I was at Dark Delcacies on Sunday for the David Morrell signing and he was talking with a screenwriter, Matt Venne, who adapted Pelts and is currently writing Rambo 5. Just thought I'd share that.

My boyfriend's 16 year old son is a voracious reader and seems to like a lot of what I like but has never read F. Paul Wilson. I'm wondering in everyone's opinion what would the best place to start for him be? He, like me, likes to read series in order - and I know I could start him off on the 1st Repairman Jack book - but I'm wondering if some of the other related books might be better to start with. Help? I'd like to get him some of these for Christmas and just wanted to start him off in the right spot! Thanks!!

Today I saw "Death Race" in a theatre.

Well, I knew this is Jason Statham's action movie. When I saw this trailer, it looked silly. But today was boring, and I had coupon tickets.

Actually, it was not bad, but not great. The whole race scenes looked like video game. But it was not like "Speed Racer". "Death Race" is rusty metal version of "Mad Max 2" in prison. Also, don't care to story. The story is corny and mediocre.

I liked only one thing. Joan Allen as bitchy warden. I saw some of her movies. Tucker, In Country, The Contender, and The Bourne Supremacy. So far she played sophisticated characters. But in this "Death Race", she surprised me. She barked, "Okay cocksucker! Fuck with me, and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk."

:eek6:

You can get a two minute sneak peek of LOST at YouTube.

I couldn't find a thread about his movie. I love it. Kevin Kline is a great actor.:yesnod:

I am also a big fan of Joe R Lansdale's books, especially his characters Hap and Leonard. If you aren't familiar, look them up- the books are hilarious!

I know that they met Andrew Vachss' lawyer charcater Veil once, and I instantly thought about a crossover where they had an adventure with Jack. Just wondering if anyone else had ever considered this. They live in, and have their adventures, in Texas, which could mean a wild and wooly ride for our city bred fix-it man...

I originally wrote this on my new site SecondChanceTV.net but thought I'd post it here. Recently I've become a fan of, well, fan edits. The original article was posted here in the hopes of bringing greater awareness to this new movement.

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There is a movement I've recently come across I wanted to share: fan edits. Fan editors are a group of people that for one reason or another want to modify films either to improve the film, preserve it or create extended cuts.

The first time I'd heard of a "fan edit" was when The Phantom Edit (aka The Phantom Menace) was released in the early 2000's. I can only assume that this is truly the grandfather of fan edits, and the group has grown ever since.

A few months ago I was re-watching the Star War prequels (it always comes back to the prequels) and really wished there was a DVD version of The Phantom Edit. I'd only ever seen MPEG-1 VCD versions at very low resolutions and wanted a version that looked good on my HDTV.

After doing some searching I found the prequel trilogy had been re-edited by a fan editor named Slumberland. Curious, I got my hands on copies.

Slumberland managed to pull off what George Lucas couldn't: he made the prequel films enjoyable. The Phantom Menace (Slumberland's edit is known as Rise of the Sith) cuts approximately 20 minutes of footage, most notably Jar-Jar and Anakin. He also cut the "kid" burp and fart jokes, terrible dialog and most of the exposition. What remains is a streamlined version of The Phantom Menace that is quite enjoyable to watch.

The Coming Storm (aka Attack of the Clones) cut out the bad dialog and vastly improved upon the relationship between Anakin and Padmé. Two deleted scenes from the DVD were added to help smooth over the relationship and now it's a believable courtship.

Fall of the Republic (aka Revenge of the Sith) is handled in much the same way as The Coming Storm. Clunky dialog, exposition and gags are all cut. Also gone is the awkward balcony scene between Anakin and Padmé, the medical droid at the end saying Padmé lost the will to live and Vader's "NOOOOOOO!" is quiet and fades quickly resulting in a sympathetic moment instead of a cringe.

And for those that consider the original trilogies Special Editions as bastardized versions of the originals you're in luck. An editor by the name of Adywan has taken it upon himself to created the ultimate versions of the original trilogy. His first release is obviously Star Wars.

The DVD's released in 2004 had a blue tint to them. This was the first thing he corrected. He also fixed the jump cuts and the matte lines. Dialog changed in the special editions have been changed back to how they originally were. Han shoots first and the Jabba scene has been cut. Adywan even went so far as to fix the lightsabers so they match the rest of the films, sped up the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader and added effects during the attack on the Death Star. All this makes what many fans consider what the special editions should have been: Definitive Editions. (Preview on YouTube)

And now Adywan is working his magic on The Empire Strikes Back, due for release in 2009. Each release appears to take about a year and a half to complete. (Teaser on YouTube)

I've mostly talked about Star Wars in this article but other films have been worked on as well. The Matrix trilogy, Superman... even Dune and Titanic have had their releases extended. Utilizing the script, Dune: The Third Stage gets the film as close to what writer/director David Lynch intended. For those that want an extended cut of Titanic (a 4 hour cut mind you) are in luck with Titanic: The White Star Edition that incorporates many of the deleted scenes.

Unfortunately fan edits aren't easy to come by unless you use what some consider shady means. But all fan editors share one thing in common: they want you to own a copy of the official release before seeking out their edits. They also don't want you paying for their edits. This ensures the studios and filmmakers are still receiving a profit for their hard work.

If you want to learn more about fan edits you can read up at Wikipedia.

If you'd like to see a list of some fan edits please visit The fan edits page over at OriginalTrilogy.com.

I have read the Repairman Jack series from The Tomb through Bloodline. I understand that many fans would like to see a movie based on Repairman Jack, but this just seems stupid to me.

Repairman Jack would work much better as a serialized cable television show. It could be produced much faster than a movie. The books lend themselves to TV more than the silver screen. Recurring characters, recurring themes, drama, humor, action, suspense, plus a bit of the macabre would attract lots of viewers. If the right cast was found, and the right network, like USA or HBO, for example, this show could keep on giving for years. Then, the reruns would be awesome after a couple years.

It just doesn't make sense to me to make a movie based on a character few have heard of. Then, we have to wait X number of years for the next movie. If the Cable show worked well, then the X-File formula could work, and a movie could then come out at year three or four (X-Files waited a little too long).

But a TV show would be great! We could watch it every week, right before or after Burn Notice or House. People jonzing for a Buffy-esque show, or Angel-esque show, or X-Files, or BSG would get their fix. We could Tivo it, watch it on Hulu, download it to iPod, add each season to our Netflix queue.

Someone needs to get moving on this.

I got an email today from Borderlands Press - they are having a holiday sale: 50% (or more) or off ALL books!

That includes FPW's Virgin, Black Wind and the entire special edition Advesary Cycle! Plus free shipping in the continental U.S.!


I did not see this sale advertised on their web site, only in the email I received which says to call 410.877.1781 or email sales at borderlandspress.com to order.

If you were going to buy books this holiday season, check out Borderlands Press. They have some beautiful editions available and they're great folks to do business with.

Hey guys!

I just thought I have to open a thread about the series "How I Met Your Mother". Anyone knows this series? It is legend - wait for it - dary! (Series insider ^^)

It is so funny, you MUST see this.
At the moment the 4th Season is on television in the US.
I watch the series in english, because the german voices and translations are SO bad :-D
Btw: Does anyone know why there is no new episode this evening? You don't have any special day today, do you?

Greetings,
Jamo