I've decided, after seeing it a second time, that I really like Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf). It's up there with 13th Warrior in the "historical pseudo-supernatural but darkly gritty" stakes. It is a little long, somewhat brutal, is almost too many movies crushed into one, and if you don't know French you need to watch the subtitles. But even I with my limited high school French could tell that the subtitles were not saying exactly what the characters were saying, and that does not really detract from a movie that does so many of the tropes of modern action movies, but sets them in 14thC France. The villain is perfect. Over the top in such a way that if I described him bluntly here you might say he was tacky and unoriginal, a caricature, but as portrayed and revealed in the film, just lovely. Some events are predictable, almost clichéd, but are perfect in the context of the story. As a modern movie it needs serious editing, but as an experience to wallow in it;s just right. And the wolves... well, I can't say much without spoilers, but there is a lovely karmic balance between the titular Brotherhood being the villains, and real wolves.

Here's another Vampire Clan test. But I quite enjoyed this one :

( My result for Which Vampire the Masquerade Clan Are You? )

I was dreaming. I knew I was dreaming, and so did those I was with.

I asked whether it was worth beginning the run, as I was unlikely to be able to complete it before I awoke.

The heavy-set, bearded man assured me that any time gained now would be good, that even if I awoke, as we knew I would, when I returned the next time I slept, I would return to the path at the point I left it. He went on to tell me things that I already knew, perhaps he meant it to be reassuring. He told me that while I wasn't wolf, I had been marked by them.

At this point I saw in my mind an image of he who had marked me, a thin tall man, short black hair, wearing what seemed to be a monks habit, bare, sandalled feet.

My instructor continued on, telling me that though some of them would growl at my usage of their path, and some might even try and scare me from it, none would dare break the compact. He pushed an image into my mind, a woman with black, close-cropped hair, looking like Eden from Heroes. She would guide me through the later stages of the run. I was to meet her just beyond the pass, where once, in an earlier dream, a small group of us had held off an army.

I began to run the Wolf's Path. It was not enough merely to run and follow it, one had to run it right. Like an aborigine singing the song lines, the Path had to be run with the correct steps. Thus I found myself leaping from side to side of the actual path and bouncing off the gully walls around it. As I ran I realized that the Wolf's Path ran around the human one, always following it, often jumping across it, but never actually touching it.

I ran over a ridge following the Path, and saw a dark haired man in rough trail clothes, straggly greasy hair, and a blade over his shoulder. He looked at me with distaste as I ran. He was wolf, and he watched me as I approached him. I began to gather my strength into myself, in case he planned to do anything. Not that I could take a wolf, but I might at least manage to avoid him. The tension in me grew as I got closer. I saw him open his mouth, sharp teeth glinting.

"You run well for a human" he said, begrudgingly "Here, let me help you feed."

He ran along-side me, not following the Path, but paralleling it, so as not to interfere with my run. It was easy for him, but I was grateful as he passed me pieces of food at carefully chosen points when I could spare the concentration to take them. Finally, over several miles, and without breaking the pattern that was the Path, I had eaten a good trail meal

I thanked him as he spun off the path, crouched on a rock, and waved me luck.

I ran on.... until I could feel that the short haired woman was not far off, but, damn I was going to wake up now. I sent a thought in her direction apologizing, and felt myself swooping up off the Path toward my world and bed.

This was Thursday night. Unfortunately I can't remember any dreams from last night, so don't know whether I ended up back on that path.

Just in from OK Cupid, ( would I make a good wolf? )

And...

Happy Birthday asgard !!!!