Camera Obscura - P2 Opens Today; 'Old Men' Arrives; Cap'n Pike Returns to Star Trek

Even though we haven't arrived at the Thanksgiving holiday yet, some moviemakers have crafted a special gift for your Christmas stalking .... (a joke worthy of the Crypt Keeper, thank you very much).

The movie P2 opens in theatres today, a savage little thriller from the makers and writers of the movies "High Tension" and the remake of "The Hills Have Eyes." The story goes like so: working late in the office on Christmas Eve (never a good idea), an ambitious executive (Rachel Nichols) gets trapped in her office's parking garage when her car won't start and a security guard (Wes Bentley) offers her some food and shelter .... but he's not the good kind of security guard. He's rather insane and rather mean. Fortunately, the lady exec is not as helpless as one might think and this movie is off and running.

Here's a trailer from this thriller:



I love the shots of her searching in darkness with only the light of her cell phone to guide her.

Bentley has turned in some great performances, such as the villainous son o' satan in "Ghost Rider" and the geek who videotapes plastic bags swirling in the breeze in "American Beauty."

I've also enjoyed the work of writers Alexandre Aja and Franck Khalfoun in their previous thrillers, which offer intense and seemingly hopeless situations and usually have the audiences howling instructions at the screen.

Thanks go to the folks at M80 and Summit Entertainment for providing some valuable info on the movie and you can check out the Official P2 Movie Website to learn more.

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The brilliant filmmaking team of our time, the Coen brothers, have dug deep into a novel by one of America's greatest writers, Cormac McCarthy, for "No Country For Old Men." The result is pure gold, and very likely Oscar gold too.

While it opens today in only limited release, I advise you to seek this one out when it is released, though do not expect a comedy from the Coen's here. This is both a crime classic from McCarthy and the Coens and yet still a fascinating story layered with multiple meanings.

Strong actors were needed to make this movie work, and Josh Brolin, who has been bringing some top notch characters to screen in recent years, has a revealing interview with Cinematical, explaining how he helped with script to bring the character of Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss to life. Check out the podcast here.

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Oddball, geeky and nerd news of the week: Rob Zombie decides to remake the 1980s shlock horror film, "C.H.U.D." I'll bet cast money no one ever bothers to remake the sequel to that minor B movie, "Bud The C.H.U.D." Heck, I'll bet cash money that I'm one of the three people on the planet who even saw that one.

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Second-most notable geeky nerd news of the week: Captain Pike returns for the new Star Trek movie.

Can You Help Find This Pup?

My good friend and blogger Juliepatchouli writes with some very disturbing news that after recently relocating to a new home in the Strawberry Plains area, her wee Pomeranian pup has disappeared, and she would truly appreciate any help in locating the critter, shown in the picture on the left.

Here are the details about his last known location, and please folks, if any of you see him or have some other information, please add it to the comments on this post. A lost pup, traveling in and around major roads is a most fearful thing, especially for an indoor and very small dog like this"

"He's been missing since Friday night 11/2 from the Ashley Oaks Subdivsion, which is off 11E in Strawberry Plains, 3 miles inside the Jefferson County line. He's been shaved recently and has a green halter on him. He has no ID on him! I could kick myself for that, just haven't gotten around to that having just moved, but that is no excuse!!

He's a 3 year old male neutered pom with that golden fox like appearance.

I've sent in a picture to the Jeff county humane society and taken fliers to the vets around here, and to the neighborhoods, and posted them at stores and stop signs. I've been to the Knox shelter too. It got so cold last night, that really is so scary.

He was spotted not to far from Highway 139 (Douglas Dam Road) around a pasture area on Sunday afternoon. We have looked all through that area. There is a BIG trailer park around there and we are going door to door there in the afternoons."

Late this summer, I too had a beloved pet disappear from the home and the absence was pure old Hell on my wits and on poor lost Sophie too.

So help Julie if you can, and send some good thoughts her way!

UPDATE: Sadly, there has been neither a sign or a hint of the lost pup, as of today (Friday). I do appreciate the concerns (as does juliepatchouli) and the search will continue.

Poll: Torture Is Bad, But Using It Is Fine

I'm shifting gears today and diving into the bizarre zone of Current Events, and what I see is grim and convoluted and mostly a maze of misunderstanding. The fearful results of terror and terrorism have divided and joined so many around the world. I am reluctant to get into this mess, but here I am, foolishly perhaps, jumping into the Weird.

An odd item was presented by CNN pollsters, who offered results that shows 69 percent of those surveyed think that the use of "waterboarding" as an interrogation technique was torture. But 40 percent said it's use was just fine if it was used against suspected terrorists.

Our president and vice-president have both said that saying the US does or does not use "waterboarding" somehow emboldens terrorists. However, it was previously and widely reported in the news media that the technique was used in the interrogation of Kalid Sheikh Mohammed, leader in the attacks of 9-11. So the cat is rather out of the bag (and into the water) on the entire question, isn't it?

The concept of "waterboarding" has been around since the 1500s, as a historical review of the technique was presented here.

I am pretty sure if the technique, often lumped into the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques" (a grisly tortured used of language), if such an act were used on you, you would consider it torture. It has been a part of military training for some time, as reported by Malcolm Nance, former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the U.S. Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school in San Diego. He writes extensively about the tactic in this essay, which makes compelling arguments on what it is - torture - and that torture is a useless way to get information, and that even watching such interrogations is beyond the ability of most people:

"Most people can not stand to watch a high intensity kinetic interrogation. One has to overcome basic human decency to endure watching or causing the effects. The brutality would force you into a personal moral dilemma between humanity and hatred.

"It would leave you to question the meaning of what it is to be an American. We live at a time where Americans, completely uninformed by an incurious media and enthralled by vengeance-based fantasy television shows like “24”, are actually cheering and encouraging such torture as justifiable revenge for the September 11 attacks. Having been a rescuer in one of those incidents and personally affected by both attacks, I am bewildered at how casually we have thrown off the mantle of world-leader in justice and honor. Who we have become?"

Nance adds:

"Who will complain about the new world-wide embrace of torture? America has justified it legally at the highest levels of government. Even worse, the administration has selectively leaked supposed successes of the water board such as the alleged Khalid Sheik Mohammed confessions. However, in the same breath the CIA sources for the Washington Post noted that in Mohammed’s case they got information but "not all of it reliable." Of course, when you waterboard you get all the magic answers you want -because remember, the subject will talk. They all talk! Anyone strapped down will say anything, absolutely anything to get the torture to stop. Torture. Does. Not. Work."

In other words, many people today hold dear the idea that any tactic, any torture, is acceptable if an imminent or future threat is perceived against the nation. The fault in such a belief is that the information one gets from torture is truthful. It is not. It will be any answer which halts the torture.

The CNN poll mentioned above, as well as countless pundits who talk about torture, all point to an utter failure to understand torture in reality. The TV and movie version of reality has set in, where the Hero always gets the Villain to confess to nefarious truths Just In Time To Save The Day.

In the political world today, we see this creepy and awkward dance around the subject in the confirmation hearings for the new US Attorney General. We have talk of hypotheticals and secret information and the refusal to accept information which runs counter to what some want to believe. The never-shy Keith Olbermann fired off a fierce commentary on this topic yesterday, in which he sees a criminal conspiracy in the White House.

And so we are left to view an endless debate, ideas and definitions are heaved to and fro, up and down, left and right. One day, perhaps, History and Historians will sort it all out, will decide whether it was all just or unjust.

And with all the talk about waterboarding, am I the only one to consider it ironic that many parts of the nation are talking about water, too, except that talk is about the drought and the absence of water?

Strange Days.

Celebrating the First Year With A Movie

The ever-innovative couple known as Valley Grrrl and LA Barabbas just marked the first birthday of their wee young one, referred to as Tenacious G. But they did more than just offer a cake and a candle and some best wishes.

Turns out that LA-B shot two frames on Super8mm of the wee child as she was bedded down for the night over the course of the last year and has created a video of the images, which you can see by clicking here.

That's just a major cool little movie. I am fortunate to own some of the photos my folks took at my first birthday event, a simple black and white picture of a fat baby whose face is embedded deep inside a cake. I like having that picture, but Tenacious G. has a whole year of a movie to view as time marches on.

Most happy birthday wishes to the wee one.

Worst Blog Post Ever

Kevin Drum is offering a chance to vote on the worst blog commentary ever - or as he calls it the All-Time Wingnuttiest Blog Post Ever.

Wingnuttery often flourishes on the Web, from bizarre conspiracies to unknowingly ignorant rants. Drum's list is a decent collection of the Just Awful, but I (and I;m sure you too) read almost daily some truly dumb and dangerous riffs on almost every topic imaginable.

A nifty feature of the Web (or it's critical fault, depending on your perspective) is that debate/discussion is often simply a chance to trot our Your Favorite Anecdote/Myth/Truth and hoist it up high for all the world to see as a basic template for Everything That is Wrong. Or Right, even. And while I can certainly cite good examples of goofy logic in essay form on the Blogs O' The World, it is often in the comments on posts where the crazy truly shines.

So does this contest just highlight the worst of the Web for no real reason? Is it all childish? Why not search for the best of the best? And what one might find Truly Awful, another might label Sheer Brilliance. Will millions of blogs posting commentaries and stories by the thousands each moment, is it even possible to identify the worst ever?

Drum's list contains entries from Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Malkin, and you can vote on which is the worst of the bunch:

"But why focus on the all-time worst in the wingnut blogosphere anyway? Isn't that mean? What's driving this besides sheer bloody-mindedness?

History, that's what. A century from now, even the very best blog posts will be long forgotten. Let's face it: they aren't that good. But bad blog posts will still be every bit as bad as they were on the day they were spawned. They'll endure. So really, we're doing this for the children. And the grandchildren.

The fourteen finalists for the worst, most embarrassing, most risible wingnut blog posts of all time are listed below. You can vote for up to five. So take a trip down memory lane and then vote for your favorites. Remember: It's your civic duty."


Full list here.

Making 'A Wonderful Life'

These are surely some odd days, as 2007 starts to dwindle away and 2008 begins to stir and make noises, alerting us to the year ahead. As much as I enjoy the Halloween holiday (see last week's posts!), when it ends, the nation tends to sprint ahead to Christmas and New Year's. You'd think I would get used to that. I am not used to it, though.

The race to end the year is now somewhat complicated for me. I am currently directing the local community theatre production of "It's A Wonderful Life", adapted for the stage from Frank Capra's classic movie. I jumped at the chance to direct this show - I love Capra's movies, and "Wonderful Life" is a fine mix of comedy and drama, wrapped in a bittersweet holiday package as poor George Bailey contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve.

In short, recent days have been full of efforts to create Bedford Falls on the stage and rehearsals with a most excellent cast. I've made some staging and design decisions which will hopefully bring George's dilemma to life, but I don't really want to reveal them here. I'd rather you just come see the show, if you can, which opens November 30 and runs through Dec. 16. Details about getting tickets and reservations to this Morristown Theatre Guild production are right here.

I do want to express my profound appreciation for the Guild, now in it's 73rd season and prepping it's 74th season. Working with them to provide theatrical experiences for the community makes me smile a wide, wide grin. Words of thanks are due as well to several members of their Board, to the cast and crew, and all those who are working hard to bring Capra's story to life. I first began working with the Guild in the late 1980s, and such work has provided me with a vast amount of memory and experience whose value is far greater than can ever be estimated.

A great part of Capra's movies and "Wonderful Life" in particular center on the struggle between meeting economic needs and meeting spiritual ones, between business and family, and the fierce struggle within the hearts of the Everyman depicted by such characters as John Doe, Mr. Smith and George Bailey. In fact, for George Bailey, locating the "lost" bank deposit to his save his company from ruin ultimately means so very much less than finding the fallen flower petals given to him by his child Zuzu.

Something which this production has reminded me is that the constant machinations of bad men, typified by the nefarious and heartless Mr. Potter, seldom slack away. Bad men are forever doing bad things which might distort any community into an ugly slouching beast, steadily dragging us into oblivion and darkness.

The efforts to refute the plans of bad men begin and flourish in the hearts of good men and women, one person at a time, efforts which then are shared with others who likewise decide to cherish and hold dear those intangible and vital elements which make up what is truly important in life.

Starry-eyed idealism? Perhaps. But perhaps instead such ideas form the basis of a better world for all of us.

Internet Access Tax Ban OKd for 7 Years

Congress unanimously approved it and the president has signed it. A ban on taxing internet access until 2014 has been made into law. However ....

"Not everyone is safe from taxes under the bill. States that already had Internet access taxes in place before the ban took effect several years ago would still be allowed to keep them through a grandfather clause in the bill. (Nine states--Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin--fall into that category, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.) Officials can also tax Internet services, albeit more indirectly, if they had already enacted broad-based laws on their books that tax the gross income or receipts of a business.

The bill isn't a blanket ban on all Internet-related taxation, either. It bars states from taxing services that provide a connection to the Internet, such as cable, DSL, and wireless-type services. But governments are free to tax "voice, audio, or video programming" that charges consumers a fee--such as IPTV and subscription-based Internet phone services--and basically any other "products and services" delivered over the Internet and not specifically exempted by the bill. (The bill also does not deal with the separate question of sales tax on goods purchased online.)

The politicians did opt to carve out from the possibility of taxing the following services: "home page electronic mail and instant messaging (including voice--and video--capable electronic mail and instant messaging), video clips, and personal electronic storage capacity, that are provided independently or not packaged with Internet access." That section was added at the last minute in response to concerns raised by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the original author of the tax ban, which dates back to 1998."

Cities and counties and states continue to eye the internet as a cash cow. A brief period of sanctuary exists for now, and the issue has been pushed aside until another election cycle. The battle now shifts back to states, where voters will need to demand the internet does not get taxed into oblivion.

"There's So Much Blood!!!"

While it's still Halloween .....



God Bless Mel Brooks.

Zombie Bunnies

More Halloween fun for you -

First, a re-enactment of "Night of the Living Dead" in 30 seconds, performed by bunnies.

The main page also has "Saw", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Shining", "Scream", "The Ring" and many more, all in 30 second bunny format.

Happy Halloween.

At The Mountains of Madness

As Halloween draws ever closer, I've got some items worthy of your seasonal contemplation and enjoyment.

First comes the annual Astonishing Jack'O Lanterns provided each year by Tennessee Jed. He's made his selection and has a preview image for you to see, so go see it! The man works wonders with a pumpkin. (Click here for his Pumpkins of Halloween's Past.)

That sly and vigilant Newscoma has collected a helpin' heap of Halloween movie scares. Scenes from movies like "Freaks" and "Audition" and a clip I was so happy she offered - Viggo Mortensen in "The Prophecy" - he is one scary dude in that one. Scroll through her blog to see them all .... and just keep telling yourself "It's only a movie, IT'S ONLY A MOVIE!!!"

The ever delightful Tits McGee (who is swooning in happiness along with all Red Sox fans) has some fantastic pics of the massive Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire, which you can view by clicking here.

The spooky stories of haunted places in East Tennessee are offered in this account from the Kingsport Times News, which you can read by clicking here. Go on, I dare you! You want a sample?

"Devil’s looking glass

Above the Nolichucky River in Unicoi County is a pile of rocks in the mountainside that, by day, looks like an ordinary pile of rocks. But when the moonlight shines on it at night the pile of rocks transforms into the face of Satan himself."

Looking for the spooky near you? Then search GooGhoul for scary events in your neighborhood.

For a more literary chills, then take a journey into the unknown and ancient "At The Mountains of Madness".

For binary fiends, there are of course the Top 10 Zombie Flash Games.

New Krystal Burger-Eating Champ

First Joey Chestnut took the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating crown in Brooklyn in July and in Chattanooga on Sunday he gobbled up 103 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes. Details here.

I can't explain how he did it. I remember at around age 10 thinking it was a staggering feat to eat a dozen Krystals in fifteen minutes. Joey's win means he scarfed 12 per minute.

Poltical Views Tennessee Style

A new Tennessee political blog, TennViews, has just started gathering the views and opinions with a progressive stance, and it's one which you should put on your regular reading list. I've also added it to my blogroll.

I hope you take time to go there, and a post from Saturday on the state's open meeting laws from Knox County Commissioner Mark Harmon is a fine place to begin. Late last week, a state legislative committee voted to propose a change in the open meetings laws which sadly makes it far easier for elected officials to gather, deliberate and decide issues in secret.

Harmon writes:

"Let me state as firmly as I can that the Open Meetings Act DOES NOT need to be weakened by adding a provision that only a quorum can violate it. In the aftermath of the abuses that took place this year in Knox County we should be looking to strengthen the Open Meetings Act, not weaken it."
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"The public does not object to commissioners arguing with one another, attempting to persuade one another, and compromising with one another. The public only rightly insists these acts be done in public sessions and meetings.

Your committee has heard vast overstatements that commissioners no longer can talk to one another or cannot attend the same events as district mates. Nonsense. The current act’s prohibition is on deliberation. If commissioners need to deliberate, they can do so in regular or special meetings or properly announced workshops."

Will Tennessee's political leaders take the progressive stand to keep meetings open to the public or we will race backwards to seek dark corners of secrecy?

More here.

Mountain Makins Festival Begins

If you are in the East Tennessee area this weekend, you should visit one of the best fall festivals in the nation - the 32nd Annual Mountain Makins Festival is jam-packed with fun and is held every year in Morristown, the creation of our community's cultural arts hub, The Rose Center.

From their website (which has all the details about the event): Mountain Makins a folk life/crafts festival celebrating the traditions of Appalachia through traditional music and dance, storytelling, regional authors, fine art, juried crafts, skilled demonstrations, a variety of delicious food, children's activities and more. The festival takes place inside and outside the Rose Center, an 1892 school building which is now an historical museum and cultural arts center.

Of course another reason to attend is that I will be there on Saturday and Sunday as emcee for one of the music stages. I have been most fortunate to have been invited to participate again as emcee, and am truly honored to be a part of this annual event.

The Rose Center is one of - if not the most - vital parts of our community. Not only do they provide a wide array of arts events, music, and other cultural programs, their facility is used for everything from weddings to tai chi classes, business seminars to cooking classes.

Admission for the weekend is a mere 4 dollars per day for adults.

Italy's Anti-Internet Plan

The landscape of the internet and those who, like myself, write and maintain blogs, continue to challenge and confuse and apparently frighten many people. It is not simple to explain all that the Web and the bloggers are doing and want to do. I expect we will see more of the efforts like those being considered now in Italy to require all who post info on the Web to have a license.

Ginger at MCB wrote of this today and has several links to read on the Italian plan:

"Recently, Italian lawmakers once again took aim at modern life, introducing an incredibly broad law that would effectively require all bloggers, and even users of social networks, to register with the state. Even a harmless blog about a favourite football squad or a teenager grousing about life’s unfairness would be subject to government oversight, and even taxation – even if it’s not a commercial website“.

Keeping government out of self-publishing will continue to be problematic for several reasons - current publishing and other media businesses don't like losing control of content; government as well as service providers are fearful of losing tax dollars and other income; and most importantly, the wide-open freedom of speech and sharing of information has been and always will be a source of worry for many in authority. The mostly open quality of the internet today almost daily fends off attempts to tame it.

Requiring certificates or licenses of internet users may well be a long-term struggle.

Open Government Committee Fails to Deliver

The legislative committee organized to strengthen the Open Meetings laws have instead gone in the opposite direction. They approved a plan to increase the number of elected officials who can meet, debate and create public policy away from any public view or oversight.

The committee members who voted to increase how many officials can meet secretly to conduct business include state legislators, the new school board chief for the state, some attorneys, a Knox Co. Commissioner and a newspaper publisher. A full list of those who voted for and against this terrible failure of open government is here.

So representatives of city, county, and state government and public schools and even some in the news business have made a clear declaration of how they think - that there is no need for public meetings at all.

The state committee will meet again in mid-November. I urge you to contact your state representatives and tell them this committee has failed and their decisions are bad for Tennessee.

Link to State Representatives and State Senators emails.

UPDATE:
The chairman of the Open Government committee, Democrat Ulysses Jones, has issued a statement defending the action suggested by his committee (via Volunteer Voters):

"I believe this recommendation is a necessary change in order to allow elected officials to adequately do their jobs,” said Jones. “Elected leaders cannot be effective legislators if they are afraid of talking policy and issue with each other for fear of lawsuit.”

Current Tennessee Law (T.C.A. 8-44-102) states that when two or more “members, with the authority to make decisions for recommendations to a public body” are together and discussing policy, that the public has the right to be present. Under the approved recommendation, two or more members would be replaced with a “quorum of members.”

“Thirty-seven other states currently use the quorum process to define meetings as public and open,” said Jones. “What we have now is far more confusing, but with this change the process of having open meetings can be much more black and white.”

My response to his argument is this: when two or more members of the same governing body are discussing policy, they are making decisions and talking about issues which directly affect the public. Such discussions need to be held in a public forum, and part of the public record. And what is it in the current law quoted above that is 'confusing' to elected officials?

Phoenix Newspaper at Center of Free Press Debate

Maricopa County in Arizona is in the news again, this time for a Grand Jury subpoena issued by County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who had convened a Grand Jury to investigate the Phoenix New Times newspaper because they had published the address of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpairo. The attorney also demanded the internet addresses of every person who had accessed the paper's website dating back to 2004 and information detailing what websites those visitors had accessed prior to visiting the one for the newspaper.

Late last week, two New Times founders were arrested and jailed for publishing the info on the sheriff, even though his home address appears on numerous government websites, all open to public view. Someone has a lot of explaining to do on this abuse of the court powers:


"Phoenix New Times.... was threatened with felony prosecution for publishing Sheriff Arpaio's address on its website in 2004. After an adjoining jurisdiction declined to press charges, Arpaio's political ally, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, convened a grand jury to "investigate" charges the paper broke the law when it published Sheriff Arpaio's address.

Last week, Phoenix New Times' founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were arrested and jailed after the paper published a story about the grand jury and subpoenas they had received that demanded detailed Internet records of any person who had visited the newspaper's website since 2004, as well as all notes and records from any reporter who had written about the sheriff in the preceding three years.

After Larkin and Lacey were arrested an outpouring of shock and anger accompanied widespread media coverage of the case. The response created a groundswell of support for New Times. The charges were dropped less than 24 hours later after Thomas admitted that his office had made "serious missteps" in the case.

"The actions of Mr. Thomas and Sheriff Arpaio in this case are beyond outrageous," said AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel. "They abused their offices by engaging in Gestapo-like tactics designed to silence a newspaper that has been highly critical of them in the past."

Rightfully, this mess started a firestorm of complaints and now the entire Grand Jury case is being investigated as news organizations are suing for access to those Grand Jury documents:

"Thomas has "no objection" to unsealing the grand jury material and will support the media outlets' motion, spokesman Mike Scerbo said. He declined to elaborate, citing the legal restrictions on discussing grand jury matters.

Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Anna M. Baca scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the media outlets' request.

"That record will provide a full accounting of what has happened to date, and will enable the public to judge for itself whether the officials have acted appropriately, and whether the grand jury process has been abused," attorney David Bodney wrote in the media outlets' motion.

Though the subpoena covered multiple articles on Arpaio, Thomas has said the investigation was triggered by New Times' publication of Arpaio's home address.

State law prohibits online publication of personal identification of law enforcement officers. New Times reported Arpaio's address in a 2004 story, published both online and in print, on Arpaio's real estate holdings.

Thomas announced he wasn't aware of how a special prosecutor he'd appointed was conducting the investigation, that key aspects of the investigation were mishandled and that he was dropping the case and dismissing the special prosecutor.

The former special prosecutor, Dennis Wilenchik, did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail requests for comment Monday.

Camera Obscura - A Monday Vampire Roundup

Halloween approaches and since vampires ruled the movie box office this weekend, why not start your Monday with vampires?

The vampire movie "30 Days of Night" opened this weekend and claimed the top spot in box office dollars. Based on a comic book, the story is about an Alaskan town which is about to endure a month without daylight. Something which happens in Alaska, so why, I wonder, did vampires never settle there long ago? Maybe it's the cold.

Josh Hartnett is your hero in the movie, but the real star is the leader of the vampire pack, Danny Huston. As for the Washington Post writes:

"And while Hartnett and Melissa George (as his estranged wife) make functionally appealing characters, the real star of "30 Days" is Danny Huston. As the animalistic leader of the pack, he's as disturbing as he is compelling, a feral creature with all senses at full capacity. If there's an action figure, I'm ordering one."

Newscoma also watched the movie and has a review too:

"If you dig horror movies, go see it for Huston’s performance and the way the movie is shot when the monsters are on the screen."

I like vampire movies, meaning they do not scare me. I enjoy them. A movie which scares me is something like "Steel Magnolias". The thought of having to watch that movie makes me shiver with revulsion.

And this leads to a question for all of you -- what is your favorite vampire movie? Who has done the best job onscreen of being a vamp? A quick search for 'vampire' at IMDB reveals thousands of movies to pick from.

Here are some of my choices.
Dracula (1931) -- Tod Browning's movie remains the vampire icon of movies. Bela Lugosi's face, voice and costume are still known around the world. He even inspired a character for Sesame Street and a box of cereal. The movie, stilted somewhat by today's standard, still has fantastic scenes.

Horror of Dracula (1958) -- British mega-star Christopher Lee made a fantastic Count Dracula, though he surely tired of the role and the work offered by Hammer Films. But this first one is still a great movie, and Lee knows how to scare you.

Blade and Blade 2 (1998, 2002) -- Wesley Snipes is both vamp and vamp hunter, and these first two movies are mighty fine. The opening "blood rave" party in the first movie is a jaw-dropping nightmare of vampires in a club scene. The third Blade movie is a joke. The first two, however, are fine fun.

Fearless Vampire Killers; or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck (1967) -- Director Roman Polanski's horror-comedy is a must-see. Gorgeous location shooting, packed with excellent characters both funny and scary, the movie is moody and dark and funny all at once. Polanski also plays part of a bumbling vampire hunter team, and Ferdy Mayne is like the sleaziest Goth of all time.

Now just for laughs in recent years, it is hard to top the very awful Wes Craven movie "Dracula 3000". It's on a spaceship and you get to see such performers as Coolio and Tiny Lister as vampires. That makes for some cringe-inducing comedy.

And since I am a massive fan of the TV show "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", I must mention just how much fun it is to watch Spike and Dru as vampire villains. They really shine in Season Two.

What are your choices?

Halloween 2007

For an oh-so-brief-time each year, I get the chance to present my Halloween mast for this old Cup of Joe.

A brand spankin' new Camera Obscura of movies and DVDs will be posted later today (sorry, make that on Sunday afternoon!!), so come back for that.

In the meantime, a Halloween-ish offering:

THE CONQUEROR WORM

by Edgar Allan Poe

Lo! ’t is a gala night

Within the lonesome latter years!

An angel throng, bewinged, bedight

in veils, and drowned in tears,

Sit in a theatre, to see

A play of hopes and fears,

While the orchestra breathes fitfully

The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,

Mutter and mumble low,

And hither and thither fly—

Mere puppets they, who come and go

At bidding of vast formless things

That shift the scenery to and fro,

Flapping from out their Condor wings

Invisible Wo!

That motley drama—oh, be sure

It shall not be forgot!

With its Phantom chased for evermore

By a crowd that seize it not,

Through a circle that ever returneth in

To the self-same spot,

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,

And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout,

A crawling shape intrude!

A blood-red thing that writhes from out

The scenic solitude!

It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs

The mimes become its food,

And seraphs sob at vermin fangs

In human gore imbued.

Out—out are the lights—out all!

And, over each quivering form,

The curtain, a funeral pall,

Comes down with the rush of a storm,

While the angels, all pallid and wan,

Uprising, unveiling, affirm

That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”

And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.

Register to Win Some Free CDs

There's still time to register to win one of several free CDs of Number One Rock hits - all the details on the CDs and how to register to win are here at this post.

Winners will be announced tomorrow before noon.

UPDATE: We have winners!

The 90s Rock CD goes to Ivy.
The Modern Rock CD goes to Alloyd4.
The Hard Rock CD goes to LeBlanc.

Thanks to all for playing!

Colbert - The Presidential Campaign

A blast of Truthiness hit the mostly lackluster 2008 presidential race last night - Stephen Colbert is running for president. As a Republican. And a Democrat. In South Carolina. His announcement was made last night during his report on the '08 race:



In today's Washington Post, candidate Colbert said:

"It will be a success for me if at the Republican or Democratic convention, someone stands up and says, 'The great state of South Carolina, home of the finest peaches, home of the finest shrimp, casts one delegate for Stephen Colbert.' "