![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grrgoylNo progress on the Filthy Crankwhore, unless you count the Department of Vandalism rejecting my report and sending me the phone number for Narcotics. I don't really understand why they couldn't just forward it on themselves. Maybe they aren't speaking this week?
I've proactively installed my peephole spycam. I just need some recording software that won't devour huge chunks of my computer's memory (found something cheap on eBay, we'll see). I have no intention of sitting back and waiting for the slow ponderous hand of justice to move on our behalf again. And here's hoping if you're caught with a meth lab twice, you don't move back in 6 months later.
~*~
Sunday morning I woke up determined to forgive Ryan, after not saying a single word to him all week after he hung me out to dry Tuesday. I had hoped my silence would prompt him to broach the subject, but he remained either blissfully unaware or thought he could make it all better with a constant stream of stupid forwarded email jokes.
I texted him about going to the gym (Monday) and he agreed with an emoti-smile. I felt better, but knew myself well enough that he wouldn't escape without at least being told that I was angry with him.
He boarded the elliptical machine next to mine and we made small talk. He said he had been really busy with "issues." I saw an opening and said "me too" but he didn't bite. I asked about his issues; he didn't want to share. So I confessed I had been mad at him but got over it. "Huh?" Yep. Truly clueless. "I felt like you blew me off for little miss Lucy," I told him. "What-EV-er," was his response in that little bratty singsong way that makes me want to smack a bitch.
"Yeah, what-EV-er" I mimicked, and that was pretty much all that was said. To me, "what-EV-er" (which was Tabby's default response to many things that made me want to smack her) is the defense of people who have no defense. I considered it a slap in the face and possibly the final nail in the coffin of our friendship, at least as I had once known it.
The weird thing about Ryan is, he normally apologizes so often it's annoying. He'll apologize for not finishing his sit-ups fast enough. He'll apologize for breathing too hard on the cardio. But when it comes to something where an apology is actually warranted and would be immensely appreciated, he's tighter lipped than Rick Santorum at a gay orgy.
My sister (who had defended Ryan earlier when I told her what had happened) agreed that it was not a proper reaction to hearing that you had inadvertently upset your friend. She said there comes a point in every friendship when one of you abruptly comes up against the boundary of the friendship, and I guess I've found ours. We'll still be friends, I just won't ever think of Ryan as someone I can count on for anything ever again.
But at least I'm in better shape than he is.
Edit: I've been corresponding with K., a longtime friend of Ryan's. I shared the "What-EV-er" story with her. She expressed her sympathy, but explained that Ryan doesn't do confrontations well, and when he says that to her, that's how she knows that he knows she's right. Cold comfort, I suppose. On our bike ride today when I pointed out the spot where my trouble began to him, I got a better apology. It will have to do.
~*~
Quite an exciting Mother's Day weekend for me. Dr. N. called Tery just at the end of my day shift Saturday. A pregnant dog had come in, was going to deliver in a matter of hours, but Dr. N. desperately needed a break and wanted me to come in right away to relieve her.
"I don't know nothin' about birthin' no puppies!" was my first reply, and I don't (and I've never actually seen Gone With the Wind, demonstrating the forays it's made into the vernacular). I've never even seen puppies being born, never mind delivered them myself. Because the unfortunate phrasing the doc used was "I'll explain when you get here and you can tell me if you feel comfortable doing it." I could have told her right then, whatever I had to do, I'm far from comfortable with it.
But I'm a good little team worker so I saddled up and went. She had an online video of dog delivery queued up for me on the computer. She described the symptoms of imminent labor. Then she said she wanted me to call her the minute it started so she could hurry back.
"OH. I thought you were leaving me to do it alone," I told her. She said if she were me and thought that was the case, she wouldn't have come in. Apparently she was still expressing her amazement at my dedication all day Monday. Well, that's how I roll. I may not like my duties sometimes, but I still try my damndest to perform them.
She left and I watched the dog anxiously, a little Silky terrier. The problem was the dog was exhibiting all the behavior I was told to watch for (nesting, stretching out in an extended position on her side) to some degree almost constantly from the minute she left.
Thus the first puppy slipped out without me even noticing. Just peeked in and, oh hey! There it was. Fortunately dogs are convenient self-cleaning units -- the mother eats the afterbirth, which everyone should get to watch once before they die (when I described it to my sister, who is expecting in September, her reply was, "Ooooh, I hope I won't have to do that!" I said I was sure it was purely optional in human delivery).
Dr. N returned in time for the other four (I didn't realize there's up to a 30-minute break between babies. I thought they all came shooting out at once). She was absolutely knackered, but sat there patiently for the next three hours until they all came. Fortunately by the time the last one appeared, mom was too exhausted to cut the cord herself and the doctor had to do it. I say "fortunately" because it made me feel somewhat better making her stay there with me all that time (even though it cut seriously into my nap time, and by midnight I was dropping as badly as she was).
Once they were out we were free and clear and I was left alone. So, happy Mother's Day, Otta May! (the dog) (I spent the first hour there struggling to remember where I'd heard that name before. Bonus points to anyone who gets it (without cheating, but don't ask how I'll know).)
~*~
Finally, some movie reviews. The first one will be quick, so I won't cut. The Unborn, which is the one with the upside-down-headed dog in the ads. Surprising how freaky such a simple effect looks. The effects in general were very good. The plot, eh...kind of lost me in the middle.
Nazis performed unethical experiments on twins in WWII, resulting somehow in our young heroine being haunted by supernatural forces demanding to let "Jumby" be born.
She very circuitously learns that a dybbuk (Jewish demon) is searching for a gateway to our world. She seeks out Rabbi Gary Oldman (heh) for an exorcism, who initially refuses because he doesn't believe in mysticism. Then he encounters the abovementioned dog in the temple, and in the next scene offers his services. "Why the change of heart?" she asks. "I decided as long as YOU believe, that's all that matters," he answers. Really? The dog with the inverted head had nothing to do with it?
I won't say any more, except that the ending was one of those where you think it's over, then they start flashing back to snatches of conversation and glimpses of previous scenes, so you know a Big Twist is coming, unless you've been living in Siberia all your life. Ugh. I loved this technique in the first three movies that used it. Now it's just an overused and often disappointing attempt to build some excitement at the last minute.
A much, much, much better movie is Splinter.
This is my favorite way to discover a movie. I read a blurb in "Entertainment Weekly" about it, found it on Graboid and was so pleasantly surprised that I instantly bought it.
If you want a complete description of the film, scene by scene, some jackass on Amazon has actually written one out (I couldn't resist leaving a derisive comment for Captain Cliffs Notes). I'll try not to go into such detail, because I really only tend to do that with films I hate.
Classic horror movie beginning: A desolate, lonely filling station with a bored desk clerk taking a break. Then, unprovoked, something so unspeakable the camera can't show it attacks from the tree line, dragging him off to the sound of his bloodcurdling screams. Very nice. You got my attention.
Then, a tale of two couples. The first, a nice pair of city folk (the male of whom (Seth) was Joey's cousin on the Friends spin-off) are camping for their anniversary, or trying to, but they can't even set the tent up.
On their way back to town to find a hotel they have the misfortune of meeting the second couple, a not-so-nice ex-con and his tweaked out girlfriend, heading to Mexico with some ill-gotten booty. Bad couple hijacks good couple. Ex-con tries to get Seth to drive, but he can't drive stick. Ex-con rolls his eyes at the girly man.
The SUV hits some roadkill and gets a flat. Ex-con tries to get Seth to help change the tire, but his girlfriend is better at it. Cue eyeroll #2.
While rolling the flat, ex-con gets a splinter in his finger, shrugging it off like the real man he is.
Meanwhile Tweaky (her name is actually Lacey) is approaching the roadkill with Seth, soothing it like it's a wounded pet dog. Seth, going for a Biology doctorate, has serious reservations about her mental status. Then the dead animal, that has strange spikes protruding out of it everywhere, suddenly twitches, she freaks out and shoots it a few times and then screams for everyone to get the hell out of there.
Which brings them to the filling station from the beginning. I love screenplays that come full circle like that. They get attacked by the desk clerk, whose body has been hijacked by the splinter creature, a type of parasite that enters a living organism and turns its own body against it.
Which is where this movie gets original (although plenty of Amazon reviews compare it to John Carpenter's The Thing, which I've never seen all the way through so I can't say if it's similar or not) and creepy. Because the desk clerk is messed UP: None of his limbs are arranged the way they're supposed to be, bent over backwards on themselves and poking out every which way. It's pretty damn disturbing. (Even more disturbing because, according to some spoilery Amazon comments, it's all done practically with an especially limber gymnast. That is OFF THE HOOK.)
Unfortunately the movie's only real failing is the use of jittery, rapidly edited footage where you only get to see disjointed flashes of action...in theory scarier because you never get a clear view of anything, but in practice kind of distracting and tiring to watch.
And now I'll stop telling the whole movie just like Captain Cliffs Notes. Lacey is the first killed, leaving the ex-con and the yuppies to hole up in the gas station to escape the creature (who is also capable of fusing bodies of multiple victims together, creating an even more grotesque monster). It turns out a gas station is an ideal spot to make a last stand, stocking as it does a little something from lots of different departments.
So they attempt and discard a few plans, including fortunately an aborted idea to set fire to the forest (that surrounds them too) as a distraction ploy.
At one point the creature infiltrates the store in the form of a disembodied hand, resembling a grislier Thing from the Addam's family. It's stymied when they hide in the beverage cooler, and they can't figure out why. After laborious experimentation, Seth (the Biology major) deduces it hunts by sensing heat. Geez. Ya think? No wonder you're still working for your degree at age 35.
Which is how Seth finally proves he's useful for something. He gets them to lower his body temperature below the ambient outside climate so he's invisible to the creature (oh, did I mention? At this point we learn the ex-con is on a noble mission and they abandon the hostage scenario). This leads to the stupidest line in the movie: Seth checks the thermometer (96.7 degrees) and says, "Thank god for global warming in July." What ARE they teaching kids in school these days? And this is a science guy??? Maybe he grew up at the North Pole.
Considering the fact his body temperature is now about 90 degrees, he does pretty well, but they don't escape unscathed. I won't say any more, but unlike The Unborn, the ending didn't make me roll my eyes.
Like I said if you clicked, for an indie I'd never heard of, this movie was a very pleasant surprise as horror movies go. Spend your (rental) money on this instead of The Unborn. 4 out of 5, I think.
I've proactively installed my peephole spycam. I just need some recording software that won't devour huge chunks of my computer's memory (found something cheap on eBay, we'll see). I have no intention of sitting back and waiting for the slow ponderous hand of justice to move on our behalf again. And here's hoping if you're caught with a meth lab twice, you don't move back in 6 months later.
~*~
Sunday morning I woke up determined to forgive Ryan, after not saying a single word to him all week after he hung me out to dry Tuesday. I had hoped my silence would prompt him to broach the subject, but he remained either blissfully unaware or thought he could make it all better with a constant stream of stupid forwarded email jokes.
I texted him about going to the gym (Monday) and he agreed with an emoti-smile. I felt better, but knew myself well enough that he wouldn't escape without at least being told that I was angry with him.
He boarded the elliptical machine next to mine and we made small talk. He said he had been really busy with "issues." I saw an opening and said "me too" but he didn't bite. I asked about his issues; he didn't want to share. So I confessed I had been mad at him but got over it. "Huh?" Yep. Truly clueless. "I felt like you blew me off for little miss Lucy," I told him. "What-EV-er," was his response in that little bratty singsong way that makes me want to smack a bitch.
"Yeah, what-EV-er" I mimicked, and that was pretty much all that was said. To me, "what-EV-er" (which was Tabby's default response to many things that made me want to smack her) is the defense of people who have no defense. I considered it a slap in the face and possibly the final nail in the coffin of our friendship, at least as I had once known it.
The weird thing about Ryan is, he normally apologizes so often it's annoying. He'll apologize for not finishing his sit-ups fast enough. He'll apologize for breathing too hard on the cardio. But when it comes to something where an apology is actually warranted and would be immensely appreciated, he's tighter lipped than Rick Santorum at a gay orgy.
My sister (who had defended Ryan earlier when I told her what had happened) agreed that it was not a proper reaction to hearing that you had inadvertently upset your friend. She said there comes a point in every friendship when one of you abruptly comes up against the boundary of the friendship, and I guess I've found ours. We'll still be friends, I just won't ever think of Ryan as someone I can count on for anything ever again.
But at least I'm in better shape than he is.
Edit: I've been corresponding with K., a longtime friend of Ryan's. I shared the "What-EV-er" story with her. She expressed her sympathy, but explained that Ryan doesn't do confrontations well, and when he says that to her, that's how she knows that he knows she's right. Cold comfort, I suppose. On our bike ride today when I pointed out the spot where my trouble began to him, I got a better apology. It will have to do.
~*~
Quite an exciting Mother's Day weekend for me. Dr. N. called Tery just at the end of my day shift Saturday. A pregnant dog had come in, was going to deliver in a matter of hours, but Dr. N. desperately needed a break and wanted me to come in right away to relieve her.
"I don't know nothin' about birthin' no puppies!" was my first reply, and I don't (and I've never actually seen Gone With the Wind, demonstrating the forays it's made into the vernacular). I've never even seen puppies being born, never mind delivered them myself. Because the unfortunate phrasing the doc used was "I'll explain when you get here and you can tell me if you feel comfortable doing it." I could have told her right then, whatever I had to do, I'm far from comfortable with it.
But I'm a good little team worker so I saddled up and went. She had an online video of dog delivery queued up for me on the computer. She described the symptoms of imminent labor. Then she said she wanted me to call her the minute it started so she could hurry back.
"OH. I thought you were leaving me to do it alone," I told her. She said if she were me and thought that was the case, she wouldn't have come in. Apparently she was still expressing her amazement at my dedication all day Monday. Well, that's how I roll. I may not like my duties sometimes, but I still try my damndest to perform them.
She left and I watched the dog anxiously, a little Silky terrier. The problem was the dog was exhibiting all the behavior I was told to watch for (nesting, stretching out in an extended position on her side) to some degree almost constantly from the minute she left.
Thus the first puppy slipped out without me even noticing. Just peeked in and, oh hey! There it was. Fortunately dogs are convenient self-cleaning units -- the mother eats the afterbirth, which everyone should get to watch once before they die (when I described it to my sister, who is expecting in September, her reply was, "Ooooh, I hope I won't have to do that!" I said I was sure it was purely optional in human delivery).
Dr. N returned in time for the other four (I didn't realize there's up to a 30-minute break between babies. I thought they all came shooting out at once). She was absolutely knackered, but sat there patiently for the next three hours until they all came. Fortunately by the time the last one appeared, mom was too exhausted to cut the cord herself and the doctor had to do it. I say "fortunately" because it made me feel somewhat better making her stay there with me all that time (even though it cut seriously into my nap time, and by midnight I was dropping as badly as she was).
Once they were out we were free and clear and I was left alone. So, happy Mother's Day, Otta May! (the dog) (I spent the first hour there struggling to remember where I'd heard that name before. Bonus points to anyone who gets it (without cheating, but don't ask how I'll know).)
~*~
Finally, some movie reviews. The first one will be quick, so I won't cut. The Unborn, which is the one with the upside-down-headed dog in the ads. Surprising how freaky such a simple effect looks. The effects in general were very good. The plot, eh...kind of lost me in the middle.
Nazis performed unethical experiments on twins in WWII, resulting somehow in our young heroine being haunted by supernatural forces demanding to let "Jumby" be born.
She very circuitously learns that a dybbuk (Jewish demon) is searching for a gateway to our world. She seeks out Rabbi Gary Oldman (heh) for an exorcism, who initially refuses because he doesn't believe in mysticism. Then he encounters the abovementioned dog in the temple, and in the next scene offers his services. "Why the change of heart?" she asks. "I decided as long as YOU believe, that's all that matters," he answers. Really? The dog with the inverted head had nothing to do with it?
I won't say any more, except that the ending was one of those where you think it's over, then they start flashing back to snatches of conversation and glimpses of previous scenes, so you know a Big Twist is coming, unless you've been living in Siberia all your life. Ugh. I loved this technique in the first three movies that used it. Now it's just an overused and often disappointing attempt to build some excitement at the last minute.
A much, much, much better movie is Splinter.
This is my favorite way to discover a movie. I read a blurb in "Entertainment Weekly" about it, found it on Graboid and was so pleasantly surprised that I instantly bought it.
If you want a complete description of the film, scene by scene, some jackass on Amazon has actually written one out (I couldn't resist leaving a derisive comment for Captain Cliffs Notes). I'll try not to go into such detail, because I really only tend to do that with films I hate.
Classic horror movie beginning: A desolate, lonely filling station with a bored desk clerk taking a break. Then, unprovoked, something so unspeakable the camera can't show it attacks from the tree line, dragging him off to the sound of his bloodcurdling screams. Very nice. You got my attention.
Then, a tale of two couples. The first, a nice pair of city folk (the male of whom (Seth) was Joey's cousin on the Friends spin-off) are camping for their anniversary, or trying to, but they can't even set the tent up.
On their way back to town to find a hotel they have the misfortune of meeting the second couple, a not-so-nice ex-con and his tweaked out girlfriend, heading to Mexico with some ill-gotten booty. Bad couple hijacks good couple. Ex-con tries to get Seth to drive, but he can't drive stick. Ex-con rolls his eyes at the girly man.
The SUV hits some roadkill and gets a flat. Ex-con tries to get Seth to help change the tire, but his girlfriend is better at it. Cue eyeroll #2.
While rolling the flat, ex-con gets a splinter in his finger, shrugging it off like the real man he is.
Meanwhile Tweaky (her name is actually Lacey) is approaching the roadkill with Seth, soothing it like it's a wounded pet dog. Seth, going for a Biology doctorate, has serious reservations about her mental status. Then the dead animal, that has strange spikes protruding out of it everywhere, suddenly twitches, she freaks out and shoots it a few times and then screams for everyone to get the hell out of there.
Which brings them to the filling station from the beginning. I love screenplays that come full circle like that. They get attacked by the desk clerk, whose body has been hijacked by the splinter creature, a type of parasite that enters a living organism and turns its own body against it.
Which is where this movie gets original (although plenty of Amazon reviews compare it to John Carpenter's The Thing, which I've never seen all the way through so I can't say if it's similar or not) and creepy. Because the desk clerk is messed UP: None of his limbs are arranged the way they're supposed to be, bent over backwards on themselves and poking out every which way. It's pretty damn disturbing. (Even more disturbing because, according to some spoilery Amazon comments, it's all done practically with an especially limber gymnast. That is OFF THE HOOK.)
Unfortunately the movie's only real failing is the use of jittery, rapidly edited footage where you only get to see disjointed flashes of action...in theory scarier because you never get a clear view of anything, but in practice kind of distracting and tiring to watch.
And now I'll stop telling the whole movie just like Captain Cliffs Notes. Lacey is the first killed, leaving the ex-con and the yuppies to hole up in the gas station to escape the creature (who is also capable of fusing bodies of multiple victims together, creating an even more grotesque monster). It turns out a gas station is an ideal spot to make a last stand, stocking as it does a little something from lots of different departments.
So they attempt and discard a few plans, including fortunately an aborted idea to set fire to the forest (that surrounds them too) as a distraction ploy.
At one point the creature infiltrates the store in the form of a disembodied hand, resembling a grislier Thing from the Addam's family. It's stymied when they hide in the beverage cooler, and they can't figure out why. After laborious experimentation, Seth (the Biology major) deduces it hunts by sensing heat. Geez. Ya think? No wonder you're still working for your degree at age 35.
Which is how Seth finally proves he's useful for something. He gets them to lower his body temperature below the ambient outside climate so he's invisible to the creature (oh, did I mention? At this point we learn the ex-con is on a noble mission and they abandon the hostage scenario). This leads to the stupidest line in the movie: Seth checks the thermometer (96.7 degrees) and says, "Thank god for global warming in July." What ARE they teaching kids in school these days? And this is a science guy??? Maybe he grew up at the North Pole.
Considering the fact his body temperature is now about 90 degrees, he does pretty well, but they don't escape unscathed. I won't say any more, but unlike The Unborn, the ending didn't make me roll my eyes.
Like I said if you clicked, for an indie I'd never heard of, this movie was a very pleasant surprise as horror movies go. Spend your (rental) money on this instead of The Unborn. 4 out of 5, I think.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 08:21 pm (UTC)What were your thoughts on those?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-17 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 08:25 pm (UTC)