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Awesomeness Elsewhere – Feb 11, 2011

Posted in 80s, Atari, cartoons, pop culture, TV shows, video games with tags Atari, cartoons, pop culture, TV shows, video games on February 11, 2011 by Paxton

Here’s what I’ve been up to around the Internets:

– On Strange Kids Club I wax nostalgic about CBS’ Saturday Supercade. It was a block of cartoons back in 1983 based on popular video game characters like Donkey Kong, Q-bert and Frogger.

– I also talk about all the new DVD releases this week which include a trio of terrible Brad Pitt movies and Barb Wire starring Pam Anderson’s breasts.

Hope everyone had a great week. Check back next week, we have a big 20th movie anniversary on Monday. It’s not a movie you would expect to have a birthday on Valentine’s Day.

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15 more things I’ve learned about life while watching movies and TV

Posted in hollywood life lessons, humor, movies, pop culture, TV shows with tags hollywood life lessons, movies, pop culture, TV shows on February 8, 2011 by Paxton

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In March 2010, I posted a list of 17 things I learned about life while watching movies and TV shows. It was extremely popular. It got picked up by WordPress.com and posted on the front page. It’s still one of my most popular articles. So, I thought, why not write a sequel?

And here that sequel is. 15 more things I’ve learned about life while watching movies and television.

When fighting, before punching or delivering a kick, make sure your opponent is standing in front of some breakable object. A wooden wall or glass table or shelving, for example. That way if you miss striking your opponent, you’ll shatter/break the object behind which, while it doesn’t help you in the fight, looks badass. Don’t worry, the object will shatter, not the bones in your hand.

When men take off a necklace, they don’t bother with the latch, they just tear it off. Probably because the latch is broken from the last time they yanked it off their neck. When they give the necklace to a lady, she is able to fasten it around her neck despite it being torn off previously.

If you need to know something, turn on the TV. The channel will automatically be turned to the news and it will be showing the exact news story with the exact information you need. If a friend called to tell you to watch the news, no need to hurry to turn on the TV, the newscaster will repeat exactly what they just said before you turned it on.

All building ventilation systems, air ducts and vents are built big enough to accommodate the size and weight of one or more adults. It’s in the building code.

Land developers routinely build houses on top of ancient Indian burial grounds (or old murder sites, places of spiritual importance, etc). However, the building of the houses don’t seem to upset the spirits, as the ghosts will not decide to violently manifest until after a new owner with a nice happy family has purchased it.

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Awesomeness Elsewhere – Jan 28, 2011

Posted in 80s, blogging, movies, nostalgia, personal with tags blogging, nostalgia, personal on January 28, 2011 by Paxton

Hello everyone. It’s Friday. TGIF. I just want to catch you up on my activities elsewhere.

— I wrote a nostalgia piece today over at Strange Kid’s Club. I answer the question, “What Makes You a Strange Kid?” It involves Back to the Future, my dad and the Birmingham radio station I-95. Check it out here.

— I also wrote my weekly DVD column. I’m getting some really good feedback on it. If you want to know what to buy this week in DVD/Blu-Ray, then check out this week’s On The Shelves.

Stay tuned, next week I’m going to put up my yearly review of the Oscar nominations. Should be a blast watching me completely second guess the Academy. Did they get it right this year? Come back Monday or Tuesday to find out.

Have a good weekend.

Held Over! A new blog showcasing vintage movie print advertisements

Posted in 80s, advertising, movies, pop culture with tags advertising, Held Over, movies, pop culture on December 20, 2010 by Paxton

I’ve been planning this for a year or so, and now I can finally get it out there. I’m starting a new blog called Held Over! As you can see from the banner above, it will showcase old movie advertisements. Many of the ads will be from newspapers (hence the Held Over! catchphrase), but I’ll also include other print media like magazines and comic books. I’ve been stockpiling movie adverts since the mid 80s, and I finally am getting my s**t together and starting to share them online.

Don’t worry, I’ll continue posting movie anniversary articles on this blog. The new blog will mainly showcase the scanned movie ads as well as a little commentary (historical context, relevance, interesting trivia, etc) from me. I’ll even aggregate some of the scans on the new blog into articles on this blog. When I do that, you’ll see the above banner and the article will be tagged with Held Over.

So, where did this come from? Well, when I was growing up I loved going to the movies. I loved them so much, that I would cut out advertisements for my favorite movies from newspapers and magazines. I also spent a good amount of my time in college at the Auburn University library combing through old newspapers on micro phish looking at movie advertisement sections. Well, I was also looking up old 80s NBA box scores featuring Larry Bird and John Stockton, not just movie adverts. Wow, could that confession have sounded any dorkier? No, probably not.

Anyway, throughout the 80s and early 90s, newspapers contained a wealth of awesome movie ads in their movie sections. Movie sections could take up two or three full pages advertising what movies are currently playing.

For instance, here’s a movie section from the day I was born, May 9, 1974. Click it to see it bigger on Flickr.

Nearly two full pages are taken up with movies of the day. And there are some good ones like The Sting, Blazing Saddles and The Exorcist. There are also some stinkers like Zardoz and Great Gatsby. Hmm, actually, I just this moment noticed there are three movies playing starring Robert Redford; The Candidate, The Sting and The Great Gatsby. You don’t see that too often these days.

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Clue: The Movie was released 25 years ago today

Posted in 80s, movies, pop culture with tags anniversary, Clue, movies, pop culture on December 13, 2010 by Paxton

Clue the movie was released 25 years ago today; December 13th, 1985.

Clue was the first movie directly based on a board game. It was filmed with three different endings (Ending A, Ending B and Ending C). However, there was a fourth ending scripted and shot but dropped at the last minute. You can still read the fourth ending in the movie novelization and the Clue Storybook. The Clue Storybook even has a few photos of the missing ending.

The structure and story of Clue was taken from two different movies; Murder by Death and Ten Little Indians. Murder by Death was a 1976 murder-mystery spoof by playwright Neil Simon starring Peter Falk, Alec Guiness, James Coco, Truman Capote and Eileen Brennan (Mrs Peacock). Five of the world’s greatest detectives are invited up to a mansion and asked to solve a murder that will take place at midnight. Ten Little Indians was a 1974 murder-mystery based on Agatha Christie’s famous novel. Many of the kills in Clue the Movie are homages to Ten Little Indians.

Murder by Death Ten Little Indians

Clue is one of my wife and my favorite movies. We quote it endlessly. As a matter of fact, to celebrate the 25th anniversary, we watched it this weekend. And loved every minute of it.

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