Category: Movies
I love the Flicksies, old and new, no specific order.
JUST ONE MORE THING…COLUMBO
I loved this show as a child. I waited for that moment when the rumpled, allegedly forgetful detective turned back to the suspect who thought they’d gotten away with it. Columbo would say something like: “Just one more thing” or “There’s something that bothers me” or “Just one more question” or “Just a few loose ends to tie up”. Then you knew and the suspect knew, they were caught. The classic false exit ending.
Columbo was one of the best inverted detective format shows ever. No whodunit. You knew who did it, in fact many times in Columbo we saw not only who did it, but how they did it. The problem was proving they did it. Catching them.
Columbo was on from 1968-2003 (with some time off here and there). Well-known for his crummy looking trench coat, his meandering, overly chatty style and his keen eye for detail, he was unusual and fun to watch.
In between telling the suspects personal details, some of which were actually true, asking them how much they paid for their shoes, asking about things for his wife (anyone remember the best-forgotten spinoff Mrs. Columbo starring Kate Mulgrew?), looking around their homes, cars, etc. he always found the clues that caught the bad guys.
Peter Falk wasn’t the only actor to play Columbo, but he was certainly the favourite. His seemingly absent-minded portrayal of Lt. Frank Columbo was brilliant and unforgettable.
I loved Peter Falk in so many things, especially Murder By Death, The Princess Bride, and the trilogy of Christmas movies where he played a quirky angel named Max, but for me and most people he will forever be Columbo.
Oh, uh, just one more thing…
…
Heathers
As dark satire goes, Heathers is in a league all its own. Easily dismissed as a teen angst flick, its depths are much darker and deeper.
Heathers is about how easily you can fall and still think you’re standing.
- “You were nothing before you met me. You were playing Barbies with Betty Finn. You were a Bluebird. You were a Brownie. You were a Girl Scout Cookie.”~Heather Chandler
This sinister comedy spotlights issues of bullying, teen suicide, and the dangers of peer pressure.
Underlying theme? How completely self-absorbed people can be. How spoiled and narcissistic. Where they see their own world and issues, but have no wider vision of how other people are feeling, or suffering, or what they need.
Slater and Ryder are beyond compare and repair.
Severe, jagged, funny, pathetic, edgy.
Hard to believe it’s been 25 years.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
What can I say about this masterpiece that hasn’t been said thousands of times and ways?
And if we’re going to involve the movies or TV series made of this novel that’s wow, just wow.
P & P is warm fudge topping over heavenly hash ice cream.
It is a kitten’s purr.
Silk on your skin.
A musical piece that caresses your soul.
It is all that the blarry, scratchy, low-manners modern world isn’t.
It is perfection that one can visit and relax. It is tea.
Tea with fresh crumpets.
Tea with fresh crumpets and jam.
AIRPLANE!
My go-to movie for laughs. Airplane! is slapstick, absurdity, puns, and gags.
Parodying the disaster film genre so popular in the 1950s thru the 1970s, I’d recommend you watch 1957’s Zero Hour! to understand where this was spawned.
The actors, many of whom were well-known for serious parts before being corrupted to this madness, such as Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen really make this film.
Airplane! is palpably predictable, idyllically immature, feverishly foolish, cheese on top of corn topped with cheese, but that’s what makes it perfect. It’s so wrong it’s right.
I’m proud (maybe that’s too strong a word) to say at one point I could literally recite this movie word for word.
Surely I can’t be serious? Yes, I am serious and stop calling me Shirley. 
Airplane II: The Sequel had a sci-fi twist and William Shatner so I was already happy. Most of the cast came back, but not the writers & directors. So, maybe it didn’t have the same shine as the first, but I think it still had some hilarious moments.
Watch movie, laugh, repeat.
Watch movie, laugh, repeat.
Watch movie, laugh, repeat.
ARMY OF DARKNESS
Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness) is a continuation of Evil Dead II where our, er, hero Ash is trapped in The Middle Ages in some bizarre, frenetic, hilarious, cheesy stuff.
There are a couple of endings, depending on where you watch it. I prefer the ending where Ash oversleeps, but the S-Mart ending (where he has to fight the shoppers, undead, whatever, hard to tell the difference most days I’m guessing) was seen as more positive by Universal. Director’s cut has both alternate universe endings.
Bruce Campbell (Weird Science, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Xena, Hercules, Bubba Ho-Tep, Spiderman, Evil Dead I & II, Charmed, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, American Gothic, My Name Is Bruce, Burn Notice, Fargo and well, everything) is an amazing, under-rated actor. Superb comedic timing and just really cool.
A perfect Halloween treat or trick depending on your point of view.
Edward Scissorhands
I sat watching Edward Scissorhands in 1990, mesmerized.
I laughed, I cried, I sighed, I railed against the injustice, and gave my heart to Johnny Depp. No worries, I’d given it before and since; it’s still in good working order. I’m sure he’d reciprocate if he knew I existed…or not.
Themes of bullying, prejudice, isolation, teen angst, self-awareness, hope, pain, betrayal, lies, dignity, honour, and love weave a dazzling web of stunningly brutal tragedy, comedy, and enchantment, in and out, in and out, each thread of this film somehow masses together in utter brilliant film magic.
The castle is gothic and delightful, but a place of secrets and loneliness.
The suburban neighbourhood is weird and flawed, but with creepy optimism and veracity.
The contrast shows that hope and love can flourish anywhere, as can pain and deceit.
Lauded, loved, mocked, hated, and parodied (best, when Depp reprised his role on Family Guy…you have to see it to believe it). And still it has stunningly stood the test of time.
Caroline Thompson, Stefan Czapsky, as well as the astonishing cast and crew did a superb task of articulating Tim Burton’s vision of Edward and his challenges and his triumphs. This film is truly a gift.
Vincent Price is categorically flawless in what turned out to be his last performance on film, ending a dramatic and spectacular career as the great gentleman of horror.
When Winona Ryder (Kim Boggs) is dancing in the ‘snow’ that Edward creates from the angel ice sculpture, it’s so heart-cutting because their love can never be, but they will always know it really is. Perhaps it’s so poignant because Depp and Ryder were a real-life couple at the time…and not meant to be.
This is a perfect movie for Halloween, Christmas, or any day of the year.
Love, love, love this movie. Did I mention I love it, not sure if that was clear.
The Walking Dead Again
AMC’s huge success, The Walking Dead 
is amazing, but if you get a chance, check out Boris Karloff in the 1936 film, The Walking Dead. 
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
No Halloween would be complete without TRHPS.
When I was young I enjoyed going to the theater, bringing my toast, newspaper, lighter, fish nets and loudly yelling, “Borrrrriiinng!” when the Narrator/Criminologist came onscreen, etc.
Now I’m soooo much older and way more mature, so I fondly smile at the astrophysically campy antics of Dr. Frank N. Furter, Brad, Janet, Magenta, Columbia, Eddie, Rocky, and sigh, Riff Raff, but on occasion, I still jump to the left, then a step to right…
Nothing beats a cheesy B-grade movie shared with friends.
If you haven’t seen this, you’re not interested or missing out…
I’d also like to wish Tim Curry a full and speedy recovery from his stroke earlier this year.
BEETLEJUICE
I remember the first time I saw this at the theater, mouth agape in between fits of laughter. Strangely, I feel the same today.
This movie is timeless. Just the right amount of serious and funny, lessons twirled in with candy-coated hilarity. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years. 
There was always talk of a sequel, but as a fan I have to say, no thanks. When the first one is this perfect why ruin that legacy?
The cast really makes this movie, each plays their part to eerie fulfillment.
The writing is gruesomely amusing.
The direction of Tim Burton, a strange, mythical creature who entertains and astonishes, is sublime.
There is nothing I would change about this movie.
Described as comedy/horror/fantasy I can see how it’s all those things, but more.
A Halloween or anytime movie for the ages.
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetleju…
DONNIE DARKO
The moment you fall into this movie you know you went down the wrong rabbit hole.
Beyond the obvious shivery moments there are way too many splinters of that’s-creepy-beyond-what-I-want-to-think-about-in-a-film-or-anywhere-else.
In the end it’s a movie about choices. Choices are important, like not making a stupid sequel like S. Darko. Poor choice.
This is one to curl up with in the dark, just be aware what’s in the shadows.
This sci-fi classic is rich and dark and smooth, like a delicious chocolate bunny that is pure evil.
Kind of Harvey gone really, really wrong.
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
One of my fav Halloween flicks. Madcap and macabre, it gives laughs, groans, and an appreciation that some of the best movies were made long before you were born.
Released in 1944 (although filmed in 1941 due to Cary Grant’s availability) this film has withstood the test of time. Based on Joseph Kesselring‘s play; both the play and movie are ghastly joys, in their own ways.
Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster gives a stunningly awkward and charmingly frenetic performance.
Josephine Hull and Jean Adair portray Abby and Martha Brewster, Mortimer’s darling Aunts who also happen to be serial killers for a good cause, “It’s one of our charities”. They’re like the Dexter of their day. Their explanation of their murderous ways? They stop the suffering of lonely old bachelors by poisoning them with arsenic, strychnine and “just a pinch of cyanide” disguised in elderberry wine.
Uncle Teddy (John Alexander) who believes he’s Teddy Roosevelt unwittingly aids the Aunts by digging graves in the basement, thinking he is digging locks for the Panama Canal and burying yellow fever victims. Hull, Adair, and Alexander reprise their 1941 stage production roles.
Mortimer, whose ultimate dysfunctional family causes no end of headaches explains to his hapless new bride – “Insanity runs in my family, practically gallops!”
Peter Lorre and Raymond Massey are so sublimely creepy they really are Halloween.
Firefly
Why? Why? Why???
This was an awesome show, can’t say enough about how amazing it was.
Cast was unbelievable, story was ripper, and it was brilliant.
So why did this astonishing show only last one season? We do know Fox likes to cancel some well-loved shows. Even cancelled Family Guy then picked it up again later when they finally figured out people liked it, duh. Perhaps Whedon’s on-going widescreen battles (I agree, it’s a Western, just in space), or the order of episodes, or concept.
In the end, whatever the reasons, only 11 out of the 14 episodes ever aired. Maybe people just weren’t ready for it or it was a stupid decision to cancel it. I can think of others, Terra Nova…
It has since become a hit, beloved by many, missed by the few who first watched it…It’s had its imitators, but none can capture the passion of the original.
I did like the tip of the cowboy hat in the Castle Halloween episode where Nathan Fillion wore his Mal outfit…but it’s not the same.
Joss Whedon you are astonishing, and thank you for at least giving us Serenity as a consolation prize.
Shatner’s World: We just live in it
I don’t care what anyone says, I adore watching William Shatner, in just about anything.
Sure he’s narcissistic, but he uses his superpowers for good, not evil.
He’s also funny, silly, asinine, but always charming. If you can see this one-man show live, awesome, luckily there’s also a DVD.
Dressed casually Shatner leads us on a magical tour of memories, ours and his.
He shares very personal stories, famous encounters, ridiculous exploits, and talks about Star Trek (of course) all in that oddly heartening, exaggerated style that’s so many have mocked over the years.
It might be his age, but in this one-man show (then again, isn’t that everything he does, really?) Shatner ponders death, those he has lost as well as his own mortality. Yet somehow it’s all comforting and poignant, not morbid. “Love is the difference between the cold light of the universe and the warmth of the human spirit and life doesn’t have to end when love is present.”
If you’re a Shatner fan you’ll enjoy the well over an hour of Trek talk, how his kidney stone became $25,000 for Habitat For Humanity, picking out a pine casket for his father because he thought his Dad would appreciate the thriftiness, his, er, singing career, broke living in his truck, meeting Koko the signing gorilla, acting with Christopher Plummer and James Spader…
If you’re not a Shatner fan, watch something else.
The whole show was pure Shatner – eccentric, engaging, and egocentric, but with a heart as big as his head (tough to do). He makes me smile.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
I went to see this movie on opening day 1993 and a few more times in the following weeks. I had no children with me. I also bought the VHS tape when it came out, the soundtrack, and later the DVD. I may or may not have some small toys from the movie and a few TNBC T-shirts over the years, one possibly bought as recently as today.
To say I love this movie is too serene.
Like most Tim Burton films TNBC is funny, dark, deep, and stabbed full of obvious messages.
The main character is a skeleton named Jack Skellington.
He’s the Big Mouldy Cheese of Halloween Town, he’s the Pumpkin King, he has it all, fame, fortune, adulation. But he’s bored with his job. He wants more.
He discovers Christmas Town and sees it’s marketing potential. He figures this must be what he was destined to do.
So he rebrands himself and retrofits Halloween Town to do this new gimmick, Christmas.
Things go terribly, dreadfully, horribly wrong, of course.
The day or should I say eve is saved, mostly with the help of Sally who has loved Jack just as he was.
The Christmas brand is salvaged, as is that of Halloween.
Short story extended, Jack realizes he had everything he needed to make him miserably happy in Halloween Town all along. Cue a gruesomely romantic scene.
Crushed into all that? Lots of cool songs by Danny Elfman (sigh, I still love Oingo Boingo), mayhem, fun, drama, lots of funny lines…one of the best films every made.
I can’t make decisions by myself!”
~Mayor of Halloween Town
It’s a marketing dream in one nightmare.
The making of this film is almost as interesting as the film itself. Astonishing. 
Many have poached from, peeled back, and tried to copy the mastery of this movie in the 20 years since it’s release, but this masterpiece is incomparable.
Makes sense that it’s really just a remake of another perfect classic, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Can’t see it? Think about it.
TNBC combines Christmas and Halloween so naturally, I’m in.
ZOMBIELAND
Another buddy road trip movie, with zombies. Dark comedy with lots of funny lines, interesting zombies and of course, Bill Murray as a, how do I explain this without spoilers, er, celebrity?
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin make up the merry band that proves a zombie apocalypse makes for strange bedfellows as they trek 
across America to find a sanctuary without biters.
Shaun of the Dead set a gold standard for the funny zombie movie and to me, Z-Land takes a good nibble at the edges, but not quite a full bite.
The rules of survival are a running gag of this movie and even though we don’t know all the list, the accumulation of the list itself is important.
Funny as a comedy, Z-Land also has some very deep moments all mixed in with the absurd and gross.
Global Garbage Can
The final phase is here, we’re officially living in a dystopian world.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has declared outdoor air pollution a carcinogen.
The air we breathe is now officially on the list with: Arsenic and inorganic arsenic compound, Asbestos and mineral substances that contain asbestos, Diesel engine exhaust, PCBs, Plutonium, shale oils, tobacco and radiation, etc. Lovely.
IARC, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, after study and consultation has basically said we live in a sci-fi dystopian movie. Not so entertaining when it’s our air.
My first reaction was, this isn’t news, we kinda already knew this, didn’t we?
But these studies, panels, declarations are needed to make governments admit there is a problem and maybe do something about it.
Will it work? I doubt it. Big business runs our governments and they don’t care about who gets sick, who suffers, or who dies as long as they make money. You’re disposable – 7 billion other potential customers.
There are many possible variables to cancer: genetics, exposure to dangerous substances, lifestyle choices and now, the air we breathe. 
So while we’re going for an allegedly healthy walk we’re really exposing ourselves and our children to the possibility of lung cancer.
While you’re sitting in traffic, commuting to your job, guess what?
We scream for more oil to make more gas.
Remember years ago when there was an oil storage and governments, etc. used to urge people to conserve gas, to use only as needed, cut back, etc.?
Now our governments spend millions to promote oil so we can drive more.
We build more factories to produce more goods we don’t need.
All this so we can suffer and watch loved ones suffer, even die. I really don’t see how it’s worth it.
The rich are destroying us and we’re letting them.
Just think, we’ll watch the Hunger Games movies and the next generations will live them.
“The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swollen with wind and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread…” ~John Milton (Lycidas)
Shaun of the Dead
One of the funniest movies every made. The British have such a unique sense of reality vs reality, it makes their comedy dark and delicious, but never dank.
A buddy/romcom film with so much heart the zombies are a delightful side note.
There is no way to describe how witty, silly, droll, sweet, and stunning a masterpiece this is without showing the movie.
Plenty of pop culture zaps, tons of dysfunctional family and friend interactions while trying to fight zombies, and too much energy to contain.
This film sets the gold standard for any zomcoms to come.
Lots of nods to George A. Romero’s zombie flicks, including the title.
Romero, flattered and impressed, offered Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright cameos in 2005’s Land of the Dead.
They’re zombies, see if you can find them.
POLTERGEIST
Over 30 years later and I wondered if I still would like Poltergeist.
I did.
I still got chills.
I know there have been creepier, more gruesome and violence horrors films since, but nothing will replace this spooky classic.
The reboot of this film series is set to come out in 2014 or 2015. I can’t see how or why they would redo this.
After all, Family Guy did such a fantastic parody in 2006 (Season 4, episode 26) with Petergeist, it was almost difficult to watch the real Poltergeist without giggling. I’ll never look at clowns the same way again.
The plot is like any good fairy tale, a young girl is the unwitting cause her family’s trauma and they do anything to help her; showing that love conquers all.
Does anyone remember the Poltergeist curse? Fuelled by real skeletons being used in the climatic scene, as well as Dominique Dunne’s murder, Heather O’Rourke’s death, and several other incidents the legend of the curse grew, which equals great publicity.
There were 2 more in this series.
2nd was bad, the 3rd horrible.
So the only real curse was trying to milk a series, gee, not like Spielberg’s ever done that …cough, Indiana Jones, cough, Jurassic Park, cough, cough.
Note, no one died in this movie, not one character, even the family dog, E-Buzz survived (I don’t think we can count the canary at the beginning).
And they still scared us silly.
They’rrrre heeeerrre!!!
What About Bob?
I think What About Bob? is one of the funniest movies ever made.
Never ceases to crack me up.
- “I feel good. I feel great. I feel wonderful.”~Bill Wiley
Bill Murray is delightful as the multi-phobic, charming psychiatric patient, Bob Wiley, and Richard Dreyfuss is fantastic as Dr. Leo Marvin whose inflated ego makes him a bad doctor, father, and husband.
Bob follows Dr. Marvin on vacation and it becomes the ultimate anti-buddy film.
I just need to think the words, Baby Steps or Death Therapy or even see a goldfish and I get an internal chuckle.
The greatest lessons of this movie? Everyone has something to offer and lighten up, have some fun.
I will warn you, prepare yourself for sore ribs from laughing.
Wag the dog
This is the incredible invisible film.
It’s as though acknowledging Wag The Dog means we have to admit we let our politicians, their cronies and yes men run our countries into the ground and maybe, just maybe we should do something instead of just complaining.
A dark comedy with a magnificent cast to match.
Amazing work by:
Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H. Macy, John Michael Higgins, Suzie Plakson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Belson, Suzanne Cryer, Jason Cottle, David Koechner, Craig T. Nelson (uncredited).
Directed by Barry Levinson.
This is about how politicians and their spin doctors distract the electorate from scandals, poor performance, and sometimes general incompetence.
It’s rather macabr
e and quite disturbing and sadly, these sorts of things happen too often.
Fav scene is 
always Kirsten Dunst, an actress portraying an orphan, running holding a bag of Tostitos in front of a blue screen and when you see it later she’s running holding a kitten through the war-torn streets of Albania.
Do we even know what the truth is anymore or just what we’re fed?
I know the truth is out there, but where?
If you haven’t seen this movie you should never watch the news and even then…
EXCUSE ME, I BELIEVE YOU HAVE MY STAPLER…
Nothing mocks and understands work like the 1999 comedy, Office Space. Written and directed by Mike Judge, it focuses on a group of people horribly dissatisfied with their jobs.
OS is for anyone who has ever worked in an office or any job they hate. Viewers recognize the despair, the defeat, the boredom, and can almost smell the regret and unfulfilled dreams in the recycled office air.
Best irritating boss portrayal in the history of movies goes to Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh.
Best creepy, obsessive (don’t touch his red Swingline stapler), mumbling worker goes to Stephen Root as Milton, actually, Office Space is based on Judge‘s Milton cartoon series.
Ron Livingston is perfection as Peter Gibbons, a discontented computer programmer. Also, Mike Judge as Stan, manager at Chotchkie’s restaurant giving Jennifer Aniston’s character a hard time, as well as David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader, John C. McGinley.
There are so many fantastic lines and scenes, just see the movie, bask in its ingenious satire.
When the co-workers are having to look up money laundering in the dictionary, that’s when you fully realize how pathetic they truly are.
This movie wasn’t a hit, but it’s so hilarious and showed people Judge was more than just Beavis and Butt-head.
And who hasn’t wanted to do exactly what they did to the photocopier.
Bob Porter: Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: I wouldn’t say I’ve been ‘missing’ it, Bob.
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
You’ve Got Mail is allegedly a romantic comedy, but to accept that you have to ignore the obvious point that both main characters are in serious relationships when they meet first in a chat room online then later in person. Granted, both break up with their respective partners before they enter a physical relationship, so I guess it’s not actually infidelity. Still, what could have been a delightful love story seems a little emotionally bankrupt because their partners are unaware of the other people involved in their relationships.
Then there’s the title which is total product placement for AOL, sigh. Great cast including: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey (amazing in well, everything), Jean Stapleton (All in The Family), Greg Kinnear, Steve Zahn (Ever see Happy, Texas? You should), Dave Chappelle, Dabney Coleman, Sara Ramirez (unknown then, now Dr. Torres on Grey’s Anatomy), Jane Adams, John Randolph, and Michael Badalucco (The Practice). I’m conflicted because I really do like the movie itself. 
Quite entertaining updated version of the 1940 Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan classic, The Shop Around The Corner, both based on the play Parfumerie (Miklos Laszlo).
The adorableness of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan do make it work.
It never hurts to have your script by Nora and Delia Ephron, mistresses of witty repartee.
And it’s about books. What could ever be bad about books?
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Del Ray)
I can still read this and laugh so hard it hurts. Contains one of the best scenes ever written, in the tea house with the biscuits, I’m giggling just thinking about it; if you haven’t read it, read it just for that. What am I saying, if you haven’t read it?
One of the most entertaining books ever written and apparently inspired by a drunken evening in Austria with a Hitchhikers Guide to Europe in his pocket, sounds about right.
Adams also wrote and acted briefly in Monty Python and wrote a few Doctor Who scripts. 
Worked on video games.
I have no words.
A delight to the gray matter and darn you Douglas Adams, you’re one of the reasons my laugh lines are so deep! No, I forgive you and miss you. 
In this case as entertaining as the on screen offerings of this have been, the book is so much better. All 4 (or 5 depending on your belief system and the hour of day) books in the trilogy are fantastically mythically rereadworthy.
Although Adams left too early at 49, his written works, his activist causes and his understanding of absurdity of it all remains to entertain and amaze us.
And don’t forget a towel is one of the most useful things you can carry with you on your journeys so celebrate towel day May 25th.
Douglas Adams‘ present location: Highgate Cemetery, Highgate, United Kingdom
TAPEHEADS
I guess most would du
b this 1988 comedy a cult classic as it never enjoyed mainstream recognition. I saw Tapeheads at one of those movie houses that showed cool films, ones you couldn’t see in mainstream theaters; before the internet let you see anything and everything.
Directed by Bill Fishman, and starring:
John Cusack,
Tim Robbins,
Sam Moore and Junior Walker,
Mary Crosby (Dallas);
Doug McClure (when I hear his name I think, I’m Troy McClure, you may know me from PSAs such as…);
Connie Stevens; Don Cornelius; Courtney Love; Doug E. Fresh; Bob Goldthwait (credited as Jack Cheese);
Fishbone (also performs the incidental score);
Lords of the New Church singer Stiv Bators;
Ted Nugent; Xander Berkeley;
King Cotton;
“Weird Al” Yankovic;
and Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, in a cameo as an FBI agent.
You can see producer, Michael Nesmith briefly as a bottled water delivery man (don’t blink).
Need I say more?
Two best friends turn their hard luck story and others misfortunes into a better life with lots of bizarre hijinks and weird fun. 
A must watch, at least once.
Soundtrack includes: Devo, Fishbone, Bo Diddley, King Cotton, Swanky Modes (Sam Moore and Junior Walker) and “Repave America” written and performed by Tim Robbins, credited as Bob Roberts (another awesome and underenjoyed film) 4 years before that movie was released (not on the soundtrack). “Repave America” was altered to “Retake America” on the Bob Roberts soundtrack.
And once you’ve heard the Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle song, it will be in your head, lurking, waiting to be hummed.
tHe trUTh is sTiLL oUt tHeRe
I mostly try to watch shows when they first come on. I try them on like a new shirt – do I like them, are they durable, are they practical, are they a flattering colour, do they make me look fat, well, maybe that’s a bad simile (is there a good one?), but you get my point.
I don’t wait for months or years for someone to tell me a show or movie is awesome or until it’s in vogue or whatever. 
I guess I like to decide to watch shows because I like it, or I decide I dislike them hate it or just forget it or don’t care. I was riveted to X-Files from the first moment I watched it, glued to the screen.
It was mesmerizing. 
Dark, mysterious, evocative, seductive, gross, and even baffling.
It was a expedition within a journey that just made me want to move forward, that is until Tea Leoni had David Duchovny quit and Season 9 was just so-so, but of course not wanting to miss any of the mythology I trudged on, hoping it would get better. And then Tea Leoni lived through all of Jurassic Park 3, whining in that nasal, oh, but I have moved off into the shadows. She’s not so bad. Duchovny was a big boy; he made his own choices. 
This was about weird and wild, creepy, supernatural, alien, government conspiracies, but it was also one of the greatest love stories in TV history. Mulder and Scully weren’t just friends, partners or lovers, they were complemented each other.
They were funny and entertaining.
X-Files is still one of the most amazing shows ever to grace the small or big screen.
Another movie maybe? Revive the series…Just sayin’.
Bully For You
Hel-lo McFly! Apparently we now throw parties to celebrate people lying, cheating, slandering, and manipulating. We love it. We tell our children not to bully. However, we love it. Mixed messages, no, try diametrically opposed.
-
Gordon Ramsey spewing out enough spittle to drown most of NY – don’t yell at people.
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Honey Boo Boo – don’t tease or call people names.
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Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Fox News, and Sun News – don’t spread gossip, rumours, lies, false ‘news’, propaganda, BS, innuendo, and slander.
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Apprentice – don’t backstab, lie, cheat, harass, intimidate.
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Real Housewives – don’t hit, yell, lie, spread rumours, harass, and abuse.
It’s embedded in our culture; all of society seems to feed off bullying. We pretend to value people, but really we value drama, electronics, money, power, and more drama.
Bullying is not only acceptable, it’s rewarded. This makes schools and social situations a developmentally deranged breeding ground of bullying.
As if the bullying in school wasn’t bad enough, now the latest tool – cyberbullying. No sanctuary, no escape, and oh so public humiliation.
Bosses destroying you as you’re just trying to make a living; parents screaming, frothing, hurting instructors, coaches, teachers, refs, players, and other parents; governments with hate laws, calling citizens terrorists and radicals, lying, stealing, attacking – home isn’t even safe for some people.
This isn’t good-natured teasing or joking around. The victims are traumatized and even kill themselves to get away.
Certain characters, TV shows, etc. were supposed to be extreme examples of people conducting themselves poorly. Now aggressive images penetrate so deeply into children, adults and society in general that we can’t remember that so instead we worship that bad behaviour.
We cheer when contestants scheme, lie, and manipulate to win. We buy products to emulate spoiled, narcissistic meanies. We hold parties to celebrate bad guys. Our own governments bully and cater to bullies. Then tell our children not to be bullies. Can you see their confusion? The ultimate do as I say, not as I do.
Ways to stop bullying. Puppet shows? Lectures? Selective policies? Non-enforced laws? Ummm, waste of time.
Here’s a simple way – stop promoting bullying as glamorous and cool.
Stop celebrating it.
Stop electing it.
Stop buying it.
Stop showing it.
Most of all, stop watching it.
yadadarcyyada 