Cole Gamble

Cole Gamble

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Cole Gamble has written about the crimes of Willy Wonka and man-eating beds for The Daily Beast, The New Yorker, Cracked, The Huffington Post and Salon. Check out his site Fun with Cole (http://funwithcole.wordpress.com).

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25 Deep-Fried Foods From the Texas State Fair

For years, county fairs have been at the forefront of deep-frying science, splicing and creating mutant “foods” that are all at once monstrous and wondrous. The Texas State Fair — the largest state fair in the country — holds a yearly competition for the most innovative deep-fried foods. Here are 25 fried Frankenfoods from fairs past: 1.... READ ON

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31 Bizarre Foreign Titles for American Movies

Film is perhaps America's greatest cultural export. That said, not every American film title translates well into other languages. To bridge the gap, foreign marketers take some very intriguing creative liberties. Many of the best mangled film titles come from China, where they are downright magical at jazzing up boring old English titles. 1. Pretty Woman – I Will Marry a Prostitute to Save Money 2. As Good as it Gets - Mr. Cat Poop (Apparently, Jack's character name, "Melvin," sounds a lot... READ ON

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9 Baffling Movie Merchandise Tie-Ins

Every summer, movie season collides with merchandising mania to create a perfect storm of licensed nonsense. We, the human race, have proven to Hollywood time and time again that we will empty our pockets for anything with our favorite movie logo hastily slapped on it. But at least most of that junk allows us to momentarily remember why we loved the movie: Thor’s hammer. A Star Wars X-wing toy. Then there are these. 1. James Bond Scented... READ ON

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5 Beloved Ethnic Foods Invented for Americans

Many of those beloved “ethnic foods” Americans crave so much—Mexican, Chinese, Italian—were actually invented or popularized in the good old USA. 1. General Tso’s... READ ON

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Beyond Battleship: 3 More Board Game Movies in the Works

Whether Battleship is a super success or super failure, a thundering battalion of movies based on board games is marching toward a theater near you. At the very least, I thought you should be prepared. 1. Candy... READ ON

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5 Horror Movies Starring Inanimate Objects

The soul of a horror movie lies in the strength of the monster. Freddy Krueger, Hannibal Lecter—these icons endure because they got under our skin and stayed there long after the lights went up. But what happens when your movie monster has no soul? What if it can't talk, move, growl, bare teeth or intimidate in any way? What if your monster couldn't do anything except wait for clumsy victims to fall into its deadly, not remotely scary, grasp? You get these movies. 1. The... READ ON

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Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex and Other Absurd Celebrity Video Games

Making a good video game is incredibly difficult. It requires loads of talent, creativity, hard work and time. In contrast, making a bad video game is rather easy. Hand the task off to an intern or, barring that, a hyper 6-year-old, then kick back, drink a half rack of Hamm’s and watch Gossip Girl. Selling that bad video game, on the other hand, is tough. But it’s nothing a fat endorsement check to a celebrity won’t cure. 1. Steven Seagal is the Final... READ ON

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4 Upcoming Toy-to-Movie Adaptations (That Probably Shouldn’t Be)

You can thank the success of Transformers 1 & 2 for the plague upon your movie houses that’s to come. Hollywood knows a good formula when it sees one. Well, it knows a formula anyway, and since transforming toy robots hit it big at the box office, Hollywood producers have been slap fighting each other to be the next to cash in on your childhood nostalgia with a toy-based franchise. And there is no toy idea too absurd to throw a few hundred million dollars at. 1.... READ ON

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9 Facts About the Greatest Christmas Movie Ever

Holiday spirit hitting bottom? Can’t feel warmth in the cockles of your heart? (You should get that checked; I lost an uncle to poor cockle health.) Nonetheless, if you’re just not feeling the festive cheer, do what I do and get merry with a bare-footed, one man anti-terrorist unit in the greatest Christmas movie ever made: Die Hard. 1. Die Hard started out as the sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger '80s action staple Commando. Goes a long way to validate the opinion that all action movies are the... READ ON

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7 Hollywood Ripoffs With Titles (and Posters, and Plots) You Won't Believe

The correct term is mockbuster (or knockbuster): a micro-budgeted, straight-to-DVD, B-movie that piggy-backs on the massive publicity of a phenomenally bigger movie. The formula is simple: look at what blockbuster movies are planned for next year, then knock out something vaguely similar in a week and a half and slap on an almost identical—but just different enough to not get sued—title. Here are some of our favorites. 1. Snakes on a... READ ON

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