Thoughts...
Jul. 5th, 2021 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I'm slowly figuring out how to use twitter - now that the nitwits are gone, it's a heck of alot easier to manager. This entire Thread
Per:
Sigrid Ellis
sigridellis
"I remember when, as a teen, I learned that the musical I *adored*, Les Miserables, wasn't about The French Revolution. It was, rather, about some failed-ass political hiccup that absolutely no-one would remember except that Vic wrote a book about it.
I cried about that. All this desperation, all this hope, all these plans of change, the promise of a better future, ground into the muddy street, for absolutely nothing. Nothing was improved. Nothing was made right, or good, or whole.
This is how history is made. An endless succession of people trying to better the world for each other, mostly failing.
But it is not failure entirely. And that is where hope lives. It lives in knowing our history.
We must remember all those who strive, regardless of the immediate success or failure. We must remember because the notion that change comes from a single tipping point is FALSE. Change is BUILT, slowly, achingly, over years and decades of attempt.
When we forget that we buy into a protagonist model of social action - the notion that one heroic person takes the world.
That's just not true.
Yes, some people provide crucial work. But their work rests in a matrix of the work done by others.
Darnella Frazier's video had enormous impact. But it wasn't the first murder of a black person by police caught on camera. The on-camera deaths prior to that changed public and legal argument so that such videos in the future would need to be taken seriously.
If there had not been previous failed attempts to convict LEOs caught on camera commiting murder, I do not know that this attempt would have worked.
Each past effort changes the present, builds the platform, refines the methods of working for change.
Would we have the highway closures to support racial justice without the die-ins of AIDS activists? Would we have George Floyd Square and its mutual aid without MOVE, without the water defenders?
Maybe. Maybe not.
My point is this:
When we act, today, now, when we fight for a better world, whatever specific action or campaign we throw our bodies and souls into will likely not achieve our stated goals.
We will, on that level, probably fail. The odds are not in our favor.
But we act, we fight ANYWAY.
We fight for change because our failures now lay the groundwork for the future.
We fight for the dream.
We fight because what the fuck else are we going to do.
We fight because we are not collaborators in evil.
We fight because we have great responsibility.
We fight because we owe the future.
We fight because we know our history, and history says, *this might be the one*.
We fight because we might win .
Know your history. Know the odds are against us. Know that despite these odds, the course of human enterprise keeps bending towards justice, despite often devastating setbacks. Know that your loss now is merely the inspiration for the future's success.
Know that you might win.
Good heavens, you can REALLY tell I grew up reading X-Men comics."
[Personally, I love the punch line.]
2. Been watching Discovery of Witches - with Behind the Scenes Footage
One of the snippets discussed the writer, Deborah Harkness's process. Harkness is a Professor of History at Oxford or Cambridge. And the way she wrote the novels was in snippets. She had various notebooks. Jumped around a lot, because she doesn't think lineally, and determined what books each of the characters would read, developed a reading list and proceeded to read all of them. Basically she went after the project like a scholar would or professor.
I found this interesting. It's not how I write. I kind of just type and see what emerges from my brain. But I also discovered that my mind skips about as well. And I forget stuff. So maybe taking notes, and putting down names is a good idea? I have a tendency to forget the names of my characters - I am not good at "naming things" - labeling and naming is not my strength.
3. On Acting - the Kathleen Turner book continues to be interesting, Turner states that a lot of directors don't know how to direct actors and the actors have to learn how to direct themselves. And if an actor doesn't know how to do that - you can get uneven performances, particularly if the director is more into technical stuff or lighting, etc.
I honestly think that's what happened with the prequels - the actors, with the exception of maybe Ewen McGregor, didn't know how to direct themselves, and Lucas has no interest in directing actors. The original movies worked better - because Ford and Fisher kind of knew how to do it, as did Guiness, and Hamil was more or less directed for the most part. Also Lucas didn't direct the later two movies.
She also said that the actor knows their character best, better than anyone else. Because they spend the most time with the character. And develop it.
It becomes their creation. The director and writer are looking at the entire canvas. Directors need to look at everything, and not focus on just one character or they will lose the story. Writers on the other hand do know the characters well - but often the characters and story changes on film, once the writer is gone. In film, words will get changed - because the shot is often more important than the script.
Writers though are known to get upset if one word is changed, as they should, she stated, since they put it there for a reason. Albee took her to task for not saying the word HA in one of her performances of Who's Afraid of Virigina Woolf.
4. And this entire Twitter thread..
An Introverts Renewed Attempts to Relate to Other Humans After the Pandemic
Although technically - I was kind of forced to do it during the pandemic - via phone, zoom, and various forced interactions with Super, construction folks, and people in apartment building - and crazy union thrusting us all back into the workplace in September, plus doctor's appointments and the vaccine.
It's not like I was living all by myself in the middle of Idaho or Ohio.
But still...
How Did I Use To Do This? An Introvert's Renewed Attempts to Relate To Other Humans After The Pandemic.
K.B. Spangler
kbspangler
·
I mean, it was never easy but I swear it was at least a little easier.
Hipster Viking Amy
lasrina
·
I remember it being a lot easier before I was afraid any stranger might turn out to be a literal nazi; the pandemic was just icing on that cake, really.
Joel of a Couple of Trades
tcepsa
·
So much this! I keep catching myself thinking "pandemic is on the way to winding down, so why am I having a harder time now?" And then going "well there was that whole Jan. 6 thing and all the underpinning factors are still pretty much there so maybe that's relevant?!!"
SueRankinPollard
suerankinsays
This is EXHAUSTING and people want me to do this regularly now? How...why...HOW?!
Show replies
Tormented Artifacts
t_artifacts
·
Shared interest (no, not THAT ONE).
Shared food.
Shared space. (You weren't really using it anyways, right?)
Suhaila
suhaila
·
I was essentially a hermit well before the pandemic. I got nothing.
ben
mordueben
·
So many years of work in being less of a hermit flushed down the drain and back to start.
Lady K
inksmolders
·
I'm in the office now, and it's like I forgot how to speak. Sigh.
HalfCaperFarm GoatRamRainbow flag
halfcaperfarm
·
I gesture vaguely and say 'umm, the . . . thing.'
It's weirdly reassuring to realize I'm not the only one who is anxious about returning to the office and social interaction, and would prefer to just stay home.
I was beginning to think something was wrong with me.
5. Did a meditation this morning on Envy and Jealousy - which basically stated if you don't compare yourself to others...envy and jealousy cease to exist. What happens, said the guide (a former Buddhist Monk) is we tend to focus on what we don't like about our lives or wish was different, then our mind drifts to what we wish we had instead...taking us out of the present moment, and the ability to appreciate what we have and be pro-active and build on it.
I rather liked it. I want to do a course on that one. I'm working on comparing less. And being more open.
My other deep thought for today...my difficulty with romantic love is it is often portrayed in our society as so possessive and jealous. And that's considered okay? I wouldn't want to be in a relationship like that - I'd feel suffocated. I need to be able to have male and female friends.
Today on a fanboard we were talking about the fact that Jason had to leave Britt to save the lives of his friends, Britt was jealous that he'd left the moment Carly called. Carly called because she was facing down a mob boss who was holding gun to Jason's friend's head.
One of the fans stated that if your man puts anyone but you first - you should be upset - that's not narcissism. He should always put you first.
I don't see that as love. People aren't possessions. They do not belong to us. And love is when we can share our love with others, and the more people who love them and us, the more powerful it grows. Love has to grow, not be contained in a box. Love that is jealous dies. It suffocates. You have to share people with other people. Not sexually - sex isn't love, it's just one way of expressing affection and love for another. There are other ways. Sex can be an expression of love, or it can be a way to get off. But sex doesn't equal love. We don't have sex with everyone love, there are different ways to love people and express love that have zip to do with sex.
Also, you can have a lot of sex and never experience love. See prostitution as an example.
So the phrase - "my man" or "my woman", or "I don't want my man to have female friends, or my woman to have male friends" indicates to me - narcissism. You see your spouse or husband or wife as a possession, a trophy, and are afraid of losing them. They are property to you.
That's not love. And I want no part of it.
6. Almost forgot? RIP Richard Donner - he was behind Superman (the first film with Christopher Reeves), Ladyhawk (a personal favorite of mine), Lethal Weapon Series, and The Omen. He also did Radio Flyer - which I liked but a lot of critics hated for some reason.
He died today.
Oh and here's Richard Donner's story of how he came to direct and make Superman
Donner's Superman was the best superhero film up until Christopher Nolan took over the Batman franchise. Prior to that, it was lot of missteps. Although Tim Burton's Batman was a good film.
Per:
Sigrid Ellis
sigridellis"I remember when, as a teen, I learned that the musical I *adored*, Les Miserables, wasn't about The French Revolution. It was, rather, about some failed-ass political hiccup that absolutely no-one would remember except that Vic wrote a book about it.
I cried about that. All this desperation, all this hope, all these plans of change, the promise of a better future, ground into the muddy street, for absolutely nothing. Nothing was improved. Nothing was made right, or good, or whole.
This is how history is made. An endless succession of people trying to better the world for each other, mostly failing.
But it is not failure entirely. And that is where hope lives. It lives in knowing our history.
We must remember all those who strive, regardless of the immediate success or failure. We must remember because the notion that change comes from a single tipping point is FALSE. Change is BUILT, slowly, achingly, over years and decades of attempt.
When we forget that we buy into a protagonist model of social action - the notion that one heroic person takes the world.
That's just not true.
Yes, some people provide crucial work. But their work rests in a matrix of the work done by others.
Darnella Frazier's video had enormous impact. But it wasn't the first murder of a black person by police caught on camera. The on-camera deaths prior to that changed public and legal argument so that such videos in the future would need to be taken seriously.
If there had not been previous failed attempts to convict LEOs caught on camera commiting murder, I do not know that this attempt would have worked.
Each past effort changes the present, builds the platform, refines the methods of working for change.
Would we have the highway closures to support racial justice without the die-ins of AIDS activists? Would we have George Floyd Square and its mutual aid without MOVE, without the water defenders?
Maybe. Maybe not.
My point is this:
When we act, today, now, when we fight for a better world, whatever specific action or campaign we throw our bodies and souls into will likely not achieve our stated goals.
We will, on that level, probably fail. The odds are not in our favor.
But we act, we fight ANYWAY.
We fight for change because our failures now lay the groundwork for the future.
We fight for the dream.
We fight because what the fuck else are we going to do.
We fight because we are not collaborators in evil.
We fight because we have great responsibility.
We fight because we owe the future.
We fight because we know our history, and history says, *this might be the one*.
We fight because we might win .
Know your history. Know the odds are against us. Know that despite these odds, the course of human enterprise keeps bending towards justice, despite often devastating setbacks. Know that your loss now is merely the inspiration for the future's success.
Know that you might win.
Good heavens, you can REALLY tell I grew up reading X-Men comics."
[Personally, I love the punch line.]
2. Been watching Discovery of Witches - with Behind the Scenes Footage
One of the snippets discussed the writer, Deborah Harkness's process. Harkness is a Professor of History at Oxford or Cambridge. And the way she wrote the novels was in snippets. She had various notebooks. Jumped around a lot, because she doesn't think lineally, and determined what books each of the characters would read, developed a reading list and proceeded to read all of them. Basically she went after the project like a scholar would or professor.
I found this interesting. It's not how I write. I kind of just type and see what emerges from my brain. But I also discovered that my mind skips about as well. And I forget stuff. So maybe taking notes, and putting down names is a good idea? I have a tendency to forget the names of my characters - I am not good at "naming things" - labeling and naming is not my strength.
3. On Acting - the Kathleen Turner book continues to be interesting, Turner states that a lot of directors don't know how to direct actors and the actors have to learn how to direct themselves. And if an actor doesn't know how to do that - you can get uneven performances, particularly if the director is more into technical stuff or lighting, etc.
I honestly think that's what happened with the prequels - the actors, with the exception of maybe Ewen McGregor, didn't know how to direct themselves, and Lucas has no interest in directing actors. The original movies worked better - because Ford and Fisher kind of knew how to do it, as did Guiness, and Hamil was more or less directed for the most part. Also Lucas didn't direct the later two movies.
She also said that the actor knows their character best, better than anyone else. Because they spend the most time with the character. And develop it.
It becomes their creation. The director and writer are looking at the entire canvas. Directors need to look at everything, and not focus on just one character or they will lose the story. Writers on the other hand do know the characters well - but often the characters and story changes on film, once the writer is gone. In film, words will get changed - because the shot is often more important than the script.
Writers though are known to get upset if one word is changed, as they should, she stated, since they put it there for a reason. Albee took her to task for not saying the word HA in one of her performances of Who's Afraid of Virigina Woolf.
4. And this entire Twitter thread..
An Introverts Renewed Attempts to Relate to Other Humans After the Pandemic
Although technically - I was kind of forced to do it during the pandemic - via phone, zoom, and various forced interactions with Super, construction folks, and people in apartment building - and crazy union thrusting us all back into the workplace in September, plus doctor's appointments and the vaccine.
It's not like I was living all by myself in the middle of Idaho or Ohio.
But still...
How Did I Use To Do This? An Introvert's Renewed Attempts to Relate To Other Humans After The Pandemic.
K.B. Spangler
kbspangler·
I mean, it was never easy but I swear it was at least a little easier.
Hipster Viking Amy
lasrina·
I remember it being a lot easier before I was afraid any stranger might turn out to be a literal nazi; the pandemic was just icing on that cake, really.
Joel of a Couple of Trades
tcepsa·
So much this! I keep catching myself thinking "pandemic is on the way to winding down, so why am I having a harder time now?" And then going "well there was that whole Jan. 6 thing and all the underpinning factors are still pretty much there so maybe that's relevant?!!"
SueRankinPollard
suerankinsaysThis is EXHAUSTING and people want me to do this regularly now? How...why...HOW?!
Show replies
Tormented Artifacts
t_artifacts·
Shared interest (no, not THAT ONE).
Shared food.
Shared space. (You weren't really using it anyways, right?)
Suhaila
suhaila·
I was essentially a hermit well before the pandemic. I got nothing.
ben
mordueben·
So many years of work in being less of a hermit flushed down the drain and back to start.
Lady K
inksmolders·
I'm in the office now, and it's like I forgot how to speak. Sigh.
HalfCaperFarm GoatRamRainbow flag
halfcaperfarm·
I gesture vaguely and say 'umm, the . . . thing.'
It's weirdly reassuring to realize I'm not the only one who is anxious about returning to the office and social interaction, and would prefer to just stay home.
I was beginning to think something was wrong with me.
5. Did a meditation this morning on Envy and Jealousy - which basically stated if you don't compare yourself to others...envy and jealousy cease to exist. What happens, said the guide (a former Buddhist Monk) is we tend to focus on what we don't like about our lives or wish was different, then our mind drifts to what we wish we had instead...taking us out of the present moment, and the ability to appreciate what we have and be pro-active and build on it.
I rather liked it. I want to do a course on that one. I'm working on comparing less. And being more open.
My other deep thought for today...my difficulty with romantic love is it is often portrayed in our society as so possessive and jealous. And that's considered okay? I wouldn't want to be in a relationship like that - I'd feel suffocated. I need to be able to have male and female friends.
Today on a fanboard we were talking about the fact that Jason had to leave Britt to save the lives of his friends, Britt was jealous that he'd left the moment Carly called. Carly called because she was facing down a mob boss who was holding gun to Jason's friend's head.
One of the fans stated that if your man puts anyone but you first - you should be upset - that's not narcissism. He should always put you first.
I don't see that as love. People aren't possessions. They do not belong to us. And love is when we can share our love with others, and the more people who love them and us, the more powerful it grows. Love has to grow, not be contained in a box. Love that is jealous dies. It suffocates. You have to share people with other people. Not sexually - sex isn't love, it's just one way of expressing affection and love for another. There are other ways. Sex can be an expression of love, or it can be a way to get off. But sex doesn't equal love. We don't have sex with everyone love, there are different ways to love people and express love that have zip to do with sex.
Also, you can have a lot of sex and never experience love. See prostitution as an example.
So the phrase - "my man" or "my woman", or "I don't want my man to have female friends, or my woman to have male friends" indicates to me - narcissism. You see your spouse or husband or wife as a possession, a trophy, and are afraid of losing them. They are property to you.
That's not love. And I want no part of it.
6. Almost forgot? RIP Richard Donner - he was behind Superman (the first film with Christopher Reeves), Ladyhawk (a personal favorite of mine), Lethal Weapon Series, and The Omen. He also did Radio Flyer - which I liked but a lot of critics hated for some reason.
He died today.
Oh and here's Richard Donner's story of how he came to direct and make Superman
Donner's Superman was the best superhero film up until Christopher Nolan took over the Batman franchise. Prior to that, it was lot of missteps. Although Tim Burton's Batman was a good film.
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