Born For Geekdom: August 2011

8/30/11

Movie Bites - Ratatouille's Ratatouille

Have you ever tried to recreate food from a film you love? Did you fail miserably or get it right the first time? My latest "Movie Bites" blog is up over at SmithBites. This time, I attempted Remy's titular ratatouille.

If you like that, I hope you'll also check out the rest of my Movie Bites series.

Semi-related anecdote: Coincidentally, I recently watched the wedding and baby episodes of "The Office". Ooh! Wouldn't it be great if you could isolate specific episodes/storylines of an entire series on Netflix?! (Do you like how I slipped in the word, "coincidentally," in an attempt to casually mask the fact that I am ALWAYS WATCHING THE OFFICE?)

Anyway, Kevin also makes ratatouille for Pam during their last Ultra Feast. And frankly, Kevin is the character I most relate to on The Office, food-wise. I once dropped a handmade German Chocolate cake on the carpet while carrying it to the birthday guy, candles a'burnin' and everything.

The Lost Art of the Movie Poster

I received an email this week from Cameron McCasland the director of an indie horror film titled "The Lashman".

Coincidentally, I've also been talking a lot about movie posters with my sister Heather. (One of the contributing raving fangirls here at BFG.) She has recently discovered the art of Drew Struzan. Drew Struzan is THE movie poster guy. He's done just about every iconic film poster you can imagine from "Back to the Future" to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and beyond.

The posters for "The Lashman" were designed by Dennis Vincent of Denver, Colorado. Someone who clearly loves film and gets the idea that a poster should made you feel something and really want to see the movie.

Case in point?

But these posters make me want to see "The Lashman". It makes the film look like it's going to feel like a comic book western that might evoke "The Evil Dead" and that's a movie I can get on board with.

8/23/11

Mark Ordesky and Larry Longstreth talk "The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty Something" - Part One

In Part One of my interview with filmmaker Larry Longstreth and producer Mark Ordesky, we talk about the making of "The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty Something."

Larry Longstreth has made a film that does more than entertain for a couple of hours. It strikes a nerve. The trailer for “The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty Something” has light saber dueling, a Superman cape, a Braveheart reference and a Wilhelm scream. Which means that to a geek like me, it feels like home. But it has something else too. A gut-punching moment where a father tells his twenty-something son, “I'll always love you, but I don't have any respect for you.”

This indie film hits us where we live, the generation that grew up on a steady diet of movie magic and Steven Spielberg now has to face obstacles like student loan debt and complicated parenting choices. But you can only coast so far on the “follow your dreams” nostalgia of childhood before you start to realize that you have to actually do something to make them happen.

One problem. Doing something is difficult. It's scary. It opens you up to the increasingly cruel criticism of your peers and that anonymous monster called “the internet”. THAT is the nerve this movie hits. The influence of a film can be gauged by what you discuss after watching it. So, the following conversation says a lot about the film.

8/22/11

Interview With A Monster - Doug Jones

Interview with a Monster

“Life’s like a movie, write your own ending.”

- The Muppets

Doug Jones.
(Photo via GeekTyrant)

In 2008, an independent film shoot came to Muncie, Indiana. I'd been freelance writing for a year, so I decided to stick my nose into the process. This confidence, I would soon learn, was entirely unearned.

I volunteered to work for the marketing department as a blogger and general buzz-maker on relevant message boards. But it wasn’t exactly selfless. I had a long and beautiful history with the star of the film.

He just didn't know it.