Saturday, April 30, 2011

Things that don't give me nightmares #24.

The good stuff in the decade rants, otherwise known as....

Krazy for decades.

Read More......

Friday, April 29, 2011

Biography upgrades.


Added "Krazy for decades", "the blood groove", "help me, Smee!", and "movies I was waiting for in retrospective", to "some times of my life...".

Read More......

Monday, April 25, 2011

Song of the week #22

A couple immature songs for mature listeners.
No small children allowed.







Read More......

Friday, April 22, 2011

Song of the week #21.

Thought I forgot "song of the week", dincha?
It's a double decker today.
Finishing off the Freddy collection...






Read More......

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Elisabeth Sladon (1948 - 2011)

Damn...

Well, this is better than anything I can say...

Tom Baker's dedication. Read More......

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Piss Christ addendum.

Some Catholics whacked it with a hammer.

Linky.

Tch, there ya go, some more people with homeopathic faith.

Well, the damage kind of adds a punchline that in a weird way enhances the piece.

Setup line: Are humans too dumb to be trusted with challenging ideas?

Punchline: Fuck yeah. Read More......

Monday, April 18, 2011

There, better....

Come on, that's how you describe 'em to family n' friends anyway.

Who really says "special victim's unit"?

Come on.




Read More......

Aw, Dammit, another show ruined for me...

I'd never heard that about Scott Adams...

Linky.

Tch...

Well, there's still like, a couple hundred other shows to still like. Read More......

Sunday, April 17, 2011

I'm Okay With The 10's So Far...

How would we say these?
The Teens?
I'm going with Teens...

Y'know, can't remember the media making too much hoo-hah when we went over to 2010.

Felt like just another day to me.
Hmnh.

So, this decade will take me up to 44 when it's all done.
Wow...



2010

Iron Man 2

Another solid Marvel flick.
Pretty solid sequel.
Everything we liked about the first one, plus some new goodies.
New tech, new villains, new good guys, and new "Avengers", easter eggs.
And, if you watch it back to back with the first one, it bleeds together nicely as one big movie.
Sadly, Jon Favreau won't be back for part 3.


Shutter Island

Pretty decent.
Dug that it used this little ditty as the main theme of the film.


Shrek Forever After

Dug it.
Better than 3, brought it full circle to the first one, wrapped it up nicely.
Be interesting to view the quadrilogy all in one go as one huge film.


Toy Story 3

Oh, that's right, Michael Keaton was "Ken", in this one! That's where he went! (See "Mr Mom", here).

Barbie's line "Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from threat of force!", was great.
Obvious antitidote to the whole "teen talk Barbie", deal.


BP oil spill

Stupid muthafuckas.


The Comedy Central Roast Of David Hasselhoff

Greg Giraldo's last. :(


Halo Legends

The third anthology in the vein of "The Animatrix", and "Batman: Gotham Knight".

Now, I couldn't give two shits about the Halo games, I'll never play 'em, but, I flat out hate "The Matrix", and "Animatrix", payed off, so I took a gamble.
And, damned if this ain't a nifty little anime.
I hope they keep churning these babies out, I don't care what universe they're for.


Planet Hulk

Hulk meets Heavy Metal.
Not for kids.
Lotta friggin death.
Good flick.


Tron Legacy

Still ain't seen it.
Gotta do that.

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

(James Lipton voice)
An utter delight!

Ranted about this here.


A Nightmare On Elm Street (remake)

Sucked!! And Wes Craven, and Rachel Talalay in NSE totally called it.


The Human Centipede

Loved it!

Okay, touched on it way back here.

Almost got scared away from it by Ebert's review here.

Posted the Tosh spoiler review here.

Finally worked up the nerve, saw it, was both spooked, and amused, and that, is good horror.
I own it now.

Dieter Laser is just excellent in this.
My favorite mad scientist on film thus far.
I hope he gets a lot more horror work.

The mad scientist is my favorite movie villain archetype, and there aren't enough of them period, but of those few, there aren't many good ones.

You gotta go back to Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West in the 80's, and even further back to Peter Cushing's Victor Frankenstein after that.
It's a pretty thin hall of fame...

Anyway, Tom Six has made me an instant fan of his work, and I anxiously await the Centipede sequel.


Mel Gibson goes batshit.

*Points*
Ha haaaaa!!!


Batman: City Of Scars

Sequel to "Patient J", same Batman, same Joker, better production values, very, very good.
A stunning twist for the ending.
A must see for even casual Batman fans.


Archer

See my rant on John Benjamin ("Home Movies", here).


Louie

Louis C.K. is quickly becoming one of my favorite comedians.

Man, he's in his 40's and divorced, and somehow, I can already relate to his jaded sentiments to life and living.

Especially the bleak hopelessness of finding love in this sick society.


Ugly Americans

Meh.
Just this side of watchable.
Another one for the cartoon graveyward I think.


Shit My Dad Says

Well, that happened quick.
The first show based on a Twitter feed.
Maybe the dinosaurs ARE taking notice.

First show with an expletive in the title too...even if "bleeped".

We're getting there...we're getting there...

Oh, and also, fuck the PTC!


Conan

Said most of it in the Conan rant in 90's 3...

Welcome back, Coco.


OnLive

Commented on this before here.

Y'know, when you really think about it, it's not so new, it comes full-circle back to the days when the inventors of the first games, and the founders of the industry played on networked mainframes in college, so, looking back in hindsight, cartridge/disk media was just a damned sales model.
A marketing gimmick.
To make you buy...stuff, until the infrastructure was up and running for selling content.
All it was.
Although, this was kind of trial ran before in the 90's with "the Sega channel".
Nothing is new.

But anyway, this should be the death of the traditional console, and hopefully, the high-end gaming PC.

Can't see dedicated game stores lasting much longer after the full transition.

So, all those Game-Stop douchebags you hate?
Homeless.
Yeah, close your eyes, and let that warm you like a hug.
Go, future, go!


Shmegalamonga turns 2!


Pretty much said all the highlights here...

2nd anniversary post.

But also, for year 2, finished off Harry Hembock: Dark Designs...

...did an honest recap of the whole blog...

...Even the crumple-shit...

..aaand a buncha other stuff.

Yeah, unlike year 1, I think it's coming into focus.
It's solidifying into what I envisioned.
Me happy.


2011

Bob's Burgers

See my ramble on John Benjamin again.


Harry Hembock turns 22!!

See here.


I do these 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's lists.


I love the 70's.

Didn't think to give these my own specialty titles yet...probably would've gone with "I have fuzzy swiss-cheese memories of the 70's".

Anyway, this, and the sequel made me appreciate how cool the good parts of the 70's were.


I love the 70's (part 2)

Ditto the above.


I really friggin' love the 80's.

Great walk down my favorite decade.
No complaints.
Even the crappy stuff has a glow to it.
Just perfect.
Flew through these topics.
A joy.


I really friggin' love the 80's (part 2)

Ditto.


I really friggin love the 80's (part 3)

Ditto.


I h8 the 90's.

Shitty list overall, brought back really bad memories.


I h8 the 90's (part 2)

Ditto.


I h8 the 90's (part 3)

Really, really, REALLY glad I did this one.
The 90's making me feel that lousy just didn't sit right.
Glad I wasn't lazy, just plowing through the pre-made lists.
This took some hard work, but it was worth it to redeem that decade for myself.
Very therapeutic.
And, a good job, if I do say so myself.


I "meh", the 00's.

Nother crappy list.

I really wanted to race to the end, but I couldn't leave this alone either.
Had to do another homemade one of the shit I loved, because it was really a transformative decade for me in a good way.
It had its rough patches, as they all do, but, yeah, good times.


I "meh", the 00's (part 2)

The last one.
Felt like it went a little smoother than 90's 3, but..I know it had to be as hard to do mentally/physically.
Well, I had the groundwork of the other lists to lean on, I think.
It just felt easier because of that.
Still had to write about as much.

Yeah, these were gonna be a quickie thing, but they ended up being a long chunk of work...and the homemade ones ended up being even funner.
In the case of 90's 3, it was a healing experience.
A genuine epiphany.

Y'know, I like this format, I gotta find more things to do with it.


Infestation

Zombies vs. Transformers, Star Trek, GI Joe, & Ghostbusters.

Ehhh, pretty good.
And can be shoehorned into continuity with "Marvel Zombies", if you like.

Can't say much more without spoiling stuff.
Read it for the individual fights though, the ending of the bookend story is an anti-climax.


Watson on Jeopardy.

Asimo has the body, Watson has the brain.
Soon...soon...


The Oscars suck.

Ha haaaa!
I didn't even watch 'em.
I haven't even seen any of the nominated movies.
I don't even wanna.


Evil Dead 2 turns 24!

Linky.

Eh, pretty much told my history with this trilogy in the "Army Of Darkness", rant in 90's 3.


Revolutions in the middle east.

Catch the wave!


Charlie Sheen goes batshit.

Charlie Sheen finally got funny.
Took him long enough.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump

No more Greg Giraldo.
Dead y'know. :(

Well, this one will go down for "The Situation", laying a big stink bomb on the stage.

Dunno if that's gonna have the pop culture half-life of coked-up-Courtney...probably not...


Geminoid DK

Creepily real android face.

Linky.

Closer still....soon...soon...


Earthquakes/tsunami/mudslides/snow/nuke-meltdowns in Japan.

Jeez, these poor bastids can't catch a break with this whole mess...


Gilbert Gottfried fired as the Afflack duck for insensitive tweets about Japan.

Really? We gotta take it out on Gilbert?
Booo, society.
Boooo.


Lobbing bombs at Wacky Kadaffy.

Operation Odyssy Dawn? Sounds like a Cabbage Patch Kid.
And you know by now how I feel about those...

Well, he still ain't dead as of this typing.
Looks like he's probably gonna crush the rebellion.
The world is crap.


William Shatner turns 80.

(Freddy voice)
He just keeps...on...tickin!!!


Liz Taylor dies.

..so, that's the last of the old-timey movie stars, innit?
No?
Couple more?
Okay....


Dr. Drew

Yep, I called it, so much better than Doctor Phil, it ain't funny.


Sports Show With Norm MacDonald

Well, I'll be damned, he's back!
Cute show, showcases the style he used on SNL Weekend Update, and..it'll probably last just six episodes.


Nintendo 3DS

Amazing, but you feel weird looking at stuff afterward for about a minute.


The stupid fuggin' Royal Wedding.

Don't care...BUT Kathy Griffin is gonna make fun of it as it happens, so...dammit, I gotta see that...


Thor

Hurry uuup!!!!


Green Lantern

Ditto.


Captain America: The First Avenger

Ditto.


So, that's this year...coming up next year....


2012

Star Trek 2

Ditto the last batch of dittos.


Ghostbusters 3

Ditto.


The Avengers

Ditto.


Iron Man 3

Ditto.


Plan 9 remake (With AVGN, Chad Vader, etc)

Ditto.


Elections, immediate end of the world.

Ditto.


Well there, all caught up to the relative present.

I'm going to do individual year in review updates to this series.
Preferably forever, but we'll see how it goes...



Read More......

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I "meh", the 00's!! (Part 2!!)

So, here's another homemade decade list, like my 90's 3 one.

And like last time, upgrade this to my "I love the 00's!!".
Just gotta keep the old title up top for continuity, see...

This is the cool geeky 00's I referenced in this one.

Not much more to say that I didn't in the last one, so, let's just get going...


2000

Playstation 2

So, this is when this finally came out.
The dream machine.
And to my mind, it still is.
Video games, DVDs, CDs, back-compatible to Playstation 1 games, you can't beat that with a stick!
And by now, all the puzzle pieces of the evolutionary steps I laid out in the last 90's one came together.
Voice actors, cinema scenes, real music soundtracks, the whole shmeal.
Games have been like this since, just with leaps in graphics, and size of the worlds due to storage space.
Took me 'til '02 to finally cave in, and get one though.
Glad I did, mine's still running, and a dependable old girl.
I find a use for it just about every day.
*Pats it lovingly*
Y'know, if it ever burns out...I think I'll just get another PS2.
One of those slim models maybe.


Namco Museum

A retroactive purchase, once I had PS2, but this has the real arcade versions of Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Pole Position, Galaga, and Galaxian.
And also, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Attack (a crummy puzzler).
But, those two aren't arcade ports.
So, I got all those old classics back.
Sweet.


Malcolm In The Middle

This started out as a ripoff of "The Adventures Of Pete & Pete", I swear.
But..it evolved, and got better.
Eh, all right, but what it really did, was give Brian Cranston enough of a resume boost to go on, and be in "Breaking Bad", which is a television masterpiece.
And, it gave They Might Be Giants a steady gig for 6 years.


The Brak Show

Spinoff of "Space Ghost Coast To Coast", and fucking hilarious.
The dad was the best one, followed by Zorak, then Thundercleese.
Brak was a vegetable, he's somewhere in the 10's on my list.
Pretty sure I finally had Cartoon Network by now, and didn't miss any new ones.


Sealab 2021

Man, another weird rib-breaking-laughter show.
This was really the golden age of CN.
This jumped a shark, and ain't even on anymore.
The makers of this went on to do "Frisky Dingo", which was all right, and now "Archer", which is excellent.


Aqua Teen Hunger Force

The crown jewel of Adult Swim when it was new.
Funnier than all of the above when it was good.
Eh, jumped a shark too, but I hear it's gotten good again, I gotta catch up.


Homestar Runner

(Homsar voice)
IIII'm a sooong of the siixtiiees!!

Best part is Strongbad Emails.


Gary & Mike

The last thing I can remember coming out of Wil Vinton studios.
Vinton switched over to this more puppet-y style rather than the gooey morph-y style from the 80's.
He first tried it out in "The PJ's".
But, this was better.
Cute little show.
Very easily could've been a live-action sitcom.
Well, except you can have crazier stuff happen to cartoons for cheaper.
And, I thought the theme song was great.


Invader Zim

From the maker of "Jimmy The Homicidal Maniac".
Wonderful little show, the last thing with any edge Nickelodeon ever made.


The Oblongs

Little bit ham-fisted in the satire department, but it was pretty good.
More about the characters than any deep message.
Helga, and the drunken mom are probably the best ones.


American Psycho

Saw this only very recently.
A delightful little film.
How did I miss out on this?
80's yuppies being chopped to pieces by another 80's yuppie?
Gorgeous.
And hey, Hewie Lewis in the soundtrack!
Yay!

Good as this is, the novel's better.
I was disturbed by it, and ain't that what you want from real horror?

Wussies pitched a fit over the book, so you know it's good.
Buy anything that gets angry reviews, and better still, pickets, and fatwas.
Especially pickets, and fatwas.
Go right out, and get it.


Chocolat

Got dragged to this.
Ended up being pretty good.
Gave me a preview of Alfred Molina's talents before he did Doc Octopus.
And yeah, hot pepper chocolate is a good combo.
Lindt makes a bar.
Check it out.


Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Eh, pretty good.
I dunno about Oscar worthy, but it was decent.
Not on my favorites list, wouldn't own it.
But, worthy, overall.
Had more warm lifeblood in it than your typical modern CGI fuckfest.


High Fidelity

This was pretty good.
A gen-x angst flick that didn't suck.
I'm sure others will disagree.
Ah, well.
And ya had Jack Black.
First thing I saw him in.
Eh, some hipster snobs have turned on him, but these same hipsters gobbled up "Tenacious D", the show back in the day, so...fuck 'em.


Space Cowboys

Another decent one.
It's kinda two movies in one.
Before they go to space, it's a buddy comedy, then when they go to space, it's a thriller.
I liked it.


Titan A.E.

Eh, a lot of folks tried to bill this as "Heavy Metal 2", and yeah..it's got pop songs, and SF action, and a celebrity cast, and it's pretty good.
But Heavy Metal 2?
Eh...Heavy Metal 1.5 maybe...
But yeah, cute flick.
Some nerd in a bookstore was impressing a nerd girl with quotes from this once.
Stuck out in my mind.
Man, did I miss out generationally.
I pull out my Evil Dead quotes, I'd get an eyeroll at best.
Maybe a drink in the face, and toenails in the nuts.
Ah, well.


X-Men

And Marvel flicks officially got good here.
Then Spiderman, and the snowball was rolling.


Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker

Best Batman film ever until "Batman Begins", came along.


SD cards/USB flash drives

And the disk drive was dead, and jillions of mobile gadgets were born.


Asimo

The sci-fi robots are here.


The Friar's Club Roast Of Rob Reiner

Preceded by Crew Carrey in 1998, and Jerry Stiller in 1999.

Eh, those ones were okay...just..cute..no further comment.

Wasn't much to make fun of Reiner over.
His weight, baldness, he only had one bomb...the rest are masterpieces, Princess Bride, Stand By Me, Misery, Spinal Tap...how do you roast the guy that did Princess Bride?
Tough one.

They got better though.


Disturbed: the sickness

This song has held up.
Great little metal song.
It's been everywhere.
The "Dawn Of The Dead", remake, a South Park episode, "Queen Of The Damned", all over the place.
Count me among those who love it.
Shit, I could listen to it right now.

The sickness!!


Radiohead: Kid A

Radiohead brings us more proggy goodness.

Here, clips.


How to disappear completely.


2001


Grand Theft Auto III

Okay, this is when I officially started salivating to get a PS2.
3-D action, full interactivity with everything, and freedom to roam, which would later become known as the "sandbox", genre.
And 80's music!!
Sweet game, but little did I know the improvements that were coming in "Vice City".
That pushed me over the edge into getting PS2.


George Carlin: Complaints And Grievances

Another one out of the ballpark for George.

A clip of the best part.
Well, it's virtually all best parts, but y'know..

The ten commandments.


Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

The first flick with all CG humans.
It stunk.
And it had virtually nothing to do with the games.
Deserves a place in history though for its technical milestone.
The mainstream doesn't seem to do so.
Ah, well.


Devil May Cry

Fucking sweet.
The sequel sucks, the threequil apologizes for it.
Gorgeous graphics, eye popping crispness to the colors, just beautiful to look at.
And the rapid fire killing is tension releasing, and surprisingly easy to learn, and intuitive.

This nudged me closer to the cliff for getting PS2...I might have gotten it for this, but "Vice City", really sealed the deal.

I gotta get part 3.
I mean, it's got a magic electric guitar for a weapon, how do you fucking top that?

Hmm, and yeah, I'd put Dante up there with Pacman, Mario, Link, Samus, MegaMan, Simon, Alucard, Master Chief, etc.


Samurai Jack

Genndy Tartakovsky's magnum opus.
First, there was Dexter's Lab, and Powerpuff Girls, then this.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
The villains had to all be secret-robots inside for him to cut them to peices.
Censors y'know.
He followed this up with "Star Wars: Clone Wars".
And here's a little factoid, he was uncredited, but he choreographed the end fight of "Iron Man 2".
But yeah, everything by Tartovosky since then has been "like Samurai Jack but with...(insert difference)".


Adult Swim

What? There was Sealab, Brak, and Aqua Teen before Adult Swim?
That don't seem right....

Well, anyway, Adult Swim happened....


Enterprise

This one gets brutally roasted by the geek community, but I liked it overall.
A lot of clunkers, but I look back, and TNG had way more clunkers proportionally, and everyone loves that one.
Got a lot better in the 4th season, cuz of the TOS continuity porn, but...it was too late, it got cancelled.
After this, Trek lay dormant right up until the J.J. Abrams flick.


Justice League

With Kevin Conroy still as Batman.
Keeck ahhss!!

Superfriends?
What Superfriends?
What's that?
No, that never happened.

Favorite character?
Besides Bats?
Hawk Girl.
Easily.

Also, I wish the whole Batman/Wonder woman relationship had taken off.
Why's Bats gotta be alone? Let the bastid be happy.
Tch, writers.


Insomniac With Dave Attell

I miss this show.
No, I want this show to be my life.
Just getting into these crazy situations of ridiculous/dark humanity, having magic TV Camera invincibility, and being able to be unfazed and snarkily comment through the whole thing with lightning wit.
Attell is a friggin' superhero.
But he doesn't care what I think.
And he won't join the Legion.
He wouldn't be Attell if he did.


From Hell

Eh, this was good.
One of the better Alan Moore adaptations.
Only "Watchmen", would come and top it.
And hey, Johnny Depp, he's good in just about everything.


Hannibal

Fuck yeah.
"Lambs", and "Dragon", were more like a hybrid of horror, and cop movie, this was straight-on gothic horror with Hannibal as the new Dracula.
Hopkins is just magnificent.
Lot more gore in this one too.
Oh, it may be all cute to hear Lecter talk about eating a liver...but to see him actually fry up Tommy Vercetti's brain...suddenly everyone's aghast.
Babies.
*Evil laugh*


Joe Dirt

Cute flick, Comedy Central still plays it.
It was even on just last night.
That one's got legs!
Why didn't David Spade have a bigger career?
Oh, right "Just shoot me", killed him.
Ah, well.


Shrek

Almost as good as "Princess Bride".
Well, if you moosh all 4 together, I guess it kinda equals it.
But see? Takes 4 flicks to come close.
"Princess Bride", is unbeatable.
But "Shrek", is pretty good.
And Eddy Murphy was funny again.


Spirited Away

Another slice of Miyazaki genius.


The Dark Knight Strikes Again

This was just about as long-awaited as the SW prequels...and man, I still don't know what to make of it.
I still don't know what to make of Frank Miller...
Like I said in 90's-3, I'm getting fascoid vibes off him lately..but...here, he's just all over the place.
Sometimes, it feels like a prank on us all for ever liking "Dark Knight Returns".
I just don't get what he was going for...
It's such a head-scratcher, I can't even call it a disappointment...

Ultimately, 1996's "Kingdom Come", did the aged Superheroes thing SO much better.

Read that instead, it'll make you happy.


Waking Life

A neat little flick.
Worth seeing at least once.
Well, only if you're into people waxing philosophical.
A bunch of it is woo-laden bullshit, but then the next person will come along with a theory that shoots down the last person.
Interesting, either way.
And the rotoscoping is fun to watch.
Some may complain it makes 'em sick.
Oh well, enter at your own peril. I was okay.
A Philp K. Dick story is referenced, which sort of half-assed connects it to Linklater's later work "a scanner darkly".
So, I look at them as a thematic duology.


The Friar's Club Roast Of Hugh Hefner

Okay, this one's legendary for what was cut.
Gilbert Gottfried telling 9/11 jokes right after 9/11, the audience boos him, and he tells "the aristocrats", and brings the fucking house down.
Well, it's in the movie "the aristocrats", check it out.


Strong Bad Emails

Trooogdoooor!!!!
Great fucking web series.
Got the first 3 DVDs.
Need to catch up.


Radiohead: Amnesiac

Still another prog feast from the fellas who saved music.

Here, clips again.


Knives out.


2002

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Ah, at last!!
Yep, this is when I HAD to give in, get a PS2, and as a side-effect, join the DVD age.

Tommy Vercetti is my favorite game character.
He should've come back for a trilogy at least, but no...Rockstar had to stubbornly go with the multi-generational formula.

Well, GTA3 had some 80's music on the oldies radio station, but this was ALL 80's, set in the 80's with a "Miami Vice", meets "Scarface", look, a zoom-able city map, every car and weapon from the period, you could do virtually anything.
As impossible as it would have seemed in '01, it made GTA3 look like shadow puppets in comparison.
Full immersion in an 80's flashback, this was the game I NEEDED.
Healing medicine this game was.
Well, as I said through the other decade rants, I worship it.


I love the 80's

Ayep, this is the one I based my first 80's one on.

Loved it, wish it had come out on DVD, good memories, good comedians, another layer of good memories on top of the actual 80's memories.
Well, I loved the 00's because of it.


28 Days Later

Damned good zombie flick.
I gotta own this one.
I hear the sequel blows though.

As usual, the critics went overboard.
Every time a really good flick comes along, they act like it's breastmilk from Aphrodite.
Then..if an Aphrodite breastmilk movie DOES come along...it's an underground cult hit only me and my geek friends appreciate, and the critics ignore it, or retroactively call it a "guilty pleasure", 20 years later, like little chickenshits.
Fuck critics.
Why did I bring them up?
I'm all annoyed and irritated now.


Metroid Fusion

Didn't have Gamecube, so didn't get to play it, but, it looked awesome.
The rare one I actually regret missing.

But anyway, it's the milestone of the Metroid series stepping into the 3rd dimension.
Mario, Link, and the Belmont family had already done so, it was finally Samus's turn.
I won't hold my breath on a "Kid Icarus 3-D", any time soon....


Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn

Aww, man, I miss this almost as much as Donahue.
It tilted conservative, but they had everybody in the standup business on, and they discussed everything, no holds barred.
It was just fucking great.
Everyone, whether you agreed with them or not, had a fucking brain too, not like Fox is now, with the Beck propaganda trash.
Colin especially held his own.
Just beautiful.
I miss it so goddamned much.
Networks go out of their way to kill shit like this.
Colin always thought every week was his last for the whole fucking run.
Smart guy.


The Osbournes

This, and "Gene Simmons Family Jewels", are about the only things that have justified the reality TV genre.
The rest is swill to be flushed.
Especially all that "real housewives...", shit.
The 3 seasons of this caused me to un-delete MTV, then it went right back into the electric wastebin.


Firefly

This was Joss Whedon's one lucky golden nugget.
Like Roddenberry with Trek.
It aped anime a lot.
One of the things I loved so much was its focus on characters, like in Tenchi.
Tenchi, you loved the characters so much, you could watch them just sit, and eat lunch.
Firefly had that quality to it.
Really good TV, really good sci-fi.
It's missed, and beloved by a decent sized chunk of geek fandom.
Virtually, everyone who saw it got converted.


InuYasha (cartoon network)

Yeah, this was my "King Of The Hill", of anime.
I got sucked in, saw the whole thing end-to-end...and regretted it.
They were essentially in the same place that they started at the end.
Inuyasha and Kagome never fucked, they never killed Naraku, it just ends with them walking off into the sunset more or less saying it'll go on forever.
Blah.
Goddammit!!
Why did I include a show that pissed me off?
I dunno, but it's a memory.
And while I thought it might go somewhere with the plot, I was invested, and enjoyed myself I guess.
And it was a decent sized chunk of time.
Eh.
Guess it was well spent if I was entertained.


What's New Scooby Doo?

Mindy Cohn finally really became Velma.
When I was a kid, and the old reruns were on at the same time as the original run of "the facts of life", I always thought Mindy Cohn WAS Velma.
Took me a while to figure out the whole chronology of reruns deal.
Then, when she finally did become Velma, it was like "of course! It was about time!".
And, she's been a damned good Velma.
They've actually given her shit to do.

Funny, all the gen-X nostalgia of Scooby has led to movies and shows that are a million times better than the old Scooby actually was.


Lilo & Stitch

The last really good cell animation Disney did before going pretty much solely over to CGI.

Michael Eisner brought the Disney company into a renaissance in the 90's...then in this period, he fucking trainwrecked.
Lilo & Stitch is regrettably a symbol of the resultant melancholy.
Wonderful heartfelt little movie that ended up presaging the loss of thousands of animation jobs.
The 2-D animation unit of Disney was gutted.
Heartbreaking.
And there was no need of it.
We're not talking horse-buggies vs. cars, we're talking cars and motorcycles, totally different beasts.
Anyway, this is a lovely little movie, a welcome change for anyone who had soured to the witless Broadway musical formulaiac rut Disney was in in the 90's.
I'd gladly show this to my future kids, over say, "Pocahontas", or "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame".

Whelp, at least the Broadway-Disney gave the Shrek series something to spoof...

And, the spinoff TV series of "Lilo & Stitch", gave Kevin McDonald (my 3rd favorite Kid In The Hall after Scott Thompson, and Dave Foley) a regular gig for 3 years.

Gotta find the bright side...


About Shmidt

Everyone who hasn't seen this only knows it's "the one where Kathy Bates gets naked".

It's actually a pretty decent flick.
Depressing as fuck though, especially the ending, which just sorta ends.
Eh...I liked "as good as it gets", too, so maybe I'm just fucked up in my tastes.


Bubba Ho-Tep

Yes!
Bruce Campbell's best movie to date.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer.
Literally.
Seriously.
Just go out, and rent/buy it.
Do it.


Death To Smoochy

You either love or hate this one.
I'm in the former camp.
Danny Devito is just great, I can't think of one he did as director that truly let me down.
Well, it's probably why I had him as an imaginary guest in "The Krazyfool Show".

The only movie with the balls to tear down the whole Barney deal.
Everyone talked about how much they hated Barney, but only Devito did something.
You should be kissing his little boots.

Anyhoo, Henry Rollins tells a great story of auditioning for this flick.
Youtube it sometime.


Frailty

All right, the ending spoiled this at the last minute, but up until then, the whole psychological horror of a psycho-dad who thinks he's a superhero, but is really just a serial killer, was really a fuckin' cool idea.

I give it an A for effort, but a D overall, cuz that ending really blows.
Why put it on my list?
Eh, it did something really different I haven't seen before.
Hard to get that out of the horror genre anymore.


Jason X

Okay, I said in 80's-2 I'm not a great fan of the Jasons, but I collected the tapes to be ready for "Freddy vs. Jason", well...this one is kinda almost good...even if you hate Jason movies, it has a sense of humor about itself.
But...it's only as good as a Jason movie can get, which is still pretty crummy.

"Freddy vs. Jason", is so much better.
And, this one almost waylaid FvsJ, which pisses me off a bit.
For some reason, the big-wigs at New Line hinged the production of FvsJ on the success of this one...and it pretty much bombed.
Really? It relied on a Jason flick?
JASON??
That's like betting your solid gold baby on whether a hungry dog can resist a glistening cheeseburger.

And don't even get me started on what a bitch this flick is to sync up with the continuity of everything else.
Let's just say, it ain't fucking worth it.

But...if you care...
Freddy's Dead, Jason Goes To Hell, Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy vs Jason vs Ash, Freddy vs Jason vs Ash: Nightmare Warriors, some alternate timeline shit happens maybe, and then Jason X.

See? Not worth knowing.

Well, the chick from "Andromeda", as the android chick is cute in this.
I get my jollies watching her flipping around in leather weilding guns.
Yeah, okay, that saves it.


Queen Of The Damned (soundtrack)

I dug virtually everything on this.
The movie...eh, *wavey hand*.
Well, if you take it as a protracted music video for the songs, it's all right.

I could go into a long winded rant about how batshit Anne Rice has been lately, but..nah...we'd be here for hours...


Ashe: Cry For You

I thought this was part of the above soundtrack for awhile.
It's mislabeled in many...sources.
Anyway, it's not by Korn, or Marilyn Manson, it's Ashe, and the dude only had 5 songs, now Ashe is defunct, and the dude's a chick.
But, his/her MP3s are all on on his/her site for free.
Check 'em out.


Velvet Revolver

Yes!!! Rawk!!!


Red Dragon

Well, this one does some things better than "Manhunter", and "Manhunter", does some things better than this one.
I wish I could mash them together somehow.
I think overall, I prefer this one.
Hopkins ain't as great in this one as "Lambs", or "Hannibal", but he's good.
Some critics say he "sleepwalked", through it, bullshit.

It's more about Dollarhyde in either version, anyway.
Rhames is good as Dollarhyde, sadly sympathetic.
The Dollarhyde in "Manhnter", is scarier though.
I wish I could mash those performances together.
Well, I can in my mind, if I ever read the book.

The Hannibal trilogy is a solid set of horror flicks.
Worth owning for anyone who likes film.
They're dirt cheap by now, no excuse for not getting them.
Doo eet!!


The Friar's Club Roast Of Chevy Chase

Okay, they really butchered him, and I heard he actually cried after this.
I also hear no one in the business can stand him, and he doesn't have a friend in the world.
Well, Richard Belzer puts up with him, and is the closest thing he's got to a friend, and he cuts loose on Chevy in the roast.
Pretty brutal stuff.


Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones

By the time this one rolled around, my disapointment with TPM had started to register, but I hoped this one would prove my theory that if we saw the whole trilogy play out, everything would hook together, and the first one would be redeemed.

Wroooong-guh!!

Well, I did enjoy it more in the theater.
You had more action, more force stuff, and Yoda's swordfight didn't seem ridiculous then for some reason.

The love story shit was always painful and clunky.
Argh.

Well...at least the kid was gone, and there was less Jar-Jar.

And Jango-Fett used all the Boba gadgets, confirming many fan theories going back to my playground days in 1980.
So, there was that teensy bit of wish fulfillment.

But...there was still this "eh...", feeling walking out.
Those few scenes weren't enough to sustain the buzz one would get off a WHOLE good movie.

Once again, Plinkett's dissection nails everything wrong with it.


2003

I love the 70's

The basis of my first 70's one.
Going through the list for this one, and the sequel, really made me appreciate the 70's, it wasn't all disco bullshit, and crummy variety shows.
If I'd've been a teen back then, and stuck to the edgy/wacky stuff, I woulda had a fucking ball.

Aaand, eh, the show version was okay, but the 80's ones were funner.
Well, at least the comedians remembered all the car/sports/gameshow bullshit better than I did.


I love the 80's Strikes Back

I was naturally overjoyed to have a sequel, it didn't disappoint.
Good stuff on the lists, comedians were in decent form...

And of course, it was the basis for my second 80's one.


Spike-TV/Spike launches

With Ren & Stimpy openly having gay buttsex!! Aaahahahahaaa!!!
Classic!!!


Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Boomstick

A nifty little game, okay fight system, maybe a little clunky, but with practice, one can juggle it fairly well.
Bruce Campbell's dialogue is funny enough.
On par with the films, anyway.
There was an Evil Dead game before this "Hail To The King", but I hear it sucked.
I watched the cutscenes on Youtube once, eh...
This one's better.
The next one better still.


Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence

An interesting game, better than the N64 ones, but...eh, it lost the flavor of the classic ones.
And the levels were bland, and repetitive.
After the visual gorgeousness of "Devil May Cry", and hell, even "Super Castlevania 4", they should've really stepped up to the plate.
They didn't.
For shame.
Eh...after letting this sit for over a couple years, I sold it back for store credit, and then a movie, at the now defunct "Saturday Matinee".
I got like, a couple bucks for it, what a screwing.
Wish I'd've kept the game now.
Ah, well.


Simpsons: Hit And Run

Grand Theft Auto sandbox style in the town of Springfeild in meticulous detail.
Tch...sold this back for credit too.
Combined with "Lament Of Innocence", I like, saved six bucks on "First Contact".
Shyeeet....
Damned fool.
Oh, no, wait, First contact had a scratch, so I traded it for "Sideways", so...it didn't quite make up for the loss of the games, but that's a decent flick.
All right then.


Midway Arcade Treasures

Lotta games on this one, easier to just list the ones I like best, and bought this thing for.

Gauntlet (good ol' talking arcade Gauntlet!! "Red Warrior is about to die!"), Joust, Paperboy, Rampage, Sinistar, Smash TV, and Toobin.

Okay, I bought it for Gauntlet, and Rampage, but the rest was gravy.
And the video interviews with the programmers were cute.
The Toobin' guy really, really, loved his baby.


Mythbusters

Great fucking show.
Stuff blows up, bullshit gets debunked, and Kari is smokin!!

All right, I mourned the loss of stuff like Mr. Wizard (80's 3), but this show is pretty fucking sweet for sciencey experiment stuff.

Yeah, we're all gonna be okay.
Somehow.


Penn & Teller's Bullshit

Fucking beautiful.
Okay...Penn leans a bit Randroid, and the climate episode had some iffy information, but overall, I just love how it tears down...well, everything in America, because America is so fucking full of bullshit.
You think it'd be a little thing here or there, but man, in this country, there's so damned MUCH of it!
It's almost the whole friggin' ball of wax.
Which is good in a way, cuz they won't run out of episodes anytime soon.

The show DVDs are in my recommended list.
Here's a direct link.


American Chopper

This used to be one of my few favorite reality shows, cuz it was about making the bikes, but the drama stuff has kinda taken over, what with Junior quitting, and making his own shop, and the crazy 'roid-raging old man trying to sabotage him at every turn.
I hope Junior's shop can get going, whup OCC, and it can be all about the goddamned bikes again.

But...networks like the ratings they get from drama, so trust them to keep throwing gas on the fire whenever they can.

Ah, well...
Albert Brooks saw all this shit coming.


The Zombie Survival Guide

Magnificent.
Max Brooks really, really, REALLY did his homework for this.
Well, I don't have to go into too much detail, you all have it on your reading table.
Right?
RIGHT?!?!


The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy

Gotta love a show that bases an episode on "God Emperor Of Dune".

Definately for and by geeks, and disguised as a kiddie show.
Well, like "Powerpuff Girls", and "Courage The Cowardly Dog".
A kid wouldn't get nine tenths of the references they squeeze into this.

Well, sneaky savvy subversive stuff like that goes back to the days of "Rocky & Bullwinkle".
There was an episode of "fractured fairy tales", the "Sleeping Beauty", one, that's a brutal sendup of Walt Disney, and shows what a shark people (particularly animators) thought he was even back then.
Heh, heh, sweet.
I love knowing this shit.


Spider-Man The New Animated Series

Loved the cell-shaded look, loved the theme, and the stories were vintage Spidey.
The atmosphere of it suited the times.
Loved it.
Theoretically fit between the first 2 movies, but...one could find glitches, I'm sure.
Neal Patrick Harris was Spidey, and Lisa Loeb was Mary Jane.
Whatever happened to Lisa Loeb?
She was cute, and innoffensive personality wise.
Hard to find that in chick singers anymore.


Teen Titans

Eh, this was cute.
They followed the arcs of the old comic fairly well.
Course, everyting had to be watered down in the sex & death departments.

A whole generation of fans doesn't know Raven is a child of rape, and that's what she's really messed up about, not a general teen ennui.
Well, if they stumble on to this blog they know. ;)


The Venture Bros.

This started out like, regular cool, and keeps getting better with every season, and is now off the charts of the cool meter, and has evolved into a whole new thing that we have to invent a word for, cuz "cool", just doesn't cut it anymore.

It's THE geek show.
References fly fast and furious, comics, movies, progressive rock, David Bowie, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley...
The characters are awesome, it's funny as hell, there's no way you can't love this show.

Oh, and The Monarch is the greatest supervillain of all time.

I think this show is a big reason I don't need Tenchi anymore, America finally evolved into the nation that can make Venture Brothers.
American TV doesn't inherantly suck anymore.
Took fucking long enough.

This is a slice of what I meant about the 90's geek stuff evolving into the mainstream.

Cartoon Network has jumped the shark with way too many live-action shows that also happen to suck, but Venture keeps it on life-support artisticly.
Hope they can stay on to the completion of all the arcs.

Although, I hear reports CN is trying to screw them financially, and it's thrown a monkey wrench into season 5.
Dammit.
Well, if they lose Venture, then they will have shot themselves in the foot with a helicopter gun.


Reno 911!

Great show from the people who brought us "the state".
Well...they ARE "the state".

...minus Michael Ian Black...but outside of the "I Love The...", shows, the shows he's tried to do are just fucking wretched, and he sucks...

But, he guest starred on Reno a couple times, and wasn't horrible at that.

Anyway, good show, but you all saw it.
Right?
RIGHT?!?!


Ron white: Drunk In Public

The beginning of yet another grand trilogy that eclipsed the Star Wars prequels.


NCIS

I want to fuck Abby.


American Splendor

The life and times of Harvey Pekar adapted from the pages of his comic.

I like it better than "Crumb", actually.
Shit, I like HIM better than Crumb the person.
Crumb's a documentary, so it's still my favorite documentary.

The love story is great IMO. It's both fascinating and uplifting how he essentially built his family with the power of the comic, so, it gives geeks like myself the hope that "hey, maybe that could happen to me!", y'know?

Course, we all know Harvey Pekar is dead now.
Dammit. The heroes always croak on ya.

Anyway, Paul Giamatti is great in this, but I have yet to see anything he wasn't great in.
"Sideways", "Man in The Moon", "Private Parts", he's one of the great character actors.

He's supposed to be Colonel Tom Parker in "Bubba Nosferatu", I really hope that gets made someday.
Giamatti is quoted as saying "I'm going to fucking break my spine in half if I have to get that thing done".
Godspeed, Paul and Don!


The Animatrix

Okay, THIS is Heavy Metal 2!

This is fucking great, and I fucking HATE "The Matrix".
See? Decent writers and artists can make anything good.

So, yeah, if you're one of the rare people like myself who despised "The Matrix", but loves quality adult animated anthologies, check this out.
The prequel/flashback at the beginning gives you the whole lowdown on "The Matrix", so you don't even have to see the original film.
And then the main characters pop up, and several new characters go through similar story motions as Neo.
So...it's Matrix remade good.
Ignore fuckin' Keanu, and just get this.
And again, pretend it's Heavy Metal 2.


Bad Santa

One of the all time great cult films.
I won't spoil a damned thing by describing it, or quoting it, cuz it's all gold.
And besides, you should have seen it already.
Terry Zwigoff who did "Crumb", directed this.
And Billy Bob kicks ass.

(Impression of Will Farrel's James Lipton impression)
William....Robert...THORNTON!!

Oh, and y'know who's in this?
John Ritter.
*Sob*


Freddy Vs. Jason

I've talked about this one a lot...

My old computer art.

Movies I was waiting for in retrospective.

I really friggin love the 80's part 2.

I h8 the 90's 3.

You can tell it's one of my favorite fucking movies, huh?
Not much more to say about it that I haven't already.

Um...the Robert Englund commentary is good.
He makes up for lost time for not being in the other commentaries, there's trivia of all 8 flicks squeezed in there.
Yep, this one's a treasure.

I went by myself to see this at the theater, and I was so jazzed by it, I was practically high, and the drive home felt like riding a fucking cloud.
I remember it literally like it was yesterday.
Every time I fire up the DVD, I'm right there again.

Also, this came out a year short of the 20th anniversary of the first "Nightmare".
The 10th got "New Nightmare", and "Never Sleep Again", came out a year late for the 25th.

Wonder if there'll be anything for the 30th...
Hope so..
S'only 3 years away now 'y'know.

When I die, cremate me, mix me with plastic, press me out into a DVD, and burn this flick onto me.
Do me up with a nice label and case too.


Hulk

Fuck you, I like the Ang Lee Hulk.
Spidey was good, but I was a Hulk kid growing up, so, this fullfilled the kid in me far better than Star Wars prequels.
Yeah, I'm slamming the prequels a fucking lot, but...come on, 16 fucking years, dreaming of it since childhood, and then...that?!?!

But, Hulk didn't let me down.
It tapped into everything that made the comic great in the 80's/90's which was my span of collecting the series.
And Nick Nolte plays great crazy in this.
I dug him in "Jefferson In Paris", too.
Well, he's done a lot of good shit, I'm a fan.

And, the Velvet Revolver song kicked too.


Lost In Translation

Ya loved it, or hated it.
I have a hard time disliking anything Bill Murray does.
Although, I managed it with "Rushmore", and "the life aquatic with Steve Zissou".
But this one, pretty decent.
He's been doing these quiet little indie films since.
Hard prying him away too, he's really being stubborn about Ghostbusters 3.


Mona Lisa Smile

What I based the title of "Mona Lisa Fart", on. That is all.


Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines

Sucked.
Had good parts, villain was good, not enough of her.
Bad films with good parts are more frustrating than flat out shitty ones.
Flat out shitty ones you can laugh at, like "Showgirls".
Anyhoo...
Arnold's film career kinda sputtered out on this one just before he became the Governator.

Oh, you know what I liked best?
The continuity nods that ended up in "deleted scenes", where they show the human the T-800 was based on, and he's Arnold with a dubbed southern accent, and someone watching the tape says "I don't like the voice though..", and a skinny guy with Arnold's voice goes "I'll fix it".
Best scene, and they cut it.
Pppt. Just goes to show.

Anyway, why include this stinker?
Eh, completeness.
I guess...


Tokyo Godfathers

From the guy who did "Paranoia Agent".
Great film, it was on Ovation once.
A video box synopsis doesn't do it justice, just check it out sometime.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Denis Leary

Yeah, they switched over to CC roasts with this one, and stopped airing the Fryers ones, we missed out on a lot.
This one..eh..*wavey hand*
This was before "Rescue Me", redeemed him on TV, so the most they even had to haze him for was the cancellation of "The Job".
Fneh.


X2: X-Men United

The series was still good at this point.
"XMen: The Last Stand", blew goats though.
I refuse to count it.
Or, give it it's own entry.
And I did one for T3, so that's saying something.


Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked

A very well assembled documentary that gives even the completely uninitiated to comics a fairly comprehensive history of the medium.
Both the characters, and the industry.
It still holds up, I still love it.
History Channel still plays it every now and then when a new hero movie comes out.
Has Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Denny O'Neil, Kevin Smith, and a few others.
Really well done.
I recommend it highly.

My only beef, every documentary like this goes up to what's the newest trendy thing, no matter if it's good or not, and this one goes up to "The Authority", which despite its deliberate dancing with controvery with gay characters, was a piece of crap.
And that's a really minor nitpick, everything else is great.


Batman: Dead End

Online fan-film of Batman fighting Aliens and Predators.
Very well done, and pretty cool.
Yep, we're gonna see more of this, internet is going to become our TV.
It's well on the way already.
Good riddance to the oligarchs it'll topple.
Go future, go!


2004


Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

This was the first and only game that I stood in line on the release date to get.
Holy shit, I'll never fucking do that again.
Ugh...
Well...it's a massive upgrade from Vice City in size, scope, and level of things you could do.
And you can fucking do everything.
Every weapon, every vehicle, customizable everything, you can play pool, arcade games, it's a whole friggin' world.
...and yet...it doesn't satisfy like Vice City did.
I dunno...maybe it's the whole LA gangs thing..can't get with that vibe...I try to cancel it out by listening to the 80's nostalgia tracks on the radios,...and eh...I just like Vice City better.
Can't help it.
Well, like I liked Final Fantasy 4 better than 6.
Anyway, I still haven't beaten San Andreas all the way through.
I gotta steal someone's quest sometime so I can go to the Vegas level.


I love the 90's

The basis of my first 90's one.

Eh...kind of a letdown from the 80's ones.
Well, you saw, the list of topics was ass.
The comedians did a good job with 'em I guess, but eh...*wavey hand*
It was just something to watch *shrug*


House M.D.

Best show on regular-ass TV.
You have to buy Showtime, and watch Dexter to do much better.
Love me some House marathons on USA and FX.
Sometimes, it's the only fucking watchable thing on TV.


Metroid: Zero Mission

Remake of the original.
Mentioned it in 90's 3.


Atari Anthology

Fucking sweet.
Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout, tons of 2600 games, a video interview with Nolan Bushnell that's pretty cool, scans of all the game manuals, and even a scanned Centipede comic book.
It's chock fucking full.
Hours and hours of enjoyment.


Mega Man Anniversary Collection

As I mentioned in 90's 3, I love me some Mega Man 2, but really, all of 'em are fun, and this has all of 'em.
Even the 8th one for Playstation 1 I missed out on.
Great series.


Midway Arcade Treasures 2

Lessee, favorites on this one, Gauntlet II (natch), Rampage World Tour (Rampage updated with claymation figures similar to Clayfighter), and NARC (I think the first gory game I ever played, remember this being at Old Orchard Beach..hey, there's a location blog waiting to be done...).

..and Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 are in it too *eye roll*.
Not a fan of button-mashing fighters.
MK you NEEDED combos to be good.
Street Fighter, you can theoretically win against anyone with well timed average kicks and punches.
That's more fun to me.
Hate wrist-breaking combos.
SF's "ha do ken!", is about all I feel like going for.

Anyway, with this, Midway 1, Atari Anthology, Mega Man Anniversary, and Namco Museum, all my old games were back.
Love it.


Katamari Damacy

This...is something special...

Well..here's the opening, in case you were under a rock, and missed this game somehow...

Katamari Damacy opening.


Angry Video Game Nerd

My favorite web series.
There are a shitloads of other "angry reviewers", but as far as I can tell, if he wasn't the first, he's about the best.
The "acting", on the others is kinda squint-worthy, James comes across as just himself.

And man, is he friggin' thorough on everything..


Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

The only live-action show Cartoon Network has had on thus far that hasn't made me want to stab someone in the fucking eyes.

Really fucking hilarious, especially if you're old enough to remember 80's horror.
The cheesey C string stuff, anyway.


Tripping The Rift

Eh, it's no Futurama, but I thought it was pretty decent.
I'd like to have this on DVD.
One of the other few rare things on Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) that wasn't physically painful to watch.
This, MST3K, and old Twilight Zones.
Oh, yeah, and Farscape.
And B5 reruns.


Drawn Together

Mostly loathed it, but it had a few good moments here and there.
Cree Summer's always good.
Hey, Ai Orisaka plays her character in the Japanese dub, heh, Ryoko!


Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (cartoon network)

See my ramble on Cowboy Bebop.


Paranoia Agent

From the guy who did "Tokyo Godfathers".
This...is way harder to describe than "godfathers".
No...it can't be described.
Those who saw the fucking thing know what I'm talking about.

It's well...there's this kid called "Little Slugger", and he has rollar skates, and a golden baseball bat with a bend in it like a hockey stick, and he..hits people..but he's a dream, like Freddy...but also a hallucination, but also real...and...people believing in him makes him appear..and...then there's this pink stuffed dog that talks..and then...yeah, it can't be done.

Not without writing a fucking Wiki page.
Find the thing, watch it.


Samurai Champloo

Again, see my ramble on Cowboy Bebop.


Justice League Unlimited

Take Justice League, squeeze every DCU character into it, and crank the fucking awesome up to 11.


Perfect Hair Forever

This...was just some random Willaim's Street potheadedness...but it came together hilarious.

Sort of an anime parody..but...it kinda spirals off into its own loony tangeant.
Not the greatest thing, but it amused me.


Facebook

Yep, this happened.
The founder is a criminal.
Yeah, he payed the guys off, but..eh...
I will not watch the movie about him.
Bad enough he has the planet in this thing's tentacles, I ain't giving him money.


Rescue Me

The only show I like better than House.
And only by a smidge.
I think...I missed the last season somehow.
Gotta Hulu that...


Bill Hicks Live: Satirist, Social Critic, Stand-up Comedian (DVD)

Love it.
It's got 3 concerts, and a documentary.
A must have for Hicks fans..cuz...well, it's THE DVD.
Well, there's "Sane Man", but the jokes repeat.


Fullmetal Alchemist (cartoon network)

Eh, I always forget this in my off-the-top-of-my-head list of great anime.
Should probably throw Trigun in there too.
Well, on the second tier after Bebop, and Champloo, and GITS:SAC.


Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

Eh, saw this on cable, it's cute.


Hellboy

Fun little flick, Ron Perlman is clearly having a blast.
Haven't seen the sequel yet...


The Incredibles

Wonderful, Dreamworks rocks.


The Punisher

Ohhh yeeahhh, got to see this at the theater, almost as jazzed leaving the theater as "Freddy Vs. Jason".
It got no props from hardly anyone.
Despite having Travolta, it's stayed a cult hit most people forgot.
And it even had a hit single off the soundtrack, Evanescence's "broken".
Fuckin' song charted, dammit.
Nope, no mainstream love for Punisher.
Ah, well.
Well, Punisher's comic is cult too, so, it's about right.


Seed Of Chucky

See my ramble on "Bride Of Chucky".

Favorite line...

"As a doll, I'm fucking infamous! I'm one of the most notorious slashers in history!
And I don't wanna give that up. I am Chucky, the killer doll! And I dig it!".

I find that an inspitration pick-me-up sometimes.


Shaun Of The Dead

Hard to say anything about this that hasn't been said a million times.
It's great, if you love zombie flicks, you'll love this, and hell, you probably have it on your shelf already.

Shit, any geek worth his salt has this, and the Evil Dead trilogy.
Right next to the classic SW trilogy, the Romero deads, Spinal Tap, Princess Bride, Enter The Dragon, something from Tarantino, probably Kill Bill, the first 2 Aliens,...


George Carlin: When Will Jesus Bring The Porkchops?

The audiobook of this is 6 hours of pure bliss.
Fire it up in a multi-disk stereo, close your eyes, and let the pain of your nightmare day interacting with human beings wash away.

Euphamistic language.


Shrek 2

Yeah, this one's pretty good.
Introduces Puss N' Boots.
Who I always thought was the James Bond of the fairy tale world, and should've had his own movie ages ago.
Gob smacking that Disney never undertook it.
I mean..Pocahontas?? Really?
Anyway, Puss is getting his own spinoff prequel, so, that oversight is resolved at last.

The "I need a hero", number at the end is kinda..ehh...
Well, there's usually something in these kiddie flicks to make me squint, no matter how much they try to appeal to adults.

No..."The Incredibles", didn't irritate me with awkward musical numbers...


Sideways

'Nother great one for you Paul Giammatti and/or Thomas Hayden Church fans.
Great character actors both.
One of the truly great comedies of the 00's.


Spider-Man 2

Best one of the trilogy, one of the best superhero movies period.


Team America: World Police

Eh, it's no South Park The Movie, but it's got some laughs.
Sadly, some people missed the satire, and took the "america, fuck yeah!", shit at face value.
Yikes.

Oof...those fuckin' Bush years, I tell ya...


2001 Maniacs

A comedic remake of the first true gore movie from the 60's.
And another great chance to see Robert Englund just have a blast hamming it up.
Man, he's got the greatest job in the world, just being Robert Englund.
Well, he makes it look easy, but y'know...


Star Trek New Voyages: Come what may.

This was a fun little internet fanfilm, and was a test-bed for what they could do with what they had.
Next one was better...


Star Trek New Voyages: In harm's way.

Ditto the above, except more epic in scale.
Lotta folks made fun of the "Bugs Bunny jumping around", of the ships.
Eh...I can kinda see their point..but...technologically, with control of anti-gravity, Trek ships should in fact be capable of moves like that.
Anyway, even accepting that criticism, I thought it was a neat little fil-um.


Freddy vs. Ghostbusters

Another nifty little internet fanfilm, that ended up being a prototype for a better one.
Yep, the internet was coming into its own with its culture, shows, etc.

It's creeping up..well, no, it is mainstream, we all love some web based show, we all can reference this stuff amongst ourselves, it's the network and studio heads that are the slowpokes of acknowledging this facet of our culture.

It IS the new mainstream, but the dinosaurs just haven't been notified.


2005

I love the 90's: part deux

The basis for my second 90's one, and another crummy list.

As with the first, can barely remember what the comedians did with it.
Probably better than mine, no doubt, but I didn't make these to out-comedy them, this is just my little album of personal memories.
Trying to keep them spontaneous, organic, and flowing.
The comedians got to watch all the flicks, hear all the songs, and rehearse their jokes ahead of time, I'm sure.


I love the 80's 3-D

The basis of my third, and final 80's one.
Loved it, cuz it was 80's.
Loved doing my take on it.
And ditto most of the above on the 90's one.


The Aristocrats

Funny as hell, practically everyone in the business is in it.
Has to be in the collection of anyone who loves standup as an artform.
And, as mentioned in the entry on the Hugh Hefner Roast, Gilbert Gottfried's rendition is quinissential.

Well, here...

Gottfried rendition.


Evil Dead: Regeneration

Evil Dead 2 and a half.
Great game.
A definite step up from "a fist full of boomstick".
Ted Raimi is a fucking riot.
His character is strangely the best video game weapon since Belmont's whip in Castlevania 4.

When you beat it all the way through, you get to play all the cinema scenes, and as a movie, yeah, easily worthy of being canon with the films.
Not bad.
Any Evil Dead fan should give this one a spin in the ol' PS2.


Make love! The Bruce Campbell Way

The audiobook of this is the one to go with.
It's essentially a full cast radio play, and a fucking riot.
I happen to think, the best thing of Bruce Campbell's career so far.
I'm serious.


Iron Chef America

Loved the Japanese one, but it had the pesky problem of coming to an end.
William Shatner hosted a crappy too-Americanized one on Fox that went nowhere, but this one gets it right by sticking to the basics.
Unveil the secret ingredient, start the clock, and you're in business.
No need to guild the lily.


Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

'Bout the only travel show I can stand.
Bourdain is pretty ascerbic, and isn't afraid to go into the shitholes the perky travel folk won't go to.
And, he's a damned good writer.
Better'n me, but that don't take much.


Robot Chicken

Geez, thousands of us as kids invented this show, Seth Green just pitched it to the network and actually did it.
And, I'm glad it was him, he does a good job.
I woulda ruined it somehow.
I dunno how, but somehow.

Now, this show is totally my sense of humor, especially when I was a kid playing with figures.
Steve (of the karate kid incident, the Freddy initiation, and the Kids In The Hall snobbery) would want to do shit like Tim & Eric.

Dammit, don't I loathe Tim & Eric....*sneers*

That's what woulda happened.
I woulda wanted to pitch Robot Chicken, Steve would wanna do his Tim & Eric thing, and if we didn't do that, he'd pitch a fit, I'd gloomily give in, and he'd get his way, his version of Tim & Eric would get the finger, and no Robot Chicken in the world.

Yeah, I'm glad Seth Green did it.


Doctor Who (ninth doctor, new series)

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nuff said.


The Colbert Report

Hey, if there truly HAS to be a fucking O'Reilly Factor in the world, then the universe simply needs to balance itself out with this.
Simple thermo-dynamics.
Reality would be broken without Colbert.


The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

I like him.
I like his show.

Check out his autobiography, it's genuinely uplifting, and inspirational.
No, really, actually inspirational, not in the angry "fuck the man!", way "Private Parts", was.

But, eh, I needed that in my teens.
Anyway, yeah, I happen to think he's one of the best guys on late night.
And I've often said I flat out find Jay and the two Jimmys worthless, so, do the math.


The Boondocks

Excellent satire, better written than South Park, a professional voice cast instead of Trey Parker doing everyone.
Come on, tell me the 5 Trey voices don't make you squint after awhile, even when it's a particualrly good episode.

Only gripe with Boondocks, the karate shit's getting old...
Eh, there's always a flaw.


Moral Orel

Good in small doses.
IMHO.
Now, you watch this, and assume the makers are college boys who hate their parents, but..nope, the last episode's dedicated to the dude's father who we're told wasn't a nut like the father in this.

A lot of sketch shows have done the whole "Davey & Goliath go to hell", thing, so you'd think the premise would be run into the ground before this show even got there, but no, they do some new twists with it.
Worth your time.
Unless you're a churchy person, then it'll piss you right the fuck off.
Or...maybe not...hard telling...


Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List

Sue me, I like Kathy Griffin.

This is the rare reality show that doesn't make me want to crunch down on a cyanide filled fake tooth.

It's mind-boggling to me how she genuinely pisses some people off, to the point of bannings and shit.
Really?
21st century, we're BANNING people from things based on words?
And not racism, or yelling "fire!", or anything, just telling the truth about ridiculous public behaviors.
And I love that she doesn't (generally) back down.
She knows these people are fucking ridiculous blowhards.

Yeah, that's the mind blowing part, these celebrities get where they are being ridiculous, they stay on top being ridiculous, they use their money and power to be even more ridiculous, and get away with it, for nothing but a thrill,...and then they want to be taken SERIOUSLY..and when you don't...rage-a-hol.

Yeah, that's the most amusing thing, apart from her jokes, I like to see.
The hyocritical nastiness of this particular community, all the while, they're thinking SHE'S the nasty one.

Really? Nasty for saying what we're all thinking about these idiots?
Eh, whatever.
But, it never stops being funny to me.
I'm glad she's out there doing that work.
Needs doing.

Her, Dave Attell's Insomniac, Anthony Bourdain, it's all in the same vein.
Poking at the maggots under the culture's bark.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Jeff Foxworthy

This one was *wavey hand* eh....
I include it for completeness sake.
Well, Lisa Lampenelli is the best part, even in the mediocre ones.
You look forward to her, and if she's the first one up, shit, you're done.


It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Did I mention Danny Devito rules?
I did?
Good.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson

Wow, two this year.
This is the one everyone still talks about.
I mentioned that Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain killed, right?
Okay then.


Batman Begins

Best Batman flick ever until "The Dark Knight", came out.

Hmm, Patrick Bateman...Batman...you think...Bale thought it was an American Psycho prequel?
Nahhh...


The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (movie)

Cute, but I like the TV show better.
Clunky production values and all.

But, if this lured some mainstreamies into reading the books, and turning into geeks, hey....


Land Of The Dead

Pretty decent.
If for nothing else, cool to see Romero get to play with a big Hollywood budget.
Guess that's not gonna happen again soon.
Dunno why he's always had to struggle uphill to make these.
I mean, the audience for these films is a cult, but it's a pretty damned big cult.
Eh, fuck Hollywood anyway.


Disturbed: Ten Thousand Fists

RAAWWWWKK!!!


Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic

Pretty much the pilot for her show.
Good stuff.
Crazy bitch, I love her.
Shit, I even forgive her for dating Kimmel.


Serenity

Good wrapup for the Firefly characters I guess...

No, too many folks died.
No, dammit.
I liked the show better.


Sin City

Okay...Frank Miller may or may not be a fascist, and if he's not, I apologize for my prior rant.
And even if he is a fascist...I still love this flick, the book it came from, and "The Dark Knight Returns".

Hey, John Milius is a right-wing wacko, and I still like "Conan The Barbarian".

Mel Gibson though? Fuck him.


Patient J

Another great internet fanfilm.
Sure, Heath Ledger's Joker would come along, and blow all prior versions out of the water, but this one is a nice goodbye to the Mark Hamill/70's-80's classic comic version.
Very well done.
Longtime Batfans will enjoy.


Star Wars: Clone Wars

These teensy little cartoons were better than the 3 prequels combined.
This really felt like the Star Wars of my childhood.
Fun stuff.
Truly.

I haven't gotten too into the CGI ones...
I dunno, after 6 years of disapointment, I'm prequelled out.
It's probably not at all fair to the show, and if I'm wrong, I'll catch up to it on DVD, or whatever the future medium will be.
But, for now...pass...


Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Well, this had a bunch of good stuff that made up for the suckage of the previous two...but...still weak over all...

At least I didn't have that lump in the gut feeling walking out like "The Phantom Menace".
I was genuinely entertained, and I was buzzed with the sense of completion.
The "there, that's finally over", sense, y'know?

Something that was on the horizon for almost 20 years was finally in the rear view.
It was a surreal feeling.

And with this, I was more or less done with Star Wars.

It'll take something really huge to hook me back in, and make me love it the way I loved it in the days of the original trilogy, and again in the 90's, with the first batch of books.
I'm not holding my breath.

It was a good ride, overall.
Thank you, Star Wars.
And thank you, George Lucas.
Even if you are a fuckenasshole.

Anyhoo, once again, Plinkett dissects this one with tweezers.


2006

I love the 70's: Volume 2

The basis of my second 70's one.
Eh, the 70's ones weren't too bad.
I actually gained a newfound appreciation for the 70's from both of those without having to do a homemade one like this one.


Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

Great spoof on the slasher genre.
The next evolution in post-modern dissection in the vein of "Scream", but this time, from the killer's point of view.

Robert Englund has a small role as a sort of Dr. Loomis archetype.

Zelda Rubinstein has an all too brief cameo.

Lot's of cameo and continuity candy for fans of Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, etc.
Great little indie film.
All the good horror is coming out of the indies, Hollywood's shit is too slick, and lifeless.

Eh, horror has always been Hollywood's redheaded stepchild.
Despite that horror has saved Hollywood's ass financially countless times.
"Rosemary's Baby", springs to mind.
Ah, well, gotta cut myself off, I'll be here all day on this ramble...


George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing

George's second to last HBO special.
I think the most morbid one of all.
Loved it!!

Ehhh, pussies on Amazon whimpered about that.
Fuck them.

Here's a clip...

Nationwide natural disaster.


Rocky Balboa

Think I mentioned before in the Rambo rant (First Blood here) that I'm glad Stallone revisited these franchises.
Well, I reiterate that.
This one totally made up for Rocky 5.
You can make a decent trilogy out of 1, 2, and 6 now, ignoring the rest.
I saw this in the theater, and was pretty jazzed.
Not as much as "FvJ", and "Punisher", but, still...


Clerks 2

I didn't think it was possible to like this better than Clerks 1, but I'll be damned...
And I forgot to mention in it's proper entry, but daaaaamn, but Rosario Dawson was smokin' in Sin City.
She's cute in this, but in that one, daa-ha-haamn.


Idiocracy.

Last of the good Mike Judge flicks.
Hopefully, it's just a slump.
But this one, an immortal cult classic right next to "Office Space".


Superman Returns

Eh, I said it all in this rant.


My Name Is Bruce

Ditto the above.


Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny

Eh, it's cute.
Cameos by Meatloaf, and Dio.
Shows the origin of the "tribute", song.
David Grohl is Satan.
How can you pass that up, eh?


Korgoth Of Barbaria

This show was fucking beautiful.
Where did it go, and why?
No, we get "Children's hospital", instead.
*Eye roll*
Anyway, it's an excellent spoof, and love letter, to the old full-on gory "Savage Sword Of Conan", books.
And, the novels, I suppose.
I believe this could have been up there with Venture Bros for greatness if it had just been given the chance.

No, CN has made the conscious decision to churn out a bunch of live-action blue-screen crap for potheads on the cheap.
Bastids.


A Scanner Darkly

See the entry on "waking life".


Paprika

The last thing the dude who did "Tokyo Godfathers", and "Paranoia Agent", got to do before he croaked. :(

Well, this one's easier to describe.
Nerdy scientist chick has mindmeld/dream-scanner machine that makes her the good flipside of Freddy Krueger.
A mystery person is fucking people up with some sort of dream virus, and it's up to "Paprika", to save the day.


Ron White: You Can't Fix Stupid

The next chapter in the epic Ron White trilogy!
Take that, prequels!


The Comedy Central Roast Of William Shatner

Everyone talks about this one too.
Nothing as horrifying as coked up Courtney Love happened, it was just really good and memorable.

Most quoted line, probably George Takai's "fuck you, and the horse you rode in on!".


HD-DVD vs. Blue-Ray

(Mortal Kombat voice)
Blue-Ray wins!
Finish him!


Playstation 3 vs. XBox-360 vs. Wii

Somebody win, goddammit!!!


Twitter

Yep...this exists...


Heroes

The first season was an epic almost on par with "Watchmen".
Then...right after that, it jumped the shark.
It's gone now.
Ah, well.


World War Z

As with "Make love! The Bruce Campbell way", and "George Carlin: When will Jesus bring the porkchops?", the audiobook is the one to go with.

Full cast, chock full of familiar famous "faces".

The Lord Of The Rings of zombies.
Dawn Of The Dead of course, being the Star Wars.

I've sadly recently heard the movie is being held up by there not being enough damned money in the world.
Well, there's still the audiobook.


Marvel Zombies

The zombie wave was in full crest in these latter years of the 00's.
They even literally infected the superhero books.
Hmm...this one was okay...but I actually like the spinoff stuff better..more on that later...


Dead Rising

Pretty much "Dawn Of The Dead", the video game.
Sandbox style, ala GTA.
Pretty fun, only played it a little.
Haven't seen the sequel.


Muse: Black Holes And Revelations

Fuck yeah!

Queen meets Radiohead,..kinda.

Here's my fave...

Take a bow.

And another one that's pretty darned good...

Knights Of Cydonia.


Star Trek New Voyages: To serve all my days

The one with Walter Koening as old Chekov.
Written by D.C. fontana.
Not bad.
Hard to put into canon though...ah, screw it, it's 5 years old, I'll spoil it...cuz Chekov fuckin' dies!!

Eh, alternate timeline, dream, Talosian illusion, whatever.

Pretty good one.
Fits the vibe of the old show better than the previous one that tried to get all movie-like, and kitchen-sink-y.


Letting Go Of God

This is a really good one for gentle de-conversion.

Me, I'm not so good at that...

Wish I could just buy a million copies of this, and put them in mailboxes.

Anyway, basically, Julia Sweeny tells her real account of gradually drifting away from first, Catholicism, then Buddism, then various hippie-dippy crystal waving enclaves, and then, finally, coming 'round to Atheism.

It's actually really sweet, and human.
Give it a chance, folks.

I heard/saw this after reading the God Delusion, but I put it first, because I want to wrap up this year with God Delusion.

Oh, yeah, and this is on my recommended viewing list...


The God Delusion

Well, like I said here, and here, this book really did me an intellectual solid.
Thanks, Dawkins.

Maybe I went a little overboard in my first year of this blog, ranting about religion so much..but..dammit, it was fun, as was debating jackasses and trolls at RD.net.

Good practice, but for what...I dunno...

Course, I still think the world would be better off without organized religion, that's all a big scam, but as for the core beleifs that underpin it...

...I don't think it means much.
I don't think a lot of beliefs, if any, mean much.

Think about it, you've got Liberals who censor, you've got conservatives who run up deficits, you've got Jews that eat lobster and prosciutto anytime they feel like, you've got people of all religions who cheat, and you've got these christian-conservative-homophobe assholes who are gay, and come out only after they've hurt people.

Conversly, the nice Ned Flanders-y Christians cherry-pick away the evil shit in the Bible with the weakest of pretenses.
They'd be good anyway, they're just making excuses.

People generally do whatever they want.
I mostly don't care anymore their goofy philosophical justifications.
The Fred Phelps's of the world?
They'd be nasty anyway.
But, if Gaw-duh says so, hey, that's handy....

And the violence in the middle-east, don't get me going.

You'd maybe cut the legs off of a lot of it if they couldn't appeal to God, but, I dunno..

I'm thinking belief period is the problem.
Okay, un-evidenced belief.
But most of it is, religious or not.
Especially in fucking politics.
The only hope I see, is in electronic doodads.
If those could just evolve fast enough...

Although...it is still fun to slaughter those lame arguments that are put forward

...because they're sooooo fuckin' looouussyyy!
Every last one.
It's like zapping sprites in a video game, compulsive...

Anyway, yeah, God Delusion's in the reading list link.


2007

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash

Covered this in this one...


Marvel Zombies vs. The Army Of Darkness

A prequel to "Marvel vs. Zombies", with Ash from the "Evil Dead", trilogy bumbling into the MZ universe, and accidentally causing the zombie plague.
Funny stuff, better art than the main MZ books.
Like I said further up, the spinoff stuff like this is actually better than the main series.
But, more on that further down.

Chronologically, for Ash, this would be...after "Army Of Darkness", and before "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash".


The Brave One

Okay, take the Punisher, make him a chick, turn down the violence knob so instead of his/her whole family dying, just her boyfriend dies, and instead of him/her wiping out a whole crime family, just a few street thugs.
And instead of an arsonal, one revolver.

Now, make the chick Jodie Foster, and in the soundtrack, replace the Evanescence, and Drowning Pool, with some sad quiet Sarah Mcachlan sounding shit, and whammo!!

Critics spoodge all over it, and there's fucking Oscar buzz.

Yeah....*grimace, head shake*

Eh, I don't take it out on the film, it's actually pretty okay, just saying...


The Golden Compass

Okay, so Bob Shaye created New Line out of the trunk of his car, he builds it up into a thriving studio starting with the "Nightmare On Elm Street", franchise, and even when the corporate suits start gaining control, he brings them hits like "there's something about Mary", "Fight Club", and finally "The Lord Of The Rings", trilogy.

Fucking "Lord Of The Rings", man!

Then, this one comes out..doesn't bomb...doesn't badly underperform, just "doesn't meet expectations".

Bam, his ass is canned.

Frankly, I found it to be a wavey hand film.
But so was the Narnia film that was its competition.

A damned lame dip in the film release cycle for poor Bob Shaye to lose his job over, and for New Line to turn into a cornball rom-com factory.

Talk about dying with a whimper.
Ouch.

As for the religio-political hub-bub stirred up about the fight between this n' Narnia...in hindsight...meh.
Neither film was worth it.

Bleh to the whole thing.

But, I have all these memories connected to this thing, so, it's gotta be in the list...


Hot Fuzz

I think of this as a parrallel universe sequel to "Shaun Of The Dead".
Same guys, same humor.
This time, goofing on buddy cop flicks.
Pretty sure its made its way to basic cable by now, so everyone's probably seen it.
As good as "Shaun", easily.


Reno 911!: Miami

Best episode of the show ever, pretty much.
And then, when they came back to TV, thud!
They killed Clemmie, and Garcia, and oh, shocker, the show sucks now, and oh, shocker, it's cancelled!
PPPT!
I hear the same folks are trying to get a Star Trek parody show going.
I'd reeeeaally like to see that.


Ratatouille

Okay, I ragged on Disney for cold-bloodedly gutting 2-D animation, but dammit if this one ain't just wonderful.
Right up there with the old Rankin/Bass fantasies, and my favorite animes for richness of the characters.
But hey, Brad Bird, he's got the Midas touch.


Spider-Man 3

Eh, everyone holds their nose, and gags at this one, but, I think it's okay.
Not the masterpiece that 2 was...but that was pretty damned hard to top.
But, if this was an issue of the comic, it'd pass muster.

Well, we'll see what the upcoming reboot flick is like...maybe everyone will end up longing for 3 in hindsight...


Stardust

I heard this pitched as "the next 'Princess Bride'", by some reviewers.
Eh, it's cute, but "Princess Bride"? no way.
Worth a watch though.


Shrek The Third

Speaking of "Princess Bride",-ish films...

Eh, this one..*wavey hand*...doesn't do much, but create the Shrek children for the fourth one.
S'okay...


The Sarah Silverman Program

"Jesus is magic", the series, basicly.
Ditto what I said about that, and her.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Flavor Flav

This one was really filthy, and evil.
I loved it.
Isn't as beloved as the Pam Anderson and Shatner ones by the mainstream though.
Meh, fuckem.


Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern

Okay, so this dude eats brains, and eyeballs, and intestines, and assholes, and shit, and rotten meat that would gag a hyena, but...he whines and blubbers about...Spam?!?!
Keee-rist.
Although, every once and awhile, he shows stuff that ain't gross, it's just exotic.
Like, I never knew cashews are part of a fruit, and since it doesn't transport well, it can only be eaten in the country it comes from, and they make energy drinks, and slushies out of it there.
Awww, I want some...

Roast bats, not so much...


Superjail!

If you coulda gotten me on TV as a teenager with the super-violent nihilistic version of Harry Hembock I was doing then, it would've pretty much looked like this.

Like with "Robot Chicken", I ain't jealous, I'm just glad it exists, and enjoy.


Star Trek New Voyages: World enough and time.

The one with George Takai as a time-warped old Sulu.
This is the best one these guys have done.
Superb.
Worthy of being canon.


Return Of The Ghostbusters

The sequel to "Freddy vs. Ghostbusters", and waayyy better in production values.
I honestly think this would've passed muster as a theatrical picture in the 80's as the followup to the real film.
Or, at the least, a telefilm.
Very well done, stuff like this continues to show the potential of the internet, and its ability to tap into all the heretofore untapped talent out there.
Wonderful.


God Is Not Great

I actually read this one before "the God Delusion", and while I think TGD is the better book overall, this one had me busting a gut laughing.
Hitchen knows how to turn a phrase, and a screw.
Heheheh!

Sadly, ol' Hitch may not be long for this world.
Now...I could have sworn he'd filmed all his segments for "god is not great", the movie, like, a couple years ago, but I haven't heard any more about it, so, it looks dead in the water.
Dammit.
Death gets in the way of all kinds of cool shit.
We gotta do something about that whole death thing.


2008

I Love The New Millenium

The basis for my first 00's one.

The list was crappy, which is why I'm doing this one.
And, it cut off at '07.

VH1 had a weekly edition of "I love the...", afterward called "best week ever", that hung on until '09, but then they never compiled the best-of into an updated "I love the millenium", or a part 2.
And, it got cancelled.
"Best week ever", still has a blog though, and it's still going.

Anyway, I don't like calling the oughties "the new millenium", because "millenium", includes not only all the other decades, but 9 more centuries.
It's sloppy.

"Millenium", sounds impressive, but it's sloppy when you're really just describing a decade chunk of it.
And in VH1's case, 7 stupid years.

Ah, well, I'm doing my own thing, and I'm happy with it.


George Carlin: It's bad For Ya.

George's last special.
*Sigh*
And it was a good one.
Better than "life is worth losing", I think.

But...you could see he was not in good health.
The hopping around physical stuff he used to do, gone, he was kinda hobbling.
He was all spritely right back in "back in town", y'know?
Felt like yesterday.
Tch...

Well, as always, here's a clip..

Swearing on the Bible.


The Dark Knight

Wow.
Still love it, still holds up.
Been said a million times, a million ways, but I'll reiterate it anyway.
One of the best superhero films, if not the best.
Indeed, it transcends its genre, redefines it, and...it's one of the great films, that just happenes to have a superhero in it.
Truly, a decade defining film.
Heath Ledger's Joker will go down as cinema legend.


Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

We had such fun shredding this into crumbles on RD.net, also, Ben Stein is a horrid little man.


Hancock

Finally seen it for free on TV.
Harry Hembock is better.
And I'm really not one to blow my own horn, Hancock really stunk.


Iron Man

Hmm, hard to measure it up against "The Dark Knight", because they're such different animals, but this one really knocked it out of the ballpark for Marvel.
One step up from even "spiderman 2", IMHO.
It's given all Marvel flicks since then something to shoot for.


The Incredible Hulk

A little bit thinner, y'know, less meatier, than the first one, but I enjoyed it.
Would have been a typical issue of the comic book from when I was a small kid.
Or, an episode of the old show.
Each Hulk flick covers different strengths of different eras of the books, I enjoy both.
This one had more monster action, for sure.
Some goofball critic said this was "as good as Iron Man", eh...apples and oranges.
I do dig the Robert Downey cameo, indeed all the other easter eggs in the other Marvel flicks leading up to "The Avengers".
That's been a blast to see unfold.

Why, its been more enjoyable than looking foreward to..well...Star Wars prequels.


Hulu

Grow, internet, grooooww!!!

This has been a godsend for catching up with missed shows.
Thank you, Hulu.


Religulous

Gorgeous.
Pretty much has all the bad arguments religion makes for itself, and its lunacies, all in one lovely little package.
Good starter kit for the freshly de-converted, or the wavering agnostic about to.


The Gene Simmons Roast

This one was on A&E instead of Comedy Central, cuz of Gene Simmons essentially practically owning them...
So, it had to be on there.
But, it had all the usual roast suspects.
Especially Lisa Lampenelli.
It's a good 'un.
But, not many folks are aware of it, cuz they expected all the roasts to be on Comedy Central.
And, A&E doesn't rerun their shit enough.
Ah, well...


Marvel Zombies: Dead Days

This one is a prequel (sorta) to the original "Marvel Zombies".
And, again, I think it's better.

Okay, the graphic novel contains the standalone issue, also titled "Dead Days", which is a total prequel of the start of the zombie plague in a parrallel duplicate of the Marvel Universe, that coincides with "Marvel Zombies vs. The Army Of Darkness".
Then, there's the 3 issue miniseries of "Ultimate Fantastic Four", which happens just before the original MZ, and actually started the whole thing off, then, a second 3 issues of UFF that coincides with the conclusion of MZ, and then 4 issues of the regular "Fantastic Four", where they dimensionally bump into the Galactus Zombies from the end of MZ.

All of 'em have better art and writing IMHO, than MZ, they reference the events of MZ thoroughly enough, you don't miss anything by not reading MZ, so, you can easily substitute this book for it.

And..."Marvel Zombies 2", is total ass, so skip that one entirely.

Then, complete the trilogy with "Marvel Zombies Return".


Wall-E

A post-apocalyptic film for children.
That had to be a hard sell.

But damned if it ain't one of the best films I've seen, period.
The 00's had a lot of those.


Zack and Miri Make A Porno

"She frosted me like a fuckin' cake!!!!".

*Roars with laughter*

Oh, boy...

Thumbs up.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Bob Saget

Kinda weak.
Fish in a barrell picking on Saget.
Another one included for completeness's sake.
Although, I like 'em all at some level.


Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

Talked about that here, and here.


Zombie Strippers

Better production values than I expected, and genuinely funny, not Ed Wood so-bad-it's-funny funny.

A couple parts are actually fucking hilarious.

Robert Englund is on a good streak with these.
Can't wait to see "InKubus", and "The Moleman Of Belmont Avenue".


Batman: Gotham Knight

The animated in-between-quel to "Batman Begins", and "The Dark Knight".
Another anthology in the vein of "The Animatrix".
So, ditto a lot of what I said about that.
Including counting this as Heavy Metal 3.


Man V. Food

Lot of awesome restaurants and foods covered by this show.
A lot from Portland Maine!

I hate the heat challenges though.
Those...bother me.
Seeing a dude literally torture himself with pain, instead of enjoying himself..bleagh, no...
Defeats the purpose of food, IMO.


Breaking Bad

Starring the dad from "Malcolm In The Middle"!
Call in the little kids to watch!

I've missed a shitload of this show, whole seasons, I really gotta catch up.
I'm impressed by it though, every episode I stumble onto is the best fucking thing I've seen on television.
Grim as hell though.

Only thing grimmer would be "Dexter".
But, for lack of Showtime, I'm reeeaally behind on that...

Man, we're a long ways away from fuckin' "Dukes Of Hazzard", as a culture, ain't we?
*Wicked grin*


George Carlin dies.

This..was not cool...:(
Jerry Seinfeld had it right...dying at 70, who does that anymore?


Rambo

Ranted about this in the "First Blood", entry in 80's 3.


Star Trek New Voyages: Blood and Fire part 1

Totally gay!!
No, really, this is the one with the first (non-slash) Trek gay couple.
Well, dude-on-dude, DS9 had a lesbian kiss episode, that kinda counts...

Eh, not my favorite thing to look at, but it's a barrier Trek has been hypocritcal for avoiding.
So, that's done now..
As the title implies, it cliffhangs...

Oh, and it's written by the dude that did "the trouble with tribbles".


Batman: The Brave And The Bold

Harkens back to the Adam West look of Batman, but it has Batman teaming up with...every DCU character ever.
And man, did the makers of this ever do their homework in that regard.
Nifty little show.
It's no Kevin Conroy Batman, but, not bad.
Better than the "Superfriends", shit I had as a kid.


Shmegalamonga born!

Took me long enough to give in, and join "the blogosphere", huh?

Those early days were very tentative, and experimental...

The first post.


2009

President Barack Obama.

This.


Dingoo!!

This is my favoritest thing in the world next to my PC.
And the dreamiest dream machine next to the PS2.
All the games I rambled about in 90's 3?
Got 'em.
A bunch of the music?
In there.
My whole little world, reconstituted, and portable.

Go tech go!

Dingoo!
More Dingoo!


Watchmen (movie)

Best thing made by human beings.
Oh, okay, thats the book, but this is close.


Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors

Ranted about this here.


Marvel Zombies Return

After they churned out ass-crappy Marvel Zombies 3, 4, 5,..and I think 6..that didn't even follow the original main storyline set up in the first two, they finally got back to those original Marvel Zombies guys in this one, and tied it up with a nice little time loop back to "Marvel Zombies vs Army Of Darkness".

And again, the art and writing are better than the original MZ.

And, they tell you what happened in MZ 2 anyway, so it can be skipped.

That's the trilogy I'm going with.
"MZ vs. Army of Darkness", "MZ Dead Days", and "MZ Return".

YMMV.


District 9

Eh, it's good I guess, but "Outer Limits", and "Twilight zone", did stuff like this all the time.

Now, we get hard-SF once a decade in a flick, and I'm supposed to be grateful?

Yeah, like I'm supposed to be grateful for the half-gallon of ice cream that ain't half-gallon anymore, or the shrinking candy bars, with the deluxe size counterpart that's really the old size from the fuckin' 80's.

And don't think I didn't notice how skinny the rolls of Starburst have gotten.

Fuckin-a, society.

Now there's a dystopian future for somebody to write.
Assholes eating Hoodsie-Cup sized ice cream, and being oblivious to the very concept of gallon and a half buckets.

Then Stallone has to rebuild their society.


The Men Who Stare At Goats

Watch this, and if nothing else, you'll want a predator.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy

Essentially more of the same of the Jeff Foxworthy one.

I do note that Larry really seems to dig Lisa Lampenelli as a performer, and Greg Giraldo really melted down hilariously on this one.


Ron White: Behavioral Problems

The epic Ron White trilogy concludes!!

Hmm, y'know, despite all his tissues being saturated with scotch, he's probably got a few more of these shows left in him....I won't count him out just yet.


Star Trek

The J.J. Abrams one.

Quickie reviewed that here.


Terminator Salvation

Geez, where's the famous scene that Christian Bale had a meltdown on because he needed so much mental focus?..I didn't fucking see it.

Eh, Terminator peaked at 2.

4's still 10 times better than 3 though.


X-Men Origins: Wolvernine.

Ignore X Men 3, it never happened.
The trilogy is this one, and X1 & X2.


Mastodon: Crack The Skye

RAWWWWKK!!!

Oblivion.


Axe Cop

Best comic by a 6 year old ever.


Zombieland

Best zombie flick with Woody Harrelson, and Bill Murray ever.


The Tonight show With Conan O'Brien

Poor Conan, Jay's a dick, you know the drill.


Michael Jackson dies

VH1 battered me with every fucking milestone, may as well see it through...
My first Jackson rant from the first 70's one, still fucking covers it.


The Comedy Central Roast Of Joan Rivers

Ehhh...

Kathy Griffin and Gilbert Gottfried were good....


Titan Maximum

Voltron, except finally good.

From the guy who did "Morel Orel", and also, Seth Green signs the checks.


The Superhero Squad Show

Marvels' version of "Batman: Brave and the Bold", every single character, superhuman level of homework by the writers.
Cutesy art style and dialogue though.
But, they must intend for some adult geeks to be seeing the thing, because there's references only a reader who was a kid in the 70's/80's would EVER get.


Star Trek New Voyages: Blood and fire part 2

So...it goes from gay frenching, to bloodworms eating a guy's guts, to..some fucking bullshit about angels, and Kirk bawling in religious rapture.

Talk about disjointed...

And it took for-fucking-ever to be released, so that made it a prequels-level letdown.

Damn, these things come out slooooww....

Shit, they'll be taking calcium pills and wearing trusses to get through episode 30...

I don't know if I wanna stick around for it though, if they're gonna be pulling the angel shit on me.
Didn't we get enough of that blithering angels horseshit on CBS in the 90's?

And speaking of CBS in the 90's...

Touched by an atheist.


Ghostbusters: The Video Game

So, this kinda counts as Ghostbusters 3.

Unless Ghostbusters 3 the movie comes out, then that bumps it down to Ghostbuster 2.5.

Watched walkthroughs, and it's a pretty cool fuckin' game.
I hear the PS2 version has glitches though...fneh.

Okay, so, Ghostbusters happened in 1984 in real time, Ghostbusters 2 happened in 1989 in real time, the game is set in 1991, and Ghostbusters 3 will happen in whenever the present is, 2012..2013, we don't know...

So...you can squeeze all the other stuff in between the game, and the 3rd flick.

The Real Ghostbusters was between the original movies, Extreme Ghostbusters, that was 1997, if you wanna count the Braxtonfilms fanfilms, 2004, and 2007, ehh..that fills it up pretty well.
Comics and shit fill out the rest.


Shmegalamonga turns 1!

Felt great to hit that mark, there was some stuff I'm still proud of, but...I was still fumbling...

Anniversary post.


George Carlin: Last Words

Talked about it in 90's 3, and freshly after I read it.

Not much I'd add to those...


So, there, that's better.
THAT was the fucking 00's.

And except for the stupid fucking war on terror, and the politics of fear, I genuinely enjoyed them as they happened.

But, there's always some horrible politics going on in the background, if you let that get you down, and waited for universal peace to break out, life would always suck.

Fuck that.

Well, let's wrap this the fuck up, and catch all the way up to the 10's....

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