T-minus 23 hours

[cleolinda]

My mother, as you may or may not have noticed, loves monster, alien and disaster movies. Cloverfield, therefore, is a natural for her, and somehow, she actually proposed that we go tomorrow for the main 7 pm showing. On opening night. After dinner. I don't understand it either, but nor am I going to question it.

"So you want me to go ahead and buy the tickets?"

"I wasn't going to buy them until we got there."

"UNTIL WE GOT THERE?"

"Do you really think a lot of people really going to go?"

[Full minute of bogglement.]

"Really? "

"Look, fine. We'll go out there tomorrow, and then we'll come right back home because it's sold out."

She had me buy the tickets.

(Cloverfield Selling Out Midnight Shows; Cloverfield Viewing Tips ["Look for someone passed out on a couch at the party"; "Stay for the end credits"]; Exclusive Sneak: ‘Cloverfield’ [MTV likes it]; Review: A clever ''Cloverfield'' [EW likes it]; Cloverfield Manga Translated; MTV Sneak Peek - "Start Running Now!"; TIME Interviews J.J. Abrams; 12 big bad movie monsters.)

Meanwhile, Alabama folks get a little flaky when there's talk of snow: "A Birmingham hardware store digs into storage to prepare the sleds. If you want to believe the North American Mesoscale weather forecasting model, Birmingham could be blanketed with 5 inches or more of snow on late Friday night and Saturday morning from a major winter storm." This would bring the city TO ITS KNEES, let me tell you.

Antidepressant Studies Unpublished.

Steve Jobs: "People Don't Read Anymore." Aww, somebody's jellus that Amazon has the Kindle!

Does Nabokov Have To Come Back from the Grave and Burn His Unfinished Manuscript Himself?

Fashion Blogger Announces That "It" Bags Are (Finally) Dead. Well, the day that I have a Fendi knockoff probably is a sign that it's over.

You remember Chuck, Dooce's awesome dog? Well, he has company now. Company who looooves him.

Cassie Edwards update: Paul Tolme: “I’ve been properly spanked” for implying that all romance novels suck in his ferret article.

The Associated Press has already begun preparing Britney Spears' obituary. Somewhat related: Complaint filed against Dr. Phil.

Matthew McConaughey to be best stoner dad ever. "We are stoked and wowed by this miracle.... God bless evolution." Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Tom Cruise's Scientology video -- and Gawker's legal battle to host it; Cowards ("Anyone else wondering why none of the major entertainment shows -- Entertainment Tonight, Extra! or Access Hollywood -- have touched the revelations of Tom Cruise's deep involvement with the Church of Scientology?"); 'Wide-eyed' Cruise extols Scientology in 2004 video; Tom Cruise in 2004: Scientology is a 'privilege.'

Susan Sarandon Speaks Out on Brad Renfro's Death; Ian McKellen remembers Brad Renfro: "He was a kid having fun."

Five things not to do in the ER.

Colbert earns 'appropriate place' at Smithsonian.

Can polar bears, Arctic oil co-exist?

From hulamoth: First look: 'X-Files' returns to theaters, minus alien mythology and four hi-res stills. Also: No Aliens In X-Files 2? Well, thank God.

A Nervous Hollywood Asks: Where The Hell Is This DGA Deal Everyone Says Is On Its Way?; Directors Reach Accord With Hollywood Studios; AMPTP Invites WGA Back for Discussions.

Warner Bros. to Re-Release Michael Clayton for Oscar season.

Your 2008 Sundance Festival Buzz-Movie Cheat Sheet.

Screenwriters face challenges turning books into films.

Let's Hear It for Fish Biscuits! [Lost]

Sweeney Todd does Paris; Johnny Depp Blushes, Flirts, Smolders.

Writing Order of the Phoenix: A New Interview with Michael Goldenberg.

‘Hannah Montana’ movie tickets hard to get.

‘American Gangster’ is more fiction than fact. NO! REALLY?

'Mamma Mia!' poster.

'Sex and the City' Poster Fills Rhinestone, Pun Quotas.

MTV Exclusive Poster Premiere: ‘Stop-Loss.’

Moviefone Unleashes First 'Star Trek' Photo.

Mortensen, Theron on 'The Road' to Pittsburgh.

Will Ferrell and Danny McBride Starring in 'Land of the Lost' Remake.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's 'Baby Mama' Trailer.

trailer_spot: Baby Mama, Life Before Her Eyes, Jodhaa Akbar, Bonneville, Cloverfield.

John Carpenter's L.A. Gothic Now Casting.

James Marsters Discusses 'Dragonball.' I don't actually care about Dragonball; I'm just sort of standing to the side fascinated by the idea that they could possibly make this into a decent movie.

Update from Sarah Michelle Gellar on American McGee's Alice.

Rumor: Quentin Tarantino Remaking 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'

It's Official: Justice League Movie on Indefinite Hold.

The Best Sampled Lines from Scifi in Music.

Jack Nicholson Admits That His Golden Starlet-Nailing Era May Be Drawing To A Close.

Comments

[firei.livejournal.com]

I was going to go to the midnight showing tonight, but, I have an 8:30 tomorrow, and I can't miss it because it's only the first week of classes...but I really wanted to go!!! :(

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Your icon is a thing of beauty.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I feel ya on the snow thing. Conditions like a light dusting of snow and a little ice on the roads can get almost deadly around here.

[pinstripe-bindi.livejournal.com]

Wait, so XF2 is going to be a Monster of the Week movie? Squee! I always loved those so much more than the boring, CONFUSING AS HELL mytharc eps.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

The Associated Press has already begun preparing Britney Spears' obituary.

I'd heard about that practice a long time ago. John Cleese, after college and before Monty Python, got a job with Newsweek's international edition. He wasn't a very good journalist (he admitted later) and got bumped to ever-crappier jobs. He knew he should quit when he got assigned to write obits for people who hadn't died yet.

That said, doing so for someone so young... *shudder*. Please don't let this be another Anna Nicole-type situation...

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

I was just about to comment that it's probably fairly routine for a newspaper to have an obituary ready for any sufficiently famous person.

Presumably almost all these potential-obits have to *revised* periodically: an obituary written for some child starlet-let would no longer make sense if published when she died at the ripe old age of one hundred three.



NEW WRITING "PROMPT" CHALLENGE:

Write an obituary for each of your friends. Update as needed.

weather

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Cleo, do you have a snow shovel? (Dust pans will work in a pinch, as I found during Colorado's first blizzard in 2006.) De-icer? Sand or cat litter? Groceries? Underground power lines?

::worries::

Y'all're probably good at nesting.

Re: weather

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing about snow here is that it tends not to stick. But if it is going down to 19F again (and it did a couple of weeks ago), I guess it could. We definitely have kitty litter and a dustpan; we're doing the week's grocery run early tomorrow morning. The power lines are more reliable than at the old house, where they went out if a squirrel sneezed in Canada. We do have a gas fireplace, and my mother's been meaning to get a gas range (like we had at the old house, and pretty much had to have, what with the power going out). I actually don't think we've ever been snowed in at this house, although I have definite childhood memories of a couple of bad storms--like, power out for days, the entire family in sleeping bags by the (actual wood-burning) fireplace, snow so thick the entire neighborhood went tobogganing... actually, that would be fun here, because I live on both a hill and a cul-de-sac. Anyhoo, we don't really have experience holing up in *this* house, and it is bigger than the old one (which is actually a liability in terms of keeping warm, as I'm sure you know), but we will definitely have plenty of food and a gas fire, that's for sure. I just need to load any music I want onto my Zen (I have plenty of batteries. Oh, and candles).

[princessstarr.livejournal.com]

Mortensen, Theron on 'The Road' to Pittsburgh.

And damnit, they're doing it in the next month. I don't have break until the middle of March! I need to go home!

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

Everybody's still on Armageddon watch from 1993, I guess. Of course, some years ago, JeffCoEd closed school on a 60% chance of snow, no actual precipitation.

Substitute "rain" for "snow" and you can see a similar panic in the Bay Area, esp. as regards driving.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

San Diego, ditto. I'm convinced that we have so many accidents because it takes people to realize that the stuff falling from the sky is natural. Until they do, they swerve to avoid.

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

Everybody's still on Armageddon watch from 1993, I guess. Of course, some years ago, JeffCoEd closed school on a 60% chance of snow, no actual precipitation.

Substitute "rain" for "snow" and you can see a similar panic in the Bay Area, esp. as regards driving.

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

...

Ohmigod I am so making fishbiscuits now.

[alliemolloy.livejournal.com]

If you're going to make an orange-coloured cracker in the shape of a fish, at least have the decency to make it cheese-flavoured! Citrus? No, thanks.

[punzerel.livejournal.com]

Aw, 5 inches is a major storm. You guys are so cute. *pets Alabama* You could always copy Toronto and call in the army to shovel the snow!

[kth524.livejournal.com]

Kevin Smith is doing a movie here, too, Zack and Miri Make A Porno. With Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. My dad saw Kevin Smith at some bar or something downtown, I'm not really sure the name of the place. He's a musician and he was playing there and he came home and was just like, "Oh hey, Kevin Smith was at this place where I just played."

My mom also read something in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Robert Duvall maybe being in The Road? I honestly think my mom is just going to start wandering around downtown, trying to find wherever they're shooting. She was like, "ROBERT DUVALL? In MY city!?" She's a huge Viggo fan, too. She still has an Aragorn Valentine on the bulletin board by her desk from when I gave out LOTR Valentine's in elementary school. And I'm a sophomore in high school.

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

HAHA, I passed out LOTR valentines in college.

[emisi.livejournal.com]

I want to know why it is that Johnny Depp only seems to look more gorgeous the older he gets. It's not fair.

And yet, it's fine. Like him. Mmm.

[demonqueen666.livejournal.com]

Painting in the attic?

[sunlitstar.livejournal.com]

Mothers are silly. My mom went to see "Sweeny Todd" without me. She came back around midnight, and I was still up. She opened the door and this is what followed:

Mom: Oh. My. Gosh.
Rose: How was it?
Mom: It was so gory! There was waaay too much blood!
Rose: You do understand what the story is about, right?
Mom: I had to watch with my eyes closed!
Rose: .....
Mom: But Johnny Depp can sing! And the little boy! He was fantastic!
Rose: ... Who are you?

I just want to see the monster already

[serizawa3000.livejournal.com]

It's maybe a little surprising that Cloverfield is getting some good reviews despite all the hype (including from chud.com, the site where I find out most movie info... one of the reviewers is even saying he's eating some crow... it was all that viral marketing)...

But what's a little more surprising to me is that, well, there's already a plot summary on Wikipedia (OH NOES!)...

But somehow an image of the monster (save for that glimpse that's been slowed down and run in reverse and everything) has still not been leaked. I mean, some artists have come up with "re-creations" based on descriptions from people who saw it early, but nothing like what happened with the American Godzilla... hm... and chances are you never even really get a good look at it, but it was designed and created, so I figure there's maybe a sculpture or something... of course, there's been quite a bit of "Here's a picture of the monster!" but none of those seem right...

Re: I just want to see the monster already

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

With the Godzilla remake it was really defeated by it's own huge marketing machine. They had a campaign that was built around not showing Godzilla, like Cloverfield, but at the very same time toy stores all over the country were stocking Godzilla action figures and whatnot of the monster. Which...is incredibly stupid, to say the least.

/doesn't plan on seeing Cloverfield, but is waiting for caps of the monster to leak anyway.

[anolinde.livejournal.com]

I've kind of been unoffically lurking here for awhile, but I just wanted to point something out in response to the complaint that people don't read anymore (at least, on behalf of students, being one myself).

If teachers want us to read more, they really need to stop assigning so many boring reading assignments. What student is going to read a thirty-page packet about mitosis, or the transcendentalists, or whatever, and then say, "Gee, I want to go read a book now!" Let's face it, the teachers themselves are showing students that reading isn't fun by forcing them to read about topics they have no interest in.

ETA: And also, what student has time to read anymore with all the work they have to do? (I can't imagine it being much better in the real world, either...)

[/mini-rant]

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Uh, well, I could be a freak of nature bisexual female gamer English major you know what, that first was more accurate litgeek, but for me, fiction was always the antidote to all that required crap.

...of course, freak that I am, I also read genetics texts for fun. But I'll agree on the transcendentalists.

More Emergency Department tips:

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

If the department is having a slow night, but the nurses and doctors are STILL taking their sweet sweet time -- chatting, paperwork, etc. -- and meanwhile you're in sitting in the waiting room in horrible pain:

Vomiting is often a good way to get their attention and speed your way through triage.

Note 1: far less likely to work to your advantage if it's obvious you MADE yourself vomit.

Note 2: even less likely to work to your advantage if the vomiting is alcohol-related.

Note 3: try not to vomit ON anyone: you're trying to play the victim, not the assoholic.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I'm totally going to go see Colbert's picture. Hee.

[glass-radical.livejournal.com]

Shine on, you crazy diamond!

ROFFLE.

[auraesque.livejournal.com]

oooh, Land of the Lost? I watched the Nickelodeon remake as a kid. it was one of my favorites. I remember there were dinosaurs that wore armor, and a little triceratops girl. I am intrigued, lol.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the American McGee's Alice is still on. I really like the art for that. (Mind you, I think Dakota Fanning would be a better choice than Sarah Michelle Gellar for Alice. Dakota already looks scary enough.)

[sockdrawerdemon.livejournal.com]

I went and saw Cloverfeild when it opened here in Australia yesterday. It's very good, and the theatre wasn't crowded at all. But there was very little publicity, so hopefully word of mouth will get around and more people will see it.
Though I wish I had taken some panadol beforehand, the handheld camera work gave me a wicked headache!

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

Can I just tell you- I spent an hour or something squeeing over the pictures of Coco and Chuck... Man I adore Dooce!

[thunderphoenix.livejournal.com]

I am monstrously angry that I can't see Cloverfield yet. I loves me some Kaiju, and I have no idea when it's going to be coming out here in Japan.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I would see Cloverfield except I get really really nauseous from jittery camera motion. I adore "Once" but it made me so sick! :-)