Listen Up, Dudes

As much as I like being entertained by watching others’ adventures, I need to have my own, and this week I’m off on vacation, touring around Alberta, so let’s keep it simple. Here are five film-related things I’m excited about, in order of awesomeness.

1. Lebowski Fest in Toronto: the touring Lebowski Fest – a celebration of all things Big Lebowski – is making its first Canadian stop in Toronto, and that means the white Russians will be flowing through my fair city like a river of manna from heaven. A few years ago I covered one of the Lebowskifests in Vegas for Spin and it was the ultimate dude destination. There was a screening, an appearance by Jeff Dowd (the real-life guy the character was based on), many amazing costumes (ranging from a Jeffrey Lebowski in a motorized wheelchair to a guy who came as the carpet) and bowling night in which Achievers of every creed, colour and persuasion bonded over their shared knowledge of the greatest one-liners in the world (“Mark it zero!” could be heard throughout the lanes that night). Not a gang of nihilists, Jackie Treehorn’s thugs or a conflicting bowling tournament could keep me from attending this. Be there or be verrrry un-Dude.

2. FUBAR 2: it was announced last month that a sequel Michael Dowse’s hoseriffic headbanger comedy is in the works for 2010, which will be eight years after the first one – damn that’s hard to believe. FUBAR is essential Canuck comedy viewing, and the concept for part two sounds pretty awesome. According to this article, Dean (Paul J. Spence) and Terry (Dave Lawrence) will be looking to get rich working in the oil patch, and the events of the film will take place around Christmas. I hope the soundtrack is as good as the first one, as well. The New Pornographer’s cover of Toronto’s “Your Daddy Don’t Know” never leaves my mp3 player. As far as I can see, the only thing that threatens to hurt this project is that fact that the real-life headbanger types I’ve met that actually do work in northern Alberta in the oildfields are funnier than the Dean and Terry characters.

3. Back to the Future wedding cake: This insanely awesome BttF wedding cake ( which showed up on Boingboing – thanks!). I lack the words to describe how truly awesome this is. Can I get a Marty McFly made of marzipan, please?

4. The Eco-Box: I first noticed one of these a couple of months ago on a DVD that I bought and they seem to be popping up more regularly. The concept is ridiculously simple, they’re boxes designed in a way to use less plastic. While not as good as the cardboard boxes, at least this is a step in the right direction. Made for DVD, Blu-Ray and games, they look the same as a regular box on the outside, but have cut-outs in them that reduced the amount of plastic. The company’s biggest boasting point is that the cases “substantially reduce the mass of plastic by strategically removing material from non-functional inconspicuous areas.” And while the boxes are “recyclable,” they’re still made from regular plastic, as far as I can tell. But less plastic is a step in the right direction, so I’m all for the Eco-Box, even if they could be more green.

5. A new Conan movie – not directed by Brett Ratner: Yay! For years I’ve wanted to see the proposed King Conan movie, which would see Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the character as the aging hero; alas, that’s not gonna happen, but by Crom,  am I ever ready for a new Conan adventure. The problem was that hack filmmaker Brett Ratner (X-Men 3 and the Rush Hour series – ugh!) was signed on to the project. According to this Empire article, he’s been replaced by Marcus Nispel. Granted, Nispel did the crummy Friday the 13th remake, but his Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake is actually a pretty effective horror flick, and he showed a flair for shooting swordplay with Pathfinder, even if that film ultimately falls kinda flat. Anything’s better than Ratner – you can bet yer loincloth on it.

-Dave Alexander