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shadowkatDecided to watch S6 of the Expanse next weekend. It's only six episodes, and the finale of the season. I'm not sure my blood pressure can handle it today/tonight. Also the subject matter is not my favorite - it focuses on a battle with Naomi's terrorist ex-husband and son.
I hate terrorist story lines. Noir mystery - I enjoy. Terrorist stories, I do not enjoy. So, with the Expanse? It's good for about S1-4, but then gets embroiled in a terrorist storyline, which I have a feeling is the reason it ended with S6.
Instead, watched Coda on Apple TV - and cried through the second half of it. At first, I was wondering why it got nominated - it's not quite as good as the Sound of Metal, then I realized - why. It's two movie's really, one is really good and compelling, one is kind of okay. The good movie is about a family of fishermen who are all deaf except for their interpreter daughter, the so-so somewhat predictable/cliche story is the protegee daughter (of deaf parents) who has an amazing singing voice - and her high school choir director preps her for an audition with the Berkley Conservatory of Music. When combined - it kind of became a tear jerker. Particularly the audition sequence. Not helped by the fact that the song they used is a favorite and always moves me to tears - although it's been overdone in the past few years. My church got in the habit of singing it all the time, that and Hallelujah (by Leonard Cohen) - and I keep wondering if the folks singing that song or using it, have listened to the lyrics. Because it does not mean what they think it does. Cohen wrote a lot about his failed marriages, or failed romantic relationships, with a kind of bittersweet bitterness. Half his songs are about that. Uplifting song weren't his thing. Same with the other song, by Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now aka Clouds, which is a bittersweet song about love and relationships and life, most of Mitchell's songs are basically that.
Anyhow, Coda is actually quite good in places. And the actor who plays Ruby's father - blew me away. As did her brother. Marlee Matlin is good, but they kind of blew her out of the water. I fell in love with the father - who I'm assuming is a deaf actor. CODA - I think employed deaf actors in three lead roles - the brother, mother, and father.
One of the better films about being deaf - although I liked Sound of Metal a bit better.
Finally saw The Time Traveler's Wife - which suffers from attempting to consolidate a lengthy novel into a film. As a result it rushes past things, making it difficult to care or know the characters, or emotionally invest in them. We get snippets of everyone's lives. It felt like watching a montage or a summary of a movie as in a trailer, with various events quickly skimmed over.
Shame, since it is well cast - and I've seen all three of the main characters, Henry, Clair, and Cosmo in other things. Also it has nice ironic twist - which would have worked a lot better if they'd done less skimming and a bit more character building.
At any rate, I know Stephen Moffat is developing/adapting a series from the same novel - and was inspired by the novel to write the Dr. Song/Doctor Who Time Traveling romance. He read it - and got obsessed with how it deconstructs a marriage, and the idea of things happening out of sync, or two people being out of sync, and how to resolve that. So, I'm somewhat curious to see what Moffat does with it - in part because I actually think Moffat is one of the few television writers/show-runners out there that writes couples and marriage in an interesting manner. (Coupling was his series about married couples - in Britain.) And he's not afraid to delve into the uncomfortable emotions. (I know Moffat isn't everyone's cup of tea, as it were, but I like his writing for the most part. I liked his Doctor Who better than the others, just as I liked his Sherlock better than the others. I don't need characters to be nice or necessarily likable in a television series - I need them to be interesting. )
**
Didn't do much today - it was snowing, and cold. And I figured I have to travel through the cold tomorrow..so I'd stay in today. Why, do I have to travel through it tomorrow? Because my idiotic workplace thinks I need to do my job in the office, when it's become obvious that I can do it anywhere that I happen to have a computer. Personally, I think I should have the option to stay home and work remotely - in event of inclement weather. But I don't make the decisions, some idiot above me does.
Actually that's the source of much of the anger in the US and around the world at the moment - rich idiots making the decisions for a vast number of folks. People feel they are being unfairly managed and have no say in anything regarding their lives, and no freedom. When before they did.
Example? On FB, Rahael posted that she'd finally booked a flight to see her father in 3 years. She'd not seen him in 3 years. She leaves in 18 days. It cost a bit. She thought she got good insurance. Guess what? She tested positive for COVID yesterday. And to get on an international flight - her father lives in another country, she lives in Britain - she has to have a negative PCR. And you need to wait 90 days for that, apparently. No one will help her - and she's going nuts. She feels trapped. She'll be fine in less than 18 days.
Or...
A woman in Canada can't breath using masks - it gives her laryngitis, so she takes meds to open her throat - but they constipate her severely. She can't wait for the masks to become optional so she can go grocery shopping without this problem.
Or...
The people who have to travel to and from the office - often an hour to two hours, when they can work remotely.
Or..
You are afraid of the vaccine. You get horribly ill from them. But you've just gotten fired from your job because you won't get it...or you are restricted from doing things...I can actually see the idiotic truckers perspective on this point. They spend long hauls inside a truck and don't interact that much with others. (My grandfather was a trucker - he was called the Flying Dutchman, due to being German, and how his truck flew over the hills on his route. He'd have hated all of this - even though he most likely lived through it - with the Spanish Flu and Polio. So maybe not, hard to know.)
It's never simple is it? This world is hard. And it is so easy to be cruel, and so hard to be kind. Writing this makes me realize I have to see past my own anger, and frustration to find that kindness and patience sometimes.
Music helps. I'm listening to a James Taylor and Carol King concert on HBO Max in the background. Music calms me. Music and writing and art. Used to be running when I was a kid - but alas, the body won't allow that any longer, so long walks will have to suffice, and of course meditation and a little yoga (which frankly I find boring).
**
Discovered a new game - very addictive. It's entitled "Redecorate" and I've spent about $6 on it so far. I've decided to cut myself off. I do this with video games - the moment they start charging money, and I feel I am nickle and diming myself with nothing to show for it, I cut myself off. The game has you decorating various rooms - with different supplies - only one problem, you have a limited amount to spend, and certain items are locked. So it's not an unlimited budget - because that would be too easy.
BTW - James Taylor has a much better voice than Carol King. His voice is very calming - it's like listening to ocean waves or a breeze drifting through trees. But Carol King is an amazing song writer - she's like Dolly Parton - she wrote songs you don't realize she wrote. Lando taught me about song-writing and how people sell songs, he said you find a singer, find what they are hunting for, and write something that fits their voice and theme. You don't have to be a good singer to write songs, you can be horrible (see Bob Dylan) but be an amazing song writer. She did composition and lyrics. Example : "You've Got a Friend" was written by Carol King, and performed by James Taylor.
**
I was told by a friend once that I was hard to get to know. I think she liked to categorize folks, and made various assumptions. I kept surprising her - because all of her assumptions about me were proven wrong. She thought I was high maintenance, then realized I was the opposite (I hate asking people for help - for anything. I find it embarrassing and I feel like an imposition and a bother, I don't like being a bother. It's a family trait), she also assumed that I was passive aggressive, until I told her that I'd confronted our mutual boss with proof of his gaslighting. And that I didn't or couldn't figure out trends...then realized no, I did see them, often could predict them, but didn't follow because I thought they were stupid. She also thought I couldn't organize or coordinate anything - no, I just hated doing it. It was something I didn't enjoy, but I was actually excellent at it.
Don't assume things about other people.
Also, she'd have had an easier time getting to know me - if she'd been a touch more curious, and a tad less judgemental and into psycho analyzing me. Her baggage got in the way of our friendship. That often happens with friendships - baggage can get in the way or each person desires separate things from the friendship - so it doesn't work.
***
Anyhow..I'm back to the office en mass next week. Trying not to worry about it. It always makes me slightly anxious. The trains are more crowded. There's more people in the office. And not everyone wears masks. It's why I've spent a small fortune of KF94, Kn95, and N95 masks. All I can do is protect myself and others. And hopefully that will be enough to keep my anxiety at bay.
I hate terrorist story lines. Noir mystery - I enjoy. Terrorist stories, I do not enjoy. So, with the Expanse? It's good for about S1-4, but then gets embroiled in a terrorist storyline, which I have a feeling is the reason it ended with S6.
Instead, watched Coda on Apple TV - and cried through the second half of it. At first, I was wondering why it got nominated - it's not quite as good as the Sound of Metal, then I realized - why. It's two movie's really, one is really good and compelling, one is kind of okay. The good movie is about a family of fishermen who are all deaf except for their interpreter daughter, the so-so somewhat predictable/cliche story is the protegee daughter (of deaf parents) who has an amazing singing voice - and her high school choir director preps her for an audition with the Berkley Conservatory of Music. When combined - it kind of became a tear jerker. Particularly the audition sequence. Not helped by the fact that the song they used is a favorite and always moves me to tears - although it's been overdone in the past few years. My church got in the habit of singing it all the time, that and Hallelujah (by Leonard Cohen) - and I keep wondering if the folks singing that song or using it, have listened to the lyrics. Because it does not mean what they think it does. Cohen wrote a lot about his failed marriages, or failed romantic relationships, with a kind of bittersweet bitterness. Half his songs are about that. Uplifting song weren't his thing. Same with the other song, by Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now aka Clouds, which is a bittersweet song about love and relationships and life, most of Mitchell's songs are basically that.
Anyhow, Coda is actually quite good in places. And the actor who plays Ruby's father - blew me away. As did her brother. Marlee Matlin is good, but they kind of blew her out of the water. I fell in love with the father - who I'm assuming is a deaf actor. CODA - I think employed deaf actors in three lead roles - the brother, mother, and father.
One of the better films about being deaf - although I liked Sound of Metal a bit better.
Finally saw The Time Traveler's Wife - which suffers from attempting to consolidate a lengthy novel into a film. As a result it rushes past things, making it difficult to care or know the characters, or emotionally invest in them. We get snippets of everyone's lives. It felt like watching a montage or a summary of a movie as in a trailer, with various events quickly skimmed over.
Shame, since it is well cast - and I've seen all three of the main characters, Henry, Clair, and Cosmo in other things. Also it has nice ironic twist - which would have worked a lot better if they'd done less skimming and a bit more character building.
At any rate, I know Stephen Moffat is developing/adapting a series from the same novel - and was inspired by the novel to write the Dr. Song/Doctor Who Time Traveling romance. He read it - and got obsessed with how it deconstructs a marriage, and the idea of things happening out of sync, or two people being out of sync, and how to resolve that. So, I'm somewhat curious to see what Moffat does with it - in part because I actually think Moffat is one of the few television writers/show-runners out there that writes couples and marriage in an interesting manner. (Coupling was his series about married couples - in Britain.) And he's not afraid to delve into the uncomfortable emotions. (I know Moffat isn't everyone's cup of tea, as it were, but I like his writing for the most part. I liked his Doctor Who better than the others, just as I liked his Sherlock better than the others. I don't need characters to be nice or necessarily likable in a television series - I need them to be interesting. )
**
Didn't do much today - it was snowing, and cold. And I figured I have to travel through the cold tomorrow..so I'd stay in today. Why, do I have to travel through it tomorrow? Because my idiotic workplace thinks I need to do my job in the office, when it's become obvious that I can do it anywhere that I happen to have a computer. Personally, I think I should have the option to stay home and work remotely - in event of inclement weather. But I don't make the decisions, some idiot above me does.
Actually that's the source of much of the anger in the US and around the world at the moment - rich idiots making the decisions for a vast number of folks. People feel they are being unfairly managed and have no say in anything regarding their lives, and no freedom. When before they did.
Example? On FB, Rahael posted that she'd finally booked a flight to see her father in 3 years. She'd not seen him in 3 years. She leaves in 18 days. It cost a bit. She thought she got good insurance. Guess what? She tested positive for COVID yesterday. And to get on an international flight - her father lives in another country, she lives in Britain - she has to have a negative PCR. And you need to wait 90 days for that, apparently. No one will help her - and she's going nuts. She feels trapped. She'll be fine in less than 18 days.
Or...
A woman in Canada can't breath using masks - it gives her laryngitis, so she takes meds to open her throat - but they constipate her severely. She can't wait for the masks to become optional so she can go grocery shopping without this problem.
Or...
The people who have to travel to and from the office - often an hour to two hours, when they can work remotely.
Or..
You are afraid of the vaccine. You get horribly ill from them. But you've just gotten fired from your job because you won't get it...or you are restricted from doing things...I can actually see the idiotic truckers perspective on this point. They spend long hauls inside a truck and don't interact that much with others. (My grandfather was a trucker - he was called the Flying Dutchman, due to being German, and how his truck flew over the hills on his route. He'd have hated all of this - even though he most likely lived through it - with the Spanish Flu and Polio. So maybe not, hard to know.)
It's never simple is it? This world is hard. And it is so easy to be cruel, and so hard to be kind. Writing this makes me realize I have to see past my own anger, and frustration to find that kindness and patience sometimes.
Music helps. I'm listening to a James Taylor and Carol King concert on HBO Max in the background. Music calms me. Music and writing and art. Used to be running when I was a kid - but alas, the body won't allow that any longer, so long walks will have to suffice, and of course meditation and a little yoga (which frankly I find boring).
**
Discovered a new game - very addictive. It's entitled "Redecorate" and I've spent about $6 on it so far. I've decided to cut myself off. I do this with video games - the moment they start charging money, and I feel I am nickle and diming myself with nothing to show for it, I cut myself off. The game has you decorating various rooms - with different supplies - only one problem, you have a limited amount to spend, and certain items are locked. So it's not an unlimited budget - because that would be too easy.
BTW - James Taylor has a much better voice than Carol King. His voice is very calming - it's like listening to ocean waves or a breeze drifting through trees. But Carol King is an amazing song writer - she's like Dolly Parton - she wrote songs you don't realize she wrote. Lando taught me about song-writing and how people sell songs, he said you find a singer, find what they are hunting for, and write something that fits their voice and theme. You don't have to be a good singer to write songs, you can be horrible (see Bob Dylan) but be an amazing song writer. She did composition and lyrics. Example : "You've Got a Friend" was written by Carol King, and performed by James Taylor.
**
I was told by a friend once that I was hard to get to know. I think she liked to categorize folks, and made various assumptions. I kept surprising her - because all of her assumptions about me were proven wrong. She thought I was high maintenance, then realized I was the opposite (I hate asking people for help - for anything. I find it embarrassing and I feel like an imposition and a bother, I don't like being a bother. It's a family trait), she also assumed that I was passive aggressive, until I told her that I'd confronted our mutual boss with proof of his gaslighting. And that I didn't or couldn't figure out trends...then realized no, I did see them, often could predict them, but didn't follow because I thought they were stupid. She also thought I couldn't organize or coordinate anything - no, I just hated doing it. It was something I didn't enjoy, but I was actually excellent at it.
Don't assume things about other people.
Also, she'd have had an easier time getting to know me - if she'd been a touch more curious, and a tad less judgemental and into psycho analyzing me. Her baggage got in the way of our friendship. That often happens with friendships - baggage can get in the way or each person desires separate things from the friendship - so it doesn't work.
***
Anyhow..I'm back to the office en mass next week. Trying not to worry about it. It always makes me slightly anxious. The trains are more crowded. There's more people in the office. And not everyone wears masks. It's why I've spent a small fortune of KF94, Kn95, and N95 masks. All I can do is protect myself and others. And hopefully that will be enough to keep my anxiety at bay.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-14 02:04 pm (UTC)There's a lot to you but it seems to me that one can get to you know you because, at least here, you understand yourself and are direct about explaining who and how you are, and it seems generally to be consistent and to make sense. Harder are people who don't know themselves or deceive themselves or that play games, then one has to kind of guess by observation rather than by listening and watching.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-14 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-14 06:03 pm (UTC)