Here's a Banned TV Christmas Advert

I'm not currently parked in a zone where I can shop at Iceland, but when I read on Twitter that their Christmas ad was banned, I wondered why - and I fail to understand why anyone would decide to ban this ad.

If we don't take better care of Mother Earth, most living creatures will die a horrible death all too soon.

If this was banned to not upset greedy bipeds who, from their desks, thousands of miles away from the places they order reaped apart, could object to being named and shamed (but they're not named and shamed in this ad; only the abject practice of destroying things to make more money is denounced), it just shows that some people are just spineless.

This ad could show some people - and children - how wrong most palm oil is.

There's nothing wrong with people caring and shopping responsibly.

I want to believe* that most bipeds can be better than greedy beasts (especially if properly educated)...

*: I'm probably way too optimistic...I know...

Another Portrait on Canvas

Here's a new one:

Who Wrote That? A "Women of NCIS" Post

Once upon a time, I was watching JAG...

... so I started watching NCIS when it was created, and I started watching NCIS: Los Angeles when it was created, and then NCIS: New Orleans, as well.

Today?

I think I've had enough, and if I want to be honest, the biggest clue was there from the moment the future NCIS team was featured in JAG (Ice Queen, s08e20): I flinched when the ME, Dr Donald Mallard (David McCallum) was so unpleasant with a female agent and judgemental about the female victim on his slab.

Example 1:

Dr Donald Mallard: How about dinner tonight after the autopsy?
Special Agent Vivian Blackadder: I never date men old enough to be my father, Ducky.
Dr Donald Mallard: Agent Blackadder reminds me of a young woman I autopsied once.  

Because it's all right to compare a woman to an old corpse when she turns you down (for whatever frigging reason!)

Example 2:  
Dr Donald Mallard: [flirting while performing an autopsy] You sure you won't have dinner with me?
Special Agent Vivian Blackadder: Oh, Ducky, you're disgusting!  
Dr. Donald Mallard: The pursuit of sex is an affirmation of life, Vivian. That's why older men are so lascivious.

Seriously? Eugh!!! 

Example 3:  
Mallard is told that the dead officer, who was pregnant, was also single. His reaction?
Dr. Donald Mallard: [addressing the dead victim] Shame on you.  

Now, that's classy and such a modern thing to say in an episode that was aired on April 22^nd 2003!

Of course, it was just the "introduction" of these characters, and the writers needed to fine-tune the new voices for these characters, but I think it was a sign of things to come.

As in:

- On December, 16^th 2005 (Twilight, s02e23), the beloved Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) is shot in the head. You can't get more violent and final than this, and why? Because the actress wished to leave the show.

Payback: Kate Todd is annihilated.

- On May, 20^th 2008 (Judgment Day Part 1, s05e18), the female director of NCIS, Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly), is killed - after being diagnosed with something nasty that was taking its toll on the character. 
The character's authority had been undermined from the start: Gibbs (Mark Harmon) was seldom an obedient subordinate and he ends up burning her flat in order to cover a blunder of hers.

- On October 1^st 2013 (Past, Present, and Future, s11e02), Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) leaves the show. Her character had been manipulated by her father and ordered to shoot her half-brother so she could come close to Gibbs to spy on him. She was also tortured after being abducted by terrorists.

On February, 10^th 2017 (Family First, s13e24), Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly, who said he wanted to leave to widen his acting skills and was given  his own series) leaves.

His father's character will be invited in several episodes afterwards, and his character will be mentioned several times, as well.

How did the writers make DiNozzo leave? Ziva had a daughter with him (and she was such an utter bitch that she never told him) and now that Ziva died in a fire, he must be the hero, become a single father and raise his daughter? Even if Cote de Pablo left because she was disappointed with the scripts for her character, it reeks of sexist payback to have her burnt to a crisp so a man can leave to go play the main character in his own, brand new series. They couldn't even put her in a coma. No. The ungrateful bitch had to die - some horrible death.

- When Elenor Bishop (Emily Wikersham) joins NCIS (Gut Check, s11e09), her character's different, odd - innovative. She's quickly told (by Gibbs) to change her ways. Her husband was swell, but he goes and cheats on her. She finds love again - and he's murdered. Go on, pile up nastiness on her!

- Alexandra Quinn (Jennifer Esposito) was only in Season 14. She didn't return to Season 15 and there never was a proper explanation. Not even another character saying 'I phoned Quinn, and her mom's doing better' (as the mother's early onset of Alzheimer's seems to be the favourite theory - amongst fans... Not a word from the writers!).

- Delilah Fielding-McGee (Margo Harshman), a strong character, is hurt so badly in a missile attack that she ends up in a wheelchair. She's still a tough cookie, but she had to be hurt (no, it's not for the sake of drama; it's sexist writing, and - let's admit it - a part of the writers' childish bullying campaign against the McGee character).

- Gibbs and Fornell's ex-wife, Diane Sterling (Melinda McGraw), was always portrayed as a class A bitch. Surprise: she's killed like Kate.

- And now (Two Steps Back, s15e22), the kind-hearted Pauley Perrette was probably forced to leave because of physical violence on set? I believe her.

What makes me believe her? She's got nothing to gain by lying - and it's not as if it's the first time a loaded Suit does whatever he wants, is it? 
I've seen some people say they don't believe her because she fought with her ex-husband (and they clearly sided with him) and - and that's a bit rich! - because she reported being attacked by a homeless man and they don't believe her because of the way she told her story (!).
I've also seen some commenters demand that she gives a name or they won't believe her. Perfect! Try to bully her. A survivor speaks when she (or he) is ready. Some commenters demand to have a name so they can know that it's not any of the actors (if bipeds paid attention they'd properly read what she said, and they would know that it's some executive).
On top of the way the producers and the studios could not protect her, there's the way she was written out of the show. 
All right, she wasn't shot in the head or burnt alive, but everybody knows that she was assaulted outside her home a couple of years ago (don't even try to tell me that the writers didn't know or I'll club you with my favourite rolling pin) - and she's a survivor of domestic abuse... and how do they make her leave? She finds herself in front of an armed mugger and is shot, you say? 

Don't even try to tell me that it's to add "drama" about the character's fate. That was to hurt torture the actress. Full stop.

Do you want to have Abby Sciuto go to London? Here's how you do it if you're not a fucking sociopath:

1) After the restaurant thingy, Clay (Duane Henry) punches the mugger as Abby uses her Taser on the bad guy, who's eventually shipped to Gibbs's interrogation room.

2) It's early morning. Abby wakes up... in Clay's arms and he tells her how frightened he was and how much he loves her.

3) The fake mugger gives clues to find the real bad guy.

4) Clay is offered a massive promotion... in London. He refuses because he's fallen in love with Abby.

5) Abby stops the nutcase - again.

6) Abby goes to see Gibbs, and then Clay: 'We need to talk.'

7) Abby calls everybody to her lab: 'Clay's taking the new job in London... and I'm going with him. I'll work for NCIS in London - and for Scotland Yard.'

Hugs all around and Ducky starts giving Abby tips.

No one dies, and two characters leave.

Apparently it would kill some writers to give the public a happy ending from time to time (it didn't hurt the team from The Mentalist or White Collar, though, did it?).

NCIS: Los Angeles now...
At one point (I can't remember which episode it was), I remember thinking that there was something interesting going on. I later realized that there was an equal number of women and men in the number of main actors and actresses, which was pretty cool.
Then, there are strong women: Henrietta Lange (Linda Hunt), Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah), Nell Jones (Renée Felice Smith), Harley Hidoko (Andrea Bordeaux), Shay Mosley (Nia Long)...
But there are issues:
- Kensi is the one who's so badly hurt that she's got to go through physical therapy. Yes, the actress was pregnant and they needed a valid reason to have her off screen, but abduction or a secret mission for Hetty could have worked just as well. As well, in the latest episode (Ninguna Salida, s09e24), the strain with her fiancé and possible break-up is a cheap way to write drama into the plot.
- When Mosley arrives, there's a sheer lack of respect from Callen (Chris O'Donnell). The regular characters missed Hetty, who went missing, but their behaviours reek of passive bullying. We get enough of that in real life.
- Hetty, who's basically Superwoman and just rocks, is abducted and tortured in Season 9. The abduction was an interesting plot twist, but the torture was gratuitous (save me the "she won in the end").
- Let's not forget that Sam Hanna's wife, Michelle Quinn (Indira G. Wilson and Aunjanue Ellis), who's a character who was created out of the blue, was murdered in Unleashed (s08e24). Once more, spare me the "it makes good drama"; it sucked.
Basically, I'm not a happy bunny with this series, but I just growl at the telly.

Ah... NCIS: New Orleans...
The ME, Loreta Wade (CCH Pounder) is a great character.
Then... Meredith Brody (Zoe McLellan) left the show for stupid reasons. Her character could well have stayed with NCIS as Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito) and Sonja Percy (Shalita Grant) joined the team.
So, one of the "heads" wanted some drama and "Goodbye, Meredith", and now Percy's gone, too. In the regular cast we're left with four blokes and two gals. Keeping Meredith and Percy would have given us a 4/4 (apparently, you can't have that in Hollywood!).

I'm beginning to think that some level of sexism is what makes some American series survive in the long run.
After all, we often see intelligent, daring, open-minded series be cancelled by spineless networks and/or producers (let's have a look at Lucifer, for fun: witty show that follows its bible, no sexism, and four blokes and six gals (I'm counting Trixie) in the main cast. It worked beautifully - until Fox decided to kill it to have more football instead - don't even try to tell me it's because of the ratings!).
Sexism-free telly can work, some of the boys need to understand that (and stop being afraid of their own shadows, and stop protecting abusers, bullies, and plonkers with a sexist agenda). In the meantime, I'm done with the NCIS crap.

Kitten

We currently have "visiting" kittens (one abandoned female, two males in the neighbourhood... guess what happened, happens, and will be happening).

We're trying to have them adopted or, at least, neutered, but help is only coming on paper (two refuges have already dropped the ball-s of fur).

Well, I'm not here to growl at bipeds who get rid of cats without making sure that they won't have kittens.

No...

One of the babies was walking on the lavender and I happened to have my camera with me:

Blogger Not Sending E-mail Notifications

The site seems to be having issues with sending notifications when there's a new comment on a post (apparently it started on May 25th, and the issue is still plaguing some accounts).

One possible trick whilst we wait for Google to locate the ball it dropped is to post a comment on a new post and choose the "Follow-up comments will be sent to" option. 

It's far from being ideal, but it helps...

One Version of Dee Snider's "We're Not Gonna Take It"

This was brought to my attention by a friend.

My teenage years were made more bearable, thanks to the likes of Twisted Sister, and this is quite powerful.

Oh... watch with tissues by the keyboard as this comes with someone dicing onions nearby...

No Dye

I'm growling (again) about the way people treat me when they focus on my whitening hair. It's not merely that they see it, no... it's all they see.

Even people who have known me for years tend to forget that I was playing with their children - and that, no, I'm not older than their aforementioned children (that happened to me just yesterday, and it was massively weird).

There was this supermarket employee in Chinatown who stared at me because I was checking the different sauces. His eyes (and general expression) seemed to say "Are you lost, lil', old lady?". Seriously, what the flurch?! I had to state "I'm fine. Ta!" for him to stop staring.

I'll admit that I enjoy my depigmented privilege on overcrowded buses as no one asks me to vacate my seat (not proud of it, and if someone who's really, actually old is near me, I do offer my seat - I'm not a monster).

My neighbouring cousin and I have the same depigmented problem at work (not when we work on a book together - though our depigmenting is different, which is funny as it seems to come from the same bit of shared DNA). Our students must think that we were around somewhere when the pyramids were being built - and the oldest amongst the staff, but we're not (I've got only three colleagues younger than I, and my cousin has just the one). Yet, since the wires on our heads are white, some of our students seem to think that we are an inch from retirement - or death.

My poor cousin just had to deal with a student (to whom the administration of her school decided to give another chance to pass) who thought that it could plagiarize "its" assigned work - coz my cousin, being white-haired and all, must be senile and she'd never, ever flurching notice that "it" copied and pasted pages and pages from the Internet. Right?

What's wrong with these people's eyes? Can't they bloody look at our skins? Not a wrinkle, for Merlin's sake (laugh lines don't count - we do laugh, and we're not planning to stop!).

When I get a coat of arm, "Fronti nulla fides" is sooooo my motto.

For the moment, I think I may start asking people if they left their Labrador at home by mistake*.

*: oddly enough, I think I've been going through anger-generated adrenaline rushes recently, and it's a strange state...

Nasty Week

There's nothing tragic or final, but my stress-o-meter went up a notch this week.

I know it's for silly reasons, but when you're fighting PTSD, a grain of sand can feel like a boulder.

There are three things that bugged me:

1) My bank:

A few months ago, they'd tried to make me pay a fee for a service that I've had for years. I told them I was refusing to pay their fee because it wasn't in my initial contract and I got my money back.

End of story?

Of course not. 

The fee was back this week, so I had to contact my bank again, but, this time, I was told that I must trade the service I had for something else, or I must pay the fee. I caved and agreed to have the new service (because I've got better things to do than fight them on this), but I demanded my money back. I'm still waiting - and it bugs me.

2) Twitter (and Fox):

The way things trend there are too cryptic for my taste. I did some research, and the way they (try to) explain their algorithm is messy. I can understand that the name of a singer with too many overenthusiastic fanatics is not trending worldwide day in, day out, but a brand new hashtag to try and save a TV show disappearing after a day whilst I can see new people still tweeting about it... I find it odd, to say the least - all the more since another hashtag to try and save another show was still trending two days after it started (I'm talking about #SaveLucifer and #SaveB99).

I'm bugged because one of the things I use to control my stress is good shows, and I fell in love with Lucifer; it's well-written, consistent (a bloody miracle on American telly, where shows tend to not always follow the story's bible), intelligent, fun, and entertaining. Fox deciding to pull the plug on it shows their stupidity (then again, I was always surprised that they produced a series where Lucifer's the hero).

3) Twitter (and a lying, fascist politico):

This morning, I saw a retweet with comment where the initial tweet shows a politico who'd just angled a small shark.

I briefly considered reporting the tweet, but didn't:

a) even though I do believe that the shark is way more useful than the biped holding it on a ship's deck, what the biped did is not illegal (immoral, yes).

b) since the politico is a big name (Merlin know why, coz he's a deplorable waste of skin), I knew that Twitter would do flurch all because of their "it's newsworthy" smokescreen (either they approve, or they're just spineless).

I think I'm going to turn these into plot bunnies. After all, this is another trick I use to control my stress.

Flurching Strike Update

I ended up completely changing my plans (it turned out that a neighbour could drive me towards home), but... I'd forgotten about road trips:

- it takes a *lot* more time

- you can't stretch your legs whenever you want

- you can't go to sleep or just avoid chatting with the other passengers

I'm not ungrateful (she saved my bacon!). It's a lot different and I'd need "car training" to get used to the differences again - that's all.

Well, I am home, and I can work on finding a bank with my cousin for our publishing company (@EditionsAikyo by the way) ... and I can play with the plot bunnies as much as I want (YAY!!!!!).

Flurching Strike

I understand people going on strike. Really, I do.

I have to change my train ticket because my train won't be running? Okay.

I have to phone a service that's going to charge me by the minute ? Fine (I should charge them for £6 though - for wasting my time).

I have to take a train that runs before my initial travel day or I'll have to wait for months to get my money back and I'd have to buy a new, thrice as expensive ticket for a later date? I can leave early (maybe).

But...

What the flurch do you mean I must go to a train station to trade my ticket for a new one because it's a "traditional" ticket? I'm currently forty miles away from a station. Do I Apparate there? Do I call Scotty? Do I take my lawn mower on the highway (okay, it could be brilliantly nutty when I get arrested by the local coppers: 'Sorry, officer, I must go to the station if I don't want to lose money')?

The person I talked to was lovely, but her advice was to go to the station on the day I want to travel, explain my problem, and hope I can get a seat (honestly, I'm up to a point where I'll be happy to be able to board the days-early train!).

Of the Oddity of the Modern Student

My students are (mostly) adorable.

No, really. They're not sociopaths, and 99% of them are really lovely.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

But... some of them have their brains in a different dimension. Or they smoke more than the regular lawn. Or they need an MRI right now.

There are always a few silly bunnies in classrooms; there were some when I was a student, and the silly bunnies stayed when I became a teacher.

I'm currently dealing with students for whom my class is quite a secondary subject, but the level of inattention is getting worse. I could blame the almost constant use of their mobiles (I had to ban them during my classes, or I would have ended up with classes of texting students not listening to me), but there's something else.

I always give them six weeks to write one page on a specific topic, and I tell them how to present it. I also add that I want it spell-checked and printed.

They obediently nod their lovely heads, and... 50% of them just missed my deadline even though I told them (for six weeks, for Merlin's sake!) to not miss it or they wouldn't pass.

Amongst the works I got, there's one that's the size of a post stamp, not presented the way I said, and on the wrong topic, and then, there's one with a coffee stain (because they can hand me any rag, right?).

I also told them to give me their works early, as I would accept no excuse if they missed the deadline. They nodded again... and I got messages today: one asking me for a delay for health reasons, and the other sending me a file without a single word - not even a "Homework; take it and be happy that I deigned to write something for you, witch".

So, I can try to teach them how to work properly, but some of them must have tuned me off and they'll never do what I ask, which is really not much, and definitely not quantum physics.

As well, there's a new trend this year: the students addressing me by name. I don't expect them to call me "Dr de Lanor", but when they start an e-mail with "Hi, Drusilla!", my blood starts boiling (really; it bugs me beyond words).

I know that some of my fellows, in a misguided attempt at looking cool and still young, encourage our students to call them by name, but I never said it was all right to do the same with me. In fact, I added something to this effect in the "classroom rule" file I give them, but they ignore that as well (so we're back to the brain in another dimension, lawn smoking, or brain tumour options).

I wouldn't mind teaching them good manners on top of what I'm supposed to teach them if they did pay attention. Some of these students still can't introduce themselves in a formal situation when I've taught them how to do it - several times.

One of my teachers once told me that being a teacher is being a parrot (and for months, I saw him repeating the same bloody grammar rule each week to students who were always in the room, but kept forgetting), but this parrot is currently disappointed with that sort of lapse of concentration. It's worrying because it's getting worse and because I have the feeling that 70% of my colleagues aren't even bothered about this disastrous new trend.

I care about my students, silly bunnies included, and they're going to be eaten alive when they start working in the jungle real world.

Wanted: a TARDIS & a Klingon

I'd very much like to go back to this afternoon... and have a huge Klingon at my disposal.

The thing is, as I was waiting for my bus, reading a book in a "foreign" language and generally minding my own business, a bloke in his fifties started talking to me in what I thought was Russian.

Not understanding him and not wanting to talk to him, I ignored him.

He kept bugging me, invaded my space to check what I was reading.

It turns out that he was a Romanian coming from Sicily (like I fucking cared).

He wanted to know my age (keep dreaming, Cupcake), where I was born... Good thing he spotted my wedding ring, but that miserable wanker just had to take one glove off to touch my hair (who fucking died and made him king?).

I was so shocked that I froze. 

Because I'm 5'2".

Because he was much stronger than I.

Because I needed to catch that bus and simply couldn't walk away.

Because we were a foot from a busy boulevard and I didn't fancy ending up under a taxi or a bus in case he got angry and decided that pushing me could be fun.

Because I knew that I'd be the one in trouble if I slapped him (or even just his hand).

And this is when I want a TARDIS and a Klingon. The TARDIS to go back to that moment in time, the Klingon to lend me his bat'leth and have a quieting presence by my side.

I know that we have swell, rad, and lovely allies amongst the XY community, but no bloke will ever understand that kind of panic us, women, experience on the street when some entitled plonker ignores our signals and goes on with his own agenda.

The next plonker I meet, for there will be another one... I might yell a bit, just to let some steam off.

 

{Family} Business as Usual

Yes, this is going to be a growl (and we're not Sunday yet).

Sorry about that; you know the drill: feel free to skip the post.

First, I'm sorry to be so silent, but between my jobs, our trying to launch our company, my back playing tricks on me (yes, again), and the bronchitis of the year, I didn't post last month.

Why do I post today? Because I need to vent. Because I always do what needs to be done at work, but I just got lectured by relatives who do fuck all all day, and who feel entitled to lecture me.

Last night, I got home an hour later than usual because traffic was hell and I had to take another route home (incidentally, having to wait for a bus in the cold for twenty-five minutes). Like a good, well-trained idiot, I checked that my relatives were okay, and I mentioned that I was planning to send an update to school about a student who should have been in class but wasn't (I don't even have to do it; it's just me being nice and keeping the admins posted).

I was frozen, knackered, and my back was properly killing me. For once - for once - I went to bed early.

And today, my relatives, who usually forget everyfuckingthing about my life, asked if I sent the e-mail, and I said "no", because it's the truth.

And I heard, 'Ah! I just knew you wouldn't do it!' (clearly implying that it is customary to see me drop the ball).

I barked that I went to bed because I was properly exhausted, and they did hear that I was pissed off.

As usual, they phoned back a few minutes later, to merrily talk about something totally irrelevant, and allegedly fluffy to try and make me forget that they'd just behaved like wankers.

<insert snort here> I know all their manipulative tricks...

Today, Scotland (bless them!) unanimously voted to protect victims of physical and psychological abuse. When can we start doing this with relatives DNA-related nightmares?