UPDATE: The emails have started coming in, so this is just an update to ask all of you now to send in pictures you took if you participated in this weekend's Choke contest. You can email them to me at: chokecontest@chuckpalahniuk.net. Want to get a character named after you in Chuck Palahniuk's next book? All you have to do is get as many people as you possibly can to go see CHOKE this weekend. Is this for real? You damn well bet it is. Clark Gregg and I got on the phone yesterday and decided that we needed to hit the ball out of the park this weekend with the box office numbers on CHOKE. You see, Hollywood does math a lot differently than you and I do. And we are, right now, in one of the most crowded seasons for the movie market. Last weekend, CHOKE opened against an $80 million dollar movie produced by Stephen Speilberg on a night when most of America was watching Barack Obama debate John McCain on almost every news channel on TV. And this weekend, CHOKE enters its second weekend on the three days when, according to Variety, "A whopping seven wide releases" hit the theaters, making it one of the worst bottlenecks for new releases in recent memory. What does this mean for CHOKE? It means if CHOKE doesn't at least crack the top ten in this upcoming weekend's box office, it's chances for being around much longer are slim. What's sad is, CHOKE is competing against movies that opened up in over four times as many theaters. But it's still averaging better than most on a per theater basis! Why? Because it's a great film! And it's one that needs our support! And dammit, that's what we're gonna do! read more »

Chuck Palahniuk is in the new October issue of Paste magazine:

When a young Chuck Palahniuk pitched his novel Invisible Monsters to publishers, it was rejected because it was too disturbing. His response was to fill his next novel, Fight Club, with even more disturbing and violent events and dub himself a writer of “transgressional fiction.” One of his favorite stories for live readings is the short story “Guts,” from his collection Haunted, because the accounts of masturbation that met a violent end caused several of his audience members to actually faint. His worlds are shocking, but his readers eat it up not simply because they like blood and guts—his stories aim to shock like a defibrillator, to wake you up from the mundane and remind you that while terrible things can always be around the corner, you might just be able to withstand them....

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/09/catching-up-with-chuck-pal...

Just like the news title says: We Need Everyone To See CHOKE This Weekend! If you planned on seeing it during the week, or even waiting to next weekend, or a couple weekends after that... don't.

We need you to see CHOKE this weekend. Now even. As soon as you're done with reading this, grab some friends, get your ticket, and head to the nearest theater showing it. (listings here)

The opening box office numbers for CHOKE might not mean much to you... but in the long-run, they'll mean a ton to the future life of other Chuck Palahniuk adaptations. 'Fight Club' was a box office failure, and did not make back, domestically, what it cost to make the film. As a result, we had to wait over eight years for our next Palahniuk adaptation.

So let's not let that happen again. Let's all make sure CHOKE hits a homerun this weekend. I'm sure that, with the Presidential Debate on last night, they took a hit in their Friday numbers. So let's make up for that today and tomorrow.

I know I'm talking to thousands of you here. And every one of you can make a difference. But it has to be THIS weekend.

Go see CHOKE now. Consider this a homework assignment from Chuck Palahniuk... the real Tyler Durden.

The day is here. CHOKE is now playing in theaters nationwide. For a list of US & Canadian theater locations, check out this thread. (the Canadian list is lower in the thread) For movie reviews and showtimes, check out Rotten Tomatoes page here. I want to congratulate Clark Gregg and his crew on such a long journey to get this film made. It's taken him over five years to see this project to fruition. So let us all now celebrate by going out and enjoying the hell out of this film. I've set this thread up so people can post their mini-reviews of CHOKE. I'd also like to hear about your experience going to the theater, meeting other Chuck fans, and even see some pictures! read more »

So I got a very cool email yesterday. Ryan Fujitani, who works for one of the best sites online, Rotten Tomatoes, contacted me with a very cool feature. It seems they have a “5 Favorites” column on their site, in which they ask certain celebrities what their 5 Favorite movies are, and why. And guess who they got to cough up his list?

Check out Chuck Palahniuk's Five Favorite Films!

Jenni Miller, a senior editor with Premiere.com, was at the press day for CHOKE in NYC and had a chance to interview Chuck Palahniuk.

Check out the full interview here:

http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?section_id=39&article_id=4711

Enjoy!

This was recorded from Borders 1, while in Ann Arbor, MI, for Chuck's 'Snuff' tour. Chuck explains how to prevent stock shrinkage by teaching fans the best books to steal! Hysterical.

On August 30th, The Apple Store in SoHo, NY, featured a very awesome event. CHOKE director, Clark Gregg, sat down as moderator and interviewer with Chuck Palahniuk. The whole thing is almost an hour of great conversation and discussion about the history of CHOKE the book... and the movie. Follow This Link To Be Brought Directly To The iTunes Podcast This is a free download.

This weekend Borders Books and Music hosted a very cool event that I was lucky enough to be at. It was a moderated round table discussion with Chuck Palahniuk, Clark Gregg and Sam Rockwell. The questions were good, and the banter between the three men was priceless. They had the audience laughing so hard, people were honestly covering their face and trying to hold back tears.

Today, I discover that Borders has continued their awesome promotion for CHOKE and the upcoming movie, with a wonderful 'microsite' they have unveiled:

http://www.bordersmedia.com/backlot/choke.asp read more »

Here are the details again:

Saturday, September 13 – Los Angeles - 7:00pm
NOTE: This event will NOT include an autographing. No memorabilia please. There will be pre-signed, movie-tie-in-versions of CHOKE (signed by Chuck only) as well as pre-signed, selected backlist available for sale at the event.
Borders event with Chuck Palahniuk, Clark Gregg and Sam Rockwell – CHOKE panel discussion
Discussion and Q&A
Borders Books & Music
NO SIGNING
1360 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

We are trying to turn this into a Cult meet-up, so if anyone has any suggestions for a good bar we can end up at after the event -- preferably within walking distance -- please leave a comment below.

Also, some people have requested to know what I look like so you can spot me before or after the event. So here's my MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/denniswidmyer read more »