Trisha L. Renken-Sebastian (aka "Trisha Lynn" is a jill-of-many-trades. A former editor of both Wizard: Anime Insider and Sequential Tart, she has also been the managing editor for Saucy Goose Press, a small independent publisher, and contributed to a 2009 episode of the public radio show “This American Life.” She currently lives on Vancouver Island in Canada where she bides her time until she can create her own socially responsible media empire.
In preparing for our Twilight-themed trivia contest—you have only 8 more hours to turn in your submission!—I read up as much as I could about the saga; however, I think I’ve just discovered the very last article I will ever read about it.
Enter one Tom Barrack, the head of a $16 billion multi-national investment firm whose hands are deep into pockets the Station casinos you see off the strip in Las Vegas and whose firm may even be still in the running to buy the troubled Miramax studio. Apparently Barrack was bored on his yacht off the Turkish shores one day and ended up reading the first three novels when a business meeting was unexpectedly canceled.
As of this posting, you have a little over 15 hours left until the deadline to submit your answers to the trivia questions posed in our very first contest ever here at Geeking Out About.com. The trivia questions are here, the rules are here, and if you’d like a little insight into what we thought of the second movie and the Twilight phenomenon as a whole—although by now, I think you can hazard a guess that our thoughts are not in favor of it—you can download our commentary and discussion notes, below:
At first I was afraid (I was petrified) that the adaptation of the novel The Scarlett Letter into the live-action film Easy A would be a “torturous hack job” but I recanted that when I learned more about director Will Gluck and his screenwriter Bert V. Royal.
I became even more optimistic with the casting of Emma Stone as the lead, and the addition of a kick-ass supporting cast that includes folks like Thomas Haden Church, Stanley Tucci, and Lisa Kudrow.
After having watched the first trailer, I gotta say…? I’m totally digging it:
Here’s a synopsis:
After a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out, a clean cut high school girl (Emma Stone) sees her life paralleling Hester Prynne’s in The Scarlet Letter, which she is currently studying in school—until she decides to use the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.
I like how Stone’s character Olive Penderghast is a smart girl who is secure enough not to be overly cowed by the uproar over her actions. I desperately hope that this thread of sassiness remains through the entire movie, and I also hope that none of her sass gets sacrificed in the name of “restoring” her reputation.
As of this posting, there are a little over 48 hours left until the deadline to submit your answers to the trivia questions posed in our very first contest ever here at Geeking Out About.com. The trivia questions are here, the rules are here, and if you’d like a little insight into what we thought of the first movie, you can download our very first podcast ever, below:
Tomorrow (because it’s still about 15 minutes to midnight over here!) I’ll post up our shorter commentary to Twilight: New Moon, and over the weekend, while we’re busy choosing the finalists and recording yet another podcast, you’ll be able to listen to our thoughts about the first two movies.
Back in June, it was reported by MST3Kinfo.com that one Rupert Talbot Munch, Sr. was going to be arriving at this year’s San Diego Comic Con in his usual cosplay attire as Torgo from Manos: The Hands of Fate with a special announcement in tow: Munch is producing a sequel to that infamously bad movie. Featuring original cast members Jackey Raye Neyman Jones (Debbie, the young daughter) and Bernie Rosenblum (the guy in the make-out car), the film has also recently added three more cast members.
According to Stephen J. Pytak of the Pottsville Republican Herald, former WWE wrestler Gene Snitsky, the grand marshal in that town’s Independence Day parade, will have a starring role in the film, which is slated to begin filming in El Paso, Texas in early 2011. This report confirms the news announced by Munch, Sr. via Twitter where he also mentioned that original director Hal Warren’s son Joe would also be joining the cast as well as Benton Jennings, a character actor and the son of a man who played one of the cops in the movie.
I remember the first time I saw Manos; I also recall that one of the favorite things my geeky circle of friends loved to do back in the day was to inflict it upon the unwary. I think that part of its appeal is just how horribly bad it is, but it never actually becomes a So Bad It’s Good movie, no matter what the editors at TV Tropes say. It’s just bad.
Looking at Munch’s video announcement, however? I think I may have to re-think my analysis of what exactly “bad” is.
While I am not a total dance geek or nerd, I loved watching the ballroom dance competitions on my local PBS affiliate as a kid; Strictly Ballroom is one of my favorite movies as a result of this childhood fascination as well.
The best part of watching the ballroom dance competitions were the exhibition dances where notable pros and amateurs got to “go wild” and show off their more fun routines, flips, spins, and aerial lifts. And just like in competitive ice skating, if there are costumes, it’s even better.
Well, I believe I’ve found one video that not only exemplifies the fun of watching ballroom dance, but also adds in an additional geeky flair, courtesy of dancers Orion Hall and Colleen Vernon:
On one side, you have Chris Greenland, a blogger from science fiction publishing house Tor.com who said last week that Johnny Depp will be the star of a movie adaptation of the quintessentially British TV series.
After citing a deleted article from content mill PubArticles.com which said that the reason that new series creator Russell T. Davies moved on from the show to work on the movie, Greenland went on to say, “[I]t was with even greater surprise that movie studio sources confirmed with Tor.com today that, while it can’t comment on possible story elements, the casting of Johnny Depp as the Doctor for a 2012 film is confirmed.”
On the other side is Charlie Jane Anders from io9.com who went straight to the BBC and reported back that there is no plans to adapt “Doctor Who” into a movie franchise and that any talk was pure speculation.
Since Greenland’s article is still up and a redaction has not been printed, it makes me wonder exactly who his source is and how high up the chain he or she is. However, that’s the extent of the baseless speculation I’m going to be doing here as no one else has been able to independently verify this news through their own sources.
So after peeking into the geekingoutabout@gmail.com Inbox and seeing three entries to our first-ever trivia contest, I thought it was perfect because there are three prizes to be won (a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com, iTunes, or online retailer of your choice). Then, I thought that maybe that was making it way too easy for the three who submitted to win a prize; therefore by fiat, I have decided to extend the contest deadline by one more week. (Sorry, folks!) That’s right, you have seven more days (or until midnight on July 9, whichever comes first) to enter the first-ever GeekingOutAbout.com contest by answering 10 trivia questions in the most entertaining way possible (which may also involve being wildly inaccurate).
Did I forget to mention that in addition to winning this fabulous prize, selections from the winning entries and runners-up will be published for everyone else to enjoy? Or that if this contest goes well, future contest will feature better prizes?
If you have questions about the contest, ask ’em here, and I’ll be glad to answer them.
…especially if you choose to view this at work, because courtesy of British film editor Harry Hanrahan, I present The 100 Greatest (and Profane) Movie Insults of All Time:
(Special thanks to the gang at Pajiba.com, who hunted down the names of all the movies in the clip.)
Part 1 begins as Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort’s immortality and destruction—the Horcruxes. On their own, without the guidance of their professors or the protection of Professor Dumbledore, the three friends must now rely on one another more than ever. But there are Dark Forces in their midst that threaten to tear them apart.
Meanwhile, the wizarding world has become a dangerous place for all enemies of the Dark Lord. The long-feared war has begun and Voldemort’s Death Eaters seize control of the Ministry of Magic and even Hogwarts, terrorizing and arresting anyone who might oppose them. But the one prize they still seek is the one most valuable to Voldemort: Harry Potter. The Chosen One has become the hunted one as the Death Eaters search for Harry with orders to bring him to Voldemort… alive.
Harry’s only hope is to find the Horcruxes before Voldemort finds him. But as he searches for clues, he uncovers an old and almost forgotten tale—the legend of the Deathly Hallows. And if the legend turns out to be true, it could give Voldemort the ultimate power he seeks.
Little does Harry know that his future has already been decided by his past when, on that fateful day, he became “the Boy Who Lived.” No longer just a boy, Harry Potter is drawing ever closer to the task for which he has been preparing since the day he first stepped into Hogwarts: the ultimate battle with Voldemort.
When the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book came out in July 2007, my then-roommate wasn’t going to read her copy right away, so I decided to read it all in one day, just to prove I could. Six hours later, my conclusion was that it was a great read, I cried like a little child when Dobby died, and I was able to successfully cite Ernest Hemingway in defending J.K. Rowling’s use of a train station to symbolize the afterlife.
I did not keep up with the Harry Potter movies in a similar fashion, mostly because movies are damn expensive and borrowing a book is free. However, I think that based on just how damn epic the movie looks—and my own curiosity about how the trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint have matured as actors over the last nine or ten years, depending on when you want to start counting—I’m going to try and start re-watching the series again, just to get caught up before the movie’s release on November 19.
Not exactly.