in the darkness i feel his arms
Mar. 3rd, 2021 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI 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, adoptingdine's sometime habit of using a song lyric as a header.
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.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-06 10:48 pm (UTC)How shall we arrange this? Will you post some thoughts in your own journal?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 11:53 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-09 07:58 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-09 08:25 pm (UTC)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.