Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

During the month of October, my husband and I watch a horror movie each weekend. We each get to pick two. This month's selections were chosen some time ago: Carrie (not nearly as scary as I'd remembered), Shaun of the Dead (always a pleaser), The Thing (not exactly my thing, but hubby likes it), and this coming weekend's selection, The Hitcher (the original, scary Rutger Hauer version, not the remake - which I was not thrilled with and only own b/c I clicked buy without looking close enough).

However, while browsing in a store this past week, we came across Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Now, we'd already watched three of the month's movies, and there was only one more weekend to come, but the appeal of this movie was too much for us to resist. Hillbillies that aren't scary Deliverance types (since my Daddy was an Appalachian mountain man, we like hillbillies) and comical mix-ups that lead to all sorts of misconceptions. Sounded good, so we bought it. And we added an extra movie night this past weekend.

Honestly, my expectations weren't all that high, but only because I'm not a slasher movie fan. However, we do like Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine and had every confidence that they'd make us laugh. We were not disappointed. I laughed my ass off! It reminded me of another movie that caused similarly inappropriate yet uncontrollable laughter called Big Nothing, but that's another story. Back to Tucker and Dale. Very funny. SPOILER ALERT! Seeing Alan Tudyk ask someone who'd just fallen into a wood chipper if he was okay in such a way that you could almost imagine doing the same thing in the highly unlikely event that you found yourself in similar circumstances was brilliant. Great writing. Terrific acting. Tudyk and Labine's characters were refreshingly likeable.

We will definitely be revisiting this one next October, along with Shaun of the Dead, and I think we'll have to watch Repo: the Genetic Opera again. Just need to come up with a fourth, maybe Salem's Lot or something similar.

Thank you Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Joss Whedon

Today's thoughts have a more somber tone than usual. That's because many years ago on this date, I promised to love someone until death we did part in front of God and witnesses. One of the few things in my life about which I have no regrets is that I fulfilled that promise.

I was fortunate enough to fall in love with a wonderful man for the second time in my life and am happily remarried now, but that doesn't stop the memories and reflections about what went before, especially on days like this.

By the winter of '98, my first husband was very ill, his body having been ravaged by disease for many years. He was tiring of the battle that was daily life for him. Most of our conversations revolved around medications, treatments, etc., but one of the last things I vividly recall him saying to me was, "Buffy might have to kill Angel. I don't know what she's going to do, but I can't wait to find out."

How extraordinary was it that a man whose only certainty about the next day was that it would be filled with pain and suffering looked forward to it anyway because he wanted to watch Buffy? Anyone who thinks it was a silly show or his desire to watch it wasn't important has no idea what they're talking about. I was so awestruck that he cared about it ... about anything at that point, that I didn't even know how to respond. The show did exactly what it (and all forms of entertainment, for that matter) was supposed to - it distracted him from his problems enough that he found time to enjoy something.

I should point out that I was not watching Buffy at that time, not because I didn't like it, but rather because I worked two jobs, took care of my sick husband, and went to school at night. In my "spare" time, I cleaned the house, did laundry, went food shopping, did homework, wrote papers and programs and took care of the finances. I did not have the luxury of watching much television and I was in class when Buffy was on so I never got to see it.

Sadly, my husband passed away before the season ended and he never got to see what happened. It took me months to be able to turn the television on again after he died, so I didn't see it, either.

But when the show started up again the next season, I watched it religiously, hoping that his spirit was there with me, and he was able to watch his favorite program. From there, I (we) watched every Buffy and Angel episode. My second husband and I have enjoyed Firefly and Dollhouse (and Dr. Horrible, The Avengers, etc.) together.

But I am eternally grateful to Joss Whedon and the cast of Buffy for giving a dying man something to look forward to. At a time when he knew only pain and suffering, he could still get excited about that one special hour a week when he could watch Buffy. If that isn't something extraordinary, I don't know what is.

Fred's Evil Plan is Here!

Fred's Evil Plan to Take over the World is now available on Kindle, Nook, and paperback.

Fred began his blogging career in 2006, but for various reasons, we weren't able to be consistent with it after 2008. My father was very ill and then we lost one of Fred's minions, and I didn't have the heart or time to get Fred to the computer to do his blogging.

When he began blogging again in 2011, I had every intention of being better with it, but then Fred himself experienced some serious health problems, not the least of which was diabetes that had him at death's door this past July. We sat in the vet's office faced with that awful decision but decided to give him one last chance. We had him hospitalized and given lots of IV fluids, along with his insulin. The diabetes turns out to have been the result of a medication he was on, so once we discontinued that and saw him through the darkest days of his dehydration and high sugars, he actually rallied and is back home plotting more evil deeds even as I write this.

At any rate, my heart wasn't in continuing his blog, but when I went back and read through it, I realized that he had in fact reached an excellent end point. So I spent a few months going through it, organizing, adding in several posts that never got published in the blog and setting up his glossary of feline reading material.

I do hope that Fred's antics provide enjoyable entertainment for any other cat slaves out there that find it.