Haunt Review: House of Shock
The House of Shock is something of a legend in the New Orleans area. It is a haunted attraction that has earned itself a reputation the likes of most haunts can only dream of. If the rumors are true, both the city of New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish have tried repeatedly to shut the haunt down, using every legal trick to do so. Some even think God himself is out to get the haunt, Hurricane Katrina having flooded it (along with most of the city), forcing them to close for the 2005 season. However, they reopened in 2006 and haven’t missed a year since, despite the obstacles, alleged and confirmed.
The HoS is known mostly for two things. First is its elaborate and eyebrow-singing stage show with pyrotechnics, the second is its use of satanic imagery and “shock” value to scare customers.
It too makes repeated appearances in “top ten” lists of U.S. haunts and it has a nation-wide reputation that is known across the country among haunt lovers. But is the notoriety of the haunt deserved? Read on to find out.
Review: My Bloody Valentine 3D
As a tech geek and a horror buff, I have two separate interest in My Bloody Valentine 3D (MBV3D).
First, it supposedly features a (relatively) new, ultra-advanced 3D technology that works better than the old red/blue glasses kind. Second, it is the first slasher film to make it into the theaters in some time (even if it is a remake).
Sure, we’ve had our dose of thrillers, chillers and torture porn, but we’ve lacked a good old fashioned slasher and the latest releases of the major slasher franchises have only reminded us how low the genre can go.
So how was the movie? Well, I’m going to break it apart into its two elements and discuss them individually before I try and bring it all together. Hopefully, by the end of it all, we’ll have some idea where the movie stands and whether anyone else should bother seeing it. Read more
Derek Flint: The Ultimate “Bond”
In the mid 60s, the Bond movies were starting to gain traction. With Sean Connery playing the role, the entire world was becoming enamored with 007, his gadgets, his witty remarks and his way with the ladies.
But while James Bond himself might have always been a borderline case of self parody, especially with his one-liners, it was a pair of movies that took that sense of humor to a natural new height. “Our Man Flint” and “In Like Flint”, also known as the “Flint” movies, lampooned Bond not through silly gags or fart jokes, but by simply being more “Bond” than 007 could ever hope to be.
If Bond has a “Bond Babe” then Flint has a dozen. If Bond is a black belt then Flint is a master of a dozen martial arts. If Bond speaks four languages, Flint speaks every single one and can talk to dolphins to boot (thus making him part Aquaman too, I suppose).
Flints movies were not action movies nor were they outright parodies, they were a strange hybrid of the two, meant to be both funny and totally awesome at the same time. Though self-aware and self-depreciating, it was still almost suave enough to pass as an actual comic book spy romp.
The Flint movies, much like their title character, is hard to nail down and define, but simply too cool to turn away from. Read more
Smart Clip: A Smart Review of a Stupid Invention
If you’re something of a night owl, you’ve probably already seen the commercials for the Smart Clip. It’s an adhesive hook that fits sticks to the back of your phone and lets you hang it from your belt loop, bag or whatever might work./p>p style=”clear: both”>When we first saw the commercials, my better half and I debated the merits of such an invention. However, it was one of those strange arguments where we both took each side, going back and forth playing devil’s advocate with one another.
Still, we had all but forgotten about the invention until we were walking down the aisles of our local Target and saw one on the shelf. A bit stunned and confused, we engaged in something of a dare match to buy one until, lo and behold, I found myself walking out the store with my very own Smart Clip.
So, here I am, a “proud” Smart Clip owner wondering how I got in this position and trying to defend a product that I have no idea why I bought.
Still, since it is American to occasionally give in to useless crap, I’ve decided to review this product and find out just how useless it is. Read more
MacJournal: Not For Bloggers
Mariner Software is one of the few Mac software development companies I really like.Their StoryMill product is easily the best novel management and writing software I have seen and I’ve been using it for some time on a work I’ve been tinkering with.
However, their MacJournal application is not one I’ve ever been able to understand. It has traditionally been a Journaling application, one that lets you keep a diary of sorts of your daily life. While that is a neat idea, I’ve often wondered how useful such an application is because few people seem to want to run to a computer to record their lives events.
Though the app is slick, letting you organize your life into journals, folders and more, I really didn’t see how this application would fit into my life or the life of anyone I know.
However, when Mariner announced its recent update to the application, I learned that it provides another tool, blogging. Though the blogging tool is far from new, when I learned that it was capable of helping me edit my sites, I was excited about the possibilities.
It truly had the potential to go from an offline journal editor for those with no lives, to a full fledged life organizer for bloggers with no lives.
But my excitement was short-lived. After downloading the app and giving it a test drive, I learned that this was no blog editor, but rather, was a journaling application with the blog editor shoehorned in. The result was that MacJournal remains a decent journaling app, but fails to fill my much-needed niche. Read more
