B-Fest, B-Fest, B-Fest!

It's good to see the troops on the B-Movie Message Board getting excited about the upcoming B-Fest. There are signs of its arrival here at Stomp Tokyo HQ as well, such as the call I just got from our printer, saying that this year's round of cups have arrived. This year I decided to pop the extra bucks for the glow-in-the-dark cups. Those who cannot attend -- you may weep bitter tears of envy beginning . . . now.

Cyst and the City

When the writers of Sex and the City gave Samantha breast cancer, part of me winced, thinking that we were in store for some Very Special Episodes. At the very least I knew they weren't going to kill her off -- what, and miss out on the reunion special possibilities? My biggest fear was that they weren't going to figure out how to work the cancer angle for comedy. Fortunately, this last episode proved that I needn't have worried. Julia Sweeney's appearance as a cancer-stricken nun trying to work her way into a consultation with New York's best oncologist (alongside Samantha, her opposite number in so many ways) was a highlight of the season thus far.

I'm enjoying the last run of new episodes, and I hope they'll refrain from goofy stuff like marrying off Samantha and/or Carrie at the eleventh hour. (I don't think it's likely, but writers and producers get weird when series reach their ends.) The happy endings in Sex have always strayed from the expected result (who would have thought Charlotte's nickname would be "Star of David" by the series' end?), but I do think we'll get a happy ending for everyone before the last episode's credits roll. Let's just not have a flash-forward-to-the-future sequence, huh? The last time that worked was at the end of Absolutely Fabulous.

January is a busy month.

Preparations for B-Fest are underway. Scott and I will both be in attendance, as will Joe Bannerman of Opposable Thumb Films, Jabootu's Ken Begg, and a lot of people from the B-Movie Message Board, so it ought to be a really good time. Cups have been ordered, the film program has been set, the web site has been updated. (Naturally, there will be updates to come.) Excitement is running high, though I'm a bit bummed that Dr. Freex isn't going to make it this year.

Copies of B-Movies Quarterly #3 have finally arrived, and though most of the pre-orders have been sent, I still need to update the web site to reflect the "now shipping" status. It's also time to hit up potential advertisers for the next issue. I've really enjoyed doing the magazine so far, though with changes in my life coming up (Christina's looking for a new job, and we may end up leaving Florida), I may not be able to continue publishing it, or at least the schedule will be interrupted.

And somewhere in there we need to update Stomp Tokyo. Reviews of Bubba Ho-Tep and Returner are in the offing.

That's the brain dump for today.

Giants and Toys

Check out my review of Yasuzo Masumura's film about corporate and personal greed over at Attack of the 50 Foot DVD!

New TV obsession

Clean Sweep is a dangerously clever twist on the DIY-home improvement show concept. Professional teams of organizers and decorators arrive at a particularly cluttered house and pit the house's occupants against each other in a bid to both unclutter the house and convert unwanted belongings to cash. It's based on the BBC's Life Laundry, which is a better show for several reasons, not the least of which is that it's shorter.

After I've seen more episodes of each I'll post a more in-depth review and comparison of each, but in the meantime I suggest you check out Life Laundry and Clean Sweep on BBCAmerica and The Learning Channel, respectively.