Adventures in Indiana

Guys - if you didnt know me, you wouldnt believe the story I am about to tell you. But i swear to you, this is totally true. And it happened to me last weekend.

Thanksgiving was great, I made the feast with a few twists, and it was really lovely. 2 things you need to know: 1) last weekend was the Bar Mitzvah of my cousin in Indianapolis so 90 of us descended on that poor town for the festivities. 2) on Monday I found a weird, painful lump on my rear right thigh...an inconvenient location for such ativities as walking, standing, sitting, laying down... you know. It was about the size of a bee bite, and stingy painful so i put on some anti-itch stuff and went about my business.

By Wednesday, my parasite was larger, more painful and i finally went to the Dr (while my soup and cornbread were up) and got some antibiotics, apparently it was an abscess - like a boil (biblical times come alive!) which is caused by a skin infection. Okeledokele.

Friday morning at 3:00am we get up to go fly to Indy, after all the triptophen we ate, its amazing we were even awake. We flew to Detroit where our connection was promptly cancelled and we were stranded in Detroit airport, panicking about renting cars and driving (5 hour trip) or waiting for the next flight (3 hour wait) and hoping that one can get off the ground. After all that drama, we waited and were able to leave Detroit (not a fun airport) and got to Indy at about 2pm. I took a shower at 3:30 and noticed that my alien being residing in my thigh was about golf ball size, just as hard, painful to the touch and radiating redness about the size of a softball all over my thigh.

off to the ER we went. Not a typical ER, mind you, a down home, Indiana style Chop-Shop ER, where people come when their tractors ran over their toes. And after 3 hours waiting in the waiting room, and additional hour in the exam room waiting for the doctor, where to pass the time we sang "Kumbaya My Lord" and other meaningful songs, I was given 10 shots of novicaine in my thigh and he cut open the abscess, drained the blood and pus, and scraped my skin of the hives the bacteria had formed underneath (Note: this paragraph is not for the faint of heart - well, its too late i suppose) By the way, I FELT IT ALL and it was EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL. You see, when the bacteria infects your body, it raises the level of acidity in your system. Novicaine is effective when your PH is balanced or slightly basic, ergo i was in DEEP DOO DOO.

Guys - i know its funny. Really, this story is unbelievable and i wouldnt believe it myself if it wasnt me that it happened to. But it was painful and traumatic and i was shaking with reaction and pain the rest of the weekend. shaking, tembling, my bones were knocking together so hard i was sure you could hear it if you stood close enough to me.

at 4:00am sunday we flew back to NY (Thank you Expedia for the stellar travel arrangements!) and i went to my dr who referred me to a surgeon who has been monitoring me all week because the incision is STILL OPEN and DRAINING ICKY BACTERIAL PUS. sounds exciting, no? they cant stitch it up till its out, because otherwise it will make a new mound. So..... I was out of work till today (depression that i had to go back at all *sigh*) and I am still sleeping on my stomach. Sitting has gotten a little less uncomfortable.

I am allowed to shower now too (hallelujah!). Yesterday was my first shower since Friday and maaaaaaaaan! was that orgasmic! now i have to shower 2x a day to let the stuff run out of the open wound. I'm gonna nominate this surgeon for some hygenic award or another when i get around to it:)

anyways, thats why I've been out of touch. And see, i sat long enough to write this, so that must mean i am on the mend. :)

My Fair Lady - a head-scratching ending

I have seen this movie a few times in my life. Safely, I would say 5 or 6 times. And not recently. Since I was home sick, I put it on to watch, as I love Audrey Hepburn, who I think is the most beautiful woman who ever lived, and the outfits are outrageously artistic.

I understand the story is based on the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, and the screenplay is based on the play "Pygmalion" but I am still totally baffled by the ending. And though I thought that as an older, wiser person who has experienced Love, perhaps I'd understand better the whole last part after the ball where she moves out (to where, one wonders) and she confronts him in the garden at his mothers house, then shows up at his house and he asks her for his slippers.

I'm sorry, WHAT?! You lost me on the sharp, right turn out there. So if you happen to know what I mean, please respond and explain to me how that ending makes any sense at all. In my experience with human relationships, that doesn't make a stitch of sense to me.

Chewy's Movie Review #3 - Deja Vu

Comment: Another weird ending!
Mood: Stale
Rating: 6/10

I saw the movie Deja Vu this Saturday night. Wow. I'm on some kind of roll here. This is the third movie in a row that I have qualms about the ending of the movie. I hope I get off of this unlucky streak soon.

This movie is ok. As usual, director Tony Scott has his unique style of shooting the film "at work" which I really enjoy. There are certain parts of the story which are cool like the police having a survellience system set up that they can go 4 days in the past and recreate everything that's going on in a 180 degree radius of a particular area. Which means that they can see everything that goes on and hear everything in that entire area (don't forget people that this is a sci-fi movie). I mean think about how many more crimes would be solved if the police actually had this kind of technology! It's just that some parts of the movie are real filler and others (including the ending) make absolutely no sense. I also would have liked Jim caviezel's character to have been a little more than your typical Class A psycho. Denzel is fun to watch as usual but his charisma alone unfortunately cannot save this movie from being more than just ok.

Chewy's Movie Review #2 - Happy Feet

Comment: Coulda Been Truly Great
MOOD: Grumpy
Rating: 7/10


Happy Feet (2006) This is a hard one to review. For most of the movie I truly thought this was going to be one of the greatest animated films I had ever seen. The characters really appealed to me, it was very funny, the animation is probably the best I have EVER seen!!! But the end was a mess. I understand that the filmakers were trying to convey an important message but the way that it was delivered really hurt the film. I felt like I had jumped from one movie to an entirely different one and I didn't like the second film much at all. Also the music wasn't very good (a few of the songs were not appropiate for an animated movie at all!). Listen up filmakers: Take the seriousness down a few notches next time!All in all this was a good movie however and I would recommend seeing it in the theaters for the CGI alone. If that dosen't mean much to you then wait for video.

My Own Movie Review - Happy Feet

Comment: A Good Movie!
Mood: Pleasantly surprised!
Rating: 8/10

Chewbacca and I went to see Happy Feet, the animated movie about a penguin who was born without a heart-song and is shunned by the community though he was able to express himself through tap dancing.

Here are my thoughts, per the different hats I wear:

1) voice animator hat - I liked the movie alot - it was beautifully done in animation, with heavy doses of inspiration from "March of the Penguins" (another fabulous, gorgeous movie). The voices were well cast, and the soundtrack was nicely woven with music from a number of different genres.

2) conservationist hat - I *loved* the message of this movie. It had a perfect educational zinger about littering/food chain/conservation/endangered species. And I appreciate the message that you are supposed to walk away with.

3) movie goer hat - I loved the movie - BUT the ending was awkward, heavy-handed and abrupt. Though the message is terriffic (see above) the execution was choppy and unbelievable. It is unrealistic to portray issues of conservation, fishing rights and pollution as being resolved in a relatively short period of time.

All in all, there were some really interesting theological aspects to this, like the basis of worship in the penguin community (though a little too much gratuitous Christian symbolism for my taste overall), good music, sweeping, beautiful animation, great characters and a good storyline.

The ending is my only discontent with the movie, but I still recommend it highly!

Chewy's Movie Review #1 - The Departed

COMMENT: One of the worst endings to a movie ever!
MOOD: Frustrated
RATING: 2/10

The Departed (2006) - I was very excited to go and see this film. It has a great cast. It was directed by the same man who brought us Goodfellas (probably my favorite mob movie of all time btw!). The previews looked amazing. Unfortunately you will only walk away from this movie VERY disappointed! For the first good while I was excited. It started slow and then grew very interesting by the mid mark. I was thinking that it was going to be a great movie. But all of the buildup goes absolutely nowhere by the end of this film! It has one of the WORST endings I have ever seen! Talk about a total anticlimatic joykill! I should have been somewhat forewarned with Scorcsese's recent track record. His last several movies have been pretty crappy as well. I however, love a good crime drama and after seeing the previews and reading all of the amazing reviews I felt that I had to go see this. I mean are all of the critics today on crack or what? Anyway, don't waste your money on the theater and don't bother renting this.

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