Prescription Medication: Does Less Cost More?

Hey guys, check out my first article for Suite 101 on the stupid methods of prescribing meds that are very tree people friendly, nope nope nope!!!

Love Undying for the Gorgeous Movie That is Paul Solet's Grace!!!

So there hasn't been a really decent evil baby movie for a while, that was until Grace.  Now what to say about Grace…well first of all, putting my cards out on the table to start with, I find babies creepy in general!!!  There is nothing cute about freaky little monkey hands and feet and squashed heads…in my humble opinion of course.  My idea of a cute baby is the lizard baby in the original series of V (the remake has yet to do this sequence however I doubt it’ll be as cute!!!)  And not the girl with the little forked tongue…the proper lizard baby.  See left.  Isn’t that such a cuteeee?  ;)

Anyhoo, now that you know where I stand with babies and their supposed cuteness I shall tell you about little baby Grace and her absolutely adorable awesome fab mommy, (can you guess I like her!?!) Madeline Matheson played by the gorgeous and seriously underrated Jordan Ladd.  Tired of traditional medicine, Madeline convinces her husband that she wants to go with the companionship of a trusted midwife.  Although reluctant her husband agrees, all he wants is the best for his wife and unborn child. 

His mother on the other hand…holy crabby pattolas, she is a horrific woman!!!  Now I don’t mean that in the manner of she’s a bad person (much), she just has serious mother/son issues.  I think the other reason I instantly wanted to hit her over the head with a spade was that she is one of these red blooded, ‘araagh, meat…blood’ kind of people.  Okay that is maybe a slight exaggeration however her sarky remarks about the Vegan meal that Madeline has cooked for them, (and the rest) seriously had me wanting to do a Norman Bates on her.  Anyway, his mother is mortified that Madeline would even dare take her future grandchild to a midwife and is constantly butting her nose referring her to a Doctor that she is close with that is oh so amazing and prestigious and what not. 

Everything changes though when a tragic accident happens and Madeline is left with her unborn child lifeless inside her.  Determined to carry her dead child to term and deliver naturally, Madeline gives birth.  In a little wicked turn that is done in both a stunning yet harrowing manner, the power of Madeline’s love brings the child back to life.  Overjoyed to have been graced with this miracle Madeline names the little girl Grace. 

Now obviously miracles don’t happen without consequences and soon Madeline realises that little baby Grace is a bit different to other babies.  Understandably overtly protective of Grace, Madeline becomes increasingly isolated from everyone, finding herself resorting to horrific measures to keep her child alive. 

What I love about this film is its simplicity, it’s a wonderfully disturbing movie, and one that really gets under your skin without being at all in your face.  It’s beautifully shot and the acting is top notch!!!  Especially from the three main female cast members.  Jordan Ladd gives her best performance to date and major kudos goes out to Samantha Ferris who plays Madeline’s midwife Patricia.  I am officially in love with that woman!!! <3 She is a wonderful actress.  The same can be said for Gabrielle Rose who plays Madeline’s mother in-law, she is superbly freaky and scarily frightening at some points...you’ll see what I mean.  She is so amazing she made me seriously dislike her.  And that’s being nice about it. 

This movie had a lot going on in the background that wasn't really spoken, only really suggested, I think.  This included that of a previous relationship between Madeline and Patricia.  Definitely got my little mind wandering and filling in a whole back-story.  I also loved Vegan theme that ran throughout, one that had an ever so amusing encounter with *some random shop dude*, selling meat in the store.  Made me giggle so much and it was a nice little addition for you fellow horror geeks out there.

And just throwing this out there...when the director who brings us something this fucking beautifully brilliant and Vegan feminist awesome...is also a seriously hot tattooed guy with a wicked sense of promoting and humour....you really can't help but fall for him and add him to your dungeon list!! *cough* Nia...Jen and Sylvia... *cough* ;)

So yay, love the supreme awesomeness of this movie.  And the special features, compliments of The Barnipede, are pretty damn awesome too.  :)

Oh yes, and last but not least, I’d like to give a big shout out to the distribution people for putting the DVD in boxes with recycling signs carved out.  I’d be lying if I didn't do a big squeeeee, when I opened the case.  Laugh at me all you want but hey, it’s horror and environmentalism…it’s Jen in a box!!!  ;)

Attack of the Killer Mutant Foot...

...okay not really, but that would be a pretty sweet movie, haha.  I mean, you always get movies about possessed hands, never feet.  Or do you and I'm just having a moment of slight retardation!?! 

Now when it comes to possessed hand movies, obviously Evil Dead takes the metaphorical biscuit, in second place though...in fact, almost sitting right next to Ash in a nice little tea shop, eating said metaphorical biscuit, is Anton from Idle Hands, giving Ash the high 5 of awesomeness!!!  Obviously with their remaining hands of course.  Boom boom.  How awesome is Devon Sawa though in that movie?  In fact, everyone is great.  And it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, (and trust me, it's been A LATTE!!) I never get sick of it and I always laugh my head off...hmmmm, interesting that!  ;)

Anyhooooohooo, the whole point of this post was to do a little beerhatching about my god damn foot!!!!!  I went to physio the other day to get it checked out, and I swear, with all his pulling and yanking and what not, I think the guy actually made it worse!!!  I now feel like ALL my toes are broken!!!!!!!!!!!!  And that wasn't even the main pain I went in with in the first place!!!!!  So yes, if anyone would like to go a little James Wan on themselves and saw off their foot before doing a nice little stitch job so I can be FrankenMorleysaurus, that would be super sweeeet!!!  And obviously Rex will need the same.  Ooh we can have little crutches too, mwahahaha.  Now I'm picturing my little dinosnore all Frankenweenied up with crutches, haha.  ;)  Good times. 

To immortality AND beyond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :D

Gooooey stuff of the Lost love sort.

Okay so I have just been going through stuff on my laptop that I'd written a while ago when I came across this.  Proof that yes, I am a little bit of an emotional sap at times.  Anyhoo, I'm glad that in Sawyer and Juliet's case it all worked out.  And FYI, I loved the last episode of Lost.  Mwah!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

“If I never meet you, then I never have to lose you.”

The penultimate series of Lost posed a number of questions, not least that of “Is it better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all?” If we never met, how different would our lives be?  Is it worth the pain of losing but retaining the love inside, or is life better lived, unknown, unloved.  Do some pains really go too deep that we’d rather lose all memory and connection?  Or is it possible that love proves so real that your spirits can never truly be apart, no matter how far your actual beings are?

“Just because two people love each other doesn’t mean they’re meant to be together.”

The joys of being born in '79!!!

Okay so I know that I’m always moaning like hell about being a certain age.  The thing is though; I like having been born in ’79.  I just hate the number I am.  If I wasn’t born then I wouldn’t have been the perfect age for the X Files, which would have been sinful!!!  The thought of being born into the illiterate, technology obsessed generation of today just doesn’t bode well with me.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love technology…I just think that it’s moving a little too fast.  I guess I just prefer a lot more of the traditional ways of doing things.  I’m glad to be part of the before AND after, at least that way I can do the good old “back in my days” rant.  And you know what; if I’d been born later then I definitely wouldn’t have been the perfect age to be a Take That obsessed freak show, haha!!!  So yes, all hail the joy of being born in ’79, woo hoo!!!

I HATE KFC!!!

With the opening of KFC *shudder* in Arbroath, here is a message I wrote to the Arbroath Herald about a year ago, obviously it wasn't printed, probably a bit too hostile, haha.  Anyhoo, my thoughts are still the same so figured I'd share it with you.  Besides, Arbroath REALLY DOES need a cinema, it's so annoying having to go to Dundee.  And if you don't drive it's even more of a pain in the arse!!!

"So after my plans to go to the cinema were literally washed out after the severe flooding with the burn, I got to thinking...why is it that we still don't have a cinema in Arbroath???  The one thing that this town really needs yet instead what do we get, KFC!!!  A place that is so vile and crude in its animal cruelty that it literally tortures, burns and scalds roughly 1 BILLION chickens per year!  These poor creatures are squashed into excrement filled sheds where their wings and legs are often broken before having their beaks cut off, throats slit and then, frequently whilst concious, being dipped into scalding hot water to remove their feathers.  How and why is it that we live in a town that considers this barbaric behaviour more important than giving us something to do on a rainy day, or a winter night?  Surely as a town we should be coming together to say look, this is a fishing town, not a vulgar tacky corporate fast food joint!  Surely actually giving people something to do like go to the cinema would reduce the need for people to just go to the pub, because lets face it, that’s pretty much all there is to do!  Well that and get fat with both environmentally and animal un-friendly fast food outlets!!!  The Declaration of Arbroath was prepared as a formal Declaration of Independence for goodness sake!  Can we not at least try and maintain a little bit of culture and well, independence!?!”

 

Jennifer Cooper, Arbroath

My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks = LOVE that never should have ended!!!

Why is it that when a really, really good teen show comes along, the network goes ahead and cancels it!!!!!  It happened with My So-Called Life in the '90's and it happened with Freaks and Geeks in the Noughties.  I say the noughties because the show never actually aired here till 2001.  Watching Freaks and Geeks again for the first time since when it originally aired in the UK, and totally have that 16 year old I want to be back at school feeling all over again.

The show is filled with wonderful characters that you generally care about.  Like Jared Leto's Jordan Catalano before him, James Franco plays Daniel Desario, once again the flawed guy, the stoner who has flunked back a year or two.  He's not brain smart, but he's not stupid either and there is something ridiculously attractive about that.  Then you have the Brian Krakow and Nick Andopolis characters.  The boy who is completely besotted with our heroine.  Unlike Brian though, Nick is also a total stoner and not a brainiac.  In the lead is Linda Cardellini as the smart, newly turned grunger Lindsay Weir, who indeed does share a lot of Angela Chase’s characteristics and she is a wee bit awesome.  

Freaks and Geeks was one episode shy of My So-Called Life's 19 episodes and when you think of all the bland and plastic shows that get picked up for a new season year after year, you find yourself thinking, 'why the hell did this get cancelled!!!!!???!'  These are characters you care about; you want to know what happens to them, a hell of a lot more than 95% of the crap that our channels are polluted with.  And when you look at the sheer talent that has come from both of these shows, it's phenomenal.  Freaks and Geeks is like a who's who of the funny crowd in movies today.  I mean it’s a Judd Apatow show with Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Martin Starr and others for Christ’s sake!!!

And James Franco is in my humble opinion, one of the best all round actors out there today.  He is stupidly talented and moves from one role to another with super ease, he’s a natural and I love him for it!!!!  

Favourite moment is probably Daniel playing Dungeons and Dragons with the geeks, super hot!!!!  I think that’s my Jordan Catalano boiler room episode squeeeage all over again, haha.  <3