Iconograpy.

May. 19th, 2025 12:49 pm
hannah: (Marilyn Monroe - mycrime)
[personal profile] hannah
I got a fistbump from Tom Cruise yesterday.

No big deal.

For context, I went to the Mission Impossible red carpet event opening yesterday. The New York Adventure Club had gotten 20 red carpet passes issued to them, and because I get their newsletter, I was able to sign up and get in - a case of the right place, the right time, and knowing exactly where to look. There was waiting in line, there was standing in line, there was making sure I had the right information readily available, there was getting up as close to the front of the line as possible and then getting right up as close to the wall to the red carpet as possible. There was more waiting. There was a trivia question giveaway of sweatshirts and backpacks - to many, many people dressed in cocktail attire, no less - to keep energy going, and then the entertainment professionals getting people cheering.

During the waiting, I kept watching the crowds around me and on the other side of the fence. The way people were arranging cameras, getting microphones set up. I saw cast and crew walking around, glimpsing recognizable faces on the other side of the partition. The waiting around before and after intense, brief moments of activity seemed fitting, for what I know about making movies. Lights, camera, hang on, hold on, give me a moment, camera again, and then it's action. I watched pigeons fly around, and I joked about the largest animal that could be knocked unconscious by the sound system. I looked at the architecture of Lincoln Center and appreciated how Robert Moses might've liked this use of the space for a whole lot of reasons.

I got two passes and brought a friend with me, who kept checking her phone, as did many people around us. I took a few photos of Cruise at a distance, half a selfie with him, and not much else. I didn't want much else. I wanted to be right there in the moment. I wanted to take the three seconds I'd have to say something of momentary value to someone who meets more people in a day than I've probably met in the last two years.

He was announced, he was cheered for, he came out with fireworks and blaring music. He stood and smiled and waved as people looked at him, watched him, tried to capture a piece of him. There was gasping and there was cheering and I wasn't above looking at him standing there, a small army's worth of cameras from TV to handheld to drones all pointed at him. I thought about how the night before, people had waited to catch a glimpse of him walking from a car to his hotel door, and how video footage of that was uploaded to the internet, so yet more people would know where to go that night and where to wait. The architecture of Lincoln Center meant people could come out on balconies to look down at him, and people across the street could walk to the roofs of their buildings and stare down through binoculars like he was some kind of rare bird.

I knew he'd never be my friend.

Not in a negative way. I like to think we'd be friends, if the heavens parted and angels sang and we had genuine reason to speak to one another for more than a handful of seconds. It's a thought I'm happy to entertain. It's something I know won't happen unless the heavens part and angels sing. Meeting him on the red carpet was wonderful, and it wasn't celestial. I met a man. A handsome, charming man who's been meeting people for over forty years now. He's gotten quite good at it. He never learned my name and I already knew his. Everyone knew his name. Everyone there, and everyone who was watching him from far away.

We'd all been given small posters for cast and crew to sign, and I knew he'd stop for as long as it took him to deliver his signature. I'd known it was coming for some days, so I'd had time to prepare a few words to get them out as quickly and cleanly as possible.

I told him, "Minority Report was the first movie of yours I saw in a theater and I've been a fan ever since." He said he'd had a lot of fun making that, I said I'd had a lot of fun seeing it. I said, "I got these passes through the New York Adventure Club, and I'm sure the movie's going to be an adventure."

He gave me an adorable scrunched-up smile. And he offered me a fistbump.

Naturally, I took it.

There were other people who came by. I recognized the bird pin on Simon Pegg's jacket and told him, "A swift bird for a swift man!" and he liked that. I commented on people's clothing, occasionally asked for a handshake, and kept looking around at all the people coming by - the huge camera rigs, the tiny iPhone mounts, the drones buzzing by. The other actors, the sailors coming off an aircraft carrier, generally famous people I didn't recognize. Everything spinning around the gravitational pull of the star.

I got a pass to an early screening, and had a good time - anything more specific can wait a few days. But I'll still say it was a delightful movie to look at, and I couldn't understand why the person next to me kept regularly checking her phone. Later, I could barely understand why people were clustering around the service entrance's door in the hopes of glimpsing Cruise - barely, because I'd have liked a glimpse myself, and as much as I'd wanted one, I knew it was late and he'd probably like to get some sleep even more than I did, and if he was using the service entrance like I'd thought he might, that spoke to a level of necessary caution I shudder to think about. The only way he'd have been safe from people looking at him is if he'd gotten into a vehicle and then left the building, and even that would require several decoy vehicles.

I was there, and I felt the pull, and I still don't quite grasp it. I'm hoping I can hold onto that.

Yesterday I got a fistbump from the biggest movie star on the planet.

No big deal.
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
but we've got a new semi-feral slipping into our house, one of last year's kittens. So, uh, I'm still not allowed to fix that basement window I guess?

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conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
in a pot, not in the dirt, but still.

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Doctor Who

May. 18th, 2025 12:58 pm
scripsi: (Default)
[personal profile] scripsi
I just realized I haven’t mentioned DW yet, but I have of course watched it. In general I think it’s better than the last season. I adore this Doctor! And though I like Ruby, she sometimes felt like a rerun of Rose. I love Belinda, though. She’s a great character and I hope she will stick around for more than one season.


And now Mrs. Flood’s secret is revealed!


Spoilers and a prediction musing under the cut.
Read more... )
silveradept: Domo-kun, wearing glass and a blue suit with a white shirt and red tie, sitting at a table. (Domokun Anchor)
[personal profile] silveradept
Let us begin with continuations in the war against the public receiving accurate, unbiased information. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was told it would receive zero support from the U.S. government, in the same veins of executive orders that proclaim that the executive has the real power of the purse and Congressional appropriations and their amounts mean nothing to his whims. Like other such orders, the actual validity and power of the executive to do this is suspect at best and nonexistent in reality. And, of course, there's always a group of ghouls ready to step in and take over - A spokesmodel for the administration said the conservative propaganda network OAN would take over providing content for Voice of America broadcasts. Swift backlash about the degraded quality and obvious partisan slant of OAN followed from those who actually understand and know what Voice of America broadcasts were supposed to do.

A federal judge granted an injunction against the current administration's intent to zero out the funding of the Institute for Museum and Library Services. With the news, coming just a little after the person currently in charge of IMLS indicated he wanted libraries to be an essential part of propaganda efforts, and strongly suggesting that the people suing would win their case on the merits, there is now flux on funding, but also, a need to have Congresscritters continue to insist upon a budget that contains funds for IMLS in fiscal year 2026.

The administrator dismissed the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, by e-mail after the injunctions were announced, because of pressure against her by people who think that a Black woman is completely unqualified to do anything that might have white people subordinate to her, and possibly in petty revenge for being told no that he couldn't simply zero out the IMLS budget. When questioned on the matter, a spokesmodel for the executive proclaimed that Dr. Hayden was involved in unacceptable DEI and in promoting harmful materials to children, proving that the spokesmodel and her bosses have zero idea of what the Library of Congress actually does.

The Copyright Office dropped a pre-print of a report that excoriated LLMs and is poised to rule that the widespread copyright violation and stealing of copyrighted works involved in creating datasets for LLMs are, in fact, widespread copyright violations and not simply the cost of doing business. Almost immediately after, the administration dismissed the Register of Copyrights, which could be merely convenient timing or could also be a revenge firing for the Copyright Office telling all the techbros that they do have to respect the copyright law and the copyrights of the people they're stealing from.

Persons appointed by the Executive who claim to be the new Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights were turned away by the actual interim Librarian of Congress and Register of Copyrights and the staff of the Library of Congress. Because those people who were supposedly appointed are very likely not to be the people in the job according to statute.

All of these actions, however, are things that the Congress could possibly assert that it, nor the Executive, have exclusive or primary control over, and therefore tell the Executive to pound sand. This, however, requires a Congress that actually wants to maintain its independence, rather than functioning as the Duma of the United States.

As usual, plenty of US Politics, but many other objects as well )

Going out for this post, the legacy of Dave Brubeck is in good music, yes, but also in a staunch refusal to allow segregation to break up his groups or to prevent Black people from enjoying jazz wherever in the venue they wanted to. (Older piece, but also, lots of people say May 4th, or 5/4 in the US nomenclature, is Dave Brubeck day, based on his iconic Take Five.)

A takedown of the Tesla Cybertruck that focuses entirely on how much it fails at being a truck, doing truck tasks, and fostering a healthy truck culture.

And Studio Ghibli releasing hundreds of images form their films for people to use within the boundaries of common sense and for individuals to further enjoy the films. Which is lovely, because of the lushness of the images in the films, but also because this is a continual shot against people using plagiarism machines to replicate their style (poorly.) and others who do not find these films worthwhile on their own

(Materials via [personal profile] adrian_turtle, [personal profile] azurelunatic, [personal profile] boxofdelights, [personal profile] cmcmck, [personal profile] conuly, [personal profile] cosmolinguist, [personal profile] elf, [personal profile] finch, [personal profile] firecat, [personal profile] jadelennox, [personal profile] jenett, [personal profile] jjhunter, [personal profile] kaberett, [personal profile] lilysea, [personal profile] oursin, [personal profile] rydra_wong, [personal profile] snowynight, [personal profile] sonia, [personal profile] the_future_modernes, [personal profile] thewayne, [personal profile] umadoshi, [personal profile] vass, the [community profile] meta_warehouse community, [community profile] little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
maevedarcy: Diana and Leona from League of Legends. Diana is on the left, grabbing Leona's face and kissing her passionately. (Default)
[personal profile] maevedarcy posting in [community profile] smallfandomfest
If you've been looking for a series that combines old magic and modern day situations, if you've been looking for nuanced characters that have depth and the worst kind of luck, if you've been craving for a love triangle to get resolved the right way (with polyamory) then I have the perfect series for you.

The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself is a very short series, only 8 episodes, that will make you despise Netflix execs while making you sit down and take matters into your own hands. While this is based of a book series, I 100% recommend keeping the two separate as the show has a very different vibe from the books.

This series follows Nathan Byrne, the son of a notorious witch responsible for a deadly massacre, as he tries to find his place in the world and find out what his powers are. As the conflict between the Blood Witches and the Fairborn Witches escalates, Nathan finds himself the target of a modern-day witch hunt. He begins a life-or-death quest, building alliances with fellow witches Annalise and Gabriel, while learning about himself along the way. More below the cut.

A gif from The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself episode 4. From left to right: Nathan, Gabriel and Annalise.
 

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morbane: Picture of girl riding bear with text "Co-Mod" (onceuponfic)
[personal profile] morbane posting in [community profile] once_upon_fic
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[personal profile] crantz posting in [community profile] once_upon_fic
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siderea: (Default)
[personal profile] siderea
Story has it that a thief was captured and hauled before the local ruler. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't have you put to death," the monarch said. The thief replied, "Your majesty, I can teach your finest horse to sing – if you give me a year to do it!" The court burst out in laughter at this, and the ruler, bemused, said, "Very well. You will be imprisoned in the royal stable besides my finest stallion, and in a year if he cannot sing, you will be put to death." So every day the prisoner sang to the horse. Eventually one of the stablehands sneered at the prisoner, "I don't see why you bother. Everyone knows horses can't sing. Your stupid gambit gained you nothing."

"To the contrary!" replied the prisoner with equanimity, "It gained me a whole year which I didn't have before. A lot can happen in a year. The king may die. The horse may die. I may die.

And maybe he horse will learn to sing."

I just got this email announcement from Patreon:
A big win for creators

We've got great news: you'll soon be able to earn from U.S. fans through the iOS app again, and the November 2025 subscription billing requirement deadline is no longer in effect.

Thanks to a recent U.S. court ruling, Apple must now allow apps to offer U.S. based users checkout options outside of Apple's in-app purchase system (which includes the 30% Apple fee)—something that was previously prohibited under Apple's App Store requirements.

[...]

Last year, we let you know that all creators would need to switch to subscription billing by November 2025. This forced switch wasn't something we chose — it was the result of needing to comply with Apple's requirements at the time or risk the removal of Patreon's app from the App Store. While we've long believed subscription billing is the strongest long-term model for creators, forced compliance with Apple's mandates and deadlines was obviously not how we ever wanted to roll out changes to creators on Patreon.

We've stayed in close conversation with Apple and have continued advocating for a more flexible approach — one that gives creators more time and choice. As a result of the recent court ruling and changes on Apple's end, the November 2025 deadline is no longer in effect.
In other words, no, I don't have to convert away from the by-works funding model.

Yet again I have prevailed over adversity by means of my greatest superpower: spite procrastination.

Sucks to be a responsible Patreon creator who duly responded to the deadline by converting their account – Patreon doesn't let you revert that change – or by migrating off Patreon well in advance. Those folks kind of got screwed. I know that if I had bailed to some sort of lifeboat option, and possibly paid handsomely and compromised my personal security to do it, I would be really pissed off right about now.

Jump the fence.

May. 15th, 2025 07:54 pm
hannah: (James Wilson - maker unknown)
[personal profile] hannah
In the gym today, someone was playing music loud enough I could hear it even with my headphones on and a podcast going, and when I turned to her to make a comment about how the Great Big Sea cover of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" managed to be even faster than the original, she did as fake a smile as I've ever seen. Just her lips. Nothing in her eyes.

I'd expected as much, honestly. I'm not at all surprised, except for how she was surprised - but I keep thinking that if she hadn't wanted someone to talk to her about the music, she wouldn't have been playing it so loud.

What's particularly odd is that she was the second person I had a baffling encounter with in that gym: before she arrived, someone quite a bit younger was in there, and I tried to make small talk about her tattoos. She didn't recognize the pigeon's scientific name of columba livia, and when I asked her about a skeletal hand giving a "rock on" horn sign, she didn't know how to take my observation that the slightly exaggerated proportions made me think it was a hand from another primate.

On the plus side, as she lived in Utah for five months, she knew about the radiation survivors - though as she said she was there for "treatment" I don't think she had a particularly enjoyable time there.

Got an interview

May. 15th, 2025 12:38 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
For the job I would like the least, but any job is a job, right? So wish me luck. (Edit: No, nevermind. Dude called me before I left for the interview and kept me on the phone for an hour all to tell me he was certain the commute would not work out. This did not require an hourlong phone call, or, indeed, a phone call of any length at all.)

Also, today is A's birthday, so happy birthday! They will never see this.

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The fairy tales

May. 15th, 2025 05:01 pm
scripsi: (Default)
[personal profile] scripsi
I loved fairy tales as a small child, and I continued to read and love them long after my friend outgrew them. My parents had a book on Vietnamese tales, and one with Swedish ones, and later I found Andrew Lang’s Fairy books with tales collected all over the world. I was fascinated that tales like the Cinderella story had many different versions. In the Swedish one, for example, Cinderella went to three balls, dressed first in silver, then gold, then in a bejewelled gown, and though she dropped the shoes, it wasn’t made of glass. She also only had one stepsister, and the story didn’t end with the wedding. No, the stepsister pushed Cinderella into the sea, where she was going to be forced to marry a sea monster, while the stepsister made herself look like Cinderella. Luckily the prince noticed, and managed to save his bride, though not before she was turned into a serpent that he had to dip into three baths, winter, milk and water, to save.

When I was around 10, my mother took a university course on children’s books, and read Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment, which I picked up and which had a profound impact on my ability to comprehend and analyze my reading. I’se been a long time since I read it, so I’m quoting Wikipedia on it.

Bettelheim analyzed fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology in “The Uses of Enchantment” (1976). He discussed the emotional and symbolic importance of fairy tales for children, including traditional tales once considered too dark, such as those collected and published by the Brothers Grimm. Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

I’ve also realized I missed a book in my list on books which impacted me, namely One Thousand and One Nights. My father’s parents has a lovely edition in a set of 6 books, which I used to read every time I visited. I was very happy when they gifted the set to me when I turned 16. It’s a 1920s edition with gorgeous illustration by Gudmund Hentze. Also abridged- too racy sequences are edited out, though the book helpful points out that even if the edited text is “very amusing,it doesn’t conform to our time’s view on morality”. It’s also not all of the stories, though I’m unsure how many there should be.

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