Suspension of Disbelief

Quote of the Day: "How many people had I already killed? There was those six that I know about for sure. Close enough to blow their last breath in my face. But this time it was an American and an officer. That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Shit... charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do?"
Willard, Apocalypse Now

Apparently there is a huge suspension community in Albuquerque. By "suspension community," I mean those that partake in suspension shows, shows in which people pierce their skin with hooks and hang from a warehouse ceiling.

Among our main focuses in Film Theory is sadism and masochism. A Japanese classmate, Taka, informed our professor that he was working on a film about the topics of sadism and masochism, and he asked for permission to show some of his film. What followed was several minutes of suspension show footage.

It started with the sound of a synthesizer, some kind of simple music that sounded like a heartbeat. On the screen was a man, a pained look on his face, hanging by hooks from the ceiling. His skin stretched like silly putty.

Next the music changed to delicate piano sounds as we watched two tiny vixens--two girls in lacy black underwear and electrical tape over their nipples--hanging from hooks and floating two and fro like some kind of sick ballet.

What was so odd was that I actually recognized these girls (no, I've never been to a suspension show--they seem a little unsanitary). I remembered them from high school. One of them even joined me on a middle school trip to D.C.

It's so strange wear we run into past acquaintances. I told my manager about the incident, and she laughed and told me a similar story. There was this girl she once hooked up with--nothing serious, just a one-night fling that lead no where. Apparently my manager and the girl went different ways, until one day when my manager went to Vegas.

"So I'm walking down the strip," she said, "and I find her picture...on one of those little cards they hand out at the corners."