Monday, February 02, 2009

25 Random Things About Me...

All my Facebook pals keep tagging me in this little exercise-so I thought it would be fun to share the results here. 25 Random bits about your humble blogger.


1. Had my first real female contact during the Luigi Cozzi film Hercules (yeesh!)...but that isn't the fun part. TELLING Luigi Cozzi the story of my first boob in the movie theater-at his movie-more than 20 years later was great fun.

2. I have not seen the ground at our new home yet thanks to all the snow. It is ugly I'm sure.

3. I lose my car at malls and school because it is smaller than the sea of SUVs and Mini-Vans.

4. I have two kids, both of which can outfox me simply by applying a smile to their faces.

5. I managed or worked in video stores my entire working career. As a break I managed a record store.

6. I ate Salmon and watched Thriller:A Cruel Picture and Breaking Point with the director of those films.

7. I paid the above director for the rights to Thriller / They Call Her One Eye with Swedish Kronor that was hidden in my socks during a first class international flight. The money was dragged together in under 3 days and nearly every bank in NYC was needed to dredge up that many physical notes. It was a BIG bunch of cash.

8. I'm very lucky to have great friends and I try to work hard to keep them every day. I'm a trying guy to talk with sometimes.

9. I caught my son when he was born with no doctors present while wearing a shirt featuring Kung Fu movie star Hwang Jang Lee.

10. I can not kick like Hwang Jang Lee, but my hands are fast enough to catch a suprise baby. I know panic fu.

11. Last year I listened to the complete Front Line Assembly discography. That is a MASSIVE batch of music.

12. I'm working on a book about Guy N. Smith. Any man that can make giant crabs compelling enough for 6 novels, several short stories and a comic book is a genius...

13. I'm obsessed with finding the uncensored version of Being Captured by "Baron Corvo" aka Alberto Cavallone. No luck yet...the search continues. A Midget in a Sailor Suit with a Blowgun Vs. his Babysitter is always good.

14. I've seen over 100 films directed by Jess Franco-many in languages I don't understand. Most twice. At least.

15. My daughter is beautiful. My son is handsome. Both look like their mother. PHEW!

16. I played hockey in Europe in 8th grade. My parents saw photos of young me leaving a sex shop and holding a beer stein larger than my head upon my return. I know what the best parts of that trip were...and I don't play hockey anymore.

17. I abuse the ellipsis in my writing. Seriously...

18. I co-authored a book on Italian Action Films of the 1980's called TOUGH TO KILL. The film that I took the name from is not reviewed in the book, but the book has never received a negative review that I've read. So it all evens out.

19. I've played video games nearly every day of my life since I got my first Atari 2600. 12 year olds still destroy me on Call Of Duty 4.

20. I have a goddaughter that is going to be in College soon.

21. I stored my complete run of Master Of Kung Fu in a closet directly next to the front door in case of fire.

22. I've taught my son to sing songs such as POWER OF THE DAMAGER by Prong, JOCKO HOMO by Devo and STRUTTER by Kiss. We also enjoy Blues Clues.

23. I own more than 3000 films in many different (and some obsolete) formats.

24. I've only called two people Sifu, but both are worthy of the name.

25. I write every day, but I read more.

3 comments:

Benjamin Hall said...

Great List!

Speaking of obsolete formats, a boss of mine used to buy crap by the ton at auction then let his employees rummage through the stuff he didn't want. I took home a laserdisc player and a few movies I found in a box and was on cloud nine.

When I got home, I soon found out that not only did the unholy beast NOT work, it was not even a laserdisc player... it was a videodisc player!

I promptly put the damned thing out on the curb where it was stolen by someone else. HA!

Anonymous said...

Wait, you own the rights to "Thriller"? Get right out of town!

David A. Zuzelo said...

Videodiscs? ARGH!!! I worked in a Laserdisc shop for a few years and have a big collection of oddball stuff like an uncut Class Of Nuke 'Em High sitting in crates.

The person that stole that player...well, I hope they enjoyed it. Cement mixer noise and all.

Greg, regarding Thriller. Here is the story. I was hired to help start up a DVD label as a "creative consultant" kind of thing-and told to pick the movies I wanted. This was around 2000 I guess (has it really been 9 years??)and THRILLER was my #1 choice. We contacted Fred The Swedish Shinobi who hooked us up with Bo Vibenius. All was great for about a day or two until we realized that we needed to do the deal quickly and in cash. Being in the US, Kronor in the 6 figure range wasn't exactly an easy task, but myself and the owner of the company flew first class to Sweden and I had one of the best weekends of my life. VERY exciting... Bo was nice and gave us all kinds of material to forge the DVD. Remember, DVD was a new thing at the time and he gave us the world rights!
I'm gonna be rich!!!!
No.
And I personally never had anything of the rights, those would be CHROME ENTERTAINMENTS I guess.

The owner of Chrome ran in to some trouble and we had exactly one day to move the rights or they were going to be reverted due to a bankruptcy. NO THRILLER? NO WAY!!

Around that time my favorite LD label (and DVD releases had just started) were the best place I could imagine them landing. A quick exchange, rights moved, director freaked, Chrome owner went ballistic and I figured the little contract would still put food on my table and help me pay for the start of our first childs life.
No.

Now the rights belong to Bo Arne Vibenius since all the contracts are expired. So, I guess we could get a nice HD disc or something... Frankly, I would never, EVER, have anything to do with the "biz" of this stuff again.

That said, it is obvious how much I love the film and after such tales as "Otto Van Der Loup," "what do you mean there is a review online and I haven't seen a check disc??" and even "My liner notes...my contribution...are FUCKING GONE???" this is a favorite movie.

And soon, I meet Christina. I have a lot tied in to the movie, but sad to say, I've never owned even a little bit of it.

Someday I'd like to though! Until then, I found a nice US one sheet online.

Wow, that was a long response...sorry.