Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

[Note: I have not seen Bruno (nor Borat). I am reporting things others have said that I thought sounded interesting, but am not in a position to comment on the movie myself or judge how well the folks quoted below have interpreted it.]

"It should not have taken Bruno for people to realize exactly what Cohen is about. He has always chosen 'the other' as a safe target for his so-called satire.

[...]

"Cohen is not brave, he is not transgressive, he is not cool. He picks on the 'other'. He is a bully and a bigot. His creations are modern-day minstrel shows. His shows are 'Jackass' filled with hateful stereotypes."

-- figfest (commenter at Pam's House Blend), 2009-07-11

"Cohen clearly doesn't understand the difference between satire and schoolboy nastiness. And obviously,neither do a lot of critics or a sizable section of the public." -- QScribe (also at PHB), 2009-07-11

"[...] I don't think Bruno creates more homophobia so much as exposes it a bit more precisely." -- PghLesbian (from the same comment stream as the previous two)< 2009-07-11

"I think Cohen's biggest problem is overestimating his audience, and expecting them to be sophisticated enough to get the joke and the ultimate point. You'd think he would realize that the same phobic people he skewers in the film will be the ones going to see it, but he's not American. I think our real frustration with him is that we know his audience better than he does." -- jackalope (same thread), 2009-07-11

Oh crap. I just went to move the car, and discovered I have a flat tire. It's on the passenger side, which was away from me, so the first I knew of it was when the steering felt funny executing a U-turn. So whether it was as bad as this before I started or not, it's partway off the rim now. Not a good sign.

Worse, I just spent all the money Mom gave me to pay a small fraction of my BGE bill, and I haven't got a proper spare -- only one of those "don't exceed 50 miles distance or 50 MPH speed" toys (which, ah, I do wind up driving on for more than fifty miles when I need to use one). *grumble* I was planning to head down to Bowie tomorrow to do laundry and wish my mother a happy birthday -- now I'll be hitting her up for tire money on her birthday.

And I'm extra nervous about money right now because I'm not certain I'll be able to afford groceries for Pennsic (or batteries for the flash or in case the rechargeables for the camera run out). Stress, stress, like I needed more stress. (Stress all around my friendslist/reading list too, what with folks having just lost jobs or seeming to be about to, folks with children wrestling with our nation's broken health insurance "system", friends worrying about housing. So this is less an "oh pity me, my life is so hard," and more, "life is a pain in the arse sometimes and I need to vent.")

Now to figure out which is likely to screw up my plans more: going out there to mount the toy spare now, reshuffling my to-do list for this afternoon and hoping I'm not in too much pain for tonight's plans (which are fortunately within walking distance); or hoping I have the energy to deal with the tire tomorrow afternoon and still be up to driving to Bowie afterward.

I'm about to bump into limits of free accounts on Shutterchance and flickr. (In the case of Flickr, at least, I think the oldest photos will still be accessible directly but not visible from my 'photostream', once I exceed the free-account limit on the number of photos posted.) A year's worth of paid time isn't outrageoulsy expensive, and I was kinda planning to throw some money at the problem at some point, but at the moment any pennies I can save are budgeted to trying to make sure I can go to Pennsic.

So as a temporary solution until sometime after Pennsic, I'm looking at other photo-hosting sites. Anybody got some "Oh yes, I love ____" or "Stay away from _____ because of _____" advice for me regarding such services. (Researching that had been part of my plan for this afternoon.) At the moment, I've got tabs open in my browser for netsnapshot, Photobucket, ImageShack, Photolava, TinyPic, and atpic.

[Huh. Apparently some sites, including this one, don't honour the background-image CSS thingie on <p> and <div>, while others do. Interesting. (It displayed as I intended here, here, and here.)]
At least my breathing has gotten better since yesterday and the smell of smoke isn't quite as strong ... yesterday afternoon my attempt to get a nap (after having only managed three hours of sleep the night before) was interrupted by a house fire quite nearby and directly upwind. Visibility and breathing were both easier on the sidewalk than on the second and third floors of my house. Firefighter and fire engine photos later, once I decide where to upload them and find time to edit them. (The smoke had a much browner cast in person than shows in this photo -- which I shot from the back window on the third floor when I went to see what was going on.)

This just a couple days after the impressive destruction of a minivan in the intersection (the pickup truck it hit was later able to be driven away) and impressive shouting match that followed.

Went ahead and mounted toy spare. Stupidly forgot about pain meds until after -- should've taken pills and waited 40 minutes before pulling out jack. Lug nuts overtightened; passer-by loosened them (large, healthy+athletic-looking guy; still barely able to budge 'em and had to rest after -- felt I owed him a bottle of Gatorade; dunno how long it would've taken me alone ... need larger wrench than wee cross-shaped one I have). Managed to only scrape knuckles once. Tire is toast; sidewall split. Looks like I just barely beat the rain. Punting entire to-do list and lying down, in hope of being able to move later and go to dinner @ neighbour's. Currently shaking and hurting. But dammit, got the %$^@ing toy spare on so I don't have to wrestle it tomorrow.

Washed all visible signs of tire-grime off my hands but Perrine still says, "wow, your hands smell really interesting!"