... and now they're both dead: Voice master Don LaFontaine, singer Jerry Reed

Sad news today: The guy who's voice you will know once you hear it has died. Also, the guy that wrote "East Bound and Down," the theme from Smoky and the Bandit died as well.

Don LaFontaine, who is best known as the guy that said "...in a world" in front of nearly every single trailer ever.

Jerry Reed was a fabulous musician and a good actor.

Both will be missed.

Here's an example of LaFontaine, the intro from trailer to "Terminator 2" ...

And here's Reed singing "East Bound and Down."

Now resuming the blog previously in progress....

The Origins of Cinemasochism Month

There is an audience for crappy movies. It's why there's a section called CULT CLASSICS.

But there is a catch of course: A cult classic has to be entertaining on some level. There has to be at least one redeeming value. (This separates "Battlefield Earth" from "Earth Girls are Easy.")

This is why John Waters is a household name. Sure his movies suck, but they suck in such an interesting way that you can't turn your head.

This is the thesis behind cable channels AMC, Spike and Fuse. It's why you'll see "Road Warrior," "Red Dawn," "Road House" and "Repo Man" in heavy rotation. (Plus other movies that don't start with the letter "r.")

Not one of those movies is classically awesome. (At least, not like "Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo" or "The Highlander.") But if one of those is on TV right now, I'm skipping this blog and sticking it out for the duration.

Bad movies are just one of my guilty pleasures.

We all have 'em.

An ironic interest in hair metal (and subsequently watching "Rock of Love").

Fascination with "Two and Half Men."

Love of all things Swayze.

But here's the dilemma: How do you know if something can even become a guilty pleasure? How do you find a cult classic hiding amongst the crap dumped onto the big screen (and direct-to-DVD) every week?

Who's to say that I won't find out one day that Larry the Cable Guy is a guilty pleasure of mine? Or Paris Hilton is actually the world's foremost ironic comedian?

Ok, maybe it won't get that far. But here's a really decent question that I hope to find the answer to: Where is the line between "bad but entertaining" and "bad but awful"?

Well, hopefully, we can figure this stuff out using myself and my Netflix queue as Guinea Pigs this month. Something Ink web producer Trevan dubbed "Cinemasochism."

I've taken a look back at every single movie that was released in 2008 and weeded out anything that was rated above a 25 percent freshness rating at rottentomatoes.com. (Which, oddly enough, meant "Speed Racer" or "Indiana Jones 4" aren't up for consideration as worst movies of the year.)

What I was left with was an impressive list of sucktitude.

Big theatrical releases like "Never Back Down" and "10,000 B.C." Lesser-known-but-critically-panned flicks like "Postal" and "One Missed Call." Movies with huge stars (Al Pacino, "88 Minutes") and movies with interesting ideas ("The Jumper").

But also, there's quite a few on this list that I know going in will probably give me a tumor ("Made of Honor," "Over Her Dead Body," "Deception" and "Meet the Spartans" to name just a few.)

This should've been the part where I discussed the current imdb.com and rottentomatoes.com worst movie ever, "Disaster Movie," but work (and a real disaster) intervened in my fun. So that didn't happen ... yet.

I've whittled that list down. Filled my queue — and in the process had Netflix tell me that they think I'll enjoy "Delta Farce." Great. Maybe Larry the Cable Guy is my hero.

All this month (every Tuesday and Thursday in this blog and Wednesday in the printed product), I'm going to be figuring out what movies released in 2008 are potential cult classics and what are classically awful. And hopefully put a finger on where the line between "bad but entertaing" and "bad but awful" really is.

And it starts tomorrow with the direct-to-DVD sequel of one of my favorite 80s flicks, "Lost Boys 2: The Tribe." I'll be linking to it here, but go find it in paper. (Shameless plug: You'll also find my guy's guide to fall there too.)