Honea Express

Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category

There isn’t a lot of money in professional blogging unless you’re actually good at it. Needless to say, I’m broke. However, there are perks, and like fezzes, bow ties, and the assorted fetishes of Doctor Who, perks are cool. They are the magic beans to my sad and lonely cow. Whatever that means.

I have some perks on the horizon and as such I am contractually obligated would love to share them with you. You are going to be jealous, and frankly, you should be.

Sometime in the near future I will join a group of bloggers for a Disney extravaganza, that’s right: EXTRAVAGANZA!

We will screen Wreck-It-Ralph, Paperman, Monsters, Inc. 3D, and the big dead dog, Frankenweenie — the latter comes complete with the red-carpet treatment of which I have grown so accustomed. Seriously, it’s pretty nice. Read the rest of this entry »

The Avengers opens this week, and it is awesome. You may have seen the giveaway I’m running at the Disney Blog for some cool Avengers swag, but if you haven’t, go enter, I’ll wait.

I’ve also got something very special to give away here, and it too involves The Avengers. And Stan Lee. It’s a great power, great responsibility sort of thing, but with less spiders.

I’ve got two(2) weekend festival passes to the 2012 Catalina Film Festival, which includes a presentation by, and the honoring of, Mr. Stan Lee. Also, a special screening of Marvel’s The Avengers.

The catch? The winner needs to be in Southern California because travel to Catalina Island and other accommodations are not included in the prize.

Still, seeing Stan Lee and The Avengers is pretty cool, and Catalina Island is a great getaway. I’ve seen worse giveaways.

How to enter: If you are in SoCal and able to attend the Catalina Film Festival this coming weekend (May 4-6) then leave a comment below stating which Avenger is your favorite and why. It’s that easy!

Comments will close at 11:59 p.m. PST on Wednesday, May 2. Winner will be picked at random and contacted via email. Due to the sensitive timing of this giveaway winner must respond ASAP. If I do not hear back within 3 (three hours) I will contact another winner. I know, it’s not a lot of time, but hey, it’s my giveaway.

Excelsior!

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See the video of Mark Ruffalo on his inspiration for the Hulk!

Read my review of The Avengers at DadCentric!

Photo: Disney/Marvel

Insert "down the rabbit hole" reference here. Look smart.

Hello, Grantland readers! Thanks for stopping by. You found me running a clip show. How embarrassing for all of us. For those of you that aren’t readers of Grantland, you should be, especially since they used my video of Darth Vader throwing out the first pitch at last Friday’s Dodger game.

• You may recall a long time ago (see, last post) when I talked about our postponement of Easter. It happened. We thanked the rabbits accordingly. Or we may have thanked a snake. I don’t know. Someone dropped some jelly beans and I wasn’t sticking my hand in the hole to get them back, although, to be clear, I’m a firm believer in the non-hurting qualities of dirt.
• I attended the world premiere of The Avengers, and my thoughts on the movie are under embargo until May, but seeing as half the internet has ignored that nugget I’ll give you this much: The Avengers movie is freaking fantastic. Also, Sam Jackson gave me the stink eye:

• Speaking of Disney, I took a trip to Pixar Animation Studios, and it was exactly as amazing as I thought it would be. I thought it would be really amazing. I shot arrows!
• In other news, I was put on the spot by my 8-year-old when he brought up the subject of sex. I handled it okay, but visit DadCentric and let me know what you think!
• Last, but not least, I have a new post up at Babble’s Dadding, and your pageviews could send a kid to camp. Not really. However, I would greatly appreciate any traffic you could send my way. It’s cute pictures of kids, people, what’s not to click?

Tune in later this week as I’ve got some spring cleaning to do, and that means giveaways for all the readers (but mostly the winners)!

You started the music. You lit the lights. Some of you even dressed up right (I’m not judging). And now you want Muppets. I get it.

You came to the right place.

I’m giving away two (2) copies of The Muppets, the hit movie from Disney, in a fancy combo pack (the Wocka Wocka Value Pack) that has DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital copies, as well as the very awesome (not counting Jefferson Starship) soundtrack. All you have to do is enter (more on that below).

Disney sent me a copy for review, which became the centerpiece of our Friday Family Movie Night. The boys had seen the film, and loved it, so they were very excited to watch the Blu-ray. They really loved the special features (listed below) and we spent a very long time watching all of them.

The combo pack has a number of bonus features (depending on which copy you are using, Blu-ray has the most), including:

Some of you may know that I really did meet the Muppets (below, I’m the one on the left), and yes, it was as cool as you think it is.

Here’s how you enter the contest: Leave a comment below stating which Muppet you would most like to meet and why (Note, this contest in no way suggests that such a meeting will ever occur, in fact, it probably won’t. Honea Express, crushing dreams since 2005!). Make sure to provide your email address in the box provided (NOT THE COMMENT BOX). Comments will close on Thursday, March 29, at 11:59 p.m. PST. I will draw two (2) winners at random from the comments left below. I will then email said winners instructing them to claim their prize (and asking for mailing addresses – no P.O. boxes). Winners will have 24 hours to respond to the email or their prize will become forfeit and another winner will be drawn. Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. The review combo pack described above and both of the prizes mentioned in this contest are courtesy of Disney, they’re cool like that.

Wocka, wocka!

CLOSED: Congrats to Cody & Erica. The movie is in the mail (or other delivery service)!

Blogging hasn’t made me rich, unless you’re one of those saps that thinks friends make you rich, then sure, I’ve made a few bucks. But here’s the thing, friends don’t pay the rent, unless they are really great friends, which I’m sure some of them are. Call me!

What blogging has done, in addition to the many friends I’ve met (especially the great ones), is allow me opportunities that I never would have had with a regular job like a job. For instance, in the past year I’ve drank too much whiskey while talking to Bog Iger in Hawai’i, chatted with Steve Whitmire (Kermit the Frog) while hanging out at Jim Henson Studios (get The Muppets on DVD/Blu-ray tomorrow!), and watched my oldest son get his Jedi on at Skywalker Ranch. All of these experiences (and more!) have been incredible opportunities and I am thankful for them. Sure, they were the result of lots of hard work, and they themselves resulted in even more hard work, but every single one of them has been worth it. And then some.

Which leads me to my next great adventure: Next month I will be Disney’s guest at Pixar Studios in Emeryville, CA, and all will be right with the world. Well, my world anyway. I don’t know what you’re into.

I’m fully aware that you probably hate me a little bit right now, and I can say, with all honesty, I’m okay with that.

The trip includes a tour of Pixar Studios, a screening of Disneynature’s Chimpanzee (in theaters on Earth Day), a sneak peak of Pixar’s Brave and La Luna (the Oscar-nominated short to be shown before Brave), and a day at the wonderful Walt Disney Family Museum, which I just took my son to for his report on Walt Disney because I’m THE. BEST. DAD. EVER. True story.

You still hate me. I can feel it.

Here’s where you, the reader, come in. If you have any questions for Mark Andrews, the director of Brave, or any of the film’s animators, then please leave them in the comments below and I will ask them (unless your question sucks) during the interview process. It’s just like being there! Especially for me.

Hey kids, do you have the Facebook? Then you can “Like” Brave, Pixar, and Disneynature at your leisure. You can also like me. You can really like me. But I totally understand if you don’t.

Disclosure: This trip is on Disney’s very kind dime, but the opinions will be mine (something they know quite well).