Another American Remake Of An Asian Horror Film?

Why? Can someone please answer this question? Why don't they just release the original Asian versions into the theaters? I'll tell you why - because familiar actors sell remakes. That's the draw for me. When I'm watching the Asian versions, there's no one familiar reminding me that I'm watching a movie. It makes it seem more real and almost like a documentary. It's being taken out of your comfort zone of knowing it's just a movie. Do I like some of the remakes? Yeah - they're cool. The Grudge wasn't that bad, but it still paled in comparison to the original. After seeing the original one, I had trouble sleeping for a month. The Ring was decent. The Ring 2 was alright. It had some cool stuff in it. That short film that went in between the two movies - I think it was called Rings or something like that - was better than either one of the actual films. The Grudge 2 I thought was better than the first one. I'll end up seeing The Eye remake because I'm curious to see how they translate it to American. The original has some great moments in it.

Joy To The Whirled

It's been a pretty cool week so far. On Saturday, we did Santa pictures at the APOTAC Christmas Sale. All the proceeds went to the Grand Prairie Food & Clothing Co-op. I'll post some pics of that as soon as I get them uploaded.

I got the first issue of KISS comics from Dark Horse. Pretty cool. I also got a couple of cool comics called OZ. They look like a twisted version of The Wizard Of OZ. I haven't had time to read them yet, but they look great. I got a few Battle Of The Planets comics, as well. The real find, though, was a ton of Planet Of The Apes comics from the early 90's. They are a black and white direct follow-up to the 20th Century Fox films. Eddie also had the Ape Nation comics, which is a miniseries putting Alien Nation and Planet Of The Apes together. I just couldn't seem to get interested. It seems too ridiculous.

Then we went to all the relatives different houses and had Christmas for her Dad at our house. I got some cool stuff: 30 Days Of Night t-shirt; Psycho 2, 3, and 4 double disc set; Battlestar Galactica Razor Unrated, Star Wars memory stick, 2 KISS biographies, South Fork t-shirt; a drill; and a bunch of other stuff.

I got Lizz a set of Christmas plates and serving bowls, a Lazy Susan, and some Christmas oven mits. She also got one of those Shark vacuum cleaner / dustbuster combos (I have dubbed it Jaws), Nightmare Before Christmas Sandy t-shirt, and some other stuff.

Everett got a ton of stuff. All the electronic stuff we got him were jacked up. The Zen-V we got him is supposed to be like an iPod - play movies and music. It doesn't play movies, so we have to take it back and get the right one. We got him one of those fake guitars that help instruct kids to play. The battery door was jammed and we couldn't get batteries in it. He also got Star Wars: Battlefront 2; Capain America plush; Clone trooper plush; Yoda plush; new Build-A-Bear slippers; and other stuff.

Ephraim got some Spider-Man slippers that light up; a ton of wooden trains, planes, and cars; a Spider-Man poster; a train table that he sits on top of and plays with; Handy Manny tool set with all the tool characters; and some other cool stuff.

I finally got to watch one of my Christmas slasher flicks - the remake of Black Christmas. Pretty good. It had a bunch of people in it I didn't know from other movies.

I have Christmas Evil, the original Black Christmas, and all five Silent Night, Deadly Night movies left to watch. Will I get around to it? Who knows.

We went to Prairie Lights last night. It was really cool. Miles of lights that lead to a little square with a carousel and spinning bear ride. Then when you go inside the tent, they have this light show synchronized to music. I was impressed.

Well, it's about time

It always amazes me to find out what films haven't already been put in the Registry. Here's two that should have already been put in there. I haven't looked, but Star Wars better be in there.

From scifi.com:

"Encounters Added To Registry

Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Bob Zemeckis' Back to the Future were among the 25 classic American films added by the Library of Congress to its national registry. The films are chosen because they are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant, the library said in its announcement.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) was called an intelligent SF film in which the climactic scene is set at Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

Back to the Future (1985) is a time-travel comedy/drama in which a youth, played by Michael J. Fox, finds himself stranded in 1955 and must teach his father how to become a man, repair the space/time continuum and save his family from being erased from existence.

The selections were made as part of a program aimed at preserving the nation's movie heritage. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act of 1992, each year the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Film Preservation Board, names 25 films to the National Film Registry to be preserved for all time. This year's selections bring to 475 the number of motion pictures in the registry."

Christmas has truly begun

I love Christmas. It is one of my two favorite holidays. The other holiday being Halloween. Very strange, eh? I guess it's my light side and my dark side coming out at different times. Christmas is not just a holiday - it's an event. All the trips to different relatives' houses, the day after Thanksgiving early morning shopping, the last minute shopping for everything you forgot, all the cool movies, etc. Most people hate all the rush and trouble, but I absolutely celebrate in it. So here's to Christmas - and yes - I did say Christmas - I am a firm believer that it is the celebration of Christ's birth and should stay that way - even through all the craziness.

You had better be marking the occasion by watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

The Neverending Search For Good Christian Horror

So I've been reading this book. Pretty good. I am constantly on a journey to find something in the horror genre written, directed, or made by a Christian that really gets it right. I've come close to finding it a couple of times. Megiddo kind of hit it. While it definitely had it's flaws, the special effects were at least on the mark or close for the time. Then I saw The Visitation with Edward Furlong, which was actually pretty good. There's a new movie coming out called House that looks like it might be good. I found out that the director that did The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is a Christian, which sparked my interest to see that movie and find out what it's all about.

On to This Present Darkness. Pretty good book. It's a little fundamentalist for me in some spots, but his depiction and descriptions of how the spiritual world works in conjunction with our world is quite disturbing and thought-provoking. The author has a way of describing and going through a scene and it's dialogue between two people and then showing you the behind the scenes activity of who is controlling those people and their reactions spiritually. I'm pretty impressed.

APOTAC & Friends Pre-Christmas Collectibles Sale

Launching the return of APOTAC's Comic, Toy, and Collectibles Swap Meet in 2008!

With Christmas fast approaching, A Piece of the Action Collectibles is proud to announce our upcoming "APOTAC & Friends" sale to be held in Grand Prairie on Saturday, December 22, 2007! Admission is free! Here are the fine details:

What? APOTAC & Friends Pre-Christmas Collectibles Sale

When? Saturday, Decemver 22, 2007 from 11 AM to 4 PM

Where? Logos Youth Center, 121 N. Center Street, Grand Prairie

Why? Free admission to start with, and APOTAC has too many comics that we don't take to shows any more, as well as plenty of action figures and other collectibles available just in time for Christmas! And we have invited a few of our friends to set up and sell alongside us for this one-day event. All comic books in the APOTAC inventory will be on sale at 50% off the cover price at this sale! We have hundreds to choose from - many from such popular recent series as "52", "Civil War", and "Infinite Crisis".

Action figures, Star Wars, HeroClix, Comics, G.I. Joe, Autographs, Marvel Legends, Trading Card Sets, Star Trek, Toys, DC Drect, Hot Wheels, and so much more!!!

Scotoma Events is also going to be providing the opportunity for families to get their children's pictures taken with Santa Claus. We can guarantee you that it will be a lot cheaper and quicker than the over-priced and overcrowded lines for Santa at the mall. Pictures will be taken between 1PM and 4PM. They will be $1.00 to receive it via e-mail to print off yourself or $5.00 to get it printed while you wait. All proceeds are going to the Grand Prairie Food & Clothing Co-op.What a deal!!! You can come buy comics, collectibles, toys, and autographs for those last minute gifts and see Santa all in the same day. It doesn't get any better than that.

Any comic/collectibles dealers or just those who are looking to sell off some of their collections - tables are still available for this event at a mere $15.00 each! Please contact Cole at jedicole@yahoo.com if you wish to sign up for a table or two. Limited space is available and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Please use "APOTAC Sale" in your subject line if you are interested. For more info, go to www.myspace.com/apotacswapmeet.

Hammer Horror Holiday Tonight!!!

The Hammer Horror Holiday is tonight at Lone Star Comics at the Central Arlington location. Come out and say hi. In celebration, here is a trailer for the new Hammer movie coming out soon.

Beyond The Rave

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Congratulations to my good Buddy Zach

I couldn't be more proud if it was my own son. Mr. Zach Bard is graduating from College on this day the 15th of December in the year 2007. Congratulations and best wishes to you.

Harry Potter book release photos

I just added photos from the Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows Book Release Party. This was pretty cool. Tons of people were there. Hot Topic sold Potter merchandise. There was a costume and trivia contest. They were handing out free flavored jelly beans. Everett won a contest and got a free book. Pretty cool. Once again, some of the pics are kind of shoddy because I took them with my camera phone. Go to the Pics page on my personal MySpace to check them out.