Jeff Goldblum is an awesome dude. He knows dinosaurs, has blended his genes with a fly, and is equally comfortable with aliens, fighting them or otherwise. In a recent Apartments.com commercial, he is part of a group having a first encounter with arthropod aliens that have been described as giant ants, but I also see some resemblance in them to Star Trek’s Species 8472. In either case, they’re quite cool as well. The hard-headed military types in the group of humans seem all too willing to open fire, but Goldblum knows better. These aliens are just looking for a rental apartment, probably in a good location, and not too expensive…
And these aliens argue amongst themselves as to whether they want a one or two bedroom apartment; two would accomodate her mother when she comes to visit, so of course the guy is in favor of a single bedroom model. In either case, Jeff Goldblum is tuned to their wavelength, and sure to be able to fix them up. They’re just extraterrentrials. Some things seem to be universal, after all… š¦
As Monty Python and the Holy Grail memorably showed us, the Middle Ages were not totally dead and dreary times, especially if approached with a sense of wry humor. Simpsons creator Matt Groening does exactly that in Disenchantment on Netflix, and the series works on many levels, especially if you like history, myth, and satire…
While too complex to adequately cover in a single blog post, the series concerns the life and exploits of a medieval princess, Tiabeanie (Bean for short), a teenaged hellion adept at gambling and barroom-style fighting who has modern sensitivities, and rebels against medieval conventions such as arranged royal marriagesā¦
Seeking to chart her own way through life, Bean is accompanied by mythic medieval companions that mirror the duality of her own nature; an innocent, idealistic elf appropriately named Elfo, and a black demon straight from Hell called Luci (short for Lucifer)ā¦
Luci is my standout favorite in the series, a 9,000-year-old demon as inky-black as the original Felix the Cat, and thought by most who encounter him to be a weird, talking cat. Yes, Luci is the furry character in the series, having horns, fangs, and a forked tail, who despite his denials often postures bodily and presents like a cat. Sent from Hell to guide the Princess towards chaos, indulgence, and destruction, Luci proclaims himself to be āthe guy who makes you feel good about doing bad.ā This is one cool, laid-back, savvy demon!
This cat-like demon evolves, however, taking a serious liking to Princess Bean, becoming a loyal companion, fighting against her foes, and eventually dying for herā¦a sacrifice so noble that Luci appears before God in heaven, earning the status of ascended demon, a kind of reverse Lucifer, if you willā¦a bad guy who becomes good!
So catch Disenchantment on Netflix, if only to visit this fantastic, drinking, smoking, drug-ingesting cat-like thing that Iād be pleased to have in my corner, anytime! Bad boys, of course, can make you feel so good!š¦
What could be more Christmas-y than a cute, smiling snowman? The one in this NJM insurance commercial is even rather pint-sized, so heās not particularly menacing. Two kids are crafting the snowman, one of which looks a bit like Ralphie in A Christmas Story. And wouldnāt āya know it, once they put Dadās ball cap on said snowman, heās comes to life in the best Frosty the Snowman traditionā¦
Rather than lead the kids in a parade, this snowman begins to sing about Polar insurance, āthe coolest around,ā He waves his stick-branch arms cheerfully about. The kids scream, and run away; Mom and Dad are still standing there, however, and the insurance-shilling snowman asks them if they have any hot chocolate. One wonders if the snowman has a death wishā¦
For a company that prides itself in having no mascots, NJM has produced for us some of the best mascots aroundā¦a variety, no less!
Drama Queens (and Kings, letās be honest) are just about everywhere on the internet. You can barely enter a forum without encountering at least one, and they are easy to ātrigger.ā So it is appropriate that Dramamine has unveiled a spokes-animal that is an actual drama-llama, trying to get Rachel nervous about an upcoming flightā¦
ā¦walking with her, the drama llama reminds the air traveler that she got nauseous during a previous flight, that the flight may get bumpy, and that she has a middle seat. But when Rachel whips out her box of Dramamine, the llama audibly gasps, stands back as the jet door closes, and tells the passenger that he or she is gonna wait right there!
Although the llamaās voice sounds male, if female would the drama llama be a momma? And at night time, would she be a drama llama in pajamas? Inquiring minds wanna knowā¦
So if you see a drama llama, donāt feed it unless with Dramamineā¦and donāt confuse a drama lama with an emo alpaca, eitherā¦ š¦
This commercial for Mountain Dew blew me away…totally! It’s definitely furry-friendly. Three persons figure in it. A guy is working on his computer in a large office. He stares at his complexion on his monitor, and he is reptilian. A young womanin a diner happens to stare out the window, and sees her reflection as an exotic bird. A third guy is throwing out garbage in an alley, looks up, and sees his image as feline. This furry trio has gotta do the town, and they do!
We see these guys individually and collectively, the reptile viewing his reflection in an elevator glass and the big cat viewing his paw appendages. They go places, too, like a pool hall, making a fine entrance and getting admiring glances. The reptilian is shown performing in some kind of trendy club, playing to a receptive audience. Two of them are shown in an off-road vehicle.There’s no stopping these guys as they make the world their own in their idealized furry forms…
So enjoy…I think that someone out there in commercial-land finally understands the furry experience, and the inner self!And I’d drink a boatload of Mountain Dew if it would transform me… š¦
Unto you, good readers, I show my inner self. Halloween’s here, a time that I relish more than Xmas. Let us rejoice and be glad in it with a few things that may help you get into the spirit of the season, one that is all too brief but precious in its brevity…
From Michael Jackson’s Halloween Special of several years ago (2017) we bring you Jim Parsons (best known as Sheldon Cooper) voicing Hay Man, and channeling the dance moves of Michael Jackson, complete with a back-up cast of animals that include foxes!What could be more appropriate than some foxes bustin’ some serious moves, because we’re feral, ‘ya see…because we’re bad…because we’re dangerous!
Yes, Iām an unabashed Halloween freak! I adore it, and resist all pressures to “outgrow” the holiday. One does not āoutgrowā Halloweenā¦it grows on you, and within you.- -Xmas spirit?- -I nurture the spirit of Halloween! I think that my enjoyment of horror gives me my dosage of Halloween year-round. Itās like a nutritional requirement for me, reallyā¦
We animal-spirits are a natural for Halloween, too. We can all draw inspiration from cats. Mine are daily trying to become more human, while Iām trying to become more like them. Perhaps we could meet in the middleā¦
Yes, Halloween has some dark elements, but itās also a celebration, a kind of restorative reaching within yourself to validate and liberate what might be there. We need to kick back a bit against the bonds of civilization. This can be a cathartic experience, which ties in nicely with the furry fandom, which is communal but also intensely individual. We are never more free than when we embrace our inner animalā¦
So enjoy your Halloween, and carry a bit of it in your heart all-year round. I know that I doā¦ š¦
With Halloween less than a week away, I was initially happy to get an opportunity to view Renfield on Amazon Prime video, Now I want to stress that Iām mostly into werewolves as opposed to vampires, but have always found the character of Renfield interesting as Draculaās quirky and troubled servant, and so was ready to see him take center stage and perhaps receive more character development.
Renfield, however, is one of those movies with a promising concept that fails to deliver due to bungled writing and a wandering, confused sense of what it wants to be. As a horror-comedy, it degrades the horrific elements, and becomes more of a social commentary bathed in blood. Nicolas Cageās Dracula is played campyand over-the-top. He looks the part, but never reaches the dark and formidable majesty of Dracula, perhaps because you cannot be horrific and comic at the same timeā¦
As for Renfield, he is in group therapy sessions led by a counselor/therapist who is clueless to the real situation but guides Renfield in seeing himself as the victim of an abusive relationship. āI deserve happiness,ā pleads Renfield to Dracula. āYou deserve only suffering!.ā roars Cageās Dracula as he slashes Renfieldās bowels. Renfield further struggles to update his wardrobe and acclimate to 21st century life, and maintains an upscale apartment. He is complimented on his ānice sweater,ā and blesses nuns back when they bless him. Renfield comes across as a proper English gentleman, handsome even in a ruffled wayā¦
Now when he eats bugs, Renfield acquires temporary vampiric powers, and becomes a masterful fighter with an accelerated healing factor, and eventually finds the gumption to confront Dracula. All ties to Bram Stokerās source material have been abandoned at this point, howeverā¦
So there you have itā¦a good concept muddled by poor execution. While it does have its moments and is entertaining, Renfield may just drive you battyā¦ š¦
Itās daunting to deal with the Netflix series Stranger Things in a single post because of the scope and complexity of it. For those unfamiliar with it, suffice it to say that the series is a science fiction/horror delight, and it doesnāt get much sweeter than this!
Stranger Things might be compared to the works of Stephen King blended through The X-Files and run through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though the comparison is inadequate. If watching the series, begin with Season 1 Episode 1, or it will seem incomprehensible. You may think youāre watching a kidās series at first as the protagonists are all pre-teens initially, but hang inā¦
The Duffer brothers who created the series set it in the sleepy Indiana town of Hawkins in the 1980ās, where the government has been conducting secret unethical experiments on children with psychic powers, kinda like human lab rats. One of them, named Eleven as her subject number, has awesome psychic powers, and is at the heart of the showā¦psychokinesis and remote viewing are among her talents. Raised in a lab, Eleven initially shows a lack of language training, conventional education, and even human contact, but is a fast study...
And it gets stranger still, turning out that thereās kind of a portal to another dimension in the area called the Upside Down, through which monsters pass, and abduct people when it suits them. Some of the monsters closely parallel those of Dungeons and Dragons, such as the Demogorgon or Demo-dogā¦
There are other monsters jumping between dimensions, too, like the Mind-Flayer, which can possess people and assume a variety of forms. Those possessed can be referred to as the Flayedā¦ š
At the top of the food chain is Vecna, which sounds like an insurance company but who is actually another lab experiment gone terribly awry, and turned to the dark side. Once human, Vecna resembles someone who has been flayed and burned, and also possesses powerful psychokinetic powers, which leads to epic good-versus-evil battles with Eleven.
Soon to enter its fifth season, Stranger Things brings together science fiction, horror, and a little leavening humor in a rare combination, and is likely to hook you into its winning formula...
The notion that monsters make the best heroes has been previously explored, for example in shows like Being Human, whose characters featured a werewolf, vampire. and ghost. The Imperfects on Netflix has a similar cast of unlikely prime characters, this time a banshee, a succubus, and my favorite, a chupacabra-shifter, who in his transformational state rather closely resembles a werewolf with the exception of external spiny projections that go from his forehead down his back…
Now Juan Ruiz, the chupacabra-shifter, essentially blacks out when he transforms, and in that transformational state has enhanced speed, razor-sharp claws and teeth, and one assumes, enhanced vision and hearing as well. He tends to eat at least part of his victims in his feral state, and when transformed back, has no recollection of how he got blood on his face or what he was doing that caused that. In all fairness, most of his victims were posing a serious threat to himself or his female companions the banshee and succubus. Just to be safe, however, those companions have been known to keep Juan bound up in situations where he is likely to be “triggered.” They’ve been known to playfully refer to him as “Chupi,” even going to far as to torment him by saying things like “cute Chupi” or “You’re a good Chupi.” “I hate you guys!,” responds Juan…
Now the show’s unlikely trio appear to be in their late teens to early twenties, prompting some to call this series a “coming of rage” show. Their condition is the result of a rogue scientist experimenting on them without their permission using stem cells, and their powers are unfortunate side effects of that experimentation. The trio spend much of the series pursuing the rogue scientist in an effort to get him to “fix” them, all the while being pursued by armed and shadowy agents intent on their control or if necessary, extermination. This in turn leads to some epic confrontations along the way. “They want monsters?,” notes the banshee, “We’ll GIVE them monsters!” With that, the banshee can blow people away with her voice, the succubus emits pheromones that can get their pursuers to fall under her control and shoot each other, and the chupacabra springs, bites, slices, and dices…
Now variations on the show’s themes as mentioned have been done before, and probably better. Still, the show has promise, which makes it unfortunate that Netflix cancelled the series after one season. Still, it remains possible that fan demand might bring the show back, since it was just finding its footing after one one season, and there are different directions that the series could go with just some tweaking…
(language and graphic violence warnings for the following clip. This ain’t Barney the Purple Dinosaur, folks…)
Everyone is someone else’s idea of a monster, so they say…so I guess that makes me one, too, at least in spirit…
If thereās still a ten-year-old boy buried in you somewhere, you can appreciate vintage 1960 science fiction movies like Dinosaurus, because hey, who among us wouldnāt jump at the chance to fight a T-Rex with a steam shovel?! Youāve always wanted to, right? āFess up, nowā¦ š¦
We all know that explosives, atomic or otherwise, can unleash beasts from the past from the ocean bottom, frozen underground rivers, you name it. So when blasting to expand a harbor on a Caribbean island brings a T-Rex, Brontosaurus, and caveman to the surface that are reanimated by lightning, you all know that mayhem is gonna ensueā¦but a least you may get a dinosaur ride out of it!
Possibly this girl below has had worse dates than this one, too. At least she doesnāt have to provide an intellectually stimulating conversationā¦
Now the climatic scene of Dinosaurus featured a foreman (Caucasian, of course!) in an excavator battling a T-Rex on the edge of a precipice. This has got to be iconic for brains versus brawn, or the modern versus the primitiveā¦and weāve seen variations on this theme play out on cinema screens since, such as Sigourney Weaverās Ripley in a power lifter suit fighting the formidable alien queen in Aliensā¦
Well, our human hero in Dinosaurus gives the T-Rex several uppercuts with the earth mover bucket before deciding that he can get better momentum against the carnivore by swinging the whole rig around against him, a tactic which wins the day and gives us hope for tourism on that Caribbean islandā¦hooray for heavy equipment manufacturers and Earth-denuding capitalism! šø
Whether itās for simple nostalgic value, to laugh along with outdated special effects, or to simply appreciate the heritage of the genre, vintage science fiction movies continue to be a kick to watchā¦
FOXSYLVANIA 
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