#1997-2017 so cool

[inkymkk]

GAAGAHAJHFSHAHJUJAJJ

[manifesto-of-a-femcel]

Beautiful Movies All Girls Should Watch

A list of movies that touch on coming of age, romance and complex female emotions.

May (2002): A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.

Audition (1999): A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.

Helter Skelter (2012): Top star Lilico undergoes multiple cosmetic surgeries to her entire body. As her surgeries show side effect, Lilico makes the lives of those around her miserable as she tries to deal with her career and her personal problems.

Ginger Snaps (2000): Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.

The Craft (1996): A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft, and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who anger them.

Malèna (2000): Amidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.

Perfect Blue (1997): A retired pop singer turned actress’ sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968): A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.

The Virgin Suicides (1999): A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.

Sucker Punch (2011): A young girl institutionalized by her abusive stepfather retreats to an alternative reality as a coping strategy and envisions a plan to help her escape.

Piggy (2022): An overweight teen is bullied by a clique of cool girls poolside while holidaying in her village. The long walk home will change the rest of her life.

The Love Witch (2016): A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.

Pearl (2022): In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation and lovelessness of life on her parents' farm.

Girl, Interrupted (1999): Based on writer Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the late 1960s.

Black Swan (2010): Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.

Gone Girl (2014): With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Jennifer’s Body (2009): A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?

Bones And All (2022): Coming of age romance about two cannibals

In the Mood for Love (2000): Two neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.

Brokeback Mountain (2005): Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.

Call Me By Your Name (2017): In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.

Maurice (1986): Two English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society, Clive gives up Maurice and marries. While staying with Clive and his wife, Maurice discovers romance in the arms of the gamekeeper Alec.

Y Tu Mamá También (2001): In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Caroline (2009): An adventurous 11-year-old girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Corpse Bride (2005): When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her.

[angelic-ambedo]

The Weirdest Fucking Movies I've Ever seen Pt. 1

Okay so I sort of champion myself as a lover of weird movies. And it's funny because regardless of how many I've seen, every time I watch a weird movie I genuinely feel as if it is the weirdest movie I've ever seen in my life.

So, I decided to make a list which compiles all of said weird movies and then a description of why I find each so uniquely weird. If you find any of these descriptions or titles intriguing, I recommend you seek these movies out, because a weird movie = a good life ya know so yeah

If you have more weird movies please please recommend them im hungry for new crazy cinema bebesssss

Eraserhead (1977) - genuinely makes no sense.

Coherence (2013) - trippy scientifically interesting thriller

Some Velvet Morning (2013) - abusive cat n mouse relationship

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - emotional violence

Greener Grass (2019) - let's shame suburbia!

Trash Humpers (2009) - people fucking the trash...?

Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) - mental illness be so sad and trippy

Gummo (1997) - literal photo album of a dysfunctional town

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006) - bulimia PSA in disguise

Black Bear (2020) - art seeps into the "real" world

Begotten (1990) - god kills himself

Trouble Every Day (2001) - eating people presented as...a turn on?

Baise-Moi (2000) - punk feminist murderous women are sick and society sux

Palindromes (2004) - one character is played by a ton of different actors of different ages, races, and sexes

964 Pinocchio (1991) - so much vomit, even more cyberpunk lobotomy sex machine madness

Meet the Feebles (1989) - the muppets give each other STDs and commit mass murder

In the Realm of the Senses (1976) - a torrid, pornographic affair used to escape the horrors of a war-torn world

Enter the Void (2009) - going to the past, present, and future, POV shots that include blinking, going inside the body, taboo themes with a psychedelic style

Love (2015) - horny pseudo-porno about a misogynistic asshole who somehow pulls hot, sexually adventurous women

Climax (2018) - LSD fueled nightmare

Pink Flamingos (1972) - a competition to be the "filthiest person alive" (spoiler alert: the cool drag queen wins)

Vivarium (2019) - Suburbia is still creepy, guys

Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015) - can we please stop having erotomania like celebrities aren't into u babe :(

No No Nooky TV (1987) - Computers being cool and saying "boobs" and "clit"

The Piano Teacher (2001) - unsafe nonconsensual bdsm and sexual repression is...no. please no.

The Night Porter (1974) - stockholm syndrome and wild bdsm stuff with postwar themes

Belle de Jour (1967) - more bdsm themes

Titane (2021) - woman fucks a car and gets pregnant

Daisies (1966) - two girls cut up pickles and destroy the patriarchy

Creep 1 and 2 (2014, 2017) - murder has never been this funny

Garbanzo Gas (2007) - a human cow gets an all-expenses paid trip to a motel before it hits the slaughterhouse

Melancholie der Engel (2009) - ew.

In Our Garden (2002) - old men dicks + weirdest dialogue I've ever heard in my life

The Rehearsal (TV series) (2022) - this is the ultimate weirdest thing ever and I don't know how else to categorize it.

Trigger Warnings (all of these movies are weird/fucked up but some of them contain actual fucked up stuff that like. happened in real life. so below are the triggers for that kind of stuff. All of these films are genuine films, not the gore stuff the internet produces, but some of them because of the country/time period/transgressiveness include content that is inappropriate and/or ethically unacceptable, so I've included those movies below)

Baise-Moi - unsimulated sex scenes which includes SA scenes that actors consented to but characters did not. this proves a feminist point but is still incredibly upsetting and stayed with me for a while as there are close ups and its awful.

In the Realm of the Senses - Please look into this one more before you watch it, I'm not going to describe things in detail because it makes me so uncomfortable but there are some scenes that involve young actors that should not ethically have been in the situations they were put in. The movie is exceptionally well made and from what I know globally respected so I don't know why they had to ruin it for me but whatever.

Pink Flamingos - One infamous scene involves an actual chicken death. It was the early 70s (long time ago and no PETA) and they apparently ate the chicken afterward, so I felt less immoral about this one but still gross.

Melancholie der Engel - okay please genuinely never watch this movie unless you're super into traumatizing yourself and are very desensitized I guess. There's a ton of actual animal abuse in very very graphic/unnecessarily disturbing shock type situations. There's other bad unsimulated stuff but this is the worst of it from what I know.

Love and Meet the Feebles contain scenes that are transphobic and/or racist, which is gross. Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was made by a very bad person. A bunch of the movies also have unsimulated sex stuff, I don't know if that makes anyone uncomfortable but if it does I'm just putting it out there.

[anamelessfool]

Scenes from the Void AU Ages and Timelines Masterpost

Note, this is my AU. Ages and years are different. Also they're Americans. Why? Rule of cool, bro🤘

Primo

b. 1953 New York City d. 2001 Ministry HQ

Irving Robert Olson Parents: Nance and Nihil

Left the Church in 1960 with Nance, returned after her death in 1972.

Bodyguard for Mater Emeritus Jocasta 1972-1979, Groundskeeper/Super for Ministry HQ until elevation

Papa Emeritus: 1994-2000, died from exhaustion caused from the Papa Emeritus Curse

Secondo

b. 1961 Ministry HQ

Michael Aulenbach changed to Michael Leider in 2008 Parents: Rebecca and Nihil

Rebecca passed over for a promotion to Mother Imperator due to her surprise pregnancy (the magic ritual would kill the fetus)

Child prodigy pianist. Tours eastern United States as "Modern Mozart" from the ages of 6 to 10. Piano teacher to this day.

Magician of the Church 1977-2008. Head of the Conclave of Magicians 1990-1999. Papa Emeritus II 2001-2008.

Married Sandra Leider in 2006. Three children Paul (2004), Eden (2010) and Samuel (2013). Left the church in 2008 to help Sandra's family run the Leider Memorial Home. Funeral Director.

Terzo

b. 1965 Milan Ministry location d. March 2018 Ministry HQ

Arsenio Moretti Parents: Nihil and a Catholic novitiate only known as "Maria"

Fathered during Nihil's first major tour of Italy. Mother died and so he was returned to Nihil in the US in 1969.

1984 Last seen at Bishop Camino's funeral in NYC. Missing for two years, returned to Ministry in 1986 and never speaks about it to anyone (except Omega eventually) Now has photography and filmmaking skills.

Director of promotional materials, films Primo's tours 1994-2000. Elevated to Cardinal in 1998. Choir Director until his elevation to Papa Elect in 2004.

Summons Omega in 2005.

Papa Emeritus III 2008-2017. Forcibly removed from office 2017 for [REASONS REDACTED].

First Papa Emeritus formally executed by the Church in 300 years for the crimes of [REDACTED]. (you will have to read hehehe)

Copia

b. 1976???? Unknown

Copia is his real name. Unknown origin. Unknown parents, although raised as prev characters' youngest brother.

Found by Primo in mysterious circumstances in 1979. Parental figure found murdered. (My fic Violence and Gentleness focuses on this mystery)

Raised primarily by Primo. Homeschooled by Rebecca until 13. Secondo is his piano teacher.

He had a very strong bond with both Primo and Secundo and considers them father figures. Primo taught him how to be a moral person and Secondo taught him how to be an intelligent person. Secondo started teaching him piano at the age of five and by fifteen he was learning on the organ.He had an interest in math and science and pursued that at the academic level. He was the first of the family to actually go to a college outside of the Ministry. He graduated top of his class as a CPA in 1997, and immediately began working under the Head Treasurer. He was head treasurer for the Ministry from 2005-2017.

Met Cardinal Marian in 2006 was in a relationship with her until 2017, then back again in 2019.

Elevation to Cardinal 2010. Elevation to Papa Elect 2012. Finally Papa Emeritus upon Nihil's death in 2019.

Nihil

b. 1930 Milwaukee, WI d. 2019 onstage Mexico City

Robert Irving Olson Parents: Betty and Irving

Father gambler and alcoholic. Mother church organist. Church choir and guitarist. Older brother Archie lost at sea in 1946 (WWII Navy). Forced to drop out of school and work to support family in machine shop. Ran away from home in 1947. Rode the rails with the nickname "Zero". Picked up by the Satanic Church of the Void in NYC 1950. Multi-instrumentalist in Bishop Camino's house band until 1958. Odd jobs all throughout his life from taxicab driver, singing telegram, model, busker, roadie, trucker, etc.

Transferred to Ministry HQ thru Bishop Camino's recommendation. Brought Nance and Primo with him. Affair with Rebecca led to Secondo's birth and Nance leaving the church altogether. Elevated to Papa Emeritus 1963. First American Papa since Papa Camino in 1940s. Sister Imperator 's first Construct (after she underwent her magical rite she bestowed on him the Curse to make him Papa). Toured Italy and Europe 1964-1965. Secret bastard child Terzo discovered in 1969.

Got his ghouls terminally addicted to slot machines in 1972, foisted from position for that mistake. Protegee Jocasta took over until 1979.

Personal Assistant to Sister Imperator 1972-1984. Leader of the College of Cardinals 1986-2017. Return to Papa Emeritus 2017-2019.

[bowlzone]

Today's cereal is South Korean Oreo O's!

Initial Impressions: Ever since I heard murmurings from the wider cereal community that the South Korean Oreo O's are the superior take on the concept, they have been at the top of my review list. This review is a chunky one, so the rest is under the cut!

Before we get into my thoughts on the box, let's take a detour back to the ancient history of the 90s to understand why these Oreo O's hit different. The original US run of Oreo O's happened between 1997 and 2007, when Kraft (who own the rights to Oreos) and Post (who own the rights to the cereal recipe) had an acrimonious break up. Both unwilling to give up their respective half of the Oreo O key, Oreo O's ceased production in the US. However, this was not the end, for another Oreo O was made. Kraft acquired a Korean food company, Dongsuh Foods, who had the rights to distribute Post products and so a perfect loophole was found. As of 2017 you can get Oreo O's in the USA again, but they are not the original recipe. It's my understanding that the closest you can still get to the 1990s Oreo O is the Korean version, which is still based on that classic recipe, or close to it. I have no nostalgia for Oreo Os as, despite living in the US during at least some of that time, my parents outlawed the consumption of sugary cereals with an iron fist. Now, as an adult in charge of my own sugar consumption, I have never been so excited to eat something. They start strong with a box that is truly a piece of art, featuring what can only be described as a milk elemental in cool shades. The interior, a shiny silver bag that comes with an immensely appreciated re-sealing sticker, is a lot hardier than the clear cereal bags I'm used to and tests my feeble upper body strength in opening it. The chocolaty aroma already promises a sublime cereal experience.

Post bowl thoughts: poring these into the bowl I immediately noticed that they are much more restrained with their marshmallow pieces (or marbits) than American cereals typically are, perhaps because they know the cereal pieces themselves can carry the bowl. The relatively tasteless marbits instead add a nice textural component to the bite, instead of being a main flavour. The cereal itself is truly the star of the show here, with a rich chocolate flavouring and a satisfying crunch that lasts the whole way through the bowl, resisting any kind of sog. It's interesting as the main grain used here is corn, but it avoids all of the disappointing hollow nothingness of other modern corn cereals. Combined with the milk they really are reminiscent of an Oreo, if slightly missing the texture of the the cream. The milk left in the bowl is fine, but its main contribution is to the texture of each spoon here, so I'm not left disappointed that the final slurp is missing a certain allure. These have immediately unseated American Oreo O's from my top five cereals list. Without the slightly over the top sweetness that the US ones have, it feels like you could keep eating these for hours and never get sick of them. Despite the almost unreasonable excitement I held in my heart for this bowl, it did not disappoint. A fantastic cereal.

[xxx-ang3l-w1th-a-sh0tgun-xxx]

i found this really cool film chart on reddit and thought I'd fill it out!!

(I'm not sure who the original creator is as lots of people have used the template)

as the photo quality is quite bad, here's the list of the films i put on the chart (and some of my opinions/explanations):

favourite film of all time: the perks of being a wallflower (2012)

best script: good will hunting (1997)

favourite poster: fear and loathing in las vegas (1998)

"I'll watch it someday": the godfather (1972) (i WILL get around to watching this i promise)

big personal impact: speak (2004)

best long movie (3hrs+): schindler's list (1993)

you like, but everyone hates: lords of chaos (2018) (okay okay it's bad as it's not very accurate but AS A FILM I think it's good - i like the atmosphere and characters but it definitely shouldn't be treated as a documentary)

you hate, but everyone likes: glass onion (2022) (I'm sorry but i hated this so much lmao)

underrated: on the count of three (2021) (idk if this is underrated but i don't really see people talk about it much. big TW though as it's about su!cide)

overrated: la la land (2016) (honestly i do need to watch this again and tbh idk if it's overrated, i just had nothing else to put in this spot)

"why do i like this?": the babysitter (2017) (okay fine, the only reason why i like this film is because of samara weaving. she's hot okay?)

great soundtrack: how to train your dragon (2010) (all 3 films have great soundtracks but the first one is the most memorable for me)

that cinematography...: 1917 (2019)

bad day cure: bridesmaids (2011)

favourite protagonist: mrs doubtfire (1993)

favourite trilogy/series: the hunger games (2012) (not including the ballad of songbirds & snakes as i don't like that one as much as the first 4)

biggest letdown: downsizing (2017) (i expected it to be at least okay and it was so bad i couldn't even watch the whole thing)

biggest surprise: the little prince (2015) (i only watched it because it popped up on netflix. let's just say i cried so much i couldn't even see the ending of the movie /pos)

"not the best but having fun": house of wax (2005)

criminally overlooked: the crow (1994) (i don't see many people talking about this and i think people forget the actual plot and why eric draven is going after all those people. it's actually quite sad but SO good)

depressing movie: requiem for a dream (2000) (i found it so hard to pick my favourite depressing movie as i love sad stuff so much but this film is just, a lot? like ugh it's depressing and I'll never forget that ending. watching this should be considered a form of self hárm /j)

favourite active director: fight club (1999) - david fincher (idk if he's still 'active' but i think his most recent film came out last year?)

favourite animated movie: coraline (2009)

"not usually my thing but...": all quiet on the western front (2022) (war movies aren't usually my thing but this was really good)

PLEASE read/look at this it took forever😭😭 /nf/lh

[greensparty]

My Concert History: Foo Fighters UPDATED

Periodically I do a rundown of my concert history of seeing a particular artist. In 2018, I did my concert history of Foo Fighters, but since then I actually need to update the list. Timing couldn't be better with their show at Fenway Park tomorrow, which I'll be at...and have to update this list again! Here now is the update concert history since that 2018 history was published:

- WBCN River Rave 6/8/1997 @ Great Woods (Mansfield, MA)

I didn’t catch any of Foo Fighters’ shows in 1995-96, but I wasn’t going to miss out when The Colour and the Shape was released. Taylor Hawkins had just joined the band, and it was a few months before Pat Smear left the band. The WBCN River Rave also featured Matthew Sweet, Morphine, Fiona Apple, Porno for Pyros, Primus, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Moby just to name a few. Their set was mostly the songs off the first 2 albums. One of the highlights of the festival!

- HMV Records 11/1/1999 @ HMV (New York, NY)

Me meeting Dave Grohl at their HMV in-store

Chris Shiflett had just joined the band. When There is Nothing Left to Lose was released, they did promotional blitz in NYC that included an in-store appearance at HMV. My ex-GF and I traveled down from MA to NYC for this. The band performed for about 40 min. mostly off the new album. Then the band signed copies of the new album and I got to meet them (read all about it here).

- WBCN Xmas Rave 12/1/1999 @ Orpheum Theater (Boston, MA)

Only a month after I got to meet the band, I saw them at the WBCN Xmas Rave, which also featured At the Drive-In and Ben Harper. They played about 13 songs, mostly hits and new album. Great show!

- 4/2/2000 @ Mullins Center (Amherst, MA)

They co-headlined a tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers (my first time seeing RHCP) with opening act Muse. Drove out to UMass Amherst to see this show. It was really cool to see the Foo Fighters in a much bigger venue, a preview of some of the arenas I’d see them in later. RHCP drummer Chad Smith came out and joined them on a second drum kit for “My Hero”.

- 7/3/2003 @ Hammerstein Ballroom (New York, NY)

Even though the band in retrospect isn’t a fan of their 2002 album One By One, its one of my favorites. Promoting the album, the band played 2 shows at Hammerstein with openers My Morning Jacket and Pete Yorn. They did quite a bit of the One By One album and during “Everlong”, a fan apparently proposed during that song!?! 

- Fuse TV Special 6/14/2005 @ Fuse TV studios (New York, NY)

Technically this is not a concert I saw, but I’ll explain why it made the list. I was working at the music video cable TV channel Fuse in 2005 just as the double album In Your Honor had been released. The band was doing a promotional blitz in NYC and stopped by Fuse to do a live performance 7th Avenue Drop show. I tried to go down to see them, but even as an employee and knowing so many people, I wasn’t able to go to the studio due to the capacity limit. But my friend who was working there, managed to get Dave Grohl’s guitar pick for me! Hence it being listed here even though it wasn't an official show I saw.

- 10/14/2005 @ Continental Airlines Arena (Rutherford, NJ)

My girlfriend (who became my wife) and two friends made the trek to NJ to see this co-headlining tour with Weezer and opening act Hot Hot Heat. This was a fantastic show, but the big highlight of the night was when they brought out special guest Roger Taylor of Queen, who played drums on the cover of “Tie Your Mother Down”, which Taylor Hawkins sang on. So much for “Never Meet Your Idols”! 

- 8/21/2006 @ Beacon Theater (New York, NY)

In 2006 they went on an intimate acoustic tour of theaters. I went to the Beacon Theater show with Frank Black (of The Pixies) opening. Further musicians they brought on this tour included Rami Jaffee (who became an official member in 2017), Petra Haden, Drew Hester and returning Foo Fighter Pat Smear, who officially returned as a member in 2010. It was almost like an episode of Storytellers as Dave Grohl talked about some of the songs and their meaning. Very special show!

- 2/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

After the release of Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, the band began playing much larger venues. At this MSG show, Serj Tankian (of System of a Down) and Against Me! opened. Some of the additional musicians who played the 2006 acoustic tour came out for an acoustic section of the show that included the very first Triangle solo in MSG history from their percussionist. 

- 11/13/2011 @ Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

By the time of 2011′s album Wasting Light, Pat Smear was back as an official band member. For their NYC show at MSG, the openers were The Joy Formidable and Social Distortion. They brought out a few special guests: Bob Mould of Husker Du played on “Dear Rosemary” and “Breakdown” (the Tom Petty song); and Joan Jett came out and did her song “Bad Reputation” with the band. The band also did Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh”.

- 7/19/2015 @ Fenway Park (Boston, MA)

Obligatory concert selfie of me and my friend Tim with Foo Fighters behind us!

After the 2014 album and HBO series Sonic Highways, I hoped Boston would be an upcoming episode / recording. While on tour to promote the album, just a few weeks earlier, Dave Grohl broke his leg onstage, so for the remainder of the tour he performed on a throne. Even if he was sitting the whole time, it was one hell of a show (read my concert review here). Openers were Royal Blood and Dropkick Murphys. Highlights of the show included Grohl’s surgeon Dr. Lew Schon, who came out and sang The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” with the band; a brief cover of The Cars’ “Let’s Go”; a cover of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”, and Godsmack’s Sully Erna joining for Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”. 

7/21/2018 @ Fenway Park (Boston, MA)

my friend Ron, Wally the Green Monster and me at Fenway Park

Taylor Hawkins onstage with Foo Fighters

My second time seeing them at Fenway Park, but this show was very special because I won a contest and got tickets to the show and got to stay at the nearby Verb Hotel and also earlier in the weekend I got to see Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett doing a solo show at City Winery. I wish I could have this experience more often to get to see a musician in a small intimate setting and then see them rock out in a stadium with a band (read my concert review here). My buddy Ron came up and we had a great time! Openers included Boston's The Monsieurs (who I interviewed earlier in the month) and UK's The Struts. Highlights of this show included a cover of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" with Taylor Hawkins singing along with The Struts singer Luke Spiller, the band doing a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" musically while singing Van Halen's "Jump" along with producer Greg Kurstin on piano, and Grohl's daughter Violet (12 at the time) on back-up vocals. Looking back it was one of the best Taylor Hawkins' performances as he also did a drum solo.

Boston Calling 5/23/2023 @ Harvard Athletic Complex (Boston, MA)

Foo Fighters on stage

me in my happy place: watching Foo Fighters

I attended Day of the 2023 Boston Calling festival (read my review here). Foo Fighters' headlined that night of the festival. This was a little over a year after the passing of Taylor Hawkins and only a week after they announced new drummer Josh Freese. Much of this show was about the band breaking in Josh but remembering Taylor. They paid tribute to Taylor with Dave singing “Cold Day in the Sun” (which Taylor sang) and to my surprise they performed “Aurora” because it was Taylor’s favorite Foo Fighter song (I haven’t seen them do that song live since 2003). For “Shame, Shame”, Dave introduced his 17 year-old daughter Violet. The highlight of the night (that got national attention from numerous news and music outlets) was Taylor’s 17 year-old son Shane guest drumming on “This is a Call”. 

Me just hanging out with Mr. Chris Shiflett in 2018

In addition to all of these shows I recounted, I also saw Dave Grohl with Them Crooked Vultures in 2009, Taylor Hawkins with the Coattail Riders in 2006 and 2010, and Chris Shiflett in 2018.

After I see tomorrow's show I'll have to update this concert history!

[mogwai-movie-house]

A Film A Year

Going through an old hard drive today I found this almost-completed list from 2015 in which I'd set myself the task of choosing a single film for each year of the preceding hundred. It was interesting to see in what ways my tastes had changed and just how many more films I'd discovered and fallen in love with in the meantime.

Anyways, I thought I'd finish it off and update it to the present: I very much tried to keep it to just one film per year, but the competition some years was just too high so they've had to share joint first places:

1915 A Night In The Show 1916 The Vagabond 1917 Easy Street 1918 A Dog's Life 1919 Sunnyside 1920 One Week 1921 The Kid 1922 Dr Mabuse, The Gambler 1923 Safety Last / Why Worry? 1924 Sherlock Jr / The Last Laugh 1925 The Gold Rush 1926 The General 1927 Sunrise / Seventh Heaven 1928 The Last Command / Steamboat Jr. / The Man Who Laughs / The Passion of Joan of Arc 1929 The Love Parade / Un Chien Andalou / Lucky Star 1930 All Quiet On The Western Front 1931 City Lights/ The Smiling Lieutenant 1932 Horse Feathers / Love Me Tonight 1933 Duck Soup / The Invisible Man 1934 It Happened One Night 1935 The 39 Steps 1936 My Man Godfrey 1937 Nothing Sacred 1938 Adventures Of Robin Hood / Pygmalion 1939 The Cat And The Canary / The Wizard of Oz / The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1940 His Girl Friday / Pinocchio 1941 Citizen Kane / The Maltese Falcon / Dumbo / Sullivan's Travels 1942 Casablanca 1943 Le Corbeau 1944 Arsenic & Old Lace 1945 Les Enfants du Paradis / And Then There Were None 1946 A Matter of Life and Death 1947 Black Narcissus 1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1949 The Third Man / Kind Hearts & Coronets 1950 Sunset Blvd. / La Ronde 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire 1952 Singin' In The Rain / Le Plaisir 1953 Calamity Jane 1954 Hobson's Choice 1955 The Night Of The Hunter /The Ladykillers 1956 The Searchers 1957 The Seventh Seal 1958 Vertigo 1959 North By Northwest / Ballad of A Soldier 1960 Psycho / The Virgin Spring / Two Women 1961 Breakfast At Tiffanys 1962 Le Doulos 1963 The Great Escape / The Birds 1964 Onibaba 1965 For A Few Dollars More 1966 Blow Up 1967 Le Samourai / Cool Hand Luke 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid 1970 Le Cercle Rouge 1971 Get Carter / Harold & Maude 1972 The Godfather 1973 Don't Look Now 1974 The Godfather Part II / Chinatown 1975 Jaws / The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1976 Network 1977 Star Wars / Annie Hall 1978 Halloween / Superman 1979 Apocalypse Now / Alien / Life Of Brian / Manhattan 1980 Stardust Memories / Raging Bull 1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark 1982 Blade Runner / The Thing 1983 The Dead Zone / Zelig 1984 Ghostbusters / The Terminator / Blood Simple 1985 Back To The Future 1986 Hannah & Her Sisters / The Fly 1987 Withnail & I / Wings of Desire 1988 Dangerous Liaisons 1989 Crimes & Misdemeanors / Dead Poets Society 1990 Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of The Lambs / Terminator 2 1992 Reservoir Dogs / The Player 1993 Schindler's List / Groundhog Day 1994 Pulp Fiction 1995 Se7en / Casino / The Usual Suspects 1996 Fargo 1997 LA Confidential / Grosse Point Blank / Boogie Nights 1998 The Truman Show / Happiness / Buffalo '66 1999 American Beauty / Magnolia / Being John Malkovich / Fight Club 2000 Memento 2001 Mulholland Drive / The Royal Tennenbaums / The Piano Teacher 2002 Adaptation / The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2003 Lost In Translation 2004 Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind / The Life Aquatic 2005 Me & You & Everyone We Know 2006 The Prestige / Perfume 2007 No Country For Old Men / There Will Be Blood 2008 The Dark Knight / Let The Right One In / Tropic Thunder 2009 Cold Souls / Up / Zombieland 2010 I Saw The Devil / The Ghost Writer 2011 The Hidden Face 2012 The Avengers 2013 Her 2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel / The Winter Soldier 2015 The Survivalist / The Lobster 2016 Like Crazy 2017 Coco 2018 Deadpool 2 2019 The Irishman 2020 Kajillionaire 2021 The French Dispatch 2022 The Banshees of Inisherin

[nickmaghighlights]

NMH Side Issues - Rugrats Comic Adventures

Welcome back to Nick Mag Highlights! And by extension: Welcome back to Nick Mag Highlights Side Issues, the series on this blog where I check out other magazines or comic books that are notably not Nickelodeon Magazine, but still scratch a similar itch. Today we’re taking a look at the very first issue of Rugrats Comic Adventures, based on the iconic Nickelodeon show.

But first, let’s run down the history checklist. This series ran for about three years, from 1997 to 2000, spanning a total of thirty issues housed in three ten-issue volumes. That would put the release of this first issue around the time of the fourth season of the show. In that case, sorry to any Dil fans, as you won’t be seeing him in this issue.

The history and creation of this series is a bit interesting, and although the information available to me disposal is a little scarce, this is my best understanding: you see, Rugrats Comic Adventures was released in America, but it seems like most if not all of its actual content was sourced from an official Rugrats comic book released exclusively for the UK in 1996 (a year earlier than Rugrats Comic Adventures’ release). Said comic was simply titled Rugrats and published by Marvel Comics (yes, that Marvel Comics).

The cover page of issue #1 of Rugrats, published in the UK by Marvel Comics. Credit to Boys Adventure Comics on Blogspot for the image and the information!

As you’ll soon see, the first story in this issue I’m talking about today is the same as the one visible on this cover of UK Rugrats (do all UK comics print the first page on the front cover?) And according to the aforementioned Blogspot source, there were allegedly thirty issues released of this UK comic, which conveniently lines up with the thirty issues released of Rugrats Comic Adventures. A conspiracy? Maybe… 

The only problem is I don’t have a scan of any of the Rugrats UK comics at my disposal, so I can’t confirm if the contents between the issues of the UK and US series are the same, unfortunately. So hey, if we’re lucky, there may be content in store for us that was made specifically for Comic Adventures that those British-types just wish they could have gotten. Maybe.

But I digress. As some of you may know, this wouldn’t be the last time Rugrats would enter the world of comics. In 1998 a daily newspaper strip based on the show was launched, lasting until 2003 and outliving Comic Adventures by three years. The show’s sequel series All Grown Up also had multiple comic outings made specially for Nickelodeon Magazine, and in 2017, Boom! Studios began publishing a new Rugrats comic series which totaled to eight issues and three longer special issues. But how did these characters fare in their first foray into comic stardom? Let’s check it out!

Oh, and before we dive in, I’d like to make one thing clear: I am not a Rugrats superfan. I’ve seen my fair share of episodes of course (with how constantly Nickelodeon played it, how could I not?) But I'm just saying I may not catch specific references if there are any, or like if a comic here reuses a plot from an episode of the show, for instance. Though if anyone reading does catch a cool detail I miss, I'd love to hear about it! 

You can read the full issue here.

So it looks like it’s five comics on the agenda today, along with two extra pages all about Chuckie and Angelica. That’s not a bad deal! It’s more material than I bargained for, that’s for sure.

I’m pretty optimistic going into this one. I mean, check out that art! It looks just like the show. And while I can't find any credits in the book, Think some employees of Klasky Csupo had a hand in the material here?

So the story goes, Angelica sort of gets left in charge of the babies, thanks to Tommy's mom. And naturally Angelica's quick to abuse her miniscule ounce of power and starts running the backyard like a military academy. A fine premise, and a pretty low-stakes story befitting a quick comic (well, lower than the stakes a show about babies can usually have, anyway).

There are two details that kind of throw me off though, namely being: the dialogue and… Angelica, I guess?

Dialogue-wise, everybody's pretty talkative here and that's okay. Angelica's on point, barking orders in her usual bratty way. But all the babies are rather verbose today, aren't they? I think one of the most memorable details of Rugrats personally is the characters' loose grip on language. Pretty much every line from one of the babies in the show has at least one grammatical error or made-up word, and it's charming! Here though, all the dialogue is written in perfect English, and once you notice it, you can’t forget it.

You'd think Tommy's newfound eloquence would have Chuckie trust his plan a bit more.

Now, onto Angelica. Simply put: they made her look insane in this comic! I mean just take a look at the two pages I posted prior and see what I mean. Orrrr… I suppose you could look a this collage I made for the same result:

Yes, these are all from the same comic. Even Tommy’s scared.

This may be my lack of Rugrats knowledge shining through again but I really don’t remember her being portrayed with a huge bulbous overbite like that. Or with that many teeth. Don’t get me wrong though, I can totally get behind some funny off-model art that I bet the artist had fun drawing. That’s what they refer to in the industry as a “win-win”.

But yeah, overall a pretty solid first story, which is either elevated or dishonored by taking certain artistic liberties. Depends on who you ask. I’m on Team Elevated.

Next up is a bio on Chuckie. I didn’t think there was much to share regarding the personal intricacies of a literal two-year-old, and apparently the writers here agreed, seeing as how they had to resort to doxxing the poor kid just to fill their fact quota for this page. 446 “Braintree” Lane? Weird name, but I guess it’s pretty befitting considering Chuckie’s hair looks like his brain sprouted out of his head. 

Another cool thing of note here is that all the Chuckie facts listed here are actually references to episodes of the show. As a kid it was always an awesome feeling whenever I understood a reference. It simultaneously made me feel smart and seemingly validated my choice to engage in a piece of media. Thumbs ups all around! Thanks, Chuckie.

Second comic of the evening, and actually I found myself really enjoying this one! The gripes I had from the previous comic have been ironed out, and the setting of the story is pretty interesting and leads to a lot of fun and creative moments. The short and long of it is Tommy and the other babies accidentally end up riding on the baggage carousel of an airport and getting mixed up with all of the machinery. Naturally, instead of getting smushed and ripped apart by the gears and mechanisms like boring real babies would, the gang ends up having the time of their lives, all the while believing they’re actually at a carnival.

Fun it is, indeed! As I said, my issues with the last comic have been effectively taken care of. All the characters are speaking as they should, dropping some funny misspellings for words like “skelitom” for skeleton and “loudsneaker” for loudspeaker. The art here is way less unhinged as well, probably because there’s no Angelica in it. There’s still some funky shots though, like long-arm Tommy here:

A fine addition to the issue in my opinion, and it even comes with cameos from Tommy’s maternal grandparents, Boris and Minka. Boris doesn’t speak a word, but he is sporting his original design that features small dot-eyes, which is a detail that would be dropped later on in the series.

I guess my only question is: why are Chuckie, Phil and Lil here? The obvious answer is because they’re main characters, but they’re not Stu and Didi’s kids, and none of their parents are to be found. I guess the Pickles got stuck babysitting on top of having to pick up the grandparents from the airport. Poor saps.

Oh god, Angelica’s back. At least she’s seemingly sorted out her inflated lip issue from the first story. No, I won't let it go.

Today’s adventure follows the babies as they’re getting their first ever professional photos done. Angelica is there too. These premises have been fine so far, lots of episodes of Rugrats feature the characters tackling normal everyday places they’ve never seen before and don’t understand. A large aspect about the show I also remember however is the extensive imagination sequences. Y’know, where Tommy and the gang imagine the situation they’re in as being way more fantastical than it really is, and their setting and outfits change accordingly? That was always my favorite part of the show and it’s a little weird to see that concept not having made any appearance thus far. I know not every episode had those though, and maybe those imagination sequences were more common in later seasons of the show? I’m not sure. Regardless, that doesn’t degrade the quality of the material, of course. It’s just a thought that came to mind as I was reading. 

Like the others I found this comic to be a pretty good time, although the story’s a little all over the place. The art’s nice as well. I actually found some of the art of the characters here to look somewhat cute, surprisingly. That’s not exactly the kind of term I’d usually use to describe the show’s visuals. Not sure what the artist here did differently specifically, but I did notice that Phil and Lil’s gross crooked baby teeth don’t make an appearance, so that probably helps their easiness on the eyes.

One highlight of this comic is this small moment of divine intervention where Angelica gets attacked by a bird that comes in through an open window. She didn’t really do anything bad this time to deserve it but, eh.

And of course, the gang manages to pull themselves together to finally get that one perfect picture. I appreciate they saved two pages to make this ending shot so big. It’s a really nice way to end things. Another quality story done! Honestly at this point, the issue’s fitted out a pretty positive track record. I’ll be surprised if we see any stinkers in the second half.

Oh and before we move on, I just want to bring up this small interaction from the beginning of the comic. It might be just me, but this moment just strikes me as odd. I probably won’t be able to explain this properly, but just hear me out: It’s a little weird to see Tommy and Chuckie acknowledge they’re not really talking, right? Like, yeah it’s always been established in the show that the babies are not actually speaking real language ‘cause the parents never hear them, but it’s not something you ever see them bring up and reference. Acknowledging that their form of communication is basically fake… Also the fact that they comprehend what speech is and are aware that what they’re doing isn’t that? I dunno, I might just be overthinking this. It’s too meta!

And up next, it’s what I think miiiiiiight be my favorite comic of the issue? Not entirely sure, it’s a toss up between either this one or the airport one. 

The story is as follows: The Pickles are having their whole house repainted. As usual, the kids just can’t bear to keep their noses out whatever is currently going on in their immediate area. So, Tommy enlists the help of the gang to use all the excess paint cans to repaint his entire room with an extravagant picture.

Like the airport comic this one has lots of dialogue between the four kids, and everyone gets their fair share of good lines. Chuckie does kind of come across as a little more whiny than usual here if only for the fact he never actually helps at all, outside of helping Phil and Lil save Tommy from smashing his head on the floor with a blanket.

”We- We’ve been… Greened!” might be my favorite line of the whole issue.

And as one could expect, the group made up of 0-to-2-year olds don’t exactly succeed in professionally painting the entire room. However, they instead manage to mess up in just the perfect way to still achieve the result they wanted. Being serious, this is genuinely a pretty wholesome ending and Tommy’s parents also being happy with the result is equally humorous and sweet. 

Yeah, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure this is my favorite story of the issue. Tons of great lines and gags, a sweet ending, and a major appearance of my favorite character from the show, Grandpa Lou. A good show all around!

Well, after my high praise of the previous post, I guess that means this last comic has something to live up to. And yeah, under that lens, this comic isn’t going to be usurping my #1 favorite spot. Viewed on its own, however, and… eh, still doesn’t really do anything for me.

This one has Tommy accidentally getting stuck on top of his dad’s new custom stunt kite as it gets blown away by a gust of wind, flying him through town. Already that plot is kinda off, to me at least. I know it’s a show about talking babies and everything but the show never really got that cartoonish in its logic, at least to my recollection. Tommy must have to be basically hollow on the inside for the kite to get that kind of air with him sitting on top of it.

On the positive side of things: the art is really good! Each panel sports its own unique camera angle which gives the comic some nice visual variety. The coloring and details on all the backgrounds, likewise, are lovely to look at. Overall this presentation makes for a very extravagant ending for the comic, at least in the art department. And to top it all off, it's even got the return of long arm Tommy:

But again, in regards to the story… Even if you’re willing to accept the weird logic of it all, the actual plot isn’t super entertaining. Tommy flies around a bit, some people see him and are surprised, while Angelica’s down below using Stu’s radio trying to order Tommy to land. It’s just a bit lacking in substance compared to the other stories we’ve looked at. If you’re going to do a story like this, you might as well go all in. Like, have all the babies on the kite and pretend they’re a flight crew. Y'know, some real Snoopy-type stuff.

And of course, Tommy makes it back down to the ground just in time before his Dad can notice a thing (although it’s not like he really had control of the kite anyway, I think?)

But that’s about all I’ve got to say on this one. Not the great ending one would have hoped for, but it looks nice at least. Come to think of it, Stu could make a killing off that kite considering the amount of weight it can hold. If only he knew…

And last but… not least? It’s a guide from Angelica on how to play house. I was kind of hoping for another character bio like what Chuckie had, since then we’d at least be able to learn her weaknesses and have a chance of vanquishing her evil once and for all. But alas, this is cool too, and it has a mention of her friend Susie, who had been a character in the show for a couple years now by this point but didn’t manage to make an actual physical appearance in the issue.

Bit of an odd way to end the issue, being honest, but eh, it’s a little funny.

And before we wrap it up I’d like to bring up the little legal disclaimer here on the final page, confirming that all these comics were indeed sourced from the origins Marvel-published UK Rugrats issues.

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? I was a little skeptical going into it, but I think this turned out to be a pretty good choice for another installment of Side Issues. It had a history lesson opportunity, some great art, and a lot to talk about. Everything you could want, at least if you write blog posts about old Nickelodeon-related publications in your spare time, anyway. 

And hey, there’s more to this series than what I’ve shown you today, too. Did you know the last issue featured a crossover between Rugrats and Rocket Power, another one of Klasky Csupo’s shows?

That’s pretty cool! And also a little odd ‘cause I thought Rocket Power took place in Hawaii. This also means the only Nickelodeon-owned Klasky Csupo show that Rugrats didn’t cross over with is As Told by Ginger, and to be fair I’m not sure how you could’ve made that work, so I’ll let it pass.

But yeah, if I check out this comic series again, I think I’ll take a look at this issue. Well, actually if I do check out this series again it’ll have to be this issue, since it’s the only other issue on the Internet Archive I could find. That’s a bummer! Hopefully people’ll find and scan more copies sooner rather than later. The internet will only be around for so long, after all.

This would be where I end things, but while I was working on this post, Nickelodeon announced a new Rugrats game of all things.

It’s a bit of a shock, but I think what’s more shocking is that it looks pretty good! The NES graphics mode does, anyway. The HD drawn graphics you can optionally switch to leave something to be desired. It seems fun! I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.  And apparently Nickelodeon’s got a couple more retro-styled games in the works, so I’m excited to see where this goes.

That about does it for this episode of Nick Mag Highlights! I’ll see you all next time, where I’ll most certainly be checking out another issue of the actual magazine this blog is named after. Probably. See you later, and have a good one!

[therealriver1]

The Last and Final Part 4/4

⦁ Rogue 2007 (This one has got to be one of my favorite killer croc movies set in the Australian outback) ⦁ Pitch Black 2000 (If you liked Doom then you'll love this sci-fi/horror film starring Vin Diesel) ⦁ National Treasure 2004 (A thrilling adventure film starring Nicholas Cage. If you liked Relic Hunter, you might enjoy this one) ⦁ There's Something About Mary 1998 (All the men are in love with Cameron Diaz in this wacky rom-com) ⦁ The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants 2005 (A cult classic that keeps me smiling from ear to ear) ⦁ From Dusk till Dawn 1996 (A creepy film about killer vampires directed by Robert Rodriguez) ⦁ Drag Me to Hell (Also check out Sam Raimi's Evil Dead if you like horror) ⦁ Columbiana 2011 (Zoe Saldaña is absolutely badass in this action-packed thriller) ⦁ Chef 2014 (Food porn. All the food looked so good it had me salivating! A charming film starring Jon Favreau and Sofía Vergara) ⦁ Splice 2009 (A sci-fi film starring Adrien Brody performing controversial science experiments. This movie is not meant for sensitive viewers) ⦁ Fright Night (I never watched the original that was released in 1985 but this one starring Colin Farrel as the bad guy was pretty good) ⦁ The Beach (A film that you need to watch at least once starring Leonardo DiCaprio) ⦁ Gorgeous 1999 (A feel-good comedy/action film that is lighthearted starring Jackie Chan and Shu Qi) ⦁ National Security 2003 (A fun action film starring Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn as security guards) ⦁ E.T Extraterrestrial 1982 (A charming alien film from director Steven Spielberg. We used to have the DVD at home, and I would watch it all the time) ⦁ A.I Artificial Intelligence 2001 (A futuristic fantasy film about a robot child that wants to become a real boy much like Pinocchio. A real gem of a movie that had me crying at the ending) ⦁ The Devil's Advocate 1997 (Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino as the devil. Need I say more?) ⦁ Interview With a Vampire 1994 (Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as vampires. That's all I'm going to say) ⦁ Bicentennial Man 1999 (A touching film starring the late Robin Williams as a robot butler) ⦁ Norbit 2007 (Eddie Murphy as Rasputia was so funny you will laugh out loud!) ⦁ Malibu's Most Wanted 2003 (I might say this one is a guilty pleasure but so is everything else on this list) ⦁ Kung Fu Hustle 2004 (If you still haven't watched this please do. This wild lighthearted comedy makes for a good time) ⦁ Enter The Dragon 1973 (A Bruce Lee classic that is a must-see!) ⦁ Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars 1985 (Starring Summo Hung and Jackie Chan this is one of my favorite action comedies to watch) ⦁ The One 2001 (Jet Li playing multiple versions of himself was so cool) ⦁ Hide and Seek 2005 (Robert De Niro & Dakota Fanning were both great. You need to see this if you haven't) ⦁ The Rundown 2003 (Great action flick starring Dwayne Johnson) ⦁ Nacho Libre (Jack Black is so funny in this movie, it was really entertaining to watch) ⦁ John Tucker Must Die 2006 (A playful comedy that's fun to watch) ⦁ Shanghai Noon 2000 (Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson make such a fun duo) ⦁ Ghost Ship 2002 (Ghosts on a ship! Need a say more?) ⦁ Space Sweepers 2021 (A great Korean film 8/10! I liked it very much I just don't know why it took me so long to watch it) ⦁ Game of Death 1978 (A gripping action film starring the late martial artist Bruce Lee makes this another classic to watch) ⦁ Shaolin Soccer 2001 (Another fun comedy from Stephen Chow, the same director that gave us Kung Fu Hustle. This movie is equally hilarious) ⦁ Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018 (There are so many Star Wars movies and I enjoyed all of them but there are just too many to mention) ⦁ Star Trek 2009 (A solid movie in my opinion and a great franchise) ⦁ Letters To Juliet 2010 (I got to see this in the cinema and thought it was such a sweet rom-com) ⦁ Thor Ragnarok 2017 (Yes, I liked the first Thor movie, but I liked Ragnarok more)

We have finally reached a conclusion! Phew, it felt like that list went on forever! That was my version of memorable movies to watch, and I am quite satisfied with my selection. I added a lot more older movies to my list because I felt like they were better back then. Every new release that I've watched recently has fallen short of my expectations, the quality is just not the same as it was back then. Every time I watch a new movie it just feels like something is missing. Maybe my standards are just too high. I will say I am picky person when it comes to what I watch and invest my time in hence I've decided to stay away from films for now. I will stick to watching tv shows and hopefully 2024 has better options for us this year. If a new movie does however pique my interest, I will be sure to rave about it to everyone.

Thanks for reading and take care!

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 56: The Writer's Barely-Disguised Fetish (part 2)

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! Yesterday I went over some of the bizarre fetish-y type stuff that appeared throughout the series, and tried very hard not to kink-shame everyone. I also covered the more vanilla stuff that might not be typically considered fetishes, but were written enough by Ken Penders to at least be worthy of discussion. Today I’m going to continue to go over some of the tamer stuff, but this time looking at the two other guys who wrote the most for ArchieSonic: Karl Bollers and Ian Flynn. Hopefully today's discussion will not leave you wanting a shower like yesterday. xD

Episode 56: The Writer's Barely-Disguised Fetish (part 2)

Moving on from Ken Penders, our next writer is Karl Bollers, who wrote for the comics from 1997 - 2005. Bollers was a little harder to pin down any fetishes or writing habits for. A lot of people criticise him for the romance triangle between Sonic, Sally and Mina that made up a large chunk of his time on the book, but that apparently came from editorial mandate. I asked for some help with this one too, and the only real suggestion I got was once again from Aleah Baker (thanks Aleah): “90’s slang, especially overuse of the word, 'like.'”

This makes sense given that Karl was actually writing for the comics during the 90’s, and back then Sonic was very much a character who frequently used that kind of slang and had a bunch of catchphrases. Have you ever watched Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, or the fan-named SatAM cartoon? Those versions of Sonic had a barrage of cool-guy-90’s-slang. “Let’s go, bro! Let’s speed, keed! Let’s buzz, cuz! Let’s do it to it! It’s juice time! It’s juice and jam time! It’s jelly and jam time!”

…you get the idea. So yeah, it fit the time. Mostly. There were instances where that kind of language didn’t quite fit right, and one example Aleah pointed out was Eggman referring to his brother Colin Kintobor as “See-Kay.”

Again, this wasn’t entirely uncommon in the 90’s - there were any number of “hip” or “cool” characters in 90’s media who’d refer to a character by their initial or initials. Faith the Vampire Slayer comes to mind, who often called Buffy “B.” Or one-shot character Roy on The Simpsons, who called Homer “Mr. S.” I think in this case it might have been less noticeable had this been printed as “C.K.” rather than “See–Kay.” Printed as it was, I’d say it’s possible some readers had no idea what it meant (it certainly took 2001-me a few reads to figure it out). So yeah, this one isn’t entirely a bad thing and I think it was appropriate enough for the time it came out, but looking back at it sometimes it feels like Bollers was channelling...

That just leaves Ian Flynn, who wrote for ArchieSonic from 2006 all the way up to the series’ cancellation in 2017. And we all know the sick, twisted stuff that guy is into… 

…that’s right. References. So. Many. References! Truly, Ian is the greatest monster of them all. :P Some of these references are extremely obvious...

…while some are more obscure, such as Bean calling out moves from Sonic Riders...

...or Sonic asking Tails and Amy to do their “spinny thing” attacks from Sonic Adventure.

One particular type of reference Ian is known for is sneaking song lyrics from Sonic music into the dialogue. He’s done this A LOT more frequently in IDW Sonic, but he snuck it into ArchieSonic occasionally too.

Another “fetish” that Ian had while writing for ArchieSonic was reintroducing old, long-forgotten characters and finding new purposes for them. Some of these were from the old ArchieSonic days, such as the former Substitute Freedom Fighters...

...Monkey Khan...

...the Iron King and Queen...

...and pretty much everyone on the Secret Freedom Fighters team, including Shard the Metal Sonic.

Shard was an extremely interesting case, as he was reintroduced with a different design - that of Metal Sonic from Sonic Rivals 2. Another neat reference! Ian also introduced characters from Sonic’s past that had never been seen before in the comics, such as Bean and Bark from Sonic the Fighters...

...the Battlebird Armada from Tails Adventure..

...and even Breezie from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog!

And each time Ian brought back any of these long-forgotten characters the readers responded with delight, because we’re all just as sick and twisted as he is. 😀

(Also, the cojones on that man for being nerdy enough to dare to put a Sonic the Fighters adaptation inside a Sonic Unleashed adaptation? Mad respect, my man!)

Alright, I think we’ve covered more than enough on this topic. Were there any other fetishes (or "fetishes") I missed? Let me know in the comments! Thanks again to Aleah Baker for her suggestions on this one - I honestly had nothing for Karl Bollers. I hope I haven’t traumatised all of you too much with this episode, because it was a lot. And unfortunately I’m not entirely finished with it either, as I’ll be bringing back one of the previously mentioned fetishes for the next episode: “Can’t eat favourite food.” I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

[karmaphone]

Liz's Incomplete, Non-Comprehensive Horror Movie Rec List

I'm still actively watching horror movies, especially classics.

Some movies belong in multiple categories. I put them in the category I consider them First in (ie I consider Nightmare on Elm Street a funny film before a supernatural or classic film.)

*Movie Titles With Asterisks* indicate a personal favorite.

Originally made for @draculagerard for funsies, but anyone is welcome to pick over my recs and tell me what you think!

Supernatural

*Insidious (2010)*

*Insidious II (2013)*

Insidious III (2015)

*Insidious IV (2018)*

Insidious V (out in theaters)

*The Conjuring (2013)*

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

1922 (2017)

*Mama (2013)*

*The Ring (2002)*

The Lazarus Effect (2015)

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House (2016) <- this one wasn't scary at all to me and in fact only had one loud or potentially jumpscare-esque scene (some think it's boring)

*The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)* <- this one is actually a series but I couldn't not include it

*Silent Hill (2006)*

Silent Hill II (2012) <- not as cool as the first, unfortunately. a little bit of a let down ngl

Thriller

Bird Box (2018)

The Boy (2016)

Hush (2016)

M3gan (2022)

*Nope (2022)*

Orphan (2009)

Circle (2015)

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

*The Cell (2000)* <- one of my all-time favorite movies. it was brilliant imo

Before I Wake (2016)

The Babadook (2014)

The Aniara (2018) <- this one was rlly depressing pls make sure ur in a good place before watching

Apollo 18 (2011)

Funny

*Hellraiser (1987)*

Hellraiser II (1988)

The Cell II (2009) <- terrible terrible sequel to one of my favorite films ever they did them so dirty you can even see a bent rubber axe blade they forgot to edit out

The Cube (1997)

The Cube II (2002)

Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

*Errementari (2017)* <- this is the only movie I've ever seen in Basque!

Classic Horror <- I personally didn't think any of these were Especially Great except maybe the exorcist

Children of the Corn (1984)

Friday the 13th (1980)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Movies I Haven't Seen But My Wife Insists Be On The List

The Thing (1982) <- I really gotta watch that one huh

The Blob (1958)

Train to Busan (2016)

Jaws (1975)

[tgon]

Ghosts of Fear Street, Fright Christmas | Review

Title: Ghosts of Fear Street #15 – Fright Christmas Author: Stephen Roos (as by R.L. Stine) Cover Artist: John Youssi

INTRODUCTION

The cover artwork got my hopes up. Never before has Silent Night looked so loud loud loud! Unfortunately the plot is less interesting. The ghostwriter must have organized a White Elephant Plot Exchange, because the entire story is lifted from A Christmas Carol. It’s safe to assume R.L. Stine forgot this book exists, too, because he penned his own adaptation of the Dickens classic in 2017 entitled Young Scrooge.

I was fully prepared to skip this book. Bah humbug. But last night I was visited by The Ghost Of Christmas Past. The spectre said unto me, “Fright Christmas had an audiobook adaptation in 1997 starring Kieran Culkin. This wasn’t the most successful Christmas project for the Culkins, but skipping it could be seen as an insult. If they have the power to put a star in Hollywood Boulevard for Macaulay, think about how easily they could put you in the ground!”

Well, I’ve had a sudden change of heart. Let’s give this book a chance! One last toast to has-been ghosts, the review will be soon.

STORY REVIEW

Kenny Frobisher is less of a “peace on earth” guy and more of a “piece of work” guy. When his sister visits Santa in the mall, Kenny spoils the occasion by calling it all fake. He even rips Mall Santa’s beard off! Maybe Kenny is banking on the resale value of coal. Anyways, Kenny wisely dips out after the beard stunt sparks a child riot. He sneaks into a secret control room, pushing past a big sign that says DANGER! KEEP OUT! So maybe Kenny is also banking on the resale value of Darwin Awards.

Kenny decides to flip some random switches, which was quality entertainment in a pre-internet America. This great plan backfires when Kenny locks himself in. Kenny fears that the ghostwriter is copying another story from the 1840s ⁠— until the door mysteriously creaks open. He emerges to discover an abandoned mall. He must have stayed past closing time. Or maybe he timetraveled to the early 2020s.

Santa rises from the shadows, but this fella ain’t holly-jolly. He looks ticked. Truly chilling. If that doesn’t scare you, have you considered SANTA is an anagram for SATAN? Truly chilling. Kenny yanks down on Santa’s beard, but this one doesn’t detach. Uh oh. Santa reprimands Kenny for his naughtiness and warns that the boy will be visited by three spirits. Kenny flees to Dalby’s Department Store, which is a cute bit of continuity, as this store is an important location in the main Fear Street series. Kenny decides it’s a super good time to nap on one of the luxury beds. Yes he’s trapped in a mall and haunted by ghosts, but it’s 8:59 (PM!!) and he’s sleepy, dagnabbit.

Kenny wakes up to the revving of a motorcycle. He meets an intimidating biker named Night Watchman. The guy claims he’s been watching Kenny all the time, but I guess “All Hours Watchman” doesn’t sound cool. This dude shows Kenny a flashback, a day when Kenny bullied some kid named “Tiny Timmy” in front of the whole school. Of course, Kenny enjoys revisiting this memory. To keep his grip on the situation, Night Watchman simply rams Kenny with his bike. Truly an underrated rhetorical strategy.

Eyes snapping open, Kenny finds himself back in the department store. The bed has been torn to shreds. He meets a wintery ghost named Ice Man. This fixes a huge problem in the original Dickens story: the total lack of wrestler-style character names. Ice Man whisks Kenny away to show him how the Frobishers are handling Christmas Eve without their son. Kenny’s sister seems pretty upset, but Mr. Frobisher offers helpful advice such as

“These things happen, honey.”

Think that sounds cold? Turns out, the family is only sad because their dog is lost. They haven’t even noticed Kenny is gone. I guess if you live on Fear Street, you develop an Oregon Trail mindset. Sometimes we have two kids, sometimes we have one kid, oh well what can you do.

Kenny is woken once more, this time by techno lights and crazy music, and he finds himself in an open grave. After all, you can’t spell GRAVE without RAVE. There’s also an unknown figure skulking around above him. Kenny pleas for help, but the figure turns out to be a hooded ghost. The spooky dude points a skeleton-finger at Kenny, and a hoard of ghost kids descend on our protagonist. Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

Back in the mall again, an electrician shakes Kenny awake. The boy fell asleep in the control room. Feeling a sudden change of heart, he buys a gift for his sister. When Kenny gets home, the family dog has indeed gone missing, just like in his dream. Luckily, Tiny Timmy happened to catch the dog and returns it, upgrading him to Regular Timmy. But then Timmy reveals a spooky skeleton-finger, signifying that he was the mysterious ghost from Kenny’s dream. I made a visual aid to convey the terror.

THE VERDICT

If you’d like to create your own adaptation of A Christmas Carol, it might be beneficial to follow this simple set of rules: Don’t.

So concludes our third Biennial Holiday Special. Maybe by 2025, Elon Musk will buy this blog for billions of dollars and replace me with an AI. If you don’t want me replaced by a robot (or maybe you chuckled while reading this entry), feel free to leave a like or drop a message.

BEST QUOTE

“Sorry, Kenny,” Dad said softly. “We were reading A Christmas Carol. I know how you hate it.” “Not anymore, Dad,” I said, […] “I love it! It’s one of my favorite stories now!”

Why? At what point was that experience anything other than traumatizing?

[rose-and-lemongrass]

Okay I'm trying to be chill about the fact my computers busted and I can't edit sooo here's my favorite horror films I watched in 2023!! So far, at least, I'll update if I find some more great ones in the next month. These are in no particular order.

Talk To Me (2023) LOVED IT. I was genuinely really really stressed while watching it. Honestly give me a character I like and put them through the ringer and I will be invested. I REALLY wanted Riley to make it. I know some people don't like the end but I did. It's a very existential and depressing ending but I thought it was fitting.

Sissy (2022) This is a super super underrated movie. Barely any discussion of it all online. I thought it was incredible; it perfectly nailed what it feels like to be in a social situation you know you don't belong in. I felt called out several times. Cecilia is a really fascinating character too, and I loved the social media aspect.

Creep 2 (2017) I couldn't believe how into this movie I was. It's basically just two really weird characters manipulating each other (with one being way way way more successful than the other) and it's so wild to watch. I liked the first Creep but the relationship here was so fascinating. I almost feel like this movie would have been better as a standalone bc we as the audience know that Aaron is a serial killer. It would be fascinating to be like Sara and not know for sure. Either way though, I loved it, I hope they make a third one.

Terrifier 2 (2022) Dude I LOVED this movie!! Controversial opinion maybe but I thought it was fantastic. Sienna is such an amazing character, Art the Clown was on his A game. I weirdly resonated with the family stuff (i got emotional at points) The special effects were great. I know it has a reputation. And it has earned that reputation. I have found no one I can comfortably show this movie to that I trust isn't going to be horribly traumatized. Which sucks bc when I saw this in theaters I got like. Sexually harassed. And I dont want it to happen when I see the third one. I wish I had a buddy I could take. But regardless every time I watch it I have a blast, and I really wanna make a video discussing this series soon bc I have so many thoughts!!

Halloween (1978) Yeah everyone was right this movie is awesome. I'm totally going to add it to my halloween watchlist every year.

Candyman (1993) Yeah again it's really really good, everyone was right lol. Really dragging my feet on the remake bc honestly this movie is basically perfect.

Cube (1997) I always thought I'd like Cube. And I did. It's really weird and psychological and cool. I watched it like 11 months ago so I don't feel like I have a lot to say right now, but I just remember how much I was invested while watching it and how much I gushed about it after I finished.

Deadstream (2022) Honestly this was most fun I had with a movie all year. I was dying laughing the entire time. I've watched it three times and I sent the opening scene to everyone I know. It's just a very funny and very spot on parody of YouTubers and I love it

Fresh (2022) I don't love the abrupt ending but the rest is basically perfect. The levels of performance during the dinner scene OH MY GOD. And it's a really fun and disturbing exploration of how terrible dating is and I appreciate that a lot.

Hereditary (2015) This movie hurt the entire time and I loved it. Toni Collette's performance is the best I have ever seen, I am actually furious she wasn't nominated. Her screams man, they are haunting. Also really realistic dream dialogue I pegged right away it was a dream bc that's exactly how people talk in my dreams. This is a movie with a lot of layers and something about it resonated with me, especially after the terrible terrible year I had.

Midsommar (2019) I vibed with this one hardcore. I think its just weirdly cathartic to see someone in a bad social situation get accepted while the person who put them in that situation gets rejected. Again because of the terrible year I had. But also its bad that that happens! Like its creepy how easy it is to be taken in by a cult. I also didn't feel the length at all I was very very invested the whole time. My friend Emily absolutely hates this movie though lol

Trick R Treat (2007): I didn't find it scary at all. But I vibed with it. It just FELT like Halloween, and some of the stories really really worked for me. Particularly the werewolf one and the one with the zombie kids.

VHS (2012): This is entirely because of the Amateur Night and 10/31/98 segments. I love those segments to death, I've watched them over and over. I still haven't watched Siren (the full length Amateur Night adaption) but I am so psyched they kept the same actress. She was an absolute star I'm planning on watching it entirely for her.

It Follows (2014) I know I can't keep saying I vibed with these movies but I did. I love the dreamlike quality, the ambiguity, the idea behind the monster is actually one of the most terrifying things I can imagine. Even if you get rid of it there's a chance it'll come back to you so you're never safe. Certain sequences were really really cool. Also one of the best jumpscares of all time in this. Like I don't even like jumpscares, they never get me, but this one did! Also I adore the opening sequence and how it's complete nonsense until you rewatch it and realize what's happening.

Infinity Pool (2023) I went in completely 100% blind. It was a wild ride that's for sure. I said "oh fuck me" full volume at one point if that tells you anything. Honestly I have nothing to say about the plot but the feelings this movie evoked in me were intense. Really good movie for someone who secretly hates themselves and is scared that everyone around them does too, I guess, because it captures that feeling perfectly.

[ms-hells-bells]

i was right, chris hipkins is now prime minister, and he's actually the first male prime minister under the labour party we have had since 1990! every time labour has been in government since then (we have an election every three years, but no term limits for prime ministers, so the same person can get elected however many times) has been a woman.

national was in power from 1990-1999 (one guy from 1990-1997, but then he resigned and our first female prime minister, jenny shipley, was voted for by the national ministers), and in 1999 helen clark's labour party ran the country from 1999-2008, national won in 2008-2016, labour won with jacinda ardern in 2017-2023 until her resignation (we have our next election in october this year), where hipkins has been voted in by the labour ministers.

so, if you were born in 1997 or later, the majority of your prime ministers in nz have been women (in both number of prime ministers and years under prime ministers). 3 women vs 2 men (john key resigned in 2016 and bill english took over) and 16 years vs 9 years. pretty cool! plus, now a slim majority of new zealand parliament is women after the 2022 local and regional elections (61 vs 59).

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 167:

Replay 2 [Mission Replay] (Blast Corps, including the “Blast Corps Replay ~ 20 Years Anniversary” version [1997/2017])

Another N64 highlight screaming all kinds of cool! The way the Bass and Synth mix together is what gives that “mystical MIDI” aura, with loads of Drums and electronic sounds to keep you entertained throughout. That’s what makes this track pretty special; a consistent rhythm of really long sounds being kept fresh and exciting by the shorter sounds that supplement it, all ending on a good note thanks to 1 of the coolest beat drops I’ve ever heard from the N64, a bit over 2 minutes in.

And that’s not all there is to talk about. Graeme Norgate, who composed the game’s soundtrack as well as the TimeSplitters 2 soundtrack mentioned way back in this list, went ahead and made a remaster of this specific track for the game’s 20th anniversary! Those who felt the original composition didn’t sound “intense” enough for the titular premise, will probably prefer this version for its addition of a lingering Electric Guitar string, extra reverb at key moments, and more “modern” sounds, although I like both versions equally. Like most Bandcamp releases, you can donate or otherwise to get the music some good sound formats if you so desire, to hear it wherever you go!

In my silly little imagination, either version would also be 1 of many music choices I’d associate with the expert computer programmers out there, its got such an old futuristic vibe to fit the bill. Here you’re looking at another game with music good enough to convince me to play it in the future! Rareware is the same company behind Viva Piñata, after all

(Length before loop: 2.5+ minutes)