Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My classes

The Senator Craig situation is a big deal because 1. A U.S. Senator pled guilty to a crime and didn't tell anybody about it 2. Said Senator is now blaming a newspaper for his guilty plee and claiming he didn't do it 3. He's a freaking Senator. Those guys are pretty important. Paris Hilton doesn't make policy decisions that affect this country.

anyways...

Here's my initial thoughts on my four classes this semester

Ancient Greek Religion: For some reason, I thought this was Roman religion. Turns out I was wrong. Class looks easy enough. I've come to the conclusion that the goal of all Classics classes is to make you memorize the Iliad and Odyssey. I'll be reading both for what seems like the 28th time in my college career.

Gender Communication: A very interesting class. First off, our professor has started a blog that everyone in the class must participate in. Part of the class curriculum is to post anything and everything you want on that blog anonymously, if you so desire. I just cut and paste my previous blog into it to be the first non-professor blog entry but I plan on doing some strange stuff and riling up controversy if at all possible. See, the professor has told us we can have multiple personalities and sign up for multiple accounts if we want. It's all anonymous (a very convoluted process I don't want to explain) and the idea is to "see what happens". Apparently this is a way that everyone can express what they really think of other people in the class without feeling threatened. It's a very strange idea, that the entire class must blog about each other, and it seems very dangerous when you get right down to it. Maybe part of the idea is to see if the blog degrades into namecalling and nastiness? We'll see soon enough, I suppose. The other cool aspect of the class is that the final project is completely creative, so instead of writing a paper, I can do a video. Depending on how much time I've got, I may go that route. I was thinking about going around and interviewing all of the homeless people downtown and getting their perspective on things. Who knows, maybe I can be Lincoln's version of Michael Moore :)

Aesthetics: There's a reason why UNL Film Studies majors are always pissed off. The classes offered for our major are completely screwed up. I won't get into it, but basically over half of all the classes we can take are either not available or are in the broadcasting and art departments, of which you either have to have a bunch of pre-requisites to get in or are shit out of luck because the broadcasting and art majors get first dibs. Seriously, it is almost impossible to get the classes you need.

There is only one Philosophy class offered for Film majors: Aesthetics. It's a 300 level course. I was lucky to get into it and the class itself looks fun. Essentially, we'll be reading a bunch of philosophers and their theories of art and how art works. We get to go to a bunch of plays, concerts, and art galleries. Cool. What isn't cool is that the professor comes in and says "This is a 300 level class and I'm sure some of you haven't taken any philosophy classes before". The actual description says you need a 100 and 200 level philosophy class as a pre-requisite. He then asked for a show of hands of who hadn't taken a philosophy class before. Out of the 30 or so people in the class, at least 25 (including myself) raised their hands. They guy was completely taken aback. He then looked at the student roll and noticed that almost everyone in the class was a Film Studies major. Like I said, UNL is retarded.

Anyways, the class sounds fun, but there are 3 papers to write and 7 essay exams. Good lord. I'm supposed to be reading Tolstoy right now, but instead I'm writing this blog. I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to skate through this class...

Understanding World Politics: Now this class is going to be right up my alley! First off, the professor is bat-shit crazy. Secondly, the entire class is about future events. The major project is creating a scenario paper about how we see things going in the future regarding world politics. Now I can finally write down my entire China/Russia/United States scenario I've been claiming is going to happen for years. This class will be fun, I think.

All in all, I like all of my classes. The Philosophy class still kinda frightens me, but at least I'll be having fun (we get to write a paper on any piece of art we want and apply a theory to it...I'm already waiting for the right theory to apply to Big Trouble in Little China). The other classes should be relatively easy.

Another thing I've noticed is that lately, professors have been in open revolt against textbook manufacturers. This semester, two classes have eschewed with required books altogether (the professors just giving info in lecture) and the professor for my politics class has built his entire semester on free articles from UNL's website, thus no books whatsoever. I noticed this change a year ago, as more and more professors I had started saying "Screw you" to the book companies (one professor who had no choice but to get us a $75 book gave us the e-mail address of the company so we could complain). I have no reference so I'm not sure if this is a widespread thing or just localized to UNL, but it seems to me that professors are collectively trying to force the hand of book companies to either drop the prices or risk them not using them at all, especially with the easy access of articles online that can be had for free. It's interesting....

I purchased the latest Metroid game tonight. There is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to play it anytime soon, but I'd rather pick it up cheap at Deep Discount then spend fifty bucks at Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Same goes with the Robocop disc that just came out. Twenty bucks at Best Buy, only sixteen at DD. I'm sure there are cheaper places online if I looked hard, but I don't really understand why people buy stuff at Wal-Mart and Best Buy. I mean, if DD were a store here in town instead of an online retailer, you would definitely buy your stuff there rather than go to Wal-Mart.

The Deadlantern fantasy football draft went well. It took longer than I thought it would, but it was still fun. Now I just have to make decisions, which sucks :)

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I love Fox News

When a United States Senator is busted for not only trying to solicit sex in a bathroom, but for also covering up the fact that he pled guilty to the crime, that's big news. It doesn't really have anything to do with the fact that he is Republican who preaches anti-gay rhetoric. That's beside the point. It could have been Joe Biden caught banging some Catholic schoolgirl. Point is, it's major news.

I like flipping through the major news channels during the day. CNN, MSNBC, and FOX all have very different ways of portraying the news. Case in point:

Today, I was watching the press conference with the Senator Craig. MSNBC and CNN were covering it live and then had commentary afterwards. Cuz, y'know, it's a big story. I flip over to FOX, just to see how they are covering it, and I swear to god, this is what I saw (I even wrote it down because I was so dumbfounded):

"Is Katie Couric Really America's Sweetheart?": they then interviewed some author of a book claiming that Couric "slept her way to the top"

"Healing Owen": In which the FOX host speculated that Owen Wilson was strung out on drugs and interviewed some psychologist dude about how a guy who "has everything in the world: fame, women, tons of money" could possibly be depressed.

"Fight in a courtroom!": in which FOX showed a mother screaming and having to be held back at the trial of a guy who murdered her son. There wasn't even a "fight". It was a bunch of people holding her back.

Remember, these were the stories FOX was running while the Senator news was breaking.

Are you kidding me? People who get their news from this station are brain dead. Seriously. You can claim CNN is liberal, but at least when a major news story breaks, they don't run stories mocking Owen Wilson's suicide attempt. It isn't surprising though. FOX hates Hollywood and CBS and enjoys pumping their sheep with stupid "news" like "Fight in a courtroom!"

I mean, c'mon...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Another boring semester

The fall semester is upon me and I've set up all my classes to be back-to-back on Tuesday and Thursday, giving me 5 days off a week. Classes:

Ancient Roman Religion
World Politics
Gender and Communication
Aesthetics

I'm kind of worried about my philosophy class. I've only ever heard horror stories about college philosophy courses so hopefully I won't have to explain the nuances of the Socratic Dialogue in some New Age way.

I posted a review of Entrails of a Virgin over at Deadlantern. I'm having a great time sticking screencaps in the reviews. I think it adds a much needed visual element and makes the reviews more interesting to read. Of course, I could be wrong about that. Hopefully everyone else is getting a kick out of them. There were some better screencaps for Entrails, but I'm not sure how much we can "get away with" so I decided against showing some of the more racier stuff. Still, I think the theme of the film comes across just fine :)

I am really tossing around the idea of trying to get a Public Access show started. I think it would be a fantastic way to get our name out there locally and could be a lot of fun to do. Imagine Deejay as some mad scientist in front of a green screen introducing old horror films. It would be great, and probably pretty simple to do. Once again, lots of ideas floating around that will probably never come to fruition.

Now, off to watch Employees' Entrance while my laundry is going...

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Rarely Recognized Advances


Caught the season finale of Big Love tonight. Overall, it was a good season. Not as good as the first, but still really good. The finale was filled a lot of character decisions that push the boundaries of "suspension of disbelief" and was fairly lackluster all things considered. Part of the problem with the finale is that it doesn't leave you craving for season 3. In the end, the status quo is maintained. Bill is still fighting Alby, they still have Weber Gaming, and Ben is still going the polygamist route. Disappointing. Here's hoping the show doesn't take a precipitous dive in quality next season.

Hollywood scored a record $4 billion dollar summer. Not surprising considering the insane amount of tent pole franchises that were released this year. Holy crap were there a lot of big name movies! More than I can remember during any other year in recent memory. Here's a prediction: Next year will be seen as a major disappointment. There isn't a whole lot of huge films coming out next year. Indiana Jones 4 will be big, but I don't see it making anymore money than what Spidey 3 did this year. 10,000 B.C. is going to be a major flop, I think, as well as Speed Racer (does that film even sound appealing to anyone?). Iron Man will do some bank, but will probably end up with a high first weekend and then drop off considerably, tailing off around 200 million. The Dark Knight is my "sleeper" pick to be the box office champ next summer. I think most people will be thinking Indy 4, but I think Batman Begins is fresher in peoples' minds and I think the whole Joker aspect will drive people to the theatres in droves. But really, there isn't a whole lot of big stuff coming out next year, which is going to lead to the inevitable drop off in box office receipts and you'll no doubt be reading many articles about how the sky is falling and Hollywood executives are pissing their pants trying to make the audiences come back. Yawn. Hey Wolgamott, didn't I tell you?

One film that is getting zero buzz and that I'm most curious about is the apparent remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. It's supposedly going to be released next May, and yet I have seen next to zero info about it. No trailers, no news, no anything. It's the most mysterious thing about next year's movie lineup, even moreso than "Cloverfield". At least that film has some damn teaser trailers and enough news to keep people guessing! Still, I'm eagerly hoping to hear something about this film. Maybe they are planning on revealing some badass trailer upon an unsuspecting public with the release of I am Legend?

I hate technology. Mostly because it always fails when I'm around it. But there are some advances that I greatly appreciate. Take the vending machine where I work, for example. In the "old days", popping in a couple quarters and pressing the buttons for your desired candy was a scary thing. Maybe one out of every 10 times, you'd get a machine where the the steel spiral thingymabobs that held the candy would be off by a little bit. It would spin, you'd watch your Reese's Pieces come forward, only for it to become "stuck" because the spiral moved its set length and your candy didn't happen to be in the correct position. Usually, you'd start cussing and try shaking the machine. Always a bad idea if the Darwin Awards are to be believed. Anyhow, we have a new vending machine where I work and the same damn thing happened to me. The spiral spun. The candy was stopped right before it could drop. I cussed. Then a strange thing happened. The machine paused for a few seconds and then spun again until the candy fell. Turns out, the machine has a sensor at the bottom that reacts to the candy hitting it. So, if it doesn't sense anything, it auto continues to turn until the candy falls. You're guaranteed not to lose any money because the machine won't stop until it gives you your item. Why the hell didn't they of this for the last 40 years?


My mom surprised me today with a copy of the final issue of Weekly World News. This magazine was an integral part of my childhood (and probably explains quite a bit now that I think of it). I moved a lot as a kid and every time I made sure I knew where the closest gas station was so I could head over each week and pick up the latest issue. I was with Bat-Boy from the beginning and I was there with Ed Anger bitching and moaning about America. I wanted to write for this magazine and would come up with ridiculous storylines so I could feel as "cool" as the writers at WWN. Ah to be a kid again! I haven't bought an issue in years, but I would still make a point to check out the cover every time I went to the grocery store and if it was particularly good, I'd pick up an issue and thumb through it while waiting to check out. I'm sad that I'll never be able to read about Satan appearing in a U.F.O over New York ever again and even sadder that there will be one less time I smile while at the grocery store. Apparently, they are continuing the website but that's just not the same, you know? Weekly World News, you will be missed!

20 more favorite films in no particular order:

61) House on Haunted Hill
62) Rosemary's Baby
63) Night of the Living Dead
64) Ace Venture, Pet Detective
65) The Shawshank Redemption
66) The Truman Show
67) Raiders of the Lost Ark
68) The Neverending Story
69) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
70) Freaks
71) The Clash of the Titans
72) Karate Kid II
73) Matinee
74) The Burbs
75) King Kong (1933)
76) The Ten Commandments (1956)
77) Contempt
78) Safe in Hell
79) The Mouthpiece
80) Night Nurse

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Worst Movie Ever?

I've seen a lot of bad movies, but Dead Clowns has to be right up there. I'll save my comments for the next Splattercast, but my goodness...I'm flabbergasted at how a movie like this can get distribution from a place like Lion's Gate. Doing a little research, I noticed that the film was actually made back in 2003 and has been released in Europe. It must have gotten noticed across the pond by Lion's Gate. Maybe it did some great business over there? God this movie is terrible. It's a bad, bad ripoff of The Fog with clowns that look like Fulci zombies.

While everyone is clamoring about the upcoming football season, being the basketball junkie I am, I've been following USA basketball. This is what I like to see. Basketball is my sport of choice and I've been angered by the way our country has performed in the recent Olympics and World Championships. There is no reason anybody should ever beat us. Ever. Yeah yeah, I understand how the rules are changed slightly for international play, and I get that the world just goes into a zone defense to stop our athleticism, but if anybody seriously thinks that Argentina can field a better group of players than the U.S., you're insane. Our problem the past few years is a lack of interest by the players themselves, a neglect of the "team concept", laziness, and the refusal of superstars like Kobe and Shaq to play. I hate Kobe Bryant, but does anyone think we would have lost a game the past couple years if he was on the team? If we've got our best on the court, and they aren't taken out every 4 minutes in an effort to get "everybody minutes", nobody can beat us. With Kobe and Redd draining 3 pointers from everywhere, we've now got some bonafide "i can hit a shot from anywhere on the court" players. Now, if someone can coax Shaq into stomping on some twig Euro centers for us, we should be good to go :)

Speaking of sports, Florida St. just named Drew Weatherford their starting quarterback. This isn't surprising, but both Weatherford and Xavier Lee suck, so it doesn't really matter. Weatherford is a scarecrow who is mediocre at best. Lee has great athleticism, but since he has never really been given the opportunity to play, he always forced a lot of stuff when he was in the game, causing a lot of turnovers. It's kind of sad because Lee was a huge recruit and in my opinion, should have been given the keys to the car from the beginning over Weatherford. Bowden is just way too loyal.

The next two Netflix movies coming are Entrails of a Virgin and The Legend of Hell House. I remember seeing Entrails a long time ago and remember it being pretty hardcore when I watched it, but at the time, I hadn't seen much "extreme" horror so I don't know whether or not my memory makes it out to be gorier than it really is or not, so I figured I'd revisit it in preparation for our "gore-a-thon" next Saturday. I'll have to dig up my Slaughtered Vomit Dolls notes. I've done a little preparation for this and already and I've been having trouble coming up with anything positive to say about these "gory for the sake of being gory" movies. I think it will be fun to sit down and watch all of these with everyone, but I'm wondering how much we'll actually be able to take? 7 or 8 hours of straight torture and murder may be enough to turn all of us psychotic :) I'm most interested to hear what Jeff has to say about these movies. He's got far more expertise in this area of horror than I do and I think he's the one in the group that "likes" these movies. I can't honestly say that I enjoy watching torture for the sake of torture. I'm not against extreme gore and violence in movies by any means, but if there is no real context or subtext to why it's there, I find it as nothing more than pretentious horror geeks trying to "push the envelope". Still, I'm looking forward to watching the movies with everyone. It should be a fun time....as long as Deejay doesn't go nuts and slit our throats :)

Speaking of which, I'm twistedly looking forward to seeing Halloween next week. A bunch of clips were released this week but I forced myself to not watch any of them and I've been avoiding clicking on any Halloween news or message board threads and every time a trailer pops up on TV, I change the channel immediately. I've been doing my best to put my mind in the best frame possible for when we see it, sorta by trying my best not to think about it at all. Still, I'm a horror fan at heart and it's impossible not to get a little excited about the film's upcoming release. Halloween happens to be my favorite horror film ever, by my favorite filmmaker ever, and even though there's that "how could you remake this!!!" teen punk angst popping out, the fan in me still would like to see the movie be really good. On one level, I hate the idea and Rob Zombie directing, but on another level I'm so damn curious that my anticipation is really growing.

Alyssa and I checked out the new Super Target yesterday and are extremely happy to report that we will no longer be going to Wal-Mart ever again. Yay. The prices (at least right now) are cheaper or the equal for what we buy grocery-wise and their fruit isn't nasty and fly ridden like Wal-Mart's. Speaking of Wal-Mart, I heard that they got rid of all of their self-checkout's because people were stealing electronics by distracting the employee's? That's funny if it's true.

Here's another 20 of my favorite films and an obligatory picture of Joan Blondell

41) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
42) Back to the Future
43) Curtains
44) The Blob (1958)
45) Robocop
46) Escape from Alcatraz
47) Five Star Final
48) Three on a Match
49) Pet Sematary
50) American Psycho
51) Cube
52) Happy Gilmore
53) Creepshow
54) The Day the Earth Stood Still
55) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
56) The Wolf Man
57) Existenz
58) Street Trash
59) The Fly (1986)
60) Seven Samurai

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

It's filthy hot outside

This hi-def war is so stupid. Judging by some of the comments posted on the site, most people find it moronic as well. Personally, I have no real desire for a hi-def player right now. Standard definition suits me just fine. If I don't have a problem watching 70 year old film prints barely hanging on to life, I certainly can stand watching one of the near archaic DVD's on my bookshelf. There's no doubt that I'll eventually get a hi-def TV. My girlfriend insists that she just doesn't see any real jump up in meaningful quality, so there's no real reason to purchase one. Inevitably, everything will be going to HD, so I know I'm going to have to get one at some point. However, I will not be repurchasing all of my DVD's. In fact, I probably won't be buying many HD flicks at all. It'll take many, many years for DVD to go the way of VHS (which I still watch and love, by the way. Screw you HD) and by that time, maybe HD-DVD will have finally given up its losing struggle (I'm of firm belief that the reason it is losing the "war" is because its name is too close and similar to that of DVD. Blu-Ray just sounds futuristic and it rolls off the tongue. HD-DVD sounds like a standard DVD with more extras while Blu-Ray sounds like something from outer space). In any event, I'll be sticking with standard for the foreseeable future.

I went and saw Sunshine last night. It's really good. Not much beneath the surface and the plot seems to fly in 20 different directions during the last third of the film, but it's great fun to watch. It's got a real Event Horizon-ish vibe going on, so much so that at times it feels like a remake of that film. I guess you can consider Sunshine a companion piece to Event Horizon? There's some gore in Sunshine, but the main difference between it and Horizon is that it focuses far less on the "this ship went to hell and came back!" aspect. Sunshine is more grounded in "reality", though that term may be a reach. Still, it's a definite must see in the theater.

Scientists are throwing together the proteins needed in order to create life. This will happen at some point in the future regardless if the 3-10 year prediction doesn't hold water. I wonder what will happen then. Will religious people get all up in arms or will they just shrug and say "Um...somebody had to make those proteins in the first place" :) Then what happens when scientists start making things "out of thin air" by using nothing more than energy and molecules, reenacting mini "big bangs"? Then what are people going to say? It probably won't happen in my lifetime, but I'd love to see what happens to society in 100 years. Who knows, maybe by then science will have stopped the aging process, or reversed it, and I'll be able to find out!

It's been so damn hot across the country that I'm not surprised to read articles like this. Have you ever noticed that when it is scorchingly hot, you don't find any articles on sites like Drudge or the mainstream media for that matter, about how or why it could be related to global warming? However, when temperatures get low or there is some freak snow storm, all you get is stuff about global warming? It's a textbook example of trying to demonize and ridicule a certain topic. That's fine, though. We'll all find out who was correct in 50 years :)

Here's 20 more of my favorite films off the top of my head:

21) Red Dust
22) La Jetée
23) The War Game
24) Commando
25) Predator
26) Predator II
27) A Simple Plan
28) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
29) The Great Mouse Detective
30) Evil Dead II
31) Spider-Man 2
32) Scream
33) A Nightmare on Elm Street
34) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4
35) Aliens
36) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
37) Them!
38) Goodfellas
39) In the Mouth of Madness
40) Cannibal Campout

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Way too busy

Finally got Deadlantern updated.

I've been trying to figure out this fantasy football thing. There doesn't seem to be any handy dandy "Help" section on the Fox Sports site. Apparently, unless we do the draft live online, I'm going to have to manually upload everyone's picks and manage all of them...or something. Don't hate me if I bungle this thing, guys :)

I'm been on a movie overload recently. Tonight I caught The Final Cut on IFC. It stars Robin Williams as a "cutter". In the future, people can get implants in their brain that records all of their memories. When they die, Robin Williams goes through their life and edits a "movie" of their lives to play during their funeral, editing out all of the bad stuff. I thought the premise was fantastic and that the movie was really good. I wish it had focused more on the ramifications of the technology (solving crimes, morality, etc.) rather than on Williams' sort lame backstory, but I think the film is definitely well made and thought provoking. I'd wager that this will be a film a bunch of scholars write about in 10 years.

Alyssa and I rearranged our living room. It's actually livable now and not just a bunch of junk cluttered around. Maybe we can finally have that house warming party now.

There was tons of political stuff I wanted to talk about, but I've been so busy that all of it has left my memory. Maybe next week. Until then, here's 10 more of my favorite movies

11) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
12) Kiss Me Deadly
13) Head-On
14) Re-Animator
15) Baby Face (1933)
16) The Most Dangerous Game
17) Sleepaway Camp II
18) Heat Lightning
19) Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
20) The Thing

Monday, August 13, 2007

I like the blank way you fill up my mind


Alyssa and I went out into the country Sunday night (after stopping by Taco Bell to try those new chicken taquitos) to watch the Perseid meteor shower. We watched for an hour and only saw 3 comet particles burn up in the atmosphere. Disappointing. Maybe there was just too much light from the city still glowing up the sky from a distance.

We're watching The Mummy next class period. Can. Not. Wait.

The guys seemed to really dig The Body Snatcher on the latest Splattercast. Even Deejay seemed to like it, which I found sort of surprising. Next up on my list The Ghoul and a companion piece of sorts to The Body Snatcher, the Peter Cushing/Donald Pleasance vehicle The Flesh and the Fiends. This underrated film actually focuses on Burke and Hare rather than the Robert Louis Stevenson short story that Body Snatcher is based on. It'll be interesting to see how they compare the two.

Rather than post all 113 of my favorite films in one post, I'm just going to do 10 or so at a time. These are in no particular order since most of these will just be off the top of my head until i start getting down to the last 20 or so, but here's the first 10:

1) Big Trouble in Little China
2) I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
3) Halloween
4) The Last Man on Earth
5) Requiem for a Dream
6) The Body Snatcher (it's fresh in my memory!)
7) Wild Boys of the Road
8) Paranoiac
9) Cell 2455, Death Row
10) Vertigo

I am mad at technology. Mostly because I just don't understand it. I've got this problem that's annoying simply because I don't get how to easily fix the problem when I know an answer is floating out there somewhere.

Last friday, Turner Classic Movies had a Vincent Price marathon and there were a couple flicks that I had to obtain. There are multiple reasons why TCM is the best movie channel on television, but one of the foremost reasons is that they show old movies that are unavailable on DVD or VHS. Every once in a while, the occasional unreleased horror film will be shown. One of these films was The Mad Magician which I've only read about and eagerly wanted to record. I've got my computer hooked up so that I can watch cable television on it and used Windows Media Center to record the film while I was at school . So now I've got an unavailable copy of The Mad Magician sitting patiently on my harddrive. Awesome!

Well, sorta. I hate watching movies on my monitor, so I decided to use Media Center to burn a DVD of the film. It'll burn the film all right, but after 2 freaking hours, it was only 25% finished. It seems the "this may take several hours" message is right on. I got sick of waiting and tried to look for an alternate way to burn the disc. There must be an easier way, right? So I look at the file and it is in some div-r format. I tried opening it in Premiere and it is an unsupported file type. I tried using MovieMaker and got the same message. I was hoping to open up the damn file and trim the bit of commercials I recorded before and after the film but apparently I can't do that. I'm assuming I need to convert this div-r file to something else in order to allow me to open it in an editing program, but damn if I'm not just pissed off at the whole thing. I went into the Media Center options to see if it can output my recorded movies to a different file type but couldn't find any such option.

I really like the ability to record these rare films on my PC. I've normally had to make due with taping them to VHS, which degrades the picture quality something terrible, and I really don't want to go back to that way of procuring stuff like The Mad Magician. I know there must be an easy way to correct this situation. I just wish I had that knack for "getting" technology that all my other friends seem to have. Eh, I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough.

Now, time to go watch Slaughter Hotel

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Gearing up for a long day...

A long day of work and then my Uncle's National Guard retirement/birthday bash at 6. I hate long days.

My friend Brady (sorry to keep bringing this up, buddy!) went to a rock concert last night to see one of his favorite bands, The Rentals. He raved about the show and how great it was to see them live on his myspace blog.

This got me thinking about our debate about theater vs. television. It's the same type of thing in many ways. A rock concert is expensive, has tons of sweaty people, is smoky, and is generally a chaotic thing. If you really wanted to, you could toss in a CD in a good quality stereo and get better sound and better quality songs (less screwups, etc.). So I'm curious to know if he would consider a live show "superior" to listening to the band at home or heck, even watching a DVD of a show. I'll probably have more to say about this when I have more time, but now I gotta run to work.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Stardust looks sucky


Stardust looks like the biggest pile of crap hitting theaters this year since Evan Almighty. I can't decide whether it's just the horrid trailer (which unwisely states all the things "you've seen before") or if the story just looks unoriginal and stupid as all hell. Of course, I haven't read the book it's based on, and I'm sure Neil Gaiman wrote something interesting, but there seems to be zero buzz about this movie. I'm predicting that it will crash and burn this weekend. Maybe I'm just put off by fantasy male leads named Tristran...

I caught Shadow of the Thin Man earlier this afternoon. Good stuff, however it's much less interesting than the earlier Thin Man movies. William Powell and Myrna Loy are still great together, but this film is far removed from the raging alcoholics they were in the first film. Nick still likes his cocktails, but now that the characters have a kid, they are far more "mature", therefore losing much of the charm they had together on screen. The wisecracks just don't have the same oomph that they used to, but Asta is still awesome.

C+

Speaking of Monday, I'm going to be very interested to see how the guys react to the film I selected for review for this week's Splattercast,
The Body Snatcher. I don't think any of them, particularly Deejay, really get into old films like this. Since I'm planning on only picking older films to review from now on (in an effort to introduce these great films to our audience, which probably hasn't seen any of them, and to give some background info on the films), it'll be fun to see whether or not the guys hate it, therefore dreading the next film they've got to watch from me, or maybe they'll like it and anticipate the next one. Should be interesting...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Another Democratic Debate


Yet another Democratic debate (or "forum", if you will) was held tonight. Keith Olbermann moderated what was a moderately informative affair. A couple things I noticed:

* please, for the love of anything, somebody get Obama to be more direct and to the point when he's answering questions. During the youtube debate, he seemed to be making progress. This one, however, he regressed badly during the first few questions asked to him. This will be his one fatal flaw against Hillary. Hillary is so insanely polished when it comes to speaking in clear, decisive ways and Bill has obviously coached her how to turn every issue back into an appeal to the voters that Obama needs to do something immediately, else he stands no chance. If Obama had Biden's delivery, with Kucinich's bluntness and clarity on the issues, Hillary would actually have something to worry about.

* Hillary will win the presidency next year. Believe me, I'm not totally on board with a Hillary presidency for a number of reasons, but I don't see how any of the Republican candidates would be able to challenge her in a debate. Love her or hate her, she can definitely hold her own against strong men in 90 second answers.

* Joe Biden needs to get out right now. 15,000 union members booed him nearly off stage when a union member asked him a question and he totally blew off answering him. Instead, he decided to answer a question posed to a candidate before him that had nothing to do with the question he was asked.

* Obama not answering the Barry Bonds question was stupid. I'll answer it for you: "No."

* Did anyone else notice that John Edwards wasn't asked a question for nearly 25 minutes? When Dodd, Hillary, and Obama had their big "Pakistan" scuffle (the only real highlight of the night other than the completely sympathetic 70 year old union member on crutches who cried when asking a question about why he was laid off and is now unable to pay for his wife's medical bills. It's time for universal health care.), Edwards wasn't asked anything about it. The media has written him off, as has most of the country for that matter.

* Dear Barack, next time one of the challengers questions your opinion on taking action in Pakistan, don't go nuanced on them, because they aren't the ones who will be voting you into office. Instead, say this: "If I get intelligence that says Al-Qaeda operatives are in Pakistan and Musharraf won't do anything about it, then I will take them out myself. Period. End of story. Next question, please." Short, sweet, and to the point.

* To all of the Democratic candidates: China is not "a competitor". They are an enemy. Olbermann asked all the candidates whether they felt China was a friend or an adversary. Every candidate dodged the question by saying they are a "competitor". Bullshit. These guys have a plan. I've said for years that they are the threat. I'm willing to concede that maybe the candidates just don't want to go on record as saying China (which is a tiny bit more important than say, oh, Pakistan) is an enemy. But still, I would certainly hope that they don't really believe what their public rhetoric implies. More on China in a minute.

* It's time for Richardson, Biden, Kucinich (guy is great, but he's got no shot in this race), and Dodd to step away. I'm sick of seeing Dodd getting questions I want Obama or Hillary to answer.

* There's been some media publicity about the "icy" relationship between Obama and Hillary. When the debate was over, they barely made any eye contact and said "thanks" and moved on. Maybe that Hillary/Obama ticket ain't as surefire a thing as many think...

In closing, it was a lame debate with only two really knockout sequences. Trim the field down or people are going to tire of this even more than they already are.

In other news, I clicked over to Drudge awhile ago and found this. I've been saying for years that our enemy is not terrorism, but China. Islamic radicals are barely a blip on the problem chart of what's going to happen in the next 20 years. China, as well as Russia, should be the number one priority of concern for the next Administration.

Though I'm pegged as some far left radical liberal (which isn't true in the slightest), I completely support increasing defense spending, bulking up the military, and developing new weapons. I also believe that we should invest in a missile defense shield for this country, no matter what the cost. Democrats who believe that we should junk any type of missile defense shield, whether it be land or space based, are dead wrong on the issue. Wow, a liberal for strong defense spending, optional universal health care, and a balanced budget. Look how radical I am! :)

Breaking news, Barry Bonds just passed Hank Aaron. Obama, the answer is "No."

By the way, the big news this past weekend is Hillary's 20 point lead in national polls over Obama. These mean absolutely nothing right now. Anybody remember Howard Dean? The only polls that really matter are Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. If Obama can pull out 2 of 3, he'll become the frontrunner. Supporters can calm down, stop overreacting. It's still an uphill battle, but don't take a huge stock in national polls right now. Here's an article defending Obama's recent Pakistani remarks.

P.S. The United Nations says it's gettin' hot out there.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Cagney loves the big screen


Just finished up paper #3 for my film class. I wrote a ton about one of my favorite films, The Public Enemy. Only a week and a half left in my final college film class ever. It's going to be weird to walk out of that final day of class knowing that my film education is effectively over at UNL. Even though I've seen many of the films we're screening this semester, it's still awesome to watch Cagney slam a grapefruit in a dame's face on the big screen. Fittingly, the final day of class is what I'm looking forward to the most: a screening of Karl Freund's The Mummy, which I absolutely love and have never seen on the big screen before. I know most of my friends find it dreadfully dull, but I think it's a far more entertaining flick than the oft-praised Lugosi Dracula. At least my film career at UNL is going out with a bang.

Mitt Romney is looking more and more like a crazy loon. Way to drop a Dr. Strangelove reference there, Mitt. I do find it interesting that he is desperately trying to beat up on Obama who is way down in the polls behind front runner Hillary. You would think that a guy hoping to win the Republican nomination would spend more time on his own party's rivals then a guy with virtually no shot at unseating Hillary. Mitt Romney as president? Never. Going. To. Happen.

The Simpsons Movie dropped an astounding 65% of its audience from last week. That's not surprising since the film isn't very funny. As I predicted, Sicko is not the gargantuan hit that people were expecting it to be. It's going to finish its run right about where I said it would. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the DVD release will be next year, probably early summer, to coincide with the election hoopla. It'll make far more money on DVD then it did in the theatres.

Now, off to watch Popcorn...

Friday, August 3, 2007

A near death experience a month late


See that collapsed bridge? I've crossed it many times. That bridge happens to be a necessity in order to get to the Shriner's Children's Hospital that my family visits twice a year. My mom, grandma, and sister were on that very bridge one month ago for my sister's checkup. My mom and grandma are rattled quite a bit by what happened. This incident will do nothing to help my mom's fear of bridges.

It's very strange to know that you've made regular trips across that bridge and that it could have fallen at any moment. Then again, that's life. Much like a random terrorist attack, bridges and buildings will fall, trains will go off their tracks, and vehicular accidents will occur. Live everyday like it's your last.

I'm disallowed to give specifics since it's supposed to be part of a "media blackout", but the company I work for just scored a high priority, high level contract to do some work in a country that happens to be in the news right now. Those of you who know me can probably guess what I'm hinting at. Let's just say that the Bush administration knows who's the best there is at what they do.

In the past couple of days, Barack Obama has been criticized for saying he would not use nukes in Pakistan and Afghanistan and that if Pakistan wouldn't round up the terrorists in their "tribal region", he wouldn't hesitate to send troops into that country to take them out. And he's being criticized, why? First off, dropping a nuclear bomb on any Arab country would be the most retarded thing ever. You think they hate us now? Watch what happens when a nuke lands on their soil. And sending troops into the western "wilds" of Pakistan is something I wholly support. A recent report came out that said Al Qaeda has set up training camps and is using the area to plan, possibly hide Bin Laden (I've always wondered...doesn't make more sense for him to be in Iran?), and carry out attacks across the borders. Why the fuck aren't we blowing the shit out of that area? Oh yes, I forget, because George Bush is buddy buddy with Musharraf. Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of all his "any country who harbors terrorists is our enemy" mouth excrement. Look, I get it. Pakistan has nukes and you don't want to piss off Mr. In Power Via a Military Coup. But if Al Qaeda is sitting in the hills, laughing their asses off, and Obama says "Blow me, dickheads", I don't see how you really can't support that. As far as I'm concerned, he's right on both points. Go learn more. Incidentally, this is one of the few instances that I wish I had a car. I'd love to go see Obama speak in Iowa sometime before the primaries. I've never been to any type of national political rally or anything. Maybe I can wear my girlfriend down to accompany me to an Obama event :)

I'm really looking forward to going over to Steve's next friday and having an all-night extreme horror movie marathon. I love doing those and sadly, it's rare that it ever happens. One of my favorite things in the world is to just sit around with friends on an all-night movie bender. It's unfortunate that "adulthood" seemingly murders time. In any event, I'm really looking forward to eating pizza and watching women disemboweled.

I'm planning on an upcoming post that will reveal my 113 favorite movies ever. The hip thing to do is add that extra number (such as 101), but I'm going to do the top 113 just for the hell of it. Bog Creatures will not be on that list. Look for that soon.

p.s. Democrats got some interesting stuff done this past week. You wouldn't know it from the media, though. A tighter ethics bill and more healthcare for the poor.