I have been a fan of internet gaming for a long time. As long as the internet has existed, as a matter of fact. I like to play seek-and-find games, which used to be less available, but are enjoying a surge in popularity these days. They basically consist of you looking for a list of hidden objects within a picture before the clock runs out. I can't get enough of that stuff. Especially because shooter or arcade style games stress me out (I'm afraid I'm going to get "killed" so much I can't play the game properly.) You know what else would stress me out? My PC trying run my household. Which brings me to the explanation of who Edgar is: one of the main characters in a movie called Electric Dreams. This movie is a straight up classic. I don't know why more people haven't seen it. When you Google it, it comes up as "obscure movies of the eighties" and its soundtrack is more famous than the movie itself. With good reason, since it features works by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO to those of us who are fans) who simply kick ass, in my opinion, and UB40, whom I have all the albums of, as well as Culture Club and some nice classical cuts. Let me enlighten you as to the plot: Dorky Guy (Lenny Von Dohlen, who according to IMDB is now to be found on Ghost Whisperer...that's a shame) gets a computer with all the possible bells and whistles, and proceeds to install it in his home with the hopes that automating all of his appliances through the computer will simplify his life. Girl (Virginia Madsen, of Sideways fame among other things) moves in upstairs. Girl is a concert cellist. Guy becomes smitten. By accident, guy spills a glass of champagne on computer, making it sentient (!!) Computer then thinks to itself that it might have a thing for Girl Upstairs, and proceeds to make Guy's life hell by screwing with the house that he is wired to run (Stereo up loud! Doors locked! Coffeemaker haywire! Etc.) and driving Guy absolutely insane. Girl, meanwhile, has a jerky boyfriend from the orchestra and ignores both Guy and Computer until she realizes something funny is going on downstairs. Of course, in the end, Guy gets Girl and computer gets the shaft. Not before the Computer divulges that his name is Edgarrrrr in an awesome campy sort of "electronic" voice that is done by Bud Cort. The first review on IMDB for this movie states that the guy who wrote it fell immediately in love with it and would now count it in his top ten of all time. I couldn't agree more. I can only hope that my spreading the word will improve its veiwership worldwide. Especially because in the way of all that is good and holy from my childhood, there appears to be a plan to reprise the movie in a modern context to be released in 2010, which, needless to say, is a travesty. Original or nothing! Up with ELO! Down with stupid remakes with no cultural relevance in today's world! Okay, I'm done.
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