So far, I'm really digging it here in Memphis. It's a good place with lots of history and barbeque. So far I've most notably visited The Lorraine (the motel where MLK was shot), and I've eaten at Central BBQ (pretty good.) Mostly though, I've watched a lot of local tv broadcasts. It's pretty whacky and awesome - the best being this station that doesn't have a set schedule, and just airs public domains movies and tv broadcasts from around the 30s to late 50s.

Tonight I watched this movie called BREAKFAST IN HOLLYWOOD. It's a 1946 picture flick starring Tom Breneman that revolves around a radio variety show of the same name that Breneman hosted. I particularly found the film enjoyable due to its musical guests, Nat King Cole and Spike Jones! All around though, this is a fun little fun as much as it is a snapshot of popculture history.

I must do a write up on the plot soon though, because the plot is way too outlandish and hilarious by today's standards not to! You've got to love old fashion romantic sentimentalities.

My guide to Legend of the Red Dragon II: The New World is now available on Gamefaqs.com

http://www.gamefaqs.com/bbs/582437-legend-of-the-red-dragon-ii/faqs/63691

This is a full in depth guide for completing the game (as GOOD or EVIL in either order) along with a complete items list and travel potion warp locations (among other things.)

So enjoy.

For screenshots or where to play if you're interested, see my prior post about LORD2.

Tonight I came across the story of the REAL LIFE inspiration for RINGU (The Ring), which tells of a young woman named Sadako Takahashi (this is the English ordering of her name - the article gives the Japanese ordering) from whom Ringu's Sadako Yamamura gets her name. She was the test subject of Tomokichi Fukurai, an assistant professor of psychology at Tokyo University who was interested in supernatural stuff. Several of his prior lady guinea pigs provide the groundworkings for several other characters in the Ring lore.

It's an interesting read that shows the parallels between Koji Suzuki's work of fiction and real world fact. It's a story that I'm amazed I haven't heard before, since I'm a pretty big fan of all things Ringu, except for the two American films (a topic for another time perhaps.)

No, actually, unlike NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET, nothing about the material prompted me to do any outside research - it was actually an article about a 2 year old who developed leukemia as a result of the Hiroshima bombing named Sadako Sasaki that I stumbled across earlier tonight while trying to confirm the spelling of Sadako Yamamura's name for a review that I was typing up for an unrelated movie on Hulu (go figure.) In turn I was curious if the story of this little girl was where Suzuki lifted the name Sadako from, which of course lead me to the real inspiration, Sadako Takahashi! Unfortunately, unlike Takahashi's story, Sasaki's story is fairly sad (and moving as well, which is why she has a STATUE commemorating her!)

In a vaguely related note, you can (probably) expect to see a review of ROOM 6, the movie that prompted me to do all this research, to appear here in the coming days.

Enjoy your weekend! Because I might not, since I'm still packing for my big move next week. pfft.

At the mall, there's this discount-goods store that specializes in selling junk from China. From time to time I find bootleg toys there, as well as toys that have ridiculous names. The below is just a small sample of what I've seen...

This toy is great! It's a "whack-a-mole" type electronic game. The box names it, "VERY INTERESTING STROKE", while the words "Very Interesting Lambaste" are printed on the actual game. In case you don't know, Lambaste means "to give a thrashing to." The text on the side reads, "Modern and Elegant in Fashion." Although I'm not entirely sure why you'd want your whack-a-mole (or is it whack-a-hamster?) game to be fashionable...And why are there bears in the corner, dancing hamsters on the box, and who is chirping exactly?!?

Next, check out this Happy Swimming Lovely ...

FORG? Yes, it says FORG. Happy Swimming Lovely Forg. Is "frog" trademarked or something?

And then we have these...

When I was a kid playing on the playground, my friends and I would just name off characters that we wanted to play as. And sometimes we'd name off an exact property within a franchise. For instance, if someone yelled, "I'm Super Mario!" then someone else would yell, "Well, I'm Super Mario 3!" This is exactly like that. The Sense of Right Alliance is comprised of NOT JUST  Batman Begins, but Batman&Robin as well, in addition to 2 different Power Ranger series, Superman, Spiderman, and the Fantastic 4. It's pretty epic.

I haven't seen it in stores myself, but a quick Google search reveals that there's another version of this that's a bit weirder. It includes Shrek and a car from Pixar's CARS - expanding its crossovers from the DC, Marvel, and Bandai Universes, in to those of Dreamworks and Pixar.

I've been pretty busy this month as I've been getting ready to move out next month. I'm heading to Tennessee, so updates have been rather infrequent, and may continue to be so for a while. However...

COMING SOON