Among the barren trees and fields of snow
Feb. 18th, 2018 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12Matthias and I decided to go out on a little bit of an adventure today. We're limited in Cambridge by where we can reach by public transport and/or walking, and a lot of the villages surrounding the city are not served by buses at all (or only served by one bus that goes into Cambridge in the morning, and another that returns in the evening, which is obviously no good to us at all). However, Hemingford Grey - the site of one really good pub with excellent food - is reachable, even on Sundays, so we decided to make the trek out there for Sunday lunch. This involved catching a bus to St Ives, walking for about half an hour (although we made the walk last for an hour by continuing along the towpath beside the river), and then settling down for a really fantastic meal. We returned to Cambridge via Swavesey, as Matthias wanted to stop for a drink in the pub there (which was also pretty nice), and got home just as it was getting dark. It was a nice way to spend the day. I've put a little photoset up on Instagram, which shows the pretty fields, river, trees and flowers we walked through.
This week also involved seeing three films: Pride (which the university was screening specially as part of LGBT History Month), Black Panther, and I, Tonya. I enjoyed them all immensely.
Pride was just so joyous and defiant, at once an upbeat romantic comedy and a pointedly political call to arms. I had been feeling really worn down by the state of the world, so it was nice to watch something that was about two very different groups of downtrodden, despised and dispossessed people (LGBT people, and striking miners) making common cause and taking on a powerful enemy with unlimited resources with little more than handpainted signs, collecting tins, and the determination of those with moral right on their side.
Black Panther was a glorious, timely addition to the clunking juggernaut that is the MCU. I adored all the female characters, I adored the music and the costumes, and I loved that it didn't hold back in its critiques of colonialism and US (in particular) antiblack racism. We saw the film in IMAX (although not in 3D), and it was well worth it.
Given we've frequently had the Winter Olympics playing in the background at home, I, Tonya was highly thematically relevant. (I wonder if its release was timed to coincide with the Olympics?) I had a vague idea of the historical events on which it was based, but as an Australian (we don't really do winter sports) and as an ex gymnast (that is, someone whose quota of over-the-top performatively feminine acrobatics set to music was already filled) I wasn't really aware of them at the time they were happening. The film is really well written and well acted, blackly comedic while also underscoring how truly messed up competitive elite sport can be, particularly sports which, like figure skating, involve image (i.e. performance of a particular kind of femininity) and long hours of training from a very young age. I hope it picks up some acting Oscars, because it truly deserves them.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week.
This week also involved seeing three films: Pride (which the university was screening specially as part of LGBT History Month), Black Panther, and I, Tonya. I enjoyed them all immensely.
Pride was just so joyous and defiant, at once an upbeat romantic comedy and a pointedly political call to arms. I had been feeling really worn down by the state of the world, so it was nice to watch something that was about two very different groups of downtrodden, despised and dispossessed people (LGBT people, and striking miners) making common cause and taking on a powerful enemy with unlimited resources with little more than handpainted signs, collecting tins, and the determination of those with moral right on their side.
Black Panther was a glorious, timely addition to the clunking juggernaut that is the MCU. I adored all the female characters, I adored the music and the costumes, and I loved that it didn't hold back in its critiques of colonialism and US (in particular) antiblack racism. We saw the film in IMAX (although not in 3D), and it was well worth it.
Given we've frequently had the Winter Olympics playing in the background at home, I, Tonya was highly thematically relevant. (I wonder if its release was timed to coincide with the Olympics?) I had a vague idea of the historical events on which it was based, but as an Australian (we don't really do winter sports) and as an ex gymnast (that is, someone whose quota of over-the-top performatively feminine acrobatics set to music was already filled) I wasn't really aware of them at the time they were happening. The film is really well written and well acted, blackly comedic while also underscoring how truly messed up competitive elite sport can be, particularly sports which, like figure skating, involve image (i.e. performance of a particular kind of femininity) and long hours of training from a very young age. I hope it picks up some acting Oscars, because it truly deserves them.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week.
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Date: 2018-02-18 07:00 pm (UTC)It made me cry, though.
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Date: 2018-02-18 08:16 pm (UTC)I'm going to an event on Tuesday which is a panel discussion with several people who were activists from Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, and I'm really looking forward to it.
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Date: 2018-02-19 06:02 am (UTC)Wow, that sounds great! ^_^
I'd love to read you blog about it, if you felt comfortable doing so! ^_^
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