This just in:  
Lonesome dance for the Outlaw
 
Jesco White finds hard times after glitter of cult fame fades
Brad McElhinny
Charleston Daily Mail staff Monday July 12, 2004

PEYTONA -- Life hasn't been great for Jesco White, "The Dancing Outlaw," ever since he got back from Hollywood.
"I feel like a damn possum," he recently said outside the Boone County trailer, where he lives by himself without running water.
"I want to live like a happy man, not a madman. I'm not Hitler's son or Saddam Hussein's boy. It feels like a big, old coal truck ran over Jesco. There ain't a tear in my body that hasn't been cried all out."
A decade ago, White was riding a manic, weird wave of popularity because of the documentary "Dancing Outlaw," which depicted his life as a mountain dancer, Elvis impersonator and rural philosopher.
"I'm on the edge of something good," he said in the documentary. "I hope this is the big one."
Toward the end, he concluded, "I might have a whole new life next time you see me."
For a while, it was true.
Fans gathered together to watch videotapes of the documentary and flocked to see Jesco White perform at pubs. At the height of his cult popularity, he was flown to Hollywood for a brief appearance at the end of an episode of "Roseanne."
Now he's scared to answer his own door. He says he's afraid people are making fun of him or want to make money off his name. He feels ripped off by people who sell T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats saying "Jesco White."
He contends he wasn't given enough money for his dancing scene in "Roseanne" and wants bands such as the Kentucky HeadHunters to pay him for mentioning his name in songs.
Worse, he's suffered real tragedy. He came home from a performance a few years ago to see his house burning to the ground. He says his brain isn't right because he spent years huffing gases to get high.
 
Full Article
 
Good God I really wish I lived further away from this guy...

Yet again, it's
Summer Movie Review Time!

It's been a busy few days.

My friend Brian was in for a few days. He, along with myself and my roommates Jay and Nate is a member of the illustrious and oft-mentioned (at least in this blog and several police blotters) Wirt County High class of 1992.

As we're both comic fans, we went to see Spider-Man 2.

Now bear in mind that Brian and I are both huge fans of the comic. HUGE. Knowing this, and knowing that huge fans of a comic book movie will either absolutely love it or violently hate it, temper this statement accordingly:

"SPIDER-MAN 2 KICKS FUCKING ASS!!!"

Ahem...

Now that I've regained my composure, Spider-Man 2 is probably the best comic book movie ever made, and yes, I've seen them all. The only one that is on it's level would be The Crow.

Hell, Brian even liked it and he's the biggest Spider-Man fanboy on the planet.

FANATIC
Noun 1. fanatic - a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause);
Synonyms: fiend
Adj. 1. fanatic - marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea; "rabid isolationist"
Synonyms: fanatical, overzealous, rabid

BOY
Noun 1. boy - a male child, from birth to the age of puberty; a lad; hence, a son.

Noun 2. boy - In various countries, a male servant, laborer, or slave of a native or inferior race; also, any man of such a race; - considered derogatory by those so called, and now seldom used.

FANBOY (FAN+BOY)
Noun 1. fan(atic)-boy - A person motivated by irrational enthusiasm for one or more pop-culture phenomenons (Star Trek, Comic Books, etc...) well into the period of adulthood.

Adj. 1. fan(atic)-boy - Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to one or more pop-culture phenomenons to a point of becoming a slave to them.

Synonyms: fanatical, overzealous, rabid, 'Trekkie'

Those of you that know me know that this is a definition that I can't just toss around willy-nilly. I do admit, I am a rabid fan of several things, but I am not (in this instance, on this topic) a fanboy.

See, what makes Spider-Man 2 a good comic book movie is the fact that it respected it's source material. Resource material that Brian and I know quite well (though not quite as well as the distinguished former-Reverend Mace who did remind be that Doctor Octopus immigrated to America when he was 20 years old).

The difference between 'fan' and 'fanboy' is knowing the differences from the source material (fan) and letting them ruin the movie for you (fanboy).

Brian disliked the first Spider-Man because of it's differences from the source material. Differences as minute as the character Flash Thompson having the wrong color hair.

THAT is a fanboy.

Having said all this, even Brian liked part two.

I guess that's the strongest recomendation I can give it.



Now Catwoman, on the other hand, is going to suck balls.

And here’s why:

They took a character that people know and like, a character that people wanted to see a movie about, and insulted those people.

I'll illustrate my point thusly:

Say I take a character that people know and like, a character from a movie that people know and like, a character that has a built in fanbase of people that genuinely want to see a good movie about this character, and I decide to make my own movie.

For the sake of argument, let's say the character I chose was Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump.

I know, it's not exactly the best movie to use as an example here, but I chose Lt. Dan because everyone knows who he is and therefore can understand the point I'm making.

So I want to do a Lt. Dan movie which I will name, originally enough, "Lieutenant. Dan".

But rather than make it about a Vietnam veteran with a fractured soul and no legs, I make him a loincloth-wearing, space-gladiator, cyborg from Mars.

See how some people might be a little upset?

And don't call me a fanboy. I liked most of the recent comic movies and though I noticed the changes, they didn't bother me. Actually, I rather liked most of them, but there's a difference when the movie bears absolutely NO resemblance whatsoever to it's source.

I hope Irony catches up with this jackass director and runs him over with a truck filled with comic books.

Actually, that whole cyborg-gladiator thing’s a pretty sweet idea. I’m gonna start writing a screenplay.

I'll keep you posted.