"Dawn was easy. She was drowned in the bath."

[greygirlbeast]

Most of yesterday was spent sitting here, not writing, simply trying to find the piece I need to have finished a week ago for Sirenia Digest #40. I have to find it today. I also looked over the CEM for The Red Tree with Spooky, and the copy-editors' marks are light, indeed, just as Anne (my editor) said. Which is a huge relief, time constraints and exhaustion being what they are.

I'm also pleased to see that there have already been two bids on the long-lost Monster Doodle sculpture.

Late yesterday afternoon, or early yesterday evening...whichever...Spooky pried me away from the computer, where I was not writing, where my fingers were not moving across the keyboard, where the MS Word "page" was still fucking blank, and took me to Warwick to see Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon's Monsters vs. Aliens. It was actually a lot of fun, despite what Roger Ebert says. Of course, we were smart and avoided the 3D nonsense. I thought it was big, goofy fun. Insectosaurus made me smile, as did Stephen Colbert's President Hathaway.

---

Turns out, after a lot of complaints, Magnolia Entertainment/Magnet are releasing a second version of Låt den rätte komma in, with the theatrical-release English subtitles restored. But, they refuse to offer exchanges to those of us who bought the butchered version of the DVD.

---

I have very mixed feelings about this whole Earth Hour thing. Yes, Spooky and I will be shutting off the lights (and other electrical appliances) between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. But I can't help but feel that this whole affair is little more than an empty gesture. If governments began requiring nightly blackouts, especially as regards nonessential lighting, it would be a very small step in the right direction, and we might begin to see a difference. Mostly, this is the sort of thing that strikes me as belonging in the "too little, too late" bin, no matter how many warm fuzzies it might inspire, or how many cramping consciences it might alleviate.

Anyway, time to think wicked thoughts...in the most artistic manner possible, of course.

Comments

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

" ... I can't help but feel that this whole affair is little more than an empty gesture ..."

Given the state of the environment and humanity's detachment from reality, most of what we do anymore is an empty gesture.

Save wood: burn politicians.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Given the state of the environment and humanity's detachment from reality, most of what we do anymore is an empty gesture.

Yes.

[iterum.livejournal.com]

What I find odd is that people are planning to liveblog their Earth Hour. WHAT.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

What I find odd is that people are planning to liveblog their Earth Hour. WHAT.

Yes. I think the phrase, "Missing the point," is most apt here.

[iterum.livejournal.com]

It also raises the question of what one is going to say.

8:30: Turned the lights out! Hear the voice of the people.

8:37: Still dark. Man, I've been reading your blogs and this is huge.

8:45: Lights are still out, except for the one in the fridge which turned on when I got a beer. This is awesome.

8:53: In honor of the event, I'm taking 57th-level night elf druid on a quest somewhere dark. Down with capitalism!

Etc.

[iko.livejournal.com]

If I think hard about the "Earth Hour" thing, I have more negative than positive thoughts about it (negative more in the "how is this really going to help in the end?" and not in the "this is a stupid idea" way)... but I have to say that the first time I heard about it, my first thought was that it was a far, far better idea than the whole "Don't buy gasoline" days.

I'm sorry, but all that "don't buy gasoline" days do is delay me buying gasoline for a day.

The "Earth Hour" concept is different. By turning off the lights for one hour, that is one hour of actual energy that I'm not using. It's not like I'm delaying the energy use (unless, say, I simply delay the things I would've done during that time period and stay up an hour later). If I decide that on that hour, I will not do the time-wasting stuff that I do with electricity (like watching a movie I've already seen because I'm bored), then that's actually helping in the end. It's allowing me to be creative about what to do at a time when I normally would have the lights on. My partner and I are planning on a walk during the evenings instead of during the daytime so that we can turn off our lights more frequently in the spirit of "Earth Hour". The township has the lights on anyway, so our route will be lit and we can save the energy and money we would've spent by a small tweak in our typical habits.

In a way, it is sad that it took something like "Earth Day" for me to think about this sort of energy conservation. I know that it's a fault on my part, so I'm pleased that there are initiatives that make me stop and consider changes within a context that I would not normally consider.