Virgo’s Sign

Man walks countless walks and sees

looking for that which lay to rest needs

In a world where choice is Man’s and all can be

But what choice will Man’s be ?

What roads could be taken

They all point the way

Or do they?

But what will Man choose The End of days?

A hand of Christ reaches out

Man turns away

Muhammad lights the space

Man blocks the ray

Humanity walks up

The eye for mentality

Man cups his hands upon his heart

 shakes his head hastily

A voice calls from the dark chasm

“Can I help you? Be not one mistook”

Man, with this, replies

“No thanks, I’ll just look.”

“But how long will you look?”

The voice asks bereft

“Until I know what I’m looking for”

Then Man turned and left

I finally got to see CT’s “Doomsday Machine,” and I shall post my thoughts, but before I do I’d like to just go back and to what I wrote of the first installment: “The Oozing Skull”

January 15, 2008

“The Oozing Skull”

What can I say, it IS the closest thing I have seen to the original show vibe, particularly amongst the uprising of interest to bring the concept back. Rifftrax, The Film Crew, The ‘Bots Are Back…..Cinematic Titanic is what we’ve been waiting for!

The riffing has very much a “Joel era” feel. It’s funny, silly, cute, and sometimes downright puny! I would go so far as to say a family friendly venture, much more then The Film Crew and Rifftrax for sure. Joel was not lying when he called it “gentle riffing.” And speaking of Joel, he and the gang seem like they are really getting back into the swing of things, shrouded in a new kind of Shadowrama, they seem to fit well on the side of the screen rather then the theater seating we were used to. I have no problem adjusting myself to it, though my TV does. No matter, doesn’t hurt the enjoyment one bit!

My favorite riffers, in just the way they were in this installment, are probably Joel, Trace and Josh.

The movie was prefect, just the right blend of crap and fun, without making it just crap! Enjoyably bad!

The downside?

No premise, to explanation, “in between” segments were forgettable to okay. (The “Visitor” seemed to have no point, and the first segment with the throwing up trumpet legend was just a little pitiful.) I’ll give it to them for knowing their strength at least. They spent very little time with this stuff and stuck mostly to their fun’n the movie.

All and all, it was a great first CT. The next is coming out sometime in February by all accounts, so look forward to that one. I wish I could say I’ll be renting it, but as of now I must buy. Ah, well, I can deal with that. So far so good.

Story -n/a

Riffing - A

Content - B

Overall - B+

Now to the present: “Doomsday Machine.”

It was sort of a disappointment, I’m not beating ’bout the bush with this. I found it far from good, far from passing. The riffs were their strongest at the very beginning, before the setting changed to outer space in the “movie,” after that it felt as though they were just throwing comments at the screen, good, bad, or indifferent, they just said anything. It all seemed at times too rushed, like they were in a hurry not to repeat the tedious wait as last time, trying to get on a schedule more then getting out good quality.

The movie was, well, almost too bad. See, when a movie is bad like, “Manos” bad, they’re is just SO much bad, it’s funny. But “Doomsday,” it got into it to a formula and almost stayed there for the whole “movie.” Towards the end, it was like going blank, coming to, and it was a totally different “movie.” It almost came to a full stop, the pace slowing down so unbearably, even our riffers sort of gave up. But it wasn’t fun, just boring as hell and you felt relief with the end in sight.

The host segments, I’m starting to believe they’re just aren’t any. “Oozing Skull” didn’t leave me with a very optimistic outlook, and this was worse. The first one was annoying, the second one was dull, and the third, did the third even happen?

Lastly, what people bitched about last time, a premise. Granted it’s always nice to have a firm foundation, gving the thing depth and structure, albeit “goofy” like mst3k, but it’s a nice fuzzy sort of familiarity you build with. CT stated, premisless. (I can’t say I’ve minded it with returned viewing.) This time they tried to fit something in the very beginning, and it’s really hard to say what that is. Mostly, they made reference to the past, but it was vague and overall they may as well have forgotten ii. I did.

It had potential, it did. But the gang just wasn’t there. Maybe doing three at a time is not the best, maybe a preview audience, and time to polish was the best recipe. Whatever, it just didn’t work for me this time.

Hopefully, we’ll see better the third time around.

Story -C-

Riffing - B-

Content - C

Overall - C-

Later Notes: After second viewing, I guess I can ease my review by saying at least half of “Doomsday Machine” is alright, not as good still as “Oozing Skull,” but better the next watch around.

Riffing - B

By the way, one of the best riffs, in my opinion: “You are ruining the Apocalypse for EVERYONE!”

Very nice, Mary Jo!

CT is loading on my toolbar. *sigh* It’s going to be awhile, but hopefully it will be worth the wait!

Review to come!

The air conditioner is full blast as the heat is finally climbing more consistently this week. The first day of Summer, ah, I can feel it. It’s already about 100 outside, the animals (well, the ones that weren’t making themselves scarce,) are nicely sealed in with us for the day. Hey, unless you’re going to live in the pool, why submit to unneeded hear stroke? Come on!

But this heat is nothing compared to the absolute misery of a couple of years ago. I talked about it in my former blog, but it was daffy! After midnight and it would cool off to the low 100’s! We would swim at 1:00 sometimes until 2:00 in the morning, desperately trying to cool. But as they say, it’s the humidity, and we had that! Argh, just makes me grateful for dry Summer’s, that desert scorch, anything but heavy moisture. How do people like to live in that, and not have some toys in the attic?  

It’s almost time for the 2nd installment of CINEMATIC TITANIC!!

Alright, well, it’s been a wait, but the next CT, “The Doomsday Machine,” is due to be out for sale tomorrow night! I will most likely try and download, but I’m sure I’ll not be the first in line. I’ll write my review once I see it! Hopefully, I will love it EVEN more then the last one!

Here’s some another preview from Cinematic Titanic’s presentation of, “The Doomsday Machine”:

From imdb.com:

Lanky, popular TV comedy veteran with a flair for broad comic characterizations, who shone for a decade as leading man and second banana par excellence on “The Carol Burnett Show”(1967) but failed to find much success in his own projects. A persistent TV presence since the early 1960s, Korman’s first big break was a stint as a featured performer on “The Danny Kaye Show”(1963), a lively musical variety series. Here Korman began working in the format which he would soon master–providing sturdy support to a multi-talented star in a wide variety of comedy sketches. Boasting large, expressive features and a wonderfully mutable voice, Korman could play a wide assortment of characters. Perhaps his first classic characterization was provided for “The Flintstones”(1960) wherein he was the distinctively snooty voice of The Great Gazoo, a little helmeted space man from the future consigned to the Earth’s past in punishment for his crimes. Korman garnered four Emmys for his work with Carol Burnettover the years. Her show never recovered from his departure in 1977 to pursue other projects. Ironically Korman would never again find such a successful showcase for his talents though he certainly tried, appearing in several busted pilots and short-lived sitcoms. Like ‘Dan Aykroyd’, a later somewhat comparable talent, he fared best in sketch comedy. Almost exclusively a comic actor, he stretched a bit to play straight man Bud Abbott opposite Buddy Hackett’s Lou Costello in the disappointing TV biopic Bud and Lou(1978 ) (TV). Korman also directed and/or produced sitcom episodes and TV comedy specials. An occasional actor in films, Korman made his feature debut with a supporting role in The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966). Several film roles followed until he gained his widest exposure with a major supporting role in ‘Mel Brooks’’s classic Western spoof Blazing Saddles(1974). Korman also fared well in Brooks’ High Anxiety (1977) and History of the World: Part I(1981). Korman acted in two 1994 features: the blockbuster live-action version of The Flintstones(1994) (providing the voice of the Dictabird) and the poorly received but lavishly produced Radioland Murders (1994).

They say that dying is easy. Comedy is hard. For us, the death of a comic legend is truly the hardest.

Harvey Kormen passed away last week, and I felt I should post something to express a little of my fondness over the years for him. But far from getting depressing about how “he was one of the last,” or “there will never be another,” I thought I’d post a scene from my favorite Korman film, “High Anxiety.” He  played the evil Dr. Montaque, and he was just about as brilliantly funny as any human being should be allowed! Korman had such a knack for playing just along the edges of ludicrous, while making it totally believable. In “High Anxiety,” he was cruel and greedy yet,  Korman still had such a cartoon kind of villainy that makes him one of the most likable parts of the movie.  Here’s one priceless scene with Brooks:

Of course, we will all love him for his years on “The Carol Burnett Show.” The Lovely way they would crack up, they’re laughter contagious, and we call caught what they had. Here’s Harvey losing it in The Dentist sketch:

Thank you, Mr. Korman. We love you, and we’ll miss you….

Well, it was finally announced last month, we now know what the next installment of Cinematic Titanic is to be, and it’s coming out middle of this month! Here’s a taste…

You can see I am new here. My first blog post was actually from my original blog on Yahoo, the last I shall ever post there, just to get things rolling here. I have to say, being at Yahoo was limiting, and frustrating at times. It’s nice to be somewhere that is truly a blog site, rather then a site that has chats, groups, news, videos, etc. etc., and oh, yes what’s this? Blogs? I didn’t see them? Where?

I thought I’d squeal with glee that Cinematic Titanic (or CT,) is getting ready to do three more films! If you don’t know what CT is, check out their website. I really liked their first installment, “The Oozing Scull,” but one of their next has me screaming it from the roof tops: “The Wasp Women!” Yes, a simple story of a competitive, beautiful woman, head of a cosmetic company, most of it’s success due to her beauty. Now, she fears her looks are fading, so she turns to a creepy little man to find the fountain of youth in , what else, wasps! Yes, it’s a classic in the most horrible way, but it will be great to finally hear them make fun of the stinker that they never did during their MST3k days. I know it will be splendid!!

The other two films will be a secret until they are ready for release. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, and I’ll have three more CT’s to add to my lonely one!

And here’s what happend last time, ‘case you missed it!

Queen

I wont pretend I have seen loads of Miley Cyrus. I haven’t paid that much attention. But she’s like so many really. Until earlier this year, I was little aware of her, besides the fact that she was another Hilary Duff. She “sings,” she “acts,” but truly, she’s been an oasis of goodness for parents to point to, have their little girls behold the “right” way to act. But, dear oh dear, that looks a little different now. Lately it’s been hard to ignore what’s been going down.

I can’t say this is surprising, these pictures. She is a 15 year old money pot, a product. She is under such tight control, the kind most kids couldn’t dream, to be a certain way living up to standards that aren’t possible. Should it be surprising, like in the case of the bra and midriff photo, that she wouldn’t start doing things that probably any kid in her shoes would do? It just seems a matter of time before all that sickening sweet goodness has to give way to rebellion of other people’s wants, albeit self destructive. Interesting too, how it’s been said that she is at a fever pitch in her fame, and could become the wealthiest child star in the country. Do I sense self sabotage? Granted, how her parents could have ever okayed something that obviously contradicted her image by letting her pose like that in VF, makes you wonder their judgment. I don’t think anyone believes she was manipulated, when you see the control over her affairs and image all this time. Something else is going on. But it might be the best thing to happen if things were to fall apart. That kind of life is hard on an adult, let alone a teenager, even harder if you are a clone from the Disney Channel.

But WHY? Why was she ever a role model? Why are we so obsessed with finding a person without blemish or wrongs, to model our own life, like some sort of factory mold? I know, parents will scream me down, telling me they are powerless to the media images and that they need someone out their to be a good example against all the harlots and trouble makers. Parents always have, and when “bad behavior” crops up, the media is a favorite scapegoat. I’m not saying that Hollywood doesn’t add to the mix, but young girls don’t learn value like they do at home. Parents see that as blame, that they didn’t do a good job in that case. But when you look at most people’s warped sense of themselves, whatever age, you only pass down what you know anyway, no matter your intentions. My favorite example is back in the 1960s, when Westerns were the big thing on television. People shot people, there was gambling, there were fights, pretty tame today but then….my parents watched them, played gun fights, “Cowboys and Indians,“ and such, but they hardly grew up thinking shooting people (even if you are a “Good Guy”) was the way to handle things. What they saw at home overrode that.

As for myself, I spent a lot of time with girls who liked to act semi-provocative, hang out with boys too old for them, but their parents lived in another world. You didn’t confide in parents about what you did, and if so they’d either hit the roof and yell you down, or act indifferent and go back to their beer. I was seen as a “goody two shoes” because I was too shy to do that kind of stuff, and grew in a world where I wasn’t forced by my parents to grow up, but just my presence brought up the girl’s own judgment of what they would do. Besides each other they really didn’t have anyone to help them, talk to them. TV images didn’t give them the answer they were looking for. All they wanted was attention, but they hurt themselves to do it.

So these things could be very helpful. Make people stop and evaluate what they look to as models for perfection. After all, is it really fair to put the life of our girls in the hands of a 15 year old, who has her own life to sort out? Like all of us?