Top Plug of the Week

For everyone who’s like “A newsletter? That I asked for? TOO LONG!” here’s this installment’s most important thing:

Tickets are on sale for THREE MEN AND A HALLIE! It’s a professionally-produced (seriously folks— check out the trailer) taping of a live show from LA’s independent video store/movie theater, Vidiots, AND it’s the first live show we’ve streamed featuring our beloved friend and all-time favorite guest, Ms. Hallie Haglund (although previously she appeared in our staged reading of The Boy Next Door, where she played the titular role of “boy next door” to Dan’s J-Lo).

It debuts Sunday, August 4 at 8pm Eastern Time (5 PT), and Dan, Stu, and Elliott will be in the live chat watching along, talking to folks, and remembering what we said a year ago, because, frankly, all that stuff’s out of our heads now.

If you can’t join for the premiere, WORRY NOT, because ticket-holders can watch/rewatch whenever they like, until midnight on 8/18.

Ticket holders can also grab new merch, designed by me, Dan McCoy, who really did his best to not insult his co-hosts with his drawings of their faces, but probably failed. There are also VIP tickets, which get you a one-on-one video chat, and a signed and numbered print of my aforementioned art.

This plug was extra-long, so I’ll wrap it up, after giving the ticket link just one more time. We hope to see you there!

Don’t Box Me, Bro

It’s no secret that we wanted to start this newsletter partly because social media is getting mighty unpleasant these days. Social? More like ANTISOCIAL Media, am I right?! HAHAHAHAHA I’m sure no one has made that observation before! And while we’re at it — media? “The latinic plural form of medium, sometimes used as a singular noun with the same meaning as medium?” There’s barely ANY of that either! Lies!

However, there’s one social media site that’s still great for film lovers like us (and I assume you too, because in my experience, folks who like bad movies love film, because who else would waste time with the bad shit?). That’s right: Letterboxd!

Letterboxd is great for many reasons. It’s perfect for the me’s of the world who forget everything, and need a media diary (this is particularly useful if you have, say, a podcast where you’re expected to recommend movies). It lets you see what your friends have been watching, which satiates the urge to snoop without actually prying into anything personal (or getting depressed by photos of their glamorous life). And it mostly doesn’t drift into people arguing about politics! There’s some of that, but — unlike literally every other place on the net — it’s not constant, deafening, and mere moments from inciting violence.

Allow me to present a case study of 3 ways to use Letterboxd, with 3 totally made-up examples. Let’s call them… Elliott, Stuart, and Dan.

“Elliott” usually doesn’t bother writing reviews, and he may or may not log every movie. He’s mostly there to see what other people are up to, and that’s fine. When he does review a movie, it’s usually something important to him. His ratings are a combination of his enjoyment and an objective assessment of the film.

“Stuart” logs pretty much everything. He’s Mr. Pithy One-Liner. He doesn’t bother with star ratings, because he knows trying to rank art is for chumps. He’s just there for the vibes, and smashes that heart button when he sees something he likes.

Sometimes he doesn’t even care if he tells the truth, if it gives him a chance to troll his kind, unsuspecting, blameless friends.

“Dan” Letterboxes obsessively. He logs everything he watches, even if it’s embarrassing Tino Brass Euro-smut. His star ratings are defiantly personal, and merely a measure of his own enjoyment, with no attempt at “objectivity.” He challenges himself to write something for every movie, whether it’s a full review…

…or a quick joke.

To borrow/paraphrase the tagline to Hit Man — who’s YOUR Letterboxer?

ADDITIONAL READING: Film critic, author of Opposable Thumbs, and multi-appearance Flop House guest Matt Singer wrote a couple of great Letterboxd roundups recently:

FIVE-STAR REVIEWS OF INFAMOUSLY BAD MOVIES

30 EXTREMELY NEGATIVE LETTERBOXD REVIEWS OF CLASSIC MOVIES EVERYONE LOVES

Next on The Flop House

Here ye on main!

7/20 - Sacre bleu! Sharks in the Seine? For the next full episode we take on the French film that became a minor hit on Netflix — UNDER PARIS!

7/27 - I, Dan, led the next mini, and I don’t want to spoil it. I’ll just say that I texted my co-hosts to say that this mini might just be the dumbest one yet, and — after taping — they agreed!

Cooking Corner

Thanks to all who tuned in on 7/5 to watch The Slop House, our occasional food-themed Twitch stream where Stu makes cocktails and convinces Dan to cook him dinner (check out Stu’s channel for stuff like that and for his Warhammer painting sessions).

If you wanna eat and drink like we did, here are the recipes!

Basil Cucumber Daiq Attack, by Stu “mixmaster” Wellington

• 3 basil leaves

• 3 cucumber slices

• 1oz Lime Juice

• .75oz Pineapple Juice

• 1oz Coco Simple Syrup (2:1, coconut water:sugar)

Blend Mix ingredients in a blender. Add mix to shaker with 1.5oz Coconut Washed White Rum. Shake well with ice. Strain over fresh ice. Cucumber wheel garnish.

I didn’t invent my dishes like Stu, but you can find the recipes I used for the carnitas tacos* and tropical crumble by following the links.

_{*(This is just for the pork itself, but I made it into tacos with tortillas, sliced radishes, cilantro, Mexican crema, and pickled red onions)}

Extra Credit

Max Fun members (and YOU could be one too, if you’re not already) should check their bonus content for the first in our “Blecch Check” series on the films of schlock director Greydon Clark — we talked about the T&A (trashy arcade) comedy JOYSTICKS! The next installment, “The Forbidden Dance,” tapes next week, shortly before our Boston show!

But wait, there’s more! More maxfun boco, that is! Dan guested on The Greatest Gen to discuss season 1, episode 3 of the original Quantum Leap, Star-Crossed! Get your RDAB (recommended daily allowance of Bakula)!

Speaking of things you can’t listen to or see unless you’re a supporter — if you just happen to be a patron of the delightful podcast Talking Simpsons, Dan was recently on a patrons’ bonus episode, discussing the classic snakes-and-Barry-White episode “Whacking Day!” And if you’re a Patreon supporter of The Museum of Home Video, check out the patron archive of the 7/16 episode, where host Bret Berg, of AGFA, screened various things by/featuring Dan: found footage edits, a wholly original cartoon,* and a blessedly-short interview.

If you ain’t givin’ money to shit, then we’ve got you covered as well! Over on the main feed of This May Hurt a Bit, Dan joined hosts John C. Meyers and Jim Strayer (Dan & Stu’s old college pal) to talk about Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation AKA “the one with Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey.”

Phew. Holy crap that’s a lot of shows Dan was recently on. TAKE A BREAK, ME!

Boys on the Side

For floppers who are fans of comics, Disney movies, Greek mythology, or ALL OF THOSE THINGS, issue four of Elliott’s Hercules series from Dynamite Comics hits comic store shelves on July 31st!

You Made it to the End!

This was a long one. Reward yourself. Remember *the cartoon I mentioned up above? Well, even if you missed The Museum of Home Video, you can see it for free here!

Or, if you’re more of a Stuficionado, have a glamor shot!