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Y2/D325 - Rainy Day
We didn't really get much of the storm that hit the rest of the country. It just rained here, and it's most likely icy outside. I wouldn't know, I'm inside and have not ventured out. I'm wearing my "Culture is Ordinary" t-shirt that I stole from my brother thirty odd years ago, and blue joggers (basically light sweat-pants that feel like pajamas.)
Thought about doing the February meme, but got a headache by question five and gave up. I honestly couldn't think of an answer for over half of the questions. I don't know what the last funniest video I saw was.
The first question asks if I think our country will change if more people have access to voting, without restrictions. Your Mileage May Vary of Course. And this may sound deeply cynical? But, I don't. Mainly because I know a lot of folks don't vote - who can - simply because they do not want to. They don't care. It doesn't affect them. And they honestly do not believe that it matters. (Several Co-workers come to mind.) Also, we have other problems that need to be resolved along with accessibility to voting.
Nothing is ever that simple. Be nice if it was, but alas, no.
We have issues with who is running for public office. There's a lot of folks who shouldn't be. Who are obviously not qualified for the position and running for all the wrong reasons (fame, fortune, self-importance, validation, ego, and not to genuinely help others and help run the country and fight for its citizens). And many who should not be allowed anywhere near a leadership role.
And we have a media that -- is mainly run by marketing people and bad journalistic methods, unethical practices, many of which are taught and fostered at the University level.
Add to all of that - an uneducated populace, many of which can't read or write. Have little to no civics knowledge or knowledge of history.
In short - having unrestricted voting will help, but it's not going to change things as drastically as folks hope.
After that question, I got tired. Brain fog strikes again. I'm doing that a lot lately. After scrolling through most of my DW correspondence list...I decided that Lee Pace would make an excellent Cyclops - if they ever decided to do a live action movie or series. And wondered why it hadn't previously occurred to me. He has the right build, age, coloring, style of acting, and presence for the character. Charismatic, enigmatic, stoic, and sexy. Not sure about casting anyone else. Coming up with a perfect X-men cast has plagued me for years. I get about three or four, but the rest escape me. Right now, I'm thinking we should keep McAvoy and Fassbander as Xavier and Magneto, also Nick Hoult as Beast. Ana Taylor Joy as Majick. Maybe recast Jennifer Lawrence as Jean Grey. And Jodi Comer as Emma, aka the White Queen, with the actress who played Storm in the last film reprising that role. I don't know - it's hard cast - because there's so many iconic roles to fight over. But Pace is perfect as Cyclops.
Other thoughts the scroll inspired?
* Game Shows - my best friend when I was eight, was into Game Shows, Monster Movies, Lost in Space and Science Fiction Movies. She also loved Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Plus Batman. We'd watch television at her place after school - on her big color television set.
I watched more television at her house than mine.
Her father, both parents really, but particularly her father - loved game shows. (My parents did not. My father particularly disliked them - he's never been into games, outside of maybe poker, chess and batgammon, also tennis. He didn't really like the others. Although we did play trivia pursuit as a family.)
I do not like or watch Game Shows. Partly because she was a competitive little brat about them - and that may have traumatized me against them? Who knows really. No one in my family does. We've never been into them. I watched Jeopardy for a bit in college, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire for a bit in law school. But that's about it. I'm really not a mainstream television watcher (tv shows high in the Nielsen ratings and most folks watch) - never have been. Most mainstream television series annoy the hell out of me. I've seen the shows, just didn't like them enough to bother with them.
* Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Nominees for Induction this Year
It's a weird list. I agree that it looks like a bunch of people's names you'd see on old CD's in a garage sale.
(Asterisks indicate artists receiving their first nomination.)
Beck*
Pat Benatar
Kate Bush
DEVO
Duran Duran*
Eminem*
Eurythmics
Judas Priest
Fela Kuti
MC5
New York Dolls
Dolly Parton*
Rage Against the Machine
Lionel Richie*
Carly Simon*
A Tribe Called Quest*
Dionne Warwick
Some of them make sense to me, others..and I'm sorry, Dolly Parton isn't rock n roll, country yes, rock n roll, no. I think she's already in the country music hall of fame, not sure why she needs to be in the rock n roll hall of fame as well. Nothing against Dolly, just seems odd to me.
* More people are deleting their LJ's - now that LJ no longer permits cross-posting. It was only a matter of time before they made that impossible. [If you've not already done so, I highly recommend that you do. LJ can play around with your content without your permission - that's why I deleted mine. Under Russian copyright law - Russia owns the content on its servers, not you. Russia also doesn't follow International Copyright Law, it breaks from it in various areas. Do not, I repeat, do not put your content on a social media platform that is based in either China or Russia, unless you don't mind if it is compromised. China doesn't follow International Copyright Law or Intellectual Property Law at all - it doesn't even recognize it. I know this because in a past life I negotiated agreements with publishers who did not want my company to place their content on databases sold to China or Russia. Although Russia is no where near as bad as China in this regard.]
* Heavy Metal aka Metal Hurlant - saw a review on the film. And I remembered that they did a live action remake a few years back. It was called Metal Hurlant Chronicles.
Métal Hurlant Chronicles is an English-language Franco-Belgian television science fiction anthology series based on the popular comics anthology magazine Métal Hurlant, known in the United States as Heavy Metal. Each episode is a self-contained story taking place on a different planet with a different cast, and the episodes are linked together only by the idea that an asteroid, the "Métal Hurlant", passes the planet in question during the events of the story. The show's premise originated with Guillaume Lubrano, who put together a self-financed pilot to pitch the show, which was broadcast as the series' third episode. Lubrano and Justine Veillot produce the show through their company WE Productions. It was largely filmed in Bucharest, Romania.
The cast included Rutger Hauer, Joe Flanigan, James Marsters, Michael Jai White, and Kelly Brooks among others.
So if you are into that series of comics? You might want to hunt it down. The animated Heavy Metal movie - I did see. I don't remember it very well, except that I was disappointed in it and didn't like it. Reminded me a little of early Japanese anime films. There was an video store near where I lived in Johnson County Kansas - long before I moved to NYC. This was back in the early 1990s, prior to law school, while I was working in a dead end job in retail. I used to hunt down obscure anime videos. And this store had quite the collection. Heavy Metal was among them, also Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, Monkey Punch's Lupin III, among others. I think I also nabbed Ghost in the Shell. Live action stuff included the ultra violent Flesh & Blood with Rutger Hauer, and some other underground stuff.
* Read a Review of The Last Duel, which is apparently available on both Disney Plus and HBO Max??? I didn't know it was available on Disney Plus as well. Chidi at work rec'd it, and now so has selenak (who is a history buff and adores historicals - far more than I. Historicals often annoy me, particularly medieval historicals.) But since both are worlds apart, Chidi is an African-American from Alabama who is NOT a history buff but is a former music teacher and film buff, and selenak appears to be involved somehow in the academic publishing world (specifically history) in Germany - the two rec's make me curious enough to see the movie. It's the Ridely Scott film that people mocked, but didn't see. It's told in three points of view - about a historic duel in Medieval France - the last of its kind, over a woman's honor. Stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodi Comer.
Speaking of Jodi Comer - there's a final season of Killing Eve dropping soon that means I may have to watch S3, after all.
* Would I be happy never going to a movie theater again?
No. I like movies - in theaters. Some movies are actually better with an audience. Also, you can't distract yourself as easily. So the focus is better. It's just you, a bunch of strangers, and the screen in the dark.
An immersive experience with others.
I remember seeing Schindler's List in the cinema - and you could hear a pin drop - it got so quiet at one point, the audience was fully engrossed in the film, and stunned by it's power.
And in Endgame? People were cheering. And in Black Panther - same.
That's a lovely thing. But it's worth keeping in mind that I also adore live theater.
***
Niece is en route to Portugal. Or so I'm told. And her persistent boyfriend has made plans to travel to England in the spring and take her to Scotland.
Mother: He's definitely persistent. That boy is pursuing her in earnest.
Me: Yep.
Mother: he's sent her flowers for no reason at all.
Me: sigh.
Mother: I was surprised she got one so soon -
Me: I wasn't, she's her father's daughter. I was waiting for it.
Sigh. Dating always scared me for some reason. It still does. I can't get myself to try any of the dating sites. (But I'm also crazy busy at work and in the middle of a pandemic, so there's that.)
There was another question on the meme: what are you doing differently now that you are older.
I don't know. It's harder to get up in the morning. I take more pills. I think I'm more high maintenance in regards to food and other crap. Mainly though, I've begun to care less about what others think. I honestly no longer care who follows me and who doesn't on social media platforms. Because that changes on a dime and has zip to do with me. A Canadian friend on Twitter (most of my friends on Twitter are Canadians, which is interesting) tweeted that she had to keep reminding herself that if people were upset, it wasn't about her but about them. It usually is. Also people come in and out of our lives for a reason - and when its time for them to go or leave, it's best to let them, and when they come back in again or in for the first time - it's a gift, to be grateful for. Or so I'm telling myself tonight.
***
Thought about doing the February meme, but got a headache by question five and gave up. I honestly couldn't think of an answer for over half of the questions. I don't know what the last funniest video I saw was.
The first question asks if I think our country will change if more people have access to voting, without restrictions. Your Mileage May Vary of Course. And this may sound deeply cynical? But, I don't. Mainly because I know a lot of folks don't vote - who can - simply because they do not want to. They don't care. It doesn't affect them. And they honestly do not believe that it matters. (Several Co-workers come to mind.) Also, we have other problems that need to be resolved along with accessibility to voting.
Nothing is ever that simple. Be nice if it was, but alas, no.
We have issues with who is running for public office. There's a lot of folks who shouldn't be. Who are obviously not qualified for the position and running for all the wrong reasons (fame, fortune, self-importance, validation, ego, and not to genuinely help others and help run the country and fight for its citizens). And many who should not be allowed anywhere near a leadership role.
And we have a media that -- is mainly run by marketing people and bad journalistic methods, unethical practices, many of which are taught and fostered at the University level.
Add to all of that - an uneducated populace, many of which can't read or write. Have little to no civics knowledge or knowledge of history.
In short - having unrestricted voting will help, but it's not going to change things as drastically as folks hope.
After that question, I got tired. Brain fog strikes again. I'm doing that a lot lately. After scrolling through most of my DW correspondence list...I decided that Lee Pace would make an excellent Cyclops - if they ever decided to do a live action movie or series. And wondered why it hadn't previously occurred to me. He has the right build, age, coloring, style of acting, and presence for the character. Charismatic, enigmatic, stoic, and sexy. Not sure about casting anyone else. Coming up with a perfect X-men cast has plagued me for years. I get about three or four, but the rest escape me. Right now, I'm thinking we should keep McAvoy and Fassbander as Xavier and Magneto, also Nick Hoult as Beast. Ana Taylor Joy as Majick. Maybe recast Jennifer Lawrence as Jean Grey. And Jodi Comer as Emma, aka the White Queen, with the actress who played Storm in the last film reprising that role. I don't know - it's hard cast - because there's so many iconic roles to fight over. But Pace is perfect as Cyclops.
Other thoughts the scroll inspired?
* Game Shows - my best friend when I was eight, was into Game Shows, Monster Movies, Lost in Space and Science Fiction Movies. She also loved Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Plus Batman. We'd watch television at her place after school - on her big color television set.
I watched more television at her house than mine.
Her father, both parents really, but particularly her father - loved game shows. (My parents did not. My father particularly disliked them - he's never been into games, outside of maybe poker, chess and batgammon, also tennis. He didn't really like the others. Although we did play trivia pursuit as a family.)
I do not like or watch Game Shows. Partly because she was a competitive little brat about them - and that may have traumatized me against them? Who knows really. No one in my family does. We've never been into them. I watched Jeopardy for a bit in college, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire for a bit in law school. But that's about it. I'm really not a mainstream television watcher (tv shows high in the Nielsen ratings and most folks watch) - never have been. Most mainstream television series annoy the hell out of me. I've seen the shows, just didn't like them enough to bother with them.
* Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Nominees for Induction this Year
It's a weird list. I agree that it looks like a bunch of people's names you'd see on old CD's in a garage sale.
(Asterisks indicate artists receiving their first nomination.)
Beck*
Pat Benatar
Kate Bush
DEVO
Duran Duran*
Eminem*
Eurythmics
Judas Priest
Fela Kuti
MC5
New York Dolls
Dolly Parton*
Rage Against the Machine
Lionel Richie*
Carly Simon*
A Tribe Called Quest*
Dionne Warwick
Some of them make sense to me, others..and I'm sorry, Dolly Parton isn't rock n roll, country yes, rock n roll, no. I think she's already in the country music hall of fame, not sure why she needs to be in the rock n roll hall of fame as well. Nothing against Dolly, just seems odd to me.
* More people are deleting their LJ's - now that LJ no longer permits cross-posting. It was only a matter of time before they made that impossible. [If you've not already done so, I highly recommend that you do. LJ can play around with your content without your permission - that's why I deleted mine. Under Russian copyright law - Russia owns the content on its servers, not you. Russia also doesn't follow International Copyright Law, it breaks from it in various areas. Do not, I repeat, do not put your content on a social media platform that is based in either China or Russia, unless you don't mind if it is compromised. China doesn't follow International Copyright Law or Intellectual Property Law at all - it doesn't even recognize it. I know this because in a past life I negotiated agreements with publishers who did not want my company to place their content on databases sold to China or Russia. Although Russia is no where near as bad as China in this regard.]
* Heavy Metal aka Metal Hurlant - saw a review on the film. And I remembered that they did a live action remake a few years back. It was called Metal Hurlant Chronicles.
Métal Hurlant Chronicles is an English-language Franco-Belgian television science fiction anthology series based on the popular comics anthology magazine Métal Hurlant, known in the United States as Heavy Metal. Each episode is a self-contained story taking place on a different planet with a different cast, and the episodes are linked together only by the idea that an asteroid, the "Métal Hurlant", passes the planet in question during the events of the story. The show's premise originated with Guillaume Lubrano, who put together a self-financed pilot to pitch the show, which was broadcast as the series' third episode. Lubrano and Justine Veillot produce the show through their company WE Productions. It was largely filmed in Bucharest, Romania.
The cast included Rutger Hauer, Joe Flanigan, James Marsters, Michael Jai White, and Kelly Brooks among others.
So if you are into that series of comics? You might want to hunt it down. The animated Heavy Metal movie - I did see. I don't remember it very well, except that I was disappointed in it and didn't like it. Reminded me a little of early Japanese anime films. There was an video store near where I lived in Johnson County Kansas - long before I moved to NYC. This was back in the early 1990s, prior to law school, while I was working in a dead end job in retail. I used to hunt down obscure anime videos. And this store had quite the collection. Heavy Metal was among them, also Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, Monkey Punch's Lupin III, among others. I think I also nabbed Ghost in the Shell. Live action stuff included the ultra violent Flesh & Blood with Rutger Hauer, and some other underground stuff.
* Read a Review of The Last Duel, which is apparently available on both Disney Plus and HBO Max??? I didn't know it was available on Disney Plus as well. Chidi at work rec'd it, and now so has selenak (who is a history buff and adores historicals - far more than I. Historicals often annoy me, particularly medieval historicals.) But since both are worlds apart, Chidi is an African-American from Alabama who is NOT a history buff but is a former music teacher and film buff, and selenak appears to be involved somehow in the academic publishing world (specifically history) in Germany - the two rec's make me curious enough to see the movie. It's the Ridely Scott film that people mocked, but didn't see. It's told in three points of view - about a historic duel in Medieval France - the last of its kind, over a woman's honor. Stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodi Comer.
Speaking of Jodi Comer - there's a final season of Killing Eve dropping soon that means I may have to watch S3, after all.
* Would I be happy never going to a movie theater again?
No. I like movies - in theaters. Some movies are actually better with an audience. Also, you can't distract yourself as easily. So the focus is better. It's just you, a bunch of strangers, and the screen in the dark.
An immersive experience with others.
I remember seeing Schindler's List in the cinema - and you could hear a pin drop - it got so quiet at one point, the audience was fully engrossed in the film, and stunned by it's power.
And in Endgame? People were cheering. And in Black Panther - same.
That's a lovely thing. But it's worth keeping in mind that I also adore live theater.
***
Niece is en route to Portugal. Or so I'm told. And her persistent boyfriend has made plans to travel to England in the spring and take her to Scotland.
Mother: He's definitely persistent. That boy is pursuing her in earnest.
Me: Yep.
Mother: he's sent her flowers for no reason at all.
Me: sigh.
Mother: I was surprised she got one so soon -
Me: I wasn't, she's her father's daughter. I was waiting for it.
Sigh. Dating always scared me for some reason. It still does. I can't get myself to try any of the dating sites. (But I'm also crazy busy at work and in the middle of a pandemic, so there's that.)
There was another question on the meme: what are you doing differently now that you are older.
I don't know. It's harder to get up in the morning. I take more pills. I think I'm more high maintenance in regards to food and other crap. Mainly though, I've begun to care less about what others think. I honestly no longer care who follows me and who doesn't on social media platforms. Because that changes on a dime and has zip to do with me. A Canadian friend on Twitter (most of my friends on Twitter are Canadians, which is interesting) tweeted that she had to keep reminding herself that if people were upset, it wasn't about her but about them. It usually is. Also people come in and out of our lives for a reason - and when its time for them to go or leave, it's best to let them, and when they come back in again or in for the first time - it's a gift, to be grateful for. Or so I'm telling myself tonight.
***
no subject
Agreed wholly on inclusions like Dolly Parton. I hold her in high esteem but rock and roll is looking to be a very broad category!
no subject
no subject
And yet there are so many individuals and bands who have put out rock music for a good part of their career. I think the public voting aspect definitely doesn't help.
no subject
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn't the Music Hall of Fame.
no subject
That's the problem.
The attempt to include artists like Warwick and Parton exposes the limitations of the R&R HoF, and by extension, the genre of rock and roll itself.
Other than the founding fathers of the genre--the Chicago bluesmen, Chuck Berry and Little Richard--there are few black performers who have ever achieved fame working in rock and roll. Hendrix, of course. Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. Vernon Reid of Living Color. (Joan Armatrading? Eh, maybe.) The field has been effectively segregated since the late 50s, and the accomplishments of Black artists have been made in other genres: pop, soul, R&B, funk, hip-hop.
So when the R&R HoF nominates a Whitney Houston or a Dionne Warwick, it seems bizarre--not because these artists aren't deserving (they are), but because it promises an inclusiveness that the genre has never practiced.
We DO need a Music Hall of Fame; a place where all these genres can stand side by side so we can see how they interact, grow and evolve. Where Kraftwerk can stand side by side with Afrika Bambaata, Kanye with King Crimson and Led Zeppelin with Fairport Convention.
A museum of living music, not artifacts on a dusty shelf.
no subject
I'm not sure it makes sense to turn the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame into "The Music Hall of Fame" though?
At the very least, kick out Dolly Parton?
no subject
Would I love to hear a station where "Jolene," "The Windows of the World" and "Stan" could be played back to back? Hell yeah. But that station doesn't exist. It's kind of fake for the R&R HoF to pose as being that broad minded.
no subject
See, I don't think there is any need to open up the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame to do that? Why? We have so many other honors out there. It's not like there's a shortage. Nor does the public really care that much. I mean we've the Grammys, the American Music Awards, the VH1 Awards, etc. Plus the Kennedy Center Honorees, etc.
It's why the entertainment field has become a touch narcissistic. It's constantly clamoring for unnecessary validation. I mean, how many honors does Dolly frigging need? Or any of these people?
They are in a competitive field, and have sold countless albums, been on the radio, sold out concert halls, and gotten awards.
It seems kind of redundant.
no subject
That kind of thing has indeed happened here:
https://xpn.org/
Perfect in the above regard? No, but easily the closest I've found. Plugged 'em here on DW before, happy to do so again. One of their tags is, "Curated, not encoded." And it's true. All playlists are created by the hosts, who are a diverse bunch, putting it mildly.
They stream, so you don't need to be within broadcast range of Philadelphia.
no subject
A museum of living music, not artifacts on a dusty shelf.
Agree. We do need that. Or a repository where it is all kept and maintained. We may already have it, not certain.
no subject
I'm a big fan of "The Number Ones", a column by journalist Tom Breihan in the Stereogum web-zine. Breihan details the history of every #1 single on the Billboard hot 100 chart since its inception in 1958. (He's up to 1993.) Endlessly fascinating. Try it out.
no subject