Thank you about Jasmine; a Movie recommendation; and lastly, a complaint

[chicken]

First, thank you.

I want to say thank you to everyone who commented on my last post about Jasmine. I just don't have the emotional energy to respond to everyone in person, but I read and took to heart all of your kind responses.

My darling rabbit is feeling even more raw and sad than I am, and has not felt up to posting, but has also read your responses and is very grateful for your kind words about the loss of our sweet Jasmine.

Second, a complaint. Not about you, about some other people!

I unsubscribed from a mailing list for people with terminally ill kidneyCats, because you know what? I don't want to read about other people's sick cats anymore! Too depressing. Let me tell you the funny part though -- and I want to find out if other people find this equally hilarious, because to me, it's like "the stork brings babies", I mean COME ON -- anyway, the funny part to me is that a ton of people on that list would use a euphemism for death that I had never seen before.

They would all write that their cats had "gone over the rainbow bridge". I thought this was the funniest euphemism ever. At first. Now, I just find it annoying and childish. At the end, it just pissed me the hell off. Can't they just say, "my cat has died"? ARGH!!!

Is it wrong that I find this so darn annoying? Please tell me someone else finds this equally silly.

On a lighter topic, I highly recommend the film "Stardust". It is a very pleasant surprise, and is actually one of the few "adaption based on a novel" movies that is actually better than the original novel. I do love Neil Gaiman's writing and especially love the "Sandman" graphic novels and "Good Omens", but didn't like Stardust as much. So this film was extremely and surprisingly good. The casting is just amazing, the pacing is good (unlike in the book), and the balance of comedy, fantasy, and romance is just right.

Go see it! And curses to the lame, non-existent marketing behind this film. If it does poorly at the box office it will not be because of any lack of quality in the film itself, only in the bad job the studio has done in promoting it.

That is all.

Comments

[kaydee23.livejournal.com]

Give Bunny a hug from me. It's going to be hard for a long time. We risk a lot when we love our kitties (and doggies) so much, but it's worth it because they give us so much love and happiness. I still love looking at pictures of my Reno Jones, the sweetest kitty ever. He was gray and had big orange eyes. His sister Lady Di was so beautiful, but not as friendly. Still I loved her because she and Reno Jones were so very tight. They'd lie in the yard nose to nose and stare at each other for hours and they'd also sleep all tangled up. So cute.

I want to see Stardust now. I was afraid that it wouldn't be as good as the book. I'm glad to hear it's actually better. I'm surprised that a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer isn't getting promoted more.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

They'd lie in the yard nose to nose and stare at each other for hours and they'd also sleep all tangled up.

Pearl and Jasmine did that for years, but ever since Jasmine got sick, they stopped doing it. Pearl treated Jasmine like an outsider because she always smelled like V-E-T. It was very sad because they used to be so close. Sisters.

I want to see Stardust now. I was afraid that it wouldn't be as good as the book. I'm glad to hear it's actually better. I'm surprised that a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer isn't getting promoted more.

Yes, and it also has Claire Danes and Robert DeNiro -- you would think the studio would be promoting the hell out of it.

[kaydee23.livejournal.com]

I don't know why people don't just say "died." Still, I'm a big believer in Cat and Dog Heavens. If any creature deserves an afterlife, cats and dogs certainly do. Cynthia Rylant has two beautiful books, one is "Dog Heaven" and one is "Cat Heaven." They're wonderful. They're meant for children, but I love them too.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I like to think that cats and dogs are a higher life form than humans, spiritually. Like, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, if you are lucky, you get reborn as a pampered house cat or pet dog.

[anelith.livejournal.com]

"Gone over the rainbow bridge"???! Words... fail me. I know that I should have compassion and sympathy and not make fun, but -- I can't refrain. I have to share this one with Ron.


We loved Stardust. I really thought it was very well-adapted and in some ways, better than the book, especially in the pacing. I didn't know that it wasn't well promoted! Were there not a lot of commercials for it? John Scalzi's blog had an interesting analysis of the release date, that it was actually fairly well placed against Rush Hour 3 (how the audience for those two movies were not overlapping).

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I am glad I'm not the only person who finds this "rainbrow bridge" phrase to be a bit ... ludicrous. Share away.

The audience for Stardust at the showing we attended was much bigger than I had pessimistically anticipated. And it doesn't open in the UK until October, which is where it will probably make a lot of money, so hopefully it will do fine.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The Rainbow Bridge originally came from Norse mythology, but I think it resurfaced recently in some piece of email glurge about departed pets or something like that.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Well, at least I now know these particular people didn't invent it. Thanks for that!

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia also has some speculation about where the pet version came from. Not my kind of thing, either, though I guess everyone grieves in their own way.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Ehhhh.

As an agnostic, I just can't stomach this. It leads people, esp. children, into some kind of false hope they will see their pets again. What we know for sure is that there's this world here. Love your animals here and now. Take care of them, don't hurt them, be kind to them. That's all we know for sure.

There's a difference between clinging to this kind of stuff to get through the grief, and facing the fact that your loved one is really gone.

Chiming in way late... :-)

[(Anonymous)]

How do you know it's false hope? :-) Seriously, I'm not trying to belittle your worldview here, but you, as an agnostic, don't know for a fact that there's nothing after this life, any more than I, as a Quaker, know that there is an afterlife. It's probable that one of us is wrong, but who knows? There might be a third possibility neither of us has considered. And as for the Rainbow Bridge thing -- what's the big deal? People all grieve in different ways, and if it makes someone feel better to believe in an eventual reunion with his or her pets, well... How is that a problem?

Just my random $0.02. :-)

--Tammy