Pig Tales: The Story of a Swine Flu Survivor
Kejal Vyas
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Life & Leisure
The only time I could sustain any sort of movie-like activity was at the two poles of my illness: when I began feeling symptoms of the flu and when I began to recover from it. So, here is how I spent time just in case anyone else is coming down with the flu and wants to know the options. For my two other readers, here are reviews of what I read and watched.
Magazines: I reached to these first, but in the early parts of your sickness the small print may be tough on the eyes. It was mostly back issues of magazines that I read, some very old and some not so old. There is a great article in the February issue of Vanity Fair called "The Bush Years." People inside the Bush administration dish secrets about what it was really like to be in there. Apparently, at the final G8 summit, good ole George bid his fellow attendees a farewell with the words, "Goodbye from the world's greatest polluter." The article is full of great tidbits like this.
Dave Eggers' "Max at Sea" appeared in the August 24 issue of the New Yorker. The short story is adapted from Eggers new book The Wild Things. If you haven't heard of Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, then it is possible either you have not been living on this planet, or were perhaps sick with swine flu when the news got out. Either way, Eggers wrote the screenplay for the movie and was so taken by inspiration that he decided a book was in order.
The story was all right, so I may pass over the book. I think Zeitoun, his other recent publication, is going to make it to my reading list instead.
Books: I tried so hard to read a novel during my illness and simply could not sustain the effort. My mind then alighted on poetry as an option. I gave Rimbaud a shot, but his bizarre situations are no fun when you're feeling sick and bitter. I had wanted to see Bright Star, the movie about him and his relationship with Fanny Brawne, but the movie left theaters before I could feel better.
Movies: I only watched two movies when I was sick and they truly stood at the poles of my illness. I watched I've Loved You So Long right when I started to come down with the swine flu, but still didn't know that was what I had. The movie was good, but as I spent the weekend thinking about it I realized how cheesy it was. French movies where the actors are mostly silent are supposed to be the height of drama and seriousness, but in reality they are just at the other extreme of America's favorite dramatic technique - the shouting match. Neither is realistic. Nobody shouts such spectacular insults, but neither does anyone keep so silent, especially about a woman who committed a murder. It wasn't so much the silence as the ending, which I thought was a cop-out.
Magazines: I reached to these first, but in the early parts of your sickness the small print may be tough on the eyes. It was mostly back issues of magazines that I read, some very old and some not so old. There is a great article in the February issue of Vanity Fair called "The Bush Years." People inside the Bush administration dish secrets about what it was really like to be in there. Apparently, at the final G8 summit, good ole George bid his fellow attendees a farewell with the words, "Goodbye from the world's greatest polluter." The article is full of great tidbits like this.
Dave Eggers' "Max at Sea" appeared in the August 24 issue of the New Yorker. The short story is adapted from Eggers new book The Wild Things. If you haven't heard of Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, then it is possible either you have not been living on this planet, or were perhaps sick with swine flu when the news got out. Either way, Eggers wrote the screenplay for the movie and was so taken by inspiration that he decided a book was in order.
The story was all right, so I may pass over the book. I think Zeitoun, his other recent publication, is going to make it to my reading list instead.
Books: I tried so hard to read a novel during my illness and simply could not sustain the effort. My mind then alighted on poetry as an option. I gave Rimbaud a shot, but his bizarre situations are no fun when you're feeling sick and bitter. I had wanted to see Bright Star, the movie about him and his relationship with Fanny Brawne, but the movie left theaters before I could feel better.
Movies: I only watched two movies when I was sick and they truly stood at the poles of my illness. I watched I've Loved You So Long right when I started to come down with the swine flu, but still didn't know that was what I had. The movie was good, but as I spent the weekend thinking about it I realized how cheesy it was. French movies where the actors are mostly silent are supposed to be the height of drama and seriousness, but in reality they are just at the other extreme of America's favorite dramatic technique - the shouting match. Neither is realistic. Nobody shouts such spectacular insults, but neither does anyone keep so silent, especially about a woman who committed a murder. It wasn't so much the silence as the ending, which I thought was a cop-out.
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