This week's Friday Favorite is all about the cheese. I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
1. Favorite cheesy movie: I'll take two. First, Lost Boys. That's got to be the absolute cheesiest vampire movie of all time, complete with outrageous howler of a one-liner at the end. But my favorite scene in that movie is when the "heroes" come boiling out of the vampire cave screaming "Start the car!"
Garrett and I have lived that scene, back in our younger days when we went to scary remote places and terrified ourselves at every little noise. Nothing like going back to the car because you're in a dark, isolated, eerie forest hearing things follow you up the hillside, and a few moments later hearing your friends screaming "Start the car! Start the fucking car!" as they come pelting down the path. And so, when we watched Lost Boys and saw that scene, we had to stop the movie while we laughed our guts out.
Secondly, Austin Powers. My friends had to drag me. "It's a stupid spy spoof about the Sixties," I whined as they frog-marched me into the theater. "I hate the Sixties!" By the end of the movie, I sounded like a deformed hippie and was in search of a feather boa. Yeah, baby! I ended up commissioned to dozens of our call center's Valentine's Day bags because I went with an Austin Powers theme on mine - "This is my bag, baby, yeah!"
2. Favorite cheesy band: The Wazoos. I can't find their music online, but they're a great little local Northern Arizona band. They did polka and Iron Butterfly covers. They did an acapella version of Helter Skelter, for fuck's sake. How cool is that? They're awesome great fun, and I once got my jacket signed by them. If only the ink hadn't rubbed off...
3. Favorite cheesy website: Homestarrunner.com. Strong Bad's email, wherein he provides advice on death metal. Oh, fuck yeah! Just go watch it.
4. Favorite cheesy fill-in-the-blank: I'll be magnanamous and allow you to choose your own cheese. I'm going with a comic book: The Tick. What's not to love about a clueless superhero based on a bloodsucking insect, whose sidekick is an accountant in a moth suit? Join me in the famous battlecry: SPOON!
And the one-liners. "I shall call you Speak, because that's what you do." "Can't. Do. Plaid." "He likes me to wear it open." "Heh heh. That's not rational, is it?" "Well, that guy's nekkid."
Over to you, my darlings. Name your cheese.
Okay, I'll play. I should note that many things I formerly liked ironically, have, with time and continued exposure, become things I like genuinely. So some of these are tough for me, because I can't tell cheese from fine fromage anymore.
ReplyDeleteMovie: Gotta go with Danger: Diabolik. Mario Bava's adaptation of the Italian fumetto manages to be simultaneously over-the-top and sincere, ghastly cheap (a GI Joe doll?) and technically astonishing (the underground lair). Ennio Morricone's incredible score sounds like the bastard love child of Burt Bacharach and Karlheinz Stockhausen. This movie will leave you forever confused about the difference between highbrow and lowbrow, irony and sincerity, and good and bad.
Music: The question for me here one of intention. Does the musician intend to be cheesy, or is it the honest expression of an unselfconscious cheesy personality?
Intentional: Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, the comedic alter-egos of the brilliant Paul Weston and the legendary Jo Stafford.
Unselfconscious: The Four Freshmen. Or maybe Arthur Lyman.
Website: blackhorrormovies.com. The B-Masters Cabal.
Reader's Choice: The Witch's Tale, 1930s radio anthology, and the first appearance of the "horror host" in any medium. "A hundred and eight year old I be. Hundred and eight year old. Satan! Douse those lights. Douse 'em good! Now sit by the fire and gaze into the embers. Gaze into 'em deep!"
I'm just going to mirror your categories here because it's too early to be creative. *drinks more coffee*
ReplyDelete1) Favorite cheesy movie: Guyver 2 - Dark Hero
. Somewhat goofy american rubber monster movie about a guy accidentally implanted with an alien battlesuit, based loosely on the anime by the same name. Rocky Horror Picture Show is a close runner up.
2) Favorite cheesy band: this is tough, and I like a fair bit of music that some people would consider cheesy (Weird Al, nerdcore rap) but I think the one I consider cheesy and still like are C.O.G. (Consortium of Genius). Their stage personas are supposed to be mad scientists bent on world domination. I've never seen them live, but they have some pretty funny stuff on the website and their music is pretty good.
3) Favorite cheesy website: If anything, I think I'm forced to echo you here. Strongbad is hilarious.
4) Fill-in-the-blank: I'm gonna go with colby jack cheese. Like I said, it's too early to be witty, and on top of that I love the Tick to tiny blue bits but didn't want to copy you twice.
Favorite Cheesy Movie: Robojocks. Yes, seriously. The runner up is Krull. I just love those movies and there's no good reason for it.
ReplyDeleteMusic: My parents folk influence Schooner Fare. 4 guys who are really talented musicians and singers singing folky sea songs.
Favorite silly website: www.rathergood.com especially the moonsong.
Favorite other: I never read the Tick comic book. Thanks for mentioning it because now I'll look for it. I loved The Tick cartoon. I thought it was hilariously well done.