Well, it’s the spooky season once again. I’ve been gone for a while here, but that happens when you’re busy with life, work, play, and everything in between. I was trying to figure out who I should tackle next in this Season of (tries to do a Vincent Price improv) ... “This is Halloween!”, and I think I found one Canadian director who fits the bill: David Cronenberg, not “Cronemburg.” I kept wanting to add an “M” in his last name for some reason.
Now, my history with Cronenberg is sparse with me exploring more of his work recently. The first work was probably one of his best: the 1980’s remake of The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. I don’t know how Fox 54 out of Huntstville got away with playing that on a Saturday afternoon in the late 90’s, but I bet someone would’ve been surprised. I remember that they got quite a bit past the censors, and I think my folks were out for the day. It’s a classic horror film which is why it isn’t being discussed for now. I also remember that he directed an episode of Friday The 13th: the Series, aka Friday’s Curse. No, it isn’t connected to Jason Vorhees… I think. For my Star Trek family out there, he appeared on Star Trek Discovery as the mysterious Kovich.
I was going to look at just 4 films from each decade, but I looked at a few more and decided that this will be a 2-parter. First up is his original Crimes of the Future from 1970. It isn’t much of a horror but kinda is. Next up, it’s The Brood from 1979. The next film on the list will be Scanners from 1981. My last film on this post will be Videodrome from 1983.
I don’t get a lot of time to watch things on my own these days. What I do watch is usually geared toward little kids. All I know is Pete the Cat is one groovy dude, Marshall from Paw Patrol needs to be fired for insubordination, and that I want to slap the person who created the Minions with one of those foam hands. At least the boys like cool stuff like Mario and Sonic. We just recently gotten them to watch some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and that’s always fun. I am trying to understand how we’ve gotten so many animated TMNT versions over the years. To somewhat quote the Shredder, “Those Turtles just won’t die!”
What TV time I’ve had to myself has been used watching these three picks below. First off is the recent Disney+ show, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord. The boys haven’t gotten to Star Wars yet, and I doubt Andy will like seeing a horned nutjob slice people. Next is Phantom 2040, a long-forgotten show I have been slowly watching on Amazon Prime. Finally, there’s Under the Dome, a TV adaptation of a Stephen King book. Me and Liz were binging this, but it took quite a while to do so with all the crying and sleepy kids.
I had a problem with figuring out what nickname this episode needed. Here are just a few:
"Janeway Embraces the Dark Side!"
"The Worst Game of Twister Ever!"
"Kes Meets a Guy Who is Creepier than Neelix!"
"Holy Ethical Dilemma, Batman!"
"Yeah... It's That Episode!"
Well, this was a long time coming. I think this was one episode that I wanted to write about years ago, but other things got in the way. There are more important things to do than write about a controversial Star Trek episode. Plus, so many people have already given their thoughts on what happens at the end of this episode. It was those opinions that made me want to finally talk about “Tuvix”, the 24th episode from Star Trek: Voyager’s second season.
Well, the long-awaited Michael Jackson biopic has come out, and I'm still waiting for it to hit streaming. We got kids at home, and I don't think my wife wants to sit through a two-and-a-half hour biopic. Honestly, I kinda don't want to either because that has got to be a dang good movie with how much things cost these days. The critics haven't been gracious, but I've seen some good takes. My sister saw it, and she really liked it. Chances are that I'll enjoy it.
I don't know what's worse, the manniquen or the fact that I can't tell if any of them are real especially with that fashion!
Today's video is one most will probably not view fondly. "Torture" (hilarious name) was a song from the Jacksons' 15th studio album, Victory. This was kind of considered to be a special album because it featured all 6 Jackson brothers. Jermaine had left the group when the family left Motown, and Randy took his place. They all reunited during Motown's 25th anniversary special This was right off the release of Thriller and the Jacksons' reunion. The Victory tour was even spun out all this, but weirdly enough, NONE of the songs on this album were sung during the big tour. After taking a gander at the album... I can see why. No one wants to hear Marlon singing "Body," but seeing him gyrate on stage is hilarious. I saw the music video years ago on VH-1.
So, what can be said about this kinda forgotten single and its video?
Okay Song - Jackie actually wrote the lyrics for this one. It was meant to be about the hardships of being in a relationship. Apparently, he was supposed to sing lead with Michael (who does the second verse), but Jermaine got lead instead... not sure what happened there. The funny thing is that it's the only song Jermaine takes part in on the album! The song itself is alright though. It's probably one of the better songs on the album. Tito's guitar solo is nice, and Michael's verse is cool.
Thriller 2.0 - I'm guessing that the director wanted to capitalize on the "Thriller" music video because the spooky vibe is ramped up to 11 here. Basically, the Jacksons are trapped in some hell dimension with spiders, evil-looking dancers, eyes popping out of hands, ghouls, and all sorts of dastardly things! Jackie is walking through this Hell trying to save the band and some lady. It's definitely the weirdest Dungeons and Dragons campaign around. Also, this vid is part-nightmare fuel and part-hilariousity.
Mixed Message - The song was meant to be about the hardships of a relationship, but the video kinda adds another topic: bondage! I'm guessing someone on the production listened to the song and was like "let's make this even weirder than it needs to be!" You got this chick running around in a mask with a whip! It also doesn't help that Jackie's wearing something that has that BDSM vibe to it. He's getting whipped here and there and gets trapped quite a bit. I did notice Tito was wearing a Flash shirt at some point. What was up with that?
Introducing... 4 Jacksons and a Stand-In! - Probably the funniest fact about the video is that you only see 4 brothers in the video. Jermaine didn't even show up to the shoot since he had an album out. Michael, who was really only doing the album and tour for his family, didn't show up either. Since you really can't have a Jacksons vid with no Michael, they got a dummy from one of those wax museums. It's so obvious too! The dummy looks so off when paired with the rest of the brothers.
This is what happens when someone tries to wear Michael's glove without permission!
In the end, it's surprising that this video turned out as "mid" as it did. Apparently, it was "torture" to get it produced. The song was alright at least. I don't think I'd throw this song or any song from this album on a "Best of the Jacksons" playlist though. Maybe that's what I'll work on next. I was meant to do it years ago. Anyway, that's all I got. Peace, God Bless, and don't walk into hell dimensions with your 3 brothers and a mannequin.
Okay... forgive my French, but what the hell was this???
It has been years since I’ve talked about any Star Trek novels here. Heck, it’s been years since I really delved deep into a Trek novel. I might’ve tapped myself out on Trek at some point, but I never lost that passion. I’ll do a re-run of old Trek from time to time.I’ve been trying to catch up with the rest of Discovery’s 5th season and have been watching the newest show, Starfleet Academy, on Paramount+. I’ll just say this about SFA… it’s better than I thought it would be. Maybe I’ll say a little something to help out the kids once I’m done watching it.
Anyway, I thought I’d finally read this novel. I think I bought it at this book store in Columbia, but it could’ve been McKay’s as well. It was actually stuck at my parents’ house for years until I decided to dust it off this year. I also wanted to read it because the author, Peter David, passed away last year. I’ve read quite a few of his comics and novels over the years, so I thought I might as well read one of his first tries with the TNG crew. Vendetta was released in 1991 through Pocket Books. Instead of being along with the usual batch of novels, this was a special “Giant” one. I can see why they may have done that with who’s on the cover.
