Halloween (2018 film) (spoilers)

With Halloween approaching, this movie might be interesting to fans of the 1978 original. This was to be a return-to-form sequel that brushed off the canon from the mediocre sequels and included the talents of Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter. Was it successful? 40 years had passed both in real and story years which is unusual in a sequel. Laurie Strode was compelling as a 17-year-old teenager in 1978, and her sweet innocence provided stark contrast with the monstrous "Shape". Now we have the 57-year-old version who is paranoid, jaded, and battle-hardened. Unfortunately, her likability hasn't aged well. The babysitter "Vicky" sort of steals the show here.

The original movie featured a slow burn and less-is-more approach. The effectiveness of the soundtrack can't be overstated. Carpenter composed the famous theme himself which features an odd time signature (5/4). It doesn't rely on the go-to tritone to achieve spookiness, but rather chromatics and an odd minor to major micro-modulation. These oddities form a unique, unsettling sound, and there are also jarring, dissonant little piano riffs sprinkled throughout. I don't believe a classically trained composer could have come up with this. The 2018 version features a modernized version of the main theme. It's adequate and doesn't take any new risks with it.

The setup is painfully predictable. Michael Myers gets loaded onto a bus for transport due to...reasons. Need I say more? Myers gets right to the killing, so the slow burn aspect is out the window. Michael is spotted by the young boy Julian in his house at one point. His concerns are brushed off by Vicky, which is odd because he is somewhat adult-acting in nature. Let the bad decision-making begin!

Apparently, Laurie has spent the past 40 years planning for his return. She has built an elaborate set of traps in her house to ensnare him (this is revealed as a twist). Unfortunately, this plan was rushed. Each trap has only a single point of entry, so luring Michael as human bait means having to cross paths in close quarters safely somehow. Also, Laurie has to quickly abandon the safety of the basement bunker and perform a room-by-room search in the dark with no advantages. Despite these blunders, the basement trap miraculously works, and Michael is caught! However, the sequel is actually the first of a trilogy, and Michael is wearing plot armor as the house is burned to the ground. So, we don't get to see the body.

TLDR version: I'd say skip it unless you are a hardcore fan of the original.

Ace Ventura knows why Jim Jordan got fewer votes in the second speaker vote

Because he is a loo-hoo-ser-her!

On the first vote, some B-lister congresspeople may have decided to take a chance on Jordan. The Republican bandwagon mentality says getting in front of the bandwagon is even better than chasing behind it. In the event that Jordan had won, they'd have earned some valuable political capital. Fast-forward to the second round, and now Jordan's wagon wheels are coming off. Republicans don't want to be riding the wrong bandwagon, so time to hop off!

Hi! We're door-to-door salespeople and we're working with your neighbors BLAH and BLAH

When I answer the door, they always ask for my name right away. Originally, I thought this was just a way to feign personability and keep a foot in the door. Now I realize that on their next stop they will name drop me. "Working with" apparently means soliciting at dinnertime and getting quickly turned away.

Today it was a pressure-washing company I've never heard of. Do they think people won't actually call neighbors and check references before committing to any significant project?

Choosing normal wash cycle over sensor wash cycle on a dishwasher?

OK I admit this is a First World problem. I recently bought a new KitchenAid dishwasher, and it is far more sophisticated than the 20-year-old GE that it replaced (that one had a good run!). As I understand it, the normal wash cycle will run for 2.25 hours, and the sensor wash cycle is variable based on sensor readings (KitchenAid calls this the ProWash cycle).

That's as far down the rabbit hole as I could get with Google. Google won't tell me WHY you would choose the normal wash cycle when ProWash sounds like a slam dunk in all cases. Any insight into this deep, perplexing mystery?

Badlands - Sun Red Sun

This is off Badlands' 1993 album "Dusk". This album is remarkable in that it is all demo recordings. Atlantic Records heard them and decided not to move forward with the album, so it was shelved. The demos were eventually released as-is by Pony Canyon records in 1998 (lead singer Ray Gillen died in 1993). This was a recurring theme in the early nineties as "hair metal" bands were being dropped by the labels as they chased the grunge fad. Badlands was more of a heavy blues-rock band but was still dropped. This was a loss to the hard rock community, and a gift. The demos were done quickly and largely in one take with no overdubs. They captured an amazing moment in time of supergroup at the peak of their powers who weren't trying to make everything perfect. Jake E Lee seemingly never made a mistake, and Gillen was able to scat sing much of the record as the lyrics weren't finished. You can listen to any song off the album, they all have this organic groove sort of feel. It is still a quality recording, far better than most "official" recordings made today in my opinion.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines review (spoilers)

Fans of Stephen King received another installment to the Pet Sematary franchise yesterday on Paramount+. The series has already had a sequel and a reboot, so a prequel is surely in order (despite nobody asking for it). The prequel has a short running time and squanders little of it getting right to the zombification process. One of the suspenseful aspects of the original was not knowing quite what will happen after a visit to the cursed burial ground. The grieving family member returns home to go to sleep and await their fate the next day. Not so much anymore, now there is instant action at the gravesite.

Horror movies of old often relied on jump scares for cheap thrills. Modern horror movies like this employ that in addition to gore porn. The original was more about psychological terror, so this aspect feels like short-changing. Thanks, "Saw".

The Timmy character seemed to be more terrifying in his short appearance in the original than here. The filmmaker can't decide if he is a slow zombie or a fast zombie now. He starts off slow, then gets fast. Neither is very effective, and he just comes across as being kind of a dick instead of creepy. David Duchovny plays the dick father, I guess it runs in the family.

Pet Sematary II was a shitshow in its own way, but Clancy Brown played the zombie in a much more entertaining way. The zombie dog is a genuine threat. I'm not sure what was up with the girlfriend character, they sort of put her on ice in the hospital for a while.

The movie cuts to a prequel to the prequel at one point to fill in unnecessary details from colonial times and break what little momentum is built up. There's a family name tie-in that doesn't make a lot of sense. There's a Mi'kmaq Indian character thrown in to offer sage advice and provide a sense of authenticity.

The final battle features a rag-tag crew of protagonists going in to battle the zombies. They make critically bad decisions which is par for the course in a B-horror movie. They bring long rifles to a battle in cramped quarters. They manufacture reasons to split up so they can be picked off one by one. They hatch a dubious plan to deal with a burning house (they stay in it). They go into a sketchy-looking tunnel without good cause. The advice from the Indian isn't really followed.

Fortunately, it isn't too long so it is over fairly quickly. Sometimes, a movie not being made is better.

I'm going to work with Democrats to remove you because you worked with Democrats!

Republican pretzel logic at its saltiest.

Star Trek Discovery drinking game

Real alcohol, not Synthehol.

Drink whenever the command of Discovery changes hands.

Drink whenever Discovery takes massive hull damage.

Drink whenever Tilly is self-deprecating.

Drink whenever a "dead" character reappears alive.

Drink whenever someone spouts a line of technobabble related to spores.

Drink whenever you hear a TOS retro sound effect.

Drink whenever Book goes rogue.

Drink whenever a 120-pound woman handily wipes the floor fighting a 220-pound man hand-to-hand.

Drink whenever they flash to Commander Detmer and she doesn't say anything.

Drink whenever there's drawn-out dramatic dialog at an inopportune time.

Drink whenever there's a phaser battle and nobody gets hit.

Drink whenever Admiral Vance gives a stern look.

Why is every sewage spill of the "raw" variety?

Is there a practical difference between a "raw sewage spill" and the more mundane sounding "sewage spill"? Why does the local news feel the need to always embellish the spill of the week story with the "raw" descriptor? Is "cooked sewage spill" a thing?

I'm starting to feel like this shit is everywhere!

Who would you rather have sitting in front of you in a crowded theater?