Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Caitlin and I went to see “The Divide” today, and even though it’s getting — to my great surprise — really bad reviews from weak-stomached film critics, I want to give it my whole-hearted recommendation. I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic dystopian movies, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one this bleak and hopeless and generally depraved and upsetting. I swear I was stressed out from the beginning to the end of the movie… there’s a real claustrophobic desperate anxiety that just never lets up and things just keep getting worse and the story descends deeper and deeper into the most awful nightmare. If you liked “The Road”, well “The Divide” makes it look like a feel-good Disney movie. It’s a start-to-finish crushing dirge that I recommend seeing in the theatre because I worry that at home you might not be as trapped in its depression and your natural urge to emotionally survive would push you into the happy corners of your home, far from the scenes it’s breaking you with.

So yeah, go see “The Divide”. You will regret it, but you will thank me for the recommendation.

In much, much, much happier news, I wanted to share with you, with his permission, this amazing tattoo that my friend Karsten in Germany got of my “Owl’s Adventure” painting (which is currently hanging at Badur’s, and you can also get it as a shirt). I like that the artist laid in the yellow sun without an outline. Really love how it turned out!

Also in the pleasant news category, before we left for the movie we released the sparrow that we’ve been nursing back to health. As soon as we opened the roof on his prison-house he happily flew off, did a couple loops, and landed in a nearby tree. He looked great and it was a real joy to know that the effort paid off. I actually think it’s the first time that I’ve nursed a wild animal back to health and then released it into the wild (if you can even call Toronto “the wild”), and I have to say that it is a wonderful feeling. And seriously, if I had watched “The Divide” and not had anything wonderful in my day to offset it, I’m pretty sure I’d be slitting my throat right now.