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| I'll keep this brief, but I've moved to a new site, http://dustinmeadows.wordpress.com/. Good night and good luck!
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| I have not been the greatest at keeping these things updated, and I think it has less to do with what's going on in my life (because surprisingly while things seem boring on the surface, there's a whole bunch of cool stuff happening in my life) and more to do with the fact that out of like twenty plus people I could count on having new blogs and musings up to read while I worked on my own, that twenty plus is down to a consistent two or three. It's a lot more interesting to post new stuff when you still know people are alive on teh interwebz. But I digress...
The New Year has been good to me thus far. I quit Kroger's after deciding I was sick of being exploited since I couldn't be unionized until early February and having to work double the shift times I was scheduled for. So one night while kicking it with Sarah, Zach and John I decided "You know what? I don't wanna go back to Kroger's. I'd rather sit here and keep talking about horror movies and comic books." and the rest was history. I'm a lot happier since I quit and I'm also a lot less likely to perform poorly academically as a result of a weekly 20 hours of sleep.
Academically speaking, classes aren't too bad so far. I'm in Film Comedies where we watch film comedies, Geology of Dinosaurs where we learn about the geology of dinosaurs, Society, Culture & Rock n' Roll where we talk about society, culture & rock n' roll (and it counts as a history requirement), History of Film where we talk about films (historically speaking) and Digital Filmmaking & Technology where we make films digitally...with technology.
After getting an in with a friend who works at the BG News, I'm applying to be a writer for the Forum section (since, unfortunately the Not News section which recently featured nothing but humorless humor pieces has been discontinued for not being funny anymore) so I have to submit a writing sample sometime this week and hopefully they'll like it. The parameters seem pretty broad, so I'm hoping I can talk about things like the threat of zombie epidemics and sentient technology insurrections instead of borin' old politics, but it's hard to say and I might be hoping for too much with that, but I'll find out soon.
My girlfriend Sarah=The greatest thing in my life right now, and I'll leave it at that so as not to annoy all four readers of this blog with my constant praise of her.
I might get to see my best friend next week, and I'm excited for that because it's been far too long.
I'm slowly piecing together the initial scripts for The Bouncer series and I Am Legend:The Dustin Meadows! Chronicles and me and my friends are very excited to begin work on those.
This July will see me finally bid farewell to The FratCave and hopefully moving into The Enclave with Zach, Travis and John, a residence which we have already begun affectionately referring to as The House That X Built and I'm excited to finally not be living on my own for a change.
In movies that I didn't make news, Sweeney Todd was boring and sucked, First Sunday needed more Wu-Tang Clan references and Cloverfield was fucking amazing and is already in my bid for top ten movies of the year as decided by me. Tomorrow night I'm going with Travis and Zach to see Rambo and I'm pretty excited for that, then this weekend to see Meet The Spartans...The fact that I can see shitty movies I would otherwise never see for $2 will continue to amaze me. I will probably miss $2 movies at the Small the most when I finally do graduate from Bowling Green.
In post-graduation plan news, nothing is set in stone yet but I'm already feeling less worried about life after college if everything goes according to plan.
"...at least I'm fucking trying! What the fuck have you done?"
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YEAR IN REVIEW: 2007 THE BEST OF THE YEAR
ALBUMS
Bad Religion's New
Maps Of Hell
Dethklok's Dethalbum
Every Time I Die's The Big Dirty
Fall Out Boy's Infinity On High
The Hives' The Black And White Album
Walk Hard: The
Dewey Cox Story Motion Picture Soundtrack
Lifetime's Lifetime
Lily Allen's Alright Still
Against Me!'s New Wave
Wu-Tang Clan's Eight Diagrams
The Sleeping's Believe What We Tell You
Timbaland Presents: Shock Value
SINGLES
Bad Religion's Honest Goodbye and New Dark Ages
Every Time I Die's We'rewolf
Fall Out Boy's Thnks Fr Th Mmrs and The Take Over, The
Break's Over
The Hives' Tick Tick Boom
Lifetime's Airport Monday Morning
Lily Allen's LDN and Alfie
Against Me!'s Thrash Unreal
The Sleeping's Don't Hold Back
Circa Survive's The Difference Between Medicine And Poison Is In
The Dose
Timbaland's The Way I Are
Paramore's Misery Business
Lodi's Hard Rock Hallelujah
Say Anything's WOW (I Can Get Sexual Too)
Smoke Or Fire's Patty Hearst Syndrome
I didn't get a chance to listen to nearly as much new (new meaning
released in 2007) music this year as I would've liked to, but here's
my favorites of everything I can recall.
MOVIES
300
Knocked
Up
Spider-Man
3
Shoot
'Em Up
Hot
Fuzz
Juno
Live
Free Or Die Hard 30 Days Of Night
Transformers
(This makes the cut solely
because I saw it on the IMAX and it looked so badass that it almost
made up for a shitty script and phoned in acting)
Enchanted
Aliens
vs. Predator:Requiem
Hellboy:
Sword of Storms
Hellboy:
Blood & Iron
The
Bourne Ultimatum
Grindhouse
TMNT
(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Ratatouille
Waitress
The
Simpsons Movie
Superbad
Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Halloween
Hairspray
Lars
And The Real Girl
TV
I didn't watch much TV on account of the writer's strike, but I got
into the following shows-
Reaper
The
Office
My
Name Is Earl
30
Rock
WORST/MOST
DISAPPOINTING OF THE YEAR
ALBUMS/SINGLES
Say Anything's In Defense Of The Genre
Paramore's Riot!
That stupid fucking Soulja Boy song about “Supermanning hoes”
Fergie's Personal (Big Girls Don't Cry)
Rush's Snakes & Arrows
Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing
Serj Tankian's Elect The Dead
MOVIES
Resident
Evil: Extinction
WAR
Balls
Of Fury
The
Comebacks
I
Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
Fantastic
Four:Rise Of The Silver Surfer
Hitman
Alvin
And The Chipmunks
Good
Luck, Chuck
28
Weeks Later
Pirates
of the Caribbean III: At World's End
I Am
Legend
THE
LOWS OF 2007
Lackluster summer at Recreation Unlimited
The single worst relationship I've ever been in (and hopefully the
worst I'll ever have been in)
My month long employment as a Kroger's night stock boy
THE
HIGHS OF 2007
Making BG's long form improv team, Bad Genetics
Making two new films, Werewolf Doctor:The Quest For Blood and
The Bouncer or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Scene
Rock
Band and the general camaraderie
it brings
End of the semester slumber/movie party at Alex's
Finally getting my license, and driving around and hanging out much
more as a result of said freedom
The Strike Anywhere show in September
mc chris in November
My birthday being the best ever this year by starting off with a
great night at karaoke
My amazing girlfriend Sarah who puts up with my general nerdery all
of the time
There will be a real update soon, I promise. And you won't have to wait two months this time!
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| A HORROR MOVIE-A-DAY-A-THON KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY-A-THON
And here it is, the final five of the month.
Saturday, October 27th-Ravenous (1999) Written by Ted Griffin Directed by Antonia Bird
Stars Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette
A military captain is transferred to an isolated mountain outpost where a strange traveler with a bizarre appetite arrives.
This is one of the strangest horror movies I've ever seen, partly because it's equal parts horror and equal parts black comedy. Set in the 1800s at a remote military outpost, a recently promoted captain is caught up in a struggle with a newly appointed colonel who has taken Indian legends of the Wendigo (a spiritual force that grants man the strength of the man's flesh he consumes) to heart. The acting is phenomenal (Carlyle as the deranged cannibal Colonel Ives, in particular), the script is great and the soundtrack (composed by Blur singer Damon Albarn) is just so bizarre, quirky and out of place that it works. Overall, a scary fun time that delivers scares as much as laughter. FINAL GRADE: A
Sunday, October 28th-Feast (2005) Written by Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton Directed by John Gulager
Stars Balthazar Getty, Krista Allen, Henry Rollins, Navi Rawat
Patrons of a bar are forced to fight off a group of monsters intent on making the patrons their dinner.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, all I know is that I really wanted to see it for the longest time. It looked intense as fuck and it had Henry Rollins, so I was sold on it. I enjoyed it for the most part, and there were some nifty innovations that I enjoyed (like the self-aware character descriptions throughout the film) and it was paced really well, which always seems to be difficult when a film is set almost exclusively in such a single and isolated location. Enjoyable, but I think this movie would probably rate higher after I give it a repeat viewing. FINAL GRADE: B
Monday, October 29th-Shaun of the Dead (2004) Written by Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright Directed by Edgar Wright
Stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
A slacker decides to turn his life around in the midst of a zombie epidemic.
As a horror enthusiast, this is the pinnacle of an homage to the zombie genre. As a passive movie viewer, it's a zombie movie with non-stop laughs. From the nods to Romero's Dead films and the technical aspects (particularly reusing exact shot compositions in pre-zombie/post-zombie London) there is nothing about this movie I don't like. It's obvious that Pegg & Wright, rather than take the slacker way out and just mindlessly throw zombies into the mix, have a profound respect for the source material and truly go out of their way to make sure that the zombies are almost more background than an overpowering plot point amidst this "romantic comedy with zombies." FINAL GRADE: A+
Tuesday, October 30th-The Tripper (2006) Written by David Arquette & Joe Harris Directed by David Arquette
Stars Thomas Jane, Jaime King, Paul Reubens
A serial killer obsessed with Ronald Reagan kills hippies at a weekend music festival.
Another film that I pretty much knew I wanted to see the minute I saw Thomas Jane and David Arquette talking it up on a press junket for the film. I was excited for the film, but was wary because it seems that a lot of first outings for actors turned writer/director are sometimes run of the mill at best. This was not the case with The Tripper. For Arquette's first feature, it's surprisingly solid and moves along at a pretty good pace and again is another film that offers scares as much as laughs. The two funniest moments come from Reagan hacking hippies to death with an axe during the song "Reagan Youth" and Paul Reubens' character repeatedly saying fuck. Also, Thomas Jane is badass and may be the next Kurt Russell as far as I'm concerned. FINAL GRADE: A+
Wednesday, October 31st-Slither (2006) Written & Directed by James Gunn
Stars Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker
An alien worm invades a small town, turning its inhabitants into mindless zombies.
I'm finding more and more these days that I like my horror movies to have a nice comedic counterbalance to them (case in point, the previously mentioned Shaun of the Dead and The Tripper). Made by Troma veteran and former husband of Jenna Fischer, James Gunn, it's clear that this is yet another case of the creative force having a deep respect for the source material that inspires his work. Slither slowly builds towards its extraterrestrial plot point, but once it reaches that point the film doesn't let up until the credits roll. The effects are gory and twisted, and Gregg Henry very nearly steals the film from star Nathan Fillion in a few scenes, but both are hilarious throughout. I highly recommend this one, because if for no other reason than you get to see The Office's Jenna Fischer bust out her acting chops as a receptionist. FINAL GRADE: A+
And thus concludes the month of October's festivities. I'll have a real update that isn't movie reviews shortly.
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| A HORROR MOVIE-A-DAY-A-THON KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY-A-THON
Saturday, October 20th-Ghostbusters (1984) Written by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis Directed by Ivan Reitman
Stars Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis
When three parapsychology experts are canned, they go into business for themselves as "Ghostbusters."
I have fond memories of this movie from childhood, it was one of my favorites then and today it is still probably in my Top Ten movies of all time list. I enjoyed the hell out of it as a kid, but especially once you're old enough to appreciate all of the nerdy jokes contained within, it's about twenty times better. While Ghostbusters is very much a comedy, there are definitely some pretty terrifying moments (the gargoyle dog things, anyone?) throughout the film. I typically make it a point to watch this movie at least once a month or so, and there are very few movies that I can do that with. Question-Does Ghostbusters stand the test of time? Answer-Yes. FINAL GRADE: A+
Sunday, October 21st-Ghostbusters II (1989) Written by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis Directed by Ivan Reitman
Stars Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis
The out of work Ghostbusters are called into active duty when a river of slime begins causing mysterious spectral disturbances in New York City.
As a general rule of thumb, most horror/sci-fi sequels aren't really that great (with the obvious exception of Aliens and Evil Dead II), but Ghostbusters II, while not surpassing the first film, is definitely still as good as the original. Probably the biggest contribution to this is the fact that the same creative team (Reitman, Ramis and Aykroyd) as the original helmed this project and that the core cast remains the same (even Annie Potts as secretary Janine Melnitz). The script and the jokes are definitely as strong this time around, and the romance between Louis (Moranis) and Janine is pretty entertaining to watch. If all sequels were this solid, I wouldn't be as opposed to them. FINAL GRADE: A-
Monday, October 22nd-Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Written & Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Stars Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O' Herlihy
A Halloween mask making company is gonna kill a bunch of kids because of something to do with Stonehenge or some stupid bullshit like that...I don't really care.
The first Halloween by John Carpenter was a groundbreaking horror film that gave us the terrifying horror icon Michael Myers and basically invented the slasher genre. Does this film have anything to do with any of the things mentioned in the previous sentence? With the exception of John Carpenter doing the music and executive producing this piece of shit, the answer is no. Nobody in the film seems to care about anything that's going on, particularly when Tom Atkins' character responds "Who cares?" when the girl he's railing hears someone being killed in the next room. There's nothing redeeming about this film at all, even the moments to laugh at the film are too few and far between to make this a Batman The Movie type of experience. Do yourself a favor and just give this movie a pass. FINAL GRADE: F
Tuesday, October 23rd-The Crow (1994) Written by David J. Schow & John Shirley Directed by Alex Proyas
Stars Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott
On the anniversary of the murder of him and his fiancee, a rock guitarist comes back to avenge the murders with a mysterious Crow that grants him supernatural powers.
Based on the comic by James O' Barr and Brandon Lee's final film (he was killed during the shooting when a prop gun misfired a lodged round and struck him), I originally saw this film when I was eleven years old and was drawn to the dark tone of it (much like Tim Burton's Batman films from that period of time) and I was a fan of action films with a touch of the supernatural to them. Lee's action sequences are always fun to watch (his only other film I'd seen was Rapid Fire but his martial arts scenes are badass, and one should only hope so since he's, y'know, the son of Bruce Lee). Regardless of the irritating Hot Topic/Goth subculture who hail this film and regularly dress like Brandon Lee's character, The Crow really is a great film and easily worth a viewing if you haven't seen it yet. FINAL GRADE: A
Wednesday, October 24th-The Faculty (1998) Written by Kevin Williamson Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Stars Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea Duvall, Shawn Hatosy
Six students learn that their school faculty have become host to an alien parasite.
Is this the most original sci-fi/horror film? No. In fact, the film even references (repeatedly) its Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Puppetmasters-like plot and there is even a scene where the six main characters perform a test to find out who among them is human and who is alien which is lifted almost straight out of John Carpenter's The Thing. While not reinventing the wheel by any means, it serves its purpose as the 90s update of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (one of my favorite films, by the way) and is entertaining regardless of the over used core story. Like Rodriguez' other entry on my list (From Dusk Till Dawn), I have the same feeling of being let down at the very end of the film for some reason, because it just seems like there should be more to it than there is, but I don't know what it is. FINAL GRADE: B
Thursday, October 25th-The Rocky Horror Show (2007) Written by Richard O' Brien
Stars a bunch of people from OU I don't know and one kid I went to high school with
A straight laced couple break down outside the bizarre castle of cross-dressing mad scientist Frank-n-Furter.
I've seen the movie version, and for the most part I enjoy it. I think it drags on once it reaches the cabaret floor show portion, but everything up to that is pretty solid. Sarah took me along to see this last Thursday, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The performers were very entertaining, but I discovered that my biggest gripe was actually with the audience participation/call-and-response portion of the show. Some of the audience jokes were funny, but mostly they were just annoying (as if I needed another excuse to be irritated with theater people). All in all though, it was a fun experience and if nothing else it was a night out with Sarah so the show wasn't too bad. FINAL GRADE: C+
Friday, October 26th-John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) Written by Bill Lancaster Directed by John Carpenter
Stars Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
An assimilating alien organism is let loose upon a group of scientists at an Arctic research station, and they quickly become uncertain of who among them is human and who is the Thing.
Is this my favorite John Carpenter film? Probably. Based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., Carpenter's film (a remake of the Howard Hawks 1951 joint The Thing From Another World) is a much more visually disturbing film as well as building suspense among the main characters when they each begin to doubt who amongst them is still human. The creature effects are both horrifying and revolting at the same time, and most importantly Kurt Russell is doing what he does best...being a fucking badass motherfucker, and in the end, that's really what every movie needs. FINAL GRADE: A+
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