This is the first time I’ve decided that instead of defending an album I’m going to defend an artists entire career. For this first one I’m going to defend the one, the only… Insane Clown Posse. This is in part inspired by my recent Saint Mort Show Guest Sean Dunne, director of American Juggalo (Video is NSFW) – http://vimeo.com/29589320

Where does one begin when discussing the gruesome two-some of poorly reviewed albums, bad publicity and consistently ranked as the worst rappers and/or musicians of all time.  Well I’m here to say this is a gross over-statement.

Let’s start with talking Juggalos. I think much of the hate for Insane Clown Posse comes from hatred of the Juggalos. You may be asking, What is a Juggalo? Well according to the song ‘What is a Juggalo’ they can be anything including my favorite ‘a fucking lunatic/somebody with a rope tied around his dick/then he jumps out a ten story window/Ahhhhhhhh. oh’. While the song is comedic and vulgar the point is simple, a Juggalo is anyone with ‘clown love’ or simply a fan of the band.

Juggalo’s are like negative press lightening rods. Sometimes they’re throwing rocks at Tila Tequila or having Juggalo funerals. The media shows you the most negative aspects of being an Insane Clown Posse fan, to the point that they’ve been examined as a potential gang/terrorist threat. What they don’t talk about are the straight edge Juggalos, the ones that are doctors or the ones like Tony Hartman and Dave Biscella who created the hilarious web-series Juggalohio. At the end of the day, Juggalos are a community of outcasts who connect to music, love it or hate it they’re no different than the punk kids in the 80’s (just with shittier ‘uniforms’ aka face paint).

To be fair Tony and Dave aren’t exactly Juggalos. In the word’s of Tony Hartman “We appreciate the Juggalo community without being Juggalos. We set out to make a funny show involving Juggalos that wasn’t just a bunch of Juggalo jokes. A majority of the Juggalos have been extremely supportive of what we did and understood that there are funny elements to their lifestyles that leads to good comedy. But I think they enjoy being in on a joke instead of exploited.”

Furthermore in my interview Sean Dunne on this week’s Saint Mort Show he discusses how there is an incredible feeling of community. People focus on the violent and hateful nature of ICP lyrics (which are typically written in jest) and the occasional bad press and ignore the positive elements of their community that I discussed earlier.

Regardless most people who hate Insane Clown Posse have only know them through internet memes and negative press (towards both Juggalos and the band). The group began in Detroit in the early 90’s and quickly became one of the most well known groups in the area. Using horror movies and circus metaphors the group quickly sold out shows and built up a strong following with their first albums Carnival of Carnage and The Ringmaster. Next came the massively successful independently released Riddle Box.

While Shaggy2Dope and Violent J are pretty awful rappers, they’re not the all time worst. I mean honestly, let’s take a look at some of the lyrics from Lil’ Wayne who is supposed to be one of the ‘hottest MCs of All time” and tell me his lyrics are worse than ICP’s.

Let’s play a game, tell me which lyrics are Lil’ Wayne and which are Insane Clown Posse.

A) “Fuck you with a pool stick/Make you swallow two dicks”

B) “But then I escaped to the ghetto zone/Started a crew of my own, motherfucker, I’m not alone”

C) “Who was you with when you got tattooed/And who was you trippin with when you did them mushrooms”

D) “I told her back it up like burp, burp/I made that ass jump like jerp, jerp”

If you said that A and D where Insane Clown Posse, you’d be wrong. Those are both lyrics by Lil Wayne a MULTIPLE award winning rap artist and was constantly listed as one of the ‘hottest MCs in the game’. 

If you honestly want to tell me that B and C are ANY worse than A and D you’re an asshole. What’s more offensive to me is that Insane Clown Posse is for the most part dicking around, they’re two guys who love horror movies, cheap soda and dick & fart jokes. It could literally be Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith under that make-up. 

My first exposure to Insane Clown Posse came in 1997 when I saw the music video for Halls of Illusion on the box. I was instantly hooked into this bizarre ‘horror-core hip-hop’. While a bunch of people act like they always hated Insane Clown Posse, I can’t remember many kids in my middle school who didn’t buy Great Milenko and learn the words to songs like Hokus Pokus and The Neden Game. Sure, I was the same generation that made Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock and KoRn huge… but have you listened to those albums recently? They’re all incredible albums in their own right. In fact in a recent list of 1001 albums to hear before you die Korn and Kid Rock each had one album and Limp Bizkit had two. Point is haters are gonna hate.

I know that Insane Clown Posse isn’t for everyone, fuck they’re barely for me. What bugs me is that people never gave them a fair shot. They got their biggest exposure with their song Miracles released last year. It became an instant viral success and a point of mockery that didn’t really disappear until Rebecca Black’s Friday came in.

What people don’t talk about is that Bang! Pow! Boom! (the album Miracles appeared on) was the best reviewed album in their career averaging a 3-star review. People jump on lyrics like “Fucking Magnets? How do they work” but what is the song trying to say. The song is about how incredible the world is and how we completely ignore the little victories and miracles in the world. Watch the video below of an indie rock group covering the song only removing the curses and the few references to Jugglaos. The fact is the song is beautiful.

Insane Clown Posse aren’t lyrical geniuses. I’ll never say that. I won’t even say they’re great philosophers or above average rappers. But they’re victims of the internet’s on going desire to hate on a target in mass hordes. Insane clown Posse is just your average rap group with a sometimes off putting wrapping paper. But they mean a lot to some people and I will always respect them for that.

Maybe one day the ICP hate will end. I believe it will. In fact I’m a firm believer in Miracles.

When he’s not defending bad movies and music Matt is hosting Saint Mort Show, tweeting throughout the day and reading his blog.

In 1997 I discovered Saturday Night Live, sort of. It wasn’t like I didn’t know of the show’s existence previous to 1997. I had grown up watching VHS copies of The Best of John Belushi and Eddie Murphy before that. However, in 1997 I figured out how to program my VCR to record things and would tape SNL late at night.

That particular cast has always had mixed responses. People always hold the original cast on such a high pedestal that it’s impossible for any cast to be considered great. I’m one of the people who still considers the 1990-1995 cast as the best. But in 1997 this was the best cast there was. While tons of kids loved Will Ferrell, Jim Breuer or Tim Meadows at this time; my guys were Tracy Morgan and Norm MacDonald. 

I knew of Norm as the Weekend Update host. When he was fired from Weekend Update, I stopped caring about the show. Why he was fired is still an on going controversy. Some say it was because of his constant OJ Simpson jokes while others said it was because he wasn’t funny. Either way, his firing led to NBC refusing to air commercials for Dirty Work.

The movie did poorly as did MacDonald’s second film Screwed and he hasn’t really starred in a film since. Regardless, I still adore both of these movies, specifically Dirty Work.

The film follows Mitch Weaver (Norm MacDonald) a sarcastic slacker who can’t seem to keep a job or a girlfriend around for more than a few weeks. Having nowhere else to live Mitch crashes with his best friend Sam and Sam’s angry former boxer father Pops. Suddenly Sam and Mitch realize that their gift of vengeance could actually become profitable. They start up Dirty Work Inc and eventually have to take down the rich but evil property developer Travis Cole. 

The film received extremely negative and harsh reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating score of 17%. Watching this movie I can understand why someone would hate this film, Norm MacDonald is the definition of love or hate comedy. You either think his roast of Bob Saget is either the greatest thing in Comedy Central history or the worst moment in television.

I, however, adore Norm MacDonald, so from the second I saw a commercial for Dirty Work I knew I wanted to see it. What’s funny is I know I saw it in theaters, I know that for a fact but I don’t remember ANYTHING about the experience except that I enjoyed the movie. I couldn’t tell you who I saw it with or anything.

I do remember the Summer it came out on VHS my cousin Dave and I watched it constantly and quoted it even more frequently. The film is a quote a second movie that’s complete lack of care is part of the appeal. Jokes are force-fed at you and Norm’s dry to the point of non-existent timing truly is the star of the movie.

Dirty Work is a vulgar film directed by Bob Segat but according co-star Chevy Chase, the film was supposed to be much more vulgar and crude. However, the studio demanded a PG-13 film so the script got chopped down. Despite this and the negative critical response the film has become a favorite amongst comedians and shock jock radio DJs.

If you are a fan of anti-humor and you’ve never experienced this cult classic, drop waht you’re doing this second and go buy this movie (because it’s probably cheaper used online than any rental store).

When he’s not watching poorly reviewed movies Matt Kelly is hosting the Saint Mort Show, writing in his blog Pure Mattitude and tweeting throughout the day.

In a few days it’s going to be Friday the 13th, a day infamous for bad luck and (for me) horror movie marathons. When you have a film franchise named after any day of the week, you can expect that people will watch it on that day year after year. The Friday the 13th series is full of ups and downs but it’s generally assumed that you can mostly stop watching the series after Part IV: The Final Chapter, where Jason is killed once and for all. However, just because Jason was dead didn’t mean the franchise wasn’t.

In order to properly explain and defend Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, I need spoil the endings of Parts 1-5. If you’ve never watched a Friday the 13th film you may want to  get caught up before reading ahead.

In 1980, Friday the 13th was released. While it was critically despised, it was one of the most profitable films of the 80s (being made for $550,000 and making over $39.7 million). After Camp Crystal Lake counselors get killed off and only Alice remains alive, it’s revealed that Mrs. Voorhees (the mother of Jason, the boy who drowned years earlier) has been killing the counselors. Alice decapitates her but (huge surprise spoiler) is still attacked by Jason at the end of the movie.

The next year, Friday the 13th Part II came out and Jason Voorhees became our main villain. At the end of Part II, while our lead scream queen Gina escapes, she doesn’t stop Jason (now sporting a potato sack over his head and tripping all over himself), leading us into Part III. Again, in Part III there is a survivor but Jason has still not be killed.

By 1984, the horror genre was getting an extremely poor reputation. Due to this, Paramount decided maybe it was time to put an end to Jason. They called it The Final Chapter and Tommy Jarvis (played by Corey Feldman) kills off Jason once and for all… or so we thought. Paramount looked at the $33 Million that it pulled and suddenly decided that horror’s reputation wasn’t all that bad. They quickly worked on releasing another sequel.

While Movies 1 through 4 were never award winning, they were fun. Furthermore, you had to give them credit for never killing Jason at the end of the movies. While I love the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, they kill Freddy at the end of every movie and then he usually comes back without an explanation. At least the Friday the 13th films kept a narrative consistency, except that in their desire to keep this general consistency they eventually made a huge mistake.

Here’s the situation: Jason is dead. We have a new Friday the 13th movie, but how do we explain the return of Jason? You don’t bring him back. You create a copycat killer. Fans were not amused by Friday the 13th Part V (although it does include Geekscape EIC Jonathan London’s favorite scene of any Friday the 13th: when Miguel A. Núñez Jr. (playing Demon) is killed in a port-o-potty after duet-ing with his girlfriend AFTER getting the shits from those “damn enchiladas”).

This brings us to Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Originally the purpose of Part V: A New Beginning was for the copycat killer to drive Tommy Jarvis to kill and take over the Hockey Mask. However, the intensely negative reaction to Part V immediately led to the decision to bring the original Jason back. 

Many Friday the 13th fans will tell you this is the best film in the franchise and they’d be correct. However, many fans also strongly dislike this film for it’s usage of humor. Critics thought it was better than the previous films, but still were not wowed by it and other folks tend to not acknowledge any of the sequels (NOT EVEN FRIDAY THE 13th Part 3-D!).

As I stated previously, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives incorporated lots of humor and even winked at the camera in a meta sorta way years before There’s Nothing Out There and Scream. Jason is brought back from the dead in the same vein as Frankenstein’s Monster and Martin the Gravedigger looks at the camera accusing the audience of being sickos. While Jason tears his way through unsuspecting campers he leaves bloody smiley faces and face imprints in his wake.

After this film, the franchise took a swan dive, having Jason battle Carrie and traveling to Manhattan, Hell and Outer Space. Jason Lives, however will always stand out as an under-appreciated horror sequel that should be as loved and respected as Dream Warriors is in the Nightmare on Elm Street fanbase, but tends to be looked at as unfairly as Season of the Witch is to Halloween fanboys, simply because of the unfortunate company it kept in the lower-quality sequels that surrounded it in the series.

When he’s not watching awful movies Matt Kelly is blogging, tweeting and hosting his podcast The Saint Mort Show

All movies should be judged on their own merits. Of course, this is a very difficult standard to live up to. Consider all possible influential baggage that a movie may be carrying before one even gazes upon it, giving one either lofty expectations, or no expectations at all:

A terrible advertising campaign

A great advertising campaign

It’s a sequel to a phenomenal movie

It’s a sequel to an abortion of a movie

It’s an adaptation of a beloved book

Its director’s pedigree is mostly one genre, or it at least seems that way

Its legacy precedes it

There are no big stars in it

There are ONLY big names but no big actors

You expected a comedy/drama/thriller/horror movie and got something else

In order to judge a movie effectively, I try to divorce myself from all my feelings going in beforehand. For example, I went in to 2011’s Our Idiot Brother expecting a goofy comedy starring Paul Rudd. What I got was a funny drama starring Paul Rudd. If I were hung up on expectations, I would have been mad that Our Idiot Brother was a bad comedy. Instead, I judged what I got.

It could be that a movie like that was intended to be a riotous comedy and we, the audience, were swindled, but the drama was so potent and well done that I have to call it a successful drama. In my mind, intent isn’t what matters as much as execution.  I have an artist friend who vehemently disagrees with me in that regard, but as I am also an artist (music, not a blogger), I feel that we must agree to disagree. I do not feel that context of the times or what the filmmaker was trying to say matters. After all, the makers of the film version of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho intended the ending to be interpreted one way, and many people I’ve spoken to see that the ending is either ambiguous, or the opposite of what was intended. In my mind, the ending I see better fits the satire of the movie, and the intended ending hinders the message of the satire.

On top of all this, there are movies that are adaptations or sequels. Most movies are adaptations of a previous work. This is not even something I need to cite; this is pure common knowledge here. The complaint nowadays that most movies are remakes or sequels is valid insofar as it’s a shame that there isn’t more original material out there. To decry remakes or sequels themselves is to forget fantastic remakes such as The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, The Fly, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Departed, The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, True Grit, and even Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (I am half kidding on the last one… half). It is to forget well regarded sequels (or entries in a franchise) such as The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, Aliens, From Russia With Love (and about ten more James Bond films), Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Dark Knight, For A Few Dollars More (a sequel to a remake), Toy Story 2 (I don’t personally like it, but everybody else does), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers & The Return of the King, and The Color of Money.

And the argument that most sequels are bad seems to forget that most movies are bad in general. You may dispute that, but watching Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer is all the solid evidence I need that most movies are just not worth watching, original or not.

As far as the context of the times when a movie was released goes, I’m afraid I can’t make excuses for films that people loved back in their day but that I can’t stomach today. Gone with the Wind isn’t continually beloved because it was merely great at the time; it is merely great. It has high drama (okay, melodrama), interesting and complicated characters, and astounding visuals. Casablanca is beloved because of its simple love story told well, and not because it suited the times well. One hundred years from now, even if the aesthetics and nature of film have changed immeasurably, There Will Be Blood will still be considered a masterpiece, and not just because the filmmaking was “good for its time.” The special effects of some old films may be dated, but they are remembered because our culture likes them, period. Innovative films that were just innovative but weren’t any good (The Birth of a Nation), are remembered as curiosities, but never watched for entertainment purposes.

Legacy can affect a film’s reception on first time views as well. John Rambo is a cultural force and his legacy is miles of body bags filled with mindless mooks, killed by Rambo’s bare fucking hands. This is his legacy, this is his legend. First Blood, John Rambo’s first outing on film, is a deliberately-paced, low-body-count, somber-at-times story about a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran who snaps. There is action, and it is glorious when it appears, but it happens much less than one would think given how the sequels have changed what we think of when we hear the name John Rambo. Would you be bored watching First Blood if you were expecting dozens of explosions and gallons of blood?

First Blood is good because of what it is, Gone with the Wind and Casablanca are good because of what they are, and all movies are what they are. They should not be a product of their advertising, their legacy, movies that came before it or their source material. They should all be judged on their own merits. That is what I try to do.

Every year I understand popular music less and less. I watched Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve and don’t know a single musician that performs or their songs. However there are bands and artists that have been around for years. I’m always excite to hear their newest albums. This pretty much means my top 10 this year will be all albums that aren’t appearing on anyone else’s lists… which mostly means I have no music cred.

10. Weird Al Yankovic: Alpocalypse – Whenever someone tells me they don’t like Weird Al Yankovic, they instantly lose respect for me. Much like The Muppets, Mr Rogers and Motown music, everyone has a little place in their heart for Al Yankovic. He’s an inspiration to every musical comedian (myself included). Furthermore he managed to take what everyone called a ‘one-hit wonder’ and ‘novelty act’ and make it last 30+ years. 

8. The Streets: Computers and Blues – The Streets Original Pirate Material is one of my all time favorite albums. I’ve always liked following Mike Skinner’s career with The Streets. It saddens me to hear this knowing it’s the last album the Streets will ever release, but at least Skinner gave us a great final record from them.

7. Alkaline Trio: Damnesia – I’m going to go on the record and say that as much as I love Alkaline Trio… I’d be completely okay if they decided that all their albums from here on out should sound like Damnesia. The mix of punk ethics and acoustic guitar reminds me of one of my favorite groups Violent Femmes (who get a nice cover from A.T. on this record). 

6. MC Chris – Race Wars/Marshmallow Playground – Last year I wrote an in depth blog entry explaining why MC Chris Goes to Hell was a better album than Eminem:Recovery and Kanye West: My Beautiful Twisted Fantasy. What can I say, I’m a fan boy. It truly is a shame however that MC Chris always gets catalogued as a ‘comedy rapper’ or a ‘nerdcore rapper’. He certainly is those things, but he’s also one of the tightest, wittiest and fastest mc’s in the game. He managed to release no one but two perfect albums (admittedly one is an EP) this year filled with catchy hooks, funny skits and great rhymes.

5. Social Distortion – Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes – Social Distortion’s newest album is powerful and loud. I barely even have words to say… just buy it.

4. Garfunkel & Oates – All Over Your Face –  Past Geekscape guests Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome have been dominating the world of music comedy for a few years now. All over Your Face is like a Garfunkel and Oats greatest hits for long time fans of their youtube channel. The album however offers the best recordings of those songs you love. The Stand out tracks are “You and Me and Steve”, “Gay Boyfriend” and “This Party Just Took a Turn For the Douche”

3. The Aquabats – High-Five Soup – Everyone’s favorite goofy ska/new wave band released the most upbeat sing-along album of the year. Just buy it and learn all the words and drive around singing the songs while you pop wheelies, hug your homies, hang with your big friends forever or fight sharks. Somehow the album is the perfect soundtrack for all those things.

1. Kate Micucci: EP Phone Home – I already mentioned Kate Micucci, well she also managed to release two great albums this year. One with Garfunkel and Oates and one on her own. In just 6 songs Kate Micucci’s EP Phone Home still has more strength in it than any other album released this year, either it’s the goofy and upbeat “Happy Song”, the nostalgic sadness of “For My Dog Jack” or “Soup in the Woods”, the uplifting “Taking Chances” or the best single no one heard this year “I have a Crush on My Teacher” this is the must have album of the year, without a doubt.

The best Song of 2011 that no one heard.

For me 2011 was a pretty weak year of movies. There were a couple movies I greatly enjoyed but only 1 or 2 that I really LOVED. That being said, I still haven’t seen Geekscape favorites like Attack the Block, Warrior and Tree of Life. Regardless, here were the movies that left an impression on me this year.

10. Your Highness – As a long time fan of D&D and the short film The Gamers this was everything I could hope for. Danny McBride and Ben Best took all the elements of a great game of D&D (with sex jokes and all) and crafted it into a brilliant narrative film that David Gordon Green directed with a nice touch of style creating a hilarious fantasy comedy.

9. Paul – Fuck Super 8. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s love letter to all things Geek was the most nostalgic feeling Spielberg tribute of the year. Furthermore the titular character Paul is the most impressively realistic looking CGI creation since Gollum. Plus, I respect any movie that makes a Mac & Me reference

8. Our Idiot Brother – Much like Adventureland a few years previously this film suffered from a poorly thought out advertising campaign. While it was advertised as a laugh a minute comedy in the vein of I Love You, Man instead we had a dysfunctional family film in the vein of indie hits Little Miss Sunshine and Running With Scissors (except leaps and bounds better). This film has some solid laughs as well as real tear-jerking moments.

7. Moneyball – It doesn’t matter if you love or hate sports Moneyball is a film that so well paced and intriguing that anyone can enjoy it. Based on the incredible true story of Oakland A’s Billy Beane Bennet Miller has directed a film for the whole family which will certainly earn Brad Pitt an Oscar nomination.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – I used to hate the Harry Potter movies, but I’ve always loved the books. I’m still not a huge fan of the first few films but around Order of the Phoenix I started to feel the movies were starting to get the mood and story properly. While the films still had to miss major notes in the books, it wasn’t as noticeable. That being said the last 2 films (The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2) are as true to the source material as you could want. An appropriate ending to the film that the trailer declares “The film series of a Generation’.

4. Super – This is the movie I wish Kick-Ass was. James Gunn is my favorite writer working today and his directorial debut Slither was one of the finest horror films of the last decade. It’s well acted and brilliantly paced. While it’s still imperfect, it’s fun, dark and has enough blood-shed to make the average gore-hound salivate.

3. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil – Since it premiered at film festivals last year I’ve heard nothing but good things about Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and with good reason. Tucker and Dale is everything a horror/comedy should be. It has lots of gore, a few genuine scares and side-splitting comedy. A comedy of errors to the truest sense, first time director Eli Craig took a beautiful premise and made it work from start to finish.

2. The Muppets – Let’s face it, This was going to appear on my list, it’s not a surprise to anyone. Thankfully however, the film is great. The Muppets is from Henson fan Jason Segel and the films shows his undying fandom. The film is a love letter of Muppet nostalgia and has a delightful musical score from Flight of the Conchords member Bret Mckenzie. It’s far from a perfect film, but no movie left me smiling as long as The Muppets did.

1. People Vs. George Lucas – Yes, Jonathan London appears in this movie. Yes, Jonathan London is my friend and boss. No. That’s not the reason this is my number 1 movie of the year. Alexandre Philippe has crafted one of the most fair and two sided documentaries out there. It’s not the shit storm at George Lucas the title implies but instead an examination of a strange man and his even stranger fans. The true highlights are seeing some really amazing Star Wars fan films