Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?

If you're in Austin and the idea of a book of essays and art about New Orleans (pre- and post-Katrina) intrigues you, head on over to BookWoman tonight at 8:00 p.m. to hear readings from the book Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (Amazon link provided for those folks who can't support their local Austin bookstore.) My friend Juliette Kernion (of Celluloid Eyes and Cinematical) will be there along with David Rutledge and Ray Shea to read their contributions to the compilation. If I weren't in Washington D.C. this weekend I'd be there myself. Check it out.

RIP Val Guest

Val Guest, director of The Quatermass Experiment and The Day the Earth Caught Fire, is dead at 94.

From the LA Times:

"The Day the Earth Caught Fire" — a 1961 drama in which secret, simultaneous nuclear detonations by the United States and the Soviet Union knock Earth off its axis and send it hurtling toward the sun as the world's weather turns chaotic — earned Guest and co-writer Wolf Mankowitz best British screenplay awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The doomsday drama was told through the characters of two Fleet Street reporters.

Guest later said President Kennedy asked for his own copy and screened it for 200 foreign correspondents in Washington.

Read the full LA Times article on Val Guest.

Back to the Buffyverse

Joss Whedon is apparently writing a new comic-book miniseries for Dark Horse, set in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe. First issue comes out in October. I'll hold off until it's collected in trade paperback, but it's always nice to see new Whedon-written Buffy adventures. Whether it actually features the titular Slayer remains to be seen.

[via Cinematical]

Weinstein Company creates Dragon Dynasty imprint for Asian action films

From Variety:

The Weinstein Co. is launching Dragon Dynasty, an upscale DVD label that will become home to its burgeoning collection of Asian action titles.

Quentin Tarantino is working with the Weinsteins to develop the new brand.

Venture will be headed by Brian White, former label manager at Contender Entertainment's Hong Kong Legends division. Distribution in North America will use structures pioneered by TWC's Genius Products DVD brand. Some titles will have theatrical distribution via TWC.

This is only good news for Asian action fans in the U.S., who all too often get cheated out of theatrical presentations of some of the best foreign action films being made. I suspect it has something to do with the unwillingness of many action fans to read subtitles. It will be interesting to see whether they sub or dub some of these movies.

Even better news: Dragon Dynasty will release vintage titles as well as new releases, including some Shaw Bros films and classic John Woo flicks.

Stomp! Shout! Scream! DVD release party this Friday in Atlanta

The Atlanta Brewing Company and Stomp & Stammer Magazine present the STOMP! SHOUT! SCREAM! DVD RELEASE PARTY. For a $10 cover, each guest will receive a STOMP! SHOUT! SCREAM! souvenir pint glass and enjoy an Atlanta Brewing Company beer tasting from 8 PM to 11 PM. STOMP! SHOUT! SCREAM! will screen at 8:30 with performances by Atlanta’s premiere Burlesque troupe THE DAMES AFLAME. Atlanta band CATFIGHT!, who recorded original songs for the production, will play immediately following the movie. According to Jennifer, Katy and Susanne this will be Catfight!’s final performance. Come out to say goodbye to one of Atlanta’s best bands.

When: 8:00 PM, This Friday, May 26, 2006 (Memorial Day weekend)
Where: Atlanta Brewing Company, 1219 Williams Street, Atlanta, GA 30309
How much?: $10
What: Movie, Beer, Burlesque, Catfight!

Visit the Stomp! Shout! Scream! web site.

The Host - first reviews

It's quickly becoming clear that the monster movie to beat this year (or next, depending on when distribution finally happens) is The Host. When you can get this kind of verbage out of Variety (a review from the Cannes festival screening), you know you're on to something good.

Egregiously subverting its own genre while still delivering shocks at a pure genre level, and marbled with straight-faced character humor that constantly throws the viewer off balance, much-hyped big-budgeter about a huge mutant tadpole that emerges from Seoul's Han River is a bold gamble that looks headed to instant cult status.

I can't wait to get my hands on this movie.

Tringo - the next pharmatronic?

According to Wired News, Tringo is the next big puzzle game that will keep kids and adults staring at screens for hours. The interesting bit is that it started in the virtual world called Second Life. A "real world" version of the game comes out for the Gameboy Advance this month, but you can play it on the web here.

For a blast from the past, here's Wired's story on the original pharmatronic.

It could be worse: PS3 price isn't the highest ever

Over on Scott's blog, he rants in his usual miserly fashion about the price of the upcoming Sony Playstation 3. (I have long held that when Sony products succeed it is usually in spite of themselves; the usability of the PS2 is laughable but they sold a gazillion of 'em. You can hardly fault their success.) Granted, $600 is a ridiculous price to pay for a game machine, but just imagine how much his eyes will pop out of his head when he sees these charts of console prices over the years.

Many props to the Curmudgeon Gamer (shouldn't that be Curmudgeonly Gamer?), who helps us to understand that not only was the 3Do priced higher at $700 when it came out, but if one accounts for 13 years of inflation, the console cost nearly $970 in today's dollars. The Neo-Geo? Almost $994. Remember the cheap little piece of junk called the Intellivision? 820 smackers.

Also, a fact I find fascinating and somehow reassuring: Nintendo's consoles keep getting relatively cheaper.

Gum Blondes

Celebrity portraits rendered entirely in chewed bubble gum.

Each Gum Blonde is 100% chewed bubblegum on a plywood backing. No paint or dye is used. The colour is inherent to the gum - the mixing of the colour takes place in the mouth during chewing using an endless variety of flavours made by an endless variety of companies.

[via Drawn]

Apple introduces (non-Pro) Macbook

Ooooh, pretty. For those of you who don't dig white or silver, Apple's new Intel-based consumer-level laptops (eliminating the old PowerPC chip set from everything but the now dinosaur-like desktop PowerMacs) come in white and black, just like the iPods that have sold so well. The only thing I don't like about these is the name "Macbook" - would it have been so difficult to continue calling them Powerbooks and iBooks?

With displays that only come in 13" wide screen, I'll have to see how they compare to my current iBook before I decide between a Macbook and a Macbook Pro. The iBook on which I type this is less than a year old, though, so it'll be a while before I need to upgrade. Still: soooo pretty. . . .

Snakes on a Plane - Sam Jackson on Ellen

Man, this just gets better and better. Sam Jackson appears on Ellen and presents some exclusive video footage.

Random passenger: We're all gonna die.
Sam Jackson: Not me!

YouTube clip #1
YouTube clip #2

Negadon premieres in New York

Another one of those times I wished I lived in NYC: last night Central Park Media held a screening of the new CGI kaiju short film, Negadon: Monster From Mars. Check out the great review of the film and event from SciFiJapan. Here at Stomp Tokyo we're hoping to get our hands on a copy soon to bring you a review.

The ImaginAsian Theater in New York is holding screenings through the 18th - if you're in that neighborhood, be sure to check it out.

New Yorker article on Nigerian scams

Do people actually still fall for those Nigerian "help me get this money out of Africa and I'll give you a percentage" scams? According to the New Yorker, they sure do. Tell your grandparents.

Small Press and Comics Expo

If I were in Columbus, Ohio this weekend, I'd be going to SPACE - the Small Press and Comics Expo. I've cut way back on reading comics in recent years (Infinite Whatsis?), but I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon and five bucks than to go be surrounded by dozens of creative people, many of whom can draw. (That's a talent I've never really had and always envied.)

You're in Columbus? Go meet some of the people creating the best niche magazines and comics out there - like Robert Ullman (mildly NSFW) or Jay Geldhof. It's either that or Poseidon.

Cool video - FedEx pilots dodging thunderstorms

Time lapse radar track of FedEx aircraft arriving into the Memphis hub during area thunderstorms. Some things are just too cool not to blog.

[via digg]

The next thing from Penn & Teller - and Tivo

Check out this little video with Penn and Teller on the golf course. It's apparently part of Tivo's new "Product Watch" service, which an interesting turnabout for Tivo. In addition to letting you skip commercials while watching TV, you may also watch commercials on demand. Theoretically the bar on these commercials is somewhat higher – more entertaining fare like the Penn and Teller video, or short films that just happen to feature the advertiser's product.

If Tivo keeps making smart moves like this (courting advertisers instead of alienating them), they may just survive the onslaught of competitors (mostly crappy Tivo substitutes offered on the cheap from cable companies) and become a major player in the TV market.

New Stomp Tokyo review - Shadow: Dead Riot

For your reading pleasure, a new Stomp Tokyo review. (Feels like it's been ages, doesn't it?)

Shadow: Dead Riot

One would think that Fangoria editor Michael Gingold has seen enough crappy horror movies to know when he was contributing to the problem, but Shadow: Dead Riot stands as testament to the opposite. It's a good thing that a healthy fraction of the horror fan population seems to relish any movie with bare breasts, gore, and heavy metal tunes, because those are the only people who will give this picture's investors a return on their money.

Average Homeboy

Finally, a rapper who speaks for me, the average white guy who has it hard out there on the irritable streets.

Learn more about Denny Blaze here and here.

[thanks to Kelly for pointing this one out]

Film Threat reviews Stomp! Shout! Scream!

As you may recall, Jay Edwards' Stomp! Shout! Scream! was one of my favorite films from last year's Austin Film Festival. Stina Chyn at Film Threat weighs in with a positive review.

The visual design and the narrative of the film accumulate into a sweet can of camp, making “Stomp! Shout! Scream!” a ridiculously delightful cinematic experience.

Stomp! Shout! Scream! is now available on DVD.

Related articles:

Interview with Jay Edwards
Stomp! Shout! Scream! Atlanta premiere
Cult Movies Podcast #8
Cult Movies Podcast #23

Soderbergh blasts the studios at Tribeca

Wired News:

"The economic model of the film business is broken," said Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh during a panel discussion Monday night entitled "Downloading at a Theater Near You."

Soderbergh cited a litany of Hollywood problems: the obscene compensation of A-list talent (top stars routinely receive packages worth $25 million) and a revenue-sharing system that he described as unfair to theaters.

There's no denying that there's very little money to be made showing movies in theaters. (Especially if you're a theater.) Pictures rarely make back in theater revenues what they cost to produce and advertise. Where movie studios make their money is on DVD. History shows, however, that a film's performance on DVD is directly related to how well it did in theaters – and so H-wood, for lack of a better model, keeps the theater system going. Not that you could shut the theater system down overnight or that I would want theaters to go away, but at this point the economic model for movie houses is about anything but the movies themselves.

Some theater companies thrive by creating a theater destination and then leasing space to other businesses surrounding the theater; others (like the Alamo Drafthouse) survive by running themselves as restaurants that just happen to show movies. Most of the cineplexes are selling popcorn and soda as fast as they can while pimping out their audiences to pre-show advertisers. I suspect not much will change in the short term but the current "cattle call" business model of motion picture exhibition doesn't seem like one that will last much longer.

Star Lords

What happens when you intercut footage from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings movies?

So glad you asked.

"Star Wars" theatrical versions coming to DVD

Scott has long maintained that the theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies would eventually find their way to DVD, if only because to do otherwise would provide financial opportunity for someone other than Lucasfilms, the rightful owners. Looks like he was right, which means that my wacky bootleg discs with Han Solo shooting first may soon be obselete.

Digital Bits has the scoop over in their rumor mill.

Stomp Tokyo: Cult Movies Podcast Episodes 21 - 24

Catching up on podcasts we've published since last I mentioned it . . .

Episode 21: Care and feeding of a movie geek. On a recent visit to Florida, Scott and I sat down in the same room to record an episode. A novelty! We included our significant others, Christina and Amy, to find out what it's like to live with a geek and his Godzilla toys.

Episode 22: Doctor Who? Guest nerd Adam Clarke shows off a remarkable memory for all things Doctor Who and even discusses the twisted history of the Harlem Globetrotters in animation. Hey, we can't always control where these things go, people. Also: the latest from Studio Ghibli, "Pulgasari," and more in a monstrously long episode.

Episode 23: Stomp! Shout! Scream! Some More! Remember way back in Episode 8, when we interviewed Jay Edwards (producer & editor, Aqua Teen Hunger Force) about Stomp! Shout! Scream!, his feature film? Well I went back to Atlanta in December for the cast & crew screening of the film and got Jay to talk some more, this time with actress Mary Kraft in the room. If you've seen the movie you're in for a treat with lots of behind-the-scenes stories and whatnot. If you haven't seen the movie, check out stompshoutscream.com to nab your own copy, and then this episode will make a lot more sense.

Episode 24: Summer Movie Preview. Tim "Telstarman" Lehnerer is in the hot seat as we rattle off the cool movies coming up for the summer.

For a customer, it's like "Where's Waldo"

The good folks at Improv Everywhere invaded a Chelsea Best Buy with about fifty members dressed in clothes identical to the Best Buy uniform. The official IE site is currently slammed and therefore slow, but you can get a good idea of what happened through the Improv Everywhere Best Buy Flickr photo set.

Get a Mac

If you're an insufferable Mac snob like me, you'll get a kick out of the new TV ads from Apple featuring Daily Show irregular John Hodgman as a PC and Justin Long (Galaxy Quest, Dodgeball) as a Mac. Some of the ideas are oversimplified, to be sure, but the ads are funny and make memorable points, which is what really counts in advertising.

All six ads are hosted at Apple.com (duh).

Colbert hosts White House Correspondents' Dinner

Oh, great. Another guy for whom my wife is going to leave me. A few choice tidbits:

"[Interviewing Jesse Jackson] is like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor by the way, because your grandkids will have no idea what a glacier is."

"Mayor Nagin, welcome to Washington D.C. - the chocolate city with a marshmallow center."

Watch Colbert's speech in Quicktime.

[via the BMMB and Crooksandliars]