2014 Reading: A Father's Story

Alright, so I saw this one on the shelf at work and I knew in my heart that I could not pass it up even though I had already started on another book. But, come on... You know how much I love serial killers, right?

Right?!

If you were to ask me which of them I prefer, which one I am the fond, which I can semi-identify with (though not all the way because as the last book pointed out: not a sociopath. remember?), I would definitively tell you, without doubt or hesitation, Jeffrey Dahmer.

I have certain feelings about why Jeff did what he did and I was happy/surprised to see that his father Lionel, the author of the book, came up with some of the same conclusions. There was a particular passage near the end of the book that described my feelings perfectly.

This dread of people leaving him had been at the

root of more than one of Jeff's murders.  In general, Jeff

had simply wanted to "keep" people permanently, to

hold them fixedly within his grasp.  He had wanted to

make them literally a part of him, a permanent part,

utterly inseparable from himself.  It was a mania that

had begun with fantasies of unmoving bodies, and

proceeded to his practice of drugging men in bath-

houses, then on to murder, and finally, to cannibal-

ism, by which practice Jeff had hoped to ensure that

his victims would never leave him, that they would be

part of him forever. (p 216)

The whole part about wanting to keep someone as a part of you forever...

...Doesn't that sound exactly like nearly ever book, movie, and song describes love?

That's one of the main reasons why I find Dahmer so interesting. (The movie with Jeremy Renner helped as well. If you have not seen it, I suggest you do.) I have had feelings similar to this (without the cannibalism or any of the creepy bits) but to keep someone so close that you almost seem to become one. It's what most people dream about. Jeff (because I feel like we're intimate enough to be on a first name basis) just found a way that worked for him but didn't exactly work for the rest of the world.

Now, before you write me off as a sick hybristophiliac (look it up), I do not condone anything done by him or any other killer. I just get it, okay? I get it.

It was clear that this book was written and published before Jeff was murdered in prison, but I honestly don't know if that makes it better or worse that his father put this out into the world. There are the certainly expected passages of "What did I do wrong?" coming from Lionel in this book, as you might expect from the father of someone who does horrible things, but I found that I was not put off by it as much as I thought I would. Usually, I find the words of parents, friends, etc. completely self-aggrandizing and unnecessary, however, I thought this book was a little bit better than that. It gave me some insight into the family that I would not otherwise have had. 

(Yet another reason I feel comfortable calling Jeff by his first name. We're BFFs like that.)

Shitty 80's Horror Movie Review: Curse of Chucky (Child's Play franchise)

Okay, so when I initially did my review of all the Child's Play movies, I had NO IDEA that this 6th movie even existed. I happened to see the preview for it on some DVD that I was watching and it shocked the hell out of me, because this is the kind of thing I don't want to happen. I have a feeling when I first looked up all the Chucky movies, this one wasn't actually out yet (plus it went straight to DVD anyway) so I won't make too big of a deal about it.

SO, here is the sixth (and final... for now) Child's Play movie. And now I can get on to other things.

Child's Play VI: Curse of Chucky (2013)

2014 Reading: Confessions of a Sociopath

This book took me a little longer than normal to read because it is far more complex than what I have been reading. But, that is not a bad thing. The subject matter is something that has interested me for a long time and I'm glad I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to spot it at the library.

It's refreshing to find a book on sociopathy that's not simply a text book. This is written from the perspective of an actual sociopath, and while there are more than a few number of technical terms and psychological jargon, it also has the personal (if somewhat detached emotionally) feelings straight from the mind of the person afflicted.

I went into this book thinking I would have a lot in common with the writer, maybe get some answers for my own life.

...

No.

I can confidently say that that there is pretty much nothing sociopathic about me. (When I confirmed this with my mother, she just looked at me and went "Duh...")

There were several things in this book that caught my eye and I thought I would share with everyone. While I did not agree with everything that was said by the author (not a sociopath, remember), there were certain things that I could just not help but to agree with.

She talks a lot about her religion as a form of being able to tell, not right from wrong, but a set of guidelines that could see her through her life and allow her to blend into society far more effectively. She did this without fully believing every word that was written, too, because as a sociopath she questioned what she read rather than just taking it as law. I agree wholeheartedly with this.

[...]The "opposition" in the

Mormon faith is Lucifer, who became Satan, and who has a

rather interesting and detailed backstory.  Born a spirit child

of God in the premortal world, he is our spiritual brother and

was considered one of the brightest stars in heaven until he

rebelled and became our necessary opposition.  This was great

for God, because his pan needed a villain: "man could not act

for himself save it should be that he was enticed by one or

the other."  And what about Lucifer?  When I first heard this

story in Sunday school I thought that Lucifer was almost a

too-convenient patsy in God's plan.  Did God trick Lucifer into

rebelling? Maybe make some deal with him under the table?

Or maybe God created Lucifer specifically for this purpose?

Mormon scripture says "there is a God, and he hath created all

things, both things to act and things to be acted upon."  Was

Lucifer created to act instead of be acted upon?  Was I? (p133)

This is how I feel about religion on the best of days! I REALLY hate talking about religion, but this same topic has been something that I have discussed over and over again with people who are more religious that I and want to know what got me away from the church. And now I don't want to talk about it anymore. Religion is one of those topics that you can't really discuss at all because everyone just ends up getting offended over the stupidest shit.

[...] Asked to choose

between having power and giving up power to a "trusted" en-

tity, people often prefer to give it up rather that have the re-

sponsibility that comes with that power. (p176)

This is also something that is near and dear to my heart and something that I have tried to convey to many people when it comes to many things in my own life. It's not all laziness, it's not wanting to be responsible for the failure.

I had another passaged lined up to put down here, but then I thought I would just leave it at this and let you read it for yourself if you are so inclined.

I would definitely suggest this book, just keep in mind all the technical jargon and subject matter which may make you start looking at the people around you in your every day life and try to analyze them without letting them know. It's a little addictive.

*NEW VIDEO!* I Don't Know Why I Bother

Shitty 80's Horror Movie Review: Demonic Toys (franchise)

These technically started in the 90's but since one of them was a crossover with the Puppetmaster series, I thought it might be worth it to finish out the series.

I was wrong.

Demonic Toys (1991)

Demonic Toys II: Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys (1993)

Demonic Toys III: Puppet Master Vs. Demonic Toys (2004)

Demonic Toys IV: Personal Demons (2010)

This actually marks the end of all the horror movies that I have stacked up. From now on, I will probably only be posting one movie at a time. I've already got the next few series lined up in my head. I know that I need to watch the new Chucky movie that I had no idea existed until a few days ago, and I also want to watch something special from my 100th movie.

We shall see.

2014 Reading: The Death Cure

I finally got tired of waiting for a copy to become available at the library, so I just went and bought it.

I am so glad I did.

I had all kinds of things going through my mind as I was reading this: Would they survive? Who was WICKED? To what extent did Thomas have to do with the testing? Was WICKED really good? Who can you trust? I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!

I honestly don't know what I would do if I were in the situation that Thomas found himself. I think I would have just given up and died in the maze or something. All I know is that I could not have survived as long as he did or done the things he did to help others.

I usually don't like dystopia books, I don't know if I said that already or not, but this book series was awesome and I really enjoyed it. I can't wait for the movie to come out so that I can shamelessly ogle Dylan O'Brien while judging the film makers by how much they stuck to the original story. I've been doing that a lot lately. It's what happens when they keep making movies out of books.

There is a prequel out there (which I also bought) so I might get to that at some point but it won't be the next thing I read because I have already started another book that I found at the library and I actually don't know what to expect from it. All I know is that it's a subject matter that interests me greatly and I think I am going to enjoy it. I hope.

Until next time...

Shitty 80's Horror Movie Review: Friday the 13th (franchise)

Wow, I'm starting to run out of these now. I need to start watching on a regular basis again so that I can keep putting these things out.

Okay, so, this series...

So much Ed Gein references. Much.

Friday the 13th (1980)

Friday the 13th II (1981)

Friday the 13th III: 3d (1982)

Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter (1984)

Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning (1985)

Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood (1988)

Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Friday the 13th IX: Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Friday the 13th X: Jason X (2002)

Friday the 13th XI: Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

Friday the 13th *Remake* (2009)

God... 12 movies. TWELVE! All in all, I was happy with this franchise. I'm not saying I want any more... because I don't... but they were better than some of the movies I've watched for this blog *coughPhantasmcough*

2014 Reading: Red Dragon

I was amazed by how much the movie followed the book. AMAZED!

It's refreshing actually, to find when that happens because it is so rare. I mean, yeah, you have to take certain things into perspective because not everything can be translated from page to screen, but they actually did a very awesome job with it. So, bravo movie makers!

I've had all four of the Hannibal books for quite some time now and I am just now getting to them. I needed something to read while I was waiting for the third installment of the Maze Runner books so this seemed like a good time to break out the Thomas Harris. (BTW, I ended up buying the Maze Runner books because I was becoming too impatient waiting for it to become available at the library so I'll be getting to the last one next anyway. Oh well.)

I kept a lot of things in mind while I was reading Red Dragon. I tried to remember what I could of the movie, plus all the other movies in the series (I haven't seen Manhunter, though, because I heard it was a giant pile of crap, but whatever). I also have been watching the TV show that they made with the characters from Red Dragon and I tried to keep that in mind as well. I much prefer picturing Hugh Dancy as Will as opposed to Edward Norton (no offense to Ed, but Hugh played the part with more pain and sadness, which I think was more akin to the feelings in the books). But, as always, Hannibal to me will forever and always be Sir Anthony Hopkins. No doubt.

I could hear their voices in my head as I was reading. It was awesome.It's actually made me a little weary of reading the rest of the books because I know I'll be comparing them in my head and I'm afraid the rest aren't going to even COMPARE to this one on that front, but I must press on.

Going inside the mind of a serial killer, even a fictitious one, is a difficult thing to do, but Harris does it so simply. Everything he wrote down is something that I can believe goes through the mind of someone who might be inclined to do something destructive like that. I really admire his writing style because it is neither complicated nor simple. It gets the point across very well, but without bogging it down with technical jargon or long, drawn out descriptions. You see from the eyes of the killer, but also from the eyes of the people witnessing the after effects of the killing.

I can't wait for the rest of them.

2014 Reading: William Shakespeare's Star Wars

He turned... the womp rat story... into the St. Crispin's Day speech...





I'm gonna go ahead and say that again in case you didn't hear me.



HE TURNED...

...THE WOMP RAT STORY...

... INTO THE ST. CRISPIN'S DAY SPEECH...

I don't...

How...

What...

2014 Reading: Down A Dark Hall

I think this is going to be my last Lois Duncan book for a while. I have too much other stuff to read. Plus, they are so short, I kinda want to space them out a bit so I don't read them all at once. Three at a time is enough, right?

Typical ghost story, I guess. I'll tell you, though, if I noticed some of the things that the main character was noticing, I sure as fuck would not have waited as long as she did to confront someone about them. Fuck that noise. I would have been the one demanding answers and then finding a way to climb over the fences to get to a phone.

In many ways, I like the way this book left off: abruptly but with hope for the outcome of the characters, but another part of me wanted to see her confront her parents in "HA! I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!" way. Also to see what ever became of her and the quote-unquote romantic interest in the story. Sure he was part of the evil scheme from the beginning, but he had no idea and I think he really cared about her. Sort of. Eventually.

Yeah, I think I'm going to move on to other things a while. These books are goo for a very short read so they get my numbers up for the year, but I'm ready again for some of the more in depth stuff. Maybe I'll start another series or something.

2014 Reading: A Gift of Magic

Should have been called "Stubborn 12-year-old Brat Selfishly Tries To Ruin Everyone's Lives With Her Weird Psychic Powers."

Seriously.

Throughout the entire book, I wanted to smack this little girl in the face. I understand that to some extent, a person of such a young age can be somewhat emotionally unstable, especially in the face of divorce and big life changes, but come on! This girl was a nightmare. She thought of nothing but her own happiness and actively tried to ruin the lives of her family just so that she could have them all to herself with no one else to interfere.

And can we talk for one second about the poor choice of covers they have for this book?

Nancy, the psycho main character of this book is LITERALLY described:

"Her wheat-colored hair hung straight 

down her back, and her brows and mouth were 

straight lines across her face with her nose a 

straight line down its center. She was twelve 

years old, but her body was still as thin as an 

arrow." (p 4)

Now keep that in mind as you look at this picture:

No.

Who was in charge of this? 

You had ONE JOB!

2014 Reading: They Never Came Home

This book was really odd. The concept is a familiar one: boy gets in trouble with the law (smuggling "dope" across the Mexican border), decides to leave and never come back, takes money, runs away, but then for some reason decides to take his friend with them... What? He pushed him down a mountain or something and tells him they're brothers when he wakes up with amnesia.

...

Riiiigggghhhhhtttt...

It's like the plot of a really bad telenovela.

But of course, in books like these, everything ends alright. The guy with amnesia's girlfriend find out he's alive and YAY happily ever after and stuff.

So much of this book was kind of odd for me to grasp. Maybe I just didn't like the fact that the girl was placing so much of her life on the guy (something that I have done in the past and have since learned to abhor now that I know what it does to people) that she just decides to stop her life when he goes missing and they think she's dead.

Maybe it's the character of Frank who is CLEARLY a sociopath. He seems to have no emotion and seems to not identify with anyone in his life and was even willing to kill "his best friend" in order to leave everything behind, not caring about his family or anything else he was leaving behind.

Maybe it was the fact that at the end of the book, you never hear what happened to Frank, the little brother who helped the girl find out what really happened to the missing boys. I came to feel strongly for Frank while I was reading and then by the end of it, I was left with nothing. NOTHING.

What happened to you, Frank? Dan and Joan, what did you tell people when you got home and everyone found out you were still alive? Dan, how did you explain you coming back but not Larry, who, by the way, is DEAD now?

You can't leave me like this, damnit! I need to know!