Musings of A Bookworm and Movie Lover

Classic Horror Stories: Entry No. 1 This weekend I read a volume of short stories called Classic Ghost Stories published by Dover. It was interesting how diverse this particular genre could be. There were stories that were sad, funny, literary, and downright chilling. Probably the most terrifying story was “The Judge House” written by Bram Stoker, best known for the story Dracula, which spawned a whole genre by itself. There were actually moments in the same story where I laughed almost in the same breath as shuddering from the chill running down my spine. This is likely due to my joy at being scared by a good story. It is a sort of masochistic impulse, that desire to see how badly a story can scare me. I like stories that genuinely inspire fear in me. But it is equally entertaining to take the journey with the writer and to see exactly how they plot and plan their frights. Like “The Judge House”, Jerome K. Jerome definitely achieved that purpose with “A Ghost Story”. “...

Let's Talk The Men From Down Under For purposes of simplification, I will discuss both the Aussies and the Kiwis in this talk. They are the actors from Australia and New Zealand that made me realize that Great Britain is not the only place from which actors with accents that make me happy cometh. These guys are good-looking, great actors, and have a laid back vibe that is unique to them. The Aussies (Australians) 1.Hugh Jackman 2.Guy Pearce (born in England but grew up in OZ) 3.David Wenham 4.Simon Baker 5.Russell Crowe (he was born in NZ but grew up in Oz) 6.Trevor Goddard (God rest his soul) 7.Will Snow (he plays the fine Lord John Roxton on The Lost World on tv) 8.Heath Ledger 9.Eric Bana 10.Dominic Purcell (born in England but grew up in OZ) 11.Mel Gibson (born in NY, US but moved to Oz as a child) 12.Julian McMahon 13.Paul Mercutio 14.Noah Taylor 15.Hugo Weaving 16.Anthony LaPaglia 17.Jonathan LaPaglia 18.Costas Mandylor 19.Jesse...

Why Keanu? I remember the moment when I realized that I would always love Keanu Reeves. It was during the opening credits of Point Break. The rain was falling down and this beautiful soaking-wet, young man came out and started shooting these targets. There is this one scene where he looks over his shoulder: the epitome of male beauty. That's how it started. Before that I saw a few of his roles and I like him but Point Break was the starting point of my one-sided love affair. Ever since then, Keanu has held a special place in my heart. I've gritted my teeth when people have disparaged his acting, calling him "Ted", again and again. Saying that he sounds like a surfer dude. I've rolled my eyes at peoples' comments about him being untalented. I've tried to ignore peoples' mean-spirited innuendoes about him being gay. And still I've loved him. And I always will. Why do I love him? Let me try to tell you. 1.He is totally unique--w...

Black History Month This is the month dedicated to remembering all the accomplishments that Black people made in this country. Too bad it's just one month. I want to definitely take advantage of the opportunity this month and every month. Because of my Black forefathers and mothers I can vote, work, live, and be free in this country. And not just Black people benefitted from the actions of these courageous people, this whole country and every American did too. Did you know that Charles Drew came up with a way to store blood products as plasma? He was a Black man. He did this for all people, not just his own people. And the powers that be had the nerve to say that the blood had to be stored according to race because they didn't want Whites getting blood from Black people. Crazy but true. Did you know that the first person to reach the North Pole was a Black man? His name was Matthew Henson. Although he was denied credit by his colleague, he did reach the North...