I've been stuck in a rut for the past month or so. I thought it'd be a good time to go through and look at all the awesomeness of the past year to remind me that I'm a pretty neat guy.

January: Classic-Horror crashed hard. My friends proved their awesomeness. I made a respected makeup effects artist's day. Classic-Horror came back. I saw Cloverfield and loved it. I acquired a one-eyed Himalayan kitty. I began work on a little Doctor Who/Supernatural crossover.

February: I discovered Guitar Hero III. I lost a dear friend. I joined Facebook. I went to the Arizona Ren Faire with desertwillow and met some awesome people. Joined THEM shortly thereafter and haven't looked back since (well, maybe that one time). DVD Panache interviewed me and posted it on my birthday. midnightfae threw me the Best Birthday Bash EVER. As part of this, I bought a PS3 and tossed aside Guitar Hero III for Rock Band. Classic-Horror is Site of the Week over at AMC's (now-defunct) Monsterfest blog.

March: I attend my first THEM reconvene. The Cook pissed me off more than any film has a right to. The St. Patrick's Day... thing. I flew out to LA for a Mario Bava retrospective at the Egyptian (and even managed to drag a bunch of the gang to a double feature of The Whip and the Body and Kill, Baby Kill).

April: hjcallipygian and I mend fences, thanks to Facebook. Courtney and I start dating; I lock my keys in the car on our first date. I start reading novels regularly again. I buy a shiny new MacBook Pro. Ruin my phone and bought a new one. Double the number of Converse All-Stars in my closet. THEM Formal has me looking super-snazzy.

May: Go to see Iron Man 2.5 times in the theater (fell asleep during third viewing). THEM End-of-Year Pool Party is splish-splashy fun. Courtney leaves to study abroad in China for a month. I inflict the Roseroll upon Livejournal. Classic-Horror is quoted on the back of the new 40th Anniversary Night of the Living Dead DVD.

June: coltsbane rocks Casa Geek. A nasty bug rocks my stomach at the same time. I set-up my media server to be region-free and begin importing foreign DVDs with relish. My annual Comic-Con crazy begins. A reporter from the Chicago Tribune contacts me to do an interview on classic horror movies. Another trip to Los Angeles results in my first Disneyland visit. I vid for the first time in four years, with my Donna Noble tribute set to Oingo Boingo's Just Another Day (which has since been yanked from Youtube). Courtney returns from China and we break up shortly thereafter. I get a new boss at work who brings awesome changes to my department.

July: I vid again, this time about The Doctor's libido, set to Stuart Davis's Female Friend. I begin working on my HIMYM vid that still isn't nearly done. I get to see The Dark Knight before anybody I know, thanks to a special preview screening on IMAX. Join Twitter. Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog rocks my world. COMIC-CON! Meet Jamie Bamber, Peter David, the Ask a Ninja guys, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Sing my butt off at the Dr. Horrible screening.

August: Spend the first week back from Con very poor. The Chicago Tribune piece is published. I make a Universal Monsters vid and send off all my vids up to that point to lizbetann for inclusion in the Apocalypse West Vividcon reel. I start bonding with my niece more, hanging out with her on the weekends. John Kenneth Muir says that I am a critic he respects. I help midnightfae move to vet school and get a trip to San Francisco in the bargain.

September: Start adjusting to life without a roommate. Learn Perl on the fly at work. Shocktober Classics prep work adds to my insanity. I'm offered the opportunity to be a sponsor for the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, which I take.

October: Help run a Zombie Scavenger Hunt. Ask for a girl's number but later discover she has a boyfriend. Shortly thereafter I have a few dates with a really awesome, really tall girl, but it never really goes anywhere. My Jigoku review takes on epic proportions. Go to Disneyland to celebrate _jealousy_'s birthday. The International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival rocks -- I interview Adrienne King of Friday the 13th fame and introduce a screening of The Blob (1958). My Halloween costume is horror geek win.

November: Obama wins. Yes we did. Help desertwillow paint her new house. Resolve to buy a car. Take a really nasty spill while running to catch a bus, leaving scrapes that stay with me for weeks. Resolve more strongly to buy a car. Begin work on the design of Dad's website. qkellie and I conspire to release awesome Doctor Who / Dr. Horrible crossover vids -- I end up making my first four in just ten days. I also interview Reggie Bannister, star of Phantasm and its three sequels.

December: Repo! The Genetic Opera disappoints. However, attending the screening does lead to meeting the head of Horror Programming for Phoenix Comicon, who offers me the opportunity to do a panel on classic horror movies. The THEM Holiday Party is made of sheer win. midnightfae visits. We see Let the Right One In, which might be my favorite movie of the year. Christmas with my family is very good; I spend much of the time entertaining my niece, who adores me. Totally misgauge my own tolerance at the THEM New Year's party, but echan looks after me, for which I am extremely grateful.

I met so many fantastic people in 2008 thanks to THEM and for that I am incredibly grateful. I also was so moved that so many of my friends were able to come and see me for my 25th birthday. You guys have no idea what that meant to me. Thank you to everyone who was a part of my life last year. I really am a lucky guy.

Went to LA this weekend. As per usual, it completely rocked.

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday AT DISNEYLAND )

Man, I needed that. I feel like my system is completely reset and I'm able to handle life again.

Ah, Cupid. Man, I love this show (and I thank diannelamerc profusely for hooking me up).

"Do you know what your problem is?"

"Athena says I snore too much."

"No..."

"I've never headbutted a mime?"

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with their suggestions for scary episodes of television. You were all invaluable in getting this article put together.

Shiverin' 6: Great Episodes of Horror Television.

I ended up cutting the original planned "Ten Best" article to "Six of the Best" and, in a move of brazen cowardice (and after watching several several hours of the program), giving the decision on the X-Files episode over to midnightfae.

ETA: Small permissions error fixed.

EATA: Whedonesqued

I may be just a weeeeeee bit drunk. I just made two rum and cokes -- one for me and one for midnightfae. Same alcohol to soda ratio. Tasted okay to me, but the Roomie was like OMG TOO MUCH BOOZE NEEDS WATERING.

But it's all okay, because we have coltsbane who has what is probably the most adorable accent ever. EVER. If you defy this supposition I will go Oncoming Storm on you. And I'll do it, too, because I look like David Tennant.

Did I mention I'd been drinking?

Wheeeeeeee!

- Latest episode of Doctor Who is made of total win. I kind of want to read some Agatha Christie now. Maybe after I finish my Tour of Sci-Fi in 2010. Donna Noble may be surpassing Martha Jones as my favorite New!Who companion.

- Been watching classic Twilight Zone episodes to research an article for Classic-Horror. Watching Telly Savalas match wits with a creepy doll is kind of unnerving. Watching William Shatner actually act rather than rely on his own sense of self-satisfaction is REALLY unnerving.

- In the world of Harry Dresden, I have finished Summer Knight and have moved on to Death Masks. Summer Knight ended much better than it started. I'm kind of hoping that Death Masks will be the same, although comments from midnightfae don't give me a lot of hope.

- midnightfae warned me that Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation would be a painful experience. I didn't believe that it could approach Orgy of the Dead levels of suffering. I have suffered for my incredulity. The only bright spot is that Matthew McConaughey plays an surprisingly effective psychopath.

- Speaking of The Twilight Zone, I wrote a joke opening paragraph for the Japanese movie Jigoku (Hell) where I mock Sartre and high school students who get their interpretation of Sartre entirely from the last line of No Exit. I showed it to midnightfae because I thought she'd get a kick out of it and then tell me to write something serious. She told me to go with the joke opening because it totally worked. Weeeeeird.

- Indiana Jones cereal is like eating Chocolate Kix with Marshmallows.

- Went to one-half of an Indy marathon at desertwillow's place yesterday. Ending up reading the Gospel of 100 F**king Tacos in my very best Christopher Lee. And got smacked for a comment about "Snakes on a Flame".

- My kitty is getting a tooth out today, as well as getting a lion cut. There will be pictures.

- timjr wrote the definitive squee on Robert Fuest's The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Read it. Love it. It makes me want to wander off and review its immediate sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, which contains an elaborate Henry James joke.

- midnightfae and I kept getting stuck in really painful gigglefits all weekend for no reason we can discern. One of us would start giggling and the other would continue and then we would keep fueling each other. People who were in the condo at Comic-Con last July will remember what this is like.

- Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is eating what remains of my free time. In a way, it's kind of lucky that my girlfriend is in China, because I think this would annoy the crap out of her. I blame hjcallipygian.

- Two months and one week until Comic-Con.

So. Mario Bava Retrospective at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Who can resist? Not me. That's why I'm arriving in Los Angeles (Burbank) on Friday, March 21st at 5:05PM, in time for the Eli Roth-hosted double feature of Bay of Blood and Four Times That Night.

Then I'll continue to be in fabulous Los Angeles Saturday March 22nd, attending the Whip and the Body and Kill Baby Kill double feature that evening. These are two of my very favorite Bava films, all resplendent in suggestive horrors. Which is why I bought two spare tickets and may yet buy more for any Los Angelinos interested.

Sunday I'll be attending the TRIPLE feature The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Hatchet for the Honeymoon, and Caltiki the Immortal Monster (not available on domestic DVD), before leaving Monday morning (from Burbank again) at 9:40 AM.

As per usual, I look cutely at the LA area residents to provide me with their couches and camaraderie whilst I'm in their city. Comment or email (nate AT monkeyswithjetpacks DOT com).

Jesus, what a bash. midnightfae's awesome secret-up-until-last-Monday birthday surprise was a three-day party with seven of my closest friends flying (or driving) in from around the country to hang. There was much booze, Rock Band, Clone High, Dr. Tran, British television, Youtube, and karaoke.

Plus, Versus. Every party that has Versus wins.

In attendance were (in order of arrival, roughly), timjr, theninthdoctor, diannelamerc, lizbetann, darklightluna, _jealousy_, and airawyn (in addition to midnightfae and myself).

So. Much. Fun. My friends are the awesomest.

Now I'm completely and totally wiped. Wowsers.

I've been tagged by lwbush, so I get to tag ten more people and give them the "You Make My Day" award, done in honor of My Birthday Eve. If you've been tagged already, you're exempt. [Actually, I dislike the concept of tagging, so you're exempt even if you're on the list.]

The award (I made this! Well, me and Despair.com's Motivational Poster generator):


The recipients:

Every damn one of you.

Oh, wait. Does that exceed my limit of 10? Oh well.

(I totally tried to make a list, but I just kept adding and adding and adding and adding)

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

Now I'm at work and rather bored with it. Can I be back in LA now please?

Thank you so much to sarakat for the BBC Dracula miniseries starring Louis Jourdan. I've been looking forward to seeing this for... well, ever. Thank you!

Two days to Los Angeles. *party*

...oh my sweet something-or-other-deity-type.

I hate moving. I don't think hate is strong enough. Is there something stronger than hate? Loathing? No, still not strong enough.

Whatever it is, I that moving.

Much love to desertwillow and especially her husband for helping us out for a few hours last night.

No love to my aching muscles and joints for deciding to puss out on me.

Even less love to my glasses, which have been missing since Friday night.

Thanks to the magic of tags, I got whisked on a journey into the archives of this journal, all the way back to when it was still "uncountedchimes". Sheesh. I was quite a depressing individual back in the day. So glad things have improved. Seriously.

( This part gets a bit wibbly )

Enough silly sentimentality. I've got to go into work tomorrow earlier than usual and at this rate, I'll be lucky to score six hours of sleep.

Oh, timjr? You'll be interested to know that the roomie and I are watching the Who serial "The Invasion" with Patrick Troughton. Other than the extremely low production values, it's quite a lot of fun so far.

*pounces and squishes airawyn*

I have two fantastic knitted caps now. A sock monkey hat and a hat with the MST3K silhouettes. Frickin' win, man.

Also, enjoying that I go into work an hour later these days. Very nice.

kenobi made me a fabulous new layout. You should check it out because it wins at layouts.

In other news, my father continues to be a self-involved, socially self-destructive drama queen. I gave him the news about the new baby girl, aka my niece, aka his granddaughter and his response was a backhanded congrats and three lines of how much it hurts him omg to be cut out of the lives of my sister and I.

This is the man I thought was a giant, a god... the man who was always right and couldn't lose. He makes me sad, but not enough to drag down the joyful fun of having my very own niece.

*completely does not wish veggiebelle a happy birthday or anything of the sort*

Got a sort-of promotion at work. Same official job title (Support Tier 2, which is another promotion I failed to mention), but I'll be doing Professional Services, which means I get to go into servers and futz around with people's code and whatnot.

Righteous.

Oh, and I'll be working Monday-Friday again. After a year of Sunday-Thursday, that'll be weird.

I have two more 5 things lists to do, but I seek more! Hit me.

I came back from the looooong road trip to find that midnightfae had made me my very own Jayne hat!

Picture #1
Picture #2

Note the straw. This fella's authentic to the last. I less-than-three it.

Also, feeling entirely crashed after the 4 day trip plus being semi-manly mover guy... Yi.

Happy birthday, kenobi! May much wacky goodness befall you.

wv_parker

I've just joined the wickedverse -- and religion will never be the same again.

ETA: Speaking of completely boggling religion

Every single night this weekend I have been very very drunk. I blame midnightfae. She ordered me to.

Anyway. Wedding. I looked snazzy. There are pictures of my ass clothed in tux (thank you brightone for obliging my girlfriend's request). The bride and groom are the awesomest bride and groom who ever awesomed and I sincerely believe this is going to really be till death, etc.

Reception was fun. Post-reception was fun. Dancing, drink, Doctor, and dialogue.

D D D D. Hee.

Also, the wedding party, of which I was a proud member, entered the ballroom to the Doctor Who theme. I loves the qkellie.

I am still drunk. Can you tell?

Mmmmm. I love my friends. They love me back. They're all completely awesome, and they understand me, even when I'm hard to ping. I want to keep them even though I cannot...

Anyway. Going to collapse into bed and wake up refreshed and free of hangover. It's what I do.

*cue Peter, Paul, AND Mary*

It's true, it's true. I will be leaving these blisteringly hot desert dunes for the slightly less hot (but much cooler at night) Midwestern plains of Ohio. Probably more hilly. The Midwest is not flat. Next person who says so gets looked at funny. I'll use the Dr. Cox icon. You know I will.

Anyway, I have to get up really feckin' early tomorrow, so I bid you all adieu now. If I die in a fiery and unexpected airplane crash, be it known that I enjoy cheesecake.

Oh, and I love you all. That bit seemed important, too.

Apparently, I missed snow while I was away.

...HOW?

Anyway. Terribly happy to have had the time to hang with airawyn, lizbetann, and diannelamerc. *hugs all of 'em*

I don't want to be at work now. I want to be at home playing with my shinies.

May you have a truly laidback, stress-free, groovy day.

In other, unrelated news, I came back to my apartment building last night to discover that a package had been delievered to the office... and that the office was closed until December 27th for the holidays.

I am a wee bit annoyed, because I suspect I know what said package contains and I need to obsess over it. It's a whole thing.

midnightfae went above and beyond the call of duty in the gift-giving season this year and tracked down the Canadian DVD of "Clone High," which I didn't even know existed, and purchased it for me. All 13 episodes in a 2-disc set! No longer do I have to view shoddy bootlegs of the best animated series involving clones of famous guys and ladies used by a board of shadowy figures for nefarious purposes. I have it all on official, licensed, totally legit ordered-from-Amazon.ca DVD!

OMG. I cannot tell you how awesome this is. My brain jumps for joy.

Also, saw King Kong tonight. Found it impressive, but disappointing. I never fully engaged with the story, and I still prefer the 1933 original for all of its flaws (or perhaps because of its flaws). While the film that Jackson made is certainly to be admired for all the reasons a film should be admired, that may be its fatal flaw. This is a dorky story... and there's no dorkiness in the telling.

- There are nights when I just want to scoop the majority of FH up into a giganimous hug and squish them. Tonight is one of those nights.

- Rent was fairly awesome, although it lost its way towards the end and kind of scraped together a weak, lackluster ending as if to say "Um, well, I guess that will do for now. We'll think of something better later." The stage musical, based on what I recall from the Cast Recording, is much the same. In any case, I want to be Mark Cohen.

- I am so caffeinated right now... Let me tell you.

- Generic Non-Denominational Winter Holiday presents go to 11.

Enjoy my brainless leap into a pointless survey thingy.

1. Go here.
2. Pass it on.
( my answers )

Show was iffy tonight. I'm hoping it's just sophomore slump come to haunt me.

I have a few icons that need text. You can help. Because you're good people and you probably smell nice. Reply with text for one, two, or all three icons (replies will be screened) and if I like it, I'll use it and credit you in the comments.

( There's only three. You can do three... )

lizbetann rocks my world. She rocks it a lot.

*watches new icon play again*
*and again*
*and again*