Cavalcade of Awesome | All Pax. All Nude. All the Time. | Page 65

AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: I finally watch Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Posted in monsters, movies, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Halloween, holiday, monsters, movies, reviews, zombies on October 1, 2013 by Paxton

And AWESOME-tober-fest 2013 begins! I thought it would be most appropriate if I started off this year by watching one of the seminal zombie flicks of all time. It’s considered the genre standard and I’ve never watched it. That’s right, I’ve never watched Romero’s classic zombie flick, Night of the Living Dead.

When I decided to do zombies this year, I realized there was no getting around it. I’d pretty much have to watch Romero’s original zombie classic. So I grabbed a copy of the movie, sat down with my thoughts and gave the flick a spin. Let’s see if I think it deserves all “the hype”.

While it’s not the first movie to use the zombie, it is the first to create the modern concept of the zombie as a flesh eating ghoul. Before this movie, zombies were people who were under the control of a voodoo witch doctor via black magic. Most notably in movies like Bela Lugosi’s White Zombie. This movie introduced zombies as the reanimated dead feasting on living flesh (not just brains, these ghouls were cannibals).

The movie is legendary for its copyright problems. It seems the filmmakers forgot to put a copyright mark on the film. And according to the laws at the time, this let the film fall into the public domain which is why you see 3000 different releases of the movie featuring different footage, new footage, colorized and with any number other bells and whistles. So I decided to just watch the original theatrical cut. It’s the easiest to find. Since it’s public domain, it can legally be uploaded to YouTube. And it’s there.

After all of these years, what did I think? It’s not bad. I appreciate the historical significance of the movie, but putting that aside, it’s only an okay movie. What struck me watching it was how much it reminded me of the original Universal Monsters movies like Frankenstein or Dracula. Filmed in black and white with a very old fashioned orchestral score, the movie had the atmosphere and tone of one of the old classic monster movies. Since I’m a huge fan of those movies, that certainly helped my enjoyment. I like the portrayal of the ghouls. Shambling, undead monsters out to consume human flesh. They are a little smarter than I expected because in a few scenes they wind up using tools. For instance, one ghoul uses a rock to bash in a window. That’s something you don’t normally associate with Romero’s zombies. The main actor, Duane Jones, was actually pretty good. It’s surprising to see an African-American actor get this type of a role in a movie in 1968. But seeing as how this movie was total indie from the ground up, I guess that made it easier to do.

Did I have any problems with the movie? Yeah. Like the ghouls, the movie tends to shamble along aimlessly in the middle. There are endless scenes of Jones’ character nailing boards over doorways and windows in the house the group of survivors have chosen as sanctuary. And some of the supporting cast are not very good actors. I guess you expect that to a degree, but the competence of Duane Jones as Ben further showcases the other actors’ deficiencies.

If I had seen this movie in my hey day as a horror hound, the late 80s-early 90s, when I was voraciously reading Fangoria and watching movies like The Re-animator and Friday the 13th, I probably would have loved it. As it is, watching it today, I only liked it. What may also count against this movie is that zombies aren’t really my favorite monsters. Inherently, they are boring to me. Unless something different is done with the zombie like was done in Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland, then I really don’t have much interest in it. And that’s mostly what this movie suffers from for me. Being boring.

However, thanks to this year’s AWESOME-tober-fest, I’m finding affection for many zombie things; like the comic The Walking Dead, but that’s more the exception than the rule. And that’s a review for another day…

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2013 starts tomorrow!

Posted in Halloween, holiday, Jones Soda, soda with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Halloween, holiday, Jones Soda, retail, snacks, soda on September 30, 2013 by Paxton

Well, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: ZOMBIES!! officially begins tomorrow. You can expect an article every weekday throughout the month of October. I’m excited for Halloween this year, I think I have a lot of good, fun articles for you so I hope you enjoy it. As you can see, I’ve already decorated for the season!

Today, as sort of a pre-game show, I thought I’d look at a few of the Halloween retail items I’ve found lurking in the local store. Some interesting stuff.

First and foremost, Jones has returned this year after an absence with more Halloween sodas. The flavors this year are Blood Orange, Red Licorice, Caramel Apple and Candy Corn. Two of these flavors I’ve already had in the past. If we look back at AWESOME-tober-fest 2008 I reviewed the Candy Corn flavor. I don’t think I liked it. I believe I said it tasted like “…spoiled maple syrup poured through a dirty sweat sock…” I tasted the Caramel Apple the year before in an article about oddly flavored sodas like Dr Brown’s Cel-Ray and Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Fudge. I believe I said that flavor tasted like “…sun tan lotion mixed with burnt maple syrup…” So, Jones isn’t necessarily hitting it out of the park with these so far. Blood Orange is a tangier orange flavored soda and red licorice is way too sweet and thick to be described as anything but “sugar coma inducing”. So while I love the effort and the packaging, Jones, I’m not loving the execution.

Big League Chew is one of my childhood favorites. And I love this Halloween themed packaging. Howlin’ Original and Gruesome Grape flavors aren’t new or formulated for the holiday, but I like the Halloweeny makeover. I believe there’s another one with a vampire/Dracula character, but I couldn’t find it.

Ghoul-Aid has been around since the 80s. Usually only offered in certain markets and usually only around Halloween. I have some of the original mixes but it seems the flavor is making a resurgence. You can find single packets on shelves again and now Kool-Aid Jammers have their own Scary Blackberry flavor. I was so excited to finally find this. I’ll be sucking these things down all month.

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Some of my biggest Pet Peeves

Posted in personal, pet peeves, soda with tags LEB, personal on September 24, 2013 by Paxton

It’s League time. This week, we are asked to talk about some of our “pet peeves”. I have them, so I thought I’d talk about them. If you do any of these, I’m sorry in advance…but I hate you.

People not returning their carts to the cart corral. OMFG this absolutely drives me up the wall. Supermarkets, Wal-Mart, Target, you name it, and people will leave their carts in the middle of the parking spot. Or with the front wheels lodged over the curb. WTF?! I’ve actually returned 5 or 6 abandoned carts to the corral before even walking into the store. I’ve seen abandoned carts in parking spots that actually sit RIGHT NEXT to the cart corral. That’s just lazy, people. God forbid you walk your cart 10-15 ft to the nearest cart corral. Yes, I have been in the situation where the nearest cart return is on another aisle (usually when you park close to the front of the store). In that case, I take the cart back to the store. It’s polite, plus, it keeps from making the parking lot an obstacle course when you are trying to park with all of these abandoned shopping carts littering the landscape like dead bodies. PUT YOUR GODDAM CART AWAY.

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Leaving your movie seat looking like a popcorn/soda bomb exploded. I think it’s a cop-out to say “they have people to clean that up”. How hard is it to take your leftover bag and cup and drop it in the trashcan on the way out of the movie? I’m not saying you have to grab a broom and sweep up, just walk your trash over to the goddam cans you lazy SOB.

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Movie trailers. I love them, but lately they show too much of the f**king movie. And why do studios now release all these clips of the big tent pole movies? Before Avengers was released to theaters you could probably have pieced together 90% of the movie with all the trailers, international trailers and TV spots that were released to the Internet. I hate that. STOP IT.

The above can also apply to TV viewing. Many shows have begun showing “coming up after the break” previews before commercials. It’s irritating. I have to mute or fast forward before seeing something early which ruins it if it’s supposed to be funny or particularly shocking. I’m already watching the show, so essentially those “teasers” are preaching to the choir. Stop that sh*t.

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Nerd Lunch Extra Helping – Run-DMC

Posted in movies, music, rap, Run-DMC with tags movies, music, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, pop culture, rap, Run-DMC on September 18, 2013 by Paxton

While Nerd Lunch is on hiatus, I got together with Matt Ringler from Schlock Treatment and Tim Lybarger from The Neighborhood Archive to discuss Run-DMC and their entire musical catalog. But since this week is the 25th anniversary of their fourth album, Tougher Than Leather, we try to focus on that.

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We begin by talking about our first experiences with rap music. We talk about how we discovered Run-DMC, our favorite Run-DMC albums and songs and we even touch on the long forgotten Tougher than Leather movie that was released the same year as the album.

Lots to talk about and discuss in this episode. So don’t be a sucker MC. Download this episode today and relive the glory days of one of raps greatest musical groups.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

Or listen to this awesomeness online right here.

Nerd To Dos:

We didn’t do them this episode, but Matt and Tim do have some related recommended reading for you to check out.

Matt says for a good history on rap as a genre, check out Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback.

Tim recommends Adam Bradley’s Book of Rhymes.

Suprisingly, I’ve not read any books on the subject of hip hop. That kind of surprises me that I haven’t yet. But, a book I’ve had my eye on for a few years now is:

Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay

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I go ahead and rank Run-DMC’s albums in order from best to worst

Posted in music, nostalgia, pop culture with tags music, pop culture, Run-DMC on September 16, 2013 by Paxton

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the release of Run-DMC’s fourth studio album, Tougher than Leather. I was introduced to rap music in the early 80s by two groups. The Fat Boys and Run-DMC. I continued listening to both groups throughout my youth in the 80s and 90s. As a matter of fact, I still listen to them. For me both, but especially Run-DMC, ARE rap music. The prototypical rap group. Copied hundreds of times over.

So, on this anniversary, I’ve decided to make a very personal list of ranking Run-DMC’s studio albums in order of my personal preference. This was a really hard list to make because the first 3 albums are so historically important that I hate to put anything above them. But I have to forget the overall value to pop culture and just talk about the albums I listen to the most.

Here we go.

Tougher than Leather (1988) – Like I said, it’s really hard to rank these first three spots. Run-DMC’s first three albums are so important in the history of rap and hip hop that I struggle to not automatically put them first. As a matter of fact, these three spots have changed at least three times since I wrote this article a few months ago. And they may change again tomorrow. *shrugs* Anyway, for me, beginning to end, Tougher than Leather is my favorite. And not just because its birthday is today. Back in ’88 when this dropped, I LIVED the album. I wore out my copy. Pound for pound this has more good songs on it than any other album. BUT, it’s really close. The title track is similar to King of Rock but with a much harder rock backing track. I LOVE THAT SONG. My second favorite song on the album is Run’s House. It begins with Run’s famous monologue in which he opens many of their live shows, “We’ve had, a whole lot of super stars on this stage here tonight. But I want y’all to know one thing, this is…MY HOUSE!” And how awesome is Mary, Mary? They actually sample The Monkees and make a great song. Other kick ass songs include They Call Us Run-DMC, Beats to the Rhyme, How’d You Do It, Dee?, Papa Crazy, Miss Elaine and Ragtime, which is a fun derivation of the regular Run-DMC track. Reggae-influenced. It’s very reminiscent of a rapper called Slick Rick as, and it sounds weird on paper, the guys use very a very proper, clipped, but subtle, accent throughout the rhyme. It works because the song is sort of weird, too. Plus, you get to hear Jam Master Jay actually rap on the track.

Raising Hell (1986) – Commercially, this was Run-DMC’s most successful album. Part of that came from their cover of Walk this Way with a special appearance by Aerosmith. That cover is considered by many to be the first commercially successful fusions of rock and rap. Depends on how you look at it. Run-DMC’s earlier tracks Rock Box and King of Rock both successfully fused rock and rap before this. King of Rock being a fairly big commercial success. But nothing like Walk this Way. This IS a fantastic album, though. The title track on this album is pretty awesome and follows in King of Rock‘s footsteps. It’s Tricky is probably their second most popular song and is a sort-of sequel to Can You Rock It Like This? from King of Rock. Other great songs include My Adidas, Peter Piper, Hit It Run, Dumb Girl and You Be Illin’. Dumb Girl is one of their “conscientious” rap tracks similar to Hard Times or It’s Like That from their first album. You Be Illin’ is a fun track similar to You Talk to Much from King of Rock. And let’s not forget…”Son of Byford, brother of Al…..” Lots to really like on this album and it’s easy to see why it’s so important and popular.

King of Rock (1985) – It’s deceptive that this album is THIRD on my list. This is the album I discovered first probably in late ’85 or ’86. And it was INCREDIBLY hard not to rank it first. Incredibly hard. Any other day I MAY rank it first. Mostly because King of Rock is probably my favorite Run-DMC track of all time. King of Rock is awesome and showcases the group’s great, high energy backing tracks and awesome lyrical assault. Second best song on the album is probably Can You Rock it Like This? which, like I mentioned above, is a prototype in style and lyrical content to It’s Tricky. You Talk Too Much is a fun, goofy track that I mentioned above is a precursor to You Be Illin’. You can’t go wrong with this album. Other good songs are You’re Blind and It’s Not Funny which is similar in style and structure to Hard Times from the previous album. And Darryl & Joe (Krush Groove 3) is a great old-school rap track. As you can see, Run-DMC’s song stylings will have elements present throughout all of their albums. They are remarkably consistent while also always trying something new on each album.

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