ranawinter | Reading

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Zero (2022)
Sci-fi thriller | Letterboxd 2.0/5 | IMDb 4.5/10 | BBFC N/A

I was pretty disappointed in this BBC Films production. In 2045 Britain, adults have fled to "the Mainland", and children must fend for themselves. Two sisters try to cope. I'm all for dystopian sci-fi, but this is just relentlessly grim. Washed-out colours, derelict buildings, sexual violence with a hint of Handmaid's Tale, you get the idea. The acting is acceptable but no more, and added to the uneven script and obviously limited budget, this feels more like a TV series for teens from the 1990s than anything with real ambition. The short running time (68 minutes) means there's no room for any real explanation of what's happened; even if that's deliberate, the result is more confusing and bleak than chilling and memorable. ★★

Current Mood: disappointed

loganberrybunny

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It's been rather lost among all the other things going on recently, but the UK government has been making it progressively harder for criminal misbehaviour to be covered up by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) over the last couple of years. As things stand, we have:

The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. This is now in full operation and Section 17 expands the protection for victims who speak about being subjected to criminal mistreatment. Now, they can talk to not only the police but lawyers, support services, close relatives (child, parent or partner) and several other categories. Any clause in an NDA which prohibits these things is automatically void.
The Employment Rights Act 2025. This is being phased into force. On 6 April, sexual harassment becomes an explicit "protected disclosure" under the existing Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, instead of having to rely on vaguer "health and safety" protections. As the new law creates a statutory right, it cannot be overridden by NDA provisions.
The Employment Rights Act 2025. Yes, again. At a later date, currently predicted to be late this year, the existing Employment Rights Act 1996 will be updated to explicitly protects "relevant harassment or discrimination" under the Equalities Act 2020, so race, disability and age are in there too. As with the Victims and Prisoners Act provision, an NDA (or other contract) which tries to prevent this will be automatically void.
The Victims and Courts Bill is currently nearing the end of its passage through Parliament, and is expected to enter into force late this year. This will expand the protections in the Victims and Prisoners Act, and will allow any victim of crime to report it to anyone. Most obviously, this will mean an NDA that prevents a victim speaking to the media about the crime will be automatically void.

There will be a few exemptions, notably those connected with the Official Secrets Act, and more generally in cases where both parties genuinely wish, for example, that the financial terms of a settlement be kept confidential. NDAs that cover other details will remain in force. For example, if someone is assaulted by a person who holds a secret recipe, they can tell Victim Support about the crime and be protected but can't disclose the recipe with the same protections.

The laws are not retroactive, so they only apply to NDAs signed from the date the appropriate laws enter into force. However, the Solicitors Regulation Authority takes a very dim view of its members threatening someone if the disclosure is about a crime. The classic "public interest" defence also applies. In short, however much you may believe your 2022 NDA prevents a disclosure, you're going to have trouble finding a solicitor to send the cease and desist letter if there's a crime involved.

I expect there'll be issues to be ironed out and irritations people haven't thought of, since there always are. But overall, this set of laws will bring a big change. As far as I can see, a very good one.

Current Mood: thoughtful

loganberrybunny

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As in Wolverhampton, not as in the animal! Anyway, I was in Wolverhampton today, and it was a lovely day too. High teens, sunny pretty much all day, just perfect. I treated myself to a lunch in the Sunbeam: a mini mixed grill followed by baked Alaska. I was very pleased with both for the price, and the pub was comfortable with a nice view of the trams trundling by. Then some wandering around the Mander Centre, which is in a reasonable state by city-centre shopping centre standards. A slight annoyance with the trains on the way home, but only a few minutes' delay. I don't go to Wolverhampton that often, but it was very pleasant all round.

Current Mood: full

yamamanama

15 hours until the vernal equinox
It was 75 on March 10. Then it went back to winter.

( Click for art. You know the drill. )

burning question: what could possibly compel someone to watch all seven Police Academy movies? Maybe if you like the first one, I can see you persevering through the first few sequels. Maybe you just really like the guy who makes sound effects. bszzooom. Woo woo. Pfft pfft. Honk honk! k’plll-kaBOOM!

Current Mood: Aphanopus
Current Music: Talk Talk - Living In Another World

glowingfish

A lot going on, so this might seem pretty random:

You probably know this old sitcom plot/trope, even if you can't think of a specific example:
Elementary school kid is in a play or has a ballet or piano recital or some other young person activity. Workaholic father (and yes, usually the male parent) promises to come, but suddenly something comes up with work so kid is crushed, looking out at the audience and searching for an absent parent.

Did this ever really happen? Was this something kids actually worried about or would have been harmful?

For context, I was born in 1979, and I might have been one of the last cohorts of free-range children. I wasn't part of any organized activities, and I didn't have any lessons, as a child. We played in the woods or dug holes or played indoors with action figures. Also, my parents divorced when I was 5. So my prime elementary school years, 6-8, were spent happily inventing and playing in my own world, sometimes by myself, sometimes with neighborhood kids. As much as there were big events at school, I would have seen them as a chore or a bother.

I guess the reason that this is important is that as a child, I formed my sense of self around my imagination, and around spontaneous games. But I guess for some children, that was formed around a more formal social world, and having parental/social confirmation was important?

Obviously, of course, this is a plot point, but is it/was it close to reality for some children?

armaina

There is a very frustrating thing that occurs when I say that I don't play or like PVP games and that's for someone to follow up with stating their particular game of choice 'isn't that bad' rather than just letting me be, it gets exhausting.

The only time I have ever played and enjoyed PVP is in closed circuit games where it's a lobby of just yourself and your friends and you're just goofing off with no real stakes or losses. Like old deathmatch arenas and fighting games with friends. There's no ranks, no stakes, and no progress to loose. Or the occassional 'party game'. And even then, I can only put maybe an hour or two into it and then I'm disinterested.

I am not 'great' at video games, I have to fail an awful lot to be any decent at it and even then I'm only mediocre. I'm fine with this. Failure on its own doesn't bother me. What bothers me is loss of progress and my teammates being upset with me because I fumbled. This only amplifies when PVP is involved. When it's free for all pvp, then it's frustrating because I'll just get no where because most people are better than me and I'll make no progress and have to sit through more and more matches just to meet bare minimum requirements to progress. Or if it's not match based but still solo PVP, the whole act of playing it feels on a razer wire because I could loose progress at any time and then what even is the point? And if it's team matches, then I have the anxiety of failing people in the team.

In parties of 4 it gets very easy to see who the weak link is, and because of the nature of PVP, people are very unkind to failure. People will claim that they're okay with it, but I hear it, I hear them trash talk their teammates when they're not up to snuff. Never giving space for people to learn or just be bad at something for a while until they get better at it. And they think that this doesn't effect the other people around them. I know what you all think of people that play poorly, and I play poorly, why do you all think that kind of talk would have no impact on me? So every time I loose in a team I think of how they would think of me, how they're angry at my failure, how they wish I weren't playing so they wouldn't be 'stuck' with someone so bad at the game. I am okay with failure, (unless I loose progress but that's it's own vector) but some people really, really are not. And in PVP, the need for success amplifies even more so than in co-op games because people's ranks are on the line. Take all that anxiety I already get with high stakes team play and then add the element that you're now also playing with other people, and that all gets amplified.

The only PVP I've been able to tollerate is ones with a strong PVE element which has only been possible in Gambit in Destiny 2, and World vs World in Guild Wars 2. Because in these I can largely focus on the PVE part and not the PVP part. Gambit's PVE is really important, so being good at that helps the overall match and I don't feel like a complete failure. Guild Wars 2's World vs World is a little less PVE intensive but the PVP part is handled by being in large swarms, so my personal failures don't stand out and I don't have people in chat yelling at me. More importantly, both games do not result in me loosing progress if I die. I can die dozens of times without penalty. That being said, if I could play those games without touching the game modes at all, I absolutely would. I only played those modes for certain progress requirements, not because I enjoyed them.

And then there's the matter that I just don't enjoy it. Sure I could triple up on anxiety meds and maybe not feel like my chest is caving in when I play a PVP game, but it's also just not enjoyable. Why waste my time on the potential that I might feel a high with certain big stakes when I could, instead, play a game I actually enjoy playing without the crushing weight of anxiety. So not only is it anxiety inducing, it's also just not my idea of fun.

So all that said, it gets really exhausting, when I say I don't play PVP and someone still tries to sell me on their PVP game. 'Oh it's not that bad', 'Oh I don't usually like pvp but'

I DON'T LIKE PVP!!
FULL STOP!!!
IT IS NOT FUN FOR ME!!!
STOP TRYING TO SELL ME ON YOUR PVP GAME!!!

Stop trying to apply your perception of mild aversion being the same as my intense level of discomfort and anxiety I have around the game type. What might be 'not that bad' for you, is still pretty dang bad for me and I'm tired of it being brushed aside like my discomfort and ability to enjoy it a all isn't even a factor worth incorporating.

Current Mood: annoyed

grimmrow

glowingfish

Got up, read a bit, walked along the beach, came home, stared at my email. I have about an hour to get up and go to the Dollar Tree before it gets dark.
And uh, I had other things to say.

loganberrybunny

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Harriet (2019)
Historical drama | Letterboxd 3.4/5 | IMDb 6.8/10 | BBFC 12

The story of Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery to become an abolitionist and activist, is far less well known in the UK than in the US, and that creates problems here. Harriet feels a little too much like a "greatest hits" TV movie for people who already know what they're going to find. Interestingly, the title role is played by a British actress, and Cynthia Erivo's performance may be the best thing about the film. The cinematography and songs were great too, though the incidental music was used too bluntly, almost telling you when to sweat or cheer.

The accents (of both black and white characters) were sometimes difficult for me as I'm not used to them, and vital details like the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 were covered in about four lines – again, fine for an American who's learned about the law in high school, somewhat less easy on this side of the Atlantic. Gideon Brodess (Joe Olwyn) was too one-dimensional a villain; he lacks the terrifying humanity Ralph Fiennes somehow brought to Amon Goeth in Schindler's List. It's a pity. Harriet Tubman deserved a movie better than "quite good". ★★★

Current Mood: tired

loganberrybunny

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It looks like the temperature may reach the high teens tomorrow, and with plenty of sunshine too. If that proves to be accurate, it might be the first day of the year when I can reasonably use the word warm instead of simply mild. I did have a cup of coffee in the pub's beer garden this morning and it was okay, but I had a coat on. Tomorrow I have too many boring things to do to have time for a pub break, but I doubt I'll need a coat at all. :)

Current Mood: hopeful

loganberrybunny

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Some of my British readers may be amused at the subject line, since it's a long-running slogan used by the Lib Dems! But that's not what this post is about. I'm actually cheerful because, just for once, I actually won something on one of those "spin the wheel" prize draws Vodafone has about every 15 minutes. Nothing huge, but a £10 Argos voucher certainly won't go amiss! I've got until 29th April to spend it, too, so I can muse for a while on what I might do with it. :)

Current Mood: bouncy

loganberrybunny

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The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) film poster

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Comedy-drama | Letterboxd 4.2/5 | IMDb 8.1/10 | BBFC 15

I don't particularly care about Wes Anderson per se. I do care about his film here. It's an absolutely wonderful, spectacular, superbly made movie which is both a very human story and a clear look at the rise of fascism in Europe. Ralph Fiennes is amazing in the lead role,¹ and my initial discomfort at his repeated use of blatant US English in a very British accent turned into enjoyable discomfort as I realised that was surely the point. The film is full of brilliant dialogue, the cinematography is stunning, the cast is sensational, and the hotel itself is as much a character as any of the humans. Or indeed paintings. ★★★★★
¹ He didn't even get nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Boo!

Current Mood: impressed

glowingfish

People like to work.
and
People like work.

I am self-employed and work from home, and get to (more or less) select my own schedule. Which makes working easier for me, in general. Parts of my life are pretty easy.
I have also never really had a 9-5, M-F office job.

One thing I know is that people like to complain about work, and like to imagine that they would be happy without work. And maybe some people really would be happy without work. But I think that even if money wasn't a problem, after a week or two of no set times to be places, most people would start feeling bored.

It is kind of like cake and frosting, frosting on your cake is fun, eating frosting out of the can is...not fun. Having a day off from tasks and schedules is fun. Living a life without them just feels bloated and gross and pointless.

Here is another thing I have noticed: people who say they don't like work also have it as their main subject. And I can understand, sometimes work is a relatable subject that people can share. But often the same people who claim they hate work and would be happy doing nothing will give exhaustive accounts of everything that happens at work, and its always the "workiest" things that capture their interest. Did Janice in accounting ask you to move your powerpoint a half hour forward, and then she still wasn't ready when it was her time to present? This, and her lack of bullet points on slide 5, are going to be dissected in great detail.

So...I would say, that complaints to the contrary, work is how people center most of their lives, and that most people wouldn't know what to do without work/a job.

loganberrybunny

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Note: All my posts on this subject carry the "Sandra Peabody" tag. If you wish to avoid it, then please feel free to ignore posts with that tag.

As you'll know if you've been following my posts for a few months, I have unexpectedly found myself with a deep interest in the abusive production conditions of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972). In 1997 with a second edition in 2000 (the one I own), David Szulkin's book Wes Craven's Last House on the Left: The Making of a Cult Classic appeared from British publisher FAB Press. It is the only place star Sandra Peabody (also known here as Sandra Cassell) has ever spoken on the record about the movie.

During the chronological chapter following how the film was made, inevitably one segment focused on the pivotal scene where Krug (the lead villain) rapes Mari (a kidnapped young woman). Szulkin asked four people involved for their thoughts. Their quotes were presented without editorial framing. I have added each person's position on set after their name, but otherwise they are verbatim. The square brackets are in the original. "Lucy" is Lucy Grantham, not in this scene but playing Phyllis, another kidnapped young woman in the story.

Wes Craven, director: "You know, the character of Mari took an enormous amount of abuse. I liked Sandra Peabody a lot; I thought she was very pretty, and very plucky... because she was a very young actress, she wasn't nearly as confident and easygoing as Lucy was, and she had become involved in something that was very, very rough. And she hung in there. When the character was raped, she was treated very roughly, and I know Sandra said to me afterwards, 'My God... I had the feeling they really hated me.'"

Sandra Cassell, Mari: "No comment."

David Hess, Krug: "That was a difficult scene, because my style of acting is to go over the edge during rehearsal... to push it as far as I can possibly push it, just to see how far I can go. And then I set my parameters. Once I draw that box, once I have those boundaries, then I'm free to do whatever I want within my character. I think I frightened her a few times... I actually got pretty physical with her. She may have been a little bit intimidated, because she couldn't back off when the camera was running."

Yvonne Hannemann, assistant director: "That one scene was really quite upsetting. I know Sandra had to be consoled; it really got very rough. And I think they [the actors] all got very emotional. Of course, David Hess was just so frightening, that a lot of the acting was sort of method acting."

Current Mood: sad and angry

workday_dreamer

By the belief that "cooking is vibes, but baking is a ~*science*~". Partly, or perhaps mostly, because that part of the internet hates and fears middle aged woman and mothers and likes to pretend that "ooh, baking is so difficult" because they can't except that they just suck at something that we teach small children to do.

Sorry, I'm just venting. There's a certain kind of, I suppose techbro would be the closest description, on tumblr that can't fathom being bad at something, especially something that, not to be rude to all of humanity, doesn't require all that much intellectual prowess. Like, if you were meticulously measuring everything out and what you were baking turned out bad, either the recipe was wrong or you fucked up.

loganberrybunny

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) film poster

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Sci-fi | Letterboxd 4.3/5 | IMDb 8.3/10 | BBFC U

Without doubt an epic feast for the senses. The visual effects are staggering given the total lack of CGI in the era, with most holding up superbly almost 60 years later. The film is very slow, with long stretches without dialogue book-ending the section most people remember. HAL 9000 might even be the best actual character in this movie. Drops half a star for a combination of the slightly unsatisfying Star Gate section which, through no fault of its own, now looks like a 1980s computer game, and the immensely annoying folks of the "If you don't rate this six stars at least you're Not A Real Film Fan" tendency. But it's still a sensational watch even with those issues, which tells you how remarkable it actually is. 2001 would have blown my mind on a big screen in 1968, I'm sure. ★★★★½

Current Mood: calm

loganberrybunny

Public

At least, if you're in the UK. The really interesting low-budget horror from 1962, Carnival of Souls, which you may remember I really liked when I watched it a month ago, is being shown on Rewind TV (Freeview 81) on Tuesday. Note that this channel does not have a catch-up service, so you'll need to record it via your own hardware or use Freeview Play if you want to watch it at a different time.

Current Mood: okay

loganberrybunny

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In Kidderminster Morrisons this morning to get a few things, and there was a chugger standing right in the rather narrow exit passageway. My heart always sinks when this happens, since they tend to ask things like "Would you like to help children with cancer?" and, seriously, what are you supposed to say to that? These days they usually aren't licensed to accept informal donations, so they're trying to get you to sign up to a direct debit – and I will not do that with something I've had sprung on me, no matter how good the cause.

So, I have to harden my heart for a moment and simply walk past without breaking stride. I often feel bad about it, but in all honesty the whole setup feels coercive. In a supermarket particularly so, as many customers will be struggling financially already. I do sometimes try to square the circle by, if I've got time, heading for a charity shop run by a similar charity and buying something from there. But it still puts me off going back to that supermarket for a while.

Current Mood: uncomfortable

grimmrow

So, I'm bed bound right? Which means I can't walk or stand appropriately. It takes a lot of effort for me to stand and I can only do it seconds at a time. They told me I had a testing policy violation, revoked my rights to test online at home and keep telling me I have to go to an online testing center. I do not have the means to do so. I'm completely and utterly without hope. I feel so defeated. I can't take my tests now and I'll never go to college unless I get money to pay for my courses without getting a g.e.d.

Does anyone know of ways to go to free college without a highschool diploma or g.e.d? Someone has to know.

loganberrybunny

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The Appointment (1981)
Horror | Letterboxd 3.5/5 | IMDb 6.2/10 | BBFC 15

A rare and atmospheric British horror here, one that turned up on Talking Pictures TV not so long ago. The cold open shows us a schoolgirl being taken by some invisible force while she walks home from school. Then the action moves to an upper-middle-class family, headed by Ian (an excellent Edward Woodward), a company director who has hired a Ford Granada while his normal car is being serviced. He is also having to miss his 14-year-old daughter Joanne's (Samantha Weysom) concert, something she deeply resents. Wife Diana (Jane Merrow) completes the household.

This is definitely a slow burn: it's maybe 20 minutes before it becomes more than a domestic drama with a slightly disconcerting father-daughter relationship. Then there's a strange night-time scene upstairs involving lots of glances from either side of closed doors, and after that the tension ratchets up, with a quiet supernatural undertone. Sound design is a major feature of The Appointment, with classical music, heartbeat-reminiscent sounds and weird noises that feel like they should have come from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The other key aspect is that of nightmares. Ian is plagued by a recurring dream involving Rottweilers and a car crash. Despite that, there's little gore here, though one brief scene is suggestively nasty. These faster beats alternate with long, lingering scenes that serve to build the sense of unease. As a side bonus, you get an excellent peek into the world of 1981 England, from school corridors to an achingly nostalgic motorway service station. Lindsey C. Vickers never directed another feature film, but The Appointment is surely worth making an... no, even I have more self-respect than that! ★★★★

Note: For UK and Irish viewers, this film is on Talking Pictures Encore until Wednesday. It may be available via the BFI Player in some other countries.