David Ellis was kind enough to let me know that he and his wife will be attending a screening of Snakes on a Plane with fans at the Alamo Drafthouse (favorite venue of the AICN crowd) on Friday, August 18th. I don’t have specifics about which screening he’ll be at (I’m sure, there will be more information about that forthcoming, or in the comments) but if you’re in the Austin area, this might be a special treat.

In other news, I’ve officially arrived in San Diego as evidenced by the terribly boring picture of a San Diego sign below. I’ll be checking out the SoaP setup at Comic-Con tonight, I should have pictures up by this evening.

My Comic-Con interview schedule is getting crowded. At the last minute they’ve arranged for me to sit down for a few short minutes with Kenan Thompson. What should I ask him?

I’m going to have the sweatiest clothes ever.

I’m officially flying out to San Diego tomorrow, so I might have a hard time making non-Comic-Con related posts for a little while. Keep the emails coming, but I suspect I’m going to be busy, so please grant me a little bit of leeway in posting and responding.

Fan art from around the web:

And I’ve got one animated .gif, for all you fans of animation:

All previous Fan Art.

Variety is reporting that New Line won’t be running any press screenings, but will rather open the movie at 10:00pm on the 17th nationwide.

Uh-oh… this usually doesn’t bode well. Here’s New Line:

New Line said Monday the decision was the result of the fan support… “Understanding that they would be the driving force behind the film, we decided early on they should be the first to see it,” the mini-major said. “They will have the opportunity on Thursday evening, Aug. 17, at 10 p.m. shows across the country. We are not planning any advance media or promotional screenings prior to that.”

And this is the first time I get to use the “Snakes on a Premiere” category that I created in January… I wish it was a more auspicious occasion.

I originally stole a few pictures from Crazymonk, but New Line has since mailed out a bunch of pictures of their booth at Comic-Con, here they are:

Incidentally, my webhost has been having a lot of troubles over the last week (you may have noticed some down time). Sadly, there isn’t much I can do about that, but hopefully the issues are now resolved.

Samuel L. Jackson is God.

Ok, everybody, in addition to Samuel L. Jackson, I will also be sitting down with David Ellis for five minutes and with the snake wrangler (I believe it’s this guy) for five minutes.  What should I ask them?

As a few of you have noted, there’s a book on Amazon called Snakes on a Plane: The Guide to the Internet Ssssssensation. A month or so ago I was interviewed by the author, but it seems that I’m not the only person he’s spoken with. The publisher has sent me a copy of the manuscript - here are a few pictures:

As you can see, the copy I got is in black and white, one-sided and spiral bound, but it’s enough to indicate the scale of the book. David Waldon apparently managed to interview pretty much anyone who’s done anything having to do with Snakes on a Plane including, but not limited to, Me, Snakes on a LiveJournal Blog, Jeff Rowland, Sticknstein, both contest winners, Damnation Inc., DCLugi, Subatomic Warp, Matt Barr, ShelfLife and many more (and he managed to get pictures of all of them). It’s actually pretty neat to see everyone collected in one place.

I don’t know if anybody who’s not in the book is going to be interested in it, but now you know what it’s like.

Three new shirts came in the mail this week, two you can buy, one is only for me. The first two are fan made:

This first shirt is math based and clearly contains a joke far, far over my head. This one was, of course, designed by a Harvard student which explains why I don’t understand it. It can be purchased at T-Shirt Mojo.

This second shirt didn’t photograph particularly well (the lighting in my room is strange, I have to stand on my bed to get these pictures to come out at all). It can be purchased at the Travelling Snakes CafePress store in the usual assortment of CafePress styles.

And here’s one final shirt (front and back):

Those first two were both fan-made, but this final shirt came to me special delivery directly from David Ellis and is the shirt given out to actors, musicians and other folks directly associated with the film. I feel very special, I will wear it proudly.

All previous Fan Shirts.

Ryan Pearson (who was the first reporter to interview me, and has subsequently posted several stories about or mentioning Snakes on a Plane) interviewed director David Ellis and screenwriter John Heffernan and put together a few plot and casting details that appear to be new. For example, Samuel L. Jackson’s role was originally envisioned for a younger actor (Taye Diggs or Blair Underwood). There’s also a short audio clip from the film’s composer discussing the difficulties of doing audio for the film, and this picture of David Ellis:

Esquire has a piece titled “The Snakes on a Plane Problem: The tragedy of the best titled movie in the history of film” where the author laments that the film is

like the Wikipedia version of a movie… if Snakes on a Plane is a commercial success (which seems wholly plausible), this brand of choose-your-own-adventure filmmaking is going to become a model. And that model will be terrible…

The Church of the Customer Blog has a well reasoned rebuttal.  So does crazymonk.

This series of four trailers was produced by a radio show, so I don’t think it strictly qualifies as fan productions, but let’s give them a chance (click on an image to hear the associated audio trailer):

All previous Fan Audio.

Guess who’s drowning in content? I am, I am.

Over the last week or two I’ve been sent more emails on more topics than I could efficiently deal with. In general, I don’t like to post more than three things a day as I think it rushes content off the main page too quickly (not everyone comes here every day). Sometimes things come in that I don’t post because there isn’t, in my mind, room. Additionally, I’ve been busy and that’s allowed me to fall behind in responding to emails or sorthing things efficiently. Here’s a few items that came in during the past week that corrected/updated recent posts:

About the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack album: I commented on the fact that the Tagworld winners didn’t appear on the track listing. New Line has pointed out that the CD has “ECD” (read: computer) content and the winners will appear in that section. I think that means these tracks will only play on your computer (not on a standalone CD player). A second email from an independent source at New Line said the songs appear as “special hidden tracks.” The first email also reminded me that the “song” (I assume they meants songs) would appear in the film as well.

About the Blanks on a Blank contest: Henri Mazza, creative director at the Alamo Drafthouse (host of the contest), wanted to point out that they have announced prizes:

I saw that back when you first posted about our little Blanks On A Blank contest we caught a lot of flak for charging an entry fee. I know, I know - money sucks. But the best post was the person who thought that the grand prize for the winner would be to get their $40 back. Well, it took us a while to get lined up, but we actually got the real prize all ready to announce:

Airfare, Hotel, and Two Tickets to the World Premiere of SNAKES ON A PLANE.

So, yeah. We think that’s pretty cool. And we’re looking forward to seeing some completed movies…

Second place winners will receive $500, third place winners will receive $250.

That’s it for corrections and updates. I’m sitting on a big pile of content, I’ll see what I can do to start putting it out there.

The first film review is out at AICN, and it’s positive. Phew.

Anyway, much has been written about “Snakes On A Plane” except for one thing: Is the movie any good?

Yes.

Hell yes.

…

After having to sit through this year’s overproduced, bloated, pretentious studio product that desperately tries to disguise its B movie roots… finally here’s a movie that hunkers down to give the audience a shameless good time.

Of course “Snakes On A Plane” is ridiculous, but it’s also nonstop fun.

These filmmakers aren’t embarrassed to deliver everything exactly as promised. The only thing that will probably go unnoticed after the huge opening weekend grosses, as well as consternation from cinematic elitists, is that “Snakes On A Plane” is a much better movie than it has any right to be with such a crazy premise and ridiculous title.

Read the rest.

I received this email this morning:

We all enjoyed the official teaser trailer for SoaP, but that only left us wanting more. I am employed as a projection booth technician at (redacted) in (redacted). I am very happy to report that we recieved the FINAL Snakes on a Plane trailer this Thursday. The trailer is a mandatory attachment for select prints of “Little Man” and “You, Me, and Dupree,” both movies that are being released Friday, July 14. Suffice it to say, the trailer is absolutlely amazing. I saw it tonight during our emplyee screenings, where I was sadly the ONLY one jumping for joy. So head to your local cinema this weekend and catch a peek.

Heres a brief synopsis of what I remember, it went something like this:

Words flash on a red background:
“They are the worlds most deadly creatures….” (Fades)
“They can be anywhere….”(Fades)
“They can strike at any time…” (Fades)
“And they have been released…”
(cut to plane in the air)
“At 30000 feet.”

Then theres the montage of screaming passengers, and of course, plenty of snakes.

Who will be the first to get me a copy of this?  Go forth, and locate it.

Welcome to the monthly stats update. I’m sure my dad is livid that I’m two days late, sorry about that.

I’ve been online for 185 days. I’ve had nearly 775,000 visitors. I’ve posted 365 stories which received 3,312 comments (and 2,651 blocked spam comments). There have been 2,500,000 requests for pages, and a staggering 41,000,000 requests for all files (these are mostly people hotlinking to images, comics, and icons and posting them on other forums around the net). I’ve transferred 1.14 terabytes of data. The most popular day of the week is still Friday. The most popular hour of the day is still between 1pm and 2pm EST.

I’ve gotten fourteen 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 1550 signatures. There are currently 53 translations of “Snakes on a Plane” into foreign languages and well over 100 poems. I’ve been interviewed by three TV crews. SnakesOnABlog.com has appeared in a large number of newspaper stories, linked to by 1139 blogs, and over 6,000 other webpages. I’ve been invited to one Comic-Con.

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.

My next monthly update will be mere days before the release, hopefully I’ll already be in L.A.

Previous stats updates: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth.

Samuel L. Jackson was apparently wearing more than just the shirt at the MTV movie awards. According to the Globe and Mail, Samuel L. Jackson was also wearing a themed necklace (although he’s clearly not wearing it on stage):

The article discusses a new wave of licensing film content for adult products, moving beyond the traditional children’s market. Well, I suppose fans looking to spend “$170 (all figures U.S.) for a sterling-silver replica of Jackson’s necklace, or $150 for a similar set of luggage tags” now have a chance to do so. Seems a tad pricey, and a tad non-fan-produced, but that’s a matter of preference.

Once again, a snake has found its way onto a real life plane.  The Toronto Star reports:

Dutch customs detected a live poisonous snake that was sent by airmail on a flight from Hong Kong to a collector in the Netherlands, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. Inspectors thought the snake was a gag rubber gift when they first scanned the package, which was labelled “toy goods.” But then they scanned it again and saw it move, ministry spokesman Kees Nanninga said.

The snake was a Fea’s Viper, found in the forests of southeast Asia. It is rare but not on endangered lists, and known as highly poisonous but not usually aggressive toward humans.

The one thing this story lacks, is a Monty Coles angle.

Snakes on a Plane’s soundtrack is now available for order on Amazon (although it won’t ship until mid-August). Here’s the cover:

And the French Snakes on a Plane site has the track listings:

1. Cobra Starship - “Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)”
2. Panic! at the Disco - “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)”
3. The Academy Is… - “Black Mamba (Teddybears Remix)”
4. Cee-Lo - “Ophidiophobia”
5. The All-American Rejects - “Can’t Take It (El Camino Prom Wagon Remix)”
6. The Sounds - “Queen of Apology (Patrick Stump Remix)”
7. Fall Out Boy - “Of All the Gin Joints in All the World (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Retouch)”
8. Gym Class Heroes - “New Friend Request (Hi-Tek Remix)”
9. The Bronx - “Around the Horn (Louis XIV Remix)”
10. Armor For Sleep - “Remember to Feel Real (Machine Shop Remix)”
11. The Hush Sound - “Wine Red (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Retouch)”
12. Jack’s Mannequin - “Bruised (Remix)”
13. Coheed and Cambria - “Wake Up (Acoustic)”
14. Donavon Frankenreiter - “Lovely Day”
15. Michael Franti & Spearhead - “Hey Hey Now”
16. Trevor Rabin - “Snakes on a Plane - The Theme”

Now, I can’t figure out exactly where this track listing came from (although it apparently originated from the company putting out the CD: Decaydance Records), but it’s not listed on Amazon and it’s notably missing the two winners of the Tagworld Contest, so I’m curious if the list is accurate. It does otherwise seem to jibe with what we’ve heard previously about the album. Did the Tagworld Contest winners get pushed off?

The Asylum is a company which seems dedicated to making films that parody (or ripoff?) otherwise successful Hollywood fare. They’ve got Pirates of Treasure Island (not Pirates of the Caribbean), they’ve got 666: The Child (not the Omen) and now they have:

Snakes on a Train

Here’s the plot:

Under a powerful Mayan curse, snakes are hatched inside a young woman, slowly devouring her from within. Her only chance for survival is a powerful shaman who lives across the border. With only hours to live, she jumps on a train headed for Los Angeles. Unfortunately for the passengers aboard, they are now trapped, soon to be victims of these flesh-eating vipers.

Fairly surprising, eh? Something else that’s weird about this is that David Ellis’s next film is called Asylum. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

Anybody want to see Snakes on a Train?

UPDATE posted 7/12/06 at 3:47pm:  Cinematical has an interview with David Michael Latt, the guy in charge of the Asylum, if you’re interested in more insight into this company.