Vote!!!!

I live in a state that has mail-in voting. Two days ago I dropped off my ballot. It is probably no surprise to anyone, but I voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. If you live in a state with early voting, vote right now. If you don’t live in a state with early voting, vote this coming Tuesday. Either way, make sure you get out there and vote, too much is riding on this election, and too many people have sacrificed too much for anyone to be apathetic or indifferent.

New Article on MSN

I have a new article on MSN. Check it out by clicking here.

dvd review: POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD

Over twenty years ago I was in a video store with my good friend Kevin, and we saw this giant cardboard standee promoting a movie called The Toxic Avenger. There was a handwritten noted taped to the standee that said, “This movie is really violent and has a lot of nudity. No one under 18 can rent this movie.” Well, that was all Kevin and I need to get us to rent a little film made by a company named Troma, which neither of us had ever heard of. That night we watched The Toxic Avenger in the basement of Kevin’s mother’s house, and my life was forever changed.

dvd review: ZOMBIE STRIPPERS

There are only two expectations when a film has the words “zombie” and “strippers” in the title. And those expectations are, quite simply, a ton of gut-churning gore effects and an equal amount of gratuitous nudity. Unfortunately, as the film Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! – Strippers vs. Zombies recently proved, it is possible to have a film with both zombies and strippers that fails miserably in delivering both the splatter effects and the nudity. Which is why I was somewhat apprehensive going into Zombie Strippers. The last thing I wanted to do was waste more of my time on a film that failed to deliver the most basic fundamentals that is promised in its title. Trick me once, shame on me, trick me twice, blah blah blah.

A Song for Obama

This song goes out to Barack Obama and all the people who are supporting him. Use the message of this song as a way to maintain the positive energy we need to take this country in a new direction.

interview: KEVIN SMITH

Fourteen years ago, New Jersey filmmaker Kevin Smith helped to change the world of independent cinema with his debut feature, Clerks. A caustic, no-frills, micro-budget portrait of a day in the life of convenience store workers, Clerks was a critically acclaimed hit, praised for its foul-mouthed, pop culture driven dialog and its raw, working-class aesthetic. At a time when arthouse indie films were mostly regarded as highbrow intellectualism, Smith came along with a lowbrow, everyman approach to storytelling, and became a hero to a legion of fans.

A Tribute to Doug and Rudy

This week has been tough. First, legendary comedian/actor Rudy Ray Moore passed away. I’ve known Rudy for over twelve years, and though we weren’t super close, I counted him as a friend, not to mention a supreme inspiration. Rudy was 81. Yesterday, my good friend Doug Baum died unexpectedly, a painful loss for all who knew him. Dougie was 38. Doug and Rudy were very different, but both took great pleasure in making people laugh, especially by saying things that might offend people. Without the help of either of these great men, my film career would not be what it is today.

Every Friday night I do a segment on KUFO with Cort and Fatboy. Tonight’s show will be a special segment, dedicated to Doug and Rudy, both of whom brought great joy and plenty of laughs to my life. If you have the time, please tune in to KUFO at around 9pm PST (my segment starts between 9 and 9:15pm). You can also check out the podcast after the fact.

Remembering Doug

The first time I ever saw Doug Baum, he intimidated the crap out of me. He was huge, his head was shaved, and he was covered in tattoos. Based on my very first impression, if I was casting a movie and needed someone to play an evil, skinhead trucker, I probably would have cast Doug. But after talking to him for just a few minutes, my initial first impression went right out the window, and I quickly came to realize that Doug was as close to a teddy bear as one person can be.

Rudy Ray Moore – Rest in Peace

It is with great sadness that I must report the death of Rudy Ray Moore, comedian, musician, filmmaker and actor best known to the world as Dolemite. Rudy first made a name for himself working the “chitlin’ circuit” as a foul-mouthed comedian whose party albums made him a star. In the 1970s, he branched out into movies with his classic blaxploitation films that included Dolemite and The Human Tornado. Rudy was also famous for his comedic toasts—long jokes that were delivered as elaborate rhymes—which earned him a reputation as one of the founding fathers of rap. Indeed, his influence on the world of rap is beyond measure. Rudy passed away in Akron, Ohio, at the age of 81.

dvd review: TRAILER PARK OF TERROR

If you are a hardcore fan of horror movies, at some point you have to ask yourself, “How much am I willing to forgive?” By this I mean that all too often horror fans can be forgiving of a movie simply by virtue of the fact that it is horror. It’s like something turns off in their brains, or perhaps their brains were never turned on. Either way, these fans—and you know who you are—will pretty much accept anything as long as it has a scary moment or two and some splatter effects. Forget about story. Forget about originality. Forget about character development. And if you’re one of those people, you’ll really like Trailer Park of Terror.