Badmovies.org Forum

Brother Ragnoraks reappearance got me thinking about some of the other members here that have dropped off in the last few years.

John L comes to mind because of the bad circumstances he found himself in. He was unemployed, his parents had died and he was left to take care of a business (a bar I think) his father owned. Evidently they had nothing to leave him. I know he was quite depressed and didn't know how to proceed, but a lot of folks here offered him sound advice.

Just wonder how he made out, you know.

I notice that Flangepart doesn't make many appearances anymore. I always enjoy his comments. On the old board I would always see that he was on a public library computer in Ohio (I think).


Is there anyone you miss?

I had also thought about this lately (before Brother R stopped by), but I guess part of that is that I have seen people come and go over the years. 

JohnL came to mind too, definitely because the last we heard from him he was very upset.

Chadzilla too, but I know he is alive and well - just posting elsewhere.  I know that he frequents SciFilm's board.

Flange can tend to wax and wane, but I am always happy to see him.  You can feel the love for the movies that he writes about and I enjoy talking to other people who feel that way.

AndyC has been away for a few months now.  I had even sent him an email, but did not receive a reply.

Abby, who ran WilliamGirdler.com, has been MIA for a while now.  She had gotten married last I knew, so her life could have changed a lot.  Her site is still a great place to visit, but I cannot find anything new and the forums have been down for a long time.

It has been some time since I saw Deej, Chopper, Fearless Freep, Dunners, or Mr. Henry.

One of the real old timers I thought about lately was Squishy.  He was a troublemaker like Menard  :tongueout: but often had interesting things to say about the movies he watched.  He obviously kept his brain on while viewing even the worst crud, something I cannot say that I do all the time.

For the most part, I hope that those missing are doing well and just busy or interested in other things these days.

I too often wonder what happened to JohnL.  He checked in a few weeks after the events happened.  Haven't seen him since.

I always enjoyed Flange's posts as well, but as Andrew said, he comes and goes.

Chopper hasn't been around lately as Andrew mentioned.  I talked to him quite a bit on YahooIM over the past few years.  He was in the military down in Georgia then.  Last time I talked to him, he had gotten out and had moved to Seattle to go to film school.  Might see his name attached to a film someday. 

I've wondered what happened to Mr. Henry as well.  I won a bunch of kick ass stuff from a contest he was doing on his site a few years ago.  The site has since been shutdown and it's been well over a year since he's been here.

But, for every member that gets lost, we always have one signing up.   :smile:

Andrew pretty much put up all the people that I know where missing.

Deej I remember he was a police officer. Hope nothing happened to him.

JohnL I always think about because of what was happening to him.

AndyC did post a couple of months ago I think.

This thread got me thinking about some old boards I posted in...and left for one reason or another...Monsters at Play was the very first site I posted in,and I tried to stop by and say hello,but couldn't get in. I dropped out cuz it got hacked...and I'm not even sure if it ever really came back.
Also was a breif member of In the Balcony...forgot my password,and got bored with it.
Still a member of BMMB, and posted to say hi just a few minutes ago,but I guess I just like this board...kinda homey... :lookingup:

I've signed up for a lot of boards and then never posted enough and got knocked off.

Badmovies and SciFilm are the only two I post on and I don't post at SciFilm very much. They have a different take on things there (not a bad thing) and don't seem to be as addicted as some of us here are.

I know when the Badmovies board goes down there are a few of that just about have seizures.

This has to be one of the friendliest boards on the net. People respect others opinions and don't start flame wars, but when one starts it gets put out quick.

I suspect the biggest problem at Scifilm is that we've been the same group mostly so long that we've simply begun to run out of things to talk about (and we've perhaps started repeating ourselves a bit over the years). Also there's a bunch of individuals there that really don't care for any of today's output at all and only care to discuss the classics and there's another group actively interested and excited about today's output whereas others couldn't care less and choose to live wholly in the past. Also the board has taken on more a review nature with everyone seemingly too busy to spend much time on the board nowadays. That and it's such an odd mixture of folks from other boards with people migrating from the IMDB, Sinister Cinema and elsewheres.  I don't know for certain what's happened. I just know I don't have the energy for posting myself that I one time had. I still expect someday for there to be another truly great, inspired discussion thread or two on there...I know we have the folks capable of pulling that off, if only they'd strike up a common interest or two.

There are a lot of highly knowledgeable folks on the Scifilm board, but Jase you are correct about the clicks over there. I have been misinterpreted over there before and got jumped on pretty quick. So now I basically scan the new posts and only post on what I consider safe topics.

Like I said though, there are a lot of highly knowledgeable folks there and you can learn a lot reading their posts and the various reviews.

I've not a bad word to say about anyone who posts at Scifilm. Most of the disagreements over there are simply the result of misunderstandings. I've known most of the regulars over there for years now and from both boards I mentioned above too. They are all friends to me but like a lot of friends, they're just never going to all be able to relate to one another and see eye to eye. Some folks, who in fact are sometimes very much alike in many ways and in terms of interests even,  just do not seem to be able to communicate sometimes.  As weird as that is, it's also a reality. Me and Chadzilla have frequently been on opposite sides of the fence but I love how he's always able to back up his viewpoints and I respect his opinions a great deal.  I have to say sometimes he's exposed my own prejudices, some I was even aware of and I have to acknowledge him for sometimes opening my eyes to possibilities I'd not seen before. Getting back to missing posters, Chadzilla also has his own Blog that can be found here: http://www.chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/ (http://www.chadwickhsaxelid.typepad.com/)

Deej was one of the, if I can get the name right, Federal Protection Service if I remember correctly.  He could well be over in Iraq, manning a checkpoint.  I also hope he is safe and well.

I do not know if I have ever noticed any clicks on the Scifilm board (in terms of social).  I do not post, but do a lot of reading over there.  The board definitely has some groups that chat based on common interests.  Not a bad thing, because someone who wants to chat about motorcycles would probably not find very much new information about motorcycles from a person who runs a marathon every week.

The idea of clicks always worries me.  Just because someone is a new poster on any forum is not a reason for their opinion to be ignored.  It just means that they had not found the community before.  When I go to a new board and feel like I am on probation for being new, I wonder if I should be there in the first place.

On here, I am always happy to argue over one point or another, especially when someone brings up an idea that I do not agree with, but cannot find a fault in their supporting argument.  A few times I have been pretty well smacked around and shown the error of my ways, both on the boards and via an email due to something on the boards.  Live and learn, so I always try to come away with something new and good from the experience.  I am human, sometimes I am going to be wrong.  What I can do right is see when I am wrong and try to learn.

More than anything, I enjoy chatting with people who also love movies and who understand that everyone will have an opinion.  If I say "The Trial of Billy Jack" is terrible, but another person says that they loved it - neither of us is wrong.  For each of us the movie worked differently.  It struck the right chords for the other person, but it kept hitting the bad synapses for me.  If the other person lays out why they liked it and why it is true to them, I appreciate that.  Resorting to, "You are a stupid person for not loving this movie." is just plain narrow-minded.

Maybe that is one of the great things about talking (and arguing) over movies.  Not only is neither side right nor wrong, but neither view can result in children going without food or the suffering or death of anyone else.  If only more of life were that way.

I love it when the two sided discussions over films get going. Those usually make for good reading. One sided arguments are kind of boring overall.  I don't really believe there are cliques over at Scifilm, it's just some of us have know each other so long it's bound to seem that way to some newcomers.  I will admit sometimes I get emotional myself (especially as it concerns alterations to film classics and classic TV) and perhaps have been guilty of objecting to the opposing viewpoints of some visitors a little more than I should have, them being newcomers in some cases,  but I never ever meant anything personal by it. 

Yeah, everynow and then some pop there heads in.  I did remember seeing Chadzilla's name pop up everynow and then but I could be going a bit crazy.  Flangepart and Fearless Freep seem to pop their head in occassionally as well, though maybe not as much as they used to.

Didn't AndyC move house, quit a job and have a kid?  I also remember him mentioning something about not posting as much due to a few different reasons.  I still would like to hear more about his homemade arcade machine...  I so wanted to do something like that...

As for JohnL, well I do wonder about that everynow and then.

Burgomaster, didn't you change your screen name from someone else to your current one?  I seem to remember a vague change like that, and I had the thought that it was a name change from John [or similar] to Burgo.  Could be wrong though... I just remember it after a small period of trawling through some of the older posts a while back...

Anyways, on the flipside of older board members, new members always pop in, and the ones who are idiotic good enough to stick with us, have been an invaluable asset of entertainment and interesting conversations, even if I don't usually have the time to participate/read them all.

Remember J.R.?
He was the guy who had leukemia.
I found this old post that I wrote almost 4 years ago asking about him...
http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,33484.msg33484.html#msg33484


JohnL's abrupt departure was quite disturbing.
I think that's why so many regulars here seem to remember him.

Part of me wishes that he got his life together and is living a happy life.
Another part of me pictures him totally despondent after the death of his parents and committing suicide.
(I wonder if any of you had thought the same thing?)

That's the thing....none of us here knows if the guy is even still alive.   :question:

I wonder about him from time to time and hope he's doing well for himself.

Although Squishy the Squid was before I joined the board, I did once write a limerick about him:


There once was a regular poster here named Squishy the Squid
He needled people here and once made me feel like an aphid
Not that he was related to ants
But it felt like a kick in the pants
And now I can't even remember what it was like being a hominid



The one who always comes to mind for me, as for everyone else who remembers the tragic post, is JohnL. JohnL was always one of those who seemed to get along with about everybody (probably even Dunners) and enjoyed himself in his posts. The tragic events of that one week (I keep retyping this sentence and I really cannot find a way to describe it; it was that devastating).

I keep hoping JohnL will some day come back onto the board. I don't think a single one of us who remember him can go without thinking of him from time to time and wishing the very best for him.

Tragedy will  have long lasting effects beyond the initial loss and can take a long time to overcome.

After the sudden death of my mother, I was in the position of having to pay for her funeral and debts, while the family (who always seemd to have something to b***h about before) became quite silent in response to pleas for help. I lost my home as a result.

The family member who was appointed as executor of the estate misappropriated the remaining funds in the estate (it was only a few thousand dollars, but it would have helped). Misappropriating the funds was not good enough, though, as in order to live with them, they wanted me to cough up more money. I ended up staying in the house I sold, which was converted into a warehouse for storage, and exchanging web design for a place to stay and a vehicle to borrow (he would probably let me stay anyway, but I want to do something for him in return).

I should have expected, in my case, being that nobody in my family wanted to step up to the plate when my mother needed help and I ended up taking care of her as her Parkinson's worsened, that they would not be any different after her death than before her death.

Life after a tragedy, especially when you lose everything, can become quite dark. Deep depression sets in and you either can give in to it not (and that is not necessarily your choice); of course, it can just pass as well because one's mood is just simply that sensitive that one thing can set you into a depression and another can lift your spirits, and it can be that flighty.

JohnL's own tragedy had to be even more devastating; he lost both of his parents within the frame of a week. I hope that his family was at least more supportive than mine was.

It is difficult, and understandably so, for someone not to understand the place someone is after a devastating tragedy; and, quite frankly, I hope they never have to.

There is no telling what has happened to JohnL. He has been through a devastating tragedy and it is not going to end tomorrow. He could have pulled himself out of it financially, but the emotional turmoil would take even longer to deal with. He may well be trying to find a place to lay his head from night to night. Something even more tragic may have been the result, but it is not something which can be summed up in a simple statement, and, even if it did happen, the dark despair which leads someone to that path is something which is truly painful and cannot be cast off as a sign of a weak spirit; as anybody who does has simply never been in a place that dark.

Deej was one of my favorites. He introduced a few Erol Flynn films that I hadn't heard of and then I managed to find and watch them. Saw all the significant Flynn films due to Deej's imput.

I think about JohnL from time to time also. he was always a decent guy and I felt so bad for him when he told us all that was going on. I wished we could do something for him somehow.

I am glad that you were able to recover as well as you have menard. I was worried about you too when you told us what was going on. I expected you to disappear as JohnL did. I am glad you are here.

Interesting discussion, and I read with curiosity the comments regarding Scifilm's board (and beg Andrew's forgiveness for reviving this derailment of his thread).

Through natural evolution Scifilm's board discussion tends to be a more serious and almost academic in it's approach to film than most boards (even treating some of the worst schlock with respect...and occasionally even reverence--sheesh!).  It's both a weakness and a strength that the regulars there represent a wide diversity in interests with a lot of specialization.  (Nobody knows more about silent SF movies than Steve Joyce for example.)

Such specialization does tend to limit discussion to a degree, because so many films written about  are simply not available to the general viewing public.  There's an awesome thread going on right now on the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas series, but with only two posters (me and one other guy) because of their limited availability here in the states.

Like Jase said too, it's a small enough group that we've talked to death a lot of the commonalities (movies that everyone has seen) and now tend to pursue our own areas of interest, posting reviews about our discoveries.  I will say that some of the best movies I have ever seen have come to my attention based on the trusted ravings of someone on the board--movies that I would likely never have seen otherwise.

Message boards are interesting creatures.  They have personalities and life-cycles of their own, some longer than others.  Scifilm's has been a successful run regardless of what the future holds for it.  It is kind of cool that my very first two posters from 2001 when I launched the site (Andrew Kidd and Chadzilla -- Jase was an early arrival too) still drop in and post regularly. 

Of course, I still hang out here at Badmovies.org whenever I can, and I was a regular here before I conceived of launching my own site.  Andrew B is my virtual Godfather. :)

Yes that's absolutely true. Chadzilla and Andrew were on the Scifilm board well before I was. Andrew knew me from Space: The Imagination Station's board located at spacecast.com, the first board I ever posted on regularly on the net towards the end of the 1990s. Andrew told me first about Scifilm and eventually I wrote a couple of reviews for the site, got to know Gerry and the rest is history. The TV Files, a major project I currently work on for Gerry's site I never really imagined would grow as big as it eventually did when I started as I thought it would be just something I'd post every then and again, something different but inspired by Dave Sindelar's Musings/Movie of the Day nevertheless.  I used to check out badmovies.org before I ever came to Scifilm for its hilarious review section. I still love that section of this site a great deal although I try and avoid reading the reviews until I've seen the film in question (spoilers you know). I never even realized badmovies.org had a message board until years later although I did on occasion speak to Andrew B. when I posted on the IMDB boards and when that went downhill, I invited Classic Camp, Dr. Mality, telegonus, IronWolfe, clore and a few others to migrate over to Scifilm. At the same time almost, Sinister Cinema's board was having troubles and many posters from there became Scifilm regulars too as well as some of those I invited from the Spacecast board. It's amazing the divergence and differences between all those folks (all of whom had more in common that many still realize to this day) and possibly I'm likely the one most responsible for putting a large part of that melting pot all together.  Still it produced a lot of memorable moments and many great threads and discussions even if some folks would eventually clash against each other enough that some now seem to unfortunately be former friends of mine.

Gerry knows his site very well. Yes many posters there take their films extremely serious, some perhaps a little too serious, some just plain stubborn and set in their ways... Some I've known to absolutely despise the very idea of people talking about, completely totally unwilling to look at or even discuss the possibility anything from the late 70s on could be any good?! But regardless Gerry tried his best to keep things civil and in the face of that, I know not how he did as well as he did.  Still it's great to see posters on the site who do give the site a bit of the old energy it used to have like the poster with whom Gerry's discussing the BBC ghost stories.

Now back to your regularly scheduled badmovies "missing posters" discussion. I apologize if I've highjacked this thread.

Yeah, I said awhile back that I regretted rising to Squishy's bait and calling him names -- He was, indeed, interesting --
The guy I miss the most -- unless I'm just not reading where he's posting/maybe he's still here & I just don't see him, is Vermin.
Vermin had a band called Demons of Stupidity, and, for a young guy, had a depth of knowledge on strange music and even stranger movies that I just got the biggest kick out of.
Real bright guy -- Anyone seen Vermin?
peter johnson/denny crane

Susan's another one we haven't heard from in a long time.  IIRC, she was having some trouble with a coworker/stalker right before she quit posting.  I've always hoped that things worked out for her.

BlackAngel was another one -- I think he was a subway conductor in NY, and was in line to possibly go to Iraq at some point.

Are you calling me fat?


It has been a good six months since Vermin posted, but he last used his account in November.  He definitely is missed, because I can remember that he always had something interesting to say - be it an opinion or straight information.


Susan was around pretty recently, within the last month.  She had posted in the thread about "The Descent."  I know she was working on moving apartments.

Uh...does this mean I'm going to find a horse's head in my bed?

That's an awful lot of meat to saw through.  Do you have something smaller around the house, like a cat or hamster?

Children...

Hmm, has anyone borught up LH-C yet?

I have a vague memory of AndyC gettinga  new job and moving to some small town in the great white north.  Or is that someone else?  He also wrote telling us about NORAD a few months ago.
-Ed

Yeah, I remember the photo he posted of his new backyard, which was a very picturesque view.

You know, I have not seen Daveblackeye around lately, either.  He used to live in the town where I work, but I don't know if he finished school or not.   
-Ed

Daveblackeye has been around.  Looking at his profile, he was here today and posted.  He might just be posting in threads you are not following.

Am I going to have to do another Dave tribute...hmmm?

I think we all remember his last tribute (http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,91060.0.html). :teddyr:

Your avatar suits you well, Menard.   Grinning teeth in darkness.

(just shut up about my avatar you Tolkein unsophisticate.  Er, Peter Jackson unsophisticate.)

Andrew, what is your avatar?   

I've read some Tolkien, but I don't recall any mention about vaginas. :tongueout:

My avatar is an Orz, from the "Star Control 2" game.  They tended to speak in ways that hurt your head (it was on the 3DO and the aliens actually spoke out loud):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orz_(Star_Control)

(http://www.badmovies.org/common/forum/beware_menard-ic.gif)

ADDED:  I should mention that Trekgeezer's current quote, under his avatar, made me laugh Jack Daniels out of my nose the first time I saw it.  Sometimes, the board can cause serious pain to those who are not prepared.

There are times when your reviews, Andrew, remind me of Dr. Demento's infamous Sixty Second Audio Torture Chamber.

I'm sure there are a few here who know what I'm talking about.

Except that for Andrew, sixty seconds isn't enough.   Noooooooooo.   A Marine can take sixty, nay, maybe 88 minutes!   Sometimes longer!  (But usually probably fewer than 90 minutes) and with visual torture added, too!

The Orgs talk in an annoying way because their voices are awful?  Or do they use really entertaining Engrish?  (ie, For greate justice remove every zig.)