a need like nothing else i've ever known
2002-03-04@6:04 a.m.
Which Trainspotting Character Are You?
Well, no shit.
I became obsessed with this movie long before I saw it. I was seventeen and still in my "Hollywood makes crap movies" phase. So I latched on to anything that seemed the least bit different or more intelligent than the typical Hollywood fare.
Heavenly Creatures had blown my mind two years before this ushering in the age of Australia for me (Russell Crowe as a gay man, yum.) Which sequed into English costume dramas after I saw the lovely Kate Winslet in Sense & Sensibility. But there's really only so many times you can watch A Room with a View before you need something just a little more exciting.
Suddenly all my movie magazines were buzzing about how great Trainspotting was and I was hooked. I read the book, struggling my way through all the slang (only to discover when I finished it that there was a glossary in the back.) I went to London that year when the movie was still yet to be released in the states and somehow missed every opportunity to see it there. I was a little more interested in the fact that people would serve me alcohol, okay. But I did stock up on as much of the merchandising as I could. A couple of posters, postcards, and a great t-shirt I adore to this day. By the time I finally saw the movie I'd moved onto my tv obsession(hey,"Due South" rocks!) and wasn't nearly as impressed as I'd thought I'd be.
The book stayed with me though. It led me to Welsh's Maribou Stork Nightmare, one of my favorite books. Trainspotting the book also taught me to never mistreat a waitress, they really do have all the power you know.