Clarissa Now

Melissa Joan Hart starred in the hit Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All which from for five seasons from 1991 to 1994 totaling 65 episodes. I loved the series when I was in my early teens and SNICK was a big part of my life.

A few years ago I discovered that a spin off pilot called Clarissa Now was filmed and never picked up. Filmed in 1995 for CBS instead of Nickelodeon Clarissa is now in New York City trying to make it as a journalist. I found the episode on YouTube;

Opens with Clarissa talking to the camera excited to be riding the subway in New York City having graduated high school and getting a job at the New York City Chronicle.  

The opening theme is a riff on the Clarissa Explains It All theme with the Nah-nah’s. 

Clarissa’s job is to be the assistant to a burnt out grouchy reporter Hugh Hamilton.  She tries to take the initiative to help him and he shits all over her.  She stands up to him so he writes his daily column about her.  By the end of the episode he’s revealed his heart of gold to her, she also becomes friends with the publisher that everyone else sucks up too.

I thought it was okay, but it was weird seeing her play the same character the same way but in a completely different environment. In a 2015 Huffington Post article Melissa Joan Hart said she didn’t think people would like it as much because it was too different from Clarissa Explains It All. I think she was on to something.

While i was looking this up to write this I discovered that in 2015 show creator Michael Kriegman wrote a book called "Things I Can't Explain" about Clarissa in her 20's and it is a direct sequel to the series. I will have to check this book out.

Until Next Time! 

Friday the 13th "Fun" Facts

Last year I re-watched the Friday the 13th films with a co-worker who had never seen them before.  To be fair she was only 21 years old and the first nine movies came out before she was born.  After watching the first movie she said, “Jason wasn’t even in the film?”  What she thought she knew about Jason and her response was that he was a really messed adult male with a bad childhood who decided to kill a bunch of people.  She also thought that his killing grounds were spread out over a large, state-wide area not the same woods.  Also, she thought that there were only three or so movies in the franchise.

As we continued watching the films more revelations came to light about the series that I think a lot of casual fans might not remember.  Almost everyone I know thinks of Jason Vorhees as this mindless, supernatural killer who will stop at nothing to kill everyone and everything.  It’s what he does.  But Jason didn’t start out that way, most know he wasn’t the killer in the first movie, but there are plenty of other facts that people don’t know.

Jason was born on Thursday June 13, 1946, the first film takes place on July 13, 1979.

Jason’s cameo at the end of the first film is proven to be a dream based on his appearance in the second film as a grown adult, thus Jason never actually appeared in the first film

Jason doesn’t wear his iconic hockey mask until part 3

In parts 2, 3, & 4 Jason is human, he cries out in pain, hurries after his victims, and is hampered by injuries

Jason Voorhees is killed in Part 4 by Tommy Jarvis

Part 5 features a Jason impersonator wearing a hockey mask with two blue triangles, however, when Tommy hallucinates of Voorhees he’s wearing the traditional mask with the three red triangles.

Part 6 is my favorite film in the franchise. Tommy Jarvis is back this time portrayed by Thom Mathews. This is the first time that Jason is resurrected on film. In the end of the film Jason is simply anchored to the bottom of Crystal Lake but is shown with his eyes open at the end.

Part 7 is when the series goes even more supernatural as the final girl in this flick has psychokinetic powers. She uses her powers to accidentally resurrect Jason while she witnesses her drunken and abusive father beating her mother. At the end of the flick she uses these powers once again accidentally resurrecting her father who drags Jason back down into the lake chaining him up again. Yup that happened.

Part 8 has Jason resurrected when underwater cables in the lake are pierced by a boat anchor and zap him to life. Jason then stows away on a larger boat of teenagers that is on the class graduation trip to New York City. At the end Jason has acid thrown in his face and drowns in sewage waste water in the sewer system of New York.

Part 9 opens with an attractive undercover FBI agent luring Jason into a trap where the FBI and a SWAT Team trap and shoot Jason full of lead on the grounds of the old Camp Crystal Lake.  How he got from the sewers of New York back to Camp Crystal Lake, who the hell knows?!?!  This movie is the most absurd film of the series.  At his autopsy the coroner is compelled to eat Jason's heart and get possessed by him.  Jason passes from person to person as the movie progresses until the worm or giant black sperm Jason finds his dead half-sisters body and crawls inside her vagina where he is reborn as full grown adult with hockey mask and the same dirty clothes we are used to seeing him in...this actually happened.

The final girl is Jessica, Jason't niece, who uses a mystical dagger to stab Jason in the chest releasing all the souls of Jason's past victims who then drag him to hell.  Later a camera shot shows Voorhees mask laying in the dirt and Freddy Krueger's claw hand burst from the ground pulling the mask down to hell.

Part 10 set over 15 years after part 9 and somehow Jason is back killing with no explanation.  The US Government has Jason captured and have tried killing him several times with no success so they decide to freeze Jason.  455 years later he is found, brought aboard a spaceship, is thawed out, wakes up and begins killing.  In the end while on approach of Earth 2 Jason is jettisoned into the atmosphere where he burns up upon re-entry.

Part 11 Freddy vs. Jason This film takes place after Part 9 and before part 10.  I actually like this flick and thought they did a good job melding the two words of Jason & Freddy together.  The rest of the cast though, can't at all say it was any good.  I enjoyed each other deaths as they happened.  In the end, Jason beheaded Freddy, who winked at the camera had Jason walked away holding Freddy's head.

Friday the 13th (2009) I enjoyed this flick, in it Jason is mortal, it opens in 1980 with him watching his mother being killed after her murder spree and picks up 30 years later.  It's a combo of elements from the first four films, so it's not a sequel but a reboot. 

I enjoyed the first four films, part 5 was okay, part 6 was my favorite and parts 7, 8, 9, & 10 got more and more absurd as they went.

There hasn't been a Friday film since 2009 although many films started pre-production but never came to pass.  Currently the rights to the franchise are being battled over in court.  Who knows if we will ever get another film.  The recent success of Halloween and it's upcoming sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends I was hoping it would kick start another Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.  

Until Next Time!

My Fandom: The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead is my favorite movie.  The first time I ever saw it was when I was 12, I had a bootleg VHS copy that I got from Ronnie James.  In fact the VHS had The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 on it.  Not to long after Army of Darkness was released in the theaters, but I couldn't find a way to go and see it so I had to wait for home video.

It wasn't until I was 19 or 20 that I was able to buy a real copy on VHS.  I was walking through Wal-Mart passing the electronics section and I just glanced at the shelf and saw Bruce Campbell staring back at me with an ax over his shoulder.

I couldn't have been more excited to finally have a real copy of my favorite flick!  It wasn't long after that I was able to buy Evil Dead 2.  I already had Army of Darkness on VHS having purchased a previously viewed copy from Home Vision Video years ago.

I have since purchased the films on DVD and later Blu-Ray.  I bought many special editions along the way as well.  I even had an import version of Army of Darkness that had the alternate ending and added scenes that were not in the US release. 

A flooded basement ruined all my VHS tapes, along with my 90% of my wrestling collection.  When I got divorced in 2012 I downgraded my DVD collection including anything I had on Blu Ray, that meant my Evil Dead 2 & Army of Darkness DVD's.

I do have a very respectful collection of The Evil Dead merchandise though.

Other items that are not in this photo that I have include my The Evil Dead t-shirt and my comic books.  I have the Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness trade, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series, and other comic books.  I also have Evil Dead The Musical cast recording CD and the book and lyrics paperback.

  

These are my signed 8 x 10 of Bruce Campbell as Ash from Army of Darkness, the ladies of the Evil Dead, and a photo of Bruce Campbell and I.  He was doing a book signing for his second book Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way and was touring his movie The Man With The Screaming Brain.  I just need to get something signed by Hal Delrich or Rich DeManincor who played Scott in the first film. 

This is my film collection including The Evil Dead original VHS release, Ultimate Edition DVD, and Blu Ray.  Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness screwhead edition, and Ash vs. The Evil Dead complete series collection Blu Rays.  Also Evil Dead unrated edition Blu Ray.  It contains both the theatrical version of the film and what is being dubbed the unrated version.  

The Evil Dead VHS is the original Thorn EMI released that came out in 1983.  It as later released by HBO Cannon, who had purchased Thorn EMI and then again by Congress Video in 1989.  Evil Dead unrated edition is actually a cut of the film that was accidentally sent to the UK to air on television in 2015.  This blu ray was released in 2018.  

The DVD on the left is a bootleg version of Within The Woods that I downloaded from the internet and I made the DVD insert myself.  Within The Woods is a short film the Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and others made as proof of concept to help raise funds for the feature film.  Film in 1978 for $1,600 it is 32 minutes long and was never been officially released on home video.

Invaluable is a documentary film about Tom Sullivan the make up and special effects artist who brought the candarian demons to life in The Evil Dead.  Directed by Ryan Meade I bought the DVD and later Blu Ray editions direct from him.  I gave my DVD to my pal Brandon.  

On the books side of things I have all three of Bruce Campbell's excellent books.  The Evil Dead made my a big fan of Bruce Campbell and everyone else on the movie.  The Evil Dead companion by Bill Warren is excellent!  Released in 2001 it Focuses more on the first film it does also cover Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness.

These are my figures representing Ash from Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, and Ash vs. Evil Dead as well as a Funko Pop of Ask from Army of Darkness.

This items is a very small jar of sand that was taken from the cellar hole that was dug under the first cabin from The Evil Dead.  I got this when I bought my Blu Ray edition of Invaluable from Ryan Meade.  It also came with a CD of the music from the documentary.   

This item here is a piece of wood from Evil Dead 2 cabin.  A fan made contact with the farmer that owned the land that the shed and cabin were on.  The cabin had collapsed however the work shed was still standing.  The farmer sold it to fan who moved the cabin.  You can read all about it on his website.  To raise money they are selling off pieces of the cabin that they also removed from the property.  This is a piece of the interior cabin door frame. 

I also have gone to seen Evil Dead The Musical in Lynn, Massachusetts back in 2013.  I just discovered that you can buy a DVD that has two versions of the show on it.  One recorded in 2004 in Toronto, Ontario and in 2007 in Chicago.  So I have to pick that up.  

Evil Dead Uproot is a documentary that is currently being film about The Evil Dead & Evil Dead 2 shooting locations.  You can find more on their website.

Also a new film Evil Dead Rise has been announced, it will be written and directed by Lee Cronin and is being executive produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, & Rob Tapert.

 Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time!

Blogging Up A Storm

I currently have four blogs, that seems like a lot but they are all specific types of blogs.  This one is my simple blog that I started this year and I write about a bunch of random things, whatever is on my mind at that time.  Really it's just an excuse to sit down behind a keyboard and tap away so I can pass the time instead of watching more television that I don't care about.

The Wrestling Insomniac is my main blog that I work the most on.  I started it in March 2015 and have close to 500 posts plus I have compiled posts into two books.  It is also the only blog that I have that has guest writers. 

Labbe Family Voyages is the first blog I ever started back in 2005 or 2006, however it was under another name at that time.  Someone I knew was able to make some money doing online reviews and I thought that I would do the same.  Hence the email address Superstarreview@gmail.com because my first blog was called Superstar Review.  I really hate that Google locks you in on an email as I would love to ditch that one.  I have recently started transitioning over to a new email labbemichaelj@gmail.com but I don't want all the junk going to that one that I get everyday at superstarreview.  

Hot Dogs of Maine is my fourth blog, I started it in March 2013 after a failed book attempt.  I made an outline and proposal for a book about Maine's Hot Dog history that I submitted to several publishers and no one was interested.  Downeast Magazine didn't see it has a book but as a magazine article but didn't offer to publish it either.  As I am writing this I'm thinking if I did want to write a book I could self-publish it on Amazon.  It has been almost four years since I last posted on that blog and yet it continues to get several views a day and has a lot of comments. 

In recent days I have been playing catch up on the Labbe Family Voyages blog as I hadn't updated it in a long time.  That's about to change though as I have several posts in the next few days that I will be putting up once I get the photo uploaded.

I think next I'm going to tackle Hot Dogs of Maine and update and revamp that page. 

Until Next Time!

My Fandom: The X-Files

I have been a fan of the X-File since episode one!  I was 14 years old on Friday September 10, 1993 when the Pilot episode aired and I was hooked!  I didn't miss an episode for next nine years when the season 9 finale aired on May 19, 2002.  If I wasn't going to be home to watch the episode I would tape it and watch it at my earliest convenience.

After I got my first computer the first message board I joined was wrestling related, but the second was and X-Files group and the discussions got heated.  I saw Fight for the Future in the theaters twice, opening night and then a couple weeks later before it was pulled.  I even saw I Want To Believe in the theater twice, I was that hard up for new X-Files material. 

I even wrote both Gillian Anderon and David Duchovny fan letters and got signed photos back from both of them.  They are not pre-prints but actual signatures on official X-Files photos.  I feel fortunate because not too long after I got mine other I knew from the discussion boards started getting pre-prints.

Today I still have my signed photos and I have Fox Mulder and Dana Scully action figures.  

After season three I bought the Official Companion so I could read about the episodes, all the little facts and relive some of my favorite moments.  I really miss books like this, I'm not even sure they still make them for new TV shows.

Later in life, after the series had ended, I started buying all the complete seasons on DVD.  I own all 9 original seasons on DVD and I've watched them all multiple times.  Of course I own the two films, on blu ray and I have seasons 10 & 11 on blu ray as well.

I was beyond excited when the 2008 I Want To Believe film was released, Although I enjoyed it, honestly it wasn't that good.  I also was extremely excited for the revival of seasons 10 & 11.  Although not perfect it did produce some awesome episodes with Mulder & Scully updated for today. 

I bought the season 1 trading cards set and I have sent many out to be signed.  I'd still like to get more signed.  I do hope to someday meet David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson in person someday at a convention.

  

My love for Chris Carters work on the X-Files lead me to watching Harsh Realms, Millennium, and of The Lone Gunmen.  I own them all on DVD as well.  

I've never read any of the X-Files books, but I have read the hell out of the comics and own several trade collections.  I doubt that we will ever any new episodes of the X-Files, maybe another film?  I think we are lucky that we got the sixteen more episodes, that's more than some shows will ever give us. 

Until Next Time!

Back In My Day

My buddy Brandon has a really good blog.  I really enjoy his writing style and his recent insights on his own relationship with the social media and the internet has really had me thinking about my usage as well.  You should go check it out: https://www.brandonsjournal.com/

One of this things he wrote about in his July 8th post that rally rings true is that he forgot the internet was a tool instead of viewing it as an entertainment device.  I realize that we now live in a world where the majority of people spend more time looking down at their devices than they do pretty much anything else.

His Disconnected post from July 7th he talks about life back before cell phones and tablets existed.  When I started as a 911 dispatcher back in 2001 I'd come in for my shift set up my work station, get logged in, take my book out and set it on the counter, crack open a diet pepsi and grab the KJ (local newspaper the Kennebec Journal) and literally read the whole thing from front the back in between handling calls and complaints. 

Fast forward the my final full time year in dispatch 2019.  Roll into the center, set up my work station, get logged in, crack open a diet pepsi, take you my tablet and start streaming WWE Network, take out my cellphone and see what had happened on twitter or facebook in the last 45 minutes since I last checked before coming into work.

A few years ago my wife and I stopped texting each other through-out the day talking about our day.  We would text each other but it was things like, if you're going to Hannaford can you grab this or that, or if you come in town will you bring me a coffee.  We would wait to actually talk to each other about our day, it's really nice.

Part of me would really like to go back to how it was, but another part of me thinks we may have changed to much and it would be too hard to go back to how it was.  I guess I'd have to try to find out.

Until Next Time!

Aspect Ratio

Let's start off with the definition of what Aspect Ratio is.  I copied this from the Columbia University Film Language Glossary:

Aspect ratio refers to how the image appears on the screen based on how it was shot–the ratio of width (horizontal or top) to height (vertical or side) of a film frame, image, or screen. Dating back to Thomas Edison’s equipment, 1.33:1 was for a long time the typical aspect ratio for film. The ratio 1.33:1, which was dubbed “Academy aperture” in 1932 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, soon became the first standard ratio in film, and was used until the 1950s. (The ratio 1.33:1 is the same as the 4:3 ratio of a television screen.) During the 1950s, developments in wide-screen formats and aspect ratios were introduced, including 1.65:1 and higher. Other anamorphic systems, such as CinemaScope and Panavision, have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, while Cinerama had a ratio of 2.77:1. The aspect ratio for 70-mm. films is 2.2:1, and letterboxed videos for wide-screen televisions usually have an aspect ratio of 1.77:1 (or 16:9). Standard 35-mm. films have an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (normally 1.66:1 in Europe).

So 4:3 is the size of the television screen that myself and people my age grew up with and the standard format of a VHS tape.  Even if the movie was filmed in another ratio, like 1.85:1 it was pan & scanned down to 4:3.  To better show my example here is what happens to scene from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope when it is scaled down.

This is why all us video store geeks would always recommend that you rent the widescreen version if it's available because that is the format the director wants you to see when they filmed it.  Lately though I've been wondering if widescreen really is the best way to watch a film.

The Evil Dead, the VHS I bought first that got me back into VHS tapes was originally film in 1.33:1 or 4:3 on 16 mm film, however it has since been released on DVD and BluRay in widescreen editions, look what they did to the picture to make it widescreen;

Original 4:3

Widescreen version

See how Scott's head is cut off as well as more of the original image.  We've all been conditioned to think that bluray is the best version you can watch movies in.  That maybe true for new movies and televisions shows that were filmed since bluray players were introduced in 2006, but older films or low budget films that were like The Evil Dead, widescreen distorts that directors intended picture.

However, most people don't care about this, they just turn on the television and watch it how it appears on the screen.  I'm not saying I'm some snob, but if it's a favorite movie of mine, I'm going to go out of my way to watch it the right way.  However today bought a couple VHS tapes for 30 cents and I'll enjoys those films just fine.  They were Hamburger Hill & The Hunt For Red October, released in 1987 & 1990 both were filmed in widescreen, and I'm sure these VHS are full screen or 4:3 aspect ratio.  I have watched both movies in the past numerous times, but I haven't seen them in years.

I'm curious what your preference is?

Until Next Time!

Great American Fourth of July

A little known tradition of mine is to sit down and watch the classic American Playhouse special The Great American Fourth of July and other Disasters on the 4th of July.  American Playhouse was an anthology series that aired in PBS for thirteen seasons from 1982 - 1996.

Based on the works of and narrated by Jean Shepherd this was originally broadcast on March 16, 1982.  Shepherd is one of my favorite authors, I own all five of his books.  You are probably most familiar with his film A Christmas Story, about Ralphie Parker and his family as he pines for a carbine action 200 shot range model Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.

I was first introduce to Jean Shepherd from this movie.  One day I noticed in the credits that the movie was based on the book "In God We Trust, All Other's Pay Cash." So of course I bought the book and absolutely loved it.  Over the years I bought his other books, and some CD's.  Shepherd was an amazing storyteller of what was life in his childhood.  Shepherd has many other stories adapted to television and movies, none of them as popular as A Christmas Story.

1976 - The Phantom of the Open Hearth

1982 - Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters

1983 - A Christmas Story

1985 - The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski

1988 - Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss

1994 - My Summer Story

All the movies are narrated by Jean Shepherd and he was involved in their production.  I have book leg versions of all except A Christmas Story and My Summer Story.   I'm pretty sure you can find them on YouTube to watch.  They are worth it, also Shepherds books are well worth your time to read. 

Until Next Time!

Restless

Holy cow I am restless right now.  It's ten minutes of ten on Thursday night I have been restless since my wife went to bed around eight.  I asked my son if he wanted to watch a movie and he didn't want to.  That's cool, he wants to play video games with his friend. 

I watched the first episode of Warrior Nun on Netflix, not what I expected it to be.  I'm going to give the second episode a try but I didn't find it compelling or even very interesting.  Since that got over I can't decide what to watch.  Nothing seems appealing to me at the moment.   I don't really care about watching anything, or reading anything, or diving too deep into a project, and I don't want to go to bed either. 

I decided to just sit down and tap the keys on my laptop and see what words appear on the page.

I'm off the next three days because of the 4th of July holiday being celebrated on Friday the 3rd...yeah.  At work we were supposed to ramp back up to being in the office full time, but then they decided to have us continue working from home two days a week and in the office three days until the end of August.  My wife is working from home everyday until at least labor day and then they are going to reevaluate the situation and make a decision from there.

In two weeks we take our yearly vacation camping with the kids.  We are going back to Medway for the third year in a row.  We all love it there.  Sadly, because of the pandemic, we can't take the kids on a day trip to Canada this time.  However, I have found some things that we can explore in Aroostook County that we have never seen before.   It'll be nice just to be on vacation. 

Well I guess that's it, I didn't claim that I had anything important to say.

Until Next Time!