Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tuesday Trailer - Halloween Throwback Edition!

Since it IS Halloween week, I figure I might as well put up some old trailers for some horror goodies you might have missed (most i've seen but some I have to see after watching the trailers.) Check these out, put 'em on your netflix queue, and get ready for some phenomenal scares!


Event Horizon

Halloween (original)

Rosemary's Baby

The Exorcist

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)

The Ring

more to come!

Monster Mash!

I don't know how i've waited so long to listen to this song this season! Guess that what happens when you're overly preoccupied. Here you have the original and a cover as well. Let's do the Monster Mash! It was a grave yard smash, after all!


Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Cryptkickers

The Mistfits cover

Puttin' On The Ritz!

I've been slacking in my Halloween-related posts. Here's a clip from one of my all-time favorite not-so-scary Halloween films, Young Frankenstein:


Peter Boyle and Gene Wilder are magic in this film. So, so good.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

An evening.

for inspiration.

Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction

Alisha Batth covers Ani DiFranco - Grey


So in case you've been wondering...

...why I'm not as active over here, it's because I've got a million different things going on in my life outside the blogosphere at once. Between school and articles and trying to have somewhat of a social life with friends and family, it gets rather difficult to update on a daily basis. However, feel free to check out WVUM News and The Miami Hurricane when i've been silent here, as I am currently writing pieces for both (WVUM moreso.) Just thought i'd let you all know!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Tuesday Trailers

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - They finally have a new trailer for this and it looks absolutely stunning! It also makes everyone very melancholy to think what more this could've done for Heath Ledger. Terry Gilliam remains one of my personal favorites.

Motherhood - Something completely different here from the previous trailer. Uma Thurman is a stay at home mom in Manhattan, a place where stay-at-home anything is probably verbotten. It looks cute and witty and mushy and I can dig it because Uma is a great actress.

That Evening Sun - It's being hailed as a true Southern American Gothic. It's a seriously unique story and the acting looks superb. And hey, isn't that Arlene from True Blood I see? Check this out.

Broken Embraces - Pedro Almodovar finally has a new film! I've only been waiting for... three years for this? As usual, the stunningly gorgeous Penelope Cruz is in it and it's something about the complicated relationships that women have with others and with themselves. Can't wait!

Come back next week for more!

Monday's Minutes.

- An update in the Elgin Marbles debate! Greece has created an amazing looking museum to convince the British Museum to finally give back the marbles so Greece can display them in their entirety. They said they didn't think Greece could preserve them as well before, but I think they just might have to eat their words now...

- Slate.com addresses something that I never thought about in regards to the HPV Vaccine. I took my Gardasil shot because my doc seemed to think it was a good idea. But reading this, I'm a little pissed to realize it's just another way that women have to do everything and have everything done to them while men get to sit back and reap the benefits. What a crock.

- The NYTimes cut more jobs. And this is just another reason why I dropped out of J-School and opted to write and gather experience on my own time.

-Wherein I'm a complete douche and totally missed the annual Kite Festival for the millionth year in a row. But you can read more about it here since other people did remember.

- I don't have time to analyze this week's episode of Mad Men (something i've been meaning to blog about for a while and hopefully will get a chance to soon), but this gal does a good job for me anyway.

- And finally, IXCHEN, an NGO in my pseudo-motherland of Nicaragua needs YOUR help! Feministing.org was nice enough to post about the recent fire that destroyed this center that provides help (ie. health services) for women and children. The organization needs your help to keep going. I'm definitely going to look in to how else I can help. Here's their blog if you want to know more.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

An Ode To Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice was by far one of my favorite movies growing up. It's a little bit 80s and a little bit goth and a whole lot of Michael Keaton doing his best comedic performance ever. What little girl DIDN'T want to be the faux-depressed pale-face teen, Lydia Deetz? Alex Baldwin was still young and had his looks and was without the gut. Geena David was entertaining as all hell, especially when she has a zipper for a mouth. It's got the principal from Ferris Bueller. Lots of awesome sing-a-longs. Crazy sandworms. Plenty of crass provided by Mr. Keaton. Hell... What
more do you need? Add some Tim Burton (meaning lots and LOTS of black and white striped anything and of course, the illustrious Danny Elfman) and you got yourself one of the best movies of all time. It was so great, in fact, that it was made in to an awesome cartoon some years later, although it was a bit confusing since Beetlejuice and Lydia are friends in the cartoon along with some other crazy looking characters, and Adam and Barbara (Baldwin and Davis) are nowhere to be found. It was still plenty of fun to watch, tho!

Take a look at why I love this film (and cartoon) so damn much:

Meet Beetlejuice!

Shake Senora!

Day-O Song by Harry Belafonte

Beetlejuice TV Show Intro

"Make my millenium!"

Friday, October 16, 2009

What Whoopi Goldberg ('Not a Rape-Rape'), Harvey Weinstein ('So-Called Crime') et al. Are Saying in Their Outrage Over the Arrest of Roman Polanski

Calvin Trillin wrote a poem in The Nation about the Polanski situation. Yet another person who has articulated my outrage better than I could. Check it out:


"A youthful error? Yes, perhaps.
But he's been punished for this lapse--
For decades exiled from LA
He knows, as he wakes up each day,
He'll miss the movers and the shakers.
He'll never get to see the Lakers.
For just one old and small mischance,
He has to live in Paris, France.
He's suffered slurs and other stuff.
Has he not suffered quite enough?
How can these people get so riled?
He only raped a single child.

Why make him into some Darth Vader
For sodomizing one eighth grader?
This man is brilliant, that's for sure--
Authentically, a film auteur.
He gets awards that are his due.
He knows important people, too--
Important people just like us.
And we know how to make a fuss.
Celebrities would just be fools
To play by little people's rules.
So Roman's banner we unfurl.
He only raped one little girl."

    Raccoons Love Jack-O-Lanterns!


    CuteOverload had a Halloween themed pic up. Just thought i'd share. :)

    Robert Crumb Fleshes Out Adam and Eve


    R. Crumb has decided to do an illustrated version of The Book of Genesis. I haven't read it yet, but I kind of want to. When I first read the headline, i'll admit, I was a bit more psyched about it. What can I say, I have a soft sport for blasphemy. But apparently it's nothing of the sort. In fact, he changes nothing about the story and from what this reviewer said, "you expect it to be sardonic, but it is not."

    However, they also said it was very humanizing, and I guess that's the new word that hooked me in. The bible is nothing if it isn't something written by humans about the human condition. Sex, lies, betrayal, sacrifice, murder, hell... there's everything in it that makes more modern literature and film worth watching. I'll admit, I haven't read the entire book cover to cover. But I have read passages and at the very least, some of it makes for some interesting reading. Crumb's illustrated take will likely be even more interesting to say the least. I'm a little disappointed at his traditionalist depictions of God, Eden, and the "Tree of Knowledge," but then I guess that's what he was going for in a way. Either way, it's worth a look.

    Tuesday, October 13, 2009

    I Put A Spell On You...

    One of my favorite Halloween-related songs (well, witch-related, so close enough) has been done and re-done by so many artists. Here's a few of my favorite versions:

    Screamin Jay Hawkins

    Marilyn Manson

    from the movie Hocus Pocus

    The Animals

    Nina Simone

    Trailer Tuesday!


    Women In Trouble - Like a chick flick but less fluffy.

    As Seen Through These Eyes - Holocaust survivor artists tell their story.

    Oh My God? - Another documentarian on the search of what is god.

    Nobody - A movie for every art student and a movie for every college student. Coming of age, yadda yadda.

    The Crazies - The remake of George Romero's pseudo-non-zombie film. I'll have to check it out of course, although I'm not digging the use of Mad World in the trailer, since i've reserved that for Donnie Darko alone.

    Antichrist - I could have sworn I wrote about this, but I don't recall the full trailer so here it is. Interesting, indeed!

    Monday, October 12, 2009

    Monday Morning Headlines!

    The Times has a feature on Chef Jamie Oliver and his quest to inform the world on how to cook for oneself in order to break its dependency on fast food. Kudos, Jamie. We need more people to be on the look out since McDonalds won't be anytime soon...

    Books and Books in the Gables will be playing the documentary Lumo on Wednesday night at 7pm about Congolese rape victims, presented by the organization HEAL Africa. Go watch and educate yourself and make a donation to this important cause!

    The GLBTQ community is no longer staying silent about what they want. Thousands of protesters marched on to Washington D.C. to vocally demand their rights, including repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell and marriage equality for all. The Times has some great pictures from the event.

    NPR has a great piece on Alton Brown, the coolest of Food Network chefs, who has just reached a milestone - a full decade of his show, Good Eats.

    The LA Times ranks some of the best haunted houses in America this Halloween season!

    Wednesday, October 07, 2009

    The Polanski Debacle

    Kudos to Leonard Pitts for saying what's been on my mind for days now since I heard about the Roman Polanski issue. Everywhere, you keep seeing and reading and hearing about how the persecution of Polanski is unjust and unfair. They talk about how he survived the Holocaust, how his wife was murdered, poor Polanski, right? He's suffered enough!

    Yeah... alright. I get it. I like Polanski's movies too. Shit, Rosemary's Baby is still my top horror film of all time. But it doesn't mean I'm blind to what the hell is really going on. I know they keep saying the girl he raped (because yes, it IS rape) doesn't want to have anything to do with it anymore... but then what person would want old wounds re-opened? She, the REAL victim, has obviously suffered enough. But Polanski's retroactive punishment doesn't fly with me. If Polanski is now innocent of his crimes, does this mean that I can go commit a few because oh, well I was robbed and beaten and someone killed my loved one and i've suffered enough as it is? I know perhaps it's slightly cruel sounding. The Holocaust especially can be a sore spot for anyone involved. But say he wasn't on the "victim" side of that coin. Say he was an ex-Nazi camp guard. Say he never technically killed anyone but he was, well.. a Nazi camp guard (doesn't that say enough as it is?) And he never got caught until now. Would we want to prosecute him now? What if he had a really hard life before he became a guard though? His german family had lost their business, his mother commit suicide, his father beat him every day for years, his daughter was raped and murdered by some unknown. He had a rough life! What then? You know we'd still want him. I realize maybe this is an extreme case, but I'm just trying to see where the justification lies in giving Polanski a gentle spanking years ago for a heinous crime and then just letting him get away with it because, let's face it, he's famous and well liked in Hollywood.

    It's absurd. It really is. I feel for his victim, who I don't blame for not wanting to have to go back to that moment in her life. Thank you, Pitts, for recognizing this absurdity in Hollywood's "justice system," since it seems they already have their hands down everyone else's pocket.

    Tuesday, October 06, 2009

    Anne Frank On Film

    I first read the diary of Anne Frank when I was in the 3rd grade. I remember checking it out from my elementary school library and our librarian, Mrs. Edwards, was very impressed that I would be reading such a book at such an early age. Anne Frank's diary is a confessional i've always kept close to my heart. She taught me that it was alright be afraid and just as fine to be brave, to love and to feel and mostly to be an honest writer. If Anne had known that the world would someday read all her thoughts, she most likely would have held back. But out of the tragedy of her brief life came something that is more real than anything else, something that would change the lives of so many as we all got to read on about this young girl's life. The NYTimes has posted a short video of Anne on film that gives me chills. It seems strange to see the girl we've all pictured alive in our minds actually animated.


    It's really something. They also posted a short video of her father, Otto Frank, who makes a very true statement. That parents don't really ever get to know their children. It makes me wonder what would happen if all parents somehow managed to read the inner workings of their children's minds. What would they think? How would they react? Funny how we hide so much from those that created us. Still, perhaps it was slightly comforting for Otto to at least really get to know his daughter after she was gone. One can only wonder what Anne would've thought about all this, what she would have written about it...

    Sunday, October 04, 2009

    Thrill The World at UM!



    It all started when I saw someone's instructional YouTube video of the steps to the Thriller Dance. This led me to a link to a website called ThrillTheWorld.com. From there, I found that they're having events all over the world, including some in Miami. Then I clicked on the blog for one of the Miami events, and found out they're holding Thriller Dance Practices right here at my very own school! How exciting is this?! Apparently they hold practices on Sunday afternoons and while I can't move much today, I'm totally making it to the next practice! I also have to start learning the steps here at home and eventually I will make it to the piece de resistance: the official Thrill The World Thriller Event! It's October 24th at the University of Miami Law School! I'm completely psyched about this and you should be too! The classes are open to anyone (just bring $1, I believe all money collected is for charity) and there's a mandatory meeting the day before the event. Check out the Facebook page for more information about upcoming events!



    And if you want to share your excellent dance moves again, there's a Thriller Event going on @ Tobacco Road on the 30th!

    Get your zombie makeup out. It's gonna be a hell of a time!

    Thursday, October 01, 2009

    Happy First Day of October! - The Asylum Eclectica

    In honor of the start of the month of October, I'm here to bring to you some Halloween goodness every day (or almost every day) until that wonderful All Hallows Eve comes around again! Very excited about it this year (as I am every year.) To kick things off, i'd like to let you know about one of my favorite websites, good all year round but even more so in October.



    I first discovered the Morbid Fact du Jour in the late 1990s and subscribed to the mailing list. Every day, I would thus receive an interesting and exceptionally morbid tidbit to ponder throughout the day. Over the years, The Comtesse DeSpair eventually branches away from having just a mailing list and created this interactive website of fun - The Asylum Eclectica, complete with Dark and Gruesome Links, My Brush With Morbidity, and one of my personal faves - Malady of the Month. I confess that I hadn't visited the website in quite a while and now I see she also has a blog up and has even joined the ranks of MySpace, Facebook, and even Twitter! If there's ever been a person that could change with the times, it's the horrifying Comtesse! If you're a fan of Halloween or of morbid-related things, do yourself a favor and check this website out. It seriously has everything (and if it doesn't, it has a link to it!) Support the Comtesse and the Asylum Eclectica! Happy First Day of All Hallows!