Here are some fun (albeit blurry at times because of all the ACTION) pictures from last weekend's Gameworks excursion and a visit from our buddy Frankie!
Final Comic Con Pictures
The biggest (and best) batch of Comic Con pictures has been uploaded! Check out numerous wonderful pictures including me and Faye with Sid Haig, Doug Benson, and Lloyd Kaufman (that's me hiding behind the sticker). There's also a picture of me with my beloved Optimus.
See the glory of love here!
around 1 because
1. One of your scars, how did you get it?
It’s hard to answer because I have so many scars. Most of them are from surgery. My personal favorite non-surgical scar is the three tiny puncture wounds on my upper right arm. This happened one night as a teenager. My cat, in indoor/outdoor combo, was in the habit of coming to my window in the middle of the night, crying to be let in, and then running around my room playing with anything he could get his paws on. So I would inevitably have to carry him downstairs to put him in the garage (where the cats stayed) so I could get some sleep. You had to go through the laundry room to get to the garage, and I didn’t feel like shocking my eyeballs by turning on the light. I had figured the light of the moon was enough to guide my way. Not so. I tripped over a box in the laundry room, which freaked the hell out of poor Curry who dug deep into my arm.
2. What is on the walls in your room?
-A poster of a Royal Shakespeare Company’s version of Macbeth which features a psychedelic drawing of the Porter.
-A print of my favorite painting,“Ophelia” by John Everett Millais.
-A copy of an illustration from “I’m Crazy”, that was printed in the New Yorker, which is the short story that J.D. Salinger adapted into “The Catcher in the Rye”.
-An illustration of Memnoch, the Devil.
-An artistic photograph of a “Jesus saves” sign. I think that’s it. The movie posters are in the living room and the office.
-A vintage-style poster of a Chicago vacation ad. (Dom’s).
-An etching that Dom’s ex-girlfriend did.
Obviously, I dominated the decoration of the bedroom. Sorry, Dom.
What does your cell phone look like?
Like crap, actually. While everyone around me upgrades to camera phones and flip top models, I remain with my primitive little Erickson phone that doesn’t take pictures and the only cool game it has is “battleship”. I don’t mind too much though. If I had a cool, expensive phone, I would only lose it.
4. What music do you like to listen to?
This is a boring question compared to the others. I think most people who would read this already know about my musical taste. I will say this: I must get my hands on The Devil’s Rejects soundtrack.
5. Do you know what time you were born?
Mostly. 11:45am-ish.
6.What do you want more than anything right now?
To get paid to make movies.
7. What do you miss at times?
A few old friends who lost touch or moved away, lazy summers, enjoying going to rock shows.
.
8. What is your most prized possession?
I would be pretty distraught if I lost my day planner. I don’t necessarily consider it “prized”, but it’s the one thing that I would be really upset over losing because it’s the thing that keeps me organized. And I know this for a fact because someone actually pick-pocketed my day planner in London, thinking it to be my wallet (I’m assuming) and it screwed by shit up for weeks. And of course, Tobe isn’t a “possession”, but I sure do like the little fella.
9. What is your favorite smell?
Old Spice, fresh ground coffee, or pot.
10. Do you get claustrophobic?
Only in elevators. Mainly because I start wondering what the maximum weight of the thing is. And there were a few times in clubs/really crowded bars that I got claustrophobic. But I blame the clientele.
11. If you died tomorrow:
Is that a question? Am I supposed to complete the sentence? If I died tomorrow I definitely wouldn’t be ready. I have a lot left to do, man. Like the dishes.
12. The last person to make you cry?
I think it may have been Roxy when I found out she was moving to L.A. It was partly a happy cry though.
13. What is your favorite cologne/perfume?
Again with the Old Spice.
14. What kind of hair do you like on the opposite sex?
First of all, this question is biased toward heterosexuals. Second of all, I don’t have a definite answer. I’ve dated bald people and people with ridiculous amounts of hair. However, I am certainly partial to hairy men and beards. And I used to have a thing for receding hairlines. What’s wrong with me?
15. Where can you see yourself being proposed to?
This is the part in the meme where I realize it was written by a teenage girl.
16. Do you like porn?
Yes. But, like most things, there’s good and bad porn.
17. What are your five favorite movies?
This is an unfair question and this list is constantly in flux as new movies continue to blow me away. I really prefer it to be broken into genres since my tastes are all over the board. But as it stands, in no particular order:
1. Back to the Future
2. True Romance
3. Cemetery Man
4. The Beaver Trilogy
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
18. Where can you see yourself going on your honeymoon?
N/A
19. Who is the last person you made mad?
I’m going to guess Meep. ;) You only hurt the ones you love.
20. Do you speak a different language?
I think, perhaps, I do. Whenever I try to explain what I do to my mom, I spend at least 20 minutes defining filmmaking terms to her. I also speak fluent British.
21. What was the first gift someone of the opposite sex ever gave you?
Well, if I must play along with your biased sexuality questions…I do believe it was some (really bad) poems and some rose petals in an envelope. I still have them if anyone’s interested in having a laugh. The guy dumped me so it’s ok to laugh at him.
22. Who is your favorite singer?
Since I like so many different bands/musicians, I’m going to modify this to be who I think is the BEST singer. And that person is Freddy Mercury.
23. Favorite band?
Didn’t we cover this earlier in the meme? You’re losing me here…
Fine. The Clash/Oasis.
24. What kind of books do you like to read?
Ones that make me feel something. Like Chuck Palahniuk or Douglas Coupland. And I can’t get enough of the horror comic these days.
25. Favorite Dessert?
Pie. Any kind of pie, but especially fruit pie a la mode.
26. How do you like your coffee?
I try not to drink coffee anymore, but in the most dire situations where I need the caffeine, I like it black or, if it tastes like ass, with a drop of cream.
27. What’s your favorite quote?
How can you pick a favorite quote? The whole point of quotes is that different ones are appropriate in different situations. Right now I’m gonna go with “Any port in a fucking storm.”
28. Would you fall in love with a person knowing that you would not be able to have them?
Which alternate universe does this person live in that they get to pick who they fall in love with?
29. What is the best way to tell someone how much they mean to you?
Dead hooker.
30. Say a number from one to 100.
Ok. 69, dude!
31. Blondes, redheads or brunettes?
Again, I feel like we’re on well-worn territory here. I do like a good redhead though. Jason Flemyng, I’m looking at you.
32. What is the one number you call most often?
Meep’s cell.
33. What annoys you most?
Selfishness.
34. Have you ever placed a prank call?
Yes. But I’m not particularly skilled at making them.
35. Who is your current crush?
Optimus Prime.
36. What is your worst fear?
Painful death.
37. Say something to someone you haven’t seen/talked to in a while.
Erm…Ok.
38. Have you ever said “I love you” and not meant it?
Not that I can think of. If I have, it was “I love you too”.
39. What were you doing before you filled out this survey?
Is that what this is? A survey? I was working.
40. If you could get plastic surgery, what would it be?
Does a breast reduction count as plastic surgery? There’s no plastic involved. If counts than I’ve gotten the only plastic surgery I would ever have.
41. Why did you fill out this survey?
Because it’s a well-known fact that memes are my favorite way to waste time at work.
42. What do you like on your pizza?
The admittedly weirdest combination ever: pineapple, mushrooms and jalapenos.
43. What’s more important? Your happiness or the happiness of your significant other?
The happiness of my significant other would make me happy.
44. What’s the last movie you watched?
The Devil’s Rejects
45. What is the last thing you bought?
A movie ticket. I’m about to buy a salad though.
46. What are you wearing?
Take a guess.
47. If you could be granted one wish right now, what would you ask for?
Money to make a movie? I don’t know. I would be wary of taking a “wish” because those Leprechauns are tricky bastards.
48. What is the last book you read?
The last book I finished: “Stranger than Fiction” by Chuck Palahniuk. Current book: “Frequency” by Joshua Ortega. If graphic novels count “V for Vendetta”. I read a lot.
49. What’s the weather like outside right now?
Sunny and hot for Seattle.
50. What are you looking forward to?
Doing absolutely nothing tonight.
I fly at forsaken
Like most movies that kick complete and utter ass, The Devil's Rejects is even better the second time. It's very rare that I anticipate a DVD release IMMEDIATELY after seeing a movie.
Some soon to be classic lines in cinema:
“I love famous people. They're so much better than the real thing, ya know?”
“Don't you like clowns?! Don't you think they're fuckin' funny?!”
“The next words outta your mouth better be some fuckin brilliant fucking Mark Twain shit cos they're definitely gonna be printed on your fuckin' tombstone.”
Thank you, Rob Zombie, for making a film so brilliant that it can make you laught, cry and leave the theatre loving all the characters, yet not having any compassion for anyone. And then, when you find you DO have some compassion for the extremely fucked up serial killers with the hilarious lines, you feel a little wrong about it. It's what Todd Solondz has been trying (and failing) to do for years. And you, Mr. Zombie, made it happen. And threw some pretty sweet blood spurting and brain splattering in all the while. Love. This. Movie.
PS: I'm also all the more convinced that Dave Sheridan should play Lyle in PLOTLD.
Mingle Mangle Mix-A-Lot
WEEKEND RECAP
FRIDAY
Jacob met me at the office around 4:30, suitcase in hand, and we blew on up to the Hill. Dom, Jacob and I got some delicious Thai from a place around the corner from the Zookster pad, and then we met Faye at her place to be really geeky and get to Pacific Place early enough for The Devil’s Rejects. We got temporarily distracted by the broadcast of “Firefly” on Sci-Fi, but managed to tear ourselves away around 7:45 for the 8:30 showing of the movie. We never know what to expect for these things. We’ve been shivering in anticipation for months for this movie, but we have no way of knowing if the rest of American feels the same way. It ain’t Harry Potter. Still, better safe than sorry. When we got to the theatre, there were only about 20 people already seated. However, as 8:30 drew nigh, more and more people (and by people, I mean teenagers) trickled in. One guy even came dressed in a spot-on Captain Spalding outfit. He was talking like Captain Spalding too, which prompted another audience member to tell him to “Shut the fuck up”. We were subjected to the usual billions of commercials, followed by quite possibly the WORST set of trailers ever collected (including “The Cave”, that moto-cross movie and, of course, “The Skeleton Key”, which is quite possibly the WEIRDEST ad campaign for a horror film I’ve ever seen). By this time, the theatre was getting quite full (though still not packed), and we were definitely among the oldest people there. Let me put it this way; to look at the audience, you’d think Hot Topic was the official clothier of The Devil’s Rejects audience.
But then the movie started. Despite the fact that some bonehead left the house lights up until around 10 minutes into the damned movie, we were enraptured and immediately sucked into the world of Rob Zombie. The movie did not disappoint. At all. It was quite possibly one of the most violent movies I have ever seen. It was hilarious and moving and disturbing all at the same time. Now, I HATED “Natural Born Killers” (and not because “it glorified violence” or anything, but because it was supposed to be this big parable, but the main characters were so irritating that I just didn’t care what Oliver Stone had to say), but Rob Zombie made these characters so complex. Sometimes you really did forget that they were cold-blooded killers and you wanted to see them win. Other times, you couldn’t possibly root for them because what they were doing was so horrible. And then he made The Law into the most vicious character in the movie. Kudos, Mr. Zombie, for making a film that was fun and also made you think. Not about “society and media” but about the many levels of these characters that you have created. You have made a damn good, solid film. And when that girl got splattered all over the road by a truck…well, that was pretty sweet too.
After the movie, we were giddy and exhausted. We met Borgia and headed back up the Hill to the Six Arms. After one beer, Jacob, Dom and I were ready for bed. Faye and Borgia stayed out so I don’t know what hi-jinks ensued after that.
SATURDAY
We slept in for a very long time. Jacob and Dom watched “King of the Ants” (very good movie) on DVD while I flitted in and out and dyed my hair. We called Faye, but I guess she must have stayed out pretty late because she was in no mood to make decisions about the day. Jacob and I took matters into our own hands and went out to get some coffee and rent the new “Constantine” DVD with 18 minutes of deleted scenes and an alternate ending. We did enjoy “Constantine” quite a bit (not Shakespeare, of course, but it was a fun movie), but because the original ending of the movie was kind of dumb, we thought perhaps the alternative ending would make the entire viewing experience more satisfactory. Now, since I saw “Constantine”, I took up reading the Hellblazer comics from which the character was taken, and have grown quite fond of the story. Of course, the specific Hellblazer story that the movie is “based on” is pretty much nothing like the end result, and is, in fact, far superior. But if you forget all that when you watch the movie, it’s still a good way to waste a Saturday afternoon. Especially the part where the Gavin Rossdale demon dies. And I always like me some Shia LeBouf wackiness. The deleted scenes, however, were weird. Apparently, they had another character entirely in there (a demon with whom Constatine has a sexual past; a character who actually is in the comic), who they cut out. The dialogue is still the same. They just re-shot the scenes for the movie without her character in there. I guess they thought the notion of Keanu Reeves having sex with a demon was too horrific, even for a PG13 audience. Or something. And the alternate ending is SO GODDAMNED CHEESY! SPOILER ALERT So Shia’s character (who, in the comic, is actually a 35-year old man with a wife and kid; not the rookie apprentice they made him in the movie), dies (of an instantaneous concussion, I guess) and it’s all sad and whatnot. But they leave it at that. In the alternate ending, Constantine visits the cemetery with his new girlfriend, and as they are leaving Shia’s grave, Constantine turns around to see Shia’s ghost sitting on top of the gravestone. But then…get this…he sprouts motherfucking WINGS and flies up to heaven. I’m not kidding. So. Lame. Give me Keanu on a rooftop looking broodily out onto an L.A. skyline and then popping some nicarette any day over that “Touched by an Angel” bullshit any day. I guess that’s what the test audiences thought too.END SPOILERS. Also, END RANT.
We touched base with Faye at this point, still trying to keep the location of the evening’s belated birthday party a secret, while still coaxing her downtown in time. The plan, we thought, was for me, Jacob and Dom to hang around downtown while Jacob checked out some sales at the “overpriced cotton dress shirt” store, and then to meet Faye, Borgia and Sherrard at the Noodle Ranch. But because Faye didn’t know where we were going to end up later, she though the Noodle Ranch was too far away. Plus, she’d already eaten a big snack. So we waited another hour (at Von’s which Sherrard described as an upscale TGI Fridays. I agree. Worst $7 martini ever). Sherrard hooked up with us and we met the attractive couple at Bambuza. I’d always wanted to try it. The meat dishes are a bit overprices (undoubtedly due to the word “bistro” in the name of the restaurant) but the vegetarian dishes were pretty normally priced, so we just got 5 or 6 of those to share. The food was AMAZING. The long beans were succulent. The noodles were heavenly. Highly recommended.
During dinner, we witnessed one of the most priceless Sherrard moments in history. Bare in mind that we were still trying to keep the evening’s events a surprise for Faye. At an unexpected interval, Sherrard announced to the table “So, I’m really excited to go to Gameworks”. The table fell into dead silence for a moment as everyone stared blankly at Sherrard. “What? Do I have something on my face?” he asked. I turned to Faye and said “Surprise! That’s where we’re going” and everyone irrupted in laughter. Sherrard was very embarrassed but we were all just really amused. It was a priceless, cinematic moment. And besides, Faye apparently already had a pretty good idea where we were going anyway. There’s not that much to do downtown. Still, I had really wanted to play a joke on her by leading her into the Fox Sports Grill and shouting “Happy Birthday”.
So with full bellies, we wandered over to Gameworks. We began with a drink and met up with Kayobi, Matt and Legolas (I can never remember his real name). Later, Adam showed up. Later still, B-Rex and B-Rex-ette (I guess I’m bad with names in general, and she doesn’t resemble anyone in LOTR). With a nice buzz going (for some of us), we retreated to the floor to get our game on. I haven’t been to Gameworks in quite some time. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that there are a lot of interactive games now that are almost like working out. There’s air hockey, which I’ve always enjoyed immensely, that is pretty intense, there’s a bicycle race game where you actually have to peddle, there’s the basketball and baseball games in which you actually swing and shoot respectively, and there’s even a soccer game where you have to kick a ball. Best of all, of course, is Dance Dance Revolution. I had never played before. I was always a little wary of it due to my extreme lack of coordination. But Kayobi talked me into it and, after two games, I was completely hooked. By the time we left, two hours later, I was sweating. Gross. But fun. Fun as hell. Apologies to Faye for keeping her there longer than she wanted so that we could get our DDR Ya Ya’s out. Hopefully Faye still had an OK time.
Then we headed back up the Hill to Bill’s. Lily Taylor the waitress was back. She was her usual giddy self. We replaced our burned calories with cheese pizza and beer and then headed home to sleep.
SUNDAY
Sherrard joined Jacob, Dom and I for breakfast at the Canterbury. We were going to try Coastal Kitchen for once, but when we got there, we realized why we probably never tried to go there before. There was a 30 minute wait for a table. On Sunday morning, you do NOT want to wait for a table.
At Canterbury, we had a top-notch waiter who was cool, polite, and attentive. Best of all, he when the cook got our order wrong, he corrected it in less than a minute. I wish he has been there when Mark was there instead of the lazy, lackadaisical waitress. Breakfast was perfect and hit the spot. Following that, we needed some TV time. We finished up the last episode of Buffy (I still can’t help but tear up at several moments in that damned thing. Especially when Andrew tells Xander how Anya died and Xander says “That’s my girl. Always doing the stupid thing”) and then put in some The Office, Season 2. Jacob and I had planned to go to yoga, but it was just too beautiful a day to ruin with indoor exercise. So we went downtown so Jacob could check out one more sale, and then we finished off my Gameworks card for a few more matches of air hokey and one more round of DDR. We returned home where I prepared a glorious nacho orgy, and then we had a PLOTD meeting. The meeting part isn’t the most exciting way to end a Sunday, but it had to be done. Besides, we were discussing our dream cast for PLOTD, and that was kind of fun. Even if I know there’s no way in hell we could get Steve Coogan. –sigh-
Thanks, Jacob, for coming up this weekend. It was a rare treat to see you two weekends in a row!
PS: Who wants to catch another showing of The Devil’s Rejects sometime this week (possibly Wednesday)?
meme-efy
1. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what's the first thing you look at?
My complexion to see if it needs powdering.
2. How much cash do you have on you?
About $60. And it will probably be gone by the end of the night. Stupid bar prices and high alcohol tolerance.
3. What's a word that rhymes with “TEST”?
Breast, please.
4. Favorite plant?
Seamus, my clover, who is the only plant I have ever been able to keep alive. I've had him for a year and a half!
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
Surprise, surprise…it's Frank! But I called him RIGHT back.
6. What is your main ring tone on your phone?
It is and always will be “Shapdoikle Day.”
7. What shirt are you wearing?
Why is this always a qustion? My favorite lacy black tank.
8. Do you “label” yourself?
With a labeler.
9. What name brand of shoes are you currently wearing?
The kind you get at Payless.
10. Are you in a Bright or Dark Room?
Dark. Just the way I like it.
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
She's perty. And a hell of a singer.
12. Ever “spilled the beans”?
Yes. I'm actually really rubbish at keeping my own secrets. I'm good at keeping other people's though.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping.
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say?
“Where has a good happy hour?”
15. Do you ever click on “Pop Ups” or Banners?
Why in the hell would I do that?
16. What's a saying that you say a lot?
Titular line.
17. Who told you they loved you last?
I think it was my mom.
18. Last furry thing you touched?
Tobe!
19. How many hours a week do you work?
I get paid for 40 but I have to be in the office for 45. And then there's all the film stuff so I'm going to round it up to 60.
20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
None. I just steal Dom's digital camera and upload them onto kodakgallery. Not as romantic as proper film, I know, but it's much cheaper these days.
21. Favorite age you have been so far?
Well, I'm having a pretty good year this year, but I'll always have a special fondness to my 19th year. The year of the drunken liberation, book reading, limited responsibilities and first love.
22. Who is your worst enemy?
Baz. Lurhman. Or perhaps any manner of Stranger employees.
23. What is your current desktop picture?
Optimus Prime, my love.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
“Good.”
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to go back in time to fix all of your mistakes, which would you pick?
The million, please. I haven't done anything so stupid that I couldn't move past it. And I need to make a movie!
Nervous solutions
Oh dear. I have so much to add to this awesome website.
And organise be capstan perimeter
I just got out of a “streamlining your operations” seminar for my job. I am home early on a Thursday. It was nice to be out of the office, but the whole seminar was pretty effing dumb. We got free food and all the red hots you could eat (and I stole some small glasses from the W hotel because I need sherry glasses) so it was useful in that respect. But in terms of LEARNING anything useful for my job…nada.
I just emailed Faye and realised that my description to her pretty accurately summed up the mind-numbing stupidity of my day.
Dude. The Q&A section of the panels today was almost as dumb as the ones in San Diego. “I know you JUST covered this topic JUST NOW and if I had been paying attention, I wouldn’t need to waste everyone’s time by asking this question but I’m going to do it anyway because I’m a fucking moron”. If I cared at all about my job, I would be very happy that I discovered that our office is actually pretty damned professional and efficient compared to our local competitors.
the re-birth of the Shakyface
Since Shakyface.com is no more, you can no long see compromising pictures of our friends self-inducing brain damage on the internet. Instead, look at perfect strangers doing it over at Jowlers
do put as dogs
This is the best thing since $10K 4 a Wife! (the latter of which has now been upgraded to glorious FLASH!)
Effed by the Wind 