Terrible Analogies

I’m a fan of the movie 1408.  If you asked me what I think of Stephen King films, I’d have to say my favorite film adaptations of his are The Mist, The Stand, and 1408.

This was only the second time I’ve seen this film, but both Karin and I noticed a few odd, interesting things that had us pausing the film in several spots.

As a disbelieving Mike Enslin investigates room 1408, he scans a quick passage in a bible (Samuel 2:11) then tosses the bible back on the nightstand.  For a few quick frames this was visible:

This is one of the early signs that this is indeed an “evil fucking room”.

Room 1408 seems to be running just a bit too hot for Mike’s taste.  Sweating, he saunters over to the thermostat to give it a quick tap:

Wow, this thermostat goes up to 115° (and quite possibly even high.  It doesn’t appear to be pegged out).

Later in the story, 1408 begins to cool down well below the point of freezing:

Again, it appears that this room is capable of temperatures well below 15°.  Also note the letters “SJK” on the thermostat.  I thought this might be a nod to Stephen J. King, but alas Mr. King’s middle name is Edwin, so out goes that theory.

Oh, and my take on this movie is that Mike died while surfing.  As he unwittingly eased into the afterlife he received the postcard from Gerald Olin urging him to avoid 1408, which was obviously bait that Gerald knew would draw Mike to the Dolphin hotel and, ultimately, to forever suffer in a personal hell of his own construction; to repeatedly relive a lifelong collection of failures, traumas, and regrets.

Very cool movie.

Of course this is just my take on this film.  Would you have a different interpretation?

Noticed this ad in an old magazine:

Odd.  With years of surfing experience under my belt I’ve never personally seen anyone wearing a surfing helmet, much less one shaped like this.  Perhaps the manufacturer intended for the user to wear this Kaiser helmet while surfing the Internet?  But the publication date of this magazine is from the 60′s, and from what I know of history the Internet wasn’t around then, so that shoots that theory out of the water.

Another thought is that this helmet provided protection while channel surfing, but how many channels did they have in the 60′s?  This is pre-cable, so…what?  Ten channels?  Fifteen?  Did people need cranium protection while walking back and forth between the couch and the television to change the channel?

And so the question remains.  What exactly was this “surfing helmet” used for, and how much protection could a three dollar piece of plastic provide?  Certainly this wasn’t DOT approved?

Stepping over the cat on the stairs this afternoon and I managed to stub/jam my toe.  Darn thing’s all purple and loose and quite painful.  Strangest thing about this, besides the pain, was the fact that my very first thought as I was tumbling down the stairs was, “Am I going to be able to go running tomorrow?”

Sad.  So very sad…