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Entry tags:
Life update
*looks at previous post date*
*laughs*
Woops.
Okay, so... summary mode!
From the last entry, more or less:
School was busy as fuck.
Sara and I very quickly went from "high school acquaintances reconnecting" to "very good friends," and I'm quite happy with that, as I've been lacking a good close friend out here in Halifax recently. Or at least a close friend who's external to all the hectic shit that is school by nature, and that's... something I rather desperately needed. Which I don't think I realised until I had it.
Also we have gone drinking or caught a movie or otherwise done something to decompress every single weekend and oh my god has it ever helped.
Otherwise: Group Projects are The Worst. Department seminars have been good. Departmental beer every Friday afternoon has been better. And I got a free day trip down to the southern edge of the province, which was pretty sweet (for the group project, aforementioned).
Oh. And a friend (we'll go with A for short) who was going through a breakup and I became much closer friends because my immediate response to seeing a breakup post on facebook was getting in touch. So now we talk nearly-daily, from across the country and four timezones. Hoorah for that.
The reason for that Group Projects are The Worst comment in October?
I spent 32-35 hours on a document we had to hand in for that group project the second week of November, with only about 10 of that being my actual sections. The rest? Making up for two people who dropped the fucking ball (of six, including me) and editing the whole thing to actually read like a professional goddamn document. And then I got passive aggressive fuckery from the two who dropped the ball in response to it.
In the same week, I had to start in on a major assignment for the same class that was 100% on me to do - and required around 30 hours of work, spread between that week and the following one.
Combined, those things triggered a (mild) dissociative episode with my brain being off in la-la land for most of a weekend.
So. Fuck people.
(Beer with Sara helped, a lot, as she basically just let me bitch until I was drunk and then we talked about more enjoyable things.)
That aside...
School has been good. I think I'm nearing the end of the drafting process for my first official academic publication submission. The project part of the group project thing is actually cool - it's just taking for-goddamn-ever. And my other class has some really cool content, just some annoying timeline pressures coming up.
Life has been overall... not bad. I need to unfuck the house and scrub every surface of the bathroom bare sometime in the next two weeks, but. I picked up a desk and another bookshelf for my room, so I may be able to start unfucking my room, as soon as I have an afternoon free to assemble the fucking things.
Still talking to A a lot, as well as some other friends back in BC who I hadn't been talking to as much prior to the past 6 weeks. Also been poking friends in Halifax more, because we'd all been very silo'd off most of this semester because this fucking group project course is just an utter disaster and a massive time sink. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but still a ways to go.
This week is going to be hellishly busy. But then things should lighten up - slightly - as we approach Dec 8th, which is the last big thing for the term.
Oh! Some time this week I should find out if I got accepted to present my work at a conference in Edinburgh in February. So I might get to be back in the UK in a few months.
And aside from the weekend due to stress from assignments and people dropping the ball and overworking myself, I haven't dissociated since mid-September. So. Progress!
New things:
Jessica Jones: good, but full of things that will require massive caution for people with triggers. It addresses rape in a very serious and direct manner, while never portraying it on screen (and thank fuck for that). It also addresses recovery as its main arc, and facing the violence of abusers. (And ultimately has a bit of wish-fulfillment in how it handles said abuser, in the end.) Overall it's good, but it doesn't delve into the "darkness" of its characters' issues as much as people are advertising it doing. It presents things a bit too cleanly and distantly at times, I think, but it's good overall. Like Daredevil, it stands head and shoulders above the rest of Marvel's MCU canon to-date. Needs more non-white people, though, in its supporting cast.
Spectre: was good. Not amazing, but coming off of Skyfall, they could certainly have made a worse Bond movie. And hey, it's a Bond movie where they didn't kill any Bond Girls. So. Progress? Basically it's a fun Bond movie, but very definitely a Bond movie. Christoph Waltz did a good job bringing Blofeld back (if you complain that's a spoiler it's been speculated on since the film was announced so hush) into the series. Some attempts at addressing the issues of the security state, and half-hearted criticisms of issues like governments employing international assassins... which are rather deflated when the international assassin (Bond) saves the day, while the people voicing the criticisms are morally undermined by the film's narrative. Good Bond movie, but not the best. I think the negative reviews were largely due to comparisons to Skyfall.
Mockingjay: Part 2 - good but not great. It ended the series well enough. Some scenes felt a bit rushed in the theatrical cut; I'd be interested in seeing a Director's Cut. The epilogue scene was utter garbage and should have been dropped, though. Ending with Peeta asking Katniss if her love was reality or delusion - and her confirming it - was a nice shot, and a poignant end to a story that was ultimately their journey from people trying to live their lives to figureheads of a revolution to people trying to get back to normality. The epilogue shot was utter garbage because it removed the viewer's ability to imagine a future for the two of them as they saw fit; instead, it imposed a clumsy, awkward "happy in the country with children" future. Yes, it's nice to tell the audience that the characters deal with their trauma and get along... but you showed their commitment to do that immediately prior. You didn't need to show the end result. Lazy and bad writing, ultimately, which I felt defeated the point of the film to that point.
Old stuff:
Constantine (the series): Good so far. I have a couple episodes left before the end of it. Has serious goddamn appropriation issues with basically every non-Christian religion... but for what it is, and given source material, it's pretty good. Just. Full of really unfortunate racism and cultural appropriation. Still well-acted and decently written, which creates a very jarring contrast between earnest efforts to portray very human characters and the show then turning around and having its protagonist casually throw out a line like "I knew it! G**sy magic was always the blackest of all! Witch!" and it's just like holy fuck you racist assholes. It's... enjoyable for what it is, but has serious, serious issues.
Kingsman: The Secret Service - can rot in fucking hell. What the fuck even was this movie. Misogyny, imperialism, white supremacy, and general horribleness, all wrapped-up in a self-assured, winking chauvinist film that's pretending it's a parody of James Bond and hyper-violent, hyper-masculine action films while actually doubling down on every single thing problematic in those films. Fucking Spectre was more progressive and self-aware of its failings than this film. Fuck this movie, seriously.
And... I mean, I'm sure I've watched other things of late, but that's enough for now.
There. I think that's the important stuff? Mostly? Someone correct me if I'm forgetting anything.
*laughs*
Woops.
Okay, so... summary mode!
From the last entry, more or less:
School was busy as fuck.
Sara and I very quickly went from "high school acquaintances reconnecting" to "very good friends," and I'm quite happy with that, as I've been lacking a good close friend out here in Halifax recently. Or at least a close friend who's external to all the hectic shit that is school by nature, and that's... something I rather desperately needed. Which I don't think I realised until I had it.
Also we have gone drinking or caught a movie or otherwise done something to decompress every single weekend and oh my god has it ever helped.
Otherwise: Group Projects are The Worst. Department seminars have been good. Departmental beer every Friday afternoon has been better. And I got a free day trip down to the southern edge of the province, which was pretty sweet (for the group project, aforementioned).
Oh. And a friend (we'll go with A for short) who was going through a breakup and I became much closer friends because my immediate response to seeing a breakup post on facebook was getting in touch. So now we talk nearly-daily, from across the country and four timezones. Hoorah for that.
The reason for that Group Projects are The Worst comment in October?
I spent 32-35 hours on a document we had to hand in for that group project the second week of November, with only about 10 of that being my actual sections. The rest? Making up for two people who dropped the fucking ball (of six, including me) and editing the whole thing to actually read like a professional goddamn document. And then I got passive aggressive fuckery from the two who dropped the ball in response to it.
In the same week, I had to start in on a major assignment for the same class that was 100% on me to do - and required around 30 hours of work, spread between that week and the following one.
Combined, those things triggered a (mild) dissociative episode with my brain being off in la-la land for most of a weekend.
So. Fuck people.
(Beer with Sara helped, a lot, as she basically just let me bitch until I was drunk and then we talked about more enjoyable things.)
That aside...
School has been good. I think I'm nearing the end of the drafting process for my first official academic publication submission. The project part of the group project thing is actually cool - it's just taking for-goddamn-ever. And my other class has some really cool content, just some annoying timeline pressures coming up.
Life has been overall... not bad. I need to unfuck the house and scrub every surface of the bathroom bare sometime in the next two weeks, but. I picked up a desk and another bookshelf for my room, so I may be able to start unfucking my room, as soon as I have an afternoon free to assemble the fucking things.
Still talking to A a lot, as well as some other friends back in BC who I hadn't been talking to as much prior to the past 6 weeks. Also been poking friends in Halifax more, because we'd all been very silo'd off most of this semester because this fucking group project course is just an utter disaster and a massive time sink. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but still a ways to go.
This week is going to be hellishly busy. But then things should lighten up - slightly - as we approach Dec 8th, which is the last big thing for the term.
Oh! Some time this week I should find out if I got accepted to present my work at a conference in Edinburgh in February. So I might get to be back in the UK in a few months.
And aside from the weekend due to stress from assignments and people dropping the ball and overworking myself, I haven't dissociated since mid-September. So. Progress!
New things:
Jessica Jones: good, but full of things that will require massive caution for people with triggers. It addresses rape in a very serious and direct manner, while never portraying it on screen (and thank fuck for that). It also addresses recovery as its main arc, and facing the violence of abusers. (And ultimately has a bit of wish-fulfillment in how it handles said abuser, in the end.) Overall it's good, but it doesn't delve into the "darkness" of its characters' issues as much as people are advertising it doing. It presents things a bit too cleanly and distantly at times, I think, but it's good overall. Like Daredevil, it stands head and shoulders above the rest of Marvel's MCU canon to-date. Needs more non-white people, though, in its supporting cast.
Spectre: was good. Not amazing, but coming off of Skyfall, they could certainly have made a worse Bond movie. And hey, it's a Bond movie where they didn't kill any Bond Girls. So. Progress? Basically it's a fun Bond movie, but very definitely a Bond movie. Christoph Waltz did a good job bringing Blofeld back (if you complain that's a spoiler it's been speculated on since the film was announced so hush) into the series. Some attempts at addressing the issues of the security state, and half-hearted criticisms of issues like governments employing international assassins... which are rather deflated when the international assassin (Bond) saves the day, while the people voicing the criticisms are morally undermined by the film's narrative. Good Bond movie, but not the best. I think the negative reviews were largely due to comparisons to Skyfall.
Mockingjay: Part 2 - good but not great. It ended the series well enough. Some scenes felt a bit rushed in the theatrical cut; I'd be interested in seeing a Director's Cut. The epilogue scene was utter garbage and should have been dropped, though. Ending with Peeta asking Katniss if her love was reality or delusion - and her confirming it - was a nice shot, and a poignant end to a story that was ultimately their journey from people trying to live their lives to figureheads of a revolution to people trying to get back to normality. The epilogue shot was utter garbage because it removed the viewer's ability to imagine a future for the two of them as they saw fit; instead, it imposed a clumsy, awkward "happy in the country with children" future. Yes, it's nice to tell the audience that the characters deal with their trauma and get along... but you showed their commitment to do that immediately prior. You didn't need to show the end result. Lazy and bad writing, ultimately, which I felt defeated the point of the film to that point.
Old stuff:
Constantine (the series): Good so far. I have a couple episodes left before the end of it. Has serious goddamn appropriation issues with basically every non-Christian religion... but for what it is, and given source material, it's pretty good. Just. Full of really unfortunate racism and cultural appropriation. Still well-acted and decently written, which creates a very jarring contrast between earnest efforts to portray very human characters and the show then turning around and having its protagonist casually throw out a line like "I knew it! G**sy magic was always the blackest of all! Witch!" and it's just like holy fuck you racist assholes. It's... enjoyable for what it is, but has serious, serious issues.
Kingsman: The Secret Service - can rot in fucking hell. What the fuck even was this movie. Misogyny, imperialism, white supremacy, and general horribleness, all wrapped-up in a self-assured, winking chauvinist film that's pretending it's a parody of James Bond and hyper-violent, hyper-masculine action films while actually doubling down on every single thing problematic in those films. Fucking Spectre was more progressive and self-aware of its failings than this film. Fuck this movie, seriously.
And... I mean, I'm sure I've watched other things of late, but that's enough for now.
There. I think that's the important stuff? Mostly? Someone correct me if I'm forgetting anything.