Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2011-10-19 01:42 pm
greygirlbeast) wrote2011-10-19 01:42 pm
Entry tags:
"...I might never win the fight, but I'll rage against the light forevermore."
Ugh. Yeah, we're awake now, right? I've been chattering away like Robin fucking Williams for an hour, and I think Spooky's ready to murder me. But, then, she usually is. Ready to murder me.
Hey, let's get off on the right foot. Here's some depressing-ass shit: "Police Seek Escaped Exotic Animals in Ohio." And while we're at it, since when is it acceptable to only capitalize the first word of a headline and any proper nouns? Who decided that? It's fucking idiotic. I think I only noticed this about a month ago, but it seems to be a New Internet Rule. I'm sure some bunch of cocksuckers are responsible, like the authors of the The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style, who have to keep making up "new rules" so people have to keep buying new copies. Linguistic evolution by way of capitalism, yes! Anyway, the proper way to write a headline...oh, never mind. World, meet hell in a hand basket, and you kids get off my lawn.
Yesterday, I worked. Can't say how or on what. I am told the beans will be spilled in only a few more weeks, you will all be happy, and I can stop keeping this particular SECRET.
Also,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sovay reports having received her copy of Two Worlds and In Between, so folks who wisely pre-ordered (even the trade hb edition is almost sold out now, less than fifty copies remaining) should be getting it this week and next.
---
I was going to talk about Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). Yes, I was. I said that yesterday. First off, the pros. This is a good movie, and remember, I may have seen the Carpenter film more times than any living being (easily a hundred times, start to finish). It's a terrifying, fun, awe-inspiring tribute to the Carpenter film and, for the most part, it gets it right, because the filmmakers had the proper respect for the original and convinced the studio/producers to permit them to make a prequel instead of a remake. Though we do not need to know what happened before Carpenter's film, or what happens afterwards (this is part of the film's genius), the prequel doesn't provide some sort of infodump that ruins the original. Oh, and no SPOILER WARNING; if you don't want to read this, then avert thine eyes. However, rather than fawn over the good points (which are many), I'll point out those things I found annoying or disappointing. You know, like any good internet "reviewer." Overall, Heijningen gets the continuity with the first film right, and his scientific gaffs are minor (no one has ever found a prehistoric carnivore preserved in tundra, though we're shown Mary Elizabeth Winstead's paleontologist, Dr. Kate Lloyd, examining what appears to be a frozen Homotherium near the beginning of the film). I loved the microscope view of the alien cells consuming human cells and converting them, and the understanding that the alien was single-celled virus capable of acting as a multicellular organism. Wait, I'm saying good things. What kind of internet reviewer am I?!
Anyway, the delightful isolation of the first film is broken when we cut to Lloyd's lab at Columbia University, whereas maintaining that sense of claustrophobic isolation was crucial to the film's success. Bad filmmakers. Also, this film isn't nearly as quiet or as slowly paced as the 1982 film, but if it were, 2011 audiences would probably walk out, having been trained for constant, unrelenting action. One thing I love about the Carpenter film is the pacing, which took a cue from Alien (1978). Also, while the special effects and creature design were very good, I still prefer the analog effects in the original. Give me latex and methylcellulose over pixels any damn day of the week. I liked how we were shown the alien's ability to absorb and replicate via ingestion, but also it's ability to infect and slowly convert a human. I loved that we are shown so much of the inside of the alien ship, but was annoyed that the original means of its discovery wasn't preserved. The prequel does a pretty good job of being set in 1982 (thank fuck it wasn't updated), but I missed seeing 1982 computer technology. That would have been charming in the right way. There are too many characters, and except for Lloyd, they have a tendency to bleed together (no pun intended), one into the next. A wonderful thing about the first film was its carefully delineated characters.
The ending is handled well. I very much like the sense that we're given the impression that Lloyd, despite having survived, knows it's best if she sits there in that snowcat and freezes to death. Ultimately, we're left with the ambiguities and fatalism of the original, the sense of impending apocalypse, and you better stay for the credits, because that's where Carpenter's and Heijningen's fuse seamlessly together (no pun intended), with footage from the 1982 version. Again, DO NOT LEAVE WHEN THE CREDIT ROLL BEGINS, or you'll miss where 1982 meets 2011. Tentative final conclusion: I'll give it 8 out of 10; definitely worth seeing in the theaters.
---
We finished Shirley Jackson's The Sundial last night. It's a wonderful novel, with multiple interpretations and a marvelously inconclusive ending. I learned so much from Jackson. Is this a statement on the Catholic Church (the Halloran House) and Protestantism (the inhabitants; remember that Jackson was an atheist)? On human idiocy in general? The hysteria of crowds? Jackson's strong dislike for insular New Englanders (which she repeats again and again in other works)? We have to draw our own conclusions, or draw none at all. And now, I will announce (though I may have already beat myself to it) that the next Aunt Beast Book Club book is Collin Meloy and Carson Ellis' Wildwood. Note that this is a beautiful hardback, and if you purchase it as an ebook, you're shooting yourself in the foot and will miss at least half the pleasure. Also, last night I read Peter Crowther's "Memories." And played some Rift. I miss the house guests. I need more of them.
Speaking of whom, here are some crappy, blurry shots I took on Friday night at Spooky's parents' farm in Saunderstown, before we stepped out into the torrential fucking downpour to get the first round of nude shots of Eva, when Imp finds her at the side of the road. We were ordering pizza (thank you Spooky and Geoffrey) and playing with Spider cat, the feline basketball:
Though these are so craptacular I can't imagine anyone stealing them, all photographs Copyright © 2011 by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Hey, let's get off on the right foot. Here's some depressing-ass shit: "Police Seek Escaped Exotic Animals in Ohio." And while we're at it, since when is it acceptable to only capitalize the first word of a headline and any proper nouns? Who decided that? It's fucking idiotic. I think I only noticed this about a month ago, but it seems to be a New Internet Rule. I'm sure some bunch of cocksuckers are responsible, like the authors of the The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style, who have to keep making up "new rules" so people have to keep buying new copies. Linguistic evolution by way of capitalism, yes! Anyway, the proper way to write a headline...oh, never mind. World, meet hell in a hand basket, and you kids get off my lawn.
Yesterday, I worked. Can't say how or on what. I am told the beans will be spilled in only a few more weeks, you will all be happy, and I can stop keeping this particular SECRET.
Also,
sovay reports having received her copy of Two Worlds and In Between, so folks who wisely pre-ordered (even the trade hb edition is almost sold out now, less than fifty copies remaining) should be getting it this week and next.---
I was going to talk about Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). Yes, I was. I said that yesterday. First off, the pros. This is a good movie, and remember, I may have seen the Carpenter film more times than any living being (easily a hundred times, start to finish). It's a terrifying, fun, awe-inspiring tribute to the Carpenter film and, for the most part, it gets it right, because the filmmakers had the proper respect for the original and convinced the studio/producers to permit them to make a prequel instead of a remake. Though we do not need to know what happened before Carpenter's film, or what happens afterwards (this is part of the film's genius), the prequel doesn't provide some sort of infodump that ruins the original. Oh, and no SPOILER WARNING; if you don't want to read this, then avert thine eyes. However, rather than fawn over the good points (which are many), I'll point out those things I found annoying or disappointing. You know, like any good internet "reviewer." Overall, Heijningen gets the continuity with the first film right, and his scientific gaffs are minor (no one has ever found a prehistoric carnivore preserved in tundra, though we're shown Mary Elizabeth Winstead's paleontologist, Dr. Kate Lloyd, examining what appears to be a frozen Homotherium near the beginning of the film). I loved the microscope view of the alien cells consuming human cells and converting them, and the understanding that the alien was single-celled virus capable of acting as a multicellular organism. Wait, I'm saying good things. What kind of internet reviewer am I?!
Anyway, the delightful isolation of the first film is broken when we cut to Lloyd's lab at Columbia University, whereas maintaining that sense of claustrophobic isolation was crucial to the film's success. Bad filmmakers. Also, this film isn't nearly as quiet or as slowly paced as the 1982 film, but if it were, 2011 audiences would probably walk out, having been trained for constant, unrelenting action. One thing I love about the Carpenter film is the pacing, which took a cue from Alien (1978). Also, while the special effects and creature design were very good, I still prefer the analog effects in the original. Give me latex and methylcellulose over pixels any damn day of the week. I liked how we were shown the alien's ability to absorb and replicate via ingestion, but also it's ability to infect and slowly convert a human. I loved that we are shown so much of the inside of the alien ship, but was annoyed that the original means of its discovery wasn't preserved. The prequel does a pretty good job of being set in 1982 (thank fuck it wasn't updated), but I missed seeing 1982 computer technology. That would have been charming in the right way. There are too many characters, and except for Lloyd, they have a tendency to bleed together (no pun intended), one into the next. A wonderful thing about the first film was its carefully delineated characters.
The ending is handled well. I very much like the sense that we're given the impression that Lloyd, despite having survived, knows it's best if she sits there in that snowcat and freezes to death. Ultimately, we're left with the ambiguities and fatalism of the original, the sense of impending apocalypse, and you better stay for the credits, because that's where Carpenter's and Heijningen's fuse seamlessly together (no pun intended), with footage from the 1982 version. Again, DO NOT LEAVE WHEN THE CREDIT ROLL BEGINS, or you'll miss where 1982 meets 2011. Tentative final conclusion: I'll give it 8 out of 10; definitely worth seeing in the theaters.
---
We finished Shirley Jackson's The Sundial last night. It's a wonderful novel, with multiple interpretations and a marvelously inconclusive ending. I learned so much from Jackson. Is this a statement on the Catholic Church (the Halloran House) and Protestantism (the inhabitants; remember that Jackson was an atheist)? On human idiocy in general? The hysteria of crowds? Jackson's strong dislike for insular New Englanders (which she repeats again and again in other works)? We have to draw our own conclusions, or draw none at all. And now, I will announce (though I may have already beat myself to it) that the next Aunt Beast Book Club book is Collin Meloy and Carson Ellis' Wildwood. Note that this is a beautiful hardback, and if you purchase it as an ebook, you're shooting yourself in the foot and will miss at least half the pleasure. Also, last night I read Peter Crowther's "Memories." And played some Rift. I miss the house guests. I need more of them.
Speaking of whom, here are some crappy, blurry shots I took on Friday night at Spooky's parents' farm in Saunderstown, before we stepped out into the torrential fucking downpour to get the first round of nude shots of Eva, when Imp finds her at the side of the road. We were ordering pizza (thank you Spooky and Geoffrey) and playing with Spider cat, the feline basketball:
Though these are so craptacular I can't imagine anyone stealing them, all photographs Copyright © 2011 by Caitlín R. Kiernan
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Does it make me a bad person that I would have no problem with any deputy who shot an animal "standing outside [its] cage" being shot? Seriously. What the fuck. Some irresponsible asshole lets animals out of their cages before committing suicide so now, for the terrible crime of being scary and dangerous, the animals are being summarily shot? Dollars to donuts cars have killed more children than exotic animals in that town -- maybe deputies should start shooting cars parked outside their garages on sight?
I also hate the fucking euphemisms. What the hell does "destroyed" mean in the context of killing something? It sounds more obliterative than it probably is. . .
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Yerp.
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Does it make me a bad person that I would have no problem with any deputy who shot an animal "standing outside [its] cage" being shot?
Er...yeah. Is that what you meant to type, as it doesn't really jibe with the rest of your comment.
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No, I don't blame the deputies at all for how they handled things. I'm furious at the jackwagon who was arrogant enough to collect them all and then mental enough to let them out.
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Too much of a risk to take.
I simply don't agree, but then I don't tend to value human life above that of non-human animals. And these were abused non-human animals.
No, I don't blame the deputies at all for how they handled things. I'm furious at the jackwagon who was arrogant enough to collect them all and then mental enough to let them out.
I'm furious at the state of Ohio for not having laws to help prevent this sort of thing.
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Honestly, my first thought was that it's no big deal because humans should have to occasionally defend their high-ranking place on the food chain, but then I realized I'd be looking for someone to kill if my husband got mauled leaving for work, or if something ate my dog. The closer I put myself to the danger, the more I appreciated the way such a stupidly tragic situation was handled. That's just me though.
I'm furious at the state of Ohio for not having laws to help prevent this sort of thing.
Agreed.
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But I will not kill pre-emptively something or someone without malicious intent who might or might not end up hurting someone in somebody's family, maybe. If locating the animals is going to be a problem, fly out an animal control team with some radiotags or something so that you can tranquilize, tag and track. Hold off on the slaughter until injury or death is imminent.
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but then I realized I'd be looking for someone to kill if my husband got mauled leaving for work, or if something ate my dog. The closer I put myself to the danger, the more I appreciated the way such a stupidly tragic situation was handled. That's just me though.
The animals are innocent, and I simply couldn't blame them for a loved one's death.
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No, but honestly, I would absolutely blame the deputy who had a non-native predator in his sights and let it run off. And if the guy who'd kept them wasn't already dead, I'd want to kill him too.
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And if the guy who'd kept them wasn't already dead, I'd want to kill him too.
Here, we agree.
But remember, I talk to wolves, bot real and metaphorical.
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but the ones standing by their cages? Really?
It's called murder.
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I didn't realize they shot animals still in their cages. I haven't heard that mentioned at all, and I live in Ohio so I've been hearing this story all day long. If that's the case, that is really fucked up.
I don't yet have confirmation this either. I'm trying to track it down, confirm or deny.
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But again, they're not headlines.
Bingo.
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is it a proprietary thing?
Don't know. Stole it from someone long ago.
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Good.
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--Just finished The Sundial too. It was unsettling in ways I can't quite (or fear to) describe. Very enjoyable. It led me to read The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Simply brilliant. May have to track down The Road Through the Wall, Hangsaman, and The Bird's Nest. Do you have a favorite Jackson story or novel?
--Looking forward to Two Worlds and in Between. Great cover.
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It led me to read The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Then I have done a mighty thing!
Do you have a favorite Jackson story or novel?
Yep. We Have Always Lived In the Castle. But then it seems almost like an autobiography I might have written.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle
Tell Spooky she's photogenic. I think she avoids these things, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one coveting her boots in last night's photo.
Re: We Have Always Lived In The Castle
Thank you for introducing me to it.
You are very welcome.
Tell Spooky she's photogenic.
She refuses to believe me.
Re: We Have Always Lived In The Castle
Re: We Have Always Lived In The Castle
Yes, on latex over CGI. Always.
Give me real, in-camera, on-set gore and monstrous transformations.
Re: We Have Always Lived In The Castle
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I hate that.
Hates it, Precious.
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That's been Associated Press style for as long as I remember.
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That's been Associated Press style for as long as I remember.
I know you work press, but so long as I can recall, this hasn't been true, and I still find a few papers on line that use the correct capitalization process. And regardless what AP says (it used to say you refer to pre-op transsexuals by their birth gender, for fuck's sake), it still looks stupid.
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Nonetheless, I enjoyed it--even if I still find the scenes inside the ship completely pointless--and it's gotten me back into writing my sequel to The Thing...ummm, which is itself called The Thing.
Shirley Jackson
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oh good, it wasn't just me thinking that. i finally saw it this weekend and i thought maybe it was just my latent suicidal tendencies again.