Sarah McLachlan-"Ice"

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan-"Revolver"

As this is my first post-Christmas post, I thought I would take this time to point out 8 things that I learned over the holidays this year.

1. When together, my brother and father cannot go more than 5 minutes without talking about the Dallas Cowboys.

2. If I give it too much thought, a gift as innocuous and cheap as 2 boxes of chocolate covered cherries can make me cry.

3. The average adult female can only watch the Suite Life of Zack and Cody Christmas episode 4 times before lashing out at her loved ones.

4. I will constantly bitch about the fact that they show a Christmas Story non-stop on tv, but eventually, I will end up watching it at least once.

5. Every single time I watch the aforementioned film, when the Bumpass hounds swipe the turkey and Darren McGavin yells "Sons of bitches!" out the back door, I produce a sound that I am pretty sure has never been made by any other human being.

6. My mom is the most awesome person that ever lived. (I already knew that, but it bears repeating.)

7. When it is placed on your foot, the Fureal Friends Butterscotch Pony weighs about as much as a real, adult horse.

8. I don't care what anyone says, if a person wants something badly enough, an innanimate object CAN make them happy.

Almost Forgot...

I just now managed to get Harper to sleep, and I want to wait until she's out good so that I can...Uh, purchase illegal weapons over the internet. Yeah, that'll work. Anyway, I thought while I had a few minutes I could post this lil' doohickey, because I've been wanting to for MONTHS now, and if I don't post it now, I'll have to wait another year, and that will just not do. For those of you that read this here blog on the regular, you should have expected something like this, because when it comes to certain things, I am absurdly predictable. With other things, not so much.



APPLESAUCE!!



See, you weren't expecting that, were you? Yeah, I didn't think so.(Pardon me, I'm tired and a bit loopy.)

And now for your viewing and listening pleasure, "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas", from MST3k.

Merry Christmas

I finally finished my shopping today (yeah, I'm an unapologetic procrastinator-whatchu gon' do about it?), and I'm feeling a mite better than I have been for the past few weeks. Since I'm all happy now (not "happy" exactly, just not "oh, woah is me". I can accept that), I figured I'd post a little holiday music. I've even included a Hannukah song;not so much out of any kind of interfaith solidarity, it's just that I love that damn dreidel song.

BTW: that pic? I found that on the interweb, but I remember my mom giving me a card with that exact same cartoon on it, several years ago. That's my mom for ya...

Subtle Plans Are Here Again

Due to various holiday plans and preparations, I'm posting the saturday movie a couple of days early. I've got a ridiculous amount of things I have to do in the next few days, and if I get five minutes to myself (highly unlikely), I want to spend it doing absolutely nothing, not fighting with Blogger.

On top of all that, I really just don't FEEL like posting. Every year, I look forward to Christmas, and then when it gets close to it, I get depressed. I don't know why, exactly; it's a fairly recent development, just in the last few years. I suppose it has something to do with becoming a mother, and having that feeling of not being able to make Christmas as happy an experience for Harper as it was for me when I was a kid. But then again, maybe I've glossed over my childhood memories to make them seem happier than they really were, I guess everyone does to a degree. There's something more than that at play, but I've never been able to put my finger on it, plus I've already been down quite a bit lately, even before the idea of another Christmas sunk in-put it all together, and I feel like pure crap.

But enough of me and my whining, on to the movie...

This is not what I was planning to post. I had a film all picked out, and for whatever reason, I changed my mind. I happened upon this one purely by accident, and when I found it, I was surprised I hadn't already thought of it. Without realizing it, watching this has become a tradition for me: for the past, say, 5 years, late Christmas Eve/Early Christmas morning, I watch it while doing some Xmas-related mom activities (you know the ones I mean...Yes, you do) and I think that this year in particular, it fits my mood more than anything else I could post in it's place: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Rudolph, Silent Night, Deadly Night-none of those really fit my mentality of "Depressed, yet able to laugh" (well, not so sure about SN,DN-that might produce a chuckle.)

So, what's this movie (not exactly a movie) I keep droning on about? It's Blackadder's Christmas Carol (see? Not a movie.) It's got Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry and, oh yes, Hugh Laurie (who, despite popular belief, had a career before House); It's got your clever bastardization of Dickens; and it's got your dry and semi-tacky British humor that all the young kids seem to like these days-if that's not perfect holiday entertainment...I can't think of a clever metaphor to insert there, so I should probably end the post now.

Happy Holidays, kids.

Björk-"It's Oh So Quiet"

RIP Joseph Barbera

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Legendary Hollywood animator Joseph Barbera, whose characters Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Scooby-Doo made generations of people laugh, died on Monday at age 95, the Warner Bros. film studio said in a statement.

Barbera founded Hanna-Barbera Studios with his partner William Hanna nearly 50 years ago, and it grew to become one of Hollywood's best known animation companies producing hundreds of cartoons and winning numerous awards.

He died at his home in the Los Angeles-area community of Studio City with his wife Sheila by his side, Warner Bros. said. No further details were disclosed...

Yahoo News

Also, RIP Chris Hayward.

Motown Sampler

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that Supremes song always makes me cry. Why? Well, you know how you sometimes get a song stuck in your head, and you can't get rid of it? I had that song stuck in my head when I was in LABOR. At the time, it was VERY annoying, but now I've attached kind of a nostalgic signifigance to it, morphing it into a touching memory. Although at the time, I was thisclose to asking a nurse to bash my head in with a fetal moniter just to get it out of my head. But now it makes me all mushy. Memories are funny things, eh?

The Richest Man in Town

While searching for a film today, I came across 2 that would be perfect for my whole "December Saturdays Christmas Extravaganza" (yes, I gave it a name...Not a very good name, but it gets the point across). My final decision on which one to post came down to practicality: next weekend, I'm probably going to be too busy to post anything, and if I'm not too busy to post, I will definitely be too busy to say much about the film, so I'd rather wait and post something that I don't have much to say in regards to. I'm not too happy about doing it this way, because the film I'm posting today is more closely associated with Christmas, and I'd rather wait and post it ON Xmas day, or at least only a few days before. But I can't.

This movie...

I have a distinct memory of the first time I actually saw this movie, even remember the exact date: December 24, 1991. At age 15, I had already become the strange hybrid of film snob and celluloid trash connisseur that I am today. In the wee hours of that Christmas eve morning, my trashy side had just finished watching Popcorn, a silly, late-80s horror flick. After it was over, at around 2am, I was still wide awake and looking for something else to watch. I was flipping through the channels, and upon seeing an ad for It's A Wonderful Life, which was about to start, I paused and a bizarre inner debate commenced.

Until that time, I had managed to avoid seeing IaWL, which was rather difficult, because at that time, you had to ACTIVELY evade it since they showed it like 10 times a day around Christmas. Everything I had heard about this movie suggested it was nothing more than treacly smaltz, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Still, I had a need to cleanse my mental pallete of the grungy aftertaste of Popcorn, and I figured this would do the trick. Besides, even at 15 I knew that no sane person can fairly judge anything without familiarizing themselves with it first, so until I actually watched it, I was exempt from criticizing it. So, I threw up my hands and said "Fuck it" (even at 15, I had a potty mouth) and prepared myself for unapologetic sappiness.

Cut to me a little over 2 hours later, laying on my bed and sobbing into a pillow. I already knew what was going to happen even before I started watching it, I had already seen the ending long before then, and I thought I had prepared myself for the uber-happiness I was witnessing. What I HADN'T done was take everything that happened prior to the ending, into account: that damn Jimmy Stewart made me give a rat's ass about George Bailey and his effect on the people around him, the events of his life, and his eventual reward, led to me become an emotional, incoherrent, blood-shot wreck. In other words, I liked it.

If you haven't ever seen it, and have avoided it because you think it's uncool and corny, you need to be more open minded. It is corny, very much so, but as for uncool, there's a few thing you should take into consideration before you judge too harshly.

Dalton Trumbo, Dorothy Parker, and Clifford Odets all did uncredited work on the script. That's cool.

The film was labeled "subversive" by the FBI, due to it's political statements about post-WWII society and was also deemed communist propaganda because of the film's stance in reference to the common man up against big business, and Frank Capra's association with left-wing organizations. That's also cool.

The scene at the dance, when George and Mary are doing the Charleston: that guy that opens up the pool? That's the guy who played Alfalfa on the Little Rascals, and by definition, any movie that features someone who was brutally murdered is very cool...You know, if you're twisted like I am.

I realize that no one actually watches the full length films that I post: it's takes up too much time, not to mention it's a bit of a strain to watch something that's about 5x5 inches in size. I post them because it's fun, not because I expect anyone to watch them. That being said, I still don't expect anyone to watch this on the computer, but I DO recommend that if you've never seen this, that you catch it when it's on tv, or go out and rent it: Occasionally, even the most jaded among us need something to warm our hearts, and what better time is there to do that, than during the holidays?

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness-"When You Go Out"

RIP Peter

The Breeders

I will try and get a new post up this evening (one of those with words and a topic and such). I'd do it now, but I'm so tired that I'm having trouble stringing coherent sentences together.

Cakes. Why these snow globes?

See what I mean?

Tokyo Police Club-"Shoulders and Arms"

Calexico

Weird/Cute/Great

Very short, 10 minute Saturday movie today. I think that until Christmas, I will post nothing but holiday-related clips on saturdays, because although I have a nasty habit of bitching about Christmas and everything that it entails, in reality I love it. I guess I'm just a big kid, because the lights, the decorations, the movies, the presents, the good cheer, Santy Claus-I dig all that shit. Don't tell nobody.

I know that you're looking at the still thinking "I know what it is, so I'm not going to watch it." Well, you couldn't be more....Half wrong. It is that, but only visually. The voices are those of the cast of Scrubs, and they do not adhere to the original script. I think I've only ever seen maybe one episode of Scrubs, but after this, I may have to add it to my tv viewing schedule. I probably won't, but this clip is still very cute. Give it a chance, won't you? Thank you and good day.

Stereophonics-"Maybe Tomorrow"

Harper's Bizarre

I haven't posted a Harper-centric music post in a few weeks, but it's not because she's gotten lax in her listening habits-oh no, no, no. See, about two weeks ago, she found a CD in her room that she forgot she had, and she listened to it CONSTANTLY for awhile. What's the song on this CD that she loves oh-so-very much? Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

I have posted some terrible things on this blog-that photo of those 3 whores probably being the worst of it-but I draw the line at the most evil of songs. I am many things, but overly cruel I am not. Besides, posting it would mean that I would have to check and make sure that the song worked, which means I would have to hear at least part of it, and there is no way in hell I would voluntarily do that. As a matter of fact, I've been making her listen to it with the headphones on to protect my ears. So, you can rest easy.

Anyway, she finally decided to move on, and is currently under the thrall of the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Before you ask, Yes, I do own the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack: I have a healthy appreciation for almost all genres of music (not ALL, though. There are some things I flat-out refuse to listen to. But that's a whole other post), and I've tried to pass that on to my offspring. Unfortunately, that's probably what led her to listen to that damn Grandma song for 11 days straight, but you have to take the good with the bad, I guess. Variety: it's the spice-and poison-of life.

And just because I feel like it, here's MY favorite song off the same CD. I have no idea why I like this song, but I do-accept it, and move on.

Knew Your Father, I Did

Prepare yourselves-this is one of those posts where I go on about how I won't be posting for awhile. Like most of the other times I do this, I'll throw up some form of media to tide you over until I return-I'm good like that.

So, um, yes, I'm not going to be posting very often. I have this thing I started yesterday, and my time to do shit I want to do is all kinds of limited. I haven't gotten a new job-JOB yet, not exactly, although I AM getting paid for it, albeit very little (and the first one of you who says the word "Prostitution" is going to get stabbed through the internet). It's complicated and weird and actually very, very boring. So boring-I swear to God, my brain is going to be a worthless puddle of soup before the end of the year. More so.

I will attempt to throw up at least one post a day, although for a couple of weeks, it may not be anything more than a song or a video. I'll probably get in a couple of long-winded something-or-others up on the weekends, though, so you've got that to look forward to. Actually, it won't be much different than it is now, I guess. Huh. Forget I said anything.

PS-the thing-a-ma-bob I'm posting is an MST3k short, Mr. B Natural. It's the story of a freakish androgynous woman who stalks and harasses a little boy until he has to become institutionalized. Or takes up a musical instrument; I think the mental hospital came later, they just left it out. Watch it: It's horrifying and hilarious (and short). Plus it has Joel, who, as we all know, is 10,000,000,000,000 times better than Mike. At least all the SANE people know that.


Oh, yes I DID say that. Heh heh.

Elbow?

I finally regained control of my blog, so I thought I'd toss up a new post. No real reason for this post, except Sissy is just one of the sweetest people in the history of ever, and it always freaks me out to see a reference to my hometown in a national article-it doesn't happen very often, trust me.

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - Academy Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek celebrated strong and independent women during a speech at a conference here on women's health issues.

"I love women — they're strong, they're independent," Spacek said Saturday at the conference, sponsored by Princeton HealthCare System."I think I've always been drawn to ordinary women with ordinary strengths and frailties, just stumbling into enlightenment," said Spacek, in comments reported by The Times of Trenton for Sunday's newspapers.

Over the years, Spacek has been nominated six times for an Academy Award, and won the award for best actress for her 1980 role as country music icon Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Some of her other notable movies include "Carrie" (1976) and "In the Bedroom" (2001).

Recent films from 2005 include "North Country" and "The Ring Two."

Spacek said Saturday that she had to overcome considerable odds as a girl from Quitman, Texas, when she came to New York with dreams of becoming a musician, eventually finding acting work. She said a school yard friend years ago in Texas told her she would magically turn into a boy if she was able to magically plant a peck on her funny bone — an impossible task.

"All my life I spent trying to prove that girls can do anything boys can do — and then I had a baby," Spacek said. "I stopped trying to kiss my elbows after that."

Spacek said she shies away from celebrity culture, and has a happy life living with her husband and two daughters on a Virginia horse farm. "I always felt that if you want to play real people in movies and be convincing, you've got to live real life and have real experiences," Spacek said.

"No matter how far we come, we're all still just looking for 'normal,'" she said.


Yahoo News

90s Nostalgia (Since I Can't Post Anything That Has Text)

The Cure

I doubt I'll be posting anything else today, and maybe not tomorrow. You see, last night, the weather took a freakish turn (which is a common occurance down here), and the temp dropped like 40 degrees, and now it's all windy, and snowy, and sleety, and shit, and I really don't feel like doing anything besides lie in bed and watch cartoons (I CAN'T, but that's what I WANT to do). As it is, I have other things I need to attend to, so not only can I not get my sloth on, I'm going to be-GASP!-busy. So, before anyone starts bitching about the lack of new posts (oh, you know who you are), know that it will all be for naught.

Also, I don't know why, but whenever there's inclement weather, I regress to my younger years. I was a massive Cure fan back in HS, but I drew the line at thinking Robert Smith was hot, unlike some of the other chicks I went to school with. I mean, I know I like odd guys, but there's a difference between "odd guy" and "grim spectre of death, coming to claim me whilst I sleep". Yeah, I never got that. But the music? That was some good stuff. Yes, it was.


(EDIT-It is now Sunday afternoon, and something is wrong with my blog. When I go to post, all the thingys you can use to change the font, add pics, edit html, etc., just aren't there. Until they decide to reappear, I can't post anything. I am super pissed.)

PJ Harvey-"Down By the Water"

List Learnin'

There are three reasons why I'm posting this:

1. It's been awhile since I've posted a list, and I'm getting antsy.

2. After I talked about all the many and varied things I learned in 8th grade history, I came across this list of the ten best teachers in the movies on This Site, and I thought after I posted about teachers and movies the other day that was rather strange, so I took it as some sort of sign.

3. I will do anything I have to do to get that last post further down on the page.

I guess it's an okay list, but of course, I found fault in it, mainly because it doesn't have this Guy on it (and I say that without a trace of irony: I. Loved. That. Movie.) It's weird how specific some of these lists are. I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find a list of the 10 best movies that feature left-handed guys with blonde hair, that also wear glasses and chew bubble gum. I'm afraid to check....

1. Georges Lopez (To Be and To Have)

2. Jaime Escalante (Stand and Deliver) Edward James Olmos

3. John Keating (Dead Poets Society) Robin Williams

4. Mark Thackeray (To Sir, With Love) Sidney Poitier

5. Mr. Hand (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) Ray Walston

6. Glenn Holland (Mr. Holland's Opus) Richard Dreyfuss

7. Dave Jennings (Animal House) Donald Sutherland

8. Miss Shields (A Christmas Story)

9. Mr. Chips (Goodbye, Mr. Chips) Robert Donat

10. Terry Corrigan (Class of 1984) Roddy McDowall

Film Critic

Pavement

America's Most Uncomfortable Home Videos

I seem to have gotten more mature in the past few months. The reason I say that, is that used to, when I would be wracked with insomnia, I would watch either a crappy movie, or a horror movie (no,they're not always interchangable). In the past month or so, though, I seem to be gravitating towards documentaries. I cannot fathom what has brought about this change in my viewing habits, although I think the one I watched last night-Capturing the Friedmans-was chosen as a defense against the 1,000 hours of children's programming that I've had to endure during the past week (If I EVER have to see another episode of Hannah Montana, things are gonna get ugly up in here).

Ah, yes-Capturing the Friedmans. Let me break it down for you.

In the mid-80s, Arnold Friedman, a husband and father of three from Great Neck, New York, was arrested for possessing child pornography. The police also discovered that Friedman also taught computer classes to young children, and decided that they should investigate further. When they did, they uncovered an extremely sordid and bizarre tale of abuse and molestation that also implicated Arnold's youngest son, Jesse. Both ended up pleading guilty to numerous charges, and both went to prison. Arnold ended up killing himself while in prison, and Jesse was released in 2001 after serving thirteen years on his sentence.

Sounds like a simple tale of straight-up perversion, yes? No, it's really not. Through interviews with family members, law enforcement, accusers and others, the viewer is forced to draw their own conclusion about what actually happened. Interspersed throughout the entire film, are numerous home video clips of the Friedmans, who seemingly documented every conversation that took place in their home, and which help to either clarify or muddy your opinion, depending on how you look at it.

One of the reasons a documentary succeeds or fails, in my opinion, is the amount of bias a filmaker has towards his/her subject. Personally, I'm a fan of the "fly-on-the-wall" school of filmaking, because when a documentarian goes out of their way to show one side of the story more than the other, even if I agree with that side, it feels like I'm being told what to think, and strangely enough, I don't care for that. Capturing the Friedmans worked because it was evenhanded almost to a fault, and after it was over, I felt compelled to read up on the case even further and it allowed me to be more accepting of new information than if the film had chosen to go in only one direction.

Of course, what I call "Evenhanded", some would call "A glaring lack of information", and the filmakers have addressed that on a short included in the DVD (I watched it on cable, so no short for me), that elucidates the events of the case even further (and from what I've read about it, it jibes with my opinion of what most likely happened). I'm loathe to say anything more about the film or the events, because if you decide to watch it-and you should-I don't want to give anyone any preconceived notions before they go into it. Just, go get it, open your mind, and absorb the information you're given. Then, let the pieces fall into place.

Edumacashun Time

I was going to post a full length motiooooon pictuuuuuure like I do every saturday, but I just wasn't feeling it today. I hunted Google Video for quite awhile, looking for something interesting, and nothing really grabbed my attention, so I gave up.

I know what you all are thinking:"If you're not posting a movie, what in hell are you going on about, you jackass?" Well, in the first place-don't be calling me a jackass, mkay? In the second place, I AM posting a movie....Kind of.

After I gave up the quest for a movie, I ended up watching a bunch of those educational shorts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I stumbled upon a couple of those super-fabulous VD films that were so prevalent back in the day. Well, I don't know about you, but when I think "VD" I automatically think of my 8th grade history teacher....


Um, perhaps I should elaborate on that a tad further.


My 8th grade history teacher, (who, for the purposes of this discussion will henceforth be reffered to as 'Coach Stevens') was a pretty cool cat, if not the most effective of educators. I honestly wasn't taught anything in his class that I still remember. What I DO remember about his class, is that he always let us watch films, movies and tv shows. I realize that most teachers resort to an educational film every now and again, but that's just it: the majority of things that we watched in Coach Stevens class HAD no value, and it wasn't "every now and again" it was ALL THE TIME. You think I'm kidding, or I'm embelishing the truth a little bit, don't you? OK, let me put my hand on a metaphorical bible, and swear to you, that the very first episode of Married:With Children that I ever watched, I saw in Coach Stevens class-I shit you not-and it also wasn't the last episode I watched in there, either.

As for the actual full-length movies, I can't remember all of them, but off the top of my head, I remember at least 2 of the Indiana Jones movies (that could be considered somewhat historical, if you're really, really reaching), Stand By Me, and that piece of Kevin Costner crapola, Field of Dreams. Much as I hate FoD, it does have a scintilla of academic value (the whole Black Sox scandal), but if you can attach any sort of scholastic merit to SBM, which I loved, you have something seriously wrong with you.

There was one film, out of the many that we watched in Coach Stevens class, that holds a special place in my memory. You see, Coach Stevens also taught a high school health class, and naturally, they had occasion to watch some of those VD films. Out of all the films that he undoubtedly showed the health class, this was the only one we got to watch in 8th grade history.

What makes this VD film so special? So unique? Well, it's an ANIMATED educational film about venereal disease from DISNEY. I remember our class of 14 year olds, howling like chimpanzees at the absurdity that was displayed before us. The only thing I can think of that even comes close to how surreal this whole thing is, are the VD puppets from Chapelle's Show. It is an absolute good.

Watch it, and send out a vibe of thanks to Coach Stevens, who, incidentally, is still teaching-you can sleep better at night knowing that.

Sleek Turkey Body

I snuck away from my family just so I could make a post. That's the only reason, of course. It's not like my family is driving me insane and if I didn't get away from them, I would end up on the water tower across the street with a high-powered rifle by the end of the day-crazy talk. Yah, so, enjoy this here thing-a-ma-bob, and I'm gonna go hide under the covers.

Happy Thanksgiving

I decided to go ahead and post a bit earlier than I intended. For one thing, I probably won't be up very late tonight, and tomorrow morning, I'm going to be a little busy. I'll be alternately helping prep the meal, wrangling my child, watching the parade on the talking picture box, and bracing myself for the arrival of my sister and her sons (and most likely, her 2 teeny, tiny dogs)-no time for makey posty.

I'm not too keen on what Thanksgiving stands for, but I'm always willing to put my beliefs aside for some of my mom's turkey and dressing (I like to smoosh it together with cranberry sauce). Plus, I DO think it's a good idea to ponder (once a year, at least) the things that I'm grateful for, because on any other day, I'm too busy bitching about the things that I hate and consider a burden. The thing is, though, I don't know if I could come up with even 3 things I'm thankful for. Let's see.

1. My family, however insane and extremely annoying they can be, they're good people and I love them, and they love me (Yes, Harper is included in that statement-she can be more insane and more annoying than ANYONE, God bless her)

2. My friends. Actually, the same thing that I said about my family also applies to my friends (Yes, this also applies to you internet people, although the annoyance factor is diminished)

3. Lucidity. An odd thing to be thankful for, you say? Perhaps, but I am odd, and I am very happy being wide awake and fully aware of my suuroundings. S'nice.

Wow, I did manage to think of three things. Of course, on the flipside, there's something for me to bitch about this year: Midnight Express is not on tomorrow. I know, that seems to be a rather random thing to complain about, but I have watched that movie every year on Thanksgiving for the last 4 years, each year, it has been on television (why? hell, I don't know). I don't know why I care, frankly-I didn't like it that much. I guess the main reason I watched it, was because I was baffled that there was some program director out there that thought this was the perfect Thanksgiving tale (maybe it's allegorical: Family=Turkish prison, triptophans=hashish?). At any rate, now I gotta find a new tradition. I did some searching on the digital cable guide, and 3 movies popped out at me:

Babe.

Jaws.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Of those three films, I have two of them on DVD and video (probably not the two you think, either), so that might end up being a factor in what I choose, plus, one of them makes me cry (that one probably is the one you think it is), and I really don't feel like crying because of a movie. I also don't feel like being any more nauseus than I have to, so that disqualifies one of them. Then there's the fact that I watch one of them on a regular basis as it is...

Ugh. I can't wait for Christmas.


(PS-I gotta add a song to this post. One of-nay, THE-bestest show in the history of ever premiered on Thanksgiving 1988 (if you don't know what in hell I'm talking about, there's a GIGANTIC hint at the very begining of this post). Radio Blog doesn't have any songs associated with the show, not even the Man or Astroman cover of the theme song. But since I can't help but think about that show when I hear this song, I'm postin' the mo fo.)

Sneaker Pimps-"Tesko Suicide"

In case you haven't guessed, I won't be posting much this week. Harper is home from school ALL this week (we only got thursday and friday off when I was a kid. Pfffft), so I'm a little busy. It's kinda nice though: last night, we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (you know the one where Snoopy whips up the traditional dinner of toast, jelly beans, pretzels, and of course, popcorn), and we've been all bond-y and shit.

What I'm trying to say is, is that until monday, my posts are probably going to be few and far between. It's funny, too, because right off the top of my head I can think of three things I could ramble on about: The death of Robert Altman (go rent MASH and Vincent & Theo in his memory), Michael Richards (who needs to "Look to the cookie") and that dude that murdered his wife and her friend, got away with it, wanted to publish a book outlining how he WOULD HAVE killed them, and was told to "suck it" by Rupert Murdoch who normally has no qualms about unleashing pure garbage on the public. But I don't have time, so I won't be talking about any of those things.

I will probably post something late weds night/ early thurs morning for Thanksgiving, but if I don't, have a Happy Turkey Day, and remember: Drink apple juice, because OJ can kill you. (Yeah, it's old, but it still works.)

Who, Damien? Nothing, Just a Mischievous, Rambunctious Kid

Who's a good doggy? Whooooo's a good doggy?

Ahem. Excuse me.

So, uh, I watched The Omen remake on friday night, and I'm just now getting a chance to post about it. I don't know why I'm posting about it, just like I don't know why I watched it: I didn't like the first one, to be perfectly honest, and I loathe remakes in general, but yet, I not only watched this, I ordered it on Pay-Per-View, which means at some point, I'm going to have to pay for it. "Pay for it", in the monetary sense, not in the cosmic sense-I started paying for it cosmically as soon as the movie started.

This movie is not good.

I think everyone knows the plot, but just in case: Ambassador's wife is expecting a child. Child dies shortly after birth. Super-nice hospital replaces baby with Folger's Crystals product of Jackal/Satan union:Let's see if anyone notices!

The movie starts out with a lot of hoo-haa about 9/11, the Columbia disaster, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and after witnessing that display, I KNEW this movie was going to suck, the only question was, was it going to iredeemably suck, or would it suck so bad, that it ends up being good?

The cast was so-so, and at various points throughout the movie, almost everyone did some less than stellar acting (the only one who didn't suck any, was David Thewlis, as the photographer who ends up helping Mr. Ambassador find out how best to instigate a late, late, late, late, LATE term abortion). The deaths were pretty much the same as in the first movie (including my favorite: guy-impaled-by-a-spire), so nothing new and interesting there.

The main problem, is that, what was supposed to be scary, wasn't. See that hell hound in the pic above? Does he look particularly frightening to you? I wanna play ball with him, and rub his tummy-not exactly a normal response to fear. Mia Farrow, as the nanny brought in to replace the LAST nanny (you know the one I mean-she's in this one, too), and who is really, really, REALLY protective of Damien, just seemed very Mia Farrow-ish: I kept thinking that she should just adopt Damien, and she and he, and the hell hound, and all of her other 289 kids could live together in harmony, and they could quit pestering Mr. and Mrs. Ambassador. Not scary.

I'd say that the least scary thing in the entire movie, was Damien. The kid who played him, he did well enough, but as the role was written, he seemed more like a kid with some form of autism than the son of satan. He really didn't talk, or DO anything, other than just behave in an annoying manner, ie: throwing a fit on the way to church, zoning out while playing video games, ignoring his mother (If your kid ever ignores you-EVIL!), and just generally acting like a little shit. Of course, in this one, like the original, he DOES knock his mom over the second-story railing-that's a little evil, but honestly, at that point I was so thankful for ANYTHING that would shut Julia Stiles up, for even a little while, that I looked at it as an act of heroism.

To the question of "How bad does it suck?". Oh, it's pretty stanky, but if you're ever heard me wax poetic about Reefer Madness, you'd know that I enjoy films that are crappy on a grand scale: they're like high comedy to me, and I laughed quite a few times during The Omen. Plus, it's not a boring movie, which to me, at least, is the true litmus of a film's suckitude: it's what separates the "Manos: the Hands of Fate"s from the "Plan 9 From Outer Space"s-one is bad and horrendously boring, and the other is bad and FABULOUS. It's a fine line, I suppose.

So, to sum up: if you want a movie that will make you laugh your ass off, give the Omen remake a chance. If you want something scary, look elsewhere.

4 Songs

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti

I'm posting the saturday movie a tad early this week, because I'm gonna be too busy being lazy tomorrow. Plus, I'm a little excited that I can post this. "This" being the Boondock Saints.

I was looking for a particular clip of it on YouTube, and I saw that someone had uploaded the entire thing. Now, I have it on DVD, so I can watch it anytime I want, but it's one of my favorite movies, and I want it on my blog, so I'm a-gonna post it.

I love it: Willem Dafoe is an acting God, Sean Patrick Flannery is hot, and Norman Reedus.....Well, he seems to have a basic grasp of the english language, and overall it's just a damn fine movie.

I really don't feel like saying anything more. For one thing, I'm tired, and also, I always feel weird when I post about something I really like-I don't know why, I guess I'm afraid I'm going to blather on and expose myself as the obsessive nerd I really am. But right now, the tired is trumping the obsessive, so here endeth the post.

Harper's Bizarre

My youngin' has made two rather diverse musical discoveries this week, and it's kind of a "Good news/Bad news" situation.


The good news:




I am very, VERY pleased with this as you can imagine.

The not-so-good news:




Errrrrrr............

I like Prince. I really do, in fact if I didn't, I wouldn't have this CD. But I must say, when Harper put this on, and I realized what it was, my butt cheeks clenched together, and I had an insta-flashback to when I was the very same age as Harper.

I remember pitching a fit for my mom to buy me the Purple Rain soundtrack. She finally relented, and I listened to it almost every day. Imagine my 8 year old shock and surprise, when one day, for no reason that I knew of, she snatched it away from me and wouldn't tell me why. How was I supposed to know? I was EIGHT, for Christ's sake-I didn't know what in hell that woman was doing in that lobby with the magazine, or what kind of devices she had at her castle. I guess that was the real reason she took the tape away from me: she didn't want to have to explain it to me.

Now that I'm in the same position, I feel her pain to a degree, and thankfully, Harper seems content to only play the same song over and over again, and isn't in any hurry to explore the rest of the CD.

Whew.

Time Enough at Last

I was reading, and saw that today WOULD HAVE BEEN Burgess Meredith's 89th birthday. I'm not some huge Burgess Meredith fan, but I thought today would be the perfect time to post something that IS one of my most very favorite things in the whole entire world, and that is the Twilight Zone episode that he starred in: Time Enough at Last. The Twilight Zone was a great show, and Time Enough at Last was THE best episode they ever did. You can try to argue that point with me, but you will fail, and horribly. It's a classic episode, and an iconic one, and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you take 25 minutes or so, and watch it. You'll thank me later.

A Ray of Sunlight is Made Up of MANY Atoms!

I had a complaint about me not posting anything for ages and ages and ages (read: 2 days), so I figured I'd toss up a quickie music post. This post is also kind of celebratory, because I finished with something going on in my personal life a bit earlier than I had planned, something that I thought would NEVER be over with, and I am pretty happy about that. So, you get music, I got a huge weight lifted off of my back, and......That's pretty much it, I guess.

(If you're wondering, the post title means absolutely nothing. I just pulled a quote out of the air. Yes, it's a quote, and sadly, that is the first thing that came to my mind. I'm tired.)

Meme 2:Electric Boogaloo

After doing that little questionaire thing the other day, and bitching about it, I was poking around the interweb, and I found a movie meme. Well, since no one was telling me to do it, I found myself WANTING to do it. Besides, it's easier for me to answer movie related questions than it is to answer questions about myself-you don't need to know what I'm afraid of, but you do need to know the name of the last movie I watched: that logic makes sense in my warped mind, anyway. My only problem with doing this, is that I change my mind a lot, so I'm going to have to control myself, so that I don't go back and change things on #8-don't let me do it.

I don't know where I got this meme from, so if you recognize it, tell me who made it, and I will credit them.

Ahem.

1. Total number of movies you've seen: Are you fucking KIDDING me?

2. Total number of films you own on DVD and video: 200-300

3. Last movie you saw in the theater: Hmmm, I think Saw 2, before that, the last movie I went to see was Titanic-I laughed my ass off, too. I don't like going to the movies-too many stupid people around that feel they have to provide commentary.

4. Last film you bought: Bought 2 at the same time- Little Fish (which I have yet to watch) and the Evil Dead II Special Edition.

5. Last film you watched: You really wanna know? I watched A Christmas Story with Harper: she'd never seen it.

6.The last movie you saw that made you cry: The Chronicles of Narnia. Yes, I'm a big, giant baby-are you happy now?

7. Movie that everyone else loved that you couldn't stand: The only one that comes to mind is V for Vendetta, but "couldn't stand" is too harsh-"didn't care for" is more apt. I blame Natalie Portman.

8. Five films that you watch a lot or that mean a lot to you (in no particular order) : See, this is a tricky question. If I really love a movie, I won't watch it over and over again, because when I do that I get tired of it and don't want to watch it any more. Since it's "OR that mean a lot to you", I guess I'll list those, even though "mean a lot to you" makes it sound like it has to have some great signifigance, like I relate to it, or I had a big epiphany due to the message. Most of the movies I like don't HAVE meaning, they just exist and they entertain me. Hell, here's five movies that I liked a whole LOT-that's not too tricky:

Withnail and I. I first saw this movie when I was around 14 years old. I remember liking it ok, but at 14, I couldn't fully appreciate it and it wasn't one of my favorites. I watched it again last week. Oh. My. God. This movie is made of %110 pure awesomeness. Richard E. Grant + drunken pretentious foppishness=Perfection.

The Interview. I first saw this over 5 years ago, watched it many times since then, and I'm STILL trying to figure out whether or not the lead dude (played by my husband, Hugo) actually killed anyone or he was just faking. If you haven't seen it, watch it, and tell me if YOU think he did it, because I have no idea.

Jaws. Jaws is my comfort movie. Whenever I'm depressed, or pissed, or sick, I whip out the ol' DVD and have myself a viewing. It's not so much the plot, and it doesn't scare me (except when that head comes bobbing out from under the boat-that's a little awkward), it's mainly Robert Shaw as Quint, who is my most favorite character EVAH. He's all grizzled and weird and funny and I love the hell out of him.

Serenity. I'm not a big science fiction fan. There's a few movies that I like that would be classified as such, but I don't actively seek out movies that are defined as sf. As a matter of fact, I avoid that section of the video store like the plague. However, it's a known fact that I AM a big Joss Whedon fan, and I was a big Firefly fan before it was so unceremoniously cancelled, so therefore, it's a given that I would like this movie, even if it did make me cry like a hungry, angry baby (a couple of folks die that I was rather fond of-that's my biggest beef with Joss Whedon:he kills off almost all of his most likeable characters. Bastard.)

Ed Wood. I've said before why I liked Ed Wood, but the most important thing of all, and something I neglected to mention when I made a post about it, is that it just makes me happy. Just, HAPPY. Really. Happy.

9. If you could be any character portrayed in a movie, who would it be? Either Tura Satana in Faster Pussycat! Kill, Kill! or Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame. Yes, I'm a bit of an odd duck-was that ever up for debate?

10. People I'm tagging: You know what? I think this time I will tag someone. Oh Jenner.........