Scary Monsters

Mark is not a horror movie fan. He generally thinks they're just not scary. In many cases, he's right - how many slasher flicks are truly frightening?

I, however, do enjoy a good scary movie on occasion (emphasis on good), particularly around Halloween. This has led us into many spirited debates on the "scariness" of horror film characters - or lack thereof.

And if there's one other thing that annoys Mark more than "non-scary" horror movies, it's the phenomenon of the countdown list - the Top Ten this, the 20 Best that. While the descriptions and analysis are sometimes interesting, he finds the whole idea very arbitrary and therefore useless. I revel in watching things like "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" when he's around, just to see him squirm.

So imagine my delight in finding this blog post entitled The 7 Most Easily Escaped Movie Monsters. Perfect! If it would only have discussed fat-free mayonnaise, it would have been a Piss-Mark-Off trifecta.

It's actually a really fun article, if not completely rational. It was posted on Cracked.com, so I guess it's to be expected that it's decidedly tongue-in-cheek. Even so, there were several questionable choices (Predator? The Thing? Not exactly pushovers). More importantly, there was one glaring omission:

How do you examine the most easily escaped horror villains and not list Chucky the damn doll? Hello?! I actually enjoyed the original "Child's Play" film, cheesy as it was. What can I tell ya - I'm a sucker for Chris Sarandon. But I still recall the peals of laughter in the theater as we watched characters "struggle" with a 2 foot tall doll. Okay, maybe I can believe that Chucky could sneak up behind someone and, oh, say push them out a window. But in a frontal assault? Shyeah!

----------------
Now playing: artist - Rhett Miller - The Instigator - Come Around
via FoxyTunes

The Grand Unveiling

(reprinted from my main blog, Partly Bloggy With a Chance of Sarcasm)

Welcome to my brand new template! I'm pretty happy with it, although I kinda miss the tropical feel of my former template... I can always change my colors & header, though, if I decide to return to the tropics.

As before, my header is homemade, although the photo is not mine this time. I have also upgraded to some fancy lettering. It may not look like it, but the photo is actually a picture of my new favorite cocktail, a lime caipirinha. So tasty!



The most important aspect of the new template is the blog post section which, as you may have noticed, only displays one post at a time. This means that the whole page loads much faster, and any videos I post should run much more smoothly.

If you want to read the previous posts - and I hope you do! - just click on a title in the "Previous Posts" section. The requested post will then appear in the blog post section without reloading the rest of the page. It's pretty cool, really. The 30 most recent posts are listed here, but you can go even further back using the "Older" button or through the Blog Archive. Or, you can click on a label from the "Labels" list & the titles of all posts with that label will appear in the "Previous Posts" list, also without reloading the entire page.

I'd love to know what you think of the new template - how it looks & feels, and how it performs. I've had some difficulties in the past watching my posted videos on my trusty (yet not too powerful) laptop Keith, but so far everything is running much better for me with this template. I hope it will make things easier for all of you, too.

I should be back to blogging here real soon. I'm sure I'll continue to tinker with fonts & colors over the next few days, too, but that shouldn't keep me from posting. So stay tuned!

(If you like the new layout, you can get the Neo template for yourself for free at Hackosphere, along with tips for installation & lots of other nifty Blogger hacks. Thanks, Ramani!)

"Name That Quote" winner

Congratulations to The Repressed One, who was the first to identify this week's quote from Raising Arizona.




I'll post another quote in a few days. Thanks for playing!

The 40 Year Old Virgin extended scene

Today's film clip is dedicated to The Repressed One, who recently told me he had never seen it.

Oh, he's seen the movie, of course. ("OHH, KELLY CLARKSON!!") But he seemed pretty interested when I told him there was an extended version of the production number at the end of the film.

So, here it is. The sound quality is not great, so you'll probably need to turn up the volume a bit.

If nothing else, maybe I can keep The Repressed One entertained until Mrs. Repressed gets back from her fancy trip. You'll probably have to make requests, though, so I that I'll know what will amuse you. Sounds like a game of Stump the Queen... Hmmm... (That's not to insinuate that I know everything; I just have loads more free time than most, so I have nothing better to do than track down obscure crap on the interwebs.)




----------------
Now playing: Beck - Lost Cause
via FoxyTunes

Closer - Joshua Radin

This song is so beautiful that it might make you cry. I wanted to post another Joshua Radin song called Winter instead, but I couldn't find any clips with decent sound. Probably just as well - that one really makes me want to cry. But this is a great song, too.



----------------
Now playing: The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
http://foxytunes.com/artist/the+magic+numbers/track/forever+lost

Someone's Gonna Get A Thousand Dollars...

...it could be you, or it could be you.

Another randomly insane sketch from Kids In The Hall.



----------------
Now playing: Jet - Move On
via FoxyTunes

Name That Quote contest

I thought this sounded like a neat new feature for my page. Just for fun, you understand - and bragging rights, of course. I won't be able to offer any prizes until my corporate sponsors come through... Might be awhile.

I'll post the clip in a few days, after everyone's had a chance to answer. Here we go:

"Anyone found bipedal in 5 wears his ass for a hat."

Making Fun Of Bums

It's not a nice thing to do...

I LOVE that someone posted this on YouTube! One of my all-time favorite songs.

Waiting For My Real Life To Begin

This is another example of one clip covering both TV and music, and in a much more unusual way than you'd expect.

Of course, you get used to unusual if you watch a lot of Scrubs - that's part of the show's charm.

Here's the cast of Scrubs singing Colin Hay's "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin":





----------------
Now playing: Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
via FoxyTunes

Ben Folds - "Rockin' The Suburbs"

My first music pick is dedicated to my husband, Mark.

He's really into Ben Folds right now, as am I. I'm pretty sure this is his ringtone... After all, he is male, middle-class & white. And, of course, the video has a cameo from one of his other favorite people.

Enjoy!

What Up? (Notes from the Party Mansion)

Awesome scene from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Everyone needs to be watching this show!

"If you want it to be a bicep, it needs more veins."



----------------
Now playing: Barenaked Ladies - Be My Yoko Ono
via FoxyTunes

Dirty Reuben Love

Welcome to my latest experiment - a blog with random observations about TV, film and music. I hope to make this a multimedia extravaganza, if I ever figure out what all these buttons do.

I thought it appropriate to christen the new page with a clip that touches on all 3 topics. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ron Burgundy, his yazz flute, and the entire Channel 4 news crew: