Post-Halloween Post

Too much Tequila at that Halloween party last Friday? Wake up with a searing headache, wearing a four-year old’s clown costume, in an alley with no shoes like I did? Hangovers can be the best time to do nothing, but they can also be good for letting thoughts drift aimlessly. Here are two works I recently encountered that are concise and interesting or horribly disgusting (and interesting) and maybe worthwhile for those about to be beset by winter winds.

Dude, your wife's craaaazy

If anyone is looking for some disturbing images that deal with psychotherapy, sex(uality), and the unconscious, I would recommend Lars von Trier’s Anti-Christ. It was the first movie I can remember in which I had to actually turn my head away for certain scenes because they were so graphic. And I thought Miike’s Audition was a love story the first time I watched it. I don’t know much about technique, but it’s obvious this guy is well-versed. Disgusted, several older people behind me walked out of the theater. But, I sat peering into this man’s twisted universe for the entire movie, never bored. To throw a few other adjectives at it: beautiful naturescapes and slow-mo shots, mind-warping degeneration of characters. I won’t give away any more.

Cool cover art to boot

On a far less Eff-ed note, I would recommend Alex Garland’s novella Coma for a more lax, coma-induced speculation on mental matters. I picked it up at a used bookstore a little while ago, and found it to be a fast, enjoyable read. And it doesn’t make you never want to see a naked body again just to get the author’s ideas in play. Kind of like Eco’s Mysterious Flame – both mix images with word salads (literally) to create the sensation of memory- without the pretension nor the desire to build an entire school of thought off of a single novel. From the same guy who wrote 28 Days Later.

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