davetheanalyzer | Cold and Advances

It’s fall. It’s getting pretty cold and though some might lament that, I welcome it, since I can sleep more easily in the cold and get to have the pressure of additional blankets. Of course, that meant I often slept a bit later than I want and I’m still struggling with having enough sleep and a consistent sleep schedule. Not helping is also the cold, since it’s become too cold most days to go for a walk and that leaves me thrumming with energy that effects my sleep. I told my parents and my Dad plans to fix the treadmill we had gathering dust for the past couple years. He planned to fix it the last two weekends, but he was busy removing two of our three air conditioners and last week he got sick. In the meantime, I try to make up for this by joining my mom in shopping and vacuuming every other weekend. When it’s even close to sixty degrees, I go out in many layers. I hope the treadmill thing gets taken care of soon.

Having a more advanced phone is useful. On the long drives to and from the dentist, I had Mom listen to a news segments where Native American activists were interviewed about their perspective on the Elizabeth Warren DNA test issue and listening to an audio drama. I was worried a bit Mom would find them, especially the drama, distracting but she was able to get around fine. More importantly, she liked what I had to offer with these. I plan to have her listen to a few other audio dramas the next time we drive and there’s a podcast I’m eying for her to listen too.

Still editing the next We Will Hold On Forever chapters. At the moment, it’s around 65 pages total, but I have a vague goal of cutting it to at least 50. I’ll probably take it to 60 though with my luck. It is a challenge to juggle so many characters at once while still keeping an even pace and even somewhat manageable page count. Exile’s Lone Company is being worked on and off but there are a lot of scenes being added that will definitely have to be reworked on a next draft. With my classes, it has to be accepted only a few one-shots will be posted a year, if I’m lucky. There is only so much time in a day and I have to prioritize it in some ways, especially when I’m writing original fiction for class that should hopefully lead me to getting published one day. I don’t know how that’ll effect my fanfiction writing but I’ll put that aside for now. I’ll just have to see if Exile’s Lone Company can be posted at some time next year.

For certain reasons, I’ve been watching some episodes Barney and Friends, which I haven’t seen in over two decades. I only vaguely remember the episodes with the “clean up, everyone do your share” song and the one where they sang what color go together to make orange, green, and purple. I also vaguely remember one of the Barney home videos, the one where they go into a forest. I probably haven’t seen the first season episodes. Sure, it was a bit annoying at first but I got used to it. I don’t buy into the “evil Barney” interpretation haters used in various fan stories. Barney is as nice as he appears and for however goofy and giggly he can be, there is something adult about him in how he offers advice and support to the kids. He is actually not given that much focus; the kids are, which makes sense, since they are the ones being taught lessons (Though they are often unusually well-behaved kids). There is a lot more singing than I remember from the show; every two or so minutes, they burst into song. I know a lot of people, including me a bit, bashed Barney for his extreme niceness but his show was something aimed very much to its young audience and that isn’t a bad thing. With the hellscape that is politics of the last decade or so, having someone who is unapologetically nice and with no hidden agenda who wants to look out for others is kind of refreshing in a way.

I saw two movies this month, which are so different they might cause mood whiplash. The first was Smallfoot. It was okay. The animation was beautiful and the characters were likable but it didn’t have much to wow me or suck me in. The main character Migo was a likable non-believed character. Meechee was nice and determined, and her bond with Migo was sweet, though I agree there’s a squickiness involved with the age gap between their actors. The other members of the S.E.S rounded out as an entertaining enough ensemble. I did like Brenda and wished she was more a part of the proceeding plot.

I did like there were no outright villains in the movie, with Percy doing this for selfish interest at first before being taken with them and the Stonekeeper tricking everyone not out of power but because he thinks it’s the only way to protect their kind from the humans. That adds a nice dash of complexity. I did think it was a bit much all of the yeti’s work was providing the clouds that keep humans from going up the mountain and the yetis down, but it was decently foreshadowed. Percy did distract the police from them, sacrificing his reputation he was trying so hard to save, but the yeti decided to reveal themselves to be honest with the world anyway and risk the danger to resume relations with humans. It was a fine way to spend an hour and a half but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it anytime soon.

I also saw The Hate U Give, which was a great movie. I vaguely heard about the book and of the movie a few months back. The positive buzz got me to see it and I’m glad it did. Starr was a good main character with her struggles moving between the white prep school and her family and friends in her devalued black neighborhood, not quite knowing where to fit in. The murder of her childhood friend Khalil only exasperated those tensions and she has a realistic reaction to seeing her second murder up close and personal. Even if what Rowling has been doing lately has soured me a bit, I did like the Harry Potter connection between her friends and at she lost all of them was sad. I did like she gradually came to embrace doing the right thing and be more open and unapologetic about her experiences and views as a black girl at her white prep school, to the point she dropped a racist friend who couldn’t catch a hint. She also an uncle who’s a cop, who sheltered them when King’s gang shot at him but he understands the perspective of many cops which Starr calls out later in the movie. The parents were loving but had foibles and disagreements about how to take care of the kids and if they should be loyal to the communities they are part of.

That is one of the things shown in this movie: black people are as flawed as everyone else but that doesn’t meant they deserve the racist treatment. Khalil fell with the King gang and didn’t take the stop seriously but that didn’t mean he deserved to get shot by the cop. Maverick was part of the same gang and had a fling behind his wife’s back but he doesn’t deserve to get roughed up by the cops. Starr highlights that in her anonymous interview, saying the crimes that are in her neighborhood are due to powerlessness. Of course violence might come if you leave a place with no opportunities and hope. King’s family situation felt not as developed, with his wife appearing to justify Seven being beaten up after Starr’s testimony (Mind you, I didn’t catch some of her dialogue) and then urging the kids to run away to protect them from King’s arrival. That feels like that got covered in more detail in the book. It’s not much of a flaw, since otherwise the film does a good job of standing on its own. I hope this film helps open audience’s eyes to the experiences black people go through and try to be allies in the issues they are dealing with.

That is all for now. Will be going to the dentist Friday to get some fillings in. Until the end of November, see you!