Thursday, April 30, 2009

Haiku Results are in!



Whenever I post a topic for this (and especially Finish it Friday), I always fear "0 Comments" so thank you all for participating.

I won't "boar" you with the details but this week's prestigious title goes, against my better judgment, to none other than JPX! I'm not happy about it either but he charmed me with the following two beauties. First:

I don't like to brag
I have never had the flu
I do like to brag

This is a good example of the childlike innocence JPX has managed to retain throughout his life. (Also see his obsessions with action figures, celebrities and Disney World.) He went to the well a couple times too often in follow up haikus but that one still shone.

And then there was:

Swine flu is "whine" flu
Creates mass hysteria
It's good for business

I'm not sure exactly what "business" he's referring to but it doesn't matter because its hilarious. Congratulations JPX!

Kelly McGillis comes out of the closet


From wwtdd, Kelly McGillis, who you may remember from “Top Gun” but probably don’t, has come out as a lesbian, shocking everyone, at least until they look at a recent picture of her.

“I’m done with the man thing. I did that, I need to move on in life. That’s another part of being true to yourself…that’s been a challenge for me personally.”
“I think [accepting being homosexual] that was an ongoing process from the time I was about 12. I had a lot of things happened that convinced me that God was punishing me for being gay. That was a hard process.”

It’s getting really tedious to hear people talk about how hard it is to be gay. I support just about every prejudice you can think of and even I bailed on that one. Everyone I know makes gay and racist jokes, no one I know would ever actually discriminate. I’m sure it sucks when you’re 12 and some handsome popular kid is pinning you down and putting dead birds in your mouth, but in my defense I was dared to. It was out of my hands.

Woman claims father was infamous Zodiac killer


From usatoday, One of the nation's biggest unsolved murder mysteries is the identity of the "Zodiac killer," who is blamed for at least five deaths in the San Francisco Bay area 40 years ago.

Now a woman is stepping forward to claim that her father was the killer and that he took her along as a 7-year-old for thrills, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. During the height of the killings, the Chronicle received taunting letters believed to be the Zodiac killer.

The claim by Deborah Perez stirred up much skepticism about a case in which a number of people have tried to take responsibility.

But at least Perez, 47, offers a unique twist, the newspaper says.

She tells reporters that she is going public to finger her now-deceased father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, a resident of Santa Ana in 1968 and 1969, in an attempt "to right his wrongs."

"I was a child and just thought I was helping my father," Perez says. "He told me he killed many people."

Most intriguing, perhaps, is that she says she has a pair of brown, horn-rimmed glasses that her father supposedly took from his last victim, a cabbie, the Chronicle reports.

She also says she wrote a letter to famed defense attorney Melvin Belli at the age of 7 to try to get help for Hendrickson. The letter, with erratic punctuation and misspellings, read: "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me."

The Chronicle quotes police investigators as saying they will look into the story.

The New York Times quotes Robert Graysmith, a former Chronicle reporter who has written two books on the case, as saying he is doubtful of Perez's claims, but "I never say never."

Disney’s Internal Star Wars Weekends Posters





From slashfilm

Entertainment Weekly reviews X-Men Origins: Wolverine


From ew, So, the makers of the industrial-strength franchise extender X-Men Origins: Wolverine have now revealed the psychological roots of the famous ''berserker rage'' that has caused the title's angry Marvel superhero to bare his adamantium claws in three previous X-Men movies. The question is, was anyone wondering? Or are you, like me, content enough to admire the cool, crazy talents of a society of freaks and geeks who find comfort in pooling their misunderstood powers? To put it another way: Is it possible to make a movie about a superhero these days without injecting scenes of dreary superambivalence between expensive action sequences? (Batman, Spider-Man, and the Hulk? Big brooders.) Or is blessed freedom from neurosis granted only to villains? (The Joker? A fun guy.)

The questions arise as Wolverine launches a new X-Men franchise based on origin myths that will allow for a pageant of younger stars. In the case of the superhero born James Howlett (known off duty as Logan, and boasting the Sexiest Man Alive beauty of entertainer Hugh Jackman), traumatic past experiences include a fatal misunderstanding back in 1845 with a sinister-looking man the young Wolverine-to-be couldn't have known at the time was his real father. (The lad also couldn't have known he'd grow up to sport a Paulie Walnuts hairdo.)

Likewise, there's emotional fallout from more than a century of love/hate between James/Logan/Wolverine and his lithe, fiery, and similarly clawed older brother, Victor (Liev Schreiber). During their long years on the run together, smacking down anyone who stood in their way, the mutant siblings fought side by side in the Civil War, two World Wars, and the Vietnam War, all in a matter of some 20 minutes of screen time. (Victor, whose own talons are extensions of his hobo fingernails, also goes by the name of Sabretooth, for self-explanatory dental reasons.) The experience of all that fighting turned Logan into something of a pacifist, or at least an Age of Psychotherapy introvert who wants to gain control of his own animal nature. In contrast, Victor has no such niggles about the thrill of destructive instincts. No wonder Schreiber provides the most unfettered pleasure in this guilt-racked action pic. (No wonder, too, that Jackman, in his capacity as producer, tapped South African filmmaker Gavin Hood to direct, after Hood's previous morality tales Tsotsi and Rendition.)

You'd think all this would be enough shrinkwrapped backstory since the movie still needs space to introduce other, newer mutants for their moments in the spotlight. (Ryan Reynolds has fun as the adversary who later comes to be known as Deadpool; Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch gives an inkling of the charms he might display in a future episode as Gambit; Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am makes an appealing feature-film debut as John Wraith, a dude with a gift for now-you-see-him, now-you-don't.) But lest the ladies feel alienated by all the masculine conflict, the movie adds lover's grief as an additional motive for moodiness. And so we learn that Logan's bliss was interrupted at the happiest time in his life, when he was living simply as a hunky, often shirtless, law-abiding lumberjack in the Canadian Rockies, nesting with with his dishy schoolteacher girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). After someone targets Kayla as a way of getting to her beau, Wolvie yowls luxuriously and flashes his erect talons. Why, ye gods of superhero comic books, is someone out to get him? And who's to blame?

Wolverine climaxes in a pileup of explosions, complicated stunts, violent man-on-man fights, and hints, especially if you stay until the end of the credits, at sequels and spin-offs — each fancy sequence simultaneously lacking both weight and lightness: The effect-laden showdowns feel more dutiful than daring, and the rare moments of fun are parceled out frugally, like precious nuggets of adamantium. Meanwhile, buff and bronzed as an Oscar statuette, Jackman works the picture like a trouper. Heroes and villains clash, then rise up to clash again, just because that's what X-Men do. The truth is, it doesn't matter Y. C+

Todd McFarlane In Talks To Make A New Spawn Movie


From slashfilm, It’s been a week of reboot news, and tonight is no different. Comic book artist/writer turned entrepreneur Todd McFarlane tells IESB that he’s got “five offers on the table” for a new Spawn movie, ranging from big studio to smaller scale. Todd says that he’s leaning towards the latter, which would “keep it down, keep it dark, keep it grungy”, comparing his idea to “The Departed with something moving in the shadows.”

“It’s not a comic book movie, it’s just a scary movie, a creepy movie. Everything’s real except for one element, which happens to be the character we know as Spawn. So it’s not going to be super villain vs superhero or any of that stuff, it’s just going to be a ‘tight’ movie.”

Back in the early 1990’s, I was a huge fan of Spawn. McFarlane, a popular Spider-Man artist defected from Marvel and formed Image Comics with six other popular comic book artists. McFarlane’s art was always the big selling point for me. The first issue went on to sell over 1.7 million copies, a record for an independent comic book. McFarlane has since expanded to other areas, and is probably best known outside of the comic book world for line of action detailed figures.

Anyway, a film based on the comic was released in 1997. Despite the special effects, which were impressive at the time, the movie was not well received by fans or critics. I know that we’re now in a post-Dark Knight world where dark is back in style, but I felt one of the reasons the original film didn’t work was that it was too gritty, and lacked much of the style and gloss of the comics. Don’t get me wrong, Spawn will never be Spider-Man, but I think its better to aim for stylistic more than gritty. More Sin City than The Dark Knight, Spider-Man or X-Men. What do you think?

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Philips Carousel commercial by Adam Berg


Anybody checked out this awesome, freaky commercial?

(I embedded it at first, but like the Pet Shop Boys video the right chunk of the image was lopped off. This deserves the full court press.)

I love the new Pet Shop Boys single and video!

Haiku Hump Day: Swine Flu!

I decided to forgo the usual entertainment categories and go with something topical. If this proves to be a disaster you can blame my friend Blake - it was his idea.



Yes it's here and it's nasty! Swine flu! The last thing you want is swine flu!



Is it just one more thing we're being pressured to worry about even if won't likely directly or indirectly affect our lives?


Or should we be concerned and prepare accordingly? After all, the very concept is creepy and unpleasant.



What are you thoughts on swine flu...



... in haiku form?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Star Trek IMAX tickets!

I've got two tickets for Star Trek The IMAX Experience, in Manhattan, at the Upper West Side IMAX, 7:45 on May 12th.

I've got to unload these tickets.

Can any New York-based 'thonners help me out? If not you, maybe someone you know? It's the Tuesday after the movie's opening weekend.

Thanks!

Ridley Scott Toying With Return to 'Alien' Franchise?


From bloodydisgusting, Some pretty huge news comes in from the Wolverine premiere in Tempe, Arizona as Fox Co-chairman Tom Rothman talked with IESB about a potential prequel to Alien, one of my all-time favorite horror films. "There's been some talk," he tells the website. "Ridley Scott, Ridley is right now working on Robin Hood, but I think he's toying with the idea and that would be great for us. I mean, it's always been a matter of, really, if you can get the originator to do it that would be the greatest thing, so I've got my fingers crossed, all of them." We'll cross our toes too - what better way to continue the franchise than to take it away from Paul W.S. Anderson, the ruiner of all things good, and give it back to the master?

Horrorthon "virginity optimization" project (needs a new name)


Obviously I need to come up with a new name; suggestions are welcome. Anyway here's the idea: I'm really into the movie The Shining (see above picture in which I am literally "really into" the movie). Since I just co-wrote a scary book I found myself watching The Shining over and over for various reasons that I won't even mention because I'd have to type all day to get across the sublime nature of The Shining (one of Kubrick's Michaelangelo-like monuments to the sublime).

And I realized, I've seen this damn thing so many times that I know everything they're going to say in the movie before they say it. I can't even remember the first time I saw it, and, at that time, I'd already read the book (which is very different), so I wasn't coming at the story "fresh" (or "virginal").

But maybe there's somebody on Horrorthon who's never seen The Shining! That would be great, because (assuming I could induce that person to watch and review it) I could get that particular fun insight into a favorite movie that comes from a friend checking it out and reporting back.

Then it occurred to me that there's got to be some "crucial" movie of someone else's that I haven't seen. Ultimately we're looking at a simple informational task that would end up with everybody knowing who is the "movie virgin" for their favorite horror movie (or regular movie), and then everyone checking out the movies and reporting back. Like I said, it needs a better name, and we don't need to do anything that would make anyone feel tired or under pressure (as October Horrorthon stuff can). But, can you dig it? Like Secret Santas, kind of, without any secrets or gifts, but with movie reviews.

Lindsay Lohan, separated at birth?



The Transformation of a Wachowski Brother


From TMZ, Sporting a highlighted bob, cropped blazer and capris, Larry Wachowski -- one-half of "Matrix" directors The Wachowski Brothers -- resurfaced at LAX the other day, looking very different than before. It's rumored that Larry goes by Lana these days.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Uncomfortable Plot Summaries

A friend sent me this link.  Some are funny.

"SERENITY: Men fight for possession of scantily clad mentally ill teenage girl."

"RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: American yahoo murders soldiers and desecrates religious artifacts for money.

"POLTERGEIST: Pot-head parents lose child, ruin property values."

OK.  Maybe funny is a strong word.

Bea & Rock Turnin' On



Sniff, Swig, Puff.
Love this piece.

Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans Begins Production


From slashfilm, In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.

Read full article here

Finish it whenever the hell you like: Results

Thanks all who contributed to FiF (though where was Penis?), and I'm glad I pushed off the deadline so as to receive the three intriguing conclusions. Needless to say I loved all three story endings: Flipflop for the compact, straightforward solution; Borrowers for the humor and twist (and who doesn't love gnomes); and Lung for level of detail, lovecraftian plot, and use of that back yard. Like Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles, I tend to be strict, but in this case everyone was late, and I already liked where things were going before the revised deadline, so: Lung of the Puma is this week's winner. Congratulations Lung!

'Memba Kathleen Turner?


From WWTDD, Kathleen Turner hit up Mr. Chow for dinner last night, and I would have posted more pictures but these were the only ones they had. “Please don’t eat me Ms. Turner, I am not Mr. Chow food”, begged the photographers. “RaaaRRR!” responded Kathleen.

Here's how you might remember her

The last time the girls were together


2008

David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" Being Remade


From worstpreviews Universal Pictures will remake the 1983 David Cronenberg-directed thriller "Videodrome," with Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road, The Ring) set to write the script and produce with partner Daniel Bobker.

The original "Videodrome" starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83, who makes his station relevant by programming "Videodrome," a series that depicts torture and murder that transfixes viewers.

The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.

Cronenberg has no role in the film as yet. He is currently working on "The Matarese Circle" as a starring vehicle for Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington

Box office - America loves crap


What looked like a fair fight between four strong contenders for number one this weekend ended up a lopsided bruising by the Beyoncé Knowles thriller Obsessed, which raked in an estimated $28.5 million and left the competition behind in a bloody heap. (Hold on, Box Office fans, the over-the-top brawling metaphors just get worse from here.) Despite a widespread critical drubbing (Metacritic smacked it with a 22 score), Obsessed clearly tapped into a female-driven audience bloodlusting for some schlocky, catfighting fun with its story of a woman (Knowles) battling to keep a mentally unhinged secretary (Ali Larter) from stealing her husband (Idris Elba). Knowles' full-court media press last week certainly didn't hurt either: Nearly doubling many prognosticator's estimates (including that of EW's own Joshua Rich), Knowles pulled in her biggest three-day opening since 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember and can officially cross off "become a bona fide movie star" on her list of Things I Need To Do To Dominate The World.

Zac Efron managed to keep his matinee-idol face relatively unharmed, meanwhile, with 17 Again dropping a respectable 51 percent to come in second with $11.7 million, for a 10-day total of $39.9 million. Hot on Efron's heels, however, was the weekend's second donnybrook-ing flick. Fighting, starring Channing Tatum as, well, a fighter, made a higher-than-expected $11.4 million, and very well may end up passing 17 Again for the No. 2 slot when final numbers come out on Monday. (The number bodes well for Tatum, who headlines this August's blockbuster hopeful G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.)
The Soloist, alas, suffered the worst beating, banking just $9.7 million for fourth place, an anemic number for the already enfeebled adult drama. Critical indifference -- just a 61 on Metacritic -- probably didn't help the film's cause, and the film may have never recovered from Paramount's decision to move the film from its prestige picture slot last fall to the far dicier spring season.

The Disneynature doc Earth landed a fifth-place finish with $8.5 million, and its $4 million opening on Wednesday (a.k.a. Earth Day) lifted the film to a $14.2 million five-day total. Although those numbers are shy of what some thought the film could do, it remains the second-best opening weekend ever for a documentary, next to just Fahrenheit 9/11.

Finally, The Informers, based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel, opened in limited release to a puny $300,000, or just $622 a theater. The highly regarded Mike Tyson documentary Tyson, by contrast, debuted at $86,000 on just 11 screens for a vigorous $7,818 per-theater average, one of the best of the weekend. It seems fisticuffs of any stripe were your best bet for this weekend, which, according to figures from Box Office Mojo, was up a whopping 30 percent from last year, when the significantly less violent Baby Mama was tops.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

1922-2009


I am so saddened to hear that Bea Arthur is no longer among us. I consider The Golden Girls to be one of the funniest sitcoms of all time. The interplay between the characters created some of the funniest exchanges ever filmed for television. Here's a random reminder,



Although the show ended in 1992, it's never been off the air, mostly due to Lifetime's near non-stop airings of the reruns. At one point it was on like 6 times/day. And you know what, it never gets old. Like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Seinfeld for me, I've seen every episode numerous times yet I still laugh just as much every time I catch it. I'm so bummed that Bea died. In some weird way I always thought she would be around.

Of course, who can forget her appearance on the awesome Star Wars Holiday Special?



Let's not forget Maude!



I'd like to think that somewhere Bea is giving someone the classic Dorothy look of disgust,



Dorothy: No matter how strongly you feel, Frank, I cannot let you leave the Priesthood for me.

Frank: Whaaat??!

Dorothy: I understand how hurt you must feel.

Frank: *LAUGHS*

Dorothy: Alright, maybe I don't understand exactly!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Finish it Friday: Patriot’s Day edition

Jason and Kara Grey moved slowly, hand in hand, through the tiny house. It was located on a quiet street just outside town center in historic Lexington, Massachusetts. Well over two hundred years old, it was a “fixer-upper,” though it did boast a small grass yard in front and a secluded garden in back. The rear garden was enclosed by a low, crumbling stone wall separating the property from reservation land protected from further development. The couple talked quietly about the pros and cons of the little house while the realtor waited patiently on the postage-stamp-sized front lawn, holding a briefcase and talking on her cell phone.

Jason said, “I like it, but we’re going to have to sink at least another $40,000 into repairs before it would be liveable, and the asking price is at the top of our range as it is.”

Kara responded, “I know, but Jason, I really love it. A home in Lexington? I never thought we could afford to be in this community. The schools are great…” she pleaded.

Jason grimaced. “OK, let’s see if we can make this work. We can at least tell the realtor we’re interested in making a bid.”

The realtor brightened on hearing this news, but then her face became sober again. “There’s something else about the history of this house I think you ought to know,” she said reluctantly.

Jason smiled. “That sounds intriguing; what is it?”

Movies on the Block unveils summer schedule!


What is Movies on the Block, you ask? Each year a number of classic movies ("classic" is debatable) are shown for free in Providence on the side of a building. Whirlygirl and I have been going to these movies for the past few years and it's a blast! We watched Star Wars and American Graffiti last year among others. We bring a cooler of booze, large bags of popcorn and lawn chairs. I highly recommend that local Horrorthonners join us for some of these this year.

Scary: A Childhood Photo From The Future


From geekology, This is a childhood photo FROM THE FUTURE. Don't ask me how I got it, but suffice it to say I got some wires crossed when I was building my time machine (read: I showed up in 2120 with a trash bag full of dinosaur-sized condoms). Anyway, I brought this back to show you how not cool the future is. You want your kids growing up with robot pals? No, no you don't. And if you do, well, *ffffubt*. Oh that? Nothing -- just a little contraceptive blowdart.

Upcoming movies promise to blow the lid off summer


By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY

It's almost summertime. And the movies are about to get LOUD.

Unlike Oscar season, when death and destruction mean agony and tears, during the warmer months, when all of humanity — or iconic symbol, big building or favored character — faces annihilation, we break out the popcorn and cheer.

The White House shattering in Independence Day, the giant wave overtaking the small boat in The Perfect Storm, the Joker's fiery leveling of the hospital in The Dark Knight. All were summer moments to relish.

Among the titles packed with fire and falling debris over the next few months: J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek, with whole planets consumed by cosmic weaponry; Quentin Tarantino's World War II camp-fest Inglourious Basterds, blowing up the placid French countryside; the fantasy soldier saga GI Joe; and sequels to Transformers, Terminator and X-Men, which threaten to wipe out life on Earth.

Why is the end of the world so fun?

It's a question barely worth asking, says director Michael Bay, nicknamed "Bayhem" by the crew on his Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen set. "Summertime, ever since our childhood, it has been ingrained in us that we're not going to school, and we can have fun, relax."

Though McG, who directs Terminator Salvation, has a more cerebral take: "We like to be faced with our demise and see how ultimately we can turn it all around. It's a classic attraction/repulsion dynamic of the human condition."

There's one big catch, points out Steven Zeitchik, senior writer for The Hollywood Reporter. It works only if the threat seems unbelievable. "Movie threats are safe and removed from day-to-day existence," he says. "We're not really worried about Romulans destroying the galaxy 400 years from now."

Summer wasn't always about so much destruction, says Joel Silver, the producer behind such franchises as Die Hard and The Matrix. "When I came to Hollywood, I saw them filming The Towering Inferno, and they were using miniatures back then. Now CGI makes it more real."

And the size of summer audiences makes special effects worth the investment. "Every weekday in the summer is like a weekend the rest of the year," says Silver, whose contribution to chaos this year is horror thriller Orphan.

Abrams, who also created Lost and Alias, says action spectacle movies work best when the storytellers cater to their own instincts rather than try to please some anonymous ticket buyer.

"If you approach from that thrill of desperately wanting to see this thing, you get those chills, that feeling of almost wanting to laugh because an idea is so emotional or exciting," he says.

The only problem: "There's no guarantee anyone's going to give a damn."

Tom Hanks has seen Toy Story 3


From empireonline, We spoke to Tom Hanks for the latest issue of Empire, and in the course of a career-spanning interview he told us a little bit about the state of play on Toy Story 3, as well as Angels & Demons and his HBO Pacific War series. First up, Pixar!

"I have been in and done three big complete recording sessions and will probably have at least one more to do, possibly in about eight months," said Hanks of his Toy Story 3 work. "Then eight months after that I'll do a mop-up and have three more sessions after that. Those movies are beasts.

"They did an interesting thing on this one. They did not send us a script. They showed us a complete story reel of the entire movie, with storyboards moving from one to the next, and the people up at Pixar recorded some voices with some music and sound effects. Tim Allen and John Ratzenberger and I went in a movie theatre, watched the reel and said, 'This is great, let's get to work!'"

On Angels & Demons, Hank addressed the

Halloween 2 trailer


From worstpreviews, The trailer for the upcoming "Halloween" sequel is scheduled to appear online today (Friday) and while we wait for it, you can watch a bootleg version of it. Click on the link below to check it out.

"H2" will pick up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follow the aftermath of Michael Myers murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode.

The sequel is once again directed by Rob Zombie and is scheduled to hit theaters on August 28th.

See trailer here

Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis to Direct Machete


From slashfilm, Earlier today it was confirmed that Robert Rodriguez would be developing/directing a reboot of Predator titled Predators. We speculated that Rodriguez’s next film would be the futuristic action thriller Nerveracker which has an announced 2010 release date, but Variety reports that Rodriguez will be returning to the Grindhouse before he goes to the future.

That’s right, Rodriguez will finally be directing a feature length version of Machete, based on the mock trailer that was attached to Grindhouse. And by directing, I mean co-directing. Rodriguez wrote the script and will direct the movie with his longtime editor Ethan Maniquis.

Danny Trejo will reprise the title role, which he played in the original faux trailer. Rodriguez penned the script a while back and has been waiting for an opportunity to make the movie. The film is being financed and produced by Overnight Productions, and Rodriguez is hoping to begin production in Austin in June. It isn’t clear if the movie will be released direct-to-video or have a small theatrical release.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

And the ruby slippers go to...



But first, the honorable mentions:

Catfreeek:

Glinda rode bubble
she was fuzzy and glowing
she had some good drugs

Gave me a good laugh the first time I checked for new 'ku. Yes, she sure did, and I bet she kept them in her hat.

JPX:

"There's no place like home"
That's what the film likes to say
But what if home sucks?

Prying the lid off the movie's catchphrase is just what I was looking for, and I've read a lot of funny stuff about how ludicrous this movie's message is if you think about it. Robot Chicken had a sketch in which the whole movie was broken down into three short lines:

Dorothy (on farm): I want to leave home!
Dorothy (in Oz): I want to go home!
Dorothy (in bed): I was home all along!

AC

who saw this coming?
topic triggered compulsive
urge to watch "the wiz"

The combined might of Mr. and Mrs. AC turned out a number of good ones, but this bit of business tickled me the most. That's because I always love it when the blog inspires people to watch weird movies they're meant to hate.

D-Brain

Witch knows where it's at,
Gets 'em high on poppies, then
Glinda adds the "snow".

Can it be that I never thought of that as a coke reference? Anyway, that cracked me up.

And now the winner!

From Johnny Sweatpants:

Welcome to our world!
By the way, you killed someone
But it's just a witch

Ha! In a way the last line is more of a denouement, the real action being the interplay between the first two. Exactly the sort of twisty work I was looking for. Congratulations, Mr. Haikupants! Hump Day is yours!

The Flight of the Conchords

Last Friday night the valiant JPX and Whirlygirl battled Red Sox traffic into Boston to come hear a band they didn’t even know, and Mr. AC joined the fun (he rarely goes to a concert so it was a special treat for me). We kicked off the evening at a hole-in-the-wall Italian joint on Beacon Hill where the staff knew Mr. AC by name. Sufficiently fortified, we braved the green line T out to Agganis Arena.

Opening acts were stand-up by Eugene Mirman, the landlord from the HBO show, and Kristen Schaal, Mel on the show. Both were very funny and got the crowd revved up for the main attraction.

When Bret and Jemaine took the stage the crowd went wild. The boys opened with Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor and interspersed sharp comic patter (some scripted, some ad-libbed and playing off the audience) with their brilliantly funny songs. All of it was highly entertaining. Among the songs played were Hurt Feelings, Bowie, Business Time, Think About It, Mutha’uckas, Carol Brown, Most Beautiful Girl in the Room, and The Ballad of Stana, which the boys helpfully explained is "the word Satan with the letters cleverly rearranged to sound like an acceptable name." They were joined for much of the set by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a hairy dude called Nigel who played cello. FOTC ended the set with the promised Sugalumps, tantalizing the ladies with sexy dancing but retreating when the ladies became too forward. They neglected to play 2 of my faves, Hiphopopotamus and Robots, but I forgive, because I love.

The only drawback at the show was provided by our immediate neighbors to the front, college kids who were particularly antsy during the show, constantly getting up for food and beer and bathroom breaks. Worst of all, one of them had come straight from lacrosse practice and sat there in all his stinky glory, buttcrack exposed throughout the show. Poor Mr. AC had to hold his coatsleeve over his nose the whole evening. Seriously.

After the show, we walked to Fenway to pick up the T, timing things perfectly so as to coincide with the Red Sox game letting out. If you haven’t been on the green line after a Sox game, I can’t convey the claustrophobic sardine glory of the experience. As we made our way back towards the cars, Mr. AC decided the evening would be incomplete without a couple of slices of pizza, so we went to another hole-in-the-wall Beacon Hill place and indulged accordingly.

Really, it was a perfect evening. Thanks JPX and Whirlygirl for sharing it with us!

'Memba her?



From TMZ

Here she is from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Robert Rodriguez Confirms Predator Series Reboot - Predators


From slashfilm, In January, it was rumored that 20th Century Fox was developing a Predator reboot titled Predators with Robert Rodriguez and Troublemaker Studios in the producers chair. Rodriguez confirmed the rumors at a news conference today at Troublemarker Studios for the long-awaited reform of the Texas film incentive program.


IESB reports that Rodriguez gave a list of the many projects he has in development which he hopes to shoot in the state:

“I’m going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nervewrackers, a re-boot of the Predator series called Predators, and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons.”

Nervewrackers has an announced April 15th 2010 release date, and is likely to go into production next. Warner Bros is still hoping to have The Jetsons ready for 2012. Who knows when Rodriguez will find time to helm a Predators reboot.

The film is expected to follow a team of commandos who must face a mysterious race of vicious monsters. That’s right, multiple Predators… not just one. Rodriguez is at his best when it comes to the intergration of special effects into a story, and Predators might be a good arena for the filmmaker to play in. Lets just hope that Fox has hired someone good to write the script.

How Much Different is the Theatrical Cut of Wolverine From the Leaked Workprint?


After the workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed up online, Fox head Tom Rothman told Entertainment Weekly that “the version that went out” was “about 10 minutes shorter” and “doesn’t have key scenes” that would be included in the final theatrical cut of the film. Earlier this week people online noticed that both the leaked “unfinished” workprint and the final cut have the same running time of 107 minutes. How could this be? Did Rothman lie? Or does the theatrical cut actually feature ten minutes of “key scenes” not in the early cut? The answer after the jump.

AICN has seen the theatrical cut and reveals: “The workprint version IS in fact identical to the release print, sans effect and some audio work.” I understand that Fox was just trying to keep people from watching the pirated version of the movie, but did they really need to lie? And apparently the unfinished special effects don’t even look so great in their finished form Veritas says that “the finished effects are lackluster, to say the least - some really bad CGI work made me groan numerous times.”

I think the best defense against piracy is not extra security or guards with night vision goggles, but actually creating a quality product. I don’t condone stealing movies, and I have not, and will not, download the Wolverine work print. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t speak about the quality of the film myself. If someone handed me a copy of Pixar’s Up on DVD right now, I wouldn’t/couldn’t watch it. If Wolverine was a good movie, people would want to pay money to see it on the big screen. But to me, Rothman’s lies demonstrate the company’s lack of confidence in both the material and their audience.

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Jaded Hipster Owl Remains Unimpressed

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Boston Garden, April 21, 2009



I find it odd to be reviewing a Bruce Springsteen concert. I’ve spent the better part of my life hating Springsteen’s music (at least the songs I heard on the radio) and generally despised him whenever I saw him on television. For the most part, Springsteen’s stuff is simply not the kind of music I normally enjoy. To this day the song “Born in the U.S.A.” just puts me in a bad mood, I hate it that much. A funny thing happened a few years ago, however. I was in a relationship that was not going well and in a last ditch effort to be the ideal boyfriend, I surprised my then-girlfriend with Springsteen tickets since she was a huge fan (we all do stupid stuff for chicks, admit it!). With dread I attended the show and I ended up having an amazing time (of course the relationship still ended less than a month later). That particular show was called “The Seeger Sessions”, and featured music I especially hate – amazon.com states, “The premise was simple, Bruce Springsteen invites a dozen or so New York City musicians--packing banjos, fiddles, accordions and the like--to his New Jersey farmhouse for a three-day hootenanny”. It didn’t matter what the music was, it was so high energy and played with such exceptional skill that it was a visual and audio treat. I vowed to catch Springsteen again if he ever toured with the E Street Band. Along the way I picked up Springteen’s tribute to 9/11 called The Rising, apparently an album he wrote in 2 weeks, and it’s become one of my favorite cds. Since The Rising Springsteen and the E Street Band have put out two more albums, both of which I really enjoy. What the hell is happening to me? Springsteen and the E Street Band are currently touring to support their latest album, “Working on a Dream” and I caught the show with AC on April 21st.



With AC fighting a bad cold she caught from a stupid patient and me sweating like a pig from eating spicy BBQ chicken pizza, we took our seats at the Boston Garden. We really lucked out because although our seats were in back of the stage, it turns out that we were very close to the stage given the design and we enjoyed a terrific view. These were actually some of the best seats I’ve ever had at a large venue. Because Miko bailed on us (just kidding, Miko, please don’t kill me), AC gave the extra ticket to a crazy woman, who fortunately never showed up so we had some extra space in the sold out show. After AC loaded up on some costly bottles of water we were ready.



All I can say is wow! There’s a reason that Springsteen has been so successful for the past 30+ years and there’s a reason that the E Street Band enjoy such a positive reputation, they are all amazing, consummate musicians. Although I wasn’t familiar with most of the 25 songs they played, it simply didn’t matter. Springsteen and band play with such enthusiasm, with such high octane energy, and with such skill that it was a fantastic treat and one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. Springsteen is known for never playing the same set twice and as part of tradition (I guess) he takes signs from the audience that have requested songs written on them and the band churns them out, apparently even material that has not been rehearsed over ever played live. You would never know this, however, because the musical performances were flawless.

I will see these guys any time they tour.

They played for 2 solid hours before the encores.

Setlist
1. Badlands
2. Adam Raised A Cain
3. Outlaw Pete
4. Out In The Street
5. Working On A Dream
6. Seeds
7. Johnny 99
8. Ghost of Tom Joad
9. Raise Your Hand
10. I'm Bad I'm Nationwide (tour premiere, sign request)
11. I'm Goin' Down (sign request)
12. Growin' Up (sign request)
13. Waiting On A Sunny Day
14. The Promised Land
15. The Wrestler
16. Kingdom of Days
17. Radio Nowhere (Jay Weinberg) on drums
18. Lonesome Day
19. The Rising
20. Born To Run

Encores:
21. Hard Times
22. Tenth Avenue Freezeout
23. Land of Hope and Dreams
24. American Land
25. Rosalita

Show start: 8:09
Show end: 10:45

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...