Friday Fun: Scooby Doo Theme + Ska Band

Comfort Viewing: "The Karate Kid, Part Two" (1986)

Had enough of the never-ending drumbeat of negativity, identity politics, and divisive rhetoric from all fronts?  Let me recommend one of my favorite movies, now celebrating its 30th anniversary (!).  I assume that you - as properly educated humans - have already seen 1984's original The Karate Kid, yes?  Of course you have.

There is a lot of good stuff in the sequel that it manages to engage without being prissy or preachy - eternally resonant themes like honor, justice, standing up for yourself, respect, mercy, love, friendship, family (both of blood and of choice), forgiveness, and reconciliation across divides of age, race, culture, geography, and time - and I'll leave it to you to enjoy the story, along with a gloriously bombastic, cheesy soundtrack. Hey, it's the 80s! It's OK!

 

By the way, don't bother with the rebooted Karate Kid from 2010.  Look, I love Jackie Chan as much as anybody, but there's only one Mr. Miyagi, and he is the late, great Pat Morita.  Go rewatch the original Karate Kid.

The Few. The Proud. The Pokémon Trainers.

Look who's playing Pokémon Go!

Get off the firing line, Pikachu! That's a safety violation! pic.twitter.com/WilmXFBHlf

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) July 11, 2016

2015 Retrospective: Dave Barry's Year in Review

2015 was a crazy year, and it looks even crazier in humorist Dave Barry's zany, satirical retrospective.  Here's a bit of the section on January 2015:

In Paris, 1.5 million people march in a solidarity rally following the horrific terrorist attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Eyebrows are raised when not a single top U.S. official attends, but several days later, Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrives in France with James Taylor, who — this really happened — performs the song “You’ve Got a Friend.” This bold action strikes fear into the hearts of terrorists, who realize that Secretary Kerry is fully capable, if necessary, of unleashing Barry Manilow.

Zing.

An Author Considers How to Create Characters

Fascinating read.  Here's a bit of it:

"... your bad guys need to be great. They need to be so interesting that they potentially upstage your good guys. Hans Gruber versus John McClane. I’m rooting for McClane, but Hans steals every scene with his casual, clever villainy (best Christmas movie ever, by the way). "

If you don't think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then I have nothing to say to you.

Monday Therapy: The Bluesy Prince of Bel-Air

A Contrarian's View on Star Wars Hype

I guess it does take some nerve to come right out and say this smack in the middle of the hype over the latest Star Wars trailer:

"... allow me the heresy of suggesting that all this craziness is over a movie. A movie that no one has yet seen. A movie based on another movie that was a great deal of fun 38 years ago and certainly stands as a major event in modern pop history, with or without the sequels, but that was — you may now ready the rocks for stoning — hardly a great work of cinema."

The writer then posits "the Footie Pajama Theory," which even though it does make sense, can't help but seem a little ... what's the word? ah, yes, condescending ... because of its very name.

Well, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion about Star Wars and everything else.  I'm going to allow myself the hope that the new movie is better than the abominable prequels and their most egregious error.  I'm hoping that when the new movie premieres we can all have a little fun along the way.  I'll leave you with this:

Movie Review: "Jurassic World" (2015)

LET THEM FIGHT. 

RAWR!  Jurassic World just had the biggest domestic box office opening weekend EVER, and right now it's the hottest thing to smash into the planet since the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.  This movie is the roaring, stomping, jungle-crushing behemoth of the season, and even if it can't recapture the sheer thrilling novelty of the iconic 1993 flick, it will do just fine for a mega-blockbuster popcorn flick for Summer 2015.  Really, how can you lose with Steven Spielberg as producer, the latest in eye-popping special effects, and a Goliath Franken-saur that treats other dinosaurs as chew toys, never mind 20,000 tourists?  

The movie does have its flaws.  Lots of them.  I didn't care.  I pretty much ignored them except for indulging a few eye rolls, because I had sprinted to the theatre for two things and two things only.  I raced there to see (A) Chris Pratt wrangle velociraptors (my all-time favorite dinosaur!), and (B) all kinds of other prehistoric critters wreak ridiculous amounts of bloody havoc by land, sea, and air.  In terms of those two basic requirements, Jurassic World delivered.  Everything else is distraction and detail.  

Friday Fun Video: Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Remember, though, that we've long been advised to look past our differences in order to team up against a true abomination.

The Cinema-Mad Sibling Recommends: "Kung Fury"

This awesomely lunatic, over-the-top homage to 80s cinema hit the Internet last week, and you really have to see it to believe it. 



BONUS: Music video tie-in starring a real 80s pop culture icon. Enjoy, my lovelies! 

LOL: Now THAT Is How You Call Into a Cable News Show

Nerd Fun: Scientists Sneaking Bob Dylan Lyrics Into Publications

It ain't me, babe. It's a bunch of Swedish scientists.

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: WHAT?

Sanrio just made a bombshell of an announcement.  So ... basically I've been living under a delusion for my entire life.

March Madness: Duke's Out In the First Round

I didn't even have time to blink, much less get my Duke hate on, before the Blue Devils got eliminated from the Big Dance this afternoon.  And just who beat the #3 seed and basketball powerhouse?  Mercer. WHO?  Yeah.  Mercer, the 14th-seeded school that I had never even heard of.

You know, gigantic upsets like this are what make March Madness so great!  

By the way, that howling you hear is the sound of millions of college hoops fans lamenting their now-ruined brackets.

As for Duke ... BYE BYE BYE!

UPDATE: Need a tutorial in dancing the Nae Nae on the grave of Duke's tournament dreams?  We aim to please here at MM Blog!

Couch Potato Chronicles: Stats and Arguing About TV

Lies, damned lies, and statistics!  I don't care.  I still think Breaking Bad is better than The Wire.  There. I said it.

Friday Fun Video: Simpsons International

LOLympics: The Hockey Stakes Have Never Been Higher

GO, TEAM USA!  BEAT CANADA!

LOL: Dave Barry's 2013 In Review

Barry is as hilarious as ever.  Here's a taste of his retrospective:

This year was so bad that twerking wasn’t even the stupidest dance craze. That would be the “Harlem Shake,” which is not so much a dance as a mass nervous-system disorder, and which makes the “Gangnam Style” dance we mocked in 2012 look like “Swan Lake.”

Well, he's not wrong!  The entire piece is full of quotable bits, but I leave you with this:

On the Obamacare front, the administration declares that the federal Web site has been significantly improved, although there are still occasional glitches, such as one that enables a Milwaukee woman seeking to compare dental plans to accidentally launch a tactical nuclear strike against Guatemala.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" AKA the Breaking Bad marathon

FYI, AMC is right this minute running a marathon of its iconic pop culture Emmy-winning behemoth Breaking Bad.  Just when I thought I had gotten over the fact that the show had ended, this brings it all back.  What a great show.  It's streaming on Netflix too, so if you've never tried it, you've no excuse.  (Besides, no matter how awful your family holiday gathering is, at least you're not the Whites and Schraders.)  Also, either you ultimately love Jesse Pinkman, or you're wrong.

Nerd Fun: One Professor's Hilarious Announcement

Via Imgur.