Instrument Mutation and Tons of Bad Movie...ation.

I decided a couple weeks ago to turn my balalaika project into a guitar. I'd still like to have a babalaika, I just got curious to see if I could do it. Originally, I used much more basic hardware, but I decided to cheat a little to do the conversion and use some parts from an old guitar of mine. Yeah, you try making a headstock with a jigsaw. It's hard. I rigged the headstock so it pinches the nut (haha!) against the neck. The strings are too close together and not very evenly spaced, but I'll be damned if they don't keep their tune, at least for a day, anyway. In the video (which you may have to turn up the volume to hear), you'll see I had to use the tail-piece from the parts-guitar, too.

I got the comic out a little late on Friday, but it's technically on time, so quit whining. I may need to take next week off the comic, due to schoolwork. I'm going to have a project due soon. I'll let everyone know by Monday.

We were going to see the St Patrick's Day parade today, but I think we're gonna skip it and take Isabella to Horton Hears a Who instead. This is our second attempt at taking her to a movie, hopefully it works out better than the first one. If it does, I'll stick it in my reviews.

I just found out Type O Negative might be playing Fargo in June, and I don't know if I can take the time off to go! Karissa and I are taking our SD vacation the week before, and it's not that easy for me to take a bunch of time off one week then another day the next.

What Am I Watching?

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?- Wow, the title says it all. A beatnik visits a fortune teller and, after receiving some bad news, becomes hypnotized by her dancer sister into becoming a killer. It takes forever to get to any good parts, the dancing must have been choreographed by a mentally handicapped person, and there are no zombies, just hypnotized idiots. I was very pissed that the guy gets shot at the end and lives. There are some pretty creepy clown & carnival images, but it doesn't save the movie.

Rat Pfink a Boo Boo- Wow. And I thought Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter was bad. This one and the Incredibly Strange Creatures movie above were both made by Ray Dennis Steckler, who also directed Wild Guitar. Remember Wild Guitar? This guy could make millions off of novelty shitty flicks. Rat Pfink started out as a serious suspense thriller involving a musician who girlfriend gets kidnapped by a gang of unrulies. Steckler realized halfway through filming that he had nothing good, so he went put in the second half, in which the musician and his buddy disappear into the bedroom only to come out as superheroes Rat Pfink and Boo Boo! Dressed in really crappy homemade costumes, and speaking in silly voices, Rat Pfink and Boo Boo find the kidnappers and take them on Adam West-style. They win, and afterward there is a parade held in their honor as superheroes. Jason, this could be a winner, so you need to see it ASAP. Making the title sequence for te movie, someone fucked up and forgot how to spell AND--that's why it's Rat Pfink a Boo Boo. "...And remember, Boo Boo, we had one weakness...bullets."

The Devil's Messenger- Satan hands out assignments to a suicide victim who wants a fair "hearing". Lon Chaney is a bit of a 'nice guy' for his role as Satan, but that adds a bit of a sinister element to his character as he delivers bad news with a smile on his face. The tales this suicide victim is involved in are a little twisted.

Stangeland- I had always wanted to see this movie, and for some reason didn't. Dee Snider plays a sadistic internet predator named Capt. Howdy who lures his victims to his house, then slowly tortures them to death. Kinda like Buffalo Bill with an internet connection. He kidnaps a detective's daughter, is caught and put in a mental institution for 4 years, and comes out looking like a high school guidance counselor. The townsfolk didn't forget what he did, however, and a group of vigilantes (led by Robert Englund) who think he's responsible for another teen's disappearance kidnap him and hang him from a tree. Capt. Howdy (at this point Carleton Hendricks) is left for dead, but a breaking tree branch spares him. Being strung up and going without his meds has brought Capt. Howdy back, and he exacts revenge on the people who had condemned him before the detective steps in. I like Dee Snider, but a little of him goes a looong way. The movie was stylized but acting was over the top, there was no Linda Cardellini boob shots unless accompanied by bondage and torture, and the soundtrack featured quite a few bands I don't care for. So everything about the movie was bittersweet. Triva: Where does the name Capt. Howdy come from?

The Last Man On Earth- A plague sweeps the earth, killing everyone and turning them into vampire zombies. One man (Vincent Price) seems to be immune and spends his time killing and disposing of the vampires during the day, and hiding out in his house at night. He keeps his electricity going via generator (pretty smart detail to have remembered, I think), and gets his fuel from an abandoned truck down the road. He finds out that there were survivors of the plague who keep themselves from turning by injecting themselves with a temporary rememdy that keeps the disease at bay. Unfortunately, he's killed quite a few of these 'survivors' and has become known as a terrible legend to them. Before he can reach them with the idea of using his own blood to save them, they find out where he lives. This was the first movie made based on the book by Richard Matheson. It was much better than I anticipated, and I liked the concept of vampires and disease moving from the symbolic realm and becoming completely literal. I also liked Price's acting throughout--his facial gestures and movements during tragic moments were very convincing.

Teenagers From Outer Space- The title is misleading. I was expecting a lot more teenaged type antics and a campy movie. What I got was an "serious" movie about aliens checking earth for suitable environments for the gargons, and one black sheep challenging them and their coldness toward alien humanity. He believes their race should be more compassionate and that they should not eradicate intelligent human life. It's a little confusing, very cheesy, and the gargons are fucking lobsters, come on with this movie! And the alien's name is Derek. Really? No offense to our Derek, that name for a human is fine. But an alien named Derek seems...stupid. Kind of like an alien named Doug.

Battle of the Worlds- A stray asteroid is on a collision course with earth. As probes are sent to investigate possibilities of blowing it up, flying saucers come out and shoot at them. A brilliant but for-some-reason-disgraced scientist/crusty curmudgeon tries warning them that there is more to the "asteroid" (now called The Outsider) than meets the eye. The acting isn't too terribly bad, special effects are silly but forgivable for the time, and it's yet another movie with its own theme song!!