I mainly chose this because “sweater” rhymes with “letter”, but still, pretty cute. [ashliewut]

MORNING LINKS:

• This week’s Frotcast: Black Dynamite director Scott Sanders and Tonya Harding fan fiction. |Frotcast|

• Why Can’t Celebrities Use Twitter This Week? |Uproxx|

• Awesome headline, Ufford: “HBO’s Married Retard Documentary.” |WarmingGlow|

• A 230-pound Mexican dude with vampire teeth and a Batman costume robbed a McDonald’s. Shockingly, he is still at large. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ‘LARGE’! |GammaSquad|

• This is by far my favorite Chilean miner joke so far. |Twitter|

• 20 Cats in Festive Pumpkin Costumes. |Buzzfeed|

• Kim Kardashian has the kind of ass a man could really sink a tranquilizer dart into. |WWTDD|

• 10 Signature Moments of Season Four of “Mad Men” Reduced to GIFs. |Pajiba|

• Submit your pictures for “My Dad is a Bro.”  Some fun stuff there. |MyDadIsaBro|

• Michael Bay’s “Plato’s Apology”, the hand written script. |HolyTaco|

• I’m on a Cow! The Old Spice Parodies. |Gunaxin|

• 9 inappropriate movie costumes. |Screenjunkies|

• The 10 most brutal Facebook ownings. |Guyism|

• Does shotgunning a Four Loko in a room full of dudes get you laid?  An experiment. |BostonBarstoolSports|

• The Last Curtain Call: Hip-Hop Salutes Bobby Cox. |SmokingSection|

FINALLY: Here’s a job inquiry letter Hunter S. Thompson wrote to the Vancouver Sun in 1957.  F*cking 53 years, and people still aren’t even close to this honest in cover letters: Read the rest of this entry »

As if I didn’t already have enough reason to hope Jerry Bruckheimer goes missing in some sort of mysterious, CGI-related accident, it now sounds as if Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (“The One No One Wanted”) may delay the release of The Rum Diary.  We know Rum Diary is at least mostly finished and just waiting around for a release.  There’s been no word on when we might see it, but FilmSchoolRejects recently spoke to Aaron Eckhardt, whose glorious chin plays Sanderson in the movie, and he said this:

“I don’t know. I heard next year that’s [when] it’s going to come out. Johnny is making Pirates of the Caribbean and I think that he’s too busy to promote something right now. He’s working in Hawaii. I think they’re going to wait to put it out next year.”

Keep in mind this is hearsay from an actor, who’d be far from the first to know, but it’s not like I needed more reasons to hate Pirates of the Caribbean.  Although if what he says is true, it’s nice to know that Warner Independent Pictures and Co are at least planning to promote the film instead of just chucking it into a couple Landmark theaters to please the fixies and scarves crowd and calling it a day.  So maybe I shouldn’t be mad.  But I AM! I WANNA SEE THE MOVIE NOW!  (*stamps feet, pouts*)  DON’T YOU MAKE ME HOLD MY BREATH, I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY.  (*coughs up Cheeto crumbs, puffs inhaler*)

Hold on, I think the banner pic actually looks better with a chicken.

You know the film industry is screwed up when a finished, Johnny-Depp starring movie adaptation of Hunter Thompson’s The Rum Diary sits around waiting for a release date (we know it’s finished because it’s had test screenings), while the movie version of magic 8-ball and Must Love Queefs (starring Katherine Heigl) get fast tracked.  So far, all we know is that The Rum Diary will hit theaters sometime this year.  Nonetheless, it’s nice to know that movies we care about are actually out there.

These new pictures come from FilmTotaal (you can see bigger versions there) and they don’t really tell us much besides “OMG OMG, it’s Johnny Depp playing Hunter Thompson again!” (*throws wet panties at computer screen*).  The banner pic shows Johnny Depp as fictionalized Thompson protagonist Paul Kemp, Giovanni Ribisi as Moberg, the disgusting, drunken newspaper man, and the guy on the back of the motorcycle is Michael Rispoli, playing Bob Salas.  I’ve always said that Giovanni Ribisi is a highly underrated actor, but then again, f*ck him.  You think you’re better’n me?  I have a podcast.

Oh, and my blatant ploy for traffic tells me that it also stars Amber Heard. (*cough*) NAKED LESBIAN UPSKIRT NIPSLIP DOGSEX! (*cough, cough*)

Motion Picture Corporation of America CEO Brad Krevoy just bought the rights to a 2004 Hunter S. Thompson Vanity Fair article (co-written by Mark Seal), “Prisoner of Denver.”  The piece (which used to be online, but so far as I can tell, isn’t anymore — if you have a library card, I believe you can read it here) was about Lisl Auman, who was 21 when she was charged with murder and sentenced to life without possibility in parole, even though all she did was be in the same car as the guy who pulled the trigger (Thompson mentions the case in his ESPN column here as well as in Kingdom of Fear).  Here’s some background on the case from Talk Left:

Lisl Auman was originally sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Denver police officer Bruce Vanderjagt. Officer Vanderjagt was killed by skinhead Matthaus Jahenig following a police chase and traffic stop. Lisl was a passenger in Jahenig’s car. Earlier that day, he had helped her break into her ex-roomate’s apartment to retrieve her belongings. Lisl was in the back of the patrol car when Jahenig unexpectedly shot the officer. He then killed himself. Lisl served 8 years of her life sentence in the Colorado State Penitentiary before the conviction was overturned [after Hunter's death] by the Colorado Supreme Court for improper jury instructions on the burglary charge, which required the felony murder conviction also to be overturned.

Here’s Thompson’s account from Kingdom of Fear:

Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, there was some confusion as to the status of the Johnny Depp-starring Rum Diary movie, written and directed by Bruce Robinson, adapted from the Hunter S. Thompson novel.  The story was that it wouldn’t be finished in time for Cannes next month, which was worrisome considering it had been shooting more than a year ago.  Well worry no longer, because it’s at least finished enough to have a test screening in Huntington Beach last night.  FilmDrunkard Rob was there to tell us about it, because it’s not like he had anything better to do:

I was approached by the test screener creepers who hang out after flicks, and when he said Rum Diary, I practically snatched the invitation out of his hand.  I almost f*cked it up for myself though, saying I was in the industry and they weren’t gonna let me in.  But then I told em I’m still but a lowly student in a documentary filmmaking class and busted out my old ID card for good measure, thanking my lucky stars I still hold on to that relic.

The Scoop: It’s not Fear and Loathing, but that’s OK. Depp’s rendition of a younger Hunter has all the familiarity we love, but he’s not familiar with the drugs yet, still just a boozehound, forming his greater ideals.  His sidekick this time around is an alright dude [Aaron Eckhart as Sanderson, I believe. -Ed.], no Benicio that’s for damn sure.  But it’s Giovanni Ribisi who steals the show*. You see in Ribisi’s degenerate, Nazi sympathizing, junkie state, the beginnings of Hunter/Kemp’s drug aspirations. His every line is quotable and his every appearance is like a surprise mugging – but by cuddly unicorns, which turns out alright in the long run.  Lastly, Amber Heard (pictured) is the mermaid of my dreams, but you can tell the upper brass had a field day in the cutting room, leaving all gratuitous nudity on the floor, being one of the only detriments to the film.

Read the rest of this entry »