Something Completely Different

I've probably seen Nightmare Before Christmas what.. 30 times? I know all the songs by heart. Beetlejuice as well. Addam's family, of course.

Some of the movies mentioned here, I don't care that much for, like From Hell, John Carpenter's Vampires (although I saw this ages ago when it was relatively new) and From Dusk Till Dawn. I did like Interview and Let the Right One In.

For Vampire movies, I'd recommend Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a lot of fun, from very hammy (looking at you, Keanu) to gothic horror awesomeness (Gary Oldman in his castle).

Btw, in Alien Isolation, you play Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda I think it was 🙂 you deal with a xenomorph outbreak on a space station, Sevastopol. It happens between Alien and Aliens (while Ellen is lost in space and in cryosleep).

Somehow, as a millennial, I had never seen Nightmare Before Christmas before my college years. After I met my now-wife, then-girlfriend, she showed it to me - and it's become a staple of ours to watch every Halloween. Still, being the instigator I am, I always bring up the argument about whether it's a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie.  I'm not sure I'm convinced one way or the other, but I always argue that it's really a Christmas movie, since my wife is adamant that it's a Halloween movie.

Regardless, excellent movie. Regarding Alien, Lady of Synth, not sure if you're into gaming or not, but Alien Isolation is an excellent take on the story and setting of the first movie. And oh yeah, it's pretty scary too.

zzzzzzzz

Quotethis one is 530 pages

yeah i could see things starting to blur together with an extra 200 pages

i'm glad i got the ramones version and not the pink floyd version

QuoteCongrats on visiting the great man's ashram; I can't really imagine you as a twenty-something ashram visitor.

i stayed for around ten days in a buddhist monastery on that trip as well

it wasn't one that typically took on tourists either - i was with another american i befriended who was a concert level classical guitarist who had his instrument with him - we were looking for a bigger monastery that lonely planet said rented rooms to foreigners but got lost and found this place instead

they were all refugees from tibet

it cost us around 50 cents a day and that included meals with the monks - i thought they were supposed to be vegetarians but we sure ate a lot of water buffalo meat

i just lounged around and read everyday while the monks chanted and this dude practiced his guitar - it wasn't lost on me how fortunate i was to be having such an experience

Ah! Same author, same topic, even same year of publication (1950) but apparently not the same book: this one is 530 pages, which of itself is not excessive, but with all the political rallies and factional divisions, I found it a struggle.

Congrats on visiting the great man's ashram; I can't really imagine you as a twenty-something ashram visitor.

I literally said I'm more into horror comedy and Halloween themed movies. Those are horror comedy and Halloween themed movies. Also I actually was a child when I saw all of them. I'm really not a huge film buff to be honest, I love to watch nostalgic stuff from my youth and stuff that is cheesy and fun and entertaining more than most "serious" cinema.

I don't know why you're acting so incredulous about someone having a different taste in film.

Here's something I used to do in my original journal. Simple enough, like most of my ideas. I dump all my record collection into a randomiser player and then write about whatever comes out. Since my music taste is not quite as eclectic as some, but still relatively varied, it could be anything from country to classical or metal to ambient, soundtrack, maybe even the odd prog rock! Hey, stranger things have happened. Could be something I love, something I hate, something I have not yet heard, something I've even forgotten I had. You know, random.

Anyway, here's what fell out of the machine today.

Title: "Said She Loves Me"
Artist: Miss Crazy
Format: Band
Year 2014
Genre: Hard Rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Their fourth album Inception
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album/track: Zero
Comments: Before I hear a note, I have to say a band who calls themselves Miss Crazy sound, well, not up to much, but I've been wrong before. This is taken from what appears to be their last album, released in 2014, seems like they may fit in to the idea of glam rock? Lots of tributes on their website, mostly to Eddie Van Halen and Jeff LaBar of Cinderella as well as Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot. Whether they have anything to do with the band or not is something I don't know, but they call LaBar anyway "one of the family". Hmm. Not much actual information on the band itself (why do bands make official websites and then not even include a goddamn bio?), so what's the music like? Meh, it's basic glam rock all right, with the singer sounding like Noddy Holder after a bad night, or maybe yer man from Bonfire. Hard rockin' guitars but this could be any hair/glam/pop metal band really. Nothing memorable.

So unmemorable, in fact, that nobody could be bothered putting up a YouTube! Hey, I'll give them points for "Make America Crazy Again". But that's all I'll give them points for.

Quote from: Lady of Synth on Apr 01, 2023, 10:23 PMI'm more into comedy horror and Halloween-core movies than pure horror. My youth was spent watching a lot of classics in those genres. There will be a few straight horror films mixed in here but lighter takes on it are more my vibe.

Beetlejuice (1988), Hocus Pocus (1993), The Addams Family (1991), The People Under the Stairs (1991), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Halloween (1978), Casper (1995), Dracula (1958), Alien (1979) [it's like sci-fi horror, right?], The Blob (1988), Pan's Labyrinth (2006) [it's like fantasy horror, right?], Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Oh come on now! Half of those aren't in any way horror!
Beetlejuice = comedy
Addams Family = comedy
The Nightmare Before Christmas = animated comedy
Casper = Well I don't know what to say here. Casper the friendly ghost? Are you serious?

A child of six could watch any of those and there wouldn't be the slightest bit of pushback from parents.

I'd recommend Let The Right One In, vampire movie set in Sweden, but watch the original, not the bloody US remake, which they handily titled Let Me In, to ensure nobody watched it by mistake. I'm not a horror fan, but I can dig vampire movies. Event Horizon is also decent, science fiction horror or horror science fiction, you decide. You might also want to try Dust Devil for something different.

Speaking of vampire movies, I'd recommend Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, Dracula Untold, Forsaken, John Carpenter's Vampire$, From Dusk to Dawn, and maybe 30 Days of Night. Though not really what I'd class as horror, Johnny Depp is great in both Sleepy Hollow and From Hell.

Nah he was here, but when he realised he couldn't just throw his toys everywhere and stomp around without any consequences, he fucked off in a huff.