PLOT PUZZLE Winner and Runner-Up! Plus PLOT PUZZLE REVAMPED!

So here's the big news: I am totally going to be revamping PLOT PUZZLE. I realized that people just weren't into the whole "writing their own plots" idea, and are looking for something faster, and with a clearer winner. I hear ya' and I actually agree. The next PLOT PUZZLE (which will go up tomorrow) is going to be a nice simple, "guess that movie." I'll be taking stills from 1 film, collaging them together, and leaving it to you readers to guess what the film is.

But it won't be as easy as it sounds, I promise you. There won't be any "obvious" screenshots, so be prepared to get your thinking caps on (I think the last time I heard that phrase was in second grade). So this time, the only thing you'll need to do is guess the answer, and you're done! I'll still be giving you two weeks to send in your guesses, and there will be a link in the side bar again. More deets tomorrow!

AND NOW FOR THE WINNER OF THE FIRST AND LAST PLOT PUZZLE OF ITS KIND........

John Weir!

John's hilarious response to the first PLOT PUZZLE challenge kept me laughing for a good couple of minutes, and was by far the most outlandish/hilarious/creative of the group. Well done John!

John's Plot: A sequel to Dave Chappelle's Block Party goes horribly wrong when Maggie Gyllenhaal shows up with her fleet of zombie lovers. Quest Love and Mos Def join up with Hollywood rager Christian Bale, to fend off hordes of hip hop loving zombies. Special guest: Alec Baldwin. Highlight: Kanye West getting his heart ripped out and eaten while performing "Heartless."

First Runner-Up goes to Mark Grambau for his mythical sea creature featured plot!

Mark's Plot: High class hooker and con artist, Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has Leonard (Christian Bale) right where she wants him. Poised to make off with millions of the marine-turned banking executive's dollars, she is suddenly confronted by the demons of her past... literally. When Elaine was a child, she was possessed by the deranged soul of a mythical sea creature. Now her exorcism is wearing off. and she must fight to contain the beast within her. Now it seems it's up to Leonard to save the woman who was only after his fortune. Will he free her in time, or will Poseidon's feral beast consume her forever?

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the first PLOT PUZZLE! And I hope you'll check back tomorrow for a totally new, totally revamped PLOT PUZZLE 2!

Michael Jackson is having a fire sale?!

• Indeed Mr. Jackson is... and you can see the variety of creepy items here... oh save the children (and I really hope all you Arrested fans got the reference).  

• NYTimes The Moment Blog proves yet again why I love them. Check out Rosecrans Baldwin's post about runway photography. Below is an actual working London darkroom, one of the few left. 

• Have you ever thought to yourself, man, I wish I had a handy way to rank my favorite movie trilogies... Well enter illustrator and blogger Dan Meth, who decided to go ahead and create this handy dandy chart. You may not agree with his rankings, but you can't deny this is great.

• FilmJunk alerts us that despite all the rumored projects in the works, what may be next up for director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Planet Terror and... Spy Kids?) is actually an original story called Nerverackers. Set in 2085, a soldier tries to stop a crime wave breaking out in a utopian society. I'm sensing a male powered version of AEon Flux, what about you?
  

REMEMBER to send in your entries for PLOT PUZZLE!

FIRST EVER PLOT PUZZLE CONTEST! Send in your plots!!!

• PLOT PUZZLE #1 - The above pictures are part of the first ever Plot Puzzle, soon to be a bi-monthly addition to Do You Have a Flag! The idea is to create your own visual narrative according to what you see, aka make up your own SHORT movie description.

Here are the rules:

- Keep your plot description as SHORT and ridiculous as possible, around 80 words or less, but even a kick ass sentence will do.

- Bonus points for creative movie titles 

- You can comment here or email your plots to cheerfuld8@gmail.com 

- The contest will be open for entries for 2 weeks. All entries MUST be in March 2nd. Winner and runners-up will be announced on March 3rd. 

- There will be a link in the sidebar to all plot puzzles so you can come back to them. 

Here's an example of what I would write: Set in the 1920's, flapper Janie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is trying desperately to get out of the city and away from her past, but when an escaped inmate releases a mysterious toxin into the air, everyone in the city begins changing... into various forms of sea animals. As zombie mobs head out to sea to take their new found sea creature shape, Janie is running out of time to save her little brother from permanently becoming an evil seahorse. With the help of retired school teacher and former flame Baxter (Christian Bale), they race against the clock to save her brother and find their way back to each other. 

Get the idea? I'm sure y'all can do better than me, SO START SENDING IN YOUR PLOTS!

• It's Tuesday! Which means it's new DVD release day. Here's the rundown:
  

• Choke
  
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year
  
• Changeling
  
• Body of Lies
  
• Quarantine
  
• Hounddog
  
• Religulous
  
• How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
  

Go buy any one of these, Just promise you won't buy Hounddog.

**This past weekend was the first official opening of Flour & Sun Bakery in Pleasantville, NY. Flour & Sun is Westchester's first and only cupcake bakery! Congrats Denise on this huge accomplishment! The store couldn't be cuter if it tried, and the cupcakes are out of this world! So if you live in the Westchester area, definitely stop by and stock up on cupcakes! You can also follow Flour & Sun on their official blog, here. Flour & Sun is located at 19 Washington Ave, Pleasantville, NY 10570 and can be reached at 914.495.3232. Open every day except Mondays.**

• Flashlight Worthy Books has posted a great selection of 30 novels with cover designs so good, how could you resist?! And yes, I am one of those people that judges a book by it's cover, so all you "movie covers" out there are a waste of trees.
  

• Finally, check out the Lymelife trailer. The film stars Cynthia Nixon, Alec Baldwin, Kieran and Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Emma Roberts. Set in the 70's, the film follows a divorce, and the coming of age of 15 year old Scott (Rory). I've been waiting for this for a long time, but really only because it marks the return of Kieran Culkin, who made me fall in love with him in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Igby Goes Down.