Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter

Bad Movie Night has hit an all-time high. Or low, depending on your point of view. The former champion, Dead Meat, (remember the Irish Cow Zombies?) has been supplanted by Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.

The plot outline says it all. It's a kung-fu action/comedy/horror/musical about the Second Coming. Vampires have invaded in waves, having discovered that by wearing the skins of dead lesbians, they can walk in the daylight. Why lesbians? Apparently, nobody will miss them – they're deviants, says the master vampire. Fortunately, he's wrong, wrong wrong, for for local urban priesthood summons up the big JC and off we go on a wild chase filled with such memorable scenes as The Big Song and Dance Number (watch for the skateboard), The How Many Bad Guys Can Fit in a Jeep Wrangler? and the show-stopping fight between Our Hero and the evil skin-harvesting surgeon, with an intestinal tract used in a way I'd never thought of before…… Words cannot describe.

Suffice it to say, the world is made safe, love of all sorts is found, lesbian, gay, straight and bi and the bad guys bite the dust.

But there's no doubt about it. This thing is awful. The fight scenes have some of the worst martial arts since Roger Moore in The man With the Golden Gun, the dialogue is……expositive, and the there's enough plot holes to drive a great big truck through.

Best line: Jesus: "Ïf I'm not back in five minutes, call the Pope."

None of this matters. It's what makes the film so enjoyable. To really get anything out of a movie like this, you have to be willing to sink down to its level, embrace its mythos and worldview wholeheartedly and allow yourself to be immersed in the experience, until your toes get all squidgy.

It was the most fun I'd had in ages. Well, almost.

Undoubtedly, the best part of the whole schmozzle was the fact that this baby's CANADIAN. Got a government grant too. Filmed right in Ottawa.

Topping this one is going to be tough. I have hopes for Robo Vampire, though.

MU

Just about everyone in the Newfoundland blogosphere's jumped on Memorial University's name change. Owen's Mom, SkylarkD, Cove Blogger, Townie Bastard and Sure B'y have all had great and true things to say.  I particularly agree with Vicky's opinions on the subject, and that's not just because I'm married to her.  I had a wonderful time at MUN, exploring new ideas, meeting new people, starting karate and getting a damn good education into the bargain.  MUN is a good school and I don't understand why they have to re-invent themselves……

But that's really beside the point.  The true puzzle is why they've chosen MU as an abbreiviation.  In Japanese, the word means "nothingness" or "emptiness".  In Zen Buddhism, mu is essentially the state of enlightenment, of total acceptance of the world as it is, uncluttered by our own prejudgments of such concepts as good and evil, right and wrong, me and thee.  There's a neat little explanation here.  

Disclaimer.  I'm not a Japanese speaker, Zen expert, or anything else authoritative.  Feel free to correct me……..

Now, it's all well and good to say that an education at MU will get you enlightenment.  Take away the Zen connection though (not all that strong at MUN anyway), and you're left with a university aggressively promoting itself as being chock full of nuthin'.

Sounds rather like that situation some years ago in which an automaker was puzzled why the sales of its "Nova" model were so poor in Mexico and South America.   Someone eventually pointed out that in Spanish, "no va" pretty much means "it doesn't go."

Hmm.