Werewolf Traditions From Cultures Around The World...

Mystery Men by Kinka Usher.

This movie is a combination of a lot of things that I like:

An underdog story, gaudy superheroes, creative sets/visuals/costumes, and some of the funniest actors of our era. Loosely based on Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics, Mystery Men takes place in a world where not only are superheroes for reals, but there are way too many of them, putting some of the superheroes with the lamest powers on the Z-list.

The main thing I don't like about this film is the ending. Throughout the movie, none of the Mystery Men's powers work quite right. Then suddenly, at the end, everything just works for no good reason. That's lazy writing. What should have happened was the heroes should've figured out a way to turn their weaknesses into strengths. Instead, their powers just work out of the blue, "THE END."

Still, I really like the production value and this movie has some of my favorite fanboy jokes. Also, I find Mr. Furious relatable from time to time...

Mythic stories fall into several categories. There are sagas, epics, and fantasy stories called "märchen." These stories depend on something difficult for us to conceive these days: Simplicity or the "Logic of the Fairy Tale." In other words: things are just what they are, because that’s just the way they are.

These stories frequently examine or teach a moral lesson, exalting it or exposing a particular flaw. If the story is a parable or doctrinal, one of its goals is to delineate the characters as "types" in order to illustrate this basic lesson, characters which make the story whole and who are also contained by it. The lives of these "types" can and must have links with the past and the future but their role ends with the story.

In a magic story, the flow is more important than the logic. Man invented monsters to explain the entire universe (Norse and Greek mythology, for example). Once man began to live in an organized way, with a "social contract," an abyss was opened up between his instincts and his thoughts, and monsters started to REPRESENT another universe altogether: man's inner universe. The pagan prefigures the social and offers us a glimpse of the deepest reaches of man's soul, articulating a primordial, savage universe, populated by elves, fauns, ogres, faeries, trolls, and demons.

La Noria (The Waterwheel) by Karla Castañeda.

Fun Fact:

The Cheshire Cat was first introduced in Lewis Carroll's novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The character was inspired by an old phrase "Smiling like a Cheshire cat". The origins of that phrase are still debated to this day, but the most widely accepted theory is that it refers to a cat living in the English county of Cheshire, which is known for producing a lot of milk and dairy, which cats love, hence the smiling. Carroll decided to personify the cat from that phrase, he gave it a physical form, a personality and magic powers. In the book, the cat doesn't play quite as large a role as he does in the Disney movie, but the two have very similar characteristics. They talk in really confusing ways that are sometimes funny but also kind of annoying, they raise philosophical questions to Alice even though she clearly doesn't understand them and while they sometimes appear to be making a situation worse for her, they're actually rooting for Alice to succeed and even are helping her indirectly.

Fun Fact:

Zeus was even more popular than you realized.

There's actually a temple in Egypt that was dedicated to Zeus. I'm not making a word of that up. It's not dedicated Osiris, not Set, not even Horus. A temple dedicated to Zeus.

Apparently, the site was originally found in the early 1900s when French Egyptologist Jean Clédat found ancient Greek inscriptions referring to a temple to "Zeus Kasios". Kasios being the local Syrian Mountain where Zeus was worshiped at one point, but the temple wasn't excavated until recently. They've also found inscriptions in the area that tell of the Roman Emperor Hadrian renovating the temple as recently as the second century. The team of archaeologists are continuing to explore the site and personally, I can't wait to learn more about what they dig up.

“Our tour begins here in this gallery, here where you see paintings of some of our guests as they appeared in their corruptible mortal state. Kindly step all the way in, please, and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now.”- Ghost Host

Merry Little Batman by Mike Roth.

Saw it and loved it!

The Ronald Searle-esque art style is amazing!!

An animated superhero film full of personality and genuine invention!!

The Man Who Laughs (1928) by Paul Leni.

One of the most iconic and influential silent films of all time (along with Metropolis, Nosferatu, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari).

A magnificent film and one of my favorites.

Highly recommend checking it out.

And, yes, Conrad Veidt's interpretation (and Jack Pierce's make-up) inspired The Joker.

Some of you have probably wondered "Where did the Easter Bunny come from and why does a rabbit give out eggs?"

The exact origins of the Easter Bunny are unclear, but it's believed to have originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. The tradition probably stems from the pagan festival of "Ēostre", which honored the goddess of the same name and was celebrated during the spring equinox in the form of feasting and fertility rituals. Ēostre was eventually co-opted by Christians and it was rebranded as a celebration of Jesus's rebirth.

Following this theme of new life, rabbits and hares (which have long been seen as symbols of fertility and new life, as they often give birth to large litters in the spring) became the holiday mascot. And as early as 1682, it became a tradition for the "Easter Hare" to make the rounds and judge whether children were good or bad, similar to Kris Kindle. If they were good, they'd be given gifts like toys and colored eggs, eggs being another symbol of new life. German immigrants brought the tradition to the United States in the 18th century, where it became popularized and eventually spread to other parts of the world.

Anomalisa by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson.

Based on Kaufman's 2005 audio play of the same name.

An epic, moving, meticulous, and miraculous feat of filmmaking.

One of my favorite types of animated films are of the independent variety. Films like Hoodwinked!, Persepolis, Mary and Max, and the works of Ralph Bakshi are among my personal recommendations.