Want To Have Your Name In Chuck Palahniuk's Next Book?

this contest is discriminatory against people who have no friends.

Yeah, I agree with Justin; you're a jerk Dennis. Just kidding, but do you really expect people to do this? I'm planning on seeing this weekend with my friends so I suppose I could get like 5 or 6 ticket stubs. Think 6 will be enough to win?

Name in the book as a main character??

Bull shit, fuck this.

Maybe should do it for whoever ends up traveling the farthest to see it.

I'm for that. I'm traveling 4+ hours to go home see Choke. Well, it's something I'm doing when I'm home. I think that counts.

this is a GREAT idea -- time to organize!

ive already seen Choke, but ill go again for the man. come on you f*ckers - do it for Chuck!

this seems like a pretty desperate attempt to get people to go see this movie

whatever, i'll do it

i hope whoever wins has a terrible name, like Steve Bicep or Arnold Poop.

I have such a foolproof plan for winnign this. Unfortunately, I am an honest man and refuse to cheat. But just know, winner, whoever you are, that I would have pwned you.

just photoshopping a fistful of tickets?

Stand by the door to the exit of the theater asking for tickets?

No! You're all thinking too hard! I'll reveal my diabolical plan afterwards. In the meantime, I'll probably try to see it legit again.

Also kids, don't forget, if you want to see another film this weekend, buy a ticket to Choke and sneak into whatever you want to see.

where's the support people? c'mon now!

I think the name in the book should be a special thanks at the beginning. That'd be better.

photoshopping tickets or standing by the exit door is thinking too hard? That seems to be the very least amount of effort into thinking of a way to scheme this. I'd be very interested in seeing what you think is even less thought after it's over. it better not be something dumb like buy 30 tickets for your kindergarten class and taking them to it.

Hey guys,

Do me a favor and quit expending so much open thought into how to scheme something that me, Clark and Chuck all worked hard to give you.

Jesus, are you with us or against us? I honestly can't tell sometimes.

I am SO on this. It would be a dream come trueeee

I'm not sure if I even want to try this. Mostly because Chuck once said that he doesn't like any of his characters. I mean, Chuck might hate me, but I don't want him to know my name so he can hate me that much more.

What if someone wins and they have a boring name? or one that's already been used?

Chuck should just use mine

Dennis,

I'm with ya... I'm the guy pushing all of his friends to go see this movie, etc, etc....

But something about this new 'contest' smells of sick desperation...

Like really, really yucky desperation...

Just my (totally worthless since I don't amount to anything here on the Cult) two cents.

Or is it .02?

Eh, you all get the picture...

I so hope legallytylerdurden wins this competition.

Also: Top Gun, nice to see you dude. Corellion here, from the Clevenger intensive. Keep strong!

I'll bet monkey was just gonna buy the one ticket for himself and then make a messload of people hold it in turns while he took a photo...

meh, i don't know about all that. it just sounds like a way to keep some excitement about the movie going. I can't see a million people getting in on this and really affecting Choke's box office numbers massively. but it sounds like a fun little way to give those that might have been putting it off to get out and go with a group.

OK. I usually say nothing, but while I know the e-mails and big-time marketing push comes from a good place, STOP IT. It's not the desperation that kills me; it's the sheep mentality that if you tell me to do something, I'm going to go do it in blind adoration. That shit worked in the 80s circa Michael Jackson Moon Walk and left glitter glove. However, thank to the Internet, that glitter glove has been Vaselined so many times that it just doesn't work. You want to promote the "real Tyler Durden"? Why don't you employ Web marketing strategies a la "Anonymous" and Radiohead. Hack in, viral spread, charge per download, contract with streamers like Netflix for a premiere screening for $14.99 straight into living rooms, and start the revolution for new video. Cram the Net adways and pimp online film-o-phile sites (and established ones like Variety, H'Wood Reporter, etc.)... 'cause nobody's seeing movies in the flesh anymore--for CP or anybody else. The new model is here, baby. Get with it.

(Fucking negativity anyway, I'm sick of it).

Go, people go! Do this!

Do it for Clark Gregg! Do it for Sam Rockwell! Do it for your country!

I'll do it for a blow job, but not from any of the for mentioned people.

Hmm, lets see.... I would be with you... But this is the first time anyone has acted like they were doing something "for us" (even though its just a marketing ploy) in.... well a damn long time. Most of the culties can't even participate and would rather have something like say, the forum functioning properly than their name in a book. I can't speak for everyone, but thats my two cents.

Edit: now that I think about it, if the prize were getting this forum working like it should, I'd probably drive to dallas to see the damn movie.

If someone were smart, they would write a post asking everyone who sees the movie this weekend to email him/her a picture of themselves holding their ticket (providing it is legitimate). Yes, only the organizer would win, but there are two reasons why others should do this:

1. You are not left empty handed. Remember, each person who participates receives a free shirt.

and

2. Nearly everybody who doesn't like the idea of not winning the grand prize and decides to attempt to win on their own will fail.

If someone were smart, they would write a post asking everyone who sees the movie this weekend to email him/her a picture of themselves holding their ticket (providing it is legitimate). Yes, only the organizer would win, but there are two reasons why others should do this:

2. Nearly everybody who doesn't like the idea of not winning the grand prize and decides to attempt to win on their own will fail.

You make an excellent point. It could have also be tweaked so that if one person posted and formed a group for everyone to send their pictures in with tickets, one person's name from the group could be randomly drawn to be the organizer, giving everyone in that bunch the chance to have their name as the character.

It would work, especially since so many people saw it last weekend. I'd be willing to see Choke again this weekend, but there's no way to get another group to go for a return visit.

I didn't see the part about giving everyone a t shirt. That shit costs money! I'm all for scheming, if it was just to get a name in a book. that doesn't cost anything. But now I'm totally against it! Get a Real Group together and go see it people! That shirt (and the experience) will hold a lot more meaning to you if you earn it rather than steal it!

Agreed. Were it not for Drupal, I'd go back and delete my half-assed schemerey post from this thread. I feel dirty.

Jane and I would see the movie but we'll never win a contest because everyone we know lives elsewhere and we have little sway over their movie viewing long distance.

I do look forward to seeing the result of the submissions and hearing about the winner very soon. I hope there's a great thread with all of the pictures taken by the winning team. And no tricks!

Thanks, Synnove!

I'm going to invite everyone at my church by convincing them it's the Passion part 2. Although this will actually require going to church on Sunday, it will be worth the hassle.

Why are people complaining about this being sick desperation? My hats off to Dennis, Clark, and Chuck for giving some incentive for people to go see this movie.

I don't understand why people are complaining about something that is trying to help Chuck and help get some or his other books made into movies. I would love to see Survivor and Rant in movie form.

I think the incentive is great too - I'd love to see my name in Chuck's next book. Unfortunately, 1) I don't have a zip drive, 2) The closest theater to me showing Choke is over 100 miles away, and 3) unfortunately the majority of my friends are football fans whose weekends involve nothing but football.

Tell Clark Gregg to kick the distributors' asses, because Choke isn't playing at all where I live. I'd have to drive for hours to the nearest theater running the film! WTF. And you wonder why box office numbers are low...

This was a nationally and heavily advertised film... but is there a distribution problem? If it was in my city, I'd probably boost the box office revenue by 40% alone!

I posses three tickets and can have my other friend who didn't want to give up her's send me a pick of it so I have four. Did I win yet?

I have 16? now what?

And what's with the bitching? It's not anything you're forced to do; don't fucking do it if you don't want to do it...and it's nobody's fault but your own that you can't make fucking friends

Heh, it's a self contradicting process. I like it. A pyramid scheme of the sorts, but with no solid base. Utter chaos. It works against everyone, especially those afflicted with schizoid personality disorder. I think all of this is in contradiction to anything Palahniuk's ever written, but society is society, and economy is economy, and we exist in it whether we like it or not.

this is so unfair... i live in Malaysia, where the censorship rules are pretty tight; Choke is not showing anywhere! i can't even see the movie, let alone get everyone to go watch it. woe is me.

When will I be able to see the movie in France ??!!

I hope the members of The Cult asked friends to see Choke this past weekend out of geniune affection and interest for Chuck's work and, of course, to support the film. Who the heck cares about getting his/her name in a book? I sent an e-mail to my friends, specifically asking them not to take pictures of the ticket stubs but to JUST GO SEE THE FILM and pass the message along to their contacts. We want the movie to succeed to ensure future screen adaptations of Chuck's work - period! And we could have made an enormous difference if each person did as Dennis asked.

Does anyone know if our efforts made a dent in the box office numbers this weekend?

A dent? No. There was a 62% dropoff. Short of lobbying Fox Searchlight to widen distribution, the numbers aren't going to climb much at this point. Entertainment Weekly put it in this weeks 10 best or 10 must see whatever list at the end of the magazine.

I don't know why you would specifically ask them to not take pictures of their ticket stubs. This was all done as something fun to do to go along with the movie coming out. I doubt Dennis or Clark or Chuck thought doing this would magically shoot the film up to number one at the box office. But it's just a little reward or incentive to have gotten a bunch of people to get up off their butts and go see it.

62% drop-off? That's unfortunate. I like the lobbying suggestion, but I would imagine the box office numbers would need to increase in order for that to happen. If Choke had decent numbers its first and second weekend, it would have a wider distribution today. However, timing is everything. How does a movie made on a modest budget compete with a Spielberg and Disney production? WORD OF MOUTH! Think MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING! Yes, very different subject matter from CHOKE, but it was made on a mere 5 million and opened to limited release. It is one of top romantic films of all time, and made over $350 million.

WORD OF MOUTH folks!

I think word of mouth is what's going to really help this thing when it gets to DVD.
Word of Mouth is one thing, but being readily available is another.
I just hopes it's a cool A** dual DVD with tons of extra or cut scenes and commentary and all sorts of easter eggs with it.

N. Parker, you are right - the contest could be fun. However, most of my contacts are older, not familiar with Chuck's work, and not into dark comedies/satirical subject matter (yes, sad, but true).

In short, this is not the kind of movie they would normally go see, and I just wanted them to "get up off their butts" (as you say) and go see the movie without any strings attached. At least 3 of them went this weekend, plus myself, so it worked to some degree.

Um, I'd like to flag my own post for excessive crankiness. I was going to edit it, but it feels more pure to allow my overall bad mood to stand as a monument in History.

I actually have no problem with this whole contest. This is not a cowardly back-pedal on my original opinion. I'm just acknowledging my ability to be a dick.

Denny boy, I guess what I meant to articulate was that upon my first read of your post, it seemed like you were preaching to the choir. Anyone here that was excited about it would likely be on there way to see the movie, and would like be encouraging everyone they know to join them too. Someone earlier mentioned a bit of a sheep-like mentality about all of this, so I will jump on that band-wagon and claim that's what felt a little icky to me as well.

For someone who hasn't posted here in almost 6 months, this wasn't a well planned reunion.

Overall, I wish nothing but the best for Chuck, Clark, et al.

As a side point, has anyone else noticed Choke being pulled out of their local theaters? The opening weekend it was playing in a few places near my home (Greenwich, CT), but by the second weekend, it was missing in all but one smaller movie theater. That can't be good.

Oh, and it's nice to see familiar faces again... thanks for the welcome back Alx.