I got sick with a bad cold right on Christmas Eve so it’s been a few days here laying around and trying to take care of myself. I don’t watch as many movies as I’d like to, always seem to be short on time, but when you’re sick you’re kind of forced to slow down. So I saw a few on my laptop the last few days. “Under the Skin,” with Scarlett Johansson as an alien driving around Scotland in a van is dark and slow but hard to turn away from – hey, I’d get into her van but, yeah, it certainly wouldn’t turn out pretty. I also loved “Upstream Color,” which is really hard to describe, including pigs, orchids and Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” among its various plot points. It’s not kinky, although there is a bizarre and interesting abduction sequence early in the film which has a few brief moments, including the use of a breathing mask, that certainly aroused my interest, though no real bondage.

And I also finally saw the French reverse-chronology rape/revenge movie, “Irréversible,” which I avoided for years, fearing it would be too disturbing. The rape scene is indeed awful and goes on and on but overall the movie wasn’t nearly as stomach-churning as I expected, some of the revenge parts in fact being so over-the-top that it becomes a little absurd, especially with the shaky camera for the first forty minutes or so. But it’s dark and nasty and has a bleak message with the nice tagline, “Time Destroys Everything.” The three movies are all pretty artsy, especially the last two which are art films with a capital “A.” And each, especially “Under the Skin,” has a few sexy moments even if that’s not really their main point – C’mon, we’re talking art here! ;-) They’re probably all worth checking out though if you’re into that sort of thing.

Thankfully I’m feeling much better and am finally planning to fly to Atlanta tomorrow to spend a few days with my Mom over new years. I hope everyone has a nice end of the year and has friends or family to spend it with. If all goes as planned I’ll be back in L.A. in a few days and it’s back to work. I’m excited about 2015, have a few shoots already lined up and a couple conventions I’m already thinking about going to. Happy New Year!