Day 202

Today, after getting the paper and doing the crossword, I finally got round to making an appointment for my NHS Health Check blood test and its booked for this Friday. The only problem/hitch is that it’s a fasting blood test, so after 10pm the day before I’m not allowed any food or drinks (except for plain water) until after the blood is taken. Hopefully, I won’t forget and have breakfast by mistake 😉

As I was in a healthy state of mind I started back up (or maybe that should be re-restarted) doing free weights. Somehow, I’d gotten out of the habit and need to pick it back up. 

I also got round to watching Shooter (I’d had it on my Netflixs list for a while). I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but I was really gripped and binged the first seven episodes today. 

 

Shooter does remind me a bit of 24, or at least the parts when Jack had to go rogue, and our hero, Bob Lee, finds himself framed for assassinating the Ukrainian President/trying to assassinate the US President, missing and getting the Ukrainian President instead, and has to rely on his training and abilities to survive and set things straight. 

But, because Shooter has just ten episodes there is very little ‘fat’, there’s no ‘Kim get stalked by a cougar’ type sub-plots to keep characters busy and the writers don’t have stretch credibility (i.e. no conspiracies within conspiracies within conspiracies) to make the story last. Although, sometimes, the story does stray into slightly jingoistic territory, with our hero succeeding because he embodies the American way.  Also, some of the characters are a little one-dimensional, but the cast, Ryan Phillippe, Shantel VanSanten, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Eddie McClintock, Omar Epps, David Marciano, Sean Cameron Michael and Tom Sizemore, do a great job in making these characters believable as rounded human beings. 

There was also The Wrap article by Kai Cole, discussing her ex-husband, Joss Whedon, and his hypocrisy in “preaching feminist ideals” while “he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends, while he stayed married to me”. There is also an implication/sub-current that he used his power and influence to start these affairs or that because of his power and influence women acquiesced to these affairs.

At first, I thought that cheating on your wife, while a horrible and dishonourable thing to do, didn’t mean that you couldn’t be a feminist. But I changed my mind when while reading the many comments on the article I came across one which noted that if you can’t respect one women (your wife) how can you respect all women and be a feminist. I didn’t make a note of the commenters name, but they are right. How can you call for women to be respected and treated equally as men, if you’re happy to lie and cheat on your wife, who you have promised that you will “love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?” (or words to that effect).

This has really bothered me as I am/was a big Whedon fan, and I know in the grand scheme it’s a minor issue and that we should separate the artist from their art, but his work is now tainted. Next time I watch one of his shows, in the background there is going to be a question of ‘did he perv on the actress’, ‘is she in an uncomfortable onscreen position because of a story reason or was it a way of influencing his power over the actress’, etc.