You know the movie They Live?
No?
Ok, without spending too much time on it, it is a movie (starring a wrestler as an actor, so you know it's great acting) about a man who finds that the world he lives in has been taken over by aliens. And he puts on these sunglasses and normal people now look like these skeletal aliens, and billboards/advertisements turn into black and white messages that say "OBEY!" and other generic threats.
It's a bit ridiculous and the people who live in this world are completely unphased by the alien takeover that has already ocurred (been occuring?) since they don't have magic sunglasses and can't see that the aliens took over. Which of course results in this wrestler-actor just yelling at people throughout the movie trying to convince them that there are aliens and weird signs, to which people really don't care. Also, the aliens are not threatening. If you live in a normal world populated by aliens, but they aren't threatening and nothing has changed, then why make a big stink? It is like there's some underlying message about race or something in there, but the writers of this movie didn't even realize it.
Speaking of stink, there is a great line where the lead character is wearing his magic sunglasses and sees an alien woman put on lipstick in a mirror. He shouts at her "IT´S LIKE PUTTING PERFUME ON A PIG!" Of course, the other surrounding people are just like "Dude, wtf?" Which is basically like the entire movie.
So, where am I going with this, you might ask?
I saw one of those banner ads today that has a splotchy-skinned girl magically airbrushed to a smooth-skinned beauty with some "photo software" that I am sure is just a virus when you click on the banner ad.
It got me into thinking about They Live for some reason, because I think I once read something about a girl who was like "If only people could see the airbrushed me all the time!"
What if the They Live glasses really existed, and we all wore them all the time? Then we could use them for the opposite effect, allowing for the entire world to see airbrushed, abnormally perfect versions of ourselves! If someone dared take them off, they might see people's pimples or other "imperfections." So, of course, no one would ever take them off.
Just thinking out loud.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Diablo Cody interviews Adam Brody
Diablo Cody (writer and director of Juno, Jennifer's Body) sits down with actor Adam Brody (The OC), and it is a gem.
Some people find Diablo Cody's dialogue (in her movies, that is...I don't think people really talk to her in person) annoying, but I find this interview pretty hilarious. Especially the "Tiki Ten" rapidfire questioning at the end. But the whole interview is great.
Have a look...
Some people find Diablo Cody's dialogue (in her movies, that is...I don't think people really talk to her in person) annoying, but I find this interview pretty hilarious. Especially the "Tiki Ten" rapidfire questioning at the end. But the whole interview is great.
Have a look...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Airlines lose luggage AND android heads.
I was meandering through the internet and came across the name "Philip K. Dick," who is a novelist and short story writer whose works have been adapted to many films.
Examples include Next, Paycheck, Total Recall, Blade Runner, and A Scanner Darkly. If you don't know/haven't heard of any of these films, then it's because I am a huge nerd and you are not.
So I wanted to read more about him and went to the Wikipedia page of Philip K. Dick:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_k_dick
There, I found he had a creepy-as-hell android made in his likeness. Not so strange for a guy who wrote about alternate universes and crazy governmental control of society.
There was even a super creepy picture of this android:
In the description, it says an American West Airlines employee misplaced the head of the android in 2006, and it hasn't been found since. First luggage, then android heads? Those bastards.
Examples include Next, Paycheck, Total Recall, Blade Runner, and A Scanner Darkly. If you don't know/haven't heard of any of these films, then it's because I am a huge nerd and you are not.
So I wanted to read more about him and went to the Wikipedia page of Philip K. Dick:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_k_dick
There, I found he had a creepy-as-hell android made in his likeness. Not so strange for a guy who wrote about alternate universes and crazy governmental control of society.
There was even a super creepy picture of this android:
In the description, it says an American West Airlines employee misplaced the head of the android in 2006, and it hasn't been found since. First luggage, then android heads? Those bastards.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Scariest Things I Encountered as a Kid
I saw this top ten list on wired.com, of the top ten things scariest things that they watched as a kid.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/the-10-scariest-things-i-watched-as-a-kid/
I was reading through it and decided to follow suit, stretching to movies and games.
10. Gollum from the animated Hobbit movie
Yes, this is just like on Andrew Cardon's list. As I read that, I remembered this exactly. We own this on VHS, and I remember not wanting to watch it as much as my older brother did because this scared the crap out of me. So sinister, so eerie and evil.
9. The black goo from Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Man, I haven't seen this movie in years. What I remember is a little boy who sleeps a lot on a bed that is a bit like a magic carpet that takes him places. This movie had everything: a (literally) giant train conductor with a toy train, a seemingly drunk clown (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and a flying bed. There are happy moments and adventurous moments (I think I remember a train driving through his home at one point, but perhaps that was another movie). There are also moments that are scary as hell! Especially this one part where this black goo takes over in a sinister way...much like the monster from LOST, but animated version and more liquidy.
(scroll to 4:25)
8. The wheelies in Return to OZ
One night in the nineties, I was watching the Disney Channel. Apparently, back then, something as sinister as Return to OZ was able to find screen time on this channel. If you are unfamiliar, Return to OZ is a sequel to the famous Wizard movie, starring a young Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. The girl is in a mental institution for her crazy claims of going to OZ ("treated" by electro-shock a la One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), she ends up going back to OZ and encounters a headless queen and these crazy wheelie things that are the nightmarish equivalent to the flying monkeys. The fact that this was (I think) made for children is scary in itself.
7. The ghosts in Nancy Drew and the Haunted Mansion computer game
First off, let me just say how much I love the ND computer games. They are tons of fun and still are challenging to me now, years after I first discovered them at my library. Well, I remember back when I first started playing these, and I think the Haunted Mansion one may have been the 2nd or 3rd one I ever played. NONE were as scary as this. Seriously. Of course, because it is in a haunted mansion, there has to be scary stuff that happens. In the first-person game, you walk through the house and click on various interactive objects. However, sometimes in this game, you would be walking through the hall and a ghostly image of a woman would appear in a mirror accompanied by an eerie wail! Or I remember one distinct part on the staircase when I was looking at a picture frame and a booming voice yelled something, amidst the otherwise quiet game soundtrack. Scared the crap out of me.
6. The floating bodies in the Titanic: adventure out of time game
Speaking of video games, this awesome Titanic game also puts you in first person, in a flashback of someone from the 40s who tries to go back in time and prevent what happened in the ship's final hours. It has really great graphics, and (trivia!) these graphics are actually used in many documentaries about the ship, because they are such accurate replications of what it looked like! Anywho. Towards the end of the game, when the clock begins to tick to the ship's fate, you hit the iceberg and there is a short montage of people screaming on the ship and then there is a scene, underwater, of two dead bodies of drowned victims. Seriously?! I thought this was rated E for everyone!!! Actually, I think it was released way ahead of those ratings. But it was ahead of its time and still is fun today. PS: I completely forgot about the guy who dies in the Turkish Bath by electrocution! THAT WAS SCARY AS HELL!
5. The entire movie of Titanic
Speaking of the famous ship, this movie was pretty traumatizing for me as well. The movie came out when I was in 3rd grade or so, but because of all the hype, I insisted on watching the movie. All was fine during the intermission when we switched VHS tapes (!) but after taking out the second tape, I remember being scared to go to sleep. I mean, I was like, 9, and I just watched a movie where thousands of people either froze to death or drowned. I remember that month after the movie: no sweet dreams at all. Yes, I was sitting up in bed for nearly a month after watching this movie ONCE, due to the traumatizing deaths.
4. The doll girl from the one episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark
The Tale of the Doll Maker was one of the most creepy episodes of this show. Hell, the opening credits to this show scared me alone. But I have rewatched a lot of these episodes recently, and a lot have lost the scary factor. But, this one is still creepy. I think full-grown adults would think this is creepy. A girl gets trapped in a doll house and she slowly gets turned into a doll. The part where she pulls out her now-porcelain arm is scary as crap! But, in the end, all is happy again. PS: (Trivia!) Joanna Garcia is one of the campfire crew...
3. A series of scary story books that I can't recall the name of...
I used to read a ton of scary stories as a kid. This series was my favorite, because they weren't about zombies, vampires, or ghosts, but instead they were about various other creepy things. In one story, a girl gets rid of mice in her house by pushing the mouse cage (live mouse inside) into a trash can filled with water, then puts on the lid until it drowns. Eventually, the girl is attacked by a multitude of mice, who corner her to her pool, then proceed to crawl on the auto-close cover for the pool. She dies in a larger version of the way she kills the mice.
In another story, a smart student at school notices a drop in grades. Since the teachers grade on a bell curve, there is a benefit to the okay students if everyone else is dumber. A kid catches on to this and concocts a spray that causes people's brain power to drop dramatically, making them stupid and therefore causing them to die in absurd ways (like not being able to avoid oncoming traffic). The main character had allergies so she never inhaled the spray, but in the end she stupidly takes medicine, clearing up her nostrils and causing her to inhale the poison. She dies by walking into oncoming traffic.
But even though they were creepy and scary, they were enjoyable. If only I could remember what they were called!
2. The illustrations in the book "Scary Stories to tell in the dark."
Again, I loved scary stories. But these books creeped me out. The stories weren't even that sinister, but the drawings sure were. Their watery, ink-dripped sketches had such an unearthly feel that I felt scared just holding the books when I was alone. Someone ALWAYS had to be in the room with me. You know, in case those pictures came to life.
1. The POD PEOPLE from The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)
I didn't even see the movie in its entirety but I remember the distinct fear that I felt after seeing part of it on TV. Pods of aliens that ate people in a mucusy shell? SCARY. The hollow, throaty scream of the aliens as they point at their next victims? NIGHTMARISH. Looking back, though, I wonder if I was more scared of the aliens, or the macabre mug of Jeff Goldblum.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/the-10-scariest-things-i-watched-as-a-kid/
I was reading through it and decided to follow suit, stretching to movies and games.
10. Gollum from the animated Hobbit movie
Yes, this is just like on Andrew Cardon's list. As I read that, I remembered this exactly. We own this on VHS, and I remember not wanting to watch it as much as my older brother did because this scared the crap out of me. So sinister, so eerie and evil.
9. The black goo from Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Man, I haven't seen this movie in years. What I remember is a little boy who sleeps a lot on a bed that is a bit like a magic carpet that takes him places. This movie had everything: a (literally) giant train conductor with a toy train, a seemingly drunk clown (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and a flying bed. There are happy moments and adventurous moments (I think I remember a train driving through his home at one point, but perhaps that was another movie). There are also moments that are scary as hell! Especially this one part where this black goo takes over in a sinister way...much like the monster from LOST, but animated version and more liquidy.
(scroll to 4:25)
8. The wheelies in Return to OZ
One night in the nineties, I was watching the Disney Channel. Apparently, back then, something as sinister as Return to OZ was able to find screen time on this channel. If you are unfamiliar, Return to OZ is a sequel to the famous Wizard movie, starring a young Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. The girl is in a mental institution for her crazy claims of going to OZ ("treated" by electro-shock a la One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), she ends up going back to OZ and encounters a headless queen and these crazy wheelie things that are the nightmarish equivalent to the flying monkeys. The fact that this was (I think) made for children is scary in itself.
7. The ghosts in Nancy Drew and the Haunted Mansion computer game
First off, let me just say how much I love the ND computer games. They are tons of fun and still are challenging to me now, years after I first discovered them at my library. Well, I remember back when I first started playing these, and I think the Haunted Mansion one may have been the 2nd or 3rd one I ever played. NONE were as scary as this. Seriously. Of course, because it is in a haunted mansion, there has to be scary stuff that happens. In the first-person game, you walk through the house and click on various interactive objects. However, sometimes in this game, you would be walking through the hall and a ghostly image of a woman would appear in a mirror accompanied by an eerie wail! Or I remember one distinct part on the staircase when I was looking at a picture frame and a booming voice yelled something, amidst the otherwise quiet game soundtrack. Scared the crap out of me.
6. The floating bodies in the Titanic: adventure out of time game
Speaking of video games, this awesome Titanic game also puts you in first person, in a flashback of someone from the 40s who tries to go back in time and prevent what happened in the ship's final hours. It has really great graphics, and (trivia!) these graphics are actually used in many documentaries about the ship, because they are such accurate replications of what it looked like! Anywho. Towards the end of the game, when the clock begins to tick to the ship's fate, you hit the iceberg and there is a short montage of people screaming on the ship and then there is a scene, underwater, of two dead bodies of drowned victims. Seriously?! I thought this was rated E for everyone!!! Actually, I think it was released way ahead of those ratings. But it was ahead of its time and still is fun today. PS: I completely forgot about the guy who dies in the Turkish Bath by electrocution! THAT WAS SCARY AS HELL!
5. The entire movie of Titanic
Speaking of the famous ship, this movie was pretty traumatizing for me as well. The movie came out when I was in 3rd grade or so, but because of all the hype, I insisted on watching the movie. All was fine during the intermission when we switched VHS tapes (!) but after taking out the second tape, I remember being scared to go to sleep. I mean, I was like, 9, and I just watched a movie where thousands of people either froze to death or drowned. I remember that month after the movie: no sweet dreams at all. Yes, I was sitting up in bed for nearly a month after watching this movie ONCE, due to the traumatizing deaths.
4. The doll girl from the one episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark
The Tale of the Doll Maker was one of the most creepy episodes of this show. Hell, the opening credits to this show scared me alone. But I have rewatched a lot of these episodes recently, and a lot have lost the scary factor. But, this one is still creepy. I think full-grown adults would think this is creepy. A girl gets trapped in a doll house and she slowly gets turned into a doll. The part where she pulls out her now-porcelain arm is scary as crap! But, in the end, all is happy again. PS: (Trivia!) Joanna Garcia is one of the campfire crew...
3. A series of scary story books that I can't recall the name of...
I used to read a ton of scary stories as a kid. This series was my favorite, because they weren't about zombies, vampires, or ghosts, but instead they were about various other creepy things. In one story, a girl gets rid of mice in her house by pushing the mouse cage (live mouse inside) into a trash can filled with water, then puts on the lid until it drowns. Eventually, the girl is attacked by a multitude of mice, who corner her to her pool, then proceed to crawl on the auto-close cover for the pool. She dies in a larger version of the way she kills the mice.
In another story, a smart student at school notices a drop in grades. Since the teachers grade on a bell curve, there is a benefit to the okay students if everyone else is dumber. A kid catches on to this and concocts a spray that causes people's brain power to drop dramatically, making them stupid and therefore causing them to die in absurd ways (like not being able to avoid oncoming traffic). The main character had allergies so she never inhaled the spray, but in the end she stupidly takes medicine, clearing up her nostrils and causing her to inhale the poison. She dies by walking into oncoming traffic.
But even though they were creepy and scary, they were enjoyable. If only I could remember what they were called!
2. The illustrations in the book "Scary Stories to tell in the dark."
Again, I loved scary stories. But these books creeped me out. The stories weren't even that sinister, but the drawings sure were. Their watery, ink-dripped sketches had such an unearthly feel that I felt scared just holding the books when I was alone. Someone ALWAYS had to be in the room with me. You know, in case those pictures came to life.
1. The POD PEOPLE from The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)
I didn't even see the movie in its entirety but I remember the distinct fear that I felt after seeing part of it on TV. Pods of aliens that ate people in a mucusy shell? SCARY. The hollow, throaty scream of the aliens as they point at their next victims? NIGHTMARISH. Looking back, though, I wonder if I was more scared of the aliens, or the macabre mug of Jeff Goldblum.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Halloween Playlist!!!
Yes, I love many kinds of music.
This is evident in this Halloween playlist I made for the October holiday.
Even if you don't share my EXACT tastes, I know you'll find some good tunes here.
Scarecrow--Beck
I'm Your Boogie Man--KC and The Sunshine Band
Fresh Blood--The Eels
Moondance--Van Morrison
Werewolves of London--Warren Zevon
Black River Killer--Blitzen Trapper
Perhaps Vampires a bit strong but...--Arctic Monkeys
Lucretia MacEvil--Blood Sweat and Tears
Ghost Riders in the Sky--Blues Brothers (I think it's better than the Johnny Cash version)
Season of the witch--Dr. John (again from Blues Brothers, right when they're driving through the swamp. Much more sinister than the Donovan version, and perfect for a Halloween party!)
Tombstone Blues--Bob Dylan
Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin (sure, the tune sounds pleasant, but he IS singing about a serial killer!)
This is evident in this Halloween playlist I made for the October holiday.
Even if you don't share my EXACT tastes, I know you'll find some good tunes here.
Scarecrow--Beck
I'm Your Boogie Man--KC and The Sunshine Band
Fresh Blood--The Eels
Moondance--Van Morrison
Werewolves of London--Warren Zevon
Black River Killer--Blitzen Trapper
Perhaps Vampires a bit strong but...--Arctic Monkeys
Lucretia MacEvil--Blood Sweat and Tears
Ghost Riders in the Sky--Blues Brothers (I think it's better than the Johnny Cash version)
Season of the witch--Dr. John (again from Blues Brothers, right when they're driving through the swamp. Much more sinister than the Donovan version, and perfect for a Halloween party!)
Tombstone Blues--Bob Dylan
Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin (sure, the tune sounds pleasant, but he IS singing about a serial killer!)
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A Nutcracker Christmas
Today, the Nutcracker movie was on the Ovation channel. I have never seen this, but I did have a book that I read as a child that told the intriguing story.
I have to ask, why is this movie not a Christmas staple? Sure, it is on stage everywhere that has major ballets during Christmastime, but I think this should be a story that is told more often. It reminds me a bit of Alice in Wonderland...it is so strange and childish that it is entertaining to adults as well.
During the movie, my favorite part of the ballet is the Tea (Chinese dance), which is also in the film Fantasia, where tiny mushrooms dance to the tune.
Try to watch the dancing mushrooms and not smile. They are adorable.
I have to ask, why is this movie not a Christmas staple? Sure, it is on stage everywhere that has major ballets during Christmastime, but I think this should be a story that is told more often. It reminds me a bit of Alice in Wonderland...it is so strange and childish that it is entertaining to adults as well.
During the movie, my favorite part of the ballet is the Tea (Chinese dance), which is also in the film Fantasia, where tiny mushrooms dance to the tune.
Try to watch the dancing mushrooms and not smile. They are adorable.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Things darken in the Twilight
If you haven't already heard, the movie adaptation of Twilight (based on a book) is garnering a LOT of attention from fans, namely 13-17 year old girls. In the past week, this has been in the news A LOT, because girls have been dying, slowly, from their lack of Robert Pattinson bites. Seriously.
Apparently there have been events at malls and stuff to promote the movie and give out free stuff/let fans get autographs/let fans meet the cast. And the stores have waved their white flags early to the voracious fans, letting them come in a day early or before the designated time of the event, thus leaving the people later in line to cry of disappointment. Some fans were sad, many were ANGRY.
-One fan, according to the news, equated not meeting Pattinson with "getting shot in the stomach"
-One fan claimed the stores were exercising "false advertising"
And, in semi-unrelated news, a young girl asked the vampire-playing actor to "bite her." Yes, these are our future leaders.
Apparently there have been events at malls and stuff to promote the movie and give out free stuff/let fans get autographs/let fans meet the cast. And the stores have waved their white flags early to the voracious fans, letting them come in a day early or before the designated time of the event, thus leaving the people later in line to cry of disappointment. Some fans were sad, many were ANGRY.
-One fan, according to the news, equated not meeting Pattinson with "getting shot in the stomach"
-One fan claimed the stores were exercising "false advertising"
And, in semi-unrelated news, a young girl asked the vampire-playing actor to "bite her." Yes, these are our future leaders.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Supernova Girl
I was randomly humming the song from Zenon: Girl of the 21st century today. Remember that? "Zoom zoom zoom, make my heart go boom boom--my supernova girl!"
Yeah, so I was singing it aloud when I realized that the lyrics are slightly more intelligent than I thought, or at least one part is.
Here is the beginning of the song until the chorus:
___
Stargazing megafast
You hit me like a cosmic blast
You've given me a Technicolor world
Putting me in Overdrive
Speed of light, I'm so alive!
Could you be my supernova girl?
Interplanetary, Megastellar, Hydrostatic
There's no gravity between us
Our love is automatic!
(Zoom Zoom Zoom) Make my heart go
(Boom Boom) My Supernova Girl(x4)
____
So that stanza before the chorus says "there's no gravity between us, our love is automatic"...well, if you know any physics, then you know that there is always gravitational attraction between any two objects on our planet. For example, if a glass of water is sitting on a table next to a lamp, there is a gravitational force between the lamp and the table, the glass and the table, and the lamp and the glass. My high school physics teacher would always joke (and I would always laugh, b/c I'm a nerd like that) that if someone were to hit on you and say "don't you feel some attraction here?" you could always respond "No, it's simply gravitational."
Get it? Gravitational attraction! Haha! ahh....
So, back to the song, the lyrics go "There's no gravity between us, our love is automatic," implying there is no gravitational attraction, just a loving attraction!
Amazing! Clearly the writer of this song knows his/her basic gravitational physics!
Well, I thought it was pretty amazing.
Yeah, so I was singing it aloud when I realized that the lyrics are slightly more intelligent than I thought, or at least one part is.
Here is the beginning of the song until the chorus:
___
Stargazing megafast
You hit me like a cosmic blast
You've given me a Technicolor world
Putting me in Overdrive
Speed of light, I'm so alive!
Could you be my supernova girl?
Interplanetary, Megastellar, Hydrostatic
There's no gravity between us
Our love is automatic!
(Zoom Zoom Zoom) Make my heart go
(Boom Boom) My Supernova Girl(x4)
____
So that stanza before the chorus says "there's no gravity between us, our love is automatic"...well, if you know any physics, then you know that there is always gravitational attraction between any two objects on our planet. For example, if a glass of water is sitting on a table next to a lamp, there is a gravitational force between the lamp and the table, the glass and the table, and the lamp and the glass. My high school physics teacher would always joke (and I would always laugh, b/c I'm a nerd like that) that if someone were to hit on you and say "don't you feel some attraction here?" you could always respond "No, it's simply gravitational."
Get it? Gravitational attraction! Haha! ahh....
So, back to the song, the lyrics go "There's no gravity between us, our love is automatic," implying there is no gravitational attraction, just a loving attraction!
Amazing! Clearly the writer of this song knows his/her basic gravitational physics!
Well, I thought it was pretty amazing.
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