G's-Spot

Movie Review: Viggo Mortenson Naked aka Eastern Promises

Be aware there are a few spoilers here but nothing more than you would have already read about in Entertainment Weekly or other film mags.  I don't give away the movie's ending or plot twists, just discuss the naked scene and its impact on our sense.

I recommend this movie. It was very lean and stark like A History of Violence and very Cronenberg in that there were no perfectly moralizing happy endings, he just told the story and got out.  The basic storyline is that of a doctor in a London hospital who is trying to track down the family of a young Russian mother who died in childbirth to be able to place the baby with family.  All she has to go on is a diary written in Russian that leads her to restaurant and a family for whom Viggo is a chauffer...and more...

The now famous/infamous nude scene with Viggo was both better and worse than I imagined. J  You could see his full frontal dangling several times but there was no glamour and no lingering camera shots. Afterwards, when we could breathe again, I admit Kristina and I both said “Is he circumcised or not? Couldn't quite catch the full view when he was moving so fast."  But, during the scene you’re not really thinking about it in a sexy way. The scene, with him nude, was so powerful that our stomachs clenched.  It made him so much more vulnerable to the men who were trying to kill him. 

 

Viggo was completely without ego. He wasn’t trying to frame himself or look good. Maybe even the opposite. Several times he was either on his knees with his legs spread, crawling, or he was kicking and jumping or being thrown to the floor and his penis was literally dangling. There was no “see how strong and sexy my manhood is?” The whole thing was done in a way that made you stop thinking “just another movie fight scene” and think “Oh God, that’s gotta hurt bad.” 

The whole movie was very raw, as true to life as I can imagine people who live that life, and the characters moving.

Paris on David Letterman, or is it David on Paris?

Just in case you missed the cerebral Paris performance last night on David Letterman...

"That's where you and I differ..that's all I want to talk about."  No kidding. Who cares about her perfume?

Sick RT Practical Jokes

Had a patient tonight who needed to be terminally extubated but we were waiting for the family to give the word.  I had checked in on the vent several times and then needed to go out of the unit for a shift meeting.  Came back 40 minutes later and started vent checks. Went to that room, wasn't paying a lot of attention at first and then suddenly realized there was no vent, no monitors hooked up, and that the patient wasn't breathing. Of course, any RT's split second reaction is to call a code but following on the heels of that stress heartburn running up from my stomach to my throat was the realization that the order for the terminal extubation must have come through while I was gone.

I turned to the nurse and she confirmed that and told me which RT had performed the extubation.  I looked down to the other end of the hall and that RT was and had been watching me the whole time. Grinning.

When I caught up with her she said "I could have told you when you first got back but I was bored and wanted to see the look on your face.  Just so you know, it was quite entertaining."

Shit. Glad I could be someone else's entertainment value. But I admit, that was funny in a very sick way.

I'm glad the family chose to let the patient go. It was time and it was the most loving thing to do in that situation.

Jordan and the Homecoming Dress

Jordan picked out her homecoming dress tonight, along with shoes and jewelry (that she doesn't have on in the pic) and she's already planning to wear her hair down...

I love the pink sash.

Good for Jordan

Our niece Jordan was just nominated for Homecoming Queen this weekend. She's very excited. When we asked her how it happened, since she's not your typical cheerleader vapid type, she said a bunch of her friends said they want a "real girl" not just "prissy preps" to choose from.  She says she knows she won't win but she loves the idea of representing the "regular kids".

Good for her!

Love it When it All Comes Together

It's a small thing but I love it when we actually get to use some of the knowledge we learned in school (and on the job) in places where it's not as typical.  Had a post-op patient on the floor who was stridorous along with being airway constricted so it would have been easy to overlook the stridor during the PRN treatment that I really didn't have time for, except the patient's family said the pt's throat had been feeling "lumpy" and "closed in" since surgery and that the pt had been very anxious the last few hours getting that "I can't breathe" feeling.  Once the neb treatment was over, the airway wheezing had ceased, making the stridor really noticeable (with a stethoscope).  Even though it was late in the evening and the nurse had no idea what I was talking about she gamely called the doc, who didn't have much of an idea what I was talking about either, to get a racemic eppy order.

Voila. Thirty minutes later the patient breathed easier...was bouncing off the walls instead of sleeping after being hit with a double whammy to the beta receptors, but breathing easier.

That illustrates my favorite part of the job: making a difference to an individual. Self-centered of me, but who isn't? I like the part where I walk out the door knowing that my time made a tangible difference to at least somebody and that my evening wasn't just about chasing meaningless nothing all night like some jobs I've had in the past.

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

Little knee update:  the surgeon buried a needle full of cortisone up to the hub in each of my knees on Tuesday and by that night, aside from shaking and sweating, I was starting to feel better.  Wednesday night was awesome. I felt like my old self again and several people at work made comments about it being the first night in months that I wasn't limping, was smiling at the end of the shift, and wasn't pale and miserable looking.  But you know, I've been in so much pain for so long that I couldn't believe that it might be true.  I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for my knees to go back to the horrible place.  Thursday wasn't bad and tonight, my third full evening of work wasn't bad either. I did start to ache about 8pm but a half an hour after taking a couple of Tylenol it wasn't bad at all!

I feel so relieved and blessed and overwhelmed. All week long I've felt anxious and off-center, like I'm missing something. Oh. Yeah. Pain.

So anyway, my knees aren't perfect and never will be again but I can live with this. Thanks for listening to me complain for the last how-many-ever months.  It's so nice to have my old self back.

Paris Hilton: Philanthropy Defined

 

Oh that Paris Hilton. She's such a GIVER:

"I have, like, a million clothes and more than 500 pairs of shoes, so I'm going to give a bunch of them to orphanages and children's hospitals. I never wear something twice."

Thanks, Paris! That's just what young orphans need: f*** me pumps and hooker clothes.  It's like being handed a new wardrobe for a vocation on the streets. I guess Paris doesn't understand that only independently wealthy brats who don't have to work for a living can afford to dress like $5 whores.

Rosie's New Tell-All Book

Have you guys been listening to all the stuff Rosie's been spouting from her new book?  Wow.  She used to be sort of celeb-crazy but likeable.  Now there seems to be a whole lot of venom being spewed. What do you think?

All the News that's Fit to Print

Congratulations to Carrianne and Chris for getting the head night supervisor and assistant night supervisor positions, respectively.  I know they'll do a great job!

In other job news, as in news about me because the world does revolve around me...at least on this blog, I'm going to nights part-time as of October 1, if getting through the next two weeks doesn't kill me.  Yes, I'm still whining about my knees which is the motivating factor in that decision.  I am going back to the surgeon today to see what my options for chronic pain are so will update that later.

Had a good bit tonight though. Had a post-op vent that the nurse was freaking out about the ETCO2 being so high.  Once I got the patient on the vent I tried to "pump up" the volumes to blow them off but the CO2 seemed to be very reluctant to come down so I pulled the last gas taken on the patient prior to surgery on room air since COPD was one of the several diseases in the history, and what to my wandering eyes should appear but a retainer!  That took the stress off the RN. I told her to be sure to show the doc the gas since technically that's not my job to diagnose and the doc said to tell me it was a good catch.

Hey, some days I do remember a few things from school.