Top 10 Scariest Horror Movies

Being as it's Halloween season, I thought I'd make a top 10 list of scariest horror films. I'm also not listing ultra gorey and or exploitative films like Cannibal Holocaust, Salo, or The Human Centipede. Those types have never scared me as much as made me feel extremely uncomfortable and disgusted.

And films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street just haven't aged well with me. Don't get me wrong, I still like them, but I wouldn't watch them if I wanted to feel scared. Also, all of those contemporary over-the-top CG effects based films that completely lack subtlety, just don't blend with realism enough to be scary. I find films like The Grudge or The Ring to be lazy writing. A good story needs to have a world with rules, and breaking them whenever doesn't work unless you also break the audience's sense of reality.

Internet Trolls Fired and Teenage Suicide Martyrdom

It's been a busy Internet. My E-haunts have been polarized by recent events, and a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork with strong opinions on bullying and freedom of speech. As most of you already know, a reddit user lost his job after having his docs dropped, and a teenage girl committed suicide — transforming her into a martyr for anti bullying campaigns.

You Don't Love Cats

I run across this phenomenon a lot, and it really does annoy the shit out of me. What I'm talking about is mutilating and imprisoning an animal to use as your own living teddy bear. Many cat owners think it's OK to amputate part of their cat's paws so it can't really fight back and their couch can remain in pristine condition. They think it's OK to remove its genitalia so it will become more docile and never breed — like a eunuch. They think it's OK for a cat to remain locked in a house for most of its life. And they've convinced themselves that they're doing the animal a favor because they'll "love" it and take care of its basic survival needs. I am pretty sure I've heard convicted kidnappers say similar things.

Fable the Journey: First Impressions

This one has really polarized the fanbase. There are a lot of people who want absolutely nothing to do with Kinect and or can't afford to buy one. For the rest of us, the demo came out yesterday for Xbox Live Gold members, and I was really impressed with what I experienced.

My first impression was a bit sad; I didn't know the game was going to be played sitting down. And that's really not the experience I want when I play Kinect games, however, it wound up being far more active than I thought. Casting spells, blocking, and dodging enemy attacks can get pretty damn intense, and the accuracy of spell casting is amazing.

The Batman Massacre

As the world knows, last night there was a massacre in Aurora, Colorado during the midnight premier of The Dark Knight Rises. I awoke to the news that 12 had been murdered and more than 50 injured. A man in his early 20s had walked into a theater, armed to the teeth, and threw gas grenades while opening fire on anyone that moved for the exits. One user uploaded his hospital pics and others filmed some of the chaos from the theater's lobby, posting the footage on YouTube. It is a real tragedy, and my heart goes out to the victims and their families.

Feminism vs. Tropes vs. the Internet

I'm going to start this blog off stating the obvious that is being ignored: Life is recursive, repetitive, and is filled with patterns. And people seem to like the recurrence of certain motifs and themes in story telling. And yes, I can fully agree that some of these are pretty sexist and send the wrong messages to our youth, but that doesn't mean all of it is.

Minnesota Wild Land Parise and Suter

It's an exciting time to be a Wild fan. Both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have signed 13 year deals worth 98 million each to play for the land of 10,000 lakes. And consider that bold a correction to all the writers who thought Minnesota only had a mere 1,000: You fools! It seemed like only yesterday that I was hearing about how certain it was that Parise was going to be a Penguin and how they'd go on to dominate the entire NHL. But now, Suter and Parise are just overrated nobodies who were only out for a payday — according to all the jaded fans who don't even care that they actually took less money to play for Minnesota.