Month: February 2009

Zombifried

First, some links. It’s amazing how these things will accumulate, isn’t it?

On Saturday, I watched the original Dawn of the Dead. I’d rented it once before, years back, but for some reason never actually watched it. I’m very familiar with, but have never actually watched any of George Romero’s zombie movies before this.

It’s a really interesting movie — although, as Romero himself acknowledges on the DVD commentary, not a particularly frightening one. There’s more dark humor and social commentary than there are real scares. That’s not to detract from the film; those are precisely the things that have made it such an enduring classic, and arguably the quintessential film of the genre.

I definitely intend to watch Romero’s other zombie films. Although purists may be dismayed to learn that I’m also interested in seeing the 2004 Dawn remake.

Monday various

  • Did President Obama ruin Battlestar Galactica? [via]

    This smart scifi allegory about US politics may lose its edge now. For example, the new anti-cylon racism plot already feels like a rehash of stale liberal siege mentality – and stale BSG plots. Zarek and Gaeta’s mutiny plot feels like something written for the Bush Era, a cautionary tale of what happens when xenophobia creeps into national policy. But President Obama has turned these kinds of cautionary tales into the stuff of campaign speeches. BSG no longer feels like a healthy dose of social criticism. Instead it’s in lockstep with the party line espoused by one of the world’s most powerful leaders.

    While I think the problems with the show run a lot deeper than that — at least as far back as the decision to turn everything into a Cylon guessing game — there is some truth to this idea. The times (to co-opt another Dylan tune), they are a’changing. That’s a risk with popular culture that rides the zeitgeist: eventually the tide turns and the zeitgeist changes. It’s hard not to look like you’ve overstayed your welcome once that happens, hard not to look like the remnant of an era everybody else is trying to forget. Is it possible, then, that Battlestar only seemed like a great show because it reflected the times we were living in?

    I wonder, will the colonies of the upcoming Caprica prequel be more Obama-like? I’m not sure I care enough to find out.

  • Primitive whales gave birth on land: “They certainly weren’t walking….They were more like sea lions, which can move more than you would think from their morphology.” [via]

  • Mary Robinette Kowal on Middle Earth’s Civil Rights Movement. [via]

  • Seriously, someone needs to get Maureen F. McHugh to write a book about food.

  • And finally, your WTF moment of the day: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is going to be on Dancing with the Stars.

Random 10 2/6

Last week. This week:

  1. “Brick” by Ben Folds Five, guessed by Eric B.
    She is balled up on the couch
  2. “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, guessed by Clayton
    Whatever happened to all this season’s losers of the year?
  3. “Trying to Pull Myself Away” by Glen Hansard
    Bang bang down on the piano ’til I smash the keys
  4. “Alleluia” by Dar Williams
    It’s like the worst Elvis film I’ve ever seen
  5. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Peter, Paul & Mary (orig. Bob Dylan), guessed by Eric B.
    You could have done better but I don’t mind
  6. “Shake Your Booty” by Public Enemy, guessed by Eric B.
    Throw your hands in the air then be Swayze
  7. “Soft Shoulder” by Ani DiFranco
    And your voice sang the way my heart would sing
  8. “Money” by the Lovin’ Spoonful
    Now, ain’t those amazing folks that Bill is lucky to know?
  9. “Bowie” by Flight of the Conchords
    I’m jamming out with the Mick Jaggernauts
  10. “A Very Unlikely Occurrence” by MC Frontalot
    I take ish with the interstitial liquid bliss

You might almost be tempted to see some kind of meme-like pattern in all of this.

As always, guess the singer and song, win no prize! Good luck!

What’s up, doc?

So I went to my orthopedist this afternoon. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I have a herniated lumbar disc, which has been causing me discomfort and pain, mostly in my left leg, since this past spring. Lately, I’ve been noticing more a pins-and-needles sensation, mostly in the left foot, and mostly when I stand after having been seated for any length of time. It’s like the sensation you get when your foot’s just falling asleep or just about to wake back up.

I’ve also been noticing more occasional twinges in my lower back, which has been relatively pain-free until very recently — to the extent that I first mistook my original symptoms for a pulled hamstring or something less serious like that. There’s still enough pain to go around, and plenty of it still in the leg, but overall the sciatica has definitely improved, I think.

This new sensation isn’t painful — and it’s usually, if not always, fleeting — but it is a little disconcerting, and I am worried about it getting worse. (Ever tried walking on a fully asleep leg?) I’m worried also about possible nerve damage that the still-herniated disc might be causing.

So I had a chat with my orthopedist, along with a quick test of my reflexes, and then he wrote me a scrip for a new MRI. I’m not exactly looking forward to that — I’m not claustrophobic by nature, but a closed MRI seems designed for the sole purpose of making people claustrophobic — but it will give us a sense of how I’m healing (or not) and what to do next. I was reassured that this might very well be the condition getting better — a centralization of the pain and the nerve itself waking back up. We’ll take a look at the new MRI and try to figure out if that’s the case — or, I guess, what to do if it’s not.

I try not to complain too much about all of this. I have at least a couple of friends with similar back problems, but whose symptoms and pain have been much more severe than my own. Even in New Orleans last March, which is presumably where I first truly injured my back, and where I could barely get in and out of bed, the fact remains that I could get in and out of bed. This has inconvenienced me and made many simple things difficult, but I haven’t been confined to my bed or incapacitated. by the pain. I’ve been relatively lucky.

I’m just hoping my luck continues to hold. In the meantime, I’ll keep doing my stretches and icing my back as needed.