Category Archives: Writing

Books, Review, Writing

The Exorcist Book Review

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INTRODUCTION
The Exorcist is one of those iconic movies that no matter when you were born, you probably heard about it. The movie was so intense for the time period that it is claimed it sent people reeling from the cinema in droves, which is believable, given no audience prior to had seen such atrocious scenes laid out before them. Night of the Living Dead was one such film of its timeframe in 1968, but by 1973, the film landscape had changed so vastly that Night of the Living Dead just seemed tame in comparison. Still to this day, few movies with more balls have been made. Can you imagine forced pedo-sapphic incest happening on screen today? Nope and this is why this film is still considered legendary. Having first seen this film in the 90’s, I thought it was tame. I honestly hate anything religious, especially religious horror, because the idea of possession is so mentally absurd, that I can’t suspend my disbelief to believe it is happening. Unlike Freddy, which we know isn’t believed by idiots, we can easily suspend disbelief. Regardless, I decided all these years later to give the book a go and this is my thoughts on Blatty’s iconic novel.

SYNOPSIS
A young Hollywood actress’ daughter becomes “possessed” by a “demon” and you guessed it, an exorcism happens.

CHARACTERS
The only thing less developed then the 12 year old lead in this book is the supporting cast. Most are just there with nothing overly interesting about them. Karras and Lt. Kinderman are the only interesting characters in this novel as with the movies.

PROSE
It’s alright, but it isn’t better than most New York Times bestselling books out there. Blatty had his moments, but it isn’t overly painful to read like Game of Thrones is, either.

SUBTEXT/THEMES
Thematically the book deals with mental illness, religion, belief and other “fun” concepts, but subtext is pretty non-existent, minus one Youtuber who pointed out that the movie had great subtext for sexual abuse. Sadly, while I agree with it, the point of view and how this book is written, along with how the movie goes, pretty much refutes that. Blattly himself even said he didn’t intend for it that way. So, sadly, possession in both the movie and book are quit literal.

CONCULSION
Hardly the worse book I’ve ever read, but it seems more like a parody of the movie. I mean, Regan is a dork, red head kid and the iconic scenes of the movie don’t register the same in the book, they seem weird and don’t fit. Calling the kids rags, is laughable and a horrible nickname. Everything people love about the movie, in this book, seems more mocking in tone, which was clearly not the intent. Mind you this book is 40 years old, along with the movie, but the movie, while I loathe it, holds up better. If you really want to give it a go, feel free to, but otherwise, much like how the book was received prior to a lucky chance appearance by Blattly on a talk show in the 1970’s which catapulted it to fame, I think it is better ignored.

3 out of 5

Fashionably Late Reviews, Horror, Reviews, Writing

Fashionably Late Movie Reviews:Jason Lives, Friday the 13th part VI.

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INTRODUCTION
Jason Lives is without a doubt my favorite of the Friday the 13th movies. It was Meta before Scream and I adore Scream, so this one was defiantly up my alley. This one holds up the best on television and it was not as over the top as some of the earlier and later sequels. So does it hold up 33 years after the fact?

SYNOPSIS
Tommy Jarvis, past victim of Jason, returns to Crystal Lake to burn Jason’s dead body. A lighting strike hits Jason, resurrecting him, ala old 1930-1950 style movies and Jason is back to kill a bunch of people with poor character development for our entertainment.

CHARACTERS
Tommy had been built for three movies and still he is a mediocre Nancy Thompson for this franchise, but he is acted much better in this flick. The rest of the characters are filler to see killed because it is a Friday the 13th and who the hell needs character development?

ACTING
Some of the stronger acting of the series. It really wanted to set itself apart from past sequels and do its own thing. Even the smallest role is very well acted in this movie. It’s not hokey, even 33 years later.

KILLS
Nothing over the top, just your quick machete to the gut or something else just as tame by this series standards but that is ok and one of the things that makes this flick hold up.

SUBTEXT
It’s Friday the 13th, for real tho!

CONCLUSION
Part 6 didn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but it did make the old structure fresh and fun, while giving birth to the meta genre. Its kills are banal and mediocre, there is no nudity and ultimately it seems like it should not satisfy gore hounds, yet it does and it looks really good to this day.

3.5/5

FUN FACT:
Jason Lives seems to take place in the future, given the fact that Jarvis is at least 30 something, as the actor himself was. If we are to use the chronical age of the actors, given that there is no real way of telling the age of the characters themselves, since Corey Feldman was a teenager in the former sequels, then Part 6 takes place in 2006/2007 and would technically be the final Friday before Jason X would come about.

Fashionably Late Reviews, Reviews, Writing

Fashionably Late Movie Reviews: Hot Tub Time Machine

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Introduction
Hot Tub Time Machine was a movie I wanted to review years ago, but never got a chance to because it didn’t seem to warrant a review. It wasn’t that type of movie and I don’t want to review something that was supposed to be fun with my uncouth, low brow, analysis. 10 years later and I said, fuck it, I’m going to re-watch it and give it my thoughts.

Synopsis
Lifelong buddies who are all stuck in a runt decide to spend some time at their own 20 something stomping grounds, due to the near fatal suicide attempt of one of them. When they get there, they quickly find out that they’re not the only ones who aged into a runt, but the lodge has as well. Drinking ensues and all of them end up back in the 80s due to a, you guessed it, hot tub time machine.

Characters
Nothing to write home about, they’re typical stock characters for this flick and barley distinguishable from one another. The actors are the only thing that makes the characters memorable.

Acting
Very good, nothing to complain about here.

Subtext
It is called Hot Tub Time Machine, where you expecting Shakespeare?

Conclusion
This is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, it has weak character development, and it breaks its own rules all the time. What is the point in establishing rules if you break them? It can’t even get the ages right of the characters. I was born in 86, this came out in February of 2010. I was 23 going on 24 and the age of the kid in the movie is 20. That would mean the movie would have to be based in 2006, not 2010 like the dial on the machine says. The movie ends with a upbeat, Back to the Future style ending that none of the characters deserve and once again breaks the rules of doing everything the exact same way they did when they originally, at one point including a bet about a John Elway pass that was stopped due to changing the past, but whatever. In spite of its flaws, the soundtrack is decent, the jokes are funny, it is well acted and ultimately it is a good ride. This was not going to win any awards, but ultimately, it was nothing but a good time and that is all that matters.

3.5 out of 5

beer, Reviews, Writing

Lagunitas 12th of Never Ale Review

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https://twitter.com/Bestinyourgirl/status/1117878350435852288

Essays, Non-fiction, Writing

Shallow Thinking

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Shallow thinking versus deep thinking, what does it ultimately entail? Well, I did a Google search and decided that the best possible answer I could find was that shallow thinking is reflective of merely that which you can visually see or glib understanding of a topic, while a more complex angle or more original view point is deeper thinking. The world we live in thrives on shallow thinking, Youtube does not exist without it and its “hottakes”, which people love, because depth in this world is genuinely hated. Consider professional wrestling, Heel (Bad guy) who are intellectually inclined are almost always intelligent based, occasionally this pattern changes, but a babyface (good guy) is almost never intelligent. This isn’t the only place in our culture that ostracizes the intelligent. Take Superman or comics in general for instance, Kal-el is dumb as rocks and really has nothing going for him, Batman and Louis Lane essentially have to do his thinking for him and Lex Luthor, a scientist, classical music lover, thinker, strategist and all around badass is his arch enemy. Why must complexity be so demonized? Well, shallow thinkers have a hard time understanding the deeper aspects of the world and this causes them distress in some cases, like a reverse form of empathy, except it hinders the person in question as opposed to helping them make a decision that is worthwhile. For instance, my love of Professional Wrestling is often a button for scorn and ridicule, because “How could someone as smart as you like such filth?” which was a popular phrase said to me as a child or how now a days, the concept of me thinking deep in general earns me the ire of individuals with such phrases as “Why do you deserve to be so smart?” which clearly is steeped in envy of the fact I have higher general intelligence than that particular individual. Now you’re probably wondering why I am bringing this up as all and to be fair, I wasn’t quite sure myself, until I started writing, but I felt a need to let out some frustrations of life living in a town of shallow thinkers as my primary motivation, even though I know I am not alone with those of you plagued by the SJW and Alt-right and there shallow thinking that is still causing issues in our society at present. I currently don’t have a solution for the world’s ills but I do know that deeper, more complex thinking is a must and we need to change society to herald the intelligence and stop rejecting them.

P.S. If you’re wondering why this piece is dense, it’s because such a thicket of dense writing is normally considered complex, and I want you to feel how these people do when they’re engaging those of use with the ability to see pass the superficial, while, in and of itself, being shallow thinking on such.

Writing

USCCA

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membercard

Edit: I do not support them any longer. I haven’t been a member for several years now, but still was fine with my original review. Now I can no longer do that. See why here:

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Start old review, now redacted

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Im back and on a brand new and fully functioning laptop. Writing by tablet was interesting but not a route I ever want to have to go, unless pushed, in the future. Writing on a laptop is so much more fluid and functioning. I downloaded my word processer and am ready to pump out a new article for Bestinyourgirl.com, this one is on a product I use, USCCA.

In April of 2018, I picked up my first actual gun. I grew up being able to use BB guns and had a plethora of toy guns, but a side arm wasn’t affordable until I was 30 years old. I got the Smith and Wesson SD9VE for $270 dollars with FFL transfer fees. I may not own a lot, but I know for sure that I was going to need insurance. Now, I’m a stickler who is normally anti-insurance, because it is a borderline pyramid scheme. I looked around at all levels of insurance to find what I deemed the best and that was USCCA.

It has fantastic costumer service, it’s members are top notch, the magazine is amazing, it isn’t really insurance, so much as it’s a country club for those of us who invoke our second amendment rights, it just also happens to protect us, should we ever have to exercise that right on a bad guy. I wish all insurance companies were like this, as I would proudly pony up the money. The best part of it all, is being a crazy constitutionalist isn’t considered a pre-consisting condition and if even if it was, they won’t reject me for that. All they ask is that when I need to invoke my 2A right, I am 100% legal, you can’t ask for more than that.

*Full Discloser though, I was given the shirt but not for this review. I won it on Twitter and I have been a member for almost a year at that point. It really is that great!