Holiday
Apr. 10th, 2026 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerStill working on my reviews for the movies I saw over spring break! In my defense, we saw many movies - and it still wasn’t as many as I would have liked, as we only managed to hit up one of the films in the Kate the Great film festival at the Brattle.
However, that film was Holiday, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, one of the all-time great Golden Age of Hollywood screen pairings. Genuinely shocked that I never saw or even heard of this movie before, given how much I love both of the stars.
However, this is perhaps just as well, since it was wonderful to see it for the first time on the big screen. Cary Grant is Johnny Case, a cheerful businessman who just got engaged to Julia, a girl he met a couple weeks ago at a ski resort. Katherine Hepburn is Julia’s disaffected little sister Linda, who Johnny meets for the first time when he visits Julia’s home… which happens to be the family mansion in the heart of Manhattan.
Yes, Johnny Case has been Crazy Rich Asianed. Going home to meet his fiancee’s family, he discovers they’re richer than God. After some initial doubts, however, the patriarch takes to Johnny, an up-and-coming one man with an extremely lucrative business deal in the pipeline. But then Johnny lets slip his true plan. Once he makes his packet, he plans to quit business and spend a few years traveling the world and finding himself.
Julia and father are appalled. What’s the point of making a huge amount of money except to use it to make yet huger amounts of money? But Linda, who is utterly miserable in her gilded cage, is fascinated. Here’s someone who really wants to live!
You can more or less guess the plot from there, but it’s still a delightful ride, with many excellent side characters. Linda and Julia’s drunk gay brother, like Linda miserable and unable to see a route to escape. Johnny’s friends the eccentric professor and his equally eccentric wife, a double act who easily morph into a triple act when Johnny’s on the scene. There’s a delightful moment when they’re singing “Camptown Races” with Linda, having a real good time in the attic while people pretend to have a good time at the huge stuffy engagement/New Year’s Eve party downstairs.
For a movie called Holiday, this is probably one of the least holiday-aesthetic Christmas/New Year’s movies I’ve ever seen. The characters keep commenting on the unusually warm weather they’re having, presumably to try to cover the fact that they are very obviously filming in southern California, and there’s very little in the way of Christmas trees or other decorations either.
However, as long as you don’t go into the movie expecting to get your Christmas on, it’s a fantastic time. Great chemistry between the leads, fantastic family dynamics, some more serious discussions about money and the meaning of life which give a bit of ballast to the levity. Just a jolly good all around time.
However, that film was Holiday, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, one of the all-time great Golden Age of Hollywood screen pairings. Genuinely shocked that I never saw or even heard of this movie before, given how much I love both of the stars.
However, this is perhaps just as well, since it was wonderful to see it for the first time on the big screen. Cary Grant is Johnny Case, a cheerful businessman who just got engaged to Julia, a girl he met a couple weeks ago at a ski resort. Katherine Hepburn is Julia’s disaffected little sister Linda, who Johnny meets for the first time when he visits Julia’s home… which happens to be the family mansion in the heart of Manhattan.
Yes, Johnny Case has been Crazy Rich Asianed. Going home to meet his fiancee’s family, he discovers they’re richer than God. After some initial doubts, however, the patriarch takes to Johnny, an up-and-coming one man with an extremely lucrative business deal in the pipeline. But then Johnny lets slip his true plan. Once he makes his packet, he plans to quit business and spend a few years traveling the world and finding himself.
Julia and father are appalled. What’s the point of making a huge amount of money except to use it to make yet huger amounts of money? But Linda, who is utterly miserable in her gilded cage, is fascinated. Here’s someone who really wants to live!
You can more or less guess the plot from there, but it’s still a delightful ride, with many excellent side characters. Linda and Julia’s drunk gay brother, like Linda miserable and unable to see a route to escape. Johnny’s friends the eccentric professor and his equally eccentric wife, a double act who easily morph into a triple act when Johnny’s on the scene. There’s a delightful moment when they’re singing “Camptown Races” with Linda, having a real good time in the attic while people pretend to have a good time at the huge stuffy engagement/New Year’s Eve party downstairs.
For a movie called Holiday, this is probably one of the least holiday-aesthetic Christmas/New Year’s movies I’ve ever seen. The characters keep commenting on the unusually warm weather they’re having, presumably to try to cover the fact that they are very obviously filming in southern California, and there’s very little in the way of Christmas trees or other decorations either.
However, as long as you don’t go into the movie expecting to get your Christmas on, it’s a fantastic time. Great chemistry between the leads, fantastic family dynamics, some more serious discussions about money and the meaning of life which give a bit of ballast to the levity. Just a jolly good all around time.
Daily Happiness
Apr. 10th, 2026 07:33 pmtorachanWe had a nice, relatively relaxing day today that kept us mostly out of the rain. There actually wasn’t much rain most of the day, just sprinkling off and on, though it did start coming down harder here and there in the evening.
We went to a little train museum not too far from the resort area that required taking a train and then a bus, and I’ve never taken a bus in Japan before so that was fun. We also ate at a family restaurant (Gusto), which is another thing I’ve never done before. This one was very high tech. You order off a tablet (which we’ve seen a fair amount of), the food comes to you by robot, and then it’s self-checkout at the register. There was also a Book Off right nearby so we got some books and CDs, and then since it wasn’t raining right then, instead of getting on the bus where we got off, we walked several stops towards our destination before getting on, which got us a nice little neighborhood walk in a less touristy area than where we’ve mainly been so far. In the evening we went to Ikspiari for dinner and more shopping. I definitely feel like we’re getting the hang of Ikspiari now. It was soooooo confusing last time and I stil hate the layout, but we were able to navigate without too much trouble this time. Now we’re back at the hotel early and can just relax before our big DisneySea day tomorrow.
We went to a little train museum not too far from the resort area that required taking a train and then a bus, and I’ve never taken a bus in Japan before so that was fun. We also ate at a family restaurant (Gusto), which is another thing I’ve never done before. This one was very high tech. You order off a tablet (which we’ve seen a fair amount of), the food comes to you by robot, and then it’s self-checkout at the register. There was also a Book Off right nearby so we got some books and CDs, and then since it wasn’t raining right then, instead of getting on the bus where we got off, we walked several stops towards our destination before getting on, which got us a nice little neighborhood walk in a less touristy area than where we’ve mainly been so far. In the evening we went to Ikspiari for dinner and more shopping. I definitely feel like we’re getting the hang of Ikspiari now. It was soooooo confusing last time and I stil hate the layout, but we were able to navigate without too much trouble this time. Now we’re back at the hotel early and can just relax before our big DisneySea day tomorrow.
We have our water heater replacement first thing tomorrow
Apr. 9th, 2026 12:13 pmconulyAnd we can barely pay it if we don't pay for a few other things. Maybe they'll let us write two checks.
On the other hand, if the USA decides drop nukes during the installation, probably the company won't trouble themselves too much about payment. We'll be home free! Well, assuming nobody retaliates on NYC specifically....
**********************
( Read more... )
On the other hand, if the USA decides drop nukes during the installation, probably the company won't trouble themselves too much about payment. We'll be home free! Well, assuming nobody retaliates on NYC specifically....
( Read more... )
Taskmaster s21 and other Brticom rabbit hole things
Apr. 9th, 2026 09:08 pmhamsterwomanTaskmaster is back!!
Taskmaster s21 interviews – I like the format a lot better this series than the last couple – it’s probably one of my favorite gimmicky ones (I had also liked s17’s, but mostly I feel like the format detracts rather than adds to the interview on the other recent ones; OK, s20’s table tennis was not too bad, but I thought the table tennis was too disruptive to the chat, in a way texting was not really). ( First impressions, before watching the episode )
Episode itself: Taskmaster s21e01 – oh, this was FUN! ( spoilers )
*
I caught up on the Christmas 2025 House of Games, which had what is probably my favorite lineup ever: Mathew Baynton, Mel Giedroyc, and Harriet Kemsley (and a fourth non-Britcom/non-Taskmaster person I didn’t know, but he was fun, too). ( spoilers )
*
I finished watching James Acaster’s Repertoire on Netflix – a 4-part stand-up show which I found really interestingly constructed but enjoyed less than the shows by the comedians it turns out I really vibe with, like John Robins or, based on a smaller sample size, (Lesser) Tom Cashman or Pierre Novellie. Also, it really is a single four-part show, even though the first three parts are fairly stand-alone, and I did not have 4 hours to watch it all the way through – nor do I really think that’s a reasonable, like, aliquot for standup. And I was still able to appreciate it watching it in several chunks over a matter of weeks, but not as well – by the time I got to the last part, which calls back to the previous ones a lot, and loops around to the first one, there were definitely details I had forgotten – I could tell from the audience laughing at things that were clearly callbacks but ones I did not recognize. But I did recognize some inter-episode callbacks, and even within each episode (Recognise, Represent, Reset, and Recap) there are callbacks and loop-arounds.
If I had to describe Repertoire in one word, it would be ( intricate )
Taskmaster s21 interviews – I like the format a lot better this series than the last couple – it’s probably one of my favorite gimmicky ones (I had also liked s17’s, but mostly I feel like the format detracts rather than adds to the interview on the other recent ones; OK, s20’s table tennis was not too bad, but I thought the table tennis was too disruptive to the chat, in a way texting was not really). ( First impressions, before watching the episode )
Episode itself: Taskmaster s21e01 – oh, this was FUN! ( spoilers )
*
I caught up on the Christmas 2025 House of Games, which had what is probably my favorite lineup ever: Mathew Baynton, Mel Giedroyc, and Harriet Kemsley (and a fourth non-Britcom/non-Taskmaster person I didn’t know, but he was fun, too). ( spoilers )
*
I finished watching James Acaster’s Repertoire on Netflix – a 4-part stand-up show which I found really interestingly constructed but enjoyed less than the shows by the comedians it turns out I really vibe with, like John Robins or, based on a smaller sample size, (Lesser) Tom Cashman or Pierre Novellie. Also, it really is a single four-part show, even though the first three parts are fairly stand-alone, and I did not have 4 hours to watch it all the way through – nor do I really think that’s a reasonable, like, aliquot for standup. And I was still able to appreciate it watching it in several chunks over a matter of weeks, but not as well – by the time I got to the last part, which calls back to the previous ones a lot, and loops around to the first one, there were definitely details I had forgotten – I could tell from the audience laughing at things that were clearly callbacks but ones I did not recognize. But I did recognize some inter-episode callbacks, and even within each episode (Recognise, Represent, Reset, and Recap) there are callbacks and loop-arounds.
If I had to describe Repertoire in one word, it would be ( intricate )
A lonesome highway is a pretty good subject
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:01 pmsovayEntirely apart from it now apparently being business as usual for my killing joke of a government to start wars in whatever sovereign nations it feels like and threaten the annihilation of entire civilizations on capricious deadline, I have had a weird and fairly scrambled week in which I was not able to avoid talking to doctors after all. I can feel suitably noir-poisoned for recognizing some location shooting in The Rockford Files (1974–80) from Desert Fury (1947). The sky this afternoon suggested that it was trying to be autumn.
rushthatspeaks sent me an improbable mammal.
rushthatspeaks sent me an improbable mammal.A few fandom things
Apr. 9th, 2026 07:11 pmsholio1. New Dungeon Crawler Carl book comes out in just a month! I'm wondering if I should reread the previous book before it drops, because these books have about a zillion characters and I'm confident that I have forgotten most of what happened in it.
2. The thing which happened to me on Tumblr today was so weird that I'm going to describe it under the cut even though I already complained privately to friends. (Murderbot fandom is so freakin' weird. Seriously.)
( Awkward! )
3. Speaking of Space Swap, they are still looking for some pinch hitters!
2. The thing which happened to me on Tumblr today was so weird that I'm going to describe it under the cut even though I already complained privately to friends. (Murderbot fandom is so freakin' weird. Seriously.)
( Awkward! )
3. Speaking of Space Swap, they are still looking for some pinch hitters!
(no subject)
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:07 pmskygiantsMade a extremely silly decision this past weekend, which was to break up our long drive to and from Philly by Exactly long enough to see one (one) show in NYC on the way down, and another on the way back. Literally put the car in a garage by the theater, went into the show, got the car out of the garage, and kept driving. And to make matters even sillier the show that we saw on the way down was Bad -- and we knew it was going to be! Or at least we had a reasonable suspicion! But were we not going to go out of our way to see Norm Lewis play Villefort in a Count of Monte Cristo musical? Of course we were. The path before us had simply been prepared.
Q: When you say it was bad, do you mean it was a bad musical as a musical, or a bad adaptation of Count of Monte Cristo?
A: Oh, both! Absolutely both.
Q: What made it a bad musical?
A: Well, the music. And the lyrics. They hit exactly every beat on the Musical Sheet while constantly feeling like less subtle knockoff versions of other songs you might know slightly better. The song you might know slightly better is not a subtle one, you say? Well, I guarantee you that songs such as "Dangerous Times," in which the full cast explain that they are living in dangerous times, and "How Did I Get So Far Away [From Me]," in which Mercedes sadly wonders how she has gotten so far away from herself, are less so. When the best you can say of a song is that it felt like pallid diet Frank Wildhorn -- as in, lacking the noted power and vibrancy of real Frank Wildhorn, composer of such deathless works as Death Note: The Musical -- then you know we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. And that's not even mentioning the frenetic stream of mediocre jokes.
Q: And what made it a bad adaptation?
A: I mean I know there are probably people in the past who have said that Edmond Dantès literally did nothing wrong but I want you to understand: in this show, Edmond Dantès literally does nothing wrong. His backstory takes up the entire first act, and by the time we hit intermission I was already like "huh, there's not going to be a lot of time in here for revenge schemes," but I didn't actually understand how dire the situation was going to be until ( this part of the Q&A gets into quite detailed plot spoilers )
Q: So do you regret your objectively silly decision to go out of your way to see this musical?
A: No I do not, not in the least, and I would have regretted missing it. There is something very nutritious in bad theater, I think. It forces you to consider what good theater might look like. Also, the surprise appearance of Lucrezia Borgia was one of the funniest things I experienced all weekend.
Q: When you say it was bad, do you mean it was a bad musical as a musical, or a bad adaptation of Count of Monte Cristo?
A: Oh, both! Absolutely both.
Q: What made it a bad musical?
A: Well, the music. And the lyrics. They hit exactly every beat on the Musical Sheet while constantly feeling like less subtle knockoff versions of other songs you might know slightly better. The song you might know slightly better is not a subtle one, you say? Well, I guarantee you that songs such as "Dangerous Times," in which the full cast explain that they are living in dangerous times, and "How Did I Get So Far Away [From Me]," in which Mercedes sadly wonders how she has gotten so far away from herself, are less so. When the best you can say of a song is that it felt like pallid diet Frank Wildhorn -- as in, lacking the noted power and vibrancy of real Frank Wildhorn, composer of such deathless works as Death Note: The Musical -- then you know we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. And that's not even mentioning the frenetic stream of mediocre jokes.
Q: And what made it a bad adaptation?
A: I mean I know there are probably people in the past who have said that Edmond Dantès literally did nothing wrong but I want you to understand: in this show, Edmond Dantès literally does nothing wrong. His backstory takes up the entire first act, and by the time we hit intermission I was already like "huh, there's not going to be a lot of time in here for revenge schemes," but I didn't actually understand how dire the situation was going to be until ( this part of the Q&A gets into quite detailed plot spoilers )
Q: So do you regret your objectively silly decision to go out of your way to see this musical?
A: No I do not, not in the least, and I would have regretted missing it. There is something very nutritious in bad theater, I think. It forces you to consider what good theater might look like. Also, the surprise appearance of Lucrezia Borgia was one of the funniest things I experienced all weekend.
Data pointing.
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:10 pmhannahI'd very much like to rant about an article I saw in The New York Times Magazine about people trying to get away from smartphones, except it'd boil down to my firm hypothesis they'd achieve the same result by taking the internet off the smart phone. If the apps don't work, you can't get a quick hit of anything. I still don't understand how that manages to be the default for pretty much everyone else and how other people's phones can't also be set to only get internet access when they're logged into a network. It's baffling.
I suppose to ask what goes into making this possible is to get the answer that it's built into the settings with few people bothering to change them, or even consider that as something which could be done - and that cellular data roaming functions aren't something people think to play around with, either.
Who benefits from this is very much the people pushing for the constant immediate gratification and ongoing distractions.
What's the desired outcome is the reliance on the smartphone as distraction device, giving attention and money, rather than a useful tool that can be modified as desired by the owners and end-users.
I suppose to ask what goes into making this possible is to get the answer that it's built into the settings with few people bothering to change them, or even consider that as something which could be done - and that cellular data roaming functions aren't something people think to play around with, either.
Who benefits from this is very much the people pushing for the constant immediate gratification and ongoing distractions.
What's the desired outcome is the reliance on the smartphone as distraction device, giving attention and money, rather than a useful tool that can be modified as desired by the owners and end-users.
My great big transit adventure pt the whatever
Apr. 9th, 2026 06:24 pmflemmingsDentist appointment at 1:30 so of course was up at 8:45 to be breakfasted and medicated and exercised and showered to leave house before 12. Going by cab takes barely 20 mnutes but a) the TTC is Like That and b) it's recycle Thursday meaning the trucks will come moseying up the street invariably when the cab is due. Also it wasn't supposed to rain until later and my subway station has elevators now. So I hoofed it down there and got on same. But someone has decided that telling people eastbound and westbound is too confusing for the poor dears, so they name the terminal points instead. Which might still be alright except that the termini are Kipling and Kennedy, waaay out in Heere men say bee dragonnes land, and conveying nothing to me personally. However. Kennedy is eastbound because it has an e in it, and also is the one where I have to go to the lower level and then cross to the elevator on the other side. Because I alwats go east and never go west if I can avoid it.
So off we start on our three station journey and then as we near the second station slow down and stop. Ah. Signal problems farther along have caused all trains to turn back at Broadview so eastbound trains are backed up. At least they tell us this, clearly for once. We start moving slowly and stop at Spadina, pull out and once again stop and wait before St.George. Start again, arrive, I get off and trek down the platform to the elevator. Woman is standing there looking distraught. 'It's not coming!' And I'm all Oh god didn't we do this last time? But as she's turning away I see the cables start to move. Two women get off with their kids in two wagons, the loading of which accounts for the delay. So up and onto line1 and off at Queen's Park. Woman outside the station asks me is the subway running yet, and I say No, still shuttle buses from Broadview and she turns sadly away. Mosey over to Yonge. It has taken an hour and change to get here. No time for a Tim's but do get to send my tax authorisation to the accountant, registered mail for a third of what the courier costs and no danger (fingers crossed) of it going to Quebec this time.
My dentist had an emergency patient as well as me, meaning she floated between the two of us, meaning I got a break from holding my mouth open with my weakened jaw muscles. (Cracked vertebrae apparently does that to you.) So I could actually move my jaw when she was finished, for which I was grateful. And grateful too that I still had money on account so the damage was half what it might have been. "I'll put this through for insurance." Oh no, they said they wouldn't cover this one. "Oh, they often say that and then pay it anyway." Which would be nice if it happens but I think they refused it twice. However, I stopped by Fran's (the last greasy spoon in TO) and had meatloaf and mash with what I would have spent on taxis.
Back on the TTC, and knowing better than to transfer to the Bloor line at 3 pm, up to Dupont. Elevator to the concourse, over to the elevator to street level, it arrives with father and two kids in a double stroller, and... the doors won't open. Guy inside tries opening them manually, I press the large help button and tell the voice what's up, voice says he'll come over but doesn't. Then Dad gets the doors open from inside, remarking 'It did this yesterday too' as he exits, but the doors close before I can get in and won't open when I press the button. And still no one comes. And this, boys and girls, is why I hope never to be in a wheelchair because though it's a pain, you *can* take a folding walker on the escalator, even the stupidly narrow ones at Dupont station. Which I do, and traffic being backed up to forever all along Dupont because condos have taken up a whole lane, as ever, I walk home. And no, no buses pass me as I do so. There are too damned many condos being built in this town, especially that one, which has a penthouse going for five million and lower floors for not much less. On grubby Dupont that has no shopping or green spaces to speak of. People are nuts.
Tomorrow is, what else, rain again so I shall sleep in and stay in. Does it always rain this much in April? My DW journal says yes, yes it does. Heigh-ho.
So off we start on our three station journey and then as we near the second station slow down and stop. Ah. Signal problems farther along have caused all trains to turn back at Broadview so eastbound trains are backed up. At least they tell us this, clearly for once. We start moving slowly and stop at Spadina, pull out and once again stop and wait before St.George. Start again, arrive, I get off and trek down the platform to the elevator. Woman is standing there looking distraught. 'It's not coming!' And I'm all Oh god didn't we do this last time? But as she's turning away I see the cables start to move. Two women get off with their kids in two wagons, the loading of which accounts for the delay. So up and onto line1 and off at Queen's Park. Woman outside the station asks me is the subway running yet, and I say No, still shuttle buses from Broadview and she turns sadly away. Mosey over to Yonge. It has taken an hour and change to get here. No time for a Tim's but do get to send my tax authorisation to the accountant, registered mail for a third of what the courier costs and no danger (fingers crossed) of it going to Quebec this time.
My dentist had an emergency patient as well as me, meaning she floated between the two of us, meaning I got a break from holding my mouth open with my weakened jaw muscles. (Cracked vertebrae apparently does that to you.) So I could actually move my jaw when she was finished, for which I was grateful. And grateful too that I still had money on account so the damage was half what it might have been. "I'll put this through for insurance." Oh no, they said they wouldn't cover this one. "Oh, they often say that and then pay it anyway." Which would be nice if it happens but I think they refused it twice. However, I stopped by Fran's (the last greasy spoon in TO) and had meatloaf and mash with what I would have spent on taxis.
Back on the TTC, and knowing better than to transfer to the Bloor line at 3 pm, up to Dupont. Elevator to the concourse, over to the elevator to street level, it arrives with father and two kids in a double stroller, and... the doors won't open. Guy inside tries opening them manually, I press the large help button and tell the voice what's up, voice says he'll come over but doesn't. Then Dad gets the doors open from inside, remarking 'It did this yesterday too' as he exits, but the doors close before I can get in and won't open when I press the button. And still no one comes. And this, boys and girls, is why I hope never to be in a wheelchair because though it's a pain, you *can* take a folding walker on the escalator, even the stupidly narrow ones at Dupont station. Which I do, and traffic being backed up to forever all along Dupont because condos have taken up a whole lane, as ever, I walk home. And no, no buses pass me as I do so. There are too damned many condos being built in this town, especially that one, which has a penthouse going for five million and lower floors for not much less. On grubby Dupont that has no shopping or green spaces to speak of. People are nuts.
Tomorrow is, what else, rain again so I shall sleep in and stay in. Does it always rain this much in April? My DW journal says yes, yes it does. Heigh-ho.
you do the math, you expect the trouble
Apr. 9th, 2026 05:50 pmmusesfoolToday's poem, for which I had to turn on the rich text editor and still couldn't get the spacing quite right sigh:
Seaside Improvisation
by Richard Siken
I take off my hands and I give them to you but you don't
want them, so I take them back
and put them on the wrong way, the wrong wrists. The yard is dark,
the tomatoes are next to the whitewashed wall,
the book on the table is about Spain,
the windows are painted shut.
Tonight you're thinking of cities under crowns
of snow and I stare at you like I'm looking through a window,
counting birds.
You wanted happiness, I can't blame you for that,
and maybe a mouth sounds idiotic when it blathers on about joy
but tell me
you love this, tell me you're not miserable.
You do the math, you expect the trouble.
The seaside town. The electric fence.
Draw a circle with a piece of chalk. Imagine standing in a constant cone
of light. Imagine surrender. Imagine being useless.
A stone on the path means the tea's not ready,
a stone in the hand means somebody's angry, the stone inside you still
hasn't hit bottom.
*
Seaside Improvisation
by Richard Siken
I take off my hands and I give them to you but you don't
want them, so I take them back
and put them on the wrong way, the wrong wrists. The yard is dark,
the tomatoes are next to the whitewashed wall,
the book on the table is about Spain,
the windows are painted shut.
Tonight you're thinking of cities under crowns
of snow and I stare at you like I'm looking through a window,
counting birds.
You wanted happiness, I can't blame you for that,
and maybe a mouth sounds idiotic when it blathers on about joy
but tell me
you love this, tell me you're not miserable.
You do the math, you expect the trouble.
The seaside town. The electric fence.
Draw a circle with a piece of chalk. Imagine standing in a constant cone
of light. Imagine surrender. Imagine being useless.
A stone on the path means the tea's not ready,
a stone in the hand means somebody's angry, the stone inside you still
hasn't hit bottom.
*
(no subject)
Apr. 9th, 2026 05:41 pmaurumcalendulaNo dice on my most recent attempt re: the StudioWorks Wiseguy season 1 DVDs :( Disc 3 is not recognized by any player I have.
some! good! things!
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:45 pmkaberett- Therapist was Mean and got me to do the thing of substituting "I'm excited about" for "I'm anxious about". I Have Signed Up For The Gym, without first fixing my bike, and might even make it there Tomorrow.
- On the one hand Wagamama have dropped my default order from their menu again ('tis the season!), and on the other they have introduced a gochujang-tamarind-sesame corn "ribs" situation that I am very pleased to have tried.
- Social wiggles were OUTSIDE because we have achieved LIGHT ENOUGH EVENINGS.
- I have almost finished A's gloves??? All That Remains is Weaving In The Second Set Of Ends.
- Lebkuchen And A Glass Of Milk.
It was the lightest of times, it was the darkest of times?
Apr. 9th, 2026 04:38 pmbloodygranuaileA few months ago I read Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, which meant I finally felt I had the background to read Sarah Rees Brennan’s Tell the Wind and Fire, which I’ve been keeping around on my shelves for like ten years. The latter is a very loose, YA fantasy retelling of the former, but I like to have the proper background so I can both be sufficiently judgmental and catch fun Easter eggs.
I read this in less than a day while I was between Elena Ferrante books and it was a perfectly fine choice for that window of time. As a YA fiction book it was a very quick read, the sort that made me viscerally aware of how many more books I can get through when some of them are YA fantasies instead of, like, Middlemarch.
Anyway, this one was enjoyable while I was reading it but benefits tremendously from not stopping to think about anything too hard. It takes place in New York, of which there are now two–Light New York and Dark New York. Dark and Light are the two types of magic, which have wholesale replaced all other prejudices in American society, and essentially recreated Jim Crow but with magic types instead of skin color, down to stuff like the one-drop rule. (Don’t look for too long at how this means we now have white, blond Dark people and Black Light people or the whole premise will quickly start to feel weird.) In addition, dopplegangers exist, providing us with an actual backstory as to why Charles Evremond and Sydney Carson–I mean Ethan Stryker and Carwyn–look the same, where in Dickens it is just a Mysterious Coincidence.
Our viewpoint character is Lucie Manette, here given a lot more inner conflict and complexity and ability to do stuff other than suffer patiently than the Dickens version. This one can do Light magic and also fight with a sword and is famous, having done a media manipulation at the tender age of twelve to get her father un-imprisoned. The Dickensian heroine treatment is instead given to her boyfriend Ethan, who is unimpeachably perfect in every way, to the point where a lot of readers apparently find him boring. I find this hilarious. He is boring because he is a Dickens heroine! I enjoyed this part immensely. Poor Ethan, all he ever did was try to use his position to try to do the right thing despite being too young to have any of the actual power that comes with his rich kid privilege.
Carwyn, the doppelganger, on the other hand, is a Sarah Rees Brennan bad boy, meaning he is the funniest character in the book, although he is also genuinely an enormous douchebag for most of it.
The new protagonistified Lucie kind of reminds me of Cersei Lannister a little, in that she’s smart enough to realize that the world is a tough place and you’ve gotta be smart and manipulative to get what you want, etc., but she does actually end up being wrong at basically every critical plot point and getting herself and everyone else into enormous trouble. I don’t dislike her, I thought it was kind of fun that she seemed mostly pretty smart while you were in her head but she was just outgamed at pretty much every turn. Sometimes it’s like that, when you are fundamentally just not as much of a sneaky shithead as your opponents even when you know you should be.
Overall I would not consider this to be anywhere near the caliber of, say, The Lyburne Legacy, a trilogy I absolutely adored and which riffed off a whole genre of my favorite books instead of just one, but it was still pretty entertaining. I did enjoy being able to spot the Easter eggs, like Lucie’s school being named Nightingale-Evremonde. I’m also glad to get it off my TBR shelf.
I read this in less than a day while I was between Elena Ferrante books and it was a perfectly fine choice for that window of time. As a YA fiction book it was a very quick read, the sort that made me viscerally aware of how many more books I can get through when some of them are YA fantasies instead of, like, Middlemarch.
Anyway, this one was enjoyable while I was reading it but benefits tremendously from not stopping to think about anything too hard. It takes place in New York, of which there are now two–Light New York and Dark New York. Dark and Light are the two types of magic, which have wholesale replaced all other prejudices in American society, and essentially recreated Jim Crow but with magic types instead of skin color, down to stuff like the one-drop rule. (Don’t look for too long at how this means we now have white, blond Dark people and Black Light people or the whole premise will quickly start to feel weird.) In addition, dopplegangers exist, providing us with an actual backstory as to why Charles Evremond and Sydney Carson–I mean Ethan Stryker and Carwyn–look the same, where in Dickens it is just a Mysterious Coincidence.
Our viewpoint character is Lucie Manette, here given a lot more inner conflict and complexity and ability to do stuff other than suffer patiently than the Dickens version. This one can do Light magic and also fight with a sword and is famous, having done a media manipulation at the tender age of twelve to get her father un-imprisoned. The Dickensian heroine treatment is instead given to her boyfriend Ethan, who is unimpeachably perfect in every way, to the point where a lot of readers apparently find him boring. I find this hilarious. He is boring because he is a Dickens heroine! I enjoyed this part immensely. Poor Ethan, all he ever did was try to use his position to try to do the right thing despite being too young to have any of the actual power that comes with his rich kid privilege.
Carwyn, the doppelganger, on the other hand, is a Sarah Rees Brennan bad boy, meaning he is the funniest character in the book, although he is also genuinely an enormous douchebag for most of it.
The new protagonistified Lucie kind of reminds me of Cersei Lannister a little, in that she’s smart enough to realize that the world is a tough place and you’ve gotta be smart and manipulative to get what you want, etc., but she does actually end up being wrong at basically every critical plot point and getting herself and everyone else into enormous trouble. I don’t dislike her, I thought it was kind of fun that she seemed mostly pretty smart while you were in her head but she was just outgamed at pretty much every turn. Sometimes it’s like that, when you are fundamentally just not as much of a sneaky shithead as your opponents even when you know you should be.
Overall I would not consider this to be anywhere near the caliber of, say, The Lyburne Legacy, a trilogy I absolutely adored and which riffed off a whole genre of my favorite books instead of just one, but it was still pretty entertaining. I did enjoy being able to spot the Easter eggs, like Lucie’s school being named Nightingale-Evremonde. I’m also glad to get it off my TBR shelf.
Seconds to Spare, by Rachel Reiss
Apr. 9th, 2026 12:51 pmrachelmanija
18-year-old Evelyn is on a plane, transporting her father's ashes, when there's an announcement of turbulence. A passenger gets up from her seat, then collapses in the aisle. The plane begins to nosedive, and everything goes white. Then Evelyn is back on the plane, which is no longer nosediving. There's an announcement of turbulence. A passenger gets up from her seat, then collapses in the aisle. The plane begins to nosedive...
Evelyn quickly realizes that she's in a 29-minute time loop. She tries to figure out why the plane is crashing and how to stop it, but gets absolutely nowhere. She talks to other passengers. She steals their food and eats it. She watches every movie on the plane. She learns everything about everyone, except the handsome sleeping teenage boy who never wakes up during the loop. She goes through 400 loops and almost loses her mind. And then, on one loop, the boy wakes up. And on the next loop, he also realizes that he's in a loop...
Like the last novel I read by Reiss (Out of Air, the one with the teenage scuba divers), this book has a great premise. I enjoyed how Evelyn makes herself free with everything on the plane while trapped, and I also enjoyed how she and Rion, the sleeping boy, work together once he wakes up to figure out what's going on. However, it had an issue that more-or-less ruined the book for me. Rion suggests something that somehow Evelyn failed to try in 400 loops, which is to follow one person on the plane at a time, and observe everything they do. It never occurred to Evelyn to watch the flight attendants, and watching one of them reveals exactly what's causing the crash. They try to prevent it in several ways that don't work. Then Rion figures out a clever plan that saves the plane and fixes the loop.
The author clearly wanted to have Evelyn be alone in the loop for a long time. I can see why she wanted that - we get a vivid sense of her frustration and despair - but it makes Evelyn seem useless when she spends ages watching movies and so forth, and then Rion figures everything out almost immediately. This is exacerbated when Rion also comes up with the plan to fix things. This wouldn't have been a problem if they'd been in the loop together much earlier - then they could have bonded while investigating, taken breaks and done the fun stuff that she did alone, and mutually figured stuff out. It would have been more fun to read and felt less sexist, which I'm sure was unintentional but is inevitable when the girl fails at everything for ages, then a boy shows up and both solves the mystery and fixes the problem.
I'll be interested to see if Reiss's third book also has a three word title that rhymes with "care."
Hornblower movies 5 & 6
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:42 amosprey_archerOnward I sail in my Hornblower movie adventures! Five and six are a pair, based on Lieutenant Hornblower, which features a mad captain who is convinced that his lieutenants are plotting to take over his ship. His lieutenants, in increasing fear for their lives, conclude that they’d better take over the ship.
It’s interesting to watch these so soon after reading the books, because you read the books and it seems like there’s plenty of dramatic incident, and then you watch the movies and you go “Ah, the producers decided they needed to juice this up a bit.” Example: in the movies, the entire action is framed by the lieutenants’ trial for mutiny. If they are found guilty they will be HANGED.
Example two: in the book, Captain Sawyer falls down the hatchway, hits his head, and basically is incapacitated ever after. In the movie, he still falls from the hatchway (obviously we’re not going to let go of the question “did Hornblower push him?”), but he recovers! retakes the ship! and then promptly sails it directly under the guns of a Spanish fort, which forces the lieutenants to take action to remove him from power!
While I was reading Lieutenant Hornblower, I entertained myself greatly with the speculation that Hornblower DID push Captain Sawyer. However, upon reflection I’ve decided that if he had pushed Captain Sawyer, literally every promotion would be accompanied by the reflection “This is only happening because I MURDERED my CAPTAIN, truly I am the WORST.” On the other hand, this might explain the great increase in neuroticism between Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and our return to Hornblower POV in Hornblower and the Hotspur? Feels so guilty he can’t even name his guilt…
Okay no, I really think that if Hornblower were guilty he would be naming his guilt to himself incessantly. Maybe he’s just more neurotic because of the stress of serving under mad Captain Sawyer who was convinced that all his lieutenants and especially Hornblower were plotting against him.
ANYWAY. Getting back to the movie adaptations. I can see why these films must have made Bush/Hornblower fans Big Mad. Bush is at long last introduced - and then he’s upstaged at every turn by established movie fan favorite Lt. Kennedy.
Kennedy, not Bush, is the one who is nice to young Wellard after Captain Sawyer whips him for no reason.
When Bush is wounded, Hornblower briefly cradles his head, then the doctor is like “Go away, there’s nothing you can do here,” and Hornblower’s like “okay” and drops Bush like a hot potato. He hotfoots it off to have a chat with Kennedy, who tells him unsteadily that the prisoners have been dealt with… “Is that your blood?” Hornblower asks.
Kennedy mumbles something about how he’s fine.
“IS THAT YOUR BLOOD?”
Kennedy lets his jacket fall open and we see that his white shirt is SOAKED in blood. END OF SCENE.
And then of course Kennedy dies for Hornblower! Shambles into a court, barely able to stand upright on account of his wounds, and insists that he’s the one who pushed Captain Sawyer down the hatch! (As we have seen in endless flashbacks, he wasn’t even in the vicinity.)
Hornblower is not in court that morning, having been decoyed away, which upon reflection doesn’t quite make sense: surely he has to be in attendance at his own capital trial? But obviously we can’t have Hornblower spoiling Kennedy’s dramatic gesture by popping up to yell “That’s a lie! I pushed Captain Sawyer!” (Possibly no one pushed Captain Sawyer! Maybe he just fell! Those hatches have no safety rails. Absolute death traps.)
Anyway, Kennedy is duly sentenced to death. But before they can hang him, he dies of his wounds. Hornblower, of course, is at Kennedy’s bedside, holding his hand as he dies.
One presumes that sometime in the final two movies, Bush will at last have a chance to repair to his sickbed, where Hornblower will tenderly brush his hair from his forehead. But even then, how can he compete with the guy who sacrificed his life for Hornblower? The filmmakers clearly decided to ride the good ship Hornblower/Kennedy into the sunset.
It’s interesting to watch these so soon after reading the books, because you read the books and it seems like there’s plenty of dramatic incident, and then you watch the movies and you go “Ah, the producers decided they needed to juice this up a bit.” Example: in the movies, the entire action is framed by the lieutenants’ trial for mutiny. If they are found guilty they will be HANGED.
Example two: in the book, Captain Sawyer falls down the hatchway, hits his head, and basically is incapacitated ever after. In the movie, he still falls from the hatchway (obviously we’re not going to let go of the question “did Hornblower push him?”), but he recovers! retakes the ship! and then promptly sails it directly under the guns of a Spanish fort, which forces the lieutenants to take action to remove him from power!
While I was reading Lieutenant Hornblower, I entertained myself greatly with the speculation that Hornblower DID push Captain Sawyer. However, upon reflection I’ve decided that if he had pushed Captain Sawyer, literally every promotion would be accompanied by the reflection “This is only happening because I MURDERED my CAPTAIN, truly I am the WORST.” On the other hand, this might explain the great increase in neuroticism between Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and our return to Hornblower POV in Hornblower and the Hotspur? Feels so guilty he can’t even name his guilt…
Okay no, I really think that if Hornblower were guilty he would be naming his guilt to himself incessantly. Maybe he’s just more neurotic because of the stress of serving under mad Captain Sawyer who was convinced that all his lieutenants and especially Hornblower were plotting against him.
ANYWAY. Getting back to the movie adaptations. I can see why these films must have made Bush/Hornblower fans Big Mad. Bush is at long last introduced - and then he’s upstaged at every turn by established movie fan favorite Lt. Kennedy.
Kennedy, not Bush, is the one who is nice to young Wellard after Captain Sawyer whips him for no reason.
When Bush is wounded, Hornblower briefly cradles his head, then the doctor is like “Go away, there’s nothing you can do here,” and Hornblower’s like “okay” and drops Bush like a hot potato. He hotfoots it off to have a chat with Kennedy, who tells him unsteadily that the prisoners have been dealt with… “Is that your blood?” Hornblower asks.
Kennedy mumbles something about how he’s fine.
“IS THAT YOUR BLOOD?”
Kennedy lets his jacket fall open and we see that his white shirt is SOAKED in blood. END OF SCENE.
And then of course Kennedy dies for Hornblower! Shambles into a court, barely able to stand upright on account of his wounds, and insists that he’s the one who pushed Captain Sawyer down the hatch! (As we have seen in endless flashbacks, he wasn’t even in the vicinity.)
Hornblower is not in court that morning, having been decoyed away, which upon reflection doesn’t quite make sense: surely he has to be in attendance at his own capital trial? But obviously we can’t have Hornblower spoiling Kennedy’s dramatic gesture by popping up to yell “That’s a lie! I pushed Captain Sawyer!” (Possibly no one pushed Captain Sawyer! Maybe he just fell! Those hatches have no safety rails. Absolute death traps.)
Anyway, Kennedy is duly sentenced to death. But before they can hang him, he dies of his wounds. Hornblower, of course, is at Kennedy’s bedside, holding his hand as he dies.
One presumes that sometime in the final two movies, Bush will at last have a chance to repair to his sickbed, where Hornblower will tenderly brush his hair from his forehead. But even then, how can he compete with the guy who sacrificed his life for Hornblower? The filmmakers clearly decided to ride the good ship Hornblower/Kennedy into the sunset.