All things perfect and poisonous

Halloween is quickly approaching. No dressing up this year as I just cannot think of anything that would go right with my wheels. Originally, I figured that I would go as a pirate as I could paint a peg leg onto my cast. The problem would be the rest of the ensemble. I am stuck wearing sweat pants, because the couple of times I did get jeans over my cast, they got stuck. So I figure I should stick to athletic wear this winter instead of a more piratey ensemble.

Speaking of that, I'm pissed. This is my favorite time of year. The weather is nice and cool meaning that it is time to put away the capris and shorts and dust off the boots, jeans, and sweaters. And it is jacket weather. I love jackets. Riding the bus with so many students every day, there is a constant parade of young women wearing good boots and nice jackets. And then there is me, in my cut off pants and sweatshirt. I am so jealous. I'd shrug it off and say I'll get around to that once my cast is…

I went back to work this week. Though with how much I've had to do, I wonder why I bothered. Just ordering and making sure things are in place so that I might be able to do some science in the near future. I'm planning to try to do actual experiments next week and hope for the best. Maybe eventually, I'll even get a lab aide to help me. This would be great even once I have two working legs because it would allow me to focus on experiments if I don't have to worry about the dishes, tips and reagents. I should know something soon as to whether I can afford a helper. Plus, it would be nice not to be in this basement lab totally alone everyday too, but that argument for a coworker has failed thus far, so I'm trying the gimp routine now. :)

On Wednesday, I saw my doctor and got to see pictures of the hardware in my ankle. Its pretty cool to see a big metal plate and a handful of screws in an x-ray of my leg. Hopefully, my doctor will send me a picture so I can …

Brand Upon the Brain (2007) - I'm on so much crack! I'm a huge fan of horror. Guy Maddin! I love his movies and he was just in Seattle to perform Brand Upon the Brain! I'm certain I've written about Guy Maddin's films in the past, because he has been in Seattle several times for screenings and discussions of his work, especially since he spent quite a bit of time here casting, filming and scoring Brand Upon the Brain! with all local talent.


What is so unique about Guy Maddin is that he creates modern, silent expressionist horror movies. His other films have been scored and therefore have the look and feel of a 1920s era silent picture without being silent. Brand Upon the Brain! is a silent movie and his best feature thus far.

Like much of Maddin's previous work, this is totally autobiographical, or to quote Guy, "The thing is literally a true story - only much, much better." The main character is the prepubescent, Guy Maddin (Sullivan Brown).…

As many of you already know, I'm not a fan of the horror genre. I think this is solely due to the fact that I acquired my total movie addiction in the 1990s, and except for the duration of a high school, football-playing boyfriend who drug me to every horror movie playing, I avoided them. Wouldn't you after enduring The Lawnmower Man, Sleepwalkers, and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle with someone who thought they were good?

What I hadn't really considered was that many of the themes that bring me out to the theaters are horrific. Just considering some of my favorite films that I've seen this year: Eastern Promises, The Brave One, Sunshine, Sex and Death 101, Four Minutes, The Devil Came on Horseback, Red Road, Zodiac, Perfume... I haven't seen these movies called "horror movies" but an argument could be made for most of them. These are dark movies, and while it is often a dark or edgy sexuality component that makes a movie a must see for me, the edge…