girlofprey

I hate every aspect of discourse that isn't "accepting that you aren't in control of everything, and don't know everything". I saw a conversation happening on twitter in response to some new twat that's around - I think it was Patterson Jones or something - and someone pulled out the quote "Chaos is the eternal feminine", and was saying no, the eternal feminine is creative, the eternal feminine is life-giving, and something else that makes us sound like magical fairies. Instead of 1) femininity and masculinity are made up, they are literally what we talk about when we talk about gender as a social construct, and 2) chaos is what twats see when the talk about women and equality, because it is that idea of men letting go of control, or the idea of control they have, and reassure themselves of by trying to control other people. Accepting that other experiences are valid, even if you'll never have them or really understand them, is a big part of fighting sexism, and I would argue you can associate that a little more with women than with men, because women are taught so often to co-operate rather than compete - I think women are more likely to accept another person's difference from them, and to be aware that whatever plans they have for a situation might not come off just because you never know how other people are going to react, and what they're going to want to do. It's the fact that twats - and twats in more than just sexism - see this as 'chaos' and are afraid of it that is the problem. And I genuinely think that to deny that is to misunderstand the problem.

And I hate that everything is on the level of children nowadays. So many progressive issues seem to only be going forwards because "what will the children think?", and children are important and lovely, and progressive issues should absolutely move forward, but...adults are the point of the human race. They are the plan of our DNA, and the ultimate form of us. It's not bad to consider them too, or work to make things better for them, or...to consider adult issues, in a complex way, that is accepting of the fact that we all have flaws, we will always have flaws, it's only how far that should go that should need to be discussed. I followed a teacher recently on Twitter, and she was very interested in representation in children's books - which is important, absoulutely - but every question seemed to come back to 'what about children, how will children react to this, what are we teaching children'? And...you can discuss these subjects in terms of adults. Ideally, you should be, since that's literally what society is mostly made up of, or the effective part of society right now. I know it's difficult with the internet, and not knowing what kids are seeing or have access to, that you wouldn't know they had access to or want them to see. But. Adults should be the point. In socialism and social theory. Almost always. I know that a lot of problems start in childhood, with what we're taught. But adulthood is where they end. And where we can actually confront those issues and think about them.

And I hate that entertainment is all on the level of children nowadays, I can't believe everything is Disney, it genuinely took me a while to realise that all the Disney films (obviously), Marvel films and Star Wars films are all Disney at the moment. Someone was talking about the new Star Wars film at Christmas and how some people had issues with it, on one of the podcasts I watch, and someone just replied mildly with "It's for kids, though. Star Wars is for kids." As a reason why people shouldn't criticise it or expect too much from it. When the films are great and everyone loves them, it's great, they're for everyone, but when they're bad, you know, it's just a kid's film. That's a fucking shame, since most of the films that are popular and are the most seen at the moment are all kid's films. We don't really have so many big films for adults anymore, apparently. And everyone's just saying "yeah well, the Marvel films won't really get into [that subject] too deeply, because Disney won't have it". And ffffffhhf. That is the level of the mirror that is currently being held up to life at the moment. I know there are other films than Marvel and Star Wars out at the moment, I know that, but nothing's really taking off like Die Hard at the moment, is it? And I know that kids are where the money is, and I know that films that can appeal to all ages are always going to be more popular than very mature films, just because they have a wider audience and kids aren't super-critical. But at the moment it seems like that's all there is, like that's the big stuff we're all looking forward to. And I don't understand the obsession with Disney films in adults in America, and I don't understant the obsession with YA literature, and I don't understand the way people defend it as great and that it should be the most popular in the world. Like...if you like that stuff, fine, but - the reason why Young Adult literature is called Young Adult is because it is sub-adult. It is written for people a little too young for proper adult books. That is literally what it means. And even if it touches on very serious subjects and themes, it's never going to go into them with the same exploration and depth that an adult book would, because it is by definition written to be shallower than an adult book. That is basically the definition of the type of writing. That's why it exists. It will never be on the level of an adult book because it is Young Adult. We should have things for adults too. Adults are still growing. An adult can look at a subject much more freely and objectively than a child ever could, and should be encouraged to do so. That's the definition of a mature mind, and our media should reflect that. And I know there are very worthy, serious films and books out there, and incredibly incredibly gruesome horror films out there, that's not what I'm talking about. There should be films that are fun for adults that can casually and without shying away acknowledge adult topics, and look at them, and ask questions about them. We should have those. They should be big news.

Learning to love and value yourself is an important part of progressivism. Learning how to get over yourself is another important part.

And I hate Tony Stark, and hope he dies within the first few seconds of Infinity Wars and isn't spoken of again.

This has been my hate post.

I'm going to see the Jumanji film today - I've been feeling a bit stir crazy lately, although I think some of that's because of my job. More on that later. But there's a train to my local cinema/shopping complex every hour at about 20 past. I was planning to get the 12 o'clock one, and have some lunch before I went in, but then I realised I would literally get there at half past 12, and the film isn't till 2. So I may as well get the 1 o'clock train, which would still give me half an hour to eat. So now I have a whole hour to play with. Ho hum.

Also today I have to get my MN a birthday card, gift, maybe try to look for some warm jumpers because I'm going through mine pretty quickly at the moment, and nip into my local game shop to see what's occuring there, and buy some stuff. Busy day. I have no idea what to get my MN. He breaks most of the stuff he has. But I'm thinking an Xbox game.

( I went to see the new IT film, big spoilers for IT )

My other thoughts from going to the cinema:

• A film about a man killing women to send a message to another man, starring Michael Fassbender, yes, just what we need.


• A film with a huge male cast with just one woman in it: for when you really hate women, but you don't want people to think all your characters and everyone who would go see the film are queer or something.

Firefox updated itself yesterday and, as far as I can tell, switched off my adblocker and all of my online security. Which is not the most helpful thing it's ever done.

Things are going okay here. I have successfully walked the dog twice now. I'm still not thrilled about picking up poo, but it occurred to me yesterday that he's going to have to poo eventually, and I'd much rather he did it up the field than in the kitchen, and now whenever I have to clean up after him on a walk it's almost a joy. I did have some slight trouble getting him back on his leash, though - my mum called today and claims you have to wait until he's investigating some long grass and get him. Last night I had to wait until he took an interest in a nearby couple, which I'm not happy to do on a regular basis. The man told me the best thing to do is have him on the lead in the garden, and call him and sort of pull him in, and then when he gets to you give him a treat, and eventually he'll get the message. I tried to do some of that in the garden today, but I think he was too tired after the walk. Also he eats feathers, and I'm certain he swallowed some last night while running away from me, so I'm a bit concerned that's going to cause him some health and/or digestive issues. But so far he hasn't showed any signs, so we're not having any problems so far.

Mum said things are apparently okay for them too. They had a few problems at bedtime - to be expected - but today the two youngest are on the beach with her and dad, and my ON is inside, not dressed, using the tablet. Where he loves to be. I hope the weather holds out for them. And that there is enough to do in Scarborough that they stay entertained. On Friday, my MN asked if they could take the dog with them on holiday, and my YN said he didn't want to go on holiday because "the seaside's boring. [Our local entertainment complex]'s not boring". We'll see.

I went to see Logan Lucky yesterday, which was fine. A perfectly pleasant way to spend a few hours. And it's nice to see Daniel Craig getting to do something that isn't James Bond. It wasn't as good as The Hitman's Bodyguard though. I'm definitely going to see that again. It was slashy, I don't know if I ever said that, or that I was hoping for that when I went to see it. And in a really lovely way. I really enjoyed it.

I also saw the It trailer again yesterday. On second viewing, it is scary. It just doesn't look very much like It. I had "you'll float too" echoing in my head for the rest of the day yesterday though. It puts me in a bit of a dilemma though, because part of me - given how fast I was reading it - was hoping to finish It before the film came out, so I could compare the two and not be spoilered. But it made me feel like I was reading it too fast, and not enjoying it properly. So when the film looked terrible, I felt like I didn't care about seeing it, and that pressure came off. So now I don't know. And the film's apparently out in two weeks, rather than around Halloween like I assumed.

More things I am now afraid of because of It:

• The word 'float'.


• The word 'Kenduskeag'.


• Actual clowns.


• Washing things away down the drain, because where do they go, they don't just cease to exist because I wanted rid of them, what am I doing?


• I was playing a game called Cities: Skylines, because I've felt a bit burned out on games lately, and I think maybe management games are the exact thing I want to do at the moment, and I was genuinely uneasy about putting in sewage pipes for my town. The town is called Beep Beep.


• The Sims 4 almost immediately started advertising an expansion pack to me featuring clowns and pools, as if clowns and water are anything I need right now.


• The Sims 4 also has a range of clown paintings you can decorate with, and the first one is like "clowns r sad, because they're only one popped balloon away from the end of their career", and I'm like "leave me ALONE, The Sims"


• The deadlights (???? !!! ???)


• Whatever happened to Patrick Hockstetter, the fact they're putting up a missing poster for him in the trailer for the film makes me think it's significant.

But I also, at the same time, kind of want to make all of the kids from It in the Sims in one household, and make Pennywise their sole guardian.

( I went to see Spiderman Homecoming )

I came out of the cinema and almost immediately was expected to do some childcare, or y'know. My crazy mum, after two days working in a row, decided to have all three kids over even though she knew I would be out at the cinema, and my dad would be out all morning at a work thing, which he ended up having to come back late from. It was fine, the kids weren't too badly behaved, and we went up to an event up at the castle and watched Viking re-enactment fights for about half an hour. But we're going to be having the dog later today, and trying to get him to meet the cat and get him settled into the house. I'm hoping to have some rest this weekend.

I live.

I might not be around very much in the near future though, because my internet is still playing silly bastards. Almost could not connect to the internet enough to delete my Livejournal (RIP) on Friday. So, who knows. However, this last week, even when I was connected to the internet it was slower than usual. I bought a game on Steam because it was on sale, and I swear to god, I've spent the whole week downloading it. But then last night, all of a sudden, my download speed for it went from 50kb/s to 4mb/s, and I downloaded the last 14% of it in a couple of minutes, and after that I could watch Youtube videos, in sharp resolution and without constant interruptions and everything. So, I'm hoping my internet has suddenly just fixed itself. Somehow. Maybe.

Anyway - this will be my first attempt to embed videos on Dreamwidth - after quite a few months of just being disappointed by films and slowly losing any emotion at all towards the Marvel films, it turns out there are quite a few original movies coming out this year that I'd quite like to see.











So that's nice. I hope they come out in England. And some new DC movies will be coming out this year. I can see how they do.

News of the Girl

• The train company that runs my usual journey to work is on strike tomorrow, so I'm going to have find creative ways to get there and back tomorrow. It doesn't surprise me, because my journey home has been rubbish for months now - always packed, even though it's not rush hour, and never on time, and the staff are always the ones who end up getting the abuse, rather than the company owners. So I am quite supportive of this strike. But it is still quite annoying. There is a bus tomorrow morning, but it's a lot earlier than my train, so I'm going to get a lift into town tomorrow morning. And then tomorrow evening, there will be a bus at some point, but how and when I cannot say.



• I saw Logan last week. I liked it. I can see why people say it's the best comic book film ever, but it is still a comic book film. And I didn't really like the ending. ( Massive Spoilers )
  .



• I did not go see anything this weekend, because I decided I wanted a weekend in. I do want to see the King Kong film though, even though it mostly looks like a big, gun-happy film. I still quite enjoy Tom Hiddleston though, even if he is quite embarrassing lately, and he looked quite good in the trailer, even though the trailer also looked quite weird.



• I hate Theresa May, I hate her. I see her walking around sometimes, like nothing is wrong, and I think "is this just sexism, why I hate her? Is a lot of it sexism?". And then I remember Yarl's Wood and I just get furious. I can't believe we're just allowing her. I can't believe she is just walking around and smiling, and has the gall to say the Conservatives are a party 'of the people and by the people' or whatever the fuck she said, and I just can't believe it. I can't believe we're allowing this.



• Dear EU Commissioner who said he'd like us to eventually get back in the boat with Europe: I would love to be in the boat. Please save me a space in the boat.



• Mostly what's happening at the moment is I think about making an LJ post, and then my thoughts collapse before I get to the end of what I actually want to say about them, and I go back to playing Horizon: Zero Dawn instead. I'm really enjoying Horizon: Zero Dawn, and I really like playing a massive, big game starring a female character, but it is kind of a shame that Aloy (the main character) is 18, and not really by our standards a fully adult woman, and that despite the fact they were all "she's grown up in a very matriarchal society, she goes looking for her mother!", a lot of it is really about her relationship with her father figure. And all the dudes who obviously want to bang her. All the dudes who want to bang her is great, and a nice flipped version of "every sexy woman the male hero meets and helps wants to do him". But I am hoping for another main female character to come along sometime shortly.

aslofdkijnASLKNFDcklsamndckAM<NSdklnblaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh

Computer reconnected, hooked up, and switched on :)

I was so happy when all the lights came on. Then dad noticed as well as the cosmetic lights of the motherboard, there was one that was on in a funny place. I, in denial, was like "it'll be fine!", but we were worried it was the CPU. Which would be the hardest part to get out and replace, frankly. But then we switched it on so dad could take a picture, and I noticed the CPU light did light up, but then immediately went to the next light and stayed on. So it was actually the memory sticks with a problem. One of them had come loose in our tribulations earlier, I'd noticed, so dad pushed it again and it hadn't quite been clicked in properly. Then we turned the computer off and on again, and all the lights came on in sequence, up to Boot Device. I unpacked and hooked up my new monitor, and there it was. My computer, sending signals, telling me all about the CPU temperature, and showing it could see my hard drive and the memory sticks.

I'M REALLY HAPPY. Me and dad were both tired, so we left it there and we're going to look into hooking up the keyboard and getting Windows on it tomorrow. But I am excite! Dad's left the side panels off the computer, which makes me concerned dust will get in. But we left them off yesterday and it was fine. Also, I don't seem to have the right cable to hook my monitor up to the graphics card, so I can't actually use that at the moment. But I can probably buy one. I've got work tomorrow, but I also have an external cd drive, and a bunch of cd-roms with my various parts talking about being 'Windows ready', so hopefully tomorrow we can switch it on and I can see about getting on operating system on there. And then actual stuff! AKsHFLhDAHJDLKHFLK.

I am very happy. Also the Green Lantern movie from 2011 wasn't as bad as everyone said.

Just got back from seeing Suicide Squad. ( Thoughts, some minor spoilers )

The new Ghostbusters film is amazing. Genuinely amazing. There are a few jokes that are a little on the nose, that go on just a few seconds too long. But it's a remake - it was never going to be completely organic. But it's just so fun, and funny, and the characters are great, and it's so affectionate to it's source material. And all of the cameos from the original films are great. Especially the women. The first films weren't great works of art, but they were fun films, and so is this new one. It's really good.

ETA: Aaaaand naturally everyone's saying Chris Hemsworth was the best thing in the film. Pretty much the only male character. He was good. He wasn't the best thing in that film.