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First, i need sunlight. It's been the gloom since New Years Eve.
Last week i wanted to get more yard work done, but got some done, which is better than none. But stuff remains, and i am already Oh-Woe-Is-Me about surgery recovery time starting in mid April. I will probably get better with a hoe because i always give up and bend over and weed by hand. (Because there are plants to preserve. Hoeing seems so -- violent.)
And i made progress on work things, so Yay. I think my organization might be able to bow out of a "hackathon" to show the developers of a W3C spec for protecting privacy in the authentication flow some problematic aspects. Instead, i filed a change request against poor wording. I am not excited about travel, and while, Yay, the 28 Feb-1 March hackathon is no longer in the cold north, it is way across the country in the bay area (which yay-ish, because familiar, but not so yay, because would be there for intense work and not seeing people and landscape).
I had a stack of projects for the new years weekend and have spent the whole time on genealogy, found a digital copy of someone's excellent research. (And she was a correspondent with my Dad's aunt!) Aaaand she has evidence that the "standard story" family told about the father of the original B--- who came to that section of Georgia is hornswaggle. Which was just great because i had spent hours and hours picking our documents about the hornswaggle line that i might take my nephew to see in the NC Archives. Arrgh. Of course, she isn't confident about who that father might be. It doesn't help that everybody named their sons William and James.
The one happy bit of news is that i was suspicious about the links as well 'cause evidence was thin.
My dad is all, "Well My Granddaddy Said."
Observations for the holidays:
Dad took Christine and I out to eat at a decent but not special Chinese restaurant on New Years Eve as our Christmas gift. I had advised Dad about not just giving cash; i believe my advice was taken verbatim. (Also better than military base sliced cheese which i think was the other choice.) Christine is indignant that that was all the gift and when i checked with my sister she too thought it wasn't quite right. I have mixed feelings as sometimes i don't give really expensive gifts and ... whatever? It's the time, and care, right? So, i am letting my sister have a go ad advising Dad. He clearly leaned on Mom for maintaining all relationships.
Christmas eve we watched the movie TÁR. Cate Blanchett was incredible, and it's a powerful film. But.... The Roger Ebert reviewer Glen Kenny puts it well, "TÁR is not a diatribe or parable, but an interrogation, one that seeks to draw the viewers in, and compel them to consider their own place in the question." It was about abuse of power, which really wasn't a question i wanted to explore. It was extremely subtle with narrative elements that were both revealing and yet mysterious. For example, the main character's hearing was so acute and she was awakened by a metronome running rooms away in the middle of the night - revealing in how she carried herself in the waking and silencing. Mysterious in, why was the metronome running? I appreciated how another reviewer pointed out how the film invites us to start imagining a conspiracy, but doesn't engage in that speculation.
Meanwhile, it was warm and i could hear frogs singing -- probably in the tree just out our front door, and Christine was agog i could hear the frog while watching the film. I do sympathize with the main character's hearing. I realized some time back the reason why noises that became Issues in Meeting for Worship didn't bother me was because i was always hearing so many noises. Peoples' watches ticking, chairs creaking as weight shifted, fabric rustling, bird song, cars and trucks, airplanes.
On Sunday we had my sister and her spouse over to see Rocky. I made pretzels which went very well. I used premade pizza dough, i soaked the knots in a 3/4 c baked baking soda to 2 c water solution for 4 minutes (didn't boil them), rinsed off the solution, and baked in a baking basket. (This is some metal mesh thing for grilling veggies or fish, said my mom when she handed off to me.) It was a just a moment too long in the oven, but the basket meant the whole surface browned up. It was excellent. I will do again.
The movie though. Am i supposed to spoiler cut for 40+ year old films? The Adrian plot-line is a "romantic interest" plot of its time. I found fascinating the race part of the plot, and found myself wondering if this movie was part of the anti-intellect trend in America. The heavyweight champion is intelligent and well spoken as well as the champion. And black. And he's aware that the potential paying audience is white and would be engaged by a white guy being his opponent. From The Guardian in 2016,
Elsewhere
Yeah.
Anyhow, we may now be committed to watching Rocky films every New Years? Hrm
Last week i wanted to get more yard work done, but got some done, which is better than none. But stuff remains, and i am already Oh-Woe-Is-Me about surgery recovery time starting in mid April. I will probably get better with a hoe because i always give up and bend over and weed by hand. (Because there are plants to preserve. Hoeing seems so -- violent.)
And i made progress on work things, so Yay. I think my organization might be able to bow out of a "hackathon" to show the developers of a W3C spec for protecting privacy in the authentication flow some problematic aspects. Instead, i filed a change request against poor wording. I am not excited about travel, and while, Yay, the 28 Feb-1 March hackathon is no longer in the cold north, it is way across the country in the bay area (which yay-ish, because familiar, but not so yay, because would be there for intense work and not seeing people and landscape).
I had a stack of projects for the new years weekend and have spent the whole time on genealogy, found a digital copy of someone's excellent research. (And she was a correspondent with my Dad's aunt!) Aaaand she has evidence that the "standard story" family told about the father of the original B--- who came to that section of Georgia is hornswaggle. Which was just great because i had spent hours and hours picking our documents about the hornswaggle line that i might take my nephew to see in the NC Archives. Arrgh. Of course, she isn't confident about who that father might be. It doesn't help that everybody named their sons William and James.
The one happy bit of news is that i was suspicious about the links as well 'cause evidence was thin.
My dad is all, "Well My Granddaddy Said."
Observations for the holidays:
Dad took Christine and I out to eat at a decent but not special Chinese restaurant on New Years Eve as our Christmas gift. I had advised Dad about not just giving cash; i believe my advice was taken verbatim. (Also better than military base sliced cheese which i think was the other choice.) Christine is indignant that that was all the gift and when i checked with my sister she too thought it wasn't quite right. I have mixed feelings as sometimes i don't give really expensive gifts and ... whatever? It's the time, and care, right? So, i am letting my sister have a go ad advising Dad. He clearly leaned on Mom for maintaining all relationships.
Christmas eve we watched the movie TÁR. Cate Blanchett was incredible, and it's a powerful film. But.... The Roger Ebert reviewer Glen Kenny puts it well, "TÁR is not a diatribe or parable, but an interrogation, one that seeks to draw the viewers in, and compel them to consider their own place in the question." It was about abuse of power, which really wasn't a question i wanted to explore. It was extremely subtle with narrative elements that were both revealing and yet mysterious. For example, the main character's hearing was so acute and she was awakened by a metronome running rooms away in the middle of the night - revealing in how she carried herself in the waking and silencing. Mysterious in, why was the metronome running? I appreciated how another reviewer pointed out how the film invites us to start imagining a conspiracy, but doesn't engage in that speculation.
Meanwhile, it was warm and i could hear frogs singing -- probably in the tree just out our front door, and Christine was agog i could hear the frog while watching the film. I do sympathize with the main character's hearing. I realized some time back the reason why noises that became Issues in Meeting for Worship didn't bother me was because i was always hearing so many noises. Peoples' watches ticking, chairs creaking as weight shifted, fabric rustling, bird song, cars and trucks, airplanes.
On Sunday we had my sister and her spouse over to see Rocky. I made pretzels which went very well. I used premade pizza dough, i soaked the knots in a 3/4 c baked baking soda to 2 c water solution for 4 minutes (didn't boil them), rinsed off the solution, and baked in a baking basket. (This is some metal mesh thing for grilling veggies or fish, said my mom when she handed off to me.) It was a just a moment too long in the oven, but the basket meant the whole surface browned up. It was excellent. I will do again.
The movie though. Am i supposed to spoiler cut for 40+ year old films? The Adrian plot-line is a "romantic interest" plot of its time. I found fascinating the race part of the plot, and found myself wondering if this movie was part of the anti-intellect trend in America. The heavyweight champion is intelligent and well spoken as well as the champion. And black. And he's aware that the potential paying audience is white and would be engaged by a white guy being his opponent. From The Guardian in 2016,
In Rocky, Apollo (played by Carl Weathers) is smug, cynical and money-obsessed. One critic called it the “portrayal of blacks as displacers of whites, allies of power and authority, and strong but soulless”.
Elsewhere
One of the few critics who did not agree with the hegemonic position was Michael Gallantz, who in “Rocky’s Racism” (1978) argued that the movie is filled with a discrimination that “is as mysteriously invisible as it is systematic and vicious”. The author states that Rocky is the reflection of a backlash against the achievements of the African American community that took place during the 70s. That derived from the fear of white Americans of losing their rights in favor of a potentially new order led by privileged Blacks. In the first movie, the embodiment of that threat is Apollo, an uppity world heavyweight champion who ostentatiously enjoys privileges such as wealth, power, and fame. Gallantz claims that the powerful hidden narrative of Rocky takes form through the innovative and apparently egalitarian, inclusive, and non-stereotypical representation of Blacks. That is possible by presenting that progressive society as a naturalized menace in which Rocky’s oppression represents the situation of all white Americans. -- https://popmec.hypotheses.org/3029
Yeah.
Anyhow, we may now be committed to watching Rocky films every New Years? Hrm
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ugh, it sucks *hugs*
the pretzels sound amazing. I keep hearing mutterings of a WaWa coming to the area, all I want are the damned soft pretzels!
it's interesting you talk about hearing so much sound. I do the same. Can you hear the electricity too??? I can sometimes and it gets on my nerves depending on my mood.