Monthly Archives: July 2008

Free Books!

Wowio disappeared for a month or so, and I thought the company was going under. Instead, they were going global.
Wowio.com will now give free PDF books to anyone with an email address, anywhere in the world. And not just public-domain texts either. They get copyrighted works, and sometimes damn good ones1 — [...]

Lost, now found?

Jeez, and we just had a full-length print of Metropolis turn up.
I’m not sure how much to credit this story, but it’s got my hopes up that the number one most sought after lost film in history might have actually turned up:
Yes. It is true. For those who scoff and doubt (I’m sure you [...]

Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, 1950

I think I’m getting a little overdosed on Bud and Lou. The more I watch, the less I seem to have to say, despite this being one of the stronger entries in the collection I bought.
At the opening of Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, Bud is a wrestling manager in New York [...]

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, 1948

Arguably, this is it — the very best Abbott and Costello movie there is. The boys are in top form, and they get to play off a scenario that is not, at least at the time of the making of this film, threadbare. They get an actual story, into which their antics fit [...]

Who watches the Watchmen? I sure as hell do!

Know how I said I was going to see Watchmen opening night?
Now I’ve seen the trailer.1

Ho-lee [CENSORED]!
I could quibble with a few small things. But really, why? It’s showing in front of The Dark Knight, and it’s either going to A. blow your mind (if you’ve read the graphic novel) or B. make [...]

Quote of the moment

Phallic worship, in some form or other, has been practiced by almost every race under the sun. Indeed, among primitive peoples, those who do not practice this cult are so few in number that they have, practically, no weight whatever in a discussion of this subject. Moreover, those primitive peoples who do not worship the [...]

Comin’ Round the Mountain, 1951

Talk about your mixed bag. There are moments here that rank right up with almost any routine Abbott and Costello ever did.1 And there are interminable stretches of deadly dullness, punctuated by deadly dull songs. Seven (!) of them.
But all in all, certainly worth watching.
After Comin’ Round the Mountain opens a Manhattan [...]

Permalinks are hosed fixed

No idea why, but nobody can see individual posts or make comments right now.
Will look into it.
Update:
Switched to the WordPress default permalink style, and that works. It’s ugly, but it works. Will try tonight to go back to the old style.
Update II:
Oh, great, another bug in the 2.6 release. Well, at least [...]

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, 1951

Dang, this one was good.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are graduating Detective School at the beginning of this one.1 They get hired by a private detective agency and work the night shift alone in the office. Their first night a man walks in with a case. He’s a boxer who’s been framed [...]

Just a thought

A man was arrested for taking a picture of a cop. (þ InstaPundit)
Cops should have nothing to fear from cameras — if they’ve got nothing to hide.
(Did you know that the lead officer in the arrest of Rodney King, Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, was happy that someone caught the arrest on video tape? He [...]

WordPress 2.6 — don’t upgrade [UPDATED]

That’s it. Tried it one one of my other blogs, and it refused to let me log in.
And the one moderator I’ve interacted with at the WordPress support forums is not only being unhelpful, but kind of a jerk as well.
Wait for 2.6.1. Do not, under any circumstance, upgrade to 2.6.
That is all.
UPDATE: [...]

Lost in Alaska, 1952

Unlike Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, this is the bottom of the barrel as Abbott and Costello movies go. But the great thing is that with A&C there’s a baseline of quality to their work. However bad the script, low the budget, or awful the cast, Bud and Lou are pretty much [...]

Oh HELL yeah!

I’m beginning to think that Watchmen will, against all odds and logic and sense, do justice to the book. If the trailer is as good as claimed, I am officially stoked.
I’m there. First night. Fully geeked out.

Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, 1953

This movie was probably a huge influence over who I am. Frightening thought.
As Abbott & Costello movies go, it’s really not that great. Better than the worst, certainly watchable with moments that are genuinely funny, but hardly top of the line. (We’ll be getting to the top of the line next week.)
But [...]

Trip with the Teacher, 1975

Sleaze. Pure 1970s drive-in grindhouse sleaze.
And I enjoyed it, without even a slight inclination to shower afterward. Mostly because, while Trip with the Teacher certainly strives to be dark, it’s rather hard to take seriously.
The parents of four female students1 have convinced one of their teachers to take them on a learning vacation [...]