Let's do this...

MOTHER OF CHEESE!

Stop yelling "Carousel!" You're too young to get that reference.

Stop yelling "Carousel!" You're too young to get that reference.

Mask

Sex talk that I fail to have a clever title for due to the late hour and cold medicine.

Some one, I won’t say who (but she knows that she eats puppies) is having an enforced “Low Self-Esteem Day” brought to you by “Some Asshole in the Street” and other shaming types. As a result, she was asking if those of us with ladies would express what we liked about our ladies bodies. Now this is hard for me, because I have a plethora of Secret Internet Girlfriends (most of whom I only know through outdated photographs), and I have Syd, who hits me for saying anything about her body at the best of times. No matter who I talk about, I’m going to get in trouble.

So here is what I’m left with, I’m asked to make a series of statements about women’s bodies, but without accurate documentation. Now on the one hand I could ask you each to send me photos of yourselves in your underpants, for science purposes, but that’s a wee bit creepier than I had planned on being today. Instead, I was hoping for a slightly less creeptastic drive down Girl-Body Lane. Wait a second… did I just insinuate that I would be driving a car over a road comprised of dead women? Because that would be even creepier than asking you to send me photos of you in your undies. Fuck it! Let’s get to objectifying!

Let us instead talk in more general terms. I like all bodies, granting that I like them to be within reason. I like them long and lean, short and stout, medium and... um… medium? Okay, so that sort of falls apart, but it’s true. I like girls with curves, and I like girls who are skinny. I like all kinds of bodies, even though there are extremes on either end of the spectrum that turn me off. It would be impossible to claim that these extremes don’t exist, even for little old me, but the markers are generally further out than you probably think. I don’t know, maybe by now you know me well enough to know that my goal posts for fuckability are not quite where everyone else’s are. I rarely worry about where other people’s posts are, because to be frank, they don’t really count. If you can understand why I like this one, or that one, then good for you. If you can’t, well I can’t understand your desire for that one over there either, but I won’t begrudge you your desire for her.

I like all the bits of women too. Rather, I like something different on each woman. Each and everyone, a slightly different set of features to be explored and memorized. This one has such lovely eyes, that you could stair into until the end of time. That one has a strong jaw line and that comes down to a perfect chin. She has slender tapering arms, she has powerful shoulders, she has a thick wrists and she has graceful thighs. And yes, of course, obviously I notice the breasts and buttocks of every girl that I come across. That, however, is merely a matter of course. Save for a few, I’m mostly just glad that those parts come along at all. In many ways, it’s also a matter of how well those parts fit in with the rest of the body.

For the most part, however, that’s all just male gaze stuff. And while I understand its place as both a positive and a negative factor in male/female relations, how you look is not that important to me. If I were simply looking for someone who fit into a narrow body image, I could find her easily. However, there are problems there. Looks fade, and when you look exclusively for appearance you forget that they probably have habits that will annoy you. They might like the wrong kind of music, they might like Reality Shows, they might even think that reading is for like… squares and stuff? What do you do then? Dump her and move on to the next girl who looks nice, but will annoy you? Do you leave a wake of angry and resentful women behind you?

Or, do you do what I do? See, while I’m perfectly willing to admit that physical looks hold some level of importance, it’s far more important that a lady excite my mind. I could, quite easily, get some girl* to take to bed, if that was all I was interested in. The problem is, I need to talk to her afterwards and I need there to be some kind of connection between periods where sex isn’t happening. I’m a modern man, I need modern women. Without brains, there isn’t much I can do with you.

The mind is the sexiest part of any woman, and should be considered in any conversation of sexuality. If you’re not kicking it at the very top, then it really doesn’t matter how much you’re kicking it further down the body, because without mental stimulation I will get bored of you. I’m not even saying someone needs to have read all the books I have, as I said before, it might be better if she hasn’t, because then we could discuss different things.

Now, looking at my earlier posts, I can see that I was going to discuss slut-shaming, body-shaming and other such things, but I’m afraid I’ve run out of steam. I’m not fans of them, and it occurs to be that bi-shaming would take at least two pages for me to discuss and I can’t look down that barrel tonight. Still love me?

Okay, despite all my talk a moment ago, I’m not even that comfortable with dumb-shaming. You can be annoyed by ignorance, but you shouldn’t try to shame someone out of it. There, I talked a little about it. Now it’s time I went to bed.





*This boast brought to you by the year 1998

It’s Happened Again (Part Six)

Wow! This sounds so familiar!

We’re young people right? Some are teenagers, some are in our twenties, but not many of us are over thirty. Okay, there’s that one grizzled veteran… but still.

So! Young people? Right? And we’re fighting an empire or a corporation, or some faceless system. And they’ve got technology and guns and stuff. And we’ve got magic and love, yeah? Oh, and one or two of our side used to be on their side. Yeah, got that?

So, then there’s these giant chickens we all ride, and those little white winged teddy bear looking things, and the less said about the ambulatory cacti the better.

I don’t know… this just all feels very familiar. You sure this has never happened to us before? On this world before? Somewhere else? Sometime else? Maybe? So this is the last one of these for our world? Okay.

But it still feels awfully familiar.

It’s Happened Again (Part Five)

He’s done it again, I don’t understand how he keeps control to be honest. Why is there no revolution? Why do they keep letting him do this? Why do I have to be the one cleaning up after him? Yes, there are my cousins, but it all falls to me if anything goes wrong. My father is a stupid bully, and an irresponsible ruler. He constantly belittles everyone, abuses us all, never relents. I’d kill him myself, but I am so tiny compared to him. So very, very small.

So, here I am, gathering all the things he scattered. Trying, once again, to put things back to how they were before. Making a shoddy recreation out of whatever junk I can find laying around these places. People run and scream when they see me coming, because they know I’m helpless to stop this process and if they get caught they’ll become part of the project. I can hear their screams, even now, their terrible screams. Every time they get stuck and can’t pull away, they scream. Entire buildings of screaming people, whole cities gathered up and scooped away. The screams stay with me, I can never block out the screams.

I have no choice though. I have to do this for him. He destroys and I’m forced to rebuild. Gathering materials through the cruelest and least efficient method. Roll the ball, get whatever sticks to the ball, make other things stick, gather up everything. I don’t know how long I can keep doing this, but unless I want to be the king of a kingdom that no longer exists, I have to do this for my own legacy. I’m trapped here, unable to stop but not willing to go on. I have to do this, but I can’t keep destroying other worlds to make up for his madness. There has to be an end, if for no other reason than to end that stupid little muttered song that the mummers sing to themselves after madness has taken them.

It’s Happened Again (Part Four)

My knuckles are bloody
My jaw is sore
My muscles ache
None of that matters now
Because a challenger has appeared
I’ve fought people from all over the world
Who use every conceivable martial arts style
And so far I’ve beaten them all
I’m so tired
But I can’t stop now
Not when I’m so close
Just one more bought
One more fight
Maybe then I can quit
And then another challenger appears
And I know I’ll never get out of this vicious cycle
None of that matters now
Because we’ve been told to fight.

It’s Happened Again (Part Three)

This all feels so familiar. Every time I swing this wooden sword, and cut another weed, I feel like I’ve done this before. It’s like I’ve lived this life a dozen times, like I’ve always done this. I knew the old man was going to tell me it was dangerous to go alone, even before he spoke. I can tell exactly what throwing a boomerang will feel like. I can already tell you how to play a musical instrument I’ve never actually seen.

I know there is a girl, and a wizard and… some sort of triangle made up of triangles that are probably made up of smaller triangles like some sort of triangular fractal. I know there are things out there that I must face, with names like keese and moblins. Different incarnations showing up over and over again. It’s like a pattern, a fractal again. No matter how long or how deep, you keep getting the same thing. I will have to save a kingdom that I have saved countless times already.

There will be friends, horses and old men mostly, but still friends. I’ll need to gather hearts and pixies in jars. And rupees, I’ll be getting a lot of those little gems to weigh down my pockets before this is over. There will be bows, arrows, bombs, swords and that girl. I can’t get that girl out of my head.

It’s important that I do this, I have to keep the cycle going, other wise the nation is lost. Can’t let the nation be lost, I live here. Well, I live in the forest, because I’ve always lived in the forest, but the forest is part of the nation and the nation is ruled by… that girl. I’ve got to do this, got to save the world, stop the evil again as I have always done.

Either I’m a lunatic, or I am this world’s eternal champion. Either way, I’ve got to go save the day again, and all I know is that it’s dangerous to go alone.

It’s Happened Again (Part Two)

How long have I been out?
Good gravy, I’m hungry.
Okay, so… I’m in the maze again.
Hungry.
Are those food pellets?
Why is there a path of pellets?
I’m going see those floating cherries and bananas again soon.
Gotta eat something.
Food pellets the only thing on offer.
Oh crap.
The Maze is haunted too.
That’s nice.
That’s really nice.
Time to run.
Maybe there are still those big pellets.
The ones that look like eight balls.
The ones that help me fight the ghosts.
Just gotta keep moving.
Gotta keep eating.
Gotta get the place cleared.
So I can do it all over again.

It’s happened again. (Part One)

They came running, telling me that she’s gone. Once again, stolen right out from under their noses. I keep trying to walk away, keep trying to leave, but these things keep happening. I know it’ll happen again, that’s why I can’t leave, that’s why they won’t let me leave. Oh sure, they provide amenities, like any good prison. Go Carts, Golf, Tennis, and those bizarre game tournaments they keep organizing. But let’s be honest, I’m a prisoner here, kept until it happens again.

My poor brother, he’s gotten so thin, so gaunt, hardly a shadow of himself anymore. His nerves are getting to him, but he doesn’t want to admit it. He thinks I don’t see his hand shaking, but I can see what the strain is doing to him. If I could get him out of here, I would. I already take most the “missions” myself, acting as the sole agent for this so called kingdom.

If only they’d listen to me about security, if only they’d give a damn about prevention, but they don’t. They only care about returning things to the status quo. Go out there, get her back. Never mind the trauma, never mind that she must be in on these “kidnappings” and never mind the strain on your self and your family… just put on the blue overalls and go get her back. Sometimes of course I have to dress as a raccoon, or a bee, anything to strip away and sense of humanity or dignity I might have been holding on to.

I’d like to avoid the green mushrooms, to grab one of those bombs on legs and not let go, but what would happen to my brother? He can’t take it, he’d snap under the pressure, and I can’t let that happen. So I’ll pull on my white gloves and go do it again. I’ll go find the stupid girl and bring her home. I’ll beat up her captor, who is really her lover and his children as well.

I don’t know who I am anymore, that’s why I had to put my initial on my hat, just to give me an idea. I can hear them at the door, I have to go, because it’s happened again.

In which I talk about art again.

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again.

When taken as a group William-Adolphe Bouguereau's paintings feel reeeeally creepy. I mean look at Thirst. Not so bad right? Now look at The Young Shepherdess and then La Frileuse then Cupidon. Now look at Thirst again. CREE to the PEE!

Sadly,one of his paintings, The Nut Gatherers happens to be a favorite of mine. It's the wallpaper on both my computers right now. It's not helped that I have given it the subtitle "Young Lesbians in Love" due to the looks those two are giving each other.

I should have just stuck with Bruegel (Pieter the Elder that is) for my painting enjoyment. There is no creepy sexual subtext to The Triumph of Death or in Mad Meg. There is just pure unadulterated awesome.

Movie Review: Hercules and the Captive Women

Hercules and the Captive Women (1961 Dir. Vittorio Cottafavi) Episode 12 of Season 4 which was shown on September 12th, 1992

Now squeal for me piggy! (yup, a sodomy joke right out the gate)

Flaming Crab Cakes! It was hard finding any information about this. The name of the movie is actually “Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide” and that is not the same thing as is written on the side of the box, let me tell you! I got an Italian Language Wikipedia page when I put it in and only someone who speaks Italian could tell me if it’s even about Hercules or this other cat Ercole. Is that an Italian name for Hercules? Who can tell? As Hercules Unchained is called Ercole e la regina di Lidia in Italian I'm going to guess that Ercole is Herc. I did find one page, but I didn't really bother reading it because I'm in enough pain already and the movie hasn’t even actually started yet.

Did we really have to meet in this parking structure?

We start with as short historical narration about who ruled Thebes and how Herc and his son lived there. Now this isn’t Steve Reeves as Herc, this is Reg Park. A big red filter goes over the screen, while someone tries to start the plot, but I can only see a screen of red and I worry I’m probably missing something. The sound and color are horribly washed out and it’s hard to hear what’s supposed to be going on. It doesn’t help that we’re five minutes in and the only scene of dialogue is a bunch of people asking each other what the hell is going on. I think they’re being threatened, but it could be that the gods are giving life, so maybe they’re being threatened with life giving goodness? Seriously, I have no idea what the hell is supposed to be going on.

And here he is napping

Okay! A fairly clear dialogue scene has told me that a great evil is approaching to attack the Greeks. Sort of en mass I guess, but the Greeks can’t decide if they should unite against evil or just have a sammich. Androcles decides to go alone, worrying that someone will take over his kingdom. So Herc, being the helpful guy he is, announces no one will sit on his throne. He then proceeds to lift it up and hurl it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. He says they’ll rebuild it, but they can’t exactly go to Ikea to get another one. So the king decides that Herc is gonna go with him, and of course he doesn’t take no for an answer.

Napping

I think Herc’s son put a sleeping powder into his drink and shanghai'd his dad, but again, the audio is so bad it could be anything. Had they left in the original Italian, or possibly used a Portuguese dub, the sound might be worse, but I doubt it. Herc isn’t ticked though, he sort of finds it amusing that the king has just him and his son for an army against the enemy they know nothing about. No really, they even mention they know nothing about and have never even seen the enemy. No one knows who he is, what he wants, if he exists. Yeah, I said it. Maybe there is no enemy and this was all just a trick. If it turns out I was right, I want to say I called it right now. Umm, yeah, I’m watching as I type. I can’t take watching this and then watching it again to write the review so I’m reviewing as it plays. You’re getting it realtime baby! WOOOO! It’s the future! Well, actually it’s the past because I’m reviewing this in July.

Still napping. There is a lot of him sleeping in this movie.

So Herc sleeps while someone cuts the water pouches. Actually, there’s a lot of that. War starts, Herc Sleeps, they drug his wine, he sleeps, they travel the high seas, Herc sleeps, they cut the water skins, Herc sleeps, they kidnap the king, Herc sleeps. Herc only wakes up when it’s clear the guys are stealing the boat, and then he gets up and drags the boat back into shore via the anchor chain. As Herc’s name is in the title though, he wins and takes the boat back. AND THEN… Herc goes back to sleep. What a surprise. Waaaah. I just noticed that we’re only 22 minutes ion and have 72 left. Whimper. Why do I do this to myself? How many people are really going to read this?

Oh look! He’s standing now!

Okay, so a storm kicks up, but I can’t understand anything that anyone says because the storm noise kills all the voice work. Herc’s son gets swept off the boat though. Then the boat gets wrecked, and if you’re ready for a shock, Herc goes back to sleep. YUP! He goes to sleep on a bit of driftwood. I have no idea how he got to be such a big deal, since all he does is sleep. He has a dream about the king, begs Zeus for help, has a nap and then swims to an island, presumably because he thinks there will be better naps there.

Scrooge looked in amazement at how bad this movie was.

Huh? What’s he doing here? Weird. Anyway! On the island we have the eponymous captive women, or woman. It’s one girl in a fake looking bit of plastic rock that has bits cut out so you can see her face and hands. The girl tells him to run away, after asking him to kill her and end her torment. I know how she feels. An old man also tells him to leave and turns into the fakey-est looking fake iguana monster I’ve ever seen and then a wall of flame. There is also some talking, but I can’t understand much more than every third word. I hate complaining about the audio so much, since I’m sure most of what’s being said isn’t worth listening to anyway, but it’s really a problem here and I’d like to be the one to decide.

Are you guys even trying?

Herc kills he monster, saves the girl and… is there a plot to this? I mean I know Herc Unchained had problems but really! I can’t even tell if there is a plot, much less the seven or eight unchained had. Anyway, Herc walks to Atlantis, without even taking a break for a nap and surprise, surprise, the Queen of Atlantis is wearing a cocktail dress and has a beehive hairdo. She’s less thrilled than you’d think to have the girl, who turns out to be her daughter, returned to her. It seems if the daughter of the queen lives then Atlantis shall be destroyed. She let the daughter get this far because this is Herc’s world and we’re just livin’ in it. See, if there weren’t a full-grown girl for Herc to get interested in, then he wouldn’t save the day. Pretty much all of Herc’s motivations are sleep and tits.

Seven days after watching a video with her in it, you die!

Herc’s Son turns up with his midget, oh yeah, there’s a midget, and they fight the soldiers that are supposed to kill the daughter. Mostly they do this by hitting their shields with rocks and knocking them out. NOT KIDDING! They save the girl, and talk to her, but I can’t understand anything they say because of the lousy audio. I could claim the audio got really bad and had to turn on the MST3K episode, which has better audio and video to boot. BUT NO! I’m going to keep up this pretense of professionalism and watch this bitch. Even if there is only really audio on the left channel, even if the colors only come in the palette of “Washed out” and even if what little of the movie I can understand makes me long for the moments I can’t. I will do it, because I’m the baddest mofo ever to review a crappy movie. Eye of the Tiger baby!

Herc is actually very short.

So anyway, someone tires to kill Herc in his sleep. Big surprise there, him being asleep and all. Oh yeah, it’s the king that wanted to kill him except it’s not really the king, just some guy who looks like him. Or maybe it’s really him. Who knows? I don’t. The queen tries to mack on Herc’s hot bod and gives him some wine. When he falls down asleep, I want everyone to know that I called it. Of course it’ll be hard to know if he was drugged by the wine or just laid down for another nap! BUT WAIT! For once it wasn’t a nap. Ahh, bet you didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Sleeping AGAIN! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie were one character sleeps so much.

Oh yeah, the son and the girl and the midget all walk along together while son and girl fall in love. No love for the little guy though, they never let the short guys fall in love. They run around in the desert, trying to avoid soldiers… for some reason that I haven’t quite worked out yet, and fall in love. I’m not just being contrary, the audio is so bad that I honestly am having trouble following the story of this movie. Assuming the movie has a story you understand, which is something I’m not willing to concede just yet. Another problem is that there are actual breaks in the film which were just spliced together. So there are missing bits of movie here, along with everything else. I should have just watched the MST3K version, that at least had clear sound and video.

Make your own Creepy Crawlers with the Creepy Crawler Playset.

So it turns out that the Alantians are trying to form a master race abusing the men of the valley while doing it. I’m pretty sure the men of the valley only just turned up in this movie, though I could be wrong. Herc agrees to help stop the people of Atlantis and save the men of the valley while his son stays behind to mack on the chick. The problem is that the men of the valley have decided that today is a good day for someone else to die and decide to attack the city. Herc’s son thinks this is bad because they need to wait for his father. Not to beat an already dead and decaying horse, but because of cuts and bad audio, I have no idea what the problem is. I still have half an hour of movie to watch and I’ve yet to work out the plot.

Frankly our colors are so washed out, I don’t know what side we’re supposed to be on anymore.

There is a magic rock, made of the blood of Uranus, which kills people. Herc wants to destroy the rock, but some old guy will only let him if he proves to be a man of great power. The old man then tells Herc that sunshine is the best disinfectant and that if he can shine the light of the sun on the stone then its power will be destroyed and so shall Atlantis. I wish you were here, partly so I could prove this insanity but mostly because watching these things alone can’t be good for me. After the old guy tells Herc about the Sun, there is a battle we don’t see. No, really. They actually fade out, as if there was a commercial, and when we come back, all the men of the valley have been slaughtered. The only reasons for these old Sword and Sandal movies is to have the big battles at the end and they skipped it! Maybe it’s because there is still 20 minutes left. 20 minutes? I was sure this movie should have ended an hour ago!

This man no longer believes in the movie he’s starring in. I don’t even know why he bothered being awake for this scene.

It would be so easy to just walk away. You could just fake the rest. Just pretend like you watched it, just pretend. Who is ever going to watch this to make sure your review is accurate? They’ll never know, just throw in the last twenty minutes of Seven Samurai. Fake some screen caps, put some suggestive comments. No one will ever know, I’ll keep the secret, you can trust me. Not only will it be easier, but everyone will thank you in the end. C’mon, it’ll be so easy, just walk away. Think of it, you could be watching The Evil Dead right now! Huh? Huh? Maybe even the Seventh Seal, or The Rocketeer. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Hmmm?

You could be watching a movie that doesn’t suck right now…

Ma-Movie that doesn’t suck? Are there such things? Are there movies that don't suck? I can has non-crappy movies?

Are you going to let this crappy movie win? Is this all there is to you?

I… but it sucks so much.

I thought you were made of sterner stuff. I thought we could depend on you.

It just... I hurt so bad.

… No! Weirdo! Please, you can’t quit now. Think of Camo-Ninja! What would Camo-Ninja say? Would he give up? Would he quit?

Huh?

You can do it Sailor Moon!

Camo-Ninja? Is that you?

C'mon! You can beat this movie! THINK! What would Marlowe do?

Can I? He'd... what would he do?

He'd do it for God, for England, and St. George!

Wha? Would he?

Do it for Tiny Tim!

But surely, Mike, Joel, Crow and Tom could...

They are not standing on the square sir! You are.

But.

Will no one help the widow's son?

Now wait! I'm not even a Mason.

Will you let this evil movie have it's way with this cute little hottie?

I...

WILL YOU?

I don't want to, but what can I do? It sucks so bad.

We're going to enjoy her, just step away and we'll end this now.

...Don't worry. It'll all be over soon. Don't worry about this riff-raff, we'll just pretend like they didn't even exist after this.

Don't look baby, you don’t want to see this.

Look! I’m sorry, okay? I’m just a small time writer with ADD and a tiny readership. Even if I did somehow wrestle this movie to the ground, what could I do? Warn fourteen people of the danger? I’m not Stephen Fry you know. This isn’t even really what I do, this is an off-shoot, a side project. I only post here maybe four times a year normally. I’m sorry if evil seems to have seeped out and is currently destroying the world, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s not as easy as you seem to think. I’m sorry. I’m not as strong as you thought. I’m sorry everyone, I just don’t think I can keep going on. This is the sort of movie that just rips your soul out. Even if the color wasn’t screwed, and the sound wasn’t some of the worst I’ve ever heard, and it wasn’t re-edited to within an inch of it’s life, it would still be just a crappy cash in.

Confound it sir! Will you simply sit there idle while evil deeds are afoot? If you do, then you shall receive NO SANDWICHES!

NOOOOOOO!

I!

CAN’T!

STOP!

NOW!

TINY LITTLE CAPSLOCK OF RAGE!

Must… go… ON! Must… finish… crappy… movie! How the hell… does Shatner… do this? I guess that’s why he’s The Shat and I’m not. Never… mind that, must… not… quit! This movie must be watched, no matter the cost. If I can just open this Autobot Matrix of Leadership, it’ll unleash the power of Stan Bush. If only there was a mystical token, a bright shining emblem that could help me. If only I had a metallic fish backed up by a funk fiber optic reflection superimposed under it. I need a golden fish. Must reach for a golden fish. Help me Obi-Wan Ken-Sadko, you’re my only hope.







If I can just get a golden fish…

Did he say a golden fish?

....

YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWAH!
YEAH!

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. I feel cleansed now. To be perfectly honest, that’s actually a recreation of how I felt while actually watching this mindless pile of dreck. I really did have a crisis of conscience where I contemplated just turning on the MST3K episode and following along from there. I even considered saying to hell with it filling in the rest of this review with bullshit and pretending like I watched it. But I knew that you, my audience, would want to know you could trust me. I needed to finish this, not for you but for me. And besides, I know you depend on me to tell you what movies you should see. You rely on my interpretations to tell your friends what things to watch and what to avoid. Besides, what would Peter Cushing say?

Let's finish this.

Word up Pete!

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the queen of Atlantis tells Herc that her soldiers are all Super Soldiers ala Captain America and that all of them have his strength. I wonder if they also has his weakness, that being the constant need to nap. It doesn’t matter because the fight is now officially on! Or maybe it isn’t because Herc jumps through a trap door, finds his son and then you think the fight must really be on right? You’d think that, but you’d be wrong. The movie never really gets going unfortunately. What we do get is Herc and son trapped in a room full of magic gas and a progressively lowering ceiling. Yeah, they went there, they went for the crushing ceiling. Pity there aren’t any spikes.

Wait? So the Master Race is Amish?

It doesn’t matter of course because Herc and son easily push the ceiling back and crawl away from the evil magic mist. Then they travel through some caves before finally Herc Announces that he has had it with these melon farming snakes on this melon farming plane and goes all out balls to the wall… no, actually he doesn’t. He just steals a chariot and goes joy riding. *Sigh* Steve Revees, where are you? Hell, I’d take Bruce Li at this point. Herc gets to the chamber where the stone made of blood is and starts breaking through the ceiling to let the sun shine in. Meanwhile the midget tells the son that the girl and the king have been kidnapped so they go to try and pretend that they’re going to wrap up the B-Plot even though this movie doesn’t really have an A-Plot to deal with so there can’t very well be a B-Plot to sort out.

So close, and yet so far.

Herc breaks open the ceiling and sort of sets a time bomb since the sun shines down about two feet away from the spot where the stone is. The old man tells him that the sun will move and destroy the stone, even though, really, why should Herc believe that? Let’s think about this for a moment, who has been trustworthy in this whole movie? No one that I’ve seen. So why believe the old man? I guess because the plot says so. Also, the light does shine down, the island explodes, everyone on Atlantis dies, the joint sinks and only Herc and company escape. The island takes about nine hours to be destroyed though, which is strange because there’s only five minutes left to the movie’s runtime. HOWEVER! The girl is among the company so the son does get the girl. So that’s nice. The King remembers Herc, the Son gets the Girl, The Midget gets nothing. And I get deep psychological scarring that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Ah well, it’s not like I’m able to sleep at night anyway.

Is it me, or does that guy on the right seem about to scream that this is Sparta?

I need to say, this really was a tough movie to watch. Strange as it may seem, I actually like these movies. For all the teasing I gave them, I liked The Atomic Brain and The Transparent Man. They’re sort of cheep, but they’re still entertaining. It’s fun to watch that stuff and take the piss out of it. You can like something while admitting all the flaws that dog it at every step. A lot of time, you need these crappy bits of garbage, just to give the truly great movies a place for comparison. This however, this wasn’t fun. This was really hard and painful to watch. Also, I can’t really watch something for a review with friends. They get resentful when I pause the movie to write a paragraph. So watching it alone, my reviewing space became a very lonely place indeed. When the movie is this bad, and you’re alone, it hurts you and that hurt is a lonely hurt and this here truck is alone in the world. Yeah, a real live, genuine literary references in your Hercules review. Suck on that! It hurt bad and there was no help for it. This movie derailed plans I had to do a whole month of MST3K movies without the bots. Instead, I ended up with what you got, which wasn’t perfect in my mind. Still, there is tomorrow, and I’ve got something sort a treat planned. A treat to me anyway. Although at this point you must feel like you’re opening one of those puzzle boxes every time I post now.

What's your pleasure sir?

PS- I do hope you noticed the voice of evil is Comic Sans MS. I thought it a particularly nice touch myself.