Somewhat Updatey

Shew. What a week it’s been so far. I am still in “come down” mode from the brain-melting stress of the past weeks. But I have received the files for two freelance jobs. So, freelance work, Halloween festivities, and the bevy of movies I need to see should be able to distract me for a few days (at the very least).

The Complete Kubrick from Criterion
But at least my copy of The Complete Kubrick arrived earlier this week (purchased at the Criterion 50% Off Flash Sale last week, thanks to my side hustle). Whenever I get something like this, as a designer, I always wonder what it would be like to have free rein to come up with a collector’s set like this. It is pretty spectacular in the way it’s designed (IMHO). BUT the internet forums are lit-the-fuck-up over how the discs are housed. Aesthetically, I like the way the discs are stored. But in practice, they are quite pesky to remove. For me, the disc with the international version of The Shining is particularly hard to take out and put back in.

Who knows. Maybe I will get a wild hair and do the individual case thing for the various movies. I need to investigate just what it will cost to get the cases and art files to make that happen. Time will tell!

Somewhat Updatey

Wochenende!

The Devils
On Saturday, I got to see Ken Russell’s The Devils in all its restored and uncut glory. What a seriously unhinged (in the best way) movie. I really do wonder how this thing got greenlit back in the early ’70s. The content is still pretty boundary-pushing by 2026 standards. Now, bring on the 4K special edition.

55+ Breakfast Sampler
Here is a photo of one of the many senior meals that I will be consuming at IHOP since I am now considered to be a senior in their eyes. Yes!

Fictional Selves
While at Barnes & Noble, I snagged Kyle MacLachlan’s memoir. For some reason, I have been on a memoir-buying kick, and I currently have six that I need to read.

Pumpkin Carvin'
Here we are carving pumpkins with A&A during our (now) annual spooky movie day. Finley supervised to make sure nobody cut a finger off. Happy Haunting Season, everyone!

Wochenende!

“Deliverance” 4K Announced!

Criterion Collection DELIVERANCE 4K UHD
Stupid excited that Criterion has announced a 4K release of Deliverance for January 2027. Squee!

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director John Boorman, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring Boorman
  • New interview with critic Mark Harris
  • Audio reading of “Mountain Men: An Oral History of Deliverance,” a 2011 article by Charles Bethea
  • James Dickey reading from his novel Deliverance
  • The Dangerous World of “Deliverance,” a 1972 documentary about the making of the film
  • Interview with Dickey from a 1977 episode of The Dick Cavett Show
  • The Making of “Deliverance” (2007), a four-part documentary by Laurent Bouzereau
  • The Cast Looks Back, a roundtable discussion from 2012
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author Francine Prose
“Deliverance” 4K Announced!

“The Devils” Week

Answered Prayers ... THE DEVILS
Answered Prayers ... THE DEVILS
And then, very suddenly, here we are. Ken Russell’s The Devils is now unleashed in all its uncut, restored glory. Yes. Our prayers have been answered. I seriously can’t thank Warner Bros. Clockwork enough for making this happen.

We lucked out, and a couple of theaters in the Asheville area are showing it. I conned Boyfriend 2 into going with me. So hopefully he will still be speaking to me after the 12:55 screening we are attending tomorrow. Ha!

The Devils is in theaters for one week. Get thee to the closest movie theater showing it!

“The Devils” Week

Week-ity Weekend!

Another long slog of a work week is in the books. Shew. This past month has really made me feel like I need about six months off just to be lazy.

The Regal Unlimited Membership is keeping me busy with trips to the movies. I saw Digger last night and will see Beware Boiúna tomorrow night. I also need to figure out how to squeeze in The Influencer Project over the next few days too. There’s no rest for the movie fan!

But what really needs to happen is I need to get back to cross-stitching. The project I started at the end of the spring has been sitting there stalled for months because summer was too distracting. Maybe the cooler temps that are nigh will kick me in the ass and get me going again.

Meanwhile … here is some random nipple and muscle I stole off TikTok.  Grrrr.

TikTok Candy

Week-ity Weekend!

Double Feature Weekend

PRIMETIME & HEART OF THE BEAST

This past weekend, I went to the movies twice because I don’t have anything better to do with my time. Ha!

I was pretty excited to see Primetime, the Robert Patterson as To Catch a Predator‘s Chris Hansen movie. All the actors in this movie are bringing their A-game and really putting in some good work. But I think the script and director let this one down. It’s got a cool visual style, but then it gets overstylized for no real apparent reason. The script doesn’t really seem to know what the movie should be about, so when it ends, you don’t have any clear idea of what was trying to be said about any of the people or events.

Heart of the Beast was pretty okay! I am a sucker for a survival movie, especially one set in beautiful, rugged locales. My biggest complaint is that they give the ending away at the very beginning. AND I don’t understand why, in the Year of Our Lord 2026, we still have to suffer through badly done CGI animals in films. Surely there is another trained bear, like Bart the Bear, that can be brought in for these kinds of films. Anyhoo … the movie did make me tear up at the end, and it gets points for that.

Three movies (Digger, Beware Boiúna, and The Influencer Project) are on the slate over the next week. Will any of them be good? Time will tell!

Double Feature Weekend

Double Feature Weekend

Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Thanks to the magic of Regal and their themed one-off movie showings (September is “A Month of Masterpieces”), I finally got to see Blade Runner (in its “Final Cut” iteration) on the big screen. Wow. It’s been a few years since I saw this, and I had forgotten just how visually stunning this movie is. Plus, there is that amazing score by Vangelis. I totally understand why this movie has detractors. The story is a bit slow and convoluted, and the movie just kinda ends with no clear resolution. But I am still on board for all the cool visuals and music. Blade Runner is a really excellent, but flawed, movie.

Resident Evil (2026)Holy crap. The new Resident Evil movie from Zach Cregger really rocked. It features a crisp runtime, lots of blood, and some really effective jump scares. I wanna go back and see this again!

Resident Evil Beanie
Resident Evil Beanie
And … I need this beanie!

Pssssssst. No links ’cause I am lazy!

Double Feature Weekend

Movie Time [Hope Edition]

Na Hong-jin's 'HOPE'

I got to see Na Hong-jin’s Hope this past weekend, and what a ride it was! Yeah, the runtime is long, and some of the CGI is dodgy. But what the movie does have going for it is sheer balls. I haven’t seen a movie this “doesn’t give a fuck” about how crazy it is in a long time. The extended action sequences. The funny dialogue. The crazy plot reversal with only 10 minutes left to go. The movie ended, the credits started, and someone in the row in front of me stated loudly, “What the fuck was that?!”

Na Hong-jin's 'HOPE'
Na Hong-jin's 'HOPE'
Na Hong-jin's 'HOPE'

One of the things that I did learn watching Hope is that I now have a small crush on Zo In-sung, who plays Ko Sung-ki in the movie. I was real happy that he got all the plot armor.

Movie Time [Hope Edition]

And … An Update

Well. Life is … rolling along.

Onslaught
I did get to see Onslaught this past weekend and really liked it. Considered to be a spiritual sequel to The Guest (one of my favoritest movies EVER), this slice of ’80s throwback cinema is right up my alley. Get thee to a theater to see it!

Lake ViewsWe trekked down to the wilds of North Georgia to visit a friend at his lake house. By the time we got there and had lunch, the clouds had rolled in, and lightning was dancing around the lake. So, we didn’t get to go out on the boat. But we did see a snake at the marina, and the view from his house was pretty spectacular. I wish I had money for a fancy lake house with an impressive view.

And now, some photographic randomness.

Hot and Sour!
Hot and Sour Soup is one of my favoritest things ever.

Deep Fried OreosDeep Fried Oreos are da bomb. All the fun and tasty flavors are always “limited edition.” *Grump!*Grump!*

Backrooms 4K
YES! The Backrooms 4K release is now in my grubby, collectory hands!

Meanwhile … Regular work is still a slog. Freelance work is a slog. I am tired of just slogging instead of being creative. I went to bed in a bad mood about all this and woke up in a worse mood because of weird dreams and uneasy sleep. Ugh.

Anyhoo …

And … An Update

Makin’ with an Update [Redux]

Well. It ended up being strep … again.

But, thanks to the magic of antibiotics, I was able to make it to Charlotte for the Mad Monster Expo. I had never been before, so it was pretty cool to check out all the vendors, gawk at the celebrities I was too shy to approach, and sit in on the panel discussions. I bought some movies, a super cool piece of Creepshow art, and this insanely awesome magnet …
Jaws!!!

We made it Wednesday to see Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. I thought it was pretty good, and Gillian Anderson was amazing (as always). The more I have thought about it, the more I am convinced that I am not really the target audience for this particular film.
Camp Miasma

And now, there are FOUR movies on tap for the coming week!
– Coyote vs. Acme (Saturday)
– The Dog Stars (Sunday)
– Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Tuesday)
– Colony (Wednesday)

I think I need a movie intervention!

[No links ’cause I’m lazy.]

Makin’ with an Update [Redux]

Makin’ with an Update

Well … life is life-ing along.

I have been sick for the past couple of days: a sore/gummy throat and a fever. Thankfully, the fever seems to be gone, but the throat still feels a little weird today. Why does getting sick always happen at the worst time? This has another 24 hours to clear up because I am supposed to be in Charlotte this coming weekend.

Meanwhile …

Thanks to the magic of digital projection and theaters trying to keep people coming in, I have gotten to see some classic horror films on the big screen this past week. The Descent (2005) screened as part of the Regal/Fangoria partnership. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) screened again this year through Fathom Events. It seems like this might now be an annual thing, as they showed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre last year on August 18th. I am not complaining. I will show up any time my favoritest horror film is being shown.

The Descent
Texas Chain Saw Day

One of the things that I found out is that when you go to a Regal/Fangoria Staff Picks movie, you get a movie-specific patch with your ticket. How cool is that?! Apparently they have handed out patches since these screenings started in April. This totally messes with my completionist/collectory brain. Now I need to find the other patches that they have been handing out! Dammit. Ha ha. You can bet that I will be there for that free patch next month when they show The Faculty.
The Descent Regal/Fangoria Staff Picks Patch

The annual record fair (sponsored by Asheville FM) was this past Sunday, and you know that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go buy more records. I took $200 cash and only ended up spending about $120. That’s a win in my head. I didn’t go in with any real specific titles that I was looking for, but I managed to find things I had been on the lookout for. In total, I got two albums, three 12″ singles, and nine 7″ singles. The big finds for me were The Sisters of Mercy’s The BBC Sessions 1982-1984 RSD release from a few years ago, Ides of March’s Vehicle single (in its original Warner 7 Arts sleeve!), The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter single, and Joe Jackson’s You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) single. SCORE!Record Fair!

Makin’ with an Update