in the darkness i feel his arms

[pensnest]

I did not give blood today.

I went to the blood donation centre, and spent quite a while filling in my introductory form (twice, because the computer wouldn't accept the trainee's input, and she was the one to take my details first). Then, because I had a few yeses ticked on the form, a long conversation with the nurse during which I dredged up trips I have made to hospital throughout the years. And eventually, she told me that there's no reason why I cannot donate usually, but, because my medication has recently been changed (to slow release), I must wait another week and be sure my GP is happy with the new dose.

On the positive side, my haemoglobin levels are great!

*

I think I'm becoming more inclined towards vegetarianism, or at least, less inclined to eat meat. I made a shepherd's pie (with lamb mince and fake mince) for Sunday, and remember thinking "the nasty smell of cooked meat", probably for the first time in my life. I have developed a few veggie or meat-traces recipes (usually nibbles of chorizo) , and have been experimenting with the various meat substitutes which are burgeoning on Sainsburys' shelves. And, plainly, my iron levels are doing fine without it.

*

Beast and I have started a re-watch of Babylon 5 and oh, my goodness, how it resonates. Even at the beginning, the Earth First, anti-alien movement is horribly familiar, and I know what's coming.

The aesthetics of the tech, by and large, does not hold up as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the honourable exception of the starships, which behave much more reasonably and are used much more effectively. But the station graphics are pretty clunky. I do quite like the hand communicators. And they do have much more imaginative aliens. Kosh's encounter suit is glorious.

Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are *so* good. I realise they have a lot more showy stuff than Sinclair, but he's very stiff. I like him a little more with every re-watch, but I do think that replacing him with Sheridan - we haven't got to that part yet - was a good thing for the show, and keeping him as the cerebral, thoughtful guy was much more believable. He does show off as the man of action at the beginning of the show, leaping into a Starfury to be Heroic, but I have to accept that as the price of being a leading man in an American TV show. You have to be Good At Killing Stuff or you aren't a Hero.
Well, perhaps that's just the twentieth century way.

*

I am trying a new policy with my posts, adopting dine's sometime habit of using a song lyric as a header.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

What a coincidence! I just watched the B5 pilot The Gathering tonight. Might start re-watching again - I was re-watching last year but got sidetracked so I might start from scratch again instead of picking up where I left off, especially in the light of Mira Furlan's passing.

I agree about Sinclair being somewhat stiff, but I stil like him. The alien ambassadors and their aides are my favourites though. The show had so many great characters.

[pensnest]

I agree - the characters all had their own motivations and principles, you never got the sense they were doing what they did *for plot*. They were consistent, yet they all grew. It's an excellent show. Enjoy your rewatch - maybe we can talk about it!

[badly_knitted]

So true, they grew and changed, made mistakes, had regrets, lost themselves, found themselves... There's so much going on with all of them, all the time, and the dialogue is so good. I've re-watched many times, but I never get tired of the show and there aren't a lot I can say that about.

I'd like that! How far have you got? I might have time to watch the first ep of season one tonight.

[pensnest]

We're, hmm, nearly half way through season one. We watch an episode over lunch and over supper, most days, but not lunchtime on Sundays or Thursdays.

It would be fun to have someone to discuss it with!

[badly_knitted]

I'll do what I can to catch up quickly, but feel free to talk about anything in the episodes you've already watched. It's not like I don't know what happens so you won't spoil my rewatch while I'm catching up to you. It'll be fun to discuss it with a fellow fan.

When it was first on TV in England, my penfriend and I went over every episode together. We didn't agree on everything, but it's great to share thoughts and insights with someone else. Sometimes they notice something you missed, or have a different persepective on events.

[pensnest]

It is quite a different experience, watching it when you know what lies ahead. We saw 'Signs and Portents', in which (among other things) there's a Centauri prophet who says Lord someoneorother will be killed by a Shadow. He, of course, thinks this is ridiculous... and is killed by a Shadow.

How shall we arrange this? Will you post some thoughts in your own journal?

[badly_knitted]

It really is. That's the first time we see the Shadow ships and on first viewing you don't realise just how important they're going to be. It's only really on re-watching that the amount of foreshadowing (rather a fitting term) in the early episodes starts to become clear, although for various reasons nothing comes of some plot points that might have been gone into further if actors hadn't left or otherwise become unavailable. JMS had everything planned out but must have left himself some wiggle room in case he didn't get to make the full 5 year story.

I wasn't planning on posting, mostly because my daily fic posts already take up anywhere up to 2 hours, posting to 5 sites, ctross-posting to communities, and then juggling my mod duties, posting prompts and other stuff. If I try to do more posts I won't have time to watch the episodes. Anyway, I've seen them all so many times, and you're watching with fresher eyes. I don't want to give stuff away if I accidentally get ahead of you.

Where are you up to now? I just watched episode 16, Eyes. I'm watching on DVD so that's the end on disc 4. You're probably watching on a streaming service?

How about you PM me and let me know which episode you're up to so I can adjust my viewing schedule to yours, then I won't talk about episodes you haven't re-watched yet.

I will say that even on the episodes I'm not so keen on (Soul Hunter, Mind War, TKO) there are still some great scenes, character moments, and dialogue. I never skip episodes. One of my favourite G'Kar moments is at the end of Mind War where Catherine Sakai asks about what happened to her near Sigma 957 and why G'Kar sent a ship to help her. Scenes like that really make the characters grow. JMS has a very clever way of sneaking exposition into seemingly ordinary conversations so he doesn't have to do too many big info dumps to get viewers up to speed.

[pensnest]

I rather like seeing the things and understanding them, while knowing that on first watch, it's all rather mysterious. I'm actually watching on DVD, and we just - about ten minutes ago - finished 'Babylon Squared', so a disc ahead of where you'd got to yesterday.

I agree, I do like characters who behave in unexpected ways that show us a glimpse of who they could become or might have been. Londo being a possibility for the Machine on the planet below B5, and his glee in piloting the small ship into that planet, is another interesting example.

What I'm mostly thinking of right now is how very, very fond JMS was of the phrase "when the time is right". And also that I don't remember Draal and the machine on the planet actually showing up to help at any point, though they would have been quite handy at times. I wonder if JMS forgot about them?

I will try to put up a reaction post every so often, and we can catch up together.

[badly_knitted]

Yes, exactly. In a way, re-watches are even more enjoyable than the first viewing, picking up on hints that we didn't notice first time around. Things that seemed throwaway first on viewing suddenly make sense.

I love Babylon squared, and the two-part A Voice in the Wilderness, some of my favourite season 1 episodes, although there are so many I love it's hard to say which is my favourite. I wouldn't know where to start, except to say there are a few I like less, lol.

Londo piloting the craft is one of his most joyous scenes, trying to figure out which control is the landing thrusters. He gets so many tragic and soul-destroying scenes later, remembering that happy moment keeps me from hating him. If he had answered Morden differently, how would his life have turned out:?

There are a number of phrases JMS seemed fond of, but that one graces a lot of significant moments. Not wanting to spoil you, but I will say you'll see more of Draal and the Great Machine eventually. They have significant roles to play, they weren't forgotten.

I'll see how much of disc 5 I can watch tonight. Three episodes certainly, I'm not going to leave A Voice in the Wilderness hanging halfway through! I love Zathras, by the way. Very underrated character.

One of the things I love about B5 is the way it mixes really powerful drama with comedy. Practically every episode has humerous moments that break up the tension.

Please excuse any typos I missed. I'm a one finger typist and I often hit the wrong keys, or two at once, then delete the wrong letter. Off to listen to Legacies while doing some sewing up.

[turps]

That's a shame about your blood donation, but good you'll be able to donate soon.

Sainsbury's have some great meat substitutes, I had some fake bacon from there this week and it was delicious. Company also gets a lot of the substitutes, I guess in some places they mustn't sell as well so get passed on.

[pensnest]

I like the Viv Era Shawarma Kebab pieces. I mean, I don't actually know what Shawarma is, all I know is that Tony Stark likes it, but this stuff is tasty and makes excellent chilli sin carne. The options seem to increase every time I'm in Sainsburys! Though I haven't noticed any Quorn escalopes for a while, and this is a shame, because they are very good.

[turps]

That is an excellent reason for trying something *g*

[turlough]

It's been years since I watched B5 (10 at least!) and I remember the xenophobic themes being just as familiar back then. It's really depressing how little have changed! Sadly I no longer have those VHS tapes in my possesion (or a player to watch them on, for that matter!) so I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to watch it again. I hope you & Beast will continue to enjoy your rewatch. It really is a fantastic show! Londo and Gkar are both fantastic and I've always been very fond of Vir - how can you NOT like him?!! - but my personal favourite was always Ivanova.

[pensnest]

It's really hard to pick a favourite character, I find, because there are so many excellent ones, but I can't fault you for choosing Ivanova.

Apparently, there is a somewhat remastered version out or coming out on DVD, which might be worth putting on your birthday list.

[turlough]

I didn't know that! Must investigate at once.

[frausorge]

Ack, what a rigmarole with the blood! No one can say you weren't ready to do your part.

I've never see Babylon 5, but Earth First, anti-alien movement is horribly familiar rings sadly true even just hearing that much.

[pensnest]

It's quite chilling, really, seeing the 'Home Guard' and knowing that 'Homeland Security' will be along soon, and all the names they have for aliens.

Mind you, the idea that on an inter-planetary community space station there are Humans and there are Aliens... someone didn't get the writing right. That's not the way to express difference!

I do recommend B5, if you get the opportunity. Very intelligent show. There was an episode recently about the pressure on the dock workers, too many hours and not enough money, which speaks to the nuts and bolts of running a space station in a way that doesn't happen very often in television.

[ephemera]

(I am currently listening to a documentary about ancient "aliens" that features a Dr Chavez, and you may correctly guess where my brain has gone with that - AU-tasic ;)

that sounds like a frustrating visit to the blood donation centre - hopefully it is setting you up for a more successful return once your medication has settled in!

[pensnest]

Funnily enough I had a dream about JC "Chavez" last night - he was in a TV interview explaining, in viewer-friendly terms, how he did not have a favourite sexual position because it depended on the woman. I must say, it all sounded very convincing, and I woke up with a glow of fondness for him. I think it must have come from something he actually *did* say, quite a long time ago.

That reminds me, I should see if the GP wants to review my slow release Metformin.

[watervole]

I think I'm nearly due for another Babylon 5 rewatch.

I come back to it every few years the same way as I re-read Lord of the Rings.

We've discovered that the secret of fabulous veggie/vegan meals is think of the veg as the heart of the meal and look for recipes that showcase them, rather than thinking of the veg as an extra.

[pensnest]

It's such a shame there isn't a beautifully clear HD rendition of B5. I re-watched ST:TNG recently on Blu-Ray and it is beautiful.

I think I'm now out of the mind-set of thinking that a Proper Meal has to include meat (or maybe fish, which I'm not that keen on). I do an excellent veggie curry. I don't want to give up meat altogether, but it is definitely becoming less important, which is a good thing.

[watervole]

The easy solution to wanting occasional meat is to eat venison.

Owing to the lack of natural predators, deer populations are way too large and they damage woodlands as a result.

Most butchers can get venison if asked.

Rabbit also qualifies in the same way.

I'll have to post some of my husband's veggie recipes - he's become really inspired this last year.

[pensnest]

Happily we have an excellent butcher just up the road - they regularly win local sausage competitions, and they supply only free range meat (plus some 'barn chickens') from Norfolk or Suffolk. They do venison, which I've been buying once in a while. Beast has been a bit iffy about the environmental impact of venison, but I figure it is basically from meat that grows entirely naturally, none of the gross feeding-it-fish stuff (though I *think* that is only American). We have been off beef for quite a while, and are drinking soya milk these days, though it isn't easy to tell what's the best option for milk. And I haven't made the switch to non-cows-milk cheese.

Dunno about rabbit, that's something I never really think to cook. Is rabbit likely to be wild, and shot, or specially grown?

[watervole]

Wild venison is where most of it comes. Some wildlife charities discretely sell venison shot for pest control. Farmed venison won't score as well - even grass fed farm animals are likely to have supplementary food in winter.

Your butcher can tell you where rabbit comes from. Certainly, our local stuff is shot - they used to warn you that it might have pellets in it.

All plant milks are so much better than dairy that the difference between them is largely noise. I prefer oat milk myself, but I can happily drink soy if necessary.

I still haven't made the cheese switch, but I have managed to reduce my portion size. For some things, Marigold yeast makes a good substitute and is incredibly tasty and nibblable. (tasty enough to bribe a six-year old with)

[pensnest]

I had assumed the venison mostly came from the kind of places that offer Shooting as a fun pastime. Which I don't actually approve of, but eh. I'll definitely inquire about the rabbit.

Marigold yeast is not something I'd heard of at all, I will have a look!

[watervole]

See - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/10/wild-deer-set-to-wreak-havoc-in-uk-woodlands-as-venison-demand-plunges - eating British venison is actually helping preserve woodlands right now.

I fell in love with Marigold yeast many, many years ago. A guy at work used to bring in a small pot for lunch and let me share some now and then. Yum!