‘Look Both Ways’ is one of my favourite Australian movies. The worst-case-scenario imaginings of its main character, Meryl, are depicted in ghoulish animations, which are juxtaposed with the realistic elements of the unfolding storyline. It’s a wonderfully quirky and inspired way of bringing Meryl’s inner life to the audience and providing light relief to a film that has death at its heart: the director—the late Sarah Watt—was diagnosed with breast cancer during its making.
The film’s black humour resonates with me because, despite my scientific rationalist leanings, I think in much the same way as Meryl: worst-case-scenario is my oldest imaginary friend defensive tactic.
I hurt my back a few weeks ago, cleaning (yes, it’s bad for one’s health). I’ve never had back problems, and when my condition hadn’t improved after a week of intermittent resting, the bone-cancer-metastasized-from-the-bowel-cancer-I’ve-yet-to-be-tested-for-serves-me-right-for making-jokes-about-it thought crept into my head . A lot of magical thinking for someone who doesn’t believe in fairies and ghosts.
The benign reality—that sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day and in a car for close on 2.5 hours a day has turned me into a blob (note the passive construction of that last sentence), and my core strength just isn’t what it used to be—finally popped into my blobby brain, and off I went to the gym swimming pool, where I spent some time running through water, shocking neglected muscles back to life. And my back is suddenly better. Magical, isn’t it?!
Snow Poles in Summer – Falls Creek, Victoria, Australia
For more entries to this week’s WPC, see The Daily Post.
Five favourites out of the entries so far.
Exploratorius (who can resist a good mystery?!)
Colder Weather (an ant’s perspective)
happyface313 (look up!)
autopict (things catch the eye)
Lucid Gypsy (horseying around)
