The Bad Movie Bible is back, and when I say that I mean that Rob Hill released a new video on his YouTube page. This time around he is tackling movie monsters from the 80’s. And with all of Hill’s videos, they are more entertaining than most of the movies that he mentions. I was rather proud of myself as I had seen one of the movies that Rob lists here.
Category: Movies
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ODDS and ENDS: Parking with the Dog, Old Pants, and Joe Don Baker
(What you know is true…)

Here is the dog, and she came with me to do the Alt Side Parking this morning. She has a dog bed in the car, as we take her on roadtrips, and the car bed makes it easier on her. Anyway, I didn’t feel like leaving the dog alone at home while I moved the car, so she came with. All she did was lay there, looking at me, wondering when we were going to go some place.
The other thing about this morning is that I found an old pair of pants that I had forgot that I owned. It’s a pair black colored pants that I believe I bought for puppeteering purposes. For whatever reason, these pants got lost in the shuffle, and this morning I found then again. They had been hanging in my closet for so long, the pants had a line of dust on the hanger fold. I easily brushed them off, and to my surprise, the pants fit. (Maybe I am losing weight?) I used to wear black clothes often in my deep and dark theatre phase – you know, when I was a real misunderstood artist and acting was the only thing that would save the world – but since moving to New York, I have actively gone out of my way to wear as much color as possible, and most of that color is blue or navy. But today, with this rediscovery, I decided that I would go forth with black pants today, and I already feel more somber and serious.
I learned last night that the actor, Joe Don Baker had passed away. He is most famous for his role in “Walking Tall” and in the MST3k world, he will always be our “MITCHELL.” Yet, for me, Joe Don Baker was a good old solid character actor. He was a Texan, went to the University of North Texas, served in the Army, and went to New York City and became a member of the Actors Studio. He worked solidly his entire life, usually playing heavies in TV and movies, but he was also in comedies. Hell, was in three James Bond movies, playing two different characters. He was a good guy who did good work, and was very entertaining. So, thanks Joe Don; you will be missed.
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ODDS and ENDS: Everything is Green, Son of a Clothes Horse, and Sick Kid on the Couch
(Who said that!? Not Me!)
…And I hope you enjoy the weird AI image that was created for this post…
Came out this morning to do the Alt Side Parking Dance, and discovered that our little car was covered in green. The wife had parked under a tree, and now there is a fuzzy haze of pollen all over the vehicle. Besides the fact that my allergies started weeping in despair as I felt my nose simultaneously running and clogging up, I also wondered how much pollen could this car collect? Could my car have so much pollen on it that if I drove around the City, even out in the country, it would act as a pollinator? I know the bees are dying off, but if push came to shove, couldn’t we just drive are cars around to, in a very basic rockbottom way, pollenate the world? Just an idea, cause there is a crap ton of tree pollen on my car.
First of all, let me start by saying this very loaded statement; I love my wife very much. And as such, we tease each other often, as is our want. There are many things she makes fun of me over, but one of the most recurrent jokes of her’s is to call me a “clothes horse.” Going on twenty years, she’s called me this. Until I had met my wife, I had never heard this term before. A clothes horse is a folding frame used inside someone’s house to hang laundry on while it dries, or a fashionable person who thinks too much about their clothes. (I bet you can guess which definition my wife uses for me.) Most specifically, she will uses this term towards me on days when I have a sitting around the home outfit, a running errands in the neighborhood outfit, and then a third running around town outfit. Not that I do this all the time, but it does happen; I have been known to wear three different outfits in one day. So, I was home visiting my dad the other week, and I witnessed my father doing the same thing; over the course of the day, he had three different outfits he would put on. I had never noticed that, nor thought about it, as that’s just who my father is. Now, I clearly see the depths of the influence this man has had on my life, for I am the Son of a Clothes Horse.
The kid was sick the other night. Like very sick, and throwing up. She was weak, and needed to be comforted, which I was more than happy to do. As she gets older, the opportunity for a snuggle starts to decrease, you know. But I noticed something as we were on the couch at 2am, hoping that she would be able to keep crackers down; That when she’s sick and on the couch in the daytime, I watch whatever she wants to watch – But at night, I make the kid watch what I want to watch. Nothing inappropriate, but it’s my choice. So, the other night, at 2am, I made my kid watch the MST3k episode “Cave Dwellers.” It’s one of my favorites, and to be honest, I wasn’t too concerned with what the kid thought, as she was nauseous and going in and out of sleep. The next morning, she was feeling better, still a little under the weather, but better. And to my surprise, she was making Cave Dweller jokes – like, “I fell on my eight sided dice,” “Gotta a Minute!” and “The tapes not queued up!” I couldn’t have be prouder to be her father!
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Bad Movie Bible – Borrowing Blockbusters: RoboCop Rip-Offs
Rob Hill and his Bad Movie Bible are back with another installment of “Borrowing Blockbusters: Robocop Rip-Offs.” The funny thing is that like a week ago, I started wondering if Rob was due with another video…
I’m a fan of bad movies, and Rob does a great job of tying all of the production companies, directors and producers together to give a complete picture of how the world loves to rip-off a good movie.
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ODDS and ENDS: Real Spring, Writing in Cafes, and Teaching My Daughter Important Stuff
(What you tryin’ to hand me…)
Well, today felt like the first day of Real Spring. Not that fake Spring where it’s warm for like an hour or two, and then it goes back to being cold. No, Real Spring is when it’s cool in the morning, sunny sky, and you know that by afternoon you will need to take off your coat. Yeah, flowers are coming up, and a few buds are showing up on trees. I even saw a squirrel waving at people. I will be happy to have the windows open again, and there is something reassuring about sleeping with the windows open at night. The kid is excited because she says that she will be able to start wearing shorts again. (She equates Spring as a lower version of Summer, but who am I to burst that bubble…) Real Spring does mean that change is on the wind, and life is about to renew. It’s also when the wife and I switch from sipping bourbon to enjoying a gin and tonic after work.
I have started writing in cafes and coffee shops again. I’m not a huge fan of it; the act boarders on the side of performative art. But I have to also admit that writing at home has become a difficult situation for me. Difficult because Mario Cart is so tempting, and sitting in the apartment reminds me of how many home improvement projects I haven’t finished. So, to the neighborhood cafe I go. Luckily, I am not alone when I work there. I have been arriving at the same time each day, but haven’t discovered any regulars. As far as I can tell, I think I am the only writer. Seems like everyone else is working on code. And they all seem younger than me.
I am still trying to figure out this parenting thing. Most of the time, I do believe that I am doing a good job raising her, making sure she is prepared for the world that she will enter sooner than I would like. And I do drop the ball from time to time, and make mistakes. But, I have learned to own up to my mistakes, and apologize to her when I do fail. And then on other days, I make her sit and watch the MST3k episode of “Bride of the Monster,” because I want her to be funny. Or at least appreciate weird funny stuff. She seemed to have enjoyed it. I just need to wait and see if I hear her make Lobo jokes around her friends.