Meandering Musings

1. Everything We Learned at the Star Wars Celebration 2025

Takeaways?

I really want to see Andor S2.

( excerpt )

Also, apparently the new Star Wars movie starring Ryan Gosling, and directed by Shawn Levy, entitled Star Wars: Star Fighter - takes place post Rise of Skywalker, and with all new characters. (Smart move. The better films pull away from the Skywalker story arcs.)

Also, I may try Ashoska again.

2. Not a fandom bit - but R.I.P Pope Francis. I'm saddened by this news.
Also he accomplished a lot in short period of time - shifting the course of the Catholic Church, promoting kindness and humility. (I also hope he talked some sense into devout Catholic and wannabee Fascist, Vance, who saw Francis before he died.)

3. Buffy Redux

So, I've been rewatching Buffy episodes intermittently. Picked up on a few things that I hadn't previously picked up on? ( Read more... )

4. Daredevil Born Again

I liked the season finale, and for the most part the series. It's similar yet different than Netflix's Daredevil, which had defter writing. However both are fairly uneven.

Fisk is clearly Marvel's commentary on the Fascist asshole in the White House or the Hitler Wannabee. Fisk even kind of looks like him, without hair. And that makes watching this - an odd experience.

The message at the end is Daredevil can't take on Fisk alone, which sets up S2 to be more of a group effort. People are speculating already on who will be joining the cast. Already slotted are Karen and Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) aka The Punisher. Also Lily Taylor, and Mathew Lillard in a recurring role.

April Memage - Days 17 -19

17. It’s International Bat Appreciation Day – are there bats where you live? Have you ever seen one flying?

Not in NYC or I've not seen any. Probably because it is a city and they tend to stick to the country?

Yes, I saw quite a few as a kid in West Chester, PA, when we living in the rural countryside. Lots of fruit bats.
( the rest )
Another flower from yesterday's walk (this is not part of the meme, although you can post one if you so desire):



********

A Meditative Easter Holiday and Earth Day Weekend..

I took a walk, brief, because my knees were bothering me - most likely a combination of arthritis and a side-effect of medication that I'm discontinuing. I wandered in and out of Lofty Pigeons Book Store hunting Maya Angelo's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, but alas couldn't find it.
I may have to look in Barnes and Noble or somewhere in the City?

Prior to that, I watched the Brooklyn Unitarian Church's service on FB, where they discussed letting go of things, burning them away on flashpaper. And now, I'm listening to the Manhattan Unitarian Church's service on Youtube which is also about letting go and moving with the land, not against it, and adapting, and rebirth.

Easter and Earth Day are both today, by the way.

I also rented and watched the 1973 film adaptation of the Stephen Schwartz musical Godspell
and is also known as the lyricist and composer behind Pippin and Wicked.
And you've most likely heard the songs from Godspell out of context: Day by Day, Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord, We Can Build a Beautiful City, and By Your Side, also Turn Back Oh Man, and Willows There.
( Godspell )

It was a lovely day - sunny, and springlike. I did very little. Worked on a water color, but I don't like how it turned out? So may discard and start another one. Some work, some do not.

Mostly a meditative couple of days, doing very little. Except being watchful and commenting on it here for anyone who wishes to listen.

They had protests everywhere today - across the US and Europe. 2025 is going down in history as the year in which millions protested en mass, against fascism, against authoritarianism, for human rights.

1. 5051 Hands Off Protests Across the United States

I told Mother tonight that I didn't remember this many white folks out protesting in my lifetime (since maybe the women's march, which was really only a one-time thing back in 2016 and lost it's momentum fast). Mother responded there were a lot during the Vietnam War. But those leaned towards violence. I think people learned from the Black Lives Matter marches during the pandemic and the Vietnam protests, not to go down the violent route or the camping out/occupy route. They do not want to give the Doofus an excuse to impose martial law. (Which he is chomping at the bit to do. He really really wants to do that, so we have to be VERY careful not to give him an excuse. Everything has to be non-violent, healing, and peaceful. Otherwise people would have invaded the golf courses and protested on them by now.)

Ant-Trump Protests for 5051 Today

"Communities across traditionally conservative areas hosted historic turnouts. States like Indiana, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and more drew even bigger crowds than on 4/5." [Now that is historic. The Red States tend to be anti-protest for the most part, and it's rare that happens. And so many.]

Pictures of Protests held across the United States Today.

( New York City )

Blount County, Tennessee
( Blount County, Tennessee )

( St. Paul, Minnesota )

( Santa Barbara, California )

( Marblehead, MA )

( Plymouth Rock, MA )

Lansing, Michigan

( Lansing, Michigan )

Wichita, Kansas

( Wichita, Kansas )

Portland, Oregon

( Portland, Oregon )

St. Petersberg, Fl.

( St. Petersberg, Florida )

San Francisco, CA

( San Francisco, CA )

Harrisburg, PA

( Harrisburg PA )

Indianapolis, Indiana
( Indianapolis, Indiana )

Columbus, Ohio

( Columbus, Ohio )

Lima, Ohio

( Lima, Ohio )

Baltimore, Maryland

( Baltimore, Maryland )

Boise, Idaho

( Boise, Idaho )

Tempe, Arizona

( Tempe, Arizona )

There were many more - on Threads, there were protests in Suffolk County Long Island, Patogue, Long Island NY, Flagstaff, Arizona, Kingston, NY, Sarasota Springs, NY, Albany, Ny, small towns in Alaska, Central Park, NYC, along with Midtown, everywhere from San Diego to San Francisco, Ca (including San Jose, Santa Cruz, Beverly Hills, LA, Santa Barbara, Monterey), Las Vegas, Nevada, Denver, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, across Illinois, including Chicago and other small towns across the state.
Columbus, Cinncinati, Cleveland, and other small towns in Ohio, Lexington and Concord, Kentucky, Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine, Detroit and Lansing, Michigan, Arkansas, most towns in Florida, Mobile, Alabama (Mobile Alabama???) and everywhere.

[I can't post links from threads or instagram, I've tried and failed.)

36,000 coalition leaders were out across the US leading them. And over 3.2 million have been counted. But there were more protests, and not everyone was counted.

Overseas, Munich and Frankfurt, Germany protested, as did Serbia.

What Democracy Looks Like - Thousands Protest Across Dallas-Fort Worth Texas (That's Texas!)

Protests in Atlanta, Georgia

AP News Wire on the Day of Protests on the Anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride

Hamilton Spectator reporting on the anti-trump protests in the US

2. Thousands Protest for Trans Rights in London after UK Supreme Court Ruling

Per Threads - they protested everywhere in the UK, including Scotland.

3. Peaceful Easter Marches Around Germany - protesting Gaza, Ukraine, and stationing US missiles

They were also out in support of the US 5051 against the Doofus Per Threads

***

It's late off to bed. This post is long enough.

[Proceed with caution, I'm cranky from lack of sleep and assorted aches and pains. But hey at least the sinus headache is gone. It's been lurking for the last five days, but now, it's finally gone. I think the barometric pressure shifted? It also got colder, so hello radiators. And sigh, overcast again, but we keep getting smatterings of blue sky and sun. The purple roses drooped, so I had to dispose of them, I have two that are hanging in there. Feeling a touch lonely and depressed at the moment, and kind of impotent? Some nitwit just called me to ask for money for "the officers"?
( weird phone call )
Sigh. I feel at times like I'm a nameless and faceless entity living in a senseless world.

Work was well, work.

*****

More April Meme-mage:

12. Do you like playing card games? Which is your favourite?

I'm not into games. I've played card games and actually have done very well at them, then promptly forget the rules. I used to like Solitare and Uno.

13. Have you ever made yoghurt or kefir?

No.

14. What’s your geography knowledge like? If you were given a world map, how many countries could you confidently identify?

Fair to middling? I'm fine to an extent, but there are areas in the world such as ahem, Eastern Europe and the Middle East that like to change their geographical boundaries constantly. As does Africa and Central America.
So I get confused. The geographical map has changed at least five-six times since I was learned it all in junior high.

15. Have you a good sense of direction, or do you rely on maps/online navigation? When was the last time you got lost?

No. I have no sense of direction at all. I rely completely on maps. I rarely get lost, because I rely completely on maps. I always have one. That said - I did get lost once in Greenwood Cemetery, because I did not have a map and had to use the phone to orient myself.

16. Today, in 1850, the French artist Madame Tussaud died. She is known for her wax sculptures of famous figures and for founding Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London. Have you ever visited the London Wax Museum or any other wax museum worldwide? What did you think of the likenesses of the models?

Yes, I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum way back in the 1980s. It was okay. The models were fairly close in the likeness to what I know of the the actual people - but without having seen any of them in person? It's hard to know for sure. Mainly I found the Museum kind of creepy? Wax museums creep me out. I blame 1960s and 70s schlock horror films.

***

Fandom news...

* Sarah Michelle Gellar Gets a Lead Role in another series ahead of the Buffy Reboot
( excerpt )

In my head - Buffy goes to find help being a Watcher or maybe form a new Watcher Council for the new slayer, because honestly she has better things to do? And hunts down Liam and William running a record store, band, and detective agency out of London.
( Read more... )
*****

Book recommendations

* For those interested in the Crisis in Gaza:

Born Jewish in Nazi Germany, My Journey to Become Anti-Zionist by Suzanne Ross

( synopsis in the words of the author )

* Speculative Science Fiction by Black Women

I'm working my way through Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, which is actually quite good. Octavia Butler was a speculative science fiction writer during the 20th Century and a more than adept wordsmith and writer. (I read Kindred by her - and it is among the few Time Travel novels that blew me away and worked.) Parable of the Sower was first published in 1993, thirty years ago, but the book takes place in 2024-2025. Yes, it takes place now. It's very odd reading a science fiction novel that is taking place in present time, when it was written thirty years before. I find myself checking to see how close the novel is to real events. (Frighteningly so, in some respects? However no where near as bleak. She's writing about an apocalyptic world that a young fifteen year old girl with empathetic abilities (she literally feels the pain of anyone or anything in close proximity to her as if it is happening to her) works to survive within, along with her family and how she does it.)

Octavia Butler Article in the New Yorker

( Excerpt from the New Yorker Article on Butler and the Novel, Parable of the Sower )

Parable of the Sower is also on the Banned Books list.

* Audio Books

Finished Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and working my way through the sequel. The Crooked Kingdom. Six of Crows were my favorite characters in the Shadow and Bone series on Netflix. And the audio book is a treat. It has six narrators, actually seven or eight narrators - one for each character's point of view, since the chapters are split by points of view, similar to GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. ( where I for reasons I don't quite understand compare the two novels... )

It's better than expected. Or I'm rather enjoying it more than I thought I would. I'm on a fantasy/science fiction kick at the moment, having gotten burned out on romance novels. This happens to me. I binge a genre to the point in which I eventually get burned out on it. Then after an extensive break? I may zig-zag back to it. The only genre this has not happened with is the sci-fi/fantasy genres. I'm not quite sure why.