by Jillian Butler, Ampersandology
In planning my upcoming pilgrimage to San Francisco, I've been pulled in the direction of visiting Alcatraz. Why? I honestly have no idea. The very idea of being trapped inside a prison during a riot is on my list of all-time heebie-jeebie inducers, along with berserk Victorian ideas of medicine and disasters that happen on New Year's Eve (especially if no one cleans up the party favours).*. Seriously. I hate prison riots, or even the implications of one. You know that scene in Natural Born Killers, when Robert Downey Jr. the journalist gets taken as the hostage when the prison goes nuts? Well, I don't. It could have cut to twenty minutes of puppies getting manicures, but it doesn't matter. It hinted at the inescapable, locked-in terror of being involved in any way with the madness of a prison riot.
So why I suddenly got the urge to sail across a boat to an island I could not easily escape, Scorsese-style, and confront the source of my fear was beyond me. Sure, because there's really a dearth of thing to entertain your hipster tendencies in the greater San Francisco area I mean, COME ON!
Then I realized. This is practically a textbook formula for my brain.
You take my fond, confused memories of that one scene in Dog Day Afternoon...
+
...my inexplicable love of aftermaths...
-
... residual anger at the ending of Shutter Island...
divided by
...the fact I still haven't seen The Rock...
=
my subconscious is trying to fire me. Thanks a lot, Id. This is what I get for letting you have macrons, delicious delicious macrons? Serves me right for trusting a Freudian impulse.
...again.
*But to be fair, trying to pick the one element of Bioshock that chewed on my fear-making center is impossible. Take one part Ayn Rand, one part crazy people trapped underground, with a generous helping of Manifest Destiny, and you pretty much have the one thing I had to watch between my fingers as other people played. Well-played, sum of all my fears. Well-played.
In planning my upcoming pilgrimage to San Francisco, I've been pulled in the direction of visiting Alcatraz. Why? I honestly have no idea. The very idea of being trapped inside a prison during a riot is on my list of all-time heebie-jeebie inducers, along with berserk Victorian ideas of medicine and disasters that happen on New Year's Eve (especially if no one cleans up the party favours).*. Seriously. I hate prison riots, or even the implications of one. You know that scene in Natural Born Killers, when Robert Downey Jr. the journalist gets taken as the hostage when the prison goes nuts? Well, I don't. It could have cut to twenty minutes of puppies getting manicures, but it doesn't matter. It hinted at the inescapable, locked-in terror of being involved in any way with the madness of a prison riot.
So why I suddenly got the urge to sail across a boat to an island I could not easily escape, Scorsese-style, and confront the source of my fear was beyond me. Sure, because there's really a dearth of thing to entertain your hipster tendencies in the greater San Francisco area I mean, COME ON!
Then I realized. This is practically a textbook formula for my brain.
You take my fond, confused memories of that one scene in Dog Day Afternoon...
+
...my inexplicable love of aftermaths...
-
... residual anger at the ending of Shutter Island...
divided by
...the fact I still haven't seen The Rock...
=
my subconscious is trying to fire me. Thanks a lot, Id. This is what I get for letting you have macrons, delicious delicious macrons? Serves me right for trusting a Freudian impulse.
...again.
*But to be fair, trying to pick the one element of Bioshock that chewed on my fear-making center is impossible. Take one part Ayn Rand, one part crazy people trapped underground, with a generous helping of Manifest Destiny, and you pretty much have the one thing I had to watch between my fingers as other people played. Well-played, sum of all my fears. Well-played.
Have a suggestion for a future Ampersandology topic? Got something
you’d like to say? All feedback welcome! Shoot us an email at ampersandology@gmail.com, or follow Ampersandology on Facebook.
2 comments:
Hmm...fear of The Rock. You may also want to avoid Kevin Bacon in 'Murder in the First' (1995).
Hope you have a great visit to Alcatraz. Bring a couple of puppies, though, just in case.
Avoiding Kevin Bacon, beloved as he is, is always a good tip. Thanks Alan! I've already called ahead to the Puppy Renting Emporium, just in case.
Post a Comment