Queer Quickies: Leonardo DiCaprio| Queen Elizabeth II| Don't Worry Darling| Magical Shows and Books | Intermittent Fasting and A Cat

Some shows I'm currently watching. Some news shoved into my face and ears. A good practice. A kitten

Listening to: Never Felt Like This Before by Sexy Pigeon

But this blog won’t ever have a niche!

So as to appease some demanding and heteronormative readers (Lol), I want to remind you that this project of mine won’t solely touch on a single topic. a.k.a. I’ll write whatever I want or better yet:

Literature, creative writing, Queerness, politics, culture, gossip, life.. they will all have space and time here. But let me broadly group some of what we have, some of what we will have. I’ll mostly write/post about the following: Queerness; this town I live in; state of the country; my family; some daily, pedestrian experiences; the little things; photography; men and boys; Food; my love for Japan.

Let me introduce Queer Quickies. Or, news that are currently breathing down my neck, my opinions about them and some life updates.

I don’t actively seek out news. What’s the point? I’m like hobbits, “quite content to ignore and be ignored.” But the big and loud ones, one way or another, will eventually reach us, even a shopkeeper at the ends of the world such as myself.

Here are my opinions on a few still ringing in my ears:

Leonardo DiCaprio and Ageism

Even before his recent breakup with Camilla Morrone, a chart of DiCaprio's past relationships already exists. Morrone is the latest addition in a long line of tall, thin blondes (except for Naomi Campbell). And all oh so young. Because famously— infamously?— no woman partner he's had reached 26 in their relationship.

DiCaprio is what Season 1, Episode 2 (titled “Models and Mortals) of Sex And The City labels as “modelizer.” The show focuses on men who do not date “ordinary women.” They notoriously keep dating “not with women but models.” To follow this logic is to believe and accept fashion models as both inhuman and divine.

We can direct this to DiCaprio as well. Because isn’t he, too, a model? Isn't he, too, divine? Forever immortalized through his movies and art?

We could also argue: “But this man has done nothing to me, personally. I don’t know this man.” But we do know Leo. We do know him, to a degree, personally. We have known him, in my case, since Titanic.

Here's a queer and double-edged thought: We love the great wave of diversity happening in industries nowadays. Thank you, Rihanna and The Fenty Effect! More peoples of color, of different sizes, genders, and even conditions are invited into all business fields in recent years (especially in fashion). But that would also mean the addition of inhuman, divine models have quadrupled in numbers. Where do we, the “ordinary,” fit in?

Do we have the right to speak about DiCaprio and Morrone? Yes, to some degree. It fuels their business. Some degrees, no. Whether we do have rights or not, we’re already gossiping anyway.

For now, I really only just see divine people dating and dumping other divine-looking people and us talking about them.

P.S.

There are already articles saying that DiCaprio “has his sights” and “getting to know” Gigi Hadid. It’s revolting, isn’t it?

Don’t Worry Darling

I’m so watching this film, performance and acclaim definitely aside, just for the heck of it, just for the major gossip that has outweighed the film itself. I’m here for it, Michael-Jackson-eating-popcorn meme* It’s just fun. And there are thousands of movies we can watch for art’s sake. But amidst all this drama, I particularly got angry with this one thing.

On a more serious note for me personally, I was notified of a YouTube Clip regarding director Olivia Wilde explaining a scene in the movie. This one:

… and I didn’t care for it.

Critics, needless to say, offer us layers perspectives more than any other person. As is their job. Just a few months ago when The First Lady was panned by viewers and critics alike, Viola Davis commented (I sensed at the time, in bitterness) that “critics serve no purpose.” But wonderful Arifa Akbar responded with the most beautiful words via a Guardian article:

If storytelling is a vital part of life, so is its analysis – what it says, how well it says it, what it means to us. Critical appraisal enriches stories and builds an existential dialogue between creator and receiver.

But here’s Miss Wilde explaining her direction via YouTube to us. Personally, I truly, truly, detest creators explaining their work. Of poets who explain their poems or fictionists who elaborate on their stories.

Or, in the case of J.K. Rowling, informing us that the character, the Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, was gay but not putting it in the literature.

I say: let the reader interpret the stories on their own. How else are we going to develop our critical thinking? An artist explaining their own story defeats the purpose of literature!

Intermittent Fasting; A Lifestyle

This morning, as my beloved store assistant and I opened shop, I noticed him boiling some water for me. I prepare my coffee but he gives me this small aid by boiling the water. As I prepared my usual no-sugar, black coffee, I remembered those times I invited him to have invited him to join me for breakfast, and him always refusing.

After all these months, I finally asked him, “Don’t you eat breakfast?

“I don’t. I’ve never eaten breakfast for as long as I can remember.”

No bread. No water intake of any kind during mornings, he added.

“And what time do you have dinner?”

“Just after the shop closes. Probably 8 or 9 PM.”

There are days when he and I would grocery shop in the mornings and I would insist we eat breakfast first. He would politely always ask for smaller portions: half a cup of rice and probably only 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of meat.

In my mind, it was mercy, kindness and charity. In his mind, now I realize, I was force-feeding him.

It’s the same with his three other siblings. This one time, his older brother drove me to a shop (again, for a bit of shopping for the store). Again, I invited him for some early breakfast. He somberly replied that he would rather not. He’d vomit it anyway.

Lesson learned. I’ll not invite them for breakfast. I’ll never presume.

I further realized that these four brothers have been passively fasting everyday. They’ve been doing so their entire lives. No wonder they have fabulous, flat, firm tummies.

Part of the Keto diet is abstaining from eating for several hours, 16 if you can handle it. We may take in water or coffee (no sugar), a friend of mine advised, but it’s essentially fasting until what fat remaining in the body is burned.

When I was still studying Nursing (more than a decade ago), I remembered one specific lesson a professor told us: always eat 3 times a day. We may never know when an emergency might happen. This way, we’ll have reserve energy when it’s needed. My man’s humble response, my dear, young, strong, shop assistant, barely having any education himself, destroyed a tenured professor’s professional lesson that I kept and practiced. And I’ve experienced zero emergencies all this time, only gaining unneeded fat and cost.

I’m slowly mimicking their style. Eat only lunch at lunch time, as they do. Never have snacks, like they don’t. Only ever eat lunch at noon and dinner around 8 PM. 8 PM until 8 AM, that’s 12 hours. Plus, another 4, making the total 16 hours.

I’m okay with hunger. Muslims, through fasting in Ramadan, are trained to endure this kind of suffering. My main challenge is after the fast. What I need most is restraint needed when I break the fast. Fasting this long will all be for naught if I ravage food come dinner time. Eat few; chew slowly.

One more piece of wisdom from a show I don’t remember anymore. Let me share this question: Do you eat for fuel or for fun?

The Queen’s Passing

Not just with Queen Elizabeth II, but I often ruminate on what will happen when immensely powerful individuals’ times are done on this earth.

Noam Chomsky, Anna Wintour, Nancy Pelosi, Hayao Miyazaki, Bernie Sanders, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, royal families or dictators of countries… in ways big and small these people have influenced my thoughts and therefore my actions. What happens when they’ve all passed? Queen Elizabeth II is the heaviest name on the list above, not just because of her standing but the centuries of tradition and histories that have supported her.

She survived wars, famines, recessions, and constant family drama. I imagine she was more anxious in this era, our times when discretion is obsolete, because of the openness brought about by social media.

Leave it to Twitter and Reddit to provide a multitude of voices and perspectives, unprecedented, unwarranted, unwanted, welcome. She really was, in truth, and jokes aside, the latest and most major part, in a long line of agents, of colonization. Other makes jokes about it, others revere her.

But oh…oh! Those hundreds of thousands of people that that family could have saved with one stone from one of her crowns…

News about her and the next one is going to stretch for weeks. I’m sure this is going to bring new attention and profit to the U.K.

The House of the Dragon | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings: The Rings of Power | The Silmarillion | The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogies

I’m starting to mellow now, thank God. Better breathing, better mood, better self. Writing more, journaling more. Not like last month, when I believe that my oversleeping was my body’s way of fighting tremendous fatigue I experienced. My incredible stress was simply because of life. That is to say, the more stressful and heavy aspects of life, which I got to feel every other hour, it seemed.

Escapism through fantasy is helping me a lot now. I’m taking it easy by getting lost in shows and books, particularly the ones with wizards and dragons. Nothing delivers like Tolkien and the Targaryen Family.

With quick opinions, I’m watching and reading:

• The House of the Dragon - same family drama, conflict and hunger for power, and choosing men over women. Tried and tested motifs, and old. Queers could— and will— never! But the dragons and battles are good.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - set a thousand years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, this series will tell us the stories of an unchill and naïve Galadriel, the formation of the Rings of Power, and how Sauron came to power. Outstanding visuals.

• The Silmarillion by Tolkien - which I thought was going to be a good read while waiting for the next episodes of Rings of Power. Just wow. Worldbuilding at its finest.

• The Hobbit and LOTR Trilogies - just because I’ve already been watching these, I thought I might as well remember the original myth movies for me. I love binge-watching LOTR!

Lastly, we now have a cat.

A new friend has come to the party. A kitten. Barely a few months old. Despite the tremendous strain the store is experiencing because of gas prices (which in turn made companies increase their products), we have semi-adopted Sergeant. We say “semi” because she only visits in the mornings and disappears in the afternoon and night. Despite the stress, how can we say no to this girl? Hopefully, she’ll bring joy to the store.

P.S.

I feel as though the quality of my writing has lessened somehow. It’s still far from excellent. I feel it’s just a bit above acceptable. But I’m working hard on better developing my writing everyday.

Thank you very much for reading.

Notes:

1. Leo News: “has his sights” and “getting to know.”

2. Viola Davis says critics ‘serve no purpose’ but we do – and it’s not to sell tickets by Arifa Akbar

3. Last Post: Log 24: Some Movies, Anime And Fatigue

4. The House of the Dragon

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

6. The Silmarillion