There's no Hitler and no Holocaust, no winter and no Santa Claus

I just recently got back from the Dresden Dolls show at the TLA in Philadelphia. Doors were supposedly at 9, but I got there only a few minutes after 9 (after taking a while to find a space in the parking garage), and quite a few people had already gone in. I went up to the balcony to try to find a seat, but none were available. I stayed up there for the opening act, the Red Paintings. My initial thought about them was just that they were loud, but they kind of grew on me after a while. They weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. They had one song where they referenced the "Do cats eat bats?" bit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but Alice references aren't necessarily a ticket to instant coolness. If they were, I'd have to like that stupid Jefferson Airplane song. :P Oh, and the Red Paintings didn't have the film backdrop that revme mentioned seeing, but they DID have some people on stage with them painting abstract pictures.

During the intermission, I went downstairs to the merchandise table, where I bought a copy of A Is For Accident and a set of two posters. I just stayed down there after that, since there was no point in going back to the balcony when there were no seats. Quite a few people in the audience were dressed in costumes, which was kind of cool. Anyway, after a while, we were introduced to Titler, a novelty musician wearing a Hitler mustache and a tank top. He did four short songs, the most memorable of which was about how Jesus never existed. I'm glad his set was short, because it was the kind of thing that was funny in a small dose, but had the potential to get old fast. The MC (whose hair looked like a cross between Einstein's and Justin Guarini's) followed this up by playing something on a doctored flute with a microphone attached, and then brought out (not literally) the Dresden Dolls.

As much fun as it is to just listen to the Dolls' music, watching them perform it adds a lot to the experience. They're so full of energy and enthusiasm. The setlist included everything I had wanted to hear, plus more. A duo of dancers, whom I believe were collectively called Ladybird, accompanied them on "Gravity," "The Jeep Song," and "Mandy Goes To Med School." Also for "Jeep," the band brought a few people from the audience on stage to sing the backing vocals. All in all, it was a great show. I'd definitely recommend seeing the Dolls if they ever play in your neck of the woods.

Untold Horrors

I had a dream last night where, for some reason, I was voting for Senators or Representatives (not sure which, and it didn't really matter) in all these different states. In Texas, the Republican candidate was running unopposed, and I considered writing in the name of one of my Texan LJ friends. There was also another dream that somehow involved seeing Jian Ghomeshi (formerly of Moxy Früvous) in concert, but I don't remember anything else that happened.

bethje and I have recently watched three Stephen King films: Misery, Christine, and Cat's Eye. Misery was easily my favorite of the three, primarily due to Kathy Bates's uncanny ability to play a batshit crazy character. But I also liked the old sheriff and his wife, who constantly baited each other yet still were able to work together when it counted. Sounds kind of sappy when I put it that way, doesn't it? {g} Christine was pretty ridiculous. As far as stories about evil cars go, I prefer the Futurama episode where Bender turns into a were-car. As for Cat's Eye, I'll definitely give them credit for coming up with three quite different stories. (Hmm, is this where the yearly tradition of three Simpsons Halloween stories comes from? Considering that regular Simpsons episodes are always in three acts, probably not. Still, the similarity is interesting.) I couldn't help being somewhat bothered by the fact that the second segment (the one with the guy walking on the ledge) is supposed to take place in Atlantic City, but it looks all wrong. The cat crosses a street that's a whole bunch of lanes wide, and where the traffic never stops, which is in front of a casino. Most of the Atlantic City casinos are on Pacific Avenue, which is only four lanes wide and has a lot of stoplights. Some casinos are located elsewhere in town, but I don't think any of them are next to a street anything like that one. Am I just a nitpicker, or are any of the rest of you bothered by misrepresentations of places that you've been? I remember hearing that my grandmother didn't like how Pocahontas showed mountains in Jamestown.

We also watched Friday the 13th Part 6, and I can say that the series definitely improved over time, even if Jason's resurrection was kind of hokey. They never really have characters you care about, though. It's always a bunch of horny teens and assorted other people who are in the woods for whatever reason, and their sole purpose is to be slaughtered by Jason. I have to wonder why the camp is still open after all those mass murders. If nothing else, the insurance rates for the place would have to be incredibly high. This was the first movie in the series where there were a lot of kids, but they were careful not to have Jason hurt any of them.

( Halloween party meme )