Friday LinkFrogging

Bruce — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:22:02 +0000

Welcome once again kids to our weekly recap of our myriad journeys through the internet.

This has become a highlight for all of us and we’re hoping you’re enjoying the links as much as we’re enjoying compiling them for you.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this week’s cheesecake. The lucky lady this week is Julie Bowen currently starring on ABC’s breakout hit, Modern Family. This is far and away the funniest new show on television and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not watching it. You may also recognize Julie from Boston Legal, Happy Gilmore or, most of the GonzoGeek staff’s favorite, Ed.

Stephe and I originally had Julie slated for cheesecake duty a couple of weeks ago, but had a hard time finding the appropriate picture. We’re sure glad we waited. I bet you are too.

Quick piece of Modern Family trivia. According to Wikipedia, Ed O’Neill, who plays the family patriarch, Jay Pritchett, is a black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. You don’t mess with Al Bundy kids.

On to the links.

Obamagram: Expectations and Responsibilities

Chris — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:03:50 +0000

The following is the full text of the most recent Obamagram from Charles A. Lewis of Coach House Capital. I think it contains some healthy perspective:

As is my wont, let me begin at the beginning. My wife, Penny Sebring, and I had lunch alone with Obama in July 2003 to get to know him as he was planning a run for the U.S. Senate. We came away thinking “he’s too good to be true.” Too smart, too articulate, too reflective and too analytical to be a politician.

After doing extensive due diligence and after his first year in the Senate, I came to believe his “intellect, temperament, and worldview” made him suitable for the presidency. It seemed like his emotional intelligence – most particularly his empathy and self-knowledge – were rare among politicians. Here’s what I wrote in February 2007 just before he announced his candidacy: “I am committed to getting him nominated and elected (because he) is deliberative and reflective, not ideological.”

Looking at President Obama’s performance in office so far, I think I got what I expected – and maybe even more.

True to form, he has approached the job with an unusually high degree of intelligence, a calm demeanor, and a sophisticated and nuanced worldview.

Obama knew he would inherit two wars were he to win the presidency. And, he espoused an ambitious agenda topped by health care, energy-climate change, and education during the campaign. But, it wasn’t until well into the general election campaign that it became apparent that an existential economic crisis would demand his attention immediately after the election, delaying and competing with his own agenda.

So far, so good....

Soon after taking office earlier this year, the new President was soundly scolded for trying “to do too much.” When he was inconveniently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, we were told that he hadn’t yet “accomplished anything.”

The way I see it, the President has made considerable progress on the economy and health insurance reform, while putting in motion many of his other initiatives.

Little has been written about how the President’s steady hand and intellectual acuity helped to steer us clear of the economic shoals.

Amidst the inane accusations of socialism, the President has gotten precious little credit for this major accomplishment. Such is our abiding faith in our capitalistic system’s resilience. We just expect – even demand – that it quickly snap back to “normalcy” after every setback and burst bubble.

But as one who subscribes to the school of behavioral economics (rationality tempered by psychology), I believe that Obama’s command of the subject and reliably calm sense of self-assurance were of immeasurable import during that crisis. As I’ve written, the markets are a “con game” – they depend enormously on confidence. That is what this President has helped to provide. Much like President Reagan did over 25 years ago.

I have also written about what some have called America’s “culture of impatience.” It was in full view this summer as the President got “flak from all sides” and critics carped about his inability to “close the deal” on health insurance reform. They criticized him for not taking more leadership – read control – of the process. The teabaggers had a field day (actually a month of them) in August.

But, now a bill has actually been passed by the House – a feat never before accomplished in over six decades of trying, through 11 administrations.

Not only does this accomplishment provide a partial answer to the “What has he done?” question. It also tells us much about our still new President. To me, his approach speaks volumes about his “intellect and temperament.”

He was smart enough to understand the complexities of the health insurance issue and savvy enough to know that he couldn’t control the process from beginning to end. He was calm and self-assured enough to be patient with the process – even after the Nobel announcement ratcheted up the cacophony from the culture carriers of impatience.

For me, this exercise so far has also demonstrated that, unlike most of us, this President understands that the surest route between two points is not always a straight line.

True, too, of his deliberations about Afghanistan. Amid flak from the trigger happy, American exceptionalists, and his own party’s left wing, he stands his ground and takes his time. He is as deliberative as I expected.

Many in the President’s party have been impatient with the pace of Guantanamo’s closing and ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This pragmatic politician with uncanny calmness will not be rushed, no matter the source of the pressure.

So, as I look back to compare what I expected with what we’re getting, I am pleased. Obama has been true to form. He’s made “no sudden moves,” borrowing a phrase from Dreams from My Father. He has demonstrated a capacity to master an astonishing array of highly complex subjects beyond what I could have imagined and the patience and pragmatism to make progress on his audacious goals.

Expectations for the rest of us

Now that I’ve offered you my opinion about President Obama’s performance, for what it’s worth, let me offer an opinion about what we should expect of ourselves, for what that’s worth.

Let me begin with a little story. On Sunday, I was being driven home from the airport by a wonderful man whose services I have enjoyed for many years and who has, unfortunately, endured many health challenges.

During the ride, I asked him about health insurance reform in light of the unprecedented House vote the night before. He favored reform, even though he has had good experience with his own insurance company. But, he said one thing bothered him – the proposal to establish “death panels.”

Although I think my characterization of such a claim as a bold-faced lie intended to sew fear was accepted, I am astounded that such an outlandish lie has such an extended life.

The lesson here is clear.

The election of Barack Obama was an historic accomplishment. But, the responsibilities of those of us who supported him, and, dare say, even those who didn’t, didn’t end on Nov. 4, 2008.

There are expectations of us, too. As American citizens, and citizens of the world. This is as much a reminder to me as it is to all of you.

Professor friends of ours have written two relevant books: Talking to Strangers (Danielle Allen, who has written Obamagrams, too) and Talking Together (Fay Cook and colleagues). I would argue that we should expect ourselves to remain engaged in the work of our government. After all, our Constitution begins with “We the People,” doesn’t it?

We can’t expect the President to do it all for us. We can’t simply outsource it to him and stand on the sidelines, carping. We need to help him build a “new foundation” based on personal and civic responsibility.

We need to be as alert, informed, and active as we were during the campaign regardless of which candidate we supported.

We should not complain about government deficits and debt until our own balance sheets are repaired. Until we start, once again, to live within our own means. Until we pay off our credit cards and home equity loans. Until we deal with our own “addiction to debt.”

We should work to be accurately informed. And then, we should keep talking – calmly, rationally, and respectfully – to everyone we encounter about the issue of the day, trying to be constructive toward our President and our legislators, even when we disagree with them.

We should remind friends and strangers alike that the likes of Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and Beck, on the right, and Olbermann and Maddow, on the left, are not in the news business. Hats off to CNN for getting rid of Lou Dobbs. They’re on in prime time. They’re in the entertainment business. Like professional wrestling. Exaggerations and lies are good for ratings. We should shoot down lies as soon as we hear them, before they become part of the lexicon. Just as we should stop racist jokes before they spread further.

That’s what all of us should seek to do every day. Talk to neighbors and colleagues. Insist on the truth. Clarify as we can, reassure, and urge patience. We need not be expert on every issue or debate in detail. Simply tell them that we trust and support our President.

Remember the baseball analogy I used last year to explain the Democratic primary process? Well, we’re in a different ballgame now. Because it’s the President’s chosen sport, let’s say we’re playing basketball. Olympic basketball. We’re playing for Team USA now, although we play for different teams during the regular season. We’re playing for our national team for the four (or eight) rounds of the Olympic tournament. We’re nearing the end of the first round.

We need to keep our heads in the game. Be alert. Think about our strategy and know the game plan. Constantly talk to our teammates and back them up even when we disagree with their shot selection or when they make a mistake. Respect our teammates. Have confidence in them. Be constructive in our criticism. Have a running conversation with the fans in the bleachers. This is our game to win or lose. Be patient and let the game come to us. Above all else, remember that citizenship is a team sport.

This is not to suggest that we are in a post-partisan world. Far from it. Remember during the primary when Obama expressed his admiration for Ronald Reagan – correctly in my view – and was criticized for it? Independently, I recall writing that I thought Obama was an amalgam of “JFK, RFK and Ronald Reagan.” I thought that Reagan’s optimism, assuring manner, and verbal skills were just what the country needed. As we celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I am grateful to him. And, in this time of economic stress, I remember admiring his courage to not interfere with Paul Volcker’s successful war on inflation, driving the unemployment rate in 1982 up to nearly 11% in the process.

Neither party has a monopoly on good leadership. But, as the saying goes, we only have one president at a time. So, we should look for ways to support this president, not obstruct him.

Note: All of my Obamagrams are available at http://sites.google.com/site/obamagramsbylewis/ or you can find me on Facebook as “Chuck Lewis” with a link to that site.

Please pass it on.

Chuck

Charles A. Lewis

The Ultimate Fighter – Heavyweights, Episode 9

Bruce — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:26:04 +0000

Tonight we begin the quarter finals. There are only 8 fighters remaining.

Tonight’s fight is between Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Justin Wren.

Wren impressed me in his first fight by submitting UFC veteran Wes Sims in the first round.

Tonight he takes on a much tougher opponent in Nelson. Nelson’s physique belies his abilities as a fighter, but he still hasn’t impressed Dana White.

Other happenings?

Matt Mitrione may have a concussion after his fight with Scott Junk. OR, he might be faking it like he did the arm injury before his fight with Junk. The house is pretty divided. Dana White paid a surprise visit to the house to check on Mitrione.

The talk turns to who would replace Mitrione if he isn’t cleared to fight in the quarter finals. Everyone seems to think the spot should go to Kimbo Slice. Granted, he’s the biggest name among the eliminated fighters, but it was Scott Junk who went three brutal rounds with Mitrione two weeks ago. If I was junk and Kimbo got the call ahead of me, I’d be pissed. I’m just saying.

Team Rampage filled Rashad’s car with chickens (or “cocks” if you’re 12) because, well, I guess they don’t have much to do with only 1 fighter in the quarters.

Let’s go to the octagon for the match.

Wren comes out throwing. Nelson doesn’t know what hit him, but it was several strong punches from Wren. Wren absolutely owned the first round. He pounded Nelson mercilessly. It was only a clench in the cage that saved Nelson from getting knocked out in my opinion.

The second round was not as clear cut. Wren was exhasted and missed some big punches. Nelson picked his spots and mades some good punches and kicks. By the time the second round was over, Wren could barely hold his hands up.

Everyone in the gym was expecting a third round.

They didn’t get it.

To everyone’s surprise it was announced that the judges had reached a decision. If I’d been Roy Nelson I would have been worried.

But despite Justin Wren’s clearly superior first round, the judges somehow gave the fight to Nelson.

JUSTIN WREN WAS ROBBED!

That fight should clearly have gone to a third round. Its also entirely possible Wren would have gotten knocked out in that 3rd round, but he at least deserved a shot.

So, Roy Nelson is in the semi-finals and Justin Wren’s season is over. That being said, I think his showing on TUF will get him some more looks by the UFC.

Next week its Brendan Schaub against Jon Madsen. That one should be interesting.

Interview: ‘Possum Walk’ writer/director Jeremy Sumrall

Chris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:25:09 +0000

‘Possum Walk’ writer/director Jeremy Sumrall grew up in New Waverly, Tex., about an hour north of Houston, on Possum Walk Road. He decided the name would work well for the small-town setting of a horror movie, then expanded it to be the name of the movie itself.

Sumrall has written a number of scripts over the years in several styles (slasher, supernatural, occult, etc.), but could never finish anything before going back to the old adage ‘write about what you know.’

“I don’t really know a whole lot,” Sumrall explains. “But a couple of years ago my niece had a pregnancy scare, and naturally, since she’s in a small town, people immediately began looking down on her. She was an unmarried, small-town, 19 year old who grew up believing you do things a certain way: grow up, get married, then start having kids. That’s not the generation a lot of us live in anymore, but in small towns it’s still prevalent.”

His niece’s situation got Sumrall thinking about the general lack of privacy in small-town life — in order to have any secrets you have to be really sneaky about it – and provided the basic idea for his first motion picture, ‘Possum Walk.’

Sumrall set the movie in a small religious town and made the protagonist a girl who grows up believing in the straight-and-narrow life, living her own accordingly, but winding up pregnant anyway.

The girl has a Southern Baptist preacher father with a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ approach. He rules over Possum Walk with an iron fist and tries to control his daughter’s life as well. At the same time these two battle their respective demons, a murderer decides to make Possum Walk his hunting ground, sexually abusing and killing its young women.

Maggie Conwell (as 'Faith Carpenter')

The paths of daughter, father, and killer eventually collide, leading to lots of messy carnage and allowing ‘Possum Walk’ to simultaneously explore the internal horror of the human mind and the external horror of, well….having a maniacal killer on the loose!

“One thing that’s always bothered me about the horror genre,” explains Sumrall, “is that people tend to look at it as being just one step above porn. And it pisses me off. There are brilliant writers and directors at work in the genre, but they get written off because the outside world sees what they’re doing as just mindless violence and sex. And yeah, we all use sex and violence in our stories, but if you go even a layer below the surface, there’s often some really good stories there to sink your teeth into. So that’s one of the things I tried to do with this one; make it a human story. If you peeled the layers back and took away all the boobs and the blood, there’s still a very dark dramatic tale here about personal redemption and living life in the moment instead of for what’s to come.”

Sumrall confesses to always having been kind of anti-message in selecting his own entertainment and is aware he might’ve run contrary to his own preferences. “There’s enough fucked up shit in this world without having to get beaten over the head with a message when I’m trying to be entertained,” he says. “Leave your fucking message out of my entertainment. And yet I wrote a script that has a message.”

‘Possum Walk’s unintentional compass seeped in through his own rebelling against small-town religious judgement. Sumrall doesn’t think religion should control anything: “It’s the fundamentalism I don’t like, whether Christian, Muslim, or the green alien that comes down from Mars. It’s not always a good thing to have blind faith, and not always a bad thing to question everything around you and find your own truth. It wasn’t until I’d finished the first draft of the script that I realized I’d written a movie saying ‘Look at yourself before you start judging anybody else.’ But there’s still lots of boobs and blood, so everything’s fine!”

Sumrall’s interest in horror began with the old slasher movies of the 80s: Friday the 13^th, Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween, Terror Train, My Bloody Valentine. His first script was very much an old-school slasher flick, with a supernatural twist. He still hopes to finish it, but hasn’t touched it in 5 or 6 years.

‘Possum Walk’ was supposed to be mindless boobs and blood itself. But Sumrall felt compelled to change it up as he’d just finished shooting his role as the Beast in ‘Sweatshop,’ a movie he describes as over the top blood and boobs, completely ridiculous amounts of gore, and lots of fun.

The Beast ('Sweatshop')

“Possum Walk got darker and darker and darker as it went along, and a lot more serious.”

The more dramatic parts were actually the harder ones to film, Sumrall says. “There’s a moment where two girls were finally confessing their love for one another, and then they die. That’s not even a spoiler…a lot of people die in this movie! And if they’d just lived in the moment and said ‘fuck what anybody else thinks, let’s just do our own thing and be happy about it,’ maybe they wouldn’t have ended up being killed.”

“But that day, when we had the moment with those two girls, I literally had to walk away from set for 15 minutes because I was crying. I wrote it with a lot of heart. But even more came out when we were doing the scene. So much so that a just had to leave.”

His next script (‘Iso’) promises to go even further down the dark, dramatic path, centering on the existence of a girl who lives 10 years trapped in her apartment convinced there’s an entity outside bent on doing her in unless she come out and meets it on her own terms. Hitchcock meets Clive Barker, is how Sumrall describes it. A third script Sumrall describes as Evil Dead 2 meets Mad Max–comedic and politically incorrect—is also in the works.

And his aspirations aren’t limited to horror. Sumrall says he has both a romantic comedy and a family comedy kicking around in his head, though realistically he’s not sure if or when he’ll get to them.

Sumrall is a reformed drummer who works in his family’s machine shop as his day job. But he somehow not only decided he could make a movie, but succeeded in doing so. He describes the journey as “pretty fucked up.” He burned out on music, feeling like his wheels were spinning and becoming increasingly frustrated with its collaborative nature, and started horror memorabilia company Necrobilia so he could meet other fans of the genre.

While still involved with his band, he started taking script-writing classes and saw Necrobilia as a way to increase his immersion in a culture he had long admired. One day he met Stacy Davidson (‘Domain of the Damned,’ ‘Sweatshop’) and thought it was really cool there was actually someone in the Houston-area making movies. Professors had told him if he was serious about the business he’d have to move to one of the coasts, or Toronto. Sumrall called bullshit, citing Robert Rodriguez as at least one exception, but nonetheless shuffled the whole screenwriter notion toward the back of his to-do list for a time.

Welcome

Then he had the meeting with Davidson. “His movie was waaay better than I ever would have imagined,” says Sumrall. I expected to see something somebody had gone out into their backyard with a little $200 Hi-8 camera and made as a little cheesy indie movie. But instead it was very professionally done and very slick looking.”

Sumrall kept the Davidson connection alive at Texas Frightmare Weekend, the first event at which Necrobilia was going to be a vendor, attending a pre-party Davidson had organized and meeting several other film-makers from the Houston area, a network he had no idea even existed.

Beyond Davidson, Sumrall met Mel House (‘Walking Distance’), various effects artists, sound guys, and local composers through his newly discovered network. All of them were working on each other’s films. Newly invigorated, Sumrall recalls very badly wanting to just get access one of their sets to learn whatever he could.

When Davidson finished pre-production on ‘Sweatshop’ and was ready to start filming, he and Sumrall got together and Davidson happened to mention he was still looking for someone to play the killer. Sumrall jokingly responded that he had always liked the idea of playing a killer “so why not use me?” The two laughed it off.

But a couple of weeks later Davidson gave him an open invitation down to the set, followed by an e-mail asking if he’d been at all serious regarding wanting to play the slasher in a horror movie. “I thought about it for all of 2 seconds and answered yes,” says Sumrall, who, still stuck in life-long slasher-fan mode, didn’t dare really believe it was going to happen. “I was basically shitting water for 2 days.”

Sumrall eventually regained enough regularity to go down to the set on a day none of the killer’s parts were shooting and get a feel for the mechanics of movie making. He was instantly impressed. “They literally had just this single 13-in. monitor and an HD camera he was running himself. So if you were just a bystander you’d think it was a bunch of goofy fucking kids making their little backyard movie. But if you watched it in the monitor it already looked like a professional product. It was ridiculous how cool it was. So I knew I was onto something special.”

His own parts followed, and from that point on, Sumrall was on set almost every weekend for ‘Sweatshop,’ whether he had a scene or not, learning as much as he could, seeing how things were done. He describes the experience as invaluable, particularly regarding the importance of patience: “17 hours on set could sometimes yield just 5 minutes of screen time.”

After ‘Sweatshop’ Sumrall got a call from Josh Vargas for a cameo in the movie he was shooting at the time (‘Sway’). Seeing another opportunity to gain experience, Sumrall was on-set from 5p to 5a, soaking in as much as he could and making himself as available as possible in exchange for 2 seconds of camera time.

Along the way he started to get asked, only half seriously, when he was going to direct his movie. He responded that he always saw himself as more a writer than a director. “The photo shoots I’d sometimes do for Necrobilia were enough to make me want to pull what little hair I have left out of my head, so I certainly couldn’t see myself directing a whole movie.”

A pivotal moment on the ‘Sway’ set followed. Vargas had reached the end of his rope. Sumrall tries to remember the exact words: “It was something like, ‘I’m fucking done with this movie. I need to film something else.’” Sumrall let Vargas know he was thinking about writing something and had been asked when he was going to direct, and Vargas said he’d film whatever Sumrall was working on for free.

One week later Sumrall had completed ‘Possum Walk’s first draft. Vargas didn’t end up working on the film, deciding he had to finish ‘Sway’ instead. But around the same time, Robert Luke (‘Man In The Garage’) joined ‘Possum Walk’ as a producer.

Sumrall and Luke had met and hit it off on the set of ‘Walking Distance,’ and when it became clear Vargas wasn’t going to be available, Luke said he’d film it. According to Sumrall he did a “fucking amazing job.”

Jeremy Sumrall, Robert Luke

With a team in place, ‘Possum Walk’ began to take shape. But sleepless nights lay ahead, and not just because of a rigorous shooting schedule. Sumrall recalls tossing and turning to the point his wife asked him what was wrong. He had initially hired friends and acquaintances as much of the cast and crew, but had come to find that many of them were treating the whole process as a lark. His wife gave him some hard advice, but advice he needed to hear: fire everyone and rebuild it from the ground up.

Sumrall now sees it as the movie’s turning point. “I got rid of a lot of dead weight,” he says. “There were a lot of people who weren’t actually actors, but were friends of friends or whatever who thought it might be fun. And I naively thought at the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to hire any professionals, because we were working with no budget. I mean we had a few dollars to pay for things here and there, but in the grand scheme of things we were a gnat on Hollywood’s balls. We’re not talking about Michael Bay money!”

Once actors were hired, forward momentum returned. Not to suggest things actually ever got easy. “When you’re working with no budget and everybody’s living paycheck-to-paycheck at their day jobs and then putting in 18-19 hour days on the weekends….it’s really fucking difficult. Tempers flare. People snap. You’re in the middle of Texas in the middle of summer.” In the end, however, Sumrall says the common purpose of making a great movie they could all be proud of would take over and carry everyone through.

Sumrall also points out that his cast made the directing process itself easier than it could have been, being self-motivated enough to free him from having to direct their each and every move and allowing him to keep focused on the big picture instead.

‘Possum Walk’s cast includes Maggie Conwell (Faith Carpenter, the main character), Parrish Randall (her father, Brother William Carpenter), Tyler Tackett (male lead, Joe Don Sims), Victoria Lane, Keli Wolfe, Kristen Hall, and Andrew Sensenig. Sumrall describes the entire ensemble as professional, dedicated, and serious actors. “I didn’t have to ask them when we got to set if they knew what we were doing. They just knew. They all had taken notes on their scripts, had certain lines highlighted, and had their lines memorized, which the one thing I was sure wasn’t going to happen.”

Sumrall recalls a conversation with Lane before he had wiped the slate in which she was telling him how prepared she was going to be before heading out from L.A. Sumrall told her it sounded like she was going to be the most prepared person on set. She sounded surprised and Sumrall explained that the rest of the cast was just reading their lines right before they had to film them. She quickly joined the chorus letting him know that better could be had.

Sumrall says the final cast often knew the nuances of the script even better than he did. That being said, there were still times an actor would slip in something weirder than Sumrall had envisioned and he would simply tell them what they needed to be doing instead. The unwritten rule on set became “if I don’t say anything I liked it. If I say something, it means something’s got to change.”

Girls of Possum Walk: Danielle Jones, Jessica Jecker, Maggie Conwell, Keli Wolfe

More often than not, however, the actors either got it the way Sumrall heard it in his head, or came up with an even better interpretation of their own. “I wasn’t going to knit-pick on certain words if the intent was the same,” Sumrall explains. “If the intent got changed, that’s when I’d get involved. But I never really had to crack anybody over the head about anything like that!”

Challenges included sometimes not knowing where they were going to be shooting until 5 minutes before the shot. Sumrall and Co. had secured a tiny church on the outskirts of Groesbeck, Tex. The only restriction the church placed on the project was no shooting on Sunday.

Not so fast. “Two days before the shoot,” Sumrall explains, “I got a phone call from [executive producer] Burt [Bailey] saying the church’s septic system had just exploded and sprayed piss and shit all over the church.” A new location needed to be found on next to no notice. Randall knew folks in the area and started making calls and knocking on doors, finding a replacement church just 12 hours before shooting.

Burton Bailey hard at FX work

Sumrall couldn’t get a look at the inside, but based on the outside and the fact that 50 people were arriving in the morning to make a movie went ahead and approved it. They put up signs guiding the new arrivals to the location. The next morning, five minutes before Sumrall himself was ready to head to the set, Randall calls again and says, “I screwed up. I took you to the wrong church last night.”

The correct church was right around the corner from the wrong one, but still 40-50 horror movie extras had to be diverted from inadvertently showing up at the wrong house of worship. The crew shot from daybreak until 7 pm, when choir members started showing up for their own practice.

Returning to the here and now, when asked what would constitute success for ‘Possum Walk’ Sumrall instantly responds with “absolute world domination” before dialing it back a bit. “We’ve accomplished our first goal: to make the movie. Now it’s all about getting the word out. In this day and age it’s pretty easy to self-distribute your movie, with services that print on-demand. But it takes a lot longer for you to get your money selling one piece at a time. So we’d ideally like to go with a distribution deal.”

Sumrall doesn’t pretend to know who he’d go with, or who might even be interested, but plans to work the convention circuit in 2010 to find out. Sumrall says he and the rest of the production team are willing to release the movie themselves, but he’d rather find an already established distributor.

“I’m hoping that the hopefully pending success of ‘Sweatshop,’ which is now out with screeners getting sent to critics and getting really, really good reviews, will help springboard ‘Possum Walk’ into something maybe a little bit bigger than any of us had anticipated,” Sumrall explains. “Indie film is a hotbed right now, especially Texas indie film. Guys like Mel House are starting to put out some really good pictures that aren’t just rehashes of other movies that have come before. They’re pretty damn original and pretty fucked up and done as professionally as possible with very little money.”

Sumrall says it would be great if ‘Possum Walk’ could be lumped into the same group. movement. “I’m sure that never in a million years did Tobe Hooper expect ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ to blow up the way it did, or Eduardo Sanchez never thought ‘Blair Witch Project’ was going to be as big as it was, and I know that Oren Peli had no idea ‘Paranormal Activity’ would be as huge as it is.”

“You just never know,” concludes Sumrall. “I’d be stupid to say I want to make $40 million off this movie. Ultimately, the idea of success for me would be having people see it, having people respond to it, and through that being able to keep making movies.”

Maggie Conwell as 'Faith Carpenter'

Keli Wolfe as 'Gracie Richmond'

The Ultimate Fighter – Heavyweights, Episode 8

Bruce — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:37:33 +0000

The show opens right where my DVR cut off last week, with Rampage Jackson destroying the locker room door after Matt Mitrione beat Scott Junk by decision and put Team Rampage down 0-7.

Then we gear up for this week’s fight, the final of the first round.

I have to admit I’ve been looking forward to this one since they showed Marcus Jones sparring several weeks ago. Jones, a former NFL first round pick, is raw but dedicated.

His opponent, Mike Wessel, has largely been a non-entity in the house so I don’t have a real feel for him. Wessel tells us that his wife is battling cancer while he’s trying for a slot in the UFC. That’s dedication on both of their parts.

We get another confrontation between Darrill Schoonover and Rampage. Rampage offers to make amends with “Titties” before feeling him up. Schoonover nearly snaps. Rampage may be playing with fire.

A practical joke in the house leads to Marcus Jones going nuts. I have to say, if you’re going to be part of the UFC I think you should have a thicker skin than that. If “sucks balls” is more than you can handle, then maybe this isn’t for you.

Of course, come fight time, maybe I’ll be wrong.

Jones is huge. I don’t honestly like Wessel’s chances.

Turns out, I’m right.

Rampage calls Jones’ style “Frankenstein style.” That’s pretty apt as Jones simply manhandles Wessel, picking him up and throwing him down like a rag doll. Jones then locks in an armbar from out of nowhere that had Wessel screaming that he gave up.

TEAM RAMPAGE FINALLY WINS!

Final first round tally Team Rashad 7. Team Rampage 1.

After the fight, Rampage, Rashad and Dana White meet with the 8 remaining fighters to find out who they would like to face in the quarter finals. Then the three of them meet and decide on the matchups.

They are announced as:

Roy Nelson v. Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub v. Jon Madsen
James McSweeney v. Matt Mitrione
Marcus Jones v. Darrill Schoonover

Dana White tells the camera he let Rampage pick the fight for his one guy, a decision that did not sit well with Rashad. No surprise he picked Schoonover. So we have the monster taking on the serial killer in a vendetta fight. That should be interesting.

Based soley on what I’ve seen so far, here are my picks for the next round

Roy Nelson
Jon Madsen
James McSweeney
Darrill Schoonover

Too bad for the locker room doors at the UFC training facility.

Steven Adler’s Dead!

Chris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:57:23 +0000

Well, not in real life. But he plays a Jeffrey Dahmer victim in new ’slasher comedy’ ‘Dahmer vs. Gacy.’ You can see Adler very briefly around the :41 and 1:03 marks in the trailer for the Ford Austin movie. Adler reportedly first gets picked up and then killed with a drill to the head by Dahmer.

Steven Adler, ready to rock!

I wish I could make a joke about it being payback for all the pain he’s caused the rest via his on-going musical efforts with Adler’s Appetite, but as basically a glorified Guns n’ Roses cover band my one time seeing them (with Quiet Riot and Bang Tango no less) was actually a really good time. They do their thing very well.

This Chick Plays Dirty

Bruce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:31:03 +0000

I heard about this clip on the radio last night. I had to see it for myself.

Elizabeth Lambert pulls out all the stops in a recent BYU/New Mexico women’s soccer game.

Yes, I believe catfights would increase attendance.

Enjoy.

The Super Hero Squad Show

Bruce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:12:33 +0000

I love the Super Hero Squad toys from Hasbro.

The tiny little good guys and bad guys make nice desk decor.

They’re so popular that everyone from DC to Dark Horse has gotten into the act.

Green Arrow, Thor and Hellboy

So it came as no surprise that Marvel would spin these little moneymakers off into a cartoon series. What better way to sell the toys. Its a time honored tradition.

My kids were jacked up about the debut of the cartoon, so I set the DVR.

I told Stephe, who had already seen an episode. His response?

They’ll love it. It might kill you.

Worrisome? Sure, but I sat down and watched it with them. My response to David on Monday?

It made my head hurt.

I understand the show is geared for kids and in that respect its a great jumping on point for them. They’re getting exposed to the Marvel Universe in a manner their brains can handle, much the way the Super Friends was the entry to DC Comics when I was a kid. A few episodes in and they already know who Misty Knight is. That can’t be all bad.

My biggest problems have been with the handling of Thor, one of my all time favorites. In one episode he was banging himself in the head with his hammer. In an episode this morning, he was using Mjolnir as a squeegee.

Why?

Did I mention the part where Dr. Doom was blowing a bubble out of his mask? No? Nevermind.

The Super Hero Squad Show is a mixed bag. Take a couple of Tylenol before you sit down with the kiddies and you might just enjoy yourself.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect:

It currently airs on Cartoon Network weekdays at 8:30 am EST.

The Colorado Kid – the review

Bruce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:32:26 +0000

On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. There’s no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues, and it’s more than a year before the man is identified.

With The Colorado Kid we come to the end of the Hard Case stash series.

I saved this one for last for one reason. Its written by Stephen King. He was far and away the biggest name in the batch of books. He’s sold millions of books. Why would he write a little pulp book for Hard Case? I’m guessing because he could.

Before we go any further let me set the record straight. I’m not a Stephen King fan. I’ve read It and The Stand and I just don’t get it. I thought It was a good book until the end. A spider? Really?

Lost me there Steve-O.

So, I guess that’s another reason for me waiting until last for this one.

The good news? No child killing clown spiders or dark cowboys.

The better news? Its a fun book.

More of an homage to the mystery genre than an outright mystery, The Colorado Kid tells the story of Dave Bowie and Vince Teague, a pair of aging Maine newspapermen and their summer intern, Stephanie McCann.

The old men take Stephanie into their confidence and lay out the great unsolved mystery of the Colorado Kid to her.

That’s the crux of the story.

The mystery is laid out piece by piece over the course of 178 pages, making this more of a novella than a novel. Each piece seems to make the facts that came before it more unlikely.

Unlike most mystery books, this one doesn’t come to a tidy conclusion at the end. It leaves the reader wondering which is not a bad thing.

The two old men pass the torch and their most cherished secret to their new found ally. She will continue to try to sort out the mystery of the Colorado Kid long after they are gone.

The Colorado Kid is a quick read. Its fun. Its light.

I’d recommend it to both fans and non-fans of King’s other work.

Friday LinkFrogging

Bruce — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:37:31 +0000

If its Friday, then it must be time for our gang (gaggle?) of GonzoGeeks to take you on a trip through the wonderful world of the web as seen through our seriously skewed worldview.

But before we set off on our journey, let me offer you a slice of cheesecake. This week, its Daffney, TNA superstar and all around cool chick.

Why you may ask?

The answer is quite simple. Before it was cancelled, this was the scheduled weekend for Wizard World Texas, an event Stephe and I attended for all of its years, including last year where we met Daffney and convinced her to be our first celebrity interview. Since then, Daffney has gone on to play The Governor (TNA’s parody of Sarah Palin) and emerge on the other side as the goth chick she was meant to be. She’s currently rehabbing a broken arm.

Get well soon Daff!

Now, on to the links.