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Dec. 17th, 2012 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* A neighboring town has offered Newton an empty Middle School that just closed. The building is to code and furnished. They will likely need to swap in elementary sized toilets etc., but the important thing is that the students and teachers all don't have to go back to that school. They have not decided when to restart, but are already talking to teachers about how to help the kids deal with it. It's important. I was teaching the day after Columbine, the day after 9/11, and the day after the Anthrax attacks. Even at this physical distance and with my students being older, they were freaked the fuck out and needed help processing for a long time after. I have some idea of how messy it's going to be with kids who had to hide, who heard gunshots, who lots friends and siblings. The thing the Monroe school district doing is incredibly kind.
I keep thinking about the teachers. I've done my share of lockdown drills. Even with Middle Schoolers who have individual emergency jobs and and know exactly what they are meant to do, it is hard to keep them organized, to get them packed behind the teacher desks or wherever your room's spot is, how hard it is to keep them quite and still. I am imagining trying to do that with crying, terrified little people in a real emergency where silent and still can mean life or death. I keep thinking about the incredibly brave teacher who stepped out of hiding to try to divert him away and died for it, and the kids that panicked and broke cover and died with her. The thing that teacher did, is what every one hopes they would have the courage to do and is so difficult in the moment. It's so easy for kids, or anyone really, to panic in a situation like that. During a lockdown drill, even if it's not a surprise drill and you know there's no threat, you crouch there gaming it out thinking through scenarios, trying to think what to do in various contingencies. Every school shooting, you picture your own school lay out, your own classroom, and your own kids, even if like me, you don't teach anymore.
* Unions can be literally a life or death issue:
* Republicans are fundamentally opposed to protecting Native America Women and immigrants from domestic violence and sexual assault in general, which is what's holding up reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. That's right, the Republicans are insisting on the absolute right of white men to rape Native women and immigrantts without fear of prosecution. No War on Women my ass.:
* "Alabama police kill 2 suspects after separate shooting incidents; 3 others found dead:" http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/police+kill+suspects+after+separate+shooting+incidents/7705642/story.html#ixzz2FJpxNryg
* Looks like I'm not the only person who's actually taught kids and tried to get them through lock down drills who thinks arming teachers is an incredibly bad idea for perfectly practical reasons: http://joycemocha.livejournal.com/342009.html
* "Twelve facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States:" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/
* I'm not sure if this has been clear in my recent writings: Reasonable limits has been the most common left position for pretty much my whole life. The Right has been claiming the Left's position is to take everyone's guns, but that's not so. It's a strawman at worst and a taking of the fringe for the center at best.
You'll notice when I write about this, I talk about things like background checks, putting the ban on assault weapons and extended magazines in place, closing the gun show loop hole (where about half of criminals get their guns), limits on mass purchases (how the cartels are arming up). I think waiting periods are a good idea, but I'm not as wedded to that. I also advocate universal health care with mental health coverage parity which would solve a lot of problems.
I personally don't like guns, but I grew up in a house with them. It's not fear, but simply that I'm bad with loud noises close to my head even with ear protectors and I don't enjoy the physical sensation of the kick. Guns are not for me personally, and they have done a lot of harm to people in my life, but I don't favour total prohibition, just reasonable limits.
I definitely agree a change in the culture as a whole would be a good thing. I just don't know how to make that happen.
* Want to help folks in the wake of the shooting in Newton? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/connecticut-elementary-school-shooting-how-to-help_n_2302760.html
* Now for something cheerful: Some of the first same sex marriages in my town. That's the front of the courthouse, across from the library. I don't know the gentlemen or the ladies, but I wish them long life and lasting love.: http://youtu.be/miJKJhX86jk
* I was doing marginally better, so I took the good lung meds, slapped on a mask and Squirrel took me to see the late night showing of the Hobbit. We reasoned that a late night 3-D IMAX showing on a Sunday night might be comparatively sparse. We were right. My guess as to the location of the new theater was correct and they were even handing out free popcorn and soda as an opening week special, which is good considering the alarmingly high ticket price. This theater as been literally open since Friday. My seat was already damaged. It worked out though as it was a little like a rocking chair and I found at least four reasonably comfortable positions, despite us sitting in the handicapped row. (I was having enough trouble with the ramp and my lungs, no way was I trying the stairs, especially given the number of times I've started falling and had to grab furniture in the last week).
First off I should explain that my house growing up was full of books. My Mother had custom built a whole wall of shelves in the dining room and my father's den. She'd built smaller book cases in most of the other rooms of the house. My parents were readers. They worked hard, but they always found time to read both for themselves and to us. My Mother mostly read library books to us off and on during the day. My Father read the bed time stories. Before my Sister was born, we'd read not only the obvious things like Milne, Wind in the Willows, and the while OZ series, but also a lot of Stevenson and Dumas, and the Hobbit. Around the time my sister was born, we reread the Hobbit then did LOTR. When she was old enough, she got her own story time at her earlier bed time, and I would sit out in the hall and listen. This was before the animated ones were made. To this day, when I think of Gandolf's voice, it is my Father's. Part of what I love about Andy Serkis' Golem is it's closeness to my Father's version. He sung me the songs to tunes of his own devising. When I think of the Hobbit, I think of the wall of story book picture my my Mom put up behind my bed when I was born, the original yellow paint in my childhood bedroom, the smell of cigarettes and coffee, the way the big skin tag wiggled under my Father's eye as he read. He read me bedtime stories long after I learned to read myself, long after my sister's restlessness and complains led him to give up reading to her. Until I was old enough to not just read myself LOTR, but Silmarillion. After my sister got sick, she spent a lot of time in bed, and I read her the Hobbit and LOTR after all. I get all the ways this stuff is deeply problematic, but it's also really tied up with some of the best bits of my childhood, even as Silmarillion got tied to some of the worst for reasons i don't want to get into here. That's my baggage going in.
First off, I really am okay with them doing the bridge film and thus I'm okay with them putting in extra bits that tie into that. They kept in most of the stuff that mattered to me. I say most, because there were some small quibbles I have with the trolls and some bits and bobs here and there. The one thing that bugged me most was they skipped some of the naming of the dwarves. I get they were likely cut for time, but there was something ritual about the names and I wanted to know which dwarf was which. It was distracting to me to spend the whole movie trying to figure that out. I know this likely won't bother anyone but me. Rm has done a beautiful job talking about the unevenness of tone and pacing and the reasons for that, so I won't go into it. Other people have complained about adding in an extra antagonist, and I am of the opinion that the movie didn't need the great white orc at all. It was awkward the way that whole section where Faramir tries to drag the hobbits back is in lOTR. I can tolerate it and all, but I didn't enjoy a lot of it.
I was okay with the changes to the Misty Mountain section as they did work thematically and the best bits were perfect. Let's face it, the riddle game is just about every one's favorite part of the novel. If they hadn't nailed that, the movie would sink. It's perfect. Some of the Misty Mountain section didn't line up with the mental picture I had (more tunnels and less wood particularly), but I formed that picture at the age of three so I camn let that go. I am happy with the acting of most the named characters. It was a surprise that Kili was as smoking hot as he turned out to be, but I've long had a thing for Aidan Turner. The one performance I was uncomfortable with was Radagast. I am fond of the actor, but the performance was simply too over the top silly for the tone of the rest of the film. I kind of feel that if they were going to make the tone of this in line with LOTR movies, they needed to tone Radaghast down. Alternately they could have gone with silly children's movie and Radaghast would have been fine. Instead this is the place the one shifts are the most awkward.
Is it a good movie? I can't tell you. I had a good time, but honestly, I'm too close in too many ways to see the forest. I am glad I saw it on a big screen where the physicality was the most intense. That was the thing that most grabbed me, the way the different characters moved: the contrast between Balin, Kili and Fili, and Thorin; the contrast between the dwarves and Galadriel. Occasionally the 3-D was eerie, like the moment I realized that the silhouette obstructing part of the shot was actually in the film's foreground. I'd forgotten I was watching 3-D. *facepalm*
* Here's rm's review, with which I am substantially in agreement, "The Hobbit: … and back again:" http://lettersfromtitan.com/2012/12/15/the-hobbit-and-back-again/
* "Lord of the Rings Movie of 1940:"
* Re: Tumblr: it continues to be utterly bizarre to me that more than 2200 people read anything I wrote, like ever, let alone had strong feelings about it. I am running out of energy for response at this point.
* I'm way behind on my TV watching for a variety of reasons. Like a month behind. I just watched Leverage's "The White Rabbit Job." Get this, they named two of the characters "Mr. Dodgson" and "Mr. Liddell." OMG!!! This is one of the things I love about Leverage.
I keep thinking about the teachers. I've done my share of lockdown drills. Even with Middle Schoolers who have individual emergency jobs and and know exactly what they are meant to do, it is hard to keep them organized, to get them packed behind the teacher desks or wherever your room's spot is, how hard it is to keep them quite and still. I am imagining trying to do that with crying, terrified little people in a real emergency where silent and still can mean life or death. I keep thinking about the incredibly brave teacher who stepped out of hiding to try to divert him away and died for it, and the kids that panicked and broke cover and died with her. The thing that teacher did, is what every one hopes they would have the courage to do and is so difficult in the moment. It's so easy for kids, or anyone really, to panic in a situation like that. During a lockdown drill, even if it's not a surprise drill and you know there's no threat, you crouch there gaming it out thinking through scenarios, trying to think what to do in various contingencies. Every school shooting, you picture your own school lay out, your own classroom, and your own kids, even if like me, you don't teach anymore.
* Unions can be literally a life or death issue:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* Republicans are fundamentally opposed to protecting Native America Women and immigrants from domestic violence and sexual assault in general, which is what's holding up reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. That's right, the Republicans are insisting on the absolute right of white men to rape Native women and immigrantts without fear of prosecution. No War on Women my ass.:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* "Alabama police kill 2 suspects after separate shooting incidents; 3 others found dead:" http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/police+kill+suspects+after+separate+shooting+incidents/7705642/story.html#ixzz2FJpxNryg
* Looks like I'm not the only person who's actually taught kids and tried to get them through lock down drills who thinks arming teachers is an incredibly bad idea for perfectly practical reasons: http://joycemocha.livejournal.com/342009.html
* "Twelve facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States:" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/
* I'm not sure if this has been clear in my recent writings: Reasonable limits has been the most common left position for pretty much my whole life. The Right has been claiming the Left's position is to take everyone's guns, but that's not so. It's a strawman at worst and a taking of the fringe for the center at best.
You'll notice when I write about this, I talk about things like background checks, putting the ban on assault weapons and extended magazines in place, closing the gun show loop hole (where about half of criminals get their guns), limits on mass purchases (how the cartels are arming up). I think waiting periods are a good idea, but I'm not as wedded to that. I also advocate universal health care with mental health coverage parity which would solve a lot of problems.
I personally don't like guns, but I grew up in a house with them. It's not fear, but simply that I'm bad with loud noises close to my head even with ear protectors and I don't enjoy the physical sensation of the kick. Guns are not for me personally, and they have done a lot of harm to people in my life, but I don't favour total prohibition, just reasonable limits.
I definitely agree a change in the culture as a whole would be a good thing. I just don't know how to make that happen.
* Want to help folks in the wake of the shooting in Newton? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/connecticut-elementary-school-shooting-how-to-help_n_2302760.html
* Now for something cheerful: Some of the first same sex marriages in my town. That's the front of the courthouse, across from the library. I don't know the gentlemen or the ladies, but I wish them long life and lasting love.: http://youtu.be/miJKJhX86jk
* I was doing marginally better, so I took the good lung meds, slapped on a mask and Squirrel took me to see the late night showing of the Hobbit. We reasoned that a late night 3-D IMAX showing on a Sunday night might be comparatively sparse. We were right. My guess as to the location of the new theater was correct and they were even handing out free popcorn and soda as an opening week special, which is good considering the alarmingly high ticket price. This theater as been literally open since Friday. My seat was already damaged. It worked out though as it was a little like a rocking chair and I found at least four reasonably comfortable positions, despite us sitting in the handicapped row. (I was having enough trouble with the ramp and my lungs, no way was I trying the stairs, especially given the number of times I've started falling and had to grab furniture in the last week).
First off I should explain that my house growing up was full of books. My Mother had custom built a whole wall of shelves in the dining room and my father's den. She'd built smaller book cases in most of the other rooms of the house. My parents were readers. They worked hard, but they always found time to read both for themselves and to us. My Mother mostly read library books to us off and on during the day. My Father read the bed time stories. Before my Sister was born, we'd read not only the obvious things like Milne, Wind in the Willows, and the while OZ series, but also a lot of Stevenson and Dumas, and the Hobbit. Around the time my sister was born, we reread the Hobbit then did LOTR. When she was old enough, she got her own story time at her earlier bed time, and I would sit out in the hall and listen. This was before the animated ones were made. To this day, when I think of Gandolf's voice, it is my Father's. Part of what I love about Andy Serkis' Golem is it's closeness to my Father's version. He sung me the songs to tunes of his own devising. When I think of the Hobbit, I think of the wall of story book picture my my Mom put up behind my bed when I was born, the original yellow paint in my childhood bedroom, the smell of cigarettes and coffee, the way the big skin tag wiggled under my Father's eye as he read. He read me bedtime stories long after I learned to read myself, long after my sister's restlessness and complains led him to give up reading to her. Until I was old enough to not just read myself LOTR, but Silmarillion. After my sister got sick, she spent a lot of time in bed, and I read her the Hobbit and LOTR after all. I get all the ways this stuff is deeply problematic, but it's also really tied up with some of the best bits of my childhood, even as Silmarillion got tied to some of the worst for reasons i don't want to get into here. That's my baggage going in.
First off, I really am okay with them doing the bridge film and thus I'm okay with them putting in extra bits that tie into that. They kept in most of the stuff that mattered to me. I say most, because there were some small quibbles I have with the trolls and some bits and bobs here and there. The one thing that bugged me most was they skipped some of the naming of the dwarves. I get they were likely cut for time, but there was something ritual about the names and I wanted to know which dwarf was which. It was distracting to me to spend the whole movie trying to figure that out. I know this likely won't bother anyone but me. Rm has done a beautiful job talking about the unevenness of tone and pacing and the reasons for that, so I won't go into it. Other people have complained about adding in an extra antagonist, and I am of the opinion that the movie didn't need the great white orc at all. It was awkward the way that whole section where Faramir tries to drag the hobbits back is in lOTR. I can tolerate it and all, but I didn't enjoy a lot of it.
I was okay with the changes to the Misty Mountain section as they did work thematically and the best bits were perfect. Let's face it, the riddle game is just about every one's favorite part of the novel. If they hadn't nailed that, the movie would sink. It's perfect. Some of the Misty Mountain section didn't line up with the mental picture I had (more tunnels and less wood particularly), but I formed that picture at the age of three so I camn let that go. I am happy with the acting of most the named characters. It was a surprise that Kili was as smoking hot as he turned out to be, but I've long had a thing for Aidan Turner. The one performance I was uncomfortable with was Radagast. I am fond of the actor, but the performance was simply too over the top silly for the tone of the rest of the film. I kind of feel that if they were going to make the tone of this in line with LOTR movies, they needed to tone Radaghast down. Alternately they could have gone with silly children's movie and Radaghast would have been fine. Instead this is the place the one shifts are the most awkward.
Is it a good movie? I can't tell you. I had a good time, but honestly, I'm too close in too many ways to see the forest. I am glad I saw it on a big screen where the physicality was the most intense. That was the thing that most grabbed me, the way the different characters moved: the contrast between Balin, Kili and Fili, and Thorin; the contrast between the dwarves and Galadriel. Occasionally the 3-D was eerie, like the moment I realized that the silhouette obstructing part of the shot was actually in the film's foreground. I'd forgotten I was watching 3-D. *facepalm*
* Here's rm's review, with which I am substantially in agreement, "The Hobbit: … and back again:" http://lettersfromtitan.com/2012/12/15/the-hobbit-and-back-again/
* "Lord of the Rings Movie of 1940:"
* Re: Tumblr: it continues to be utterly bizarre to me that more than 2200 people read anything I wrote, like ever, let alone had strong feelings about it. I am running out of energy for response at this point.
* I'm way behind on my TV watching for a variety of reasons. Like a month behind. I just watched Leverage's "The White Rabbit Job." Get this, they named two of the characters "Mr. Dodgson" and "Mr. Liddell." OMG!!! This is one of the things I love about Leverage.