Ear Wax Candles June 28, 2005 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy
Here’s something for those places the Q-tips can’t reach. Wally’s Ear Wax Candles. According to the site, sending hot smoke and burning wax into the ears is a 2000 year old custom. Here’s the disclaimer: “If you have any ear disease, ear drum drainage tubes, ear drum perforation, or an upper respiratory infection, do not attempt the ear candling process!” Yes, well, I would kind of figure that sticking anything burning into your ear would not be a good idea under such conditions.
I saw this great art house flick last night called Thomas in Love about this fella (Thomas, of course) who has agoraphobia and cannot leave his apartment. Instead, for eight consecutive years, he’s interacted with the world via his visiophone. The entire movie is shown from his point of view, and I found the depiction of near-future technology to be quite realistic and entertaining. Don’t be put off by the Americanization of the cover and the DVD box description. Here is a great film waiting to be seen.
Also, I saw last week, Me and You and Everyone We Know, and while I thought it was a little bizarre in points, I found it to be an excellent film. It’s a movie about disaffected people, but it also has a hidden message which I believe is: “we are all strange in some way.” I loved the depiction of the high-nosed modern art curator because I have interacted with such people before when I worked at a cultural center. One curator I met had lamented about a particular exhibit, and how it wouldn’t be “authentic” if in ten years the candy manufacturer that provided the material for the exhibit went out of business and they had to purchase a replica candy. Such pettiness to me is not art, but someone seeking self-important ways to bide their time. This movie redeemed the curators for me, for, like all characters in this film, they are not without flaws and therefore human. Go see it if you can.
Finally, I am happy to announce that Lauren McLaughlin whose work has appeared in Sybil’s Garage has just sold a story to Interzone, the UK’s premier speculative fiction magazine. Congrats Lauren. She’s now blogging too.