Harakiri & Murakami & the Dolphin Hotel

Started the day with a nice brunch. I had told Bill a few days ago that some of our tomatoes would be ripe for BLTs by the weekend, and I was right! We decided to watch our only remaining Netflix DVD, Harakiri, as we ate. I loved it. It was so perfectly constructed. The cinematography was absolutely sublime, too.

Afterwards, Bill decided to tinker with his car a bit. I assisted because my small hands can fit perfectly into tight spots to unscrew hard-to-reach bolts. Also, I replaced my windshield wipers and swept Mimosa tree debris from the carport. We took a ride to the bookstore to test Bill's car repairs (he's been having some serious cooling system woes) and to get my long-awaited new Haruki Murakami novel, After Dark.

The car made it there and back with no problems. Before I opened the book, I told myself I wasn't going to be obsessive about reading it. I was going to just read one chapter a day, to make it last, and to leave time for the other things in life...

I have no self-discipline sometimes. I read the entire thing. In my defense, it's a very brief 191 pages. It couldn't be helped. But now I need another book!

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I saw 1408 yesterday, as expected. The movie was pretty good. I didn't have the highest of expectactions, otherwise I may have been disappointed with what I saw. I expected it to be better than average, and on the whole it was. The beginning of the movie was very good and very spooky; I thought, for a moment, it was going to exceed my expectations and be a really great horror movie. Unfortunately, it went on to falter in a few places, so it turned out to be... a better than average horror movie, just as I expected.

I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was in middle school and junior high. I have read a few of his novels since then, and I do enjoy reading Stephen King, but I was pretty sure I had not read the short story he wrote that inspired the film. I began to second-guess myself at one point during the movie, a certain scene seemed very familiar. There was also something familiar about the name of the hotel: the Dolphin Hotel.

So naturally I googled a bit today and verified that I had not read the story. The familiar scene may have been inspired by an older Stephen King story I read, or it may have seemed familiar because it's a kind of common movie convention (someone walking on a ledge outside a tall building). I'm afraid of heights, anyway, so those "inching across the ledge" movie moments always wrench my guts.

The neat thing was I also saw that King named the hotel after a hotel mentioned in two Murakami books! It's kind of funny. In my Ghosties post, I felt that declaring my plans to buy After Dark were a bit out of place, seeing as how the post was mostly about finishing Will Storr's book and planning to see 1408. But, hey, Murakami was connected after all.

AND... now I know what my next book might as well be, one of the two Murakami books I haven't read, which mention the Dolphin Hotel. I also wonder if it's not mentioned in some of his other books or stories, since it sounded familiar to me. But I've stayed at the Dauphin in New Orleans, so maybe it's that, or it stuck in my head from reading book reviews for Dance, Dance, Dance and Wild Sheep Chase.

I LOVE coincidences!

You know what? I have to do laundry now.

Ghosties!

TGIF, right?

I've finished the Will Storr vs. the Supernatural paperback. I was anxious to see if Will was going to believe in ghosts or not after his paranormal adventures and investigations, so I sort of neglected the laundry and mostly ignored the DVD Bill put in after dinner (Death of a President).

I won't spoil the ending, but I really enjoyed the book. At the beginning, he's a skeptic. He interviews a litany of "experts": ghost hunters, demonologists, victims of demonic possession, an exorcist, a philosopher, a psychiatrist, a quantum physicist. He also goes on some spooky field trips, visiting (and sleeping over) at various haunted locations. His skepticism, which he argues is a form of faith in itself, is tried early in the book, and he flip-flops from skeptic to not-so-skeptic throughout the book. Of course, best of all, is that he's a talented storyteller, with a great voice. It's fun to read, very humorous, andscary.

Now that I've finished with it, I intend to buy the latest Murakami novel (novella?), After Dark, this evening or at some point during the weekend. I'm very excited to read it. He's quickly becoming my favorite, I think.

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And, if you're wondering, yes, I do believe in ghosts. Maybe I'll share some of personal experiences at some point in the future. I love to trade ghost stories. I used to enjoy reading and posting them on some Usenet groups.

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Speaking of ghosts...

Bill wants to see 1408 this weekend. It's based on a Stephen King story that I've not read. John Cusack plays a travel writer who arranges to stay in a haunted hotel room. Actually, Cusack's character, based on the little I learned about him during the trailer, reminds me of one of Storr's ghost hunters, Maurice Grosse. Cusack's character, like Grosse, becomes obsessed with ghosts after the tragic death of his own daughter.

I love horror movies, especially if they deal with ghosts, hauntings, or (shiver) demonic possession. When I think of movies that really have scared me, they mostly fall within those categories: The Exorcist, The Eye, Rosemary's Baby, The Devil's Backbone, The Ring, Ju-on, and so on...

I watched the trailer for this one, and it looked pretty surreal and spooky. Even if the movie is terrible, it will be fun to munch on some popcorn and hold Bill's hand.