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Mar. 9th, 2017 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* "The Gravity Is Strong:" http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-gravity-is-strong
* "The Voices Of Black Trans People Need To Be Heard At These Press Conferences & Rallies:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-voices-of-black-trans-people-need.html
* Wednesday was rough, but sweetened by people being kind. I had a badly timed Doctor's appointment about my ongoing lung infection (Month two!), that meant I had two hours to sleep, which realistically meant one, given how long it takes me to get to sleep. I was down there for ages. They decided to wait on a third course of antibiotics, given how rough that is on the body and it's not bad enough for me to suffocate when I sleep. If it keeps getting worse, we'll sample it and do targeted antibiotics like we did with the lung MRSA, This is pretty much what I was expecting, but I always check in when my lungs get lacey as it speeds the process way up if it all goes pear shaped. (I can call in and they can order labs in advance, so can just turn up with a sample and drop it off.)
I then did a library and Post Office run as they are right there, stopping at the Co-op to order a flat of the soup I like when I am sick, reserves having been depleted by February's illness, and pick up the low sugar and sodium Ketchup I like. I came home and put things away before attempting yet another two hour nap (again, really an hour given how long it takes to get asleep), so I could make my forage meet up. I took my friend to pick up stuff at the feed store and then paid the tax bill. I'm going to end up short on bills later in the month (I need to calculate how much, but not today), but housing is safe until Fall. We then went up to the Winco, where I got necessary cleaning supplies and some seeds. After dropping my friend off, I picked up some other cleaning things with the last of my cash. By this time the beautiful warm weather that had me out without a coat had turns rather suddenly to pissing down rain and hail, catching me nicely on the way out of the dollar store. Unloading in the hail was "charming." It was coming down hard enough and I was exhausted and soaked already so their didn't seem a point to waiting it out. This was a miscalculation, as by the time Squirrel came out to carry in the forage, it was down to a light rain. I did manage to get everything squared away and the fish maintenance done, but it was a near thing. Another kind friend sent me dinner, so I could lung while I waited, then went off to bed, hence the relative silence. I will do my best to catch up to things, but odds are they won't be normal 'til Friday or Saturday.
Thanks again to both kind donors who sponsored Wednesday's missions.
* Way back in the dawn of cable TV, when Nikelodean was brand new (Nik at night wasn't even a spark of an idea yet), they didn't have a lot of programming yet. They filled up the spaces with a lot of things imported from Europe, plus running the few original shows, like a lot. So basically everything they had foreign or domestic got rerun over and over. When your age is in single digits, this is a feature, not a bug. They had a whole stable of French and Italian shorts, a few original things like pinwheel for the very young. For my age group, they imported a lot of UK programming for older children. This is why I saw all the original Tomorrow People episodes, as they rand them every afternoon for several years. They also had a set of three mini-series that they would rotate aimed at middle grade audience. I have lost the names of the other two (one had a family of aliens that would revert to blobs. If any of you know what the hell that was, I'd love to know. We are likely talking made in the seventies of very early 80's). The one that made a huge impression on me was Children of the Stones. Even at that age I knew that the child acting was uneven (The girl was pretty good, but the lead boy and his friend, not so much), and some of the dialog was stilted, but the images and ideas were the sort to stay with one and rather brilliant. Standing stones that may or may not be people moving around when no one was looking. Creepy idealized Stepford villagers slowly assimilating new comers, creepy Morris dancers, mystic and SF goings on. The library even had a copy by a miracle, so I watched it again. The clothes are '70's ugly, and it's a slower build than a modern show would have, but is good the way the original Wicker Man is good, despite it's flaws. now if only they'd make Blake 7 in U S format, as I haven't seen that in decades either.
* I want to thank the person who recommended Pride. I never even heard of it, but oh did I ugly cry multiple times in the second half. i'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of this one either, but it's really well acted and based on events that I was only vaguely aware of being American, but which I think modern activists really need to know about. (I kept think during the election that we needed modernized Harvey Milk tactics and not the crappy ones the democratic party was going with, by which I mean, Mr. Milk went around to all the Unions and did all this workers and the Queer community United campaigning for issues that mattered to both groups). Pride is about a group of London Gay and Lesbian activists who tried to help support the big 1984 Miner's strike and how they ended up having each other's backs against the evil that was Thatcher and her Conservative agenda. The cast is amazing. I didn't recognize the younger actors, but they were excellent and really caught the spirit of the age. It also had folks like Andrew Scott (best known as Jim Moriarty, but here playing Gethin, who was my favorite), Dominic West (from the Wire), Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Joseph Gilgun, Russell Tovey etc.. I loved the women in this, even though the really flash roles were the men. I love that Sian ended up an Rl MP. I loved the way the Welsh village not only had to adapt to the Queer characters, but the queer characters had to adapt to the Welsh miners, that relationship was reciprocal and that just this once people kept their promises and turned up when it counted. The '80's were such a terrible time and the things that were terrible about it (AIDS, Thatcherism) weren't lost or lampshaded, but the movie still managed to be so fucking hopeful.
I think this is a movie we need in the age of Brexit, Trumpism, the rise of the National Front, etc.. This is a movie to remind us that it is worth fighting and that e need to make alliances wherever and whenever we can. Some of us won't survive this, much as so many didn't survive Thatcher and regan, but we need to grab life and hope where we can and we need to keep reaching out and fighting together win or lose.
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* "The Voices Of Black Trans People Need To Be Heard At These Press Conferences & Rallies:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-voices-of-black-trans-people-need.html
* Wednesday was rough, but sweetened by people being kind. I had a badly timed Doctor's appointment about my ongoing lung infection (Month two!), that meant I had two hours to sleep, which realistically meant one, given how long it takes me to get to sleep. I was down there for ages. They decided to wait on a third course of antibiotics, given how rough that is on the body and it's not bad enough for me to suffocate when I sleep. If it keeps getting worse, we'll sample it and do targeted antibiotics like we did with the lung MRSA, This is pretty much what I was expecting, but I always check in when my lungs get lacey as it speeds the process way up if it all goes pear shaped. (I can call in and they can order labs in advance, so can just turn up with a sample and drop it off.)
I then did a library and Post Office run as they are right there, stopping at the Co-op to order a flat of the soup I like when I am sick, reserves having been depleted by February's illness, and pick up the low sugar and sodium Ketchup I like. I came home and put things away before attempting yet another two hour nap (again, really an hour given how long it takes to get asleep), so I could make my forage meet up. I took my friend to pick up stuff at the feed store and then paid the tax bill. I'm going to end up short on bills later in the month (I need to calculate how much, but not today), but housing is safe until Fall. We then went up to the Winco, where I got necessary cleaning supplies and some seeds. After dropping my friend off, I picked up some other cleaning things with the last of my cash. By this time the beautiful warm weather that had me out without a coat had turns rather suddenly to pissing down rain and hail, catching me nicely on the way out of the dollar store. Unloading in the hail was "charming." It was coming down hard enough and I was exhausted and soaked already so their didn't seem a point to waiting it out. This was a miscalculation, as by the time Squirrel came out to carry in the forage, it was down to a light rain. I did manage to get everything squared away and the fish maintenance done, but it was a near thing. Another kind friend sent me dinner, so I could lung while I waited, then went off to bed, hence the relative silence. I will do my best to catch up to things, but odds are they won't be normal 'til Friday or Saturday.
Thanks again to both kind donors who sponsored Wednesday's missions.
* Way back in the dawn of cable TV, when Nikelodean was brand new (Nik at night wasn't even a spark of an idea yet), they didn't have a lot of programming yet. They filled up the spaces with a lot of things imported from Europe, plus running the few original shows, like a lot. So basically everything they had foreign or domestic got rerun over and over. When your age is in single digits, this is a feature, not a bug. They had a whole stable of French and Italian shorts, a few original things like pinwheel for the very young. For my age group, they imported a lot of UK programming for older children. This is why I saw all the original Tomorrow People episodes, as they rand them every afternoon for several years. They also had a set of three mini-series that they would rotate aimed at middle grade audience. I have lost the names of the other two (one had a family of aliens that would revert to blobs. If any of you know what the hell that was, I'd love to know. We are likely talking made in the seventies of very early 80's). The one that made a huge impression on me was Children of the Stones. Even at that age I knew that the child acting was uneven (The girl was pretty good, but the lead boy and his friend, not so much), and some of the dialog was stilted, but the images and ideas were the sort to stay with one and rather brilliant. Standing stones that may or may not be people moving around when no one was looking. Creepy idealized Stepford villagers slowly assimilating new comers, creepy Morris dancers, mystic and SF goings on. The library even had a copy by a miracle, so I watched it again. The clothes are '70's ugly, and it's a slower build than a modern show would have, but is good the way the original Wicker Man is good, despite it's flaws. now if only they'd make Blake 7 in U S format, as I haven't seen that in decades either.
* I want to thank the person who recommended Pride. I never even heard of it, but oh did I ugly cry multiple times in the second half. i'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of this one either, but it's really well acted and based on events that I was only vaguely aware of being American, but which I think modern activists really need to know about. (I kept think during the election that we needed modernized Harvey Milk tactics and not the crappy ones the democratic party was going with, by which I mean, Mr. Milk went around to all the Unions and did all this workers and the Queer community United campaigning for issues that mattered to both groups). Pride is about a group of London Gay and Lesbian activists who tried to help support the big 1984 Miner's strike and how they ended up having each other's backs against the evil that was Thatcher and her Conservative agenda. The cast is amazing. I didn't recognize the younger actors, but they were excellent and really caught the spirit of the age. It also had folks like Andrew Scott (best known as Jim Moriarty, but here playing Gethin, who was my favorite), Dominic West (from the Wire), Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Joseph Gilgun, Russell Tovey etc.. I loved the women in this, even though the really flash roles were the men. I love that Sian ended up an Rl MP. I loved the way the Welsh village not only had to adapt to the Queer characters, but the queer characters had to adapt to the Welsh miners, that relationship was reciprocal and that just this once people kept their promises and turned up when it counted. The '80's were such a terrible time and the things that were terrible about it (AIDS, Thatcherism) weren't lost or lampshaded, but the movie still managed to be so fucking hopeful.
I think this is a movie we need in the age of Brexit, Trumpism, the rise of the National Front, etc.. This is a movie to remind us that it is worth fighting and that e need to make alliances wherever and whenever we can. Some of us won't survive this, much as so many didn't survive Thatcher and regan, but we need to grab life and hope where we can and we need to keep reaching out and fighting together win or lose.
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com