FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

FILM 1858: READY PLAYER ONE

TRIVIA: Besides the obvious Bigfoot, Delorean, and Akira vehicles, other notables in the race were the Mach 5, Batmobile, A Team van, V8 Interceptor, Christine and the Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit

Steven Spielberg is referenced (along with some of his movies) in Ernest Cline's source novel. Spielberg had stated that he would remove these references, although some like the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the alien ship from War of the Worlds (2005), do appear.

At one point in the movie, the gang goes into a simulation of the hotel from The Shining(1980). In real life, Steven Spielberg was close friends with The Shining's director, Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg even once called the scene where Wendy finds Jack's novel as "a great example of counter intuitive direction".

The Zemeckis Cube is named after director Robert Zemeckis. When the cube is activated, the music playing is from the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy, directed by Zemeckis. Alan Silvestri composed the score for both the Back to the Future trilogy and this film.

The box containing the Orb of Osuvox is the same one Gizmo is in when he's given to Billy in Gremlins (1984).

The character Curator, that guides people around Halliday's Journal is based on long time popular character actor Arthur Treacher, best known for playing butlers and other British roles.

Around the 35' mark, Halliday is shown on the cover of WIRED magazine with a QR code. The code is readable, and links to an accompanying article on Halliday (July 2018).

During the scene inside the shop, in the background you can see the flying RV from Spaceballs, the space pod from 2001, a Colonial Viper, a star fighter from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Ed 209, and a loader from Aliens.

The semi-truck blocking the road in the middle of the opening race is the truck driven by Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Boba Fett is at the bar where the dance number is done.

Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Peter Jackson and Edgar Wrightwere all considered to direct this film.

Toshiro's virtual avatar 'Daito' is a samurai which resembles Japan's legendary actor Toshiro Mifune who has played a samurai in many films during his long distinguished career.

On August 11, 2015, a rumor began circulating that Steven Spielberg was "courting" Gene Wilder to play OASIS creator James Halliday in his later years, which would've made this the first film Wilder has done since 1999. However, Wilder's dementia had progressed to a point where he could no longer remember lines and couldn't take the part.

When Wade first goes to the club to meet Art3mis, the bartender has a Devo Hat on from their famous video Whip It.

The team of pop-culture experts that help Sorrento hunt for the Halliday Easter Egg are called "oologists" in the movie. Oology is an actual science that studies and collects bird eggs.

BOOK 165: GEEK LOVE: KATHERINE DUNN

Geek Love is a novel by Katherine Dunn, published completely by Alfred A. Knopf (a division of Random House) in 1989. Dunn published parts of the novel in Mississippi Mud Book of Days (1983) and Looking Glass Bookstore Review (1988). It was a finalist for the National Book Award.

MY VERDICT: I really wanted to tell you more about this book but at the same time I want to keep everything as a surprise. I didn’t want to add any more synopsis to spoil the things I had to much joy in discovering.

This book is written from the perspective of an albino, hunchbacked dwarf, in two different periods. We follow her as an older woman living in a shared house and are told the story of her past and introduced to her family. The family includes a mother and father who experiment to create unique children.  Oly, our small narrator, shares her life with Siamese-twin, piano playing sisters, a brother with fin-like arms and a talent for showmanship and a ‘norm’ younger brother. They travel with their own carnival followed by other interesting characters including a big-cat trainer, a fly cowboy, sword swallowers, amputees and numerous redheads.

  

FILM 1322: ANTITRUST

TRIVIA: What appears in the beginning credits around the title and the actors' names is HTML code, with some alterations. Much of the HTML is taken from the Internet Movie Database's homepage.

At Gary's party the song playing in the background is "Heroes." A different version of this same song plays in the Microsoft commercials.

The jacket number (and reference in the NURV computer database) for Richard Roundtree's character, Lyle Burton, is ND47. The number 47 occurs frequently in science fiction (most notably in Star Trek) due to a "joke proof" written by Donald Bentley in 1964, showing all numbers to be equal to 47.

A poster for the movie Hackers (1995) can be seen on the wall of one of the programmers Phil surveys in the day-care center.

Three of Winston's thugs have the last names Schmeichel, Sheringham and Solskjaer. This is a reference to the goalkeeper and goal scorers on Manchester United's 1999 U.E.F.A. Champions League winning team. The director is a Man. U fan.

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Film 816: Revenge of the Nerds

Trivia: The University of Arizona agreed to let the filmmakers shoot at the campus, then revoked permission after reading the script. Eventually they changed their minds and let them shoot. Many students were used as extras.

To test the effectiveness of their "nerd" makeup and wardrobes, Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards attended a college rush-week, when real fraternities were reviewing prospective pledges (wanna-be members). The fraternity leader of the first house took one look at them both and said, "No way!"

Timothy Busfield ad-libbed Poindexter's painful yelp during the Pi-watching sequence. It was inspired by the sound of a former neighbor having sex. Many crew members had to run away to keep from breaking out in laughter and ruining the take, but the director can be heard snickering just before the camera cuts away to the next scene.

John Goodman's character is never referred to by name verbally by any character in the film. His name, Coach Harris, can only be seen on a door in the locker room and in the end credits.

Jami Gertz, Joan Cusack, and Sarah Jessica Parker all auditioned for the role of Judy.

While standing in the gym in a queue for food Gilbert, Lewis and Booger have a conversation about Judy. This conversation is quoted in a song called "Computer Camp Love" by the Norwegian band Datarock. The quoted conversation is the following: "Her name is Judy/That's a nice name/Yeah she's a nice girl/Big deal/Did you get in her pants/She's not that kind of a girl booger/Why? Does she have a penis?"