A Blogging for all MSTings

Happy Holidays and Movie Review: Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind

2011-12-24T22:19:00.004-05:00

Happy holidays everyone! I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable season through Christmas, the New Year, and all of the other holidays that you, your friends, and your family enjoy celebrating.

I'm glad to be able to post again for a second time in a month, and both the holiday well-wishes as well as the subject of the post (movie review!) are good excuses. You can likely tell that I'm not the tweeting type, and I need to have at least something substantive to put on the blog. I opened this blog up so many years ago for two main reasons... one was to make sure that people knew that both Megane and myself were still active and posting. The non-cynical reason was so that I could post quick-hit reviews of MSTings, movies, and other stuff that came our way (like Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic).

Unfortunately, the world of online MSTing has all but dried up, so that leaves movie / television show / anime reviews. Again, many thanks to NetFlix for tonight's selection, the 1984 Studio Ghibli production of Nausicca in the Valley of the Wind

As quickly as the movie starts, the art is already off of the charts. The initial scene (a deserted city) is empty of people, but it is still filled... with artifacts of plants, fungi, and animals (specifically insects). Spore sacs blast pink clouds and the art gains more color, though it is still a bizarre mix of Dr. Seuss with realism, almost as if the artists were trying to figure out all of what they could get away with and still be believed.

And this is a world that will allow you to immerse yourself into it. On the outside looking in, I can see where some people may immediately fold their arms and refuse to believe in a world were the "toxic jungle" is coming to wipe out all humanity, especially if they are of the opinion that ecology (and specifically pollution) is not a major concern. The world is just different enough (and there's so little ability for the story to try to latch on to "Earth history" so to speak) that this may as well be one of the planets surrounding Alpha Centauri.

It is a longer movie, and there's quite a few messages that Studio Ghibli packed into it. The aforementioned ecology message (which seemed very similar to the one in Mononoke Hime), the pacifism of the main character who is very adamant about the lack of necessity of killing, and her very singular focus on not only trying to understand the world around her, but actually LIVING in the world around her. Nausicaa is the type of person that will adapt to any situation and immediately be not only trying to figure out how she can make herself work with it, but she would be thinking of all of the characters around her first.

I say that, and maybe this may be the start of a few posts in this subject, but the above description may sound like a Mary Sue. I truly believe that this is not the case. She does have clouded decisions, the pacifism at one point turns into a rather bad decision down the road as the rest of the world intrudes on Nausicaa's titular valley, and seems so very reckless in many cases. The selflessness would almost become overbearing, and there's probably a terrific article lurking somewhere about how Miyazaki was able to show a protagonist that had so few "flaws" but still felt... human.

While the soundtrack did dip into the 80's in a few regrettable spots, overall it was a terrific movie and very understandable why both Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were able to build such a subsequent catalog of movies. This movie is definitely between a 3 and a 4, and I would certainly enjoy seeing it again when given the chance. There are certainly places that can be pointed out as weaknesses, but the movie is overall terrific and you'll almost find yourself not necessarily as a viewer but as an experiencer.

We'll see you again in 2012, hopefully with our completed project soon!

Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2011-12-05T23:11:00.002-05:00

In our latest installment of "Review the Movie Within Forty-Eight Months", we tackle The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For those who don't already know, the movie is a whopping 166 minutes long, and it will take up an entire evening.

This, as a matter of fact, will be the first comment. The movie could have used an editor. BADLY. Yes, I do understand the hypocrisy in this statement, but I am also not a professional who charges $7.50 per viewing either. I appreciate the "show, don't tell" school of filmmaking, but I did not appreciate the time it took to set up the story in each excruciating detail, and it seemed that many scenes were rather superfluous. During one scene, the filmmakers chose to show ten minutes' worth of footage describing an accident. It took ten minutes because they not only wanted to set up all of the various little causes of the accident in detail, but they literally filmed each of these various causes and possible consequences. On top of this, the filmmakers used narration through the scene so that they could lead the audience all the way to the inescapable conclusion, though to be fair to these filmmakers they used the same narration all the way through the film.

The narration sets up the next point nicely. This movie felt like a derivative Forrest Gump in that you have the narration going on, a protagonist moving through the years and who makes sure to touch on all of the high points of the era (in this case, from World War I through about the late 60s), Southern accents that turn almost unintelligible, and the sense of groundlessness that both protagonists really seemed to share. If I wanted to see Forrest Gump again, I'd go get that. I would daresay that this movie wasn't as popular as Forrest Gump if only because there were more Baby Boomers alive in the early 90s than Greatest Generation members alive in the late 00s, but you didn't hear such cynicism from me. The same scriptwriter wrote both movies, which can certainly account for many of the similarities.

The last complaint is that the movie couldn't even keep its central message down very well. The main conceit in the movie is to have a character that is aging backwards. While Brad Pitt's face was certainly made up to appear as if he was going into different ages, I felt that the entity "Brad Pitt" was in the movie rather than seeing "Benjamin Button". In the first few scenes it was fine, but he started looking like John Denver (or maybe Philo from UHF) somewhere in the mid-1930s. After that, Brad Pitt's character seemed to jump in apparent age from about 55 or so directly to 30. When the 60s come and the plotmeat needs to be splurted into casings, it's Brad Pitt surrounded by a set from the 60s. If not for reading some of the story from Wikipedia, I would have thought that the whole movie was purely a Brad Pitt ego project rather than the filmmakers signing him to be part of their movie.

I will also admit some idiocy on my part too. The filmmakers were doing everything they could to make thunderstorms into a sort of leitmotif, but I could not divine any sort of consistent message from this leitmotif. Bad things happened during thunderstorms, good things happened during thunderstorms, I couldn't really grasp what they were trying to say. I suppose I could attempt to watch it again to really try to nail the message down, but then I'd be sitting for another 166 minutes and I'm not eager to start that again.

While researching, I read in more than a couple of places that it is a fantasy. It is not, it is pure and unadulterated love story and sentiment. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett did what they could to generate sparks but the jarring narration and the length were just too much to overcome.

Final rating (with the scale below) --- less than a 1, I wouldn't rewatch this movie.

An extra special Bronx cheer goes out to the one-bridge-too-far, when a filmmaker wants to make a heartwarming story of togetherness and tie it to a heartrending story of love and loss, yet names the main character "Button" and have his family run a button factory which goes by the name "Button's Buttons". Really, movie? If you're going to turn the original short story into something COMPLETELY different, make sure your details at least try to match the new somber mood.

SEE IT IF:
* You love Brad Pitt
* You love hearing Brad Pitt's voice narrating stuff
* You want to relive your youth in 1920's and Depression-era United States (or remember being roughly 20 years old in the 60s)
* You're interested in seeing what Oscar voters see

DON'T SEE IT IF:
* You can't make out simultaneous Southern Accent and Old Person Mumble and it bugs you pretty badly (Cate Blanchett, I'm looking at YOU.)
* You'd rather get schmaltzy about age by spending seven extra minutes watching Toy Story AND Toy Story 2 back-to-back.
* You have any other plans this evening.
* You want to understand why Oscar voters vote the way they do.
* You want to make a Rifftrax (seriously, too long and bloated, unless you're an awesome writer)

Don't miss these POINTS OF INTEREST:
* Cap'n Mike the artist
* The lightning dude
* Trying to figure out why the hell an American tugboat is being based out of Murmansk in the runup to World War II.

Protect IP Act / Stop Online Piracy Act and its ramifications:

2011-11-16T20:13:00.003-05:00

Hello again everyone,

It's been almost forever since I've posted, though there's definitely something stuck in my craw tonight. While I've been following net neutrality at a distance lately, there's something far more insidious... and that's the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and Microsoft banding together to make laws for the United States.

You see, there's a problem they're having. They can't get anyone to buy their overpriced crap. Unfortunately, the Internet is a good place to share the fact that what they've got is crap, and while there are people who do share their crap online (gasp, even in the U.S.!) they still wouldn't be caught dead wanting to buy it.

Instead of facing facts and realizing that these people wouldn't buy their crap at any price other than free, they THINK that these people are just a market to be tapped and that once piracy is "stamped out", they will have increased sales.

The only problem? They're now using the U.S. Government to try to enforce ALL piracy (including overseas piracy) AND they're telling all of the Internet companies that M$, RIAA, and MPAA are not paying for this new and fascinating service. They're throwing it all on the communications companies (and to some extent, credit card providers by blocking sales) to police this. And the best part is that the U.S. Government is rolling so far backwards for this as to make any CLAIM enforceable rather than forcing these idiots to actually come before a court to defend themselves.

I call this bad news because ultimately what we do on this website is operate in the grey area of copyright, ostensibly to fight against crap. Of course, there are arguments that what my cowriter and I do is to make fun of stories written by people who are practicing, or who may have a good topic but not-so-great execution, and I agree. However, in order to make the jokes we do, we draw similarities to many aspects of life, including movies published by companies represented by the MPAA, or music published by companies represented by the RIAA, or... well, Microsoft. We do this to also poke fun at deserving representatives of bad music or movies (among other things). We are not making a thin dime off of any of this, but I really do not know what might happen if the webmaster currently running nabiki.com would ever receive one of these claim letters. Point being, I do fear for the future of both the online marketplace of ideas as well as the ability of this site (or many others) to continue, especially if copyrights become SO IMPORTANT that they can triumph over both free speech and the rights to a trial of your peers.

To be truthful, I do fear somewhat for the larger world of fanfiction too. I have no clue if sites like FFnet or Mediaminer would also be shut down, because there are a lot of copyrighted characters all over the place there, and those websites are run partially by advertisements (if I remember correctly). This is a serious issue, and there is a lot of money being poured in by our esteemed "corporate citizens" in order to ensure passage. (It's really amazing that our corporate citizens seem to have far more rights than, say, real citizens.)

Feel free to write your congressman and senator, the Protect IP Act is Senate Bill S968 and the Stop Online Piracy Act is HR3261. It's pretty sad in that this bill was voted down in 2010 as the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeiting Act", but BIG money talks and buys our lawmakers.

Whether or not they get it through this time, they'll keep trying. The very second they do, I will be happy to participate in ANY boycott that is organized, be it movie sharing/swapping with friends or the library, and my already barely existent buying of both music and Microsoft products will come to a very quick end.

Fight the power!
---Zoogz

Quick and Dirty Rifftrax Reviews updated!

2011-09-10T22:15:00.001-05:00

Megane 6.7 has added another recent batch of reviews to the original "Quick and Dirty Rifftrax Review" post. It can be found at http://mstings.blogspot.com/2007/03/really-quick-n-dirty-rifftrax-reviews.html, or on the link at the right. Happy Rifftraxing!

Movie review -- Where the Wild Things Are and The Gruffalo

2011-09-10T21:22:00.003-05:00

I know... it's been forever. And I post about movies that are months old to boot. I figure, some content is better than none, and I actually have a hook behind publishing for a change.

Recently, my family watched the two films in the title in a sort of all-day movie marathon. I am taken by both the similarities of both movies as well as the differences and the choices. I will lay them all out below:

1) Where the Wild Things Are -- 2009
Budget: $100 Million
Type: Live-action
Length: 100 minutes

I've read more than a few reviews of this movie. Many of the reviews said that this was a movie more for grownups, though we let our elementary-school children watch this movie. I can see why they say that. The book has terrific art yet a somewhat uncomfortable story of a boy who is very rambunctious and gets in trouble. In the book, it is his imagination that takes him to where the Wild Things are... in the movie, it's not quite that clear. The movie is a bit dark... when you animate Wild Things though, they have to have some sort of danger attached or they wouldn't be very wild. The Wild Things are very much reflections of Max's inner moods and demons. The movie itself gets very uncomfortable quite often.

The reviewers praised the movie, saying that it was a ride through childhood and reflects that childhood isn't the prosaic existence that many people may remember. I know my childhood was certainly rocky at times too, but the level of conflict and unevenness really is off-putting. My children did not like the movie, and I can agree with them. The biggest draw in the book is the art for me... and while the Jim Henson Creature Shop did the best they could, it just couldn't match the lushness of Sendak's art in the book.

This is a movie that I was happy to watch, but only once. I will implement a new review system here to kind of show my level of interest in movies, a one-to-four scale with a bit of blur in the middle steps...

1.I wouldn't watch it even if it was halfway through on TV.
2.I would watch it if it was on, but not intentionally cue it up.
3.I would get the tape and watch it occasionally
4.I would get the tape and watch it often.

(Please note that if a movie has a Rifftrax associated with it, I will give two ratings, one for the movie itself and one for the movie+Rifftrax.)

With that said, this movie was a definite 1. It's the definition of a 1, in that I would at least suggest that others watch it exactly once just to see if it's their bag, but it certainly isn't mine.

So, with that said, on to the second movie!

2)The Gruffalo -- 2009
Budget: possibly $3 million?
Type: Animated
Length: 30 minutes

This was the second movie of the set, and it was also based on a children's book with an unreal character. I suppose you can call me partial to animation, but I honestly felt more involved in this production than in Where the Wild Things Are. The art was very engaging and interesting, and even as the little mouse spun his tales of the fantastic Gruffalo I was not put off as much as when Max was promoting dirt-clod fights by throwing the clods into Things' heads. The Gruffalo was ugly but humorous, and the voices were terrific. To be truthful, the voices were probably two-thirds of the budget, but I still enjoyed the animation.

Additionally, the length of time was just good enough to capture little attention spans. My children definitely enjoyed this movie over the previous one.

My rating would be a solid 2.5 to 3. I would absolutely sit down to watch it, and as it's half-an-hour, I would not mind watching it with my children again.

I wrote this post though to compare and contrast a bit though. One is a massive Hollywood production and a bit of a vanity project for director Spike Jonze (and even a bit for producer Tom Hanks). The other is a BBC One television production. One had a script vastly expanded from the source material, and one was fairly faithful. One was moved into live-action and had painstaking work done to make the creatures come alive... and the other had creatures come alive through the non-reality of animation.

Ultimately, I wish Hollywood would do more to focus on making stories more honest, straightforward, and enjoyable to the children that they are trying to tell stories to. It is very incongruous to make a movie out of a children's book and tell everyone that it's only for adults, and while I see many of the critic's comments about the struggle of childhood and the monsters in our own moods, it doesn't make it enjoyable. I used to harp on audience many times back in the days when MSTing authors would present MSTings for C&C, and I wish that Hollywood would take this into consideration more often too.

NGE, Psych, and other stuff...

2011-06-18T22:18:00.003-05:00

It's summertime now, and time to finally get out of the house! Kind of, at least... there's a few things that need clearing up before that happens, and that's the status of the last two shows mentioned below.

Firstly, the good: Psych, which I've caught up through Season Five and I'm ready for Season Six. I still highly enjoy the writing on this show, it's managed to stay consistently good longer than House and the snark isn't quite as mean-spirited. I think that they swung the pendulum too far with House, the humor was terrific through about seasons two and three, but then you could tell that it wasn't out of fun that this was happening but that he was lashing out. Psych doesn't have that problem, you can tell that the main character is always playing. Just like MSTing, it's an art that suffers when the characters aren't having fun doing it... the tone is really important in cases like this.

Speaking of tone, that brings us to the second half of Neon Genesis Evangelion. That was a dense show, and for me a difficult one to not only get into but to enjoy. I'm not a huge fan of the giant robo genre... I've watched Escaflowne as well as Martian Successor Nadeisco. With that said, I couldn't even finish the final ten episodes of the show. Of course, there was an alternate reason for that as well, alluded to previously... I'd read so much fanfic from it that I was bound to get most of the canon stuck in my head anyway. NGE has been a very fertile ground for MSTing in the past, including Mystery Octagon Theater as well as our own Dot Every T productions... there may be a chance that we return to it in the future given a good enough target, and if I need to research I'll just watch it online. Other than that, I'm satisfied where I left it, knowing that I just didn't have the time nor attention span to be able to finish it and enjoy the series.

At this point, I need to cast about for both new shows to watch as well as new targets to MST. Megane 6.7 and I are still working on the rifftrax to The Last Dragon, we're hard at work editing our script and I'm still looking forward to finishing that. In the meantime, I'm looking for a good 'fic for a newer series, such as a Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 'fic, or an Azumanga Daioh, or even a Code Geass 'fic. I think we've located one of the latter for a good target to check out, but that's all still up in the air.

Thanks all for sticking by us while we're going through our not-so-productive periods. We hope you enjoy the projects that we're currently working on, and we'll be getting them out when we can.

The three-month update:

2011-04-02T07:30:00.003-05:00

Not a whole lot to cover for three month's time, but there's a bit at least.

I need to plug Netflix one more time. There is a bit of a lag as far as getting anime series, because it seems that everyone wants disc one because they want to see what the series will be like before they get all the rest of the discs, but other than that it's a ton of fun to be able to get anime for free through the mail, and all you have to do is send it back.

I'm old-school 90s, where there were three options for my anime... one was to buy it tape-by-tape, which was $20-$25 and there was no guarantee you may like it. The other was to be able to find a place to rent it, which was a long shot at best (though my college town did have a place like that, thank heaven, even though I didn't rent too many because of the distance). Three was to borrow it from someone else, and since that entailed the other person to be able to lay out $20 or $25 per tape, you'd have to find some decently well-off friends. (Luckily, the college I went to also had an anime club with a small library, that was useful for borrowing too).

Compared to today, with streaming video, Netflix, and fansubs, it's a far different world now. Currently, our choice is the Netflix setup, because it's easier to find it and put it up on the big screen.

Anyway, the first series that I watched with my children is Princess Tutu. My daughter is into ballet, and we thought that it would be a good show for the family to watch. Thankfully, the grand majority of the show is age-appropriate for younger children.

The setting of the show is in (what looks like) any random old-fashioned European village. There are multiple characters who are not even human, and 90% of the cast dances ballet, even the anteater, hippo, and the teacher who is a cat. The series' protagonist is Duck, who looks like a complete human for the most part but if she quacks she turns into a duck.

I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this series, but there are a few points that I wanted to say that work very well in the show's favor, even if it is a show that young children are able to follow. First is that the show's tenor and tone change rather dramatically after episode 13, which *almost* looked like a conclusion. The second is that characters change alliance, which is always interesting in my book because of the interplay between characters who once were unhappy with each other but find themselves working towards a common goal. And the underlying basis of the story is extremely interesting too... you see, the story actually is a story within a story, and it gets very meta. It really allows room for thought and the second layer was more than enough to draw my attention as an adult (as the kids were able to focus on the first layer, which is still absorbing.) The ending seemed a bit rough on the surface, but fits very well with the second layer too. I would recommend this show to people who enjoy the interplay of meta (as I do), who enjoy classical music (as each episode is built around a different melody from history, such as Swan Lake or The Nutcracker), and especially if children are around as it would be a good anime for them to watch to enjoy the genre.

The other two shows I've been watching are "in progress" right now. First, I'm finally watching Neon Genesis Evangelion I had never watched it in the 90s, nor even in the 00s, bu I'm watching it now. It really is bizarre to watch this show because not only does it feel as if I'd watched every scene -- albeit out of order -- due to my enjoyment of anime music videos, but I've read more than my share of NGE fanfiction as well. Seeing the source material fills in more than a few blanks, though there weren't too many blanks.

I'm currently at episode 10 (or so), and there is definitely something striking about this series. The dub really sucks. Being a 90s anime, it's almost as if they created the dub prior to anyone caring about voice acting. My suggestion would be to see it subtitled, because then Shinji won't sound like a 20-year-old and Misato a teenage valley girl.

The third series is American. My wife and I have been watching Psych, thanks again to Netflix (streaming). The show answers a question I had, which would be what Dr. House would be like if he weren't so bent on self-destruction and tried to have fun. The settings even fall into that sort of stereotype, House on the East coast and Psych in sunny California. I enjoy these types of shows, they're the direct descendant of Sherlock Holmes stories yet still have a twist about them. I would recommend Psych to fans of the genre and even to non-fans to try out and see if they are enjoyable.

The work continues with Megane 6.7 and I, we're still doing a Rifftrax of The Last Dragon and hopefully we will be recording within the next couple weeks. Have a good Spring!

Review - Firefly + Serenity

2011-01-30T11:36:00.005-05:00

I've never really been a major party animal, but when my wife and I were invited to a new-year's party we decided to take the invitation -- there were other kids there, and that would allow my wife and I to have a bit of downtime and enjoy ourselves a bit more. It was not exactly a raucous party, the loudest we got was when we trotted out the karaoke machine and essentially had a sing-along. At the party though, our hosts also showed an older television series that neither I nor my wife had seen before: Firefly

Firefly was a show on Fox back in 2002, a "blink and you'll miss it" type that endured more than one preemption and an out-of-order broadcast, which included two episodes of the fourteen not being shown on original broadcast. We watched the pilot and second episode, and were about halfway through the third when midnight struck. After midnight, we needed to get the little ones home... at 12:30, they were pretty tired and we didn't want to deal with too-tired kids in the morning.

Anyway, we enjoyed Firefly quite a bit and when we realized that we were able to get it through Netflix Instant Queue, we eagerly watched through the end of the series. The series is an odd duck, it combines sci-fi and Old West-type settings. While there are spaceships, futuristic weapons, and tons of planets to look through, there are many elements of aging and oldness in the plot -- the spaceship itself, the captain who was an unsuccessful fighter in a war (yet allowed to remain free), all the characters that seemed to have a backstory including the teenaged girl, six-shooters, horses, and the towns themselves. The second story actually concerns a train robbery; there's a train, alright, but it's an anti-gravity setup rather than traditional rails. Other than the anti-grav, which enables it to float a couple feet off the ground, it's a traditional train the rest of the way.

There were more than a few things that detracted from the show, which included how cheaply it was made as well as what seemed like a few of the inconsistencies that it raised. However, I was extremely thrilled about the characters that the show drew and the wild, sprawling universe that it spawned. This was a place that I may not have wanted to live in, but I absolutely would have loved to explore. The characters felt real, and the writing was superb. At times it did feel that all characters were informed by the same writer, but then on the other hand I have seen more than a few situations where people do act similarly even while making pains to show how independent they are. I think the element that I enjoyed most about the series was that all emotions were in play; lots of humor, some sadness, quite a bit of drama, and none of it really felt contrived.

Serenity came out three years later into theaters. It was intended as a sort of epilogue to the series, as there are more than a few plot points that show that the crew will not be the same following the movie. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit because of the way that it was able to show the characters, for its higher budget as well as the pacing... two hours passed by, but it was a very quick two hours. My only complaint is that as the stakes were raised leading to the climax, it felt almost as if the screenwriters managed to back themselves into the same corner that the characters occupied, and that the finale was a bit implausible if stared at long enough. With that being said, this universe was a brilliant setting and the characters were well-developed, and if this idea happens to receive more attention in the future I will be glad to check it out.

Thankfully, as far as I know, both the series and movie are available through Netflix Instant Queue, I would recommend anyone who likes character-driven sci-fi or westerns to check both Firefly and Serenity out.

In other quick news, the AMFAS frontpage has been updated. The quote generator has all 88 old quotes but it also has new quotes from the MSTings that Megane 6.7 and I have completed through the last couple years, and I have also made the frontpage a bit more current with the times. Thanks for your support.

New MSTing: "[None yet Suggestions welcome in Review!]"

2011-01-17T07:04:00.002-05:00

Hey folks,

Megane 6.7 and I have finished our latest MSTing, to a Sailor Moon 'fic that went strangely untitled. There's a chess tournament, Canada, tons of senshi, and even more Sailor Mercury. It can be found at the top of our Recent Projects page on the main site, or at the direct links below:

Part 1: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k11.txt
Part 2: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k12.txt
Part 3: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k13.txt

Within the next couple days I'll have another blog post as well. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy the MSTing!

Postscript to Rifftrax, Youmacon, and anime reviews:

2010-11-06T20:50:00.004-05:00

Quite a bit of stuff to get through here tonight:

A bit of unfinished business with the Rifftrax on the previous Thursday: It seems that Mike, Kevin, and Bill are a bit bummed out from not composing music for Mike and the 'Bots to sing on MST3k, so they branched off to form the Rifftones. Their music isn't bad, it's roughly what you'd expect coming from MST3k... it typically consists of a joke looked at from all angles. Mostly it hits, sometimes it misses. With that said, prior to the Rifftrax they showed a "slide show" of sorts which was supposed to parody the slide shows that precede movies. The slide show was funny, though it looped three times (we were about forty-five minutes early to the show). But they did play Rifftones music, and the best one of the group was about sparkly vampires. It also happened to be the one that they started with and cut into.

Now, I wouldn't normally mention this except for the fact that we were there so early... when we walked it, it seemed as if they were playing a Gloria Estefan concert. To be truthful, I had no idea who it was, just that they were playing some sort of Hispanic/Tejano/Cuban type thing, but they went into one of those old songs that I don't remember except for the fact that I remember Gloria Estefan singing it. I do not know if this was Mike's idea of a Rickroll prior to the show or if they just did it at our local theater to be funny, though there were a couple of people who walked in and then walked out during the concert. Oh well, they missed a good show if they didn't come back.

Next, Youmacon. Conventions have changed in the time since I used to go to them in the early 2000's. Firstly, it seems that there are far more people willing to dress up for them. Next, there's such a WIDE range of anime out there anymore that there's a ton of different characters that people can dress as. When both are added together, people-watching has become such an amazing event, far more interesting than it was ten years ago. I spent large amounts of time at Chicago watching people, and almost could have saved the money and just sat outside the convention. (Considering the monkey wrench, which was the dual proms and the poor traumatized highschoolers, that would have been worth it absolutely.)

However, I am also very impressed by the AMVs that have been created lately. I enjoyed them back in the day, though there wasn't quite so much going on with them; they were all hard cuts and trying to match up scenes with lyrics. Now, especially with the on-beat tics, or the lip-synch, the snazzy edits, and everything else it's pretty amazing. Combine that with the energy in the AMV competitions and it's doubly amazing. I know that all conventions aren't like Anime Central or Youmacon, but that's the positive part. I may be hitting a couple of smaller ones in the area, KitsuneKon in Appleton and/or Anime Milwaukee, and I will be more interested in the viewing rooms, or the dealers, or a few other things... there's just so much going on, and there's so much energy at these things now. A convention is almost like a hit of adrenaline sustained for however long you're at the convention, and it is absolutely enjoyable to be plugged into such a scene.

Overall, I enjoyed ACen a bit more than Youmacon, but the main reason was that while ACen was at about four different hotels and a convention center, Youmacon was at one building-- the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan. The facility is beautiful, but it couldn't handle all those people. The aisleways were cramped and it was difficult to get from place to place because of all the chokepoints (escalators and small walkways primarily). I'd still go to Detroit again in a heartbeat, and I am pretty certain that I will next year.

Whew, I'm still not finished with everything! Next, three series on which I want to write opinions.

The series I finished out of the three was Highschool Of the Dead. It's an anime that details what happens to-- you guessed it, high school students-- when a zombie outbreak happens. Recent media (Jonathon Coulton songs, Zombieland) have played zombies as humor rather than horror, but this anime plays the plot device pretty straight. It delves a bit into how people would change given a completely new world with which they may have to inhabit. It's fourteen self-contained episodes, and the ending isn't too bad considering what they have to do. I enjoyed that they played it serious, though they only did so for about three nights total. I'd be interested to see what happens six months, one year, three years in the future to everyone... the infrastructure, how to survive, what skills you'd have to learn, etc... but I realize that it is just an anime series. Of course, there's a pretty large roadblock here, and that's the level of fanservice. It's pretty high. If I'd have to guess a rating for this, it'd be R-rated, though that would be for the gore. As for the service... if you'd ever stepped into the shower and realized that you'd left something on the counter, so you stretch out as far as you can while still keeping one foot in the shower... the shower is the PG-13 guidelines, and the show stretches them as far as it dares. The point of all of this? That you would likely expect the gore, considering the fact that they're playing the plot device pretty straight, but that you wouldn't quite expect the level of fanservice.

The second show I've got at least a few comments on is Axis Powers Hetalia. I'd seen this show in the AMV circuit a few times, and it looked interesting. I finally had a chance to check out a few episodes though, and I definitely enjoy the show. It's got the zaniness of most anime, but now there's a bit of historical aspect to the show that's interesting. While it's a bit bad to see things brought to a broad stereotype, sometimes it's an honest assessment as well and helps to hold a mirror to things going on. I know that it's a fairly lazy allegory in that it doesn't require a whole lot of "thinking" in order to draw the comparisons, but on the other hand it's refreshing to not have to figure out what the creator's trying to infer from his drawings. There's still a ton of humor and I'd certainly recommend it, especially to someone who may like history.

Lastly, I attempted to watch Gundam 00. Attempted is the most important word here. I dropped it while watching Highschool of the Dead, because I was unable to really absorb myself into the series. I think it was because there was absolutely no narrative arc as of now, it's really pretentious and preachy currently because it seems that they've chosen their protagonists to be mouthpieces rather than fallible characters. The protags have a lofty goal, but through the first four episodes they're also undefeated and undefeatable. Worse yet, while the series is set "in the future", it's a very simplistic future that somehow has fewer of the issues that people deal with in the early 21st century. I may try to pick it back up after watching more of Hetalia, but I'm not too sure at this point.

So! That's it for now. I hope that the previous novella has made up at least slightly for the lack of updating through the last four weeks or so. Writing is still progressing, and hopefully we'll be hitting the editing phase shortly of the most recent project.

A Few Reviews....

2010-11-05T12:32:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone,

I was just surfing the net today, bored, and figured it would be a good a time as any to post a couple of mini reviews of games I've been playing of late.

Fallout: New Vegas -- I rented the XBOX 360 version of the game and was honestly shocked by how buggy it was. Fallout 3 had its problems but it very rarely crashed or stuttered in its framerate for me. Still, the story showed promise so I continued on until I reached a point where I guess I did something the game didn't expect and it flatly refused to let me finish a mission and froze.

I took the game back to Rogers for a store credit and was convinced by one of the guys there to try another copy of the game with the 7 day rental limit renewed and if the game still crashed for me, I could still get a store credit when I returned it. So I gave the game another try, it still crashed in that spot and so I decided to restore an earlier save and try a different path. To my surprise, when I actually reached New Vegas, the game actually starting being fun for me (occasional game freeze and frame rate stutter forcing a reset aside...)

The main story was a definite improvement over Fallout 3, you don't need to fight your way through bleak endless subway tunnels over and over this time just to get to your next destination, and thankfully the epilogues that were inexcusably missing from Fallout 3 are back, so you can once again see the consequences of your actions with the various factions and locations you encounter in the game.

The music, at least the default music that came with the game, was pretty lousy and I was pretty much keeping the radio off after the third rendition of 'Johnny Guitar' and 'Texas Red' or whatever the fuck that song was called. (I never thought I'd be pining for 'Butcher Pete'...) I understand getting Elvis songs would've been too expensive but I'd rather have had more 1940s/1950s era pop songs and such.

Anyway, the XBOX 360 version of the game was still a bug riddled mess and I can't recommend it in good conscience. I know they'll come out with patches eventually but I don't use internet on my 360 and even if I did, it still doesn't make me want to buy the game anytime soon. Most likely, now that I (hopefully) have a computer powerful enough to run the game, I'll wait for the PC version to drop in price, all the patches to be released, along with a bunch of cool mods, and buy it later. I'd recommend to anyone interested in this game to do the same.

Star Wars: The Forced Unleashed II -- Ugh. The first game had an interesting story with frustrating controls and a retarded camera. This sequel has a story that was rushed, dumbed down and thoroughly mediocre compared to the first with somewhat better controls and camera but far less epic in scope. I breezed through this game in about six hours or so, and had no interest in replaying on a harder setting or as Guybrush Threepwood, though I can imagine how that final battle would go:

Guybrush: You fight like a dairy farm... URK!!

Darth Vader: How appropriate. You choke like a cow.

Guybrush: *thump*

Darth Vader: All too easy.

Seriously though, this game reminded me a lot of God of War III and that's NOT a compliment. The graphics look pretty, yes, but unlike the first game which had all sorts of interesting enemies and characters, this one pretty much has you fighting the same five or six enemies throughout the entire game. Force powers are fun to use but it gets old after a while and targeting was still annoying at times.

As for the story, without spoiling anything, it seemed to have a point in the beginning but little to nothing was done with it till the very end and that only served to set up another sequel. The few characters that were brought in from the previous game were one-dimensional shells of their former selves. Rahm Kota was just another commander yelling orders in your ear, Vader was a generic video game villain and Juno had about maybe one or two lines tops and about forty seconds of screen time despite being the central motivation for the main character who clutches his head now and then every time he experiences a flashback to the previous game.

So yeah, I'll still enjoy the cutscenes of the first game from time to time but otherwise, I'm done with this series. I'll see if the upcoming 'Old Republic' is a worthy successor to KOTOR *1* or just another overstuffed MMO.

That's it for now, I have to go out shopping and do errands.

Rifftrax Live Review - House on Haunted Hill

2010-10-28T21:41:00.003-05:00

Hey again!

It's been four weeks again, and there hasn't been a whole lot to report. Real life has been taking turns patting me on the head and kicking me in the balls, thankfully more of the first than the second, but I'll be glad when everything calms down somewhat.

I don't have the blog to complain though, I have it to provide my thoughts on a variety of matters, and tonight's post is about the Rifftrax Live show that my wife and I attended tonight. Tonight's offering was "The House on Haunted Hill", the 1959 version starring Vincent Price and a cast of also-rans from the B-movie stables. The film was riffed rather well, and I found myself laughing in quite a few spots. If I were to grade the film, I'd say that the first half-hour was a low A and the second half-hour a B or so... they slowed down a bit as the movie went on, and the ending was a bit jarring if only because it didn't seem as if the movie was over.

The Rifftrax guys also came up with two shorts to round the total to two hours, though. The first one was a weird little endeavor called "Magical Disappearing Money", which was very in-your-face in a variety of ways. It was aggressively 70's-ish. Additionally, there was a strange lady, the "grocery witch", who would tsk-tsk all the shoppers' choices for food. One poor kid had to make do with yucky corn flakes instead of his favorite cereal, a poor guy with Ambrose Burnside muttonchops couldn't buy his breaded zucchini on sale, and EVERYONE needs to know how healthy and cheap powdered milk is for them!

A second short was aired, this time a study of paper called "Paper for All". In it, a paper bag is happy that a sick kid spares his life, and so he tells us everything we never wanted to know about paper from "the great Southern [U.S.] forests". The most majorly jarring imagery here was the cartoon face that they drew on the paper bag, the trees, the logs, and everything else... it really almost felt more like a descent into madness than an informational short about paper. The first short was terrific, the second short was good.

The theater itself was nowhere near full, though; there were possibly ten to fifteen paying customers in our theater including ourselves. However, I would not be surprised if there were possibly ten to fifteen other customers in the whole rest of the theater, the parking lot was amazingly empty even if this was a Thursday night. As it was a rather small town that we were able to catch this in, I think that the live Rifftrax movie performed pretty decently.

As a live offering, it has many of the same benefits as the recent live Cinematic Titanic shows, you could hear a crowd reaction and it helped to make me laugh a bit more. The downside was that there were times that they wanted to put the riffers on screen and then times that they didn't show the riffers, which was a bit distracting. Cinematic Titanic keeps all the riffers on screen for the whole movie... I don't have a preference either way, but I would rather that they stick with one method and use it.

After seeing this, I would probably be interested to watch another Rifftrax Live offering, even if I may be going by myself. Considering the movies that they would have to be able to get though, public domain movies, I already know that there is little chance that it will be a recent one; so, if one likes older movies and Rifftrax, this would probably be a good time.

Now, four weeks have passed...

2010-10-01T21:44:00.003-05:00

Well, I now know what this blog will be like without my incessant complaining; silent. I don't know if this is an improvement or not, to be honest. I am absolutely thrilled that I really am far happier where I am compared to where I was. There have been bumps in our road, essentially all the transitioning costs plus the disposition of the house that we left behind in Michigan... but to be honest, these are not major issues that require a lot of emotion, they are just things to deal with and move on.

I am still trying to get schedules down though, and Meg and I are extremely close to finishing our first draft of the latest MSTing. I am still looking forward to watching more anime, attending Youmacon in Detroit during Halloween weekend, and posting when I have something good to say. Now, hopefully, the posts will be far more on-topic than before.

Cheers!

First day:

2010-09-07T19:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple weeks since the last post. There's been a ton of real-life stuff going on, as I'm sure that most people can imagine. As it is, I'm drafting this post from "work" (I'm in orientation, and since they finished it so quickly, I'm chilling my heels before the final step.)

So far, there's a ton of boxes that still need unpacking, and probably won't be unpacked because we have a bit less space than we did before. While we have two floors now, there's not quite as much room in the whole house due to the fact that we had a complete basement to work with. This time, we have a fraction of the space because the house's owner has blocked out space in the basement, and our old house had more basement space.

That's just as well, there was no way that I wanted to unpack a whole lot of boxes, I'm currently renting compared to purchasing a house for the next year. This will give us the time to put our finances in shape, get rid of our other house, and allow us to be able to save for a decent down payment. Even if it takes eighteen months to finish the deal, so to speak, it's definitely worth getting a nice place that we can put down a few roots at.

I hope that this will be one of the last places I will be working at, though even if it is not I still hope that this will be more than a five-year hitch. It'd give me the time to finish my Econ studies and go forward from there.

So, pretty soon, I will hopefully be able to get stable and have some time to do some more writing. I will be continuing with Megane 6.7 on the process of writing our latest MSTing, and there's still three series that I need to check out. I'm on a FAAAAST connection, and I will be trying to get a few storage drives to take advantage of the fact, so there will be some anime to watch. I will definitely be in (my old) town for Youmacon, during Halloween weekend, and the kids will be able to visit their grandparents at the same time.

I'm eager to get this page of my life in motion, to be able to enjoy life with my wife and family more, and hopefully this will afford me the stability that will give me time to write more too.

Review: My HiME

2010-08-16T07:39:00.004-05:00

I finished watching My HiME a couple days following the announcement posted on the 6th of August. However, things have been extremely busy for my family as well as me, and posting a review seemed to be an indulgence rather than a necessity. I felt that now would be a good time to post a few thoughts about this series, especially since that will allow my mind a good change of pace from all the logistics of the new position. Warning, spoilers will be posted below.

My HiME is, on its face, a bog-standard magical girl anime. There's actually quite a few magical girls hanging about in this series as well, twelve to be specific. It would seem that there are too many of them, and the show tends to agree. A couple of the magical girls serve as early cannon fodder rather than actual characters, which is not a shock. The show is actually a bit like a ripple from a stone... there's one main protagonist, two fairly up-front supporting characters, and a set of about four surrounding supporting characters that jump-start the final portion of the plot. It's a reasonable way to give us a good set of sympathetic characters and the characterization corresponds to the amount of time that the character needs on screen.

The characters are a bit pedestrian and nothing to really write one thousand words about. However, the plot and the series pacing were rather thrilling, I felt. There are the usual eight to ten episodes that set up the premise and put the pieces in place, and then an arc of about two or three episodes around the midpoint where the crew deals with what was in essence a mid-level boss. However, it did not feel like a mid-level boss on the first watching... it felt almost as if it was the final boss. I enjoyed that the show was able to build up the midpoint climax so well and that there really was a palpable sense of "now what?" that you don't usually see with other shows.

Of course, building up to the second climax necessitated a completely different style, and it was accomplished with what I thought was a rather gutsy move. The viewer was treated to a few views of the final baddies, including the reveal of one of the starting character's motivations... but the story almost divorced them from the first couple ramp-up episodes. They really didn't do a whole lot of active motion, they just sat back. The reason that the show did it, I thought, was to build a sense of suspense, for the viewer to wonder just what would happen from that point. Of course, some viewers may feel cheated from this type of plot decision, but I feel that it really allowed the show to breathe, it allowed the characterization to come forward while still ratcheting up the stakes. This form of plot did not last for an overlong time, it was deployed in a way to not be obtrusive or annoying and did not last long enough for this viewer to wonder whether or not these fellows really were doing anything.

One of the setting elements towards the end of the series was rain. This was a good context as well as a nice way to compare the plot. One knows that rain is coming when the clouds start to gather, thicken, darken, and the wind kicks up. In many storms, there is that quiet period where it seems that sounds are muted just a bit. When I've witnessed a few of those times, I always wonder exactly how a storm will come about, what destruction it may generate, and try to figure out a spot to ride it out...

...well, this is almost exactly how the second half of the show felt. There was that calm spot before all heck broke loose, and all heck really did break loose. To put it into plot and story context, and without trying to be TOO spoilerish about it, the story raised the stakes in ways that I completely did not see coming. Destruction absolutely abounded in the final couple episodes. I really sympathized with the characters as I thought about issues with the plot; the plot set up very unfair scenarios for some of the characters, and you could emotionally feel as drained as the characters were if you thought about these situations and the rules of the universe that the plot set up. I was extremely happy with the way that the stakes were raised and I think that it completely helped the plot.

About the only other spot that I could point to as not being thrilled with was the way the climax resolved and the epilogue. I almost wished that they kept some of the aspects of destruction, just to see how some of the main characters would react and to really get a good idea of their growth and future path. Considering the paths the plot took, it was almost as if a lightning strike set off a forest fire. I was truly hoping to see a few saplings in among all the ashes of trees. Alas, the climax and the epilogue pretty much took the status quo and completely gave it the rose-colored glasses routine that is fairly common in the genre. The epilogue reminded you fully that you were watching a magical girl anime, emphasis on the "magical" part. I almost could not believe that the same people who wrote the stakes so high and made such interesting decisions in the run-up to the climax wrote the epilogue. To put it into context though, this was nowhere near as terrible as the climax to season one of Code Geass

Overall, I'm definitely happy with the series and enjoyed watching it. I would give it a very solid nine out of ten, and could certainly be talked into an extra half-point sometime down the road. For those who like the magical girl genre and wanted to see a bit more grown-up take on the plot and story arc, I heartily recommend this show.

I've got both Mai Otome as well as Gundam 00 seasons one and two to see, but it seems that the summer of anime will be drawing to a close shortly. I can now count the number of days I will be working on both hands, which means that I can also count the number of remaining bus rides... and time will not be as available as before. More news to come, and posts whenever I can find time to write an update.

Yes!!

2010-08-06T10:48:00.002-05:00

I received an offer letter today. I'm not sure that I could have received a better offer letter even if I stayed in the market another six months. As it is, I am very impressed with the company and the culture, especially compared to BigConglomCoInc's dysfunction.

Of course, this will bring about its own set of new problems, challenges, and pitfalls. This position's most major upside is that I will not have the crushing money issues that I've dealt with... pretty much my entire post-graduated adult life. This is the place that I can stay for a few years and finally rid myself of the debt of being unemployed for all of six months way back in 2003.

I'm not sure if I'd covered this topic before, but due to this time of being unemployed my family lived on credit cards rather than an income. One of the many credit cards we've had through that time has a high balance on it, though it's only between 5k - 10k. Now that federal law tells credit card companies to publish the amount of time it takes to pay off a credit card, we have been informed by this ONE company (we deal with about three or four total, multiple cards) that if we pay the minimum, we will have repaid our debt five times over with the interest charges and it will take us until age 60 to do so. This is *multiple* decades, for those of you who think I'm already archaic. And this is the story with more than a couple other credit cards that we've had to deploy in order to make up the difference between poverty and semi-poverty.

Well, I can do without that kind of crap, and I will finally have the path with which I can take in order to do without that kind of crap. There are challenges, but the ability to move from my area of the country with highly depressed wages, getting away from BigConglomCoInc's idiocy and backwards business methods, AND getting more money... is a win-win-win in my book.

So... you'll still probably get status updates from me about the transition, but you don't have to endure too many more whiny posts from me. To bring this post back to some semblance of being on-topic, I am five episodes away from completing My HiME and I have been pretty happy with the plot and developments leading to the final battle. I must admit that the show has taken a turn or three that I did not see coming, and I love when shows do that. I'd far rather be kept on my feet than fed clichés, even if the plot twists could have been handled better. Queued up following this is Mai Otome. Hopefully, I will remain as excited to go through to the sequel as I am to finish the first series.

One down, one to go:

2010-08-03T11:46:00.005-05:00

Another quick post, because this current swing is not through yet. I have felt as if I was in some sort of weird movie through the last two days, though. I hope that there will be some calmness as I finish the last few steps and head back home. Even if there is nothing of note to report following my post today, there's more than I can put down within the next fifteen minutes prior to my next appointment. Suffice it to say that the cancelled flight was very unhelpful. I still have to deal with the airline provider later tonight, so I won't be blabbing until after everything's said and done... there's still time for rectification, or a full-out double-barreled frontal assault.

In the next couple days, there will be time for either one extremely long post or a couple of broken-up posts about this extended weekend. Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of a content update except that Megane 6.7 and I are moving ever closer to finishing the first draft of the latest MSTing, and we may also have a target for the next MSTing already. For those people who remember the past few reviews I put up, we found a story that has a newer series as its focus. We're still kind of looking it through, but hopefully if we think that it has good potential we'll be able to gain permission for the story. It's not a very long story, so there's a distinct chance that we will have a fairly decent turnaround through the next few months. (No promises though.)

It's heating back up out there again, so stay frosty!

Going abroad:

2010-08-01T22:28:00.002-05:00

Not a long post tonight, it's already 10:30 and I need to be up by about 5:30 in order to get ready for interviews starting tomorrow. Already, there's been a few bumps in the road, the most major one is the rental car for tomorrow. Hopefully I can get that rectified following the interviews.

Of course, I get to the room and check the TV out while I'm ironing my shirt. I kid you not, on channel 7(WMLW) is a showing of Roadhouse. I wonder if that's some sort of sign.

More to come tomorrow.

So, it's almost Friday and I'm still at home.

2010-07-29T21:26:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure anyone's ever been happy about a cancelled flight before, but I think that my cancelled flight and my missed interview on Friday could have been one of the best things that could have happened. I will explain.

Originally, I had a schedule of flying to Wisconsin on Thursday, attending an interview on Friday, flying back Friday, staying at home Saturday, flying to Wisconsin on Sunday, interviewing on Monday, and flying back on Monday. Whew, that's a ton. But, tonight's flight was cancelled. Not delayed, cancelled.

At first, I was bummed out. Missed interviews are never a good thing. On the other hand, I started to really analyze the situation. Firstly, it is absolutely not my fault that I can't get to Wisconsin, it's absolutely Delta's fault and I certainly hope that the possible employer won't hold it against me. Next, I will be in Wisconsin for the other interview on Monday, and only an hour away or so. So, I can make an offer to the first interview and tell them that I'll make my own way to Wisconsin as long as they can arrange a single flight back. That shows the employer that I'm not only flexible, but able to help them out when things go bad.

Better yet, I get Friday as an off-day to have fun with my family. This was not in the cards before, but now it is. There was a bit of a question about whether or not I'd even be going on Monday, but everything was set up almost at the last minute today.

The only fly in the ointment is that the first employer needs to be able to make time for me Monday afternoon. There could still be ways that this plan may not work, but it seems that there is a lot of upside possibilities with what happened tonight.

So, to sum up... I may be getting a free day tomorrow, maybe impressing a possible employer with my ability to work with them and make plans on the fly, and still attending the other interview too. If only all cancelled flights could lead to so many positives. More news in a couple days.

The waiting game

2010-07-28T10:36:00.004-05:00

I almost wrote this blog post two days ago. It will likely be word-for-word as what I had planned back then, too. It's due to the fact that there's absolutely no updates throughout the beginning of this week. All *four* of the companies I am waiting on have pretty much kept me cooling my heels. One of them was justified, which is the interview I will be conducting at the end of this week. However, I feel as if I should have received information back on the other three. I'll repost the scoreboard to keep confusion at bay:

First place: Company with third interview, no change from mid-last week due to the fact that the next meeting is planned.

Second place: Company with first interview, they called last week and had stated that they would set up a face-to-face with me the following week but have not provided an itinerary or a confirmation as of yet.

Third place: Company with second interview, it's now been eight business days--a full week and a half--since my last contact with them.

Fourth place: Company with first interview given in the second half of last week, was told that I would be contacted at the beginning of this week.

Last place: You know these people, I've talked about them more than enough.

(For those scoring at home, the new second place is due to the conversations I'd had with the company last week, where they had told me that they were really looking for someone with advancement potential because they want to give them the opportunity to advance. Between that and the huge lag in time between interviews, old second place became the new third place)

Of course, I've been given even more ammunition through this week as to why last place remains in last place, which just makes information regarding any of the above that much more sought after. I've been clicking on my mailbox once every five or so minutes throughout the first three days this week. As a matter of fact, I'm late to my next click.....

....still nothing. Waiting stinks. It's really a bummer when you realize that while the very place that you work at and earn money at is a major consideration for you but HR has so many other issues to deal with.

This post will be SO dated in about two weeks.

Postscript: The other issue that's currently worrying me is that they've put bus funding up for a vote here in town. There's been a couple of stories posted in the newspapers and on the news which actually have been misleading and completely not helpful. Of course, I am biased in a very specific direction on this issue. If this vote does not pass, I will have an extremely hard time trying to figure out how I will go back and forth to work on a daily basis, especially since I have come to depend on the bus and I definitely do not have the money to purchase a vehicle, keep it gassed, and provide for upkeep.

I am scared that the vote will go badly as well, because Detroit itself is not involved in the voting, just the suburbs around Detroit. The biggest travesty is that the vote is only to *continue* funding the buses, not to raise taxes. I don't know why such a system would have a time limit, especially since you have to have a major outlay in order to start a system and if the system is abolished, there's no more buses and you have to figure out how to get rid of them. If the system is then reestablished, you have to buy vehicles all over again! Uggh, I know what has happened through the last few years when I depend on people to make correct decisions the first time, BigConglomCo has taught me that people are selfish jerks that don't listen. I hope to heck that this is yet another time that BigConglomCo is wrong, but I really am apprehensive.

So, therefore, on to the first-place job and hopefully some sort of prosperity that I can actually go forward with!

Review: How to Train Your Dragon

2010-07-26T09:39:00.003-05:00

This blog came too late. In the late 90s through the mid 00s, the Internet had a few forms... there was Usenet, message boards, and internet sites. It would not have been horribly difficult to be able to create a website that reviewed MSTings in a format like this; after all, even the "new releases" link on our webpage is nothing more than a faux-blog which provides links to our latest MSTings.

However, push-button publishing really didn't take off until the tail-end of online MSTing's popularity. The SVAM message board could have been close, and even allowed for the review and critiquing of MSTings, but that is also a long-gone artifact of the Internet, not even accessible anymore.

This means that I need more than just MSTings to be able to put up topics on this blog. It's why I've been putting up real-life faux-drama like my job search, and pseudo-reviews such as the anime series I'd been watching lately. Today is no different, though it is a review about a movie that is now in the second-run theaters.

How to Train Your Dragon never really showed on my radar, though I do enjoy animation. I think it's because the trailers they make anymore really aren't aimed at me, there's only so far you can take the same repetitive joke. However, the rest of the family went to go see it a couple weeks ago and reported that it was terrific. So, having nothing much to do on a Saturday evening, we all went once again.

Without giving too much of the movie away, I really enjoyed it quite a bit. The animation is a ton of fun, you can tell that the animators had a blast trying to figure out all of the various possibilities of dragons. You had tall ones, skinny ones, short ones, fat ones... one memorable scene is of dragons that look (and act) a lot like squirrels. One of the characters was a walking encyclopedia on dragons, and it makes you think that there could have been a bit of success if the animators had just scrapped the movie idea and created some sort of card game like "Magic the Gathering" out of all the sketches.

The animators did know what they were doing with the animation though, and that really shines through. I quite admittedly enjoyed flying with the main character and his trained dragon through the skies, far more than that CG'ed up Avatar movie. I suppose that this could be another proof of the "uncanny valley" principle, but I suspect it's something deeper, which is the biggest issue I have between the two movies.

In Avatar we're confronted with a jarhead Marine protagonist who seems none too bright and barely cares that he isn't. With extra irony thrown in, he's a broken Marine, as he is currently injured and in a wheelchair. This would not be an issue except for the fact that he goes to a *jungle planet* (which presumably doesn't have wheelchair ramps) yet has not even attempted to train himself to be a gunship pilot, or a mecha pilot, or even operate the remote-controlled bulldozers. He doesn't CARE about any of that, and presumably doesn't have the intelligence to do so.

Through the course of the movie, we seem him gain an Avatar body through sheer dumb luck (hey, your brother's dead and you're close enough genetically to serve!). He proceeds to learn how to work it within only seconds movie-time, as he's running within a few frames of waking up. This same jarhead proceeds to learn how to integrate himself into a new culture and even learns a new language in scant months, which is presumably more difficult than learning how to pilot one of the many contrivances that would make it worth having a handicapped gun-toter. In the process, he gets two new flying birds, one the Big Red Plot-Contrivance Chicken, and becomes the de facto leader of all the tribes.

Almost all of that growth feels like it happens off-screen and implausibly. I relate all of that because it seemed so out-of-character and was, to me, the example of trying to fit a square peg (non-curious, unable to help himself jarhead jock) into a round hole (having to learn and adapt to way too many new things simultaneously for someone who barely cared when he got there).

As far as I'm concerned, How to Train Your Dragon did it the right way. The protagonist is shown to be a curious person who puts the plot into action due to his characterization... he refused to kill the titular dragon. The parts where he and the dragon are shown to be growing in trust to each other are actually rather sweet, and they're not without bumps along the way. I felt happy for the protagonists (for the dragon is certainly one of the protagonists) as their journey was shown on the screen.

This really is the best comparison I can make. Avatar had bogus contrivances and a protagonist that had a very badly-written characterization. Graphics can't save that. Of course, all movies have contrivances... you have to accept that there is a unicorn in the garden before you can have adventures with the unicorn. On the other hand, you can *explain* the unicorn and as long as the reason sounds somewhat plausible, audiences will make the leap of faith to accept your premise. How to Train Your Dragon had its own leaps of faith, but it did the best it could to allow this moviegoer to accept what was going on and to enjoy the concept.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this post. MSTing is both a blessing and a curse, because while it really forces you to think critically about a piece of work it is hard to turn the critical thinking off. Ultimately, while I cannot give my opinions of good new MSTings to read or discuss much about the field of MSTing, I can at least attempt to think critically about movies, anime, and other things. I can then post opinions and rationale about these works and to try to take you readers into the critical thought process as to why some things work and why some things may not work.

MSTing, after all, is nothing more than witty critique about a piece of work that seems to have fallen short of its target. In order to draft those jokes though, you have to try to identify what's going on, what kinds of images the author/screenwriter is trying to convey, and hopefully craft a joke that relates the image to something humorous, all while trying to stay one step ahead of the audience's first reaction.

Ultimately, I am certainly recommending seeing How to Train Your Dragon, even if just once. I enjoyed the story's heart, the characterization, the humor, and the main pull is just all those dragons. They range from mean, snarly, and noxious to weird to cute. The setting is just fun to be in, and the movie really zips along (barely 100 minutes). It's a terrific popcorn flick and the kids'll love it too.

On tap, some updated status by the end of the week regarding MSTings, my current real-life exploits, and still going through My HiME.

Interviewing continued:

2010-07-23T05:14:00.002-05:00

I must admit, I'm actually somewhat amazed. I received another call yesterday afternoon for an introductory interview, which makes the fourth company that I've received some kind of contact with through the past three weeks. I honestly can't name another time in my life when I had even two active interview requests at the same time, much less four. Of course, not all of them will pan out... I can't do two jobs at the same time. I'm not even sure *one* of them will pan out. However, I must admit to being excited because at this point I'm not even sure where I'll end up in even three months.

As I think about the situation, I'm not unhappy about that. I'm actually kind of geeked... currently, there is some uncertainty in my life, but it doesn't revolve around whether or not I'll be able to pay the bills. It is actually about where I can hopefully find a better place to be able to pay my bills, and a new place to explore and enjoy.

I know that if things go south and the opportunities dry up, I will look back on this post wistfully. Especially since the worst position I've got on my docket is still better than the one I've got. However, I still have a semester here if nothing positive happens in any of these job interviews.

I think that going ACen really gave me a kick in the pants. Part of it was the convention. When I'm around all that art, it really just jolts the brain into gear, it makes you look around and think. The other half was just the ability to take a bit of time away from my job to reexamine exactly what it currently means to me. I believe I mentioned this already in a previous post, I drove home Sunday absolutely depressed due to the fact that I knew I'd have to go to work on Monday. I was essentially alone with that thought through 200 miles and four hours. At the same time, I was driving a vehicle that had so many things wrong with it, we couldn't get it repaired with our current funds. Additionally, I was hoping against hope that the tailpipe wouldn't fall from where I wedged it up into the auto body to avoid it dragging on the pavement. It amazed me to think that I had to specifically save and scrimp just for the $100 of gas and food when other people are able to drop that kind of money on nothing more than a whim. Especially people who I know are less capable than myself when it comes to work.

All of that really put my current work situation into stark focus. While I would absolutely like to finish my Econ degree first, I just cannot work through another four years of short funds and a pitiful work experience. Yeah, this may sound like petulant whining to some people, especially those without options, but I've certainly put my own time in to grow my career and I think that I've worked for too little for too long.

If any of you guys out there had a hand in trying to get me interviews, my thanks in advance. I know that both you readers and I will be grateful when all this process is over.

More waiting...

2010-07-20T22:26:00.005-05:00

There's another set of Rifftrax that I received a short time ago that need reviewing, and plenty more episodes of My HiME that need watching in order for me to review. Just like the last post, this title has a double meaning too... I'm waiting on answers, and you're likely waiting on reviews. There seems to be a very good opportunity for me coming up, I will be travelling next week in order to speak face-to-face as a third interview. Additionally, while the other position hasn't answered through the previous two days, I obtained another phone call. I think I may need a scoreboard in order to explain all of this out:

1st place: Job with third interview, face-to-face next week.
2nd place: Job with two interviews, awaiting word if a third interview is requested, have been cooling my heels through two business days (and a weekend, which makes it seem like forever).
3rd place: Job with first interview coming up in the next couple days.
Last place: BigConglomCoInc. and all the crap they put me through. (They're always in last place, even when they're the only one.)

Thankfully, of the three, the job in first place is the one that I would choose if given a choice. Of course though, I'm waiting just like you guys are. I swear I've been doing some stuff, like riffing on the newest MSTing Megane 6.7 and I have been writing as well as watching a few episodes of My HiME, I happen to be through episode 8. I don't have any other strong opinions about it, though the cast of magical girls seems to grow greater by the show. Nothing but an observation... I don't mind a large cast to some extent.

I will be dragging the laptop along with me next week, when the interview happens, I'll be sure to stick something on the blog when I get a chance. I think my toes would cramp if I kept them crossed for the next several days.

Playing awfully coy

2010-07-16T23:19:00.006-05:00

The title actually refers to two things. Firstly, I definitely don't want to get my own hopes up, but I felt very good about both interviews today. I think I did well, and while I received semi-vague promises from one for a third interview and a follow-up call from the other asking my availability for a follow-up interview, I have nothing *specific*. Therefore, it's still life-as-normal. I can absolutely say that I am happy with the way I interviewed though, and I would not be hurt if either job fell through because I know I did my best and I can't name any other time in my life that I've been able to handle interviews better. I can happily say that it's just a matter of time, whether it's weeks or months... just time separates me from hopefully a fulfilling career where I can support my family better.

The other thing that's playing awfully coy is My HiME. It only took four episodes for My HiME's protagonists to fall victim to lecherous "underwear thieves". The writers and director of the show are all surreptitious about the characters they've made, hinting very heavily about the fanservice and trying to get to some point without going too far. One of the protagonists accidentally flashes a male student, ever so barely off-frame, who nosebleeds very stereotypically. Later in the same episode, a minor female character notes... nay, dwells on and shows every single type of lingerie the protagonists hang out on strings of Christmas lights in order to trap said underwear thieves. In episode five, there's reference to loli chasing. All of it adds up to time lost actually fleshing out a plot by going down backroads not necessary.

In the first few episodes, please do not make fanservice the primary push of a series. It makes me not interested, because I want a plot. I enjoy the magical girl angle, having been a Moonie for a decade and a half. The weirdest thing is that I'm a Moonie yet there's almost no plot there, just repetitive minion battles until the boss finally trots out. So, the point is that it doesn't take a whole lot to keep me happy. I hope that there's more substance in the next few episodes.

Tomorrow, suit and shoe shopping. Even if both third interviews fall through, I need some new interviewing clothes for the face-to-face that *doesn't* fall through.

A pause in the Summer of Anime:

2010-07-15T09:36:00.004-05:00

I've noticed that I've been quiet for the previous week and a half. There is a good reason for this, though. It's because no one cares to hear about my mad general skillz in "Rise of Nations". I always tend to fall into that game for a couple months at a time since getting it a few years ago. No more comments will be uttered, I'm sure no one cares. I have been watching My Hime through episode 4, but I have no opinions as of yet (except for how grown-up Mai Tokiha's seiyuu sounds, it's almost off-putting to hear an adult say some of those splutters and exclamations).

Additionally, I've finally made some headway in job hunting. Things seem to be coming to a head Friday (tomorrow), I've got a lot of talking to do in the morning and the afternoon. I'm hoping for the best from both.

It seems like it's going to get hot again, so stay frosty!

The "no new news" update:

2010-07-06T21:10:00.002-05:00

Just what it says above. About the only thing of note, other than the lack of responses to my resume, is that I've finally received my copy of Mai Hime and I will likely be starting that shortly. My last note is that I echo all Megane 6.7 related below about "Danger on Tiki Island", it's a very solid Cinematic Titanic offering. The jokes were great, there were a few terrific riffs (Mary Jo stepped up big time when the female lead first met the monster), and the crowd had a good energy about them. If I were to have only one complaint, it would be the rapid-fire riffing that started the show... it's almost as if they threw everything against the wall to see what would stick.

It's been HOT the past few days here, I'm hoping that the heat will break soon. I'm not sure if I've been quite so irritable as I've been the past three days. My one day off (5 July) was not enjoyable in the least because of all the heat. I can't wait for Friday and cooler temperatures, it's a group Rifftrax night... talking to Meg while Avatar and its accompanying Rifftrax plays behind.

Please, everyone, stay frosty!

Review: "Code Geass", season 1

2010-06-30T15:02:00.002-05:00

There's going to be some massive spoilers in here, but that's because I need to write these things down in order to fully express all my opinions on Code Geass.

As I've been watching new series through the last few weeks, I've been hit by the fact that it has taken me a while to get interested in certain shows. As stated before, I needed some effort to get into watching Azumanga Daioh and Fate/Stay Night. I was lucky that Haruhi started with a show that was right up my alley, though it could have also been the order that the episodes were run, as research on the Internet has indicated that there are two different ways to watch the first season of Haruhi.

Code Geass only took an episode. I was already hooked when they started talking about a foreign power invading Japan and imposing their will, making the citizens generally miserable yet there's nothing that the citizenry can do about it. I drew so many parallels to my current work situation, covered ad nauseum below, that it wasn't funny.

The main character, Lelouch, could care less for the most part though. He just wants revenge. In a major way. (Yes, this is another parallel, deal with it.) His father, the Emperor, seemed to have a hand in his mother's death and his sister's subsequent disability (paraplegic and blind). In the first episode, he is put under the titular "geas", in that he can make any person obey his instructions once when Lelouch desires it. Lelouch is out for revolution in order to attain his revenge, and he's not squeamish in the least about trying to obtain it.

His opposite number is his childhood friend, Suzaku. Suzaku was the son of the late Japanese prime minister, the one who committed suicide which effectively surrendered Japan to Britannia. Suzaku is ethnically 100% Japanese, but would rather enlist (and take orders from) the Britannia Empire. He believes that through his work, he can change Britannia to be better from within. And by the way, Suzaku ends up piloting the best mecha in the show.

Yes, it's a mecha show. It's also a bit of a political intrigue show. There's a high-school setting, domestic scenes, shoot-em-up scenes, philosophical scenes. There's really something in here for everyone. There's fanservice (once episode 15 really gets it going, there are more than a few instances of "why did that girl just take off all her clothes anyway?"), bishounen, and about the only thing it's really missing is the cliche cute anime mascot.

The main conflict in the series though is the eternal waltz between sudden action and collaborative action. The show tells us that sudden action can be the wrong action, but collaborative action can be bogged down in bureaucracy. To be honest, while watching the first season, I was extremely curious to see if they would resolve the intricate ballet... where on one hand, you have the proverbial "nail that sticks up which should be hammered down" in Lelouch, while if the other side won it would be due to a traitor who betrayed his homeland. Is it best to trust power and work with power to try to bend its aims and goals, or is it best to directly confront power and risk having power defeat you totally and possibly make your life worse?

I loved the message and the plot, and I really enjoy watching shows where you have all the knowledge yet the characters don't. I'm interested in the interplay of characters when they're not fully informed and it also promises a dynamic denouement. Lelouch needed to keep his underground life a secret from all, and that part of the plot was terrific in my opinion. I enjoy a good Tom Clancy novel, so the political stuff was right up my alley as well. The mecha wasn't terrible, the fanservice was fairly decent as well, and the fight scenes were mostly fun.....

However, there are many warning flags with this one. In full disclosure, I was rooting for Lelouch, because while his goals were slightly abominable and the way he treated people was not the greatest at times (for example, triggering a landslide to defeat an army with superior forces but also not warning any civilians below), I absolutely could not stand Suzaku. Hard-core spoilers are definitely ahead here. Suzaku actually killed his father rather than to let Japan resist... but now, he's absolutely a cog in the machine, nothing but a tool who never can resist an order from the same imperial power that now absolutely mistreats his fellow citizens. Lelouch called him out on it, asking him how he's able to reconcile his absolute hypocrisy in killing his own father while saying that no one else is able to break the rules.

Suzaku, you're a complete ass and an utter fool. I meet so many people like you in my daily life, tools that are more than content to let others suffer as long as you're fine. For all the sermonizing Suzaku did about changing from within, he didn't do a single thing about actually changing anything. As a low-level flunky, he couldn't. In essence, he was a hypocrite that never put his money where his mouth was throughout the whole series, and he was supposed to be the alternate protagonist.

The other major complaint that I had with the series is the semi-famous sequence involving Princess Euphemia in episodes 22-23. This set into action a series of events that seemed very poorly written. I looked through Wikipedia and found that there was a second season commissioned of "Code Geass", and it would have been roughly the time that these episodes came out. I do not know if the writers changed the plot in order to make a hook for the second season or it the plot was supposed to have hashed out this way, but I was amazingly disappointed. In essence, the goal of creating a semi-independent Japan was moving along due to the inside efforts of Princess Euphemia and the outside influence of Zero/Lelouch. However, in an idiot plot twist, Lelouch accidentally told Euphemia to kill all Japanese (in jest) and his power forced her to obey.

Firstly, I was sincerely hoping to see what would happen with peace. That was Lelouch's primary objective, though his secondary objective (revenge on Britannia's royal family) was still unmet. I would have enjoyed seeing his conflict over this matter, to find out if he was to gain support for a second go-round or go rogue. I would have really enjoyed seeing him lay out his reasons in front of Suzaku and to see Suzaku's inner conflict. The series could have really ended well then.

But, it didn't. The final fight for Tokyo was attended by characters thought LONG dead that were reintroduced as living possibly one episode before. It was attended by new super-mecha that didn't even exist until after episode 22. It was the most slapped-together ending I've ever seen. Again, being an enthusiast for Lelouch, it did not help to see an ending which seemed to be going against him... but dammit, I don't like winning or losing by plot hole, and there were some really craptastic contrivances marching across my screen in episodes 24 and 25.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd ever rewatch the series because I know where the ending will take me. I may just watch through episode 22, because while there was still some unbelievability, I like the intrigue, secrets, mecha fights, but I can't tell you how much I despise the ending. It took a quality show, one I'd rate 9 out of 10, into a 6. Yes, same as Fate/Stay Night, and to be perfectly honest the Achilles' heel of the first season ending of Code Geass turned out to be worse than the characters I saw in Fate/Stay Night

I am not watching the second season of Code Geass. I do not like plots that start contriving themselves, because it tends to be a runaway reaction. I feel that watching twenty-five episodes is a good indication of where a series will go in the following twenty-five episodes. However, I will absolutely say that through episode 22, it's a terrific series, and I will be making up my own ending much like the 'bots did following MST3k's "The Girl in Lover's Lane".

The downside to art:

2010-06-28T04:56:00.003-05:00

Within the next few days, one of my coworkers will be leaving BigConglomCoInc. for the greener pastures of the east coast. He's been a friend of mine through the last two years, and he's a conversation starter. He's always got an opinion, and every once in a while I can really catch him off-guard with a good riff. It's great, he's the type that takes the two seconds to try to catch up with me, and once he does you can see the realization.

It's doubly disappointing for me, because I'd been looking for new employment (as all you folks know) for the previous three years. I wanted to be the one leaving, because it's far easier in that position... there's something to look forward to. In essence, he's leaving the island and the rest of us are trying to find our own boat off. Of course, the knife in the guts is that he managed to find a luxury cruiser, he'll be making almost double my salary at the new position.

For my wife, she's dealing with her own separation, and it's also not one of her making. One of her good friends, a mother with two children who introduced her to some kids' groups and the one she could call if she was feeling down, is also moving away. Her friend's husband was let go from his job, and he had to scramble to find another one. They'll be leaving for Arizona this very morning (28 June 2010). They left a few reminders though, they had three cats and did not want to transport them immediately... so the cats are all living temporarily with us.

This brings me to the point of my post, the downside of the art that I've been immersing myself in. The best art, in my opinion, is art that is able to make you feel. Sometimes you're able to celebrate, to feel better, to enjoy... but art is also good if it is able to make you feel sad, sorry, nostalgic, or any other emotions. Unfortunately, the "down" emotions are magnified in my circumstance due to all the things going on.

I know that if I were to feel nothing over this that I may as well be half-dead. I'm not wishing to feel badly about my friend and his amazing good fortune, and I really don't... except that I don't want him to leave. I don't want my series to end, because I really enjoy the characters or plot... but everything has an ending and nothing lasts forever. I suppose that in finding analogues from anime plots to what's going on with me, I should both be heartened that I'm not the only one going through this as well as to see that there is an ending, even if my life isn't a tidy twenty-four episodes counting finale.

As you may note, this has left me more than a bit maudlin, though at this point I'm throwing everything I've got into the search. I put through twelve applications between Thursday and Friday last week, and I look forward to another week of at least twenty to thirty applications. According to my lucky friend, he'd been searching from February and finally found something starting mid-July. (Of course, I remember that the interviews for his July job started in April.... ) I hope that I am able to locate something quicker, especially with the classes that I would rather not start than to go halfway through and have to cancel.

On the other hand, life is worth living and I'm building my own path. The difficult part is finding out whether or not it's a sedate little trip or a roller coaster. Emotions may be high, emotions may be low... but between life and art, I know it will be an amazing trip regardless.

Final grade: Fate/Stay Night

2010-06-22T08:26:00.003-05:00

Still a 6. I stand by every last word I said about the characters, with only one revision. Only the Japanese could come up with a gender-swapped Arthur and Bedivere and really change the lessons of the Legends of Camelot... from "don't trust women" (Guinevere) to "if King Arthur's in your tub, she may have to cover up her naughty bits lest you get excited." (twice during Fate/Stay Night)

Next, I believe, will be Code Geass. Dunno when I will start, but we'll see how things shake out. The Summer of Anime shall continue.

Update on life and Fate/Stay Night

2010-06-21T09:35:00.005-05:00

Hey again folks,

So far, I'm at episode seventeen of Fate/Stay Night. This show is as plot-driven as Azumanga is character-driven. (Okay, warning, possible spoilers ahead here too)

It's a good thing that Fate/Stay Night is more plot, because I'm not crazy about the main protagonist. From what I was reading online, the source for Fate/Stay Night was a hentai videogame, which was first cut back into a videogame, which was then adapted to the screen.

A dispassionate viewer can tell these things, because as I have continued the series it's become more of a harem-building as it goes along. So far, the harem count is at five. There's still eight episodes left for that number to go up too. I mention this because this is one of the few subtypes of anime plot that to me is just unbelievable. There's really no analog to this plot in Western drama or shows, yet it pops up every once in a while in anime. It must just be a cultural or wish-fulfillment thing that makes this subgenre tick.

It's a shame, because the rest of the series has been pretty decent with the overall story. Even if the main protagonist is a doofus, the plot they've built around him has been interesting and there are some nicely-animated fight sequences.

I'm too late to stop watching, as I've covered two-thirds of the show and I am curious how they will resolve the plot. I'm almost to the point of fast-forwarding some of the scenes though, and have only held off because I figure they may attempt to advance the plot while I'm least expecting it.

I think I spoiled myself finding both The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Azumanga Daioh as the first two series to jump back into anime with. Both were fascinating and while they each had a couple of slow or dull spots, I remain very impressed with the product as a whole even a few weeks later.

If both shows were a 10 (forced to choose, I'd pick Azumanga by only a hair), this one is treading a 6. The odd part is that it started at a 6, getting into the plot nudged it into a 7, but the main protag took it back to a 6, the harem stuff started knocking it down further, but the fight sequence in Ep. 14 was terrific and gave it a notch back. There's a LOT of ground for this one to make up, and unless the ending is stellar (or completely terrible) I don't think the 6 will be changing.

The worst part is that it could've been a solid 8, something that'd be worth revisiting every once in a while and would be worth looking up fanfiction for. The plot of the show, the overarching story driving the plot (even the super-magical MacGuffin) could lead to many interesting stories, but not with these characters. Hopefully, the remaining third redeems it somewhat, but this may be my final review depending on how it ends.

Work, as if they couldn't have tried harder, has become worse. It is now tied to the fact that all of us peons have had our status change, from salaried to hourly workers. Now, the almighty clock becomes our enemy, as if we hadn't had enough enemies to choose from to begin with. Of course, it's only the lowest-level of workers that this is happening to, our management is so not hourly because they'd be like given eleventy billion hours of overtime weekly because of all the awesome work they do.

The worst part is that they've "assured" us that our salary and none of the other perks (vacation time, insurance, etc.) will change in the future. This gives me zero confidence, because they've already changed a major fundamental piece of my compensation and I won't be the least bit surprised to hear, six months from now, "We've got to change you all to put you in line with other hourly workers." I've played the hourly game exactly once, as a contractor a long time ago. I'd never wanted to deal with it again. Every single job since then that I've taken has been salaried.

Now, without any choice, I'm back to the tyranny of the clock. Making peanuts. Watching others get big bucks due to work relationships rather than due to effort and/or ability. And now, the sledgehammer is close enough to all our heads to be plainly visible instead of lost in the fog (or hidden behind management's back). At least this final swing is slow enough that hopefully moving out of the way (i.e. finding another job) is possible, though this absolutely puts my educational plans in a complete bind.

Thankfully, lately, we've been able to resolve more than a few issues. This weekend, it was the below family issues... they're finally mending, and it's something that we don't have to spend time feeling bad or worrying about. Now, it's just this. I hope that the same magical fix-it tape that's fixed the other problems below is not out of tape yet.

New Cinematic Titanic QnD Review!

2010-06-16T17:19:00.006-05:00

(Warning: Contains mild spoilers)

"Cinematic Titanic: Danger on Tiki Island" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- You know, as much as I love Rifftrax, movies like this bring back warm and fuzzy memories of the golden age of MST3K and CT has brought us what I feel is their best live effort to date.

This movie has Percy Chiseljaw, Booby McHorny and Wally Cleaver arriving on BLOOD ISLAND to study radiation or something and encounter a native flannel wearing tribe lead by a shriner with a really hot daughter that have ‘returned to the old ways’ by sacrificing their virgins to appease the island’s screeching hentai tentacle trees and a monster that resembles a pile of melted tires who moans like a porn star. Meanwhile, a bald man named Goro (FINISH HIM!) plays tour guide for our heroes as they visit a midget sanctuary/slave labor camp, run by Mr. Rourke as played by Ricky Ricardo and... that’s all I’m going to reveal here. This is one GOOFY monster film that’s perfect for riffing, with plenty of WTF moments.

The movie is also a little more mature than the last two live films with occasional (really cheap looking) gore, a bit of bondage with flashes of ‘almost’ nudity and a great deal of cleavage, 70% of which is MALE, but damn that other 30% is nice. There’s an odd yet funny moment during the riffing where Joel just flat out asks the audience why guys are so attracted to women like Booby McHorny, not really expecting an answer.

(Crow: Boobies, the deciding factor in many a hasty marriage.)

Anyway, all the riffers did a great job with this one, especially Josh Weinstein and there were very few, if any, flubs this time that I noticed. The few dull spots that occured during riffing were thankfully short-lived this time around as well. Overall, Very Highly Recommended!

(Additionally, this CT release includes a short 17 min documentary featuring the Cinematic Titanic performers as they share their thoughts on each other and their experiences with CT as well as comments from fans leaving the theater after the show. While the documentary is a bit self-congratulatory, you can tell these people share a great deal of affection for each other and their fans as they playfully snipe each other’s flaws and Trace mockingly threatens to sue a young fan who shares his name. Frank Conniff has a funny story about coming up with a riff that he was unable to say without bursting into uncontrollable laughter and when he finally did deliver it flawlessly during a live performance, it was greeted with dead silence from the audience. ;P)

Azumanga Daioh : The Review

2010-06-15T09:51:00.003-05:00

I lied... I was able to finish Azumanga Daioh through this morning. I will likely have spoilers in the next few paragraphs, to outline what I thought were some of the good points and the bad points of the series, but I will keep in general in the first two paragraphs.

I think the main reason that I enjoyed the ending of the series is that I was able to really get to know and enjoy the characters. As mentioned before, in order to keep attention while introducing characters, the show falls back on humor that at least wears on me after a bit. On top of that, there are three characters that will also be off-putting to begin with, and they end up keeping you off-balance for the majority of the series. (Far later, one of the main characters actually shows signs of growing up and being more mature, which ends up making you just as off-balance as seeing her to begin with.)

I had a hard time continuing after watching the first few episodes. After about the fourth or fifth episode, I thought that it would be more entertaining to finish my last play-through of Dragon Age, and even trotted out my five-year-old copy of Rise of Nations to play afterward.

However, I gave Azumanga a couple more chances, and I feel that I was definitely rewarded for the effort. I enjoyed watching this show quite a bit, enjoyed engaging with the characters, and definitely feel as if I wanted to see more of it after having completed it.

(Spoilers will start here)

While The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was in some respects a "start over" show, where the status quo will be preserved even if it takes a couple episodes, Azumanga Daioh has a strong current of change to it. The characters themselves are shown through the course of all three years of Japanese high-school. The last couple episodes tie up loose ends to show that the characters have survived and thrived in high school and that they will be entering the uncertain world of post-high-school, but that they will try to stay together as best as possible.

The characters do grow to some extent through this time. As mentioned above, Tomo in particular learns toward the end of the series to be more considerate of her friends and to not do things "just because", which is off-putting to the others considering her actions through the first twenty-three episodes. Sakaki overcomes her issues with cats. Chiyo is able to come to terms with the fact that she's not an elementary-school student.

I think that one of the most endearing parts of this show is the fact that the characters grow rather than stagnate. I know that I felt more emotionally invested in watching the show because of this aspect, and I can certainly understand where all of the fanfiction for Azumanga is generated from, because of the wide range of personalities and the care given to the fictional characters. The show's high-school setting is very poignant to this growth because high school is where one really starts to become an adult rather than a child, and having to navigate that rocky terrain can be difficult yet rewarding at times.

I'm not sure the show would have worked past high-school... if it attempted, it would have had to change just like the characters did. I can only imagine the cast if they tried, because it truly seemed that the only main characters that would remain together are Yukari and Minamo at the high school. The other characters graduated and will be scattering to the four winds, but not before one last blow-out trip to the amusement park for celebration.

Celebration is a good word for the show in general. Azumanga Daioh really is a celebration of growing up, of friends and a slice of life. Not only am I happier for having seen the show, but this is one that I will gladly show my eight-year-old daughter. It will not only entertain her, but show her that life is your own story. Life is not an episode of anime-- you can knock all twenty-six Azumanga episodes out comfortably in a week or two, compared to the three-year time period it covers (you've probably noted this from the last four blog posts)-- it's something that you write as you go along. Life can be hard, it can be pleasant, and you meet the strangest people... but knowing that it's a journey to try to enjoy is a good message.

The ultimate example of this, I suppose, are my family's weekend plans. We are driving separately, as we bought the new car and our old car is being sold to my brother-in-law. At the same time, on Saturday, we will be celebrating my wife's ten-year anniversary of being in remission from cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma). At the same time though, my wife is currently estranged from her father, who was her primary care-giver and the person most responsible for her recovery. He will not be to the party that he in part helped to make happen. Life can be a bittersweet collection of events, and while we close two chapters (car, cancer recovery) we will still be living through others (the estrangement, my job search, going to school, children in school, baby, etc.)

Now, especially considering most of the posts I place on this blog, not everything in life can be celebrated especially while you're still living in the moment. On the other hand, I suppose that since my final episode hasn't happened yet, there's always a plot twist to come. Toward the end of the series, Yomi was unable to pass exams for her backup college choices, and her stress was shown as the others passed into college one-by-one. In the moment, all she can see is the task ahead. Past the moment, she's able to reflect on the task. There are future challenges for her, with college and moving away, but those can be treated as they come rather than life-and-death issues. It's hard to stand back in the middle of problems and appreciate what's going on, but there's always time and opportunity to do so.

(spoilers over)

I suppose one of the greatest parts yet hardest lessons of life is to appreciate the plot twists and the changes of seasons... and to remember the happy parts of plot twists and seasons already experienced. Like all good art should, I'm touched by the creativity and the message. My biggest hope is to find more shows like Azumanga Daioh as I watch anime. I can say that I'm happier having watched it than not, and extremely happy that I afforded it the chance.

As with all my reviews, your mileage may vary. I'm sure that by now, whatever readers are hanging out know my tendencies and my likes/dislikes. Suffice it to say that though I'm the jaded sort, I liked this one more than a bit. I've got action queued up next, in the form of Fate/Stay Night. I think I will take a bit of a break through the next couple days before starting it, probably to accomplish some writing and to try to get into a different mindset, work has been extremely stressful lately and troublesome and leaving it behind has been more difficult.

< A! >

Another "We're still here" post.

2010-06-14T13:16:00.003-05:00

It's barely been a week since the previous post, but I thought that a short update would be appropriate. Megane and I have been working on the most recent MSTing through the last couple weeks, and we've come up with some decent stuff. The process has been a bit slower, and it is due to the length, but on the other hand I'm still happy with what we've done so far and I think that it shouldn't take many months, only a few.

I mentioned to Megane, and I am happy to post on the blog, that Azumanga Daioh has absolutely grown on me as a series. I needed somewhere around four or five episodes to get acquainted with the characters. There are a few good moments in the first couple episodes, such as Chiyo and Osaka "practicing" volleyball together. However, it seems that the show kind of picks up for me around the tenth episode or so, when you've got a decent idea of all of the characters. The show has zany humor, uncomfortable humor (mostly Kimura, though the cracks about Yukari's driving are a bit unsettling too), and character-driven humor, mostly Osaka and Tomo.

The problem I had with this show was that I only enjoyed the zany humor, and even then I'm not crazy about a lot of it. However, once I started seeing the character-driven humor along with the zany humor, and understanding it, I really started enjoying the series. I will have a more complete write-up of Azumanga Daioh when I finish, which will likely be in a couple days. Just like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I get the distinct feeling that this series is ending a few episodes too soon, which is a bit depressing.

For me, I'm able to get into these shows lately due to the fact that I'm seeing myself in some of the characters. For Haruhi, it was as Kyon. For Azumanga, it's as Yomi. Of course, it seems that many series need a character that represents a status-quo, someone who is moved by some of the zanier characters so that you can see the impact of what these zany characters do. At any rate, I know that I will definitely enjoy delving into some of the fanfic for these shows because these are characters that I enjoy. If not for the enjoyment of characters and situations in shows, would there be any call for fanfiction after all?

Still no traction on the job front, though I have my classes for next semester laid out. Another micro-econ class, which I tend to enjoy... and then econometrics for winter, featuring the professor I'd been talking about through the beginning of the year. Man, I definitely did not want to see more of that professor, but I suppose that I have no choice if I want to be able to get through with a masters' degree. Such are the challenges of life, I suppose, though I feel somewhat fed up with the same challenges. I really feel as if I'd already stepped up and done what was necessary and needed, yet there's never really a positive result. (Hence, the statement about wanting a "win" for a change.) Hopefully, opportunity will come knocking on my door shortly.

No real opportunity to review Rifftrax lately, there's HP4 but I haven't had a chance to get a copy of it. I hope that Mike and the crew will pick up the output soon, and yeah it's me asking for it while telling you guys "a few months". At any rate, stay frosty folks!

Gleecap

2010-06-08T21:10:00.004-05:00

I attempted to get together with Megane, fully understanding that I would talk with him during my wife's viewing of Glee. Of course, I tell Megane Wednesday, rather than Tuesday... so, since he's not here, a rundown of the schmaltz that comprises both "Glee", the show, as well as the average season finale of a first-year show which needs writers desperately.

We join "Glee" already in process...

0:06 ...as they cut into yet another replaying of "Don't Stop Believing". Considering how many times I listened to that song in the promos of the show....

0:07 "Nine months ago, we sucked". Nothing's changed.

0:07:30 The faux-stalgia ain't working on me. I remember all of the crap that brought the show to this point, all the idiot plot points and nonsense. And now, a Journey medley. If only I wasn't a closet 80's fan, I'd denounce it for the numbskullery it is. (As it is, it's Glee singing Journey, so I can hold back my enjoyment very easily)

0:09 I get to watch my first Eclipse trailer commercial. It's everything that the past two movies was and then some. About time, I'm in the mood for some killer cheese, and this stuff has already proven to be epic. "How are you fixed for some jangly, shoe-gazing music?"

0:12 I knew that the "twist" was in here, the mean cheerleading coach is now the "impartial" judge. Knowing for a week hasn't helped me believe it any more. This show asks too much from my suspension of my disbelief.

0:13 "It's not about winning, it's about us." Every button must be pressed. I wonder if the pregnant cheerleader will be going into labor shortly.

0:14 Journey's only other song, ever. ("Forever Yours, Faithfully")

0:14:30 I'm struck, the female "lead" (Rachel) is wearing a Haruhi hairband. Heh, random moment of the night I suppose.

0:16 Long notes, the fingernails of the world's chalkboard.

0:16:30 "Any Way You Want It", a Rock Band favorite. Not enough to make me forget that the girls are wearing space-cadet inspired golden aprons.

0:17 The crowd's behind them! Is Al Michaels announcing?

0:18 One of the few reasons I enjoy "Don't Stop Believing", other than the weirdly hilarious chorus, is the line "born and raised in south Detroit". I dunno why, but if there's anything that can more express dead-end loser, what is it?

0:19 Ooh, mom and daughter reconciliation! How could I forget the long-lost relative angle? Better yet, it's the pregnant girl! And her water just broke, what a shock. I swear that the above bit about the buttons was written before this.

0:23 "Unnatural History"... no main complaints about the show per se, but shouldn't it be on SyFy or ABC Family rather than freaking Cartoon Network? (Full disclosure: I would probably watch it as an anime, but on the other hand there's so many different directions they could take it in as an anime rather than the goofy kid currently grinning maniacally at me.)

0:24 Queen. "Bohemian Rhapsody", to be specific. I can deal with Journey by mediocre singers, but Bohemian Rhapsody is SO Freddie Mercury, I'm absolutely unable to accept any other versions, even if it's supposed to be an allegory about pregnancy. Of course, it's EXTREMELY unsuitable for a dance choir, as I'm currently experiencing.

0:27 "Bohemian Rhapsody" with glowsticks. Yeah, that's what it was missing. Oh, and every single glee club member is in there with her. I couldn't even smuggle her mother and my sister in when my wife was giving birth last time.

0:28 I finally realized that this is the guitar solo of the show. As played by Stephen Hawking.

0:29 I think I just heard Luke screaming at the end of Episode Five.

0:29:30 So, "choir" is all about one soloist singing for the whole song except for the exceedingly short backup portion at the end of the song. I could use the headbanging beaver at the end of "Loaded Weapon 1" right now.

0:31 Knight and Day. Tom Cruise action. Is there any scenes where he's sad about Goose while trying to pass some gas? I can't see any situation where this isn't cheesy either.

0:34 Haruhi's back and trying to manipulate others. It's so close yet so far to the real show. Speaking of a suspension of disbelief, Haruhi and the rival coach being mother and daughter was a amazingly large leap of faith.

0:36 "Kiss my ass, Josh Groban". There's one redeeming portion of the show, even if Sue voting for her own school is foregone conclusion number.... eight by now?

0:38 And Sue announcing the winners, when one of the judges is a newsanchor and therefore a professional announcer.

0:39 Must say, I'm semi-surprised by the announced winner, though not terribly. Legit arguments for both sides. Though this means that the horrid version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" wins. Hollywood majjic!

0:41 An advertisement for Toy Story 3. I hope fervently that this isn't the beginning of the end for Pixar. Considering this and the Monsters Inc. sequel, I'm not sure.

0:42 Huge on ABC Family. There doesn't seem to be much of a plot other than the large girl telling everyone that she's not changing for their benefit. Decent message for one show, not for a series of them.

0:43 Fox drama, teenagers asking whether or not they want to keep a baby as if they were talking about a cell phone plan.

0:44 Let's set up the next season's drama. And let's make sure to keep the creepy female teacher square in the center of the drama by having her hook back up with the choir teacher.

0:45 Here we learn about how we've all grown since the beginning of the series. I learned that I should listen to the GI Joe lessons at the end of the show more often! With bonus faux-stalgia.

0:47 We've dredged up something from the 50's or early 60's, at least from the sound of the arrangement. Bonus points for something I haven't heard before that's older, but it's still THESE PEOPLE singing it, and the choir teacher biting his tongue in order to provoke tears for the camera.

0:48 I would like to give a shout-out to a group of people who really need to receive kudos, which are the musicians backing these actors. They've done a good job, and the underrated part of any show is the music (rather than the actors they've placed out front as "singers"). Thanks, you guys, I've enjoyed the music at least.

0:50 I'm watching the bastard child of Eminem and Justin Timberlake for a Yahoo ad. I'm amazed that the level of talent is dropping by the second.

0:51 Chevy Traverse, only starting at $29,999. I think that you need three incomes to make it in the U.S. anymore.

0:52 "Raising Hope" on Fox, about a doofus trying to raise a baby. Gramma's wearing a bra, and some unidentified lady is unable to speak. Can't wait for that to go the way of "Sons of Tucson".

0:53 The reveal showed that the show wanted it both ways anyway. Just as above.

0:54 The snark in this show is the high-school equivalent of House adult snark. Every once in a while, you can see that there's a bit of an adult trying to get out, but it needs to grow up desperately.

0:56 This odd thing they call plot, the weird bet thingy or whatever it was that was threatening the glee club is called off on another "surprise" twist. The choir teacher yelling that they've got another year almost completely matches what the cast did when Fox announced that they'll continue paying these actors for this thing.

0:57 One last chance for something more recent than 2000.... oooh, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Swing and a miss, on a pitch bouncing to the plate. One of the most major reasons I enjoy watching AMVs, as stated before, was to hear new and exciting music. As far as the music, I like the 80's stuff... but sung by their artists, not "reimagined". Give me something new and interesting, I've heard the rest of this stuff too much. This is yet another reason I will absolutely defend "House" and pile on this show.

1:00 "So You Think You Can Dance" results. Glee is Shakespeare compared to "Dance".

So, one more year of "Glee". Thankfully, I have Season 1 of "The Mentalist" to watch from Netflix next...

Very slight update:

2010-06-01T15:09:00.002-05:00

It'll be quick, I promise. I am an avowed proponent of free commenting. I love comments, though to be truthful there aren't too many here. However, I've been getting spam comments on a very frequent basis lately, and I'm getting a bit annoyed at the fact that it takes a while to take them down.

I'm absolutely not taking away anonymous comment settings. However, I am putting up one of those evil little "enter the letters" boxes, because I need to cut down on the robo-spam. I hate them myself, but I truly dislike seeing someone put the verbal equivalent of throw-up on this struggling little blog.

If there are any readers out there who disagree with this action, please be sure to put it in comments. (Ha!) Actually, you can also email me through the address at the website, though you may have difficulty being heard through the spam that thousands of robo-mailers have already deposited there.

Very little status updates to provide, other than I'm almost through the second play-through of Dragon Age, postponing watching more Azumanga Daioh because I've been in a funk for a while. I located a copy of Fate/Stay Night, though I am not sure if I will be checking it out soon.

Work is the same... it's either I don't put myself out and get what little satisfaction I can from my job, or I attempt to actually do work thinking I may get rewarded for it and usually get smacked down for presuming such an audacious thing. So, the job search continues as does registration for year 2 of 4 for master's degree. I could really use a win right about now, I've kind of forgotten what they feel like (and this is pretty much 85% of the current funk.)

If there are any series that any of the readers can recommend to get out of a funk, I'd be glad to know. Drop a line, I'm curious to know what I should attempt to review next.

More Azumanga

2010-05-27T17:45:00.002-05:00

Above, an episode of Azumanga Daioh (Episode 3). Below, Notepad, for drafting a blog post. I suppose it's good news for me that I would rather watch Azumanga Daioh than draft the blog post, but I think it's because you folks know me by now, I'm easily distracted and still trying to get this whole blogging thing down.

I think that I truly spoiled myself, though... I watched the last three episodes of Season One of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and it hit all of my sweet spots. A weird, out-there plot. Interesting characters. A running narrative commentary. Humor, good music, and it carried an interesting message. I could even see the parallels with some of the characters and people in my own life. It was a show that I really did not want to finish watching, yet Season One ended. I will likely be checking into getting Season Two as well, and crossing my fingers that they make more episodes as it is such a recent series. (I guess I will have to content myself with finding some fanfic, with the bonus that I will be enjoying the good stuff and likely riffing the bad.)

Azumanga Daioh is not all of the above for me, at least not yet. On the other hand, it is interesting enough for me to keep my attention, and the shows seem designed to allow someone to keep going in the series. As the original source material for Azumanga Daioh are four-panel short comics, the show stays very true to the formula by presenting four- to five-minute segments that sometimes are barely connected. This does mean that if you're not crazy about a segment, just wait it out and something else will happen shortly. (This is the ultimate "short attention span theater")

This show is one that appreciates and sometimes revels in sheer zaniness. There are segments where you wonder exactly where the joke is going, only to have people laughing for no reason. There are lots of explanations for jokes too, and people who enjoy anime in-jokes will completely understand and enjoy Azumanga. Much like what Megane 6.7 and I do, generating humor in very small areas, Azumanga assumes that the viewer will have a background in some of the references that it will be riffing on.

I am sure that I will have more opinions as Azumanga Daioh unfolds on my screen. The semi-interesting ones I will share here, while the boring ones may be edited out.

Postscript:
Reasons Life is not like Anime, #495:
What came out of the hole in the Gulf of Mexico would have been infinitely scarier, far more violent to humans, but likely more interesting.

Review: "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"

2010-05-25T07:18:00.004-05:00

Hey, stuff you guys may want to see! While Megane 6.7 will review recent video games, I'll put up a review of a four-year-old series. I'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing.

Following ACen, I picked up the anime bug again and decided to nab a copy of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". I'd seen it more than a few times in AMVs and have also seen a few fanfics of the series, so I thought it was time to check it out. So far, I have watched eleven of fourteen episodes and I think that it is a terrific series, and definitely recommend it.

I'm fairly sure that I'm behind the curve on this one, as it has been out for a while, but here's a thumbnail sketch. Kyon is entering high school when he falls in with Haruhi Suzumiya, a high-energy girl who still believes in childhood stories of aliens, time-travellers and espers. She's the flighty type who can't seem to stay committed to anything. She creates a club, the SOS Brigade, whose goal it is to find mysteries. Quickly, she manages to rope in Kyon as well as an alien, a time-traveller, and an esper into the club, though she does not know their true identities. By the way, she's super-powerful and can change the universe according to her whim. However, she doesn't know that she's super-powerful either. And Kyon is our intrepid narrator, a normal person caught up in the craziness.

I truly enjoyed the show after seeing the first episode. It concerned a student-made "movie" which was not only a parody of many animes I'd seen, but also included Kyon doing his best impression of a Mike Nelson rifftrax. Kyon's narrative style and character are very evocative of the MST3k form, though he doesn't necessarily riff as much as provide a counterpoint to the action. He's got snark to spare and the shows following were funny to boot. I suppose my only gripe has to be with the fanservice, it seems almost as if it's a bit out-of-character and tacked on to the story. I don't mind fanservice at all, but I mind if it's transparently fanservice.

If you can engage your mind a bit past the story itself, the situation and the show becomes one of great interest. Who has more power in the world, the person who is able to bend it to their will or the person who chronicles what happens and is able to put their own spin on the proceedings? The plot itself is a looming question, because there are certainly episodes where Haruhi unknowingly brings her will to bear in order to make disastrous things occur, but all of the characters hint at a point in time three years prior without being specific. This has the makings of a dynamite 52-episode epic, though I don't know if there will ever be one....

Which brings me to the final thought, the fanfic. The story itself started as fiction, as Japanese light novels rather than as manga or anime. Therefore, it is very suited to further writing, especially with the way that it is open-ended. The anime itself only covers six months of Kyon and Haruhi's first year, and the main issue (Haruhi's powers) are never really dealt with unless they become a problem. As a result, I can certainly foresee that the fanfic that could surround this universe may be very divergent yet still true to canon, and everything from light comedy to epic dramas are in play.

I know that I may have to drag Megane in kicking and screaming, but as I try to catch more of the recent stuff I will likely try to find fanfics that go with it. As of yet, just off the top of my head, the only 'fic that we've MSTed that contains only anime after 2000 is "Dragon of the Night". Even then, Megane and I were pretty much taking it as a story rather than as a Naruto story--we were certainly unable to comment much on the plot or the characterization of the original source because neither one of us have ever seen more than an episode of Naruto. There's definitely a large collection of Ranma / Sailor Moon 'fic, but after our current Sailor Moon project I will definitely be on the lookout for some newer series and writing. I think that riffing on newer stuff will make my own MSC 3001 series more of a complement to Megane's MST6.7 series, as we can be both old school and more recent while still collaborating with each other.

As far as myself, I've never really been able to get into the newer anime. This is mostly because I've not had time or money to be able to devote to it. My original gateway anime drug was Ranma 1/2, where I ended up getting into Sailor Moon and then a few around 2000 (Fushigi Yuugi, BGC 2040, Trigun, Nadesico, Love Hina). Since anime is expensive and I had a dial-up connection for many years, keeping up with it has been difficult at best. Now, fansubs are torrented (thank heaven) and box sets retail for the price of ONE VIDEO back in the late 90s. Two Ranma tapes back then were worth more than the Haruhi box set now, and I even recall buying the second Ranma movie for $29.99. (Thanks, VIZ, for killing my interest by killing my pocketbook.)

Other than a single divergence into "Scrapped Princess", when my significant other and I spied a $4 tape at a deep discount hut, I've been pretty stagnant. I think it's time to start hitting the Amazons and fansub torrents again, and try to get a bit more up-to-date both for enjoying the art and stories, and also to keep finding new ideas to champion.

On to the real-life paragraph. I rejected the position I interviewed for on Thursday. This was due to this new practice of hiring temps as a "probationary period" rather than self-hiring. I may be an arrogant person, but I feel that my experience and resume should count for something greater than temp-to-hire, especially since it would be extremely easy for a company to tell a temp "no" after the contract term is expired. I have a family and just cannot take that risk for a few pennies more. I would do temp-to-hire, but I would rather do it for a position that has a greater compensation and is located out-of-state. On the other hand, my economics study (as mentioned in the previous couple posts) is still going on too, so I feel that at least at present I can be patient rather than throwing myself on the mercy of the first company that comes along with a few extra dollars. (Total difference: $7,500 yearly, which is about $600 pre-tax per month..... but I would need to lay out FAR more money in commuting and in gasoline just to take the job.)

Past this, the only progress has been in episode count. I will likely have a short blurb after I finish "Haruhi", and the next series queued up is "Azumanga Daioh". Yeah, I'm *really* getting recent, eh?

Red Dead Revulsion

2010-05-22T17:44:00.005-05:00

This game does not deserve a 10.

Hell, I'm not even sure it deserves an 8. This game pissed me off royally and I'm more convinced now than ever that Rockstar Games have forgotten what made their games fun in the first place. Oh, it looks real purty to be sure but the story is diarrhea on a waffle and its endless dialogue brought back some not-so-fond memories of the Metal Gear Solid series. So in short, 'Red Dead Redemption' is pretentious arty CRAP that Hideo Kojima would be proud of.

This might have been tolerable if the gameplay made up for it. Unfortunately, this game shares many of the same problems that plagued 'Grand Theft Auto IV'. The controls continue to be clunky as all fuck and while steering a horse is easier than a car, you can still get hooked up on numerous scenery, fall off narrow paths into the water (which KILLS you again, by the way, no swimming animations for this game) and just getting your horse to turn around can be a real challenge at times.

Speaking of challenge, this game has two levels of it: Auto-Aim On, which makes the game surprisingly easy or Auto-Aim Off, which makes the game needlessly frustrating. It's like using a sniper rifle and removing the scope. You can do it but it's just seems silly to me.

But even if you're the type of gamer who never plays story missions and just wants to be a wild outlaw, robbing, murdering, whoring, etc... the game is extremely rigid on what you can and can't do. You can't hurt certain characters, the game LITERALLY holds the gun back if you try or gives you an instant GAME OVER screen if you get creative, which was rather insulting as they could have simply regenerated the character when you get far enough away which would have been far less aggravating and condescending.

You can hold people up for cash or shoot them and loot their corpses, but it's not nearly as exciting as you might think and gets repetitive fast. Ditto for skinning wild animals, cracking safes and searching closets which always feature the same unskippable animations making these tasks more of a chore than they needed to be.

Also, shooting up a town can be fun for a while but it's not long before you get overwhelmed by sheriffs and you're pretty much fucked unless you use cheats. And speaking of cheats, you can use 'em but only if you don't mind losing the ability to save your game. Yep, you read that right.

And you can forget whoring as well, the game won't let you sleep with hookers to recover health and you won't be getting any girlfriends in this game. This is because the character you're playing, and I'll be getting into more detail about HIM in a minute, is a married man but more importantly, he's a REFORMED outlaw and "I'm not that man anymore" to quote the game. However, Mr. Red Dead Reform can still beat, cut, burn, stab, blow up, lasso, hog-tie, drag behind his horse and, oh yeah, MURDER most of the men, women and even the animals he encounters without any interference from the game but sleeping with hookers is never an option because that would be WRONG. 9_9.

Anyway, back to the story, the lead character has a lot in common with Niko Bellec from 'Grand Theft Auto IV'... in that he's a whiny little bitch that derives even LESS joy with anything he does and for some reason, this has become the template character for Rockstar games of late. This lead character, who was so charismatic that I've already forgotten his name... (quick check on Google, hey Pac Man, cool!)... John Marston is a REFORMED outlaw, blackmailed by government scum that kidnapped his wife and son, to find and kill members of his old gang.

Oh, and did I mention he's REFORMED? Cause he'll remind you about that. A whole lot. He's also a total hypocrite and every character you meet in the game will point that fact out to you, you know, just in case you didn't get the point the first DOZEN times and realize it yourself. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why the fuck I'm playing this.

How the hell are we supposed to get behind a guy that claims to have such noble honorable intentions while destroying countless lives working for vile criminal scum and furthering their ends just to save his family, whom we don't even get to meet until the last 1/4th of the game and when you DO finally meet them, you'll wish you were still in Mexico.

Yes, the last 1/4 of the game is John doing chores with his family. After participating in numerous gun battles with vast armies and riding across the prairies searching for stranger missions (which was about the ONLY thing that kept me playing this game to the end, as they were more interesting than the main story, including one mysterious stranger (I Know You) that I felt really should have been the main villain of the game considering the 'Redemption' theme they were going for) you suddenly find yourself herding cattle, roping horses, and delivering corn, all the while having intimate chats with your family that beat the LIVING CRAP out of your head with ominous foreshadowing.

This is usually the sort of bullshit they put at the BEGINNING of the game to get you familiar with the gameplay mechanics and to give you a reason to care about John's mission but again, his family were all annoying as fuck, so maybe that's why they switched it around. Doesn't make that 1/4 of the game any less BORING though.

Not to mention preachy, and dear lord, is this game ever preachy. I seriously felt like I was being talked down to and sternly lectured all through the game and the whole thing just had this really uncomfortable vibe that turned it from could have been a guilty pleasure to just plain guilt. You can perform evil acts which lowers your honor score but the game seems determined to punish you for this, giving very little in the way of benefits and making it more difficult to purchase items and some people won't talk to you at all if you're a bad enough hombre, FORCING you to do good deeds just to continue playing the damn game. What's the FUCKING point of letting you do evil deeds if there's almost no benefits to doing them and they don't affect the main story in the slightest!?

The whole point of a sandbox game like this, at least for me, is the freedom to be something you're not in real life and do silly, violent or evil things for fun. 'Red Dead Redemption' is less 'Yeah, enjoy robbing the bank and shooting random people! It's all in good fun!" and more "Oh, you're being stupid... *sigh*... When you're ready to GROW UP, continue with the story missions." And that takes ALL the fun out of the game.

And if that weren't enough, the game glitched out on me several times, forcing me to reset the console at one point when I had just finished a mission and the cutscene just froze solid. And I played this on an original disc, new rental with no scratches, in a non-modded system bought in late 2007 that I've never used for internet and I installed the game to a 20 Gig hard drive first. So yeah, I think the game is buggy.

My goodness, I've been ranting for a while, haven't I? In closing, 'Red Dead Redemption' was a huge disappointment for me and was definitely not worth the $10 rental. I honestly had more fun playing 'GUN', short as it was. I'd recommend picking that up used cheap if you're looking for a short but fun western sandbox game. I haven't played 'Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood' yet so maybe I'll give that a try when I get a chance to rent it.

The last of the fallout from ACen:

2010-05-18T14:45:00.005-05:00

Couple last ACen notes that warranted a full blog post (My goal is to push the Rifftrax reviews below the fold before mid-June...)

1. At least according to the almighty Internet, Anime Central's attendance in 2009 was over 15,000 paid attendees (17,500 total). I imagine that you could possibly add another 2,000 to 3,000 attendees for this year, 2010. I mention this because also according to the never-lying Internet, ACen's attendance in 2000 was slightly more than 2,000 people, including yours truly, and 3,200 in 2001, including both myself and Megane 6.7.

To be honest, when I left in 2000 and in 2001, the highlights of the weekend were pretty much getting together with all the other hard-core fans and the goofy people who devote time to writing stories that will never earn a penny in revenue. That lasted for a few hours on a Friday night. Other than a few minutes in the dealer room, there wasn't a whole lot else that really caught my interest.

While some people may decry the size of the convention and say that it was better in the old days, I'm SO not that person. The more the merrier, and it was a terrific weekend. I enjoyed myself far more than ten years ago and I think it's mainly due to the fact that MAPS can put on a better convention with more attendees.

As I believe I mentioned previously, I will be attending Youmacon in Detroit now that I know that there's a decent following there too. I think I became gun-shy about conventions due to the cost and the fact that there were so few people at the ones that I attended in the past... (two ACens and three JAFAX, JAFAX being a free convention in Grand Rapids but exceedingly lightly attended.) The larger scale makes the convention definitely worth going to. Hopefully Youmacon will be comparably good to ACen.

2. On Friday, I and my friends had just arrived to the hotel at about noon. I had already spoken with my family and told them that the car survived another three-hundred mile trip. (There's always a question...) I had a bit of a back-and-forth for the next ten minutes, but then left to get to the convention. While walking to the convention, my cellphone beeps again... and I thought it was more conversation with my significant other. No, it actually turns out to be a temp service asking me if I'd be interested in a job opportunity. To cut the story short, I'm scheduled for a job interview on Thursday, 20 May. I must admit, I'm glad that I checked the phone, even though I spoke to the temp service underneath I-190 with a convention raging around me. I hope that it was a good omen.

Megane and I will be embarking on the next MSTing shortly. (For that matter, we hope that you enjoyed / will enjoy the latest MSTing.) The good news is that there is already some work into it, but the bad news is that it is a bit longer than the typical MSTings we do. I *hope* that we can get it out before the end of the year, that'd be pretty sweet. I've got a summer without classes at least, though there's always the wildcard of when (not "if" anymore, I think) I end up at a new job. Anyway, thanks again for your support and indulgence seeing as how this has turned into some weird kind of blog/commentary/diary hybrid for me. I promise, more anime and movie reviews as well as more MSTings, and possibly some original comedic writings, I just have to get through this rough patch I'm going through.

ACen Wrap-up and going forward

2010-05-17T07:59:00.003-05:00

I'm back from Chicago, which means that it's blog posting time. First, some blog cleaning though. I see my intrepid cowriter, among all of the other Rifftrax reviews, has completely ignored my cast gauntlet regarding the "New Moon" Rifftrax. I watched it once again on the way to Chicago, and it was just as good as I remembered. Of course, both times I watched the "New Moon" Rifftrax, it was with other people. As Megane probably knows from seeing the Cinematic Titanic live shows, there's just something about having someone around to build the laughter a bit greater. I would maintain that watching the "New Moon" Rifftrax would be still good watching solo as well though, it was pretty good and while there was a bit of middle-movie lull, the beginning and the end was pretty good.

Chicago was terrific. ACen is far larger than I remembered from 2000/2001, the other two times that I attended. Both of those times, the convention was within one facility. The dealer room was essentially a hotel meeting room and the main programming was the larger hotel meeting room. Now, it has spread to four buildings, including a convention center.

I took my brother-in-law as well as one of his friends. Both are graduating high school in the next couple weeks. Having them along made the whole thing a blast. While there were a few things that I wouldn't have minded checking out solo (some of the panels looked interesting, but I only attended the fanfic panel on Friday) we still had fun. For all the other con-goers who showed up, we were the ones that sat near the convention center entrance and just watched all the con-goers pass by. We enjoyed the costumes, the jokey t-shirts, even the weird snippets of conversation that probably meant something in context but were weird to hear individually. If we weren't there, we poked through the dealer's room a few times too as the convention went along. The two of them dropped at least $80 between them, I'm poor though (and paid for the hotel) so I just bought one con shirt.

The other place we were though was the anime music video room. I'm really partial to AMVs for a couple reasons. One, I love music and enjoy listening to new music. Two, it's in a small way an introduction to series that you may not have seen before. Three, I absolutely enjoy the comedy AMVs because I love laughing. Four, I'm able to turn the "critique" part of my brain off easier than when I'm watching movies and as a result, I'm able to enjoy AMVs easier. And five, if an AMV pops up that you're not crazy about, just wait about four minutes and there'll be another one going. We spent most of Saturday in the AMV room, between watching the AMV contest submissions, Iron Editor, the awards ceremony, and an interesting panel about how artists are trying to truly animate rather than just edit. Quite like Anime Central itself, anime music videos have come a long way in ten years, and it's startling to compare each of the pairs through time.

Of course, there is always a wild-card involved in a weekend like this, and I ended up with three. My car's tailpipe rotted through somewhere between Michigan and Chicago, so I had to figure out a way to put it up and back out of the way since the bracket was still connecting it to the body. Not a big deal, though I really need a new vehicle. I also managed to roll my ankle on Friday night. It absolutely sucked, because it was not a "mild sprain" in any sense of the word. I could put weight on it, but I really stretched that ligament good because if I even attempted to move it side-to-side it would scream at me. I set up the hotel so that it was an L-stop away from the action; getting to and from the convention from the hotel, not to mention all the walking involved in a convention, and I was absolutely in pain through the end of Saturday. (It's still not fully healed on Monday morning.)

The last wild-card needs its own paragraph. The convention was primarily centered around Rosemont's convention center. Late Saturday afternoon, around 5 to 6PM or so, chartered buses started arriving with... high-schoolers attending their proms. It seems that in the middle of the ACen madness, the convention center booked TWO highschool senior proms. Some of the high-schoolers were absolutely non-plussed with the weirdo freaks walking about. I personally was laughing so hard from the situation that I was losing it, and snapping a few pictures of kids just looking distastefully at the conventioneers. One of the costumers was the Joker in full face-paint, who would go back and forth through the crowds of kids. According to a few others I saw online, this isn't the first time that ACen has been held along with a prom (or a wedding, or a reunion, etc.) but it seems that the kids really didn't expect this either. I hope that their night was fully memorable.

This is already an epic blogpost, and probably somewhat boring for most people, so I'm going all-in for more complaining. Sunday was pretty crappy, because not only do I have to drive home but I'm reminded of how I have to end up at work the next day. After being around a blizzard of creativity and laughing for at least 75% of Saturday and Friday, I come back to my ordinary, boring, crappy, work. The same place that is glad to take any of my extra effort but is highly reluctant to give anything back. The same place that doesn't even pay me enough to repair my crappy car, much less find a decent one. The same place that I can get just enough money to find a hotel three miles away from the convention rather than staying at one of the five hotels in a three-block radius because I can't afford the extra cost.

I used to be able to take vacations that I would be happy to return home and get back to ordinary life, because you've gotten your fill of not having anything to do. Every single time I've had more than three days off from work in the last three years now, I'm utterly depressed the day before returning to work because I know I have to return to work. I hate the fact that my life has become 1/7 Saturday and 6/7 dread, with the very rare oasis of a four-day vacation to a convention.

So... back to the job ads to see if there's anything new or different that I can do which will allow me to grasp at least some of my life back. Especially since I want to find a way to go back again next year.

In other con news, I will very likely be attending Youmacon in Detroit. I had never attended before, but I asked my significant other to come with me and have the children's babysitter (Grandma) all set up. It's late October, which is about five and a half months... two a year for the time being seems fine, depending on where I will end up when I do finally find that new job.

Latest MSTing & QnD Rifftrax Reviews!

2010-05-14T01:47:00.008-05:00

Hey Everyone!

As Zoogz previously mentioned, we've put the final touches on our latest MSTing! It's a two parter and you can check it out at the following links:

http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/yaten67.txt
http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/yaten267.txt

In addition, I've just finished writing 20 new reviews for Rifftrax which can be seen below and I'm hoping to add a few more in the coming weeks. Any and all feedback is appriciated as always!

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

"A Visit to Santa" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Garsh! Well, uh, it's not the WORST Christmas short I've ever seen but it's definitely a contender for most irritating soundtrack. Two Sumerian speaking kids have their sleep interrupted by a creepy elf child and brought forth by helicopter to Santa's... low rent apartment. The apathetic Santa, probably played by some bored security guard at the mall where most of this thing was filmed, shows the kids around and makes them look at stuff. For a long time. This Rifftrax is amusingly dark and I enjoyed it for the most part. Recommended.

"Teenagers on Trial" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Don't trust anyone under 30! Written by old farts for old farts, this short sets out to prove what they already knew, all kids are rotten and not to be trusted. They're worse than Commies! THE BEAVER IS A LIE! Only having them join the US Army can set these kids straight! Or get them killed, which is also acceptable apparently. This Rifftrax was a fun way to kill 8 mins of your time. Recommended.

"Cork – Crashes and Curiosities" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Irish Sweep... I'm not a fan of modern or 1940s racing, so I really don't have much to say about this short. Irish jokes dominate this Rifftrax but it's all in good fun and I enjoyed it. Recommended.

"The Case of Tommy Tucker Pt. 1 & 2" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This disturbing short starts out with a Pagen children's play which is quickly interrupted by the Hitler Youth Move... oops, I mean, the SAFETY PATROL lead by a little self-rightous snot named Tommy Tucker that resembles Howdy Doody right down to his Joker smile. Creeped out yet?

Thankfully, Tommy is run over by a car soon afterwards and hovers near death but what does he care? He's on SAFETY ISLAND, which is apparently a gated community in Heaven, and he's a martyr to the rightous cause of installing 1984-esque safety procedures to Anytown USA so people will stop running over annoying bossy kids that try to tell them how to drive! Yeah. As for the Rifftrax, while I wasn't a fan of it being split up into two parts (a practice they seem to have stopped now thankfully), the riffing was great and I enjoyed it a lot. Highly recommended for both parts.

"Women in Blue" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Yep, it's another short desperately trying to convince its audience that sexism was a dirty lie and women had more to look forward to in the 1940s than more cooking, cleaning, and child rearing by showing them signing up to serve in the Navy so more men could be sent off to war. Of course, once the war was over, the women were quickly booted back to their old positions but hey, enjoy the fun while it lasts, ladies! Much like 'The Trouble With Women', the riffing here is nicely dark and sarcastic. Highly recommended.

"The Matrix Revolutions" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Well, the film itself sucks on toast but this was far more enjoyable for me with a Rifftrax than 'Matrix Reloaded', probably because this movie was more mindless action than endless droning monologues sapping my will to live. The riffers themselves seemed more energized as well which always helps. Highly recommended.

"Star Trek 2009" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- *deep breath* Okay... I am a long time fan of the majority of the original Star Trek, The Next Generation, and select Deep Space 9 episodes. I knew this film was a reboot and I tried to watch it with an open mind and reminded myself how badly 'Nemesis' had botched it and with 'Enterprise' gone, the franchise needed this sort of thing to survive.

But this... this was a decent sci-fi action film, nothing more. You can dress them up as the characters, give them the characteristics of the original crew (and I will admit that Karl Urban was FUCKING scary as McCoy, he was practically channeling the DEAD with his portrayal.) and have old Leonard Nimoy himself show up to bless the reboot, so to speak, but it still ain't Star Trek as far as I'm concerned. Maybe that'll change with the next film, who knows, but for now... NO.

All right, rant over. Now for the Rifftrax. With the sole exception of the 'Funky Spock' sequence, which was hilarious, I found this trax to be dull and lifeless with very few laughs for me. Perhaps the riffers felt the same way I did with the film and couldn't muster up the energy, I dunno. Recommendation to avoid, sadly.

"Cinematic Titanic: East Meets Watts" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- I initially avoided 'Cinematic Titanic', partly because of their previous choice of films to riff on, partly because past trailers for their commentary frankly sucked IMHO, and partly because I'm a cheap bastard who'd rather pay three bucks for a rifftrax that might suck than $14 for a DVD that might suck. However, when 'East Meets Watts' was announced, I checked out the trailer and was impressed enough to take a chance. And I'm glad I did.

The film is a mix of bad Blaxploitation and worse Kung-Fu, but mixed together, it became a somewhat watchable movie featuring several actors from M*A*S*H (No Alan Alda sadly, he could have used the style of the Hawkeye... *cough*)

As for the riffing, it's great overall and there's some big laughs to be found throughout. All of the riffers have some funny choice lines in this one and going live may have been the smartest move 'Cinematic Titanic' could have made as seeing the performers smile, laugh and react to each other and the audience during the riffing definitely adds a level of energy that a studio riffing, however funny, can't quite reach. It was especially great to hear Trace riffing again after all these years and he hasn't lost his touch. To be fair, though, there were three noteworthy spots where I felt the riffing quality dipped considerably:

- After the 'Journey' riff until Stud Brown first shows up.
- The majority of the gun fight in the dark.
- And the last seven minutes of the movie or so.

Still, the majority of this CT offering is well worth checking out. Very Highly Recommended.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- (Note: This isn't the version from the Live Christmas Rifftrax DVD, nor are any of the shorts reviewed here from that DVD at this time.) This was a fun 8 min short, of course I had to resist the urge to shout out rude phrases during the theme song but otherwise I enjoyed this. I do hope to see the live DVD version someday to compare them. Recommended.

"The Night Before Christmas" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- My personal favorite of the Christmas themed shorts, I was laughing pretty much all the way through this one and I don't want to spoil anything. Very highly recommended.

"Three Magic Words" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Oh man, this short was just AWESOME! And I thought 'Shaking Hands with Danger' was tough to get out of my head. This delightful marketing musical has 'Mrs. Newlywed' pleading with The Three (Low Rent) Stooges, who are everyone and everywhere apparently, to save her ass by cooking dinner to settle a bet. Only the power of PORK can save her now, or more specifically, a half dozen or so songs praising said pork with a little help from dark magic. This short was an absolute laugh riot for me from beginning to end. Highest recommendations!

"Parade of Aquatic Champions" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Another short I really enjoyed with plenty of laughs and belly flops. You'd think so-called 'Aquatic Champions' would be smart enough not to belly flop into the pool, especially when racing, but hey, I never competed in the 1904 Olympics so what do I know? And I have no idea what the deal with Larry is, but I haven't been that
confused/unsettled since Mr. B Natural. *shudder* Very highly recommended.

"Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- And so ends the riffing of Star Wars, unless they start doing 'The Clone Wars' which might be the only thing that could make that series watchable for me. I hadn't seen this movie for quite a while and was surprised by how amazingly DULL the first half was. Once things pick up in the latter half, it's all good but why the FUCK did they change the perfectly epic and enjoyable 'Yub Yub' song at the end to that generic piece of crap? Bleah!

Unfortunately, after a great performance with 'Empire Strikes Back', the riffing seemed to drop back to mediocre levels with this Rifftrax, though it was still better than the dismal effort for 'A New Hope'. There were the occasional funny moments, like the gay jokes for the droids and Kevin Murphy taking Lucas to task for adding crap like a completely asinine dance sequence to the movie but keeping cheap special effects like Han Solo defrosting from hibernation intact but overall I was more disappointed than entertained by this Rifftrax. Mildly recommended but just barely. So now, because I felt like doing it, here's my ranking of the Star Wars Rifftraxs from best to worst, IMHO.

"The Star Wars Holiday Special"
"Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back"
"Episode I: The Phantom Menace"
"Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"
"Episode II: Attack of the Clones"
"Episode VI: Return of the Jedi"
"Episode IV: A New Hope"

"Cinematic Titanic: The Alien Factor" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- Ah, the hairy 70s. When even the monsters in your films were required by law to be unshaven. Actually, that's only one of the three monsters that invade a small town filled with the usual gang of idiots that make up the cast of these things. There's the nerdy scientists who don't actually do anything, the know-it-all stranger who has all the answers. The inept mayor. The drunken posse. The sheriff and his deputy. The movie star, the professor and Mary Anne, etc, etc...

The riffing for this one was good but not quite as funny for me as 'East Meets Watts', which may be the fault of the film itself as it can be a little dry and painfully dull at times. There were some great lines though, especially from Trace who provided some of the biggest laughs, including one PERFECTLY timed riff I won't spoil here that nearly brought the house down and broke up the other riffers. At one point, Josh even acknowledges to the audience during an extended walking scene how difficult some scenes can be to riff when nothing's happening for minutes on end. Still, I enjoyed the CT overall. Highly recommended.

"Molly Grows Up" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- At first I wondered if I was qualified to judge this short being a guy, but then the short itself doesn't seem all that knowledgeable on the subject either. So, I'll just say Molly's adventures with menstruation made for a very funny Rifftrax, especially hilarious was the list of "activities" one should and should not do when on the rag, as well as the riffing of the opening and closing credits. Very highly recommended.

"Little Lost Scent" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Meet Gregory, baby skunk and all around badass who rarely has to resort to his special weapon as he stares down every animal foolish enough to cross his path of PAIN. Even his vampire mom can't keep Gregory in line for long. This Rifftrax was a lot of fun and while they did talk over the admittedly long-winded narrator a bit too much
at times, I still enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

"Seat Belts: The Life Saving Habit" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- YES! I love cheesy shorts from the 1980s! The music, the fashion, the hair, it's all good. This short has its share of goofy moments but its mostly serious or as serious as 80s shorts can ever be. The first half of this Rifftrax had more laughs for me than the other half though, but still funny overall. It might be a bit hard to watch though if you have kids as some child sized test dummies take a few vicious shots into the windshield in this short. Recommended, otherwise.

"Avatar" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Continuing in the tradition of movies like 'TRON' and 'Star Wars: Episode I', combining state of the art special effects with a crappy script, it's CAPTAIN PLAN... I mean, AVATAR! Okay, sure, it has blue anorexics fighting the good fight against an evil corporation who employ cartoonish, gung-ho villains, but so what? Uh, besides, 'Dances with Wolves' and 'The Matrix' were darn fine movies so ripping them off should mean this film is good by default too, right? Right??

Sarcasm aside, the rifftrax for this was amusing for the most part, nothing outstanding but worth checking out once at least. Long ass movie though. Recommended.

"Drawing for Beginners: The Rectangle" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Very funny Rifftrax for a rather dry short about drawing rectangles. The artistic skills shown here are about on par with my own drawing abilities so I can't judge it too harshly but still, funny stuff. Highly recommended.

Real Life / School and website maintenance

2010-05-06T10:33:00.004-05:00

For a week now, ever since the final exam on the 29th of April, I resisted checking my final grade for my macroeconomics class. I truly felt that my efforts in the class absolutely did not pay off in terms of grades. While I understood the majority of the material that I was being presented, I was graded on whether or not I was able to take exceptions to the material and explain/understand them.

I took the test Thursday thinking that I had ground to make up due to past grades and thinking that all the past grades would probably damn me to a failure (for a $2000 class). I needed to perform almost perfectly. The test I was given was nothing more than Groundhog day--testing on material that was beyond the material covered. At this point, we were into realms of "what happens with X when Y, Z, alpha, and Superfly are changed?"

My mindset was, "I don't need to rehash all of the reasons that I've been semi-depressed for the past four months, and relive all the problems of this class." I'm not a strong person in any sense of the word. I did seventeen-hour days, twice a week for four months to take the class. At least for me, they sapped my energy. Granted, it wasn't all the fault of the class. It was compounded by the fact that work, which takes up eight of the seventeen hours, was and still is highly unsatisfactory.

Since grades have been posted for two days, I steeled my nerve and decided to check online. I received a C+ for the course, to my surprise. It is tied for the lowest grade I had ever received in a college course. On the other hand, I didn't remember any high-school calculus over twelve years later and I definitely didn't know much of macroeconomics, so I consider this somewhat of a victory. I think that the grade can be attributed as much to participation and effort as to scores on assignments. Of course, it could also be partly due to the rather bad class evaluation that I submitted too. Whichever reason, I don't care.

I'm glad to close the book on this stressful period. This was my hardest university course ever, which makes plenty of sense as it is in the graduate level. I had a far easier time with Chinese and Japanese than I did with macroeconomics.

Thankfully, this means that my university education continues, and with hopefully far less difficulty. I am more confident that I can continue and pass the remaining courses I need to pass. It may mean that I have to take tests and possibly write a thesis in order to earn a Master's degree, but I think I will be up to the task. I did entertain thoughts of withdrawing, and almost did in February. However, it worked out in the end and I am extremely glad for it.

Yeah, this is nothing but a self-congratulary post while I'm still sitting on the non-publishing of the most recent Megane 6.7 MSTing (which by the way is pretty funny if I may express my opinion). On the other hand, ten years of writing MSTings has been a good hobby, while my Master's degree will hopefully allow me to choose my employment and my compensation for the remainder of my life. I love you guys, and I definitely want to keep writing MSTings for you, but unfortunately this stuff comes before. The positive is that if I get to the point that I don't have to keep struggling to make ends meet, hobbies will definitely be allocated more time, including this writing habit I picked up more than ten years ago.

I've rambled long enough. New MSTing will be posted by this weekend, hope everyone enjoys it, and thanks for the support!

Update in six words.

2010-04-29T23:38:00.001-05:00

Class over. MSTing finished. HTMLized soon.

Comfortable posting schedule:

2010-04-24T09:38:00.003-05:00

I think I've been able to settle into a decent routine for blog posts, doing about one every week to two weeks. That usually allows me enough time to compile enough to write about to warrant a blog post.

The most recent Rifftrax I've been able to view were New Moon and Avatar. Avatar just came out a couple of days ago, both the Rifftrax and the movie, and it was a very solid Rifftrax. The riffers themselves knew exactly how long (and draining) the movie was towards the end, making comment on it, and it certainly was an epic in the time scale alone. The enjoyable part for me with the Avatar rifftrax was that if you don't turn your brain off, you can usually see what the riffers will target next, and the riffs were very good.

Bonus Avatar (the movie) review: it's painfully long, the story is just this side of implausible, I caught myself humming "Colors of the Wind" under my breath, and the ending was so telegraphed. I found myself feeling sorry for pretty much every other character in the movie except the hero. And the hero was a chunderhead jerk to boot, who entirely deserved the name of Gristle McThornbody. The MacGuffin was painfully obvious and could have been dealt with in a way that did not lead up to the subsequent two hours and forty minutes. But the graphics were decent. Woo-hoo, decent graphics...

The New Moon rifftrax was good too. Certain other "contributors" to this blog may disagree with my assessment, but you guys like me better, right? I will admit that the riffing got off to a slow start, but there were quite a few riffs in there that absolutely had a cutting edge... they're the type of riff that you can see is the absolute truth, yet is painful to realize. Considering the aspirations of this movie series and its fans, there are many absolute truths that *should* be realized yet are not. The Rifftrax crew is there to illuminate them to the world. If the Avatar rifftrax was humorous commentary, this movie could certainly be classified as pop-culture skewering, and both are such an integral part of the humor generated from Rifftrax.

As for the personal life, I have one more week left before the semester ends. This essentially means that next week is my final exam. In a class where I'm going to struggle to pass, I really just want to get it done. (I have never taken any class before where I had to struggle to pass, and I really felt like this was my worst professor that I have ever learned from.)

I had a job interview for a job that was about 1000 miles away from my current location. I really am looking to leave my current area because it seems that there is really no way forward unless you know someone who can help you through. I know that this is also 95% of the rest of this country, but there's no 5% other around here.

Unfortunately, only two days after the interview, I received my rejection notice. The email I received did not say in the subject that it was a rejection notice, but it did note that there was an attachment. The eternal optimist that I am, I was hoping that it would be either an itinerary for a face-to-face interview or (gasp) an offer sheet. No, it was just the graphics that are present in the signature, attached as if it were an image. Arrgh. I think this is about the eighth interview or so I've had since 2007, the first this year, not including all the federal positions I'd been applying for. I know and realize that it just takes one acceptance through all these rejections, but they hurt all the same.

So, going full circle, I'm already bummed out and now facing a final exam when I've pretty much stunk at the other two tests in the class. I only hope that I can bring myself up to do a decent job on the final, and to motivate myself to study for it.

The lone bright spot -- the MST that Megane and I have been working on is at final draft status, and will likely be posted within the next two weeks.

Updates for ACen, and NetFlix plug:

2010-04-13T11:32:00.004-05:00

We all received an update from Anime Central regarding the fanfic panel. The best that they could do for us was to give us time on Friday, from 12PM through 1:30PM. Therefore, we're up against the opening ceremonies and hoping that all the writers (and/or fans) will show up super-early on Friday. By all means, come on out and hopefully we'll still have a good time.

I signed up for NetFlix recently, and I must say that this $9/month subscription is far better value than the $55/month that I pay for cable. There's just something about a movie that goes right, or even a movie that goes wrong. It's so much more fun to crack jokes at bad movies than it is at bad TV shows. I think it's because busting TV shows is like criticising high-school basketball players for missing shots. They're going to miss shots... it's high school. They're going to make bad shows... it's television.

Movies are a whole other animal, because someone had to approve the specific story line. TV shows don't get that kind of scrutiny. So when a bad movie escapes Hollywood with a huge budget yet sucks on toast, it's sad yet funny.

And of course, you get movies that actually were decent ways to spend time. I watched the Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man" about three times before sending it back to NetFlix. Wasn't terrible, even if it had Zooey Deschanel's huge nose chewing up (or, really, snotting up) scenes. I had a chance to watch "The Men Who Stare at Goats" yesterday, and that was amusing too. Clooney needs a good straight man, but when he gets it he's usually pretty good.

The best part though is that those movies can be given back. While I was laughing at both movies, I was feeling darned good about the fact that I didn't buy either one of them for upwards of $20. Neither of those movies deserve that, especially since I'm not sure I'd willingly put either of them in my DVD player again.

As far as cable goes, there's two options now. Either check it out online (hello, Daily Show and Colbert Report) or get seasons through Netflix. In both circumstances, it's far cheaper than $55/month. Once the cable contract's up, I'm outta there.

The semester is close to ending. Thank heaven for that, as my backlog has grown larger. My significant other bought a copy of "New Moon", and the Rifftrax has been terrific through the first half-hour... though I haven't watched the rest of it. I've still got to finish Transformers 2 (as well as Transformers 1, which is still sitting at home). There's games to finish, and even MSTings to write if I ever get to that point. Much less, jobs to find. Anyone outside Michigan currently hiring?

New post of random thoughts:

2010-04-02T16:44:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting here, waiting for the bus and using a Wendy's internet connection from across the street. (Thanks, Wendy's, I buy your chicken nuggets all the time, they're pretty good. Plug over.)

1) The Anime Central fanfiction panel has hit a snag. At present, the ACen organizers said that they would not provide space for a scheduled panel. I'm sure that there will be some sort of alternate plan, but this absolutely shocks me that an anime convention will not grant space for a fanfiction panel (but, thank heaven, the lemon writing panel is still on! Literature is SAVED!) I will post any updates I hear about this situation. I am still going, but there are absolutely no plans for a live MSTing at present.

2) Transformers 2 really sucks. I watched the first fifty minutes while riding buses, and it's utterly amazing how bad the movie is so far. So far there are humping dogs, Megan Fox doing everything she can to drape herself over freaking Shia Labeouf, the freaking Autobots draping themselves over freaking Shia Labeouf, and military security that couldn't guard an ocean. I'm not saying it's implausible, but MST3k itself had better narrative continuity and less implausibility. Thank heaven the Rifftrax is around, the riff they cracked about Buckcherry songs and a pole in Megan Fox's future was terrific. Can't wait to get to more.

3) The only problem, though, is that half my headphones died. I have--- I *had* a nifty pair of over-the-ear headphones that allowed me to shut out most other noise so that I could hear things while riding on the bus. My wife just bought a Nintendo DS, which came with a pair of ear buds... but they are a far cry from what I had. Ordered a new pair from TigerDirect, noise-cancelling and hopefully over-the-ear (though the pictures could have been clearer...) I'm crossing my fingers that it'll work.

MSTings still march along, Meg and I are still editing our most recent. Meg, in his wisdom, pointed out our next project... to continue a MSTing that we had already started but put aside. I think that the break will help the MSTing, it was dragging a bit but the action scenes are still to come. Hopefully, we'll be able to publish a couple of MSTings this year.

In Memoriam: Bill Livingston

2010-03-22T08:07:00.005-05:00

According to sources online, prolific MSTer Bill Livingston passed away last week at the age of 45. (Obituary here) Both Megane 6.7 and I wish to offer our sympathies to Bill's family and our appreciation to Bill, who wrote some terrific stuff. Bill only dabbled into anime MSTings occasionally but he also has a large catalog of spam MSTings as well as Star Trek MSTings. I've read quite a bit of his work, and sincerely enjoy it.

Bill was able to take some extremely long 'fics and had the patience and enjoyment of writing to be able to riff them with his friends. The finished pieces are extremely good, and here are some links below for those who want to check them out.

My favorite of the bunch: "The Misery Senshi Neo-Zero Double Blitzkrieg Dilemma". Warning, this *text file* is over 1MB large. The riffing was terrific, the story was amazingly... well, amazing in and of itself, and the host segments were plentiful and funny. I've never been able to read it all in one sitting... but that's a good thing, because that way there's more riffs waiting for you for next time too.

The MSTing Mine also has Bill's work here. Curiously, I needed to link Misery Senshi above as it seems that it may not have been posted on Usenet before.

Thanks, Bill, for your wit and humor, and we'll miss you.

In Memoriam:
William "Bill" F. Livingston
2 January 1965 - 14 March 2010.

Yeah, yeah, more stuff... Anime Central 2010

2010-03-11T13:15:00.003-05:00

I realize that I'm double-posting in one day, but I neglected to mention something with the last post and didn't want to edit it. I will be attending Anime Central in Chicago this year, from 14 May through 16 May. I will also be attending the fanfiction panel at ACen, where I am fairly sure that I will be on the panel itself. If anyone is in the neighborhood in Chicago, come on by! Any small show of support for MSTing at the fanfiction panel is appreciated, especially since mostly everywhere else online it's pretty much a dead topic.

I won't be doing a live-action MSTing like we attempted the last time I attended ACen, which was... ACen 2001. Wow, nine years ago. Anyway, I don't have a 'fic picked out. Of course, doing it now (with a laptop) would be so much easier than printed sheets and longhand, and it would be enough time for me to find something, but there's absolutely no way that I want to be the only goofball riffing while an anime convention is raging around me. However, popular acclaim and emailed/replied notes of interest may sway me to a different direction...

This blog has moved

2010-03-11T12:56:00.001-05:00

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Cinematic Titanic Review: "Alien Factor"

2010-03-11T12:45:00.004-05:00

Another Cinematic Titanic offering! Today is "Alien Factor", a pretty crummy late-70s low-budget alien movie. It was almost like rewatching "The Giant Spider Invasion", except the riffers' voices were completely different.

The riffing was pretty solid through the movie, and I enjoyed it. At one point though, the riffers even acknowledged that the movie was difficult in spots to riff, as Josh broke what little of the fourth wall existed to state, "This is why riffing is hard!" while one of the characters was involved in an oft-seen repetitive action. There were a few spots where I was just begging for a riff to be said, but unfortunately there were no callbacks this time. (Dangit, "This is where the fish lives!" C'mon, Mary Jo, you watched that heap of parrot droppings!)

The live audience still does terrifically in helping the mood along, and there were a couple of riffs (one by Trace, and one by Frank with comments by Trace) that got the crowd going. I also enjoyed that the riffers broke out laughing over both the movie itself as well as a couple of the riffs that were happening. I suppose that one of the disappointments with MST3k is that the riffers sometimes seemed as if they were just tossing jokes and there was really no interaction between the jokes and human reaction, as if there was a mandate that they had to be silent. Well, this is definitely a strength of the Cinematic Titanic franchise, especially apparent in the live episodes.

Last note; I saw the trailer preview they did for East Meets Watts. I feel completely vindicated when I noticed that they ended the trailer on Josh's Journey riff. There were a couple other spots in the movie that they could have shown, but that Journey riff was the culmination of some good riffing, just like a big guitar hit and the final chorus.

Minor mainentance note: Blogger is discontinuing FTP publishing. This pretty much means that the blog itself has to be hosted outside the www.nabiki.com/mst domain, and if anyone has bookmarked this page (?, yeah right...) they will need to adjust their bookmarks once I finish transitioning to a Blogger-approved domain. I will post more details when they come available, and my deadline for this is 1 May 2010.

Cinematic Titanic Review: "East Meets Watts"

2010-02-04T14:37:00.003-05:00

Quicker than promised, too! Recently, I had a chance to check out the latest Cinematic Titanic offering, "East Meets Watts". As stated before, it was a bit of a fusion film, joining both the HK chop-socky action genre with the blaxploitation genre with the 70s genre. The film itself deserved the riffing, yet would probably be decent cheesy 2AM viewing otherwise.

This is the first Cinematic Titanic offering that I have watched, and it did take a small bit of getting used to. Of course, you finally get to hear Joel, Trace, and (for the REAL oldsters) Josh riff the film, and you get the added bonus of Frank and Mary Jo also riffing. I've got a few of the S1 MST3k tapes (Thanks, Meg!) and it's really a blast from the past to hear the original crew. This film was riffed and recorded live, so you see all five of them around the side of the movie... which isn't actually all that distracting, to be honest.

If this is your first Cinematic Titanic experience, give it a bit of patience. All MSTed movies and fanfics have spots that lag and lull, and unfortunately I think that one of these spots happened from the beginning of the film and lasted for a bit. (It started getting better when the Chinese guy was departing from the boat, with Josh's Journey line). To be honest, I was not overly impressed with the beginning, but when the riffing picks up it shines. To be honest, it was even closer to the MST3k experience than Rifftrax is, if only because you can see the riffers and don't have to jiggle around a movie or a track, and you get the whole "cheap movie" phenomenon to boot. However, I'm glad that there's now two flavors of MST3k rather than just one (or, really, zero).

Riffing live was another good decision, I thought. Having a crowd there was terrific, especially when you could hear the reactions to certain jokes. Josh cracked a riff about twenty to thirty minutes in that took the crowd five seconds to process, but you could hear the laughter ripple once they got it. I also enjoyed hearing the cheers from the MST3k fans when the riffers did a few callbacks to the original MST3k, accompanied by Frank's (faux-)outraged splutter, "Pandering!"

Overall, this was a terrific movie and well worth checking out. I hope that they do more live shows, that was fun to see and hopefully the riffing will continue to shine. Considering the creators behind this, I can only believe that it will.

Short games review, school, and AMFAS update.

2010-02-03T12:55:00.004-05:00

Not much new or interesting to report through the last couple months... the latest MSTing is still going through a painstaking editing process, and we're pretty close to completion. Thankfully, Megane and I had hammered out a consistent time to get together to write these MSTings on a regular basis, which is better than it has been. It's a good thing we did too, because school and work and family is already a huge chunk of my life, and I just started playing three new games too: Dragon Age, Tropico 3, and Sim City 4 (the old-school $6 bargain game).

So far, Dragon Age is shaping up well, though I must admit that I'm completely unfamiliar with the interface. I'm used to console RPGs like the Final Fantasy type, rather than pointing and clicking on which enemy to deal with. (I'm so horribly out-of-it at times...) I'm enjoying the graphics and the game though, even if I can only install it on one computer (my laptop is the only one good enough to run it).

Tropico 3 is an updating of the original Tropico, which I still have. It's not a bad update, though I just started playing it and haven't really entered into the changes as of yet. The biggest one that I am glad of is a transportation setup; in the original game, people had to *WALK* to the various locations which always took forever. This was a problem because if you wanted to build tourist buildings, you either had to do it immediately or forget it, as builders would take months or years to get their lazy little electronic butts to the worksite, work for a few seconds, and leave. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier.

Sim City 4 is actually not too bad. The biggest issue I'm not impressed with is the fact that there's only a few regions loaded onto the game, and only two random ones. This, combined with the fact that building your own region would be a six- to ten-hour undertaking, is a major drawback. The gameplay is interesting though, even if it seems that this Sims is just as bad at times with simulating the actual game... I've had people tell me that traffic is bad even though they live one block away from their destination (in this case, their commute).

School is another matter, though... I can see why professionals get into the specially-designed degree mills, even if I think they're loads of crap. I had to skip a level in macroeconomics due to the fact that they did not have either an afternoon OR an evening division open. And now that I'm in advanced macroeconomics, I'm really finding a hard go of it. I'm using calculus that is either 12 years old or that I didn't have in the first place, and the professor is not helping matters much at all. Therefore, studying has been difficult at best too, because it seems that there's just no flow to the processes being introduced. I understand that college isn't the place to spoon-feed knowledge and information, but having a professor skip around haphazardly and call it "teaching" is incorrect as well.

Soon: A review of Cinematic Titanic's new(ish) offering, "East Meets Watts". Joel and the gang tackle the combined HK Action/Blaxploitation offering, but live!

We're still here.

2009-11-27T11:13:00.002-05:00

Rifftrax is coming out with another theater presentation of Rifftrax, this time with Christmas shorts in mid-December. Even so, I still miss the old MST3k with the songs and the characters. On the other hand, it was a mini-success for ten years, so maybe in another decade someone else will give the concept a go. By that time, we can get all of the 80's schlock (at least, the stuff that may not get covered by Rifftrax) up onto the MST3k screen.

Megane and I are still working to get another MSTing out. Thankfully, my schedule has finally shaken out a bit better to be able to write with him. I will likely be casting about for another target shortly though, as the one that we're doing is coming close to first-edit completion.

Seven years after getting my bachelor's degree, I'm back to school. It really is amazing... I have a family at home, and a regular 8-5 job, but when I walk onto that campus for my masters' degree courses I feel a rush of nostalgia for the days when I was pursuing my bachelor's degree. And all the free time. Wow, that was a ton of free time. Boy, do I miss it a ton too.

One of the major ways my schedule is getting better is a new laptop. I commute to work on the city bus, which is no mean feat in Detroit, MI.... home of the automobile. This means that a twenty-minute drive turns into a seventy-minute bus ride, not to mention the walking involved in getting to and from bus stops. However, the laptop has enabled me to write where it was not very possible before; has anyone really tried writing on a bus (NOT a train) where the best you can hope for is for not many bumps? (Have I told you about Detroit roads? There's lots of cars, to keep it simple...)

Anyway, this means that I can *hopefully* up the output from my side as well. There's been a bunch of recent hits as far as real life is concerned, but they were like driving over a very bumpy road rather than spinning out into the ditch. In other words, I'm still going forward, though more shaken than before. At least I still have employment, and I'm still going forward as far as career goes, and therefore I will see about writing some more to get these ideas out and recorded rather than keeping them all in.

For the few fans of MST3k still out there, keep circulating the tapes. It's so wonderfully low-tech around here, with the monochrome website, videotapes going into VCRs to see below-zero grade special effects... if anything in this world can be labelled simple, even if it's mid-90s technology, it is in the joking protest to pop-culture that MST3k has at its heart... the ability to point at the Emperor because his junk is hanging free, for all to see.

Lastly, thank you all for your support.

New MSTing & QnD Rifftrax Reviews!

2009-09-02T21:36:00.010-05:00

Greetings!

Hallelujah! Zoogz and I have finally completed a new MSTing! Yayyyy! To check it out, visit the following link: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/find3k1.txt

Also, I've completed work on no less than sixteen new Rifftrax QnD reviews which can be accessed below. Any and all feedback is much appreciated as always!

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

"Drugs Are Like That" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I really have to question the wisdom of producing an anti-drug short featuring two kids COKED OUT THE ASS. Seriously, these kids HAD to be on something as they struggle towards a coherent thought and barely mumble their way through some sort of bizarre analogy with Lego and drugs. Apparently, much like patriotism, drugs are everyone, everything, everywhere. They are the alpha. They are the omega. They are... like that. As for the Rifftrax, it's pretty decent with the riffers being frequently bewildered with the short and quickly losing patience with the brain dead brats. Recommended.

"Buying Food" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Yes, apparently people had to be told how to food shop back in the day too. What's next, Centron? A short on how to scratch yourself? Actually, at this point, that wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, this is another hilarious short that makes a excellent companion piece with 'Cooking Terms' as food is hastily bought, cruelly wasted, harshly judged and subjected to a staggering amount of superfluous investigation. Very highly recommended.

"The Trouble with Women" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ever see that old episode of Family Guy where Mr. Weed shows Ms. Ironbox the work training film from the 1950s that was blatantly sexist? Well, that's pretty much this film in a nutshell as it tells us that women are a huge pain in the ass to train on the job but it's still YOUR responsibility to do so, so suck it up, man. As you might expect, the trio just go way over the top with this one mocking the attitudes and characters in the film "You probably left bra marks on the table!" and it makes for a short but very amusing Rifftrax. Highly recommended.

"It Must Be The Neighbors" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- For some reason, I keep thinking of the phrase 'It Must Be The Pretzels!' whenever I see the title. Anyway, this short features fugly neighbors bickering over who's the least responsible for the possible influx of mosquitoes, rats and bugs due to their combined laziness. Naturally it's up to their super kids to keep the peace by forming a mob and cleaning the fuck out of everything till their parents get their collective butts in gear. After all, without video games and cable TV to entertain them, what the hell else were kids gonna do back then? The riffing for this was pretty good and I was entertained. Recommended.

"Going Steady" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This was yet another short on dating, this time asking if going steady is worth the hassle or not. Surprisingly, most opinions expressed in the short seem to lean toward the negative, even the parents of the middle aged kids. This Rifftrax was all right for the price, nothing special but not bad either. Recommended.

"You And Your Family" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This brought back fond memories of the MST3K classic short 'A Date With Your Family'. And while it's only 7 mins long, it was pretty funny and I think worth checking out. Highly recommended.

"Primary Safety: In the School Building" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ahh, this was great. I remember having to watch films like this back in grade school. Of course we welcomed any chance to take a nap back then. Seriously though, this short was almost non-stop laughs as some poor kids is forced to pass judgment on his classmates for minor infractions to achieve the greater good of nurturing future generations of anal-retentive neurotics. Very highly recommended.

"Cooking Terms" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I watched this short before 'Buying Food' and I have to say it's one of my all time favorites. Poor little Margie is cruelly lectured by the narrator when she makes a mistake on her husband's dinner/dessert and shamed into learning proper techniques like how to sheep, boil water and the all important soft ball lesson of cooking. Needless to say, the trio pummel this short mercilessly with hilariously scathing sarcasm, making this one of my favorite Rifftrax shorts. Very highly recommended.

"Casablanca" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Mike starts off this Rifftrax explaining that he, Kevin and Bill took on this classic film as a personal challenge to test their skills, which I can relate to and greatly respect considering some of the fanfics I've MSTed over the years. And how did they do? Pretty well actually. The riffs here are definitely more of the light and playful persuasion than the sarcastic and brutally funny humor they save for movies like 'Twilight'. They did rely on random pop culture references a bit too much in some spots but I found it mostly forgivable considering the difficulty of riffing one of the greatest films of all time. In conclusion, this Rifftrax makes a nice companion piece to the film, just be sure to watch the film first if you've never seen it. Recommended.

"The Room" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- "Oh hi, Rifftrax fans!" Hoo boy... this film is pretty much a glorified softcore porn, elevated by a mind-bogglingly goofy script and starring a long haired Euro weirdo with an accent even more incomprehensible than Jean Claude Van Damme, Tommy Wiseau. Tommy is apparently aspiring to be Orsen Wells by also writing, directing and producing this film but he's far closer to Ed Wood Jr., despite the lack of any crossdressing... that we're aware of. The man simply exudes limburger with every line he utters. All three of them. Over and over and over again. "Oh, hi, repetition!"

Anyway, you would think this would make for a pretty funny Rifftrax. And yeah, for the most part, it does. They tend to riff on Tommy Wiseau a bit too much, not that it isn't well deserved but it does get a bit tired after a while. Where I felt the Rifftrax really stumbled though was whenever they had to riff any sex scenes. I realize it can be difficult to riff on basically the same sex scene repeated about five or six times over the course of the film with little variation and that Mike Nelson is personally uncomfortable with scenes involving sex and nudity in them but their solution of having Disembaudio show up over and over with his friends and family being as loud and obnoxious as possible was frankly downright painful to listen to and I really hope they can come up with a less irritating solution next time they tackle scenes like that.

Overall though, I'm still recommending 'The Room' Rifftrax for the price and the movie as a whole but you might find yourself turning the volume down at times. Fair warning.

"Back to School with Joan Miller" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Girls Gone Plaid!

This is another short that would've worked well on MST3K as we're forced to watch model after model smile through their pain as they parade their hot naked wrists for our pleasure while draped in endless variations of plaid, the epitome of high fashion... if you believe Joan Miller who couldn't even be bothered to show up for this thing. The short runs twenty minutes and is generally repetitive but to their credit, the riffers do a pretty good job keeping things interesting and funny throughout. Recommended.

"The Bill of Rights in Action" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This is one of those shorts that asks a question and expects you to come up with an answer. In this case, does freedom of speech grant a Nazi the right to praise Hitler while standing in front of a Jewish temple? The short is pretty straight forward and not really all that goofy, and while the riffers do get some funny lines in, I found it an odd choice for a Rifftrax. Still, I did enjoy the jokes, so recommended, I guess.

"Shake Hands with Danger" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This short from the 70s is apparently still in use today and shows the dangers of being rock stupid on a construction site, with each work related accident being followed by an addictive little song that you'll have stuck in your head for weeks afterwards. Trust me. It's also cheesy as hell and the trio do a great job riffing it. Very Highly Recommended.

"The Tale of Moose Baby" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Oh MAN... normally I'm not a fan of films involving animals but the first few minutes of this short had me laughing so hard, I thought I was going to pass out! That made it worth the 99 cents right there. The rest of the short wasn't quite as gut-bustingly funny but still good overall with the editing jokes, constant ribbing of Moose Baby and the last minute or so had me giggling for another five minutes straight. Very Highly Recommended.

"Flying Stewardess" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Wait, they used to have pull out BEDS in airplanes!? Bring them back! NOW! OK, OK, to business. This 1950 short basically tries to convince women how wonderful and fulfilling it is to be a stewardess instead of a dumb old pilot. And according to the short, most stewardesses get married within a mere THREE years so apply now, you lucky dames and be sure to brush up on your sailing and ping pong if you ever hope to land a man! Sarcasm aside, this 11 min short is nicely roasted by the trio. Recommended.

"Constance Bennett's Daily Beauty Rituals" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Five minutes of watching a woman putting on makeup and taking a ba? Sure, why not? And who the hell names their child, Constance? Anyway, this woman is more than happy to lead us through her morning routine, but before you know it, it's a quarter of eight and she's dressed to serve her lord and master (her exact words) also known as her son. Yikes. While this short's pretty short, the riffing is pretty damn funny for those five minutes and worth checking out for 99 cents, IMHO. Highly recommended.

Rifftrax Reviews

2009-04-16T15:46:00.003-05:00

Hi, just wanted to post here and say that my Rifftrax Reviews are still being updated semi-regularly, you can check them out at http://www.nabiki.com/mst/zoogz/mst/blog/2007/03/really-quick-n-dirty-rifftrax-reviews.html

Also, Zoogz and I will hopefully have a new MSTing on the site before too long, we've had less free time to work on MSTings of late but we are still active and we hope you'll enjoy our other works in the meantime.

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

New content update

2008-04-03T07:24:00.003-05:00

Short blog post today...

1. Megane 6.7 and I have put the finishing touches on another MSTing, "Loki Unties the Wolf." By all means, check out the link and feel free to tell us what you think either by email or even commenting here on the blog. Thanks in advance!

2. In more updating news, Megane 6.7 has also updated the Quick and Dirty Rifftrax Reviews with the more recent Rifftrax coming along.

Thanks again for your support and attention, and happy reading!
--Zoogz

The ultimate compromise:

2008-03-07T12:07:00.002-05:00

More political musings from your friendly webmaster, so feel free to ignore if you don't care much about politics.

The Democratic nomination race enters its umpteenth week. It's nuts and crazy how many people are getting bent out of shape in this process, which is an absolute shame. My own position is a fairly simple one. Barack Obama first, John McCain second, Hillary Clinton last. This is because I admire Obama's policies and his experiences and feel that he is the best representative of the people that we could hope for as President. The second part is not so much an endorsement of McCain, but a repudiation of Hillary Clinton; I feel that she is a liar, that her character is such that she will continue to issue promise after promise and not follow through, and that she will not only continue the current "money for influence" politics that already happen in Washington, that they will only get worse and far harder to stop.

I would not be surprised if there are Clinton backers in the audience right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are unhappy with my opinions. I'm seriously not here to try to convert anyone to my position today, but to extend an olive leaf (much like I would believe Obama would if it was a possibility). After all, Obama's and Clinton's stated policies are rather the same. And unfortuntately, one of the two has to win -- and that is the problem. I hear more and more that Clinton supporters do not want to vote for Obama just like I wouldn't want to vote for Clinton.

So, how about a compromise -- John Edwards for President?

Compromise candidates used to happen all of the time. Just take a gander at conventions which happened before 1950. The primary process is a process that was created to give citizens a more-balanced say in what happens, but ultimately we are dealing with what is a private organization, the Democratic Party, who makes their own rules and everything.

Edwards has already attempted to run earlier anyway. He has many of the same policies that Obama and Hillary has. And if what I'm hearing is correct, that race and gender do not matter, then I can't imagine that his race or gender should matter either.

There's just been too many bridges burnt in this process. Clinton has alienated many Obama supporters by saying that they "don't matter" and Obama has certainly raised questions about his ability to lead and his experience to Clinton's supporters. I would not be surprised to see that both candidates have passed through the point of no return, especially with a Republican candidate that has shown his ability to capture Independent voters.

While Edwards would be my first choice, especially since he was running a modestly successful campaign, there's always Richardson, or Biden, or other Democrats that the compromise could settle on. While I understand it would likely be a disappointment to the hardcore partisans of either candidate, both candidates would probably feel that they have to bow to the party in this way (as the Democratic Party still provides access and other needed services) and it would reestablish the Party's ability to control what is going on and not have it completely ripped apart in the process.

Ultimately, compromise has to happen though; one set of people have to compromise whether they want to or not. It should not be this way. Hillary's supporters should be able to point to specific parts of her platform that they feel is important, Obama's can do the same, and the compromise candidate can be rid of the baggage of the last four months of hard-core campaigning, attacks, and other needless and unnecessary shenanigans that have happened in the Democratic primaries and caucuses.

In summation: Edwards for Democratic President 2008!

Deepening Winter Doldrums

2008-03-06T12:49:00.003-05:00

In March... yeah, I know.

I'm sure that many other people have had these kinds of stretches, but I'm pretty much in the middle of the doldrums right now, mostly because I'm feelin' a lot like Charlie Brown looking at the football.

I won't go into a whole lot of details at present, but suffice it to say that lately, any news I've had has been bad. I've had a close relative pass recently, seen opportunities go without having any power to influence them positively, computer problems, and work has become a quagmire where I'm getting assigned a completely new process that's so unknown that I may or may not be legally liable for mistakes I (or OTHERS) may make, much less dealing with coworkers who seem to want nothing more than to throw me under the bus.

It's been depressing to say the least. The football is right there, but I haven't kicked it in the longest time and at some point, the question starts... is that damn football even kickable?

The worst part is that I have had time off of work recently. Ordinarily, that's a good thing, but it seems like all this time that I've been taking off has helped only minimally. And considering how days off are are a precious resource that is finite, it kind of makes me feel as if I've failed even that.

Failure, especially on a wide-ranging scale, sucks. It certainly humbles a person quite a bit. It's times like this that a vacation seems warranted, but without any money to do so and a winter that doesn't want to end, I can't imagine where the hell to go for it. Anyone got a closet to hide in for about seven days or so? Or some spare optimism to send?

Latest MSTing is still coming along, and work continues. Still no official timeline, but we certainly seem close enough that saying "by the end of March" wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination.

New Update - completely politics- and opinion-free!

2008-02-26T11:58:00.001-05:00

Hey again folks,

Megane 6.7 and I have another MSTing going at a pretty good clip. We have just completed the first draft riffthrough and will be editing for the next little bit.

There's not exactly a timeframe plotted for release, but it's certainly sooner than it was three months ago.

It seems like it'll be a pretty good MSTing. Dammit... just gave an opinion. Oh well, vote Dan Grice, Green Party, for MP for the Vancouver Quadra riding's by-election!

As always, your completely-biased blogger,
---"Z"

Political Musings for Mid-February:

2008-02-15T09:31:00.002-05:00

This is a blog, thankfully, and therefore is a biased collection of opinions and rants from me as well as opinions from my cohort. As such, you get to listen to yet another one of my rants, in which I take an article and pretty much skewer it.

The full article is here

___

February 15, 2008
Obama's Gloomy Big-Government Vision
By Lawrence Kudlow

Senator Barack Obama is very gloomy about America, and he's aligning himself with the liberal wing of the Democratic party in hopes of coming to the nation's rescue. His proposal? Big-government planning, spending, and taxing -- exactly what the nation and the stock market doesn't want to hear.

We don't? By all means, continue.

Obama unveiled much of his economic strategy in Wisconsin this week: He wants to spend $150 billion on a green-energy plan. He wants to establish an infrastructure investment bank to the tune of $60 billion. He wants to expand health insurance by roughly $65 billion. He wants to "reopen" trade deals, which is another way of saying he wants to raise the barriers to free trade. He intends to regulate the profits for drug companies, health insurers, and energy firms. He wants to establish a mortgage-interest tax credit. He wants to double the number of workers receiving the earned-income tax credit (EITC) and triple the EITC benefit for minimum-wage workers.

The Obama spend-o-meter is now up around $800 billion. And tax hikes on the rich won't pay for it. It's the middle class that will ultimately shoulder this fiscal burden in terms of higher taxes and lower growth.

The middle class? I'd love to see the proof behind this, especially when other reputable authors (David Cay Johnston, Perfectly Legal, book, published 2005) tell me that the richest 1% of the country has seen their income rise by 558% since 1970 while the poorest 90% have received a NEGATIVE increase, or otherwise known as a DECREASE, of 0.1% since 1970.

For someone who is trying to decry class warfare here, it sounds an awful lot like you're playing the same game... proof?

This isn't free enterprise. It's old-fashioned-liberal tax, and spend, and regulate. It's plain ol' big government. The only people who will benefit are the central planners in Washington.

Oh, no proof, got it. Just the same generalities you're already decrying Obama for.

Obama would like voters to believe that he's the second coming of JFK. But with his unbelievable spending and new-government-agency proposals he's looking more and more like Jimmy Carter. His is a "Grow the Government Bureaucracy Plan," and it's totally at odds with investment and business.

You'd better believe it! Eight years of Reagan, four of Bush 1, eight of Clinton's pro-business regime, and eight more of Bush 2 have certainly shown the efficacy of free markets in regulating themselves and making sure that people are paid equitably for their work.

Obama says he wants U.S. corporations to stop "shipping jobs overseas" and bring their cash back home. But if he really wanted U.S. companies to keep more of their profits in the states he'd be calling for a reduction in the corporate tax rate. Why isn't he demanding an end to the double-taxation of corporate earnings? It's simple: He wants higher taxes, too.

Compared to the double-taxing of Social Security and income tax on my paltry check? Guess who's more likely to keep the money inside the nation, Einstein.

The Wall Street Journal's Steve Moore has done the math on Obama's tax plan. He says it will add up to a 39.6 percent personal income tax, a 52.2 percent combined income and payroll tax, a 28 percent capital-gains tax, a 39.6 percent dividends tax, and a 55 percent estate tax.

Based on WHAT? This is disingenuous at best. What number are we starting with? $10,000 yearly? $1,000,000 yearly? Big difference between those two numbers.

Besides, I'm fairly sure the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper marketed to high-echelon earners, will attempt to introduce bias into reporting policies that may be designed to cut into the discretionary income of such earners, which may impact their ability to continue to buy... the Wall Street Journal.

(Side note. Dammit, I will come out and tell you, I am biased. It's too bad that media outlets won't.)

Not only is Obama the big-spending candidate, he's also the very-high-tax candidate. And what he wants to tax is capital.

'Cause you can't tax dreams, I'd assume.

Doesn't Obama understand the vital role of capital formation in creating businesses and jobs? Doesn't he understand that without capital, businesses can't expand their operations and hire more workers?

Doesn't Obama understand that without money to pay CEOs more that the American worker can't possibly keep food on the table and buy more from other corporations to keep them in business? Wait up here...

As a serious side-note, why can't reputable economists understand that when the pyramid is too top-heavy, when there is not a base (of taxpayers to keep police and courts, of consumers to keep markets alive) that the earning will come to an end? If Wal*Mart can't sell another Chinese toy, who will get hurt ultimately? Wal*Mart's CEO. Of course, that will be because he and all other CEOs have driven the rest of the American people into subterranean catacombs where their only company is other poor people.

Dan Henninger, writing in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, notes that Obama's is a profoundly pessimistic message. "Strip away the new coat of paint from the Obama message and what you find is not only familiar," writes Henninger. "It's a downer."

Because this country IS in trouble! Can't you see this? Get out of New York, where the wealth of a nation accumulates, and check out the freaking countryside. There's a good fricking reason that they call the Midwest "The Rust Belt", because people decided to STOP INVESTING IN IT. And when GM buys out another 74,000 workers, these people can't buy the fricking Wall Street Journal anymore either. (Though I'm sure Richard Wagoner still buys his WSJ, and the $8.5 base salary he enjoys is certainly based on the number of cars he personally manufactures...)

Obama wants you to believe that America is in trouble, and that it can only be cured with a big lurch to the left. Take from the rich and give to the non-rich. Redistribute income and wealth. It's an age-old recipe for economic disaster. It completely ignores incentives for entrepreneurs, small family-owned businesses, and investors. You can't have capitalism without capital. But Obama would penalize capital, be it capital from corporations or investors. This will only harm, and not advance, opportunities for middle-class workers.

Until of course they utilize government-backed unemployment insurance... which will show them that they need to get back to work. But because companies are too busy trying to outsource and offshore their labor pools, said worker will probably have to go into business for himself. Maybe by taking out a loan from the Small Business Administration, backed by the federal government. And go into business for himself, and prove that it can happen in the U.S. Just a scenario, I'm sure.

And again, note language. The people victimized are "small family-owned businesses" -- like, oh, the Hilton hotels or, maybe, Wal*Mart -- entrepreneurs, and investors. "Investors", by the way, also includes people like George Soros, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Donald Trump... the poor people who will get "hurt" by Obama's policies. Won't you buy The Donald a cheeseburger when he comes to clean your windshield after Obama's elected? It's only the nice thing to do.

Obama believes he can use government, and not free markets, to drive the economy. But on taxes, trade, and regulation, Obama's program is anti-growth. A President Obama would steer us in the social-market direction of Western Europe, which has produced only stagnant economies down through the years. It would be quite an irony.

Hey, moron... should I show you a chart of the growth of the Euro currency compared to the U.S. dollar? These economies are just fine, and they do a far better job of making sure that everyone benefits from the work that is done, rather than just a select few.

By the way, using the government to regulate the free market is a damn good idea. I hope that it happens again in my lifetime.

While newly emerging nations in Eastern Europe and Asia are lowering the tax penalties on capital -- and reaping the economic rewards -- Obama would raise them. Low-rate flat-tax plans are proliferating around the world. Yet Obama completely ignores this. American competitiveness would suffer enormously under Obama, as would job opportunities, productivity, and real wages.

And flat-tax plans are REGRESSIVE. Especially with the way that the loopholes are developed in this nation. Some rich guy can claim depreciation at the same time as claiming income, and the resulting amount he has to pay on is zero because he can afford a lawyer, while the IRS keeps a damn good eye on me because I can't fudge my wage earnings report, especially with my employer reporting this information to them.

There's a reason that tax plans should be progressive. If someone makes $1M a year and gets taxed 50%, that means that they still take home $500,000, which is a livable wage. If I make $30,000 yearly and get taxed 50%, I get $15,000 after tax, barely even enough to make a house payment.

Besides, said millionaire is probably using more services than I am anyway. I'm sure that the millionaire is using the court system to make any challenges others have to his/her weatlh moot, utilizing airport and airplanes far more, (ship-)port facilities and the international waters... the highway system, the police, and generally leaving a far larger imprint on society that requires money to keep going.

Imitate the failures of Germany, Norway, and Sweden? That's no way to run economic policy.

I'd LOVE to imitate the "failures" of any one of those nations right now.

I have so far been soft on Obama this election season. In many respects he is a breath of fresh air. He's an attractive candidate with an appealing approach to politics. Obama is likeable, and sometimes he gets it -- such as when he opposed Hillary Clinton's five-year rate-freeze on mortgages.

But his message is pessimism, not hope. And behind the charm and charisma is a big-government bureaucrat who would take us down the wrong economic road.

Because the road we've been driving down, where companies are allowed to merge and screw their workers (too numerous to count), allowed to misreport numbers and screw their workers (Enron, Tyco, etc), allowed to trade freely with other countries to export jobs from this country and utilize sweatshop labor and screw workers (Nike, Wal*Mart), write nasty open-ended contracts which allow only themselves to set rates at the detriment to all other people (credit-card issuers like Bank of America, Chase, and Discover/Novus), and sell bad loans which threaten people's houses (Countrywide et al), should all be celebrated under the grand and bold heading "the freedom of the market". It's got "Freedom" in it! Celebrate it!!

Dammit, if there was ever an economy which needed to be brought into regulation and conformity, it's ours. It's amazing that big business can try to streamline as much as they want to, which may end up making workers irrevelant as they attempt to squeeze every last ounce of productivity out of the money they invest, but if the people of a country try to streamline their markets as well as the controls and methods that companies use, this is immediately "immoral" and "Communist". That's odd, because the money that I send to the U.S. government is often used on such things as "corporate welfare", which lets companies like Exxon post *billion* dollar profits. Can't I have a say about the productivity of Exxon on my economy and government? I'm investing in it, dammit!

Lawrence Kudlow is a former Reagan economic advisor, a syndicated columnist, and the host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company. Visit his blog, Kudlow's Money Politics.

What a bleeding surprise... he has a reason to be completely biased too, because if rich people don't get to keep their absurdly low 15% capital gains tax, which they routinely GET AROUND ANYWAY, they won't have the time or patience to read a blog from an advisor to what's become a failed economic system.

There's a reason that the 90s did so great. The market hummed along terrifically because money was getting reinvested all over the place. It was, technically, wealth redistribution, with all the Internet startups, and the wealth redistribution allowed American workers to earn more money. Not coincidentally, when the American workers have more money to work with, our country is far better off because happy and productive workers produce more. (What a concept.)

Now? We have wealth concentrating into so few hands that the rest of the country is absolutely hurting.

Hey, Corporate America! The citizens of the US are kind of like stocks... if you INVEST in them, they can give you a BETTER RETURN on your investment! Try it out someday!

Yeah, I'm pissy. This may become a regular feature given time and more outlandish statements from known idiots.

As is, vote Obama. Please. Let's *relearn* the lesson we needed in the 1930s, that when the government lets the markets run free that they usually end up hurting everyone involved.

Corporate Control versus Job Satisfaction.

2008-01-31T11:57:00.000-05:00

Today's post examines the overriding need that people have to control and dominate others, just because they can. Of course, this is going to be a pretty minimal issue to most people in the world, but the whole reason I am bringing it up is because it should be a non-issue. Yet, this issue is not, and is one more way that society in America stinks.

I work for nine hours a day (not receiving an "official" lunch period, nor breaktimes) and am salaried. While I do not have a wide swing of hours and usually do not stay late, my schedule and traffic demands that I have to leave at 6:30 and usually do not return until about 18:30, which means I am devoting half of every weekday to either getting to work or working.

To expedite my time at work, I have a small appliance which I use regularly to warm food. This apparatus gets warm, but has safety features which include automatic shutoff and the fact that it does not get above 120 degrees Celsius (not even warm enough to burn paper). I can warm my food while at the same time working, and once the food is warmed I can eat and keep working.

Until today. Today is the day that I find out that I cannot keep appliances at my desk. My manager was so gleeful about this issue, that he sent a message essentially singling me out and included extremely snide statements. I am an adult, and do not need snide statements. I do not need to be singled out. And most of all, it would be nice to think that my company trusts me enough to do what I think is right.

And most of all, it seems almost senseless. Why? Why do you even care what consenting adults are doing in their cubicles? There was no reason in the email, of course. I would not be surprised in the least if management is doing this just because they can. This same manager has shown unacceptance of my preferred arrangement before, which leads me to believe that he is the one who not only reported it to others but has attempted to show that I shouldn't be allowed to do it.

Part of the reason that I bring food to prepare at my cubicle is because I'm not well-off; typically, I can make a lunch for myself for roughly $0.15 per day, especially if I get to keep my appliance. My pay scale, and the payments that others demand from me daily (credit cards and their cheating ways?) pretty much mandate that I either go hungry or find a way to eat super-cheap.

Now, I have to waste time at home, when I spend about three hours awake (not even counting out time preparing for work) compared to the fact that I could be doing the same thing at work.

Not to mention, this is a company that does not even care about the big stuff. We have two tools that we use on a rather consistent basis, both computer network tools. One is an online tracking program in Internet Explorer, and another is a terminal service which connects to many diverse databases. Both work intermittently at best. If there was an issue here at this company, it would be that these programs are costing far more time than worrying about small appliances ever would.

The difference? It costs money. No mention of the fact of how much time is wasted (times the amount that these people get paid), but fixing real problems around here, which is what these guys are paid for, costs more money. Besides, that way you can argue that the workers don't actually do a lot of work and therefore aren't entitled to a raise which even comes close to the cost of inflation -- BigConGlomCoInc. made $3,000,000,000 of profit in 2007, but my raise, a whopping 1.3 percent, didn't even break into the first freaking comma of that rather huge number.

This is petulant whining. You're exactly right. This situation is also symptomatic of what is happening in corporate America, where new ideas are bad, adults are treated as children, and rights are taken away from workers just because management wants to flex their muscles, and workers are pretty much told, "You'd better get on your hands and knees and thank us you have a job."

I sincerely wish that people would just grow up sometimes. This is silly, asinine, and stupid. I freely admit it, and apologize for even taking your time too. My biggest issue here is that there is absolutely no give-and-take, there's just take. I'm really tired of it, especially at BigConGlomCoInc. As written on this blog before, I'm still searching for a job. While things have at least started turning a bit better for me recently, even if I am looking for jobs in the most-repressed place in the United States, I still haven't found the magic combination to get me the hell out.

I know for a fact that this current job will not even be long-term anymore. I am still having the internal debate with myself... do I air the dirty laundry when I leave, or do I try to stay on good terms? Issues like this test my patience to the extreme -- not because they are major issues, but because this is yet another box on the back of the mule. I've never left a job on bad terms before and don't want to start now. On top of that, in other circumstances I would probably be good friends with my manager. But since I'm being treated like this, repeatedly, I really feel that he should know the exact effect all these things has.

Day 158 has passed in the current search-for-a-new-job. I pray on a daily basis that things get better. I don't feel like being around when we have to pay for our own water too.

tl;dr: Corporate America sucks, controls people for the fun of it, and it's because they are run by people who feel the need and the absolute right to control your very lives instead of actually being useful. Coincidentally, put-upon people get tired of it and rant about it on lightly-read blogs.

Eff you, Corporate America.

A new feature for this blog....

2008-01-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

which will probably open me up to non-interest, bickering, non-agreeance, and the possible alienation of many (any) fans...

It's time for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election!

Today's installment is actually three miniature rants designed to get a few things off my chest. Nothing more, nothing less... please feel free to contribute to the (lack of) noise if you agree or disagree.

1) Media involvement in elections.

This is really troubling, for many reasons. There have been many debates already presented in this election cycle for the candidates, but I have a couple comments about debates which have already happened.

Firstly, the Nevada debates... why was Dennis Kucinich disinvited? According to NBC, he hadn't received enough support. Well, it seems more and more clear to me that a candidate's visibility *in the press* is what dictates whether or not people will support them. Kucinich was actually invited to this debate to begin with, but NBC pulled the invite at the eleventh hour.

The one fascinating thing I find about our political process is that the support that a candidate could get can certainly influence the remaining candidates into accepting planks of their platform. Unfortunately, the way that the media is now increasingly shutting out other voices and only broadcasting one or two. I cannot quite tell if this is a cost-cutting decision, a matter of laziness, or if these mass-media outlets are deliberately trying to control the message, but it is reprehensible in all three cases considering the public is supposed to be served by these companies.

John Edwards is now running into the same issue. The Democrats do seem to have similar messages, and if Edwards had a different message that was head-and-shoulders above the other candidates, he may have a better chance to get more media time. On the other hand, it seems rather apparent that the media is following Obama and the Clintons and shutting Edwards out, despite the simliarity of all of their messages. It's a mighty shame... clearly, this man is still garnering some support, and he should still be able to broadcast his message. But because the media has decided he is not the story anymore, they've refused to cover him as extensively.

I can hear the conservatives now... "No, their job is to make money!" You're entitled to that opinion, but the FCC has also charged the media with informing the public as well... this is why they are allowed to use the public airwaves. Maybe additional, and better, coverage would be in the media's best interests too, as only through multiple voices can this country be governed best?

And don't worry, Republicans, I didn't forget you too. I remember reading in the Detroit Free Press that the editorial staff has endorsed a candidate... John McCain. That's fine, I suppose, but I wonder... does anyone else see this as a rather egregious conflict of interest? I understand that the editorial page is supposed to be separate from the news page and that the editorial page is the only place where opinions can be printed. On the other hand, if the editors are specifically backing one candidate, does that mean that the rest of the paper skews in that direction too? Would it not be better to say, "Editor Smith, from Times Tribune, endorses John McCain" so as to not encompass the whole paper with an opinion?

An unbiased and diligent media is desperately needed in this country, especially after eight years of Bush (and I could even make the argument to add eight years of Clinton plus another four of Bush I.) Unfortunately, we don't seem to have one. Check out this link to read in Kucinich's own words about his exclusion from the Nevada debates. You may scoff at some of his ideas and think that he's talking of conspiracies, but I at least feel that there is some conflict of interest going on.

Which brings us to the next point.

2) Money in Politics.

There's way too much of it. It seems that the only way that candidates get on the air is to buy time, costing a lot of money, or by accepting money from media companies and thereby becoming compromised with regards to their future actions (such as to the FCC). I know that this has been said before, but I sincerely believe that the presidential campaign (and for that matter, many other federal campaigns down to representative) should be run on a public money trust basis.

The FCC has chartered networks and broadcast television as well as radio, and is a ready governor to provide equal time to candidates. The candidates themselves should have an equal opportunity to speak their message, instead of having thousands of dollars drown out others' voices. There are extremely smart people in this world who don't have the money or access to have their words broadcast. While the Internet certainly has changed communications (for the better), this is still an old-fashioned process with regards to media and it will be for a long time to come.

Abuses with money lead me to point 3.

3) Falsehoods and Intentional Misleading.

Dammit, it's "LYING". I hate politicians for bringing the above two words into our lexicon. I rant on one specific cause, but every last candidate seems to be guilty of this.

A radio ad was released in South Carolina prior to the Democratic primary. In this ad, Barack Obama had a quote taken completely out of context and spun to say the absolute opposite of his meaning. I do not subscribe to the thought that all people are morons who readily believe the first thing that they hear, but spreading disinformation is also difficult to overcome.

A personal story; recently, while at a company function, I was taking the last donut from the box and searching for a plate to put it on. Immediately, I was jumped on by a coworker who accused me of being the person who kept leaving empty boxes around the lunchroom. It was as far from the truth as possible; I do try to keep public areas clean, especially in that situation. But because the conclusion was jumped to and the initial falsehood spread, and since it was the first message that other coworkers heard, I was labeled unfairly and had no opportunity to defend myself.

Of course, there is an opposite effect of having blatantly untrue allegations be a detriment... if people saw me as I cleaned the lunchroom, they wouldn't believe what my coworker said and would have thought (rightly so) that she was jumping to conclusions. In this day and age though, when no politician seems to be held accountable for all the campaign statements produced from their headquarters, there is very little risk to having untrue allegations boomerang back to you, and the attack ad still runs strong due to this idiocy. And unfortunately, in the court of public opinion, it is often either the loudest or the first voice which is believed rather than the true voice.

The greater point is this: the American people have been living on a steady diet of lies and falsehoods from the Bush administration. Can we please have a press which challenges our public figures to explain themselves and holds them accountable when this stuff happens instead of just blowing it off? I don't really care if a President decides that they have been looking at the wrong side of an issue one day; people grow and change, and the world at large changes too. But if they cannot have the integrity to make sure that the things they say are true, then I feel very badly for our political process.

I really don't know why I expect anything to change, but on the other hand I don't believe any ever has changed unless someone takes action or at least says something. Cynicism has its place... the front page of this blog's hosting, for instance.... but it took one voice to point out that the emperor had no clothes too.

In other news, Megane and I are in process of working on another MSTing. Hope you guys liked the last one and that you'll like the next!

Slaps in the Face.

2007-12-03T23:29:00.000-05:00

Hoo, boy.

Thanksgiving's over, and it seems as if things are going nuts on me lately. I'm fighting a mutant cold virus that spawned both a head and a chest cold. I was told by the city I live in to clean up my yard and given a time limit which led to me spending three hours in the sleet and rain trying to comply before fined. Then, my basement flooded.

Fast-forward to the very next day, in which I'd been given a message by (one of) my credit card(s). For the privilege of keeping a *closed* balance and paying on time, I'm rewarded with an increase in my interest... instead of paying $112 and getting $10 off my balance monthly, I get to pay $154 for the same right to knock $10 from my bill monthly.

Good gracious. Even calling them didn't help. When I called I found out a few things.

#1: I'm a good payer... so good that they can't find one missed payment. This doesn't mean that I get any kind of discount though; they'd have to OPEN the account, reassess, then close it again. But they can't do it, since it's been closed for more than 90 days and the computer refuses to analyze my account unless it's open. What a shock.

#2: However, THEY have the right to raise the rates whenever they choose, even when the account is closed. I hadn't used the card for thirty-six months when they sent a letter informing me that they intended to raise my rates. Diplomatically, they offered me the chance to opt out by telling them no. How nice of them. Take a wild guess which option I chose.

Three years' payments of $4000 has netted me a decrease of $1000 in balance. What a terrific deal.

If there's two things to learn from this, it's the following.

Don't EVER dare become unemployed. If you do, it'll take you decades before you're able to pay off that extra loaf of bread.
You can ignore the cries of hungry children by putting your fingers in your ears.

(Yeah, I'm mad)

If there is one thing that any loyal readers (?) from the U.S. could do, it's to tell your Senator to support the Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act. It's currently in committee, but it may be the best chance for these credit card companies to be reined in. I have written a letter to my own Senator, who happens to have introduced the bill, and while I know that it would take at least a year for anything to happen, having it come up in the election cycle may be helpful for passage too.

Check it out at this link

I hope that others can clearly see the benefit that this would have; after all, what other business is allowed to have such open-ended contracts that allow terms to float so freely on only one side?

Hope your Thanksgiving is going better...

Ever since MST3k was cancelled....

2007-11-15T11:13:00.000-05:00

I know that more than a few people were rather disappointed to hear the news in mid-2000 that MST3k would be stopping production. As for myself, that was the one and only show that I cared to sit down and watch on a regular basis. When MST3k left the air, I did give some time to a couple other shows to see if they were still worth watching.

While "South Park" was a decent satire and had some intelligence to its writing, Parker and Stone were also content to fill it with all sorts of rather unintelligent vulgarness. I don't really mind vulgar to some extent, but I do mind the spirit with which it was presented... as pure humor. That's not humor to me, it's just laziness. I left "South Park" in 1999, and have never looked back.

The next show which seemed to offer some promise was "The Daily Show". The first ten minutes, "Headlines", delivered on a pretty regular basis. Unfortunately, "The Daily Show" could not keep my attention for even half an hour... almost every interview ranged from mildly boring to completely excruciating, and many of the comedians they booked to be commentators were rather unworthy of even being called comedians.

It took a couple of years, but I have found at least a bit of relief on the television. Ever since 2005, I have become a fan of "House" on FOX. Some people could certainly draw apt comparisons between "House" and "South Park", but I feel that "House" is just more interesting. I haven't seen too many episodes of "House" where the humor becomes scatological just because it can, for instance.

It also has a high level of snark in the form of the main character, and while some of the medical cases get stretched so thin that I can even see the light between the plotholes, the writing is pretty darned decent... jokes fly at a well-rhythmed clip, the mystery of the week is presented and resolved, and the characters have becomed nuanced and interesting.

My recommendation, if possible, would be to see Season 2... S2 hooked my attention to the show because of the overall quality. While current episodes of "House" haven't quite reached that level since then, it's still worth checking out.

Of course, I also have a recent entry in this list too. I don't know why my wife and I sat down to watch it, but a few weeks ago we caught the second episode of the new "Kitchen Nightmares" series on Fox. It also has some elements of MST3k in it, where one expert (rather than three) checks out a substandard restaurant (rather than movie) and makes comments on what he sees.

Of course, the "humor" contained in "Kitchen Nightmares" is of a far guiltier cast... this IS a reality show, and of course when truth is introduced, especially with the bluntness of the main star Gordon Ramsay, feelings will get bent. On the other hand, two facts are immensely apparent. Ramsay's bluntness is just who he is, it's really not an 'act'... and that he seems geniunely involved in trying to bring
restaurants into a better shape. Seeing the inner workings of a restaurant also brings a very close appreciation for people who run restaurants... and may also give you (possibly reasonable?) pause to make sure any restaurant you're going to is serving good food.

I will be the first to admit that most shows I avoid are because I don't give them a try... I'm not the type that just goes up to the television and flicks it on. I would be far more apt to either turn on a video game or read a book. It was actually surprising that I found the two shows above, in all honesty. On top of that, late-night television (such as "Adult Swim" on Cartoon Network) has always been out for me, due to me graduating from college in the same year that my
daughter was born (2002). And as a young professional on one income, I've had cable television for a total of perhaps 40% of the time since 2002.

Our readership at this blog, I assume, enjoyed Mystery Science Theater 3000 or its offshoots such as MST fanfiction. Therefore, my question to anyone reading is this: What shows on television do you see which continue the Mystery Science Theater 3000 spirit?

Postscript 1 / Strike 2

Most recent possible job fell through. Rather surprisingly too, I thought that I received indications that it was actually moving along successfully. While I know that intellectually, disappointments will happen, that doesn't mean that I *welcome* them. Especially since this was a job that I was really looking forward too, one that could have provided me with a lifetime of fringe benefits. Which leads me to:

Postscript 2 / Effing viral marketeers

Not the ones that try to stir up a word-of-mouth buzz, but the ones that hide little chunks of code into seemingly-legitimate computer programs that end up completely destroying someone else's property... namely, my computer. Last night, I attempted to reload WinXP on my computer. Now I'm working on about four hours' sleep plus having to move back a step (from XP to 98) due to a scratched WinXP CD which now won't install correctly. Today's really starting to become a massive pain in the butt, and I'm more than ready to just take a four-day weekend. Thank heaven it's already set up to be a three-day weekend.

Postscript THREE / Blogger!

I wrote this entry in Notepad, which theoretically has no formatting whatsoever... it's text! Yet I have to spend time formatting this darn thing 'cause I love you readers so. Darn you, Blogger, for your crufty interface and text breaks!

(Note to world. Please don't make me get to Postscript Four. Please?)

Insert pithy song reference here. ;P

2007-11-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody, thought I'd post something too since I haven't done so in a while. As Zoogz mentioned, we have a new MSTing in the works that should hopefully be available in the next few weeks or so if things go smoothly.

I've finally updated the Rifftrax reviews so feel free to check that out and see me do a complete 180 on not one but two previous reviews. ^_^; http://www.nabiki.com/mst/zoogz/mst/blog/2007/03/really-quick-n-dirty-rifftrax-reviews.html

I still haven't got my flu shot yet because I have this stupid virus that refuses to let go and I'm using a prescribed inhaler twice a day now to try and kill it so I can hopefully be flu free this Christmas unlike last year. We just celebrated my mother's birthday recently and fixed a whole bunch of things around our house that we'd been putting off for a while which made her very happy.

I'm so obsessed with Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US version) lately that I'm even watching Price is Right again and the Canadian version of 'Smarter than a Fifth Grader' because Drew Carey and Colin Mochrie are hosting.
I've also ordered the first two volumes on DVD along with the new Bret Hart book which I may review here at some point if I think I can do a decent job of it.

I gotta say I'm really looking forward to this sunday's 'Family Guy' as the cliffhanger last week was very well done and had a pair of very nice callbacks which included a gag from the very first episode of the series and mimicking one of the greatest season finales of all time from Star Trek: The Next Generation right down to the music. Here's hoping they don't screw up the conclusion.

I hate my slim jim PS2. I only got it because my reliable older model died after six years of loyal service and this one is not only a pain to open up but if I fast-foward too much (say past the opening credits of each episode of Garfield and Friends on DVD because Fox is too fucking lazy to put in chapter stops) the disc starts to randomly skip and only resetting the machine seems to fix it. I realize getting a seperate DVD player for movies and merely playing the games on the PS2 would probably solve the problem but damn it, I shouldn't have to do that!
Suffice it to say, I'm not getting a PS3 (or any other system) anytime soon until the price goes down, the game library fattens up and they work out all the bugs. I'll stick to cheap used PS2 and GC games for the next couple of years.

Speaking of games, I rented Manhunt 2 last week. I wanted to get 'The Simpsons' game but it was already rented out, as was 'Okami' so I figured what the hell, the first game had a passable story... what a fucking mistake. This game eats. Big time. The outdated graphics didn't bother me that much as I mostly care about a good solid story to keep my interest but Manhunt 2's storyline was weak and predictable, your character, hell ALL the characters in this game were duller than a Harrison Ford interview and the supposed big draw of this series, the numerous executions, were heavily filtered thanks to the ESRB overreacting, though honestly even if they were unfiltered, they wouldn't have helped make the game any more interesting for me anyway. While I'm a big fan of some of Rockstar's other games 'GTA III', 'Vice City', 'Bully' and 'The Warriors', this sequel was a complete waste of my time and will probably do more harm than good for Rockstar in the long run even if the current controversy sells more copies of the game. (Ooh, it's banned in the UK? Give me five copies!)

Ok, I think I'm rambled enough for now. ;P

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

As time goes by.....

2007-11-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

A couple updates to provide both on the personal front and on the MSTings front. Megane 6.7 and I are still working on a new MSTing, and we're projecting it to be done when it's done. :) We're currently trying to polish the jokes so that they shine, and we'll see what the results are soon. There were more than a few spots in this MSTing that I enjoyed, and hopefully you folks will enjoy the finished product when it's posted!

For those people waiting for updates from me, well, there is a bit of an update. I had an interview for a job that was at least six states away from me. This was thankfully a phone interview. In the course of the phone interview, I was asked my current wage and then asked what my requested wage would be. I provided them both numbers. The interview went well... so well that the recruiter I was working through called me only forty-five minutes later saying that said company wanted to fly me to their location for a face-to-face interview. On top of that though, she also said that this company told her that the most they would offer was lower than my request, by only 13%.

While I'm sure others would probably say, "That's negotiable, get your foot in the door, and go from there," I dragged my feet. This is a major move, projected to hopefully be the last move in my life, and this company isn't anteing up the money in my mind. I told the recruiter that unless they can come up the final 13%, that I would not even attend the interview. I feel that this was the best solution, because ultimately I want my new company to know that they have to work with me immediately and that they're not able to steamroll me. And I have that kind of leverage because of the things I know as well as the fact that I want this to be my last move. That and the fact that if this company called the recruiter almost immediately after my interview, and did not need to take time to consider my answers, that they thought that I was a good candidate. Now's the time to see if they want to put their money where their intentions lay.

This all happened between yesterday and today. Ordinarily, I would not have probably bothered to write anything, but on the other hand a blog with no actual content is a sad blog indeed.

As a postscript to this whole situation, I received a second call only five minutes after the lowball offer from the interview. This one was from my supervisor. It seems as if my dream job is contacting him for my background information. I am not only keeping my fingers crossed but also my toes, because I would take this dream job ten times out of ten even over a better offer from the first job. This may be another reason that some may accuse me of sabotaging the interview process for the first job, but on the other hand even if I work at the other job for all of six months and get an offer for this dream job, it'll be a lot of wasted effort in my opinion. Granted, I may never get an offer from this dream job, but I would be extremely content to wait them out prior to possibly taking any other job south of $80k yearly, and that's probably not happening anytime soon.

Admittedly, it is nice to be able to negotiate from a position of strength.

Thanks for the indulgence from our fans for our extremely limited release schedule, and there certainly may be more and newer projects afoot from at least my desk shortly.

Yet again with the silence and stuff...

2007-10-23T04:30:00.000-05:00

Hey again!

ConGlomCo's been busting my butt again. I'm sure that most of the people who read this don't really care much, but it's been tough. I've been there for only one year again, but for a multitude of reasons -- well, really two, but they're pretty darned big reasons -- I'm looking for another job again. Because of this, my available free time has really been limited.

In the intervening since my last post though, I embarked on another project as well. I have never written an FAQ before, but I managed to write one and post it to gameFAQs.com . If anyone is interested, it is an FAQ for the game Railroad Tycoon 3. I found this game to be a lot of fun, and I was rather surprised by the fact that I did not burn my enjoyment of this game out by writing the FAQ. I still need to scan one last submission to complete the FAQ, but it's pretty darned comprehensive.

One day, this blog will probably be filled with all the exploits I've had while searching for a job in one of the United States' worst possible places to find lucrative employment. Suffice it to say that for the time being, and until I actually find the job, I will likely stay close-lipped. Considering some of the jobs that I have applied for though, I think that there may be some interesting stories placed here. I have applied at places that would make ConGlomCo seem insignificant as well as a few places that I could have run out of my house. Last time I went through this process, it took me roughly three months or so... as far as I am concerned, the clock has been running since about late September.

Thanks for all your support, and I'll keep updating when I can!

The Simpsons Movie

2007-07-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well, the Simpsons Movie is coming out this Friday and you know what? I don’t give a shit.

Not one little nugget.

This movie should have come out ten to fifteen years ago. Why the hell would I want to see it now that ‘The Simpsons’ has consistently sucked the bag for years now and nobody seems willing to accept it. And if the movie IS funny, then why the hell hasn’t that same effort been put into the TV show the last several years? If the writers are out of fresh ideas for the Simpsons universe then I have a suggestion: CANCEL THE FUCKING SHOW.

Seriously, how many memorable moments can you think of from the Simpsons from the past five seasons or so? Does even ONE come to mind? Face it, this show has become the SNL of animation and it’s high time Simpsons fans stopped being apologists and face the truth.

I’m not going to see the Simpsons movie, will not rent it on DVD and will probably not even bother catching it on free TV because, and I’m completely serious here, I don’t give a damn about the Simpsons anymore. They haven’t given me a REASON to give a damn anymore.

Have they given you a reason?

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

Long silence:

2007-06-20T04:42:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

Short post for today, most likely... ConGlomCo has limited all but a very select few Internet sites and has generally kept the attitude that it is such a privilege to work there that your own satisfaction with your job is inconsequential. There's been a litany list of other changes which amount to the same "screw the worker" mindset but I won't go into that right now. Though in full disclosure, even if it's been only months since I've started, I have already sent resumes to other locations. ConGlomCo's name alone should be worth some cachet at least.

As far as writing goes, I'm midway through chapter three (of a planned eighteen) of a Sailor Moon/Ranma crossover. Yeah, I know, not another one. Hopefully, it turns out decently and should have enough twists and turns to make things enjoyable. As far as MSTing goes, there hasn't been much progress in that regard, and it's mostly my fault as well. If it helps though, one of the few targets that Meg and I have isolated is one that we started... years ago, surprisingly enough. We're going to pick it up, dust it off, and see if it squeaks just right.

Thanks again for all the support and patience from you guys. It's nasty how real life can rise up and swallow you whole for weeks at a time. I'm trying to reclaim those parts of my life which are the worst wastes of time and turn them into more productive.... wastes of time.

Stay tuned for further updates!

More Status updates:

2007-04-20T11:55:00.000-05:00

And since this is a different topic, this warrants a new entry.

Megane 6.7's and my latest MSTing is in the final edit stages, and will be posted soon to the FFML and to A MSTing For All Seasons. By all means, any comments regarding possible revisions or edits are gratefully accepted, and we will hold off for about two weeks or so to hopefully receive and integrate worthy ideas. After this, we will post to SVAM and most likely to Usenet, and reupload any new version(s) to AMFAS.

Thanks again for the patience, and we hope you like the finished product!

Most recent Rifftrax reviews:

2007-04-20T11:50:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

Megane 6.7 added to the list of Rifftrax reviews, but Blogger won't bring the Rifftrax thread back to the top. So therefore, I will copy/paste Megane 6.7's latest Rifftrax reviews here and direct you to the link at the right, which says "Megane 6.7's Riffrax Reviews", to see the entire list.

As well, I perma-linked all Rifftrax-related Blog entries... which currently consists of the Review thread, and this. Well, hopefully, we'll also have more Rifftrax-related articles in the future as well.

Megane 6.7's most recent reviews:
___
"Lost: Season Premiere" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- Haven’t seen it yet. Haven't even seen any of 'Lost' at all yet.

"Star Wars: Episode Two" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- Chad Vader had about ten lines maybe during the whole rifftrax so he wasn’t really a factor. Overall, it was good, some good riffs on the oh-so-lame dialogue and painfully obvious CGI. There was a bit of recycling jokes from the last Star Wars trax and the whole poking fun at goofy names bit is getting tired IMHO though it didn’t ruin the track for me. I do wonder if Mike will ever
try tackling a film from the original Star Wars trilogy someday...

"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" w/ Mike Nelson & Neil Patrick Harris -- While the teamup of Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy will always be my favorite, Neil Patrick Harris did a pretty good job here and worked very well with Mike. The movie was creepy and bizarre as always but the rifftrax really helped make a pleasureable experience out of a film that was pretty much unwatchable to me before. I'd easily rank this among the upper tier of Rifftrax released so far.
___

Drying the MSTing Well:

2007-04-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

We have just passed 150,000 hits on our website maybe about a week ago. I don't know if I could ever create another website that would have even half of this response. A MSTing For All Seasons has been up for seven years, which makes it almost a senior citizen as far as the 'Net goes.

When we first started A MSTing For All Seasons, Mystery Science Theater 3000 had already announced that there would be no new shows. The Sci-Fi Network would show all of the remaining shows they ordered, and then would put MST3k on semi-permanent rerun status afterward. Our website opened about three or so weeks after the Sci-Fi Channel had broadcast the last new MST3k episode, the delayed "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders", which came about five months after the 'official' end, "Diabolik", was broadcast.

In that time, I've seen a staggering amount of attrition. Of course, without the show around to remind people what MSTing was about, it was not a surprise. First, the MST fandom seemed to grow a bit older. As all other fandoms, while some people lose time or grow out, others find the fandom and obtain a desire to write. And without MST3k around, it seemed as if the new author flow of MSTings was slowed to a trickle.

Of course, one of the other watershed moments was when Web Site #9, Dr. Michael K. Neylon's online published MSTing archive, was taken from the Internet. Keith Palmer is currently running the MSTing Mine at http://www.keithpalmer.ca/msting-mine/ , and I wish him the best of luck in reconstructing what remained of Web Site #9 by scouring Usenet. Shinji's Vault of Anime MSTings has also morphed more than a few times, even adding a message board for a while. The same forces of inertia, few new authors and natural lossage due to the ravages of time, took place at Shinji's too. Tim attempted to morph it into Shuuichi's Vault, and then remorphed it into Everything What Is Crap.

The latest MSTings update to Everything What Is Crap was in late May, 2006. By all means, this is not a criticism; other than this blog, AMFAS has not been updated with a published MSTing in almost a year itself. (However, stay tuned, we almost have one finished and ready to publish). This is just more evidence that the fandom is still coming to a slow close.

This was not meant to be a rant, and I'm not making a call to all authors to do MSTings. Of course, people will write what they would like to write. So far, Megane 6.7 and I still choose to spend our time writing MSTings, and we do still hope that we have an audience out there. If nothing else, we have also found that we still enjoy it, even if the process gets a bit tedious at times.

It is not my intent to write a eulogy. I do not believe that this fandom is quite dead; after all, we are still seeing visitors to places like EWIC and A MSTing For All Seasons. It is more of an enconium, I suppose, as I would like to at least say that there have been more than a few MSTings in the past that I have enjoyed, and I hope that those authors have been able to move on to bigger and better things. To all of the readers and MSTers still active, by all means thank you for your support. We hope that you do enjoy your visit(s) to AMFAS, and that you are able to derive some sort of enjoyment from our works. While Mystery Science Theater 3000 is rapidly coming to the point where it has been rerun/off the air for longer than it has been on, I hope that all of the readers and MSTers out there are still trying to keep the spirit of the show alive in keeping an open mind about the world around them, and not afraid to make fun of the stuff that doesn't make much sense.

Again, thank you all for 150,000 hits, and seven years of activity. Thanks also to our website hosts, Nabiki and Lorien. While our content has slowed (significantly?) through the past three years, we're still here and we hope you are too.

Don Imus, Duke University, and the Art of Media Persecution:

2007-04-12T07:33:00.000-05:00

Since this is a blog, this provides a forum pretty much world-wide in its scope. These opinions are purely mine, though I would be more than happy to enter debate on this matter as well.

Today's subject though may seem recycled to many. I hope that is the case, because I have also reached my saturation point on two issues as well. These two issues, Don Imus and the Duke University lacrosse team, are inextricably linked in my mind. This is because the court of "Public Opinion" has tried and convicted both, and doesn't seem to see any sorts of lesson to learn from one matter to apply to the other.

Firstly, the parable of the Duke University lacrosse team. If many may remember, the Duke University lacrosse team threw a party, and also had some women at this party. One of the women who attended this party leveled allegations against members of this team which resulted in criminal charges to these members. And then the media got involved. Because of shield laws, all the information could not be published, which is and should be absolutely fine. BUT, the same mass media published incomplete accounts. Due to the media's description, everyone became outraged and reacted rather than to take a step back to say, "Wait. These men are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around."

Now, the last of the charges have been dropped against these men. Now, here's a key distinction: because my information is still incomplete, for all I know they could still be guilty, and the prosecutor may just not have the evidence. I honestly don't know. What I *do* know is that a much more exhaustive investigation than the initial publishing of the charges has happened, and as a result of that investigation charges have been dropped. And in the court's eyes, this does mean that these men are innocent. Following this announcement, the last point of the matter is that the media was completely irresponsible in broadcasting "news" to inform people, they merely attempted to inflame people in order to hopefully justify more coverage and therefore more viewers, so that their profit margins could be satisfied.

Congratulations, mass media. You did it again.

The latest controversy is Don Imus and the comments he made in regards to the Rutger's women's basketball team. I took the time to at least obtain the transcript for his comments. His exact words were "nappy-haired ho's". While this is not exactly respectful and the word choice is poor, the resulting media blitz of blame for Don Imus is morally bankrupt. I'm sure that we as humans have all been in unfortunate situations, and that we do make mistakes. Don Imus has taken many pains to apologize, and whether or not you may believe it is your choice.

People were offended. So be it. However, this is not a crisis. This should not even be a tempest in a teapot. The mass media has constructed yet another crisis out of something that is terrifically and horribly minor. Additionally, how is anyone helping the situation by dwelling on what has happened instead of moving on? He was wrong, and I will repeat that as many times as needed. But this does not justify all of what is STILL going on. I have seen this same topic on NBC's flagship morning program, "The Today Show", at least three days in a row. ESPN was more than happy to discuss it too. This topic has been kept in the public view for days now, and in a number of different ways. And like it or not, this situation is being exploited.

To begin, the mainstream media gives time to people who would normally not warrant national media exposure but who are happy to receive such attention in situations like these Examples include Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, both "Reverends", who seem not to have heard of the creed of forgiving others as God would forgive. Can anyone name the last time that Al Sharpton appeared for two days in a row on the Today show on NBC? These people are more than happy to continue this idiocy, due to the recognition and national scope they are provided. In other words, they have a *VESTED* interest in keeping this mess rolling, and they are doing an admirable job. Of course, this dovetails nicely into the media's wishes to keep this issue at the forefront of national news, as analyzed below.

Secondly, the media members themselves (namely the anchors) as well as the network (MSNBC, where Imus's show used to be simulcast on television) get to show the viewers how very indignant they are, and therefore superior, fair, and steady mouthpieces who are far more inclusive and sensitive than Imus is. Special mention goes to MSNBC, who first decided to suspend Imus for two weeks, and now has completely pulled his show less than 48 hours after deciding its initial punishment. I would like to mention that it is a good thing that the corporate supervisors at MSNBC are not in charge of our court systems, as I would hate to be the convict who received sentencing, and further sentencing, and further sentencing.

Third, further special note goes to the fact that MSNBC removed Imus from simulcast. Your message to your viewers is so mixed, I can't even decipher it. You knew that Imus was not the most politically correct person to host a radio show, or at least I can only presume that MSNBC has some sort of screening process for the people who appear on MSNBC's airwaves. But when the man says something the slightest bit controversial, not even something that is up to libel standards, you fire him. So, what is your choice? You want controversy, but now you don't? You purport to give your viewers facts and information, but you were broadcasting the OPINIONS of a radio host, and then let him go when his opinions become unpopular. Are you afraid that people can't think for themselves if they hear unpopular opinions? You don't think your viewers are capable of saying, "You know what, he may be wrong about this issue"?

While I believe the above is true to some extent, I believe that the truth lies elsewhere. MSNBC, you have reinforced a valuable lesson to every last one of your viewers. Imus's sponsors pulled their ads due to what he said. What if he had said something extremely unpopular but true? If sponsors pulled their ads due to what he may have said, would he still have been let go? If Snoop Dogg was a guest of Imus and had said the exact same words about the exact same people, would the statement still have been completely false?

Now as a result of all this attention, we have an issue that is at everyone's lips. This is for all the wrong reasons and it is because the media conflated it into a major issue. Congratulations, NBC, and other major networks. I do not know if you feel that this is *gaining* you viewers, but you have just guaranteed to your sponsors that I will NOT be watching the commercials which you have based your business decisions on. Enjoy your pursuit of "news" without me.

The epilogue of this matter is that gross profiteering, especially in organizations that are supposed to be "fair" and "unbiased", is just as shameful as any of the comments that Don Imus uttered.

I am sure that I will be labeled as a conservative purely due to the side that I am taking on this matter, which presupposes that this is not an important matter. I am sure that some people feel that this is an important matter. So be it, I will not argue that point at present. But I do not feel that this matter should have been blown up to these proportions. I am currently arguing for a rational point of view. These comments were uttered on 5 April 2007, and it is now 12 April 2007 and this is still a major news story.

To all who disagree with my stance above, please explain why this is still a major news story. The man has been punished, twice, so when does the story end? Is there nothing else going on that needs the media's attention, such as Iraq or any current legislation that is being passed in Congress? In this situation, I really have to question the motives behind how this issue has been reported by the media, and who really stands to gain the most from what has happened.

Many apologies to the people who live outside the United States who were subjected to the above rant. I hope that your medias aren't as exploitative as ours.

I do not have a lot of time to surf the Internet, so therefore I do not know if this rant is written elsewhere. However I can assure you that these are my words, and any debate they engender would be welcome.

Status Report:

2007-04-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

After some feverish work, I am finally rounding Meg's and my latest MSTing into form. It is currently into second draft/third edit stage, and I have high hopes that it will be polished enough to publish in a short amount of time.

Stay tuned!

Looking for the life of Reilly... receiving the life of Schitt.

2007-04-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

Oh, the blog... I haven't forgotten about it, but when it rains it pours.

On Wednesday last, which was the 28th, I ended up in a car accident on a rather busy road. The car accident was a result of a bunch of different converging factors, which included a county truck changing streetlights at 2:30PM on a busy road and stopping up a lane, people not caring to allow other people to move over, and other people who don't pay attention to the fact that there are STOPPED VEHICLES on the road. I ended up getting hit in the rear tailgate of my minivan by a truck, which happened to have a snowplow setup (sans snowplow) on the front of his vehicle. Needless to say, he received no damage to his own vehicle except for the glass that my window threw at it as it shattered into tens of thousands of pieces.

Body work is bad, but then worse happened; the momentum from the rear-ending was enough to make me hit the guy in front of me. Who happened to have a trailer hitch on the back of his truck. My radiator was punctured by his trailer hitch, which rendered the vehicle undriveable to boot (other than to get it off the road, which I quickly did). I watched my radiator fluid dump all over the pavement as both drivers probably chuckled silently and then drove off without a care in the world.

Oh, and did I mention that the only reason I ended up in this accident was because this was my last meeting off-site for work before reassignment?

Since the van was my only vehicle, I'm currently borrowing my mother's car for the time being until I get up the motivation and singles required to take the bus (which I figure will be a better option anyway, it will give me far less stress at least). The only good news is that it seems the repairs from the accident itself won't be much more than $550, thankfully, because also according to my insurance despite the fact that every last bit of the damage done to my car was due to OTHER PEOPLE, since the fine state of Michigan is a no-fault state the best I can possibly get is $500 since I don't carry full insurance on a freaking 1994 minivan. Which also will probably mean that I will have to cover the repairs myself and wait for reimbursement as well.

And going on with the story, the next day I was off of work and I ended up at the doctor's office. Twice. The first time was to check my health out due to the accident. The only pain I really had was a bit to the center of my back. They took X-rays and determined that it was due to an underlying condition. Then, I thought to myself that I would try to rebuild the computer my children use. When trying to get a hard drive out of a disk bay, I managed to slice my thumb all the way to the tendon (and break the hard drive in the process). I went to the doctor's office again, and was told that because it was such a deep cut that they would not stitch it there. They insisted that I needed to see a hand specialist to make sure the tendon was not nicked. So therefore, I would have to travel to the hospital emergency room. That prospect did not make me feel good, as I had to drive in rush-hour traffic (at about 3:30PM) to this hospital. I signed in with difficulty, and settled in to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait more.

When I arrived, I was told that it would be between one and two hours to be seen. After two and a half hours, I was no closer to being seen period. A (slightly) helpful security guard called to a different hospital, which had far fewer people waiting in line. At about 6:30, I jumped back in the car to go to emergency room #2. After another hour and a half, I finally was seen. Mind you, I had an open gaping wound in my hand this whole time. I didn't even care about *getting* a bed, I just wanted someone to stitch the darned thing up. Which they finally did, at 9PM that evening.

Postscript: I never saw the "hand specialist", and to boot I had to pay five times the cost that I would have had to pay at the doctor's office (and I may even have to pay more due to the fact that I went to a different hospital; they took my insurance, but because it was not the hospital I was *assigned* to, I wouldn't be surprised if more charges lurk in the mist.)

So therefore, the only good thing that happened through this whole week was the fact that I ended up getting both Thursday and Friday off. Small consolation.

I'm back to work, and now doing the reassignment. Originally, I was told that this reassignment was for training purposes. So be it. But now I find out that I'm in a "lather, rinse, repeat" kind of position, which by the way took me possibly two weeks to learn. Which completely and utterly irks me to the core. I cannot count the number of times that I have had to bite my lip, bite my tongue, and stop my hand from miming my exact mindset at this point. Especially since I managed to keep some of my old duties at the same time that I am getting new ones placed on me. As before, I suppose that this is the best motivation for me to save some money and hit the college trail again, but in the meantime I will be right back to submitting resumes... six months after I just started. (At least I get to be super-picky about where I end up, I suppose.)

This year really started with a whole lot of promise, but these last two weeks have been extremely difficult to get through. I must admit, I'm still afraid for my hands, and possibly any nearby walls. I also hope that things will turn around soon, and realize that all I have is that same hope; especially since there's been such little proof for that recently.

So, as many people imagine, many writing projects have been stalled for the previous two weeks. Sincerest apologies to everyone; Megane has told me in the past that some of his best writing was as a direct result to negative stimuli, and that's great. All I know is that if I attempt to MST right now, your monitor would probably be dripping with blood from my dull axe taken to a few fanfics, which tends not to be fun for all involved.

I will at least leave you with a happy note, and thank everyone through the years who has supported us at A MSTing For All Seasons; our counter has just passed 150,000 hits, and that's pretty cool in my book. I hope we've entertained you, our readers, and that we will continue to entertain you for a long time to come. Even with our recent snail-like publishing pace. Thanks again!

300... Computers Bled For This Piece of Crap.

2007-03-25T02:27:00.000-05:00

I can sum up my problem with this movie in one word: Digital.

The blood effects were so ridiculously digital as to be actually insulting. Every time someone was killed, it looked like somebody fatally wounded a Pentium and it completely took me out of the movie. Digital blood, digital arrows, digital wounds, digital backgrounds and warriors, etc... I am so sick of this bullshit infecting more and more action movies and it’s time somebody with a brain started saving money and go back to more traditional and realistic methods. Seriously, watch Braveheart after this one and tell me which one has the more realistic battle scenes.

So, in closing, this movie sucked digital donkey dick. If you want brutality that involves more than a handful of ACTUAL human beings, rent Braveheart and fast forward to the battle scenes. It’s a helluva lot more satisfying and cheaper to boot.

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

"Goldenboy" and the Art of Building a Career:

2007-03-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

Good day to all out there in Bloggerland.

It's taken me three days to sufficiently calm down and rationalize in my head some of the events that had happened to me on 16 March (Friday), but I think I'm about ready to report them. But first, a segue!

Way back in the mid-90s, (I believe) ADV published a title called "Golden Boy". To sum up the story quickly, it was about a guy who was armed with a bicycle, a notebook, and a backpack... and instead of settling down at all, he went from place to place pretty much doing what he could. His backstory included him going to Toudai University and dropping out right before he was to complete a law degree.

Throughout the series, the main character took a multitude of positions: computer programmer, swimming instructor, political campaign worker, chef, and two others I can't think of. And he also ran across a girl at every job, but he ended up leaving on his bicycle before anything could happen. The title featured comedy and more than a bit of ecchi as well. I enjoyed the show back when I saw it in the mid-90s as my college's anime library had all six episodes. (Only six episodes, which is a bummer.)

In true Bill Cosby style, I tell you that story to tell you this one.

I have been graduated from university ever since 2002. For every February afterward with only one exception, I have worked at a different job ever since. IT support for one, sales support another, then two years of export, and this year import. And this leads to Goldenboy... much like him, I can't find the one thing that will help me to settle down and enjoy, have fun with what I'm doing... yet everywhere I go, I'm always learning.

And on Friday, I learned that once you're in a big corporation, you're the one bending over as they lube. How educational.

When I started at BigConglomCoInc. last October, I was doing import work; in essence, I was collecting information so that shipments could be cleared by Customs. Three months after I started, I was reassigned. At the time, I was told that it would be a position that would have more responsibility and that I would be given some time in order to grow into the position. And on top of this, I was given this position because the other person they offered it to declined.

Which brings us to Friday. On that fateful afternoon, I found out that I would be swapping jobs with someone else. Incidentally, it was with the someone else that declined this position the first time. I really do not know why this was done... after all, I was already in the position. It was three months after the fact. And I was finally achieving some level of a comfort zone with it.

The only highlight of the transaction was the fact that as near as I can tell, because my salary was never advanced when my responsibilities were raised, this new position will be closer to my current level of renumeration. But that's not exactly a happy thought, as I really did want them to raise my salary rather than to have this happen.

About the only other positive about this episode is that it may be what I need to inspire me. I have already hit the U.S. Federal job announcement board, and will be filing another FAFSA in order to see if I can go get my master's degree (or another bachelor's, depending on possible avenues). It is times like this that I'm re-reminded of that Goldenboy show, which usually ended with the main character pedaling away from that episode of his life. While my episodes last far longer than half-an-hour, it is events like this that confirm that my episodes will just keep going on rather than ending. And I can clearly remember leaving the last four towns that we used to live in, with a moving van and a hope that this departure will be the last one for a long time.

With this being said... does anyone want to buy a house?

More Movie Reviews: "Click"

2007-03-14T08:22:00.000-05:00

Adam Sandler. Christopher Walken. People are of mixed opinions on the former, but tend to enjoy the latter's work. I actually don't mind Adam Sandler, and think that he can be funny at times. And "Click" seemed to have an interesting premise to it, so with our new Columbia House membership we bought this movie for a nickel.

And... well, it wasn't bad at least. The battle of minds between Adam Sandler and the goofy next-door neighbor's kid who boasts about his parents is funny at times. David Hasselhoff turns a good performance as Sandler's smarmy boss. And Henry Winkler, long past "Fonz" days, plays Grampa. All decent performances.

And Christopher Walken turns in a decent performance as the facilitator to the real star of the show, the remote. Yet somehow he never really threatens to turn in an A+ performance, he stays safely in the C+ "I'm not going to upstage the stars"-level of acting.

Which brings us to Adam Sandler himself. His movies always tend to have a certain attitude and sameness about them, and I can certainly understand why people would find his movies unpleasant. There was more than a bit of South Park-type humor, with some children swearing up a storm... while some people do enjoy this type of humor, I'm not a fan.

But this brings me to the very nature of the movie. If I knew the facts I'm going to disclose below before watching the movie, I may not have bothered. So...

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Fact #1: This movie skews away from "comedy" about forty-five minutes in.

Fact #2: This movie is one of those movies where years pass in seconds.

First, an explanation about Fact #2: I find movies that pass time like that extremely depressing. I don't know if it is because I start thinking, "What if this happens to me, I don't want to miss my life" or if there's another reason behind it... but I just don't like movies like this. The other best example I can name is a movie from the early 90s called "Sandlot", where the movie was about a bunch of boys for 95%, and the epilogue showed two of the main characters... about twenty-five years later. It's almost like reading a beginning and then an ending. I am very highly interested in the journey of life, and movies/books that skip stuff like that depress me even if it is supposed to be the point of the plot.

(Another uncomfortable movie for me was "Howl's Moving Castle", where the 16-year-old main character was changed into an old woman by means of a magic spell... but she does return to being young again. It's *still* uncomfortable to me though...)

If nothing else, you can treat my dislike of movies/stories like this like I treat people who don't like Adam Sandler movies... just to shrug, accept and move on. Though again, if someone had told me the two facts above, it would have made me avoid this movie, and after having seen it I would not have minded.

Anyway, for more spoilers, the remote in question is used to "fast-forward" Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) first one year in the future, to a promotion at work. Then the remote takes over and involuntarily fast-forwards Michael's life ten years in the future, to another promotion at work. Then six years in the future, to skip a long illness. And probably a couple more times that I completely missed (the credits allude to the younger daughter ending at 28, and my math doesn't add up). Towards the end, Adam Sandler's character had a heart attack somewhere around his early 50s and sees his kids only like once at ages 7/6, then once again at 17/16, and at the end at 29/28. And in the movie, he dies after a "heartwarming" family scene...

only to be revealed as a dream...

yet after the above reveal, Morty (Christopher Walken) has put the remote back in Michael's hands, with a note, in essence asking Michael if he learned his lesson. Yes, emphatically, Michael did, and he throws it out.

So be it. I just remember that this is the same Hollywood that grinds people underneath their heels and typically goes with 20-hour shooting schedules and the like. Not that the message is a bad one... far from it. I just think that the originator of the message should just... conform a bit more to it.

Anyway, if you think that Adam Sandler can pull off drama and you're not put off by the two facts outlined above, by all means check this movie out. But if you're uncomfortable about either fact, you might as well stick with the first forty-five minutes, and fast-forward to the end like Adam Sandler does.

2007-03-13T08:28:00.000-05:00

Tons of movies that I could get to, but that'll be on later dates...

Today though, a topic that warms my heart literally. Today's topic is "Awakening from Winter Day". I live in Michigan, which definitely gets winter, and as a result every time I drive around during winter I see very few people on the sidewalks, out and about. The only place they typically walk is in parking lots, from cars to heated stores.

However, yesterday was the first day where the temperatures reached 50º(F) for more than three months. And while it wasn't exactly the warmest, it was nice to see people outside, walking around, enjoying the weather. I know that I miss those temperatures too, and I was finally able to recover my bicycle from storage to use it.

And while I love the day that Michigan truly escapes from winter, it also reminds me of the love-hate relationship I have with this state, and how I'd love to leave it. Oh well, that's a blog for another day...

Really Quick N' Dirty Rifftrax Reviews

2007-03-02T13:22:00.026-05:00

Zoogz was nice enough to let me post stuff on his blog so to test it out, I've decided to give brief reviews of all the Rifftraxs I've seen thus far:

"Roadhouse" w/ Mike Nelson -- A great start for Mike, he obviously has great affection for this film and the rifftrax crackles with energy as a result. A must-have.

"The Fifth Element" w/ Mike Nelson & Disembaudio -- I don't know where all the hate for Disembaudio in this trax came from, personally I liked it a lot and didn't find Disembaudio's comments annoying at all but oh well. Another winner.

"Star Trek V" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- Still my favorite trax so far, this one made Star Trek V an enjoyable experience for me and that's no easy feat. The audio quality has also improved from the first two traxs. No surprise Kevin Murphy and Mike still work great together and it was great to see them in top form. Absolute must-have.

"Cocktail" w/ Mike Nelson. -- I might have given up on this one a little too soon, but I only listened to it once, hated the film and the Rifftrax didn't help. I usually listen to a trax twice before passing judgement. Oh well.

"xXx" w/ Mike Nelson. -- Another case of me hating the film, and more specifically its star, too much for me to enjoy the Rifftrax. It was okay, I guess.

"Crossroads" w/ Mike Nelson. -- This one had some laughs, not spectacular but solid and the movie was goofy enough to help me endure Britney Spears when she wasn't bouncing around in her panties but just barely.

"X-Men" w/ Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett. -- Readers of my MST6.7 series know I prefer Trace's Crow to Bill's but Bill's Crow can still bring the laughs for me at times. As for the rifftrax, I wanted to like this one, but the riffs just felt... forced a lot of the time and some of the humor just plain missed the mark for me. I did laugh at the MST3K ref near the beginning though but otherwise, this was a miss.

"Top Gun" w/ Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett. -- For some reason, I didn't enjoy the teamup of Bill and Mike as much as Kevin and Mike, I just think the latter sound more natural together. I did enjoy this trax a bit more than X-Men but overall, I found it a solid if unspectacular effort.

"Point Break" w/ Mike Nelson. -- Swayze plus Keanu plus Busey makes for some prime cheddar and Mike does a great job with this one. The movie is a little too long, especially the skydiving sequence but I still enjoyed it overall.

"Halloween" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- I'm not a fan of horror films but man, Halloween did not age well at all and the guys gleefully tear the film apart. The opening scene with Mike pretending to be John Carpenter coming home from work was just priceless and I thoroughly enjoyed this track.

"The Matrix" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Well, I liked the film a lot and the rifftrax was decent too. Still, I like the film alone better if I had to choose but still, the rifftrax was fine.

"Star Wars: Episode I" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- The first time I listened to this Rifftrax, I laughed my butt off but also felt anger and sadness for the mess the new trilogy turned out to be and how much potential was wasted there. (Thank god for Knights of the Old Republic, well the first one, at least.) Then I watched the trax again a couple months later and just laughed my butt off. Plus they had a reference to a Tim Schafer game, a guy who once worked for Lucasarts! Cool, huh? Well, it is to me.

"The Grudge" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Another winner with Japanese jokes aplenty to boot. Those supposed death rattles always sounded like a forced burp to me too and while the "Lost" riffs went over my head (Haven't gotten around to watching it yet and probably never will) I enjoyed this one.

"LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Another case of liking the film too much to enjoy the rifftrax at times, despite owning the extended version as well. Still a good trax but I just plain like the film by itself more.

"Island of Dr. Moreau" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Didn't really like the film, the trax was good but the movie's a bitter pill to swallow when Marlon Brando isn't making a spectacle of himself. Too Apocalypse Now-ish which I also hated.

"Firewall" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. Lots of good riffs here on Harrison and the cliched plot. The film is too slow paced for my liking though, but the trax is solid and worth repeat listens.

"Nestor The Christmas Donkey" w/ Mike Nelson. -- Oh man, this was depressing. Mike's riffs helped but it's unlikely I'll ever be watching this one again.

"Reign of Fire" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Another unpleasant and dreary film but I liked the rifftrax for it more than Island of Dr. Moreau and while it may not be in my top five, it was good enough to be worth keeping.

"Daredevil" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- This was just fantastic. All three were on their game and they really did a number on the film and its stars. I've heard the director's cut of this film is supposed to be better but somehow I doubt it'd help that much. Definitely worth checking out.

"Battlefield Earth" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- Unfortunately, I bailed on this film 40 minutes in or so and have yet to summon the courage to watch the rest of it so I can't fairly judge it. I did like the laugh track bit though.

"Star Trek VI" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- This was fun, not as great as Star Trek V, IMHO, but still very good and well worth checking out.

"Over the Top" w/ Mike Nelson. -- This was great, nostalgic yet hilarious and Mike handled it really well. Loved the Stallone impressions too. I liked how Mike cracked up over 'The Smasher' and the whole rifftrax reminded me of Roadhouse, in the good way. One of my favorites. I really hope Rifftrax will do more Sylvester Stallone movies in the future.

"Aeon Flux" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Some great riffs here in the first half but it drags a bit in the latter half. Overall, it was a lame Matrix-ish clone but the rifftrax does a decent job ribbing on the film and its Oscar Award Winning star.

"Wicker Man" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- Well, I've only seen the film once so far but YIKES. The rifftrax was good as usual but the film was just horrible and for me, far more on the infuriating side than goofy. I may have to wait a couple of months before seeing it again to make a fair judgement but right now, it's not something I want to see again anytime soon.

"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy. -- This was pretty funny, I liked Kevin's blatant ogling of the female Terminatrix even when Mike kept pointing out her homicidal flaws and Governor Arnold got his fair share of jabs too. I liked this one a lot.

"Star Wars: Episode II" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- Chad Vader had about ten lines maybe during the entire rifftrax so he wasn’t really a factor. Overall, it was decent, some funny riffs on the oh-so-lame dialogue and painfully obvious CGI. There was a little too much of recycling jokes from the last Star Wars trax though and the whole poking fun at goofy names bit is getting tired IMHO though it didn’t ruin the track for me.

"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" w/ Mike Nelson & Neil Patrick Harris -- While the team-up of Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy will always be my favorite, Neil Patrick Harris did a pretty good job here and worked very well with Mike. The movie was creepy and bizarre as always but the rifftrax really helped make a pleasurable experience out of a film that was pretty much unwatchable for me before.

"Casino Royale" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- Ah yes, the new Bond... Maybe this version of him is more faithful to the books but for me he wasn't nearly as fun and enjoyable as Pierce Bronson in "Goldeneye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies". I prefer entertainment to realism, though the Prince of Persia-esque chase sequence at the beginning was a nice touch. The rifftrax was pretty good for the majority of the movie with a few riffs (don't want to spoil them) making me laugh pretty hard. Unfortunately, the last twenty- five minutes of the movie [Aw, Bond's in wuv!] or so dragged a lot for me so I can only give this a mild recommendation.

"Eragon" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- The first time I saw this movie, I was unimpressed but Zoogz implored me to give it a second chance so I did and to my surprise, I found myself enjoying it a lot more the second time through. I dunno, maybe I was just in a bad mood or something the last time because there were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in this trax besides the CGI cracks. I can admit when I'm wrong and I can honestly recommend this rifftrax now.

"Predator" w/ Mike Nelson -- Oh man, this was great. It must've been tough to come up with riffs for the scenes with endless walking and no dialogue but he pulled it off pretty well overall. Definitely much better the 2nd time through if you find yourself getting caught up in the movie the first time. There were lots of great riffs, I really don't want to spoil the majority of them but as a Gary Larson fan, the 'cow tools' reference was very much appreciated.

"Fantastic Four" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- I was a little surprised by this movie. Having avoided it in the theater and on DVD until now, I fully expected another disaster like 'Daredevil' but to my great surprise, it was actually half-decent, thanks in no small part to Michael Chiklis who I felt single-handedly saved this film from being unwatchable. The rifftrax for the film was great as Mike and Kevin slip into their usual awesome groove and pummel the film and it's characters mercilessly, especially Chris Evans. 'The Shield' references were also appreciated.

"Star Trek: Generations" w/ Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy -- This film had the opposite effect on me as opposed to Eragon. Whereas my first review of this trax was positive, I checked it out again a couple of months ago and again today just to be sure and found it downright painful. The first fifteen minutes or so were amusing but once the film goes grim, it just seemed to drag on FOREVER and the quality of the rifftrax seemed to plunge with it into the murky depths to drown. There were a few gems, in regards to Data's one man show, Kevin Murphy absolutely NAILS the problem with the latter Star Trek films with the line "You know, the Prime Directive of Star Trek should've been *NEVER DO COMEDY*. Unfortunately Mike and Kevin seemed far more comfortable with riffing TOS than TNG or maybe the film just sucked the energy out of them like it did me. I can’t really recommend this one anymore. It's a bitter pill.

"300" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- If you’ve read my previous review for ‘300’ http://www.nabiki.com/mst/zoogz/mst/blog/2007_03_01_archive.html then you already know my feelings about this film. Unfortunately, not even a rifftrax could save it for me. I just found the riffing kind of flat, too many repeated jokes on Sparta and the movie didn’t really lend itself well to a Rifftrax, IMHO. Oh well.

"The Bourne Identity" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- Ah, now this was a fun rifftrax. The first hour was among the best stuff they’ve ever done and had me laughing pretty consistently despite the film being rather bland and pedestrian taken by itself. Things slow down a bit, as does the film in the 2nd half, but overall, it was still very enjoyable and highly recommended.

"Independence Day" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- This is my favorite of the trio Rifftraxs thus far. It was a pure joy from beginning to end for me with Mike, Kevin and Bill in top form. I can’t recommend this rifftrax enough, it was pure cheesy gold and probably my favorite trax next to Star Trek V. Highest recommendations.

"Star Wars Episode III" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- And the Prequel trilogy concludes with a pretty good Rifftraxing. I definitely enjoyed this one much more than Episode II. Recommended.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- Well, I loved the original film and the rifftrax very nicely compliments it without being annoying or interfering with the enjoyment. I liked the callback riffs to ‘Firewall’ and other Ford films as well as the playful mocking of the music and characters. Highly recommended.

"Spider-Man" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. -- Now this movie I didn’t care for at all but I hoped Rifftrax could make it enjoyable. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way for me and I found watching this movie even with the Rifftrax to be more of a chore than anything. Plus there was a rather unpleasant and unfunny gag at the end with Kevin crying hysterically over Mike beating him up. I see where they were trying to go with it but honestly, it just plain sucked and ended an already mediocre rifftrax on a rather sour note. Here’s hoping the next trio rifftrax can ascend back up to the quality of 'Independence Day' or 'Raiders' next time.

"Next" w/ Mike & Bridget Nelson -- I was dreading seeing this movie after 'Wicker Man' but to my surprise, the movie wasn't unwatchably awful. Silly and full of CGI car crashes but not awful. The rifftrax was good as well, Bridget and Mike worked well together and the husband/wife dynamic was pleasant yet cute without being nauseating at all. Recommended.

"Transformers" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett -- Another movie I absolutely loathed with five times the bad comedy of Star Trek: Generations. Just to be clear, I'm not a fan of the cartoon either so this isn't a purist thing. But the worst part for me was I found this rifftrax painfully mediocre. I sensed a strong 'going through the motions' vibe to it and while there were a handful of funny riffs scattered about, I found the trax as a whole to be uninspired and cannot recommend it.

"Star Wars Holiday Special" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Wow. God bless the 70’s huh? I had never seen this special before now and I doubt anything I could say hasn’t been said before many times over. Without Rifftrax, this film probably would’ve killed me within the first 10 minutes of warbling wookie but thankfully Mike, Kevin and Bill delivered one of the best rifftrax treatments I’ve heard so far. It was obvious they were having a blast doing it too and they even made Bea Arthur’s singing bearable (though to be fair, despite it’s greater length, it still pales in comparison to the sheer horror of her rendition of ‘Do The Urkel’.) Having them riff old commercials was also a blast and something I hope they could do again someday if the opportunity present itself. As you’ve probably guessed by now, I absolutely LOVED this Rifftrax and it’s in my top five along with being my favorite of the Star Wars rifftraxs. Highest recommendations.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Having enjoyed the first movie rifftrax, I went into this one with slightly lowered expectations since the Star Wars Ep. 2 rifftrax wasn’t nearly as funny to me as Ep. 1 and they repeated many of the same jokes. To my pleasant surprise though, this rifftrax was just as funny if not funnier than the original. The trio do a great job roasting this film to a nice golden brown and they sound like they’re having a blast doing it, which is always a plus. Highly recommended.

"A Visit to Santa" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Garsh! Well, uh, it's not the WORST Christmas short I've ever seen but it's definitely a contender for most irritating soundtrack. Two Sumerian speaking kids have their sleep interrupted by a creepy elf child and brought forth by helicopter to Santa's... low rent apartment. The apathetic Santa, probably played by some bored security guard at the mall where most of this thing was filmed, shows the kids around and makes them look at stuff. For a long time. This Rifftrax is amusingly dark and I enjoyed it for the most part. Recommended.

"Plan 9 From Outer Space" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I originally got this movie with just Mike’s commentary track from Legend Films and I somewhat enjoyed it then but this do-over with all three riffers is a big improvement, especially with the final 15-20 minutes of the film which had a fair amount of dead spots in the original commentary. And while there was some riff repeats from that original commentary, it didn’t hamper my overall enjoyment of the rifftrax. Recommended.

"Jurassic Park" w/ Mike Nelson & Weird Al Yankovic. -- Ah, finally! I’ve been waiting for Al to be a guest commentator for a while now and he didn’t disappoint. Both he and Mike do a great job of riffing this film and I pretty much enjoyed the trax from start to finish. Very highly recommended.

"Batman & Robin" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Folks, if you ever had the unfortunate... "pleasure" of watching this film, even on free TV with seemingly nothing else to watch... I recommend renting or buying Batman: The Animated Series on DVD and NEVER watch another live action Batman film again. I know Batman Begins supposedly saved the franchise but IMHO, Batman TAS will always be better than live action. Always. That being said, this Rifftrax was a mixed bag. On one hand, it had some really funny riffs, all written by the fans. On the other, we had some rather large gaps near the end of the film and every second of the film not Rifftraxed is pure agony. Plus the riffing sounded rather stiff at times due to the script not being written by them. Still, the trax did end on a funny note and it’s worth checking out overall.

"The Matrix Reloaded" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Hmm, well the rifftrax for this was definitely good, but when the film doesn’t involve an action or Yuen Woo Ping wire sequence, (I refuse to besmirch the good name of chop socky with THIS film), it is just painfully dull. Don’t get me wrong, the rifftrax definitely helped but the film is still such a chore for me to watch regardless. I wish this was an MST3K episode so they could edit out the boring stuff. Seriously, I’ve played RPGs that were less pretentious and dull than this movie as a whole. To be fair, the rifftrax was funny and I probably will listen to it again in the future, but definitely not on a regular rotation.

"Beowulf" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Now this was a fun movie, and far more enjoyable for me than "300". Putting CGI characters instead of live ones in a CGI world for a seamless experience, who would’ve thought that would actually work! Sarcasm aside, this movie still has quite a bit of cheese and the riffers do a great job with it, making this one of the more enjoyable recent rifftraxs I’ve listened to. Highly recommended.

"Safety: Harm Hides at Home" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I've only watched a few of the shorts so far and found the majority of them to be okay but nothing to write home about really. This short, however, is quite good and goofy. Kinda like a 1970's Mr. B Natural only tamer. It's definitely more than worth the 99 cents to get though.

"Spiderman 3" w/ Mike Nelson & James Lileks. -- James who? That was basically my reaction but okay, I liked Neil Patrick Harris and Weird Al with Mike so I gave James a chance. But once again, the movie was just a total bitch to get through and the rifftrax failed to make it bearable. Actually the rifftrax in general was kinda lifeless as well but that may be the fault of the movie more than anything. Needless to say, I won't be chomping at the bit to get the rifftrax for 'Spiderman 2'... ^_^;

"One Got Fat: Bicycle Safety" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This short was an odd mix of disturbing and goofy. It would almost be depressing if it weren't so frigging goofy. One by one kids fail to use common sense with their bicycles and get maimed but onward they trek, with their monkey masks and cheap wire tails towards their ultimate reward of lunch. As you might expect, this short is very riffable and while it's not quite as good as Safety: Harm Hides at Home, it's still worth checking out.

"Cloverfield" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This was a tough one to judge. On the one hand, the rifftrax did a good job and had me laughing many times. The film however was not fun for me at all. Imagine making a Godzilla movie and taking all the fun and cheesiness out of it. Then add some stomach churning camerawork, some blatant '9/11' imagery (which I'm surprised wasn't commented on by the riffers considering how they jumped all over X-Men for using the Holocaust as a plot point), and reduce 80% of the dialogue to 'Oh my god' and 'Dude', which got old VERY fast. Some people on the Rifftrax board seemed to think this movie was too good for Rifftrax to tackle, I couldn't disagree more, this film SUCKS. Still, the rifftrax was good and I can recommend it but if you've never seen the film, don't be surprised if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

"Star Trek New Frontiers: World Enough and Time" w/ Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Well, the fanfilm was surprisingly well done, but I found the rifftrax to be rather average, not bad but nothing special either.

"LOTR: The Two Towers" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Much like the last LOTR rifftrax, it was good but I kept losing myself in the movie. If you liked the Fellowship rifftrax, you'll like this one too.

"X-Files: Fight the Future" w/ Bill Corbett & Mary Jo Pehl. -- I've mentioned in the past that I wasn't a fan of Pearl Forrester but Mary Jo Pehl as herself did a great riffing this film with Bill Corbett. I've never been a fan of the X-Files but this trax made the movie a real hoot and I highly recommend it.

"Alien" w/ Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Okay, I know this movie is a horror classic and such, but I always preferred the sequel for its incredible adrenaline rush that still hold up over 20 years later. Thankfully Kevin and Bill do a great job riffing this film and I thoroughly enjoyed this rifftrax. I would go into more detail but I honestly don't want to spoil anything, very highly recommended.

"Drugs Are Like That" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I really have to question the wisdom of producing an anti-drug short featuring two kids COKED OUT THE ASS. Seriously, these kids HAD to be on something as they struggle towards a coherent thought and barely mumble their way through some sort of bizarre analogy with Lego and drugs. Apparently, much like patriotism, drugs are everyone, everything, everywhere. They are the alpha. They are the omega. They are... like that. As for the Rifftrax, it’s pretty decent with the riffers being frequently bewildered with the short and quickly losing patience with the brain dead brats. Recommended.

"The Sixth Sense" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I had a feeling I wouldn't enjoy this one but I took a chance anyway. I already knew the surprise twist so I suppose I can't judge the film fairly since I pretty much knew what was coming for the most part. The rifftrax was just sort of there for this one, nothing to write home about and rather dull to boot. Not recommended.

"Patriotism" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This was kinda weird, as apparently doing ANYTHING can be considered some form of patriotism and it doesn’t have to make much sense. Still pretty funny though. Recommended.

"Buying Food" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Yes, apparently people had to be told how to food shop back in the day too. What’s next, Centron? A short on how to scratch yourself? This is another hilarious short that makes a excellent companion piece with ‘Cooking Terms’ as food is hastily bought, cruelly wasted, harshly judged and subjected to a staggering amount of superfluous investigation. Very highly recommended.

"The Trouble with Women" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ever see that old episode of Family Guy where Mr. Weed shows Ms. Ironbox the work training film from the 1950s that was blatantly sexist? Well, that’s pretty much this film in a nutshell as it tells us that women are a huge pain in the ass to train on the job but it’s still YOUR responsibility to do so, so suck it up, man. As you might expect, the trio just go way over the top with this one mocking the attitudes and characters in the film “You probably left bra marks on the table!” and it makes for a short but very amusing Rifftrax. Highly recommended.

"It Must Be The Neighbors" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- For some reason, I keep thinking of the phrase ‘It Must Be The Pretzels!’ whenever I see the title. Anyway, this short features fugly neighbors bickering over who’s the least responsible for the possible influx of mosquitoes, rats and bugs due to their combined laziness. Naturally it’s up to their super kids to keep the peace by forming a mob and cleaning the fuck out of everything till their parents get their collective butts in gear. After all, without video games and cable TV to entertain them, what the hell else were kids gonna do back then? The riffing for this was pretty good and I was entertained. Recommended.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I hadn’t seen this since it opened in the theater and it’s still a pleasantly fun film to watch, though its running time is a little too long and it had a rather weak ending I thought. The rifftrax was a lot of fun too and makes a great companion piece for the film. Overall, a solid effort and recommended.

"The Day After Tomorrow" w/ Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ah, global warming. Well, that about sums up my feelings on that subject so let’s move on to the movie. It sucks. Onwards then to the Rifftrax! The first time I listened to it, I was disappointed because it wasn’t the home run I was hoping for but upon a second listen, I found it to be solid and pretty decent overall.

"Iron Man" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Once again, this was a case of enjoying the film way too much to follow the Rifftrax at times. It’s definitely the best film Marvel’s ever done (Spider-who?) Not to say the Rifftrax isn’t worth checking out, it is, but I highly recommend to watch the film by itself before doing so.

"The Happening" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Rifftrax... Rifftrax... Hot Dog... *click!*... Huh, out of ammo... oh well, onto the review then. Seriously though, ‘The Happening’ is PERFECT MSTing fodder, a thoroughly goofy film that takes itself WAY too seriously and utterly fails to terrify with its absurd premise of murderous trees and casual suicide while introducing us to some of the silliest characters to grace the silver screen in some time. Fans of my MST6.7 series may recall a parody of horror films I did once called ‘Money’ where global currency attempted to rise up against humanity. This film uses THE WIND. As you might expect, the Rifftrax for this film is FANTASTIC, keeping me entertained and laughing my ass off for pretty much the whole thing. Thankfully the film is barely 90 minutes long so the riffers don’t run out of energy and you can tell they’re having a LOT of fun riffing this film too. Highest possible recommendation.

(Oh, and one more thing about ‘The Happening’ DVD... when one sees an selection for a ‘gag reel’ on the DVD menu, one would assume it’s a montage of flubbed lines, mistakes and possible stunts gone wrong. However, upon selecting the ‘gag reel’, I was instead treated to minutes of the cast simply lounging around, playing guitar and generally doing NOTHING of amusement or interest. THEY COULDN’T EVEN GET THE FUCKING GAG REEL RIGHT! Or maybe... They Just Didn’t Care?)

"Indiana... no, fuck that.

"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- The fourth installment of the Indy saga is truly a worthy successor to the original trilogy, combining a great story with a beautiful soundtrack. But enough about Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis...

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is NOT an Indiana Jones film. While I’ll give credit to Speilburg for making this film slightly more enjoyable than say, Star Wars Episodes 1 & 2, it still stinks on ice with so many blue screen effects, they should’ve just made the whole thing CGI like Beowulf and been done with it. And while the Indy Trilogy may have had a moment or three that required suspension of disbelief, almost all the stunts done in Crystal Skull are so ridiculously implausible as to be insulting. I mean, it’s hard enough trying to believe in alien crystal skulls with selective magnetism without having Old Man Indy not only survive a nuclear blast at ground zero, but be tossed around in a fridge in a manner that would break every bone in his body. And there’s plenty more stupidity where that came from. Two words: Greaser Monkeys. Anyway, the rifftrax for this was pretty good, not the home run of ‘The Happening’ but pretty good. The best parts were definitely during the action scenes and the constant ribbing of Harrison’s age. Though at times I was almost saddened by Kevin and Bill’s pitiful attempts to sing the Indy theme song during the lamer scenes in the film, of which there were plenty. Still recommended though.

"X-Men 2" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I liked this film a lot more than Part 1 and it was truly unfortunate that Part 3 sucked as badly as it did which sadly lessened the emotional impact of Part 2 as a result. Still, as taken on its own, X-Men 2 is still pretty fun and enjoyable overall. The rifftrax, on the other hand, not so much. We got more ‘Cerebro/Magneto’ jokes which for me are just excruciatingly awful and annoying and the rifftrax as a whole was just boring. Not recommended.

"The Dark Knight" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- It’s nice to see the quality of the recent live action Batman films finally step up after the numerous cinematic disasters of Burton and Schumacher. They still can’t hold a candle to Batman: The Animated Series, IMHO, but at least they have a little genuine SUBSTANCE now, which I appreciate. Anyway, The Dark Knight is a very good film, Batman’s horrible voice notwithstanding, and just like ‘Iron Man’, this rifftrax is definitely best watched after watching the film by itself. As for the rifftrax itself, it was all right, nothing bad but nothing special. Mildly recommended.

"Star Wars Episode IV" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- *sighs*... I wanted to like this one, I really did. And maybe the fact that this movie has been the subject of countless spoofs over the last 30 years made it virtually impossible to be original yet still funny but this rifftrax was just... disappointing. There was barely a standout moment during the entire track, they completely missed out on a prime ‘Trumpy’ riff during the film and turned what was a funny one-shot riff with a fat X-Wing pilot's name and just repeated it endlessly to the point where it became as unfunny to me as ‘Cerebro/Magneto’. For now, I highly recommend sticking with ‘Spaceballs: The Movie’ for a genuinely funny spoof of 'Star Wars'.

"Reefer Madness Redux" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I absolutely loved the original commentary Mike Nelson gave this film and still highly recommend it to this day. And perhaps the fact that I’ve listened to that track many many times influenced my judgment with this redux. Part of the problem is that the redux used a great majority of the same riffs from the original track only with Kevin and Bill now saying Mike’s lines and occasionally chuckling at each other which just seemed wrong to me, especially during the long walk down the hallway scene. Not to say there weren’t some new riffs, there were and a few of the additions to the original riffs were funny, such as Mike guessing what Bill would do once he was acquitted and the fact that Jimmy got away with his crime scott free. Also, I can understand why they would lose the colorization riffs but cutting the 'batshit insane' line? Come on, that was gold!

Anyway, I honestly just couldn’t enjoy this trax in the same way as the original. But maybe that’s just me. If you’ve never listened to the original commentary, or not listened to it as frequently as I have, you’ll probably enjoy the redux quite a bit. Mildly recommended.

"Jaws" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Much like the Raiders Rifftrax, this Rifftrax goes great with the original film, which is still an enjoyable classic and the Rifftrax also helped to liven up some of the more dull moments that films from the 1970s were seemingly forced to include by law. Also, there’s a nice surprise at the end of the trax, I don’t want to give it away but it was very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

"Playing Together" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Now this was funny, I loved the riffs on public pools, ‘the stickman’ and the fact that the short completely lost focus by the end and the riffers were just dumbfounded. Highly recommended.

"How Much Affection" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This one wouldn’t have been out of place on an episode of MST3K and it was longer than the usual short, about 20 mins or so. This short has a woman freaking out about her hormones and getting a long ass lecture from the ghostly head of her mother before she attends the whitest party in the world. White and Nerdy doesn’t BEGIN to describe these milk toasts. The riffing was quite good on this. Highly recommended.

"Your Chance To Live" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ah yes, 1970s technology, truly a golden age except for cars apparently. The first half of this rifftrax was great, I was laughing pretty hard a few times but it slowed down considerably in the 2nd half. Still for 99 cents and 12 mins of your time, it’s worth checking out. Recommended.

"As You Like It" Short w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This short kinda surprised me as beer seems an unusual subject to glorify for the supposedly Beaver Clean 50s where there was like five hundred shorts on posture and manners alone. Also, the budget for the short apparently ran dry halfway through as the 2nd half features only still shots with narration which took me back to the filmstrips I had to watch in first grade, only without the inevitable blurring, projector failure or the cassette tape providing the sound being slowly eaten alive. Still, the short was pretty funny and having the trio hoist a few at the end was cute. Highly recommended.

"Going Steady" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This was yet another short on dating, this time asking if going steady is worth the hassle or not. Surprisingly, most opinions expressed in the short seem to lean toward the negative, even the parents of the middle aged kids. This Rifftrax was all right for the price, nothing special but not bad either. Recommended.

"Star Wars Episode V" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett & Chad Vader. -- Ahh, now THAT’S more like it! After a shaky beginning with ‘Star Wars Episode IV’ IMHO, the trio kept the running gags to an acceptable minimum (two or three Porkins jokes tops, thank god.) and delivered an excellent rifftrax for this film that I thoroughly enjoyed. Too many highlights to list here and I don’t want to spoil them anyway. Chad Vader also had more lines in this rifftrax and he did a good job with them without getting in the way of the other riffers. Very highly recommended.

"You And Your Family" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This brought back fond memories of the MST3K classic short ‘A Date With Your Family’. And while it’s only 7 mins long, it was pretty funny and I think worth checking out. Highly recommended.

"Twilight" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This movie is fucking stupid. Honestly, that's pretty much the best way I felt I could sum up the film as a whole. Fucking. Stupid. And the Rifftrax? In a word: Brilliant. In more words: the writing highlights razor sharp wit and is very funny. It turned what was a vapid and shallow sack of shit into not only a watchable experience but an highly enjoyable one as well. While this may often be par for the course with Rifftrax, this trax truly speaks volumes of their talent and skill. Very highly recommended.

"Primary Safety: In the School Building" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Ahh, this was great. I remember having to watch films like this back in grade school. Of course we welcomed any chance to take a nap back then. Seriously though, this short was almost non-stop laughs as some poor kids is forced to pass judgment on his classmates for minor infractions to achieve the greater good of nurturing future generations of anal-retentive neurotics. Very highly recommended.

"Cooking Terms" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I watched this short before ‘Buying Food’ and I have to say it’s one of my all time favorites. Poor little Margie is cruelly lectured by the narrator when she makes a mistake on her husband’s dinner/dessert and shamed into learning proper techniques like how to sheep, boil water and the all important soft ball lesson of cooking. Needless to say, the trio pummel this short mercilessly with hilariously scathing sarcasm, making this one of my favorite Rifftrax shorts. Very highly recommended.

"Casablanca" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Mike starts off this Rifftrax explaining that he, Kevin and Bill took on this classic film as a personal challenge to test their skills, which I can relate to and greatly respect considering some of the fanfics I’ve MSTed over the years. And how did they do? Pretty well actually. The riffs here are definitely more of the light and playful persuasion than the sarcastic and brutally funny humor they save for movies like ‘Twilight’. They did rely on random pop culture references a bit too much in some spots but I found it mostly forgivable considering the difficulty of riffing one of the greatest films of all time. In conclusion, this Rifftrax makes a nice companion piece to the film, just be sure to watch the film first if you’ve never seen it. Recommended.

"The Room" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- “Oh hi, Rifftrax fans!” Hoo boy... this film is pretty much a glorified softcore porn, elevated by a mind-bogglingly goofy script and starring a long haired Euro weirdo with an accent even more incomprehensible than Jean Claude Van Damme, Tommy Wiseau. Tommy is apparently aspiring to be Orsen Wells by also writing, directing and producing this film but he’s far closer to Ed Wood Jr., despite the lack of any crossdressing... that we’re aware of. The man simply exudes limburger with every line he utters. All three of them. Over and over and over again. “Oh, hi, repetition!”

Anyway, you would think this would make for a pretty funny Rifftrax. And yeah, for the most part, it does. They tend to riff on Tommy Wiseau a bit too much, not that it isn’t well deserved but it does get a bit tired after a while. Where I felt the Rifftrax really stumbled though was whenever they had to riff any sex scenes. I realize it can be difficult to riff on basically the same sex scene repeated about five or six times over the course of the film with little variation and that Mike Nelson is personally uncomfortable with scenes involving sex and nudity in them but their solution of having Disembaudio show up over and over with his friends and family being as loud and obnoxious as possible was frankly downright painful to listen to and I really hope they can come up with a less irritating solution next time they tackle scenes like that.

Overall though, I’m still recommending ‘The Room’ Rifftrax for the price and the movie as a whole but you might find yourself turning the volume down at times. Fair warning.

“Back to School with Joan Miller" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Girls Gone Plaid! This is another short that would’ve worked well on MST3K as we’re forced to watch model after model smile through their pain as they parade their hot naked wrists for our pleasure while draped in endless variations of plaid, the epitome of high fashion... if you believe Joan Miller who couldn’t even be bothered to show up for this thing. The short runs twenty minutes and is generally repetitive but to their credit, the riffers do a pretty good job keeping things interesting and funny throughout. Recommended.

“The Bill of Rights in Action” w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This is one of those shorts that asks a question and expects you to come up with an answer. In this case, does freedom of speech grant a Nazi the right to praise Hitler while standing in front of a Jewish temple? The short is pretty straight forward and not really all that goofy, and while the riffers do get some funny lines in, I found it an odd choice for a Rifftrax. Still, I did enjoy the jokes, so recommended, I guess.

“Shake Hands with Danger” w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This short from the 70s is apparently still in use today and shows the dangers of being rock stupid on a construction site, with each work related accident being followed by an addictive little song that you’ll have stuck in your head for weeks afterwards. Trust me. It’s also cheesy as hell and the trio do a great job riffing it. Very Highly Recommended.

“The Tale of Moose Baby” w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Oh MAN... normally I’m not a fan of films involving animals but the first few minutes of this short had me laughing so hard, I thought I was going to pass out! That made it worth the 99 cents right there. The rest of the short wasn’t quite as gut-bustingly funny but still good overall with the editing jokes, constant ribbing of Moose Baby and the last minute or so had me giggling for another five minutes straight. Very Highly Recommended.

“Flying Stewardess” w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Wait, they used to have pull out BEDS in airplanes!? Bring them back! NOW! OK, OK, to business. This 1950 short basically tries to convince women how wonderful and fulfilling it is to be a stewardess instead of a dumb old pilot. And according to the short, most stewardesses get married within a mere THREE years so apply now, you lucky dames and be sure to brush up on your sailing and ping pong if you ever hope to land a man! Sarcasm aside, this 11 min short is nicely roasted by the trio. Recommended.

“Constance Bennett’s Daily Beauty Rituals” w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Five minutes of watching a woman putting on makeup and taking a ba? Sure, why not? And who the hell names their child, Constance? Anyway, this woman is more than happy to lead us through her morning routine, but before you know it, it’s a quarter of eight and she’s dressed to serve her lord and master (her exact words) also known as her son. Yikes. While this short’s pretty short, the riffing is pretty damn funny for those five minutes and worth checking out for 99 cents, IMHO. Highly recommended.

"Teenagers on Trial" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Don't trust anyone under 30! Written by old farts for old farts, this short sets out to prove what they already knew, all kids are rotten and not to be trusted. They're worse than Commies! THE BEAVER IS A LIE! Only having them join the US Army can set these kids straight! Or get them killed, which is also acceptable apparently. This Rifftrax was a fun way to kill 8 mins of your time. Recommended.

"Cork – Crashes and Curiosities" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Irish Sweep... I'm not a fan of modern or 1940s racing, so I really don't have much to say about this short. Irish jokes dominate this Rifftrax but it's all in good fun and I enjoyed it. Recommended.

"The Case of Tommy Tucker Pt. 1 & 2" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This disturbing short starts out with a Pagan children's play which is quickly interrupted by the Hitler Youth Move... oops, I mean, the SAFETY PATROL lead by a little self-righteous snot named Tommy Tucker that resembles Howdy Doody right down to his Joker smile. Creeped out yet?

Thankfully, Tommy is run over by a car soon afterwards and hovers near death but what does he care? He's on SAFETY ISLAND, which is apparently a gated community in Heaven, and he's a martyr to the righteous cause of installing 1984-esque safety procedures to Anytown, USA so people will stop running over annoying bossy kids that try to tell them how to drive! Yeah. As for the Rifftrax, while I wasn't a fan of it being split up into two parts (a practice they seem to have stopped now thankfully), the riffing was great and I enjoyed it a lot. Highly recommended for both parts.

"Women in Blue" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Yep, it's another short desperately trying to convince its audience that sexism was a dirty lie and women had more to look forward to in the 1940s than cooking, cleaning, and child rearing by showing them signing up to serve in the Navy so more men could be sent off to war. Of course, once the war was over, the women were quickly booted back to their old positions but hey, enjoy the fun while it lasts, ladies! Much like 'The Trouble With Women', the riffing here is nicely dark and sarcastic. Highly recommended.

"The Matrix Revolutions" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Well, the film itself sucks on toast but this was far more enjoyable for me with a Rifftrax than 'Matrix Reloaded', probably because this movie was more mindless action and less endless droning monologues sapping my will to live. The riffers themselves seemed more energized as well which always helps. Highly recommended.

"Star Trek 2009" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- *deep breath* Okay... I am a long time fan of the majority of the original Star Trek, The Next Generation, and select Deep Space 9 episodes. I knew this film was a reboot and I tried to watch it with an open mind and reminded myself how badly 'Nemesis' had botched it and with 'Enterprise' gone, the franchise needed this sort of thing to survive.

But this... this was a decent sci-fi action film, nothing more. You can dress them up as the characters, give them the characteristics of the original crew (and I will admit that Karl Urban was FUCKING scary as McCoy, he was practically channeling the DEAD with his portrayal.) and have old Leonard Nimoy himself show up to bless the reboot, so to speak, but it still ain't Star Trek as far as I'm concerned. Maybe that'll change with the next film, who knows, but for now... NO.

All right, rant over. Now for the Rifftrax. With the sole exception of the 'Funky Spock' sequence, which was hilarious, I found this trax to be dull and lifeless with very few laughs for me. Perhaps the riffers felt the same way I did with the film and couldn't muster up the energy, I dunno. Recommendation to avoid, sadly, but check out 'Funky Spock' on Youtube if you've never seen it.

"Cinematic Titanic: East Meets Watts" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- I initially avoided 'Cinematic
Titanic' for a couple of reasons. The trailers for their studio releases frankly sucked IMHO and I'm a cheap bastard who'd rather pay three bucks for a rifftrax that might suck than $14 for a DVD that might suck. However, when 'East Meets Watts' was announced, I checked out the trailer and was impressed enough to take a chance. And I'm glad I did.

The film is a mix of bad Blaxploitation and worse Kung-Fu, but mixed together, it became a somewhat watchable movie featuring several actors from M*A*S*H (No Alan Alda sadly, he could have used the style of the Hawkeye... *cough*)

As for the riffing, it's great overall and there's some big laughs to be found throughout. All of the riffers have some funny choice lines in this one and going live may have been the smartest move 'Cinematic Titanic' could have made as seeing the performers smile, laugh and react to each other and the audience during the riffing definitely adds a level of energy that a studio riffing, however funny, can't quite reach. It was especially great to hear Trace riffing again after all these years and he hasn't lost his touch. To be fair, though, there were three noteworthy spots where I felt the riffing quality dipped considerably:

- After the 'Journey' riff until Stud Brown first shows up.
- The majority of the gun fight in the dark.
- And the last seven minutes of the movie or so.

Still, the majority of this CT offering is well worth checking out. Very Highly Recommended.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. --

(Note: This isn't the version from the Live Christmas Rifftrax DVD, nor are any of the shorts reviewed here from that DVD at this time.)

This was a fun 8 min short, of course I had to resist the urge to shout out rude phrases during the theme song but otherwise I enjoyed this. I do hope to see the live DVD version someday to compare them. Recommended.

"The Night Before Christmas" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- My personal favorite of the Christmas themed shorts, I was laughing pretty much all the way through this one and I don't want to spoil anything. Very highly recommended.

"Three Magic Words" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Oh man, this short was just AWESOME! And I thought 'Shaking Hands with Danger' was tough to get out of my head. This delightful marketing musical has 'Mrs. Newlywed' pleading with The Three (Low Rent) Stooges, who are everyone and everywhere apparently, to save her ass by cooking dinner to settle a bet. Only the power of PORK can save her now, or more specifically, a half dozen or so songs praising said pork with a little help from dark magic. This short was an absolute laugh riot for me from beginning to end. Highest recommendations!

"Parade of Aquatic Champions" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Another short I really enjoyed with plenty of laughs and belly flops. You'd think so-called 'Aquatic Champions' would be smart enough not to belly flop into the pool, especially when racing, but hey, I never competed in the 1932 Olympics so what do I know? And I have no idea what the deal with Larry is, but I haven't been that
confused/unsettled since Mr. B Natural. *shudder* Very highly recommended.

"Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- And so ends the riffing of Star Wars, unless they start doing 'The Clone Wars' which might be the only thing that could make that series watchable for me. I hadn't seen this movie for quite a while and was surprised by how amazingly DULL the first half was. Once things pick up in the latter half, it's all good but why the FUCK did they change the perfectly epic and enjoyable 'Yub Yub' song at the end to that generic piece of crap? Bleah!

Unfortunately, after a great performance with 'Empire Strikes Back', the riffing seemed to drop back to mediocre levels with this Rifftrax, though it was still better than the dismal effort for 'A New Hope'. There were the occasional funny moments, like the gay jokes for the droids and Kevin Murphy taking Lucas to task for adding crap like a completely asinine dance sequence to the movie but keeping cheap special effects like Han Solo defrosting from hibernation intact but overall I was more disappointed than entertained by this Rifftrax. Mildly recommended but just barely. So now, because I felt like doing it, here's my ranking of the Star Wars Rifftraxs from best to worst, IMHO.

"The Star Wars Holiday Special"
"Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back"
"Episode I: The Phantom Menace"
"Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"
"Episode II: Attack of the Clones"
"Episode VI: Return of the Jedi"
"Episode IV: A New Hope"

"Cinematic Titanic: The Alien Factor" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- Ah, the hairy 70s. When even the monsters in your films were required by law to be unshaven. Actually, that's only one of the three monsters that invade a small town filled with the usual gang of idiots that make up the cast of these things. There's the nerdy scientists who don't actually do anything, the know-it-all stranger who has all the answers. The inept mayor. The drunken posse. The sheriff and his deputy. The movie star, the professor and Mary Anne, etc, etc...

The riffing for this one was good but not quite as funny for me as 'East Meets Watts', which may be the fault of the film itself as it can be a little dry and painfully dull at times. There were some great lines though, especially from Trace who provided some of the biggest laughs, including one PERFECTLY timed riff I won't spoil here that nearly brought the house down and broke up the other riffers. At one point, Josh even acknowledges to the audience during an extended walking scene how difficult some scenes can be to riff when nothing's happening for minutes on end. Still, I enjoyed the CT overall. Highly recommended.

"Molly Grows Up" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- At first I wondered if I was qualified to judge this short being a guy, but then the short itself doesn't seem all that knowledgeable on the subject either. So, I'll just say Molly's adventures with menstruation made for a very funny Rifftrax, especially hilarious was the list of "activities" one should and should not do when on the rag, as well as the riffing of the opening and closing credits. Very highly recommended.

"Little Lost Scent" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Meet Gregory, baby skunk and all around badass who rarely has to resort to his special weapon as he stares down every animal foolish enough to cross his path of PAIN. Even his vampire mom can't keep Gregory in line for long. This Rifftrax was a lot of fun and while they did talk over the admittedly long-winded narrator a bit too much
at times, I still enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

"Seat Belts: The Life Saving Habit" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- YES! I love cheesy shorts from the 1980s! The music, the fashion, the hair, it's all good. This short has its share of goofy moments but its mostly serious or as serious as 80s shorts can ever be. The first half of this Rifftrax had more laughs for me than the other half though, but still funny overall. It might be a bit hard to watch though if you have kids as some child sized test dummies take a few vicious shots into the windshield in this short. Recommended, otherwise.

"Avatar" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Continuing in the tradition of movies like 'TRON' and 'Star Wars: Episode I', combining state of the art special effects with a crappy script, it's CAPTAIN PLAN... I mean, AVATAR! Okay, sure, it has blue anorexics fighting the good fight against an evil corporation who employ cartoonish, gung-ho villains, but so what? Uh, besides, 'Dances with Wolves' and 'The Matrix' were darn fine movies so ripping them off should mean this film is good by default too, right? Right?? Sarcasm aside, the rifftrax for this was amusing for the most part, nothing outstanding but worth checking out once at least. Long ass movie though. Mildly recommended.

"Drawing for Beginners: The Rectangle" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Very funny Rifftrax for a rather dry short about drawing rectangles. The artistic skills shown here are about on par with my own drawing abilities so I can't judge it too harshly but still, funny stuff. Highly recommended.

"iRiff: After Last Season" w/ Noah 'The Spoony One' Antwiler. -- Spoony is my absolute favorite internet reviewer and if you've never seen his website 'The Spoony Experiment', I highly recommend checking it out. Anyway, to the movie...

I can honestly say in terms of sheer utter incompetence that this is the worst film I've ever seen in my entire life. It's worth seeing just to have your mind blown that something this horrible can not only be conceived of but be created, produced and released. I honestly thought it was a joke at first but apparently millions of dollars went into its promotion, and dozens of quarters went into its budget, judging by the laughably bad props. Even 'Manos: The Hands of Fate' had a plot you could follow, this thing is like being mixed in a blender on with a dull blade, everything was disjointed, the actors... weren't, and nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING made any sense whatsoever!

Whew... okay, now for the Rifftrax. For his first official Rifftrax, Spoony does a pretty excellent job keeping me entertained despite the movie. He even sings a bit during a couple of the films more numbing moments and though he starts to run out of steam during the last third of the film, it's honestly a miracle that he managed to keep his energy up that long considering the BRUTALLY long stretches of screen-saver padding. Very highly recommended and I look forward to checking out Dune as soon as I can find the DVD for cheap.

"Twilight: New Moon" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Okay, I've only seen this once so far and I usually like to watch a rifftrax twice before writing a review so take this with a grain of salt...

The movie: I found 'New Moon' to be infuriating when it wasn't boring, much like 'Wicker Man'. Bella is a disgustingly selfish character who treats her dad like shit and leads on every other male in the movie while crying for Edward, who's barely in the movie at all and amazingly, this DOESN'T make the movie any better! Not to mention the continuing pro-suicide message of these movies make me want to throw up in disgust.

As for the rifftrax, from what I remember of it, it just didn't seem to have the same spark, energy and venom the first one had. I remember looking at the clock about 40 mins in and wondering when the laughs were going to come and they never really did. In fact, I can't even remember one specific riff from the whole trax other than a repeat of the Benny Hill gag, which was funnier the first time.

Anyway, I'll probably check the film out again when I get a chance to be sure. Maybe a second viewing will change my mind on the Rifftrax like with 'Eragon', but somehow I doubt I'll be changing my opinion of the film.

"Cinematic Titanic: Danger on Tiki Island" w/ Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. -- You know, as much as I love Rifftrax, movies like this bring back warm and fuzzy memories of the golden age of MST3K and CT has brought us what I feel is their best live effort to date.

This movie has Percy Chiseljaw, Booby McHorny and Wally Cleaver arriving on BLOOD ISLAND to study radiation or something and encounter a native flannel wearing tribe lead by a shriner with a really hot granddaughter that have ‘returned to their primitive ways’ by sacrificing their virgins to appease the island’s screeching hentai tentacle trees and a monster that resembles a pile of melted tires who moans like a porn star. Meanwhile, a bald man named Goro (FINISH HIM!) plays tour guide for our heroes as they visit a midget sanctuary/slave labor camp, run by Mr. Rourke as played by Ricky Ricardo and... that’s all I’m going to reveal here. This is one GOOFY monster film that’s perfect for riffing, with plenty of WTF moments.

The movie is also a little more mature than the last two live films with occasional (really cheap looking) gore, a bit of bondage with flashes of ‘almost’ nudity and a great deal of cleavage, 70% of which is MALE, but damn that other 30% is nice. There’s an odd yet funny moment during the riffing where Joel just flat out asks the audience why guys are so attracted to women like Booby McHorny, not really expecting an answer.

(Crow: Boobies, the deciding factor in many a hasty marriage.)

Anyway, all the riffers did a great job with this one, especially Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl. There were very few, if any, flubs this time that I noticed. The few dull spots that occurred during riffing were thankfully short-lived this time around as well. Overall, very highly recommended!

(Additionally, this CT release includes a short 17 min documentary featuring the Cinematic Titanic performers as they share their thoughts on each other and their experiences with CT as well as comments from fans leaving the theater after the show. While the documentary is a bit self-congratulatory, you can tell these people share a great deal of affection for each other and their fans as they playfully snipe each others' flaws and Trace mockingly threatens to sue a young fan who shares his name. Frank Conniff has a funny story about coming up with a riff that he was unable to say without bursting into uncontrollable laughter and when he finally did deliver it flawlessly during a live performance, it was greeted with dead silence from the audience.)

"Clash of the Titans" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Having never seen the original film, I have to say the remake was pretty disappointing and nowhere near as epic as the trailer promised. The performances weren't bad, really, just sort of there and the entire film had a lazy pacing to it, like 'We KNOW we're an epic so we're putting in in cruise control, baby." when what it really could have used was a serious kick in the pants. The Rifftrax, however, was very good and definitely helped the film go down easier. Highly recommended.

"The Last Airbender" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- Oh, dear lord this was HORRIBLE! I've never even seen the original 'Avatar' animated series but I'm pretty sure it isn't nearly be as bad as this abomination. Whereas 'The Happening' was so goofy, it was enjoyable, this was just... punishing. It was like playing the 2nd disc of Xenogears on fast forward. Even the Rifftrax couldn't save this one for me and to be honest, the Rifftrax for it wasn't all that great anyway. Recommendation to AVOID, especially the movie.

"Inception" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I never really understood all the hoopla over this film. It was an interesting idea, sure, but it was not one of the best films I've seen, nowhere close really. Honestly, Inception just came off to me as another Matrix-ish clone. As for the Rifftrax, it was... alright. Nothing really grabbed me but it was okay. Sorry if I'm repeating myself but I really don't have much else to say about it. If you're a big fan of the film, maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did but personally, meh.

"The Devil's Hand" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- This was a fun little film that was goofy yet watchable on its own. A guy is having strange dreams of a beautiful blonde tempting him, much to the chagrin of his fiancee who nonetheless supports his decision to seek out this woman and unravel this mystery. Unfortunately, the man decides he'd much rather unravel the blonde and nonchalantly leaves his fiancee for her and joins a pseudo-satanic cult on a whim. This cult, run by Commissioner Gordon of all people, enjoys spinning wheels of knifes above its members
while playing with voodoo dolls. I don't want to give away too much and the rifftrax for this film was quite good, it really felt like a classic MST3K episode and I highly recommend this trax.

"The Galaxy Invader" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- I've been curious about this film ever seen seeing it in the FVI credit sequence of Pod People but sadly the film ended up being a complete letdown for me. The Galaxy Invader in question is completely overshadowed in this movie by one of the most infuriating male Mary Sues I've ever seen in a film. This asshole dominates the entire film and makes what could have been a goofy monster film into a really unpleasant mess that was honestly uncomfortable for me to watch at times. If he had bought it early in the movie, it wouldn't have been so bad, but he survives till the very end! While the drunk idiotic hillbilly may be a staple of movies like this, this guy honestly ruined the film for me and the rifftrax couldn't get me past it, despite being decent.

"Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe" w/ Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett. -- A cheesy Sci-Fi movie with Jesse Ventura as the lead? I'm all over that shit! Unfortunately, the movie itself turned out to be just shit rather than cheesy goodness. It's long, boring, rambling and completely wastes Jesse as a lead. The movie is basically a bad Terminator ripoff with Ventura trying to stop his old partner turned bad who impregnates his love interest with his glowing hand and the kid ends up being the key to ultimate power or something, it was really hard to follow. The rifftrax was alright, I guess, but the movie was just excruciating and I don't think I can make myself watch it a third time.

Well, that's it for now. I guess I'll keep updating this post as the rifftraxs come and I get caught up on my backlog.

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7

Ooh-da-lolly! (Movie Review 2)

2007-02-28T21:03:00.000-05:00

Visited my father today, who had surgery. He won't be up and around for a while still, and hopefully he will recover. In the evening, we did have a family activity planned, coincidentally a movie night at the local library.

Being the library and especially being "family movie night", they won't show anything overly offensive or action-oriented to the kids, and they did deliver on that. Tonight's entertainment was a copy of the Disney animated film "Robin Hood".

This movie was a favorite of mine when I was growing up, and I really don't know too many kids (or even adults) who are unfamiliar with the movie. So therefore, instead of a summary, I'll just pick a few parts. And especially to say that the age of the movie is showing more than a bit. Pat Buttram (as the Sheriff) has one of the most distinctive voices for voice-work, and it is especially suited to this role. And Phil Harris' voice (Little John) is also highly suited to the character it was applied. I noticed in both the "train" sequence when the fair breaks down into chasing as well as the song that Little John speaks, the use of more than a couple twangers which also date the movie rather aggressively.

I also forgot exactly how much of a deus ex machina the movie ended with. But on the other hand, while I may cringe at it in my late-20s, it really does come at the perfect time in the movie, as my children now were just about ready for the movie to end anyway... and when I was younger, this ending was fine too.

In complete summation, Disney's "Robin Hood" is what movies nowadays fail to be. It is unabashedly tied to its late-60s to early-70s era, and is also unabashedly mostly a children's movie.

Disney, Dreamworks, and other animation studios have really forgotten a key fact about the child demographic that they purportedly try to court... that these children really do not have the attention span for the movies they produce. "Robin Hood" clocks in at about 80 minutes, whereas most recent films usually pass an hour and a half and can drag for small children.

Though of course, the major downside is the fact that this film really doesn't have much to recommend to the adults other than possibly a huge dose of nostalgia, and possibly to try to figure out which bear Phil Harris played better, Baloo or Little John.

Movie Review: "The Brothers Grimm"

2007-02-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

Already a new topic. My wife and I obtained a membership to another video rental place this weekend, and we finally had a chance to view one of the movies she rented: "The Brothers Grimm".

It stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as the titular brothers. The beginning of the movie reminded me rather much of "Dragonheart", with the same scams-for-money plans I saw in the former film. As the movie goes on, the brothers get roped into a scheme to help a village, whose girls are being kidnapped. Already kidnapped: Little Red Riding Hood and Gretel of "Hansel and Gretel" fame. No word on if the monster responsible also stole Britney Spear's sanity.

Anyway, the brothers get to this village. There they find a "Jungle Girl"-type knockoff somewhere near the village, who decides to help because her own sisters had been kidnapped by some strange thing in the forest. She agrees to guide them into the woods, coincidentally to the correct place. While Damon and Ledger flail about a few times, the mysterious spirit captures more children... we had more time to kill, of course. The captures are at least interesting... one was a horse who essentially swallowed one girl, and another was a girl who was consumed by a mud ball which ended up becoming the Gingerbread Man.

Anyway, the Grimm brothers continue to flail about in the woods, but now they're being chased by a wolf who turns into a man (decent effects there). They roughly figure out the secret of the place that Jungle Girl takes them, that a witch is trying to get back her beauty. Then there's French soldiers, some more decent effects with trees, and a [SPOILER SPACE] false alarm as we thought that Matt Damon FINALLY bit the big one... to no avail. Of course, the Grimm brothers live to fight and pronounce new linguistic tendencies for at least the next couple decades.

The film was earnest enough, and was directed by Terry Gilliam... however, I would not be surprised if it would make a decent MSTing (or Rifftrack.)

If this thing was about thirty minutes shorter (putting the length closer to 90 minutes rather than 120), it would probably have been decent. My attention definitely wandered a couple times though. YMMV.

Stay tuned for our next installment, as the Grimm brothers attempt to find tail on a few more fairies.

First Post:

2007-02-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

Hey!

We shall see if this will be a good idea in the future, but now AMFAS has a blog! In here, you will probably hear about fifty to seventy-five excuses as to why we don't have new content, more than a bit of complaining, and writing on a range of topics from the worlds of MSTing, anime and Japanese culture, fanfiction, and also real-world things such as politics, sports, news items, and even a few personal posts about my family.

I really have no idea how many people will even care about this attempt at blogging, but I have at least noticed one thing. I've noticed that when I tend to write things down, I end up remembering them. That's one of the magic parts of MST3k, I've always thought, that good and funny heckles can actually be documented for future generations. This way, I get to remember more of my life, hopefully not repeat some of my most major mistakes, and really learn how to use my time in a way that's better for me. And anyone that cares to read my long-winded and pedantic writing, please feel free to yell a few things my way... after all, heckling has been my fanfiction trade for the past seven years now.

And because I wouldn't mind a baseline, I'll put down the following.

Currently working on:
Two MSTings, a Xeno/NGE MSTing and a Sailor Moon original MSTing.
One fanfic, a Ranma/Sailor Moon crossover.
Actual real-life job.
A family, my wife and three children.
And of course, my goals and dreams.

So, to sum up this first post, what you will find in this blog is mostly random and unconnected thoughts on a wide range of topics. Even if this is nothing more than a personal diary, that is still a noble goal and anyone who would like to read along (and/or comment) is more than welcome.

Enjoy!