Kenny ://

It's been a slow few days for me

I suppose I could have gone ahead and bought my school books, considering the semester starts in a few days. I should be trying to go ahead and get motivated to start reading the material now, while I have time during the weekend.

What do I do instead? I rent movies. I've been hella sick and haven't really been up for much more than an occasional trip to the video store.  I can't remember what all I've rented but this one I thought was funny. I go to a non-chain video store with pretty cool metalhead employees. I have to think this is their way of having fun in the store when no one else is around. Yep, it's a DVD case. Looks like something I'd have done when I worked in a skateboard shop.

They don't make them like they used to

I like horror movies. I don't know what it is about them but it's kind of like doing something so outrageous that you know you're living when you get back from whatever that is. Skydiving, bungee jumping, whitewater rafting, going to a double-header chick-flick movie with a girl you've just met, etc. You watch a horror movie and think, "Thank jeebus that was just a movie!" I blame my big brother, he "let" me watch Salem's Lot, Amytiville Horror and The Exorcist with him after our parents (and sister) had gone to bed. I don't think I slept between the ages of 8 and 12. Maybe I miss those memories of having a big brother to do things with, I dunno.

The gist is that I rented a "horror" movie the other day and then tonight I watched bits and pieces of another, classic and real horror movie. The rental was "1408" with John Cusack. It sucked in only that way a vacuum in space can suck. Completely. The other, classic horror flick? The Shining. Need I say more? I think the difference between true auteur horror movies and more recent movies is that there wasn't a great toolkit of special effects to use back then so directors and writers used plot and really, truly scary things to get inside your spine with ice. Jack Torrance is someone I'm sure everyone has met before. John Cusack's character in 1408? How many occultist authors who write about haunted vacation spots can you think of that you know on a first-name basis?