Monday, July 30, 2007

synapses firing, wakeless dreams

I'm a little amused at myself that for the past two and a half months, I've been completely confused as to why I've had vivid, bizarre, pillow-grippingly anxious nightmares almost every single night.

Seriously. I've counted. And since May 15th, I've had nine nights without nightmares. And more than 1/3 of the scary ones were the cliff-hanging, sitting bolt upright in bed with beads of sweat on your forehead kind of dreams.

It's like I'm in a bad movie, where I'm supposed to fling my sweaty bangs toward the camera lens and look up, gasping for breath under a fisheye angle to make the audience throw their popcorn in the air and say "eeee". Well, it is a bad movie-- the B movie of my life, starring my weird-ass subconscious.

So that part isn't amusing. But what IS amusing is that I didn't figure out *why* sooner... I guess it's no coincidence that I've been pretty darn sick since mid-May, with some kind of (appendix?)-tissue infection that turned into an abdominal infection, paired (coincidentally) with gnarly ovarian cysts and about three solid weeks of doctors visits and lab tests on everything from my thyroid to whether or not I'm an alien. And just for kicks, the nazi regime antibiotics I had in my system for 17 days were way too strong for me, and now I'm sick from *those* bastardos.

Moral of the story: fever dreams usually mess with you, but are easy to recover from because they happen one night when you get really sick. But drag them out for 68 days, and things get weird. Super weird. And everything that you see or hear relates to one of your nazi-regime-antibiotic enhanced dreams, but you can't tell anyone about it, because a) crazy, and b) boring.

So I won't bore myself to tears by writing them down, but I will say that
1. yes, if I've ever met you, you were in at least one of them
and 2. yes, there was blood and gore and really scary suspense movie stuff there
and 3. no, I don't feel as comfortable hanging out with you now

As if that wasn't enough to mess with me, I recently thought about what kind of *movies* I've been watching lately, and I actually started laughing. I'm an idiot. Sick body fighting off infections + hot summer nights +scenes from THESE movies?! It's amazing I've slept at all. :)

here's a sample from the past two weeks (except for Notes on a Scandal, but that was within the anecdote at hand too)




Dog Day Afternoon... A+. Al Pacino is my boyfriend-- it's his best acting (tied for first with Godfather 1). Just finished it 30 minutes ago.





The Conversation... A+. Watched it twice last week, and now I'm reading "The Conversations / Walter Murch and the art of editing film" by Michael Ondaatje. Amazing amazing editing.






Pan's Labyrinth...solid B+. Watched it last week with Brian. Amazing costume and CGI, beautifully braided stories, the graphic violence went a little too far into the "shock me, I'm from the MTV generation!" category, and I must admit that del Torro's ... well, I won't spoil it, but he has a kinky pleasure in his movies that's offputting. Wicked creepy, though.




Notes on a Scandal... A-. Saw it with Beth, loved every second until the climax, where it got a little hysterical, but very amazing character portrait. Nicely simple and not maudlin in many ways... Blanchette and Dench are two of the best actresses working today (in my opinion)





Match Point... B. Watched it with Brian, waaaay better this time (the first time, I'd just been dumped and had my first martini...or three... and so I gave it a clean slate for the second screening). Beautiful cinematography, classic Allen love triangle gone horribly paranoid, but next to Crimes and Misdemeanors? Seems like a squishier theme on the best movie ever made. (top five, at least)



The Sopranos. A+, with the exception of David Chase's Ego-- er, the last episode. I've watched so many episodes in the last two months, I carry a dog named Cosette and only answer to the nickname "Aid..." oh, I miss my dysfunctional Jersey families so much.



finally! The Simpsons movie! One that won't completely mess with my head or make me feel more sick to my stomach! With the exception of Bart's weenie. A.
Spider pig, spider pig, doing the things that a spider pig does
can he hang? from a string... no he can't. he's just a pig.



I'm trying to catch up on all the great 70s films that I haven't really *watched*... so after Conversation and Dog Day Afternoon, it's Midnight Cowboy and Cool Hand Luke (yeah yeah, '67, whatever). Kramer vs Kramer, Tootsie and The President's Men are three of my all-time favorites, so it's possible that by the end of this review, I might have Dustin Hoffman's 70s pouffy hair and really, really ugly hip huggers. (yeah yeah, they're not all from the '70s, it's just a general point)

Let's be honest... I'm reading three books at once and watching too many movies. I'm sick. I'm this weird when I'm well. I think the nightmares may be my own fault.

Or maybe it's just the full moon outside my hot apartment...
ooh, Moonstruck! There's another good one to add to Netflix.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

top all-time records

I've been doing a ton of re-organization lately... I've been sick since the end of May with a weird convergance of an appendix-area infection and, because life comes in threes, angry ovarian cysts and a low tolerance to the antibiotics. Hurting every day and feeling nauseous very frequently is really starting to take it's toll, and I'm even more amazed by the people in my life who feel this sick all the bloody time. All complaining aside, it has made my nesting instinct go a little through the roof.

Had the carpets cleaned, bought a REAL tv (upgraded my 12" to a 26" Panasonic and even got a nice DVD player)... put a cd case up in the office, started organizing my music (mp3s and my old quasi-lost mp3s), watered the plants, bought a new Brita.

It's made me re-visit my old loves, which is ALWAYS a good feeling, and despite having just splurged on a television AND tickets to fly out to Maine in September, I'm going to slowly start building my DVD collection. I love movies too much to not have the ones dear to my heart in my library.

I have too many favorite films, artists and experiences to make any "top whatever lists" that I fully endorse, but at the moment, these have been making the faux cut:

* favorite all-time movies*

kramer vs. kramer
rivers and tides: andy goldsworthy working with time
wit
grand avenue (amazing HBO miniseries by Robert Redford)
the godfather I
the godfather II
charlie chaplin's "the kid" and "gold rush"
buster keaton's "the general"
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
cinema paradiso
waiting for guffman
eddie izzard / dress to kill
to kill a mockingbird
casablanca
blue (of the blue / white / red french trilogy)
the black stallion (best cinematography ever)
capote
amelie

*favorite guilty pleasure movies*
you've got mail (why is it so addictive?)
spinal tap
back to the future
grizzly man
high fidelity
wayne's world



*favorite all-time tv shows*
the sopranos
arrested development
reading rainbow
mystery science theater 3000
punky brewster
[secret junky tv show that i can't commit to type]

*favorite music from now and then -- artists in my head at this very minutes*
radiohead
ben folds
john coltrane
miles davis
dave brubeck
slim cessna
david bowie
bjork
etta james
calexico
bob dylan
simon and funky

*some of my many favorite songs*

georgia on my mind- ray charles
jane- ben folds
hallelujah- leonard cohen / rufus wainwright/ jeff buckley
i will- radiohead
true love waits- radiohead
black star- radiohead
joga - bjork
gloomy sunday- bjork
black bird - beatles
yesterday- beatles
love ridden- fiona apple
winter- tori amos
brahms 2nd symphony in d major
beethoven's 9th
mozart's requiem in d minor
elgar's cello concerto

*favorite muppets*
kermit
fozzie
beaker
grover

*favorite books*
ulysses- joyce
in search of lost time- proust
bridge to terabithia- patterson
to kill a mockingbird- lee
9 stories- salinger
short stories- updike
wallace stevens poetry
the shining- king
matilda- roald dahl
the unbearable lightness of being- kundera
summer of night- simmons
labyrinth - borges
waiting- jin

*favorite plays*
hamlet
much ado about nothing
lost in yonkers
equuis

*favorite sounds*
rain. cliche, but always true.
the bass of the human voice with my head against their chest
second gear on matilda miata
my cello-- d or g string, 1st, 2nd or 3rd position
vibrato
mozart's minor choral swells
laughter
a small child reading
whuffly sleeping puppy sounds
birds early in the morning
waves
the covers rustling as someone turns over in their sleep
piano dabbling
full broom sweeping old floor boards
curry comb on a horse's back
breeze on mountain trails
cheers from a crowd
cold drink being poured on a hot day


*favorite fabric*
cotton

*favorite colors*
blue
green

*favorite big picture*
parents
friends
amazing films
good sleep
beautiful days
views
epiphanies
peace of mind
harmonizing
chocolate chip ice cream
chocolate
healthy things mixed with cheese
productivity
hard work
writing
long, boring journal entries of my inner monologue's babble
approval
love
comfort
safety
health
irish temper
travel
simple things
small things
everything

.notice that i put 'health' 11th after 'chocolate chip ice cream'... i've got my story straight.

long lists that mean nothing to anyone but me at exactly that minute.
now they're just a thing of the past, and i'm off to sleep and begin new lists tomorrow.