The Pros and Cons of... The Vampire Diaries

Well, this took longer than usual. When you have kids, some of the more violent stuff has to be put away for a bit. This kind of happened with The Vampire Diaries. I guess Andy wasn’t the only one who doesn’t like Rippers! So, where do I start with this show especially since I watched its spinoffs first? I guess the beginning’s a good point.

The Vampire Diaries was a supernatural soap opera that aired on the CW from 2009 to 2017. Twilight was in its hey-day at this point, so the CW decided to throw their hat in by adapting this young adult series. When it was airing, I only watched one episode, and that was because either Supernatural or some other show came on beforehand. It really wasn’t until last year where we had an inkling of watching the show in full. Besides, we had to see how it all began. We took a break around the third season because of Andy.  We didn’t get back on the Mystic Falls train until this year. We just finished the show recently.

So, the show takes place in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. It mainly revolves around a young girl named Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) as she falls for a handsome, generous 160-year-old vampire by the name of Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Of course, things start to go down into the depths of Hell as Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), Stefan’s older brother, comes into town. Not only does Damon notice something familiar about Elena, he also has a massive bone to pick with Stefan. Eventually, we find out why Damon hates Stefan as well as why Elena has a stark resemblance to Katerina Patrova, another woman Stefan and Damon loved back in 1866. Of course, a lot of other stuff happens like death, more vampires, witches, werewolves, Klaus mother-loving Mikaelson, doppelgangers, prison worlds, vampire-like witches, bad writing, broken necks, and the Devil… kinda.

Random Thoughts On... Similarities Between the Star Trek and Alien Movie Franchises

hen I was re-watching the Alien films, I was reminded of Star Trek a lot more than usual. Yeah, they both take place in the future and in outer space, but they are light years different. Trek’s an optimistic future where humanity’s got their crap together. The Alien franchise is so dour with corporations and the military doing really shady stuff. In fact, it's kinda today! Anyway, this one thought led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, and I ended up finding more similarities between the two franchises. Now, I’m mainly talking about the Trek movies from that time, not the many series. So, excuse me as I go down this weird rabbit hole I’ve created for myself. 

Star Trek: The Motion Picture/Alien

 

While there aren’t too many similarities, they are there:  

• The Plot - both plots are kinda similar. Both movies involved their respective crews going up against unknown life forms that endanger them and others. Of course, you can’t compare a simple Xenomorph to the behemoth of a ship called V’Ger, but they were threats that the crews of the Enterprise and Nostromo had to deal with.One Enterprise member gets taken over by V’Ger while John Hurt’s character (I can’t remember his name) becomes the Alien franchise’s first Xenomorph host. 
• The Effects - One of the things I really noticed about both films is how they were both influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both movies take measures showing how big and vast these ships and space is. They try to show off the coolness and relatability of this tech. They also kind of linger on these effects a little too much. Alien doesn’t do it as much as TMP did. It’s one of the reasons TMP is considered to be a bad movie. 
• The Composer - Jerry Goldsmith composed both films and did a tremendous job on both. I’d say that TMP’s score is more memorable for me since I basically grew up on the TOS movies, but the Alien score is pretty solid. 

This is Halloween 4! - The Alien Prequels and Spinoffs

Next up, I wanted to talk about the other movies from the Alien franchise like the prequels and the crossovers. I know the crossovers may not line up with the main Alien movies (especially after Prometheus…), but they still gotta be talked about. I’d probably even talk about Alien: Isolation, but I still can’t finish that game. Yes, there are Alien games out there and they vary from good to quite horrid. I might as well do this in the order they were released.

This Is Halloween 4! - The Original Alien Movies

Well, if you were wondering what franchise I was talking about last time, this would be the one. The Alien franchise added a new layer to horror and scifi. It also started the career of the awesome Sigourney Weaver. Unfortunately, it’s one that I’m not an uber-fan of. Over the years, I saw the four movies either on TV or at someone else's house and not all the way either. My folks weren’t renting this for us. I somehow ended up watching Aliens at the young age of 7 at my uncle’s house for some holiday, but I didn’t finish it. I guess they thought I couldn’t take too much Alien-ess. It was kinda like that for Alien 3, but I caught the ending instead of the beginning.

Since Alien: Romulus has come out, I thought I’d watch all the movies in full. I’m waiting for streaming to see Romulus, but my sister thought it was good. For this part, I’m only looking at the original four movies featuring our heroine, Ellen Ripley. I’m saving the prequels and spin-offs (yeah, I’m touching on the AVP movies too) for another post. 

This Is Halloween 4! - A Bit of 80's Randomness

Well, we’re getting closer to All Hallow’s Eve, so it’s time to get back into posting about some horror movies. Today’s bunch is a random lot from the 1980’s. I have a couple of more posts about a somewhat beloved franchise coming up, so I wanted to get these added since they don’t really tie in at all. The only hint I can give is that this franchise involves cool ladies surviving the odds. Yes, that is quite vague!

I’ve been meaning to talk about a couple of these for years, so now is the best time to do so. It’s a mixture of overall weirdness. We got vampires, sexy were-cats, de-evolving scientists, and even more sexy werewolves... the 1980’s were weird. First, it’s The Lost Boys from 1987 because I might as well get the best out of the way. Next is Altered States from 1980, a movie straddling the fence between sci-fi and horror. Next is a new viewing for me. For some reason, Cat People from 1982 piqued my interest. Finally, I save the “best” for last with Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf from 1985. 

Random Thoughts On... Days of Our Lives????

Who knew that struggling to get an old kitchen floor up would inspire this post? Maybe that crappy glue got to me or something. Anyway, we were trying to get our house together before our new son, “Baby A”, was born. Yes, that was his name until we centered on something more concrete like Alexander, Anthony, Aaron, or Thalmus... yes, that last one is made up. I don’t know how he would feel being named after a 70’s blaxploitation actor.  Anyway, as I struggled to get that floor up, I started thinking about actors from Days of Our Lives. Then, that went to thinking about weird plots from the long-running soap opera. If you’re wondering why a black dude from the South knows quite a bit about the show, blame my grandma for that. So, here are some random thoughts on my time with the show.

“In the Beginning…”

For those who don’t know, Days of Our Lives is a soap opera that started in 1965 on NBC and is still running these days. They apparently switched to streaming on Peacock recently, so I hope the old ladies got a nephew who has some streaming knowledge. Days (or DOOL for short) was your usual soap opera. It revolves around a couple of families in the fictional Salem, IL. You get a whole lotta drama. This person is in love with that person, this person’s cheating with that person, someone wants to plot to get their love interest away from their true love, and all-around calamity ensues. Also add in assassins, evil business moguls with cool accents, Satan, plastic surgery, many cases of amnesia, hidden twin siblings, illegitimate kids, and a biiiiiatch named Sami. 

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Weird Music Videos – “White Horse” by Laid Back

This may be the first post where the video AND song are both weird. Also, Hello there! Yeah, I been gone for a little bit longer than I wanted. Life’s still going on, you see. The Lord has been good to us. We’re even having another boy soon, so that’ll be two rascals me and Liz will have to chase. So, let me talk about a Danish song that apparently hit the R&B charts back in the 80’s… yeah. I think America didn’t know what to do with this song.

“White Horse” was done by Laid Back, a Danish electric group. While the song was released on the B-side of their album in 1983, it somehow got a lot of traction over here in the US. I guess we really liked those beats or something. I actually remember my first interaction with this song from 1998. Me and my dad were driving down to Huntsville for Thanksgiving and this song came on 104.3 WZYP during their 80’s hour. Even he was wondering what was up with this song. He even brought it up to my cousin and great uncle who were visiting from Chicago. Apparently, I talked about this song here years ago, so it may be time for a redo and something more detailed.

So, what was this song about? And what was up with the video???

• Shady Dancing Dude – We get introduced to some shady Danish dude being followed by a shady Danish reporter who I guess wants to know about the white horse. Shady Dude also got some dance moves, and I can’t blame him. That intro makes you want to move. I see why this hit the charts over here.
• This song makes no dang sense – After a pretty long, upbeat intro, we learn a few things. First, if you want to ride, don’t right the white horse. Second, if you want to be rich, you gotta be a – uh, let’s say witch. You’ll figure it out. Finally, and most importantly, if you must  ride, ride the white pony. Some say that’s about drugs which makes a lot of sense because they were probably on drugs when they wrote this! I remember one commenter said that the white pony is sex… Okay?
• Cross-eyed Lady – During the video, we see a sultry lady dressed in a suit with a short skirt. Why she has the captain sailor’s hat, I have no clue. She also looks a bit-cross-eyed during it all which adds the video’s weirdness. All I can say to that is “Anchors Away!”
• David Hasselhoff?? – Look, when I first saw this vid, I was like “Michael Knight’s in the house!” I know John Guldenburg (the guitarist) looks nothing like Hasselhoff, but it stuck out to me. Maybe they have the same vibe.
• White Pony – The video ends… with a white pony in a hotel. Don’t know what’s being said there, but at least the fun has ended.

………………………………………..

Le me guess... she hit up some of that White Horse before shooting this video, right?

In the end, this is definitely one of the weirdest 80’s songs. That’s probably why it was such a hit. Even their other hit,“Sunshine Reggae,” isn’t too bad. That’s all I know about the duo. They got a bit of a discography, but I’m not too interested in it. Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

This may or may not be me dancing to "White Horse".

Tales from The Trade! - Star Trek: Godshock

During a trip to Nashville back in 2023, I decided to stop by my old comic stomping grounds, The Great Escape, off of Charlette Ave. Even though my comic buying has gone down in the last couple years, I still try to make time for the hobby. Making time to read said comics is another thing altogether. Anyway, I was perusing some of the new stuff, and a recent Star Trek trade popped out to me. The hardcover had a few Trek characters, most notably, Captain Benjamin LaFayette Sisko. You know I had to get this, man!!!

At the end of 2022, IDW started to release a new Star Trek comic that featured a lot of notable characters from the franchise with Captain Sisko being the lead. It even has a sister series called Star Trek: Defiant which features a few other popular characters. Since Trek continuity is pretty busy these days, they had it take place a couple of years after the end of DS9 and before Star Trek: Nemesis. “Godshock” contains the first 6 issues of the series. It’s being written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing who I don’t know too much about. The artwork is being done by a few like Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo. So, what happens when someone is killing “gods?”

 

Star Trek: Godshock

Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing

Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, and Erik Tamayo

Colors: Lee Loughridge

Letters: Clayton Cowles