Out of office message

On Monday I’m leaving on a trip, so I won’t have any new posts for about the next two weeks. I’m sure I’ll be posting on Twitter occasionally about my adventures, but hopefully I’ll be able to unplug a little, recharge, relax, reboot, rebuff, re-animator, etc.

When I get back it will be September, and yet I will continue and complete the Weird Summer series and try to catch up on whatever I missed while I was gone. Everybody be good, have fun, etc. Parties are okay, but don’t bother the neighbors. I’ll see you all soon!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 12th, 2022 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Blog Post (short for weblog). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Previous Post
« TEXAS CHAINSAW Re-Massacred

Next Post
Orphan: First Kill »

26 Responses to “Out of office message”

Birch
August 12th, 2022 at 7:01 pm

Have a lovely time, Vern
Franchise Fred
August 12th, 2022 at 8:44 pm

Safe travels, Vern and Mrs. Vern.
CJ Holden
August 13th, 2022 at 12:21 am

Have fun and come back relaxed!
jojo
August 13th, 2022 at 1:11 am

Weird that your vacation coincides with the “Day Shift” release. But I guess these things are up to the man/woman/lizard creature upstairs. And if they have a plan, they ain’t telling.
Pacman2.0
August 13th, 2022 at 2:09 am

Happy trails!
dreadguacamole
August 13th, 2022 at 4:13 am

Weird Factoid – in Argentina (at least) when From Beyond came out they really played out the commonalities with re-animator. They even retitled it Re-Sonator

Have a great trip!
Stu
August 13th, 2022 at 7:47 am

Enjoy the break, Vern
Mr. Majestyk
August 13th, 2022 at 8:14 am

Time for another stickfighting sabbatical already? Tell the monks I said hi.

Have fun, big guy. We’ll try not to burn the place down while you’re gone.
Zombo
August 13th, 2022 at 10:19 pm

Have a great time!
Andy C
August 14th, 2022 at 7:15 pm

Enjoy your vacation Vern!
pegsman
August 14th, 2022 at 10:20 pm

Have an excellent time, Vern. We’ll try to behave as if you are watching us.
CJ Holden
August 16th, 2022 at 7:57 am

I couldn’T find a more appropriate place on here to talk about this, so…sorry, but BETTER CALL SAUL, y’all! I don’t think I ever encountered a series finale that was as flat out satisfying as this. It didn’t shock me, it didn’t frustrate me, there weren’t any heartstopping moments, but when it was over, I just sat there, calm, thinking: “Yep. That was a perfectly satisfying ending that exactly knew what it wanted and didn’t overdo it in good or bad ways.”

As whole, the show remains a bit unnecessary. Even with all the BREAKING BAD backstory we got, none of it made you look at the mothershow in a new light (except maybe: “Wow, the show’s comic relief had to deal with a lot of shit before we met him”). It was more a fun add-on, a bunch of really good deleted scenes if you will, but I don’t regret investing so much time in it.
CJ Holden
August 16th, 2022 at 8:22 am

(Could’ve picked the NOBODY review instead. Oh well.)
pegsman
August 16th, 2022 at 10:06 pm

I agree, CJ. That was a good ending to a good show.
jojo
August 17th, 2022 at 8:50 am

Just saw the trip made a stop in Monroeville. Had I known, I could of made sure you got the deluxe ‘locals-only’ tour.

Alas… As stated above:
I guess these things are up to the man/woman/lizard creature upstairs. And if they have a plan, they ain’t telling
Stu
August 26th, 2022 at 5:31 pm

Anyone else seen SAMARITAN yet? Thought it was alright, albeit with some of the limitations of modern made for streaming action movies. Mainly some not-quite-up-to-par VFX work, like a lot of digital fire in the climax and how a younger version of Sly’s character(s) are rendered, because yes, part of his backstory is being a set of twin superhumans, which sadly isn’t taken advantage of more to give us double the Slyness outside of one moment.
CJ Holden
August 26th, 2022 at 11:52 pm

Haven’t seen it, but someone I know described it as “The most 90s movie since THE DARK TOWER”, sooooooo…yeah.
KayKay
August 26th, 2022 at 11:54 pm

Just saw it and fucking loved it! Given how lackluster I’ve found recent Superhero movies to be (Marvel’s Phase 4 is definitely infected with a “Just where the fuck are they going with this shit?” problem), SAMARITAN is a simple tale told with minimal fuss and maximum appreciation of it’s Star’s Action Iconography. It also affords Stallone the chance to play a Savior Messiah to a young boy, which kinda makes SAMARITAN Stallone’s GRAN TORINO.

So..a simple Superhero Tale that doesn’t try to slap you across the face with a Message, poke an Agenda into your eyeballs, portrays it’s Villain as a straight up unrepentant Shit and not some Poor, Misunderstood Bastard in need of Understanding, Compassion and deserving of Redemption, ends with no plot points left unresolved to tease a sequel and a lean run time with with some pretty solid action.

Fuck me….you CAN do this shit right!

Yeah the effects are a little wonky, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of this rock solid, undemanding and thoroughly enjoyable Stallone Actioner.
KayKay
August 27th, 2022 at 12:06 am

Ok…another (small) quibble. The plotting suffers from the THE DARK KNIGHT RISES syndrome where the Villain rallies people into some kind of Occupy Wall Street type revolution, against the “rich, privileged” etc….by committing a blatantly wanton of act destruction in THEIR OWN neighborhood. Like Bane rallying spectators at a game right after he blows up the stadium they’re sitting in. Errr…why do I need to trust you, Weird Masked Man who just destroyed neighborhood property?
KayKay
August 27th, 2022 at 12:09 am

“by committing a blatantly wanton act of destruction” is what I meant, Proof Reading occasionally deserting me.
dreadguacamole
August 27th, 2022 at 6:36 am

@Kaykay – no idea how well it’s handled here (superhero movies do not have a good track record on intelligent… was going to say political, but actually any sort of allegory) but populist leaders turn people against other parts of the populace while quietly destroying their country in the background all the time, so it works at least on a metaphorical level. Hell, there’s a pretty prominent example in the news these days of someone riling up people to the point where they try bring a run of 230+ years of democracy to a stop themselves.

That bit in the trailer with the whole “I’m not a superhero”/gets run over by a car/”Dangnabit!” put me right off Samaritan. It’s worse than the liar liar pants on fire bit in the Firestarter trailer (which surprise surprise, is absolute trash.)
Mr. Majestyk
August 27th, 2022 at 6:40 am

I mean, anybody whose first official act as a candidate is to destroy a football stadium has a pretty good chance of getting my vote.
The Undefeated Gaul
August 27th, 2022 at 2:35 pm

Just saw SAMARITAN and loved it as well. I agree the effects were not always great (I feel like the Corridor Crew guys could have done a better job de-aging Stallone than the shot that ended up in the film) and one bit of important story development I had already guessed while reading the synopsis, but it didn’t do much to lessen my enjoyment. Stallone is still the man, and I loved that great classic oneliner they gave him near the end. Really shows the makers love him just as much as I do. I even enjoyed Pilou Asbaek’s performance as the villain (who I normally find kinda dull and generic) but to be honest a large part of that was the great look he was rocking here.
dreadguacamole
August 28th, 2022 at 3:19 pm

Since this seems to be a random recommendations thread, I’d like to put forward a 2019 horror-tinged drama from Laos called The Long Walk.

It’s a slow-burn puzzle even before a time travel plot kicks in – there’s ghosts and a serial killer and other genre stuff, but at its heart it’s a pretty affecting, well drawn-out character study set in a corner of the world we don’t get to see all that much. I liked it a LOT.
It’s on Shudder, along with the same team’s Dearest Sister, which is now pretty high on my to-watch list.
clubside
August 29th, 2022 at 4:42 am

Sorry the site was unavailable for so long, the database management ended up requiring a bunch of repetition that shouldn’t have been necessary 🤪

But you should now be able to include emojis 🎉🤯😂
Andy C
August 30th, 2022 at 8:50 pm

Glad you’re feeling better Vern and we’re glad you’re back. Sorry your vacation wasn’t exactly enjoyable.

Hey bud, thanks for reading.
Don't feel obligated, but here are some
WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHIT OUT OF VERN & OUTLAWVERN.COM
if that's your thing:
1. Patreon

Toss me a couple bucks a month, support the good shit, also get access to a bunch of exclusive writing. This is my primary source of writing money that has allowed me to cut down to part time at the day job. Thank you!
2. Buy my books from your local bookseller or somebody

click here for my Amazon author page
(NOTE: My ten year contract has passed on the Titan books, so I don't get residuals on them like I do WORM ON A HOOK and NIKETOWN, but I would love for you to read them because I'm proud of them)
EXTRA CREDIT: Review them on Amazon! That would really help me out. Unless you didn't like them, in which case forget I said anything.
3. If you ever buy from Amazon, go through my links or search engines

(you pay the same amount you were gonna pay anyway they cut me a little slice)
I also have an Amazon UK one:

(I can't get the search box widget to work anymore, so click on MOONWALKER and then search for what you want.)
4. My exciting line of fashion and leisure products

(I get a couple bucks per item, you get a cool t-shirt, mug or lifestyle item)
5. Spread the word

Tell your friends about my reviews and my books and everything. Only cool people though please, we don't need a bunch of suckers and/or chumps around here.
THANKS EVERYBODY. YOUR FRIEND, VERN

* * * *
Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
- MaggieMayPie on Trigger Warning: “I watched this the weekend that REBEL RIDGE came out. I went into Netflix to watch that and I saw…” Nov 20, 20:46
- Matthew B. on Trigger Warning: “Anyone get the feeling that large chunks of act three went missing here? The big confrontation with Anthony Michael Hall,…” Nov 20, 18:24
- Felix Ng on Trigger Warning: “I thought this was okay as well. Like an early 2000 Van Damme DTV.” Nov 20, 13:49
- Skani on Dragged Across Concrete: “Yeah, this fucking guy’s a real trip. Sounds like his words “engendered” a lot of feelings, and I won’t even…” Nov 20, 13:04
- Mr. Majestyk on Dragged Across Concrete: “That’s the sad part. All the ingredients are there for something great, but Zahler’s technique just pisses it all away…” Nov 20, 12:54
- Crudnasty on Dragged Across Concrete: “Majestyk – I salute you for making it to the end to confirm that the entire runtime earns your contempt,…” Nov 20, 12:34
- Mr. Majestyk on Le Samourai: “I want to thank everybody for the kind words. Sometimes I doubt my role in this ecosystem, as it seems…” Nov 20, 12:04
- Mr. Majestyk on Dragged Across Concrete: “Sing it, Crudnasty. This remains my least favorite movie of the 21st century. Possibly of all time. I literally sold…” Nov 20, 11:51
- Crudnasty on Dragged Across Concrete: “Benefit of the doctor = benefit of the doubt Apologies for the consequences of my furious swipe texting, but this…” Nov 20, 11:34
- Crudnasty on Dragged Across Concrete: “Just started watching this on a whim, based on seeing the comments pop up and having seen Cell Block 99…” Nov 20, 11:32
- Skani on Dragged Across Concrete: “I defended the movie at the time, but I do think Zahler is a weird dude, and I think Mel…” Nov 20, 10:24
- CJ Holden on Trigger Warning: “When it came out, I joked on social media about this being actually a standup comedy special in which Jessica…” Nov 20, 10:13
- Ishmael on Ebirah, Horror of the Deep: “One thing that always amuses me about Godzilla movies is how often between films people lose track of Godzilla. The…” Nov 20, 09:19
- VERN on Dragged Across Concrete: “Both the violence and the racism depicted in the movie are fictional. I did not feel it was committing acts…” Nov 20, 09:15
- VERN on Wrestling horror smackdown: WrestleMassacre (2018) vs. Here For Blood (2022): “Oh geez Chris, I am losing it. I don’t think I’ve ever mixed up the Ryan before, but that was…” Nov 20, 09:09
Recent Commented on Posts
Most Comments
- Man, I don’t know. - 174 comments
- Alien: Romulus - 58 comments
- In a Violent Nature - 46 comments
- Rebel Ridge - 45 comments
- The Crow (2024) - 43 comments
- Deadpool & Wolverine - 43 comments
- Programming note - 40 comments
- Airheads - 40 comments
- Strange Darling - 36 comments
- Demons - 32 comments