Monday, Monday...

[seanan_mcguire]

...can't trust that day.

Getting out of bed this morning was complicated by the fact that I was so thoroughly covered by cats that I had to practically do sit-ups to recover the use of one arm. This is the true danger of having large cats. When they want to, they win.

Still, the weekend was good, despite back issues which kept me abed a bit longer than I wanted them to on Sunday (as in, "they kept me abed on Sunday"). The new episode of Doctor Who, "The Girl Who Waited," was stellar. The season premiere of iCarly was excellent. I managed to package two-thirds of the pending poster orders for shipping. I made Chris watch War of the Worlds: Live, which was the big concert of selections from the War of the Worlds musical (complete with giant floating Richard Burton head). And Contagion...

...seriously, this movie was designed to be porn for Seanans. It could not have made me happier if it had come with the first theatrical trailer for the upcoming prequel to The Thing.

OH WAIT. IT DID.

Now, I want to note, firmly, that this is not a movie for people who are looking for plot, detailed characterization, clear enemies, happy endings, or absolutely absolute endings. It's a story about a virus. Viruses don't have secondary motivations. They don't have desires. They just have biological imperatives, and when they start exercising those imperatives, it's the job of people like the CDC, EIS, and WHO to step in and try to make them stop. Characters don't get detailed back stories or motivations, because there isn't time.

And yes, lots and lots and lots of people die. That's what happens when this sort of thing occurs. It's a good movie. It's smart, it's solid, and while the science is extremely rushed (and several layers of medical care are missing), it's rushed in the way that says "we needed a two-hour narrative, not a twenty-hour miniseries," rather than being rushed in the way that says "honey badger didn't give a fuck."

If you're not a germaphobe, I recommend this movie hugely. If you are, I recommend you stay home and watch iCarly. Or War of the Worlds: Live.

Ulla!

Comments

[jerushajen.livejournal.com]

Yesssssss Contagion was so good! My sister and I went to see it and spent the entire time clutching hands - except for when I sneezed in the middle and she very nearly crawled out of her skin - but it is pretty much everything I hoped for. (Except for the character I got really angry with, because too real.)

Relatedly, the two books I am taking camping with me this week are One Salt Sea and The Coming Plague. Because Toby!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

To all of the above, really.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Judging from Wikipedia's summary, the film is a) quite good and b) probably not for me, although c) having the spoilers is likely to make the film more watchable for me.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I can understand this.

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

where does one find the war of the worlds: live?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I don't know if there's a DVD of the concert, but the CD is available. Look up "War of the Worlds: The Musical" on Amazon.

[crewgrrl.livejournal.com]

"a killer virus, rampaging fear, an unscrupulous blogger"

That's in the opening sentence of the NY Times review of the film. Not only is it porn for Seanans, the first thing I think of when hearing this *is* Seanan!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I wish there'd been a little good media to balance out the wicked media, but apart from that? Brilliant.

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

Contagion...

...seriously, this movie was designed to be porn for Seanans.

Which is exactly what I've thought every time I see the ads for it - "Oh look! They've made a movie just for Seanan!"

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

And I loved it very, very much.

[iuliamentis.livejournal.com]

I adored Contagion, as it is relevant to so very many of my interests. Midway through the movie, at a particularly quiet moment, someone in the audience coughed, and the nervous laughter that erupted was fantastic.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hee.

Yay.

[beccastareyes]

Would War of the Worlds unsettle a germophobe too, since it's about how microbes Save the Day? (Oh, yeah, and Martians...)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Probably not. They skip over a lot.

[nicachick007.livejournal.com]

I am seriously looking forward to Contagion. So excited. I'm either going to see it with my pharmacist friend or my mom. We'll see how that goes!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[frackin-sweet.livejournal.com]

You made me NEED to go find that preview. Which I did. I already have lots of opinions. *puts movie on to-do list for October*

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

Definitely looking forward to it. The Black Death is still my favorite history subject.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Mysteriously, mine, too!

[childinthegrave.livejournal.com]

thank god, i'm not the only grown woman who watches icarly. my husband is wrong! hah!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Watches, hell. I have the DVDs.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Contagion, but the people at AVI BioPharma did.

"This is so relevant to what we're working on every day. It's not sensationalized — it's a real-world situation."

So, if there's ever a real-life Kellis-Amberlee, the world might be saved from becoming zombies. On the other hand, everybody might go into spontaneous amplification when the cure is tried.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Either way, buckets of fun!

[sheistheweather]

That movie sounds like fun.

What are your other favorite "Augh! A Virus!" sorts of movies?

[oooshiny.livejournal.com]

So excited to see Contagion! A friend of mine who works in public health is so excited to see it too. For her it will probably be like forensics people watching CSI. She doesn't mind. :D

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It's definitely worth it.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

'Contagion' so sounds like an SF con. One which should have Mira as guest. But talk about the con crud...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That would be AWESOME.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

War of the Worlds: Live, which was the big concert

(petting the two disc vinal record set) I have always loved this, I keep the CD version in the car. Now I need to find this version.

I always weep for the Thunderchild.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I just get the sniffles during "Forever Autumn."

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

I did love this week's Doctor Who episode! Wow. and WAH! *sniff* I will restrain from commenting on it further, because everything I want to comment on could be considered spoilery.

Don't know if we'll make it to see Contagion before it leaves our local theatre, but The Thing prequel has been on the calendar in pen for ages now. :-)

Speaking of "...and several layers of medical care are missing..." Did you catch any of Torchwood:Miracle Day? My sweetie and I have commented on/critiqued multiple eps by discussing "What would Seanan have done in this situation?" (He finished Deadline moments before watching one of the eps, and it stuck). No 'traditional' zombies involved, but the argument could be made... Again, shutting up for fear of invoking spoilery-wrath.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I did not. Torchwood lost me at the end of series two.

[queenaeron.livejournal.com]

io9 even mentioned Feed in their review of Contagion.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I saw!

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

OT, except as of probable interest to any published author, the worst case scenario typo from hell. Which, come to think of it, references a common disease vector.


Edited for HTML fail.

Almost Worst Case Scenario Typos From Hell

[billstewart.livejournal.com]

Many years ago, one of my coworkers in another department asked me to send him an org chart for my department. Microsoft Mail, as it was called in those days, decided to gratuitously spell-check my mail without asking me for confirmation before sending it out. It "fixed" the spelling of the names of everybody in my department, and "fixed" the title inside the document.

This was only an almost-worst-case scenario, because Mail did have an "undo sent messages" feature that sometimes worked, and because I got a confirmation message that my email about "Orgy chart" had been successfully delivered.

---
But yes, back to the main topic, the reviews of Contagion have all sounded like "Oooh, Seanan will have fun geeking over this one!"

[ravenclawed.livejournal.com]

I can tell Contagion is not my kind of movie, but I'm glad it's yours.

Speaking of your kind of things, Deadliest Warrior on Spike is doing something special for their season finale this Wednesday -- Vampires vs. Zombies. Forget Napoleon vs. Washington or Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror, this is where the real action is. :-)

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

hmm, haven't watched Deadliest Warrior before but I might have to tune in

[ladyphoenixia.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise you were a War of the Worlds (musical version) fan, now I love you even more! I went with my parents to see it when it came live to Australia, so epicly awesome.

And I'm very much looking forward to contagion, love diseases, I wonder when it comes out in Australia? (

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It's a brilliant piece of work. Strange, but brilliant.

[yellowblackhaze.livejournal.com]

As we're in a current dearth of good new releases (translation stuff I like) I may have to think about this film.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It's lovely.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

I quite enjoyed Contagion, and thought of you the entire time I watched it.

The kidnapping side plot seemed kind of superfluous, though. I wish they'd either developed it more, or left it out entirely.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I would have liked to see a bit more. At the same time, it was an illustration of a very natural human response to that sort of crisis; I think leaving it out would have been more of a disservice than giving it short shrift.

[paksenarrion2.livejournal.com]

I've heard mixed reviews about Contagion but your review has definitely put this in the must see category for me.

and is it bad of me to think of sneezing at a crucial point during the movie? Yes, I am evil.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are evil.

[vincentursus.livejournal.com]

My first thought on seeing the trailer for Contagion was something along the lines of "That looks like it might interesting."

This was followed by the realization "Ah, Seanan's influence."

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I win!