What’s this now? A different version of The Shining? And it’s endorsed by Stephen King! How did you not know of this thing?
Well, long story short, Stephen King did not like the super-famous adaptation of his story by Stanley Kubrick. He didn’t like how Jack Nicolson played Jack Torrance, among other things. So Stephen wanted to remake the film the way he wanted it to be. And he wanted it filmed at the actual Stanley Hotel, which inspired the whole story. And how good was Stephen’s adaptation?
Well, you may already know the answer to that. Raise a hand, anybody who had heard of this film before now!
*lack of hands, except maybe for Ted
Well! Does this mean Stephen King’s The Shining is a bad film? No. It is not in any way a bad film, but it is a completely different look and feel from Kubrick’s version. I really hope you enjoy it. I will say that I found out about this film from the actual Stanley Hotel, which had VHS copies of the film for sale in the gift shop for years. Sadly, I never bought one. And it seems this film passed into obscurity. Until now! Tubi, rescuer of lost films, put it out for streaming. So here we are! A movie filmed at one of my favorite hotels (I stay there when I can, and usually do a better job to discussing the Stanley automotive company than the tour guides), endorsed by Stephen King himself, who mostly did the screenplay and supervised production.
This will follow the book closely, as you would expect. So even the screenplay and pacing will be quite different from the famous version by Kubrick. I hope you enjoy. This film is truly a rare pleasure, which I doubt any of you but Ted have seen.
So watch! Or don’t! Everything is voluntary! If you don’t like it, you can at least discuss the awesome topiaries on the property of the Stanley, or you can ask me about their most excellent bar. I might even show you all the pictures from my various visits.
Next week, I have a couple of options. What you all think of: Space Master X-7, which has a short cameo from Moe Howard or Mark of the Werebeard, a new movie which has shockingly good reviews. I won’t add too many more options because I am saving a list for collaboration with UnCivil.
4 hr 32 min??
Well, King himself once said he suffered from diarrhea of the word processor, so it makes sense he would make the move extra extra long.
Huh, regular diarrhea is usually over quickly, sometimes before I even make it to the bathroom.
Seriously?
It appears to be a mini-series.
Yes it was, but this one long movie.
Sorry, time doesn’t matter to space aliens. I forget this matters to you monkeys.
Gorgeous hotel, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
It used to be quite comfortable. All the people screwing around with ghosts has brought some bad stuff there.
“What you all think of: Space Master X-7, which has a short cameo from Moe Howard or Mark of the Werebeard, a new movie which has shockingly good reviews.”
I’d go with Space Master X-7, I just read it was a double feature with the original The Fly.
It seems like a really cool concept. Consider it done. I settled on a movie with. UnCivil for our crossover, but that may be a few weeks out.
Did we ever do The Fly? Or is it too “classic” for Thurs nights?
I can do it. Maybe a combo with Fly 1, 2 and the remake. Consider it added to the list.
A movie filmed at one of my favorite hotels (I stay there when I can, and usually do a better job to discussing the Stanley automotive company than the tour guides), endorsed by Stephen King himself, who mostly did the screenplay and supervised production.
This has potential. I won’t be able to stick around tonight to watch it. I’ll queue it up for later viewing.
Thanks RJ!
Was 1997 Stephen King still coked-up? If so, it may be decent.
I’m waiting on tits.
TV-14, but here you go:
https://www.aznude.com/view/movie/a/andgodcreatedwoman-11678.html
Fantastic question. My ignorant take: Clean. BUT, Clean King wanted to honorably represent Coked King’s vision in full. (Can’t leave anything out…)
Answer one: yes, he was still coked up.
Answer two: I really don’t think so. I can’t say I’ve watched the entire thing through either, but I’m gonna do it tonight.
Is that the guy from Airplane?
Robert Hays? Not him. Or did you mean someone else?
Yes, him.
According to the IMDb credits, Robert Hays isn’t in this.
I mean I meant Robert Hays, but that’s not the guy in this movie.
Its the guy from “Wings”
+ Crystal Bernard
Oh, yeah.
I read Thomas Haden Church runs 50 head of cattle by himself. Respect.
Close. Steven Weber did the series Wings right before this.
Stanley Hotel. I bet they have nice cups. Also from Stanley Hotel’s wiki: “Frozen Dead Guy: In August 2023, Colorado’s famous cryogenically frozen man, Bredo Morstøl, the inspiration for Colorado’s annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, was relocated to the Stanley’s ice house. The Alcor Life Extension Foundation assisted with relocating the body from its prior home in a Nederland shed and setting up a new cryonic chamber to contain the frozen corpse.”
Huh. Morstol doesn’t have his own link. I’ve never seen the Kubrick one, nor have I ever read any King. I know it from pop culture, but that’s all. *looks down, toes dirt*
Evan, we are all here to learn. There is no shame here.
Rebecca De Mornay. Sweet. Young me had a little crush on her.
She is super cute. Great pick for this film. I am sorry, I thought it was 1 1/2 hours. Not 4 hours.
I’m probably going to fall asleep at my desk. Long day of cursed, wretched yardwork wrangling all of the neighbors leaves that the wind blew into my yard. Followed by Southern Comfort highballs.
We’ll see.
Johnny Walker Black. Not on the rocks. I am having this one pity party and then moving on.
*clinks glasses*
I get it. You’ll move on just fine.
Also has an early role in The Trip to Bountiful.
She had young Tom Cruise wrapped round her finger. Much younger JI would’ve been too.
He never made her into a scientologist that I found.
She got away.
I remember her father’s crazy talk show on local television.
Haha yes.
WALLY! WALLY! WALLY!
RJ Let me give you something shorter, but still appropriate. This a new release too.
m-flo loves Diggy-MO’ & しのだりょうすけ
Thank you. I apologize in advance. I didn’t know it was over four hours. It’s still great, you should watch it.
It’s been a heck of a day, one of those days where years happened in hours. Looks like everything I ever did or had done previously for my business does not matter to anyone anymore.
I will be fine, I will find something to do. I am actually quite competent. But everything I ever worked for, the business I loved, is gonna go straight to shit. As much as I would like to hang around and eat, popcorn and watch it fall apart, I am going to find something else to do.
Sorry 🙁
Hang in there!
Work has not been fun recently for me either after close to 14 years at the same place, but not near your level.
OTH, I’ve been tossed from two places one of which was absolutely toxic and made me start to doubt myself. So I completely get it. You will find something better and come out better, but it sucks.
Love you RJ, my alien guy. Thanks for all you do.
Just without the, you know, probing stuff that you always blame on the Greys.
You are right. And I know it. But tonight I am mourning a loss. Tomorrow, I bust ass to find something new.
And Aloysius, my kind are not into butt stuff. No worries. Filthy Greys do that. I just eat grifters.
Journalistic Style Sheet Guide
Yellow Fever – racist!
Monkey Pox – racist!
Less comon name for TB that no one has ever heard of?
‘White Plague’ – Hit publish and go all at once MSM!
What about Jungle Fever?
Native Flu
Enshittification is real.
chakachas – Jungle Fever
I’ve always wondered, is this a song or an instrumental? Either way, it’s great. I think I’ll make this the ringtone for my wife just to embarass her.
“Dude, I got the yellow plague.”
The eternal debate: book vs. movie. Was Kubrik’s movie an accurate translation of the book to the screen.
No, clearly. That being said, in this particular case, I like them both; one is a fantastic book and the other is a fantastic movie. I say this as one who loathes poor adaptations. Every one I know has had to listen to me rant endlessly about how bad the Bourne movies are, and how bad The Hobbit movies are. Refused to finish either Bourne or Hobbit.
Book and movie are separate ways to tell a story, and sometimes I can enjoy both versions, for example The Godfather, Watership Down, Jurassic Park, The Eaters of the Dead/13th Warrior.
Let’s see how Mr. King does here.
He did pretty good.
The thing I liked about Kubrick’s take is – was Jack just going nuts or was it demonic. Until the ghost let him out of the walk-in.
Lived in an apartment a few years after that and the manager’s kid was the spitting image of little Danny, which was a little creepy.
Kubrick’s adaptation was fantastic. He had to distill a giant book down to a solid 1 1/2 hours plot line. It deserves all the acclaim it gets.
Now did it follow the book? No. It did not. Tonight’s film does. Court of popular opinion favors Kubrick’s version. Ye who writes book, shall not make films.
Kubrick co-wrote the script with Diane Johnson. Look her up. If I was Kubrick, I never would have picked her. Which is why he is a genius ad I am not.
I’d put Fellowship of the Ring in there. I think Two Towers is fantastic, though have some issues w King. (It has been a bit.) The trilogy are the best *made* movies I can think of. Damn. Will look good forever. A few plot omissions and I think they serve the movies well.
The Hobbit. 256pg book. Fucking three 3-hour movies?! Fuck. Off. Shoulda been one 2.5hr flick and be done with it. And that’s with a full Riddles in the Dark. On the Jackson front, I still need to see They Shall Not Grow Old. I’d kinda have to be in a special mood for that one, cuz eeek. Much respect for him doing it right.
Have you seen the animated Hobbit from the 1970s?
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0077687/?ref_=fn_i_4
I. FUCKING. LOVE IT.
It was my favorite book as a kid, and I did both sides of Riddles in the Dark at an acting ‘camp’ in ~4th grade. The animated LotR is nowhere near as good, but it’s still fun. It’s been a long time on that one, but the animated Hobbit is gold.
My daughter adores it too. One of her favorites. She could sing the sings.
Rebecca De Mornay is sleeping in the bed with her mommy sweater and blue jeans on. Consider me distracted.
I’ve been all over this hotel, including room 217. At one point, we had the center room right over the entryway. And the wife put on a sheet and started running around in front of the window making “Woo! Woo!” noises.
I went out front and pointed at her and said “look everyone it’s a ghost!”
LOLOLOL
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-claims-one-million-fighters-are-primed-for-us-invasion/ar-AA1Zt7nW
***
The President has said he is prepared to pull the trigger on a full-scale invasion if Tehran continues to rebuff his diplomatic overtures, according to members of his inner circle.
‘Trump has a hand open for a deal, and the other is a fist, waiting to punch you in the f***ing face,’ a Trump aide told Axios.
***
[Kif sigh]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uu0d_UHNa4
Why does he even bother with peace talks? Just keep going. Don’t give them any interruption, just say it’s unconditional surrender or total destruction. The Iranians will never, ever negotiating good faith.
Sorry. Voice to text.
https://www.duffelblog.com/were-making-real-progress-say-last-17-commanders-in-afghanistan/
Previously:
***
THE PRO-WAR JOURNALIST’S FAMOUS QUOTE:
“At last there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Joseph Alsop (1910-1989)
American journalist and newspaper columnist
An oft-cited comment he made about the Vietnam War in his September 13, 1965 syndicated column
Many books and websites about quotations or the Vietnam War mention this line by Alsop. It’s often assumed to be either the origin of the metaphor or the first use related to Vietnam. In fact, the figurative use of “light at the end of the tunnel” dates back to at least 1922. And, ironically, it had been used in reference to Vietnam in 1953 by French general Henri Navarre, who told reporters he could see France’s eventual success in its war with communist leader Ho Chi Minh’s troops “clearly, like light at the end of a tunnel.” A year later, Minh’s troops decisively defeated French forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu and France lost control of its former colony. Joseph Alsop’s use of “light at the end of the tunnel” in 1965 was in a column predicting that America would eventually defeat Ho Chi Minh’s troops in Vietnam. Alsop said the French lost because they fought “with grossly insufficient resources.” He wrote: “This is in fact the real flaw in the argument of the silly people who parrot the assertion that this kind of war cannot be won, because the French failed…Today, however, American power is fully committed here, side by side with the considerable and courageous army of South Viet Nam. The American troops in the country already number more than 100,000. And eventually the U.S. force in South Viet Nam is likely to reach 200,000…at last there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Of course, 10 years later, after more than 58,000 Americans had been killed (along with an estimated 2 million Vietnamese troops and civilians), America essentially lost the war and pulled out of Vietnam.
THE ANTI-WAR POET’S COUNTERQUOTE:
“If we can see light at the end of the tunnel
It’s the light of the oncoming train.”
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
American poet, World War II conscientious objector and anti-Vietnam activist
These lines are from “Since 1939,” a poem originally published in Lowell’s book Day by Day (1977)
***
And we are sending another 10k troops and unknown equipment to the Middle East.
We’ve got 5k Marines and unknown 1,000s of paratroopers.
This should be fun.
Been there done that with friends in Desert Storm. I hope this is not a repeat.
Not the Bee:
***
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The past 17 commanders of international forces in Afghanistan, as well as other US leaders, say the coalition is making “real progress” towards defeating the Taliban insurgency and stabilizing the country, sources confirmed today.
That positive outlook has offered new hope for peace and stability as the current commander, Gen. John Nicholson, looks to deploy “a few thousand” more troops to theater to build upon all the progress that has already been made.
Gen. Tommy Franks served as commander of US Central Command from 2000-2003, and was in charge of operations in the Middle East when the Taliban was conclusively defeated in 2002.
“What a difference 10 months makes in a country like Afghanistan,” Franks said in an interview that year. “Taliban’s gone.”
***
[head desk]
If anyone has made it that far, the tiny model of the Stanley, which is outside in the topiary garden is currently inside the actual Stanley hotel.
Also the whole “ they don’t move when you’re watching them” from Doctor Who now has a source.
Stanley Hotel steps, 2017
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/IMG_3617.jpeg
Also from 2017
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/IMG_3635.jpeg
That’s some old school charm.