Venom: An Inventory

Flat Eric/April Reads a Story
Originally uploaded by BozAphra.

Replicas Ryan Owns:

Jack Sparrow's Leather Tricorn
Cursed Aztec Coins from Pirates
Indiana Jones' Leather Jacket (circa Raiders)
Flat Eric from Series 1 of the Office
Monkey! from Series 2 of the Office
Crow
Gypsy
Tom Servo
(puppets in progress)
Gnome from Amelie
Klingon Daqtagh
Communicator Pin
Tricorder
Team Zissou Intern T-Shirt
and the ubiquitous Vote for Pedro T-Shirt

Replicas Ryan Wants:

59 Cadillac Ambulance/Hearse (w/ lights and alarms and a license plate that reads Ecto-1)
Delorean (w/ time dial and flux capcitor)
William Wallace's Sword
The Simpsons' House
The Incredibles' House
Jeep (w/ Jurassic Park Logo)
Dick Tracy's Yellow Fedora & Jacket
Jim Stark's Red Jacket
A pack of Morley Cigarettes
Wands from Harry Potter
Naoto's 90 degree shirt
Haruko's Vespa
Grail Diary
Batleh
Rocketeer Jacket
Rocketeer Helmet

And I'm certain I've forgotten some from both categories. Someday when we've owned a house for awhile, I'm sure that he'll want to build an exact replica of it right next door, doo-dadding it up to match the exact specs from when we first moved in.
The truly frightening thing about his illness is that it's a mild case. If you don't believe me hit www.ghostbusters.net. There are people who devote way more time, money, and effort to perfectly reconstructing props from films. I dive deeply into the waters of fiction, often drowning myself in its muddy waters; however, this need to make the landscapes of our alternate realities tangible is a different animal than my girlish escapism. And I must admit I am not entirely immune from it myself. On our first date, Ryan gave me a box of chocolates with "Choo Choo Choose Me" on the top. Since then I have purchased a leopard coat like Parker Posey's in Party Girl, and received gifts that include the same model of sex mask that Enid wears in Ghost World, Diving for Sunken Treasure by Jacques Cousteau (complete with bookplate dedication to Edward Applebee), and a stuffed Scrump from the Disney Store. I also have been known to prance around in blue shirts with carnivorous dinosaurs on the front.
Probably we should create our own glittering realities, but there is something comforting about manufacturing evidence of other worlds where pirates don't tote AK-47s and you can go back in time.