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shadowkatJust finished watching the wonderfuly How to Train Your Dragon - if you haven't seen it yet?
I heartily recommend. It's what I like to call a "happy film" and there are so few of these.
Although apparently Vikings speak with a Scottish accent, who knew? Outside of that...a pleasure.
Made me smile throughout.
At the comic book store, while I was picking up the latest Buffy comic (yes, I know, masochist, but I want to know how the story ends...and unlike a book, I can't simply skip ahead and read the ending before I waste $2.99 on the thing) - anywho...the comic book store folks were watching a flick. I asked what it was. And one said "How to Fight Your Dragon" and I said, "what? wait...you mean How to Train Your Dragon..." and then, "is it any good?" To which comic store gal stated - "actually it's really good. Fun and everything. The dragon actually reminds me a great deal of my cat, Ipkis." Having watched it - she's sort of right. It's almost as if the animators used a cat to draw the dragon.
What's lovely about the flick - is it really is all about the relationship between a boy and a dragon, a platonic love story of sorts. And has a gentle self-deprecating wit. So, if you need a happy movie? Go after this one. Oh and it's based on a kid's book. With America Ferrar voicing a Viking girl. Hee.
In other news...did the apartment hunting, saw two places, neither a go. Tomorrow will see four more - or three more. Sigh. Sorangel - my agent - asked me, mid-babble, if I write. Which took me by surprise. "Do you write?" Me:"Huh?" Sorangel:"Do you write scripts?" Me:" No, I mean I do write, I blog, and I've written a book, and I write a lot at work...why?" Sorangel:" The way you talk, I can tell you are creative - what you are saying is interesting and witty." I sort of talk the same way I write in this thing, generally speaking. And most of my snark is directed at myself.
Anyhow - I did make it to the Haiti Forum or Forum on Haiti at my church. 40-50 people, about fifteen white people, everyone else Haitians or ex-pat Haitians. Learned quite a bit. And felt sort of depressed and frustrated...because how do you help? NOG - or non-gov's don't work, particularly the foreign funded ones, and Bill Clinton is hurting more than helping, with the misallocation of funds to foreign experts, hotels, travel, and only 10% to actual aid. The speakers stated the best way to help was through non-conventional means - such as through Haitian groups, UNO (educational fund/union), Haitian Solidarity efforts, and political action committees to push for immigration reform.
Jocelyn Meyers who works for the New State Immigration Bureau. What she said about immigration made me wince and think, these poor people, who sat around me, silently. Men and women. Beautiful and friendly. Whose ancestors had fought for freedom from slavery way back in 1804. They were the first to win their freedom, the first to show the world that slavery was wrong. Or so I was told by another speaker - who had written a history on Haitian Solidarity and Political Reform.
Did you know that to get a work permit and travel documents permitting you to travel in and out of the US and to get a job - you have to apply for Temporary Protective Status? And to get this you have to write an essay, provide proof of who you are and why you are here, and pay close to $485 dollars. You have six months to apply. If it doesn't get approved - and many haven't been, due to delays, you have to apply for extension, and if you don't apply...and stay six months then leave the US - you are barred from re-entry for three years, possibly more. If you stay in US more than a year and you leave, you are barred from re-entry for ten years. The process she described gave me a headache. And it's not helped by all the illegal immigration experts who prey upon the community, charging them money to give them nothing in return. You have desperate, poor, homeless people hunting help...and they can't find it. Ms. Meyers informed them that the NY State Bureau provides help and information for free at CUNY and centers across the city.
When asked about Immigration Reform (not Immigration Amnesty - which is not the right word any longer - if you use that you get arrested (I think that was a joke) ) - she said that is no longer an option now that Peter King from Suffolk County has been re-elected and will still chair Homeland Security.
She also informed them that Immigration does not come after you unless you've committed a crime.
If you haven't, and you are here, they assume you are legal and documented. But you do need TPS for the work permit. Which isn't the same as a Green Card. The people who tried to come here...can't get status, many were turned away simply because they couldn't figure out the process or their approval has been tied up in red tape.
Then you listen to what has been going on in Haiti...the camps are nightmares. People are dying of poison gas due to poor ventilation in the tents. Toddlers have been falling into boiling vats of rice. Militia patrols the streets. Money that is being sent by foreign interests such as the US gov and through Clinton - is going for tourism, and corporate interests, not to aid the people and help them rebuild.
What to do? It was unclear. Lots of speeches about Solidarity - activism, not much on how to provide aid. But a suggestion was made by Meyers to provide the Brooklyn Haitian community with space to meet once a month to discuss how to solve these problems, to fight for their rights in the US and in Haiti. Which is a start. So many of them don't know who their congress rep or senate rep is.
Afterwards...I wandered home and spoke with Momster over the phone about many things. Momster feels she's not doing enough to make things better - that she's being complacent and thinks maybe she should join the Democratic Party in her world of ultra-conservative, Palin-loving Republicans.
I laughed. Because I don't think political parties are the answer. I think we need to find a way to work together...like the Vikings and the Dragons in How to Train Your Dragon. To find common ground and a way to help those in need. There's a quote somewhere I think that goes...to help the least of our brothers and sisters is to help ourselves? Don't know. I want to be a good person, am trying very hard to be. Even if I feel as if I just...spinning my wheels.
There's so much misinformation about Immigration in the US. So many people fear it. They think that immigrants threaten their jobs, their safety. When that's simply not true. The enemy, I think is generalizing. And the media, not to mention the internet - are both at fault. Too many people rely on unreliable sources for information - self-promoting broadcasters, talking heads, celebrities, and politicians for what is actually happening. We blame Fox News - but it is the fault of those who watch Fox News and don't question what they see. Don't take the time to check what appears on it.
In the US - I find the xenophobia and fear of immigrants amusing, since everyone here is an immigrant or the direct ancestor of one. But as many of you know, all too well, the US is not alone it's fears of immigration. I all too well remember listening to a German tour bus driver in West Berlin in the 1980s rail against the Turkish immigrants. Or a friend from Holland, rail against Turkey - it came up when I told her about my Turkish pen pal (yes - I had foreign pen pals back in the 1980s way before the internet - we sent each other pictures and I dreamed of visiting Turkey - which I finally was able to do, beautiful country and beautiful people). Prejudice and discrimination exists because we refuse to question. To push past our own stupid generalizations and assumptions. To think, you know what? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe what I was taught, maybe what I thought was true is not. Maybe I'm wrong. And maybe I should look at this a different way.
How to Train Your Dragon - that's the theme at the center of it. A boy, a Viking, whose people have always been at war with dragons...realizes that all they thought was true about dragons is not. Dragons aren't at all what they thought they were. Often the dragons we see - are in our heads and not actual. What makes life so hard I think sometimes...is knowing when you are wrong, and having the guts to admit it and try another way.
I heartily recommend. It's what I like to call a "happy film" and there are so few of these.
Although apparently Vikings speak with a Scottish accent, who knew? Outside of that...a pleasure.
Made me smile throughout.
At the comic book store, while I was picking up the latest Buffy comic (yes, I know, masochist, but I want to know how the story ends...and unlike a book, I can't simply skip ahead and read the ending before I waste $2.99 on the thing) - anywho...the comic book store folks were watching a flick. I asked what it was. And one said "How to Fight Your Dragon" and I said, "what? wait...you mean How to Train Your Dragon..." and then, "is it any good?" To which comic store gal stated - "actually it's really good. Fun and everything. The dragon actually reminds me a great deal of my cat, Ipkis." Having watched it - she's sort of right. It's almost as if the animators used a cat to draw the dragon.
What's lovely about the flick - is it really is all about the relationship between a boy and a dragon, a platonic love story of sorts. And has a gentle self-deprecating wit. So, if you need a happy movie? Go after this one. Oh and it's based on a kid's book. With America Ferrar voicing a Viking girl. Hee.
In other news...did the apartment hunting, saw two places, neither a go. Tomorrow will see four more - or three more. Sigh. Sorangel - my agent - asked me, mid-babble, if I write. Which took me by surprise. "Do you write?" Me:"Huh?" Sorangel:"Do you write scripts?" Me:" No, I mean I do write, I blog, and I've written a book, and I write a lot at work...why?" Sorangel:" The way you talk, I can tell you are creative - what you are saying is interesting and witty." I sort of talk the same way I write in this thing, generally speaking. And most of my snark is directed at myself.
Anyhow - I did make it to the Haiti Forum or Forum on Haiti at my church. 40-50 people, about fifteen white people, everyone else Haitians or ex-pat Haitians. Learned quite a bit. And felt sort of depressed and frustrated...because how do you help? NOG - or non-gov's don't work, particularly the foreign funded ones, and Bill Clinton is hurting more than helping, with the misallocation of funds to foreign experts, hotels, travel, and only 10% to actual aid. The speakers stated the best way to help was through non-conventional means - such as through Haitian groups, UNO (educational fund/union), Haitian Solidarity efforts, and political action committees to push for immigration reform.
Jocelyn Meyers who works for the New State Immigration Bureau. What she said about immigration made me wince and think, these poor people, who sat around me, silently. Men and women. Beautiful and friendly. Whose ancestors had fought for freedom from slavery way back in 1804. They were the first to win their freedom, the first to show the world that slavery was wrong. Or so I was told by another speaker - who had written a history on Haitian Solidarity and Political Reform.
Did you know that to get a work permit and travel documents permitting you to travel in and out of the US and to get a job - you have to apply for Temporary Protective Status? And to get this you have to write an essay, provide proof of who you are and why you are here, and pay close to $485 dollars. You have six months to apply. If it doesn't get approved - and many haven't been, due to delays, you have to apply for extension, and if you don't apply...and stay six months then leave the US - you are barred from re-entry for three years, possibly more. If you stay in US more than a year and you leave, you are barred from re-entry for ten years. The process she described gave me a headache. And it's not helped by all the illegal immigration experts who prey upon the community, charging them money to give them nothing in return. You have desperate, poor, homeless people hunting help...and they can't find it. Ms. Meyers informed them that the NY State Bureau provides help and information for free at CUNY and centers across the city.
When asked about Immigration Reform (not Immigration Amnesty - which is not the right word any longer - if you use that you get arrested (I think that was a joke) ) - she said that is no longer an option now that Peter King from Suffolk County has been re-elected and will still chair Homeland Security.
She also informed them that Immigration does not come after you unless you've committed a crime.
If you haven't, and you are here, they assume you are legal and documented. But you do need TPS for the work permit. Which isn't the same as a Green Card. The people who tried to come here...can't get status, many were turned away simply because they couldn't figure out the process or their approval has been tied up in red tape.
Then you listen to what has been going on in Haiti...the camps are nightmares. People are dying of poison gas due to poor ventilation in the tents. Toddlers have been falling into boiling vats of rice. Militia patrols the streets. Money that is being sent by foreign interests such as the US gov and through Clinton - is going for tourism, and corporate interests, not to aid the people and help them rebuild.
What to do? It was unclear. Lots of speeches about Solidarity - activism, not much on how to provide aid. But a suggestion was made by Meyers to provide the Brooklyn Haitian community with space to meet once a month to discuss how to solve these problems, to fight for their rights in the US and in Haiti. Which is a start. So many of them don't know who their congress rep or senate rep is.
Afterwards...I wandered home and spoke with Momster over the phone about many things. Momster feels she's not doing enough to make things better - that she's being complacent and thinks maybe she should join the Democratic Party in her world of ultra-conservative, Palin-loving Republicans.
I laughed. Because I don't think political parties are the answer. I think we need to find a way to work together...like the Vikings and the Dragons in How to Train Your Dragon. To find common ground and a way to help those in need. There's a quote somewhere I think that goes...to help the least of our brothers and sisters is to help ourselves? Don't know. I want to be a good person, am trying very hard to be. Even if I feel as if I just...spinning my wheels.
There's so much misinformation about Immigration in the US. So many people fear it. They think that immigrants threaten their jobs, their safety. When that's simply not true. The enemy, I think is generalizing. And the media, not to mention the internet - are both at fault. Too many people rely on unreliable sources for information - self-promoting broadcasters, talking heads, celebrities, and politicians for what is actually happening. We blame Fox News - but it is the fault of those who watch Fox News and don't question what they see. Don't take the time to check what appears on it.
In the US - I find the xenophobia and fear of immigrants amusing, since everyone here is an immigrant or the direct ancestor of one. But as many of you know, all too well, the US is not alone it's fears of immigration. I all too well remember listening to a German tour bus driver in West Berlin in the 1980s rail against the Turkish immigrants. Or a friend from Holland, rail against Turkey - it came up when I told her about my Turkish pen pal (yes - I had foreign pen pals back in the 1980s way before the internet - we sent each other pictures and I dreamed of visiting Turkey - which I finally was able to do, beautiful country and beautiful people). Prejudice and discrimination exists because we refuse to question. To push past our own stupid generalizations and assumptions. To think, you know what? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe what I was taught, maybe what I thought was true is not. Maybe I'm wrong. And maybe I should look at this a different way.
How to Train Your Dragon - that's the theme at the center of it. A boy, a Viking, whose people have always been at war with dragons...realizes that all they thought was true about dragons is not. Dragons aren't at all what they thought they were. Often the dragons we see - are in our heads and not actual. What makes life so hard I think sometimes...is knowing when you are wrong, and having the guts to admit it and try another way.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 03:17 am (UTC)Apparently the movie does not have much in common with the books besides the character names and the fact that they're supposed to be Vikings.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 04:14 am (UTC)Course Anne McCaffrey was more young adult...
Sorry to hear the film doesn't have much in common with the books, because I rather fell in love with Astrid, Hiccup, and Toothless.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:08 pm (UTC)I was exactly the same way. Although I think I started reading her in the 7th grade. My Aunt was into sci-fi/fantasy and introduced me to Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Zeldia Keatley Snyder, Tolkien,
CS Lewis...etc.
Loved Anne and Lewis...until I reached adult hood and picked up on somewhat the same things my mother picked up on in Edgar Rice Burroughs. Much preferred being oblivious. Because once you see those things...there's no going back. I can't read McCaffrey or Lewis at all now.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:09 pm (UTC)Can only imagine the fail over the filmmakers killing off Hiccups mother though.