Saturday, October 28, 2006

Monster Mash 2.0

Favor 8 - I do love "Return of the Living Dead". On Thursday I was reading the Wikipedia entry on it over lunch. Fun fact: Thom Matthews, who was the lead, also starred in "Friday The 13th - Part 6: Jason Lives. Both movies are very much tongue-in-cheek. Fun Fact 2: ROTLD was not an official sequel to George Romero's "Dead" movies. The guy who made ROTLD produced the original "Night Of The Living Dead" , but both men wanted to go in different directions after the original. So, they split up the franchise. Romero's movies would end with "of the Dead" (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead) and the other guy's movies would end with "of the Living Dead" (ROTLD2, ROTLD3, etc.)

If any of you can stream audio at work or at home, I've found a pretty good Live365 station which plays classic, alternative and quirky Halloween music. There are even a few spooky readings thrown in.

Check it out:

http://radio.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.live365.com/stations/horrorfreak13

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Monster Mash

In anticipation of next Tuesday...

Thirteen Movies To Watch Around Halloween

1. Halloween - Still gets to me after all these years. The simplicity of John Carpenter's score and his synthesizer scary cues are a labor of love. Most of the sequels are crap and I don't honestly see how Rob "Poser" Zombie can add anything to his remake due out next year.
2. The Fog - The 1980 version, not the recent remake. Carpenter again goes low budget and manages more fright. For me, the creepiest scene featured no gore - watch when Adrienne Barbeau's character goes to work at the radio station while listening to sample promos on a cassette recorder.
3. Ed Wood - Creepy and comical! Johnny Depp and a slew of others (Martin Landau, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette - among them) remain committed to kooky characterizations throughout this loving tribute to an original independent filmmaker.
4. Alien - Get the extended version if you can.
5. It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown - Will Linus ever get out of that pumpkin patch?
6. Seven - Please don't tell P-Girl about the ending. When I found out who the killer was, my jaw dropped. I had just seen the actor in another suspense film weeks before where his character was the plot twist. The timing was perfect.
7. Salem's Lot - The David Soul version from the '70's. Tobe Hooper made the jump to television with this well-produced version of Stephen King's novel.
8. Night Of The Living Dead - For me, the scariest of the series.
9. Scream - Scary and funny. Nice twists.
10. Nightmare Before Christmas - Another Tim Burton neo-classic.
11. Buffy The Vampire Slayer "Hush" - Okay. Not a movie. But "The Gentlemen" are some of the scariest TV concoctions since Rosie O'Donnell and Bill O'Reilly.
12. Young Frankenstein - Watch it now!
13. The Lost Boys - Unlike a lot of Joel Schumaker flicks, this one gets better with age.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Little Me

On this third anniversary of Galoot Jr's birth I present to you...

13 Things About The Fruit Of My Loins

1. He should be on the record as causing the "shortest labor ever". Galoot Jr. arrived about twenty minutes after we entered the hospital. For a short time he had the nickname of "Pistol Pete" because he shot out of there!

2. His first name is PGirl's maiden name and the name of my Pop's younger brother. His middle name is my mother-in-law's maiden name.

3. He has blond hair, much like I did at his age.

4. His personality is more like Drunken Mick's than my own.

5. He is pretty good at escaping from rooms, buildings, etc.

6. One of his tricks is inverting his weiner like a turtle crawling back into his shell.

7. He is tall for his age.

8. He has a plastic, battery-powered John Deere tractor that stays at my Mom's place in Pennsylvania.

9. He is the first Barry in our immediate family to be born in New York State since Drunken Mick in 1976.

10. He shows little fear of most things.

11. When sleeping in our bed, he curls his fists around strands of PGirl's hair.

12. He knows how to piss off his sister.

13. The ladies love him...

Thursday, October 19, 2006

We've Got To Move These Color TV's

I'm into my second day of a conference in the Adirondacks of New York State. The center conists of many log-cabin style buildings and sits on the edge of Blue Mountain Lake. Natural Beauty surrounds me, yet while I sat for endless discussions of not-for-profit arts in education, I wasn't thinking of all the scenery I could be taking in. No, I was concerned about an internet hook-up and Project Runway.

Thankfully, this place is a wifi hotspot - like an internet supernova! And there was a TV with satellite hookup in the game room. So, I multitasked on my laptop and watched two of my favorite shows last night.

Without further ado:

Thirteen Things I Learned From Television Last Night While I Should Have Been Hiking Trails In The Mountains Of Upstate New York Or, At Least, Kayaking On A Lake.

1. Jeffrey's clothes should not have won "Project Runway" for him. The first four polka dot things were awful.
2. I compromised my reality show ethics by voting for Jeffrey to win over Laura, just because I like the guy. Really, he grew on me.
3. I thought Jeffrey and Michael would be the first two to go last night. I was wrong.
4. I figured Uli to win.
5. "Top Chef" (I watched through the Quick-Fire challenge) still rocks. The people weren't nearly as obnoxious as the promos indicated.
6. Let's stick to the kitchen scenes and stay away from the dormitory living stuff. Please! You can keep your hour length by putting in stuff you cut out.
7. Heidi and Padmi are useless as hosts. They offer nothing - I mean nothing - to their respective shows. Producers, save your money and let Tim and Chef handle the hosting.
8. "Dancing With The Stars" = Big Pile of Poop.
9. "Lost" is like a soap opera. You can get away from it for awhile and pick up without getting...lost?
10. Locke's sweat-lodge induced vision of the airport was seriously cool!
11. I hate DirectTV's interface. Almost as bad as Time Warner-Digital Cable.
12. "Reality" shows cause me to talk to the TV half as much as televised sports.
13. Joey Lawrence is back? Really? Whoa!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

No More Mr. Nice Guy

I'm cranky today...

!3 Things That I Can Live Without

1. Robin Williams doing his white-guy rap in movies and on television.
2. MTV's "Laguna Beach" and "Made". The beach kids' "reality" is anything but. And hiring trainers and consultants to help the "Made" teens turn into other people and do other things just enables them to be lazy quitters.
3. Laura on "Project Runway". I get it. You have a lot of kids. I heard you the first ten times!
4. Anyone calling Bill Clinton's Fox News appearance a "hissy-fit" or "outburst". The question he was asked was deliberate and pointed. He answered it. He defended himself. If Condy Rice is allowed to keep someone from "impuning" her reputation, surely an ex-president should too.
5. Our government doing very little about Darfur. We know that genocide is happening over there. We invaded Iraq on less information. WTF?
6. Sean Combs. His time came and went. Somebody get him on "The Surreal World", stat!
7. The light-rock station that invades all low wattage signals on my radio. I want to hear NPR in the morning, not Five for Fighting.
8. Rod Stewart making money by covering other people's songs. Enough.
9. People who double park. Don't they realize that by doing so, they risk getting scratched even more so?
10. Text messages. Save your 25 cents and call me.
11. People who are late for things so they can pick up their coffee.
12. Anyone who points at a tattoo on their body or a piece of clothing or a hairstyle and says "This is who I am! This is my identity!" Bullshit. What's on the inside?
That is what counts.
13. I'll squeeze two in here - bicycle riders who go against traffic and pedestrians who walk in the street next to a perfectly good sidewalk. If I come around the corner at a legal speed and you're where you're not supposed to be...
I'm just saying!

I guess the lady from yesterday's post rubbed off on me.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Whoah here she comes!

This little gem was in the reader's forum of The Post Journal of Jamestown, New York this morning.


Sleep Well My Friend, I Will Find Out Who You Are

"10/11/2006 - To the Readers’ Forum: This letter is to the mail thief who saw fit to steal packages off of my mail box on Oct. 2.

I’m sure you are proud of yourself for doing the ‘‘drive-by pick-up’’ without being caught. The worst part is, I was home at the time so I saw the package there one minute and gone the next.

I hope you are a teenage boy who enjoys bath and body products because I believe that is what you got!

You will be caught eventually because I did call the police. If you are stupid enough to try it again, you will have a major surprise coming! It won’t be pleasant either.

If you are really dumb enough to commit a federal crime then you are dumb enough to brag about it and one of your friends could be someone I know, as I know a lot of people, including kids.

This took place in Hartfield. My mail carrier was so sick about this that she called her boss right away to see where the packages came from and then told me I should contact the police. I can’t thank her enough for helping me as I then had an idea which place I had ordered from and could call to tell them what happened.

I would love to offer a reward for the arrest of this common thief, but I need my money to set up the surprise you have coming if you try this stunt again.

Sleep well my friend, I will find out who you are.

You probably aren’t smart enough to read, so you may not see this letter, but someone who knows you will!

Moms, daughters, girlfriends,if your son gives you an unexpected gift of bath and body goodies, beware, they are probably stolen. Peggy Cole, Dewittville"


What are your guesses as to what the "surprise" will be?

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Rocket In My Pocket

13 Things In My Wallet

1. Dramatic photo of PGirl. Probably from 1990.
2. Sears Studio photos of PGirl Jr. and Galoot Jr. from 2004.
3. A fake mustache.
4. A U-Promise Master Card
5. Urologist appointment card for March 2007.
6. A "Timothy's" Coffee Club Card. 3 more stamps until free java!
7. Triple A "Plus Card.
8. Chautauqua AMP sticker.
9. Prendergast Library Card
10. CVS Pharmacy Card. CVS rocks.
11. New York State Driver's License with corrective lense restriction.
12. Hollywood Video Card.
13. No money.