I finally broke down and got a cell phone. If anyone wants my number email me. It's Cingular, so if you use that then we can talk for free. I assure you, a conversation with me is not worth paying for.

Things seem good so far with the epidural. The first two days of doing nothing were both maddening and refreshing. :) It's good to have a forced time of relaxation, but I can get cabin fever very quickly.

The aches from the actual procedure are winding down, and now I wait to see how much of an effect it had. I have had a couple of instances where my thigh fell asleep, but I'm not sure if it was just that I was laying down in really weird positions, or if it was directly related to my back. Time will tell. The doctor called to check up on me today. He's such a ham. I've never had a doctor who is so weird about chatting with his patience. He is very awkward and never seems to know what to say. He's far from comforting when he sounds so confused while talking to me, but I just chalk it up to a lack of social skills.

I was able to watch a few more movies in my downtime, read a book, and tried to help Ric as he installed a light in our upstairs bedroom. We live in a funky old apartment, where somehow taking out the ceiling fan caused about 3 outlets upstairs, the hall light, and 2 outlets downstairs to freak out. We got things working on Wednesday, but one of the wires came loose and we lost power in the outlets again, but I've got confidence that we'll get it fixed this weekend. It's merely a matter of the wires being so thick and hard to keep together.

It's short Friday today, so I hope to get a few errands done and maybe check out another documentary, since it's showing nearby in Anaheim. I've got to do a lot of preparation in the next couple of days, as I'm going to a conference in Portland, OR from Sunday-Wednesday, and I haven't even started thinking about if there are any items I need to buy before I go. I should have wireless access at the actual conference, but I'm not sure how much free time I'll have to get online. We'll see!

Another off the list of serious animated movies, The Plague Dogs is based on a novel that tells the story of two dogs who escape from an experimental animal testing lab and try to survive in the English Lake District, despite the fact that the entire community thinks they are evil and/or carrying the bubonic plague.

The dogs have both experienced a lot of trauma at the lab, one having had a brain surgery to mess with his perception of the objective and subjective. The poor dog, who still remembers the "good ole days" when he had a benevolent master, suffers from sudden blurring of memory and reality, which make for some very frightening scenes. He and his friend roam the countryside in search of a master, but when they are forced to prey on the local sheep and cause some accidents as well, the media and the community start a hunt for the dogs.

This movie, to me, was actually way more depressing and surprising than Watership Down, although I prefer the creative storyline and animation styles of that movie over this one (not to say that The Plague Dogs isn't beautifully animated). Watership Down at least operated on a level of hope, but The Plague Dogs, who are somewhat hopeful throughout the movie, are definitely plagued, by memories, stigma, and an overall sense of impending doom. The end of the movie, which I can't reveal here, is heartbreaking, hopeful, and depressing all at the same time.

Even though it's one of the saddest movies I've watched so far this year, I was very drawn to the dark and haunting animation, the surrealistic brain perception sequences, the moments of utter shock, and the overall very English style. Thanks for the heads up, Nate.

Wow. So all I wanted to do in this movie was to see Jodie Foster finally blow those stray hairs away from her face! What a waste of Peter Sarsgaard and Sean Bean. This movie is basically The Forgotten on a plane, except this time the explanation for the disappearance of the mother's child is only slightly more plausible, and Foster is less likable then Julianne Moore. Foster spends the entire movie generally out of breath, even when she's not running, and bug-eyed, which was not attractive.

It kills time and isn't as cheesy as it could have been, so I won't say it was horrible, but I'm not sure why so many people flocked out to see it when it was released (I think I remember it was at the top of the box office). There must have been a lack of much else to see in the theatres at the time.

Plain View #43 - the exact date of this recording is lost in the mysteries of time. But it's been a couple of months.

Let's see it was a long time ago . . .

Amelie

Capote

Movie Endings

French Riots

English only national anthem

Knickers and Bum

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