Category Archives: Editorial

Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/20/18 — 8/26/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

After spending last week watching, live tweeting, and a reviewing all of SyFy’s shark movies, I kind of took this week off.  I’ll get caught up next week,

The important thing is that October is right around the corner!

Movies That I Watched:

  1. Cop (1988)
  2. I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1958)
  3. Killer Night Shift (2018)
  4. Love’s Abiding Joy (2006)
  5. Love’s Long Journey (2005)
  6. The Snowman (2017)

Television Shows That I Watched:

  1. Bachelor in Paradise
  2. Bar Rescue
  3. Better Call Saul
  4. Big Brother 20
  5. Big Brother After Dark
  6. Charlie’s Angels
  7. Degassi
  8. Doctor Phil
  9. Fear The Walking Dead
  10. Ghost Whisperer
  11. The Investigator: A British Crime Story
  12. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
  13. The Kennedys
  14. Kitchen Nightmares
  15. The MTV Video Music Awards
  16. Private Islands
  17. Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
  18. Saved By The Bell
  19. Seinfeld
  20. Sharp Objects
  21. Shipping Wars
  22. So You Think You Can Dance
  23. South Park
  24. Talking Dead

Books That I Read:

  1. The Contest: The 1968 election and the war for America’s soul (2018) by Michael Schumacher
  2. Invitation to a Bonfire (2018) by Adrienne Celt
  3. The President is Missing (2018) by James Patterson, featuring Bill Clinton

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Alesso
  2. Animal Collective
  3. Anne-Marie
  4. Bipolar Sunshine
  5. Blanck Mass
  6. Bloc Party
  7. Britney Spears
  8. Camila Cabello
  9. Daemon
  10. David Guetta
  11. Dillon Francis
  12. DJ Snake
  13. Duffy
  14. Elle King
  15. Ellie Goulding
  16. Goblin
  17. Goblin Rebirth
  18. Jakalope
  19. Kelly Clarkson
  20. Lily Allen
  21. Major Lazer
  22. Matthew Koma
  23. Phantogram
  24. The Robber Who Robbed The Town
  25. Saint Motel
  26. Tarrus Riley
  27. Taylor Swift
  28. The Ting Tings
  29. Trippie Redd
  30. Twice

Links From Last Week:

  1. For SyFy Designs, I wrote about my memories of twitter!
  2. On her photography site, Erin shared: Trapped Above, Summer Tree, Trees, Trees and Power Lines, Up, Growing, and Covered Wagon!
  3. On my music site, I shared music from Major Lazer, Bloc Party, Britney Spears, Bloc Party again, DJ Snake and Bipolar Sunshine, and Alesso!
  4. ‘Conjuring’ spinoff director Corin Hardy reports hauntings on ‘The Nun’ set
  5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Production On Hold After Firing of James Gunn
  6. Meet The Most Insidious Resistance Grifters
  7. Stephen King’s MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE Hits Blu-ray this Halloween
  8. Veronica Mars: Hulu Eyes 8-Episode Limited Series Revival
  9. Kelly Marie Tran: I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment
  10. Twitter’s Worst #Resistance Bros Are Melting Down Because You’re Clowning on Their Weird Kids’ Book
  11. Director Danny Boyle Exits Next James Bond Film
  12. Danny Boyle quit James Bond over plans to kill Bond off

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin profiled artist Henry Fox and shared artwork like Radio News, The Dead Man’s Brother, Angel of Gaiety, Argosy, Deadline to Pluto, Modern Romances, and No Luck For A Lady!
  2. Gary reviewed Buchanan Rides Alone, Wife vs. Secretary, and the Prowler, along with taking a look at a one-hit wonder!
  3. Jeff shared his weekly trailer round-up, along with music videos from The Outfield, Bootcamp, Neal Coty, and Tommy Tucker and the Supernaturals!
  4. Ryan reviewed Bad Ben and Angloid, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I reviewed The Last Shaknado, Shipping Wars, The Snowman, and Killer Night Shift!  I also shared music videos from David Guetta, Phantogram, and Kelly Clarkson!  Finally, I shared my Oscar predictions for August!
  6. And finally, Arleigh has returned!  Yay!  He brought with him the trailers for Suspiria and The Outlaw King and a little Creedence Clearwater Revival for y’all!

(Check out what we accomplished last week by clicking here!)

Have a great week, y’all!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/13/18 — 8/19/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Dance, Shark, dance!

This was a great week!  How could it not be?  It was SyFy Shark Week, after all!

Plus, I’m currently getting things ready for October.  The site’s annual horrorthon is going to be the best yet!

Movies I Watched:

  1. 2-Headed Shark Attack (2012)
  2. 3-Headed Shark Attack (2015)
  3. 5-Headed Shark Attack (2017)
  4. 6-Headed Shark Attack (2018)
  5. Bait (2012)
  6. Bermuda Tentacles (2014)
  7. Breaking the Press (2010)
  8. Dam Sharks (2016)
  9. Frenzy (2018)
  10. Ghost Shark (2013)
  11. I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)
  12. Ice Sharks (2016)
  13. The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018)
  14. Malibu Shark Attack (2009)
  15. Megalodon (2018)
  16. The Miracle Season (2018)
  17. My Little Girl Is Gone (2018)
  18. Nightmare Shark (2018)
  19. Open Water (2004)
  20. Open Water 2: Adrift (2007)
  21. Open Water 3: Cage Dive (2017)
  22. Proud Mary (2018)
  23. A Quiet Place (2018)
  24. Ready Player One (2018)
  25. Roboshark (2015)
  26. Santa Jaws (2018)
  27. Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016)
  28. Sharknado (2013)
  29. Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)
  30. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)
  31. Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017)
  32. Sharktopus (2010)
  33. Shartopus vs. Pteracuda (2014)
  34. Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015)
  35. Swamp Shark (2011)
  36. Toxic Shark (2017)
  37. Zombie Shark (2015)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Bachelor in Paradise
  2. Bar Rescue
  3. Better Call Saul
  4. Big Brother 20
  5. Evil Lives Here
  6. Fear The Walking Dead
  7. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  8. King of the Hill
  9. Parking Wars
  10. Talking Dead

Books I Read:

  1. The Dead Man’s Kiss (1992) by Robert Weinberg
  2. Van Gogh and Music: A Symphony In Blue and Yellow (2018) by Natashca Veldhorst, translated by Diane Webb
  3. You’re On An Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir (2018) by Parker Posey

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Amy Shark
  2. Big Data
  3. Camila Cabello
  4. Carlos Rivera
  5. Coldplay
  6. Deadmau5
  7. Deftones
  8. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
  9. Imogen Heap
  10. Jake Bugg
  11. The Killers
  12. Lindsey Stirling
  13. Marta Sanchez
  14. Matthew Dear
  15. Moby
  16. Muse
  17. Neon Indian
  18. OneRepublic
  19. Tiesto
  20. The Ting Tings
  21. Victoria Beckham

Links From Last Week:

  1. On her photography site, my sister shared: The Alley Is Still There, A Piece of Something, Bricks, More Bricks, Cement, Withering, and Water Hose!
  2. On my music site, I shared songs from Victoria Beckham, Muse, Deadmau5, Marta Sanchez, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Lindsey Stirling, and Tiesto!
  3. Inside the Left-Wing Harassment Campaign Against Lesbian Batwoman
  4. Journalists Need To Stop Playing Themselves In Movies
  5. Ethan Hawke Gets Candid on Fame, Filmmaking and What He Learned From ‘Reality Bites’
  6. James Gunn Meets With Disney, Told He Will Remain Fired and Not Return for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’
  7. Kevin Spacey’s Billionaire’s Boys Club Earns An Abysmal $126 On Opening Day
  8. Johnny Depp! Nazi Clowns! Sgt. Pepper! Three “What Were They Thinking” Movies!
  9. Interview with Greg Fallon from Close Calls, 10.31 and The Perfect Host: A Southern Gothic Tale
  10. Bruce Campbell will be back as Ash in Evil Dead video game

We love you, Roboshark!

Links From The Site:

  1. Case Wright reviewed Netflix’s How It Ends!
  2. Erin shared the Salacious Covers of Inside Detective and shared covers from an unknown artist, Jack Faragasso, Howie Forsberg, Frank Vaughn, Enoch Bolles, Frank R. Paul, and another unknown artist!
  3. Jeff paid tribute to Aretha Franklin and shared music videos from Aretha, Metallica, and Journey!  He also shared this week’s trailer round-up!
  4. Ryan reviewed Grip and How To Be Alive and shared his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I shared music videos from LL Cool J, Deftones, and Amy Shark.  I also reviewed Megalodon, Santa Jaws, Frenzy, Nightmare Shark, My Little Girl Is Gone, and 6-Headed Shark Attack!

(Want to see what I accomplished last week?  Click here!)

Have a great week everyone!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 8/6/18 — 8/12/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Another long week comes to an end but at least next week is Sharknado week on SyFy!

Movies I Watched:

  1. Atomic Shark (2016)
  2. Bitter Harvest (1981)
  3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
  4. Chappaquiddick (2018)
  5. The Death of Stalin (2018)
  6. Deep Blue Sea (1999)
  7. Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018)
  8. Empire of the Sharks (2017)
  9. How To Make A Monster (1958)
  10. Into the Night: Portraits of Light and Death (2018)
  11. Jersey Shore Shark Attack (2012)
  12. Killer Single Dad (2018)
  13. Looking for Eric (2009)
  14. Love Begins (2011)
  15. Love’s Everlasting Courage (2011)
  16. Mississippi River Sharks (2017)
  17. Planet of the Sharks (2016)
  18. Nocturne (2016)
  19. Ozark Sharks (2016)
  20. The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
  21. Trailer Park Sharks (2017)
  22. Tully (2018)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Bachelor in Paradise
  2. The Bachelorette
  3. Bar Rescue
  4. Big Brother 20
  5. Big Brother After Dark
  6. Better Call Saul
  7. Dance Moms
  8. King of the Hill
  9. Monstresses
  10. Parking Wars
  11. People Magazine Investigates Cults
  12. Sharp Edges
  13. Unsolved Mysteries
  14. Young Sheldon

Books I Read:

  1. The CEO: An Interactive Book (2005) by Owen Burke and Duff McDonald
  2. A Duke By Default: Reluctant Royals (2018) by Alyssa Cole
  3. Fiasco: A History of Hollywood’s Iconic Flops (2006) by James Robert Parrish
  4. The Great Alone (2018) by Kirstin Hannah

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Above & Beyond
  2. Big Data
  3. Britney Spears
  4. The Chemical Brothers
  5. DJ Judaa
  6. Ennio Morricone
  7. Florence + The Machine
  8. Goblin
  9. Jack White
  10. Jakalope
  11. Jake Bugg
  12. Kedr Livanskiy
  13. Loyle Carner
  14. Moby
  15. Riz Ortolani
  16. RP Boo
  17. Saint Motel
  18. Sleigh Bells
  19. Taylor Swift

Links From Last Week:

  1. I shared A Thought On Voting.
  2. From my dream journal: Last Night’s Weird Dorm Dream and Last Night’s Money Related Dream
  3. From my sister’s photography site: Birds In A Storm, Rain Driving, Falling Rain, Wet Cement, Grill in the Rain, Find the Bat, and The Alley Is There.
  4. On Horror Critic, I reviewed How To Make A Monster!
  5. On my music site, I shared music from Jack White, Florence + The Machine, Kedr Livanskiy, more from Florence + The Machine, The Chemical Brothers, Above & Beyond, and Jakalope!
  6. The Motion Picture Academy Has Become Desperate
  7. 7 New Oscar Categories The Academy Needs To Create (Instead of Best Popular Film)
  8. How Black Panther Blew Up The Academy’s Attempt To Meet ABC’s Oscar Demands
  9. Behind Hollywood’s A-List Bidding War for a McDonald’s Monopoly Article
  10. Hey, Buzzfeed, Che Guevara Was A Bloodthirsty Terrorist

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin paid tribute to the covers of Dime Detective Magazine and shared artwork from Rudy Nappi, Margaret Brundage, V.E. Pyles, Nina Albright, an unknown artist, C.B. Mayshark, and another unknown artist!
  2. Gary paid tribute to Robert Mitchum, took a look at the TV career of Irwin Allen, and reviewed The Lady of Burlesque, Odds Against Tomorrow, and Gabriel over The White House.
  3. Jeff shared music videos from Eddie Murphy, Air Supply, Corey Hart, Donny Osmond (!), The Soup Dragons, Aerosmith, and Breakfast Club!
  4. Ryan reviewed Space Basket and Face Man, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I reviewed Death Wish, Deep Blue Sea, and Deep Blue Sea 2, shared some Oscar thoughts, and wished Sam Elliott a happy birthday!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Some Thoughts On Today’s Really Bad Oscar News

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we learned some news about the future of the Academy Awards and it was pretty much all bad.

First off, here’s the message that was issued earlier today:

Dear Member,

Last night, the Board of Governors met to elect new board officers, and discuss and approve significant changes to the Oscars telecast.

The Board of Governors, staff, Academy members, and various working groups spent the last several months discussing improvements to the show.

Tonight, the Board approved three key changes:

1. A three-hour Oscars telecast

We are committed to producing an entertaining show in three hours, delivering a more accessible Oscars for our viewers worldwide.

To honor all 24 award categories, we will present select categories live, in the Dolby Theatre, during commercial breaks (categories to be determined). The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast.

2. New award category

We will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. Eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming.

3. Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

The date of the 92nd Oscars telecast will move to Sunday, February 9, 2020, from the previously announced February 23. The date change will not affect awards eligibility dates or the voting process.

The 91st Oscars telecast remains as announced on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

We have heard from many of you about improvements needed to keep the Oscars and our Academy relevant in a changing world. The Board of Governors took this charge seriously.

We are excited about these steps, and look forward to sharing more details with you.

John Bailey and Dawn Hudson

Let’s take this point-by-point.

Number one: the three-hour telecast.

Who cares?  I mean, yes, the Oscars always run long.  But really, that’s part of the charm of the whole ceremony.  It never runs as smoothly as it’s supposed to and it’s a reminder that, as smug as Hollywood can be, they have as difficult a time meeting deadlines as the rest of us.

But, even if you do think that the length of the ceremony is really a big issue, is the solution really to punish the winners?  For me, one of the good things about the Oscar ceremony is that it acknowledges what is too often forgotten.  Film is a collaborative medium.  People like Roger Deakins, Colleen Atwood, Joi McMillon, and Carter Burwell are just as important to the overall quality of a film as Ryan Gosling or Jennifer Lawrence.  Giving them their awards during a commercial break is not only insulting on a personal level but it also goes against everything that the Oscars should stand for.

Plus, I happen to love it when a previously unknown filmmaker wins the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film and then totally geeks out about it on the stage.  I mean, that’s the magic of the movies right there.  At that moment, you’re sharing the best moment of this person’s life.  If I have to choose between listening to Chris Overton and Rachel Shelton talk about winning the Oscar for their short film, The Silent Child, or listening to Meryl Streep insist that she’s actually just a working mom from New Jersey, I’m going with Overton and Shelton every time.

If you want to cut down on the length of the ceremony, how about not opening with the host giving a 10-minute monologue?  How about not wasting time with those always cringe-worthy segments where stars visit the theater next door or the host insists that everyone buy his daughter’s girl scout cookies?

(I know that everyone loved the Oscar selfie but seriously, every ceremony now feels the need to try to top it and it’s just annoying.)

How about not even having a host?  Or at the very least, how about a host who will just introduce the presenters without bring their own time-consuming schtick to the stage?  I mean, Jimmy Kimmel has a show of his own to have celebrities read mean tweets on.  There’s no need to bring the Oscar ceremony to a halt for it.

Number Two: Best Achievement In Popular Film

Eh.  You might as well just call this the Christopher Nolan Trophy or maybe the MCU Award.  Though the details aren’t clear yet, it basically sounds like a participation trophy.

Basically, this award says, “We’re not willing to seriously consider a film like Black Panther for any of the major awards but we’re freaking out about the ratings so here’s an honorable mention.”  It’s kinda like in high school, when someone would really debase themselves to get the popular kids to come to their party and you ended up losing respect for them regardless of whether the party was good or not.

We all know that the Academy needs to open its mind and, at the very least, give some consideration to films like Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight, Skyfall, and Black Panther.  But this isn’t the way to do it.  If anything, this award just gives the Academy even more of a excuse to ignore those “popular” films when it comes time to select the nominees for Best Picture.

Add to that, what does popular mean anyway?  Why not just give a trophy to the producer of the film that made the most money at the box office?

Number Three: The new dates

To be honest, this upset me more than anything.  This doesn’t take effect until 2020 but, if the ceremony is moving to February 9th, then when are the nominations going to be announced?  Considering that most Oscar contenders get a limited release before going wide in January, this is going to create a situation where people like me, who don’t live in Los Angeles and New York and who don’t want to move, aren’t going to be able to see the majority of the nominees before the nominations are announced.  It’s interesting that, in their attempt to appeal to a wider audience, the Academy is basically embracing elitism like never before.

Here’s the thing: the Oscars are never going to be cool.  They’re just not.  Nobody — not even the biggest Oscar fanatics — believe that the Oscars ever truly honors the best films of the year.  The Oscars have been around forever and they’re always going to be viewed as being a bit stodgy.  If giving best picture to Moonlight couldn’t change that perception, nothing ever will.  The more the Oscars try to change, the more they’re like Steve Buscemi carrying a skateboard and saying, “Greetings, fellow kids.”

There may be a solution to the Academy’s woes but this isn’t it.

Oscar, in happier times

 

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/30/18 — 8/5/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been a long week.  On Monday, I got a bit too enthusiastic while dancing and I twisted my ankle the wrong way so I spent most of this week cranky and limping.  So, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do over this upcoming week!

Movies I Watched

  1. Cheerleader Nightmare (2018)
  2. A Father’s Nightmare (2018)
  3. If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971)
  4. I’ll be Watching (2018)
  5. Invaders from Mars (1953)
  6. Invasion USA (1952)
  7. Killer Twin (2018)
  8. Murdered at 17 (2018)
  9. The Nanny is Watching (2018)
  10. A Sister’s Secret (2018)
  11. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
  12. The Woodcarver (2012)

Television Shows I Watched

  1. American Justice
  2. American Pickers
  3. The Bachelorette
  4. Bar Rescue
  5. Big Brother 20
  6. Big Brother After Dark
  7. Casanova Killers
  8. Dark Waters
  9. Evil Lives Here
  10. Ghost Whisperer
  11. Golden State Killer: People Investigates
  12. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  13. King of the Hill
  14. Live PD
  15. The Love Boat
  16. Murder Calls
  17. Murder Comes To Town
  18. Primal Instinct
  19. The Proposal
  20. River Monsters
  21. Sharp Edges

Books I Read

  1. The Battle for Beverly Hills: a city’s independence and the birth of celebrity politics (2018) by Nancie Clare
  2. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search For The Golden State Killer (2018) by Michelle McNamara

Music To Which I Listened

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Bebe Rexha
  3. Big Data
  4. Camila Cabello
  5. Devon Welsh
  6. DJ Judaa
  7. Elle King
  8. Jack White
  9. Jakalope
  10. Jake Bugg
  11. John’s Children
  12. Soda Fabric
  13. Taylor Swift
  14. The Voidz

Links From Last Week

  1. At her photography site, Erin shared: Fountain Again, When You Look Up, Mushrooms, Rain Driving, MRI Central In The Rain, Gray, and Going to Rain!
  2. At my Dream Journal, I shared dreams about drones and Angelina Jolie!
  3. On my music site, I shared music from Soda Fabric, Jake Bugg, Adi Ulmansky, Devon Welsh, Bebe Rexha, The Voidz, and Jack White.
  4. On SyFyDesigns, I wrote about Venezuela.
  5. Nicolas Winding Refn Just Launched His Free Cult Genre Film Streaming Service, byNWR
  6. Zombie Flesh Eaters – 4K Blu-ray restoration coming soon

Links From The Site

  1. Erin profiled A. Leslie Ross and shared artwork from James Avati, Modest Stein, herself, J. Allen St. John, James Avati again, an unknown artist, and Edmund Emshwiller!
  2. Gary reviewed Bend of the River, Blockheads, and Saps at Sea and took a look at the Sci-Fi World of Irwin Allen!
  3. Jeff shared music videos from U2, Inner Circle, Blotto, Iron Maiden, Tears For Fears, Stakka Bo, and Whitesnake, along with wishing Spider-Man a happy birthday and sharing this week’s trailer round-up!
  4. Ryan reviewed Red Winter, The Enemy From Within, Five Perennial Virtues, and shared his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I reviewed Invasion U.S.A., paid tribute to Mario Bava, and shared the trailer for If Beale Street Could Talk!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/23/18 — 7/29/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Busy, busy week but at least the outside temperature is no longer in the 100s.  I spent most of this week tired, cranky, and not feeling well.  Hopefully, this upcoming week will be better!

Movies I Watched:

  1. Blockers (2018)
  2. The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
  3. Diamonds are Forever (1971)
  4. High-Ballin’ (1978)
  5. It (1927)
  6. Live By Night (2016)
  7. Path of the Wind (2009)
  8. Raiders of the Living Dead (1986)
  9. Streets of Fire (1984)
  10. Unsane (2018)
  11. White Line Fever (1975)
  12. The Wrong Cruise (2018)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Ancient Aliens
  2. Atlantis Rising: Secrets Decoded
  3. The Bachelorette
  4. Bar Rescue
  5. Big Brother 20
  6. Big Brother After Dark
  7. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  8. King of the Hill
  9. Lost Cities of the Amazon: The Legend is Real
  10. The Love Boat
  11. Prohibition
  12. Relic Hunter
  13. 60 Minutes — I caught the final 20 minutes of 60 Minutes, specifically the story about Marius, a 2 year-old giraffe who was murdered by the Copenhagen Zoo.  After watching that story, all I can say to that Danish zoo is, “Fuck you and all your Darwinian bullshit.”
  14. Sharp Objects
  15. South Park
  16. Strange Inheritance

Books I Read:

  1. License Renewed (1981) by John Gardner

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Big Data
  3. Calvin Harris
  4. The Chemical Brothers
  5. Daya
  6. Deadmau5
  7. Jakalope
  8. Lily Allen
  9. Mika Sade
  10. Saint Motel
  11. Soccer Mommy

Links From Last Week:

  1. From Erin’s photography site: Another Fountain!
  2. Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
  3. “My Kid Could Paint That!” The Latest Update On This Terrific Documentary! Artist Marla Olmstead Was A Child Prodigy – Or Was She?
  4. From my dream journal: Last Night’s Snippet of a Dream

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared the covers of Strange Detective Mysteries  and artwork from Don Neiser, James Avati, Perl Owen, and two unknown artists.
  2. Gary reviewed Countess Dracula, Diplomaniacs, The Last Stand, and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane!?
  3. Jeff shared music videos from Aaron Lewis, Bruce Willis, U2, Color Me Badd, Paul Simon, Gary Numan, and David Lee Roth!  He also shared our weekly trailer round-up!
  4. Ryan reviewed The Warlok Story and 8 Million Ways To Die, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I paid tribute to my pre-code role model, Clara Bow, and I shared my Oscar predictions!

(Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!)

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/16/18 — 7/22/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

Another incredibly hot week comes to an end.  The temperature has averaged around 110 this weekend.  Fortunately, we should get back down to 100 over the upcoming week, which will make it far more pleasant to go out to the movies!

Movies I Watched:

  1. An Innocent Man (1989)
  2. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
  3. Baby Driver (2017)
  4. Beirut (2018)
  5. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
  6. Cat Ballou (1965)
  7. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958)
  8. The Chapman Report (1962)
  9. Deadly Inn (2018)
  10. Dreamscape (1984)
  11. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
  12. From Within (2008)
  13. Hotel (1967)
  14. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018)
  15. Martin (1978)
  16. My Friend Dahmer (2017)
  17. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  18. A Night To Regret (2018)
  19. No Lost Cause (2011)
  20. On The Waterfront (1954)
  21. Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018)
  22. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
  23. Reeker (2005)
  24. Shattered Glass (2003)
  25. Snowbeast (1977)
  26. Stolen Life (2018)
  27. Survival Island (2005)
  28. West Side Story (1961)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  2. The Bachelorette
  3. BeastMaster
  4. Big Brother 20
  5. Big Brother After Dark
  6. Dance Moms
  7. Doctor Phil
  8. The Doctors
  9. Ghost Whisperer
  10. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  11. King of the Hill
  12. The Love Boat
  13. Naked and Afraid
  14. Night Gallery
  15. Relic Hunter
  16. Seinfeld
  17. Sharp Objects
  18. So You Think You Can Dance
  19. The Twilight Zone
  20. World of Dance

Books I Read:

  1. Blind Rage: A True Story of Sin, Sex, and Murder in a Small Arkansas Town (2015) by Anita Paddock
  2. Room to Dream (2018) by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna
  3. Show Trial: Hollywood, Huac, and the Birth of the Blacklist (2018) by Timothy Patrick Doherty

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Adi Ulmansky
  2. Alien Bay
  3. Big Data
  4. Blanck Mass
  5. Calvin Harris
  6. The Chemical Brothers
  7. David Guetta
  8. Dillon Francis
  9. DJ Judaa
  10. Fitz and the Tantrums
  11. Lara Snow
  12. Marijuana Deathsquads
  13. Martin Garrix
  14. Public Service Broadcasting
  15. Safra
  16. Saint Motel
  17. Skrillex
  18. Sleigh Bells
  19. Years & Years
  20. Zedd

Links From Last Week:

  1. Trevor Wells interviews Dr. Albert Beck of Stalked By My Doctor fame!
  2. Maggie Haberman: Why I Needed To Pull Away From Twitter
  3. Denzel, Separate and Unequal: An Investigation
  4. Buffy the Vampire Reboot In The Works With Joss Whedon Returning
  5. On Ferguson Ink … an interview with writer Nicole Givens Kurtz!
  6. Scream Factory Announces 14 New Blu-Ray Releases!
  7. A Nicolas Cage Movie Six-Pack! I Watch Six NEW Nic Cage Films In A Single Day! Here’s How It Ended…
  8. The Problem With Netflix
  9. What On Earth Possessed You?
  10. The LNM Gang Watches This Island Earth!
  11. The King Has Arrived!

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin profiled the artist, Sidney Riesenberg!
  2. Gary reviewed White Heat, 200 Motels, and several pre-Code films that he had on his DVR, along with taking a look at a one-hit wonder!
  3. Jeff broke down a music video and shared this week’s trailer round-up!
  4. Ryan reviewed Big Bonerz and A Walk Among The Tombstones, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  5. I wrote about James Gunn and the twitter lynch mob!

(Want to see what I accomplished last week?  Click here!)

 

Some thoughts on James Gunn, the Twitter Lynch Mob, and the New Cultural Revolution

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I checked into twitter today, the first thing that I saw was that James Gunn had been fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.

Specifically, he was fired because of tweets.  That seems to be the reason that everyone is fired nowadays.  It just takes one bad tweet to basically end your career.  One offensive tweet and suddenly, you’re a nonperson.  One tweet that strays from what’s been judged acceptable that week and suddenly, people who have praised and worked with you in the past will suddenly declare that they never really liked you.  They always knew something was off.

It’s become a contests of sorts.  People of differing ideologies compete to see who from the opposing side they can take down.  Usually, the Left seems to have more success when it comes to destroying people online but Gunn was targeted by the Right.  (Apparently, Mike Cernovich was one of the instigators of the outrage that led not only to Gunn getting fired from not just GoTG3 but also kicked out of the MCU.)

Gunn was fired for tweets that weren’t even recent.  Ten years ago, before Gunn had even joined the MCU, he was best known as the most talented filmmaker to ever graduate from Troma’s House of Horrors.  I followed Gunn on twitter long before he found mainsteam popularity as a part of the MCU.  And yes, in those days, James Gunn’s humor often was dark and twisted and, when taken out of context, often deliberately offensive.  So what?  That was Gunn’s way of pointing out that we live in a world that is often dark and twisted and deliberately offensive.  If you watch Gunn’s early films — like Super, for instance — you’ll find an artist who, in the style of Wes Craven, John Waters, and Paul Morrissey, was determined to shock audiences out of their complacency.  When Gunn made a joke about something terrible, the jokes wasn’t meant to be celebratory.  Instead, it was an expression of anger that we live in a world where such things exist in the first place.

(There’s an old expression about laughing so you don’t cry.  Apparently, in our new irony-free world, that’s no longer an option.)

What’s particularly fucked up is that Gunn apologized for those tweets when the first Guardians of the Galaxy came out.  At the time, Disney accepted the apology and Gunn’s explanation that he was a different person than he was today.  Is this the way the world’s going to work now?  Is it now acceptable for us to accept someone’s apology until we change our mind?

There’s a lot of celebration on twitter right now over Gunn being fired.  The Breitbart crowed is happy to have taken down a famous critic of Donald Trump’s.  The Woke crowd is happy because they feel they’ve claimed another scalp.  The twitter lynch mob is out in full force and it’s a bit sickening to watch.  Even those who are defending Gunn feel the need to say, “I found his tweets to be offensive…”

Here’s my thing:

I don’t give a fuck whether his tweets were offensive.  The tweets don’t matter.  They’re not the issue.  What is an issue is that the spirit of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution — in which centuries of Chinese history and culture were destroyed and erased while millions were murdered by a bunch of activists determined to prove how ideologically pure they were — is alive and well on twitter.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that you do find Gunn’s 10 year-old tweets to be offensive.  Are we saying that people can’t change?  If people are only willing to support artists who were “woke” from the minute they were born, it’s going to be a sad and boring world.

Eventually, there’s going to be a backlash against all of this stuff that’s going on right now. That’s just the way history works.  And the more smug and fanatical people are in the present, the bigger the backlash is going to be in the future.  Many of the people who are currently celebrating the downfall of James Gunn will probably be among the next ones to fall.

UPDATE: In the comments, Chuck Lantz points out that I didn’t include any of Gunn’s “controversial” tweets.  As I told him, I didn’t necessarily feel that I needed to because my entire argument is that Gunn’s six year-old tweets didn’t matter.  Perhaps if Gunn had tweeted some of this stuff yesterday or even a year ago, I would feel differently but Gunn has already apologized for these tweets and, as I argued above, most of them are being taken out of context.  All of them were obviously meant to be sarcastic.  Whether anyone finds them funny or not is beyond the point and not particularly important.

But, I also see Chuck’s point.  So, here are three of the tweets that have been specifically highlighted on twitter by many of the people demanding that James Gunn be fired:

Lisa’s Week In Review: 7/9/18 — 7/15/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

What a week it’s been!  We had the second Friday the 13th of 2018 and I hope everyone enjoyed it because it’s going to be 14 months before we have another one.  Hopefully, people will be smart enough to spend those 14 months making sure that their local camp ground is a Jason-free zone.

I spent three days in Alabama and, due to bad weather, I nearly didn’t make it back home.  (My flight was diverted to Ft. Smith due to thunderstorms in Dallas.  I lived in Fort Smith for a few months when I was a child and I still have friend and family so it wasn’t a big deal to me but I think the other passengers were on the verge of rioting.  Seriously, people get upset over the tiniest of things….)  Still, despite all that, I managed to get quite a bit watched and read last week.

Movies I Watched:

  1. 6 Balloons (2018)
  2. Americana (1973)
  3. Anger Management (2003)
  4. Attack of the Eye Creatures (1965)
  5. Counterfeiting in Suburbia (2018)
  6. Crossroads (2002)
  7. Evita (1996)
  8. Family Vanished (2018)
  9. A Field in England (2013)
  10. Killer Caregiver (2018)
  11. Lost River (2015)
  12. My Husband’s Double Life (2018)
  13. My Husband’s Secret Life (2018)
  14. The Spy Who Sexed Me (2017)
  15. The Swarm (1978)
  16. The Tale (2018)
  17. What If…. (2010)
  18. X, Y, and Zee (1972)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. Ask the Undertaker
  2. The Bachelorette
  3. Bar Rescue
  4. Big Brother 20
  5. Big Brother After Dark
  6. Cheaters
  7. House Hunters
  8. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  9. King of the Hill
  10. Kitchen Nightmares
  11. Last Call With Carson Daly
  12. Married at First Sight
  13. Mita y mita
  14. Murder Comes To Town
  15. Picnic at Hanging Rock
  16. Twin Peaks: The Return
  17. The Wonderland Murders

Books I Read:

  1. Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
  2. Hating You, Love You (2018) by Cyrstal Kaswell
  3. I Ran Against Jimmy Carter (1979) by Stanley Arnold
  4. Mistake of Magic (2018) by Alex Lidell
  5. A New Beginning (1980) by Ed Clark
  6. A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising (2018) by Raymond A. Villareal

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Big Data
  2. Bob Dylan
  3. The Chemical Brothers
  4. DJ Judaa
  5. Elle King
  6. Fitz and the Tantrums
  7. Froggy Fresh
  8. Iggy Pop
  9. Jackalope
  10. Jamie Liddell
  11. Joywave
  12. Keenan West
  13. Kongos
  14. Lynard Skynard
  15. Moby
  16. Muse
  17. Pixies
  18. Robert De Long
  19. Saint Motel
  20. Sleigh Bells
  21. Underworld
  22. Yelawolf

Links From Last Week:

  1. On her photography site, check out these clouds!
  2. Variety says these were the bigest Emmy snubs and surprises.  Twin Peaks is the only snub that matters.
  3. From Ferguson Ink, Books That For One Reason Or Another Stay On My Desk
  4. Zombieland 2 confirmed for October 2019!
  5. From Nighthawk News, A Century of Film: Supporting Actor
  6. How To Make A Good Movie Sequel
  7. The Horror of Party Beach is coming to Blu-Ray!
  8. Jim Jarmusch is Making a Zombie Movie With Bill Murray, Adam Driver, and Tilda Swinton
  9. The Creeping Progressiveness of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
  10. From my music site, here’s the love theme from Friday 13th!
  11. Meet Dr. Eugene Gu and his girlfriend, Eugene Gu?

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin profiled the artist Frank Cozzarelli!
  2. Jeff reviewed Americana and gave us our weekly trailer round-up!
  3. Doc wished everyone a happy Friday the 13th!
  4. Gary reviewed Cotton Comes To Harlem, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, and Retro Fan Magazine!
  5. Ryan reviewed Roopert and the Strange, along with sharing his weekly reading round-up!
  6. I shared my personal Emmy nominations!
  7. In honor of Friday the 13th, here’s my 12 Things You May Or May Not Have Known About Friday the 13th!

Want to see what I accomplished last week?  Click here!

Happy Friday the 13th From The Shattered Lens!

Posted on by Doc Bowman

Happy Friday the 13th from the Shattered Lens!

This is the second Friday the 13th of 2018!

What does that mean?

It means that today is going to be even more unlucky than the previous Friday the 13th!  You know what that means!  Don’t walk under ladders!  Respect black cats, even more than usually do!  If you break a mirror, give up all hope!  If you’re camping in the woods, listen to crazy old Ralph or Eustace or Earl or whoever the local weirdo may be!  No late night naked swimming!  No running around in the rain in your underwear!  No comments about how life’s too short!  No drugs!  No sex!  No fun of any kind!

I know, I know.  We all like to live dangerously but if all of our readers die, who will be around to read the site?  Think about it!

Anyway, have a happy and safe Friday the 13th!  And remember the human-turned-zombie who made this holiday famous.  Today is his birthday…