OPENING THEME
We are experiencing a montage of images from inside the protagonist’s head. In rapid succession we see: An apple being sliced in half by a chainsaw. A horse galloping out of a toilet. A balloon with frosting on top baking in a microwave.
I’ve been a busy little penguin, inspired by this early spring.
First off, it’s the 100th anniversary of the coining of the word “robot,” in a Czechoslovakian stage play called “Rossum’s Universal Robots” written in 1920, in which robots take over the world.
To mark the anniversary, I pick out the villain AIs from film, gaming, and one Harlan Ellison short story that nobody’s forgetting anytime soon. While I am still rolling my eyes at predictions of AI taking over and shaking my fist at Ray Kurzweil and Peter Thiel for leading doomsday cults, I have to acknowledge that when evil AI is done right in fiction, it makes for an especially chilling villain.
And then…
Continue reading “Entertainment you might have missed at Geeky Domain”
Yeah, I get to watch movies and rave about them over at my other fun gigs. Recently at Geeky Domain, which is becoming quite the happening place since I’ve tacked my hat over its shingle, I’ve gotten to revisit some of my favorite film hobbyhorses.
The scoop: Over at my long-standing 366WeirdMovies gig, I undertook my own side challenge to figure out the best / weirdest Kurt Vonnegut film adaptation.
So far, the score is settled at Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) as the best, but maybe second-weirdest. A strong case is to be made for the utterly bonkers Slapstick of Another Kind (1982), but it is a terrible movie, almost painful despite its all-star comedy cast. Last and definitely least is Breakfast of Champions (1999), which is not only bad, but damn near a war crime and a deliberate sabotage of Vonnegut’s work by a director with nothing but hatred and ugliness in his heart, Alan Rudolph.
I have seen Mother Night (1996) too, and while it is very good, I didn’t recall it being a contender for weirdness.
Continue reading “The Quest For the Weirdest Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation”
You get a 2-parter here because I’m too busy to break it up into individual posts and God knows when I get back in here. Two recent product lists to announce:
What else? I didn’t even mention it back during Christmas, but my first post at Geeky Domain we ginned up a quick and sloppy Christmas gift guide for Yoda fans based off The Mandalorian! Since most Baby Yoda merch doesn;t even ship until spring and is available for pre-order only, I figure it will be more useful next year than this year.
Is there anybody who has blogged more about Star Wars at this point than I have? I mean I can’t prove it – Half the stuff I’ve ever written for the web is now found only on the Internet Archive, if that. I was nattering about Star Wars back on the BBS era, before the World Wide Web, before Google, before AOL. I suppose people who write for Wookiepedia and the like can claim more Star Wars blogging than I, but that’s the people who specialize. And I don’t even count myself as a big fan of the series!
I figure these two posts go together because they’re the only choice left in geek cinema fandom now. You’re either a Marvel fan or a Star Wars fan. All the other franchises are extinct in American cinema. And they’re both owned by Disney, the mouse that frikkin’ roared, God help us all!
So it’s the holiday season and I’ve actually taken a break from my usual Scroogy behavior to go Black Friday shopping last week. This is the first time I’ve ever done that! Normally I stay in, safe from getting trampled. But the kids were in town to visit this last Thanksgiving weekend, and we don’t get to see them that often these days, so I suggested we stampede Historic Valley Junction. And man did we have a blast! Black Friday isn’t as crowded as it used to be.
Of course, I turned it into a client post too. Everybody else runs around Valley Junction taking selfies with everything, so why not join in and be able to monetize it too? That link you will find is also an eccentric gift idea guide.
What didn’t make it into that post: We ate lunch at Heavenly, an Asian restaurant where they know what a bowl of hot ‘n’ sour soup is and set the table with chopsticks in mind first. They have this awesome mural behind the bar there:
Continue reading “Christmas Gift Shopping With Penguin Pete”
Yes, it’s time once again for grandpa geek to neckbeard about my top MTG Commander EDH generals. These are the staples, the ones I rebuild and replay again and again, because they’re worth the time and trouble. I see players asking in the forums all the time, “What EDH deck should I build next?” Well, this is my attempt to answer that question with a list of those I propose will appeal to the widest possible base, regardless of budget, skill, or experience.
It’s also a LONG post, so bring your coffee.
UPDATE: But wait, there’s more! I later wrote “How to Enjoy Magic : The Gathering on a Poverty Budget,” full of thrifty tips for the defiantly budget hobbyist.
Yeah, I’ve been so crazy busy lately that I can hardly find the time to view a whole movie, let alone review one. But I did manage to return to the vineyards of 366 Weird Movies to become one of the first web authors to review Let My Puppets Come (1976), a puppet porno-comedy.
Now you’re probably thinking it was a parody of The Muppet Show? Nope, Kermit and his pals debuted after this movie’s release! Or perchance you expect it to be a rehash of ground already well-trod in Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles? Nay, this was 13 years before Feebles saw light of day! Seeing how it was so far ahead of its time, it’s doubly disappointing how tame it is.
Anyway, puppet porn. If that’s your bag, enjoy!
Continue reading “New at 366Weird: Let My Puppets Come (1976)”
Who loves horror? Who loves really sick horror? Who loves horror that lends itself to lots of sick jokes? Memememe, and all you other crazy wonderful bent weirdos out there! So over at Spookwire I got to list the top 7 cannibal horror movies – the ones I consider most essential cores to the genre, anyway.
And at the end of the post at Spookwire, I left a little present: links to several news stories reporting humans being served in restaurants. I don’t mean “served” like a patron, I mean “served” in a Damon Knight sense.
But wait, the post isn’t finished yet! Click through for seconds, and save room for dessert!
Continue reading “New at Spookwire: The Best Cannibal Horror Movies”
In my continuing self-indulgence as a soapboxing manga fan, I got the opportunity to rave about the works of Junji Ito, the horror mangaka behind The Enigma of Amigara Fault, Uzumaki, and many other groundbreaking horror manga classic works.
I capture video interviews with Ito himself, links to discussions of his work, and much more. Some say Junji Ito is more silly than scary, but I actually see a balance in the man’s work. It really is like a far-east capture of the spirit of western horror anthology comics, such as EC Comics (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear) & company.
“This is my hole! It was made for me!”
Continue reading “New at 123ish: Spotlight on Junji Ito, Legendary Horror Mangaka”
