Oh, God, I'm a failure!!

For not keeping this post going. But, frankly, I don't think anyone out there cares.

If, for some reason, you've been waiting for me to post about movies I've seen and other crap like that, e-mail me at:

MattTerry@aol.com - subject: Keep posting your crap!

If not, that's fine. If I get no e-mails over the next few months I'll let this die on the vine. I don't know why I thought I could actually keep this up.

Oh thrills...

Am I 16 again?

Oh if only I were...

One of the pains in the ass of this new company is that I have to "clock in." I haven't had to clock in since I worked at Shakey's Pizza Parlor when I was 16. I didn't even have to "clock in" when I worked at Arctic Circle. I had to fill out a time-sheet. Same when I was a temp. Ever since that time, gosh, since I was, I don't know TWENTY?? I was treated as a responsible adult. Now I'm back to clocking in.

You could NOT imagine how much stress this puts on me. Now, again, I keep telling myself this is just something I have to get used to. And I fully grasp that concept but that still doesn't mean I don't get a little bit pissy having to do this every day.

Here's what happened on Wednesday. Friends called me up and wanted me to go to lunch. Lunch with this group is always at least an hour if not 1.25 or 1.5 hours. The SWEAR they will get me back in an hour. If this is so, I only have to make up a half hour, which won't be difficult. At least I don't THINK it will be difficult.So I clock out at 12:08 and run down the hill. They're waiting for me and off we go to "Seven Stars Peppers." An EXCELLENT restaurant in the International district. We have our five main courses (curry chicken balls, sweet and sour fish, pork with string beans, tofu with sauce, beef in double mushroom) plus you get a choice of seaweed or hot and sour soup. This all comes with rice and we get two appetizers. Fried Chinese pancake and hot and spicy dumplings. It's all FANTASTIC and total price for 4 people: $40. So we eat, talk, laugh and haul ass back to work.

By the time I run up the escalators and to the "clock in" - it's 1:18. And I'm dinged for a 1.25 lunch. NOW I have to make up 45 minutes.The question is: "Do you have to make up the time?" As in, "Will I get in Trouble?" Well, no. Not really. But...my paycheck will be less and I don't want to create a pattern, and I don't really want to lose money so I want to make up my time...but how?

So yesterday I go to catch the early bus. If it gets me in by 7:35 or 7:36, I get counted as if I came in at 7:30. That would get me my 15 minutes and then I just have to work through my lunch. No problem there...except that I have to write a note for the teacher-I mean, interim manager. You see, you can't just "skip your lunch" - you have to fill out a form saying WHY you skipped your lunch. It's a "decline lunch form" - so every time I work through my lunch - I've got to tell them: "Uh, I worked through my lunch and here's why." Again, this may eventually create some sort of shit storm of stupidity - but I'm not grasping why. And, let me remind everyone out there reading this: I'M 42 FUCKING YEARS OLD!!!

So I fill that out, work through my lunch, even spend an extra half-hour at Happiness and working so now I'm 15 minutes AHEAD (or hope to be) - but that's bad, too. You see, you can't just work OT. OT is bad. You have to have a logical reason. So now I either somehow find another 15 minutes to spare and leave a half-hour early (which would be nice). Or....I take a 45 minute lunch and call it good.

Oh, yay, stress. I'll get use to it. Right?

Movies, Movies, Movies

I had hoped I would not be too depressed after the Academy Awards but, alas, I was. Still, since I did not have six beers in me, I wasn't suicidal. So that's a good thing.

I've seen a number of movies lately. Most of them crap but a couple goodies in the bunch.

Saw "Forest Gump" again with the kids and am amazed at how good that movie is. Albeit there's one big issue in the middle that I can't stand that ALMOST ruins the movie for me and keeps the movie from greatness but that's life. Kids seemed to like it.

I watched some mid 70's gangster films that were good and recently saw a VERY bad film called "The Forest" where a cannabilistic man kills people and eats them while the ghosts of his dead wife and dead children haunt the hills (and talk in an echoy voice).

Saw a movie called "Mitchell" which was absurdly stupid in the "Dirty Harry" mode. But John Saxon is always good.

Another film I saw was "Cape Town Affair" with young James Brolin and Jacqueline Bissett. Had a pretty stupid plot line but had a great 60's Austin Powers sound track.

Lastly, watched a film called "A Dangerous Summer" starring Tom Skerritt. Not a bad little pot boiler but funny that the film is called what it is, but it takes place at Christmas time in Australia. So that was a bit of a paradox.

Life goes on.

THIS IS THE FUTURE (and it's a scary place)

So I'm moving along with my Public Domain collection and I come across two films. One set in the future (1986 - the film was made in the early 70's) and one set in the early 70's but deals with, well, computers.

What makes me laugh about BOTH these films is that the computers are the size of Buicks and they have all these blinking lights and flashing lights and make the "ka-chunk, ka-chunk" sounds and, well, nothing like what I'm staring at right now as I type this. Did these computers ACTUALLY exist? If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to netflix and rent: "The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes" to see what I'm talking about.

The film set soon after 1986 was soooooooo bad that it was ALMOST good. It would have been good if there were copious amounts of nudity but the fact that the first 20 minutes of the film is some ugly guy sitting in a cave looking at news-reel footage. Soon followed by Robert Vaughn and Keenan Wynn. Seems the Nazis have regrouped and are creating clones. Now, why all the clones look at a bad version of Robert Goulet with pencil thin mustache is beyond my reasoning. But bad is bad is bad and that was this film. Bad.

In this collection I'm also running across more made for TV films. And as much as I'm disappointed of not seeing violence and nudity I am seeing some pretty good films. "Tangled Web" was very good as Lloyd Bridges as a veteran cop going crazy after killing his son-in-law's girlfriend in hopes of protecting his daughter. It was actually very good.

Hopefully I will blog more soon.

Thanks for reading.

Whole New Collection Starting

Well my last collection of PD films fizzled out with the last four being "Westinghouse" TV Shows that ran about 52 minutes usually with a couple adds for their latest washing machine. Still, somewhat interesting.

Now I've started a new collection of 50 films and watched the first last night. A film called: "Suffer the Little Children" (or something) and starring Rod Taylor. It was a MTV (made for TV) movie and not that all together interesting. I think the only interesting part was that I worked with Rod Taylor a couple years later in the film "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy." But that's about it.

The other night went out to CompUSA and bought a case that holds 320 discs. I then put 100+ discs into the case last night. I've quickly realized I will not be able to get more DVDs unless I shrink my collection in some way. So this was the best, easiest and fastest way to diminish my collection without really doing so.

More later....

TV films

Hey, I'm back.

Howyadoin'?

I've got a lot on my plate recently so that's my lame excuse why I haven't blogged.

Over the weekend I watched a couple "Studio One" productions as part of my public domain collection.

These two short films (both about 55 minutes) dealt with theivery and murder and all those yummy good things that CONTINUE to enthrall audiences. Even today.

Both were pretty gritty, both in content and appearance. When I think that:

a. These were "live" stage plays and no recorded to be shown later and...

b. These were beamed into people's houses for their enjoyment...

It made me think.

Often times when I'm watching a decent, or half-way decent, PD film I often wonder what it was like sitting in that darkened theater in 1942. You're watching the first half of a double feature. Yeah, it's not that great, but it's got that one actor that you liked and the popcorn is good and when it's over you'll see the News Update and a Warner Brothers Cartoon and then you'll see wht big "A" picture with Katherine Hepburn and Walter Pidgeon and you'll melt away into a chair that, for those 4 hours, you'll call home.

The films were "okay." Quality wasn't great, as you might expect, but I was surprised at some of the violence (a man stabbed, a man hanged) and some of the sexual innuendos.

Enjoyable if short.

Film Noir Rocks!

I must say I'm quite excited. I used a gift certificate to Amazon.com to buy ANOTHER collection of 50 PD films. So that makes 100 (give or take) sitting on the sideline waiting to be viewed.

I'm also about to start Disc 10 in my current run so I'll be done with that collection soon and moving on to the next. (Each collection comes with 50 movies on 12 discs. Each disc holds 4 films and one disc holds 6 films.)

I'm tempted to go to Circuit City and buy the "War Collection" which has 100 films/documentaries on 16 discs and for only $29.95. How can you beat THAT for entertainment?

Oh, and don't fret, my friends - I've got a HUGE stockpile of probably ANOTHER 200 PD films that I haven't even looked at yet. So there.

Anyway, back to the title above. Most film noirs, as you've heard, usually revolve around some dumb cluck who stupidly falls in lust for some femme fatale willing to do anything the guy wants, as long as he's stupid enough to bump off her sig-other. He gets busted, thrown in jail, sig-other dies, leaves her a fortune and she runs off with the pool boy. Well, two of my latest 3 FN movies I've seen have turned that story on their ear.

Yes, one "Please Murder Me" had your typical Film Noir plot-line and was good (with a VERY hot Angela Landsbury all rich and horny over some artist while screwing over the rich attorney who got her off for murder). But two other films turned that typical FN plot on it's ear.

One film was called: "Woman on the Run" and it was an excellent film about a woman in a love-less marriage forced to look for her loser husband who accidently saw a murder happen. The cops want to find the guy, the mob boss wants to find the guy, the tabloid writer wants to find the guy, the wife could, really, care less. But....... In the process of teaming up with the writer, she realizes her husband still loves her and she falls back in love with him - unknowing that the tabloid writer who is working with her - is actually the murderer he saw. Damn good film and under 80 minutes.

The other film was stupidly titled "Cause for Alarm" about another woman in a marriage. This woman, little miss perfect home-maker, is feeling all guilty 'cause her husband suffers from some unknown ailment. One of the symptoms of this ailment is that he's paraniod. Paranoid about the world around him and is soundly convinced that she, and the doctor (a mutual friend) are trying to kill him. He writes up a letter to the District Attorney telling him everything and talks her into giving it to the mailman. After she gives it to the mailman, her husband confronts her, admits what he wrote in the letter, grabs a gun, points it at her and then dies of a heart attack.

As she tries to pry the gun from his hands, she ends up firing it, thus discharging the weapon and putting her fingerprints all over it.

Realizing that her only real saving grace is getting the letter back she does everything she can to get the letter back.

How does it end? Oh, it's a classic ending.

Great stuff.

As a contrast a friend of mine told me to watch Mission Impossible: III and I watched the first 30 minutes but then had to send it back to Neflix because my daughter needs a Mel Gibson film to watch ("Hamlet"). I'll watch the other 96 minutes later.