Television and other things...
Jun. 20th, 2020 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Okay, just got a notice of free porch music, with donations accepted, in my neighborhood tomorrow - or rather the neighborhood that is about a fifteen minute walk from mine in the opposite direction of the Cemetery. This is Ditmas, which is south of the park and the lovely multi-family homes. The area I was walking about in prior to the virus. Prior to the virus, no one was on the streets and you could wander about obstacle free. Now? Everyone is out in their yards and in the sidewalks socializing. So, I walk to the Cemetery instead.
Anyhow, the porch music gathering is in that area. Social distancing and masks are required, and you can just stroll by or stand and listen. And I'm thinking how? The sidewalks aren't exactly wide. And there's cars parked on both sides of the residental streets. I mean on a normal day - if anyone was walking on the sidewalk, I'd have to step off to one side to get around them, since only two people can pass each other on these sidewalks. So with music, you are going to have all the neighbors and their kids out in the street and yards, plus additional people wandering down the sidewalks. It's going to be crowded. How is social distancing possible?
Granted people have been protesting for weeks now. Not just days, weeks.
In large groups, elbow to elbow, no concerns at all about the virus. Most do wear masks at least. So maybe the virus isn't a problem outside in huge groups of people?
I don't know, none of this sounds safe to me. Also according to the Governor's email we still have over 1,000 hospitalizations a week. They are down...but.."The total number of COVID hospitalizations hit another record low yesterday. Total hospitalizations fell to 1,284, from 1,358." I am going to wait until it is 0 hospitalizations. Same with number of cases which are: " As of June 18, the State tested a record number of people. Out of the 79,308 tests conducted in New York State yesterday, only 796, or 1.0 percent, were positive for COVID-19." I want 0. Call me crazy, but I want 0.
I also don't know about the accuracy of the testing - so that's always an issue. I know way too many people who have had this thing, weren't tested or ever hospitalized. And I know if I get it - I'd fall into that category.
One of the meetup groups is doing group walks - "love as a maze singles walks" - and I'm thinking, how is this safe? Am I crazy? I know people who contracted COVID. I do NOT want to get COVID.
Hmmm...I think I may go to Greenwood Cemetery tomorrow - if this is going on tomorrow - there may be less people at Greenwood Cemetery. Not that there is that many people at Greenwood Cemetery at any given time. I just want to avoid the people making out and having secret picnics. (I don't care if they are doing that - I just don't want to see it.)
2. Tried various and sundry television series today:
* Burn Notice - second episode. What works? The McGyver aspect, and the actors in the lead roles, Sharon Glass, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell (yes, of the Evil Dead - that man is still hot), and the guy who plays Michael Weston. What doesn't? The case of the week bit is a little dated.
Also it's very early 00s. (God, I feel old saying that.)
* We Who Walk in the Shadows - I think that's the correct title, I keep forgetting the phrasing of the title of this show. It's basically mockumentary comedy about a bunch of inept vampires in Staten Island. It relies heavily on absurdist comedy. There are some rather funny bits in there though - particularly in the third episode with the Vampire/Werewolf War - which the vamps win by.. throwing a toy bone over the roof which the vampire champion can't resist fetching. It's so dumb, it's hilarious, made all the more so by the vampires shocked expressions that it actually worked.
The office comedy bits don't work for me - mainly because my Crazy Workplace makes office comedies look kind of like a high school take on SNL by comparison. I've seen things...that defy television writer's imaginations. I honestly think the problem is that most television writers have never truly worked in a crazy office space, because they keep rehashing the same material.
* The Watchmen - the first episode focuses on the tragedy that occurred in 1921 in Tulsa, Ok. (I now understand why a lot of folks stated that they learned about the massacre in Tulsa Ok via The Watchmen - it uses that massacre as its setup.) The satire in this episode - I found to be absurdly triggering due to current events, although very much on target. Also it's slow...I kept going to sleep during it. Not sure why. I may have just been sleepy. (shrugs).
How to explain? The set-up, before I drifted off to sleep and realized that I should just stop watching and call my mother...was that many years after the Tulsa Ok Massacre, the US has provided African-Americans with reparations. And the police force, such as it is, is kind of a vigilante, underground, and wears masks. No one knows who they are. They are run by Don Johnson, and Regina King is their undercover vigilante Silk Spectra, in a black hood. Racism still exists, but it's gone underground. And the 17th Cavalry, which wears Rorsarch Masks (something taken from the Watchmen comics) is out there killing cops. Robert Redford is President. And there are murals of African-Americans retaining their rights. They are trying to solve the killing of a black police officer - who got killed during a traffic stop.
In the set-up, black kids are in a black movie house in Tulsa in 1921 with their family watching a silent movie about a heroic Black Marshall saving the day. When all of a sudden a bomb is thrown into the movie house and they barely escape with their lives, running into the middle of a massacre. The only person who survives is the little boy.
The satire - is of course that the cops and law enforcement being killed are black, that they are the ones with the masks, while the vigilantes/gangs are whites. With an all black musical version of "Oklahoma" being watched by Don Johnson's police detective. Between the masks, and the police violence, my poor brain shut down and decided to go to sleep.
I honestly think I would have enjoyed this better last year? Now, I'm not sure what to make of the satire? Is it offensive? Is it topical? Is it non-offensive? I'm confused.
I may go back to it at another point. It's being shown free on HBO and Hulu right now in support of Black Lives Matter. So, I'm guessing the satire is pro Black Lives Matter. Which I kind of got, but kind of didn't at the same time? Like I said my brain got confused by the contradictory images being thrown at it.
* Black Sails - I tried the first three episodes. A lot happens in these episodes. It's available now on Starz and Hulu. [I hadn't seen it previously because no access. Now thanks to a lovely friend, I have access.]
Been trying to figure out why so many people on my correspondence went nuts over this series. Now, I kind of get it. It's very "Queer" and subversive of its genre in some interesting ways. Also has more interesting female characters than I gave it credit for, several based on real pirates.
The set-up? It's a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island. Takes place two decades before that novel, with a young Long John Silver and Billy Bones. And focuses on Captain Flint - the mysterious fictional Captain who buried the treasure that Long John Silver and Billy Bones are after in Treasure Island. Flint is played by Toby Stevens (Lost in Space). It's actually quite compelling. Violent as all get out, and with explicit sex scenes and nudity, because hello - Starz, but endurable. The violence didn't bother me as much as expected. Also it's nice to watch something that has zip to do with anything that is going on right now.
I don't know about anyone else - but I can't watch dystopian stories, horror stories, science fiction, or dystopian satire at the moment. I'm having troubles watching 9-1-1 and Station 19 or medical dramas. It has to be something completely unrelated to anything in the news. I think I've reached emotional burnout. I'm numb. My brain wants to wander off and watch puppies and kitties, or crazy vampires in Staten Island or Pirates.
Anyhow, the porch music gathering is in that area. Social distancing and masks are required, and you can just stroll by or stand and listen. And I'm thinking how? The sidewalks aren't exactly wide. And there's cars parked on both sides of the residental streets. I mean on a normal day - if anyone was walking on the sidewalk, I'd have to step off to one side to get around them, since only two people can pass each other on these sidewalks. So with music, you are going to have all the neighbors and their kids out in the street and yards, plus additional people wandering down the sidewalks. It's going to be crowded. How is social distancing possible?
Granted people have been protesting for weeks now. Not just days, weeks.
In large groups, elbow to elbow, no concerns at all about the virus. Most do wear masks at least. So maybe the virus isn't a problem outside in huge groups of people?
I don't know, none of this sounds safe to me. Also according to the Governor's email we still have over 1,000 hospitalizations a week. They are down...but.."The total number of COVID hospitalizations hit another record low yesterday. Total hospitalizations fell to 1,284, from 1,358." I am going to wait until it is 0 hospitalizations. Same with number of cases which are: " As of June 18, the State tested a record number of people. Out of the 79,308 tests conducted in New York State yesterday, only 796, or 1.0 percent, were positive for COVID-19." I want 0. Call me crazy, but I want 0.
I also don't know about the accuracy of the testing - so that's always an issue. I know way too many people who have had this thing, weren't tested or ever hospitalized. And I know if I get it - I'd fall into that category.
One of the meetup groups is doing group walks - "love as a maze singles walks" - and I'm thinking, how is this safe? Am I crazy? I know people who contracted COVID. I do NOT want to get COVID.
Hmmm...I think I may go to Greenwood Cemetery tomorrow - if this is going on tomorrow - there may be less people at Greenwood Cemetery. Not that there is that many people at Greenwood Cemetery at any given time. I just want to avoid the people making out and having secret picnics. (I don't care if they are doing that - I just don't want to see it.)
2. Tried various and sundry television series today:
* Burn Notice - second episode. What works? The McGyver aspect, and the actors in the lead roles, Sharon Glass, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell (yes, of the Evil Dead - that man is still hot), and the guy who plays Michael Weston. What doesn't? The case of the week bit is a little dated.
Also it's very early 00s. (God, I feel old saying that.)
* We Who Walk in the Shadows - I think that's the correct title, I keep forgetting the phrasing of the title of this show. It's basically mockumentary comedy about a bunch of inept vampires in Staten Island. It relies heavily on absurdist comedy. There are some rather funny bits in there though - particularly in the third episode with the Vampire/Werewolf War - which the vamps win by.. throwing a toy bone over the roof which the vampire champion can't resist fetching. It's so dumb, it's hilarious, made all the more so by the vampires shocked expressions that it actually worked.
The office comedy bits don't work for me - mainly because my Crazy Workplace makes office comedies look kind of like a high school take on SNL by comparison. I've seen things...that defy television writer's imaginations. I honestly think the problem is that most television writers have never truly worked in a crazy office space, because they keep rehashing the same material.
* The Watchmen - the first episode focuses on the tragedy that occurred in 1921 in Tulsa, Ok. (I now understand why a lot of folks stated that they learned about the massacre in Tulsa Ok via The Watchmen - it uses that massacre as its setup.) The satire in this episode - I found to be absurdly triggering due to current events, although very much on target. Also it's slow...I kept going to sleep during it. Not sure why. I may have just been sleepy. (shrugs).
How to explain? The set-up, before I drifted off to sleep and realized that I should just stop watching and call my mother...was that many years after the Tulsa Ok Massacre, the US has provided African-Americans with reparations. And the police force, such as it is, is kind of a vigilante, underground, and wears masks. No one knows who they are. They are run by Don Johnson, and Regina King is their undercover vigilante Silk Spectra, in a black hood. Racism still exists, but it's gone underground. And the 17th Cavalry, which wears Rorsarch Masks (something taken from the Watchmen comics) is out there killing cops. Robert Redford is President. And there are murals of African-Americans retaining their rights. They are trying to solve the killing of a black police officer - who got killed during a traffic stop.
In the set-up, black kids are in a black movie house in Tulsa in 1921 with their family watching a silent movie about a heroic Black Marshall saving the day. When all of a sudden a bomb is thrown into the movie house and they barely escape with their lives, running into the middle of a massacre. The only person who survives is the little boy.
The satire - is of course that the cops and law enforcement being killed are black, that they are the ones with the masks, while the vigilantes/gangs are whites. With an all black musical version of "Oklahoma" being watched by Don Johnson's police detective. Between the masks, and the police violence, my poor brain shut down and decided to go to sleep.
I honestly think I would have enjoyed this better last year? Now, I'm not sure what to make of the satire? Is it offensive? Is it topical? Is it non-offensive? I'm confused.
I may go back to it at another point. It's being shown free on HBO and Hulu right now in support of Black Lives Matter. So, I'm guessing the satire is pro Black Lives Matter. Which I kind of got, but kind of didn't at the same time? Like I said my brain got confused by the contradictory images being thrown at it.
* Black Sails - I tried the first three episodes. A lot happens in these episodes. It's available now on Starz and Hulu. [I hadn't seen it previously because no access. Now thanks to a lovely friend, I have access.]
Been trying to figure out why so many people on my correspondence went nuts over this series. Now, I kind of get it. It's very "Queer" and subversive of its genre in some interesting ways. Also has more interesting female characters than I gave it credit for, several based on real pirates.
The set-up? It's a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island. Takes place two decades before that novel, with a young Long John Silver and Billy Bones. And focuses on Captain Flint - the mysterious fictional Captain who buried the treasure that Long John Silver and Billy Bones are after in Treasure Island. Flint is played by Toby Stevens (Lost in Space). It's actually quite compelling. Violent as all get out, and with explicit sex scenes and nudity, because hello - Starz, but endurable. The violence didn't bother me as much as expected. Also it's nice to watch something that has zip to do with anything that is going on right now.
I don't know about anyone else - but I can't watch dystopian stories, horror stories, science fiction, or dystopian satire at the moment. I'm having troubles watching 9-1-1 and Station 19 or medical dramas. It has to be something completely unrelated to anything in the news. I think I've reached emotional burnout. I'm numb. My brain wants to wander off and watch puppies and kitties, or crazy vampires in Staten Island or Pirates.