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Halloween 2009

Halloween is usually a pretty big deal around our household, but this year we've been a little sidetracked by trips to Africa, upcoming trips to the U.S. (as well as an additional trip to Africa in the mix). A lot of moving around. A lot of stuff to try and keep track of. So, this year our Halloween celebration suffers. No costumes for me this year.

Still, I love Halloween. The costumes, the scares, the official shift (in my mind it's official at least) from warm days to cold days. Next year we'll have to reboot our Halloween celebrations with extra ferocity to make up for our missed year. Until then, I thought I'd give you my list of the scariest movies of all time! Enjoy.

In no particular order....

Psycho

This movie never gets old and it's scary every time I see it. This movie is credited as being the progenitor of the slasher genre, but don't confuse Norman Bates with Freddy or Jason yucking it up in summer camps and nightmares. Norman's sincere desire for companionship, his over-eager desire to be friends, is so well-delivered that you can taste Marion Crane's discomfort eeking from the screen like a slow, grinding ache. Hitchcock never disappoints, but Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh offer performances as great as Hitchcock's reputation.

Jaws

The really great scary movies are the ones that evoke emotion in the movie-goer. The movies that pull you into the emotions of the characters and make you believe that the emotions are really your own--these are the best scary movies. Jaws is one of the best scary movies ever. It's one of those truly rare cinematic experiences in which script, director and actors all emerge to offer an event in which movie-goers participate, not simply watch from a distance and then go about their lives.

Aliens

This movie came on television when I was in fourth grade. It was spring. It was the first time I'd watched a movie that truly terrified me. The commercial breaks couldn't come quick enough; I needed respite from the intensity. I begged someone to tell me what was going to happen because I needed resolution that the movie was too slow in revealing (no one would help me). The unstoppable killer, unable to experience remorse, is a motif that is always terrifying (see, The Terminator for other examples of this). Unfortunately, subsequent Alien movies weren't as good as the first two, and, the truth be told, I actually like the first one better. However, name a movie more terrifying than this one and I'll call you a liar.

Other scary movies I like:

Rear Window--another Hitchcock masterpiece; first time I saw this was on OETA movie club on a Saturday night. Suspense in spades. and clubs, hearts and diamonds.

The Exorcist--the obligatory movie of any scary movie list; deservedly so. I love the extreme lack of soundtrack in this movie. So much silence. A lot of horror movies start of with a bang. Not this one. It's a slow, brooding, punishing film.

The Mothman Prophecies--this is an overlooked movie. I'd never heard of it when I saw it a few years ago at the Northpark dollar movies. Just wanted to go to the movies and ended up at this one. It's more spooky than anything; you'll look over your should at night after seeing it.

Happy Halloween

Lessons from Monty Python

No matter how good a second language becomes for a person, I've found that (for me) all conversations eventually break down. This is just a fact of speaking in a foreign language. On a long enough time line, the conversation is going to gradually and inevitably venture into realms of language in which the non-native speaker cannot compete. During those times, I always think of this scene from Life of Brian.

Eric Carmen Knows How I Feel

I was catching up on the news today to find this piece from msnbc.com: Girl, 16, sets off on 23,600-mile yacht trip. According to the article, Jessica Watson's goal of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world has spark no small debate in Australia. Should someone so young be encouraged to put their life at risk in this manner? I wondered myself if this was irresponsible behavior, but as I read the article, I then I became disappointed as I realized that sailing around the world unassisted isn't what it once was. Ms. Watson "...will be in constant contact with her support team via radio, e-mail and a blog."

Why doesn't she just allow someone in a bunker in rural Nevada navigate the boat for her with remote control?

I don't really want to diminish the dangers facing this teenager because what she is attempting is certainly an impressive feat. Still, I grew up reading the literature of Jack London and I'm compelled to contemplate whether or not adventures (and world records for that matter) have maybe become a little trite in wired world.

Godspeed, Jessica. And, watch out for cyber bullies.

Shalom

Thoughts on 1980s

I think that the 1980s are a fascinating decade. The things human beings did and participated in during this time period is nothing short of impressive. It is a really interesting historical time period: Reagen, Gorbachev, Thatcher, apartheid, the last decade of the cold war, Tiananmen Square, so on and so forth. But for all of these fascinating figures and events that occurred during the 80s, there is one, single image that overshadows all others:
Cheese--it's what's for dinner...in the 1980s...cheese is what people always seem to think of when they think of the 80s, and how can they not? I was looking at a list of Bob Dylan's albums on the internet when I noticed the cover from 1985 album, Empire Burlesque.
BOB DYLAN!!! Swindled by the cheese of the 80s! How about this album cover from another group of respect rock musicians:
This album cover has to be in the running for cheesiest, most-embarrassing ever simply because it's the Rolling Stones. If it were Mr. Mister we probably wouldn't even notice. But the Stones? The greatest rock 'n roll band in the world or does that title now belong to Jessie and the Rippers? The 1980s: the decade that pulled in our cultural heroes of the 60s and 70s, oozed its cheese over them and turned them into pink-and-yellow-clothed mannequins. Even Lou Reed was not exempt from this cultural perversion:
That pompous but sincere lead singer of U2 could not be spared:
And Madonna broke into the mainstream looking like this:
Check out the look Axl Rose sported in the "Welcome to the Jungle" video:
Which is only slightly worse than the way he looks today:
What a long strange trip.

Glenn Beck, You Continue to Impress

As you all know, here at the blog we're pretty entertained by the Dundie award-winning Mr. Beck. With each subsequent encounter I have with him, I become more and more impressed (in the sense of 'amazed').

Now, I'm just a little dog, and I am living in a bit of a post-op haze, but I'm pretty sure he is TWO letters short of correctly spelling "oligarchy".