NostalGeoff

Category: Anniversary

• Halloween II…40th Anniversary

  Posted at 12:16 pm by Geoff, on October 31, 2021

  

  Forty years ago, Michael Myers went to the hospital. Not because he got shot six times and fell off a second story balcony. No, he survived that just fine. He was headed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital to finish off Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) after failing to kill her in Halloween. And a sequel was born.

  John Carpenter and Debra Hill returned to write the script. But Carpenter passed on directing again allowing Rick Rosenthal to step in. Unlike its predecessor, Halloween II had a bigger budget and body count. Plus, it was much gorier.  Hello, death by hot tub. Also, unlike the first one, the sequel was a critical and commercial failure. It’s hard to top a classic. But part II does have some points that I appreciate. Here are four.

  4. Spooky hospital 

  On Halloween night, the hospital has a skeletal crew and few patients. That gives you plenty of dark empty corridors for a homicidal maniac to creep around. Rosenthal creates an unsettling eerie atmosphere that’s perfect for the horror that follows.

  3. Familial bond

  We find out that Laurie is Michael’s sister. She was born after he murdered his older sister and got sent to the asylum. Then their parents died in an accident and she was adopted. Now Michael is determined to take out the last member of his family. Classic middle child behavior. 

  2. Dr. Loomis 

  Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is back and twice as dramatic. He runs around town crying out to anyone who will listen that the evil is still out there and must be stopped. It can all be a bit comical but at the same time I love him. Plus, if the authorities had listened to him in the first movie, none of this would have happened. He’s basically doing an extended “I told you so” dance. 

  1. Chase scene 

  For the majority of the movie, Laurie is laid up recovering from her injuries. Then Michael finds her and she snaps to. There’s an amazing chase through the halls, down the stairs, over a wall, in an elevator, and out into the parking lot. Michael is always just within reach of her. Even though I’ve seen it a dozen times and know the outcome the scene always makes me so anxious. That’s good filmmaking. 

  Happy Halloween…II!!

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  Posted in Anniversary | 0 Comments | Tagged 80s, Anniversary, Movies

• Glitter Album…20th Anniversary

  Posted at 6:33 am by Geoff, on September 23, 2021

  

  Glitter was an epic disaster that nearly destroyed Mariah Carey’s career. That’s a dramatic statement, but it’s true. Up until 2001, Mariah was on top of her game, releasing one multi-platinum album after another and racking up fifteen #1 singles. Then she decided to try her hand at acting. Glitter (originally titled All that Glitters) is A Star is Born-like story about Billie (Carey), an aspiring singer in 1980s New York, who meets Dice (Max Beesley), a DJ who helps to propel her career as his own is flailing. There’s romance, drama, and lots of great music from the era. Good idea in theory, but horribly executed. The movie bombed and shortly before its premiere Mariah suffered a very public breakdown. The press had a field day roasting her downfall. The one good thing to come out of this mess was the soundtrack to Glitter. Unfortunately, it was released on 9/11 and was pretty much ignored. But it’s still a great album that just happened to get overshadowed by a bad movie. Hopefully people can appreciate it all these years later and see how ahead of the curve Mariah was by revisiting the 80s in the early 2000s.

  11. Don’t Stop (Funkin for Jamaica)

  You know what this song needs more of? Mariah. It’s Mystikal rapping for two verses while Mariah sings the hook. Yes, she comes in strong near the end, but it’s not enough. The original version, “Funkin for Jamaica”, is much better.

  10. Last Night a DJ Saved My Life 

  Similar to “Jamaica”. I could have done with less Busta Rhymes. At least Mariah sings more here. Nice bass line too. 

  9. Twister

  She wrote “Twister” about her friend who committed suicide. It’s a beautiful tribute. 

  8. Want You

  You’re enveloped by powerful synthesizers and layered vocals on this r&b jam. Plus, Eric Benet is a good match for her musically. 

  7. Reflections (Care Enough)

  Billie’s song lamenting being abandoned by her mother, as a child. A lovely sad melody

  6. Never to Far

  A big sweeping ballad with an amazing belting note at the end. Loooooooove! Billie sings this after Dice is killed…sorry for the 20 year old spoiler. 

  5. If We

  Mariah collaborates with Ja Rule and Nate Dogg on this seductive track. A winning trinity. It should have been a single, but there was drama behind the scenes. More on that later. 

  4. I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On 

  Mariah is living her pop dance diva fantasy on her cover of Cherelle’s 1984 hit. She’s flirty and coquettish, enticing you to get on the dance floor. But, she’s not to blame if you get turned on.

  3. All My Life

  Rick James wrote “Life” and you can hear him all over it. You would think it came from his Street Songs album. He brings out a certain spicy sexy side to her that you don’t usually hear. A Mariah Jane girl. 

  2. Lead the Way

  Mariah shows some restraint on the first two verses, but when the bridge comes along she takes off. She scales the high notes with her vocal agility, leading the way for every “female entertainer” that comes after her. Simply gorgeous. 

  1. Loverboy (Original & Remix)

  When Mariah initially recorded “Loverboy” she sampled an obscure song called “Firecracker”. Unfortunately, her ex-husband, Sony Chairman Tommy Mottola, heard the track and stole the sample for Jennifer Lopez’s song “I’m Real”. Mariah had to scramble to remake “Loverboy”, ultimately choosing Cameo’s “Candy” as the basis for the song. Mottola took his douchebaggery up a notch when he hired Irv Gotti to produce a track for JLo and Ja Rule, just like what he’d done on Mariah’s “If We”. That became the “I’m Real (Remix)” which was an enormous hit and thus made it so Mariah couldn’t release her own duet with Ja Rule. 

  Having heard both versions of “Loverboy”, I’ll say the Cameo sample works better. It takes you back in time and the addition of Ludacris and Da Brat on the remix brings in a modern hip-hop flair. “Loverboy” wouldn’t reach #1 on the charts, but it came in at a strong #2. It was the biggest selling single of 2001, proving you can never count Mariah out. Or as Da Brat raps, “Hate on me much as you want to. You can’t do what the fuck I do. Bitches be emulatin’ me daily.”

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  Posted in Anniversary, Music | 0 Comments | Tagged 2000s, 80s, Anniversary, Movies, Music

• Friday the 13th Part II…40th Anniversary

  Posted at 6:51 am by Geoff, on August 13, 2021

  

  Since today is Friday the 13th it’s a good time to take a look at the horror movies inspired by the “holiday”. Even better that it’s the 40th anniversary of Friday the 13th Part II this year. It’s one of the best movies in the series and a huge part of that is because of Ginny (Amy Steele). The final girl/child psychology major/camp counselor is a formidable opponent for serial killer Jason (Warrington Gillette). She really shines towards the end of the movie, specifically in that endless chase scene. Here’s a breakdown in 13 parts. 

  
  1. Ginny and Paul (John Furey) come back to camp after a night out in town. The lights are out and none of the other counselors are around. Eerie. Oh and Jason is waiting for them in the dark. Look out Paul! A scuffle ensues. Jason, wearing his sack mask with the one eye cut out (just as unsettling as a hockey mask) pops up and scares the hell out of Ginny. 

  
  2. She runs to the bathroom, which doesn’t have a lock on the door. How can you pee safely in there? When she’s convinced Jason isn’t going to come in she goes for the window only to see his hand break through it. That bathroom really isn’t secure. 

  
  3. Ginny gets to the kitchen, which actually has a lock. Go figure. She stands by, armed only with a small knife, as Jason attempts to force his way in. When his pitchfork pierces the door, she finally scrambles out the open window. 

  
  4. She flees to her VW bug, the shitty one that never starts up, where Jason pitchforks his way thru the soft top roof. Don’t bring your bug to a horror movie, people.

   
  5. Ginny manages to get away and dashes to the woods where she hides behind a tree. When Jason runs past she kicks him in the nuts. Good aim.

  
  6. Around another bend, Jason suddenly leaps out, barely missing her. I may have screamed the first time I saw that scene in the movie. Possibly the second and third times too.

  
  7. After a lot of running, Jason enters one of the cabins. Ginny has decided to crawl under a bed because why not choose the most obvious hiding place. Well, obvious to everyone except Jason who doesn’t even look. If it weren’t for Ginny peeing herself, causing a river of urine to flow from under the bed, he would have left. She believes he’s gone and comes out, nearly getting impaled on his pitchfork. 

  
  8. Ginny grabs a chainsaw from the closet. Whoa, wrong horror franchise. She scares Jason with it until it runs out of gas. So she just throws the saw at him and breaks a chair over his back. He’s down. Rather then finish him, she runs off again. Oh, girl. 

  
  9. Deeper in the woods, Ginny comes upon Jason’s shack. He follows. She barricades herself in the backroom where she finds Mrs. Voorhies (Betsy Palmer) severed head and shrine. 

  
  10. It’s time for some child psychology. Ginny puts on Mrs. V’s moldy sweater and stands in front of her head. When Jason breaks down the door, she goes into mommy-mode and pretends to be her. Jason falls for it until Ginny moves to hack him with a machete and he sees his real mother’s head. Uh-oh. 

  
  11. Paul arrives in the nick of time and saves Ginny. A struggle ensures. Ginny grabs the machete and brings it down on Jason’s shoulder. He falls to the ground. For now.

  
  12. Paul and Ginny stumble back to one of the cabins. They hear something outside and fear the worst, but it’s just Muffin, the little dog. Whew. And then a deformed still-alive Jason crashes through the window behind Ginny. The most shocking jump scare of the movie. Slam to black. 

  
  13. It all ends with the cops and paramedics swarming the camp. A confused Ginny is loaded into the back of an ambulance. Where’s Paul? Where’s Jason? Most importantly, is Muffin ok? 

  
  The end…until part 3.

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  Posted in Anniversary, Movies | 0 Comments | Tagged 80s, Anniversary, Movies

• Tina & Cord…35th Anniversary

  Posted at 1:31 pm by Geoff, on August 12, 2021

  

  On this day in 1986, One Life to Live supercouple Tina (Andrea Evans) and Cord (John Loprieno) got married for the first time. There would be three other trips down the aisle. The couple was always experiencing some sort of drama that tore them apart. Typically it had to do with Tina’s lies and schemes. But there was also a crazed mother-in-law, jail time, baby switches, interlopers, and a presumed death or two. Thankfully the writers got them back together before OLTL went off the air. We had to have one last Tina & Cord wedding.

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• Happy 25th Anniversary…Kelly & Mark

  Posted at 4:53 pm by Geoff, on May 1, 2021

  

  Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary today. The two met on the set of All My Children back in 1995. Kelly played the popular heroine Hayley Vaughn and Mark was brought on as her love interest, Mateo Santos. I remember thinking at the time that they had incredible chemistry. Apparently, that carried over into their real lives since they eloped in Las Vegas the next year. Hayley and Mateo experienced a ton of drama, but Kelly and Mark have remained fairly steady. After they left AMC in 2002, they continued on to successful careers and raised a family. They also have a producing partnership. Currently, they’re in development on a primetime reboot of AMC, taking it back to where their love story began.

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  Posted in Anniversary | 0 Comments | Tagged 90s, Anniversary, TV

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