Orgasmic gaming and life inside a Terry Pratchett novel

I wheeled to the library tonight, first day open after Xmas. I had books and manga to return and the library always had the excitement of unknown delights.
Upon entering the library, the 'quick-view' 3 day DVD's, free for check out (if you could find something good) are just on the right. They had just put out a new selection, two rows of DVD's from 2010, just processed that day: films and documentaries which, due to library closure would not be due back until Jan 3rd. I got Knight and Day and Robin Hood. The limit of the 3 day DVD's is two DVD's per card, but with Linda here that means I could take out four. I learned to take what looked good and then check against Amazon and Internet Movie Database to find the best. I got my computer assignment, the one on the corner at the back, facing the lounge chairs. I could wheel into it by removing the chair for it. Linda went to get some week long rentals from another section to check.

I had the IMDB open and was checking titles.

A Guy sitting 15 feet away facing me had wild beard, and unkepmt hair, with two layers of jackets suddently said, “Maybe you’re praying to the wrong god!”

I looked up startled. Oh dear, Beard-o had a steady stare at me. Had I talked to myself? I had been reading about the DVD in my hand: You shoot, I shoot. It was a ‘must see’ dark comedy satire film about too many hit men in Hong Kong, so while some hit gals are having a 'hired kill sale!',another hit man has a ‘bonus points’ reward scheme with a card you punch, pay for five assassinations and get the sixth for free.

Did a sigh of satisfaction for hit man humor indicate a sign of my divine dissatisfaction? Are DVD's the new religion? My daily offerings and collection would certainly make me a Shrine Maiden then. But maybe Beard-o wasn’t talking to me? I looked up.

Yup, still staring right at me. I lowered my head and looked up another DVD. What it is that makes guys need to confess odd things to me? While getting the DVD’s, a guy with 20 hairs of comb over stared at the DVD’s before turning and telling me he had not watched a DVD for an entire year. “Yup, all due to World of Warcraft.”

I told him I heard playing WOW can take up time.

He gave a sigh of longing and satisfaction which bordered on post orgasmic and said, “Oh, but it was worth it....every hour.”

And yet ANOTHER reason to avoid World of Warcraft.

At the computer, Linda had returned and now sat beside me. But Beardo rose, wandered deliberately over to the back of my computer and stood, his shoulder dropped towards me, connecting us as his voice lowered, to make sure only I heard he softly intoned, “Limited offer, okay. For a reasonable donation, I can go talk to MY god for you.” I felt like I was in a Terry Pratchett novel, perhaps of Small Gods and had annoyed an obscure high priest. He saw me startled hesitation and added, “Take it or leave it.”

I looked up from the computer, put on my best ‘please do not kill me’ smile and calmly told him that I appreciated the offer but I think I would ‘leave it’ at this time.

He brushed past and said with a bitter emphasis, “Then you won’t get NUTHIN!” and ambled toward the main library section.

Wow, that actually hurt. I had pissed off Beard-o, and felt some self doubt mixed with a tinge of rejection pain and the calm of finding out life is far more surreal than expected.

The self doubt played through my mind: Linda had just applied for one job, other jobs were finally, after almost a year, showing up for application. I hadn’t heard from the neurologist. What if I really had just alienated not just another doctor but a god?

I started laughing softly, then somewhat hysterically. After 10 seconds Linda wanted to know what was up. “I don’t get nuthin.” I told her. “Don’t you see, I don’t get NUTHIN.”

She just gave me ‘the look’.

“I didn’t DO anything” I protested, “Maybe he saw the wheelchair and meant that, who knows?”

I’d like to think that if I was ‘entertaining angels unaware’ it was not Beard-o, or the WOW guy, but the elderly lady next to me who I helped sign online after she had failed three times। I read out her card number to her and we double checked it on the screen. This time it worked. I told her I always had problems with my library number, too many zeros and six’s to not miss one. I hope that angels are those who check our generous spirit, rather than those who try to blackmail or extort. Maybe Beard-o was a pissed off Santa, who now I was on the ‘nasty’ side of the list (I know it is supposed to be ‘naughty’ versus ‘nice’ but I did NOT want to do ‘the naughty’ with Beard-o).

The library is always a place of mystery and adventure.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review plus Lazy Susan: retro heaven

I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo the other night which has a slow build but is riveting, as the story of a missing girl gets overtaken by a larger story. In the same way the journalist Mikeal (based on the author who died before he could finish the 10 book cycle on abuse and violence on women) is overshadowed by this mystery researcher, indeed the whole missing girl and film is almost overshadowed by the mystery of Lisbeth.

The work is a denouncement of what is allowed as acceptable behavior: now that is the way males and males in authority treat women while a generation ago it is the Nazi ideals, or as it is put by one relative on this island of now rich, older generation: “Yes, he had no love of the children of Abraham.” (hated Jews)

But this is not a US film where we go Nazi=bad/thus solved. The problems isn’t JUST the Nazi’s, since as the film ‘What did you do during the war?’ showed, you dig a little bit and you find lots of people who were in the Hitler youth, or in the war for Germany or named after Hilter and immigrated after the war. I know several. The question is do these people consider that attitude still acceptable, did they after the war? The ones I met see it now as while part of their personal history also part of a great delusion.

In the film we are directly challenged, not by the abuse of women we are shown or told about. This is accepted by us, as stats roll over us all the time. No, one woman challenges, specifically Lisbeth, who is a burr under the skin to men who feel themselves important (Lisbeth treats all men the same – she wants no interaction with them, which is completely unacceptable to many - Those male need to establish a dominance whether that is a drunk male who feels he can push a woman aside and not get punched, or a business or other authority figure abusing the bounds of authority). Sexual abuse is rampant, dubious actions rampant both in the past and present, which would have no meaning if Mikeal was there alone in the film. It is the presence of Lisbeth (her vulnerability and her 'dragon') which cystalizes the sexual abuse which we have become culturally accepting of. We may not SAY, “She deserved to be abused/raped/groped/beaten...” but this film challenges our thoughts of ‘well, if she is going to act like……(like that to someone like him….) then what does she expect?’ The film links the need for superiority that drew some to the Nazi's to the same desires, now played out on women, often vulnerable ones.

We find that out because the film shows us what for many are considered extreme violence: acts of sexual abuse and violence towards men BY a woman. People flinch, they told me ‘well except those minutes I had to fast forward’ from viewers, from those who rent these DVD’s. The rapes, the incest towards women, the dismemberment, that was just....you know, common: But that calculated violent dominance using sex modes and pain which visually rips away the pretence that sexual abuse is anything BUT about power, power against men which makes the viewers squirm and turn away.

Making Hannibal Lector sexualizing noises and sniffing, making inappropriate comments about women is simply a cultural reference now. THAT isn't disturbing. But the androgynous Lisbeth as an answer to Prof Higgen’s lament of ‘why can’t a woman be more like a man!!’ – she uses people for sex and rolls over for sleep, she takes her place when walking, she comes back at you, she believes she has the right to decide a male's fate, much as we have seen hundreds of times in film from men deciding about women: in this she challenges your mind. I would NOT recommend this for anyone of rape as you will trigger – bad. Because it isn’t Hollywood shown sexual abuse of women, but what occurs every six minutes in the US.

Do I recommend it? Hell yeah. Lisbeth is a person who looks into the fire, and which is a mirror to help me see myself, knowing already what she does, seeing how she could do that after what she has gone through, that is iron courage. She knows she is in a war and wears cameo to match.

The next day before the heat started to go crazy here, Linda took me to Lazy Susan, a retro shop that had opened recently in town, and was doing good business. It heavily featured locally made products, from car adverts found in old magazines mounted (which had the men going through the bin), to these popular hand made journals out of favorite books that were falling apart.
In the same way, the owner, or manager and others use retro postcards to make memo pads, here is a selection of the memo pads.
Some of the items are marketed, from larger companies, but focus in the same theme, here are the journals from Harlequin.
They do a great trade with oilcloth, selling it by the meter ($12) in a variety of colours and retro patterns. They also use it to reupholster furniture and a set of three chairs in the window was already sold. As were some of the bike Panniers, while some were on sale. The manager couldn’t keep up with the sales in making them.

While we were there a couple came and wanted this ‘nice purple oilcloth’ for the birds. The manager explained that the oilcloth was actually for the day of the dead and there were skulls and skeletons wearing bicycles in the dark patterns (can you see them?). She only found this out after people had made picnic clothes and come back going, “Why are there skeletons in my nice tablecloth?” Of course after overhearing this we got some ‘ends’ for $3.50 and have lots, but immediately made a non-slide cover for my food.

There are so many retro products everywhere, in every cranny that I know I missed a lot, since I didn’t even notice the wonder woman clock at ALL until it was pointed out by the manager.
She said they had a lot of Wonder Woman at first but it had flown out, all that was left was the clock and the travel case/make-up case in the window (because of course wonder woman needs perfect hair spray and make-up!).

Don’t worry, there was Batman stuff as well, though most of it was sold out.
I was very impressed by the Superman board game (I had the Battlestar Galactica Board Game as a kid, AND the Star Wars Board game, AND the Emergency One board game – Linda had the Muppets board game – which ones did you have?). And the holder. The manager was completely baffled (not having made these) on what purpose they served. She said, “I sold one to a woman as a tin to keep cookies in, or was it for baking cookies?”

I said, “What about using it to keep your Superman/Batman Comics? You know, all in one Place?”
She was blown away but this wild idea but thought it might work. Um, hey, I might have only been allowed Christian Archie Comics (Oh yeah, they exist!) and Richie Rich but I know a comic book holder when I see one.

Which reminds me, the theme of the Comi-Con this Year seems to be ‘40+ year old men lament and relive their youth’ That is actually the plot of three of the five nominated manga (including 2 where one goes back in time to 14 called Distant Neighborhood (on the wish list) and the other called 20th Century Boys goes between six male friends growing up in the late 70’s to them coming together now to save the world). 8 Eisner nominations go to ‘Old Man Logan’, about Wolverine 40 years on, sort of how now the Hulk, Fantastic Four and the rest have gone through so many variations that they seem lost (ergo Watchmen). ‘Old Man Logan’ is about how Wolverine deals with looking back and dealing with the past catching up to him (on wishlist).

Now for those who are not into guys with claws, there is Curious George, who can forget his unusual approach to puzzle pieces and what happens? – sort of a huge cautionary tale against eating them.

There is also a Kawaii/Cute Tea Set of Madeline, which was just SO cute and made me want to buy it right there, and have a tea party with plushies. One advantage of dying I guess is early memories are strong (like having tea with plushies). Sadly Linda said, “I’d never even heard of her until the movie.”

THE MOVIE! Oh my, the whole lost childhood of reading Madeline books, sigh, it is just so tragic to think about.

There were some postcard boxes to look through including one off postcards or vintage postcards. I managed to find a couple that appealed to me and I thought might appeal to some reader, I mean, who doesn’t like a girl who not only knows her knots but also her guns. I will note that she knows about as many knots as I do, since isn’t that a bowline or a granny which is why she is holding it in her teeth, to stop him from kicking loose (My grandfather from the navy knew some knots but I was not as good at them).

My favorite was this postcard, simply because (let’s be honest now), many of us had a feeling like this toward our scout leader, or older and those nose in the air so proper, so often correcting older scouts. This girl however manages to take action with some pretty no nonsense shoes. I sigh in envy of her wild abandon. Now truthfully, who had this feeling? Never? Loved selling cookies? Loved people telling you around everyday and getting wildly exciting about things like edible plant identification? Or better yet, ‘Betterment Projects’ like cleaning up garbage on a beach or the like? Loved the songs and singing?

Leaving the store what drives in, at speed but a roadster from some arcane age, with collector plates (meaning it is a real restored or original car), with a police car in pursuit, who immediately boxes the car in. But no ticket, just another car lover.