TWELVE THINGS I BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON





An American Werewolf In London (1981)


This classic, directed by John Landis, had and still has in my opinion the absolute best conversion from human to lycanthrope ever. Without CGI or any of that other crap either. Rick Baker rules! Having a particularly bad, sleepless night I re-visited the best werewolf movie I've ever seen. And the first time and the last time John Landis and Rick Baker played nice with each other. But this time I seemed to see things here and there I hadn't noticed before:



1. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne play David and Jack, two students backpacking through England. They keep commenting on how cold they are, but for some reason, you can only see their breath part of the time. They also seem to dry almost instantly, even though it is always damp and sometimes just pouring rain.

2. In the scene in the pub The Slaughtered Lamb, Rik Mayall, who went on to do parts in The Black Adder and Drop Dead Fred, is one of the chess players.



3. In the scenes where Jack is killed and David is injured, everywhere they go, from the pub to the moors, it's lit up like a football field, even though it is night. A full moon may give some light fellas but spotlights? C'mon.

4. David meets Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) in the hospital. If you recognized her you probably have seen Logan's Run, The Avengers, and/or Captain America:The Winter Soldier.



5. There is a scene where David is in Alex's apartment watching TV. He's watching the Muppet Show - specifically Kermit and Miss Piggy. Both muppets appear in the credits as 'Themselves'.

6. Frank Oz (better known as Miss Piggy) got an acting part in the movie as well, playing Mr. Collins.

7. When David's doctor becomes concerned that maybe David's telling the truth, he travels to The Slaughtered Lamb where he chooses a small beer. No matter how many drinks he takes, it's always foaming and always full.

8. An American Werewolf In London managed to keep an 'R' rating despite all the gore and scenes of Jack's rotting corpse trying to talk to David, not to mention several scenes clearly showing David Naughton's genitalia. But not, uh, the full, umm... length. Naughton was not circumcised and umm... yeah I think I'll stop there.


9. The music is conducted by Elmer Bernstein and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. There are also five songs about the moon in this movie (one song is done by three bands so I'm counting them separately): Blue Moon by Bobby Vinton; Blue Moon by Sam Cooke; Moondance by Van Morrison; Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival; Blue Moon by The Marcels (the original version).

10. Not to be ignored, they also give thanks to Jim Henson (Kermit).

11. At the end of the credits, a screen pops up that says: Lycanthrope Films Limited wishes to extend its heartfelt congratulations to Lady Diana Spencer and His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales on the occasion of their marriage - July 29th, 1981. It's been speculated that they did that because in the movie David is trying to get arrested and shouts that the Prince... umm... would never marry.

12. After that we get the screen about everything is fictitious, and any similarity to actual events or persons living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental.





                      

NO FREAKING WAY!




Wowzers

I'm working away, trying to get new stuff for my blog and I realize... today is the third year anniversary of my blog so I'm... gonna get nostalgic and post something totally inappropriate. Enjoy...

                      

CAN I BABBLE? OH BOY CAN I BABBLE!!!

My New YouTube Channel

My dear ones I have not neglected you, honest! Between being sick (which I will be complaining bitterly to my doc today as, you guessed it, I wasn't sick until I went to their office) and setting up and getting up the nerve to appear before the camera has kept me pretty busy - but new movies are coming and I hope to be back with you soon.

In the meantime I'd like to put here a couple of rants, one mad, one funny - just as a sample of what I'm doing. Enjoy!

This is my experience of getting kicked off of Facebook for being Native American...


This is my HILARIOUS experience with a a certain actor who did not appreciate my, um, lack of appreciation for his talents...

                      

MAY COMES WITH THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY...

Yet Another Set Of Excuses

I have figured out that if I stop visiting doctors, I'll probably be well enough to catch up on the movies I've been meaning to write reviews for all last month. I had two doctors appointment; the first one, the receptionist was a snot machine and I knew I was doomed - and I was right. A month later, I had to go back for a checkup and although I looked at everyone there and didn't see anybody outright germy, sure enough, two days after I woke with a sore throat and coughing badly. I've still got it and really don't want to go to doctor's offices any more.

I DID finally begin my YouTube channel (as I've already said) and I've made an introduction video and an 'about me' video - they are short but you know what? They take HOURS to make. And I didn't even include any extra stuff in them like pictures or videos... you turn on a camera and geez, the place explodes. The cats race through the house, the phone rings, someone's knocking on the door, my watch alarm goes off... maybe somebody doesn't want to see my face on YouTube.

Yeah and I know who that person is: ME! After over a decade of being 'hidden away' in my house and not getting out and seeing real people (no hubby, I know you're real, don't worry) I'm actually exposing myself (Umm, that didn't come out right) to the world on the harshest media there is - a place where anyone using any name can say anything to you even if you're the nicest person in the world.

So I'm hoping to play with the YouTube video creator to learn how to insert video snippets or pictures so that I can upload some movie summaries and links to the blog.

Don't worry, a very good (and mad) rant about Facebook will be coming up soon. I also want to make one on my epic word joust with actor Chris Wylde (I still laugh when I think about it). And, of course, my fibromyalgia diary. Dear readers, you all know more about this disease than many doctors do. And that's a shame 'cause then people assume it must not be a 'real' disease (Remember when depression wasn't a 'real' disease?). I just have to learn to use my words and some real and useful information so I don't bore people too badly.

Thank you all for continuing to read and telling me thing about the reviews I do - even negative words help me learn more to make better reviews so don't hold anything back...





                      

OH BOY I DID IT!!! OH BOY... I DID IT... WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO?

The YouTube World

Well, I finally took some pretty good advice about not hiding from the world and started up my channel on YouTube. Since Google allows you to have a channel with your account I gritted my teeth, got some pretty decent equipment, now all I need is courage...

I did put up an introductory video (they said keep it short - that's hard for me). I explained that the channel was for three things:

1. Brief movie summaries with a link to the blog page the complete review is on

2. A Fibromyalgia diary to let people know what 15+ years with this crap is like and how other people seem to view it

3. A chance to rant about certain things, like, oh, I don't know, maybe BEING KICKED OFF OF FACEBOOK AFTER OVER FIVE YEARS BECAUSE THEY 'VERIFIED' I WAS FAKE

That last one couldn't have come at a worse time too. Last week my hubby's family suffered a tragedy. Because all my contacts with local people are gone I couldn't let people know for him. That's one more thing I'll never forgive you for Zuckerberg, you pompous ass.

But, will the channel (and having me <gulp> in front of a camera) be worth the time and embarrassment?

We'll see, I guess.






                      

HERE'S A MEDIOCRE STORY THAT COULD HAVE HAD SOME ORIGINALITY BUT THEY GOT REAL LAZY ABOUT IT...

Antisocial (2013) Canada

Oh boy. Another movie about the possible mental effects of social media. <YAWN>

This Canadian walk-through is about an unscrupulous company that runs a mass media program called Social Redroom (looking at you Zuck). Don't expect non-stop excitement, I mean they used the last picture at the end of the movie as their poster - what does that tell ya?

This Facebook-like program has been experimenting with updates to increase the number of posts and people who join. Apparently they DON'T kick off people just because their name sounds funny (looking at you again Zuck). 

But oh my, their updates have been getting more and more intrusive on the personal lives of their users (still looking at you Zuck... ah hell, you're ugly - I can think of much better looking men to stare at). Finally it comes to a point where they make a big whoopsy, and those who use their program become bleeding, nasty, violent killers (still looking at... uh... Eric Balfour - sorry Eric).

This is in the vein of several movies in several different countries giving us warning signals that hey, maybe we shouldn't depend so much on social media, put down our phones and just TALK to each other. Too much?

Let's just get this weirdo non-action film over with. Ya got your teens (pushing 30 no doubt) in college and they're all on Redroom - whether it's the smartphones they cart around or both the phones AND the laptops (still looking at... the ground 'cause Eric shouldn't have to appear so much in movie reviews he didn't even star in). Our main girl, who's pregnant (Canada seems as lax with birth control as the US) just got dumped, by text, by her boyfriend.

But hey, it's New Year's Eve and they're having a party and convince her to come. We end up with the requisite five or six people, now let the action begin! I SAID let the action begin! I SAID... never mind. If you want a movie with almost no action but is a lot smarter, may I suggest you watch Pontypool (2008)?

Sam (Michelle Mylett), the aforementioned pregnant reject goes to the party and is there when things go awry. I would say go apeshit but any action is 'reported' on their TV which is always on (At a party?) or by others online so... yeah.

Those who use Redroom (I keep wanting to say Redrum - maybe I've got 'the electronic virus' - oh no, that's right, no more Facebook for me 'cause my name sounds funny, thanks Z - what was your name again?) first get nosebleeds and also blood comes out of their ears. It is explained that the 'update' stimulates a part of the frontal lobe, actually forming a growth that eventually will cause their heads to explode. No, we don't get any Scanner-type action, just a hole goes poof from their heads and this bloody tendril comes out.

Somehow after death those who got the 'bug' and died of it still continue to 'post' pictures of what their dead eyes see. Duh. And the Social Redroom dude did all this on purpose. Duh again - and watch it Zuck.


So after waiting an interminable amount of time, Sam is pretty much on her own and gets to perform self-surgery with a drill. Fun! Afterward she wakes up to a day where the affected have all died from the extra brain tissue exploding their heads. But now they're undead and they're telepathically linked. Uh-oh.

There's a sequel to, I guess, see what these linked zombies do, but I don't have much interest to find out. And that's all I have to say about that.






                      

I KNOW, I KNOW, AND I'M WORKING ON IT, HONEST...

Facebook Does It Again


I think I know how to make videos for my new YouTube channel (I'll print the location when there's something to see) but in the meantime, another Native American has been booted off Facebook because her name is Brenda Happy Cloud. Don't know how long she had an account, but in order to get back on she was forced to use her husband's name - even though they are divorced:

http://www.kptv.com/story/28853494/salem-woman-denied-use-of-facebook-because-of-native-american-name


So let's review. Here's mine:

http://www.katu.com/news/problemsolver/Locked-out-of-Facebook-because-of-her-name-says-local-woman-296953531.html



Here's another - a lady in Calgary, Alberta named Deloria Many Grey Horse-Violich who had her account locked out:
http://www.alternet.org/comments/media/native-americans-protest-after-facebook-deletes-users-who-have-indigenous-names#disqus_thread


And here's what some people are doing and why the hell didn't I figure this out myself?

https://www.takepart.com/article/2015/04/22/native-american-facebook-users-are-changing-their-online-surnames-zuckerberg


Here's a couple more of the more prominent ones who state they are pursuing a lawsuit:

Dana Lone Hill:

http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/10/facebook-reignites-real-name-controversy-after-suspending-native-american-authors-account/


Travis Suazo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8WI5W7u-To

Shane Creepingbear:

http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/11/native-americans-booted-off-facebook-for-having-fake-names-like-creepingbear-5057955/

Mike Kinney:

In the meantime:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Native-Americans-Not-Allowed-To-Use-Names/804211789664135

ZUCK YOU SUCK!!!!