Should have watched Dogville on the 4th of July

[bironic]

I went to see family for the 4th and it was all right. Then I came back and developed the world's worst sore/swollen throat, the miserable details of which nobody wants to hear about. (At least I have a diagnosis and medicine as of this afternoon. Already feeling better, thank %!&#.)

I took two partial days and two sick days at work this week. Of course I couldn't enjoy the time off because I was either asleep or feeling horrible. But I did watch a lot of TV/movies and caught up on months' worth of Pop Culture Happy Hours.

TV: Scattershot favorites from BtVS seasons three and four: All the Ethan Rayne episodes, The Wish, Helpless, The I in Team/Goodbye Iowa, Primeval, Restless. Aside from the special effects and clothes, most of them hold up very well. The betrayal of father figures in Helpless, the eerie tone and general strange-wonderfulness of Restless.

Movies: The Young Victoria, Dogville (summary reactions to come in a separate post), Legally Blonde 1 & 2, Saved! (rewatch), Inception (rewatch). Following up Dogville with Legally Blonde made me laugh. A laugh that was much needed after Dogville.

Podcasts: Particularly recommended episodes were this analysis of Ex Machina (compared to Frankenstein, Her and Orphan Black) from The New Yorker, Small Talk and Penguins from How to do Everything, and a bunch of PCHHs: The Romance Novel special (in which the hosts had fun and I learned a lot), Inside Out, Jurassic World...

If lucky, will be able to join fanpeeps tomorrow for Magic Mike XXL. And eat solid foods. And maybe write. TBD if sister wants to risk visiting on Sunday.

Comments

[laurashapiro]

Ahh, Helpless, one of my all-time favorites. The Giles and Buffy relationship is one I still regret not immortalizing in vid form. <3

I'll be very interested to read your Dogville writeup.

[bironic]

Cool. Dogville (and Dogville Confessions) left me full of thoughts - we'll see how well I can pull them together into a post. As brain is also spinning with thoughts about Magic Mike and Ex Machina.

I hadn't watched Helpless in a long time. It's still so good! So many imperfect paternal figures just trying to do their best, and Buffy struggling to trust any of them. The way she and Giles crack open when the test is administered, and the way they begin to rebuild their relationship when Travers makes explicit Giles' affection for her... ah, it's so well rooted in character and in genuine human emotion that it still works all this time later.

[laurashapiro]

The only Lars von Trier I've seen was Breaking the Waves, and I found it absolutely shattering. I've only seen it once, when it was first in theaters, but I remember it clear as day. I'm not sure I'd sign on for any more of his films, given what I've read about them, but I remain sort of fascinated.

We saw Ex Machina this weekend. I was impressed with the acting and the visuals but not much else. Curious to read your review.

And now I want to go rewatch Buffy S3...

[cinco]

Oh no, I'm sorry you got so sick! I hope you're all better very soon. <3

I haven't rewatched Buffy since maybe 2005, but Restless and The Wish I still remember vividly! Maybe it will be time to watch the series again one day, hmmm. I recently read a wonderful long fic about Buffy waking up a thousand years in the future that I loved--I wish I could find more quality long fic in that fandom. I should ask around! /musing

I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back

[bironic]

That might be around the same time my heavy rewatches began to trail off, too. Several eps I've rewatched since then -- like, Pangs is a Thanksgiving tradition -- but it had been a while since this collection made the rotation, and it was really nice to revisit them after so many years had passed.

(Part of the reason why now is that when I was home, digging through high school-era memorabilia under my childhood bed, I uncovered a printout of my then-favorite Willow/Giles fic from the Geocities days, which involved a sex magic spell cast by Ethan Rayne. That, too, held up pretty well! And clearly put me in the mood for Halloween/Band Candy/A New Man. Ethan and his silk shirts and slashiness and sexy villainy. :) )

Not sure I can help with the long fic recs, but if you do ask around, I'll be interested in what people point to.

[therienne]

zomg. So, what diagnosis did they give you, exactly? I ask as someone who had to blow three sick days last week on this horror show, and who still can't sleep through the night for the coughing. I completely lost my voice at one point. My doctor looked pityingly at me, told me it was going around, and gave me something to help with the vomiting, but that was about it.

The timeline seems similar -- I was fine on the 4th, had a glimmering things were about to go to hell on the 5th, and by the 6th could barely crawl.

[bironic]

D: That sounds horrible. I'm so sorry. And unfortunately different from what I have, which struck hard at my throat/tonsils/lymph nodes but left everything else alone (voice, cold symptoms, nausea).

When I went to the dr, she did a rapid strep test that turned out negative, listened to my symptoms and said, "Likely something viral, good luck with that." Absolutely nothing I tried made a dent in it except Jell-O, until even that stopped working. Two days later I called back because I couldn't eat or drink or swallow or sleep or rest my head on anything without wanting to cry, and she said, Ah, yes, your non-rapid strep cultures actually came back positive, go pick up this penicillin prescription. Can't figure out where I might have gotten it, but at this point don't care, as I'm finally not in constant pain.

Which I hope you also will be ASAP.

[bironic]

How are you feeling?

[therienne]

Tired from all the coughing! The virus part is long gone, but the gunk in my lungs is taking its own sweet time departing, and I wake myself up all night.

I keep myself going with dreams of vividcon! :D

Are you through your strep yet?

[bironic]

Yes, thank goodness; the penicillin made a dent by Saturday and within a few days it was as if nothing had happened. So strange. I'm still on the meds until Sunday.

Glad to hear you are at least on the mend. Hope the cough clears up soon so you can get some proper rest and deal with the rest of your life without a virus sapping energy on top of everything.

\vividcon/ Can't believe how quickly it's approaching.

[kabal42]

Ugh, hope the evil sickness is gone very soon!

But at least you had good things to watch/listen to!

[bironic]

Thank you! I am feeling much much better. Hope your weekend has gone well too.

[kabal42]

I am glad to hear that :)

It's been quiet, which has been nice.

[bironic]

That does sound nice. Excellent.