Massive Update... Massively Massive
Jul. 9th, 2004 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cassy_gFirst things first - so far, I am pretty calm about the husband losing his job. Check back in a month or so when the money starts running low - then I might be popping Xanax - assuming of course he doesn't get a newer shinier happier job before then.
Now for catch up time. The Friday before the 4th, I went to see Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
segansca. I am not sure I can accurately summize this movie. It is a deeply Buddhist story, with layers upon layers of subtext, some of which, I know was lost on my lack of understanding of Korean culture and Buddhist philosophy. Some things I noticed/questions:
1. In Spring, the Child Monk is out exploring nature around him, and during his boyish games captures a fish, a frog, and a snake, in that order. He ties a small stone to each and sets them free. The Old Monk witnesses this and the next day, the Child Monk finds himself tied to a stone. The Old Monk tells him to go and find the animals and release them, then he himself will be released, but warns him that if any have died, he will have to carry the weight of that stone in his heart for the rest of his life. The Child Monk goes and finds the three animals, but the fish and snake have both died. At first, I thought that these animals were perhaps a reference towards the evolution of nature. Upon further contemplation, since the fish and the snake died, and the frog lived, does it mean that neither extreme is the key to survival, but instead we should seek a balance?
2. In Fall, Young Adult Monk returns to his monastery home after a long abscence as a fugitive for a crime he committed. After Old Monk discovers him about to commit a ritual suicide, and punishes him, he goes outside and uses his pet cat's tail to paint on the deck around the house a series of Pranjaparpamita sutras. They are of course, in Korean, and I have no idea what they said, but when Young Adult Monk comes outside, the front deck is covered in them. Old Monk demands that he take his knife and carve out all the characters. The police arrive, but Old Monk convinces them to allow Young Adult Monk finish before he is taken away. When Yound Adult Monk collapses with exhaustion after carving the last character, the Old Monk and two policemen "decorate" the Pranjaparpamita by painting various characters different colors. The colors, blue, green, orange, and purple - which I believe correspond to the various elements water, earth, fire, and wind - are painted in various places, with some being left "white". Do the white characters correspond to the etheral? What did they say prior to painting, and if you were to read the characters in the order they were colored (because they seemed to have been randomly painted from the point of view of someone that doesn't speak Korean), would their meaning change?
3. In Fall, after the police leave with Young Adult Monk, Old Monk prepares the ritual suicide for himself, and upon his death, a snake leaves from the pyre. (Which then becomes the corresponding animal for "Winter", but more on that momentarily). What was the purpose of the Old Monk's suicide, did he feel he'd failed, or that there was nothing left he could teach Young Adult Monk? Since this is basically a Buddhist story, wouldn't reincarnation as a snake imply that the Old Monk had not reached enlightenment?
4. Each season, there is a different animal at the monestary: dog, rooster, cat, snake, turtle. At first, I thought perhaps these animals were symbolic of the Chinese zodiac, with the corresponding animal speaking to the depth of that season, and the part of the Young Monk's life. But, then there isn't a turtle in the Chinese zodiac. Anyone have thoughts on this?
5. In Winter, Adult Monk returns to the monestary, pays homage to Old Monk, and cuts a hole in the ice for fresh water. During the night, a veiled woman arrives at the monestary with a small baby. She unveils her face, but neither the audience, or the Adult Monk see this. Then she reveils herself and slips away while Adult Monk and the baby are sleeping. She falls thru the hole in the ice and dies. When Adult Monk finds her the next morning, he pulls her from under the ice, unveils her briefly (once again, the audience doesn't get to see her), then he secures the baby in the monestary, ties a stone to himself and scales the mountain beside the lake with what appears to be a female version of Buddha. While he's struggling up the mountainside, they flashback to when he was a boy and had tied the stones to the fish, frog, and snake. This to me implies that he felt he must pay a pennance for her death, even though it was accidental. Is this because in Buddhist philosophy, even if you cause harm to someone accidentally, it is ultimately your responsibility for having not forseen the consequences for your actions?
If I think of more, I will post it. :)
It was in any case, a very enjoyable film, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that either don't like subtitles, or prefer no deeper meanings to their films. :)
Then I went down to Columbus to spend the forth of July weekend with my family. As most of you should know by now, my Dad is not in the best of health. Nothing has really changed in that - and he's doing things that I consider... odd, unless you aren't planning on being around much longer. For instance, at one point over the weekend, my Mother was asking me if there was anything I wanted, jewelry wise. For those of you that don't know, I wear almost no jewelry at all and I haven't ever really been a jewelry fiend. I wear earrings constantly, but they are small and subtle and there to ensure I don't have to get them repierced in the future. I thanked her but said, no there wasn't really anything. She persisted, wouldn't I like a gold necklace, or some diamonds? No, I assured her, those things didn't mean anything to me. It turned out that my Father wants to get me "something that I will have forever to remind me of him". I told him I would think about it, mostly to make him feel better, and decided I would try to think of something that wouldn't be a waste of money that I might wear once and a while, to make him happy. But, that was the reason I went out and bought the digital camera. I had been planning on getting one before Dragon*Con anyway, and decided I wanted to have one to take pictures of my family while they were all around for me to do so. I will post some of the pictures soon. It's strange to me how distant my family is - there aren't any pictures (yet) of people sitting around together, most of the pictures are of individuals.
My Mom has been talking about remodelling her kitchen for a long time. She's finally decided to do it. This is a good thing as her kitchen is still pink and gold, the floor is peeling up, and she has avacodo green appliances still. So, I spent most of the weekend taking measurements, because she put me in charge of drawing up the plans for either Lowe's or Home Depot of what she wants. This isn't really all that hard, as I use to do mechanical drawings for a living - but it is a lot of work. Fortunately, she decided to go ahead and get her new refridgerator in the next week or so. The problem has been that the cabinets in her kitchen are really low, and she couldn't get what is now considered a standard size side by side now. (Her house is 50 or 60 years old). So, the husband and I looked at the cabinet and decided it could be taken down - this means we got to demolish part of the kitchen. It was way more fun that it should have been, heh. But now she can get a new fridge (her's is 36 years old, and avacado green, with wooden planks and string holding it together).
Speaking of old things, we also went out and got her and Dad a new bed. Their bed was the one they bought when they bought the house (just like the fridge). It was literally caved in and parts of it were only about 4 inches off the floor. My brother, husband and I went to Sam's and got her one of the king size Serta's with the pillow tops (which is has on both sides in case you want to flip it, but it says you never have to). We got a new frame and it came with new box springs. Once the bed was put together, it was much higher than the old one - but once mom and dad got use to it, they decided it was better because it was easy to make up and with both of them having arthritis, it's much easier to get out of bed. My Dad is 6'3" and when he sits on the side his feet don't touch the floor. So getting out of bed is just a matter of putting your feet over the side and sliding out. Plus it's (apparently, according to them) a thousand times more comfortable than their old one. I know - what a shock.
During all the moving of things here and there to get the new bed in, my brother and I engaged in some nostalgia. We found a box of mom's old costume jewelry. It was full of stuff that when we were kids we would play with when no one was looking. In going thru stuff, Mom came back to the bedroom and pulled out some things and was trying to get me to take things - I am not sure why she does this, it's just something she does. In any case, she found what looks like a silverish colored wedding band, very plain, not tarnished. I asked her and Dad about it, and it turns out that it was something my Dad had made during metalworking class in 10th grade, 50 years ago. I asked Dad if I could have it, and he said yes, so I told him I had what I wanted to remember him. He and my mom both insisted it wasn't worth anything, since it was only made out of stainless steel - but it means more to me than anything my Dad could ever buy for me. So, he's happy and so am I.
We came back, and I have been pretty busy with D*C since I got home. I did manage to make it out to Border Pagans on Tuesday evening, but only to the diner, and then not very late since I had to go to work on Wednesday morning. We have a staff meeting on Saturday which I am really not prepared for, and I have so much stuff to do with all of it that I can't even figure out what I could give to other people. The husband and I were suppose to look at my list over the weekend and sort it out, but with all the errands for my parents, we never got around to it. Hopefully, I can look at it tonight.
I am still sick too. Wednesday evening I was feeling really nauseous (even before I found outastralfire was getting laid off. Sometime Thursday morning (around 4am), I woke up past nausea to being tossing my cookies sick. Spent all day that way, and started getting a fever. Now, I have a fever, a headache, and apparently I swallowed a frog. If the fever leaves, I will be at the meeting tomorrow, if not, I am keeping the plague to myself and staying home.
Last but not least, I finally got to see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Now, admittedly, I am a huge fan of all the old B&W B Sci-fi/Horror flicks from the 50s. If you like them, you appreciate their cheesy goodness, then you will love this film. If you "don't get them", or think they are "stupid", avoid this film like the plague. Personally, I haven't laughed so hard in a long while. Favorite quotes from the film:
Skeleton: You must find the atmosphereum.
Animala: Amish Terrarium. Must find Amish terrarium.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: I don't understand. Why does she need an Amish terrarium?
Betty Armstrong: Don't the Amish live in open air, like us?
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Of course, Betty, it's absurd. Putting the Amish in glass cases would be inhumane.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Betty, you know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science.
Dr. Roger Fleming: Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything.
Skeleton: [using mind control] Bring the meteor to the skeleton.
Kro-Bar: [using mind control] Bring the atmosphereum to Kro-Bar and Lattis.
Betty Armstrong: I must make the skeleton meatier using a crowbar covered in lettuce.
Kro-Bar: Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth jokes?
Ranger Brad: I've seen a bear do things, well... even things that even a bear wouldn't do.
Skeleton: I sleep now.
Don't miss the new "skeletarama!", the erotic seductiveness that is Animala, or the climactic battle between the Mutant and the Lost Skeleton! It will STERILIZE you with fear!
Now for catch up time. The Friday before the 4th, I went to see Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring with
segansca. I am not sure I can accurately summize this movie. It is a deeply Buddhist story, with layers upon layers of subtext, some of which, I know was lost on my lack of understanding of Korean culture and Buddhist philosophy. Some things I noticed/questions: 1. In Spring, the Child Monk is out exploring nature around him, and during his boyish games captures a fish, a frog, and a snake, in that order. He ties a small stone to each and sets them free. The Old Monk witnesses this and the next day, the Child Monk finds himself tied to a stone. The Old Monk tells him to go and find the animals and release them, then he himself will be released, but warns him that if any have died, he will have to carry the weight of that stone in his heart for the rest of his life. The Child Monk goes and finds the three animals, but the fish and snake have both died. At first, I thought that these animals were perhaps a reference towards the evolution of nature. Upon further contemplation, since the fish and the snake died, and the frog lived, does it mean that neither extreme is the key to survival, but instead we should seek a balance?
2. In Fall, Young Adult Monk returns to his monastery home after a long abscence as a fugitive for a crime he committed. After Old Monk discovers him about to commit a ritual suicide, and punishes him, he goes outside and uses his pet cat's tail to paint on the deck around the house a series of Pranjaparpamita sutras. They are of course, in Korean, and I have no idea what they said, but when Young Adult Monk comes outside, the front deck is covered in them. Old Monk demands that he take his knife and carve out all the characters. The police arrive, but Old Monk convinces them to allow Young Adult Monk finish before he is taken away. When Yound Adult Monk collapses with exhaustion after carving the last character, the Old Monk and two policemen "decorate" the Pranjaparpamita by painting various characters different colors. The colors, blue, green, orange, and purple - which I believe correspond to the various elements water, earth, fire, and wind - are painted in various places, with some being left "white". Do the white characters correspond to the etheral? What did they say prior to painting, and if you were to read the characters in the order they were colored (because they seemed to have been randomly painted from the point of view of someone that doesn't speak Korean), would their meaning change?
3. In Fall, after the police leave with Young Adult Monk, Old Monk prepares the ritual suicide for himself, and upon his death, a snake leaves from the pyre. (Which then becomes the corresponding animal for "Winter", but more on that momentarily). What was the purpose of the Old Monk's suicide, did he feel he'd failed, or that there was nothing left he could teach Young Adult Monk? Since this is basically a Buddhist story, wouldn't reincarnation as a snake imply that the Old Monk had not reached enlightenment?
4. Each season, there is a different animal at the monestary: dog, rooster, cat, snake, turtle. At first, I thought perhaps these animals were symbolic of the Chinese zodiac, with the corresponding animal speaking to the depth of that season, and the part of the Young Monk's life. But, then there isn't a turtle in the Chinese zodiac. Anyone have thoughts on this?
5. In Winter, Adult Monk returns to the monestary, pays homage to Old Monk, and cuts a hole in the ice for fresh water. During the night, a veiled woman arrives at the monestary with a small baby. She unveils her face, but neither the audience, or the Adult Monk see this. Then she reveils herself and slips away while Adult Monk and the baby are sleeping. She falls thru the hole in the ice and dies. When Adult Monk finds her the next morning, he pulls her from under the ice, unveils her briefly (once again, the audience doesn't get to see her), then he secures the baby in the monestary, ties a stone to himself and scales the mountain beside the lake with what appears to be a female version of Buddha. While he's struggling up the mountainside, they flashback to when he was a boy and had tied the stones to the fish, frog, and snake. This to me implies that he felt he must pay a pennance for her death, even though it was accidental. Is this because in Buddhist philosophy, even if you cause harm to someone accidentally, it is ultimately your responsibility for having not forseen the consequences for your actions?
If I think of more, I will post it. :)
It was in any case, a very enjoyable film, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that either don't like subtitles, or prefer no deeper meanings to their films. :)
Then I went down to Columbus to spend the forth of July weekend with my family. As most of you should know by now, my Dad is not in the best of health. Nothing has really changed in that - and he's doing things that I consider... odd, unless you aren't planning on being around much longer. For instance, at one point over the weekend, my Mother was asking me if there was anything I wanted, jewelry wise. For those of you that don't know, I wear almost no jewelry at all and I haven't ever really been a jewelry fiend. I wear earrings constantly, but they are small and subtle and there to ensure I don't have to get them repierced in the future. I thanked her but said, no there wasn't really anything. She persisted, wouldn't I like a gold necklace, or some diamonds? No, I assured her, those things didn't mean anything to me. It turned out that my Father wants to get me "something that I will have forever to remind me of him". I told him I would think about it, mostly to make him feel better, and decided I would try to think of something that wouldn't be a waste of money that I might wear once and a while, to make him happy. But, that was the reason I went out and bought the digital camera. I had been planning on getting one before Dragon*Con anyway, and decided I wanted to have one to take pictures of my family while they were all around for me to do so. I will post some of the pictures soon. It's strange to me how distant my family is - there aren't any pictures (yet) of people sitting around together, most of the pictures are of individuals.
My Mom has been talking about remodelling her kitchen for a long time. She's finally decided to do it. This is a good thing as her kitchen is still pink and gold, the floor is peeling up, and she has avacodo green appliances still. So, I spent most of the weekend taking measurements, because she put me in charge of drawing up the plans for either Lowe's or Home Depot of what she wants. This isn't really all that hard, as I use to do mechanical drawings for a living - but it is a lot of work. Fortunately, she decided to go ahead and get her new refridgerator in the next week or so. The problem has been that the cabinets in her kitchen are really low, and she couldn't get what is now considered a standard size side by side now. (Her house is 50 or 60 years old). So, the husband and I looked at the cabinet and decided it could be taken down - this means we got to demolish part of the kitchen. It was way more fun that it should have been, heh. But now she can get a new fridge (her's is 36 years old, and avacado green, with wooden planks and string holding it together).
Speaking of old things, we also went out and got her and Dad a new bed. Their bed was the one they bought when they bought the house (just like the fridge). It was literally caved in and parts of it were only about 4 inches off the floor. My brother, husband and I went to Sam's and got her one of the king size Serta's with the pillow tops (which is has on both sides in case you want to flip it, but it says you never have to). We got a new frame and it came with new box springs. Once the bed was put together, it was much higher than the old one - but once mom and dad got use to it, they decided it was better because it was easy to make up and with both of them having arthritis, it's much easier to get out of bed. My Dad is 6'3" and when he sits on the side his feet don't touch the floor. So getting out of bed is just a matter of putting your feet over the side and sliding out. Plus it's (apparently, according to them) a thousand times more comfortable than their old one. I know - what a shock.
During all the moving of things here and there to get the new bed in, my brother and I engaged in some nostalgia. We found a box of mom's old costume jewelry. It was full of stuff that when we were kids we would play with when no one was looking. In going thru stuff, Mom came back to the bedroom and pulled out some things and was trying to get me to take things - I am not sure why she does this, it's just something she does. In any case, she found what looks like a silverish colored wedding band, very plain, not tarnished. I asked her and Dad about it, and it turns out that it was something my Dad had made during metalworking class in 10th grade, 50 years ago. I asked Dad if I could have it, and he said yes, so I told him I had what I wanted to remember him. He and my mom both insisted it wasn't worth anything, since it was only made out of stainless steel - but it means more to me than anything my Dad could ever buy for me. So, he's happy and so am I.
We came back, and I have been pretty busy with D*C since I got home. I did manage to make it out to Border Pagans on Tuesday evening, but only to the diner, and then not very late since I had to go to work on Wednesday morning. We have a staff meeting on Saturday which I am really not prepared for, and I have so much stuff to do with all of it that I can't even figure out what I could give to other people. The husband and I were suppose to look at my list over the weekend and sort it out, but with all the errands for my parents, we never got around to it. Hopefully, I can look at it tonight.
I am still sick too. Wednesday evening I was feeling really nauseous (even before I found out
astralfire was getting laid off. Sometime Thursday morning (around 4am), I woke up past nausea to being tossing my cookies sick. Spent all day that way, and started getting a fever. Now, I have a fever, a headache, and apparently I swallowed a frog. If the fever leaves, I will be at the meeting tomorrow, if not, I am keeping the plague to myself and staying home.Last but not least, I finally got to see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Now, admittedly, I am a huge fan of all the old B&W B Sci-fi/Horror flicks from the 50s. If you like them, you appreciate their cheesy goodness, then you will love this film. If you "don't get them", or think they are "stupid", avoid this film like the plague. Personally, I haven't laughed so hard in a long while. Favorite quotes from the film:
Skeleton: You must find the atmosphereum.
Animala: Amish Terrarium. Must find Amish terrarium.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: I don't understand. Why does she need an Amish terrarium?
Betty Armstrong: Don't the Amish live in open air, like us?
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Of course, Betty, it's absurd. Putting the Amish in glass cases would be inhumane.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Betty, you know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science.
Dr. Roger Fleming: Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything.
Skeleton: [using mind control] Bring the meteor to the skeleton.
Kro-Bar: [using mind control] Bring the atmosphereum to Kro-Bar and Lattis.
Betty Armstrong: I must make the skeleton meatier using a crowbar covered in lettuce.
Kro-Bar: Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth jokes?
Ranger Brad: I've seen a bear do things, well... even things that even a bear wouldn't do.
Skeleton: I sleep now.
Don't miss the new "skeletarama!", the erotic seductiveness that is Animala, or the climactic battle between the Mutant and the Lost Skeleton! It will STERILIZE you with fear!
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Date: 2004-07-09 01:02 pm (UTC)Filming: Production of this movie took place in either 2000 or 2001 in California, on location at Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, and at Lake Arrowhead. A truly super-low-budget effort, this movie was produced on a budget of $40,000, shooting on Mini-DV in two weeks with a crew of just 10 people (which included some of the cast).
After hearing their comment about it being expensive to film on location I suspect that, if they had not wanted to film in the same spot that the old movies were done originally, they would have knocked off a few thousand from the budget.