It's like the LJ book of old and will download your LJ (or LJs). So I have got elisi, and also 147days (where I posted my two NC-17 fics) and when_i_write (where I posted the George the stories, back when they were fic and before I began turning them into a novel). I have not imported them, not sure if anyone would really care...?
Dimash: War and Peace (with English subtitles), Arnau concert, performed in Kyiv 11.03.2020. Dimash composed the melody as part of his Master's degree and collaborated with the Chinese poet Yao Qian to create the lyrics, to make sure they conveyed what he wanted to say.
The Atlantic: How Zelensky Gave the World a Jewish Hero As the Ukrainian president captivates the world with his bravery, he offers a reminder of the inroads Eastern and Central European Jews have made in overcoming their status as perpetual outsiders.
— The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) March 7, 2022
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This is a very scattered post. Have a beautiful song:
THE SINGER 2017 Sandy Lam 《My Dearest》Ep.4 (Sandy Lam was the winner of the Singer competition the year Dimash was a contestant. She is incredibly famous in China, and it's easy to see why.)
cant help but feel like the world as we know it has irreparably been changed. and here we were thinking the pandemic had changed us irreparably. i wistfully remember the good old days of just pandemic.
Yesterday’s post was very focussed. This is going to be a ton of different things, so I’m putting it all under a cut. Just a sort of rambling snapshot of this moment in time… I have tried to do subheadings, mostly for my own sake.
Ukrainian woman confronts Russian soldiers in Henychesk, Kherson region. Asks them why they came to our land and urges to put sunflower seeds in their pockets [so that flowers would grow when they die on the Ukrainian land] pic.twitter.com/ztTx2qK7kB
Watching Putin's attack on Ukraine play out, I am struck by the thought that Putin learned the lesson from the wrong Afghanistan war. And he has also vastly misunderstood post-Zelenskiy Ukraine. 1/?
Not much of an update, but I saw this and it seemed apt...
(Not that I agree with lifting all the restrictions!)
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And I've been meaning to share this anyway, but it's also seems a good day to remember that Russia is so much more than [the other] You-Know-Who. I give you:
Diana Ankudinova: Can’t Help Falling in Love
She is only 18, but her VOICE. *hands*
She is a dramatic contralto (the deepest, darkest, and most powerful contralto voice). You can read more on wikipedia, but in short her mother physically abused her when she was young, before leaving her at a bus stop age 3. She was sent to an orphanage, and then adopted. ♥ Since she had a stutter, she was given signing lessons to help improve her general speech and vocal skills, and she quickly discovered that she loved singing. The rest is history...
The song is only 3 minutes long, but the video carries on and has all the comments by the 'judges' for the performance (they're fellow singers, it's not a talent show, but a competition between professionals).
And here is a reaction by a professional opera singer (bass).
My internal measuring stick for storms is 'Jólaódnin 88' (The Christmas Storm '88) in the Faroes. I found an article here - it's in Faroese, but if you scroll down you there is a video of the aftermath in a village, with almost every house being damaged in one way or another (mostly roofs blowing off). I remember it well, I did not get much sleep. Although at least our roof stayed put, one of my friends got dragged out of bed in the middle of the night so she could help her brother and her dad hold the roof down. (Note: Houses in the Faroes are built to withstand a good deal...)
Anyway, re. Storm Eunice at one point a record gust of 122mph was measured on the Isle of Wight. During the Christmas Storm it measured winds up to 138mph, and then the measuring tool* broke.
I hope everyone is safe and no more trees fall on people.
*There is probably a word, but I am too tired to think of it
I do my best to read my flist and keep meaning to comment because you all write interesting things that I want to talk about, so I have a ton of tabs open... Whether I ever managed to actually get to them is another story. But my intentions are good. ;)
And it's not that I want to live in, say, China - I'm quite happy with Free Speech* and all the rest - but it'd be nice to feel like those in charge weren't actively trying to kill people. :(
*Speaking of free speech, I don't really want to wade into the whole Jimmy Carr nightmare. I will merely link to two things. Here is Stewart Lee talking about political correctness, the gist being that if your joke comes across as if you agree with the bigots you might want to rethink what you say/how you say it:
And then this, which is utterly harrowing:
Instead of watching that #JimmyCarr video, read our colleague Szymon's interview with his grandmother Sabina, a #Roma survivor of the #Holocaust
Finally, another new singer - well, new to me. He is Chinese and his name is Hua Chenyu and every song is a new surprise and delight. He is impossible to pin down genre or style wise, but this seemed the perfect song for this post.
So today I will point you towards this song, which unfortunately I couldn't find on youtube (well, not live/good quality), so instead I shall link to facebook:
The performance is from the Singer competition (2020). He created this song to encourage people in Wuhan to fight against covid-19 and sang it on February 21, 2020.
“Seriously I can just come out and say it? Call him a liar?” asks @JonathanPieNews, a fictional broadcast reporter created and performed by comedian Tom Walker, in a satirical video about Britain’s Prime Minister. “God bless America.” https://t.co/Hu6Q6q8TBppic.twitter.com/ojr8Pb1d0S
And the Olympics are here (again). There is always this difficult contrast between what the Olympics stand for - striving for the best, harmony between countries, incredible feats - and the reality underpinning the whole thing... not just China's genocide of the Uyghurs, but how the whole history is pretty terrible. (Twitter thread here.)
And yet we watched the Opening Ceremony and enjoyed it... And I love figure skating!
I guess it's a bit like trying to separate a 'problematic' creator and their work. I still love Buffy, even if Joss turned out to be a terrible person.
Speaking of China, then this is a very interesting article:
Let's end with something beautiful. Dimash Kudaibergen & Tengri performing 'Swan Goose' at the Spring Festival Gala 2019. (Or: Kazakhstan + Mongolia + China in musical format.)
This is not a song - 'Dears' are what Dimash calls his fans, and today is the 5th anniversary of that naming. There is an article on Dimash News, and Dimash posted a video on youtube to thank his Dears and wish them happy anniversary. (Translation here, although I'm sure subtitles will be added.)
Although I have been in many show fandoms, until now have not been following an singer to this extent, so have nothing really to compare it to, but I can confidently say that the Dears are some of the nicest, most dedicated and welcoming fans I have ever come across. They take their cues from their idol and do their best to always be polite and honourable, and have created the most positive and supportive fandom. <3
(I might add to this at some point, just to collect stuff in one place - because there are ton of fun videos out there - but it's late and I'm tired.)
In this clip from 1965, Richard Dimbleby returned to the site of the Belsen concentration camp where he had reported from shortly after its liberation in 1945. He recounted the horrific scenes he witnessed that day.pic.twitter.com/bC8Q1xzj2L
The news is just somewhere through the looking glass at this point. Never mind Russia gearing up for WW3, this is what's happening in jolly old Blighty:
Thinking about biological collections lately I'm reminded of the time that somehow at age 4, I got a personal tour of the @UCBerkeley entomology collection (Essig?) from a kind scientist (anybody know who?!). Asked my parents how on earth THAT happened, and it turns out...🤯
Today is five years since Dimash first broke though globally, on the 'Singer' programme in China with 'S.O.S' (post here). He's posted on instagram to commemorate the occasion. Below I have added the new version from his digital concert in 2021, which is one of my favourites. <3
Today we went to see [the new] West Side Story, which was very good. (Sorry, no deep thoughts.)
Post has been cloned from dreamwidth. Comments welcome everywhere.
I have previously pondered the lack of cultural impact of the Spanish Flu (not sure that's the best phrasing, but I'm tired), although it makes sense considering WW1 and everything else. However, having just re-read Dorothy Sayer's 'Whose Body' (the first Peter Wimsey novel) I wonder if it's just not having been tuned into looking for it? 'Whose Body' was first published in 1923, and this bit made me sit up and take notice:
The Coroner, a medical man of precise habits and unimaginative aspect, arrived punctually, and looking peevishly round at the crowded assembly, directed all the windows to be opened, thus letting in a stream of drizzling fog upon the heads of the unfortunates on that side of the room. This caused a commotion and some expressions of disapproval, checked sternly by the Coroner, who said that with the influenza about again an unventilated room was a death-trap; that anybody who chose to object to open windows had the obvious remedy of leaving the court, and further, that if any disturbance was made he would clear the court.
Since it's exactly a year since Dimash held his online concert, I thought I would choose one of the songs from that performance today - a song which probably reflects his emotions after all the recent violence. His instagram has been suspended, but there is still a post up on his facebook page where he, very diplomatically, voices his support for the protesters. Before it all turned deadly and they silenced the whole country. :(
Full playlist of the concert here, and there is an instagram post with the original programme.
Post has been cloned from dreamwidth. Comments welcome everywhere.
About The Wedding of River Song: "Eleven, in the very episode that's about killing off the Lonely God once and for all, meets River when she is Waters of Mars Ten. He's just decided to lay this part of himself to rest, and there's the Timelord Victorious standing right in front of him--and he doesn't run away, or shove her in a cupboard, or try to kill her, or "give her a choice" to make himself feel better about killing her... he marries her. He loves her and accepts her and that's how he gets her to stop." 10littlebullets
Quill: "Alien invasion or teen angst?" Matteusz: "Teen angst is a pejorative phrase." Class S1.03, Nightvisiting
"If someone is there for you, is asking nothing of you and has loved you faithfully and unconditionally for all those years and if that person is the one that you turn to for comfort and support when you are at your most vulnerable, and if they give you that comfort and support unconditionally asking nothing in return, then whether you acknowledge it or not, that is love, so yes Buffy loved Spike." (Jane Espenson?)
The Doctor (to River): "Please. Help me."
About Chosen: "Even if we hadn’t seen Buffy’s face shining in the most perfect, absolute expression of love in that final scene – didn’t everything that Buffy and Spike were to each other already tell us very, very clearly that they loved each other? And if you don’t see that – didn’t already see that, long before this scene – then, goodness, we’re not watching the same show." the_royal_anna
Mr Lux: "And who is the Doctor?" River: "The only story you'll ever tell - if you survive him." 'Forest of the Dead'
“The Angel and Spike relationship has this mythic feel... David and James know how to play everything like they hate each other, but there is this weird underlying love, and I can't write that... I just love Spike so much and think he is the best character ever. He is just a writer's dream. Spike is the outsider there to deconstruct all the heroes because he doesn't play along, yet he is one, but he would never admit it. I think we are proud he became part of the AtS universe without acting like he was part of it.” Drew Goddard
"Season six [of Buffy] remains the highlight. You won't find a more skilled extended exploration of existential turmoil on the big or small screen. And I'm not talking "woe is me" teenage angst, but a genuine search for what it means to be human. It's Bergman for the masses." Tim Porter, Paste Magazine
Ianto: "I – know you get lonely." Jack: "Going home wouldn't fix that. Being here, I've seen things I never dreamt I'd see. Loved people I never would have known if I'd just stayed where I was... And I wouldn't change that for the world." 'To The Last Man'
The Seventh Doctor: "I can hear the sound of empires toppling." 'The Happiness Patrol'
Messenger: "There is a woman who wants to meet you." Doctor: That's nice, but I'm married." The prequel to 'Asylum of the Daleks'
While they were eating, for the first time ever, a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. No one heard it over the noise of the traffic, but it was there, right enough. 'Good Omens'
Previous
gillo recommended this, and it works very nicely:
lateseasonlove - I had basically forgotten that I used to run a comm, but thanks to the magic of imports it now exists on DW: https://lateseasonlove.dreamwidth.org/
nostalgic
tired
sad
blank
sleepy
thoughtful
