(no subject)

[selenak]

In addition to being busy, these last few weeks made you basically stare in fear at every bit of news from the European election onwards. And today, it's "how much will France set itself on fire and Europe with it?" day. I suppose there are the British elections to look forward to, which if nothing else will end fourteen years of Tory horror, but there, too, there's the red thread of going after trans people (and their allies) to boggle at. (Speaking of that, it's been so bizarre to watch JKR getting radicalized through the last decade, to the point where now you can bet on every public pronouncement of hers being anti-trans. Never mind her writing, I'm sitting there thinking, woman, you used to care about actual problems, poverty and social equality being very large among them. I mean, I've read your first non-Potter novel, which is very much about that. You were the first millionaire to give so much money to charity to that you downgraded yourself from the billionaire's list. And now you've devolved into a hate spewing caricature? Good grief.)

Anyway, if, like me, you need distraction from said rl misery and a reminder that both people and the world can be lovely, too, but don't have the time for plays/movies right now because Darth Real Life is breathing down your neck on a personal level, too, why not check out travel vids on YouTube? In recent weeks, I've become quite attached to The Adventures of A plus K, featuring a young American couple travelling not solely in the US but all over the world with a wonderful amount of enthusiasm (for sights and food alike) and guts (see: their adventures in Finland). Originally an algorithm brought them to my attention because of their Munich vids, but soon I was going through their Scandianvian adventures and US National parks back log.

Because it's often instructive to check out how other people see you and what you're used to, I also find vids by non-Germans living in Germany interesting, like Type Ashton, with her counterpart, a German vidder living in the US, being Feli from Germany.

And lastly, if you do need something fictional but aren't up for new stuff because of the above mentioned business: there's the rewatch option of things where because you know them already it's okay to fast foreward in some places or rewatch favourite scenes. I've reminded myself that while I never got what the big deal with Oscar Isaacs was in the SW Sequels, I completely get it in Moon Knight, which I feel fell a bit under the radar because it's one of several Marvel Disney series Disney pumped out in recent years. He's great in the, hm, two leading roles, to put it as unspoiliery as possible, May Calamawy is absolutely fantastic as Layla El-Faouly, and while I haven't read the comics, what the show does with Egyptian mythology is actually way better than what Marvel did with Norse mythology. (Extra points for using Taweret instead of Isis. No offense to Isis, but there are other goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon!)

Thus fortified with the occasional distraction, I get get to work. And will try to not check the news too often for French election results tonight...

P.S. David Tennant icon courtesy of the fact that apparently Sunak's latest pre election PR masterpiece is going after him?

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

I have voted. And I will go vote again next week (unless one of the candidates wins in the first round in my area). But it's looking really bad right now at the national level. :/

[selenak]

*solidarity hug*

[profiterole_reads]

Thanks! <3

[greenwoodside]

So much agreement re Rowling. It's not that she was always a perfect radical (the fate of Dobby Vs the fate of Kreacher just seems to get worse and worse as I get older). But she didn't seem narrow or obsessive.

Apparently she recently endorsed the Communist Party but they (hilariously/sadly) quickly distanced themselves.

Around the time of the HP books' publication and for years after, even though I wasn't following her career closely, I was always glad to hear that she was still writing and that it was being well received. I'd seen a lot of dismissive comments about her from principally male sources, whom I suspect would hate anything popular made by a woman on reflex, and her continued success felt like one in the eye for them.

It's painful to see what she's become.

[selenak]

It is. No, she wasn‘t radical, but she used to be what I‘d call an old school social democrat, interested in many issues from healthcare to housing to a better way to deal with drug addiction. And even if in retrospect books like Silk Worm have warning signs (i.e. the emotionally unstable trans character), the whole satire on the publishing industry is genuinely funny and, I thought, in a self aware way (i.e. making fun of herself as well when she talks about writers). And she did have a gift for creating memorable characters. And now she‘s become so much less, so completely obsessive about her hate and it‘s just sad.

[greenwoodside]

Yeah, it's too much to hope that after 4th July as the nation exhales, she'll just wake up one morning, blink, and think to herself: 'You know, I was going down a really dark spiral there. Time to move on and start kicking arse over kids going hungry/the housing crisis/social care etc.'

But the teenager in me who joined fandom during the Three Year Summer will still hope that a little bit.

[lightofdaye]

Don't get me started on our elections here in Britain. On the plus side the most optimistic projections indicated the tories won't even be the main opposition party but I expect that's overly optimistic and it seems certain we will get at least a few Reform party MPs in, so the awful far right is not going away. Even in the best case the more I see of Starmer the less I like: sacrificing everything for "electibility".

But on the escapist side I think Hawkeye would be my comfort food especially since Kate Bishop reappeared in The Marvels recently.

In terms of news stuff season 2 of Star Trek Prodigy is imminently dropping on netflix and I'm really looking forward to that.

[selenak]

Hawkeye is a very good choice! It's a bit too hot outside right now for me to get into the Christmas spirit, though. :)

[watervole]

I'm not going to watch the travelling American couple. For me, it would create stress.
Flying is one of the most carbon intensive activities anyone can do.
There is no source of sustainable aviation fuel (apart from used cooking oil!) and aviation emissions are steadily rising.

I'll spare the rant on biofuels - the short version is that when you take fertiliser and farm machinery, etc. into account, they are every bit as bad as conventional aviation fuel - plus - they are burning food....

[selenak]

While I doubt they went by ship to Europe (though once there, they seem to use exclusively public transport from what I have seen, i.e. trains and busses), they take their own van to travel though America. No flights there. Lots of hiking and bicycling and camping, though.

[selenak]

While I doubt they went by ship to Europe (though once there, they seem to use exclusively public transport from what I have seen, i.e. trains and busses), they take their own van to travel though America. No flights there. Lots of hiking and bicycling and camping, though.

[beatrice_otter]

Moon Knight is great, and there's some lovely fic.

[selenak]

True! I really liked the one you recced a while ago with Leyla figuring out what being Tawaret's avatar really means for her post show.

[kore]

"it's been so bizarre to watch JKR getting radicalized through the last decade, to the point where now you can bet on every public pronouncement of hers being anti-trans. Never mind her writing, I'm sitting there thinking, woman, you used to care about actual problems, poverty and social equality being very large among them. I mean, I've read your first non-Potter novel, which is very much about that. You were the first millionaire to give so much money to charity to that you downgraded yourself from the billionaire's list"

It's like she's a walking example of how fast rancid transphobia has grown everywhere! I hate it.

La Pen and the election results are fucking scary right now. THANKS MACRON. When will the unpopular leaders stop betting our futures on their chances and losing hard. Gahh.

[selenak]

I'm imagining a world where France is governed by Le Pen, the Netherlands by Wilders, Italy by Meloni, Hungary by Orban, Slovakia by Fico and the US by Trump, and want to throw up non-stop, and we're almost there.