All I Want For Christmas is ... Aliens v. Predator: Requiem!!!! OMGWTHLOLOL?!?!

I bet you of all the things to do on Christmas Day, watching the premiere of Aliens v. Predator: Requiem was not one of them. But we did. It was my idea to watch the movie considering I'm a big fan of both franchises, but it was a counter-intuitive choice. Of course, thanks to my partner we rationalized the choice as an act of recalcitrance against the maniacal consumerism that Christmas generates every year. And on that note, we watched the film.

*SPOILER ALERT*

For a film that we knew beforehand would be stupid, it was worse. Not disastrous because there were a few moments that I liked, namely being scared to my wits and watching victims writhe in pain as "chestbusters" break out of their hosts.

That was cool to watch, but also shocking because the victims also included children and pregnant women. That was truly different in this film because we normally attribute feelings of protection to children and pregnant women. Horror movies are constructed in a way that gives heroes and heroines a reason to survive and fight off whoever or whatever is gouging, cannibalizing, pummeling, ingesting, or decapitating them. Obviously, the word "killing" is a foregone conclusion, but the manner in which victims die is central. Anyways, children are very useful to instill the drive to stay alive by soliciting your paternal/maternal instincts. Think of the relationship between Newt and Ripley in the second Aliens installment. But in this movie, one of the first victims was a father and son, in which we got to see the kid's chest pulse and explode, and the screech of the pre-adult alien slithering out in a pool of gushing blood. Another scene had the "predalien," the alien/predator incarnation from the first AVP, stalking a bunch of newborns in a hospital. *Shudders* And finally, a scene which still freaks me out, a hospital ward full of pregnant women who become impregnated by the "predalien." Needless to say, what came afterwards was absolutely grotesque. Oddly enough, my partner wasn't even phased ... something about alien-on-human violence that is more bearable (and entertaining to watch) than human-on-human violence. Go figure. That scene still unnerves me.

Anyways, we're off for the MLA conference in Chicago. We'll be staying for about 3 days. Mostly work related stuff and maybe a day to do the tourist stuff. I've got a deadline to submit a call for papers in a proposed anthology, and one or two job applications before the end of the month. And on top of that, another chapter to finish. Then it's off to Kansas to stay for another few days to visit my partner's parents. It'll be cold and freezing, but we'll have lots of home cooked meals. I can't wait!