making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry
I came into work this morning and was told that I had to go over to the city council committee hearings on health, which were much less combative (and much shorter because of that) this year than normal - and also, I didn't have to stay through the HHC and public testimony, so it didn't take up the whole day. It was kind of hilarifying that most of the stuff the committee had questions about, the CME and health commissioner could just blame NYSDOH for. "Oh, well, that's because the state is cutting Article 6 funding."‡ I guess the mayor is going to have to find a way to make up that money, if it doesn't get restored somehow.
‡ disclaimer: this is a highly simplified version of what was said.
*
It's meme time!
1. COMMENT WITH A MYSTERIOUS COMMENT OF YOUR CHOICE.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters and your thoughts on each.
crossedwires gave me T:
Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights): Tami is half of the most amazing marriage on television. She's warm and kind and tough and smart. She cares, a little too much sometimes, and a little out of her depth sometimes (she definitely heads into Nice White Lady territory sometimes), but what I really like is that she doesn't just care, she backs up her caring with action. It's through her intervention that Tyra sees that she can be more than the reputation and destiny Dillon has assigned her for being her mother's daughter; she counsels Becky through her unwanted pregnancy, though you can tell that she doesn't necessarily approve of the choice Becky makes, she stands by her right to make it and her own responsibility to provide the information Becky needs. The way she deals with Julie's burgeoning sexual activity is a wonder.
I still haven't watched the last two episodes, so I don't know how it plays out for her, but I want only great things for Tami.
Toph Bei Fong (Avatar: The Last Airbender): I admit, I wasn't the biggest Toph fan when she first showed up in season 2. She was bratty and annoying and not much of a team player (um, perhaps that was me seeing the things I dislike about myself in her *cough*), but I love that she is so much herself, and she doesn't really care what you think about it. That she was the earthbending champion at the age of 12, and that she learned to metalbend. Because she's just that awesome. Does some of her bluster cover insecurity? Maybe a little bit, because of her parents' insistence that she's a fragile princess instead of the toughest earthbender in the world, but mostly it's because she knows it's true.
Tenar of the Ring (The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin): Tenar has been one of all-time my favorite characters since I first read the Earthsea trilogy when I was 9. She's able to make the decision to turn her back on everything she's been taught when she sees that it's all been a lie, and she goes through with it even when she has doubts. Then she trades what could have been a life of privilege and fame for being a farmer's wife on Gont. And then she rises to the occasion in amazing and fiercely in character fashion when Tehanu and Ged need her protection.
Talia Malak-el-Dashat (The Princess series by jimhines): One of my newest darlings, Talia was sleeping beauty and the version of the story that befell her isn't a happy one. But she didn't let it stop her from being an awesome person. She's an amazing fighter - superbly trained and aided by her fairy-given grace. She's wary (some would say paranoid, she would say justifiably so, and anyway, she prefers to consider it well-prepared), and wry, and fiercely protective of those she cares about.
Toby Ziegler (The West Wing): Because he is a loser who suddenly became a winner. Because he's a writer and he understands what it is to have to write through tons of crap to find the good words. Because he's intensely idealistic and he holds himself up to the same high standards he holds everyone else, even though he - and they - often fail to meet them. Because babies come with hats. Because he gave a homeless veteran a funeral and when the President called him on it, ah, let me just quote:
BARTLET: Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don't think every homeless veteran would come out of the woodworks?
TOBY: I can only hope, sir.
(In Excelsis Deo)
Man, I cry my way through most of that episode every time. It was the episode that made me love Toby, and made me love The West Wing.
*
Music meme: Comment and I'll give you a letter. Then, post five songs that start with the letter.
crossedwires gave me R:
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Now, I know your mama, she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand
Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room
I'm comin' to lend a hand
I'm comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam
I took a drive today
time to emancipate
I guess it was the beatings made me wise
but I'm not about to give thanks, or apologize
I couldn't breathe, holdin' me down
hand on my face, pushed to the ground
enmity gauged, united by fear
forced to endure what I could not forgive.
Roads - Portishead
Oh, can't anybody see
We've got a war to fight
Never found our way
Regardless of what they say
This is a great song for writing, especially sex scenes.
Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush
You don't want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
Rusty Cage - Johnny Cash (covering Soundgarden)
You wired me awake,
And hit me with a hand of broken nails.
You tied my lead and pulled my chain,
To watch my blood begin to boil.
But I'm gonna break,
I'm gonna break my,
Gonna break my rusty cage and run.
As much as I love the Soundgarden version of this song - and I do - this version is about a thousand times more awesome, simply because it's Johnny Cash, and also it's stripped down to mean and lean, without all the typical Soundgarden-ish bombast.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/304116.html.
people have commented there.
‡ disclaimer: this is a highly simplified version of what was said.
*
It's meme time!
1. COMMENT WITH A MYSTERIOUS COMMENT OF YOUR CHOICE.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters and your thoughts on each.
crossedwires gave me T:
Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights): Tami is half of the most amazing marriage on television. She's warm and kind and tough and smart. She cares, a little too much sometimes, and a little out of her depth sometimes (she definitely heads into Nice White Lady territory sometimes), but what I really like is that she doesn't just care, she backs up her caring with action. It's through her intervention that Tyra sees that she can be more than the reputation and destiny Dillon has assigned her for being her mother's daughter; she counsels Becky through her unwanted pregnancy, though you can tell that she doesn't necessarily approve of the choice Becky makes, she stands by her right to make it and her own responsibility to provide the information Becky needs. The way she deals with Julie's burgeoning sexual activity is a wonder.
I still haven't watched the last two episodes, so I don't know how it plays out for her, but I want only great things for Tami.
Toph Bei Fong (Avatar: The Last Airbender): I admit, I wasn't the biggest Toph fan when she first showed up in season 2. She was bratty and annoying and not much of a team player (um, perhaps that was me seeing the things I dislike about myself in her *cough*), but I love that she is so much herself, and she doesn't really care what you think about it. That she was the earthbending champion at the age of 12, and that she learned to metalbend. Because she's just that awesome. Does some of her bluster cover insecurity? Maybe a little bit, because of her parents' insistence that she's a fragile princess instead of the toughest earthbender in the world, but mostly it's because she knows it's true.
Tenar of the Ring (The Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin): Tenar has been one of all-time my favorite characters since I first read the Earthsea trilogy when I was 9. She's able to make the decision to turn her back on everything she's been taught when she sees that it's all been a lie, and she goes through with it even when she has doubts. Then she trades what could have been a life of privilege and fame for being a farmer's wife on Gont. And then she rises to the occasion in amazing and fiercely in character fashion when Tehanu and Ged need her protection.
Talia Malak-el-Dashat (The Princess series by jimhines): One of my newest darlings, Talia was sleeping beauty and the version of the story that befell her isn't a happy one. But she didn't let it stop her from being an awesome person. She's an amazing fighter - superbly trained and aided by her fairy-given grace. She's wary (some would say paranoid, she would say justifiably so, and anyway, she prefers to consider it well-prepared), and wry, and fiercely protective of those she cares about.
Toby Ziegler (The West Wing): Because he is a loser who suddenly became a winner. Because he's a writer and he understands what it is to have to write through tons of crap to find the good words. Because he's intensely idealistic and he holds himself up to the same high standards he holds everyone else, even though he - and they - often fail to meet them. Because babies come with hats. Because he gave a homeless veteran a funeral and when the President called him on it, ah, let me just quote:
BARTLET: Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don't think every homeless veteran would come out of the woodworks?
TOBY: I can only hope, sir.
(In Excelsis Deo)
Man, I cry my way through most of that episode every time. It was the episode that made me love Toby, and made me love The West Wing.
*
Music meme: Comment and I'll give you a letter. Then, post five songs that start with the letter.
crossedwires gave me R:
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Now, I know your mama, she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand
Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room
I'm comin' to lend a hand
I'm comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
Rearviewmirror - Pearl Jam
I took a drive today
time to emancipate
I guess it was the beatings made me wise
but I'm not about to give thanks, or apologize
I couldn't breathe, holdin' me down
hand on my face, pushed to the ground
enmity gauged, united by fear
forced to endure what I could not forgive.
Roads - Portishead
Oh, can't anybody see
We've got a war to fight
Never found our way
Regardless of what they say
This is a great song for writing, especially sex scenes.
Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush
You don't want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
Rusty Cage - Johnny Cash (covering Soundgarden)
You wired me awake,
And hit me with a hand of broken nails.
You tied my lead and pulled my chain,
To watch my blood begin to boil.
But I'm gonna break,
I'm gonna break my,
Gonna break my rusty cage and run.
As much as I love the Soundgarden version of this song - and I do - this version is about a thousand times more awesome, simply because it's Johnny Cash, and also it's stripped down to mean and lean, without all the typical Soundgarden-ish bombast.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/304116.html.
people have commented there.