five regarding the UK Guardian's series on the rapidly disappearing American Middle Class. Tagline: "Two in five Americans would have a hard time coming up with $400 dollars in an emergency. In our new biweekly column, Lynn Steger Strong chronicles the disappearance of America’s middle class".
There is nothing more sustaining to long-term creative work than time and space – and these things cost money.
Two in five: our new series about the disappearance of the US middle class
Lynn Steger Strong
‘Like most other American systems and professions, delusions around meritocracy continue to pervade the writing world. ‘
Let’s start with me: I’m not sure how or if I’d still be a writer without the help of other people’s money. I have zero undergrad debt. Of my three years of grad school, two of them were funded through a teaching fellowship; my parents helped pay for the first. The last two years my stipend barely covered the childcare I needed to travel uptown three days a week to teach and go to class and my husband’s job is what kept us afloat.
I got connections from that program. I got my agent through the recommendation of a professor. Nearly every year since I graduated from that program, I have been employed by them. The thing I’m most sure I had though, that was a direct result of my extraordinary privilege, is the blindness with which I bounded toward this profession, the not knowing, because I had never felt, until I was a grownup, the very real and bone-deep fear of not knowing how you’ll live from month to month.
Other versions of this story that I know from other people: a down payment from a grandpa on a brownstone; monthly parental stipends; a partner who works at a startup; a partner who’s a corporate lawyer; a wealthy former boss who got attached and agreed to pay their grad school off.
Once, before a debut novelist panel geared specifically to aspiring writers, one of the novelists with whom I was set to speak mentioned to me that they’d hired a private publicist to promote their book. They told me it cost nearly their whole advance but was worth it, they said, because this private publicist got them on a widely watched talkshow. During this panel, this writer mentioned to the crowd at one point that they “wrote and taught exclusively”, and I kept my eyes on my hands folded in my lap. I knew this writer did much of the same teaching I did, gig work, often for between $1,500-$3,000 for a six to eight-week course; nowhere near enough to sustain one’s self in New York. I knew their whole advance was gone, and that, if the publicist did pay off, it would be months before they might accrue returns.
5. Ancient Mud Reveals an Explanation for the Sudden Collaspe of the Mayan Empire
The Empire took thousands of years to build and just 100 years to collapse. Apparently it's harder to build empires than collapse them? There's a lesson in there somewhere...
During their 3,000-year dominance over Mesoamerica, the Mayans built elaborate architectural structures and developed a sophisticated, technologically progressive society. But immediately after reaching the peak of its powers over the entire Yucatan Peninsula, the Mayan Empire collapsed, falling apart in just 150 years. The reasons for its sudden demise remain a mystery, but in a 2018 Science study, scientists found clues buried deep in the mud of Lake Chichancanab.
Deforestation, overpopulation, and extreme drought have all been proposed as the reason for the empire’s collapse. The most probable of those, argue the University of Cambridge and University of Florida scientists in their study, is drought. The evidence they gathered in the muddy sediments underlying Lake Chichancanab, which was once a part of the empire, underscore the devastating power of a drought on a population.
And here's the lesson...too many people, too little trees...On the news today they showed that since the Coronavirus began in China, the pollution levels in the Ozone have gone down drastically. There's less pollution in the cities or emanating from them. So...
6. Re-Think the Whole Fish Strategy - basically how to prepare and cook fish.
7. Have we murdered the apostrophe?
"Last year, the Apostrophe Protection Society was disbanded, having supposedly failed in its mission."
8. The Difference Between Worry, Stress and Anxiety
All I know is that I appear to suffer from all three, because it's not like there isn't anything going on in the world at the moment to worry about, is there? (sarcasm). Apparently I'm not alone, there's about 40 million people in the US that feel the same way.
Too worried, stressed or anxious to read the whole article?
Here’s the takeaway: Worry happens in your mind, stress happens in your body, and anxiety happens in your mind and your body. In small doses, worry, stress and anxiety can be positive forces in our lives. But research shows that most of us are too worried, too stressed and too anxious. The good news, according to Dr. Marques, is that there are simple (not easy) first steps to help regulate your symptoms: Get enough sleep; eat regular, nutritious meals; and move your body.
Working on the sleep part. The meal part isn't a problem.
9. Bizarre Rich People Secrets I Learned Undercover at the Canyon Ranch Spa
I can't paste an excerpt - it won't let me. But apparently if you eat too many carrots, your palms will turn orange. (By too many, 4 pounds a day. Although why anyone would want to - is beyond me. I'm currently on a celery kick, which is odd, considering up until this year, I despised celery. Although I'm not eating a pound of it - or anywhere close. Can't afford that. I eat about five or six stalks every few days.)
10. The Best & Worst Ways to Spot a Liar?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 01:21 pm (UTC)Cauliflower has a lot of vitamin K? I thought that was just Kale and various greens?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-02 05:54 pm (UTC)Good to know. Not a huge cauliflower fan, but I can see how people can go too far. With all the dietary restrictions, you hunt substitutes. And get too much as a result.