Audre’s Worst Horror Movie

8 June 20225 June 2022 The Portly Politico23 Comments

As Ponty and I have been rolling through our worst films, we encouraged Audre Myers to submit a review or two for the worst films. In true Audrean fashion, she slammed out this hilarious, insightful review in no time.

That put me in an extremely mild quandary—when to publish this gem? Ponty and I are about halfway through our back-and-forth countdown, but it’ll take us at least another eight weeks to finish the series. I thought briefly about holding off and publishing Audre’s pick for Worst Horror Movie as a surprise for loyal readers.

But how can I withhold Audre’s comedic genius for that long? More practically, I worried I might lose the e-mail thread—ha! So I decided to publish Audre’s post now. Think of it as a halfway point reward.

I won’t reveal the title of Audre’s pick yet. You’ll have to read on to see her choice (and, if you still want to after reading her review, to watch the film—she provides a link to the full thing on YouTube!):

Lazy Sunday CXLVIII: More Movies, Part XVI: Movie Reviews, Part XVI

5 June 20221 June 2022 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

After weeks of reblogging posts about my friends, both real-life and virtual, I’ve decided to go back to another well-trod road for Lazy Sunday posts: my many, many reviews.

Readers might ask why I title these “More Movies, Part [Insert Roman Numeral Here]: Movie Review, Part [Insert Same Roman Numeral Here]”—or, more likely, you didn’t notice until just now. Either way, I have to offer an explanation:

When I originally started reblogging movie reviews on Sundays, I thought I might end up featuring other posts related to films that were not movie reviews. Then I realized that pretty much the only times I write about flicks is in the context of movie reviews.

So, maybe one day I’ll do a Lazy Sunday with my rare, non-review movie posts (like this one). For today, though, I’m just going to pick up where I left off with “Lazy Sunday CLI – More Movies, Part XV – Movies Reviews, Part XV“:

“Monday Morning Movie Review: Bell, Book, and Candle (1958)” – Audre Myers sent me this film on DVD last year, and months went by before I finally sat down to watch it. I wish I’d watched it sooner! It’s a real treat: a very fun romantic comedy about a witch, Gillian “Gil” Holroyd (Novak), who casts a love spell on publisher Shep Henderson (Stewart). Thus ensorcelled, Shep breaks off his engagement with the haughty Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule), becoming magically obsessed with Gil.
“Monday Morning Movie Review: Prisoners of Ghostland (2021) and Incident in a Ghostland (2018)” – A rare double review (maybe that could be a subset of Lazy Sunday: More Movies), this one looked at two very different films that just happened to have similar titles, one memorable and somewhat good, the other absolutely terrible: 2021’s Prisoners of Ghostland and 2018’s Incident in a Ghostland, respectively.
“Monday Morning Movie Review: Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)” – Werner Herzog’s incredible remake Murnau’s 1922 silent film Nosferatu, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) is a symphony of terror. I actually watched both films again earlier this week on The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs. My appreciation for both flicks has only deepened, especially with Joe Bob’s depth of knowledge.

Well, there you go—back to the movies!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Guest Contribution: Audre Myers’s Review of Stranger Things

1 June 202229 May 2022 The Portly Politico79 Comments

I can now proudly attest that the esteemed Audre Myers, perhaps the one figure at the epicenter of my personal blogosphere, has contributed her first piece to The Portly Politico. What a treat! Even the way that Audre contacted me about her contribution is quintessential Audre: she framed it as giving me a day off from the blog. Very sweet!

I’m happy to give a day—or weeks!—over to Audre’s writing. Her own blog, Words on the Word, is a lovely daily devotional; I recommend it highly.

Audre also shares my love of the spooky, the weird, the unexplained. One of the first ways I became acquainted with Audre’s interests were her posts about Bigfoot over at Nebraska Energy Observer. Here was someone writing with depth and seriousness—not conspiratorial goofiness—about Sasquatch!

That love of spooky weirdness is perfect for Audre’s contribution this week: her broad review of the series Stranger Things, one of my personal favorite series as well. The fourth season has just hit Netflix, so Audre offers up her take on the series as a whole—without giving away any of the fun plot points!

So, for the four of you out there that still haven’t seen Stranger Things, here’s Audre’s excellent review of and recommendation for the series:

TBT: Heavy is the Head

12 May 202211 May 2022 The Portly Politico6 Comments

Over at her blog Words on the Word, Audre Myers posted a piece yesterday entitled, simply, “Life.” It’s a succinct and effective little piece about how Life often disrupts our, well, lives, and how our best-laid plans are often thrown out the minute Life demands our immediate attention.

The past several weeks have been full of Life for yours portly; indeed, this school year—which seems to be dragging endlessly onward—has been one of the toughest of my career. It got me thinking about this post from last May about the difficulties and joys of responsibility.

We all find ourselves busy at times, and I imagine many of us dream of shirking our responsibilities. The sad fact is, many Americans do—the moment anything becomes inconvenient, or no longer offers the fun thrill it initially did, we move on to something else new and exciting. There’s an inherent restlesness in that lifestyle, a lifestyle of constant pacing and chasing.

That’s the child’s response to responsibility and difficulty. As adults, we should adapt to difficulties, and bear our responsibilities cheerfully, even when they are more burdensome than usually—perhaps especially so at those times.

As I noted last year, most of our perceived problems either dissipate into mootness or are otherwise resolved before they truly become problems that need addressing. Case in point: I was slated to teach an online class this summer. That’s not a problem so much as an opportunity, but it was going to require a good bit of legwork this week to get the course ready to launch Monday.

I got home Tuesday evening to take a look at the course, and realized it had either been purged (due to low enrollment) or given to another instructor (likely a full-timer who needed to make his hours). While I’m a tad disappointed about losing out on some relatively easy money, it’s also “solved” a problem for me—finding the time to put that course together during yet another busy week.

Again, another problem resolved before requiring any real effort on my part—perhaps not on anyone’s.

With that, here is 5 May 2021’s “Heavy is the Head“:

Slowing Down

4 May 20222 May 2022 The Portly Politico12 Comments

For many years now I’ve received Dr. Don Wilton’s The Daily Encouraging Word, or “DEW,” in my inbox every morning. It’s a wonderful little daily devotional with a bite-sized chunk of Biblical Truth attached.

I’m ashamed to admit that due to both my busy schedule and my own spiritual recalcitrance, I do not read DEW daily. Indeed, I have a massive folder in my Hotmail account (yes, yes, go ahead and laugh) called “DEW” with over 1200 unread issues. Gulp!

I do a bit better with Audre’s blog, Words on the Word. Even there, though, I could do better.

That’s all to say that it’s serendipitous that this week, The Daily Encouraging Word is going through a series called “Try to Slow Down.”

Lazy Sunday CLXIII: Friends, Part VI

1 May 202224 April 2022 The Portly Politico2 Comments

In looking back at Lazy Sundays, I realized I had not done a compilation of Supporting Friends Friday posts since 7 November 2021. What an oversight!

So, after six months, I decided to start going back through these posts. It’ll give us all something positive to read on Lazy Sundays while Ponty and I exchange our worst movies of all time on Mondays.

With that, here are some classic Supporting Friend Fridays:

“Supporting Friends Friday: Grover Windham” – Good old Grover Windham. He’s one heckuva musician. I highly recommend subscribing to him on YouTube, where he posts quite frequently. His music is bluesy, soulful, and wonderful.
“Supporting Friends Friday: Audre’s New Blog” – Sweet Audre Myers, one of my most dedicated readers, commenters, and mentors, finally branched out from Nebraska Energy Observer and the comment sections of The Conservative Woman to write her own blog, Words on the Word. It’s a daily devotional with her reflections on the Scripture reading, and it’s a great way to start the day spiritually.
“Supporting Friends Friday: Frederick Ingram’s Christmas Groove” – My real life buddy Frederick Ingram wrote a track at Christmastime called “Jesus of Nazareth (Walked into a Bar)“; it’s really good, offering a funky interpretation of Christ’s Gospel message.

Here’s to good friends, good music, and good writing!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Monday Morning Movie Review: Bicentennial Man (1999)

7 February 20226 February 2022 The Portly Politico27 Comments

After many requests—from Audre Myers, not lots of different people—I am finally reviewing Bicentennial Man (1999), the film in which Robert Williams plays a robot, Andrew Martin, who wishes to become a human. I picked up this flick on-demand on RedBox for about $4—a small price to pay to make Audre happy (and/or to appease her, depending upon one’s perspective).

When I announced I’d be reviewing this film last Monday, it engendered some controversy in the comments. Regular reader and contributor Pontiac Dreamer 39 (now going by “Always a Kid for Today”) wrote:

Bicentennial man?! Crikey, Tyler, you’re going to need a lot of booze. I like Robin Williams but that film is dross. If you can get through to the end sober, I’ll be impressed. Personally, I’d have made Audre rewatch that film!

Audre predictably came to the film’s defense, citing its relevance in an age in which robots and artificial intelligence are growing increasingly sophisticated. Ponty/AaKfT argued better films on the topic exist, such as Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece RoboCop.

You can read the comment thread for yourself, but after viewing the film (stone cold sober), I am ready to render my judgment on Bicentennial Man.

TBT: Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers

6 January 20225 January 2022 The Portly Politico22 Comments

A little Welsh birdie told me that today our dear Audre Myers is turning twenty-nine for the forty-first time. Therefore, in lieu of my originally planned TBT—which will appear next Thursday—I’ve done what any decent blogger would do and hastily and have revived this classic post about Audre, one of the most popular posts of 2021.

As far as I can tell, this will be the first edition of Supporting Friends Friday to enjoy the TBT treatment. Who more fitting to receive such a dubious honor than Audre? Audre’s been a constant source of encouragement, amusement, and inspiration, and is one of those folks who keeps me writing.

So, before I get overly mushy, here is 27 August 2021’s “Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers“:

Lazy Sunday CXLVI: 2021’s Top Five Posts

2 January 20225 January 2022 The Portly Politico31 Comments

It’s officially 2022, but this Sunday I’m going to cast one more look back at 2021. As is tradition, in addition to my annual “Worst of” lists, I always do a “Top Five Posts” retrospective as well.

Like the “Worst of” lists, I don’t base these posts off of their quality, but by the number of views they received. Some of them probably are very high-quality posts; others just got a lot of eyeballs.

I’ve also included the next three highest posts, which serendipitously worked out to be unique in their own ways, with two being of particular significance to the growth of the blog this year.

While I did not have any huge breakthrough posts in 2021—those garnering quadruple digits, like “Tom Steyer’s Belt“—my posts on average had more views, and my WordPress subscriber count increased substantially. It turns out that if you keep at something for a thousand days, you start gaining some traction! I also had substantially more commenter participation, thanks to folks hopping over from The Conservative Woman and Nebraska Energy Observer.

With that, here are 2021’s Top Five Posts:

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: Audre Myers