Hand Crafted with Love By Drew Moen

Steel Tree made for my mom’s b-day

By Drew Moen

Made By Drew Moen

By Drew Moen

Made of Steel, left in the backyard for a season or two to collect rust, then powder coated to seal in the rust.

By Drew Moen

Diamond Plated Steel left out in the elements to rust, clear powder coated to seal in the rust and add a shiny surface.

A Welder by profession, Drew also loves to create beautiful one of a kind designs in his free time, both artistic (custom mantels) and utilitarian (custom sinks). He has been happily welding for around 5 years, and has been commissioned for several custom side projects.

Today is Christmas! I havent written anything again for a week or two, I have been busy with all kinds of things. Where did I leave off last time…

I took some photos at Enigma about two weeks ago, and completely forgot about them:

L-R: Claire and Robin

L-R: Peter, Chelsi and Me

L-R: Rochester Highstreet during part of Dicken’s Festival, Ryan and Andy

On the 17th myself and Ryan attended his Christmas work party, and it was pretty funny. Ryan’s boss Robb is so funny, and great company, and Drew also sat with us and we all seemed to have fun. It started snowing rapidly that night so we left early, and headed to the pub in which I now work. On the walk home Ryan fell over three times on the snow, and myself, Drew and Ryan ended up running around a perfect snow covered carpark, with the boys making yellow snow circles. That night I took some photos as the snow was still falling:

In the morning I took some photos in the garden, and also some other shots and a panorama of the area outside our house:

Standing outside the front of our house!

[Click images to view bigger sizes]

I also took some photos during the day when we went to snowboard on the hill. It was a really fun day, and we got freezing!:

L-R: Myself and Ryan, Steve and Jess, Ryan and Alexa

Justin!!!

Steve throwing Jess down the hill…

On the 20th my parents, my sister and her boyfriend came over for Christmas, as they are now skiing in France for a week. We had a great time and lovely food Sarah and Cory went in the snow which was still covering our back garden, they made a snow cat and a snow turtle:

I started a new job working at The Man of Kent pub in Rochester, and it is possibly the best pub to drink ever; so warm and friendly, with some great ales etc. I had such a good time on my first shift, and it already seems so much better than my last bar work.

Rob from the Man of Kent, wearing my hat on snow day.

So, now it is today… ITS CHRISTMAS! I got the table and chairs that I wanted from my parents, the new Harry Potter dvd, some money, kitchen things, a crochet book and other things too Ryan got me two necklaces that I blogged about before; the mustache and the robot from my previous post!!! The robot says ‘Lil Juice Box’ I also got the apple notepad which I wrote about here, and a coaster set that stacks into an apple! AMAZING! He has also bought me the Metallica Guitar Hero set, but it isnt here yet… I am rather excited.

This post has taken me forever. I have Justin sitting next to me, mocking me at how many hours it has taken. That has only been because I had to edit and resize all the photos, and they took a while, especially the panorama to render. Ah well… watching Hook at the same time so its all good. Christmas has been good, just myself, Ryan, and Justin… I made a roast dinner and the boys devoured it in minutes, which can only be a compliment. Now to drink…

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Jenn xxx

P.S Justin is so American… go listen to Kid Rock!

P.P.S I havent even got round to writing about all the great things I have found recently. I will write about them tomorrow!!!

]]> http://hillywoodinoz.wordpress.com/2009/12/25/merry-christmas/ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:00:37 +0000 Alysha http://hillywoodinoz.wordpress.com/2009/12/25/merry-christmas/ http://metrac.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/a-new-look-at-new-years/ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:00:48 +0000 drew1985 http://metrac.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/a-new-look-at-new-years/ http://malavethred.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/anniversary-and-a-drive/ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:14:27 +0000 malavethred http://malavethred.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/anniversary-and-a-drive/

After selling Colonel Mustard we were able to catch up on things. So my power is not going to be shut off and I wont have to say goodbye to internet and having food to eat is extremely nice.

Aside from that me and Drew were able to exchange Anniversary gifts. After some thought I believe this is our 7th anniversary. On my end I got enough memory to run my computer without needing the thumb drive, Astronaut Ice Cream, 1 Dozen roses, lip gloss, a clean house and candle lit dinner with a bottle of wine.  Also I was able to put a little towards our “moving/oh shit” fund which was almost non-existent.

Drew got C.O. Bigelow Cologne and Premium Shaving Cream from Italy and other accessories. Seriously try this stuff! They hide it in the back corner of Bath and Body works. If you know Drew and his facial hair … he has had a clean shave for two days before he started getting stubble. Normally he will shave one side of his face and it will have stubble before he finishes shaving the other side of his face. By noon it would look like he hadn’t shaved in three days…

He also got a cheeseburger and a Wii.

I signed the loan paperwork for my car. My debt is significantly lower than most people’s as I hate credit cards and bank accounts… but it’s also more debt than I’ve ever owed as well. We brought my mom a Snuggie because it get’s cold where she lives and she just has a fireplace to heat her home.  She called me that evening from by the fire and said she had her Snuggie on, a beer in her hand and she was watching snow come down outside through her sliding glass door. Good thing I had Drew bring in some firewood.

In the spring I am hoping to sell the Harley. If that were to happen I could move to where I want to, pay off all of my debt and have savings and good credit. That’s what my dad meant for me to have by giving me his Harley.  The years of taking care of him really took a a mental and financial toll on us and we’ve been really struggling to pay bills since he died. The time Drew spent taking care of him has left him even more unable to find employment. I’m glad my wage just covers all of our bills.. It only leaves us with about $40-60 for the grocery store per week which is difficult when you need food and say… laundry soap. The fact that I can make it all work is great.

All in all we’ve had a good December to end this terrible year for us.

“Our Mysteries”

December 22nd, 2009

As Scrubs continues into its ninth season, one can’t help but feel as if the greatest mystery is why said season needs to exist.

It’s not that “Our Mysteries” or any other episode of the season thus far is terrible, but rather that what we’re seeing lacks any sort of emotional punch beyond a desperate play at some sort of nostalgia. And unfortunately, that was already the focus of the show’s creative resurgence in its eighth season, which I found myself absent-mindedly revisiting over the weekend. There, the show used a new crop of interns in order to raise questions of maturity and “moving on” in the characters we knew and loved, which was a good strategy for transitioning a character like J.D. from buffoon to father/husband.

However, the problem with the ninth season thus far is that it seems to want to go beyond that, to actually build these med students into characters, and yet the only parts of their stories which are really connected on an emotional level (Scrubs’ strong suit) have more to do with the returning characters than Lucy, Cole, or Drew.

And what that is, precisely, is still a mystery to me.

I don’t dislike Lucy, but I also know nothing about her character beyond the fact that she’s neurotic. So when the show gave her a storyline they gave to numerous med students/interns in the show’s original run, the inability to perform basic procedures due to nervousness, it seemed like this was an ideal chance to just let the character have a straightforward bit of character development: she leans heavily on J.D. for support, which does little to strengthen her resolve considering how blindly supportive she is, but then is forced to do it without him and is able to demonstrate her ability to learn from his help rather than rely on it. There’s an important lesson about how you deal with mentors there, something that J.D. and Dr. Cox went through early in the series.

In fact, it was so important then that the storyline can’t help but transform into another stage in Dr. Cox and J.D.’s relationship, which makes it somewhat more interesting (in terms of tapping into eight seasons of history) but also makes it largely irrelevant to the show’s quest to make its new characters more compelling. The moment when Lucy learns that she can draw blood from someone other than J.D., following his method rather than relying on his presence, means more in terms of Dr. Cox putting aside his efforts to get the students to hate him in order to help facilitate Lucy’s journey. And we see it in those terms because the episode spent a whole lot of time with J.D. and Turk wasting time as bi-racial Hardy Boys searching for the source of a bad evaluation (Perry), playing into J.D.’s insecurities in a way that just isn’t entertaining. So when we finally get to the heart of the matter, demonstrating that J.D. is capable of sitting back and letting his students learn and that Dr. Cox is willing to accept that sometimes he needs to step forward even if with a disgruntled look on his face, it has absolutely nothing to do with Lucy in the grand scheme of things since said scheme is eight seasons old.

At the very least the show is allowing Denise and Drew to go off largely on their own, with Dr. Cox serving as a peanut gallery to push the story in particular directions, which is one of the characters’ strong suits. But even here, as much as Muhney is doing some solid work as Drew, this was all about Denise, the character we knew going into this season. They’ve spent a lot of time softening the characters’ edges (although acknowledging her fatty period here), and while the new balance is working (her moment of realization as to when they were in a real relationship felt like a good fit with the character) it isn’t doing anything all that interesting. It’s just decent, like it’s happening because the show needs to create stories more than because the actions make any logical sense. Sunny’s return didn’t feel logical from a character perspective, it felt logical because we knew the actress would probably be brought back at some point – the organic qualities of this world just don’t exist anymore.

I wrote a piece comparing the show to Avatar on Sunday, and while I’ll admit that was probably a bit of a stretch I think Scrubs is having problems deciding what perspective to take on its universe. If this really is J.D.’s last episode, I like that they didn’t make it all about him, but at the same time the way the story was structure pretty much did make it all about him in the end. It just seems like sitting in the space in between nostalgia and progress is resulting in a show that is neither old nor new, neither stale nor fresh. It’s just “there,” and while I prefer it to Scrubs as its most wacky and bizarre it’s not doing much to draw me into this new (yet old) universe.

Cultural Observations

• I like Ken Jenkins, but Dr. Kelso needs to go – the character serves no purpose, and as a viagara-popping sex addict it’s just plain sad.
• Cole continues to be wasted – I thought he was better last week, but having he and Lucy in a relationship seems like a justification for the character to be around rather than, you know, an actual relationship. We just haven’t seen enough of these characters for them to feel like they “fit” where they are.
• The wordplay was quite solid in some places here (I in particular liked Denise and Drew on their shared passion for sex, other people’s pain and the  hatred of art), but Scrubs was always about more than that, so a few good lines of dialogue isn’t enough.

Intro

As 2009 bludgeons us senseless as we pass into the new year, we kept the Mutant staff at harpoon-point until they finally cobbled together our twelfth awards show — 12 years of new categories, crazy voting and unpredictable surprises.  Y’know, versus predictable surprises.

So read on, cult fanatic, and spread the message to the whole world: that while they may take our lives, they will never take our meaningless accolades!

Category: Best Scene on an Airplane

• Winner: Airplane! in its entirety (37.9%)
• First Runner-Up: Robbie professes his love with the help of Billy Idol (The Wedding Singer) (24.2%)
• Second Runner-Up: “Oh stewardess, I speak jive.” (Airplane!) (15.8%)

Drew: As the person who nominated Airplane!’s jive-talking scene, I’m going to call out Mike for his choice of, oh, the entire movie… poor form, sir. Nonetheless, I can’t fault him his choice, as Airplane! was back then and remains to this day comedic gold. Gladiator movies, the jive talkers, Otto the autopilot — the list goes on and the laughs keep coming. Plus there’s no end to the little sight gags in the background, so each viewing brings something new to the table. This really should be the only film shown on flights, ever.

Heather: I call cheats, too! All the good single airplane scenes were already taken, and then the whole darned movie of Airplane! got blanketed by Mike.  I shall present you with sauerkraut or something else unpleasant should we finally get to meet on one of my road trips! That being the case, you’ll all probably be shocked to know that it isn’t one of my favorite movies (BLASPHEMER!) and yet I agree with Drew that they should only show this one on airplanes, if for nothing else to relieve the tension. You hear me, American Airlines? Showing nothing but Catwoman and Wimbledon to people on a 14-hour transatlantic flight is torture and you should be ashamed!

Justin: I think we can all come to a consensus that Mike is a horrible, low-down, despicable human being, and we should work him over with rubber hoses.  That said, a bruised winner is still a winner, and even though Airplane! is nearly as old as I am, it’s of great testament to it that it is fondly loved, admired and held up as the spoofing standard for the genre.  Plus, it’s impeccably silly.

Kyle: Idiotically, my groggy remembrance of the AMA’s lead me to believe I had to nominate films ONLY from 2009, hence the bizarre inclusion of 2009’s The Proposal in this category (not to diminish the comedic brilliance of Betty White). I agree, Airplane! is perhaps the ultimate airplane movie, especially since at the other end of the spectrum the entire Airport series serves only to remind us what a mind-numbingly excruciating experience air travel truly is. ‘Tis the season to recognize that fact, yes?

Mike: Honestly I apologize for pulling the AMA equivalent of bidding a dollar higher then the person next to me, but honestly I couldn’t really bring myself to pick any one scene from Airplane! that deserved this accolade. In my mind this is the Zucker brother’s crowning achievement, and an even tie with Holy Grail for funniest movie ever. Apologies to Drew for scuttling his nomination, and next time I’ll read the nominations more carefully and see if somebody’s already taken my choice. On an entirely different note, the second runner up  is one of my favorite scenes as well, and I’m not ashamed to admit I always get a wee bit misty eyed when Robbie comes out from behind the curtain. “Hey! You don’t talk to Billy Idol that way!”

Lissa: I’m with Heather that this is not one of my favorite movies.  Actually, I’m really not a fan.  So I was a little disappointed that it not only took first place, but third as well.  Me, I’m a much bigger fan of Billy Idol on the plane.  But Mike, it’s a biker that rams the food cart into Glenn and says “Don’t you talk to Billy Idol that way!”  And Billy Idol hides behind him and gets all smug as the guy takes on Glen.  It’s awesome.

Al: Yeah, Airplane! may have been a total shoo-in for this category, but I’m definitely glad to see MRFHers step up and show love to something on the sweet side.

Category: Best Death Speech

• Winner: Spock in Star Trek: Wrath of Khan (28.4%)
• First Runner-Up: Roy Batty’s speech from Blade Runner (17.9%)
• Second Runner-Up: Doc Holiday in Tombstone (12.6%)

Drew: I have no idea what Spock said in this movie, but I imagine it as something like, “Lata, y’all jive-ass turkeys. This one’s fo’ tha muthaluvvin’ B-I-G.” Then he poured out some of his 40 on the ground.

Kyle: Drew is surely mistaken here, or perhaps he didn’t grow up with the same sort of emotional vulnerability I did. Spock’s death scene would be traumatic in even the worst of the Trek films; that it serves arguably as the climax to the best heightens its impact to Shakespearean effect. Those who engage in any sort of Trek versus Wars debate (does such a thing occur anymore amongst those who haven’t had such arguments hundreds of times before?) would do well to reference Spock’s death and Kirk’s eulogy as proof that Trek is capable of plumbing certain poetic depths Luke and Han couldn’t match if they tried.

Mike: Right you are, Kyle! From Bones and Scotty holding back Jim as he tries to get to Spock, to Spock’s final “live long and prosper”, this scene speak volumes of what Kirk and Spock and their whole dynamic is all about.  Aside from just being a choice bit of character development, it was also ridiculously daring to kill a much-loved and integral character. It brought home the film’s message of facing death with hope and elevated an already superior Trek outing into something a little more.

Lissa: I do find it kind of funny that a character known for his logic gets the best death speech – a normally emotional moment.  Just a little irony for the universe.

Al: I must admit I’m a little disappointed to not see Dennis Hopper crack the Top 3 here.  Is it full of racial epithets?  Sure, but also it’s a great scene performed by two great actors.  Although I suppose it doesn’t have anything as eminently quotable as “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one.”  Pretty anything from Dennis Hopper’s speech would get your thrown out of most public places.  C’est la vie.

Justin: To this day, there are only a handful of movie scenes that get me genuinely choked up each and every time I watch.  This is one of them.  Kirk and Spock’s friendship is one of the grounding anchors of the original Star Trek, two figures who couldn’t be more polar opposites and yet forged a team that was just about unbeatable.  As Wrath of Khan’s theme was one of difficult choices and impossible sacrifices, to see Spock quickly and without hesitation take the path that would save the ship (and his friends) while condemning him to a painful death is moving.  To hear him reaffirm his friendship to Kirk, even as he can’t see, is… is… *SOB*

Category: Worst Direct-to-DVD Sequel

• Winner: Ace Ventura Pet Detective Jr. (28.4%)
• First Runner-Up: S. Darko, a Donnie Darko Tale (18.9%)
• Second Runner-Up: Lost Boys: The Tribe (13.7%)

Drew: I have never been more grateful that having an infant makes renting movies a wasted proposition. This category makes me love my daughter all the more.

Heather: I nominated Lost Boys: The Tribe, and felt pretty strongly about it being the worst D-2-D sequel ever made. Now, seeing by how much it lost first place, I can say that I am mortally terrified and would probably run screaming from the room if anyone ever dared bring in a copy of Ace Ventura Jr. Is anyone else imagining a Dr. Forrester-like scenario where AVPDJ is brought in with a biohazard sticker on the front and heavy duty gloves used to carry it? Just me? Okay.

Kyle: What is there to say here? Basically every film that is released directly to DVD is atrocious. The few that suffer the ignoble fate due to studio idiocy or rights disputes tend to be exceptions that prove the rule. If you don’t quite remember noticing or even being aware of a film’s theatrical release, standing there in a rental store aisle or digging through a discount DVD bin, save your money.

Mike: Having sat (re: slept) through the second and third runners up in this category, I take some solace in the fact that others have felt my pain. At times such as those it’s nice to have MRFH as kind of support group for those who have lost hours of their lives to Hollywood’s attempts to make massive amounts of bank with a infinitesimal amount of effort. Can we do something about this? If we get the word out and stop people from buying straight to dvd releases, will they stop making them. Call me a dreamer, but a world without Ace Ventura Pet Detective Jr. is a world that I want to live in.

Lissa: I’m right there with Kyle.  If it didn’t make it to the theaters, I’m probably not interested – ESPECIALLY if it’s a sequel.  Some movies are just best when they’re over, and the story is done.

Justin: Look at that picture there.  Stare at it.  That’s just one frame from the movie, and if it doesn’t make you want to punch somebody — perhaps several bodies — then you are legally dead.  I can’t imagine living through an entire film consisting of such frames.

Category: Worst Movie Robot

• Winner: The jive talkin’ ‘bots in Transformers 2 (52.6%)
• First Runner-Up: Good Bill and Ted from Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey (11.6%)
• Second Runner-Up: Battle droids in the Star Wars prequels (10.5%)

Heather: You know, I was actually going to nominate Wheelie, first for his completely embarrassing humping, and also because I thought nominating two robots would be cheating. Then Drew was all “I nominated it first, har!” and I was all “boo”.   I decided to go for it and nominate what I (and apparently you all) believe were the most embarrassing, cringe-inducing, fury-stoking robotic creatures that ever have been or ever will be on the silver screen. Michael Bay has drudged up pure evil from the stomach acid of Satan himself, and we’ll all be feeling the heartburn forever.

Drew: Oh, Heather… how I envy your naive innocence, my friend. If only I were referring to the annoying Decepticon from Transformers 2, who at least reminded me of the Humping Robot from Robot Chicken. No, my nomination was for an infinitely fouler wretch. The stuff of nightmares, a glimmer in the eye of a child-hating animator that should never have been spawned. I speak, of course, of this abomination:

“Friend find, look behind!”? You son of a b-

Kyle: In retrospect, perhaps had I walked out of Transformers 2 with the girl who admitted later she had wanted to walk out too but didn’t want to leave all of us to our foolishly chosen fates, we would be dating instead of exchange occasional awkward texts. But my personal drama shouldn’t distract from the blatant racism Michael Bay vomited upon a million screens in the guise of providing comedic elements to his CGI waste of time. It’s one thing to play with stereotypes for satire or not-quite-cheap shots in proper contexts, but here it was just pandering of the worst kind. Considering the film as a whole is nowhere near good enough to balance out the missteps, we should all be ashamed of its mammoth success.

Mike: Didn’t see Revenge of the Fallen, for exactly all the reasons that Kyle just named. It’s as though after the first Transformers movie, Bay went “What? They…liked it? Well SCREW THAT!!”. Drew, you’re right, Wheelie was an abomination. You know you’re a failure as a transforming robotic warrior when you’re the guy on the team who makes Bumblebee look butch. I still maintain that Data’s special-needs little brother B-4 deserves a higher spot on the list for pretty much ruining Nemesis in particular and Star Trek in general, to the point where it took a J.J. Abrams reboot to save the franchise.

Lissa: Well, I didn’t see any of the Transformer movies, so no comment on the first part.  I just know a bit about the Battle for the Allspark from Ducklet’s book.  But I have to agree about Bill and Ted, and I still think the battle droids are incredibly annoying, if nothing else because they are almost cute.  Seriously – those things are meant to inspire fear in the populace?

Al: You know, I’m going to stand up and say that I liked Revenge of the Fallen.  Plenty of it was inane and some of it was offensive and a lot of the jokes were just awful, but, darn it, I thought it was leaps and bounds better than the first movie, which just gave me a headache.  I even saw this one twice.  That said, I have no qualms whatsoever about handing first place to the embarrassingly racist Skids and Mudflap, who always seemed only seconds away from bursting into “Mammy.”  They fully deserve the title of Worst Movie Robot.

I’m also proud, though, to see agreement from everyone that Good Bill and Ted were pretty lame.  Evil Bill and Ted were cool and funny (-ish).  Good Bill and Ted looked like walking erector sets.

Justin: Who here now has lost all respect for Al?  Let’s see a show of hands.  Yeah.  Personally, I’m never going to see Transformers 2 (or any subsequent sequels), as my headache from the first is still pounding, but I have no idea how Michael Bay got away with incredibly racist characters — and got rewarded for it, with truckloads of cold, hard cash.  Maybe Transformers 3 should just go full hog, insult every race on the planet, and throw in a hardcore robot-on-robot sex scene just so that he can retire forever and stop making these atrocious films.

Heather: Drew, you have managed to make me feel a lot better about watching so much My Little Pony as a child. No small feat, mind you. Congratulations.

Category: Most Gratuitous Christ-Figure in a Non-Biblical Film

• Winner: Neo from the Matrix (41.1%)
• First Runner-Up: Superman in Superman Returns (20%)
• Second Runner-Up: Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen (11.6%)

Heather: Aw okay. So I called Mike out for nominating the entire Airplane movie rather than one scene, and for this category my nomination was every movie Superman has been featured in. Is that the same thing? Am I a hypocrite? Probably, but I’ll pretend like I’m not because that’s what we red-blooded American females do! In the end I defend nominating all of his movies. I feel that Superman is the most gratuitous Christ figure short of that lead singer from Creed.  Apparently I am disagreed with heavily, as Neo from the Matrix just thwomped all of the competition here.

Kyle: I feel Heather’s pain. I think this is less an instance of achievement and more a case where blatancy overwhelms all other remembrances. Even Spider-Man’s brief unconscious run as gratuitous Christ figure in Spider-Man 2 only made people think “Man, Spider-Man just turned into Neo all of the sudden!” Imagine if the Matrix sequels had been at all good, there might have just been something dignified and earned in Neo’s consistent, largely metaphorical crucifixions. Instead, it’s just another disappointing aspect of a series that disappointed so many in the end.

Mike: Ok, seeing as how Airplane! in its entirety won the category I’m gonna stop apologizing and just thumb my nose at the lot of you, and yes, Heather, that is hypocritical (love ya . I’m actually glad Neo took this category, because I only nominated William Wallace because all the good choices were taken. I’d go on, but Kyle pretty much nailed it here, so, moving on…

Lissa: Really, was there ever any doubt?  I forget who I even nominated because come on – NEO.  How much more of a gratuitous Christ figure can you be?  I mean, really.  I do agree that the suckitude of the sequels makes it much more prominent, but still.  Wow.

Drew: Superman is such a Christ analogue that it’s enough to make you forget he was created by two Jewish guys. Honestly, a perfect man who was sent from the heavens to live among us and do only good things? If it weren’t blasphemous, I’d make a joke about Jesus having heat vision. Nevertheless, Son of Man or Son of the Matrix, the Wachowskis inarguably ruled the roost on this one.

Justin: Biblical prophecy comes from God.  What I want to know is where movie prophecy comes from — you know, those vague prophetic statements that just show up in movies like The Matrix, where Neo is the one “prophesied” to be 100% grade-A awesome.  And yet nobody ever says out loud, “Hey, where’d you get that prophecy?  7-11?”  There’s just all these random prophecies floating out in movie-land that somehow always come true, and within  a two hour running time.  I think there’s a prophecy fairy at work.

Heather: Mike, only I can call myself a hypocrite. Expectt a fair helping of natto along with that sauerkraut!

Category: Cameo Crossover Award

• Winner: Tony Stark appearing at the end of Incredible Hulk (31.6%)
• First Runner-Up: The Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (18.9%)
• Second Runner-Up: The Sesame Street cast attending Kermit and Piggy’s wedding in Muppets Take Manhattan (13.7%)

Heather: This was, I think, my most difficult category to nominate for. Maybe I don’t have enough observance skillz to catch the cameos, but once the winner, Tony Stark, was nominated I knew I could come up with nothing comparable. Fans all over squealed with delight when we sight Stark in Incredible Hulk, and it caused quite a buzz for a while afterward. Definitely a most memorable cameo.

Kyle: The fact that they are conscious enough of an Avengers future film to provide little hints and details is enough to give Marvel a nice gold star on this cinematic efforts. Plus, a little Robert Downey Jr. is always appreciated!

Mike: This was an event of no small proportions, it was a heralding of a new era in superhero movies, where crossovers abound and the entire Marvel universe could be explored. Really…any day now…Avengers. ‘Nuff said.

Lissa: Like Heather, I had a hard time with this one.   I was so relieved when I remembered the Sesame Street crew being at Kermit and Piggy’s wedding, and apparently nostalgia did well with you guys   But I remember going nuts over that when I was a little kid.

Drew: “And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born — to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand! Heed the call, then — for now, the AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”

Mike: Drew, seriously, for the next 24 hours, you are my official best friend.

Category: Hottest Movie Parent

• Winner: Amy Adams in Enchanted (21.1%)
• First Runner-Up: Ellen Griswold, National Lampoon’s Vacation movies (17.9%)
• Second Runner-Up: Missy from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (15.8%)

Drew: I have nothing to add except to say I’m pleased so many of you agree with me. But back off – if Amy and I ever divorce our respective spouses, she’s mine.

I also can’t help noticing we have 4 female staffers but only 2 male nominees in this category. Drew is… intrigued.

Heather: Well don’t leer at me, I left that one blank. In the end I had trouble coming up with a male movie parent I thought was “hot” in time (since Ryan Reynolds was already taken). Also after last year’s landslide of “guys aren’t babes” I figured it was a losing battle anyway. Yay for pessimism. I mean “boo”!

Kyle: I have never seen Enchanted. But man oh man is Amy Adams hot!

Mike: Whose parent was she supposed to be?

Lissa: She’s a STEP parent, even.  I’m still standing by my nomination of Gregory Peck, being morally upright and a real dad in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Seriously- Atticus Finch was… okay, so in the book I never imagined him as hot, but when Gregory Peck played him….  Interestingly, along the lines of what Drew noticed, I notice that all the top three are women.

I’d also like to add that if TV dads could count, Helo from BSG would have been my nomination.  Is anyone arguing with that?

Mike: Heck, I’m 100% hetero and I’d agree with that. Coupled with Sharon “Athena/don’t-call-me-Boomer” Agathon, those two are the pretty much the hottest couple on Galactica, which makes it weird how their kid was so funny-lookin’.

Al: I’m not gonna lie: Missy was my nominee for this category, but I totally voted for Ellen Griswold.  And so did 17.9% of you, apparently.  A triumph of the slightly more realistic looking woman?  Or by-product of Beverly D’Angelo’s shower scene?

Justin: What, so Drew throws in a picture from the Transformers cartoon, and it gives you all license to start winging photos of bare-chested studs?  Well, heck, why NOT?

Heather: I’m diggin’ this new, sexier MRFH. When do we hire those guys on as temps?

Lissa: No kidding.  Justin, I like the way you think!  Can we throw in more around the site?

Category: Funniest Running Gag

• Winner: King Arthur can’t count to three in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (27.4%)
• First Runner-Up: “And don’t call me Shirley.” (Airplane!) (18.9%)
• Second Runner-Up: “Two dollars!” – Better Off Dead (15.8%)

Heather: When it comes to this site, Monty Python is probably going to win any category that it is in. That’s just the way it is, and that’s not all bad. In hindsight I would have recommend the swallow/coconut gag from Monty Python.

Mike: In all earnestness today’s “comedys” like Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans could learn a thing or two from Monty Python and the Zucker brothers. Nowadays all we have are lame pathetic shadows of the genius that is displayed in the Winner and First Runner up.

Lissa: Yeah, Monty Python tends to trump all.  (Now THERE’S a Christ figure, but I don’t think Brian counts as gratuitous.)

Drew: The worst part is that I don’t even remember that running gag from Holy Grail. Whether that’s a sign of my failing memory or just the sheer number of jokes present in the movie is anyone’s guess. (It does help if you watch it sober, Drew. -Lissa) Still, when a film is as good as the first 99% of this one, it’s no surprise that a few will slip through the cracks. Guess it’s time for another viewing…

Al: Geez, Drew!  I’d say to bring in the Spanish Inquisition, but you were probably expecting that.

Mike: Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms!

Cult Lifetime Achievement Award: John Hughes

The Cult Lifetime Achievement Award is a special recognition of an individual or group’s contribution to cult cinema over the course of their life.  This year we’re pleased to honor the late John Hughes with this award, particularly for his bevy of 80’s comedy/dramas that have helped to define a generation of teens.

Kyle: Those of various ages who catch John Hughes films on cable, or perhaps decide on friendly advice to purposely seek out one of his great ones, tend to find that his work is ultimately timeless. Though his strongest creative contributions are found in films firmly grounded in the 1980’s (while he did good work for most of his professional life, this is where his triumphs are found), his directing style and writing skill elevates his subject matter above curious fashions and unrecognizable automobiles. It is a sign of his artistic genius that John Hughes would have produced classic, memorable films no matter what decade he reached his prime in. The surface details were always right, but what draws you in to a work of Hughes’ is the merciful focus on the human drama of teenagers, adults, children, families, employees, and all matter of roles we all find ourselves playing in our lives. His scripts and films speak in the hip lingo of their times but communicate truths that will always define us, and illuminate bonds that we might otherwise ourselves overlook. Whenever I come across a John Hughes movie I’m struck by how obvious and consistent the love for its characters is displayed in every frame. Hughes was a rare talent that was fluent not only with cinema but also with the human condition, and everything he worked on held evidence of that. And of course, for those of a certain age, John Hughes is the filmmaker who didn’t so much tell us how we were to act, as much as used his films to hold up a mirror so we could see and decide for ourselves. We would live our lives much as we do without John Hughes, but we live our lives with knowledge, good humor, and dignity because his work pointed out some things large and small that will always make us laugh, cry, and see ourselves and the people we know reflected in. Thanks for everything, John.

Mike: Everybody wanted to be Ferris Bueller, even though most of us were really Cameron. An entire generation cheered when Duckie showed up at the prom. Uncle Buck displayed the best of a comedic talent that was gone too soon, and whether you admit it or not, your heart was warmed by the holiday feeling of Home Alone. For me though, there are very few John Hughes flicks that speak to me more than The Breakfast Club. The story of a group of individuals basically forced into stifling social groups and further degraded by indifferent, and at times downright hostile, authority figures was an anthem and wake up call for a decade very much defined by it’s indifference to the upcoming generation, and paved the way for later films like Pump up the Volume. With the exception of the focus-group mandated ending to Pretty in Pink, I’d have to say that I’m a huge fan of John Hughes’ entire body of work. Long live Duckie!!!

Lissa: Actually, Pretty in Pink is where Duckie gets his internet handle from.  Random fact.

I discovered John Hughes fairly late in life (relatively speaking) – I think I was in college when I first saw The Breakfast Club, and even Ferris.

Justin: I think it’s one of the greatest cinematic crimes of all time that John Hughes steered away from the teenage comedy when the 90’s hit, and then slowly went into seclusion thereafter.  For a brief window of time, he put his finger square on the pulse of a very misunderstood demographic, and spoke to teenagers eye-to-eye.  He also wasn’t afraid of getting silly or being outrageous, which is why I’ll always prefer Ferris Bueller over Breakfast Club any day of the week.  It speaks highly of his work that even today, I have teenagers at my church see my Breakfast Club poster on the wall and gush about how great a movie that was, how it really nailed what school is like, in a way.  And that’s a movie from the mid-80’s, mind you.

Drew: There is a tacit understanding among all people born between the years of, oh, say 1970-1985. This notion is rarely verbalized, being as it is so universally embraced that talking about it would seem silly — you wouldn’t have a conversation about whether you should put clothes on in the morning, you just do it. (Most of us, anyway. Kyle.) The same holds true for the aforementioned bit of ingrained wisdom, which is simply this: when one is troubled by matters of the heart, turn to the works of John Hughes… they will not steer you wrong.

It’s not that John Hughes was the first person to make a movie starring teenagers, or where the focus was on high school life. But he was one of the first, and unquestionably among the very best, at actually getting inside their heads. It may seem hard to believe today (then again, maybe not), but there was a time when teenagers in films were portrayed as either slightly shorter adults, blithering idiots, or precocious kids. Sometimes all three. What made a Hughes film so special is that he actually seemed to understand the things most of us forget when we reach adulthood. Yes, we’re all self-centered sarcastic know-it-alls who think the world is out to get us as teenagers, and yes, we all grow out of it eventually; but John seemed to be one of the few people interested in saying, “Hey, until you do grow out of it, life’s going to kind of suck. I get it. Here’s something to make you laugh and let you know you’re not alone.” Some of his movies aimed for profound messages and some just tried to entertain, but you always walked away nodding your head, whether it was to the understanding that we’re all a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal, or that life moves pretty fast, so you’d better stop and look around every once in a while, lest you miss it.

In the time before and even since Hughes’ death, I’ve heard the backlash that inevitably arises in response to popular but not sufficiently “artsy” works of pop culture. There are those who say that The Breakfast Club is a movie about a group of stereotypes complaining that they don’t want to be treated like stereotypes. Some rail against the ending of Pretty in Pink, or claim that Home Alone was juvenile and unfunny. (Never mind that it was a movie made for kids, and having seen it as a kid, I can vouch for the fact that it was hilarious. To kids.) And the thing is, none of that matters even the slightest little bit in the long run. History, as always, will not record this backlash; what it will remember is that there was once a talented and, by all accounts, very nice man who made a bunch of movies, many of them aimed at a segment of the population who are disaffected, cynical, and often supremely annoying… but who nonetheless need to feel understood as much as anyone, because they’re only a step away from being the adults of tomorrow. He made us cry and he made us laugh, and he ultimately left the world a better place than it was when he arrived; and in the end, that’s really all that matters. We’ll miss you, John, but thank you for leaving us a legacy.

“And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.”

Voter Comments

• I’ll reserve my pith for another time.
• There’s cat hair under the keys. How on earth are you supposed to get cat hair out from under the keys?
• “I remember another gentle visitor from the heavens. He came in peace and then died, only to come back to life. And his name was… E.T. the Extraterrestrial. (Sniffs) I love that little guy.”  signed, Oogie-Boogie
• re: Best Scene on an Airplane: Is this the first time a movie (outside of actors from the same film) was nominated twice in the same category?
• A well rounded individual would most certainly know how to peel a potato using the simplest of tools. But then I said: “Whoa! Is that really all you have to say?” and then she said: “Campbells chicken soup IS the most perfect food simulation known to man.” And that’s how we know the Earth to be bannana shaped.  CHEESE!!!
• I haven’t felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film!
• Special mention should go to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz for their excellent recurring running gags. “You’ve got red on you.” – RobOfTheDead
• pithy sayings.
• My hat is a squid, your arguement is invalid.
• No pithy sayings, just “keep up the good work,” “some of those were REALLY tough,” and “how is a girl supposed to choose between Gregory Peck and Ryan Reynolds, even if the former’s dead? Just impossible.”
• I’m pretty sure the worst movie robot category was invented just for those Transformers 2 robots. Good call.
• So long, and thanks for all the fish.
• Another year, another Mutant Awards! Sadly, my answers on the survey are rather limited since I never actually SAW half the movies mentioned here. Sorry!
• Nice selection this year. Everything strikes me as a good pick, had to make some tough choices. Looking for an older crowd eh?
• Question 5 was a toughie. But then Christ-figures in non-Biblical films are intrinsicly gratuitous.
• The hiiiiiiills are alliiiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuuuuusiiiiiiiiiic….
• Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!
• More power!
• Do you really think it’s fair to put LB2 AND HPty4 in the same ‘worst of’ category? And I think that stupid robot from Power Rangers should have been an option, too. (there were 2 PR movies, after all)
  But thank you, Mutants all, for another year where you ventured into shelves of the video store that others were afraid to visit. For warning me against ‘films’ like Hitman and anything by Uwe Boll (ok, the last one was pretty much a given). Thank you for bringing gems like ‘Let The Right One In’ and ‘Brick’ to my attention.
• Honorable mention: George Barrows as Ro-Man!
• Can we just have Keanu Reeves as Christ, period?
• …but seriously, I want my two dollars.
• How could you have missed Spawn in the “Most Gratuitous Christ Figure” category? ‘Cause that was pretty gratuitous.
• Best Gratuitous Use of the Word Belgium in a Major Motion Picture. Not including In Bruges.
• Did you know this was a private party of Satan’s helpers? No one “hipped” me to that, dude! IT’S OFF LIMITS!!
• No Peter Jackson or Bill Nighy for a brief cameo in Hot Fuzz? BLASPHEMOUS!  Would Edward Furlong count for Best Death Speech in American History X?

Today’s choice has been worn by kings and saints, presidents and protesters – and almost certainly a fellow or two in your life.

Thanks to Kelly for suggesting Andrew as Name of the Day.

Ask most anyone if Andrew fits their definition of a normal name, and you’ll probably get a yes.  Most would also consider Andrew a classic.

Make no mistake, Andrew is evergreen.  With Biblical and royal roots, you can find an Andrew who has excelled in nearly any field of endeavor.  Andrew has always charted in the US Top 100.

But until the 1980s, Andrew had never cracked the Top Ten.  Frank, Donald and Larry, yes.  Jeffrey, Jason and Brian, too.  Joshua joined the fraternity in 1979, but Andrew didn’t arrive until 1986.

Not only was 1986 his first appearance in the Top Ten, but for a while Andrew was somewhat out of favor, dropping to a low of #70 in 1954.

There are plenty of good reasons to use Andrew, including:

• The first Saint Andrew numbered among the original twelve apostles;
• Six more Andrews, from a third century bishop to an nineteenth century Vietnamese martyr, are also considered saints;
• Three kings of Hungary, and plenty of princes have worn the name;
• Two US presidents – Jackson and Johnson – shared the moniker;
• Then there’s industrialist-turned-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie;
• Soviet dissident and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975;
• Creative types have included artist Andy Warhol, Broadway’s Andrew Lloyd Weber, French writer André Malraux, conductor André Previn and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, among many others.  Rapper Dr. Dre started out as an Andre, too;
• Plenty of athletes have worn variations of the name, too, including tennis’ Andre Agassi.

The original Saint Andrew is Scotland’s patron saint – and there’s something of a brisk, highland style to the name.  There’s also a university and a world famous golf course named in his honor.  Saint Andrew’s Day – November 30 – kicks off the Scottish holiday season.

Andrew was on the upswing when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip chose it for their second son, born in 1960.  He was named after his grandfather, Prince Philip’s father, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Andrew’s meaning is appealing.  He comes from the Greek andreios – manly.  It’s sometimes said to mean strong.  That’s not wrong, but it is a stretch.

Perhaps Andrew was slow to catch on because of his -oo sound.  Until recent decades, boys’  names almost always ended in a consonant, or possibly a -y.  Then came Joshua.  And Noah.

If that sounds far-fetched, consider that fellow apostle Matthew didn’t even appear in the US Top 100 for decades.  (He joined the US Top Ten in 1972.)

If the nickname Andy feels slightly dated – or perhaps too boyish, Drew remains an attractive option.

Parents continue to choose the name.  He’s not unusual – in fact, he just left the Top Ten in 2008, after over a decade.  But he is a solid choice, with history to spare.

I’m pasting in this quote and a link  from Justin Taylor’s blog. It’s mostly because I can’t say it any better.  I hope it’s not a sign of laziness.

A good word (link) from Russell Moore, offering “a few quick thoughts on what followers of Jesus ought to remember, especially if you’ve got a difficult extended family situation.” His counsel centers around five biblical concepts: (1) peace; (2) honor; (3) humility; (4) maturity; (5) perspective.

Now, don’t you be lazy.  Read Russ’ helpful article here.  May the Gospel bring you and your family great comfort, fullness of joy, and peace that passes understanding in the next days.

“Taste death, live life!”

The Scoop: 1990 PG, directed by Richard Correll and starring Roger Rose, Yvette Nipar and George Lopez

Tagline: They’re the patrol that’s out of control.

Summary Capsule: A goofy but heroic ski patrol must save their mentor’s resort lease from an unscrupulous business mogul and his ski school lackeys. Highjinx ensue.

Drew’s Rating: It may have been released in January of ‘90, but make no mistake- this is the definitive ’80s movie. Not the best, but certainly the most quintessential.

Drew’s Review: Like most, I associate some movies strongly with certain people or times in my life. In the case of Ski School, that person is a friend of mine from elementary school, Jamie W. I don’t remember much about Jamie – he had red hair, he liked Double Dragon, he once had a sleepover where we put the first person to fall asleep’s hand in warm water. (I’d apologize, but I’m pretty sure I’d do the same thing today.) He once got a collection of Joker stories for his birthday and let me read it during recess; when I finished I put it next to his backpack and went out to play, and that was the last we ever saw of it. (Sorry, man.) But what I remember most about Jamie is the night we rented this movie. I was skeptical, but he swore I’d love it, and he was right — without exaggeration, I think we must have rewound the farting dog part at least twenty times. But I haven’t seen the film since around when I last saw Jamie, over a decade and a half ago, so I was curious to see how it holds up.

There’s a famous South Park episode that spoofs ’80s movies tropes, where the boys go skiing and Stan has to win a race against a rich douche to save the resort. I don’t know if Matt Stone and Trey Parker were specifically lampooning Ski Patrol, but they might as well have been. It’s uncanny that literally every single ’80s movie hallmark is in evidence; it’s like someone tossed them all in a blender, hit start, and then poured the contents out into a videocassette. Just within the first five minutes we meet our wiseass hero Jerry; his smug blond rival Lance (of course he’s named Lance); a greedy land developer played by Martin Mull trying to swindle an old man out of business; Jerry’s wacky black sidekick “Iceman”; and the frat cabin where the ski patrol lives, parties, and fornicates. Before it’s over we’ll also bear witness to cross-dressing, dance numbers set to popular ’60s tunes, a talent show for bail money, an old lady falling face first into cake, and a dog that drinks beer and belches. Oh, and a younger George Lopez than you could ever imagine.

I should really just end the review right there. I just told you everything you need to know about this movie, because if you’ve watched more than 6 hours of TBS in your life, you’ve seen everything in it. But don’t necessarily take that as criticism — if, like me, you have an unnatural fondness for ’80s movies and their, er, unique brand of humorous shenanigans, you might really dig this film. It’s not quite as clever as some of its ilk and there are a few jokes that are truly groan-worthy, but there’s some pretty amusing stuff too… some of it’s even intentional. Perhaps the strangest inclusion is Suicide, a young stoner with multiple personalities (simpering dweeb Barry and belligerent metalhead Slaughter) who has gone so far as to create masks and even hand puppets of his alter egos, which he carries around everywhere he goes. It kind of has to be seen to be believed.

To be frank, if you didn’t see this movie as a kid, I doubt you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. That, combined with its unavailability on DVD, might make it not worth your effort to track down. But if it’s ever on TV or you have a chance to pick up a copy cheap (I hear it’s available to rent on XBox Live Marketplace), I’d take it. If nothing else, it’s a fascinating case study of that strange window of time we call “the 1980s” which future generations will no doubt unearth from time capsules and marvel over. I have no idea how to end this review, so I’m just going to stop in the middle of

Behold, the only screencap of this film available on the entire Internet. Enjoy!

Intermission!

• The supposed toughest run on the mountain, “Hole in the Wall,” is marked with a yellow square. On actual ski slopes, difficulty is denoted (easiest to hardest) by a green circle, blue square, black diamond, or double black diamond.
• The only ’80s cliche Ski Patrol is really missing is gratuitous nudity. There’s bikini models, but no one’s top accidentally gets ripped off. I guess by the end of the decade, filmmakers were becoming more family conscious.
• Pops is a little creepy in encouraging Jerry to keep trying to bed his (Pops’, that is) niece.
• Who are those people who always carry around sheets with numbers on them so they can rate anyone who does a cool trick?
• Is it just me, or is contact lens girl, y’know, cute but not that hot? Maybe it’s the ’80s hair.
• Holy balls, WHAT is the Brotislavian chick wearing? Are those lightning bolts and a checkered flag pattern? That sweater instantly confers -3 hotness. She’s damn lucky she has an exotic accent.
• Stanley, that is the whitest dancing I have ever seen, including in the mirror. Those people are clapping out of pity, not admiration.
• By law, all ’80s movies not actually starring Rodney Dangerfield must include someone doing an impression of him. Ski Patrol ups the ante with a multilingual version.
• Wow, for a PG movie, they get away with plenty of sight gags about people skidding down the mountain in suggestive positions. That’s a pretty explicit representation of what happens when you, um, are crafty with languages.
• The runaway ski-sail is hard to take seriously. Nice thing about skis, snowboards, etc. is that you can stop pretty easily by, you know, falling down.
• Pops, I’m pretty sure a confession coerced out of someone in mortal peril won’t really hold up.

Groovy Quotes

Ellen: This dog does not need a vet, Jerry, he needs a little black coffee, he’s drunk.
Jerry: And he was doing so well on the program.

Stanley: For some reason I just can’t shoot the hole.
Jerry: Aw look, all you need is confidence, Stanley. You can do it.
Iceman: Yeah man, just relax, chill out. Y’see, shootin’ the hole is just like makin’ love.
Stanley: I never made love.
Jerry, Iceman: Good luck.

Suicide: Taste death, live life!

Tiana: You’re very special. To you I can talk, most American men interested only in sex.
Stanley: Oh, sex! Oh, I’m not interested in that. Well, I mean I am, but I wouldn’t… I mean, I would, but I don’t-
Tiana: Would you like to dance?

Ellen: Hey, idiot!
Suicide/Barry: You’re being paged.
Suicide/Slaughter: I’m no idiot!

Lance: How’d you get this?
Maris: Uh… little wallet-sized pictures of presidents.

Maris: I’m stuck in a ***damn runaway wienie!

If You Liked This Movie, Try These:

• Police Academy
• Ski School
• Any National Lampoon film made between the late ’70s and early ’90s

Creating this list is a thankless job. Regardless of the ten movies you select, a lot people are going to think you’re an idiot. The EW staff compiled their ten, and I think it’s waaay off. I look forward to my favorite movie critic, EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum, posting her list next week.

Also, this list is constantly changing. If you asked me to do another one in a month, I promise it would be different.

Now that I’ve wasted your time with disclaimers, here you go…

10. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

When you ask someone if they’ve seen Requiem for a Dream you tend to get one of two answers. “No” or “Oh my God”. It’s as emotionally draining as any movie of the last ten years and I vividly remember how strange I felt after I watched it for the first time. Honestly I had no idea what to do. To call it a movie about drugs misses the greater themes of the story.

9. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Wes Anderson mixes sadness and humor as well as any writer-director out there. Some get annoyed with his quirky brand of comedy, but I’ll take character-based offbeat humor over Mad-libs type jokes any day.

8. Monster’s Inc. (2001)

You can make the argument that there are 4 or 5 other Pixar movies that could just as easily have this spot and there have certainly been more visually stunning works. But the reason I went with Monster’s Inc. is because I think the relationship between Sully, Boo, and Mike is on a level that no Pixar film has reached since. The door vault scene towards the end is one of the most imaginative sequence of any movie I’ve seen. Plus the ending makes me cry every time.

7. Tropic Thunder (2008)

I’m sure this selection will draw the most fire, but I think this movie is genius. Freaking. Genius. There’s a vast spectrum of comedic styles and the way the film satirizes pretentious thespians and Hollywood as an industry is brilliant. Not to mention the lecture given by Robert Downey, Jr.’s character about an actor’s Oscar chances playing a mentally disabled character is a thing to behold.

6. No Country For Old Men (2007)

I don’t worship the Coen Brothers the way others do. And if I listed my favorite 50 movies of all time, this probably wouldn’t make the list. But I simply can’t list the ten best movies of the last ten years without including this one. And that’s it. Friendo.

5. Lost in Translation (2003)

A quiet, plotless film about two strangers that takes place in a bright, massive city. The common complaint when it was first released was “nothing ever happens”…which is true. But there’s so much more going on here. In fact I’ve adopted this as a litmus test in determining one’s film tastes. Snobby? Yes.

4. Mystic River (2003)

As narratively strong and well-acted as any movie on this list. When Oscar season rolled around I rooted for Bill Murray to beat Sean Penn because I didn’t want to hear Penn’s political theories. But Penn won, and deservedly so. Despite a lineup of gifted performers, this is his movie. Well, his and Clint Eastwood’s.

3. The Departed (2006)

Far and away Scorsese’s best movie since Goodfellas, which I would put in the Top 5 of the 1990’s. The best crime drama of the last ten years also finds Leonardo DiCaprio doing the best work of his career. I also feel like this is one of the few deserving Best Pictures of the decade. I never get tired of watching this movie.

2. The Pianist (2002)

The unbelievable (yet true) story of a gifted Polish pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman surviving the Holocaust is masterfully told by Roman Polanski, a Holocaust survivor himself. I often think the finest (and best written) dramas are not too reliant on words. Same goes for this film which uses dialogue sparingly in an amazing third act.

1. 25th Hour (2002)

The best movie of the decade and I bet about 80% of the people that I know haven’t seen it. There are so many themes, so many layers yet it never feels chaotic or cluttered. Sometimes I think the word “haunting” is overused but it fits this film. From the post 9/11 setting to the beautiful score to the ambiguous final sequence. The writing, direction, and acting work together incredibly. It is simply brilliant.

Random Thoughts

The first version of this list had Mystic River at #1. And then I watched it again. It’s absolutely phenomenal. I have nothing negative to say about it. But after watching it…I just can’t put it at #1. I have no concrete reason.

If you’re angry that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was not included…you’re probably reading the wrong blog.

If you’ve never seen Tropic Thunder and have a desire to watch it, try to watch the theatrical version. The director’s cut has some extra footage that slows the movie down quite a bit.

Yes I know Roman Polanski is a creep.

Other Pixar movies that could have taken the #8 spot: The Incredibles, Up, WALL*E, Ratatouille.

Movies that barely missed this list: Ocean’s 11, In the Bedroom, Sideways, Munich, Minority Report.

I curated a show for LA Record’s holiday party and met some wonderful artists in the process. Charles exhibited a Planetarium photo, which certainly got people talking! Everybody had a different response to the Reclamation project, and I thought I’d share a few-

“Sounds like Robert Irwin meets Star Trek!”

Getty Central Garden by Robert Irwin

Star Trek crew

Another artist, who shoots for High Times, asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for them- perhaps a portrait of an American pot farmer, perhaps something more political… He recommended that I read Michael Pollan, a writer I’ve been meaning to get to for quite some time.  Michael Pollan wrote a book called Botany of Desire in which he discusses the “intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants” as exhibited by man’s love affair with tulips, potatoes, apples, and pot.  He seemed like another kindred spirit, so I checked out the “Teaching” section of his website and came across a class called “Getting Over Wilderness”!  The course description poses this question:

“How have our culture’s peculiarly religious ideas about nature, and fixation on wilderness, colored the way we cover the environment?”

Needless to say, we need to speak to this man.  I’m setting up an interview A.S.A.P.

Michael Pollan in his garden

We sold Colonel Mustard today. It’s a joyous and sad occasion. Colonel Mustard was Drew’s 1977 Chevy truck with Corvette engine.  We couldn’t afford to keep the Colonel sadly and we knew there was mechanical problems in his future we couldn’t pay for.

Drew is somewhat irresponsible he went out and bought a Wii. I must admit the new Mario is pretty fun. I got a nice donation towards our moving fund as well.

…

I go Tuesday to sign for a loan so I can actually drive my car because it will be in my name (as it always should have been). I’m going to have a hell of a time when I explain everything to the judge…if I can get that day off of work.

Chris Henry!It’s sad when you can’t get a sista to respect and just be a wife,it’s all ways a problem and this is one of the end results of not getting respect inyour own home or as a BLACKMAN!

More photos of the win against Edina Green on Sunday, December 13.

Drew waits in position

Jacob clears the puck from his position on the boards

Simon checks the scoreboard

An opponent's stick nearly dislodges Ross's helmet

Robert skating fast

Simon shoots the puck

Willy reacts in horror at an opponent who is bigger than he is

Bust recently featured an article about Brooklyn-based artists Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray and their Window Farms. Think we could form a constellation of window gardeners/gardens leading up to Terrarium?

A few years back, my mother burned her house down. The only thing left of the house is a white chalky slab covered in rubble, its odd geometry obscured by fallen leaves and creeping weeds. I couldn’t photograph the foundation because the absence of the house was too much for me to contemplate… I had to look away, and when I did I was amazed at what I saw:

The pool has become swamp.
Frogs living in the hot tub.
Vines tangled in the swing set.
Tip top of the tee pee frame lifted up by a tree.

“Reclamation in progress,” I thought.

“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”

The Scoop: 1989 PG-13, directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo and Randy Quaid

Tagline: Yule crack up!

Summary Capsule: Time to do Christmas with the relatives, Griswald-style.

Justin’s Rating: How many reindeer does Santa have anyway? ‘Cause I just ate one.

Justin’s Review: Once upon a time, when this reviewer was just a wee laddie, we had what at first appeared to be the worst Christmas ever. My father was laid off from the mill a mere four days before Dec. 25th, my mother was pregnant with twin sisters, I had the chicken pox, and I was informed that because of our financial situation, I would not be getting that General Lee Hot Wheels action car (with Dixie horn!) that I wanted so bad. The situation was dire, and I felt pretty sad.

But the night before Christmas, when nothin’ was stirring in our house except a frisky dog with a small incontinence problem, I saw a speck of light in the sky. It was a star of course. So I wished upon that star to have a spectacular Christmas that next day. Then I went to sleep and awoke to the joyous sounds… of fire alarms. Yes, we had to evacuate our house on Christmas morning due to an overactive toaster, but the fire department did bring us some nifty firetruck toys.

For some reason, I just felt compelled to lie to you. None of that happened. But something sure did for the Griswalds (Clark, Ellen, Audrey, Rusty). National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a tradition around the Olivetti… um… apartment, basement, or whatever I happen to be living in at the time. It’s just a Christmas habit to be sitting with some friends and begin to quote this particular film. You ever do that, where you just give out one quote, then someone else feels compelled to come up with a better quote from the same movie, and soon enough you’ve re-enacted the entire film, scene-by-scene for your own amusement? And then you say, “Geez, we really gotta rent that flick!”? This is definitely one of those. You get extra points if you can do Aunt Bethany’s Christmas dinner prayer.

The only Vacation to be situated at the Griswold house, Christmas Vacation takes the most peaceful of holidays and turns it into a full scale riot. Clark (Chevy Chase) has a dream: the perfect Christmas with his family. Between that dream and reality lie a houseful of cranky relatives, a mean boss from work, yuppie neighbors, and our ever favorite Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid). Can I hear an A-MEN! for Eddie’s appearance in this movie? It’s cool how they do it, too; Eddie doesn’t show up until halfway through the film, when you think you’ve already been introduced to all the principal characters. But Eddie, the plate in his head, and his various family members are all there to share Christmas with the Griswalds, as are four grandparents and a smattering of uncles and aunts.

How funny is this movie? It’s so funny, they have to get somebody to pee your pants for you, because you’re too busy laughing. The comedy comes from all sides, including some terrific quotes, hilarious situations, and a bit of gross-out to send the eighties on in style. Yet, Christmas Vacation is smart enough to have a couple slow, sentimental bits (such as Clark watching home movies in the attic) and even some stand up and cheer scenes. I think I was more excited to see Clark get the house lit up (brighter than the core of the sun, I might mention) than to see those GAP astronauts blow up the asteroid in Armageddon. So make my tradition yours as well, keeping in mind that I charge a 10% royalty fee for all my traditions.

Rich’s Rating: Everyone has a favourite Christmas movie. This is mine. Well, maybe this and Die Hard… no, definitely this. Probably.

Rich’s Review: Ah, the holiday season. I guess that most people, myself included, have certain mental checkpoints when it comes to the impending season of goodwill, peace on earth, and wicked cool presents. There’s a kind of excitement that builds in me (because I love the holidays) each time one of those little moments occurs as December 25th looms ever closer. The first snow, the Christmas decorations appearing in the town centre (however this year, our town council appalled me however by putting up the decorations before Hallowe’en!), endless toy commercials on TV, and that stupid Coke “Holidays are coming” jingle all add up to the excitement and wonder that I’ve somehow managed to hang on to since I was a kid, mainly thanks to my parents who are bigger Christmas junkies than anyone I know and constantly make Christmas great fun.

One of those most treasured of Christmas milestones for me is the Christmas movie. Back when me and my sister were kids, it was always and without fail a showing of Santa Claus: The Movie (with Dudley Moore as an elf and John Lithgow as an evil candy maker in) on Christmas eve. But when me and my sister reached an age where that magical children’s adventure had lost some of it’s sparkle, a search was begun for a new Christmas movie that would become the staple of our family Christmases forever more.

In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation we found the perfect match.

Since I was, I dunno, probably about 16 or so we’ve not gone a year without watching Christmas Vacation, and I will be taking my VHS tape of it out to Spain with me next week as I jet out to my parents palatial mansion so we can continue to keep the dream alive. Somehow, Christmas Vacation is cool, funny, and heartwarming enough so that as long as you only watch it once a year (or maybe twice, if it’s the summer and you’re in a need of a little heartwarming moment) that each time you see it it’s as heartwarming, funny, and cool as the very first time you saw it.

So why then? What makes this the most treasured holiday movie in the household? First and foremost, it’s funny. Really, really funny. I don’t care if it is 15 years old this year, good jokes don’t age, and NLCV is full of ‘em from start to finish. Also, there’s something absolutely identifiable with Clark Griswold’s utter desire to do right regardless of the circumstances that makes it both gutwrenchingly funny as he desperately maintains a façade of happiness as his sanity slips away, and completely inspiring. All my Christmases are and forever will be modeled on the Griswold Family Christmas ideal — have a good time despite whatever circumstances life happens to be throwing at, or dumping from a great height on you, at the time.

Chevy Chase absolutely owns every part of this film. Sure, Randy Quaid’s cousin Eddie is a great character, and has some fantastic lines, but for me this film is all about Clark. He’s a nice guy in hard times, trying to do right and occasionally succeeding, and spouting some of the finest lines in comedy history in the meantime. He’s fantastically sympathetic in parts as well, getting sentimental watching old home movies while trapped in the freezing cold attic, to buying presents for his cousin’s kids, it’s just so nice and jolly without being overly sweet and sugary and rotting your metaphorical Christmas teeth.

They even manage to slot in a pretty nice plot amongst the jokes as well, with Clark desperately waiting for his Christmas bonus so he can put in a pool in his house, and the machinations of his evil boss Mr. Shirley. There’s also a lot of fun to be had with Clark’s rivalry with Todd and Margo, the anti-Christmas yuppie next door neighbours who always seem to come out of Clark’s mishaps worse than he does…

I’d love to write more about this film, but I fear I’d just degenerate into happy burbling about how much I love it and what a symbol of all this good right and true it is. Instead, I will leave you with that thought and encourage you all to go, rent the film, and let a little of the Griswold family spirit into your heart this holidays. A finer cure for the Christmas blues there has never been.

Drew’s Rating: One of the chest holiday mo-… best, BEST holiday movies ever made! *ahem*

Drew’s Review: A friend of mine is going to Brazil for the holidays this year. Back in college we all made fun of him for minoring in Portugese; now he’s visiting the country with the least amount of clothing and highest percentage of breast implants in the world, so who’s laughing now? Regardless, he can’t really afford the trip without his quarterly incentive… a check that, as of last week, was a month and a half late. When he told me how desperate he was to get that bonus, I nodded sagely and said, “Dude… you pulled a Clark W. Griswold.” At which point he stared at me and said, “What the @%*# are you talking about?”

Some people.

Of course, the more enlightened among you know exactly what I’m talking about. Rejoining the Griswold clan for their third and arguably finest outing, we find Clark once more hellbent on crafting the perfect vacation for himself and his loved ones, with his hapless family swept along for the ride. Demonic Christmas lights, yuppie neighbors, even deadbeat Cousin Eddie — none of it can make poor Clark throw in the towel. But when his boss Mr. Shirley (Brian Murray, in perhaps his best role ever) gives old Scrooge a run for his money, can even Clark’s boundless optimism survive? Ho ho… no. That is, unless the magic of Christmas and unlawful abduction has anything to say about it…

I think the main appeal of this movie (and to some extent all the Vacation flicks) is being presented with exaggerated versions of things we’ve all lived through. Every family has at least one Cousin Eddie (ours owns a pig farm!), and if you tell me you’ve never cursed at that one string of lights that just won’t work after you spent 25 bleeping minutes hanging it, you’re a dirty liar. We’re all the Griswolds and Clark is our herculean Everyman, struggling through his holiday labors just as we have so many times ourselves. Sure it’s a cliché, but it also happens to be true: the best comedy derives from stuff you can relate to, and Christmas Vacation is the king of the heap in that respect.

I do love A Christmas Story, but growing up in my house there was only one holiday movie everyone could agree on, and this is it. While it may lack the subtler humor and whimsy of Ralphie and crew, Christmas Vacation blesses us with an infectious theme song, cute animated opening, and Chevy Chase’s patented “eyes wide open and blinking a lot” insane face, plus an honest-to-gosh sentimental (but not cloying) Christmas moral. They say lots of people get depressed around the holidays, but with movies like this around, I honestly don’t see how. Go blouse through your local video store for a copy today.

The SWAT team is here! NOW it's a party!

Intermission!

• Clark staples the wrong part of his shirt to the roof.
• The Macy’s parade occurs at Thanksgiving, not on December 16th.
• Watch Ellen during the dinner and her subtle technique to get rid of her food
• Clark and Eddie drink from “Marty Moose” glasses, the theme-park character from the first Vacation film
• The scene where Clark takes the chainsaw and saws off the newel post is a reference to the newel post that was loose in It’s a Wonderful Life
• Rusty is younger than Audrey in this film. In the other three Vacation films, Rusty is always the older brother.
• This is the only Vacation movie of the series (with Chevy Chase) that does not feature Lindsay Buckingham’s song “Holiday Road”.
• There are no mountains in Illinois.
• Based on the article “Christmas ‘59″ by John Hughes. Yes, THAT John Hughes.
• The house right next door to the Griswold’s house where the disgruntled Margo Chester, lives, is the same house Murtaugh and his family lived in all the Lethal Weapon movies. This street is owned by Warner Brothers strictly for movies.
• After Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) unsuccessfully attempts to demonstrate his handiwork with the house Christmas lights to his family, he asks his son, Rusty (Johnny Galecki), to help him check all the light bulbs again. Rusty looks at his bare wrist, pretending to have a watch, and excuses himself. Looking at a bare wrist and pretending to have a watch is one of Chevy Chase’s trademark gags.

Groovy Quotes

Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.

Clark: Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?
Eddie: Naw, I’m doing just fine, Clark.

Aunt Bethany: Is Rusty still in the Navy?

Clark: The silent majesty of winter’s morn, the clean, cool chill of the holiday air, and an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer.
Eddie: S**tter was full.
Clark: Ah, yeah. You checked our s**tters, honey?

Todd: Hey Griswold. Where do you think you’re gonna put a tree that big?
Clark: Bend over and I’ll show you.
Todd: You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to me like that Griswold!
Clark: I wasn’t talking to you.

Clark: Well I’m gonna park the cars and get the suit cases, and well, I’ll be outside for the season.

Uncle Lewis: Hey Grizz, Bethany and I figured out the perfect gift for you.
Clark: Aw, you didn’t have to get me anything.
Uncle Lewis: Dammit, Bethany, he guessed it.

Clark: Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah.

Bethany: Don’t throw me down Clark.
Clark: I’ll try not to, Aunt Bethany…

Eddie: I don’t know if I oughta go sailin’ down no hill with nothin’ between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic.
Clark: Do you really think it matters, Eddie?

Eddie: You surprised to see us, Clark?
Clark: Oh, Eddie… If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am now.

Eddie: Every time Catherine would turn on the microwave, I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for about half an hour.

Audrey: Do you sleep with your brother? Do you know how sick and twisted that is?
Ellen: Well, I’m sleeping with your father.

Ellen: Oh Aunt Bethany, you shouldn’t have done that.
Aunt Bethany: Oh dear, did I break wind?

Clark: Since this is Aunt Bethany’s 80th Christmas, I think she should lead us in the saying of Grace.
Aunt Bethany: [turns to Lewis] What, dear?
Nora Griswold: Grace!
Aunt Bethany: Grace? She passed away thirty years ago.
Uncle Lewis: They want you to say Grace.
[Bethany shakes her head in confusion]
Uncle Lewis: The BLESSING!
Aunt Bethany: [they all pose for prayer] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands/ One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Clark: Amen.

Clark: Hey, Kids, I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted Santa’s sleigh on it’s way in from New York City.
Eddie: [after a pause] You serious, Clark?

Clark: Oh, I was just smelling – smiling. I was just blouse – brousing. I, uh, heh heh. Well, I guess it just wouldn’t… Oh hee hee, it wouldn’t be the Christmas shopping season if the stores were any less hooter than they – HOTTER than they are. Whew. It is warm in here, isn’t it?
Mary: You have your coat on.
Clark: Yes, oh do I? Yeah, it is a bit nipply out. I mean nippy. What am I saying, nipple?

Clark: WORSE? How could things get any worse? Take a look around here, Ellen. We’re at the threshold of hell!

If you liked this movie, try these:

• Vacation
• Vegas Vacation
• Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure

FRISKEY WHISKEY TUESDAYS

WITH NICK AND DREW!

Don’t forget the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of every month, The Gruesome Twosome [Drew of Metropolis and Nick] are at Brooklyn Fireproof spinning the best of Doo Wop, Soul, Rock N Roll, & Garage tunes! Come on down and say hello… Besides, who can say no to FREE WHISKEY & NO COVER!! Hell yes… See you all there! Cheers. -Metropolis

Okay so I have this really long list of quotes that I’ve been keeping up with since 6th grade. I want people to take this poll and the top ten quotes will go on another post. Vote for your favorite (duh):

McIntyre seemingly in complete control of the match early on.  Lots of submission moves by Drew early in the match. The crowd was behind John cheering him. Some high stunts and reversals. Morrison managed to hit the starship pain, but Drew broke the count by foot in the rope. Finish came when Drew distracted the refree and hit his finisher for the pin fall and win.

Winner and NEW Intercontinental champion: Drew McIntyre

After the match, Vince was congratulating Drew . And Sheamus said, Drew may not be the only new man, walking away with Gold.

These are the last few photos from the game between B2 Black and Elk River on December 12, plus a few bonus shots of the team breakfast.

Marco and Jacob, who fed Max with passes throughout the game

An opponent hooks Drew's skate as he approaches a shot on goal.

Drew drops after being tripped by an opponent. A rare penalty shot, which the goalie blocked, followed.

Connor clearing the puck

Robert on defense

Coach Jacob Mars had scheduled a team breakfast after the Elk River game much earlier in the week.  Given the outcome of the game, it had the feeling of a real celebration.

Lots of smiles at the team breakfast

Mugging for the camera at the team breakfast

A special room to keep the hockey players away from normal diners