bending_sickle | Brokeback got us good, don't it?* (Reply)

Fuck. I think I have a yeast infection. This...sucks like sucky things with extra suckers wielding vacuums set on "high". I though I did before I left for Spain, and now I'm, well, kinda pretty sure. I've never had one before, but something's definately off. (Seriously, I'm getting flashbacks to agarose petridishes swarming with bacterial colonies here.) Also, wtf with the garlic smell?

I don't have a doctor yet. I do have health insurance. I could go to a walk-in doctor (7:30-8:30 am - aaaahhh!), though I doubt I'd actually get up at like 6 to make it there tomorrow, and then other days are (mostly) fu'ed because I'm going to start having classes in the morning.

I guess I could try asking at the pharmacy first, if they have an over-the-counter cream available. (I did, last month, google for home remedies, but I'm not liking their ideas. Except maybe the vinegar one...)

Still. Fuck. Fuck. No doctor. Needs get a doctor. (Also, hello, going to Kenya and might need vaccinations?) Oh gods what if I need to go to a gyno?!?

Yays, no TMI from here on out :)

I haven't been doing anything today, really, although I should be working on my Project Proposal. I'm just a bit off on my daily routine, a bit on a downer. So many things to do! At some point I'm going to have to lug the laptop to the Lipsius building to snag their wireless and chat with mom. (One flatmate's rewiring the internet at home, which means we're shit out of luck until she'd done.) I feel like I should be out and about doing something, but really if I were here actually working that would be most excellent. Alas...

On a related note, I've discovered that you can totally watch a film with only 94% of it down. I watched Brokeback Mountain again last night (and despite trolling and googling, I can't find any First Reactions entry of mine to this, so I must've not posted about it, which is strange). Ye gods. I'd forgotten how emotionally crushing and engaging it was.

I remember being surprised and shocked that so many people made such a big deal over the "gah, zomg, homosexuality" of the film because, hello, there's one sex scene, they're fully clothed, all we ever see are their faces and it's over before you can say, "What lube?" but they made it sound like it was some sort of constant full-frontal rutting fest. What it was was an angst-ridden, star-crossed and doomed lovers story. I mean, I walked in there thinking, yeah, ok, gay cowboys in the US in a Very Bad Time for that. I was totally not prepared for the epic love story of woe.

Apart from things I'm sure everyone's said a gazillion times, like the acting, the directing, the music, the whathaveyou, I walked away from this second viewing with a few new appreciations.

1. The silence. I adore that the film is so quiet and doesn't worry about long silences between characters.

2. Thank gods I watched Heath Ledger explaining the why of Ennis's talking fashion on the Ellen Degeners show, because it bugged the hell out of me the first time. I still had some trouble deciphering what he was saying (as with a few other characters at times), but at least I appreciated more the subtlety of what was going on, acting-wise. Ennis is a fascinating character because he keeps it all in, so close to the chest, but you just know that there's a hell of a lot of force of emotion under that, which when you do see burst out, is just 0.0

3. Jack totally pwning his father-in-law was and ever will be the awesomest thing ever to awesome. Yes, beating out Johnny Cash's pwn of his father in The Thin Line.

4. I was too engrosed in the story to cry for 99% of it (although I did sigh "Oh Ennis" a few times - especially when he's crying or wretching and punching the wall after their first goodbye - along with the requisite, "Oh Heath") but I can pinpoint the exact frame that make me wibble. It's just after this screencap, where the entire screen if filled with Ennis' shoulders and the rim of his hat as he just stands there, head bowed. I cried right there. That image just summed up Ennis for me, what he was going through and struggling with and gah. And then he turns around and Heath gives us this. *gets all teary-eyed again*

ETA: I just got this in an email about the Self Study oral exam:

Me: If you could also explain a bit as to the nature of the oral exam, I'd be very grateful.

Responder: As to the nature of the exam: please ask your fellow students how it went in their particular case. They are the most reliable source.

Argh! First off, as if all my friends had taken this exam already. Second off, how hard is it to say, "Well, we ask extensive questions about a few chapters" or "We ask your opinion on general topics" or "We ask for extensively backed up arguments". Seriously.

ETA2: I just emailed Mom Green and Purple Argyle, Of All Things (comments, accompanying essay and glossary included) because I'm stupid and have no sense of emotional self-preservation. Also, I kind of want to show her how fandom isn't made of fail. My just reading fic was a bizarre, time-wasting concept for her. ETA2b: Talked to Mom. She was like, "Wtf's argyle?" and "Omg it's in slang!" She skimmed through it - reading the comments mainly - and says she'll try to read it. (Her English has gotten waaaay rusty.) ♥.

ETA3: I'm getting random crack-addled images of where and how the Joker (re)applies his makeup. Damnit brain, you're not made for crack!

Links of the Day:
News: Barack Obama's Speech (full text) and the biography that came prior.
Brokeback Mountain Screencaps
Batman Comics shared, including Arkham Asylum
TDK Favid: Sexyness of the Dark Knight