Hi,
I've been thinking about what to do with this blog a lot. I know it's all over the place, so I should probably just whittle it down a bit.
So I think I'll stick to these three elements: My rants (I gotta do them, I just get pissed off), The Optimist, and I think I'll start a video game offshoot of the optimist. Sort of like the opposite of the Angry Video Game Nerd. Though most games will infuriate me. Stuff like not being able to get to the fourth stage in Battletoads for 20 years, but I'll still find something good. So stay tuned, I'm not dead, jut slow.
-Vamp
P.S. - I'm gonna try so hard not to just rehash news stories. Like most blogs where they just blog about what happened in another blog, which happened in another blog, which happened in real life. Those bug me. I may do one, if it directly involves me, or someone near to me. So fuck that, I'm going for original content. /minirant
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
My first post that isn't a repost of a repost or a repost - Ten Signs You May Be a Nerd
To preface this, yes, I know there are waaaaaay too many top ten lists. However, Since this is my first serious attempt at a blog, I had to do a top ten list. It's cliche, and everyone does it at one point or another, so let's get on with the list.
-Let's say you're really, really, bored, and you start quoting Star Trek bloopers. Not the actual episodes, but the outtakes.
I'm proud to say that I personally have done this. One winter, my car broke down, and it was freeeeeeeeezing. My brother and I had to walk a few miles home, in below zero temperatures (MN FTW...). On the way home, we got really, really, bored, and really, really, cold. So out of nowhere. My brother and I start quoting Star Trek bloopers. Of course we both laughed due to us being gigantic, hopeless nerds. After we ran out of blooper lines, we started to quote movies lines, which will lead into my next topic. It was the only thing we could do to keep our minds off the cold. Looking back on it, that was one of the most fun times I've had with my brother. We still periodicaly quote bloopers when we're in need of a good cheer up.
-You've seen the movie Free Enterprise, and can understand all the refferences. For those of you who don't know, the basic premise of the movie is that two nerds meet William Shatner, and end up making a movie with him. The movie is rife with Star Trek refferences, including some by Bill himself. It is a great movie and, it is semi-autobiographical. The two main characters are based on real people. The screenplay writer, and the director: Mark A. Altman, and Robert Meyer Burnett. PROTIP: There are little extras in the credits. Read them, they will amuse you, at least half of them, if you understand them. If you happen upon this blog, you can message me for stuf you don't understand, and I'll point you in the right direction.
-Of course this one had to come up. If you've ever gotten into a discussion about whether the tech in Star Wars or Star Trek is superior.
My two cents: Star Trek tech would win because of one thing. The Borg. All they'd have to do, is beam aboard the Death Star, inject some nanites, just about anywhere and then you have a Borg Sphere capable of destroying planets. Slowly it becomes assimilated, and you've got the most powerful wepon in the galazy. Since their shields adapt, blaster fire would be no problem, due to not being able to change the frequence of the blasts. Soon, you'd have a roving Death Star of Borg. Who would then start beaming aboard other ships, i.e. The executor, and then you'd have the most baddass leader of the imperial senate: Borg Emperor. Now, you're probably thinking since the Emperor has lightning powers, he could take down the Borg which are mechanical. All it takes is a lot of Borg to overpower him. Then he'd go around assimilating everyone in sight pretty much. Even Vader. This would give the Borg extremely strong force powers, and the entire Empire would fall to them. Also, in terms of pure firepower Star Wars also has the advantage. The only thing I could think of that the Star Wars universe has is The Force. Also, ther aren't enough jedi left in the world to take them on because of the massacre when Vader and Palpatine took over. Feel free to dispute in the comments.
-This one is an easy one if you've ever been to any kind of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Anime Convention; I might have some bad news for you... Double points if you cosplayed. Cosplay. Also known in non-nerd terms: dressing up as your favorite character.
I myself am guilty of this. Since I was 6 years old, I've been going to Star Trek cons, anime cons, sci-fi/fantasy cons. I've dressed up numerous times. Mostly as a Starfleet officer, and I plan on cosplaying in the future. I also go to on average 6-7 cons a year.
-You quote movies. Constantly. You have no original jokes of your own. You just have really good comedic timing where you put in an appropriate movie quote to make it funny.
Yes, I am extremely guilty of this. I have no original jokes of my. It's always movie quotes. The best is when the people don't know the quote. That's quite hilaious. Every once in a while, I'll be able to spout my own joke, but it's an extreme rarity
-You like Anime and Manga. That is one of the nerdiest things you can love next to Star Trek. and of course, I looooooove it. Ther are as many anime genres as there are movie genres, and they tend to go more in depth. Lately, it's been going mainstream, but it's still a nerdly persuit.
-You spend too much time on the internet looking at 4chan, the numerous other chans, lolcats, and digg. Also, guilty.
-This one should be obvious. You play Dungeons and Dragons, or some other table top RPG. This includes Warhammer too. I think this would also work in this part too. You play video games, especially the retro ones on a regular basis. You also bitch about how games are so much easier now-a-days (That's me included, but that's a whole other article..
-You're reading this list...
-Last but not least. You build your own computers, and have LAN parties. Both of which I'm guilty of.
Come to think of it. I fit all ten criteria. So I must be an uber nerd...meh, that's not too bad. I enjoy my nerdiness.
Your partner in nerdom,
VampKei
-Let's say you're really, really, bored, and you start quoting Star Trek bloopers. Not the actual episodes, but the outtakes.
I'm proud to say that I personally have done this. One winter, my car broke down, and it was freeeeeeeeezing. My brother and I had to walk a few miles home, in below zero temperatures (MN FTW...). On the way home, we got really, really, bored, and really, really, cold. So out of nowhere. My brother and I start quoting Star Trek bloopers. Of course we both laughed due to us being gigantic, hopeless nerds. After we ran out of blooper lines, we started to quote movies lines, which will lead into my next topic. It was the only thing we could do to keep our minds off the cold. Looking back on it, that was one of the most fun times I've had with my brother. We still periodicaly quote bloopers when we're in need of a good cheer up.
-You've seen the movie Free Enterprise, and can understand all the refferences. For those of you who don't know, the basic premise of the movie is that two nerds meet William Shatner, and end up making a movie with him. The movie is rife with Star Trek refferences, including some by Bill himself. It is a great movie and, it is semi-autobiographical. The two main characters are based on real people. The screenplay writer, and the director: Mark A. Altman, and Robert Meyer Burnett. PROTIP: There are little extras in the credits. Read them, they will amuse you, at least half of them, if you understand them. If you happen upon this blog, you can message me for stuf you don't understand, and I'll point you in the right direction.
-Of course this one had to come up. If you've ever gotten into a discussion about whether the tech in Star Wars or Star Trek is superior.
My two cents: Star Trek tech would win because of one thing. The Borg. All they'd have to do, is beam aboard the Death Star, inject some nanites, just about anywhere and then you have a Borg Sphere capable of destroying planets. Slowly it becomes assimilated, and you've got the most powerful wepon in the galazy. Since their shields adapt, blaster fire would be no problem, due to not being able to change the frequence of the blasts. Soon, you'd have a roving Death Star of Borg. Who would then start beaming aboard other ships, i.e. The executor, and then you'd have the most baddass leader of the imperial senate: Borg Emperor. Now, you're probably thinking since the Emperor has lightning powers, he could take down the Borg which are mechanical. All it takes is a lot of Borg to overpower him. Then he'd go around assimilating everyone in sight pretty much. Even Vader. This would give the Borg extremely strong force powers, and the entire Empire would fall to them. Also, in terms of pure firepower Star Wars also has the advantage. The only thing I could think of that the Star Wars universe has is The Force. Also, ther aren't enough jedi left in the world to take them on because of the massacre when Vader and Palpatine took over. Feel free to dispute in the comments.
-This one is an easy one if you've ever been to any kind of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Anime Convention; I might have some bad news for you... Double points if you cosplayed. Cosplay. Also known in non-nerd terms: dressing up as your favorite character.
I myself am guilty of this. Since I was 6 years old, I've been going to Star Trek cons, anime cons, sci-fi/fantasy cons. I've dressed up numerous times. Mostly as a Starfleet officer, and I plan on cosplaying in the future. I also go to on average 6-7 cons a year.
-You quote movies. Constantly. You have no original jokes of your own. You just have really good comedic timing where you put in an appropriate movie quote to make it funny.
Yes, I am extremely guilty of this. I have no original jokes of my. It's always movie quotes. The best is when the people don't know the quote. That's quite hilaious. Every once in a while, I'll be able to spout my own joke, but it's an extreme rarity
-You like Anime and Manga. That is one of the nerdiest things you can love next to Star Trek. and of course, I looooooove it. Ther are as many anime genres as there are movie genres, and they tend to go more in depth. Lately, it's been going mainstream, but it's still a nerdly persuit.
-You spend too much time on the internet looking at 4chan, the numerous other chans, lolcats, and digg. Also, guilty.
-This one should be obvious. You play Dungeons and Dragons, or some other table top RPG. This includes Warhammer too. I think this would also work in this part too. You play video games, especially the retro ones on a regular basis. You also bitch about how games are so much easier now-a-days (That's me included, but that's a whole other article..
-You're reading this list...
-Last but not least. You build your own computers, and have LAN parties. Both of which I'm guilty of.
Come to think of it. I fit all ten criteria. So I must be an uber nerd...meh, that's not too bad. I enjoy my nerdiness.
Your partner in nerdom,
VampKei
Police Encounters - Repost
Repost from 9/11/07
I've been pulled over a multitude of times for a multitude of reasons as I'm sure many of you have. We've all gotten ticketed, and had a "talk" with cops. Some of them are nice, but the majority of them are people who are "drunk" with power and abuse it way too much. I'm not saying that cops are bad, and aren't needed. I'm just saying that there is a way that we need to deal with cops without giving up our constitutionally given rights as North Americans.
I've been pulled over before by a cop who couldn't tell me why he pulled me over. I asked him why instead of telling him why I thought he did, and he stuttered, then he went and sat in his car doing who knows what before finally let me go. As I left he told me, "Well, don't do it again!" What the fuck did I do? I was doing nothing wrong, and he felt the need to pull me over and waste my time.
There are many ways to deal with cops, and most of us in the USA do it the wrong way by giving up our rights granted to us by the constitution. Something as simple as a cop asking you, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" can make you loose one of your rights. If you admit to him that you did something, you just waived your fifth amendment right to not incriminate yourself in a crime. You don't even have to answer that question. There's no law that says you have to speak to a cop. Just let the cop tell you what you did wrong and admit nothing. They can give you a ticket for one of two ways: If they have evidence against you such as their speed gun, or if you tell them that you did something. There's a chance that you could even avoid a ticket because of that.
The cops play mind games and use word play to make you give up your rights just like I stated above. In the video it tells you how to deal with the cops in different situations. Like if they come to your house, if you get pulled over, and even random ID checks. (Those are illegal. They need probable cause to do those. This isn't Nazi Germany.)
This video is made by the ACLU. A group that specialize in the Constitutional rights of North Americans. This video is made to teach you how to deal with cops without giving up your rights, and to keep yourself safe from harassment by some law enforcement people. You should watch this whether or not you're breaking the law. Everyone has to deal with the cops and this will teach you how to handle them.
In this video it will show what to do and what not to do in certain situations. The acting in this isn't the best, but it accurately detail how many police officers act, and how some people might react.
Edit: This video is especially important right now around September 11th. People are gonna be a bit scared, and the police are gonna be bulking up and gonna be on the offense. Unless they have a warrant, exercise your rights.
I've been pulled over a multitude of times for a multitude of reasons as I'm sure many of you have. We've all gotten ticketed, and had a "talk" with cops. Some of them are nice, but the majority of them are people who are "drunk" with power and abuse it way too much. I'm not saying that cops are bad, and aren't needed. I'm just saying that there is a way that we need to deal with cops without giving up our constitutionally given rights as North Americans.
I've been pulled over before by a cop who couldn't tell me why he pulled me over. I asked him why instead of telling him why I thought he did, and he stuttered, then he went and sat in his car doing who knows what before finally let me go. As I left he told me, "Well, don't do it again!" What the fuck did I do? I was doing nothing wrong, and he felt the need to pull me over and waste my time.
There are many ways to deal with cops, and most of us in the USA do it the wrong way by giving up our rights granted to us by the constitution. Something as simple as a cop asking you, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" can make you loose one of your rights. If you admit to him that you did something, you just waived your fifth amendment right to not incriminate yourself in a crime. You don't even have to answer that question. There's no law that says you have to speak to a cop. Just let the cop tell you what you did wrong and admit nothing. They can give you a ticket for one of two ways: If they have evidence against you such as their speed gun, or if you tell them that you did something. There's a chance that you could even avoid a ticket because of that.
The cops play mind games and use word play to make you give up your rights just like I stated above. In the video it tells you how to deal with the cops in different situations. Like if they come to your house, if you get pulled over, and even random ID checks. (Those are illegal. They need probable cause to do those. This isn't Nazi Germany.)
This video is made by the ACLU. A group that specialize in the Constitutional rights of North Americans. This video is made to teach you how to deal with cops without giving up your rights, and to keep yourself safe from harassment by some law enforcement people. You should watch this whether or not you're breaking the law. Everyone has to deal with the cops and this will teach you how to handle them.
In this video it will show what to do and what not to do in certain situations. The acting in this isn't the best, but it accurately detail how many police officers act, and how some people might react.
Edit: This video is especially important right now around September 11th. People are gonna be a bit scared, and the police are gonna be bulking up and gonna be on the offense. Unless they have a warrant, exercise your rights.
The Optimist: Rob Zombie's Halloween - Repost
Repost 9/7/07
I don't feel that I've explained well enough about what I plan on doing with The Optimist. I'll be reviewing both "bad" (There are very few bad movies) and good movies. I'll just review and talk about whatever piques my interest in a certain movie. Not really review, just talk about. This time it's the Halloween series and Rob's re-imagining. Before I go into this, and those who would bitch about spoilers. There aren't any huge surprises with this new movie. It's a logical step into what happens with Michael during his time in Smith's Grove. We all know the ending.
I have a very long and intricate history with Halloween. It was the first R-rated horror movie I ever saw. It's also the reason I love horror movies like I do.
I bought my first copy of it at Blockbuster for five bucks. (I say first because I have three different versions of it.) We had just moved here to Apple Valley, and my Dad and I were checking out the local Blockbuster. At the time Blockbuster had their own brand of movie releases. They released a bunch of older movies with their name stamped on the cover. I also have a copy of Night of the Living Dead from this series. My Dad said to me that it was a good movie and that I was old enough to watch it now. I was 11 at the time. I had no idea what it was. He just bought it for me. It was strange, and it changed my life. (Yes, it's a cheesy line, but it really did change my life. You'll soon see why.)
At the time all I knew was that it was an R-rated horror movie and those were forbidden in my house. (Now at all hours of the day and night you will hear screaming coming from my TV or computer.) We brought it home, and I was so freaked out at the prospect of what I might see that I couldn't get myself to watch it for five days. (Whatever you can think of is always scarier than what the movie actually is.)
Everyday I tried to put it in, but I just couldn't muster the courage. Finally, on the fifth day, I remember this like it was yesterday. It was early September, and the leaves were just starting to turn. My parents were out, and my aunt was watching my brother and I. She was in my parent's room watching a movie with my brother when I finally got the courage to put it in and hit play. I'm not entirely sure what it was that I like about it, but I LOVED it.
I'm still not entirely sure why I love it so much. From there on I saw them all out of order because of the differing prices of the movies, and the availability. At the time Halloween 4 and 5 were out of print. It was almost a year before I found them, and at Funcoland of all places!
The first one I saw after the original was Halloween 6. It was so much more violent than the others. The original didn't have much gore. It was more of the suspense of not knowing where he was or why he was killing everyone. This one had so much more, and it really freaked me out and enthralled me at the same time. I was in awe of what was going on before my eyes, the sounds of the knife going in, that haunting melody that John Carpenter wrote. It all just fit perfectly. I remember being amazed that they brought Tommy Doyle back. 6 was a decent movie, and it doesn't deserve all the flak it gets!
After Halloween, I started renting every horror movie I could get my hands on. Now I buy horror movies weekly. The DVD's are so cheap now. I have over 300 DVDs and easily more than half of them are horror.
Last year, I heard rumblings of a new Halloween movie, and this of course excited me. Then I heard that Rob was directing it. I was ecstatic! He's perfect. I couldn't think of anyone better to direct it than him. He definitely knows how to make a good horror movie. (Devil's Rejects is awesome!)
I heard that he had talked to John Carpenter about it and he gave him the ok. Even better! Then I heard that Rob was going to be basing this new movie in reality rather than the supernatural storyline that was part of the series already, and I was sort of put off by that, but it was Rob Zombie. He'd do a good job no matter what!
This movie is more of a re-imagining than a remake. Only part of it is a remake, and it's completely different from the original. The first third of the movie is about Michael and his life before he kills his sister. We see the classic beginnings of a serial killer. He's killing small animals, and taking pictures of road kill, he's being picked on, and he's just generally anti-social. He also wears this creepy as fuck clown mask all the time. The kid who played Michael did an amazing job, this kid is just creepy. His name is Daeg Faerch. Of course he snaps and is put into Smith's Grove Insane Asylum. This is where we meet Dr. Loomis played brilliantly by Malcolm McDowell. This part we see Michael slowly slip further and further into his insanity until finally he stop talking all together. The third part of the movie is where he escapes and where the remake part comes in. We all know what happens so I won't have to explain it.
Fast forward to a year later, last Friday. My Dad, Brother, and I went out to see Rob Zombie's Halloween on the huge screen at Carmike Cinema. We saw the midnight showing. There were surprisingly a lot of people there for something so late. As the movie started, I was so excited, and a little bit on edge. As the movie kept going, I was actually getting scared and genuinely freaked out with what was going on. This never happens with me and horror movies anymore. It takes a lot to bring that out of me now, and Rob did it with flying colours. As the credits hit, my jaw was on the floor. The first thought that came into my head was, "He did it. He actually, made a better movie than the original!"
In the earlier films Michael's story became so outlandish that it wasn't scary and just interesting. You always wanted to see where he'd go next. That's part of what I loved so much about them. In this Rob stripped all that away, and made Michael a human. Just a very sick person who wants a family. All he's got left of his family is Laurie, and his whole motive in this movie is to find her and connect with her.
That's what this movie boils down to: Family. Michael wants someone to connect with. His Mom killed herself shortly after realizing Michael would never leave the sanitarium. Shortly after that, Laurie is adopted by a new family and never told about her relation to him. He knows she exists, but he cannot get out. Loomis over the course of 15 years, tries to get through to him, and fails. He tells Michael there's nothing he can do for him, and leaves. Michael is left alone, and when he breaks out he just wants to find Laurie and make some kind of connection with her. This was the strength of the movie right here. Rob made Michael a human. I saw Michael as a human for the first time in this. There were times in the other movies where something similar to this was attempted, but the story made the impact slightly less than what it should have been like it was in this. This is shown especially in the scene where he meets Laurie for the first time since she was a baby. He drops his knife, takes off his mask, kneels in front of her, and gives her a picture of the two of them when they were young. At that point, my jaw was on the floor. It was such a powerful scene.
Every single actor in this movie did a great job in the parts they were given. The music and sound was mixed perfectly. I was glad that Rob kept the original theme. Early in development there were rumours that it wouldn't be kept. This is definitely a worthy remake and superior to the original in many ways.
Over Labour Day weekend, it broke records. It has already doubled the money it cost to make it, and everyone I've talked to seems to like it. I can't wait to see it again, and I suggest to everyone with an interest in horror to see this movie. This is what a horror movie should be. It shouldn't be torture porn, or a lame PG-13 movie. It should be balls out terror, and that's what this movie achieved.
-VampKei, The Optimist
I don't feel that I've explained well enough about what I plan on doing with The Optimist. I'll be reviewing both "bad" (There are very few bad movies) and good movies. I'll just review and talk about whatever piques my interest in a certain movie. Not really review, just talk about. This time it's the Halloween series and Rob's re-imagining. Before I go into this, and those who would bitch about spoilers. There aren't any huge surprises with this new movie. It's a logical step into what happens with Michael during his time in Smith's Grove. We all know the ending.
I have a very long and intricate history with Halloween. It was the first R-rated horror movie I ever saw. It's also the reason I love horror movies like I do.
I bought my first copy of it at Blockbuster for five bucks. (I say first because I have three different versions of it.) We had just moved here to Apple Valley, and my Dad and I were checking out the local Blockbuster. At the time Blockbuster had their own brand of movie releases. They released a bunch of older movies with their name stamped on the cover. I also have a copy of Night of the Living Dead from this series. My Dad said to me that it was a good movie and that I was old enough to watch it now. I was 11 at the time. I had no idea what it was. He just bought it for me. It was strange, and it changed my life. (Yes, it's a cheesy line, but it really did change my life. You'll soon see why.)
At the time all I knew was that it was an R-rated horror movie and those were forbidden in my house. (Now at all hours of the day and night you will hear screaming coming from my TV or computer.) We brought it home, and I was so freaked out at the prospect of what I might see that I couldn't get myself to watch it for five days. (Whatever you can think of is always scarier than what the movie actually is.)
Everyday I tried to put it in, but I just couldn't muster the courage. Finally, on the fifth day, I remember this like it was yesterday. It was early September, and the leaves were just starting to turn. My parents were out, and my aunt was watching my brother and I. She was in my parent's room watching a movie with my brother when I finally got the courage to put it in and hit play. I'm not entirely sure what it was that I like about it, but I LOVED it.
I'm still not entirely sure why I love it so much. From there on I saw them all out of order because of the differing prices of the movies, and the availability. At the time Halloween 4 and 5 were out of print. It was almost a year before I found them, and at Funcoland of all places!
The first one I saw after the original was Halloween 6. It was so much more violent than the others. The original didn't have much gore. It was more of the suspense of not knowing where he was or why he was killing everyone. This one had so much more, and it really freaked me out and enthralled me at the same time. I was in awe of what was going on before my eyes, the sounds of the knife going in, that haunting melody that John Carpenter wrote. It all just fit perfectly. I remember being amazed that they brought Tommy Doyle back. 6 was a decent movie, and it doesn't deserve all the flak it gets!
After Halloween, I started renting every horror movie I could get my hands on. Now I buy horror movies weekly. The DVD's are so cheap now. I have over 300 DVDs and easily more than half of them are horror.
Last year, I heard rumblings of a new Halloween movie, and this of course excited me. Then I heard that Rob was directing it. I was ecstatic! He's perfect. I couldn't think of anyone better to direct it than him. He definitely knows how to make a good horror movie. (Devil's Rejects is awesome!)
I heard that he had talked to John Carpenter about it and he gave him the ok. Even better! Then I heard that Rob was going to be basing this new movie in reality rather than the supernatural storyline that was part of the series already, and I was sort of put off by that, but it was Rob Zombie. He'd do a good job no matter what!
This movie is more of a re-imagining than a remake. Only part of it is a remake, and it's completely different from the original. The first third of the movie is about Michael and his life before he kills his sister. We see the classic beginnings of a serial killer. He's killing small animals, and taking pictures of road kill, he's being picked on, and he's just generally anti-social. He also wears this creepy as fuck clown mask all the time. The kid who played Michael did an amazing job, this kid is just creepy. His name is Daeg Faerch. Of course he snaps and is put into Smith's Grove Insane Asylum. This is where we meet Dr. Loomis played brilliantly by Malcolm McDowell. This part we see Michael slowly slip further and further into his insanity until finally he stop talking all together. The third part of the movie is where he escapes and where the remake part comes in. We all know what happens so I won't have to explain it.
Fast forward to a year later, last Friday. My Dad, Brother, and I went out to see Rob Zombie's Halloween on the huge screen at Carmike Cinema. We saw the midnight showing. There were surprisingly a lot of people there for something so late. As the movie started, I was so excited, and a little bit on edge. As the movie kept going, I was actually getting scared and genuinely freaked out with what was going on. This never happens with me and horror movies anymore. It takes a lot to bring that out of me now, and Rob did it with flying colours. As the credits hit, my jaw was on the floor. The first thought that came into my head was, "He did it. He actually, made a better movie than the original!"
In the earlier films Michael's story became so outlandish that it wasn't scary and just interesting. You always wanted to see where he'd go next. That's part of what I loved so much about them. In this Rob stripped all that away, and made Michael a human. Just a very sick person who wants a family. All he's got left of his family is Laurie, and his whole motive in this movie is to find her and connect with her.
That's what this movie boils down to: Family. Michael wants someone to connect with. His Mom killed herself shortly after realizing Michael would never leave the sanitarium. Shortly after that, Laurie is adopted by a new family and never told about her relation to him. He knows she exists, but he cannot get out. Loomis over the course of 15 years, tries to get through to him, and fails. He tells Michael there's nothing he can do for him, and leaves. Michael is left alone, and when he breaks out he just wants to find Laurie and make some kind of connection with her. This was the strength of the movie right here. Rob made Michael a human. I saw Michael as a human for the first time in this. There were times in the other movies where something similar to this was attempted, but the story made the impact slightly less than what it should have been like it was in this. This is shown especially in the scene where he meets Laurie for the first time since she was a baby. He drops his knife, takes off his mask, kneels in front of her, and gives her a picture of the two of them when they were young. At that point, my jaw was on the floor. It was such a powerful scene.
Every single actor in this movie did a great job in the parts they were given. The music and sound was mixed perfectly. I was glad that Rob kept the original theme. Early in development there were rumours that it wouldn't be kept. This is definitely a worthy remake and superior to the original in many ways.
Over Labour Day weekend, it broke records. It has already doubled the money it cost to make it, and everyone I've talked to seems to like it. I can't wait to see it again, and I suggest to everyone with an interest in horror to see this movie. This is what a horror movie should be. It shouldn't be torture porn, or a lame PG-13 movie. It should be balls out terror, and that's what this movie achieved.
-VampKei, The Optimist
Nintendo is fucking up...let's just hope it isn't for long - Repost+New Stuff
Before I start this rant I'll state my credentials. I've been gaming since I was 4. My Dad bought an Atari 7800 and it was all over for me. Two years later, I got an NES. I've bought all the major systems over the years, and I love games, but right now Nintendo is fucking up with the Wii.
When I say that Nintendo is fucking up, I don't mean overall since it's the biggest selling console in the world and of all time. I'm extremely happy for them. It's outselling the PS3 3 to 1 and the Xbox 10 to 1. They haven't had these kinds of sales for them since the days of the SNES. I've been waiting for them to get back to where they used to be, and now they're there. This is awesome, but for content it fucking sucks.
The way they got there is to get new gamers. The way to get new gamers is to get girls and older people.
The drawback of Nintendo's new platform of making gaming accessible to everyone means they're putting out a shitload of mini-game games. There are currently 60 games for the Wii. 2/3 of these are ports from other systems (These rarely work because the game was not made for the Wiimote so they're a bit awkward to play.), and the other 1/3 is mini-game games. A couple of mini-game games are good, but I don't need a shitload of them. I have Warioware, and WiiPlay. They're both great games, but I don't need anymore mini-game games! I'm tired of this shit! Give me some hardcore games. Games that'll take more than an hour to beat.
There are currently three hardcore games for the system. I own them all, and they're all quality games:
Zelda: Twilight Princess is truly the best Zelda game of them all. My favorite has been A Link To The Past for the SNES forever until this one. It was amazing.
Super Paper Mario: This game is also awesome. It takes the fun of the old side-scrolling Mario games, mixes it with some goodness of the 3-D versions, and gives it an awesome story to make a great game all around.
Finally, they've got Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: This is the game that has me liking Metroid again. I loved the other Metroids. Super Metroid might be the greatest side-scrolling adventure of all time, but I didn't like Metroid Prime because of the way it played. It just felt too complicated for the controller. Metroid Prime 3 has fixed that with the power of the Wii's controller. What little I've played is so, so great!
Sadly, this is all they have for hardcore games. When I say hardcore, I mean games that take some time to beat, and not in just one sitting. Hardcore games don't have to have blood or violence either. They just need an epic storyline, and some time to beat. I'm talking story here, not game play. Game play is a definite plus, but I can struggle through some crappy game play as long as the story is good. Story is what matters in a game otherwise, it's a fighting game (No story, like fucking Super Smash Brothers).
The first party Nintendo games are the strength of the system, but they need to make some deals to get original Wii games with other publishers. Games like Elebits, and Dewey's Adventure are a step in the right direction.
I also want some darker games. I like me some bright happy, but I want some dark and depressing sometimes like BioShock, or Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
There have been some darker games announced for the Wii but they're either getting cancelled or just disappear. Some games like The Sadness (According to IGN it's coming out March of 2008, but they can't usually be trusted.), Project Hammer, Day of Disaster. I really wanted them, but they've sort of disappeared. The only game I'm looking forward to for my Wii now is Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, and the new Fire Emblem.
I know some of you will be thinking, "Hey, give it some slack, It's only in its first year." The upcoming year doesn't look too interesting. I'm not a fan of Super Smash Brothers. The amount of fighting games I like you can count on one hand. I'm looking for story not mindless fighting.
The big games at E3 were WiiFit, and Mario and Sonic Olympics. Those aren't fun. If I was trying to get Fit, I'd walk up and down some stairs, or take a walk outside, and Mario and Sonic Olympics just seems boring. IT'S MORE MINI-GAMES.
I bought my Wii to play Wii games. Now it's just a virtual console. I WANT TO PLAY WII GAMES GODDAMN IT, AND NOT JUST MINI-GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-VampKei
PS I'm sill pissed at Nintendo. My Wii just sits, collecting dust, except for when the rare good VC game comes out, or even *SHOCK* a good Wii game comes out. I want to play Mad World and House of the Dead: Overkill. They both sound amazing. Oh, and No More Heroes. That's about it. Nintendo needs to go back to their hardcore audience, but this is for another article. My updated thoughts...
When I say that Nintendo is fucking up, I don't mean overall since it's the biggest selling console in the world and of all time. I'm extremely happy for them. It's outselling the PS3 3 to 1 and the Xbox 10 to 1. They haven't had these kinds of sales for them since the days of the SNES. I've been waiting for them to get back to where they used to be, and now they're there. This is awesome, but for content it fucking sucks.
The way they got there is to get new gamers. The way to get new gamers is to get girls and older people.
The drawback of Nintendo's new platform of making gaming accessible to everyone means they're putting out a shitload of mini-game games. There are currently 60 games for the Wii. 2/3 of these are ports from other systems (These rarely work because the game was not made for the Wiimote so they're a bit awkward to play.), and the other 1/3 is mini-game games. A couple of mini-game games are good, but I don't need a shitload of them. I have Warioware, and WiiPlay. They're both great games, but I don't need anymore mini-game games! I'm tired of this shit! Give me some hardcore games. Games that'll take more than an hour to beat.
There are currently three hardcore games for the system. I own them all, and they're all quality games:
Zelda: Twilight Princess is truly the best Zelda game of them all. My favorite has been A Link To The Past for the SNES forever until this one. It was amazing.
Super Paper Mario: This game is also awesome. It takes the fun of the old side-scrolling Mario games, mixes it with some goodness of the 3-D versions, and gives it an awesome story to make a great game all around.
Finally, they've got Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: This is the game that has me liking Metroid again. I loved the other Metroids. Super Metroid might be the greatest side-scrolling adventure of all time, but I didn't like Metroid Prime because of the way it played. It just felt too complicated for the controller. Metroid Prime 3 has fixed that with the power of the Wii's controller. What little I've played is so, so great!
Sadly, this is all they have for hardcore games. When I say hardcore, I mean games that take some time to beat, and not in just one sitting. Hardcore games don't have to have blood or violence either. They just need an epic storyline, and some time to beat. I'm talking story here, not game play. Game play is a definite plus, but I can struggle through some crappy game play as long as the story is good. Story is what matters in a game otherwise, it's a fighting game (No story, like fucking Super Smash Brothers).
The first party Nintendo games are the strength of the system, but they need to make some deals to get original Wii games with other publishers. Games like Elebits, and Dewey's Adventure are a step in the right direction.
I also want some darker games. I like me some bright happy, but I want some dark and depressing sometimes like BioShock, or Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
There have been some darker games announced for the Wii but they're either getting cancelled or just disappear. Some games like The Sadness (According to IGN it's coming out March of 2008, but they can't usually be trusted.), Project Hammer, Day of Disaster. I really wanted them, but they've sort of disappeared. The only game I'm looking forward to for my Wii now is Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, and the new Fire Emblem.
I know some of you will be thinking, "Hey, give it some slack, It's only in its first year." The upcoming year doesn't look too interesting. I'm not a fan of Super Smash Brothers. The amount of fighting games I like you can count on one hand. I'm looking for story not mindless fighting.
The big games at E3 were WiiFit, and Mario and Sonic Olympics. Those aren't fun. If I was trying to get Fit, I'd walk up and down some stairs, or take a walk outside, and Mario and Sonic Olympics just seems boring. IT'S MORE MINI-GAMES.
I bought my Wii to play Wii games. Now it's just a virtual console. I WANT TO PLAY WII GAMES GODDAMN IT, AND NOT JUST MINI-GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-VampKei
PS I'm sill pissed at Nintendo. My Wii just sits, collecting dust, except for when the rare good VC game comes out, or even *SHOCK* a good Wii game comes out. I want to play Mad World and House of the Dead: Overkill. They both sound amazing. Oh, and No More Heroes. That's about it. Nintendo needs to go back to their hardcore audience, but this is for another article. My updated thoughts...
Computers: A Necessary Evil - Repost
In my real life I fix computers for a living. You'd think that I like computers, but I downright despise them. Well, that's not true. I despise Windows. Since most of us are stuck using Windows, I have to fix Windows. 2/3 of the problems I fix are Windows related. The other 1/3 is networking problems. This last week I've been dealing with both of those problems on my own computer.
I bought a new stick of RAM so I could edit my Buffy fan-edit faster. So, I install the RAM, and the fucking computer won't start up. It gets to the Windows is loading screen and it restarts itself. So, I try safe mode and it won't even boot that. I get my XP CD to do a repair install, it gives me a blue screen of death 4 separate times. The first few are IRQ fuck ups, AND THERE WASN'T AN IRQ PROBLEM GODDAMN IT! The other one was a page file fuck up! Stupid piece of shit. Then I tried again and it said that some of the files on the CD were corrupt...I called up Wilford and got a copy of his, and it worked just fine. I decided to install windows on a new HD instead of the one it was on. I'm happy because finally it's working...except it isn't. I get to the load up screen and the RAM is giving me false readings. I'm supposed to have 2 gigs in there but it only shows 760mb! I had to rearrange my ram to get it working. Then it just fucking died on me again! I reinstalled it on yet another new HD and now it's working.
I'm happy for a moment. Then I try to access my old HD to transfer all the files to this new one. It says it's fucking corrupt and unreadable. I got this program called Acronis Disk Director Suite. It said it could fix corrupt HDs, and I also read on message boards about how some people had gotten all of their data back. I got a copy of it, and ran it. It made the HD readable, and sadly only saved a few files, but not the ones I wanted...I lost everything from my Buffy fan-edit. I have to start over again from scratch. That part is my fault for not backing up the script...
This shit should not happen. Installing RAM should not fuck up XP. That's fucking bullshit. Stupid piece of shit, and it's all I have if I want to play games. I've got just about enough money to buy a MacBook, and that's what I'm going to do. I'll only be using my Windows computer for gaming, and my MacBook for everything else. I won't have to deal with the fucking bullshit that Windows gives me.
On top of all that, a few days ago my internet started flaking out. I did the usual unplug the modem and router and plug it back in, and that didn't work. I thought it might be the router since all the lights on the modem indicated it was working. I plugged the modem directly into my Dad's computer and poof it worked. Stupid router. I hit the reset button on the router and that didn't work either...We had to buy a whole new router, and it got here a few hours ago. My Dad researched it and showed the results to me, and it got mainly positive reviews. It's a WRT300N Wireless Linksys Router. It's much faster than the older one, and it looks cool too. It's got some weird rader dish looking thingy. It's how the aliens keep tabs on us...
-VampKei
PS: I have my MacBook now, and I love it. I'm never buying a windows computer again, unless there's a game which isn't on any console. FUCK WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought a new stick of RAM so I could edit my Buffy fan-edit faster. So, I install the RAM, and the fucking computer won't start up. It gets to the Windows is loading screen and it restarts itself. So, I try safe mode and it won't even boot that. I get my XP CD to do a repair install, it gives me a blue screen of death 4 separate times. The first few are IRQ fuck ups, AND THERE WASN'T AN IRQ PROBLEM GODDAMN IT! The other one was a page file fuck up! Stupid piece of shit. Then I tried again and it said that some of the files on the CD were corrupt...I called up Wilford and got a copy of his, and it worked just fine. I decided to install windows on a new HD instead of the one it was on. I'm happy because finally it's working...except it isn't. I get to the load up screen and the RAM is giving me false readings. I'm supposed to have 2 gigs in there but it only shows 760mb! I had to rearrange my ram to get it working. Then it just fucking died on me again! I reinstalled it on yet another new HD and now it's working.
I'm happy for a moment. Then I try to access my old HD to transfer all the files to this new one. It says it's fucking corrupt and unreadable. I got this program called Acronis Disk Director Suite. It said it could fix corrupt HDs, and I also read on message boards about how some people had gotten all of their data back. I got a copy of it, and ran it. It made the HD readable, and sadly only saved a few files, but not the ones I wanted...I lost everything from my Buffy fan-edit. I have to start over again from scratch. That part is my fault for not backing up the script...
This shit should not happen. Installing RAM should not fuck up XP. That's fucking bullshit. Stupid piece of shit, and it's all I have if I want to play games. I've got just about enough money to buy a MacBook, and that's what I'm going to do. I'll only be using my Windows computer for gaming, and my MacBook for everything else. I won't have to deal with the fucking bullshit that Windows gives me.
On top of all that, a few days ago my internet started flaking out. I did the usual unplug the modem and router and plug it back in, and that didn't work. I thought it might be the router since all the lights on the modem indicated it was working. I plugged the modem directly into my Dad's computer and poof it worked. Stupid router. I hit the reset button on the router and that didn't work either...We had to buy a whole new router, and it got here a few hours ago. My Dad researched it and showed the results to me, and it got mainly positive reviews. It's a WRT300N Wireless Linksys Router. It's much faster than the older one, and it looks cool too. It's got some weird rader dish looking thingy. It's how the aliens keep tabs on us...
-VampKei
PS: I have my MacBook now, and I love it. I'm never buying a windows computer again, unless there's a game which isn't on any console. FUCK WINDOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This shit only happens in movies, literally - Repost
Repost from 8/26/07
What the fucking hell?!! My brother and I were sitting in a parking lot with the windows open eating our lunch, AND A FUCKING BIRD SHIT ON ME!!!
I was just sitting there enjoying my delicious Cane's when I felt something fall on my leg. I look down, and it's fucking bird shit! What the hell?! That only happens in the movies to the bad guy to make fun of him. I'M NOT THE FUCKING BAD GUY!!!!!!!!!
-VampKei
What the fucking hell?!! My brother and I were sitting in a parking lot with the windows open eating our lunch, AND A FUCKING BIRD SHIT ON ME!!!
I was just sitting there enjoying my delicious Cane's when I felt something fall on my leg. I look down, and it's fucking bird shit! What the hell?! That only happens in the movies to the bad guy to make fun of him. I'M NOT THE FUCKING BAD GUY!!!!!!!!!
-VampKei
The State of Music in the US - Repost
Repost from 8/16/07
I love music. It's one of my driving forces. If music didn't exist like in Lorne's home dimension, I'm not sure how I would function.
Decent music in the US is almost no where to be found. There are a few exceptions like: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Evanescence, Rob Zombie, and a few others, but there aren't many. There isn't even any good pop anymore. It's become so bad that pop automatically means bad. There's so much crap. It's getting impossible to sift through to find the good.
All the rap, pop princess albums, and whiny fucking emo bands flood the market leaving no room for anything good. It's amazing that anything good gets played at all. Lately, I've been seeing some decent music trickle in, but none of it is from the US.
For the past ten years easy, I've had to search for good music in places other than the US. There's so much that we never even hear. These bands and singers could have some decent careers here if the people stopped bitching about them not singing in English. Some of the bands do, such as Within Temptation, Xandria, Nightwish, and even some of X Japan's songs are in English. A lot of the ones I've found don't, and that's just fine. The band's have amazing talent, and shouldn't be precluded just because I can't understand what they're saying. I can always look up translated lyrics.
It's starting to get a little bit better, some of the good bands are getting record deals in the US, and now they're touring. A few great bands that have finally come over are Dir En Grey, Within Temptation, Nightwish, and even X have had releases here. The first three have even toured here which is great.
Some other amazing bands that have come over in recent years are: Lacuna Coil, Dragonforce, and Arch Enemy.
There's some great pop that hasn't reached America yet. One of them is Johnny Depp's partner, Vanessa Paradis (NSFW) she has a great voice. The sound of her earlier stuff reminds me a lot of The Beach Boys. Listen to the song Sunday Monday to see what I mean. I can't think of any other decent pop right now. I know there's more, but it escapes my mind.
There is so much good rock in Japan right now. Bands like: An Cafe, Versailles, D'espairs Ray, Gackt, and Miyavi. I could write so much about Japanese music that I will probably write another article about it later.
This is good music. It's not rap, or shitty emo stuff. It's quality music where the bands know their instruments, and the singers can actually sing. This is the stuff that gives me hope for better music in the US.
-VampKei
I love music. It's one of my driving forces. If music didn't exist like in Lorne's home dimension, I'm not sure how I would function.
Decent music in the US is almost no where to be found. There are a few exceptions like: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Evanescence, Rob Zombie, and a few others, but there aren't many. There isn't even any good pop anymore. It's become so bad that pop automatically means bad. There's so much crap. It's getting impossible to sift through to find the good.
All the rap, pop princess albums, and whiny fucking emo bands flood the market leaving no room for anything good. It's amazing that anything good gets played at all. Lately, I've been seeing some decent music trickle in, but none of it is from the US.
For the past ten years easy, I've had to search for good music in places other than the US. There's so much that we never even hear. These bands and singers could have some decent careers here if the people stopped bitching about them not singing in English. Some of the bands do, such as Within Temptation, Xandria, Nightwish, and even some of X Japan's songs are in English. A lot of the ones I've found don't, and that's just fine. The band's have amazing talent, and shouldn't be precluded just because I can't understand what they're saying. I can always look up translated lyrics.
It's starting to get a little bit better, some of the good bands are getting record deals in the US, and now they're touring. A few great bands that have finally come over are Dir En Grey, Within Temptation, Nightwish, and even X have had releases here. The first three have even toured here which is great.
Some other amazing bands that have come over in recent years are: Lacuna Coil, Dragonforce, and Arch Enemy.
There's some great pop that hasn't reached America yet. One of them is Johnny Depp's partner, Vanessa Paradis (NSFW) she has a great voice. The sound of her earlier stuff reminds me a lot of The Beach Boys. Listen to the song Sunday Monday to see what I mean. I can't think of any other decent pop right now. I know there's more, but it escapes my mind.
There is so much good rock in Japan right now. Bands like: An Cafe, Versailles, D'espairs Ray, Gackt, and Miyavi. I could write so much about Japanese music that I will probably write another article about it later.
This is good music. It's not rap, or shitty emo stuff. It's quality music where the bands know their instruments, and the singers can actually sing. This is the stuff that gives me hope for better music in the US.
-VampKei
The End of Angel - Repost
Repost from 8/6/07
To preface this: My brother and I thought of this before Angel: After the Fall came out. I still love this ending, and I think I might write a fanfic about it sometime. Tell me your thoughts, and what you would change.
My brother and I went to Baker's Square for breakfast this morning, and we were talking about my future Buffy fan edits. Eventually, we got to talking about the end of Angel. We were talking about how it should end. He came up with the perfect way out of the battle, and then I filled in the rest.
-At the end of Angel we see what's left of the gang in the alley: Angel, Spike, Illyria, and Gunn.
There's a whole horde of demons running at them and Angel says, "Personally, I wanna fight the dragon. Let's go to work!" He swings his sword, and takes down a few of the demons. There's so many he looses track of everyone. He runs up one of the fire escapes, and jumps on the dragon. He starts pummeling it, and finally as it starts to go down there's a bright flash.
-Now we're in the white room. Everyone is there, even Wes, and Gunn. The Conduit appears to them, and basically tells them they fucked up majorly, and that they'll have to deal with the Senior Partners themselves. Then another bright flash.
-Everyone finds themselves in this hell dimension. It's the Christian version of hell. Lots of lava, fire, and screams of eternal torment fill the place. Then there's a booming voice. This voice sounds like a couple of voices edited on top of each other, so it's got an extra level of depth. It addresses itself as the Senior Partners. You don't see them, you just hear them.
-They inform the gang that they're all going to be put in their own personal hell. One which they cannot get out of (Which they of course do, with help from the PTB).
-Angel and Spike are put together for obvious reasons. They end up in Britain chasing after Buffy for all eternity. No matter how close they get, she's just out of reach, and can't even tell they're there. If they stop chasing after her, they're both plagued with visions of Buffy being killed in numerous horrific ways. Eventually with a little help from the PTB, they find out about a portal that's inside the ruins of the Watcher's HQ. They end up in the inner lair of the Senior Partners. It looks very much like the LA branch of Wolfram and Heart.
-Gunn is stuck on the streets, watching his friends die fighting the vampires over and over. No matter how hard he tries to save them they always die, and he starts back at the begining. He survives every attack that's thrown at him. The only way for him to get out is to be killed by one of the vampires. He poofs back into existence in the lair of the Senior Partners with Angel and Spike.
-Wes is stuck inside the Hyperion. All the exits are blocked off, and there's no way into the basement. The only open areas are the many floors above him. In the distance he hears Fred screaming, and being tortured by some unkown thing. He spends his time in hell trying to find her. He opens the door that used to be her room in the hyperion, and is transported to her apartment, and he has to live through her being eaten from the inside out by Illyria one more time. After Fred has died again, Wesley is completely broken, he'll never return again. He's completely insane, just mumbling to himself, and rocking in the corner. He doesn't even notice that he's transported to the same room the others are in. They try to snap him out of it, but he is unresponsive. Eventually he just goes catatonic.
-Illyria ends up as a regular human with none of her super-strength, and has to live a normal life. She can't take it and hangs herself. Also, poofing to where the others are. (I couldn't think of anything better.)
-In this lobby of what looks a lot like the LA branch, a regular looking man in business clothing walks out, and introduces himself as Mr. Suvarta. He tells them that they weren't supposed to escape from where they were put, and that they will be "put down". Two other's join him. All three of them look like normal guys. They inform them that the group will have a way to defend themselves with one "puny" earth weapon of choice. (Those condesending assholes)
-Angel chooses a sword, Wes is still down for the count, Gunn chooses an axe, and Spike and Illyria chose to use their fists. A huge battle ensues. Lots of back and forth. Eventually, Gunn is brutally beaten to death by one of the other two senior partners, Wes is left alone because he poses no threat, Illyria is bloodied, and stumbling, same with Spike. Angel is having this huge battle with Mr. Suvarta. Lots of magic, and flashy stuff. Mr. Suvarta pulls out a stake, and lunges at Angel.
-Just as it looks like Angel is about to be dusted, everything stops. Everyone looks perplexed. We hear a familiar voice come from behind, it's Cordy. She's crouched over by Wes chanting something, and he snaps out of his catatonia.
-After a tearful reunion, she tells them that what they did on earth, and in this dimension to the senior partners has significantly weakened them, and the PTB will deal with them, as in gone forever. She tells them that she's ok, and that someone else is with her. It's Doyle.
-Doyle tells everyone that he and Cordy are the new liasons for the PTB. He also tells them that because of all the good they've done, they each get one wish. It doesn't matter how selfish it may be, they will do it because they all deserve their wildest dreams. Cordy goes onto say that the Shanshu prophecy was wrong, and that both Angel and Spike will both be human again.
-Illyria wishes to be back to her old self, and have her own hell dimension to rule over.
-Gunn asks to live in an alternate dimension where he and Fred can be together, and not have to worry about demons at all. A place where he can just live a normal life.
-Spike chooses to be human of course, and knowing that Buffy doesn't truly love him. He asks that Dru be human, and be normal again. He also asks to live in the 80's with her, and to have him memory wiped of the pain he suffered because of his obsession with Buffy.
-Wes wishes Fred back to life, and they live happily ever after.
-Angel is now human, and just asks for super strength, and speed so he can at least fight. He also asks to be transported to where Buffy is.
-We see different flashes of everyone in their new lives. The last one we see is Angel and Buffy, fighting the good fight. Together at last.
-VampKei
To preface this: My brother and I thought of this before Angel: After the Fall came out. I still love this ending, and I think I might write a fanfic about it sometime. Tell me your thoughts, and what you would change.
My brother and I went to Baker's Square for breakfast this morning, and we were talking about my future Buffy fan edits. Eventually, we got to talking about the end of Angel. We were talking about how it should end. He came up with the perfect way out of the battle, and then I filled in the rest.
-At the end of Angel we see what's left of the gang in the alley: Angel, Spike, Illyria, and Gunn.
There's a whole horde of demons running at them and Angel says, "Personally, I wanna fight the dragon. Let's go to work!" He swings his sword, and takes down a few of the demons. There's so many he looses track of everyone. He runs up one of the fire escapes, and jumps on the dragon. He starts pummeling it, and finally as it starts to go down there's a bright flash.
-Now we're in the white room. Everyone is there, even Wes, and Gunn. The Conduit appears to them, and basically tells them they fucked up majorly, and that they'll have to deal with the Senior Partners themselves. Then another bright flash.
-Everyone finds themselves in this hell dimension. It's the Christian version of hell. Lots of lava, fire, and screams of eternal torment fill the place. Then there's a booming voice. This voice sounds like a couple of voices edited on top of each other, so it's got an extra level of depth. It addresses itself as the Senior Partners. You don't see them, you just hear them.
-They inform the gang that they're all going to be put in their own personal hell. One which they cannot get out of (Which they of course do, with help from the PTB).
-Angel and Spike are put together for obvious reasons. They end up in Britain chasing after Buffy for all eternity. No matter how close they get, she's just out of reach, and can't even tell they're there. If they stop chasing after her, they're both plagued with visions of Buffy being killed in numerous horrific ways. Eventually with a little help from the PTB, they find out about a portal that's inside the ruins of the Watcher's HQ. They end up in the inner lair of the Senior Partners. It looks very much like the LA branch of Wolfram and Heart.
-Gunn is stuck on the streets, watching his friends die fighting the vampires over and over. No matter how hard he tries to save them they always die, and he starts back at the begining. He survives every attack that's thrown at him. The only way for him to get out is to be killed by one of the vampires. He poofs back into existence in the lair of the Senior Partners with Angel and Spike.
-Wes is stuck inside the Hyperion. All the exits are blocked off, and there's no way into the basement. The only open areas are the many floors above him. In the distance he hears Fred screaming, and being tortured by some unkown thing. He spends his time in hell trying to find her. He opens the door that used to be her room in the hyperion, and is transported to her apartment, and he has to live through her being eaten from the inside out by Illyria one more time. After Fred has died again, Wesley is completely broken, he'll never return again. He's completely insane, just mumbling to himself, and rocking in the corner. He doesn't even notice that he's transported to the same room the others are in. They try to snap him out of it, but he is unresponsive. Eventually he just goes catatonic.
-Illyria ends up as a regular human with none of her super-strength, and has to live a normal life. She can't take it and hangs herself. Also, poofing to where the others are. (I couldn't think of anything better.)
-In this lobby of what looks a lot like the LA branch, a regular looking man in business clothing walks out, and introduces himself as Mr. Suvarta. He tells them that they weren't supposed to escape from where they were put, and that they will be "put down". Two other's join him. All three of them look like normal guys. They inform them that the group will have a way to defend themselves with one "puny" earth weapon of choice. (Those condesending assholes)
-Angel chooses a sword, Wes is still down for the count, Gunn chooses an axe, and Spike and Illyria chose to use their fists. A huge battle ensues. Lots of back and forth. Eventually, Gunn is brutally beaten to death by one of the other two senior partners, Wes is left alone because he poses no threat, Illyria is bloodied, and stumbling, same with Spike. Angel is having this huge battle with Mr. Suvarta. Lots of magic, and flashy stuff. Mr. Suvarta pulls out a stake, and lunges at Angel.
-Just as it looks like Angel is about to be dusted, everything stops. Everyone looks perplexed. We hear a familiar voice come from behind, it's Cordy. She's crouched over by Wes chanting something, and he snaps out of his catatonia.
-After a tearful reunion, she tells them that what they did on earth, and in this dimension to the senior partners has significantly weakened them, and the PTB will deal with them, as in gone forever. She tells them that she's ok, and that someone else is with her. It's Doyle.
-Doyle tells everyone that he and Cordy are the new liasons for the PTB. He also tells them that because of all the good they've done, they each get one wish. It doesn't matter how selfish it may be, they will do it because they all deserve their wildest dreams. Cordy goes onto say that the Shanshu prophecy was wrong, and that both Angel and Spike will both be human again.
-Illyria wishes to be back to her old self, and have her own hell dimension to rule over.
-Gunn asks to live in an alternate dimension where he and Fred can be together, and not have to worry about demons at all. A place where he can just live a normal life.
-Spike chooses to be human of course, and knowing that Buffy doesn't truly love him. He asks that Dru be human, and be normal again. He also asks to live in the 80's with her, and to have him memory wiped of the pain he suffered because of his obsession with Buffy.
-Wes wishes Fred back to life, and they live happily ever after.
-Angel is now human, and just asks for super strength, and speed so he can at least fight. He also asks to be transported to where Buffy is.
-We see different flashes of everyone in their new lives. The last one we see is Angel and Buffy, fighting the good fight. Together at last.
-VampKei
Resident Evil 5 and Racism: Again - Repost
This is a repost from: 8/5/07
If you haven't read my first blog on this subject, here it is: RE 5 and racism.
I just read another bit about RE 5 on Kotaku. Some guy said that the RE 5 trailer looks like an advertisement to shoot poor people! Here's a link.
You guys are really taking this too seriously. Again, I will give my example of RE 4. The spanish people in there didn't exactly look like upper or even middle class to me. Yet, no one bitched about them. Stop taking this so seriously, it's just a game!
Yes, things are really bad in Africa, but they're doing that to themselves. Fighting constantly over land or tribal belonging. There is nothing anyone can do to stop them from fighting. As long as they fight over such trivial things as these we cannot help them. Stop worrying about the poor people in Africa. They can only help themselves. (I am not against helping the poor if that's what you're thinking.) It's only after all the useless fighting stops that we can give them help.
Just focus on the game that will no doubt be fun, and remember that Resident Evil isn't just about killing zombies. It's about an evil corporation that unleases it's viruses on unsuspecting people. Then you as the hero, have to come in and try to stop them. When you get to the bottom of it. The game is about helping the people who aren't infected yet. Which leads to helping the poor survive a bit longer. If you can't get past the trailer, don't play the game, and stop your bitching already!
-VampKei
If you haven't read my first blog on this subject, here it is: RE 5 and racism.
I just read another bit about RE 5 on Kotaku. Some guy said that the RE 5 trailer looks like an advertisement to shoot poor people! Here's a link.
You guys are really taking this too seriously. Again, I will give my example of RE 4. The spanish people in there didn't exactly look like upper or even middle class to me. Yet, no one bitched about them. Stop taking this so seriously, it's just a game!
Yes, things are really bad in Africa, but they're doing that to themselves. Fighting constantly over land or tribal belonging. There is nothing anyone can do to stop them from fighting. As long as they fight over such trivial things as these we cannot help them. Stop worrying about the poor people in Africa. They can only help themselves. (I am not against helping the poor if that's what you're thinking.) It's only after all the useless fighting stops that we can give them help.
Just focus on the game that will no doubt be fun, and remember that Resident Evil isn't just about killing zombies. It's about an evil corporation that unleases it's viruses on unsuspecting people. Then you as the hero, have to come in and try to stop them. When you get to the bottom of it. The game is about helping the people who aren't infected yet. Which leads to helping the poor survive a bit longer. If you can't get past the trailer, don't play the game, and stop your bitching already!
-VampKei
Serenity 2 - Repost - Oooooold News probably not going to happen
I love Serenity and Firefly as much as I love Buffy and Angel. It's the best sci-fi we've had in years, and we need more good sci-fi. If you are unfamiliar with Serenity or Firefly, look here. Here's a little snippet I found of Joss talking to a site called Rope of Silicon:
"So give me hope for a Serenity II
JW: Hope for it probably rests with this DVD.
Well I'll buy one.
JW: Actually I will too, people ask me why I would buy my own DVD and I tell them do you have any idea how awesome it is to buy your own movie?
So then you're saying we've got a chance?
JW: Well it's probably not being discussed in boardrooms right now, but the fact of the matter is if it makes enough money sooner or later they say "hey, this is money!" Also there are paradigms that are much cheaper, it doesn't have to be enormous. But on the other hand I'm happy to say all of my actors are working very hard. It's not the same situation where we all threw in for pennies because we had to finish telling that story. Now that situation might be harder to bring about."
The movie finally made some money, and it turns out it made enough money to warrant another DVD release. This is the last chance we will have to get more Serenity, so go out and BUY THE NEW SERENITY DVD!!!!
-VampKeiPS Buy the BluRay!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Optimist: List of variables that make a movie awesome - Repost
Here's my list of things that make a movie great in my mind.
-Christopher Walken
-Lance Henriksen
-Jeffrey Combs
-If a movie has a title of "Earth Vs. Whatever" it'll be good for some laughs
-Bad dubbing
-Cheesy puppets, or CG can also lead to some good times
-Anything by Joss Whedon automatically makes it one of the best movies ever! (This also applies to comics, music, and TV.)
-Really good music. Like in Almost Famous, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, or A Knight's Tale.
-Kevin Smith
-Amber Benson (Tara!)
-Clea DuVall
-Cats
-William Shatner rapping (It's happened once before!)
-Comic Book movies (Even Howard the Duck)
The list seemed longer in my head, but that seems to cover what can make a movie go from good to godly in a matter of seconds.
-VampKei, The Optimist
PS: I'll add more stuff like this later. Stuff that makes a movie good.
-Christopher Walken
-Lance Henriksen
-Jeffrey Combs
-If a movie has a title of "Earth Vs. Whatever" it'll be good for some laughs
-Bad dubbing
-Cheesy puppets, or CG can also lead to some good times
-Anything by Joss Whedon automatically makes it one of the best movies ever! (This also applies to comics, music, and TV.)
-Really good music. Like in Almost Famous, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, or A Knight's Tale.
-Kevin Smith
-Amber Benson (Tara!)
-Clea DuVall
-Cats
-William Shatner rapping (It's happened once before!)
-Comic Book movies (Even Howard the Duck)
The list seemed longer in my head, but that seems to cover what can make a movie go from good to godly in a matter of seconds.
-VampKei, The Optimist
PS: I'll add more stuff like this later. Stuff that makes a movie good.
Ozzy, The Aqua kitty - Repost
I talked about Ozzy in my last post. Ozzy is my kitty. I've had him since I was 4. Which would make him 17. His age doesn't show. He's still crazy like a kitten.
The only way his age shows is that he's going senile, and forgets we're here sometimes so he starts meowing and I have to say, "I'm right here." Then he stops.
One of his weirdest quirks is that he's obsessed with water. Ever since he was small, he's loved water. When I'd take a bath, he'd be sitting on the edge playing with the bubbles, or when washing your hands he'd bat at the water. He even follows people into the bathroom so he can get a chance at the water when they wash their hands. His second favorite place is the kitchen. He lives in there when he's not laying on me. He lays inside the sink. Every once in a while we'll forget he's there and when we walk up to the sink we hear a meow come from it. His favorite place is the bathroom shower. He loves being in there. He doesn't just stand outside, he must come in and be with the water.
Somehow, he always knows that I'm gonna take a shower because he gets really jumpy and vocal. As I head to the shower he walks in front of me looking back every second or so to make sure I'm there while meowing constantly. When I get into the bathroom, he goes right into the shower and meows even louder than before. When I finally turn the water on he gets an initial splashing and runs out to lick himself off. Once I get in, he follows suit, and just sits there licking at the water and watching. He's a strange one, he is.
Never ever, lock him out while you're taking a shower. He freaks the fuck out. He starts yowling and screaming outside the door. He gets up and starts trying to turn the doorknob with his paws, and he does this the whole time you're in the shower.
Yes, he's named after Ozzy Osbourne.
-VampKei
Ozzy, YEAH!!!!! - Repost
Every once in a while when I go to the store I decide to bring my cat, Ozzy along. It's usually pretty uneventful, until tonight. My brother and I went out to get a couple of items that I had missed getting at Cub earlier tonight. When we got out of the car, there were a couple of drunk guys sitting in the car next to us. They were extremely drunk. One of the dudes looked like he'd gotten in a fight earlier in the night. Here's how the conversation went:
"Do you have a cat in your car?!"
"As a matter of fact I do," I replied.
"Can I say what's up to him?"
I said, "Yeah, when I get back."
My brother and I went into the store, and got our items. When we got back, the guys were talking to the car and waving, "Hi, Ozzy! What's up man?!"
When I opened the door, Ozzy was right there, so I picked him up so the drunk guys could see him, and they were talking to him:
"What's up Ozzy?!"
"How you doing?"
"Rock on!"
We got back in the car and the guys were still going on:
"Ozzy, YEAH!!!!!"
Just as I closed the door, one of the guys said, "I thought you were crazy, but now I can see you're nuts!" After that remark they both started chanting his name, "OZZY, OZZY, OZZY!" That's what I heard as I was driving off. It was awesome!
-VampKei
The Optimist: The First One - Repost
Originally posted on 8/4/07
Many people have said that I'm not a good barometer for seeing if a movie is good or not because I will always find something I like in a movie. There are only 1 or 2 movies that I really, really, do not like.
One is this zombie movie I got in a collection. I can't remember the name, I just remember wanting this really annoying kid to die, but it turns out he was the only survivor. His name was Bob, and I still want him to die. I also fell asleep during that one. It's very rare for me to fall asleep during a first viewing of a movie.
I think the reason I find it very hard to hate a movie is because as a child I watched a lot of MST3K. It's still one of my favorite series. It's just great. Even in the worst movies on that, I could find something redeeming. Be it an actor, or a certain scene, or even the horrible sets.
If I see something that is not the best movie, I always think something along the lines of, "Well, it wasn't as bad as Manos: The Hands of Fate, plus it had Christopher Walken in it."
There are some variables that automatically make a movie good in my head:
-If Christopher Walken is in it, automatically the movie is good
-Same with Lance Henriksen, and Jeffrey Combs
-If a movie has a title of "Earth Vs. Whatever" it'll be good for some laughs
-Bad dubbing
-Cheesy puppets, or CG can also lead to some good times
Those are just a few things. Anyways, there's just about something good in everything, and I tend to focus on that, and it makes the movie watchable, and in some cases enjoyable. With that we move onto the first post of The Optimist!
I'll start with "Manos: The Hands of Fate". Manos is about this family that gets lost and stumbles upon some devil worshipping cult headed by The Master.
As you watch the movie, strange thoughts will appear in your head, "Why is there ten minutes of people driving in the beginning?", "Where are the credits?", "What's going on?", "What's with the goat-man-thing?". Enjoy these thoughts for these are what make this movie so very awesome.
That goat-man-thing is Torgo, he's a half-goat, half-man creature who walks really, really weird, and has the best theme music ever! His role in the movie was caretaker to the house when The Master was away. You can see a picture, listen to the theme and learn more about Torgo at a website devoted solely to him: http://www.torgo.org/
Many people hate this movie, but if you look deeper, and stop being so snobbish, you will see the vision of a fertilizer salesman who tried to make a good movie, but ran out of money.
In my opinion, if he had the money, the movie wouldn't be as good as it is now. The movie is perfect in its badness, and should be watched by all.
-VampKei, The Optimist
Many people have said that I'm not a good barometer for seeing if a movie is good or not because I will always find something I like in a movie. There are only 1 or 2 movies that I really, really, do not like.
One is this zombie movie I got in a collection. I can't remember the name, I just remember wanting this really annoying kid to die, but it turns out he was the only survivor. His name was Bob, and I still want him to die. I also fell asleep during that one. It's very rare for me to fall asleep during a first viewing of a movie.
I think the reason I find it very hard to hate a movie is because as a child I watched a lot of MST3K. It's still one of my favorite series. It's just great. Even in the worst movies on that, I could find something redeeming. Be it an actor, or a certain scene, or even the horrible sets.
If I see something that is not the best movie, I always think something along the lines of, "Well, it wasn't as bad as Manos: The Hands of Fate, plus it had Christopher Walken in it."
There are some variables that automatically make a movie good in my head:
-If Christopher Walken is in it, automatically the movie is good
-Same with Lance Henriksen, and Jeffrey Combs
-If a movie has a title of "Earth Vs. Whatever" it'll be good for some laughs
-Bad dubbing
-Cheesy puppets, or CG can also lead to some good times
Those are just a few things. Anyways, there's just about something good in everything, and I tend to focus on that, and it makes the movie watchable, and in some cases enjoyable. With that we move onto the first post of The Optimist!
I'll start with "Manos: The Hands of Fate". Manos is about this family that gets lost and stumbles upon some devil worshipping cult headed by The Master.
As you watch the movie, strange thoughts will appear in your head, "Why is there ten minutes of people driving in the beginning?", "Where are the credits?", "What's going on?", "What's with the goat-man-thing?". Enjoy these thoughts for these are what make this movie so very awesome.
That goat-man-thing is Torgo, he's a half-goat, half-man creature who walks really, really weird, and has the best theme music ever! His role in the movie was caretaker to the house when The Master was away. You can see a picture, listen to the theme and learn more about Torgo at a website devoted solely to him: http://www.torgo.org/
Many people hate this movie, but if you look deeper, and stop being so snobbish, you will see the vision of a fertilizer salesman who tried to make a good movie, but ran out of money.
In my opinion, if he had the money, the movie wouldn't be as good as it is now. The movie is perfect in its badness, and should be watched by all.
-VampKei, The Optimist
Resident Evil 5 and Racism - Repost+New Content
I posted this back on 8/2/07
It's still relevant with the impending release of Resident Evil 5 coming out on 3/13/09. So here it is:
P.S.
This whole thing is going to get worse when the game comes out. It's just stupid. I hate political correctness with a pssion. It's like PC people are treating us like children. "Oh noes, we might hurt someone's feelings" Some people get their feelings hurt. I get mine hurt all the time. I used to be fat, so I just grew a thick skin. There are many are other people who still make fun of me, and sure, it hurts, but I just ignore it, and go about my business. Believe me it's a lot worse than being called fat, but I can deal. People just need to grow a thicker skin.
-VampKei
It's still relevant with the impending release of Resident Evil 5 coming out on 3/13/09. So here it is:
Resident Evil is my all time favorite video game series. It's what got me started on my horror kick. I got into horror hard after I played the first Resident Evil back in 98. I also loved RE 2 when it came out. I used to have beating that game down to an art form. I could beat it in an hour and twenty minutes.
Anyways, after many, many games we're finally up to Resident Evil 5. I'm extremely excited for this game. Instead of using a background of darkness like in previous games this one is going to emphasize on light. It's looking awesome. It's set in either Africa or Haiti. I've read reports that it's set in either place. There will be a mixture of the zombies and the ganados from RE 4, and that there'll be some new monsters we've never fought before. This looks so cool. Of course, some uppity PC person had to ruin the fun.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/08/01/african-womens-blog-critical-of-resident-evil-5-trailer/
Seriously, what the fuck?! She says that:
"The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity. “I have a job to do and I’m gonna see it through.”
This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."
There are many problems with her statements. The game is set in Africa where the population is predominantly black. It's not like there's going to be a bunch of white zombies there just to appease the fucking PC people. Fuck them. With the way she's making it sound. She probably wants white people in Africa just so we don't have to shoot the black zombies. That's even more racist than there just being black zombies killed by a white man. There's black people in Africa. Just deal with it.
The main character is from an earlier game, and he's been sent on a mission to check out what's going on there. My guess is that since the zombie myth stems from the very much real voudun zombies, that we will find Umbrella used something from the zombie powder to create the zombies that have been the antagonists since the first game. It's not like he's there to expressly kill the black people.
The game is not marketed to children. It's gonna be rated M for a reason. The M rating means that you have to be 17 or older to buy a copy of it. All of the other Resident Evil games are rated M because they are for adults, and no doubt even before the people are 17 they will have an idea how they feel about black people. It's not like a game is gonna sway them one way or the other.
For those who would call me racist, I've never been a racist. I lived in a predominantly black neighborhood when I was a child and they don't bother me in the least, and still don't. The only black people who bother me are the suburban kids who think they're thugs from the ghetto. That's just fucking annoying! When I watched the trailer for this, I wasn't thinking, "Oh man, I get to kill me some blackies!" I was thinking, "This is pretty cool. We're gonna be seeing some voodoo zombies!"
Finally, Resident Evil 4's zombies were predominantly spanish. I didn't hear any spanish people pissed off about the zombies in that game as inhuman savages. The reason, it's not meant to be an attack on your race. They seemed to understand that it's just a game, and where the game is set is what kind of zombies will be portrayed. The first three games were set in America, hence American zombies. The fourth game was set in some spanish-speaking village in Europe, hence spanish zombies. Now with the fifth game it'll be black zombies because it'll be in Africa or Haiti.
This political correctness just has to stop. It's gone way too far when people are bitching about hate mongering in video games. Video games are for fun, and not there to push someone's agenda...unless it's the fucking bible game... It just goes to show how far people will go to find something to bitch about.P.S.
This whole thing is going to get worse when the game comes out. It's just stupid. I hate political correctness with a pssion. It's like PC people are treating us like children. "Oh noes, we might hurt someone's feelings" Some people get their feelings hurt. I get mine hurt all the time. I used to be fat, so I just grew a thick skin. There are many are other people who still make fun of me, and sure, it hurts, but I just ignore it, and go about my business. Believe me it's a lot worse than being called fat, but I can deal. People just need to grow a thicker skin.
-VampKei
Ghost Movies - Repost
I am a huge movie addict, so I would consider movies to be one of my nerdly persuits. I'll also have a column on here called The Optimist. I call it that because I grew up watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and it lowered my expectations for a good movie. Watching it made me see the good in the most horrible of movies. Now, every movie I watch I'll find something good in it. I like all movies. I talk about good movies too. So I wouldn't take my reviews seriously, unless you feel like it, your decision. So, on we go to my post about ghost movies.
Posted originally on 7/31/07
love ghost movies. Since I was a child I've loved ghost movies. I had three favorites as a kid: Mr. Boogedy, Ghostbusters, and Ghost Fever.
Mr Boogedy was about the ghost of this crazy old pilgrim who's haunting this house as the boogey man. In the end they defeat him by sucking him into a vaccum cleaner, genius! It was a made for TV movie from Disney when they were actually good. This was one of my favorites. The tape that we had it on wore out because I watched it so much. There was also a sequel which wasn't as good but furthered the story and it was still decent. A couple of interesting facts about this movie is that David Faustino from Married With Children and Kristy Swanson who was the original Buffy are both in this.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091566/
Everybody knows Ghostbusters so I don't really have to get into it, so I'll go with Ghost Fever. It's a delightfully bad movie about two detectives who go to this mansion to evict whoever is living there when they stumble upon this house that's populated by a couple of ghosts and a vampire. It's really really bad, but in that good way. I first saw this when I was a kid, since I was obsessed with ghost movies due to Ghostbusters, my mom rented every single ghost movie they had in the kids section at Blockbuster. This one we rented a lot. It's one of those movies that would be perfect for MST3K. I watched it again recently because I found it at Goodwill, and it's as bad as I remember it, but just as funny. I'd definitely recommend this one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093088/
Ghost movies are the best because of the atmosphere. Most involve an old house covered in spider webs with really old books, and furniture. Then weird shit starts to happen, floating books, pots and pans banging together, sometimes an apparition that someone sees out of the corner of their eye. The movies play on the fear of the unknown, and that's what makes ghost movies scary. What you come up with in your mind is always scarier than what could ever be shown.
That's what makes them more effective than any vampire or zombie movie. You know what's there, eventually you'll get used to the sight of whatever monster is being thrown at you. With ghosts, you never know where they are or what they look like, and that's brix shitting scary. I hope we get more ghost movies soon. I'm getting tired of all this torture porn. Real people aren't scary, we already know what they're capable of. We need some good old ghost movies. I haven't seen 1408 yet but I heard it's good. Hopefully that movie made enough of an impact on the movie bigwigs to start greenlighting more ghost pictures.
Some of my other favorite ghost movies are:
The Haunting of Hill House - Both original and remake, link is to remake
Potergeist
Thirteen Ghosts (remake, another one so bad it's good)
Beetlejuice (The first movie I ever sat through as a kid.)
The Fog
The Frighteners
House and;
White Noise
-VampKei
I may add more to this, for now, I'm gonna repost all the LOFLBlog stuff first, then read, and edit.
Posted originally on 7/31/07
love ghost movies. Since I was a child I've loved ghost movies. I had three favorites as a kid: Mr. Boogedy, Ghostbusters, and Ghost Fever.
Mr Boogedy was about the ghost of this crazy old pilgrim who's haunting this house as the boogey man. In the end they defeat him by sucking him into a vaccum cleaner, genius! It was a made for TV movie from Disney when they were actually good. This was one of my favorites. The tape that we had it on wore out because I watched it so much. There was also a sequel which wasn't as good but furthered the story and it was still decent. A couple of interesting facts about this movie is that David Faustino from Married With Children and Kristy Swanson who was the original Buffy are both in this.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091566/
Everybody knows Ghostbusters so I don't really have to get into it, so I'll go with Ghost Fever. It's a delightfully bad movie about two detectives who go to this mansion to evict whoever is living there when they stumble upon this house that's populated by a couple of ghosts and a vampire. It's really really bad, but in that good way. I first saw this when I was a kid, since I was obsessed with ghost movies due to Ghostbusters, my mom rented every single ghost movie they had in the kids section at Blockbuster. This one we rented a lot. It's one of those movies that would be perfect for MST3K. I watched it again recently because I found it at Goodwill, and it's as bad as I remember it, but just as funny. I'd definitely recommend this one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093088/
Ghost movies are the best because of the atmosphere. Most involve an old house covered in spider webs with really old books, and furniture. Then weird shit starts to happen, floating books, pots and pans banging together, sometimes an apparition that someone sees out of the corner of their eye. The movies play on the fear of the unknown, and that's what makes ghost movies scary. What you come up with in your mind is always scarier than what could ever be shown.
That's what makes them more effective than any vampire or zombie movie. You know what's there, eventually you'll get used to the sight of whatever monster is being thrown at you. With ghosts, you never know where they are or what they look like, and that's brix shitting scary. I hope we get more ghost movies soon. I'm getting tired of all this torture porn. Real people aren't scary, we already know what they're capable of. We need some good old ghost movies. I haven't seen 1408 yet but I heard it's good. Hopefully that movie made enough of an impact on the movie bigwigs to start greenlighting more ghost pictures.
Some of my other favorite ghost movies are:
The Haunting of Hill House - Both original and remake, link is to remake
Potergeist
Thirteen Ghosts (remake, another one so bad it's good)
Beetlejuice (The first movie I ever sat through as a kid.)
The Fog
The Frighteners
House and;
White Noise
-VampKei
I may add more to this, for now, I'm gonna repost all the LOFLBlog stuff first, then read, and edit.
Stuff from LOFLBlog
The next posts are gonna be from LOFLBlog. Not all of them will pertain to what I'll be posting here. So, hopefully, you'll enjoy them.
Intro to Nerdo Domini
Hey all,
I'm VampKei. I used to write a blog for LOFLBlog, which has been dead for about a year. I'm gonna take some posts from there and post them on here because I don't want them to disappear into the aether. I've been getting the itch to write, so i've started up Nerdo Domini.
The word stems from Anno Domini which losely translates to "In the year of our lord", and denotes the time after Jesus was born. Since he lived until his 30's. I felt it was appropriate, since nerd culture started about 30 years ago. I'm not religious, but I had to explain the definition. I also chose this name because it sounded cool. I'll write an article about nerds through the years soon, and the evolution of nerds in general. I hope you enjoy the blog. It'll cover many topics which I consider nerdy. Which is a lot of things, even stuff that people would consider normal. There are nerds everywhere, even in the most common place. You just have to look for them. Most of us are very good at hiding, and acting like normal people, while others, well, not so much. You'd know if you've ever been to any kind of convention. Be it Sci-Fi or anime.
I'll also be writing around just random things. The stuff from LOFLBlog doesn't always pertain to nerdiness, but sometimes it does, so woot. I hope you enjoy the blog.
-VampKeii
I'm VampKei. I used to write a blog for LOFLBlog, which has been dead for about a year. I'm gonna take some posts from there and post them on here because I don't want them to disappear into the aether. I've been getting the itch to write, so i've started up Nerdo Domini.
The word stems from Anno Domini which losely translates to "In the year of our lord", and denotes the time after Jesus was born. Since he lived until his 30's. I felt it was appropriate, since nerd culture started about 30 years ago. I'm not religious, but I had to explain the definition. I also chose this name because it sounded cool. I'll write an article about nerds through the years soon, and the evolution of nerds in general. I hope you enjoy the blog. It'll cover many topics which I consider nerdy. Which is a lot of things, even stuff that people would consider normal. There are nerds everywhere, even in the most common place. You just have to look for them. Most of us are very good at hiding, and acting like normal people, while others, well, not so much. You'd know if you've ever been to any kind of convention. Be it Sci-Fi or anime.
I'll also be writing around just random things. The stuff from LOFLBlog doesn't always pertain to nerdiness, but sometimes it does, so woot. I hope you enjoy the blog.
-VampKeii
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