Update: Review: Horror: ‘Paranormal Activity’ Screening Cities announced…
Update: Review in from SciFi – Todd Gilchrist, and it sounds like it lives up to expectations AWESOME!! GO READ THE ENTIRE THING!
Either as an example of the simple effectiveness of classical filmmaking or just an alternative to the gag-inducing gore that constitutes the meat (no pun intended) of most contemporary horror flicks, Paranormal Activity is a really, really great movie. Writer-director Oren Peli, working in one location with a single camera, two actors and a shoestring budget, tells the story of a couple that is terrorized by an unseen apparition, in the process creating suspense out of thin air and evoking evil forces not merely scary, but haunting.
And while its low-budget aesthetic will automatically be referenced in the context of the granddaddy of first-person gimmick films, The Blair Witch Project, it’s important to remember that the reason it’s an immediate point of comparison is because for better or for worse, that film worked—and this one does even better.
Compiled of “found” footage, the film chronicles several days in the life of Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), a couple who buys a video camera to record unexplained phenomena around their home. Much to her discomfort, Katie explains that since her earliest childhood, something has always seemed to follow her around, and her family was constantly beset by strange occurrences. Micah is perhaps typically skeptical, but after a few nights of filming, he captures some odd, convincing footage, and becomes determined to document more concrete proof of the spirit’s existence, if not also hopefully get rid of it. But as the unseen force grows in power and makes it known that it wants Katie for itself, the couple slowly begins to lose control of their experiment, and decides to get out of the house before it’s too late for either of them to escape its powerful grasp.
At 33 and having seen probably more than my share of cinematic boogeymen, there isn’t a whole lot that really stays with me when I watch horror movies now; certainly when I was a kid, there were things that scared the hell out of me, kept me up nights, and had me thinking about the possibilities of paranormal activity in the real world, much less my bedroom closet. But Paranormal Activity is the first movie in probably a decade that truly lingered in my head after I finished watching it, and actually creeped me out for a few days afterward. Brilliantly, Peli sets up certain audience expectations by establishing a simple premise—a girl thinks she’s being haunted—and then delivering on it in a delicate matter of degrees; but it’s the patience and subtlety of the escalation of events that makes it seem believable, and eventually, genuinely terrifying… A MUST READ REVIEW AND A MUST SEE FOR HORROR FANS!
DreadCentral reports the list of cities for the pre screening have been announced and a Demand It! campaign website launched to bring the film to your city:
Legend of the Seeker composer Joe LoDuca wins Emmy for Outstanding Music (Series)…
Created by Eagle67ify
The song is called Once music & lyrics by Joseph LoDuca, performed by Felicia Sorenson.
(…)At the 61st annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmys at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, native-Detroit composer Joe LoDuca won the Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his music in “Legend of the Seeker.”
The accomplished jazz guitarist and Wayne State University graduate broke into Hollywood after composing for homeboy “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi.
Courtesy of filhosilvapopstar
Before the win Saturday, LoDuca’s career included eight Emmy nominations and one Emmy Award (for “Xena: Warrior Princess”).
He is a multiple American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award winner and also was nominated in 2002 for the César Awards for Best Music Written for a Film for “Brotherhood of the Wolf.”…
Update: Sneak Peeks 2.1 ‘The Night of the Comet’-The Vampire Diaries – Ian Somerhalder – Damon’s Motivations
Interview with Ian Somerhalder after the break:
Update 5: Even Leno ripping ACORN; The Governator demands investigation: More tapes on the way! NY AG Cuomo opens investigation into ACORN; ACORN Tape up, San Bernadino: Twofer Tuesday: Stevie Nicks. Plus – More ACORN, now with alleged felonies*!
Update: 9/18 – Even LENO is ripping on ACORN! How embarrassing to be the PseudoIntellectual Elite Media!
Courtesy of lakemtkaliberty
Breitbart on Hannity indicated there are more tapes but they will wait before releasing them. They may be waiting out ACORN’S audit, lol!! Extended tape from VeritasVisuals
Clip courtesy of patriotsandheroes
Hannity airs San Diego tape portions, We can now add offers to smuggle illegal (undocumented) underage prostitutes from Tijuana to San Diego from an ACORN worker to the list..check BigGovernment for ongoing updates…
Drudge has a developing headline, upper left, Governator demanding investigation, Booyah…Ahh Ed at HA links to Governator’s twitter on his opening an ACORN investigation
When Lucas met Romero: Star Wars – ‘Death Troopers’…
Click image to visit Random House book listing
Georges are colliding, hopefully with spectacular results!!! Courtesy of Fidgit:
(…)It’s a tie-in to the horror-themed Star Wars novel Death Troopers, which will be published in mid-October ….And in case you’re wondering just what the deal is with Death Troopers, it’s about a prison barge that finds a derelict Star Destroyer full of zombies. No joke.
Video Courtesy of lunasantori
ABOUT THIS BOOK
When the Imperial prison barge Purge–temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy’s most ruthless killers, rebels, scoundrels, and thieves–breaks down in a distant, uninhabited part of space, its only hope appears to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting, derelict, and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party from the Purge is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back–bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours nearly all aboard the Purge die in ways too hideous to imagine.
And death is only the beginning.
The Purge’s half-dozen survivors–two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers, and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board–will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting aboard the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn’t really empty at all. For the dead are rising: soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.
Dragon*Con 2009: BSGcast: Matt talks with Lt. Dualla (Kandyse McClure)
Courtesy of the ever-awesome YourGeekNews/BSGcast:
First in our DragonCon interviews, Matt chatted with the beautiful and talented Kandyse McClure who played Anastasia Dualla for almost the entire run of the series… almost. So consider this your spoiler warning! From her thoughts on the growth of her character, to what she’s up to now, Kandyse gives us a great peek into what makes her, and Dee, tick!
~Matt + Nat
DONT WATCH THE ENDING KANDYSE!! It was awful after the first half!!! IMO, I mean Starbuck was an angel? What about the ship?? What a massive cop-out! They could’ve had another Cylon hub of some sort with resurrection tech on the planet Starbuck’s DNA drifted down to or something and her half Cylon DNA could have activated the Centurions who brought her back..and the Baltar followers suddenly willingly give up their guns and tech to go live off the land? Mmm nah. They could’ve done a great tie in with tech the Egyptians had or heck the Atlanteans had, and BSG explaining why…give me something to work with RD Moore!
Our post on the upcoming Bryan Singer BSG movie (no relation to the RDM series) here
Our posts on Dragon*Con 2009 here
Update: Gallup poll of ‘Americans’ confirms! Majority oppose ObamaCare (again) 52/45, speech bounce evaporated overnight…
Mix by theDJTremble
Update: Gallup, who polls anyone with a pulse, confirms! h/t Ace HQ:
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken after the president’s dramatic address to a joint session of Congress last week shows Americans almost evenly divided over passing a health care bill and inclined to think it would make some of the system’s vexing problems worse, not better….
…Six in 10 say Obama’s proposal, if enacted, would not achieve his goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans without raising taxes on the middle class or lowering the quality of health care. For the first time, a majority disapprove of the way he’s handling health care policy….
…The survey of 1,030 Americans has a margin of error of +/–4 percentage points….
It does not even say they are polling ADULTS anymore, for all I know they are polling Juniors in HS or the preK class who had to listen to the TOTUS speech last week, lol…
Right on 912 Marchers!! Thank youuuu!!!
BWAAAHAAAAAA!! The bounce is gone! Are you reading this Grassley??!!!
(…)the bounce appears to be over. The latest daily tracking shows that support has fallen all the way back to pre-speech levels.Forty-five percent (45%) of all voters nationwide now favor the plan while 52% are opposed. A week ago, 44% supported the proposal and 53% were opposed. (see day-by-day numbers).
The latest figures show that 23% Strongly Favor the plan and 41% are Strongly Opposed. In late August, 23% were strongly in favor of the plan and 43% were strongly opposed. ..
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll is another indicator of the speech’s impact, and there, too, the bounce in approval Obama has been getting since the Wednesday night speech appears to have ended. Job Approval ratings are updated each morning at 9:30 EDT.
Approval ratings also back down:
The Boss courtesy of cowgal6946
Moderate in the Middle 