Toren Atkinson’s Absolute Blog

Sorry it’s been so quiet around here, I’ve been busy with Thickets, jobs and Joy-Joy. I’ll be back shortly with news.

Tomorrow (Saturday) at 7am on Turner Classic Movies they’re showing the old Superman serials. I think The Day the Earth Stood Still and the original King Kong are also on. Check your local listings, bitch!

So tonight I went down to the ANZA club to be one of three judges for BLOODSHOTS: The 48 Hour Horror Film Challenge. Of the eight films submitted, six were turned in on time.

As hundreds of DV filmmakers the world over have already learned, making a short film in one weekend can be terrifying. Lack of sleep is just the beginning of your problems when you are trying to corral actors into repeating their performance with more energy at 5 in the morning and you know you have only got another 6 hours to get a final edit of your masterpiece put together.

Each film was given it’s own sub-genre of horror and weapon. All of the films had to incorporate a fannypack and the phrase “They may drink alcohol, but they’re still human.”
Below are the award categories. I would have added two more categories if I were in charge: Best choreography and best score. Hell’s Habit would have won best score, I’m sure of it. I’ve inserted links to youtube so you too can enjoy the films.

Best acting: Hell’s Habit by Mike Jackson (you know him, you love him). On Jackson’s team was Peter New and Sam Dulmage among others. They all did exceptional jobs. Though Soylent Red was very close, Hell’s Habit got extra marks for having way solid acting even though none of the characters really had lines, in a sense.

Best editing: Hell’s Habit. Soylent Red was runner up, if such a thing existed. A lot of the films had brutal editing. Again Habit stands out for the fact that they shot on super 8mm and as such they had huge technical constraints. Balsy!

Best death: Soylent Red for the ‘art imitates death’ motif. 13 Steps came close, and if you watch the video, you’ll see why.

Best subversive use of genre. What does this category mean? Your guess is as good as mine. The winner: 13 Steps.

Best use of prop (fanny pack). Though I was pitching for the origami fanny pack in Death Cart 2.0, the other judges shouted me down and the winner was 13 Steps.
Best use of required dialogue. This one went to Soylent Red who incorporated it into a song.

Best costumes: Hell’s Habit

Best screenplay: There was some discussion about what a screenplay was (it’s not just dialogue!). I am not sure but I think 13 Steps won.

The films that won no awards were Song of the Dead, which was was pretty dreadful in many areas but had some good death and gore in it. Overtime Bites was uh… a film.

Best film won $2000 worth of lighting equipment. Mike and Sam and the rest of the cats in Hell’s Habit truly deserved it. Way to go guyses!

Here’s some hot news I discovered while trying to find something to eat at the Greyhound depot:

McDonald’s jr chicken burger = 390 calories
Mars Bar = 234 calories

So my character in Call of Cthulhu was horribly horribly killed last Sunday. My history of CoC characters going out in cool ways is pretty good. He didn’t just fall off a cliff or get shot in the chest or something. This guy, and Indian manservant, was stabbed and beaten by cultists, and then flung into a pit with a hideous, wailing abomination against nature which proceeded to take hundreds of tiny bites out of him while simultaneously crushing him. All the while protecting his unconscious master (and saving him from the same gruesome fate). My character from a previous campaign also more or less sacrificed himself to save the world, by forcing his compatriot to shoot him in the head. Yay!

Yesterday we (the Thickets) recorded via a more or less proper computerized electronical recording system a bunch of the new songs so that we can review them before we actually go into the studio in December. We also decided that one of the songs will be left entirely a capella – by me. It wasn’t my decision, I was against it, but they talked me into it and since time is a factor it may actually be a boon to the rest of the songs. Hopefully it won’t stick out like a sore thumb. If it sticks out like a massaged and energized thumb then that’s okay.

photo by Amanda Seminoff

for the photos!

You can view lower quality but more photos here.

Below is the set we played on Saturday. I forgot to mention that the sound was amazing. Johnny did a fantastic job. Damn near perfect from where I stood.

(We’re Gonna) Kill the Chupacabra (Tonight)
Chunk
Shhh…
Shoggoths Away
Burrow Your Way to My Heart
A Marine Biologist
Frogstar
The Math Song
Dies Ist Unverschamtheit
Downtown (In the Cenozoic)
20 Minutes of Oxygen
Sleestak and Yeti
Big Robot Dinosaur
They Come In Threes (Garett’s favourite – and my melodica solo was well received)
The Chosen One
Hall of Doors
Colour Me Green
Truth Hits Everybody

Words I got right: demesne, kilojoule, rusticate, flexuous, juvenescence, infusible, subtlety, lackadaisical, keister, judder, colloquy, gherkin, funambulist
Words I got wrong: flibbertygibbet, fricassee, lachrymose, cheechako, kennebecasis (I mean come on).

I would say that tonight’s show was one of the best. Not for audience participation, which was very good, by the way, and not for the fact that we played well – we did, generally – but for the sheer fact that we really enjoyed playing. Little secret – sometimes we don’t. But the last two shows have been outstanding for that. I’m positive that it has to do with the fact that we’re playing new material – stuff that we just created and are reasonably proud of – we’re playing it well – and best of all is that we are getting very positive feedback on it. We are doing our rock jobs and it is F.U.N.

Tidbits:

There was a trivia contest – name one of the five pelagic zones – which got some nice young woman a cigarette case, a head in a jar, a troll baby, a Stay Puft cap, a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VHS, and other awesome stuff that was leftover from my birthday auction.

Taylor was there to snap shots – updates on that asap.

I made a fun-fur necktie to go with my outfit, which was flippin’ sweet, as the kids say.

Joyce got to see the full Thickets experience, WITH CTHULHU.

Mario spilled an entire jug of water onstage.

We sold LOTS of merch. New shirt design seems like a winner.
Like I say, fan appreciation was at a maximum. I got comments from two separate people who had never heard of us before, just came into the Backstage Lounge for drinks or whatever, and left shaking my hand and buying CDs or buttons. That makes me feel good.

Jordan was on fire.

Clever things I got to say:

“Isn’t this the most faun you’ve ever had on a satyr-day?”

“You know what I love about those motion activated towel dispensers in the bathroom? They make me feel like a FUCKING WIZARD!” (makes hand gestures)
Merrick: “Except it takes three tries to make them work.”
Me: “That’s consistent with my spellcasting prowess.”
(slightly paraphrased)

“So the bartender lives in my apartment building. I guess my secret’s out” (point to fun fur necktie)

I am a judge for the Bloodshots 48 Hour Horror Film Festival. Stephen Lea Sheppart (Freaks and Geeks, Royal Tenenbaums) is another. The viewings are Wednesday night at the ANZA club.

I am going to be the very best judge I can be.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A public relations firm has revealed that it is behind two blogs that previously appeared to be created by independent supporters of Wal-Mart.

The blogs Working Families for Wal-mart and subsidiary site Paid Critics are written by three employees of PR firm Edelman, for whom Wal-Mart is a paid client, according to information posted on the sites Thursday.

Thanks Aaron