Coughing through the snow...
WELL. Spent the past week sick as a dog, getting a cold (with fever), sinus infection, and finally an ear infection one after the other over the course of five days, and feeling progressively worse until antibiotics happened - which, btw, is the opposite of how a regular winter cold should go. Everybody knows the first few days should be the worst and the rest is supposed to be recuperation, so I feel like February has already gone all upside down, and I've wasted a chunk of it in bed with lemon/ginger-flavored stuffs and many pills and tissues.
(The last time I had an ear infection, I was a baby, and my instinctive coping mechanism was evidently unchanged - because once again, I just wanted to CRY day and night until the horrible, alien, head-explodey pain and sense of a skull full of wrongness went away. Ugh, adults are not well equipped to deal with certain ailments.)
This week I spent a few days recovering some more and working from home; today was the first time in a WHILE that I actually felt quite nice taking a little walk outside for lunch. Obviously, it helps that it was 40 degrees and the air was not trying to assault my face, but it did feel like a lovely, if temporary, reprieve. If only the coming few weeks weren't promising more ice winds, more snow, and more general misery... hashtag groundhog burgers (TM eloiserummaging).
ANYWAY. Not enough energy for anything thinky, so have a few links.
***
Jon Stewart is retiring from The Daily Show. It feels kinda silly to be upset about this - I haven't watched the show regularly for quite some time now, after all - but when something/someone has been a part of your cultural landscape for 17 years, and sneakily taught a generation or two about the power of critical thinking, and served as a much needed stress-relief AND stronghold of sanity during that period of horrid polarization in the "serious" media narratives... well. It's not easy to accept change. Whose coverage of the elections will I be watching next year? I'll miss you, Jon. :(
ETA oh my gawwwwwd, somehow I didn't realize his actual announcement on the show would be so emotional - or rather, so comedian-attempts-his-very-best-not-to-be-emotional - and of course that is just all the more heartbreaking. Glad I watched this at home, where I could have a little cry and not have to hide it. OH, JON STEWART. ♥
***
This improvised ballet performance by Sergei Polunin, directed by David LaChapelle, and set to Hozier's "Take Me To Church" (a.k.a. the song I actually might listen to until every word and note loses meaning because I like it that much) is simple and gorgeous and powerful as hell. Also, quite hot in that "tattooed dancer wearing very little and emoting with his full body" sort of way.
***
At this point, I've enjoyed reading the fan reactions to Jupiter Ascending so flippin' much that I'm a bit afraid the movie itself can't live up to the hype o' METRIC TON OF SPACE BATSHIT CRAZY everybody says it is, but... I really do wanna see it. Locals, lemme know if any of you are game.
***
The music blog Pretty Much Amazing regularly shares a downloadable playlist, and this winter's selection is quite lovely - as it says on the tin, you won't regret it. A good chunk of it is an impressive range of folk, from cool to hot hot hot, atmospheric mellow to sweeping drama, sleepy to euphoric. I'm enjoying it more than I expected; I hope you will too.
***
For the next week, the three episodes of the documentary A Path Appears are available for streaming on the PBS website. It's a thorough and thoughtful exploration of systems of gender inequality around the world, showing both the horrific personal and social destruction it causes and the hopeful, inspiring solutions built to counteract it. Very much worth a look.
***
And a quick and woefully incomplete mini-collection of recs from this year's festivids:
- Feather Moon, a.k.a. Only Lovers Left Alive is SUCH A LUSH MOVIE AND TOM & TILDA ARE SO FREAKIN BEAUTIFUL AND IF THIS DOESN'T BRING A LITTLE BLOOD MAGIC AND ROMANCE TO YOUR NIGHT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL. *melts into fangirl puddle*
- Through the Deep, Dark Wood a.k.a. HTGAWM is relentless and insane and dirtybadwrong and an awesome, awesome ride (in this case, Annalise/Wes-centric, and it fucking works).
- We're All In This Together a.k.a. The Flash is a fun, fun, fun show full of characters who heart each other, and that can be a lovely thing to see on television, whether or not you're crazy about the show. (This vid might make you fall in love with it a bit, though.)
- Dynamite a.k.a. BROOKLYN NINE NINE IS A PARTY OF JOY AND EVERYBODY IS INVITED!!! \o/ \o/ \o/
- Always 1895 a.k.a. come sit next to me while I lose EVERY LAST BIT OF MY CHILL over this Granada Holmes vid (my Holmes!!!), layered with meta, and set to the love theme from "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" AND the voice of Basil Rathbone reading the Starret poem. ♥_♥
...and that's all I got. Oh look, it's almost time to watch Peggy Carter kick more ass! Later, folks.
(The last time I had an ear infection, I was a baby, and my instinctive coping mechanism was evidently unchanged - because once again, I just wanted to CRY day and night until the horrible, alien, head-explodey pain and sense of a skull full of wrongness went away. Ugh, adults are not well equipped to deal with certain ailments.)
This week I spent a few days recovering some more and working from home; today was the first time in a WHILE that I actually felt quite nice taking a little walk outside for lunch. Obviously, it helps that it was 40 degrees and the air was not trying to assault my face, but it did feel like a lovely, if temporary, reprieve. If only the coming few weeks weren't promising more ice winds, more snow, and more general misery... hashtag groundhog burgers (TM eloiserummaging).
ANYWAY. Not enough energy for anything thinky, so have a few links.
***
Jon Stewart is retiring from The Daily Show. It feels kinda silly to be upset about this - I haven't watched the show regularly for quite some time now, after all - but when something/someone has been a part of your cultural landscape for 17 years, and sneakily taught a generation or two about the power of critical thinking, and served as a much needed stress-relief AND stronghold of sanity during that period of horrid polarization in the "serious" media narratives... well. It's not easy to accept change. Whose coverage of the elections will I be watching next year? I'll miss you, Jon. :(
ETA oh my gawwwwwd, somehow I didn't realize his actual announcement on the show would be so emotional - or rather, so comedian-attempts-his-very-best-not-to-be-emotional - and of course that is just all the more heartbreaking. Glad I watched this at home, where I could have a little cry and not have to hide it. OH, JON STEWART. ♥
***
This improvised ballet performance by Sergei Polunin, directed by David LaChapelle, and set to Hozier's "Take Me To Church" (a.k.a. the song I actually might listen to until every word and note loses meaning because I like it that much) is simple and gorgeous and powerful as hell. Also, quite hot in that "tattooed dancer wearing very little and emoting with his full body" sort of way.
***
At this point, I've enjoyed reading the fan reactions to Jupiter Ascending so flippin' much that I'm a bit afraid the movie itself can't live up to the hype o' METRIC TON OF SPACE BATSHIT CRAZY everybody says it is, but... I really do wanna see it. Locals, lemme know if any of you are game.
***
The music blog Pretty Much Amazing regularly shares a downloadable playlist, and this winter's selection is quite lovely - as it says on the tin, you won't regret it. A good chunk of it is an impressive range of folk, from cool to hot hot hot, atmospheric mellow to sweeping drama, sleepy to euphoric. I'm enjoying it more than I expected; I hope you will too.
***
For the next week, the three episodes of the documentary A Path Appears are available for streaming on the PBS website. It's a thorough and thoughtful exploration of systems of gender inequality around the world, showing both the horrific personal and social destruction it causes and the hopeful, inspiring solutions built to counteract it. Very much worth a look.
***
And a quick and woefully incomplete mini-collection of recs from this year's festivids:
- Feather Moon, a.k.a. Only Lovers Left Alive is SUCH A LUSH MOVIE AND TOM & TILDA ARE SO FREAKIN BEAUTIFUL AND IF THIS DOESN'T BRING A LITTLE BLOOD MAGIC AND ROMANCE TO YOUR NIGHT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL. *melts into fangirl puddle*
- Through the Deep, Dark Wood a.k.a. HTGAWM is relentless and insane and dirtybadwrong and an awesome, awesome ride (in this case, Annalise/Wes-centric, and it fucking works).
- We're All In This Together a.k.a. The Flash is a fun, fun, fun show full of characters who heart each other, and that can be a lovely thing to see on television, whether or not you're crazy about the show. (This vid might make you fall in love with it a bit, though.)
- Dynamite a.k.a. BROOKLYN NINE NINE IS A PARTY OF JOY AND EVERYBODY IS INVITED!!! \o/ \o/ \o/
- Always 1895 a.k.a. come sit next to me while I lose EVERY LAST BIT OF MY CHILL over this Granada Holmes vid (my Holmes!!!), layered with meta, and set to the love theme from "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" AND the voice of Basil Rathbone reading the Starret poem. ♥_♥
...and that's all I got. Oh look, it's almost time to watch Peggy Carter kick more ass! Later, folks.