#ang liveblogs

[windandwater]

I watched the movie Ponyo and I have some stuff to say about it

1: I loved it, of course I did, the 3rd or 4th frame of the movie is this, I was doomed immediately:

2:

3: I have finally seen myself represented in fiction

and it's this evil (ish) underwater sorcerer who wants to end the revolting age of man and bring about the age of the ocean

(but like, not yet. soon though.)

same, dude. I'd vote for you.

look at him. just look at him. he's everything I want to be.

literally how dare you. everything out of his mouth is the most epic shit I've ever heard.

this is my future and I dare any of you to tell me otherwise

[starspeckler]

"cars are timeloss" - feinberg

now why this man speedruning life?

[windandwater]

there is nothing like watching movies on a plane to induce “not like other girls” syndrome for me. you’re watching a tom cruise movie, a brad pitt movie, another fucking marvel movie, the princess diaries, the office. I’m watching Blue Panet and crying about baby sea turtles (again). we are not the same.

anyway here are some times I gasped aloud watching Blue Planet on the plane and getting way too invested:

lady who goes down to the bottom of the ocean wearing chainmail to hang out with sharks they lie on her lap and she pets them and takes hooks out of their mouths. that was the first time I started crying

there’s a PLASTIC BAG at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. a plastic bag!!! it will never decompose! there’s so little oxygen down there! I hate us! also I wonder whose plastic bag that is. imagine being the person whose plastic bag made it to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. I would throw myself into it out of guilt. become marine snow and let the creatures there feed on me.

African Penguin colony in South Africa is losing numbers because the fish near their breeding ground moved further north due to climate change etc etc so...they are trying to convince the penguins to also move, to where the fish are...by building decoy penguins. that look nice and fat and happy. I. had the hardest time not losing it laughing at the penguins inspecting the decoys and then. imitating them. I hate us but I also love us.

Another “I love us” moment was we are trying to regrow the Great Barrier Reef by releasing sperm & eggs from coral that survived the bleaching events elsewhere on the reef--the catch is that the coral only releases it for a few nights a year and the night they were doing so was a massive thunderstorm so these scientists were out on tiny boats (extremely dangerous!) in the ocean in a thunderstorm collecting coral reproductive matter and I just. humans! we fuck up so much but we also try so hard!

whale snot helicopter in action. if you didn’t know whale snot helicopters were a thing, you should. also a guy got caught in the middle of a whale discharging its blowhole and was very happy about it (he said it tasted like “mild cabbage soup”) ... my dude. my dude.

they are doing shark tourism in the Bahamas to help people be less afraid of them! as well as whale tourism & science in other places that interferes with the whales less and it means they come to the surface more and are less nervous around people! they are also coming up with fishing traps that use less lines--computerized signals to bring them up, etc.--so that whales & other animals don’t get caught in them as much.

I don’t really get all “ethical food” on people because industrialized food/corporations is a really tricky subject to navigate but because certain species in the ocean are limited, fishing practices affect endangered animals, and the specific resource of seafoodwatch.org exists, I highly recommend looking up the seafood you like before you eat it to make sure you’re getting it from good sources.

I really thought I’d seen enough baby sea turtles hatching to not cry at the sight of how cute they are and how brave they are clambering to get to the ocean. .... I had not. it will make me cry every time I guess.

anyway I didn’t get to liveblog so there’s a mini one of what I remember. and what I remember is being extremely emotional at 4 in the morning about human beings trying so hard to save the planet from themselves. also whale snot. I can’t identify with being excited to be covered in whale snot but I do absolutely want to watch someone operate a whale snot drone in person. a++++

[windandwater]

thoughts while listening to discover weekly, or, why the inside of my brain is too much sometimes

and what about the opinion of the girl who ditched you for the high school jock, huh? why is she always the reward & the daydream but you just assume she didn’t have a good reason? why does no one ever ask her? this album was made in 2012 I know that was 9 years ago but by then I knew this mentality was wrong, and so did a lot of other people, so why were we STILL doing this??

it’s a nice thought and I wish I could still listen to fall out boy too, but they were a coping mechanism band and I’m not sure I’m there yet

why on earth would you date someone who would *want* you to cut down your ancestor’s sequoia trees in this hypothetical situation. write me a poem about someone who loves the things you do as much as you do and you don’t have to rip yourself to pieces to be with them, and then talk to me. or write about ripping yourself to pieces if you want, but don’t pretend the ripping is the romantic ideal.

weezer is still a good band. I’m as surprised as you are.

this playlist is so very, very male, and therefore very, very mediocre, even the good songs. and at the end of it all I’m just going to listen to another Killers album.

leave me alone Brandon Flowers has a nice voice and apparently did a solo album and I need to get caught up on everything he’s ever done because I wasn’t interested at the time but in 2021 his voice makes me feel something

I never said any of this wasn’t my own fault

a bluesy song! FINALLY this piece of shit understands me. a lot music is a fun time most of the time but we are always here for the blues

this Kesha song (Only Wanna Dance With You) sounds like a Michelle Branch song. that sentence makes me feel ancient but I’m standing by it. and that isn’t a criticism, pop music be like that and we vibe with Kesha in this house.

and a catchy song about questioning existence! finally we’re hitting our stride

only to nosedive into straight people are exhausting territory. I know I said this playlist needed more women but I’m sorry but if you’re strumming a guitar and duetting with a man I’m out. your lyrics aren’t deep, they’re pretentious and boil down to “let’s go on a date”. good job on being straight. I’m bored.

please take your cues from the next song, an overly chipper folk song about a fox attacking chickens, which I already knew I liked and is not a revelation because this is who I am as a person. Nickel Creek - The Fox. You’re welcome. Peter Hollens’s version is also good if you prefer acapella to banjos. I like both.

once again, I never said anything here wasn’t my own fault. I just wish this damn thing was taking less cues from that one pop punk playlist I made and more from the weird folk playlist.

this song is catchy and I REALLY like the rest of it but “pretty girls come from the ugliest places” isn’t the deep line you think it is. maybe time to reconfigure the things that matter to you, dude.

*ends up back at Billy Joel again* spotify, I listened to ONE Billy Joel song. … you’re right though

this one is a mix of pop punk and ska. spotify has mistaken me for my brother. again: fucking finally. no one tell them otherwise. I’m listening to this band’s album.

I’m making a new rule: you’re not allowed to use the line “all the world’s a stage” in anything anymore unless you follow it up with riffing on the rest of the monologue about a person playing many parts in their life. you broke the rules so I’m moving on to this Green Day song I’ve never heard.

ah, Green Day song I’ve never heard. you’re nothing special but I needed you right now.

I told you I needed more women on this playlist. my favorite song so far on it has a female vocalist. inspirational but not trite, catchy but not overly derivative, interesting sound, no weirdly gendered statements. finally!!

see the next couple songs are exactly what I mean: first one has chaotic piano music drowning out a mediocre male vocalist, and if this was a lady with more interesting lyrics I would fucking love it. next song is a fun. ripoff only less interesting, and I’m already through and out of my fun. phase so “less interesting” is saying a lot for me rn. ARGH.

can someone bring the ska back. ska and blues are the only thing I want out of men who aren’t Brandon Flowers.

IS THIS SERIOUSLY A MEDIOCRE MALE COVER OF TIME AFTER TIME???? I’M FUCKING DONE

[windandwater]

scientist diver: *careens down into the middle of shark-infested waters with zero protection*

sharks: *completely ignore him*

see now this is what I wanted out of shark content

[windandwater]

surprising things I’ve learned about moray eels

sometimes roommates with triggerfish? v. protective of friendship do not get close

fight lionfish. fuck off, lionfish.

showing teeth is not a sign of aggression. smile to show they like you.

“moray eels are very gentle with their mates” says the narrator as they do a delicate courtship dance

hunt together with groupers b/c they make a good killin’ team. if a grouper wants to hunt with an eel, they will show up outside an eel den and wiggle. eel will come out and go on a friendship outing to murder some fish.

[windandwater]

narrator: “mostly...they keep an eye out...for predators”

music: “DUNNNN”

camera:

I fucking love nature documentaries

[windandwater]

“even when moray eels fight lionfishes for food,” the nature documentary says casually, while my entire brain explodes into the next dimension

honestly “casual sentences from nature documentaries that change your entire existence” is a genre