Thursday, April 24, 2008

Yes, you read that correctly...

Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

My Reviews: Week of April 25

Pigeons from Hell #1

The Hulk vs. Hercules: When Titans Clash

Thor #8

Oh my...

BBC NEWS | Wales | North West Wales | Drunk Darth Vader's Jedi assault

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries.

Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Oklahoma Is A Bad Place To Get Arrested...

Sheriff accused of using inmates as sex slaves

The allegations against Sheriff Michael Burgess, who resigned after 35 charges of rape, bribery, kidnapping and subordination of perjury were filed on Wednesday, show a disturbing pattern of using his badge to force vulnerable women to do his bidding.

The married 55-year-old grandfather is accused of forcing inmates and convicts to have sex with him in his office, his cruiser, their homes, hotels and even the house of a friend who was away on holiday.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Movie Night


So The Girlfriend and I decided to sit down and watch a movie tonight. Having a free rental to use, we agreed that Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem looked like it could be fun (if not intelligent). We both enjoyed the first one, and this was the unrated version, which loudly proclaimed from the box, "More blood, more guts, more gore!" How could we pass it up, really?

Well, maybe there was more blood, guts, and gore. We couldn't tell. The lighting in the film was so freaking awful that we couldn't even see what people were eating at lunch in broad daylight by a picture window in a diner. We were both surprised when a shadow moved and spoke when some pizzas were delivered, because there was no way of knowing there was a black guy sitting on the couch. We couldn't tell if the other shadow was a man or a woman.

You see how dark the poster is? How you can barely tell what's what? Imagine 90 minutes or so of that. I'm not exaggerating. The amount of darkness compared to the amount of light on that poster is pretty much the same in 90 % of the film.

I can understand keeping the lighting low in order to make the scares more scary or to cover up poor costuming (we are dealing with Aliens and Predators, here), but we should be able to see people's faces when they're standing outside in the middle of the day chatting about whatever people chat about in the daylight.

There was really no point in watching it.

So, The Girlfriend turned to me and said, "How about watching The Mist?"

I've been meaning to watch it for a while, but keep forgetting about it (or have things to do, like grade papers or write reviews or whatever). So I grabbed it and stuck it in the DVD player.

It was freaking great. I haven't seen a horror film that really drew me in like this in ages. I blame the Stephen King factor, where he can take simple situations and characters and make them work on a gut level. And the ending was brutal. I'm not going to say anything else about it, because I don't want to spoil it, but this was well worth the time spent watching.

Seriously. If you haven't seen it, put it at the top of your Netflix queue now. You won't be sorry.

From what I understand, the two-disc version includes the entire film in black and white on the second disc, giving it a classic horror kind of feel. I'm very tempted to watch it again that way and see which I prefer. But honestly, it was so good in color, I can't really believe that it would be better in black and white.

My Reviews: Week of April 18

The Damned: Prodigal Sons #1

War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #2

Iron Man #28

Annihilation: Conquest #6

Sunday, April 13, 2008

"Society has the problem"

Incest couple: Society has the problem | The Australian

The couple spoke last night about the death of their first child, Jackson, in 2001.

Mr Deaves said the death of the four-day-old boy from a heart defect had nothing to do with the genetics of their relationship.

"There's dozens of babies born every year that have this complaint or similar complaints," he said.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

News From New Zealand

Man charged after teen bashed with hedgehog

"The man was arrested shortly afterwards for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog."

It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive when thrown on February 19, but it was dead when collected as evidence.

Monday, April 07, 2008

She Needs More of Ze Punishment!

Priceless.

Possible Nazi Theme of Grand Prix Boss’s Orgy Draws Calls to Quit - New York Times

In a video the paper posted on the Internet but later removed, two of the women wore black-and-white striped robes in the style of prisoners’ uniforms. The video showed Mr. Mosley counting in German — “Eins! Zwei! Drei! Vier! Funf!” — as he used a leather strap to lash one of the women.


“She needs more of ze punishment!” he cried in German-accented English. One woman appeared to search his hair for lice while another called off items on an inspection list. Mr. Mosley, naked, was bound face-down and lashed more than 20 times.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Helter Skelter



That's Senator Mike Gravel, Libertarian candidate for US President, on lead vocals.

I really don't know what to make of this.

My Reviews: Week of April 4

All-Star Superman #10

Punisher: War Journal #18

Kick-Ass #2

Cable #2

Scalped, Volume 2: Casino Boogie

Can I Get Meds For This?

Internet addiction is a psychiatric disorder - health - 02 April 2008 - New Scientist

Cushing / Lee Update

Looks like we've decided on the films, and it IS going to be a Hammer Horror Festival. Plus, not only are we going to be watching films with both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in them, all the chosen films are directed by the brilliant Terence Fisher.

Score!

Here's the lineup:

Monday, May 26: The Curse of Frankentstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958)

Tuesday, May 27: The Mummy (1959) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

I can't wait! Of course, depending on work schedules, this might get bumped to Tuesday and Wednesday, instead. We'll see.