FAST1

What I did today. Well, it started off innocently enough. Just some minor paperwork, no sick call. Did Physical Training for the first time in forever. Etc. It was after lunch that it all started. I came back to the Aid Station and got told that one of my co-workers 11 year old child was going to stick an IV in me. If I could figure out how to do smiley faces in the posts, there would be a smiley face with its eyes bugged out in surprise. Well, we got that over with quickly. He messed it up, but it didn't hurt at all. Then they told me I would be getting a FAST1. That is what you get if the medic can't get a vein in your arm. It is a large needle that punctures your sternum and you get fluids and meds into your bone. Yeah. Sounds like fun huh? Well, it hurt. A lot. A FAST1 has a circle of 10 big needles and in the middle of those needles is one big needle that hooks up to the IV. All of the 10 guide needles have to be up against your sternum and have 35 pounds of pressure on them for the middle needle to get shot out into the bone. You hear a nice crunch as it goes in. Much pain. For your viewing pleasure, here is a video of one (unfortunately not one of myself getting it done as the camera apparently malfunctioned.) And that was my day. Saweet.
--Andy

Equilibrium

I think one of the most enjoyable pieces of this movie is the contrast between the sense offenders and those still taking their dose of Prozium. The movie paints such a bleak life for the sense offenders. They live outside of the city for the most part, in abandoned buildings that are crumbling and decaying. Compare them to the loyal citizens of the Tetragrammatron. They live in clean apartments with huge TVs and so many of the things that people work towards. And yet it seems clear that the only real choice is to sacrifice comfort and stability for the ability to feel, even if it is pain. Unlike Brave New World (on which Equilibrium is heavily based), there is no conflicting ending. No suicide of the "good guy". It presents a clear cut choice and a clear cut ending. But that is part of the appeal. The movie is not posing a question about the value of emotion, but showing that the material goods we work for and strive for can be empty and lacking, and what we think is good for us might not be. Truly a masterpiece of a movie.
And as a guy, I feel obligated to point out that Equilibrium has action sequences that make the Matrix look like child's play.
--Andy