November 22, 2005
The Good Life
Sometimes, everything just falls into place. Take the last couple days, for instance. I finish 3rd out of 18 in our monthly poker game last night, taking home double my entry fee. The miserable excuse for a college known as UGA loses to Auburn in football. The pristine institution known as Georgia Tech, on the other hand, steps up in a mighty way and knocks off Miami, the #3 team in the nation, in a game which they supposedly had no chance. I went to see Harry Potter on Saturday and it was great (review forthcoming). I won my fantasy football matchup. Heck, I even happened to glance at a $50 gift certificate that I've had on my desk for about a year, just in time to notice that it was expiring in a couple days and that I needed to use it ASAP. It's like nothing could go wrong.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, I'm starting a week of vacation on Tuesday. If only things could always go this well...
Horror Movie Month (Postmortem)
Well, after quite a delay, I finally finished my Netflix horror movie project that I started in October. The idea was to watch 20 noteworthy horror films that I've never seen, before Halloween. Clearly, I overshot the date by a bit. But, in my defense, I didn't start until mid-October, and a series of events prevented me from watching some of the movies in a reasonable time frame. Regardless, I got through the list and I'm glad I did it. Here are my thoughts in retrospect. But first, for the sake of reference, here is the initial list again, for your viewing pleasure:
Now, some superlatives I'd like to award:
Best Movie:
- 5. Night of the Living Dead (1968) - A simple premise, executed to perfection. Romero creates a real sense of desperation in this film, and the black/white filming just makes it look eerier. If that wasn't enough, there's the debate about the social commentary in the film, and of course, the bitterly ironic ending. The sequel "Dawn of the Dead" gets all the credit, but this is the film that sets the bar for the entire zombie subgenre.
- 4. The Haunting (1963) - I was shocked by how good this was, not only because of its age, but because of how strongly it constrasts to the horrible, horrible 1999 remake. As with "Night of the Living Dead", the black/white feel adds to the creepiness, and this film clearly wrote the book on how to make a psychological thriller. No blood, no monsters - just noises, clever camerawork, and the unknown inside your head.
- 3. The Changeling (1980) - A film that clearly borrows from "The Haunting", but takes things up a notch. It is edgier, scarier, and has a more thorough and intriguing storyline. Not to mention the acting here is better, led by the stellar George C. Scott.
- 2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - The original; the classic. It was exactly what I expected, and that was a good thing. And it was able to live up to the hype, which was impressive. The movie itself is lacking in certain areas, but it makes up for it with numerous scenes of sheer terror. In its scariest moments, it is rivaled (and surpassed) only by "The Exoricst".
- 1. Carrie (1976) - again, this one caught me off-guard. I knew of this movie, and had always heard it spoken of fondly, but never heard it mentioned among the classics. For my money, it belongs in the pantheon of great horror movies, not just because it's scary, but because it's a great film, too. Brian de Palma is a fantastic director, and this is one of his best efforts. This movie held me captivated and disturbed from beginning to end.
Scariest Scene:
- 5. The Haunting (the banging sounds in the middle of the night) - Isn't it amazing how effective a loud sound can be? It sounds cheesy, but watch this movie in the dark, and see if you don't get totally creeped out by the mysterious banging sounds coming from nowhere...
- 4. The Changeling (the mirror breaks while John looks in for a close-up) - This was a scene executed to perfection, in that you couldn't have predicted it coming. Then, as if it wasn't scary enough, you see a dead man's face in the cracked mirror. Yikes.
- 3. When a Stranger Calls (initial phone call) -
Babysitter: What do you want?
Need I say more?
Caller: Your... blood............ all over me! - 2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Leatherface kills his first two victims) - This is just a scene of merciless horror, one of the many this movie is famous for. When the girl runs in, trips into Leatherhead, who beats her over the head with a mallet, picks her up, throws her onto a large meat hook, then starts ripping into her boyfriend with a chainsaw while she watches... that's about as much as any person can stand to watch.
- 1. Carrie (the final scene) - I refuse to tell you what happens here, just because it would be a travesty to ruin this for anyone who hasn't seen it or doesn't know about it. Let me just say this: it is the only scene out of any of these movies to literally make me jump out of my chair and cause my heart to race for minutes. That hasn't happened to me since I was a kid. Unbelievable.
Goriest Movie: Dead Alive - Wow, this one wasn't even close. Peter Jackson goes absolutely bezerk in this zombie send-up. The last 30 minutes are a complete bloodbath, to the point where it becomes over-the-top hilarity. Horror film buffs who are okay with campy dialogue and cheesy humor will love this one.
Worst Movie: Army of Darkness - Yet again, this movie wins this non-award hands-down. What a horribly worthless film. And yes, I do realize that many of you probably feel that I'm speaking blasphemously, but I really don't care. There was nothing good about this film. The gore and special effects were nothing that you hadn't already seen in Evil Dead II. The story is completely ridiculous, and the humor - if you can call it that - is completely cheesy slapstick garbage. It was only 81 minutes long, and I regretted every minute of it.
So there it is. I had fun, and will probably look to do another one of these themed "projects" in the near future. And of course, I'll be writing all of the gory details here! (pun intended)
The Season of Concerts - Finale
Well, this past Tuesday was the Ben Folds concert at the Tabernacle. I love seeing shows there, and I've always wanted to see Ben, but I must admit that I was a little nervous that I might not like it as much, since it's a very different style of concert from all the others I've attended. Having seen the show now, I will say that it was a different experience, but nonetheless it was a lot of fun.
In some ways it was a mellower show, because the focus was much more on the piano than the drum/guitar combo, and then of course there are the plentiful numbers of awesome solo ballads which Ben Folds does so well. But he sure did play a lot of music - about 2.5 hours worth. He started off playing purely new stuff from his last 2 solo albums, which was good, but lacking something special. Then his backup band left stage and he took over for awhile, playing almost all older stuff from the Ben Folds Five days. Then the band came back and he played a ton more, mixing it up across all albums. The conclusion was absolutely tremendous - he rocked out with 5 or 6 offerings from his most classic material, including my favorite Ben Folds song "Philosophy". "Army" was also of particular note, as he played the role of conductor by separating the crowd into sections and leading the group through the sing-along portion of the song. He did it with such gusto that you couldn't help but admire and laugh.
The only complaint I have was my own fault - we got great positioning on the floor (2nd row again!), but we happened to be on the right side of the stage. Well, the piano was turned such that Ben sat on the left side facing the right, so while we could see him well, we couldn't see his hands work the piano at all. Too bad. Anyways, I'm really glad I went. For those who might be curious, here's the setlist:
1. BastardPosted by sdishman at November 22, 2005 2:02 AM
2. Gone
3. Annie Waits
4. Trusted
5. Jesusland
6. Jesusland (pop version)
7. You To Thank
8. Still Fighting It
9. Prison Food
10. Landed
11. Bitches Ain't Shit
12. Brick (without band)
13. Don't Change Your Plans (without band)
14. Lullaby (without band)
15. Luckiest (without band)
16. The Last Polka
17. Army
18. Ascent of Stan
19. Where's Summer B?
20. There's Always Someone Cooler Than You
21. Late
22. Zak and Sara
23. Rockin The Suburbs
24. Not The Same
25. Philosophy
26. Narcolepsy
27. One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces
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