This is going to be quick because I a parade to get ready for. Last Week was the Mooreland Parade. This morning is the Hagerstown Parade. I will be the Dale's Pizza area.
Hey Adventureland Friends:
I want to dedicate this to the late but great funny man Bernie Mac. It was immediately after sending the newsletter last week that I learned of his passing.
It has been another very bad week here. My dryer has been out for 2 weeks. This week Koda Bear took out my microwave and my refridgerator died. What's next?
Anyway, sorry for the delay and please bare with me!
http://www.adventurelandvideo.com
Bravenet has recently unveiled new web building tools. So I am eager to get started a web site for 2009. For this reason, you may see random web site changes.
http://groups.google.com/group/adventureland-friends
This is our free members only community hosted by Google. So far only two of you have joined. I hope to welcome more of you aboard.
Our Shining Star is Wil Friedle of 'Boy Meets World' fame. There he played the goofy big brother. Now he can heard on Kim Possible as the voice of Ron.
The Snack Bar is a strange recipe that I had to share. This popcorn treat gets its flavor from Jello. Think about the various Jello mixes available.
I ran into a cool bookmark for you this week. Movie Recipes is not what you would think. It is actually a unique approach to movie reviews.
Blog Bytes has slowly cranked back to life. First, we take a look at sex on TV. Then we here from new dad Matthew on a lesser-known tradition.
Add yourself to our Birthday Alarm today. Then you could find your name here with various celebrities. Provide only the info you feel comfortable sharing.
http://www.clickaudit.com/goto/?36409
I just won a Fandango movie ticket. Before this I had a $5 gift certificate. My sponsor won both as well. I hope you sign-up today and win - because I will too.
http://www.blingo.com/friends?ref=LJt9EIXsXBaBuP-fW5DaMrkkYSk
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Share your opinion and participate in our offers to receive a FREE $500 Gift Card!
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FIND SHOWTIMES @ ADVENTURELAND
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'POT HEADS' TAKE ON 'BATMAN' AND LOSE
Batman was higher than Hollywood's newest pot heads.
"The Dark Knight" took in $26 million to finish as #1 movie for the fourth straight weekend, beating the
"Pineapple Express," which opened in second place with $22.4 million, according to studio estimates.
The weekend haul lifted Warner Bros. Batman sequel to #3 on the all-time domestic box-office charts with $441.5 million, behind "Titanic" ($600.8 million) and the original "Star Wars" ($461 million).
The last movie to remain #1 for four consecutive weekends was "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" in late 2003 and 2004, according to Media By Numbers. That movie did it during a much slower time of year, with nowhere near the competition "The Dark Knight" has faced during Hollywood's busy summer.
"It's almost unheard of. Summer doesn't usually afford films that much of a wide-open playing field," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.
"The Dark Knight" should surpass "Star Wars" to become #2 on the revenue chart by this coming weekend.
However, numbers reflect today's higher admission prices, and "Dark Knight" will not approach "Star Wars" or "Titanic" in actual tickets sold. "Dark Knight" would need to pull in $900 million to match number of tickets sold for "Titanic" and $1.2 billion to equal "Star Wars."
Even so, "Dark Knight" has far outdone the studio's expectations. Dan Fellman, head of distribution, said he would have been happy if the movie exceeded the $205 million domestic total of "Batman Begins."
It should top out at $510 million to $520 million, Fellman said.
"It has taken on a life of its own, and in doing so got so much positive press and word of mouth that older audiences who normally don't rush out to see movies or maybe only see two, three movies a year are coming out in large numbers," Fellman said. "It's a question of 'We've been reading about this for three, four weeks now. Let's go see what it's all about.'"
Since opening Wednesday, Sony's "Pineapple Express" had taken in $40.5 million. Stars Seth Rogen as a pot smoker on the run from crooks after he witnesses a murder, with his lovably clueless dealer (James Franco) in tow.
While "Pineapple Express" was unable to dislodge "The Dark Knight," Sony executives were happy with a strong #2 finish given the juggernaut the Batman flick has become.
"Quite frankly, it's nice to know that everything else is still kind of doing some business," said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution. "We're so very satisfied to be at $40 million-plus after five days. You couldn't ask for more."
The weekend's other wide release, the Warner Bros. sequel "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," opened at No. 4 with $10.8 million, raising its total to $19.7 million since debuting Wednesday.
The movie reunites gal pals America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively as the foursome whose friendship is reinforced by the worn pair of pants they share.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
01) "The Dark Knight" @ $26 million.
02) "Pineapple Express," $22.4 million.
03) "Mummy: Tomb of Dragon Emperor" @ $16.1 million.
04) "Sisterhood of Travel Pants 2" @ $10.8 million.
05) "Step Brothers" @ $8.9 million.
06) "Mamma Mia!" @ $8.1 million.
07) "Journey to Center of Earth" @ $4.9 million.
0
"Hancock" @ $3.3 million.
09) "Swing Vote" @ $3.1 million.
10) "WALL-E" @ $3 million.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
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To be released on video December 2008.
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Starring: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Danny R. McBride, Amber Heard, James Remar, Bill Hader, Rosie Perez Director: David Gordon Green
Stoner Dale Denton visits his dealer Saul Silver to purchase a rare weed called Pineapple Express. When Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked
cop and the city's dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach at the scene. Dale visits Saul to find
out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him. And it is. As Dale & Saul run for their lives,
they discover that they're not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia; the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to kill them both.
Rated R for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and violence.
"... it's a druggie comedy that made me laugh." - Chicago Sun-Times,
Roger Ebert
"It’s a marijuana comedy that keeps shuffling genres, like a stoned blackjack dealer." - Chicago Tribune,
Michael Phillips
http://www.ridetheexpress.com/
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Opening August 20, 2008
THE ROCKER
Rainn Wilson stars as a failed former '80s hair band drummer who unexpectedly gets a second chance at rock n' roll glory.
Rated PG-13 for drug and sexual references, nudity and language.
http://www.rockermovie.com/
Opening August 22, 2008
DEATH RACE
In the near future, prison inmates compete for their freedom in a brutal, ultraviolent auto race using heavily armed monster cars.
Rated R for strong violence and language.
http://www.deathracemovie.net/
Opening August 27, 2008
TRAITOR
Don Cheadle is a former U.S. Special Ops officer who becomes the lead suspect in a dangerous international conspiracy.
Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language.
http://www.traitor-themovie.com/
Opening August 29, 2008
YEAR OF THE FISH
A rotoscope-animated modern-day Cinderella fairy tale set in a seedy massage parlor in New York City's Chinatown.
Not Rated
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809805886/
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WILLIAM ALAN FRIEDLE
DOB: August 11, 1976 - Hartford, Connecticut
He is best known as the hilarious older brother, Eric Matthews, on the long-running "Boy Meets World" (1993-2000). Friedle began his acting career at the age of five, in a production of Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House." He soon landed commercials for Nintendo and Skittles, and made a guest appearance on the drama, "Law and Order." Starring on "Boy Meets World" opened up a lot of other opportunities for Friedle in Hollywood, and his list of credits includes the TV movies "The Gift of Love" (1994), "Rescue Me" (1997), "Trojan War" (1997), "My Date With the President’s Daughter" (199 and "H-E-Double Hockey Sticks!" in 1999.
NOTABLES:
Best friend is Jason Marsden and was best man at Marsden's October 2004 wedding.
Favorite city is Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
One of his passions is traveling.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0295115/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Friedle
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800290899
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JELLO POPCORN
Ingredients:
12 Cups popped popcorn.
14 Ounce can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 Small package sugar free raspbery flavored jello (powder)
Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300. Line large shallow roasting pan with heavy foil, extending foil over edges of pan.
butter foil, remove all unpopped kernals from popped popcorn.
Pour popcorn into prepared pan. Keep warm in oven.
In med. sized saucepan, combine condensed milk, and dry gelatin, heat and stir over medium heat until mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly, 4-5 minutes.
Pour milk mixture over popcorn; with long handled wooden spoon stir gently to coat.
Bake 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. carefully turn out unto large piece of lightly buttered foil.
cool
break into pieces or clusters. store loosely covered at room temperature.
Copyright © 2002
http://www.whirleypop.com
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!!! PAKADEVA'S FREEBEES !!!
This is the place ! Find real freebies, Interesting
finds, & contests ! Subscribe to enter & receive a
FREE phone card ! Check our Crafts, Natural Beauty &
Recipes pages. ( International )
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Free stuff with free shipping. If it's not clearly
free, it's not on Free N Clear! Freebies and samples
with no postage sent to you! We do the legwork, so you
don't have to.
http://www.freenclearstuff.com
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MOVIE RECIPES
We ive you an idea about a movie by giving you the “recipe” for that movie using other films as the ingredients. Just the meat and potatoes. We figured you people don’t need or want another rehashing of the plot, performances, cinematography, or the score, so we eliminated that crap. You decide for yourself if you wanna see it. Sure, we give you a little part of what we think about the movies. If you don’t agree with our recipes, post your own in the comments. So enjoy our recipes and hope you find movies to taste.
Your chefs,
Garrison L. & Jason J.
http://www.movie-recipes.com/
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STUDY: TV LIKES SEX, BUT NOT MARRIAGE
Marriage gets little respect on TV shows that revel in extramarital and kinky sex. The study by Parents Television Council includes a condemnation of TV,
"seems to be actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently painting it in a negative light." As for references to pornography, sex toys and "kinky" behavior, those are now common, the report said. ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC declined comment. Study analyzed 4 weeks of shows at start of the 2007-2008 season.
http://www.parentstv.org
http://www.commonsensemedia.org
http://www.TelevisionWatch.org
MATTHEW 2 PLANT SON'S PLACENTA
McConaughey says the birth of his son will bring joy to others someday. Matthew kept the placenta from the birth of his son and plans to plant it in an orchard. It will fertilize the land, a ritual long followed in several cultures. "It's going to be in the orchards and it's going to bear wonderful fruit," he says. He and girlfriend Camila Alves enjoy integrating Levi into their lives. He attended his first concert.
"You're never told in our house, 'Shh, Levi is sleeping.' No. Get used to the ambiance. Come with us. That's how I was raised," he says.
8-year-old guitar wiz has reason to play the blues
Aug 12, 10:51 AM (ET)
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) - When Tallan "T-Man" Latz was 5, he saw Joe Satriani playing guitar on TV. "I turned around to my dad and said, 'That's exactly what I want to do.'"
Three years and countless hours of practicing later, 8-year-old Tallan is a blues guitar prodigy. He's played in bars and clubs, including the House of Blues in Chicago, and even jammed with Les Paul and Jackson Browne. He has a summer of festivals scheduled and has drawn interest from venues worldwide.
And what, you might ask, would a kid not even in the third grade have the blues about? The state of Wisconsin for one, and some possibly jealous older musicians for another.
An anonymous e-mail sent to state officials complained that Tallan was too young to perform in taverns and nightclubs because of state child labor laws. His booking agent even got an anonymous letter threatening her with death if she keeps booking him.
When Tallan's father read him the state's letter saying he couldn't play clubs anymore (he can still play festivals), the boy's response - like his music - seemed beyond his years.
"He goes, 'It's not how many times you get knocked down but it's how many times you get back up and go forward,' Carl Latz said his son told him. "And I told him that's exactly what this is all about and if nothing else this letter just taught you a life lesson."
The lesson can be stiff: Each day he performs, the employer can be fined $25 to $1,000 and the parent from $10 to $250.
Jennifer Ortiz of the state Equal Rights Division said her agency has a responsibility to enforce the law once it becomes aware of a violation.
"Well, the law prohibits it, and the Legislature enacted the laws to protect the health, safety and welfare of all children."
Latz, who also is Tallan's manager, has asked a legislator for help changing the law but it's unclear whether any action will be taken.
Latz received the letter a few days before Tallan was to perform at Lil Downtown Lounge in suburban Milwaukee, where club co-owner Michelle Boche said the boy always packed the place when he sat in with other musicians.
Latz claims that two weeks before getting the letter he overheard local blues guitarist Jammin' Jimmy, whose real name is James Kemeny, say Tallan shouldn't be in a bar and he was going to turn him in.
Kemeny, who's been playing for 44 years, denied badmouthing Tallan.
"It seems totally unbelievable that somebody would even go to that extreme to send a letter to somebody, let alone looking to find something about child labor laws," Kemeny said.
Boche said she has received backlash from musicians and area bar owners because she supports Tallan. Some have tried to take patrons away, she said. Some even called in fake incidents to police, causing them to look for guns or underage drinkers, she said.
"If my doors close and I never open again and this boy becomes successful, then I will be the happiest person in the world," she said.
Tallan's agent, Sharon Pomaville, said she received a threatening letter June 2 warning her to stop booking the boy. She thinks he's a local musician and believes he's harmless. Deputies came to her house, but she didn't want to pursue the case.
Greg Koch, 42, an internationally known guitarist and clinician for Fender Musical Instruments, called the backlash despicable.
He said most 8-year-olds don't have the strength or attention span to pursue guitar or can't endure the calluses.
"It's strange that a kid at this age would glean onto this particular kind of music and show the intensity and kind of the ability to function as kind of 8-year-old blues guy," he said.
Brad Tolinski, editor-in-chief of Guitar World magazine, said kid guitar prodigies are rare, with one emerging perhaps every four or five years.
"It would be unusual to find an 8-year-old who can play Joe Satriani licks," he said.
Carl Latz said there's no explanation for Tallan's blues connection other than he seems to have an old soul.
"I've had more people tell me, they say 'It's a kid's body but it has a 70-year-old dude inside,'" Carl Latz said.
Tallan, whose heroes are Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, has 13 guitars and endorsements from at least nine companies to use their equipment. He can read music but plays mostly from memory.
He has two bands - one with veterans called T-Man's Blues Project and another with 16-and-younger bandmates called Tallan "The T-Man" Latz and the Young Guns. He also sings and plays drums, harmonica, bass and piano.
Tallan said he likes to play guitar to "put smiles on people's faces" when they are having a bad day.
"It sounds awesome," he said. "I think it's so much you can do on the guitar."
He knows 30 to 40 songs and someday hopes to write his own. It was his idea to start playing in public.
"He drags me around," his dad said. "I don't drag him around."
Tallan said the problems he's faced have doing nothing to dampen his ambition to be a blues rock star when he grows up. Just the opposite, in fact.
"Because I got more inspiration, I got more sadness in me," Tallan said. "I'm just feelin' it."
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http://www.tallanlatz.com/
Blobtown: Movie memories revitalize a community
Aug 12, 3:42 PM (ET)
By TED ANTHONY
PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (AP) - There is a man. He carries a can, and inside it is a weird, blood-red hunk of goo the size and consistency of a generous bowl of lumpy raspberry Jell-O.
Each summer, man and can climb into the car and drive to a small town on the edge of the Philadelphia suburbs, not far from where Washington spent that bitter, long-ago winter in Valley Forge.
The town, Phoenixville, is a place of history, too. Fifty years ago, this place was touched by the spotlight. A small production company two towns over made a film that no one expected to go anywhere. Instead, it became one of the iconic sci-fi horror flicks of the 1950s and introduced the world to an actor named Steve McQueen.
In the movie, this happens: A mysterious hunk of extraterrestrial gelatin kills a physician in his home, menaces teenagers in a grocery store, surges toward a crowd of people in a darkened theater and engulfs a diner.
In real life, this happens: Each summer, hundreds of locals and folks from as far away as Oregon and Jamaica come to the center of Phoenixville. They visit the house where the doctor "died," stop by the strip mall where the market once stood, eat at the diner on the site where the alien met its frozen end. And, on Phoenixville's main drag, on a warm summer evening, more than 400 of them run screaming from the same theater, the Colonial, in a joyous re-enactment of the movie's big scene.
The man and the can play starring roles in The Big Weekend and its ocean of science-fiction fans and weekend excursioneers. The man is Wes Shank, collector of movie memorabilia. The can contains his showpiece, the thing that gave rise to all the commotion in the first place.
It is a miniature film prop, nothing more, a chunk of silicone manufactured by Union Carbide in West Virginia. But it is also the centerpiece of a story of tourism and entertainment that, a half-century and six manned moon landings later, refuses to go away.
All around the hunk of goo, something odd unfolds: Because a movie was made long ago, because a town's gotta do what a town's gotta do, a festival has risen. A downtown has come back. A past has been leveraged - a fictional past, but a past nevertheless.
Once, in 1958, "The Blob" came from beyond the stars and brought death to Phoenixville. Today, just as unexpectedly, it is bringing life.
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"When you see something that was on film, it takes you into the movie. It's almost like you are a character," says Dave Perillo, an artist from Swarthmore, Pa. He has come to hawk his sci-fi caricatures at "Blobfest," Phoenixville's name for its annual street-fair excursion into the blobosphere.
"These places," Perillo says, "are our new historic sites for the ADD generation."
Entertainment can be an unpredictable beast. What appears up on the big screen - some of it, at least - was created in real places. And sometimes, because of the fiction, those real places begin to change.
In Scotland, an ancient castle has become a pilgrimage site because part of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was filmed there. In Dyersville, Iowa, the baseball diamond carved from cornfields for "Field of Dreams" draws fans who consider it a real ballpark. Mount Airy, N.C., has taken pains to make itself feel like Mayberry, the quintessential small town from "The Andy Griffith Show." And the bar exterior from "Cheers," once called the Bull and Finch, has renamed itself; these days, it's "Cheers Beacon Hill."
We live in a land of big stories, in an age where entertainment trumps most everything. So events like Blobfest become natural leisure options at a time when towns need to stand out, to become on-site theme parks and draw tourist dollars.
And here in the cradle of American independence, where real-life history is everywhere, why shouldn't fictional history become something tangible?
"History, the Liberty Bell, the significance of it gets lost of me," says Ellen Plummer of Portland, Maine. "This," she says, "is more real."
She is walking up Bridge Street in Phoenixville with her boyfriend, Rick Naratil, a native who moved away years ago. He remembers, at 5, seeing "The Blob" on TV and thinking, hey - that's the theater where I watch Disney movies.
While the diner and other filming locations draw gawkers during Blobfest, the Colonial Theater is the epicenter of all things blob. Inside, sci-fi flicks play to enthusiastic audiences, and people at the edges of fame like Kris Yeaworth, son of "Blob" director Shorty Yeaworth, discuss the intricacies of filming the movie originally titled "The Molten Meteor."
Outside, the blobbery takes on as many forms as creativity and entrepreneurial savvy allow.
There is the wooden blob cutout that allows you to poke your head through a hole and pretend you're being swallowed by its unearthly maw. There are the actual fire truck and the 1950 Ford coupe that McQueen drove in the movie. Outside the pizza parlor opposite the theater, the proprietors have created their own creamy, oozy pink mass, confined to a garbage bin for the moment.
And there is the parade, led by a fire-extinguisher-wielding grand marshal dressed as McQueen, whose James Dean-like teenage leading man figured out that its frozen contents were lethal to the creature. The lookalike leads an unholy Conga line around the theater marquee while discharging bursts of carbon dioxide skyward.
Only in America, you might say. But there's more here than meets the eye.
"Visitors bring their own imagination with them," says Sue Beeton, author of a critical study called "Film-Induced Tourism." She admits: She's been moved to tears by sites she's visited that figure in her favorite stories.
"Often, simply being in a place is sufficient 'touchstone' for their experience," Beeton writes in an e-mail from Australia, where she teaches.
"People often respond extremely personally and passionately to film," she says. "For many, their journeys verge on a pilgrimage."
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Phoenixville, once home to an enormous steel mill, seems an unlikely place for a modern entertainment pilgrimage, but hundreds of "Blob" fans can't be wrong.
The town may have been idyllic in the movie, but a decade ago Phoenixville's main drag was dragging. The mill had closed, putting 2,000 people out of work. Storefronts were shuttered. There were problems with drug dealers and prostitutes. The Colonial was operating, but barely. "Those were really rough times," says Mayor Leo Scoda.
Then Mary Foote came along.
Foote, a community organizer, noticed that the Colonial was for sale. Its previous owners hadn't done much with it, which wasn't a bad thing: The theater hadn't been split into cramped "twins" like so many of its small-town counterparts.
Foote led a nonprofit consortium called the Association for the Colonial Theater, which bought the property and began restoring it. The focus was drawing entertainment to Phoenixville; the blob didn't figure in until later.
"A gem like this can transform a community," says Foote, sitting in her office on the theater's second floor. In the background, the movie's jaunty theme song, "Beware of the Blob," plays in a continuous loop. But, Foote allows, "There's gotta be a lot of stuff - not just a blob."
Slowly, around the theater, downtown began to come back. New restaurants like Molly Maguire's opened (it donates to the theater $1 of each $8.95 "Colonial BLT" it sells), as did a gourmet cafe and places like Phoenix Karate, which teaches martial arts to kids.
When McQueen walked these streets in front of Shorty Yeaworth's camera, he moved through a Phoenixville that was the picture-perfect 1950s movie small town. It felt much farther from a big city than it really is. Today, as Phoenixville resurges, it is taking on that feeling again - a 2008 twist on Eisenhower-era America, surprisingly, and ironically, authentic.
Modeling one's self after film can be thorny; real history can get lost. But it's hard to find a downside in Phoenixville. The chain of custody is pretty basic. Theater came back. Community leveraged blob. Business resurged. Downtown got safer. Everybody's happy.
Even now, almost a decade into Blobfest, a bemusement remains about the enthusiasm generated by the alien-visitation tale filmed the summer before Sputnik was launched.
"I take the ride. But do I get it? No," Foote acknowledges. "The volunteers who work all year, half of them don't get it. They say, 'Why do they come?'"
Karin Williams, who does PR for the Phoenixville Chamber of Commerce, echoes many along Bridge Street when she assesses the whole affair: A community identifiable by something purely pop-cultural isn't a bad thing amid the static of the 21st century.
"It puts our little town out there," she says. "It's something that Phoenixville can own."
---
If you're one of the lucky few, the man will let you reach into the can and actually touch the blob. It's sticky. It smells like flypaper. It oozes. Pull your fingers away - SQUIRSH - and a perfect set of prints are left behind.
Some wonder if the blob was intended as an allegory. Think about it: It's the 1950s, and an enormous red mass is overrunning and suffocating the idyll of Main Street America.
Yeaworth's son and others scoff. But there's another take from a new DVD edition of "The Blob": Film historian Bruce Kawin suggests the creature is a "hungry mass - comparable to if not incarnating the growing consumerism of 1950s America." For moviegoers in 1958, he says, "their complacent desire to stuff themselves with goods and good times had shown itself to be a monster."
We are consumers above all, and now more than ever we buy good times. Viewed through this prism, is Phoenixville's Blobtown persona that far removed from, say, Universal Studios Hollywood? One, built for fantasy, became a tourist attraction; one, built for the real world, was used once for fantasy and became a tourist attraction.
Blobfest is the real and the movie, America and Hollywood, all at once. And that fits the modern American identity.
Our ancestors stamped monuments to themselves onto the physical landscape - the Lincoln Memorial, the Empire State Building, the Grand Coulee Dam, the Interstate Highway System. These days, some of our most cherished monuments are less solid - the stories we bring to life in movies, TV shows, videogames.
So we flock to Walt Disney World as eagerly as to Washington, D.C., to Universal Studios Hollywood as ravenously as to the Grand Canyon. We buy flex passes to places that re-create the experience of big-screen storytelling before our eyes. And some of us even traverse the landscape looking for movie sites so we can submerge themselves in the cool waters of entertainment.
Dave Perillo, the artist, has scoured the land for his favorite film locales. He's walked the streets of San Francisco to find Hitchcock's "Vertigo," seen the L.A. bowling alley from "The Big Lebowski," tracked down the corners of coastal New Jersey that Kevin Smith used in "Clerks." At each, he revels in the sheer movieness of it all - as do enough Americans to create a market for gazetteers of fantasy like "The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations."
And in the era of the war on terror, for one moment on one evening in Phoenixville, the fear of attack by outsiders becomes just another thrill. Modern entertainment pilgrims get to run out of a theater and into the night, screaming as though their lives depended on it and having fun all the while.
Going to the movies is no longer enough; we must climb in and consume them, wherever that journey leads. Even to Phoenixville. And so many years later, in the very town it tried to consume, the blob has met its match: a roving band of 21st-century American consumers, weaned on entertainment, who are hungrier than it ever was.
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THE BANK JOB
Starring: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Daniel Mays, Stephen Campbell Moore, James Faulkner, Alki David, Michael Jibson Director: Roger Donaldson
Terry always avoided major-league scams. But when Martine offers him a lead on a bank hit, Terry recognizes the opportunity. Martine targets safe deposit boxes. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes contain dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and scandal that spans London's criminal underworld, British government, and the Royal Family itself.
Rated R for sexual content, nudity, violence and language.
"A no-frills movie about a real-life heist that delivers old-fashioned thrills." - Entertainment Weekly,
Owen Gleiberman
"A masterful narrative full of odd twists and dark humor." - Los Angeles Times,
Kevin Crust
http://www.thebankjobmovie.com/
PENELOPE
Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, Catherine O'Hara, Richard E. Grant, Simon Woods Director: Mark Palansky
Christina Ricci stars as Penelope, a lonely heiress who has spent her entire life trying to break a strange family curse that left her with the nose of a pig. When she meets a charming aristocrat who seems to see beyond her appearance, Penelope begins to learn that loving herself is more important than breaking the curse.
Rated PG for thematic elements, some innuendo and language.
"Ricci makes us feel the sting of an overly critical society..." - Chicago Tribune,
Matt Pais
"This fairy tale feels pleasantly down-to-earth." -
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Sean Axmaker
http://www.penelopethemovie.com/
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To be released on video August 19, 2008.
THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES
Starring: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, James Urbaniak, Molly Price, Brett Cullen, Maggie Lacey Director: Vadim Perelman
Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Kasischke, Life Before Her Eyes is a dramatic thriller about Diana, a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her perfect life -- and her sanity -- on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend.
Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and brief drug use.
"...the story wanders agitatedly..." - Entertainment Weekly,
Lisa Schwarzbaum
"...not a complete bomb." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Bill White
http://www.lifebeforehereyes.com/
To be released on video October 7, 2008.
THE HAPPENING
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley, Spencer Breslin, Ashlyn Sanchez Director: M. Night Shyamalan
From director M. Night Shyamalan comes a lightning-paced, heart-pounding paranoid thriller about a family on the run from an inexplicable and unstoppable event that threatens not only humankind... but the most basic human instinct of them all: survival.
Rated R for violent and disturbing images.
"It's official: M. Night Shyamalan is no longer the next Spielberg." - filmcritic.com,
Bill Gibron
"Shyamalan isn't drawing the caliber of performances from his actors as he used to." - USA Today,
Claudia Puig
http://www.thehappeningmovie.com/
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FOOTBALL MOVIES:
RUDY (1993)
Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to beat the odds and play for Notre Dame.
AIR BUD: GOLDEN RECEIVER (199
Now in the 8th Grade, Josh discovers he has a great throwing arm and tries out for the football team. Soon after his athletic dog Buddy joins the team.
ANGELS IN THE ENDZONE (1997)
The football team Jesse is on is terrible, after the death of his dad Jesse quits the team. Then angels come to help them but Jesse's brother can see them.
LITTLE GIANTS (1994)
Football star Kevin now coaches pee-wee football. When Kevin excludes his niece, Becky, she convinces her dad Danny to coach a team, and beat Kevin's team.
VARSITY BLUES (1999)
In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion. The head coach is deified as long as the team is winning.
THE WATER BOY (199
The coach discovers the lowly water boy for his college football team has an amazing talent for tackling people much bigger than him.
BASKETBALL MOVIES:
HOOSIERS (1986)
A college basketball coach leaves the Navy in 1951 and becomes coach of an underdog Indiana high-school team.
COACH CARTER (2005)
True story of a high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team because of poor grades.
LUCK OF THE IRISH (2002)
A teenager must battle for a gold charm to keep his family from being controlled by an evil leprechaun.
A SEASON ON THE BRINK (2002)
Chronicles Hoosier's 1985-86 season, when Bob Knight granted author John Feinstein access to the team.
BLUE CHIPS (1994)
A college coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive.
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<> <> STEALS & DEALS <> <>
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I am proud to bring you 2 new affiliate offers. They have not been added to the web site. So they can only be found here for now. Hope you like them. - Paul
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http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=108293&U=8392&M=15692
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OFFICIAL ELVIS & PRISCILLA BARBIES:
The marriage didn't last, but that day is special still. Now, Elvis fans have the official, Graceland-approved Elvis & Priscilla wedding dolls. Angel Durham waited all night to be the first to hand over $65 for a boxed set of dolls. The official unveiling of the dolls were staged as part of Graceland's anniversary of Elvis' death. Brenda Moore offered the high bid of $6,800 when a set was auctioned for Presley Place, an apartment building for homeless families. Fans were treated to wedding cake and orange juice.
GANIS RE-ELECTED AS AMPAS PRESIDENT
Sid Ganis was elected to a fourth consecutive one-year term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 68-year-old Ganis, president since 2005, calls the job "a privilege." He produced films such as "Akeelah and the Bee," "Big Daddy" and
"Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo." He's also worked for Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm. Ganis has been a member of the film academy since 1968.
http://www.oscars.org
CRUISE PARTNER LEAVING UNITED ARTIST
Tom Cruise's producing partner Paula Wagner said she will leave as chief executive of United Artists to produce projects independently. Wagner will continue to co-own the studio with Cruise and "be attached to UA's most exciting film properties," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. added in a statement. Cruise and Wagner were brought in to head UA in November 2006. She said she still believes in the vision she and Cruise have for the film studio that was formed 90 years ago by Hollywood actors. "I am proud of all that we've accomplished in the past two years," she said.
DONALD TRUMP TO BE ED MCMAHON'S LANDLORD
Donald Trump will save Ed McMahan's Beverly Hills mansion from foreclosure by buying and leasing it to McMahon. The developer told Los Angeles Times he doesn't know McMahon, but acted out of compassion because helping out "would be an honor." McMahon was Johnny Carson's sidekick on the "Tonight" show for 3 decades. He defaulted on $4.8 million in loans with Countrywide. "When I was at the Wharton School of Business I'd watch him every night," Trump said. McMahon bought the 6 bed/5 bath home in 1990. The home was listed at $4.6 million.
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THE DERBY STALLION (2005)
An alcoholic former horse-trainer perceives in a fifteen-year-old boy a unique gift of horsemanship and makes it possible for the boy to conceive his dream and pursue it.
http://www.thederbystallion.com/
*****
This heartwarming tale of truth, love and courage is a must see for the entire family. Kids will want to see but parents may hesitate. Don't - because you will enjoy and this should be seen as a family.
A half-hearted baseball player (there to please his dad) forms an unlikely friendship with an old drunk (soothing his own pain). Together they break-free of their own prisons.
Bill Cobbs is horse training legend Houston Jones. As a teen, he had hidden his love for a white gal. So he knows the cross that Patrick bares for living a lie.
Patrick finds himself drawn to Jones and his horses. Seeing the boy has a horse sense, Jones buys him a horse and unleashes the champion inside.
As you may have guessed, this movie has a great deal to teach - both kids and adults. To quote Dr. Phil - find your "authentic self" and your "personal truth."
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<> <> TIME CAPSULE <> <>
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August 16, 1993 - Harvey Weinstein was rescued from a pit. He had been there 2 weeks while being held for ransom.
August 19, 1921 - Gene Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas. Roddenberry worked as an airline pilot. Later, he created Star Trek.
August 20, 1939 - Johnny Weissmuller married Beryl Scott.
August 21, 1984 - Clint Eastwood was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
August 23, 1926 - Rudolph Valentino died. He was 31 and had been a silent film star.
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!! TURN EVERY MOVIE INTO AN EVENT !!
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The house deal is back on track. I recruited some new players for added insight. Then my mom pulled out an ace -- an old friend secretly in the business.
After much consultation and this new insight, the last hurdle looks easy. We thought what loomed ahead would be a deal breaker. So I sister started fizzle out.
See you next week. Hopefully, I will have better idea of our plans. But I should be here through this month. And probably through atleast part of september.
Paul @ Reel 2 Reel
To comment on this issue, simply hit reply or find this issue on our blog and post your comment there. Or send me an email to advland@live.com.
I will add this much. We now have over 275 subscribers @ Zinester. Roughly 100 of you are still getting this newsletter from Topica. Some of us our getting copies from both.
- Paul 
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