Hey, Batman crazies, couldja find it in your fanboy hearts to stop loving this movie so much. At least not to the point in which you threaten the lives of film critics who review it negatively?
Critics who refused to swallow the red pill have been treated as enemy combatants. About.com's Jürgen Fauth and The House Next Door's Keith Uhlich … are two such critics. Neither of their reviews was intended to provoke, nor were they playing the contrarian — they simply didn't like the film. As of this writing there are 938 comments in response to these reviews. (Both at their sites as well as their links on Rotten Tomatoes.) Some go no deeper than Fag!; some are actually amusing - Keep your head in Little Women and Suffrage texts you pansy, but others are downright ugly. On Rotten Tomatoes, someone felt it would be beneficial to post as many personal details about Jürgen that they could find, while another likened his crime to Joan of Arc's:
This guy is a terd [sic], let him rot. Lets [sic] burn him at the stake!
The comments left for Keith are even more vile, particularly this one, which the author later claimed was written while channeling his inner Joker. Yikes. (All [sic]):
You know, some people have been so enraged by your little opinion piece that they want you to kill yourself. Please DON'T!!! You know why, because I am going to have so much fun killing you myself! I promise, it WON'T be painless. I am going to carve a smile in your face. And then I am going to carve you stomach. And you know why? Because i just want my phone call. You're my bitch now! I am going to track you down through your IP address and then I am going to f@#%!%* kill you!!!
Here's something weird: I wrote a pretty wiseass post about Corey Haim back in February, and since then strange people won't stop commenting on it. Even weirder is that some of them write as if their message will get to Haim himself. What up with that?
Though it's been out for less than a week, WALL-E, the robot flick that's apparently taking America by electrical storm (Saudi Arabia's never heard of it), has already jumped ahead of Schindler's List and Citizen Kane on the Internet Movie Database's list of the top 250 films of all time. That people are relating more to the plight of a cartoon machine than that of millions and millions of human beings destroyed by war certainly speaks to something, but we're not about to broach that thing here. Now, everyone bow down to your new robot masters!
It seems the hardest prisons to flee are still those we create in our own minds.
Despite their devotion to a film that stressed over and over again that freedom is precious and, if squandered, can sometimes be impossible to regain, Shawshank Redemption superfans are putting together a weekend of Shawshank-related events so that people from around the world can get together and better worship an old movie.
Were you in The Shawshank Redemption? Did you work on set? Were you otherwise involved in the production? If so, you're invited to a 15-year reunion this August in Ohio. Someone having something to do with the 1994 Oscar-nominated film has put together a weekend-long event and a really snazzy website providing details. Oh, and if you're merely a fan of the movie but had nothing at all to do with its making, you can attend as well.
The silver lining: "Apparently there aren't many people on board just yet …"
Yesterday was Jason Castro Day in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. One of the former American Idol contestant's fans gave an eyewitness account of the day's shenanigans, including this lovely sentence that sums up Jason's entire life from here on out: "There were literally THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of screaming, hysterical fans. It was insanity. I saw a girl burst into tears because she brushed his arm. … Jason looked mortified."
The best story from the day came at the end, when the Dread Heads were at their bravest: "[Jason] opens the [SUV] window to wave goodbye, at which point a woman tries to shove her puppy into his car (I dont know if she wanted him to have it?) which she has dressed in dreadlocks and a cap. Jason closes his window."
I can't believe some lady was crazy enough to put dreadlocks on her poor innocent puppy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go remove the Rastafarian hat from my cat's head.
We don't watch Lost because, in our experience, the people who do end up thinking and talking about it far too often, but, if we did, apparently we would have been shocked by the body in "the coffin" on last night's episode. After the jump, a picture of the corpse for any Tivo-er who can't resist a spoiler.
CONTINUED »
Let me preface this by saying that I love Gavin DeGraw with all my heart. He is my all-time favorite artist in the world, and he is one of the few people (see also: Lance Bass) for whom I would torture myself in this inhumane manner.
I got an e-mail a few nights ago alerting me to the fact that Gavin would be taping a TRL appearance Monday at 10 a.m. (Don't even get me started on the fact that TRL is no longer "live.") Naturally, I signed up right away and spent the days leading up to the show mentally preparing for the screaming teenagers I would encounter. Unfortunately, no amount of preparation could ready me for the hell that was outside the MTV studios. CONTINUED »
Right now, Mollygood associate editor Whitney is waiting in line to attend a taping of MTV's desiccated flagship TRL, where she will profess her love to musician Gavin DeGraw. Predictably, the poor girl's losing it out there amid the droves of hormonal sycophants that go to those things. Via BlackBerry, Whit notes, "I should have brought a gun."
Some real Texas sass after the jump.
CONTINUED »
CAUSE FOR INSANITY "Fans of CBS' 'Moonlight' are so passionate about the vampire drama that they're willing to sacrifice their own blood to keep the series on the air. Teaming with the Red Cross and online protest rally point YouChoose.net, "Moonlight" viewers are organizing a nationwide blood drive to garner network support for a second season. They claim that more than 3,000 fans have pledged to donate a pint."
• This is the cover of the decade. [YouTube]
• Let the backbiting commence. [DListed]
• She won! Holly Madison won! [EBG]
• LA makes everyone a little depressed, not just these two. [PS]
• Katherine Heigl was voted the world's most desirable woman by a bunch of men who obviously lack vision. [HT]
• Here is Teri Hatcher laughing at a friend on crutches. Enjoy. [INO]
• Justin Chambers from Grey's Anatomy checked himself into the same psych ward holding Britney Spears. Group just got more interesting! [ICYDK]
• Breaking: Celebrities have obsessed fans. [CityRag]
Though filming for Sex and the City: The Movie wrapped its New York shoot only a week ago, a trailer for the film has already been pieced together. It's very pink and uninformative.
The e-mail signaling this clip's arrival into the zeitgeist shouted, "First Sex and the City trailer!!" and "I can't wait for this movie!!" and "Hey!" Believe it or not, the commenters are even more breathless (and goosebumpy):
• "i've totally got goosebumps… i can't wait!!"
• "i got so much goosebumps. i cant wait!!"
• "I got goosebumps too!!"
• "omg…seriously…i just creamed myself a little bit…that was like a 47-second sex and the city orgasm! :)"
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