I've been toying with doing something like this for a while. I've come to the realization that I don't do much with my Facebook fan page, aside from plugging my blog and cross-posting my tweets. So, this past week, I thought I'd try something. With the countdown on to Halloween, every day, I'd share one of my favourite Halloween songs. And now that Halloween is here, I thought I'd compile everything on the blog. So, here's the Halloween songs I shared.
This is Halloween
I love the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. I always looked forward to the Halloween show of my old college radio show, because it was the only time of year I could get away with playing the soundtrack. That’s why it pleases me so when, I look at the music charts I use at work, and see “This is Halloween” climbing the list of most-played Halloween songs. The charts actually list three distinct versions that are in rotation. The first one, credited to “The Citizens of Halloweentown,” is the version from the start of the film that we all know and love. The second one, credited to the song’s composer Danny Elfman, is actually an early demo version that Elfman recorded, and has been released on several Elfman compilations. (Elfman has called this release mildly embarrassing, as it’s just him messing around with his keyboards and singing all the parts.) And, for the film’s 3D re-release in the late-2000s, Disney got Marilyn Manson to cover it.
The Devil Comes Back to Georgia – Mark O’Connor and Friends
We all love “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” but did you know it has a sequel? In the early 1990s, champion fiddle player Mark O’Connor conceived a sequel in which the Devil challenges Johnny to a re-match, and this time, the prize up for grabs is the soul of Johnny’s infant son. O’Connor’s sequel was a country music event. O’Connor performed Johnny’s fiddle solos, with Marty Stuart singing Johnny’s parts. For the Devil, original “Devil Went Down” performer Charlie Daniels did the fiddle solos, with Travis Tritt singing the Devil’s parts. And Johnny Cash is our narrator.
March of the Martians – Harry Brueur
When released in 1969, the album “The Happy Moog” was a bargain bin release, billed as a “Moog synthesizer album for children.” But one track, “March of the Martians,” has particular significance for Canadians of a certain generation. For you see, “March of the Martians” was used as the theme song for the cult classic kids show “The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.”
Transylvania Twist – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
In the perennial Halloween classic “Monster Mash,” Dracula laments, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?” Well, capitalizing on the success of “Monster Mash,” Bobby Pickett produced a whole album of Halloween novelty songs, and he was sure to finally give us the Transylvania Twist. I love it, because it sounds like every cheesy made-for-TV sound-a-like circa 1964.
It’s a Monster’s Holiday – Buck Owens
Over in my day job, I’ve been trying to track down more Halloween songs to fill out the music library. And it’s been tough. While there’s a lot of great country classics concerning ghost stories and such, nothing has the recognizability of a Monster Mash. Finally, someone pointed me towards Buck Owens’ "It’s a Monster’s Holiday", and I was like, “This is it! Our country music Monster Mash!”
Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch one of the many movies I own and go a-bloggin' about it. Next in the queue, the 1992 comedy classic that briefly sparked a trend of turning old Saturday Night Live bits into movies, Wayne's World. Originally in my notes at February 1, 2015.
I've gotta get my podcast back up and running. Too much of my nerdy proclivities are starting to leak into my day job. Back on Wednesday, I spent far too much time talking about Back to the Future.
Last Wednesday, October 21, was officially "Back to the Future Day." For those who are wondering why, it's because that date -- October 21, 2015 -- was the fantastic, far-off, futuristic date that Doc and Marty traveled to in Back to the Future Part II. Plus, 2015 is the franchise's 30th anniversary, so it was a good excuse for the 30th anniversary party.
On Wednesday, a good chunk of my show was dedicated to talking about Back to the Future. I just love that movie so much. As many have pointed out, the entirety of the Back to the Future franchise now takes place in the past, as it was meant to be. When franchise co-creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale came up with their time travel movie, they knew they didn't their heroes to go to the future because all movies set in the future always get it wrong. "But Mark," you're saying, "The whole end of the first film where Doc takes Marty to the future!" Well, Zemeckis and Gale never had any plans for a trilogy or a franchise back when they made the first one...they just thought it'd be a cute joke to end with. So when the studio wanted a sequel, Zemeckis and Gale were all like, "Well...guess we gotta go to the future. Painted ourselves into a corner with that ending, didn't we?"
But we're not here to talk about Back to the Future. We're here to talk about the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
When that poster first broke the day before the trailer, my first reaction was, "OH MY GOD THAT'S SO COOL!! It's kinda cluttered, though." A friend on Facebook remarked that he loved my enthusiasm tempered with pessimism.
And as I explained...I've been through all this before, with a little film called Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. As much as everything gets me excited, there's a little voice in the back of my head going, "But what if BB-8 is the new Jar Jar?"
Another comment on Facebook told me to put my faith in JJ Abrams. Last time I did that, I got Star Trek Into Darkness. So, yeah. I'm starting to temper my enthusiasm a little.
Which is strange. I'm not one of those who felt massively burned by the prequels. I'm a bit of an Episode I apologist, actually. I didn't feel burned by the prequels until I saw the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. That movie is so bad, you guys.
That might be why I haven't bought my advance tickets yet. I'm getting old and paranoid, guys. As much as I want to be there on opening day, it comes out in the middle of December, and there'll probably be 4 feet of snow outside, and I'll have to drive into the city on icy roads with my crappy tires. Fear is starting to consume my life. Fear of driving on icy roads with crappy tires. Fear that The Force Awakens is going to disappoint. Fear of getting out of bed most days.
But still, there's enough in these trailers to get one want to get out of bed. We still don't know these new characters. Who is this woman Rey, and why is she so prominent on the poster? I subscribe to the theory that they're going to reveal her last name to be Solo, and she's Han and Leia's daughter.
And why haven't we seen old Luke Skywalker in any of these promotional materials yet? You know that when he appears in the film, it's going to be a big reveal. A growing theory is that he's actually going to be revealed to be evil...which would be cool. One of the oldest fan theories is that the film is going to be "The Search for Luke" and he doesn't show up until the last 15 minutes or so.
And what's that Death Star-looking thing in the poster?
Anyway, on to the trailer!
Not gonna lie...I kinda like the last trailer better. The way it builds up to the reveal of Han and Chewbacca at the end with "Chewie...we're home." This one, though, finally gives us more glimpses of our new characters, and even though it's just a couple of lines, we're finally getting impressions of who they are and what they're about.
Although, my heart did quicken when they started reinterpreting the "Han Solo and the Princess" theme in the trailer. Reminds me of another tweet I saw: "I really hope the film has more to offer than nostalgia."
My excitement is getting tempered as the day draws closer. Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on December 18.
Here we go again with Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly blog the latest DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS I've recently re-watched. I continue going through stuff I bought from the National Film Board, Canada Vignettes: A Love Story. This is in my notes at January 17, 2015.
Well, still haven't finished tuning up the website since my server crash a couple of months ago, so that means ramblings that usually go in the podcast go where they used to go...this blog! I really should get on that, thought. Holiday blockbuster season is right around the corner, so I'm gonna wanna start posting movie reviews again. And let's not forget a little film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You know I'll be getting a few podcasts out of that. Anyway, until then, let's blog!
First up, let's talk about Legendary Pictures and their upcoming daikaiju cinematic universe. Legendary Pictures made last year's American Godzilla reboot, which I thought was pretty good. Last year, they also announced that they were working on Kong: Skull Island, a King Kong prequel/reboot all about King Kong and the island from whence he came. Didn't take much for people to go, "Dude...does this mean they're gonna do King Kong vs Godzilla?" Well, no, because while Legendary was making the films, King Kong is still owned by Universal and Warner Brothers has the American rights to Godzilla.
Well, that is, until Legendary dotted the necessary i's and crossed the necessary t's and made things all copacetic with the various movie studios. And this past week, they announced their grand cinematic universe plans:
March 10, 2017 - Kong: Skull Island
June 8, 2018 - Godzilla 2
2020 - Godzilla vs Kong
The connecting thread in all these films is going to be Monarch, the shadowy organization we saw in Godzilla that's been monitoring giant monsters. They're actually going to be building quite the cinematic universe for this. It's already been announced that for Godzilla 2, they secured the rights to such famous Godzilla rogues as Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah.
And I am thrilled. I really enjoyed last year's Godzilla reboot, and if they can keep that momentum going, this is going to be good.
Here we go again with Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly ramble about the latest Blu-Ray I just re-watched. This time out, I get to one of the...most disappointing superhero reboots of recent times, 2014`s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This is in my notes at January 4, 2015.
Here we go again, Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch one of the movies I own and blog about it. Today, we watch the movie that was going to ruin Marvel...until it didn't. Guardians of the Galaxy. I originally watched it and jotted this down on December 14, 2014.
Here we go again, on Fishing in the Discount Bin, my weekly ramble about a DVD or Blu-Ray I own. It's time to dip my toe in the world of 007 once again with the unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again. This is in my notes at December 7, 2014.
Well, I was hoping to be bringing back my podcast at around this time, but, as it happens, life got in the way.
As I shared on Facebook a few weeks ago, I got a frantic text from my best friend. He's kind enough to host chaosinabox.com for me. And the text said, "SERVER'S CRASHING!!!! BACK UP EVERYTHING NOW!!!" Luckily, I was able to get everything backed-up, and my best friend had a new server lined-up and everything back online the next day.
Well...mostly.
Now I'm just futzing about with all those little things that come with a server move. Fixing dead links, re-uploading images I used, stuff like that. Well, at least when I completely redesigned the website to use WordPress back in the spring, all that stuff is easier now. It's just finding the time to do it.
Working on my website is a real "falling down the rabbit hole" thing with me. I'll put it off for the longest time, and then, on a bored Sunday afternoon, I'll go, "Well, I got nothing better to do. I'll just do this one thing to the website." 16 hours later, I'm wondering where the day has gone. It's like most things, right? You got a roll, and you don't wanna stop.
So, yeah. I've got to find the right bored Sunday afternoon to just sit down and get that done. Obviously, this isn't it, because I'm blogging instead of clicking over to the site and working on it.
And the podcast will be back once the site is back up to 100%.
So the new trend these days are "box subscription services." It's kind of an update of the ol' "Book of the Month Club" concept. You pay your subscription fee, and once a month, they send you a box full of stuff. I've seen them online for shaving products, healthy snacks...all kind of stuff. But, me being me, the one that catches my eye the most are the monthly boxes of nerd-friendly merchandise.
The one that seems to sponsor most of the podcasts I listen to is Loot Crate. A co-worker got a one year subscription to Nerd Block for his birthday. He was raving about it in the office and trying to get me to sign up. "Mark...the note inside this month's box says that next month is all Star Wars stuff! Sign up now and you'll get the box full of Star Wars stuff!"
And that happened to be the same day they announced Star Wars: Smuggler's Bounty, the official Star Wars box subscription service. Why settle for just one box full of Star Wars stuff, when you could get a box full of Star Wars stuff EVERY MONTH? And Smuggler's Bounty is being run by Funko, the makers of those Pop! bobbleheads that are a popular collectible right now. One of the selling points of Smuggler's Bounty is 2 exclusives Pops in every box.
And I will admit, that signing up for one of these is awfully tempting. But, you've seen me lament in this blog lately that money's been awfully tight for me this year, and this definitely falls into the category of a "want" and not a "need." Plus, at the end of the day, it's a box of stuff. More stuff that I need to find a place for. Now, I'm not getting all like my sister, who's all about the downsizing these days and minimizing clutter, but I am starting to ask myself how much more stuff do I really need?
So as much as it breaks my heart, I think I'm going to have to say no right now.
I'm so glad that season 3 of Batman: The Brave and the Boldis finally on Netflix! I love the weirdly meta final episode Mitefall!
For those who missed it, Batman: The Brave and the Bold was the Batman cartoon that ran from 2008 - 2011. Figuring it was finally time for the Dark Knight to stop being so dark, it drew more from the Silver Age of Comics, being a more lighthearted adventure show. Taking its cues from its namesake comic, each episode featured Batman teaming up with another hero from the DC Universe. It was kind of DC's deep cuts, as several very obscure C-list heroes started showing up to team up with Batman, like OMAC and Uncle Sam. But the true scene-stealer was Aquaman, who was reimagined into a blustering, high-seas swashbuckler.
But when season 3 was announced to be the last, they stopped with the deep cuts and started with the greatest hits, and we finally got team-ups with Superman and Wonder Woman. Batman and Superman threw down in the episode Battle of the Superheroes!, when Superman, infected by Red Kyptonite, goes on a crime spree, and Batman has to take him down. Although, Superman's crime spree seems to be nothing but a collection of the greatest covers from Superdickery.com. Remember this viral site, where it collected the best Silver Age covers of Superman acting like a total dick? The site even gets a shout out as the staff at the Daily Planet discuss Superman's rampage:
Jimmy Olson: Yeah, Superman's turned into a real di--
Lois Lane: (interrupting Jimmy) DIFFERENT person.
But as I said, I was looking forward to the weirdly meta finale Mitefall! A recurring character was the omnipotent imp Batmite, watching Batman's adventures from a parallel universe and becoming Batman's biggest fan. However, because of his powers, Batmite is aware that Batman: The Brave and the Bold is just a TV show, and he's grown bored with it. He yearns for a dark and gritty Batman cartoon of yore, like Batman: The Animated Series. So, using his semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic powers, Batmite starts warping Batman's reality in the hopes of making Batman: The Brave and the Bold jump the shark so it'll get cancelled. And it's up to the teleporting and fourth-wall breaking Ambush Bug (special guest voice, the actor who literally jumped the shark in that Happy Days episode, Henry Winkler) to alert Batman as to what's going on and save the show.
The thing is, that's really why Batman: The Brave and the Bold was cancelled. The network execs got tired with it and demanded a new Batman cartoon that was dark and gritty like the old ones. So The Brave and the Bold was cancelled to make way for Beware the Batman.
So, yeah. Batmite starts throwing in all kinds of shark-jumping cliches, like super-obvious toy tie-ins, introducing annoying kids, and recasting Aquaman with Ted McGinley (special guest voice Ted McGinley). And in our big twist ending, Batmite is successful, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold gets cancelled. Ambush Bug appears to Batmite and reminds him that there's no place for Batmite in dark and gritty Batman cartoons, so all Batmite did was ensure his own demise. And at that, Batmite fades from existence.
And then, Ambush Bug throws a wrap party in the Batcave, inviting all the heroes that appeared on the show back for one last hurrah. And Batman talks directly to the camera, telling the children of the world that even though his show won't be on anymore, Batman will always be there for them. The end.
It's a great show, and worthy addition to the lore of Batman animation. Binge watch it today!
You know you're getting old when you tell someone your favourite Disney animated film is Fantasiaand they think you're talking about Fantasia 2000.
The incident happened when I was at a co-worker's party a couple of weeks ago. They saw that I recently posted on Facebook that I just bought Herculesand Mulanon Blu-Ray, and we got to talking about the Disney Renaissance.
But the bigger question is why did I buy Mulan? I always had this weird thing with Mulan. Back in the 1990s, when the Disney Renaissance was in full swing, Mulan was the only one where I got swept up in the hype. I'd just been introduced to the Internet and was following its development online. Hell, on my computer, I'm pretty sure I still have the official Mulan wallpaper I downloaded from the official Mulan website back in 1998. It was the only soundtrack album in that era I've bought.
But after all this time, I can't figure out why, out that second golden era of Disney animation, Mulan is the one that I glommed onto. So, when I saw the Blu-Ray was dirt cheap on Amazon, I finally snatched it up.
And I snatched up Hercules because it was also dirt cheap, and buying the two got me the free shipping.
So after watching Mulan, I still can't figure out why that was the one film that captured my attention. If anything, it struck me as a strange attempt to duplicate Aladdin. We've got our hero masquerading as another person as a way to get out of her traditional societal roles, we've got the manic stand-up comic voicing the sidekick.
Don't get me wrong...it's a good movie. But I want to go back in time to 1998, burst into my college dorm room, grab my college self by the shoulders and ask, "What is it with you and this movie?" Because 17 years later, I have no freakin' clue anymore.
Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch and blog about a movie I own. This time out, we get to famed animator Hayao Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises. This originally appears in my notes on November 23, 2014.
I was a little surprised when I was scrolling through the new releases on Netflix to see that Strange Magic is already available. Since I was mildly curious about the film when it hit theatres back in January, I knew it'd be the perfect thing to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
Here we are again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I watch and blog about one of the many DVDs/Blu-Rays that I own. This time out, I fill in another gap in my Weird Al collection with Weird Al's 1985 straight-to-video opus The Compleat Al. This is originally in my notes at November 22, 2014.
The current trend of collecting action figures as a hobby was kind of a spin-off of the comic book boom of the 1990s. When Todd McFarlane got the idea to form his own toy company to ensure the quality of Spawn action figures, other comic book companies started following suit, and soon, action figures were occupying shelf space in comic book stores. That's when I started collecting.
Despite my constant obsession with all things Star Wars, my first fandom is still Star Trek. When Playmates Toys unleashed their Next Generation figures, which dominated the 1990s, that was my gateway. With this renewed interest in action figures and Star Wars, Kenner knew it was time to revive their Star Wars license. After picking up a TNG figure, I saw the Star Wars figures and thought, "May as well get Luke. I always liked Luke." Then I picked up Boba Fett. "That's my favourite villain. I've got my favourite hero and villain. That should be good." Then they released Jedi Knight Luke (clad all in black as in Return of the Jedi), and I thought, "OK, that's Luke as he starts the saga and ends it. I should be good." Then they released Ewoks (I kinda liked the Ewoks) and then Emperor Palpatine (Well, I've got two heroes, should get two villains), and then OH MY GOD, THEY'RE ACTUALLY MAKING PRINCESS LEIA IN THE GOLD BIKINI??? And that's when I realized I was down the rabbit hole.
Here on Fishing in the Discount Bin, I love that I seem to be posting stuff I wrote up a year ago. Halloween is still less than two months away, but here we've got a Halloween special, Garfield's Halloween Adventure. This is originally in my notes at November 2, 2014.
Welcome to Fishing in the Discount Bin, where I ramble about a movie I own. I made a very important discovery when I watched Transformers: Age of Extinction: I'll forgive just about anything if you give me a Dinobot. This is in my notes at October 19, 2014.
So I told a friend of mine I was going through the Hunger Games franchise on Netflix to see what all the fuss was about, and he immediately responded with, "So...did you ever see Battle Royale?" To which I replied, "Next on my Netflix queue."
Here we are again, with Fishing in the Discount Bin, as I bloggity blog about some movie I own. It's time for another classic from my childhood. While I don't think it's as awesome as when I first saw it, I still think it's better than most people give it credit for: Ghostbusters II. This appears in my notes at September 28, 2014.
Well, if there's one thing I hate to do, it's leave a franchise unfinished, so let's return to Netflix to finish catching up on the global phenomenon that is The Hunger Games with the second-last film, Mockingjay Part I.
So, your Facebook feed has probably been lighting up with the news that Toy Story 4 is happening or that a massive Star Wars Land will be coming to Disneyland. All this news is breaking because D23 -- the official DisneyCon -- happened this weekend, and as such, Disney made all kinds of announcements about what they've got coming up. Rather than share each and every story on my Facebook page, or tweet my thoughts on it, I thought I'd just sit down and ramble on the ol' blog.
