Addenda (5:06 p.m. CaST)

[greygirlbeast]

Some thoughts I omitted this morning. Though I'm not sure why I'm writing them down now. I'm pretty sure (based, I suppose, on the frequency of comments) that this journal's readership is quickly shrinking to nothing much at all. I can say I'm writing it down for me, but I don't quite believe that, either.

Maybe it's a ward against all possible futures.

I did leave the house yesterday afternoon, to make a trip to the market and pharmacy with Kathryn. I only got out at the market. Pharmacies are the very worst places, health wise, this time of year. It's bad enough that Kathryn had to go inside. I can only imagine every surface crawling with bacteria and viruses. So, no wonder I dislike leaving the house, particularly during this season. This isn't hypochondria or any other neurosis; it's a realistic understanding of microbiology and epidemiology. Still, the bit of snow that preceded all this snow was nice to see.

Last night, we watched T.J. Martin's The Donner Party (2009). It's a genuinely effective film, making the most of the oppressive winter atmosphere of the actual Donner Pass in California. Men struggle against each other to survive, but the true "enemy," the antagonist, is the snow, the leaden sky, and the camera reminds us again and again. It's a quiet film, as it should have been. What could have been quieter than that tomb during the winter of 1846-1847? Outer space, perhaps. And in the early middle years of the Nineteenth Century, those men and women and children might as well have been on the moon. I do strongly recommend this film, despite a few liberties taken with the historicity of the event. However, I would recommend that you first watch the PBS documentary The Donner Party (part of the American Experience series). The historical background will serve you well. For example, you'll understand all that talk of Hastings. And a little more edumacation never hurt anyone.

Anyway, I think that's all I forgot to write this morning.

Filling In,
Aunt Beast

Comments

[wood-dragon.livejournal.com]

I do read - just don't always comment.

Thanks for the reminder about surfaces. I need to restock my office cleaning supplies. I've been fighting a cold and, from the number of people coughing and sneezing around me, I'm not the only one.

[kaz-mahoney.livejournal.com]

And a little more edumacation never hurt anyone.

True. You have edumacated me today, and now I want to watch both the film and the documentary you recommend here.

Also, I love the alternate cover for Alabaster #1. I think I shall have to get both!

[faffinz.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure (based, I suppose, on the frequency of comments) that this journal's readership is quickly shrinking to nothing much at all.

There is no way of counting page hits?

I wonder if "Comments please." has started to pall (not that I have ever commented much). I've read your journal almost every day for the last two years or so. Perhaps daily is too often.

[lachendwolf.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Love your comment about the quiet of winter and of space. That aspect is one of the things I love about the movie Outland and, admittedly, my favorite thing about snow. That almost preternatural silence... ooh. *shiver*

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Still reading. :D

[homewardangel.livejournal.com]

Utterly snow bound as the plows have not deigned to come within blocks of here. Happily curled up and re-reading Daughter of Hounds. Thank you.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

I still read but don't always comment.
More people are returning to LJ when they realise how useless Farcebook can be at archiving their lives.

[blackestdarkness]

Maybe it's a ward against all possible futures.

Fringe reference? Last night I told my gf that I would die if anything happened to our Olivia and she said "no you won't, you'll live." Ok, maybe I was a little melodramatic, but damn, I love that show.

[pwtucker.livejournal.com]

Though I may not always comment, I do read every post.

[steven barritz (from livejournal.com)]

I very much enjoyed another doc you recommended not too long ago, Ghost Bird.

[r-darkstorm.livejournal.com]

I still read, I just don't like to comment unless I have something to say. And I seldom have anything of importance to say, that hasn't been said a million times.

[sovay]

rushthatspeaks and I just watched Pasolini's Medea (1969), which is maybe the best Greek myth we've ever seen onscreen; it's violent and beautiful and estranging: it feels like something older than even the form in which it's told.