by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I’m more of a stream of consciousness kind of guy.”
– David Arquette
David Arquette made a name for himself in the Scream trilogy and since then has had a long career in television and film. But for his directorial debut, The Tripper, Arquette has gone back to the horror genre, this time infusing it with political overtones. The Tripper is about a Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer that targets a bunch of hippies.
While some may be surprised that Arquette may be stepping into directing, it is no shock because he comes from one of the most talented and prolific Hollywood legacies ever. The Arquette family in show business started with Cliff Arquette, better known as Charley Weaver and spawned Lewis Arquette and Davids sisters Patricia and Rosanna. Most recently Arquette stepped back into television with the sitcom In Case of Emergency and co-producing Courteney Coxs show Dirt. I got a chance to talk with the first time director after his long grassroots bus tour promoting The Tripper.
Read our exclusive interview with David Arquette on SuicideGirls.com.
by Brad Warner
About a week ago I saw a posting on Facebook regarding a big Buddhist gathering in upstate New York. The post read as follows, “Next week, New York’s Garrison Institute will be hosting some 230 Buddhist teachers for a conference on a range of topics concerning the future of Buddhist practice in North America, including legacy, succession, lineage, ethics, and ‘how to preserve and adapt the Dharma in new conditions without losing depth.’ The conference, known as the Maha Teacher Council, is by invitation only.”
I reposted this link on my own Facebook page with the following comments, “Oh nice. A self-selected group of important Buddhists get together to decide what’s best for the rest of us. Gatherings like this worry me a lot. The intent is to create a unified sense of what Buddhism ought to be. It’s like trying to create a unified sense of what art ought to be. Very Soviet sounding to me.” This generated a lot of commentary and crosstalk that’s still going on even as I type this.
One of the initial comments asked if I was “butt hurt” at not being invited. I’m not sure if “butt hurt” is how I would describe my feelings. But the commenter was correct in assuming I was not invited. And he was on the right track in thinking that my not having been invited was part of my problem with the event. But it wasn’t because I was “butt hurt.”
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by A.J. Focht
Welcome to your extra long conference edition of Ur W33K 1N G33K!
X-Men: First Class is being widely hailed as the best super hero movie since The Dark Knight, and it ruled the box-office this weekend grossing $56 million. The prequel to the X-Men series may have beat out other current films on its opening weekend, but it doesn’t measure up to any of its predecessors, or in this case protégés. First Class had the smallest opening weekend audience of any of the X-Men movies. Despite all the critics praise, the film appears to have suffered from the sins of its…future, as the past two X-Men movies (X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) nearly destroyed all the credibility the series had built. Still, they’ve managed to win back many of their estranged fans and currently hold an audience rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I would have a problem with having kids.”
– Thora Birch
Thora Birch has been entertaining us for ¾ of her life, from kids films like Monkey Trouble and Hocus Pocus all the way up to her breakout roles in American Beauty and Ghost World. Now Birch concentrates on smaller films with strong character roles and her latest is the horror film Dark Corners where her character wakes up one day as a different person being stalked by terrifying creatures.
Read our exclusive interview with Thora Birch on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“Your movie can get fucked in one night”
– Diego Luna
Diego Luna has long been one of Mexicos favorite actors but it wasnt until Y tu mama también became an international hit that he started working in America. Since then hes had some great success with the conman film Criminal and the Steven Spielberg directed The Terminal. But for his own directorial debut Luna has looked back to his native country and created a documentary about one of his heroes, the legendary Mexican boxer Julio Cèsar Chávez. The documentary is showing at New Yorks Tribeca Film Festival and I got a chance to talk with Luna on his very busy first day of press about the film.
Read our exclusive interview with Diego Luna on SuicideGirls.com.
by Nicole Powers
“I get so nervous about working with people that I like.”
– Mark Ronson
Producer, DJ, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ronson has been responsible for some of the freshest sounds of the last few years. Despite his impressive résumé, which includes Amy Winehouse’s seminal album Back to Black, and tracks for Lily Allen (“Littlest Things”) and Adele (“Cold Shoulder”), he’s also a rather humble and an eminently likeable chap, which, along with the aforementioned, explains why so many marquee artists are keen to work with him today.
Ronson came to prominence with work that showcased his own highly stylized aesthetic, which combines a ’60s Motown sound with cool danceable grooves and hipster chic, as evidenced on Back To Black, which was released in 2006, and his second solo full length, Version, which came out the following year. However, he’s not a man to be pigeonholed.
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by Aaron Colter
There’s been a collective pants shitting in the comic book industry this week as DC Comics announced that they would relaunch nearly every series this September as a #1 issue, making the content available for download on the same day as print versions hit stores.
Shop owners are crying the death of the industry, and other publishers are trying to play catch-up. Meanwhile, DC Comics is taking a huge gamble on its latest venture. It’s no secret that the company has been playing second-fiddle to Marvel Comics, now backed by the giant Disney corporation, and cleaned house to make room for new executives from a more traditional background that owners Warner Bros. found necessary.
As harsh as it may sound, DC Comics can’t be supported by serialized issues that are sold to only a few hundred thousand costumers, at best, every month. The real money made by Batman, Superman, and all the other beloved characters, is in stupid shit, like T-shirts, movies, action figures, cartoons, and anything else you can slap a logo on to make it appeal to children and nerds.
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