CT: The Horror!!

Friends, you'll see that I'm late on my post again. And Little C has assigned me the punishment word impassioned. I'd love to have a great excuse but the awful truth is that on Friday we were celebrating my birthday with the best combination of things ever to be combined: Tatsu ramen, honey-comb ice cream, and a private screening room double feature of Mad Max Fury Road and Magic Mike XXL. It was an epic, epic night with some of the best friends (and sisters) a gal could ask for. 

Here's the other thing I feel like I've got to be honest about. Since we filmed the web-series, I've been a touch on the moody side. I was actually expecting this, not that it makes it any easier. It was a huge experience of impassioned creative output, and I've been feeling a bit drained since then. Which makes me moody. So sorry, family and friends. 

The best possible thing for me when I'm feeling salty is to get more art into my system. Specifically, I need to watch some horror movies. For whatever reason, they make me feel instantly better. Horror books are good too, although if I'm pressed for time (which I've felt constantly lately) I do love a good horror short story. Something about characters in such extreme circumstances fighting impassionedly (counting it) for survival perk me right up. I'm a weirdo. I get it. 

So here's what's working for me this week. First of all, I've got to count Fury Road in here. The first dozen or so (hundred? I've lost count) viewings, all I could do was make desperate, impassioned sounds at all the cool up on screen. The cars, the Furiosa, the old-lady motorcycle gang, it was too much awesome to comprehend. But this time I was really struck by how horrifying and violent it is. The wives are fleeing for their lives, ready to do anything to get away from the terrifying Immortan Joe. And they find themselves in a race for survival across a desolate wasteland. This is bare human instinct at its peak, and I love it. 

I've been taking to a few friends at work about Connie Willis and her brilliance, which has inspired me to reread some of her short stories. I came across All My Darling Daughters and A Letter From The Clearys in one of her short story collections. These are both haunting, horrifying stories when you get to their root. I don't want to give too much away about either, but both feature young women who are pushed to impassioned fights to reclaim any normalcy in their lives after they've been ripped apart. Both are science fiction, but the stories don't feel distant from our lives. They feel immediate, like we're in as much danger as the protagonists. 

Then, yesterday, in a fit of saltiness, I hunkered down and watched As Above, So Below. I've written about this movie before and it's so good every single time. It's not a normal low-budget horror. It centers around Scarlet Marlowe (best character name ever), a young archaelogist who's on an impassioned search for Nicholas Flamel's philosophers stone. Scarlet is part Indiana Jones and part Hermione Granger, and the film manages to be sort of a horror movie and sort of an adventure movie. It was just the thing to shake me out of my funk and get me back to being the joyful CT you all know. 

I don't want to give an impression that things here are going badly. It's actually been a really, really great month. It's all just the normal artist ups and downs, and think knowing how to manage the downs helps the whole process run smoother. 

Hope you're all having an amazing week! 

CT