All the world outside your front door

I'll probably never have a truly pretty yard because I'm fascinated by weeds. The other day, I found a nice online herbarium of common Massachusetts weeds.

Who could really hate a buttercup or cinquefoil? Plantain stems bleeding (I've actually tried it on cuts and found it works). And jewelweed, I love jewelweed. It's good for poison ivy rashes and the seed pods explode when you touch them. What's not to love? It grows all over the Old Mill in Brewster and sets seed in August.

I even like pokeweed. There's one growing in my yard and I leave it alone because it's in a thicket and doesn't interfere with anything else. Pokeweed fascinated me as a child and still fascinates me. Look at it, with its dark berries and purple stems and giant leaves, it belongs in the front yard of a storybook witch. If it was difficult to grow, it would be sold in every nursery as an ornamental. It grows up to ten feet tall? Even better. I just can't dislike it.

When I went to visit the pokeweed in my yard and see how it was coming along yesterday, I noticed bindweed. Oh dear. That one has to go, it's much too aggressive. This is the first year I've noticed it, probably spread by some bird. I was concentrating yesterday on keeping the Virginia creeper and the baby oaks down to a dull roar, but the bindweed is next.

While looking for some of these plant pictures, I found a picture of a little oddity that I haven't seen in years, earth star. There's another picture here. It's actually a type of mushroom with a puffball center and an outer shell that opens in a star shape. There used to be a wild patch near where I grew up that had these, and also British soldiers and other little odd fungi that only grow in dry, sandy spots. Now it's been turned into a house lot, blah. I haven't thought of earth stars in years, but now I'd love to see some.

Mitt Romney? Your WHAAAAA-mbulance is here.

It's not enough that Mitt lost the fight to deprive people of their rights in Massachusetts. Now he wants to deprive people of their rights on a national level.

How much longer do we have to have this petulant, repressive little tool as Governor?

Edited to add:

More proof that I work with dumbasses.

Me: "We're getting low on Fed-Ex forms? I'll go ahead and order some."

Dumb Coworker: "Oh, I'll just pick some forms up. I can stop by the Fed-Ex center after work."

After several attempts to dissuade her from this, I finally say:

Me: "You do know that we order them for free, they come preprinted with our address and account number, and they'll be delivered directly to our office?"

Dumb Cow: "That's okay, it's no trouble for me to pick them up."

Christ, I am not writing out our address and account number for the next six months because my Dumb Coworker has to "take one for the team" to prove her corporate loyalty or whatever the fuck her deal is. Since she's within earshot of my desk, I'll have to order them in *secret.

*Yes, it is possible to order them online, but I couldn't figure out how, so I need to order them over the phone. You have no idea how embarrassing that is to type, the dumbass behavior must be catching.

Bring Out Your Dead

Look, it's the Night of the Living Dead Republicans.

I think Reagan's body should be propped up at fundraising events. As a bonus, selected bits of his embalmed flesh could be auctioned off for the reliquaries of the faithful.

This book would get a whole new meaning.

Recently Seen

I've been indulging myself in my favorite genre, supernatural films that have a strong psychological element.

Don't Look Now
I see why this made such a splash when it first came out. A British husband and wife have recently lost their daughter and are living in Venice. Then, there's indications that the daughter's spirit has returned. Or has it? I'm being extremely vague because I wish I'd known much less about this movie before watching it, much of the impact is greatly diminished by knowing even non-spoiler details. Mostly strong first two-thirds, with a lot of thought put into the symbolic use of color and camera effects. (I am a sucker for visuals). Creepy and atmospheric in a very "normal" way, the creep occurs in the mundane details, not the extraordinary.

Unfortunately, the movie has a very weak ending and overall, the whole was less than the sum of the parts. (I'm reminded of the Legend of Hell House, another well-done horror movie from the same era with a weak ending.) But, if you appreciate movies that take horror and supernatural seriously and not as a throw-away genre, you should probably see it once. Just don't blame me if you say, "That's it?" at the end.

Ghost Actress
I recorded this on a whim and had no idea it was from Hideo Nakata, the same director as Ringu, the inspiration for The Ring. It's Japanese and set in the modern era. A studio is working on a World War II period piece, the usual aggravations of working on a set and the tedium of making a film occur. Then unusual things start occurring. Beautiful blending between the drama of the World War II scenes and the bustle of the set. Horribly, excruciatingly slow in the first third. I was rehearsing my apology to the Spousal Unit when it all started coming together. Got completely creeped out and sucked into the action. Dunno if I was quite satisfied at the end, but despite its flaws and pacing, I'm glad I saw it.

Onibaba
I recommend this HIGHLY. Another Japanese film, black and white, set in the medieval era when Japan was torn apart by civil war, the same conditions that we see in Seven Samarai. Unlike Seven Samarai, there's no dignity, no heroism, just a desparate struggle for life. A woman and her daughter-in-law survive by ambushing soldiers, killing them, and trading their armour and weapons for food.

The woman and her daughter-in-law have fallen into a stable routine of relying on each other in their grisly work when a neighbor back from war introduces a disruptive element with his attraction to the daughter-in-law.

At one point, the older woman tells someone, "I have never seen anything beautiful in my entire life" and you believe it. There's not a single beautiful character or thing in this entire film, and I highly recommend that you watch it.

Yep, I'm a Cold Bitch

Ronald Reagan died. Now all of those people who still think Reagan was the greatest thing since sliced bread can say so one last time.

And with any luck, we'll never have to hear them go on about him again.

Good.

The Spousal Unit Is Jaded

"I saw on the news how his health had taken a turn for the worse. First thought I had...they're going to find a way to drag it out and keep him around and have him die right before the election and tie it in with publicity for Bush."

The Original M is much angrier and more articulate than either one of us.