Spiders

I need to find a culture or religion that has the same reverence for spiders as Hindus do for cows. If I were to find said group of people, here's what I'd do: I'd invite 3 people to my home. The first, the current leader of those people. The second, another highly respected member of that community. The third, a representative from the "common folk", if such a class exists in the aforementioned community.
I might learn a few words of their language.
I would not reveal to them my expectations or desires. I would simply invite them into my home. No words would be necessary after they crossed the threshold.
I would immediately become their new leader. They would see the spiders, the webs, the cobwebs, the cobwebs on the cobwebs. They would stand still for just a moment to take it all in and they would look down to find a spider attaching a new web to their ankle. And then they would look behind them and see a cobweb attached to their back indicating that in those few seconds since their arrival a spider has not only come, but he has also seen and conquered.
My visitors would recognize that the owner of this home, me, has such a deep and symbiotic relationship with spiders that I must indeed be the holiest of holy figures in their world.
I'm fairly certain the current leader would peacefully transfer the mantle of leadership. In case he, or she, demonstrated some reluctance, I have complete faith that the other two would hold me in such esteem that, with a simple nod of my head or point of my finger, they would subdue him, or her.
It would be good to be king.
In the meantime, I'll just have to amuse myself by watching the spiders in my home. Poor things have started to build little traffic lights where their webs intersect each other.

Sicko

I wasn't really in the mood to see Sicko. I've seen a lot, I mean a lot, of documentaries this past year and I'm a little documentaried out. Especially when it comes to documentaries which focus on some aspect of how we're killing our planet or each other. My eyes are open already! Stop beating me over the head with bad news please! Yes, you could say I was sick of them.

Which leaves me all the more impressed with Michael Moore's latest offering, Sicko. Yes, there was bad news. Yes, it demonstrated how we're not nice to each other. Yes, big business and the government (sorry for being redundant) are not to be trusted. But he did a really good job of telling his perspective on that story. He mixed in enough humor and communicated enough hopefulness that I left feeling better rather than worse.

I highly recommend it.

Ratatouille

My expectations of the latest Pixar offering, Ratatouille, were far too high. Here's the deal: The Incredibles is a fantastic film. Being a comic book geek, that movie punched all of the right buttons for me and was appealing to non-comic book geeks as well. Writer and director of that fine film: Brad Bird.
I'm not much for research, but The Incredibles was so well done that I hopped onto IMDB.com to find out what else Brad Bird had a hand in. Lo and behold - he's the head cheese on Ratatouille. Advanced reviews hailed it as the funniest Pixar movie yet, which is saying something. End result of my research? Very high expectations for a movie about a rat who can cook.
It's good, and worth watching, but don't go in expecting The Incredibles.

More movie reviews (a.k.a two new and a rental)

In inverse order of how highly I rate them: "Fur" (the rental), "The Waitress" (limited release) and "Knocked Up" (wide release).

"Fur"...for the majority of the movie Robert Downey, Jr. is covered completely in fur as a result of a genetic condition. And it's a serious love story. Nicole Kidman being the other ingredient necessary for a love story. To the credit of the creators, I watched the whole thing. The acting was good and the story was interesting enough. They really did try to pull off a serious love story between Nicole Kidman and Chewbacca. Unless you're really hankering for another installment of Teen Wolf, I wouldn't recommend it though.

"The Waitress"...got good reviews, looked light-hearted. Wasn't quite as light-hearted as I expected and not quite as good I hoped based high ratings, but worth seeing. Nice performances, especially by some of the supporting cast. I laughed enough to recommend it.

"Knocked Up"...don't usually go for stupid movies, but this one got such good reviews. Really, really funny. And surprisingly touching at times. Highly recommend it. I'll watch it at least one more time at some point. So many good lines.

staring at the blue
moon he thought, I wonder how
often this happens

DBMonteith

Away From Her

Up next in the movie review section:
Away From Her

If you're ever in the mood for an excellent love story, check this film out. It pulled a few tears out of me.

And inspired this beginning of a poem...

Catching your breath
My heart unfurls
Like a thousand sails

~DBMonteith

I've mostly avoided posting cheesy, romantic poems so far. Just like the other stuff, they spring to mind occasionally though, so I'll shove my fears aside and share them too.

Movie Review

I watch a lot of movies. I subscribe to Blockbuster online and have the plan that allows me to have 3 movies sitting at my house waiting to be watched at any given time. I'd say I watch an average of 2 movies a week, so I'll pass along a review every now and again.
For my first: The Last King of Scotland.
It dawns on me that I need some sort of rating system, or maybe I don't. Regardless, I don't have one right now, so I'll just list some of the things I liked and some of the things I didn't.
Liked:
"based on real people and events", specifically Idi Amin and his reign in Uganda.
the acting
Gillian Anderson. It was a small part, but I don't recall seeing her since the X-Files. She's cute.

Didn't like:
Not knowing which events were real and which were dramatized. I didn't bother to check the "special features" though.
The choice of time period.

Overall, I liked the movie and feel good about recommending it. I think I would have liked it better if it had focused on a different part of Amin's history. I would rather know how the wacko, Amin in this case, gets to power than what he does when he's in power. Alternatively, I would have like more actual news footage interspersed throughout the movie. It felt a little surfacy to me, and I'm not very well-informed about global political events.