Last night I went to a screening for Kevin Smith’s latest movie Red State. I’m gonna say, right up front, from all the reviews I had seen prior. I had very little interest in the film. My main reason for going was to see Kevin Smith. Due to very unfortunate circumstances, I was unable to see him at comic-con a few years back. Things got off to a great start when we arrived at The Midland Theater in Kansas City. Why, you ask. You asked, trust me. The reason being Fred Phelps and his group of gay-bashing brethren were there picketing the movie. The main antagonist of the movie is based on Fred Phelps. It was glorious to see and it only gets better. We go inside, and we have seats maybe five rows back from the stage…awesome.

Kevin Smith then proceeds to come out and introduce his movie and point out that there are some special guests in the audience tonight. Megan Phelps(Fred Phelps grand-daughter) and 14 other WBC members. Smith invited them to review the movie after the screening and they accepted. This however never came to fruition as Smith, who ripped them before the movie started in the only way he can. A verbal assault that had everybody laughin’ their asses off. After the movie ended, Smith once again took to the stage and informed us that the Phelps family had left 15 minutes into the film deeming it “filthy”. But wait, it gets even better. After a few inane questions from the audience, two people(Libby and Josh Phelps) who left the WBC introduced themselves, and giddy as shit Kevin Smith invites them on-stage. From here on out the Q&A has now turned into an interview with these two former members as we get a glimpse into their lives while they lived in the church and how they’ve adjusted to being free from the family. It was just fascinating. Made the whole experience 100x better.

As for the movie, I enjoyed it. It’s far from a horror movie however. More like a thriller, with some humor mixed in extremely well. Michael Parks was fucking incredible as the Fred Phelps-like character. John Goodman almost stole the show with his performance. He really needs to work more. He’s awesome. You never know what’s going to happen and it has some surprising moments. I’d give it a very solid 4 out of 5.

I hope it does well when it’s officially released and I hope the official DVD release has footage from the KC show in the extras. It was easily the best part of the night. Oh and Gates BBQ after the show wasn’t too bad either…mmmmmmh barbecue.

*edit* Here’s some video from said event with the Phelps’

PS: Fuck Phelps and the WBC, gay people rock!
PPS: Line of the night for me was delivered by Kevin Smith when talking about how some people equate all Christians with the WBC and how he has to explain how he’s not one of those Christians. And I quote, “I’m one of those other Christians. The kind that likes to smoke weed and eat ass.”

And I’m out.

Stephen loses Time’s Top 100 most influential people to Korean pop star Rain.

Rain shows up at the studio for an after hours dance-off with Stephen.

I should be back to posting regularly soon. My laptop went in to be fixed today and I’m also ordering a new Dell. I’m done with alienware. Unfortunately the new Dell has Vista instead of XP. I’ll get used to it I’m sure, but I really liked XP. 100x the improvement over Windows98, and from what I hear Vista is a step back. I thought about getting a Mac for like a quarter of a second. Then my irrational hatred of all things Apple stepped in and slapped the shit out of me. Anyway for you techno geeks, here’s the skinny on the laptop.

XPS M1530 – Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Operating System – Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Memory – 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
LCD, Color and camera – High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440×900) & 2MP Camera
Video Card – 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Hard Drives – Speed: 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
Combo or DVD+RW Drive – Slot Load Blu -ray Disc (BD/DVD/CD read/write)
Sound Card – Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
Wireless Networking Cards – Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
SECURITY – Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
Bluetooth and Wireless USB – Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Not too shabby and about 2 grand less than my alienware.

Next item up for debate…The Office returning. Has there ever been a more uncomfortable or awkward episode than this last one? Just brutal…ly funny! Poor, poor Michael and his 13 inch LCD Hi-def TV. Not to mention his Dundee…his Dundee for God’s sake! He needs to get out of that relationship as soon as possible. Horrible sitch…shit, I just said “sitch”…I’m watching too much Kim Possible. Anyway, great return episode. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Earl was just meh, and Scrubs continues to bring the funny. Shame it’s in it’s final season yet ER just keeps on going.

Next, is the Clinton campaign so desperate that the worst dirt they can find on Obama is a small speech about a bunch of gun-toting, Jesus freaks. The “bitter” comment may have been off…a little, but he was right on again. I live right in the middle of it and it’s a bit ridiculous on the attitudes that still exist around here. I have no problem with religion…well almost. If believing in an all-powerful omnipotent being, makes you a better person, or gives you purpose in life, who am I to argue? BUT if you do follow the bible and it’s teachings, it should be the whole Bible..with a little common sense. Of course it contradicts itself a number a times. You can’t just pick out the parts you like and ignore the rest. Love thy neighbor. Not just the white ones, or straight ones, or Christian ones. Nowhere in the bible did I read that only the aforementioned are worthy of God’s love. Ok, I know, there’s some harsh things about the gay folk, but they are still your fellow man(or woman).

Like Chris Rock said, “If it ain’t white, it ain’t right.” That’s pretty much the feeling in these parts. I’m clearly not saying everyone is like that around here but it’s a very real feeling and attitude. Of course I’m only speaking of the Christian religion cuz it’s all I know of, what with being raised that way. Nowadays, my faith is all but gone. I don’t deny that there may be a God, but I’m not convinced of it. At this point, it would take a lot to convince me. Damn it, now I’ve gone off on a tangent and got away from my point…if I had one…hmmm. Anyway, I don’t know a lot about politics, and what I do know is based on just what I pick up here and there on the Jon Stewart Show and the Colbert Report. I do know, I am not a fan of Hillary. I know very little of McCain, who I’m sure is our next President by default. America’s not ready for a female or black president and that’s a shame. I know the most about Obama. Not his policies but the man…and I like the man….so there really wasn’t a point as I’m not even voting.

I had more to talk about but this post is long enough with my inane ramblings and whatnot.

That is all.