Okay so we saw Ghostbusters last night and I began writing this as soon as I got home. I can tell you I don’t have anything brilliant or insightful to say about the film yet. There’s no layered deconstruction or analysis in this piece. But what I can offer is a lifelong fan’s totally SPOILER-FREE thoughts on the latest incarnation of Ghostbusters, staring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. Continue reading
There’s no post on My Comic Relief today because I’ve written a piece for Just Dread-Full’s fun new series – What Scares Us? My First Fright. The series explores early memories of being scared and looks into what we’re afraid of. For me there’s no scarier memory than going to see Ghostbusters II in 1989 when I was just six years old. IT TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT! Frightful reflections aside, I really had a lot of fun writing this piece and, given the fact that the new Ghostbusters comes out this week AND I’ve done a lot of writing about the Ghostbusters on this site, it seemed timely to contribute this piece for Kalie. So if you’re interested in taking a fun little trip down memory lane with me and seeing what left little six year old Michael shaking in his seat, please click here. You’ll also get to read about how I made Mom take us out of the theatre and how I’ve unexpectedly come to enjoy this film as an adult (although it took me over twenty-five years to watch it again).
With slight modifications for genre, the sentiments legendary anchorman Ron Burgundy once applied to the band Survivor applies with as much truth to Tom Waltz and Erik Burnham’s 2014 IDW miniseries masterpiece Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters – “I’ve often said that the [comic book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters] is the best that ever was. In my opinion, they put [classic literature] to bed. Everyone else is an imitator. That’s right, you heard me [Shakespeare], [Rumi], [J.K. Rowling], [John Grisham], you guys suck…dong.” But to be as honest as possible, I must take my praise a step further, slightly modifying Ron Burgundy once again, “This [comic book] is quite simply the greatest composition in human history. If you disagree, I will fight you.” Continue reading
Ghostbusters is an iconic film that has given birth to a loving and passionate fandom. When you love the Ghostbusters, you love the Ghostbusters. I understand this because I LOVE THE GHOSTBUSTERS. With that in mind, the idea of an ongoing monthly Ghostbusters comic may seem tricky as you’d be stepping on sacred ground in the attempt to give fans something new. However, under the stewardship of author Erik Burnham and artist Dan Schoening, IDW has consistently captured lightning in a bottle since Ghostbusters debuted in 2011. Their most recent run, Ghostbusters International, turns the Ghostbusters loose to address feelings of dread in basements and attics alllllll over the globe. Continue reading
The Goodreads Top Five Wednesday post for this week was an interesting one. Essentially you’re to compile a list of five of your favorite posts. So basically I’m putting together my (still very young) blog’s Greatest Hits. Now I just have to hope that this list is like Bruce Springsteen’s 1995 Greatest Hits album where he went on to make (and continues to make!) some of the best music of his career after he released it and not something like Poison’s Greatest Hits 1986-1996 where it was an awesome album…but then not so much great new material afterwards. (Although, giving credit where credit is due, they did a wonderfully fun cover of “SexyBack” in 2007.) I’ve also included little (new) summaries of the posts and why they made the cut. So there’s new material here too. Anyway, let’s see which posts made the cut! Continue reading
Do you know what’s happening this week?!? Ghostbusters is coming back to the big screen (in select cinemas of course). Since our local theatre is one of the lucky ones, you can bet I’ll be there – seeing it as many times as possible. Woo hoo!!! Given the fact that Ghostbusters is one of the greatest movies of all time and has continued on in an incredibly fun (and faithful) IDW comic series, I figured it was time to talk a little ghosts and ghostbusting. Call it fate. Call it luck. Call it karma…I believe I was destined to write this post. Continue reading
My Comic Relief 