I think I can say conclusively that it is the WORST movie to see while pregnant.
I borrowed
Grave of the Fireflies
from someone, held onto it for a couple of weeks without daring to actually put it in the DVD player, and finally returned it unwatched.
And for reading matter I strongly, strongly advise against even going near Nevil Shute's
On The Beach
(never saw the movie so don't know how it compares, but if it's even remotely faithful to the book it too is a big giant AVOID AVOID AVOID) and Roald Dahl's short story "Royal Jelly."
The Dahl isn't so much despairing as unbelievably creepy and disturbing and likely to unsettle you right out of your skin. Reading it while breastfeeding (i.e., actually sitting there with the thing propped up on a pillow next to me in bed while Matilda nursed) was a truly, truly terrible decision. DON'T DO IT.
Grave of the Fireflies
Oh, god, I couldn't finish watching that.
I did finish watching that. For some reason, I can reasonably handle the pain of war movies with few soldiers at war in them. In fact, I really like POW movies.
It was terribly sad, though, pulling no punches. And I've gone and bummed myself back out by reading the wikipedia entry.
And for reading matter I strongly, strongly advise against even going near Nevil Shute's On The Beach (never saw the movie so don't know how it compares, but if it's even remotely faithful to the book it too is a big giant AVOID AVOID AVOID) and Roald Dahl's short story "Royal Jelly."
Oh! I agree that
On the Beach
is not comforting pregnancy fare, but I spent most of the book thinking "This is set in Melbourne! Oh, I know that place! That one too!" I probably wasn't supposed to enjoy it as much as I did.
Oh, billytea, you adorable freak.
Speaking of which, Matilda and I saw the prettiest snake ever on Saturday, a rosy boa, all curled up napping under a sun lamp. They're amazingly lovely and they don't bite and they give birth!
The Buffistas really need a word for that moment at a natural history museum or a zoo or a wildlife preserve when you have an overwhelming attack of either, "Oh, I wish billytea was here!" or "Wait till I get home and post about this to billytea!" I had a billy? A billysquee? I bt'd? We need something.
A billysquee?
I think we have a winner.
Can one have a billysquee over a jillifont?
Can one have a billysquee over a jillifont?
Hee. Almost certainly. Incidentally, I do have a fear reaction where spiders are concerned, but they're still incredible creatures. Snakes, on the other hand - zero fear, not even for the hissing tiger snake we almost stepped on. (Bec, OTOH, was seriously phobic about them, and was rather more demonstrative about the tiger snake encounter.) On which note, that's a lovely boa, JZ. That's actually the main point of distinction I think of between pythons and boas, that pythons are oviparous and boas ovoviviparous.
This is great if you've seen the original
Wicker Man.
(I haven't seen the remake, so dunno how this fits with that.)
A Muppet Wicker Man
Oh… um.
Wow. Yeah. So… this exists:
That’s the video preview for a full-length comic book mashup of The Muppet Show and The Wicker Man by Paul O’Connell.
It’s… uh…
Well, words seem to be failing at the moment.
Really, what can one say when confronted with something like this, except:
(Followed by a few awesome panels of the comic.)
Although maybe I just have a sick sense of humor.
