Saturday, October 6, 2018

Real Life Information - I'm Outta Here For a Few Days



I may not have a life, but I do have a fulltime job.  I like it.  Good gig.  Sometimes it requires travel.

Months ago and far apart, I scheduled attendance at two different conferences, and - fun - they're on consecutive weeks.  Starting, like, now.

"Great," you're saying to yourself.  "So the @#$% what?"  

Well, first, why are you so angry?  Second: Things will slow down here for a short bit.  Most of you won't notice.  But, I like to keep you posted.  Makes me feel important.

But, that doesn't mean no content.  You will get Halloween PodCasts on Sundays through the end of the month, so keep checking in.  

Coming up:  
  • Ghostbusters
  • Isolation
  • Night of the Demon and The Haunting
and I think I can get The Thing edited for Halloween itself.  We'll see.


Halloween Watch: The Howling (1981)



Watched:  10/05/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming/ Shudder Network Trial
Viewing:  Third
Decade:  1980's

Halloween Watch: Monster House (2006)



Watched:  10/05/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2000's

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Halloween Watch: Hocus Pocus (1993)



Watched:  10/03/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990's

Millennials, I feel like we need to have a talk.  I understand that you were mostly raised by distracted parents who left you with a VCR or DVD player and no limit on the number of viewings you could take in of any movie, so long as you didn't interrupt whatever your parents were up to.  And, believe me, I understand the power of nostalgia and re-enjoying a movie that takes you back to your past, when things were simpler and life was all Capri Sun pouches and sugar cereals.  But right now, the two movies I keep seeing you defend - arguably unironically - are Space Jam and Hocus Pocus

In 1993 I was 18, adjusting to college, trying to land a date with the girl in the Italian class I was busy failing, and didn't make time to leave campus to see Hocus Pocus. The movie has appeared as a streaming option every year, and I've considered it.  Lately - as noted above - the kids have rallied around this movie, naming it a Halloween holiday classic.

The thing, tho, is that Hocus Pocus (1993), sux.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Super Reading! Action Comics #1003 (2018)


The Invisible Mafia - Part 3


Script - Brian Michael Bendis
Art - Yanick Paquette
Colors - Nathan Fairbank
Letters - Josh Reed
Cover (main) - Patrick Gleason & Brad Anderson/ Cover (variant) - Francis Manapul
Associate Editor - Jessica Chen
Editor - Michael Cotton
Group Editor -  Brian Cunningham

Sunday, September 30, 2018

PODCAST! SIgnal Watch Halloween Horror Watch: Horror Express and Death Line (both 1972)



Watched:  09/08/2018
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade: 1970's

In the spoooookiest of all Halloween themes - SimonUK and Ryan settle on "Christopher Lee + trains + 1972".  Two wildly different takes on the horror genre from the same year, each with a lot to offer, but offering up chills - one featuring a drunk Donald Pleasance as a policeman, and one Telly Savalas as a vodka-swilling Cossack.  But, honestly, both well worth a viewing this Halloween season.




Music:
Bride of Frankenstein Theme by Franz Waxman
Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
Bound for Hell, Love and Rockets
Swan Lake - Act 2: No. 10 Scene - Tchaikovsky

Playlists:

Featured:  Signal Watch Halloween 2018



More Playlists:

Saturday, September 29, 2018

A TL;DR SPECIAL - Mind-Blown Watch: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)



Watched:  09/26/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's

People, for oh so many reasons, I am absolutely baffled and stunned by this movie.

Where to start...

Begin at the beginning, I suppose

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Noir Watch: Angel Face (1953)


Watched:  09/27/2018
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM/ DVR
Viewing:  Second
Decade: 1950's

Angel Face (1953) is a heck of a film - a dark, twisted noir about honey traps, stepping out on perfectly lovely receptionist girlfriends, cool cars, retaining your Robert Mitchum cool in crazy situations, and maybe not going along to get along.

Artist Norm Breyfogle Merges With the Infinite


Comics artist Norm Breyfogle has passed.  Reported here by The Washington Post

When I got into comics, like any 10 or eleven year-old, I didn't really know how they worked.  I had no guidance, and no one was around to explain them to me.  We had spinner racks at the grocery, shelves at drugs stores and 7-11, and however B. Dalton and Waldenbooks wrangled their comics that week.

Pretty quickly I went from just grabbing random comics to gravitating to Uncanny X-Men and Batman comics, especially once I figured out that I could get two Batman comics every month with Batman and the oddly named Detective Comics

It was a hell of a time to get into comics.  What was okay to do in art was changing fast.




Wednesday, September 26, 2018

PODCAST: "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011) - Part 5 of Avengers Chronological Countdown


Watched: 09/21/2018
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  unknown
Decade:  2010's

Ryan and Jamie talk about "Captain America: The First Avenger" - and it goes on way, way too long. We talk about why the movie felt like a risk, how it fits in with the Avengers overall mega-narrative, and how it compares to the comics. This may or may not be one of our favorite movies, so we may have shown up with multiple type-written pages of notes, ready to go.



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