Two of my friends (one of whom was the previously mentioned "gem of a man" Dan Koven-- and the other was a fat orange turd with whom I no longer associate) were dead-set on seeing it, though. To the point that they paid for my ticket just so I had nothing at risk.
It took less than one minute from the sound of a needle being ripped across an LP, then launching into the quite amazing soundtrack of The DUST BROTHERS, the movie taking us from the microscopic and molecular inside the twisted brain of the narrator to the macroscopic and following the sweat roll down his nose and onto the barrel of the gun in his mouth-- for me to be SOLD at once and forever more on this truly great mindfuck of a movie.
I. Was. Hooked.
When the movie reaches its climax and we discover the great secret of our narrator and the big twist of the movie is revealed, my head was literally spinning. It took everything I had to sit still for the end of the movie as I immediately became fixated on seeing it again, knowing it would now be a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY.
Mind blown. TWICE!
FIGHT CLUB was absolutely every bit as amazing the second time I sat through it, although I experienced a completely different (far sadder and more tragic this time) story. Oh, and remember how I told you my friends had dragged me into that initial showing, paying my way? I dragged a grand total of about 20 more people into theaters as I saw the movie a total of 8 times (EIGHT!!!) in the theater. That is an all-time record, other than for THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW which has its own set of stories (...maybe some other time...).
Following its release on DVD, I would expose probably another 50 people to it, watching it a minimum of another 50 times in the next few years. And probably 50 more over the last 10 or so...
The TWIST in FIGHT CLUB is one of the best in any movie. I put it right up with Hitchcock's PSYCHO in that regard.
Growing up as a devoted fan of shows like THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE OUTER LIMITS had me addicted to "twists" in stories from an early age.
During the SUMMER of 1999, I was in love... In love with Southern California... In love with my first SoCal girlfriend (STILL feeling residual pain from that TODAY---yeesh...yeah, she'll show up in a story at some point...)... In love with FIGHT CLUB... and its writer Chuck Palahniuk. I have gone on to read nearly every book the man has written (and will eventually... you can bet on that shit...)...
I. LOVE. CHUCK. PALAHNIUK. (No, not like that... you deviant little screwballs... UNIVERSAL love-- the same love I feel for Chaucer and for George Gordon, Lord Byron...)
In 2005, I had the chance to see Chuck read at a store in Louisville, KY (while I had unfortunately and unwittingly stranded myself there...another LONG STORY... we'll get there some day... keep watching my movies... HAVEN'T even written about WLR yet...). The plan was to leave work in Louisville and meet my buddy (and likewise big Palahniuk fan) Eric Peake at a bookstore across town.
At this point, I did not have my own vehicle and had borrowed a piece of crap FORD truck from my dad. After getting off work and running down and jumping into said piece of crap, my HEART DROPPED! The brakes were almost completely gone...
BUT... I just couldn't give up that easily, so I took off and started trying to drive across the busy city of Louisville in an old pickup truck with limited brakes, using my parking brake as a back up. Believe it or not... it just was not even close to a safe adventure...
SO? What do I do? Pull over and call AAA or a tow-truck or my dad or my buddy Eric? NOPE! I just decide that while driving across Louisville was not a great idea, I would go ahead and drive the truck 40 miles down the interstate and just go home. (Sometimes when I'm upset JUST MAYBE I don't think as straight as I should...)
Just as diarrhea-frosting on the shitcake of an evening, I actually got pulled over by a cop... FOR SPEEDING (yup in the piece of shit truck with no brakes!)... When he came up to my window and asked me why I took so long to pull over, I simply said I was trying to be safe (I DID have my signal on, after all...)... One brief, polite conversation later, name-dropping the name of my emergency-services sister, Tracy, and her ex-husband the cop, I was boogeying right back down the road, finishing my journey home in the truck with no brakes. STILL PISSED, but now at least feeling the positive feelings of relief for not getting a ticket... and VICTORY for having pulled that out of my ass with the cop...
FAST FORWARD from 2005 to 2016... Chuck Palahniuk released the sequel to FIGHT CLUB (called FIGHT CLUB 2 for some strange reason...) as a comic book from Dark Horse Comics.
Oh shit, my geek GOD must really love me! I eagerly and lovingly collected each issue wildy written by Palahniuk and masterfully rendered by Cameron Stewart, and even wrote my first fan letter to a comic book in over 30 years.
In the letter, I showed my picture (as you can see in the DRUNK REPORTING #1 post) dressed as Tyler Durden for Halloween 2015 at the Carriage House. The letter was written as a "space monkey" and my outfit was explained as being an assignment for Project Mayhem, and simply reporting my success and awaiting next orders.
Tyler. Wrote. Back. And I almost shit. You can see the letter and the response scanned in below...
What does any of this have to do with me and "The END of FUN"? Only that it is important to share my influences with you guys who are interested, loyal, or bored enough to keep with my rantings in this blog. While I would never intentionally ape Chuck Palahniuk (or Geoffrey Chaucer...or Stephen King... or anyone else for that matter!), I embrace my influences. In fact, the influence from Quentin Tarantino may be far more obvious in this particular story, considering I do more than name check the guy and more than one of his characters.... Maybe David Lynch influences will be more obvious... BUT, I think if you know about my GREAT LOVE for FIGHT CLUB and its creator, you will see its stamp on this as well... If nowhere else, I believe that tonally, at least, Tyler's stink will make an appearance... But maybe that's just me!
There are twists, though. There is a big blast of the unexpected. My goal is that people walk out...affected. My HOPE is that out there somewhere maybe I have a fan who can be to me as I have been to Chuck Palahniuk, Tyler Durden, the narrator, and FIGHT CLUB...
OUT THERE SOMEWHERE is someone who will get dragged to see "The END of FUN" against his or her will, but will walk out obsessed. Out there somewhere is someone who will risk their safety, and the safety of others simply to sit in my presence as I unload all the same weirdness to applause that only got me strange stares in the past.
LONG LIVE TYLER.
LONG LIVE WEIRDNESS.
MAY FUN NEVER END!
--Bobby
p.s. WHERE is my mind! Please enjoy some PIXIES!
#TEOFinfluences #TheENDofFUN
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