SLIDER

Film Friday: Holidays


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I had no real idea what this movie was going into it - I had never heard of it or seen trailers for it. It appeared on netflix and I was like "Hey, I'll watch that."

Holidays is a pretty quick horror movie in that it's a collection of 8 short stories, so on the dvd I would assume you could jump to a story if you chose. (Again, assuming.) The stories are short, so if one story isn't your thing - don't worry, another is coming very soon.
Each story is a different holiday (duh) and each one is written/directed by someone different, so you get several different styles.
It begins on
Valentine's Day
and moves through:
St. Patrick's Day
Easter
Mother's Day
Father's Day
Halloween
Christmas
to finish with a bang on:
New Years Eve

Now, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed other holidays weren't featured. Maybe Holidays 2 could be a thing. I really want to see 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day, oh the possibilities.


  • Valentine's Day was predictable but enjoyable, 
  • St. Patrick's Day was immensely creepy in pretty much every way possible and left me with a actual grimace (in a good "you succeeded in your job" way). 
  • Easter was clever and bizarre. It was clever, but didn't really give me any thrills.
  • Mother's Day didn't really do anything for me. The cinematography was themed appropriately to the character and the story; I just wasn't into it. 
  • Father's Day was shot very well and I was immensely impressed with how well the story is told considering how little is actually happening on screen. Personally, I did find the closer it got to the end of that little story though, the more and more the father's voice grated on my spinal column. I think it was meant to be like a soothing, comforting father voice, but to me it sounded like serial killer/pedophile/kidnapper voice trying to calm down a victim voice. (It didn't start that way, but the longer you listen to him speaking, the more his voice got creepy. This may have been an intentional sound editing effect to creep viewers out.) Finally, I found the end of Father's Day to be anti-climatic. I get what they were doing, but I think it could have been so much better.
  • Halloween was Kevin Smith's contribution to the anthology and it's far less atmospheric and more real-world, but one of the most "jolly good horror fun." 
  • Christmas is where I was surprised to see Seth Green as our protagonist. It was a fun story, perhaps the pacing is a little uneven, but it's enjoyable to watch, especially with Seth Green.
  • New Year's Eve ties with St. Patrick's Day for strongest all-around. It has dread and foreboding, but also serves up plenty of humor and leaves a strong, banging end to the film. 


All around, I was definitely entertained and the stories were enjoyable. If you don't feel like you want to watch the entire thing, perhaps check out one or two of the stories.

C+

Heads Up: Violence, brief nudity, adult themes, religious themes

Available HERE





Sunday Confessions September 25 2016


The United
States of Becky



I confess: I start a new job tomorrow and I am both very nervous and very excited. It is an industry (blue collar) that I have never worked in before. But I won't be serving the public and that's the dream, so, yay!

I confess: I am so super in Halloween mode. I just want everything to be pumpkins and Halloween themed movies and ghosts and leaves.

FUCK YEAH WE WILL!!! 
BEACH BUNNY SEASON IS OVER 
IT'S OUR TIME NOW!!!


I CONFESS: Shawn and I have a 2 dvd's out-at-a-time plan with dvd's assigned to our profiles. But he basically sucks at watching his movies. So I just started putting my movies on his profile as well. He hasn't noticed. As far as he knows, he's been sitting on the same movie this entire time. 

I CONFESS: I started reading Dracula and I'm really kinda bored with it. Not sure. I mean, it's kinda interesting....a little....not sure how I feel about it yet. Have you guys read it? What did you think? 
Along with my #all things halloween fixation, I am wanting to read books that are Autumnal or Halloween themed or take place during that time. Any recommendations? Also any Halloween movies that may not be on my radar or that you are interested in seeing for Film Friday? 






Week(end) Snapshots for Week 38


 ~ Linking up with Reinventing Jess and 3TwentySix ~


 I do not have my days sorted. Things run together.

I did turn the couch over and use a rubber pet hair scraper thing to get Isabelle's fur off the back off the couch from the bottom area where she walks/sleeps. Apparently it has been far too long since I've done this. (Embarrassed face.) Though this does leave the observation that she is black and all the fur she leaves behind is white/grey.



I also caught up on all the shredding that was behind. This is not unusual. I never leave our shredder plugged in as a safety measure for Isabelle. So I tend to throw things on the pile and then do it all at once. Still, I definitely should have done it sooner.


Just a couple shots of different angles of my dad's backyard. To celebrate his birthday, a bunch of family went over and Carol made steaks on the grill and little golden potatoes from the farmers market and homemade coleslaw (all with veggies from her garden) and bread with Amish butter. It was YUM. Dessert was a tiramisu of golden cake and custard and chocolate pudding. Again, YUM!
The afternoon/evening was relaxed and full of stories and laughter and talking and just easy family time. It was definitely time I needed after the week I'd been having. It didn't really occur to me to take a lot of pictures. 


NOT PICTURED, TO COME IN ANOTHER POST:
The events that caused this to be my primary mood for several days.


Final note: When I switched the email I use for my blogger due to be locked out of the old one -
I lost all my contacts. Could you guys please email me so I have you in there again? Unless you absolutely do not want to, in which case I understand. There is a contact link at the top which gives you the email address I use for my blogging work.
Thanks.

Sunday Confessions September 4 2016



The United
States of Becky




I confess: I have had an utterly shit week. Think crappy poorly-written drama that doesn't do well at the box office. Although, the good news is, we haven't reached Lifetime or Hallmark movie level of patheticness yet - so there's that.

I confess: After failing to relocate the spiders on the patio before the exterminator got to them and then failing to convince him that he didn't have to kill them, because I was going to re-home them, (apparently this is like telling a surgeon that germs are fine) - I finally managed to safely capture and relocate the peeping-tom spider that has been hanging out in the bathroom. It's ridiculous and silly, but after everything, I feel like I needed that win. I was having a surprising amount of guilt over Mr. Big.


I confess: I made 3 Sunday Confessions headers, so they'll be rotated. I hope you like them. ;) 

I confess: I unfollowed a couple blogs and a handful of instagrammers. It is surprisingly hard for me to do sometimes because I feel a bit like I'm being disloyal, but things that went from being awesome for me are no longer a good fit and they just irritate now, like a shirt that has become too itchy to wear.






Fashion Mistakes I Make


This idea was poached (with approval of course!) from this post by Steff in Scotland.

* * *

~ 1.) MR. COMFY:

I think most people have THAT tee shirt. The favorite tee they've owned for years, it's been worn & washed to within an inch of its life. It's the softest, most comfortable thing on the planet. You could live in this tee. In my case it's extra nice because it's baggy and I love that. Unfortunately that also means this shirt has no shape. It just hangs. 
And yet.
I CONTINUE to wear this shirt in public. A lot.


~ 2.) BLENDING IN:

My closet has these colors: 
-Black
-Olive Green
-Burgundy
-Grey
-Navy Blue
-Shades of Brown

I do have a couple of items that are colors. I have a sunshine yellow shirt that is a thermal sleep shirt. My bras and undies are colorful. I could have kitschy socks for days. There are a couple red - Red Hot Chili Peppers tees. I have like three white undershirts and a purple tank top.

Not so much with the creativity. I keep telling myself to open up to new color possibilities, but it doesn't seem to happen. Maybe someday.


~ 3.) SACRIFICING QUALITY:

This is kind of a matter of opinion. For the most part, in our house, buying clothes is a luxury expense. I mean that in of course the requirements are met. But we don't really have the disposable income to just see a sweater, think it's cute and purchase. If I spend $8 on a tee shirt from the Walmart, I need to know I can and will wear it a ton of times, because $8, yo. So while Walmart may not have the greatest quality in the world, I do definitely get a lot of use out of my clothes, and they have a long life - longer probably than what most people would consider normal. I am not really ashamed of this. It assures that I genuinely really like what I buy, and I don't just buy clothes because they happen to be on sale, because $3 is still $3. Which means I don't end up with a closet of stuff I bought just because it was cheap.

However, the result is that I do fairly often end up looking a little bit like a cross between Ron Weasley and Remus Lupin. 
I don't look like I'm homeless or anything, but just by looking at my clothes, it is obvious they are old and aren't from particularly fashionable stock. Which is really ok. That's cool. 
But I also know that this is a BIG fashion faux pas, especially among the capsule wardrobe crowd and those who worship at the alter of KonMari. 


I actually have a whole bunch more, but then we're just breaking into individual items or nitty gritty things. 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt shocked kimmy schmidt uks tituss burgess




Sunday Confessions September 4, 2016



The United States of Becky



I confess: I was super bored yesterday so I started watching Elementary. Which you know, is a confession because when the show first started I was one of those "oh hell no" people. But I was bored and I do really like Lucy Liu, and I'd been watching Sherlock, so I was already there. And from episode one I was super hooked. Now I'm in love with this show and want to climb inside and live there.


Me, chastising my other self for preconceived notions and now 
fangirling all over a show I had immediately decided to hate.
lucy liu elementary full of it you are so full of it



Me not giving a crap about self chastising conversations 
because I found a new show to be obsessed with.
happy girl christmas excited surprised


I confess: Yesterday I made macaroni and cheese for lunch. I ended up eating too much. So not only did I eat junk food, it was too much junk food. And naturally I felt like utter shit after. So there's that.






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