A not-so-serious look at death
Ah death. What most of us fear, some of us willingly bring about, and everyone wonders about.
I began my obsession with death at a young age, watching Beetlejuice every day, sometimes twice a day, until I started dreaming about it. Once it became that real to me, I stopped watching the film so much. This was in 2nd grade.
In 5th grade I read novels about main characters with incurable diseases who ultimately died, and then...dum dum dumdum! I found Horror novels. Oh what a find that was. I read every single book in R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, even making my student teacher who I loved read one of my favorites. The books were only about 100 pages so I read them in about 3 hours after school. After the Fear Street novels I couldn't find anything else at my school's library, so I went to the lovely Geneva Free Library to get more. I read most of R.L. Stine's other books (excluding Goosebumps, I felt those were too young for me) and started on Christopher Pike. I read all of his books, I even read The Last Vampire series to my brother (6 fucking books) then started on John Saul. After awhile....(a loooong while, I was probably a junior in high school by this time) I started to realize that after reading all of a certain author's books, you start to guess endings and not like the books as much. Soooo.....I read a few of Stephen King's novels, I read In Cold Blood, I tried to find really famous horror stories that would be really good.
Now you would think that I'm done with this, that I'm reading all romance novels like grown-up women are supposed to be doing, but the last book I finished was The Dante Club in which a murderer killed people copy-catting the ways used in Dante's Inferno (which I've also read). Think of the film Seven and that's basically what the book is analagous to.
I also loooove movies which don't take death too seriously. Beetlejuice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grosse Point Blank, etc. For some reason I find them hilarious.
So....my friends Doug and Barb have occasionally talked about this tv show on Showtime, which, conveniently I don't get with my cable package. It is called Dead Like Me. They described it, saying it's about a young girl who dies and gets turned into a grim reaper. Hmmm I think, that may be a good show for me to watch. Well I can't really watch it since I can't get it, but I saw the entire first season at FYE and decided, on a whim, to just buy it. What the hell, I know what I like.
Anyway I watched the pilot episode today. Love it. Completely amazing. Witty, yet somewhat serious, and expertly written. The girl is 18, somewhat jaded with life, cynical in general. She dies in a strange way, and joins the ranks of other grim reapers who roam the earth making sure souls get to the right places. I don't want to give too much away, since everyone should watch it, but suffice it to say I was impressed with my purchase. AND MANDY PATINKIN IS IN IT. Who doesn't love Indigo Montoya?
If the Oscars weren't on tonight (though it's going to be a semi-boring ceremony this year) I'd be watching the show allll night. I guess I'll just have to wait *sigh*.
I began my obsession with death at a young age, watching Beetlejuice every day, sometimes twice a day, until I started dreaming about it. Once it became that real to me, I stopped watching the film so much. This was in 2nd grade.
In 5th grade I read novels about main characters with incurable diseases who ultimately died, and then...dum dum dumdum! I found Horror novels. Oh what a find that was. I read every single book in R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, even making my student teacher who I loved read one of my favorites. The books were only about 100 pages so I read them in about 3 hours after school. After the Fear Street novels I couldn't find anything else at my school's library, so I went to the lovely Geneva Free Library to get more. I read most of R.L. Stine's other books (excluding Goosebumps, I felt those were too young for me) and started on Christopher Pike. I read all of his books, I even read The Last Vampire series to my brother (6 fucking books) then started on John Saul. After awhile....(a loooong while, I was probably a junior in high school by this time) I started to realize that after reading all of a certain author's books, you start to guess endings and not like the books as much. Soooo.....I read a few of Stephen King's novels, I read In Cold Blood, I tried to find really famous horror stories that would be really good.
Now you would think that I'm done with this, that I'm reading all romance novels like grown-up women are supposed to be doing, but the last book I finished was The Dante Club in which a murderer killed people copy-catting the ways used in Dante's Inferno (which I've also read). Think of the film Seven and that's basically what the book is analagous to.
I also loooove movies which don't take death too seriously. Beetlejuice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grosse Point Blank, etc. For some reason I find them hilarious.
So....my friends Doug and Barb have occasionally talked about this tv show on Showtime, which, conveniently I don't get with my cable package. It is called Dead Like Me. They described it, saying it's about a young girl who dies and gets turned into a grim reaper. Hmmm I think, that may be a good show for me to watch. Well I can't really watch it since I can't get it, but I saw the entire first season at FYE and decided, on a whim, to just buy it. What the hell, I know what I like.
Anyway I watched the pilot episode today. Love it. Completely amazing. Witty, yet somewhat serious, and expertly written. The girl is 18, somewhat jaded with life, cynical in general. She dies in a strange way, and joins the ranks of other grim reapers who roam the earth making sure souls get to the right places. I don't want to give too much away, since everyone should watch it, but suffice it to say I was impressed with my purchase. AND MANDY PATINKIN IS IN IT. Who doesn't love Indigo Montoya?
If the Oscars weren't on tonight (though it's going to be a semi-boring ceremony this year) I'd be watching the show allll night. I guess I'll just have to wait *sigh*.
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