Babbling about random stuff
Apr. 20th, 2010 02:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sailorhathorI was pretty much convinced that the pain in my shoulder is caused by some form of tendonitis until I did some reading on carpal tunnel syndrome. Apparently, CTS pain can affect the shoulderblade area as well. The main thing that makes me go O_O! about it is the fact that the tip of my index finger is still numb. Numbness in the fingers/hand is a big symptom of CTS. I mean, really, WHY is my index finger numb? I can feel myself touching it, and I can move it, but it's all muted, pins and needles feeling. When I cut the nail on that finger, I can't feel it. It seems that if you are still experiencing pain and numbness after 8 weeks, you are a good candidate for CTS surgery, and if you don't have it, you could suffer permanent nerve damage. Yikes. Well, I'll monitor it. My shoulder still feels like it is well on the mend, but almost nothing has changed about the numb finger. The swelling went down, that's it.
Movies I have seen on DVD lately:
Chicken Little: Boring story. A few things made me laugh out loud, but they were few and far between. Kirby the alien was adorable, the highlight of an otherwise forgettable film.
Robots: Dull, forgettable, Robin Williams' character was very irritating and unfunny. A few of the robots looked really awesome, but that small part of the animation wasn't enough to keep my attention. I'm glad I didn't take a kid to see this in the theatre, because I'm sure they would have been misbehaving and playing loudly out of sheer boredom.
Memories of Murder: This Korean film has received a lot of buzz; I've had people recommend it to me for how great it's supposed to be. I was bored. Too long, too many unlikeable characters, too much nothing going on, too many eye-rollingly convenient plot twists, too much BLAH. Even if they shaved 40 minutes out of it, I still would have been bored. Korea's first case of a serial killer was, apparently, dull.
I'm sure this happens to other people besides me. You watch a movie and you're not sure if you liked it or not. At some point, you just kinda go meh, I won't want to see that again and you return the movie to Netflix. You might even think that the movie was a little sucky. Then, you realize that you can't stop thinking about certain scenes and how you might like to see them again... and you realize that you kind of liked the movie. Just a little. So you rent it once more, and you watch it... and watch it... and watch it... and soon you realize, you love it!
Maybe it's the performance(s) of a certain actor(s), maybe it's the cinematography, maybe it's something about the basic plot, whatever it is, you can't stop watching that mediocre movie with heart!
I had this happen with One Missed Call (Japanese original). I thought the plot could have potential or could turn out to be really stupid (a death curse is passing between cell phones - if you get the call, you will die, and then the curse thumbs through your directory of saved numbers to choose its next victim) - this is something only the Japanese could do well. The American remake was truly awful, but the Japanese orig. was, on first viewing, meh. I didn't think I liked it. Then I couldn't stop thinking about certain scenes, and the pretty good performances. I love it when an actor/actress puts their all into a role, even if it is a horror movie that will never win them any awards. Now I really love the movie.
This has happened for me with Paranormal Activity. It's still a flawed movie, but I can't stop watching it for the good things. The actors do put in pretty decent performances. Certain aspects of the story, I would have done differently, but it does have good atmosphere, and I do like that pretty little house where it was filmed. (I want a house with a gorgeous banister like that!) I especially like the feeling of "I could do this!" that it creates. There really weren't a lot of actual special effects in it. All the tenseness and fear it created in me was accomplished with sound and the power of suggestion. The videoblog format definitely put me more in the characters' heads, and allowed me to wonder how I would feel and react if something like that was happening to me. I don't think the movie could scare you much at all if you did not successfully put yourself in the position of the characters. I mean, it's easy to say, "If this happened to me, I wouldn't be scared," but seriously, if you felt some monster over which you had no control was roaming around your house at night, and you knew it wanted to hurt you, would you really not be scared? Would that even be possible?
Myself, if something like that was happening to me, I'd be somewhere in the middle of Katie's reaction and Micah's reaction. I'd be scared, but I'd also be excited. That would be until things escalated and got really scary, then I'd just be scared and want it to stop. But up until then... like, I understand why Micah wanted to film the phenomena and thought it was so cool when they got something interesting on film. But I also understand why Katie was afraid. And honestly, I think Katie was too hard on Micah over the course of the movie. I get that she was reacting out of fear, but it still bothers me. I've developed a real soft spot for Micah; he gets a lot of shit and didn't totally deserve it.
First off, the idea that him bringing the camera in could have made the demon want to perform - yeah, that's possibly true, but also, if they'd called the Demonologist, he would have done the exact same thing. Demonologists and parapsychologist teams use cameras all the time. It's entirely possible that things with the demon would have gotten worse whether the camera was there or not. Second thing, the idea that the Ouija board made things worse - I don't subscribe to the idea that Ouija boards are just instantly dangerous and that's that. It's simply a tool. Your intention with it can be dangerous. If you take a Ouija board and go, "Anything that wants to talk to me, come in here and do whatever you want!" then you're an idiot looking for possible trouble. If you ask for protection and you're specific with what/who you want to talk to, then you're generally okay. People who see a Ouija board and immediately have a hissy and shit their pants get on my nerves. Most "demonic possessions" are just mentally ill people looking for attention. It doesn't happen as much as movies and tv would have you believe.
Another thing I've heard is Micah caused things to get worse by calling the demon out and challenging it. Now, okay, if you're going, "Show yourself!" you might see something scary. But beyond that, I can't fault him for that because I'd react the same way. Things probably would have gotten worse no matter what he said. It's not like demons go, "Gee, I'm getting bored here, playing with these people, I think I'll lea - WHAT? What did he just say?! I think I'll stay now! That'll show him!" If demons walk around in our world, I think they can pretty much do whatever they want, and you can try to get rid of them, but they don't always respond no matter what you say. I mean, how many times have you heard about people being terrorized by a demon or ghost or something in their home and they bring in the religious guns, and the demons/ghosts just come back after a while? There are no central rules when you're dealing with something otherworldly.
Anyway, I agree with what Micah says in the movie, that the demon WANTS them to be afraid, and they should try not to openly show fear. Even if I was scared, I'd make myself feel more in control by talking shit and cussing at the fucker. I'd do that even if I *wasn't* afraid. Sure, there'd be times when I wouldn't be able to help it and I'd run the other way screaming, but that wouldn't be my goal. You can't let these things intimidate you too much or it'll be a situation of you giving an inch and them taking a mile.
I guess the point is that I found Micah to be funny, protective, and cussed like a sailor - a man after my own heart, hehheh. He's not my usual type, but he's kinda cute. The only thing I can't get used to is the pronunciation of his name. I have a cousin who had a boy named Micah, pronounced MIKE-UH instead of MEEK-UH. I also went to school with a girl named Micah who pronounced it MIKE-UH. So everytime I think or say his name out loud, I want to say MIKE-UH Sloat instead of MEEK-UH Sloat. It's a thing to get used to.
If you're reading this and thinking that I'm a little off for believing in demons, I'll just say that I leave myself open. I'm not sure whether I believe in them or not because I've never had any actual experience with one as far as I know. I've had a few strange experiences in my time but nothing that I'd classify as demonic.
Movies I have seen on DVD lately:
Chicken Little: Boring story. A few things made me laugh out loud, but they were few and far between. Kirby the alien was adorable, the highlight of an otherwise forgettable film.
Robots: Dull, forgettable, Robin Williams' character was very irritating and unfunny. A few of the robots looked really awesome, but that small part of the animation wasn't enough to keep my attention. I'm glad I didn't take a kid to see this in the theatre, because I'm sure they would have been misbehaving and playing loudly out of sheer boredom.
Memories of Murder: This Korean film has received a lot of buzz; I've had people recommend it to me for how great it's supposed to be. I was bored. Too long, too many unlikeable characters, too much nothing going on, too many eye-rollingly convenient plot twists, too much BLAH. Even if they shaved 40 minutes out of it, I still would have been bored. Korea's first case of a serial killer was, apparently, dull.
I'm sure this happens to other people besides me. You watch a movie and you're not sure if you liked it or not. At some point, you just kinda go meh, I won't want to see that again and you return the movie to Netflix. You might even think that the movie was a little sucky. Then, you realize that you can't stop thinking about certain scenes and how you might like to see them again... and you realize that you kind of liked the movie. Just a little. So you rent it once more, and you watch it... and watch it... and watch it... and soon you realize, you love it!
Maybe it's the performance(s) of a certain actor(s), maybe it's the cinematography, maybe it's something about the basic plot, whatever it is, you can't stop watching that mediocre movie with heart!
I had this happen with One Missed Call (Japanese original). I thought the plot could have potential or could turn out to be really stupid (a death curse is passing between cell phones - if you get the call, you will die, and then the curse thumbs through your directory of saved numbers to choose its next victim) - this is something only the Japanese could do well. The American remake was truly awful, but the Japanese orig. was, on first viewing, meh. I didn't think I liked it. Then I couldn't stop thinking about certain scenes, and the pretty good performances. I love it when an actor/actress puts their all into a role, even if it is a horror movie that will never win them any awards. Now I really love the movie.
This has happened for me with Paranormal Activity. It's still a flawed movie, but I can't stop watching it for the good things. The actors do put in pretty decent performances. Certain aspects of the story, I would have done differently, but it does have good atmosphere, and I do like that pretty little house where it was filmed. (I want a house with a gorgeous banister like that!) I especially like the feeling of "I could do this!" that it creates. There really weren't a lot of actual special effects in it. All the tenseness and fear it created in me was accomplished with sound and the power of suggestion. The videoblog format definitely put me more in the characters' heads, and allowed me to wonder how I would feel and react if something like that was happening to me. I don't think the movie could scare you much at all if you did not successfully put yourself in the position of the characters. I mean, it's easy to say, "If this happened to me, I wouldn't be scared," but seriously, if you felt some monster over which you had no control was roaming around your house at night, and you knew it wanted to hurt you, would you really not be scared? Would that even be possible?
Myself, if something like that was happening to me, I'd be somewhere in the middle of Katie's reaction and Micah's reaction. I'd be scared, but I'd also be excited. That would be until things escalated and got really scary, then I'd just be scared and want it to stop. But up until then... like, I understand why Micah wanted to film the phenomena and thought it was so cool when they got something interesting on film. But I also understand why Katie was afraid. And honestly, I think Katie was too hard on Micah over the course of the movie. I get that she was reacting out of fear, but it still bothers me. I've developed a real soft spot for Micah; he gets a lot of shit and didn't totally deserve it.
First off, the idea that him bringing the camera in could have made the demon want to perform - yeah, that's possibly true, but also, if they'd called the Demonologist, he would have done the exact same thing. Demonologists and parapsychologist teams use cameras all the time. It's entirely possible that things with the demon would have gotten worse whether the camera was there or not. Second thing, the idea that the Ouija board made things worse - I don't subscribe to the idea that Ouija boards are just instantly dangerous and that's that. It's simply a tool. Your intention with it can be dangerous. If you take a Ouija board and go, "Anything that wants to talk to me, come in here and do whatever you want!" then you're an idiot looking for possible trouble. If you ask for protection and you're specific with what/who you want to talk to, then you're generally okay. People who see a Ouija board and immediately have a hissy and shit their pants get on my nerves. Most "demonic possessions" are just mentally ill people looking for attention. It doesn't happen as much as movies and tv would have you believe.
Another thing I've heard is Micah caused things to get worse by calling the demon out and challenging it. Now, okay, if you're going, "Show yourself!" you might see something scary. But beyond that, I can't fault him for that because I'd react the same way. Things probably would have gotten worse no matter what he said. It's not like demons go, "Gee, I'm getting bored here, playing with these people, I think I'll lea - WHAT? What did he just say?! I think I'll stay now! That'll show him!" If demons walk around in our world, I think they can pretty much do whatever they want, and you can try to get rid of them, but they don't always respond no matter what you say. I mean, how many times have you heard about people being terrorized by a demon or ghost or something in their home and they bring in the religious guns, and the demons/ghosts just come back after a while? There are no central rules when you're dealing with something otherworldly.
Anyway, I agree with what Micah says in the movie, that the demon WANTS them to be afraid, and they should try not to openly show fear. Even if I was scared, I'd make myself feel more in control by talking shit and cussing at the fucker. I'd do that even if I *wasn't* afraid. Sure, there'd be times when I wouldn't be able to help it and I'd run the other way screaming, but that wouldn't be my goal. You can't let these things intimidate you too much or it'll be a situation of you giving an inch and them taking a mile.
I guess the point is that I found Micah to be funny, protective, and cussed like a sailor - a man after my own heart, hehheh. He's not my usual type, but he's kinda cute. The only thing I can't get used to is the pronunciation of his name. I have a cousin who had a boy named Micah, pronounced MIKE-UH instead of MEEK-UH. I also went to school with a girl named Micah who pronounced it MIKE-UH. So everytime I think or say his name out loud, I want to say MIKE-UH Sloat instead of MEEK-UH Sloat. It's a thing to get used to.
If you're reading this and thinking that I'm a little off for believing in demons, I'll just say that I leave myself open. I'm not sure whether I believe in them or not because I've never had any actual experience with one as far as I know. I've had a few strange experiences in my time but nothing that I'd classify as demonic.
