Today I saw the remake of Death Race 2000…
I was a little skeptical at first; for one thing, it was a remake of an awesome movie.
I normally hate the remakes.. They totally wreck ‘em, they stray to far from the original storyline.. they get huge budgets but that doesn’t make for a decent script or good acting.
Secondly it has Jason Statham in it… Now, I am not saying I don’t enjoy the movies he’s in.  I love a good action flick, but he plays the EXACT SAME CHARACTER… in every single movie.  I swear, he’s probably the most typecast guy in Hollywood.

So, with my heart set for disappointment, my husband and I entered the foul smelling, un-airconditioned theater, took our sticky seats, sipped our over priced soda and nibbled our overpriced, greasy popcorn and………..

IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

Seriously, there was a plot.. (A bit more of one than the original)
An actual attempt at character development, and I must say they succeeded rather well on that point.
There was action.. Lots and lots of it..
Fight scenes, explosions, just the right amount of gore without going too overboard, car wrecks.. (Lots of them! Of course.) and just enough action-y suspense to keep me squirming a little uncomfortably in my already uncomfortable seat.. (It was the bottle of over-priced water and cold, cold soda, I swear!)
Oh yeah, and there were no boobs.  Now, I love boobs as much as the next pin-up drawing girl, but seriously, most movies I’ve seen lately have been a little too over exhuberant about the gratuitous tit-shots.

Did I mention that the cars were awesome too?  they were very Road Warrior, and I love that movie.

I would recommend this movie to people..
I would watch this movie again..
Hell, I’d own this movie.
It was freaking awesome, did I mention that?

I already loved the original, but this was just too cool.

The only thing I would have liked to see was a remake of the elderly and invalids scene. (My personal favorite, those of you who have seen the original know what I’m talking about)
also I would have loved to see David Carradine have a cameo in the remake.. maybe as The Coach.. that would have been too awesome.

But all in all, I was pretty impressed with it.  Which is saying a lot since the original Death Race 2000 is one of my all time favorite movies ever.

Yay Hollywood… Occasionally.

So lately I’ve been feeling rather obsessed.

I’m not really sure if its a pregnancy thing or what.. But I’ve been finding I want to draw things based off the sea.  Sea spirits, sirens, mermaids, squid, octopi.. (well, maybe not so much the mermaids… I find them a bit too cutesy.)

Maybe I was a sailor or a pirate in a past life and my obsession with these designs is a sign of that…

Maybe being pregnant and having little Phin sloshing around in my belly like a teensy sea creature has something to do with it…

Maybe its the fascination of those deep, deep waters and those prehistoric creatures that lurk in crushing depths to never see any light but what they create..

Maybe it’s because my dad was in the navy and it’s always fascinated me…

Or maybe… Maybe it’s because I’m a perverted little creep who loves to draw icky, sticky, slimy tentacles…

Yeah.. I think that’s it.

Ok,
So a while back I was ranting about zombie movies and how they have come to suck so badly.  Seriously.. if I wanna watch a Romero flick, I’m gonna watch a bloody Romero flick.. not a crappy re-hash done on what appears to be home video!

Since then.. I have seen a few zombie films in my mad quest to find the select few that would truly entertain with their originality.

A few I would suggest to all you other horror film buffs out there would be:

Night of the Living Dorks:  A silly German film that reminds me a bit of Idle Hands- three nerdy boys; bearing the high school stigmata of “dorks”, an urn of Haitian zombie ashes, a couple of slightly retarded goth kids.. and viola!  hilarity ensues, teachers are gobbled up and the obligatory party while the parents are away is thrown.  I enjoyed this one because it was funny.  Horror that doesn’t take itself seriously is always the best kind.

Enter…. Zombie King:  Okay, so this one is exceptionally LOW budget.  We’re talking almost, but not just quite home video quality here.  this is another one that doesn’t quite take itself seriously.  While I’m not exactly sure what the plot was.. something about world domination through zombification, I think.. It was funny in the fact that it was like a cross between Night of the Living Dead, Fido and a superhero comic.  Of course the main focus of the story wasn’t exactly zombies so much as it was Lucha Libre.. all the main characters were luchadores!  And somehow, one of them managed to figure out how to tame zombies so he could wrestle them safely at roadside attractions.  This film also features (if your into that sort of thing) a zombie/human lesbian rockabilly make-out session.. Hooray for hot zombie chicks!

Buttcrack:  So if any of you are familiar with the Troma Team video franchise, you will be well aware that Lloyd Kaufman’s films are comprised of 75% boobies, 15% outlandishly ridiculous gore, and 10% potty humor.  Strike that, it’s more like 90% boobies, 90% outlandishly ridiculous gore and 73% potty humor.  So.. that said.. for a Troma Team video, Buttcrack is, well, mild!  In fact I don’t even recall a single bouncing boobie in the entire film… let alone two.  all I am going to say about this flick is that to look into the butt-crack of the main character means you turn into a brain craving fiend.  Silly I know, but still.. originality at its.. alright, maybe not at it’s best.

The Mad:  Anyone who knows me, knows I have the hots for Billy Zane.  My husband is ok with this, in fact, the lovely, lovely man of my life once brought home a movie with the aforementioned star in it just because I like him.  Of course Billy Zane is RARELY in a good movie, and he’s not exactly the best actor either.  The Mad is a silly little flick where contaminated cow meat turns people into yes.. brain-sucking ghouls.  My favorite part is the entire dialogue between the surviving characters about whether the creatures trying to rip them to shreds are in fact zombies or not.  Also, this is a heart-warming tale of a father and daughter bonding and coming to terms with each other whilst bashing blood thirsty man-monsters in the heads with various blunt objects.  Also, this is the film that made me realize Billy Zane looks kind of like a room mate I once had so… ew.

My Dead Girlfriend: Another super low budget film that borders on “made on my cell phone.. really!” I think I fell asleep for part of this one, but I thought it was really cute.  It’s about a guy, who really, really loves his girlfriend but then runs her over.  (Yeah, he loves her THAT much.)  Ok, it was an accident.  He performs a black magic ritual and the corpse and she comes back to life only able to squeak the cutest little.. “Hungry!”  He takes her to a cabin in the woods in the hopes that she gets better, and of course his drunken idiotic friends show up.. carnage and hilarity abound in this romantic tale of what a person is willing to do in the name of love.

I would suggest all these films to the not so discerning viewer for their originality and humor, because funny horror movies are often the best.  Even if they aren’t really trying to be funny.
I of course will keep on my ever vigilant quest to find worthwhile zombie flicks and keep you posted on what might be good and what might just be another Romero rip off!

Next on the list of zombie movies to watch:
Zombie Strippers (it’s got freaking Robert Englund in it for crying out Loud!)
ZA: Zombies Anonymous
My Boyfriend’s Back (oh goodness I hope it’s not a mucical!)
Die and Let Live (even though it sounds like a Shaun of the Dead rip off.)
Acne (Oohh.. just the synopsis has me grossed out!)
Night of the Bums (I think South Park did this…)
I was a Teenage Zombie
Stacy (Japanese girl zombies.. I’m nervous)
Shaolin vs. Evil Dead 1 and 2
Astro Zombies
Die You Zombie Bastards!
And probably many, many more to come.

Okay, I’m done with this super long post. Wish me luck on the next batch of zombie films…

I’ve updated my cafepress store adding a few new shirts and even a.. ~gasp!~ poster due to suggestion/request. You can visit my store at: http://www.cafepress.com/deathmau and just remember, if you see something of mine you like- a pin-up girl or something else- and you would like to have it on a t-shirt, coffee mug or anything else they offer on cafepress, just send me a note and I would be glad to put it up for you!

On a completely different note, My hubby and I will be finding out whether the peanut is a boy or a girl this week! So exciting! And hopefully I will have another ultrasound picture to post. ^_^ As of this week we are halfway through the pregnancy and his little kicks and tumbles are getting stronger and stronger. I swear that either Jackie Chan is living in my belly or he’s just fond of moving around the furniture.

I’m still working on the zodiac pin-ups.. I swear!!! In fact I’m hoping to get another one colored today. ~crosses fingers~ Its just hard to draw some days.. even when I want to. ~sigh~

Oh well!
Ta for now and wish me luck! I have to go to the doctor’s on a full bladder! let’s hope I make it.

I’m very excited.

Summer is upon us in the cold, cold north and what does that herald?  Craft fairs!

Ok.  So Maybe its not that exciting after all.. At least not to the average person.  But this weekend is the Taste of the North Country fair.  My sister and I will be setting up shop to paint the faces of little kids, a fun thing to do though kids are awfully squirmy and ticklish when it comes to getting their favorite Sesame Street character plastered on their cheek with gooey grease paint.

What I am really excited about is that while there I will, for the very first time, be attempting to sell off some of my homemade bottle cap pins, featuring one of a kind art in a 1″ resin coated medium.  My sister will also be selling her hilarious Bygone Greeting Cards and custom baby onesies.

This is very exciting for me indeed as we have several face painting venues lined up, and hopefully the pins do well!

Ok, so zombie flicks have to be my ultimate favorite of all time. Zombies are my favorite monsters of all time, they were the only ones that could seriously scare the crap out of me when I was younger. Go figure, I grew up in a cemetery…. of course the concept of the hungry dead rising from their graves scared the living bejeebus out of me.

Lately, though I see a trend in zombie flicks….
THEY’RE ALL THE SAME! I will point out a few exceptions: Shaun of the Dead, Dead Alive (Peter Jackson should go back to horror flicks),Undead Who can not love aliens AND zombies?) the Evil Dead series, (Of course) and obviously the holy trinity.. the poineers of the ghastly brain sucking ghouls… the Romero films.

These days it seems that all zombie movies are a cheap echo of the Romero films. Same plot, same shambling creatures.. same everything.

I hate it, I’m getting bored with my favorite monsters! This shouldn’t be happening. So, I seek out the new and original plot… If anyone has seen that exciting “new thing” in zombie films, please share and make this horro buff a happy girl!

Well, my husband and I have been working our butts off this weekend to get the website organized a little more and to get my shop up and running. There’s not really a lot up on the store yet, but it’s still worth a peek. I’ve posted a series of lovely pin-up girls on coffee mugs for those of you who appreciate good brew and beautiful women.

http://www.cafepress.com/deathmau

I don’t have many shirts up at the moment because I am trying to keep store clutter down (I don’t want it to get overwhelming for browsers!). So if you have a request, i.e. a particular image on a particular shirt style let me know and I can post it for you!

Thanks!

Trissa