One more departure before next week's "creature features."  D wanted Little Shop (the musical, not the original) which I just couldn't do, even though both are fun and watchable.  Top 50 maybe, but not top 30.  But we do need a musical (IMHO) so here it is

Rocky Horror Picture Show This opened right before Halloween my senior year in high school but around here it didn't make a splash for another decade when the EVERY saturday midnight showings at the Graceland Cinema became de rigeur and a right of passage in certain circles.

Creepy house?  You bet.  Hot chick?  There's something fore everyone here - Susan Sarandon as Janet, Patricia Quinn as Magenta, Nell Campbell as Columbia and even Tim Curry and Peter Hinwood.

A little spot of fun - a nice topical interlude

not only did we bomb the moon on the day he won but TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TROOPS deploy to Iraq.

for you college football fans:  body {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt; margin:0; padding:0; background:#fff; color:#000} td,form {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt;} A {color:#66c; text-decoration: none;} A.black {color:#000; text-decoration: none;} A:hover, A:active {text-decoration: underline;}

Help Obama Win the Heisman!	Author: Cassandra

Genius. Sheer genius: I just went to this link and, in the "Type your nominee here!" field, entered "Barack Obama." The winner of this Nissan-sponsored promotion will actually receive one official vote for the Heisman award as sort of the people's choice. You can actually go back and vote once each day between now and the Heisman award in December. Vote early. And vote often - like in Chicago! and finally, Bob Owens saw this coming 9 months ago

Age has a lot to do with these kind of lists.  Hopefully I'm going to be jumping around era's and sub-genre's enough to keep most people happy (I've gotten no complaints yet) but some movies make the list because they came out or I saw them at a time that made an impression on me.  Such is the case of our next entry.  Came out in 1983, great soundtrack and one of my favorite opening (and closing) sequences in any movie. 

"Wanna see something REALY scary?"

Twilight Zone: The Movie Four segments.  Scary house?  The one Helen Foley visits in "It's A Good Life" check.  Hot chick?  Kathleen Quinlan.  check.  Extra point for the Donna Dixon cameo.  Creep factor?  Not that high.  This is another one of those fun selections.  And getting  to watch Spielberg, Landis, George Miller and Joe Dante all direct in the same picture is a treat.  Don't forget to watch the whole thing.

didja know Ghandi never won the NPP!

more from Scott Ott: Nobel Panel Hopes Peace Prize Boosts Obama Self-Esteem

Cassandra: Nobel Committee Gives Obama an "A" for Trying Really, Really Hard

Rush:

“The Nobel gang just suicide bombed themselves. Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. See a pattern here? They are all leftist sell-outs. George Bush liberates 50 million Muslims in Iraq, Reagan liberates hundreds of millions of Europeans and saves parts of Latin America. Any awards?… Obama gives speeches trashing his own country and for that gets a prize, which is now worth as much as whatever prizes they are putting in Cracker Jacks these days.”

“This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama. It is a greater embarrassment than losing the Olympics bid. And with this ‘award’ the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States. They love a weakened, neutered U.S and this is their way of promoting that concept.  I think God has a great sense of  humor, too.”

  body {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt; margin:0; padding:0; background:#fff; color:#000} td,form {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt;} A {color:#66c; text-decoration: none;} A.black {color:#000; text-decoration: none;} A:hover, A:active {text-decoration: underline;}

FRANK J. STEPS FORWARD to take credit. “A lot of you laughed when I first unveiled my peace plan over seven years ago, but who is laughing now? This morning, America crashed a probe into the moon causing an explosion. And the result? Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.”

There's SO much out there!  Another collection for my "media-challenged" freinds.

Publius: We await word from the Baseball, Basketball and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame

from Reason: 

and

 Nobel Committee Snubs Author of The Audacity of Hope, Awards Literary Prize to Some Romanian Lady

Even Barack Obama’s fan club on NBC’s Today were stunned at the President’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize. Co-host Matt Lauer found it baffling: “We’re less than a year into the first term of this president and there are no -- I'm not trying to be, you know, rude here -- no major foreign policy achievements, to date.”

from Tundra: "I'm going to propose him for next years Nobel Prize in chemistry. Why? because of his massive contribution to hot air.

i'll post more in a few hours - the hit's just keep on coming!

The left sez the NPP jumpe the shark back when Henry K won it for leading the diplomatic overtures with China which staved off a second cold war, and opened up that nation to global trade opportunities.  The right think is jumped the shark when Yassir (That's My Baby) Arafat picked up his Mill plus.  But this morning's announcement takes the cake.  For those of you limited to the NYT, here are some links to some "outside the beltway" thinking:

From Newsbusters: These people really, really hate George W. Bush.

OBAMA WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? “For what?” Lots of links here.

Doug Mataconis on Facebook: “Teddy Roosevelt wins Peace Prize for stopping a war. Carter wins Peace Prize for a lifetime of work. Obama wins Peace prize for breathing.” and “How can Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize on the same day that he’s becoming the first POTUS to bomb the Moon?”

“Riddle: Why Didn’t Obama Win The Nobel Prize For Literature? Answer: He wrote two books.”

and from Scott Ott:  body {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt; margin:0; padding:0; background:#fff; color:#000} td,form {font-family:Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size:10pt;} A {color:#66c; text-decoration: none;} A.black {color:#000; text-decoration: none;} A:hover, A:active {text-decoration: underline;}

U.N. Decries Obama’s Preemptive Nobel Peace Prize	Author: Scott Ott  9 Comments, 9 unread

(2009-10-09) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today rejected in the strongest possible terms the deployment of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, which he said was reminiscent of George W. Bush;s disastrous doctrine of preemption. The Nobel committee, perhaps persuaded by faulty intelligence and a hyped sense of urgency, made an historic blunder in its rush to judgment,said Mr. Ban. When Obama was nominated in February, he had just taken office so the prize was awarded based on his speeches as a presidential candidate, not even for the good intentions that he has implemented in the past eight months. Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese dissident known as the father of Chinese democracy is among the 176 nominees who lost to Mr. Obama, but said he was honored to have been edged out by a man of such staggering accomplishments. I was imprisoned more than 15 years for speaking out against a totalitarian communist regime, said Mr. Wei, A book of my essays was published from my writings, initially scribbled on toilet paper in jail. But I have to admit that Barack Obama has written two books and given hundreds of autobiographical speeches with thinner material than that. I bow respectfully to the father of global peace.

My nod to the zombie flicks.  There were some great creepy Lugosi/Karloff/Zucco zombie flicks back in the 30's and 40's that tried to stay reasonably close to the voodoo folklore.  And then came 1968.  And George Romero.  And Night of the Living Dead and the zombie flick hasn't been the same since.

Filmed outside of Pittsburg at a cost of tens of dollars.  Spooky house?  Well, they're holed up in one surrounded by zombies (although the word "zombie" is never used) so let's say check.  Hot chick?  Marilyn Eastman?  check?  The scene of the little gile, um, dining, is probably the one that ended it for me.  This is the goriest movie on my list, fwiw.

so lets have some in their own words .... from the Anchoress ...

1) “Goodbye, Dalai!”

2) “I must say, that is some truly impressive toadying”

3) “Angela Merkel’s targeted, small stimulus, the one economists said will be a disaster, has proven itself effective according to Boston Consulting Group Survey:

Berlin – The German economic stimulus package is seen as highly effective in combating the effects of the global recession and stabilizing the country’s economy. A recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that the measures implemented in Germany were effectively stimulating domestic demand and lacked protectionist tendencies. “

4 ) “Privately, Mr. Obama’s economic advisers are sifting options for a new package of tax cuts and other job creation measures to be unveiled in next year’s State of the Union address — or earlier if pressure for action becomes irresistible.”

5) “3 Americans win the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and I don’t suppose that creates an occasion to talk about how our health care system might not be so terrible. Does it?”

6)”if you happen to be someone who was giddy about the president of the United States having a shoe thrown at his head, maybe you should also be a little hesitant to play the “the president’s critics are anti-American” card this time around.”

7)”‘The White House attempted to use federal agencies for political gain,’ I blurted out.”

*8) (A must-read)

“After John F. Kennedy was elected, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent many hours with him. One of the key lessons was this: “All the decisions you will make,” said Eisenhower, “will be hard decisions.” Dwight went on to explain that the easy things will be tended to by cabinet secretaries and others of the administration with executive authority. But the tough ones will always be kicked to higher levels to be decided. At every level, the decisions become more and more difficult until, at last, the presidential inbox is filled with nothing but the most difficult items.

Fortunately for Kennedy and the country, he already had some experience facing very difficult decisions and for the most part was prepared for the inbox. Yet he was not so proud that he never asked his predecessor for advice. The photo at left won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize. It shows JFK and DDE walking at Camp David during the Cuban Missile Crisis after the Bay of Pigs fiasco (see endnote). Kennedy had asked Eisenhower to come there to give advice. It’s worth noting that Eisenhower was a Republican but it didn’t matter to Kennedy.”

9) “The Democrats and their cheerleaders in the punditocracy used to scream for President George W. Bush to listen to his generals. Then Bush got better generals, listened to them, and avoided defeat in Iraq. ‘Obama, it seems, is bent on ignoring his generals. . .The public already trusts the generals more than Obama to make decisions about Afghanistan.”

10) “Now, with evidence of apparent theft of federal grant money and blatantly partisan political work, what else must be exposed before Congress gets off the dime and conducts a full-fledged investigation?”

11) “Feel better about that giant database of sensitive health care information that the tax-and-spend Democrats want to create when they nationalize health care? The feds holding your family’s most personal information? What could possibly go wrong?”

12) “White House negotiating for public option behind the scenes”

13) “Who says do nothing? The GOP plan calls for elimination of the walls that separate health insurance companies across state lines greatly increasing competition, as well as tort reform since it is malpractice insurance that is driving up healthcare costs. Obamacare is a disease, not a cure. It will lead to rationing and the lowering of quality. It will make healthcare more expensive, not cheaper.”

14) “And he presented various priests, Biblical quotations, and movie footage from “Jesus of Nazareth” to make the argument that Christianity requires socialism.”

15) “There is an enormous difference between a few dozen people voluntarily giving up their worldly goods for communal living, and forcing people to participate in such a society against their will. The first brings freedom for those who choose it. The second, historically, has brought tyranny, poverty, slaughter and the gulag.”

16) “…if we’re living only for ourselves it’s not going to get better. The ego grows by staring at it.”

17) “Norway’s consistently high rating for desirable living standards, is, in large part, the result of the discovery of offshore oil and gas deposits in the late 1960s.”

18) “The new resolution, championed by the Obama administration, has a number of disturbing elements. It emphasizes that “the exercise of the right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities . . .” which include taking action against anything meeting the description of “negative racial and religious stereotyping.” It also purports to “recognize . . . the moral and social responsibilities of the media” and supports “the media’s elaboration of voluntary codes of professional ethical conduct” in relation to “combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”

19) “Is Virginia denying military voters the chance to vote in its state election this November?”

20) (These are connected)

He began, “I hate George Bush, but . . .” — then he criticized the production. He had to assure me, you see, that he was not a Neanderthal or prude. He needed to assure me that he did not have horns and a tail. So he said, “I hate George Bush” — out of nowhere, to a complete stranger

(and)

Suffice it to say that this injection of politics into all things apolitical represents a kind of “mission creep” of the Left. Been on any federal-government websites lately? I’ve been to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service site only to find a government agency attacking the “failed policies of the last eight years.” I work in the environmental field and have never seen such overtly political content in my entire 20-year career. . .

21) …the so-called stimulus has not worked at all, and the December projections of Larry Summers and the administration’s economic team have been shown to be completely off base. The structural imbalances that exist in the world economy are apparently coming home to roost, and it is not yet clear what can be done to restore a more stable economic situation.”

22) “The totality of his life has been the promotion of homosexuality, and much of it within education,” says King. “He has focused on nothing else during the last two decades, and that is not the focus that our schools need to be on.”

23) “Given the current economic and political climate, it’s not surprising that the globe’s climate ranks dead last when Americans are asked to name the “most important issue facing the country right now.”

24) “Whereas Bush was excoriated by the left whenever he cited God, Obama’s religious imagery receives silence from both sides of the aisle. The left won’t criticize him, while the right ignores any politician invoking the Almighty. But it’s how he invokes the Lord’s name, so to speak, that’s unprecedented.”

25) “These ideas linked a series of associations. Mary’s womb-blood that nourished the unborn Christ-child became the milk that later fed Him at her breast. This in turn became Christ’s redemptive blood, which worshipers drank like milk as they suckled at His wounded side. This cleft led to a womblike cavity wherein Christians could take refuge to be formed into other Christs.”

26) “Words to live by: ‘Turn off the news!’”

<27) "I confess I was once of the same opinion, or at least affected to be. I don’t know if I ever really disliked Bruckner’s music, but I certainly knew I should dislike it, and set about doing so with a sense of mission.”

28) (Late addition): “Parent Pam Harris didn’t choose to lead a revolt against Big Labor. ‘We’re not boat-rockers. We struggle to keep it together. There’s little time to deal with union organizing and gag orders and privacy invasions of the state. Do you know how blown away I am that a bureaucrat is phoning me and sending me e-mail?’”

The "newest" entry on the list.  Rent this one.  But get the DVD.  Not the cassette.  Just to be safe.  I'm talking of course about The Ring  Creep factor?  Huge.  Cute chick?  Naomi Watts.  check.  And bonus points for Jane Alexander who I've almost ALWAYS loved ... even though she was 63 in this.  Rachel Bella's kinda cute too in a heavy Goth chick kinda way.

On another note, I've mentioned that Sexy Witch is the site that got me started.   She credits John Rozum.  And he has quite a list of participants ... fangoria sites, halloween themes, witches and devils and mask and makeup....lotsa good things.  So jump over there and visit a few.

HEALTH CARE WILL BE DIFFERENT: IRS Didn’t Answer 22.4 Million Taxpayer Phone Calls.

edited to add:

BUT DON’T WORRY, THEY’LL HANDLE HEALTH CARE JUST FINE: IRS Made Errors in Stimulus Payments to 400,000 Taxpayers.