Tag Archives: Dazzling Erin

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets The First Day of 2021

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy 2021, everyone!  However you chose to welcome the new year, I hope you’ve managed to recover.

Today was the first day of the New Year and, for me, it was also a day to start a new list of films.  It’s something I and a lot of people do every year.  We keep a list of every film that we watch and, of course, the idea is to see as many possible.  In 2020, I watched 820 films at least once.  (Some films, like It’s A Wonderful Life, I watched several times but, for list purposes, I only counted the first time.)  This year, I’m hoping to watch at least 1,000.

I watched Thank God It’s Friday as a part of #FridayNightFlix, which is a weekly live tweet that I host.  Every Friday, at 10 pm et, we watch a movie.  So far, we’ve watched Starcrash, Ator, Split Image, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Robot Monster, and now Thank God It’s Friday.  If you’re reading this and you’re on twitter, consider yourself invited to next Friday’s film.

As always, the work here at the TSL Bunker is never done.

Still, for the most part, the first day of 2021 was a rather mellow and peaceful one and, after 2020, I don’t think anyone can complain about that.  One thing about almost everything being on hold right now is that it gives us a chance to reflect and think about both the past and the future.  For instance, I spent a good deal of today staring at my film collection and realizing that I need to spend this entire year watching every piece of physical media that I own, if just to make sure that they all still work.  So, you can consider that one of my resolutions for 2021.  I will sit down and watch all of the movies that I own.  And maybe I’ll even review them!

I wasn’t the only one making resolutions around here, of course.  Patrick also set himself up for a challenge:

That was pretty much it for today.  I watched some movies.  I listened to some music.  And I made some last-minute resolutions for the new year.  It was a quiet day but it was a good day.  I can’t complain about that.  Instead, we can all sing along:

Have a good year everyone.  Keep reading.  Keep listening to music.  And as always, keep watching, talking, debating, discussing, and making your opinions known!  Let’s make 2021 a year to be remembered!

 

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Christmas

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy holidays!

Today was Christmas and, as you can see, even the TSL cats got into it:

This year, Christmas was, for many of us, a bit more low-key than usual.  That’s understandable, of course.  For instance, I’m used to having a big family gathering for Christmas.  Usually, on this day, I would be catching up with aunts and uncles and cousins from all over the country.  The morning would be spent at one house and the afternoon at another and the evening and yet another.  That didn’t happen this year, for obvious reasons.  That said, my sisters and I were still able to keep a few our traditions alive.

For instance, I kept alive the tradition of waking up early and then wondering why everyone else was still asleep:

Every year, I make it a point to go for a drive on Christmas Day.  It may sound like a minor thing but it’s something that I always look forward to.

And finally, there were the most important traditions.  Like this one about watching certain movies over the course of the day.  I’m happy to say that I not only watched A Christmas Story this morning (before we even unwrapped presents, if you need an example of just how early I woke up compared to everyone else) but that it was also the 800th films that I’ve watched this year.

After A Christmas Story, it was time to rewatch It’s A Wonderful Life on E!  I also watched the 1983 Tom Cruise football film, All The Right Moves before joining my family in observing one of the greatest of all Christmas traditions:

Everyone celebrated Christmas in their own way.  Here’s a few thoughts from the TSL crew:

To be honest, that’s what I always thought Boxing Day was but apparently, it’s a shopping holiday.  That’s pretty nice since I was already planning on shopping tomorrow anyways.

Anyway, Happy Holidays, everyone!  I hope it was a good one without any fear.  Another year over and a new one just begun.

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Christmas Eve

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

It’s been a relatively quiet Christmas Eve down here at the TSL Offices.  We’ve wished each other a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

We’ve definitely devoted some time to trying to keep up with what’s going on with Santa and his trip around the world.

There was a brief moment of panic when it appeared that Santa may have disappeared.  I wondered if maybe he had been called away to once again conquer the Martians.

Fortunately, we eventually found him on a beach in Florida and sent the Ice Cream Bunny out to get things moving again.

Resolutions were made:

https://twitter.com/casewrites/status/1342142271551131648

Treats were considered:

Nostalgia was indulged:

And, in the end, we watched a lot of movies.  Myself, for instance, I watched Less Than Zero, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, and It’s A Wonderful Life today.  I’ve still got the first two Die Hards and A Christmas Story to look forward to.  That’ll be after midnight mass, of course.

And finally, as he does every year, Patrick helped bring this Christmas Eve to a perfect close by sharing the Night Before Christmas.

Here’s hoping that everyone has a good holiday tomorrow!  Thanks for reading and we look forward to ringing in the new year with you!

Song of the Day: Orphans of Doom/The Awakening (by Basil Poledouris)

Posted on by Arleigh

Basil-Pictures-2

We’re closing out another year and it’s always time to reflect back on the events the we all experienced.

Here in Through the Shattered Lens we saw a new writer join the ranks with the arrival and addition of Alexandre Rothier. We also saw more and more of our writers grow in confidence with their writing. This didn’t just translate into more writing from them, but better as well. There’s Dazzling Erin with her constant surprise of finding new artists to share. Then leonth3duke who finally made the jump to truly appreciating horror. Leonard Wilson continued to find his voice with each new review he wrote.

I can’t forget necromoonyeti who continues to be my source of all things music and with each new band written I pick up something new to experience. Semtex Skittle showed the world his appreciation not just for the franchise of Final Fantasy but Sailor Moon as well and to that otaku are grateful. Speaking of otaku there’s the site’s own big bear of one with pantsukudasai56 who always brings in his choice recommendations in anime.

Then there’s Dork Geekus giving us his thoughts on things comic book. We also have trashfilmguru gracious enough to take time to share his unique take on horror, comic books both high and low-brow who also keeps the rest of us from drinking the Marvel Kool-Aid wholesale which makes for a better site.

Finally there’s my co-founder and partner-in-crime Lisa Marie Bowman who upped her game as she literally propped up the site at times with her voluminous, insightful and unique brand of writing. I will be forever grateful for her continued support and for becoming one of my closest friends.

I’ve chosen the latest “Song of the Day” as an analogue to what I saw myself and this site go through this year of 2014. I had just lost my father at the tail end of 2013 (it is a loss still felt even today) and then had fallen deathly ill around the holidays. Through it all I was thankful and proud of the work my fellow writers were able to do in my absence through my grief and sickness.

Basil Poledouris remains an artist I’ve admired from the moment I heard his music transform John Milius’ screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerian barbarian from just your standard violent sword-and-sorcery matinee piece to something close to a perfect blend of epic fantasy and primal storytelling. Poledouris would go on to make other memorable film scores, but it’s his work in Conan the Barbarian that always remains his most iconic piece of work.

With the final denouement that follows the climax of the film we have a somber piece titled “Orphans of Doom/The Awakening” closing off the film. I chose this piece to symbolize the year Through the Shattered Lens went through. The piece begins on a somber note with the use of a choir adding a layer of the ethereal, but as the piece continues to it’s conclusion it gradually segues into something triumphant with hope for the future.

This song perfectly encapsulates Through the Shattered Lens circa 2014 and it’s my hope that brighter future awaits me and mine as the new year dawns.