Cameron H.

Great episode! I love the new addition and all the info/plot/purpose she laid down. Dan, I imagine you and Blaine put a lot of effort in creating the right mix of back story and exposition. It was well done and you should both be commended. Is her name Nausicaa? As in Miyazaki? It doesn't really matter, except to say she is immediately awesome! It sounds like you are really enjoying role playing her and I could hear the enthusiasm in Brian's voice when you introduced her to the party. I feel like her addition will really inject some (more) fun to both the campaign and podcast. Looking forward to next week!

1) Totally agree! And since you brought it up...what was the deal with the slamming open of the door? The fact that the door was stuck and wouldn't open was kind of a mini-runner throughout the movie, but for the life of me I could not figure out what it was supposed to symbolize. This is a movie where they use "Fresh Start" primer for Christ's sake, so we're not exactly starting from a place of subtlety. I refuse to believe that this movie is smarter than me! I mean, I'm certainly not an expert, but I would guess that in most works of art, an open door would symbolize something optimistic, yet in this movie the opening of a door is shot like it's a portent of doom. I guess it's just another case where the writer zigs when you think he's going to zag... 2) I'm on board with you on this one as well, Lollibotomy! Every time a person gently caresses a person's face in a movie I feel like someone should shout out, "Hey, those are freckles, not braille! Get your clammy fingers off of my face!" I mean, there's nothing wrong with slow sex, like most people I enjoy sex in all its wonderful varieties, but put some passion behind it dammit! A little bit of hustle never hurt anyone. If the director were to say that neither of the actors had been available for shooting that day and that they merely created the illusion of sex using a couple of mannequins, fishing line, and a system of pulleys, I would not be the least bit surprised.

Dear Katie (or is it Erin? Have you settled on one yet?), Where do you get off?? I’m dead for fuck’s sake! Do you really think I have time to deal with this bullshit? For that matter, do you know what postage is beyond the Veil? Of course you don’t, because you’re still alive—having slow, passionless sex with my husband. But, since you took the time and effort to slaughter a baby goat under a blood red moon to get your letter to me, I feel compelled to address some of the complaints you have brought to my attention… First of all, of course he is going to go for you! What exactly are his options? He lives in Bum Fuck, South Carolina. It was either your scrawny, milquetoast ass or one of his cousins. You simply meet the minimum criteria of possessing a vagina and not being blood related. Good for you! Secondly, I’m not sexist for only writing her a letter for when she gets married, I’m a pragmatist. Did you see the drawing my daughter made? Fucking garbage! Do you really think she’s going to be going to college? She doesn’t have a lick of talent. Why do you think Alex has her working full time at the store? That isn’t out of convenience; he’s teaching her a trade. Working at that store is her past, present, and future. Getting married to one of the hillbilly yokels in that stupid town is the only thing she has going for her. And, since I am now dead and feel compelled to be completely honest, I never really liked her that much anyway. Did you see her in the picture I enclosed with my previous letter? I didn’t think so. Anyway, I hope this letter has answered you concerns satisfactorily. Hope to see you soon! Jo

Nope. That's pretty much perfect.

To be fair, the fire in the movie is pretty selective. I'm sure they could find a work around. Safe Haven 2: Dangerous Asylum

That's interesting, however I still don't think they got it quite right. In my opinion, it would be better if the wife stays dead, but in order to get the Waldenburg fortune they have to stay one night in a haunted house. I think this would better set up the horror movie sequel they obviously intended.

Dear “Her,” Hi, you don’t know me, but I am the dead wife of the man you are currently banging. I would like to say that my purpose for writing this is out of some altruistic feeling for my husband, but nothing could be further from the truth. I just felt the need to introduce myself as I am the specter and shadow you will be living under for the rest of your life. You see, although I may be gone, the love my husband felt for me will never fade and no matter what you say, feel, or do I will forever be the benchmark he secretly holds you against. Now, you may think you’re something special, but let me ask you this: has he already taken you backward canoeing? Did it end up raining even though he insisted the weather report didn’t call for it? Have you discussed the eating habits of gorillas? Have you eaten dinner at that tackle shop where if you’re there passed closing they will just lock you in, check unpaid? Once you realized the staff had left for the evening, did you tango through the store? These are all classic Alex “moves.” You are not unique. You are merely the death rattle of my husband’s fading libido. So, congratulations! You have earned the silver medal in the race for my husband’s affections, and I really just want you to remember one thing: When you wake up warm and cozy next to him tomorrow, the day after that, and for however long the charade of your “love” lasts, if I hadn’t died from this bullshit cancer, you would not be there. You’re only there because I can’t be. In closing, I just want you to know that I have been studying the Dark Arts from the moment I was diagnosed with this disease, and if my Black Magicks are successful you will most definitely be meeting me in the future. Yours spitefully, Jo P.S. I am enclosing this picture of myself just to rub it in your face more. That’s right. I look like Cobie goddamn Smulders! P.P.S Boo!

I assume so...I doubt it was his kids' or his dead wife's cassette. I took his negativity as him being coy about admitting that he fucking LOVES Slayer. Kind of like when you are into something and really want to geek out on it, but you're not sure how the person you are with will react. "It's either Mark Twain or we can listen to Slayer...I mean, we got Slayer here, if you want...I'm good either way. Just want you to be aware, we got Slayer on deck if requested...I don't really listen to them, but if YOU want to listen to them, I guess that'd be cool..." I mean, it's either that or the people who made this are terrible writers...Oh, wait a minute...shit.

I did just want to mention that if any of us are ever so fortunate to get a ride home with Alex we should be prepared to have exactly two options for our listening pleasure: the complete works of Mark Twain on tape or thrash metal band Slayer. No "in between" will be offered, nor will any alternate suggestions be entertained. Turning on the radio, sitting in companionable silence, taking the opportunity to flirt or otherwise get to know one another will absolutely not be allowed. These are the immutable laws of Alex's truck. If you don't like them then you can just go ahead and lug your paint cans all the way home with your noodlearms.

That's right Quasar! Although I don't think any of us could be cooler...

That gave me a genuine laugh as well Maximiliano. He asks the guy at the bus depot, "Where can you go from Atlanta" and the guy says, "Anywhere." But this is not enough for our intrepid pursuer. Oh no, he has to go back to the station, pull up MapQuest or some shit, just so he can get a visual representation of what "anywhere" in America might look like. I feel like he should have taken a swig from his Aquafina bottle and said something like, "Wow, America is a lot bigger than I thought..."

Okay, let's talk about the apparent ineptitude of small town cops as portrayed in this movie. The Sheriff of this podunk town, despite having numerous face to face interactions with this strange and pretty drifter who has set up shop in the crazy meth lab deep in the woods, does not recognize Katie from the wanted poster has he hung down at the station. As I stated in a previous post, even people who have had fleeting glances of her from across a busy bus station are able to do that. Fuck, he watches his friend basically get to second base with her against a tree, so you know he knows what she looks like. Yet, no bells are rung. His bells are silent. However, what is horrendous, is earlier in the film when Katie is at the General Store and a bus load of people come in to use the bathroom. She is trying to remain inconspicuous and ends up by the front window of the store. The Sheriff and another cop look at her and give her a nod of acknowledgement, before walking, I don't know, two feet out of frame. Immediately after they clear the shot, Alex's son, who is on the boat maybe ten feet behind them, slips, cracks his head on the boat, and falls into the water. And these two gentlemen, sworn to protect and serve their community, do absolutely nothing! They are easily the closest people to go and help this kid who could very well be unconscious and drowning, yet they don't make a single move to save his life. Nice work, fellas...

Did anyone else find it odd that despite how "spooked" and on edge Katie gets she never takes basic precautions to secure her home? I can't remember how she wakes up the first time, but it is when she falls through the floor and sees the opossum. When she gets up to investigate, she needs to shut her window which is wide fucking open! Also, something like 90% of opossums are rabid, but she doesn't feel the need to cover the gaping hole in her floor immediately? In the very next scene, she is at her kitchen table which has a little throw rug beneath it. Now I don't expect her to do massive home improvement stuff in the middle of the night, but why not cover the hole in the floor with the rug and secure it with the table? I know I can't speak for everyone, but I don't want any of those pink eyed monsters getting into my house. The second time she is woken up is when Alex drops off the bicycle. She hears him outside, she runs to the front door, and then has to lock it! What the heck? Look, I have never been chased by either an abusive lover or the police, but I am pretty sure that if I ever am my shit is going to be on lock down: windows shut, doors locked (with maybe even a piece of furniture to barricade the door), lights out. In fact, I live in a pretty safe community and I don't go to bed at night without locking up.

Yeah, they had to know because his boss (the chief I assume) is the one who calls him out on the phony murder charge and says that it's his wife. It's the Tyler Perry thing again. Being an alcoholic has turned him into a MONSTER! He is sweating so much it is hilarious, like clear through two or three shirts. My thought was that either he has the worst case of hyperhidrosis I have ever heard of or he is some kind of sentient snowman melting in the summer heat.

Great point Robozebra, and you are absolutely correct, but what about this? How does he know to look on the surveillance camera for someone with short, blond hair? Oh, he only thrusts her photo in every one's face he crashes into at a very busy, Boston bus terminal. At which point some rando says something to the effect of, "Oh yeah, I've seen her. Doesn't she have short, blond hair though?" Okay, we can take this one of two ways, either this dude at the bus depot either has a hyper developed photographic memory, or he is the perviest guy on Earth, which--as this is a bus station in the middle of the night--is probably the most likely. As far as we know she has had no contact with anyone at the bus station aside from the ticket taker and even he can't identify her or provide that level of detail. Yet, somehow this weird skeezeball has not only committed her face to memory, but has done so to a such a degree that he can intuit what she would look like with a different hair color and style. Barf! Hell, I run into people all the time that I know, who look just as they always have, and still don't recognize them until my memory is jogged. There's no way I could do it after a brief flash of a picture of someone I don't know.

First of all, I would like to say I did like this movie. What I appreciated was, unlike Zardoz, the insanity was more subtle, but once you started to pull at a thread the whole movie just unravels. For instance.............................................. I am glad they brought up the fact that in the book Katie/Erin thinks she has killed her husband, because that is how I took the first half of the movie. I knew that the cop had to be her husband, but I felt she thought she had killed him and that was why she was on the run. So when Alex confronts her and holds up the wanted poster, logically, her response should have been, "Yes, I killed him. He was beating me. It was an accident." Instead,the movie makes the bold choice for her reaction to be, "Yeah, I've been running from him. That sign is fake." So....whoa, wait a minute! She knows she didn't kill him?? If that's the case, then as soon as Alex shows her that sign, her reaction should have been to snatch that piece of paper out of his hand and demand that she be taken directly to his friend the Sheriff's office. Once there she could easily explain what happened. How? For starters, she could explain that no one is dead. There is no body. There has not been a murder! I am pretty sure she could have him arrested for filing a false APB on her and sued his entire precinct. This is what he gets fired for! His own boss would testify on her behalf. She is not going to go on trial for a fake murder. It's not even like she would have to go back to Boston, she could have done all this without ever having to be face to face with her crazy ass husband ever again. P.S. Why does Jason keep implying that the forums are some kind of inhospitable Thunderdome? Does shit get crazy when I'm not around? I have been posting on the forums since July, and aside for one very brief instance, I don't recall anyone on here to be anything other than friendly, funny, and welcoming. Sure there have been some debates, but I always took them to be in good fun and never once have I seen it get personal. Compared to the rest of the Internet, I'd say that the HDTGM forums are our own...Safe Haven.

Yeah, I think they mention that on one of the Cracked podcasts. It might be the one on "Parallel Thinking," but I can't remember. The only thing I can think of is that 1995 would have been the 20th anniversary of Jaws so maybe a couple of movie executives saw an article about that and thought, "Hey, let's make Jaws for the new millennium!" They then somehow forgot that Jaws is a great movie, and got all nineties with it. To me, Deep Blue Sea and Lake Placid are the Liefield era X-Force to Jaws' Claremont/Byrne era X-Men.

That's a good question PlanB... I am pretty good about turning off my brain and just enjoying something stupid, but there is that next level that I simply can't enjoy. There are movie's that are "bad", which is to say they don't really hold up to scrutiny (i.e. Jurassic Park movies, Star Wars, etc), but pointing out the flaws in them is half the fun of watching/re-watching them. Usually, these are the types of movies that blow you away on the first viewing, but on subsequent viewings you see all of the logical flaws, the bad acting, whatever. That initial feeling of joy carries you through and just grows every time you watch one of them. Then, on the other hand, there are movies like the aforementioned Transformer movies and, more recently for me, the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Look, I understand with TMNT we are starting from a place of ridiculousness so my brain has already been firmly left at the door, but that movie was so aggressively obnoxious that, by the end of it, I was legitimately angry. So, I think for me, the difference between the two types of movies is that if a movie is made with care, but fails on a logical level, that is a "good bad" movie, but if a movie is made as an obvious cash grab or otherwise not from a place of pure intention, but still maintains all the flaws of a "good bad" movie, then that becomes a "bad bad" movie. Does that make sense?

Since I imagine it will come up... I can't wait to hear June's take on the eating habits of gorillas, the strongest primates on the planet...I mean, they eat kale??? That's ludicrous! In fact, I hope Kate and Alex's whole dinner date conversation is thoroughly vetted for veracity.

Bravo, Safe Haven, bravo!

Great episode! I always enjoy Rick's shenanigans. I feel like he brings a writer's mentality to the game. In other words, as long as he is at the table he is going to try to make shit happen. And whether or not you think what he does is awesome or dumb, he sure as Hell makes sure it is memorable. Then again...I could just be biased seeing how goddamn much I enjoy Black Science. Either way, Remender is always a welcome guest in my book.

What about this..? I don't know what their habits are when taking notes, if they write their notes pen to paper or electronically, or whether or not they keep them after recording (I'm guessing "no"), but what if they auctioned off their notes and donated the proceeds to the charity/charities of their choice? I believe Paul, based on The Sylvester Stallone Podcast, is at least somewhat involved with the LA Food Bank... It might even sweeten the pot if they all autographed it and--going forward--had their guest sign it as well. Obviously, I don't know how feasible this all is, but rather than just throwing their notes away after a show, it would be a way to raise money for a good cause and a neat piece esoterica to offer the fans. I don't know, if it's a good idea or not. Just a thought I had...

No words... This sucks. RIP Harris,you brought joy to a lot of people.

If we keep hacking away at this we may make sense of it yet.... I think Zardoz's plan with Connery was to not only make him genetically superior, but also intellectually superior to everyone else in the world. Having read an entire library of literature has made him the only person on Earth with truly free will and the ability to think critically. Zardoz knows that despite the Eternal's elevated caste position, they are still a bunch of sheeple. Basically, Zed has a degree in Liberal Arts is what I am saying. Zed sees that the world is a lie. He is now an intellectual barbarian, which I guess is what Boorman felt was the ideal man. In other words, humanity needs to always strive for knowledge, but also needs to embrace its barbaric animal side. So once Zed gets to the Vortex he thinks, "Yup, just as I thought, it's all bullshit," and destroys the Tabernacle (the church?) which grants the Eternals their immortality (the illusion of Heaven). Freed of this constraint, and finally embracing the pleasures of sex, the Eternals can now experience joy, pain, and the sweet release of death. For the first time in their lives, they are stripped of the security blanket of a guaranteed resurection and see death for the ineffable mystery that it is. I don't know why the Eternals can't just destroy the Tabernacle themselves, maybe it's out of fear, or maybe it's because they wouldn't just be committing suicide, but also murder. Maybe their moral code dictated that since destroying the Tabernacle would result in everyone's death, and since some may not actually want that, it was just something they wouldn't do or even think of doing. In any case, Zed had to be the catalyst and decide for them. Which, I guess, was Zardoz's plan from the jump... P.S. I just re-read all of that and I don't know if what I just said makes sense, but fuck it. I'll stand by it.

I am adding this as it was just released a couple of days ago and just seems too serendipitous to be coincidence: Unfortunately, this got me thinking about Zardoz again (Which is another reason I think June needs to say her piece on this film. I mean, you have to purge yourself of Zardoz or the seed of insanity this movie plants in your brain is just going to grow and grow). I know there are people on this forum who love this movie and people who really "get" it, so perhaps someone could enlighten me. If I am reading the end of this movie correctly it posits: stagnation is bad, impotency leads to stagnation, impotency is a result of denying yourself basic human imperatives (i.e. procreation); ergo, go have some babies, because in doing so, you are achieving the fundamental purpose of human existence and will therefore experience life's ultimate fulfillment. If this is correct, why did Boorman choose to end the film with a static shot of Zed and Consuella staring grim faced at the camera with a look that says, "What the fuck were we thinking? Having this child was the biggest mistake of our lives..?"