I’m excited! I just learned a new word. Not only is it new to me – it’s really, REALLY new. And no, I didn’t make it up. I read it on CNN so it must be out there. I looked up the definition in wikipedia so it’s been around at least long enough for someone to put an article in there about it.
It’s ‘exurb’.
Let me use it in a sentence for you.
‘Gilbert is an exurb so it takes a lot of time to people to drive to work but they can afford the gas.’
After taking a look at the trailer for the upcoming horror movie “Frontier(s)“, I have to admit that it looks like one of the most tense and horrific movies to come out in some time. I’m glad that whoever was in charge of green lighting this Horror Movie decided for once to make something new and genuinely scary instead of finding a halfway popular movie from 30 years ago and remaking it as a gorier but somehow less entertaining version of the original.
I have not been a fan of the recent gore and torture movies. I prefer my horror like “1408″ or “The Mist”. However, a friend of mine loves the new horror. He would actually giggle during “Hostel”. I am going to make sure that he sees the trailer for “Frontier(s)”. It is the exact type of movie that he loves to go see. And luckily enough, when the movie is released next Friday, May 9th, it will be showing here in Phoenix during its limited run. The Harkins at Arizona Mills in Tempe will be showing “Frontier(s)”. That really is a perfect choice for this movie. Centrally located in town and very close to the university where hundreds of horror fans will make the trip to see the film.
I remember the good old days. Yes, those long ago days of yesteryear when you could waltz over to your local bookstore and find dozens of perfectly good cardboard boxes just waiting in a special bin marked “CARDBOARD ONLY” just waiting to be picked through and reused when you were ready to move. But, alas, those days of yore are long gone and boxes are not as plentiful as they once were. Cardboard crushing machines wait behind every commercial enterprise to crush the life and usefulness out of the cardboard until it makes a trip back to the recycling plant.
Well, I’m off to hunt for that one last place of business that hasn’t already crushed their boxes. Wish me luck.
It seems that as DVD sales started to climb a few years back, there were many changes to the video sales and rental industry. It used to be that films went to theaters, then rentals, then payperview, then for sale with the entire process taking 12 to 18 months. Now a film is still usually released in theaters, but is thrown out for sale and for rent at the same time 3-6 months later. Another continuing trend is the increase in the number of films that are released on DVD as unrated.
Next week a movie is coming to theaters in its unrated form. Usually the producers edit out a few things to get it acceptable for an R rating, then put it all back in for the video release. However, “Frontier(s)” is being released in theaters next Friday, May 9th for a limited run before being released on DVD the very next week. Phoenix is one of the lucky cities to have a showing of this film for its limited theatrical run, and you can check select theater listings to see exactly where and when.
The movie centers around a few people running from the law that escape to an inn in the country that holds horrific people and an inescapable maze of terror. There are many reviews for Frontier(s) that are raving about the amount of gore and blood and terror that has been shoved into this movie. It was supposed to be released for the 8 Films to Die For event, but couldn’t shake that NC-17 rating.
So I’ve lived in this house for over fifteen years now, and I now that the roof is getting up there in age. However, what I didn’t know was that the roofing material over the addition of our house was never properly installed in the first place. I just wish that our inspector when we bought the house would have told us that. But that’s the way things go, and I hope that it doesn’t cost our buyers too much to get a new roof put on this house after they move in.
With all the recent posts about Dockers and the Dockers video contest on NBC, I thought I’d write a little about Dockers style. When I’m out looking for slacks at the store, I naturally tend to get a new pair of Dockers khakis. I should probably look into other colors, but they’re just so versatile for whatever situation I’m in. At work they meet the dress code and are still comfortable enough that I’m not stiff and sore after I get home. They’re equally comfortable when I’m at home and just lounging around or cleaning up the place. And that’s kind of my style. At work, at home, comfortable.
I kind of get that same impression from John Cusack. He always seems to be very comfortable in his roles and in interviews. Never in something that buttons up too tight or is in any way uncomfortable.
But remember, there is still that Dockers contest out there waiting for someone to win it and get their commercial aired on national television. If you’re at all talented in any way (or even if you just think you’re talented) edit together a video and enter it into the contest. You never know who’s going to win. (Just like the Grammy’s)
Even though after seeing the previews for the movie version of “The Ruins”, I had absolutely no interest in seeing the movie, when I saw the book at the grocery store a few weeks ago with an endorsement from Stephen King, I couldn’t help but pick it up and give it a try.
“The Ruins” takes a few pages to introduce all of the characters and the location in Cancun and then quickly drops everyone on a hill in the forest surrounded by natives ready to kill them if they leave. The rest of the novel focuses on everyone’s struggle to survive as they slowly start to realize that the entire hill is covered with a sentient plant that will eventually consume them and anyone or anything else that comes to the hill.
The dialogue is fairly sparse with most of the writing focusing on each characters inner monologue of terror. This is probably the main reason that the movie got such lousy reviews. It’s hard to translate a book to the screen when there’s nothing really for anyone to say in a given scene. The tension ratchets up in many parts of the book and it is occasionally difficult to put down. However, there are lulls in the action where it’s difficult to continue with the story.
So, I’m not terribly blown away by “The Ruins”, but it was a good read as I was busing back and forth to work.