Rambling: The Dentist

Today I went to the dentist. This was for the second time this week, and it was worse than the first time. He put some sort of a plastic varnish over some of my teeth, and I think he might have also drilled a hole into one of my molars. So I sat around for maybe 15 minutes with my mouth wide open. Unpleasant.

Anyway, it might have been my own fault, considering last time I went to the dentist was about 10 years ago. My lame excuse is that my dentist died, but now that I moved, there are more dentists to choose from. I still wish I could have my old dentist back.

I wonder, though, why our teeth have nerves anyway. What for? We don’t really need to feel our food, and I’m sure there must be a better way to ensure our teeth don’t fall out. And why do we only regrow them once? Questions, questions, but no answers.

Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Dry. A Memoir.

Today I finished reading Dry by Augusten Burroughs, a truly excellent book by the author of Running with Scissors and Wolf at the Table. It’s a very quick but deep read that I hereby recommend to everybody.

This book is basically about Augusten’s alcoholism, how he was forced to take a leave from his well-paid job in advertising in order to go to rehab and how he thought, “Great, 30 days off work, I can get drunk every day!” Sometimes it’s hilarious, sometimes terrifying and always amazingly honest.

If you’ve read Running with Scissors and didn’t like it, you still should give Dry or Wolf At The Table a chance. They’re much better and very different. It’s worth it.

Dollhouse 1×06: Man On The Street

The Voight-Kampff test... or is it?

Last week’s episode of Dollhouse was actually surprisingly good. Not only did they do a Voight-Kampff test, they also had some good dialogue (I like you, Mellie). Of course there’s always Topher Brink, who’s this show’s Xander character, minus the charisma. Or maybe just minus the people to play off of. He’s fun when he’s around Ivy, who, were I to venture a guess, might actually become pretty important later on in the show. Then again, maybe this is one of the famous fake Whedon trails, where they WANT you to think she will become important later. Which is working.

What is in store for Ivy?

Another positive aspect of the episode was the Faith-like personality Echo got implanted with – I was waiting for her to whip out the stake any moment. Another negative aspect was the terribly acted “fake news show” stuff. Speaking of terribly acted: My gosh, Mark Sheppard, what the heck? Overdoing it much? Why does it seem both he and Tamoh Penikett both forgot how to act since Battlestar Galactica?

Anyway, truth be told, so far I’ve been fairly disappointed with Dollhouse. In the first few episodes, I kept thinking “This part should’ve been played by Sarah Michelle Gellar”. Then, I thought, where is the depth? Where is the humor? Then I read an article in Rolling Stone Magazine about how Joss Whedon doesn’t want to work for TV anymore after this, because I suppose they twisted his original ideas and dumbed the whole show down. So the only reason I keep watching, really, is because I’m waiting for Whedon’s genius to shine through again. And well, I think in this episode it has. It certainly gives me hope.