Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Dream Journal

I said I'd list the movies we've watched so far from our Dream Journal, so here goes:

June 24:
Batman Begins (2005)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (MST3K)

June 26:
'Manos': The Hands of Fate (MST3K)

June 28:
Maryjane (1968) -- starring 1960s teen idol Fabian, this movie is awesomely weird and not what I thought it would be AT ALL.
Roller Boogie (1979)

June 29:
Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)

June 30:
The Manster (1962) -- apparently made for Japanese TV; short, bizarre, and racier than you'd think.

July 1:
The Last Seduction (1994)

July 2:
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

July 3:
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

July 4:
Ankle Biters (2002) -- vampire little people, ultra low budget.
Alone in the Dark (2005) -- the worst movie I've ever seen starring Tara Reid as a scientist. Hey, she was wearing glasses!

Obviously, this was an organized Bad Movie Night.

July 5:
Little Cigars (1973) -- crime caper starring Angel Tompkins and a cast of more little people. Midgetsploitation!
Watch the Skies (2005) -- Turner Classic Movies documentary about alien invasion movies. Started out good and then turned into a shameless plug for Speilberg's latest offering, which I haven't seen and can't get excited about.

July 7:
The Wasp Woman (1960) -- a Roger Corman classic.

July 8:
Fantastic 4 (2005)

July 9:
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Forbidden Planet (1957)

July 10:
The Long Good Friday (1980)

July 12:
Your Friends and Neighbors (1998)
Man of La Mancha (1972)

July 14:
My Bodyguard (1980) -- do you like Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne on Firefly? This was his first movie. It also features a very young Matt Dillon and Joan Cusack. This is a prototype for '80s teen movies, down to being set and shot in Chicago, but with '70s movie pacing, sensibility and brains.

July 15:
The Hellcats (MST3K) -- try inferring the plot of this biker movie

July 16:
Dodgeball (2004) -- "So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?" "Right now it feels a little bit like... shame."

July 17:
Reefer Madness (1936) -- DVD with Mike Nelson commentary

July 18:
Priest (1994)

July 19:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

July 21:
Die, Monster, Die! (1965) -- starring Boris Karloff and Oakley Court, the house where a bunch of Hammer horror flicks and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot. I didn't know that about the movie until the house appeared in the movie, and then I exclaimed, "Hey! I've been there!" And so Meredith and I have. Their website has a little bit of information on Oakley Court's history, including the fact that it is believed to have been the British headquarters of the French resistance during World War II. Now it's a fancy hotel, hardly creepy at all. You should probably avoid the basement anyway. By the way, the title of this movie is VERY misleading.

July 22:
Wedding Crashers (2005) -- raunchy, politically incorrect, and very funny. Refreshing to see a movie like this; I'm about PG-13ed to death.

July 23:
Old School (2003) -- another spot of raunchy fun
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) -- saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse Village in Austin. What can I say; I was in the mood and hadn't seen it in years.

July 24:
Bad News Bears (2005)

July 28:
Punk: Attitude -- a documentary from IFC about the history of punk rock.

July 29:
Breathless (1983) -- American remake of Godard's influential film. This movie was clearly an inspiration for True Romance and, I'd argue, certain elements of the Butch & Fabiana segment of Pulp Fiction. A surprising amount of naked Richard Gere in this movie, if you're into that sort of thing.
Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) -- documentary on a skateboarding legend who pulled a spectacular crash-and-burn. This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the subject quits drugs, gets a whole lotta religion, and THEN rapes and murders a girl. Sad, compelling, and the place to go if you never invited Vision Street Wear into your life and want to see what you missed.

July 30: Eegah! (MST3K)

July 31:
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
The Bad News Bears (1976)


And that's where we came in. I notice we rarely if ever watch anything on a Wednesday. That's Lost and Veronica Mars night, so we're busy.

Bring me my ranch dressing hose!

Here's a an interesting story from Slate.com about the history of ranch dressing. The story includes the Homer Simpson quote from my headline, which is frequently bellowed at our house. My husband has wondered aloud on many occasions about the sudden popularity of ranch; it seemed to come out of nowhere in the early 1980s and dominate everything. The article gets bonus points for mentioning my very favorite ranch innovation, the Wasabi Ranch Dipping Sauce for Boneless Shanghai Wings at Chili's. Mmm, Wasabi Ranch!

Ranch isn't my favorite, but a friend who works in an Austin restaurant says sorority girls from University of Texas will drown absolutely any kind of food in it. Gross. Even I think that's nasty, and I'm a huge fan of dipping sauces. I've found lowfat ranch usually tastes ok, but I have never tasted a fat-free ranch that wasn't repulsive. This makes sense now that I've read the article and learned that one of the main ingredients in real ranch dressing is fat. Mmm, delicious fat!

What's your favorite salad dressing? I like Caesar, with or without anchovies.

Thanks to Pop Culture Junk Mail (which uses the same template as this site, but I HAD IT FIRST! Just me and surely tens of thousands of others!) for the link.