Chucky

I have been loving the new Chucky TV series, so that inspired me to rewatch all 7 movies. In a row. Yeah I white-knuckled the whole thing in one night and I have no regrets. Ok, here we go:

  1. Child's Play (1988):
    This is extremely 80s, but holds up pretty well. The end of the first act drags a bit but nobody wastes any time in denial. Once someone sees him walking around they're all, "Yup, that's a talking doll. Kill it with fire." B+.

  2. Child's Play 2 (1990):
    I like that it just picks right up a couple of weeks after the first movie ends. Mom is in an asylum and the kid is in foster care, like you do. The Chucky resurrection is contrived but consistent, I guess. Plot wise, it's the first movie again, but annoyingly there are some kills that were just counterproductive to Chucky's goals. I know that he does just love killin', but he's also smart, so that bothered me. The third act goes extremely surreal and Willy Wonka / 5000 Fingers, and the most unrealistic part is that in this universe industrial manufacturing facilities still exist in the US. B-.

  3. Child's Play 3: Look Who's Stalking (1991):
    Well first of all the timeline is wrong. Andy is 16 but should only be 9. Is this a 1991 movie set in the far future of 1998? This is like 20% Chucky movie and 80% on the theme, "military school is vile and full of bullies" and wow, who gives a shit. Also, brief appearance by Uncle Frank from Hellraiser as a deranged barber. D+. No wonder there was such a gap before the next one.

  4. Bride of Chucky (1998):
    Ok now we're off to the races! After a 7 year gap, this one is an absolute gem. It's still very gory but this one is more of a comedy than the earlier installments. This movie is really the Jennifer Tilly show, and I forgot how hilarious she is. The banter, the murder oneupsmanship. It's so romantic. And the puppets are so expressive. A+.

  5. Seed of Chucky (2004):
    This is the wall-breaking self-referential one of the series, the "New Nightmare". Jennifer Tilly is playing herself, there is a John Waters cameo. There is a kinda cringey trans subplot and ironic fat jokes. It's set in "Hollywood" and like all such, it's the writers licking their own assholes. It is... less funny. I give it a B- if I'm being generous.

  6. Curse of Chucky (2013):
    And I guess Seed didn't go over very well, given the 9 year gap. Very different tone on this one! It's played totally straight and it's basically a Victorian haunted house story. Chucky is Chekhov's Gun until at least halfway through. The cinematography is beautiful and it is genuinely scary. And I love it that it's now a dynasty, starring Fiona Dourif, daughter of Brad, the voice of Chucky. A++.

  7. Cult of Chucky (2017):
    Nica (Fiona) is in the loony bin, so this is the "Dream Warriors" of the series. Also Andy's back! And he's got some fuckin' issues. (One of the things that I love about this series is that as the characters return they have been played by the same actors, even if it's 30 years later -- with the notable exception of Child's Play 3.) This one also is a straight horror movie rather than a comedy, though not quite as dark as Curse was. One of my favorite scenes is when Chucky briefly possesses Nica because at that point Fiona is doing an impression of her real-life dad and it's just gloriously inappropriate. There are some weird but promising, and largely unexplored, expansions to the mythology that were really begging for a follow-up that hasn't happened yet. A.

So, they also did a remake of the first one, and I hadn't realized that it was actually released in 2019. I haven't seen it. It has a good cast on paper, but neither Don Mancini nor the Dourifs are involved, so that sounds like some bullshit to me.

I would like to see Chucky Invades and Chucky's Vacation Slides, anyone got a torrent for them?

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Virtualbox

Fucking Apple.
Lazyweb: How do I make copy and paste work between Virtualbox 6.1 host and guest? Or, dare I dream, drag files? Both are macOS. I gather this has something to do with "Guest Additions" but every hit talks about menu items that do not exist.

Because this is the world we live in, I now need to run an emulated macOS 10.13 within macOS 11.6 to keep certain 32 bit apps working. Here are some things that I have learned, for the benefit of future generations.

Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

  • How do I install 10.13 into the emulator?

    • Download the "Install macOS High Sierra.app" from the app store.
    • hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierra.cdr -size 5200m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
    • hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
    • sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/install_build
    • mv /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg ~/Desktop/InstallSystem.dmg
    • hdiutil detach /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra
    • hdiutil convert ~/Desktop/InstallSystem.dmg -format UDTO -o installer.iso
    • mv installer.iso.cdr installer.iso
    • Create the VM and in "Storage / Controller / Empty" click the tiny icon on the right and attach the ISO file to it.
    • Boot the installer DVD image.
    • In the installer, run Disk Utility to partition the new virtual disk, then install.
    • It should boot! Run Sofware Update and wait forever.

  • What's the right way to shut it down?
    Clicking on the Close box of the emulator offers you choices.
    • Save the machine state:
      This is like closing the lid on a laptop. Probably what you want.
    • Power off the machine / Restore current snapshot:
      As far as I can tell, this means that the next time you boot, it has rolled back to prior to any changes you made during this session, including to the file system.

  • How do I get the guest and host on the same network, so that host can ssh in?
    Use "Bridged" network adapter. Otherwise it hides behind an internal NAT.

  • How do I get a 1080p display instead of this postage stamp?
    /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage setextradata "vm name" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920x1080

  • Why is it so slow that it feels like I'm running VNC over a 9600 baud modem?
    Because you're on a Retina display and it's moving too many pixels.
    • open /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/Resources/
    • Finder "Get Info" on VirtualBoxVM.app
    • Check "Open in low resolution"

  • And now all the text is fuzzy.
    In the guest, un-check System Preferences / Displays / LCD font smoothing.

  • How do I transfer files?
    Guest: Turn on Apple File Sharing, turn off SMB.
    Host: Finder / Go / Network.
    Hopefully the client host name will show up there.

  • I did a software update on the host and now Virtualbox stopped working with an error message about "Kernel driver not installed".
    Apparently you have to do this every time you upgrade macOS:
    • sudo kextload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv
    • sudo kextload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt
    • sudo kextload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp
    • sudo kextload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB
    • Reboot.
    Oh and keep your eyes on System Preferences / Security / General for things you have to say "yes" to.

  • How do I enlarge the emulated file system when I realize that the recommended 20GB was too small?
    You're fucked. Delete it and start over.

  • How do I make ⌘Q quit an app inside the emulator instead of Virtualbox?
    I have no idea.


Update, Dec 2020: Emulating macOS 10.13 on macOS 11.6 or 12.0 using VirtualBox 6.1 is bullshit, and it stinketh. I gave up on it entirely and am now just VNCing in to a sufficiently-ancient physical Mac Mini instead. This is sad and wrong but it works.

Previously, previously.

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