Month: May 2002

Like you ever doubted…

I am 87% evil.

Greetings True believers….

Tonight, as I was doing my usual late-night, mindless wanderings of that vast beast we know as the Internet, I found the following interesting tidbit of information and I just thought I’d share.

Most of us believe we know lots of different things about a vast array of subjects but even with all our vast knowledge, I still would bet that none of you know what a Rider is.

No, they’re not big, fat, greasy guys with fetishes for motorcycles emblazoned with the Harley logo (at least not this time). The Rider that I’m referring to is in actuality one of those stupid legal clauses that rock stars and other bigwig artists tack on to their touring contracts when they go places. They’re those quirky little “demands” that they MUST have before they will even think about doing a show in your hometown.

So go ahead and check out This Link to see how vain, stupid, silly, or egomaniacal your favourite artist really is. And the next time you’re at your favourite venue, listening to your favourite band, you can sit back and smile appreciatively at the effort the venue promoter went through to make you (and the band you’re listening too) happy.

Well, we’re back on the Neil Gaiman fanbus again. This week’s magical mystery tour takes us to…. Yup. His new website dedicated to Coraline. (Which is the name of his forthcoming novel for those of you who haven’t been bothering to play along at home).

Next Stop —-> Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

>>>>>RANT MODE ON<<<<<<

Okay. You can call me an insensitive prick if you want but I have to reaffirm something. People are stupid. Especially people that are mindless and jump on a bandwagon just because of the religious fervor that “having a cause” generates.

I was doing my usual late night surfing and I found this link a little while ago. It’s apparently a petition to rename a movie coming out this fall that was based off of a renowned literary work that was originally published fourty-eight years ago because of a chance “similarity” between the title of said book/movie and the symbolic events of September 11^th, 2001.

For the unintiated and/or lazy, I’m referring to the Peter Jackson movie: The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers based off of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original work of the same name.

I mean, come the fuck on!?!?! The only similarity between the two is *gasp* the title of the book. Hell, when you get down to it, it isn’t even the bloody title. It’s the SUB-title. The title of the book is THE LORD OF THE RINGS. It’s NOT The Two Towers. The book is not a trilogy. It’s single novel, which is often published in three parts.

There is something about people who can’t see the forest for the trees that deeply offends me. It’s like a nails on a chalkboard effect. Idiocy and blind ignorance are two things I can’t tolerate and I’m sorry, but these people are idiots in the fullest sense of the word. Sure, those that were personally affected by the attacks on the World Trade Center have suffered a great deal, but to read into something that was written and conceived long before this event occurred is stupid. It’s a bloody coincidence and that’s all. There is no grand conspiracy to mock or open wounds for those affected. There is no, grand scheme to do anything else but stay true to an iconic work of literature of our time.

I really wish people would get there heads out of there asses and think for themselves instead of just banding together in their collective lemming-like herds. Bah….

>>>>>RANT MODE OFF<<<<<<

Ahhh, Summer is finally here. Do you know how I can tell? No, it’s not that the snow finally stopped falling in Canada. No, it’s not that it’s a sweltering 34°C ( thats 93°F for you philistines that haven’t discovered the metric system yet) here in Texas.

Nope, plain and simple, it’s summer only because Hollywood says it is. Yup, it is once again the season for blockbuster hunting and bomb dodging. From now until the kiddies go back to school, we shall all be innundated with a plethora of new movies which we will be told through a constant barrage of marketing and cross-promotion, that this is the “next big thing” and we MUST watch it and think that it is good.

Now I’m all for the summer movie schedule. Overall it looks like we’ve got a fairly decent crop of films to entertain us this summer. Starting with The Scorpion King, continuing on to Spider-Man and Star Wars Episode II: Send In The Clones and heading on into summer with Minority Report and XXX among many others.

The thing that bugs the hell out of me is the marketing, or rather the over-marketing of these movies. To me these movies should stand or fall on their own merits and flaws, and not because we the viewing public have been constantly bombarded with images, toys, gifts, and commercials featuring these movies or characters from them.

As a recent example, there are the Cingular wireless cell phone commercials with Spiderman in them. Sure I’m going to see the movie – that’s a foregone conclusion, but I’m almost to the point where the novelty of seeing a really cool looking Spidey swinging around a city has worn off and I know when I see it in the film that it won’t be as exciting as it could have been.

We won’t even talk about the marketing juggernaut that is the George Lucas Empire. Star Wars is cool… to a point, but I’m bloody sick of seeing jigsaw puzzles, plastic lightsabers, and breakfast cereals featuring the movie. I’ve seen so much that I don’t know what the movie is about anymore. I lost the enthusiasm under a pile of useless toys.

Okay.. so I seem fairly bitter and dissillusioned about the whole thing. To a point, I probably am. I miss the days when seeing a movie meant just that, you were seeing a story unfold on the screen. Not just that it was the final gimmick in an effort to sell happy meals.

Anyways, I’m going to go now and put on my spidey underoos and see if I can convince the wife to take me to see the webslinger on opening night. Wish me luck *grin*.