Salem's Lot

I can't remember any more if I read the book and saw the original miniseries when it came out. I know I saw it around that time, maybe a year or two later, but not by much. I'm not sure my parents would have let me watch it in 1979, being that I was 12 but I know I read the book in junior high so if not then, then certainly by 1981. All I remember of the original was that the miniseries sucked and David Soul was awful, it wasn't the least bit faithful to the book, a curse of all King's earliest movies.

I remembered the book scared the hell out of me so I may well had read it in 1979. I do know that I let Andrew borrow it because I'm not even sure why now because even though he had a crush on me forever I never liked him like that. I remembered him letting others borrow my book. I got it back without a cover and the 'good parts' underlined in pencil (a big clue that it was junior high). I never lent another book in high school. All I remember of the book, beyond I was scared, was the baby. The image of the mother trying to spoon babyfood into the dead infant's mouth, it plopping out onto the high chair and her pushing the baby's lips up so her child would smile at her is the only thing that remains vivid after 25 years.

I was so looking forward to the new version of it. I might have been happier had they NOT updated it. They should have left it in the 70's. It wouldn't have hurt anything and we could stop explaining why no one had their cellulars on. Be that as it may, it was still fairly good. I can't honestly say if this miniseries stuck close to the book (I do want to reread it now) but Rob Lowe (yum), Andre Braugher (fantastic underused actor), Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauger did good jobs. I liked the actor playing the young boy, Petrie. The special effects were pretty good and they obviously cut out a lot (this book is character heavy) and there is a rushed feel to it (and I can't honestly remember if the book had the frame set up the movie did). It was worth seeing even if the first 45 minutes tend to drag as they helplessly try to shoehorn in all the characters. TNT is sure to rerun it a million times. If you missed it, give it a try.

Biggest disappointment, the baby didn't die in this version.

Starting to feel it

the panic. My three hour oral exam is tomorrow at ten. I spend three hours being quizzed by three professors. I'm scared to death. I always get nervous before big exams. Been that way since grammar school. But oral exams spook me. I don't feel I do well which is odd since I've never failed on yet (but I didn't get the residencies I wanted back in medical school so maybe I did fail). I'd much rather take a written test. Maybe it's the eyes. Or maybe it's the negative connotations or more likely a combination of it since I was nervous during my first set of orals which really weren't an exam. It was CRPS, a process where you got for three days and go through a grilling by medical residency directors to see if you're good enough to get into their residency program (something all graduating doctors must do) It's a time where your best friends WILL slit your throat, will gossip and are encouraged to by doctors who more often than not drunk and more than willing to offer the position to any female doctor who'd sleep with them and then turn around and give it to the male doctor who presumably wasn't asked to do the same. To say the least it has left a lasting memory of how oral exams go on me. I'm fairly sure that won't happen tomorrow. I'm fairly sure if it did I'd be reporting them because unlike with the medical residency where I had to fend these guys off and keep my mouth shut or never see a residency and never work, I don't really need this masters. I have a doctorate. I'm just furthering my science knowlegde. I keep telling myself that. It's not really working.

Yeah, I'm nervous. Here's hoping for at least a few hours sleep. And hey to top off the day I broke my baby toe on my left foot. Whee.