ORDER SIXTY-SIX: October 2005

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Back to Normal

Well, now Halloween has essentially finished, I figured it was time to get back to the normal layout, at least until I get bored of it, which based on previous stats, will probably be next tuesday. I've lazed around today, although introduced Lisa to two new (to her) flicks, THE ABYSS (the extended cut, natch) and POLTERGEIST, which was cool. I've also just added WindowBlinds, which is a cool program that lets you change your XP look and download skins, so my OS looks a little cooler.

The weekend was ace. Friday night saw the hidden and haunted tour, which was a fun way to kill an hour and forty minutes, although it was much different than I expected. I guess I thought it'd be almost a Ghostbusters-set up, where we'd actually go into the places and explore (as seen on the UK's hilarious-yet-spooky show Most Haunted). Instead, we stood out in the cold fending off beggars while some geezer told us about which places were haunted and where people were killed, etc. But it was really cool, especially when followed up by a quick trip to BK for some trashy eating.

Saturday saw us get up at 1.30pm. Well, we actually woke up at 8.30am. I got up, had a cigarette and threw on REVENGE OF THE SITH. Lisa fell just after "The General's ship is dead ahead," while I think I went just as Anakin was promoted to the council. We both woke up to see the end credits, then slept a little more and rewatched the duel, in electrifying 5.1. We went to Lisa's house (where I borrowed a few DVDs) and then onto shopping, and then later on in the evening met friends at a pub, before going to one of their houses to watch a flick and eating chinese food. Being Halloween, I was angling for horror, but I was outvoted and we ended up watching SCHOOL OF ROCK, which is no bad thing as it's a fun movie. To make up for the lack of blood and guts, when we got home we threw on LAND OF THE DEAD, which isn't as scary as it was first time (is anything?) but is still a fucking amazing movie on which is my fifth viewing.

I'm dismayed that LOTD didn't do better business, and while I'm sure if it had been released on Halloween, it would have kicked SAW 2's ass, but on the other hand, I would've had to wait for it. I'm just so glad to see another Romero zombie flick, and especially one that is as fucking good as it is. I have infinite love for the movie, and I'm glad that I'm not alone.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Three More Days...

... to Halloween. Cue that incredibly creepy Silver Shamrock theme from HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, incidentally the only Halloween sequel worth watching.

Halloween rocks. It's my favourite time of the year, and while I'll have to save costuming for New Years (or some weird twisted sex game) I'm still aiming to have a fun time. Friday night sees my girlfriend and I traipsing around Bristol on a "hidden and haunted" tour. I'm hoping it'll be much more 'this is where someone met their grisly end' as opposed to 'they used this street as a backdrop in Wallace and Gromit.' Then, Saturday sees a day of movies and fun.

In honour of the holiday, I redid my blog (again!) to honour the very best zombie action cinema has to offer, in the guise of George Romero's 1978 American classic DAWN OF THE DEAD. So to continue the theme, I'll throw a list or two up over the next couple of days, thematically based on the best genre there ever will be. So, to start things off:

MY TEN FAVOURITE HORROR MOVIES

1. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
2. EVIL DEAD II
3. DAWN OF THE DEAD
4. SUSPIRIA
5. JAWS
6. THE FOG
7. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
8. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
9. THE EXORCIST
10. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

THE TEN BEST KILLS

1. Rhodes in DAY OF THE DEAD
2. Tina in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
3. Quint in JAWS
4. The opening kill of SUSPIRIA
5. The Sheriff in FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART VI: JASON LIVES
6. Girl's head blown off in THE BEYOND
7. Splinter-thru-eye in ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS
8. Machete-in-head in DAWN OF THE DEAD
9. Julia kills her husband in HELLRAISER
10. Freddy puppets the kid in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET III: DREAM WARRIORS

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Layout Issues

Yeah, okay, so I'm indicisive. I kind of like this one though. Took me a while in 'shop to do it up.

Great Words

Disco.

Goblin.

Slug (especially when used with Crushed).

Bohemian.

Minstrel.

Batmobile.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Revisiting REVENGE

Well, yesterday it arrived. The brand new DVD of the last Star Wars flick (at least as far as we know), EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH. As regular readers will know from my previous posts (if not, check out the May 2005 archive) I wasn't particularly enthused with the film when I saw it in theaters. I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I was looking at it - along with the other prequels - as something more than a film.

I watched it one and a half times yesterday. I kind of skipped through the first time, then sat down and watched it properly with my lady. And I enjoyed it a hell of a lot. And hell, I even cried a tad. I'm not sure why it was actually - maybe because I've spent so much time distancing myself from the whole experience that I've come to terms with the fact that it's just a film. But it's a film I dug.

I have less issues this time. While I still don't think he's at all necessary, Grievous was more of an interesting character this time around, and technically, I love the animation on him. The Mace/Palpatine fight was a bit more interesting, and the duel was fucking electrifying. Of course, there's still a couple of things that bug me; the Emperor's weirdly changing voice during the turn scene is really distracting and sounds silly sometimes, and the 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!' is just plain weird, although I like the sequence and it's great to hear JEJ's voice again.

I was yeeming with Katanga and I think one of the defining things that make you dislike or like the film is the whole turning. I mean, I have no real issues with the logistics of the turn, it just happens so fucking quickly. It's like he tries to get Mace to stop because of the Jedi honour system and their rules, but as soon as it's done, he agrees to nail the Jedi, including the kiddies. I dunno, it just happens far too quickly but I think so much of it is because Lucas shoehorned himself into a corner with the way he did the first two flicks, so with only one left there's only so much to pack in, although I think he should have said 'fuck it' and made it three hours.

I am going to watch them 1-6 soon and see how it pans out as a complete saga. But despite issues, there are still a number of things I dug about the flick. Honestly, I think at this moment in terms of a complete film, I think it's third on the list behind A NEW HOPE. I love JEDI, but I think some of the film really drags, and while the final third kicks ass, Han's neutering is hard to take. I think there's forty-five to sixty minutes of a great film, and an hour and ten minutes of a mediocre one.

I dunno. My opinion might change after many viewings. All I know is, right now, I feel I like it a lot more, and I'm a bit more satisfied with it as a closer. Considering the way everything was fucked up beforehand, I think it's a neat flick, and comes close to capturing the greatness the first two movies in the original trilogy had. That's all I have to say, for now.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Watching REVENGE OF THE SITH...

...with my girlfriend. General Grievous gets it in the chest, cue her belting out Bon Jovi i.e. 'Shot through the heart...'

Best.
Girlfriend.
Ever.

Being "Cool"

It's funny. I've always seen the geek subsection of society as peeps that don't necessarily give a fuck about whether they're cool or not. But recently, there seems to be this big thing about geeks almost parading themselves as cool. Whether this comes as beating people up, boasting about having a huge DVD collection or bragging about quoting movies, it's just odd. I guess some of it maybe has to do with the social connotation of how geeks used to be seen, and people fighting it. I mean, it's by no means a bad thing, and in many ways, geeks are popular, but if you have a collection of 400 DVDs, you're a geek. Just accept it, and move on.

Geeks like to make such a big thing about what they do and who they are. I mean, I have over 600 DVDs, but other than my enjoyment of having lots of movies to choose from, I'm not really bothered. I don't go to bars and try and pick up girls by mentioning the size of my collection (especially since I'm attached). And yeah, I quote flicks sometimes, but I don't do it just so I can be cool or funny, it's almost a subconscious reaction. I mean, sure, everyone somewhere has a desire to be liked by someone, but it's almost becoming a running joke where geeks are trying to outcool each other. I mean, sure I'm happy as shit that I have the AKIRA tin and deleted Criterion discs, but I don't go out of my way to shout it to tons of people, although I will to those few who are interested.

I don't know if I really have a point here. Just forget about the target audience and think more about yourself. We're geeks for christ sake. We have a reputation to maintain.

Video Games

I guess now I've redone the whole blog, I feel I have to post loads now, especially since I've been slacking for a while. Oh well. I've got into video games a bit more recently. Well, sort of. I have such a heavy schedule with college and work and movies and writing, and especially my social life, because if you're going to make me choose between seeing my girlfriend and playing my Xbox, well folks, the big black box is going lose out every time.

I've found a little bit of time to play, mostly late at night, although my girlfriend let me play for five minutes when she was here the other day. That makes me sound way under the thumb, but it's not that, there's just nothing more boring than watching someone else play a video game, and I'd much rather spend our quality time doing more important things. I borrowed JUICED from my sister's boyfriend, which is kind of a Fast and the Furious-style racing game. You know the type, get a ride, fix it up with all sorts of mods and race against minority stereotypes who throw street slang at you when you bust up their phat cars, etc etc. It's a fun game, and I've gotten pretty good with it, although I made the stupid mistake of spending all my money on a car that looked hot (a Dodge Charger, proving at heart, I'm still a Dukes of Hazzard fan) only to find that it drives like shit.

After that, I picked up LEGO STAR WARS. That was pretty fun, although I don't think it was a worthwhile purchase, especially for thirty Ackbars. I mean, it's not a bad game, and it was cute in a LEGO way, but i just got bored of it pretty quickly. So I hopped down to the nearest game purveyor and traded it in (I only got six coins for it. I can't believe how much you get ripped off by trading in) for REVENGE OF THE SITH. I've been having a whale of a time with the game, despite completing it in about four and a half hours. It's been giving me good replay value, and I've played through the standard levels twice so far. There's also a cool bonus level where you play as Vader on the Death Star fighting Alec Guinness, but the best thing is the duel. It's so fun to do it, and when you beat Anakin as Obi-Wan, it unlocks a secret level where you can play as Anakin. It all goes as normal, only when he jumps over Obi-Wan, instead of having his legs cut off, he makes it and slices through him. The Emperor comes along and gives him a red lightsaber, and then he kills him and says he's going to rule the galaxy.

It's good stuff, although based on its length - and the fact that the replay value is mostly down to me being an inherent Star Wars geek - I'd only recommend it if you can get it cheap.

New Duds

As you can see, I've been messing around with the look of my blog. Got bored with my old one - especially the fact that it looked like a 1970s living room - and grabbed a template from BlogSkins and spruced the place up a bit. I went with a horror theme at first, but I rejigged it completely and went for a Battlestar Galactica look, mainly because I'm obsessed with the current show, and I wanted to use the schematic thing.

It still needs work, but I think it looks okay. However, if you're viewing this through Internet Explorer, it might look a bit off to you, as I built it using Firefox. As you're in the area, you might want to check out my beautiful girlfriend's blog. There's a decided lack of posts on how great I am, but I'm sure that'll be rectified soon.