(no subject)

So a few quick things to report, first the ant invasion seems to have slowed to a trickle. It's still annoying to wake up and see them marching in determined ranks down my in-sink-erator because I'd emptied out cat food down there when I was recycling the can. A little cleaning solution usually does the trick, though my house is currently littered with the bodies of the fallen.

In other news I now have network, so yay me. However TiVo continues to elude me. I'll figure it out eventually, in the meantime I'm amusing myself by watching movies I'd at least vaguely considered while they were running in theaters. I got about 5 minutes into "The Mist" (a Stephen King story that had scared me shitless as a kid) and decided it was just a crappy gore fest and I had better things to do with my time. On the other hand "1408" with John Cusack is actually a surprisingly effective horror flick. John plays a jaded horror novelist who's received a series of postcards warning him not to stay in room 1408 of the Dolphin hotel in New York City. His editor's concerned because of "what happened" when last he was in the city, which eventually becomes apparent throughout his long, horrifying stay in the room.

The scene is set beautifully and the horror builds slowly and thoughtfully. The writer attempts to convince himself that he's been drugged and is merely hallucinating all the odd events that begin to build from subtle to violently aggressive. What's shocking is just how little time it takes for the protagonist to begin to mentally crumble under the onslaught of bizarre events. The room slowly begins to isolate him in addition to the torment, and even uses his own tape recorded voice to push him farther over the edge. If you like your horror with less guts and gore, but more outright psychological terror you might want to rent this one.

Finally, why did I never know this place existed? An organic garden supply store right in Palo Alto? And look, they have seeds in jars. And not just the usual stuff, really rare and interesting species too. I've asked moonlightnrain to go with me on Sunday as I may require an intervention in order to leave the place with any money left in my checking account.