Sunday Musings..

[shadowkat]

Crashed and burned this weekend - after a trying work week and the ill effects of the DST transistion. Caught up on sleep.

Wales: Disney and HBO are merging.
Me: Uh no, they aren't.
Wales: I heard it.
Me: I don't see that happening...
Wales: HBO and Disney both showed West Side Story.
Me: I know Amazon bought MGM, but not that -
Wales: Well look it up.

I have. She's wrong. They just made a deal to share streaming privileges to 20th Century Fox properties for one year.

Me: How was the print screening class?
Wales: I left it.
ME: Oh? Why -
Wales: I felt uncomfortable with the other students there was a huge generation gap, and I was slower than they were.
ME: Basically you were the old lady with a bunch of kids?
Wales: Pretty much, and they well we weren't connecting...
Me: Sorry. Maybe another class -
Wales: Don't be - I got what I wanted out of it. I made a lot of Freedom from Religion t-shirts. If you want one, I have them.
Me: Freedom from Religion? I should send you the sermon my Minister did a while back about Religion vs. Spirituality, that a religious atheist requested.
Wales: An atheist?
ME: I know a lot of very religious atheists. Also a lot of agnostic atheists.
Wales: I believe in an after-life since I really want to see my parents again in it, and be with them. But that's probably not true...but I need to believe it is -
Me: We don't know. No one does. It could very well be. If that's reassuring?

I'm a spiritual agnostic with issues with religion. Although I think - religion is people. My father used to have this little game he'd play to keep me entertained in church as a small child. He'd fold his hands together, and make kind of steeple with his fingers. "Here's the church, and here's the steeple," he'd say, and then open up his palms.."open up the doors, and here's all the people." His message was clear - a church or any organization really is only as good as the people within it.

My difficulty with religion is the same with well any organization - cliques. I have an aversion to exclusive groups.

Wales: I don't like religion because it is -
Me: Exclusive?
Wales: Yes, that..almost like a sorority of sorts. Not everyone is really welcome.
Me: My thoughts exactly.

We both left our sorority for those reasons - we don't like exclusivity.
I don't like rejection and I don't like rejecting others. It's why I don't like flocking my posts. It hurts when I get rejected, and it hurts when I reject others. Pinpricks on the soul.

Of course it's a necessary evil to do so. I just wish it wasn't.

It's why creative writing and art are so hard - it's 90% rejection. And really hard to get things published.

Wales: You kind of need to know the right people. Also gone to the right schools, the Ivys.
Me: Yeah, Brandeis, Bard, Princeton, Vasser, Wellsey, Radcliff...not Colorado College (which was and is an excellent school by the way).
Wales: It's social class - if you are from a certain class, and went to certain schools, with certain connections -
Me: You get published.

But you also have to be able to handle lots of rejection and people wanting to rewrite your story and fix it. It's just painful.

We've become cynical in our middle-old age, Wales and I. Although all of that, doesn't stop me from dreaming, writing, revising, and hoping. I may be a fool for doing so...but who knows.

**

I've been following with amusement the GH Convention posts on Soap Twitter. The soap operas have fan conventions to keep up their fan bases and keep themselves going. GH is about to celebrate it's 59th Anniversary. Mother felt the need to regale me with news of Bold & the Beautiful's 35th anniversary (it only has two of its original cast members - and one of them has walked down the aisle on the show 29 times). Then mother decided to tell her history with soap operas. She's turning 80 this year. She started watching them with her family in the 1940s and 50s. She remembers when Guiding Light was on radio then fifteen minutes on television. And all the soaps she's watched over the years. She got me hooked on soap operas.
I watch them for something innocuous to discuss with her - something trivial that isn't about family, death, health, or work.

Anyhow the art department at GH is rather creative...they rebranded all the candy and products in the vending machine. And their cereals.

Hopefully this photo of the vending machine on the studio tour posted on Twitter will be visible:



If not...go HERE. You have to respect the detail and the work involved.

What's amusing is the fandom is kind of like all fandoms in the following ways...

* They dislike any platform that they aren't posting currently on and think the fandom on that other platform is evil. (Soap Twitter users think the fandom on FB is evil, and vice versa.)

*They hate certain characters who seem to get all the air time. (It's usually a character that gets in the way of a favorite ship, or takes up too much screen time - which is a thing on soaps. There are characters who get more screen time than others.)

* They think the actors have a say in the storyline and characters they portray, no matter how often they state otherwise. [Actors have no say in storylines or pairings. No control, no say, and no knowledge. Even if they claim otherwise. It's BS. The fans actually have more say - because if fans hate something and make it known, the writers will eventually get it and move in another direction.]

***

They seem to have finally gotten the message below floors and adjusted the thermostat. The apartment is no longer overheated, and I was able to turn off the air conditioner and enjoy pleasant 60-70 temperatures. I also slept better as a result.

***

COVID is still raging. My mother keeps telling me about people she knows who got it - while entertaining. And my brother was relieved they tested negative after going to a friend's birthday party in a crowded restaurant, with no one wearing masks.

The actors on the soaps get tested for COVID three times a week. My niece was getting tested almost daily. She wanted to go to Berlin to visit a friend - but her parents nixed it. They've chosen to reign her in a bit.
***

I am admittedly tempted by the Jane Austen Literary Mug that they are advertising on PBS while airing Sandition. But it's a $72 dollar.

Currently watching Sandition - which still isn't as good as the version written by "Another Lady" that I read in the 1980s. It held true to the Austen style, while this one is more...well, Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age. (I'm watching the end of S1, because I stopped when I heard it ended on a cliff-hanger and wasn't being renewed. But now that it has and there's a second season, I'm watching the three episodes I skipped. And since I already know it doesn't closely follow the original - I can safely handwave it.)

**

Anyhow...that's it for tonight, I think.

Here's a picture for kicks and giggles...

Comments

[atpo_onm]

Although all of that, doesn't stop me from dreaming, writing, revising, and hoping. I may be a fool for doing so...but who knows.

My personal philosophy on creative things is to do them because I find them enjoyable, soul-satisfying. If other people like them, that's a bonus. Pay me? I've never asked so far, but if someone comes along in future and offers, why not?

But over the last year and a half, I've found great satisfaction in printing up photos I've taken of some of the "yard art" people put outside of their homes, framing them in a simple, basic frame and leaving them outside their door, along with a note that states who I am, the why, and also makes the point that I do NOT want to be paid-- that this is a hobby, and I do it for pleasure.

So far, every time I have received a comment back, the photo was enjoyed by the recipient. And as I point out in the note I leave, if the photo doesn't do it for them-- hey, free frame! ;-)

Food for the soul, art is for me, in its many manifestations.

[cactuswatcher]

Yes, I've occasionally tried to do things to impress others, like when I wrote a novel. But it's more valuable to me, to do things that challenge me that I enjoy, than to impress others.

Making others happy is pretty good too. My sister saw a cute photo of an ATPo friend's puppy and wanted to make a painting of it for her, though they'd barely met. Now many years later, the dog has passed on and our friend very much values the painting.

[yourlibrarian]

I watched the first ep of Sanditon S2 last night. They're clearly taking it wherever they want it to go at this point.

[shadowkat]

I'm on the fence with it - I read the original completion, which was Sandition by Jane Austen and Another Lady - and I loved that version. It's funny, and light.

This one is kind of soapy and darker. It reminds me more of Downton Abbey than Austen.

I'm guessing the actor who played Sydney Parker chose not to return? And they have to find someone else as a love interest for Charlotte?

[yourlibrarian]

Given his other show, I joked with Mike that he got sidetracked in India.

[shadowkat]

LOL! I forgot he was in another show - probably after Sandition ended and didn't look like it was getting renewed.

[svgurl]

Rejection is definitely hard to do and hard to receive.

Although all of that, doesn't stop me from dreaming, writing, revising, and hoping.
I don't think it makes you a fool at all. Doing what you enjoy is important, even if it is only you that is having fun.

it only has two of its original cast members - and one of them has walked down the aisle on the show 29 times
Oh, wow, it is a soap opera but still that is pretty wild! My mom used to watch Young & and the Restless and All My Children, and I watched the latter now and then too. There are so few soap operas left these days.

I have only seen scenes here and there for GH but that is cool that they took the time to customize that vending machine.

They think the actors have a say in the storyline and characters they portray, no matter how often they state otherwise.
It's true; I always hated how fans lash out at actors because they don't like the character. They're just doing their job and it's not their fault your favorite ship isn't canon/endgame. Though I'm not really a fan of when shows cater to fans either; usually it is just a vocal minority who is upset.

The COVID stories makes me feel even more stubborn about continuing to wear my mask everywhere.

I love mugs and a Jane Austen one sounds awesome but yeah, that is a lot to pay.

[shadowkat]

Thanks. Weirdly, I just got a royalty notification - apparently someone picked up my book on the Kindle in January 2022. I hope they enjoy it. (I made 84 cents.) I put it out there - because I wanted to share it, I don't really care that much if I make money off of it. (Although it would be nice to get back what went into it - I kind of did through taxes.)

Yeah, soaps are weird. There's currently four left. The longest running are General Hospital, than Days, then Y&R, then B&B. AMC, if it still aired, probably would have been older.

They're just doing their job and it's not their fault your favorite ship isn't canon/endgame. Though I'm not really a fan of when shows cater to fans either; usually it is just a vocal minority who is upset.

Very true. Agree on both counts. The actor isn't the character. And often forgets what they did. They do scenes. And out of order.

Problem with soaps - is they do, occasionally cater to the audience. It's also the upside. If a ship or a storyline is clearly not working - they'll abruptly drop it or quickly wrap it up. Sometimes I get whiplash from how fast they'll wrap up a story.

The COVID stories are making me continue wearing one too - and so are most New Yorkers. There are those who aren't, but most of us are.

[trepkos]

His message was clear - a church or any organization really is only as good as the people within it.

Heh! I never thought there was a message there - just thought it was an excuse to wiggle one's fingers!

[shadowkat]

;-)

Why would you need an excuse to wiggle your fingers?