Floating Leaf

Had a lovely time with mellacita. I love that feeling of ease and familiarity with someone you've never actually talked to before.:) Only happens with online friends, though.;)

Then I decided to try and find the Italian restaurant where we are having our company holiday lunch this coming Thursday. I thought I knew the area, since I used to live nearby, and that spotting a restaurant close to a huge shopping mall should be easy. Hahaha. I probably wasted about two hours driving around in useless circles.:/ I found about 15 OTHER restaurants, thank you very much - just not this one. Finally I spotted a roadside sign that included the restaurant's name, among others - but I still don't know which particular building it's in, since there was no sign on the wall/above the door anywhere. So it's going to be fun trying to get there on time Thursday morning.:/ (There's a company meeting first, for which it's not acceptable to be late, and then the lunch.)

I feel drained now, even though I barely did anything today. Must be the weather. The below-freezing temperatures have hit, and that always depletes my energy levels. Plus, endless driving makes you sleepy. And just the thought of getting up early tomorrow and going back to work makes me want to curl up with my back to the universe, LOL.

In better news, I received a holiday card from dissonant_dream today. It's sparkly! ;) Thank you, dear. *hugs* Fresh snow is so beautiful to look at when you don't have to be outside driving in it.:P

Also, I feel like I should watch The Road again, but I just don't have the emotional fortitude to handle it. I mean, it's a beautiful film, and why on earth did I buy the DVD if I am not going to watch it - but... you know. ( I will just end up in a big teary mess. )

Another mind-boggling example of how religion messes with some people's heads:

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/149022/creepy_christian_patriarchy_movement_shackles_daughters_to_their_fathers_and_homes/

As in, women AGAINST feminism. Because, you know, feminism is so very bad for you. And, apparently, God doesn't like it. Or, in other words, your daddy and your pastor don't like it - which obviously means that God doesn't like it either. *bangs forehead against the wall*

My favorite quote? (...) prime purposes of feminism are to establish a lesbian-socialist republic and to dismantle the family unit (from the pro-patriarchy website Fathers for Life). God(ess) help me!... I LOL-ed so hard I almost fell off the chair. Not that I would necessarily mind a lesbian-socialist republic... but yeah. Sometimes stupidity is so great it achieves accidental brilliance.:/

My next favorite quote (from the notorious preacher Pat Robertson): feminism is a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. Now, kindly note the order in which said calamities are listed: "destroying capitalism" seems somehow worse and more terrifying than killing children, but "becoming lesbians" is the ultimate evil. Looks like I started my descent into darkness from the wrong end, LOL. But I often do stuff backwards, so no worries. Now can someone please tell me how to destroy capitalism?... I'd like to get that done before I move on to the witchcraft. Killing children doesn't sound appealing, so I think I'll stop there. Also, no need to leave a husband, since I never had one. See? I messed the whole thing up. I'm not even a "proper" lesbian, since I do get hetero-crushes every once in a while. Maybe I'm just not feminist enough. Because, apparently, heterosexual feminists don't exist (see above). Just like lesbians never have children or start a family. Gahhh. I think I have moved past the stage of being outraged at such vicious nonsense and achieved a state of semi-permanent hysterical amusement. It's a coping mechanism, I'm sure. Otherwise I would probably have to become a terrorist and blow something up. Like Pat Robertson's church, for example.

Yeah. Just this little tidbit to mull over on a Friday night. Will try to catch up on comments/emails over the weekend - no predictable success rate, though.;)

So... wanna hear something ridiculous? It's still November, and I am already sick & tired of Christmas music. Or, to be precise, of what passes for "Christmas music" in a typical American retail environment, lol. I tried to start my gift shopping today - without much success, I might add - and I just feel like I wasted a few hours and now I can't get some of those ugly, unappealing tunes out of my head. Blargh. My patience has run out, I think. I'll stick to ordering stuff online from now on, shipping fees or not. After all, I am already half-blind from staring into the computer screen most of the time anyway...

Also, apparently there are LJ communities meant specifically for people who are looking for new friends. You can join and post your profile, inviting others to add you. I've had a look around one such comm, which included users "age 21 and over". Predictably enough, pretty much everyone was somewhere between 22 and 27.:/ (Not that I mind interacting with much younger people, some of whom are very smart and mature and all - it's just that I can't help wondering why a twenty-something would be interested in befriending an old hag... which perhaps indicates that I have issues, but yeah. Browsing through that comm did make me feel like a grandmother, lol.) And no-one's interests even vaguely resembled mine. So I don't think I'll be joining. There are also comms where people post naked pictures of themselves - either full shots or specific body parts. No joke. Not that I'm scandalized or anything - more like mildly amused, I guess. I just wasn't aware of that. *shrug* And no, I am not interested in joining any of those comms either.:P

Gahhh. I've felt like I had so much to say lately - tons & tons of interesting posts brewing inside my head... but when I finally do sit down in front of that blank typing box, some daft insignificant blabber comes out. *sigh* I'd better just stick to reading other people's journals. Or fanfic - which only makes me feel like I want to write myself... but then I sit down in front of that blank typing box, and... yeah. Echoing silence. Maybe I could use a prompt word or something?... I just... there's so much static in my head, for all I know there could be an FPS masterpiece hiding in there somewhere, being obscured by corny elevator music of bland holiday cheerfulness. Or something. How do you force the creative part of your brain to pay attention to itself?... How do you tune out all the crap that the so-called reality assaults you with every minute of every day?... Should you have any ideas on that, please let me know.

Okay, this is weird. I am on some sort of mad quest for new LJ-friends, because most of my current LJ-friends are way too quiet most of the time and I feel like I have no-one to talk to. I mean, I can monologue here till I'm blue in the face, and maybe someone will even read it and think "Oh crap, there she goes again" - and keep that remark to themselves out of polite consideration for my fragile ego - but that still doesn't in any way address my need for CONVERSATION. Or, you know, thought EXCHANGE. And I don't mean casual remarks about the weather or the price of eggs, thank you very much. I want to talk ABOUT stuff. I don't know, fandom (any fandom I am even remotely interested in), art, cinema, music, books, astrology, paranormal phenomena, gender, sexuality, the meaning of life (yes, even Monty Python, LOL)... you name it. I want to become friends with more people who discuss such (or other) stimulating topics in their journals on a regular basis - so I can participate in the discussion and keep my grey matter from withering away into a bleak moonscape of nothingness. And no, I am not interested in searching for people with similar interests through dating sites - because then someone might get the idea that I am simply looking to get laid. I am not. It is my BRAIN that needs stimulation like whoa, and yes, reading/watching good stuff on my own gives me that, but I also need to DISCUSS that stuff with other people, not just monologue endlessly about it. I need someone who actually has an OPINION on that weird indie flick I watched a while ago, and can also perhaps recommend to me another similar one that I might like. I also need that someone (or someones) to update their journal more than once a month. I don't know, maybe LJ isn't the right place for this, but I feel at home here and don't necessarily want to open another journal somewhere else just so I could beg random strangers to TALK to me, dammit. There MUST be people out there who have so much on their minds that they need a regular outlet in the form of a journal which doesn't only talk about highly personal stuff. Not that I mind highly personal stuff about people I already know - far from it - but I am hardly going to approach a stranger who posts exclusively about their sex life, for example.:P Anyway... I feel like an idiot trolling about through my interest list and reading random people's profiles - but I can't resist the compulsion to do it. I have no idea what came over me. I think I need help. Or a life, perhaps. Except THIS is my life. EXCHANGING THOUGHTS with people IS my life, it has always been. I can totally live without seeing another human face for a week or a month, but I need to HEAR from a human brain far more often than that. Or, you know, READ from it. And have some sort of communication, if possible. Otherwise I feel like a wrecked spaceship hurtling towards a black hole. Or something. And I'm not even into sci-fi. Or not much, anyway. But I can talk about the end of the world. Or the Age of Aquarius, you know. Or whatever. Just give me a topic you want to discuss, or tell me where I can find a journal/community that is relatively active and welcomes new friends/members. I need an outlet. Ranting on here just isn't cutting it anymore.

End of transmission. Thanks for putting up with my frustrations once again, and good night.

So we're doing another research project at work. This time, my task consists of checking various radio station websites, in order to determine whether they accept online advertising. Apart from giving me a pretty good idea about what kinds of music Americans listen to (country, mostly, it would appear, followed by hip-hop/R&B and a tiny bit of classic pop/rock here and there - so I'm not missing out on much by not listening to the radio, LOL), this project has also made me aware of a disturbingly large number of cultish-sounding Christian broadcasting entities all over the country. As in, flashing ads telling you how to find Jesus and how to see whether you're going to heaven (I wish I was kidding, but I'm not). One website had the following lovely motto: "Smile - God is watching you". It gave me the creepiest feeling of deja vu - Big Brother flashbacks, as it were. You know, from Orwell's 1984. Except this creepy, stalkish, totalitarian ultra-right-wing version of God totally wins in competition with Big Brother. Wanna know why? See, should you fall from grace, Big Brother can only torture you until you die. Stalker!God, on the other hand, can torture you for all eternity. So, point for God. That's about the only difference, imo.

Now, if you know me well enough, you are probably aware that the vicious!sarcasm mode is a sure sign of freaking out about something. So yeah, I might just as well admit that I am freaking out. I might have mentioned this before, but these past few months (years?...) of living in the US made me realize that A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood wasn't just some outlandish futuristic fantasy (naive me - that's what I thought when I first read it years ago). It was a warning. Gilead is coming. It is being shamelessly advertised through the use of most advanced modern technology. More and more people in this country are living in a "high-tech stone age" - to quote an article I read online a few days ago. It's not some sick joke. It's real. And maybe, just maybe, like Viggo's character in Good, I am not taking it seriously enough. Because it's easier to snicker dismissively at one ridiculous indoctrinating website (or five, or twenty) than to really consider the meaning of its existence. Any rabid nonsense becomes dangerous if enough people believe in it. And as long as we still in control of our mental capacities keep dismissing it, there might come a time when there is indeed nothing left to do but smile, because someone WILL be watching. Not God, perhaps, but for all intents and purposes, we won't know the difference.

Just saying.

Someone posted very interesting pics on viggo_daily yesterday. Not surprising, perhaps, and yet... in a way, extremely so, because when have we actually seen Viggo The Ever Elusive "Private Man" engaging in Public Displays of Affection???... *gasp* ;) Not sure if The Kiss happened before or after they became aware of having been spotted by the paparazzi, but either way... it's a first.:) Someone said in the comments they have been "unofficially" together since Alatriste - which, again, doesn't surprise me; I just wonder what made them no longer care about keeping it "under wraps" (someone else said she recently got divorced, so that could be why... LOL). If you still don't know who I'm talking about, kindly follow the cut and see Undeniable Proof that the amazing onscreen chemistry required far less acting talent than either of them have.;)

( Viggo and Ariadna Gil, of course. )

It is a bit windy outside today. As in, hold on for dear life and don't drive too fast, or it will blow you off the road. Because, you know, there's windy, and then there's Windy City windy - which is a whole another level of howling madness, if you catch my drift. So we had a power outage at the office again, and they let us go home early. Yay! It can happen every day, as far as I'm concerned.:P

Also, if you're in need of a distraction and a good belly-laugh - not to mention a little nostalgic for the bygone days when LOTR FPS fandom was alive and kicking - I just found something that might brighten up your mood. Here's the link:

http://avia.silverbloom.net/mirror/viewstory.php?sid=15251

Yes, Author's Notes is the title of the story, and it's a relatively canon retelling of the Quest - except for the rampant insanity involving Aragorn's half-hearted attempts at a written record of the proceedings (as requested by Elrond), and his constant mental torment at the hands of a very moody, jealous, distracting and anal-retentive elven lover.:) Legolas in this fic is just... sooo gay. In more ways than one.:P I have barely started reading it, and I can't remember the last time I had such wicked fun with my OTP (and the other members of the Fellowship, who are all delightfully amusing here, I might add). geale01, why were you hiding this treasure trove away from me?... LOL

( Just a tiny little snippet, to give you an idea of the style and tone. )

OK... I'm going to attempt a review of that Chinese gay movie I mentioned before (the one I went to see on the last weekend of the festival). It might be difficult, since there are many things I love about this film, but also some things I hate. But that's precisely the reason I feel the need to write about it.

Perhaps using my nearly-forgotten review template will make it a little easier for me to contain the topic, so to speak, and include all the relevant info before I get carried away by reflections and interpretations.:) And spoilers - because without them, I wouldn't be able to explain much. ( So read at your own risk.:P )

Now, about this Greek film I saw last Tuesday. Black Field. Which turned out to be something a little different than what I expected. *amused chuckle* The funny thing is, I picked mostly gay movies to see - except for this one. Not even so much on purpose - I just picked the ones that sounded most interesting to me, and they happened to be gay-themed. Imagine that. *snort* So I was thinking to myself, Well, at least I will be able to say I watched one non-gay film during this festival. And then I checked out the link to the film's website, and there was a review, and before I was half-way through it, I started laughing hysterically, because yeah. To quote the director, Vardis Marinakis, who attended the screening, this is a spoiler that has totally leaked, so I am going to reveal it - and I daresay some of my potential readers might actually be MORE interested in seeing the film once I do.:D

( Read more... )

So, my little vacation is over. I just got back from watching Ferzan Ozpetek's latest film, Loose Cannons (original title: Mine Vaganti). I don't even have adequate words to render the experience. I was BLOWN AWAY. I am SO glad I headed straight for the third row, which was mostly empty - there was no one sitting right next to me, that is. THANK GOD. I wouldn't want a random stranger to witness the spectacular scene I made. I was laughing like a maniac, while at the same time BAWLING MY EYES OUT. Shaking and gasping and holding my mouth to muffle the happy squeals, with tears streaming down my face. I barely got a semblance of control over myself before the lights came on. Now, I don't normally do this in movie theaters. I don't normally do this ANYWHERE if there are other people around. But I just... this film is so fucking PERFECT. It has this incredible emotional power that just completely annihilates my typical calm exterior. It is kind of frightening, actually. But in a good way. If that makes sense. I want to say more about it, but I have no idea where to start, and it's late, and I go back to work tomorrow.:/ So I'm going to "sleep on it" and maybe find the words later.

The Greek film I saw last night also deserves a separate post, for a number of reasons. I will get to it at some point. Right now, bedtime.:(