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shadowkatTook a walk, watched church's evening vespers, avoided the news...and watched television. Oh dear lord, there is a lot of television to choose from - I could happily do nothing but watch it for five years and still not see everything I want to see on it.
The NY Times had a list of all the things they recommended to watch on various streaming services and I kind of got overwhelmed and my brain shut off after about the 150th show.
Here's the Link - if you are feeling adventurous or at a loss as to what to watch.
Anyhow, had a nice walk around the cemetery - about 2.6 miles, didn't do more than that because the cold aggravates the arthritis and I hurt. It's in the 30s here. Tomorrow will be warmer - we'll have a warming trend to 50s, then it will drop down again. I go back to work on January 4. I'm actually enjoying my stay-cation more than expected. It's nice to be able to sleep late and not have to do anything for a bit. My work is kind of stressful regardless of where I do it - it's for a state agency, and it is with a bunch of crazy engineers, with the NY Governor as the boss. Right now the Governor is obsessed with the virus, so it's not quite so bad. But if the stupid Stimulus Bill doesn't get passed soon, we could be in trouble. (Stupid Federal Government, I'd like to smack it upside the head.) Don't worry, I've promised myself that won't talk or think about it. It's a deal I've made with my blood pressure. It agrees to stay down if I don't think or talk about work or the stimulus package.
I've also been watching The Great Pottery Throw Down on HBO Max - it's really good. I like it much better than the Great British Baking Show.
I kind of miss throwing pots. It's expensive to be a potter though - you need a kilm, a wheel, clay and glazes, also how to work all of the above. One of my dream-lives is to have a pottery studio and a garden. But I realize I'm somewhat lazy and absent-minded, and both require a lot of work to maintain - they are kind of full time jobs. Not exactly amenable to someone who likes to sit and veg and write stories.
Also been watching Bridgerton - which is much better than expected. (Rhimes did a good job of casting for a change. The last "failed" series she tried was horribly cast. This one is so much better. Casting is very important with television series. It's actually as important as the writing.)
The Duke is hot, and the Duke and Phoebe has chemistry big time. They spark off of each other. I'd like to smack her brother upside the head. Her brothers all look alike - which I guess is the point? Her sisters don't. It's interesting - all the white guys look a bit alike in this series, while the women don't and the blacks don't. Actually the best characters are played by black actors, with a few exceptions. It feels like Shondra Rhimes vengeance on this industry - she's casting the plumb roles with African-American actors. Is it color-blind casting - kind of. Actually, I think it is a commentary on color-blind casting? She also is doing right by the genre by commenting heavily on feminism and female empowerment.
Both Eloise and Phoebe make clear how constrained they are by their roles in society. And how powerless. Eloise yearns for something more, a more interesting life, not just a wife, mother, and runner of a household. She wants to be educated, to have a career, to learn. Phoebe meanwhile just wants to marry someone she loves and is attracted to - and cares for her. She fears a loveless marriage with an creep like the man that her brother initially arranges for her - because from his perspective the man is the only one he can find who isn't a cheat or a rake or after her money. (Of course he's wrong on all three accounts.) After her brother and the Duke inadvertently make things worse, almost trapping Daphne into marriage with a nasty creep who sees women as little more than horse flesh, Daphne's mother and her maids save her. As does Daphne, herself. Through exposing the man's true nature to everyone around them via gossip.
Romance novels really are about gender politics. Or the war between the genders. It's why slash m/m and f/f historical romances don't quite work in the same way. There's no gender politics. It becomes about something else.
Bridgerton doesn't have any gay subplots. I thought it was going to from a trailer - but I misread it - it doesn't. (Kind of disappointed. But admittedly Quinn didn't go there, like others do. OTOH, I'm not sure it would work in this series, which is already tackling feminism and classism.)
At any rate - if you are a slash romance fan this may not be for you? [I know quite a few of my correspondence list only reads LGBT romance or slash, and doesn't have much patience for the other.] There's no m/m or f/f as far as I can see. However, I guess you could make it up between a few of the male characters, and even the female ones, if you so chose. There's fanfic potential there.
I don't want to talk about COVID at the moment. It's raging on in the background and I'm stead-fastedly avoiding it by keeping to my self-isolation. I think we're somewhere between 5-6% at the moment, last I checked. Still better than the spring which was more like 10-30%, also with between 900-1000 deaths a day. Right now, we have about 100-200 deaths a day, which is considerably better, but again horrible. The numbers are painful. And I just found out via FB Neighborhood page that about twenty blocks south and to the east of me, two young men were stabbed to death on their way to get a haircut. That's scary and heartbreaking. (My neighborhood is fairly safe - within this twelve block radius. Also I don't go out at night and I stay within sight of folks. I've got a sixth sense about this stuff.)
The NY Times had a list of all the things they recommended to watch on various streaming services and I kind of got overwhelmed and my brain shut off after about the 150th show.
Here's the Link - if you are feeling adventurous or at a loss as to what to watch.
Anyhow, had a nice walk around the cemetery - about 2.6 miles, didn't do more than that because the cold aggravates the arthritis and I hurt. It's in the 30s here. Tomorrow will be warmer - we'll have a warming trend to 50s, then it will drop down again. I go back to work on January 4. I'm actually enjoying my stay-cation more than expected. It's nice to be able to sleep late and not have to do anything for a bit. My work is kind of stressful regardless of where I do it - it's for a state agency, and it is with a bunch of crazy engineers, with the NY Governor as the boss. Right now the Governor is obsessed with the virus, so it's not quite so bad. But if the stupid Stimulus Bill doesn't get passed soon, we could be in trouble. (Stupid Federal Government, I'd like to smack it upside the head.) Don't worry, I've promised myself that won't talk or think about it. It's a deal I've made with my blood pressure. It agrees to stay down if I don't think or talk about work or the stimulus package.
I've also been watching The Great Pottery Throw Down on HBO Max - it's really good. I like it much better than the Great British Baking Show.
I kind of miss throwing pots. It's expensive to be a potter though - you need a kilm, a wheel, clay and glazes, also how to work all of the above. One of my dream-lives is to have a pottery studio and a garden. But I realize I'm somewhat lazy and absent-minded, and both require a lot of work to maintain - they are kind of full time jobs. Not exactly amenable to someone who likes to sit and veg and write stories.
Also been watching Bridgerton - which is much better than expected. (Rhimes did a good job of casting for a change. The last "failed" series she tried was horribly cast. This one is so much better. Casting is very important with television series. It's actually as important as the writing.)
The Duke is hot, and the Duke and Phoebe has chemistry big time. They spark off of each other. I'd like to smack her brother upside the head. Her brothers all look alike - which I guess is the point? Her sisters don't. It's interesting - all the white guys look a bit alike in this series, while the women don't and the blacks don't. Actually the best characters are played by black actors, with a few exceptions. It feels like Shondra Rhimes vengeance on this industry - she's casting the plumb roles with African-American actors. Is it color-blind casting - kind of. Actually, I think it is a commentary on color-blind casting? She also is doing right by the genre by commenting heavily on feminism and female empowerment.
Both Eloise and Phoebe make clear how constrained they are by their roles in society. And how powerless. Eloise yearns for something more, a more interesting life, not just a wife, mother, and runner of a household. She wants to be educated, to have a career, to learn. Phoebe meanwhile just wants to marry someone she loves and is attracted to - and cares for her. She fears a loveless marriage with an creep like the man that her brother initially arranges for her - because from his perspective the man is the only one he can find who isn't a cheat or a rake or after her money. (Of course he's wrong on all three accounts.) After her brother and the Duke inadvertently make things worse, almost trapping Daphne into marriage with a nasty creep who sees women as little more than horse flesh, Daphne's mother and her maids save her. As does Daphne, herself. Through exposing the man's true nature to everyone around them via gossip.
Romance novels really are about gender politics. Or the war between the genders. It's why slash m/m and f/f historical romances don't quite work in the same way. There's no gender politics. It becomes about something else.
Bridgerton doesn't have any gay subplots. I thought it was going to from a trailer - but I misread it - it doesn't. (Kind of disappointed. But admittedly Quinn didn't go there, like others do. OTOH, I'm not sure it would work in this series, which is already tackling feminism and classism.)
At any rate - if you are a slash romance fan this may not be for you? [I know quite a few of my correspondence list only reads LGBT romance or slash, and doesn't have much patience for the other.] There's no m/m or f/f as far as I can see. However, I guess you could make it up between a few of the male characters, and even the female ones, if you so chose. There's fanfic potential there.
I don't want to talk about COVID at the moment. It's raging on in the background and I'm stead-fastedly avoiding it by keeping to my self-isolation. I think we're somewhere between 5-6% at the moment, last I checked. Still better than the spring which was more like 10-30%, also with between 900-1000 deaths a day. Right now, we have about 100-200 deaths a day, which is considerably better, but again horrible. The numbers are painful. And I just found out via FB Neighborhood page that about twenty blocks south and to the east of me, two young men were stabbed to death on their way to get a haircut. That's scary and heartbreaking. (My neighborhood is fairly safe - within this twelve block radius. Also I don't go out at night and I stay within sight of folks. I've got a sixth sense about this stuff.)