OK...so I've just spent the past 4 1/2 hours cleaning the bones of a spent chicken carcass so my child can take 'em to school tomorrow--to make a caveman necklace for Friday's perennial 5th-graders-only extravaganza known as "Nomad Day". Dem bones are currently soaking in bleach water. Once I drain them I'm done.
Way above the call of duty on this one, but that's a Mommy's prerogative. I just hope he appreciates how small chicken vertebrate are and how much pickin' and a scrapin' it actually takes to clean the flesh off of 'em.
I tell ya, it was quite a Dahmeresque experience--'specially every time I had to pick out a piece of spinal cord. (Brrrrrrrrrr...)
Synchronous happenings of the day:
Got the results of my bone density scan today--I'm dense. Yay.
Also, picked up a DVD at the library about H.H.Holmes, America's first serial killer, who actually sent HIS corpses out to be de-fleshed and articulated. What can I say? Some killers just don't like doing all the dirty work themselves...
Damn. I wonder how long will my hands will smell like chicken.
Way above the call of duty on this one, but that's a Mommy's prerogative. I just hope he appreciates how small chicken vertebrate are and how much pickin' and a scrapin' it actually takes to clean the flesh off of 'em.
I tell ya, it was quite a Dahmeresque experience--'specially every time I had to pick out a piece of spinal cord. (Brrrrrrrrrr...)
Synchronous happenings of the day:
Got the results of my bone density scan today--I'm dense. Yay.
Also, picked up a DVD at the library about H.H.Holmes, America's first serial killer, who actually sent HIS corpses out to be de-fleshed and articulated. What can I say? Some killers just don't like doing all the dirty work themselves...
Damn. I wonder how long will my hands will smell like chicken.
15 comments:
Your hands will smell like chicken for about as long as our stretcher is gonna reek of Poo Juice (about 3 days).
I suppose it's better than smelling like tuna.
(Man, I'm on some sort of tuna kick, these days. Don't ask me why.)
Yessireebob...'sho do!!
An ex of mine always used to say:
"If it taste like chicken, keep on lickin'...
If it taste like trout, best get on out."
He never seemed to be in too much of a hurry. Yay for my vagina!!!
Anyhoots, the 'finger-lickin-good' stank has finally gone away. Been sewing fur boots and making the leopard toga today. And this is not even for a Halloween costume. THAT comes next.
And if there's any time left over, I may get to make my own costume (geez--feelin' a little like Cinderella at the moment).
*sigh* Back to the needle & thread I go...
what was the name of the H H Holmes DVD you rented? His unmarked grave is a few miles from where I live...quite an interesting fellow...
'Tis called "H.H.Holmes, America's First Serial Killer" and I believe it was directed by someone named John Borowski (already took it back to the library, so I'm just recalling as best I can). It wasn't a terribly exciting dvd, not nearly as fun (or informative) as what you get from 'The Devil in the White City' which I assume you've read. If you haven't--if any of you haven't--RUN...no...DRIVE to the nearest library, bookstore, wherever and get yourselves a copy. Fascinating, freaky shite. DO IT NOW!!
Perhaps my dear pal Cletus can chime in about Dr. Holmes...give us a few choice tidbits we might not know. Take it away Cletus...
Cletus?
You there???
And now, without further ado, Cletus P. Warhol...
Thanks, Laura..I'll try to find that DVD. I have read "Devil..." and it's great. The audio book is cool, too, spooky...I forget the reader's name, but he's an actor, and has a great voice to go with the material.
HHH is buried nearby, and I stopped at the cemetery one day. A guy there showed me where the grave was, based on the lot/range numbers given in the book. Just like the book said, it was unmarked, between a young child, and a WW1 vet...kind of creepy when you think about it.
Speaking of creepy, I hear Tom Cruise has the movie rights to "Devil in the White City."
Now THAT'S scary, Doc!! I bet he'll tweak the story a bit, so that instead of KILLING people he just makes them Scientologists--same result--he'll get all their money, right?
And if they refuse?? They get strapped to a couch and he jumps up n' down on 'em...
I don't know anything about Holmes other than what was in DITWC. I'm a major geek about the Columbian Exposition of 1893 (I'm scheduled to give a presentation about it next spring), but Holmes just doesn't do it for me. Sorry.
I'll talk about the Columbian Expo till the cows come home, though.
Where did you hear that Tom Cruise has the rights to DITWC, Doc? I heard a rumor a couple years ago that a movie version was moving forward with Johnny Depp as Holmes, but haven't heard a word since.
Hopefully the project will languish long enough for me to cement my reputation as a Columbian Expo scholar and to get a lucrative consulting gig with it.
I already owe Erik Larson (author of DITWC) several beers for making the Columbian Expo popular enough to create a demand for Chicago tours on the subject. Those visiting book clubs have brought in some nice cash. :-)
Cletus: I work in the film biz, and that was something I heard back when the book came out. You can call the publisher and ask who owns the film rights, and their legal department will tell you... It could have changed hands over the years, they seem to do that with great frequency. Best example being "A Confederacy of Dunces" which will most likely never make it to the screen based on all the legal wrangling that has gone on with the rights over the years. Numerous people have had the rights, a diverse group including Harold Ramis and even Drew Barrymore.
Thanks Doc.
Better for a good book to languish undeveloped into a film than to be made into a crappy one. I won't name any specifically (you never know who you're going to run into in the creative world, so I'll hold my tongue-for once) but you'all know what I mean.
OMG- I just used "languish" for the second time in one day! It's such a lovely word and I so rarely get a chance to use it. Languid is another lovely word.
What do you do in the film biz, pray tell, Doc? I seem to recall that you don't live in LA, so you must be a writer or something noble like that.
On the cover of the DVD I just rented, there was some blurb on the top about HHH being the guy in 'DITWC' and then underneath it said 'soon to be a major motion picture'. So I guess someone DOES have the rights and is moving forward with it somehow. Now to find out whooooo...
And Cletus, I was as fascinated with the stuff about the Columbian Exposition in the book as I was about Holmes. Maybe even moreso. So I will look forward to hearing your expert spiel (or going on one of your tours) sometime soon. My only connection with the whole thing (other than living in the Chicago area) is that I got an old painting from my dad (who got it 40+ years ago when he worked for an art restorer) that I discovered was done by an artist, Robert Ward Van Boskerk, who actually exhibited at the Expo. (I no longer have it--with Ron's assistance, I sent it off to auction last winter and got some much-needed cash for it.)
So...there ya go!
P.S. I used to work in the 'film biz' too, y'know.
Back in the 80's (god, that makes me sound so OLD).
Nuthin' too exciting--P.A. work, wardrobe here n' there, and mostly craft service.
My claim to fame? William 'Refrigerator' Perry spit (sprayed is more like it) out my spinach dip all over the inside of a huge garbage can while I stood there watching (retching is more like it).
And he called my guacamole "guacashit". (BTW, I did EXCELLENT craft service--I kept my crews very happily satiated, so Mr. Perry is the one who is full of shit, thankyouverymuch!!)
I also got to iron Ramsey Lewis' pants while he stood there in his underdrawers. (Or was it Herbie Hancock?? Cain't recall now). That same day I got to go up to Herbie's hotel room and rifle through his luggage to find a pair of eyeglasses though. That little tidbit of info always won me brownie points with my jazz musician friends.
Which is good, cuz my musical abilities never did a thing for them.
Boskerk would've been one of about 20 gazillion artists exhibited at the fair.
I've been checking out some stuff on The Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry) and seeing pictures of how much stuff they had crammed in that big old building. It had 140 rooms with 145,000 square feet of wall space and they filled every single inch with paintings, not to mention the sculptures and replicas (often actual size) of certain architectural details of great European buildings crammed everywhere. It was absolutely insane!
I'll stop now before I get on a big Colexgeek rave.
Actually, it's time to put in a session with one of our many books from the period. They're all giant size and I've been ruining my arm hoisting them about lately (even with my fancy giant book reading easel).
Later.
Better watch yerself. I've been in physical therapy for several weeks for this rotator cuff problem--never considered that the many years of hauling art books around could've contributed to it--but it makes perfect sense. Anyhoo--my left arm/shoulder STILL hurts like a muther-youknowwhat-er. With no reprieve in sight. Och!!
p.s. Thanks for making me feel so much less 'special' for having had a painting by an artist who exhibited at the Expo, Cletus. 8^(
p.p.s. Colexgeek rave??? Actually sounds kinda fun, whatever it is. As long as it doesn't involve too much heavy book hoisting.
OK, now it's time for ME to get sewing. Before my meds wear off.
Halloween awaits no unfinished costume...
Damn, I knew I had worded that phrase improperly. I was looking for an excuse to blather about how big and crazy the Art Palace was, not to diminish your specialness, sweetie.
Yeah, I've got several pains from years of lugging and reading big books, not to mention all the bouts of manual labor. Throw in all the computer time and you've got a recipe for a hurty old man (not to be confused with the hurdy gurdy man).
Colex is an abbreviation for Columbian Exposition that I've been using in my notes, as I have to write that phrase out so many freaking times. I doubt that it's going to catch on with the kids.
Have a good night, I'm actually off to have some fun for a bit. I've been Mr. Studypants lately, so it will be a nice change.
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