Six lots of five

[st_aurafina]

So cold this morning. For values of cold in Australia, which is to say there's frost on the grass and I have my giant scarf on. I am having crappy, crappy low moods but weirdly and ferociously creative times. It is strange and I don't understand the rhythms of it at all. I feel like the world is being sucked into a black hole, and yet I cannot stop writing POI fic.

Five things about winter Saturdays in rural Australia:
- Frosty, foggy mornings that will become clear and sunny by twelve
- The footy scoreboard shining orange through the fog as the under-twelves play the 8am match
- Teenage girls in netball skirts with goosepimpled legs, poor things
- People leaving their shoes at the front door so they don't track mud through the pharmacy
- Farmers all hollow-eyed from helping calves into the world, eating hot pies for breakfast

I want to say some things about media I've been enjoying but I keep procrastinating because I don't have the time to write long and involved things. So, here are some short thinkings on things:


Five things about Wonder Woman

- That perfect hour or so of Themyscira and all the amazing women. Amazons encountering bullets for the first time and fucking adapting mid-battle. Amazons on their battle horses. (Such gorgeous horses!)
- Antiope in particular. Antiope knowing what Diana's going to face, at least in abstract if not in specific, and wanting her to be ready.
- Little girls all over the world pretending to be little Diana learning to fight. Not in the movie. In real life.
- WWI being shown as the fucking slaughter that it was
- Diana. DIANA. Diana with her sword on her back. Diana catching bullets. Diana cutting a line through No Man's Land. Diana.



Five things about Legion

- I stg I had no idea what was going on for 3/4 of this whole season, but it was pretty and weird and Aubrey Plaza kept being in it so I kept watching. It was worth watching, for the plot payoff, for the tie-in to the X-universe, and for the horror story.
- Aubrey Plaza is amazing, steals every scene, is a goddess, I don't want to be all tumblrina about this, but my crops are watered, my skin is clear. Aubrey Plaza is amazing and if Parks and Rec wasn't a handheld nightmare, I'd be all over that right now.
- It isn't perfect. It is ablist. Imma get that out right now - if you have triggers relating to the treatment of mental illness, this might not be the show for you. There is a canon gay couple, but one of them is portrayed as a villain, though not for his sexuality. (I actually liked him a lot.) There's a lot of body horror and violence. And drug use. And blatant callbacks to A Clockwork Orange, but I forgive those. They were loving.
- They do good and weird and creative things with mutant powers. Cary/Kerry Loudermilk, for example, is two people existing in one body who can occasionally be two bodies. Ptonomy Wallace does my favourite thing with mindscapes. (Actually, the whole show is a delight of mindscapes.) Jermaine Clement appears sporadically, and is always a delight.
- The soundtrack is astounding and sometimes terrifying. (Try Choir with Crickets.) The costume and set design are gorgeous and also terrifying, and they do this deliberate thing where you cannot pin down a time period for the show.



Five things about Twin Peaks

- entj has reaction posts at twinpeaks for the new episodes, so you can pick and choose according to what you've watched. (I will never get used to this all-at-once thing with TV. I'm bad enough at mainlining things. I'm a one episode a week person, me.)
- David Lynch did the sound editing, which is why even the white noise is scary.
- David Lynch will, apparently, never be done with the archetype of gentle competent man and his shrew of a wife. It's a bit tired.
- I am surprisingly fond of Dale!Douggie in his lime blazer. In any incarnation, Dale is kind and inquisitive, and that is carrying over here. Though I could do without the bathroom desperation kink. Kinktomato and all that, but omorashi is not my thing.
- ETA: I just realised that was only four things. How surreal of me.
Oh, David Lynch. Never stop being you. (But stop the kind man/shrew thing, that's stupid.)



Five Things to Do
- Via leecetheartist, a zooniverse project based in Western Australia: Western Shield Camera Watch. Their description: Western Shield is a government funded conservation project that is dedicated to managing introduced predators, primarily foxes and cats, that threaten native wildlife in Western Australia.
This is a very gentle and calming kind of thing to do, I enjoy it a lot. You get to identify kangaroos and emus and all sorts of weird little hopping things. You could also identify this murderous looking bird:

[A giant, yellow eyed bird, going at the lens of a camera with an angry beak]

- springviolets is talking about communities on Dreamwidth: active comms, comms you'd like to see become more active. let's talk communities

- read this Beatles zombie AU webcomic: Eleanor Rigby
(when i was very small i assumed this song was about some lady who literally kept a human face in a jar by the door and since father mckenzie buried her that meant that he also killed her and basically i thought eleanor rigby was about zombies until i was like 12 years old)

- Check out this new prompt comm, picture_prompt_fun, write a story for a picture prompt.

- sign-up for multifandomdrabble, and write someone 100 words. I did this last year, when it was being trialled at Imzy, and it was fun! More details here.


Five Linkspams to make your day a little better
- This woman's joyful reaction at a woman proposing to her girlfriend at a museum: No One Can Get Over This Older Lady's Reaction To A Woman Proposing To Her Girlfriend (This gave me life at a time when I was feeling very bitter at yet another friend's marriage where they did not do anything about the hateful 'Man and woman' clause of the marriage act that must be read out at a wedding in Australia. Like this: Objectors block out Marriage Act's 'union of man and woman' words at civil weddings.)

- The Grenfell Tower fire is a horrible, terrifying tragedy. I am buoyed by the stories of how people have helped, how emergency workers have been amazing. (Like Mr Rogers: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.) Today in my email, I saw this about pharmacists dealing with the logistics of people losing all their medication and prescriptions and records: Pharmacists in West London have been working to help people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

- Remember Tommy Westphall and the snowglobe phenomenon? Check in with it again here: The Tommy Westphall Universe. Apparently reboots have really kicked the database into overdrive this year. I saw a pack of Morley cigarettes on Twin Peaks, which means the Twin Peaks verse doesn't exist. No surprises there, though.

- Knitting spies!! The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool

- From some of my Person of Interest research: The 10 Best Bottles of Vodka in the World. Linked because the tasting notes are even more amazing and wanky than wine tasting notes. For example: Soft and laser-precise on the palate with a seamless balance and great length of flavor.

Now I want vodka. But it is illegal for me to drink vodka and be a health professional. So cruel.

Son of ETA: As people have asked, yes, I am legally forbidden to drink vodka only while I am at work being a health professional. After work, I may freely engage in the drinking of vodka, and indeed, many other spirits.

Comments

[dine]

I hope to hell that you must eschew vodka only while actually *working* as a healthcare professional, and not at all times - because that's the sort of regulations that would make it hard to get through life. (I was intrigued by some of the entrants on that list, though disappointed that my vodka of choice, Russian Standard Imperia, wasn't included on the list)

[st_aurafina]

I hope to hell that you must eschew vodka only while actually *working* as a healthcare professional

Oh yes, that is certainly the case! Can you imagine?? I would die. Pharmacists are notorious boozers, and my college had several distillation/brewing clubs. Wine and Cheese Night was often an explosive affair.

We don't have that many brands of vodka over here, actually? Absolut, and I've seen Grey Goose occasionally. I got some of the tasting notes - the peppery taste, definitely, and, though it sounds weird, the velvet mouthfeel. But I don't know that I'd want to drink something that makes you think of lasers to the mouth.

[used_songs]

We have this amazing Absolut Texas here that has cucumber and serrano chili flavor - I have no idea if it's available outside of Texas. We use it to make vodka martinis and it is fantastic.

[st_aurafina]

I haven't seen it, though Absolut go through flavours really fast. It sounds so good though!

[senmut]

+hugs+

We've hit our heat run... high 80s (30-ish?) here for a week, with humidity peaking to make it feel worse. And thunderstorms, though I have to admit those are becoming a more winter/spring-die off for summer-back for fall event.

[st_aurafina]

*hugs hugs*

Humidity is the worst part of summer heat for me - it's just so much more exhausting when it's muggy.

[finch]

That Mr Rogers quote always keeps me going when I need something.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, it's really important for me. When there's upheaval, I need to see that people care.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, love your evocative description of the winter mornings. <3

[st_aurafina]

*hugs* I had to get up very early this morning, and it gave me pause for thought.

[leecetheartist]

Oh come on, the Grey Currawong Battalling Camera Inspection Crew are just doing their jobs and are only a little bit terrifying.

[st_aurafina]

Shut up, those things are deadly, and please use the scientific term 'murder bird'.

[leecetheartist]

But Carnifex exsanguinata is such a mouthful. And hardly *anyone* dies.

[redfiona99]

It says something about Australia that I had to check whether that was a real Latin name for something.

[st_aurafina]

Ha! Never mind the drop bears.

[glinda]

I had an actual sensible comment to make on this but I am distracted by the vodka...I presume you're writing this on your lunchbreak at work and just mean no alcohol at work/on duty (which is a sensible rule) not that as a health professional you're specifically banned from drinking vodka because that would be both sad - as you like vodka - and weirdly specific and byzantine in terms of legislation.

(I work in a newsroom, one of my colleagues has an 'emergency' bottle of gin in her bottom drawer - we didn't need to break into it this election campaign, but there were a couple of days when we seriously contemplated it.)

[st_aurafina]

Yes, it's only at work! It's expressly written: blood alcohol must be zero. Which just tells me that whoever wrote that knew pharmacists very, very well.

I've had days where the 90% ethanol I keep for cleaning glassware has looked very, very tempting.

[lilysea]

Son of ETA: As people have asked, yes, I am legally forbidden to drink vodka only while I am at work being a health professional. After work, I may freely engage in the drinking of vodka, and indeed, many other spirits.

Thanks for the clarification! ^_^

I was all O.o

I know an Australian Emergency Department Dr and boy, does she get drunk - just not when she is at-work or on-call.

[st_aurafina]

Hee! I didn't realise I had given the wrong impression of the regulatory bodies.

And yes, I completely understand why your friend would be that way. I find working health and retail completely obliterates my cope sometimes.

[heartonsnow]

I will need to do a mirror entry to yours as it is fecking baking in London today! Google tells me it is 80F which is my limit!

Next week I am having a cocktail party, vodka cocktails are good because it goes with anything. At the moment my fave is espresso martini.

So glad you want to revive communities too, egret and I are trying to revive cats. Do you think it would be OK for me to post on your friend's page too?

The tower fire has really affected me because I live in social housing in London too - not a tower thankfully. It brought home how the gov and councils just don't care about ordinary people, but I agree that people rally round and help during a big crisis, which normally never happens in London.

[st_aurafina]

I have heard from other Brits that it is very warm! I hope you can stay adequately cool.

Vodka is the best cocktail booze, that is certainly true. It really does go with everything.

Please feel free to post on springviolets's post! I think they would appreciate it. And I'm a member of cats, yay! I must keep an eye out for posts. Maybe post some cats myself!

The tower fire is very frightening and sad - there's been a lot of discussion of it here in Australia, because we have similar buildings with similar construction (not as many, or as tall, but still.) And yes, also, I live in a bushfire prone area, but while those are scary and destructive, there's something vile about the tower fire happening thanks to negligence and penny pinching. *hugs you*

[heartonsnow]

Bush fires sound very scary.

I will post about cats community now!

[kass]

The footy scoreboard shining orange through the fog as the under-twelves play the 8am match

What a beautiful image. Thank you for this.

Little girls all over the world pretending to be little Diana learning to fight. Not in the movie. In real life.

I know! I know! It makes me so happy!

[st_aurafina]

I can't wait for this Halloween, it should make for wonderful and happy-making images of tiny Wonder Womans. (Wonder Women?)

[lilysea]

Today in my email, I saw this about pharmacists dealing with the logistics of people losing all their medication and prescriptions and records: Pharmacists in West London have been working to help people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

Good point!

I hadn't really thought about it, but the LAST thing someone needs on top of

[their house burned down]

and maybe [their partner/children/grandmother/auntie is dead/in hospital]

is [they have no diabetes medicine/they have to go cold turkey off their epilepsy medicine or their anti-depressants or their schizophrenia medicine]

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, it's great.

After the Black Saturday fires, our Pharmacy Board worked out official strategies for maintaining medical continuity for survivors of mass disasters - several pharmacies were completely destroyed, so they had to get stock quickly, work out of non-approved sites, be able to access their off-site backups and so on. It's good to know that if the worst happens, we'll still be able to practice and help people. (Though out here all the doctors and nurses and me had worked out an unofficial list of things to do, and would have happily broken laws to keep people in medication, it's much, much better to know you're legally covered.)

[kindkit]

I have to wonder if the vodka tasters really discern all that or if they're just making it up. Maybe I have a bad palate, but my tasting notes on any vodka would be: "Aromas of petrol, with strong petrol top notes, a mouthfeel of premium unleaded petrol, and a long finish reminiscent of petrol dissolving the lining of one's esophagus." (I don't dislike vodka, I just think its natural destiny is to add kick to other, more tasty things.)

[st_aurafina]

I do definitely get notes of petrol! But the peppery taste is something I can detect. Though I think the 'velvety mouthfeel' might actually be the viscosity of the vodka. Especially if it's been in the freezer.

Mmm, vodka. I don't mind it neat. But it is better mixed. Screwdrivers for all!

[dhampyresa]

MURDERBIRD IS BEST BIRD

WONDERWOMAN IS BEST DIANA

[st_aurafina]

NO LIE DETECTED!

[adafrog]

They leave their boots at the door? How sweet!!
How many people are in your town?

[st_aurafina]

Some of them leave their boots at the door. *slight glowering* It's actually very sweet - a lot of them have very comical socks.

We're a town of about one thousand, but we're the main hub for a drawing area of maybe another 1500. Very small!

[adafrog]

It's actually very sweet - a lot of them have very comical socks.
Awesome!

Wow, very tiny. The town I spent the most time in growing up was 1200, but there was a town 10 minutes away that was 10,000, so it wasn't too bad.

[singe]

AIIIEEE, thank you for that new interpretation of Eleanor Rigby, the most depressing song in the friggin' world! And thank you for the Mr. Rogers quote, I needed that, too.

Murder Bird is pretty cool, I like him.

[st_aurafina]

Isn't it, just? We had to play it in school orchestra, which, let me tell you, really slaughters the song.

Murderbird is full of murderous thoughts. We have one that struts past our patio door and gives the cats the evil eye. They are terrified of it.

[singe]

My cat would die of a heart attack. Hell, I would, too, if that showed up on my balcony.

[batmarg]

It is strange and I don't understand the rhythms of it at all. I feel like the world is being sucked into a black hole, and yet I cannot stop writing POI fic.
That's...oddly relatable.

Wonder Woman was really good. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it after what else I'd seen from the DC movies, but it really upped the DC game. And Antiope was my favorite. <3

I'm glad you don't have to give up vodka outside of work because that would be a tragic life...and now I'm sitting at work wanting vodka. Oh well, everyone thinks all lawyers are alcoholics anyways (a lot of them are, because of how not fun this job is)

[st_aurafina]

I am actually looking forward to Justice League now - I did think from the trailer that she had a good friend vibe with Batman. Oh, it was such a great origin story movie! I'm really happy.

everyone thinks all lawyers are alcoholics anyways (a lot of them are, because of how not fun this job is)

Weirdly, I would have said this about pharmacists!

[eglantiere]

i absolutely loved how all the amazons in the beginning looked badass but also (mostly) non-airbrushed - with crow feet and sagging skin and imperfect faces and so on. it shouldn't feel so revolutionary, and yet it diddd.

[st_aurafina]

Yes! They were beautiful - heart achingly beautiful. I wish it wasn't revolutionary, too. Maybe one day it won't be.