2020-05-27 16:15
So I've watched a lot more Star Trek: TNG. Noticing how rarely any of the crew who get to speak are women. They put a lot of young women in the background of scenes, standing at posts, or walking in hallways, but the only time they really get to do anything is if they are a love interest for one of the primary male cast members. The episodes are pretty inconsistent in quality, but somehow I keep watching them, because it is easy to just turn one on and not think too much about it, which is nice when I'm not feeling well. (Addendum a few weeks later: The issue with the women actually improves a lot in the later seasons. They seem to consistently have more minor female characters, than in earlier episodes, and not always just for a love interest. The addition of Ensign Ro to the cast helps too, though she is sadly not in a ton of episodes.)
Just took a walk in the park behind the house and as I was crossing the little bridge over the creek I saw a bird swoop low past the bridge and land on a branch. At first I thought it was the cooper's hawk, but it seemed too low to the ground. Definitely bigger than the average bird around here. I maneuvered around to get a better look past the leaves and saw it was some kind of owl. Not a real big one, but definitely an owl. I've never seen an owl around here before. Oddly, three or four robins were harrassing the owl, making a racket around it. Finally it flew off, and they chased after.
Did end up watching Kieslowski's Red on Monday, I guess. I think it was my favorite of the bunch. It's filled with the coincidences and parallelling that appear in his movies, but compared to the other two in the series felt more engaging to watch. It has a lot going on, and gets involved with a small handful of characters. It does feel quintessentially "art house movie" in the way the characters talk and act and how the plot moves, which feels like a statement I should offer some more clear examples for, but I can't really. It's like a host of elements that create the general feeling and mood.