Best Of 2012

The end of 2012 is almost upon us, and what a year it was. Despite the Mayan calendar coming to an end, signaling our population’s supposed demise, we are still here.

Between dancing to PSY’s Gangnam Style, and calling Carly Rae Jensen (maybe), the year seemed to fly by.

This year brought us the excitement of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the sobering tragedy in Newtown, CN. Our Country was divided during the 2012 Presidential election, but came together during Hurricane Sandy. In addition to it all, 2012 was also the hottest year on record. What a busy year!

Top 10 Stories on Blog Pest Control For 2012

This year was also a busy year for the pest control industry. New species of insects were discovered, like the dive-bombing parasitic wasp and the headless ladybug. A world-record millipede was caught, that had 750 legs. The FTC took action against unproven bedbug treatments. On top of all of it, pest control operators were busy battling pest invaders. The year was full of many of these stories.

Here are the top ten stories on Blog Pest Control, determined by you the reader:

Over the years we have been privileged to watch several movies featuring bugs. Here is Blog Pest Control’s compiled list of top bug movies.

9. $12 Million Pest Control

When Elin Nordegren, former wife of golfer Tiger Woods, has a pest control problem, she demolishes her 17,000 square foot house. Nordegren’s beach front home in North Palm Beach, FL after it was infested with termites and carpenter ants.

Yes, Washington has scorpions. The Northern Scorpion rarely invades homes and is actually a very rare find. This article discusses scorpion stings, catching scorpions, getting rid of scorpions, and hunting them with a black light.

As a pest control owner or manager you must manage workflow, cash flow, sales, overhead, inventory, and your employee’s needs, all while not neglecting customer service. With every one of these responsibilities it can be easy to make mistakes in your businesses accounting and bookkeeping. Here are some of the most frequent accounting mistakes.

This article, with its infographic, gives us all a very clear picture of how serious the bedbug problem really is.

Finding a pest control software program for your small business can be challenging and often times overwhelming. There are a few things to keep in mind while navigating the pest control software maze.

The Arizona Bark Scorpion is one of the most feared, and misunderstood, pests out there. Here are five things you need to know about this stinging pest.

As labor costs, cost of pesticides, gas prices, and property taxes all increase; some pest control companies are left facing the inevitable… Raising prices to meet overhead, or closing the doors forever. Here’s an article on how raising prices can best be done.

A woman who was seeking medical attention went into China’s Changsha Central Hospital because she felt a burning and itching inside her ear. To her horror, and the horror of her doctors, a spider was found living in her ear canal. See the pictures here.

As our mouths loll open, passing arachnids find themselves strangely compelled to crawl in, where we cheerfully gulp them down without knowing. According to this exterminator, this is not true.

Stay Tuned For Many More Informative Pest Control Articles In 2013

Thanks for following Blog Pest Control this year. The above list was compiled based on several components including: number of views, number of comments, number of shares on social media sites, and the how compelling the news is/was. Keep checking back for all of your pest control news in 2013,

What Was Your Favorite Blog Pest Control Article?

Anthony Ball

I recently had fun compiling a playlist on Spotify of popular songs about bugs. Natural progression took me to putting together a list of my top 10 movies featuring bugs. Here’s my list counting down from 10 to 1:

10. Antz (1998)

A neurotic worker ant (Woody Allen), named “Z” helps princess Bala (Sharon Stone) escape her suffocating royal life. While doing so he meets many new friends along the way and discovers his own individuality; all while falling in love with the princess. The film give’s audiences a glimpse into the dynamics of an ant colony, and is packed with the voice-overs of many famous actors.

Cover of Antz

Starring: Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez, Danny Glover, Christopher Walken, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd

9. Them! (1954)

Them! is a cult classic and the first bug movie ever made. The film was influenced by the fears over atomic energy testing in the 1950’s. Atomic tests in New Mexico cause ants to mutate into giant man-eating bugs that wreck havoc on humanity.

Them! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starring: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, James Arness, Joan Weldon

8. Mimic (1997)

A foolish entomologist, Dr. Susan Tyler, genetically engineers a bug to kill cockroaches in the New York subway system. The genetically engineered insect breeds, and rapidly evolves; having the ability to copy human form. Now the malevolent insects are out to destroy their only predator, by feasting on mankind!

Source: Bloodygoodhorror.com

Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin

7. Eight-Legged Freaks (2002)

Giant spiders attack a small Arizona town. Assortments of horrific venomous spiders get exposed to a toxic chemical that causes them to develop and grow to mammoth proportions. Really bad CGI, and blood and guts galore, make this a cult classic. Watch for spider cameos by jumping spiders, tarantulas, trap-door spiders, and orb-weaver spiders.

Starring: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson

6. Bee Movie (2007)

Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) is a new college graduate who’s excited about starting a job at the “Honex” honey factory. Barry seeks out on his own adventure when things don’t go quite as he expects at the honey factory. He makes friends with a human (Renee Zellweger) who helps him sue the human race for taking all of the bee’s honey.

Cover of Bee Movie (Full Screen Edition)

Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates

5. The Fly (1986)

This brilliant remake of the 1958 original, is widely regarded as a classic. An eccentric scientist, Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldbloom), is in the finishing stages of testing his teleportation machine when a house fly gets into the machine with him. He slowly transforms into a grotesque half fly, half man monster.

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel

4. Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

A clumsy inventor unintentionally shrinks his kids, and the neighbor kids, down the size of bugs. They are thrown out with the trash, and must make their way back inside the home to get their father’s attention. The treacherous journey back across the yard involves encounters with a scorpion, a bee, and other perilous insects. This film might have one of the best titles of all time.

Starring: Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Matt Frewer, Kristine Sutherland

3. A Bugs Life (1998)

A group of grasshoppers bully a colony of ants until one particular ant (Flik) gets fed up. Flik ventures out of the colony in search of help and brings back circus bugs to combat the grasshoppers.

Cover of A Bug’s Life [Blu-ray]

2. Starship Troopers (1997)

We must not forget that other planets have bugs too, right? The heroes of Starship Troopers combat arachnid like bugs on the planet Klendathu. The film was a massive hit at the box office, and spawned lots of sequels.

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris

1. Arachnophobia (1990)

A recently discovered spider from Venezuela is accidently brought to a small American town, breeding with local spiders. This creates a new race of poisonous spiders that begin killing off town residents one at a time. Jeff Daniels overcomes his fear of spiders as he battles them to their death. John Goodman makes for one heck of an exterminator.

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Julian Sands, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman

What Do You Think?

I had a lot of fun putting together this list of popular movies about bugs, but this is just my opinion. What are your favorite bug movies? I’d live to hear from you!

Related articles

• What are you afraid of?
• Arachnophobia
• Buggy

Anthony Ball