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shadowkatFirst, found this on a friending meme, which I answered there and will answer here, because I thought some of the questions were interesting:
Location: New York City
Dreamwidth comms you'd recommend (or wish existed!): common_nature (I like the photos)
One of your favorite words & why: Valentine - I like the sound. Also my niece's middle name: kamama, butterfly and elephant in Cherokee - and that's pretty much why I like it, also the sound.
A trope you wish was subverted more often: male hero/female damsel - I want to flip it. Actually I also want to flip male hero/female sidekick trope, and the older man/younger woman trope - older woman/younger man. I think traditional gender tropes and most romance tropes need to be subverted more often.
What you tend to post about in your journal: Anything that comes to mind. Seriously, it's called spontaneous musings. I will write about practically anything. And I post a lot of photos that I've taken. I don't write fanfic any longer (did ages ago, but good luck finding it), nor fanart or fanvids. I will post reviews, or meta. I'm a fan meta writer. Lately I've been writing a daily chronicle of surviving a pandemic in NYC.
Other places to find you online: I'm on Ao3 as shadowkat67 Link
**
It's cold here. High of 25 degrees. Feels like 6 degrees outside. Radiators whispering in the background. I kept dozing. I think I kind of dozed and slept most of the day. Didn't sleep well the night before.
Thinking of renting Dear Evan Hansen, but on the fence. It's gotten mixed reviews, Musical Twitter hated it. But they are admittedly funky and not reliable.
Tried watching Midnight Mass - but fell asleep during the second episode. (I'm kind of spoiled for it - I already know the monster is a vampire, and it's about vampires. So it's not scaring me. Vampires don't scare me - I've seen too many vampire movies and television shows, I'm kind of burned out on the trope. Also it's religious horror - and religious horror tends to irritate and annoy me, it doesn't scare me, it just annoys me. I think it's because I know too much? Or I know more about religion than the writer does? I kind of studied it. And I'm not religious, I'm spiritual but religion makes me twitchy, it's the whole authority thing - I don't buy it.)
So, I have a feeling this one may not work for me? Two people have rec'd it to me so far - one on DW, and one at work. But they both love religious horror and are into stories about religion, while I find the religion trope a huge turn-off.
At end of the day, everything is subjective, isn't it?
***
I've chosen a new paperback book to read, while I'm procrastinating getting a new kindle (my third) - I can technically read it on my phone and Fire HD, but it's easier on a kindle. I only have a Fire HD for comic books. I'm trying to figure out how to stream National Theater on my TV. I may hunt a way tonight. (I want to watch Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller's Frankenstein).
Anyhow, the new paperback is Evelyn Waugh's "Handful of Dust", whichoyceter sent me way back in 2004 or thereabouts. I just never go around to reading it. It looks funny and I'm in a weird mood. I think I finally burned out on Romance Novels.
Outside of my Dad's book, which I finished reading yesterday, I also recently finished the audio book "Hail to the Chins" book two of Bruce Campbell's autobiography focusing on B-Movie Stars. Not quite as entertaining as the first one, but still a fun listen. He goes into detail on how the television show Burn Notice was run and produced, and how his own spin-off movie came about (he wanted a raise, they gave him a movie and paid him for that instead, except they delayed the movie by two years - until the studio got annoyed that it was paying him for nothing.) He does well in Hollywood because he doesn't care, he's white, male, and generally gets along with everyone. Next up, Michael Caine's "Elephant in Hollywood" which I may or may not stick with - since I'm already annoyed, he's going on about how lucky he's been and how great his life is. Which is nice, but boring. I want to know the process, not how great friends you were with Sidney Poiter and Jack Nickelson.
I may switch to Hilary Clinton's Hard Choices, or Lessons Learned - about her term as Secretary of State under Obama. I want to hear her side of it. I am a bit of a policy wonk myself and find what people do in their jobs fascinating. I'm not that interested in their personal life, but what they do for a living does fascinate me.
***
Tonight? I'm considering starting either The Witcher or Dexter:New Blood, or I might start up with S3 the Expanse. I think that's where I left off.
It hadn't started yet or finished yet, when I completed S2 sometime back in 2019-2020. Now we have up to S6 released, or they just released S6. Katie Mack (the astrophysicist) insists it is by far the best written science fiction series she's ever seen and the most accurate in terms of science. (I'd agree with that assessment and I'm not a scientist, but it does make the most logical sense.) But my favorite sci-fi series continues to be Farscape.
Actually these are my favorite Science Fiction series:
1. Farscape
2. BattleStar Galatica (both versions)
3. The Expanse
4. Star Trek Next Generation
5. Doctor Who - Moffat Era with River Song, and later RT Davies Era
6. Torchwood (which I liked better than Doctor Who)
7. Voyager
8. Bablyon 5 (I liked Bab 5 better than Trek and better than Doctor Who)
9. Firefly
10. Misfits (British Show)
I like science fiction. But it is hard to do well, and a lot of it is admittedly pulpy.
***
Okay I need to make dinner. I'm thinking the gluten free nut-free pesto against the grains pizza I've got in the fridge, although it's probably smarter to do the chicken. But I'm bored of chicken.
I kind of want snow, but we aren't getting any - we're just getting cold temperatures, then it will warm up and rain again.
**
We were discussing COVID on Twitter. Or our workplaces and COVID.
The open workspace is not conducive to dealing with COVID. Most people who have are working remotely now (which makes sense), but a lot are still in the office (which does not make sense and the employers are idiots).
Friend: My cubicle mate got it. She did everything right, she masked, she was triple vaxxed. She was safe.
Me: Did she socialize with anyone, is she living with anyone?
Friend: She went to an engagement party.
Me: That would do it. My friend got it from going to the Met. She was 11 rows from the stage. And I got sick from my mother - who went to a holiday party, and sang in her choir.
Friend: I'm worried about 3rd cubicle mate who is pregnant, has a 4 year old at home, and someone with Type 1 diabetes. And we just recently reinserted the mask mandate.
See? It's all good and well to go to that engagement party you were invited to, or to hold one to share your great news, but if you infect folks, and they end up infecting someone at work - and that person infects their kid and the kid dies...that's on you.
Gabe was telling me about how their was currently a lawsuit against crazy organization by various female employees who lost their babies because of protocols that insisted they come to work during the pandemic. They were either frontline workers, or in positions that couldn't go remote, or it wasn't authorized. And they weren't given reasonable accommodation by male doctors. So, we live in a world that considers abortion a crime, but has no problems causing miscarriages by poor workplace practices during a pandemic.
Add to this, no one can make heads or tails of the CDC and FDA's current COVID exposure procedures. The flow chart makes no sense. I read it and got confused. It is confusing. They don't know what they are doing. Dammit.
**
Random Photo:
Location: New York City
Dreamwidth comms you'd recommend (or wish existed!): common_nature (I like the photos)
One of your favorite words & why: Valentine - I like the sound. Also my niece's middle name: kamama, butterfly and elephant in Cherokee - and that's pretty much why I like it, also the sound.
A trope you wish was subverted more often: male hero/female damsel - I want to flip it. Actually I also want to flip male hero/female sidekick trope, and the older man/younger woman trope - older woman/younger man. I think traditional gender tropes and most romance tropes need to be subverted more often.
What you tend to post about in your journal: Anything that comes to mind. Seriously, it's called spontaneous musings. I will write about practically anything. And I post a lot of photos that I've taken. I don't write fanfic any longer (did ages ago, but good luck finding it), nor fanart or fanvids. I will post reviews, or meta. I'm a fan meta writer. Lately I've been writing a daily chronicle of surviving a pandemic in NYC.
Other places to find you online: I'm on Ao3 as shadowkat67 Link
**
It's cold here. High of 25 degrees. Feels like 6 degrees outside. Radiators whispering in the background. I kept dozing. I think I kind of dozed and slept most of the day. Didn't sleep well the night before.
Thinking of renting Dear Evan Hansen, but on the fence. It's gotten mixed reviews, Musical Twitter hated it. But they are admittedly funky and not reliable.
Tried watching Midnight Mass - but fell asleep during the second episode. (I'm kind of spoiled for it - I already know the monster is a vampire, and it's about vampires. So it's not scaring me. Vampires don't scare me - I've seen too many vampire movies and television shows, I'm kind of burned out on the trope. Also it's religious horror - and religious horror tends to irritate and annoy me, it doesn't scare me, it just annoys me. I think it's because I know too much? Or I know more about religion than the writer does? I kind of studied it. And I'm not religious, I'm spiritual but religion makes me twitchy, it's the whole authority thing - I don't buy it.)
So, I have a feeling this one may not work for me? Two people have rec'd it to me so far - one on DW, and one at work. But they both love religious horror and are into stories about religion, while I find the religion trope a huge turn-off.
At end of the day, everything is subjective, isn't it?
***
I've chosen a new paperback book to read, while I'm procrastinating getting a new kindle (my third) - I can technically read it on my phone and Fire HD, but it's easier on a kindle. I only have a Fire HD for comic books. I'm trying to figure out how to stream National Theater on my TV. I may hunt a way tonight. (I want to watch Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller's Frankenstein).
Anyhow, the new paperback is Evelyn Waugh's "Handful of Dust", which
oyceter sent me way back in 2004 or thereabouts. I just never go around to reading it. It looks funny and I'm in a weird mood. I think I finally burned out on Romance Novels. Outside of my Dad's book, which I finished reading yesterday, I also recently finished the audio book "Hail to the Chins" book two of Bruce Campbell's autobiography focusing on B-Movie Stars. Not quite as entertaining as the first one, but still a fun listen. He goes into detail on how the television show Burn Notice was run and produced, and how his own spin-off movie came about (he wanted a raise, they gave him a movie and paid him for that instead, except they delayed the movie by two years - until the studio got annoyed that it was paying him for nothing.) He does well in Hollywood because he doesn't care, he's white, male, and generally gets along with everyone. Next up, Michael Caine's "Elephant in Hollywood" which I may or may not stick with - since I'm already annoyed, he's going on about how lucky he's been and how great his life is. Which is nice, but boring. I want to know the process, not how great friends you were with Sidney Poiter and Jack Nickelson.
I may switch to Hilary Clinton's Hard Choices, or Lessons Learned - about her term as Secretary of State under Obama. I want to hear her side of it. I am a bit of a policy wonk myself and find what people do in their jobs fascinating. I'm not that interested in their personal life, but what they do for a living does fascinate me.
***
Tonight? I'm considering starting either The Witcher or Dexter:New Blood, or I might start up with S3 the Expanse. I think that's where I left off.
It hadn't started yet or finished yet, when I completed S2 sometime back in 2019-2020. Now we have up to S6 released, or they just released S6. Katie Mack (the astrophysicist) insists it is by far the best written science fiction series she's ever seen and the most accurate in terms of science. (I'd agree with that assessment and I'm not a scientist, but it does make the most logical sense.) But my favorite sci-fi series continues to be Farscape.
Actually these are my favorite Science Fiction series:
1. Farscape
2. BattleStar Galatica (both versions)
3. The Expanse
4. Star Trek Next Generation
5. Doctor Who - Moffat Era with River Song, and later RT Davies Era
6. Torchwood (which I liked better than Doctor Who)
7. Voyager
8. Bablyon 5 (I liked Bab 5 better than Trek and better than Doctor Who)
9. Firefly
10. Misfits (British Show)
I like science fiction. But it is hard to do well, and a lot of it is admittedly pulpy.
***
Okay I need to make dinner. I'm thinking the gluten free nut-free pesto against the grains pizza I've got in the fridge, although it's probably smarter to do the chicken. But I'm bored of chicken.
I kind of want snow, but we aren't getting any - we're just getting cold temperatures, then it will warm up and rain again.
**
We were discussing COVID on Twitter. Or our workplaces and COVID.
The open workspace is not conducive to dealing with COVID. Most people who have are working remotely now (which makes sense), but a lot are still in the office (which does not make sense and the employers are idiots).
Friend: My cubicle mate got it. She did everything right, she masked, she was triple vaxxed. She was safe.
Me: Did she socialize with anyone, is she living with anyone?
Friend: She went to an engagement party.
Me: That would do it. My friend got it from going to the Met. She was 11 rows from the stage. And I got sick from my mother - who went to a holiday party, and sang in her choir.
Friend: I'm worried about 3rd cubicle mate who is pregnant, has a 4 year old at home, and someone with Type 1 diabetes. And we just recently reinserted the mask mandate.
See? It's all good and well to go to that engagement party you were invited to, or to hold one to share your great news, but if you infect folks, and they end up infecting someone at work - and that person infects their kid and the kid dies...that's on you.
Gabe was telling me about how their was currently a lawsuit against crazy organization by various female employees who lost their babies because of protocols that insisted they come to work during the pandemic. They were either frontline workers, or in positions that couldn't go remote, or it wasn't authorized. And they weren't given reasonable accommodation by male doctors. So, we live in a world that considers abortion a crime, but has no problems causing miscarriages by poor workplace practices during a pandemic.
Add to this, no one can make heads or tails of the CDC and FDA's current COVID exposure procedures. The flow chart makes no sense. I read it and got confused. It is confusing. They don't know what they are doing. Dammit.
**
Random Photo:
no subject
Date: 2022-01-16 03:46 am (UTC)I saw that Frankenstein both ways around, definitely worth it, quite interesting.
I heard the new Dexter gets a good season finale, for what that's worth. In discussing science fiction, you reminded me of liking Ultraviolet (the British miniseries), though I'm afraid that's basically vampires even though they don't say it. I was thinking of science fiction shows I've liked and I notice that a few were miniseries, like The Lost Room. Also, Ultraviolet is like Charlie Jade (I liked it, but not my favorite) in tending these days to be available easily or cheaply via streaming. It's also tricky to judge things with mixed seasons, e.g., I liked the first season of Earth: Final Conflict, I just thought the rest was rubbish, though now the effects look dated. At least The Sarah Connor Chronicles ended while it was still decent.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-16 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-17 09:41 am (UTC)Have you ever watched a TV series (or a movie, for that matter), thought, "Eh, sort of okay or interesting, but didn't really resonate" and then, perhaps years later, saw it again and thought... "Wow-- how did I miss all this? This is amazing!"
Or-- a book, even. Just okay then, way better now?
BTW, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is still one of my all-time SF faves, TV-wise. I was sad it ended when it did, but it did end decently, at least-- credit to the writers, definitely, once they knew the show wasn't being renewed.
Fringe was another fave, which had a good, long run.
Current fave (sort of, since I have to wait for the DVDs to come out) would be His Dark Materials I think they're working on season 3 currently. I have the discs for S1 and S2, very much enjoyed both.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-17 03:24 pm (UTC)Kind of? I don't tend to revisit things I strongly dislike. (Atonement, American Psycho, and Me Before You are not getting revisited, no matter who pushes.)
But I have revisited things that I was "meh" about or just not in the mood for at the time. I just can't remember what they are off the top of my head.
This is more of a memory thing than a like/dislike sort of thing?
I'm completely blanking on it - but I know I have. I just can't remember right now what it was.
This is true of Fringe and Sara Conner- I enjoyed them at the time, but they weren't things I was fannish about, or stuck in my memory that much. I think Fringe stuck more than Sara Connor. But neither are science fiction tropes that I like that much. Or rather they focus on sci-fi tropes that I don't tend to enjoy and in some cases, avoid. I watched them in spite of those tropes and settings, but more often than not the tropes and settings got in the way of my enjoyment.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-18 05:23 am (UTC)No biggee. I had the same problem as I was posting the above-- I knew this had happened to me, but couldn't think of anything TV or movie-wise. The only example I can recall for certain was when Pink Floyd's The Wall was released, and way serious Floyd fan that I was, I got a copy right away and eagerly sat down to listen to it that night after work.
And when the last disc finished, my reaction was...
Mmm. That was... kinda, well... underwhelming? I mean, there were some good parts, yeah, but... huh.
And I shelved it, didn't lidten a second time for over a month, by which time reviews in the music press were beyond glowing, more than one declaring it a masterpiece.
Huh? So, one weekend, I decided to give it another go. I settled in, cued up the first side, and... after it was over...
Whoa... how did I miss all that the first time around? Dunno about masterpiece, but, mighty damn fine effort! Must have been tired that night or something.
Probably was. It was a useful lesson though, in that if I really care about something, I need to be there with it when it's happening. It's so easy not to be, and I don't think I thought much about it before that.