Escape Artists: August 2014

Greetings, Hatchlings!

Every month we round up all the stories we can find about fun movie events like marathons, special screenings, and conventions and miscellaneous stuff like food and games. Let’s see what went down in the world of escapism and pop culture shenanigans in August 2014!

Top Stories!

Sun-Ray Cinema's Twin Peaks Marathon

Remember that Twin Peaks marathon at Sun-Ray Cinema that we kept warning you about? Well it happened! It happened big time! That's right, on August 22nd and 23rd, Sun-Ray screened every episode of the show and they had an awesome special menu that weekend to complement the marathon. I couldn't attend the event (more on that in a second) but it looks like it was awesome. Check out some highlights below.

Georgia Mini LAMB Meetup

So yeah, I couldn't attend the Twin Peaks marathon, but I can explain. Ya see, I was up in Atlanta that weekend visiting family for some birthdays. I'd recently learned that Andrew and Sarah from Two Ticket For - a husband and wife LAMB (Large Association of Movie Blogs) duo - live up in the Atlanta area, and we made arrangements to meet up at a restaurant called Sweet Melissa's that Sunday for brunch.

Not pictured: delicious Nutella french toast.
Photo from sweetmelissas.com.

The breakfast was amazing but the company was even better. We essentially just talked movies the whole time. I had an awesome time meeting Andrew and Sarah and I'm looking forward to the next meetup. Any Florida/Georgia LAMBs are welcome to join us next time!

Aaron Paul's Breaking Bad Scavenger Hunt

Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad held an awesome BB-themed scavenger hunt to commemorate the show's last hurrah at the Emmys. It looks like it went pretty well. Check out The AV Club's write up of the event here.

Go meet one of the scary cousins @LuisMoncada77 at pinches tacos on Sunset. He will be inside holding some stuffed Jesse and Walt dolls.
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) August 25, 2014

Other Links

• Bid on a chance for an overnight stay in Downton Abbey. - via The AV Club
• An American Werewolf in London is Coming to Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights! - via Daily Dead
• Robin Williams Memorial Pops up at Good Will Hunting Bench. - via The Hollywood Reporter and The AV Club
• The Alamo's South Lamar location had an awesome The Shining screening with a pretty cool photo booth...

It's happening! The Shining at @drafthouse S. Lamar (soft opening) TONIGHT! pic.twitter.com/VRmahM0J7j
— Marty Hopkins (@MartyATX) August 13, 2014

• August 18th was Wet Hot American Summer day and you can also buy some pretty sweet WHAS T-Shirts at rustedwave.com! - via Badass Digest
• Jess from French Toast Sunday went to another awesome Jurassic Park event! 

Second Jurassic Park event of the summer - outdoor screening at Federal Hill #wesparednoexpense pic.twitter.com/YaXY34jYBW
— Jessica M. (@jess_fts) August 29, 2014

• Here's a report of one of those live orchestra Star Trek screenings. - via Badass Digest
• There's a rumor that Disneyland has big plans for Star Wars and Marvel... - via Nerdist
• Here's a great recap of Secret Cinema's Back to the Future experience. - via Den of Geek
• Cones of Dunshire, the board game created in Parks and Recreation, was made into a real game and played at GenCon. - via The AV Club
• Check out this recap of the Drive-In Massacre 2014 at the McHenry Outdoor Theater! - via The Nightmare Gallery
• "Deep Breath", the premiere episode of Peter Capaldi's Dr. Who run, aired in theaters, did anyone go? - via Fathom Events
• Speaking of Dr. Who, if you live in Jacksonville, you can catch future episodes every Saturday at Midtown Deli! 

Post by The Specktator.

Someone decked out an escalator as the Star Wars opening crawl.

Post by https://www.facebook.com/movieclips">MOVIECLIPS

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Escape via Food

• The Nerd Lunch Podcast crew talks fictional pop culture food on a new episode! - via Nerd Lunch
• Accio cupcakes! - via justjenn and Nerdist

• Are we getting an HR Giger bar here in the states? - via The AV Club
• Hobbit beers are coming to a shire near you! - via The AV Club

• To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Friends, Warner Bros. is opening an actual Central Perk in New York (for a limited time). - via The AV Club
• Did that whole "limited time" thing getcha down? Well guess what, there's a permanent (and slightly sad) Central Perk in Beijing! - via Buzzfeed
• There's a Dr. Who (man, what am I, a Dr. Who fan all of a sudden? I've never even seen an episode) restaurant in New York called The Pandorica. - via Nerdist
• Ghostbusters Donuts (shout out to Shawn for sharing this on Facebook)!

Post by Dinosaur Dracula.

Do you go to fun escapist events like movie marathons, festivals, movie-themed parties, or concerts? Are you planning on checking out any fun movie fan destinations? Have you seen any cool pop culture themed games or food anywhere? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us at totheescapehatch(at)gmail(dot)com.

Escape Artists: July 2014

Greetings, Hatchlings!

Every month we round up all the stories we can find about fun movie events like marathons, special screenings, and conventions and miscellaneous stuff like food and games. Let’s see what went down in the world of escapism and pop culture shenanigans in July 2014!

Our Escapist of the Month is Sun-Ray Cinema and all the lovely folks that turned out for their screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Gunnar Hansen!

Sun-Ray Cinema

I attended the screening and it was another one of Sun-Ray's really fun events. Leatherface himself (as in, a guy dressed as Leatherface, not Gunnar Hansen) greeted patrons at the door. The theater cooked up some really delicious Texas BBQ sliders, pictured below. Gunnar eventually introduced the film. It was the first time I'd heard him talk and he's somewhat soft-spoken. One of the funnier anecdotes he shared about the film was that the house that they filmed at had two acres of pot growing out back. He recounted being stoned out of his head one day after eating some pot brownies. Someone apparently found him on the house's porch muttering "Time has no meaning." When they started the film, Gunnar briefly sat next to me for a few minutes (there were a few empty seats in between us but, whatevs), which was kind of cool.

The film looks really great in all of its restored glory. Those Texas skies are so blue and really contrast with the ugly acts in the film. I ended up rewatching the Michael Bay produced remake recently and they got it really wrong. Gone are the blue skies, replaced with foggy woods (even in the daytime, for some reason). Jessica Biel is still as bouncy as I recall her, however, so it's not all bad.

I bought one of the posters that Sun-Ray produced for the screening. I already had the creepy candles.

After the screening Gunar stayed for a Q&A. I asked him if he preferred writing or acting, and he said he preferred the former because "acting is social". The only thing that kind of dampened the evening was the fact that Gunnar wanted $30 for autographs, which I think sort of miffed everyone involved. But it was still a fun experience!

Top Stories!

Speaking of Sun-Ray, they're set for their Twin Peaks marathon (yes, they're screening the entire series) on August 22nd! Ticket revenue will be going to the Hubbard House too.

society6

LAMB Meetup

Earlier this month, the LAMB descended on Chicago, Illinois for the 3rd annual meetup. I couldn't go (FROWNY FACE) but quite a few folks turned out for the shindig. If you went to the meetup and did a write up, feel free to share it in the comments! I've already included a few just below.

• Your Face!
• Film Yarn
• French Toast Sunday
• The Nightmare Gallery

Other Links

• Last month it was the Money Pit house, now Lara Palmer's house from Twin Peaks is up for grabs. - via The AV Club
• There are some pretty cool Jaws easter eggs in the new Harry Potter attractions at Universal Studios Orlando! - via Nerdist
• The birth locations of various Marvel characters mapped out. - via The AV Club
• Someone stole a bench from The Fault in our Stars. - via The AV Club
• Marty McFly's hoverboard is up for sale! - via BuzzFeed
• Speaking of Back to the Future, you can charge your phone in your car with a Flux Capacitor now! - via Geek Tyrant
• The French Toast Sunday crew went to a fun looking Wayne's World screening.

• The 4th Annual Lovely Soiree at the Bottle Rocket Motel, a celebration of Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket, went down on Saturday the 26th! Regular readers here should be familiar with this event, as we've been reporting on it ever since the motel was in danger of closing back in 2011. I'm hoping to report more on this year's soiree in next month's Escape Artists.

The first guests have started to arrive!!! #brmotel #lovelysoiree
— Reservoir Geeks (@ReservoirGeeks) July 26, 2014

• Better Call Saul billboard with working phone number pops up in Albuquerque. - via The AV Club
• Chicagoland event coverage: Terror in the Aisles presents Short Cuts. - via The Nightmare Gallery
• Last month we reported that Robert Englund will be wearing the Freddy makeup one last time at Flashback Weekend. It still hasn't happened yet, but now you can see them prepping his makeup. - via Bloody Disgusting
• Justin Gott from Man I Love Films went to Comic-Con! Check out his photo essay here.
• There's a Firefly online game coming and there's a trailer for it! - via The AV Club

Escape via Food 

• A model named Christine McConnell bakes stuff like the facehugger cookie below. - via BuzzFeed

• They're building an actual Krusty Krab...in Palestine. - via BuzzFeed
• Do you want to eat BBQ ribs with Kevin Spacey on the set of House of Cards? Sure ya do. - via The AV Club
• Game of Thrones wine! - via Nerdist

• The beer from Jaws has made a return! - via Nerdist

Special shout-out to Lindsay from French Toast Sunday for making our sweet new Escapist of the Month graphic pictured above!!! Thanks for reading, everyone!

Do you go to fun escapist events like movie marathons, festivals, movie-themed parties, or concerts? Are you planning on checking out any fun movie fan destinations? Have you seen any cool pop culture themed games or food anywhere? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us at totheescapehatch(at)gmail(dot)com.