The Terrible Catsafterme

You may recall that my step-brother Bryan and his wife Erine re-located to Germany last July, as Erine’s government job as an auditor took them to town near Kaiserslautern known as Trippstadt. My mom began to brew and simmer the idea in her head to take a trip to visit them as soon as they hit the door. I initially hoped to put off the visit until 2013, knowing that the vacation schedule of 2012 would be pretty full. I ended up bypassing both a trip to India and a possible one to Easter Island and instead opted to tag along to Germany. I was mostly excited that our visit would coincide with Oktoberfest, as that’s most certainly a bucket-list event. My aunt Diana and uncle Tom decided that they’d go along too and pretty soon plans were underway. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve seen the horror flick Christine, or read the original novel by Stephen King, you’d probably say that the antagonist of the story is the 1958 Plymouth Fury, who comes to life and make the world a living hell for anyone who gets in her path. However, I maintain that the real bad guys of the story were the bullies from Arnie’s school, who eventually become prey to Christine themselves. It was because of their ill treatment that Arnie went ballistic and turned to Christine to be his protector. That’s the way I see it anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you think the 1997 James Cameron feature film version of Titanic is an unequaled masterpiece or that it sunk like…well, the Titanic, you can’t deny that it has earned its place as a massive icon of pop culture. I happened to like it despite some of its shortcomings, and thus, if I get a chance to meet someone in the film, I take it. Danny Nucci isn’t quite the household name that Leonardo DiCaprio is, but nevertheless his character Fabrizio De Rossi is right there alongside of him when they board the Titanic together at the beginning of the film, earning his place in film – and Oscar – history. Read the rest of this entry »

I had first hoped to get an autograph from Betsy Russell back when she made an appearance at a Hollywood Show in 2011. At that time she was charging $55 for the autograph photo op combo. This inflated price was no doubt the fact that she had starred as Jill Tuck in five of the popular Saw horror film franchise entries. At the time I had seen and enjoyed these films, but honestly didn’t even realize that this was the same girl that more than 25 years earlier I had drooled over when seeing her portray Jordan Leigh-Jenson in multiple HBO runs of the teen skin flick comedy Private School. Read the rest of this entry »