Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Shiny!




As a fan of Joss Whedon’s TV show, Firefly, and his concluding movie, Serenity, I love the T-shirt, designed by Vincent Carrozza, and available on Etsy.

Stephen King Still Loathes Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, By the Way:



His 2017 takedown of the classic horror film is just three words long.

By Sammy Nickalls
February 23, 2017
Esquire

Though The Shining is perhaps one of the most well-known horror films to date, one of the people who is responsible for its creation wants no part of it. Stephen King has not been shy about his distaste for Stanley Kubrick's twist on his novel, but has time changed the author's mind? According to a recent tweet, nope, doesn't seem like it.


When Blumhouse Productions tweeted a video of the top five Stephen King films asking "What're your top 5 [sic] @StephenKing joints?" they got an answer from King himself. Just three words, but they speak volumes: "Not this one."


Back in 2014, King didn't mince words about the film either when he spoke with Rolling Stone, but he used more than three:

"The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice. In the book, there's an actual arc where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he's crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene. I had to keep my mouth shut at the time. It was a screening, and Nicholson was there. But I'm thinking to myself the minute he's on the screen, 'Oh, I know this guy. I've seen him in five motorcycle movies, where Jack Nicholson played the same part.' And it's so misogynistic. Wendy Torrance is just presented as this sort of screaming dishrag."



Thursday, February 23, 2017

I never knew ...

Last night, we watched the 1995 movie: To Die For.
About 8 minutes in, my wife laughed and pointed out to me that I do the same facial expression Matt Dillon does in this scene, whenever I am emphasizing something:

Friday, February 10, 2017

Did I miss something?


I feel like I missed several somethings – not just one!

I enjoyed seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in the theatre. There was a lot to enjoy, action all the way, and the story bridged nicely between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

However …

I watched the trailers in the morning, before seeing the movie, and I wish I hadn’t. The trailers set me up for disappointment, because there were a number of scenes that weren’t in the version of the movie I watched.

I don’t know if it was because of reshoots due to alterations in the story, or the footage was created specifically for the trailer only. Hopefully, they will turn up later in a Director’s Cut / Special Edition version.

Whatever the reason, it was annoying to watch the movie, waiting for moments that never came.


Unless I fell asleep for ten seconds and missed it, I didn’t see the verbal exchange between the droid, K-2SO, voiced by Alan Tudyk, and Jyn Erso, played by Felicity Jones.


K-2SO:
“The Captain says you are a friend I will not kill you.”

Jyn Erso:
“Thanks!”

Or Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, in the midst of the battle, running along the beach.


The scene I was looking forward to most was Jyn Erso striding resolutely across the walkway to the Communications Tower, when an Imperial TIE fighter looms menacingly into view. This would have been amazing to see on the cinema screen.


However  it didn’t happen – there was no TIE fighter in the scene!

I know trailers are created to advertise and sell the movie …
but I don’t agree with selling something they are not going to deliver.

Dogs also cry:


Weather is an important and effective detail in writing:


Monday, February 6, 2017

Amy Schumer's #KissGoodbyeToMS:




Amy Schumer wants to #KissGoodbyeToMS for her dad, Gordon Schumer. 
Why do you want to Kiss Goodbye to MS?


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My personal response:
For my beautiful wife.
I love her with all my heart and I would take the disease from her and carry it myself – in a heartbeat!

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Meet Amy Schumer - Comedian, Writer, Actor and MS Activist Extraordinaire
July 17, 2015

Amy and her dad, Gordon Schumer

Amy Schumer is one of the most popular and admired comedic personalities on the scene today. She is presently best known as the creator, star, writer, and executive producer of the Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer. She is also a 2015 recipient of the Time 100 Most Influential Artists with her show receiving both a Peabody Award and a Critic’s Choice Award.

What also makes Amy Schumer very special to everyone impacted by multiple sclerosis is that her father Gordon Schumer has MS and currently resides in an assisted living facility. In fact, Amy wrote and stars in a funny yet touching film that opens July 17, TRAINWRECK, which draws on her life as a child with a parent who has MS. Amy credits her dad for shaping her sense of humor, which has provided her great strength when faced with adversity, which included her parents’ divorce when she was a teen.

Shares Amy in a recent interview, “I love to laugh. I seek laughter all the time. I think that’s something that also comes with having a sick parent is you don’t know what’s going to happen and so I’ll be, like, ‘I’m psyched my legs still work, and I want to, like, experience all I can and make as many memories as I can.”

Amy is deeply committed to the MS movement and support of the Society’s efforts to help people with MS live their best lives while we strive to end MS forever. Most recently, she and her director, friend Judd Apatow helped to raise over $176,000 through the TRAINWRECK Comedy Tour event held in New York City. She continues to leverage the promotion of the film with the help of Universal Trainwreck and www.CrowdRise.com/Trainwreck to raise funds to support the Society, a site where fans gathered to donate for a chance to win a VIP experience that includes two tickets to the New York Premiere.

Amy, a New York City resident, has also become an Honorary Board Member of the New York City-Southern New York Chapter.

Learn more about how MS has influenced Amy Schumer’s life and career at:


About Multiple Sclerosis:

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.



In support of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research:


Never give up!