Finally Friday: Let Cary Show You Some Moves For That New Year’s Party…


 

Other than a clip here and there over the years, I’d actually never seen all of Stanley Donen’s 1958 film Indiscreet until a few days back when I was up late stressing over some stuff. Yeah, the kitchen and other major repair jobs that are needed but seem to be hard to impress on the folks who run this place about how urgently they need to get taken care of. Bleh. Anyway, it’s an interesting and not quite perfect film about a woman (Ingrid Bergman) who thinks she’ll never find love who ends up falling for a man (Cary Grant) who she thinks is married. There’s more and a twist or three, but I’ll let you track this down and watch it if you’ve yet to, as it’s a fun film to wile away some time.

I’d have to say this dance sequence was the funniest thing I’d seen in a while at that hour of the morning, as I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t sleep afterwards thanks to the scene replaying itself in my head a few times. While I knew that Grant could hoof it like a maniac when he needed to in his earlier films, I didn’t think he did any fancy dancing this late in his career. That, and the scene is played entirely for laughs and gets them even when seen in that out of context clip above. Anyway, study those moves well and use them at that New Year’s party you’ve been invited to. I’d bet those steps work with any modern uptempo beat and I’d also bet that someone’s going to try and out-step you at some point on that dance floor. Of course, if they’re not in on the gag and have never seen this film, they’ll look a lot more foolish than you do, that’s for sure…

Happy Merry Something or Other!

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Well, I’ve kind of been taking it “easy” these last few days, but not really. After a bunch of calls and back and forth and another inspection, the kitchen will (maybe) finally get somewhat completed around January 4th and 5th. Of course, while all that was going on, the old pipe behind the wall in the home office that was supposed to be fixed when they took the wall apart a few years back? Yeah, yeah… it sprung a leak again. That needs to be tackled, but it’s going to take a while thanks to the way things work around here (quite stupid in terms of getting the simplest repairs done which turn into major repairs by the time they’re attended to). Anyway, I was going to post some of the digital Holiday cards I’ve gotten here, but ha and double ha… the internet connection is sloooooooower than usual today. I guess if I believed in Santa, he’d have gotten me a better connection, huh? Well, I’m too old for that stuff, so I’ll stick to shaking my fist at reality and fighting harder so I can get all the crap I want without sticking my head in the fantasy jar…

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Zzzzzzz….

Bundle Stars Reminds You That You Don’t Know (And Should Buy) Jack!

BS YDKJCoverI should write a snappy holiday-themed poem here for you to chuckle at. However, as I’ve been up since just before 6am and it’s an icky rainy day that’s not getting any better, I’ll have to save my brainpower for this latest Bundle Stars deal. $3.99 for NINE You Don’t Know Jack games and expansions is more than a steal, it’s a trivial trivia fanatic’s dream plus tax!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, are that antisocial guy or gal with zero friends, or heck, just don’t play PC or board games but happen to love trivia, here’s what’s up, Jack!

Get it? Got it? GOOD. Now go get it so you slap it on a laptop and distract the family during that usually disastrous holiday dinner. Uncle Charlie won’t be getting gassed to the gills if he’s busy answering trivia questions only he knows the answer to because he’s been watching too many reruns on TV Land, correct?

Random Art: Good. Buy Roux, Be Tuesday…

For the Record...Let’s see now. Went to sleep at 3, got up at 6am to do laundry. It’s dreary and rainy out now, but I need to try and get some work in on the site down at the library at some point including a massive game download that should take about 5 hours. However, I also kind of need to hang out here and wait for some packages, as I missed UPS last night by a few minutes (oops!) and I have a few other things coming in via regular mail as well.

Hmmm. Oh, and I need to do a bit of grocery shopping at some point, as there’s some chicken broth I made taking a snooze in the fridge and I’d like to turn that into a decent soup for the rest of the week. Or maybe I could make a really big pot of gravy? Nah. I’m not much of a gravy guy. Eh, let’s see where this all ends up. It’ll probably be just a few types of mushrooms and something green going in that pot before I toss in some rice noodles.

Okay. off to grab a cup of coffee and go through some files. Go have a tree or something. I did this MS Paint  last night while taking a break from poring over a ton of ideas I’d written down. My brain seems to not like resting during the winter, so I have too many ideas that I sometimes write down and discard to make room for new ones.  I think it’s the bad ideas that get tossed. Or at least I hope that’s the case…

Random Art: Nothing to Tree Here, Move Along…

Sample Sale 

A-ha and ha-ha. I’m surprised I had the time to whip this out, but that’s “thanks” to some stalling time in a long download and me not wanting to beat my poor laptop up. It wasn’t its fault anyway. Well, the kitchen is still a mess and there’s a new leak in a pipe in a wall in the back that requires a wall to come down (again!) at some point. Of course, having this place ALL fixed up at once would be the smart thing to do, right? However, between the management here stiffing the union guys and getting rid of some in favor of less experienced new hires and all the under-funded not so hot work they do, it’s going to take a while before this place is back to where it should be. I don’t like this new normal coming up one bit, but I have a few plans to get people back on the ball. All legal, folks. All legal. I’m not one to rouse the rabble, but there comes a point where one needs to raise the damn roof before it falls on one’s head (ouch).

Back in a bit…

BUY IT! Monday Bundles Will Keep You Warm and NOT Broke!

Let’s see now:

A few days before Xmas and you need a fix.
Some cheap games to gift yourself for some kicks…

IndieGala EMB 12222014 

Okay, this week’s IndieGala Every Monday Bundle, go! Six indie games for $1.89? Sure, why not? Well, you do get a gory and hilarious holiday-themed game (not for the kiddies at ALL!) called Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage (yuk!) that’s bound to tick off the believers in the fat man with the red suit and reindeer. Heck, the description is bound to get your eyeballs floating in boiling brain soup if you hold the myth sacred and dear:

Tragedy! Santa; the toy giving folk-hero, and purveyor of fine Christmas goods, has had enough. Endless requests from greedy children wanting more and more every year, tax increases, pressure from elf unions, bills, reindeer!

It is your duty, as an employee of Polar Sanitation Inc, to clean up the grisly aftermath of Santa’s bloody rampage. Elves, reindeer and ruined masonry from Santa’s brief breakdown are all strewn across his famous workshop.

So don your cap, grab your mop, and get this place sorted out so the company can get a replacement in here ASAP, and restore Christmas for another generation!

Well, I’m not shocked at all at this kooky indie game. It’s a good thing I realized at about age ten or so that “Santa” was mom or dad and other relatives with that holiday cash or credit cards going into debt for us kids. Hey, I’m not sitting on a stranger’s lap in public just to hope I get a present! Ewwwwwww. Fun financial fact: If you take out a loan for $5000 and repay it only with minimum payments at about 21% interest, you’ll end up paying $8000 extra over 20 years. YIKES. Hell, that would get me on a nifty little rampage to the nearest credit card company that buries that crap in the fine print, that’s for sure. Remember, cash is king, kids! if you don’t have it, don’t borrow it unless you don’t have to pay it back!

Meanwhile, back at the bargain ranch:

King Arthur Complete BS Banner

Nice but what about Bundle Stars? Funny you should ask. The want you to become KING for a While thanks to the $4.99 King Arthur Complete Bundle that gets you King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame, its sequel, King Arthur II and six DLC expansions. That’s a huge hunk of fantasy gaming to get in, folks!

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Some Illustrated Reads For Almost All Your Needs!

IDW Mad Artist's Edition Variant Cover 

gift_guide_2014I should have done this post sooner, but I was busy catching up on a lot of reading. Ha and ha. Anyway, books galore came this way (most of them digital) and I still have a huge backlog of stuff to read into 2015 thanks to the crunch of reads of too many types. In case you’re stumped for a last minute gift idea or just want to know what I read when I’m not writing or reading about stuff to write about (it’s a damn vicious cycle, friends), here are a few titles you might want to sample in this somewhat hastily prepared guide… Continue reading

Random Film of the Week: To The Devil… A Daughter

To The Devil A Daughter MPSwiping bits from Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist while leaving a “Why the hell am I watching this again?” aftertaste, To The Devil… A Daughter manages to be a pretty bizarre and somewhat unintentionally 1976 funny horror film from Hammer Studios. From what I understand by poking around a few books and online, the UK film industry was in a bit of a mess when this mess was made and it shows in a few key areas. Granted, you do get Christopher Lee in a scenery-chewing performance for the ages (including a brief nude scene performed by a double!) and Richard Widmark making a payday and playing an occult writer turned cranky old action hero long before Liam Neeson.

Yes, you also get a too young Nastassia Kinski flailing about and screaming as if possessed (well, she kind of is) in her part as a fallen “nun” and trying too hard to keep up with the other more experienced cast doing their own screaming and flailing about. Yes, the film is also notorious for the infamous bloody baby demon hand puppet molestation and a shot near the finale of her fully nude. While some genre fans may groove on that little detail, for some new viewers those elements will just come off as creepy central.. and not in a good way, either. Continue reading

Christmas Comes Early. Or Is It Valentine’s Day?

candyland 

So, yeah. Christmas came a bit early. My older brother and his kids popped by with a bunch of gifts including this big ass box of chocolates that was fodder for a ton of jokes. Damn thing is big enough to be an end table or a pet coffin (if one had a pet that ate some of that chocolate accidentally) and can probably be re-purposed as a nice hobo suitcase or over-sized book with a bit of DIY ingenuity. As it’s hot as heck in here because of the winter heating, that candy went into storage bags and into the fridge (it’s going to take months to finish it and anyone coming by is getting some whether they like it or not). Um, anyone want a big ass empty candy box? Anyway, I also got some more useful stuff, so it’s all good.

Back in a bit. Or tomorrow, as I’m working on a ton of stuff and need to finish at least half of it before Wednesday…

Random Film of the Week(end): Mister Freedom

Mr Freedom PosterAll this Sony madness surrounding The Interview made me think of a few films that either got some controversy upon their release in other countries, but I also thought of William Klein’s never released to the western public Mister Freedom, a masterpiece of absurdity that begs to be seen. Take the overall wackier bits from Dr. Strangelove, add in a jingoistic, xenophobic, sexist, quick to rile all-American superhero modeled after Superman and Captain America, add a ton of absurd visual elements and shake well.

For a film made in 1969, this one so far ahead of its time that some viewers may be shocked at what they see taking place. On the other hand, the film also shows that old adage “The more things change, the more they stay the same” is all too true in terms of politics and other targets ripe for satire. Klein, a famed fashion photographer and American expatriate living in France, made one of those films that will outrage some and make the rest laugh at as well as with it exactly as its director intended… Continue reading