Month: May 2007
Dream
Posted on May 6, 2007 in Dreams
My father is running crazy in the kitchen, wielding knives, throwing punches, kicking people out of the house who have done no harm to him.
Friday Xenartha Blogging – Armadillo Festival
Posted on May 4, 2007 in Xenartha
If you happen to be in the vicinity of Hamburg, Arkansas, you can find pleasure in the activities of the Armadillo Festival which takes place this weekend.
Who needs cats or squids when the Xenartha combine the best qualities of both?
Toilets and Film
Posted on May 3, 2007 in Film
The most memorable of the films that I have watched recently has to be Notes on a Scandal, notable for having a sympathetic villainess. There’s a fair bit of humor along the way in this tale of a art teacher who is doubly victimized by a fifteen year old boy and an older teacher who sees her job and her love life as matters of control.
Volver is a film by Pedro Almodovar for which Penelope Cruz was nominated as Best Actress. I’ve noticed in European films that they’re not afraid to show all sides of life. Sex is often mentioned in this regard, but directors also do not hesitate to take the camera into the watercloset for an obligatory “taking a shit” shot (which also happens in Notes. In America, we get the obligatory “push the bully back” shots which doesn’t happen all that often in real life, does it? When it does, we usually end up in jail for it.
Another Pedro Almodovar film that we watched was Dark Habits which was about a convent of nuns given over to rescuing desperate women and self-abasement which took the form of taking on odd names such as Sister Rat of the Sewers. The nuns like to shoot up with heroin or take acid so they can have visions. Not Almodovar’s best work, but amusing.
Michael Palin wrote the script for The Missionary which starred the former Monty Python star and Maggie Smith who, for reasons unknown, has never appeared on any list of prominent anorexics to my knowledge. Color Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich, relates the true story of an utterly inept con man who passed himself off as Stanley Kubrick.
I liked Sweet and Lowdown, Woody Allen’s mockumentary about Emmet Ray, purported to be the second best jazz guitarist. Samantha Mortensen does a miraculous job of playing a mute who is probably less idiotic than people make her out to be. I don’t recall any toilet scenes which is surprising because Allen aspires to being a European style auteur.
[tags]film,Pedro Almodovar,Woody Allen,cinema,movies[/tags]
Counterattack of the Cat Videos
Posted on May 2, 2007 in Cats
Yes, I found more. Just a few. OK, only three and a link to a web site.
- Singing Cat
- Nora the Singing Cat (who doesn’t sing as far as I can see)
- Nora the Piano Playing Cat (on this point she delivers)
- Ravenswing Studios
[tags]cats[/tags]
Ourobouros
Posted on May 2, 2007 in Bipolar Disorder PTSD
This is what sucks. If you have bipolar disorder, those who don’t have it wait for you to explode. (This is unlikely. You are more inclined to harm yourself than others.) If you have post-traumatic stress disorder, those who don’t have it wait for you to explode. (If your flashbacks do not demand military training, this is unlikely. You’re more likely to curl into a ball and scream scream scream.) This is why you have to depend on your own self. It may be why you choose not to have many friends. This is what sucks.
[tags]mental illness,ptsd,bipolar disorder[/tags]
The Last of the Lost
Posted on May 1, 2007 in Cats
Mission Viejo squinted from beneath a silver hat at the sea as I rode shotgun back from dinner. I’d given up on Virginia. The days of imagining her mew, seeing her on the deck were over. We’d pasted our last posters on the other side of Santiago Canyon Road, redid a few that had come off in the wind. Talked to neighbors who’d seen the posters but not the cat. Chased down a few leads and saw nothing.
I shoved all of this out of my head as we wound our way through the condominium complex and into our garage. A neighbor who works as a vet tech unloaded sports equipment from her call. I talked to her about our lost baby. Then climbed the stairs to our loft….
No, this is not a story with a happy ending.
I’m left with trying to understand why, despite a dearth of moisture over the winter months, two of my cactuses sport crowns of red and pink flowers.
[tags]cats[/tags]
Attention Must Be Paid
Posted on May 1, 2007 in PTSD
It’s a legacy that abusive parents teach us: attention must be paid no matter how abusive the insistence may be.
