Wow, lots of challenge changing going on in here.

So does "looking like" mean you're already engaged, or just talking about getting engaged? Congratulations, either way.
Did I miss someone? I only recall two big changes, and both of those were made early on (one of them just recently decided on his new theme, but he'd told me earlier in the month that he was dropping his original theme).

Off topic answer:

Back to safer topics, just watched Eastbound & Down for the first time. Pretty funny so far, and only 180 minutes for a season!

My off-topic reply:

More off-topic stuff:

Well, I completed one of my (unstated) goals: watch Japanese TV episodes from each decade from the 1960s to the 2000s. (I actually have one TV show from 2010, so I might as well watch that, too.)

1960s: Mighty Jack
1970s: Zatoichi
1980s: Heavy Metal L-Gaim
1990s: Tenchi in Tokyo
2000s: Mahoromatic Automatic Maiden

The only thing comparable in my collection from the 1950s is the Starman series which compiles episodes from a Japanese serial originally called "Super Giants." I may watch it before this Challenge is over.

I watched "Lisa's Wedding" today, which is a great episode. Not only does it showcase some of the heart at the center of the show (I love the ending with Homer and Lisa), but we also we get to see funny future versions of characters and there's the great gag of never hearing Maggie's voice. Additionally, it contains one of my favorite Simpsons jokes ever:

Lisa: "Mom, I feel funny wearing white. I mean, Milhouse..."
Marge: "Oh, Milhouse doesn't count."



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Oh yeah, and on the subject of favorite quotes, one Simpsons quote I use quite frequently is from "Bart's Comet," when Milhouse says to Bart: "Bart, if you have a flaw it's that you're a perfectionist. If you have a flaw." I don't always say it like that exactly, but will use the same sentence structure to describe other things.

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Status Update: I've watched 7 Seasons of The Simpsons and every Episode/Movie of Futurama.

Off topic chatter:

As for my challenge (which, oddly, I may as well call "our" challenge given how much of it my wife has watched with me), we got in several items last night. She had to have a tooth extracted in the early afternoon and just wanted to flake out so that's what we did. Fired up yon Netflix streaming:

Hellboy - we both wanted to see this, but for some reason still hadn't. It was a lot of fun, clearly big budget and we both liked it quite a lot.

C.B.D.: The Comic Book Diaries - filmed entirely at a comic shop in Tucson, this thing has all the production values of a YouTube upload. I was rooting for the film and actively making myself want to like it and it was still a chore. The A/V quality is terrible, to the point that it interferes with the ability to even care what the amateur actors are saying. I couldn't advise this one except to gluttons for punishment.

Surrogates - I remember this coming out and thinking I'd rent it later. Bruce Willis is a cop in a society where everyone lives vicariously through lifelike remote-controlled robots. I wish they hadn't pushed the "action cop" aspect in the marketing, because it's not really that kind of film at all and I think I'd have made more of an effort to see if they'd promoted the actual tone of the movie. It's much more A.I. and Minority Report than Die Hard. Original? No, but very well done. Or at least, it felt that way after enduring C.B.D.

Then we started with the first two episodes of Stripperella, co-created by Stan Lee. I remember hearing about this show when it came out in 2003, but didn't bother with it. It's just as cheesy and shameless as I thought it would be, but there's a certain charm to the humor that I dig.

After my Chuck challenge was starting to suck (ironically, after I watched the downloads on my vacation, I got home and didn't have time to watch my BDs), I got back into it with two eps last night. Am now on disc 3 and feeling confident that I can finish season 2. In an ideal world, I'd get to season 4 because those are clogging my DVR but that seems a long way off. Still enjoying the series, though.

In watching "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" I really don't understand why Groening & Co. haven't released the Tracy Ullman Shorts on DVD yet, either as a standalone release or as extra feature on one release. For a series that has done a great job with releases, you'd think they'd have included the shorts either on the First Season or Twentieth Season DVD Sets; it's frustrating to not have a proper release of the shorts yet for a Simpsons Completist like myself.

I have 5 silent movies and a western left. If I'm lucky, I'll be done tomorrow. After that I'm done with lists, other than maintaining imdb ones.

My new challenge will be to watch the movies I've recorded off tv. I'm really low on hard drive space and there's way too many of them.

Season 7, Episode 17: "Homer The Smithers"

There's actually a whole thread devoted to the Rapture in the Other forum

Just got to 42, which aside from being the answer is the number of titles I was able to watch with in last months challenge with my demanding work schedule. Although the tv-shows and miniseries helped this time around.

Good job, SterlingBen

I'm starting the last movie, Ride the High Country, on my last list.

I'm back in the game. Up to W in the comedy challenge and it was between Wedding Crashers, Wayne's World, Waiting for Guffman, Weird Science and Waterboy. Then I remembered I had Weekend at Bernie's which I got free with a pizza some time ago and have never seen. So far, not so good.

Weekend at Bernie's was a Papa John's promo title back in 2003, as I recall. Funny you mention it because I keep forgetting it's still in my Unwatched Pile. The envelop was ruined upon arrival and it gets kind of lost on the shelf in an unmarked slim case. Same with Corinna, Corinna.

Also, I totally would have selected Wayne's World from your assortment. I still enjoy that one. The conversation at the airport about Bugs Bunny alone was priceless. The advertising montage gag was clever, and Ed O'Neil was pitch perfect as Glen.

Done.

Now it's the game of watching recorded stuff, with no particular order.

I also got Don Juan DeMarco with the Papa Johns deal and finally watched that last year for a challenge. If I finish my run through the alphabet, I will go back and watch some of the movies I skipped over for whatever reason. Hopefully I can get to Wayne's World, there are so many clever gags that make it worth multiple views.

I was up to X on the comedy challenge, so I had to kinda cheat, call it my wildcard. I used the X-Files episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space. Watching it made me miss the X-Files, in it's prime it was one of the best shows on TV.

Now on to Young Frankenstein.

For comedy titles starting with X, look for a Chinese movie, like some of Jackie Chan's movies or Xala, which is available for streaming on Netlfix.

I'm nearing the end of my available movie serials. Looks like I'll either need to change themes or order a few from my "wish list" to finish the month. I'm looking at picking up 1 or more of these:

"Buck Rogers" (Top of the list and I've *never* seen the serial before)
"The Phantom"
"The Jungle Queen"
"The Lost City"
"Zombies of the Stratosphere" (3rd appearance of the "Rocket Suit" plus Leonard Nimoy as a Martian invader)
"The Green Hornet"/"The Green Hornet Strikes Again" (Big fan of the 60's series and I've never seen these)

Gotta decide tonight so whatever gets ordered will arrive in time.

The Lost City

You could get it in this pack
http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Worl...6094727&sr=8-1

That set also has the serials:
Flash Gordon: The Purple Death from Outer Space
Shadow Of Chinatown
Radio Ranch
The Phantom Creeps

^Yeah, the more I look the more I lean toward "The Lost City" and "Zombies...".

Thanks for the link but I'll most likely go for the VCI version to get *much* better quality than a MC multi-pack (plus I already have most of what's on that particular set in other MC sets). Be aware that the Flash Gordon, "Radio Ranch", and "The Phantom Creeps" on that set are edited, movie length, versions of the respective serials.

I do *not* have "Shadow of Chinatown". It sounds interesting plus it's early Katzman with Lugosi. Sinester Cinema has a DVD-R version fairly cheap supposedly made from the only known 16mm print. I'm not crazy about DVD-R releases but the only other versions I've found are from MC and Alpha, both of which are on-again/off-again with quality of the prints used on the serials. Essentially, I use them if I want a farily cheap "screener" copy. If it turns out farily good (like those John Wayne and Zorro ones were) I'll generally not "upgrade". Since I liked "Drums of Fu Manchu" it looks like I'll need to add that one to my list.

I have this version of "The Phantom Creeps" ($2/Big Lots). It's not a very good copy and has a very large "bug" which appears frequently and for long periods. It was purchased mainly to see if I liked it. I do so I'll eventually get the VCI edition of that one as well.

I don't want to sound like a shill... but so far *every* serial I've purchased from VCI has had very good video and audio. Well worth the extra few $$ if you're a fan of the genre.