State of the Writer, February 2024! · 1:42am March 1st
Forgot when setting up that review blog that I would also have to do this today. <_<;;
To no one's surprise, I got no writing done. But I definitely put a lot more thought into it than I have over the past several months, which I take as a positive sign.
I was also thinking that, along with finding my true self and thus seeing a world -- both inner and outer -- that makes more sense being the reason I stopped writing, I also don't take in as much stuff to get inspiration from. Like, Eternals, the last movie I likely will ever see in theaters, came out two months after I cracked. It reaffirmed my lack of desire to go to theaters in the first place, and just about killed my interest in the MCU, which up until that point, I had been a staunch viewer of. The shitshow that was Loki basically finished it off, and though I did watch What If afterward, I haven't seen any Marvel stuff outside of youtube videos that provide reviews and easter egg lists.
Likewise, moving in January of last year was a major life shakeup on many fronts, and I had to put my Kamen Rider watching on hold during it. Which was fine by me, because that year's series was my absolute least favorite and I really wanted an excuse to stop feeling like I had to watch every episode. This year's series has been much better, I honestly really like it, but I have close to a dozen episodes downloaded to my hard drive, just sitting there, waiting for me to give a darn. I've lost all my momentum and filled the space with Youtube videos. c_c;
And I haven't watched ponies in forever, I can't find time to go back over older things I want to watch, like She-Ra, you get the picture. The brain has no fodder which it can chew into plot ideas. And the stories I had already started, let's face it, I was grinding to a halt on just because that happens sometimes. Like, all the time, but sometimes.
Also, my attention is currently being taken up by preparations for a certain gender-affirming surgery that, as with literally every other step of my transition process, has been hung up by weird coincidences and bad luck. It honestly boggles my mind just how much shit I have had to wade through, much of it literally no one's fault but all of it happening to me. >:| My therapist recommended giving up magical thinking, but how can I when I got the bad juju, bruh?
Anyway, I think that is all. And hey, if I actually stop using Tumblr, that'll be about 2-3 hours a day I get back to do... something, I'm sure! :'D
*Proffers hugs* Sounds like you're doing a little better tho, which is awesome. n_n
Going by the numbers, you are nowhere near alone, there. And I hear you about movie theaters, we haven't been in one since the plague, and considering the high cost and annoying behavior of other patrons, we just don't see any good reason to go. The "But you've got to see it on the Big Screen!" carp is pure propaganda. Sit a two feet away from a nice 4k TV, and put on some good headphones. Same experience; much cheaper!
If it's movies that do it for you, my rec for inspiration is classic movies. Anything that started a franchise but not the bad sequels,* movies that got re-made over and over in an attempt to cash in on the original's success. Fix-fic an old movie that was good, but has a high cringe factor seen through modern sensibilities... gender-swap the characters or something. Rip off Shakespeare; it's worked over and over again.
Or binge completely non-productive stuff, if that's what makes you happy. I'm just being selfish in wanting you to write more.
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* Write thinly-disguised (good) sequels of your own!
5770386
honestly, I hate movies, and I sometimes wish I'd never seen any good ones so I could justify just not caring :B I can't do anything while watching movies or TV, but at least TV comes in 20-40 minute chunks!
5770392
Nowadays, all the best storytelling is being done in series, anyways. (Though I'm still going to watch the heck out of Godzilla Minus One and Dune 2 when they stream.)
I draw or do hand crafts while watching stuff, because my brain is broken in that specific way. If what I'm watching is slow-moving or boring enough, I'll read a book; best story wins my attention.
For me it was The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that killed any remaining interest I had in watching the MCU, and I haven't looked back since. It was so bad
Best of luck with everything.
5770396
I've never been good enough with my hands to do anything like that :/ if I'm watching something, I feel like I should be watching it, y'know?
5770413
I hear this a lot, and I have to wonder why. I thought it was great! Captain America 4, as far as I'm concerned. :B
5770425
...I am happy to discuss it at length but I would not want to bog your comment section down with that kind of negativity
5770386
I would just like to add, while I totally get people rejecting the cinema when they can wait for home media, digital or streaming, some of us do have reasons for seeing select films in cinemas rather than waiting. And they're nothing to do with "you gotta see it on the big screen!": we are absolutely not "hoodwinked by propaganda". So, if you can, don't throw statements like that around willy-nilly – it implies judging anyone who goes to the cinema is a rube and you pity them, as opposed to a perfectly acceptable "just not for me" stance.
In my case, there's two key reasons. One, I don't have a good home cinema system, and don't have the practical means to assemble one until I'm in a place of my own, which could be years from now (the money is not an issue). It's nice some folks like yourself have 4K TVs with great sound systems, but that is an extremely tiny portion of the whole. And often for reasons besides financial. So while there is no movie that I would decide to not see at home that I would have seen in the cinema but didn't because of the technical viewing downgrade, for select films (I fully agree most modern films don't use the expanded visual canvas/sound system to actually enhance the experience in any meaningful way), there are some where it helps me as a small extra motivator.
More importantly, I am a very indecisive person, even when it pertains to media I consume. If something I am interested in is there to watch/play, always available, the lack of any pushing factor to do so now means I near-always leave it be, and it just keeps going. For instance, despite Chicken Run being one of my favourite movies, I still haven't watched the sequel two-and-a-half months on (and while its reception has been more on the "positive if unenthusiastic" side, it clearly isn't for the issues American animated films are facing these days, so it's not me fearing crushing disappointment of a sequel to one of my favourites like with Ralph Breaks the Internet or anything). To circle back to a film you mentioned, totally irrespective of how it will be to experience on a cinema screen vs at home for me, I can guarantee, if I can't motivate myself to see Dune 2 in cinemas, it could be years before I eventually do, even though I very much want to.
This decision paralysis isn't something I like having, but it's not as simple as just "getting over it", so using the limited cinema time frame for a film I really want to see as an extra motivator really, honestly, does get me to make a move.
All that said, I am very aware of the greed and such with cinemas these days, so I am very careful about where and when I go to keep costs down, never buying snacks there, etc. And having shifted out of seeing films I don't want to "because they're popular" or whatever (it was not getting anything out of the MCU that started this for me, albeit back in 2015
), I don't go nearly as much as I used to. Were it not for Disney100, I would have seen less than 10 last year, for instance. I don't have any issue with FOMO – if I know I won't enjoy myself, I don't see it.
As for the behaviour of patrons, must be an American thing: excepting rare cases like the odd rowdy gaggle of children or some rude adult, they almost never disrupt a screening here. Playing into a polite Irish stereotype? You decide!
Tl;dr – just watch out for statements of your take on the merits of cinema watching vs. home watching coming across as objective fact that paint your approach to the matter is the only correct way. That was how it read. Often people have perfectly valid reasons the other party hadn't considered, after all. I try to bear that in mind myself too, and not always succeeding
But I'm getting better.
When I am watching tv I don't find particularly good, for whatever reason, I too do multitask much like yourself. Though it's rarely as creative as drawing or crafts, alas!
I would also personally disagree with all the best storytelling being done in tv series these days, though not in the sense that films are better than you say. On the contrary, I agree they're overwhelmingly shit: I more mean that tv series have gotten stuck in a terrible rut lately (and not just cause of the politics infesting it), to the point that miracles of something good and worthwhile there is even rarer if picking at random. It only seems like there's more worthwhile because there's a lot more new tv made each year than films (basically the "most of the good animation is from Japan these days" / "yes, because they make so much more of it and most of the crap dies a quiet death" conundrum).
But that's just my opinion, I judge no one for differing if they don't judge me.
5770451
Well, my post was also just my opinions, and applicable mostly to my own situation. Should I be adding a standard disclaimer?
As for American audiences... my main concern isn't with rowdy children, it's the pervasive loud talking during the movies as well as the bright cell phone screens shining in my face as people text during the film. Also the occasional "stealth" vaper. It really is (or was before the plague) a serious problem here... (Disclaimer: ...in my local area, based on my personal experience; YMMV.)
As for the rest, I really hate having to constantly add qualifiers like mostly, almost, in general, for the most part, and so on, so I sometimes make what seems like an absolute statement when that is not my intent.
5770458
Oh, no. No, no, not at all. As someone who also dislikes having to add qualifiers of opinions all the time and thinking it's clear, and occasionally getting folks taking it personally, I relate hard. And while your apathy towards cinemas here and there over on Monday Musings have felt gradually more authoritative and declarative over time, it's always been clear enough that you're just talking about yourself.
This one came across differently. Mostly it was the "propaganda carp" bit honest-to-god reading as judgment/pity on others. Though the "why wouldn't one just watch it on their 4K tv?" bit didn't help either. It was enough to tip it from the usual "I know what iisaw means, no bother" to "Oh. That… hurt a little", coming across as declarative in a way that the others never have.
In short: as I too can come across as authoritative due to not liking to add qualifiers, I always stop myself before taking something the wrong way and replying. Furthest thing from a delicate snowflake, this spirit. 👻 I'd only do so if, after going over it over and over, I can't find any other way to read it, can't pass it off as being in my head or not what the other meant, and it affected me enough that I felt the need to speak. This was one such very rare case.
Possibly I said more than I needed to, and was let off the leash when I shouldn't have been.
The above just made me feel the need to show reasons why folks might choose the cinema over home viewing besides buying into big-screen propaganda (which I don't, as stated prior). Not to change your mind – I wouldn't want to do that even if I could – but so reasons like lack of a good home setup and especially indecisive folks would be better understood. Not even in a way that means changing what you say or think or the topic. again, can't and don't want to. Just… so it's borne in mind.
Again we bump into cultural differences!
Whenever American tv shows had characters chatting loudly while at the cinema, I always figured it was heavily exaggerated, because it's very rare here. Phones are the same: people will be on them during the ads and trailers, but I'll only see the very rare odd one once it's started. Never seen a stealth vaper either (and I did have colleagues who vaped in college, so it is a popular thing here among the right crowd), though no-smoking type rules are very well-respected in Ireland, so that's not a surprise. I can't say I'm too surprised to hear people would do it in California, mind! 
I state all this not to invalidate such things putting you further off cinema – they would put me off too – but just to state that they're not a problem everywhere.
5770468
Ah! My bad; that's totally on me for not doing a "tone" edit before I posted!
Also, to be completely transparent,* I don't own a 4K TV, and don't see any compelling reason to do so. I've watched whole series on my phone and been perfectly happy. That bit was my attempt at hyperbole, and I guess it points up why I am primarily a visual artist!
As for the "propaganda" comment, that was also a clarity issue on my part. I was not aiming it at any individual who held that opinion. I suppose it isn't widely known, but there is a very active actual campaign by studios and distributors to get people back into theaters, post-Covid. "Propaganda" might be a bit harsh, but the push is carefully crafted to appeal to emotions, and the "in theaters only" releases are deliberate coercion. The phrase, "You've got to see it on the Big Screen," was originated by Hollywood promoters, for all that it's been repeated by so many regular people. Fun historical fact: a similar thing happened back when cable TV started out. Studios ran a much more blatant and dishonest campaign trying to stop it. Movie theaters often had petition drives to "save free TV."
Not taking anything I say too seriously or personally is a great plan, because I'm usually arguing on a tangent, and I'll probably change my mind an hour later, anyway. Sorry for being clumsy and unclear!
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* Yes, I know that's mostly your thing, being spectral and all, but it does come in handy for us pre-deceased folks once in a while.