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~ Reviews & Fiction by Zach Smith

Category Archives: 2017 Review

The Numbers

31 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review

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So in closing off 2017, here is the raw data of what I’ve accomplished this year:

The Hours

  • Hours Spent Writing: 605
  • Hours Spent Reading: 561
  • Hours Spent Watching Movies: 92
  • Hours Spent Playing Video Games: 447
  • Hours Spent Video Editing: 63
  • Hours Spent Writing Music: 4

The Writings

  • Pieces Published: 14
  • New Pieces Written: 23
  • New Pieces Written (finished): 16
  • Blog Posts Posted: 26

The Books & Stories

  • Books Read: 37
  • Books Read (for the 1st time): 28
  • Books Read (on paper): 5
  • Stories Read: 163

The Movies

  • Movies Watched: 69
  • Movies Watched (for the 1st Time): 44
  • Video’s made: 18

The Collecting

  • Video Games Collected: 23
  • Vinyl Records Collected: 29
  • DVD’s Collected: 40

Explanations

Remember the hours are not 100% accurate, this post was written a few days before the end of the year, and some of the times have been estimated, however i would expect it to be 97% accurate. 

“Pieces” usually refers to either a short story or flash fiction, though it can mean an essay, a poem a novella or even a novel; it does not refer to a blog post. By finished I mean that the piece has been written and edited to the point where I can (and have) shown it to other people.

As for the goals I had set for myself and how these numbers compare with last year.

I actually did much less reading this year, about a hundred hours less in fact. This is mostly because of a large number of nights that I skipped my hour of reading before bed. Some nights because I just wasn’t in the mood, and other night because I actually would write for an hour before going to bed… which brings us to the next segment.

Every year my goal is to do about 2 hours of writing a day, this is a very heavy goal to hit though, this year (perhaps my most productive yet) I was still shy of the goal by roughly 20 minutes a day.

I spent almost no time on music this year, that will change next year… and I don’t have to do very much to do “more” … but I will… don’t worry.

This year I wanted to watch one new movie a week. I fell short of this goal, but came close with 44 new movies. If you count the all movies (both one’s I’ve seen before and ones I haven’t) then I far accessed this goal with 69 movies. I’d like to raise both numbers by a couple points next year, and as for now I see that being a likely scenario.

The only goal I wanted to cut back on was video game playing, and I am proud to say that I did. 447 hours of video game playing may seem like a lot (and it is a lot too of course) but it is still almost a hundred hours less then I played last year. Maybe if I cut back to about 400 hours that would be good, but I don’t want to cut down too much on something I enjoy.

We’ll see what happens next year. Thank you for staying with me through all the ups and downs that 2017 has thrown my way. You know I would do the same for you constant reader. Happy New Year.

Movies (2017)

28 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review, Movie

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New Movies Watched:

(Best to Worst)

  • The VVitch
  • Conan the Barbarian
  • Brick
  • Dead Again
  • Double Indemnity
  • The End of the Tour
  • The Toxic Avenger
  • The Ref
  • A Man Called Ove
  • Batman the Movie
  • Grumpy Old Men
  • Run Lola Run
  • Fritz the Cat
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • My Daughter is Missing
  • The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
  • Dick Tracy (1945)
  • Conan the Destroyer
  • Enter the Dragon
  • Out of Africa
  • Used Cars
  • Fando Y Lis
  • The Milky Way
  • Clue
  • The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared
  • God’s Gun
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Peril
  • Time Raiders
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge
  • The Pale Face
  • Genesis: A History
  • British Intelligence
  • His Private Secretary
  • Palooka
  • False Pretenses
  • Kuttsukiboshi
  • Sour Grapes
  • Doomed to Die
  • The Front Page
  • The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K)
  • The Flying Deuces
  • 12 Monkeys
  • Swiss Army Man
  • Cocaine Fiend

Movies Watched (in order):

  • God’s Gun
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Peril
  • Time Raiders
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge
  • The Front Page
  • The Pale Face
  • Grumpy Old Men
  • The Flying Deuces
  • Groundhog Day*
  • What’s Up Tiger Lilly*
  • Airplane*
  • British Intelligence
  • His Private Secretary
  • Palooka
  • False Pretenses
  • Fando Y Lis
  • The Milky Way
  • Dead Again
  • Conan the Barbarian
  • The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K)
  • Run Lola Run
  • The End of the Tour
  • Harold and Kumar go to White Castle*
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*
  • Cocaine Fiend
  • Who Framed Rodger Rabbit*
  • What About Bob*
  • 1776*
  • Africa Screams*
  • Airplane*
  • 12 Monkeys
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters*
  • Beetlejuice*
  • Out of Africa
  • Big Money Hustlas’*
  • The Birdcage*
  • Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance*
  • Fritz the Cat
  • My Daughter is Missing
  • 1776*
  • A Man Called Ove
  • Swiss Army Man
  • The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared
  • The VVitch
  • Waking Ned Devine*
  • The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
  • Sour Grapes
  • Christmas Vacation*
  • Batman the Movie
  • Brick
  • Dick Tracy (1945)
  • Beetlejuice*
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*
  • Ghostbusters*
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail*
  • Ghostbusters II*
  • Double Indemnity
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show*
  • A Clockwork Orange*
  • 2001: A Space Odousy*
  • Clue
  • Conan the Barbarian*
  • Used Cars
  • Conan the Destroyer
  • Doomed to Die
  • Genesis: A History
  • The Ref
  • Enter the Dragon
  • The Toxic Avenger
  • It’s a Wonderful Life*

Readings (2017)

27 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review, Book

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New Books:

(Best to Worst)

  • Hawaii by James Michener
  • Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
  • The Maltese Falcon by Dashell Hammett
  • Leviathan by Scott Westerfell
  • The Short Stories Vol. I by Ernest Hemingway
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • A Blueprint for Armageddon by Dan Carlin
  • Last Orders by Harry Turtledove
  • A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman
  • Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
  • The Uncuppling by Meg Wolitzer
  • The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  • Seinfeldia by Jennifer Armstrong
  • The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
  • The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R.L. Stine*
  • American Peril by Dan Carlin
  • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neal DeGrass Tyson
  • Eyewitness Explorer by Rupert Matthews*
  • The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler
  • Knots: Stories by Gunhild Øyehaug*
  • The High Window by Raymond Chandler
  • The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
  • Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  • Dragonflight by Anne McCafferty
  • How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack by Chuck Sambuchino*
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Graham Smith
  • The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Old Books:

  • This Land Was Made for You and Me (But Mostly for Me) by Bruce McCall*
  • The Best of DFW by David Foster Wallace
  • The Secrets of the Gnomes by Rein Poortoliet*
  • The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  • A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
  • The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  • Scary Stories: to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz*
  • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Stories Read

There are a lot of exclusions in this list. I’ve actually read a total of 156+ non book length fictions this year (Flash Fiction, Short Story, Long Story, Novella), but the list below excludes stories reread, stories I helped work on in one way or another, and stories that were part of larger collections that I read and either finished plan on finishing soon. That boils down to 29 stories remaining (many of which are from the New Yorker… but not all)

  • Tossing and Turning by Calvin Trillin
  • Jimmy’s Fight Song by Rebecca Ellis
  • Mystery Novels Inspired by a Co-Working Space by Zain Khalid
  • Crazy They Call Me by Zadie Smith
  • Ladies Lunch by Lore Segal
  • The Hanging of Mary by Claudia Summers
  • A Small Flame by Yiyun Li
  • Fly Already by Etgar Keret
  • Seinfeld Episodes from the Point of View of the Girlfriends by Blythe Roberson
  • Crossing the River No Name by Will Mackin
  • Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
  • A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
  • Cell Songs by Shoshana Sumrall Frerking
  • Love and Marriage and Love and Marriage by Nick Gregorio
  • Not So Fast Canada by Bruce McCall
  • Disaster E- by Dean Schtekil
  • Christina the Astonishing (1150-1224) by Kristin Valdes Quade
  • Future Usten Adaptations by Blythe Roberson
  • The Itch by Don DeLillo
  • Everything is So Far From Here by Cristina Henriquez
  • The Purple Swamp Hen by Penelope Lively
  • Abroad by Penelope Lively
  • The Row by Penelope Lively
  • Who Do You Think You Were by Penelope Lively
  • Old as the Hills by Penelope Lively
  • On the Half-Shell by Nick Gregorio
  • The Phoenix on the Sword by Robert E. Howard
  • Don’t Even Try Sam by William H. Gass
  • Soliloquy for a Chair by William H. Gass
  • Fangs of Gold by Robert E. Howard

Books Unfinished:

  • The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemsen (terrible)
  • The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories by Penelope Lively (Ehh)
  • Best American Short Stories 2016 (will finish early next year)
  • Good Grief by Nick Gregorio (will finish next year)
  • The Wise Man’s Fears by Patrick Rothfuss (will finish next year)
  • The Ultimate NES Guide Book by Pat Contri (will finish next year)

Wake Up Songs (2017)

26 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review, Music

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if you remember last year I at the end of the year I had a “Wake Up Song” list, at that point I had only been keeping a log since september, this one i’ve done for the entire year. It’s not everyday, but fairly often that I wake up with a song stuck in my head, and there is a wide veriety of these songs. So for your enjoyment here is the full list for this year.

January

  • 1/1 – Put a Little Love in Your Heart by Jackie DeShannon
  • 1/2 – Having a Party by Sam Cooke 
  • 1/4 – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams
  • 1/11 – David the Gnome Theme Song
  • 1/12 – Autumn Roars Thunder by Darkwoods My Betrothed 
  • 1/13 – Marian the Librarian from the Music Man
  • 1/23 – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda by The Pogues 
  • 1/30 – How Bizarre by OMC
  • 1/31 – Sabrina the Animated Series Theme Song

February

  • 2/1 – Slow Sown the Song by Selena Gomez
  • 2/3 – Zelda II Theme Song
  • 2/4 – All-Star by Smash Mouth
  • 2/5 – Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (this video is better)
  • 2/6 – Almost Like Being in Love by Frank Sinatra (from Groundhog Day) 
  • 2/9 – I Walk Alone by Tarja 
  • 2/21 – Palovana by Korpiklaani 
  • 2/22 – Telecommunication by A Flock of Seagulls 
  • 2/23 – Illegal Alien by Genesis 
  • 2/24 – Inside Out by Phil Collins 
  • 2/25 – Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer 
  • 2/27 – Why Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore by Phil Collins 
  • 2/28 – Man Made by Flock of seagulls

March

  • 3/1 – Bare Grace Misery by Nightwish 
  • 3/2 – Deadmaker by Edguy 
  • 3/4 – Pachelbal’s Canon in D 
  • 3/6 – Way Cool Jr. by Ratt
  • 3/8 – Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
  • 3/13 – Erin Go Bragh by The Tossers 
  • 3/14 – Revolution 909 by Daft Punk 
  • 3/15 – Paradise Lost by Symphony X 
  • 3/16 – Behind the Gates of Midnight World by Edguy 
  • 3/19 – Song of the Storms from Ocarina of Time 
  • 3/22 – The Boy from Mar-a-Lago by Sandy and Richard Riccardi 
  • 3/23 – Felix the Cat Theme Song 
  • 3/28 – Paradise Island from the Benny Hill Show 

April

  • 4/5 – Neverland by Avantasia 
  • 4/7 – Ax of Judgement by Ensiferum (this one will wake anyone up)
  • 4/8 – Descendants, Defiance, Domination (Heathen Throne Part III) by Ensiferum
  • 4/12 – Victory Song by ensiferum
  • 4/14 – Running With the Wolves by korpiklaani 
  • 4/16 Step into Christmas by Elton John (no idea where this came from, stranger still that it was Easter Morning) 
  • 4/17 Cupid by Sam Cooke
  • 4/19 Abu Hassan from Popeye and the 40 thieves 
  • 4/20 Battle Song by Tuatha de Danann
  • 4/22 Tervaskanto by Korpiklaani 
  • 4/23 My Ding-a-Ling by Chuck Berry (RIP)
  • 4/24 Straight Fall by Lasting Factor
  • 4/25 Hold On by Wilson Philips 
  • 4/26 Chaos by Ayreon 
  • 4/27 Prince Valiant Theme Song

May

  • 5/3 Dance of the Little Ones by Tuatha de Danann 
  • 5/5 Thunderstruck by 2cellos 
  • 5/9 Bubble Bobble Theme Song 
  • 5/12 Boyz in the Hood by Dynamite Hack 
  • 5/13 Daydream Believer by The Monkees
  • 5/14 Windmill by Helloween
  • 5/16 Trololo (and of course the Metal Cover)
  • 5/19 Faeryage by Tautha de Danann
  • 5/23 Firewings by Aquaria
  • 5/24 Tom Sawyer by Rush

June

  • 6/2 Until the End by Iron Fire 
  • 6/3 Ride by Tyr 
  • 6/6 Blue by Eiffel 65
  • 6/7 Siren by Trish Thuy Trang
  • 6/9 For Boston by Dropkick Murphy’s
  • 6/12 Ruumiimultaa by Korpiklaani 
  • 6/18 Nowhere to Run by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 
  • 6/19 No Reply At All by Genesis 
  • 6/25 Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly 
  • 6/26 By the Light of the Northern Star by Tyr
  • 6/27 Saliari Strikes Back by Warmen (at 3:50 there’s a blastbeet on a keyboard)

July

  • 7/5 The Camera Eye by Rush 
  • 7/6 Evil by Heavenly 
  • 7/10 Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffet 
  • 7/11 Some song that I don’t believe is real… and is annoying. 
  • 7/12 Lost Souls in Endless Time by DragonForce
  • 7/15 When the Punks Go Marching In by the Abrasive Wheels 
  • 7/17 Mouse Loves Rice by Vietnamese Version
  • 7/18 Two of Spades by Ensiferum
  • 7/19 Satisfaction by Benny Benassi 
  • 7/20 The Rascals King – the Mighty Mighty Bosstones 
  • 7/24 What’s Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner 
  • 7/25 Play Hard by David Guetta  
  • 7/26 I’m Dressed Like a Cat from Family Guy
  • 7/28 Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nail
  • 7/31 Cherish by Madonna 

August

  • 8/3 Crusin’ by Smokey Robinson 
  • 8/4 The Fog on the Tyne by Lindisfern 
  • 8/8 Trapped in the Drive-Thru by Weird Al
  • 8/10 Someone Like You by Adele (no she doesn’t get a link)
  • 8/11 Just Like Fire by P!nk 
  • 8/12 Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. 
  • 8/14 Modern Love by David Bowie
  • 8/16 Layla by Eric Clapton 
  • 8/17 Ideas for Walls by Men Without Hats 
  • 8/18 The Letter by the Box Tops 
  • 8/19 The Impression That I Get by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones 
  • 8/21 Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonni Taylor (okay that’s a lie, but I had to do it) 
  • 8/23 Ice Queen by Trish Thuy Trang
  • 8/24 The Parting Glass from Waking Ned Devine 
  • 8/29 Dancing in the Dark by the Downtown Boys 
  • 8/30 Thunderstruck by 2cellos 
  • 8/31 Send It To Me by Williams Honor (strange considering I’ve never heard this song before) 

September

  • 9/1 Zapata’s Blood by Rage Against the Machine 
  • 9/2 Rascal King by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones 
  • 9/3 Brain Stew/Jaded by Green Day 
  • 9/5 Tough Guys by REO Speedwagon 
  • 9/7 The Rose by Bette Midler
  • 9/10 Leedel leedel leedel lee from Spungbob Squarpants
  • 9/11 The Eternal Wayfarer by Edguy
  • 9/12 Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye (No, he doesn’t get a link either) 
  • 9/13 The Spirit of Christmas by ray Charles 
  • 9/15 Pass the Dutchie by Musical youth 
  • 9/21 New Age Messiah by Edguy (probably my favorite Edguy song)
  • 9/25 Barracuda by Heart 

October

  • 10/7 Africa by Toto 
  • 10/8 I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the Standells from The Munsters 
  • 10/11 Crazy for You by Madonna 
  • 10/12 Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega
  • 10/13 Train in Vain by the Clash 
  • 10/14 Start the Riot by Atari Teenage Riot 
  • 10/15 Justify My Love by Madonna 
  • 10/17 Take Me Home by Phil Collins 
  • 10/18 La Vita Es Una Lenteja by Unaesta 
  • 10/21 You’ve Got Another Thing Coming by Judas Priest 
  • 10/22 Delete Yourself by Atari Teenage Riot
  • 10/25 Everyday is Holloween by ministry 
  • 10/29 Lonely by Akon 
  • 10/31 Toucha Toucha Touch Me from the Rocky Horror Picture Show 

November

  • 11/1 Laid by James. 
  • 11/5 The Johnny Appleseed Song from Melody Time  
  • 11/8 Twilight Tavern by Ensiferum 
  • 11/10 The Signal by BertycoX
  • 11/16 The Mighty Quinn by Manfred Man 
  • 11/19 A Trick of the Tail by Genesis
  • 11/27 Borderline by Madonna 
  • 11/30 Yesterday by the Beatles 

December

  • 12/1 Silent Night by Tarja
  • 12/4 Girl You Know It’s True by Milli Vinilli 
  • 12/4 Keep it Dark by Genesis 
  • 12/12 Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams 
  • 12/16 Promised Land by Elvis Presley

Half-Way Point

01 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review

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Well, the year is half way gone already, can you believe it? If you remember at the end of last year I did a series of blog posts reviewing the various things I did throughout the year. I won’t be doing a lengthy “series” like that right now, but for the half way mark (July 1st) I will give some quick updates as to how the year is going. Last year’s topics were: Books Read, Movies Watched, Writings, Wake Up Songs, and The Hours. If you’re interested, here is the year thus far.

Books – although this is shaping up to be a fairly productive year in other regards, quantity read is not one. At this point I’ve only read 12 books. 6 of which are “new” (i.e. I’ve never read them before), and 2 of which were on paper (both “old” books). Only 2 of the books were of “significant” length (i.e. over 20 hours). One of those “lengthy” books was “A Dance With Dragons” which we all know is quite long, and with finishing it, I have now read the entire Song of Ice and Fire (of what’s available) twice, I am less than thrilled that “Winds of Winter” is still not out yet. I’ve been thinking of taking the Ice and Fire audio books and making a sort of “Anthology” out of the best chapters, and then reading this “Best of Ice and Fire” at the beginning of each year, it will be quite a project. I’m currently working my way through another massive book, James Michener’s “Hawaii.”

Writings – I set a big writing goal for myself at the beginning of this year, each month I am to write/edit: 1 new story, a thorough edit of the previous months story, 1 storyline edited from last year’s novel, 1 thorough edit of a previously unedited story, some fine editing, send some submissions, and (hopefully) get a few pieces published. In review I’ve done: 4 New Stories Written, 2 edited old stories, 6 Trail of Blood storylines edited, 36 submissions, and 6 published pieces. I’m a little behind in some goals, but not too much, considering the quantity at hand. Also I’ve done a total of 13 blog posts so far this year, that includes this one, I need to get better on that front.

Movies Watched – if you read my post back in march, you would see that my winter was spent watching a healthy amount of movies, a lot of “new” movies too (see books for explanation of “new”). I’ve continued because of my “Mega DVD Marathon”, but most of these movies are “Old.” Regardless, so far this year I have watched 38 movies, 22 of which are “new”. This is well ahead of pace for my goal of watching 1 movie every week, even without including the “old movies” I’m only slightly behind pace. The last movie watched thus far has been “Fritz the Cat”,  and in another 3 days I’ll be watching annually viewed favorite musical of all time… 1776.

Video Game Playing – Video Games were not included in the end of the year series last year, but I think that this year they will be. I’m trying to cut back on the amount of video games I play, and I’ve made progress, notably because other things are getting done, but I’ve still played a lot. So far this year I’ve beaten (all for the first time): Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Contra, the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, and Shovel Knight (all three regular campaigns). I have played a healthy amount of (but not beaten): Yoshi’s Woolie World, 100 Best NES Games (subject of a forthcoming ongoing review), and Toy Blast (on the iPhone). As of the spring I’ve also taken up the Yoyo seriously again, which is good because it’s physical in nature and keeps me moving more than just a video game would.

Video Game Collecting – the records I’ve kept for collecting are not as thourhough as they should be, so im not sure how this year (so far) stacks up with other years w/r/t collecting, it’s certainly more than last year. So far I have picked up 17 games: 3 for the Wii U, 1 each for the Genesis, 3DS, and SNES, and 11 for the NES. I’ve also picked up a new system, the Sega Genesis Classic (long story more about that later). I would have picked up several more I’m sure if my game store had not closed. My collection as a whole now looks like this: NES (34+3) SNES (11+2) N64 (0+3) GC (20) WII (24) WIIU (10+1) GB (14+6) GBA (4+2) DS (18+1) 3DS (12+2) GEN (29+3) DC (10) PS1 (1) PS2 (13)

Wake Up Songs – You’ll have to wait for the end of the year for the full list, probably December 30th. but I can inform you now that I’ve been keeping track of my wake up songs all year, so far I’ve logged 70 songs. They are so all over the place with theme and genre that I couldn’t even try to give a good breakdown right now, so you’ll have to wait. But just a teaser, the first wake up song of the year was: “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” by Jackie DeShannon, and the most recent song is: Salieri Strikes Back by Warmen.

The Hours – as you know I keep track of the amount of hours I spend doing just about everything, so far here is time spent this year: Reading – 285 hours, Writing – 259 hours, Video Games – 237 hours, Working Out – 108 hours, watching films – 50 hours, making videos – 36 hours, Making Music – 4. I’m glad to see that reading and writing are averaging almost 1.5 hours a day. Video games are up there too, but as long as they aren’t well over writing time then I’m fine. Watching Films is a little skewed, because I do watch Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and about an hour of YouTube every day, but I don’t log that time because it’s too ingrained with my routine (like working), also if I have the TV on while I write or play video games, I’m not logging those hours either. Music is quite low, unfortunately (due to technical problems) MoonCandle is on hiatus, but we will be back, and as for other music projects I haven’t been feeling the bite this year, but I don’t consider this a bad thing, it will come back and I have plenty to write in the meantime.

And that is the summery of half the year, I hope you’ve enjoyed and that your half year has been as productive.

Winter Movies

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by zachhsmith23 in 2017 Review, Movie

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I make a lot of goals or intentions for what to do throughout the year, most of which I don’t fulfill, but this one I have been. last year I tried to watch one movie a week, and I ended with well below half of that goal, this year I am well on pace to achieve this and maybe even make up for the quantity I missed last year. Here are all the movies I’ve watched so far this winter (starting on January 1st).

 

The Short List:

  • God’s Gun^
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Peril ^
  • Time Raiders
  • Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge^
  • The Front Page^
  • The Pale Face^
  • Grumpy Old Men^
  • The Flying Deuces^
  • Groundhog Day*
  • What’s Up Tiger Lilly*
  • Airplane*
  • British Intelligence^
  • His Private Secretary^
  • Palooka^
  • False Pretenses^
  • Fando Y Lis
  • The Milky Way^
  • Dead Again
  • Conan the Barbarian
  • The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K)

Key:

* = Movies I’ve seen before

^ = Movies from Bargain Bin DVD Boxes.

 

Commentary:

 

God’s Gun – A very good western starring Lee Van Cleef (in two roles) and a very young Leif Garret. This is the 4th movie I’ve seen off my Western 20 movies for 5$ DVD, and all 4 of them have been great so far, and I didn’t even think I liked westerns that much, but I guess I do.

 

Bulldog Drummond’s Peril – Noir/Comedy, not bad, not the first Bulldog Drummond movie I’ve seen and probably not the best either.

 

Time Raiders – interesting Chinese kung-fu/adventure/fantasy/archeology movie. My wife read the book that the movie is based on and then made her mom and I watch it. It was pretty good.

 

The Front Page – a Pre-Code Comedy based on a play of the same name about Tabloid reporters. The movie is too long and convoluted to be good, but it gets an extra star for being pre-code and a very good punch line ending.

 

Grumpy Old Men – Never saw this movie before, though I think I saw a few small pieces when they first showed it on TV.  Right at the beginning, when Walter Matthau greets Jake Lemon with “Mornin’ Dick-head” you know this is going to be a funny movie, and it was. Extra points for Burgess Meredith (in my opinion one of the greatest most underrated actors of all time) in the roll of Lemon’s rakish and hard living 90 year old Father. I am adding this movie to my cannon of movies to be watched during the Christmas season. The others of which are: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express (recently added), What’s Up Tiger Lilly, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Bank Dick, The History of Mankind, my 1988 Xmas Tape (several times-blog entry forthcoming), Rifftrax Starwars Holiday Special (also several times), 1995 Cartoon Box.

 

The Flying Deuces – when I first got into old comedies (back in 2001), I came across Laurel and Hardy and wanted to see some of their films. My mom said “you might not like their stuff,” well it turned out she was right (it happens once in a while), because it sucked. Most of it I didn’t find funny, and half of it I couldn’t even tell what was supposed to be funny. The famous flying sequence for which the movie is named is only maybe 10 minutes at the very end of the film, whereas the rest of it is about Hardy joining the French Foreign Legion to get over a girl.

 

Fando Y Lis – I’ve wanted to see this movie for years, it’s frequently put on lists of very bizarre movies, and it is unarguably the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen. Not bad, it’s definitely one to look into and think about and discuss long after watching it, but it is not for the weak of heart. The film is so strange that when it was first shown in Mexico (the director’s native country) the audience literally rioted.

 

The Milky Way – the first Harold Lloyd movie I’ve ever seen, and not bad, definitely willing to check out his other films. This one is about a boxer (one of several boxing related movies this season).

 

Dead Again – we did this movie for the film club, I had never heard of it before and I don’t know who recommended it, but I really enjoyed it. Magical Realist Historic Noir Rom-Com, I never head of a combination like that before. And it works really well, 5 star movie all the way. It may have only been a 4 star, but the stellar performances of minor characters played by Robin Williams and Wayne Knight, and the few unlikely plot turns puts the movie easily into the highest of ratings.

 

Conan the Barbarian – really liked this movie. The acting is pretty universally bad (James Earl Jones notwithstanding) however the Score, Scenery, Action and Plot make up well for the words that the actors struggle to deliver. I immediately noticed that Subotia’s theme music is almost the same melody as “Firewings” by Aquaria, and the Orgy Temple Attack is again very similar to “Epicus Furor” the opening song off “Symphony of Enchanted Lands” by Rhapsody of Fire. Check out the links to see the similarities, they are striking I assure you, and there are probably other musical homages by later power metal bands, but I don’t know what they are off the top of my head. I don’t know how often I’ll be rewatching this movie, but I am looking forward to the sequel (included in the same DVD Box)

 

The Last of the Wild Horses (MST3K) – Not one of MST3K’s best episodes. I was hoping it would be good because the first quarter or so of the movie is actually watched by Dr. Forester and TV’s Frank, while Mike and Crow are evil and conducting the experiment due in part to a switch between an alternate universe. However the jokes fell a little flat throughout, audio was not good and hard to make out at points, and the movie also seemed like it might be okay, certainly not one of the worst they did (though that could just be my predisposition towards Westerns, also this is one of the few if not only western they ever did).

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