This Week's Popcorn Movie #2

  

  Today in Des Moines the high is 61 degrees, the sky is overcast, and it’s been raining for over week, So, it doesn’t really feel like the last day of summer, but it is. Fall officially begins at 7:05 tonight. Yay! I love autumn. 

    Late September, October, and early November really is my favorite time of the year. The weather is in my sweet-spot. It’s not hot and humid, and it’s not cold and snowy. Jeans, a jacket or a heavy sweater is an outfit that I want to wear. I can still work on projects in the garage, and I can still easily make dinner on the grill.

    I start the charcoal around 5:15 p.m. when I grill in the summer. It takes about 20 minutes to get the coals ready, and the grilling time is normally another 20 minutes. I can usually get the food on the table by 6 p.m. That’s the goal anyway. 

    That process works until daylight savings time ends on Nov. 1st. I don’t know how many times I’ve have gotten an urge to grill in November, but I have forgotten about the clock falling back. By 5:50, I’ll be standing in total darkness struggling to read my meat thermometer. I hate that. 

    That brings me to this week’s Arrow Video Screener Blu-ray.

        Grilling in the dark is one thing. Being eaten in the dark is something else.

    

    The Blu-ray (and its boatload of extras that I probably won’t get through) is going into the Riddick Trilogy case. Pitch Black is going back to Goodwill, but with an upgraded DVD from the trilogy set. Could be a nice surprise for somebody.

    I think it’s funny how the 1999 DVD release of Grad Tour: Disaster in Time tried to capitalize on the artwork from Pitch Black. The two movies aren’t even close to being similar. Grand Tour got a proper Blu-ray release (and cover) in 2023. The new artwork for the slipcover is okay, but it kinda looks like Jeff Daniels is farting while he runs through time to save his family.

No Ball is an Island (update, again)

  November 18, 2019:

 You can see the baseball field at the end of the hallway on the second floor of UHS.

You can also see the top of this small roof.

Last year a foul ball landed on that small roof. The lonely baseball sat there during the summer, fall, winter, and spring. I'm sure the custodians are too busy to worry about retrieving it. I had thought about taking a picture of the ball during all four seasons. I've seen it covered in leaves and in snow. I suppose I didn't take the pictures because I felt a little sad for that baseball.

The ball was still there in August for its second year of school, but this time things are different.

Everybody needs a friend...

Update November 9, 2020: 

... or two.

Update March 28, 2023: 

... or three. 

"Hey guys, got room?'

Update September 3, 2024:

... or four. Glad to see they're keeping themselves hydrated. 

Update September 16, 2026:

.... or seven. I think I can see three "new" balls through that drain...

Let's try a different angle.

Oh yeah, that makes eight balls in total.They're almost ready to make a team.

MST3K ’26: Group Photo

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 original run on TV ran from 1988 to 1999 with a total of ten seasons. There’s been three revival seasons since then, but now, 27 years later, the original crew from 1999 is doing more episodes for Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments thanks to crowd-funding. Yay! 

Let’s see what’s on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    I found the 1996’s Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie DVD at Goodwill last weekend. This one’s an anamorphic upgrade from my old DVD, and it’s what got me thinking about the old crew from the Satellite of Love again. 

I think the back of the LaserDisc is more interesting than the front, so I flipped it around for this pic. The first DVD of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie went out of print pretty quickly, and it was really expensive and hard to find for a while. The LD’s widescreen presentation was upgrade from the VHS tapes’ full frame presentation. 

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide also came out in 1996. I had a friend who had a copy of this book, but his was autographed by the main crew. I think he pointed that out to me every time I visited him. I nodded my head, told him it was cool for 5th time, and was secretly green with jealous rage (Hot Rod).

I knew I had an old folder of MST3K stuff, but I was thinking it was just a beat up school folder.

     I had to smile when I found this wedged between some car magazines in a box on a shelf. Luckily, the magazines kept the folder in good shape. I doubt I have opened this up since the 90’s. Let’s look inside without any commentary. 

I bought the stuff in the folder and this pin from the catalog portion of the Satellite News newsletter. I never wore the pin, even I wasn’t that nerdy, but thought the pin was cool. Years later I bought the light switch cover from a seller on Etsy. It was a decoupage project that didn’t look very good when it arrived. Daphne upgraded it with some clear varnish. 

Speaking of art projects, here’s how to make Tom Servo’s puppet head: 1) Go back in time to go to the mall to buy a candy dispenser from the Mr. Bulky candy store (remember them?) 2) Tape off and spray paint the candy chute silver.  3)Paint the floor of the candy chute black with a small paint brush.  4) Proudly display Tom in your classroom for the next 25 years even if none of the modern students have a clue who he is. At least that’s what I did.

My favorite episode of MST3K is Mitchell. It was the first episode I had seen (I hadn’t even heard of MST3K before), and I watched it at a friend’s house with three other like-minded teachers. We each had a couple of beers and laughed out loud the entire time. I can’t think of a better way to be introduced to the show. 

    I'm glad to see the MST3K gang is back in town.

Labor Day 2026: Group Photo

    Happy Labor Day! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    In 1974's made-for-TV movie Killdozer, six men on an island are hunted down by a bulldozer that has been possessed by an alien. I know, I know... but I love 70's made-for-TV movies.

    In 2011's The Innkeepers, Claire and Luke work the Yankee Pedlar Inn's final night of business. The two leads have real chemistry, and they're fun to watch, but it still doesn't end well for them. 

    In 2001's Route 666, Lou Diamond Phillips deals with road construction zombies. SPOILER ALERT: His zombie dad comes to his rescue. I like that.

    Stephen King wrote Road Work in 1981 under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. The plot deals with a grieving dad whose home and workplace are threatened by an interstate highway extension.

    I worked road construction as a way to pay for college in the late 80's. For one week all I had to do was sit at the end of a road in town and tell drivers to to turn around because they couldn't drive across the the soft, newly poured asphalt. I killed time by reading the paperback volumes of Clive Barker's Books of Blood. I still remember one old woman getting freaked out when she read the title of the book in my hand, Nice. 

    Men at Work's LP Business as Usual came out in the US in 1982. At the time I loved "Who Can it Be Now?,"  but now I gravitate towards "Be Good Johnny". My favorite Men at Work cover song is Lazlo Bane's version of "Overkill." About two thirds through the song Colin Hay comes in and just kills it. 

    Don't work too hard this weekend!

This Week's Popcorn Movie

    I recently came across some pre-production Blu-rays from Arrow Films. Arrow Films is a boutique film distributor and restorer that specializes in world cinema, arthouse, horror, and classic films. Their Blu-rays look great, and they do a good job of adding new special features to their releases. 

    The Blu-ray "screeners" contain all the features of the official discs (as far as I know), and when you find them they are usually cheaper than the regular release. The trade-off is that you don't get any art work or booklets. The discs come in either paper sleeves or in a thin, clear case like this one.

    Before the school year starts, my school has a "freebie" table in the office where staff can put things they no longer want when they are cleaning out a classroom or an office. I spotted a pile of these popcorn bags on the table and figured I could somehow use them for one of our many door decorating contests. 

    I used a bag to make a cover for the case of this week's "popcorn movie screener". 

    To me, a popcorn movie is a film you can enjoy without thinking too much. Let's see what's inside.

    I have not seen 1977's Doberman Cop, and to be honest I hadn't even heard of this film before, but that's an awesome title. AND it stars Shinichi (Sonny) Chiba! You may know him from his role in Kill Bill, but around my basement he's also known as the Wolf Guy and the Street Fighter, among other things. 

So, it's a Chiba flick on an Arrow Blu-Ray? Sign me up!

    I stole all this brief info from the IMDB. I think the paper matches the disc's generic vibe. A 6.7 rating on IMDB is pretty promising.

    Eventually this disc will be incorporated into one of these cases (probably Wolf Guy), but Doberman Cop will stay as a popcorn movie until I get to watch it. Should be fun.

    FYI: I forgot I even had that dollar bin DVD of The Bodyguard. I popped it in my player to see how bad the full frame transfer was, but was pleasantly pleased to see that it was fairly clean. 

    I was also suprised to see this scroll at the beginning of the film. I had also forgot about it. 

    Hmmm... sounds vaguely familiar...

    Also, according to the DVD's opening FBI warning, it is illegal to screen this DVD of The Bodyguard on oil rigs.

In Memoriams

     Let’s check the horror shelf in memory of Tim Curry.

    I found Mr. Curry’s LP, Read my Lips (1978), in a thrift store in Victoria, Canada. I think the autograph looks legit. I almost didn’t buy the record because I didn’t want to worry about how to get it home...

    But then I remembered he portrayed Pennywise in 1990’s TV miniseries It. Talk about nightmare fuel. 

    People paid to see Tom Cruise in 1985’s Legend, but they went home talking about Tim Curry’s Darkness (and his horns). Legend, indeed.

    Speaking of horns, Curry voiced the Goblin King in Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King in 2008, and that might be the only Scooby-Doo movie that scared Char. 

    Curry also voiced the Mastermind in the Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights video game in 2002.

    Speaking of Scooby-Doo, I'm displaying this poster in honor of Curry’s performance as Ben Ravencroft in Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999). This poster hung in Charlotte’s room for a couple of years.

    Tim, thanks for the music, the laughs, and the frights.

    I don’t have anything scary to refer to when I write about the loss of Dolly Parton, but I do have a cherished memory. It is also proof that Parton’s music has the ability to reach anyone at any age.

    I posted this in 2017 when Charlotte was six years old:

"Char discovered this Dolly Parton song while watching World of Dance. 

Even her cats like it!"

    I think Char replayed that YouTube video over and over for about 40 minutes, and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. 

    

    Dolly, thanks for the music, the laughs and the love.

Halloween is Just Around the Corner!

    Our local Spirit store opened its doors last Saturday.

    Our local hardware store rolled out their Halloween decorations.

    And our local grocery store is stocked the shelves with Halloween candy. 

    I even bought a couple of Halloween candy tins that I emptied and am now using as refrigerator magnets.

    Yay! x 3!

    

    I really enjoy this time slot in the calendar. Fall, my favorite season, is almost here, and the stores aren't focused on Christmas, yet. I have a brief time to walk around and enjoy a preview of October and not just December. 

    So, let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    Okay, let me explain. DVDs were pretty expensive in the late 90s and early 2000s. The average price of a new release was around $24.90. That's $53.85 in today's money. Going to Best Buy to look at DVDs back then was luxury shopping for a teacher on one income... I couldn't afford anything there.

But, BUT!, but, I could afford to shop at Kmart or Walmart. AND! They sold cult and horror movies on budget DVDs from a company called GoodTimes Entertainment. 

    I found both Halloween II, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch at the Urbandale Kmart (that has now been demolished). I was so excited. They only cost 6 bucks each... SOLD!

     I grew up seeing this message on VHS rental tapes and movies airing on cable. So, watching a movie I loved in "WIDESCREEN" was incredible.

    None of this information meant anything to me decades ago. I didn't know "non-anamorphic" was a thing. These DVDs looked great on my 27 inch tube TV, and I couldn't have been happier. (BTW, no one called them CRTs, and no one could have predicted they would become collectible.)

    I was disappointed when I played my old GoodTimes DVDs on my new HD TV years later. I was used to the black stripes above and below the film, but the smaller image, imprisoned by black bars, threw me off. I could "zoom" in the image, but that made the film look even more pixelated. 

    I donated my GoodTimes DVDs when I upgraded to DVDs that were "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs" or in "16:9 Widescreen." I was totally pumped. The new movies looked so good!

    But then something weird happened. I  began to miss my old Halloween GoodTimes (don't we all?) when I started the Holiday Horror Shelf displays. That prompted a thrift store search that has proven to be more difficult than I thought. These budget DVDs are now 25 years old, and I guess most have probably been tossed away. 

    

    So, I was surprised to find H-III at a local Goodwill last week. The H-III DVD is in perfect shape, and I upgraded the case with a nicer one from a DVD that I bought from our local library for a buck. 

    Rather than hoping lightning would strike twice, I went ahead and bought H-II from a seller on eBay. That DVD arrived today. Its case didn't need a library upgrade.

    The total price of both DVDs is less than the original $12 that I spent back in 2001, and I'm totally pumped. They look so good next to each other with their "WIDESCREEN" banners. It was also satisfying to slide them next to their anamorphic Halloween brethren on the media shelf.

    

    I don't care if people think nostalgia for inferior DVDs is strange. I have always told my students, and my daughter, to not be embarrassed by what they like, "What you collect is a reflection of who you are and how you represent yourself. It doesn't matter how many people don't agree with your style. Those people aren't coming over to your place to hang out. But your friends are coming over, and they like you no matter what is in your room."

    I like how the GoodTimes VHS logo is dunked into electrified waters and emerges with a steaming new DVD logo... so modern.

    PS. I also enjoy that a '66 Dodge Sportsman Van was used for a crash scene in Halloween II. 

     I had a '66 Sportsman that I drove to college in 1987. Here we are together. I had a lot of fun in that van. Glad I didn't crash it.