The Column of Randomosity: Nostalgia

Remember The Muppets Show? Maybe it was a little bit before our time, but surely some of us have seen some of the old Muppets movies. My sister and I used to watch The Muppets Wizard of Oz and Muppets from Space all the time; we can still quote it to this day. I’m a seventeen year old senior, and yes, I went to go see The Muppets movie that was recently released in theatres. Actors Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Amy Adams (Enchanted) were accompanied by the famous Muppet crew: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Animal, Fozzie Bear, and newcomer Walter, to make this truly enchanting and memorable film. Segel, who also wrote the screenplay, felt honored to have revived the classic puppet phenomena. Having grown up with The Muppets, he felt very strongly about creating this film. In an interview, Segel was asked “Did you really burst out crying when you first heard Kermit speak at a read-through of "The Muppets" script?” He replied “I did. It wasn't like a burst-out kind of crying; it was much more embarrassing than that. It was like the slow cry where you're trying super hard not to let anyone know you're about to cry so you're pursing your lips but they're quivering, and next thing I knew there were tears streaming down my face and there was nothing I could do to hide it.” Jason, I’m sure Jim Henson would be proud.

Well, I didn’t write my own screenplay or anything, but I kinda felt that way while watching Toy Story 3. I know that’s a totally random tangent I just took, but go with me here. Having been a huge fan of the Toy Story movies when I was younger, watching Toy Story 3 was an awesome blast from the past. It brought back Woody and Buzz, and Rex and Potato Head, and all those characters that just made being a kid…well, awesome. And that part at the end, when Andy drives away to college and leaves the little girl all his old buddies to play with…I had to hold back those tears, man.

I’ve had quite a few more of those nostalgic instances (minus the tears). I had my friends over a few weeks ago and we watched Mulan, which I haven’t seen in ages. Although I hadn’t seen it in years, I still knew all the words to the songs, and so did they. We literally belted out singing to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” in my basement (best Disney song ever? I think yes!). My parents laughed at us afterwards, no biggie.

And even this morning, I was in class talking with my friend about old TV shows. We quoted old Spongebob episodes (“Chocolate…I remember when they first invented chocolate, sweet, sweet chocolate…I ALWAYS HATED IT!” remember that one?), and talked about shows like Hey Arnold, Doug, Rugrats, Dexter’s Lab, Pokemon, Fairy Odd Parents, All That, The Amanda Show, Rocko’s Modern Life, you know, all those classics. I probably forgot a few, but oh well. There’s something so special about those shows, at least to me anyway. I feel that pang of nostalgia every time I think of them. A few weeks ago I watched some old episodes of Hey Arnold (thank you, Netflix!) and I still remembered the words. Sometimes I even find myself searching the old theme songs on Youtube.

The shows you watch when you’re a kid never get old, I guess that’s the point I’m trying to make. I’ll be eighty years old and I’ll still be able to quote those shows or sing songs from those movies. They stay with you forever. And just because they’re oriented towards kids doesn’t mean we can’t still love them. We never really stop being kids, anyway. I know that’s all cliché or whatever, but I think that’s true. I think we’ll always retain that wonder we felt during our childhood. And one of the best ways we can cling to that is through those old movies and shows we used to watch. I think that’s how Jason Segel felt about the new Muppets movie. I think it was his way of recreating that sweet simplicity of childhood. For himself, and for us.

The Column of Randomosity: Horror Moviefest

So it’s October. Summer’s finally gone and the leaves are all red and orange and crunchy. It’s cold but not cold enough for the winter jacket yet. You’re finally settled into the school year, and you’re not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But you know what else October means? Oktoberfest! Nah, I’m kidding. October means Halloween. Carving crooked grins on pumpkins, eating way more candy than your stomach can bear, and lest we forget: costumes. As we all know, Halloween is synonymous with spooky-ness: ghosts, ghouls, the whole shebang. Everyone’s always looking for a good scare. So guys and gals, what better a time to have a…HORROR MOVIEFEST!

Now, ok. What’s a moviefest you ask? I shall explain. My friends and I coined the term a few years back. A few friends go over someone’s house, pop a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and watch a whole bunch of movies. So basically it’s a movie marathon…just with a cooler name. This month we’re planning a “Horror Moviefest”, a day full of horror movies and thrillers. It really is a fun way to spend the day with some friends, so if you’re looking for something to do, have your own moviefest! I, being the extremely awesome and generous person that I am, shall provide you with some scary movies that might make your list.

I’m going to start off with a classic: The Exorcist. Some of my friends say “The Exorcist isn’t scary it’s stupid, blahhh,” well, no, they’re wrong. The Exorcist is really freaky. And I’m not talking the stupid sequels like The Last Exorcism and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, no way Jose. You need to watch the original; Linda Blair, 1973. It’s about a young girl who becomes possessed by a demonic spirit, and her mother’s battle to restore her back to normal. She hires a priest to perform an exorcism on her daughter in order to rid of her of the evil creature residing in her body. It might sound a little lame, but trust me, it’s not. There are some really disturbing scenes in that movie. The thing that stuck with me most was the girl’s scarred face, green eyes, and deep, twisted voice. I still have nights when I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, and her face pops in my head. Needless to say, I have trouble sleeping after that. The Exorcist is one of those scary movies that stays with you, no doubt about it.

The next movie I’m going to list isn’t really a “horror”, it’s more of a thriller. But I don’t care, it’s still making my Halloween moviefest list. The movie is called Se7en (pronounced Seven, the 7’s just there to be fancy). Starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, Se7en is the story of two police officers trying to find a serial killer. The killer targets his victims based on the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust. The ways in which he murders his victims depends upon the sin. For example, for gluttony he forces an obese man to eat until his stomach explodes (don’t worry, I didn’t really spoil much there, that’s at the beginning of the movie). The ways in which he murders his victims are elaborate and fascinating. It’s a movie that makes you cringe and that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Plus, it has Morgan Freeman. How can you go wrong there?

The last movie I’m going to list a lot of you probably won’t like, but I’m still going to mention it. Carrie, based on the short story by Stephen King (the “King” of horror), is the story about an outcast teenage girl who possesses telekinetic powers. She lives with her crazy psycho religious mother, and endures much teasing from the other kids at school. As the movie progresses however, her powers begin to develop and become more potent. When a horrible prank on Carrie at the high school prom goes wrong, chaos ensues. A lot of you are probably going to think it’s slow and corny…and it is. But the plot is really good; better than most horror movies these days.

If you’re looking for blood and gore then don’t watch any of those movies, because these are far from what are considered “slashers”. The Exorcist, Se7en, and Carrie are psychological horror movies; they’re more disturbing if anything. All three of those are real classics though, you really should go check them out. But hey, if you don’t want to waste the time renting it from the library, then go to the movies and see Paranormal 3.

So have a happy Halloween guys! Go splurge on some scary movies.

The Column of Randomosity: Seasonal Songs

I wasn’t really sure how to start off this whole column deal, so I guess I’ll start with my name. Hi! I’m Julia Day (yes, as in SaturDAY and SunDAY). I’ve been on the newspaper since my freshman year and I gotta say, I love the paper. I don’t know about you, but writing is a really cathartic thing for me. It helps me express my thoughts in a coherent and organized way…in a way I never really seem to accomplish with speech. If you want me to be completely honest with you, I had no idea which direction I should take this column in. Should I do it purely on movies? TV? Should I focus on music instead? Too many choices. So this column is going to be random. Totally and completely random. Filled to the brim with randomosity (you get the picture). I’m going to write about whatever’s on my mind, so if you want to sit here and read my brain splurges please feel free! And if not, hey, that’s cool too.

Alright. I’m gonna through this idea out to you. So, try to remember the first time you heard a specific song (I’m going to use “Party Rock Anthem” as an example, even though I hate that song with an intense passion). The first time I heard Party Rock Anthem was in my Drivers Ed car this past summer. Now every time I hear Party Rock Anthem, I think “summer”. Right? Don’t you kind of get that? You associate seasons to songs? Ok, maybe you don’t, but I do.

Every few weeks I go on music splurges. I’ll surf Youtube or leave Pandora on for hours trying to find new stuff, and when I hear songs I like I download them and make a playlist. The playlists correspond to the months during which I basically listened to the songs on repeat (so I’ll have a July-August 2011 playlist, or a September-October 2011 playlist). I don’t know, it’s just my thing. “What’s on your playlist this month, Julia???” Well, (insert your name here), I’m so glad you asked! What DO I have on my September 2011, Back to School playlist? Let’s review. I’m going to warn you that I listen to mostly alternative rock (sometimes indie I guess, too) so if you like rap and the stuff they play on the radio…please stop reading now. Seriously. I ramble.

The beginning of the playlist is just a bunch of pretty random songs. “Artistic License” by The Starting Line, “Come Back Home” by Two Door Cinema Club, “Empty House” by Paper Route, “The L-Town Shakedown” by Patent Pending, “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam, “Your Woman” by White Town, “Icky Thump” by The White Stripes, “Teenage Tide” by Letting Up Despite Great Faults and “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. So yeah, pretty random list there. If you guys are looking for new songs, search those up on Youtube because they really are all so great.

Now I’m going to get into some cool bands I’ve been listening to (those were just some random cool songs I found). I was looking on the Wikipedia page of “List of Indie Pop Artists” (I did not search this on my own, my friend sent it to me), and I saw the name of this band called The Fratellis. I recognized the name but I didn’t remember how, so I searched them up and listened to their songs. After hearing a few I was hooked and started downloading like nuts. I’ll mention my favorites by them. “Henrietta”, “Flathead”, “Baby Fratelli” and “Mistress Mabel” are really upbeat, catchy songs if you want to listen to something to boost your mood. “Whistle for the Choir” is a great song, but it’s a little slower. Same goes for “Look Out Sunshine!”. The Fratelli’s most famous song is “Chealsea Dagger” which was featured in an Amstel Light commercial. I’ll be honest, it’s not my favorite by them, but it’s pretty catchy.

Next is the new Red Hot Chili Peppers CD, I’m With You, their first album in six years since Stadium Arcadium in 2006. I was slightly hesitant going in to listen to the album, only because their other albums are just so hard to beat. By the Way was my first RHCP album, and it’s my favorite because of that. “Can’t Stop” and “The Zephyr Song” are just amazing, you can’t top that. Californication is obviously great too, and so is Stadium Arcadium. I’m With You’s first song, “Monarchy of Roses” didn’t sound great to me at first, but the more and more I listened the more it got stuck in my head. It’s a great song to start the album off with. A few of my favorites are “Annie Wants a Baby”, “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie,” “Meet Me at the Corner”, and “Brendan’s Death Song”. Out of all of them though, I have to say that “Brendan’s Death Song” is my favorite. It may be considered slow by RHCP’s standards, but it’s so melodic and beautiful…I just love it. Overall I liked I’m With You, but it definitely doesn’t beat the classics of By the Way, Californication, and Stadium Arcadium.

So that’s my Back to School playlist. If you’re looking for some new music, I highly suggest you check some of these songs out. They’re not like the stuff you hear on the radio…these songs strike emotions in you, their lyrics are meaningful. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!