happy solstice

[rivendellrose]

I forgot to post for the solstice yesterday, but I'm wishing everybody who celebrates it or something around it the very best.

Today we went out to breakfast at our favorite local hippie restaurant and did a crossword, then came home and wrapped presents (with some "help" from the cats, of course), then broke for individual projects -- The Boy found a "Make your own NES game" thing online, so he's animating sprites right now, and I did some digging around for new DW icons (didn't actually wind up with much success, but I still have a lot of spaces to fill, so it's an ongoing project) and listened to some of my favorite holiday music.

Tonight, we watch Love Actually. I am not interested in hearing The Discourse about why it is not a good movie, because a) I love it, b) I really don't care if it's #problematic, c) I have literally watched this movie every December but one since the year it came out in theaters, and the year after the one I skipped it did not go well at all (see our current presidency for some evidence). I'm not saying these things are connected, but I'm not taking any chances, either.

And, speaking of #problematic things that make up my holiday tradition list, if you at all like "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (which I do, and I'm not particularly interested in arguing about it), do yourself a favor and watch Audra McDonald and Stephen Colbert sing it. Apologies for linking to my own Tumblr, but I can't seem to figure out how to embed this video, and Viacom in their infinite fucking wisdom have removed it from everywhere else I can find. Still, it's worth the trouble.

Comments

[musyc]

I love Love Actually. I watch it at least a half-dozen times every holiday season. It's one of my top five movies for the season and in my top twenty of movies overall. (And every year, I still shout at the screen "don't answer that phone!" But she always does. *sigh*)

[rivendellrose]

THANK YOU! I get so tired every year of the rotating thinkpieces and Twitter threads about what a bad movie it is, and the returning arguments, and whatnot. I've loved that blasted movie ever since it came out in theaters, and it never fails to make me happy. Beyond that, I don't give a damn!

(Oh my god, the phone. I get it, but... don't answer. Just once. Just please for the love of god, don't.)

[musyc]

I often feel that people who complain have never seen someone actually do something ridiculous over love. Be desperately in love with your best friend's girlfriend? It happens! Fly to another country and propose to someone you hardly know? It happens! Get your heart broken at Christmas? Happens a lot!

I mean, I moved a few hundred miles to live with someone I'd only dated online, soooooooooo.

I think it's a fairly realistic movie. (Other than the one who gets all the babes in America. But I'd probably hit on the guy with the British accent too, so. *shrug* ) People do all those things!

Just ... poor Karl.

[rivendellrose]

The whole thing with the babes in America... I spent the whole first time I watched that scene thinking "At any moment he's going to wake up still one the plane."

Now I just enjoy the music, because it is perfect early 2000s American nostalgia. XD

I think soommmme of the complaints stem from people thinking that the movie glorifies, like, the guy who was in love with his best friend's wife. And, to be fair, we see a hell of a lot more of him than we do the actual best friend / husband. But... the movie isn't saying that Juliet should break up with him and go be with this other guy? It's very clearly not. It's just saying "Hey, this guy is in love with his best friend's wife, and he's trying to deal with that, and he does deal with it." Same with Alan Rickman's character having an emotional affair -- he does it, it's not good, it is very clearly marked as not good, and he's called out for it and gets punished, and their reunion at the end of the film is an awkward "maybe this will work out, maybe it won't" kind of thing. I think that's totally fair, and, as you said, fairly realistic for a movie. Especially for a holiday movie!

[songscloset]

I love that movie! We watch it during the year, not just at Christmas.

And yeah, I really want Laura to not answer the blasted phone, but mostly, I get mad at the staff where her brother is living. They are not doing their jobs if he can call her at any hour of the day or night. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

Watching Emma Thompson cry in her bedroom makes my heart ache, every single time, and the casual way Alan says, "To further your emotional education." just crushes me.

What's the site for making NES games online?

[rivendellrose]

We only watch it the once each year, to make sure we don't get sick of it. XD

Y'know, that's... actually a really good point about the staff at Laura's brother's place, and one that had never occurred to me before. Plot device, obviously, but... yeah, really disturbing, when you think about it.

Emma Thompson is my hero, and it breaks my heart to see her cry. I'm glad to know that in reality she and Alan were really good friends, because they're just so damned heartbreaking in this movie, and he's so... realistic, and so awful to see like this. She's always really open and honest with her emotions in her roles, but I'm glad she got to do something this hard in scenes with someone she seems to have really trusted and liked in their working lives together.

It's just a thread about how to do it, but it's here!

[nenya_kanadka]

That is a super pretty icon!!

My only issue with Love, Actually is that it's not more gay, but hey, nothing's perfect.

<3<3<3

[songscloset]

Yeah, the lack of homosexuality really shows the older the movie gets, doesn't it? It's sad, really.

[rivendellrose]

Agreed. Same with the lack of inclusion of non-white characters/actors, apart from Colin's one friend and Chiwetel Ejiafor (who is criminally underused and has, like, three lines). It's pretty darned awkward, looking back.

Whoops, and they do also have Hugh Grant's chief of staff or whatever she is. Points for that, I like that actress though I can never remember her name.

[rivendellrose]

Thank you! I have no idea where the photo came from, sadly -- I saved it off Tumblr, I guess, but failed to include credit to the photographer. Alas.

It really, really does need some non-heterosexual representation, and also more non-white people.