Dreamer Easy

Watched Cast Away (2000). I enjoyed its cleverness very much -- I even picked the director, although I couldn't think of Robert Zemeckis's name for quids -- until the interminable series of endings. Anyway, what struck me was that Chuck is obliged to recreate civilisation piece by piece to fulfil his basic needs: blades, fire, art, religion. What made me think of this is an article which I can't find, which compares Shamhat's seduction of Enkidu in The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is intended to civilise him, with a mother bringing up a child -- got it! It's Rivkah Harris's chapter "Images of Women in the Gilgamesh Epic". What does Chuck drink first? Milk, of course.

Someone could probably get a thesis -- probably has got a thesis -- out of this tale of a lone, heroic white man creating the civilised world anew. (He looks like a caveman, then a "native".) This brings me to another thing: the reality show Alone (2015-), of which I have watched a few episodes on demand from SBS. Ten white men are plonked down in the chilly Canadian wilderness to do or die. At some point I thought to myself, "This is how people used to live." But of course, that's nonsense! People live in groups, sharing and passing on skills and equipment. (Would Chuck have survived without the packages?) This is not to say that hermits never happen, but this man-on-his-own narrative doesn't reflect any human social arrangement. Another thesis there, perhaps on the horribly destructive idea of "independence".

Binged the whole 44 (!!!) episodes of Handsome Siblings on Netflix, enjoying myself enormously and learning a lot of kung fu story traditions along the way, I think (everybody spits out a mouthful of blood if they're injured in any way; everything is poisoned; ghosts!). I so want to find an English translation of the original novel.

Listened for the half a dozen words of Mandarin I know, and, in the final episode, caught 准备 Zhǔnbèi "prepare", a word which entered Korean as 준비 junbi. The subtitles of Korean shows often render it as "prepare" when it might be more naturally translated as "get ready", "bring", etc, creating an odd, stiff effect. I saw the Chinese version puzzling people on Reddit the other day, but couldn't find the posting again.

Great short behind-the-scenes thing on YouTube here.

Via fritters: cat shower. Wet head! Towel off, eh.

silverblue tweeted: Nuns on counseling condom use and AIDs prevention in PNG: "We are getting very old and hard of hearing, and Rome is a long way away."

Via qthewetsprocket: A FREAKING ENORMOUS SPIDER and many amusing responses thereunto. Don't click if you know it'll freak you out! (Oops - you need to join whatwasthatone to see it!)

Rubbish attempts at feminism in 70s superhero comics. (Did anyone in the real world ever actually say "male chauvinist pig"?)

1950 anti-health care reform ad.

Sesame Street's Roscoe Orman. A lost relative?

The joys of rewatching half-forgotten old TV faves: I've just seen baby!Edward James Olmos and baby!Dean Stockwell exchange gunfire, followed by sarcastic remarks from baby!Jerry Hardin. (For certain values of "baby" here, you must understand.) It's the 1985 Miami Vice episode Bushido, from which also comes the ever-useful quote, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" (Bonus trivium for Jon: the quote in the Subject line is delivered by David Rasche.)

What the heck was that TV show they made us watch in primary school in the seventies, where the kids go into the bush with their teacher, who falls off a cliff and perishes, and then it's so cold they have to burn their map to light a fire? I assume it was an Australian show - there was a lot of British telly around, but it must be tougher to get lost in the wilderness in the UK than it is Down Under. I vaguely recall something about their following a river and finding a hermit living in a shack, possibly on the beach.

Ulysses 31

Gods, I'm feeling unmotivated today.

So, what were you doing on Wednesday 26 September 1979? People in Canberra were watching a surprising amount of the test pattern. And, of course, Doctor Who, although I'm not certain which episode. Not to mention Harry Butler and The Inventors. And Community Billboard! For some reason this fascinated me as a child, especially the inexplicable cartoon of an English sheepdog that accompanied announcements about Housie.

The Altered State of Drugachusetts - a killer parody of H.R. Pufnstuf.

HOLY FLAMING COW.

The story of the cat and the garage door

The story of the cat and the phone

The tragedy of Kevin Costner

David Tennant in The Comedy of Errors, 2000

Pingu The Chef. First episode I ever saw.

Wedding Thriller Dance. Holy shit, this is awesome.