Why I Hate the Ocean (Or: All Fish Are Evil)

[thistlechaser]

When I was a kid, the first horror movie I ever saw was called Piranha. It was available for downloading the other day, so I grabbed a copy and watched it this afternoon. It was (obviously) about piranha, but they were genetically modified and such. As the movie went on, they ate countless people in more and more graphic ways. I was pretty young when I first saw it -- too young.

The movie scared the poopoo out of under-ten years old me, and I went from being an avid swimmer to refusing to go into any water but the clearest of swimming pools (and thus able to walk around and look in before I got in, checking to make sure there were no fish in it). Seeing how we lived on a beach, this worried my mother and angered my father. Later that same year, he took me to Germany, and in his oh-so infinite wisdom, took me to an aquarium there to see real, live piranha.

Big mistake.

I thought then (as I do now) that piranha look like the most evil little fish around. Horrible, nasty, evil little fish. I was scared to death when I had to see them then, and I've never, ever swam in the ocean since. (In the last few years I'll sometimes put my feet in, but I won't go any further than I can see the bottom and all around me.)

I know that piranha don't live in the ocean (believe me, I've been told countless times), but still! There are other bad things in the ocean, like sharks and stuff! ...but the idea of piranhas eating my toes is still more scary than a shark coming to eat me... *tremble!*

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Onto other scary things! I had wanted to see a movie called SWAT when it came out in the theaters a few months back, but I missed it. When I saw it available for downloading, I grabbed a copy. I just watched it today... or tried to. Less than ten minutes into it and I was utterly disgusted at how unrealistic the plotline was, at the lack of consequences for doing things, etc. I deleted it, but the sad part about it wasn't the sucky quality of the film, it's that I think I would have enjoyed it if I had watched it a few months back -- before I had been exposed to better things. Oh well.

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Lastly: Watched some Trigun before the movies. Four eps. Met Wolfwood. Punch: If you meant that I'd like him in a "he's an interesting character" sort of way, then yes I did. If you meant "he'll make you need to change your panties", then no. However, I did see why you liked him (you did, right?). He's very Lupin-ish in style. Like 70s clothing and the way he's drawn and stuff.

Unfortunately, while I like Trigun, I'm not getting into it as much as I have other series. I'll keep watching it, but it hasn't grabbed me. This new more serious stuff (with his dead(?) whoever the female is (wife? sister?)) is making it more interesting, but still.

Don't know what I'll watch next. This 'Mobile Suit Gundam Wing' thing has finished downloading, and I have three eps of Saiyuki to try (don't recall who recommended that). Prince of Tennis is really slow, so it's not finished yet. The X-TV thing is snail-slow -- three days and it's still only at 30%! Hm, looking into my folder, I actually have a ton of stuff left. Time to get back to watching!

Comments

[ev-vy.livejournal.com]

My first horror movie was Blob. I was scared to go to the toilet alone. I was scared to take a bath alone. I wouldn't go into a dark room. It lasted about a month, and I was then about ten years old. Soon thereafter I watched the third Freddie Kruger movie and it was even worse. I couldn't sleep, because I was afraid to fall asleep.

I still don't like going into a dark room, especially in new places.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I remember the Blob. Ugh! Bothered me, too.

Know I've still not seen a Freddie Kruger movie? Not so much because I'm worried about it scaring me (though it probably might have), but the storyline just never interested me -- probably for the best!

[ev-vy.livejournal.com]

They're no longer scary for me. I always get a good laugh out of them. Besides, it's enough to see one.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Have you seen pictures of angler fish and some of the other very deep sea fish? I can't help but think you might change your mind about pirahnas being the most evil-looking if you saw some of them.

The most bizarre thing about it is that they look unbelievably scary, but most are only centimeters, or even millimeters long. They're too deep to be bigger than that.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Those ones with the lights on a thingie off their forehead? Yes, I've seen those, and I don't mind them -- they look sort of cool! If they had bright red spots and giant toe-eating mouths, then I'd have to flee them.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

So this toe-eating mouth doesn't bother you? Or this (http://people.whitman.edu/~yancey/fangtooth.JPG) one? How about this (http://people.whitman.edu/~yancey/viperjaw2.JPG), this (http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species/default.asp?hOri=0&hab=9&inhab=169), or this (http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/acornuta.htm)?

Okay, okay, I'll stop being mean and making you think of the "icky" stuff in the sea.

Wait, one more picture. Just because vampire squid (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/onnogross/vampyrot.htm) are so cool!
(http://ramseydoran.com/anglerfish/deep09b.JPG) ()

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

See? Fish *are* evil! We should drain the oceans and turn them into parking lots!

;)

[metron-ariston.livejournal.com]

Hmm... did that movie have them jumping out of a well and killing a Spanish or Indian-looking woman? I think I may have seen that when I was a kid, but I remember nothing about it but a faint impression of fish jumping out of a well.

My first horror movie was Gremlins. When I was about five. I got through most of it without a problem (probably because I didn't understand half of what was going on). But at the very end when the guy is talking about turning on all the lights and looking under your bed and in your closet because there could be a gremlin in your house? HORROR. *gets tearfully frightened just thinking about it* Even now I can't watch that movie without having to turn my head and/or change the channel at the bad parts. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is not a Christmas song for me - it's a song of utter terror.

Oddly, Gremlins 2 was always really funny to me.

Please don't give up on Trigun! It really does become an interesting story... and Wolfwood gets even more interesting as the series goes on. I had a panty-changing fondness for him, but that's probably because his look reminded me of my first video game love, Vincent Valentine from FFVII in his Turks suit. (There was a fighting game by Square called Ehrgeiz where he was a hidden character in that outfit - played that waaaay too much at a friend's house. *g*)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hmm... did that movie have them jumping out of a well and killing a Spanish or Indian-looking woman?

Not the original one, but there was a second one in which they could fly (eek!), and I believe it had a scene like that.

My first horror movie was Gremlins. ... "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is not a Christmas song for me - it's a song of utter terror

Eek! I can believe that. I remember some scenes from that movie...

Please don't give up on Trigun!

Nope, I won't! I don't hate it or dislike it at all, it just doesn't make me go 'Oh my god! Gotta watch it NOW NOW NOW!'. :)

Thanks!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Do pirhanas live in the ocean? I seem to remember someone saying that they live in fresh water like lakes and rivers. Hmm

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think it's freshwater only, yeah. And warm water, at that. I think they're only found in rivers in the Amazon and aquariums in Germany, I think.

:)