R.I.P. Moonwalker

So as I’m sure you’ve heard by now Michael Jackson died suddenly yesterday of an apparent heart attack. I’m not going to go into his later life and legal troubles, nor will I express an opinion on weather or not I think he molested those kids. ( I wasn’t there, and neither were you.) But I felt that I have to write something about the man and the huge impact he’s had on entertainment, and my life.

In 1983 I was five years old and well on my way to becoming a fireman. Then in the summer of that year I slammed my arm through a glass window and needed fifty-seven stitches to close the gaping wound on my arm. My Aunt Jane hand made a get well card composed of the goriest pictures she could find, because she has a sick sense of humor. (Thanks for giving me your sense of humor Aunt Jane!) You see, she thought that the card would gross me out, instead it had the oppsite effect in that I just had to know where those pictures came from. So I harassed her for months about it until she relented and gave me the tattered remains of a magazine named “Fangoria”.  I couldn’t read the articles, but I poured over every picture a hundred times. I was fascinated by the fact that the monsters that scared me so badly were created by normal people, and not dark wizards. This is probably the single most important thing that has ever happened to me, and helped to define the person I have become.

The second most important happened later that year, in the winter of 1983. I was staying with my grandparents over the weekend (as my sister and I often did) and I was one happy camper because they had cable TV, and we did not. I gorged myself on Nickelodeon and “You Can’t Do That On Television” all weekend and was more than a little annoyed when my mother came to pick us up on Sunday evening. But on this night she wasn’t in a hurry to go. Instead she gathered everyone into the living room and turned to a station I had never seen before. She looked at me and said, “I heard about this today and I thought you might like it.” “What is it?” I asked. “Just keep watching, it will be on in a little bit.” And then………

THRILLER

I love you Mom. My mind was blown into a million pieces. Werecats, Zombies, and that music….Damn that music was catchy. My Mom bought Thriller on vinyl, and we wore that sucker out over the years. Three really important things happened to me that day; My love of all things Horror solidified, I discovered MTV, and I found out who John Landis was, which led to American Werewolf in London…. and down the rabbit hole I dove.

I am a child of the eighties. And the eighties were ruled by Michael Jackson. That’s why they called him “The King of Pop”, because he was. He is my generations Elvis.

Oh, and he made a really crazy movie called “Moonwalker”, which was turned into a video game. And let’s not forget about “Captain E.O.”, one of the first 3-D motion controlled rides at Disney’s Epcot Center. 

I will miss you, you crazy genius. May death bring you the peace you never had in life.

—J Frog

Pee-Wee Shirts NOW IN STOCK

Come one, come all to Liberty Hall for a fantastic Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure T-Shirt for only $12! Get one while you can, we expect them to go fast. (Just ask the lucky few that got a Lebowski shirt on the cheap!)
Same deal as before, buy a shirt, get into the movie for free. Rock on.
–J Frog out.

House keeping.

So say good-bye to the poll. Nobody voted, so I figure no one really cares that much. Besides, Mr. M and I are fine with picking the movies we show. BUT, please leave a comment if you want to see the poll return, or you want to suggest a movie to show. You never know, I might think your suggestion is so awesome that we have to show it. Or if you just want to chat about movies, comment. I would love to have some one to talk to, ot gets lonely in here all by myself.

ETC….. So, we were going to try to slip in an extra MMM in July with the premiere of Big Man Japan, but it’s looking like that won’t happen after all, which sucks. There is still a chance that we might get it July 17th, but it’s a slim chance. But if we do….. I’m going to shout it out from the mountain tops. Keep you eyes peeled and check back here for updates. Thanks for reading. —J Frog out.

Mission Accomplished.

Friday June 12th 2009 is now in the books. If you were there, you know. If you weren’t then you missed out. No really. That was one of the most insane nights at Liberty Hall I’ve had in nearly a decade of working there. We were expecting 300 people, 400 tops. We got over 500 crazy, white russian swilling, bathrobe wearing maniacs that came out to pay homage to The Dude. Some of them were sporting Big Lebowski MMM shirts,(if YOU would like a Big Lebowski MMM T-shirt, go to ACME T-Shirts @ 9th and Mass. St and ask for one! -J) and they were looking good. Others looked like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi, having no idea what they had just gotten themselves into. But much fun was had by all, and the evening was a great success.
Sorry we ran out of white russians, but you crazy fools drank up close to two gallons of Kahlua, and came within a hair’s width of drinking up all of the PBR. Like I said, we thought 300-400 people. Next time we’ll know better and we’ll have more staff and maybe an upstairs bar too. Oh, and we ironed out the last of the technical problems too. Sorry about that.

Sooooo….. I guess all that’s left is to say THANK YOU!!! You guys (and gals) ROCK. This is why we do MMM, so thanks for the support!

But wait there’s more! We are just getting started. Coming up on July 3rd we’ve got Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and in August get ready for the return of Pulp Fiction. If you don’t come out to Pulp Fiction, Sam Jackson is going to come to your house looking for his wallet, I think you know which one it is…….

—J Frog out.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure Friday July 3rd

$4 You know where, you know when. Be there.

Crack is whack.

—-J Frog out

Whooosh. (Sold Out) Or Not…….

That’s the sound the T-Shirts are making as they fly into rabid fans eager hands. We thought there might be a few people that would like a MMM shirt…..Well”a few” might be huge understatement, because there are only few of them left. So if you haven’t bought one yet and you would like to, hurry down to Liberty Hall and snag one up while you can!

They open at 11 a.m., I expect to be sold out before they close at 10 p.m.

And just so we’re totally clear, when the MMM Big Lebowski shirts are sold out, that’s it.

Thus the whole “limited edition” thing. And you thought we were kidding.
OK, so maybe we were. Go down to Acme T-Shirts @ 9th and Mass. and ask for a Bog Lebowski shirt. They will whip you one right up. (Thanks ACME!)
Be seeing you—–J Frog

MMM T-Shirts NOW AVAILABLE!

Thanks to the wizards at Acme T-Shits, we got our stock of MMM shirts in early! So come on down to Liberty Hall and snag one up while you can for the stellar price of $12! Pretty please? I’ll give you a hug……

—Frog out.

T-Shirts! In stock @ Liberty Hall NOW!

Do you want to blind people on the street with your awesomeness? Do you want to Impress the opposite sex with how hip you are and show your support for MMM? Then buy a T-Shirt at Liberty Hall for the totally tubular price of $12! We will have various sizes on sale, but for this run of shirts we will only have one design and color (Red). These shirts are a limited edition run for The Big Lebowski that will only be available throughout June, or until we run out. This run of shirts will never to be repeated. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

LIMITED TIME OFFER!

Buy a T-shirt before Friday June 12th, and recieve FREE admission to The Big Lebowski! Just wear your bad-ass new shirt to the show!

About that poll on the right….

To those of you that took the time to vote in the poll for next months MMM, THANKS! The poll will remain open until June 11th, so if you haven’t voted yet you still have plenty of time to do so. We will reveal the winner on June 12th at The Big Lebowski. I will post the results here on June 13th.  To those that have made use of the “Other” bar, those are some really good picks. In fact all of them (so far) are on “The List” that was created during a super secret meeting in the summer of ’06. I think you will be very happy as we move deeper into 2009 and beyond…. Be sure to look for a new poll every month and make your voice heard. We are listening.

Frog out.

Orca: The Killer Whale

So a few days ago, a good friend of mine (Maggie Cougar Dynamite) celebrated her birthday. Her only request was a late night showing of Orca: The Killer Whale after hours in the big theater at Liberty Hall. I said sure, why not? She has great taste in movies and a killer sense of humor, so I was ready to down a few beers and laugh at a goofy killer whale movie. An anti-Free Willy if you will (Kill Willy? Hmmm…). I had never seen Orca before, and man am I glad I got to see it for the first time on the big screen.

That preview only gives you a glimpse into the weirdness that is Orca. I can’t help but wonder about the genesis of the film, was it a Paramount executive that wanted to try and top Jaws? Or was it a pitch from an aspiring screen writer? I would imagine it went something like this, “There is a fish in the Ocean that’s bigger than a great white shark, and it’s so bad ass they call it a killer whale. It’s Jaws meets Moby Dick, with a dash of Frankenstein thrown in.” “SOLD. But only if you put a scene in at the beginning of the movie where a great white shark gets totally destroyed by a killer whale.” And that’s how the movie starts.

The plot is pretty basic: Richard Harris plays a salty fisherman in the vein of Quint form Jaws (minus the charisma and awesome dialog) that sets out to capture a killer whale. Why? I can’t recall. There is a pretty marine biologist played by Charlotte Rampling that shows up to tell the audience that killer whales are mysterious beings with complex brains that we humans don’t understand. (They have a chart to illustrate the difference between a Human, Chimp, and…Killer Whale to prove..something) He doesn’t listen and sets off to catch himself a whale.  Things do not go as planned and a female whale is caught, something really gross (and kind of shocking for PG) happens, and her mate gets really pissed. How pissed? Well, through the course of the movie the whale destroys a house, bites off Bo Derek’s leg, and sets the town on fire. Seriously, watch the movie. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I don’t want to spoil it.

So why am I blogging about it? Because it was actually a pretty decent Midnight Movie. I can see why a cult has sprung up around Orca, because it is more than the sum of it’s parts. I think the key thing that separates Orca from all of the other Jaws rip-offs is that despite how ridiculous it all is, everyone seems to be taking it all seriously. From the actors, to the people behind the scenes, not a single thing is done tongue-in-cheek. And to me, that’s what makes a great cult movie. Also, Jaws: The Revenge totally rips off the plot to Orca, and that might make for an excellent drunken double feature.

MMM scale of awesomeness 6 of 10. —Frog out

Edit: Liberty Hall Video does not yet carry a copy of Orca. But if enough people call and request it……..