Reviews of movies, anime, and the occasional TV show mixed with warnings on Blogger spam. Also to be found are musings on whatever I am thinking about - all from the point of view of being left to watch everything from the sidelines of life.
Well, tonight went downhill quickly. My father hit another deer and the Ford Freestyle looks like it may be a goner. Unfortunately, the insurance policy wasn’t comprehensive so our options will be limited. We’ll know more tomorrow, but being without wheels with the closest town being twelve miles away is going to be a problem.
We never catch a break.
At the beginning of the month, my father and I picked out a pair of kittens of mixed breed. At the time we and the people who had them thought the yellow and white one was female. Well three weeks later it turns out Toph was a late bloomer and is actually a boy.
To be fair, this was a hard kitten to sex until the past week. A large growth spurt has revealed all beyond a shadow of a doubt. It helps that he has developed into a lap cat and can finally be examined without it being considered a call to wrestle.
Director Terence Fisher redeemed himself after the fiasco of The Phantom of the Opera with this gothic romance featuring a predatory woman with looks that kill. Featuring Hammer Films lurid use of Technicolor, it chooses to bring chills rather than scares compared to prior releases by the studio. Tragic love, severe calcification, and an ensemble cast combine to deliver the goods in this mostly forgotten movie.
Having bombed spectacularly with a remake of The Phantom of the Opera two years before, Terence Fisher was on the outs with Hammer Films. Fortunately for him and for horror fans, he was given another chance with a new property to direct. Stepping away from remaking old classic monster movies, Hammer took a risk by reviving a monster from Greek myth as the star villain. While the results looked silly even by the standards of the time, the rest of the movie almost made up for it.
Like many a Hammer intro, a matte painting of a castle on a hill opens the movie while serving as a backdrop for the title credits and a short crawl defining the setting. It is a strangely comforting indication that we’ll be getting one of their typical stories set in the 1800s filled with lavish sets, lovely women, and fiendish villainy.
Well, once the scroll finishes the story goes straight for the middle part, at least.
Having lost a cat last may that was one in a billion, I had no intentions of ever adding more cats to the household. Watching the vitality ebb out of our home and the remaining cats, it became apparent that something needed to be done. Watching my number one cat, Snooky, gain a massive amount of weight since Ragnar’s disappearance made me realize just how sedentary she had become without a male to show off in front of.
My sister’s quest for a long hair tiger tabby for the holidays ended up roping me into things including a visit to a pet store. Eventually she got a short hair tabby tiger after no luck.
It is a marvel how much clear skies and a morning sun transform the dullness of winter into something spectacular. Two mornings ago was such a day, so I tried to photograph the beautiful frosting on the trees around the property. Sadly, they photos were blurry messes thanks to me having a subpar day which even the autostabilization on the Fujifilm HS25EXR couldn’t overcome.
Second chances are far rarer than people would like to admit, especially when trying to capture a moment in time. Thankfully, today gave me such an opportunity.
