191

First Frame / Last Frame

Graves of the Fireflies

especially the sort where the lower bunk is actually a desk or a couch

i mean

come on

tell me you don’t want one of these

- was an incredible chef and writer beloved by so many

- very open about his struggles with drug use and abuse as well as depression, and in testimonials from fans used to encourage people he met in their struggles to get clean 

- an outspoken and passionate advocate for the “me too” movement, to the point where he penned an essay highlighting the horrible treatment of women in the food industry and his own failings and regrets in that regard for not speaking out against it sooner

- frequently challenged western views on the countries and places he visited; one of the clearest examples i can think of was an episode of parts unknown set in iran where the highlight was the normalcy of the lives of people who live there - he went bowling with them, for example, and spent an hour calling out the bizarre westernized views of iran and it’s people as tragic, war-torn and oppressed.

- spent so much time focusing on the people in the places he visited. he ate at their homes, in their backyards, anywhere they would like him to, as much (if not more) as he did at fine dining restaurants. he was generous and kind, and the show was never about “poverty porn” but rather about showing that these are real people, with real lives just like ours, and treated them with respect and graciousness.

- was an outspoken trump-hater particularly when it came to immigration rights, discussing the impact that mexican immigrants had on his love of cooking and his desire to be a chef.

- someone asked what tony would cook for trump & kim jong un if he was asked to cater their meeting and he said “hemlock”.

- a friend of obama’s, having dined with him many times before; when someone asked if he would do the same with trump tony said: “Absolutely f—ing not. I’ve been a New Yorker most of my life… I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.”

No big deal, I thought: I’m out of propane and I don’t have a car, but there’s a service station that does tank exchanges just a couple of blocks away. I’ll load the empty tank into a wheeled cart, drag it down to the service station, swap it for a full one, drag the new tank back - problem solved.

Additional problem the first: when I get to the service station, the attendant informs me that scarcely ten minutes before I got there, some guy with like fifteen empty tanks in the back of his truck had wheeled up and totally cleaned them out - they had no full tanks to give me.

Okay, I thought, I can deal with this: there’s another service station three blocks further on. What was meant to be a four-block round trip is now a ten-block round trip, but hey, I can use the exercise.

I haul myself down to the other service station, swap out the tank, and set off for home.

Additional problem the second: as I’m on my way back, the sky opens up in a massive thunderstorm. Normally this would just mean I get wet, were it not for…

Additional problem the third: the route I’ve chosen involves briefly crossing an open field - which is exactly where I happen to be when the storm hits.

So now there’s lightning coming down everywhere, and I’m standing out in the open, soaking wet, holding onto a metal canister full of explosive gas.

Dog - is “bowing” and using open mouth “bites” as forms of play

“Play fight with me!”

Cat - is giving the little paw bats they use when playing with kittens

“Cute kittens get booped!”

They are both trying to engage the other in a playful way but not understanding the others responce.

The dog is like “you smack so no play? but not hard smack and no bad noise so not angry?”

The cat is like “why you jump around? open mouth but no chomp? no hiss so is okay?”

And then they sort of settle with a kind of communal grooming gesture they both understand!

Dog: no play? okay i lay… we calm now friend!

353 days to go. A horrible day at work. An old grandma who looked as if she wouldn’t harm a fly called me a pencil-pushing capitalist dupe. But then I came home and cooked chicken with cream, mushrooms and port, and it was total bliss.