Alamo Lake Creek: Mocha. I needed a little something while attending a screening of Citizen Kane with live music performed by PKW Productions.
Alamo Lake Creek: Mocha. I needed a little something while attending a screening of Citizen Kane with live music performed by PKW Productions.
Swinging by the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz last night for a double feature of We Feed The World and Exte: Hair Extensions, I noticed the Mondo Tees shop had this new little item for sale.
One major event down: FIRST NIGHT AT THE RITZ - Triple Feature! (01 Nov. 07)
- I finally got home sometime after 5am. I filmed the whole damn thing. I just need to trim it down a little.
And one to go: Fun Fun Fun Fest (03 & 04 Nov. 07)
- Would you believe I'm actually going into work this Saturday night.
Just a quick "hey how are ya". Yes I haven't been blogging around these parts for the past month. I've actually been rather busy having recently started my video podcast which is found at my other Vox blog TexasGeek.tv.
My busy schedule all started with the 3-day Austin City Limits Music Festival. Just four days later, I attended the 8-day Fantastic Fest movie festival. The next day, I went to the premiere screening of The Nines with Ryan Reynolds and director John August in attendance. Two days later, I was once again co-filming a local cable access show I work on in Austin, TX. The next day was the start (for me) of attending this season's Heroes TV Party at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Village). Somewhere along the way, there's been a lot additional movie and TV show viewing. There was also the wonderful The Pixar Story screening with director Leslie Iwerks in attendance.
On the podcasting side of things, I did a butt load of filming during all eight days of Fantastic Fest. I'm still not done editing and uploading videos. I filmed The Nines Q&A and already have it edited. I holding out before uploading it. Just this past Tuesday night, I went to a screening of local Austin, TX film Pathogen with young female director Emily Hagins attendance. I filmed the Q&A, but haven't worked on editing it, yet. This past Wednesday night I had the pleasure of attending a very special screening of the new Coen Brothers film No Country For Old Men. Josh Brolin was there and I filmed the Q&A. I really want to start editing the footage today. And this Sunday, I'll be co-filming another episode of the cable access show I mentioned earlier.
Next week, there are two very important events I'll be attending. One of them I've been waiting on all summer for and the other one I've been waiting on for the past year.
Ahh, good times.
This past Monday, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema hosted a screening of the new movie Transformers along with a live appearance of Robosaurus.
The daytime photos in my Robosaurus Flickr set were taken with my iPhone.
Where do I begin?
ITEM 1:
This past Sunday at Emo's, I had the pleasure of catching both Janeane Garolfalo and Patton Oswalt performing their stand up. It didn't take Janeane long to get political and we were eating it up. Fuck, it was hot in the sort of half-open/outdoor Emo's Lounge. So hot, midway through Janeane's set, a woman fainted right off the stool she was sitting on. Janeane kind freaked the hell out while looking off stage frantically asking "what should we do?!!!" Emo's staff quickly jump to action and carried the woman out. The audience was none shaken and everything was moving forward again. Janeane finishes and Patton takes the stage. Starting with opening KFC (sadness bowl) remarks, Patton was killing us. Good lord, it was almost too much. And he was only getting started. From Dangerous sex, comic books, Robert Evans, time travel, and the beloved Dr. Pepper (you have to see it to believe it), Patton owned the night. But it wasn't over, just yet.
ITEM 2:
This past Monday evening, the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown and Ain't It Cool News held a sneak preview of Ratatouille. This is the latest movie from the Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and the master minds at Pixar. Patton Oswalt is the voice of the lead rat character "Remy" and Janeane Garolfalo is the voice "Colette". Yes, that French voice is coming from Janeane who didn't even realize she was playing a French character until she started recording. Hang on, let's back up for a second.
First, there was a cool personal video message from director, Brad Bird. Next was pre-teaser trailer for Pixar's next movie called Wall-E. Next was the awesome Pixar short Lifted. This was the second time I got see it up on screen and it still killed me.
Back to Ratatouille. Go see this movie. Do you remember how incredible The Incredibles was? Rataouille is that incredible. This movie is well written, wonderfully voiced, visually gorgeous, and damn funny. Oh the water effects. I think this is probably the first CG movie where the creators said "damnit, we want real looking water for our animated movie". Theres too much to talk about. For now, enjoy the trailers and a 9-minute preivew.
ITEM 3:
This past Monday night, the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar held a screening of The First Foot Way. This was presented by Patton Oswalt. He is not in the movie nor does he have anything to do with it. Will Arnett gave Patton a copy of the movie and he's been a fan ever since then. It's a low budget indie film which currently does not have a distributor. There isn't a trailer online and no the one on YouTube ain't it. There is an official website for the movie with screen captures. Oh, this movie is painfully funny. If you're a fan of non-political correctness and wrongful humor, this is the movie for you.
The Foot Fist Way is the literal translation of Tae Kwon Do, the greatest of all martial arts according to Mr. Simmons, a small-town Tae Kwon Do instructor. He relishes the power that comes from being the king of a small kingdom, but the discovery that his wife, Suzie, has cheated on him hits the man in control hard. It launches him on a downward spiral, causing him to abuse his loyal students and make a fool of himself. He escapes his personal feelings by going on a pilgrimage with his murderous buddy Mike and two of his students to visit his hero, Chuck "The Truck" Wallace. Along the way, dreams are realized and squashed, and Mr. Simmons must face the greatest challenge of his life. Director Jody Hill stays loyal to the place and people he portrays. He looks at martial arts as they exist in the real world and, more pointedly, in the South. The film creates hilarity through real-life emotions and reactions rather than mockery. Danny McBride's performance as Mr. Simmons is staggeringly funny. He fleshes out the character in a way that propels it from cartoonish to comic genius. Small in scope but big in laughs, The Foot Fist Way deserves a black belt in comedy.
--© Sundance Film Festival
Hostel: Part II: Official Site | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes | Wikipedia
This past Sunday night, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Drafthouse managed, at last minute, to put together a sneak preview screening of Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II. This was a special event, indeed. Eli announced to the everyone, this was the third screening of the movie in America and we were the first American audience he was watching it with. This totally made up for Eli missing out on SXSW 2007. The pre-show began with Eli getting his pain on. It was a mad house, I tell you. Then we got the see (again for me) Eli's director's cut version of his Grindhouse trailer, Thanksgiving.
What can I say about Hostel: Part II without spoiling too much. It starts off a short time after the first movie. There are both old and new characters. The male nudity towards the beginning of the movie is made up for by a later scene involving a nude Heather Matarazzo. We get to see the process of how people are bid on by members of "club". Those damn kids are back. I very much liked the way the two male American characters balanced off each other. There were many great horror movie moments. Oh the cuts you'll get to see. What you'll see behind the closed doors are different from the first movie. There's a scene in the third act that will make Hardy Candy look like a Walt Disney film. That's enough, go see it.
It's hard for me to say if Part II is better than the first movie. It's more like, Eli managed to expand upon the first movie. He told us during the post Q&A, he really does not want to turn Hostel into a trilogy. He was naming off all the bad third movies any film geek could understand, from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome to the recent Spider-Man 3. Afterward, we moved out into the lobby where Eli was signing free posters for everyone. When there was a ony a handful of us left, Eli was still eager to talk. By the time I walked out the door, it was past 3AM and my day was full.
All in all, everyone had a great time.
The plight of global warming has been attracting Americans' attention more and more. Austin TX is one the few cities calling for change on how we live our lives. It started earlier this year at South by Southwest when the conference announced it was going carbon neutral. Next, here is a gallery of photos featured in a CNET news story this week, "Austin builds on green concepts". And coming up next month is a special event at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, Mayor WILL WYNN Live: Austin Climate Presentation.
Let's go America, get off your ass!
That is of course if some Americans could pull their head out of their asses.
This Monday night (May 21st) is quickly approaching and the Alamo Drafthouses have made a last minute decision to throw TV parties for the season finales for both 24 & Heroes.
With the Heroes season final being only one hour, I've decided to attend the two hour season final for 24.
As for the other major season final taking place next week, on Wednesday night (May 23rd), there is a TV party for the season final for LOST.
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The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has posted the June 2007 calendar for the final month at its original location, "Downtown" at 409 Colorado Street. They will be going out in style with a triple feature on the final night of Wednesday, June 27th. Both beer and tears are bound to flow.
Taking a quick look over the calendar, I've come up with my initial "must attend" list of events. I'm sure I'll be making some additions/changes. The Alamo will probably have some last minute schedule changes.
JUNE 2007