elisi's humble abode

Metro: The UK reported a daily record of 189,213 Covid cases today.

The 189,213 confirmed Covid-19 infections is the latest record to tumble after a fortnight of unprecedentedly high case totals – while deaths also rose dramatically, to 332.

However, those figures are likely to have been inflated somewhat because of delayed reporting over the festive period – and particularly by a backlog of hospital deaths reported by NHS England from December 24-29.

Yet the latest data shows that in the last seven days alone, some 984,147 people have tested positive in the UK.

And what is the government's response? Any kind of lockdown or restrictions? Oh no... (the below is a parody account, but alas, it speaks the truth.)

BREAKING: If you're concerned about going into a crowded hospital this winter, you can rest assured that if the NHS collapses, the prime minister has a brilliant plan to put you in a tent in a car park and no, I am not joking this time x

— Laura Kuenssberg Translator (@BBCLauraKT) December 30, 2021

I don't even know anymore...

Have a bunch of random stuff, under the cut to not take up all of your flists... All of it very vaguely Christmas themed.

( Read more... )

Fall in America:



Autumn in the UK:



I got SO WET on Monday omg. (Ain't no Meg Ryan fall in this country. It just goes from Sunny and Warm to Cold, Wet and Dark.)

Work has finally calmed down, but I just have no energy for anything extra. I keep meaning to post updates and just... not. Like the Cherub turned 16 (yes, I know!) and I have many thoughts on RTD in general and there's a lot stuff I want to share - and yet, I don't.

Daily Dimash

Dimash has started posting videos of the performances from his digital concert in January. :) They're coming out every 3-4 days and are a constant source of delight. At some point I'll do something, but for now I'll just point you towards his youtube channel if you are curious.

Then yesterday he posted an update to let his fans know that he had gone back to China for a few months I think (after sitting out covid back home in Kazakhstan), and then TODAY he posted this:



I'm not sure why this one hit me as hard as it did, but he changed the song again and his voice just... idk. *waves hands* It's somehow particularly rich or... I can't describe it. I only know the effect it has on me.

ETA: It's possible there's some kind of effect added, I'm sure some of the vocal coach reactors will unpick it. But apart from that I think a lot of it is simply how happy he is? Performing is where he lives, and he's clearly thrilled at being able to be in front of an audience again. And he just delights in all the runs and flourishes, it's not about showing off, he's so clearly just having fun. <3 Another entry to compilation videos like this one: Times When Dimash Had Fun With His Voice or Forgot That He's Still HUMAN. Also - just LOOK at those shiny, shiny trousers!

ETA2: Yes, it's autotune - just a few instances at the beginning - apparently he had a wardrobe malfunction. From one of the comments to this video by H of the Stage where he picks the song apart):

[It] was shot twice. the first time he sang it, his belt came loose, but he continued to perform nevertheless, holding the belt in one hand. i think the director asked him to perform the song again, and the second version was the one televised.

They might have done something with the sound in post-production.

2nd performance, fancam:



Analysis here:




Dimash Masterpost

Today we went for a walk which was a lot more Climbing than I had anticipated and took the whole afternoon. I am v tired. However I came across this and well - how could I not share?



Also saw this:

An oral history of Oxford/AstraZeneca: ‘Making a vaccine in a year is like landing a human on the moon’

(From the Guardian.)

Sorry for falling off the edge of the world, but well - we went to Wales, camping, and internet connection was not really a thing. (Nothing to do with Wales per se, but the camp site had terrible connection, and besides I only had my phone.)

We had a lovely week though, with castles and a steam train and the beach and a visit to Portmeirion and general holiday things.

And tomorrow I go Back To Work /o\ - the upcoming month is the busiest of the year so if I vanish again I am ded from work.

Hope you are all well! ♥ ♥ ♥

Sure our holiday plans got cancelled, but I've still got TIME OFF and I can feel my whole body slowly decompressing. Whatever shall I do with all this time??? We haven't made any plans yet, and going anywhere will be expensive (ETA: Sitting on the sofa for 2 weeks & watching the Olympics is of course an option), but I'm thinking I might try to actually sort out my novel. I have a draft but it needs work...

Anyway. Since this is the last post I figure I could throw LOTS the links at you, since I've been collecting them for a good while. (Well some of them.)

ETA: A really good thread:

THREAD:
As news stories drop about COVID+ pandemic deniers & anti-vaxxers ranting defiantly from ICU beds, let's review what fraud research suggests abt the responsibility we should attribute to them for their condition & the ms they send.

Are they victims we should pity? 1/x pic.twitter.com/jrmo6zQ7BL

— Brooke Harrington (@EBHarrington) July 22, 2021

( In Plague News )

( Greetings from TERF island )

( Miscellaneous )

( LotR stuff )

OLYMPICS

Yay Olympics! Nothing will ever be as good as 2012 (sigh) (yes I'm biased, we got tickets for the Paralympics and it was MAGICAL and the UK wasn't the absolute dystopian nightmare it is now, my GOD it's so depressing to remember how wonderful things were?), but since I was at work today I couldn't watch the opening ceremony live (will catch up tonight). Darcy & the girls however watched the whole thing, and the girls apparently brought out the globe and had a lot of fun trying to find all the different nations as they paraded in. How's that for edutainment? ;)

ETA: OK watched all the 'good bits' (i.e. skipped the athletes walking in & the speeches). I had seen comments about THE DRONES, and they were not wrong. The drones were utterly amazing. The girls' favourite part was the pictograms (which were also completely brilliant, although in a very different way), and then I got all choked up when it got to the torch & the lighting of the cauldron. It's good to remember hope and optimism. (Then we went back & watched the lighting of 'our' cauldron in 2012 and wallowed in nostaliga.)

Anyway, here is Mary Carillo's Brilliant Badminton Rant from 2004. Enjoy.



ETA2: Sure there is a feeling of fiddling while Rome the planet burns, but on the other hand THE PLANET IS BURNING and and flooding and there is a plague and honestly watching Simone Biles being out-of-this-world talented is... nice.

Daily Dimash: Olimpico

I've been keeping this song in reserve because it's one of THE songs, and then I realised that the Olympics were actually happening and everything converged perfectly. THIS SONG. Just the power and the beauty of it, I canNOT. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Olimpico (also known as Ogni Pietra) is the first work that Igor Krutoy (music) and Liliya Vinogradova (lyrics) created specifically for Dimash. It's an opera-style piece (the lyrics are in Italian) and was written for the Opening ceremony of the 2nd European Games in Minsk in 2019. It's one of those 'only Dimash could sing this' songs, since it's written for baritone and soprano. Lyrics here, they're very inspirational.

Dimash Kudaibergen & Igor Krutoy - Olimpico (Arnau concert)


Dimash - Olympico ~ WorldSkills Kazan 2019 (the staging of this is incredible)


( More under cut, because I love it )

Well, this has taken me 2 1/2 hours to put together (although I was interrupted) so I reckon I should probably post it. 494 days in a row, I think that's pretty neat. Thank you all. I'll be back, don't worry. <3

*curtsies & exits stage left*

Yeah, I've got nothing. It's still too warm. Am scrolling through stuff & news and just feeling deeply uninspired & repetitive. Here, have a couple of odd things:

Look at this moth from the genus Phalera

It looks like a fragment of twig complete with chipped bark and even the layering of wood tissue at the “cut” ends...perfectly resembling a broken piece of wood to avoid predation. pic.twitter.com/PShHPk25jE

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 14, 2021

what it looks like when ivy is pushed off of a building, apparently: pic.twitter.com/XxNoGts8jY

— Rusty Zimmerman (@RustyZimms) July 12, 2021

~

However tonight we watched 'Rubber' (trailer here) which is the most ridiculous and original movie I have seen in a long, long time. Also very VERY meta. With many thanks to Owls for the rec.

Oddly, very reminiscent of Alas, Poor William. I Knew Him Well. by ruuger one of the most unsettling and innovative fics it has ever been my pleasure to read.

~

( Daily Dimash: Lay Down )

Sunday has been the hottest day of the year for England and Wales after temperatures higher than 30C were recorded.

I don't like it. :(

It's too warm, so have another cat thing. This time it's a cat being forced to be in the family photo.

Happy #Caturdaypic.twitter.com/LPX8AgO1k9

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 17, 2021

~

In other news, then Friday (23rd) will probably be my final Daily Update. (shadowkat I swear I'm not copying you!) But we are (fingers and toes and everything else crossed) hopefully going away. Like abroad away - presuming we can get off this Plague Island - and it seemed a good point to stop.

~

( Daily Dimash: Over Here/Love is Not Over Yet )

This has been a long week. (First whole week back in the office.)

So have a thread that almost made me cry as I walked home:

Sod it. Have a Friday history thread.

Let's talk about Simon. Ship's cat for HMS Amethyst. Survivor of the 1949 Yangtse Incident and the only cat ever to be awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. pic.twitter.com/jCNZjnjVJd

— John Bull (@garius) July 16, 2021

~

ETA: PlagueIsland is trending...

The Independent: Boris Johnson pursuing Covid policy of mass infection that poses ‘danger to the world’, scientists warn

Most accurate tweet:

Ok so there are 50,000 shark attacks a day but we are still reopening on Monday because if not now, then when? pic.twitter.com/tL0UYiUwj9

— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@davemacladd) July 16, 2021

~

Daily Dimash: Ocean Over Time

This is the theme song for Chinese video game called Moonlight Blade. It won Hollywood Music in Media Award in Los Angeles in 2017 in 'The best original song of video game' category.

It's basically like therapy. Also the game looks gorgeous and the lyrics are just beautiful.

Time
Is like a ship in the wind
Drifting far away by waves

Moonglow
Is like the shadows of a thousand sails on the water



(Will probably come back & add other videos, but as I said - exhausted.)


Dimash Masterpost

Today I am tired and coughing a bit (again/still). This is not really a complaint, just a statement as to why I've not been responding to comments. I am aware I'm one of the lucky ones...

Sky News: COVID-19: UK daily coronavirus cases exceed 40,000 - highest since mid-January
The number of daily coronavirus infections is the highest for six months, as 49 more people have died within 28 days of a positive COVID test.

~

Here is a wonderful (and touching) thread:

I took this picture in the (mostly) unexplored tunnel network beneath the Western Front back in 2019.

I love it, because it really highlights that there is very little difference between the average teenager in 1915 and a teenager today.

Not all Tommies were sad dreamy poets 😆 pic.twitter.com/7qfHte29uj

— John Bull (@garius) July 13, 2021

(Heads up: possibly not entirely SFW...)

~

And if you are wondering what's happening in Cuba, here is a thread: Day 4 #11JCuba New thread

~

( The Crown/Kim Eken (Without You) )

Petition: Keep face covering mandatory in indoor public settings beyond 19th July 2021

(For all the good that it will do. But we can try...)

~

ETA: Email your MP: ask them to #scrapNHSBill

(Info at link)

~

Am tired, so this will be a short post, but this made me happy:

My 7 year old is football mad & dreams of being a professional footballer when he’s older. Every time he has played in the garden with his brother he has started with #TakeTheKnee. I asked him why, he said ‘to help black people’. It’s a simple explanation but not bad.

— Laura Angus #IHaveBeenVaccinated (@Lauraangus3) July 12, 2021

~

( Daily Dimash: Marigolds )