Tripled!

3/25/2024 Chas.Leave a comment

Life is slogging along. I had COVID a few weeks back and then David got Strep early last week. Sheesh. Hopefully, we can both manage to avoid germs for a while.

At least the freelance work is poppin’. Though I do wish it was more consistent. I need more spending cash for movies and records and books. Ha! I guess the freelance stuff would be more consistent if I got off my ass and actually promoted myself to more people. Though I did get contacted over the weekend and it sounds like I might be tapped to do a logo for the county’s first-ever Pride Festival. That should be fun and interesting.

And the movie studios certainly worked it for horror film fans this week. Guess who is going to the movies for the next three nights? This guy! So there is Late Night with the Devil tonight, Ghostbusters, Frozen Empire tomorrow night, and Immaculate on Wednesday night. No links ’cause I am lazy!

Dreams Do Come True

9/30/20229/30/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

I can’t tell you how long I have been waiting for a box set of the Ju-on films. Well, that box set has now been officially announced and it’s stacked. Squee!

Ju-on: The Grudge Collection (Limited Edition) drops in the UK (and for us multi-region player owners) on December 19th from Arrow Video.

Brand new 4K restoration of Ju-On: The Grudge from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Ju-On: The Grudge in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all films
Home video premiere outside Japan of Ju-On: The Curse and Ju-On: The Curse 2
Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (except The Curse and The Curse 2) and 2.0 stereo audio
Optional English subtitles
Exclusive 60-page collector’s booklet featuring writing by Grady Hendrix, James Marsh, Tom Mes, William Carroll and Lindsay Nelson [Limited Edition Exclusive]
Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Oink Creative
Twenty-four double-sided, postcard-sized artcards [Limited Edition Exclusive]
Reversible poster with new and original artwork [Limited Edition Exclusive]

DISC 1 – JU-ON: THE CURSE AND JU-ON: THE CURSE 2 (BLU-RAY)

Introduction to both films by writer-director Takashi Shimizu
Introduction to Ju-On: The Curse by actor Takako Fuji

DISC 2 & 3 – JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY / BLU-RAY)

Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
Introduction by writer-director Takashi Shimizu
New audio commentary by film historian David Kalat
Audio commentary by Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel
Alternate English dub track in 5.1 Surround
Haunting in Monochrome, a new interview with Takashi Shimizu on the Ju-On films
Being Kayako, a new interview with Takako Fuji on her role as Kayako
The Evolution of Ju-On, a brand new featurette with authors and Japan specialists Tom Mes and Zack Davisson discussing the cultural forces that shaped the series
Through a Glass Darkly, an archive interview with Takashi Shimizu
Whispers in the Dark, an archive interview with actor Megumi Okina on her role as Rika
Fade to Black, an archive interview with actress Kayoko Shibata, who plays Mariko
On-set interviews with Takashi Shimizu, Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara and Yui Ichikawa
Deleted scenes with commentary by Takashi Shimizu
Almost an hour of behind-the-scenes footage
Ju-On True Stories, two ghostly true-life tales that inspired the films, narrated by Hiroyoshi Kihara
Original trailers
Image gallery

DISC 4 – JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2 (BLU-RAY)

Introduction by writer-director Takashi Shimizu
New audio commentary with scholar Raechel Dumas and critic Jasper Sharp
Alternate English dub track in 5.1 Surround
Interview with Takashi Shimizu from the time of making Ju-On: The Grudge 2
On-set interviews with Noriko Sakai, Chiharu Niiyama, Kei Horie, Yui Ichikawa, Emi Yamamoto and Shingo Katsurayama
Deleted scenes
55 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage
On-set reports by cast members Noriko Sakai, Yui Ichikawa and Erika Kuroishi
Premieres and stage greetings footage from Japan, Taiwan and Korea
Trailers and TV spots
Image gallery

DISC 5 – JU-ON: WHITE GHOST AND JU-ON: BLACK GHOST (BLU-RAY)

Introduction to Ju-On: Black Ghost by writer-director Mari Asato
New interview with Mari Asato
Original trailer
Image galleries

Today’s History

8/18/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

Drools!

4/19/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

A new David Cronenberg film? Yes, please!

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[Untitled]

3/7/20223/7/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

Yeah. I am still alive. My mental state and mood have been in the crapper for the last month. Yay.

At least there is a new Alex Garland movie dropping on May 20. Can’t wait!

Mid-Winter Blahs

1/20/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

Yeah. I am officially stuck with a case of the mid-winter blahs. The weather has been too cold to get out and do anything outdoorsy and I am tired of being stuck inside. The weekly Saturday Firepit sessions with Shortlegs and Co. are currently on hold because the weather has been too cold, rainy, or snowy for us to gather. It’s my sanity break for the week and I miss it terribly. C’mon, spring!

Speaking of snow … we ended up getting about 9″ last Sunday! It’s about time we got some of the fringe benefits of winter.

A few weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet and upgraded my trusty iPhone X to a spankingly new iPhone 13 Pro. I am now in debt on the damn thing for 2-12 years! Sheesh. It’s almost like having a car payment. I initially had buyer’s remorse but eventually got over that. The camera alone was worth the upgrade. *drools*

I was reshelving some movies last week and made a fun discovery. I managed to buy TWO copies of the Criterion Collection edition of Alan J. Pakula‘s The Parallax View. I had bought a copy at the B&N Sale in November but had (apparently) forgotten that fact. When I rewatched Klute one day, I thought about how I needed a copy of The Parallax View for my collection and ordered a copy off Amazon. Talk about feeling stupid when I realized what had happened. Hopefully, this isn’t a sign that senility is setting in.

We did get out earlier this week and caught the new Scream film. I really dug it! It had chills and thrills and even made me cry at one point. Out of all the horror franchises out there, I think the Scream franchise is my favorite one. Get thee to the theater to see it!

Work has been horrifyingly slow the past few weeks. I hope in the long term it doesn’t mean that I am about to be unemployed. In the short term what it means is that the workdays feel long and the work weeks feel even longer. Ugh.

And, finally … There’s lots of good music on the way this spring with new albums from Ghost, Midlake, and Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear fame) on the horizon.

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Crushin’

12/28/20219/30/2022 Chas.Leave a comment

Life continues to be a bit of a slog. The workweeks just seem to drag on FOREVER.

Well … at least Christmas is over! There is one more weekend of holiday shenanigans (wherein we will hopefully not get Omincron-laced COVID) and then we are into the doldrums of winter. Yay.

We did attend a big Christmas party at the beginning of the month and I went to a short family gathering on Christmas Eve and a rather lengthy Christmas Day dinner at a friend’s house (10 people were in attendance).

This might be me tipsy and in a Santa hat after too many vodka tonics before dinner. I guess there are worse ways to spend the evening.

It’s hard not to feel paranoid about social interaction these days and I must confess to being jealous of those people who can put the worry of potential illness aside. The slightest headache or sniffle sends me into a fit of worry about whether I have COVID or not.

And, yeah. The beard is in serious need of a trim.

I got some cool presents (movies and books and such) this year … and I also received some end-of-the-year cash from the bosses. Whoo! So, while we were in Asheville last night, we stopped into my favorite movie store. I had been in last week and had found used copies of Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels and Happy Together on the shelf. These are the Kino Lorber releases that are seriously OOP. I have been pretty keen on locating copies of these after the revisionist debacle that World of Wong Kar-Wai ended up being. I didn’t buy them last week, so I was pretty excited to see that they were still on the shelf last night. $50 total for both movies! I have yet to see these listed for under $80 each on eBay or the Amazon marketplace. And somebody has this exact set listed for $280 on eBay. I am guessing the movie store didn’t quite know what they had on their hands. Ha, ha. Christmas Cash FTW!

We’ve been going to this movie store for a while, and I had started to develop a crush on one of the employees. He’s punkish. He has tattoos. He’s a film nerd. A trifecta of awesomeness! When we walked in last week, Siouxise and the Banshee’s Juju was playing through the store’s sound system. Then it switched to Siouxise and the Banshee’s Tinderbox (my most favorite album of all time). Then it switched to a few songs by The Cure. Then is switched to the Cocteau Twins’ first album, Garlands (arguably the least liked by most fans … though I think it’s totally aces!). Guess who was behind the counter controlling the tunes. My Film Nerd Crush! So, now my wee “in-store” crush has blossomed into a full-blown “I want to watch movies and listen to records with you” crush. Oh, well.

Ah, life. It’s been a while since I have totally crushed on a store employee (remember the Cute Bookseller?).

Next stop … 2022 and hopefully a new iPhone 13 Pro (which will take years to pay for).

Commando

9/24/20219/24/2021 Chas.1 Comment

I have not worn underwear for two weeks (or so). So, I guess jockstraps are out for the time being and freeballin’ is in.

I just know this is the information you were dying for on this sunny and cool early autumn day. Ha, ha.

In News Unrelated to My Underwear Status:
John Kenneth Muir’s Horror Films of the 2000s has finally been announced for release in January of 2022. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited this makes me.

Off to the Races

1/7/20211/7/2021 Chas.Leave a comment

And 2021 is off and running. The Biden/Harris election win is official, Democrats have taken the majority in the Senate, and Trump Cultists stormed the Capitol because “Boo hoo! Trump lost.” What an amazing time to be alive. (Psssssst … that’s sarcasm.)

And now, some randomness.

This is always a fun sight to see when you actually haven’t told your PC to update. Thankfully, Geek Squad nerds got me back up and running in a few days with no major data loss. They think the hard drive was starting to fail. Pretty lame for a computer that is only four years old. This is why I have a Macbook Pro for all my non-official work and personal stuff.

We rang in the New Year by drinking the last of the egg nog. I was asleep before midnight. Old Fart for the win!

The USPS *finally* came through and delivered the last Christmas presents well after Christmas.

A&A sent these really awesome Divine/Pink Flamingos-themed socks and I LOVE THEM! Now, if I could just get David to watch the movie.

And, David got me these stupidly expensive yet totally awesome screenplay books from A24. I am a total sucker for their brand of slow burn, artsy horror.

Now if the USPS would locate and move along my copy of Arrow’s 4K release of David Cronenberg’s Crash, I would be the happiest man on the planet. It’s been stuck in South Jersey since December 21. Ugh.

Updates and Things

11/30/202011/30/2020 Chas.Leave a comment

Yeah … I am still alive. I just haven’t felt like posting.

Thanksgiving came and went last week without much fanfare. Our friends who normally host a “Friendsgiving” that we go to every year (wisely) decided to not host this year. It was disappointing but understandable. So, David went off to see his family and I stayed around the house and didn’t really do anything but consume pizza and be a generally depressed bastard. Yay, 2020!

I did get this year’s batch of egg nog made on Thanksgiving Day. Later this week, I get to decide who has been nice enough to receive some and who’s on the shit list and is out of egg nog luck. Ha, ha.

COVID-19 case numbers are going crazy here in our little mountain county. It’s a bummer since we’ve done pretty well for most of the year. It seems like precaution fatigue has people letting their guard down and thus getting infected. I am so ready for all this to be over!

One (well, two really) of the bright spots of the past week has been the arrival of the Dawn of the Dead 4K UHD Limited Edition release from Second Sight and the Midsommar Director’s Cut 4K UHD Limited Edition from A24. Squee!

Second Sight Dawn of the Dead 4K UHD Limited Edition

On Saturday, I had a solo shopping appointment at my favorite record store in Asheville, Harvest Records. I managed to snag the 2020 Black Friday Record Store Day release of Amiee Mann’s Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo. I also found a rare Japanese pressing from 1985 of The Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always. So cool!

Aimee Mann's Bachelor No. 2 RSD 2020 Release

First and Last and Always Japanese Pressing

Sunday morning, we went for a fancy brunch at The Ascot Club at Highland Forest. We have recently become social members there because a) the membership is cheap and b) all of our friends were joining and we didn’t want to be left out. The food is good and the atmosphere pretty quiet. So, it’s a great place to go for a relaxing meal. We drank mimosas and had fancy brunchables … Chicken and Waffles for me and Steak Caesar Salad for David. Très chic.

Since there were no Black Friday sales to go to in person, I bought a few movies online for cheap. Castle Rock: The Complete Second Season arrived yesterday. Horray for 2-day shipping! But, thanks to Amazon’s amazing pack job, it’s already being returned. The slipcase was damaged and (it might be hard to tell from the photo) the case is actually curved and bent. Amazon’s crapping packing/shipping strikes again. Sheesh.

Some other randomness that I might post more about later:
– I framed some enamel pin sets I have recently acquired.
– We watched Unhinged. It’s nowhere near as bad as the critics made it out to be.
– I have become obsessed with color matching my jockstrap and shirt colors when I can.

The workweek is now underway. December is nigh (which means 2021 is just around the corner. And they are calling for SNOW tonight!

Oh, and … because I was bad and missed the actual day on the 21st … Happy 18th Birthday to The Boy Wonder. I guess this blog finally legal! I know I say this every year … but, damn … I never thought it would last this long. So, a big thanks to the constant (or even occasional) readers that still come here and read my ramblings.

Editor’s Note: No links ’cause I’m lazy.

Yes, Please!

11/18/202011/18/2020 Chas.1 Comment

The first Collector’s Edition from A24, Ari Aster’s 171-minute director’s cut will look as crisp on your bookshelf as it does on your screen.

Disc comes enclosed in a clothbound, Hårga-yellow slipcase, accompanied by an illustrated 62-page booklet featuring original artworks from the film by Ragnar Persson and a foreword by Martin Scorsese. Choice of Standard Blu-ray or 4K Ultra HD.

Make mine 4K UHD, please!

Side Note: I think it would seriously cool to have a tattoo of that flaming bear art.

Freaky Weekend

11/16/2020 Chas.Leave a comment

Not really. It was pretty calm for the most part.

David and I did get a wild hair and went to the movies on Saturday afternoon. The local theater has reopened and with Freaky debuting on Friday, we just couldn’t resist. I was a bit nervous about going but it ended up that we were the only two people in the theater. We did wear our masks the whole time just because that’s what you’re supposed to do in 2020. The movie was fun and watching a body-swapping serial killer movie was a nice distraction from the horrors of the world.

I did buck health officials’ advice and went and hung out with TomJones on Saturday night at her new house. We ate tasty apps from Boojum and drank G&T’s and Boojum beer. We also watched Parasite (which she had not seen). Most awesome.

And now, Monday is done. If this week goes like today, it’s going to be another long one. Pass the anti-depressants, please.

Movie Update

11/12/202011/12/2020 Chas.Leave a comment

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If arty sci-fi/thriller/horror films are up your alley, you should immediately check out Possessor, the new film from Brandon Cronenberg. It’s seriously the coolest movie I have seen this year. And, I gotta give props to Christopher Abbott for absolutely knocking it out of the park in the role of Colin Tate.

I am a bit bummed that the theatrical and not the “uncut” version is what’s streaming on VOD. Go figure. That will be remedied when the Possessor: Uncut 4K UHD release arrives in my mailbox next month. Physical media for the win!