My weekly schedule has been shifted a bit and I find myself mentally a bit out of sorts due to a crop of issues and some duties I need to perform. I will attempt some and foolishly ignore others but I thought in place of the usual blog utilizing vague humorous references and going on and on about things few people care about, I decided to go with something that used to be quite common in the historic past days of Gamespotland known as Open Mike Night.

You! Yes you get to ask me any little question you may like if you are so inclined and not just stopping by to see what game or movie I am currently angry about or looking forward to.

Just a reminder though. My cat Shoes has elected to moderate the proceedings so please keep it clean and no dangling small pieces of string in order to ask something inappropriate. Cats can't help it that their natural aggressive playfulness subverts their ability to master the basic object relation test!

On with the questions!

...And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down! I always think of that song whenever it's pouring rain outside and now you can sing along with the cl@ssic Winnie the Pooh tune even if it's only some pictures for licensing reasons I suppose. Of course these days in good ol' Southern California there's a lot less rainfall then there used to be so my nostalgic trips in the Hundred Acre Woods are a lot less frequent.

No this isn't going to turn into a discussion about global warming. I'm just telling you that in the '70s it used to rain for days at a time during the winter on a regular basis and then ever other year it would rain like hell for weeks at a time. Really! It was pretty common winter weather which used to confuse me to no end growing up in California with every ad proclaiming that our state was "always sunny". Anyways....

In case you haven't heard it's raining like hell in California even way down here in the Southern part. Yes I'm aware that bellyaching about heavy rain seems pretty petty considering all the cold snap snow storm beating the rest of the United States has been experiencing but really it's just mainly due to the fact that we've had scant rainfall for years. Generally we just have the regular fire season in which lots of brush and houses are cleared away on a regular basis. But now heavy rain mixed with burnt up hills leaves us with the other thing that used to make a regular appearance when it rained called MASSIVE MUDSLIDES!

Luckily as dull-witted as I can sometimes be, I've always made sure not to live on nor beneath a large dirt hill. But now we are stuck inside whilst a large amount of small hail pounds my windows and lightning dances about the sky. What to do to pass the time? A Puzzle!

Wait a minute I think I know this one. WAIT! No don't finish the puzzle! What? You did?! You knew what it was already? Let me get this straight. You knew the puzzle was a highly venomous cobra and yet you decided to go rubbing your pencil all over it?! Really?! I suppose you also didn't know that my puzzles become real once they are completed! Pshh! Wait what? You didn't know that!? Ooooooh, my bad sorry about that. I don't usually have guests over and sometimes the odd things that seem like everyday mundane occurrences to me can catch others by surprise. Well...direct pressure and all that and I'll try to whip up some anti-venom tea or some such thing.

Hmmm....now what? A movie! A monster movie!!!

Yay! It's the craptacular Danish/United States movie Reptilicus! It's really not a good movie but it is amusingly bad and I sadly have to inform you that there are people out there that think this is a serious under-appreciated monster movie cl@ssic. Really! Anyways I don't want to keep you here all day so here's a handy version in which the movie has been edited down to 10 minutes so that you can catch some of that super awesomeness that is the natural result of the combined efforts of two mighty nations!

So...did you like it? Yeah I know but didn't you love the part where tiny poorly animated men get eaten by a horribly controlled puppet monster? I know...awesome!

You know what time it is?

It's is time for DANCE!

I said...

dance!!!

See? Now aren't you a bit warmer and better able to fight off the cold outside? Well you better be better equipped because you're going out the door! This isn't a hotel you know!

Awwwww! I kid I kid! Thanks for stopping by on this rainy day. Maybe next time we'll cook something yummy whilst we engage in some video game action. Or perhaps...some more monster films? Perhaps you'd like to watch something from my silent film collection? Yay! You're the best!

*sniff*

*sniff*

I'm sorry. No...it's nothing. I just got a little...um, dust in my eyes is all. Nothing to worry about please move along sir there's nothing to see hear and all that tish tosh. But still there comes the time when no matter how you may try to hide it or avoid it, eventually you just have to give in and admit that certain things just really hit you on a deep emotional level and rock you to your core. Sometimes these things have obvious origins -- such as marriage proposals of the death of a loved one. But other times these emotional moments can arise from the most unlikeliest of sources and give you pause as to what exactly caused it and why did it affect you so profoundly? These self reflections can sometimes be a pleasant reminder of what we treasure or an indicator of something perhaps a little more disturbing deep down inside.

I don't really cry anymore but there are still a handful of standby moments that I've encountered when staring at the little television screen in my house that never cease to choke me up so hard that in more reflective moments I find it somewhat hard to breathe. Sure, sure...there are quite a few songs that have hit me hard over my somewhat lengthy but seemingly brief life, but let's just concentrate on a few of the visual highlights the make Daemons all emotional.

Allegro Non Troppo - Kitty in abandoned tenement.

Description below which I advise you not to read until after viewing the short film.

[the story of a] cat in the ruins of a large house. The cat remembers its life when the house was occupied, and for a few seconds the memory becomes real - only to burst like a bubble, returning the cat to a harsh reality. The poor cat wanders about in an extremely lonely and dark environment, only to suddenly get a glint in its eye as the music cues up enthusiastically, seeing the entire house and all its furnishings and people reappear and do their everyday tasks again. The stark contrast in the piece between the silent moping and the bright, happy, swooping, phrases is animated through the gray coloring followed by the pictured, almost surreal amount of color when the cat hallucinates. Unfortunately, all of the hallucinations crash back down into even deeper misery, the cat finding itself in a post-apocalyptic scene again. The third time the cat finds itself in reality, with the final chords of the waltz, the cat itself fades away, and a wrecking ball clears the remaining ruins of the house, leaving not even a memory. - from Wiki

Angel A - The Mirror Scene

Luc Besson's films are generally based on odd couplings of people and this film was no different. The lead character Andre is on his last ropes and about to kill himself by jumping off a bridge when a beautiful -- and very tall -- woman jumps off before he can have a chance. He jumps in and saves her and she promises to make his life worth living. Oh yeah...she may also be a down and out Angel that feels like a failure herself. It didn't have enough meat on its collective bones though and although it was a decent film it was a little lacking in substance to rank it high on anybody's best of list. This scene however hit me hard though and it's at times difficult for me to even watch it.

Random Harvest ending.

Oh my God this has got to be one of the most powerful if not THE most powerful tear-jerker film ever committed to celluloid! It's insanely good due to the fact that although it has plenty of heartbreak embedded within its reels, it meshes them well with equal parts joy and then strains your desire for hope almost to the breaking point whereupon the whole things comes together in a series of well thought out occurrences. If you haven't seen the whole film then this ending won't do much for you so you should probably go out and watch this film as soon as possible. (hint hint) And for heaven's sake don't watch it if you plan on catching the film at a later date!

I still can't describe the ending of this film to another person without getting at least a wee bit choked-up.

Shadows Heart Covenant - Train Scene

Alright! Alright! I know I know! A video game!? Just how old are you?! I suppose this does deserve some quick explanation. The girl in the clip is Alice who sacrificed her life so that the hero sitting next to her, Yuri Hyuga, could save the world in the first Shadow Hearts game. Yuri continues his quest in the rather convoluted but quite enjoyable plot that makes up Shadow Hearts 2. The game is chugging along for quite a ways and creating this air that he will learn to leave his sadness for Alice's death behind and become romantically involved with Karin who is the new lead character in the sequel. Yuri seems unable to and the game begins to drop hints that there's some reason neither of the can truly commit to each other.

Suddenly this scene occurs in which Yuri finds himself seemingly back in time on a train ride with Alice. At first he seems just satisfied to enjoy her company and be in her presence. But eventually he has to talk about his true feelings and for some reason I found the whole low key approach incredibly tender. Just a quiet love reaffirmed as he heads off to the final battle fully aware of what he needs to do.