Andy Hardy Goes To Hell, Or: Speaking of Full Circles…

Posted on June 17, 2022 by geelw

A horse is a horse, of course, of course…

The fun 1937 musical comedy Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry popped up today on TCM and while I usually don’t go out of my way to watch many Mickey Rooney films, this one was quite interesting because it nicely bookends with a certain later TV show. Some of you know where this is going, so just smile and nod, please.

Anyway, I got to laughing at one point for a few key reasons. One being the scene below where after teaching a kid the ropes of riding a race horse, Mickey’s character Timmie Donovan later takes the kid back to his room and attempts to give him a vigorous rubdown, which is unintentionally and hilariously suggestive, as is the previous horse scene.

While this is happening, a young Judy Garland pops up to interrupt things by playing the guitar and singing a catchy song about her new shoes. Don’t believe me? See for yourself, ahem (and just what the heck is going on here?):

“I got my horse right here, his name is Paul Revere…”

Th other funny thing was I immediately thought of The Twilight Zone episode” Last Night of A Jockey”, which was a total solo showcase for Rooney written by Rod Serling. He plays an angry disgraced jockey named Michael Grady who’s accused of horse doping and banned from racing. While in his shabby room, he talks to himself until his alter ego appears and grants him one wish which amusingly enough, goes exactly as planned after he’s reinstated and can start racing again:

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat…”

Anyway, you can pick up the film though Warner Archive here and it’s worth a watch, as it’s the first of eight films Rooney made with Garland, so that’s also important in cinematic as well as historical terms. See, folks- movies like this can also be quite educational when they need to.

-GW

Trouble (Living With It)

Posted on July 7, 2020 by geelw

(Thanks, Thomas Barnett!)

So, the latest advice from the government is more or less let your abuser move right on it and sure, too many of you will possibly suffer the negative consequences. But hey, we’ll tell you you’re 99% safe and the economy is more important than staying alive because you can’t live without a little sacrifice. Or a lot of little sacrifices that add up to be a lot more. Maybe. My head hurts at all this sheer negligence going on, especially when a more urgent and actually powerful federal response would have worked better from the outset, but nope. It’s been hands off and putting people who have no scientific knowledge or care to grasp it “in charge” of not keeping millions of others safe. plus muzzling or talking over the science-minded folks when they speak out publicly, along with promoting the brick-headed, stubborn ones who are afraid of rocking a slowly sinking boat and its erratic Captain Queeg.

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Frogs (Trick or Treat 1)

Posted on April 26, 2020 by geelw

(Thanks, Burbanked!)

I rather liked science class as lot as a kid despite running into a few bumps in the road, literal warts and all. I recall almost no one wanting to dissect those pickled frogs that the teacher placed on each lab table one fine day, save for two guys in the back (why are the shady ones always in the back and equipped with sharp knives now?) who I guess either turned out later to be really good doctors or even better serial killers later on in life. That and there were a couple of too gleeful girls who obviously didn’t believe that kissing a very dead frog would generate a very dead prince or a live one, for that matter. They just wanted to gross out those that spied them doing it, Ewww.

The more amusing thing here was those girls otherwise hated the class except for this one time and a few other incidents where mayhem was a potential outcome. There was the one time they (about a year later), along with one of the two boys from the back ‘accidentally’ created ammonia gas in the lab that cleared the whole floor, eventually leading to school being dismissed for the day, whee. Uh, don’t try that trick at home, by the way. It’ll the be the perfect cure for everything that ails you with the very obnoxious little side effect of a bit of invisible but acrid smelling poisonous death (and neither a fine nor noble death at that).

(Thanks. Henridellik!)

Eventually, during the two days, I caved into the learning process and with a fellow equally skittish student (we were all paired up in the class – less dead frogs means a sharing moment for all), we took the plunge. Yes, I thought of all those company-farmed frogs taking a plunge one fine day for a final swim they didn’t know would have them a few hundred miles away dead, well-preserved and soon to be splayed out like ghastly centerfolds courtesy of class-provided scissors and scalpels. My partner in (non) crime was a girl who mentioned before we cut into the preserved formerly ribbiting animal that she had frog once for dinner and yes, it tasted like chicken.

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Weird Tales (and It’s All True)

Posted on January 29, 2020 by geelw

Thanks, OOdie Smith!)

Amusingly enough, my last post seemed to cause some voodoo spirits* or whatever to affect my posting through Firefox, as I’m now writing this on Google Chrome after installing it because I can’t post or respond to posts using Firefox now. Weird, as it’s been an issue since last night when I was trying to post two reviews and respond to a few comments and I couldn’t. It was late and I was tired, so I did the usual human thing of going to bed without resolving the problem.

Of course, this didn’t work at all as a proper solution when I went to check early this morning to see what was up.

VOODOOOOOO!!**

I think I turned into Sir Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in Sexy Beast at this point, or I got up and had a cup of strong coffee, or both. But like a politician, I choose not to remember certain things as a matter of convenience. Oh, that video you clicked on was very NSFW (no, not in a sexy manner), but I may also have been (ALLEGEDLY), and Sir Ben is better at emoting, so there. Nyah.

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An Animated Discussion (Part 3)

Posted on January 8, 2020 by geelw

So, here we are again. Let’s see how, this time, we’ll see what else was in the bag of cartoons I loaned a friend. I added some stuff that wasn’t animated or not quite cartoons, but they all fit a theme. So here’s the final countdown with a few surprises for good measure:

Roujin-Z: Here’s the thing. Both kids don’t like anime, but I decided to pop this into the lot because it’s a family film of sorts and I know both parents would be into it because they’d “get” it and enjoy it even if their two Teen Titans didn’t. Lo and behold, not only did the kids take to it, they were both deciding that the genre was much more that what friends at school were hammering them in the heads over endlessly.

I should have gone with Ghost In The Shell as well, but this Otomo flick was more of an acceptable choice and I didn’t want to overwhelm them, although, yes, I had to field a few questions regarding the crazy ending. That said, I wonder how Akira or something as nuts as a Fist of the North Star would have gone over. That said, I think a Miyazaki film might be a better thing (I’m looking at YOU, Lupin!)…

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An Animated Discussion (Part 2)

Posted on January 6, 2020 by geelw

Now, where were we…

Cutting to the chase, maybe? Right, then. Here’s what was in that care package that was retrieved by a friend for his two kids as they were struggling with a no internet challenge. I’d say that package worked for its purposes pretty well, but we’ll see what the kids thought:

The Flintstones The Complete First Season: This one went over big because neither kid has seen the older version of the show in any sort of order before, but they definitely got it’s influence on The Simpsons and Dear Old Dad said he went out and got a Honeymooners collection DVD from a local pawn shop at some point so they could take a deeper dive down the road.

I’ve always thought the first three seasons were the best, as the animators were still working on a few things and the some of later seasons’ episodes felt a little stale. That said, every season has quite a few stellar episodes, and on the while, it’s a classic series worth seeing in full.

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iNetvideo.com’s Video and Game Sales May Get Your Wallet Pumping

Posted on September 29, 2019 by geelw

There are some nice prices here on older physical version movies, TV shows and games over at iNetvideo.com, and there are some decent deals to be had so stock up while you can. I’ve ordered from them in the past and can safely say they do ship out quickly and pack well.

Here you go:

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Blu-ray, DVD, Box Sets, and Games can be be had here at some very decent prices, plus if you want more news on future sales delivered to your inbox, feel free to sign up to get those alerts.

-GW

Sometimes, You Need That Head Room Cleared

Posted on June 2, 2019 by geelw

Catching up to things these days is a, what did that guy in the elevator the other day say as he walked in talking to himself? Oh, right – a big grizzly bear bitch. I don’t like being so far behind schedule, but it’s the nature of this particular beast thanks to the health stuff doing it’s thing and being really good at shifting focus which should be elsewhere to that invisible clock ticking away and some too cool for school super-agent not coming to slide in and attempt to defuse the situation.

(Thanks, imz72)

Still, we press onward despite the tick-tock stuff because it’s what keeps the collective we going. “We” meaning those parts inside the skin shell that want to cooperate and get me perambulating around and motivated to do more, which some days is less than more, which ends up being just enough, but not quite. You know that feeling, right? Anyway, I was parked on the work surface yesterday and deciding how to proceed on a few reviews and such that are in progress when my brain decided to take over and have me go draw something, which in turn made me feel a lot better, despite the end result not being good or complete.

“Gee, I’m a tree!” Oh, the pun society had disbarred me years ago, so I just do what I do, folks.

Well, it helped a bit in freeing up some clutter in the brain, which in turn has me a bit more motivated to get back to the needed grind, which isn’t really a grind because I do like what I do when it’s automatic and not baked in like a factory churning out Soylent Green or some other humdrum, generic content. Hey, I think I try to be somewhat original in what I do in terms of a few things. But yeah, I have to get faster like I was a few years back when content was flowing and my backlog was maybe a few weeks long. Anyway, I have a plan and the crankier parts of me aren’t going to like it, but it’s going into effect as we speak. So those parts are going to have to take their medicine and like it, or else.

vitameatavegamin-gif-1

Back in a bit. Or sooner. (*hic!*)

-GW

Burt Reynolds: Last Train Out For The 1970’s Man’s Man

Posted on September 7, 2018 by geelw

I’d (way too) old enough to still remember seeing Burt Reynolds appear on Dan August way back in 1970-71 and liking the show just for the rather dynamic opening of Burt doing all those stunts (and that catchy title theme):

(Thanks, The Rap Sheet!)

Amusingly enough, I was also watching Mannix over on CBS back then and yep, both shows were cut from the same (and literal) rough and tumble Quinn Martin cloth. meaning they were reliably action-packed and very guy focused (although both Mike Connors and Burt clearly had appeal to anyone hooked into those shows). I still recall in school one day some fearless (but none to bright) kid tried to copy that floor slide Burt did in the opening only to find out the laws of physics and a non-waxed floor made for a painful-looking science lesson. Hey, I got a laugh out of that foolishness, so it was all good.

I read Burt said this was his favorite film. I heartily agree. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s worth the watch.

I didn’t see any of Burt’s movies until John Boorman’s brutal, brilliant Deliverance popped up in heavily edited form (I think on ABC) and yes, I was creeped out big time by it, but it also became a favorite flick whenever it aired. Now, I wasn’t one to follow all of his work, but much of everything I saw was well made and Burt always came off as a pretty cool cat. Even in his more dramatic work up to a point, he did quite okay portraying an interesting variety of characters. I liked his work on Sharky’s Machine a lot because the film works as both cop drama and intentionally amusing dark comedy. yeah, Burt was a pretty decent director, too. Foo. I hate writing these posts because it’s hard to put words into proper sentences when one’s mind is racing like a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am about to clear a huge jump. Go watch a Burt flick at some point, I say. Pick a good one.

-GW

Romero & Landau: Two For The Road

Posted on July 17, 2017 by geelw

We have to stop meeting this way, but so it goes:

night_of_the_living_dead George A. Romero created one of the most influential, essential horror movies back in 1968 with Night Of The Living Dead, a film that still packs a punch on a few fronts. As his feature film debut, Romero’s flesh-eating ghouls would inspire a legion of filmmakers to copy and attempt to improve upon his film’s strengths. Some did, most didn’t. He stayed primarily and comfortably within the horror genre, making six follow-ups to the original along with some solid films such as Martin, Knightriders, and Creepshow.

I can still recall the first time I saw Night on broadcast TV late at night (I think it was ABC that ran it first), the network placed an on-screen overlay during the “news” segments that ran during the film so people wouldn’t think actual dead folks weren’t rising up to chomp on flesh. I forget how young I was, but even in its edited for, the movie had me half under a blanket and that surprise ending gave me nightmares for a few days afterward. A few years later when TV spots for Dawn Of The Dead popped up, I was actually so scared I decided not to try and attempt to buy a ticket. I saved that underage trial by fire for ALIEN, released a year later.

Side note: George lived up here in the Bronx – I believe in the same area I’m in now. Not that it matters much, but finding that out always made me think of another neighborhood guy who did well for himself.

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