"It's a beautiful day outside. The streets are all packed with tourists. They're drinking beers. They're chasing beads, headed out on the vampire walking tour of New Orleans. They think it's just a myth, just part of the city's charm. Well... we know better. Just like we know there's a storm coming..."

Are you ready to do the Time Warp again? Ready or not here it comes. It's been five years since we last left the New Orleans setting for The Originals. Klaus (Morgan) has been locked up in the catacombs by Marcel (Davis), who is once again ruling as the supernatural king of New Orleans. Hayley (Tonkin) is taking care of her growing daughter Hope by never staying in the same place twice. She's not packing light, however, as she's got four coffins to watch over that hold Elijah (Gillies), Kol (Buzolic), Rebekah (Holt), and Freya (Voelkel). Wait a minute, you say. Who is this Klaus of which you write? Why are their four characters in coffins? Sounds like you have a little bit of catching up to do before you can sink your teeth into this vampire drama. You really can't just pick up with the fourth season of The Originals and have any chance of keeping up. I suggest you check out the first three season and our reviews Here before you continue along this sordid tale.

I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.

A couple of years ago the cartoons were resurrected in, of all places, France. A French company wrangled the rights and went directly to the actual strips for the animated shorts. The series eventually landed here in the States on Boomerang and Cartoon Network but didn't air for more than a season. Now Warner Brothers has put together a collection of school-related portions of the series and released it on DVD. There are 29 episodes on two discs with no extras. The episodes average about seven minutes. The style remains close to the specials and cartoons that have been made here in the last 50 years. The notable difference is that colors don't extend to the borders, and the music is decidedly different. Instead of the jazzy piano that I most associate with the franchise you get the more French-inspired mandolin and a bit of an annoying vocal chorus. Frames are often begun unfinished, and a certain item like a hat or a chair will be drawn in as we watch. Obviously, the changes reflect a more art-stylish presentation that I attribute mostly to the French origin of the cartoons.

A Blast just might be one of the ‘smartest’ movies I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I am not the smartest person to watch it. Heavily soaked in allegories about Greece’s recent financial crisis, the film begs to be understood, but if you do not have any background knowledge about the crisis, you are lost from the start. The film feels it was made specifically for Greek viewers, as all of the allegorical elements feel poignant and intentional, but not knowing anything about contemporary Greek society leaves you with the feeling of “this means something; I just don’t know what it is.”

Maria lives a seemingly great life. We learn she has succeeded in grad school, keeps up with her health, has the most sensual relationship with her husband, and has raised two young children. Behind all of this, Maria’s role as a “dutiful daughter” puts her close to her family’s business and its failing finances. The story is told through flashbacks as a distraught Maria barrels down the highway, reflecting on the older good times being hijacked by the recent traumatic memories of her family crisis.

Like normal folks, when I’m hard up for money I may attempt to come up with a quick scheme or two or generate a significant income: may play the lottery (attempt to claim that 700 million dollar jackpot), perhaps sell miscellaneous  items, or cash in some bonds. However, this is the first time I heard of attempting to kill a celebrity to collect the payout of a death pool. Killing Hasselhoff tells the story of Chris, a club owner who finds himself in a desperate spot and in need of money. His only recourse appears to be attempting to facilitate the death of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. Strange, right? I mean, most people would try to get a loan before contemplating murder.

Chris Kim is a prime example of how anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. His nightclub is failing, he owes $400,000 to a loan shark, he was inadvertently involved in a drug and groping scandal with a child star in his nightclub thereby making his business radioactive, and he has lost his fiancé as a result of the scandal. After having so many things go wrong, I would be taking extra-long looks at the bleach bottle. Chris, however, is determined to turn his life around. Within 72 hours, to get the money he needs to save his club, he conspires with his mentally disturbed friend to kill David Hasselhoff in order to collect on his bet in a celebrity death pool. I guess all the banks were closed.