Various
I'm feeling extremely up-to-date because thanks to non-LJ-S I've now seen Wilby Wonderful only a few short months after it appeared all over the dS corner of LJ. Those of you who are here and didn't make it to S's on the weekend should line up a different date, because I'm sure you'd enjoy the movie. I liked Paul Gross's lesser-Fraser character.
S has an exciting collection of Canadian movies. I have to admit that until Saturday I'd never seen a Canadian movie, but S has sold me with her descriptions of the others she owns. I'm hugely taken with the plot of Last Night, in which people know the world is about to end and plan how to spend their last hours. I hope to see it soon, but have been amusing myself in the meantime thinking of how I'd answer that question myself. So far I haven't come up with anything better than my first impression, which was to take my Appaloosa for a ride at twilight and then sit outside and look at the stars. I do the first regularly and the second rarely, which must mean something.
What kind of American is this?
My mother's ex-sister-in-law has just arrived for a visit from the USA. After almost 30 years of hardly any contact, Mom struck up an email-and-later-phone friendship with her a year ago, which is kind of neat in itself considering how anti-computer Mom used to be. This woman unfortunately has a life-threatening condition and thought she'd try to make one last big trip.
My sister, my sister's partner and I went to my mother's for dinner yesterday to meet her. I asked her where she lives (I've heard a lot about her medical condition but not much else about her) and she said "Vancouver, Washington, which is across the river from Portland, Oregon. Vancouver is conservative and Portland very liberal."
Hmm. Couldn't tell from her tone what she meant to imply, if anything. Sister, Sister's Partner and I glance at each other. We hadn't stopped to think... American. That could be bad. (1) What if she's a Bush-voting, anti-gay, evangelical Christian?
Later we get out a map and she talks about the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest and also British Columbia. She says "Of course, that's Canada. They're more laid back up there."
Sister's Partner and I (the two least likely to maintain a polite facade should some major difference of opinion become apparent) exchange glances again. Sounds hopeful? But her tone was neutral. We're still not sure. Is more laid back good, or bad?
The talk veers into politics and I'm getting nervous. I organise some politely phrased pro-gay sentiments in my mind in case she says she was pleased about the marriage referendums. I know Sister's Partner can handle the religion topic without help from me, and he's clearly gearing up to do so. Then she says "The religious right..." Another glance: surely members of the religious right don't refer to themselves as the religious right? And no. It's OK. She stops and says "Well, that's what I think, anyway." Nods and smiles, relief all around, everybody's on the same wavelength. She wasn't sure about us, either, I guess.
(1) No offence meant - I'm an American citizen myself! (And an Australian.)
Sebastian
Years of staying on a Pros mailing list that rarely does anything but annoy me has finally yielded a huge payoff. Someone posted saying they could pass messages on to Sebastian (far and away the best Pros author IMO). Writing to her felt like finally paying a huge fannish debt, one which has been accumulating interest for years. Three years of reading in that fandom distilled down for me to one author, three stories and, when it comes right down to it, six sentences. I reread almost nothing in Pros except those six sentences, but I pull them out regularly and probably will do so for the rest of my life. They capture my view of Bodie and Doyle so perfectly that I don't need or want anything else. (Can't tell you what they are, because if you didn't like them I might get wildly defensive!)
S has an exciting collection of Canadian movies. I have to admit that until Saturday I'd never seen a Canadian movie, but S has sold me with her descriptions of the others she owns. I'm hugely taken with the plot of Last Night, in which people know the world is about to end and plan how to spend their last hours. I hope to see it soon, but have been amusing myself in the meantime thinking of how I'd answer that question myself. So far I haven't come up with anything better than my first impression, which was to take my Appaloosa for a ride at twilight and then sit outside and look at the stars. I do the first regularly and the second rarely, which must mean something.
What kind of American is this?
My mother's ex-sister-in-law has just arrived for a visit from the USA. After almost 30 years of hardly any contact, Mom struck up an email-and-later-phone friendship with her a year ago, which is kind of neat in itself considering how anti-computer Mom used to be. This woman unfortunately has a life-threatening condition and thought she'd try to make one last big trip.
My sister, my sister's partner and I went to my mother's for dinner yesterday to meet her. I asked her where she lives (I've heard a lot about her medical condition but not much else about her) and she said "Vancouver, Washington, which is across the river from Portland, Oregon. Vancouver is conservative and Portland very liberal."
Hmm. Couldn't tell from her tone what she meant to imply, if anything. Sister, Sister's Partner and I glance at each other. We hadn't stopped to think... American. That could be bad. (1) What if she's a Bush-voting, anti-gay, evangelical Christian?
Later we get out a map and she talks about the beautiful scenery of the Pacific Northwest and also British Columbia. She says "Of course, that's Canada. They're more laid back up there."
Sister's Partner and I (the two least likely to maintain a polite facade should some major difference of opinion become apparent) exchange glances again. Sounds hopeful? But her tone was neutral. We're still not sure. Is more laid back good, or bad?
The talk veers into politics and I'm getting nervous. I organise some politely phrased pro-gay sentiments in my mind in case she says she was pleased about the marriage referendums. I know Sister's Partner can handle the religion topic without help from me, and he's clearly gearing up to do so. Then she says "The religious right..." Another glance: surely members of the religious right don't refer to themselves as the religious right? And no. It's OK. She stops and says "Well, that's what I think, anyway." Nods and smiles, relief all around, everybody's on the same wavelength. She wasn't sure about us, either, I guess.
(1) No offence meant - I'm an American citizen myself! (And an Australian.)
Sebastian
Years of staying on a Pros mailing list that rarely does anything but annoy me has finally yielded a huge payoff. Someone posted saying they could pass messages on to Sebastian (far and away the best Pros author IMO). Writing to her felt like finally paying a huge fannish debt, one which has been accumulating interest for years. Three years of reading in that fandom distilled down for me to one author, three stories and, when it comes right down to it, six sentences. I reread almost nothing in Pros except those six sentences, but I pull them out regularly and probably will do so for the rest of my life. They capture my view of Bodie and Doyle so perfectly that I don't need or want anything else. (Can't tell you what they are, because if you didn't like them I might get wildly defensive!)