Slumberlord
Thursday, July 13, 2006
We’re crazy for gremlins!
The original film is well-loved, and deservedly so. But "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" has been unfairly overlooked through the years. Great things about Gremlins 2:
Science fiction journeyman Robert Picardo.
A reference to Susan Sontag.
An all-gremlin musical number.
Attempted unnecessary dental surgery.
A fairly amusing Hulk Hogan cameo.
Of course the best moment in the film is when Phoebe Cates is in the voice-operated elevator and it begins to shake, and she says "Elevator, STOP!" and it stops. Then she says "Elevator, sound alarm!" and there’s a moment’s pause, and then you hear all the gremlins hanging on the outside of the elevator make buzzing klaxon noises. That description doesn’t do it justice but it’s some next level stuff for sure.
Gremlins aren’t just the hilarious troublemakers of film, though. Did you know the word "gremlin" is a relatively recent invention? It’s true. The American Heritage Dictionary raps on the subject just so:
"Elves, goblins, and trolls seem to be timeless creations of the distant past, but gremlins were born in the 20th century. In fact, gremlin is first recorded only in the 1920s, as a Royal Air Force term for a low-ranking officer or enlisted man saddled with oppressive assignments. Said to have been invented by members of the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I, gremlin is used in works written in the 1940s for 'an imaginary gnomelike creature who causes difficulties in aircraft.' The word seems likely to have been influenced by goblin, but accounts of its origin are various and none are certain. One source calls in Fremlin beer bottles to explain the word; another, the Irish Gaelic word gruaimín, 'ill-humored little fellow.' Whatever the word's origin, it is certain that gremlins have taken on a life of their own."
"Gruaimín" is going to be my new slag to drop on y’all when you annoy me. Consider yourselves warned.
The original film is well-loved, and deservedly so. But "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" has been unfairly overlooked through the years. Great things about Gremlins 2:
Science fiction journeyman Robert Picardo.
A reference to Susan Sontag.
An all-gremlin musical number.
Attempted unnecessary dental surgery.
A fairly amusing Hulk Hogan cameo.
Of course the best moment in the film is when Phoebe Cates is in the voice-operated elevator and it begins to shake, and she says "Elevator, STOP!" and it stops. Then she says "Elevator, sound alarm!" and there’s a moment’s pause, and then you hear all the gremlins hanging on the outside of the elevator make buzzing klaxon noises. That description doesn’t do it justice but it’s some next level stuff for sure.
Gremlins aren’t just the hilarious troublemakers of film, though. Did you know the word "gremlin" is a relatively recent invention? It’s true. The American Heritage Dictionary raps on the subject just so:
"Elves, goblins, and trolls seem to be timeless creations of the distant past, but gremlins were born in the 20th century. In fact, gremlin is first recorded only in the 1920s, as a Royal Air Force term for a low-ranking officer or enlisted man saddled with oppressive assignments. Said to have been invented by members of the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I, gremlin is used in works written in the 1940s for 'an imaginary gnomelike creature who causes difficulties in aircraft.' The word seems likely to have been influenced by goblin, but accounts of its origin are various and none are certain. One source calls in Fremlin beer bottles to explain the word; another, the Irish Gaelic word gruaimín, 'ill-humored little fellow.' Whatever the word's origin, it is certain that gremlins have taken on a life of their own."
"Gruaimín" is going to be my new slag to drop on y’all when you annoy me. Consider yourselves warned.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Marriage, RAWR
This past weekend I had a long evening out that left me thinking a lot about relationships. I also saw large segments of each of the three Jurassic Park movies, thanks mostly to my roommate, who had a bit of a JP film festival going. The combination of the two subjects stirring in my brain naturally led me to have a dream in which I was getting married (not to anyone I know; her name was reportedly “Claire;” she didn’t actually appear in the dream, which makes sense, because the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride right before the ceremony, right?).
Regardless, my wedding wasn’t the only excitement in town – dangerous dinosaurs were apparently roaming the vicinity. What’s more, a baby tyrannosaurus rex was apparently trapped in the truck of the car that my bride-to-be and I were supposed to drive off into the sunset! And as I had just learned from “Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World,” keeping a trapped baby T-Rex apart from its mother can make her pretty angry. Oh no!
and that basically sums up my feelings about marriage
This past weekend I had a long evening out that left me thinking a lot about relationships. I also saw large segments of each of the three Jurassic Park movies, thanks mostly to my roommate, who had a bit of a JP film festival going. The combination of the two subjects stirring in my brain naturally led me to have a dream in which I was getting married (not to anyone I know; her name was reportedly “Claire;” she didn’t actually appear in the dream, which makes sense, because the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride right before the ceremony, right?).
Regardless, my wedding wasn’t the only excitement in town – dangerous dinosaurs were apparently roaming the vicinity. What’s more, a baby tyrannosaurus rex was apparently trapped in the truck of the car that my bride-to-be and I were supposed to drive off into the sunset! And as I had just learned from “Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World,” keeping a trapped baby T-Rex apart from its mother can make her pretty angry. Oh no!
and that basically sums up my feelings about marriage
