Just do it Better

I recently watched Dumbo with audio commentary. The old animated version. The guy doing the commentary was trying to justify the crows. At first, the crows seem like everyone else that makes fun of Dumbo. But to be fair, they're only reacting to the idea that an elephant could fly. Not many people would take that seriously. They go on to help Dumbo. Indeed, without their advice and help, Dumbo would not have been able to fly. The commentator says they're like father figures.

Which is all well and good. But that doesn't change the fact that the crows were deliberately portrayed with racist stereotypes. They could have done all those good things without the racism. 

Yeah, the movie was made in a different time. But that doesn't mean that it was right. Then or now.

There is some beautiful animal animation in Dumbo, which I've only recently really appreciated. And some good messages too. But still, watch movies with your brain turned on.

I've Lost Entire Continents

A few years ago, I renamed all of the countries in one of my world. And I swear I named all of the continents too. I still remember part of the thought process of naming them. 

And I lost the names! They're not anywhere with the notes for my world maps.

How can I lose my continents! 

There have been a number of articles this year about safety concerns at the zoo, as well as the rampant nepotism. It's a big paper, and there's some really scathing stuff. But there's still a few big things I'm surprised they left out. And still, the useless director keeps her position (paying herself well over 300,000 a year, even though she doesn't do anything, and I've never heard anyone say anything good about her).

But people are still working at it, so hopefully she'll be ripped off of that throne she so abuses.

Language is Confusing

My brain has a very strange way of dealing with languages. It has an "English" switch and a "non-English" switch. 

Despite the fact that I know some Spanish and Japanese, my brain enjoys mixing them up. For example, here's one I caught myself thinking. 

Vamanos is "let's go," in Spanish. 

And in Japanese, "shouka" is a suffix for "shall we?" So for example, ikimashouka would be, "shall we go?"

In my head, I made up "vamanashouka." 

I'll also end up tacking "ka" at the end of Spanish words, because in Japanese that would make it a question. This is what I get for switching back and forth between language studies.

If that's not bad enough, I've also been known to pronounce English words wrong if I've recently been studying other languages.

Once I went out to dinner with some people, who at the time were friends. It was a Chinese restaurant, and I wanted to order chow fun. but when I ordered it, I mispronounced it. And everyone at the table jumped on me, exclaiming in disgust that I'd pronounced it wrong. I was so pissed at them. I like chow fun and had never pronounced wrong before. But because I'd been studying Japanese, it just came out wrong. And they all leapt down my throat, making me look like a total loser in front of the server. 

I pronounce English words wrong if I've been studying Japanese. Let alone Chinese, which I know only a few words of.

I didn't mean for this to turn into a vent. But if I mess up a language (including English), this may be why.

Story of my Life

After my trip to the Amazon, I got a machete. They just looked so useful for whacking through thick bushes. And it's handy for some types of garden work.

I was using it earlier today. Normally the machete would be the most dangerous thing in that scene. But not for me. I don't hurt myself on the machete. Instead I slice my finger open on the branch I'm cutting from. And it bleeds all over my hand. So if you see blood on my machete, it's not the machete's fault.