'Destiny'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I'm the only person in my meatspace that's heard of it, and I doubt that's going to change. I think I could talk about it, and all any listener would hear would be Charlie Brown's teacher.
Although, they may have to listen, since I really want to use Bob's Aquinas comparison, attributed of course.
She's an independent filmmaker, and gets kinda pissed at some Hollywood shenanigans. She's in the middle of filming on a shoestring budget (what's the etymology of that??) and is reeling at the amount of money and attention that's being thrown at a movie that's unlikely to be any good.
I tried to explain to her that it was already a cult classic--that they were trying to make sure it stayed that way once people had seen it.
Yeah, I'm sure they didn't intend for it to become the phenomenon that it's become, but they're certainly going to run with it.
She's in the middle of filming on a shoestring budget (what's the etymology of that??)
In the late 1930s, Phineas T. Grantula very quickly ran out of money for his first film, Snakes in a Zoo, and he had to resort to the barter system, trading his shoestrings for location shoots. He very quickly ran out of shoestrings as well, which is when he turned to clubbing people on the street and stealing their shoes. Rather than, say, their wallets. In the end, Snakes in a Zoo was a flop anyway, opening the same weekend as Snakes Not in a Zoo, which made 800,000 nickels on opening night.
In the late 1930s, Phineas T. Grantula very quickly ran out of money for his first film, Snakes in a Zoo, and he had to resort to the barter system, trading his shoestrings for location shoots. He very quickly ran out of shoestrings as well, which is when he turned to clubbing people on the street and stealing their shoes. Rather than, say, their wallets. In the end, Snakes in a Zoo was a flop anyway, opening the same weekend as Snakes Not in a Zoo, which made 800,000 nickels on opening night.
Heh. Shoestring budgets always remind me of how John Waters claimed his early movies (including PINK FLAMINGOS) were financed by shoplifting. Even putting aside the grossout moments, it always looked like he might have been telling the truth.
LATimes story on SoaP [link]
You can probably view the awesome fan-created posters gallery without logging in.
She's in the middle of filming on a shoestring budget (what's the etymology of that??)
The inferior-to-Polter-Cow answer, the only I could tease from the Web:
"The expression may have come from faro (a gambling game), but it isn't recorded until 1904, although 'shoestring gambler,' for a 'petty, tinhorn gambler,' is recorded 10 years or so earlier. 'On a shoestring' suggests that one's resources are limited to the laces of one's shoe." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).
Snakes on a Plane (Paperback): [link]
I am SO tempted to buy this, mostly because it's written by Christa Faust.
Why isn't White Nights on DVD yet? I would love to be able to fast forward through the plot to see Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov dance.
Some stuff from one of the "Snakes on a Blog" sites that cracked me up:
I don't think that Snakes on a Plane has a tagline yet. ("Harry Potter 4: The Time Has Come", "Raiders of the Lost Ark: The return of the great adventure") What should "Snakes on a Plane"'s tagline be? Obviously "Snakes on a Plane: there are motherfucking snakes on the motherfucking plane" is everyone's first choice, but they can't print that on movie posters.
I'm partial to Sam Jackson's own "Snakes on a Plane: either you want to see this movie or you don't". Simple, direct message. "This movie is going to be so good that we'll already be selling out theaters and turning people away".
Other ideas:
"Snakes on a Plane: The final battle between ancient reptiles and modern aviation."
"Snakes on a Plane: Some luggage is better lost."
"Snakes on a Plane: Your in-flight entertainment is DANGER."
"Snakes on a Plane: What you see is what you get."
"Snakes on a Plane: Did we mention Samuel Jackson? Oh yes we did."
I think we need a SoaP thread....