#you never catch me lacking watching esc TRUST

[nightwussy]

in lieu of joost being disqualified for no reason im posting his semi final performance so u don’t have to give the ebu any views

[sepdet]

Star Trek Discovery: ep 2

Okay, I absolutely adored the premiere, which I liveblogged Sunday night. But I’ve been feeling rotten and groggy and didn’t watch episode 2 until tonight. 

I’m kind of glad I waited.

I’m transcribing remarks I made to a friend in a private chatroom while watching, and then I’ve added some thoughts afterwards.

SPOILERS.

Ep 2.

Raw remarks transcribed from private chat while watching (slightly edited)

So, our cliffhanger ended with Michael committing mutiny trying to save them, her captain betrayed and pointing a gun at her, and a whole Klingon fleet warping in like several buckets of shit flying towards a fan.

I’m still trying to get used to Sarek being nicer to a human trying to Vulcan than he was to a son whom he practically disowned for leaving Vulcan to join Starfleet. But I love Sarek so will try to muffle the "buts." I want Amanda to show up.

Parting word to Michael: "Behave." On the bright side, seems like it took her seven years before she LOL NOPED.

I hope the Klingon fans are happy. This is a very ponderous language to listen to when it's whole scenes of dialog and not just quick commands or insults. But I know there's a whole branch of fans who embrace Klingon culture and language, and I hope they're as thrilled as I was to hear Sindarin Elvish spoken.  (And that they're not too perturbed that the Klingon look has mutated again.)

Oh SHIT. I know the Captain was trying to defuse situation with diplomacy, but did they not have their shields up? Or was this just an old ship and/or Klingons managed to puncture shields. Ouch ouch ouch.

Wow, Michael is not having a good day. Waking up in remains of brig with failing containment fields around her — whole sequence is impressive and sad.

I like the way they're employing FX in service to story. It's hard not to let CGI overwhelm. But here, no matter how spectacular FX are, they're functional, rather than an end to themselves: like incidental music the Big FX moments help set mood/tone and give audience catch breath to process what just happened. As opposed to only using FX to foster one mood, maximum adrenaline, and keep audience off-balance so they have no time to catch breath and reflect on situation.

Intense telepathic scene with Sarek. Man he really likes this kid. He is one crazy ass Vulcan, even if he won't admit it: sharing a katra with a near stranger, especially a human child, is pretty drastic. (Also I'm confused: thought he adopted her after parents died in attack, but it looks like Michael was already his ward during attack?

ARGH.

Sarek: "I did not come here to judge your actions. I came here to—"

*Pumpkin, who likes to snooze on desk next to keyboard and occasionally use it as pillow at inconvenient moments, carefully and deliberately stretches out paw and plants it over ESC key, backing up browser window to several URLs ago, losing livestream.*

Cats. Such exquisite timing.

Back online.

Okay yes [STC sounded slightly noncommittal when I was enthusing about restraint of FX] now they're getting a little show-offy. But yikes. First time I've ever seen a space battle using classical Greek naval warfare maneuver. Trireme beak-ram!

...although it could be coincidence, and I'm reading it that way because of my classical studies background. They might've come up with that unusual and dramatic visual independently. At any rate, impressive.

OOOOO. Just hit scene where Captain, out of options, sees Klingons beaming up their dead, and she sees option.  I've been kind of waiting for her to be proactive instead of reactive. Earlier her hands were tied by trying to avoid conflict (following orders).

...DAMMIT. Just Googled to find out spelling of Phillipa's last name and saw the kind of spoiler I really hate to see. Stupid, stupid me.  I really honestly didn't know, since I had been so strenuously avoiding behind-the-scenes stuff. 

—

[At this point I stopped babbling in the chatroom to watch final scenes, so rest is post-watch thoughts.]

At least we have one great sequence between Burnham and Captain Georgiou, although the lull to confront one another and devise a strategy was a little forced— Klingons being very polite about not finishing them off. And YES, YES YES, finally seeing Michelle Yeoh fighting, which believe it or not I never have. (I don't watch many films or really much media.) 

:( Ouch. So close. Just a second or two longer.

So that's that. Man, that's gotta be a record even for Trek; can't even get through two eps without ship's destruction and crew evacuation. (Mom and I used to get annoyed at destroying Enterprise for shock value; first time was so dramatic and meaningful, whereas repeat felt gimmicky.) 

Not sure Michael's Expository Speech is did her any favors at this trial, but at least now we hear what she thinks.

Teaser for next episode (or "real" Discovery show) follows. Kinda confusing that they're convicts but on a Federation ship? Or did she get transferred from prison?

I am still mourning the captain and really not in the mood to parse the trailer. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT. I was wary of this show, but after watching Ep 1 I let my guard down and was SO EXCITED.

I had seen one article about this series last spring showing what looked like a predominantly white-dude bridge with generic-looking white male captain and a few tokens, just like TOS. That had dampened my enthusiasm for this show and prevented me from getting into it or looking forward to it.

But recently I saw posts saying, "Yo, WOC captain and first officer!" (or rather, in Tumblr's usual WE MUST MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT SUPPORTING THIS THING YOU WEREN’T AWARE OF, SHAME ON YOU!!! way, there was a post berating Tumblr for lack of photosets and buzz and excitement over Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green, and why weren't we getting behind WOCs when we'd been all excited for Gal Gadot?) And I thought, Wait—what?! I thought this was going to be generic white dude captain with token black female first officer which is okay but not ANYTHING LIKE as cool as what you're saying?

And since I do try to avoid spoilers and PR I didn't know Yeoh wasn't going to be the regular series captain. Or rather, I was confused why the hype I was seeing now differed so drastically from that one article I’d started to skim and then closed thinking, “Nah, I’m going to avoid spoilers.” Had the showrunners changed their minds and decided to bring in Michelle Yeoh as an upgrade after seeing their version of Captain Pike wasn’t good enough to anchor a series?I was just going to wait and see.

I forgot any doubts when Episode 1 gave me EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED: Two great female characters with a friendship and professional working relationship. Banter. Excellence. Skills and wits. Clunky TOS tech and new shiny bridge set. Smart captain. Brave first officer. With two WOC they couldn't be tokens; they had to be expanded as just... 3 dimensional characters.

I was so here for that. I loved that whole opening minisode, and also the Captain sending Michael off to play in a brief voyage of discovery and enjoying that her first officer was enjoying herself.

Their friendship was perfect, legendary Kirk and Spock material. It was distracting me from the other bridge crew— even Saru, who is an interesting character, but I was focused so much on these two women— but I figured other characters would get filled out in subsequent episodes.

And now?

"Here. Here's what you really wanted. Two women being superbly competent officers with a meaningful friendship, leading a show just the way Kirk and Spock did. And it's going to be about discovery and an older woman mentoring another one, and tackling difficult ethical problems without providing easy answers and— PSYCHE! 

“...FOOLED YOU! Two leading women in a Kirk-Spock dynamic? Oh, we could never do that. So we're killing off your already-favorite character. As consolation prize, here, have an incarcerated and demoralized WOC who has to be 'grateful' to a white dude for letting her out of jail. Power imbalance between her and captain, no close friendship, and oh yeah, instead of voyage-of-discovery and complicated-ethical-problems Star Trek, it's going to be various people being macho and angry, and a depressing Federation-Klingon War."

 I hope I'm wrong.

It feels like they gave me everything I'd hoped for and more, and then, once I'd let my guard down, they took it away. I'm left with a character and actor (Sonequa Martin-Green) I like enough that I'm going to watch anyway...for now. But I'm back to being wary. And here we have yet another WOC/minority being killed to make way for generic white dude. So now I'm disillusioned and won’t trust this show, and we're only at the end of ep 2.

Okay, yeah, I'm pissed. 

Discovery could redeem itself and turn out to be fantastic. There is a lot of potential here and a lot to like. Saru and Burnham are good characters, and I assume some of the others will be too. But they're going to have to pull off a miracle now to keep me from fantasizing about the better show that COULD HAVE BEEN.

ETA: so maybe I should have read the behind-the-scenes stuff beforehand so I’d be prepared for this premiere to be backstory, in effect. I guess everyone else knew her death was coming, and could appreciate the drama while anticipating this would be a tragedy. Either I’m naive, or too groggy/tired to pick up the Obi-Wan vibes.

[godtliv]

Better late than never

Copenhagen was fantastic as is apparent by my lack of update. Let's see what I can remember. Friday I took a walking tour from literally the most adorable girl I've ever met in my life. Here are some random facts- Copenhagen burned down twice in the 1700s before they learned to stop building shit with wood 1/3 of their population died during the plague Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets. Some dude added them on for an opera to make the Viking characters look more intimidating 99% of Jews from Copenhagen lived during WW2 nazi occupation bc the city built tunnels to hide people People pay 45-50% in taxes and everyone loves it bc they actually see where their money is going You can pull up online all government workers pay and assets Incredible trust in the government bc of transparency and lack of corruption (this place is unreal) Statues of dudes riding horses- 4 hooves on the ground, that person died from natural causes. 3 hooves on the ground, they died from injuries sustained in battle. 2 hooves in the ground, they died in battle cause they bad af 65% of parliament bikes to work The tour was great and I took another tour right after bc who doesn't like to learn shit. Through this tour, I befriended two British men whom I wound up spending the afternoon with, exploring Christiana, the hippie sorta free commune that runs in Copenhagen. They are exempt from following national laws and run on their own instead. It's beautiful and random and I could spend a lot of time there. That night I headed to Copenhagen Street Food which is Grand Central Market/Redding Terminal Market-esce and has more food options than you'll ever need. I settled on a falafel and a seat, contemplating what my night would be. That was decided for me shortly after, when a group of people sat next to me and we became quick friends. Kevin, Theo, Isis, and Ben are so fucking friendly and asked me to chill w them after 5 minutes of talking. We spent the night party and bar hopping before finally heading back to Theo and Kevin's apartment, where we all promptly jumped into the always essential second bed, got hyggely and laughed the night away. Highlights include finding the wrong remote, the Jaws of Witnesses and everyone knowing the words to County Road Take Me Home (actually blew my mind). Saturday I spent the day checking off my tourist checklist. I hit up Tivoli first, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. It is beautiful and enjoyable to just walk around. No need to ride the rides (especially bc most of them make my old ass sick now). Walt Disney visited here before building Disney World and damn did he copy a ton of shit for Tomorrowland. Tivoli is basically one big Tomorrowland. It's awesome and I happened to be there the day all these kids were doing performances around the park. Admittedly, most of them sucked, but it was fun to watch them sing Michael Jackson with a Danish accent. After Tivoli I ate some herring (because that's a thing you eat in Denmark apparently) and wandered down to the little mermaid statue. It was small but lovely and the walk there and back was wonderful. Saturday was a beautiful day, sun shining and a nice breeze, optimal conditions for wandering aimlessly. So that's what I did. Late afternoon I took a canal tour (really more to rest my legs) and took in more sights. Saturday night I was reunited with my new friends and we went out to a club for a bit before coming back and all jumping into the community bed and watching a movie. Sunday, we were brought back to life with the most fantastic brunch and again all headed back to Theo and Kevin's to nap, chill and watch football (that sport the rest of the world is obsessed with but we don't care about.) Then we said goodbye to Isis and headed home to pack. That night Theo and I caught a not so awesome sunset at the beach but did catch an awesome show at Christiana, which included one giant blonde Viking who kept going on stage and reading something (the Bible perhaps) in Danish. There was also a fantastic rendition of Hallelujah, so it was a good night. Now I'm sitting on my plane and we're about to land. Which means as much as I don't want it to be, this trip is really over. It was a remarkable trip though, full of so many laughs and beautiful memories. Grateful my life allows for these opportunities and grateful that the universe consistently hooks me up with random and amazing happenings. Final thoughts- There are less homeless people and less dogs in the cities I've visited than here. Still working on that correlation. While the culture is more liberal, the social culture is not and just talking to random people as we Americans do, still makes people uncomfortable (which is a blast for me.) Solo female travelers get asked a lot of the same questions "Aren't you scared?" No, I'm in the safest cities in the world and I'm not an idiot "Why didn't you wait for someone to go with you?" Because I wanted to go now and can, why wait? "Are you lonely?" Not really, I'm pretty good at making friends. I also enjoy my own company quite a bit "How do you afford this?" I work full time and travel hella cheap (will make a vlog about this in the near future) We will never have the bike infrastructure that other cities do. I really wish we could, but people just don't care enough and that's a shame. This entry was written sporadically over 3 days and now I'm back in beautiful Portland. The sun is (temporarily) shining and I'm about to go to my favorite coffee place. Love where you live and vacation never ends. That is all. 😘✌🏻✈️