(no subject)

[fabrisse]

I've been sick, so I haven't been online much in the last week. I thought I'd have all day today, but that's been shut down to a maximum of 5 hours. So I apologize in advance to anyone I haven't commiserated with or congratulated depending upon whether your life is going well or ill. I hope to catch up on Tuesday.

Meantime -- riverfox tagged me for a five scary movies meme.

1) Psycho -- I know how the shower scene was done, the knife never touches the body and the blood is chocolate syrup. It still wigs me out every time -- but not as much as Mama at the end. Family stories have told me that Mom and Dad saw it opening weekend when Mom was in her seventh month with me. It scared her so badly that she was afraid to touch anything because there's an old wives' tale that birthmarks come in the shape of something that the mother touched when she was frightened: the greater the fright, the more prominent the birth mark. They were also worried earlier in the evening that she'd miscarry from laughing so hard. It seems that the cartoon with the movie was the first Roadrunner cartoon Mom had ever seen. It gets better when you realize that some of it was the laughter of recognition. She grew up on the desert and knew the habits of roadrunners and coyotes very well.

2) Cat People -- the original. Again, you never see the cat person. All you see are the reactions and you hear the snarls. It works for me. Visually it's a beautiful picture.

3) Advise and Consent -- I haven't seen this one in years. I saw it on TV and had to have the blackmail explained to me. I was about 12. What scared me was the ending. The idea that one person would have to hide so much of himself that he'd kill himself rather than be exposed. Since I grew up in the Anita Bryant era, I knew about "gays," but this was the first time I'd been aware of the social consequences like this. It was frightening because it was so senseless.

4) Wait Until Dark -- I look at it now, and it's so obviously a stage play made into a movie. I can also quibble about the "World's Champion Blind Lady" remark that gets hammered home by so many characters. But Alan Arkin is creepy beyond belief, and Audrey Hepburn sells me that she's terrified. Great acting can do more than CGI gore.


5) The Fog -- I've never seen it. My sister was so scared after watching it that she made me sleep with her for three nights.

Since I don't know what's going on in anyone's life, consider yourself tagged if you want to do it.

One piece of good news that I got today. I've won my very first writing award. It's for an SG-1 fanfic. I'm kind of proud.

Comments

[moria923.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I didn't realize there were awards for fanfic. What's it called? Is there money involved?

Now I want to read ADVISE AND CONSENT.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Advise and Consent is a good book. It's a little dated, but it captures 1950s D.C. very accurately.

The story is called Tough Kid. There's no money, but in the Stargate Fandom this award is the gold-standard.