So yesterday was the big day at Dave's Video on Ventura...Will and I went to the John Carpenter Big Trouble in Little China DVD signing. I have never been to anything like this before, and it was a bit weird. Every fanboy and their dog was there. Guys with Kurt Russel T-Shirts. Guys with John Carpenter's name tattooed on their nipples. You name it, they were there. I wore my green CHUD shirt of course.
(A note about the shirt...everywhere that I go wearing this thing people ask me "What the hell is a sewer chewer?", or "Wasn't CHUD that crazy movie where people that live in the sewers eat people?". I calmly explain that it is a film website and their follow-up comment is always, "Like that Ain't-It-Cool-News site?" Upon hearing that, I drop down on one knee and punch them in the groin. Full point.)
I didn't expect very much to come out of the day, as this wasn't to be an interview or anything like that, just me and my silver ink pen and John. While people were waiting in line, ZombieT (Ryan) from the Creature Corner website handed out promotional flyers for CC to the people while they were waiting. I thought that was very smart, as most of the people there were there to get their Halloween DVD's or the rare Prince of Darkness DVD/Laserdisks signed.
Anywho, this happened while I was away fetching food for His Willness, so when Will related the story to me, I decided to go introduce myself. Ryan is tall. I am very short. He almost consumed me with one mighty bite, but decided against it at the last second. He too noticed the CHUD shirt. He said that the horror community in LA was quite small, and it is usually the same people coming out over and over again to the same events. Ryan then proceeded to start hiting on one of the large male clerks working at the store, so I took that as my cue to say goodbye. I went back to wait in line.
The manager at Dave's Video came out and told us some of the basic rules. One of which being that there was a two-item limit to things being signed. She also handed out little Chinese take-out containers with Big Trouble stickers on them. They each contained a single fortune cookie. I did not open mine, as I am going to be giving it away, but I thought that it was pretty cool to get something like this just for showing up. She also said that some of the proceeds from the Big Trouble DVDs purchased for the signing would be going to John's favorite charity, one of those Cancer research foundations, which I thought was funny as the man smokes like a chimney...its akin to donating money to the hospital you know you will be using in two months because you have a massive brain tumour and three extra kidneys that need removing.
Will flags down the manager and asks her why a donation jar hadn't been set up so that people could donate freely to John's charity. She slaped herself silly and went and got a jar. Will was next in line, donated some money and managed to get one extra thing signed.
I was next, donated a bit of money and then my conscious brain turned off. As I was dropping the cash in the jar I said, just as I have said numerous times when giving friends or associates money,
"Dance for me baby!"
I am not sure if he heard me or not, but he has a slight grin on his face as he asked me who to have the DVD's signed out to. I said "To Jason", as I gave him the Big Trouble DVD first. The other DVD though was Will's. John signs things REALLY fast and had already signed the second DVD "To Jason" before I had a chance to correct him. So now Will has a brand-spanking new Halloween DVD made out to Jason(HAM). Will slapped me upside the head but wasn't really all that mad as its still JC's signature.
We didn't stick around after that, but instead went back to Will's place and watched "The Thing" and "Escape from New York". The big winner here was Dave's Video, as people were snapping up everything they could find that had John Carpenter's name on it, even Dark Star on DVD! No secrets were imparted as to when They Live and Prince of Darkness would be re-released on DVD. The staff at Dave's were fairly certain it would be happening though.
My sincerest apologies for not being able to get more stuff signed, but by the time we realized you could pay money to the "Save John Carpenter from Lung Cancer" fund to get multiple items signed, I was already at the front of the line!
------------------
Mike Arsenault - http://www.homeownersrights.com - Would You Like to Know More?
"Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam."
[This message has been edited by Ludwig (edited 05-28-2001).]
(A note about the shirt...everywhere that I go wearing this thing people ask me "What the hell is a sewer chewer?", or "Wasn't CHUD that crazy movie where people that live in the sewers eat people?". I calmly explain that it is a film website and their follow-up comment is always, "Like that Ain't-It-Cool-News site?" Upon hearing that, I drop down on one knee and punch them in the groin. Full point.)
I didn't expect very much to come out of the day, as this wasn't to be an interview or anything like that, just me and my silver ink pen and John. While people were waiting in line, ZombieT (Ryan) from the Creature Corner website handed out promotional flyers for CC to the people while they were waiting. I thought that was very smart, as most of the people there were there to get their Halloween DVD's or the rare Prince of Darkness DVD/Laserdisks signed.
Anywho, this happened while I was away fetching food for His Willness, so when Will related the story to me, I decided to go introduce myself. Ryan is tall. I am very short. He almost consumed me with one mighty bite, but decided against it at the last second. He too noticed the CHUD shirt. He said that the horror community in LA was quite small, and it is usually the same people coming out over and over again to the same events. Ryan then proceeded to start hiting on one of the large male clerks working at the store, so I took that as my cue to say goodbye. I went back to wait in line.
The manager at Dave's Video came out and told us some of the basic rules. One of which being that there was a two-item limit to things being signed. She also handed out little Chinese take-out containers with Big Trouble stickers on them. They each contained a single fortune cookie. I did not open mine, as I am going to be giving it away, but I thought that it was pretty cool to get something like this just for showing up. She also said that some of the proceeds from the Big Trouble DVDs purchased for the signing would be going to John's favorite charity, one of those Cancer research foundations, which I thought was funny as the man smokes like a chimney...its akin to donating money to the hospital you know you will be using in two months because you have a massive brain tumour and three extra kidneys that need removing.
Will flags down the manager and asks her why a donation jar hadn't been set up so that people could donate freely to John's charity. She slaped herself silly and went and got a jar. Will was next in line, donated some money and managed to get one extra thing signed.
I was next, donated a bit of money and then my conscious brain turned off. As I was dropping the cash in the jar I said, just as I have said numerous times when giving friends or associates money,
"Dance for me baby!"
I am not sure if he heard me or not, but he has a slight grin on his face as he asked me who to have the DVD's signed out to. I said "To Jason", as I gave him the Big Trouble DVD first. The other DVD though was Will's. John signs things REALLY fast and had already signed the second DVD "To Jason" before I had a chance to correct him. So now Will has a brand-spanking new Halloween DVD made out to Jason(HAM). Will slapped me upside the head but wasn't really all that mad as its still JC's signature.
We didn't stick around after that, but instead went back to Will's place and watched "The Thing" and "Escape from New York". The big winner here was Dave's Video, as people were snapping up everything they could find that had John Carpenter's name on it, even Dark Star on DVD! No secrets were imparted as to when They Live and Prince of Darkness would be re-released on DVD. The staff at Dave's were fairly certain it would be happening though.
My sincerest apologies for not being able to get more stuff signed, but by the time we realized you could pay money to the "Save John Carpenter from Lung Cancer" fund to get multiple items signed, I was already at the front of the line!
------------------
Mike Arsenault - http://www.homeownersrights.com - Would You Like to Know More?
"Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam."
[This message has been edited by Ludwig (edited 05-28-2001).]
