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sasha_featherPissing Out Cancer is a new comedy special by Hank Green, on Dropout TV. I liked this a lot.
Dropout in general has been a great friend during concussion recovery. The humor is kind. I had to drop "A court of fey and flowers," at least temporarily, because I can't really follow it. Too much cognitive load in keeping track of all the characters and the story, plus intrigue, etc. I'm sad about it because I was looking forward to having a bunch of stuff to watch. But I'm not familiar enough with DnD as a story telling device, to be able to fall into the story the ways others do.
I watched Catherine, Called Birdy, a movie based on a book for young people that I haven't read. Watching this was wild because I did enjoy it but it also made me so mad. I don't know if I have the energy to type out all of my thoughts about it. Or maybe I need to stew some more and organize my thoughts better. Basically, the premise of this story is deeply fucked: Catherine is 14, a ruling-class person in medieval England, but her family is "poor" (never mind the servants, the castle, the clothes), so they want to more or less auction her off to the highest bidder. She makes it her mission to try and avoid this fate. Birdy is a spirited girl who wants to have adventures. She likes spying, rolling in the mud, and hanging out with the village kids. She's very endearing.
The tone of this story, I couldn't quite grasp, it's funny and bright but all the characters are living in this abusive and fucked up society and most of them are going along with it. Birdy attempts to call it out and fight, but she gets ground down by her parents. She contemplates running away but decides against it. The "happy ending" is that her father, last minute, comes to his senses and allows Birdy a reprieve. But it's probably a temporary one!
What made it all fun to watch is the sense that Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, and the rest of the cast are having a good time. Seeing Ramsey and Scott act together, knowing they are both queer, that was neat. I liked that they cast some people of color. There was a gorgeous horse. At one point Birdy is childishly in love with her uncle and that felt a little weird, like maybe you could tone that down.
There were some weird moments of animal harm, discussion and portrayal of still births and miscarriages, and physical abuse both portrayed and discussed.
It turns out Lena Dunham wrote the script and directed. I didn't realize this until the end credits and it contributes to my negative feelings.
What makes me mad is that there are only so many stories that get turned into movies. Why couldn't this same wonderful cast and crew get to make a better story? I would love to see, for example, Bella Ramsey and Adam Scott telling Alanna the Lioness' story. Or Curse of Chalion! Steerswoman. You get what I'm saying.
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I like to do something creative every day, and posting here counts, it eases the writing itch. I've also been taking some photographs. I'm having a terrible time with pain and have been feeling isolated. Thanks for your kind comments. :)
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Dropout in general has been a great friend during concussion recovery. The humor is kind. I had to drop "A court of fey and flowers," at least temporarily, because I can't really follow it. Too much cognitive load in keeping track of all the characters and the story, plus intrigue, etc. I'm sad about it because I was looking forward to having a bunch of stuff to watch. But I'm not familiar enough with DnD as a story telling device, to be able to fall into the story the ways others do.
I watched Catherine, Called Birdy, a movie based on a book for young people that I haven't read. Watching this was wild because I did enjoy it but it also made me so mad. I don't know if I have the energy to type out all of my thoughts about it. Or maybe I need to stew some more and organize my thoughts better. Basically, the premise of this story is deeply fucked: Catherine is 14, a ruling-class person in medieval England, but her family is "poor" (never mind the servants, the castle, the clothes), so they want to more or less auction her off to the highest bidder. She makes it her mission to try and avoid this fate. Birdy is a spirited girl who wants to have adventures. She likes spying, rolling in the mud, and hanging out with the village kids. She's very endearing.
The tone of this story, I couldn't quite grasp, it's funny and bright but all the characters are living in this abusive and fucked up society and most of them are going along with it. Birdy attempts to call it out and fight, but she gets ground down by her parents. She contemplates running away but decides against it. The "happy ending" is that her father, last minute, comes to his senses and allows Birdy a reprieve. But it's probably a temporary one!
What made it all fun to watch is the sense that Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, and the rest of the cast are having a good time. Seeing Ramsey and Scott act together, knowing they are both queer, that was neat. I liked that they cast some people of color. There was a gorgeous horse. At one point Birdy is childishly in love with her uncle and that felt a little weird, like maybe you could tone that down.
There were some weird moments of animal harm, discussion and portrayal of still births and miscarriages, and physical abuse both portrayed and discussed.
It turns out Lena Dunham wrote the script and directed. I didn't realize this until the end credits and it contributes to my negative feelings.
What makes me mad is that there are only so many stories that get turned into movies. Why couldn't this same wonderful cast and crew get to make a better story? I would love to see, for example, Bella Ramsey and Adam Scott telling Alanna the Lioness' story. Or Curse of Chalion! Steerswoman. You get what I'm saying.
----
I like to do something creative every day, and posting here counts, it eases the writing itch. I've also been taking some photographs. I'm having a terrible time with pain and have been feeling isolated. Thanks for your kind comments. :)
---
no subject
Date: 2024-06-23 05:35 pm (UTC)IIRC, the happy ending in the book is that her most loathsome and persistent suitor dies... but for reasons, she has no more bargaining chips left and is going to have to marry his son? brother? - she likes him more, but that's that. She's absolutely stuck with this no matter what. (I forget what she traded away in exchange for agreeing to cause no more troubles on the marriage front, but it was something for somebody else or maybe an animal.)
no subject
Date: 2024-06-24 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-25 02:50 am (UTC)Man, I must have re-read this book four or five times.
It's always easier to lowlight
Date: 2024-06-23 07:58 pm (UTC)why I dislike something than pinpoint how something is great.
I've managed to avoid Lena Dunham and you've made me secure that's a wise choice.
I'd never encountered Bella Ramsey before, and went down a happy rabbit hole on their Instagram, of all places.![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
bellaramsey
The BBC asked Bella to explain why they love Eurovision:
https://youtu.be/oIXpq9xRLPA?si=a9iHHgLET-Tmczty
no subject
Date: 2024-06-25 06:18 pm (UTC)I loved "Catherine, Called Birdy" a lot as a child, but it's something I imagine would not necessarily translate well either to the screen or to more modern sensibilities, so it's surprising that it was made into a movie. I keep considering watching and being put off by the Lena Dunham connection!