Revenge of The Phoenix, Part 9- The Final Chapter

Last night was a late night- doing something productive? Not really. Actually I was up for most of the night watching movies, figuring a little unwind time would be good for me. On last night's list was Resident Evil- Extinction first up- setting up for yet another sequel, it's getting pretty far detached from the premise of the original games, but still, is an interesting follow-through of the original premise. The virus that was unleashed somewhere in North America in the original game and movie spreads, first to surrounding Raccoon City (do they ever say if there's any rationale to that name, or it just sounded cool?) then to the rest of the world. How it crosses the oceans is not really explained, but then again, it is a biological weapon, so I guess we just go with it. It focuses on the side project the Umbrella researchers were working on, known only as Alice. Alice never appeared in the original games, but is a woman who was massively and deliberately infected with both the virus and some kind of suppression agent, giving her super powers- strength, agility, and apparently the ability to regenerate from most minor to moderate injuries. At one point an Umbrella stooge, she now kind of goes freelance, bopping across North America and occasionally running into other survivors, who have become scavenging nomads, on the move to prevent too many zombies from finding their location, and relying on the tried-and-true formula of bullets and running away. For fans of the games, this isn't too bad a movie, expounding on continued experiments and exactly what the virus can do and can't do, and more evil-megacorporation weirdness. So not bad if you're in the mood to see some zombie fights and the creepy mad-scientist labs these movies are known for.

Next up was Sucker Punch. I'm not sure what to make of this one- but it was very good. Focusing on a young woman who is committed against her will to a mental institution and identified only as Babydoll, she either was insane to start with, or quickly gets there. Threatened with an impending lobotomy, she alternately fights to escape or drifts off into her own fantasy world, more often than not both at the same time. Actually, lobotomies were quite common at the time this film (as near as we can figure) takes place. They're quick and easy, and make psychotic patients extremely docile. For those who have never seen this performed, (and you're not missing much) a lobotomy involves taking a long metal spike and pushing it into the eye socket. Not into the eye- your eye is a fluid-filled membrane, and is pushed out of the way. The spike then enters your brain through the ocular foramen (the hole in the back of your eye socket where the optic nerves connect your eyes to your brain) and straight on back into your brain. Done incorrectly, this will kill you. Done correctly, it will knock out virtually all aggressive or violent tendencies, pretty much all your intelligence and higher brain functions, and some of your fine motor skills. This procedure is rarely if ever done today, as the brain damage is irreversible. However, at one time it was used to control patients, and recommended as often as aspirin for a headache. Not a bright chapter in the history of psychiatric medicine, I'm afraid.

But back to the movie. Our young anti-heroine builds layers of imagination, first creating a kind of weird burlesque club she's held captive in. Her method of fighting here is to dance, and when she does, she becomes involved in yet another level of imagination, where all kinds of bizarre things happen. There are mechanical steam-driven zombies, armed robots, dragons, and a mash-up of historical times and places that makes for a generally good movie. The point this tries to convey is, what's real and what's not? How is the world we imagine any less real than the one our bodies live in? I found myself cheering for this Babydoll, as she grew in confidence and understanding, going from a scared little-kid type of character to a cold and calculating manipulator to her captors, and a caring friend towards her fellow inmates. The ending can't be described exactly as happy, but somehow is. Babydoll realizes she needs five things to escape- a map of the asylum, something to start a fire with, a knife and a key, and something else that isn't clear at first. This last provides a touching ending, though if you're anything like me, you'll have to sit down and think it over. So I'd definitely recommend this one, if for nothing else, the cool special effects and odd premise. Just don't make the mistake that I did and rent a Blu-Ray when you have a DVD player- doesn't work, I found out, and wound up making a second trip to the store. Laugh, and the world laughs with you, as the saying goes.

This is turning into a long entry, it seems. But on one final note, Tabatha pointed out something I had perhaps been subconsciously avoiding- I need to get a lot of personal stuff packed up and moved out of this apartment sooner rather than later. Not like this week soon, but I'd better get cracking on it. The reason being, I can break the lease as soon as I have my deployment orders- I've never seen a lease that doesn't have a military clause in it, and my current one is no exception. I can't leave everything here, because the lease will be up about two or three months into the deployment, and that would mean paying rent on a place just to store my stuff in. We're looking to get out of here anyway- it's been an endless string of maintenance issues- plumbing, heating, you name it. The management has been once in a while quick to respond, otherwise we'll be hanging fire for a week or so. Sounds to me like it needs a longer-term fix- they're patching up problems as they arise, instead of investing to take care of a larger and more pervasive need for upgrades to the property. At any rate, point being, I have a few large boxes to pack, and a few odd pieces of furniture I'd like to keep with me. How to ship it? Get a moving company? Will the Army reimburse for that? I'm not positive, I'll have to look into it. I don't need a big box truck, but no one I know with a truck would drive all the way down here, nor would I ask them to. Ship it? This is possible, and would probably cost in the same neighborhood as a moving truck. I'll have to look into it, as books (the most cumbersome things I have to move) are not light when you put a lot of them in a box. But at any rate, my dear Tabatha offered to store them for me while I'm out fooling around in Afghanistan. Hopefully she will go through them first and see what would be of use to her- after all, by that point we'll be married! I'm guessing a good deal of the altar supplies and such will get put to good use, too. I received a laundry list of stuff we'll need, and managed to procure almost all of it- and shipped it to Tabatha instead of myself. Actually, both of the companies I ordered from are geographically closer to her- that probably doesn't matter in the least for shipping, but it'll hopefully assure that the packages get there in time for the wedding. As it is, I'm expecting my luggage to be searched. I have a box full of candles and candle holders I'm planning on putting in my suitcase, which I suppose might very well have an unfortunately similar shape to an explosive device when that bag is x-rayed. I'll put a note on it saying go ahead and search this, but PLEASE wrap it up the way you found it! There is a very curious chemical in use now for film and such. Putting film through an x-ray destroys any images it had on it, so instead of doing that, the security people use a chemical swab, like a q-tip. It will react with most explosive agents, turning a purple color if they are present in even a slight trace. So if your film canister doesn't turn purple, it's not a bomb. Amazing what we can invent! At any rate, time to get to work- there's a good deal to do in the next 18 days! I'm looking forward to slightly cooler temperatures, even factoring in the humidity. Stay well, friends across the internet, and d0n't drink the Tenafly Viper!