Friday, October 31, 2014

Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart.

The Tell-Tale Heart

By Edgar Allan Poe

True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there?" I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself --"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye. It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot. And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha! When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises. I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search --search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears. No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

 This was another amazing story from Edgar Allan Poe. This can be seen at the Poe Museum. This was more than fitting for Halloween. So Happy haunted Halloween with muffled beating sound of a racing heart as the scares and horrors come to life.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Midweek update.

 Midweek update, begins right now. It's so close to Halloween I can almost smell the candy in the air. I love Halloween, I love October and I love scaring kids. A few years ago, I had a door sized poster of Michael Myers. It had motion activated light up eyes and a sound machine with breathing and the the theme song playing on it. I scared a majority of the kids around my neighborhood and one of the kids actually was to scared to even come up to the door. To me this was amazing and funny. If I had the money, I would buy animatronic creatures and set them up everywhere. We went to the Spirit Of Halloween, they had an actual life size lurching zombie. Ama-zing! I want it so bad. I need it. Halloween is for fun and for scares. When I was a kid, I would be scared of almost everything. I didn't like having to walk around dark streets at different house for candy. My plastic trash bag consistency Spider-Man costume with a plastic face mask wasn't very warm. After a few years it was starting to fall apart. Back then, you bought a costume and you wore it a few years in a row. A couple years I dressed like Dracula. My mom would put red lipstick on the sides of my mouth to either look like blood dripping or for my fangs. I had a glow in the dark ghost pinned to the top pf my cape, so it would help with the dark. I had a plastic pumpkin shaped bowl for my candy.

 This one year, for whatever reason we went over to my grandmas house. I was not happy at all. I wanted to go out and get candy, but no, we had to waist hours and hours at my grandmas house with no candy. I don't remember if we ever tricked or treated ever again, but I will always remember how sad I was on that night. Everyone thought I was just being a little dick. I was a bad kid when I was little and being a dick came easy. I wasn't being a dick, I was just so mad at having to be there and not getting candy. I didn't want my picture taken and they did it anyways. 

 Enough of that, this is the midweek update. Video games, Monday I read the anniversary edition of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released. On the Xbox market place it was going for $3.74. Holy shit! I'm getting it. All day was the anticipation of buying it. I told you a long while ago I tried popping in my PS2 San Andreas and my PS2 was having problems, I was having memory card problems and it looked like shit. Well this was the "hd" version for cheap. I got home and I bought it and it was still $3.74 and it was only two gigs in size. It looked way better then my PS2 did also. It's a win, win, I love it when that happens. So I played for abut 45 minutes fun was had by me. Other video game news. I'm still doing some research on the best configuration for emulators on the Ouya. I want to turn on the Ouya, hook up the external hard drive and play some of my ROMs without having to mess with button configurations and all that. I want Melissa to be able to pick a game she likes and just play it with out me having to explain all the little details. It's slowly getting there, but I need some more time to do it right. This also gives me an idea on what it's going to be like when I build a Raspberry Pi.

 Music,
I don't have any new music.

 Movies,
This is new section and I'm going to be writing about the movies I'm currently watching. So last night, I put in Iron Man. I already watched Hulk with Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly and Sam Elliott. Now Hulk is not technically in Marvel's phase one, but you cannot forget it when watching part of the Marvel series. Each Hulk in my opinion is important. Eric Bana is amazing as Bruce Banner and Edward Norton is amazing too. Jennifer Connelly did amazing as Betty, but Liv Tyler, made me really believe it was Betty. Either way you can't have one without the other. I really truly hope they make World War Hulk. This would be the sequel to Planet Hulk. I love the Hulk as a character and I feel like Hulk needs his own movies. Yes you can add some other heroes into it, but Hulk needs to be showcased. Could you even imagine doing a live action Planet Hulk? Amazing! last week I finished The Avengers. I want to watch the Marvel movies in release order. Yes, yes I went out of order with The Avengers, but I really wanted to see it. So I'm working on Iron Man then I'm going to watch The Incredible Hulk. Now what else confuses people that pay attention is, The Incredible Hulk is not a sequel, but a remake of the Hulk back story. It sounds like people didn't like the Hulk movie so they remade it. Yes I love movies.

 Pictures from the internet.



Umm, I want to have these really, really bad.

My money is still on Pennywise.



 Well, I think a rambled on long enough for this update. Till next time.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death.

The Masque of the Red Death 

 By Edgar Allan Poe

The red death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal -- the madness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress, and termination of the disease, were incidents of half an hour.

But Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his crenellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts.

They resolved to leave means neither of ingress nor egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven -- an imperial suite, In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extant is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the "bizarre." The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor of which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue -- and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange -- the fifth with white -- the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes were scarlet -- a deep blood color. Now in no one of any of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro and depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly lit the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or back chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.

It was within this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. It pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and while the chimes of the clock yet rang. it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of Time that flies), there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.

But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for color and effects. He disregarded the "decora" of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure he was not.

He had directed, in great part, the movable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm -- much of what has been seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these the dreams -- writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away -- they have endured but an instant -- and a light half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many-tinted windows through which stream the rays of the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven there are now none of the maskers who venture, for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appalls; and to him whose foot falls on the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.

But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps that more of thought crept, with more of time into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, of horror, and of disgust.

In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood -- and his broad brow, with all the features of his face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell on this spectral image (which, with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but in the next, his brow reddened with rage.

"Who dares" -- he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him -- "who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him -- that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!"

It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly, for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.

It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who, at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth a hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince's person; and while the vast assembly, as with one impulse, shrank from the centers of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple -- to the purple to the green -- through the green to the orange -- through this again to the white -- and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddened with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry -- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which most instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and seizing the mummer whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse- like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

  This can be seen at the Poe Museum. Edgar Allan Poe, is hands down one of my most favorite authors of all time. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I do.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Weekend review for 10/25 - 26/14.

 On Thursday, I watched Return To House On Haunted Hill. This was the "b" movie sequel to the big budget movie, The House On Haunted Hill, with Ali Larter, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs and a few others. When I saw the listing for Return, I was like hell yeah, let me check this out. It didn't necessarily disappoint, but I feel it could have been better. The effects were good, the acting wasn't bad and they actually continued where the previous movie left off. When I see an effect I like, I love seeing it again. It tells me that the people doing the movie are trying to make the new movie flow. The effect in talking about is where the "ghosts" walk really slow almost like they're doing the robot. I think it's really cool. I think I might put it on my Netflix queue so I can see it unedited. This is our favorite month so we always have a horror-movie-thon every week.

 Friday night, we watched The Hole. Now this movie was rated PG 13, but this means nothing anymore, especially when it comes to horror movies. The Ring is only PG 13, it definitely should be an R rated movie. Anyways, we get the movie, it had pretty good premise, a hole in your basement good times to be had by all. Well, it was an actual PG 13 movie, like a kid movie. It wasn't actually bad, but not really what I was expecting. It's definitely not a buy, but it was okay. The ghosts in this one did the walk slow thing too which was really cool. There's a clown in it and it reminded me of The Puppet Master. Which is another great series by the way, all in all it wasn't to bad. Fear is a weird plot line to make a movie. Everyone has different fears and they how they react to it, so therefore you have to have generic fears like, clowns, ghosts and stuff. It's worth it for a different kind of horror movie.

 Saturday, we just go to hang out and relax before heading over to our friends house to see their decorations. This guy, hand makes almost all of his props. He has a cauldron the stirs itself, a little skeleton girl riding a tricycle, a 16 foot plus grim reaper and a seven foot tall cemetery gates. It was all really impressive, after some sight seeing we headed inside and his wife my three types of crock pot dinners. She had homemade loaded potato soup, chili and chicken noodle soup. I had way to much food. I had two bowls of chili and one bowl of potato soup. She had like three different types of bread, then she had two different banana breads, one pumpkin and the other banana. There was all the fixin's you could imagine. It was damn good time. The chili actually reminded me of my mom's so that was a trip down memory lane. After our friends house, we headed over to Bartell's. We grabbed our Redbox and we headed home.

 We got home and we popped in See No Evil and then See No Evil 2. Kane is a badass, he was always one of my favorites when I watched wrestling. See No Evil is about Kane as a kid being abused by his mom in a series of flashbacks. He kills people and hears his mom talking to him. It wasn't to bad. I would buy it if it was for a really good price. See No Evil 2 has Danielle Harris in it, she's the new scream queen of horror movies. She's been in a ton of movies and some of my favorites, like Halloween 4, Halloween 5, Halloween 2007 and Halloween II 2009. This movie picks up exactly on the same night as See No Evil 1. It has the police responding to the crime scene from See No Evil 1 and bringing the bodies to the morgue. These movies are actually like eight years apart. Side rant, I absolutely hate, I repeat hate, How long it takes for movies to come out. Why do we have to wait like eight or so years for a sequel? Why do we have to wait so long when the first movie made a lot of money? Resident Evil movie series has some of the biggest year gaps I have ever seen. allegedly the next Resident Evil movie, part 6, we will be released in 2015, but the last one was 2012. Three years? Eight years is worse, but damn. Anyways, See No Evil had some spots in it where I felt that Kane could have done other things. But then I remembered it was a WWE movie, and they won't show stuff like a Friday The 13th movie would. The both were good tho and I'm glad I got to see them in order.

 After that we popped in Disaster L.A. The Last Zombie Apocalypse Begins Here. Side note, why in the hell, is this movie's title so long? Anyways, this was a new premise for a zombie movie. It has meteor shower as the culprit. Towards the end of the movie it seemed like their budget was almost gone because, the graphics started looking really bad and the screen looked grainy and not on purpose. It was like the camera or resolution changed. Now this didn't take away from the movie, but it was really noticeable and sometimes distracting. The movie wasn't our favorite, but it was okay. If you like zombie movies, this is better than a lot of the other b movies out there.

 Sunday, we had our nephews birthday party to go to. He was turning 16 and we had to be there. Before we even left the house, Melissa accidentally dropped the vacuum on her foot. We were trying to put ice on it and then had to scramble and get going to the party. Well, you know how I feel about family and how I feel about being the outsider. I got to feel both of those on Sunday, it was great (that was sarcasm in case you couldn't tell.). It was extremely awkward and we both wanted to leave. We stuck it out for our nephew and it was good seeing him really happy and excited. This weekend was filled with memory flash backs for me. First the chili, then the 16th birthday party. My 16th birthday party was absolute shit. I invited all of my friends over and quite a few other people and not a single fucking one showed up. I had so much food, drinks and candy. My mom went all out and not a single person showed up. One person finally showed up, and he didn't even know it was my birthday. (I should have learned my lesson with him then and it would have saved me time and energy for 13 or so more years.) Well I ended up leaving and spent the day with him. I was absolutely devastated, how could no one remember let alone not show up? I think one other person showed up, but I don't really remember now. Life, you got to love it, my dad didn't show up, but at least that wasn't a surprise. Back to my nephews party, it was just so awkward and I don't like all the glares and staring.

 After the party, we wanted to get some chocolate and feed our feelings. We stumbled across some glass bottled pop. I grabbed a Mountain Dew and Melissa grabbed a Dr Pepper. This was the first time we both had seen a new bottled Dr Pepper. We did some Christmas shopping, we got our friend a zombie arm chia pet and we were off. Back home, we had to finish house chores and try and have a good night. We both were inundated with family drama, bad memories, a hurt foot and hurt feelings.  We opened our chocolate and tried to make the best of our night. We actually did end up having a good night. We made amazing jalapeno poppers and club sandwiches for dinner. We opened our amazing glass soda and ate our good club sandwiches. We don't need family to make us happy. We don't need to be coddled, but respect would be nice.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Midweek update.

 Well it's time for the midweek update. Yes I haven't done one of these in awhile, but here we go. I found a new throw away computer in the recycle bin. It was an HP Media Center PC. It had two tv tuners, built in wifi, built in ir blaster, built in hard drive dock, card reader and graphics card. It retailed when new for, $2500 plus. I wanted this to be a OpenELEC client, but it would constantly crash when I was changing the settings. I loaded up Windows on it so it could a Xbmc client, a Plex client and a PS3 Media server. Well that didn't work either. The lan drivers failed even though I got them from HP. Basically, I wasted a couple hours, but I'm still annoyed. So I fired up my Game Room Server pc and it was alive and well. I'm going to try to add some emulators and maybe try Retroarch on it. I tried using Retroarch on my Ouya, but it wouldn't configure the controller input correctly. I'm hoping that a Windows based install of Retroarch will be easier to configure and set up. Also, I got my HP infrared media remote receiver to actually work! I did some quick research on these receivers and other people couldn't get them to work at all either. What they ended up doing was hooking up a pair of headphone jacks to each of the 3.5 mm jacks on the back and it started working. I still had an actual ir extension cable, I plugged it in and it worked. It worked amazingly. I tried Windows Media Center first, then Xbmc. My six dollar investment paid off. Now the key is to try the infrared receiver without the extension plugged in and see if it still works. The usb cord on the receiver is like nine feet long, so adding a two foot extension to it makes no sense. We will see.

 So I talked a little about my Ouya on the weekend review. I said I would elaborate on the apps and stuff for it. So I am all for buying apps when I know they work and work well. I do not want to pay for an app twice. The Ouya has it's own app store and it doesn't use Google Play. You can root the Ouya, but I refuse. I will never root anything, I will side load apps or apk's, but I will never root. I tried using a launcher on my Nook tablet, but that made things worse. So on my Nook I use an app called Supergnes. It works very well for my needs, it starts my game up and I can continue where I left off. What it can't do while it's the "lite" version is load games. You can play a game, save a game, continue a game, but you can't load. Which is fine for now, but now that I have my Ouya, I want to continue my A Link To The Past Game on the big screen and I can't because Supergnes lite won't load games. I damn sure am not going to start all over either. I want to be able to switch to either device and pick up where I left off, exactly on both devices. I can save the save file to Dropbox and always keep it updated. So on the Play store it's $3.99 and on the Ouya store it's, I think the same. Devolopers needs to be paid for their time and effort, let me be upfront about that right now. I just wish I could buy it one time and use it on other devices like the Ouya. On the Nook I also have tried the apps from the John emulators. Each of those are $2.99 a piece. The John emulators have the lite versions too, but they don't have Ouya apps and the apk's don't work on Ouya. John emulators have NES, SNES, GBA and GBC. It's an all encompassing emulator package, but who do I purchase from? John emulators work extremely well on my Nook but they don't have Ouya apps. Supergnes works well on my Ouya and my Nook, I'm kinda stuck deciding. I'll have to figure something out soon, or both devices are just sitting there with my games not being played.

 Music
I haven't heard any new music lately that I thought was a buy.

 Video games
I haven't actually played any games lately other than to test the controller and emulators.

 Random internet pictures.

I'm still trying to figure out if I like American Horror Story Freak Show or not.





Ha ha, this was funny as hell. Pumpkin spice errthang!


This guy is an amazing artist. I love seeing his new pictures.
 Side rant
So I saw a new superhero movie release schedule until 2020. Links or it didn't happen, I know, I know I can't find the one I saw, but I do not want to wait until 2016 or 2017 for X-Men or Wolverine movies! Okay I found a link, but it's not the exact one I saw, but here it is. It's like how old am I going to be when these movies finally get released? Whatever, I guess I should be happy at all that they are making them at, but still. Also Hugh Jackman, the epitome of Wolverine, was talking about not playing him anymore. It just sucks waiting so long for these movies and then the possibility of the amazing actors and actresses won't play the character again!? C'mon, like Christian Bale, being an amazing Batman, then not being Batman in a new movie? And they pick Ben Affleck? He did play a really good DareDevil, but in my opinion, I don't know if he can play a good Batman against Henry Cavill as an amazing Superman. I love movies and I love seeing my favorite characters come to life, especially when you have high caliber actors who really, truly get the characters and play them more than well. And what's up with timeline shit in Days Of Future Past?! I just don't get it and it it's really annoying. Side rant over, till next time.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Weekend review for 10/18 - 19/14 and update.

 Well obviously I haven't been writing for awhile. I have just been so damn busy and was sick with no energy. I've missed a lot a posts. We did the pumpkin patch, our anniversary and a few other things. I won't make this all encompassing, but I can add a few details to it. First, we a couple pumpkins for Halloween, we carved them and the only lasted like two weeks before they got moldy! Really!? That really pissed us off. We had our anniversary, we went to PF Changs for dinner and it was amazing as always. We had a great time reconnecting and just all around enjoying ourselves.

 Another reason I have been so busy is, Melissa bought me an Ouya micro game console  (pronounced  eww yaa. Weird I know). I have been trying to fine tune everything and get it just right. I love the Ouya and anybody who disses it are either not technical or don't have one. If you have one and actually use it, you know it's a great machine.

 I will add more from the previous weeks later. Friday night, we watched a movie called Afflicted. It was actually really good. I love new spins on old tales. I actually want a part two. I won't give away the movie, but the first person camera, is actually cool, it makes you fell immersed in the movie. The characters are relatable and actually pretty good acting. Obviously it could a little better, but it does not take away from the movie. Definitely see this movie, you won't be disappointed.

 Saturday, Melissa went on a girls night out. That meant I could do whatever I wanted. I fired up Transformers Age Of Extinction and blasted the surround sound. It was amazing. I love that movie and the cast does very well. How come Kelsey Grammer, can sell being an asshole so well? After Transformers, I configured the Ouya little bit. I did the button configuration for the emulator apps. I tried using the Retroarch app, but it was very difficult to configure any button layouts. The default button layouts aren't correct, so that was disappointing. Another thing I ran into is, the emulator apps I use on my Nook, aren't the same ones on the Ouya. I found Supergnes, BUT unless you buy the app on either system, you cannot load the save file! So my The Legend Of Zelda A Link To The Past SNES rom (say that five times fast ha ha.) cannot be played on the Ouya and vice versa. I am so far into the game on my Nook, that I can't just restart without breaking my heart. I'm not using cheats and I dedicated hours of play time to just give up now. Yes I want to buy the app, but I don't want to pay twice.

 After playing with config files I was done, I decided to pop in Godzilla. I blasted that movie on my surround sound too. Melissa got home and we watched some shows. After that she asked if the Ouya was ready to stream some local movies. I said yeah it was. I hooked up the Ouya in the bedroom and fired up some of my local movies. It worked really good, but the lag on wireless I'm going to blame on Comcast's wireless router. We have been having so many problems with the "new" router ever since we got it. I think I'm going to have them "bridge" theirs and use my old one. What a fucking headache that will be. Anyways, the streaming went amazing.

 Sunday
We did our house chores, I had to mow the lawn (I though mowing the lawn was a summer activity?) We had an amazing stuffed pepper dinner and we just got to relax. I can't wait for another man night to actually play some games and watch some movies. I hope you had a good weekend, I know I did. Till next time. And yes I will try and make time for this blog. I'm already thinking of my midweek update.