How Does This Work?

Today, I discovered there is a "5-hour Energy" that is labeled as "decaf." Now, I was under the impression that this product was nothing but caffeine. Since it also says "zero sugar," I'm wondering where the five hours of energy are supposed to originate? Magic fairy dust, maybe?

Knight Watchman: Graveyard Shift - A Review

Well, this is funny. I got my copy of Knight Watchman: Graveyard Shift from the fine folks at Pulp 2.0 Press not very long ago. I have been thinking, "Y'know, I ought to review that." Tonight was going to be the night I did.

One problem - in looking back, I said pretty much everything I wanted to say about the story in this January entry. Huh. Now what? Well, I could always tell you if this new collection does the story justice and is worth your hard-earned money. So I will.

Yes, yes it is. If you are unfamiliar with Pulp 2.0's books, let me assure you that it stands proudly alongside collections published by major comics groups. Maybe it's even better than some of them (no names, please!). Design, binding, and paper stock are all top-notch. The reproduction of the art loses nothing from the original comics. It's a quality product, and you can order it with confidence. I would say that even if I didn't get name checked in the text feature.

...But yes, I am name checked in the text feature. Thanks Bill! And thank you to Gary, Chris, and Ben for putting together such a wonderful story that still entertains after all these years.

My Favorite Quote About Writing

"The point is not understanding what I write, but feeling it." -- Bob Dylan

Read more about it!

The Legend of Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame is considered one of the greatest guitarists ever. How great? Great enough to be mentioned in utter reverence in two wildly different songs.

Mission Stardust

The first film I watched in my movie pack madness was MISSION STARDUST (1967). This was not the original plan. I'd initially chosen the Matt Cimber-directed warrior woman film HUNDRA to kick off this little project of mine. But when I found that disc and loaded it up, I impulsively decided to scratch my long standing itch to see MISSION STARDUST.

MISSION STARDUST is based on the "Perry Rhodan" novels, and apparently has a bad reputation among the fans of the source material. While I've read some Rhodan, I can't call myself an expert. So having said that, this movie is a lot of fun. I'm not sure it deserves all the scorn I've seen heaped on it.

Don't get me wrong - MISSION STARDUST is not a classic that will change your life. But it is an engaging and likeable little epic, even though nothing really happens for the longest time. It is also achingly 1960s, in a way that could only come from that era. This alone might be sufficient enticement (or warning) for some of you.

Let it also be known for the record that this film features an actress named Essy Persson as the character Thora. Thora has become my latest fictional character crush. That's both for her personality (which I cannot show you here) and her looks (which I can).

Beastie Boys - "Licensed To Ill"

Over a year ago, I called this album "the soundtrack of my being 15 years old." I just listened to it the other day, and you know what? It still holds up remarkably well. That's quite a relief, because the things that you think are cool at that age don't always sound the same as you get older.

I always laugh when people get into a twist over the latest "shocking" lyrics from the latest popular music act. I think about how much I listened to this album (actually, I owned it on cassette at the time) and I never had the urge to copy any of it in real life. It's filled with violence, misogyny, stupidity, and drug use. It's also hilarious, and so over the top that you'd have to be impaired to take it seriously. I'm sure that didn't stop people...

Nah, Licensed To Ill was wonderful as a teenager because of its catchy music and ridiculous braggadocio. I didn't understand the significance of references like "Forty-Deuce" then (New York's 42nd Street, famed for assorted tawdry stuff), but I knew they were speaking a language I wanted to hear. Plus, there was a knowing wink and silliness to all of it. I mean, how can you parse:

I got a girl in the Castle and one in the pagoda/You know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda

...And think, "Wow, these guys mean it!"?

Movie (Pack) Madness

A funny thing happened during my absence from blogging. I wound up buying over 100 movies in one day. This might sound like an incredible extravagance on my part, and a mite difficult to boot. But no, all it involved was stopping at Wal-Mart to pick up anti-freeze.

As I wandered the aisles of what I term Necessary Evil, I found a display dump with a number of those Mill Creek multi-movie packs. I've long considered buying them, but could never justify it. But could I justify $8.99 apiece? Wha--?!? Yep, that's how much these were. So I grabbed a few, and just picked up a couple more today.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this is a fantastic opportunity for me to watch and own many movies that I would otherwise never have seen. On the other hand, these multi-packs are one of the things that I think has seriously devalued movies in general. If you do the math, 50 movies at $8.99 comes out to something like 18¢ a movie. Or if you figure out how much you are paying "per episode" on the 150 EPISODE CLASSIC SCI-FI TV, it comes to less than a penny per program.

I realize I'm flashing my Old Man Card here, but I can remember a time when I happily paid $8.99 for one LP speed VHS tape of a movie of questionable worth. How long did that Goodtimes Home Video edition of HORROR EXPRESS stay in print? There were a plethora of others, but that one stands out in my memory. Who could have foreseen a day when even being able to buy cheap tapes of bad old movies would pale next to the ability to buy bad old movies in bulk for practically nothing?

Still, my reservations don't change the fact that these collections exist. And since they do, I might as well use them for my own devious purposes. I have already watched a few films that had intrigued me over the years, but which I was probably not going to otherwise buy. Yeah, I've now seen things like MISSION STARDUST, INVISIBLE AVENGER and SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. And the funny thing is that one of my main worries about these discs - that the image would be all blocky - has not not been an issue. I guess/hope that is something that's been cleaned up a bit in more recent years.

I've added a "movie packs" tag here, to denote films I've watched specifically because they were included in these multi-packs. I don't want to overburden the "general nonsense" tag too much, even though it's not entirely useful for finding anything. This way, you can rest assured you able to seek out all the entries in my strange odyssey in movie watching.