miltonteen-blog

[duranduratulsa]

Up next on my 80's Fest Movie 🎬 🎞 🎥 🎦 📽 marathon...Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #Movie #movies #horror #promnight #PromNight2 #hellomaryloupromnightii #wendylyon #lisaschrage #michaelironside #brocksimpson #louisferriera #bethgondek #beverlyhendry #richardmonette #terrihawkes #judymahbey #wendellsmith #vintage #VHS #80s #80sfest #durandurantulsas6thannual80sfest

[therealmrpositive]

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

I find that my prom date might give me a new lease of vengeance. As I attempt a #positive review of the 1987 horror film Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II #MichaelIronside #SteveAtkinson #WendyLyon #JustinLouis #RichardMonette #RobertLewis #LisaSchrage

The period before college holds a certain enchantment, characterized by discovery and seemingly trivial concerns like grades and prom dates. That’s how it seems on T.V. of course, a concept just right for corrupting, if you’re in the right frame of mind, that is. In 1987, when neon and nostalgia were becoming the hallmarks of the decade, a prom queen brought some new life to a stagnant franchise,…

[spryfilm]

DVD review: “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II” (1987)

[samufigueiredo]

Thinking about when Paul Monette said "What all the meaningless pain and horror cannot take away - that all there is is love. Pity us not." and Richard Siken said ��We have not touched the stars, nor are we forgiven, which brings us back to the hero’s shoulders and the gentleness that comes, not from the absence of violence, but despite the abundance of it.” and Ocean Vuong said "Grief is the final translation of love".

[freckles-and-books]

It’s finally October! And I have, once again, created an overly ambitious tbr. But I’m hoping the books I read will contain all the atmospheric, gothic, and witchy vibes I need to enhance my experience of my favorite month. 🪦🕸️🍂

Here are my October hopefuls:

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland 🧙🏻‍♀️

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio 🪦

The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal 🎎

The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter 💀

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson 🧛🏻‍♀️

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey 👁️

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny 🦴

Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles 🗝️

The Secrets of Hardwood Hall by Kate Lumsden 🕯️

And that’s not to mention my audiobook, American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond by Jeremy Dauber, or my current read, The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette. It should be a full month!

[whentherewerebicycles]

Do you have any poet recommendations? I want to read poetry but don’t know where to start

okay I am definitely not an expert or especially widely read in poetry but my favorite poet is sharon olds (try “true love” or “why my mother made me” or really any of her poems… I think they are all so good and unsettling). I also really like:

danez smith (try “it won’t be a bullet” or “little prayer” or “I’m going back to minnesota where sadness makes sense”)

louise glück (I find like 20% of glück’s stuff impenetrable/inscrutable in a way that loses me a bit but the other 80% is so good. try “purple bathing suit” and “snowdrops” and “mock orange”)

margaret atwood (I don’t have particular atwood favorites I just like her weird unsettling imagery. try “flying inside your own body” or “morning in the burned house”)

ada limón (try “the conditional” and “love poem with apologies for my appearance”)

mary oliver (try “everything” and “the whistler” but you really can’t go wrong)

richard siken (just read crush lol. but try “straw house, straw dog” and “little beast” first to see if you like his style)

paul monette (try “no goodbyes”)

warsan shire (try “backwards”)

allison benis white (try “description of symptoms”)

leila chatti (try “I went out to hear”)

franny choi (try “catastrophe is next to godliness”)

adrienne rich (try “for the dead” and “from a survivor” and “in those years”)

marie howe (try “my dead friends”)

tbh I think john darnielle’s entire catalogue of mountain goats lyrics is some of the most compelling modern american poetry lol

[seeingteacupsindragons]

So, I'm stuck in the end of revision hell, and as I talk myself through the ending of this book, and

What choices and options I have

What elements of the Story So Far they'll tie back to

What pieces in the story I can reuse here to great effect

What the implication of all my choices are

What would really seem interesting

What would have the biggest dramatic impact

My coping mechanism is

"Thinking about the stories you like and the authors you admire having this conversation with themselves about their work."

It's just a little funny to imagine.

Miyoshi and Takeuchi talking over The Final Problem:

Okay, but how do we put William's birth name in there? He could sign the letter that way? But no, what if we just don't tell the reader because that's not the important part. Did Victorian London have birth certificates? And how would he know--What if Louis's was there, too? Why would we use Louis's? Doesn't he still...need it?

Fuck we don't have time to get them to Switzerland. It's just happening in London. It's fine. We already established John's books have lies.

How do we establish this guy from the back is Sherlock? Lmao let's make a joke about the ponytail. Oh, perfect.

Tsujimura-sensei, discussing volume 6 of Jeweler Richard:

If we finally deal with Seigi's family trauma here, it'll be this wonderful full circle thing and mirror him to Richard. I should. Maybe include a line about the mirror. You know. To make sure people really get it. But you know, actually resolving 20 years of trauma is going to take way too long, even with people all on Seigi's side and his Good Dad versus the Bad Dad bit, so the ending is going to feel weird. I can do a future story? It'll set up the next book, too. And it can show Seigi having dealt with this stuff so I don't have to actually write him dealing with it. That sounds like a good idea. It'll give the readers closure. Yeah, let's do that.

Sarah Monette, the end of Corambis:

Looks, Felix and Mildmay were not in a healthy place back in Melusine and they're never going to be, and okay, Corambis hasn't been great for them, but it doesn't have all the baggage. Look, Felix has been shown to like teaching and actually not be abusive when he's teaching, so we can make him a teacher so he's not dealing with all sorts of shit that keep dragging him back to unhealthy mental places. So he can just. Heal. I've got the bits here I need to show how he could be healthy and happy. I just haven't used them yet because that's not the story. But they'll be useful for a good ending here.

And such like.

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to singer-songwriter Kip Allert, Louis Armstrong, the 1995 movie BABE, Richard Belzer, The Billboard Hot 100 (1958), Moya Brennan [Máire Ní Bhraonáin], Terri Lyne Carrington, Dick Cummings, Herb Ellis, Frankie Ford, Václav Matyáš Gurecký, Brett S. Harrison, Elsbeary Hobbs (The Drifters), Ben Holland, Joey Huffman (Soul Asylum), Larry Knechtel, Kishore Kumar, Harry Lauder, Kenny Malone, Max Middleton, Ricky Nelson’s 1960 “Poor Little Fool” single, Cliff Nobles, Barack Obama, Jessie Owens’s Olympic leap (1936), Pink Floyd’s 1967 PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN album, Elvis Presley’s 1956 “Hound Dog” single, Prince’s 1984 PURPLE RAIN album, David Raksin, Paul Reynolds (A Flock of Seagulls), Klaus Schulze, Maureen Starkey, Mark Stock, Billy Bob Thornton (good to have met you), Timi Yuro, and my friend, a songwriter and great gospel singer Monette Newsuan. In the late 90s/early 00s we performed together frequently and recorded a flurry of projects, including her phenomenal solo album DON’T LET A DAY GO BY. She also appeared on my recordings as well as on recordings with Don Hess, The Word2Soul Project, and Davy Jones (Monkees)—who said Monette was one of his favorite singers. There are many Monette recordings I could share—she’s featured prominently on Davy Jones’s take of “When All Else Fails” https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/when-all-else-fails  ...Meanwhile, HB MN and God bless your ministry and lifting up your voice!

#monette #newsuan #birthday #johnfarnham #davyjones #monkees #johnnyjblair

[peacemore-springs]

About That Motown Sound

This is a short Wikipedia quote with a few added words from myself. I found the info so interesting that I simply had to share it with you.

Among the studio musicians responsible for the 'Motown sound' were keyboardists Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, and Joe Hunter; guitarists Ray Monette, Joe Messina, Robert White, and Eddie Willis; percussionists Eddie 'Bongo' Brown and Jack Ashford; drummers Benny Benjamin, Uriel Jones, and Richard 'Pistol' Allen; and bassists James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt. The band's career and work is chronicled in a 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadow of Motown, which publicised the fact that these musicians "played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined".

Interesting to acknowledge this as fact.

[genevieveetguy]

Isn't life the strangest thing you've ever seen?

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, Patricia Rozema (1987)

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on my Spooktober Filmfest...Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1988) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #promnight #promnight2 #hellomaryloupromnightii #wendylyon #lisaschrage #michaelironside #brocksimpson #louisferreria #bethgrondek #richardmonette #beverlyhendry #judymahbrey #terrihawkes #wendellsmith #vintage #vhs #80s #spooktober #halloween #october

[videomessiah]

Michael Ironside as Bill Nordham in Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

Considering the ending of 1980's Prom Night, I had no idea how a sequel would be justified. I guessed Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II would essentially be a remake of the first film with a higher body count, more varied kills (perhaps an emphasis on that shards of mirror thing that didn’t quite pan out) and more nudity. What I didn’t foresee is this: a film that has absolutely nothing to do with the first and instead plays out like a cross between Carrie, The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

When Billy Nordham (played unconvincingly as a teenager by Steve Atkinson) spots his prom date Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) cheating on him with Buddy Cooper (Robert Lewis) he attempts to ruin her Prom Queen coronation. Unfortunately, the prank goes wrong. Mary Lou dies in an accidental fire. Years later, her spirit returns to enact vengeance upon Billy (now played by Michael Ironside), Buddy (Richard Monette) and anyone else who stands in her way.

The Exorcist elements come when Mary Lou’s spirit possesses the body of unsuspecting high schooler Vicki Carpenter (Wendy Lyon). She acts out against her overbearing, religious and stern mother, (Judy Mahbey), which is where we get an awful lot of Carrie. It only gets more similar when we get to the actual prom. This isn’t me imagining a connection either, as the film name-drops the William Friedkin horror classic numerous times. Some of the ripoff scenes are pretty good; particularly when Vicki experiences horrifying Mary Lou-generated visions and nightmares (Nightmare on Elm Street was clearly an inspiration). Nonetheless, you feel cheated watching the film. It's a surprise to no one when you learn it was shot as its own thing and then retro-fitted to be a Prom Night sequel.

In defense of Hello Mary Lou, the first Prom Night is not very good, which makes this a sequel that's better than the first. There are several cool kills once Mary Lou completely takes the reins. The teenagers we meet are surprisingly well developed, with several being quite likable. It makes a world of a difference when you’re actually worried about the characters in a horror film like this one. I was hoping Vicki's friends would make it out alive, if only so they could make it to the big night. These kids deserve to have a good time.

Prom Night 2: Hello Mary Lou is the kind of film I’d like to see remade, or ripped off… which is ironic considering it rips off other films already. There are good moments here and there. It's too bad that as a whole, I can’t call it "a good movie". The problem isn't the association with Prom Night, mind you. It's that you take away what it cribs from other sources and you’re not left which much except nonsense. If you like this one, I won’t fight you, if you don’t, I won’t be able to make much of a case for it either. (On DVD, December 2, 2017)

[mrgordo82]

The Cronenberg Chronicles returns, with a look at his lesser-known shorts, the spooky "The Lie Chair" and the amusingly mental, proto-Lynchian "The Italian Machine"... https://mrgordo82.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-cronenberg-chronicles-pt-6-lie.html

[dreamcastingbroadway]

Dreamcasting Broadway: “Appropriate”

“Family is just a story you tell yourself when it’s convenient isn’t it — when you need an excuse to explain how trapped you feel or broken or unable or cheated.”

Dreamcasting Broadway: Appropriate

Laura Linney as Toni Lafayette

Greg Kinnear as Bo Lafayette

Elizabeth Reaser as Rachael Kramer-Lafayette

Steven Boyer as Franz Lafayette

Brenna Coates as River Rayner

Jack DiFalco as Rhys Thurston

Julia Nighingale as Cassidy Kramer-Lafayette

Gabriel Amoroso as Ainsley Kramer-Lafayette

Monette Magrath as Standby (Toni, Rachael)

Richard Gallagher as Standby (Bo, Franz)

Skyler Gallun as Standby (Rhys)

Michela Cannon as Standby (River, Cassidy)

Will Coombs as Standby (Ainsley)