Off to Comic-Con!

So I'm off for three days of Geek Frivolity!

Stay tuned to RedFence for updates from the floor. I'll be taking part in Watchment and Terminator: Salvation talk-backs, so this should be interesting!

Back in town on Monday!

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Off to Comic-Con!

So I'm off for three days of Geek Frivolity!

Stay tuned to RedFence for updates from the floor. I'll be taking part in Watchment and Terminator: Salvation talk-backs, so this should be interesting!

Back in town on Monday!

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in this installment, James can't sleep on Sunday morning, the Dark Knight is the coolest thing since Neil Armstrong found sexy humanoid aliens on the moon (which didn't happen, but would be the only thing comparable in coolness to The Dark Knight), and wishes that human beings didn't fear their own mortality so much that they won't let him pee on a bush.

Best
Weekend
Ever ...


Until Comic-Con next week.

So, up til 4am Thursday night/Friday morning to watch The Dark Knight. It was, without a doubt, a film so great it sits in the pantheon with the best of David Lean, Spielberg, and Kubrick. Super Hero flicks get a bad rap, but this film manages to fully understand the power and potency of the costumes and iconography and uses them to full effect. Yes, this is a summer blockbuster. Yes, the main character dresses in a bat suit and fights a sadistic clown. Yes yes yes. But underneath all the make-up is a technical and thematic masterpiece. The risks taken on the narrative structure are astounding. As someone who has studied screenwriting my whole adult life, I was floored. The acting is superb and unfortunately the amazing turn by Aaron Eckhart will be forever lost behind Heath Ledger who, all hype aside, turns in a performance that ALSO sits in that pantheon ... I'm talking the best of Brando, Day-Lewis, and pre (lets make s crappy cop movie) Pacino.

Also awesome are the Cinespia cemetery screenings at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Basically, you show up at 5pm, get in line, meet the folks around you, and start drinking. Doors open at 7:30 and the floodof people is enormous. They lead you to the back of the cemetery, to a large headstone-free field, where you set up blankets, coolers, low chair, and listen to music until 9pm when they project a classic movie on the side of a mausoleum. It's a way to raise money for a cemetery that's always on the verge of bankruptcy.

Just, you know, on the way out, don't stop to urinate on a bush, Because even though 500 drunk people are staggering around in a haze of illegal pot smoke, having just watched A Clockwork Orange, it's much to degrading to urinate in a cemetery. Apparently I was disrespectful to the zombies.

Le Sigh ...

And now, at 7:30am on Sunday, the landlords sent the work crew to finish the rocks they are sticking to the side of our house. So, you know, there's that.

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the Dark Knight Review

Dr. Horrible

Come one, come all, to the greatest web-event since Paris Hilton's sex tape or Chocolate Rain ... hell, even that dancing banana.

Over the writer's strike, Joss Whedon (creator of Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) sat around with his brothers and conceived this story. They they called in favors, made it for free, and now it's viewable online.

It will only be free till Sunday, after that they charge for downloads so they can start paying their crew.

Not only is this another step in the evolution of online entertainment, it's about the finniest, most charming thing I've ever seen. Enjoy.

Dr. Horrible

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In this installment, James posts an animated gif from someone besides himself who thought this scene in LOTR was Soooooooooo Gay!

The funniest animated LOTR gif ever?

Maybe, maybe.


Enjoy ... perv.

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Happy Post Birthday

Happy Day After Birthday to Me

Yeah, so yesterday was awesome and eventful ... not because of my birthday
(which was nice but minimal) , but because of this little bit of news.

RedFence Magazine was  officially SENT TO THE PRINTERS!

For all you folks who like reading, pre-order the magazine HERE.

For all of those who like watching, well, there's always our YouTube Channel.

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In this installment, James makes a joke about Herpes, and learns the value of writing for only two websites.

Ok, first off, is this the best Facebook ad ever? Maybe, maybe.

In other news, I have now signed up to write for the website Suite101.com ... basically, it's Google Ad revenue share if I write ten articles every three months. They liked my writing sample and I'm in. According to the site, payment is determined to popularity, but the number $10/day was thrown out there, which would be awesome, considering that's a livable budget in three of the four countries I hope to visit this fall.

Woot.

Thing is, I already write for RedFence and Movie Moron, so I'm a little swamped.

Oh well.

Oh, and P.S., it's my birthday.

Uber Late, Uber Tired, Uber Life

So the next couple months are shaping up to be monstrous. In addition to packing and planning my Asia trip, I need to:

 - help set up my business's bank account
 - fix my motorcycle
 - edit, sound mix, color correct, and do one re-shoot for a short film
 - clean my garage
 - edit various behind the scenes blog videos for RedFence Magazine
 - Plan and attend various movie screenings
 - plan my trip and press coverage of Comic-Con 2008

All while maintaining a 50 hour per week job during the daylight hours.

I'm going to die by the time I'm 40.

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4th of July Video

This is how I spent my 4th of July ... testing my new Flip Ultra camera and teaching a dog how to swim. I bought this camera for the Asia trip, it's the size of a cell phone, weighs the same as two AA batteries, and uploads directly to your computer via a built in USB port. It's pretty amazing. They sell on Amazon for about $120.


JLH 4th of July from James Roland on Vimeo.

Watchmen, Hot Fuzz, and Cambodia

Today was a good day. While I've discovered that awesome people don't know what RedFence is and their publicists don't care, we can still get into more intimate press talk-back sessions.

Which means, so far, at Comic-Con I've snagged a roundtable discussion for Watchmen and an hour press block with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. WOOT!

*and if you don't know what or who those above mentioned movies and people are, well, you need to polish your pop-culture trivia skills*

And Matt and I have decided to hit up Cambodia together, which means come September we'll be making videos in ancient temples ... and that just seems like the coolest thing ever.

Good day, good day.

Oh, and I ordered my backpack as well.

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Camping

Off to camp for three days, gonna be great.

So far, I've lost the address, found my sleeping bag covered in paint, and I've only packed my smoking paraphernalia.

But I AM bring the survival vest, so things are gonna be fine.

Back to civilization on Sunday - Peace.

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Freelance Writing and Dystopias

So I write freelance for Movie-Moron.com, and up and coming movie news and humor website. It rocks, I must say.

Anyway, here's a link to my latest Top Ten List - it's kinda fun:

http://www.movie-moron.com/forum/index.php?topic=823.msg2555#msg2555

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Weird Dreams

So, a few days ago I was dreaming that my room was swarming with giant spiders. Not very surprising if you've ever done any gardening with me and seen how I react when your average garden spider decides to skitter by. But still, it was a bit dramatic and frightening, even for me.


Here's what it looked like, only with four inch legs.

And the thing is, it was one of those "real time" dreams where you lay down to sleep, actually fall asleep, but then start dreaming that you can't fall asleep ... so I was totally convinced the spiders were real. Apparently I shouted so loud that my roommate opened the bedroom door to watch my murder, and since one of the many symptoms of my narcolepsy is "lucid dreaming," I incorporated him into my dream, and all the spiders turned and swarmed towards him.

So now he's saying, "You're dreaming dude, wake up!"

And I'm like, "idiot, you're about to get sucked to death by giant spiders!" only it sounded like, "aiaghnaighaighuom!"

Needless to say, it wasn't a restful night.

Then, LAST night, I dreamt that I was having nightmares, waking up, telling folks about my nightmares, then going back to sleep, having nightmare sequels, equating these dreams to my REAL LIFE dream about the spiders, then realizing that I was actually dreaming everything, then getting confused since I was aware I was dreaming, fighting to wake up, then I actually did wake up and spent about ten minutes trying to figure out what was real.

I'm not even joking, I had a dream within a dream that had a sequel and I also referenced a different dream from a different night while trying to explain all the dreams to some fictional dream people.

There are so many levels of Meta in that, all my Lit Crit friends but be quivering like excited Chihuahuas.

I think I need to de-stress.
*sigh*

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