Bearshorty's musings

Happy Victory Day!

While May 8th is Western European Victory Day, the former Soviet Union always celebrated May 9th (based on time difference of when peace came into effect). There were always parades and general festivities on May 9th. This year foreign troop (American, British, Polish, French) marched in the Moscow Parade (and chancellor of Germany was there too, which I’m sure was a bit awkward). End of World War II was a really big deal in Europe and especially in Russian and it is always a high occasion. It is not even news here in US (although for US the war was not over until August – still it would be nice to see a newspaper headline about the parades). Here is the BBC reporting on it .

The casualty rate in Russia, accounting for both soldiers and civilians, was about 27 million lives lost. US and British troops together lost less than a million. I think it is that difference that make the victory celebration so much more a bigger deal in Russia. I certainly grew up with the cult of war (and they did not really teach us about the Holocaust, that came from family stories). But as a kid I had a book of stories about children who fought in the war by being guerrilla soldiers or helping in the war effort.

When I was little we also always visited Yama on May 9th – a site of liquidation of Minsk ghetto where my great-grandmother and her mother died. That is the only time every year I heard Hebrew, when a rabbi prayed. Now there is a memorial with a sculpture of people walking down into the pit.

I watched the documentary “The Business of Being Born” on Netflix. It is about home birth and midwives vs a hospital birth in the US. The movie was a bit too one sided in favor of home birth (but only for normal pregnancies). They did show that the movie director actually needed a C-section even if she originally wanted a home birth. What this movie wants is for women to ask questions and to be aware of more options not just automatically think that all doctors know better. It actually made childbirth not seem as scary and terrifying. Mentally, I’m getting to a point where having a child is no longer a horrifying prospect, so it was interesting to watch real women and childbirth and all that it entails.

Cross stitch. I can see the outline of the Eiffel Tower now

Kids come over to return one of the movies Laura borrowed and I gave the boy some Star Trek trading cards I’ve had since I was a teenager. Yes, I was a nerd.

Brothers and Sisters S4E23. What a nice episode. I’m glad there will be no Ojai Foods storylines anymore, hopefully. Those were always the most boring storylines. And Scotty is just so awesome. Sing, Scotty, sing. Tommy actually did not bug – his reaction to Nora when she was about to call Roger was priceless.

Elena Kagan will be the next Supreme Court nominee which I find awesome because it would be great to have another woman for the Supreme Court and a Jewish woman at that. Ginsburg will probably retire soon too. I don’t know much about Kagan or her positions and her stance on executive power makes me a bit uneasy. But I do look forward to seeing the confirmation hearings. Her career so far is certainly impressive. And she is a New Yorker, which is a bonus in my book (half of the Supreme Court is from New York/New Jersey actually).

In the morning, Bear and I watched “Alien Resurrection” with breakfast to finish off our alien marathon. I was looking forward to this movie since Joss Whedon wrote it (although he wasn’t as happy with the end result). And I was not disappointed. I actually liked this movie and its plot. I thought all four “Alien” movies pretty much had the same plot so they all go well together. I enjoyed the action in this one and some silliness, since I don’t take movies like this seriously and mock them with all my snarkiness. It was entertaining.

In the afternoon, after lunch, we went to Best Buy and Michaels. I needed new headphones, again, so I got purple ones this time. The headphones are really too disposable. Then Bear helped me pick out frames and mats for my cross-stitch projects. That took quite some time to match it all properly. There was a sale on the frames and, to my surprise, it all cost twice as less as I thought it would. Yay.

Then we went rollerblading. I’m getting tired much more easily at this; I definitely need some practice.

After dinner and before Bear went home we watched Planet Earth “Ocean Deep.” That was the last one. The DVD was sitting in my room for weeks and I really wanted to send it back to Netflix and since Bear loves sharks it was easier to watch it with him. The shark footage was pretty cool as were some really weird ocean fish.

“Brothers and Sisters” had their yearly two hour movie episode and Kevin was just wonderful. Lots of melodrama and really weird secrets but that it the way I like my show. I’m glad it keeps Sally Fields working.

I tried watching Doctor Who S5E2 on YouTube, but I only could watch two out of five parts. I think I might have to wait for BBC America to show the episode in a few weeks. What is telling is that I don’t really care and don’t mind waiting. The problem is not Eleven; I do like him. The problem is the new companion, Amy Pond. I’m still not convinced of her as a character. Mostly she acts by opening her eyes really wide. And it is weird to go from an adult awesome companion to a young girl again who has romance issues or whatever. I hope I’ll get used to her, but so far she is not showing why she is that special. I guess I’m just biased since I adored Donna. I’m fine with the new Doctor but Donna was special. I’m sure I’ll get used to the new companion eventually.