(no subject)

I don't know about anyone else? But I feel as if everyone is talking at each other on social media. There's not a lot of "interaction" going on. So I'm trying, with mixed results, to interact with folks.

It works better on Dreamwidth than Twitter. Which is odd. You'd think it would be the opposite - since Twitter is kind of set up for interaction.
Instead people treat it like an insane bulletin board to promote themselves or share opinions. They don't really want anyone to reply to them.

Why am I on it?

I published a book on 2015 and was told to go on Twitter to promote it. Note: unless you have over 1000 followers, that's kind of pointless.
Only really works for pre-established professional writers with big followings such as say John Scalzi or Cat Valente or Courtney Milan.

***
Speaking of Twitter, George Taki wondered if Adam Lambert had a point in regards to his complaint about "Theo James" (who happens to be heterosexual) portraying George Michael, in a biopic. Lambert felt that only LGBT actors should portray LGBT roles. Does he have a valid claim?

Short answer: Of course not. Hello, acting. Also that's discriminatory and counter-productive.

Long answer: If we insisted that only heterosexual men/women play heterosexual roles, we'd have never seen the likes of Montgomery Cliff, Rock Hudson, Barbara Stanwyk, James Dean, Richard Chamberlin, etc.

If we insisted that only LGBT play those roles, we would never have gotten the performances of Tom Hanks (Philadelphia), Hugh Grant, Eddie Redmayne, Cillian Murphy, Annette Bening, and various others.

Acting requires a certain ability to play someone who is nothing like you.
One of the things Hamilton (the musical) did was state that anyone can play any role. Colorblind casting. Then, the musical revival of 1776 did gender blind casting. Shakespeare had gender blind casting.

I don't think anyone wants to slide down that slippery slope - they may not like where it leads. Restricting others rights, whatever your justification, doesn't always end well.

***

Finished watching Do Revenge - it's okay. Kind of...falls apart at the end, in the writers attempt at a happy ending. Up until then, it does for the most part work - although there are plot holes a plenty, and it kind of lost me half-way through. I didn't like anyone, worse, I found them kind of boring? Borrows heavily from Strangers on a Train, but I've seen it done better elsewhere. Actually, a soap opera handled that story rather well in the 1980s.

Goal this weekend is to set up a painting studio in my apartment or the corner of my apartment that I had my work station. I want to start painting the sunflower.

Buffy, art, food, and everything in between...basically a Saturday dump post

Well, today's accomplishments included getting my two robot vacuums to work. So, I now have a black and white robot vacuum - I got the white I-Life one - because I was having issues with the black one. But once it arrived the black one was working again. Then today, couldn't get either to work.

One apparently needed the bin to be cleaned and re-inserted. The other? I just needed to turn on. I went to youtube and discovered it had an on/off switch.

I've named Spike and Buffy. They get along pretty well considering.

Other accomplishments?

As I've been promising for the last two months, I finally set up my little art space/studio in my apartment. Basically, I converted my remote from home work station to an art/painting station, since I can't work remotely any longer. I'd actually bought the desk for artwork - so I'm happy about that. And now I have an easel set up, which can store my paints.

See picture below:



Even started on the sunflower. It's not great. But if you consider that the last time I painted or drew anything at all was approximately eight years ago? It was sometime in 2014 or 2015? I can't remember. In short, I'm a tad rusty. Drawing and painting are like any skill - practice makes perfect.
Although it is in some results a trained mental muscle.

I've always been good at art or so I've been told by various art teachers (I've taken a lot of courses on art throughout school and post school, also outside school). One in college told me that she wished she'd gotten me earlier. (I waited until my senior year to take an art course, while my freshman roommate majored in art - she became a financial advisor and has self-published three books now, one on finances, and two that are a series of historical novellas.) I'm an intuitive artist. Not a commercial artist. Freshman roommate was more of a commercial artist.

I don't like commercial art - never have. Also don't like commercial writing - tends to bore me. I don't do paint or write on demand or by numbers well. Never could color within the lines. It's not how I think. Nothing wrong with it - just not how I think is all.

The rusty bit - also a result of the fact that I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking today. I don't know why. Tremor was just worse today than usual.

The other accomplishment?

I made a low-carb/low-sugar gluten-free chocolate mousse pie. The only sweetner is a teaspoon of maple syrup, and fruit. Maybe a little sugar in the semi-sweet chocolate chips that I melted and the gluten free graham craker crust.

Ingredients:
( Read more... )

See picture below:



The difficulty is that blood sugar is still higher than I'd like it to be. ( health crap )

***

Still watching Peaky Blinders - which evolves as the seasons progress. The characters change, as does the setting, attire, and problems.
It does a good job of getting across the time period from 1919 to 1930 in Britain. Also, focuses on the lesser known Birmingham, and Northern England. Along with the issues with Ireland, Belfast, and the IRA conflict during that period.

It is an anti-hero series. And it's violent, albeit not as violent as Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, or House of Dragon. More in lines with The Sopranoes and The Godfather. People get shot, people get beaten up.
Sexual violence is implied not shown, and there's not much of it.

I like the fact that it doesn't romanticize the anti-heroes. You know they are anti-heroes. There's no question about that.

It's well-written. I find myself re-winding a lot for the dialogue. I got the close-captioning on. Also, the acting is top notch. Not a weak link in the bunch.

I'm on S5, which is a bit bleaker than the previous seasons, possibly because it starts with the stock market crash. S4 is possibly the least bleak or the most satisfying.

***

Stumbled across an announcement that James Marsters attended the premier of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Wolf Pack in support of the actress, and walked the red carpet with her, along with her husband and co-stars.

The announcement also mentioned the toxic work environment on Buffy. I'm fascinated by stories of toxic work environments, because I've been in so many myself and am in one now. Misery loves company and all that.

From what I've been able to piece together from Gellar's interviews which all reference it now - is that Gellar doesn't much like talking about it. And kind of talks around it. Understandable - it's difficult to prove that sort of thing even when its going on. People are terrified to speak up, and the bullies have a tendency to be kind and nice to people who either aren't working directly for them, or that they like. So there's also quite a bit of gaslighting. And enabling. Go into any hostile work environment, and I guarantee you'll find folks defending the bullies, and telling you that the employee is to blame. Or it's in their head. They are also very good at finding scapegoats. Fighting these assholes is close to impossible in our society. Like it or not - we live in a society that enables and rewards bullies.

But when pressed does mention it - kind of vaguely. She's tough, and has been accused of bad behavior herself - so, that's part of the reason. What she has said is that - she felt it was important to put 100 percent of herself into it, and didn't understand why others didn't feel the same way. And discovered later that may have been a mistake - since she got burned out, early on. Also that, she got into trouble for standing up for the cast and crew - and shutting things down after 15 hours. "We promised 13, it's been 15 hours, we're done for the day. I'm going home." Having watched the out-takes, I believe that. They went way beyond what other series do in regards to takes. Most do five takes per scene, maybe ten. Buffy did thirty. I got bored watching it. I mean they literally redid each line about fifteen to twenty times. Until everything was perfect lighting, camera, etc. That's brutal. I'm surprised they got away with it. Fox, WB and UPN clearly was letting Whedon do whatever he damn well pleased.

According to the Hollywood Reporter - Gellar's husband is less vague, as is Seth Green, and others.
( Read more... )

This does clarify a few misrepresentations in the press at the time the show was airing. During 1997-2003, Gellar was portrayed as the Diva on Buffy, and the main problem. Whedon loosely stated that he was used to it - he had to deal with Roseanne. And Hannigan had alluded to it. As had others. She was blamed for Buffy ending in S7. Whedon was praised in the fandom, and Gellar got a lot of backlash. Typical bully behavior - as a friend told me recently, when I describing bullying behavior at work - they want to control the narrative. Whedon worked hard to control the narrative.
And people tend to see and believe what they want to see and believe.

But there were always signs. There always are. If you look closely enough.

However, I like how Gellar chose to deal with it now. Which is to state, "this happened in the past. I learned from it. Dwelling on it - gains me nothing. Talking about it - solves nothing. I'm proud of the work I did, the work the cast did, and the show we created. We can be proud of that, without condoning the toxic work environment that produced it. And I've moved on, incorporating the lessons I learned from that time period and ensuring it doesn't happen again on my watch."

What's interesting, albeit not surprising, is that both Gellar and Marsters have stated separately that they can't re-watch most of S6 and S7. ( Read more... )

I give her a lot of credit for all of that. (And I wouldn't call myself a fan of Gellar's by any stretch of the imagination.) But what she's doing isn't easy in that business. It means turning down certain jobs, and not getting others. Also, it's easier said than done. I will state, I'm doing the same thing - I'm incorporating the lessons learned from previous experiences. And not staying silent when bullied. And supporting others who are bullied in the work force.

***

Anyhow, off to bed. Hope your Saturday or what's left of it was uneventful and peaceful.