A major Italian WTF, various Doctor Who and BSG stuff anf fic planning

[misscam]

Right. So my brother and his girlfriend are visiting, which is why I am a bit absent and behind on things. We've been out doing stuff, including an amusement part where my head had an unfortunate encounter with a steel trash bin. Don't ask, it's profoundly stupid.

In summary of stuff going on:

1. Congratulations to Spain on winning the Euro, and deservedly so. They were the best during the match, and hey, they've certainly waited long enough for it.

2. WTF Berlusconi?! Fingerprinting gypsy children for being only that, are you fucking kidding me?! SO. MUCH. FAIL. Seriously, what the shit is this shit and WHAT. I just... WHAT THE RAGING EVERLASTING FRAK? What the hell is going on in Italy? falena84, maybe you should take your mother's suggestion and marry me for Norwegian citizenship already. Because whatever is going on in your country, *that* is such a bad sign it gives me shivers.

3. I saw the Doctor Who episode. I has Worries (so many it needs a capital letter) about the next one, and therefore hold my opinion on it so far. I haven't really had time to check fandom opinion on it much (apart from modding T&C), so tell me, has there been implosion yet or is everything storing up for part two?

4. Speaking of Doctor Who, this one, which I did see. Drawing a line between what is bashing and what isn't can be tricky at times, which we also come up against on T&C. But eh well, do the best you can, right?

5. When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ.
The Doctor: What do you think of that, now, eh? A Viking helmet.
Steven Taylor: Maybe.
The Doctor: What do you mean, "maybe"? What do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?

6. And my own version: When you see this post, quote from Battlestar Galactica on your LJ.
William Adama: What can I get you?
Laura Roslin: A new body. Perhaps o­ne of those young Cylon models from the Resurrection Ship
Adama: I can't see you as a blonde.
Roslin: You'd be surprised.

7. Brother loves the BSG. It's quite funny, actually. We've made it past Resurrection Ship II, and I've observed the following things so far:
- Brother has no love lost for Lee. At all. Rolling his eyes, calling him the 'terrible spawn' - yeah, there's not much Lee love there.
- Brother has deep love of Adama senior, despite a tendency to call him Obama accidentally. (Which always makes me laugh.) When That Thing happened at the end of season one, brother was rather annoyed, and when Admiral Cain showed up in Pegasus he was downright perturbed when she took command from Adama, even crossing his arms while watching. 'How long do I have to endure ths shit?' was his exact quote on Adama not in charge. When Laura promotes Bill, brother wondered why she didn't promote him even further. Clearly, Admiral is not good enough. (Brother also liked the kiss, calling it 'a cute life-time partner thing', referring to them being partners in leading the Fleet. I think he will approve of the eventual pair-up.)
- Chief should end up with Boomer again, in bro's opinion.
- I think bro rather fancies an Eight/Six girl-fight.
- Originally being quite unkeen on visions and that aspect of the, bro's now really quite into it and trying to lure out of me who'se behind it all. Since I don't know, that's easy enough to avoid spoiling.
- Rewatching it chronologically when knowing where it ends up really does fill you with an appreciation for the structure of the story.
- My brother and I sharing tastes is once again apparent.

8. Fic planning for the summer:
- Banter fic for bluerosefairy. Adama/Roslin and boxing, which is rather leading me down the path of Intentional Bad Euphemisms. Hmm.
- My assignment for the A/R gift exchange. Shh, it's secret what I'm doing.
- "What We Live By", the topic 'comfort' for the A/R month of love in August.
- A piece contrasting the story being read by the decendants of Galactica with what really happened, how stories change into what we want to make of them.
- Hera walking the dreams of the Galactica crew.
- If what might happen in the DW finale does happen, a story about having memories of something that never really happened to you and others having to deal with it. (Vague enough for you?)
- Whatever else strikes my brain.

9. Another chapter is the never-ending soap opera of the American embassy in Norway. *facepalm* Can we just like get that thing done already before the entire population of Norway ends up arguing over it?

10. And how are you all?

Comments

[predictivememo.livejournal.com]

3. Oh there has been much, much squee-ing, and a great many people are quietly muttering about Giant Reset Buttons of Doom. Rusty however does seem to have taken reasonable control of the Total Bollocks Overdrive (TM) this time, to the point where he may even escape uninjured if Saturday sucks monkeyballs.

There's more theorising than Mulder could ever manage. A lot of it is very funny too...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I guess the truth will be out there on Saturday.

Personally, I have great fears about Saturday sucking monkeyballs, because though the episode was awesome, the plot was very think and I worry where that will go a great deal.

Ah well, we shall see.

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

What the hell is going on in Italy?

Seemingly, the fascists are back in charge...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Given some of Berlu's allies, that is more scarily true than it should be.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

- Rewatching it chronologically when knowing where it ends up really does fill you with an appreciation for the structure of the story.

Totally agree. And am also very amused at how he and Luke are sort of equal and opposite. Cos when Maelstrom happened, Luke's attitude was very much "So when does That get Undone? It better, or I'm not watching anymore." (obviously substituting words to remove spoilers)

- Luke called Sam a 'thirty second boyfriend', and continuously keeps trying to guess how he will be 'got out of the way'. Never questioning that it will Happen.
- His attitude to Dee was pretty much the same
- Perhaps my biggest squee was that when I got him watching Unfinished Business he didn't complain about the kissy parts. Believe me, that is BIG.
- Luke has no love lost for Roslin, as evidenced by his complaining about her voice. 'Why's she speak in such an annoying sweet voice?" and the Old Man gets voice complaints, too. "Why's he whispering?"

10. I have one more class to teach, then it's not holidays, but I don't have to plan more lessons. Tomorrow night is parent night though, so ACK to sitting in freezing gym for two hours in case parents want to ask me about their kids' marks. Also ACK cos talking to parents scares me for I always expect them to blame me for their kid not doing better. Cos I usually blame myself anyway, I guess.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Basically, I've gone for the parents, you've gone for the kids, and we've influced the people around us to like the same :P

For UB, I suspect the brother to get greatly amused at the weed smoking. Hee.

But on warm underwear tomorrow and think of porn to keep you warm?

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Put on warm underwear tomorrow and think of porn to keep you warm?

I do that every day! But I dunno if that's the kind of warm I oughtta be while doing parent interviews...

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

And also, you went for the responsible and I went for the hot. I am so shallow and you are so grown up. :P Noone would believe I'm actually the senior of us two, hehe.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heeey! Adama and Roslin are also hot, just in a different way.

And you're only senior by a little, pervy porn thinker.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Uh huh. I could give you cute, loving, sweet, awesome... but hot? Eww no. We'll have to agree to disagree. ;)

And only by a little? We were born in different decades!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

They're hot to me, so I guess we'll have to.

In different decades by a year apart. Don't try to get smart with me, missy.

[bex245.livejournal.com]

I still have not watched last week's DW. Someone in my house deleted it off my DVR so I'm gonna have to watch it on iPlayer. Grr.

So cool that you got your brother watching BSG. I make my sister watch all of my shows. lol. Not BSG yet, cos I don't have any on DVD. Some day.... *evil laugh*

Oh, and he so will be an AR shipper by the end of it. It's practically impossible not to be. XD :P

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a crime worthy of a kick to the balls. Then again, it ends on a cliffhanger, so now you'll have less waiting time for the conclusion.

Oh, my brother and I are so alike I make him watch and read most of the stuff I like. 90% of the time, he'll love it too. He even likes some of the relationship stuff, so I have high hopes for his enjoyment of A/R ;)

[falena]

I didn't post about that because I have no more rage left inside me. I'm horrified and saddened and kinda hopeless. As soon as I heard that all I could think of was Mussolini and his racial laws (which not only targeted Jews but also Romas and homosexuals) and I shivered in horror.

As for the stopping of the trials...I have no words, again. The only reason I do not want to leave this bloody country is that some of the sane and honest citizens should try and stay to change it for the better but frankly, I'm starting to think this is a losing battle.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry :(

I think sometimes, for a big enough change to happen, things need to get really, really bad. I don't know, but Italy sounds to have serious problems that Berlusconi isn't the cause of, but a symptom of.

This lastest is horrific, though. I have no words.

This probably just depresses you more. Can I cheer you up with something?

A teel deer cry of frustration. Sorry about that.

[falena]

Berlusconi isn't the cause of, but a symptom of.

Oh, I know. I know that only too well. He is in power because half of Italy voted for him. He's the legitimate leader of this country and he represents it very well.

Once upon a time, when I was younger and more naive, I used to think people voted for corrupt fuckers like Berlu (but not only him., if he had the monopoly on sleaziness on the Italian political scenario I'd be actually ecstatic -- all countries have sleazy politicians, the problem here is that Berlu-like types are not the exception, they are the bloody norm!) because they didn't know better.

In a country with pretty recent alphabetisation (up until the 1950s the literacy levels down here were still low and nowadays in some parts of Italy - mainly in the South, Naples springs to mind as an example - there are still people whose mothertongue is not Italian, they use the local dialect instead, so for them reading the text of a criminal sentence would amount to trying to read Arab, I'm not exaggerating here) with one of the lowest rates of newspapers read of the EU and no decent media to speak of, I honestly thought people didn't know the sort of criminal past and business Berlu et al. have.

But now, now I know better. They do know and that's exactly the reason why they voted for him! If they were in the same position, that's exactly what they'd do. They'd evade taxes, bribe people here and there, disregard completely the judiciary and all it embodies, get cosy with the Mafia, indulge in nepotism and favouritism etc. , etc, all in the name of their own benefit.

There are sociological and historical reasons, of course, but the norms of civil society haven't quite sunk in here. I know it sounds brutal and a bit of an exaggeration, but I truly believe it.
In a way, we're still in the Middle Ages here. We haven't got quite past the homo homini lupus stage that, IIRC, Hobbes described as the state of nature. (In theory, human society has moved on to the state of law, in the meantime).
The state is something to fear, something to distrust and the term collective welfare, well that's just a bedtime story only kids are allowed to believe in.
Italians know they have nothing to rely on except themselves (and their families - that's why family is the only real value we have, and the unit on which even Mafia is -mostly - still based on to this day) and that's why they have become so fucking selfish and cynical.

I do hope I'm wrong and I do hope this situation can get better. When I'm sad I reread bits of the Italian constitution (and by writing this I revealed myself as the pathetic, sad woman that I am – who on earth reads their own constitution for pleasure?) which is a thing of beauty and the evidence that at some point (immediately after WWII, when the Italian republic was officially born) a tiny slice of this society believed that we could do better. (If you can find a translated copy, I promise it’s not boring legalese. Okay, it is a legal text but it is written with remarkable clarity and if you knew Italian bureaucratic language, you’d knew this is tantamount to a bloody miracle).

I honestly am at a loss here.
Mostly, I confess I’m guilty of burying my head in the sand and trying not to think about these matters because my faith in my fellow countrymen seems only to be constantly decreasing.

And no, I do not think I am better than 28 million Italians, give or take, that would be horribly presumptuous – not to mention wrong. I just think I am different – in fact I often think I’d be happier if my parents had raised me to believe differently, but one cannot choose the family in which one is born, and, at the end of the day, I’m very glad my parents taught me critical thinking at the very least.

[mad-troll.livejournal.com]

falena84, maybe you should take your mother's suggestion and marry me for Norwegian citizenship already. Because whatever is going on in your country, *that* is such a bad sign it gives me shivers.

NAW!
Come on, how can you deprive of a sane, thinking (and honest, too!) person a country that's already destitute on the sane-thinking-honest-citizens front?

As for "what the hell is going on in Italy"..well, do you remember fascism and its first years? Like that,except its good aspects.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, you need to save those you can because batshit is catching.

All of this has happened before and will happen again. Sigh.

Italy. VERDICT: UTMOST FAIL

[mad-troll.livejournal.com]

..it's not so much that the batshit is catching as that unweeds spread when they're not taken care of (tr: disposed of).
We're currently dealing -or not-dealing- with the lovely little sprouts of fascism, liberally crossed with the most devious Christian Democracy (the ex-party, that is) of the infamous '70-'80.
Same ideas, same people (REALLY! Look them up: they're the same!).