Meandering Musings

Aggravating day. A day I'd describe as a lot of little aggravating drips, culminating in leaving my headphones on my desk at work (I realized it when they weren't with me on the train and it was alas too late to go back and retrieve them - if it had been my cell phone, yes - I'd have had no choice but to do so, but I don't really need the head phones at home - I only use them at work and on the commute. Unfortunately they need to be charged, which means I won't be able to use them immediately on Monday.) I also can't find my air buds. But I could find the plug-in earphones. So not all is lost, I suppose?

Less said about the rest of the day, the better. It was just a series of minor aggravations. We shall speak of it no more.

**

I already whined about the day to my poor mother, who decided to distract me by regaling me with news about my niece's trip to Montauk to see her grandfather...who apparently lives in a chicken coop on his ex-partner's property. The ex-partner (a novelist, writer, and former lecturer/teacher) lives with their adopted 31 year old daughter in the house.

( Read more... )

***

I think the reason I enjoy Buffy S6 so much - is I find it relatable? It is about an unemployed/depressed young woman jumping from one bad job to another, juggling bills, a sister, social life or lack thereof, and a boyfriend who lives in crypt and cheats at kitten poker. It's hyper-realism in a supernatural setting. The villains are nerdy guys from high school, who bullied girls. (Any woman who has ever entered a comic book store, a fan convention, attempted to play D&D during the 1980s or been in a co-ed fandom online - can relate.)
( Read more... )

It was hazy and rainy all day, until I got home and the clouds parted and sun swam through along with gale force winds. Brrr.

So today, cubicle wall mate aka Art History Major (AHM) and I were discussing Broadway shows. Apparently they had seen Hades Town and it went over their head, they didn't get it at all. (Hades Town is a musical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth).
( Read more... )

Why can't I find people offline that like/love the same things I do? It shouldn't be this hard?

****

In other news...I decided to listen to and kind of watch the 60 Minutes expose of the El Salvador Prison from Hell - that the Trump Administration is sending all these people to. After CBS yanked the segment from the US's 60 Minutes broadcast yet somehow forgot to yank it from Canada's broadcast - where it accidentally aired, got leaked on the internet and subsquently went viral. It was leaked repeatedly on the internet by various folks (as often happens with banned and censored content that people know about) - and as a result - is now the most watched episode or segment of 60 Minutes and by the most people since 60 Minutes inception. (That's kind of huge, 60 Minutes goes back to...1968, so it's roughly 57 years of age. And it's certainly had huge stories in the past - it first aired during the Vietnam War and prior to Watergate). It's the curiosity factor. I admittedly watched for the same reasons. (And I wouldn't have - if it aired on CBS as previously planned - since I've not consistently watch 60 minutes in ages.)

Internet: 1
CBS (aka Skydance Media): 0

I found it on Instagram. They keep yanking it from Youtube, so folks put up their own recordings of it on TikTock and share on Instagram. It's really hard to censor things in the age of the Internet. We have too many social media platforms, and folks perfected the art of sharing censored or banned content back in the early 00s, while they were in junior high and undergrads in college. They know how to share stuff. I know how to find and share stuff, and I'm not techie in the least.

I don't think I need to go into the gory details? ( sigh a brief summary and my reaction )

***

It's windy here, but no rain at least. My knee still hurts whenever I go up or down steps. Considering it is multiple flights of steps, this makes sense. I have managed to limit it a little - by no longer switching trains at 4ths and 9th Streets. I also rescheduled my hair appointment for late February - to avoid the steps at that stop for as long as possible. Icing three times a day. Doing my exercises. Hopefully it will improve. I live in fear of the MRI.

***

Angel S3 - Episode 6 - Billy - is oddly enough one of the better episodes of the series. Small wonder - it was written by Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell.

The episode is perfect noir thriller, except for one thing? It is a wicked and biting critique of the noir genre - by exposing the misogyny within it, calling it out, and giving it a ripe spanking. I was impressed. Not only does it comment on the misogyny in our society and culture (which both series do rather well and at a time period in which that rarely happened - this was 2001 before the Me#Too Movement), it also manages to move forward various character arcs, and set up two new star crossed romances that span the series. This episode blew me away - I'd forgotten it - and is a great companion piece to That Vision Thing (Episode 2 of S3).
( spoilers )

Buffy S6

I'm rather enjoying these initial episodes. I always did. The middle is the weak portion of the season. And I see the cracks in the various couples romantic lives.

Putting a pin in that.

It's late and I need to go to bed.

Getting slightly more done today. Did exercises - minimal. Made up the bed (well do that every day). Made breakfast and lunch. Cleaned the air fryer - it has a self-cleaning mechanism. Refilled the humidifier. And finished my water color - finally, knitted a lop-sided scarf, and edited a bit more of my work in progress, which may never see the light of day.

Also binged a bunch of Angel S3 and Buffy S6 episodes. I'm remembering why I gave up on Angel S3 now - oh dear god, it has some really bad episodes. Worse than S1, and that's saying something. Buffy S6 is the better of the two seasons, and I really love the beginning of this seasons - I'd forgotten how much. I find it highly relatable. It's also oddly realistic, the most realistic of all the seasons actually - in how it is shot and written.

That said, Angel S3 does have some good episodes in the mix - most of the good ones center on Angel, Cordelia or Wes. Carpe Diam - Angel S3 Episode 3 or 4, about Marcus, the old guy in the retirement home who is using a spell to jump into young male bodies, until he burns through them. It reminded me a little of Lonely Hearts, S1. ( Read more... )

They handle Buffy/Angel reunion oddly? ( Read more... )

Also they appear to be paralleling or comparing Cordy holding onto to her visions, to Angel holding onto being a vampire with a soul. Both are given at different points in the series - the opportunity to lose this gift. Both refuse, and see it as the only way they can be champions or chosen. It's not really a selfless act. Or the writers are questioning it.

The most frustrating thing in Buffy S6, actually is what makes it work the best - which is her friends inability or unwillingness to help her. I think she asked Angel for help - and he turned her down. ( Read more... )

Ah, it's 5:16pm and dark. So off to make dinner. I think.

Continuing with my comfort re-watch of Buffy and Angel, and for some reason or other, I don't feel compelled to watch anything else. Outside of a movie here and there. Nothing else is appealing to me at the moment, including Stranger Things, which recently dropped the first part of its' fifth and final season. I think I'm waiting for the second part to drop? Also trying to remember what happened previously.

Mother: Should I watch Stranger Things?
Me: No, I'd not recommend it - think Steven King and Steven Spielberg, circa 1980s.
Mother: What's it about?
Me: It's about a bunch of folks in a small New England town who stumble upon a porthole to a hell dimension, which brings in various demonic monsters - one captures a small boy. It's sci-horror. Very similar to the stuff Steven King and Steven Spielberg did in the 1980s.
Mother: Ugh. Really? Say no more, I'll pass.
Me: Told you.

I don't recommend television shows, books, or films to folks that I know won't like them. For example? If someone likes hyper-realistic dramas, with top-notch diverse casts, and hates fantasy and horror, I'm not going to recommend Buffy the Vampire Slayer to them, the Wire yes, Buffy no.

Why torture myself and them unnecessarily? I'm not that masochistic. Much easier to say - no you won't like it - it's a fantasy, with this that, and the other thing, and leave it at that. People need to be more tolerant of others tastes, and realize we most likely do not share the same tastes and leave it at that? Also, I'm a moody television and film and book watcher/reader. I go with whatever is calling me to it at the moment. If it's not, my brain will refuse to pay attention to it.

Finished Angel S2 finally - and it's a mixed bag. Buffy S5 is actually better - and more fluid and tighter. Of course it didn't have the problems Angel did. Angel S2, had some of the same issues Buffy S4 had - in that half of the supporting cast suddenly and without warning became unavailable in the second half of the season. Julie Benze (Darla) and Christian Kane (Lindsey) were both unavailable at the end of S2, and they had to write another story instead. Also, they ended up writing out Kate - because her involvement was contrived, also the actress got a role on Law and Order, and was unavailable. They intended to bring her back in Angel S3 as part of the Holtz story arc (she was supposed to be in the Justine role), but the actress wasn't available.

As a result, we got the Pylea arc - which is....not great. I kind of played a video game through it, and watched as background noise? I'd stop every once and awhile - out of curiosity - because I wanted to know something. (Such as Joss Whedon plays Numfar, who is told to keep dancing, in the background at Lorne's family reunion. And how Cordy becomes Princess, and how they figure out the way home (Fred figures it out with Wes's help).)

Takeaways?
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As an aside? You really can't trust Google's AI summaries, can you? I googled why Christian Kane and Elizabeth Roem left Angel or were unavailable - and the summary told me that Roem came back in the episode Same Time, Same Place in the 4th Season. (Uhm no. Also that's an episode in Buffy S7). Also when I was googling the Nosh Oven and how to fix something in it - it told me to preheat (you aren't supposed to, it heats up fast), and gave me the wrong cooking time.

It also says, Lindsey comes and goes in the later seasons. He only came back in S5, and on a limited basis.

1. It's the first real snowfall of the season, and the world looks soft and clean with snow outside my window. As opposed to drab and in need of a thorough washing or at least a toss or two in the washer. Soft puffs of snow decorate each and every brank outside, and leaves now,, finally, fallen, no longer present a hindrance to the decoration.

Melting won't happen any time soon, with temperatures in the teens and low twenties (Fahrenheit). (When I type my posts in this journal, it's easy to forget that I'm corresponding with the world and not just my own locality or myself. Long gone are the days in which that was the case, and for the most part I'm happy about that.) Putting thoughts and words out there for whomever happens by - can be discomforting, when I stop long enough to ponder it.)

Done little this holiday season, except rest and ice my knee (or attempt to) and do knee exercises. I'm paying for ignoring the knee during the summer and fall months. Although in my defense, I thought it was just a sciatic nerve - and the best way of handling that is often to muddle through. Also did random chores (which didn't involve utilizing the knee - ie, no getting down on my knees or squatting), and watched television.

2. I've made it through Buffy S5 rewatch, which upon rewatch - I now understand why people are split over it. ( Read more... )

3. Last night, watched One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, starring Leo DiCaprio and Scean Penn, along with Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. It's about a washed up revolutionary, who has to come to terms with his revolutionary past to save his daughter and himself from those pursuing them. Half satire, half suspenseful thrill ride, it's a mixed bag? I found it slow in spots, particularly to start, and difficult to get into, but once it got rolling, it became more suspenseful, and hilarious in places. There are some very funny sequences in it - mainly involving DiCaprio. It is definitely topical and highlights the abuses of power not to mention deep-rooted racism by Homeland Security and ICE. (Although uses different names for them.)

4. For the most part, I'm on a news diet - so only have a passing awareness of what is happening outside my window. I did however hear in passing that numerous folks have resigned their positions from the ultra-Conservative Think Tank, also known as the Heritage Foundation. What caused this latest fracture and exodus? Apparently the anti-semitism got to them finally - and they jumped ship to join Mike Pence.

5. Memage:
( catching up on memage )

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.

I took today off, and did next to nothing with it - outside of baking chocolate chip cookies I didn't need to bake, and resting my knee. I think I just wanted to watch television, play Royal Match and veg?

Decided to do laundry either tomorrow or Friday. Knee needed a respite. Struggling with my diet still - chocolate chip cookies tends to spike blood sugar, so does fries. I had fixed lamb, asparagus, and fries for dinner. It was a good dinner, but not the best for my blood sugar. The holidays are hard for restricted diets.

Zigging back and forth between Angel and Buffy, has made me aware of a few things? ( Read more... )

It's time for bed. The year is slowly winding down again, isn't it? And once again we've sunk into winter. Although it was sunny today. I have the lights on my little christmas tree on. And I watched my UUA Church's service on my big screen television set via Youtube. It's easier that way. Plus I can see more - such as the musicians. I couldn't see a thing when I attended it in person last year. (I won't do that again. Too crowded.) I don't get the little chocolate Christmas bells they handed out - but I didn't want or need them either. I think they gave chocolate coins, a little thing of perfume, and something else last year - to symbolize the gifts of the three kings (for the past several years the Magi had been the general theme), this year immigrants and angles were the general theme.

And it was topped off by a rendering of this song Huddled Masses. Listen to it, and I dare you not to cry. It's very moving, and particularly now.

At work yesterday, my cubicle mate did her busy holiday dance. This is when someone feels the need to tell me how busy they are, and all the things they are doing and have to do - like a little spinning top that can't stop spinning. I told her to just focus on one task at a time, stop thinking of all the things she needs to do, and break it down bit by bit.

The Department Wide Holiday Party that was held on Monday apparently ran out of food about fifteen minutes into the Party. People had to go out and get food on their own. They also ran out of bowls, and utensils. And all they had food wise was pizza (it was good pizza apparently from Adrienne's), salad (a small side salad), and a bowl of pasta. When cubicle mate left - they were hunting for bowls to serve the pasta. Cubicle mate was able to score one of the remaining two slices of pizza, which were small slices. In short, I missed nothing. The party on my own floor was better catered.

On that note - off to bed.