Scare Me On Fridays

Supernatural Season 6 Gallery

2012-03-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 7: Dragons

2012-03-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

This is one that I just don't get. Dragons are dragons, right! I know that Supernatural has a penchant for wanting to touch on all things, well "supernatural" in human lore, but turning dragons into serious humanoids with burning hands, with only the slightest hint of claws is just a little lame. I know that I show like this doesn't have anything like the budget to go "full dragon," but dudes in turtle necks abducting virgins as a substitute for the old medieval myth of the cave dwelling, treasure hording, fire breathing flying reptiles seems a bit of a stretch; especially considering that the rest of the myth is kept intact: sword in stone and all.

Supernatural Over-All Series Trivia (Random)

2012-03-02T18:16:00.000-05:00

S 1 Sam's LSAT (Law School Admission Test) was 174.

S 6 Bobby's scrap yard in the alternative history is now called B & E Scrap Yard not Singer Auto.

In season 1 Meg tells John (Sam & Dean's father) to "mind his blood pressure" after he threatens to kill her, in season 3 Bela tell Sam the same thing in the same situation.

S1 The song that Sam is humming during the harrowing plane ride is "Some Kind Of Monster" by Metallica.

S6 The "Supernatural" episode that they are filming in the alternative history is entitled "Echo"

S3 Sam goes after the Djinn with a sterling silver dinner knife--must be some dinner knife, since the blades of dinner knives in a silver set are made from stainless steel--silver is a much too soft metal to use for any kind of knife blade (even a butter knife....).

S1 Sam's email address at school is lawboy@stanford.edu

S5 [now this is cool!] Death drives a 1959 Cadillac Series 2--it's a hard top coup!

S2: In a nice touch the pentagram of the the gate of hell--The Devil's Gate is in the upright position when it is opened (meaning protection) and reverts to it's upside-down position when closed.

S1: The town of Sapulpa doesn't look anything like the town shown in the episode, however, even though they don't name the Indian tribe by name, it is clear that this is a small tribe that isn't well known, the real Sapulpa OK is where the majority of what is left of the Yuchi tribe live. They are one of the only tribes in Oklahoma without official federal recognition.

S5: In "Sympathy For The Devil" Sam and Dean are flipping through radio station trying to find music, but give up after hitting one station after another warning of impending disaster--at that point the clock read 11:58 PM. Since the show is well known for it's classic rock soundtrack penchant, it's worth noting that Iron Maiden released a song entitled "Two Minutes To Midnight" a reference to the real doomsday clock that "measures" how close the earth is to nuclear war.

S1 It has been pointed out that since Dean and Emily were not properly fattened up with some of that apple pie before their now desperate ritual sacrifice of the "young couple," it's probably that the Vanir wouldn't have accepted the sacrifice anyway....that is if the Vanir was really what they thought it was.

S4 Sam and Dean, we learn, were named after their grandparents Samuel and Deanna Campbell.

S3 The "Yellow Eyed Demon" has he name revealed to be Azazel.

S4 At the beginning of "Lazarus Rising" Dean looks at t a newspaper that carries the date 18 Sept. 2008, which is actually the date of the episode premier.

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 6: Skinwalkers

2012-03-02T17:06:00.001-05:00

In season 6's "All Dogs Go To Heaven" the Supernatural universe added another creature to it's encyclopedia of weird entities that Sam and Dean have to deal with: Skinwalkers. At first the brothers are convinced they are dealing with a werewolf, but after following around the guy they are sure is turning at night and ripping people negatively associated with a particular family, they realize that all he does is drink heavily from dusk till dawn. When he is found brutally killed, they have to rethink who or what was picking all these bad people off. It seems so much more of a noble, loyal--though bloody--attachment to the widow and her young child.

In digging deeper into the matter, they uncover a pack of being that they are calling skinwalkers, people who change from human form, directly into animal form: most often that of a dog. They quickly find out that most skinwalkers, while not evil at heart, like turned creatures tend to be, are at least extremely selfish and concerned only with the group to which they belong. All except, one. One of the skinwalker's is protecting the young mother and child in the form of an Alsatian (aka German Shepard).

The concept for this creature comes from a composit of Native American sources. What this creature actually is in Native American vernacular is a "shapeshifter;" but since the series already created such a being, almost completely devoid of it's native roots, Skinwalker was pressed into service, despite that most closely associated with the Navajo Dineh yee naaldlooshii. "As far as stopping or killing a shapeshifter, like most creatures in the Supernatural universe, they can be easily taken out with silver--most conveniently in the form of silver bullets.

Traditional Dineh (Navajo) artist with Skinwalker Sculpture--wouldn't want to meet this thing on a dark night!!

Theme Recipe: For Bobby Ginger Peach Cobbler

2012-03-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

In the S6 episode "Weekend At Bobby's" his kind female neighbor Mary Ward takes a real shine to him, to break the ice, she kindly brings him a Ginger Peach Cobbler. Of course, there no real recipe for this...I did grow up with peach cobblers though, so I'm going to wing it based on what I know and how the dish actually looked. I don't know what it is about this show, but it has a history of including all manner of baked fruit goodies; I'll take that, since the alternative is Dean's serious penchant for all things fast food! So cobbler it is!

It is also significant that this episode marked the directorial debut of cast member Jensen Ackles--and hey yesterday was his birthday! Nothing like something freshly baked for a birthday!

For Bobby Ginger Peach Cobbler, Mary Ward Style

The cobblers that we make often have a wheat biscuit crust with a base of self-rising flour, and that dropped on to the filling to bake together. Mary Ward's had a thicker topping to I'm going to take that into account.

Filling:

1 whole quart of fresh sliced peaches (you can use frozen, canned is, well canned!)

2 to 4 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. powdered ginger

1/3 cup well chopped candied ginger

Topping:

1 cup self rising flour

1/2 tsp. additional baking powder

1 tbsp. powdered ginger

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1. In a bowl, mix the peaches with the ginger powder, sugar and crystal ginger and let sit a least a hour.

2. Meanwhile, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk and butter, slowly fold in until a dough forms. If it is not sticky, add more milk until it gets sticky and a bit liquid. Let set for 30 minutes.

3. Butter a rectangular baking pan well. Add in the peaches, then pour the dough over the peaches and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown and the topping is cooked through--you can test this with a knife, it should come out clean. As far a time is concerned, I start with 20 minutes, and then add additional 10 to 5 minutes on from there, until the topping golden and flaky. Bobby serves his with a large amount of vanilla ice cream...although, he never gets to enjoy it--such is Bobby's life!!

Variations:

Most peach cobblers that I have had were without the ginger. Candied ginger is still a favorite of mine, but leave it out if you don't like it.

Add in some ground spices of choice.

A lot of the cobblers made in my family have cornmeal or corn flour added in to the crust. Some people added rolled oats.

By all means, use a different kind of fruit, or mix fruits.

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 5: Demons

2012-03-02T15:42:00.000-05:00

The the world of Supernatural demons are by far and away the top spooks! They are the one constant thgourhout the whole evolution from Sam and Dean merely being hunters in the good fight against all manner of monsters to their uber-roles in the whole cosmic apocalypse thing. Of course, like Angels, demons have classes, to which they are not confined, they can be promoted or demoted depending on their behavior in service to hell. And some of them are pretty damn powerful, such as the "yellow eyed demon" that literally is the first monster shown in the series. Typically most demons are a bit like worker bees--and when they take over a person, they are most easily recognized by their pitch black eyes, which they can hide at will most of the time.

John, Sam & Dean's Dad, possessed by the Yellow Eyed Demon

Like angels, demons must inhabit, or possess, a human body in order to manifest in any kind of stable form. They can be exorcised from that body, but not without a great deal of effort, at least for "normal people." Usually the human host doesn't survive long after being exorcised because while the demon has possession of their bodies, the vessel can withstand all kinds of punishment that an ordinary person can't; so when the demon is forced to leave, the body reverts back to non-superpower, normal human mode, injuries and all. When the demon is forced to leave, they can be seen for a very short time as a black smoke before re-entering the hell realm. Sam eventually develops the ability to exorcise demons with his own power--later he is even able to kill them....because, well, he's part demon himself. Supernatural's demons typically must be tricked into a special "glyph circle" that traps them through the power of the magical symbol. Some can be kept out spaces with rock salt.

While most demons have black, or even red eyes (like the crossroads demons that people make deals with for their souls), the yellow eyed demons are of a seriously higher order and much fewer and far between. At least one so-called demon, Lilith, would often take the form of a little girl, had solid white eyes; though it turns out that she is a fallen angel, like Lucifer, so in the greater cosmos of the show, she's not really a demon per se. Demons, even beings as powerful as Lilith can be killed, not merely exorcised. The colt pistol that was found in the possession of vampires had very specialized bullets that would kill demons--the catch, of course was that they only a had a very few of these bullets to use, eventually getting down to just one when they needed it most.

Later the boys come in possession of the special knife/dagger that will kill a demon outright, but like the Colt, it kills the host as well. As mentioned above, Sam is eventually able to kill them at will, although some are easier for him than others. As far as supernatural powers are concerned, the powers that demons can display on earth varies with their rank and power. Among the various things that they can do: pin people against stuff with 'mind power,' toss objects around and at people fighting or trying to stop them, call on or off the fierce hellhounds that claim souls of the willing damned and make "phone calls" back to hell with human blood.

Supernatural Trivia Sites

2012-03-02T14:57:00.000-05:00

Tons of trivia games on Fun Trivia

Buddy TV

Buddy TV User Quizzes (at the bottom of the page

From Absurd Trivia

Fanpop

From Sporcle

From Quibblo

From All The Tests

Supernatural Season 6 Recap Quiz

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 4: Vampires

2012-03-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

When vampires first showed up in the Supernatural world, the Hunters all expressed scepticism--much like they did with angels...and look how that turned out....

It seems like every vampire movie has it's own rules that are duly explained in the course of action (scriptwriters must love making lists...)--turns out television vampires are no different, and Supernatural is no exception. In the Supernatural world, vamps are severely affected (by probably not killed) by silver, but they tolerate sunlight just fine. The only known way to kill them is by decapitation; so forget about that heart thing! Although that colt that boys had possession of for a time seemed to work nicely for effectively dispatch vampires as well! The one thing that the show really puts front and center is the rule (found, sort of, in Anne Rice writings) that vampires cannot tolerate dead blood; in the show it is called "dead man's blood" and it is just one of the weapons that hunters carry with them most of the time, you know, just in case... Supernatural's vamps also have a full set of retractable fangs on both the upper and lower jaw line.

The lore about making vampires is about the same as any other movie or television portrayal. Once bitten, a vampire may infect that person with their own blood, soon their after the infected victim starts to turn--craving human blood more and more as time passes until they cannot stand it and feed on another person--after that point there is no going back. Throughout the series several vampires with different philosophical bents, from the purely murderous or even nihilistic to the pacifistic ones that refuse to feed on human blood. In season 6 Dean is bitten and we find out that there is a cure, as long as it's taken before the first feed--it's super nasty, but it's a cure--a potion, that consists of several ingredients, including the blood of the vampire that bit you.

Various Online Supernatural Games

2012-03-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Which Character Are You?

What Villan Are You?

The Original Devil's Gate Game (this used to be on CW--it's really only for hard core fans, because it's really silly)

Can You Name The Episode from Sporcle

Super Creepy (in a really weird sort of way) Role Playing Game Rules

The Companion Corebook

Finally what would a cult television show be without someone coming up with a silly drinking game??

More Drinking Games

Watch full episodes on the CW site here.

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 3: Hellhounds

2012-03-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

Hellhounds in the Supernatural world are not just the puppies of hell, they play an active role in claiming the souls of those who have sold or promised themselves to hell in exchange for something. When that person's time is up, they start hearing the wailing of large, but unseen dog; after being tormented by this for some time, the animal then attacks, rips them to shreds and drags the soul to hell. Amongst those who have been on the receiving end of successful hellhound attacks in the show are legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson and Dead Winchester himself. We find out in Season 6, that demonic Crowley like to use them as a threat--highlighting to potential victims their hellatious doggy breath. The show seems to be a fickle over whether or not they can successfully killed or even stopped. In on instance they are blown up, but in all other instances, they never give up the scent of the victim until they have either bagged their prey or are called off by a demon powerful enough to do so. They can be held at bay, mostly by the universal use of salt, but also with "goofer dust" and "devil's shoestring."

Supernatural Links

2012-03-02T12:09:00.000-05:00

The Official CW Site

Supernatural On Facebook

Internet Movie Database

Supernatural Wiki (this site has be experiencing acknowledged trouble)

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 2: Angels

2012-03-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

Up until Season 4, the only mention of Angels in the Supernatural universe was an episode that the "angel" turned out to be the avenging spirit of a deceased Catholic priest. When the show decided that it was going seriously down the path of Apocalypse, and since they had demons from episode 1, it seemed only fitting to bring real angels into the mix. Angels, like demons, take over an inhabit the bodies of humans in order to manifest themselves on earth. By far the most well known Angel on Supernatural is Castiel. They do possess an impressive array of supernatural powers, but they seem to rarely use them. Castiel, for example, tends to prefer to "talk" or complain more than just about anything else. Angels don't necessarily have to leave the bodies of their human hosts if that human dies, or almost dies; again we found this out with Castiel. They can be banished with a special ceremonial symbol that is activated with blood. Angels can actually be killed, but not easily. They have to be dispatched with a special sword that they themselves possess. There is also a class variance of angels, with the Biblical "Archangels" being the most powerful, with all the "correct" Biblical names, like Michael and Lucifer. Apparently Cupid is also an angel...who knew??

I suppose it was a matter of time before someone put together an extended tribute to Supernatural's Angels, with the Rammstein song "Engel"--this is the English version, which is by no means a good as the original German one--but it works well for this purpose. And, hey, Rammstein has a north American tour coming up!

Supernatural Class Of Spooks 1: Shapeshifter

2012-03-02T10:47:00.002-05:00

Shapeshifters entered into the Supernatural world as being that transform themselves to look exactly like anyone, or theoretically, any living thing. Sam and Dean generally don't really have clue what they are. As late as season 6, "the boys" are still speculating on what exactly they are, assuming "I thought they were mutants, like X men." In "Two And Half Men"--they get a little more "schooled" on the subject--finding out that actually there is such a thing as "an alpha"--I first one. Turns out that Dean is half right when he calls them mutants, since these alpha shapeshifters have gone around impregnating human females in order to create human shapeshifters....for some reason. One thing is sure about these creatures, since they first appeared in "Nightshifter" in season 2, they have a strong penchant for crime; in that episode, one is attempting a jewelry heist. They can be identified by lens flare of a camera lens when they look directly into one, Dean recognises one easily by glimpsing it's true self int a security camera in a supermarket in S6. They can easily be killed with a knife to the throat. They also have leave behind a nasty bi-product when they change....piles of gooey skin.

Ooooo!

Supernatural Season 6 Clips & Highlights

2012-03-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

Here are some clips from Season 6, some of which are fan made, but still pretty cool. "Supernatural" is also all about the music; here's a link to You Tube to guide catalog of the music featured in Season 6. Warning, clips contain spoilers.

Supernatural Season 6

2012-03-02T09:23:00.000-05:00

It's the Presidential election year here in the US...oh happy day! For the past two years I have been tried to do my civic duty by working at the poles....well I'm doing it again this coming Tuesday. Normally I would be doing this for the primary during the Summer, but...a bunch of states controlled by politicians that just can't be seen as being out done by other states all got into a race to see who could have the earliest Primaries....I happen to live in one of those stupid states, sooo I'll do my bit in this increasingly silly body politic in this country. When I have poll work coming up, I have quite of lot of preparation to get through, so I generally like to watch something low key--like a television program. So today, it's season 6 of Supernatural. Part of our Winter TV viewing series.

New Horror Short From The UK: Please Check It Out

2012-02-28T11:54:00.001-05:00

Creak from Faster Productions on Vimeo.

It's 4 AM and somewhere, something has opened...

A brand new horror short that is not lacking in chills despite it's length! Seriously! It was written and directed by Luther Bhogal-Jones, from the south coast in the UK; Creak is the first of a series of short horror films under the umbrella "Sincerely Psychopath" from Faster Productions. See and/or join the Sincerely Psychopath's Facebook's Page here.

The film stars:

Sara T. Douty: Heather
Sheila Stout: Ellen
Toby Lewis-Hammond: The Pioneer

You can follow the details of the happenings at Faster Productions on their blog Wars Of Attrition, and by all means check out their post for the shooting of Creak. Additionally there are two more shorts in the series in production, Knock, Knock, which he describes as being "a Bava/Argento inspired affair"--which sounds down my slightly Italian giallo street; and eXtended, which is described as "a bizzaro battle in the woods." Also on the vimeo channel you'll find Stranded and The Crunch

A Couple Of Other Links From The Film:

Music by Mr. Sharman, website found here

Titles And Animation by Nick Gripton, website found here

News Worthy: Canada's First 3D!

2012-02-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that Canada has never before had a 3D--in any genre!! How fitting is it that their very first be a horror film! And one bringing on what they are calling "Zemons," that is a combo of Zombie and Demon.

Check out their press on on their website here AND read all about it in today's Vancouver Sun!

Last Movie Before The Awards: Psycho (1960)

2012-02-26T13:55:00.000-05:00

It might have been nominated for 4 Oscars, including best actress and best director, but it didn't win a damned thing! Just another example of the Academy realizing that movie that happens to be a horror film (amongst other things) is really well made, but "we just can't let it win...it's a HORROR movie!"

An American Werewolf In London

2012-02-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

This modern horror classic was nominated for only one Oscar in 1982, but I WON that Oscar!! It was won by one the very best horror make up aritists in the buisiness: Rick Baker. It was his first nomination out of (to date) 11 and first win (again, to date) of 6

Won Best Make-Up: Rick Baker

A Gallery Of Some His Work:

12 Monkeys

2012-02-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

Well, Brad Pitt is up for two Oscars this year for his work on Moneyball, so felt like we should get in at least one of his movies, and 12 Monkeys garnered him his very first Oscar nomination. He was deservedly nominated in 1996 for best supporting actor for his very quirky performance of the very crazy Jeffery Goines. And...we have a very nice Bruce Willis double feature! The film was also nominated for best costume design.

The Fifth Element (1997)

2012-02-26T09:12:00.000-05:00

Nominated for best Sound Effects Editing, not just sound editing, it's a bit hard to figure why it didn't run away with the award, I mean there were only 3 nominations...but this was the year of Titanic, and while the real ship sank--the movie did not....in case you haven't already guessed, I'm not the biggest fan of "Romance Tragedy." In any case, this film still stands the test of time against a number of contemporary films in sound editing and special effects in general...besides, it's hilarious.

"Multi-Pass!"

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

2012-02-25T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of this version of Frankenstein, I tend to find it tedious. However I said that I wanted to explore horror films that the Academy had even given a nomination to, so here's Kenneth Branagh's version of the Mary Shelley's vision. It was nominated for only one Oscar for best make up, and that is easily understood. The faults that I personally have with the film don't have anything to do with the makeup, which I think is universally excellent. I'm just not the biggest fan of Branagh's brand of film making in general--I find it over blown in most cases (Henry V seriously excluded--that's a great film!).

The Exorcist (1973)

2012-02-25T21:27:00.001-05:00

Getting back to proper horror, this is one of the rare Oscar nominated films in that snubbed genre to actually win something. Granted the best supporting actress NEVER should have gone to any other than Linda Blair--it went instead to Tatum O"neal....who just 10...I guess they just couldn't help themselves! Ellen Burystin too was up for best leading actress and lost out to Glenda Jackson. Finally, Jason Miller (Father Karras) lost the best supporting male award to John Houseman, who did probably deserve the win. And speaking of strong women roles not always winning....especially if it involves casting out the devil himself, the following is link to an article in Salon by Michael Barthel sent to me by a reader entitled "The Oscar's Women Problem," which makes some excellent points. I remember solidly rooting for Katherine Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker not least which was because it is a bleak, scary and down right gritty/realistic/depressing story about the personal ravages of modern warfare, but also yes, because she was a woman going up against the guys, one of which was her ex-husband James Cameron who was up for making a movie that cost way more than any other in history, Avatar (and she did give us horror buffs Near Dark!). So check it out if you like.

Won For Best Sound: David Knudson & Christopher Newman

Won For Best Adapted Screenplay: William Peter Blatty

Nominated For Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Art Direction--Set Design, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director, & Best Picture

There Will Be Blood (2007)

2012-02-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

This is another one new to the house. Shot in the same part of Texas as 2007's No Country For Old Men, an Oscar rival to this film, "Blood" managed to capture 2 wins, despite being over taken by "Old Men" in the over-all win count. The important win was for Daniel Day-Lewis as the winner for the best actor.

Won For Best Actor In A Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis

Won For Best Cinematography: Robert Elswit

Nominated For Best Achievement In Art Direction, Best Achievement In Film Editing, Best Achievement In Sound Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Direction, Best Film Of The Year

2012-02-25T17:29:00.000-05:00

The Dark Knight (2008)

2012-02-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

We can't seem to get enough of this film! But for the celebration of dark films honored with Oscars, this one holds a very special place because of the tragic untimely death of Heath Ledger! So another round with The Joker is in order!

Won For Best Achievement In Sound Editing: Richard King

Won For Best Performance Of An Actor In A Supporting Role: Heath Ledger (posthumously)

Here is the list of the other 6 Oscars the film was nominated for--I think it should have carried the prize for Make-up and for Visual Effects definitely, or maybe "at least."

Nominated For Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Make-up, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects

And, oh Geez! I forgot to wish Mexico a Felix Bandera de la Dio (Happy Flag Day) yesterday! Paquini pamitl tonalli.

Sunrise (1927)

2012-02-25T14:41:00.000-05:00

OK, this is listed at the very first Best Picture Oscar awarded, but there a little history here that reveals a strange Academy Award fact: it was in fact nominated twice and won twice, well technically speaking. To explain what I'm talking about here, we have to delve into some Oscar creation history. While technically the very first awards were given out on May 16, 1929, when the Academy was founded in 1927, they awarded, sort of, recognition to films of merit in 1928, before the founding of the official award ceremony; Sunrise took that honor--so it technically won best picture twice--the only film, for obvious reasons, in the history of the Academy to do so. Another strange fact about the 1929 awards is that actress Janet Gaynor who took home the Oscar for best female leading role for performance in Sunrise for 1929, also won two more of these on the same evening for her performances in Street Angel for the year 1928 and for 7th Heaven for the year 1927; since the first awards were for 3 years running: 1926, 1927 & 1928. It was a retroactive thing. Obviously, this means that she is the only actress in the history of the Academy to win 3 Oscars in one night for the same category.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia page for The Academy.

Here is the same for the history of the Awards themselves.

Here is the link to the history of the first awards, including menu.

Won For Best Cinematography: Charles Rosher & Karl Struss

Won For Best Actress In A Leading Role: Janet Gaynor

Won For Best Picture (1929)

Nominated For Best Art Direction

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations Of Jasper Morello (2005)

2012-02-25T14:15:00.002-05:00

This is another short film nominated for Best Animated Short, which has a wholly different vibe altogether than the cute Monsters, Inc. short! I admit that I personally admire this little 26 minute long film quite a lot! I was reading an article in The Daily Beast by Evan Shapiro entitled The Oscars: 21 Fixes for the Show So It's Less Boring, in which he recommends doing away with the awards for the shorts in which he states "no one really cares about the shorts." [And by "doing away with," I mean give them out on another occasion, not get rid of them altogether.] Really!!?? Speaking for everyone here is he--because I am not related to anyone who has ever been nominated in either one of the shorts categories, I DO care about the shorts; and honestly, they do not take up that much time! Give me a break. But, though he does have some good suggestions, his other suggestion of "Let Woody Win" is strange, considering that the fantasy acceptance speech he has in his head regarding "Woody," has almost a zero chance of happening, as Allen is highly unlikely to attend. If he does, the moon would likely turn some strange color! In other Oscar news, and I'm sure we were all soooo worried about this (!), it turns out that Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen will be on the red carpet. What a triumph for the people of the Republic of Wadiya!!! Check out his phone interview on the subject on the Today Show Here.

To watch the full short of Jasper Morello click here

Mike's New Car (2002)

2012-02-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

This little Monsters, Inc. short was nominated for Best Animated Short Film in 2003; and considering that Monsters, Inc. is probably The Peanut's all time favorite film, this little comic fantasy gem is just gravy for him!

Below is a partial clip of the roughly 4 minute long short on You Tube, for the full movie follow links below it.

Mike´s New Car follow this link to view it on EVTV1

Follow this link to Facebook to view the film.

The Fellowship Of The Ring: The Return Of The King (2003)

2012-02-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

As far as Oscar blockbusters go, this is one of the all time big boys on the block!! Nominated for a very impressive 11 Oscars.....it won ALL of them!! Here's a rundown of the goodies this cast and crew came away with.

Won For Best Makeup: Richard Taylor & Peter King

Won For Best Art Direction--Set Decoration: Grant Major, Dan Hennah, Alan Lee

Won For Best Sound Mixing: Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges & Hammond Peek

Won For Best Film Editing: Jamie Selkirk

Won For Best Costume Design: Ngila Dickson & Richard Taylor

Won For Best Visual Effects: Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook & Alex Funke

Best Adapted Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson

Won For Best Music, Original Scor: Howard Shore

Won For Best Music, Original Song: Howard Shore, Fran Walsh & Annie Lennox

Won For Best Direction: Peter Jackson

Won For Best Motion Picture: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh

The Corpse Bride (2005)

2012-02-25T08:09:00.001-05:00

This is an all round household favorite--especially so for The Peanut, since he's been getting up pretty early these days, thought we'd start our 2nd full day of of generally spooky and scary stuff from the Oscars past with one for him. This was up for Best Animated Feature Length Film in 2006.

Late Night With Carrie (1976)

2012-02-25T01:26:00.001-05:00

Carrie, Brain del Palma's 1976 horror triumph, was actually nominated for two high ranking Oscars. To my knowledge this was the first time since The Exorcist that a horror film was even up for consideration. It didn't win unfortunately, but both Sissy Spacek (Carrie) and Piper Laurie (Carrie's mother) were nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Supporting Role respectively. In my opinion Spacek should have walked away with it!

The Mummy (1999)

2012-02-24T23:54:00.000-05:00

I swear, I don't know what this trend is on genre classification on IMDb--this might well qualify as a rip-roaring "Action Adventure" flick--it certainly has loads of both, but the only other genre listed for it is "fantasy." While there is nothing wrong, per se, in calling it fantasy....where the hell is the horror genre listing??? So many films, and some television shows [like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"] steadfastly do not have "horror" listed for them. It's ridiculous. I understand why there is reluctance to list a film like Silence Of The Lambs as horror on a database, but films that have vampires, werewolves....mummies that walk around....please! They have no trouble listing the original Boris Karloff film from 1932 as horror....so why not it's remake?? In any case, this was nominated for Best Sound in 2000.

Theme Recipe: Filet Of Sole au Beurre

2012-02-24T22:28:00.001-05:00

It is well known that no food or drinks are served at the Oscars ceremony, unless guests mule in an odd candy bar or flask of liquid courage. In fact, the ceremonies have often been criticized for the lack of at least an open bar. However, this was not always the case. In fact at the very first Academy Awards (official) ceremony in 1929, when actor Douglas Fairbanks was president of the Academy, a private dinner was held before hand that consisted of dishes of fish and poultry. The recipe I'm giving here is the main course of that dinner, which was paired with the oddly Edwardian sounding "Half Broiled Chicken On Toast."

Filet Of Sole au Beurre

There is nothing particularly difficult about this dish, it does require a little knowledge of how to get around in the classical French kitchen, but nothing that can't be easily learned and mastered. The two main component of this dish are the butter sauce, which where some cooking practice helps and the cooking of the fish, which really doesn't require much skill at all. The fish is poached, so make the cooking liquid first, then prepare the sauce, right toward the whisking in the butter, poach the fish and finish the sauce. As for the poaching water, a lot of people like to add some chopped vegetables and/or an herb bundle and some white wine, but the late great James Beard recommended that for dishes as delicate as this a simple poaching liquid should be water with salt or, highly recommended, 1/2 water and 1/2 milk seasoned with salt.

You will need:

1 sole or flounder fillet per person

Poaching Liquid of choice

Butter Sauce:

1/2 to 1 lb. unsalted butter, cut into cube (best that it's not ice cold)
1 1/2 cups good drinkable white wine
Few tbsp.s good white wine vinegar
Mineral or sea salt to taste
1 to 2 shallots, finely minced (optional)

1. Heat the wine with the vinegar, and slowly bring to a boil. When boiling, add the shallots, if using and continue to reduce. When the wine is well reduced to about 3 tbsp. it's time to start adding the butter

2. This is where the technique comes in. This butter sauce is an emulsion, which are not hard to make if you get the whisking down right--there's not a lot to it, but it does take practice. Here's the deal, even if the sauce "breaks," which is what an unsuccessful emulsified sauce is called because it separates, it may look kinda rough, but still tastes good--if you are not running a restaurant or catering company, just chalk it up to practice and eat it anyway.

3. Reduce heat to stop the reducing, then piece by piece whisk in the butter. Keep whisking in each piece until used up. The resulting sauce should look like.

4. While whisking away, poach the fish for five minutes. When ready to serve, carefully drain the fish with an elongated spatula, gently drain on a clean towel. Place on heated plates and sauce as you see fit, serve the rest of the sauce on the side. Garnish with chopped parsley or other green herbs and a lemon twist, if liked.

Variations:

There's a number of ways, almost endless, to vary the butter sauce. It's one the great basic sauces and can be flavored with herbs (such as above), purees, spices, anchovy sauce, etc. Most of the flavoring are added after the sauce is made. A few popular variations include the use of pureed parsley, sun dried tomato paste, curry powder and duxelles (mushroom puree), truffle oil, pepper purees and vegetable purees.

Some recipes call for as much as 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of the white wine vinegar. For oily fish, this works well. For more delicate fish, it's over powering.

You can tweak the recipe slightly by adding a little nutmeg and/or cayenne to the finished sauce.

The sauce is terrific when it's made with flat dry champagne, if you can pair that with a champagne vinegar, all the better.

This is an excellent sauce for dipping. Great for seafood fondue with steamed shellfish. It is also terrific with boiled artichokes and is really good on vegetables like steamed asparagus or broccoli, which make great side dishes for the fish. Also great for flash fried oysters.

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

2012-02-24T21:25:00.000-05:00

Now that it's to me and kitties left in the house, and there's no one left to pick titles, we're going for striaight horror--and there's not better place to start that with this 1968 witchcraft Polanski classic! Nominated for two Oscars, and actually won one--no small feat for a horror film...even a really well made one.

Won For Best Actress In A Supporting Role: Ruth Gordon

Nominated For Best Adapted Screenplay

The Last Of The Mohicans (1991)

2012-02-24T20:07:00.000-05:00

This film actually won the only Oscar it was nominated for; which is great. But, as I have complained before, it should have nominated for A LOT more Oscars! I'm probably not going to stop harping on this, because it was a really disgusting way to "punish" director Michael Mann for what people in Hollywood saw as his personal mistreatment of Native American extras. First of all, there definitely was an issue about their housing; whether Mann was really aware of it is up for question--but that didn't stop Russell Means (who has a long history of putting himself in front of the media any chance he gets) and Daniel Day Lewis making it an outside issue with the media, rather than first try to do something about the problem internally. Russell Means is well known to anyone who is even a little acquainted with Native American civil rights fights and the American Indian Movement (AIM); what is not known is that Studi was involved with this in the early 1970's himself--he, like a lot of other people, including Means, was at the 1973 takeover of the Wounded Knee Memorial. Yet, he didn't get on board with what Means and Lewis were doing (and neither did the much younger Eric Schweig who played Uncas). But even if you believe that Mann had anything to do with the problem, and you agree that Means and Lewis were just trying to help; what kind of world is when an almost entirely white group of people decide to punish a white director for his mistreatment of Indians during filming by not nominating the Native American actor who so clearly deserved to be honored under the best supporting actor category?? That just seems as every bit racist, to me, as the original set housing for Native extras was in the first place. OK I'm done.

Won For Best Sound: Chris Jenkins, Doug Hemphill, Mark Smith & Simon Kaye

Brand New For The Peanut: How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

2012-02-24T17:11:00.000-05:00

Nominated last year for two Oscars under the categories of Best Achievement In Music Original Score and for Best Animated Feature Film.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

2012-02-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, it took home 4 of the most coveted.

Won For Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Won For Best Actor: Javier Bardem

Won For Best Direction: Joel & Ethan Coen

Won For Best Picture: Joel & Ethan Coen and Scott Rudin

Nominated For Best Cinematography, Best Achievement In Sound Editing, Best Achievement In Film Editing and Best Achievement In Sound Mixing.

King Kong (2005)

2012-02-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

Won For Best Achievement In Visual Effects: John Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers & Richard Taylor

Won For Best In Sound Editing: Mike Hopkins & Ethan Van der Ryn

Won For Best Sound Mixing: Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges & Hammond Peek

Nominated For Best Achievement In Art Direction

Gods And Monsters (1998)

2012-02-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

Won For Best Screenplays Based On Material Previously Published Or Produced: Bill Condon

Nominated For Best Actress In A Supporting Role: Lynn Redgrave RIP!

Nominated For Best Actor In A Leading Role: Ian McKellan

Shadow Of The Vampire

2012-02-24T09:20:00.000-05:00

Nominated For: Best Makeup & Best Actor In A Supporting Role

First Movie Of This Friday: Witness (1985)

2012-02-24T07:30:00.000-05:00

Won For Best Film Editing: Thom Noble

Won For Best Original Screenplay: Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley & Pamela Wallace

Nominated For: Best Art Direction--Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Music--Original Score, Best Actor In A Leading Role, Best Director AND Best Picture.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

2012-02-24T00:39:00.000-05:00

I really wanted to include a Guillermo del Toro film this evening, and as much as I like watching Hellboy 2 late at night, I just had to go with this. Talk about underrated Oscar horror material (!), it was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, and actually won 3 of them. Still, it was a disappointment that it didn't take home the Oscar for best Foreign Language Film! Also, del Toro's original script, set for a least the second time in his original movie making career, during the Spanish Civil War (see also The Devil's Backbone), was up for best original screenplay, obviously he didn't win; again, I think he should have.

Won For Best Achievement In Art Direction: Eugenio Cabarello (art direction) & Pilar Revuelta (set director)

Won For Best Make-Up: David Martí & Montse Ribé

Won For Best Achievement In Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

Nominated For: Best Achievement In Music Original Score, Best Foreign Language Film, & Best Original Screenplay

Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

2012-02-23T22:35:00.000-05:00

I'm aware that I lot of people don't regard this as a horror film--insisting that it is a really, really scary suspense thriller. I'm not one of these people! Seriously, if Psycho is solidly, and universally, considered a horror film, why then is this not? It's got many of the same elements, and even parts are based on the same real to life serial killer: Eddy Gein. In any case, I do remember that I lot of horror fans were over the moon when this took home so many Oscars, including best picture. The only snub it recieved, and in my opinion it was a big one, was that Ted Levine wasn't even nominated for best supporting actor...and boy did he deserve to be....even to win! Here is a link You Tube link to the famous "basket scene."

Won For Best Writing, Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced Or Published: Ted Tally

Won For Best Actress In A Leading Role: Jody Foster

Best Actor In A Leading Role: Anthony Hopkins

Won For Best Director Jonathan Demme

Won For Best Picture: Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt & Ronald M. Bozman

Nominated For: Best Film Editing

Nominated For: Best Sound

One The Was Nominated Last Year: The Social Network

2012-02-23T19:26:00.000-05:00

Yet another film about vampires...."energy" vampires that is. It seems that for a film based on a true life "success story" we seem to play it a lot for Fright Night--that is because it is an unbelievably dark film about a truly troubled, probably genius, kid who gets turned into a controlling billionaire almost without trying. It is also because the jury is still seriously out on how Facebook sets rules for the users of the networking service. The dark side of it that the site has been used by stalkers and people who have no good intentions to find people who had previously successfully banished these people from their lives, in some case years or even decades before. There is, of course, no doubt that social networking is here to stay--and Facebook isn't the only game in town--it's just the biggest (for now), so they make the rules....if some of those rules turn out to be negative or even dangerous--let's hope they don't wait too long to change them! So, by my standards, this is pretty dark stuff. But, also I'm watching because, as I've previously stated, I'm a big fan of Jessie Eisenberg.

Won Best Achievement In Film Editing: Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall

Won Best Achievement In Music Written For A Motion Picture--Original Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Won Best Writing--Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin

A music video by young hip/hop artist Luke Christopher, who was allowed to use some of the award winning soundtrack music in rap about how cool computers are now that social networking is so hot and easy to use...clearly most people don't share the same dark suspicions about some aspects of being so public in a private life.

Nominated For Best Achievement In Sound Mixing , Best Achievement In Cinematography, Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role, Best Achievement In Directing AND Best Motion Picture Of The Year.

From the folks at http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/

Interview With The Vampire (1994)

2012-02-23T17:25:00.000-05:00

Nominated For Best Art Direction--Set Decoration

Nominated For Best Music, Original Score

Getting Going On The Oscar Weekend Early!

2012-02-23T15:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the annual Oscar Fright Weekend. The actual 84th Academy Awards Ceremony will take place this Sunday on ABC at 7PM EST. Until then it's frights of various sorts for everyone in the house. Although other genres like Thrillers and Mysteries are on the list for viewing, I'm especially interested in highlighting the actual horror movies that have at least been nominated or even scored a win, since the Oscars are so well known for their snub when it comes to the horror genre. So first up, Francis Ford Coppola's, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which actually managed to win 3 of the 4 Oscars it was nominated for! Not bad for a vampire film!!

Won For Best Costume Design: Eiko Ishioka, who sadly passed away last month at the age of 73.

Won For Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing: Tom C. McCarthy & David E. Stone

Won For Best Makeup: Greg Cannon, Michéle Burke & Matthew W. Mungle

Nominated For Best Art Direction--Best Set Design--it should have won!

NEWS: Up Coming Horror Comedy Short With Western Theme

2012-02-22T12:51:00.000-05:00

CHECK THIS OUT!

We LOVE anything Canadian on this blog! Pleased to announce the upcoming comedy horror short from the great white north! ...oh and it has a western theme as well. Written & Directed by Josh Heisie, it stars David Roberts, Johnny Quinn and Robert Nolan. The film is currently in post-production in Toronto.

Plot summary courtesy of the Press Release:

Theodore "Tubby" Ellsworth and Jack Smith are two criminals on the run, lost in the untamed wilderness. When they stumble across a mutilated Prospector, dying on Indian Ground, they promise to give him a Christian burial. The fugitives break their oath and steal the old man's gold...but that night, the Prospector's corpse returns to make them pay!

OK, sounds pretty "grawsome" to me! Meaning awesome with no lack of moldy, gruesome (in a good way of course) old corpse action! Check the film here and on Facebook. I will get the trailer up as soon as it's released...we love trailer's around here.

Behind the scenes photos, from the film's facebook page.

"Lesser" Mayan Ruins Of Belize: Xunantunich

2012-02-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

Today Is:

12.19.19.2.17 Long Count

13 Kaban 5 Kayab Calendar Round

302 days to Baktun 13

Xunatunich, which translates into English as "Stone Woman" is located in the Cayo district of the country of Belize. The name is a modern Mayan one of both Yucatec and Mopan origins, the site is named for the ghost of a woman that has been repeatedly seen roaming the site (this has to be one of the only Mesoamerican ruins to be consistently reported to actually be haunted by a specific spirit...one wonders why there aren't more!). It is listed in some databases as being one of the "lesser" Mayan ruined cities, along with places like Mexico's Tulum or Becan or Naachtun in the highlands of Guatemala, as opposed to say, Tikal or Palenque (personally, I don't see anything "lesser" about it). The ruined city occupies about 1 square mile and consists of about 26 structures. It dates from the Classic Maya period. Unlike the vast majority of ruined Maya cities, there is a reasonable explanation as to why it was abandoned--due to a massive and very destructive earthquake. The site today is accessed by a ferry, and modern Maya operate market stands at the gate where visitors board the ferry.

Xunatunich Links

Belize Report

Wikipedia

DuPlooy Travel

Virtual Tourist

Mayan Ruins

Xunantunich Mayan Ruins Belize in Belize

I find this structure facinating; outside of much later Aztec temples, I've never seen a twin staired sacred building in MesoAmerica before. It is certainly not a "normal" Maya thing.

The Mayan Language Group

2012-02-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

Although a lot of people refer to Mayan as one language with many dialects, in truth it is a language group, with many distinct languages that are in no way mutually intelligible, with a large, impressive number of regional dialects.

The Major Languages Are As Follows:

Cholan includes two dialects of Chol, the Ch'orti language (caa) and Mayan Chontal (chf) also known as Yocot'an, not to be confused with Oaxacan Chontal which is listed as the only language of a group known as Tequistlatecan on the Ethnologue website; other linguists place that language firmly in the Hokan family.

The Tzeltalan language groups includes the Tzotzil language, which has 6 major dialects, this is the language of the Zapatista political group in southern Mexico.

Huastecan is northern most of the Mayan languages and may well be one of the oldest. Their tradtioanl territory is in Veracruz. There is considerable evidence to suggest that Huastec speakers may have built the unique city now known as El Tajin, which is also claimed as an ancestral site of the vanilla people, the Totonac. Huastec has been proposed as a possible marshal language of the great city the Aztecs named Teotihuacan, certainly they as least had a neigborhood in the city, as artifacts have been found that are carved in the distinct Huastecan art style. It has even been proposed that a proto-Huastecan language (though a weak argument) was the language of the great mother culture also named by the Aztecs: the Olmec.

Chujean includes the Chuj language proper, with two dialects, and the Tojolabal (tjo)--they are a major group listed under the Western Mayan languages.

Kaljobalan is one the most diverse of the western groups, including two distinct dialects of the Jakalteco language, Q'anjob'al (kjb), the Akateko language (knj)--all of which are located in Central America, mostly in Guatemala, part of the ancient Maya homeland. It also includes the Mocho language (mhc), the only member that is located in Mexico.

Ixilan includes three dialects of Ixil, and the Awakateko (agu), all of which are located in the Guatemalan highlands.

Mamean, also a highland Guatemalan group, includes five dialects of Mam and both the Tacanec language (mtz) and the Tektiteko (ttc) language.

The Greater Quichean classification is a huge group with 6 major sub-groups, one of which, Quichean, has three major subgroups of it's own! The Greater Quichean subgroups include, along with the above mentioned Quichean: K'ekchi, Pocoman, Sacapulteco, Sipacapeno & Uspantec. The three subgroups of Quichean include two of the most wide spread and important of the Mayan languages: Quiche-Achi (these are the people who were primary targets of extreme violence during the Guatemalan civil war), Cakchiquel (also a group caught up in the same conflict in the 1980's) and the Tzutujil group.

Yucatecan, the final group on the list is of primary importance, because of the Yucatan pennisula. This is a group of languages that often gets most closely associated with "Mayan" in literature, especially in cook books and books on native foods of the Maya. The Yucatan, rivals any sites in what is now central American for the number of Mayan ruins and remains of some of the greatest of the Maya city states. In the Maya Classic period a wholly unique archetictural style, known as Puuc or Pu'uc, emeged on the Yucatan pennisula. The group includes: Yucatec-Lacandon, which has both the Yucatecan language proper (yua) (with two dialects) and the Lacandon language (lac) some groups of which remain among some of the last uncontacted peoples in the world & the Mopan-Itza groups which contains the Itza language (itz), as in Chichen Itza, a highly endangered language and Mopan language (mop). Three of these languages, Yucatan, Lacandon and Mopan are all sometimes referred to as "Maya proper," with Mopan being, for some unknown reason, most often referred to as "the Mayan language."

Some Mayan Language Resources:

This site contains a large number of links for various online Mayan resources.

Ancient Scripts

OSEA Cite

Wikipedia entry for Mayan Languages

Tales Of The Maya Skies

Mostly Maya

NativeLanguages.org

And, finally you've got to check this out! It's a translator that will translate your phrases into Mayan glyphs. The translator includes a surprises number of western languages, including all major Europeans languages and some smaller ones like Basque, Rheatian, Icelandic, Scottish, etc. Additionally it also includes Swahili. Below is a translation of my entry "Mayan languages are very cool."

2012-02-17T20:21:00.000-05:00

Review for the season premiere "Romeo and Juliet and Juliet" on it's martial arts subject.

Another review of the same

What Happens In Canada

Epinions

Review Of Not Even Close....Encounters

Digital Entertainment News

Review Of Season 5 Finale

Sudden Google Trouble

2012-02-17T19:07:00.001-05:00

For some reason, Google has suddenly started having trouble with it's imager, so blogging the rest of the season of Psych will continue when it' clears up. Sorry.

Psych's Twin Peaks Spoof--Extended For DVD

2012-02-17T18:18:00.000-05:00

Episode: Dual Spires

For the DVD release the episode of the season with the most meticulous care has been released with a "super extended version." It is the Twin Peaks spoof that was the buzz of the Psych online community for months. Looking forward to seeing the super deluxe version!

Psych And Halloween

2012-02-17T17:41:00.000-05:00

Episode: In Plain Fright

This is Pysch's ditching the annual Christmas episode in favor of an all out Halloween episode, complete with a carnival spook house ride....with murrrrrder! Now don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas episodes and play them every December, but the Halloween episodes are just so much more fun.

Here's a link to to Promo online, and here's a link to a review of the episode.

Theme Recipe: Trinidad Yellow Bird Cocktail

2012-02-17T16:37:00.000-05:00

Trinidad Yellow Bird Cocktail

I know that Gus' character has a Jamaican grandmother, and this cocktail obviously originated in Trinidad, home of bitters, and not Jamaica....but it is hugely popular there....maybe more so than in Trinidad & Tobago! I recently made these for a special occasion and really liked it. This particular version comes from a great overall Caribbean cookbook Cooking Caribe.

A Tall-One by the pool!

2 tbsp. Cointreau

2 tbsp. amber rum

1 tsp. sugar syrup (make this ahead of time)

Juice of 1/2 fresh lime

Juice of 1 large orange

2 dashes of Angostura bitters

Ice for cocktail shaker

Frozen stemmed cocktail glasses

Simply put all the ingredient into a cocktail shaker, cover and shake until the shaker starts to freeze. Strain into 2 chilled cocktail glasses and serve. Easy!

Variations:

I used a home grown blood orange in mine and it was really tasty. If you can find blood oranges in the store or market, go for it!

You can easily double, triple or quadruple these up and serve them by the pitcher.

If you really like ice in your cocktails, then strain the drink over ice--my preference is for crushed or broken ice.

Bitters are really the point of this concoction, so if you like the taste of mixed bitters, add more if you like.

In a pinch you can use bottle citrus juices.

Psych Trivia Games On USA Site

2012-02-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

Mad Props Trivia

I've Heard It Both Ways

Gus Or Shawn? 2.0

Psych Reference Quiz

Gus' Brain

Psych's 80's Music Trivia

Psych's What 80's Sitcom Are You?

Who Is Your Ideal Psych Mate?

Psych's Which 80's Movies Are You?

Psych Characters

2012-02-17T15:12:00.000-05:00

Some Psych Trivial Information

2012-02-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

TRIVIA COURTESY OF ShareTV

Inspired by how Steve Franks' father, who was a Los Angeles Police officer, would teach him how to be observant.

According to his "MySpace" page, the following is a list of jobs that Shawn Spencer held before becoming the CEO of Psych: Newport Sailing Assoc., Newport Beach, CA US Assistant Race Chair 2006; English, Inc. Kho Samui, TH Teacher, TEFL 2005; Comerica Park Detroit, MI US Concessions Vendor 2005; Apollo Agency Seattle, WA US Foot and Ankle Model 2005; Ben and Jerry's Burlington , VT US Customer Service 2004; Minute Maid Park Houston, TX US Concessions Vendor 2004; Aquablanca Expeditions San Jose, CR Raft Guide 2003 - 2004; U.S. Cellular Field Chicago, IL US Concessions Vendor 2003; Flynn Special Events Santa Barbara, CA US Event Planner 2003; Mo's Outdoor Decor Santa Barbara, CA US Christmas Light Hanger 2002; Graceland By Night, Inc. Memphis, TN US Tour Guide 2002; Miller Park Milwaukee, WI US Concessions Vendor 2002; Oscar Meyer Wienermobile Madison, WI US Driver 2001 - 2002; Safeco Field Seattle, WA US Concessions Vendor 2001; Feedback, Inc. Santa Barbara, CA US Mystery Shopper 2000 - 2001; Turner Field Atlanta, GA US Concessions Vendor 2000; Assemblyman Skip Warner El Paso, TX US Constituent Relations 1999; Camp Durango Silverton, CO US Water Ski Instructor 1998 - 1999; Barrett's Mardi Gras Universe Algiers, LA US Construction 1997 - 1998; Hampton Inn Austin, TX US Desk Clerk 1995 - 1996; Pacific Emerald Cruise Lines San Pedro, CA US Lifeguard 1994 - 1995

Kirsten Nelson was pregnant in real life when she auditioned for her role as Interim Chief Karen Vick. During the first few episodes, she gave birth; from that time on she had to wear a fake pregnant stomach for the remainder of her character's pregnant period, to compensate for her diminishing belly.

The theme song of the series, "I Know, You Know", is performed by The Friendly Indians, the band of series creator, Steve Franks.

Maggie Lawson often sneezes when Shawn is having a "psychic" episode

In this show, Timothy Omundson's character is openly sceptical of Shawn's psychic ability. In Starship Troopers, he was the psychic.

Series star James Roday (Shawn Spencer) was determined to have a pineapple make an appearance in every episode, regardless of whether it made sense or not.

Shawn likes to tell people that Gus played Bud on The Cosby Show. Dulé Hill who plays Gus, guest starred on "Cosby" once.

Many of the character names are taken from the "Batman" comic book series: Dent (Harvey Dent, a.k.a Two-Face), Talia (Talia al-Ghul), Leslie (Dr. Leslie Thompkins, Batman's personal physician), Malone (Matches Malone, a mob boss once impersonated by Batman), and Breyfogle (Norm Breyfogle, an artist who has worked on several "Batman" projects).

When Shawn rips the Missing Person poster off of the bulletin board, you can see a sign behind it which says, "WANTED: Collector Comic 'The Green Spirit Strikes Again' Looking for first printing. Must be in near mint condition. Money no object. Call Shawn at 555-0127". There is also a picture of the cover of the comic book as well. This is a reference to the previous episode, "Shawn vs. The Red Phantom," in which Shawn rips the cover off of Gus' copy of this comic book in which Gus replies with, "You're buying me another one! First printing!"

Shawn says the word "delicious" at least once in almost every episode.

When Shawn rips the Missing Person poster off of the bulletin board, you can see a sign behind it which says, "Vintage Gold Pocket Watch. Inscription that reads: Don't lose... Henry. Watch has sentimental value. Reward: Free Psychic Reading. Call 555-0127". This a reference to the pocket watch given to Shawn by his dad in the episode, "Weekend Warriors".

The "lame-o who's dating Kate Moss" mentioned by Shawn is British musician Pete Doherty, who dated supermodel Kate Mossfrom 2005 to 2007 and has indeed been accused of trashing multiple hotel rooms.

A recurring gag featured in the show's outtakes involves the cast and crew laughing hysterically at the mention of the phrase "three-hole punch". According to James Roday, the gag began with a script written by Tim Meltreger, which included a joke about a three-hole punch. During filming, Roday misspoke the line as "three-hole puncher". Meltreger called for a cut and raced onto the set, then insisted that Roday read the line exactly as scripted, because, in his words, "Three-hole punch is *way* funnier than three-hole puncher!" Subsequently, it became a running joke on the set: someone says the words "three-hole punch" while shooting and the cast and crew all pretend to laugh as if it's the funniest thing they've ever heard.

Psych Game Links

2012-02-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

These are the links to USA Pysch games. In order to play some of them--not all--you will need to register at Club Psych, which also allows you to participate in the online official Psych community.

Hashtag Killer (this is one you have to register for)

Gus' 3-D Mahjong

90's Challenge

Psych Jigsaw

Interactive SBPD

Lassiter's Squirrel Assassins (extremely funny! Based on the Night Of The Living Dead iPad App. game!)

80's Challenge

The Psych Interactive Office

Pineapple Concentrate

Find The Famous Pineapple

Psych Libs

2012-02-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

A Bit Of News Regarding Psych and Great New For Us "Psych-O's"!:

Psych was recently picked up for a 7th season!!

Keep up with the latest by following Psych on Twitter

Psych Links

2012-02-17T12:19:00.001-05:00

PSYCH LINKS:

The Official USA Site

Internet Movie Database

Psych Video Hub At USA

Psych: Some Scenes From "Not Even Close...Encounters"

2012-02-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

Psych Mid Season Premiere

2012-02-17T11:06:00.001-05:00

photo courtesey of USA

The mid season premiere of "Psych" is scheduled for Feb 29 (leave to a show this quirky to save a premiere for Leap Day!) at 10 PM EST--that's a Wednesday in an quirky spoof on Indiana Jones entitled "Indiana Shawn And The Temple Of The Kinda, Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger"--which sees the return of the seriously over-rated con man Despereaux embodied by British actor Carey Elwes. Here are some photos.

Meanwhile, here's a funny clip from Season Five's "Feet Don't Kill Me Now" which shows off the tap dancing prowess of both Gus (Dule' Hll) and Lassiter's lack thereof (actually the episode allows for actor Tim Omundson, who plays Lassiter, a chance to show off his real life tap dancing skills).