Clip of the Week

La Jetee

Well, I am back. Since last we met, I have moved to a new house, started grad school, and obtained a new job. Yes, the times they are a changin' for Jordan M., but don't think that I've matured any. No chance. I don't actually have a whole lot for you today, just a good ol' clip of the week.

Today's clip is a short film by the enigmatic French film-maker Chris Marker called La Jetee. It is comprised entirely of still shots. You may recognize some of it, but that's because this is the film that would, years later, inspire Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys.



- Jordan M.
Sulphur Springs, TX

Clip of the Week

What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

This is another of Scorsese's student films. Check it out:



- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX

Top Ten List of the Week

Top Ten "Comic Book" Movies

Ah, comic books and movies. Two things I love. But, sadly, the marriage between the two usually results in a dismal failure. But, today we are counting down the top ten best movies based on comics. This doesn't necessarily mean the best (as in, most accurate) adaptation, but the pictures that had comic books as source material that turned out the best:

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

9. Sin City

8. The Crow

7. Spider-Man

6. Superman: The Movie

5. Road to Perdition

4. X2: X-Men United

3. Ghost World

2. A History of Violence

1. Batman

- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX

Clip of the Week

John Rambo

Sure to get your adrenaline pumpin' and your testosterone flowin', here's a little bit from the latest installment in the Rambo series.



- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX

Clip of the Week

Jack Kirby Interview

This is an interview from an OOP doco about the late, great Jack Kirby. Please, only watch if you fall into the category of "complete nerd", otherwise you may blackout.



- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX

Top Ten List

Top Ten Canadians

Yeah, that's right. Those crazy Canucks get a lot of crap, but there are some good ones, too! Let's take a look.

10. Ivan Reitman - Director of Ghost Busters, Stripes, and...umm...Kindergarten Cop!

9. Guy Maddin - Director of The Saddest Music in the World

8. Frederick Banting - He discovered insulin!

7. Leonard Cohen - Singer/Songwriter

6. Wayne Gretzky - The Great One

5. Phil Hartman - He is sorely missed

4. Ferguson Jenkins - Hall of Fame pitcher

3. Neil Young - Singer/Songwriter best known for being better than you

2. Wolverine - Weapon X

1. David Cronenberg - Director of The Brood, A History of Violence, and Videodrome

Sorry, Corey Hart just didn't make the cut.

- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX

Happy Halloween

Well, children of the night, it's finally here. And here's a special Halloween video for ya:



- Mad Jordan M.
Hell

Top 15 List of the Week

Top Fifteen Horror-Themed Video Games

That's right, since we're so close to Halloween, this week we are looking at the top fifteen horrific video games, which there just aren't enough of. Games that make your fresh crawl and your skin prickle. Those are my favorite. So, let's take a look:


15. Evil Dead: Regeneration (Xbox/PS2) - By all counts, this game is just above mediocre. However, the inclusion of the wonderful voice acting of Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell and Ted "I'm Sam's Brother" Raimi make it well worth playing. Of course, you play as Ash battling through a world that is now inhabited by deadites. Sure, the story is ultimately forgettable, but the one-liners are great.

14. The Thing (PS/Xbox) - A sequel to the John Carpenter movie of the same name (see top ten aliens), The Thing is a pretty sweet game that could use a graphical update for next-gen platforms. Basically, you've swooped in a few hours after McReady and his crew have had it out with the thing, and your trying to piece it together. A cool idea, to be sure, the controls are a little clunky, but it's so cinematic.

13. The Haunting Starring Polterguy (Genesis) - A funny game published by EA in 1993, in The Haunting you play as Polterguy, a poltergeist dead set on getting people out of his house. You do this by taking control of various household items like toilets and beds and scaring the beegeezus out of the humans.

12. Night Trap (Sega CD) - True, the game is only as good as FMV games can be, which has its limits. In the game, you're monitoring multiple security cameras and trying to keep 5 young ladies at a slumber party safe from a vampiric horde that would do them in. Of course, this (along with Mortal Kombat) was the big game that got the ESRB ball rolling, and it really is the best of the FMV games that came out on the Sega CD.

11. Stubbs the Zombie (Xbox) - This is a rather odd game that came out two years ago for Microsoft's big black box. It's one of the few zombie games to actually let you play as the zombie. You're Stubbs, a travelling salesman that was murdered and has come back to life to take his revenge in the 1950's. It's played for laughs, and will definitely elicit a few chuckles.

10. Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Genesis/SNES) - Another of the more comical games on the list, this LucasArts game features two player gameplay in which you (and a friend) are responsible for saving the neighborhood from...zombies! Zoinks! You use your watergun (and an array of other assorted "weapons) to destroy the monsters. It was a ton of fun, no lie.

9. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Xbox) - If you're into horror literature, or are a Lovecraft fan, this is one of the best games you've never heard of. It's an amalgamation of a few different Lovecraft stories that play out very cinematically. The gameplay does leave something to be desired, but the story keeps you playing.

8. Alone in the Dark series (PC) - The true first 3D survival horror series, Alone in the Dark draws its inspiration from none other than Howard Phillips Lovecraft (see #9). A creepy series on all counts, you play as detective Edward Carnby (in the original trilogy) investigating the supernatural.

7. Quake Series (PC) - Upping the ante of 3D-gaming, Quake was id's next big game after the Doom series. In Quake, you're a marine travelling through dimensions to battle demonic foes. The subsequent volumes don't follow the original storyline, however. Anyway, everyone knows how revolutionary this game was and it was pretty creepy to boot!

6. Silent Hill Series (Multi-platform) - Taking place in the creepy little town of Silent Hill that makes Twin Peaks look like a nice place to retire, this series probably uses atmosphere better than any on this list. It's an interesting story with well developed characters. I've only played the first three, and I definitely recommend those.

5. BioShock (Xbox 360) - The newest game on the list, BioShock doesn't fit as snugly into the horror genre as a lot of the games on here, but it is creepy as hell. Not only that, the story is amazing, the graphics are beautiful, and the gameplay is more than solid . A great game, BioShock is set in a dystopian 1960 in an underwater city called Rapture.

4. Doom Series (PC) - In 1993, id Software changed the face of gaming forever. Doom wasn't the first first-person shooter, but it certainly brought the genre to the forefront. I remember playing this one as a kid, and being floored by how great the graphics were and how awesome the guns were! And Doom II just got better.

3. Castlevania Series (Multi-platform) - Allowing young kids to kill vampires and ghouls since the mid-eighties, the Castelvania series is absolutely amazing. The series follow the Belmont family as they have to kill Dracula over and over again, and, for my money, there just aren't many better platformers on the market. You all know Castlevania and you love it. We can even forgive those N64 3D versions.

2. Dead Rising (Xbox 360) - Number seven on my top 15 Video Games, Dead Rising combines elements from Resident Evil with those of the GTA series to give you a free-roaming, zombie-whuppin', awesome game. Blood and guts galore, you play out a Dawn of the Dead scenario in which your stuck in a mall infested by...the undead! Dead Rising is a wonderful game, and I recommend you pick it up ASAP. If they could make this into a wonderful series, it might one day usurp the throne of numero uno on the list, which is...

1. Resident Evil Series (Multi-platform) - What can I say about Resident Evil? It is the ultimate in survival horror. There are no games that have done it better than this series. You kill zombies that have been created by the Umbrella Corporation. With guns. There's no need for more explanation.

Honorable mentions go to Ghost N Goblins and Splatter House 2.
I do regret to say that I've never played the Clock Tower series.

And, if you're bored at work, you might want to check this one out: Endless Zombie Rampage.


- Jordamn Monster
No Commercy, TX

Clip of the Week

Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)

Today we have yet another Jason clip. This one also happens to feature the radical Alice Cooper as well. It's the video for his song He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) which was on the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Watch, if you dare!



- Jordacula M.
Commurder, TX

Top Ten List of the Week

Top Ten Forgotten Toys of My Childhood


In some of these cases, forgotten may be the wrong word. Let's say, less well remembered. So, these are the top ten less remembered toys of my childhood. Not the GI Joes or the Transformers. These are the toys that will eventually be lost to obscurity (if they aren't already).

1. Rambo

2. M.U.S.C.L.E.S.

3. COPS

4. Potato Head Kids - These little guys were basically mini-Mr. Potato Heads that came from their eponymous cartoon. I had a ton of them, and specifically remember the kid in the red hat named spud.

5. Creepy Crawlers

6. Bionic Six

7.Visionaries - The Visionaries are yet another group of action figures that were based on a cartoon show.

8. Inhumanoids - Tendril - Now, this is the anomaly of the list as I never actually had this toy. I did, however, always want this toy. Tendril was one of the titular characters of the show Inhumanoids. I didn't know it at the time, but it's easy to see now that his design was directly influenced by the stories of the great H.P. Lovecraft!

9. McDonald's Muppet Babies Toys - So, these aren't your standard toys, but I happened to love them.

10. Madballs - They have actually re-released Madballs! I found one for my nephew last year for Christmas. I was thrilled, but I don't know about him. Anyway, these were just little baseball sized balls made out of foam that were supposed to be completely disgusting. One of them was a skull, one a cyclops, and all were oozing some kind of green or yellow pus from one of their sockets. It seems like a lot of toys from the eighties were interested in a high "gross out" factor, remember Garbage Pail Kids?

- Jordan M.
Commerce, TX