vital functions
Jul. 14th, 2019 09:23 pmReading. ( Read more... )
Watching. ( Read more... )
Listening. Medium Smallcousin pointed us all at Getting Ready To Get Down.
Cooking. ( Read more... )
Growing. The Cambridge Favourite strawberry is putting out runners! Which I am very pleased about. Also on the patio: the walnut isn't dead yet, the lemon is jubilantly putting out more leaves and flowers both, the tomatoes are becoming more tall, and a second batch of self-seeded parsley is starting to actually establish itself (the first batch having died of wind scorch) alongside an enormously enthusiastic regrowth of mint. There are also... A Lot... of semi-unintentional sunflowers, thanks to the birds; we'll see if they do anything interesting. (Probably I should transplant the most enthusiastic ones from the lemon pot to... somewhere... more sensible...)
I've possibly tentatively worked out what it is I've been doing that's resulted in seedlings sulking and dying off post-germination, but only if they're not suitable for sowing direct, so that... might be progress, and maybe I'll be able to nurse the passion fruit along sufficient that I don't have to resume from start.
At the allotment, an enthusiastic weeding of the redcurrant made it enough easier for the birds to get into the bush that by the time I went back all the proto-currants were no more. Next year's infrastructure project is very definitely a fruit cage (this year's being SORTING OUT THE CARPET, urgh).
Observing. We met a leopard moth! Its antennae were SO GOOD.
At home, the new "squirrel-proof" bird feeders seem to be deterring the birds but not, alas, the squirrels, so that... is a thing to think about. And: the stupid cat came to visit twice, and is staaaaaarting to learn that No Means No.
Poking. Of particular note: a third shiny Aron (so I can now get the entire evolutionary tree, even though none of them are actually any good); a Jynx with perfect IVs from a research task (lolsob), and ditto a Voltorb (which is at least less horrifying). I can solo a Starmie with Hydro Pump (three-head raid boss)... with about a second to spare, once I'd maxed out both a Gengar and a Houndoom.
Watching. ( Read more... )
Listening. Medium Smallcousin pointed us all at Getting Ready To Get Down.
Cooking. ( Read more... )
Growing. The Cambridge Favourite strawberry is putting out runners! Which I am very pleased about. Also on the patio: the walnut isn't dead yet, the lemon is jubilantly putting out more leaves and flowers both, the tomatoes are becoming more tall, and a second batch of self-seeded parsley is starting to actually establish itself (the first batch having died of wind scorch) alongside an enormously enthusiastic regrowth of mint. There are also... A Lot... of semi-unintentional sunflowers, thanks to the birds; we'll see if they do anything interesting. (Probably I should transplant the most enthusiastic ones from the lemon pot to... somewhere... more sensible...)
I've possibly tentatively worked out what it is I've been doing that's resulted in seedlings sulking and dying off post-germination, but only if they're not suitable for sowing direct, so that... might be progress, and maybe I'll be able to nurse the passion fruit along sufficient that I don't have to resume from start.
At the allotment, an enthusiastic weeding of the redcurrant made it enough easier for the birds to get into the bush that by the time I went back all the proto-currants were no more. Next year's infrastructure project is very definitely a fruit cage (this year's being SORTING OUT THE CARPET, urgh).
Observing. We met a leopard moth! Its antennae were SO GOOD.
At home, the new "squirrel-proof" bird feeders seem to be deterring the birds but not, alas, the squirrels, so that... is a thing to think about. And: the stupid cat came to visit twice, and is staaaaaarting to learn that No Means No.
Poking. Of particular note: a third shiny Aron (so I can now get the entire evolutionary tree, even though none of them are actually any good); a Jynx with perfect IVs from a research task (lolsob), and ditto a Voltorb (which is at least less horrifying). I can solo a Starmie with Hydro Pump (three-head raid boss)... with about a second to spare, once I'd maxed out both a Gengar and a Houndoom.
alright then let's liveblog this
Mar. 16th, 2019 08:19 pmthe context: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rydra_wong has been telling everyone about The Dawn Wall and Free Solo emphatically and with great enthusiasm for Several Months at this point. I kindasorta tried to get my act together to see Free Solo in the cinemas but I... don't go to the cinema alone (at the moment I'm managing to leave the house by myself twooooo to three times a week, and only going to places that are super familiar -- making it as far as work is happening maybe twice a month?) and it turns out that A super did not want to watch it without being thoroughly spoiled by someone who is familiar with his twitches in this area, which as it turns out is Not Me because I... wasn't aware he had them until I was all "wanna go see this movie with me?"
Anyway.
He's currently up in the Lake District being idk a space orc or something, and I'm currently failing to remember how to make pasta (there is a lump of dough on the pastry board and I'm not thinking about it), so last night I watched The Dawn Wall & tonight I am curled up on the sofa with Free Solo, and in between I watched a bunch of related shorts.
(rydra_wong, my questions so far are approx (i) do people... memorise the sequence of moves for lengthy pitches? is it like bellringing? (ii) was KJ not interested in the Fitzroy Traverse? what is the politics of who you ask to go to a climb with you??? (iii) MOUNTAINS)
Herewith I flail as we go along, starting fifteen minutes into Free Solo. (Did you know that VLC now has Chromecast compatibility? I DIDN'T and I am pleased.)
( Read more... )
Gosh that is some feelings.
And b'loved? Yeah I'm pretty sure you were absolutely correct that you did not want to watch this. xx
rydra_wong has been telling everyone about The Dawn Wall and Free Solo emphatically and with great enthusiasm for Several Months at this point. I kindasorta tried to get my act together to see Free Solo in the cinemas but I... don't go to the cinema alone (at the moment I'm managing to leave the house by myself twooooo to three times a week, and only going to places that are super familiar -- making it as far as work is happening maybe twice a month?) and it turns out that A super did not want to watch it without being thoroughly spoiled by someone who is familiar with his twitches in this area, which as it turns out is Not Me because I... wasn't aware he had them until I was all "wanna go see this movie with me?"Anyway.
He's currently up in the Lake District being idk a space orc or something, and I'm currently failing to remember how to make pasta (there is a lump of dough on the pastry board and I'm not thinking about it), so last night I watched The Dawn Wall & tonight I am curled up on the sofa with Free Solo, and in between I watched a bunch of related shorts.
(
rydra_wong, my questions so far are approx (i) do people... memorise the sequence of moves for lengthy pitches? is it like bellringing? (ii) was KJ not interested in the Fitzroy Traverse? what is the politics of who you ask to go to a climb with you??? (iii) MOUNTAINS)Herewith I flail as we go along, starting fifteen minutes into Free Solo. (Did you know that VLC now has Chromecast compatibility? I DIDN'T and I am pleased.)
( Read more... )
Gosh that is some feelings.
And b'loved? Yeah I'm pretty sure you were absolutely correct that you did not want to watch this. xx
Consumption
Jan. 20th, 2019 11:30 amReading. ( Read more... )
Film. ( Read more... )
TV. ( Read more... )
Music. ( Read more... )
Food. ( Read more... )
Film. ( Read more... )
TV. ( Read more... )
Music. ( Read more... )
Food. ( Read more... )
ten good things
Oct. 24th, 2017 09:13 pm- NEW HORN CASE NEW HORN CASE NEW HORN CASE. I have been meaning to get one for Literally Years -- basically since I got this horn, in fact -- because my horn... doesn't actually fit... in the case that was supplied with it... such that I had to remove a slide every time I put it away, and this massively raised the barrier to doing practice at home. More recently, the zips have been gradually giving up. SO. On Saturday A accompanied me on an exciting adventure to Paxman, whose step-free entrance is hilariously locked up at weekends so Everybody Learned Something, and I now own a case that (a) my horn fits in, (b) has working zips, (c) fits on my lap much better for wheelchairing, and (c) is BLUE. Detachable-bell, space for a mute, I totally failed to spot it on the website, props to Paxman for pointing it out to me (it was actually slightly cheaper than the thing I'd gone in expecting to buy).
- Because Borough Market is right there if you've visited Paxman, we had excellent fresh pasta for lunch (I had the pumpkin and ricotta tortelloni; they were brilliant). Further inspiration for the Surprise Charity-Shop Pasta Machine, etc. I just looked up how to make tortelloni.
- On Sunday I finally got around to adjusting Lightweight Wheelchair: I'd extremely belatedly spotted that the pushrims were on the wider of their two settings, and if I moved them on to the narrower the chair would probably need slightly less finessing to get through the front door. However, changing the setting involved removing the tyres and inners and both layers of rim tape, so I didn't get around to it until Sunday afternoon (sat on the picnic bench on the decking in the sunshine, with the patio doors open). I only holed one of the inners, promptly remembered that set of tyre levers always does that, and added them to the charity-shop pile! The chair fits through the door comfortably! My wrists are still somewhat sore (my hand strength isn't great and these are Schwalbe Marathon Plus on 1" rims, okay), but I am pretty pleased with myself, and with finally living somewhere that all my chairs are actually trivially usable. Give or take getting another cushion so I don't gotta swap them around as much.
- I absolutely adore The Ruin of Angels (the latest in Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence, the first five books are available as an ebook omnibus for under a tenner, highly recommended) to the point that I'm researching what the blue mineral most likely to be local to Kavekana is so I can Have A Relevant Theological Necklace. (I'm gravitating toward sodalite, but have tweeted the author to ask...) (... and he hasn't responded but I did on Etsy find an Exactly Correct pendant bead so, er, whoops? Whoops.)
- I am having Feelings about the latest Check, Please! and partnership and mutual support and interaction. (Cup I - Playoffs, future Alex.)
- When my baby brother got into the van at Bristol Parkway on our way down to Cornwall the other weekend, he handed me a milk chocolate trilobite that he'd picked up at a museum because it was a trilobite and obviously. Naturally I have not yet been able to bring myself to eat it, so I keep finding it when I'm shuffling things around in the kitchen and grinning again.
- PASTA PASTA PROOF-OF-CONCEPT PASTA. Ricotta tortellini with sage butter; and then we ran out of ricotta, so tagliatelle with Italian Hard Cheese, pepper and Parsley From The Tub On The Patio (which is looking very cheerfully established, HURRAH). Turns out tortellini are actually easier than tagliatelle at least at the proof-of-concept who-cares-if-they're-all-the-same-size stage; I have learned Many Thing and am looking forward to trying again, and am genuinely impressed with how well the dough worked given that I arrived at it by eyeballing a Graun How To Make The Perfect... column and then fiddling with ratios to achieve a quantity I thought we could actually eat.
- Having seen Night At The Museum 2 doing the rounds on Tumblr (specifically the scene with the Tuskegee Airmen and Amelia Earheart), when I stumbled upon Night At The Museum in a charity shop for £1.10 last week I jumped upon it, having got the two confused. Happily, today I discovered the sequel for £1 in a charity shop, so next time I am feeling Sad and want to Curl Up On The Sofa Watching Something I have that lined up. I will cry.
- I continue Greatly Enjoying Pokemon, and am particularly smug because today I took part in a raid and ended up with a Suicune with shit IVs, so I... caught it on my second Pinap berry, for 12 candy, because double-candy event. (I will explain this in more detail if anyone is actually interested & doesn't understand!) (Also I really need to write up my Fascinating Sociological Study in Pokemon Go at some point, but for now suffice it to say that the person I've most made friends with is currently ill? And I ran into her mum outside the sorting office yesterday morning, and we had a brief chat about the world, because obviously.)
- I am about to embark on a His Dark Materials reread, not least because A has acquired us tickets to An Evening Of Conversation in the relatively near future, with ticket price including a copy of The Book of Dust -- so given how hideously behind I am on new releases, I think I'm just going to do the reread and then read the new one once I have it. But AAAAAAAAH. :D
The Red Turtle is a collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Oscar-winning British-Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit. Having premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, it's had a general release in the UK this week. me_and spotted a poster in one of our local stations; I've just started showing him the Studio Ghibli back catalogue; he suggested going. (It's Ghibli! It's turtles! These seemed like good things.)
The Guardian, in one of many rapturous reviews, says:
... which is sort of accurate, but very telling about expected audiences, and reviewers, and... everyone involved in the thing.
( 'ware spoilers! )
To be clear, I'm glad that I saw it: I loved the animals and the textures and the ways in which one got to know the small island; I loved the atmosphere and the great sweeping shots of tiny people against a vast expanse of sea and sky; I loved the detail of the glass bottle that washed up on the shore, echoing a much earlier barrel.
I just really wish that it didn't, in framing itself as universal, once again write the experiences of anyone who's not a factory-default man completely out of the story.
me_and spotted a poster in one of our local stations; I've just started showing him the Studio Ghibli back catalogue; he suggested going. (It's Ghibli! It's turtles! These seemed like good things.)The Guardian, in one of many rapturous reviews, says:
Suffice to say that the official one-line synopsis of The Red Turtle – "the milestones in the life of a human being" – rings entirely true; the cycle of birth, death and rebirth is expressed with piercing clarity.
... which is sort of accurate, but very telling about expected audiences, and reviewers, and... everyone involved in the thing.
( 'ware spoilers! )
To be clear, I'm glad that I saw it: I loved the animals and the textures and the ways in which one got to know the small island; I loved the atmosphere and the great sweeping shots of tiny people against a vast expanse of sea and sky; I loved the detail of the glass bottle that washed up on the shore, echoing a much earlier barrel.
I just really wish that it didn't, in framing itself as universal, once again write the experiences of anyone who's not a factory-default man completely out of the story.
On the grounds that pretty much the bare minimum I ought to do after watching Moana was actually read some discussion (and it would have been better if I'd done that first), herewith a brief linkspam. A lot of these have been discussed in detail in the Facebook group Mana Moana: We Are Moana, We Are Maui.
I am not willing to host White People Criticise Critiques Of Racism. If you are a white person and you want to criticise any of the links here, (a) please actually try to read the discussions Pasifika people are having about this because that will give you a better understanding than discussion with me (do not wade in to tell them they're wrong if you go read), but also (b) I am okay with you PMing me to go "??? you thought this was worth sharing can you unpack some more for me" or similar.
( Read more... )
I am not willing to host White People Criticise Critiques Of Racism. If you are a white person and you want to criticise any of the links here, (a) please actually try to read the discussions Pasifika people are having about this because that will give you a better understanding than discussion with me (do not wade in to tell them they're wrong if you go read), but also (b) I am okay with you PMing me to go "??? you thought this was worth sharing can you unpack some more for me" or similar.
( Read more... )
I went to see it with me_and and sebastienne and shortcipher on, I think, the 24th of December; I walked out completely underwhelmed, completely unconvinced by the characters, and just not caring.
And then I read a bunch of meta, including all the discussion over atrecessional's (no spoilers in post; spoilers in comments are ROT13ed) and nanila's not-a-review, which prompted the realisation that me liking the characters or finding them convincing wasn't the point, and then I cried a lot.
So! That's a thing. Noting for posterity, etc. Perhaps I will watch it again sometime soon.
me_and and sebastienne and shortcipher on, I think, the 24th of December; I walked out completely underwhelmed, completely unconvinced by the characters, and just not caring.And then I read a bunch of meta, including all the discussion over at
recessional's (no spoilers in post; spoilers in comments are ROT13ed) and nanila's not-a-review, which prompted the realisation that me liking the characters or finding them convincing wasn't the point, and then I cried a lot.So! That's a thing. Noting for posterity, etc. Perhaps I will watch it again sometime soon.
three quick things --
Jan. 6th, 2016 11:18 pm1. I have taken to posting my todo/tada lists as do-not-display-on-Reading-page, e.g. today's, largely out of fear of being tedious/clutter/etc. However every time I link to one comments end up being made on it, ergo:
2.![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
kaberabbits >:(
3. Spotted in the Evening Standard -- an article by a white dude about SW:TFA that kind of made me want to take him out to dinner when combined with the rest of his articles in that spread.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 30Keep hiding t*d* lists from subscribers?
Yes
1 (3.3%)No
26 (86.7%)Something else, which I will explain in comments
3 (10.0%)
2.
3. Spotted in the Evening Standard -- an article by a white dude about SW:TFA that kind of made me want to take him out to dinner when combined with the rest of his articles in that spread.
It is an article entitled Rey is not a role model for little girls. By a man. (That turns out to contain oblivious cissexism too, hurrah.)
The first sentence is I hate to break it to you, but Rey is not a role model for little girls.
( Read more... )
The first sentence is I hate to break it to you, but Rey is not a role model for little girls.
( Read more... )
[film] Spectre, as texted to Adam
Dec. 13th, 2015 06:11 pmTHAT'S NOT WHAT THALLIUM POISONING LOOKS LIKE
( Spoiler. )
Also? My tailor's better than Daniel Craig's.
( Spoiler. )
Also? My tailor's better than Daniel Craig's.
... that was definitely a nonsensical Western about dinosaurs, with a lovingly rendered backdrop of thoroughly referenced completely incorrect geology
I object strenuously to the fact that it made me cry that much in spite of the baffling artistic licence taken with evolution and wish to lodge a complaint
Nipples don't exist! But that's okay because the C4 photosynthetic pathway does, paving the way for remarkably resilient leaf loincloths
This concludes your complementary review of The Good Dinosaur, now showing in cinemas near you!
I object strenuously to the fact that it made me cry that much in spite of the baffling artistic licence taken with evolution and wish to lodge a complaint
Nipples don't exist! But that's okay because the C4 photosynthetic pathway does, paving the way for remarkably resilient leaf loincloths
This concludes your complementary review of The Good Dinosaur, now showing in cinemas near you!
[film] World On Fire; The Martian
Oct. 5th, 2015 11:12 amWorld On Fire (2011; apparently also called Miami Magma and Swamp Volcano) is something I picked up a few years ago while creating a collection of Terrible Geology Movies; I finally got around to watching it on Saturday night and it was actually surprisingly good.
I mean. Not the science, obviously; the science was gloriously wrong in all the ways one hopes for when one goes about buying this manner of thing. (THAT IS NOT HOW LAVA TUBES. THAT IS NOT HOW OIL FORMATION. THAT IS NOT HOW LAVA. :D) But... it passed Bechdel repeatedly (because the female PI kept talking to her younger sister, a "volcanology prodigy", about science); male characters died in a way that would have been fridging for the sake of the women's character development except they were too busy doing cool science to care particularly; bonus terrible CGI; and mind-bendingly wrong data security. A+ will probably watch again.
The Martian (2015) I unabashedly adore, because it is full of brave space robots and also brave space people and people making hard decisions as best they can and diversity in science and loyalty and brave space potatoes and did I mention the space robots. I cried most of the way through it (BRAVE. SPACE. ROBOTS.), I about corpsed when I muttered toshortcipher "... is that Sebastian Stan" and received the response "[confused look] who's Sebastian Stan?"
Laughed out loud several times in addition to crying, applauded it a fair bit, was gently horrified by the approach to spacewalks but whatever, am now intending to actually acquire and read the book. Probably also the DVD, because I think this can go on my safe shelf. Much gratitude to my useless ex for coaxing me out of the house and to the cinema.
I mean. Not the science, obviously; the science was gloriously wrong in all the ways one hopes for when one goes about buying this manner of thing. (THAT IS NOT HOW LAVA TUBES. THAT IS NOT HOW OIL FORMATION. THAT IS NOT HOW LAVA. :D) But... it passed Bechdel repeatedly (because the female PI kept talking to her younger sister, a "volcanology prodigy", about science); male characters died in a way that would have been fridging for the sake of the women's character development except they were too busy doing cool science to care particularly; bonus terrible CGI; and mind-bendingly wrong data security. A+ will probably watch again.
The Martian (2015) I unabashedly adore, because it is full of brave space robots and also brave space people and people making hard decisions as best they can and diversity in science and loyalty and brave space potatoes and did I mention the space robots. I cried most of the way through it (BRAVE. SPACE. ROBOTS.), I about corpsed when I muttered to
shortcipher "... is that Sebastian Stan" and received the response "[confused look] who's Sebastian Stan?"Laughed out loud several times in addition to crying, applauded it a fair bit, was gently horrified by the approach to spacewalks but whatever, am now intending to actually acquire and read the book. Probably also the DVD, because I think this can go on my safe shelf. Much gratitude to my useless ex for coaxing me out of the house and to the cinema.
