Milking it for everything it’s got

It’s what the 太太 want.

I went shopping after school knowing that among other things, I needed to buy some milk. I don’t normally buy milk from Carrefour, but since I was going there, I thought I’d grab a carton.

Being a cheap bastard discerning shopper, I buy the local stuff, but today, there was none to be had. It was either New Zealand milk at twice the price (around ¥19 for one litre; NZ$3.74 at the current rate of exchange; I have no idea whether this is good, bad, or other; tick a box) or those irritating kiddie cartons.

I was heading to 远东百货 anyway, and know that I can usually get milk there; but instead, I found more New Zealand milk alongside other exotic, overpriced milks from around the globe. Since the prices in 远东百货 are even higher than those in Carrefour, I was damned if I was going to sigh in defeat and accept that I was going to have to pay well over the odds, or be inconvenienced further.

Instead, I went home via Vanguard, which had milk at a less disagreeable price.

Once again, I have to go to three different places to get everything I need. Once again, it’s one of those occasions when the supply chain goes funny and that which I expect to be able to find has vanished without being restocked. The situation must be especially bothersome for people who don’t have my mobility and must simply tolerate the annoyance of paying twice as much for milk because the financial damage to their wallets exceeds the inconvenience of traipsing all over the city for what they want.

If it’s this dull, what must the book be like?

Twilight.

Having read online how dire this film was, I was curious to see it for myself. It’s not utterly dire, but it is slow and dull, and there’s absolutely no sense of chemistry between the leads. (I only hope that Stephenie Meyer’s prose isn’t as dull as this.) 

If the studios are looking for the new Harry Potter, this rather insipid stuff isn’t it.

[24.07.13. At the time I had no idea that the leads were an item, but that Kristen Stewart liked straying. Perhaps that was why I had no sense of chemistry between the leads.]

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Milk.

Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, who was the first gay man to be elected to civic office in San Francisco after several failed attempts. The film mainly concentrates on the political rather than the personal as Milk and his supporters fight the hysterical reactionaries before he becomes one of their victims at the hands of Dan White, who was elected as a city official alongside Milk.

In his book 101 Ethical Dilemmas, Martin Cohen mentions the Twinkie defence which was used at White’s trial. That claimed that White was suffered a “mental lapse” from the excessive consumption of junk food. The jury, who must also have been eating a lot of junk food, more or less accepted the defence and White was jailed for manslaughter. He was out five years later and two after that killed himself. In the book, Milk is referred to as one of the mayor’s assistants but not named.

The film mostly concentrates on Milk the political animal rather than Milk the man, and the fight against anti-gay legislation such as the dismissal of gay teachers and anyone supporting them. In the end, Milk seems to be famous for what he did and how he died, but would not otherwise have been a candidate for a biopic.

Appendix

The opening sequence of the film is police raids on gay bars in the 50s or 60s. What quickly struck me about the footage was how many people were smoking. Curious thing, though, that I should pick up on that even although in China smoking is so prevalent among men.