Category: Plugs

This goes out to my posse in the 402.

May 24, 2006 /

Okay. As you probably know, I want to see a movie called Brick. Brick is ostensibly coming to the Baxter Avenue Theatres, but not on the release date (May 26) promised by Brick’s distributor, Focus Features. That’s because May 26 is part of Memorial Day weekend, when Baxter will be busy filling seats for movies that “anyone has heard of” and that “make money.”

The evidence suggests that Baxter now has a print of the film, but is holding off on showing it for the aforementioned financial reasons; it doesn’t help that Focus decided Brick wasn’t doing well enough to justify more publicity spending, and is now recycling prints by moving them from one theater to another instead of making new ones. If there’s no perceived market for Brick in Louisville, Louisville may not see Brick at all.

Every time I’ve called the management offices of the Baxter to confirm or deny a revised release date, they seem a little startled that I’ve even heard of it, much less that I know it’s scheduled to come here. One guy actually asked “how did you hear about that? A rumor? Where did you hear the rumor?” I would like to change that. I would like them to pick up the phone and go “are you calling about Brick too?”

So: if you live near Louisville and you have any interest at all in the movie, it would be neat if you called the management office at (502) 456-4404 and casually asked hey, Brick? Is that coming here? Oh, do you know when? Cool. No need to call if you don’t live around here, and no need to wheedle, threaten or cajole. Just ping a little data against the collective consciousness of whoever answers the phones over there.

Don’t all do it today, either; pick a time within the next week or so and put a little note in your datebook. People on the LJ feed can call dibs on days in the comments. Whatever. This whole operation is very casual, except if you don’t do it you don’t love me.

I really, really want to see Brick. I am going to print out some flyers and hang them down Bardstown Road. I am going to continue talking it up here until you’re all sick of it. I swear, I am going to make an event on Facebook.

I would like you to see it with me, and I’d like us both to have the chance.

10,001 points

April 25, 2006 /

Saved from the LJ comment feed, here’s William’s follow-up to Winter:

Spring falls hard, sprawls awkwardly on the ground. “Goddamn it,” he mutters. Then louder, to the air in general, “this better not set a theme!”

Caleb helps him up, his face full of apology. Spring swats him away, muttering about ‘respect’ and ‘kids these days’. He brushes the dew from his trousers and winces.

“Are you okay?” asks Chyler.

Spring doesn’t respond: he’s just noticed the stains on his suit. He looks like he’s about to have kittens.

After about a second, they realise he’s forgotten they’re there. They hurry off, feeling slightly uneasy.

“Aw, man,” Spring mourns. “These were new.”

April 19, 2006 /

Right now people searching for breakdancing videos still comprise the vast majority of my bandwidth users. That’s just not right, and we should fix it. But how, you say? By shooting breakdancers. The end!

Oh, and also: Jon’s got a new EP out, and you can download it! It’s called West State Line and it’s amazing to hear his music finally given the pro treatment it deserves. There are snares and backing vocals and even a little bit of string! Let’s listen to it together! I’ll make popcorn! I will also make calf eyes at you.

My favorite parts so far are Ghost Town, especially the bridge, and Meg White, which needs to be an indie anthem.

You can spell cataloging with or without the U

April 14, 2006 /

Hammering on the theme of my inability to escape YA literature, LibraryThing has apparently added a new statistic: the average publication year of your books. I haven’t catalogued everything I own quite yet, but still, did it have to be 1996?

When I get a chance to sit down and do it, cataloging on LibraryThing is one of my favorite, most meditative activities. I compare it to Scrooge McDuck taking a swim in the Money Bin.

March 7, 2006 /

Volscian made picture of Rita! And it’s awesome! So awesome that I blew up!

I really like the idea that Rita has tired eyes and a kind of round face–no Carrie-Anne Moss here. I hesitate to pronounce the picture canon only because I’m pretty careful about when and how I state that any given character is of a particular race; it’s perfectly valid to assume Rita is white, but also valid to assume she isn’t. Still, if I were ever to print out the Rita stories or anything, that would make a pretty great cover.

Yeah, you can tell I’m not famous because I obsess over fanstuff.

March 3, 2006 /

Kelly Link describes her stories as “kitchen-sink magic realism,” which I can understand, because the moment you say “fantasy” people think Robert Jordan and their ears shut down. Conversely, in her own words, “people hear ‘magic realism’ and they think ‘oh, like those Gabriel Garcia Marquez stories where people fly.'” (Everybody read exactly one magic realism story in high school, and that was it.)

Anyway, if I thought I could get away with it, I’d call Anacrusis “Kelly Link magic realism.” Look, it almost rhymes.

Gene Wolfe is a curbstomper

February 23, 2006 /

I got these new dress shoes a while ago, where “dress shoes” is defined as “the shoes that are not my sneakers,” and man, they are some shitkickers. They’re semigloss black leather with rivets around the lace holes. The soles are like an inch thick with a deep tread, and I’m pretty sure they have steel toes. We’re basically talking about a boot with the calf cut off here. I like them a lot, although the laces are fraying really quickly.

The reason I offer this description is so that I can properly explain what Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun is doing to me. Everybody talks about Wolfe, of course, but they talk about him in the same vein as the SFWA Grand Masters, of whom only Le Guin is interesting. I checked out the Book of the New Sun as a kind of homework assignment, but when I opened it, it commenced immediately (and has not ceased) to kick me in the head. With those shoes.

Segue of brutality and being amazed, the current storyline at Achewood is a masterwork in progress. When I start awarding the Grand Masters of Webcomics, I will hold up one long printout of the Great Outdoor Fight and say “this. This is what you must achieve.” For maximum run-up, start with Ana-Tomix and never stop reading, ever. But seriously, don’t click if you’re squeamish. Achewood is often unkind to squeams.