Rae Roy's Blog, page 51

The 5th Day of Remembrance

I don’t normally post on Sundays, but today is about Passchendaele. Here’s a picture:

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To learn more about the Battle of Passchendaele, check it out on Wikipedia.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Musings Tagged: Honour

Symphonic Saturday – The 4th Day of Remembrance

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Today’s theme is Freedom. In the Western world, we have a lot more freedom than some other countries. We’re not one hundred percent free, but we have it pretty good. Why do I say we aren’t totally free? There are a lot of things we can’t do. For example, when I was buying a house in Ottawa, I looked at some lots. I learned I wasn’t free to put any kind of home I wanted on most lots. They had to be of a certain value. I also learned that even if I chose to use nothing but green energies such as geothermal and solar to power said home, I’d have to pay hydro delivery fees because you aren’t allowed to be disconnected from the hydro grid. Gone were my hopes of ridding myself from a bill. There are lots of things like that in this country that people aren’t aware of because they don’t affect them. Still, for the most part we can work a job and survive, which is better than a lot of the other places in the world.

And some people have it worse. Especially in the U.S. There were 9 killings by police officers in Canada for 2016. In the U.S., there were 183. Our population is smaller, but that’s still really high. The right to live is definitely being infringed on there and something needs to be done about it.

We have the freedoms we do here largely because of soldiers. Soldiers who forfeited their own freedom. Many whom died.

I found a song by Madonna that speaks to freedom pretty well. It also has this funky groove going on that I like.

I’m still feeling crappy, so that’s all I have for you today.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Musings Tagged: Honour

Frisky Friday – The 3rd Day of Remembrance

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Today is about red. For your soldier, put on some red lingerie or some sexy underwear and greet him or her at the door

Thoughtful Thursday – Remembrance Day 2

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Today is about a favourite wartime film, poem, or book.

I have to go with In Flanders Fields. This poem was written by a Canadian soldier named John McCrae and it was the first poem I can honestly remember from my youth. It’s beautiful and it’s sad. It speaks of how the birds continue to sing and fly as they always have despite the dead humans buried all about them. It speaks of how life ended so soon for the brave soldiers who went to war so our loved ones didn’t have to. It also speaks of finishing the fight for those who sacrificed themselves.

I’m feeling pretty awful. I have a lot of flu symptoms. A muscle by my ribs feels pulled, my throat is scratchy, it’s hard to speak, my lips are chapped, and I cough here and there. The thing is, that’s about as bad as things get for a lot of people today because of those people who gave their lives to let us be free. Sure, some are still having a lower standard of living that absolutely needs to be remedied, but we aren’t being dragged out of our homes and thrust into concentration camps where we starve or get murdered because someone was bored.

We can thank our veterans for this.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Musings Tagged: Honour

Warrior Wednesday – 11 Days of Remembrance

Today is November 1st. All too often, people rush to get into the Christmas spirit the day after Hallowe’en ends and spare little to no thought for the brave men and women who died so they could have the freedom to do such things. I’m participating in a challenge to share photos online in the spirit of remembrance as we head towards Remembrance Day. Today is an image involving poppies as they are one of the most iconic of war symbols.

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I was very disturbed earlier this week when I saw someone on my Facebook feed suggesting war could be the way to handle issues when compromise doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t think some people truly understand the horrors that war brings and that we should avoid it at all costs. Too many lives are lost when killing becomes the only answer. I’ve noticed it’s people with no stakes, they aren’t soldiers and neither are their loved one, who are quick to decide this is the path to take. Who cares about a bunch of dead people that aren’t them, right?

Otherwise in the news today was Russia’s involvement in divid US citizens using social media. Groups run by them, such as ‘Heart of Texas’ and ‘United Muslims of America’ were used to incite citizens into violence though many attempts failed. Representatives from Google, Twitter, and Facebook got verbal spankings from many senators when they testified today. Several senators fear we are entering the age of cyberwar where Russia is deliberately sowing discord among US citizens in order to make the country easy to conquer. Not a bad strategy if that’s what the plan was.

Today also brought news that the unions and colleges are heading back to the table to restart negotiations. I’m feeling hopeful that a compromise can be reached and we can get back to being students again. One week off wouldn’t have been bad, but three weeks has been affecting everyone negatively.

Speaking of school, I’m hard at work on the documents for my feature film and it’s time to get back at them.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Martial Arts Tagged: Honour, School

Theatrical Tuesday – Thoughts on Riverdale, Spacey, and Hollywood’s Future

[image error]I watched the first season of Riverdale and found it just OK. There are a lot of plot twists, but most have been predictable to me. I also don’t feel like I’ve fallen in love with any of the characters. It feels like they tried to take some of Gossip Girl’s style, Pretty Little Liars, add a comic book overlay, and call it something new.

Maybe they twist the plot so quickly it feels like they don’t torture me as a viewer. I just don’t feel like I’ve been forced to experience a cliffhanger moment. They give me the answers too easily.

I think it may also be that I’m getting older. Maybe I’ve just outgrown teen programming. I still love Buffy though…

I grew up with Saved by the Bell, Beverly Hills 90210, Models Inc, Melrose Place, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watched Ready or Not too, but knew it was silly compared to my actual life as a teen at the time. There was some Degrassi too.

On both The Mist and Riverdale, they used the closet gay jock trope. I’ve been seeing that since Buffy in the 90s. The difference is that it was new when Buffy did it. A fresh take might have a captain of the football team who’s gay and a team who doesn’t care about who he’s shagging because it has nothing to do with athletic ability. The Mist took it in a twisted way and I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I try to think that there are countless ways to be gay and as long as it doesn’t become a trope or people don’t think that’s how all gays are, I think I can accept it.

Yes, as we’ve seen with Kevin Spacey of late, some gay people are fucked up. It’s important to remember that individuals do things differently than other people and that is why it can be bad to look only at an individual’s group memberships and not at the whole person. Some gay people are the most wonderful people you could meet. Some white men are assholes, but not necessarily also Nazis. Some trans people take things too far and others are truly amazing humans. It makes life messier, but it’s important to see beyond the surface. Ted Bundy had lots of friends who had no idea what a monster he was. If his friends were persecuted for the things he did, it would have been extremely wrong.

I think we can all agree that regardless of whether Spacey had done those things to a boy or a girl, it’s disgusting and it’s child molestation. He’s a child molester who just happens to be gay. Those two things are not related to each other, but simply coexist in him.

I’m taking a break from Riverdale and checking out Mindhunter. I’ll probably go back to Riverdale later. What I really want to see more of is Daredevil. I’ve always liked law-related shows. Boston Legal was one of my favourites. I often watch cold case stories with my dad when I visit him too.

I like how they position the lesbian on Mindhunter. It’s not hidden, but they put a strong emphasis on also showing her as a smart and capable woman. Her sexuality is just one piece of her as it is with most gay people I know.

I’m feeling conflicted on the Spacey stuff because The Usual Suspects is one of my favourite movies. Do I stop liking something because of one sick individual and forget about all the other people involved in the film that didn’t know what he was up to in his private life and who are actually good people? I don’t think I do. Hundreds of people work on every film that exists. People who operate cameras, write screenplays, other actors, assistants, costume people, prop people, sound techs, and so many more. We like to refer to films as belonging to one or two lead actors, but they couldn’t make those films without all the other people involved.

Also, it seems it may soon become hard to find any movies that don’t have someone like him in them. The long whispered about child pedophilia ring in Hollywood seems to be falling like a house of cards. This is good news for child actors and the industry as a whole. I hope the rest are rooted out and it paves the way for a film industry that has better values at its core.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

PS. I’m not LGBTQ, so I may have gotten some things wrong. Please let me know if I did.

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Filed under: News, Reviews Tagged: Movies, TV Shows

Merry Monday – Low Motivation

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Image created using Bit Strips.

I’ve been feeling pretty down lately between the ending of a relationship and the realities of being a student at a college that is on strike. It has been hard to keep up my usual positive state.

I never realized how much even the smallest instructions from my teachers help me do what I need to do. Maybe it’s also their constant genuine encouragement that helps me get my work done. I know I’ve been struggling without them. I really didn’t think this would happen to me as I can normally write without the need of a deadline.

Truthfully, I think part of it has been the stress of a relationship that was stuck in limbo. The rest? Not having been taught how to do the things that I need to do. The internet is good, but a mentor can teach the same thing in less time because you can ask questions instead of plodding along in the dark with only a candle to light the way.

I’m finding my groove again though. Watching Beyond Stranger Things has been helping as they talk about how they go about adding little details to the scripts like an election sign or using Dig Dug as a game to thematically mirror the tunnels in the show. That has helped guide me to do similar in my treatment for a South Park episode and cut things that don’t relate to it. It will likely help me to write my feature film documents as well.

Speaking of my feature film documents, I’m going to use NaNoWriMo to do them via the NaNo Rebels method. The final script may only be 20k or so, but with the beat sheet, the treatment, and the rest I’m thinking it may be close to 50k. It’s always best to get any words down at all even if I don’t reach the goal. Because I’m doing the NaNo Rebel path, I can use anything I write in November in my word count. I’m pretty sure with all of my assignments, I can get up to 50k. Really, all I care about is getting shit done.

Well, I’m zonked and I need to get some work done later. I meant to post this on Monday, but got busy with comedy show stuff and a birthday dinner.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

 

Filed under: Musings Tagged: Discipline, NaNoWriMo

Symphonic Saturday – RIP Fats Domino

[image error]While Canada still mourns the loss of Gord Downie, the world now reels at the loss of Fats Domino, aka The Fat Man.

It’s quite likely that there are many out there who don’t realize just how many musicians were influenced by the music of Fats Domino. I thought I’d say a few words, so others can understand just how great a loss he is to music as a whole.

Ska pretty much wouldn’t exist as a genre.

Fats also invented bling.

The Beatles had mentioned his influence on them on numerous occasions. Paul McCartney did a rendition of Ain’t That A Shame. They even made a song called Lady Madonna in tribute to Fats and Fats did his own version of it.

Even Elvis claimed The Fat Man as an inspiration to him.

Countless artists have done covers of his songs over the years including punk artists and even Vladamir Putin.

There have been a number of tributes to his music over the years. Here’s one. Here’s an entire playlist of tributes from people including Tom Petty, Elton John, and Lenny Kravitz.

It’s hard to be sad while listening to such upbeat music. I guess that was part of what Fats did for the world too.

Someday, I hope to be able to play some of his songs.

I’ll leave you with this Blueberry Hill compilation.

R~

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Filed under: Music Tagged: Personal Loss

Funny Friday – Some Bad Jokes

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Image created using Bit Strips.

I think it apropos to mix it up a bit on this Friday before Hallowe’en. Here are a few Laffy Taffy jokes from the wrappers off the candy I’ve been snacking on this week:

Q: What did the crop say to the farmer?

A: Why are you always picking on me?

Q: Why don’t ducks tell jokes while they are flying?

A: They’d quack up.

Q: What does a television have in common with a rabbit?

A: Its ears.

Q: Do you know what Mary had when she went to dinner?

A: Everyone knows Mary had a little lamb.

Q: What did one penny say to the other?

A: Let’s get together and make some cents.

I’m now picturing abusive farmers, ducks falling from the sky, bloody ears atop a TV set, Mary butchering her little lamb, and some really naughty pennies. These were on candy wrappers made for children!

It’s a strange world we live in.

Speaking of strange, is anyone else excited for the return of Stranger Things tonight? I’m looking forward to finding out what happened to Eleven the most.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Musings

Thoughtful Thursday – Pondering Existence

[image error]I’m in a philosophical mood today. Someone on a sci-fi page asked why people hate creationism so much, but I don’t think that’s the most interesting piece of it all.

The thing is that many of the people who frequent such places love stories about things like aliens, but can’t conceptualize a being so far advanced to us that could’ve created all we know to exist. They feel a need to analyze the problem with our current understanding of the world because it’s all we have.

Yes, the idea of an all powerful being such as God, is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina plot device, but so is thinking of other beings in terms of our own systems that we’ve created. It’s very possible that we are as simple to something out there like single-celled organisms are to us and therefore, our science would be of limited use to understand them or conceptualize much of anything. To compare them to a painter that would have an obvious style we could see elsewhere and be able to identify them is still in our very human framework.

I think this has come about from our need to humanize monsters in order to tell stories people actually enjoy. Perhaps this has done a disservice to us in the broader sense of existence. Perhaps there are many things out there that are so completely non-human that we’ll be in an awful place someday as they make us food or servants. Maybe they haven’t made us food because we aren’t nutritionally sound. Maybe our planet doesn’t have the kind of resources they need or we’re so far away we’ll be the last place they come once there is nothing else left.

Of course, we could all just be part of the matrix and awaiting the chosen one who will take the red pill and save us all.

I also think one of our biggest weaknesses as a species is that we spend more time trying to prove each other wrong than we do trying to find truth. Truth often leads to a necessary change in thinking and most humans are change averse, which may be deep within us from our caveman days. This is something I learned about when becoming certified in LEAN. Aliens could be very different from us in this regard too.

To have any hope of finding out the answers to questions like how we came to be, we’ll need to put aside differences and unite as a species. Some differences exist and can be medically relevant. We can’t have a standard diet for all humans as food allergies exist. There are even theories that suggest your blood type influences the foods that cause you problems. Certain races were once more likely to suffer from certain conditions though that may be changing.

I don’t have any answers. These types of questions often plague my mind, but the answer may be to simply enjoy the time we have on this planet as it’s really brief in the scheme of things and we don’t know if there is anything after this. Many of us like to think there is a heaven because it’s comforting to know there is something after this, that the point of consciousness isn’t just to live for a few decades then cease to be. We may never know if there truly is something else, so I think it’s important to spend each moment wisely.

There are people that suggest settling for things that don’t make you happy is the thing to do because no one has found happiness. I don’t understand those people. I feel like they’ll wake up in their 80s and realize they should’ve went after their dreams.

Speaking of dreams, I have homework to do.

Guid cheerio the nou,

R~

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Filed under: Musings