skywaterblue

I haven't been around DW at all much lately. Months, maybe. I'm sort of GAFIAted from active fandom right now. I'm not politically against anything going on, but it increasingly feels like pointless censorship of the best-intentioned sort while the rest of the world is fucking burning down. Just let old codgers like Manara do their thing. JLaw's still going to be an Oscar-award winning millionaire before she turns 30, guys, and maybe weird race porn on AO3 is just weird race porn. Who has time for this shit? I used to care so much, but man, I don't know. We've got bigger stuff going on in the world.

Ukraine. Israel whacking the tar out of Gaza again. ISIS beheading journalists. Syrian refugees. Ferguson. Robin Williams killed himself. Ebola spreading unchecked because we can't solve the first five of those things let alone get our shit together to help impoverished Africans check another plague.

August. What a bitch. I don't think anyone is going to think of August 2014 with any kind of fondness.

I graduated SAIC in May and ground through a couple of months of really bad unemployment and health issues that left me kind of taxed for everything, so that didn't help. I'm feeling great at the moment, however, and I started working part-time at Steppenwolf Theatre in their call-center fundraising department. Everyone is pleasantly artistic and supportive there, so far, from the Artistic Director on down and I'm surprised by how warm and nice it is even if my actual job is something I could have done pre-degree. I'm doing very well so far. It's paying my rent, too, just barely. Not my student loans, but hey. Rent.

Meanwhile, I got accepted into Northwestern University's new "Masters of Science in Creative Leadership" program, which I'm super excited about for a bunch of reasons - but I haven't been able to pay my deposit yet because of the unemployment thing. I'm trying to raise 500 dollars, and frankly, everyone seems either tapped out (I understand) or waaaaay over my struggles to get fancy degrees. I can almost understand that one too.

If you want to help, or can just share it, that would be great. Ideally I'd like to use this program to launch myself into some sort of media gig where I can afford to make the changes we all want to see... or at least get a full time job at a nice arts organization that will keep my life stable.



As far as fandom things go, I enjoyed "Guardians of the Galaxy" a lot for being refreshingly charming and funny. The final scenes of this season of "Legend of Korra" gave me a lot of deep feels. Mainly I just want to escape and unironically enjoy some respite from this world of horrors.

Yes, I have eaten a LOT of Ben and Jerry's this summer, I can tell you this.

-- Gallery show for my arts admin class, "Vitrine" went off really well despite being incredibly stressful.

-- Now I am stressing about my other art show, on May 8th.

-- I'm going to bum around Europe on the 15th.

-- The current plot arc on my Pern MUSH, 2pmush.net is incredibly absorbing. Also, we have a proper website now. How about that?

-- "Cabin in the Woods" - really, can Bradley Whitford be in all the Whedon things now? He fucking made that movie for me. I know I'm sad for him, but really. Bradley Whitford. Joss Whedon.

-- "The Hunger Games" - I also liked this. I thought it was very well directed, actually, to leave most of the emotional content unspoken in a huge Hollywood blockbuster is kind of a brave choice. Which speaks ill of Hollywood, but that is a film fan's prerogative, no?

-- "Game of Thrones, Season Two" - Dinklage is still awesome. Tiny dragons are awesome. Everything else about this show is barely tolerable.

-- "The Borgias, Season Two" - Honestly, I had forgotten the fine details of a lot of what happened last season. The first two episodes were a little meh, and although I'm inclined to like the Pope's newest girlfriend due to her proclivities (and I kind of ship her with Cesare as of last episode) I think she's allllmost on this side of Renaissance Mary Sue wish fulfillment. Last week's episode was a rush a minute thrill ride in terms of the plot, though. I like it better than "Game of Thrones" by kind of a lot.

-- "Mad Men" - Less Betty, slightly more filler. Highlights of the season so far have been the conclusion of the miserable "Joan's husband" arc, if only because thank fuck it seems over, and pretty much everything about Lane. And whatever Megan is wearing. I'm not entirely feeling it this season, I think, but I think Peggy continues to be my life model and I kind of ship her with Ginsberg even though my heart tells me that Peggy/Don is endgame.

-- "The Legend of Korra" - Everything about this show is fucking great. A 30 minute cartoon for tweens, but it's better than all three of the shows above COMBINED in terms of teasing a plot and then moving it the fuck forward. That is because the above three shows are the bastard children of the "Sopranos effect" whereas Korra is blissfully from another age of television. When they knew how to block an episode as an episode and not as part of a miniseries.