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Sep. 14th, 2014 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Greenwick Found. "More than 5,000 dead in Central African Republic :" http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/12/more-than-5-000-deadincafricanrepublic.html?utm_content=general&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow
* "Court: Lewis County inmates can get more than postcards:" http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Court-Lewis-County-inmates-can-get-more-than-postcards-274704651.htm
* "Archaeologists uncover traces of 1000-year-old settlement:" http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/180700,Archaeologists-uncover-traces-of-1000yearold-settlement
* "Viking 'ring fortress' discovered in Denmark:" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/11079056/Viking-ring-fortress-discovered-in-Denmark.html
* "Lost town reveals its secrets:" http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29080067
* Greenwick found. "Study finds transgender voters could lose big in the midterms:" http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/study-finds-transgender-voters-could-lose-big-the-midterms
* "Human Rights Campaign President "Formally Apologizes" To Transgender Community:" http://www.buzzfeed.com/tonymerevick/hrc-president-apologizes-for-doing-wrong-on-the-transgender#3aov35q
An apology is nice, but no way am I trusting them until I see a whole lot of action. They have spent decades ignoring the trans community and throwing us under the bus at every opportunity. They have repeatedly claimed they would include Trans folk, but every single time it was just PR and as soon as the spotlight turned away, they fired the trans new hires meant to represent us and went back to working against our best interests. So, yes, nice apology, but it means nothing until they act on this change of heart in a sustained and comprehensive way, because a few pretty words don't erase a lifetime of of repeated, deliberate betrayal.
* Heart warming. Greenwick found. "Should I Start School As A Boy Or A Girl?:" http://raisingmyrainbow.com/2014/09/11/should-i-start-school-as-a-boy-or-a-girl/
* Greenwick came by yesterday evening and we started the Halloween process. The Halloween village and both Halloween trees are up. The Halloween presents are wrapped. We still need to do interior lights, and we aren't allowed to do exterior decorations until mid-October, but what is up makes me very happy.
* The library has the "Forbidden Hollywood" collection of films, from the period when the code was in place, but not really enforced. (Known as "Pre-code" films). I'd been reading/hearing about these films for ages, but hadn't had the chance to watch. Mostly the subject matter isn't my thing, so I've given myself permission to skip ones that don't much interest me. Waterloo Bridge was fascinating, especially given all I know about James Whale, but I tried explaining my reaction last night and couldn't get it clear in words.
Today's selection was the uncensored "Baby Face." I've never seen the censored version and I expected to skip it after a few scenes, because the summery was very similar to that of "Red headed Woman," but the first few scenes grabbed me and I ended up watching it all the way through. Barbara Stanwick's performance fascinated me. She didn't show much, but she had this way of projecting a cynical weariness with masculine nonsense that I had a certain sympathy for. The character was brutal a sort of indictment of the femme fatal and female ambition and materialism that was surface misogynistic, while at the same time, indicting the man's world of the 1930's that gave women so few options and out lets for their ambition. For all the moments that didn't work, where the acting and/or dialog were stilted, it had a power to it. I think a lot of that power came from that tension, that capturing of the circumstances that made the main character who she was as well as the damage she did. I could never forget that the men chose too. They had agency in their choices. She didn't force them to throw everything away. Most of them were pretty clearly taking advantage what they thought was her vulnerability to use her for their own ends and simply didn't know how to cope when it turned out she had been using them back. Which doesn't make her a nice person or an ethical person, but neither were the men. At least what was happening was mutually consensual. I am of the opinion that often this sort of thing wasn't RL. I kept thing of "The Apartment." I kept thinking of what I've seen of "Mad Men," which feels like the other half of the conversation about sexism and gendered power in business environments in the middle of the twentieth century. The movie was Nietzsche themed, interesting for a movie made in the early '30's in so many ways, but I kept thinking about Ayn Rand. So much of this movie was about self interest above everything else in a very Randian way. One of the minor characters was even named something like Gault. It seems to me the main character was very much the sort of heroine Ayn Rand and her followers praise(d) and encourage people to become. I have a whole lot of conflicting thoughts about the ending that I'm not convinced I could word with enough nuance. Was it a pleasant or easy movie to watch? No. I do think it was an important one though. It is the platonic ideal of the certain people look at women with ambition and will continue to likely long after I am dead. This is the seed of Evita, of the very gendered attacks on Hillary Clinton in the '90's, on and on in art and politics. This movie asks questions about power structures and gender we are still fighting about in the 21st century.
* "I Feel You Should See These Hairstyles from the 1700s & 1800s :" http://retroette.com/2014/09/02/feel-see-1830s-hairstyles/
* Greenwick Found. "Why costumes are no longer just for Halloween:" http://national.deseretnews.com/article/2324/why-costumes-are-no-longer-just-for-halloween.html
* "Sunday Sweets: Flowery Praise:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/9/14/sunday-sweets-flowery-praise.html
* Fundraiser to pay insurance and back rent: http://djinni.livejournal.com/507872.html
* "Court: Lewis County inmates can get more than postcards:" http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Court-Lewis-County-inmates-can-get-more-than-postcards-274704651.htm
* "Archaeologists uncover traces of 1000-year-old settlement:" http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/180700,Archaeologists-uncover-traces-of-1000yearold-settlement
* "Viking 'ring fortress' discovered in Denmark:" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/11079056/Viking-ring-fortress-discovered-in-Denmark.html
* "Lost town reveals its secrets:" http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29080067
* Greenwick found. "Study finds transgender voters could lose big in the midterms:" http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/study-finds-transgender-voters-could-lose-big-the-midterms
* "Human Rights Campaign President "Formally Apologizes" To Transgender Community:" http://www.buzzfeed.com/tonymerevick/hrc-president-apologizes-for-doing-wrong-on-the-transgender#3aov35q
An apology is nice, but no way am I trusting them until I see a whole lot of action. They have spent decades ignoring the trans community and throwing us under the bus at every opportunity. They have repeatedly claimed they would include Trans folk, but every single time it was just PR and as soon as the spotlight turned away, they fired the trans new hires meant to represent us and went back to working against our best interests. So, yes, nice apology, but it means nothing until they act on this change of heart in a sustained and comprehensive way, because a few pretty words don't erase a lifetime of of repeated, deliberate betrayal.
* Heart warming. Greenwick found. "Should I Start School As A Boy Or A Girl?:" http://raisingmyrainbow.com/2014/09/11/should-i-start-school-as-a-boy-or-a-girl/
* Greenwick came by yesterday evening and we started the Halloween process. The Halloween village and both Halloween trees are up. The Halloween presents are wrapped. We still need to do interior lights, and we aren't allowed to do exterior decorations until mid-October, but what is up makes me very happy.
* The library has the "Forbidden Hollywood" collection of films, from the period when the code was in place, but not really enforced. (Known as "Pre-code" films). I'd been reading/hearing about these films for ages, but hadn't had the chance to watch. Mostly the subject matter isn't my thing, so I've given myself permission to skip ones that don't much interest me. Waterloo Bridge was fascinating, especially given all I know about James Whale, but I tried explaining my reaction last night and couldn't get it clear in words.
Today's selection was the uncensored "Baby Face." I've never seen the censored version and I expected to skip it after a few scenes, because the summery was very similar to that of "Red headed Woman," but the first few scenes grabbed me and I ended up watching it all the way through. Barbara Stanwick's performance fascinated me. She didn't show much, but she had this way of projecting a cynical weariness with masculine nonsense that I had a certain sympathy for. The character was brutal a sort of indictment of the femme fatal and female ambition and materialism that was surface misogynistic, while at the same time, indicting the man's world of the 1930's that gave women so few options and out lets for their ambition. For all the moments that didn't work, where the acting and/or dialog were stilted, it had a power to it. I think a lot of that power came from that tension, that capturing of the circumstances that made the main character who she was as well as the damage she did. I could never forget that the men chose too. They had agency in their choices. She didn't force them to throw everything away. Most of them were pretty clearly taking advantage what they thought was her vulnerability to use her for their own ends and simply didn't know how to cope when it turned out she had been using them back. Which doesn't make her a nice person or an ethical person, but neither were the men. At least what was happening was mutually consensual. I am of the opinion that often this sort of thing wasn't RL. I kept thing of "The Apartment." I kept thinking of what I've seen of "Mad Men," which feels like the other half of the conversation about sexism and gendered power in business environments in the middle of the twentieth century. The movie was Nietzsche themed, interesting for a movie made in the early '30's in so many ways, but I kept thinking about Ayn Rand. So much of this movie was about self interest above everything else in a very Randian way. One of the minor characters was even named something like Gault. It seems to me the main character was very much the sort of heroine Ayn Rand and her followers praise(d) and encourage people to become. I have a whole lot of conflicting thoughts about the ending that I'm not convinced I could word with enough nuance. Was it a pleasant or easy movie to watch? No. I do think it was an important one though. It is the platonic ideal of the certain people look at women with ambition and will continue to likely long after I am dead. This is the seed of Evita, of the very gendered attacks on Hillary Clinton in the '90's, on and on in art and politics. This movie asks questions about power structures and gender we are still fighting about in the 21st century.
* "I Feel You Should See These Hairstyles from the 1700s & 1800s :" http://retroette.com/2014/09/02/feel-see-1830s-hairstyles/
* Greenwick Found. "Why costumes are no longer just for Halloween:" http://national.deseretnews.com/article/2324/why-costumes-are-no-longer-just-for-halloween.html
* "Sunday Sweets: Flowery Praise:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/9/14/sunday-sweets-flowery-praise.html
* Fundraiser to pay insurance and back rent: http://djinni.livejournal.com/507872.html