Modern Technology, My Ass
Monday, Jul. 30, 2007 at 8:54 a.m.
Well, this morning is starting with a big pfffffpht because my phone is not working � that is, my work phone, when what I do is answer phones . . . although I know I should be saying �Yippee�, but the fact is that because my phone isn�t working, I have to log into the phone in the next cube over, take a message, and then roll into my cube to process the trouble ticket and then call back the messagee because I can, actually, make calls out.
In other words, I still have to do my job, but now it has to be done in the most convoluted way possible.
I should, and in fact, I�m supposed to be able to set myself up on any computer in any cube, but the IT guys here made file sharing near impossible, and so I have to set up a profile and email myself all my files and programs so that I can accomplish that. Double that with the IT guys refuse to come in before 9 am (when I get here at 7, and in fact, we have people here 24/7) and I�m dead in the water for the next 2 hours.
Now, I do have a profile set up on 2 other computers, but those computers will be taken up by the trainees shortly.
Gads.
However, my weekend was just fine, what with knitting, power-movie watching, and tile-laying . . . we now have half the hallway and the hall closet tiled, albeit not grouted � we decided to lay out the tile on an angle which looks really cool but makes for a lot of cutting. Add in that none of the walls in this 1978 house are square, and it makes for a fun project � the front part of the hallway actually grew in size by 1.5 inches from one end to the other. The closet was actually a parallelogram. Ha!
Satan�s Bed: The top-billed actor for this 1965 movie was none other than Yoko Ono!! Yoko plays a mail-order bride for a heroin smuggler, Paul-san, who manages to disappear in the movie without a trace, at least not one that I was able to remember. We are treated to a taste of Yoko�s future �musical� cacophony when she caterwauls what may be a Japanese lullaby (albeit a nightmare-inducing one), all the while sounding like a cat being eviscerated. Paul is being followed by Lou, I think, and his sister/cousin/lover/something out in Long Island is being victimized by three heroin addicts, 2 guys and a girl (with a hairstyle like a teased football helmet) named Angel who make their way out there by victimizing other women along the way. A lot of people end up dying, including Yoko. She goes quietly, thank heavens.
Scare Their Pants Off!: Two guys spend their weekends drugging and kidnapping young pretty women and having sex with them in bizarre play-acting scenarios, including a satanic-type sex cult offering, a nazi-esque breeding experiment, and a man-in-the-iron-mask scene. It�s just as charming as it sounds.
Acacia: This Korean horror flick from 2003 concerns a young childless couple, who decide to adopt. Unfortunately, the kid they decide on is a 6-year-old boy who draws endless pictures of black trees with characters straight out of Edvard Munch�s The Scream milling about. Has no one in Korea heard of Art Therapy? Anyway, the kid�s kind of weird also because he believes his dead mother�s spirit lives in the leafless acacia tree in the backyard. Things get really bad when the couple has a child of their own, and after a terrible fight between the boy and Mom, he flees the house . . . and is not seen again. People start dying left and right while Mom and Dad both go nuts. And where did the kid go? And why is the acacia tree suddenly leafing out and actually blooming with flowers? It�s actually quite good.
Ju-On: This is, of course, the original The Grudge, which set off a slew of Japanese horror remakes, including The Ring and Dark Water, both of which I have seen only the Japanese versions and found them to be pretty good, although I liked Dark Water quite a bit more. I did see The Grudge last year and found it to be good as well. The original is a bit choppy and episodic, as well and moving quickly through time, rather than the week or so that occurs in the American version. I must say I got a bit confused when I heard that one character was found dead and then she appeared in a scene a few minutes later. Still good.
Next up, I have Andy Warhol�s Bad. Just how bad can it be?
Caligula: The Untold Story bad?
Manos: The Hands of Fate (non-MST3K version) bad?
Or this kind of bad?
Groan . . .