Currently Watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? see related

So in the past several weeks that it has been since I last posted I have very busy... for the most part.  Nothing really BIG has happened.  I had a fairly descent Thanksgiving.  I spent my break putting up Christmas decorations for the Tour of Homes that my family signed up for.  I also got to spend some time with some old friends and that is always fun!  I also went to see Walk The Line which falls into my top 10 favorite films of all time I think.  If you haven't seen it... then see it before I see you because I will undoubtedly start to talk about it.

SPEAKING OF MOVIES!  The Christmas Season is now upon us!  Busy Sidewalks! Holiday Cheer! In the air there's a feeling of Christmas!  ok... that's enough carols.  The holiday season is a huge money maker for Hollywood.  Hollywood has two big seasons.  The biggest lineup is always the Summer season obviously... that lasts from May through the second weekend in August.  The second season is the holiday season which usually runs Thanksgiving through New Years.  Most people hope for family Christmas movies... but lately Hollywood hasn't been turning many good Christmas movies out. It probably goes with the whole stupid "we can't call it Christmas" movement (for more info on that I believe that the best argument for that would have to be my cousin Chase's blog argument).  But anyway.  This year's lineup has a few films that i'm looking forward to.  The most promising of the season is definately Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong.  The man didn't let us down with Lord of the Rings movies... I think he'll do ok with one giant ape movie.  The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is another movie that is slated to come out (Friday for those who are interested) this season.  Other fun-looking movies slated to come out in the next couple of weeks:  The Family Stone with Sex And The City's Sarah Jessica Parker, Rumor Has It (not a movie based on a Clay Walker song) with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner, the new Jim Carrey movie - Fun With Dick and Jane, and The Producers (which I REALLY want to see).  But all of this is just a side note... it's not what I started this entry to say...

I know that this is the Christmas season that it is a time of giving and not recieving... but let's be honest... who really sits down makes "Christmas Give-List?"  I don't know of anyone.  Do you?  Didn't think so!  Everyone sits down and either on scrap paper or in thier mind... or a the computer with pictures and prices and website URL's... they make a "Christmas Wish List."  For those of you who are unfortunate to know that this is... it's a list of all the things that YOU want to for Christmas.  I make one every year.  It is safe to say that I make the most elaborate Christmas lists ever.  So last night I was sitting in my room... completely bored.  I was listening to Christmas music on iTunes and I was trying to think about what I want for Christmas this year besides the obvious movies that I always ask for.  This year the big present that I want is a vehicle.  Last year the big present that I wanted was a camera... not just any camera... a $5,000 Canon XL2 3-CCS MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom.  Needless to say, I didn't get it.  I was looking on ebay last night for a one.  I am normally pretty leery about buying things like that on ebay because I don't know if I can trust them and I don't like used products that much.  But I figured what the hell... might as well look to see if they have cheap one!  And I found one... a Canon XL2 3-CCS MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom for just $32.00 !!!!  So I got really excited.  The description read that it had EVERYTHING that you could want that came with it including a sturdy carrying case.  So I started looking for accessories for it.  I found a dolly, and portable crane for sweeping shots, and a steadicam set.  I was in film geek heaven.  I was prepared to bid up to $400.00.  I don't know where I came up with this number... I sure as hell don't have $400.00!!!!!!!!  But the auction was ending in 19 hours so I was really worried about bidding that high.  I woke up this morning was real excited because I was going to get the camera of cameras!!!!!  But sadly it appears that it was a scam.  Luckily... ebay found it and shut it down before I bid on it.  But it was very sad to have the realization that I would not be spending money on myself... oh well.  I guess I'll have to see how well I am at other film productions before I spend that much money on a camera... get back to me in a week and I'll let you know how my first REAL directing job went.  Well I gotta go... George Clooney is fixing to sing "Man of Constant Sorrow"...

Currently Watching Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood By Terry Kiser see related

So this past Wednesday night I had one of those rare once-in-a-lifetime experiences... ok... it wasn't that big.  My roommate told me that Kane Hodder was going to be speaking at UCA so I skipped by Wednesday night film class and went to listen.  Just for those of you out there who don't know... Kane Hodder is the man who plays JASON in Friday the 13th: Parts 7,8, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X. 

Now this probably doesn't sound like a big deal... JASON... whooptydoo!  But let's put this into some perspective.

Friday the 13th came out in 1980.  This movie alone inspired "campfire horror stories."  These stories gave "going camping" a whole different meaning.  People became afraid of the woods because of the possibility that they might never come out of them.  When Friday the 13th: Part 2 came out in 1981, no longer were people afraid of what was in the woods... people were now afraid of JASON.  The name Jason became synonymous with words such as: horror, terror, scary, camping, woods, and even premarital sex (for those of you who don't know, people in horror movies, especially Jason movies, die very brutal deaths if they engage in sexual behaviors). Jason became an icon of the 80's in the 7 sequels that followed in the 1980s.  Jason was more popular than Freddy Kreuger, Michael Myers, Norman Bates, and Leatherface.  The hockey-masked killer also inspired hundreds of "splatter movies."  By the 1990s things had died down in the Friday the 13th films.  People had seen so much horror since the original came out that nothing was new to audiences that no one cared about horror camp movies anymore.  However, people still remembered the name of Jason.  In 1992, New Line Cinema purchased the rights to the Friday franchise and in 1993, New Line released Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday... and it was... for 10 years.  In 2002 New Line released Jason X, and in 2003, the much anticipated Freddy vs. Jason finally made it to the big screen.

Kane Hodder first played Jason in Friday the 13th: Part 7: The New Blood.  His portrayal of Jason gave new life to the franchise.  He took his role very seriously.  He never conversed or associated with the cast so that they wouldn't know him and that they would actually be scared of him when he was filming with them.  His role inspired four more eventual sequels and he has been the only Jason actor to ever play Jason more than once.  Because of his performance, Nintendo created a game based on Part 7.  In 1990, a television series came out called Friday the 13th (however, it never had anything to do with Jason).  Kane Hodder has actually been in several really good movies.  He appeared in the Oscar winning Monster.  He was in Under Seige, Batman Forever, Daredevil, and several other big budget movies... of course he's also in tons horror movies. 

Kane is a stunt man who turned 50 this year... dont' let the age fool you though, the man's HUGE!!!!  The Student Union Ballroom was pretty much packed... not with wierdos... but with some pretty cool and nice people actually.  When he came in he recieved a standing ovation.  He discussed his film career and showed us clips of his different roles.  I kicked myself at one point because I was going to sit in the front row but I didn't want to look like a geek (there was a guy there dressed in full Jason gear so i don't know how i would pass him for geekyness) so I sat in the second row.  When he showed us clips of his film career he came down in sat in the audience... right next to the chair I was going to sit in.  He's a really nice guy, however, he's kind of bitter because New Line didn't let him play Jason in Freddy vs. Jason (even though along with Robert Englund (Freddy) he was the person who pushed the hardest for the past 13 years to get the movie going).  After the lecture, I got to meet him.  He signed my copy of Jason X (it's my least favorite Jason movie, but mom wouldn't drive my boxed collection up from Mena) and we took a picture, and then we had a short conversation.  As you can see in the picture... he's BIG guy. 

Sorry about the novel... hopefully some of you will find it as interesting as I do.  So not only did I get to meet a Hollywood actor/stuntman, but I got to meet in international pop culture icon!!!  chi-chi-chi ka-ka-ka...

Currently Watching Message in a Bottle By Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman see related

This entry is a group participation entry.  It only works if all of you "dedicated readers" out there respond...

If you could have one thing... just ONE thing and it could be anything... what would it be?

Currently Watching Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition) By Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran see related

So I've pondering a very deep and thought-provoking question the past few days.  In fact, just the other night, my roommate, Kevin, and I stayed till about 2 talking about it (we didn't just talk about that one question...).  But I'm rambling on an on about this and all of you intrigued readers out there are all asking the same questions... "WHAT IS THE THOUGHT PROVOKING QUESTION?!"

Even though colors all have specific names (such as red, blue, orange, green, etc.), is the way you see a color the same way I see a color?  Let me elaborate on this a little... When I look at the color orange and if you looked at the same color orange... is it possible that the color you see as orange, if looked at through my eyes, would appear as blue?  I mean even if a person could actually videotape the exact colors that thier eyes are seeing, when I watch the video, I would still see the color tints that my mind has trained as those colors.  The color that I call orange may look, through your eyes, as looking like green to me.  Do you see what I'm saying?  If you understand what I'm saying then you'll think about it for hours!  IT'S CRAZY!!!!!!!  It's kind of like the whole "God was never created, He never came into being, He was never born... He just always was!"  It's effin' INSANE TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT AND YOUR BRAIN WILL GO INTO SPASMS AND YOU WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST BRAIN-FART OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was one of those times that I really wished I smoked weed (just because it would make the experience more enlightening and exciting).  I DON'T SMOKE WEED BY THE WAY!

There was also another strange occurrence last night.  Across the street from my college is a cattle field.  Yesterday the cows were mooing EXTREMELY loud.  We didn’t think anything of it at the time.  My room is right next to the cow field and since our stupid air conditioner is broken we have to sleep with the window open.  The fog was rolling onto campus from the field and it made it pretty creepy.  When Kevin and I finally decided to turn off the T.V. around 12:30 we could only hear one thing… COWS GOING CRAZY.  There was absolutely no reason for it.  The cows were screaming at the top of their lungs.  We looked out our window and noticed a cop car shining his spotlight across the foggy field.  So I got dressed and went out to ask the cop if anything was going on or if there was anything weird going on. Anything weird going on… HA… EVERY FRIGGIN’ COW WAS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS… SOUNDS PRETTY WEIRD TO ME!  When I got outside, everyone was gone including the cops and I was left alone in the eerie consuming fog with the haunted cows.  I listened to the cows scream as if someone was killing them slowly by shredding their skin and branding their left-over muscle.  At the climax of the screaming, the cows all screamed in unison.  Every cow, except for one white cow who kept perfectly quite and backed into a small corner, hit the except same tone, the exact same note, for the exact same length… and it scared the living hell out of me!  For some reason (I should know better than this because I am the authoritative figure on horror movies and situations surrounding them) I waded deeper into the fog towards the brutal noises.  As I got closer to the fence, I noticed that every cow in the field had quit mooing at the same time.  This worried me… kind of like one of those “calm before the storm” things.  I turned-tail and ran as fast as I could… okay, maybe not as fast as the wind blows, but definitely fast enough to do the job.  As I retreated the screaming started up again! For a second, I really thought that the cows were chasing me. I made it back to the safety of my dorm and stayed up telling real-life ghost stories with my roommate till 2 and then went to bed… to the sound of possessed cows.