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Wednesday, November 30, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast - Thanksgiving Weekend Horror: ThanksKilling, ThanksKilling 3, & Black Friday

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 96: Thanksgiving Weekend Horror: ThanksKilling, ThanksKilling 3, & Black Friday.

Skimble is as thrilled as I am about holidays

Thanksgiving Weekend Horror: ThanksKilling, ThanksKilling 3, & Black Friday

November 29, 2022

Cool Movies Darth is not really a Thanksgiving fan. The high school wrestling season started that weekend, so enjoying the feast was not really an option. Granted, NinetyForChill's host grew up a picky eater, so the holiday did not really offer anything for him. Let us not even get into familiar anxiety. Horror may be too extreme a term for the fourth week of November, but then came his career in customer service. So the "ThanksKilling" franchise and the Bruce Campbell produced "Black Friday" may be appropriate comfort viewing for the holiday season kick off.


Allow me to get out of third-person. Are we happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

I have been exhausted. This blog post is being composed the day after I dropped this podcast episode. There was 11.75 hours spent at my retail job on Black Friday. Not having a guest this week (as designed) lead to a last minute binge of movies. This should not have been a last minute task, but without having a guest secured yet for my December 6, there was no idea on similar movies to build up anticipation for that episode. With that said, send me an email if you want to be on the show. The address is russthebus07@gmail.com.

If this podcast was not my passion, I suppose being this busy is good. Too bad this means that I may not have the time to set up recordings before the next episode is due. With any luck, those hurdles will be worth it just for the sake of my ego. In other words, dates with romantic aspirations will hopefully keep me sane.


As I said, these films served as good comfort viewing. The binge made sure I did not take the past weekend too seriously. When you have a one dimensional puppet and actors who lack multiple of dimensions, if you get overly critical, you may end up scratching your eyes out.

I will not deny this, if I had a couple of robot friends, things would be even easier.

"ThanksKilling" was in my original Netflix digital queue 12 years ago. At that time, I was just embracing no budget movie making. For it to be successful, the story has to be told well and you must embrace your features shortcomings. Jordan Downey's film does this.

It seems the goal for Downey was to use this feature to encourage people to invest in a better movie. That is how we ended up with a Peter Jackson inspired sequel, "ThanksKilling 3".

So, lets get "Main Event of the Dead" off the ground. My no budget, zombie comedy just needs to get made. I promise you a better movie once I have that IMDb profile. Ask for the treatment of the screenplay by sending an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.


If my pro-wrestling movie does not get off the ground (Hopefully the Ta2Squid Podcast episode kaiju big battel zombie screenplay w/russ from cat bus will help with that), The Bruce Campbell produced "Black Friday" makes me glad that I work for a great retailer. In the event of an alien invasion, I have faith that my team will remain unified and be able to stand up to space zombies. That cannot be said of Marine Bank. There was a strong squad at one-time, but management has no spine or faith in us.

If you have worked for multiple retailers, you know that some of them have uncaring and/or out-of-touch management. "Black Friday" has a script and actors that capture that vibe. It takes a while to get going, but accurate archetypes will get you invested in this feature. There could have been more Bruce acting like Ash, but it is amusing enough. Amusing enough that I think it could be a new Holiday classic.

Who would have thought that Starz was aware of the potential of the direct-to-home releases they have in their line up? There spam emails almost make me consider maintaining a subscription. Almost being key.


Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast: The Sadness...Holiday Appropriate? (Featuring Gregory Carl)

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 95: The Sadness...Holiday Appropriate? (Featuring Gregory Carl).

Eva with the right outbreak attitude

The Sadness…Holiday Appropriate? (featuring Gregory Carl)

November 22, 2022

To get you ready to defend yourself against the madness of Black Friday, Gregory Carl and Cool Movies Darth take on the Chinese viral outbreak movie, "The Sadness". It is a COVID-19 inspired tale about a virus that will not kill you via lung failure, but by the perverse whims of the infected. This is a case of what does not kill will you makes you stranger, more violent, and what is most shocking, hornier.


Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

We always seem to think the "zombie" film fad is about to pass, and then a feature like "The Sadness" comes along. This feature is not a zombie flick, but an outbreak feature, but to the layman it is tomayto tomahto. The dead are not coming back to life, and if the dead were to reanimate, they would not run.

Zack Snyder had screwed up this subgenre of horror with his "Dawn of the Dead". It really lacked the satire that made George A. Romero's original the classic that it is, and for that alone I was not a fan. The director has his missteps, and that just happened to be a financially successful accident. I am a fan of his DCEU efforts, "300", and "Watchmen", but even there, he does not have a clue about the messages these stories try to get across. There is no way I can get too angry at this director because he did allow us films like "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" and the "Zombieland" franchise, but the Western zombie scene had lost its way.

Fortunately, "The Sadness" is the course correction that we need. To its credit, it demonstrates that there are those in the West who agree with me. This feature was directed by a Canadian animator, Rob Jabbaz. The frustration with this is that he had to go to China to make it. I have no issue with foreign films, but if I was not looking for material to podcast about, Greg probably would have remained turned off by the subtitles.


The most important thing about "The Sadness" is the degree of satire. It presents over the top violence that will shock initially, but as it continues to be displayed, you cannot help but embrace the ridiculousness of it. Having watched the feature a handful of times for this episode of the podcast, Greg and I end up with a similar relationship to the film that Beetlejuice had with "The Exorcist".

The satire stems from our "need" to resist authority's suggestions for safety. How do they know what I need?

It was featured in a far more relatable sense with Romero's "The Crazies" which is honestly more disturbing. Jabbaz's film shocks you every chance it can get, but with so few protagonists, you do not get attached to anyone. Thus, you can impress the gore-hounds with the blood and the critics with the stunning visuals. There are some filthy scenes, but they do not seem personal, so it is easy to get comfortable while watching this.

With all of that said, I had difficulty deciding whether or not to censor the most obscene language from this episode. Should children have access to such ideas? Well, I am not a parent. Gregory is. He starts the podcast by asking his grade schooler if he wanted to watch this along side him because "You don't have school tomorrow". So, this leads me to rely on Sheila Broflovski to justify cutting out the F-bombs from our conversation:

Remember what the MPAA says; Horrific, Deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty woids! That's what this war is all about!

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Monday, November 14, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast: Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 94: Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem.

Eva seeing red

Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem

November 14, 2022

Outbreak films have been around as early as the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to say the very least, but most of these features focus on humanity being absolutely lost. Lost via body theft by aliens or demons. Individuality vanished due to a disease taking over the body and conscience. What happens when a virus removes your inhibitions and replaces it with madness? Cool Movies Darth investigates this idea as presented in the 1970s and the 2010s by reviewing Romero's "The Crazies", Cronenberg's "Shivers", and Joe Lynch's "Mayhem".


Allow me to get out of third-person. Are we happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

My introduction to horror movies as art came with Dario Argento. With his greatest works being associated with the 1970s, it was not much a stretch to find myself being fascinated by the ideas of his legendary friend George A. Romero. As I am discovering these artists, Cronenberg was making waves with his relatively down to Earth features "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises". Obviously, this Canuck gained my attention if wanting to see the film with the most famous exploding head was not enough.

There was also the release of Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later", but Boyle narratives got a little long in the tooth after the success of "Trainspotting". Fortunately, I have seen another member of the Great North get inspired by that "zombie" film, so do not hold it against me not covering the Rage virus in this episode.


When it comes to zombies, of course I have seen all of Romero's films about the undead. But surely there is more than that when it comes to the auteur. "Bruiser" was fun, but it does not make a case for him having range. Fortunately, "The Crazies" received a remake in 2010. Gut reaction is to consider that an insult. To make sure of that, the original has been on my queue for a while.

A pathogen driving people crazy, I knew that was the plot of "Shivers" and that brings us to why I got around to this feature (aside from viewing it for the "Gen X and Scorsese V. Millenials and Marvel" episode with ThePoeticCritic). When I think back to "28 Days Later", the realization that there are two extremes to viral madness. The sides are excessive violence or excessive sexuality. Inhibitions stop those from occurring.


So the narrative of this blog post should end with Rob Jabbaz's "The Sadness" where the violence and sex intermingle, but that is for next weeks episode. Plus, I feel I got to add some genuine fun into this episode. You can enjoy the ride that are "The Crazies" and "Shivers", but they are not meant to receive out loud laughter. "The Sadness" may also still be to serious for its own good.

Gregory Carl will return to "NinetyForChill" next week to discuss this crescendo. So to get my relatively guilt-free kicks in, I got around to "Mayhem". Samara Weaving has been a sign of great sub 100-minute cinema on this podcast, and I wanted to see the office place purge film that "The Belko Experiment" sold itself as. It did not disappoint.

With all this said, the next episode that I need a guest for will need to be recorded by December 4th, 2022. There are not too many Christmas movies, so I do not expect anyone too feel restricted to a seasonal theme. The Twitter migration to Mastodon is not as grand as Neil Gaiman has implied, so I need to call for assistance on any platform I can find.


Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Monday, November 7, 2022

NinetyForChill: The Podcast - Puppet Show & Spinal Tap feat. Rambling Ronnie & ThePoeticCritic

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 93: Puppet Show & Spinal Tap feat. Rambling Ronnie & ThePoeticCritic.

Eva goes up to 11

Puppet Show and Spinal Tap featuring Rambling Ronnie and ThePoeticCritic

November 7, 2022

For the first time, "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast" has gone international. Rambling Ronnie has come on to discuss one of her favorite comedies and what is unquestionably the most important mockumentary of all time, "This Is Spinal Tap". This was the first R-Rated feature that ThePoeticCritic rented along side her little brother Cool Movies Darth. Needless to say, all parties are excited to tell the world aboot the excellence of this film.


Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

I definitely saw this picture before I entered the world of professional wrestling. It was hilarious, if just for picking out the cameos like Billy Crystal as Mort the Mime and the oldest (and perhaps first) Fred Willard appearance that I had ever seen. After entering a showmanship profession, this film is even funnier because it is beyond authentic.

For me, it was not a puppet show where I sustained my most severe documented concussion. It was wrestling during a Christion-promoted boxing expedition. Puppet's would have been an honor.

ThePoeticCritic spent her teens as an amateur actress. Needless to say, she has her tales of nearly falling off balconies because of poor backstage crew. Being trapped like Derek Smalls is something all performers are or will become familiar with.

Rambling Veronica (TPC's Twitter account impressed her since she was using Veronica as an alias), did not happen to have any tales to tell as a performer, but with the sincerity and politeness of Canadians, they all seem to share a common vibe. Provided they are not from Quebec. I am sorry I did not give the listeners a warning about the mocking of Montreal during this podcast.


We all seemed to have been on the same page when it comes to comedy. Ronnie's last episode was about "Monty Python's Life of Brian". Us Stevens children were raised on British comedy. Monty Python was the only MTV we were allowed to watch. With "The New Red Green Show" being Central Illinois's "Red Dwarf" lead in, this podcast seemed destined to happen.

Discussing Monty Python lead us to bring up "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash". This was Eric Idle's Beetle mock that was produced by Lorne Michaels. When you bring up Lorne Michaels, you bring us "Saturday Night Live" and "SCTV". We end up talking about all of the best Western comedy that was influenced by the British.

By proxy, I guess you can say all of Christopher Guest's mocumentaries are British comedies. He is a British Baron after all.

ThePoeticCritic and Rambling Ronnie are even bigger fans of Guest's directorial efforts than I am. We do get to address and compare and contrast these films. It was kind of a silly part since none of us have seen them all. Ronnie is a big fan of "A Mighty Wind" and TPC seemed to lean towards "Best in Show". One thing is certain, you must give "Waiting for Guffman" a chance.


Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Spellbound: The Wizard and the Disgruntled's Real World Championships

*This blog post was started on November 2, 2022.

This blog post should serve as evidence as a proper, productive day. Oil change done, fat thawing out to fry up some wings therefore ending my four-day chicken fast, and my health benefits for the next year have been fulfilled. Hell, it seems I managed to stop Eva the Queen Kitty from licking her allergic wounds. What protein should she change to from chicken?

As I say that, she is taking another go at her scabby backside. It is like I am ironically writing that in to fruition.

If you want to know where my head is out, you best check out the blogs at MainEventOfTheDead.com. Hopefully, those rants will lead you to NinetyForChill: The Podcast.

But, with my Eva observation, I may as well bring up another coincidence. Driving to get my errands done, my iPhone decided to play Siouxsie and the Banshees instead of "Scream Drafts: High School Horror Mini Mega Draft". The song was "Spellbound". Spells are magic, and witches and wizards are masters of that. Here is hoping by the time I finish this post, the Disgruntled's Real World Championship maintains an association with wrestling's warlock. Otherwise, Alanis Morissette may as well have wrote this.

The Disgruntled's Current Real Champions (11/06/2022):

The 101st Disgruntled's Real Men's World Champion:
ROH World Champion Chris Jericho (3)
Reign began September 21, 2022.

So I had my issues getting back to the keyboard since the last Dynamite. My trivia excursion was a success on Thursday. As for Friday, it was difficult enough having the energy to make it to Rampage after the successful trivia night. Saturday was dedicated to paying my bills and then visiting my folks. That maybe a common theme with Mom heading to England, and Dad may enjoy the company.

After all of this, it is quite the relief from a blogger standpoint that Colt Cabana failed to defeat Jericho on Wednesday.

Do I have a bias against the WWE? Yes. If I did not, I would not have this blog maintain. AEW has had the best product from their inception until the Triple H regime took over. When I only have so much time to watch professional wrestling, do you think I would change my focus because Hunter is rearranging the board while maintaining the same pieces?

You can argue that Roman Reigns is currently the biggest star in the business. That is to WWE's detriment. He is rarely on TV and takes every other pay-per-view off. Turning him into a movie star will not help your company. WCW worked because of Hogan's failure.

Chris Jericho has defended his championship in less than two months enough times to equal half of Reign's challenges in the past two years. And with the number of defenses, he is the most active world champion.

You can say the AEW World Championship is more important, but it does not have the history of Ring of Honor and Moxley is focused on drama. This is a blog about praising wrestling over narrative. I am an indie wrestler. With a show a month, the wrestling better be good. Jericho is doing that biweekly and still delivers the drama.

We need some more photos of The Ocho


The 49th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AEW World Champion
Thunder Rosa (Her reign began on March 16, 2022)


I first thought that I better declare an interim champion for this belt. Tony Khan fortunately did that for me.

It will be interesting to see how this resolves itself when she becomes healthy. The splintering of the locker-room may result in her failing to unify the championship. With few defenses, Bianca Belair might get to be the next champion, but with the lame Bayley feud, perhaps not. As for SmackDown, the ball was totally dropped on the Liv Morgan reign which a promoter cannot fail at putting over since Money in the Bank makes for otherwise undeserved reigns.

The 2nd Interim Disgruntled's Men's Champion:
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion
Switchblade Jay White (His reign began on June 12, 2022)


If Jericho were to lose to Sammy Guevara, this will be the guy to take the championship. New Japan makes defenses few, but he is showing up more than the Modern Poser Champion.

The Modern Poser Champion:
WWE Unified Universal Champion
Roman Reigns (His second reign began on August 20, 2020)

If you are not defending against AEW or NJPW wrestlers, how can you be the REAL champion?

The 151st Disgruntled's Real Tag Team World Champions:
WWE Unified Tag Team Champions
Jimmy & Jey Uso (Their second reign began on Jan. 5, 2022)


I for one am hoping that The New Day will continue as the longest reigning Tag Team Champions in the history of WWE, but that's neither here nor there...except for The Acclaimed.

The 163rd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Champions:
Impact World Tag Team Champions
Heath & Rhino (Their 2nd reign began on 10/23/22)

I guess I will have to break down this lineage. These guys were able to make WWE TV center around them briefly, so one can imagine what they do for Impact.

The 162nd Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions:
AJPW World Tag Team Champions Shotaro Ashino and Ryuki Honda
(Reigned from September 21, 2022 to October 23, 2022)

The 161st Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions:
Shane Strickland and Keith Lee
(Reigned from August 27, 2022 to September 21, 2022)

The OCHO: The Real Secondary Champion:
ROH World Television Champion
Samoa Joe (His third reign began on April 25, 2022)


If you credit Triple H with anything, it is that they are turning the former Walter into a gatekeeper. AEW is currently trying to make big men look good with championships. Joe is excellent. Wardlow is green. The next champion seems fairly obvious. Too bad Survivor Series is not going to have champion versus champion to cement this. Seth Rollins versus Gunther is where the money is.

Here is hoping for a fun Full Gear. MJF would be as valid a champion as Roman Reigns. FTR will need to lose some gold soon. In the meantime, I guess I have the Women's Tag Team and Six-Man Tag Team Championships to determine. There are so many movies to watch, those DRCW Belts may have genuine lineages before I get around to them.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

NinetyForChill: The #Podcast: Rock ’n’ Roll High School - Top Secret - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 92: Rock ’n’ Roll High School - Top Secret - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Gabba Gabba Eva

Rock ’n’ Roll High School - Top Secret - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

November 1, 2022

Next week (November 8), "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast" will present a round table conversation about the film that launched the auteur careers of Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest, "This is Spinal Tap".  To prepare for the humor and music, Cool Movies Darth decided to go on a musical-comedy binge. Roger Corman X The Ramones "Rock 'n' Roll High School", Zucker-Abraham-Zucker's "Top Secret", and the John C. Reilly showcase "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox" are all regarded as classics. What better way to prepare for a podcast that will turn the knob to 11?


Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

This waking up at 6:30 am is for the birds. I am doing well in regards to falling asleep before midnight, but that still means I am missing out on 10 hours of sleep a week. Where has the energy gone? This was something that I tried to preserve by skipping Goth Night and Goth Halloween.

The only drinking I did this past week was during the recording of next week's "This Is Spinal Tap" episode with the ThePoeticCritic and Rambling Ronnie. It was only for two-ish hours and I talked myself out of continuing through the weekend. Why must I suffer?

Could it be the lack of chicken in my diet? The body is revolting.

I best wrap this rant up. If we are going to do anything productive besides get an oil change with my rare weekday off, there needs to be a goofy blog for MainEventOfTheDead.com/DRCW Wrestling. Too have material, there is a need for me to shut the fuck up.


So, what should one expect from this podcast episode? Well, with how often I end up having issues with arranging for guests on the show, I am going to try alternating episodes with myself just reviewing movies on my own and someone like my big sister or Veronica to keep me in check.

With that said, I will try to use the solo episodes as a way to lead into the grander projects. This gave me an excuse to focus on movies I enjoy. There is no way I can guarantee this will happen every week. My current lead for the November 22 episode is Gregory Carl suggesting Chinese "zombie" movie "Sadness". We have just packed up spooky month. Do we need horror so fast?


There is also a need to finish up this year's Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue. We still have X, Y, Z, and # to address.

To close out the new format chat, at least I will get these pleasant binges. This one finally allowed me to address a Zucker-Abraham-Zucker movie. With that stated, anyone up for "Airplane" or "BASEketball"? Send an email to russthebuss07@gmail.com.

"Top Secret" is fun, and I think maybe the best ZAZ movie, but it shows that they are/were never going to give us a perfect movie. I think this story just did not know how to incorporate the music.

That problem is also seen in "Rock 'n' Roll High School", but it is a little more glaring because it is Ramones propaganda. This stresses my need to see "Sid and Nancy". No message, no propaganda.

As for "Walk Hard", it is going to be part of the "This Is Spinal Tap" conversation. Perfect flicks deserve perfect flicks to stand by. Especially when they are essentially the same genre.


Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.