I hate horror movies. I hate them not just because they are stupid but because I hate to be scared. I remember that the first horror movie I watched was “The Grudge.” I thought it would be really cool on Halloween in eighth grade to watch my first horror movie in the dark to add eeriness, and I wasn’t scared by the movie at all. It was rated PG-13, so it wasn’t the ultimate in scary movies. But I plan on facing my fear and going to “The Final Destination” in 3D. Hopefully that will do what “The Grudge” couldn’t.
Random Factoid #21
18 08 2009Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Halloween, Horror Movies, Random Factoid, The Final Destination, The Grudge
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #19
16 08 2009It should come as no surprise to you that I had several birthday parties when I was younger at the movies. Here is what I remember about each of them.
Age 5 – 1997: The movie was “Rocket Man,” which I have seen snippets of since and I now realize is one of the dumbest movies ever made. I don’t remember specifics about the party itself, but I do remember that we had it at the now defunct Meyerland Cinema in Houston.
Age 7 – 1999: The movie was “Toy Story 2,” which is still one of my all-time favorites. We hosted it at the AMC Studio 30 theater, and I remember that we got to go upstairs, which is restricted to the general public, to the special party room. The only other thing particularly memorable was that one of my friends had to leave in the first five minutes because he was terrified by Buzz Lightyear on his own planet (which turned out to be Rex playing a video game). And he was one of the tough kids,
Age 8 – 2000: The movie was “The Grinch,” which disgraces the name of Dr. Seuss. It was our first party at the new Edwards Greenway Palace 24 theater, and we organized the party through them. It turned out to be a very bad decision. They promised to reserve us a row, but they didn’t tell us it would be the FRONT ROW in front of a large rail. And to make things worse, there was a screaming baby next to us.
Age 9 – 2001: The movie was “Monsters, Inc.,” another classic. We did the party at Edwards Greenway Palace 24 again, but we didn’t organize it through them. I remember having a fit because I wanted to have the party on the movie’s first day, but someone else sent out invites for a party that day before I did.
Age 13 – 2005: The movie was “Man of the Year,” a pretty bad one. I was 13 and dying to go out and see a PG-13 movie despite the fact that anyone can get into one without being 13. I had 4 friends to my house, and against my better judgement and their will, I made them leave fun in my backyard to go see an awful movie that only I had any desire to see.
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Tags: Birthday Party, Man of the Year, Monsters Inc., Random Factoid, Rocket Man, The Grinch, Toy Story 2
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #18
15 08 2009I was always big into having imaginary friends when I was younger, mostly from movie characters. The only specific ones I remember are the last ones I had, Carmen and Juni from “Spy Kids.”
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Tags: Random Factoid, Spy Kids
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Random Factoid #17
14 08 2009I have only been to one midnight showing of a movie. That was “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the highest grossing midnight showing ever. It was set up to be a perfect night: an advanced screening of “(500) Days of Summer” at 7:30 and “Harry Potter” at midnight. But unfortunately, getting to the theater an hour early was not enough to get into the advanced screening. So my friend and I just kind of hung around, but around 9:00, I could feel my eyes starting to close. I dashed to Kroger and stocked up on Emergen-C and Diet Coke, and I lasted until 3:30 A.M. when I climbed into my bed.
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Tags: (500) Days of Summer, Diet Coke, Emergen-C, Harry Potter 6, Midnight, Random Factoid
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #16
13 08 2009I guess I just have tickets on the brain, so today’s factoid is another one about my obsession with movie tickets.
I once duped a friend into going to a later showtime of a movie because I had seen the theater that it was showing in and I had just been to see a movie in that same theater. In an effort to make my collection more diverse, if you will, I convinced him to wait another 30 minutes under the impression that the more recent one was nearly sold out.
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Tags: Movie Tickets, Random Factoid
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #15
12 08 2009When you buy tickets from the automatic ticket machine at my favorite movie theater (see Random Factoid #3), the tickets are not the same height as the ones in my ticket collection. The ones I prefer look like this:
The taller ones look like this:
When I went to see “The Hangover” back in June, Edwards refused to let my 17-year-old friend buy me a ticket to the movie because it was rated R. I then marched over to the automated ticket booth and bought my own, battling my hatred for the tall tickets. When it printed, I made my friend switch with me because her ticket would fit better in my ticket collection.
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Tags: Edwards Theaters, Movie Tickets, Random Factoid, The Hangover
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #14
11 08 2009When I was about 6 years old (in 1998), I became infatuated with writing my favorite movie characters’ birthdays on my calendar. I put most of them in October because my birthday is in October. I remember Hallie and Annie, the twins from “The Parent Trap” played by Lindsay Lohan, were on October 11th (the only reason I remember this is because they say that is their birthday in the movie, which I watched this weekend in Florida). The only other character I can remember writing on the calendar is Me Me Seku from the Tim Allen comedy “Jungle 2 Jungle.” I am positive that there were many more, but my memory fails me.
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Tags: Birthday, Jungle 2 Jungle, Lindsay Lohan, October, Random Factoid, The Parent Trap
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #13
10 08 2009In third grade, I printed off movie posters from allposters.com and sold them for 50¢ each. This lasted for a few weeks until my teacher consulted the school handbook and decided that it was against school rules to operate a business on campus.
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Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #12
9 08 2009I have 2 movie posters hanging in my room. The first is for “Gone in 60 Seconds,” a movie which I am not too particularly fond of, but it is signed by Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie. The second is for “We Are Marshall,” and you can understand why I want that one hanging, although often times I wonder why on earth I want to walk into my room and look into the face of Matthew McConaughey.
I also pick up smaller posters on giveaway tables at movie theaters and hang them on my bulletin board. Right now, the only thing hanging is “(500) Days of Summer.”
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Tags: (500) Days of Summer, Angelina Jolie, Gone in 60 Seconds, Matthew McConaughey, Nicolas Cage, Random Factoid, We Are Marshall
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #11
8 08 2009I hate watching unrated cuts of movies. I always want to see the theatrical cut because after seeing “Bruno,” I found out that anything can get an R-rating. The director could include practically whatever he wanted, but there is a reason that he did not include it in the version that the masses go see. So I figure that the rated version, while tamer, is probably what the director wanted you to see.
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Tags: Bruno, R Rated, Random Factoid, Theatrical Cut, Unrated
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #10
7 08 2009I was often made fun of when I was younger for my laugh. Some people said it was too loud, others just said it was just plain obnoxious and wierd-sounding. Some of you might be wondering what on earth that has to do with movies. Well, it has influenced the way I watch comedic movies. I hate to watch comedies in theaters where there aren’t many people because I am afraid that I will my distinctive laugh will be the only one to ring out in the theater and create an awkward moment. So to combat this, I usually go to comedies on opening weekend or, at the very least, at night.
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Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #9/Shameless Advertisement #1
6 08 2009The length of a movie should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
– Alfred Hitchcock
RANDOM FACTOID:
I hate going to the bathroom during movies. If you read Random Factoid #7 about how I hate watching movies when they aren’t exactly from the beginning, then you might have seen this coming. Part of the problem is the giant cups at movie theaters. The small is enough to burst the bladders of a family of four.
SHAMELESS ADVERTISEMENT:
I honestly have no idea how I stumbled across this site. But www.runpee.com is a site that tells you exactly when you should go the bathroom during a movie. It tells you the exact time in the movie, what you will be missing, and how long you have in the john. There is even an iPhone app for this, so it really comes in handy when you are in theater. If only I knew about this site when I went to see “King Kong”…
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Tags: King Kong, Random Factoid, RunPee, Shameless Advertisement
Categories : Random Factoids, Shameless Advertisements
Random Factoid #8
5 08 2009I have only fallen asleep while watching a movie in a theater once.
The movie was “Iron Man.” I love the movie; in fact, I just watched it yesterday and I think I may like it even more than I thought. But I had just spent a week at a Young Life camp in Canada, and I was completely spent. By 10:50 when the movie started, we had traveled for 8 hours on buses and ferries. I managed to stay awake for the first half, but I fell asleep right aroud when Tony flies in his new suit for the first time. I was awakened from my sweet slumber by the hand of my Young Life leader yanking me forward. He later explained to me that he had tried gently nudging and talking, but eventualy it came to the point where he had to give me a hard pull, and I would either wake up or get a pavement sandwich.
Watching movies at my humble abode is a different story. If it is past 11:00, I often slip into the world of my dreams, even in some of my favorite movies.
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Tags: Iron Man, Random Factoid
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #7
4 08 2009I have only been to a movie alone twice.
The first time was in December 2006. It was the last day “Stranger than Fiction,” the Will Ferrell movie, was showing in theater. Finals were over, and I had spent all December studying to boost my grades to have options for high school. And I had relatives in town all Thanksgiving, so I didn’t have a chance to make a break for the theater. One day, my mom and brother decided they were going to see “Unaccompanied Minors.” I checked the showtimes and sure enough, there was a “Stranger than Fiction” that started about 20 minutes later. So I tagged along, sat through 15 miserable minutes of “Unaccompanied Minors,” and then went to my theater.
The second time was this year, at the end of February after practically every Oscar was given to “Slumdog Millionaire.” I had seen that “Revolutionary Road” was performing poorly, and I figured that the theater would probably give it one more week to satisfy Oscar stragglers like me. But the word was it that the movie was a real downer, and I couldn’t get any of my friends or family to go with me. So, rather than wait until June for the DVD, I decide to go on a Saturday morning before rehearsal. It was probably wise not to go with anyone because it gave me some time to reflect on the movie and not spread my depression to other people.
NOTE TO READER: I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why can’t this guy just say ‘I have seen two movies alone’ and be done with it?” Well, to you I say that I have a really strange memory. I can remember lots of details about something that I really love. For some people, this is parties or food, for me, it is movies. And plus, if I get Alzheimer’s, I can look at this blog to factoid #7 or #24601 and get a sense of what I have forgotten. So that is why I make you suffer through incredibly wordy and possibly superfluous factoids. Because I can and I am the writer and I have the power.
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Tags: Random Factoid, Revolutionary Road, Stranger than Fiction, Will Ferrell
Categories : Random Factoids
Random Factoid #5
2 08 2009My parents were very protective of the movies I saw, and I will always remember the first PG-13 and R movies that I ever saw.
The first PG-13 movie I saw was “Ever After: A Cinderella Story.” It was shown to me by a babysitter who now runs her own stationery line.
The first PG-13 movie I saw in theaters was “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde.” I got to see it as a reward for my days spent fighting off a viral pneumonia in the Monterrey County Hospital (that’s right, I got pneumonia while vacationing in Pebble Beach).
The first R movie I saw was “Crimson Tide.” My dad started watching it on Encore when I was in the room, and he let me watch it with him.
The first R movie I saw in theaters was “Flags of our Fathers.” The only reason that I was allowed to see it was because I had read the book for a school assignment.
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Tags: Crimson Tide, Ever After, Flags of our Fathers, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2, Pebble Beach, PG-13, R Rated, Random Factoid
Categories : Random Factoids
Marshall and the Movies 
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