MQ. . . WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?

So, if you have been following this blog at all (Ok, that might not be fair, but anyway), you know that I am a HUGE MonsterQuest fan. So you know when I say I am not happy with the direction an episode takes, or if I think an episode is odd, you know I mean it.

Right? No? Bueller?

Anyway.

The point behind MonsterQuest (at least, I felt, the first season's purpose) is to investigate stories of sightings of cryptids (hidden animal creatures, like Bigfoot, Nessie, and the ilk). Season One was very interesting, and there were several episodes where some evidence was found, either for or against the cryptid's claim. Even the one episode that was kinda lame that season, the Rods episode, was interesting, and I feel that they did a good job disproving the claims made by Rod supporters. Eitherway, the show focussed on Cryptozoology and investigations in that field.

Season Two was also very interesting, although some of the episodes were not really in the same field as others (the Super Rats one was more humorous than suspenseful episodes). This was also the season that broke from the search for hidden animals (Cryptozoology) into a more paranormal world. This was shown in two episodes, one dealing with Ghosts and one dealing with Vampires. Even those episodes, however, had exact targets (or prey, if you will) that the investigators were hunting. They were looking for ghosts in that house. They were looking at a particular person to see if they were a vampire. There was still the immediate hunt.

Season Three, at least so far, as broken the trend a bit. The second episode this season deals with Cattle Mutilations, the strange phenomenon of cows and other livestock randomly appearing overnight in fields, cut open with particular organs removed, almost as if a person did not do it. An interesting phenomenon, yes, but not one that deals with Cryptozoology in particular. And, for the first time, there was not an exact prey. They were not hunting an exact creature, but were more just looking at mutilations and wondering what they were and what caused them. An interesting idea for UFO Hunters, another show on History, but not MonsterQuest.

Also disappointing, though now I'm just being picky, deals with last night's episode dealing with the New Jersey Devil, who has been around for about 250 years. They tried to connect the NJ Devil, which looks like this:


























with the Montauk Monster, which I posted about earlier on this blog, back in August. The Montauk monster looks like this:
















As you can see, it doesn't exactly look like the Jersey Devil. In fact, it doesn't look much like it at all.

So I ask MonsterQuest, "WHY? HOW?"

Sigh. I guess I'm just being picky. I'm still gonna watch the show though. The next episode is about Alligators in Sewers. Fun.

Oscars

I did something I have never done before the other night (Sunday). I watched the Oscars.

I know what you're thinking. Ibid! You love movies, and you've never watch the Oscars? Well yes, the answer is that I have not watch the Oscars before Sunday night.

But now I have. One more check off the "TO DO" list. One more thing to say I've done, and lived to tell about it.

Here is my telling.

It was a fairly entertaining show. Hugh Jackman did a fine job hosting. He showcased his talents (literally dancing and singing, all while wearing a full tux!) and did what he had to do to win the hearts of the audience. They did something kinda cool this year, with older winners of the acting categories presenting the awards to this year's winners. For example, in the Best Actor category, past winners of the Best Actor category said some words to the nominees, and then they announced the winner. It was kinda cool, just looking at the history behind the movies. Also cool was the way they set up most of the awards. They presented the awards in the creative order that a movie goes through, i. e., starting with a screenplay, moving to cinematography, sets and costumes, special effects, and then ending up with the final categories: Actor, Actress, and Picture. It was neat; a bit odd, but neat.

Good Parts

1. Slumdog Millionaire pretty much sweeped the show, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, as well as a bunch of other ones. It's always nice when smaller, independent films beat up the "Made for Oscar" movies like Milk or The Reader. Plus it looks like the movie has heart, which is always a good thing to have in a Best Picture winner.
   
2. Heath Ledger won for The Dark Knight. If he had not won, I might have given up the movie award system for the rets of my life. He literally kicked butt in his role (as everyone knows, his last big one before his death) and well deserved his reward. Few performances this year could top his transformation.
   
3. Man on Wire won for best documentary. Despite its random sex scene, this was not only the most interesting documentary movie I think I've ever seen, it was one of the more facinating movies I saw this year.
   

Bad Parts

1. Sean Penn won for Milk. Now, I'm sure Milk is a good movie, and I'm even more sure that Sean Penn did an award worthy job playing the title character. The problems were thus: When you have an actor who took a role not because it was a great character, but because he wants to prove a point, you inevitably get an acceptance speech that is part sermon. Sean Penn is a classic Hollywood liberal. Remember, this is one of the people who went down to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to bash Bush. His acceptance speech at the Oscars was no different. After thanking some friends ("you commie, homo-loving sons of guns"), etc, he proceeded to speak to those who voted against Proposition 8 in the most recent election. (Proposition 8, for those who don't know, was the chance for the voters of California to vote on whether or not they wanted marriage between homosexuals to be legal. The result of the election proved that the majority of Californians do not support gay marriage, much to the shock and horrification of Hollywood. End of digression.) Shame on you, he told the voting public of California, for your hatred and bigotry. It was not the time or the place for such a speech, and not just myself but many fans of films are offended not as much with the content, but with the arrogance that Mr. Penn demonstrated.
   

Other than that, I enjoyed the show. Hope its good next year too.

VOLSUNGASAGA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Besides the fact that that word means absolutely nothing to some of you. . .

How many of you have heard of J. R. R. Tolkien? Good, put your hands down. He's the guy who wrote The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, etc. Well, what a lot of people don't know is that he was also a great medieval literary scholar. In fact, he was one of the most influential contributors to the study of Beowulf, the Old English poem of monsters and heroes.

That's part one of what you need to know. Here's the second part.

There is an Old Norse saga called Volsungasaga (The Saga of the Volsungs) which involves a hero (Sigurd) slaying a dragon (Fafnir) and taking the cursed gold, ending up in the middle of the most epic Medieval cat fight, and tragically dies. Tolkien encountered the story at a young age in the form of Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. He incorporated the story into his fantasy literature (the legend involves dragons, a cursed ring, and other motifs Tolkien adapted) and always considered it a great work, listing Fafnir as the only other true dragon in medieval literature, next to the one that is in Beowulf.

Now for the exciting part. Remember how I said the saga is in Old Norse. Well. . .

TOLKIEN TRANSLATED IT!!!! AND THE BOOK FORM OF THE TRANSLATION IS COMING OUT IN MAY!!!!!!!!

Check out the website.

I had never heard of the translation before, which is surprising, given all the detail I went into in my thesis. Noting that Tolkien translated the work would have been worthy of note.

But anyway, I WANT TO BUY THE BOOK!!!!!!!

Just to let you know. . .

I've seen 103 out of 241 films

[I got this from Facebook, but I figured I would have a wider readership here. Besides, the posts become notes on Facebook, so posting here covers all my friends. Enjoy!]

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 241 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom.

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
( ) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
(x) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 12

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 13

( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 16

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
() Robots
Total so far:20

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far:24

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
(x) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 29

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 31

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
(x) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 37

(x) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x ) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x ) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
(x) Bourne Ultimatum
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 44

( x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss’s Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so 51

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 59

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Spider-Man 3
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 71

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(x) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
(x) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 74

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(x) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Total so far: 81

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
( ) Highlander
(x) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 83

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 87

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
Total so far: 91

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 94

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 100

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( )Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Total so far: 103

Now Add them up and...

Put "I've seen… out of 241 films" in the subject line and repost it

MQ Season 3

NEW SEASON OF MONSTERQUEST (already?) STARTS WEDNESDAY, 2/5/09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Excited? HECK YES!!!!!!!!!!