Blinky, the Eyelash Mite September 6, 2005 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy

It’s hard in the quiet solace of this past holiday weekend to imagine the tragedy many people have gone through this past week in the American South. Please see the blog entry(s) below for ways to help.

Thanks again to Mercurio D. Rivera, our guest blogger for the past few days. We met on Monday and he gave us an additional breakdown of Cascadia Con. It sounds like he had a wonderful time and got to see some furries as well. And we all want to see some furries from time to time, don’t we?

Sybil’s Garage has been open to submissions for the past 36 hours or so and we’ve received a bunch so far. Please remember to read the guidelines, and please only send one story/poem/essay at a time. It’s easier for us to keep track that way. Thank you!

Over the weekend I saw two films. The first was Donnie Darko, and I know I’m a bit late to the curve, but I thought the director’s cut was a fantastic film. I couldn’t sleep that night until well past 2am, not because I was frightened (okay, a little), but because I thought the film was excellent. Creepy, weird, suspenseful until the very end. Plus, there was something about Donnie’s tormented childhood which I really liked. So many TV shows and films portray adolescence as a time of free for all joy, and they often overlook the kinds of existential horror that afflict many of us as we realize our childhood is quickly coming to an end. The Donnie Darko website has some cool puzzles too if you want to learn more about the movie and what really went on.

The other movie I saw was 2046, a film which was advertized as a kind of Chinese Blade Runner but turned out to be set in the 1960s with only a few scenes set in a fictional future. While I enjoyed some of the cinematography and certain characters in the film, the plot moved too slowly and had few surprises to keep me interested for very long. After the first hour and a half I was checking the time. The director seemed to be in love with claustrophobic shots, loathsome characters and cigarettes. I might have enjoyed the movie better had it been about thirty minutes shorter.

And here’s something to get your children or your nieces and nephews to keep them safe at night: Parasite Pals, with the lovable Blinky, the Eyelash Mite, Tickles, the Tapeworm, and Dig Dig, the Head Louse. Funny thing is, I think I have these pets already.