127 Comments
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March 12, 2022
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Thank you. Let's see how this pans out.

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There was a short-lived 'Fight Club Curse' which included a mass shooter who waded into a theater during a showing, and... Is there a similar 'Lullaby Curse'???

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I wonder if they could just transfer the funding to someone who can actually get it made, and made well? I liked Choke, mostly because Sam Rockwell is amazing.

Heres the real question. Why is Invisible Monsters not a film or series yet? Everyone I know chooses that as their favorite by you, and by everyone, I mean me. Gotta get my copies of that, Slaughterhouse 5, and Body Keeps the Score back from the ex but may just chalk up a loss on those. Anyone driving distance from Indianapolis wanna go see Neil Gaiman in May?

Edit: please forgive me for having the same comment in two different places. It got weird.

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Hah! It's being developed as a limited series for streaming. I wish I could tell you the casting (think 'Queen's Gambit'). Fingers perpetually crossed.

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HER!? This is gonna be awesome. I am also very excited to see Sandman when it premiers on Netflix. Can I borrow someones credentials just for that? Will trade Gaiman speaking engagement ticket for Netflix access.

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There's one other casting choice, but if I told you you'd go insane with happiness.

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I want Queens Gambit. Im still mad that they didnt film that here in KY.

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Oooo! Do we get a clue? I could do with a bit of insane joy 😁🧐 i

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Or wait... is that already a clue? 🧐. Maybe Euphoria? Maybe Hunter Schafer?! 😊

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If the Guild sends me a screening copy I promise to send it to you!

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That would be amazing! My roommate in Brooklyn edited the trailer for Beware of Mr. Baker, so I got to check that one out before it was released, which made me feel much cooler than I am.

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You do understand that it's illegal for me to send you an Academy Award screener, don't you? But occasionally one goes astray...

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Her? What, is she funny or something? (Anytime someone says HER!? I immediately think of Arrested Development)

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Nah shes just a killer actor with crazy eyes. Unfortunately, I never saw much of that.

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Yes!!!! This is going to be amazing!

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Are you kidding me Chuck? that's amazing

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Holy shit. I’m so happy to hear this!!!!

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Congratulations!!!!!

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I don't think asking for a refund will aid in the production of the book-based movie I'm most eager to see, so it's "buy and hold" for now. It seems natural that things were delayed due to the pandemic. Thanks for the update.

Stranger than fiction once again.

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I’m in the same mindset.

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Maybe it'll take 12 years to make, like Boyhood. ☺️

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I really like the buy and hold sentiment .... hard agree

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Thanks! Plus we got merch and supported a Chuck related project.

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It’s incredibly tragic how much bad press the book has received lately. Were the negativity attributed to plot details, syntax, author voice, etc. then it’s just a difference of opinion, but it very much feels like the same type of “violent video games make violent kids” argument. I’m so sorry this has happened to you but also, as a fellow filmmaker, feel for the filmmakers put in this tough situation.

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Why? Its a beautiful story, especially when you know the root of why he wrote it.

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Oh I know what spurred it and agree that there is much to love, the reason for the bad press and negative feedback recently though is because of events outside of the book. I mean that I can understand if there were critics that just didn’t like it (which, they’d be wrong because it’s a great story) but there is negativity presented towards it because of a true crime that swept the nation. That’s the unfortunate nature of it all and the fact that it has affected the potential film adaptation just adds to it.

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Ah, I misunderstood. Didnt even consider the (hopefully) film.

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It's such a bummer how they've handled it all. I joined the comment board there yesterday for the first time since 2016, and per the comment-board rumors that 'anyone who's been vocal is being silenced' with these refunds, I suspect I'll now be axed soon.

I hope it still gets made, someday

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Hello Nicole! Initially, Dan had told me you got a refund. I thought everyone had.

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Well, I just got this email:

Hello Backer. Thanks for your participation in our project. You brought to our attention how disappointed you are with the production and lost your optimism. We do apologize that we haven't met your expectations. At this time, we are giving you a full refund. Kickstarter requires that a third party process refunds. Please send us your Paypal account info, or we will send the money via the email address provided by Kickstarter. Thanks for your participation in our project, and we do hope you check it out when it's available.

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I still wish I could resolve that sketchy Stanley Hotel deal for you...

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Nah, the universe made even with that acceptance into the Attic's Writing Wrong workshop

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I also didn’t get any notice. Last update was September 2021. My guess is the message someone shared with you is from a backer who got annoyed waiting and asked for a refund. That’s how it reads with the you won’t see future messages or updates line.

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Hopefully, your post here will encourage Andy to send out a current status update. Honestly, I’d kind of forgotten about it.

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From your lips to Andy's ears...

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I wonder if they could just transfer the funding to someone who can actually get it made, and made well? I liked Choke, mostly because Sam Rockwell is amazing.

Heres the real question. Why is Invisible Monsters not a film or series yet? Everyone I know chooses that as their favorite by you, and by everyone, I mean me. Gotta get my copies of that, Slaughterhouse 5, and Body Keeps the Score back from the ex but may just chalk up a loss on those.

Speaking of her...Anyone driving distance from Indianapolis wanna go see Neil Gaiman in May? Got an extra ticket.

Edit: sorry for the redundancy. Was trying to move my comment to the main thread and Chuck replied to both.

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And, frankly, there is a lot to adore about Sam Rockwell. He ranks among the nicest people I've ever gotten to hang out with. Have you seen 'Gentlemen Broncos'??

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About 50 times when I was perpetually stoned 10ish years ago. Its amazing "They took my nards!" Germain killed it in that film.

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The scene where the snake shits... I have never laughed so hard in my life.

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I was talking about this with a friend a few months ago. Been meaning to watch it since then, but spend all my time writing, exercising, and attention whoring here.

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Several of my friends stopped watching at the hand massage scene. Everything about that film works.

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It is brilliant. I dont know of anything that writer/director has done outside of Gentleman Broncos and Napoleon Dynamite, but Im sure the others are great too. Cant watch Napoleon for fear of speaking like him for months afterward again.

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I have not seen ‘Gentleman Broncos,’ but as a fellow Sam Rockwell fan, and as someone who has been reading Everyone Poops a lot lately to his not yet potty trained boys, this mystery movie is shooting up to the top of my want to watch list

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Duuuuude. Watch it with the boys. It will become romanticized for them and they will love it forever. Like what Stand By Me was for me.

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For anyone who is curious, be warned that its not quite as funny out of context, but still pretty damned funny. https://youtu.be/oKACoMSDS1o

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What made me laugh was Jennifer Coolidge's character responding with a simple: "Oh my goodness."

And that pompous fantasy author. I loved that character. Apparently adding onius, ainous, or anous at the end of a name makes it more magical.

Chuckonius!

There, much better.

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Here is the link I have. Pretty much put this in the “oh well” file. Got a nice t shirt. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/footsteps/chuck-palahniuks-lullaby/posts/3181874

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No, not satisfying in the least.

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Personally we'd just love to see it come to fruition and are more than happy to wait and see. We backed the kick-started and aren't at all cranky or worried about refunds at this point. We just hope it goes somewhere so that one day we can enjoy it. Plus the artwork and t shirts were great, we would have happily paid for those anyway 😊

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Brava for that. No one wants to see Andy win more than I do.

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Any idea about the indigogo?

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Sorry, none.

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I'm sorry about the film. I've always wanted a Survivor and Rant movie but those also seem like they will forever remain in production hell. P.S. I emailed your social media man a copy of my short story, will you read it? If you can't it's fine and I promise not to sue.

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How long is it? Consider posting a link, here, and that might be the best way to connect me.

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2700 words give or take.

link: http://sinisterinksmudge.home.blog/2022/01/29/the-mercurian/

It's the only thing I've ever been proud of. Thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me.

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Hey Sinister. Just read some of your story, about the first ten paragraphs. So my comment is only based on what I read.

I think your concepts are really cool. The space travel and the reference to the Garden of Eden, the thing about time writing lines on a person's face. Neat stuff! My major point of feedback, if I may, is it might help to think about how you can depict one or two characters in a scene who are taking some action to achieve a goal. Something tangible from the start. One example could be to show us some characters trying to rebuild this garden. I'd love to watch that happen. You can show in real-time the builders slowly being destroyed in the process. Another thing that might be cool to explore the contents of that metallic box. I feel like you can write a whole piece just exploring that alone.

Just some things to chew on.

Keep writing! :)

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Hello! Is it Lyra? I liked your story very much, and I'd love to use it as a teaching exercise -- praising bits and pointing out what works best, and suggesting ideas that might make other bits work better. Is that Okay with you? Please respond when possible. chuck

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Yes, of course you can use it.

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Thank you!

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No Thank you!

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Im sorry for hijacking this, but I have a 2500 word story up at occamsraisor.substack.com and would love to have feedback from anyone here. I like shooting the breeze with everyone in the comments, but I reeeeeally want this to be about us workshopping. I need all the help I can get.

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Hey John. I'll head over and read it. What's it called?

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Fair warning, its quite gross.

"You Can Tune a Player Piano but You Cant Screw a Screen"

(Player Piano is my favorite Vonnegut)

I was talking about the emptiness of online-only relationships with a friend and she said "Yeah, you cant fuck a screen." Then I got to thinking that you could, then tortured Pat for 2500 words.

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John, hopefully one day we'll have the technology to fuck a screen. This pandemic made us resort to doing a lot of online stuff. Jobs, classes, meetings. And for some of us, even intimate relationships. I've always wanted to write an erotic story about two people connecting strictly online. Taking away certain senses would make things interesting.

But that's off-topic here haha

I've always believed something similar about online relationships though. It's so hard for me to call someone I exclusively know online, a friend. I need that physical connection, in person or at the least, voice to voice. Because in my experience, it can easily end as quickly as it started.

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Technology may be able to replicate our biological/physical connections some day, barring a meteor or Yellowstone blowing up first.

This adolescent stage we are in with technology is very strange, and negatively affecting a lot of people. Especially those without discipline. I kinda hate that I make my living from my computer now. Enjoy physical, tactile work much more. Considering going back to carpentry despite 3 hernias, bad knees, et cetera.

Also, it is insane that Vonnegut predicted automation and UBI in the 50s.

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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, could I ask about the status of the Substack short story submission adjustment por favor?

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I'm getting itchy too.

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No problem. The legal department sent a sizable agreement they suggest people click on, and I've no way to create a "click" function. The legals also poo-pooed using an email account to collect submissions. So my fall-back might be to ask for submission like Sinister's, above, and get agreement here, then comment on the story and post the link.

Always, always my worst fear is that someone might have an idea filched. I've recently watched the YouTube video that suggests The Matrix was cribbed from much of Dark City. And this sort of plagiarism is what I want to avoid.

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Dark City and The Matrix are both great films. Is that really a loss for anyone? No one is creating anything original. Just amalgams of other stories and our lives. Avatar was Fern Gully all over again.

I don't wanna get ripped off, but if someone used the foundation of my idea to build something new, I dont think Id be mad, as long as it wasnt a straight up ripoff Led Zeppelin style.

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Thanks for the update and your consideration. I’d be happy to do as what was done above, or I’m equally happy to wait while you work out the kinks on something. Off the top of my head, would creating an e-mail that works as a submission box work? You could do a post which is the contract/agreement that was worked up and then include the link to the e-mail at the bottom of said post. People would then agree/consent in the comments of the post and then send their stuff away. Would something like that or some variation of it work?

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What if we just submit our stuff to our own Substack feeds, and link to it, then delete after feedback?

We could compile an email list and just share google docs totally privately. If anyone got their stuff stolen it would have to be from within the group.

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What about discord or Slack? We could help one another when Chuck is busy with other things. I actually created a Discord already. https://discord.gg/rgApXasS

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I would also like to not feel like dont understand what’s going on all day everyday… so make with the news yo!! Plz & ty ❤️

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I am at a party and I don’t want to be rude. But I have to make an active effort to poke in here and tell you all about the many merits of employing proper hand washing techniques. It matters. Also Chuck, the dog ate my homework. 😬

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The damndest thing…

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See you in detention, boners🤙🏼❤️

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Here is the Indiegogo link. Same story but no beanie. No contact. Bummer. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/chuck-palahniuk-s-lullaby

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Honestly, I feel worse for the indiegogo folks. Feels like they’ve been 100% forgotten.

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