I took this photo of my Cronenbergian incision Friday night after I had a biventricular ICD installed to help me with various arrhythmias I've had for years, and the congestive heart failure that flatlined me back in 2000. Now I am bionic. The image brings to mind so many movies (looks a little like a smiling third nipple in this particular shot -- the swelling has since gone way down). But it reminds me most of the talking boil that sprouts on Richard E. Grant's neck in Bruce Robinson's insanely great "How To Get Ahead In Advertising" (1989), equally brilliant follow-up to the modern comedy classic "Withnail & I." I'll let you know if it starts bossing me around...
The smiling wound: Long Live the New Flesh!
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"I don't think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away." -- Tom Noonan
"Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out." -- Martin Scorsese
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12 Comments
Jim, I hope you feel better soon. I appreciate your blog postings. You have a clever and particular view of movies an cinema. Take care of yourself and eat your [organic] veggies!
Best of health, Jim.
I hope everything goes forward as planned, and that you remain healthy and happy for a long time.
I'd wondered why the blog had slowed down a bit, I'd missed your writing. Best of luck, hope you a speedy recovery. I had a similar Cronenberg flash when I had surgery a few years ago, rubber and fake blood seem to be closer to the real thing than any CGI. Again, best of luck.
I think I saw a pirated video of your surgery on a show out of Malaysia but I could be mistaken. Here's to a speedy and healthy recovery.
Tsk, tsk. Emerson tries to drum up some more traffic on his blog by showing some skin. ;)
About... 5 months or ago or whenever it was, I hadn't seen a new entry from you in a very, abnormally long time. I looked to see if you had mentioned going away. Couldn't find it. Was concerned.
i hope, for your sake, the cronenberg connection stops at the way the wound LOOKS.
Hi Jim,
I hope you are recovering well. Missed you in Urbana this year. I had been looking forward to hearing you trash some movie I loved. Hope you can make it next year, or I'll have to find an excuse to visit Seattle.
Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.
Don
Stay (or get) well.
Whoa. I guess that's why you didn't make it to Ebertfest. Note to self: when a favorite critic doesn't make it to Ebertfest, I may infer some serious health problems.
Here's hoping that Modern Technology keeps you alive and healthy for another few decades!
The picture reminds me of my Boy Scout Handbook, circa mid-1980's. In it are various illustrations of how to handle medical emergencies. Judging by the grins on the injured people's faces, medical trauma seemed downright pleasant.
The one and only time I've been in surgery, I had my knee scoped. I spent the next week recovering and watching the entire "Planet of the Apes" series. By the time I got to "Conquest," I was wishing I was back under the knife.
Get well soon.
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