found_drama

First snow of teh season:

October 23, 2005
 
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Fortunately, my dad and I (plus a couple friends) snuck in a quick(!?) hike up Camel’s Hump yesterday. (Pics to follow once I get the copies emailed to me; was sans camera unfortunately…) Note to self: avoid the Forest City Trail up the mountain next time.

We rewarded ourselves with some nice homemade shrimp satay though. I enjoyed 100 grams of the smoothest Ukrainian vodka otherwise unavailable in the States. Flavored with honey and pepper, it’s got a sweetness and a spicy kick that play off each other in a way that is just smooth and with only the tiniest bite. And yet not the alcoholic bite that seems to follow basically any other vodka I’ve ever had. Now to find out how to get it ’round here…

(As a brief aside, my dad brought back a bottle of “Russian Standard” for his neighbor across the street whom is considered quite the vodka connoisseur. Upon tasting the gift, this neighbor apparently phoned my father to inform him: “After sampling the Russian Standard, I have concluded that Stolichnaya is the Gallo of Russian vodkas.”)

The weekend was then rounded out Sunday with a few errands and another viewing of Donnie Darko (now added to the library). I stand by my original assessments.

(Fun ironic/creepy tangent: While brandishing our Circuit City gift card and pondering which DVD to bring home, A & I basically flipped a mental coin over Donnie Darko vs. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - - then the mental coin flip echoed as I tried to decide whether to use the IMDB link above or the Amazon.com equivalent. Creepy Amazon thinks the two should be paired…) (Also creepy: that late in the car, I slipped and said the Jim Cunningham character was played not by Patrick Swayze but by Tom Cruise - - who happens to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly in a sidebar of Amazon.com as I glance at it now…)

Now to enjoy some tea and Tom Robbins and wrap myself in blankets and try to forget that the first snow of the season came quite a bit before my birthday this year…

currently playing: Underworld “Juanita / Kiteless / To Dream Of Love”

There’s a serial killer on the loose. (Why is everywhere I go always dark and cloudy grey misty dark and staticky skyward?) Buildings packed in close and crowded. Slums but too nice but not comfortable. Bricks and mortar and glass and edges. Not as much graffiti as you’d expect. (Isn’t this the same city as where I stole the mummified head of Rod Stewart?) The killer preys on actresses from adult films. Porn starlets, to call a spade a spade. There’s fear in the town. He’s not taking trophies. Not that anyone knows. I’m involved in the investigation not because I work with the constables but because I happened to notice a pattern in the data (a la Gibson’s Laney) and how each murder was precipitated by a flurry of rentals featuring that particular Her. (The constables only ever call a given actress “Her”.) Somehow in the course of all of this I become a suspect as well. I’m taken for questioning. Held over night. Another murder. They let me out. Now it’s personal. I’m checking data streams looking for rental patterns. The evidence leads me to one particular Her. We invite a few of her closest friends and associates over for the night. (Strictly in the interest of safety, despite the many jokes: “How many of my films have started like THIS!?!?”) Her front parlor is a sitting room (a la Stephenson’s Diamond Age) but more so a storefront complete with cash register and product displays. (The impulse items leave something to be desired but whatever.) This is where I wait, setting up my trap for the killer. As the night wears on, the walls seem to grow decorations. Portraits spawn other portraits. Landscapes expand and distend. Still lifes reproduce and multiply. It’s very Haunted Mansion meets Russian Orthodox church. Until the lights snap out. At first I think it’s just the power getting cut. But my ears ring too. I’ve been knocked out. And when I awaken, it’s in the arms of some blonde, petting the knot on my head and assuring me it’s all going to be fine. They caught him though it was a bit too late for Her.