Claire's blog

[IMDB link] [Netflix link] Watched this with Parthena & John The Canadien around Halloween 2009.

HAIKU REVIEW: Satan’s trapped essence
reminds me of lime jello
swirling to its doom.

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Spiritual toxic waste spill claims needless lives, breaks mirrors.

PEOPLE: Written & directed by John Carpenter (Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, In The Mouth Of Madness, Starman, Christine, The Thing, Halloween, They Live). And don’t miss Alice Cooper’s (silent) role as “Street Schizo”.

QUIRKS: Spiritual/supernatural/religious horror.

VISUALS: Not spectacular, but there are a few moments that are extremely, extremely creepy if you saw this a bunch as a kid. There were moments I’d forgotten — like the mindless typing of “I live!” into the computer over and over — that instantly touched on creeped-out parts of my brain that had not been accessed for many years. The scars definitely remained.

SOUNDTRACK: Nothing notable other than the Alice Cooper song that shares the same title as the movie … But the audio of the “broadcasts” that Brian receives in his dreams [from the future, 1999] is sampled in the beginning of Marilyn Manson‘s Gary Numen/Tubeway Army cover song “Down In The Park”.

MORALS: Handle toxic waste with care!

BAD STUFF: The first 20 minutes just seemed like a bunch of random people saying a bunch of random spiritual/metaphysical bullshit that was supposed to cause you to be worried and scared.

This movie was NOWHERE NEAR as scary as I found it to be back in 1987:

I used to have to TRY to not think about the “future broadcast” parts of the movie. Now, they just seem like a silly device to try to get us to be more scared of the evil force, without having to show it actually be scary. Still a very creepy memory, though. I guess Marilyn Manson agreed, if he sampled it…

I had to move mirrors out of my room because of this movie. Now, it seems like there are only a few seconds of “scary mirror stuff”, and they just weren’t nearly as scary as they were back in 1987. I will be watching the horror movie “Mirrors” soon, to try to bring fear of mirrors back into my life.

This is part of why I tend to only want to watch “modern” movies that have come out in the last 20-30 years. I just think things lose their edge. What was scary or cutting-edge 20 yrs ago often isn’t today. There’s a reason I have no interest in old horror movies.

CONCLUSION: I always considered this one of the scariest horrors I’d ever watched as a kid. Unfortunately it did not stand the test of time.

This is a bit related to why I prefer newer movies over older movies, and would often rather watch a bad new movie than a good old movie.

This possibly only gets rated as high as I’m rating it due to nostalgia reasons. This scared the SHIT out of me, made me remove mirrors from my room, caused me to try not to think of parts of it when I went to sleep.

RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 6/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 6/10.
The native public rating for this movie is Netflix: 3.3/5 stars, IMDB 6.5/10.

RECOMMENDATION: Go back in time and watch this movie when you’re 12.

SIMILAR MOVIES: Similar to other spiritual horrors, like The Exorcist, The Omen, Bless The Child, or even Dust Devil to some extent.

MOVIE QUOTES:

This is the type of metaphysical/spiritual/philosophical bullshit you have to swallow for the first 20 minutes of the movie:
Professor Edward Birack: “Let’s talk about our beliefs, and what we can learn about them. We believe nature is solid, and time a constant. Matter has substance and time a direction. There is truth in flesh and the solid ground. The wind may be invisible, but it’s real. Smoke, fire, water, light – they’re different! Not as to stone or steel, but they’re tangible. And we assume time is narrow because it is as a clock – one second is one second for everyone! Cause precedes effect – fruit rots, water flows downstream. We’re born, we age, we die. The reverse NEVER happens… None of this is true! Say goodbye to classical reality, because our logic collapses on the subatomic level… into ghosts and shadows.”
…basically, there’s a lot of justification that is basically trying to assign a psuedorational justification to why you should be scared, since the movie isn’t as scary as it wants to be.

This is one of the creepy things:
“Voice: This is not a dream… not a dream. We are using your brain’s electrical system as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast as a dream. We are transmitting from the year one, nine, nine, nine. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness, but this is not a dream. You are seeing what is actually occurring for the purpose of causality violation.”
–quote also sampled by Marilyn Manson

That extremely creepy scene would have worked better if they had related it to the events of the movie more, instead of randomly showing it at seemingly random intervals throughout the film.

COINCIDENCES: (Prince Of Darkness, Drag Me To Hell) 2 movies in 2 nights that are hell-themed horrors where people had things distributed unwillingly into their mouths.

FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Parthena really liked it. John The Canadien thought it was hilarious (?!?!?).
(more…)

• VIDEO GAMES: Man Thinks He's In Silent Hill, Causes Hospital Blackout
  Wow. They had to manually respirate everyone in intensive care for 45 minutes because this guy thought he was playing Silent Hill. Which IS a damn creepy video game
  (tags: games videoGames SilentHill mentalBreakdowns hospital powerOutages PSXExtreme news articles GameGrep SophiaHospital Netherlands)
• WAR ON DRUGS, TERROR: Drug-War Assassinations now policy for suspected drug dealers in Afghanistan.
  "No arrests. No hearings. No attorneys. No judges. No trials. Just kill them."

  So now we're fighting TWO unwinnable wars (drugs, terror) in the same country? And assassinating people with robotic assassins (drone planes). This is getting more and more like The Terminator.

  (tags: politics WarOnDrugs war drugs freedom WarOnTerror terrorism WarInAfghanistan Afghanistan assassinations government drones UAVs HumanRights rights NoDueProcess murders deaths TheFutureOfFreedomFoundation Hornberger'sBlog news articles)
• TORTURE: CIA kept detainees alive to keep torturing them |
  "According to human rights lawyer John Sifton, the CIA tortured some of its detainees in the War on Terror so severely that it had to take measures to keep them alive so they could continue being tortured."

  And now Obama has made it so the freedom of information act doesn't apply to torture photos. If this happens again, we're less likely to find out thanks to Obama. Great.

  The military has already stopped reporting detainee deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq altogether — so there's basically a huge cover up. Close our eyes and don't think about what we're doing to a lot of innocent people.

  (tags: politics torture WarOnTerror terrorism CIA JohnSifton OneWorldResearch keptAlive WarInAfghanistan Afghanistan WarInIraq Iraq secrecy government transparency DickCheney Rawstory news articles)
• COMEDY: Universal Studio Free Photo Booth
  A prank photo booth? Awesome. I appreciate it even more after my sister's wedding's photobooth.
  (tags: comedy media video reality YouTube videos photos photoBooths UniversalStudios pranks fromAnnetteProphet)

• TECHNOLOGY WAR: Federal Judge Says E-mail Not Protected By 4th Amendment
  this same type of bullshit logic was why wiretapping laws had to be passed — the old way of thinking of it was "once you call someone on the hpone, you are going over public wires and anyone can listen in". Obviously that was bullshit, and laws were passed to protect that.

  Q: So why do we move in the opposite direction for email?

  A: Technology war. The powers that be want to use new technologies to erode old rights.

  This also seems to be a reversal of previous rulings stating that email IS protected.

  (tags: politics TechnologyWar technology email privacy ConstitutionalRights rights 4thAmendment FourthAmendment seraches Mosman surveillance bullshit legal rulings Slashdot news articles)
• OBAMA: Signs Law Giving Defense Department authority to exempt photos from Freedom Of Information Act
  Democrats bitched about the abuses that people in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo faced. So they elected Obama.

  Looks like Obama's way of making sure Abu Ghraib doesn't happen again is to give the government the authority to not release pictures in the future.

  I'd love to see people justify this as good thing. Obama's promise of government transparency? A lie, at this point. This is about hiding information from the people.

  HE POKED A HOLE IN THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, for chrissakes. This is something Bush would do. So much for a government "for the people", huh?

  The ACLU is against this, of course. They aren't partisan. They are pro-freedom. They know bullshit when they see it, and they call it as such.

  But will the Obamans be able to admit to themselves that this is wrong?

  (tags: politics ObamaAdministration BarackObama government transparency FreedomOfInformationAct FOIA exemptions photos DoD DepartmentOfDefense freedom information ACLU DefenseDepartment torture war RobertGates Guantanamo AbuGhraib ConstitutionalRights rights)

• SOFTWARE: Rtmpdump
  Rtmpdump is a free software program that allows you to record encrypted video streams from video sharing websites. It was censored using a fraudulent DMCA takedown notice by Adobe, and now the only place to get the full version is right here. Enjoy.
  (tags: software rtmpdump Hulu recorders video videoStreams streams DMCA Adobe mininova torrents)
• MOVIES: Voltaire's "Chi-Chian" slated to become feature film
  Whoa, a movie deal for Voltaire? This bodes well. Chi-Chian is not my favorite creation of his (That would be his music, and Oh My Goth! comic books), but anything by Voltaire turned into a movie would turn out very well… especially if Voltaire was directly involved in art production/supervision.
  (tags: media video movies musicians Voltaire Chi-Chian Framelight blog posts)
• COMEDY: Rejected Playboy Cartoon Cover Girls
  (tags: comedy articles fromChrisWilliams HolyTaco Playboy media video TV shows cartoons magazines rejected coverGirls covers girls Popeye OliveOyl Thundercats Cheetara CruellaDeville PowerRangers kangaroos Lady Mrs.Garrison SouthPark)
• COMEDY: web browser comparison chart, though the eyes of a n00b, experienced user, and obsessed user.
  Funny. Especially the Apple Safari line. Me? I'm the experienced firefox user in this chart: MOAR FEATURES! MOOOAAARRR!
  (tags: comedy software webBrowsers InternetExplorer Firefox Opera Safari Apple Mozilla newbies n00bs powerUsers obsessedUsers obsessed experienced new users Haluze internet)
• VOTING MACHINES: Sequoia To Publish Source Code For Voting Machines
  Glad to see that even the "evil" Sequoia VP (Diebold! Election stealers!) has realized that open code review is more secure than closed-source. 'Security through obfuscation and secrecy is not security.'" And the tech community rejoiced.
  (tags: politics VotingMachines VotingFraud Voting Voters VoterFraud corporations TechnologyWar Sequoia software codeReview government transparency sourcecode openSource Slashdot news articles)
• HORROR: painful injuries
  There's a mountain-biking one, Angel!

  Actually, the last one is funny and not at all disturbing. A bird?!

  (tags: media pictures reality disturbing painful injuries sports Haluze)
• DRUGS: Candy, or Medicine?
  Hilarious poster I saw in the church that my sister got married in
  (tags: comedy drugs PSA candy medicine pills reference)

[IMDB link] [Netflix link] I had this on VHS, but I got it around the time that I stopped watching VHS movies. So, finally got around to watching a dvd of it, 5+ yrs later…

PEOPLE: Joe Pesci plays a mobster (of course). Andy Comeau is the main character, who comes off as a poor man’s John Cusack. Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer, from the movie, as well as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Hot Shots!) kept reminding me of Elizabeth Banks for some reason. George Hamilton (who was in Dynasty for a year) plays an uppity parent, along with his alcoholic wife, played by Dyan Cannon (Ally McBeal). David Spade, Todd Louiso (from Snakes In A Plane).

QUIRKS: I think the title pretty much says it all. Throw in mobsters and Mexico, and you have a recipe for a passable comedy.

Also, they have the song “Mr. Sandman” in it, which I just saw Gene Ween Band perform live last December.

And a really bitchy grandmother…

And a surreal dream sequence thrown in for no reason other than to make us giggle and use up their special effects budget :)

VISUALS: Heads… so many heads…

CONCLUSION: This was a decent comedy that had us laughing. The situations were unique. It only really gets a 3 star / 6/10 “generic pass” from us, but we weren’t disappointed. It met our expectations rather precisely. And it’s NOT a romantic comedy; though there IS a romantic relationship to be mended, it’s NOT central to the plot.

RECOMMENDATION: If you like comedies, and are annoyed at how many comedies are romantic comedies… This is a good one to watch. It certainly entertained us.

MOVIE QUOTE: Tommy Spinelli: “Don’t ever fuck with a guy looking for heads.”

FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Benj liked it. (more…)

[UPDATE: NOTE: For the purpose of this post, and to placate those who want to get into gritty details: Any time I say “agnostic”, I mean “strong agnostic” as defined HERE.]

One of the things that bugs me about religion in general… Is that the very basis of it all is a foundation built upon assumptions that have no evidence to support them. I’m talking about “faith”. It’s just about the poorest foundation for any belief system. Idealism can sometimes work as the foundation of a belief system, though it’s not always logic. Practicality can as well — though it runs the risk of becoming calculating, almost reptilian. Even cynicism can be a logical foundation for a belief system. But faith? Pffft. What kind of idiot builds their belief system on that? (Hopefully not you. But if so: Don’t try to convince me. You’d be wasting both our time.)

This applies to atheists too.

How do you know God isn’t lurking somewhere, unless you can go there and see? You can’t. Nobody can. It would take a God to disprove God, which is a Catch-22. There’s no logic in that. It is quite annoying when somebody says, “I conclusively know the nature of the entire universe, and, knowing all, can say there is no god.”

Who do you think you’re kidding? Not me. To believe that there’s no god actually requires a hefty serving of… FAITH! Silly atheists.

But despite the fact that atheism makes the same mistakes as theism — at least their god is a god of reason, and not arbitrary faith and dogma. Atheists don’t tend to do a lot of the stupid shit theists tend to do. There’s not nearly as much to criticize them on.

Once I saw a big atheist brouhaha (which I can’t spell) about religious altars being put at the roadside where people died. How dare state money be involved? But seriously, guys. If my family member was killed in a car accident… And they allow a memorial to be put up in the very spot it happened… I would hope that it would involve whatever that family member would want. Even if it’s a pentagram dedicated to our dark lord Satan. Or (*gasp!*) a cross.
I’ve also seen some atheist newsletters that made me feel… Like I was exposed to a cult. They were into their non-belief just a little too much. Unsubscribe. Now.
But that’s about it. No religious wars. Nobody convinced that they will get sex for suicide bombing. None of this mystical bullshit that gets forced down our throats all the time. One nation under god? Really? Fuck that.

…

In the end, the most logical thing to do is to do nothing. Make no assumptions. You’ll find out. Or you wont find out, and blackness will envelop you as your soul and consciousness ceases to exist forever. What’s that feel like? I don’t want to know. But I’m not going to comfort myself with some b.s. sky fairy, nor am I going to be so cynical as to deny the possibilities that may be out there.

Agnosticism. It’s how I’ve always referred to myself, when not referring to myself as a SubGenius. On paperwork and such. (It always creeps me out when paperwork asks that! None of your business!)

agnostic
Etymology: Greek agnostos unknown, unknowable
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

Yup… That’s pretty much what I just said. (more…)

I hadn’t cut my hair since January… Why?

1) I don’t really care.
2) I prefer longer hair…. Though it’s harder to manage, I don’t understand people’s obsession with having their hair under “control”.
3) The fact that my next haircut was FREE simply meant I was that much more irresponsible in NOT getting it, and I reveled in that.

But when I started parting it in the middle — because there was too much to brush back nowadays — Carolyn objected. A lot. At least 1 person complimented, but at least another person joined in Carolyn’s chorus that the part in the middle was not working. So fine. I’ll get the free haircut!

Anyway, I actually took a picture this time:

This shall be my last professional haircut, as the price seems to have gone up from the $15 I paid for 30 years — to $30 — all in the past few years. I’m buying clippers and doing it myself, or having Carolyn do it. Ryan Mitchell has recommended WAHL clippers. If anyone knows of a good model number, I’d love to know. I researched WAHL clippers for a good hour or so and there’s simply TOO MANY CHOICES. Help needed :) (more…)

• HOUSE: Gila Film Products : Residential Window Film : Heat : Platinum
  An old bookmark from my old computer, saved in case I decide to buy this stuff. Reflecting 72% of summer heat sounds good, though nothing ever lives up to its promises. But you get a tax credit if you buy this stuff this year…
  (tags: house hardware Gila Film windowFilms windows films heat)
• PICTURES: Celebrity Yearbook Photos – a set on Flickr
  It's amazing how some people who are hot now were not hot then — like Mariah Carey or Jennifer Lopez or Anna Nicole Smith. Only a few are hotter than they are now — Gwen Stefani, who I think has an awful look nowadays.

  Rachel McAdams has played so many high schoolers, yet now I can finally see what she REALLY looked like while in high school [not that different, actually].

  And some people always had it. Dita Von Teese as a blonde?!?! Heather Graham & Pamela Anderson as a brunette?

  Angelina Jolie used to be much plainer looking…

  (tags: media pictures celebrities yearbooks yearbookPictures)
• COMEDY: Ryan Dunlavey: Comic strip mashups
  Some of these are brilliant!
  (tags: comedy pictures comicStrips comics mashups Peanuts CharlieBrown X-Men CharlesXavier LordOfTheRings OrlandoBloom BloomCounty Deadman FamilyCircus StarWars ThePhantomMenace DennisTheMenace Dr.Doom TheFarSide FarSide Garfield He-Man Calvin&Hobbes Spider-Man KravenTheHunter Nancy SinCity LittleNemo BaronZemo SpyVs.Spy AlienVs.Predator Alien Predator PrinceValiant from2Beans)
• COPYRIGHT/CENSORSHIP: EFF Launches "Takedown Hall of Shame"
  Good idea. Highlight the bullshit censorship that is accomplished by hiding behind the guise of "copyright" and "protecting artists".
  (tags: politics copyright censorship corporations intellectualProperty bullshit takedowns EEF NPR WarnerMusicGroup Warner YouTube NoationalOrganizationForMarriage DeBeers MichaelSavage Diebold RalphLauren PhotoshopDisasters NBC BarackObama articles)
• VIRGINIA TECH: Virginia Tech’s “Man Castle”: Now Less Manly – City Desk – Washington City Paper
  What the fuck?!?! Prithcard Hall is co-ed now? That just seems so wrong. I wonder if there are girls living in 1044, where I used to live. If so, I pity them.

  Glad to see the vending machine out the top-floor window rumour is still going, but nobody remembers The Phantom Shitter, or even Hornboy? "I'm gonna miss you, hornboy."

  Or the time we blasted the Scooby Doo theme into the pit? Or the time Arlo broke my finger in the pit during padded swordfighting? (I SAID don't swing it like a baseball bat! Can't play guitar as well now.) Or the time we set the local fire alarm off right outside the most prickish R.A.'s door, while he slept? And my friend Diane dropped her ID at the scene, but somehow we didn't get in trouble. (Whatever happened to Diane?) Or the trash bags full of water dropped on outside smokers? ARGH! WE'LL GET YOUUUUU!!!

  I know my graffiti was still there 10 yrs later, when we visited for Vicky's wedding. But apparently much has changed. GIRLS!! In PRITCHARD!!

  (tags: VirginiaTech Blacksburg college dorms Pritchard PrtichardHall co-ed CityPaper news articles fromDanC)
• LISTS: 6 Creepy Urban Legends That Happen To Be True
  Cracked.com sure has entertaining lists…
  (tags: cracked.com lists UrbanLegends true deaths elevators cellPhones phones phoneCalls Saw bombs bankRobbers suicides shrunkenHeads heads bodyFarms bodies scary creepy)

• PICTURES: Religion Gone Wild [Flickr photopool]
  Here is a sacrilegious and adult-only flickr pool, full of some of the most offensive sacrilege ever. JESUS IS COMING! And he's not wearing a condom.
  (tags: media pictures religion sacrilege Christianity Christians JesusChrist adult flickr photopools ReligionGoneWild)
• TASER TUESDAY: San Jose cops beat and tase handcuffed student on video
  His crime? Making a joke with a knife after getting soap on his roommate's steak. Cops barge in without warrant because they couldn't understand his accent. The hospital had to staple his head closed again after this.
  (tags: politics AbuseOfAuthority police brutality excessiveForce tasers policeBrutality OverlyHarshPunishment hospitalized headInjuries injuries stapled staples CaughtOnVideo PhuongHo bullshit resistingArrest arrests steak soap roommates SanJoseMercuryNews CarlosMiller SanJoseCityCouncil suspended racism news articles)
• CARTOONS: GARGOYLES: 1997 TV Guide Mini Halloween Comic
  I did not know this existed. Also included: Gargoyles toy commercial
  (tags: media comics comicStrips miniComics video TV shows Gargoyles VinneRattolle blog posts toys actionFigures YouTube videos)

• PICTURES: The Weirdest Clouds that You’ll Ever See
  Awesome.
  (tags: media pictures reality clouds WebdesignerDepot articles eyecandy)
• COMEDY: RELIGION: Which Religion Should I Follow? A flow chart.
  Pretty funny flow chart!
  (tags: comedy charts flowCharts religion bacon hummus Wicca Wiccans Hindus Hinduism Buddhists Buddhism Mayans Jehova'sWitnesses Mormons Mormonism Jews Judaism Muslims Islam Christians Christianity Scientology Scientologists Atheism Atheists FriendlyAtheist underwear ChineseFood IndianFood cats)
• FAMILY/RELIGION: Hundreds attend Elizabeth Prophet reception – Church Universal And Triumphant spiritual leader now decased
  My grandfather Mark Prophet started a nice lil' cult before he died.
  His 2nd wife — after he left my grandmother — took over his religious organization, The Summit Lightouse.
  He died in 1973.

  She has now passed on. The future of the cult is probably somewhat uncertain now.

  (tags: family religion ElizabethProphet Prophets MarkProphet deaths funerals Bozeman Montana BozemanDailyChronicle news articles cults SummitLighthouse CUT ChurchUniversalAndTriumphant interestingComments)
• COMEDY: The World Of Tomorrow (If The Internet Disappeared Today)
  When the internet goes away… After the riots stop… This is what the world will look like.
  EPIC PHOTO SET!!!
  (tags: comedy internet media pictures AfterTheInternet NoInternet Photoshopped Cracked lists Yahoo chatRooms chat pornography porn LOLcats cats animals Twitter Nigeria 404 scammers FirstPost Ebay Auctions CDs whiteboards spelling grammar DVDs socialNetworking newspapers RonPaul VHS Google iPhone KeyboardCat Wii Rickrolling)

[IMDB link] [Netflix link] Watched in 720p with Tabbitha, Parthena, and Eli.

PLOT SUMMARY: A loan officer is cursed by a gypsy who she denied a loan to, and will be dragged to hell in 3 days unless she passes the curse on to someone else.

LIMERICK REVIEW: There once was a loan officer named Christine,
who eventually saw things most people have never seen.
Cursed by a disgruntled lady,
Attacked by spirits quite shady…
By the end of the movie her mouth was probably not pristine.

HAIKU REVIEW: Gypsies will curse you!
If you’re a loan officer…
Give that extension!

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Loan officer’s soul is exploited by disgruntled gypsy.

PEOPLE: Sam Raimi’s first horror movie since Army Of Darkness / Evil Dead! The script was completed in the early to mid-1990s, right after Army Of Darkness was released.

Starring Alison Lohman (Beowulf, The Thirteenth Floor), who I think looks a lot like Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office); Justin Long (Zack & Miri Make A Porno, Idiocracy, Happy Campers), who I think looks like Ross from Friends (David Schwimmer), if he had down syndrome. With Lorna Raver (The Young And The Restless) as the gypsy lady, Dileep Rao (Avatar) as the psychic who tries to help them, and Reggie Lee (Tropic Thunder, Pirates Of The Caribbean 2-3, Psycho Beach Party) as the douchebag co-worker.

QUIRKS: Generic horror. Grosser and funnier than most.

VISUALS: Raimi-esque visuals on a good Hollywood budget. This film actually manages to out-gross any other Raimi movie. Sooo much stuff went into her mouth!!

MORALS: [highlight for spoilers]→ The most important moral of this story is to not put objects in envelopes. And if you have something important in an envelope — you might want to check that it’s really what you think it is.

BAD STUFF: It’s a bit predictable, since this is a generic horror movie.

And there’s one particular effect — with eyeballs popping out — that looks waaaay too obviously fake.

CONCLUSION: Despite the fact that it’s a bit predictable and cliche, this was a very well-executed horror film. They even got ME to jump once — though usually I was busy laughing my ass off. Raimi is back in business doing what he does best! This is a successful horror worth seeing!

RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
The native public rating for this movie is Netflix: 3.9/5 stars (4.0/5 stars for people who rate like me), IMDB 7.5/10.

RECOMMENDATION: See it! Unless you totally hate horror movies.

SIMILAR MOVIES: Similar to most Raimi horror movies :)

MOVIE QUOTE: “You’d be surprised what you’ll do, when the Lamia comes for you.”

FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Ian really liked it.

The people who watched it with us seemed to as well: Tabbitha seemed to really enjoy it, and was excited and practically jumping for joy. Parthena said it was a lot scarier than she expected, but also a lot grosser. Eli seemed to have a good time as well. (more…)

• COMEDY: Drunk Guy Tries, fails, to Buy Beer. FOR TEN MINUTES.
  He mysteriously regained the ability to stand up and walk when they called the cops at the end. We laughed our asses off at this!!!
  (tags: comedy media video reality stores convenienceStores drunk guy drunkGuy buying beer FAIL CollegeHumor videos fromAngelicaS-B)
• SOFTWARE: ANDROID APP: Cop Recorder v1.0
  Use this app to discretely record your conversations with the police! Police will lie in court, so you can use this application to create evidence to prove your innocence!

  Records audio invisibly in the background and stops recording when the application is reopened.

  Recordings stored in /recordings/, use LukLuk to play.

  (tags: hardware phones cellPhones Android software apps CopRecorder police sousveillance media audio reality recorders)
• APPLE: App Store Hypocrisy Update: “Asian Boobs” Fine, Top Seller. Satirical App, Banned.
  It's amazing that people pay for this kind of treatment. Carolyn's phone is now being upgraded to an Android smartphone.. will have to see how that works out.
  (tags: politics Apple censorship inconsistent nannyism apps AsianBoobs asians boobs breasts satire dumb corporations TechCrunch news articles)
• SOFTWARE: DRIVERS: Audio Stream Input/Output
  Sounds like something useful for people who need to get the most out of their sound performance (i.e. people viewing 5.1 sound on their computer).
  (tags: software drivers AudioStreamInput/Output ASIO media audio hardware soundCards Wikipedia articles)
• REPUBLICANS: McCain introduces bill to ban new FCC Net Neutrality Regulations
  See, McCain voters? He's working against a free internet. Have fun justifying your vote for this failed candidate.
  (tags: politics TechnologyWar Republicans JohnMcCain legislation FCC NetNeutrality internet freedom)
• NEWS: Project Censored – The 10 big stories that major media ignored in the past year
  Always a great article every year — though this year didn't quite seem as interesting as past years.
  (tags: news articles ProjectCensored censored 2009 Congress WallStreet bailout finance economy government corporations lobbying segregation racism schools students Somalia pirates nuclearWaste fishing NorthCarolina nuclear EU environment toxic chemicals EPA ObamaAdministration appointees BarackObama RobertGates CIA WilliamLynn IRS taxes GoldmanSachs Israel WhitePhosphorous Gaza WarOnGaza GazaStrip UN HumanRightsWatch Ecuador debt WorldBank)

Another nightmare I guess…. Dreamed I was standing in our main room upstairs, and the entire ceiling over by the bathrooms cracked. The house was about to fall apart while we were in it, and I woke up in a panic.

“Dreams… They’re the hurricanes that wash the soulfilth from the superdome of our nightminds.”
-Xavier:Renegade Angel
(more…)

• OPTICAL ILLUSIONS: dancer is spinning both ways – new and improved version
  WOW! Amazing that this superior-quality version still holds the same illusion, despite being more photo-realistic than the "original" version.
  (tags: media pictures animated animations OpticalIllusions spinning dancer)
• WAR ON TERROR: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Wrongfully Detained Guantanamo Prisoners
  These guys have been declared innocent since 2004. That's 5 yrs in prison by an America that knows they are innocent, and knows that they did not have the authority to detain them in the first place. 13 people * 5 years = 65 years of life stolen by our war of terror. And that's just how much time has been wasted since we *admitted* they were innocent.

  This is disgusting, and should not happen in a country that has a constitution and bill of rights that its presidents swear to uphold.

  It was unconscionable that Bush created this policy in the first place — but now that Obama is president, will their fate be any different? How will the court rule? What will happen to them? Will they remain imprisoned indefinitely despite not being convicted of any crime?

  Injustice.

  (tags: politics WarOnTerror terrorism China Guantanamo GuantanamoBay SupremeCourt SCOTUS legal court hearings 2004 wrongfullyImprisoned innocent ConstitutionalRights rights habeusCorpus BoumedieneV.Bush ObamaAdministration torture war freedom Truthout news articles)
• COMEDY: HALLOWEEN: This Stuff Sucks: The Worst (And Weirdest) Vampire Products
  Awesome list! A Twilight dildo? A pig heart that is "goth as hell"?
  (tags: comedy lists Halloween vampires merchandise holidays Twilight Buffy TrueBlood ComicsAlliance articles)

[IMDB link] [Netflix link]

PEOPLE: Danny Masterson (aka Hyde from That 70’s Show), Ashley Scott (aka Huntress from Birds Of Prey–except now she’s a blonde), John C. McGinley (tons of shows) as scam artist, Jonathan Banks as the landlord (he was in Beverly Hills Cop), and David Faustino (aka Bud Bundy of Married With Children) in a small role.

QUIRKS: Your typical low-budget stoner comedy. Some funny characters — like “Big Daddy”, who’s cellphone ring is a girl moaning “Oh, Big Daddy!” as she has sex with him. Obviously he’s full of himself. Or the horny Jesus fetishist girl who ties up one of the main characters to have sex with him while calling him Jesus and insisting he calls her Mary Magdalen. While wearing a crown of thorns, of course. Or the horrible rapper who can’t get signed because he needs to get shot or arrested first.

And a general obsession with buying land in Nicaragua, creating a business of “tiny classified ads” (it’s complex, damnit!), and arguing about whether Andy Dufrane gets ass-raped in The Shawshank Redemption.

BAD STUFF: A good deal of this movie — much like the life of a stoner — is simply sitting around and having bullshit conversations and situations. But then it picks up and becomes more of a caper during the 2nd half.

CONCLUSION: Quite forgettable, but still entertaining.

RECOMMENDATION: If you’ve run out of stoner movies to watch — this is another one. Certainly has it’s funny moments, but is quite random.

SIMILAR MOVIES: Most stoner comedies and capers are somewhat similar to this! Netflix cites “Why This Is Recommended” based on the fact that I rated all of these movies 4-5 stars out of 5: Grandma’s Boy, Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanimo Bay, Super High Me, Cheech & Chong‘s Nice Dreams, Let’s Go To Prison, Idiocracy, Cheech & Chong‘s Up In Smoke, and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.

MOVIE QUOTE: “I once had the skin to my whole ball sack fall off!” (more…)

• COMEDY: This lady loves her cat a bit TOO much [YOUTUBE]
  Wow. Japan: No explanation needed. Start at around the 1 minute mark. She puts the whole cat's face in her mouth, repeatedly. Pretty damn funny. Kind of disturbing. Kind of cute. Kind of gross. Very conflited.
  (tags: media video reality YouTube videos animals cats Japan weird mouths faces fromSubGenius)
• CAPITALISM VS. WOMEN: Rape Victim's Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?
  Here's an example of why health care reform is needed. Things like this do not happen in every other civilized country in the world.

  "It's difficult enough to make sure that rape victims take the drugs," said Diana Faugno, a forensic nurse in California and board director of End Violence Against Women International. "What are we supposed to tell women now? Well, I guess you have a choice – you can risk your health insurance or you can risk AIDS. Go ahead and choose."

  (tags: politics medical health healthCare reform healthCareReform women sexualAssault sex rape capitalism insurance ChristinaTurner AIDS HIV drugs finance money corporations PTSD STDs victims victims'rights underwriting pre-existingConditions KimberlyFallon BlueCrossBlueShield PlannedParenthood Women'sRightsProject ACLU rights MagellanBehaviorHealthServices Magellan HuffingtonPost news articles)
• COMICS/MANGA/PORN: Twins, 20, jailed for having child porn cartoons
  Yup, children again being used as excuses to govern the behavior of consenting adults. Apparently, you can't draw a child being raped. But of course you could draw a child being murdered. I guess everyone would rather have their kids dead than raped? That's fucking retarded.

  Gotta love the logic:

  "Every one of these images involves the victimization of children," said Crown attorney Craig Botterill. "The victimization wouldnt happen in the first place if there werent people there to look at this material."

  Oh I see! If we just got rid of all the bad media that depicts children being exploited, then everyone would magically stop exploiting children!

  I'm sure if we got rid of all the violence in movies and music, that all violence would stop as well, right?

  Fucking retards. THESE ARE DRAWINGS. This is thought crime. No real children are exploited. What bullshit. These guys are now labeled as sex offenders for their *thoughts*, not their actions. Ridiculous.

  (tags: politics freedom comics manga drawings ChildPorn ChildPornography bullshit WontSomebodyPleaseThinkofTheChildren? children ThoughtCrime Canada NewGlasgow OverlyHarshPunishments ButMurderIsOkay DavidScottHammond JamesCoryHammond SexOffenders ChronicleHerald news articles)
• WAR ON DRUGS: TOBACCO: Canada copy-cats USA, bans all flavored tobacco/clove cigarettes — children used as the excuse, as usual
  Blunts, too. Next thing you know, cigars will be illegal too.

  The evil hands of prohibition are rising up to clutch even more consenting adults.

  Far-left liberals who want socialized health care — but only if people make it cheap by sacrificing their freedom — will love this. True conservatives [not neocons] will hate this.

  Personally, it's an affront to freedom. If people are only allowed to act healthy, then we'll see people go to jail for selling unhealthy food. OH WAIT. THAT'S ALREADY HAPPENED. Liberal-land California put someone in jail for 45 days for selling bacon-wrapped hotdogs, which were illegal in the town this happened.

  The liberal mindset is as much about restricting freedom as the conservative mindset. They just use different reasoning.Cigarettes are bad: Therefore you can't have them.

  I look forward to tobacco being completely outlawed. That will only increase the odds that everyone realizes the drug war is a total failure, and always has been.

  (tags: politics WarOnDrugs drugs tobacco nicotine cigarettes flavored cloves flavoredCigarettes Canada liberals freedom CanadianCancerSociety children WontSomebodyPleaseThinkOfTheChildren? News-Medical.net news articles)
• ECONOMY/OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: The Myth of the Multiplier
  Nope–Government spending doesn't magically create more money.

  This article says that the Obama Administration claimed economic stimulus would save jobs [we've lost them] & would have a "multiplier effect" [explained in the article] of four. But the real multiplier is only 0.8 to 1.2.

  Government stimulus doesn't always actually do something.

  Still–this stimulus isn't nearly as stupid as the bailout, which is projected to possibly cost $80K per person. I'm sorry, but Carolyn & I could use $160,000 far more than we can use corporations that don't directly touch our finances. I could pay off my house and have tenants pay my taxes and live for free. No corporation is too big to fail–and if it is,it should be broken up.

  In the end, Republicans (who pushed the bailout) & Democrats (who pushed the stimulus) have both taken a bunch of our $$$ & redistributed it in a manner that would be worse than just doing nothing.

  This is one of many reasons that I vote–and not for either party.

  (tags: politics economics ObamaAdministration stimulus legislation BarackObama economicStimulus StimulusBill Multiplier MultiplierEffect fromNeilF AP news articles Democrats)
• HEALTH: New Study Shows $56 Billion in Hidden Health Damage From Autos
  Yup. You can't escape the byproducts of other peoples' lives, if you choose to live near other people. Of course this will affect you more in the city than in the suburbs or country.

  You really think every lung cancer is from people smoking? (No. Just 90%. But only 10% of smokers get lung cancer.)

  (tags: politics health costs externalities damage vehicles cars pollution airPollution air emissions environment WorldChanging fuel fromSeanProphet news articles)
• COMEDY: Goatse cake
  somebody had to do it. ouch.
  (tags: media pictures reality food cakes goatse goatseCake Haluze)
• PICTURES: Cute and funny animal fillter content of the day
  (tags: media pictures animals cute funny Haluze)
• VOTING FRAUD: Germany outlaws Electronic Voting machines
  Good move, Germany. Unverifiable or secret vote counting may be cheaper, more efficient, and more modern — but it is NOT democratic. Presidents should not be elected by black boxes that claim to know how people voted. Germany gets this.

  This posting says that this story is not being covered in American media, because the powers that be want black box voting.

  When will we wise up? A country that was a fascist dictatorship in the past century is now going to have more democratic elections than the supposedly "most-free" country in the world!

  Will the American people care? Or do they just want simple pretty interfaces at any cost (which makes me think of Apple-loving)?

  (tags: poliitcs VotingMachines VotingFraud VoterFraud voting voters TechnologyWar victories Germany outlaws electronicVoting machines DailyCensored unconstitutional news articles)
• RELIGION VS. CARTOONS: Catholic League pissed off at this sunday's episode of The Simpsons
  Bart (the son) tries one of the infected hamburgers, but proves immune to the virus. He becomes the “Chosen One” and the Simpsons go off to find the safe zone where the rest of the uninfected people have gathered. When they get there a guard says, “Welcome, son. To survive, all we must do is eat your flesh.” Marge (Bart’s mother) responds by saying, “What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their savior?”

  This caused the catholic league to accuse the people who work at Fox of being "uncivilized".

  Hahaha! Seriously though — what kind of people eat the body and blood of their savior? The whole Eucharist concept is stolen from paganism, and has nothing to do with Jehovah/God! Stupid Christians.

  (tags: politics religion Christians Christianity Catholics Catholocism media video TV shows cartoons FOX Simpsons TheSimpsons CatholicLeague BillDonohue asshats whiners news articles)
• CORPORATIONS: TASER INTERNATIONAL: Don't shoot stun gun at chest
  Taser International has realized they can't keep up their charade of death-for-profit any longer.

  After suing coroners to change their cause of death from "taser" to "excited delirium", they finally have to succumb to the real truth: That tasers DO kill.

  Frankly, anyone family member of someone killed after they previously denied tasers called deaths should be able to launch a multi-million dollar lawsuit against taser international.

  (tags: politics tasers TechnologyWar corporations TaserInternational deaths heartAttacks finally MSNBC news articles fromCarolyn)

Eli was in the neighborhood looking for a new car (after his accident before the KMFDM concert), and stopped by to ask if I wanted to get lunch. We went to Five Guys in Eli‘s car. On the way back, I persuaded him to check out this yard sale sign we had sign on the way up. So this was only a single yardsale.

And *everything* was a quarter at this yard sale. Being around 1PM, they just wanted to finish up. “We just went to get out of here so we can get drunk”, they said.

Total spent between the 2 of us was a whopping $1 or so. But we got a good $50 worth of stuff, and the whole endeavor only took 10 minutes. Pretty good for a 1-sale day.

$0.25 – Eli got a big chinchilla cage that barely fit in his car (you had to take it apart). He wanted a smaller travel-style cage. (EV:$30?)
$0.25 – Eli got some skewers for cooking. Being a master chef, he can definitely use these more than most. “25 cents each?”, he asked. “No! 25 cents for all of them!” (EV:$10?)
$0.25 – fan – I need a bigger one for DDR. It’s hard to have too many fans. (EV:$10?)
$0.25 – book: The Truth About Fonz – for a quarter, that cover is an awesome cover to possess. I really am not going to read this though, it’s just shelf-candy/joke-gift-fodder. (EV:$2)

No, the fan I got was not as cool as this one.

Click here for other Yard Sale-related postings.

Mood: cold
Music: Culture Club – Karma Chameleon

• VOTING FRAUD: Sequoia Voting Systems Source Code Released — violates many FEC clauses
  People argued with me that they believed closed-source was more secure than open-source for elections. Who's laughing now? Without this source being open, the taxpayers would not know the myriad of ways in which these voting machines are NOT up to par. Your votes ARE in danger. Elections CAN be stolen if you don't know what code is run on your vote after you give it.

  At least, this is what the article claims. I'm not going over the source code myself!

  (tags: politics TechnologyWar technology VotingMachines VotingFraud VoterFraud voting voters corporations Sequoia security FEC government transparency programming software open-source Slashdot news articles)
• EYE CANDY: ANIMATION: VIDEOGIOCO by Donato Sansone on Vimeo
  A very innovative 90second stop-motion animated film. I've never seen anything done with this process before. You just have to watch it to see it.
  (tags: media video shorts EyeCandy animation stop-motion Videogioco DonatoSansone fromMelanieB Vimeo videos)

• TECHNOLOGY WAR: Wired Exclusive: CIA Buys Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets, FlickR, YouTube, Amazon book reports (but not facebook…yet)
  The 4th Amendment guarantees our papers and effects from unreasonable search… But once you post things publicly , the government doesn't have to obey the constitution, as it applies only to private effects.

  This is an example of how technological growth creates situations that the Founding Fathers could not have foreseen.

  Once upon a time, you could write a letter to your friend to say Hi, and nobody could read it. But nowadays, nobody does that. They write an email, which is sent through "public" data lines.

  Congress had to specifically create privacy laws for phone conversations when phones were first invented — otherwise your conversation as in "public" and anyone could listen in legally — and eventually extended these protections to e-mail (a few years ago).

  But these protections don't apply to public things like tweets, youtube postings, flickr picture postings, amazon book reviews. So the government will search all it wants. Legal? For now. Ethical? Not particularly.

  (tags: politics TechnologyWar technology internet connectivity government monitoring spying privacy surveillance flickr YouTube Twitter Amazon CIA In-Q-Tel VisibleTechnologies socialMedia socialNetworking openSourceIntelligence intelligence TruVoice DanVetras Wired news articles)
• TASER TUESDAY: Teenage taser death prompts ban on Taser use from cars
  Remember, tasers were introduced as a method to save lives by preventing police from having to use deadly force.

  So ask yourself: Pre-taser, would the cops have simply shot this kid — for tresspassing? Death sentence? No, HELL no.

  But now this kid is dead, because tasers cause police to become trigger happy, and think, "I can shoot all I want without hurting anybody".

  He tased the kid AND THEN RAN HIM OVER and killed him.

  And no, running away from the police is NOT capitol offense. There is no death penalty for running on the lawbooks. It is NOT legal when a cop kills someone for running.

  (tags: politics tasers OverlyHarshPunishments policeBrutality brutality police excessiveForce vehicles movingVehicles deaths teenagers runOver Pensacola Florida PensacolaPoliceDepartment ChipSimmons VictorSteen MiamiHerald news articles)
• SPORTS: Football, dogfighting, and brain damage : The New Yorker
  How football is like dogfighting. Very interesting piece.
  (tags: politics sports football dogfighting animals dogs injuries concussions brains brainDamage science TheNewYorker MichaelVick news articles fromRyanS)
• CORPORATIONS: Pfizer to pay $1.3 billion criminal fine for misbranding its drugs
  Largest criminal find ever levied against any drug company. They get a drug approved for one use, then market it for other uses it was never approved for. This is what unregulated capitalism does to health care — sells people random drugs to make more money.

  Proper government regulation would keep this from happening, but conservatives think a market should be so free that they eschew regulation — which is pretty much the cause of the events here. You can bet people died for money.

  (tags: politics corporations pharmaceuticalIndustry Pfizer record fines capitalism drugs JusticeDepartment DOJ DepartmentOfJustice legal settlements felonies FDA marketing)
• FREEDOM: Man Caught Making Coffee Naked in His Home Faces Charges
  Ridiculous. He was in his own home at 5:30AM!

  However sexist our system once was towards women, men face a lot of disadvantages as well. If a woman did this and a man watched, he would probably get charged as a peeping tom. It's happened before.
  Reverse the situation, and he gets charged with indecent exposure and possibly labeled a sex offender.

  (tags: politics freedom SexualFreedom sexualFreedom? nudity naked WontSomebodyPleaseThinkOfTheChildren? indecentExposure arrests coffee FairfaxCounty Springfield Virginia MyFoxDC news articles OverlyHarshPunishments sexiem men children)
• VIDEO: YOUTUBE: Guy runs across street, almost gets hit by cars
  A ridiculous 9 second video! The pedestrian doesn't get hurt, which is the amazing part.
  (tags: media video reality YouTube videos intersections pedestrians vehicles cars buses lucky HolyShit fromMelanieS)
• COMEDY: Geek life flow chart
  good stuff
  (tags: comedy pictures fromMargie geek geeks flowCharts charts)

• VIDEO GAMES: Firefox (1983) (VG)
  I can't believe nobody remembers this game! I had to write the IMDB comment. (And I didn't really have too much to say, i'm just astounded that there's no info on this.)
  (tags: games videoGames laserdisc FirefoxTheGame Firefox 1983 IMDB)
• TORTURE: White House "Ordered" Lawmakers to Amend FOIA in Order to Conceal Torture Photos
  Obama may pretend to not support torture, but in doing everything possible to keep proceedings about torture closed to the public, he is not only violating his repeated claims that he wants government to be open and transparent, but violating the whole "torture is bad" spiel by assisting in its cover-up.

  Pressuring congress to pass a specific law that does a bad thing for our rights? Isn't that the same thing the republicans did as well? Those rights don't come back.

  (tags: politics ObamaAdministration BarackObama Democrats torture government transarency secrecy photos FOIA WhiteHouse legal legislation pressure WarOnTerror terrorism freedom TruthOut news articles)