Various crap
Jan. 25th, 2009 01:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sailorhathorI've had a lot of trouble sleeping the last two nights, just can't get comfortable in my old lumpy bed and shit, and it's put me in a crabby mood all day. Then I can't stop worrying because all this unemployment stuff can be really confusing at times, and job hunting has got to be one of the most mind-numbingly boring things I've ever had to do, just filling out the same goddamn information over and over and over, but the nerve-wracking part is that I'm supposed to file for my first payment this week and I still haven't received the debit card they're supposed to send that my money goes on. So I read over some of the stuff they sent me and it turns out I never got something called a "Statement of Benefits" either. I have no idea how much I'll be getting each week since I never got that. There's just so much stuff to read and so many dates to keep up with that I really didn't realize that I should have received this information already. I mean, I've never done this before - I have no idea when you're supposed to get everything. I thought maybe this was normal. Of course, my pessimistic, "things will never get better" side has put two and two together and has decided that for some obscure reason, I haven't received the Statement of Benefits or the debit card because I'm not getting any unemployment at all. I really can't figure any reason why I wouldn't get unemployment, and it's probably just some sort of mistake, but I can't stop worrying about it anyway because I'm so used to the bottom falling out from under me just when I think everything's going to be okay. I mean, why would they send me all the other paperwork and allow me to set up a PIN number if I wasn't getting unemployment benefits?
The unemployment people aren't open again until Monday, so that's when I can call and find out what's going on. Until then, I'm going to try to distract myself from thinking about it because worrying does me no good, especially when I can't take care of the problem right away. It's hard, though.
It would certainly help if I had someone to talk to, to vent to, but there's no one I can just pick up the phone and call anymore. *sigh*
This week's "Supernatural" was pretty good. I just haven't been in the mood to say much about it. General spoilers ahead. The idea was great, the writing was pretty decent, and I'm pleased that they were able to get such good actors to play the magicians. Barry Bostwick, WOOOO! ASSHOLE!! SLUT!! Dr. Scott! Janet! Brad! Rocky! UNGH! Hehehehehe.
I really believed that all those old geezers had been friends for 20-30 years, the acting was just that good. The whole story with the cursed Tarot cards was pretty damn clever. I'm really curious to know what this thing is that Sam doesn't want to do that is so bad that Ruby has finally convinced him to do. It better not be lame. Kripke has a history of setting things up to be so epic and when we FINALLY get the reveal, it's a total letdown (the big secret Dean was keeping from Sam of what their father told him before he died, for instance). I hope that doesn't happen this time. Sam is such a nice, trusting type that he can't see how Ruby is manipulating him, and has been manipulating him for a long time. I don't know, there's just something about how she's engineered all of this that smacks of ulterior motives and manipulation to me. I don't think she's ever been out to save humanity; I think everything she's done has been to gain Sam's trust. I'm interested to see where they go with it, but at the same time, I think I'd like the conflict it's creating more if Ruby was still being played by a competent actress. You know, I don't know if Genevieve can really act 'cause this is the only thing I've seen her in, and she's freaking lousy at playing this type of role. Just so flat and boring and out of her depth. Still can't stand looking at her Creature from the Black Lagoon face. I just want Ruby to die already. :P
Next week's episode looks adorable. I won't say anymore until next week so I don't spoil my non-spoiler whoring friends who haven't seen the fun, squee-worthy pics yet. ^_^
One last thing I must bitch up a storm about. For years, I've heard people talk about a horror movie called Burnt Offerings from 1976 and how fucking scary and awesome and classic it is. It came up on my Netflix queue and I watched it today. And now I want to find every person who ever said it was SO GOOD and wring their scrawny little necks. I mean, WHAT THE HELL people. **SPOILERS AHEAD** This was not a scary movie. I wouldn't even call it a GOOD movie. The basic premise is decent: There's a really old mansion and it regenerates itself with every death that happens on its grounds. If it starts to look old and rundown, the crazy family that owns it just invites some new people to come rent it for the summer and they wind up dying and then the house looks new again. Okay, I'm on board. But why did the story have to drag so bad? Why was so much time spent focusing on dull things? Since when have extra long scenes of people walking around looking for somebody been scary or even remotely interesting? I get that they had this beautiful, big house to show off, but it doesn't make for scariness. I seriously felt at times that I was watching a Sunday afternoon show about antiques. Ohhh, isn't that pretty? Yes, but IT'S NOT SCARY!
I'm not sure who was at fault, but I didn't find that the family had much chemistry. Somebody was off. I think it may have been the father, Ben. He was kind of overacted. It really threw the movie off for me.
The only thing I found spooky was that main theme they kept playing. That was pretty cool. But you can't create atmosphere through one score.
I pretty much get everything from the movie except one thing... what was the deal with the grinning chauffeur? And why did his visage scare Ben so bad that he went catatonic? I mean, the dude was unsettling, but... I guess that for me, the movie wasn't at all successful at getting me to feel what the characters were feeling, which is why I didn't understand why they were so frightened. The movies that really spook and scare me do so because something about the story and/or the performances put me right there in it with them, so that I'm thinking of what my reaction would be and how I would feel if I was in the same situation. I guess they were trying to say that the dude became just as frightened of the chauffeur as he had been when he was a child, but it all came off a bit over the top for me since it didn't seem warranted that he'd totally flip his beanie over some guy grinning at him. I kept waiting for further explanation of why the chauffeur scared him so bad, and it never came. And yes, I get that Ben was attending his mother's funeral at the time that the chauffeur stood there being mildly unsettling, but I still don't get why seeing him again made him flip out. I just needed more story there to really get it.
Burnt Offerings is one of those movies where after about an hour of being teased and led around and still expecting something to actually happen, I found myself mumbling, "Get on with it!" to myself every five minutes. That ain't good. I'm convinced that most of the people who have raved about how terrifying this movie is think that because they were, on average, about SEVEN the first time they saw it. And I know I'm not that far off, because most of these same people, when asked how old they are now, usually reply with a number somewhere between 30 and 40. Lots of things are scary when you're seven. Including... charming antiques? Skinny grinning guys? I don't know, I was afraid of actual ghosts.
Now I am going to my lumpy bed and toss and turn for a while. :P
The unemployment people aren't open again until Monday, so that's when I can call and find out what's going on. Until then, I'm going to try to distract myself from thinking about it because worrying does me no good, especially when I can't take care of the problem right away. It's hard, though.
It would certainly help if I had someone to talk to, to vent to, but there's no one I can just pick up the phone and call anymore. *sigh*
This week's "Supernatural" was pretty good. I just haven't been in the mood to say much about it. General spoilers ahead. The idea was great, the writing was pretty decent, and I'm pleased that they were able to get such good actors to play the magicians. Barry Bostwick, WOOOO! ASSHOLE!! SLUT!! Dr. Scott! Janet! Brad! Rocky! UNGH! Hehehehehe.
I really believed that all those old geezers had been friends for 20-30 years, the acting was just that good. The whole story with the cursed Tarot cards was pretty damn clever. I'm really curious to know what this thing is that Sam doesn't want to do that is so bad that Ruby has finally convinced him to do. It better not be lame. Kripke has a history of setting things up to be so epic and when we FINALLY get the reveal, it's a total letdown (the big secret Dean was keeping from Sam of what their father told him before he died, for instance). I hope that doesn't happen this time. Sam is such a nice, trusting type that he can't see how Ruby is manipulating him, and has been manipulating him for a long time. I don't know, there's just something about how she's engineered all of this that smacks of ulterior motives and manipulation to me. I don't think she's ever been out to save humanity; I think everything she's done has been to gain Sam's trust. I'm interested to see where they go with it, but at the same time, I think I'd like the conflict it's creating more if Ruby was still being played by a competent actress. You know, I don't know if Genevieve can really act 'cause this is the only thing I've seen her in, and she's freaking lousy at playing this type of role. Just so flat and boring and out of her depth. Still can't stand looking at her Creature from the Black Lagoon face. I just want Ruby to die already. :P
Next week's episode looks adorable. I won't say anymore until next week so I don't spoil my non-spoiler whoring friends who haven't seen the fun, squee-worthy pics yet. ^_^
One last thing I must bitch up a storm about. For years, I've heard people talk about a horror movie called Burnt Offerings from 1976 and how fucking scary and awesome and classic it is. It came up on my Netflix queue and I watched it today. And now I want to find every person who ever said it was SO GOOD and wring their scrawny little necks. I mean, WHAT THE HELL people. **SPOILERS AHEAD** This was not a scary movie. I wouldn't even call it a GOOD movie. The basic premise is decent: There's a really old mansion and it regenerates itself with every death that happens on its grounds. If it starts to look old and rundown, the crazy family that owns it just invites some new people to come rent it for the summer and they wind up dying and then the house looks new again. Okay, I'm on board. But why did the story have to drag so bad? Why was so much time spent focusing on dull things? Since when have extra long scenes of people walking around looking for somebody been scary or even remotely interesting? I get that they had this beautiful, big house to show off, but it doesn't make for scariness. I seriously felt at times that I was watching a Sunday afternoon show about antiques. Ohhh, isn't that pretty? Yes, but IT'S NOT SCARY!
I'm not sure who was at fault, but I didn't find that the family had much chemistry. Somebody was off. I think it may have been the father, Ben. He was kind of overacted. It really threw the movie off for me.
The only thing I found spooky was that main theme they kept playing. That was pretty cool. But you can't create atmosphere through one score.
I pretty much get everything from the movie except one thing... what was the deal with the grinning chauffeur? And why did his visage scare Ben so bad that he went catatonic? I mean, the dude was unsettling, but... I guess that for me, the movie wasn't at all successful at getting me to feel what the characters were feeling, which is why I didn't understand why they were so frightened. The movies that really spook and scare me do so because something about the story and/or the performances put me right there in it with them, so that I'm thinking of what my reaction would be and how I would feel if I was in the same situation. I guess they were trying to say that the dude became just as frightened of the chauffeur as he had been when he was a child, but it all came off a bit over the top for me since it didn't seem warranted that he'd totally flip his beanie over some guy grinning at him. I kept waiting for further explanation of why the chauffeur scared him so bad, and it never came. And yes, I get that Ben was attending his mother's funeral at the time that the chauffeur stood there being mildly unsettling, but I still don't get why seeing him again made him flip out. I just needed more story there to really get it.
Burnt Offerings is one of those movies where after about an hour of being teased and led around and still expecting something to actually happen, I found myself mumbling, "Get on with it!" to myself every five minutes. That ain't good. I'm convinced that most of the people who have raved about how terrifying this movie is think that because they were, on average, about SEVEN the first time they saw it. And I know I'm not that far off, because most of these same people, when asked how old they are now, usually reply with a number somewhere between 30 and 40. Lots of things are scary when you're seven. Including... charming antiques? Skinny grinning guys? I don't know, I was afraid of actual ghosts.
Now I am going to my lumpy bed and toss and turn for a while. :P
