Vague Wisdom

I found this on wordweaverlynn's Journal and thought I would answer the questions. The answers are supposed to be in fours. Feel free to follow that or not. [The plan was to finish this days ago, but exhaustion after the March, various computer glitches and nibbling ducks slowed my answers until now.]

Four places I’ve lived:

1. La Puente, California

2. Rockford, Illinois

3. Berkeley, California

4. Oakland, California

Four places I've worked: (This one is harder for me, if you only count work for pay.)

1. Growth Industries (It was a sheltered workshop. Where I got paid one dollar per hour. Sheltered workshops are allowed to pay workers with disabilities much less than minimum wage. I did some piecework, then answered phones and assistant-taught living skills.)

2. Accessible Environments Inc. (Did Americans With Disabilities Act trainings for companies, nonprofits and schools. It was a very traumatic experience. Details available in person if you really want to know.)

3. I got a couple of writing gigs to provide content in online text-based games in the late 90's. It's the only writing I've actually been paid for in my short freelance writing career.

4. I'm going to include the Center for Independent Living here even though it wasn't for pay. I was on the board for 10+ years. Held every office and was president of the board for several years.

Four things I like to watch:
1. Way too much television, especially SF. Some new faves are: Call Saul, Good Behavior, Halt and Catch Fire, and Imposters (although the last one could very well be unduly influenced by the main actress, Inbar Lavi, who checks many boxes in the Guy arousal matrix.) I also want to add a couple of television writers and their shows that are probably difficult to find, but I love. Bryan Fuller was a writer for Star Trek: TNG and also wrote three of my favorite canceled television shows; Dead like Me, Wonder Falls and Pushing Daisies. He was also going to be show runner for the new Star Trek, but had to bow out. I’m also very fond of Amy Sherman-Palladino, who wrote; Gilmore Girls, Bun Heads and is writing *and* directing the new show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel writing on Amazon.

2. Being a Dramatic Arts major, I of course love theater. I'd prefer doing theater to watching it, but I’ll take either. I especially enjoy, Samuel Becket, David Mamet, Aaron Sorkin, Eugene O’Neill, Tom Stoppard and I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting. My training largely comes from improv and it will always be a love of mine.

3. Movies, A few faves: Local Hero, Breaking Away, Wings of Desire

4. People

Four places I have been:
1. New Orleans, LA

2. Las Vegas, NV

3. Solvang, CA

4. Houston, TX

Four things I love to eat:
1. Pizza

2. Short bread

3. Bacon

4. Sandwiches

Four people I think will respond:
Whoever wants to.


Four favorite things to drink:
1. Coffee

2. juice

3. Coke

4. Dark beer

Now here is what you're supposed to do (if you like): copy and paste this in your status and update it with your responses. If you do it, just comment "Done" on this post, so I'll know to check yours out.

I'm hoping this will lead me back into posting more. I really miss DW/LJ's longer, more meaningful posts from interesting people.

Take this list, remove a thing, sort it by how much you like the things, add a thing at the top, a thing in the middle, and a thing at the bottom (preserving the sortedness, pedants): This version is via wordweaverlynn.

(most liked)
My music
A slice of sourdough bread fresh from the oven
Handknit scarves
Porridge (if Cream of Wheat counts)
Going up into the mountains
Getting something in the mail that isn't bills
Tidying
Steam locomotives
Emptying the dishwasher
Wandering
Twitter
Thermal underwear
Firefox upgrades
Cleaning the refrigerator
Doing paperwork (like tax forms)
Getting a seat on the commuter train
Celery in a stir-fry
Getting up early
Eating paper
Uber
Undercooked Aubergine
Fear
(most disliked)

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale.

Hmmm. It's probably The Prisoner, but then that whole show was WTF a lot of the time for me. I like it but the whole show had me scratching my head more often than not. I have read people who thought Lost's was confusing, but unlike many people I never really cared how the series ended. I loved all the mystery, the strange clues. Any ending was going to leave me disappointed.( Read more... )

Lookee, lookee I finished the meme. It didn't take that long, did it?

( Here's the questions. )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 24 - Best quote.

I have a fondness for the opening of The Outer Limits, "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."

I also still like, "[War] is instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands! But we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going
to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today!"
-- Kirk, "A Taste of Armageddon"

But my favorite still has to be Star Trek's opening monologue, specifically The Next Generation version:

"Space, the final frontier....These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five year mission: to explore strange new worlds.To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no *one* has gone before."

( Here's the questions. )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 22 - Favorite series finale.

I genuinely loved the end of Angel. It was a strong episode independent of it being a finale. In fact, it remains one of my favorite Angel episodes. So many good scenes: Lorne as he goes off to do his part telling everyone he would do this, but afterwards he would be gone.

After Lorne shoots Lindsey, Lindsey: "You killing me? A flunky?! I'm not just... Angel... kills me. You... Angel... [dies]"

Illyria turning into Fred to comfort Wesley as he dies.

In the fight between Angel and Marcus Hamilton, Hamilton: Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power.
Angel: Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said? [he vamps out and bites Hamilton, draining his blood] Wow. You really are full of it!

I especially like that Whedon leaves most of the group still fighting evil:

Illyria: Wesley's dead. I'm feeling grief for him. I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence.
Spike: Well, wishes just happen to be horses today.
Angel: Amongst other things.
[A horde of demons and monsters is bearing down on Angel's team.]
Gunn: Okay, you take the thirty thousand on the left…
Illyria: You're fading. You'll last ten minutes at best.
Gunn: Then let's make 'em memorable.
Spike: And in terms of a plan?
Angel: We fight.
Spike: Bit more specific?
Angel: Well, personally, I kinda want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work.

I realize that some people think that that left the entire series up in air, but I disagree entirely. It pretty much wraps up all the individual storylines and starts them off on a new adventure. Anyway, I loved it.

I also enjoyed the final episode of Stargate SG-1 Mainly because it was so very different from the regular show. It's a complicated plot setup, but the short version is that the SG-1 gets stuck in a "time bubble" outside of our time (or at least so slow it might as well be) and the team must eventually spend their entire lives together on a spaceship. What I really loved is it gave me the opportunity to experience this group of people living their lives. It was a small quiet storyline that I found to be a comfortable little goodbye to their fans.

( Here's the questions. )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 20 - Favorite kiss.

Wow this really isn't my kind of question. I just don't remember things like that. I'll confess to looking through YouTube for inspiration. I'm sure there are others, but the only one I can come up with is: The kiss between Kate and Sawyer while they were in the cage on Lost.

( Here's the questions. )

I feel a little like I'm talking to myself answering this meme. I never actually authored one before, and thought it might be fun. It hasn't exactly caught fire around here but, oh well. I did try not to think of my answers while writing this thing. So I may not have the most interesting answers. Here goes.

( Answers under the cut )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 18 - Favorite title sequence.

Title sequences are not something I pay attention to much. So I had a hard time coming up with an answer to this one. A title sequence that had the most emotional effect on me was probably The Outer Limits. It was most likely the age that I saw it, but that narrator saying, "we control the horizontal. We control the vertical..." got me all goose pimply.

Another that struck me was the first episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation. Now, I'm a big Star Trek fan and was really looking forward to the new show. Hearing Patrick Stewart's voice saying "... To seek out new life, new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before." Changing that one word made me so optimistic that the new show would work out. Turned out I gave up on the show about halfway through the first season and didn't really start watching it again until the fifth or sixth because so many of my friends said it was getting better. It did get better and I have some fond memories of the show even though it isn't my favorite.

( Here's the questions. )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. (Yes, yes I'm way behind. Never mind the applicability of the day numbers. I'm just keeping the numbering because I'm anal that way. I'm slow at this but I'm still having fun answering them when I can, so moving right along :-) Today's is:

Day 17 - Favorite mini series.

You know a favorite of mine is still the first I ever saw (the first ever done, I think), Roots. It came out my senior year of high school. It's not like I didn't know the history, but it was such very powerful television for me. I could also add several BBC shows. It seems to be the way they do television over there and I think it's a form that really works for television. How many television series have I seen that started out so wonderful and went to crap because they were constantly needing to keep the, "ball in the air"? A few other mini series, I really loved are: House of Cards, Fawlty Towers and a few of the Black Adder stories.

( Here's the questions. )

This television meme was snagged from autographedcat by way of serenejournal. The idea is to answer one question a day from the list below. Today's is:

Day 15 - Favorite female character.

As I've said before I have trouble with favorites. There are lots of female characters that I enjoy. CJ from West Wing, Willow from Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Capt. Janeway from Voyager Etc. but I'm trying to come up with a few characters that people wouldn't think of at first. On HBO there was a show created and written by David Milch who created the The Sopranos. His follow up series was called Deadwood. Which was critically acclaimed and although really hard to watch at times, had some amazing characters and stories that I still think about today. The show was largely a Western about the town of Deadwood in South Dakota. This is very early in Deadwood's history. The town is not much more than a general store, a couple of bars and a whorehouse. One of the less expensive prostitutes is a woman named Trixie (played by Paula Malcomson who now is on Caprica, a very impressive actor IMHO). She is close to the bottom of the social structure having almost no power except whatever personal relationships she can develop. You wouldn't think of her as having the resources to help anyone in any way, but on several occasions she works things out to benefit many of the women in the town. She doesn't seem to worry about the social position of those she helps and she gets very little notice and even less credit for her actions. She helps fellow prostitutes, rich wives, whoever she thinks needs help. The entire show is about power and how its exercised when there's little government to enforce any rules. Most of the stories in the foreground are men fighting other men for something. Trixie uses her skills and knowledge to help support the very least powerful in town, the women. I love how differently she moved in this cruel and selfish place.

( Here's the questions. )