Quentin and Me: A 30-Something Fan’s Relationship With a Filmmaker

Films, filmmakers, and actors/actresses define eras of your life. It’s bound to happen when you’re a hardcore movie-watcher. Name any on-screen (or even off-screen) personality, and I can tell you when I became aware of their work. My first look at Quentin Tarantino happened in 1994, and my experience as a movie-watcher has never been the same. I’ve seen every one of his movies on the big screen ever since, with one exception. Much like Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino’s films have paced the last 18 years of my life. I remember exactly where I was when I saw each one.

Ruining Movie Posters with Comic Sans

Comic Sans is a font with an interesting place in the graphic design kingdom. Most designers hate it. Hell, most people hate it in general. And that’s because it’s a bad font. If you really want to know why, then read this article. If you use it, graphic designers and font nerds and lots of other people will laugh at you. To illustrate the point about how bad the font is, I’ve recreated a bunch of movie posters using Comic Sans instead of the original font. No matter the era or genre, I think you’ll see how inappropriate it is, even in comic book films. Consider it a public service announcement.

Filmenstein: Creating a Body from Body Parts Severed in Movies

If you see enough movies, you’re eventually going to see a lot of people lose parts of their bodies. Name any part of the body and it has surely been severed at one time or another in a movie. But what’s happening to these body parts after they’ve been detached? They can’t ALL be going to into the medical waste bin. There has to be a better use for them. For instance, you could easily create a Frankenstein’s monster out of the body parts that have been severed in movies. Here is how it should be done:

Slam Trunk: An Abridged List of Movie Characters Stuffed into a Car Trunk

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Everyone likes going on a nice, leisurely car ride… unless they’ve been stuffed into a car trunk. Here’s an abridged list of movie characters who have been stuffed into a car trunk. Today’s list has been brought to you by the letter “Q”, as in “Quentin Tarantino”.

100 More Things I Love About the Movies

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When I passed the 100,000 hit marker in November, I honored the event with what became one of my most popular entries- 100 Things I Love About the Movies. As it turns out, my odometer recently rolled over another milestone- the 200,000 hit marker. As logic follows, I’m due for another stroll down 100 Things Avenue. So without further ado, here are 100 More Things I Love About the Movies:

The Ten Coolest Quentin Tarantino Characters

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Quentin Tarantino celebrated his birthday over the weekend. As a fan of his highly quotable genre mashups, I feel obligated to celebrate. One of my favorite things to do after seeing a Tarantino film is to ask my friends which character was their favorite. Each film has a wealth of impossibly badass characters. Here’s my list of the ten coolest Quentin Tarantino characters:

Winston Wolfe, Pulp Fiction
He’s Winston Wolfe, and he’s here to solve problems like skull and brain bits all over your car. He can make a thirty minute drive in ten. He keeps all the Lash LaRues of the world from jingling and jangling their spurs. And he does all of it in a tuxedo. I don’t care about that guy from the Dos Equis ads- Winston Wolfe is the true “Most Interesting Man in the World”.

10 Films Spoofed by Itchy and Scratchy

The violent cat and mouse from The Simpsons, Itchy and Scratchy, have been a favorite part of the show ever since their first appearance in the debut season. The cartoon-within-a-cartoon structure is brilliant- using a very violent cartoon show, on a cartoon show, to spoof other violent cartoon shows. As The Simpsons and Itchy and Scratchy grew in popularity, it opened up the possibility to spoof pop culture. Here are ten movies that have been spoofed by Itchy and Scratchy:

1. JFK (1991)
Simple but effective, it pops up in an untitled Itchy and Scratchy episode that’s “directed by guest director Oliver Stone”. It features Scratchy, in black and white footage, being led Lee Harvey Oswald-style through a room full of reporters before Itchy appears just in time to shoot him. It fades to black and someone is overheard saying, “Oh God! Get his gun!” before the end credits are heard. Sadly, Bart can’t be bothered with it because he’s reading Johnny Tremain.

Harry Potter Spells that Other Movie Characters Need

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The Nine Best Uses of Songs in Movies

I’ve been watching too much “Prime Nine” on the MLB Network. In reality, my list of candidates for this entry amounted to something like 25 songs in various movies. Note that when I say “Best”, I really mean “my favorite”. So if you don’t see “I Like Changing Myself For the Woman I Love” from “Love is Nice” starring Julia Roberts or whatever, well… it’s because I don’t watch that shit. Feel free to add ’em in the comments section, though.