The Friday Link for 10/25/24

It's the Spooky Season! 

This week I'm featuring some great Halloween scares for you, plus Lewis Black!

First up is Salem's Lot, the vampire story from Stephen King.  This movie is the original 1979 TV mini-series.  It blows my mind that this movie was a TV mini-series because it has some of the best jump scares ever in any horror film.  I just rewatched it last week, and I jumped like I did when I was 10. 

There is a new version of the story out on HBO, and although the story is not bad, they really went out on their own with the final 30 minutes.  I don't recommend it.  Instead, find and watch the original.

In this video, we see the scariest vampire since Nosferatu, the Master, aka Kurt Barlow. Here he is, coming to get Mark, a very recognizable Lance Kerwin, and how about freaking James Mason showing up!  

Another great horror film, and possibly the greatest horror film of all time, is The Thing. There is an entire culture geared around still trying to figure out the order of who the alien gets, and when they get got!

There are two main questions: 1) who was the first infected, and 2) who was infected in the end? I REALLY recommend watching the movie, but here is WhatCulutre's breakdown of who and when they got infected.

One more.  Here is the trailer for Session 9, a very low budget horror film with David Caruso. This movie scared the daylights out of me.  The scares come from a very minimal set and a relatively small cast. In the end, you'll be asking yourself "how did I miss all of that?"

Finally tonight, Lewis Black from The Daily Show takes on the scariest thing in America today, undecided voters.  Seriously...HOW? Trump loves Hitler?  How is that not a deal breaker for you? 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Stay safe! Get vaccinated for COVID and for the flu! 

The Friday Link for 10/18/24

Howdy all! I hope you have a great weekend.  I need to be short and sweet this Friday but I've got a fun one for you.

A few weeks ago I featured a clip from the TV show Game Changer, a comedian-fueled game show.  That's put out by the channel Dropout, which seems to be an evolved version of the insanely hilarious College Humor comedy troop.  College Humor was one of the first Internet comedy groups that really got the internet format. The two recurring College Humor bits/series that you'd probably know are Adam Ruins Everything and If Google Was A Guy.  Both are still pretty hilarious today.

College Humor, after an ownership change in the early 2020s, was rebranded as Dropout, and it is consistently putting out some of the best internet comedy.

Go watch Game Changer, but I am going to give you a few videos from another one of thir great shows, Breaking News.  The concept is simple. Four comedians pretend to be news anchors, but they do not know what they are about to read.  If they start laughing they lose a point.  The comedian with the lowest point total has to finish off the show in style. 

Enjoy a few episodes of the show.  Warning: There is some adult content. 

The last three segments feature someone I'm now addicted to, Amy Vorpahl, who just can not stop laughing, but it's the best kind of laughing.  Watching her lose it makes me smile!

LOVE her! 

I am off to celebrate my birthday! Please make sure you get up to date on your flu and COVID shots! 

And please make sure you are registered to vote, AND VOTE!!!

The Friday Link for 10/11/24

This week, a real mish-mash of videos.

First up is the return of Nate Bargatze to Saturday Night Live and with that, we get another visit with George Washington! 

Next up is a political post.  As a matter of fact, you can skip the next two if you don't want politics.

This is the introduction to the Colbert Show with Kamala Harris as his guest.  He did this in the style of the 60 Minutes intro from last Sunday.  It's very political, but I do like the payoff at the end. 

Next up is a great speech from Tim Walz in Michigan. His line about Trump's Chinese Bibles is amazing.  He is really good at this.  Especially watch from 5:35 to 8:40.

Finally tonight, what ever happened to Epic Rap Battles of History?  Sure they've had one or two okay videos in the last year, but they used to be so freaking good and consistent.

Here are two of the better entries from them:  Artists vs. Turtles and Harry Potter vs. Luke Skywalker. Both of these are...epic! 

Eclectic! 

Have a good weekend everyone.  Make sure to get your flu shot and your COVID booster! 

The Friday Link for 10/4/24

Howdy all! 

This week, I have a bone to pick with the Minneapolis-St. Paul haters.  

There has always been this metro/rural divide in America, mainly since about 100 years ago when people started to leave the farm and head into the big city.  Out of resentment, rural America started painting the metro areas of this country with a more and more negative brush.  

Now I know immediately I'll hear, "Metro areas badmouth the country way of life too!"  Yes, they do, but as someone who has lived extensively in both rural and metro America, many rural people CONSTANTLY bad-mouth cities, although the ratio in the other direction is dramatically less, something smaller communities falsely inflate to justify their non-stop bad-mouthing.

Republicans over the last 20 years have gleefully fanned the flames of this rural disdain of the cities with all the tropes.  "It's expensive!" "It's crowded!" ""So much crime!" "There is a 'bad element' there!" "It's confusing to get around!"  You get the idea.

In the age of Trump, this criticism got kicked up a notch. "THEY'RE ALL BURNTOUT HELLSCAPES, GHOST TOWNS, WHERE YOU'RE GUARANTEED TO GET MURDERED AND CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL!"

I live in the Twin Cities metro area and I love it. There are great elements of living in rural America, but the quality of life my family has here is exceptional! As much as some insist it's overridden by criminals, I go out into the city all the time. I've rarely seen any crime myself and I feel safe in my city.

It doesn't mean it doesn't have problems.  Of course it does! Every town, big and small, does, but I've had it with people whose only goal is to hate for hate's sake, usually with an ignorance that is hard to comprehend. 

A few weeks back I posted the Chef Reactions videos where he LOVED the Minnesota State Fair and the Twin Cities. I also posted another positive video of a French woman visiting Minnesota.  This week it's The Endless Adventure and their visit to Minneapolis, which they seemed to really enjoy! 

Also this week ZeFrank has another hilarious MORE ADULT True Facts, exploring the mysterious world of the jellyfish! 

To everyone out there:  You have one life to live.  If you are unhappy where you are, move.  Go find your happy place. You will be happier and that's all that matters. It really is.

Please get vaccinated and stay safe.

Have a great weekend!