So, as I mentioned in the L Word recap this week, today is my last day as an AfterEllen.com staffer. (I just have a new job; there's no big drama here.) I'll miss this place! To commemorate the day (yes, I'm commemorating myself — so?), here are some goodbye scenes and songs that say farewell better than I ever could.

The Way We Were, final scene

It's the laughter we'll remember. And the greatness of Barbra.

Casablanca, "We'll always have Paris"

We'll always have AfterEllen.com. Somehow that doesn't have the same ring to it.

The Carol Burnett Show, "I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together" … continue reading

As a lover of The Wizard of Oz , not to mention a fan of the name Dorothy, I've been following news about the story's “bold reimagining” in the miniseries Tin Man with some interest. The six-hour Sci Fi Channel event premieres Sunday and will run two hours each night until its conclusion Tuesday. Still, as much as I enjoy all things Oz, I'm not sure if I'm going to watch.

For starters, it's six hours. In six hours I could watch half a season of 30 Rock. I'm just saying, priorities. And then there is the “bold reimagining” stuff. Labeling an adaptation as such practically screams, “We've really screwed with this story you love, so please don't hate us. M'kay?” Or maybe I'm just being sensitive. But parallel universes, holographic time loops and Richard Dreyfuss? This is a very new road. … continue reading

Not surprisingly, Halloween week gets people talking about horror movies. Dorothy Snarker recounted the horror background of various actresses this week. And recently, Jamie Lynn got hoards of you reminiscing about the horror films of yesteryear. I'm not a big horror aficionado — I blame a babysitter who, in an ill-advised move, allowed me to watch Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. However, I stumbled across a horror movie “best of” list this week that intrigued me.

Time.com counted the 25 Best Horror Movies from 1896 to the present. I was surprised to note that I had seen 10 of the movies. I was even more surprised to note that Bambi was one of them. Not Bambi Meets Godzilla. Bambi. You know, “You can call me Flower if you want to.”

I'm pretty sure Bambi's inclusion was the result of a double dog dare, but here's what the list-maker had to say:

“Amazing that the first movies parents took their tots to in the '30s and '40s were the early Disney features. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo all exploited childhood traumas. Parents disappear or die; stepmothers plot the murder of their charges; a boy skips school and turns into a donkey. Kids were so frightened by these films that they wet themselves in terror. Bambi, directed by David Hand, has a primal shock that still haunts oldsters who saw it 40, 50, 65 years ago.”

While I don't buy that Bambi is legitimately a horror movie, I do agree that elements of it are horrifying — and haunting. The movie certainly gets at some primal childhood fears: loss of a parent, violence, fire, etc…. And the images stay with kids long after they leave the theater. So that got me thinking about other movies that are haunting without actually being horror movies. (And, yes, I could, but will not, delve in a discussion of how the supernatural or over-the-top dangers in horror movies symbolize real dangers, blah, blah…) So I conducted a thoroughly unscientific poll and asked some friends and colleagues what movies haunted — or still haunt them.

Here are the results, plus a little glimpse of some of my neuroses. Some of these are deliberately creepy or contain intentionally scary elements, but none are traditional horror films.

1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) … continue reading

Over the summer, Dorothy Snarker brought us details about the Sci Fi Channel's upcoming Oz miniseries, Tin Man (make that O.Z. miniseries — in this update, it's the "Outer Zone"). I was not alone in being torn between my adoration of star Zooey Deschanel and my reluctance to see yet another mucked-up remake, but with a decent teaser and the added bonus of Alan Cumming, Deschanel was in the lead.

A couple of months later and there's now an extended trailer (after the jump), cast interviews and a behind-the-scenes video, so not only are a few questions answered (the Tin Man is indeed trapped in a tin shell before D.G. and company help him out; the wizard is behind a curtain — of drugs), but we can all make a more informed decision about whether or not it will be worth our time. (Thanks to Buzzsugar.com for the tip.) … continue reading

Toy maker Todd McFarlane and filmmaker Josh Olson just announced that they are undertaking a new version of The Wizard of Oz (not to be confused with the Sci Fi Channel's Tin Man). Although Wicked has earned quite a reputation, neither Diana Ross nor the Muppets could save previous Oz Redux attempts, so my initial reaction to this was skepticism.

Reading on, I wavered between intrigued (Oz as "dark, edgy and muscular"), relieved (Dorothy will not be "some bondage queen," a la McFarlane's disturbing dolls) and bored (the film will aim to capture Lord of the Rings fans). Then I got to the description of Dorothy as less "helpless singing girl" and more Ellen Ripley.

That's right: Dorothy 2.0. Better, faster, and able to take you out. No more wavering for me — if Ripley is going to Oz, I am going, too. … continue reading

Who here likes The Wizard of Oz? Clearly, not me. I mean, it’s not like I've taken a name or an affinity for red shoes or a fear of tornadoes (What? I grew up in the Midwest) from the iconic movie musical or anything. So when I heard that the Sci Fi Channel was going to "boldly reimagine" the classic story, I wasn’t sure if I should click my heels or summon the winged monkeys.

Based on L. Frank Baum’s novel, Tin Man is been described as a “sometimes psychedelic, often twisted and always bizarre take” on the Emerald City adventures. The miniseries, set to air in December, stars Zooey Deschanel as DG (aka Dorothy, Miss Gale if you’re nasty), Alan Cumming as Glitch (aka Scarecrow, brain not included), Raoul Trujillo as Raw (aka Cowardly Lion; Raw stands for rawwwr, I guess) and Neal McDonough as Cain (aka Tin Man, though shouldn’t he look more, uh, tinny?).

… continue reading