Sayonara New York... for a few days

I will be heading off to Las Vegas at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow and will be returning around midnight on Monday.  My good friends Rich and Tami are getting married and it should be a real humdinger.  It's sort of a reunion between all of my Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Jersey and New York friends.  With a few from all over - Vancouver, Philly, Florida - but Rev Theory is nationwide and growing... so it should be insane.

I'm not bringing my laptop as I don't trust it in Las Vegas.  And besides the blanky I have slept with since I was born, it is my most valuable possession.  I guess you can say that my backup drive is up there too.  But I can't really afford a new computer right now, so eat it.

Before I go - weights, cardio then jiu-jitsu.  See you on the dark side.

Netflix Dilemma

Let me begin by saying that I have been a loyal Netflix customer since 2002.  It has gotten me through some really terrible times.  My ruptured kidney, torn achilles... and a broken heart or two.  I have come to rely on these little red envelopes and the ability to catch more movies than I ever thought possible.  

And, it was really convenient.  It became even more so when they announced their streaming service.  I had thought streaming to a tv was something that was 3-5 years off at the time - but devices such as Roku helped lead the way to the tv set itself.  And, it was easy.  

With all of the PR bungles Netflix has made in the last 3 months, it is certainly taken the tarnish off a company I once loved.  It's not the ignorance they showed with the price hike, or the lame apology sent by Reed Hastings that has put me off.  $16 bucks for unlimited streaming and mail order dvd's is still the best deal on the market (trust me, I checked).  Hulu Plus has a small feature film library, and they don't offer many tv shows that I'm interested in.  Blockbuster is $10/month, only available through the Dish Network - and they have 30% less titles than Netflix.  Amazon Prime is becoming a viable alternative, but you still have to pay for rentals and the like - and costs would be like the old days of Blockbuster.  No, it is not the price hike that has pissed me off.

It is two-fold.  The first is the spinning off of the mail order and streaming services.  Two separate bills, two separate credit card charges each month.  I have a queue that is cultivated over 9 years now.  Apparently that will be lost.  Vanished.  For a complete film loser like myself that is devastating.  And while the charges are currently the same, spinning them off into separate charges makes it easier for Netflix to slowly creep those up over time.  You wouldn't be viewing them as an aggregate charge, but separate ones.  So it wouldn't be so blatant.  I knew deep down this was coming, it was natural.  But none of it sits well.  And how they're handling it sucks.

The second reason is the lack of independent titles they have been securing the rights to.  As I just said, Netflix still has the best selection.  But I don't see that lasting for long.  They have slowly been acquiring studio and major network titles, and disregarding the independent titles.  Part of the reason is the way they view the value of a title.  For the mail order DVD's, if you add a title to your queue it is part of the computation.  But for streaming, it isn't.  And since Netflix is trying to push everyone to streaming, where do you think this is heading?  If they are only counting titles that are streamed, not that are added - then it will be a depot for successful or studio titles.  It will no longer be the place to go for undiscovered or festival gems.  

And this depresses me.  I just hope an alternative springs up in its place.  The door is wide open for such a company.  It may even be a smart move to start an 'independent streaming service' - where you focus on independent titles, and cultivating an independent community - and even acting as a purveyor of all things indie.  IFC has a great opportunity, but they focus on their own titles.  We need an aggregator.  If only I had a few million to start licensing titles...

Top 5 Steven Soderberg Scenes

His career may still be in full-swing, with a handful of movies coming out and/or in production (including Haywire with Gina Carano - awesome)... but it did not stop the FilmSpotting guys, or myself, from compiling this list.

• Having a drink into sex scene between George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight
• Christiansen getting the back banged out of her for some black tar heroin when Michael Douglas shows up at the door in Traffic
• Julia Roberts convincing the desk clerk to let her go through the files in Erin Brokovich
• When Terrence Stamp goes back into the building after he's been thrown out in The Limey
• A bit of a cheat - the putting the team together sequence in Ocean's Eleven

Top 5 Assassin Movies

The word assassin is defined as:

"one who kills for fanatical or monetary reasons."

So, obviously, qualifying movies need to deal with someone who kills for fanatical or monetary reasons.  One of the leads must be an assassin, or the story needs to revolve around an assassin or assassins (or the threat of one).  It can’t just be a group of criminals who happen to kill people (Snatch). And it can’t be someone hell bent on revenge (Conan the Barbarian).

Top 5

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Bourne Supremacy

Batman Begins

Next 5

Unforgiven (hard to not put this in the top 5, as it could be #1 depending on the day of the week)

Pulp Fiction

Kill Bill Volume 1

Interview with an Assassin

Boondock Saints

Honorable Mentions

Assassination of Jesse James (only because we are waiting the whole movie for it)

Bourne Identity

Collateral

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Desperado

El Mariachi

Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai

Ghost in the Shell

Grosse Point Blank

Hero

Hitman

Ichi the Killer

In the Line of Fire

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Marathon Man

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2007)

Munich

No Country For Old Men

Road to Perdition

Shogun Assassin

Terminator

The Good, The Bad & The Weird

The Hit

The Killer

The Professional

Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead

Underworld

Wanted

Accupuncture

I've still been dealing with my left elbow tendonitis, going on two years now. Two cortisone injections and a tremendous amount of downtime later - I'm pretty frustrated.

I went back to my general practitioner to get his opinion on the situation, because I'm ready to have surgery. He recommended I see a Physical Therapist who is also a doctor that specializes in this type of stuff. So I set an appointment for this Thursday.

A few weeks ago I found out there is a holistic healing college in my hometown (Syosset, NY). I live a few towns over now and train at the gym right down the street from this place. Apparently you can see students there for a pretty small dollar amount. One hour massages. And something I've been extremely interested in for a long time - accupuncture. It's somewhat amazing that after all the crazy stuff I've done to try and better my health (physical and mental) that I haven't done this yet. So I booked an appointment for last night.

I was excited when I walked through the door. And this was actually a hospital/school. You go back into what is basically a white ER, swarming with students in white coats and what I guess were professors - I just assume because they were the older ones. I was taken back to a curtained off bed, sitting across from a 40 year old Indian woman who proceeded to ask me a plethora of questions about my urine, sleep habits, what was going on, etc... She wrote some notes down and we talked a bit - and I was getting more excited because I love this shit. I told her about my low energy, my ruptured kidney and how some other healers thought I had energy blockage there (which may have led to the rupture), my torn achilles and my left elbow tendonitis. She made me feel very comfortable and was so nice in a way that actually seemed genuine. I put on a gown and got on the table with my chest up. She came back with another student and they started to prep me for the needles.

When they put the needles in, I was told they always start with the ears. Well, my ears are like hard rocks cause of the cauliflower ear. She kind of freaked out about it, which was funny. I told her to jam that shit in as hard as she could. I was good to go. She passed and started on my chest. It was definitely weird and the first one took my breath away - but mostly because I have no meat on my sternum right below my over-sized chest. Then they got me in along my legs, waistline, edge of my feet and then on top of my head - which she told me was the main one for energy. When they were done they turned the lights off and let me rest for a few minutes. Maybe 15-30 minutes. I don't know, I was pretty damn relaxed.

Then they came back and took out the pins. They were looking at each other, excited with the area around each pin. Apparently if it gets red, that's energy or something releasing. So, it worked.

I usually have a massive clump of tissue/muscle somewhat over my left kidney that feels like someone screwed it into my body. No matter how much I heat it, how much I massage it, how much I do to get rid of it - it never goes away. Last night, on the drive home - I was somewhat blown away that I didn't feel it. And then I was freaking myself out cause I was trying to make it come back to feel it - cause I didn't know if it was gone or if I was just crazy. But all last night it wasn't there. I swear. It came back a bit today, but still diminished. And something I realized halfway through today - my elbow didn't hurt. I didn't have any pain in my left elbow. I repeat - I didn't have any pain in my left elbow.

I don't really know what to write after that. I am sold on this shit. I will be back next week.

MacArthur Fellowship - Nominate Me!

Yesterday, the 22 MacArthur Fellows were announced.

It has been my dream since I was an undergrad (ten years ago) to become a MacArthur Fellow (sometimes referred to as the 'Genius Grant').  For those that aren't aware of the program, each year the MacArthur Foundation names a handful of Fellows (23 in 2010).  These so-called geniuses range from politics to science to math to poetry to education to entertainment.

The MacArthur Fellowship is designed to provide seed money for intellectual, social, and artistic endeavors. From their own literature: "We believe that highly motivated, self-directed, and talented people are in the best position to decide how to allocate their time and resources. By adopting a “no strings attached” policy, we provide the maximum freedom for the recipients to follow their creative vision, whether it is moving forward with their current activities, expanding the scope of their work, or embarking in entirely new directions. There are no restrictions on how the money can be spent, and we impose no reporting obligations."

It is, in my opinion, one of the most prestigious awards one can win.  Forget the money ($500,000 over 5 years - no questions asked)... although the money would be amazing... What the program means and stands for is, to me, astounding.  Astounding in that it even exists.  People are recognized for their creative or intellectual endeavors and are allowed the financial freedom to pursue those endeavors, to advance society, to better people's lives, or to create harbingers of death.  With no strings.  Think about that for a second.  It's how it should be.

But there are always strings, aren't there?  That's what is so mind-blowing about being a MacArthur Fellow. Besides the fact that you are hand picked because others believe that your contribution to your field will be tremendous. Not necessarily 'has been' tremendous. They want people in the thick of it, who are going to grow.

So how does one go about even getting on their radar? It's a secret. Sort of. They have nominators, who are constantly revolving or changing.  But it is completely unknown who these nominators are. And the hope is that the nominees don't even know they are nominated.

I'm someone that operates somewhat on the fringes. I don't like drawing attention to myself (okay, yes, I have a mohawk - but it really completes my face). I don't have any connections to this world of academics (even after my time at Cambridge), my family isn't super rich or well-connected. My father, for all intents and purposes, is the most successful Colucci ever.  It amounts to a hill of nothing in the film and publishing world.

I don't think I'm going to change the industry (film or publishing).  But I know I am going to come crashing through the door of both.  I have a unique mix of financial know-how, work ethic and creativity.  I haven't taken the easy road to my successes.  My first film wasn't some small indie.  It was an eight-figure CG-animated feature done in 3D with an A-list voice cast.  Done independently.  My second feature is a visual effects heavy sci-fi thriller - done for a fraction of that - which no one is going to believe.  My first book wasn't a short comic done in black and white.  It was a 150 page, painted graphic novel in full color and over-sized.  My first project set up a studio wasn't a spec script I found.  It was a NY Times Best-Selling Fantasy series that is ranked fourth all-time in fantasy sales (behind only Tolkien, JK Rowlings and CS Lewis), with over 15 books. 

None of that came easy.  Each and every one was a hard fought battle (some still going on).

In the off chance that some nominator googled the grant and is reading this - nominate me. You won't regret it. I won't let you down.

Top 5 Most Anticipated Fall Movies of 2011

Although most teachers would have you believe summer ends Labor Day Weekend, for the rest of humanity Fall Equinox occurs on September 23, 2011.  That date happens to fall on a Friday this year.  My selections will be comprised of films coming out that day up through December 22,2011 – Winter Solstice.

Top 5:

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Oldman, Hardy, Firth, Hurt.  Enough said.  But why not add in Toby Jones, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds for my most anticipated film of the fall.

Killer Elite

DeNiro back as a bad ass.  This is where he shines.  Statham vs. Clive Owen – that could be sick.

Texas Killing Fields

I have a slight obsession with serial killer (or hunt for serial killer) stories.  I’m a fan of Worthington and Geoffrey Dean Morgan, so I’m excited to see this – even if it is getting a limited release – straight to VOD basically.

Moneyball

Script by Aaron Sorkin. Starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.  We know how it turns out, but sometimes it is just about getting there that matters.

A Dangerous Method

David Cronenberg directing Michael Fassbender?  This may be #1, but I have gone out of my way to learn nothing more about this movie. I’m also a fan of Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel and Viggo Mortensen.  And it was adapted by Oscar winner Christopher Hampton. 

Honorable Mentions:

I want to see these as well.

The Thing

J. Edgar

Like Crazy

The Ides of March

The Rum Diary

In Time

Immortals

The Sitter

DVD:

These all sound interesting and/or I will definitely watch when they come out on video.

Cook County

50/50

Blackthorn

Melancholia

Hugo

The Muppets

The Descendants

Three Muskateers

Bottom 10:

I rather stick needles dipped in acid into my eyeballs than sit through any of these.  There is actually 11 on this list, but they all deserve to be on it.

Wanderlust

Real Steel

Paranormal Activity 3

Johnny English Reborn

Abduction

Footloose

Tower Heist

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn

New Year’s Eve

W.E.

Movie Review: Mesrine - Parts I and II

Since I was watching these on Netflix Watch Instantly, I rolled right into a double feature of Mesrine: Part 1: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Part 2: Public Enemy #1.  The films are based on an actual person and for some reason I enjoyed them a lot more because of this.

If you couldn't tell, Part I was interesting enough for me to take on Part 2. If you read this blog, you know that I have an affinity for crime stories. I usually find myself rooting for the bad guy. And Mesrine is definitely the bad guy. Having just returned to Paris from the war in Algiers he dives into a life of crime, starting small and growing into Public Enemy #1 in France. His travels even take him to Montreal, where his crime spree continues.  He escapes from jail an astounding four times.  How that is even possible I don't know, but it is fun to watch.

Both films are somewhat episodic - as any person's life could be. He leaves country after country and woman after woman - even abandoning his children, who at one point seem to turn him into a working man.  But they are barely brought up again.  But his life is chaotic and stretches continents, so it is easy to believe that the characters in his life were constantly changing (this is why it was easier for me to accept and like the films).  While they are both sometimes meandering, Cassel is always engaging.  He portrays this somewhat charismatic, but sociopathic criminal teetering on the verge of violence at any second with ease.  Sometimes you watch a movie and think - oh, that's George Clooney playing so and so.  Cassel inhabits this character.  He becomes Jacques Mesrine.  It is almost haunting.

Director Jean-Francois Richet is a skillful filmmaker and the film itself is beautiful, with the cinematography dropping us right into the 60's and 70's.

If you're a fan of crime movies, or larger than life personalities, check it out.  It got me even more interested in checking out Carlos, which has been sitting in my queue for a while now.

Movie Review: The Mist

I will start by saying, I am not a Frank Darabont fan. Do I like Shawshank Redemption?  Yes. It's pretty good.  It doesn't make my heart flutter.  Something about Tim Robbins maybe. Everything he has done since just does nothing for me.  I loved the pilot episode for The Walking Dead. It was great. But it was like a cheesy B-movie without an ending. On tv, a great promise for what is to come.  And what was to come was shit.  Lots of it.  (Why didn't they stay closer to the books on that one?)

I listen to the slashFilm podcast every week and those guys are big fans of The Mist. Especially David Chen. I don't necessarily put much weight into that, but I did want to at least give it a chance because of this.

The movie hits pretty much every trope of a 'we're all stuck together' story.  The tough guy who really isn't that tough when shit hits the fan, the level headed female empowerment chick, the nerdy guy who really is useful after all, the old person with an attitude, the guy who is just too smart to believe any of this is real, the religious freak... and the hero.  Who is usually mild-mannered, but rises to action when needed.  This movie has it all.  And these tropes seem to be magnified here, particularly the religious freak. It also has some really good moments.  But it also has some really awful dialogue. And mediocre acting.  I do like Thomas Jane and Toby Jones, but they are the lone bright spots in the cast.  What I did like about it was how it kept surprising me.  I knew when shit started happening what the cause was, but it definitely kept you in the dark exactly what was in the mist, and why.  The reason is sort of lame, but they more or less just needed a reason and explained it away quickly.  What really got me was the ending.  I was impressed that they were willing to pull no punches and go balls out.  I'm not going to ruin it, but everyone that has seen the film will know what I'm talking about.  It's not a big action scene.  In fact, you don't even see the moment - you just hear it.  But it is pretty powerful stuff.  And I guess it made up for all the bad dialogue and acting up to that point.

Top 5 Inner City Movies

Since this is a long list there are some qualifying factors.  The neighborhood has to be a character (ie memorable).  The city has to be urban (so, Billy Elliot, El Mariachi and Fish Tank are out).  There are films that I’m on the fence about, such as The Last Dragon, Seven, LA Confidential and The Departed, which definitely have aspects that should get them on this list, but for LA Confidential the inner workings aren’t unique to LA and besides some accents, it’s hard to argue that The Departed is a unique depiction of Boston sub-culture.  The city in Seven was such a character, but more to set a mood than the actual city itself.  It could be Chicago (with the elevated train), or New York (screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker credits this city as his biggest influence), or even Boston (there is a radio broadcast on at one point – with a DJ from Boston – John McClellan). However, the city itself was never actually mentioned.  Further to that point, I’m ruling out any cities that don’t actually exist, such as Dark City and Gotham in Batman (1988) and Batman Begins (2007).

• Godfather Part II
• City of God
• Mean Streets
• 8 Mile
• Battle of Algiers

Honorable Mentions:

25^th Hour

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Above the Law

Amores Perros

Bad Lt.

Big Trouble Little China

Bloody Sunday

Boyz N’ the Hood

Chop Shop

Clockers

Dark Days (documentary)

Dirty Pretty Things

Elite Squad

Far and Away

Gangs of New York

Ghost Dog – Way of the Samurai

Gone Baby Gone

Hard to Kill

In America

Juice

Kids

Laws of Gravity

Lean on Me

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Menace II Society

Metropolis

New Jack City

Out for Justice

Outside the Law

Pope of Greenwich Village

Pusher (entire trilogy)

Raging Bull

Raising Victor Vargas

Saturday Night Fever

Scarface (Original)

Serpico

Sleepers

Slumdog Millionaire

Taxi Driver

The Basketball Diaries

The Corruptor

The Fighter

The Informer (1935)

Trainspotting

Wanderers

Warriors

White Men Can’t Jump

35 Movie Minute Podcast

The inaugural 35 Movie Minute podcast is in the books.  Rob and I finally sat down to record this thing, after a year long startup battle.  We ran pretty long (over two hours), but it was a lot of fun.  Now it'll be about a day while Rob cuts it down to 35 minutes.  

It's going to take some time to refine the format and get in a groove.  Also, I realized there was a massive amount of film new because of Toronto.  From now on we'll have special additional segments dedicated to festivals, award shows, etc...  and focus the podcast on Hollywood-centric news.

Look for the audio file sometime tonight or tomorrow.  You can follow us and stay up-to-date at:

www.twitter.com/35movieminutes

Karol Wisniewski is working on coding the website now and that should be ready to go by the end of the week or so (www.35movieminutes.com).  

Bulderlyns Step-by-Step Promo

Sometimes I'll post the progression of a page on here (I probably don't do it enough).  And sometimes I will just post a page as it is in progress (as I did with the coloring of Page 1 of Bulderlyns).  Well, earlier this week Pawel did one better - he put together a promo sheet with the penciling, inking and coloring stages of Bulderlyns.  It looks pretty bad ass.

I'm hyped on this book - I hope the writing/story is half as good as the artwork and artists.  The past few days have been sort of eating at me as I contemplate that, and my own abilities.

Unit Distribution Manager

I'm sick of hearing the term PMD - this hip term indie distribution 'experts' are cramming down our throats.  As a producer who oversees the entire production of a film, and if often with it years before it even goes into production, I take producer credits seriously (also because I went to a 'Producer' MFA program).

I also dislike the title 'Producer of Marketing and Distribution'.

What I'm proposing is a different term, something more fitting - Unit Distribution Manager, or UDM.  Your film probably has a UPM, who is the manager of the production - so it would be more fitting if this individual was the manager of the marketing.  Because in the end, they don't call the shots on distribution, they only facilitate it through possible Direct Distribution channels.  It doesn't confuse any of the above the line relationships.

Movie Review: Unstoppable

I know Tony Scott catches a lot of grief for his films (among film snobs)... dating all the way back to Top Gun.  That film is easily in my top 10, and Tony Scott has made some great movies.  Days of Thunder Enemy of the State, Beverly Hills Cop II.  Really good movies.  The Last Boy Scout, Spy Games, True Romance.  I even like the remake of Taking of Pelham 123.

But to do another train movie with the same actor, in what appeared to be the same role?  Eh.  And throw in that mix, a late dose of this wild editing and shooting style.  Man on Fire was watchable, but started this trend for Mr. Scott.  Then came Domino.  It actually caused sea-sickness.  And the painful to watch Deja Vu.

So, it is safe to say I wasn't pumped about checking out Unstoppable.  That's probably why this is coming way after its release, only after I DVR'd it on HBO.  While this doesn't exactly land on Tony's top 10 (I just ran the list, it's at 11)... it is a fairly enjoyable movie.  Once the train actually goes rogue, things move quickly and don't stop moving.  You'd think this would be somewhat lame, but he does a really good job of holding it together and keeping us interested in the fate of this train.  He also does a slick job of including some personal elements of our hero's lives, the affable Chris Pine and Denzel Washington.  Kudos to the writer (or whoever it was) that decided to make both of Denzel's daughters Hooters waitresses.  Nice touch.  But all of that is just periphery, because our focus is on stopping that train.  Definitely worth a viewing at home.

Bulderlyns - Page 1

Here is the first page of the graphic novel (without lettering).

Pencils - Igor Wolski
Inks - Pawel Sambor
Coloring - Dmitry Dubrovin
Co-Editors - Ryan Colucci/Karol Wisniewski
Writer - Ryan Colucci

Digital Comic Editions - Can They Increase Sales?

As a comic book creator (odd thing for me to say, being a fan for so long), I'm grappling with this whole digital publishing issue.  It's not that I haven't embraced it.  I have.  Fully.  Harbor Moon is available on Graphic.ly, Comixology and Wowio.  And probably for illegal download elsewhere.

My issue isn't - should I or shouldn't I - it is price points.

I started off at $2.50 an issue (the first issue is free).  My reasoning was - it should cost more for the entire book digitally than buying it in hard copy.  In fact, sticker price is $19.95 on the book, but you can get it direct from the site for $15 (no shipping and handling), and it's on Amazon for about $15.  So, it is still less than cover price.  However, I found that compared to other titles, we were really high.  And we weren't moving any units digitally.  The first issue was (and continues to) move a lot of units.  It's free, so at least it looks and sounds enticing.

About two months into this experiment I shifted the price down to $1.99 an issue.  So, to own all of the issues (and thus the full book), plus a ton of extra content we created just for the digital edition - it is $9.95.  That seemed like a really good deal to me.

Now, about 6 months after that, we are continuing to move 1st issues, but the rest aren't moving.  I have a theory that people will download everything they can for free.  And then they will get to it whenever, if ever, they can.  For an indie book, we are at the bottom of most reader's piles.  It was my thought that after a few months we would see a real uptick in digital downloads, at least for Issue #2.

As you can guess, this has not been the case.  First, a sort of explanation (reasoning to myself) - Harbor Moon was never meant to be broken up into issues.  It was always meant to be one book, read as a whole.  But Graphic.ly (my first deal digitally) doesn't offer full books yet.  So we had to break it up.  In doing so we created some extra content, made the issues flow from one to the next, etc...  I thought we did a good job with that.  But the book is a mystery.  It's a mystery with a few layers.  I don't want to call it highbrow, but we definitely don't spell things out for anyone initially.  And this could turn some people off.  They may finish reading Issue 1 and be like - what the fuck did I just read?

So, it is now that I contemplate the value of a digital edition.  Is it better to charge less and actually move units or not make any money on them at all?

The bigger question is: If your digital edition is priced well below your physical copy, will it hurt sales of the physical edition?

This is really hard to quantify.  Especially right now, when we are on the crux of the ereader movement.  It is trendy and lots of people do it - but it is still not the standard.  Maybe we're a year off, maybe we're three or five years off.  But right now, moving hard copies is where most of the revenues come from.

But I'm starting to think, and I had to step back and be a fan again, that if you price the digital editions at a very cheap price point ($.99), then you can move more copies, get more eyeballs on your book, and create fans.

Fans support you.   Fans buy your work.

If I was Robert Kirkman, I wouldn't even be debating this.  I would put my books out in hard cover with a $25/30 price tag, my issues out digitally for $1.99 - and just sit back.  He has legions of fans.  But that was built over time.

I have to take my lumps (financially) in order to build that fan base.  And that means, getting people to read the book.  I may even experiment with giving Issue #2 away for free.  Or $.25.  Which is basically free.  More important than money to me is that people read the book.  I think they will enjoy it.  If you look at the artwork and hate it, okay - I understand.  It is subjective.  I can't change your opinion.  But I think if you enjoy the art, even slightly, you'll enjoy the book.  I would guarantee it, but I have nothing to back that up with.

So, I'm going to shift my digital pricing strategy.  And if you downloaded Harbor Moon and are waiting for Issue 2, you're in luck.

Top 5 Race Against the Clock Movies

To qualify for this list, there must be a ticking clock.  So, movies where someone is captive and they are ‘eventually’ going to die don’t count (Silence of the Lambs or Never Let Me Go).

Top 5

• Back to the Future
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Midnight Madness
• How I Got Into College
• Run Lola Run

Next 10

• Happy Gilmore
• Winter’s Bone
• The Running Man
• Safemen
• The Rock
• One Crazy Summer
• Inception
• The Dark Knight
• 25^th Hour
• Road Trip

Honorable Mentions

• War Games
• 48 Hours
• Armageddon
• Cannonball Run
• Escape from NY
• High Noon
• Midnight Run
• Speed
• 30 Days of Night
• PCU
• Arlington Road
• Riffifi
• Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Empire Records
• Get Him to the Greek
• Nothing to Lose
• Princess Mononoke
• Proof of Life
• Road Trip
• S.W.A.T.
• The Taking of Pelham 123 (both)
• Transporter
• UHF