You know, St Patrick's Day is...Nevermind...

Well. It seems to have been a while since I've posted. I know I planned to slow down, but damn.

I was going to do a Friday the 13th post last month, but...eh. Still there will be one shortly.

Still, did want to look at St Patrick's Day anew this year. Afterall, it is a Catholic holiday tied to a story about a guy driving snakes off an island. And what do people do? It doesn't seem to follow.

Sure. There is no indication that snakes have ever been indigenous to Ireland. And it's all a metaphor for driving out the old religion (which naturally must be evil).

But it's all an Irish celebration. And what do places like the U.S. do? Party. Get drunk. Wear green. Do questionable impersonations of Irish caricatures. (Really, If the Irish weren't considered white for the last century, this would all be offensive.)

I mean just look at how the very Catholic Irish revere their tradition...

Oh, and Sainted Patrick...

Photo by Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

,,,Oh, nevermind. Ireland is a silly place anyway.


Still, the whole snake side of things is too much fun to just let go. ...And it did make me think up a horror movie that would be fun to watch in this time of year. So look forward to the tale of a snake...which isn't really a snake...

But, hey, no snakes in Ireland either.


Coming soon. Lair of the White Worm.

Scheduling in a time of stress and study.

Hey...

Between dealing with classes to train for a new job and illness, late October and most of November proved to be a bit much. Time and energy were not on my side.

And now in December, the final bits of class and training are just overwhelming me. Stress! (Plus they are giving me another job. (That means more duties and responsibility, but not really more power.) So much more stress! And less time.

So for the moment I find my posting, which has been meager will not be up to proper form..yet. I hope around Christmas and New Years I'll have more time to relax and write. And once work starts and the patterns get going, I can better work in writing.

It's annoying, as I have plenty I'd like to write about, but I just can't have it on the plate just right now.

Will write as soon as it is possible. The best this holiday madness.

meow

2000

This makes the 2000 post of this blog. Not sure if that's impressive, or sad.

But, hey, I am obliged to note the event, right?

Benchmark of some sort.

I am not sure if I should be excited. But the blog has hit 100,000 views...which would be great for a moderately size site to see over a week...Let's not dwell on how long the site has been up. ...Or how many of those most be me passing through my blog to a link.

Still, taking into account the down time the blog has had over the years, and the use it has been to me, there isn't anything to complain about. Most blogs this old are long since defunct. (Kind of like FaceBook and Twitter accounts. So we're all winners!)

And I are almost to the 2000th post. I imagine that'll need an inane post to?

TTFN.

LLAP.

The Horror of Scheduling,...October?

Ah! Well the last writing plan did not go well.

...Yeah. Something like that.

The Horror Of...Writing in June

Sigh.

Well my effort to start reviewing Penny Dreadful weeks ago did not go to plan. I did want to find a way to start the reviews as the show started, and then by the halfway point...And here we are approaching the season finale.

Still, the first episode review is available now. For the next 6 episodes? ...I have a cunning plan.

I have wanted to think of ways to make reviews less a trek and more a jaunt. I've been working towards some brevity, but this is a chance to really work at cutting things down for quick turnaround. It may yet be a horrible disaster.

The plan is to address (until I have reason otherwise) key questions:

• What Came Before? - How the last episode ended.
• A Deathly Cold Open. - Does the episode have a cold open?
• And Now! - Does the episode continue follow on from the ending of the last episode?
• Enter Stage Right! - Are there any new outstanding characters to note?
• To Smile and Smile, and Still... - Are there new baddies to notice or remember?
• ...And Heard No More. - Are there fatalities to mourn this episode?
• Revelations! - Are there any plot points we just have to remember?
• Thoughts? - ...And the rest!

Yeah. I often feel the need to give things quirky names. It's not weird!

We'll see how that works. We'll also see if I can get anywhere near episode 7 of Penny Dreadful by Sunday night. Even if don't finish them all by then, I'll continue with this layout until the penultimate episode.


Also, I finally have finished the look at much of what leads up to Dracula (1931)... And between that and Penny Dreadful, I need a break from the vampires. So I will look at some zombies for The Horror Of... And to try and rap up June, and to start off July, let's go to the prom! ...Well, some schools actually run to the end of June (Good lord!). Also, I have no recollection of when prom occurs in a school year. So let's head to the Dance of the Dead! Woo!

The Horror Of...Scheduling, May 2013

Hello, again. It has been awhile since I've done an update.

But this seems like a worthwhile time.

Good news, everyone. I've discovered jump breaks!

Source

Good news, everyone!

I've discovered jump breaks.

...Well, I didn't discover them as much as find them in my pocket, and remember that I put them there back in the early days of HTML...

...But it means I am trying to put them in my posts: current, future, and past. Hopefully, it will make going through the pages of posts much much easier.

The reviews and recaps won't swamp you as you scroll down! You can actually get around like this is a competent blog!

The blog may at long last be tolerable. Or, not really horrible.

The Horror Of...Scheduling, November 2013

November. What do you do with that?! Thankfully Horror doesn't take Diwali, Guy Fawkes Day, Thanksgiving (U.S.), or Remembrance Day, etc off. ...Though I don't think there are any Diwali based horror movies...? ...I should look into if there is any Bollywood Horror.

Still, we have plenty of movies to enjoy. I had been tempted to follow up The Bat with The Devil Bat...but seeing as I recently wrote about not demonizing actual bats, perhaps I should look elsewhere. Like Ravens?  So, we will look at The Raven this week. The Roger Corman one, with the amazing cast. (There are a lot of The Raven movies, and I am tempted to look later at the Lugosi/Karloff one someday.)

I also have to get back into the returning Sleepy Hollow, which has raced back on to TV this week. So that should be reviewed/recapped by the end of the week. I also am tempted to look at some other shows, at least evaluating their first couple. Agents of SHIELD and Dracula. (You may not like my opinion.)

But as to reviewing in general, I have been contemplating how I wanted to continue reviewing. With ones like The Midnight Hour, the review seems to drag on. So I am trying to refine the recaps more, so they don't get more tedious.

The other issue I have is that it is always tempting to have "theme months". Thanksgiving movies. Christmas movies. Valentine movies. Zombie movies in April. And so on. (But Halloween is special.) But that grows annoying. And you end up not being able to get some great movies because they aren't in theme... So I might leave that type of thematic to the In Short posts.

As to what the other Horror Movies will be this month...I'll update with that later.

The Horror Of...Scheduling October, On Into The Rest Of The Month

Well, we've all made it into the second half of October. Congratulations!

Now, let's really start digging into Halloween!

Source - And, no, I still won't be looking at Charlie Brown.

So far, while there have been delays, it seems reviews are going out. And with Sleepy Hollow going off for 3 weeks, it should be easier to get out output focused more exclusively on Halloween.

• For next week, we'll continue in the Boogedy Saga, and look at Bride of Boogedy. 
• Along with this, we'll have some quick looks at some other choice movies that will be excellent for this season. 
• We'll also see more posts on the title sequences for The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror, year by year. As I complete every fifth year (as seen in my previous post), I will be posting a collection to the blog.
• As well, we'll start taking a look at paranormal reality shows, though not under The Horror Of. Still, if you do like horror, and don't mind some criticism of paranormal reality TV, you may find it interesting, or diverting.

When we go to the week of Halloween, I will try to have a post out everyday, through to November 1st, because my does Halloween have to stop on the 31st...other than tradition, common sense, and...It's just going to happen, okay?

The Horror Of...Scheduling October

Well, suddenly it's nearly a week later.

I wanted to get this out sooner, but I wanted to test the waters in my writing up posts and also mull over the issues that could arise.

Thinking on it, I have decided, for the month, to focus on the Halloween theme. I had wanted to do the normal horror review, as well as ones dealing with shows that used to be shown on Halloween. But, as it is, I am already reviewing Sleepy Hollow. And that already stresses and freaks me out. So adding two more reviews each week has got me panicky (It's a reason I had hoped to have started this last month. To get into the pattern and build up internal confidence.).

Instead I want to focus on Halloween this month. So, the plan is to post reviews of shows/movies that used to get shown at Halloween, back in the day. Seeing as I am starting off slow this week, their is one that will be posted tonight. I won't spoil what it is, so you can be disappointed tonight. The rest will be posted on Thursdays, so the last one will coincide with Halloween itself. (It's as if I am trying to work from some plan.)

As well, I will do the first of the normal horror reviews on Tuesday. This is the day of the week that I planned to place the regular release date for reviews, but we will see if that is ideal for staggering out reviews for a week in future months. That will be the one review on Tuesdays this month. So be ready, be wary, be free to face the terror of...The Bat.

And, in case you are interested in checking out this movie before then. Here's a quote from the review:

Being public domain, it is one of those movies that gets picked up for use in Horror Host shows, so it is easily available these days. It's in the Shilling Shocker DVD releases. It's in many big cheap bundles of old horror movies. It's also easy to find online on YouTube (this is just one of the copies on there.). And, of course, you can find it at the Internet Archive, under movies (you can even download it). (This is a great site to have a link to, it gives access to public domain movies, audio, and research papers. And for the Horror of..., it is a way to find so many public domain horror films. Link it!)

I am tempted to try an toss out some additional reviews Halloween week. Maybe look at some of those Must See films for people. But, I want to see how I am feeling about output a week from now. Maybe I'll do some looks at movies "In Short", so I can later go more in depth with them in a full review.

____

Also, I was tempted to update the list of horror subsets. I was thinking of adding Paranormal Reality Shows. But may generally opinion there is based on my skepticism, so critical. I do want to write some of them up, but more in criticism. The Horror Of... section is really about enjoying things.

Still, there are a few that are amusing or entertaining. Maybe I'll add those, or just keep them with the bad show critiques. To show how those things can be done right.

Ennui, I hardly knew thee.

Ennui

It can be a difficult word. No, really. You know hard it can be to work out how to spell it? It sounds like it starts with an “o”…at least to me. I spent far too long trying to figure out how to spell it. First, I didn't have the right first letter, making the search frustrating. Then...How the hell do you explain ennui if you want to look it up?

It’s a “je ne se quoi” of words, so to speak. So, thank you voice recognition tech. And thank you people that put it on phones. And screw you to the people who “improved” the voice recognition tech when I tried to relook up the word as I started to write this. You, the last set, gave me a headache.

So, what about ennui? I often feel like I slide into a state of ennui. I have good times…or times. Then you slide into the funk, and you are useless to everyone around you. You're aware you aren't functioning, but disconnected from it all.

But before going on, maybe it’s worth being sure we know what we are talking about. Ennui is defined as a feeling of deep weariness and discontent resulting from having your desires satisfied or from lack of interest, or being bored…What? Wait am I subconsciously mocking myself?

…Most likely.

Still, it also seems valid. Not along the lines of having all my desires fulfilled. Rather, it’s the disinterest side.

I am disconnected. I always feel some distance or barrier with everyone and everything around me. I have to work at engaging. Though, thanks to my time online, I've seen enough to assume that the last part is more a matter of being an introvert, and not an extrovert.

But the disconnect. The disconnect lends to a weariness. Pessimism builds up and just shuts me down. Apathy grows. Hope dwindles. And I just stop caring. It's just...ennui. It makes me a pain for those close to be around. But their aren't that many around.

Yet the modern world does offer alternatives. It is a wonderful result of this age. While some complain people are more disconnected than ever in history, humans are able to connect in so many new ways. And through these paths we all can connect more frequently with far more people, in particular people more like ourselves (in interests, experiences, etc.).

So, while one can become disconnected, and grow silent, you can still have a community, you can listen to and learn from. You don’t have to become utterly lost and adrift. And you can reach out when you are ready.

It’s a good thing. Comforting. Never should it be forgotten.

Also, something to never lose sight of when you are in the doldrums is that you always have time to change things (Or, if your problems are a bit too much for you on your own, never too late to seek help.). It’s not too late to talk to someone, to make amends, to seek another career, or just be a better person. We always have the initiative to do something. We can't let ourselves lose sight of this.

Sadly I never listen to me. I find me unbearable, even with my sage wisdom.

Giving up on hope should be unacceptable. We are aspirational being. Call it greed, ambition, hunger, or horniness, we live to strive. We may find a need to retool our hopes and aspirations, but we need those stars to help us move and navigate through our lives.

So it’s important to embrace them and see where they can take us.

My other sites.

Just as a reminder, here are the other places I have pages online:



FaceBook - Jack Salazar



Twitter - @jadedskeptic



Tumblr - Mumbly Grumbly Braincrumbs

It's the holidays...and I should be writing.

Alright...

Yes. What the fuck.

Okay. Mostly this is mostly a note to me, because I have allowed myself to go radio silent on the blog for about a month now, and that is rather annoying me. It's not as if this has been an uneventful month on any front of interest to me. But I have been struggling to write. Sitting down, organizing thoughts, putting them down in a semi-coherent form, and hitting post, it just hasn't been happening for me. And that annoys me.

Worse, it means I start, as I've noted before, building up tabs on my browsers full of topics and articles I want to reference and talk about. And then it all gets overwhelming, and it...eh.

But it has been extra annoying as I've been, for the last month wanting to write some posts on the holiday season (Yes, Richard Dawkins, it is a valid phrase. Learn to live with that.). I missed Diwali by a day, it happens. But Hanukkah  I started writing something up on it on Day 1. And, on Day 9, still nothing was done. You may be thinking, "But Jaded Skeptic, there are only 8 days in Hanukkah " Or, you may not know that. In which case, SEE, I've failed you. Point is, it didn't get done, in an 8 DAY window.

My procrastinating on this is getting out of hand. Particularly as their are things I want to talk about here, and things I'd enjoying sharing.

So, again, this mostly about kicking myself, and being pissed at a missed seasonal opportunity to share. So, next year, we'll talk Hanukkah, Diwali, Ramadan, etc.

But maybe I can tweak some of the interesting Christmas customs...maybe. It does feel cheap to just talk Christ Mass. Rather run of the mill, isn't it?

Anywho.

Let the frog play the trumpet...That's how we all celebrate December, right?

Dark night of the pessimistic dithering.

...eh...

We march on into the late night here. In the morning the serious voting and tabulating begins. So after all this time, all this money, all this foot leather, all the talking, all the lying, it comes down to...tomorrow.

And I look at the projections.

From TPM:

From 538:

It looks good. It looks optimistic. It looks really good.

But I sit here, like this.

I am always the pessimist at times like this. Things probably won't work out. It was how I was feeling 4 years ago, come tomorrow night. I kind of agreed with Rachel Maddow who was fretting over the states left undeclared as the night went on. Things could turn.

But they didn't.

BUT this year things are tighter. The odds are on Obama's side. Things are trending his way. We are seeing people getting out to early vote.

But, Republicans are so ready to play "games" (CHEAT) to win. Wiping voter rolls, challenging votes, scaring off legit voters. And the misinformation and fear that has been planted and left to fester among conservatives is driving them to be ridiculous nutters. So many of them are raring to go and run the president out of the country. I see so few of them standing up to it, or resisting it.

But they do exist. Their are Republicans that do know better, have seen what this president has done, and want to continue on, even if their party has abandoned them and reason.

But how many?

...

So I fret. So I wonder, what hopes and what madness will drive people tomorrow as we close out this election.

Will we see ourselves with 4 more years to push forward with the progress we've made? Or will we see all our work torn apart, to make way for a commercial endeavor of some sort?

It falls on the last voters to decide that. We need numbers tomorrow. We need numbers that can make cheating impossible, or irrelevant. We need numbers tomorrow. We need a throng who when a sea of fear rides in, this country's future is buttressed, and it can continue on, on this path Forward.

I am sitting here worrying about what we can do now. It is done.

The politicians can do no more. They are just wrapping up.

Now, it falls to the voters. 
Now, we decide.
Now, we choose out fate.
Vote, and choose wisely.

Note on Debate Tonight

I know no one is likely interested in this, but I was tweeting the debate tonight. But like last time, I hit the tweet limit and was cut off. At the hour mark this time.

Man, that bites.

So no more tweeting until tomorrow.

*crickets*

And props to Crowley. Holding both, for the most part, to their time limits. Also, for calling out the BS Romney claim about Obama on the Libyan attack statement. Kudos. Particularly because I have been rough at times on some of her reporting. But she's proven me wholly wrong on her temerity and skill.

Now we see how the media takes and spins the debate.

Blogging and Tumblr

Hello!

I have for a few months now been on Tumblr, along with here on Blogger.

Can I share a secret?

I don't know what to do with the lot of it.

What is the difference for me? Is one meant for one type of narrative and the other for another narrative? Are they the same thing? They don't feel the same.

Now, at first, I thought Tumblr was more built for shorter and lighter pieces, quickly shot out. That, and reblogs. Lots and lots of reblogs. But I see some long writing pieces. And I see very weighty topics.

So, I am at a loss. And I am stumbling my way through. And at some point, I hop, I will have the logic of where and when things go on my sites. But I still struggle to deal with tags on posts. So let's not hope for too much.

But sometimes I will double post things...for some reason (I'm sure I had a good reason.), I hope people won't mind...I think this is going to get double post...

Must go now, or I might get on to Twitter...you don't want me to go there.

David Gregory is The Man With No Good Questions

Ah, first, so you know, I measure the time of extended breaks from blogging in the number of times my laptop crashes thanks to opening and keeping page after page of topic I want to cover in my browser. I had promised myself, I wouldn't let more than one crash pass without getting. Didn't work out that way.


Second, time has passed, and Mitt Romney hasn't gotten any fresher as a candidate.


And now, he's ready for Meet the Press. I'm sure it will be a titanic battle of wills...as David Gregory's handlers struggle to come up with the most pleasing questions and the ones most useful to Mitt Romney.

Back to the first point.

Oltermanni Halloumi Yaroslavsky Edam Armola Havarti

Well...oh, not a full year...lost that bet.

Well, fuck! A lot of important topics. Lot of fun topics missed. And as I noted in listening to a good talk on the difference in old and new media, no I can't just go back, without some convoluted reason and need. Or I can and just be old hat...I do like old hat.

But no.

So back to the seriousness.

True...True, could be a little silly.

Spring - April 15th, 2011

A look at a fine Spring day in the Midwest United States. Shots from the sunny side.

And after opening the car window and taking a shot that happens to be into the wind.

And I thought the rain the day before was cold.