Month: December 2011

Viewing Recommendation

Like the informational aspect of ‘Antiques Roadshow’ but find the show itself just a bit too boring and lacking in any kind of excitement?

Like finding cool items at rummage/yard sales?

Wish they could somehow combine the two, add a live auction, and make sort of a fun/educational research show/game show hybrid?

They did.  It’s called ‘Bargain Hunt’…look for it on BBC America or (more easily) on the playback device of your choice that gets BBC programs.

And watch out for bits of old tat.

-Puppy >.< Yip!

The Return Of The Living Dead (1985)

It’s not a “zombie” film, because they run and talk pretty well.
It’s not a horror film because it’s far too silly.
So think of it as a comedy homage/parody to/of “real” zombie movies, most of which are much more gruesome but not nearly as clever.
You can safely call this a B movie.  On the low end.

Inspirational Quote: “Send more paramedics”

Grade: B-

2012: Oh come on, this is fcken hilarious.  Grade: B

The Three Stooges – Episode 58 (In The Sweet Pie And Pie)

Highs:
too young and too handsome
Curly thinking
musical saws
saw see saw
wedding kiss
vendor
The Shadow
skinless frankfurter
Curly’s bed solution
Larry’s chicken
big fence in Chicago
Jasper’s tapeworm
Curly getting himself

Lows:
waking up
dancing lessons stock footage
LONG pie fight

Grade: A-

The Three Stooges – Episode 57 (An Ache In Every Stake)

Highs:
frozen dainty
bent chisel
ice bowling
free sample
What a brain…
electric icebox
ruff!
What a brain…
blood/ketchup
cooking debate
Moe’s ingredients
Curly shaving the ice
stuffing the turkey
clip joint
tootsy-fruitsy
Curly’s father
slap fight
gas on…

Lows:
unfortunate cakes
icing
cake presentation

Grade: A

The Three Stooges – Episode 46 (A Plumbing We Will Go)

Highs:
dandruff
malfunctioning snap
Freckled Trout
private cabinet
no room for an argument
instant plumbers
Jack and Jill
straitjacket size 36
Curly’s endless pipes
surrounded
Curly’s resentment
pipe clogged with wires
Larry the groundhog
reality tv
dangerous hole
ending

Lows:
boring (and racist) water gags
boring (and racist) electricity gags
fleeing the house

Grade: A-

The Three Stooges – Episode 44 (You Nazty Spy!)

Highs:
Moe thinking
Beblach!
Curly’s machine gun
goslings
Saloonatics
little gathering
safe hypocrisy
“Hiss”
here’s how
stenographer
little red book
no bones in ice cream
wrong side of the gutter
stop at Syracuse
shooting the works
in a pickle
shot in the excitement
Notre Dame and 2 points
new secretary
dancing
BURP

Lows:
8 ball joke
stormtroopers
long map shot
peace conference

Grade: A

The Three Stooges – Episode 42 (Oily To Bed, Oily To Rise)

Highs:
henfruit
unskilled labor
sawing a saw in half with a saw
cheese knife
illiterate door
Curly’s casual crash warning
not enough time to murder Curly
barely possible
kiss for luck
kissing Moe

Lows:
short-distance chase
most of the oil scene
driving(again)

Grade: B

11/27/13: I don’t have to re-watch it.  At this point, I just have to re-imagine it.  Grade: B+

The Three Stooges – Episode 21 (Dizzy Doctors)

Highs:
breakfast alarm
back-to-bed alarm
convenient umbrella
Salesmen!
Brighto Jingle
woof vs. hiss
banana peels
quick ride
Curly’s health
three more chances
Brighto!
one-way round trip
information
fight summary
six delicious flavors
busy line
long-term dandruff treatment
inability to find the clutch
Curly hurrying
ending

Lows:
persistent dog
persistent begging
most of the chase scene
sailing on the street

Grade: A

(Truly) Inspirational Quote

“I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The
problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the
position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books
in many languages. The child knows someone must have written
those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the
languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a
mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know
what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.” – Albert Einstein

The Three Stooges – Episode 3 (Men In Black)

Highs:
Ana Conda
Larry being ready
YNUNG!
ba-ba-ba-boo!
unfortunate recovery
not saying a word
dueling phones
incision/insertion/excursion
plucking for ripeness
anaconapooner

Lows:
giggling nurse
most of Larry’s acting
hiccuping nurse
everything post-jackhammer

Grade: B+

2/11/13: Overrated, I think…parts of it are dull.  But too many parts are brilliant not to make this a must-see.  Grade: A-

A simple quote for a simple Puppy!

“…I have found strength where one does not look for it:
in simple, mild, and pleasant people, without the least
desire to rule—and, conversely, the desire to rule has
often appeared to me a sign of inward weakness: they fear
their own slave soul and shroud it in a royal cloak…”
– Friedrich Nietzsche

“Let’s play…Master and Servant…” – Depeche Mode

“Whatever happened to Depeche Mode?” – Puppy

-Puppy >.< Yip!

Jenna Greene

Wild Earth Child (2011)

I’ve seen Jenna perform some of these songs live, and both her voice and her demeanor are real.  (She doesn’t need studio enhancements, and she means every positive, uplifting word).  She seems to revel in SHARING her music – hers is not the fake, staged act of a bored professional or a talented fraud tying to pretend they’re happy performing…she IS happy performing, whether it’s to adults listening attentively or little girls dancing about near her.  When she says “Thank You” after each song, it comes out as a welcome ray of truth, as if she almost can’t believe that people are clapping for HER, and she doesn’t quite know how to express her profound gratitude that her beautiful music and spirit inspire others as much as they obviously do herself.

Husband Doug plays the steady but subtle Mick Fleetwood to Jenna’s often-mystical Stevie Nicks, circa “Gold Dust Woman”, especially on “Samhain Night”.

My favorite songs are the first two, “Affirmation” and “Green Man (Wild Earth Child)”, but I don’t listen to them on repeat or in a mix, I listen to the whole album, because it is truly a REAL experience of carefully crafted, yet spare and simple, Love and Wonder.

This is not “Pagan” music any more than “It’s Love” by King’s X is “Christian” music.  They’re both UNIVERSAL music, celebrating the latent spirituality and wonder in ALL of us, no matter how, where, or under what name we choose to express it.

Sowing the seeds of Love, and nurturing them with Faith and Joy.  Amen, and Blessed Be.

Grade: B+

7/18/12: Everything above is accurate and true to the best of my knowledge.  However, critical integrity must not be tarnished by liner note subjectivity.  Hence… Grade: B-

10/27/12: True Believers are hard to find.  A pretty voice and lovely melodies don’t hurt, either.  Grade: B

An Interesting (Liber-AL) Thought

“…men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden and to desire what is denied us.”

– Francois Rabelais

I like this…

“At its core, meditation is about touching the spiritual essence that
exists within us all. Experiencing the joy of this essence has been
called enlightenment, nirvana, or even rebirth, and reflects a deep
understanding within us. The spiritual essence is not something that
we create through meditation. It is already there, deep within,
behind all the barriers, patiently waiting for us to recognize it.
One does not have to be religious or even interested in religion to
find value in it. Becoming more aware of your self and realizing your spiritual nature is something that transcends religion. Anyone who has explored meditation knows that it is simply a path that leads to a new, more expansive way of seeing the world around us.”
– Aaron Hoopes, ‘Zen Yoga’

Good News (For A Change!)

Every day, good things happen and horrific things happen.

Contrary to the propagandic vitriol of the Nihilist, focusing on the good is not being ignorant to reality. 

It is choosing Light over Dark.

If you want to cry and yell and scream over horrific things, there are plenty of places to do it, and plenty of people to help you along on your self-destructive journey.

If you prefer to focus on the good that does exist, check out the “Good News” site every day.

Ignore everything else?  No.  But the proponents of Logical Positivism (such as myself) have, for the most part, found that anger, bitterness, hate, and the fervent attempt to destroy anyone else’s happiness that some people thrive on leads only, eventually, to harm one’s self, one’s loved ones, and one’s life.  Therefore, as a logical being, I choose to (attempt to) rise above such things when possible, and TRY to be happy.

Be a good person, live a good life…try to be happy.

It’s a choice by a moral person, not a demand of a cowardly nature.

Emotional Cowards are those that seek solace in the ephemeral, fleeting, and meaningless because they’re afraid that those are the only things they can depend on.  And by the nature of most Nihilists, given how they treat other people, they’re probably right.  For them…not for me.

And now, smile!  Cute animules!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/cat-and-dog-hugging-kissi_n_1154015.html

-Puppy >.< Yip!

Kick-Ass (2010)

The best trailers for this movie make it appear hilarious, as perfectly-timed one liners and quick exchanges seem to flow effortlessly and endlessly between almost all the characters, not just potty-mouthed Hit Girl.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re an editor) this is a carefully crafted illusion, putting all the best moments, action and comedy, together in one rapid-fire stream of coolness that is mostly out of context and which doesn’t account for the REST of the movie…which is mostly ok-but-tedious-in-comparison.

The gross violence of the Big Bad Boss and his henchmen is understandably shown…we’re SUPPOSED to hate them.  But what’s the point of showing an 11-year-old girl’s masterful, often grotesque slayings of henchman after henchman?  I suppose, given Hit Girl’s costume as she enters the last soon-to-be Slaughterhouse, it could be seen as a stern warning to be afraid of little girls…perhaps an effective PSA for Pedophiles, but otherwise just plain gross.

I have no problem with “dark” humor, I have a problem with a movie that sells itself as a dark-humor cartoon and then contains about five minutes of that and two hours (or so it seemed as I waited for the inevitable ending for an interminable amount of time) of mediocre slop.

Watch the trailers, laugh your ass off, then skip the movie.

Grade: C-

2012: Grade: C

In Your Darkest Hour

From someone who’s been there, and back, more than once…

However bad you may feel, never give up hope.

You may be helpless to change your situation, now…

But nothing’s ever hopeless.

It’s hard to remember that when you’re curled up in a ball, wishing you could cry, but even that effort is beyond you.

But it is true.

– Puppy >.< Yip!