Update meme

1. What I've Been Reading...

Just finished Beyond the Highland Mists by Koren Morning.

Well, it was better than the last two books that I read in some respects, but not by much. 2.5 stars? I'm finding it hard to give it a full three. Keep in mind I'm a low grader, I gave the book I wrote 4 stars out of 5. When reading rated reviews, regardless of what they are about, on the internet, it's best to keep in mind that the person doing the reviewing may have a rating scale that defies logic. Or is not your own. For example? You see a book with 5 stars, you read said book, and you think...whoa, did we read the same book? You go back and check this person's other reviews and discover wait -- they give practically every book with a happy ending a five star review. Alrighty then.

Also there's the fact that you just might not share the same tastes. Have you ever compared books with a friend on Good Reads? How often do you find more than 15% agreement? I seldom do, mainly because when I joined Good Reads I felt the need to rate every single book that I vaguely remembered reading in my lifetime -- until I finally realized it was impossible and sort of silly and gave up. As a result I have 1468 books rated, and a lot of them are books that I know I read, even enjoyed, but I honestly can't remember. Did learn something from this exercise -- the idea of reading a 100 or more books a year is all well and good, but if you can't remember 90% of them...does it really matter? Wouldn't it make more sense to read maybe five or six and be able to recall something about them ten years later? Not that I would. Nor have. For the life of me, I can't remember the plots of either One Hundred Years of Solitude or Love in the Time of Cholera, which I read over twenty years ago. Loved them. Can't remember them. And I was only reading ten books a year at that stage.

Anyhow this has nothing to do with the book I just read --- except that you should take my review with a hefty grain of salt, I suppose.

( review )

2. What I've been watching...

I can't really say that I'm overly fannish about anything that I'm watching. Possibly the closest is maybe Lucifer and The Good Place, but I have issues with both shows.

I like the characters in Lucifer but occasionally get annoyed with the writing and the set-up (me and cop procedurals are un-mixy things for a lot of personal reasons). I like the set-up and writing of The Good Place but get annoyed with the characters at times (me and US situation comedies seem to be unmixy things, although this one at least isn't obsessed with people having sex like all the other ones including Lucifer are, so progress). The two shows have a lot in common, and attract me for similar reasons -- their off-beat examination of metaphysical and moral philosophical issues. Offbeat takes on the devil -- by poking fun at the archetype and making the character flawed, vulnerable, and not evil. In both -- the devilish character or trickster is handsome, a fantastic comedic actor, exceedingly charming, and sort of the lead.

Both make me laugh for different reasons. In both, the writers appear to have issues with sexual orientation - and not in a good way -- the writers appear to be uncomfortable with homosexuality, and rely on it for laughs. (Sort of wish that wasn't the case, but hardly surprised by it. Our society has massive issues with gender, until those issues get resolved, sexual orientation is going be an uncomfortable and difficult topic.)

Both are racially diverse, and have strong female protagonists, although I think, in both the female protagonist is second to the devlish male character and doesn't have his "power".

I'm wondering what it is exactly that is attracting me to these two shows over everything else that's currently out there. Well, these two and General Hospital (which I watch mainly to discuss with my mother each day on the phone and because I like 75% of the characters. With soaps, if you love 75% of the characters...it works. It also works if you are more character driven than plot driven, which I obviously am.)

But fannish? No. Not that I've ever really been fannish about anything. Nerdy, yes, fannish, no. I fall in love with some work of art? I tend to re-watch, analyze it to death, write a lot of meta, and read fanfic. Not quite there yet with either of these series. I watch them only once. Don't remember most of the nitty gritty details (don't really care). But I do want to talk about them, do look forward to seeing them each week, and would be disappointed if they disappeared. (They aren't - both renewed for additional seasons. )

Still on the fence about the Good Place S2 finale. Which....when I think about it, was inevitable, but I was sort of hoping they wouldn't do it. ( vague but big spoiler on S2 Finale of The Good Place )

Anyhow, I'm clearly in the minority on this point -- from all the squeeing on social media regarding the Good Place season finale. So, I'll just sit quietly over here.

Oh well.

Also saw Grey's Anatomy -- which has been astonishingly good the past two weeks. The April and Baily-centric episodes were excellent. I was surprised that I liked the April episode, "Personal Jesus", but it went a long way towards changing my view of the character. Also surprised they got rid of the abusive ex-hubby storyline as fast as they did. I was sure we were heading for a season long arc. The Baily episode surprised me, and had the added bonus of focusing solely on Bailey, the Chief, Maggie Pierce and Baily's husband. I saw a preview of the spin-off, Station 19, featuring Bailey's husband and yes, I'm going to try it. Mainly because it features a female fire-fighter who takes over as Captain of the fire house. (Although she doesn't look like fire-fighter. So we'll see. 9-1-1 did better casting, it's fire-fighters look like fire-fighters. Big. Strong. Aisha Hinds plays an African-American lesbian fire fighter in 9-1-1, which really works for me. I believe she's a fire-fighter. 9-1-1 is one of the better cast television series. Casting, I've realized, is key to a show's success.

Based on casting alone, I've decided to stick it out with The Resident -- it has a good and diverse cast. The writing just needs a little tweaking. Also it's a bit dark -- sort of the antithesis of Grey's Anatomy and The Good Doctor. In this one, we have a couple of anti-hero characters. And it focuses a lot on medical malfeasance -- so triggering. Plus somewhat predictable and contrived plotlines. (Yes, I've watched one too many doctor shows in my life-time). That said, I like the chemistry of the cast and enjoyed watching it. Also I think it has potential and will get better...so may stick with it a bit longer.

9-1-1 -- has gotten better, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Nice meld of emergency cases of the week and character/social issues. The show-runner team of Murphy/Minear/Falchuck are pulling back a bit -- it's not as dark as most of their writing, nor as over-the-top. There's a little of that, but not what I expected. It's kinder actually and in some respects more real.

Nashville needs help. But this is the finale season...so it may not matter. It's drifted away from it's true strength -- the music industry, and into personal relationship issues and personal lives. Also all the characters seem to be off doing unrelated things -- so no cohesion. I spend most of my time wanting more songs, and wondering if Nashville's been cancelled, does this mean that Jonathan Jackson will pop up on GH again?

I can't stand the Juliette Barnes story line. And can't help but wonder why Avery puts up with her.
She's never there for him. It's always about her. Maddie is no longer making music and is trailing after some Justin Bieber wannabee. Deacon plays occasionally, we rarely see him working, and mostly is mooning after Jesse and trying to get over Ryanna. I'm bored. If it weren't the last season? I'd give up.

3. What I've been writing?

A lot of work related stuff. Various posts on social media.

But fictionally...bit of a slump at the moment. I am on page 360 of my sci-fi novel. Getting closer to the finish line. Then on to the next book in the series, or jump to another one of the novels I've been working on. Whether any of this ever makes it off my hard drive is anyone's guess.

4. What I've been doing?

Hanging in there for the most part. Work is crazy busy. But we got the oil tank removed, yay. And
I got various contractual options and change orders awarded. So progress.

Also started a meditation practice, gave up alcohol entirely, and am doing yoga each night. Just a little but enough. Scaling back on sugars and carbs. It's helped. I feel calmer and happier as a result.

Film Review - "Get Out"

Finally saw the film Get Out by Jordan Peel. Which has been nominated for multiple Oscars, best director, best screenplay, best picture, and best actor. It's historic in regards to the nominations for multiple reasons.

Also been recommended to me by various co-workers, and several people online.

ME: Is it going to make me want to kill all the white people in the cast?
Co-workers: No, no, not at all. It's a great movie.
ME: Will it keep me up at night with nightmares?
Co-workers: No, no, not at all.

They were wrong. Although not so much on the nightmares. It's not really scary in the same way many horror films are -- but, it does make the heart race, the blood boil, and there's a sense of overwhelming dread throughout.

It is however worth watching and an important film. Particularly in regards to how race is viewed in the US, and how it affects us.

The film is a satirical psychological horror tale that borrows heavily from "The Stepford Wives", "Harvest Home" and another horror film that I can't remember the name of -- I think Robin Cook's "Coma". But mainly, it reminded me of the 1970s psychological horror film/satire "The Stepford Wives, that was in turn based on the novel by Ira Levin. As The Stepford Wives satirizes gender politics in suburbia, Get Out satirizes racial politics, and it tackles as the Stepford Wives did slavery and servitude, how one group objectifies the other as property available for its use.

I've seen both films. Get Out has a better ending than the Stepford Wives and in some respects a more interesting set-up. (I actually found Get Out less disturbing and less subtle than the Stepford Wives, and easier to watch in some respects.) I have to admit I was leery of Get Out, because I was worried it would end the same way the 1970s horror flick the Stepford Wives had. (It doesn't. "Get Out's" ending is more humorous and cathartic. I still haven't forgotten the creepy ending of The Stepford Wives.)

What's disturbing about the film and why it is an important one -- is that the villains in it are the complacent white liberals. Not rednecks. Not the Trump supporters. But the folks who voted for Obama.
One character even mentions that he would have voted for Obama three times. The complacency of people like my own family members, who don't see themselves as racist, yet...somehow further racism with their very complacency. Or any of us really.

My only quibble with the film -- is I think it does its own brand of racial stereotyping and generalizations. It's telling that the only white characters shown are the bad guys. (I literally wanted to kill "all" the white characters.) And they are all at various points depicted as exaggerated stereotypical versions of white liberals. It's a reverse type of stereotyping that works in satire. And it's worth noting that this is "satire" -- it's supposed to unsettle you and make you squirm. It wants you to ask these questions. It's also notably a rather narrow "black male" perspective on it - the heroes of the film are Chris (the black photographer) and Robert (the TSA agent). Everyone else is a villain or a victim. There are no sympathetic female characters in the story, black or otherwise. Like most satire -- it has a rather narrow lense, showing us our societal and possibly our own racial and gender biases reflected back at us -- via fun house mirror.

That said, the film is well done. It has the same level of precision that Guillermo Del Toro's Shape of Water possessed. Nothing is left to chance. And it builds the feeling of dread slowly and well throughout. There's a lot of clear foreshadowing, and visual metaphors shown in the beginning that are repeated later on.

I'd tell you the plot, but I think it's better to watch it cold with as little information as possible. I was able to figure a few things out early on -- mainly because I'd seen too many other films just like it. And it borrows heavily from those established horror tropes, and in some respects subverts and plays homage to them.

It's basically "Guess Whose Coming to Dinner" meets "The Stepford Wives".

[So now, I've seen three of the nine films nominated. Get Out, Lady Bird, and The Shape of Water. So far, I'm ranking them 1) The Shape of Water, 2) Get Out, and 3) Lady Bird. The first two felt new and rather innovative. Lady Bird -- I've seen done one too many ways, and while I enjoyed it, and it still haunts me, I'm not sure I'd put it in the best film of the year category.]