Spontaneous Musings

Spent most of my vacation attempting to quell various aches and pains, brought on by various factors, some known, some guessed at, some not?
( Read more... )

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The UU Church has a Devotional Poetry Writing Group. I flirted with it. But I'm wary of anything regarding the writing and sharing of poetry. ( Read more... )

UU Church is also featuring a singer/song-writer for tomorrow's service, who is (apparently) popular? I hadn't heard of them before the Church newsletter told me about him - but I'm also not really into religious music? While I have, as you've no doubt figured out by now, widely diverse taste in music, there are few genres I rarely listen to? They are "traditional classical opera", "electronica" (depending on the electronica), "religious music", "gospel", "choral music", "rap" (depending on the rap), and heavy metal (depending on the heavy metal). So, as result, I hadn't come across this person, who I think is trans, and is creating queer religious music and going across the country with it.

Anyhow...I checked them out last night, and their song, entitled Ploushare Prayer by Spencer LaJoye.

Folks, they made me cry? It really moved me. I was surprised.
( Ploushare Prayer Video )
But not sure I can deal with the crowd that will converge on the church tomorrow to hear them play for free. I'll do it on Facebook or Zoom instead. No steps. Sleep in. And better acoustics, not to mention I can see more.

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Pain and fear of large crowds kept me from participating in the No Kings Day. I hope it went well. More to the point? I hope it accomplishes something?

Ah, it's getting darker earlier now. Sunset was at 6:30. My heart goes out to my brother - whose heating and cooling system has failed him. He's tried to get it fixed multiple times. The first time, they came out, he paid them, they claimed that they fixed it. They didn't. They came out again, claimed to fix it, they didn't. Then they got bought by someone else. Who kept claiming they didn't get my brother's calls or emails, and came out, and then well up and disappeared. So he found a new company - and the whole system has to be replaced. He has a wood burning stove - but it's not going to heat the entire house, and his bedroom is one floor below it, and heat rises? And it gets cold up there? And my brother gets cold easily. [I'm so glad I rent. Let all of that be somebody else's problem. We've had hitting issues - but they tend to get resolved quickly - since there's about 100 people affected.)

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Television

1. Weirdly I'm enjoying Angel the Series better now than I did way back when I first watched it in the late 1990s. If I was to hazard a guess - I think it would be lowered expectations, and no longer wanting Angel and Buffy to be together - or being disappointed that they aren't? I wasn't in the fandom until roughly 2002 - or midway through S6. ( Read more... ) At any rate - I'm enjoying Angel more now. Partly, because I like Angel, Wes, and Cordelia better now than I did twenty five years ago. I find them a bit more relatable and comforting. They are all a tad lost, and doing the best they can to make things work, while flailing miserably most of the time. The writers dig down into classic noir tropes.

And, I like how most of the writers veer away from the classical hero trope. For all the times, Angel succeeds, he also fails miserably. In the Scourge? The seventh or eighth episode, he attempts to sacrifice himself heroically - but his speeches to Doyle about why he sacrificed his humanity and a life with his one true love to pursue the cause, backfires on him in a huge way. ( Read more... )

Moving on to Parting Gifts - which I didn't like the first time I saw it, twenty five years ago, I do now. It's a great study in characters and contrasts. Also demonstrates how Wes, Cordy and Angel work slightly better than Doyle, Angel and Cordy did. For one thing - they get it across pretty quickly - that there are 0 romantic feelings between Angel/Cordy or Cordy/Wes. ( Read more... ). They also set up each character's skill sets. ( Read more... ) But mainly, within a short period of time - they set up the problem, the on-going villain (WRH law firm in the shadows), and the relationship dynamic between Angel, Cordy, Wes. And I realized while watching that I like all three, and all three actors in spite of myself?

I prefer watching this outside of a fandom superimposing its views onto me?
I can find it comforting and enjoyable on my own. Also, no longer caring who ends up with who, or romantic ships - makes the show more interesting?
I was never much into romantic relationships on television shows? I much prefer the platonic friendships - they are more interesting to watch, and less frustrating - particularly within the noir/horror genre.

2. The Diplomat S3 - this is fun. Want sparkling funny witty dialogue - this is it. Good actors. And excellent political satire. Also, even though the President in this series was responsible for an act of terrorism? I still prefer Allison Janey as President to the one we currently have. I'd rather live in the world of the Diplomat? Sad I know. But here we are. And, sigh, Rufus Sewell is hot. This show just makes me laugh. I'm not binging it this go around - I'm letting it last. Then I may rewatch from the beginning.

[I'm still watching Poker Face and Rain Maker on Peacock, just slowly.]

LJ is still out of operation. Just came back from seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which was as enjoyable, possibly even more enjoyable than the book. I laughed a lot during both, not during the dark parts of course. My sense of humor may be dark but it is not that dark. I remembered the book well enough to follow the film without any difficulty whatsoever, but not well enough to notice how the film veered away from it.
I was, in other words, blissfully oblivious of some of the complaints others online had regarding it. This re-affirms my belief that these films work better if you have not reread or read the novels recently.

Also enjoyed the trailers. 2012 looks like a lot of fun. Sherlock Holmes made me laugh quite a bit. Sure it looks hokey as all get out, but also a lot of fun. Was told that it has gotten abysmal reviews, but Robert Downey Jr is one of those actors that I will watch read the telephone book. I'll probably rent it and not wast time or money seeing it in the theater.

Picked up comics on Friday - enjoyed the Buffy and the Drusilla one. Juliet Landau, Brian Lynch, and Frank Urru have combined forces to create a two issue Drusilla After the Fall comic in the Angel series. Sure it is called Angel, but Angel doesn't appear in it. All Drusilla. And the art is quite lovely. The writing, spot on, and it may be the best comic I've read in a while. Lynch, hate to say this, is still putting the Buffy writers to shame - possibly because he was a fan of the tv series and like most fans, has an encyclopedic/anal retentive memory regarding it? While the original writers of the tv series, seem to have forgotten quite a bit. Landau also had a hand in the story, she not only came up with the idea, she also co-wrote the script and provided Urru with ideas regarding how it should be drawn - so we are literally seeing Dru and Dru's world through the actress who portrayed her, eyes. This provides a bit of support to my view that you can't technically count the comics as canon - since you lack the actor's pov. The actors like it or not, do bring something to the enterprise.

The art in the Dru comic in my opinion is a lot better than the art in the Buffy comics. The people are easier to tell apart for one thing, and their facial reactions are more defined. Also there's a depth and perspective to Urru's paintings that is lacking in Jeanty's. Urru is more of a realistic painter, his pictures feel more filmlike or three dimensional. As an artist, I find myself admiring his work, while Jeanty's feels at times amateurish to me. It's a subjective view - I know and based on my own background in painting and art, which granted is not extensive but...is there all the same. The color scheme is alos quite brilliant, all grays, except for a spot of color here and there - Dru's blue outfit and the blue dress she takes from the woman she kills, and Dru's demon eyes and blue eyes. We are clearly in Dru's pov.
( Drusilla Comic in Angel Issue #24 )