I'll make a more comprehensive post on the State of the Nate soon (tonight, probably, while avoiding doing my Shocktober reviews), but I have some very good news.

I have a car

Or, more accurately, I will have a car starting Thursday. You see, my mom enters this raffle every year where the tickets are $100 each and the prizes are insanely cool. Last week she found out that, for the first time ever, she actually won something -- a new car. What kind of car doesn't matter, because she's trading it in for two used ones (one for her and one for her husband). The upshot for me is that I get her old 1999 Chevy Cavalier, which is in pretty good condition and should serve me well enough for tooling around town.

This is a great increase over my previous situation of not having a car and bumming a ride or asking people to pick me up from the light rail station every time I went to Tempe or Mesa.

Short version: Woot! CAR!

My new iPod Touch is completely awesome. I can use it as a remote control for iTunes on my MacBook Pro. I can keep track of my calendar. I can browse the web. I can check my email. I finally found a use for those silly Digital Copy discs that come with my Blu-rays. I can find discounts and coupons close to me using Greg Grunberg's Yowza!!

It apparently plays music as well.

The only real downside is that, not being an iPhone, all the 'net functionality is dependent on being in range of a wifi hub.

A non-roommate, non-vidder has requested a vid from me. A classic movies vid.

It's official. I am an awesome vidder.

This is the Coolest Thing Ever (For Today, Anyway):

Still writing up my coverage of my panels from Comic-Con (to be posted on Classic-Horror.com), but I did want to say that I was extremely well-received, especially in my second panel, and that I let off a few choice zingers. The one that got the best reaction:

Audience member: "What's your guys opinion on gore porn?"

Me: "Let's not call it 'gore porn.' The word 'pornography' has a very specific definition and I, for one, would like to enjoy it."

I was giddy at the laughter and clapping. GIDDY.

If you're going to Phoenix Comicon this weekend, be sure to swing by one of my two panels:

Not Dead Yet: Horror Classics

Friday, January 23rd, 9:30-10:30pm in Palo Verde 2

Guests discuss influential and favorite horror classics.

Panelists: Steve Ringgenberg, Nate Yapp, David Ayers, Tess Fowler, Andrea Beesley-Brown (the Midnite Movie Mamacita), and Jimmy and Bobby Calabrese.

and

So Scary You Made Me Laugh

Saturday, January 24th, 9:30-10:30pm in Superstition

Guests discuss the horror-comedy genre.

Panelists: Dean Lorey, David Hayes, and Nate Yapp.

I have no idea what I'm doing or how this is supposed to work, but it should be a blast! I'll try to have somebody take some pictures for posterity.

President-elect Obama.

To borrow a phrase from Jess, "Hells yeah."

This weekend was the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival in Chandler, AZ, which Classic-Horror.com co-sponsored. I still have to write-up my coverage, but it was pretty awesome. I met a lot of great folks. Didn't watch a lot of movies this time. Maybe next year.

Anyway, two very cool things happened that I wanted to share:

( Photographic evidence included )

Also, the C-H logo was all over the place. *glees*

So, two months ago, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune emailed me to see if he could interview me for a piece about a series of horror double bills playing in the Chicago area.

A week and a half later, he called me and I babbled for 45 minutes.

On August 8th, the piece was published.

There I am. In black and white. Sounding like a total geek.

Anybody from the Chicago area have a spare copy I can steal?

Saw The Dark Knight on IMAX tonight, thanks to quick typing skills in getting freebie tickets online.

Quickly, unexpected Jessica Harper late in the movie in a minor role.

That out of the way...

OM-FREAKING-GOD. Heath Ledger. OMG. This is everything the Joker should be. Just... brilliant. Absolute anarchy and madness. Brilliant.

Also, I feel like I just came out of two movies and that's a good thing. There's so much packed into the 2 1/2 hours here that it's hard for me to not just babble it out. I mean, this is... epic but it's also gritty and so very Gotham.

One minor nitpick, which I'll put behind a cut...

( nitpick! )

Who just scored one free Admit Two ticket to The Dark Knight on IMAX for Tuesday night at 9PM? Oh hell yeah. That'd be me.

So. I'm reading again. Like voraciously devouring literature instead of thumbing through non-fiction. You can thank the girl I'm seeing as I pretty much got the third degree for not having read Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game." My whole "but he's an asshole" argument was tossed out the window pretty soundly.

This book is So. Awesome. And freakin' hard to put down. I was staggering around like a zombie this morning because I lost track of time reading last night. I should be through the whole thing either tonight or tomorrow.

Spurred on by this development, I went to Borders again last night to grab some more Major Sci-Fi Classics that I'd missed -- "Neuromancer" by William Gibson, "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, and "Speaker for the Dead" by Card. I also replaced by tattered, well-read copy of "Lord of the Flies" while I was at it. Also grabbed a copy of Card's "Empire," based on a recommendation from the girl I'm dating.

I'm rather pleased by this, really.

Jesus, what a bash. midnightfae's awesome secret-up-until-last-Monday birthday surprise was a three-day party with seven of my closest friends flying (or driving) in from around the country to hang. There was much booze, Rock Band, Clone High, Dr. Tran, British television, Youtube, and karaoke.

Plus, Versus. Every party that has Versus wins.

In attendance were (in order of arrival, roughly), timjr, theninthdoctor, diannelamerc, lizbetann, darklightluna, _jealousy_, and airawyn (in addition to midnightfae and myself).

So. Much. Fun. My friends are the awesomest.

Now I'm completely and totally wiped. Wowsers.

Being the main man behind Classic-Horror has its perks. One happened today -- the blog DVD Panache interviewed me for their weekly Friday Screen Test feature. That interview was posted today:

http://dvdpanache.blogspot.com/2008/02/friday-screen-test-nate-yapp.html

*crazy happy flail of flaily crazy happiness*

*and many thanks to spoonishly for pointing this out*

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

I had to get the desktop support specialist (the only person with speakers on her computer in the whole building) to play it for me on her machine.

I'm squeeing with joy. This week has been AWESOME.