This month I'm loving...

Online chatting.

Whether it's via twitter or a forum I just have to say it's absolutely *awesome*.

The conversations that people have online are intelligent, interesting and inspirational.  They are also - quite often in fact - really funny.  Where else can you chat about the books with outlandish titles, linear writing vs free-form writing (or chapter hopping as I call it - and which I am entirely notorious for doing in my own writing) and which TV show pairing is awesome or just plain icky and voice your opinion that the she or he of such pairing should be killed, preferably in the most gruesome way possible.

I always come away from these chats with a warm, glowy feel-good feeling that helps to inspire and encourage me throughout the day.  I also often come away with an ever increasing list of music to listen to, things to read and movies/TV shows to watch.  So much so that I've pretty much given up the idea that I will ever get my To-be-read, watched and listen to pile down. 

And that's exactly how I like it.

Pitch Perfect

I found out about this movie entirely from twitter conversations which raved about it. So of course I just had to check it out.

As you do.

It's funny, has awesome female characters and some great singing.  It also has The Cup song.  And if you don't know what this is then you really do need to check it out.  It just might make you want to watch this movie for that scene alone.

Bleak Expectations

I *adore* Anthony Head, better known as Giles from Buffy as well as a realm of British TV shows and the Nescafe coffee ads from the late 80's.

I now adore him even more after listening to this radio comedy in which he plays Mr Gently Benevolent, the sinister villain. 

Bleak Expectations is a silly, hammy and utterly irreverent take on just about every Charles Dickens novel written plus a few others.  My favourite was the War of The Worlds send-up of which I will probably never look at in quite the same way again.

Reviver by Seth Patrick

"Jonah Miller is a Reviver, able to temporarily revive the dead so they can say goodbye to their loved ones--or tell the police who killed them. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is on the other side watching..."

A crime novel.  A horror novel. A science fiction novel. Reviver combines them all in this creepy and absorbing read.

172 Hours On The Moon by Johan Harstad

"More than forty years since the first moon landing,  no-one has been back since then - until now. Three teenagers are about to find out why..."

Blood-curling creepy.  The ending will just blow your mind.

Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

"16 year old Angie finds herself in her neighborhood with no recollection of her abduction or the 3 years that have passed since, until alternate personalities start telling her their stories through letters."

Gripping and sad, Pretty Girl-13 is a story of a girl trying to come back after the truly horrific has happened to her.

Backtrack by Jason Dean

"James Bishop is no stranger to being on the wrong side of the law. Finally a free man, with his name cleared, he has the chance to get his life back on track. But as he flees the scene of the hold-up with a terrified hostage, he once again finds himself a wanted man."

This novel starts out one way and then takes a complete 180 and spins everything you thought you know on its head.  Don't you just love stories that do that?

They'll Never Win An Oscar But Do We Really Care...

I thought about doing an Oscar's post (hence the title) but then wondered do we really care about the Oscars?

It's always interesting to find out who wins and take a peek at the fashions the stars are wearing but at the end of the day how many of us remember which movie won an Oscar and which didn't? And does any of it really affect our viewing habits and the movies that we love.

So instead I've decided to dedicate this post to the movies that don't get much (if any recognition).  The movies that are our guilty pleasures that cheer us up when we're down or that we enjoy just for the hell of it.

These are the movies we love.  That we wallow in when we're bored or sad or just wanting to veg out in front of the TV.

Some of these movies are so bad that their actually good.  There are also movies that were good all along but  rarely acknowledged and then there are the movies that we just love and we don't care if others think we're mad for liking them.

So what are your favourite movies to wallow in?

Pretty in Pink

"She's a high school girl from the wrong side of town. He's the wealthy heartthrob who asks her to the prom. But as fast as their romance builds, it's threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure."

I make no apologies for this movie or the one below being on this list.  

80's movies aimed at teens were the best.  Featuring great music, romance, and rebellion - these are perfect movies to put you in a feel good frame of mind and take you back to your teenage years.

Also check out: The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful, Say Anything.
Footloose

"A city-boy moves to a small Midwestern town where the local officials have banned dancing and rock 'n roll music."

Ahhh Kevin Bacon.

Better known now as the husband of Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and the star of new show The Following, he was back in the 80's a fresh face young guy who knew how to dance.

Forget the remake, this is the only Footloose movie you need to see.

Also check out: Dirty Dancing, Flashdance, Fame

Withnail and I 

"Two down-and-out British actors leave their city life for a disastrous vacation in the country with an eccentric uncle."

I saw Paul McGann at a convention a few years ago and he was brilliant.

Funny and interesting and filled with great stories and yes he talked about Withnail and I, a movie he still gets people asking about and begging for him to quote lines from.

Also check out: Trainspotting, Quarophenia, Human Traffic, Rushmore, Ghost World.
 
Starship Troopers

"Courageous soldiers travel to the distant and desolate Klendathu system for the ultimate showdown between the species."

You've gotta love a movie that is this bad and luckily for the movie itself there are people out there who do.

It has bad acting, a bunch of pretty boys and girls who try to act all badass, aliens from outer space and plenty of blood and gore. It is also wonderfully funny, something I an sure wasn't the intention in the first place but which has earned it it's cult following.

Also check out any of the following (the acting is heaps better): Any of the Alien franchise,  Predator (1 & 2), Tremors.

The Lost Boys

"When two brothers move to the sleepy town of Santa Carla one of them begins to undergo a change..."

Before their was Twilight or Vampire Diaries or even Buffy there was The Lost Boys. Vampires who were ruthless killers with a touch of pretty boy thrown in for good measure. 

Also check out: Near Dark, Fright Night (the original 1985 version), John Carpenters Vampires, From Dusk to Dawn.

Miller's Crossing

"During prohibition two gangland bosses struggle for control over a city, with one of the boss's lieutenants caught in the middle."
  
This one of those great movie's that didn't  get the recognition it deserved when it was first released but luckily is now seen as one of the best crime movies ever made.

Also check out: Any of the Coen brothers other movies (Fargo, Blood Simple, No Country For Old Men, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski),  GoodFellas, Once Upon A Time In America.

Dazed and confused

"The adventures of incoming high school and junior high students on the last day of school, in May of 1976."

Stoners, skaters, jocks and geeks this movie features them all as well as an awesome 70's classic rock soundtrack.  It's worth watching this movie just for the soundtrack alone.

Also check out: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Empire Records, American Graffiti

The Princess bride 
 
"The adventures of Buttercup, the most beautiful woman in the world, and Westley, the man she loves, in the fairytale kingdom of Florin."

Probably one of my all time favourite movies.  I ADORE Princess Bride. The writing, the acting, the story are all just beautiful.

This is how a fairytale should be told.

Also check out: The Neverending Story, Labyrinth,

And some more cult favourites you may want to check out: Planet of the Apes (1968 version), Beetlejuice, Cherry 2000, Go, The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Reservoir Dogs, Highlander, The Fifth Element, Conan the Barbarian (1982 version), Red Sonja.

Attack of the Munchies i.e. Zombies Take Over the World

I've recently developed a relationship with The Walking Dead.

And surprisingly I mean that quite literally.

Now I've never been much of a horror fan.  All that blood and guts and gore just freaks me out and not in a good way.  And yes I know it's kind of weird considering how much I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS), The Vampire Diaries (VD...mmm unfortunate acronym) and Supernatural.

Then again none of these shows have much to do with horror and instead are all about great characters, great story lines and great music.  The blood letting is in fact quite minimal, which is just the way I like it.  Gore has never been my thing and I've mostly kept away from anything stomach churning.  I know, it's very wussy of me and wuss that I am I've avoided watching The Walking Dead.

Until recently that is.

It's a love/hate relationship at best. 

I love the tension and excitement and some of the characters and hate all the rest... you know the blood and guts bits... of which there are several... which of course means that I generally watch the show with my eyes half covered and my fingers in my ears because yes the sound effects can be pretty yucky as well, all that squishing and oozing and splashing of blood well it's enough to give you nightmares... which again  means I generally watch this show in the daylight.

As I said it's all very wussy of me. 

As my good friend Xander (from BTVS) would say "I laugh in the face of danger and then I hide until it goes away"

Of course this new found love/hate of The Walking Dead has led to some rather strange conversations with my other half, such as me informing him that if he were to ever become a zombie I wouldn't hesitate to shoot him in the head, which he thought was a) rather sweet and b) just a tad worrisome...

I, of course, would probably be first on the menu.  The life of a wuss never ends well.

The Walking Dead

"After an epidemic turns people around the world into zombies, a police officer leads a band of survivors as they look for safety and try to find a cure."

Based on the hugely successful comic by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead craze has taken over the world.  Gory it is, but it is also exciting and tension filled, with characters that you either loathe and wish the munchies would just take a bite out of or love and cheer on as they fight for survival.

Zombieland

A zombie movie that is funny too, featuring the always awesome Woody Harrelson as a gun-toting zombie slayer, a guess appearance by Bill Murray and Jesse Eisenberg as a wuss who learns to fight back.

Now this is my kind of zombie movie, violent yes but low on gore and with a sense of humour.

The Return Man / V. M. Zito.

"The outbreak tore the USA in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness. They call it the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead to deliver peace. Now Homeland Security wants Marco, for a mission unlike any other."

A serious zombie book, if you can have such thing, and one that is really good.

Outpost / Adam Baker.

"They took the job to escape the world, they didn't expect the world to end. A derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean with a crew of 15 who must battle not only the elements but the hell that awaits them on the mainland."

Personally I think if a zombie apocalypse broke out, the last thing I want to do is to stay on the mainland and an oil refinery in the middle of nowhere sounds like a great haven to me, then again wuss here speaking so you'd know I'd be the first one heading for the hills if things went bad...

World War Z: an oral history of the zombie war / Max Brooks.

"The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. This is a firsthand account of the experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years."

Considered one of the greatest zombie books ever written this classic (can a book that is only 6 years old be considered a classic?) is now headed to the big screen with a highly anticipated release due out next year.

Rot and Ruin / Jonathan Maberry

"In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter."

The first in a series of three this book aimed at teens but more than suitable for adults follows the tale of Benny a teenage zombie hunter and saviour of the world. 

And we thought our life as a teenager was hard.

Knit Your Own Zombie: over 100 combinations to rip 'n' reassemble for horrifying resullts / Fiona Goble.

"Forget stress balls: next time things get tough, express your feelings by ripping a zombie apart. No need to feel guilty about it afterward, either - fitted up with Velcro strips, its just as easy to put him together again. 8 full zombie characters are laid out here in neat little sets, each part knitted quickly and separately."

Feeling the need to cuddle up with your very own zombie, then look no further.  These zombie toys are the perfect Christmas present for that Goth Girl (or Guy for that matter).

Zombigami: paper folding for the living dead.

"Easy to follow, step-by-step instructions show you how to fold simple origami paper into some of the most revolting creatures of the night. This origami crew of the undead includes Starvin' Marvin who hungers for a sip of fresh blood; Idle Hands, whose hands are no longer attached to his body and Suzie Gravemaker, everyone's favourite zombie mum!"

And the zombie craze continues with this origami book.  Why you would want to I have no idea but each to their own.

Zombies Hate Stuff / Greg Stones.

"Zombies hate clowns. They also hate hippies, penguins, nudists, weddings, and kittens but strangely don't mind Canadians. Each ghoulishly colorful painting reveals a funny and unexpected scene of zombie disgruntlement, cataloging the stuff that really riles up the walking dead with wit, humour, and, of course, brains."

Just when you thought the zombie craze couldn't get any stranger a book like this comes along. 

Forget about vampires, Zombies are taking over the world.