[film] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Finally got around to seeing it last night. It's way better than the second installment - whereas that was just too damn long and a good 30-40 minutes could have been excised without any untoward effects on the story telling, the third one is long because there's just so much going on.

Brain is a bit splat today so I can't think of anything constructive to say about it.

Stil nowhere near as good as the first film, but then these things never are.

Not mellowing as much as I thought in my old age

I really thought I'd become much mellower and less of an intellectual and moral snob in my old age.

I watch TV. I read thrillers. I listen to all kinds of music I didn't in my youth, try to live and let live, and find it really hard to do the Righteous Indignation thing these days.

So it's kind of a relief to find that some things still move me to apoplectic rage. Namely that new group, goth_macros. I'm not even linking to it, given that I know some people have already found some triggering images on there. Making fun of domestic violence? Not OK. ugly people? Not OK. skinny chicks[1]? not OK. Homophobic content? sooooo not OK.

"It's all a joke, get a sense of humour". Some of you, notably miss_soap and hirez (and others; apologies for not remembering who) have written recently, far more eloquently than I could, about how this just doesn't wash.

And there's the other end of the spectrum: "Look, we can laugh at ourselves, that makes us OK". What-the-fuck-EVER. Personally I've never given a shit whether people think I, or goths as a group, take ourselves too seriously. Because seriously, if I cared what the rest of the world thinks, would I ever have had pink hair? I'm OK with who I am, I think my friends are great, so take the self-loathing out of my face. Actually, self-loathing is one thing. Public self-loathing that assumes all goths feel the same way about themselves is shit we don't need.

I know that offensive can be funny - hell, I *heart* South Park. However, it appears that some people can't tell the difference between funny and just plain small-minded and mean.

Just when I thought I was losing my standards of intellectual rigour, the whole macros phenomenon with its txtspeak and appalling grammar came along, and I realised I still do care, lots, about proper use of language.

[1] there's a whole new post brewing on this one, and has been for a while.

PSA - Kensal Green Cemetery Open Day

It's on Sunday 8 July this year - details here.

I've been meaning to go every year since 1994 and have yet to make it. Looks like I won't be able to do it again this year, because I'm definitely teaching the following day. Early.

However, I see that they now have tours every Sunday, so I can go another time and not have to wait a whole year.