Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 6

On Friday, I saw a new production of the musical based on "Carrie," (review to come). Coincidentally, it was also closing night of "Dolores Claiborne" at the San Francisco Opera. Which lead me to thinking: When are we going to get "Misery: The Musical"? And would it be a musical, or an opera? And, when it's sung in English, what's the difference between an opera and a musical any way?

In the meantime, please to enjoy the original "Misery" today at 4PM on Logo, or right here, right now.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 5

Back in the day, when getting movies into theaters wasn't quite so expensive a process, movies could made based purely on a, say, a hit song (see any number of rock n' roll movie from the 50's and early 60's), or just a catchy title. Hence the existence of tonight's double bill: Billy the Kid vs Dracula at 11PM, and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter at 12:15AM, both on TCM.

Needless to say, most of the cleverness in these movies ends with the titles...

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 4

You can't get through Halloweentime without at least one viewing of the super-creepy, extra-awesome cult movie Carnival of Souls, and TCM is giving you your first of, hopefully, several viewing opportunities tonight at 5PM.

Carnival of Souls is amazing in so many ways. You can read about many of those reasons on its Wikipedia page, (along with some whopping spoilers, so beware), but I think one of the main things I love is lead actress Candace Hillgoss. She's spooky, unconventionally beautiful, and the character she place is kind of unrepentantly independent. To say any more would give too much away.

If you don't have TCM, there are plenty of places to watch the whole movie online, including right here!

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 3

Here's a mediocre, big budget, star-studded 1970s horror movie that, shockingly, HASN'T been remade yet. I'm sure that will change eventually.

Audrey Rose is basically one of many post-The Exorcist movies centered on the occult and children, in this case, the supposed re-incarnation of a girl who died as a child in a fire. Her creepy dad (Anthony Hopkins, natch) shows up at a couple's house, convinced their teenage daughter is his dead child re-incarnate. Seances and trances ensue. It's pretty boring, and I remember it mainly because I read the book it was based on, and it had a cover featuring a girl, in flames, dressed the way Courtney Love would dress 20 years later. Audrey Rose: proto Riot Grrrrrl!

Watch the movie at 9:05PM on the MGM Movie Channel HD.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 2

Today's movie is Stephen King's Desperation, not because it's any good, (well, for TV movies, it's OK), but because it's one of those examples of titles where when you stick the author's name in it, it becomes a sentence, and in this case, kind of an unfortunate one.

It's on at 10AM and 6:35PM on Movieplex.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 1

And thus it begins!

The Amityville Horror is a pretty crappy movie, based on a slightly less crappy book, which in turn was loosely based on a supposedly true story about a haunted house. The people who investigated that haunting were also the inspiration for this year's The Conjuring, which I'm pissed I never got around to seeing while it was out in theaters. But, it will be on DVD October 22nd, just in time for Halloween!

I have distinct memories of reading The Amityville Horror when I was about 11 years old, and I read it as I walked home after school. (Yep. Readin' and walkin'!) Memories of seeing the movie for the first time are less clear, but it was probably on cable, and I probably watched it about five times, because there was nothing else on.

You can watch it today at 9:45PM on Retroplex.

It's Halloween! Almost!

Starting tomorrow, I will once again be joining in on the blog-based Countdown to Halloween, even though no one ever blogs any more, and this here blog has been as good as dead for the past year.

But Halloween is coming, and that's a fitting time to bring something back from the dead, isn't it? And I've been a part of this countdown since...good god, can it really be? Since 2007?!?

As in years past, I will be posting daily about some Halloween-appropriate movie, special, or TV show that will be airing that day/night. That means you'll have (at least!) 31 things worth checking out on TV by the end of the month. But if you ain't got no time for that, you can at least check out an appropriate trailer or clip right here throughout October.

Tune in tomorrow at 9AM for the first entry!

It's Alive!

Yes, I'm still alive!

No, I'm not shutting this blog down, even though it's been living up to the "musty" part of its title since the beginning of the year.

I can't promise a lot of posts this summer, but I WILL be doing my annual Countdown to Halloween come October, so at least there's the promise of that!

And I do hope to get some things up here every now and then...

It's just that Facebook, as much as a nightmare that place can be sometimes, is basically the default place for me posting things I just gotta say or share. It's easy, and I know at least SOME people will read it. (And with the death of Google Reader, I ponder how many people really will keep up with these old timey blogs and RSS feeds in the future.)

I'm also still working at my job, and since thinking and writing about television is now what I do for a living, eight hours a day, coming home to write about TV has lost some of its appeal...

Still with all that said, this blog is, for now, not going anywhere. And neither am I.

Except to Palm Springs in just under two weeks for my annual thawing out, poolside. And that's something to celebrate, isn't it Lucy?

December Round-Up - 2012

Yes. Another post of lies. But at least this is a little closer to what the real date actually is!

Movies Seen: Six, with one in a theater. That one was Django Unchained, and even though it was a press screening, I didn't get to review it because time just got away from me. (Shocker.) So my capsule review is, Django Unchained is a terrific 90 minute movie. Unfortunately, it's actually three hours long.

Books Read: Four, with that damned The Passage finally out of the way! Click through to read my brief reviews:

Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown

People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry

The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice by M.G. Lord

Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

(Yes, watching the horrible TV movie Liz & Dick set me off on a bit of an Elizabeth Taylor binge. She was much more interesting than I'd ever been lead to believe!)

Live Shows Seen: Two! The Nutcracker at the San Francisco Ballet, which is always super fun. The last part of act one gets me every time, what with what looks like a literal ton of fake snow that falls on stage. Love it!

The second was a New Year's Eve show, and it resulted in one of the funner New Year's Eve's I've had in a while: Nick Waterhouse at Bimbo's.  I got to wear a Lurex gown, everyone there was dressed up sharp, and we had a table with a great view of the stage. It was an all-around fun and non-stressful NYE, which is really all I want from the night.

Fancy Dinners Out: Three! Dinner at Bix, my fave. Truffle deviled eggs, omagahhhh. House of Prime Rib, wherein I had, yes, prime rib. Pro-tip: If you like your prime rib medium rare, order it rare there. Their medium rare is not. And lunch at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus. I had a lobster BLT which was probably one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.

Shoes Bought: I know I bought some myself, but I'm drawing a blank right now on what they were. I did get two pairs of rain shoes for Christmas though, this green pair, and this black pair. Of course, it's only rained once since I got them. Doh! I find rain boots impossible to walk in, so these are a great alternative. And cute, too!

The Year in Pictures - 2012

Picture the Day - 2012, a set on Flickr.

For the second year in a row, I took a picture every day of the year, and posted them to Flickr.

It ends up being a nice literal year-at-a-glance, and has become a tradition I am continuing with 2013.

Take a look! 2012 included two trips to Disneyland, two trips to Palm Springs, a new full-time job, and my getting a new roommate. Quite the year! I wish I could get a poster featuring all the thumbnails!