Something funny on Youtube

I don't know where to post this. You COULD watch it on TV, if you want, so I'll post it here. This is just something funny that happened last night. I was watching as it happened. Two... um... I was gonna say "chicks"... well, OK, two chicks, one of whom is an astrophysicist and the other of whom is a PhD candidate in biology, were hosting a little Youtube show they do sometimes. The name of the show is Drunk Science. God bless them for doing this. They don't seem to get totally hammered, but you can tell by the end of the show that they have been drinking. Anyway, I had set a reminder to watch this last night, because they had another astrophysicist as a guest and they were gonna talk about black holes, which I have always thought are pretty cool.

OK, so, so far this probably doesn't sound like an intro to a really funny story. But, just give me a second here.

I was watching their channel and waiting for the show to start, last night. I was doing other things too, so it wasn't like I was wasting time, but my point here is that I, and everyone else watching, were just sitting there for HALF AN HOUR after it was supposed to start, just killing time in the chatbox on the side. The ladies who were doing the show actually HAD started on time, but they did something wrong and it wasn't streaming live. So, apparently they talked (and drank alcohol, so, thank God for that) for a whole half hour before any of them realized that no one could see or hear them. I love the fact that they are all brilliant scientists, but they just totally screwed this up anyway... shit happens.

Watch the chick/lady/astrophysicist in the upper left hand corner. She is Sarafina. Apparently she has just figured out the problem on her own, somehow, and hasn't yet told her co-host or their guest until she starts talking here. Just watch her face, it's so funny. I love how she just SNAPS at :45 and says "Oh my GOD this is soooooo bad!" Pretty hilarious. So anyway, you can all figure this out, but just to say it, the co-hosts are named Sarafina Nance and Imogene Cancellare, their guest is Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore, the show is called Drunk Science, and they show it on Sarafina's Youtube channel. Just watch the first minute or so if you're not into black holes, I think it's hilarious.

How Many.....?

I am curious y'all, how many of you guys want the Stephen King mini Challenge again this month. You can count whatever you watch on both challenges

At the Earth's Core (1976)

This might be worth giving a shot, for some of us here. It's not exactly a horror, but... Peter Cushing, Caroline Munro, and MONSTERS. Close enough, right?!? I mean, jeez Louise, what the hell do you want?!?

Especially for Yakko and anyone else loving dead bugs coming alive

When seeking for some good movies from the early 1910s I found an animated short which really blew me away. The original name is in Russian (and hard to remember) as that's the creator's nationality I stick to its English name: The Cameraman's Revenge.

The animation is not done with puppets but real bugs. Sure they are dead but you wouldn't say so if you see how fluently they are moving. The setting is like our world and they act and interact like real humans. It feels so natural sitting on a couch, painting, driving a car or bike, carrying a suitcase etc. And there's even a story of adultery and revenge. See for yourself:

Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein

I can't really post any footage because the trailer for this 30 minute Netflix film will spoil everything, but this shit is pretty funny. David Harbour plays himself investigating his father's shitty Frankenstein melodrama teleplay, which reeks of old Dark Shadows vibes. Imagine VHS footage, lousy commercials, arrogant thesbianism, gothic sets, and inept plot twists. That's Frankenstein's Monster...'s Monster, Frankenstein!

Mall Bitches, by WKUK

I haven't posted this in a long time. It just cracks me up, it's one of my favorite short videos on Youtube. I will really bum out whenever they eventually take it down. If you haven't seen it before, just make sure you pay attention to what is happening for the first three and a half minutes or so. If you do, the last thirty seconds could be one of the funniest things you've seen in a long time. It is for me, anyway. And, somehow the Spanish subtitles make it all even funnier.

Top Three Best Perfomances 

What are your top three performances by an actor or actress? It doesn't have to be just in movies. Whatever you feel is your top three and an honorable mention if you have one.

My top 3
1. Kathy Bates in Misery (1990)
2. Charlize Theron in Monster (2003)
3. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)


Honorable Mention

David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Tales from the Darkside - Season 2

I finished season 2 earlier today and might say I liked it more than season 1.

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s2e01 - The Impressionist - directed by Armand Mastroianni
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716989/

A guy who's good at impressions is asked by top secret government officials to attempt communication with an alien that crash landed on earth. The alien itself is pretty goofy looking, but it goes through the motions. Eventually, it's revealed that the government wants to learn about its fusion power source, so the impressionist better figure out how to communicate with it, or the government's muscle will break his legs! Okay episode at best, with a rather inconclusive ending.

s2e02 - Lifebomb - directed by Frank De Palma
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716957/

An irritable businessman meets with an insurance salesman who has a bizarre death-preventative measure to offer called Lifebomb. When in danger, it'll cocoon you into a morphine/oxygen-rich shell to keep you alive. However, this guy isn't entirely healthy and tends to set his off too often until he's a weak and bitter man who wishes he could die, but he's unable to cancel his insurance. I rather enjoyed the bleak outcome of this one.

s2e03 - Ring Around the Redhead - directed by Theodore Gershuny
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716971/

John Heard recounts his last few days before he is to be executed. When an earthquake opened up a bizarre crater in his place with a ring that controls dimensions, Penelope Ann Miller comes out speaking in tongues. He assimilates her to his world and gradually falls in love with this alien creature, only things don't seem to work out for him when his business partner gets greedy about this whole mess. Or do they? Not exactly a dark episode.

s2e04 - Parlour Floor Front - directed by Richard Friedman
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716967/

A couple of landlords lament the rent-controlled tenure of their voodoo tenants. They want him out and plot his eviction, though they aren't honest in their methods and things go too far. Pretty decent episode with a few good twists.

s2e05 - Halloween Candy - directed by Tom Savini
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716946/

An irritable old asshole refuses to give out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. He hates those young whipper-snappers and simply refuses. His son even gives him candy and advises him to hand it out or else they'll vandalize his house, but does that old fucker listen? Take a guess.

Tom Savini puts forth a good effort, providing this episode with some good costumes, atmosphere, effects, and homages to Creepshow's "They're Creeping Up on You" skit.

s2e06 - The Satanic Piano - directed by John Harrison
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716997/

A musician struggles to find inspiration and is offered a satanic piano by some dirty old creep. It helps him come up with music, but when his daughter (played by Lisa Bonet) gets involved, things go sour and he realizes he's made a mistake in accepting the instrument.

John Harrison's score is reminiscent of Day of the Dead. Partly cheesy and partly charming.

s2e07 - The Devil's Advocate - directed by Michael Gornick, written by George Romero
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716984/

No, this isn't the Keanu/Pacino story, but another one about a bitter asshole who gets what's coming to him. Jerry Stiller is a radio show host who's become disillusioned by his bad luck and annoying callers and finds himself caught in a barrage of bad callers. Things only get weirder as it goes on, and he gradually begins to resemble a werewolf.

s2e08 - Distant Signals - directed by Bill Travis
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716935/

Lenny Von Dohlen from Twin Peaks proposes the revival of an old failed private-investigation show with Darren McGavin. Nobody has faith in this show since it was cancelled mid-season, but he guarantees them a certain audience, but not in this country.

This wasn't a dark episode, but it was a rather good statement on how certain audiences will appreciate your work even if it isn't mainstream.

s2e09 - The Trouble with Mary Jane - directed by T.J. Castronovo
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717003/

Lawrence Tierney and his irritable wife run a supernatural fortune-teller/ouiji type business that isn't working out well. When they get a legitimate call to investigate a possessed girl, there's no doubt about it. This girl is full on Pazuzu possessed, and they want to cash in on it!

I think Tierney is fun to watch, and this is one of the more goofy episodes, but it's still got some great Exorcist gags and gimmicks and a good ending.

s2e10 - Ursa Minor - directed by Theodore Gershuny
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717008/

An episode about a killer teddy bear. Yeah, they didn't have any good ideas when they came up with this one, and it doesn't even have a conclusive ending. This one sucked.

s2e11 - Effect and Cause - directed by Mark Jean
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716939/

Susan Strasberg (the hottie from The Trip and Psych-Out) plays another drug-raddled artist who experiences some crazy changes in reality after painting over some ugly canvas pictures. Things disappear or mutate before her very eyes, and nobody seems to believe her. Fairly good episode with an appearance by Gary Hershberger from Twin Peaks.

s2e12 - Monsters in My Room - directed by James Steven Sadwith
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716961/

Young Seth Green is afraid of the monsters in his room, and his drunken asshole step-father wants that nerdy kid to be more into sports. Junior needs to overcome his fears, as well as his step-father by pitting him against the monsters. Okay episode.

s2e13 - Comet Watch - directed by Warner Shook
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716933/

A stargazer is anxious to see the long awaited return of Haley's comet, but his nagging wife would rather him go to dinner with her for a social event. He tries to put her off, because this comet comes only once every 70 something years, but she cares not about his desires. When he looks through his telescope, a woman emerges from it, having ridden the comet in its last bout in 1910. She suffers from time displacement confusion, but the main dude quickly falls for her. And then another man comes out of the telescope... Sir Edmund Haley himself, played by Twilight Zone/Creepshow alumni Fritz Weaver. A rather light-hearted episode, but plenty entertaining.

s2e14 - Dream Girl - directed by Timna Ranon
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716938/

This was a surreal episode of a stageplay crew being stuck in a man's fantasy. It has some Elm Street themes with dreams and dream warriors trying to fight against a common enemy. Good stuff.

s2e15 - A New Lease on Life - directed by John Strysik
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716921/

A man gets a dirt cheap lease at a seemingly great apartment. The place seems less great with the more restrictions his landlady places upon him and his habits, and she's also so wasteful! She throws so much food away, and her maintenance guys are real dicks! Take a guess as to why you can't put pictures in the wall. This place is something else!

s2e16 - Printer's Devil - directed by John Harrison
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716969/

A struggling writer turns to a fat business warlock to get work. Sure, he gets money out of it, but he has to sacrifice animals as per the fat man's request. He also has to make ends meet with his new girlfriend, who's sick of all these damn animals. Our man has a choice to make... and it's not a good one. Decent episode.

s2e17 - The Shrine - directed by Christopher T. Welch
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716998/

This one was a bit strange, and I'm not sure I fully understood it. A young woman returns home after suffering from a "breakdown", and her mother has mentally replaced her with a child-like entity that's supposed to be symbolic of something. It's not bad. Hell, it's kind of interesting, but I don't quite understand the symbolism?

s2e18 - Old Soft Shoe - directed by Richard Friedman
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716996/

A lingerie salesman stops at a motel and some weird shit happens to him in the room he stays in. I feel that this episode might have been an inspiration to the failed pilot for Bates Motel, which in itself started off as a weirdo trying to restart the Bates Motel, but it sidetracks into a strange subplot about someone staying in haunted room with a suicide subplot. This particular episode has a few parallels to that, and it's decent albeit predictable.

s2e19 - The Last Car - directed by John Strysik
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716990/

A woman takes a train home for the holidays, only it's a weird cursed train that never seems to get there. The plot seems like it's going somewhere very interesting, but in the end, the writers prove that they had no real plot for this episode and it turns into some lame garbage with no real merit.

s2e20 - A Choice of Dreams - directed by Gerald Cotts
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716920/

Abe Vigoda plays a dying mob boss who is given a chance to dream forever. He contemplates the $10 million option for a while before accepting it, but considering everybody hates him after all the bad things he's done, perhaps this might not be the best option...

s2e21 - Strange Love - directed by Theodore Gershuny
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716977/

Patrick Kilpatrick is asked by a woman's husband to help her after she breaks her leg. He is then held captive as a familiar when he learns that these two are vampires. The male vamp is a real dick who only wants to use the good doctor until his wife is better, and then he'll feed on him. The woman, however, begins to fall for the studly doctor because her husband is such a tool. On his last day before becoming supper, the doctor and the woman conspire to turn the tables on the the mad vamp through a passionate love affair. Pretty good episode.

s2e22 - The Unhappy Medium - directed by Dusty Nelson
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0717004/

After a con-man televangelist dies, his sister, niece, and partner bicker over the will, each having different views of what's fair in regards to what they deserve or don't care to take. When the old man possesses the niece on and off, the trio find themselves locked in limbo between heaven and hell as they try to sort through the madness. Another decent episode.

s2e23 - Fear of Floating - directed by John Lewis
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716942/

Howard 'Bub' Sherman walks into a desperate army recruitment base with lead boots on his feet to ask them for protection. He says he escaped from the circus because he has an uncanny ability when he takes his boots off. He floats! However, he cannot control the floating, and when the so-called circus comes to collect him, they weave a different yarn about him. The conclusion to this one is pretty interesting.

s2e24 - The Casavin Curse - directed by Frank De Palma
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716980/

A woman wakes up in a bloody room with a dead body. Police and psychologists think she's too innocent to do this, but she knows better. She knows that she has the Casavin curse, which means you'll murder anyone you fall in love with. It plays out rather predictably, but it's a fairly satisfying episode.

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Faves of the season were Halloween Candy, The Trouble with Mary Jane, and Distant Signals. The worst ones were Ursa Minor and The Last Car.

#Review

I don't know where to post this

I guess this post has to do with books more than anything else. Whatever.

There's an old Stephen Vincent Benet short story that I think many of us were forced to read in school, at some point. It goes by two different titles in different anthologies and collections, either By the Waters of Babylon, or In the Place of the Gods. It was written back in the 1930s, before nuclear weapons... that's important, for understanding the story.

Anyway, many of us were forced to read it against our will, and therefore hated it. But I personally actually always liked it. It was in an old science fiction anthology I had, which I would read by choice, so it never really had the feeling of drudgery or forced labor for me, to read the story.

It's about a young man in a primitive tribe of people, who wants to go explore some forbidden lands that are a week or two journey away from where his tribe lives. Gradually SPOILERS, just come back to this after you have read the story, if you want to read it... I can't believe I'm posting "spoilers" for a story that's over 80 years old... anyway, gradually you realize that the guy and his primitive tribe are living in the distant future, a long time after our civilization has fallen. Eventually the guy makes it tothe forbidden lands which are the ruins of some kind of large city. There are no people there anymore, just some wild dogs and pigeons. The guy seems especially leery about touching ancient pieces of metal, which made me wonder if the metal was supposed to be radioactive...? Not sure how that works, exactly, that was just my guess. Anyway, as he's trying to escape the wild dogs, the guy breaks into an old building, and climbs the stairs inside to a random old apartment. He explores a little, and sees a few 20th century things that readers might recognize. Eventually he comes upon a mummified old guy sitting in a chair, facing a window. The conditions in the enclosed apartment were supposed to be dry and stable enough to keep him mummified... just ride with it baby, don't question it too much.

The young guy has a dream, sort of a vision quest type of thing, where he sees the war that destroyed the city. He doesn't understand what he sees. It sounds like he's really not making it up, he just reports what his visions reveal, which is a sort of enhanced WWI type of scenario as seen through primitive eyes. That's World War ONE. He sees poisonous mists drifitng through the city at ground level, killing everyone they reach. He sees some kind of firey death spitting from the sky down at people on the streets... maybe from some kind of super-biplanes or proto-missiles... I'm not sure what the state of rocketry was in the late 1930s, for an author to derive horrific visions from it...

So, up until he had this vision, he had thought the old city had been built by gods, and the old mummified dude in the chair was probably a dead god himself. But, at some point he starts to realize the old guy was just a man, albeit a man with access to knowledge far in advance of what the primitive guy's tribe could understand.

He pictures the old guy's last moments, sitting in his armchair facing out the window, watching his great city fall. I was never clear on exactly what killed the old guy, by the way... a wisp of poison mist that got in somehow? Maybe a heart attack? I don't know. Anyway, it's just a great image, of this old guy who sat looking sadly out the window as his city was destroyed.

I have a terrace in my building (it's not MY terrace, but it's in my building) and it's on the tenth floor so I have a pretty good view. I can see up to about eight miles away, in some directions. I can see old radio towers, local church steeples, some of the highest hills in my area, and the highest skyscrapers in Boston. I went up there the other day and re-read parts of the story I'm talking about, and I felt a little like the old guy. Not completely, I don't think the coronavirus is the end of the world. But, I can definitely see that the world is different now than it was two or three months ago. There is far less traffic, and at night I can see the stars better. I also think that getting "back to normal" is worse than the virus, because THAT is what is killing off the whole biosphere, normality is killing it, the normality of everybody driving around all the time maintaining markets for worthless crap that destroys the world... aaaaaanywho, I just thought it was interesting that the real world made me think of that story. Wow this was a long post. Please treat yourself to a beer for reading this whole thing, hopefully I can pay you back somehow, someday.

Graphic Design

So I am making a turn-based strategy game. Box is helping me with minor programing and the story. It is set in a post-apocalyptic ice desert. The earth has stopped spinning due to liberals outlawing fossil and nuclear fuels and to many giant windmills creating drag on the earth's rotation. I've made a lot of progress since not being able to go anywhere, but I am a programmer, not an artist. So I'm looking for a graphic designer to do some very basic design work. If anyone here is interested in getting some work, details can be negotiated, just let me know.