Daily Memory

Having seen this multi-tool at my friends house made me think of high school. In our school, the drama kids were broken into two groups. The wannabe actors, they were the ones convinced they were going to Broadway and the ones who didn't make the cut and worked on the sets instead.

When I saw this flip switch tool thingy, a girl named Dana came flying out of the recesses of my memory and slapped my across the face like a wet fish. She had a crappy home life and was really only tolerable for small amounts of time because she never stopped moving. She was in the second camp of the theater geeks, she worked the lighting for all of the school performances. What I remember the most about her, other than her waist length hair, was that she never went anywhere without her multi-tool.

I would like to think it was because she wanted to be prepared for anything. She would one day be trapped in a Mexican prison with only a gum wrapper, duct tape and this multi-tool to get her out.

THE GOOD, the bad, the ugly

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone crunching zombie action.

How did I no know this existed? Two of my most beloved things in this world rolled into one.

Crap I want but don't need

Birch Plywood Lounge Chair and Ottoman
Michael Arras

Coastline Necklace
Made By Palomino

DKNY 'Kate' belted peacoat
Bluefly

Red Sands

Finally a horror movie I am excited to talk about in a non snarky way. Red Sands was more of a psychological horror than a typical slash fest, which may be why it got mixed reviews on how frightening it was. I adore this kind of movie, if there are no zombies, gore does not need to be involved if you ask me. So after hesitantly starting the movie thinking it would not hold my interest, but after 15 minutes my eyes were glued to the screen.

Jeff, A young soldier is being questioned about the deaths of his squad, being the only survivor, he could be considered a hero but they need to get their story straight. The story begins to unfold as we meet the Staff sergeant as he is given his orders. He and his group are to make base at a specific location in the desert of Afghanistan and patrol the road for incoming insurgents. En route they are driven off the road as mines are triggered. Pulling off to investigate, the group comes across a figure carved in the side of a stone mountain. Remarking that this sort of imagery is forbidden, the translator tells of the Afghani legend of the Djinn. Older than mankind and made of smokeless fire, a Djinn could take on any shape it desired. Due to their hatred of humans, many Djinn left as they became dominant to this world. Others stayed and were imprisoned in vessels, like the magic lantern in Aladdin. Out of boredom, or the fact that they are a bunch of boys with guns, one of the men fires a shot at the statue and it crumbles.

They finally arrive at the patrol point, which is a house deep in the desert long since left to decay as the former occupants were killed as they sat down to dinner. Making camp, Jeff has a vivid dream where he encounters the former family possessed by a Djinn. They then discover that the neighboring town, a small plot of desert populated with simple tents had been abandoned and they are all alone in the sparse desert. That night night brings a terrible sand storm and the appearance of a mysterious woman who speaks in a tongue that the translator cannot make out.

It becomes clear that something was released when the desert statue was destroyed and it followed them, slowly taking its revenge.

I did not find this movie slow or unimaginative. Nothing is more terrifying to me than being trapped, and the film makers were able to convey the feeling of being confined convincingly. It is a story of a band of young boys fighting a questionable war isolated from all things familiar and caught in a local curse.

Daily Memory

growing up, we had a ranch style house with a long rectangular yard. I thought that yard was the length of a football field, to me it stretched on forever.

I returned as an adult to find that our house had been demolished and that the yard was no more than 30 feet long. So much for memories.

There was a portion at the very base of the yard that had tough yellow grass and sprigs of onion grass. I never went on this portion. It was either made of lava, or it was my rational fear of stepping in dog crap that kept me away.

the good, the bad, THE UGLY

And to think, if you had $365.00, this painting could totally be yours.

It's a total bargain.

Crap I want but don't need

Today it is all about art.

We Speak A Beautiful Language
Please Be Still

Keep Calm and Carry On Poster
Cut Paste Print

Original Painting Triptych Tree Red
The Raw Canvas

The Grudge 3

The problem with straight to video sequels, is that they are straight to video, translation: suck fest. Imagine a writer and director are told to make a sequel of an American film based on a Japanese film. But also imagine that this duo never saw the previous films and have never seen a typical Japanese horror, but have only had one described. That would be this movie.

We start with the young boy who survived his family in the second Grudge. He's confined to a mental ward and babbles about how the lady is after him. And she is really, after turning him into a pretzel, that girl from The Blob decides to believe that something may have been after him. Then somewhere in Tokyo some unfamiliar girl wakes from a dream and figures she can stop this curse. Quickly you realize that she has no purpose in the movie but to be Japanese.

So the apartment building that the curse was spread to is the focus and our protagonists are a family of siblings. The eldest brother is the super intendant and is taking care of his two younger sisters, one being a teen and the other has heath problems. They don't say what it is, so it is either sever asthma or something imaginary like Fibromyalgia. Now, the guy playing the brother must have been told one too many times that he resembles Freddy Prinze Jr. and took it to mean that he should emulate his acting style as well.

Randomly the Grudge lady clacks around and kills people American slasher style, and the Japanese girl who you would have already forgotten about arrives to solve this whole curse thing. She turns out to be the sister of a girl who was fed the evil souls that possessed others. So it's like saying she is the hairdresser of a guy who is cousins with someone who went to high school with someone who did something important. You will forget about her again, don't worry.

So nothing really gets accomplished at all in 90 minutes. The brother goes all Amityville and the Japanese girl hits a stick against a bow string and tries to get the Fibromyalgia kid to drink a bowl of blood. WTF?

I would recommend taking a pass on this movie unless you are like me, and saw the word "Grudge" in the title and mistakenly thought it would be something worth watching.

Daily Memory

Once I dried my tears, I headed off to the liquor store with a friend. I need provisions if I plan on being in a drunken stupor for the next five months. Walking back from the store we passed a McDonald and the temptation for something greasy over took me.

So we are in the queue waiting for me to decide which "special" had my name on it, when my friend began to compare how the Happy Meal toys are cooler now than when we were growing up. Speak for ourself whipper snapper, when I was growing, up we were given fine drink wear featuring our favorite Peanut character, or E.T's glowing finger. Not some crappy Hello Kitty watch.

the good, the bad, THE UGLY

Greenland is a slag.

This evening, I dropped my boyfriend off at the airport so that he could catch his flight to Thule Greenland, top of the world baby. Oh yeah, and he will be there for five months. U-G-L-Y is right.

Crap I want but don't need

All Set - vinyl art decals stickers graphic
Tasty Suite

Kindle 2
Even thought I have the original Kindle, this one is newer.
Amazon

My Bloody Valentine

I can sum this movie up in one word; "BAD". That's right, as in "Not Good." I love me a horror flick, but when you make crap and then put it in 3D, you end up with crap that looks like it is coming flying at you, and no one wants that. I know that these movies are formulaic, but I figured out who the man in the mask was when the credits began to roll. And where the valentine motif fit into a coal mine cave in, I have no idea.

So we have a tragedy in a small mining town 10 years ago where a tunnel collapsed and only one survived after shoving his ax thingie into everyones head in order to conserve air for him self. Like you would do anything different. So for some reason the survivor, Harry Warden is in a coma and is put in hospital where he wakes up and takes down the ward with the the ax they left by his bed. You know, for later.

That night a couple of 30 year old teenagers are hanging by the mine that not only Warden worked in, but was owned by the father of one of the unbelievable teens. They go into the tunnel and holy crap, did a 5 year old write this? Oh, sorry, it was the Canadians, sorry eh. Anyway, Warden comes out in a god damn Hazmat suit and shoves his pick into the bag of some expendable character, sending his eye ball in 3D flying for our heads. so, long story short, the kids bail but Tom, the owners kid is left face to face with Warden. Two goofy old cops come in and shoot Warden who takes off leaving our teenager shaken and mentally disturbed. Where could this be going?

Fast forward 10 years and now our thirty year old teenagers look exactly the same, shocker. But with the death of the mine owner, his son has returned to town to sell it. Sparks fly between he and his old girlfriend who is now the wife of the philandering sheriff who was also one of the dudes 10 years ago who left Tom in the mine with crazy ax guy. breath. Well wouldn't you know it, Warden has come back to get his revenge on them and the mine and immediately gets to work shoving his pick into peoples heads.

My eyes felt heavy through most of the movie, but I had to stay wake so I could say "I bloody knew it was who I thought it was, damn predictable movie."

Daily Memory

When we lived in our super groovy psychedelic 1970's fun house, we had the main house telephone in the kitchen. And because it was the super groovy psychedelic 70's, it was a black wall mounted rotary phone.

Well, I had a best friend named Amy, and we would normally just meet in the park next to our house and play. It was never scheduled, she just always happened to be there when I was. But this day she wasn't at the park. WTF? So my mother gives me her phone number and tells me to call her and we can make a play date. Never having used a telephone before I was excited to pop that cherry.

I scoot the not quite made of wood dining chair over our linoleum floor so that I could reach Mr. Bell's invention and make the first of many play dates that would be unsuccessful, for many reasons. I climb my 5 year old self up and take the receiver from the hook. Tentatively I put my little fingers into the holes with the corresponding number and spin the dial to the silver stopper and release it with a symphony of clicks. It wasn't until I was three digits into the number when I couldn't find the hyphen. panicking, I hung up and most likely went to play in a card board box.

THE GOOD, the bad, the ugly

I've been working on this online book for like two years, and I'm getting close to finishing it. Please critique my cover-in-progress!

~Qingu

Qingu, you have warmed the cockles of my heart with your book cover.

This piece of Good Art was discovered within the pages of The Artists Corner

Crap I want but don't need

Love Bird in a Cage Necklace
Tilly Bloom

White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake
The Cheesecake Factory

Arwen Ring
Tryst

Inkheart

After getting pushed around due to that Damn Narnia movie (yes the lion is Jesus, blech) and the writers strike, Inkheart was finally released this year. I never read the book it was based on, or even heard of it. A German story about a family with a "silver tongue."

Did I like the movie? Hard to tell at this point. I didn't hate it, but it had quite a few holes that perhaps would be properly answered by reading the book. It tells of a man, Mortimer, who had a gift. When he read a book aloud, what he read would leave the book and come to our world. There is a catch, everything that leaves a book is replaced by something from our world. After reading the book inkheart to his wife and baby daughter, the fire juggler arrived and Mortimer's wife, Resa disappeared.

Swearing never to read aloud again, the father and daughter travel for years to find copies of Inkheart in hopes of getting Resa back. Followed by the fire juggler who is desperate to get back into the book, a copy is finally found and the family is abducted by the villain of Inkheart, Capricorn.

Capricorn was been having creatures, people and riches read from various books by others with the gift of the silver tongue. Capricorn destroys the book that Mortimer found and puts them in the dungeons. After freeing themselves with the tornado from The Wizard of Oz the group search for the author in hopes that he has a copy himself and to destroy Capricorn and bring Resa back from the written page.

It was a fairly enjoyable film, but I found that it was not as engrossing as other movies of this genre.

the good, the bad, THE UGLY

So home alone on our first paid holiday of the year, I planed to sustain myself with a turkey BLT sandwich but found that our tomatoes were rotten and the sandwich went sans the apple of love. It was anarchy.

Crap I want but don't need

TAXI Doctor Bag
Holly Aiken

Blossom Vines
Lake

Fall Tie Blouse-Black/White
Lemonstory

Dead Like Me: Life After Death

If you are familiar with the show that ran on Showtime for 2 years and was canceled at least 4 years ago, you know what a good show it was. So when I heard there was a film being made I was ecstatic. I thought, great, they will answer all of the questions and close up the story. But this was not so. It was a straight to video film with the actual cast minus 2 that could have just been shown as an extended episode.

Inigo Montoya was missing, presumably killed in the fire that destroyed their local breakfast Joint, Der Waffle Haus. And no, they never explain this. We turn back to our reaper gang. If Daisy's character wasn't already my least favorite, they switched out the previous actress for one that made the character even less bearable. But the rest of them are all there, Mason the limey, Roxy the feisty cop and George, the anorexic protagonist. Seriously, in 4 years you think she would have eaten a sandwich. Wardrobe had a hard time finding pants small enough to fit her skeletal frame. And they didn't succeed.

Well with the "death" of their boss, a limo swiftly arrives to deposit them at a new Shi-shi restaurant where they meet their new boss and are given a product placement for Trio. Their new boss is some British douche who is either very crappy at his job, or has something up his sleeve. He gives Daisy 2 reaps back to back without enough time to show the soul to its light, and gives Roxy none. George is given a reap with the wrong time, and Mason's reap is at a convenience store being robbed, who he then robs. Okay, whatever.

So at a swanky house, Daisy sees stars with the prospect of being an actress again, Roxy is introduced to the police chief and Mason gets hookers. All are shown that there are no consequences with their reaps while George is freaking out over missing her reap who turns out is not ready to die, but is a boy who has been secretly dating her sister.

Obviously, the actions they take in regards to how they perform their reaps does have consequences which is the lesson that Inigo Montoya was trying to teach them all along. Before his mysterious demise in a German house of waffles of course.

The movie left me still scratching my head, but missing the series even more. It answered nothing and concluded even less.