Postsecret review 26

 Getting this one done a little earlier than usual...

"I hate that I know what your wife likes in bed. Even more, I hate that we like the same things. So when you're doing them to me, I can't help but imagine you doing them to her." (over a photo of a blindfolded woman with a finger to her lips)

Oh fun, another secret that has to do with affairs. I am wondering about how the writer found out what the wife likes in bed, whether this was from talking to the wife (maybe they're friends?) or the husband talking about what his wife likes... 

"Antique furniture scares me" (over a torn out image depicting various antique furniture arranged in a grid)

I really wonder why exactly it scares them, yet at the same time, somehow I can kind of understand this...

"I keep hoping I'll see my brother in law in one of these images so I can turn him in and give my sister a second chance" (over a photo of the Capitol insurrection rioters)

This one is kind of interesting because it provides a small look into some more individual/personal dynamics of this situation. I wonder if the writer did end up seeing their brother in law in a photo and turning him in?

"today i realized i could no longer remember what you were like when you still loved me" 

This one, aesthetically and thematically, is vaguely reminiscent of A Softer World, so that's what I find interesting about it. I also sort of like how it is a bit melancholy.  

"When you are being unreasonable, I put you on mute and scream obscenities at you" (over a photo of a man holding a telephone and screaming with an angry expression on his face)

While I can see how this would be cathartic, it also seems like it could potentially go wrong if the phone happened to actually not be on mute while the obscenity-screaming took place...

A selection of secrets, while not inherently that interesting to me by themselves, are slightly more interesting when looked at together:

"After my son was born I secretly wished he would die so I could have my life back / Now I would give my life so he could live / I never knew I could love someone so much" (over an image of a newborn baby in the hospital) / "I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough to raise my son to be the man that his father failed to be." 

It is interesting to me how these secrets both have to do with reflections on parenting. The first one is a positive reflection, that the writer ended up loving their son more than they expected even though they initially secretly wished the son would die. The second one is more of a worry about the writer's ability to be a good parent to their son. There were a couple of other secrets about parenting as well: "I could of been a father... but I was to scared" / "He still loves us, even after I told him it wasn't his..."

"I have always wanted an Afro" / "I feel like I have to work harder to look pretty because my hair is curly" / "I feel like the people that see me with straight hair see a fake me" 

These all have to do with hair texture, curly hair in particular. It seems that all the people who wrote these secrets have some hangups about their hair texture... (particularly the last two, perhaps not necessarily the first one as much)

Postsecret review 25

It seems that I don't get to these until the very end of the week right before the next week's secrets are posted. I did sort of intend to try and do this one earlier, but it didn't happen until now.

"My son's 17 year old friend wants to screw me. I'm a 46 year old woman. I want to screw him too." (over a postcard that says "oh baby, baby" and with an illustration of Britney Spears, which I had to look up to be sure that it was her)

This is also another one of those secrets that very possibly might not end well if it were to actually happen. Maybe at least they should wait until the kid is 18. Even then, not necessarily a good idea... although for some reason this scenario doesn't exactly seem like it's entirely unheard of.  

"i still don't know how i feel when i think about the fact that i;m the last person you chose to text before you killed yourself. at first i was horrified, and then in a weird way i was flattered but now i'm angry that you put that pressure on me, that i have to live with for the rest of my life." (typewritten text)

This one is rather dark and depressing. I can imagine that it might be rather... unsettling to be in the situation that this secret-writer is in. I do kind of wonder what the person who died said in the text(s) just prior to their death.   

"I'm in my 30's and I induced lactation so I can breastfeed grown men -- It's so intimate and satisfying." (over a grid of photos of women's bare breasts)

This one is bizarre and I can safely say that this is not a thing I'd do myself. I'm not nor do I want to be a milk machine/fountain for various grown men to drink from as they please. I wonder if or how much this woman charges for men to breastfeed from her? You couldn't pay me enough. Well, maybe a few grand per man, and they only get 5 or 10 minutes... yikes, I've just grossed myself out thinking about that entirely theoretical idea. Imagine if men did this in reverse, for women to breastfeed from them...   

"When I was little, I thought the 'milk man' was a glass of milk with arms and legs." (over a collage of a glass of milk with little human arms on the sides and legs)

This one is amusing and I like the collage of this person's childhood idea of what a milkman was.

"I took my family on a road trip during covid and now my daughter will have health issues for the rest of her life. It wasn't worth it." 

That's quite a lesson to have learned the hard way...

"I tell my friends I do coke because I like the way it feels. I do coke because I like how it feels to be thin."

None of my friends have told me that they do coke. But I guess if they did, I should try and remember to inquire about their reasons for doing it. 

"When I'm on a chair lift I look down and guess whether I'd die, live, or break my leg if the chair fell at that exact moment." (over a photo of a ski lift and an arrow pointing to a certain chair labeled "I'd die here")

I like this one because it is rather unique and also has a pleasingly morbid air to it.

"Whenever people ask me for directions I always direct them to a strip club." 

I'm really not a fan of maliciously messing with other people like this just for the heck of it. Those people probably would've just liked to know how to get to their intended destination. If I'm going to intentionally make someone's life more difficult or annoy them, it'll be because they deserve it. 

"When I am behind a bad driver with disabled plates, I think to myself... driving like that is probably how you got those plates..." (over a photo of the wreckage from a car crash)

Snarky and kind of morbid. I... actually have not thought this about people who drive badly and happen to have disabled license plates.

"I imagine that your long nose hairs are spiders crawling out of your nose" (over a photo/image of a nose with spider legs drawn coming out of the nostrils)

I, for one, am glad that I don't spend enough time looking closely enough at people's noses to notice if they have long spideresque nose hairs or not. Long nose hairs are gross, honestly. Trim them. 

Postsecret review 24

Saturday night, secret-reviewing time! Just in time before new secrets get posted tomorrow. So here goes.

"Sucking my boobs is not a turn on. GAME OVER" (with a drawing of Mario)

I feel like maybe this would've been more useful to actually tell the person it refers to? Instead of sending it into Postsecret. Communication is everything when it comes to sex and/or relationships. 

"I wish my life insur[ance] paid for my suicide" (written in like stickers or something over dollar bills -- in denominations of 50, 20, 10 and 5: two of each)

This is kind of a depressing secret. Although perhaps there are methods that would make it look enough like an accident so that life insurance would cover it? 

"I owe my wonderful life to a man I don't even know; the man who stole my wife 40 years ago. To you sir, cheers!" 

I wonder if this means the person remained unmarried after the wife was stolen, or if he married someone else/different instead and then had a wonderful life with them? The whole concept of wife-stealing and affairs and all that fascinates me for some reason.

"I am a very talented hacker but I only use my skills to steal family photo's off of stranger's computers" (over a photo of some people, a couple presumably, with a date of 2-15-2006)

This is sort of a bizarre secret. I wonder what this person's motivation is for going after the family photos on strangers' computers -- what do they like about or get out of it?

"The day I found out I passed the bar exam, a little part of me died. And everybody celebrated." (beneath a graduation photo, presumably from law school, of a woman)

The implication I get from this one is that the person perhaps wanted to pursue a different career instead of law, and it makes me wonder what this other thing was that they presumably had to eschew in order to become a lawyer.

"Whenever I spend more than $1000 at a store, I always steal something small, just to get my moneys worth, I think the sales people know most of the time." (over a tag that says Chloe)

Naughty. 

"I work at an adolescent psych hospital... ...and I have feelings for one of my patients."

This seems like the sort of thing that probably wouldn't end well.

"I need these pills to have sex with my wife but not with my boyfriend" (over a label/packaging from Viagra)

Saucy. I wonder how the wife in this scenario feels, and if she knows about the boyfriend or even has any suspicions. Maybe she is disappointed by the fact that her husband needs to us Viagra with her?

"I ride the train because you fall asleep on my shoulder" (over a Northeast Illinios commuter rail ticket)

This is a very sweet and transit-oriented secret.

"I am more comfortable sleeping with strangers than I am touching myself" (over a closeup photo of a person's, perhaps a woman's, collarbone)

I don't really understand how this could be the case/can't relate to this at all. 

"I think if I were less attractive I'd have a better sense of who I really am"

I wonder how attractive one has to be in order for them to feel that it has hindered their sense of who they really are? Maybe it just means that I'm not attractive enough for that to have happened... I guess the implication here is that other people only like the person for their looks and so a large portion of their identity/sense of self is wrapped up in their appearance?

"I put myself thru college by having sex with men that look like [arrow pointing to an old-ish man in a photo] and every time I see one, I still think to myself 'He looks like a trick'"

a) I wonder if this resulted in catching any STDs, although b) I suppose people do what they have to do, and in this case, good for this person for being able to put themselves through college, even if it came by way of prostitution?

Postsecret review 23

 And here's another one. Many of the new/current secrets were boring, so these come from the classic secrets.

"I have furniture for a lifestyle I no longer have." This one is vague but it makes me wonder what caused the former lifestyle to go away. A divorce or something or what? 

"Before I cook -- I spank myself w/ the spatula!!" (over a photo of a chef in a kitchen) This is bizarre and I hope the person only does it when they're cooking for themselves... 

"I'm not mad that my boyfriend broke up with me. I'm PISSED that he didn't give me the boots he already bought for me for Xmas before he dumped me!" (over a drawing of a blue high-heeled boot) Materialistic much? I also wonder what he did with the boots after breaking up with this person.

(written in all-caps handwriting, above a drawing of Lionel Messi with blank/fully white eyes) "just at the peak of every orgasm, I send the energy to Lionel Messi so he can use it in his beautiful play." what. the. fuck. 

"I purposely left this in your car so I knew I'd for sure see you at least once more..." (over an image of a book cover of a book titled This Is Not A Book) I like this one because it seems sort of sweet, I guess, and if I were cleverer (and had a fitting situation) perhaps I would do something like this as well. 

"As editor of my school's yearbook, I would put ugly pictures of people who were mean to me." Petty, but I suppose I can understand doing this. 

Crítica de película: La piel que habito

Ví este película unos días en el pasado. Nunca sabía de este película antes de viendo un tweet de Archillect de una escena. Es una peli con elementos de misterio y suspenso. Hay un poco de tortura también. 

Trata de un hombre, Robert Ledgard, un cirujano plástico talentoso quien perdió su esposa debido a un incendio del auto. Ella sufrió quemaduras muy serias y después de se observando en el vidrio de una ventana, estaba horrorizada y se mató. También, Robert quiere venganza contra un hombre quien violó la hija de Ledgard. 

Ledgard vive en una finca grande en Toledo, España. En su casa, hay un sala donde una mujer, Vera, está cautiva/rehén. La historia de esta mujer es un misterio. Robert trabajaba en creando un piel indestructible y transplantóla en el cuerpo de Vera, reemplazando su piel original. 

Hay más detalles pero no quiero arruinar el argumento. Tiene que verla por uno mismo. Hay una version con subtítulos en íngles. Disfruté esta peli; era interesante y única. También, ver pelis extranjeras me hace sentir sofisticada. El director de esta peli es Pedro Almodóvar. Antonio Banderas representa a Robert. 

Movie review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer

It seems that I haven't had many non-review things to write about recently. I haven't discovered any new-to-me particularly interesting actors or whatnot. Anyways, let's get to it.

I watched this movie shortly after watching another one (The Skin I Live In) that maybe is sort of vaguely similar, but not particularly so.

What I did not know prior to watching this was that it was based off a Greek myth, which does give some insight to the plot. Overall, it was a measured, methodical movie and also sort of... placid. I would categorize it as a drama although some things I've read describe it as horror and/or psychological thriller. It seemed too calm and didn't really have enough intense action in it to really make me think of it as a thriller. There was suspense and conflict in it, but it was all delivered in a very measured, subdued way, almost. 

While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't spectacular or anything and I don't see myself rewatching it of my own accord. Overall I consider it to have been mediocre; it just didn't strike me as that brilliant. If someone else wanted to watch it and I were present, I wouldn't necessarily refuse, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to subject myself to watching this movie again. 

The ending was somewhat unsatisfying but not horrifically unsatisfying. I just don't really have a ton to say about this movie, really. I preferred The Skin I Live in, a Spanish-language movie. I sort of intended to do a full review of that one, perhaps in Spanish.  

Postsecret review 22

 Another one, here it is on this Halloween evening. It seems that quite a few were worthwhile to comment on this time! [Actually, I'm going to finish this later, once a new batch of secrets probably will have been posted.]

"I'm sorry. My lies ruined us

I hope you're ok and happy

I'm not"

This one is rather too vague to know what it's about, but I guess kind of I like the angsty regret conveyed in it? 

"My office gave me this 'random' card during appreciation week. I'm not sure if it's a pat on the back or a slap in the face." The card says "There's no need to be so hard on yourself, you're managing as best as you can." over an illustration of a cute tiger and the secret is written over that. 

This one I like because it's somewhat less generic.  

"When I am really stressed at work, I book a conference room and watch blackhead extraction videos on the big screen. (I'm a C-suite exec and it's time well spent, calms me)."

I... don't quite know what to say about this one. But I guess it makes me wonder about the potentially bizarre habits of other fancy businesspeople? 

"When another woman steals your man the best revenge is to let her keep him!" (over a wedding photo)

This one has some backstory about the author and the person the secret was about, who apparently read and liked said secret without knowing it was about her! It makes me wonder about other situations where the subjects of secrets happened to read secrets that were about them, whether they realized it somehow or not. I guess it's also making me wonder how common it is for spouses to be stolen by others... 

"At the beginning of a relationship, I plan for the end of it." 

Seems a bit fatalistic and also a bit vague, since... how can you know how, when or even if a given relationship will end? I feel like the specific circumstances around how/when it ends (which would be unknowable, most likely, at the beginning of a relationship, unless the writer had specific ideas at that time about how they planned to end it, like "I will break up with this person over the phone in exactly six months from now.") could really impact any theoretical plans one might have for the end. Someone dying unexpectedly would have a different impact than if they or the writer cheated and that caused the end of the relationship. Or maybe they would just happen to gradually drift apart? Lots of different possibilities here. So many ways relationships can go wrong!

"My children hate me because I divorced and remarried but I often wonder if they would still think their father was a hero if they knew what he did to me when I was pregnant. ..with them" (over an image of a pregnant woman, seemingly on a poster about abuse/violence against women and children with some facts: 40% of women abused during pregnancy reported that the abuse began when they became pregnant and 21% of women abused by their partners were assaulted during their pregnancy)

This one is somewhat dark. I wonder what the father did to make the children think he was a hero, even though he abused the mother and they aren't aware of that? 

"I had a dream that you woke up from a coma, you were never really gone. I've cried every night since"

The concept of comas fascinates me for some reason. In a way, I feel like being in a coma could be restful for the person in it. But to the people who know the comatose person, it might not be such a restful experience for them as they might be worried about the comatose person. 

"I think I have a moustache fetish..." (over an illustration of a man's face with a mustache drawn on it) 

I don't. I can't really imagine what it would be like to have a mustache fetish. I think clean-shaven faces look much better.   

"My dad told me which drugs will give me the best high." It must be different to have parents who do/have done drugs and therefore can advise on this matter!! 

"My sister attempted suicide. I am angry because I feel that she took that freedom away from me."

Another relatively dark secret although I don't really see how one sibling attempting suicide necessarily takes that (freedom?) away from the other sibling. 

"It wasn't an erection. I purposely stuck a cardboard tube in the front of my pants, I still act embarrassed like it was one." All I have to say about this one is: but why. 

"hey DICK I threw the ring you gave me off here" (with an arrow pointing to the edge of the Grand Canyon; on a postcard depicting the Grand Canyon)

I wonder how expensive the ring was, and if anyone ever found it in the bottom of the Grand Canyon??

"the person who taught me 'your only as sick as your secrets' has been lying to me my whole life but I know why and understand" (beneath an old photo of a young-ish/not particularly old man and a boy standing next to a car with the side doors open -- the photo appears to be maybe from the 1980s?)

The photo accompanying this one kind of intrigues me, and the secret leaves to the imagination what the subject was lying about. Mysterious! 

"For the first time, my life has promise and direction

I forgive anyone and everyone in the past who has hurt me, even myself.

I bless these experiences and let them go. 

They are no longer a part of my reality

I'm including my rapist too"

This one is kind of pleasantly uplifting/hopeful.

"I am so ashamed of myself I punish myself I escape in alcohol" (over an image of a martini with a fake eyeball in red liquid, a cigar and a few other glasses for alcoholic beverages. The secret is written in those little arrow-shaped post-it notes to mark pages, a word or two on each.)

This one isn't particularly unique or anything, but I liked the image of the fake eyeball in the drink... 

"My TV shows have become my salvation" (inside the screen of a simple drawing of an old-fashioned TV set) 

It makes me wonder which TV shows the writer is referring to, and what circumstances they've found themselves in that mean TV shows are their salvation... seems like a rather grim and also shallow, in a way, existence. 

"My sister admitted trying to kill me twice, after she tried to kill herself this year" (written in neat all-caps handwriting) An alarming situation. This murderous/suicidal sister doesn't sound very stable!

"I bought this pack so that I can mail my secrets in 

Because I can't take this SHIT ANYMORE!!!" (on the label of a pack of index cards)

Yet no actual secret of substance. Tsk tsk. 

"I'm jealous of teen moms" (over a photo of what evidently are two teen moms with large pregnant bellies)

I am not jealous of them and I really do wonder why the secret writer here is. What aspect of that situation do they find appealing? Maybe they just really want children and sooner rather than later? 

"I fantasize about putting a hit on the man who raped me. All it would take is a phone call to do it. He has no idea whose daughter he hurt."

It makes me wonder whose daughter it is! Imagine being able to call a hitman on a whim!