No, this doesn’t have anything to do with movies, TV, books or music. But it’s freakin FIREWORKS from the vantage point of being in them.
If that’s not Atomic Awesome, I don’t know what is.
Ready for fireworks and BBQ? Well, the whole Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has a 4th message for you. Happy 4th! (…?)
Now that the start of the new season – and new Doctor – has been announced, are you jonesing for more Who? Yeah you are. Well, there’s a new Con in town, and it’s name is Reggie Hammond ReGeneration Who. Say thank you to the nice folks.
What’s drawn me to this Con is the idea that it’s a meeting place for all Whovians, from old-school cool to newer series addicts. What a perfect way to meet and chat with folks all over the spectrum. Have you been afraid that you’re not knowledgeable about the earlier Doctors? *raises own hand* Not to worry, everyone’s cool here! Yayz!
And did I mention they’ve already got Colin “The 6th Doctor” Baker coming? Yeah baby.
ReGeneration Who is coming at’cha March 27-29, 2015 in Hunt Valley, MD. Plenty of time to start saving for that life-size Dalek….
Me? I’ma cosplay the 10th Doctor. Hey, it’s cold in March. A trench and sand shoes’ll be perfect.
Read on for the full press release!
Image: Netflix/Eli Roth
This was sent to probably everyone who has Netflix. But I share because Hemlock Grove was crazy, weird and ultimately grew on me big time last year. Plus, Eli Roth just may answer any of your burning, bloody questions ala The Twitter. (That’s the @EliRoth you see above this post. In case you needed 100% verification.) Peep the Season 1 recap (requires Netflix, sorry) — be prepared for awesome FX if you haven’t seen it yet — and get your paws on some popcorn. It’s gonna be a dark and stormy, crazy night come 7/11. I’m betting Mr. Roth wouldn’t have it any other way. (All apologies to Netflix and Eli Roth, but the HTML? She’s a-shaky ’round hereparts….)
….[D]o you want to see something really scary…? The wait is almost over. If you’re like me, you devoured Season 1 like a ravenous Vargulf in one marathon sitting. Or perhaps you slowly drained the life from each episode over time like an Upir. Either way, we know you’re hungry for more, and I want you to know Season 2 is well worth the wait. But just in case you’ve forgotten all the gory details of Season 1, here’s a bite-sized recap to chew on…Hungry for more Hemlock Grove? Talk to me @EliRoth. And yes, it’s actually me, not a creation from Dr. Pryce’s lab…
So who’s with me for bingewatching July 11th?
Note: this IS NOT A PASS. But it’s purdy. (Image: Marvel Studios)
Hi guys! Remember the Guardians of the Galaxy sneak I was telling y’all about? Well, if you want to go but figured you’d missed the passes, there are more to be had! That’s right!
Easy-peasy: check out the 411 below, and get yourself passed.
But do remember; these suckers will be overbooked so the studio can have the most feedback from the most folks. So if you’re dying to see this? Get yourself there early. And also: poster y’all!
You’re invited to a special event: Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”: An IMAX® 3D First Look, featuring 17 minutes of exclusive footage from the highly anticipated summer blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The sneak peek will be showcased in 150 IMAX® theatre locations across North America on July 7 at 7 p.m. TheBaltimore area locations are:
- Regal Waugh Chapel Stadium 12 & IMAX – 1419 S Main Chapel Way, Gambrills, MD 21054
- AMC Columbia 14 & IMAX – 10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21044
For your chance to win tickets, email DC.GOTG@gmail.com with your name and theater preference. Tickets are available while supplies last.
Note: Like a screening, the seating is first-come, first-served and these will be overbooked.
Nutshell: I’d give it a C+. It’s not good, but it’s not a complete trash heap. Melissa McCarthy takes a pathetic person and gives her heart, but fans of Christina Yang will have to live with watching Sandra Oh just stand around for a handful of scenes. She’s not the only one who gets tossed off; Toni Colette and Allison Janney are in a brief, thankless roles too. But this movie isn’t a flat-out comedy, it’s a funny movie about flawed people. And so it kinda works. Kinda.
Here’s one: what’s funny, not funny, and then almost flat-out depressing ‘til a feel-good ending? Hey, how’d you know I was gonna say Tammy? Melissa McCarthy’s script that was shelved awhile back got dusted off and trotted out…and maybe if I’d paid for the privilege I’d be a bit more disappointed. But as it stands, Tammy is a film that isn’t gonna have you laughing your ass off, but there are enough genuine laughs and even some heart-growing scenes that were surprisingly on-point. Guess that’s what happens when you stuff a so-so script with a whole lot of top-shelf talent.
Tammy is a lower-middle class white-trash cliché. Driving a heap of a car that’s held together with empty food packets and sheer will, she’s late for her job at the local McDonalds rip-off TopperJacks. But she hits a deer when she takes her eyes off the road…which totals her car…which makes her disheveled and even more late for work…which gets her fired by her icky boss (Ben Falcone, McCarthy’s husband & the film’s director/writer)…which gets her home early so she can see her husband’s having an affair…which gets her to hey mom, I’m home!
Image: Scream Factory
Anyone who’s a Clive Barker fan has wept tears of frustration over the hatchet job his novel Cabal received after bring turned into the film Nightbreed. No, it’s not that it was bad, it was simply trashed in the editing room by studio hotshots that didn’t understand what they had. I remember watching Nightbreed, and wondering where all the amazing storyline bits had gone.
Now I – and you – need wonder no more. Hello first-rate redo for Blu-ray & DVD!
From the Scream Factory FB page, their full FB release. Can I get a hallelujah y’all? Yeah!
Plopped this onto Goodreads, and then figured I should really put it here too. Dark Places isn’t a book that you can say “loved it!” about. It’s the kind of book that gets you creeped out, grossed out, and then you grudgingly accept that it’s flat-out good. I gave it 4 stars, as I couldn’t go Full 5 because I couldn’t stand Libby at first. Yes, I completely understand that that reaction only serves to cement the whole “this book is a very well written piece of fiction”. Sue me.
First off, this book is dark. Did I mention that? Really, really dark. But in a way that feels like a true story told by the folks living it, which actually makes it creepier. And I definitely wasn’t a fan of Libby for most of the story – surviving that horror and being treated like a broken toy all your life is something I’m glad I can’t comprehend, but seriously be better than that, for your family that didn’t get the chance to live their lives – but she started to grow on me bit by bit.
The story itself is told by Libby, with first-person flashback chapters through the eyes of Ben, Patty and others. It works well, but like Song of Ice and Fire, there were times when I really wanted more from the current narrator.
The end? Oddly satisfying. Is it a happy ending? Depends on what character you’re asking.
Recommended for anyone who is in the mood for a disturbingly graphic bummer of a story that manages to twist it’s way into a satisfying read.
Love Kitchen Overlord? Of course you do.
Love Cards Against Humanity? Of course you do.
Go forth, and conquer! Or try to freak out your friends. Do you.
Five days after launching the Kitchen Overlord Illustrated Geek Cookbook Kickstarter, you maniacs had us fully funded! Two days after that, you dragged us to our bigger, blacker stretch goal.
You know what that means.
Click the pretty blue link to download your free, printable 30 page .pdf including 270 Carbs Against Humanity Cards. Don’t worry. We’ll wait.
Needs some samples? How about these!
As our thanks for getting us to our first stretch goal, we give unto you this .pdf, quivering in anticipation, full of cards hoping you’ll play with them until they’re nearly illegible from use. You know you want to touch them, share them, maybe even lick them – if you’re a little drunk and you like what they have to say.
We’d love to hit our $14,000 stretch goal, both because we really want to give every single backer a free Illustrated…
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Serves me right for reading a Twitter war early this morning. Apparently in the literary-blogoverse there’s a guy named Ed who needs to get bent, and a woman named Emily who lives to hurt people, except her heart grew three sizes one day. Or something. I’m nutshelling here. What matters is that he seems to piss people off by being hurtful about their books/blogs/written work in general, also slams them personally. Emily does (or did) the same, but has a bigger fan base on social media. (And also isn’t as flat-out creepy as Ed apparently can be, if real evidence can be believed.)
Ed’s accused of being hurtful to poor widdle Emily, who has graduated from gossip blogging to book writing. And honestly? He makes a few good points about the self-congratulatory, gimme-my-award-for-showing-up world some (SOME) Millennials live in. Problem? His essay is just as self-congratulatory and blowsy as he accuses Gould of being. And then he goes off the cracker, cheapening his argument with name calling. Pity, it’s always interesting to read a critique, until the writer stoops to curse word descriptors. Goddammit.
Meanwhile, Emily, who was taken to task by Jimmy Kimmel for not giving a shit about journalistic integrity (or source verification), is now demanding love and affection for her work, or she and her band of thugs Twitter fans will troll you until you bleed.
And this is why literature, literary discourse, and cool kids that dive into the deep end of that pool will never be things that float my boat. Reading pieces written by both sides, they just don’t seem like the kind of people I’d be happy to know. Yes, they’re witty, obviously intelligent, and in their respective pieces have a level of gossipy frankness that appeals to me. But in reading their words, it’s as if they use these positive attributes as weapons, sharpened to take down the unwary, or unhip. And it feels like every time I stumble upon a group of folks discussing liter-a-chuuuure? It’s the same face-off. Either you’re cool and totally get what the popular kids are saying, or you’re an asshat that should be reviled. (Cool kids/asshats are, of course, interchangeable, depending on the book, the group, and if the moon is in the 7th house.)
I’m too old for that shit; I prefer my Tumblr filled with those happily sharing the joys of their respective fandoms/genres/things du jour. A ☺is always better than a “they suck”. Bring forth the Harry Potter, Marvel Universe, and Game of Thrones! (Not that Wars don’t happen in genre – laws no, Tom Cullen! – but by and large there’s a general happiness that seems to be lacking in the Lit crowd.)
Thing is? I’d never be a “modern” literature nerd anyway, because that style of writing doesn’t appeal to me. The lives of people who are suffering from an ennui overdose in Williamsburg? Who cares? Not me. But that’s okay. I’m betting there’s tons of folks who are all-in for those books, and who avoid my particular horror/fantasy/alt-history favorites like the plague. Good thing we can all do the exact same thing; not read what we’re not interested in. It’s in the Constitution, I think.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to finish Dark Places. It’s a total downer with a completely unlikeable protagonist that came out several years ago. But it’s a twist on the Whodunit genre, and have to see how it plays out.
BTW, The books above? As Lit-y as I get. Otherwise my bookshelves look like this.
Hell yeah baby.
Got a dollar to spare? A quarter?
Atomic Fangirl 