6WH: October 30th

Hatchet (2006) directed by Adam Green
This is pretty much a Friday the 13th movie without the hockey mask, but with its tongue more firmly planted in check than that series. Kane Hodder, who played Jason more than anyone, portrays the mutant, backwoods killer in this film. Like Jason, he's super-strong, unkillable and has a penchant for creative killing. The victims -- a large group of people taking a nighttime swamp tour near New Orleans -- are entertaining characters to watch even when they don't have a belt sander being applied to their face. Hatchet's just some good, old-school slasher fun. (7/10)




The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) directed by Rob Zombie
I can't say that when the trailer (below) was released, I was super-interested in watching this. It looked like it might be in the same genre as your typical lame Comedy Central cartoon. Color me surprised when it turned out to be much better than expected. It's closer to a modern day Bob Clampett cartoon, except with boobies and swearing and werewolves getting silver dildos shoved into their hearts. I thought it was a lot of fun. I can certainly see other folks absolutely hating it, though. It's one of those shows that, if it doesn't speak to your sense of humor, will be torturously bad. (7/10)

Today at work was costume day. Well, for me and about three other people I saw (a bumblebee, a cat and a female football player). It's always fascinating the things people to say to you when you walk around as a pop culture icon for eight hours in a public place. I was called Han Solo, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, a wizard, a monk and, surprisingly, I was identified correctly as Obi-Wan Kenobi several times. A couple of people asked me if I was a member of the 501st (I'm not...). That question fascinated me; I never considered that there were hardcore closet Star Wars fans walking around where I work. I was surprised by the number of women who really liked the costume. I generally don't think of Star Wars as something ladies would like in particular, just due to the fact that there are only two strong females in the entire series. I'm very wrong on that point. Lots of folks took cameraphone pictures of me and sent the pictures to their Star Wars fan friends. And, I got tons of compliments throughout the day. The costume turned out pretty good, I think. If you want your own Jedi costume, talk to this lady. She's incredibly nice and will sew you a costume to your measurements.


The Force Makes Me Happy, Apparently