I'm with the Band, but I Watch Football, too.

        October is almost here, but I'm going to post something non-horror related real quick. Football season is a holiday season for a lot of people, so I think this fits on the shelf.

    

    When Varsity Blues came out in 1999, a lot of my high school students were making fun of James Van Der Beek's bad southern accent, "I don't want your life!".  I didn't know why they seemed so offended. He wasn't messing up our Iowan accent. 

    Yeah, there's a lot of high school movie clichés in this film, but it's an interesting sports film that flips the script to have the antagonist be the school's own football coach. Jon Voight does an exceptional job of being dislikable, despite all the people on the commentary saying how nice he was in real life.

    Also, the scripted football scenes are great. AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" got a new life in sport montages after the football actors, real life high school and college players, showed the director how they used the song to get pumped up for their own games. 

    I like this film so much I bought a West Canaan Coyotes jersey from eBay. It doesn't hurt that it's in UHS's colors.

    Like I said, we're with the band at every home football game. Daphne and I volunteer to be on the pit crew. I helped drag out and raise up that drum major podium on the right in the foreground. 

    Someone seems to think we did an okay job.

    Okay, one horror related thing (can't help myself). "In Creature, set in the seemingly idyllic corporate town of Silverlake, Colorado, the 1989 book centers on a high school football team that never loses and a sinister high-tech sports clinic." 

    In a way, this really does relate to Varsity Blues. Just saying.

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.

Shark Week 2026: Group Photo #3

    For today's post I'm picking the soundtrack to 2021's The Suicide Squad due to the King Shark character voiced by Sylvester Stallone. You can see him there on the left.

    I think buying Blu-ray movies just because they have a slipcover is dumb. I thrifted 47 Meters Down because it came with a slip cover...

    One of my biggest thrift store pet peeves is getting stuck in the checkout lane behind someone who is is buying glassware. I found 47 Meters Down: Uncaged today at Goodwill, but the woman ahead of me ended up buying $93 in stemware. I was standing there for over 15 minutes while the clerk wrapped the glasses in brown paper. I hope the movie moves faster than that.

    1979's Up from the Depths was supposed to be a horror comedy, but Roger Corman had all the comedic elements removed in the editing room to make the film an outright horror piece. That didn't work. The VHS cover looks cool, though.

    I almost forgot to add this Flix Brewhouse picture from 2017 ----> link

    Today's outfit is courtesy of Snorkel Bob.

Shark Week 2026: Group Photo #1

     Sunday night markes the beginning of the Discovery Channel's 38th "Shark Week." I haven't paid to stream the Discovery App, but I don't need it to watch shark movies. Physical media rules! 

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

        Ah, Jaws, the OG. I was six when this movie opened, and I didn't see it until it finally aired on ABC when I was ten. I wasn't allowed to stay up to watch the whole film (I had school the next day), and that was okay. In the opening scene when Chrissie is attacked by the shark, she screams, "It hurts!" That was enough to scare the crap out of me.

    Now I count this as one of my favorite movies. Jaws has everything. It's a horror film, a monster movie, a sea adventure, a thriller, a drama, and I'd argue it's a buddy film, too. 

    Let's see, we've got the 1995 letterboxed VHS, 2005' 30th anniversary edition DVD with the Commemorative Photo Journal, the 2012 Blu-ray, and the NES game from 1987. The game's storyline, if you can call it that, has more in common with Jaws the Revenge, the 4th Jaws film, and that's not a compliment.

    Peter Benchley's novel, Jaws, came out about a year and a half before the movie. Director Steven Spielberg was rooting for the shark when he first read the novel because the characters were so unlikable (according to IMDB). I have read this book, and I agree with him. 

    As for the other three Jaws books... I haven't quite absorbed them, yet.    

    This one of my favorite skateboard deck designs. Jaws, Robert Shaw, Narragensett beer, and skateboarding? Yes, please!

    Yes, I even dressed up for the beginning of Shark Week. 

    I'm such a nerd...

    

    Stay safe in the water!

4th of July 2026: Group Photo

    Happy 4th of July! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    Welp, it's not horror movies today. Today I'm going Sci-Fi. The film's title is pretty obvious.

    I want to explain the CD before I get into the film. I've got the Fountains of Wayne's album Utopia Parkway dead center on the shelf because it contains the song "A Fine Day for a Parade." Today Charlotte will be marching with her snare drum as a high school section leader in Urbandale's 4th of July parade. Marching band is a very big deal at our house, and Char cannot wait for today's performance. It's gonna be a hot one, but she's ready. 

    I found the VHS tape on the left at Goodwill last week ($1.40) and the 20th Anniversary Edition DVD on the right at Half Price Books ($1.80 with the teacher discount) on the same day. I'll confess that both were purchased for this display in mind. I had the thought while I was writing this post  Do I have this on Laser Disc? So I looked, and yep, I did indeed buy this sometime in the past on Laser Disc. So, that went on the shelf, too.

    I saw Independence Day when it first opened in theaters 30 years ago. I went with a friend from work. I had a really good time watching this movie, and I wasn't alone. The crowd was also really into it. As the movie was reaching its climax, I turned to my friend and enthusiastically whispered, "Isn't this movie great?" 

    He replied, a bit too loudly, "I don't know... I find this all to be bit too... implausible," and he dismissed the film with a wave of his hand. 

    Several people near us shot him an angry look. Man, was I ever embarrassed. Then a guy three rows behind us yelled, "Shut up... NERD!" Several peopled laughed.

    My friend sank low into his seat in response. 

    Did I feel bad for him? A little. 

    Did I agree with the guy three rows back? A lot. 

    Hope you have a great 4th!

Father's Day 2026: Group Photo

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

    I miss Bill Paxton, but I think it's cool that he directed and starred in the 2001 horror movie Frailty. (One of my favorite movies to watch with Daphne is Twister.)

    It took 35 years, but the Stanley Hotel that inspired The Shining finally got a real hedge maze.

    

    It has been scientifically proven that Sinister is the scariest movie ever made. I was surrounded by moving boxes in our basement the first time I watched this movie. I felt like I was sitting in the mists of the sinister pods from Aliens after a certain jump scare. 

    

    As for the Amityville Horror movies, in real life, the Lutz family's dog Harry did survive, thank goodness.

    FYI: The Holiday Horror Shelf theme for today is "Horror Dads and Axes".

    Well, we're off to Texas Roadhouse. Time to let someone else make me a steak...

    Here's my t-shirt pick from Goodwill. Not horror related, but I think it's funny.

    Don't forget to call your Data today.