Thursday, October 13, 2022

The Blair Witch Project

In the Summer of 1999 the internet existed, but it wasn't what we have today, not by a long shot.  Most people still were using dial up access, there was no YouTube or Social Media, Ebay was in it's infancy and Amazon was mostly selling books.

I remember seeing ads on TV for something called The Blair Witch Project coming to theaters in July.  I even read about it in magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Fangoria.  Sci-Fi Channel even had a special about the upcoming documentary.  

The movie was billed as being real, it was about 3 college students making a documentary about an urban legend Blair Witch in Maryland in 1994 and they disappeared.  The footage they shot was discovered in the foundations of a structure where it shouldn't have been and what was being released was a compilation of the footage edited together.  The production company even created a website to support their narrative.

There was so much buzz about this movie and so many people believed that it was legit.  To be honest I wasn't sure if it was real or not.  Part of me knew it had to be a work of fiction, but another part of me really wanted to believe that it was real.  Either way I wasn't missing this movie and fully intended to go opening night. 

My wife at the time was not a fan of horror movies, but she even wanted to see this.  We headed to Hoyts Cinema and the line was huge as the turn out was way more than the theater anticipated.  We bought our tickets and the screening very quickly sold out, however the theater decided to show it on a second screen.  

We went to the first theater, where our tickets were for and couldn't find two seats together other than the front row, so we went to the other theater and acquired a couple good seats.  The start of the movie was delayed, which was unusual, and we didn't have to normal trailers before the film either. 

It was delayed so long that the theatre employees brough in concessions to sell at a discounted rate, I have never experienced that before or since at a standard theatre.  The discussion the whole time by my fellow audience members was the validity of the movie, and the vast majority fully believed that it was real.  They were thoroughly convinced.

Finally the movie started everyone was so into the movie.  About 25 minutes into the flick it night time and the they are hearing strange noises  and we get hit with a jump scare and simultaneously the screen jumps and the picture melts away.

The audience started to scream, like legit fear started to scream.  More than one person cried out something about the Blair Witch was coming for us, I think some of them actually meant it too.  People were panicked!  Eventually the house lights came on, we were informed that the projector broke in Theater 1 and once they respooled the film they would restart the movie.  Everyone in theatre 1 was sent home with a voucher.  

This was back when 35mm film was the standard for showing movies, they only had one print of the film so they fed through the projector in Theatre 2 and ran it across the room to the projector in Theatre 1, so when the that projector broke what we saw was a single frame that was stuck in front of the projection bulb too long and melted.  

We eventually finished the movie, it was awesome and the overall experience really enhanced we feelings towards it.  As we were leaving people were still debating if it was real or not.  It was so remarkable because they captured something special when they released this movie and they really were able to work the audience on the validity of the film in a way that simply couldn't be done today.  

The movie also innovated the found footage feature film genre.  It was the first movie to use this style of filming, others like Cannibal Holocaust and 84C MoPic were successful with the format, however The Blair Witch is what really jumpstarted it.   

I've seen the other films, Book of Shadows was just okay, however 2016 Blair Witch I thought was excellent.  It's been a few years since I last watch the film, seems like a good time of year to check it out again. 

Until Next Time!

Thursday, September 1, 2022

August Update

The summer has just rushed on by this year.  We did a lot as a family and I went to some pretty awesome wrestling shows.  

On the wrestling side, I went to Massachusetts in May, June, and July for 4 shows, all awesome in their own ways, and each so different from the other.  

Went to "Weird Al" in April and May, Bangor and Portland, they were both awesome.  My wife and I's Sundate's found us going to the Wayne General Store where our cousin Jonny and his band The Cedar Shakes played every Sunday from 9am to noon.  We went about a dozen times, we also saw them play gigs a couple other places over the summer as well. 

Concerts coming up for us, well in September Kate and her sister are going to see She & Him, we are going to see Stevie Nicks.  Then in October we have tickets to The Killers and Greta Van Fleet. 

We went Camping with the Browns at Pine Grove Campground and Cottages the final Weekend in June.  This lined up with my 43rd birthday and our 9th wedding anniversary.  We always have a good time with the Browns, and I look forward to going again next year.  It's sadly the only camping we did this summer, and it doesn't look like it's in the books for us to go again this year.  We have a lot going on.

Our summer Vacation this year marked the return to Canada as we stayed a week in Hopewell hill check out the Bay of Fundy and Hopewell Rocks, or as Wesley says Hopewell Dwayne's.  In Canada we saw a couple covered bridges, Lighthouse, took the kids to Prince Edward Island, and hit a Toys R' Us in the mall.  Also Kate and I went for a two hour trail ride on Horseback.

Fair season is upon us and with it the pie contest.  I've made a list of the different fairs that have and Apple Pie contest that we can reasonably enter.  At the first contest of the season she enter Kate won first place at the Topsham Fair, her first time entering at this fair.  This was her third time entering at the Windsor fair, the first couple times she didn't place, then she changed up her crust and filling recipe after entering in 2019.  In 2021 she placed 4th, this year she pulled in a nice red rosette for 2nd place!

She will definitely be entering at the Litchfield and Fryeburg fairs this year, and possible Oxford and Cumberland.  This is the first time they have done the pie contest in Litchfield since the Pandemic, previously she placed 5th in 2018 and 1st in 2019.  The first and only time she entered at Fryeburg was her 1st place finish in 2021.  

We did a lot of other fun stuff this summer, spent time with the family and tried to make the most out of every weekend.  

Until Next Time!

Saturday, May 7, 2022

It's May Already

It's funny to me because I thought I would find myself interested in blogging again once I kicked my season depression.  It's why I haven't posted on here in months, I just haven't cared to.  It was my first time, to my knowledge, experiencing seasonal depression and boy did it do me in.  I could function, I could go to work and I was there for my kids and even attended multiple wrestling and other live events.  

What I can't figure out is why I haven't comeback to posting on not just this blog, but all my blogs.  I enjoy reading my friends blogs thoroughly.  It's a little frustrating because writing has always been a passion of mine and it's just gone.

I'm not sure the future of this or any of my blogs, the one I feel I would focus on the most is the Wrestling Insomniac, which attracts the most traffic of all my blogs.  

Until next time...if there is one

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Hit Songs on my Birthday

I saw on twitter someone posted, the #1 song on your 22nd Birthday is how your 2022 is going to go, this lead me to this neat website Birthday Jams and here is the list of hit songs on my Birthday every year since my birth...June 24, 

1979    Ring My Bell - Anita Ward
1980    Comin Up - Paul McCartney
1981    Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
1982    Ebony & Ivory - Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder
1983    Flashdance... What a Feeling - Irene Cara
1984    The Reflex - Duran Duran
1985    Heaven - Bryan Adams
1986    On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michal McDonald
1987    I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
1988    Foolish Beat - Debbie Gibson
1989    Satisfied - Richard Marx
1990    Step by Step - New Kids On The Block
1991    Rush Rush - Paula Abdul
1992    I'll Be There - Mariah Carey featuring Trey Lorenz
1993    That's The Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson
1994    I Swear - All-4-One
1995    Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? - Bryan Adams
1996    The Crossroads - Bones Thugs-n-Harmony
1997    I'll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy& Faith Evans featuring 112
1998    The Boy Is Mine - Brandy & Monica
1999    If You Had My Love - Jennifer Lopez
2000    Be With You - Enrique Iglesias
2001    Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, & Pink
2002    Hot in Herre - Nelly
2003    This is The Night - Clay Aiken
2004    Burn - Usher
2005    We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
2006    Hips Don't Lie - Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
2007    Umbrella - Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
2008    Viva La Vida - Coldplay
2009    Boom Boom Pow - The Black Eyed Peas
2010    California Gurls - Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg
2011    Rolling In The Deep - Adele
2012    Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
2013    Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell
2014    Fancy - Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX
2015    See You Again - Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth
2016    One Dance - Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla
2017    Despacito - Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
2018    Sad! - XXXTentacion
2019    Old Town Road - Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
2020    Rockstar - DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
2021    BTS - Butter

I'm way more familiar with the songs in the first tens years of my life than the last ten years. The middle two about 50 / 50.  I found another website that does the same thing and the majority of the songs are the same.  

Until Next Time!