As I wind down, I wanted to give one last nugget. One of my friends, who I don’t get to see too often, but we both were performing at this event, told me after (knowing all the self doubt I had going into this), that I “deserve to take up space”, whether on stage, or here, or just anywhere, and to not be afraid to do so. I got a speech on underrepresented voices from my gay latino performer friend, and I thought the simplicity of saying that I deserve to take up space, and not to get too inside my own head, was solid positive reinforcement.
Back to the diaries, because I also need to stop eating. The junk food over this past week has been no joke.
TV Shows Watched: Before: S1E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Black Doves: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, The Madness: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Lioness: S2E7 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, and The Legend Of Vox Machina: S3E12 (Amazon) with audio description
Podcasts/YouTube: The Awards Contender (Best Picture Predictions)
Movies: Speak No Evil (Peacock) with audio description.
Of the five shows, one of them is brand new. Black Doves, which returns Keira Knightley to our screens in a role absolutely worth hers and our time. The show is an espionage based thriller that has several loops to throw just in the first episode. Some really great moments in the episode, in terms of audio description. The opening sequence was done really well, despite the challenge of having three characters in different locations communicating over the phone. There was also this excellent hand-to-hand sequence between Keira and two attackers, where not a lot of space could have been used, and the lack of traditional weaponry allowed her to pick up random objects, making the specificity of the situation all the more important in the audio description. All those little tidbits bring color to the fight choreography. I don’t really remember a devotion to consistency in terms of ethnic description (as I’m pretty sure there isn’t any), so I don’t know what the diversity looks like in this project. It nails the action/spy angle. That scene where the one guy is shot while trying to make one last call was described so well, with his facial recognition of what just happened, and his inability to say those last words before dying. So, a really strong audio description track, and a strong start to a new show. Thank you Netflix for giving Keira Knightley something to do that was worth her talent and time.