Fundamentally Excited

Chas.3 Comments

Pet. Shop. Boys!
Unless you’re under some rock hiding from the wonders of the 80’s music scene, you should know that the Pet Shop Boys are due to hit with their new album “Fundamental” in late May. Some say it’s a return to form. Personally, I think they’ve never lost their touch. Kick it with the new single …
Pet Shop Boys – I’m With Stupid [4.5 MB]

Fundamentally Excited

Wednesday Blah-Blah-Blah’s

Chas.3 Comments

I am in my “nobody likes me” mode today.

Hence, I am wearing my Charlie Brown shirt.

Probobly doesn’t help that while trying to fix a small problem with my Jeep’s door I broke something else and have created a bigger mess. I have to figure out how to get the door panel removed so I can get to the internal mechanics of the door. Bah.

Probably doesn’t help that while prep-ing dinner last (after breaking the Jeep door) I slided my thumb open on a butch knife. It hasn’t closed up good yet. It reopened this morning and bled some more and it’s still hurting. Makes me wonder if I might need a couple of stitches.

Probably doesn’t help that after breaking the Jeep door and slicing my thumb open that I fumbled my dinner so that it fell into the charcoal on the grill. I rescued it … but barely. Maybe a salad tonight as you can’t … oh, wait … that would invlove knives again.

Yup. I am in my “self-centered” mode today.

Hence, I am wearing my Charlie Brown shirt.

Wednesday Blah-Blah-Blah’s

Ill At Ease (And Then Some)

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Yeah. The natural born worrier has been a worrying.

It’s nothing specific which gets me to thinking that I should be “medicated” again. One the other hand I really don’t want to be a slave to a daily pill. I know that some people say I just need to jack off more often to take care of that stress.

Bills are a worry. Yeah, I know that I am the one who made the decision to purchase the uber expensive camera (which I am still lovin’). I am also talking about the “general” bills for lights and water and such as everything is getting more expensive. Gas is riding at $2.50 a gallon here at the cheap stations.

Sheesh.

Probably doesn’t help that Old Man Winter is having his way with us. I like cold and snow. What I don’t like is cold and a steady rain all damn day. That was yesterday … which is probably contributing to my semi-down mood.

O.K. Enough worrying for now …

Ill At Ease (And Then Some)

Thoughts To Make You Think

Chas.6 Comments

Nah. Not really.

I was gonna go on about politics again … but it’s just so damn depressing. My head hurts every time I think about it. This piece of art sums up the way I feel about just what the “Republicans” are doing to this country.

Yup. They are fascists.

And what about me?

I was really tickled to discover that my birthday is gonna fall on a Friday this year. Plus, the last of The Series of Unfortunate Events books will be out that day as well. Fun!

The weekend is gonna be busy.
1. Four parties (yeah, you read that number right) to attend.
2. A staged reading of a movie script to participate in.
3. Final weekend of the show that Barbara and Preston are doing.

I am mainly planning on being at the show just so I can quietly lust after the fella whose playing guitar. He’s cute.

On the way to Party #1 tonight I am gonna go shopping for a carrying case for the new camera … ’cause my new camera deserves it! Plus, I am super paranoid about dropping it or smacking it against something and thus killing it. Hmmmm. Wonder why I have that fear? It’s been kinda a busy week and I haven’t had much of a chance to “play” with any of the features past the mere basics. So far I am really happy with the camera … as long as I don’t think about the impending credit card bill of dooooooooooom.

Yup.

Thoughts To Make You Think

Yet Again With “The Full Monty”

Chas.3 Comments

I talked with Steve the other day and still no word on a meeting with the Town Higher-Ups. We chatted about things and he doesn’t really want to have the meeting (no surprise there) and I can sorta understand that. Steve thinks we just need to assure the Town that we will not break any laws when we do the show. Which is kinda bad since the script calls for us to break the law. We chatted about ways to “skirt” the ordinance … none of which I like at all. But that conversation got me to thinking. And I have come up with some ways that we can do the stripping, still show as much as ordinance allows and not cheat the audience out of getting some skin at the end of the show. That’s been my argument with Steve the entire time … taking the audience up to the strip act at the end of the show and then cheating it to the point where the audience feels like we didn’t have the balls (pun intended) to do it right. So, I’ll talk to him in the few days and make my suggestions as to how to do things and see what he says. Hopefully my ideas will fly.

Yet Again With “The Full Monty”

The Hills Have Eyes (2006): A Review

Chas.5 Comments

The Hill Have Eyes 06
The reviews for the remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” seem to be off base for the most part. Alexandre Aja (Writer/Director of “Haute Tension”) delivers the goods and then some. It’s a very solid thrill ride with plenty of cheap thrills and buckets of blood and gore.

I have found it interesting that some reviewers who praised “Hostel” as being hardcore have lambasted “The Hills Have Eyes.” Trust me … “Hills” is the movie that “Hostel” promised us and never delivered.

Aja showed lots of promise with “Haute Tension.” That film was basically an exercise in using gore to help ratchet up the overall dread of the film. “The Hills Have Eyes” gives Aja a good chance to do something with a little more character and lot more with the gore. I found the violence in “Hills” to be a lot more vicious than that of “Haute Tension.” It makes me wonder if the MPAA harder on “Haute Tension” because it’s a foreign film and has let “Hills” slide a little more because it’s American.

I did like that the remake makes more sense of some of the plot points that never really worked in the Wes Craven version. The car wreck that strands the Carters in no-man’s land isn’t totally silly like before. Plus it’s nice to see the gas station owner be more active in getting the story rolling. The fact that our inbred, mutant cannibals are the by products of nuclear testing is a wee dull and standard … but it give us a great final act in a nuclear test site full of buildings and creepy 50’s style mannequins. That was fun! Some of the reviews have cried “foul” and have tried to make the argument that the filmmakers have a “message” about the effects of nuclear testing. Ummm, no. Aja isn’t on a soap box. He’s just using the nuclear issue as a basis not as a rallying cry. Those cannibals are evil and have no qualms about killing your mother and then pulling out her entrails for a light snack.

There are a few problems. There’s a pretty major scene that should have been in the film but is only referenced after the fact. I can only imagine that it ended up on the cutting room floor for some reason. Missing from the film also a family structure for our killers. To me that seems pretty important as the film’s thrust is Carter Family verses Cannibal Family. It works to set up the killers better as they aren’t all so random like so many other horror films treat the villains. Plus, it helps make Ruby’s act of defiance in the final act all the more plausible.

The acting is good all the way ’round. It real shame though that Emile de Ravin (of “Lost” fame) has nothing better to do than act totally hysterical after the first attack. Her character never really gets a chance to redeem herself past a cheap shot at the very end of the film.

So, hell yeah! There’s messy gunshot wounds, pick axes to the head, munched on entrails, eviscerated dogs, gnawed off arms, burned bodies and a baby that could potentially be lunch! “The Hills Have Eyes” was pretty rockin’ in my opinion.~

The Hills Have Eyes (2006): A Review