Let's Talk About Planned Parenthood in Texas

In this blog post, I will be responding to a slew of comments on this Mic. article: https://mic.com/articles/160424/texas-officially-defunds-planned-parenthood?fb_comment_id=1316213465087743_1320093818033041&comment_id=1320093818033041#.H0BV1vwLS

Here I have literally taken screenshots of every single comment made between the article's posting date and 00:51 on Dec 24, 2016. There are many comments. You're welcome. Let's begin.

This is Kevin.

Kevin is a middle-aged white man. He has what I presume from his Facebook profile are a wife and a teenage/college-age daughter. I don't want to believe that he harbors ill feelings towards women in Texas, but Kevin's comments indicate a lack of understanding of what it means to have physically accessible, financially accessible health care and resources.

Kevin felt strongly about the Mic. article and thus has engaged in a lot of discussion with other people on Facebook about it. Here they are. My comment, which is partially shown at the top of the first image, will be shared later.

10th Amendment gives any not-specifically-federal powers to the states and the people.  Kevin here is hopeful. There will be other solutions! But what are those solutions? By the way, health insurance is a fickle beast, even government-provided.

The Texas that is run by older white men who don't have vulvas, uteruses, periods, or financial troubles probably will not elect to have Medicaid absorb abortion costs. Also, I guess it's morally bankrupt to live in Texas and pay state taxes there. Good thing it's so easy to quit your job, move to a new state, find a new home there, find a new job there, get a new state ID card, and pay for moving costs. Wonder why more people don't just move whenever they want to.

Kevin's comment here confuses me. Since when are women threatening to kill doctors if they don't provide abortions or pap smears? Doctors who provide abortions or even just women's health services are stalked, harassed, and murdered in this country far more than other kinds of doctors. Carrie is right about TRAP laws, like medically unnecessary admitting privileges in Texas.

Angela was a little crude here but the point she makes is that Kevin's perspective is that of a person who is not affected by women's reproductive health and doesn't think that anyone else is either. Paul's comment on religious beliefs isn't exactly relevant but it's not irrelevant. However, his criticism is on point: it is cruel to deny someone a crucial health care service because you personally wouldn't use it.

Whitney explains to Kevin that pap smears are technically cancer screenings (for cervical cancer caused by HPV), but that doesn't mean they are covered under health insurance as cancer screenings. If you are denied Medicaid and can't afford decent private health insurance, you're paying for everything out of pocket. Providers work where they live and then work way far out because medical facilities really need doctors these days.

Good for you for being able to pay out of pocket for your shots, Lacy! Glad it wasn't too expensive. True, lots of health care providers do take Medicaid. That doesn't mean that all OB/GYNs will have fair cash prices or that the health care providers nearest you will accept Medicaid.

I doubt that the press would care that Medicaid doesn't cover everything... No one's tax dollars go toward abortion... If you can't fund an abortion, which can cost between $350-$3K depending on whether your insurance covers it, the number of hoops you have to jump through, and travel costs associated with going to a clinic way far away because it's the only one who will take you/the nearest one...if you can't even pay for an abortion, how can you be expected to be able to afford having a child? Also state-provided Medicaid doesn't cover you outside the state you live in.

"There is no way anyone is denied basic service through Medicaid." However, people are denied Medicaid, and those who need "basic service" more frequently than others or need more than "basic service" have to pay out of pocket for more services even if they have Medicaid. Many people enroll in Medicaid because they can't afford other health insurance providers.

Calling people sexist isn't the most effective way of getting them to see your point of view or change their minds. However, Mike raises a good question: "What do you think Texas will do when faced with the children born because of lack of services? Or women facing advanced cancer because of the same?" "Do you think that men should lose access to viagra?" is, in my opinion, a valid question. If men's reproductive health isn't denied to men at any medical institution, why are so many reproductive health services denied to women?

You can appeal, but that doesn't guarantee that your appeal will be granted. There isn't a place in every town where you can get a free pap smear or mammogram, by the way. Pap smears out of pocket can cost at least $60. That's just the cost of the test, not the appointment. I don't really know why Kevin asked Mike if he'd rather let people die, maybe a deleted comment in there somewhere, but more women will die trying to self-abort or by not having access to a place that provides pap smears, mammograms, contraceptives, and STI testing if all 34 Planned Parenthoods in Texas get shut down.

Correct, you have no say in anyone's right to pursue an abortion. Actually, there is more than one good reason for Planned Parenthood to exist! Service-wise, they provide family planning counseling, pregnancy counseling, educational materials for public schools, STI testing, contraceptive information and insertions, and more. The services they provide literally do cover the poorest of the poor. Planned Parenthoods are up-front about costs of services and help you find ways to finance your use of their services. Why is it a bad thing to have services covered both by Planned Parenthood and other institutions? 

There is such a thing as having a sexist attitude when talking about getting rid of a medical institution that is almost exclusively used by women. Planned Parenthood is an affordable, federal-government-funded organization that provides screenings and other services. Who else are you referring to? And to what extent are the cancer screenings like pap smears "affordable"? Affordable as in a woman working a minimum wage job can afford to take a half-day off work to go to the doctor?

Insurance like Medicaid is not the person that performs those services, though. Doctors perform medical services. There aren't a lot of options for people with low incomes when it comes to finding health care providers that won't nickel-and-dime them.

You lose 34 health centers by losing Planned Parenthood. That's a lot. What is gained by keeping a federal entity when its services can also be given by another entity is that there is less overcrowding at other hospitals and clinics, there is more space for doctors to practice in, more doctors offices closer to the places that people live and work, and more time slots available for appointments.

16% of Texas residents are uninsured.

Texas has the second largest population in the US. California has the largest population, but only 8% of California's population is uninsured.

She doesn't know English? That's a rude assumption to make.

Ultimately, I don't think there was a winner in the comments. If you look at comments on the Facebook posting for the article, many people recognize that taking away Planned Parenthood in Texas does no good for women's health. Kevin is among those who do not have much experience with needing but not having physical or financial access to reproductive health services, or having to jump through hoops to receive access to these services, and his comments show as much.

Many people get turned off by flagrant language and anger when talking about any social justice issues. That being said, it's hard to be a social justice supporter without a certain level of anger. The anger isn't unjustified.


My comment was more or less that there are 34 Planned Parenthoods in Texas, and only 5 of them actually perform abortions. Medicaid in Texas does not pay for abortions anyway. If the state government of Texas takes away patients' ability to pay for their health care services at Planned Parenthood with Medicaid, and only 5 out of 34 of the Planned Parenthoods provide abortions (and 9 do abortion referrals), then what the state is really doing is limiting women's access to reproductive health care, not just abortion. They are limiting women's ability to choose where they can get general and reproductive health care, and limiting their financial and physical access to it.

What I Want For Christmas

I would like the following material gifts for Christmas:

A copy of the French edition of the graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Sajtrapi
A copy of the book The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
A Kitchen Aid stand mixer (lol)
A slow-cooker cookbook
A cooking/baking with alcohol cookbook
Empty (or full) round Camembert cheese boxes--camembert cheese specifically
A professional DSLR or Camcorder (lol)
Money, of course. Gotta pay that rent.


I would like the following non-material gifts for Christmas:

Legislation in favor of human rights
People to stop watching pornography because it perpetuates male-pattern violence and men's degradation of women
Insurance companies to not scam the heck out of consumers seeking affordable healthcare
Sleep
Time

Empathy, Kindness, and Listening

Let me preface this by saying that this is a long post. Thanks in advance for reading.

Last spring was personally and academically overwhelming, and this semester hasn't been easy either, but I was and continue to be grateful to all the generous people who have offered up their time, services, and understanding to make my life a little easier. Feeling drained and exhausted all the time reminded me that other people around me might feel that way too. I wondered if they needed someone to talk to- not someone to complain to, just someone who would listen without judging them for their personal flaws, ignorance, lack of social life, etc., and someone who wouldn't point out the obvious as a "solution." (*See example at the bottom of the post.)

I don't think I have been actively listening to the people around me as much as I should have in the past week or two, and I want to make a more conscious effort to be available to my friends, coworkers, and community members as someone who is here to listen and to help. Even if we're not close, I will never be too busy to make time for you. I will never be too busy to give you a hand with whatever you may need. I am willing to do your laundry, vacuum, run errands for you, make you food, drive you to and from school, edit a video or at least take a look at it, talk about relationships, stay up late with you, do all the things I wished I had asked other people to do to help me with, the everyday things I didn't feel like I had enough time or energy to accomplish.

It's really important to me to make time for other people, as there have been so many times where others have decided that they cannot make time for me. Although I may never have had to struggle with what you're struggling with, I know exactly what it's like to feel like no one understands you're going through.

Sometimes it's hard to tell people about your struggles.

• It's hard because you don't want people to know that you are struggling in the first place, because you want other people to see you as happy and successful and pulled-together. And you want to be someone they can rely on.

• It's hard because you are afraid that people won't understand your problems. And they'll just say, "yeah, that sucks" about something that has been eating away at your soul.

• It's hard because you are afraid that they won't care. We all have problems, right? Deal with it. I have problems, but I'm not complaining about them. Actually, let me tell you about my problems instead of listening to yours...

• It's hard because you are afraid that people will judge you for your problems. (Example: me being afraid of getting judged for not knowing that I needed to know something that to others is intuitive.)

• It's hard because you are afraid that the people you open up to will give you "advice" instead of actually helping you, even if they mean well. You fear that their suggestions will make you sad because you feel like it's impossible to follow right now. 

• It's hard because you think they will care, and get really scared for you (and freak out) when all you really want from them is calm, compassion and assistance.

• It's hard because you are afraid that they will care but they won't know what to do to help you.

• It's hard because they might tell you something like "I'm sorry to hear that. Things will get better for you soon." But that doesn't make right now any less terrible.

• It's hard because what you're dealing with might be caused by something that is out of your personal control, and it feels like maybe there really is nothing you or anyone else can do to make it better. At least not in this very moment.

• It's hard because you're afraid to ask people to do things for you that normally you'd be able to do yourself.  It's hard because you're afraid that they'll be too busy to help you out when you actually can't do something all by yourself. (In my experience, sometimes friends are too busy or unavailable when you can't do something all by yourself and need help. But they are usually very willing to help out.) 

People like my closest friends, like the UNC Sport Club officers, like Jan Yopp (Dean of UNC's Summer School) who helped me carry a lighting kit halfway across campus on October 6th, like my professors, my Student Television, Campus Rec, and Marathon team members who care about helping one another thrive and grow... I strive to be as generous and as understanding as they are. I feel relieved now, maybe even relaxed, because all the hardest things in my semester are done, but I couldn't have made it through without the people who listened and helped me out.  Even the smallest gestures of kindness, compassion, generosity, and empathy go a long way.

Bluegrass Throwback

Tonight I had the pleasure of listening to Back Porch Music, the NPR program that plays on 91.5 WUNC on Saturday nights, on my drive to Durham (I drove to Durham this evening). And there were so many throwbacks.

It all started with the Chicken Man
When my brother and I were younger, our parents dragged us to bluegrass concerts all the time. (Can't say that I really enjoyed said concerts when I was six except for being able to dance in the front by the performers.) My parents have a CD from The Band, a soft rock/bluegrass band, that Fouad and I used to listen to all the time. One of our favorite songs on the CD was "Atlantic City." As five and six year olds, Fouad and I thought the Chicken Man was hilarious! I remember laughing at the idea of a Chicken Man, as in a man in a chicken suit.

"Atlantic City" was originally written and performed by, as the internet has recently informed me,  Bruce Springsteen. Here are the lyrics we thought were so funny when we were five and six years old:

Well they blew up the chicken man
In Philly last night
Now they blew up his house too

So, in the car tonight, I was blown away when I heard the words "chicken man" on Back Porch Music. I recognized the tune immediately and sang along with the chorus, which I still remembered:

Everything dies, baby that's a fact
Maybe everything that dies someday it comes back
Put your makeup on, fix your hair real pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Here's a link to the original song if you'd like to hear it: https://youtu.be/9p4VuHTLjg0
Personally, I like The Band's cover of it better, on the Jericho 1993 album: https://youtu.be/I0eZwpHtcK4

Unidentifiable throwback
On the program tonight, Back Porch Music played a song from Chatham County Line (NC local band!) that I think I've heard before, although I can't say from where.
Just looked it up: it's the song "You Are My Light" from their latest album, Autumn. That's probably why I've heard it. Worth a listen.

Throwback to Spencer Hall, Fall 2015
Last fall, when I lived in a residence hall on campus, my RA Emmy had a hall de-stress event were we got together and made collages. My friends and I stuck various bits of postcards, magazines, and calendars onto colored construction paper. One of the very amusing postcards that I happened to glue onto my pink construction paper was from this group called the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Haha. Nut. Zippers. Squirrel. I'm so mature.

Well, I kept this collage on my door all year and one day my good friend Tirthna bursts into my room with a CD. The album is called Perennial Favorites, by none other than the Squirrel Nut Zippers! It turns out that the Squirrel Nut Zippers is also a local swing band that has been around since the 1980s (although Wikipedia says they formed in 1993). Their songs are super catchy. I listen to the CD on repeat in the car when I don't have NPR on.
Listen to "Hell" here: http://www.mtv.com/videos/squirrel-nut-zippers/10096/hell.jhtml
Listen to "Ghost of Stephen Foster" here: https://youtu.be/KJzWGkgFcTU

Tonight, the radio announcer casually mentioned that the Squirrel Nut Zippers are going to be in concert this Friday at the Carolina Theater in Durham, and I was like "Wow! I know them! We should go!" And by "we" I at first I had someone in mind but then realized that they probably wouldn't want to go.

Anyway, bluegrass tonight brought me back to last year and to way way back; thanks to Back Porch Music for making my drive to Durham a blast from the past.

School is a lot right now and I'm tired

Whenever people ask me what year of college I'm in and hear that I'm a senior, they ask me, "Are you sad this is your last year?"

My response to that question is always this: I'm ready to graduate. I've been mentally ready to graduate since sophomore year.

College is great, don't get me wrong. It has been a heck of a ride. I've been extremely lucky to study at UNC for this long. Being surrounded by my creative and thoughtful peers is wonderful. However, the uber-competitive, workaholic college environment is a toxic environment for my mental health, and everything I've just said is an attempt to sugar-coat that truth. Last year was mental hell and this year, although I'm better off right now, is not a walk in the park.

Going into my senior year at the university, I don't care about school anymore. I don't even think about school anymore: I think about what comes next. I think about what I want to do with my life once formal education is no longer what defines my day-to-day activities. Right now I pay $4000+ per semester to work my butt off for a bachelor's degree that these days isn't worth as much as job experience. If worst comes to worst, I am qualified to work as a cook in Antarctica (it's a real job, look it up).

Admittedly, I like most of my classes at the university. All of them are project-based, so I get to apply my knowledge in a dynamic and meaningful way. Unfortunately I have five different class projects all going on at the same time, plus I have two part-time jobs on top of that, which pay the rent and my student loan debt. Sometimes I like to exercise and have a social life too. I am excited about at least half of my projects, and I like my jobs, but with everything combined, it's a lot. It's only mid-September and I'm already tired.

What's really bringing me down, what I'm really writing this blog post for, are two things. I am about to type cryptically for confidentiality's sake, but bear with the metaphor.

First, this past week I burned a bridge with someone I respect, and that's business that I feel terrible about. I know it's something I can't fix because I made a promise and broke it, and I cannot expect that person to have any trust in me after breaking a promise. We're done, and it sucks.

Second, this afternoon I got a message from someone that threatened the foundation of everything I've tried to build so far this year. Someone else I respect and look to for advice just drenched the bridge between us and the surrounding riverbank in kerosene and is about to light a match. I have to fight to keep this bridge from catching fire because I refuse to let the arsonist break their promise to me. It's not fair to me and everything I've worked for--there's too much at stake this time. They can't just give up on me, not like this, not without me fighting back. I can't believe, after all this, that they'd do that to me. I can't afford to start back at square one, not now.

It's days like today, weeks like this week, that I consider dropping out of school. Learning in a dynamic and meaningful way is fun, and a lot of my college experience has been like that, but it's not reasonable to expect me to cope with so many things all at the same time.

I'm not giving up yet. But it's crossed my mind.

First Day of Class, Senior Year: Reflections

Coming up on senior year, my mom insisted on giving me a can of mace to carry around. "I don't want you to end up like Eve Carson." Eve Carson, for whom there is a memorial 5K at UNC each year, was a top-performing student who was killed when getting money from an ATM at two o'clock in the morning. I assured her that I would never stay out too late for stuff like that, that I'd try to be safe and smart.
Monday, after seeing a group of people at the bus stop near my apartment viciously fighting, I wished that the mace my mom had given me was on a keychain.
This semester, and this year in general, my personal goals are to be healthy and happy in mind and body. It is going to be a challenge but I will do my best.
The first day of classes got off to a rough start with a not-so-productive meeting with a professor. I left the meeting feeling panicked and anxious. I had a hard time getting it off my mind, even during my first class, a class which many of my friends in my major are also taking. (Hi friends!) "It's too early in the semester to feel this way," I thought to myself.
I ate lunch by myself while sending emails (I hate emails) and networking when I ran into one of my friends from class, randomly. We talked a little bit. Then, I got the best message ever: a chance for UNC Student Television to collaborate with DSI Comedy!!!! I have to say that I really love STV alumni. They are legitimately the best people ever. They care so much and I am incredibly appreciative of their support.
That offer made my day a lot better. Thank you.
Second class of the day: it's another friend party! Wow someone got really tan over the summer. Hey you were in my last class- you're in my class tomorrow too? Haha what a coincidence!
After class, one of my friends and classmates asked me if I wanted to go get coffee with her. It was really cool to catch up, seeing as we hadn't had a class together since last fall. There aren't many good coffee shops really and Starbucks was crowded so we wound up at Old Chicago for Irish Coffee at 3:30 in the afternoon and talked about our lives for over an hour. It was great to hear from her, and then to vent about my day and what things I wanted to do with my life.
I sold some textbooks, bought a bike light, and helped to make some very basic STV videos.
That's my day without a lot of the details and emotional descriptors.

LA VIE pt. 3: La fin

Since the internet is very compatible with lists, here are some lists:

All the "famous" people I saw/stared at/was in the presence of this summer in Los Angeles because I paid to see them or didn't:

• William Haynes, Sourcefed host and comedian (Salad Farm in Woodland Hills) (again, sorry for staring when you casually walked in and out of Salad Farm while my intern friends and I were having lunch there, I just recognized you and was super awkward in public)
• Josh Waldron, that comedian guy with the hair who appeared on America's Got Talent or something and actually made me laugh (The Comedy Store, The Improv) (sorry for staring, I just recognized you, and it was exciting, and your hair is cool)
• Taylor Williamson, that other guy who was the runner up on America's Got Talent (The Comedy Store)
• Neil Casey, comedy writer on Adult Swim and also the villain of Ghostbusters (2016) (UCB) (Thank you for validating my opinion that Ghostbusters was better than Star Trek Beyond)
• Bobcat Goldthwait, comedian, panelist on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, and two-time Sundance winner, went to high school with Tom Kenny and a guy named Sparky (The Improv) (thanks for buying me a drink) (let's be real, it was your basement-dwelling friend and comedian Caitlyn Gill who paid for the drink but you were in on it! And then you said hi as I left awkwardly, it was great)
• Greg Proops, comedian (The Improv) (I wasn't that impressed actually)
• Katie Willet, comedian (The Improv) (funny)
• Bernie Sanders (Santa Monica pier) (he looked just like he does on TV)
• George Takei (Hollywood Bowl) (way too far away to be able to see him clearly but he was there)
• Garrison Keillor (Hollywood Bowl) (I was sitting so, so far away, but #allthefeels)
• Seth Morris (UCB) (funny)
• Owen Burke (UCB) (funny)
• Rob Huebel (UCB) (funny)
• D'Arcy Carden (UCB) (ok, kind of quiet)
• Nick Kroll (UCB) (funny)
• Charlie Sanders (UCB) (funny)

The takeaway from this is that almost all the famous people I saw in were comedians and/or old(er) men.


Other things I've learned while in LA:

• I have been really fortunate in having great bosses who care about their jobs and about everyone working for them, with very few exceptions. The boss of my internship was awesome. I learned so much. This whole bullet point is an understatement. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to come out to LA this summer for an internship. #BlueFoxForLife #LiterallyTheBESTBarbequeSauceEver #Foxstarz #RoCP
• I'm blessed to have had close friends from UNC and new friends to hang out with in SoCal.
• Good relationships go a long way. #communication #respect
• #DoYourResearch
• #StayOnTopOfTrends (because your job in entertainment depends on it)
• IMDb is actually a terrible interface. IMDb Pro is so much better. 
• I used to tell people who asked me what I was going to do with my French and Communications majors that I might try to get a job in international film distribution after I graduated from college. I told people that because it seemed like a pretty good way to combine my majors, and maybe they would stop asking. I had no idea what went into film sales and distribution before diving into my internship this summer. Now I do. It's nothing like what I imagined. Film distribution is so complex.
• I went to a lot of comedy shows by myself and it was fine. 
• West Hollywood has the best nightlife. #WishIHadMadeItToTheAbbey
• California catches fire a lot.
• California has great hiking trails.
• I should have reapplied that sunscreen. 
• Theme parks, 360 degree 3D experiences, virtual/augmented reality, drones, 3D printing, light displays, and new technology are super cool and we should be learning about them.

626 Night Market: Sushi Burrito, Reviewed

Yes, you read that right: a sushi burrito. Among the latest food trends comes this handy Japanese-meets-American food item that is just a giant role of deliciousness. And since I am very trendy, of course I had to try one.

For those of you who have never eaten with me, I do everything in my power to avoid eating seafood without seeming rude.
I've claimed to be allergic to it (entirely false),
claimed to be vegetarian (not entirely false),
claimed I wasn't hungry (usually false),
or just told people up front that I'll eat almost anything except fish. I really don't like the texture of most fish or crustaceans and the fishy smell and flavor is revolting to me. Strangely enough, though, sushi is one of the few instances in which I will somewhat willingly put raw fish into my mouth, because to be honest, the soft, fresh flesh is really good. In small amounts. With varying levels of soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger on the side.

Two weeks ago (it's already been that long!), my friend Carolin and I went to the 626 Night Market in Arcadia, California. We had spent the entire day waiting in lines and riding rides at Universal Studios Hollywood, and were absolutely starving.

626 Night Market

I didn't know before going to the 626 Night Market that it was Asian (Korean, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Szechuan, Vietnamese, you name it and that country's food was represented); all I knew is that they would have sushi burritos. So we went. There were also a large number of light-up fruit drinks, some of them even in glasses shaped like a light bulb! Other cool foods included spiraled potato chips on a stick, rolled ice cream, and rice shaped into a little bear's face. I don't know what any of these are formally named. But they were cool. I was impressed with all the creative and stylish food.

Another cool thing that was at the 626 Night Market was the non-food part. There were stalls for artists of all kinds, t-shirt sales, manga/animé related merchandise, scented soaps and bath salts, tiny little Australian flowers that I wanted to buy but didn't... Carolin and I played this game at one of the vendors where we were supposed to get our quarters onto the pokéball logo without touching any of the black paper...we lost. They made it hard. A great waste of 75 cents, but worth it!

The sushi burrito I had was called Mija-Mijo and it came from a vendor called Zumo + IFreeze. It cost me $7 and contained imitation crab, shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, pickled cabbage, Zumo sweet sauce, and "crunchy flake" (whatever that is).

My sushi burrito hit the spot!

 The sushi burrito was so delicious. It was sweet and flavorful and not too fishy at all. I loved the acidity of the pickled cabbage combined with the Zumo sweet sauce. It got a little messy at the bottom but I shoveled the rice into my face and devoured the remains because it was 10pm and this was finally dinner.

I would eat a sushi burrito again, no doubt about it, and I would eat sushi again( in small quantities). I certainly would like to return to the 626 Night Market if I get the chance!

Added bonus: mini review of a red bean & sweet potato steam bun.

Steam bun!!!

It was good. Sweet thanks to the sweet potato, but not too sweet, the red bean paste stuck to itself well and held nicely with the bread of the steam bun.

I promise it tastes better than it looks.

I had been wanting one for a year, ever since Luna made them at camp last summer (#ConcordiaLanguageVillages). It was warm in my hands. I was pleased. Hope I can get another one before returning to North Carolina next weekend.

Star Trek Beyond, Reviewed: I wish it was as good as the trailer.

This is a long blog post. It also contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. It's very long. I'm big on character development.

I just saw Star Trek Beyond, and I cannot believe that I wasted $9.25 on a ticket to see it. Ghostbusters (2016) was so much better. I'm saying that because I prefer films that have characters I can identify with, and I couldn't identify with most of the male characters from Star Trek Beyond.

Slight tangent to give a shout out to Ghostbusters: I loved Ghostbusters because Paul Feig and Katie Dippold really brought the women in Ghostbusters to life; they made them smart, funny, and independent people who proved they weren't afraid to kick butt and become heros. The special effects in this movie were phenomenal. Also, there were a lot of fabulous cameos in Ghostbusters. Leslie Jones's character was probably my favorite in the movie- Patty brought a wealth of knowledge about New York City that the other three women could have used a lot more of,. I wished they had made her a more formally educated person like Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Melissa McCarthy's characters were, and I wish the writers had given her more lines; nevertheless, watching Jones's character conquer her fear- from screaming in terror as she was being chased by a possessed mannequin to slapping the heck out of the ghost inside Melissa McCarthy, screaming "LET THE POWER OF PATTY COMPEL YOU!" -was such an awesome thing to watch. I could go on, but suffice to say that I like strong, funny women in my movies.

Star Trek Beyond had fantastic visual effects and the plot devices were fun. That being said, for a movie from a franchise that was supposed to celebrate diversity and cooperation, Star Trek Beyond didn't have strong female roles, and the writing wasn't great. I loved the 2009 Star Trek and I somewhat dug Star Trek Into Darkness, but I was hoping that Justin Lin could rescue the franchise from the ratings of Into Darkness. In my opinion, the trailer for Star Trek Beyond set the movie up for something way different than what it actually was.

Parts I thought were good: 

Music as a plot device. That use of music was gold- it was so hilariously dumb that it worked perfectly. And the song choice, (SPOILER ALERT) "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys, was a perfect. That song choice hearkened back to the young James T. Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek, and I loved the subtlety with which the Chris Pine's character acknowledged this memory. I wish Rihanna's song "Sledgehammer" was in the middle of the movie and not just the end credits because it was a really epic and dramatic song. I didn't notice the score as much as I did in the past two Star Trek movies, but it worked.

Sentimentality in the plot. What Justin Lin really did well with as the director was choosing moments for sentimentality. The plot definitely celebrated a return to old-school technology that reminded me of Star Trek VI: Bringing the Whales Home (in which in a comical twist, the crew of the Enterprise had to go back in time to 1984, the actual year the film was released, and import a whale into the future). It felt a little bit like Guardians of the Galaxy. There was an old motorcycle, an old ship, Beastie Boys songs considered "classical music," references to what our parents were like and if we were living up to them... There was also a funny moment where Bones had nicked Chekov's whisky and they were like "He's Russian, I thought he'd like vodka." A For Effort.

#allthefeels #RIP

The film was dedicated to Anton Yelchin (all the feels) and Leonard Nimoy (so many feels). The plot took the time to honor Leonard Nimoy, which was endearing. Spock finds out early on that Ambassador Spock had passed away while the Enterprise was venturing through space as part of it's 5-year mission. After that, Spock ever so briefly shows that he has been considering his own mortality again, as well as that of his species. It was nice that they commemorated Leonard Nimoy with this movie, but I qualify that they could have gone much farther with it- the question, what is it like to know that you've died, and now there's only one of you left, was not explored and wasn't even asked. There was simply Bones's response, "I can't imagine what that must be like for you." And no one in the movie tried to.

The youthful crew of the Enterprise. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the extras that made up the crew of the Enterprise were all young-looking people. I liked this because being a diplomat in space totally fits for young people- they want to explore and do something important and meaningful, which is what Star Fleet is all about. Old people in space are backwards and old-fashioned, as evidenced by the villain of this movie, Krall. Plus, it was cool to see Anton Yelchin and John Wu's characters play bigger, better roles in this movie. They weren't belittled like they had been at other times in the recent franchise.

He was under the age of 30.

Stunts. I don't have much to say about them except that they were amazing and must have taken tons of coordination in order to pull off on camera. Dang, that was cool.

Special effects. This movie really showcased the special effects and CGI talents with entirely computer-animated sequences of the rebuilding of the Enterprise. No wonder there were over 200* people credited for special effects and visual effects in the end credits!

All CGI

Yorktown ( AKA the "Life Star")

Fun Facts about the film:

*Effects credits. Note that I stopped counting how many after 100, but you can go on IMDb and count them if you want. There were so many, and that number I threw out doesn't even include special effects makeup artists. 

More numbers. If you count the producers, writers, and directors, there are 

1035 people who worked behind the scenes to make Star Trek Beyond (2016) happen, 

compared to 2056 for Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 

and 1355 for Star Trek (2009).  

For a little perspective, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was made with a crew of 1952 people.

Ghostbusters (2016) was made with 1151 crew members.  

Warcraft (2016) had 1292 crew members. 

The Legend of Tarzan (2016) had 1341 crew members.  

Captain America: Civil War (2016) had 1974 crew members.  

Jason Bourne (2016) had a mere 870.

Note that these are all big-budget, big studio films that had a lot of stunts and special effects built into them. Movies that don't have a lot of stunts or special effects, even if still in the studio circuit, typically only have 20-80 crew members attached.

J.J. Abrams still made this movie. That's right! J.J. Abrams is the top producer on this film. His production company, Bad Robot, was the first one whose animation logo played across the screen when the movie started. (Fun fact within a fun fact: Bad Robot's office is located in Santa Monica, California.) Although he did not direct the film and did not have as much of a hand in it artistically - director Justin Lin made most of the creative decisions - as the one in financial control of the film, Abrams still had a substantial say in how this movie turned out.

Parts I had problems with:

The women's characters. How many women in this movie had prominent speaking roles? Three. There was Zoë Saldana as Uhura, Sofia Boutella as Jaylah, and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Commodore Paris (she had a couple of insightful little monologues at the beginning and the end of the film). Four if you count the woman who's alien voice was dubbed over by a British woman's voice, but she didn't say much, and I don't know what her character's name actually was. The women in this movie, compared to the last two in the latest Star Trek franchise, were not given much personality to work with.

Sofia Boutella as Jaylah

Powerful pose

Jaylah was badass, for sure; she was a skilled fighter and had some great high kicks, and she was really resourceful. Those traps she set with some sort of instant carbonite, her homemade cloaking devices, and her holographic trickery were incredibly clever and showed some real experience and intelligence. She saved Scotty's butt! But I wanted more from her. I wanted what I saw in the movie trailers. Once all of Scotty's little Star Fleet buddies got together, Jaylah meekly hung to the side, and she was the one who had been living inside the space ship for who knows how long--wouldn't you think that if she was the one who lived in the ship, she might know a lot more about it than five men who had just crash-landed onto this planet?

Jaylah lives here. You're not entitled to that chair, Kirk.

It became really obvious, in that moment where the main crew all found each other again, just how male-dominated this movie was. They were all trying to figure out what to do and how to save the crew of the Enterprise on their own, not realizing until later than they should have that hey, this young woman who had lived on the planet for a while could help them both find and rescue their companions. There was an annoying scene of mansplaining where Scotty was trying to figure out how to plug something in without shorting the circuit and was like "no I can do it I don't need your help" and Uhura was all like "Scotty, stop and let Jaylah do it," but he wasn't listening so finally Jaylah shoved Scotty aside and plugged the thing in correctly. "There. Easy." So easy a woman could do it. The misogyny was so frustrating; why did they write so much of it into the film?

Uhura was also badass but not as much as she was in the last Star Trek. Remember how Uhura is a xenolinguist? Remember how she speaks and understands alien languages like Klingon and Romulin? Why didn't she get another chance to showcase her translating talents in this movie? There were amply opportunities, like when the foreign scientist fleeing to the Yorktown base (which is the transparent, humanitarian version of a Death Star) ever said anything, or when the aliens with Krall ever said anything...she translated a computer screen once, and that's it. Aside from her skills as a linguist, Uhura was pretty awesome in that she was the one who saved Kirk and the rest of the crew by sacrificing herself, separating the part of the ship she and Krall were in from the rest.

Uhura just sacrificed herself for the crew. #hero

Kreepy Krally

I wish, though, that she didn't have to say "Captain Kirk will save us" or "Spock, you're here to rescue me" and the fact that they had to point out that Spock gave Uhura a tracking device without her knowing it. If she had known she was wearing a tracking device, I would have felt more confident in her because by knowing something the enemy didn't, she would have been in on the plan to rescue the crew. She was intelligent and clever- escaping from the prison cell to do a little recon was probably her idea, not Sulu's- but ultimately was forced to depend on her male crewmates instead of being given the chance to show that she could hold her own among them.

Since we're breaking up, do you want your tracking device back?

The rest of the writing. The writing was disappointing. I wish it wasn't, but it was. The initial scene's banter was so silly, I felt like it had to have come out of the Marvel universe--it didn't set up well for me, as an audience member, to take the rest of the plot seriously. Simon Pegg and Doug Jung were the writers of this script, and I noticed that Simon Pegg got the first title card as a cast member in the end credits, though he  wasn't the star of the show. No wonder Scotty was one of the most resourceful, best written, and most patronizing characters of the crew of the Enterprise! "Come on, Lassie, we need you to be brave." He had a very middle-aged-white-man attitude, Simon Pegg's character very obviously noticing the difference between his age and Sofia Boutella's. Although Scotty meant well and wanted to support Jaylah, he could have given her a lot more respect and credit for everything that she'd already achieved. And less patronizing. And "My God," can't Bones shake it up a little with the catch phrases?

My God!

In addition to the character development, like Star Trek Into Darkness, there were a couple of plot holes and places where the characters' motivations were very unclear. Why was Star Fleet so trusting of the scientist studying the nebula? Why didn't the Enterprise try to fly away instead of opening fire on the fleet of ships? Why didn't they ever explain why Krall thought that unity makes you weak and not strong? What was the weapon actually capable of doing? Why did Krall want to destroy Star Fleet so badly? (His motivation was as vague as Khan's in Star Trek Into Darkness). It was sometimes amusing that Chekov and Sulu got so technical about their thoughts on the ship, like it could have come out of a dry British comedy. Chekov and Kirk are in the saucer of the ship and Chekov is like, "I can turn on this light and check the computer real quick, Captain, but I don't think we can fly this ship anymore." Well, you don't say! It's not like it just got broken into pieces and crash-landed on a planet or anything.

The Take Away:

The take away from all this is that I wanted this movie to be good, especially because it was directed by someone new, but it wasn't. I wanted it to live up to the trailer, and the plot was nothing like what the trailer promised. As someone who currently watches trailers for a living (Just Kidding, I'm not getting paid), I know that trailers are supposed to get you to watch the movie, not tell you what it's about, but...it was so messy. I felt that the writing fell flat in a lot of parts, and while the special effects were out of this world and the stunts beautifully choreographed, I missed a lot of the character depth that I enjoyed with the 2009 Star Trek. Caring people for sure- Kirk was never going to leave anyone behind -but there wasn't much room for story. This movie felt like it was about a bunch of bros trying to do their job and save their other bros while loving how good of bros they were.

#bros + Uhura

If you want to debate anything I said, or claim that I misrepresented the specific details on one of the scenes I mentioned, then feel free to pay for me to see the movie again, because it's not worth another $10 of my money.

Urth Caffe: Boba Tea, Reviewed

Today I tried a Boba Tea (bubble tea) from Urth Caffe for the very first time. It is very Southern California/tourist to go to Urth Caffe. My wonderful friend Carolin Lehmann, who is the one who suggested we go there, told me that best YouTube stars in LA go here all the time.

My receipt from the Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills

I ordered said Boba Tea because I saw someone else order it and it looked cool. Also it was hot AF out. The one I ordered was an "organic Moroccan mint iced boba tea with matcha, blended" and it looked something like this:

Amaze balls

The peppermint iced tea looked, had the texture of, and and tasted like ice cream/a milkshake/a frappé. Except for the color, the matcha was subtle and it worked. The drink was delicious!!! Highly recommend. I was excited to try the Boba Tea too because I had no idea what the tapioca balls at the bottom would taste or feel like - I thought they would be like those colorful flavored balls that you can put on top of your frozen yogurt, or like instant tapioca. I was wrong on both counts.

Minty drinks- Peppermint Boba Tea and a Mocha Mint espresso drink that I didn't catch the name of but was very smooth and rich. The Boba Tea straw is massive so that you can suck up the tapioca pearls with it.

This was my face when drinking my Boba Tea:

Carolin and I with our minty iced drinks from Urth Caffe! (I feel so bad for throwing away the cup but I didn't have anywhere to compost it or recycle it this afternoon)

 
This was such a great drink! Would definitely get it again. But it was weird. The tapioca pearls were chewy and flavorless. It must be a different kind of tapioca than used in instant tapioca pudding and fro-yo stores. The blended peppermint iced tea was sweet and refreshing. The combination of milkshake and tapioca, strange but not unpleasant, I can best describe as chewing and drinking gum at the same time.

Via Know Your Meme

The takeaway:
This drink was good. The flavors were good. The tapioca was weird but that's why I wanted to try it in the first place and it added an interesting textural element to the blended iced tea.
I will try a different flavor of Boba Tea next time and see what I think. Also I want to eat at Urth Caffe next time I go there, too. It all looked so yummy. Will revisit for sure.

LA VIE pt. 2

Ok, trop de nouvelles........
Pas dans un ordre particulier, peut-être avec l'exception de ce qui me vient à la tête en premier:

1) Je viens de faire un entretien d'embauche aujourd'hui. Si je gagne le poste je vous dirai où je travaillerai.
2) J'ai un petit amour. On verra ce qui arrivera de ça. Il a un beau sourire.
3) Mon stage se passe bien. Je recherche des films (et leurs acteurs) pas encores au cinéma afin d'argumenter leur vente éventuelle aux PDGs de l'entreprise.
4) Je continue à préparer des événements et des réunions et tout ça pour STV.
5) J'ai terminé le montage d'un livre pour un ami. Dieu merci. C'était plus difficile que j'avais imaginé.
6) Une de mes copines va me rendre visite en juillet!
7) Je suis allé à The Last Bookstore avec mon amie Julia et deux de ses amis pour assister à la séance de dédicace de How to Ruin Everything par George Watsky (WATSKY!). Puis nous sommes tous allés prendre des tacos à Guisados (délicieux) et qui nous y a suivi mais Watsky? 
8) J'ai assisté à deux spectacles d'humoriste, tous les deux titrés "Facebook," à UCB Franklin et chaque fois le spectacle était rigolo. Samedi dernier je suis allée avec des copains de mon stage à un spectacle d'humoriste à The Comedy Store et la première humoriste s'est moquée de moi parce que j'ai refusé de répéter le nom du spectacle (le titre était BITCH- je déteste le concepte d'appeler une femme une connasse quand elle te semble trop intelligente ou quand elle te refuse). Il faut dire que je me suis assise au premier rang. Donc...mais c'était bien tout de même. Deux des humoristes sont venus de America's Got Talent.
9) Je suis allée à un groupe de conversation française à Aroma (un café trop mignon) à Studio City et waaaaooouuuuuh je dois pratiquer. Je peux taper mais je dois m'habituer à parler et à écouter le français. Une de mes raisons pour ma participation à ce groupe de conversation était pour l'entretien d'embauche.
10) Au stage hier nous avons fait notre réunion hebdomadaire et les Foxstarz (mon équipe) et moi, nous nous sommes installés dans la salle de réunion tôt afin de nous asseoir sur les divans avant l'autre équipe, Raiders of Canoga Park, pour la première fois depuis des semaines. Personne n'éprouve de joie assis par terre pendant quatres heures.
11) Aujourd'hui j'ai fait appréhendre un voleur au supermarché. (D'accord, c'est un mensonge, personne n'arrête de voleur à l'étalage au supermarché, mais j'ai identifié le vol!) J'étais dans l'allée du vin quand j'ai vu un homme suspect portant un t-shirt orange trainer un peu trop proche aux rayonnages. Je l'ai vu du coin d'oeil fourrer deux bouteilles de vin chères dans le pantalon (dégeulasse, des gens font ça?!? Je croyais que ce n'était que quelque chose que les voleurs font dans les BDs). J'ai prévenu le gérant du supermarché de cet homme et il l'a chassé aux portes, puis le gérant est revenu à l'allée et je lui ai montré le rayonnage d'où le type a volé le vin. C'était intéressant pour moi d'entendre le gérant du supermarché parler à propos du vin comme "à succès" au lieu de leur saveur- il a évalué les produits en termes de leur valeur de vente (ce qui était vraisemblablement le résultat du travail au supermarché).

The Last Bookstore

Tacos @ Guisados

Watsky!!!

The Comedy Store

English Version:
Ok, too much news...
In no particular order, perhaps except for what comes to mind first:

1) I just had a job interview today. If I get the post, I'll tell you where I'm going to work.
2) I'm dating someone. We'll see what happens. He has a beautiful smile.
3) My internship is going well. I research films (and their actors) not yet in theaters in order to pitch their potential sale to the executives of the company.
4) I continue to prepare events and meetings and that sort of thing for STV.
5) I finished editing a book for a friend. Thank goodness. It was more difficult than I had imagined.
6) One of my friends is coming to visit me in July!
7) I went to The Last Bookstore with my friend Julia and two of her friends to attend the book signing of How to Ruin Everything by George Watsky (WATSKY!). Then we all went out for tacos at Guisados (delicious) et who followed us there but Watsky?
8) I went to two comedy shows, both called "Facebook," at UCB Franklin and each time the show was hilarious. Last Saturday I went with friends from my internship to a comedy show at The Comedy Store and the first comedian made fun of me because I refused to say the name of the show  (the title was BITCH- I hate the concept of calling a woman a bitch when she is too smart for you or when she refuses you). It's worth noting that I was sitting in the front row. So...but it was good all the same. Two of the comedians came from America's Got Talent.
9) I went to a French conversation group at Aroma (a really cute café) in Studio City and wooooow I need to practice. I can type but I've got to accustom myself to speaking and listening to French. One of my reasons for participating in this conversation group was for the job interview.
10) At the internship yesterday we had our weekly meeting and the Foxstarz (my team) and I occupied the meeting room early so that we could sit on the couches before the oter team, Raiders of Canoga Park, for the first time in weeks. No one enjoys sitting on the floor for four hours.
11) Today I had a thief arrested at the grocery store. (Ok, that's a lie, no one ever stops a shoplifter at the grocery store, but I identified the theft!) I was in the wine aisle when I saw a suspicious man wearing an orange t-shirt standing a little too close to the shelves. I saw him, out of the corner of my eye, stuff two expensive bottles of wine down his pants (gross, people do that?!? I thought that that was only something thiefs did in cartoons!). I alerted the store manager about this man and he chased the guy to the doors, then returned to the aisle and I showed him the shelf from which the guy had stolen the wine. It was interesting to me to hear the manager talk about the wines as being "best selling" rather than tasting good- he evaluated products in terms of their sales value (which was probably a result of working for a grocery store).


Finalement, la continuation des meilleurs/pires titres des films (Finally, the continuation of the best/worst movie titles):

Sickfuckpeople

ADHD Rush Hour

Cook, Fuck, Kill

Dude Bro Party Massacre 3

Easter Bunny Assassin

Undercover Barista

Rita Hayworth with a Hand Grenade

Inner B*tch

Moo Moo and the Three Witches

Obamaland

Equestrian Sexual Response

Violent Shit

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (in space-blazing color)

Sick Sock Monsters from Outer Space

Two Lovers and a Bear

Blood Punch

Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil: The End Of The End

Bang Gang

Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?

If Cats Disappeared from the World

Easter Bunny Kill Kill

Space Clown

The Accidental Exorcist

Ace the Case

Black Kungfu Chick

Smothered by Mothers

Blood Feast

Awkward Sass

Super Dark Times

Kindergarten Cop 2

After Porn Ends 2

Deadly Dance Mom

Elvis Pelvis

Blazing Samurai

Super Troopers 2

Dark Detour 2: All That Glitters

Catfight

My Cousin's Ghetto Wedding

Devoted to Dance

Newlyweeds

Rhymes with Banana

Boyfriend Killer

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

Fanarchy

This Giant Papier-Mâché Boulder Is Actually Really Heavy

Hellevator Man

Fetish Factory

Future Punks

Psycho de Mayo

Kills on Wheels

Quel titre préférez-vous/Which is your favorite?