For many years, I was one of the biggest fans Moby had.  Everything is Wrong was one of my favorite albums. I listened to it on a never-ending loop, and ,then, I stopped. 

One day I stopped listening to all of his albums. I didn't suddenly dislike him.  I just… Read full post »

      When I signed my first teaching contract back in 1997, I noticed a little something called "Other Duties as Assigned".  I didn't really think much of it because I was going to be making an incredible $23,000 a year. You don't ask questions. I was too busy spending… Read full post »

My Addiction

When I was in high school, I had one goal.  It wasn’t a lofty goal, but it was one that I spent my ever y waking moment preparing and training for it.  I wanted to play college football. I wanted to pay for school, not with my mind but/… Read full post »

I want to be frank about something, and you can be whomever you choose to be.  John Carpenter made a pretty solid little movie when he cranked out Halloween.  However, I do not consider it to be his best movie.  That honor is shared by The Thing, Escape from New York… Read full post »

This Open Call was made for me. However, I'm going to cheat because I can't choose a favorite.  Instead, I'm going to highlight the movies that mean the most to me.  There will be very few Oscar weiners here, and there will be some disreputable types, but judge not lest ye… Read full post »

Whither the Slasher?

I grew up in the bustling town of Fouke, Arkansas.  You, Dear Reader, may have heard of this town in conjunction with the Tony Alamo compound raid or the stories of the Boggy Creek Monster.  The population hovers just below one thousand, and the school and rice fi/… Read full post »

The years 2000-2002 are what I considier lost years.  They were aimless and lacked any true purpose.  In the year 2000, I often found myself wandering around Wal-Mart at two or three a.m and driving around with no particular destination in mind. I was in my mid-twenties, and the promise I… Read full post »

I have a confession.  I don't have the slightest idea who is competing in the Super Bowl.  I couldn't even tell you what number it is.  I'll probably watch portions of it, but Big Love and Flight of the Conchords air on Sunday nights. In fact ,the best part of the… Read full post »

Hero worship has never really been my thing. Everyone lets you down or they reveal themselves to be just like you.  Being just like me means you suck.  However, I do admire the type of person who carves out a niche for themselves no matter how underappreciated and just keeps right… Read full post »

Cherish (2002)

Dir. Finn Taylor

Starring Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, Brad Hunt, Ricardo Gil, Jason Priestley, Liz Phair, Nora Dunn and Lindsay Crouse

Nostalgia for a particular decade can be fun but, ultimately, very annoying. There are only so many rounds of “Hey, ‘member (INS… Read full post »

I was ensnared today by optimism today.  I was ensnared by a wee bit of hope.  For the first time in along time, I wanted to believe in a politician.  I've tempered my feelings since November, and, indeed, since Obama became THE candidate.

However, I gave into my desire to… Read full post »

Law abiding.  That is one of the word I often conjure up in relation to myself.  I've, with very little effort, tried to avoid any situations that might land me in jail or make me seem disreputable.  My Bruce Campbell action figures make me seem disreputable enough.  This life I'v… Read full post »

It happened.  I finally became that which I feared.  I am finally the Paul Gleason character from The Breakfast Club. Some of you may not know the name {aul gleason, but I'll bet you know the Paul Gleason game.  He is the character actore who embodied institutional jackassery for most… Read full post »

 "On my sixth birthday, Father cut my tongue loose. The gift of silence.  Pearl put it in the freezer and ate sweet cake."

Before I discuss the film Sonny Boy, I want to heap as much praise as I can muster on Turner Classic Movies.  The institution of TCM… Read full post »

Every year, without fail, I have a student who is one of the funniest, brightest, and , sometimes, most beautiful person in the class.  Inevitably, this person is also not very popular with his or her classmates.  I cannot really fathom this because I'll have thoughts along the lines of "Ma… Read full post »

I've never actually asked a doctor about it , but , lately, I've been concerned.  I look in the mirror ,and I see that I've aged, but I don't feel it.  I don't feel like I'm almost thirty-five.  In fact, I fele very close to seventeen.  This isn't necessarily a good… Read full post »

This was written a long time ago.  I'm putting it here and forgetting about it.  It's not what I call good but it reminds me of who I was once.  I like a few phrases here and there even as I wince at the immaturity.

She took a long, serious drag… Read full post »

words, words, words

raised in piney woods without clear direction

making it up as the music changed

stumbling into theaters and football fields and concert halls

Poe

Salinger

Ol' Shakey

Alzado

Cohen

Ramone

lying awake contemplating imagined wrongs That I need to atone for

guilt, guilt, guilt

teachin… Read full post »

The Beast of Hollow Mountain is an example of genre mixing that must have made little boys and little boys in grown up suits clap with glee upon its release in 1956. The premise is one that excited me when I read about it in the thousand -and-one monster movie… Read full post »

I usually don't read film novelizations or even film spin-off novels. I suppose I am a bit of a snob. I don't have any problem watching film adaptations of novels I have or have not read , so I'm a snob with a double standard. However, just like the uptight… Read full post »

The Haunted Palace: Hey! You Got Your Lovecraft in My Poe!

I have an awful, terrible confession to make. I love Poe with all my heart. Whenever I re-read him, I find something new, and I continue to be amazed by the depth of his work. That's not much of… Read full post »

Mea culpa.  I didn't realize that I would adversely affect things . I was just moving some nonsense over here.  Sorry, eveyone. Read full post »

I like lists.  I always have,and I always will.  I like finding people's lists when they leave them behind in a grocery store.  I like Best and Worst lists.  I'll read magazines once a year just to see the lists they provide.  I alos like compiling my own.  Here's 25 thi… Read full post »

2008.  At least, it went quietly.  I know that there are somethat counted it as a great year.  There wasa historic election; a really bad president is on his way out. 

Was that really the best thing?  Was it the only good thing?  It certainly seems that way.  I had… Read full post »

Here it is .  My first entry in yet another new blog.  I have neem at this blog business for about nine years now, and I always start out like a house on fire and them I collapse.  I get busy, or I forget.  Sometimes, I just get disgusted and purge the… Read full post »