Saturday, December 16, 2006
Happy Holidays, Wilhelm!
For those of you not in the know, Chanukkah started last night and my parents got me an outstanding present: A year long subscription to Netflix. All the obscure movies I could possibly want without the annoying fees and deadlines of my local public library. ($1 to rent a movie for a day? Seriously? I could get a better deal at Blockbuster.) It's a very thoughtful gift and I definitely plan to take advantage of it soon. However, there's a small part of me that wonders if this gift is part of a subtle and cunning scheme to ensure that I do something other than work on grad school papers during the next month. If so, mission accomplished.
Receiving the gift of movies for the holiday also served to remind me that I have been utterly remiss in posting the annual movie quote contest on this blog, a situation that will be remedied shortly. However, I'm working on something special this year, and it may take longer than normal. Consequently, you'll have to amuse yourselves. And to that end, please enjoy this montage I found of that most ubiquitous of cinematic sound effects, the Wilhelm scream. I got a question on this at a pop culture tournament this year and my teammates were not familiar with it. (This was not helped by my attempt to imitate it...poorly.) Hopefully this video will help to clarify who Wilhelm was and why his scream remains important to film buffs today. So please, sit back and have fun. Oh, and stay tuned...the quote contest is coming soon to a blog near you. (For real this time.)
For those of you not in the know, Chanukkah started last night and my parents got me an outstanding present: A year long subscription to Netflix. All the obscure movies I could possibly want without the annoying fees and deadlines of my local public library. ($1 to rent a movie for a day? Seriously? I could get a better deal at Blockbuster.) It's a very thoughtful gift and I definitely plan to take advantage of it soon. However, there's a small part of me that wonders if this gift is part of a subtle and cunning scheme to ensure that I do something other than work on grad school papers during the next month. If so, mission accomplished.
Receiving the gift of movies for the holiday also served to remind me that I have been utterly remiss in posting the annual movie quote contest on this blog, a situation that will be remedied shortly. However, I'm working on something special this year, and it may take longer than normal. Consequently, you'll have to amuse yourselves. And to that end, please enjoy this montage I found of that most ubiquitous of cinematic sound effects, the Wilhelm scream. I got a question on this at a pop culture tournament this year and my teammates were not familiar with it. (This was not helped by my attempt to imitate it...poorly.) Hopefully this video will help to clarify who Wilhelm was and why his scream remains important to film buffs today. So please, sit back and have fun. Oh, and stay tuned...the quote contest is coming soon to a blog near you. (For real this time.)
