Movies You Need to See: Beetlejuice...

Alright Joan... Here goes nothing...

I am going to kick off a potentially never-ending series of movie reviews here. I plan to focus on movies people should have seen years ago. (At the very least, if you weren't around back then, your parents should have introduced them to you. If they haven't, you are well within your rights to accuse them of child abuse and file for custodial divorce. They are clearly not doing their jobs properly.) If you haven't seen any of the movies I decide to focus on, see them. Now. Or else...

Anyway... Here is some background for those of you who might have missed it...

A while ago, shortly after I started this here blog thingie, I did a couple of posts pertaining to old movies people ought to see during childhood or early adolescence. I am fairly certain that a fair few of them will be reviewed here as well but for now I am starting with one that wasn't on my list last time around.

Personally, I think that the foreign language in the video makes it even funnier! What language is that anyway?

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

Who hasn't seen this film?... Anybody?... (I am choosing to believe that you are all rational, well adjusted people who are aware of the glory we are addressing here.) Alright, good... Now, is there anyone here who didn't like it? (As it turns out there are people out there who didn't. The first time I met one of them, I would have sworn they were just saying that to fuck with me.)

Gods I hope not.

I remember this as being one of the best movies of my childhood and, having watched it again last night, it is still one of the best movies out there.

We learned so very very much from this film. First of all, Michael Keaton (I know you remember the old Batman films.. he was the Batman that started it all back then.) can do comedy! I don't mean Mr. Mom-tough guy style comedy here either. I mean balls-out, loud, physical humor! Hell, a lot of folks I knew back then had no idea it was even him and refused to believe it until the box was shoved under their noses. I suspect that, were the movie to be done these days, Jim Carey would be cast as Betelgeuse and I suspect that the world would be a little bit sadder for that. I know for a fact that I would be.

But wait, there's more! This is the movie that, for all intents and purposes, gave us Winona Ryder and, through her, the birth of Goth! Before this, she did two other roles in movies I have never heard of and afterward she was a staple of my generation. A couple years later she would give us both Welcome Home Roxie Carmichael and Edward Scissorhands. If that weren't enough, she would come back after another two years to become the gothic wet dream that was Bram Stoker's Dracula. (Oh come on now... If you are now or ever were a goth, you know as well as I do that you had some very specific fantasies surrounding that film...)

There were plenty of other notable faces in the movie for those with fuzzy memories as well. Geena Davis played her role to a T. (The same role we see her in just about every time we see her at all. Alright, that's not really true. She can act well enough. Anyone know where she is now? Last I heard she was trying to become an Olympic archer or some such. Swear to god!)

Alec Baldwin allowed us to keep up the fantasy that the Baldwin Brothers could act. (And yes, I do know for sure it was Alec. Admittedly I had to go double check on IMDB but I am dead certain now!)

And Glenn Shadix defined an entire career as Otho. (I mean it. he defined his entire career. I can't see him as anything or anyone else ever!)

Oh yeah. Jeffery Jones was there too but since he was playing the same role as he has played in every other movie ever, I didn't think it worth more than a one line note.

Anyway... About the movie...

I thought it was good. Two thumbs up and all that.

Oh hell... Just go watch it again. You know you want to!

Heheheheheheh!!! I wish I could make this kind of thing happen every day!

And now to find the perfect quote to wrap this up...

We've come for your daughter, Chuck.
-Betelgeuse-

When I am Old...

This is a video I was aware of long ago and an old friend of mine just reminded me of it's existence. It is fairly short so I invite you to take a quick look now, before reading on.



Gods, how I love that reality. It serves me as a reminder of just how much I am looking forward to living my life as an old man.

It also works wonders, I think, in reminding us all to have some bloody fun in our every day lives. Now, I am not telling you to go out and get a spare steering wheel or anything... But if you happen to have one laying around somewhere, could I maybe borrow it?

Seriously though folks... There isn't a whole lot of point to living our day to day lives if we don't have any joy in them. Go out and find some and remind yourself to enjoy living!

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
-Swedish Proverb and it's transition to the motto of Callahan's Place from the mind of Spider Robinson-

New Year, New Plan...

And I was doing so well for a while there...

Last year I worked my ass off to make a lot of positive changes in my life. A number of them even grew into something wonderful before I allowed the stress of work and the holidays to drag me back down into the pits I used to live in.

But no more!

I am back to blogging and I will be doing my best to make this a regular thing again. I am going to do some book reviews for my literary minded readers. (Although, I should warn you, I don't promise to make it about new releases. I expect I will mostly tell you about the books I know and love in an effort to bring some great stories an writers into your lives.) And, as always, I will share my thoughts about whatever else comes to mind.

For the here and now, I just wanted to let you all know I am back to it so you should watch for updates from me again. I am giving myself the goal of posting three times a week from here on out. I am unwilling to go so far as to tell you what days of the week but I will do everything in my power to at least get three posts up between Monday and Sunday.

To that end... If anyone has a topic or thought they would like me to spew forth about, please share them with me! I think it would be fun to try to incorporate some reader feedback as well so, for the love of everything good, please give me some! My comment sections should be for discussion between all of us so don't be afraid to use it!

I guess what I mean is that the new plan is the same as the old plan. Move forward, build momentum, change the world. Even if it is only my little corner of things, I expect the change will be great!

All that being said, I am going to move on for now. I look forward to chatting with you all soon!.

-Me-

P.S. For those whose blogs I follow, I will be catching up and commenting again soon. I have missed you all as much as I hope you have missed me.

A blog is what all websites want to be; updated on a regular basis, contains content that is of interest to a select or target audience, and is easy to update or change.
-Unknown-

Book Review: Unseen Acedemicals

(I have done my best to keep the spoilers out of here but something may have slipped through. Sorry.)

I was hanging out the other day chatting with a friend of mine about some things. The first topic we had to discuss (as is the case whenever the chance presents itself) was the most recent release from Terry Pratchett.

Unseen Academicals was a great book although, not quite up to what we have grown to expect from Terry. Maybe expect isn't the right term anymore though. It would be more true for me to say that the book wasn't on par with what we have come to hope for from Terry.

Not too long ago, Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer Syndrome. When the announcement came it was met by a worldwide wail of horror and disappointment from millions of his fans worldwide. Was this it? Would we never see another Pratchett novel on the shelves? Was Discworld doomed to forever stand still and never again move forward into interesting times?

Then one day, we all stood with baited breath to hear the announcement that a new novel, Nation was going to be released. When the big day came we flocked to the bookstores in droves to purchase this new offering. Nation was not a Discworld novel but, well, who cares! Pratchett is Pratchett and we will take whatever we can get!

Or not...

Personally, I still haven't finished the book, but that's just me. I have spoken to people who are convinced Nation was his best book to date but the school of thought to which I ascribe is that we have been woefully disappointed. Who knows? Maybe the book improves as you get farther into it. Maybe one day I will force myself through it to find out.

But back to my original topic...

Unseen Academicals was good. It just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be. A friend of mine has described the Discworld novels as having started at a seven, moved up through eights and nines, leveled off at ten and has been going strong ever since. Sadly, it seems like this most recent in the series has dropped back to a nine.

Now, please understand, I am being a harsh judge because I have known this author for so long I feel like I am critiquing a friend. (Yeah, I'm a bastard to all my friends. So?)

A nine out of ten is, by no means, a bad book. Very few authors ever achieve a ten in my world. The only disappointment here is that I was really hoping for a ten.

Maybe it is the Alzheimer Syndrome showing through. Or perhaps it is because he dictated the book this time around rather than doing all the writing and editing himself. It could even be a simple matter of it having been a new set of central characters and not quite having gotten into the groove of them yet. The bottom line though, is that the scathing wit he generally utilizes to point sharply to the stupidity surrounding us felt like it was blunted a little bit this time around.

For my part, I think that it would have found its way to damned near perfect with, maybe, one or two more read-through and edits by the man himself. Just enough to sharpen the blade so to speak. The story line was there and the thinking was clearly present. I think it just needed a little more kick to it.

To be entirely honest here, if I hadn't had all of Terry's other novels here to compare to, this one might have been a ten as well. I am grateful for anything new I am able to put my hands on from this author and will read each new work he gives us until the day I die. (It is my devout hope that I go before him so I never have to go a year without a chance of a new Pratchett novel.)

In closing, I would just like to say, "Long life to you Terry! And good health plague you for all your years! Keep 'em coming!" (Not that I expect he will ever read this but, just in case, I want my encouragement to be noted as being loud boisterous and heartfelt.)

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.
-Terry Pratchett from Lords and Ladies-