After a year which saw the meteoric rise of his film Birdemic: Shock and Terror, from Sundance reject to the pinnacle of cult popularity, James Nguyen is at the top of his game.  The world is his oyster sauce.  So what’s a Vietnamese-born, 44-year-old former software salesman to do once he’s accomplished it all?  Plan a sequel? Duh. Self-publish a memoir? F*ckin’ A.  But on a more personal note, Mr. Nguyen recently announced his engagement to the lovely Phuong Pham (pictured), with whom he’ll be tying the knot next week in Vietnam.  Damn, yo, she pretty.

“Birdemic Director James Nguyen is engaged to Ms. Phuong Pham and is going to get marry on June 15, 2011 in Vietnam!” [James' latest dispatch to fans]

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! (Is it ever, with James?)  In addition to becoming a marry man, his official bio has been updated to reflect his most recent credit, “The Founder of James Sandwiches.” James Nguyen ain’t a businessman, he a business, man.  The James Sandwiches website is pretty sparse at the moment, but so far we know that it’s a sandwich shop (presumably in Vietnam, where he’s been since at least April), it’s going to offer banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches), and it’s opening in 2012.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Straight from the man himself, the shop will be in San Jose. Oh hell yeah. I live in San Francisco, and that is definitely worth the trip.

James Nguyen: Software titan, visionary director, sandwich maven, family man. Congratulations on all your endeavours, James! And here’s to hoping that the wedding reception includes something nice, like a beer party.  “Maybe some time, you an your buddy, you go to wedding.  You need to bring present, so maybe you give Birdemic DVDs.  An then later, the marry couple dancing, maybe they get tired, so you put on Birdemic DVD. Then when you’re hanging out with your family, with your buddy, watching Birdemic, maybe your family want to relax, maybe need place to put feet up, so you make stack of Birdemic DVD.  Then later, maybe your buddy go on honeymoon.  Maybe you have honeymoon of your own, with your Birdemic DVD.”

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Here’s James Nguyen signing a fan’s Birdemic DVD. If you could harness the awkward energy in this video it would be like discovering cold fusion.

MORNING LINKS

• Burnsy reviews the week in Sheen. |Uproxx|
• Another Look At The Hellfire Club In X-Men: First Class. |GammaSquad|
• Jimmy Fallon as Charlie Sheen: Winning. |WarmingGlow|

For a group dressed like British street toughs, they seem really friendly. |CoolDogs|

• Thank God We Are Not Lasers. |TheSmokingSection|
• Blockbuster training video from 1990. |TheDailyWhat|
• More on the college F*cksaw demonstration we discussed on the last Frotcast. Yes, it’s a saw that f*cks. I came, I saw, I f*cked, I came.|BostonBarstoolSports|
• If you only think of Lindy as a Frotcast guest, you might forget that she’s also an awesome writer. |TheStranger|
• The most paused scenes in movie history, now with screencaps. |unrealitymag|
• How Ratings and Trailers Mislead You — And What to Do About It. |Moviefone|
• Ice-T Drops Winning Charlie Sheen Interview Remix (VIDEO) |TVSquad|
• Paula Abdul reports her own kidnapping, boyfriend drops her off at her house. |WWTDD|
• Yeti Sasquatch Annihilation. |AdultSwim|
• Important question: is your shopping cart covered in fecal matter? |HolyTaco|
• Charlie Sheen: World’s Greatest Video Game Designer. |G4|

FilmDrunk on Facebook. FilmDrunk on Twitter. The Frotcast on iTunes. Comments of the week. FilmDrunk Shirts on Sale

It’s been more than two years since this whole crazy Birdemic thing started, and if there’s one thing writer/director James Nguyen has learned, it’s that alcohol and peoples’ enjoyment of his movie are closely related.  At the second screening of Birdemic in a Park City bar in 2009, Nguyen wisely decided to start buying drinks for the assembled crowd of  eight or nine people, and even though he couldn’t afford the eventual tab and the bartender tried to hold his stuffed bird for ransom (not making any of this up, by the way), people present that night paved the way for his eventual distribution deal and tour of packed screenings across the country.

Call it a lesson learned, because now, on the eve of the DVD release, James has some Martha Stewart-esque tips on how to make your Birdemic DVD release party extra special.

“What is a birdemic fest?  And I encourage you all to have your own Birdemic fest.  A Birdemic fest is simply a beer party, you know?  A beer party, plus  a DVD screening of my movie Birdemic Shock and Terror. …With your friends, with your family, with your buddy… just have a good time.  You know… at home, in front of a TV, at a movie theater, camping… anywhere.

Buy multiple copies.  For your Birdemic fest party.  Give them out at the party.  Just give them out as gifts. So again, a Birdemic fest is a beer party, plus a screening of my movie, PLUS, if you want, you know, a t-shirt, some coathangers, a Birdemic poster…”

“Maybe when you go camping, your buddy get cold.  So I don’t know, maybe you stuff sleeping bag with Birdemic DVD.  Maybe you try to have Birdemic Fest outdoors, but it rain and your TV keep getting wet.  So I don’t know, maybe you make umbrella out of Birdemic DVD, keep TV dry for you and your buddy.  Or maybe you hanging out with your family, and you see baby bird fall out of it nest, and now it look sick.  So I don’t know, maybe you feed baby bird Birdemic DVDS, nurse back to health, and bring to your Birdemic fest.”

I love you, James Nguyen. Every time he says “beer party,” an angel gets its wings.  And then explodes.

The folks at Birdemic have put together a new trailer to coincide with their announcement of screenings in a crapload of new cities (I’ll provide the full list after the jump).  The new trailer goes the Paranormal Activity route and focuses more on the live experience than the movie itself, and though I miss the butt rock “Birdemic” song from the last one, I can’t argue with the marketing approach.  That video, by the way, comes from the same screening Chodin attended, though sadly, there seems to be no footage of him asking the theater manager technical questions or doing spit takes with cans of Tecate Light. That would’ve really tied the trailer together.

I enjoyed the hell out of the movie, myself.  You sit there in disbelief the whole time wondering how someone could be so unaware of how funny this would turn out.  Then you meet James Nguyen and realize there’s no way he planned it unless he’s secretly some kind of Andy Kaufman Kaizer Sozay.  The lead actor, Alan Bagh, should win an Oscar for unintentionally hilariously sh*tty acting, as soon as they invent that.  I’ve never seen anything like it, outside of porn.  And kudos to Severin for recognizing what they had.  This could’ve been you, After Last Season.  This could’ve been you, Wicker Man.  Can you imagine a theater full of drunk people watching Nic Cage bear punch that chick?  Goddamn that would’ve been awesome.  When someone makes a really bad movie, someone just needs to pull them aside and tell them that they have a future, but it’s as a novelty act.  It’s the same thing they do with strippers when they get old.  It’s how Chodin’s mom put him through community college.

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Here's a helpful guide to the various breeds of fanboys. I still don't know what the hell Firefly is. And no, that doesn't mean I want you to tell me. (You can make it bigger if you right click and select "view image")

(via MadAtoms)

DAILY CIRCLE JERK LINKS

• Burnsy wrote a new Uproxx feature, so make sure you slap his ass on the way to the showers (in a hetero way). “8 Ways to Make Your Pet an Internet Sensation.” |Uproxx|
• Mayor Bloomberg with Snooki, The Situation, and some chick from Hair, your argument is invalid. |WarmingGlow|
• New Hampshire state representative’s Facebook status: “Anime is proof two nukes weren’t enough.”  |GammaSquad|
• Tim Tebow helps some douche propose.  |WithLeather|
• Junk food may be addictive as crack, reports fatty apologists. |Asylum|
• Chat Roulette Piano part 2. |CollegeHumor|
• Jesus, man, how much more complicated can we make a f*cking razor?  |AskMen|
• Surprise, Tila Tequila is a whore, dresses like a whore, does whorey things. |DrunkenStepfather|
• 6 people you meet in a holding cell.  Spoiler alert: three of them are Gary Busey. |CoedMag|
• “Mark Millar to Edit San Diego Comic-Con Edition of Wizard Magazine,” I wrote before bathing in clearasil. |ComicsAlliance|
• Auto Smiley makes emoticons from your real smiles, meaning there’s now something even more pointless than that the sh*t that makes a yellow smiley face from your emoticons. |Urlesque|
• More radical changes in store for So You Think You Can Dance. If you guessed one of the is me giving a sh*t, you are wrong. |InsideTV|
• Sherlock Holmes and the other new DVD releases this week. |InsideMovies|
• The 10 most annoying corporate-speak phrases and what they mean. |Guyism|
• 15 rare photos of celebrities. |UnrealityMag|
• AMC orders more “Walking Dead” series. |ScreenJunkies|
• 7 People You’ll Find at the DMV. |HolyTaco|

Here’s my ugly mug with James Nguyen at the Birdemic premiere.  Should be another screening this weekend in NYC, more info as it comes.  There was a way better one of him holding a coat hanger, but it was on my digital camera that I got drunk and left in a cab that pulled a runner on. So… yeah.  Good times.  …And also, here’s “Force by Forcewest“, because it’s awesome.

[banner pic source, Force by Forcewest via @Ratpack, More Birdemic pics]