Film subgenres

On Canada Day, a blessed holiday in the middle of the week, I watched one of my favourite movies again for about the 8th time: The Fifth Element. Bruce Willis is not my favourite actor, but he appeals to me in this sci fi movie, wherein I also happen to enjoy the storyline and directing so much that I don't really notice the Bruce but accept him as his character. And his recent  movie called Surrogates was way better than I thought it would be; that's not saying it was great or anything, just way better than a lot of actioner sci fi pics lately. Beyond the amazing production design and the Jean-Paul Gaultier costumes (orange is an important colour in the movie, which is why I keep putting those links in orange), a main reason that I enjoy The Fifth Element so much is for the comedy: I always laugh so hard when Korben, the main character, has these terribly annoying phone conversations with his mother while he's in the middle of getting fired or trying to save the world. Many of my favourite flicks fit snugly into the subgenre of comedy sci fi, such as Galaxy Quest, Evolution, Buckaroo Banzai, Repo Man, and Dude Where's My Car? (several others too). It's not a huge subgenre, but it's highly entertaining.
Subgenres guide me at the video store: I need the mash-up, the combo, because sticking too closely to one genre will likely lose me about halfway through the 90+ minutes of the average drama. Some of my favourite movies wedge themselves into the horror genre, but I don't actually like horror movies. Labelling films and filing them on certain shelves aids people who choose which movies to watch by their box artwork. I scan the horror shelves and read the blurbs on the back of the boxes just in case there's a new horror/sci fi (a la Alien, another fav) or comedy/sci fi (Evil Dead or Tremors are classics in that subgenre, although Abbott and Costello really nailed the comedy/horror movie in the 40s and 50s) that I missed because it went straight to DVD.
Many of my favs of all time are horror/sci fi, the ultimate action mashup, and if some comedic moments are slipped in at odd times, I'm in heaven. The Alien series is probably the best; I have watched Pitch Black with Vin Diesel about a dozen times, and I try to get everybody I know to watch it too. A little known and undervalued mid-nineties pic called Screamers grabs my attention every time it's on tv, and it certainly doesn't hurt that Peter Weller is the star.
Another subgenre I like lately is the zombie story, as all my friends know. Writing about the movie mashups has made me desperate to watch the new Zombieland. I think I must go buy some beer right now and rent that movie.

Questions answered

I am having so much fun at karaoke; the 'roake ventures have opened up whole new levels of enjoyment in my life. Friday night's karaoke adventure also helped me answer a few questions that had been plaguing me.
(1) Do I absolutely have to drink beer when I'm out for karaoke? The answer for me is that beer is an essential lubricant for my vocal cords. I didn't drink beer to start the evening, and I froze at the beginning of my first song, Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy," with dry mouth and extreme nerves. 

I got going a bit with the chorus and lasted through the entire song, but that was tough. After switching back to beer, I didn't have dry-mouth again the whole night.
(2) Do I sing new songs, previously attempted songs that went well, or songs that I have practiced on my new Xbox 360 Karaoke Revolution game? For me, the most fun I have had at 'raoke is with songs I have practiced at home by singing along to youtube videos or learned and repeated many times on the K-Revolution game.  I rocked Pink's "So What": see below for pic of my rockin'.

Group-songs are completely different: very fun to try new-to-me songs in a group, and can have hilarious results too; as long as one person in the group swears that she knows the song (even if she really doesn't) to give the group a boost of confidence prior to getting up on stage.
(3) Do I need to be a good singer to 'roake? Again, the answer is definitely NOT. And I don't mean practicing (above) as in I suddenly become a better singer, just practicing so that I can get into the song when the music starts and the lyrics flash on the screen; it really is about getting-into the song, feeling the rock in your soul.
(4) Do I really need to be called up more than twice for solos during an evening of 'raoke? Now, it's fun when the atmosphere is stoked and the crowd is hot, and the variety in tunes chosen is amazing, and so many different people want to serenade us; but I'm selfish. Thank goodness I also got to do a duet with Lady Z at the end of the night. We had fun with The Killers "Human" [and, yes, I'm positive that this song is about zombies].

I want to sing more ... thank the games-developers, I have the 'raoke in my house now. Maybe tonight, a short session (with my D. hiding upstairs; good thing we have two tvs). Sometimes he does hang out when I use the Xbox 'raoke, and he has very helpful thoughts about the singin'. I told him I was going to buy him a 'roake shirt that reads "Karaoke Koach."
Yes, another blog entry about karaoke; I'm addicted, and, as I mentioned before, I don't need any help with that.