Random Thoughts for July 2022

 

I've been neglecting this website for far too long. Well, I guess that pretty much goes for all of my websites. I've been busy. As many of you know, I work for JoBlo.com and I've just been doing more and more stuff with them over the past two years. And most of the stuff that I do for them, is similar to what I would be doing (free) for my blog. Obviously, given that I need money to live, I've shifted most of those creative outlets to my work. It's incredibly satisfying and if you haven't checked out my worked at JoBlo Horror Originals and JoBlo Originals, then what are you even doing with your life? (heh)

I am no longer on social media. Because it just doesn't seem to be worth the mental toll of constantly having your life online. I understand the irony in saying this. This was about getting away. I don't need strangers to feel like they know my day-to-day in the same way that my best friend does. It's weird. I wish more people would come to that conclusion but that just doesn't seem to be the case. I don't do this blog for you. I do it for me--the connection that comes from others reading it is an added bonus.

Crimson High. Yes, I know. I get asked about it all the time. And yes, it will get done. I just genuinely do not know when. Crimson High could very well be the last book I ever write (books are hard), but I can promise that it will release before I'm done on this earth. I just have very high expectations for myself and have gone through a lot, both as a person and as a writer. I have about 35% written but could easily see myself throwing all of that out. We'll see. But I make no promises for its release anytime soon. Maybe once things slow down in other parts of my life. I just prefer writing screenplays to books, so I feel most of my efforts will be in that department. Plus, I write a ton of scripts for my current job during any given month. So it's not like I'm not writing.

I've really been enjoying The Offer. I've never been a fan of The Godfather but I've always wanted to be. It's so culturally significant but it just never really connected with me. But I've always been saving a rewatch for when I can actually potentially care about it. And I did exactly that. I watched the film again and I finally understand the hype. It's a beautiful film.

Halloween Ends is looking shockingly good. I've had some "behind the scenes" info and it hasn't been pretty, so the fact that they were able to pull together an intriguing trailer makes me quite relieved. I don't need high cinema. I consider the first Halloween to be one of the greatest films of all time but the rest of the series isn't exactly lighting up any awards lists. But I still love them. So I'm glad that this appears to still have the same vibe as the other Halloween films as that contradicts what I had heard prior. The trailer looks awesome and everyone should check it out. Let's hope the film lives up to it.

Best of 2021

Hello friends. Every year...errr okay, MOST years I come here and spew out some of my favorites from the year. So let's get started.

Movies

1. The Beatles: Get Back
2. Dune
3. Spider-man: No Way Home
4. Val
5. Bo Burnham's Inside
6. Pig
7. The Matrix: Resurrections
8. A Quiet Place: Part Two
9. Last Night in Soho
10. The French Dispatch

Honorable Mentions: Ghostbuster: Afterlife, No Time To Die, Black Widow, The Suicide Squad

Television

1. Squid Game
2. Midnight Mass
3. Cowboy Bebop
   
4. Wandavision
   
5. Loki
6. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
7. Cobra Kai

 Video Games

1. Halo Infinite
2. Hades
3. Far Cry 6
   

 

31 Days of Halloween 2021

I finally decided to edit this and put what I was originally going to post. The night of Halloween I was just too tired to elaborate. So here it goes:

My Halloween video

I took a rather simple approach to my 31 Days of Halloween this year and it honestly went the best it ever has. I started off doing strictly TV shows but Halloween Kills kind of spurred some more movie watching. I dove into the Leprechaun series for the first time (I had only ever seen the first one). I still have two more left to go there, but I'm sure I'll finish it off shortly, it just didn't make it this month. And I didn't manage to see Last Night in Soho. It's just damn near impossible to get my ass to a theater these days.

My list:

1. Midnight Mass - Proverbs

2. Midnight Mass - Lamentations

3. Midnight Mass - Gospel

4. Midnight Mass - Acts of the Apostles

5. Midnight Mass - Revelation

6. Squid Game - Red Light, Green Light

7. Squid Game - Hell

8. Squid Game - The Man With The Umbrella

9. Squid Game - Stick to the Team

10. Squid Game - A Fair World

11. Squid Game - Gganbu

12. Squid Game - VIPs

13. Squid Game - Front Man

14. Squid Game - One Lucky Day

15. Halloween Kills

16. Jujutsu Kaisen - Curse Womb Must Die

17. Chucky - Death By Misadventure

18. Batman: The Long Halloween (part two)

19. Videodrome 

20. Raising Cain

21. Chucky - Give Me Something Good To Eat

22. Titane

23. Green Knight

24. Leprechaun 2

25. Leprechaun 3

26. Leprechaun 4: In Space

27. Chucky - I Like To Be Hugged

28. Leprechaun in the Hood

29. Squid Game - Red Light, Green Light (again, with parents)

30. Candyman

31. Halloween (annual tradition)

Random Thoughts for October 2021

It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these. I’ve neglected this due to my massive switch towards video editing. But that doesn’t mean I’m not writing. My scripts are between 2000 and 3000 words and I write multiple a month for Joblo. So it’s just a bit different writing than usual, but it’s still similar to what you would be seeing on this site: analysis of movies. Still, I had the urge to get back to this.

2021 has been my year of Manga. It all started with “Blame!” I quickly finished the 6 volumes and realized just how much I enjoyed the style. I had always been thrown off by the lack of color (felt it meant the drawings would be less dynamic—boy, how wrong was I?) but “Blame!” was just so damn fascinating. I moved onto the works of Junji Ito but still wanted to try something out that was even more part of the public consciousness so I thought it’d be a good idea to try out “Attack on Titan.” And that’s when I “got it.” These sprawling stories provided the social commentary I loved from horror movies. So, while working on AoT, I read through the complete runs of “Tokyo Ghoul” and “Chainsaw Man.” They’re unique and different and reinvigorate my love for the printed word. With October, I have paused my reading of “One Piece” in order to focus on Junji Ito and AoT. It’s been terror-ifically great.

AEW is what I’ve always wanted out of wrestling. I’m a lifelong fan of professional wrestling and that’s tough. It’s not exactly something you can tell everyone because it brings some truly awful comparisons. And I get it. Because the product that’s usually presented by WWE is ridiculously mediocre. But it's been such a breath of fresh air to get excited for Wednesday nights and all the originality it will entail. Because usually weekly wrestling also means weekly frustrations yet everything smells of roses at this point. Eventually some stink will creep in, but I'm really enjoying it as is.

I am doing a 31 Days of Halloween this year. I just won't be posting what I watched until Halloween. I'm mostly doing this because it makes more sense to do it this way, this year. I decided to watch an episode of a show a day, with some movies sprinkled throughout. "Halloween Kills" and "Last Night in Soho" are included but otherwise, it'll be a lot of Horror TV that I've missed over the years. I can spoil it only by saying that "Midnight Mass" belongs on all of your lists, and I hope you watch it this October.

I genuinely don’t understand Hollywood’s love for Ted Lasso. I’ve now seen both seasons and think it’s fine but everyone else seems to be watching this incredible show. But it honestly just feels like another BBC show. They didn't really earn many of their big moments.

“Halloween Kills” was a bit of a mixed bag. I loved it yet can definitely see the flaws. With the 2018 film, I legitimately could only see one criticism: the new Loomis. Everything else was perfect and I will fight you to the death if you disagree (heh). But I can definitely see the problems people would have with "Kills." The dialogue can be a little on nose. There are a ton of unlikeable characters (though I think that's the intent, going for the mob outrage angle). And it definitely seems to be going for a high body count for the sake of living up to the namesake. But I really loved how fun it was. I'd still rank it as the best in the series behind the original and 2018, so really, can I say I'm that disappointed?

Joblo Videos

Seeing as how this blog still manages a decent number of viewers per month, I figure I should actually advertise a bit of what I've been doing. Because, while I've been very neglectful to this website (and social media in general) I've still been very busy with good ole Youtube. For those unaware, I am a video editor for Joblo.com. While my released work falls under the horror wing, I actually have shows that are coming together on the main channel as well (if you like comic book movies, you'll be very happy). This is a pretty big deal because Joblo's total channel views are in the billion range. So it's a platform that really helps put eyeballs on my content. Which is awesome. And I figure I should turn a few more onto the product with this post. So let's get into the series that I make.

The Horror Movie That Almost Was

This is the first series I ever did with Joblo and it is easily my most demanding. I research, narrate, and edit these videos that are all about horror movies that never quite made it to production. The series has been going on for over a year at this point and is one of the most successful on the channel. I've included my two favorites.

Real Slashers

As of now, it's my favorite series and I also write, edit, and narrate it. If Youtube decides to neuter it, that could change, but as of now this is the most proud I've ever been of a video series. I think that it's just unabashed love for Slasher movies and I love being able to put a spotlight on some of my favorites. As you may notice, you have to sign in to watch them. You also can't watch them from my site and have to click through to Youtube. That's because Youtube sucks and Age Gated the show. Oh well. We're still working out what to do with that.

Playing With Fear

This is a series that I only do the video editing for, so I can only take so much credit. My writer, Andrew Hatfield, does a helluva job with his research. Despite the fact that I'm only the editor, I spend nearly the same amount of time on these videos as the other series, because I still want it to pop as much as the others. Takes a little more effort since I have no input until the editing actually is happening.

RIP Hana Kimura

Today marked the passing of one of the most beloved Joshi’s in the world, Hana Kimura. This is a tragedy for many reasons but the biggest being that this was a suicide brought on by bullying.

 

I’m having a hard time even processing this. The circumstances around her death are just terrible. She’d been on some reality show and was scrutinized for something so stupid, I don’t really feel like writing about it here. I’m sure you can find it if you seek it out.

 

She was 22 years old and one of the best in her profession. Yet youth and greatness wasn’t enough to pierce through the darkness.  It’s all just truly terrible. I mostly wanted to write this so that, for those that may stumble across this, they may know of a great person taken too soon.

 

I know this isn’t the death to suddenly change things. A lot of people won’t even hear about it. But so long as it makes those that do, second guess their mean, negative comments then there can be something positive to come from this. Just, be better.

 

RIP Hana

First Time with Live and Let Die

I took a little bit of a break from my Youtube channel while I moved across the country and I figured, what better way to come back than with my "First Times with James Bond" series. This time, I'm looking at the beginning of the Roger Moore era with "Live and Let Die." Check out the video below and give it a like if you'd be so kind (helps the algorithm).

Social Isolation (Day 14)

I can talk!

I missed yesterday because I actually felt good enough to do something other than lay in bed all day. That also meant that, with all the excitement of feeling better, I had completely forgotten about this. Oh well. The interesting part of this is pretty much over. It's just back to me ranting about random entertainment sectors.

I still have symptoms. They are slight, but still present. Lungs still have a sting to them. So hopefully I can just keep improving to the point that I don't feel any of these respiratory issues anymore. Let's just hope it's not something that's just a thing I have now. Weak lungs. I guess we'll see, the more research gets done on this virus.

I'm really stress-free right now. I don't have to go back for another 13 days, I'm still under quarantine, and the whole world is staying in. It's not a bad position to be in.