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Look, I personally believe I can see Fort Worth from here
1. The mojito cupcake at Kickass is not kidding. It is not quite truthful to say that we went promptly for lunch at Blue Shirt Café because I needed something in my system that wasn't rum and sugar, but it is not quite a stretch, either.
2. Following an interlude at Dave's Fresh Pasta in which some fresh pasta was purchased and some foodstuffs not commonly available in this country were stared at with respect (preserved lemons, lardo, condiments I didn't recognize),![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rushthatspeaks showed me True Stories (1986). I cannot overstate how much I love this film. Attempts to describe it will descend into incoherent flailing about John Goodman and Papa Legba and the Lawnmower Brigade. (The conspiracy theory revival meeting. The dueling auctioneers. The roaming tribe of children in their 4-H shirts, singing.) I may try anyway when I am less tired, but for the moment suffice to say that I would cheerfully rewatch it anytime, anywhere, and that may include right after watching it the first time. The one shortcoming: I have been informed there is no such thing as a good non-bootleg version of the soundtrack.
. . . I'm taking suggestions, internet.
3. After weeks of hiatus, Viking Zen and I finally managed to meet for Movie Night. The Legend of Korra is currently streaming for free on Nickelodeon's website. We watched the first three episodes. I am just going to geek out here, all right? There is all the development I wanted from the worldbuilding and more—the explosive cross-pollination of technologies and cultures (and genetics) that was inevitable from the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008) means that the seventy years between series have taken the world from steampunk to a beautiful fusion of the 1920's and '30's with varying points of real-world origin, most visibly to me Shanghai, New York, and Hong Kong, but I'm sure there are allusions all over the place I simply don't have the knowledge to pick up on. There are characters wearing what trenchcoats would look like if they had evolved from hanbok. (Plausible extrapolation of clothing! Who does that?) I want the soundtrack—the music is a similarly alt-world version of big-band jazz. There are airships. There are elevated trains. There are slums and street food and media blitzes. The introductions to each episode of Avatar were spoken by a character who came from a culture that was not illiterate, but heavily invested in oral tradition; the recaps in Korra are newsreels. And it is an older show, more immediately violent than Avatar, more politically and emotionally complex. An obvious villain is spearheading a movement with an entirely legitimate and unaddressed grievance; the latter cannot be dismissed no matter how disturbing the actions of the former. Korra on her first day in Republic City takes down a trio of racketeers collecting their weekly protection money from a hard-up merchant and finds herself under arrest because, in the process, she completely trashed the street. She's not a diffident or an accommodating protagonist. She's aggressive, impatient, used to a prodigy's quickness and an Avatar's privilege; she tends to kick ass first and remember later that she should have been taking names. I find her a delight to watch, especially since the show is aware that her two-fisted naïveté is both problematic and endearing. There are odd resonances with Baccano (2007), probably because of the jazz and the frequent fight scenes; I found myself thinking that I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jacuzzi wandered into a crowd scene while Nice blew something up (and if someone vidded this, I would be so entertained). There is also a major character who was a gangland accountant when he was younger and I liked him even before that was revealed. I don't know most of the voice actors in this cast, but one of the secondary characters is voiced by Lance Henriksen. (I recognized him instantly. I am always glad he's working.) It is very clearly the same world as Avatar, the same creative team and the same attention even to written language—I can't read the newspaper headlines, but I'm sure someone else can and will; it is not the same show. So far, I really like the one it is.
Bed.
2. Following an interlude at Dave's Fresh Pasta in which some fresh pasta was purchased and some foodstuffs not commonly available in this country were stared at with respect (preserved lemons, lardo, condiments I didn't recognize),
rushthatspeaks showed me True Stories (1986). I cannot overstate how much I love this film. Attempts to describe it will descend into incoherent flailing about John Goodman and Papa Legba and the Lawnmower Brigade. (The conspiracy theory revival meeting. The dueling auctioneers. The roaming tribe of children in their 4-H shirts, singing.) I may try anyway when I am less tired, but for the moment suffice to say that I would cheerfully rewatch it anytime, anywhere, and that may include right after watching it the first time. The one shortcoming: I have been informed there is no such thing as a good non-bootleg version of the soundtrack.. . . I'm taking suggestions, internet.
3. After weeks of hiatus, Viking Zen and I finally managed to meet for Movie Night. The Legend of Korra is currently streaming for free on Nickelodeon's website. We watched the first three episodes. I am just going to geek out here, all right? There is all the development I wanted from the worldbuilding and more—the explosive cross-pollination of technologies and cultures (and genetics) that was inevitable from the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008) means that the seventy years between series have taken the world from steampunk to a beautiful fusion of the 1920's and '30's with varying points of real-world origin, most visibly to me Shanghai, New York, and Hong Kong, but I'm sure there are allusions all over the place I simply don't have the knowledge to pick up on. There are characters wearing what trenchcoats would look like if they had evolved from hanbok. (Plausible extrapolation of clothing! Who does that?) I want the soundtrack—the music is a similarly alt-world version of big-band jazz. There are airships. There are elevated trains. There are slums and street food and media blitzes. The introductions to each episode of Avatar were spoken by a character who came from a culture that was not illiterate, but heavily invested in oral tradition; the recaps in Korra are newsreels. And it is an older show, more immediately violent than Avatar, more politically and emotionally complex. An obvious villain is spearheading a movement with an entirely legitimate and unaddressed grievance; the latter cannot be dismissed no matter how disturbing the actions of the former. Korra on her first day in Republic City takes down a trio of racketeers collecting their weekly protection money from a hard-up merchant and finds herself under arrest because, in the process, she completely trashed the street. She's not a diffident or an accommodating protagonist. She's aggressive, impatient, used to a prodigy's quickness and an Avatar's privilege; she tends to kick ass first and remember later that she should have been taking names. I find her a delight to watch, especially since the show is aware that her two-fisted naïveté is both problematic and endearing. There are odd resonances with Baccano (2007), probably because of the jazz and the frequent fight scenes; I found myself thinking that I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jacuzzi wandered into a crowd scene while Nice blew something up (and if someone vidded this, I would be so entertained). There is also a major character who was a gangland accountant when he was younger and I liked him even before that was revealed. I don't know most of the voice actors in this cast, but one of the secondary characters is voiced by Lance Henriksen. (I recognized him instantly. I am always glad he's working.) It is very clearly the same world as Avatar, the same creative team and the same attention even to written language—I can't read the newspaper headlines, but I'm sure someone else can and will; it is not the same show. So far, I really like the one it is.
Bed.
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That sounds amazing.
Speaking of non-bootleg, I think I managed to tell
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I've been enjoying The Legend of Korra. They've been good about maintaining some mysteries, like how the villain can bend away bender powers (it is bending, near as I can tell), who the guy is, and just how he's been able to build this huge organization and give it large resources. I have a few theories but I wouldn't want to spoil anything.
I also like that they specifically made Korra very different from Aang. Trouble with airbending but not the other three, hotheaded, incautious, pugnacious, and no flying. It's going to be interesting. I'd love to see if she learns any forms of specialty bending, like lightning or metal.
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That movie sounds entertaining. I'm surprised I don't remember hearing of it before.
There are characters wearing what trenchcoats would look like if they had evolved from hanbok. (Plausible extrapolation of clothing! Who does that?)
Awesome. I'm pants at keeping up with any form of visual entertainment, mostly because watching it seems a social activity to me and I've generally nobody with whom to do so, but I'll try to watch this.
I want the soundtrack—the music is a similarly alt-world version of big-band jazz.
Interesting.
Aaron Allston's Doc Sidhe (2001) has some fundamental setting issues that offend me,* but one of the things I did like was the description of the New York equivalent's popular music--jazz-ish/Irish trad-ish stuff built around strings and woodwinds, blues accompanied with bagpipes rather than guitars.
ETA: I hope sleep happened for you. It didn't for me, much, and I'd like to think my share of the time zone's sleep went to someone deserving.
*An Art Deco-era equivalent world that is constantly shown as better, or at least infinitely cooler, than ours speaks, because of some magical linkage thingy, all the same languages, except the only trace of any Celtic language is something called "Old Cretanis"** which is apparently spoken only by a nearly extinct population of fullblood elf-types (who are all sociopathic and/or psychopathic power mongers except the titular character) and otherwise is used solely for magic. O RLY?
**Cretanis is apparently a bastardisation of Prytanic, as in Isles, and seems to refer to both Britain and Ireland lumped together. Apparently an Act of Union in the equivalent of the 4th century AD is also "better". *headdesk*
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There's only six episodes so far! They're only twenty minutes each! I was very impressed!
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I think it hit the ground running even harder than Avatar. That's saying something, considering that after the pilot of Avatar, I wanted first to order some roast duck and then to watch the entire series instantly. We're already into the kind of slingshot plotting it took a season and a half for its predecessor to achieve. I hope it keeps up.
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Not really, but some other very cool things did, so I'm all right.
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It's an extraordinary film.
Speaking of non-bootleg, I think I managed to tell derspatchel that this existed, but not you.
I started looking for DVDs as soon as I got home from New York . . . I was glad to see this one exists in a pinch, but if Criterion has just done a restoration of the original print (postdating this transfer, which looks from comments as though it is not of the best), I'm willing to hold out for their version.
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The issue isn't the out-of-print: it's the never-released-in-the-first-place. There is an album of incidental music (as you linked here) and an album of songs from the film re-recorded by the Talking Heads, but there is not an album of songs as performed by the actors who actually do so in the movie. A few seem to have been released as bonus tracks or B-sides—I found a legitimate copy of John Goodman's "People Like Us"—but that doesn't take care of the rest of the score. It was apparently something of a controversy.
Thank you for trying, though!
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You can (I hope, it had better not be region-specific) see for yourself here. I do not believe you will need any familiarity with the previous show to pick up the basics of this one.
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like how the villain can bend away bender powers (it is bending, near as I can tell)
It's chi-bending: the four elements and then quintessence. It would be interesting if, having been introduced in Avatar: The Last Airbender as a teaching direct from the spirit world, it turns out to have much more in common with the chi-blocking that can be practiced by non-benders, but I'd like to see more before I start theorizing.
I also like that they specifically made Korra very different from Aang.
Yes, which she acknowledges herself.
I'd love to see if she learns any forms of specialty bending, like lightning or metal.
I'd love to see if there are other forms of specialty bending to be learned. (Weirdly, I would have expected to find bloodbending in use in the medical profession—it may have been developed creepily, but think of the advantages in surgery. Maybe we just haven't been inside a major hospital.)
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I don't know how high-profile it is you're not a fan of the Talking Heads. Nonetheless, I recommend it.
An Art Deco-era equivalent world that is constantly shown as better, or at least infinitely cooler, than ours speaks, because of some magical linkage thingy, all the same languages, except the only trace of any Celtic language is something called "Old Cretanis" which is apparently spoken only by a nearly extinct population of fullblood elf-types (who are all sociopathic and/or psychopathic power mongers except the titular character) and otherwise is used solely for magic. O RLY?
That sounds like a waste of Art Deco.
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Babylon, Hollywood (Hollywood Babylon?)This is clearly a case for audio ripping the soundtrack one way or another.
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That's reasonable. A lot of the really surreal sequences would probably benefit from a good restore. Though I did notice that this version is available as an Amazon 'rental' so there would be a way to quantify how bad the print is before making an investment.
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The written forms of the language also look as though they have changed between Avatar and Korra, which I wish I were better placed to evaluate. I'd love to know if it's just different scripts or if there are actual shifts in grammar and vocabulary. I can only imagine that newspaper headlines read differently from wanted posters no matter what.
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The man at the counter gave me a free cupcake when I stopped in looking for a job earlier in April. It made me so happy I've been trying to write a thank-you poem ever since. (Charles Gibson Jr's ghost is haunting my dreams, telling me that it is a good idea to write odes. At least he never slimes me or turns into the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.) Perhaps this weekend.
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Dude. Including being offered a job on the spot, that may be the best response from a potential employer I've ever heard of.
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I love preserved lemons with a fierce fierce love. The cupboard under our sink may be out of space with jars as a result. So easy to make...
(Also, yay poemsales, and yay poemwriting. You're on fire!)
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This review of a new movie, Bernie, made me think of your mention of True Stories and I am not sure I'd have made the connection without your remark... it's so long since I have seen that movie, but I vividly remember watching it. I must try to find it again.
In the late 80's Talking Heads released a VHS tape of music videos with wonderful unrelated short films (like, a minute or so) between the songs, mockumentary style. I still adore the girl who thought she was a dog and bit everyone. This is worth looking for if you like the music; it isn't long, and the shorts are delightful.
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Not really, no.
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Bah. There should really not be regions on the internet.
I love preserved lemons with a fierce fierce love. The cupboard under our sink may be out of space with jars as a result. So easy to make...
Do you have a favorite recipe? I know
(Also, yay poemsales, and yay poemwriting. You're on fire!)
Thank you!
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I know the first of these books, but not the second. Description?
In the late 80's Talking Heads released a VHS tape of music videos with wonderful unrelated short films (like, a minute or so) between the songs, mockumentary style. I still adore the girl who thought she was a dog and bit everyone. This is worth looking for if you like the music; it isn't long, and the shorts are delightful.
That sounds fantastic. I'll see if
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. . . Did it work?
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If I find someone with a DVD . . .
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Then rinse lemons, cut each into quarters almost to the base, put a tablespoon of rock salt into the gaps. Squish up into a sterilised jar. Add more until jar is full, adding more rock salt between layers. Pack lemons really tightly. You can fit more salt in there, honest. Along with a bay leaf and a dollop of black peppercorns. Add the juice of 1 lemon, then fill with slightly-cooled boiled water. Put the washed skin from a squeezed-out lemon on top (more for those who don't like white film). Seal & store in a dark place, shake daily for the first week to dissolve the salt.
...eat in ridiculous quantities.