Philosophical musings brought on by The Thing, and a gentle reminder

I'm a big fan of John Carpenter's 1982 classic horror/science fiction film, The Thing--and if you haven't seen it you really need to. It hasn't aged a day--there won't be any scenes where you'll feel like it's a film that's around thirty years old.

I dug the 2011 prequel, too.

The basic premise is the discovery of a spaceship that crashed in Antartica a couple hundred thousand years ago. It's buried under several feet of ice. Eventually it's found by a team of Norwegian scientists who also find the occupant frozen a few feet away. They take this creature back to their compound to thaw it out and take a look.

Unfortuantely, it ain't dead.

What this Thing does is mimic other creatures. This is how it feeds. What it prefers to do is grap hold of something or someone and swallow them, sort of running them through it's digestive system until it spits out a creature that is an exact duplicate, but is actually a Thing in and of itself.

Thing is (pun unintended this time), a few cells will also do it. It'll just take longer. They'll work like a virus, grabbing ahold of individual cells, injecting them with its own DNA which will take over that cell, making it into an exact duplicate but which will then seek out other cells, etc., etc., until the host is composed entirely of the alien cells. Since the duplicate cells are indistinguishable from alien cells, the body's immune system wouldn't attack them.

So, even if you were only slightly infected, eventually you would become a Thing.

In the films people who were infected acted just like they always did--until they sprouted tentacles and started killing their comrades, that is. Until that happened no-one was sure who was infected and who wasn't--its mimicry was that good. Which sort of leads me to think that it has access to memories and the personality of the host.

My wondering is this: supposed I get infected with a few cells without even knowing it and these things run wild, eventually replacing all of my cells with alien cells. But apparently my memories and the things that make me me are intact. So, would I know that I was no longer me? Would I in fact no longer be me? If all of my cells have been replaced by identical alien cells but I still look and act like I always do, how would I know?

There's actually a scene in the Carpenter film that I believe uses this. One of the scientists has chest pains and passes out--he had a heart attack. During attempts to revive him, it's discovered that he's actually a Thing. I really thing the guy didn't even know it.

Anyways, this is the type of stuff I wonder about sometimes. There's a story in there somewhere, I just know it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. And yes, I'm aware of Democritus's speculation about the boat that is completely rebuilt and that this is sort of the same thing. Doesn't mean it isn't an interesting question.

Now, to the reminder portion. If you're in the US, mark your calendar to watch tomorrow night's episode of Two And A Half Men, guest starring my beautiful and talented little goddaughter, Talyan Wright.  Her character name is Ava, and she's seven, soon to be eight years old. America is about to have a new sweetheart.

I know you'll be watching!

Top Ten randomocity for 2011

Everybody seems to feel the need to do top 10 lists at the end of the year. I thought I would join in, except for one thing--I can't figure out what kind of list to do!

Top Ten movies? I probably haven't seen five films all year, and most of those were from previous years. I did see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last Friday and can highly recommend it, but that's pretty much it.

Top Ten novels? Really, other than my performance reviews and income tax returns I don't read all that much fiction these days. I think the only novel I've read all year is this one, which I can also recommend (read my review of it at the link). Yes, the author is my best friend, but it's still a good book. Unfortunately, though, I can't do a Top Ten list with only one item on it.

Top Ten albums? I did buy a lot of music this year, but other than the new Evanescence , the new Draconian, and the soundtrack for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, most of what I got was from earlier years, to fill some gaps in my music library.

Top Ten blogs? There are only a few that I actually follow, and I can share those with you, if you're interested:

• According To Sauce The misadventures and tribulations of a genuine Hooters girl. Check Sauce out. You'll love her. Plus, she's a babe.
• Red Means Go The hysterical adventures of a girl in Miami desperately seeking famousity. Annah's an amazing writer. Plus, she's a babe. Do you see a trend here? Heh.
• Contempulative Affliction My best friend's blog. One of hers, anyways. She doesn't write in it nearly enough to suit me.
• Contemporary Realism Jacqueline Gnott is an amazing painter of still lifes--you have got to see these things to believe them.
• Cakewrecks If you are one of the two or three people who doesn't know about this website you need to acquaint yourself with it. Nearly hurt myself laughing at a few of these.

But, again, that ain't ten.

Oh, well. I'm sure something will come to me. Or maybe not. Right now I'm too tired to care much. I hope you all have had a good holiday and have a safe and happy upcoming new year!

Day off randomocity

I'm taking today off to enjoy a nice, non-holiday three-day weekend.

I did meet my co-workers for our annual holiday luncheon--it'll be the last time I do this with this particular group. Next year this time I'll be in Douglasville with a mostly new group.

I'm taking another non-holiday long weekend in a couple weeks--January 6, to be exact--because that is the release date for The Devil Inside. Not my usual film fare but Talyan has a small part in this one--she plays the central character as a child. So, I'll help to make the opening weekend as big as possible for it. I suggest you do the same--it does look like it'll be intense.

Did my xmas shopping the other day. It's easy for me since I only have a couple of people to buy for. Plus Atari, but he's happy with a Double Whopper with cheese.

I've got this idea for a new song but can't seem to find the words for it. Dammit. This is a weird problem for me--normally once I get the tune the words sort of fall into place. Not this time. What the hell is wrong with me?

Oh, and speaking of films, I am planning to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a week from today. I'm going into it relatively "cold"--I haven't read the books and only have the broadest outline for the story. I do have the soundtrack and really dig it--I fully expect the movie to be equally awesome.

Oh, well. Maybe the words for this tune will come to me. Time to beat my head against that wall some more.

Random Sunday Morning Randomocity

Let's see, it's been a while . . .

I'm hoping to have the new tune, "Travelers," ready in a couple of weeks. This one will be a little different, in that I'm going to have a guest vocalist. If she still wants to do it when I'm ready for her. It's shaping up nicely, I think, after a false start.

This may lead to a new song cycle, and possibly a novel or something. It's one of those things I can't talk about here too much, as almost anything would turn out to be a spoiler. Maybe the music will turn out to be an inspiration for the story.

On the home front, Atari is doing okay. It's chilly and not all that humid, which is his favorite weather.

I'm moving to Douglasville in March, I've found out. I'm dreading it, and at the same time I'm looking forward to it. I'll hate leaving Savannah behind but I think it is time for a dramatic change.

So, that's what's up with me. If you're interested.