DESKTOP

SEPTEMBER 2007 BLOG ARCHIVE

For current and ongoing blog entries: http://www.thrillfactory.com/

SEPTEMBER 29, 2007

Problems with the RSS feed. Argh. Hold off subscribing until I work this out. Thanks for your patience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

Hey, all. Today I am very pleased to announce that the site now has RSS, which quite a few of you have been pestering me to set up.

For those of you unfamiliar with RSS, it allows internet users to subscribe to websites that change or add content regularly. You simply check your RSS "feeds" daily to see quick links to just the newest stuff that has been added to your favorite websites, and some RSS Readers can even e-mail updates to you.

It really is a great way to quickly and easily keep track of the sites you frequent most. For instance, the news section of Thrill Factory (BuzzFlash, AlterNet etc.) is simply a syndication of their respective RSS feeds on this page. With one glance, you can see just what's new since the last time you looked. Brilliant! Most RSS subscriptions (like Thrill Factory's) are free.

Unfortunately, not all websites support RSS (yet). A directory of sites can be found here. All you need to get started with RSS is here.

Once you're all set up with an RSS Reader, you simply hit the orange 'RSS' graphic just below the site's title banner, and subscribe to Thrill Factory's feed!

Er... yay!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER 22, 2007

INT. SPACE - RAIN - LUNCH

Two planets are fighting over a Pastrami moon.

And so with those words began the grandpa of all in-jokes: Can a Nigga Get a Pastrami Moon? (later shortened to just Pastrami Moon).

It was 1999, a lazy Saturday night at the original Thrill Factory in North Hollywood. Insomniac staff writers Mit Renfro and Pidge Belman were blocked, bored and baffled by a slew of awful movies that had just slid in and out of theaters over the past few weeks. It seemed as though every slapdash, ill-conceived script in circulation had been fast-tracked into production somewhere around town.

And the notion got them thinking -- not about writing a great screenplay, no. They decided it was time to shoot for the bottom, to devise the least commercial, least marketable, least logical, least filmable, most inscrutable screenplay in history. Twenty minutes later, the four-page epic Pastrami Moon was born.

Mit and Pidge killed the rest of the night reading it back to themselves and to the "Cleones" (the name for the other denizens of the Thrill Factory, which they never actually referred to themselves as, but which I will as if they did). They laughed until they cried. They cried until they laughed. They bathed until they were clean.

SETH

He's not my friend. He's my father!

HUMB

Your father is dead. Grow up, ass.

Over the months that followed, Pastrami Moon was dragged out often, to stave off boredom, alleviate tension, or just for a solid, abdominally painful laugh. The notion of actually producing the thing was never seriously entertained, as none of the Cleones had the immense amount of wastable time required to do so.

Until now.

To commemorate the recent mini-Cleones reunion in Las Vegas -- and in anticipation of the return of Thrill Factory HQ to Southern California next year -- I am happy to announce that production on Pastrami Moon: The Whole Damn Movie will commence immediately, incorporating the animation process used on Thrill Factory's Chelsea Tap (2004).

While production will be based outside of Boston (and adjacent to my bathroom), support from once and future Cleones on the West Coast may be required. I will let you know what is needed, and hopefully your refusal to help will be tactful.

A BAT BOY is swinging a block and tackle at an apple tree painting.

BAT BOY

That's my mattress pad, you whore!!

And what would a Thrill Factory production be without a teaser? Unfortunately, I am having some file format issues with YouTube, so you'll have to check out this QuickTime version.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

Am and I are pretty outraged about how University of Florida student Andrew Meyer was tasered and roughed up at the John Kerry Q&A there last week. The treatment of Meyer by campus police was excessive and a clear violation of civil rights. What's worse, only a few others in attendance rose to help.

Some country, huh? If the Boston Massacre were handled this way, we'd all still be subjects of the British Empire... though at least we'd have killer health insurance.

The handling of the issue in the MSM (Mainstream Media) has been whiffed, as usual. If you believe the networks and the newspapers, you'd think this kid was a career agitator who provoked the officers and took the first swing, all of which is clearly refuted by the video itself.

Desperate times call for desperate behavior. There seems little room for decorum when people are dying in Iraq and essential democratic institutions like elections have been subverted. Was Meyer obnoxious and unfocused? Sure! But I'd rather hang out with one of him than fifty self-obsessed, fearful and socially irrelevant momma's boys just trying to ride out four more years of high school. It's about time we spotlight a college student with actual balls!

As for John Kerry, we were sorely disappointed by his soft shoe statement about the event, especially since we were ardent supporters of his and worked for his campaign in 2004. It really falls on him to take the moral initiative here and call the university out. We reached out to Kerry's Boston office, as did many others. This effort has prompted a new statement by Kerry's Director of Online Communicaations, Brian Young. We'll keep you posted.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007

First look at the new Duran Duran album cover! Sweet.

Hey! New Annamae pics and video are uploaded today -- and as soon as I get approvals from Annemarie on the rest of the Vegas pics, they'll be posted to a separate gallery and I'll link to it here.

Later!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007

Vegas, baby!!

Finally got unpacked, reoriented and relaxed after an absolutely brilliant week in LV. The baby was fantastic - she slept through both takeoffs and landings, and lit up faces everywhere she went. I only blew $40 in the casino (yeah!) and if you haven't seen Cirque du Soleil's Beatles show Love, you haven't lived. Many thanks to the California Gang for coming out, and to Edie and Bill for inviting us along to begin with. I'm still collating pics and video. Look for the highlights in a day or so.

Meanwhile... some quick thoughts.

The new Indiana Jones movie finally has a title - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's a mouthful, to be sure. What do you think?

It appears director Jon Favreau is getting it right, based on the new trailer for next summer's Iron Man. If you haven't seen it, hit the YouTube screen under Stuff To Watch or go here for the high-resolution QuickTime version.

And, finally ... what kind of message are we sending young girls when this is excoriated as being "too fat"?

I'm no fan of hers, but honestly....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------