Bearshorty's musings

I finished watching Sense8 last night.
( Sense8 )

After I finished watching Sense8, I also finished watching the last episode of "The Daily Show" on Hulu. I know the show will continue without Jon Stewart but it will not be the same. I watched the show for a long time, over 15 years. After 9/11, it was the voice of sanity. It made the long and ridiculous election season worth it every time. I was looking at my tags yesterday, on Dreamwidth (under 'tv (daily show)' ), and around five years ago I watched it every night and posted my reactions and links to my favorite parts. I only watched it occasionally lately but it was comfortable to know it was there. In May 2010, I went to see the show live. (I tried in Jan 2010 first but the line cut off just in front of us, it was a bummer). It was fun being part of the studio audience and see just how many in jokes with the audience make it on the air. I will miss this show and it's capacity in calling out hypocrits and the news media. Loved the 'bullshit' monologue that Jon Stewart ended with. And it was fantastic to see all the correspondents and get a behind scenes look at the offices and all the people who put the show together.

This morning I went to campus to pick up the New Humanities book for my writing classes and then I spend pretty much all day working on the syllabus. I read three articles and skimmed some others, picked my sequences and wrote up a schedule and the class requirements and it just took me five hours to put everything together. I’m only teaching one article I assigned before, the rest will be new. I’m set for the writing class. I even got the tech guys to put it on the internet for me on the class site. (For some reason the website does not like my version of Word, I can put up anything on it but the syllabus.)

The way this writing class works is the students read six articles over the course of the semester and write a close reading assignment, five papers (5 pages each), and a midterm and a final exam. Most of the papers compare two articles (except the first one, that’s just one reading). And the articles have to link to each other in two sequences of three readings each to teach students how to develop arguments better by building on ideas. In the past, I did sequences on science and environment, on religion, on identity and self, on gender etc. This time my semester will be about culture, first about moments of cultural change and how they affect us and what prompts them and then about cultural constructions of identity, especially ethnic and religious identity. I have a few articles that really want to say that social context is everything.

( These will be my six readings: )


I really liked Jon Stewart’s speech from Monday’s episode offering hope at this time.

This movie, called “Priest” looks like great horror cheese : A Warrior priest (Paul Bettany) fighting vampires in a dystopia world and his own order too. Yes that is the plot, it looks like cheesy fun. And in 3D! Hee. I will so rent this on DVD next year.

So I was watching Doctor Who again with cross stitching and as I was watching “Army of Ghosts” episode of end of Season 2 that takes place in Torchwood 1 I kept thinking how Ianto was there at the time which made me want to see “Torchwood.” So I put on ‘Children of Earth’ on Netflix Instant and I watched the first episode. It is even creepier than I remember. That was definitely their best season but it is really hard to watch. I'm looking forward to the new season this summer.

Exercise: 30 min walk
Cross-stitch: color of the day is tan for little bear’s head

I’ve been watching “The Daily Show” online this week as the team headed to Washington and this morning I saw the interview with President Obama. There should be a drinking game every time he says ‘folks.’ I liked listening to a reasonable conversation and Jon Stewart is never afraid to ask question that put his guests on the defensive. So it really felt like a productive conversation. Why can’t all political discussions be like that?

I found the perfect cat toy for Kate, Bear’s parents’ little kitty. It is a little teddy bear with catnip inside. I figure since Kate likes to climb into my Bear’s lap so much, she needs her own little bear to play with when Bear isn’t there.

I turned to NBC at 8p ready to watch the “Community” Halloween zombie episode when I realized they are showing Shrek Halloween special first. And it was actually really silly parodies of Bride of Frankenstein, Psycho and the Exorcist. I was giggling throughout. I think my favorite bit was Pinocchio rising off the bed like something is possessing him and it turns out it were just his strings.

“Community” Halloween episode. Zombies! Troy as the hero (for once, the black man makes it to the end as Abed puts it). And Abba soundtrack through it all to make it extra silly. Community rocks its Halloween. Shirley, why Chang, really. The throwing of the cat was hilarious. As usual, this show is awesome and very funny. Now I’m really in the Halloween spirit.

Teaching day – I do hate getting up early. I get tired earlier in the day and my palpitations show up a little. But I do like leaving the house and working so I guess I just have to accept it!

I printed all my teaching stuff in the morning and then wrote an email to a college looking for adjuncts for Spring Semester. They are looking for someone to teach “History of Law” so maybe they would hire me. The school is close to where I live so I figure it doesn’t hurt to send off ‘I’m interested’ email along with my CV. The pay sucks but I would be teaching history. We’ll see.

Teaching itself went well today. They all came and all turned in Paper 1. Then we started on the new reading and I taught them what connections mean. A totally spontaneous exercise that I made up in the first class turned into a great exercise and I hope they learned something. It felt productive to me.

With a lunch of burger and fries (since I’m fasting tomorrow I wanted a big meal), I read a National Geographic article on Fraser Island off the coast of Australia. The photographs are absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a place I would want to visit if I ever get to Australia. What I liked is the story of Eliza Fraser (for whom the island is named – well, the article said the island is named for her and her husband). During a voyager, the her husband’s ship ran into trouble in Great Barrier Reef, and they all had to get into shody longboats. During the month they tried to get to town, Eliza gave birth (the baby died). They finally due to all kinds of distresses they landed on Great Sandy Island (later to be known as Fraser island). Then they were in the hands of Aborigines who made them work and stuff, apparently naked. Her husband, Captain Fraser, died at this point along with many others. Eliza’s release was negotiated by an ex-convict who spoke the language. Then she apparently married another captain, got to England and told the scandalous story of her captivity, nicely embellished at Hyde Park for money. Apparently she wrote it down. I just find her interesting.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert continue to be wonderful. Jon Stewart will be holding “Rally to Restore Sanity” on Oct 30 in DC. He is right that it looks like only crazy people show up to those Fox sponsored rallies and he just wants to bring reasonable conversation back. Here is a clip announcing it, what cracked me up is a sign “I disagree with you but I’m sure you are not Hitler.”

Stephen Colbert will also hold “March to Keep Fear Alive” at the same time. I wish I lived in DC.

Yom Kippur started this evening and I wanted to go to real Kol Nidre services. It is the only time I go to a synagogue during the year and I missed last two years. I love the melodies. So I put on a white shirt and a grey skirt and black slippers, ate my dinner at 6 and drank two glasses of water and Papa drove me to the synagogue nearby. It was a really nice place. I really liked the open space in front of the ark; it was a big hall. The prayer book was different. It had a lot of translation in verse so it sounded a bit off at times but still the melodies in Hebrew were the same, obviously. This was technically a conservative congregation (which is really between Reform and Orthodox), but men and women sat together and there was a lot of prayer in English before being repeated in Hebrew. What was cool about this year was because I learned how to read Hebrew last year, I could follow the place from where the prayer was being read. I still don’t understand it (I plan to pick Biblical Hebrew up again soon) but at least I could read along for the most part and sound it out. The cantor was fantastic: a beautiful singer. Here is Kol Nidre from YouTube.

Emmy’s. They are on the lower scale of award shows I look forward to – mostly because I generally watch different kind of TV than the Emmy voters. I do look through the whole list of nominations, mainly because I want to see who gets choreography. Before SYTYCD I didn’t even care about this category. How is Cat Deeley always left out of Best Host category? This is definitely an injustice. Mia got a nomination for Addiction dance and Koop Island Blues and One from last season and Stacy Tooki got a nomination for the fear dance (which I don’t remember). Chelsie Hightower, a former contestant, got a choreographer nomination for Dancing with the Stars. Now that is awesome. I’m also excited that Andre Braugher got a nomination for “Men of a Certain Age” and that Sharon Gless got one for “Burn Notice.” “Moonshot” and “Special Relationship” got a nom for TV movie. Both movies, I liked. “Caprica” has one for visual effects. I’m disappointed that “Community” has been totally excluded. The lack of women writers is also pretty sad as there weren’t a lot of women writers nominated.

The spy exchange feels so ridiculous. The whole thing is like a big farce. Did we step back in time here?

Daily Show women respond to media stirred idea that just because there are few women writers and correspondents, women are not part of the show.

I was in a waiting room today for a while so I read an article in July’s National Geographic about Pakistan. It is nice to get a perspective of what life is like there and what people really think about religion and extremism. And this article was great in presenting multiple points of view.

( SYTYCD Top 8 )

“Friends with Money” I got this movie because Jason Isaacs is in it, frankly. But he wasn’t even in the movie too much. I had to look up the movie on IMDB to see what everyone’s name was after I watched about fifteen minutes and still couldn’t tell. The movie was alright. I didn’t like very many characters in it. I liked intellectually the issues the movie raises about life and money and economic disparities and all sort of relationship stuff – but I really couldn’t care much about most of the characters. So, in the end, I don’t think this was a successful movie.

Highlander. S1E14. Killer mimes! This was a very silly episode with some very hammy acting. It was worth it just for the adorable flashback of when Duncan meets Tessa for the first time. Still, killer mimes! Someone had to write this and think it would make a great episode. Why do two French policemen speak English to each other? This was a really good bad episode. Very silly in a lot of ways.

Jon Stewart made a slash fanfiction joke (about a history book on the founding fathers) at the beginning of yesterday’s show that I don’t think his audience got. Hee.

So Conservatives and Liberal Democrats came to some sort of agreement and Cameron is now the Prime Minister. We’ll see if the coalition with actually work. Still, conservatives in power make me sad even if it is in a foreign country.

Lovely response to current fanfic discussion, a summary of the internet in the recent past.

As I ate dinner, a fanfic idea about Remus came to me and I actually sat down and wrote it for once. The finished result was not actually a story I set out to tell, it gained a life of its own. It is mostly angst. Bear is going to beta for me (after I explained to him what beta meant), if he actually gets around to it.

( House S6E20 )

I am still waiting on whether to go to the doctor again. My symptoms feel better but my body is still not 100%. I will see a bit longer. I might go on Monday since I’ll be on campus anyway.

When I woke up this morning, it was to the heavily pouring rain. My first thought was that “the Daily Show” was cursed. I had a few other chances to go see the taping of it, but one time we couldn’t make it and another time the line cut off right in front of us. With Papa getting sick and the rain, I thought the universe was trying to tell me something. But it all worked out and I got to see Jon Stewart live.

I was home until 1pm so that I could give Papa tea and lunch and just be home with him, and then I left to catch the bus. I was worried it would take too long again, but I got to “Daily Show” studio surprisingly fast. I took the express bus and then transferred to the E train at Chambers. I was at the studio by 2:40 and that with a bathroom stop. There weren’t that many people ahead of me, so I settled down to wait, knowing for sure we would make the show this time.

It was a long wait, but I came prepared with “Dune.” The pouring rain started again for a bit, but we were under awning and just had to make sure the water won’t come through the gaps. Medusa came to join me around 4 and then we waited some more. Then finally we got to go inside and then see the show. The warm-up guy laughed at the audience some and Jon Stewart came out to answer some questions and he was funny. The Daily Show studio is bigger than the Colbert Studio, and it felt more formal. Didn’t get the handshake this time, but it was still lots of fun.

Jon Stewart included a few jokes from the pre-show into the show itself, which we as the audience appreciated and at the end he chatted with Colbert with his feet on his desk before filming the segment with Colbert. For me the funniest bits were on Times Square failed bomb. The guest was alright, not too funny but the rest of the show was great. It is a long wait and I’m glad I went. I won’t probably go again but it was a great experience.

After the show, we went to have some Indian food. Ninth Avenue has some good restaurants. And I even took food home for the next day. We also got to walk in the city a bit.

The trip home was very quick and only took an hour by taking subway down to Rector St and catching express bus again. So for a day that started depressing and rainy and uncertain, it turned into a very good day.

Jon Stewart mocking Glen Beck: priceless.

“Who Do You Think You Are?” Today’s episode is about Lisa Kudrow and she traveled to Belarus! to look into the story of her great-grandmother, who lived in little Jewish community outside Minsk. I just liked that there were pictures on Minsk on national television. And the whole episode was just really sweet especially as Lisa Kudrow found a cousin of her father still alive in Poland.

( Caprica S1E8 )

Jon Stewart’s analysis of credit card use and credit card reform - priceless

Today I went to dinner in the city with the girls. We’ve been planning this for a few weeks. I was nice to get out of the house. It has been snowy and cold the whole month and I mostly stay home lately. At one o’clock in the afternoon lots of plans collided together, which called for some last minute changes. A few weeks ago, my Mom offered to host a daughter of her classmate who was coming to New York to audition for a music school. (She is a high school senior) She lives in Minnesota, or some such northern state, but she was in Boston in the beginning of this week for auditions to other music schools. She was planning to come to New York by train on Thursday or Friday for her Sunday audition, but due to upcoming snowstorm, she got last minute ticket out on Wednesday. Since I was going to Manhattan for dinner anyway, and her train would get to Penn station by 8pm, it was up to me to pick her up. I called the girls to move up the dinner to 6pm, and luckily no one had a problem with this. So my evening became much more scheduled, which slightly elevated my anxiety level. But other than some unsteadiness by the end of dinner (which was possibly cause by impromptu workout), I was fine and I’m just happy about that.

The whole evening was filled with randomness. First, on the subway, on the way to dinner, we were entertained by two guys, one of drums and one on guitar, who not only played but tried to engaged a train full of New Yorkers in a conversation and tried to get all to be polite and say “good evening.” Now, most people in New York subways are trained to mind their own business and not to react to anything. So most of that was like pulling teeth. Still, they played a nice song and I gave them the change I had. It did pass the time.

In the subway station, where I got out, the escalator was not working. Normally, this would not be a huge issue, but this particular station happens to be very deep underground. So I had an impromptu stair master climb. It was long. I went for consistent and steady but still, I have been sitting at home since it is winter, and my body is not in a shape it is in the summer when I roller-blade every other day. By the end I had to drink my whole water bottle and I think it might have contributed to general malaise feeling by the end of the evening. It did energize me for a bit, though and it does remind me to get up and walk more.

Dinner itself was great. We got a table in a restaurant where we ate before and where usually you need to wait a while to get a table. I didn’t want to leave early but I had to get to train station. I didn’t realize it until much later (when I was on the ferry heading home) that I forgot my scarf at the restaurant. Luckily, I called Marianna, who found the phone number for the restaurant and they found it. She will pick it up for me tomorrow.

I then picked up the girl in the train station, which was actually hassle free. We took the subway, the ferry and the train back to my house, since it is cheaper and easier to do with a suitcase and it has such pretty views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. By the time we got home, I was exhausted but happy with my evening.

Women’s aerials – Belarus in fourth, one woman fell.

Women’s bobsled – two sleds overturned but otherwise fun to watch. The German crash was a bit horrific, but they were all ok.

This morning I was waiting for a package from India that contained a necklace for my Aunt in Belarus that Mama ordered from New York in the internet – global commerce in action. I just find this cool. I finally came like twenty minutes before I had to leave the house to go to the city.

Medusa and I were supposed to go to “The Daily Show” today. So we met earlier for lunch. We stumbled into a Thai place that was decent with really good spring rolls and tasty dressing and we walked around a lot. But in seeking a bathroom before we went to wait on the Daily Show line, we got to the line too late. The line was enormous and we got cut off and didn’t get to go. I’m disappointed but there is nothing one can do. I’ll try to get tickets for May or something. At least we got to hang out and eat Thai food so it was not for nothing. Next time I’ll know to be there around 2:30.

Instead of the show, I went to join Yeva for a free Hebrew class in a synagogue on fifth avenue. It was a nice small class that practiced letters and basic sentences. While I know all the letters and vowels pretty solidly by now, I never read outloud to a person who knows Hebrew before and it was good to do that and get little corrections and reinforcement too and hear letter read. Leah, the girl, who taught the class was very welcoming and the class was very informative. It takes me too long to get to the city, otherwise, I would go every week.

After the class we met up with Marianna and Janna for dinner (I was planning to join that dinner after a show anyway). We went to this Italian place where the waiter flirted with Yeva and we got a wrong appetizer so we ended up eating two appetizers for the price of one (confusing Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese and regular mushrooms with mozzarella does take talent) and the food was pretty decent. Not the best Italian restaurant ever but decent one. Just seeing each other again was a fun part. So the whole day ended up being a socializing day and walking around a lot day and I’m just grateful for that.