Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Be more like Jack!




KIEFER SUTHERLAND was amazed when he was told off by a member of the CIA for setting too good an example in hit TV series 24. Sutherland said, "I'll tell you a funny thing. I was in a ski lift and the guy there with me told me that he worked for the CIA and said he was a fan of the show.

"He told me I had made his life difficult because when he was a way in Europe for four months, his mother got really upset with him being away for so long. "Apparently she said to him, 'You should be more like Jack Bauer because he gets things done in a hurry.'"


Monster or Goat?

It seems that X-Men 3 is MONSTER. A big fat $120,000,000 domestic monster. I would have predicted otherwise but since I didn't predict at all on this one it doesn't count against me...



But how about Disney/PIXAR's Cars?



The previews look pretty slack to me. My kids seem to have no interest in it at all. But then you have the PIXAR track record. I thought Finding Nemo looked terrible but it turned out pretty good. So, what's it gonna be?

GOAT...


Quote of the Day




"...most motion pictures are simply photographs of people talking."

Alfred Hitchcock, 1964


Vintage Octopus Pulp Covers



Pretty cool...


Paul Gleason Dies



A native of Miami, Gleason was an avid athlete. Before becoming an actor, he played Triple-A minor league baseball for a handful of clubs in the late 1950s.

Gleason honed his acting skills with his mentor Lee Strasberg, whom he studied with at the Actors Studio beginning in the mid-1960s, family members said.

Through his career, Gleason appeared in over 60 movies that included "Die Hard," "Johnny Be Good," and "National Lampoon's Van Wilder." Most recently, Gleason made a handful of television appearances in hit shows such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld."




But then, we all luv and remember him from Breakfast Club...


Shatner!

JERUSALEM - The captain who dared to "boldly go where no man has gone before" has targeted a new destination: William Shatner believes he can contribute to Middle East peace by helping disabled children through horseback riding.

The former "Star Trek" actor was in Israel on Monday to promote "therapeutic riding." He hopes to raise $10 million for nearly 30 riding programs in the country.




Shatner said that placing injured people on horseback has been shown to improve their conditions. "We know that the use of a horse in their therapy takes them beyond their handicapped body, their injured body, and into another area of health," he said.


Thursday, May 25, 2006

In the news...



Stephen Colbert joins team DeLay...





Cate Blanchet to play Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' filmed biopic...





"Earlier this month the legendary Cody's Books in Berkeley announced that it was closing its doors for good. It's a grim if unsurprising development..."





The "eye" wins the TV season. The "peacock" finishes 4th...





Hardest workin' man in showbizniz...





65 year old Joan Baez living in a threatened tree...


Thursday Random Ten



"I Had It Made" - Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

"Needles and Pins" - Ramones

"The Leader" - The Clash

"All Together Now" - The Beatles

"Sharp Dressed Man" - ZZ Top

"SYCMIOYO" - U2, Philly Bootleg

"Rock Minuet" - Lou Reed

"One Voice" - Patti Smith

"Mesopotamia" - B-52's

"Cannon" - White Stripes


Have you seen this man?



Wolcott's blog has been down for several days now. Wonder what's going on....


Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Time the Avenger...

So I've had the Peter Gabriel concert DVD - Growing Up Live - for some months now and I like to put it on every couple weeks and watch a tune or two on there. And The Daughter has glanced at a minute or two of it but really, what self-respecting 15 year old would have any interest in a concert by some geezer that looks like this...



So a week or so she's digging through my CDs looking for things to rip onto her iPod and comes across this...



And she's all, "What? Who is this? Is this the same guy?" And I'm all, "Yeah, sure, same guy." And she's like:

"WHAT HAPPENED!?"

And I'm like, "Well...about 20 years happened..."


Madonna!

From The Defamer...

Not one to be overshadowed by The Da Vinci Code's strong showing at the global box office this weekend, Madonna made sure to remind the world who's boss when it comes to heresy-drenched pop spectacles by mounting herself on a massive, mirror-tiled cross (picture courtesy of Towleroad) at last night's tour kick-off at The Forum.




A stunned, rapturous crowd of Gays quickly fell silent as her dutiful, Vogueing background dancers drove glowsticks through her palms and into the glittering crucifix with stacks of money. The throng was disappointed, however, when they learned they'd have to wait three days and pay an additional $400 a ticket to see the end of her act, when the dancers will roll away a one-ton sequined boulder, and she will emerge reborn from an onstage tomb at the Staples Center.


Fall TV Schedule



Click here for some nice daily grids of what we can expect on the tube this fall...


Monster or Goat?

Now that I'm all full of beans with my successful prediction of a monster opening for Da Vinci Code, I'm ready to make another prediction. This one concerns Oliver Stone's World Trade Center with Nick Cage playing one of the two Port Authority guys who were rescued from the rubble after the collapse...



Here's the trailer...

My prediction - MONSTER.


Monday, May 22, 2006

Survived...

So the DJ thing wasn't a total washout. The promotion of the event had been a bit slack so the crowd was pretty small and it's hard to get a small crowd dancing. What seems to work to get them started is some sort of novelty, group dance thing like the Macarena or the Electric Slide...



The only other thing they responded to with any consistency was classic, 1970s disco...



Though there was one wild card up my sleeve that filled the floor - Theme from A Summer Place...



It was featured at the end of the Toga Party in Animal House...





Blasphemelicious!

From CNN.com:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Moviegoers gave their blessing to "The Da Vinci Code" over the weekend, spending an estimated $77 million to see the Tom Hanks religious thriller.

Although the film didn't set a domestic box office record, it was the largest weekend opening of the year so far and became the second-largest worldwide release after "Star Wars: Episode III." It garnered some $224 million worldwide, according to Sony Pictures.

The film also was the best domestic opening for both Hanks and director Ron Howard.




Yeah, they're still smilin'...


Friday, May 19, 2006

Doomed...

Only a couple times in my life have I foolishly agreed to DJ a dance...



Each time was a disaster. I seem to have no feeling whatsoever as to what people want to dance to. That's probably because I'm a terrible dancer who doesn't particularly enjoy dancing.

Despite these experiences, I have once again agreed to DJ a dance. It's an intergenerational "Prom" - folks of all ages so everything from early rock n' roll to disco to swing to reggae to rap to shag music will be expected. It has been a bit of fun gathering all the music together. I've filled out my disco collection nicely. And what gets categorized as "Beach" music includes an awful lot of great early soul and rock n' roll.

I've got everything loaded on the iPod. I'm going to duplicate it all on The Daughter's iPod so I can work between them. All I need to finish up is to download Electric Slide, Macarena, and Limbo Rock. God help me...


Will these people be smiling on Monday?



Following weeks of garment rending by religious folk and a rocky premiere at Cannes, The Da Vinci Code opens today and the question is whether it will be the blockbuster everyone expects it to be. My predictions are always wrong but that doesn't stop me from making them.

I'm calling for a big, big opening weekend. Monster.

The Daughter attends high school and the movie is all the kids are talking about - very energetic buzz - a buzz completely missing from Mission: Impossible III. Monday will tell the tale...


Monday, May 15, 2006

Japan to the rescue...



Sales of canned oxygen to create fresh market for Seven-Eleven Japan

Japanese convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan has breathed fresh air into its product lineup by announcing it will add cans of oxygen to its shelves...




Read all about it...


Friday, May 12, 2006

Happy Anniversary

A year ago on May 14, The Daughter and I were in Philly to see U2 on the first leg of the Vertigo Tour. This pic is from that night in Philly...



That's Bono coming out for the first encore as the band staggers into the opening riffs of Zoo Station - a highlight moment for me. It was the "fans" show - the performance with the special fan club tickets. So the place was packed to the ceiling with hardcore U2 freaks. All I can say is that's the crowd you want to be with when you see these guys...


Friday Random Ten



"Tired of You" - Foo Fighters

"Emotional Blackmail" - U.K. Subs

"Bad" - U2

"Padded Cell" - Black Flag

"Stop your Sobbing" - Pretenders

"Satisfaction" - Devo

"Melody" - Serge Gainsbourg

"Why Don't You Write Me" - Simon and Garfunkel

"The Thrill of it All" - Roxy Music

"I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" - Captain Beefheart


In the news...

Movie and TV review site Pajiba shut down by Homeland Security...

Ron Howard tells Opus Dei to buzz off...


Volume Two of Simon Callow's biography of Orson Wells hits the stores...

Donnie Darko director can't get to Cannes - he's on the terrorist watch list...

Tom Hanks tells Opus Dei to buzz off...

Mel Gibson producing Iraq War miniseries for USA Network...


Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Happy Birthday





Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Write Your Own Caption



(New episodes June 11...)


Friday, May 05, 2006

Friday Random Ten



"Song Sung Blue" - Neil Diamond

"Walk Like an Egyptian" - The Bangles

"Hell" - Foo Fighters

"Quadrophenia" - The Who

"Ugly" - Violent Femmes

"Into the Great Wide Open" - Tom Petty

"Madman Across the Water" - Elton John

"I'm Waiting for the Man" - Velvet Underground

"Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" - Velvet Underground

"Zaar" - Peter Gabriel


Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Return of the Big Suit



I was never a David Byrne fanatic - he was always a bit too art-school precious for me. Tina Weymouth was my hero from Talking Heads.

But Byrne has a web site with a journal and it's pretty interesting reading...

David Byrne's Journal