calliopes_pen

Peter Jackson has officially announced that Martin Freeman will be Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit—which hopefully means the movie is nearing the end of its stint in development hell. Martin Freeman was great as John Watson in Sherlock and Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so I suspect he’ll do well in this. Also cast in supporting roles? Richard Armitage (from Robin Hood) will play the leader of the dwarves, while Aidan Turner (Mitchell from Being Human) will be someone in the Company of Dwarves. And thus, my friends list exploded all over everything.

Rumored names that have been floating around, and have yet to be confirmed or denied include: Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, David Tennant, Saoirse Ronan, and James Nesbitt. The first two are more than likely to happen.

10 Things Den of Geek Loves About Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. The only movie in that trilogy that I’ve ever seen is Army of Darkness. It was my first R movie when I was 11, and I’ll probably always love the insanity of it. Because of what I've heard about the tree scene in the first one, and certain things involving eyeballs being flung in the second, I might not ever watch those two.

Exclusive Look Inside Back to the Future 2’s Futuristic World.

Found via moonanstars: Living Dead Nurse posted how to stay safe and survive a horror movie. Well...#18 sort of applies to our house. And #9. So I guess I’m doomed?

A Captain Picard Wedding Cake.

There are reports that Chris Sarandon will have a cameo in the remake of Fright Night.

The newest season of V has been trimmed from 13 episodes, down to 10.

Watch a spoof of Back to the Future, with Doc freaking out because the future in Back to the Future Part 2 isn’t coming to pass.

5 Great Moments From Spike TV’s Scream Awards. It includes footage of Bill Murray showing up fully dressed in Ghostbusters garb to accept an award for Zombieland and thanking all the comics who died before him. Also, a very short clip of the Back to the Future reunion.

Today is the last day for fandom nominations for Yuletide. As of this moment, there are 4295 fandoms listed.

Elvira spoofs the “I’m not a witch” commercial. Sadly, none of the channels around here are showing her revival of Elvira’s Movie Macabre.

I just found out that Maiden Alley Cinema will be showing one horror movie this year. On October 29th and 30th, they will be showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Now, every other year, it’s been shown around 11 PM. This year? On the 29th, it’s at 9 PM, and the 30th, it’s being shown at 7 PM--so I might be able to go to that last one. So if things work out, I’ll be going to the Zombie Walk, followed by The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which Dad knows nothing about, so I get to scar him for life.

Although, if I followed the Zombie Walk people to the restaurant they're headed for, I might catch a special showing of Dawn of the Dead in the meeting room. I just think they’re underestimating the number of people that will be squeezed in there. Last year, when Maiden Alley Cinema hosted it, they expected 20 or 30. What they got was probably 200 or 300. Since more people know about it this year, there will likely be more.

And 30 minutes before the Zombie Walk begins, there will be a seminar for learning how to survive a zombie attack.

ETA: Just changed my Yuletide fandom nominations again. Now, it's My Best Friend Is A Vampire, The Librarian series of movies, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Dark Shadows (1991), and the original Fright Night. Unfortunately, this causes Randall and Hopkirk (the 2000 version) to not be listed at all--so if someone wants to add that, you'll have to get it in there before 8 PM CST.

15 Most Stereotypical Depictions of Nerds. Louis Tully and George McFly are listed. Rick Moranis is actually on the list twice, thanks to his role in Little Shop of Horrors.

From Cracked: 6 Comic Book Crossovers You Won’t Believe Actually Happened. I heard about that weird Guiding Light crossover where someone got superpowers, but I had never actually seen it until now. Surprisingly, the Punisher and Archie meeting isn’t listed.

pocky_slash is hosting the Not My Fandom Fest. Using what you’ve managed to glean through fannish osmosis, you see how well you can write a ficlet in a fandom you’re not in.

The 10 Scariest Haunted Houses In America. So many of these I would love to go to.

Yuletide fandom nominations continue until next Wednesday. As of the last time I checked, 3170 fandoms had been nominated so far.

Because I once watched an ad for the Talon Falls Haunted House over on Youtube, they recommended something to me that I didn’t really expect. What was it? A slideshow of the ice storm in February 2009. The background music is The Final Countdown, which...seems strangely fitting. I would have used Night on Bald Mountain, but it still works.

When you can just make out Cracker Barrel and Wal-Mart, that’s near the mall. Around the 3 minute mark, Mom thinks you can see Forest Hills, but it’s hard to tell. That’s a few blocks from our house. The rest I can’t really identify. Be sure to expand the description, since they go into detail on what was going on--as do a few comments.

For anyone that wonders how the trip to the haunted house went—not so well. However, having learned from last year, we smuggled in water, a couple granola bars in case we were trapped for a long time, and two flashlights. We should have packed extra shoes. Why?

( Since the post is a little long, it’s going beneath the cut. The answer to the question prior to the cut involves a pile of manure, for those curious. )

She-Ra turns 25 years old.

From Sci Fi Wire: William Shatner And Seven Others Recite Poe’s The Raven. The others include Stan Lee, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, John Astin, James Earl Jones, Christopher Walken, and The Simpsons. Vincent Price will always be my favorite.

On the side of news that isn’t really news: Supposedly Dan Ackroyd will be writing Ghostbusters 3.

WKYQ has their (constantly updated from what I can tell) list of local haunted houses up. Tonight, I’ll be going to a haunted house—The Haunted Barn. I tried to go last year, but couldn’t find it. So Dad and I drove out where it was supposed to be this year, and figured out why. We turned right last year, when we should have turned left. Due to that, we missed it entirely and were one street off.

On the 30th, I’ll go to the Zombie Walk, and try not to run over any trick-or-treaters or zombies. As of now, there’s no word on if Maiden Alley Cinema will be showing horror movies this year.

I have now received my assignment for the intoabar ficathon. The Tenth Doctor will walk into a bar and meet...Louis Tully. That’s bound to be one interesting meeting. And I feel like he would find a way to ask the Doctor who does his taxes at some point in the conversation. I’m just trying to decide if it would be better to set it after the first movie, or the second movie.

Zombie Walk related: I managed to find more footage of last year’s zombie walk. This time, it wasn’t in black and white, and I was able to confirm that the person in the jacket wasn’t me. It was someone in a green jacket, while mine was red. And I don’t wear bell bottom jeans.

San Diego Comic Con will not be moving anywhere—a new deal keeps it in San Diego through 2015.

x_journal related: After a question of what each character's theme song would be, I started searching around to figure out what would actually be a good one for Meggan. And to that end, what sort of music would be more her style. I suspect she would like silly songs like YMCA, Rock Lobster, Macarena, Walk Like An Egyptian and Dancing Queen--but the main genres she would always go back to would be soothing like jazz, New Age, R&B, or indie pop. I still haven't decided what her song would be, but at least I know one or two (I barely know anything about music) singers she might like.

This week was Banned Books Week.

Stephen J. Cannell has passed away, due to complications from melanoma. May he rest in peace. He created or co-created many shows, including The Greatest American Hero and The A-Team. Have one last playing of Believe It Or Not for the road. I’ve heard that so many times thanks to it being The Cinema Snob’s theme song.

The Star Wars Saga (episodes 1-3) is getting another release this time, it’s in 3D.

According to moviehole, Back to the Future will be back in theaters. Unfortunately, it will only be 158 theaters in select locations.

Sherlock Holmes 2 has found its Moriarty.

You can watch the BBC Drama Autumn/Winter trailer here You get a very brief glimpse of the Christmas Special with Matt Smith.

Den of Geek discusses Marty and Doc’s friendship.

Bryan Fuller and Guillermo del Toro are reportedly teaming up and remaking The Munsters.

Found via yendi: How to change IMDB back to how it looked before the upgrade, when you’re logged in.

Since October is only a day away, I’m checking around various sites to try to find out if anything Halloween related is going on around here this year. Maiden Alley Cinema hasn’t put up their horror movie schedule as of yet. However, I did find out that there will be a Second Annual Zombie Walk in downtown Paducah.

And then I found footage of last year’s Zombie Walk—I think I accidentally ended up on camera. It looks like my hooded jacket and the back of my head--Mom agrees. Chris (friend of Dad’s) was standing behind me as we watched other zombies coming from another way—it looks like the back of his head. Dad would have been a few feet back, so he’s not in the view. It’s a split second at the 1:20 mark, on the right side. Zombie with “Join Us!” sign, and then presumably me, closest to the camera. Brown hair. It’s a blink and you miss it sort of thing since the camera shakes right then, unless you hit pause at the right moment.

I remember seeing the guy with the camera wandering around, so it's feasible.

ETA 1: Okay, showed it to Dad--he pointed out that it wasn't quite where we were standing. A bit of shrubbery was near us. And a church. But it's not quite the right spot for where we were standing. While there was a dark car beside where everyone stood, it was a different type, and a little bit further back. Basically, the zombies were coming from two directions. So there's someone out there that looks almost like me from the back, and that's wearing my jacket. Heh. Mom still thinks it was me, so we're having an ongoing debate.

I just had a weird idea, that I thought I would pass along to those that write Merlin fanfic. Arthur and Merlin accidentally get sent by a sorcerer to the present day—on Halloween night. Just imagine them trying to attack the monsters, and being horrified that children would pretend to be demons.

BBC America will air Waters of Mars on December 19th.

Last night, we actually got a few trick-or-treaters—the last few years we didn’t get any, but this time we had 7. Most of which weren’t wearing costumes--one little one was wearing her pajamas from what I could tell. For all I know it could have been something to do with a cartoon, but it looked like her pajamas.

One kid was dressed as a pirate. A little later, I looked out the door and saw a golf cart (with a horrible muffler or something, since the thing was loud) driving down the street. The kid that got out was dressed as Rainbow Brite. Rather than say trick-or-treat, she said “Happy Halloween!” And when I gave her the candy, she curtsied and said “Thank you!”

Every few seconds, I kept seeing flashes of light—turned out the parents were taking pictures, most of which were blocked by our van. After she got back in the golf cart, the flashing started again. It was completely dark, so I doubt the pictures will turn out for them.

Shortly before the trick-or-treaters came, Toby escaped. He hadn’t been interested in escaping since the cat had died, so I assume that after a suitable period of mourning, he wanted to check things out. He reappeared inside his fence just when I was about to give up on finding him.

The Trunk-or-Treat thing at my church got 500 trick-or-treaters. So I guess that's where they all go.

And lastly, a meme—taken from about half my friends list.

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

My Doctor Who fanfics are all at Teaspoon, over here. Any other fanfic can be found through the “fanfic I’ve written” tag.

The Scary/Funny History of Horror Comedy.

Over at doctorwho, there’s a question about who would do what if everyone in the series went to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I can picture the Ninth Doctor brooding in the corner, while simultaneously keeping an eye on Jack. Who would be dressed as Rocky. I can picture Martha surprising everyone with the fact she is a closet Rocky Horror fan, and knows every word in the movie. I can see Donna surprising people (especially the Tenth Doctor, who would be in awe) by flawlessly doing the Time Warp.

Today’s Halloween related poll over at polloftheday was asking what your favorite Halloween songs are. Mine are Thriller, Bad Moon Rising, the Ghostbusters theme (of course), and The Monster Mash. If I Put A Spell On You is the same song that was sung in Hocus Pocus, then I love that one, too.

Mom’s been going through some old pictures she found, and we found a picture of me the final year I went trick-or-treating, when I was either 7 or 8. I was a pirate, without the fake earring, since it pinched too much. I’m standing in a yard filled with fake tombstones, made by a neighbor. All the names on it are people in her family that were still alive...and Dracula.

We also found a picture of White Cloud, the day she came to us as a kitten. And another taken one month before she was killed—so now we know how long she was here. About 3 years--we hadn’t been sure until now. We found various other pictures of her, all of her asleep. Which is pretty much the only thing she ever did.

( Beneath the cut, I answer five questions from Azriona, for a meme. )

As there are Trunk-or-Treats being done at four different churches, as well as a fall festival at another church, I don’t expect to see any trick-or-treaters. I actually haven’t seen any trick-or-treaters in this part of the street in 2 or 3 years. How many do people on my friends list normally get?

NBC is ordering six more episodes of Chuck, in addition to the 13 already ordered.

What If Zombies Ate Most Of The Mystery Team? Apparently, the only survivors would be Velma and Scooby. You need to read the comments as well--if you can’t see all of them, you’ll have to go to the bottom of the page and click on Show Hidden Threads.

Syfy plans to do an American version of Being Human. That can’t end well.

The 15 Cursed Movie Objects You Never Want To Own.

18 Movies That Genuinely Scared Us. I don’t believe I have seen a single movie on this list.

From Cracked: 7 Horrific Boogeymen Used To Scare Kids Around The World.

Yuletide news: If you defaulted or were banned in previous years, you are now allowed to participate this year, as they are extending amnesty. As long as you write a story this year, you will still be allowed to join in on Yuletide in the future.

( And now, answering some questions for neadods, from a meme. )

First, the fandom meme:

1) Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands [fannish etc.] that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2) Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.
3) When someone guesses correctly, strikethrough the item and put the name of your favorite character next to it.

1. Doctor Who
2. Torchwood
3. Ghostbusters
4. Dark Shadows
5. Firefly
6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
7. Angel
8. Highlander: The Series
9. Merlin
10. Veronica Mars
11. Castle
12. Being Human
13. Eureka
14. Hercules the Legendary Journeys
15. Xena: Warrior Princess
16. Monk
17. Psych
18. National Treasure
19. The Mummy (the three movies)
20. The Addams Family

I have to recommend a Merlin fanfic I just discovered, that is utterly hysterical. Zombies, Like Ninjas, Make Everything Better, written by netgirl_y2k. Zombies attack Camelot. Merlin isn’t allowed to carry a sword, and instead carries a ladle and wooden spoon, with a pot over his head at one point.

From Cracked: 6 Popular Monster Myths (That Prove Humanity Is Doomed). And The 6 Creepiest Places on Earth.

For those interested, the mods of yuletide have decided that Babylon 5 and Crusade are eligible after all. I only watched a few episodes of the former on the Sci-Fi Channel a couple years ago, so I won’t be signing up for either one. The US version of Life on Mars is also now on the eligible list, while the UK version is not.

Everyone needs to read this obituary in The Paducah Sun. It’s hysterical--I think someone just went insane. Just let me know if you can’t see it--it wasn’t something where you had to log in, so it should be fine. Mentions of underwater basket weaving, and other weirdness is in there.

From Io9: When Monsters Change Sides: 10 Horror Icons Who Turned Good. Real Ghostbusters gets a mention in there.

31 Classic Halloween TV Episodes and Specials

( Beneath the cut is a question and answer meme—answering questions from Persiflage_1, and also an icon meme from Ithildyn. )

Also, Mom would like to know what you can do to kill ladybugs, or get them to leave everyone alone. In the last three days, they’ve taken over. One step outside, and you are covered by ten, at least, with more diving for you. The entire front of one neighbor’s son’s house is covered in them, and he can’t walk outside right now. It’s only our side of the street in our neighborhood—Nellie’s house is fine, as are a few others on that side.

And is anyone else having trouble with logging in to AIM today?

ETA: After reading my friends list, I see that at least a few people are having issues with AIM being down, so it's not just me.

In other news, when Mom got the mail, she discovered a sympathy card from her brother. To all of us, about the cat.

First, a meme, taken from senmut:

Take any fic I have ever written, link me to it, and ask "What if you had changed this moment?". I'll either explain, or maybe even write the What If.

I was taking a look through the Yuletide fandom nominations and spotted that someone had nominated The Last Vampire, by Christopher Pike. I’m very grateful to whoever did that.

I watched the series premiere of White Collar, and I think I like it. I’ve never liked Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, but she somehow works here. I'll definitely be watching the next episode...and I agree with whoever it was on my friends list that says Matt Bomer looks a little like Nightwing.

And found via Io9—you can watch the first 8 minutes of V here. It looks a bit like Independence Day. Which is something that at least one character commented on, too. I’m not sure on whether or not I would like the series based on that tiny bit.

I’m trying to think of something to write for the doctor_donna Halloween Fanfic Challenge, using the Halloween prompts here. So many good ones. Throw out an idea using one of those, and a situation for the Doctor and Donna to be in, and I’ll see if I can write it.

ETA: Thanks to scotchsour for mentioning the fact that Dick Durock--the man who played Swamp Thing in both movies--passed away on September 17th, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. May he rest in peace.

Yes, I actually went to the Zombie Walk of Paducah immediately following the showing of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Maiden Alley Cinema. When I mentioned that we would miss the zombies by 30 minutes (leave at 5:30 after the movie, the Zombie Walk is at 6 PM) Dad decided to drive us to where the zombies were.

We parked the car at a Methodist Church, along with about 60 or 70 other people, and stood at the side of the road, and waited. Some people brought their own chairs.

They started about 5 minutes late, since they had to get the police to block the area for a little bit. And then, they came. Zombie pregnant women with an undead baby arm that could shoot out, zombie babies, zombie toddlers, zombies with signs that said "Zombies Are People, Too!" and "Will Work For Brains!". A guy with scissors stuck in his head, and his undead client from a hair salon--with curlers in her hair. An undead bride and groom...undead businessmen.

About 5 minutes before they started walking, Dad called his best friend and dared him to show up, thinking he wouldn't. Guess what? He showed up, and tried to sneak up behind us--Dad saw him, though. And across the street were a few other zombies, one of which Dad used to know from work. Cue Dad screaming to him, "I know you!" And the other guy said, "Oh, no! Shuffle faster, people! SHUFFLE FASTER!"

Also spotted a few cameras following the zombies. One obviously got bored, and started to interview one. He asked what it felt like to be undead. The guy screamed "BRAINS!" in response, and moaned a bit. A few feet away, there was a guy that let loose a horrible scream, just trying to be part of the fun.

All in all, I would say it was about 200 zombies. Not counting the three we saw at Maiden Alley Cinema. And one guy carrying a bowl of fake blood, that Dad says was accidentally sloshed in the men's room.

And just a note: There were only five people there to see Jekyll and Hyde, counting Dad and me. The guy that took our tickets also gave people popcorn, and was in charge of the projection area.

For those that are interested, you can watch a quick 30 second fall preview for Masterpiece Contemporary, here. Hosted by David Tennant.

I found an interview with Carey Mulligan, thanks to almost_unknown. You can watch it here.

From Cracked: 5 Myths That People Don’t Realize Are Admitted Hoaxes.

Io9 tells Where To Start With Young Adult Science Fiction. Basically discusses how to get your child interested in science fiction. There are some great suggestions.

The Six Types Of Brains In Jars.

For those that want to keep track of what Halloween specials will be shown over the next few weeks, there’s the Halloween Forum. Specifically, this thread—scroll to where it says October 19–25. Quite a few of the higher up channels aren’t listed. Cinemax, TMC, and Starz are, but I can’t get those channels.

adaliafic has made The Pumpkin of Rassilon—as well as a Cookie of Rassilon. Gorgeous.

yuletide fandom nominations end in just under a day and a half. As of this moment, there are 3404 fandoms nominated. Going through the list before it’s cleaned up, there are quite a few I could write for. Someday, I’m hoping someone will nominate either Justice League International (the comic) or The Last Vampire, by Christopher Pike.

I requested a hold on Stephanie Brown/Spoiler over at that DC/Marvel RPG I mentioned previously. Found out yesterday afternoon during everything that I have a hold on her until the 22nd. After spotting a couple other suggestions for PB’s, I’ll probably start another poll soon.