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Original artwork by Ming Chen. Toxie and Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD are registered trademarks of Troma Entertainment, Inc. Used under license.

Movie Poop Shoot.com (now QuickStopEntertainment.com) was started as a gag promotional tie-in site for the release of Kevin Smith’s Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back in 2001. After the film’s theatrical release, Mr. Smith decided to re-launch the site as a one-stop shop for news, reviews and coverage of all-things-pop-culture.

Soon after the site’s launched, I began talking with the website’s editor, Chris Ryall, about contributing a column based on my experiences in the bargain-basement of the independent film industry. The result of these conversations was “Let’s Make Some Art! The World of Schlock Cinema”, which, despite being one of the more popular features on the site, was shelved after a little over eight months due to an increasing lack of time to write on the part of yours truly.

“Let’s Make Some Art!” was not without its controversy. Episode 8, which was the first of a three-column series about TromaDance 2003, caused a stir between myself and Chris Gore, founder of FilmThreat.com and writer/producer of My Big Fat Independent Movie. To avoid threatened legal action, the column had some of its content censored after its initial publication and was later removed from the site entirely, even as I continued to write for the site. The column has been republished here in its original, uncensored form for the first time since its original publication on MPS.com. There’s more to say about this, but it really deserves its own episode. Stay tuned for an exclusive Episode 11 that details the fallout and response to the whole ordeal.

I remain proud of the column and my involvement with MPS.com, particularly because it garnered more awareness of the TromaDance Film Festival (it carried exclusive coverage of the fest from those of us that lived it) and it was a huge plus to work for however indirectly one of my favorite filmmakers, who I still support in any way I can.

Enjoy!