Donating via ActBlue once many, many years ago is one of my greatest regrets in life. Does anyone know any way to get my number out of their system for good? It's all I want from them.
My profile pic is how I sign my paintings. In 2 college painting classes most of us *did not sign our work.* It didn't occur to us or it seemed arrogant. Our assignments were in different styles of painting, but whenever I had a choice I returned to abstract expressionism. Once I decided to start signing my work I did not want decipherable words to deviate from the abstraction. Even my own name. I didn't want it aesthetically or symbolically. "R" is the extent that I can tolerate; it's my brand.
Content warning:Anti Asian racism in a movie
A TON of anti Asian racism is in 80s movies—& in all other eras! In The Final Countdown, a navy carrier from 1980 is transported to December 6-7, 1941, & must decide whether to defend Pearl Harbor. Change the past or let it unfold to produce our current present? They send planes to stop the invasion. But when the time tunnel anomaly reappears the captain orders them back & we hear a flyer on radio: "We're letting the Japs do it again." A dude from 1980 says that! :/
I wrote a 28-toot thread while rewatching The Final Countdown, a 1980 movie that's mostly Naval aircraft carrier porn + time travel loop. It's one of the movies I watched the most on HBO as a kid that I feel nothing for now. Others are The Private Eyes starring Tim Conway & Don Knotts (I don't think I could stand to rewatch) & Fletch (I probably could). I propose every military vessel should be renamed USS Toxic Masculinity. Also jingoistic racism (see next toot).
https://mastodon.art/@RMiddleton/114810509691123163
immediately after all the planes take off & the captain KD orders them all back. MS weirdly argues that they stay in the past & correct all the mistakes of history (guess he's single & childless). (I'm single & childless would I go back in time? Maybe because now is so awful. Maybe I could stop RFK & MLK being shot.)
After all that all I can say is that this movie is just Navy porn & remedial history porn. Aircraft carriers must be ridiculously expensive.
The Final Countdown 🧵 28/28
time tunnel during the battle. It seems obvious that they can't change history & return to the present that they know. I think they strand some planes that are in the air back in 1941. So I guess at the very end we get to see Farentino & KR in old age makeup. And MS brings the dog through time & they go nuts. 🐕
I'm typing during the longest sequence of planes taking off an aircraft carrier. Navy recruitment I guess.
Ok so of course the time tunnel storm reappears
The Final Countdown 🧵 27/
That's basically all militaries, right? So I get how a good % of people don't want to examine toxic masculinity since world history runs on it. It's like the word "racist"; I saw an article here yesterday on racism being useful for discussion & not as a dirty word. Same goes for toxic masculinity. There's an academic way of talking that "regular folk" cannot embrace. But we need to examine facts to make any progress. Sigh.
I think the Nimitz goes back through the
The Final Countdown 🧵 26/
Ok yeah I sorta remember now. The guy who stays in the past, it happens by accident. And CD the senator blows up, restoring history, due to his being an asshole. I get that he was angry being deceived. It's a ridiculous & impossible situation, but he's definitely an asshole.
Now the 1980 American planes are taking off to fight off the 1941 Japanese invasion. Some of the planes have "tough" mascots painted on them. I laughed & renamed the ship USS Toxic Masculinity.
The Final Countdown 🧵 25/
More incompetence, more shooting deaths. The blood in this movie is bright pink-hued red. I will stop the play by play; I've said enough. I'll come back if anything notable happens in the last half hour.
ETA: It's becoming clear that the romance is between KR & the dog saving history buff not MS. I guess he'll stay in the past because he likes it! He's played by James Farentino (whom I only know from MST3k jokes).
The Final Countdown 🧵 24/
Japanese pilot (in 1941, from 1941, aboard the 1980 USS Nimitz) grabs a machine gun & kills some US sailors. But hesitates before shooting the dog or any other named actor. Someone in a different uniform (khaki shirt, blue pants with red hem stripe) runs in & gets shot & they generally look quite incompetent. Now it's a hostage situation with the Japanese pilot demanding to radio his commander. The plot requires CD, KR, MS all be with the captured pilot who grabs KR.
The Final Countdown 🧵 23/
Most importantly, the dog's name is Charlie. His owner the Senator's secretary is played by KR Katharine Ross. How many ways to spell Cathryn?
They also rescued a Japanese pilot after shooting him down. A Japanese American US navy sailor is seen interviewing him.
The senator was supposed to have disappeared/died, according to the Pearl Harbor history buff who happens to be an officer on this ship.
Whoa comedy horror! The dog escapes & during commotion the captured
The Final Countdown 🧵 22/
The Japanese 🇯🇵 zeroes blew up the yacht. The men from 1980 are saving the senator, his secretary, and her dog. The man who lifted CD up out of the water on a hoist wore a short sleeved & legged wetsuit & had a very hot ass. Presumably this was not an actor & we'll never see his face. But there's a lot of extras as sailors in this movie so it makes sense. Someone facilitating the secretary's rescue says "forget the damn dog!"
A named character in khakis jumps & gets it.
The Final Countdown 🧵 21/
So I'm not well & I look for things to watch. I run out of things that genuinely interest me. Tonight i decided to watch this movie from my childhood. I didn't like my childhood much so I'm writing all this as exorcism. Anyway I developed a concept of my brain & body as separate. I was my brain, my body I wanted to ignore. I didn't want to be gay, my body was evil & could get me in danger. Some gays fixate on their bodies, I neglected mine. That now causes me trouble.
The Final Countdown 🧵 20/
go back all the way to childhood. I was uncomfortable doing group physical activities that put me into gender separated groups. I preferred to watch tv. I have a few memories of physical play that felt very good; and also many traumatic ones. I see my current pain & difficulty related to my childhood. I think I'm just 100% out of shape without core strength. Maybe there's more too it, I've had accidents. But I feel too weak to recover. I dunno. I get too much advice.
The Final Countdown 🧵 19/
Why am I watching & talking about this 45 year old movie? I've had it bookmarked a while ever since I noticed it on streaming services. It may be an unclaimed copyright, it's freely available. I'm suffering debilitating #ChronicPain & I wake, eat & take pills, lie down & wait to feel better. I usually don't ever feel much better. I'm aware that movement & stretching helps but my energy depletes fast. I relate to some #mecfs descriptions. I see psychological links that
The Final Countdown 🧵 18/
Conundra: No one is going to read everything that I post. Yet there are people who want to hear from me whom I'm not replying to. They could read, or skim, my posts to know what's on my mind. I'm not taking time to respond to people because... oh sigh so sad. I have very little energy. When I reach out I say where I'm at & what I need. People reply with where they're at & what they need. I'm unable to do anything about it so I stop communicating directly & only post. Creating keeps me alive.
Violence begets violence, solves nothing.
Tonight on fedi but off this thread I wrote an imaginary letter to republicans asking them to justify the violence they're guaranteeing. Sigh. I just can't see solutions in violence.
I dream of writing a solarpunk story of a better potential future that's realistic, including how it can be done. I want to make it exciting & also full of policy details & philosophy. I probably can't do it! It's home is https://paper.wf/planetb/
The Final Countdown 🧵 17/
As I grow I am less enamored of fantasy violence, imagining the destruction of my enemies by force. I believe that's the appeal of war movies, superheroes, and more. The gods of today. Believing that a violent end will come to those who are cruel. Supernatural forces imposing justice is appealing but so far from reality as to offer me little pleasure anymore. I try. I want to fall asleep imagining the current bad guys getting comeuppance. I just can't.
The Final Countdown 🧵 16/
Military porn. I grew up anti-military. Internally I was a natural pacifist & then I had a mother who disliked the large influx of uncouth men in our area near the naval air station. She was ok with officers tho 🙄. I didn't watch war movies. I watched Top Gun bc it's a sexy young men cultural phenomenon. I didn't see the sequel. I'm no longer into Tom Cruise or following popular culture.
There's a lot of military porn in this movie. I regretfully admit it's exciting.
The Final Countdown 🧵 15/
#ScribesAndMakers 7 July. Have you ever taken a cooking class? If so, what did you learn? If not, would you like to take one? What would you like to learn?
I've attended events that purported to be cooking classes but were actually a catering company selling subscriptions to rich people to eat & drink. Very little instruction took place or was paid attention to — similar to how art events become drinking parties. Rich culture is sick.
I dream of learning Mexican cooking when I move to Puebla.