Pajiba

Firts comment - whoohoo!

July 27th can't get here fast enough - if for no other reason so I can know why Bart is skateboarding around in the nude.

The Mist: great news!* One of King's most cinematic stories, begging for the screen. I love that one (yes, some English profs appreciate King, although we're dern selective and stick to his early stuff like flies on...well...)

* as long as Darabont keeps King's involvement to pretty much nix--that is one author who can kill film treatments of his own work like nobody's business.

The Mist was the first King story I read, and I was pretty young, about six, so my imagination ran riot. I'm looking forward to this, seeing as the only truly decent King adaptations of the last fifteen years have been Darabont's (Dolores Claiborne and Apt Pupil get by on a number of quality performances, but they're pretty slight overall).

Yes!! I have always thought that the funniest moment in The Matrix is when, after plugging that cord into the back of his head and jostling his body around in ceisure-like motions, Keanu comes to, faces the camera, and says (in his best Bill/Ted/Point Break voice) "I know kung-fu."

Hilarious!

Thanks for reminding me of that moment, Dan. And now I'll go back and actually read the Round-Up.

Can we hijack this comments section into "best of" Simpsons comments?

Best Episode: For me, it's a tie between the "Grifting" and the "Cat Burgular" episodes.

Best Guest Star: George Plimpton in the "Spelling Bee".

This is officially the round up of my youth.
I was in elementary school when The Simpsons debuted, have harbored a Keanu crush since Parenthood, and it is during exactly that same time period that I first read Skeleton Crew.
*sigh*
I almost miss my Coke bottle glasses and braces.

Sigh. I am a huge fan of The Simpsons, but really haven't found the show funny at all in the past few years. The biting wit and banter and amazing writing are gone for the most part, with a funny line scattered here and there sometimes, though not often enough.
I'll probably line this up on Netflix when it comes to DVD, unless a susprisingly good review arises - something I am not expecting.

When's the Futurama movie coming out???

(And why in isn't there one!?!?)

The title should be changed to "I know Pajiba-fu." But then these things never last long, so oh well.

big ups on the new main page. can we get another pajiba contest for t-shirts, and maybe not orange ones. i was on the edge of going to make one myself and claim i bought it from yall

Best Simpsons episode - Kamp Krusty. Hands down.

James Ellroy and Keanu Reeves? Huh? How did that happen? I know Ellroy usually doesn't give a shit about the movies they make about his novels, but this is his screenplay, right? What the fuck?

Simpsons?! Blarghhhhhhh! (Salivating)...hooray! July 27th is the best day of the year...!

the mist , one of kings scariest short stories ever!!Should make one hell of a movie.Skeleton crew also had the story about a drug dealer having his plane crash on a desereted island. no food no water and the dude ends up eating his fingers then toes then feet sooo fucking creepy... STEPHEN KING RULED BACK THEN..

Can anyone recommend a good starting point to get into King's work? I understand from several posts that his work has steadily declined in quality, but the buzz on Dark Tower has rekindled my interest. Thanks Pajiba!

Manny, I'd recommend The Stand and The Talisman as my fave King books to try. Disclaimer: I haven't read much King since high school in the late 80's, so I'm not as familiar with his later stuff and I haven't read any of the Dark Tower series that many people are so into. I also really like Carrie, but it might be a bit too "female" for some. The early short story collections I also remember being good and creepy. I just tend to find in general, his books got more formulaic as time went on, so I think the earlier ones are better...ymmv...happy reading...

Hi Manny - As much as I love Browning's "Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower Came" (which Gunslinger surely alludes to!) and spaghetti westerns in general, I have never been able to get through the Gunslinger, but I think that's just me. I would try it.

I agree with GreenMyEyes about The Stand and The Talisman--books I reread a millions times in my teens. These novels do what novels are supposed to do. Also It, despite what many feel is a problematic ending. I'd also recommend any short story/novella collection published before the early 1990s, which tend to be considered halfway literary, depending on who you ask in the ivory tower. Much of it really is great stuff that follows proudly from Poe and Lovecraft. The Shining is a grand old girl, too. Pet Semetary is solid, too, I think, and Salem's Lot...

It's funny how someone who did genre so well at one point completely, IMO, turns to dreck around the Desperation/Gerald's Game point. The only thing I've found readable since then was Bag of Bones. Recent stuff makes me gag. But to each their own.

Also, totally OT, but I also recommend a great genre novel that reads like King at his best but was written by Dan Simmons (sp?) called Summer of Night--it's very redolent of It and Stand By Me combined.

Best Simpson's moment: Kang and his sister Kodos(disguised as Bob Dole and Bill Clinton)
Kang: The politics of failure have failed. We need to make them work
again. Tomorrow, when you are sealed in the voting cubicle, vote
for me, Senator Ka... Bob Dole.

Kodos: I am looking forward to an orderly election tomorrow, which will
eliminate the need for a violent blood bath.

I'd say the most readable of all King's books is The Dead Zone, but you'll most likely have a good time with anything up to and including Misery (with the possible exception of It). (Check out Wikipedia or somewhere for bibliography.)