Ok, I don’t really use Livejournal so I know not of their internal memes, but I was recently pointed to a post at Le Poulet Beheme from this email:

OK, so, a long time ago, a rainbow-colored bar with “Marriage is love.” on it began circulating in LiveJournal profiles, as a statement in favor of gay marriage. It quickly became stale meme, with every actor, musician, restaurant, ice cream flavor, and Harry Potter slash pairing in the universe having its own colorbar. And, well… I thought the herd needed an addition. So I present to you, Snakes on a Colorbar!

All previous Fan Art.

After nearly 1,400 votes, we have our winner. It was a close contest, but in the end we will be calling an online fan of Snakes on a Plane a:

I have to admit, I voted for SoaP Scum, which I still think was a great option, but the masses have spoken. As promised, the winner of this contest will receive a copy of the teaser poster, a shirt of the winner’s choice from either ShelfLife’s CafePress store or Damnation’s store, and a limited edition bracelet from Goods For Giving with Snakesonaplaniac imprinted. The winner of this contest is:

IQpierce

Congratulations IQpierce. You are, however, expected to send in a picture of yourself wearing your chosen shirt.

In commemoration of this occasion, ShelfLife was kind enough to produce the snazzy graphic above which is now available on a wide variety of shirts for everyone, not just IQpierce. In addition, there were three other people who submitted Snakesonaplaniacs after IQpierce, they will be receiving the same prize package except without the t-shirt (sorry): Christopher, Scott and reddragon. I will be in touch with all the winners in the next 24 hours to make arrangements for your prizes. Feel free to taunt everyone else in the comments. Also, for those of you interested, here’s a complete list of all submissions.

I really enjoyed this contest, so here’s what the next one is going to be: prizes will be awarded to individuals wearing snakes on a plane apparel in funny/unusual locations/situations. So, if you don’t already have a shirt, make sure to pick one up in preperation.

Sunny Mabrey did a short interview a few weeks ago, but she’s now done a longer/fuller interview:

The situation is so insane. It’s not like you ever have to have a moment of… Well, people die, so I actually just played it as real as I could. There’s comedy in the movie, so it’s not like I have to make my part campy, because the parts that are scary are scary, they are terrifying, so you don’t have to make it like a Scary Movie, it’s not like one big skit or anything. It’s like a real movie. It’s funny and it’s terrifying and there’s some sad parts.

Check out the full interview.

Last week I posted an ASL translation of Snakes on a Plane and requested a video of someone doing it. Well, I didn’t get a video, but Will of stickdeath fame was kind enough to make two different versions in stick figure format. The first one is straight, the second uses a little bit Samuel L. Jackson styled edge:

Previous Stickdeath.

A few weeks ago the CBC interviewed me for a radio story. The piece, similar in feel to the NPR piece, is now online (scroll down to Part II). The producer asked Roger Ebert about the comparison between Snakes on a Plane and Casablanca, unfortunately they didn’t record him scoffing at the question. At about 16 minutes in, Ebert goes on a rant about “the age of irony”:

I’m tired of the age of irony. The age of irony is just an attitude that excuses you for consuming junk as if it were worth consuming. And irony is also just an excuse to avoid doing the heavy lifting of important art, you know? If you don’t go to see great movies, or read great books, or go to great theater, or look at great television, then you don’t have to think about it and you can just master trivia. And then when you’re 35 you can sit around drinking beer with your high school buddies and, you know, chat^* your life away. People who embrace irony are living in a little bubble brained universe of lost time.

It’s possible he said “shat” or “shit” rather than “chat”, it was a little bit unclear. It sounded like “shat” but that didn’t make any sense. When asked about the quality of the title, he had this to say:

It is a good title. How about this for another title: “Hands Down the Garbage Disposal.”

If anyone can get an MP3 of this, I’d appreciate it. Ebert also makes a passing reference to Snakes on a Plane, without nearly as much anger, in his recent review of The Poseidon Adventure.

Also, if you’re bored, here’s a quick clip from WPLJ in New York where they discussed Snakes on a Plane a little bit.

A few months ago I posted a link to Snakes on a Hockey Team, well, it looks like they’re not the only snakes on a sports team out there. Say hello to Snakes on a Disc (an ultimate frisbee league in Los Angeles). Here’s their logo:

A frequent contact, who also wrote the song Snakes on a Plane under the band name Asp (he’s in the Tagworld Contest if you want to vote for him), sent me this email:

I thought you might like this photo of my class. I have the story of SOAP edited to a great children’s story and my students want to hear it everyday. They are also avid fans of my song. In this photo they are singing it whilst holding up their SOAP coloring pages. Feel free to post the photo if you want.

And here’s the GREAT photo:

Seriously, click on that picture.

My dad chastised me last night for not posting my monthly recap.  I had forgotten about it.  Whoops.  My first one was three months ago, the second one was two months ago and the third one was last month.

I’ve been online for 121 days. I’ve had about 487,000 visitors. I’ve posted 257 stories which received 1,614 comments (and 792 blocked comment spams) as well as one contest. There have been 1,530,000 requests for pages, and a staggering 31,200,000 requests for all files (these are mostly people hotlinking to images and comics that I’ve hosted and posting them on other forums around the net). I’ve transferred 772 gigabytes of data (slowly approaching a terrabyte!). The most popular day of the week is Friday. The most popular hour of the day is between 1pm and 2pm.

I’ve gotten eight free t-shirts, one free hat, one free button and one free mug. A fan started petition requesting I be allowed to attend the premiere is over 1100 signatures. There are currently 49 translations of “Snakes on a Plane” into foreign languages (including ASL). I’ve been interviewed by two TV crews. According to Google, SnakesOnABlog.com has appeared in 151 newspaper stories, been linked to by 829 blogs, and over 5,500 other webpages.

But my goal was not to build stats. My goal was not to get free t-shirts or high hit-counts. My goal was to attend the Hollywood premiere of Snakes on a Plane. If that doesn’t come to pass, then all the rest of this work was for nothing. Read my first, second and third pleas to hear more.

My goals are looking pretty good at this point. David Ellis, the director, has said that I’d be coming to the premiere in several interviews… but the quest doesn’t end until I’m standing on the red carpet.

Things are looking good, though. Thanks for everyone’s support.

I collected 115 different suggestions from 89 different emails -15 were submitted more than once. I culled the list and pulled out the five most frequent submissions and five suggested by only one person. (Full Disclosure: One of them was submitted by my mom, but I won’t tell you which one.)

As previously stated, the voting will be open until Tuesday, May 16th at Midnight EST. At the conclusion of the vote, the first submitter of the top vote-getter will win one teaser poster and one shirt of their choice from either the ShelfLife or Damnation shirt store. I’ve also added a prize: the folks at Goods for Giving will print up a series of wristbands with the winning name, one of which will go to the winner.

Since I didn’t anticipate multiple submissions of the same name (which was foolish of me), I didn’t plan for multiple winners. However, I will send each submitter of the top-vote-getting name one teaser poster and one wristband (the only thing you’ll be short-changed on here is the t-shirt… please forgive me).

I’ll email everyone tonight who submitted one of the names in the poll to let them know if they were the first submitter or not. Thank you to all the people who submitted names, even if you didn’t make the top ten, you’ve still contributed. I’ll be posting the full list of submissions when the voting concludes.

Please do not claim ownership of any of the 10 names in the poll prior to the conclusion of voting. But, without claiming ownership, feel free to lobby in the comments.

Woman: Hey, when’s that movie Snakes on a Plane ever gonna come out?

Old man: What? What’s that?

Woman: Maybe it’s just a joke. Like the “L” in Samuel “el” Jackson’s name. I think that’s a joke too, like, what is he? Samuel “the” Jackson?

Old man: Who’s that?

Woman: Just eat your hot dog, dad.

From Overheard in New York. (Thanks Bethany)

There are now 12 hours remaining until midnight (EST), at which point I will stop taking suggestions for the contest.  I’ll put the voting up either tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

Due to the number of people who have made the same suggestions, I’m going to limit the prize to only the first two people have suggested a particular name.

I’m sorry about this, and if anyone is furious at me, I’ll understand.  I haven’t tallied the votes yet, but I didn’t anticipate the number of people making similar suggestions.  When multiple people have made the same suggestion, I’ll attempt to email them to let them know if they were or were not one of the first two to suggest it.

I’ll post the voting with no names attached.  When the voting is done I’ll announce the winners and also post the full list of suggestions along with how many people suggested each name (again, without names).

Any serious objections from the peanut gallery?

I’m going to cull the list down to the best few, any advice on how many options I should present for the vote?  I was thinking ten, but that might be too many.  How do you feel about it?

Samuel L. Jackson was on Ellen on Tuesday… there’s a lot of discussion about Snakes on a Plane, as well as new video footage from the film that we haven’t seen before (as well as some behind the scenes footage) and Ellen doing three fan songs of her own (New Wave, Disco, and Heavy Metal).

Here’s part 1 and part 2.

That big snake was 20 feet long and 450 pounds.

Also, keep the contest suggestions coming.

I’m a little bit piqued that the official site beat me to this posting at Charm School that goes into a LENGHTY analysis of the themes inherent in the title. Here’s a taste:

A JUNGIAN VIEW -

Imagine the story as a dream. The plane (a vessel of our direction and travels as a culture), is soaring at high altitudes (lofty ideals and, additionally or alternatively, our consuming desire for rapid success). The snakes Grendel about (monster figures are shadow figures, unintegrated parts of the self) the cabin, terrifying the passengers (citizenry). FBI agents (investigators probing the shadow - ideally, they are truth seekers) Samuel Jackson (hero, also the Law) and his partner (one white, one black - mythically this pairing is potent as a coupling of opposites. One might read in a peculiar function of race here, but there I won’t delve. Read Toni Morrison’s essay, Playing in the Dark, for a literary analysis. Draw your own conclusions.), escort incognito (more shadow and unrule, though he’s an innocent) witness (truth teller - here’s another duality, concealed truth - only the shadow knows), whose presence on board summons the snakes. The FBI pair are the best hope for resolution, to avert the “fall” ( avoid the ‘fatal retribution’ of hubris), or anomie (break down in social order, as well as personal unrest)

This is just a short excerpt, you’ll be reading for an hour if you really dedicate yourself to it. Enjoy.

As you may have noticed, there’s been a countdown to the film’s Opening Day in the right-hand column of the site for a while now. Today it’s reading that there’s only 100 days left until the August 18th official release and I thought you might like to celebrate this occasion with me by adding your own countdown to your own website. If you’re interested, you can download the code, slap on your website, and you’re good to go.

Only 100 days left, are you excited yet?

In other news I took my second 9 hour final today and I’m pretty tired.  Constitutional Law felt a lot harder than Criminal Justice.  However, if anyone wants to ask me a question about the Dormant Commerce Clause, now will be better than any other time for the rest of my life.  Also, the contest I posted yesterday got a lot more response than I expected, over 50 emails with over 100 submissions.  If you haven’t already submitted your two entries, then keep them coming.

This all means that sadly, I’ve been derelict at handling new submissions and responding to general email requests.  If you’ve sent me something and I haven’t responded, this is why.  Feel free to send it again if you’d like.  I’ll have more time when this month is over, it’s going to be a good summer.

The other day I received a nice stack of posters and now I’m looking for ways to give them away. Today I’m holding my first contest. It’s an easy contest that anybody can participate in. When CNN ran a story about Snakes on a Plane they called us online fans:

Snake-a-holics

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad name, but I think we can do better.

What should we, the online fans of Snakes on a Plane, be calling ourselves?

Use my contact form (please don’t post submissions in the comments below) and email me your suggestions. I’ll put the best suggestions up for a vote and the winner will get:
The Prize:

• The winner will receive one official poster.
• The winner will receive one shirt of their choice from either the ShelfLife CafePress store or Damnation.com.

Rules:

• Please no more than two suggestions per person (so think before you throw out the first two ideas that come into your head).
• I will accept suggestions until Thursday, May 11th at Midnight EST.
• I will then select the best suggestions and put them up for a vote.
• The vote will last from Friday, May 12th through Tuesday, May 16th.
• If you live outside the United States or Canada and you win, you will have to help me with the shipping costs. I have no idea how much this will cost, but we can work something out once the contest is over.

Does that sound good to everybody?  Any suggestions about how to run contests should be posted in the comments below.

More Fan Photos from around the web (no photoshopping allowed):

More Fan Art from around the web:

Will has graced us with yet another collection of Stickdeath animations. As always, click them to see them animated. Enjoy:

Previous Stickdeath here, here and here.

There are currently 46 foreign translations of Snakes on a Plane listed, but reader Jess submitted one that I thought required a little bit of extra attention. Snakes on a Plane in American Sign Language:

When I update the foreign translations page, I guess we’ll be up to 47. I’d really love someone who knows sign language to recreate this with actual photos (or even a short video). If you’re able to do it, get in touch with me.

I haven’t done Fan Art in a while. Here’s a collection of fan-made movie posters, they range from good to, well, not as good:

All previous Fan Art.