I’m a huge theater buff. Even with a few shitty experiences here and there throughout the years, I still love going to the movie theater to enjoy a good flick with a crowd of interesting and often strange individuals (oh, and some friends too I suppose). A good comedy just seems so much funnier when you can laugh at it with a darkened room full of complete strangers, and the excitement and suspense of a good adventure flick simply feels heightened when you can oogle everything on a seventy-foot screen. So, let’s just say I spend many of my Friday nights enjoying the smell of popcorn and the bright glow of a movie screen.

This leads me to the main point of my little story here. I go to a ton of movies… and out of a somewhat compulsive habit, I’ve never purposefully thrown away a movie ticket stub. I save them… all of them. And I’ve been doing this for nearly 11 years. Now, some may say that this is an insane thing to do. “Why would you save those?” these visionless people would say. “What will you do with them? What’s the point?” Well, this weekend I realized exactly what the point of my strange addiction is.

I’m currently working to compile a list containing the name, date, time and price of every movie ticket in my collection? Why, you ask? To find out exactly how much of my hard-earned money I’ve spent on the theater in the last decade, of course! Not to mention plot the increase of ticket prices over the last 11 years or so using real world data and oh so much more!

So check back soon for an interesting look into where much of my monthly paycheck goes! And if I’m not the only one with this ticket-packrat mentality, feel free to let me know in the comments.

EDIT (07-10-08): I’ve decided to add runtimes for each movie as well (as listed by IMDB) to see how much time I’ve spent in a theater absorbing the warm, soothing glow of a movie screen.

UPDATE (07-12-08): My list has been completed and I’ll be posting the results shortly!

UPDATE (07-24-08): Holy shit, the results have been posted! Check ‘em out here.

Hey, it happens… what can you do?

Quaaaaaake ooonnn meeeeee… Quaaaaaake meeeeee ooonnn. I’ll be goooone, in a day or twooooooooo! Damn, I’d love to cave Morten Harket’s charcoal-sketched forehead in with a well-placed rocket. Maybe do battle with Chris Griffin. Oh, the possibilities!

In honor of my country’s 232nd Birthday, enjoy this video of a Danish fireworks factory explosion! Yeah, it destroyed 50 homes, damaged 750 more and killed a firefighter…. but, OooOOoo, the colors! Happy 4th!

Written, Produced, & Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
Released: June 13, 2008

I was really looking forward to this flick the first time I set eyes on the movie poster. It had a very cryptic, creepy tone, and once I heard this was to be M. Night Shyamalan’s first R-Rated feature, I was downright giddy. But the more and more I saw the trailers and read exceprts from early reviews, I slowly started to get worried that this may not be the big return to form I was hoping for. Though many have been put off by his movies for years, I’ve greatly enjoyed all of Night’s flicks. Even with their we-know-it’s-coming twist endings and somewhat predictable storytelling at times, they’ve always felt well-written and, more importantly, well-acted to me. Well, that is… up until now. The Happening is a prime example of a good idea that is crushed into utter lifelessness by dull, listless directing and acting.

Holy hell, Frito-Lay needs to hire a new marketing team. If this is the best they can come up with, they really aren’t deserving of their paychecks.

Hey, how about we take some bro’s modeling photo and use cut-n-paste blackmagic to jam Cheetos up his nose! Then let’s make it look like he’s lovingly gazing at a cloud of cheese dust as it gently caresses his beefy arm. Genius! There’s nothing like a suggestive blend of interspecies love and mucus-covered corn snacks that makes me want to munch on a handful of those cheesy little bastards. I’m guessing they had to crop the photo above the waist so we wouldn’t be put off by this dude’s  orange dust-covered junk. Also, what is it with these designers taking headshots and photoshopping stuff into nostils?!

Click the photo to view the beautiful full-size version!