Ana Mardoll's Ramblings: March 2020

Utena: Loss and Recovery

[Utena Content Note: Abuse, Sexual Assault]

Links: Froborr's excellent posts and color symbolism guide are here. I'm watching the subtitled episodes contained in the blu-ray collection here.

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episode 11-12: "Gracefully Cruel, The One Who Picks The Flower" and "For Friendship, Perhaps"

Wakaba makes Utena lunch to show her love, but they're interrupted by Anthy bringing lunch to her. Touga approaches and Utena watches as girls crowd around him. I think she wonders if there's something wrong with her that she doesn't want him. Is she a girl if she doesn't want him? If she *does* want him, does that mean she's not a prince, that she's like the other girls? So many genderfeels and queerfeels about this arc.

At the student council, they discuss Nanami's defeat while balloons float by. Juri deduces (logical blue balloon) that Nanami fought in order to lose (because she wants to be a princess?). Miki, who has been Nanami's friend, calls out Touga's so-called brotherly love as a green loyal-friend balloon flits by. Touga observes that even if a trap was laid, it's the fault of the victim for falling in the trap. The stronger the feelings one has for someone, the more vulnerable they are.

Open Thread: Brick Leaf Sculpture

Taken in Longfellow Square on Tuesday the 17th. It's part of the Art Underfoot installation.

(Sorry this is days late.)

We have special open threads set aside for discussing various movies, said discussions including plain text spoilers. These are the current ones:
● Birds of Prey
● Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker

You do not need a special open thread to discuss a movie. Provided you encipher any spoilers (the standard method is by summoning Cthulhu) discussion of movies is quite welcome in the regular open threads.

The special threads are for cases where movie-talk might threaten to drown out other discussion, is expected to take place over multiple weeks, or both. If you believe a given movie calls for one, simply say so.

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~~Friday~~ Sunday Recommendations! What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately? Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ~~ahead of us~~ almost over, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Film Corner: Poseidon

Poseidon

I keep thinking I should, like, let people commission me for #AnaWatches but today's Netflix offering is POSEIDON. You'd think that would be a movie about the god of the sea romancing, like, a lady dragon but no it's about a cruise ship getting all fucked up. "It was supposed to be a dream cruise...until a rogue wave came along. Now it's a nightmarish battle for survival." Let me just say that I enjoy disaster movies wherein rich jerks get killed.

I'm assuming THESE people are all virtuous blue collar workers who work on the ship or spent their retirement pension on tickets or otherwise are out of place among the glittering 1%ers. But a cruise disaster on a 1%er ship would be wonderful.

This cruise ship doesn't even look that big. A guy jogs the length of the ship which is big but seems like it could be bigger, idk, maybe I'm just picky. Elsewhere, inside a huge cabin two lovebirds canoodle. Old Dad walks in and scolds them for touching hands. Girl calls out his condescension and stalks out.

Film Corner: American Psycho

American Psycho

I've never seen AMERICAN PSYCHO before and it's on Netflix. Should I? Okay, I'm watching it. This movie is 19 years old and I feel old. Blood or possibly raspberry jam is being sloshed over the credits. Aw, man, I remember when every dish on the Food Network looked like this and it was new enough to be awesome.

I...I hate all these people. Is that going to be a problem? "Only $570" for lunch, oh my god. Christian Bale's nice smiley character is telling the nice bartender that he wants to kill her, so I don't like him either. His multi-lotion skincare routine is probably supposed to be alarming but I'm just like "so basically what a lot of women go through, huh. that's rough, buddy."

@SMLXist. I'm glad you decided to watch it! I hated it for my first viewing, and it took a second to understand that it's a female-directed satire meant to skewer the toxic-est of masculinity (i.e., the book itself).

*perks up*

Utena: Enter Nanami

[Utena Content Note: Abuse, Animal Cruelty]

Links: Froborr's excellent posts and color symbolism guide are here. I'm watching the subtitled episodes contained in the blu-ray collection here.

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episode 10: "Nanami's Precious Thing"

We open with Saionji being kicked out of school. He's wearing blue, and I'm not sure yet what to make of that. A wounded Touga tells him he'll work to reverse Saionji's expulsion. Saionji gives Touga his exchange diary (the one he keeps with Anthy) and Touga promises to take care of it before burning it. [Kissmate: "He was the vice president of the council and outside of the first episode when he appeared with Anthy, we never once saw him in those scenes." Me: "He always felt like an outsider, even though he was supposed the reigning duelist until Utena showed up."]

A new letter has arrived from the End of the World; it's Touga's turn to fight Utena. Juri and Miki offer to duel in his place since he's wounded and Touga tells them not to worry because there's a new duelist. We cut to Nanami slapping Utena and accusing her of being responsible for Touga getting hurt. Utena is uncharacteristically passive, apologizing meekly to the other girl. Touga appears and rescues her, telling Nanami to stand down and helping Utena up; again, she passively accepts his help and looks up at him in a very submissive manner that is at odds with how she's behaved up until now. The slap on her cheek looks like a blush, making her seem like a princess rather than a prince. [Kissmate: "This feels like a mirror of the times Saionji slapped Anthy and Utena saved her." Me: "In the greenhouse, like this scene." Kissmate: "It's a shock to see Utena here because you expect to see Anthy here getting abused and instead it's her." Me: "And she's not fighting back."] Utena muses in their room that maybe a girl can't become a prince, her legs tucked up to hide her face from Anthy.

Utena: The Castle Comes Crumbling Down

[Utena Content Note: Abuse]

Links: Froborr's excellent posts and color symbolism guide are here. I'm watching the subtitled episodes contained in the blu-ray collection here.

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episode 9: "The Castle to Hold Eternity"

More opening thoughts from Kissmate: "Through the destruction when the prince awakes, the horses rise from the rubble and begin their fight-and-befriend jousting sequence. The blue filter when Utena and Anthy are separated... it's logical that Anthy will always be in danger of being taken from Utena, because of the Rose Bride role she fills?"

We open with Saionji and Touga sparring while women cheer them on. We don't see any actual girls, but rather their voices are dubbed over the swords as though the swords are the ones cheering. Kissmate notes that the two men "only see women as tools, weapons, in their fights. Saionji wants to use the Rose Bride to revolutionize the world, and it ties into how Anthy *is* the sword of Dios: women are weapons. These girls are training swords; Anthy is the real deal. Other women are just training wheels to cut your teeth on in preparation for the one that matters. Also: Saionji is posed with his sword up, power poised to strike, while Touga has his sword down, patient and waiting." (The broom tells them to shh and I think it's Juri. Because she's the council member doing most of the work, she cleans up their shit? Kissmate thinks the voice is a teacher and not Juri.)

Film Corner: Sunshine

Sunshine

SUNSHINE: In the year 2057, Earth's last hope lies with a spacecraft whose mission is to deliver a nuclear device designed to reignite our fading sun. I was informed this would be a good one after Event Horizon. I'm a little worried because it sounds like that dreadful CORE movie where they wanted to jump-start the earth's core and usually I can deal with Science Doesn't Work That Way but that one was a doozy.

Oh my god, they sent a mission to restart the sun and called it "Icarus". Surprising no one, the mission was lost before it reached the sun. That's what happens when you name your project something smart-ass and doomed like that. Earth is frozen in a "solar winter" and I don't know what that is. Some astronauts are going to fly a bomb into the sun in order to restart it. Sure.

They called the second ship "Icarus II", it's like they're *trying* to be eaten by aliens. An astronaut with the most calming voice in the world wants to look at the sun from the ship. Even 3.1% of the sun's light is painful and overwhelming and awe-inspiring and whatnot. MICHELLE YEOH IS IN THIS FILM?!?!?

Open Thread: Orange Lamp

While tradition calls for lamps such as this to be made from tangerines, the way that the orange peels were coming off made me think it might be possible to do it with an orange. It was. You're looking at the result.

The lamp was made with an orange peel and canola oil, the principal tools used being a pizza cutter (when it turned out my thumbnail wasn't long enough) and a lighter. A knife was also used give the hole at the top a more uniform shape and appearance than came naturally.

Picture taken last night in my kitchen.

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Friday Recommendations! What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately? Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Utena: Juri's Love

[Utena Content Note: Abuse]

Links: Froborr's excellent posts and color symbolism guide are here. I'm watching the subtitled episodes contained in the blu-ray collection here.

Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episode 7: "Unfulfilled Jury"

During the Covid-19 quarantine we're under, I'm showing Utena to my Kissmate for the first time. He didn't know anything about the show except that there's a school fencing team that the protagonist accidentally ends up on. (cue me cackling with evil delight) I told him I thought he'd like the series because there's a lot of symbolism and he eats that shit up. We talked about the colors and whipped through the first six episodes before I realized that I had an unfinished blog post about this show and maybe I should, you know, continue that. (sheepish)

Film Corner: Dead Space

Dead Space: Downfall

I have just found out they made a DEAD SPACE movie, so it's time for an #AnaWatches thread and you get to come along with me. DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL. "On a deep space mining mission for the crew of USG Ishimura to a remote planet, an ancient religious relic is unearthed and brought aboard. But when the unholy artifact unleashes a long-dormant alien race, its glimpse of Heaven transforms the ship into a living Hell." I'm informed this is animated. EVEN BETTER.

We open with a low fidelity video recording in which Alissa Vincent wearily explains that an ALIEN LIFEFORM took over the bodies of her crew and killed everyone for giggles. Security footage of spaghetti marinara splattered all over the ship. She says her ship and the artifact they found need to be destroyed. I really would've added more details about the alien(s?) and how they do the body snatching. Seems important.

Open Thread: New Ties

I honestly would have preferred "Ties, Old and New" but, of the pictures I took, this was the most visually appealing image. The thing about shooting through a chain link fence is that it limits your options; I shall blame the lack of any equally good looking images that show both old and new ties on that, rather than my ability as a photographer.

I'm sorry I took so long to the create the Birds of Prey open thread. It looks like the interest that would have justified the existence of said-thread died down before I actually created it, which wouldn't be the case had I created it in a timely manner.

Open Thread: Painting on the Basement Wall

Time hasn't been particularly kind to this, but it's aged fantastically when compared to the lighthouse it's sailing toward. Picture taken in my basement three days ago.

Movie Open Thread: Birds of Prey

This is a place to discuss the movie Birds of Prey, including spoilers (without need for ROT 13 Cthulhu summoning.)

Unfortunately the "Current Comments" feature removes whitespace so, to avoid spoilers appearing there, please use some space for non-spoiler comments or just start your comment with some nonsense.

Example nonsense:

[nonsense] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, id soleat doctus sit, cum te erant omnium. Invidunt periculis at cum, eos diam vivendum no, ea qui vivendum legendos. Verterem similique ut pri, iisque prodesset voluptaria no nam. Eos esse mollis et, mei no putent utamur praesent, nec ex solum saperet. No has soluta molestie.[/nonsense]

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

March Newsletter (2020)

I LIVE!

How is everyone doing? I've been having this weird fever that comes and goes every evening for about 2 weeks. I wander between 100 and 103 degrees Fahrenheit, Kissmate hovers fretfully around me and takes my temperature a lot, and I slur my words and laugh more than I probably should. I'm a happy patient, I guess.

But it has meant that my productivity has taken a hell of a hit. We were able to get some live-watches up for Twitter on one or two of my worser nights, but I'm behind on the next chapter of Miriam and Emil. I will have it up for you this month, I just beg a few more days to finish it! I'm so sorry.

In more personal news, things are going in interesting directions. I'll have some more formal news up soon I hope, but the short version is that you may soon see a GoFundMe up on Twitter for Kissmate's top surgery which they could not be more excited about. We'll keep you posted, and I appreciate all well-wishes. Surgery is always scarier for me on the rare occasions when it's not me going under the knife.

In Case You Missed It

Index to Blog-Reads: Here.

YouTube Let's Plays: Here.

Tumblr Funnies: Here.

@DivorceKittens: Here.

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I'm sorry for the delay on content and I am going to make it up in time, I promise. Thank you so much for sticking with me. I love you all and love hearing from you; the comments on here are always my favorites. Stay tuned because I'm bringing more soon!

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