Which is not to say that it’s the most enjoyable werewolf novel ever. Wilding by Melanie Tem is the story of four generations of a pack of female werewolves in the season of the youngest’s pregnancy. The novel features no likeable protagonists (understandable – yes, sympathetic – yes, likeable – not in my world), incest, torture, killings of cute little animals and children, filth and slaughter. I’ve certainly read werewolf novels that were more fun but few that seemed as “realistic” as this one. Am I recommending it? If the above sounds interesting to you then yes. If anything in the above makes you hesitate then definitely not.

“I’m not trying to frighten people. If anything, I guess I would say I try to disturb people, to shake up how people look at the world. Mostly, though, I write out of an impulse in myself to understand something I don’t understand in human nature. That may be something dark, or it may not be. It may be just something mysterious that I don’t understand.” – Melanie Tem

Spent yesterday limping around with the aid of Nizzibet’s collapsible cane. It did help a bit. I adjusted my chair at work so that my leg dangled less. That also seemed to help. I kept getting asked if I was going to see a doctor about the leg.

Hmm. I’ve nothing against doctors. We didn’t use them much growing up. Visiting the dentist was a regular activity but the doctor? Not so much. No regular check-ups. We only went if something really inexplicapable was going on. My mother preferred home remedies. In later years she really disliked “Western” medicine. Mostly I don’t think about seeing a doctor because seeing one would interrupt my routine and usually any problem I’ve had has gone away in a short enough time that going to a doctor would have seemed pointless.

As far as we can remember our lease runs out at the end of August. Given that this is more house than we need (and want to spend time taking care of) we’re moving to an apartment rather than renew. So I’ve been trying to pack up our books and get rid of the stuff we don’t really need. With the deadline looming I want to speed up my packing.

This weekend was frustrating. My leg hurts the least if I keep it elevated. In that position it’s difficult to draw. And I certainly can’t pack books and then carry the box upstairs.

Today we should get some word on the car. Hopefully the problem is less expensive to fix than it would be to buy a new (used) car. Fingers crossed.

And monsters? More posted to my gallery at Kaijuphile. I’m trying to improve my color skills. Work continues slowly on my other projects. The monster drawings are done in my sketchbooks when I have short moments of deadtime away from home. I wish I could fit my other projects into that deadtime but they seem to require more concentration than I’ve got available when on I’m on the go.

First there was this –
So many of the films I’ve watched recently have incorporated into their plots some kind of inane romance, affair, or love story involving heterosexual couples. This was never as unfortunate as it was in the recent Land of the Dead, where, among the walking corpses, two plucky heteros—one a freedom fighter, the other a virtuous whore—come together.

And then LuvSet commented –
Plus I disagree that the cute male lead (worked for me!) hooks up with the gun-wielding prostitute. They never kiss. They never even embrace. They don’t even exchange charged looks. The most significant looks between her and another male character, I’d say, are between her and Riley’s buddy when she’s sussing out their relationship.

(Follow the links to read the full texts.)

And so I added –
I’d agree with my bro. It didn’t occur to me that Riley(?) and Slack had hooked up. Given the lack of subtlety in the rest of the movie I’m pretty sure that if they’d hooked up there would have been some face sucking.

Genre movies have always had a tendency to include pointless (hetero) romantic subplots. I doubt that there are any more of them now than there were in the past. I certainly remember being annoyed as a kid by pointless romantic subplots getting in the way of the death and destruction in the monster movies I was watching. If anything (in horror movies at least) if “they” were trying to reinforce the hetero ideal there’d be more queer characters getting killed and more final couples instead of final girls.

I don’t remember any significant queer characters in other Romero movies that I’ve seen. Queer subtext in Martin would have gone over my head at the time I watched it. And probably even today. I’m mostly too clueless.

Possibly there were queer characters in Knight Riders. It seems like there was both a lesbian couple and a gay couple but I can’t remember clearly. The listing in the IMDB seems to back up my fuzzy memory. And while I liked Knight Riders when I was twenty I thought it was mostly just silly when I saw it again a couple of years ago. But then, I seem to be becoming a cranky old man.

My knee hasn’t been the same since LittleM used me as a jungle gym a while back. Mostly it felt stiff and sore after I’d spend a day sitting around at work. The stiffness and soreness would work itself out once I’d gotten up and moved around for a while. Lately though, the knee has felt aggrieved and stayed feeling that way even after exercise.

Fah. Stupid knee. Doesn’t it know I can have it replaced with a shiny new tin one?

The car is resting in a garage in Olympia. Hopefully the mechanics will take a look at it and be able to cheaply heal it’s weary self.

I’ve sort of been busy and sort of not. We spent the Fourth of July Weekend house-sitting for Jeff and Teresa. Mostly we were providing company for the dogs. I’m not a dog person. Nizzibet is a dog person. I don’t understand dogs. The dogs were delighted to have our company. They followed us all over the house. They slept when we slept. If we spent enough time sitting still they slept at our feet.

Why?

The cat showed up when the cat felt like it. He slept on the bed after we’d crashed out. He only did that on Saturday and Sunday nights. By Monday we’d gotten so twitchy that he slept downstairs.

I have to give Cricket and Trixie credit, they dealt with the fireworks quite well. Yes, they barked when there were a lot of booms close to the house, but mostly they ignored the noises. After all the stories I’ve heard of freaked-out dogs on the 4th I was pleased to meet a couple of exceptions.

You are the Sun card. The light of the Sun reveals
all. The Sun is joyful and bright, without fear
or reservation. The childish nature of the Sun
allows you to play and feel free. Exploration
can truly take place in the light of day when
nothing is hidden. The Sun’s rays fill you with
energy so that you may live life to its
fullest, milking pleasure out of each day. Such
joy and energy can bring wealth and physical
pleasure. To shine in the light of day is to
have confidence, to soak up its rays is to feel
the freedom of a child. Image from: Stevee
Postman. http://www.stevee.com/

The worst thing about George Romero’s new zombie movie is Dennis Hopper. Not that Hopper was bad, it’s just that he’s Dennis Hopper. Pretty much the only role he plays these days is Dennis Hopper. He does a great job at it. Trouble is, it reminds me too much that I’m watching a movie. Dennis Hopper just doesn’t exist in the real world.

Otherwise? Really enjoyed the movie. I don’t think I need to see an unrated extended gore cut. Plenty of gore as far as I was concerned. I did like the characters so I wouldn’t mind seeing them again if there were a sequel. Which, hopefully there will be. Somebody should give Romero lots of money on a regular basis to keep making movies.

After fifteen days Epilogue.net has posted one of my submissions to my gallery there. There are also new, color additions to my gallery at Kaijuphile.com.

Yesterday was an around the house sort of day. The part not spent doing chores involved me reading Isabel Allende’s Zorro aloud to Nizzibet. The book has finally got into some swordplay and daring do so both of us felt the need to get visual stimulus to go with the words. I rented the 1920 Mark of Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks and the 1940 Mark of Zorro starring Tyrone Power. Both were fun. Despite being the based on the same book they managed to feature different character relationships and different plot twists. I expect we’ll get around to reading the original novel sooner or later.