Pop culture interlude

Ace has a nice review of The Strangers. I especially liked this from the post:

Yes, as some point out in the comments, this is pretty much an 80 minute long commercial for owning a shotgun... and taking an NRA self-defense course so you don't do stupid things with it.

I was somewhat interested in the movie when it came out-- mostly because it claimed to be "based on real events." When that turned out to be the usual lying Hollywood hype, i took a pass.

I'm not a big fan of the slasher/serial killer horror genre. It's partly a matter of philosophy, part cultural inherence.

A college friend once summed up the moral of the Friday the 13th series as "you can't kill the boogie man." At the time that struck me as an accurate assessment which meant the movies were profoundly nihilistic.

The glorification of sadism is repugnant, and, in itself, is a deal-breaker. These movies also have little appeal because i find it impossible to identify with the victims and their contrived helplessness. The "plots" require too much suspension of belief for any student of Col. Jeff Cooper.

Can't kill the boogie man? Yes we can!

Now there is hope you can believe in.