thoughts for today

just sitting around not doing much.

1. OK, Peter Jackson. Whatever. Brilliant fucking filmmaking? Have you seen the *Japanese* Ringu? Not the stupid American remake? There is no way that Samara could ever be as creepy as Sadako. Furthermore *I* read the book, and the Japanese film follows it well. Does the American version? Hell, no.

2. College kids are annoying at Halloween time. Especially here.

3. They were showing Sixth Sense. In it, Haley Joel Osment tells Bruce Willis that he should talk to his wife while she's sleeping. I personally have always been a bit obsessed with ghosts and ghost stories and I collect them. The one experience I had was almost four years ago. I had a dream that I was at a picnic and all the people there were my dead ancestors. It was quite surreal because I swear to this day it was a very real experience. I knew that my grandmother was there somewhere but I had this wonderful feeling that time and space didn't matter. I knew she wanted to see me and I wanted to see her very much, but I had all the time in the world and was enjoying talking to Allyn, who was married to my grandmother's uncle. All of the sudden, everyone there started getting excited and talking animatedly. I asked Allyn what was happening, and she said, "Oh, someone just got here. We were irritated with him, but it's not a big deal." And right then, the phone rang--it was my mother calling to tell me that my grandfather had just died. November 30, 2001. The day before my birthday.

My grandmother died when I was two and I always missed her terribly. My grandfather remarried eight months after she died and disinherited all of us right away. My grandmother had family furniture and heirlooms from her side of the family that she'd kept and taken care of, and after she died my grandfather wouldn't allow my mother and aunt to have them nor buy them. My mother has been angry about this for 28 years. I wonder if I will ever visit Lebanon again.

4. Yes! They're doing a run down of scary movies, and the good version of The Haunting (the one made in 1962 that, in my opinion, follows Shirley Jackson's novel to a T) made at least the top 20 list. It should be in the top five, but whatever. I think it's the scariest movie ever made.