What is life without controversy?

1. Black Feminist Activist Professor Loretta Ross Teaches a Course Critiquing the Cancel Culture

This is a rather fascinating article on a controversial topic.

( excerpt )

I agree. I've changed more minds in my lifetime with kindness than shaming or self-righteous ranting. I turn people off when I attack them.
( Read more... )

2. The Crown Stokes Uproar Over Fact vs. Fiction

I talked to my mother about the Crown - my parents had finished watching the latest season. They agreed with the critics - it's not quite as good as previous seasons. Part of the problem is much of this season takes place during a period of time and regarding a series of events - that have been written to death about. We've all seen the story played out before - both in press reals, live coverage, tell-all books, movies, and television documentaries and mini-series. We've all watched the wedding. We've all
seen the accounts of how horrible Diana's life was in the palace and how nasty Charles allegedly was to Diana.

Add to that - the people are still living and the wounds are still raw.

Mother didn't think they handled Thatcher or Diana all that well. And really didn't like how they portrayed Camilla and Charles. And my mother doesn't care that much - she's ambivalent about the royal family and Thatcher. I can only imagine how people who do care - reacted.

I've not seen it yet. Will most likely watch it over the holidays along with His Dark Materials and The Expanse.

3. Hillbilly Elegy - which a lot of the folks (the ones who care about such things) have decided is a disgrace and misses the point.

Ron Howard Defends Hillbilly Elegy Against Various Critics

Negative Review

This is the book everyone felt the need to read after the 2016 election in order to figure out why Trump was elected. (I didn't read it - I already knew why Trump was elected, and wasn't at all surprised by it - actually kind of saw it coming. I work with Trump Supporters - also Wales brothers and sister supported Trump. And I had an uncle who voted for him. Add to that - I know a lot about the working class in the United States.)

My parents read it - found it interesting, but didn't recommend it. It's a memoir - memoir's always are problematic. Also, in the book I'm currently reading "How to be an Anti-Racist" - the author's professor states that everything in life is subjective. Objectivity is impossible. Very true. Memoirs tend to be a subjective view of one's past, family, etc.

I really have no interest in a Harvard Law School Granduate's take on his dirt poor Kentucky roots.

But, Janis Ian apparently loved the movie. So I may watch - just to see what it's like - plus it has a decent cast.

4. The Prom...

James Corden Should Stay the Hell Away From the Prom

Corden, who is straight, is so bad in The Prom—somehow both appalling and terminally bland—that it had me thinking maybe the hardliners were right along. Forget the whole case-by-case thing: No more straight actors playing gay men until the sins of The Prom are properly atoned for. Murphy, a gay man, has led some straight actors into fertile gay territory before, like Darren Criss in The Assassination of Gianni Versace. But Corden, flitting and lisping around in the most uninspired of caricatures, misses all potential for nuance, and thus never finds even a hint of truth in the role. And this is in a movie that’s supposed to be about empowering queer people!

This was posted on FB, and the poster stated that only gays should play gay roles. And I thought, but what about all the gay men and women who played straight roles? Also doesn't that limit actors?
( Read more... )

Day #258

1. Stayed up late last night to finish reading X of Swords Cross-Over Event - which was much better than expected. It did a rather good job of rebooting the Apocalypse character. Shame Oscar Issacs couldn't have played this character in an animated version, instead of in the The X-Men Apocalypse movie. Prior to this arc, Apocalypse was kind of a one-note bad guy, and more thematic than a character in his own right. By the way, I recently discovered via a church that in the original Greek - Apocalypse doesn't mean what we think.

Apocalypse (ἀποκάλυψις, apokálypsis) is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling".

The writer seems to go with this definition in X of Swords. And threads a story that is far less violent than anticipated, and far more character driven in places, with lots of world-building going on in the background.

( Read more... )

2. Watched television, surfed the net, and did the doctor thing. First gynecologist visit in years. Yes, I pick a pandemic to finally see a gynecologist. I liked her. Hopefully she'll last. The last three didn't.
I've had really bad luck with gynecologists. Got the requisite blood work done - hormones, and thyroid. Because I keep sweating profusely whenever I exert myself at all physically. It's becoming annoying. Also, my last period was 85 days ago and counting.

Also ran errands in the rain. ( Read more... )

3. New York vs. the Corona Virus

Another segment of the on-going saga of New York vs. the Corona Virus.

Per the Governor's email - which I'm posting here, because it's the only way I'll have a historical record of it.

I understand COVID fatigue—we all are tired and exhausted by this pandemic. But we can't give in to it. We can't let hospitalizations climb. Contact tracing data suggests that small indoor gatherings are a source of as much as 70 percent of infections. While I can understand why there is a desire to gather, we can't give in to it this holiday season. We have regulations in place for a compelling reason: to safeguard the public health, keep people out of hospitals and save lives.

Local governments must enforce compliance. If they don't enforce the restrictions it will not help us. But each of us needs to help too. How? It's simple: Follow health guidelines, avoid gatherings where COVID can spread and (you guessed it) wear a mask—including in all indoor settings when outside of your own household.

( what else you need to know tonight )