Movie Song of the Week: "Floop's Song (Cruel World)"

Alan Cumming waxes philosophical in this clip from the 2001 movie Spy Kids. Boy, would Freud have a field day with this number!

Pop Song of the Week: "Jump Around"

The week after St. Patrick's Day, almost everyone is Irish. At least in their dreams.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “Beta Delta Gamma”

Wait! There was an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that managed to include both classic horror actress Barbara Steele and the late Barbara Harris among its cast members? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?

Of course, the roles Harris and Steele were relatively minor compared to the roles both actresses would later become famous for. Indeed, if you did not already know they were in this episode, you might not have guessed that the characters they were playing were played by them. (I certainly didn't.)

Anyway, the plot involved a party in a beach house involving various members of the Beta Delta Gamma fraternity and their girlfriends. (Hence the title of the episode.) During the party, one of the frat boys drank so much alcohol that he literally passed out. One of the girls suggested that the other members play a nasty prank on him by arranging to have him believe that he killed another frat member while he was drunk. His best friend then volunteered to be shot up with a drug that reduced his breathing to nearly undetectable levels so that he could play the role of said corpse. The remaining frat members then fled to another residence to await the results of their prank, only to eventually find out...

Ah! To say more would be telling. Suffice it to say that the ending of this episode might end up haunting your dreams. It certainly did mine the first time I saw it in my twenties. And yet it has lingered in my memory far longer than more famous episodes even though I first saw it in media res and never knew the title of this episode until just this past week.

Sueños (Dreams)

I usually don't try to read books in my dreams -- perhaps because I do enough of that while I am awake.

However, I have seen dead people in some of my dreams. No, seriously. After certain relatives and close friends have died, I had a tendency to see them in my dreams. I tried talking to them but fortunately they never talked back. Or should that be unfortunately?...

And no, I did not write all that just to win the "oddest blogger on the Internet" award.

However, I'll be sure to let you all know if I ever see Nick Andros in my dreams...

Cuento de Mi Id

“The Aftermath”

Since that day at the camp, Amanda Buckman's hair has turned white. She still screams when she sees a lit match and she has grown very thin.

As of this writing, her parents are considering taking her to see the renowned therapist Dr. Sue Snell, since Dr. Snell has a reputation for being an expert on bad dreams.

Movie Song of the Week: "I've Got a Dream"

The Dream Girl Cometh.

TV Quote of the Week

I said "a machine that makes dreams come true..." Nightmares can also be dreams.
--Guy Williams, Lost in Space, "Wish Upon a Star"

TV Quote of the Week

I rate something more than I've got! Where does it say that every morning of a man's life he's got to Indian wrestle with every hot young contender off the sidewalk who has an itch to go up one rung? McDermont, I've put in my time, do you understand that? I've paid my dues! I shouldn't be hustled to death in the daytime and then die of loneliness every night. That's not the dream! That's not what it's about!
--William Windom, Night Gallery, "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar"

Movie Quote of the Week

A dream to some. A nightmare to others!
--Nicol Williamson, Excalibur (1981)

Movie Quote of the Week

We dream many foolish things when we're ill.
--Kathleen Robertson, Psycho Beach Party (2000)

Quote of the Week

American dreams are strongest in the hearts of those who have seen America only in their dreams.
--Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East

Movie Quote of the Week

Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams?
--Vincent D'Onofrio, Ed Wood (1994)

TV Quote of the Week

I always dream in Spanish.
--Judy Reyes, Scrubs, "My Identity Crisis"

Buscando Trabajo de Nuevo: Parte XXVII

Apparently that dream I mentioned in my last installment of this feature did not come true.

But I'm still searching. Even though life does make it frustrating. My having to drive all the way to Irving this past week for a job interview that was ultimately fruitless doesn't make things seem much better. Especially since my would-be employer rejected me for reasons he could have found out when I was initially interviewed by phone.

Buscando Trabajo de Nuevo: Parte XXVI

I actually had a dream Friday night in which I was training for a new job.

So that's a good sign, right?

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Night Gallery: “The House”

Dreams. We all have them. And every now and then, some of us have special dreams. The dreams so real that you do not even realize that they are dreams till you wake up. Dreams in which you are basically powerless to control your actions because the minute you try to do just that, the dreams stop.

Elaine Latimer -- the character that actress Joanna Pettet plays in “The House” -- has such a dream. Over and over again, she dreams of taking a long drive in the country, only to come across a mysterious house out in the middle of nowhere. She has no idea who or what lives there yet she is always compelled by the dream to stop and knock on the door. But then she always turns and drives away before anyone answers the door, only to start the whole process all over again the next time she dreams.

Why does Ms. Latimer dream so much about a house she’s never seen before? How come she never sticks around to see who answers the door? The episode never quite answers these questions but then it isn’t quite meant to. Instead we get clues throughout the episode which may or may not be correct.

For example, we learn early on that Ms. Latimer has been seeing a psychiatrist named Dr. Mitchell. During part of the period she has been having her recurring dreams, she has been staying at a sanitarium and has been treated for depression. Although she comes across as a rather likable woman, another patient at the sanitarium describes her as being too dreamy. Almost as if Ms. Latimer was so out of touch that she even made other mental patients feel uncomfortable.

As the episode opens, Ms. Latimer is preparing to leave the sanitarium and return to the outside world. She worries that the dream may be a sign of some recurring mental condition but Dr. Mitchell does not seem too worried by it.

Then Ms. Latimer goes out driving during her first week out and comes across a house which looks just like the one in her dreams. The house is for sale because it is supposedly haunted but the really weird part about it is the way Ms. Latimer seems able to describe every detail of the interior without ever having been there before.

Is she psychic? Or just particularly lucky?

She ends up buying the house on a whim and then she moves in. Shortly afterwards, the dreams start up again. She is driving again and still stopping at the house but she still does not wait around for an answer.

One day she takes a quick catnap in an upstairs bedroom and gets awakened by what sounds like a knock on the front door. But there is no one there when she gets to the front door. The realtor who sold her the house comes by shortly afterwards but he claims to have seen no one on the road.

After the realtor leaves, Ms. Latimer calls Dr. Mitchell. But in the midst of her phone call, she hears yet another knock on the front door. She puts down the phone to go investigate and then...

What happens next?

Ah, that would be telling.

I will say this: the final emotion I saw on Ms. Latimer’s face seemed to be not so much fear or elation but rather disappointment. Why it seemed to be disappointment, I can’t really say. However, dream analysts do like to say that when you dream about a house, you’re usually dreaming about your body. So perhaps that explains Ms. Latimer’s mystery.

Perhaps.

A Dream of Fall or a Dream of...

I dreamt last Saturday night about being on a mountain road trying to pass a truck and getting too close to the edge of the road each time I tried to do so. Almost as if I had no control over my vehicle.

The next day I slipped and fell while taking a shower. Fortunately, I was not hurt but I cannot help but wonder whether that was the disaster my dream was anticipating -- or whether there is something far worse waiting for me in the near-future.

Sueños (Dreams)

A Dream of Fall or a Dream of...
It Is a Dream I Have...
Película de Sueño (Dream Movie)
Sueño o Pesadilla (Dream or Nightmare)

Sueño o Pesadilla (Dream or Nightmare)

Every so often I have this dream about this blonde girl I know. She lives way across town but in these dreams I had recently, she lives in the same condominium complex that I do. At first I dreamt that she lived at the opposite end of the complex. I would always set out to walk down that way but I would never make it.

Then I dreamt that she lived next door. One day she would drop off a box on my front porch and I would hear it while I was sleeping. I’d get up and go to the door and call her inside. But she would always have a friend with her when she did come inside. A male friend.

And then my mother would show up. And my father’s oldest sister. And they would look at me disapprovingly yet not say a word.

I would start trying to talk with them but they would look at me silently. And harshly. No expressions of love here. It was as if all of them -- the girl included -- were wearing masks and if the dream lasted long enough, the masks would slip and I would realize what I had really let into my condo. And why I was fortunate I had never made it to the girl’s condo when she lived at the far end of my complex.

But I always woke up before the dream got to that point.

At least I’ve always woken up so far…

Película de Sueño (Dream Movie)

I had that weird movie-like dream this morning about a green swamp monster who only preyed on people -- especially women -- who ate yellow squash. And of how the monster accidentally got on the trail of a friend of mine who was always sponging off people and borrowing their food.

Oddly enough, the friend in the dream had an English accent -- and I don't have any real-life friends who have English accents. But then I haven't run into any swamp monsters in real life either.