You sound sad, Luna. I hope I can encourage you a bit. Where abouts in Indiana are you? What I mean is, how far from Chicago? There is a convention coming up at the end of July called CyPhan (cyphan.com) where you could meet lots of people - goth, horror enthusiasts, steampunkers, and even a Klingon or two. In fact, it's where I met Cryptkicker and how I came to be a member of this site! I'll be there this year; it would be great if you could make it!

I saw this lecture a few years ago at the Schaumburg Public Library and it was excellent. My biggest regret was that I was not prepared to take notes. Consequently, I did not write down the book titles sited for later reference. I am so thankful to Chateau Grrr for posting this, so I can remedy that error this year!

Murnau's "Nosferatu" is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is an example of cinema excellence, evidenced by the fact that reviews are still being written of it nearly a century after its release. The acting is impressive, for the silent genre. The special effects, such as they are, were as "cutting edge" for 1922 as "Star Wars" was for 1977. The cinematography set the standard for black-and-white horror and foreshadowed the (then) future Universal Monsters series.

On the other hand, it also exemplified all that was (and still is) wrong and corrupt in the film and literature industry. This film SHOULD have been the first silver screen translation of Stoker's "Dracula," but copyright reared it's ugly head. Such legal frustrations have plagued the Dracula franchise ever since DESPITE the character's passage into the "public domain." Whether the evil lies in global copyright laws themselves, or simply in the greed of the parties involved - or lies somewhere between - is open to debate, but nothing has changed nearly a century later - which is why the classic Batman Series may never be released, The Hobbit may never be filmed, and Superman's new kryptonite is Hollywood.

Unless you local cinema is offering a showing of this film with a live pianist or organist backing it, it is almost impossible to see it as it was originally shown. "Nosferatu," like its literary inspiration, has passed into the public domain and now exists in countless DVD and VHS versions, some changing the text of the film, and all offering different musical scores. If you can look beyond the variations, you may very much enjoy this vampire classic.

The problem is not in the extraction of the alleged roach from your auditory canal, it's the priority placed on embarrassment over health. Put another way, which is more embarrassing? "Hey, Doc, I got a roach in my ear. Can you get it out?" or "Hey, Doc, I've permanently lost my hearing because I allowed a roach to chew through my tympanic membrane and die. Could you help me clear up the infection before it spreads to my brain?"

I realize this is an old question now, but I really have something useful to add. TWO other options - both should help in a situation like this. Neither is lethal which, of course, would be the most expedient solution. The only problem there is that, I think, in Chicago, the penalty for harming an animal is worse than harming a human. (IDK, six of one, half a dozen of the other)

Anyway, when I was a kid, there was this neighborhood cat - a real POS bastard of a cat - that used to attack the neighborhood kids (seriously) and killed birds and left them all over our property. My dad had some kerosene in the garage, so I caught the cat and applied some liberally on the exit of its digestive system. No, I didn't light it (thought that IS an option) because, as you can guess, a combustible hydrocarbon on a mucous membrane can be painfully irritating (much like the cat itself). It was quite satisfying to watch that cat shuffle around dragging it's backside through the grass trying to rub it off. However, when it bolted from me, that was the last time I ever saw that cat on my property.

Second option, more humane and possibly more trouble than it's worth, get one of those hypersonic sound generators - the kind that are painful to dogs' ears (and deer, it turns out). Every time the dog wakes you, blast it. The dog will instantly stop barking (may whine in pain) and the neighbor will have no idea why. Now, if the dog is as dumb as I suspect, it may take a while to learn that the painful noise is a consequence of barking, but it WILL learn.

One final thought - Record the dogs barking and blast it from your stereo at your neighbors in the middle of the night. Yeah, they'll probably call the cops on you, but it would sure make your point.