So Thursday was Thanksgiving. As I’ve done for the past seven years or so, I went out to Long Island to spend it with Dave’s family who have more or less made me a part of their own. Not too much to report since, like each gathering before, it followed the same general routine: sat around the afternoon watching TV, ate snacks even though a scrumptious and hearty dinner was on its way, gorged on said scrumptious and hearty dinner, and then sneak away from the “adults” to watch cartoons or play video games in another room. Plus there’s always desert.
This year we watched both the Garfield and Peanuts Thanksgiving special. The Garfield one wasn’t as memorable as I remembered it, but it was still Garfield, so it was good enough for me. As for the Peanuts special, they’re all damn good, so I guess I don’t have to say much more. One of these days I’m gonna have to try having popcorn, jellybeans, toast, and ice cream as an entire meal (not that it’s much of a stretch from my normal eating habits, but that’s besides the point).
The next day I ventured into Jersey to spend the weekend at MK’s family beach house by the Jersey shore. The excitement began almost immediately when we got a flat tire while getting groceries. It was freezing cold and the bolts were practically glued onto to the car, but MK managed to get them off. What about me? I stood around like an idiot of course, reading really out to date OS X books. Well I did try to get some help when it seemed like MK might not have been able to replace the tire; I tried enlisting the help of a cop who happen to be in the grocery store, but he was dealing with a lost wallet situation, and the victim was super pissed (and without a shirt for some reason according to MK), so he couldn’t help, though thankfully the place had some WD40 on hand. Too bad their selection of Japanese candy was not that hot. Plus they had an open salad bar, but just olives, and it smelled fucking disgusting. Afterwards we got chicken sandwiches at Wawa’s (of course), plus some booze, and settled down at the beach house. Since I knew ahead of time that there was no DVD player on hand, let along cable TV, I brought along some good old-fashioned VHS tapes of goodness.
First up we saw Black Belt Jones, easily the greatest king fu/blacksploitation flick that no one knows about. It stars Jim Kelly (you know, the black guy from Enter the Dragon) as a martial arts soul brotha who’s out to avenge the death of his dearly departed buddy Papa Byrd (played by the late, great Scatman Crothers) who was a target by the mob since his all black karate school is on highly contested real estate. To aid Black Belt is Papa Byrd is his daughter, who’s also a kung fu expert, and a small army of high flying white girls, and against them is a lethal combo of street thugs (along with the assistance of “Bogarts”) hired by the mob, and the mafia themselves (who happen to be Italian since they all like eating spaghetti saying “Mama Mia” any chance they get… the film spreads the love equally when it comes to ethnic stereotypes). But besides the kick ass premises, the story goes along at a great pace, there’s plenty of fight scenes throughout, and tons of laughs (even hippies stand no chance against Black Belt’s rage!). I’ve seen it almost fifty times now and it has yet to become old; I simply can’t emphasize enough how utterly amazing this film is. Even MK was impressed, which makes Farel’s extremely strong negative reaction towards it from years ago even more perplexing.
The remainder of Friday night was spent watching an old collection of hardcore, electrified barb wire wrestling matches from Japan that I got off eBay when I was really into wrestling. Mind you, I was never that into watching two plain jane sweaty guys grapple each other. But if they dressed liked demons or 80′s rockers, and they five backflips into a glass plane, face first… now that’s what I call sports entertainment. Anyway, all the matches had the ropes replaced with barb wire, but not only did it simply hurt like hell if a guy got thrown into them, but they got electrocuted as well, plus a loud explosion went off to complete the effect. What other sport could you look like total crap, but still get cheers if you simply bled? Well more than just bleed…. practically gutted in some cases. And all for just a cheeseburger (okay maybe not… it’s MK’s belief that they get paid in not cash but burgers, but it’s probably not too far from the truth). My favorites are the high concept matches, like one which took place on a island that both men had to take speed boats to reach. Too bad they spend way too much time dicking around, like setting fires and the such…
The next day we had donuts for breakfast and heading to Red Bank. Spent some time in a record store where I found at least a half dozen records that could be great gag gifts, but ultimately I resisted the temptation to buy around the store’s entire collection of New Kids on the Block and Hall & Oates CDs, which I think was the best move in the end. MK on the other hand was elated to find sheet music to all the themes to the Star Trek theme, but was afraid to make a purchase due to not wanting to appear too nerdy. Good for her that I have no shame. After a brief stop at some trendy boutique where I set the highest on Ms Pac Man, we went to Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, which I had never been to before. I hate going to comic shops since its a sad reminder of all the great stuff I’m missing out on, and on a monthly basis! But I made a choice: comics or video games, and everyone knows what I chose. And despite the apparent high price of games, it’s still a helluva lot cheaper than following even just one monthly comic.
Then we went to the shore, where most of the shops on the boardwalk were closed, but not the arcades. One in particular had skee ball (where MK & I won super bouncy balls), an air hockey table (it was pathetic how bad we both are… one game dragged on way after the actual air flow ceased, which exhausted us even further), a DDR rip off that we both sucked at as well (I blame the lame graphics and shit music) and a Simpsons arcade machine (easily one the best arcade games every made). Afterwards was an early dinner at the Windmill where we had burgers and fries, plus we made fun of the shitty mural work inside, and then a trip home to watch another flick.
Next up was Viva Knievel, starring Evel Knievel as himself. The convoluted plot involves drug smugglers, ex boozers, a fatherless child, a young rival, a trip to Mexico, plus orphans, and it all equal to one huge ego trip for a guy who basically jumps over stuff on his motorcycle. Not the best movie in the world, but it is hilarious to watch people react to him like he was a God of sorts (well, if you’re friend with Frank Gifford, I guess you sorta are). Plus, his anti-drug speech “for the kids” was stirring to say the least (Hey kids, don’t shoot that nitro up you veins, cuz in five to ten years time, you’ll blow up! Never mind that five to ten years to plenty of time to make awesome music or amazing, legacy defining artwork…).
The film got us hungry so it was time for dinner at Wawa’s (chicken sandwiches again!), another trip to the liquor store, then a stop at Blockbusters. I haven’t been to one in ages, so I was worried that they wouldn’t have VHS, but they did a small bit. Unfortunately, Death Race 2000 was not to be found anywhere, but we did pick up Wet Hot American Summer and Day of the Dead. Almost got a flick about cannibal sorority chicks that MK pulled out, but guess that will have to wait for next time.
I had never seen Wet Hot American Summer despite a desire to do so for years now. It’s weird… I’ve heard so much about the flick from so many different folks; the number of people telling me it’s pure comic genius is equaled by the number of folks saying its the biggest piece of shit ever, and every one of these folks are ones whose opinions I trust, so I’ve always been on the fence. Overall, I liked it… I guess. It’s certainly not brilliant or anything. The set up is great, and some of the talent is awesome. Though I wish there were more State folks in it, plus it felt like it just could have gone… further. I think I might have to see it again.
Next was Day of the Dead, which I had only seen bits and pieces as a small child (when my parents would rent every horror film in the state of Washington and made me watch them all with them… I was like five at the time). Unlike the genius that was Dawn of the Dead, Day was a headache-inducing piece of shit that stole two hours of my life that I seriously want back. Besides the great make up, nothing in the film was remotely entertaining: a story that dragged on, everyone was completely unlikable, etc. About the only thing that made movie watching experience at all spooky was nothing that we saw, but a really strange sound that was coming from somewhere in the house that would freak us out when we heard it (and prompted us to have weapons by our side, which was just a broom for myself and a mop for MK). It was the wind hitting the AC btw.
The next day we slept in and totally missed breakfast. MK drove me back to the city, but before dropping me off we are at some hot dog joint, since she knew of my affinity for the wondrous all American delicacy. All I can say is that once again, something which New York takes great pride in owning has yet again been bettered by New Jersey. Best fucking hot dogs I have ever eaten here in the west coast, and blows Nathan’s out of the fucking water, that’s for sure.
When I got home, I discovered that Simpsons and Arrested Development were both postponed due to holiday programming, so I went through the mountain of tapes that was on my bed, which I had created when going through stuff to take for the weekend. I have so many tapes of random shit, all in collections with cryptic titles (there’s eight volumes alone that are just called “Whatever”) that it’s about time I took the time and initiative to mark down what I have. I’ve long spoken about getting the best of the best (like Iranian Alf, clips from Korean variety shows, or choice scenes from various Mexican wrestling/detective movies) converted to DVD. I spent most of the evening watching a tape that was labeled “BEST FIGHT SCENE!” On it was all the fights in Jackie Chan’s classic Drunken Master 2 (still his best fight stuff ever, I think) and all the fights in Jet Li’s Fist of Legend (an awesome film that a lot of casual Jet Li fans know nothing about). Plus I had the showdown from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which despite seeing about a billion times, still gets my blood pumped, and for whatever reason, two episodes of the thirty minute long Aeon Flux series from MTV back when MTV Animation still meant something. I’ve been a diehard fan of Aeon Flux (and that whole Liquid Television scene… it was extremely influential on me), and I have to say…. I actually liked the half hour series where she spoke. Granted it lost much of the charm of the original, silent shorts, but come on… could they have really pushed that concept any further? The short lived full fledge series still has some of the best writing for any American animated series (which hails from a period where not everything had to rely on bullshit pop culture references).
I would have watched my other, full Aeon Flux tape if not for the fact that it was getting late, plus Adult Swim was on.
As for today, I’ve just been at work writing this. Had plenty of time since I had to work 13 hours (Christ I hope we get a new night front office manager soon). At least I’m making some extra money, which will definitely help off set some missing cash since I’m no loner doing reviews for GMR (at least for the time being). Speaking of work, today’s the day that one instructor whom I’ve sorta become chummy with teaches. Back to MTV Animation, he used to work with the guys who helped shaped the look of the stations, not just MTV, but Nick, and even HA! when it existed. He says he has piles of tapes with old bumpers and station IDs. I gotta get me a hold of those somehow…
Tonight I had tacos since Dave lent me the Wigu collection and it makes a pretty strong case for tacos being the ultimate food. Speaking of, I really hope nothing bad has happened with the copy of Klonoa for the GBA I lent him for his Ohio comic con trip…
