her divine shadow

her divine shadow https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/ her divine shadow - Dreamwidth Studios Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:16:30 GMT LiveJournal / Dreamwidth Studios herdivineshadow personal https://v2.dreamwidth.org/2421879/111110 her divine shadow https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/ 100 100 https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082731.html Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:16:30 GMT Bandcamp Wrapped 2025 https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082731.html <p>Spotify Wrapped, Tidal Rewind, Apple Rewind etc are all out but since I still mostly listen to mp3s on my laptop, actual CDs or literally just the radio – I must await my last.fm 2025 playback sometime in the first days of 2026. I’m pretty sure I haven’t listened to as much music compared to 2024, but there have been some really great albums released this year which I have super enjoyed.</p> <p>In the meantime, here is my Bandcamp Wrapped for all the albums where either the musicians just don’t have CDs available or I didn’t want a CD but enjoyed the music enough to think “I would buy these musicians a slice of cake”.</p> <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082731.html#cutid1">Read the rest of this entry »</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2025/12/bandcamp-wrapped-2025/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1082731" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082731.html music public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082390.html Sun, 09 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT Pot Lunch: Batchelors Pasta ‘n’ Sauce – Cheese & Broccoli https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082390.html <p>Ok so like, I need to remember what I thought of these so I know whether I want to buy them again and if it’s not somewhere on the internet for me to look, did I even write it down?</p> <p><a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-392" src="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-300x300.png" alt="Online supermarket image of Batchelors Pasta N Sauce Cheese & Broccoli pasta pot" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-300x300.png 300w, https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-150x150.png 150w, https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-768x768.png 768w, https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411-1200x1200.png 1200w, https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/image_2025-02-09_160023411.png 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p>Anyway. This was fine. The pasta was a bit too small and there was too much liquid at the end which made fishing the pasta out a little tricky. It did smell and taste good.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2025/02/pot-lunch-batchelors-pasta-n-sauce-cheese-broccoli/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1082390" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1082390.html pot lunch food public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081994.html Sat, 09 Nov 2024 16:43:19 GMT Isosceles https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081994.html <p>I used to post a lot on twitter and then twitter happened and now I’m not really there anymore and neither are a lot of people I would typically follow there – though it’s fifty-fifty on whether that’s because I only look at the “vroooom” motorsport list and not my following or because they’ve actually stopped posting there like I have.</p> <p>Parts of it are like the post-livejournal splintering. Parts of it are worse because that was so long ago and some of my friends are no longer on the planet for me to be able to follow them to a new social media platform and it feels like I’m leaving them behind, though they’re not there to be left behind. If you get me.</p> <p>There’s elements of keeping a dead loved one’s phone number in your phone/address book.</p> <p>I read a lot of email newsletters and of course, I have a backlog of unread newsletters but once again it’s like stepping back into a better time, where the world felt better (though of course, these newsletters are all written during a time AFTER the last time I retreated into the past they offered that I can’t even remember what that event that sent me there was).</p> <p>Trying to figure out what newsletters in my sidebar I’m still subscribed to and what ones are missing – I guess I’ll have to come back to this one.</p> <p>I asked someone what their favourite shape was recently and now I’m gently spiralling around the sound of I-S O-S CE-LES</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2024/11/isosceles/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1081994" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081994.html real life internets public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081251.html Sat, 01 Apr 2023 21:03:54 GMT I hope you’re never tentative wherever you are https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081251.html <p>The new <a href="https://davehause.bandcamp.com/album/drive-it-like-its-stolen">Dave Hause album</a> is SO good. Just, ugh, great great great.</p> <p>The gig last month was great too and reminded me* that I should go listen to live music more often – something to look forward to and it’s a real mood booster when I’ve been. It’s always “why did you book this Past-me, I don’t feel like going out” beforehand and “Past-me you are a genius, this was the best idea” afterwards. So I’ve added in Postmodern Jukebox and Hozier between now and the Loveless gig I already have a ticket for and I see some time in my near future when I need to sit down and see what else is out there that I can put in around my existing commitments. Definitely see what’s more local to me than the nearest city too.</p> <p>The other thing to figure out is the crossposter to my other blog – I think the one to Dreamwidth is still going fine but the one to my other WordPress install went wonky a while back and I’m not sure that the plugin I use for other stuff, that could also crosspost, would allow for the posting to Dreamwidth too. It’s been twenty years, I should probably learn how to write a WordPress plugin myself at this point.</p> <p>Took Mum to see John Wick 4, which she loved and I think she scandalised her friends at church who didn’t expect someone her age to enjoy so much out and out violence. I think it’d be weirder that when you have Michelle Yeoh being a boss at martial arts action movies, a retiree with a similar kind of background wouldn’t love martial arts films too.</p> <p>* that and seeing Asgeir at the beginning of March.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2023/04/i-hope-youre-never-tentative-wherever-you-are/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1081251" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1081251.html music film public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080649.html Sun, 06 Nov 2022 15:31:50 GMT Inactivity https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080649.html <p>I realised about half-way through this year that I didn’t post my films of 2021 but I don’t remember why I didn’t get to it.</p> <p>Anyway. I’m a sporadic blogger, but I am here.</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2022/11/inactivity/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1080649" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080649.html real life film public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080557.html Sun, 14 Mar 2021 22:12:28 GMT Dreamwidth https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080557.html What if, like, what IF I actually attempted to recreate my LJ theme over here? Although really, it would probably be easier to find a theme that I could just slap my header image into. <br /><br />Although I should investigate if this one originally had something like that.<br /><br />Anyway. I guess the thing I really enjoy is how icons I made about 10 years ago still look ok.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1080557" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080557.html Select - Gunsmoke contemplative public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080182.html Sun, 03 Jan 2021 03:28:11 GMT 2020 films and stuff https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080182.html  A lot of things happened in 2020, but mostly they happened to other people because I didn't leave the house for most of the year.<p>And like, I don't really have anything to say here about those things.</p><p>Anyway, on to the customary look back at the new films I saw in 2020 from <strong>least</strong> liked to <strong>most</strong> liked. I didn't step foot in a cinema all year<sup><a href="#note1">1</a></sup>, so I'm not entirely sure how I ended up seeing a good 10-15 more new films than usual - especially since I had a hard time sitting down and watching anything much over an hour long - and somehow I ended up watching like 100 films in total which seems... excessive. In previous years, I've said something about each film - that's not happening today lol.</p><ul><li><strong>Genus Pan</strong> - This and the next film were just SO boring. This is the kind of thing I end up seeing when there's a global pandemic and the film festival I normally go to moves online removing the logistic obstacles that needing to get a train across town to another cinema puts in my way.</li><li><strong>Striding Into The Wind</strong></li><li><strong>Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal</strong> - Turns out I don't enjoy interactive films</li><li><strong>The Yalta Conference Online</strong> - In some ways, doing the Yalta Conference as a Zoom meeting was a good idea. In other ways, it was not.</li><li><strong>Motorcycle Drive By</strong></li><li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>David Byrne's American Utopia</strong> - Maybe this was overhyped? Maybe I'm just not that into David Byrne's music?</li><li><strong>The Light Side</strong></li><li><strong>Summer Shade</strong></li><li><strong>180 Degree Rule</strong></li><li><strong>I Am Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland</strong></li><li><strong>Possessor</strong> - Everything I heard about this one beforehand was like "oooh scary horror, oooh body horror" (I guess because Brandon Cronenberg did it) but like... it's just a science fiction film. It's not scary horror.</li><li><strong>Delia Derbyshire: The Myths And Legendary Tapes</strong></li><li><strong>Shadow Country</strong></li><li><strong>Sound for the Future</strong></li><li><strong>Identifying Features</strong></li><li><strong>The Real Right Stuff</strong></li><li><strong>Mulan</strong> - I still don't get why so many of the animated Disney films get remade as live action (well, I mean, I DO, it's for the money BUT STILL). This was... same old, same old I guess.</li><li><strong>Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb</strong></li><li><strong>My Octopus Teacher</strong></li><li><strong>The Disciple</strong> - This was really good. I feel like a lot of good films seem to be way down the list but it's just that I saw a lot of new films this year.</li><li><strong>Wildfire</strong></li><li><strong>The Old Guard</strong></li><li><strong>Cicada</strong></li><li><strong>African Apocalypse</strong></li><li><strong>Ari Eldjárn: Pardon My Icelandic</strong> - Does an hour-long Netflix comedy special count as a film? Well, I guess. It's in the films section after all.</li><li><strong>Jude</strong> - This is a film about someone I know and tbh I don't know whether I can really categorise it in with all the others very well because it's valuable to me AS a film about this person and it's not there to be entertainment.</li><li><strong>One Man and His Shoes</strong></li><li><strong>The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special</strong></li><li><strong>Herself</strong></li><li><strong>The Reason I Jump</strong></li><li><strong>Time</strong></li><li><strong>John Was Trying to Contact Aliens</strong></li><li><strong>Soul</strong> - I wanted to go and see Soul as part of LFF but it was one of the in-person-at-the-cinema-only ones, which obviously was ridiculous because of the global pandemic, but then it eventually came to Disney Plus so here we are.</li><li><strong>Undine</strong> - I kind of knew the folklore so I figured I knew what would happen, and then stuff happened and it didn't seem like that but then you get to the end of the film and you realise that exactly what was supposed to happen did happen.</li><li><strong>Mogul Mowgl</strong>i - This was a big m o o d from start to finish.<br /><blockquote><p>"They ever ask you, "Where you from?"Like, "Where you really from?"The question seems simple, but the answer's kinda long"</p></blockquote></li><li><strong>Stray</strong> - I don't know what I expected when I got a ticket to see a film about stray dogs in Turkey - certainly not a film that's told at dog-height, but it works and it was great.</li><li><strong>Wolfwalkers</strong> - We all know that the villain has always been Oliver Cromwell. The art in this was fantastic,</li><li><strong>Enola Holmes</strong> - I am here for a whole franchise of this. CHURN THEM OUT. I will watch them. Forever lol at Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes.</li><li><strong>The Painter and the Thie</strong>f - This kind of reminds me of the film Dancer, which was about Sergei Polunin, in that clearly they start making the film and don't really have any idea of where the story will end up and then it ends up being amazing.</li><li><strong>Never Gonna Snow Again</strong> - Funny but also kind of sad.</li><li><strong>Another Round</strong> - Yes, the last like 5-10 minutes are fantastic, but I think they're only so good because you've just watched the whole film before that part and you need to, to kind of get that release.</li><li><strong>Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga</strong> - I LOVE Eurovision and this was great and the best part is how we never actually find out who won that context because that is not the point - much in the same way that with real Eurovision, it's not really winning that's the point for me.</li><li><strong>Rising Phoenix</strong> - This was a really good look at a few Paralympic athletes from various backgrounds. I really hope that the Games can go ahead this year if there is a safe-as-possible way to do so, but at the same time WILL it be possible?</li><li><strong>Uncle Vanya</strong> - Ok, yes, this is the filmed version of a play that I did actually go to see in person, in the theatre, about a week before my workplace sent us all to work from home and maybe 10 days before the entire country did her first lockdown. I'm not convinced that all of the changes they made (mostly way the monologues played out, but how would I have it differently???) were all good choices, but when I watched this on TV, I still felt exactly as I had when I'd finished watching in the theatre. Would this play leave me as emotionally wrung out at the end in any other year? Maybe not, but maybe so. The set was even more beautiful in person, and I'm not sure that the film really captures that. Incredible 2020 vibes.</li></ul><p>While I didn't get to go to the cinema last year, I did manage to go to two gigs back in February - Dave Hause at the Union Chapel which was FANTASTIC and Asgeir at Shepherd's Bush Empire, which was also delightful. Bedouin Soundclash was supposed to happen in May, but got pushed back to February 2021 and of course, it's now been cancelled. I'm not sure that they'll tour again so I'm glad I saw them when I could. The Star Wars concert that I was supposed to attend in March, was also cancelled, but I guess someone is always going to put on a Star Wars concert at the Royal Albert Hall, so that one will come around again one day.</p><p>1.I was going to say "weirdly," but look, we all know what's going on this year so it's not weird at all.</p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1080182" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1080182.html okay public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1079999.html Thu, 02 Jan 2020 01:23:12 GMT 2019 Films and stuff https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1079999.html <p>As usual, a rundown of the new films I saw this year – from least liked to most liked.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Ghost Dance</strong> – this was a short that I saw alongside <em>The Deathless Woman</em> and like… I just don’t get it. It’s not something I would have chosen to watch (I was there to see the main film) so I guess that’s why it’s at the least liked spot on the list.</li> <li><strong>Color Out of Space</strong> – I guess I was expecting something more horror? I’m not that keen on horror but I thought I’d give weird-horror a try and like this wasn’t even that weird.</li> <li><strong>Little Joe – </strong> This was ok and did the “a bit unsettling” thing well but also it was a bit boring.</li> <li><strong>Guest of Honour</strong> – This was ok also.</li> <li><strong>Faustina: Love and Mercy</strong> – My Mum wanted to see this so I got tickets for us both. It’s kind of billed as a docudrama and I guess I was expecting more of a narrative of the life of St Faustina. It’s more maybe a quarter about St Faustina, a third about Blessed Fr Michael Sopocko trying to get the cause of Divine Mercy really going and then the rest is about Divine Mercy and works that current sisters do.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>The Deathless Woman </strong>– So the director of this film was talking about it when I saw it and she mentioned how it’s kind of like how you might present a documentary as a theatrical production, which was an interesting approach. I was aware that there is had been a lot of persecution of the Roma during the Second World War and that now there is a lot of anti-Roma (and Traveller) sentiment and action, but I hadn’t really realised that the violence they experience was at this level.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>The King </strong> – I mean, I don’t know that this needed to be made? It’s a fairly standard King of England goes to war with France kind of thing. The funniest part was how one of the filmmakers at the screening I saw talked about how they’d really boosted the parts for women and haha they really have not.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>To Live To Sing</strong> – So Chinese opera is not everyone’s cup of tea but I like that sort of thing and this was a really touching story about the head of an opera troop’s struggle to keep the group together and their art alive.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Abominable </strong> – I am saw this and really wanted to eat buns but I had to dash off to see another film and didn’t have time.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Tell Me Who I Am </strong> – I didn’t know anything about this going in other than one brother had totally lost his memory and his twin brother knew everything and I think if you are going to see it, maybe find out what happened to the two brothers in advance.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Judy & Punch </strong>– All of the things that happen in a Punch & Judy show are in like the first half and there is a thing that happens and everyone laughed and then realised, wait, these are not puppets.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Mr Jones </strong>– I guess we know Stalin was terrible, but the news hadn’t quite gotten out in 1933.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Western Stars</strong> – This is just Springsteen playing the music from his album and then doing some talky-musing bits in between. It was ok and the msuic was nice.</li> <li><strong>Jojo Rabbit</strong> – As much as imaginary friend Hitler was amusing for a while, I don’t know that he was necessary for the whole film but I guess he was in the book?</li> <li><strong>Le Mans ’66</strong> – Everywhere else (everywhere North American maybe) this film is called <em>Ford Vs Ferrari</em> like no one knows anything about what happens at Le Mans or…who knows really. I guess this is better for people who aren’t big racing fans, but I did enjoy it.</li> <li><strong>Synchronic</strong> – This was my 10th most liked film of the year which I wasn’t expecting. I feel like perhaps a lot of people may have found this to be better than they thought it was going to be. It handles the time travel in a new, interesting way and Anthony Mackie is really great in this.</li> <li><strong>The Red Sea Diving Resort</strong> – I knew a little about the stuff that happens in this film, but not really the extent of what went on. It’s also nice to see Chris Evans in a not-Captain-America role.</li> <li><strong>The Two</strong> <strong>Popes</strong> – I saw this at LFF where I sat between a priest and an old dude who shushed the priest for eating crisps towards the beginning of the film. Is <em>The Two Popes </em> entirely factual? No. Does it give an accurate portrayal of the personalities of Popes Benedict and Francis? Hard to say. Is it enjoyable anyway? Yes. The main thing is that it really reminds us that these two men are human, like the rest of us.</li> <li><strong>Spider-Man: Far from Home</strong> – What even happened in this film? Oh yeah, Peter Parker travelled around Europe and stuff. There have been a lot of Spider-Man films over the years. This was fun.</li> <li><strong>Avengers: Endgame</strong> – Pretty much 6th most liked film on the list because of my extreme fondness for Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Not sure that it really ended this era of Marvel films in a way that totally made sense (although yeah, it did cement my opinion that Tony Stark is terrible – which considering that everyone who makes these films seems to adore him, probably says something). Interested to see where things go next. Kind of not into having to get Disney plus to do so. Maybe if I wait long enough it’ll all just be on regular freeview tv.</li> <li><strong>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker</strong> – JJ Abrams did an extremely JJ Abrams thing in this film and that was kind of rubbish. I still think that he used Star Trek as a stepping stone to get to Star Wars, which ok, fair enough if you’re a big fan of Star Wars. At the same time, I think he’s stuck on his nostalgia for the original trilogy and maybe that leads to some weird decisions (plus, while I get that Carrie Fisher passing away did make plotting this tricky, it’s not well written). Despite all of this, I still love Star Wars and the performances from all the actors. Would have liked MORE droid stuff.</li> <li><strong>Pokemon Detective Pikachu</strong> – For a really long time, I didn’t think this was a real film and then it showed up at the cinema and it was great. Really great.</li> <li><strong>John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum</strong> – So I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a Keanu Reeves film that I did not enjoy. Sure there are a few that I’m not going to see because of the premise of the films, but I’ve watched nearly everything else probably and there is not a single dud. John Wick is great. The universe that has been created is fascinating and I’m excited to see the next film to see what happens next.</li> <li><strong>Knives Out</strong> – There are more films with Chris Evans than I was expecting tbh. This was everything I love about watching Miss Marple and Poirot over and over and over but new and hilarious.</li> <li><strong>Captain Marvel</strong> – I think where maybe Endgame and Infinity War falter is that they are straight up superhero films. They’re not like, a particular type of film that happens to have superheroes in. Captain Marvel is one of those late 80s/early 90s action movie films where Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford might have played the hero and won the day, except way better because it has Carol Danvers and is in SPACE and like I saw this waaaay back in the first quarter of 2019 and it’s still at the top of my list. This is the film that, having considered and compared all the other new films I saw in 2019, still came out in front.</li> </ul> <p>Anyway my ratings etc are all over <a href="https://boxd.it/2GZ2q" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here on Letterboxd</a> and starting my yearly rating list at the beginning of the year and just adding to it throughout, rearranging as I go, continues to be one of the best ideas I have ever had.</p> <p>I know this is titled 2019 Films and stuff but it’s 2020 now and I don’t remember what the “and stuff” was going to be, so I’ll just leave it at that.</p> <p>Happy New Year!</p> <p style="text-align:right;"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2020/01/2019-films-and-stuff/">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1079999" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1079999.html review film public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078799.html Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:55:18 GMT Strange things are afoot at the Circle K https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078799.html <p>Or actually, not really. Just some minor griping about some stuff going on with the local church.</p> <p>The priest at my church has had to go away for some sort of personal reasons, but the really interesting thing is how he and other priests belonging to their particular group keep going about a bunch of things – like they’re laying the groundwork for their own inability to remain as parish priests at my church.</p> <p>The first thing seems to be kind of an obsession with the devil – how they can sense something at the church. What it really sound like, is a preoccupation with satan coupled with the new experience of living in a very quiet area, in a house that creaks like a normal house of its age, having previously only lived in busy cities and/or in community.</p> <p>Then they’re convinced there is a witch down the road up to no good against them and the church.</p> <p>And then… going on and on about how various parish priests have come to the church, gotten sick and then died. Which might work when told to some people, but doesn’t work when told to people who have known our parish priests very well over the years. The priests who were sick all arrived with existing health problems (and they conveniently neglect to remember a recent priest who is very much alive, appears hale and healthy but the rest of us know he has had lung problems for a long time) or just got old, and the normal things that come with old age occurred (also forgetting the priest who baptised me at our church who is now both extremely old but also, still alive lol).</p> <p>Like, guys, the thing that there is in common about the priests who seem to have problems with satan at church are that you belong to this one group and like, you don’t seem to have enough faith or trust in God that He will take care of you which is like a big problem when you are a priest.</p> <p>And don’t get me started on how saving money is apparently more important than saving souls.</p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1078799" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078799.html real life religion public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078589.html Sat, 14 Dec 2019 21:23:44 GMT Saturday the 14th https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078589.html <p>It’s not quite time for my end of year film list (since I have at least one new film left to watch this year) but there have been things I’ve been thinking about writing down for probably a month now and just haven’t so here are some of those things.</p> <ul> <li>I read an article about morning routine stories and how the right kind of morning routine is supposed to be able to make you more productive and how recently they’ve kind of morphed into a kind of self-care space and then went on to talk other ideas developing on from that. My weekday morning routine is to wake at 7am, visit the bathroom, fill my water bottle, put out my cereal bar and make a cup of tea that I then take upstairs and put on the bedside table. Then I get right on back into bed and go to sleep until the radio turns on at 7.30am and I find that past-me has kindly made now-me a cup of tea.<br /> And then like, get ready for work, leave the house, blah blah blah.</li> <li>Still haven’t gotten the crib down from on top of the wardrobe to set it up downstairs for Christmas. Feels like it will be a lot of effort, although it will be the same amount of effort that it is every year and it’s just me that changes. The last couple of months have been kind of vague-feeling and I’ve been studiously ignoring it and buying tickets for things to look forward to instead. One week left until the days start getting longer again, maybe that will help too.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1">The election. Ugh. That’s not helped. I don’t get how people can throw the poor, sick, vulnerable, marginalised etc under the bus and for what? The people I know who’ve voted Conservative are certainly not going to profit from it and just, ugh. So many things. Briefly looked into whether emigrating to Germany or the Netherlands was possible. Considered moving to Scotland. Thought about the religious life again (although that’s a thing I think about on and off and just haven’t ruled out). And being right about what the new government will do doesn’t even have the satisfaction of being able to say “I told you so” because it will be a tragedy. I suppose a Conservative vote is a selfish vote but how does being selfish uplift society? If we don’t help everyone up, even a little bit, then how can we progress and make great new discoveries? I guess I watch too much Star Trek.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1">I basically need a TV channel that is Agatha Christie all the time. All the Marples. David Suchet’s Poirot. Tommy and Tuppence. Just that and nothing else.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1">I’d probably take a bird table livestream too.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1">If the psychiatric hospitals hadn’t been shut down 20-odd years ago, would the mental health of the nation be better now? I don’t know the answer to that, but the resource would be there at least.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1">Of course, I can’t remember most of the things I was thinking about writing down for the last month.</li> </ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1078589" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078589.html real life politics public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078392.html Sun, 21 Jul 2019 15:01:51 GMT Sleeves https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078392.html <p>Today I’m wearing a dress that my Mum made for me a few years ago. She made two dresses at the time but it’s only occurred to me now, that that’s when she really understood the trouble I have with getting shirts and dresses that fit properly across my shoulders and allow me to still move my arms.</p> <p>The dresses don’t have sleeves because she had such trouble having to alter them away from their original patterns to make them fit that she decided to cut her losses. LOL.</p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1078392" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1078392.html real life public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077677.html Sat, 09 Feb 2019 11:37:40 GMT Hoarding https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077677.html <p><a href="https://daily.jstor.org/whats-causing-the-rise-of-hoarding-disorder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What’s Causing the Rise of Hoarding Disorder?</a></p> <blockquote><p>Even if they want to downsize (which is rare), there’s the overwhelming difficulty of sorting through the mess. People with severe hoarding disorder tend to be easily distracted and have a hard time focusing and concentrating. Paradoxically, they also tend to be perfectionists, so they’ll put off making decisions rather than risk being wrong. And when it comes to their own stuff, they don’t categorize by type. Rather than see an object as a member of a large group (say, one of 42 black T-shirts), they see it as singular, unique, special. Each black T-shirt is perceived apart from the others and carries its own history, significance, and worth. It’s not even categorized for storage (folded with other black T-shirts in a T-shirt drawer), but rather placed on a pile and retrieved spatially (that particular black T-shirt lives about four inches from the bottom of the corner stack). <em><strong data-select-like-a-boss="1">This leads to a deep aversion to someone touching the piles or sifting through them, unwittingly destroying the invisible ordering system.</strong></em></p></blockquote> <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">It me.</p> <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">Well, I’m somewhere between untidy and hoarder because when I do actually tidy, there’s a lot less “stuff” but yeah, that’s basically my filing system. Whenever a well-intentioned person attempts to tidy for me, without my knowledge, I always end up losing stuff and… having to buy replacements because I can’t find the thing – which I feel is the opposite of what the ideal outcome would be. :/</p> <p>So far some of the things lost when tidied include: a boxed copy of Evil Genius (which I’ve just re-bought in the Steam sale as a download), a mobile phone and most recently the cable to connect my camera to my laptop (and also to charge my Mum’s Kobo – so yeah I’ve had to re-buy that one).</p> <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">And there’s no way of knowing if the lost things are just…here somewhere or if they’ve accidentally gone in the bin.</p> <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">The 42 black t-shirts is also me. However, I have a “black t-shirt shelf” to go with my “not-black t-shirt” shelf.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2019/02/hoarding/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1077677" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077677.html hoarding black t-shirts real life public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077371.html Sat, 02 Feb 2019 10:57:34 GMT Trackbacks, Spam and Akismet https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077371.html <p>I mean I get why every single one of the trackbacks on my blog from my other blog is put in the “probably spam” category but like, it would be amazing to just be able to set “OK trackbacks from this particular other blog are fine.”</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2019/02/trackbacks-spam-and-akismet/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1077371" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077371.html trackbacks internets akismet wordpress public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077238.html Mon, 31 Dec 2018 23:03:21 GMT 2018 Films, mostly. https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077238.html <p>It’s not quite the end of the year just yet<sup>1</sup>, but I have decided that it is highly unlikely I am going to leave the house and make the five minute journey to my local multiplex. My film logging widget tells me that I saw fewer films in total this year than I did last year and from looking at last year’s films in review blog and my letterboxd list of 2018 films, I also saw fewer new films. Was it just that there were fewer films that took my fancy released? Could I just not be bothered to go out and see them? I know there were a few that I thought “well, I’ll just wait for them to be on TV” that I can’t even remember the titles of now.</p> <p>I nearly said that there wasn’t a Star Wars film out in 2018 but I guess Solo counts as one of those, so it’s not even that. I could really do with a new Star Trek film – although Discovery is coming back in the new year and I am p excited for that.</p> <p>Anyway, onward – from least liked to most liked. Once again, “least liked” doesn’t necessarily mean it was bad but I think I did watch more films I felt kind of indifferent about this year:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Long Day’s Journey Into Night</strong> – This film was really long and didn’t seem to go anywhere. Sure the 3D 50 minute long single shot take is a technical achievement but like… what was the point. I guess the first section was just too vague and I didn’t care about the main character.</li> <li><strong>In Fabric</strong> – Parts of this film were entertaining but then other bits induced too much second-hand embarrassment.</li> <li><strong>The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man</strong> – I don’t know that I’m really that interested in Bill Murray’s hijinks, but it was nice to hear from people who had such good experiences and to its credit, this film is only 70 minutes long and doesn’t try to pad itself out with pointless filler.</li> <li><strong>Aquarela</strong> – Ok so this film is about water and only that. Glaciers, frozen lakes, waterfalls, oceans, hurricanes etc. all to an industrial classical soundtrack. The director said that it was supposed to showcase the immensity of water on our planet but it had been a long day and the water noises along with metal-cello accompaniment were really relaxing and I might have drifted off once or twice<sup>2</sup>.</li> <li><strong>The Quake</strong> – I didn’t see The Wave, to which this is a sequel to, but I don’t think I really needed to. Most disaster movies that I’ve seen tend to be all action, which is fine. This film has action, sure, but most of the drama comes from within the characters’ regular lives and their reactions to the disaster of the previous film. Which is a nice change.</li> <li><strong>Ash Is Purest White</strong> – I spent 20 minutes trying to remember which of the films on the list had the ballroom dancers in and it was this one. Anyway, Ash Is Purest White kind of starts off as a gangster film, but then actually follows the life of the “gangster’s moll” character who is far more interesting than anyone else.</li> <li><strong>Arctic</strong> – I actually had this one just above Aquarela but then I started thinking about it and had to move it up the list a bit. Mads Mikkelsen is exceptional in this.</li> <li><strong>Solo: A Star Wars Story</strong> – This was OK. I kind of want to rate it lower but maybe that’s because I kind of expected more from a film about Han Solo and on the whole it was fine. Unnecessary maybe, but fine. I would probably have preferred a Chewie film.</li> <li><strong>A Family Tour</strong> – There’s a lot here that I recognise in my own family, although of course, none of us currently live in exile from China or have suffered the kind of injustices that the main character here has. Although saying that, thinking about the race riots in Malaysia in the late 60s, I do wonder if I am wrong about that one.</li> <li><strong>Duplicate</strong> – This film is called “Jonathan” in a bunch of places but I guess it must have got renamed to Duplicate. Did not go in the direction I had thought it would at all, mostly because I had no clue where the story would go from the start (but in a good way).</li> <li><strong>The Man Who Killed Don Quixote</strong> – This is the only Adam Driver film I saw this year, although in a sense it was like 3 Adam Driver films in one, so I guess I’ve probably equalled last years Adam Driver film total.</li> <li><strong>Happy as Lazzaro</strong> – I didn’t really know what to expect from this film and it turned out to be kind of a meditation on sainthood. Also, did not expect the direction the second half took at all, which was great.</li> <li><strong>Outlaw King</strong> – I enjoy historical films with loads of violence, what can I say?</li> <li><strong>Deadpool 2</strong> – Also contemporary films with loads of violence. I feel like this wasn’t as enjoyable as the first one.</li> <li><strong>Out of Blue</strong> – I guess I would compare this one to last year’s Small Town Crime, only the main character in that was a mess and Patricia Clarkson’s detective is not really.</li> <li><strong>The Hummingbird Project</strong> – This was way more heart-warming than I thought a film about putting in a fibre optic cable across America would be and I am glad of it. And SALMA HAYEK plays a great villain.</li> <li><strong>Assassination Nation</strong> – I really enjoyed this although I think it was trying to position itself as something more controversial than it was. Also another film with loads of violence. Basically, 80% of films I watch have violence in them I guess.</li> <li><strong>Widows</strong> – This was so so good and deeply satisfying. Also, there is a cute dog.</li> <li><strong>A Wrinkle in Time</strong> – I saw this so long ago, but I guess it says something that a film from right near the beginning of the year stuck in my memory and maintained its position in my chart – I often find that more recent films chart a bit higher sometimes because I remember them more. I’ve not read the book but I don’t think that’s a problem. This is a really beautiful film but wow Charles Wallace is annoying.</li> <li><strong>Can You Ever Forgive Me?</strong> – I picked this film because I really enjoyed seeing Melissa McCarthy in Spy and the title sounded interesting. It turned out to be one of the best films I’ve seen this year – both funny and unexpectedly touching.</li> <li><strong>The Favourite</strong> – Rachel Weisz is awesome. Her name is Rachel, so of course. Olivia Coleman and Emma Stone are also excellent, though they are not Rachels. Their performances made the characters seem real – even though they are real people that existed, the distance of time renders them as “just” characters in a story. Anyway, this was great and funny and moving and I really enjoyed it.</li> <li><strong>I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story</strong> – I was never a boyband fangirl myself. I just didn’t get the appeal, but I have been a fan of other things and it was a DELIGHT to watch this and feel those feels and see other people feeling those feels. Not only does this documentary tell the stories of a range of different fangirls, but it also follows the changes in their fandom and what their love of their particular boyband has enabled them to achieve. And it takes all of their fangirling and love and out-there antics and takes it all seriously. Everyone should see this.</li> <li><strong>Little Forest</strong> – This is a film where a young woman spends a lot of time cooking for herself and for her friends, eating the nice food she has cooked and hanging out with a puppy and I think this is the gentle film that the world needs right now.</li> <li><strong>Pacific Rim: Uprising</strong> – In contrast, I don’t think the world needed this particular Pacific Rim film (perhaps del Toro’s version would have been different) and yeah, there is one element of the story that is CLEARLY RIDICULOUS and UNCALLED FOR. That said, I enjoyed the story and the robots and John Boyega is a national treasure.</li> <li><strong>Avengers: Infinity War</strong> – I am here for Captain America 5eva. And most of the rest of them too.</li> <li><strong>Ocean’s Eight</strong> – This is literally the only Ocean’s film I have seen in a cinema rather than just waiting for it to be on the telly and that was an excellent decision. Sandra Bullock is my perennial fave and she and her team are just so good at all of it. Richard Armitage is there being awful in the best way. The only thing that could have been better would be if they had just put someone else in as the insurance fraud investigator.</li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><strong>Black Panther</strong> – It feels like Black Panther came out a million years ago but it was literally only like eleven months. Everything about this film was just right and I loved T’Challa and Shuri and her being the genius little sister.</li> </ul> <p>And that’s it for the new films I saw in 2018. I feel like I would have liked to go to more gigs, but sometimes I’m just not interested in the people who are touring here. I visited Norfolk on holiday and that was great. I ate a great many delicious things. 2018 was okay.</p> <p><sup>1. </sup> Well, I started writing this 3 days ago.<br /> <sup>2. </sup> It had been a long day.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/12/2018-films-mostly/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1077238" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1077238.html review film public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076929.html Wed, 05 Dec 2018 19:33:00 GMT Tuesday https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076929.html <p>I am languishing in my sickbed, riddled with plague and reading about all this Tumblr stuff.</p> <p>Maybe not plague. A cold.</p> <p>I know that the ringing in my ears is louder when I’m sick, but it’s coupled with the sound of the water moving through the radiators and hot water pipes – a similar sound to the one I hear in my ears – which makes it all worse somehow. No amount of earplug-wearing will help when it’s a noise already in my head.</p> <p>Coincidentally, I’m also reading about how places like <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/how-restaurants-got-so-loud/576715/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restaurants are really loud</a>. I’m constantly thinking about how loud places are and how it seems like everywhere has gotten louder but can’t really decided whether they really have become louder or I just notice more now that I try to avoid loud noises. Probably both.</p> <blockquote> <div class="blah"> <div class="l-article__container__container"> <section class="l-article__section s-cms-content"> <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">Restaurants are so loud because architects don’t design them to be quiet. Much of this shift in design boils down to changing conceptions of what makes a space seem upscale or luxurious, as well as evolving trends in food service. Right now, high-end surfaces connote luxury, such as the slate and wood of restaurants including <u><a href="https://www.theospreybk.com/gallery" data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'1',r'None'">The Osprey</a></u> in Brooklyn or <u><a href="https://www.atomixnyc.com/" data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'2',r'None'">Atomix</a></u> in Manhattan.</p> </section> </div> </div> <div class="blah"> <div class="l-article__container__container"> <section class="l-article__section s-cms-content">This trend is not limited to New York. According to <em><u><a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-restaurant-design-trends-youll-see-everywhere-in-2018" data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'3',r'None'">Architectural Digest</a></u>, </em>mid-century modern and minimalism are both here to stay. That means sparse, modern decor; high, exposed ceilings; and almost no soft goods, such as curtains, upholstery, or carpets. These design features are a feast for the eyes, but a nightmare for the ears. No soft goods and tall ceilings mean nothing is absorbing sound energy, and a room full of hard surfaces serves as a big sonic mirror, reflecting sound around the room.The result is a loud space that renders speech unintelligible. Now that it’s so commonplace, the din of a loud restaurant is unavoidable. That’s bad for your health—and worse for the staff who works there. But it also degrades the thing that eating out is meant to culture: a shared social experience that rejuvenates, rather than harms, its participants.</section> </div> </div> </blockquote> <div class="blah"> <div class="l-article__container__container"> <section class="l-article__section s-cms-content">And the Underground is SO loud. I mostly travel on the Northern line when I use the tube and the TRAINS are SO LOUD. If you want to talk to someone, you’d have to shout (on the other hand what are you doing, breaking the unwritten rule of not speaking on the tube). I always wonder about how loud people must have the volume for whatever they are listening to on their headphones. I think about how that kind of volume from headphones on my own ears would probably be worse for my tinnitus than the sound of the trains the music would be drowning out. At least I can wear earplugs on the train.</section> </div> </div> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/12/tuesday/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1076929" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076929.html real life tinnitus noise public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076587.html Wed, 05 Dec 2018 14:19:33 GMT Common Cyborg – Jillian Weise https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076587.html <p>The whole essay is <a href="https://granta.com/common-cyborg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <blockquote><p>To Haraway, the cyborg is a matter of fiction, a struggle over life and death, a modern war orgy, a map, a condensed image, a creature without gender. The manifesto coopts cyborg identity while eliminating reference to disabled people on which the notion of the cyborg is premised. Disabled people who use tech to live are cyborgs. Our lives are not metaphors.</p></blockquote> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/12/common-cyborg-jillian-weise/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1076587" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076587.html feminism technology disability public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076225.html Tue, 25 Sep 2018 20:39:36 GMT On reading https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076225.html <p>At some point, two different things about reading ended up in my “tabs to read” window – one about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skim reading</a> and the other about <a href="https://austinkleon.com/2018/08/30/reading-with-a-pencil/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reading with a pencil</a>.</p> <p>In the first, Maryanne Wolf (Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA) talks about how our brains’ ability to read is changing as we read on electronic devices more:</p> <blockquote><p>My research depicts how the present reading brain enables the development of some of our most important intellectual and affective processes: internalized knowledge, analogical reasoning, and inference; perspective-taking and empathy; critical analysis and the generation of insight. Research surfacing in many parts of the world now cautions that each of these essential “deep reading” processes may be under threat as we move into digital-based modes of reading.</p></blockquote> <p>She goes on to talk about we have less “patience to read longer, denser, more difficult texts” and along with that potentially comes less ability to apply higher levels of critical analysis to such texts (or perhaps also in texts we come across in every day life like contracts or wills).</p> <p>The whole article is worth reading (especially how the change in reading is coming with a change in empathy) but the main thing that interested me was how reading on physically printed media instead of a digital device kind of added “a spatial ‘thereness’ for text” and readers have a better sense of where they are in what they are reading – a place “to go back, to check and evaluate one’s understanding of a text.”</p> <p>The second tab I’ve had open – the one from Austin Kleon’s blog about reading with a pencil made me really think about how I read. I don’t think I could ever actually write IN a book, which is also interesting to me – there are people who freely write in books they own and then there are people who would never dream of it and is there anyone in between?</p> <p>Marginalia means to me that I’ve paid attention to the thing that I was reading – for the essays and such that I’ve written in the past, I’ve always had to print out papers (in part to highlight them and make notes) rather than attempt to read them in a digital format. Even though I can’t bring myself to write notes in a book, the books I used for my dissertation were RIDDLED with post-it notes with various scribbles and arrows on them.</p> <p>I feel like I don’t read as much as I used to – I certainly don’t get through as many books as I once did. However, when I really think about it, I wonder if I am really reading less or is it that reading in a digital format somehow counts less? Instead of zipping through novels, I read fanfic, journal articles, meta, Twitter, newsletters (the satisfaction of reading a blog with the ease of it being right there in my inbox, though I never forsook RSS), the odd Livejournal/Dreamwidth entry… so am I really reading less? Or is it that I don’t have the patience for long things anymore? I know I don’t understand how anyone can binge-watch a series – I can watch two episodes tops before I have to switch to a different series.</p> <p>Anyway. It is a thing I have been thinking about.</p> <p>Other stuff:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://blog.usejournal.com/tackling-the-ethical-challenges-of-slippery-technology-94500e723d34" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tackling the Ethical Challenges of Slippery Technology</a> – I studied software engineering and the closest we really got to thinking about ethics was the single first-year module “Philosophy of Computer Science” (or something similar). I ended up writing about whether an AI could have a soul. More recently, I was talking about AI with a priest and he couldn’t believe that we don’t necessarily know why an AI might make a particular decision – if we made them, then we must understand them right?</li> <li><a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/554109/edwardian-women-who-claimed-travel-back-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Edwardian Women Who Claimed to Travel Back in Time</a></li> <li><a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-most-important-skill-nobody-taught-you-9b162377ab77" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You</a></li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/opinion/sunday/solving-all-the-wrong-problems.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solving All the Wrong Problems</a></li> </ul> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/09/on-reading/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1076225" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076225.html technology books internets public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076017.html Sat, 15 Sep 2018 16:28:01 GMT A thing that makes me LOL about the Superman news/non-news https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076017.html <p data-select-like-a-boss="1">I’m not sure that it really makes any difference who plays Superman, since compared to the steady churn of the MCU out put, there are barely any DCEU films. Anyway, I keep seeing articles like <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90236589/henry-cavill-goodbye-superman-instagram-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this</a> that mention:</p> <blockquote><p>With Henry Cavill reportedly parting ways with the DC Universe, there is currently a large cape to fill and no shortage of strapping, symmetrical-faced lads to fill it.</p></blockquote> <p>Henry Cavill, the person whose face I enjoy looking at primarily for his partial heterochromia and because I am heartened to see that he still has teeth stereotypically common to my fellow residents of the British Isles.</p> <p>Of course Clark Kent can’t go down to the orthodontist to get his teeth fixed.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/09/a-thing-that-makes-me-lol-about-the-superman-news-non-news/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1076017" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1076017.html film superman public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075830.html Wed, 05 Sep 2018 23:03:08 GMT Round-up of things https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075830.html <p>I’ve not really got anything else this week.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-curious-case-of-island-dwelling-goats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Curious Case of Island-Dwelling Goats</a></li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><a href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-lives-inside-fog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Secret World Inside Tiny Fog Droplets</a></li> <li data-select-like-a-boss="1"><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/some-fairy-tales-may-be-6000-years-old">Some fairy tales may be 6000 years old</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.britac.ac.uk/blog/sharing-experiences-pregnancy-trauma-science-fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sharing experiences of pregnancy and trauma through science fiction</a></li> </ul> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/09/round-up-of-things/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1075830" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075830.html internets link round up public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075687.html Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:52:26 GMT In fair Verona, where we lay our scene https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075687.html <p><a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/unionchapelrandj-3.png"><img class="wp-image-246 size-large aligncenter" src="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/unionchapelrandj-3-768x1024.png" alt="Romeo & Juliet at the Union Chapel" width="768" height="1024" srcset="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/unionchapelrandj-3-768x1024.png 768w, http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/unionchapelrandj-3-225x300.png 225w, http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/unionchapelrandj-3-1200x1600.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></a><br /> On Saturday, I went to see Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet at the Union Chapel, with a live choir. Basically that meant that there was about half an hour’s performance of some of the songs from a choir before the film along with some dude saying various quotes from throughout the play. Then they did a song at the end and some guy in the audience then proposed to his girlfriend, she said yes, we all clapped and the choir did another song, dedicated to the couple.<br /> I don’t really get why someone would pick Romeo + Juliet as a prelude to popping the question, as so many people die and namely the “happy couple.” I am sure it was probably a nice evening for them so that must add context.<br /> Romeo + Juliet was great though. I first saw it when I was about 12 and I didn’t really get probably about half of the language used, but it’s like watching Chinese historical dramas – you don’t know what anyone is really saying, but they are doing the right faces. I guess it probably helped that I studied the play at school afterwards and I’ve learnt a bit more about Shakespeare and that since then. Watching now, over 20 years after the film was released, and looking at 20 years ago Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes was kind of weird. I guess when I first saw it, the actors were like 5-10 years older than me and I was just watching stuff happening to people. Watching now, looking at 21 year old Leonardo and 17 year old Claire Danes, from the viewpoint of someone now in their thirties and like… they are really dramatic children. I know in Zeffirelli’s version, Romeo and Juliet are played by even younger actors – but they’re not in a relatable modern setting. I’m sure I must have written an essay about this in school, but man those kids needed some responsible adults in their lives who didn’t enable their nonsense.</p> <p>It wouldn’t be quite so entertaining a play though.</p> <p>What else? I think that’s all I have.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/08/in-fair-verona-where-we-lay-our-scene/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1075687" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075687.html film real life union chapel romeo + juliet public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075251.html Sun, 12 Aug 2018 16:34:07 GMT 102 https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075251.html <p>Today my Granddad would have been 102 years old, had he not died 14 years ago. He missed his birthday that year by a few days. We went out to the local carvery and had roast dinner in his honour. Inevitably we will always go out to eat roast dinner, because the right variety of bits for a roast dinner is tricky when you’ve only got two people to eat the thing.</p> <p>On Wednesday night, I went to see <a href="http://larryandhisflask.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Larry & His Flask</a> at the Islington Academy. Weirdly I don’t think I had really listened to any of their music, since the last time I saw them live, bought an album and played it in the car on the way home. All I knew was that I enjoyed the last time I had seen them and it felt like ages since I had seen them and that I should see them again.</p> <p>Which, of course, was the right decision. </p> <p><a href="https://samrusso.bandcamp.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sam Russo</a>, whose music I also like, and Crazy Arm, whose music I’d never heard but I think Emma likes, supported and were good. The last time I saw Sam Russo, he was supporting Dave Hause and he’d done his leg in but remained charming. He’s still charming and his music is still great but seems to admit to a lot of crime? He says he didn’t murder anyone, which is good.</p> <p>Larry & His Flask though. I was thinking as I stood there listening, that my Dad would have really enjoyed their music. Being an only child, my parents were always fairly protective (maybe overprotective as I’ve always been cautious anyway) so my Dad used to come to gigs with me. He took me to my first gig – AFI’s Nightmare After Christmas gig at the London Astoria back in like 2002. We went to festivals and gigs and I never minded that I always “had” to go with my Dad because we had a great time and he was always up for going. I suppose maybe I was lucky that my Dad would listen to the music I liked – it always seemed more difficult for other people I knew whose folks weren’t keen on them going out late on a school-night and there was the tension between having to hurry home after and not wanting to hurry back. No such problem for me and my Dad, because since he didn’t like public transport, he would always drive us there and back and we didn’t have to contend with the thought of missing the train.</p> <p>Plus like, he would buy the tickets and the drinks and the merch because he was my Dad and I was the child. I’ve still got the hoodie he bought for me at that first gig – he popped out during the encore to buy me something, have a smoke and bring the car round and miss all the crowds going for their cars and that. </p> <p>Now, I don’t think my Dad loved AFI, even though he saw them probably 6 or 7 times over the years, but I think he would really have enjoyed seeing Larry & His Flask. This was the thought I had on Wednesday night, along with the thought that everyone there seemed to be really joyful and happy that Larry & His Flask were back on tour and were playing for us all that night.</p> <p>I really want to seem them again.</p> <p>Other things:</p> <ul> <li>I am hoping that <a href="https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/the-anthropocene-project/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Anthropocene</a> will be at the London Film Festival this year and at a time I can make. Last year, I got lucky that all the various extra religious holidays that my work gives us off overlapped with LFF but this year it’s all a month early so maybe I’m going to have to take actual time off to see films. We’ll see.</li> <li><a href="http://nautil.us/issue/63/horizons/our-attitude-toward-aliens-proves-we-still-think-were-special" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Our Attitude Toward Aliens Proves We Still Think We’re Special</a> – I guess I just figured that aliens have a Prime Directive, like there is in Star Trek.</li> <li>An idea that really resonated with me:<br /> <blockquote><p>“A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.</p> <p>Multipotentialites have no “one true calling” the way specialists do. Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have many paths and we pursue all of them, either sequentially or simultaneously (or both).</p> <p>Multipotentialites thrive on learning, exploring, and mastering new skills. We are excellent at bringing disparate ideas together in creative ways. This makes us incredible innovators and problem solvers.</p> <p>When it comes to new interests that emerge, our insatiable curiosity leads us to absorb everything we can get our hands on. As a result, we pick up new skills fast and tend to be a wealth of information.”<br /> — Emilie Wapnick, Puttylike (found <a href="http://www.noosphe.re/post/176342034332/a-multipotentialite-is-someone-with-many-interests" rel="noopener" target="_blank">here</a>)</p></blockquote> </li> <li><a href="https://lithub.com/the-story-we-dont-talk-about-on-irishness-immigration-and-race/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Story We Don’t Talk About: On Irishness, Immigration, and Race</a></li> <li>I like to think that <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/squid-ink-gelato" rel="noopener" target="_blank">this ice cream</a> was made from Old ones.</li> <li><a href="https://www.kew.org/blogs/archived-blogs/durian-king-fruit" rel="noopener" target="_blank">About my favourite food in the whole world.</a></li> </ul> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/08/102/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1075251" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075251.html dad real life music larry & his flask sam russo public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075061.html Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:21:53 GMT Reading old newsletters https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075061.html <p>I’m subscribed to a few newsletters and tend to read them either immediately or months after I received them.</p> <p>So now I know what an omelette thing stemmed from, that made the rounds on the twitters and other newsletters that I did read when I got them. Months after the fact.</p> <p>Some things from newsletters:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/accidentallywesanderson/?hl=en" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Accidentally Wes Anderson instagram</a></li> <li><a href="https://nadreck.me/2018/01/the-republic-of-newsletters-the-isle-of-blogging/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Republic of Newsletters, the Isle of Blogging</a></li> <li><a href="https://runesoup.com/2018/04/cracks-in-the-wall/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cracks in the Wall</a> – “Years since Google retired Google Reader, and the RSS reader remains the hub of my online consumption.”</li> <li><a href="http://tackedtothewall.tumblr.com/post/172827488589/vampireapologist-cyanideending" rel="noopener" target="_blank">“admittedly I don’t normally like modern shakespeare adaptations but once I went to see my cousin in a midsummer night’s dream and it opened with a high schooler saying “I don’t wanna read this play” so he sits down and eats an entire chipotle burrito on stage and then immediately falls asleep and the play begins but instead of the forest the faeries all hang out in a rainforest cafe TM and at one point in the middle of a scene the guy from the beginning just slowly drifts across the back of the stage on a skateboard, staring at all the characters as the events of the play transpire in the form of some sort of chipotle-induced coma lucid dream”</a></li> <li><a href="https://runesoup.com/2018/04/cracks-in-the-wall/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cracks in the Wall</a> – “Years since Google retired Google Reader, and the RSS reader remains the hub of my online consumption.”</li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/iamdylancurran/status/977559925680467968" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tweet thread on how much Google & Facebook store about you</a> – I’m fascinated to see what will be in my Google takeout download, but I did the Facebook one a while back and it was…pretty empty. Admittedly, my phone is older than Facebook.</li> </ul> <p>I don’t think I was ever a blogger. I had a livejournal for a long time and various blogs etc over the years, but I don’t know if I ever had anything in particular to broadcast.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/08/reading-old-newsletters/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1075061" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1075061.html facebook google rss internets blogging links public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074911.html Mon, 14 May 2018 21:36:58 GMT On the train https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074911.html <p>On Saturday, I got on the Northern Line to return home from hearing the Space Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall (which was great). Anyway, I spot an empty seat between some dude and some lady, whose bag is on the seat. </p> <p>I stand in front of the seat. The lady moves her bag and I sit.</p> <p>Now back to the dude, who had been sitting knees akimbo and is now sitting with legs significantly less akimbo. The dude looks at my leg, right next to his leg. The dude looks at my arm, right next to his arm.</p> <p>The dude turns to his friend on the other side and comments to him about the inexplicable closeness of our limbs, deeply surprised that yes, yes I am right up in his personal space and yeah, my elbow is now on the armrest, where his once was and is not moving no matter how incredulously he peers at it.</p> <p>Turns out this dude has seriously underestimated exactly how fat I am and how unconcerned I am about personal space on a mode of transport where traditionally the passengers are packed on like sardines. LOL</p> <p>So the lesson is, when you spot someone who clearly likes a few pies and can generally be described as “sturdy”, you should expect them to take up a whole seat.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/05/on-the-train/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1074911" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074911.html real life public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074679.html Mon, 19 Feb 2018 20:00:06 GMT Shape of Water at the BAFTAs https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074679.html <p><iframe width="840" height="473" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1FVV53WWPNA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Saw this last night on TV and still can’t get over how great it is.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/02/shape-of-water-at-the-baftas/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1074679" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074679.html film tv public

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https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074328.html Fri, 02 Feb 2018 22:25:45 GMT Very endless implications https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074328.html <p>Lately I find myself subscribing to more newsletters. Partly I blame Warren Ellis, mostly I think I just miss the stream of longer form wittering that I used to get from my Livejournal friends page. I never stopped being annoyed when a website failed to furnish me with a RSS feed (or get slightly angry when they removed it).</p> <p>Oh you don’t have RSS, well I guess I don’t need to look at your website at all.</p> <p>Which maybe is a little counter-intuitive, since RSS tends to just give you the latest thing (and yeah, I don’t enjoy the RSS feeds that only give truncated snippets), but since if the latest thing in my aggregator looks interesting, I open it in a new tab to pay attention to later then…</p> <p>Newletters. I don’t always get to them as they arrive, but every so often I binge on a few of them (it’s the same with podcasts for me).</p> <p>Anyway, I’m slowly putting some links to the ones I subscribe to in the sidebar. Enjoy.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="http://blog.herdivineshadow.com/2018/02/very-endless-implications/" title="Read Original Post">half girl, half robot</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=herdivineshadow&ditemid=1074328" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://herdivineshadow.dreamwidth.org/1074328.html newletters internets public

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