They Came from the 50s and Had Horrible, Horrible Titles

Warning: Mild spoilers abound so beware!

Tuesday TCM had an evening of 1950's sci-fi movies so for the first time this year I decided to watch a film on television. I ended up watching three of the five and would have continued on without trepidation except I had to go to work Wednesday morning.

The first film was Gene Fowler Jr.'s I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958) which has a great tag line: "The bride wore terror." Despite the atrocious DVD cover art and disparaging remarks made by Steven Spielberg, the film was very sleek and well done.

The characters were developed as fully as they could be in the contrived situation. Far from the screaming woman on the posters, Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbott) was an intelligent, resourceful heroine (which are hard to come by in sci-fi). I expected her to descend into hysterics and rush about the film looking terrified and slightly confused. Instead, she did all the things that you're suppose to do after finding out that your husband and several other townspeople are aliens.

One of my favorite aspects of the film was the opening. It begins with two businessmen pulling into a restaurant and discovering a couple making out in a convertible. After trying to antagonize the young lovers, the businessmen continue into the restaurant to find two jaded women at the bar who are checking out a quintet of cynical men, four of whom are wisecracking about marriage and women. Now, any of these stock characters would be prefect fodder for a sci-fi film introduction. They are immediately engaging and personable enough to get a elicit a bit of sympathy when vaporized by alien invaders. However, the first victim is the dashing, quiet man who's nuptials are the next day.

Next, I watched the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers which was by far the best of the bunch. It's a surprisingly chilling film. The fundamental question behind the predicament it portrays is how well do we know the people around us. Do they have our best interests in mind? One aspect of a person or their beliefs can change and alter the way we feel about them.

At the beginning of the movie, Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is telling a psychiatrist his bizarre story. He recalls all the oddities he observed upon returning home after a medical conference but says that he simply dismissed them at the time. It made me think of all the things I come across that seem odd or slightly off and that I simply dismiss. The feelings and emotions of people are covered up large problems with general, disparaging terms such as mass hysteria. I realized how easy it really is to allow others to talk you out of things.

The last film I watched, The 27th Day (1957) was definitely the weakest. Five seemingly random people are abducted by an alien who entrusts each of them with a set of capsules in a box only they can open. The capsules have the capacity to kill all human life in a 3000 mile radius. The alien explains that his planet is dying, and while their moral code doesn't permit them to kill intelligent life, they are hoping that humanity will wipe itself out. The five people reflect the factions of the times so the main conflict is between Russia and the United States though the film was surprisingly compassionate toward both the Russian guard and the Chinese woman who received capsules.

All three films share a wariness about authority. In all three, normal people's lives are disrupted in such a way that appealing to the authorities or following the best course of action is ineffectual and even damaging. In both Married and Invasion the authority figures (policemen, psychiatrists, doctors, etc.) have already been overtaken. In 27th the governments of the individuals entrusted with the weapons are concerned with their own survival over the survival of the planet. Both sides feel that a world without them would be worse than the end of humanity. Turning the weapons and their secrets over to the government has dire consequences.

For me the appeal of classic sci-fi is different from the appeal of other film genres. I watch disaster films to imagine myself in those situation and modern sci-fi to be thrilled by spectacle. However, these classic movies touch on some of my innate fears about losing touch with those around me or finding myself in a situation where I don't know the people that I love. Conversely, there's the fear that I will become someone that family and friend don't know. Also the fear that everything you know and all the rational actions and thoughts won't work in a situation. These movies force one to confront these fears without the availability of an alien entity on which to place the blame.

Eatin' Pho and Writin' Poetry at the Marble Collegiate Church

Stephanie and I have decided to have a negativity fast. Thus, I have stopped perusing imdb message boards and only visit the site for trivia, news, and basic information. I avoid rottentomatoes.com entirely. I've curbed my reading of cinematical.com (at least the many bitchfests they have). This new decision is just another way I've decided to avoid spirally into meloncholy like I frequently did last year. It started with my obtainable resolutions and less stringent reading list. (Last year's looked like the reading lists of several college courses smushed together.)

Interestingly enough, our fast coincided with that of the Forths from the syndicated comic strip Sally Forth. The current storyline revolves around the family being snowed in and Sally deciding that 2009 will be a positive year. Today's strip referenced Eeyore and Norman Vincent Peale, and the punchline pointed out that no one will get the references. I got both references positively and without looking anything up so I was pleased at my cultural literacy. Thus, the whole experience of reading the daily comic strips proved positive. Mission accomplished! (Now, where the hell has that banner gotten to.)

This week I ate tripe and tendon for the first time. Both were in a noodle soup that I ordered at a local Korean restaurant. Tripe is one of the jokes of the Food Network and usually works it's way into every competition show. Naturally, I was curious and ordered the soup. It was interesting, chewy with a rough texture. It had taken on the flavors of the broth, garlic, and herbs of the soup. The tendon was a bit more disturbing with an almost gelatinous quality. I get real pleasure out of exploring or sampling something new. Every time something new is introduced to me, my frame of reference widens and I feel more like I'm a part of the world. (I think this is part of being a Four.) Now, I realize that eating tripe and learning about physics or joining the Green Belt movement aren't quite the same thing, but I'm still pleased.

I also learned about "prose poetry" after I inadvertently wrote a prose poem. (At least that's the conclusion Stephanie and I drew.) One of my resolutions for 2009 is to write more than I did in 2008. While I haven't written as much as I would have liked, I'm already ahead of where I was this time last year. I've written four poems and started three others. I've also written down ideas for three more.

At this point, I'm really focusing on exploring what I think poetry is. I haven't given it much thought, and truthfully, I haven't read much of it that wasn't specifically assigned in a class. So I read a book of Thomas Lynch's poems last week and feel extremely inspired. (This is why I have three ideas written down.) Lynch's poems are largely narrative and deal with death and the moments of everyday life. Much of my poetry is self-referential and deals with things that I feel or am going through. This year I'm branching out and toying with fictional situations and feelings that I don't have. I'm not going to venture into abstraction just yet. The first few poems that I wrote after I decided that writing poetry is something I should do were laden with imagery and pontification. Now, my poems don't feel so written and deliberate. Somehow, this feels a bit lazy, but I don't really care at the moment.

A Lost Weekend Sans the Alcoholism and with a Cat Brush

Three items I ordered from amazon.com came in during the latter part of last week, and I spent most of the weekend watching/utilizing them.

One of the items was The Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection which I only ordered because it was so damn cheap (one of the lunch lightning sales). I wasn't really excited about it. Then I got it in the mail, and it's awesomeness was tangible. My sister came over Friday evening, and we watched The King and I which is my second favorite. (My first being South Pacific, but Jenna didn't want to watch it.) Since I've been reading about Buddhism recently, I realized that at the time they wrote their musical neither Rodgers nor Hammerstein knew anything about it beyond the obligatory grandiose statues. We then watched the first half of Oklahoma!.

Saturday morning we went to help my brother and parents pack up his furniture for his move to Durant. Joel chose an abysmal weekend to move. The temperature was in the low 20s, and the wind was frigid. Carrying things from his apartment to his truck and my parents' trailer, I lost feeling in my hands, nose, and ears. My new piercing started to hurt a bit, and I finally had to forsake dignity and tie my scarf around my head Yente the Matchmaker style.

After lunch at Long John Silver's, Jenna and I went back to Nana and Poppy's and finished Oklahoma!. We then watched the 2004 BBC miniseries North & South, the one movie that we intended to over the weekend. As Jenna promised, it was spectacular, and I greatly enjoyed it. Jenna had decreed we watch it after we watched the newer Cranford in February. Both are based on the writings of Elizabeth Gaskell. After this, we should have stopped. Instead, we watched Rent which seemed more cinematically flawed than usual. I suppose watching lavish musicals in glorious Cinemascope and Technicolor and a meticulous BBC production would make any Chris Columbus film feel a bit lacking. Anyway, Jenna enjoyed it very much, though she spent the entire film certain that Mimi would die.

Also, Lillian's new Furminator brush arrived. Since it looks a bit like something from the Spanish Inquisition, I decided to follow the instructions carefully. These stated that for best results you should use it after washing your animal and drying them completely. While Lillian is always well behaved while being bathed, she doesn't especially enjoy the process so I usually forgo completely drying her; usually, she squirms away after a quick rubdown with a towel, and I let her sulk and dry in a corner. However, the instructions said completely so she had to suffer through the added aggravation of the hairdryer. I'm very pleased with the results of the brush. The fur seems to fall away in clumps. I just did a light brushing because she became fussy and yowled when I touched her. I'm not sure if the brush irritated her skin or if she was just upset about the bath and hairdryer. I'm going to brush her again this weekend without the bath and see if she still fusses.

The other item was Ugly Betty: Season One which is a show that I started watching and then stopped for reasons that are unclear to me. Anyway, I asked Nana if she wanted to watch the pilot with me, and I think she may be a bit addicted. We're on episode nine which is a few episodes before I stopped watching.

Most of Sunday I spent reading, playing The Sims 2 (one of my Sims is now Mayor of SimCity) and watching the Golden Girls marathon on Hallmark Channel. I hadn't realized that I'm seen ever episode of this show. So while I didn't complete several of the tasks that I set for myself, I had a lot of fun.