The Thing

John Carpenter's The Thing with stop-motion GI Joes, from Zombie Zombie

I remember watching The Thing at a drive-in movie theater with my father. It was right before my parents divorced, so I must have been 7 or 8. I was supposed to be asleep in the back of the station wagon, but I couldn't stop watching. I was terrified out of my mind. Nothing is scarier than blood on snow.

When my brother and I were in high school, we drove to my grandparents' cabin in Red Lodge, MT for Christmas. On the way home we passed a horrible car accident. There was bright red blood all over the snow. There were bright emergency lights flickering through the snow. My father stopped to help and we sat at least an hour (it's possible it was only minutes, but this is how I remember it) and my brother looked terrified. This is the only memory of his being scared ever.

His blood and his daughter's blood were on the snow last year. I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my mind.

I saw this stop-motion video on Boing Boing and thought I'd share it. In the interest of slaying demons, I face things I used to hide from. The scariest memories of my life seem much smaller when told with dolls. GI Joes are like miniature plastic Chuck Norrii (the plural form of Chuck Norris.) Maybe everything seems smaller as an adult.

Today is my wedding anniversary. My life-size GI Joe is freezing in Korea. He has promised not to play strip poker with the warm woolies I have knit him. (That was a reference to MASH. I always picture David on the set of the 4077 instead of a modern air base.)

The next month is going to be long, but my love is waiting on the other side of February.