Exorcist Master

I've seen clips from Hong Kong hopping-vampire movies, but I've never seen one all the way through. Happily, our local access cable channel showed Exorcist Master tonight, and I have been enlightened.

The hopping vampire is a restless spirit contained in a human shell: mindless, blind, and above all hopping. A "vampire shepherd" can settle them by pasting Zen mantras on ribbons to their foreheads, then lead them in a long hopping line to their resting place, banging a gong and chanting "Watch out! Vampire Shepherd!" Of course, people will insist on playing with the dormant vampires, and of course the ribbons will come off, and the Taoist master will have to come to the rescue of the villagers.

What makes this movie different is the east-vs.-west religious subplot. A Catholic mission has just reopened in the village, and it is wooing people away from Taoism. The villagers are fascinated by Western culture and the rituals of Catholicism (slightly addled—Catholics don't actually pray to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirits, and the Hallelujah Chorus has more words than "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"), but the church has bad feng shui for some reason, and so the Taoist master must dress as a grandmother to infiltrate the service, and winds up biting the priest on the finger during Communion...well, it's a little wacky. But the point is, the movie offers us something we don't get to see very often: an honest caricature of ourselves, drawn by outsiders. And it's not rabidly anti-Christian; both priests have their foibles and follies, and the eventual solution is one of compromise and tolerance.

Bizarre and (intentionally and unintentionally) funny. Well worth seeking out.

Buying a bed

We bought me a bed tonight, so I will no longer need to sleep on the futon-couch. I like the futon couch, don't get me wrong, but it belongs in the living room, being a couch. I am mildly concerned about the futon frame, since the last two times we converted it from bed to couch one of the arms disintegrated—somebody at the factory forgot to add the glue, apparently. We are assured that this third replacement arm is fine, no really this time, but I worry a little that I'll hear that sickening poing-crack again. I guess we'll find out tomorrow, as my queen-sized PosturePedic mattress and box spring (20% off at Mattress Matters) will be delivered then, and I will have a real bed to sleep on for the first time in years. (I had a bed in Ann Arbor, but the mattress was not the finest, feeling more like thin fabric stretched over pinecones and coffee mugs than a mattress.)

I attempted to buy exciting light-up gizmos for the den at Spencer Gifts, but K., while not actually vetoing them, looked sufficiently disapproving that I put back the fiberoptic sculpture and the plasma bottle. I may yet buy them, since our den is not quite the 70s luv nest I want it to be, despite the record player, fuzzy bean bag chair, and stuffed cobra named Rodney.

K.'s first class went very well, thanks for asking, and they apparently had a quality discussion about Zell and conversion. Go me for suggesting it. *grin* Go Oberlin students for being clever and inquisitive and talkative.

Damn you, Oberlin students, for getting drunk and having loud noisy conversations on the street outside our house after midnight. Don't you know a professor lives here?