Your Faithful Narrator

One of my favourite days of the year

2009-01-23T18:01:00.002-05:00

One of my favourite days of the year is the day the Oscar nominations come out. True the Golden Globes are done so you sort of get a hint of what could happen, but the Oscars are the true barometer of movie awards.

Before getting into the actual awards, a couple of immediate reactions. Firstly, The Dark Knight was shut out of the major awards (ie Best Picture, Best Director). This is a shock. Easily one of the best films of the year, the idea that it got shunned but yet another Holocaust film (The Reader) is among the nominees shows that Academy voters have no guts. Secondly, Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for Revolutionary Road and won a Supporting Actress Golden Globe for The Reader. However, in the Oscars, she only got nominated for one...and that was for Best Actress...for The Reader. And finally, Bruce Springsteen did not get nominated for Best Song with The Wrestler...even though he won a Golden Globe for that. And there were only three nominees for Best Song when the category usually has five! Let's get to the categories.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Even though Woody Allen films have a history of garnering Oscars for Actresses (Dianne Weist, Diane Keaton) I don't think Penelope Cruz has a shot. My pick will go to Amy Adams for Doubt. Doubt is one of those talky films that the Academy loves. Amy Adams, cute, white, multi-talented, stage-trained is the perfect candidate. Personally, Marisa Tomei had the best performance of this category as a bitter, aging stripper in The Wrestler was perfect. But considering she has already won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny and got nominated for a pretty nothing role in In The Bedroom, she has already got enough recognition.

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight (posthumous)
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

We could talk about the greatness of Downey's amazing comedic performance in Tropic Thunder. He may be one of the most intriguing actors or our generation. We could talk about Josh Brolin and his amazing comeback. But really this award is going to Heath Ledger and his groundbreaking performance The Dark Knight. The kind of performance like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington or Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind that will still be discussed 50 years from now. Him winning this award was finalized upon his death almost one year ago from today.

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Angelina Jolie or Meryl Streep "yawn". So take those two out of the mix. Homicide: Life On The Street's Melissa Leo is a perfect example of "It was just a pleasure to be nominated". Anne Hathaway, really? Does anyone think she should have win an Academy Award before Glenn Close ever does? This is Winslet's category to lose. As stated earlier, she has already won two Golden Globes this year...that should be good enough for one win in the Oscars.

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, this Oscar was predetermined months ago. Mickey Rourke, originally the heir apparent to Robert DeNiro in the late 70s/early 80s fell off the cinematic map with bad films, an entrance into boxing and serious drug abuse. If he does not win this award....it will be the most shocking Oscar loss since Denzel Washington (Malcolm X) lost to Al Pacino (A Scent Of A Woman).

Best Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I still don't understand how these are two seperate categories. The director is directly involved in the overall look of the film. How can a film be good enough to win best picture but not best director. But that is a conversation for another day. To me this is a pick 'em. It will probably go to Slumdog Millionaire as they won Golden Globes in that category. The winners should be the unnominated The Dark Knight along with director Christopher Nolan. Darren Aranofsky and The Wrestler should also be among the nominees.

Top 5 Mickey Rourke films
1. Diner
2. The Wrestler
3. Body Heat
4. Angel Heart
5. Sin City

Why am I still watching House?

2008-10-26T11:21:00.010-05:00

Here is every single episode in the history of House (apologies if I gave away the ending of an episode that you have yet to see).

9:00 An interesting scene unrelated to a hospital drama. Someone looks like they could be sick, so it is probably the other person in the scene. Either way, one of them will be "Patient Of The Week" (hereby known as POTW).

9:03 The opening credits, decent song by Massive Attack but it is the exact same credits since day 1 of this show. Have the producers not been watching the show? These credits prominently feature Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison who play Dr. Robert Chase and Dr. Allison Cameron and those characters are in the show about as much as John Travolta was in Welcome Back Kotter after the second season. No love for the new actors Olivia Wilde, Peter Jacobson and Kal Penn?

9:05 First round table meeting of the doctors. Can you believe this hospital has this department of 5 doctors spending a week to help diagnose one patient? I believe the Princeton-Plainston Teaching Hospital may be the sole reason for the decline in the US economy.

9:08 Round table meeting ends with three possible theories. None will end up being the actual diagnosis as there are still 42 minutes left in the show. Dr. Eric Foreman (played by Omar Epps) will raise his right eyebrow for the first of three times in the episode.

9:12 Lead actor Hugh Laurie (who plays Dr. Gregory House) will have his first scene with the Head of Encology, Dr. James Wilson (played by Robert Sean Leanord). This scene hints to the real focus of the show, it isn't to diagonosis patients who have weird diseases that would only really occur on tv. It is non-sexual love story between Wilson and House. The sooner the show admits this, the sooner we can move on.

9:20 The first theory of what the patiant is sick with falls through. In their investigation of said theory, it causes another sympton which disproves their original diagnoses and sets the team off on two new theories. Foreman raises his right eyebrow for the second time in the episode.

9:21 House has a conversation with one of the doctors on his team to remind you that he is "the most complex character on televsion". He pretends to be a little sensitive or interesting and then by the end of the episode will still prove that he is a dick. Makes you wonder if there is actually a Human Resources department at this hospital that these other doctors can complain to. Must be the same inept HR departments that you see at Dunder Mifflin in the show The Office and CTU on the show 24.

9:32 Some wacky, crazy procedure is attempted on the POTW in order to save them. Dr. House's boss Dr. Lisa Cuddy (played by Lisa Edelstein) is not happy about the procedure so she has a yelling fit with Dr. House in her office. He deflects by mentioning something sexual or embarrasing about her.

9:41 A conversation occurs that will hint to the ending of that episode. Someone could say something offhand talking about playing golf in the mountains of Arizona and only using their irons or that a certain character only wears the colour blue...but this conversation will set in motion the correct theory of what disease the POTW has.

9:47 Things are looking bleak for the POTW. They are probably going to die or at least have a terminal disease. And as an audience member, you see the time, they are cutting things close...CSI Miami starts in 13 minutes.

9:51 House remembers that offhand topic earlier...he has figured out what is wrong with the patient. That person just has something rather benign that they are sick with...they are not going to die. Foreman raises his right eyebrow for a third time, possibly with a little head shake added.

9:56 Patient is dismissed. And Dr. House has one more scene to make you like him enough to watch next week. Perhaps he will be home alone playing guitar, or have something nice to say to one of the doctors on his team, or to either one of his pseudo life partners Dr. Wilson or Dr. Cuddy.

There! I have saved you an hour of your life every week. Simply make your cheques payable to Your Faithful Narrator.

Top 5 acting performances on US televison by British Actors.
1. Idris Elba as Russell "Stringer" Bell (The Wire)
2. Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews (Life)
3. Hugh Laurie as Gregory House (House)
4. Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Vivian Johnson (Without A Trace)
5. Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty (The Wire)

My new favourite comedic actor

2008-10-10T12:13:00.004-05:00

I have always been aware of Nathan Fillion. But his resume had been filled with things I've never watched. The first time I ever heard of him was when he was in a sci-fi series called Firefly, the follow up film to Firefly, Serenity. Watch this trailer...he is the heroe and there is something honest, tough and self depricating about him.

His career has also included appearances on One Life To Live, Desperate Housewives and a short lived FOX series called Drive.

But this past summer has been the "Summer of Nathan Fillion". It started with the direct-to-internet series of shorts called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Check out the trailer below. The series itself can be found throughout the internet include youtube, Itunes and Hula. It also features Neil Patrick Harris and has some pretty good music.

The latest short to feature Fillion is a new series by director James Gunn entitled PG Porn. Basically, all the stuff you like from porn except the sex. It will be a series of shorts featuring a real actor and a porn actress. I wouldn't quite say it is safe to look at when you are work...things are hinted at but there is no nudity. And Fillion's performance may be the funniest thing ever in porn.

Nailing Your Wife | Girls | SPIKE.com

Top 5 Porn Actresses

1. Really, are you still reading expecting a list? Please, my mother reads this blog.

Mad Men Moments

2008-09-24T10:34:00.004-05:00

To get me back into writing on this blog again, I thought I would briefly talk about my current favourite show on television called Mad Men. If you are not aware, it is currently in its second season on AMC. That's right, AMC. A channel you probably only watch for old movies.

Mad Men takes places during the early 60s inside an advertising agency called Sterling Cooper. It provides interesting insight into what was going on in the advertising world at that time with the smoking, drinking and blatant sexism that prevailed at the time. It also provides an interesting comparison to what is going on in the world today.

Mad Men was created by Matthew Weiner who used to be one of the writers and producer of the hugely successful show The Sopranos. He had actually written it prior to working on the Sopranos. Soprano creator David Chase actually hired him based on the script he wrote for what would end up being the pilot for the Mad Men.

After the Sopranos ended its run, Weiner offered the show to HBO. Despite needing a new hit how with no Sopranos and no more episodes of The Wire, they turned it down. Possibly due to the excessive smoking and alcohol. Showtime also turned it down so he offered it to AMC who made it their first original series. If you are a fan of the show, you probably already know this. Here is a list of the top 10 great moments from the series in the first season.

10. What kind of man are you? Don Draper sees there is a chance that the secret of who he really is could come out. In a cold sweat he runs to the arms of the woman he has been seeing on the side Rachel Menken. He asks her to drop everything in their lives and run away with him. As Rachel realizes Don is not suggesting a vacation but leaving their families to go start a life on their own, she comes to now what kind of person Don Draper really is. With tears in her eyes, she says the words "what kind of man are you" and those words cut like daggers through the heart of both Don and the audience.

9. Beatniks and the Man After spending the evening debating the importance of advertising, flashing back to his days growing up on a farm and smoking up with his girlfriend Midge Daniels and her beatnik friends, Don decides to leave their apartment. One of the beatniks, referring to the police outside, says "Man, you can't go out there!" Don looks at him, straightens his tie and says, "No YOU can't go out there". Walks out of the apartment, past a police officer arresting a neighbour, puts on his hat and calmly walks out.

8. Choo Choo Cha Cha Joan at her best. Offering advice to other women at Sterling Cooper and then seductively dancing with her old fling Paul Kinsey. Watch the look on her face as she sees her co-workers watch her dance.

7. Salvatore's big scene. One of my favourite charactors on the show is Salvatore Romano. He is clearly hiding or at pretending to ignore his homosexuality to be one of the boys at Sterling Cooper. He almost works as the show's comic relief as everything he says has a double meaning. But there was no comic relief when he met up with an executive from a cosmetic company. Over dinner and drinks, it becomes clear that the cosmetics exec is interested in more than good food and good company. To which Salvatore heartbreakingly replies "Are you joking?"

6. Shopping smackdown Betty Draper's neighbour Helen Bishop confronts Betty about her relationship with her yound son Glen. Like what Rachel said to Don later, "what kind of person are you?"

5. Helen Bishop tells it like it is During a birthday party, single mom Helen Bishop is talking to Carlton Hanson. Carlton offers to be of service to her and her child. He suggests if she ever needs him to play catch with her son or take him to the beach, he would be willing. Helen sees through Carlton's suggestion and hints at the fact that he is looking for a little something on the side. The look on Carlton's face as he says "I don't want you suggesting something I didn't say is priceless.

4. For Openers The very first scene of the show. It does a great job of simultaneously showing the period and explaining the main charactor Don Draper.

3. I Wish I Was Older In the first season's final episode, Betty finally opens up about all the things that she is upset about. The problem is that the person is her neighbours' 8 year old son. Drama had already occured earlier in the season when Betty gave the kid a lock of her hair. This led to the son's mother Helen to confront Betty while shopping. After verbally accosting Betty about her relationship with her son, Betty slapped her and walked out. How heartbreaking is it when Glen says at the end of this scene, "I don't know how long 20 minutes is."

2. Betty's Got A Gun After losing her chance at getting back into modeling. Don's wife Betty is just trying to forget it while doing some laundrey. Hearing the neighbours' pigeon's flying around outside, she grabs a BB gun, steps out the door and calmly with almost no emotion, just starts shooting at them.

1. And The Emmy Goes To... Maybe one of the greatest single scenes in the history of television. Listen to the speech Don Draper gives to the people from Kodak as an idea for the slide carousel. He isn't just talking to them, he is talking to himself about the importance of family. How John Hamm lost the Emmy for Best Actor to Bryan Cranston is one of the greatest award show mysteries ever.

...And Dennis Dugan owes me 13 hours and 23 minutes

2008-05-06T08:51:00.004-05:00

I am just having the worst of luck with movies. However, this is clearly self inflicted pain because I can't imagine what I was thinking in seeing the "comedy" I Know Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.

Where do I start? Lets go with the director Dennis Dugan. This guy has never! NEVER! Never made a funny movie. It started with Problem Child and never got better. His career is littered with crap like Beverly Hills Ninja, The Benchwarmers and the upcoming You Don't Mess With Zohan. Take a look at the trailer and ask yourself, does this really look funny? Is there a real possibility of humour in the films' obvious storyline?

I hate to blame an actor for a movie, since there are so many others involved (screenwriters, producer, director etc.) but clearly Sandler just doesn't get it. He has no interest in being in quality films, he'd rather be in ones with the easy laughs. Anytime he is in a film that doesn't go for the easy laughs, they are usually good films. The three I have in mind are Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish and Reign Over Me. None of these films are all that taxing for Sandler, they are certainly in his range...but his resume is still littered with too many Anger Managements, Little Nickys and 50 First Dates.

My next issue is regarding Sandler's co-star in the film Kevin James (you know him from King Of Queens). Once again, he is the best part of a film that spends too much time with a more famous co-star. His first big movie was Hitch, starring Will Smith. James' character is a hapless loser who uses a romance coach in order to woo a sexy society woman. THAT storyline is interesting and was funny. But we also are forcefed Smith's story about having to woo Eva Mendes complete with physical humour such as him accidentally kicking her off a Sea-Doo and him having a ridiculous reaction to a seafood allergy.

With Chuck & Larry, James' storyline is about a widowed father of two who is forced to extreme methods in order to have insurance to protect his kids if anything happens to him in the line of duty (he is a fireman). All the while still mourning his wife, keeping all of her clothes and not wanting anyone to sleep on her side of the bed. THAT storyline is interesting. But instead, we get a movie that mainly focuses on Sandler as a womanizing fireman forced to pretend to be married to James in order to help James with his insurance issues.

The most disarming aspect of the movie is that one of the writers listed is Alexander Payne (you know his scripts for Election, Sideways and About Schmidt). His contribution was actually an early screenplay for Chuck & Larry. According to some websites, Payne has since criticized the film calling it "Sandler-ized".

A note on two of the secondary characters, first Jessica Biel as the couple's lawyer Alex McDonough. Her character is supposed to be smart enough to be a lawyer but dumb enough to ask Sandler's character (who she believes to be gay) to touch her breasts to convince him they are real.

Even worse, Rob Schneider as a japanese minister who marries Chuck and Larry. Why the asian community is not storming the production company that made this film is shocking. Schneider, who is part filipino, gives the most embarrassingly racist performance since Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast At Tiffany's.

Wow, I forgot Ving Rhames is in it as well. Clearly he owes a lot of people money and that was the only reason he would take on this film. His performance as a large firefighter who decides to come out of the closet because of Chuck & Larry is just uncomfortable for anyone to watch.

Top 5 Ving Rhames films
1. Out Of Sight
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Mission: Impossible
4. Rosewood
5. Dave

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

2008-05-01T08:39:00.005-05:00

Not that I have been paying attention this season, but since American Idol was doing Neil Diamond week, I decided to watch. Wanting to see these amateur singers taking on Neil Diamond's greatest hit would be a complete train wreck as Neil Diamond is one of those singers who makes it look easy but would be tough to sing like.

But instead of some 21 year old warbling to Love On The Rocks...we got the gift that keeps on giving in drunken (?) judge Paula Abdul. The singers took on a song each and the show decided to have the judges discuss how they all did the first time around. A confused and freaky haired Paula Abdul commented on one of the contestants two songs. When the audience started laughing and Randy Jackson was looking lost, they finally explained to Paula that, in fact, they had only done one song each. Enjoy the footage of a completely lost Paula Abdul trying to cover up.

This is not as good as her meltdown on a local FOX affiliate from a couple of years ago...that is still my favourite.

Sometimes I wonder whether Paula and FOX is in on the joke regarding her demeanor or not. Take a look at this commercial spoof featuring characters from another FOX show The Simpsons on American Idol. Take a look at Lisa Simpson's version of Paula Abdul.

And since it was Neil Diamond week on American Idol...here are the Top 5 covers of Neil Diamond songs.

1. Red Red Wine (UB40)
2. Kentucky Woman (Deep Purple)
3. I'm A Believer (The Monkees)
4. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (Urge Overkill)
5. Solitary Man (Johnny Cash)

If you are a Neil Diamond fan, you may be shocked to know he is NOT in the rock and roll hall of fame. That's right, one hit wonders like Percy Sledge and Gene Vincent are in, but Neil Diamond is not. There is currently a push to get him elected in. Feel free to sign the petition here.

Why Micheal Bay Now Owes Me 12 And A Half Hours Of My Life

2008-04-27T08:20:00.003-05:00

So I rented Transformers this weekend. Why, because I am an idiot. Yet again, I rent a movie directed by Michael Bay, yet again I hate it.

The title of this blog entry is that Michael Bay owes me 12 and a half hours of my life because he still hasn't paid me back for Armageddon, Pearl Harbour, Bad Boys II and The Island. But Transformers just put me over the edge. It is boring, silly, ridiculous and features a career embarrasing performance by John Turturro.

I used to compare all bad movies to Independance Day. "Hey faithful narrator, did you see Saw III? Oh yeah, I'd reply, it's bad but its not Independance Day bad". Or, hey faithful narrator did you see that lame comedy with Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck? Yes, it is like the Independance Day of comedies."

I will know change that to Transformers-bad.

Admittedly, I was not in on the Transformers-wave. I think I was a touch too old when they were popular. Just sort of at the cusp of my teenage-hood. The biggest problem with the film is the same problem as was with the Alien versus Predator movies and The X-Men franchise (especially the first one). You have these alien life forms...and there are good ones and there are bad ones. And they are fighting each other. And regular humans are caught in the middle. This does not allow any empathy to be given to our human heroes by the audience. It just amps up the level of ridiculousness so that you just don't care about the people and who wins and who loses.

And why Jon Voight decided to do another Michael Bay film after he was already in the god-awful Pearl Harbour is beyond me. Actually, I just answered my own question. Jon Voight stopped caring years ago. He was in the sequel, THE SEQUEL to Baby Geniuses called Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2. A film so bad that it actually received a 0% from film critics on the website Rotten Tomatoes. And he was in the film version of Bratz. No need to say more about that.

Top 5 Jon Voight films
1. Midnight Cowboy
2. Deliverence
3. Mission: Impossible
4. Runaway Train
5. Rosewood

I get that Michael Bay really doesn't care what I think about his movies. His first film, Bad Boys, I love. I own the DVD. It's funny, it has cool action scenes and a top notch bad guy. His second film, The Rock, has a lot of what prevents Bay from making a good film. Stupid, silly, over-the-top action scenes. However, Nicolas Cage saves the movie with a really bizarre performance that seems out of place in an action movie but actually works. But everything after is just loud, noisy, vain and trite.

About the best thing Michael Bay has been involved with in the last 10 years is this Verizon commercial from last year.

Death of an Icon

2008-04-09T09:59:00.004-05:00

So with the recent death of Charlton Heston, where does he deserve to belong among the list of the great Hollywood stars?

This is an actor who in the 50s and 60s, worked with every great director from William Wyler to Orson Welles. An actor who became the go-to guy for dozens of epic films from Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments to El Cid and 55 Days At Peking.

I am going to go ahead and say it, Charlton Heston was one of the greatest actors of the 50s and 60s. Simple as that. He wasn't the most talented, he wasn't the most skilled but he knew how to choose quality films and even if he was miscast...he could still pull it off and make you believe he was British, American or Mexican. He was a gutsy actor who knew how to use his limited talents to their utmost.

Sure, as he got older, he became less picky. The Planet Of The Apes works only because of the script and the Apes films that followed but Soylent Green may be one of the worst sci-fi films ever made and The Omega Man is almost laughable.

It is just too bad that his work in the latter part of his career along with his affiliation with the NRA had really reduced his importance in Hollywood. Hopefully after his death, people will revisit the early part of his career.

5 Great Charlton Heston Scenes

1. Ben-Hur (the chariot scene)

2. Touch Of Evil (the great opening crane shot all done in one take)

3. The Planet Of The Apes (have to include that famous final scene)

4. The Ten Commandments (the parting of the Red Sea)

5. Wayne's World 2 (no, I am not kidding-this is a fitting tribute)

It's A Kind Of Magic

2008-03-29T14:36:00.005-05:00

I believe people can be put into two groups, you are either a fan of magic or you are indifferent to magic. Before this past Friday, I was definately in the former category. But on Friday night, I went to see David Copperfield. And somehow, I am still in that same category.

Don't get me wrong, I am fascinated with famed magician Harry Houdini but that is more about the strange details of his death that fascinated me more than anything. The rumoured death from punch actually appears to be true.

Anyway, the Copperfield show started with a large screen indicating all of the accolades Mr. Copperfield has won from being knighted in France to being named the top magician of the 20th Century (not sure who would have finished second, Doug Henning?)

Copperfield then showed a collection of clips from TVs and movies that reference himself. The funniest were clips from Conan O'Brien which were a parody of Copperfield complete with the hair and the intense state into the camera.

it was too bad he didn't include Copperfield's brief appearance during a cold open from an episode of Scrubs which I thought was pretty funny.

Copperfield is probably best known for his made-for-tv specials where he "made" the statue of liberty. I don't know, since it was on TV, I didn't find it all that dramatic.

There is also the time he "walked through" the wall of China. If you didn't see it, you are probably thinking about how he could have possibly done it. Well, there was a lot more to it, take a look.

A show called Trickbusters theorized on how this was possibly done. The show is pretty cheap but they do a credible job of explaining it, take a look.

I guess I should talk about the Copperfield show itself. It certainly was entertaining. He does a good job of being slick while not appearing too slick. The part that always gets me in magic shows is the use of the audience. I figure they are either hired for the show...or simply play along just for the thrill of being in the show. Even though, they really know what happened.

For instance, the show's finale involved Copperfield throwing out 13 giant beach balls into the audience. Who ever was holding it after the music stopped was to come on stage. 9 of these 13 people were then put into a box in the middle of the stage. A curtain surrounded the box and then "poof", they were gone. They then showed up at the back of the room. Obviously they were taken under the stage and around to the front. So they really know what happened. Why aren't they talking about it? Why arent they being interviewed? Why isn't there blogs written by these people?

I have to admit, as I was watching Copperfield speak to the female members of the audience, I thought back about this document I saw on the website TMZ. It detailed how his staff were to handle female audience members that Copperfield felt would be good for "future projects". Take a look, it is kind of creepy.

All in all, I was glad to have seen the show. It was something I could say I have done. I mean, he is the Michael Jordan of magic...but still. It isn't really magic. They are tricks designed to fool the audience using lights, angles and his team of assistants.

Top 5 Songs with the word Magic in the title
1. Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)
2. Magic Man (Heart)
3. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (The Police)
4. Do You Believe In Magic (The Lovin' Spoonful)
5. That Old Black Magic (Louis Prime & Keely Smith version)

They call the wind...Mariah

2008-03-13T09:33:00.004-05:00

I can't believe I am writing about this...it was all I could come up with. I hadn't written in a while. Janet Jackson was scheduled as the musical guest for this week's Saturday Night Live. Theoretically, her first live appearance on television since the imfamous Nipple-gate at the Superbowl in 2004.

Well, Ms. Jackson has the flue and will not appear on Saturday Night Live. Her replacement, Mariah Carey. To me, this is like trying for Bryan Ferry and getting David Bowie instead. Not that I am a Carey music fan...but to me, Jackson's career has been in a downward slump since that Superbowl whereas Carey's career has actually been on an upswing.

In 2001, Carey almost killed her career by starring in a film called Glitter. A movie so bad that it routinely still ranks among critics' worst ever films. She won a Razzie award as worst female actress that year. On top of that, her record sales were slipping and there were whispers of her having voice problems.

In 2005, her comeback album The Emancipation of Mimi was released and it was a monster. It debuted at #1, was the highest selling album of the year, it went 6 times platinum, it had two #1 hits and ended up winning 10 grammy nominations. Needless to say, it was the biggest release of her career.

Not that she hasn't had a lot of success in her career. You would not believe some of the numbers I researched on wikipedia. She has had 17 #1 hits which ties her with ELVIS PRESLEY for most #1 hits by a solo artist. On top of that, Carey's singles have combined to top the charts for a total of 77 weeks. This is second only to Elvis' 79 weeks and ahead of the Beatles who were at 59 weeks.

Wow, I am really not that much of a fan. I have one song of hers on my IPOD and that's it.

Top 5 Mariah Carey songs.
1. Shake It Off

2. Without You

3. Bringin' On The Heartbreak

4. Vision Of Love

5. We Belong Together (only because the video makes me laugh & not in a good way)

Nothing perfect about this Perfect Stranger

2008-03-03T10:17:00.003-05:00

Did you ever see a movie so bad that it actually made you hate movies for the next month? I have a feeling that is what I will be suffering after spending Sunday night watching the film Perfect Stranger with Bruce Willis and Halle Berry.

When I say Sunday night...I actually mean Sunday afternoon and Sunday night. Not that it is a long movie...I just needed a break after about half an hour because the film was just so horrible.

Before I get into the film...let's talk about Halle Berry. Is there an actress with worse movie choices than her? Is there a more overrated actress on the planet than her?

Looking at her filmography...she has done so many bad films that I had actually forgotten some. She was in The Flintstones! We all know about the disaster Catwoman was. A film that tanked so badly that the plans for a spin off of her character "Jinx Johnson" from the James Bond film Die Another Day were nixed.

Top 5 Worst Halle Berry Films
1. Perfect Stranger
2. The Flintstones
3. The Rich Man's Wife
4. Gothika
5. Swordfish

Getting back to Perfect Stranger...I knew going in this was going to be a bad film. The trailer for the film is so confusing, you really don't know what the film is about. And after seeing the movie, I realize this is the most manipulative trailer I have ever seen. There are parts edited to make it look like it is part of one scene which aren't even close to being true.

The first problem with the film is the first 20 minutes. Berry plays an investigative journalist and the writer of the film clearly has no concept of how journalism works. I never understand this, films that get the art of journalism wrong. Do the writers/producers/directs not understand that these films are seen and written about BY film critics who also happen to be known as JOURNALISTS! If you want a guarantee that your film is going to be trashed by the critics...get journalism wrong...films critics will lambaste you.

The biggest problem with the film is the last 20 minutes. Basically one of 5 people could be the killer. And the choice of the killer is so arbitrary it is like the name was picked out of a hat. There is then a 10 minute long voiceover by one of the characters explaining how this person was the killer. The obvious reason for this voiceover is to explain why that person was the killer because no intelligent thinking audience member would believe it.

And the final scene...the height of ridiculousness...the killer has to kill the only other person who knows the truth. And after that person is killed, the final shot is of a heretofore unseen neighbour who has obviously witnessed the whole thing. Like they are setting up a sequel or something.

The problem is that I have reviewed this film like it's a "so bad it's good" type of thing. No...it really IS that bad. Don't worry, I have taken steps as your faithful narrator to contact the Academy and demand they rescind Berry's Academy Award that she received for Monsters Ball. It is a little service I am happy to offer.

Enough is enough

2008-02-27T11:47:00.003-05:00

So it all started with Sarah Silverman's video tribute to her boyfriend late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel called I'm F--cking Matt Damon. It was funny and cute.

After the Acadamy Awards on Sunday...Jimmy Kimmel broadcasted his response entitled I'm F--king Ben Affleck. Though it is funny and filled with crazy cameos...the swearing that is being beeped out is so prevelant, you can barely hear the song. But you have to love the We Are The World vibe to it.

And now others in Hollywood are jumping on the bandwagon. Stars Seth Rogan (you know him from Knocked Up and the 40 Year Old Virgin) and Elizabeth Banks (the lovely Beth from The 40 Year Old Virgin) have teamed up for a video called I'm F--king Seth Rogan. Seriously, enough IS enough. According to wikipedia, this was allegedly put together by director M. Night Shyamalan.

Rogan and Banks are currently filming a new Kevin Smith-directed opus entitled Zack & Miri Make A Porno. So really, as opposed to being a spoof, this really ends up being an early promo for this movie that is scheduled to be released later in 2008. Smith, who desperately needs a hit film as his last hit film was probably Dogma in 1999 certainly could use the advanced hype.

Top 5 Kevin Smith films
1. Clerks
(it is going to be a stretch to finish this list)
2. Chasing Amy
3. Mallrats
4. Dogma
5. Jersey Girl

Back In The High Life...again

2008-02-25T15:33:00.006-05:00

I have always felt bad for Steve Winwood. This guy may be a genius but no one knows it. He is one of the most famous organ players in rock history and is a pretty solid guitarist as well.

Before he was 20 years old, he co-wrote one of the greatest songs of the 1960s Gimme Some Lovin'. But a combination of bad luck, bad choices and bad music has made Winwood an afterthought in the industry.

When he was 16 years old, he joined the band The Spencer Davis Group with his brother Muff. Together, they were part of that band for two albums Gimme Some Lovin and I'm A Man (U.S. titles).

Here is a rough sounding Winwood in 1966 singing Gimme Some Lovin. The song really needs some back up singers...but wow, the power of Winwood's organ playing really drives this song.

After leaving the Spencer Davis Group, he became involved with the band Traffic. Although they had some hits in the UK with Dear Mr. Fantasy and Paper Sun...they did not have the cross over success in the United States that his first band had. I am not a huge fan of this stuff as it seems to mix the art rock sound that became more in vogue with Yes, Genesis and The Moody Blues along with the blues sound of Spencer Davis and a hint of acid jazz.

As Traffic plugged along, he also joined the first known supergroup Blind Faith with the guitarist and drummer from Cream, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. Together they recorded a six song album entitled Blind Faith. It reached #1 in both the UK and North America and a tour soon followed. The tour was shortlived and no further albums were ever made by the trio. A sad fact as this still remains the best Steve Winwood material I have ever heard. Backed by Clapton's stellar guitar work and Baker's manic drumming...the six songs still sound as fresh today as they did in 1969.

Top 5 Steve Winwood songs
1. Gimme Some Lovin' (with The Spencer Davis Group)
2. Can't Find My Way Home (with Blind Faith)
3. Every Little Bit Hurts (with The Spencer Davis Group)
4. The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (with Traffic)
5. Roll With It

It's Winwood's solo career that really seems to go astray and go against the music he made in the 60s and early 70s. His first official solo album was self titled and released in 1977. It did not garner one single hit song.

Three years later came Arc Of A Diver. It featured the over produced hit single When You See A Chance. It did reach the top 10...but it was more pop sounding than anything Winwood had done before.

His next solo album, Talking Back To The Night featured the hit song Valerie...even more overproduced and glossy than his previous hit.

Trying for a bigger sound, 1986 had him release Back In The High Life with had the multi grammy winning single Higher Love along with other hits Back In The High Life, The Finer Things and Freedom Overspill. Two years later, he had another hit with the song Roll With It...my personal fave of his solo career along with the hits Don't You Know What The Night Can Do and Holding On. The album had more organ work than his previous three and reached #1.

Albums followed into the 90s such as Refugees Of The Heart, Junction Seven and About Time were released but did not reach any of the success he had in the 80s.

Why am I talking about Steve Winwood? I was checking out his website today and noticed he has a new album coming out called Nine Lives and the lead single Dirty City is being streamed on the website. It features Clapton on guitar. It is more than 7 mins long so it has no chance of being a hit...but it is the best thing I have heard him do since the break up of Blind Faith.

http://www.stevewinwood.com/

What am I saying with this lengthy post? Steve Winwood was a musical prodigy. He wrote a gigantic hit song before he was finished puberty. I would hate to think his life peeked before his 21st birthday. In an industry that revels in mediocrity...Steve Winwood deserves more...and frankly, so do we.

Why am I sadder about Roy Scheider than Heath Ledger?

2008-02-11T12:17:00.000-05:00

I had been meaning to write something about Heath Ledger's death. The problem is, I really have nothing to say. I have never seen a single movie Heath Ledger has been in. This is not some sort of anti-Brokeback Mountain thing. He has just never been in a movie I have wanted to see.

I feel bad about the circumstances of his death. Leaving his young daughter, possible hints of drug abuse...not sure of the whole story, I am just glad TMZ has stopped with the 24 hour Britney watch to follow this saga.

Over the weekend, veteran actor Roy Scheider died. I have always felt bad for Scheider as his greatest roles and the best movies he has ever been in...he has been overshadowed by co-stars. Whether you talk about Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier or Jaws with Richard Dreyfuss...Scheider almost becomes an afterthough compared to those bigger stars with showier performances.

His best performance ever was probably the Bob Fosse directed All That Jazz. The problem is this movie has basically been forgotten as a confusing bit of cinema as the famed choreographer Bob Fosse directed this film which is essentially a bio-pic of himself during the time he was trying to finish the film Lenny while staging the broadway show of Chicago. I don't often agree with Leonard Maltin but he referrs to All That Jazz as self indulgent...and he's not wrong. It is just too bad that a great Scheider performance is lost in all of it.

Top 5 Roy Scheider movies
1. Marathon Man
2. Jaws
3. The French Connection
4. All That Jazz
5. 52 Pick Up

Post 80s, Scheider is probably best known for the television show seaQuest DSV. It lasted barely three seasons. He became quite vocal about the problems with the show during the second season, and only appeared in three episodes of the show's third and final season.

The show was a bit like an underwater Star Trek and, because of which, actually continues to have a bit of a cult following. The first season was realeased on DVD in late 2005 while the second season was released on DVD last month. Unfortunately, not a fitting end for one of the most underrated actors of the 70s.

My weekend...and other shenanigans

2008-02-05T13:32:00.001-05:00

So it was Super Bowl weekend and time for Jayman's annual Super Bowl/Chili party. Unfortunately as all members of the Jayman clan were sick, the party was cancelled. I took the opportunity to watch a screener of the Academy Award nominated film Juno.

As a quick review, let me say simply that it is the funniest, most surprising and most heartfelt movie of the year. As most people know, it is about a spunky 16 year old girl who finds herself pregnant. Now picture the kind of scenes you would imagine in a film with that subject matter. Trust me, none of those scenes will actually go as you would imagine.

The script is the most surprising aspect. The characters of her father and step mother are not what you expect. They are played, against type, by JK Simmons (you know him from Oz and the Spiderman movies) and Allison Janney (you know her from The West Wing). It is the kind of movie that I wish I could watch again without remembering that I had seen it before.

Of course, this film is not for everyone. I love this really negative review from DVD Talk.

Interestingly enough, it is the the third of the 5 Best Picture nominees that I have seen this year (the others being No Country For Old Men and Michael Clayton). It is the first time since 1994 that I have seen that many of the Best Picture nominees prior to the Academy Awards. If you don't remember 1994, that was one of the best years for the Academy Awards in decades. The nominees for best picture were The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings And A Funeral and the eventual winner Forrest Gump.

Other things I watched on the weekend included this tribute that comedienne Sarah Silverman gave to her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel to commemorate the 5th anniversary of his talk show. She sung a song called I'm F--cking Matt Damon.

If you don't know, this is part of an ongoing fued between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel. People magazine has outlined the details of this ongoing fued including clips.

Top 5 Matt Damon Films
1. The Bourne Identity
2. The Departed
3. Ocean's Eleven
4. The Talented Mr. Ripley
5. Saving Private Ryan

Anyway, these are things I did as opposed to watching the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, it means I missed some great pop culture moments like the new video by Paula Abdul that was aired during the game's pre-game hoopla...

Tom Petty believing it was still the 80s as his half time show set list included three songs from his 1989 solo album along with the band's big hit from their debut album from 1976. To make matters worse, he has been accused of lip synchinc during that show. Makes this quote of his from a 1978 Chicago Tribune interview a little more interesting...

"I just want us to stay honest, and keep making honest records. To me, an honest record is one that you feel the artist believes in, one in which the artist actually means what he's singing. A lot of people have an image that isn't really them. But I think kids know when that happens. They can tell when it's jive. I don't want to start slagging people and naming names, but everybody knows that rock and roll got very boring the last few years."

And finally, FOX is in trouble for using the Arcade Fire song No Cars Go during the pre-game broadcast. Oh, and apparently the heavily favoured Patriots lost to the Giants during the actual football game. It was buried there within the 14 hours of football programming this past sunday.

Well, I guess the good news is the writers strike looks to be over soon. Finally, it should give me something more to write about.

Kubrick still alive and creating movie trailers

2008-01-25T10:52:00.000-05:00

Maybe it is just because I have had Stanley Kubrick on my mind. Currently, on Moviepix on Demand, all of Kubrick's films are available to be watched at any time. In addition, there is the fascinating 2 and a half hour documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures.

On the good side, it features analysis of all his films, interviews with other directors such as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese and actors who had worked with him such as Malcolm McDowell (who offers the most insightful info on Kubrick during the making of A Clockwork Orange) and Jack Nicholson.

On the bad side, the documentary is narrated by Tom Cruise. Which means lots of talk about Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut. It is a film that has been much maligned but years after its initial release, it is a film that does deserve a second look.

Anyway, with Kubrick in mind, I watched the trailer for a new film starring Tim Roth and Naomi Watts called Funny Games. It is a shot-for-shot remake of an Austrian film of the same name from 1997. Michael Haneke directed both. Anyway, watch the trailer and tell me this doesn't make it look and sound like a Kubrick film.

Top 5 Tim Roth films
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Rosencrantz and Guilderstein
4. Rob Roy
5. Hoodlum

If a strike happens on TV, does anyone notice?

2008-01-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

So I have to admit, the current writer's strike is really beginning to effect me. The problem with TV is that there is truly nothing ever on. Bruce Springsteen was right when he sang "57 channels and nothing's on". Of course, it's more like I have 300 channels and nothing is on.

Top 5 Bruce Springsteen post-Born In The USA songs.
1. Girls In Their Summer Clothes
2. Better Days
3. O Mary Don't You Weep No More
4. The Rising
5. Tunnel Of Love

(List had to be done as one of my co-workers criticized Springsteen for being irrelevant and simply living off past glories a la The Rolling Stones)

Anyway, getting back to the probs with TV, I truly believe that any time of the day or night, there is a CSI playing somewhere on cable. As well, at 6 pm, I could choose between CSI on Spike, CSI: Miami on A & E or CSI: New York on the History Channel. If this strike goes on much longer, that situation may get even worse.

The effect of this strike effects everything on TV. New shows such as Life and The Big Bang Theory put those shows in limbo. Their ratings were decent but not enough to guarantee a renewal for next season. With less than half of their written episodes actually being produced, there is no way that their networks can say whether they are good enough to be back for a second season.

A really funny show that actually has been around for years is Scrubs. Almost no one watches it, despite the quality of its writing. It has been around for 7 years and NBC had told them at the beginning of this season that it would be their last. However, only 11 of the planned 18 episodes have been written. As the strike goes on, it is looking increasingly probably that there won't be a real series finale. Ideas such as having the show be renewed for one more season or a straight-t0-DVD movie that will end the show correctly have been floated but nothing official has been annouced.

In some ways, the show 24 has been hit the hardest due to the strike. 8 of the season's 24 episodes have been produced. However, they are not going to be shown until the entire season can be aired continuously. Which means even if the strike ended today, the episodes would not start until the remaining episodes were at least started to be shot. To keep you interested in the show, here is a link to the unaired original pilot from . Okay, yes this is a joke but it is a pretty funny short dealing with how the show could have been had it been produced with the technology available in 1994.

The talkshows have been the most interesting reflection of this writers strike. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report have all started producing new shows in the last month. All except Letterman are doing them without their original writers. Letterman broke ranks and negotiated its own contract with the WGA which allows them to air new shows with their regular writers. The secondary spin of that is that a lot of actors are refusing to cross picket lines. Since there will be no picket lines around Letterman's show, he should have better guests. Despite that, Leno continues to beat Letterman in the ratings which begs the question, does the average TV viewer care about the strike? Have they even noticed?

One final thing, actors from the Law & Order franchises, Oz and Homicide have created a short dealing with how important writers are for cop shows. Take a look, it is pretty funny.

La Dee Da, indeed

2008-01-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

So as many of you are probably not aware, there is a movie that is about to be released called Mad Money. It is a film about three women who work at the Kansas City Federal Reserve who decide to steal money that is set to be destroyed.

As with most films released in January and February, it is probably not all that well crafted and is designed to make a quick buck in one weekend than be relegated to video. The biggest story regarding the film is it is the first film starring Mrs. Tom Cruise (otherwise known as Katie Holmes) since her marriage to Cruise.

You would think that her bizarre appearance on Letterman would be the biggest piece of news regarding the promotion of this film but the veteran Diane Keaton stole her thunder by swearing during her interview by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America.

I've always thought Keaton was kind of cool. She'd been in tons of good movies. But this appearance is strange because it is hard to tell if she is attempting to be funny, is on some sort of medication or (hopefully) just doesn't care anymore. Anyway, apparently the FCC is involved and Good Morning America may be facing some fines.

Top 5 Diane Keaton films
1. The Godfather
2. Annie Hall
3. The Godfather Pt. 2
4. Manhattan Murder Mystery
5. Father Of The Bride II

Back to Katie Holmes, as I said, her appearance on Letterman was bizarre. She was wearing more makeup on her face than any person I have ever seen on TV. Letterman only gave her softball questions talking about the new film and her work on Dawson's Creek (something he brings up everytime he interviews her).

Aside from all the Tom Cruise/Scientology stuff, there is an even bigger conspiracy going on with Katie. There are questions regarding whether she actually did run in last fall's NYC Marathon. Of all the questions I would have for Katie, this one would not be high on my priority list.

I am guessing throughout all of this, Queen Latifah would be best to keep her mouth shut. She is actually looking like the only normal one of this cast.

The once and future king of independant movies

2007-11-14T10:24:00.000-05:00

I don't know what happened with director Edward Burns. He, along with Tarantino and others represented the new wave of independant film directors.

His 1995 debut film The Brothers McMullen won the grand jury prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. It ended up being released by 20th Century Fox and grossed over $20 million at the box office making it one of the most profitable independant films of all time.

The film about three Irish American brothers struggling between adolescence and growing up. Sure, it is well worn territory, but the script was brilliant. When one of the brothers' girlfriend tells him that she wants them to break up so they can have some new experiences and new ideas...the brother's reply is "I don't need any new ideas, I am confused enough already".

Like John Cassavetes, Burns started getting work in larger films in order to finance the films he was directing. Some were good (Saving Private Ryan), some were bad (Life Or Something Like It) and some were ugly (A Sound Of Thunder).

Top 5 John Cassavetes Films that he did not direct
1. The Dirty Dozen
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Whose Life Is It Anyways?
4. Two Minute Warning
5. Brass Target

The thing is, after the release of MacMullen and its bigger budget follow up She's The One, Burns really fell off the radar. The thing is, he has continued to direct but his films do not get the press. Some of them I have never heard of. I will spend the next couple of weeks catching up on these films.

The Brothers McMullen (1995)

visit videodetective.com for more info

She's The One (1996)

visit videodetective.com for more info

No Looking Back (1998)

visit videodetective.com for more info

Sidewalks Of New York (2001)

visit videodetective.com for more info

Ash Wednesday (2002)

visit videodetective.com for more info

Looking For Kitty (2004)

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The Groomsmen (2006)

visit videodetective.com for more info

Purple Violets (2007)

The beginning of the end

2007-11-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

Not this is news, but it is fair to say that Tom Cruise did not have a good weekend. His new movie Lions For Lambs is getting lambasted by critics (according to the website Rotten Tomatoes-26% of film critics gave this movie a positive review).

In its opening weekend, it finished as the fourth highest grossing film, just ahead of Dan In Real Life, a film which had been released two weeks earlier than Lions For Lambs.

The blame for Lions For Lambs is probably not solely Cruise'. According to Philadelphia Weekly film critic Sean Burns, he seems to blame director Robert Redford. The opening paragraph of his review spells it out,

"Robert Redford has directed a great movie about a nation losing its sense of purpose, a savage indictment of our increasingly bought-and-paid-for mass media, and a cutting depiction of our country’s core values ebbing away while a curiously indifferent American public remains too lazy and distracted to even bother noticing. Unfortunately, the movie I’m talking about was called Quiz Show, and Redford made it 13 years ago."

However, the film's lack of success shows that Mr. Cruise is no longer bulletproof. A film is not going to open well just because of Cruise's presence.

As Lambs tanked at the box office, the trailer for Cruise's next film Valkyrie. Instead of me analyzing it for you, take a look for yourself.

So let me understand. This is a film about a group of Germans attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The first problem is a lack of drama...let me skip to the ending for you...the plot doesn't succeed. Secondly, what is with the accents. Tom Cruise has an accent that makes me think he thinks he is filming Mission Impossible 4 and he is surrounded by british actors, mostly speaking with their natural accents which makes it even more confusing. I am not saying the film should be in german with subtitles...but at least attempt to help me suspend my disbelief by having everyone have german accents. Or have everyone use British Accents. At least make it consistent. This could end up being the best example of dueling accents since the Hunt For Red October where Sean Connery had a Scottish-Russian accent, Tim Curry had a British-Russian accent and Sam Neil had a Australian-Russian accent. That film was a mess!

Top 5 Worst Accents in a movie
1. Richard Gere in Sommersby (I don't think he actually is trying an accent here but since co-stars Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman et al are speaking with slight english accents, Gere's fresh-off-the-New-York-subway sounds jarring)
2. Richard Gere in The Jackal (Okay, here he attempted an accent and it is god awful)
3. Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula (Bad actor in a movie way out of his element)
4. Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (Some people may say this should be #1 but I disagree. Clearly he gave up on the accent halfway through filming as some scenes he attempts it, while others, he doesn't even try. The bigger issue with this film is that co-stars Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater think the film is a drama, Alan Rickman thinks it is a comedy and Costner thinks it is an action film. Bad directing is the biggest issue with this film)
5. Chris O'Donnell in Circle of Friends (Apparently there were no Irish actors for this part. They tried to hide the fact that O'Donnell couldn't do the accent by making all of his sentences really short. That way he only needed to keep the accent for 2 or 3 words. Any longer, he would have lost it)

Cruise has seemed to have the perfect film career. He was lucky to have an iconic film moment in Risky Business (dancing in his underwear to Bob Seger's Old Time Rock 'n Roll). He then parlayed that into a film career that made him look like a serious actor without having to do any of the lifting. His filmography is filled with movies co-starring much better actors such as The Color Of Money, Rainman and Magnolia. With Valkyrie, he has no one to lean on...hopefully this will be enough to peel back the curtain for film fans and help them realize Cruise does not deserve to be one of the most popular film stars of all time.

Nothing can curb these Mad Men

2007-10-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

So it's the new television season and I am really not watching all that much. Two of the shows I was really looking forward to, Journeyman and Life have already lost me. As well, I have missed most episodes of returning favourites like How I Met Your Mother and Prison Break.

However, two of the shows I have watched regularly are the AMC series Mad Men and the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

First, a word about Curb (as two of my work colleagues who love the show refer to it as). I have never enjoyed the show. I tried watching it in season's previously. I found it like an episode of Seinfeld, centering on the character of George Costanza. I enjoyed the improvisational style but the show never really grabbed me.

This season, I have been watching every episode...hoping, praying that I would see what everyone sees that is so funny. I realize the show is written by and stars Larry David. But the show feels like every plot from every Seinfeld episode thrown into a hat and bits from two or three different Seinfeld shows are mixed together to create a new show. On top of that, I don't find Larry David entertaining. I realize you are not supposed to like his character. I just don't care about his character...he does social unacceptable things that I don't believe any human would ever do. And the only reason he does these things is to make the show work. But for me, it doesn't.

However, Mad Men is a show I absolutely love. It takes place surrounding the employees of a Madison Avenue advertising agency called Sterling Cooper. The year is 1960, it is post war but pre-women's lib and pre-summer of love. Their is excessive drinking and smoking by all characters. Women and people of colour are treated as second class citizens.

So, aside from just the shock of seeing people say and do things that are so foreign these days...the show is an expertly written analysis of how people were handling a time when you could tell that everything was about to change. That the world was going to become a new place and you could either try and adapt to the times or stay the way you had always been.

I really wish I could talk more about the writing of the show but in doing so, I would give away some of the great twists and turns.

Below is a scene from the final episode. The show's main character, Don Draper (played by John Hamm) is pitching to the company Kodak on how they would try and advertise their new slide projecter machine. Draper, if you haven't watched the show, is one of the best in the business. He is well respected in his own company as well as by other. He has a beautiful wife and two kids but he seldom looks happy and has affairs. This sales pitch is so good, he almost sells himself on the importance of family and love.

This speech alone should be enough to garner Hamm an Emmy Award nomination. Emmy thoughts should also go to the January Jones who plays his wife Betty Draper. Jones has that look of a typical 60s housewife but behind her eyes...you can see so much more. Blonde, beautiful but in denial of what is really going on.

Kudos to the creaters of Mad Men to include Robert Morse in the cast. If you don't know who Robert Morse is, he won a Tony Award in 1962 for his role in the musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. To have a TV show set in 1960 where he is the partner in an advertising firm is sheer brilliance.

The 13 episode first season has just concluded. All episodes are available on Demand as well as on I Tunes. The rumour regarding its second season is that it will not take place right after the events of the first season. Rather, two years later. The show is set to run over 5 seasons. The rumour being that each season will take place two years later so throughout the course of the show, the entire decade of the 60s is covered.

Here is an interview with series creator Matthew Weiner for more information about the show's first season.

Top 5 Best Picture Academy Award nominated films of the 60s
1. Midnight Cowboy (winner 1969)
2. The Graduate (lost to In The Heat of The Night, 1967)
3. In The Heat of The Night (winner, 1967)
4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (lost to A Man For All Seasons, 1966)
5. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (lost to My Fair Lady, 1964)

Tombstone hand and a graveyard mind

2007-10-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

So, as you probably realize, I have been a little preoccupied with westerns lately. I watched Tombstone again this past weekend and was just blown away by the cast.

As everyone remembers, the most famous characters Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are played by Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer respectively. But, do you remember that Earp's other two brothers Morgan and Virgil are played by Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott? That was probably the most inspired bit of casting I have ever seen.

But it is the casting of the smaller roles that fascinates me about Tombstone.

Powers Boothe as Curly Bill Brocius. One of the so-called leader of the "cowboys", recognized as one of the first groups of organized crime in the United States. Booth's performance is both frightening and funny. Rather ironic that Boothe would end up playing Cy Tolliver in the western HBO series Deadwood over 10 years later. As Curly Bill, Boothe gives probably the most frenetic performance of his career. His roles are usually limited to politicians, statesmen and other type leaders. He really gets to let loose in Tombstone.

Micheal Biehn as Johnny Ringo. If Brocius' battle was with Wyatt Earp, Ringo's battle was with Doc Holliday. Biehn plays Ringo with a quiet menace. Smart but still skilled with a gun. It is the juiciest role of Biehn's career. His only other noteworthy performaces were in James Cameron films' The Terminator and Aliens.

Dana Delaney as Josephine Marcus. Delaney, a lovely actress whose best known role was on the Vietnam War era drama China Beach. However, she is perfectly cast in Tombstone playing a stage actress who is ahead of her time when it comes to thoughts of sex and marriage. She seems a little out of sorts with the other female performances in the film but based on her character...she is perfectly cast.

Even the minor roles are interestingly cast as Micheal Rooker plays an ex-Cowboy who joins forces with the Earp's Sherman McMasters. Jason Priestley, yes THAT Jason Priestley, plays deputy sheriff Billy Breckinridge. He plays him as a short, fey intellectual type. Like Delaney, it seems like strange casting but it works. What is even more interesting is future Academy Award nominees Billy Bob Thornton and Thomas Haden Church have small, memorable roles.

Like all movies surrounding Wyatt Earp, the meatiest role is Doc Holliday. Smart, quick with a gun, with a thick southern accent all the while dying from tuberculosis...it is the Hamlet of the Western genre.

Top 5 actors to have played Doc Holliday

1. Kirk Douglas (The Gunfight At The OK Corrall)

2. Jason Robards (The Hour Of The Gun)

3. Dennis Quaid (Wyatt Earp)

4. Victor Mature (My Darling Clementine)

5. Cesar Romero (Frontier Marshall)

Some other interesting facts re: actors who have played Doc Holliday. Both Quaid brothers (Randy and Dennis) have played him. Two actors who played Batman have played him (Adam West and Val Kilmer).

I mention Dennis Quaid's performance as Holliday in the Kevin Costner film Wyatt Earp. That performance is about the best thing about that overly long film and really kickstarted the second half of Quaid's career which had stalled in the early 90s.

Costner himself, originally was going to star as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone. He had been working with original Tombstone director Kevin Jarre but they disagreed on the film's focus. Costner wanted more of a life story of Wyatt Earp while Jarre was more interested in an action film set in Tombstone. Costner went off to make the film Wyatt Earp while the studio signed Kurt Russell for Tombstone.

But the drama didn't stop there as Jarre was soon fired as director because he refused to cut down on the screenplay. Sylvester Stallone then suggested George P. Cosmatos who had directed Rambo: First Blood Part II. However, in the years since, it has become clear that it was actually Russell who finished directing the film and was giving Cosmatos a shot list for the next day's filming each night.

For more info on the drama of the filming of Tombstone, check out this article.

Even more interesting, if you want to read about all the inaccuracies in the film Tombstone, check out this article.

Hail, hail...the conqeror

2007-10-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

As I am sure I have written before, I am not a fan of the western genre. As a matter of fact, I prefer comedies that spoof Western cliches like Blazing Saddles and Support Your Local Sherriff more than actual great westerns.

This goes the same for classic westerns as it does for more modern ones. People talk about how great John Wayne classics such as She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, True Grit or Rio Bravo. I just don't get them as being "must sees".

Though if you want a must see John Wayne movie, consider the 1956 film The Conquerer. Are you sitting down, in this film, Wayne plays mongolian warrior Genghis Khan. Think about that for a second. Genghis Khan!!!! And this wasn't one of those he was contractually obligated to play this role, Wayne apparently read the script and lobbied for the starring role. Here is an excerpt from the film from youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRIgOp20kIc

What's even funnier, this one reviewer says the casting of Wayne is not the worst part of the movie. Check out his review for more details. The legend of this film has become even larger due to the fact that it was filmed in St. George, Utah, downwind of the US government's nuclear testing facility. Even after the six week shoot, producer Howard Hughes had 60 tons of that sand taken to Hollywood so they could do re-shoots. By 1984, 91 members of the cast and crew had developed cancer with over half that number dying from that cancer including all the principal actors from the film.

Top 5 favourite classic westerns

1. Winchester '73

2. High Noon

3. The Searchers

4. Shane

5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance

Ironically, the point of this blog entry was to talk about the 1993 western Tombstone. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked talking about John Wayne so Tombstone will have to wait until tomorrow.

Kathy Griffin, The Devil

2007-09-18T11:51:00.000-05:00

I never thought of myself as a fan of Kathy Griffin. She co-starred on the Brooke Shields show from the 90s called Suddenly Susan that I never watched. As well, she appeared in two Seinfeld episodes as Sally Weaver. Neither episode is among my faves. Apparently, she was in Pulp Fiction but I do not remember her in it at all.

Top 5 Most Memorable Performances from Pulp Fiction
1. Samuel L. Jackson
2. Bruce Willis
3. Ving Rhames
4. John Travolta
5. Eric Stoltz

But as we moved into the 21st century, she suddenly became very funny to me. She has a psuedo reality show called My Life On The D-List which she makes fun of herself struggling to continue to be a name in Hollywood.

Her persona became one where she essentially told it like it was without caring about the Hollywood phoniness. Her show showed her at her best (hosting award shows, going to parties) and her worst (her divorce, the death of her father). For a reality show, it felt honest.

So you are saying to yourself, why am i writing about her? Well, her show My Life On The D-List won Outstanding Reality Show during this past weekend's Emmy Awards.

In her acceptance speech, she said the following.

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now."

Backstage, she still stood by that rather tongue-in-cheek speech by saying, "I hope I offended some people. I didn't want to win the Emmy for nothing."

Well, it worked. The Catholic League is completely enraged by her comments. Catholic League President Bill Donahue has asked TV academy president Dick Askin to denounce Griffin's speech and for Griffin to publicly apologize.

The Catholic League's website has a scathing article about Griffin's comments with a final paragraph that read as follows:

“Finally, while we are pleased to learn that Griffin’s celebrity stock has plummeted as a result of her scripted speech, we also know that there are some very sick people out there who love it every time some bigot takes a shot at Christianity. To wit: the phone calls and messages we’ve received are proof positive of how visceral the hatred is, much of it aimed directly at the Catholic League. No matter, at the end of the day, Griffin lost and we won.”

According to Griffin's publicist, Griffin's reaction was "Am I the only Catholic left with a sense of humour?"

The joke is really on all of us because Griffin's comments are really a reference to her latest comedy special Everybody Can Suck It. Meanwhile, her fans have launched a new website called suckitjesus.com which includes a petition to stop the sensoring of Griffin's comments.

All of this should make for an interesting new season of My Life On The D-List. I just hope (nee pray) for the day when certain media and religious groups start realizing that some celebrities are simply using them to further their career and they would carry more weight if they started ignoring comments such as Griffin's this past weekend.

My Saturday night was the Pitts

2007-09-09T09:36:00.000-05:00

I should also be writing about my Toronto Film Fest experience last night. J-Mac, myself, Jayman and his wife all went to see The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford at the Elgin Theatre. The film stars Brad Pitt and rumours were that he would be at the screening.

As we walked north on Yonge Street to get into the theatre, the street was closed and there were literally thousands of people lined up. Some were just crazed fans, some were real paparazzi, some were lined up to get tickets, some were lined up because they had tickets and some were just trying to find the subway entrance.

If you don't know the Elgin Theatre, it is actually two theatres in one. The main floor is the Elgin Theatre. On the top floor is a smaller theatre called the Winter Garden Theatre.

Even though we were practically next door to the theatre, we were directed to walk east one block, north one block, west one block and south one block just to lineup to get in. Once there, we were directed toward two different lineups, one for people who have VISA gold cards and one for people who don't. Theoretically, the people with cards, would be allowed in first.

As we navigate these two lines, limos are driving up to the theatre

I know we are all to appreciate all the volunteers at the Toronto Film Festival. At every screening I have ever been, there is always a time where you are supposed to applaud all the volunteers. After last night, I really wonder why. Despite the fact that this festival has been going on for over 10 years, they clearly were not ready for the throngs that were there last night.

Top 5 encounters witnessed with TIFF volunteers Saturday night.

1. People leaving the 7 pm showing at the Winter Garden theatre were being let out on Victoria Street and were directed through an alley back on to Yonge Street. As they walked got on Younge Street, a volunteer told them they can't come that way. They crowd said, they were told to come that way so she lets them through. Then another volunteer comes by to stop those same people. I thought a riot was going to start.

2. The volunteer directed us to stay in this one lineup as we had our gold cards while others had to go in the other lineup. However, the couple behind us indicated they "forgot their card". To which the volunteer replied, "you should be alright".

3. While standing in that same lineup, we saw people behind us walk ahead. But they were not coming back! So Jayman and I walked up to see what was going on. First off, the lineup we were in was not really a lineup. It was mostly people standing along a barricade hoping to catch a glimpse of famous actors who really couldn't give two shits whether they were there or not.

4. As we are now standing in front of the theatre, convincing a volunteer that she should let us in...she starts explaining to me that we will be allowed in shortly. She explained she is simply allowing all the VIPs in first. I told her about the two lines we were forced into that clearly have no disbanded and that the volunteers up the street do not know about this change.

She replied those volunteers "don't know anything"...she could see I am about to lose my mind so she quickly added "because it is too noisy and they can't hear anything on the headset.

5. Finally, we are inside and are rushing to get good seats. It appears to be not a problem as everyone who is coming in is still trying to catch a glimpse of Brad or one of the other famous actors. A volunteer sees me and says, "Elgin Theatre? Right up these stairs." I start walking that way when J-Mac stops me. "Where are you going, the Elgin is this way!". To which the volunteer responds, "Elgin? Oh yeah...it IS that way." Shouldn't she know this as she is inside that building????

It turns out there were a number of famous people there...Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle. Despite rumours to the contrary....there was no George Clooney.

The movie itself, you ask? Long, longer and longest. Seriously, close to three hours. And seriously, it felt like a Terrence Malick film. Not much action but damn everything looks great. So much so, that Malick should sue. Pitt's performance is one of his best ever but the real revelation is Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. The film is almost more about him than Pitt's portrayel of Jesse James.

The film has the feel of a Ken Burns documentary. And I mean that in the good way. A narrator discusses what occurs with the feel of someone looking back at history as opposed to being a true period piece. However, instead of showing pictures or reading letters from that time, the movie keeps the action going.

Ironically, the film details what fame was like in the late 1800s. The eventual killer of Jesse James (the aforementioned Ford-I am not giving anything away-check out the title of the movie) spent his life being fascinated by both the legend and the actual persona of Jesse James. The film also spends time in the aftermath of James' death and how Ford handled that fame.

If you are looking for a film that shows the hows and whys behind Jesse James...this is not the film for you. It starts just before James' last train robbery and what happens after. If you want the whole Jesse James' story...I recommend the 1939 Tyrone Power film Jesse James.

As I said, the film is long. Funnily enough, the director, when he introduced the film at the festival said, it was "long and slow". Everyone laughed like he was making a joke. After watching it...he was actually warning us.

i like to look at you...

2007-08-29T09:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am finally posting on my blog after more than a month. I had been meaning to post during that time, I had started things about the Die Hard movies, the Elvis Presley PR machine and something about the new show called Californication...but I just never finished them.

I can't really explain my absence other than blaming it on my new job, the hectic-ness of the baseball season or my renewed interest in the Three Stooges. Or maybe it is these new movie channels added to our cable package AMC and Turner Classic Movies that I can't stop watching which is making me avoid blogging.

I especially am loving AMC, not just because of their movie selection but because of a promo that they air once every half hour that promotes some of the films that they broadcast. The song used in that promo is called Natural One by a group called Folk Implosion. The song was a minor hit when it was featured in the 1995 film Kids.

Speaking of films, I am still a little shocked by the recent suicide attempt by Owen Wilson. There were experts on CNN talking about this last night describing that the attempt was probably due to his drug addiction. Cutting his wrist and taking pills is away to get away from the pain of addiction.

Of course these are just theories...maybe he is just one of those funnymen who has a dark side. Who knows. All of Hollywood seems to be behind him as he struggles to recover. Veteran actor Samuel L. Jackson was apparently among the well wishers to see Wilson in the hospital. As IMDB reported, Jackson was not happy to talk to the throngs of media who were hanging out at the hospital where Wilson is staying. Jackson yelled, "I came to visit Owen Wilson, get the fuck away from me. Why are you guys here?"

Top 5 Owen Wilson Films

1. The Royal Tenenbaums

2. The Wedding Crashers

3. Bottle Rocket

4. Anaconda

5. Meet The Parents (I hate the movie, but I really like him in it)

Christmas Comes Early

2007-07-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the idea of Vince Vaughn and a Christmas movie probably doesn't warm the cockles of your heart. However, when I tell you the film is called Fred Claus and is about Santa's younger brother (played by Vince Vaughn) coming back to the North Pole for the first time in years...come on, you are starting to laugh a little just thinking about it.

Santa is played by Paul Giammati (you know him from Sideways). Also the cast includes Kevin Spacey as the resident bad guy and Elizabeth Banks (so memorable as Beth in the 40 Year Old Virgin).

Top 5 Vince Vaughn films

1. Swingers

2. Old School

3. Wedding Crashers

4. The Break Up

5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

First here is the teaser trailer with just Giammati and Vaughn, clearly adlibbing. It's very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN5VtRFhZ38

As well, here is the full length trailer that gives more details about the actual film plot.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809772232/video/

CNN smackdown...Michael Moore style

2007-07-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

Not since Jon Stewart's appeared on Crossfire in 2004 and told the hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala that they were "hurting america", has someone lambasted CNN on their own channel like Michael Moore did earlier this week.

Moore was appearing on with Wolf Blitzer talking about his new documentary Sicko. Before Moore came on, they showed a segment by Sanjay Gupta who detailed all the inaccuracies in Sicko.

Blitzer than cut to Moore who had a look on his face that said plenty. Moore than went off on Blitzer, CNN and Gupta's report. Despite his heated emotions, he spoke coherently backing up the facts he presents in his movies and demanding Blitzer and CNN not only apologize to him but to the american people as well for their lack of honest coverage regarding both the war and the health care industry.

The entire segment is 15 minutes long but it is pretty entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKoN40K7mA

Moore does promise during this interview to post on his website facts to back up all the claims that Gupta criticized. That information has now been posted so check it out on his website.

The Gupta-Moore show has continued throughout the week with them debating each other on Tuesday night's Larry King.

Between this and watching the Live Earth broadcast this past Saturday, I am feeling all left-wingish.

Top 5 Appearances at Live Earth
1. Madonna (yes, I can't believe I am saying it either)
2. Roger Waters
3. The Police
4. Lenny Kravitz
5. Paolo Nutini

Rock history in 5 easy pages

2007-07-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

So Blender magazine has listed the 100 days that changed music history. Reading through all 100, you get a fascinating portrait of all that has been important from the invention of the phonograph to Keith Richards writing the guitar riff for Satisfaction.

All the usual suspects are here from Elvis to the Beatles, Public Enemy to the Ramones.

The most interesting factoid? The first CD released was Billy Joel's 52nd Street?

Top 5 Billy Joel Albums
1. The Stranger
2. Glass Houses
3. An Innocent Man
4. 52nd Street
5. The Nylon Curtain

While Paris rots...I didn't write

2007-06-26T11:17:00.000-05:00

Apologies to all faithful narrator readers, Paris Hilton was in prison while OJ Simpson continued to look for the "real killers" on the golf course, I had my own self imposed exile. Or I was just too lazy to write, one or the other.

Paris is going to be on Larry King Wednesday night. She needs the 24 hours to meet with her new publicist first to prep her for what I am sure will be a solid hour of softball questions like "So what's next for Paris?" and "really, what was it like in prison?"

Okay, back to the real reason I am writing. The website Retrocrush has released a list of the 100 worst cover songs of all time. As I have written before, cover songs are an interesting concept. Do you re-record a song that everyone already knows like Wilson Pickett's Hey Jude or Otis Redding's Satisfaction. Or do you take a song that is a little more obscure like Rod Stewart doing Tom Waits' Downtown Train or Three Dog Night doing Hoyt Axton's Never Been To Spain. Do you record it note for note the same like Cheap Trick did with Elvis' Don't Be Cruel or do you completely rework it like Aretha Franklin did with Otis Redding's Respect.

The list from retrocrush is interesting as it includes, whenever possible, links to youtube with the actual videos. The list has stuff you've never heard of like Mae West doing Twist & Shout or stuff you heard too much like I Got You Babe by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde. The aforementioned Paris Hilton makes the list. However, most interesting is #1 on the list. Trust me, it is a shocker.

Top 5 Beatles' Albums

1. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. The Beatles

3. Abbey Road

4. Let It Be

5. Revolver

The biggest super-group ever!!!

2007-06-14T08:31:00.000-05:00

I know with biggest super-group ever, I probably should be talking about Blind Faith. I mean come on, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker...that's pretty big. But since they lasted for less than a year and their only album featured 7 songs, their output was pretty limited.

My pick for the biggest supergroup ever would be The Travelling Wilburys. The Beatles' George Harrison, Bob Dylan, ELO's Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbision...it doesn't get much bigger than that!

Top 5 Travelling Wilbury Songs
1. Tweeter And The Monkey Man
2. Handle With Care
3. Wilbury Twist
4. End Of The Line
5. She's My Baby

The band originally got together to record a B-side for Harrison's single This Is Love. The song they recorded ended up being the Wilbury's first single Handle With Care. Once the record company got hold of it, a deal was struck for the band to record an album, entitled Volume One.

Two years later, after the death of Orbison, the band recorded a second album entitled Volume Three. Why it was entitled volume three is up to some speculation. Some say it is an inside joke. Some say there was a volume two that had never been released. Some say that since most of the Wilburys worked on Tom Petty's Fool Moon Fever, that it is considered Volume Two.

Here is the video for their first single Handle With Care.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNq6SfXAHWc

I suppose the only bad thing you can say about the band is that considering all five of the singers are guitar players, there really isn't any spectacular guitarwork on either album. The problem is that most people don't even remember these albums as they have been out of print since the mid-90s. However, this is about to change as their is a Travelling Wilburys box set due out this month. Both albums, bonus tracks and DVDs of their videos will all be included.

Tony Soprano (and David Chase)...you broke my heart

2007-06-12T10:59:00.000-05:00

So with tempered expectations, I watched the series finale of The Sopranos.

I realize that this show is one of the most popular in the history of TV. Its groundbreaking nature has revolutionized the industy blah blah blah. But I have never loved it. I've liked it, but it never draws me in enough.

To me the problems with the show range from the oh-so numerous rip offs from The Godfather to the fact that not much really happens. Events occur and you think they will lead to something more dramatic but then they are just ignored. It builds up suspense every season but you never have the major payoffs that you feel should be coming.

Since the finale aired on Sunday night, it has been ripped by the fans and media alike. The only positive article I have seen about the show was the fact it outdrew the NBA playoff game. Even though the game was available in more homes than HBO.

Speaking of HBO, some people in the United States are trying to organize a boycott of that network because of the Sopranos finale. Considering what HBO offers, I don't think that this boycott will go very far.

SPOILER ALERT

Someone emailed me a theory that the ending is actually quite dramatic but subtle. I don't want to give it away for people who haven't seen it but the theory is that Tony actually gets killed in that last scene. Bobby Baccalieri told him earlier in the season something about being killed where he won't hear anything, he won't see anything...but everything will go black. This describes exactly what happened at the end of the show. Not sure I buy that theory...it is a bit of a cop out.

SPOILER ALERT END

For me, I think the ending was vague for one simple reason. Money. Leave it open so they can make a film. Show creator David Chase denies this...but we all know what really makes decisions for film and TV...the almighty dollar.

Though the one nice thing I can say about the final scene from Sunday's episode of The Sopranos was the great use of a Journey song.

Top 5 Journey Songs
1. Feeling That Way
2. Faithfully
3. Don't Stop Believin'
4. Any Way You Want It
5. Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

music and movies

2007-06-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

We all know of the marriage of music and movies. It started with the use of Bill Haley & The Comets in the film Blackboard Jungle. The use of that music helped jump start a music genre for the masses.

AOL has a list of the 77 best uses of pop music in film. Check out the link as the list includes youtube links of the scene in the film where the music was used or the video itself.

The list is pretty good as it includes obvious classic rock nods like Lou Reed's Perfect Day in Trainspotting as well as newer stuff like the use of the Shins' song New Slang in the 2004 film Garden State.

The list does include the bizarre inclusion of BJ Thomas' Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. I like the film but the use of that song in a turn-of-the century film is one of the weirdest use of music in the history of film.

I won't talk about the #1 song on the list but I completely disagree. It was a song I loved but after it was included in that film, I have never been able to listen to it since.

As you can see from the picture I have included in this entry. #1 should have been Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes in the film Say Anything. It is high on the list...but not enough.

Top 5 Peter Gabriel songs
1. Family Snapshot
2. Shaking The Tree
3. Solsbury Hill
4. Games Without Frontiers
5. Party Man (with the Worldbeaters)

i don't want to be THAT guy

2007-05-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

I don't want to be that guy. The BBQ guy. The guy who doesn't let you touch HIS bbq. The guy who obsesses over sauces and rubs. The guy who has a recipie for everything grilled. The guy who wears a BBQ apron and a utility belt filled with salt, pepper, a flipper, skewers and tongs. I can't be that guy. That guy needs a life. However, I am becoming that guy and I am not happy about it. Though, if you ever see me with that utility belt, shoot me.

I am not sure what guy I want to be. It seems, unbeknownst to me that I have become THAT guy who obsesses over golf. On Mondays at work, all of us golfers get together and talk about where we played over the weekend. (I played 4 Seasons in north Pickering, 14 of 18 holes involve water-I don't want to talk about).

But getting back to BBQ, I spent Sunday dealing with how to grill a salmon. Here is what I did. For 20 minutes, I marinated the salmon in half the juice of a lemon, half the juice of an orange and salt and pepper. I then created a rub with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of red chili pepper flakes, 1 diced clove of garlic and the zest from half an orange. After the marinating is done, I put the rub on, wrapped it in tin foil and put it on the grill. You'd think it would have been too spicey but all the citrus juices prevented it from being overpowering. I highly recommend it. But still, I am not THAT guy.

Top 5 Food Network shows
1. A Cook's Tour
2. Good Eats
3. Licence to Grill
4. The Thirsty Traveller
5. Iron Chef America

More of Moore

2007-05-24T09:01:00.000-05:00

The trailer for the new Michael Moore documentary Sicko is now available on line. The film, set to be released at the end of June, is in the words of Moore, "Sicko is a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth."

From the trailer, you can see that Moore is at his muckracking/populist best. Scenes include him on a boat outside of the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp with a number of rescue workers from the 9/11 tragedy who are unable to afford medical treatment while the terrorists who are inprisoned there are able to get it free.

The film also includes Moore's trips to Canada, France and the UK to find out why those countries health systems are so much better than the one in the United States.

The trailer also makes effective use of the Rolling Stones' song Street Fighting Man. A song Rod Stewart also did a great version of on his debut album An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down.

Top 5 Rod Stewart albums
1. Every Picture Tells A Story
2. Gasoline Alley
3. An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down
4. A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse (with the Faces)
5. Ooh La La (with the Faces)

It is an interesting time for Michael Moore because a lot of the right wing media has spent the last number of years trashing him as a quack who releases slanted documentaries with a left wing agenda. Much effort was done to discredit his earlier docs Bowling For Columbine and Farenheit 9/11. Though I thought some of the 9/11 was a bit too slanted and did not have the brilliant impact of Columbine, Moore is still the most important documentary filmmaker of our generation. And so what if his films have a slant, that's why people make documentaries. To tell a story the way THEY see it. And those two films are the highest grossing documentaries in the history of film. So someone is watching them.

Moore's latest controversy, according to wikipedia, relates to some of the filming he did for Sicko. The Office of Foreign Assets Control informed Moore that he was the subject of a civil investigation stemming from the filmmaker's March trip to Cuba. In the letter to Moore, a Treasury official noted that the department had no record of Moore obtaining a license that authorized him to "engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," alleging that Moore violated the United States embargo against Cuba.

A master copy of the film is being held outside the U.S. in case American authorities attempt to seize the film as part of the criminal investigation against Moore that arose from taking American 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for medical treatment.

The final time I mention Studio 60

2007-05-22T10:48:00.000-05:00

Many months ago, when Studio 60 was struggling in the ratings and I was talking about the show on a weekly basis, people were telling me to stuff it. So I agreed to only talk about the show one more time...so here it is.

It's over. Officially. However, NBC is letting the remaining 6 episodes make it to air. It will take over the ER timeslot at 10 pm on Thursday nights starting May 24.

Over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette had a nice article about the set being torn down along with comments from some of the members of the cast and crew about what went wrong with this criticly praised/audience ignored show.

If you want even more feedback from the series creator Aaron Sorkin about what went wrong, check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle in February.

So I hope all you fans of crap TV are happy. A well written, albeit flawed show is off the air. More room for reality shows, crappy sitcoms with fat husbands with hot wives and every kind of CSI/Law & Order show that can possibly be produced. Enjoy.

Top 5 Renee Zellwegger films (she did the film Down With Love with studio 60 castmate Sarah Paulsen)
1. Jerry Maguire
2. Bridget Jones's Diary
3. Cinderella Man
4. Chicago
5. Nurse Betty

Groovy

2007-05-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

There should be a rule in the entertainment business. No movie or TV show can be all that bad as long as Bruce Campbell is in it.

If you are not big into b-movies, you may not know who Campbell is. He is best known as the lead from the Evil Dead movies as well he has had great cameos in all three Spider-Man films.

He also wrote a very funny and self depricating autobiography about breaking into the B-film industry called Leading With My Chin: Confessions Of A B Movie Actor which I highly recommend. A second book entitled Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way is as yet unread by me but I will pick it up this weekend.

Top 5 Movies/TV shows with Bruce Campbell
1. Spider-Man 2
2. Evil Dead II
3. Bubba Ho-Tep
4. The Majestic
5. The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

The reason I bring up Campbell today is that he has a new series of ads with Old Spice. Here is my favourite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TgUkewQX1M

And here is another one that almost borders on bizarre with its level of cheesiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOjDIfRLgo4

Don't call this a comeback...

2007-05-15T10:19:00.000-05:00

So Rolling Stone magazine has listed the top 10 Comeback albums ever. The final list was decided on both by their readers and editorial staff. It's a fair list with inclusions such as Elvis Presley's From Elvis In Memphis and George Harrison's Cloud Nine but to include a horrible album like Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Green Day's American Idiot (hardly a comeback album since they had only been away three years) makes the list a little silly.

I present the following, the top 5 comeback albums in rock history

1. Robbie Robertson

Guitarist and main songwriter of The Band. Their last studio recording was 1977's Islands. Robertson became involved in film and producing. It wasn't until 1987's self titled album that he actually sang and recorded a real album. It was a brilliant haunting masterpiece that is one of the best and since overlooked albums of the 80s.

2. Aerosmith Permanent Vacation

This is also on the Rolling Stones list and it is an obvious inclusion. A relatively successful band in the 70s with hits such as Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion. Lead guitarist Joe Perry left the band in 1979. Brad Whitford then left the band two years later. Both joined back in 1984 and the original members recorded 1985's Done With Mirrors which was barely a blip on the music scene. Then came 1987's Permanent Vacation which started their revival and they were even bigger than they were in the 70s.

3. John Fogerty Centrefield

Like Robertson, once his band CCR broke up, Fogerty did very little in the music industry. Part of it had to do with legal issues regarding publishing rights. That all changed in 1985 with the release of Fogerty's Centerfield which yielded the hits Rock n' Roll Girls, The Old Man Down The Road and the title track.

4. Tina Turner Private Dancer

Also on Rolling Stone's list. After the break up of her marriage to Ike Turner (immortalized in the film What's Love Got To Do With It), Turner had released four menial albums in the 70s that did not have the chart success of her work with Ike. Five years after 1979's Love Explosion, she released Private Dancer which ended up having four hit singles and started her on a remarkable 10 year run on both the rock and R&B charts.

5. Heart

Success in the 70s did not translate to any hit singles in the 80s for this power pop Seattle band. 1982's Private Audition and 1983's Passionworks failed to reach any of the success of their earlier work. They switched record companies and released a self titled album in 1985 that went 5 times platinum, featured 5 hit singles and was their only #1 album of their career.

Did I miss any? Neil Diamond's 12 Songs, Bowie's Lets Dance, Public Enemy's He's Got Game?

American justice?

2007-05-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

I know I am going to get trashed for this but there is something I am not able to bend my mind around. OJ Simpson is free but Paris Hilton is going to jail for 45 days.

Look, I admit to having a soft spot for her. I don't know why. Yes she is only famous for being famous. Yes she probably released that sex tape with her and Rick Solaman. Yes she can't sing and can't act. Yes she has one look and other than that she isn't that good looking. Blah, blah, blah. She is simply taking advantage of celebrity driven society we live in. You don't like it. Stop watching Entertainment Tonight.

If you don't know what I am talking about, Hilton has been sentanced to 45 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation by driving with a suspended licence. Apparently, she was confused as she thought she could drive to work, but nothing else.

The fireworks began right after the sentance was handed down as Hilton's mother Kathy Hilton yelled out to the prosecutors, "You're pathetic". And then sarcastically added, "can I have your autograph?".

Hilton then fired her long time publicist (a man who should win awards for being able to keep Hilton in the limelight for so long) Elliot Mintz. He has since been rehired. Her legal team have appealed the 45 day sentance. And here's the best part, Hilton has asked California governer Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon for her sentance.

Top 5 Worst Schwarzenegger films
1. Hercules In New York
2. Junior
3. Jingle All The Way
4. Raw Deal
5. Batman & Robin

So, to review, Paris Hilton going to jail for driving with a suspended licence. OJ Simpson, convicted in a civil court of the wrongful deaths of his ex-wife and her friend, out free.

And speaking of Simpson, he was in the news recently as well. He was in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby this past weekend. With a group of 12 at an upscale steakhouse, the owner asked Simpson to leave his restaurant because "he is sickened by the attention Simpson still attracts.

Stop me if you've heard this before but Simpson's attorney says the incident was about race and intended to go after the restaurant for refusing to serve his client. I want to say something funny here but no words are coming to me. God bless America.

V stands for a very good sci-fi list

2007-05-07T12:42:00.000-05:00

Entertainment Weekly has produced a list of the Top 25 Sci Fi Movies/TV shows of the last 25 years. The list isn't completely obvious as you would expect. Most of the usual candidates are there but there are many surprises as well.

Films like Galaxy Quest can be found along side TV series such as Battlestar Galactica. I won't ruin the surprise but #1 is rather shocking.

The biggest surprise falls right in the #25 slot, the 1983 TV mini-series V. If you are too young to remember, it was about these friendly human looking aliens who came to earth for some chemicals and water for their dying planet. In exchange, they are willing to share some of their technology with the people of earth.

However, an intrepid cameraman (played by Marc Singer) hops aboard one of the alien ships and sees the aliens for what they really are. A bunch of rodent eating, mask wearing lizards bent on the destruction of our planet. The scene with head baddie Diana (played by Jane Badler) eating a giant guinea pig whole took on new meaning when I watched the series again back in the 90s. But that's another story altogether.

V was originally a two part mini-series. A three part follow up mini-series called V: The Final Battle came in 1984. An actual television series followed in 1984-1985. However, lack of budget sank the series rather quickly. In the years following, many rumours have indicated news of a further series for V but nothing concrete is in the offing.

The biggest star to come out of the V series was Robert Englund. Out of respect to him...

Top 5 Nightmare On Elm Street Films
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
2. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street
4. A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
5. Freddy vs. Jason

Back from the Dead

2007-05-02T12:57:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite little known shows of the last 10 years was the 2003-2004 Showtime series Dead Like Me. It starred Mandy Patinkin and Ellen Muth. The series was about this group of dead people who were grim reapers. They had nothing to do with actually killing people. Circumstances killed people, they were simply there to remove their souls and help them get to "the other side".

The group, led by Patinkin, met each morning at Der Waffle Haus. They are each assigned a person that they have to "reap" that day. The show isn't meant to be all that metaphysical, it's more about real people assigned these horrific tasks and how they get by each day. They were all real people who died. They have taken on new appearances as a reaper and can't be recognized as the people they once were.

Top 5 Mandy Patinkin Roles (for Emo)
1. Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)
2. Rube Sofer (Dead Like Me)
3. Det. Samuel "George" Francisco (Alien Nation)
4. Jason Gideon (Criminal Minds)
5. Dr. Murray Kaplan (The Doctor)

Anyway, the only reason I bring up this show is the news that the show will be brought back as a made-for-DVD movie in the coming months. That's the good news. The bad news is that Patinkin may be too busy with his current show Criminal Minds to be involved in the production. The other bad news is that the director will be Stephen Herek. Who you say? Well, his best movies were Mr. Holland's Opus and Rock Star (both fairly flawed films) but his resume also includes crap like The Mighty Ducks, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter Is Dead and Holy Man.

I have had it with these motherfucking movies on this motherfucking TV!

2007-04-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

I will first start off this blog entry with an apology. Not for not posting in a while, I was in Chicago last week and didn't have time. No this apology is for having written a blog entries about the film Snakes On A Plane on August 23rd, August 14th and August 10th.

I watched Snakes On A Plane last week and look, it's a bad movie. I don't mean it so bad it's good or a movie that you can revel in its badness like a warm blanket. I mean, it's bad. It's awful. It's painful. It doesn't make sense. The special effects are ridiculous. It's predictable. The characters are badly written. The tacked on sex and gore was pathetic. How they found someone to land the plane is completely unbelievable. The "shocker" near the end of the film hinted at something that could have been a good twist but instead just led to a predictable ending.

I know what you are thinking, yes, it was supposed to be a B-movie so what should I expect. However, take a movie like 1990's Tremors with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. A b-movie plot with an A list actor. It's funny, it's simple and it is an enjoyable watch. It won't change your life but at least it will keep you entertained for two hours.

And my Samuel L. Jackson pain did not simply end with Snakes On A Plane. In our hotel room, getting ready to meet some friends for dinner, J-Mac and I watched The Man with Jackson and Eugene Levy. Yes, you knew it was going to be bad. But it's level of bad-ness is actually shocking. It's not funny. Plain and simple. Clearly Samuel L. Jackson needs someone to read scripts for him. His onscreen personality is just not enough to make a film good.

Top 5 Eugene Levy films

1. Best In Show

2. American Pie

3. Splash

4. Waiting For Guffman

5. Bringing Down The House (bad movie but Levy was funny in it)

Ironically, I decided to watch Snakes On A Plane, 24 hours prior to being on a plane myself. I did end up having my own little airport drama. I arrived two hours prior to my flight to Chicago only to find my flight had been cancelled. Instead of flying out at noon, I was scheduled to fly out at 4 pm. So, what does one do at an airport for 6 hours? I could have left but there is nothing to do around the airport. Plus, I could not check in my baggage unless I actually checked in myself so I would have to carry my luggage around with me. I decided to check in and enjoy all the immenities that were there.

Let me tell you, the ammenities at Pearson Airport suck! With the exception of Cleveland, Toronto has the worst airport in North America. Okay, I've never been to the airport in Cleveland, that was an obscure reference from Beverly Hills Cop. Anyway, the food is awful there. The beer choices are all Molson products and way overpriced.

The highlight was watching all of the Toronto Raptors come through to fly off to New Jersey. I was sitting on a bench in a rather quiet area of the airport when they started filing through one by one. Sam Mitchell was first and I yelled out to him, "hey coach, good luck in Jersey." I didn't say anything to the players but I watched Joey Graham have a funny encounter. These airport workers ran up to him and asked, "are you Chris Bosh?" He nicely replied no and explained that Chris was a couple minutes behind him. Rest assured they look nothing alike. Anyway, the would be autograph seekers looked disappointed and did not even ask poor Joey for his autograph.

He's still hot...and he's still dead

2007-04-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

I don't know how Jim Morrison continues to be able to do this from the grave, but the Doors' famed lead singer is back in the news.

In March 1969, he was arrested in Miami, Florida during a concert for using profanity, exposing himself on stage and simulating a sex act. He was acquitted on some of the charges but still found guilty of indecent exposure and profanity. The verdict was appealed and he was out on bail. He then moved to Paris, France to avoid all of that and eventually died there. Many believe that this arrest sent the Doors and Morrison down a spiral that they were never able to recover from.

Fast forward to 2007, cable TV producer Dave Diamond has written a letter to Florida governer Charlie Crist asking for Morrison to be pardoned. According to Diamond, the goal is to remember Morrison as "an artist, not a rock 'n roll bad boy with a rap sheet."

Governer Crist has said "...I am certainly willing to review it". However, Crist, however, cannot pardon someone by himself. He needs two of the three other members of the Florida Cabinet, which acts as the state clemency board. In addition, there are no procedures for posthumous pardons.

In other Doors' news, they have yet another greatest hits release. What are the odds? With 34 tracks, all of the obvious hits are there along with lesser known stuff that have been sprinkled throughout the numerous greatest hits packages release by the Doors since the early 70s. There is also a DVD with some concert footage. That last part certainly isn't enough to sell me on buying it. I am not that much of a fan and live, to me their sound always suffered. They did not tour with a bass player so all the bass notes you hear in concert are being played by keyboardist Ray Manzarek using foot pedals.

Top 5 Doors songs

1. Roadhouse Blues

2. L.A. Woman

3. Back Door Man

4. Touch Me

5. Love Her Madly

The Doors are still struggling to be a live draw even without Jim Morrison. In 2002 Manzarek and guitar player Robbie Krieger reunited and created a new version of The Doors, called "The Doors of the 21st Century."

This new version of the Doors had the ex lead singer of the 80s band The Cult Ian Astbury handling the vocals. It was originally reported that original Doors drummer John Densmore would not perform as was suffering from tinnitus. He was initially replaced by Stewart Copeland of The Police, but after Copeland broke his arm falling off a bicycle, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits, and he was replaced by Ty Dennis, drummer with Krieger's band.

Densmore subsequently claimed that he had in fact not been invited to take part in the reunion. In February 2003 he filed an injunction against his former bandmates hoping to prevent them from using the name "The Doors of the 21st Century." His motion was denied in court in May that year, although Manzarek publicly stated that the invitation for Densmore to return to the group still stood.

It was also reported that both Morrison's family and that of Morrison's long time girlfriend Pamela Courson had joined Densmore in seeking to prevent Manzarek and Krieger from using The Doors' name.

In July 2005, Densmore and the Morrison estate won a permanent injunction, causing the new band to switch to the name "D21C." It now plays under the name Riders on the Storm. They are also allowed to play under names such as "former Doors" and "members of The Doors."

Don Imus = old news

2007-04-17T12:07:00.000-05:00

I guess if there is one person "happy" about the recent shooting massacre at Virginia Tech has to be Don Imus. This absolutely horrible tragedy has taken Imus off the front pages and talk radio.

I am not here to minimalize that tragedy but I always find it funny when there is a big story getting wall to wall coverage that all of the sudden becomes ignored when an even bigger story occurs.

The biggest example of this that I can remember occured around the time of 9/11. Do you remember what the big story in the weeks leading up to that event? The disappearance of Chandra Levy and the investigation that seemed to point to congressman Gary Condit having something to do with it. Interviewed by the police on two seperate occasions, the 53 year old Condit denied having an affair with the 23 year old Levy but he finally admitted to it after Levy's aunt went public with the details.

Condit was never officially charged with her disappearance. In May of the next year, Levy's remains were found but the case remains unsolved. Condit lost his next election and has faded from public view. But once the tragedy of 9/11 took hold in the media, Levy's story became secondary.

The same thing is currently occuring with Imus. CNN is wall to wall about Virginia Tech. Victim's names are being released, details on the shooter and the fall out for all US college campuses are being discussed.

But lets not forget about Imus. If you haven't actually seen the footage and only know about the "nappy headed hos" comment. Take a look. Is he trying to be funny?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui1jPNDWArM

As stated in this blog last week. I don't know where I am on this issue. Obviously those comments are horrible. But what do I care about some 70 year old white guy says on a radio show I don't listen to and a tv show I don't watch.

What about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson weighing in on the issue. Aren't their bigger issues for us in the black community to worry about? What about these athletes talking about how Imus' comments ruined their season and playing the victim in this? Why are they putting so much weight to what this old codger has to say?

And what about journalist Jason Whitlock who is being interviewed by everyone on this topic. He has a lot of powerful things to say about the issue, the black community and how the hip-hop community is to blame for this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CCS7kTLUZM

According to Whitlock about the firing of Imus, "they are sentancing the jaywalker to the death penalty while the real killers are walking free, cashing cheques and writing rap songs." But who is Whitlock? He is a staunch conservative with his own agenda. How can he really be speaking for all African Americans? Before last week, I'd never heard of Jason Whitlock. The irony is that Whitlock is using this event as much to further his career, his agenda just as much as Sharpton and Jackson.

See I write that and I am not sure how strongly I believe it. I heard numerous interviews with Whitlock and I believed a lot of what he said. A lot of what he said really resonated with me. I just think we need to look at all sides. A slo-pitch teammate of mine forwarded Whitlock's now famous article on this topic earlier this week. On first glance, it is a powerful opinion piece. The first paragraph is "Thank you Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problems". Fascinating stuff. But read the whole piece a second time with a critical eye, keeping his politics in mind, and then how does it read? Are rap moguls like Russell Simmons really to blame? Or is it society in general?

http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html

Since we are talking about basketball, the top 5 basketball movies.
1. Hoop Dreams
2. Hoosiers
3. He Got Game
4. Blue Chips
5. Celtic Pride

You can't beat the meat

2007-04-14T07:25:00.000-05:00

So I took Friday off to be home for our annual meat delivery. You see, a couple of years ago, J-Mac found this farm in Chatham Ontario that sells meat from their cows direct to the consumer.

Once a year, we split half a cow with a mutual friend just before BBQ season. We run through the steaks, ribs and rouladin within 6 months and then end up being stuck with roasts, stewing beef and endless amounts of soup bones for another year.

Right now, the freezer part of our fridge is completely filled with those aforementioned soup bones and our cube freezer is literally filled to the very top with every kind of beef imaginable.

The great thing about this meat is that it already comes individually wrapped in butcher's paper. They steaks are seperated into packs of 1, the ground beef is enough for 2 people and the roasts could easily serve 4 or more. The beef is amazing quality and all of the cow's are grass fed. Check out their website for more information.

As you can imagine, showing parts of a quarter of a cow into a freezer does take some time. During that time I actually listened to J-Mac's greatest hits CD of The Mamas & The Papas. That band, one of the few american bands to have success during the Beatles' /British Invasion era, doesn't get the respect they deserve. Everyone remembers Monday, Monday and California Dreamin' and the fact that band member Mama Cass may or may not have choked on a sandwich which ended up leading to her demise.

Top 5 The Mamas & The Papas songs.
1. Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)
2. I Saw Her Again
3. Words Of Love
4. Monday, Monday
5. Got A Feelin'

I probably should be writing about the whole Don Imus affair. But between, the irrelevance of Imus himself, the non stop appearances of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on CNN, the black community overreacting, the backlash towards the hip-hop community and journalist Jason Whitlock...I can't get a handle on where I am on this issue.

Peas on Earth

2007-04-05T11:41:00.000-05:00

I think we all can agree that The Black Eyed Peas sold their soul to the devil a number of years ago. They were originally a decent underground hip-hop group with the 1998 album Behind The Front and the 2000 follow up release Bridging The Gap.

They then hired virtual unknown singer Stacy Ferguson and the band exploded with a pretty terrific song called Where Is The Love. They were then every where...videos all over the place, award show appearances, they even performed at a Grey Cup half time show.

Meanwhile their music became poppier and poppier. With Ferguson's recent success with her debut album The Dutchess and the irritating hit songs London Bridge and Glamourous, I am guessing her days with the Peas are numbered.

However, thanks to youtube, one of the Peas more irritating songs My Humps has been covered by Canadian Alanis Morrissette. With almost no promotion, this video is all over the place and borders on brilliant. Take a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g

Top 5 Alanis songs
1. Head Over Feet
2. You Learn
3. Hands Clean
4. My Humps
5. You Oughta Now

...and they're always glad you came

2007-04-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

The website TV Squad has listed the top 18 places to drink on TV. The number one place is obvious with Cheers at the top. Other great choices include the Bada-Bing from The Sopranos and Moe's Tavern from The Simpsons.

Personally, I think they should have listed MacLaren's Bar from How I Met Your Mother much higher but what do I know. The funny thing about drinking on TV is that you don't see it very much. Like you watch Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray comes home from working as a newspaper columnist to a house with three young kids. You'd think he'd walk in and grab a beer out of the fridge but he gets a ginger ale. I don't believe that for a second.

I think this is why I like shows like How I Met Your Mother. There is a lot of drinking and that seems more like real life. Well, my life anyway. Can't think straight today. Too hung over.

My personal top 5 favourite fancy drinks

1. Dry gin martini

2. Long Island Iced Tea

3. Caeser

4. Tom Collins

5. Manhattan

Spoiler alert of season 6 of 24

2007-04-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

Seriously, I am talking about, well complaining about the current season of 24. If you are not caught up or plan on waiting to rent the DVD...don't read after this first paragraph. However, feel free to enjoy this picture of 24's own Chloe O'Brian (played by Mary Lynn Rajskub). She is on the cover of Geek Monthly and there is a small interview with her that is mostly about computer stuff so it is more greek than it is geek to me.

Top 5 things wrong with Season 6 of 24 (so far)
1. Everything appears to be so arbitrary in order to lengthen the season's fairly weak plot. One week, a character appears to be bad. The next week he is good but pretended to be bad due to certain circumstances. (ie Jack's brother Graem, Jack's Dad Philip, Abu Fayed, Hamri Al-Assad and Nadia Yassir). And I wrote this prior to this week's turn around of President Wayne Palmer!!!!

2. No matter what happens, remember what Jack is going through is occuring right after being flown from China to the US in a cargo plane! I flew from London to Toronto a couple of months ago and I was messed up for two days. This guy's trip was twice as long and not even close to being as comfortable! And yet he is still kicking ass and taking names.

3. The storylines within CTU this season feel contrived. Chloe apparently choosing her grumpy bald sarcastic ex husband Morris over rather virile young Milo Pressman. And speaking of Chloe, she was in the early episodes of this season too much. Just spouting off Chloe-like lines but really being of no value. Now she has only one line per week and it is usually something about whether Morris is still fit to do his work or not. Other than that she sits around looking like Chloe and doing little of anything else of substance.

4. The addition of Palmer's sister Sandra. This is a limited actress essentially playing the same smart, sassy black woman that actress Regina King has been playing since she was in Jerry Maguire. Her storyline with her boyfriend/client Walid Al-Rezani at the beginning of the season was the weakest in the history of the series. They gladly ended that rather quickly and it looked like Palmer was going to be written out as well. But then they tacked on this storyline about her brother's attempted assasination so she's back and just making the season endlessly tedious.

5. With the addition of Peter MacNicol as special advisor to the President Tom Lennox and Powers Boothe as Vice President Noah Daniels, the show has been filled with more quality character actors than ever before. However, the scripts and the overall tone of this season is wasting this quality unlike ever before. Considering how good season 5 was, season 7 better be spectacular enough to make us forget this current rather unremarkable year.

The most wonderful time of the year

2007-03-31T08:04:00.000-05:00

March and April of each year always whizzes by for me. There is just so much going on that I can hardly breath. My birthday in early April seems like an afterthought. Last weekend alone I went to the Raptor game on Friday with jayman for our annual birthday night out (our birthdays are a day apart). And then on the Sunday, I attended my yearly baseball fantasy draft at the CBC building in downtown Toronto.

On top of that, I've just discovered the website facebook.com, so I really have no time to breathe.

Top 5 things I love about this time of year.

1. The beginning of baseball season. In general, I love the sport (that picture is Brewer second baseman Rickie Weeks who is poised to have a huge season). I love the statistics (the stats OPS and WHIP are just fascinating to me) and I just love the drama of the sport. My own softball team is getting ready to defend our championship starting on April 24th. As well, this year, I am in three different baseball fantasy leagues. The first being the aforementioned one with some CBC employees, the second one among employees at my office (I won this pool last year) and a third that our network just started online and I am helping test out for them.

2. Basketball season is at its most exciting. March Madness is in full swing. Though I did choose not to go in a March Madness pool this year. As much as i love the do or die action, there is no point for me to be in a pool. I don't know Texas A & M from Texas Tech. I literally am just guessing. And with so many baseball pools to worry about at the same time...I might as well save my money. Plus, as a basketball fan, there is the Raptors to care about as well. If you did not see the highlights from last night, Mo Pete threw up a hail mary of a three pointer with a second left to tie the game and put it to overtime where the Raptors ended up defeating the Wizards 123-118. What's funny about that three pointer is that Wizards star Gilbert Arenas literally threw the ball up in the air like he thought the game was over. Mo Pete grabbed it and shot that three pointer from about 31 feet out. It was his ONLY SHOT OF THE GAME!!! This shot will begin to develop legendary status. I still could not believe it when I saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_Y85Mi7Tg

3. Hockey is almost over. Yeah, whatever, I said it. In general, the sport is boring and silly and this year was no different. Plus, if the Leafs make the playoffs, it is impossible to get into sports bars at night. And if they win a game or god forbid a series...than there is an impromptu parade in various parts of the city. My highlight of the season had to have been the Wade Belak-Cam Janssen fight from March. As hockey fans will remember, New Jersey Devil Cam Janssen put a late hit on Tom Kaberle earlier in the season and the Leafs were looking for revenge. So Belak going after Janssen the next time the two teams met was as pre-destined as the fact that there will be a fourth Final Destination film. It's a good thing I already knew that Dancing With The Stars was on FOX because after watching this fight...it is hard to tell the difference. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlxEvNaLv-M

Having said that, I am playing in a road hockey tournament today. I am not even sure why.

4. The weather is getting better. This goes without saying. The toques and gloves get put away, you start wearing a "windbreaker" instead of a jacket. I never did understand that term windbreaker.

5. J-Mac and I always end up travelling somewhere at this time of year. Last year it was Florida for a family reunion. The year before that was Chicago. And, through much happenstance, we are going to Chicago again this year. She is going on business at the end of April. I am joining her on the Thursday of that week. Looking forward to it.

You've been posterized

2007-03-28T11:24:00.000-05:00

Premiere Magazine has listed the top 25 movie posters of all time. It is an interesting list as it is not filled with obvious ones that we have all seen a million times. The list has more obscure films like Straw Dogs, Anatomy Of A Murder and Gun Crazy.

I have included the poster for an obscure 80s sci fi film called Krull. For some reason, I used to love this poster. I had it up in my room and I still have not seen the film. I don't even know what it is about. The only thing I know about it is that it was one of the first films for both Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane.

It's funny how movie posters have evolved. They used to work like a press release for the film. Stars names, pictures either from the film or what could be from the film. Little phrases detailing the excitement you will witness in the film (come for the action! stay for the romance!) stuff like that.

Then movie posters became more artsy thanks to the French New Wave genre and the amount of European films that were becoming available in North America. But with the advent of the home video market, production companies started making posters less subtle. You want horror, the movie poster is a guy with a knife/axe/chainsaw. You want nakedness, you get Shannon Tweed, dripping wet in what is clearly a very cold room.

My current favourite type movies posters are the ones that do not sell anything at all. They just have the lead actor or actress with a smug look on their face. In other words, they don't want to tell you what the movie is about, just that it stars this person...so it must be good.

Obviously, certain genres lead themselves to having better posters. Romantic comedies have to be the worst. It is usually the lead couple either looking happy or sad and nothing more.

Credit to the opening credits

2007-03-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

The website the AV Club has listed the top 22 TV opening credits that best fit their shows perfectly. The page includes links to youtube with the actual sequences so you can see them for yourselves. It's a great list because instead of painfully boring ones like the one for Cheers, they have actual great ones like Dexter (my current favourite) and Homicide: Life On The Street.

Top 5 Opening Credits (not on that list)

1. WKRP in Cincinnati

2. Welcome Back Kotter

3. King Of Kensington

4. The Office (the British version)

5. House

Idol ramblings

2007-03-22T11:47:00.000-05:00

So, again, the television industry has forced me to watch American Idol this year. Why do I blame the industry? Because every other single channel is so afraid of putting anything up against the juggernaut that is Idol that if you are watching TV, it is the only thing on. Don't get me wrong, I am not taping it or anything...but if it's on, I watch it.

It is not all that fascinating this year. There are to clear contenders. The first is Melinda Doolittle. Honestly, she is too polished and talented to even be in this glorified karaoke (pronounced care-a-oh-ka not care-a-oh-kee as tolyo lola has told me numerous times) show. Honestly, they should shut down this years contest and just declare her the winner. She is that good. But she is bizarre looking. She either has no neck or some mild osteoporosis that forces her to hunch her head out and make it look like she has no neck. Plus she has this false modesty reaction after she sings like she is shocked by the adulation. Lady, you're a good singer. You know it and I know it. This act is wearing thin.

Her biggest competition is from Lakisha Jones. She is almost as good of a singer as Doolittle without the act. Though her performance of Diamonds Are Forever this week was not great. Anyway, I think these two singers may cancel each other out and pave the way for the person I think will win...Gina Glocksen. She has great rock and roll name and has been choosing songs that best show off her talents. A couple of weeks ago, she chose to sing a Pat Benatar song. But she didn't do the obvious Hit Me With Your Best Shot. She chose Heartbreaker. This song may not be Benatar's most popular which actually helped. Do we really need to hear these 20 somethings sing songs recorded before they were born that the rest of us have already heard a million times?

Top 5 Pat Benatar songs
1. Heartbreaker
2. We Belong
3. Shadows Of The Night
4. Love Is A Battlefield
5. All Fired Up

This Idol season has not been without its interesting characters. The first is Antonella Barba. She did make it relatively far with an average singing voice. But what was really interesting was her backstory. After she first started appearing on Idol, racy pictures of her popped up on the internet. The first were ones were she was simply topless but other pictures soon popped including one where she is performing fellatio. The matter became moot as she was soon kicked off. More likely it was her complete destroyal of Corinne Bailey Rae's Put Another Record On, than it was the pictures.

The other interesting storyline is the ongoing success of Sanjaya Malakar. First off, his hair is ridiculous. It looks like Farrah Fawcett's circa 1978. Secondly, he is a horrible singer. He is currently still among the top 10 and is easily the worst of all the contestants. My sister, who is a huge fan of the show and has always watched it faithfully. Her theory is that each season there is always one person every year that people feel sorry for and they end up staying longer than they should out of sympathy. Other theories are that shock jock Howard Stern is imploring his listeners to continue voting for Malakar. There is also the website Votefortheworst.com. Since 2004 they have picked one weak performer and advised people to continue voting for that person. They do this to make the show entertaining but if you read the "about us" section of their website. They sound a little bitter. But still it is a pretty funny website.

The website I talked about earlier this week the Lefsetz Letter has a pretty funny posting about American Idol.

Speaking of television, if you watched the show How I Met Your Mother this week, you saw the scene just before the credits where Barney does his best David Letterman impression and gives a top 10 list of nicknames for a moving truck he was using to try and pick up women with. The list was pretty funny and a little racy for network tv. What you didn't see is him giving the names that didn't make the top 10 list as they never would have been allowed to be said at 8 pm on Monday night. Here is a link to that extended scene.

Wednesday with Wynton

2007-03-21T14:24:00.000-05:00

I meant to post about this earlier but have been so busy with my two fantasy baseball teams that I haven't had time.

Last Wednesday, J-Mac and I along with Jayman and his very pregnant wife MC went to Massey Hall to see Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz At Lincoln Centre Orchestra. This tour was called "The Songs We Love" tour. It was fascinating as their entire set list was very famous jazz songs. We all literally knew every song from Tea For Two to All Of Me.

My personal highlight was their rendition of John Coltrane's arrangement of My Favourite Things. As well, the encore was a version of Duke Ellington's C Jam Blues. For this song, the 12 horn players stood at the front of the stage and each member riffed on the song for a minute or two. I really really wish I took pictures but it just seemed so classless to do it and would have ruined a great couple of minutes for me. Some idiot wearing a hoodie and arriving halfway through the show was taking pictures and I couldn't be like THAT guy.

Top 5 John Coltrane Albums

1. A Love Supreme

2. My Favourite Things

3. Giant Steps

4. Lush Life

5. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane

My favourite member of this orchestra has to be saxaphone player Ted Nash. Not only is he a terrific player (duh, obviously if he is working with Marsalis) but he is about the most expressive musician I have ever seen. He watches and listens to all the other members intently. If they do something he is really enjoying, you can see it in his face. If they do some weird riff, he gives them a double take like "man, that is crazy". When we saw this orchestra at The Hummingbird Centre last year, the piano player was doing this great solo. All the sudden he broke into Bobby Darin's version of I'm Beginning To See The Light. The look on Nash's face was classic. I find every time I see them in concert, I am always watching Nash to see how he is reacting.

Best CBC show ever?

2007-03-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

I am not one to compliment the CBC. Their most popular show is Hockey Night In Canada and that says a lot about Canada's national network. There is an ongoing debate about whether a network that is funded by our tax dollars should be spending big bucks on sports is really something that should be happening. But that is a blog entry for another day.

What I want to talk about is a show on CBC called The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. I am not really a fan of watching a show hosted by a person younger than me. However, as I get older, this rule is becoming harder and harder to follow.

Stroumboulopoulos has made some interesting career choices. He started at the Toronto sports radio station fan as a board operator who later became on on-air personality. He moved to the alernative radio station called 102.1 The Edge before becoming a VJ on Much Music. His most interesting career choice was hosting a US music reality show called The One: Making A Music Star inbetween his first and second season hosting The Hour. The show's ratings for this wannabe American Idol were horrible and was cancelled after two weeks. The show is considered one of the worst failures in the history of television as its debut show was the second lowest rated pilot in the history of american network TV. The show's failure was probably related to its marketing (a blend of American Idol and Big Brother) and not to the host.

The Hour is now in its third season and airs at 11 pm on CBC as well as earlier on CBC Newsworld. The 11 pm is the more promoted show and goes up against The Daily Show on The Comedy Network. On the show, Stroumboulopoulos interviews everyone from musicians to politicians, actors to writers. Basically each show has enough content to interest everyone. And these aren't people just there to promote a new product. The interviews become lively debates and are quite interesting.

The reason I was moved enough to write a blog about the show was the interview with Bob Lefsetz last week. Lefsetz is probably one of the most fascinating and opinionated music columnists in the world. I highly recommend his website The Lefsetz Letter. His analysis of music is honest, forthright and without pretention. And it isn't all about new music or old music, it is about music in general. He has a lot of interesting theories as to why, for people like me in their thirties can't relate to new music and why a #1 album nowadays is nothing like having a #1 album 10 years ago in terms of sales.

For a taste, here is a column he wrote about why CD sales are tanking or detailing Paul McCartney's new deal with Starbucks. To get a real sense of what Lefsetz is all about, watch the interview Strombo had with him. Lefsetz expounds some interesting theories about the music industry and Strombo does actually begin to argue with him. The interview is only 15 minutes long but you'll wish it were longer.

Top 5 nicknames used for the CBC
1. The Mother Corp. (many people use this term)
2. The Corpse (as used by Frank Magazine)
3. The Canadian Broadcorping Castration (urban legend says an announcer once used this on air but it has never been proven)
4. The Communist Broadcasting Corporation (many conservatives call the network this due to its apparent left wing leanings)
5. BBC Canada (a nickname levied on the network during a 2005 strike in which most of their programming was picked up from the UK).

Raines' Reign

2007-03-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

So I spent my Thursday night watching the new Jeff Goldblum show Raines. I thought it was amazing. At first glance, it feels a little Sixth Sense-ish with a dash of Ghost Whisperer. But it's much better than that.

Quirky actor Jeff Goldblum plays a police detective named Michael Raines who is able to talk to the dead victims. However, this is not like a cop version of Ghost Whisperer (whose success continues to confound me). He is able to "talk" to the victims. But seeing these victims is part of his own mental issues. He isn't really able to talk to them, they are a figment of his imagination and are unable to give him any information that he doesn't already know. And, as he learns more about them, they begin to evolve. For instance, in last night's pilot, he later found out that the victim was from Texas. From that point on, the character of the victim started speaking with a texan accent.

The show has a good pedigree with the producer being Graham Yost who previously helmed the underrated and quick cancelled cop drama Boomtown. The pilot itself was directed by Shawshank Redemption writer/director Frank Darabont. Here is an interview with Yost and Goldblum from the website comingsoon.com.

Goldblum seems to be one those you either hate him or love him type actors. My sister absolutely hates him. I honestly used to hate him as well. His one line as an pretentious partygoer talking on the phone with his guru in the film Annie Hall still makes me laugh. He says, "I forgot my mantra". Anytime J-Mac and I are at a party filled with pretentious people I say that line to her. Well, it makes me laugh anyway.

His style of acting where he talks in short sentances with long pauses but speaks each of those sentances really fast always makes me laugh. It has a weird rhythm that takes getting used to but once I saw him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park II I was hooked on him as an actor. The way he reads that line when they first arrive at that second island and everyone starts oohing and ahhing at the dinosaurs. He says "Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming." Best line from any Jurassic Park film.

Top 5 Jeff Goldblum films
1. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
2. The Fly
3. Deep Cover
4. The Tall Guy
5. Lush Life

So Raines is currently airing in ER's slot on Thursday night at 10 pm for the first two weeks. It will then move to its regular slot of 9 pm on Friday nights. Things aren't looking good for the show as NBC's original order of 13 episodes was shortened to 7 episodes three months before the show debuted but you never know. As a lead in for Law & Order, it could end up doing well.

Cory, Brad and Christina

2007-03-12T10:23:00.000-05:00

As many baseball fans remember, Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in October of 2006 when he slammed his plane into a 40 story New York apartment building. There was a big debate in the airline industry as Lidle was an avid pilot but had just got his licence in February of the same year.

That debate has been long since forgotten but the accident which rained debris on the New York City sidewalk reminding many of 9/11 is still in the news. Why? Because New York City dentist Larry Rosenthal is suing...wait for it...Cory Lidle's grieving wife and family for $7 million because it was Lidle's careless flying that caused the accident. An accident that ruined his apartment.

"There's no excuse for smacking a plane into an apartment building in the middle of Manhattan," says Rosenthal's lawyer David Jaroslawicz. Apparantly, the Rosenthals' are "still homeless". Though I find it difficult to believe that they are actually sleeping on the streets.

But here is the rest of the story, Rosenthal is renowned for his lack of class. So much so that there is a website called www.baddentist.com that is all about his history. According to the website, "BadDentist.Com is a 100% free public service, created specifically to warn patients of the numerous complaints about Dr. Rosenthal, and to collect complaints about Dr. Rosenthal from patients." This paragraph explains all that you need to know about Rosenthal.

"Celebrity" dentist Dr. Larry Rosenthal has been sued at least five times for malpractice. Dr. Rosenthal has had his professional license suspended after he admitted to illegally purchasing and distributing hundreds of grams of cocaine and many other illegal drugs. Dr. Rosenthal got caught lying about all of this under oath, thereby committing perjury, a felony punishable by five years imprisonment. Dr. Rosenthal has been sued by a competitor for stealing client records. Right now, Dr. Rosenthal is being sued by his own associate dentist. In the filings of that case, Dr. Rosenthal's associate claims that Dr. Rosenthal is both a liar and a criminal. Additionally, a receptionist where Dr. Rosenthal used to work claims under oath that Dr. Rosenthal sexually harassed her and other co-workers. Dr. Rosenthal has also lied to the press many times in order to promote himself. Additionally, Dr. Rosenthal has now admitted that providing a list of patients who traded sex for free dental work would violate doctor-patient confidentiality. "

Speaking of death, Boston lead singer Brad Delp died on the weekend. He was home alone and only 55 years old. For some reason, I am beginning to think it may end up being ruled a suicide. Boston never came close to the heights of their debut, self titled album. It was the fastest selling debut album for any American group; and still has the most total sales for a debut album with over 17 million units sold to date.

Their second album, two years later called Don't Look Back just sounds like a collection of songs not good enough for their debut. Their third album Third Stage did not come out until 1986. It was a #1 album for four weeks but as a while it was pretty week in comparison to their debut. A fourth album called Walk On was released in 1994 and received little support from its record company and was done without Delp. According to wikipedia, there was a 5th album in 2002 called Corporate America but it went largely unnoticed. The last two albums did have one interesting feature, the booklet inside was dedicated to helping preserve the environment. It included links for website related to this topic.

Delp and Boston had been in the midst of recording a new album and a small summer tour had been planned at the time of his death.

Top 5 Boston songs off that amazing debut album

1. Rock And Roll Band

2. More Than A Feeling

3. Foreplay/Long Time

4. Hitch A Ride

5. Peace Of Mind

To make this blog entry a little cheerier, here is a link to the new video from Christina Aguilera. Why do I add it? Besides the obvious, it is one of the most bizarre songs I have ever heard on pop radio. It sounds like a remake of the 1941 Andrews Sisters' song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkBWQzuu6XA

This list is definately not hunky dory

2007-03-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

The National Association of Record Manufacturers and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame have teamed up to release a "Definitive 200" list. This is a list that includes the 200 essential albums that every music fan should own.

I judge album lists like this on what David Bowie albums they have. If they only have The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, it is a typical list. If they have that and Hunky Dory, it is a brilliant list. If they have Low, I say the list is too wacky to be taken seriously.

This list falls in the first category. But the problem is that this list has Ziggy Stardust at NUMBER 171. 171!!!!! According to this list, albums such as Avril Lavigne's Let Go, Boyz II Men's Cooleyhighharmony, the Footloose Soundtrack, Kenny G's Breathless and Usher's Confessions are all more "essential" than anything Bowie has done.

Judge the list for yourself.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/503100p-424336c.html

The wackiest part of the list that shows just how irrelevant it is, it has TWO Def Leppard albums on it. TWO. Even worse, these two are in the top 90. The TOP 90!!! And to go even further they list Pyromania (the better album of the two) at #86 while Hysteria (which may have had more hits but was too artificial and cold) is at #36.

Top 5 Def Leppard songs
1. Rock Of Ages
2. Animal
3. Photograph
4. Pour Some Sugar On Me
5. Bringin' On The Heartbreak

Rain's Reign

2007-03-08T08:58:00.001-05:00

I have a music theory, well, not "theory" like I can actually read and understand music theory but an actual theory about music. No bad song has the word "rain" in the title. Or should I say, I have never heard a song with the word rain in the title that I didn't like.

Prince's Purple Rain, Led Zeppelin's The Rain Song, CCR's Who'll Stop The Rain and Have You Ever Seen Rain, Bob Dylan's Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall or even Bryan Ferry's cover of that same song, Phil Collins' I Wish It Would Rain, Guns 'n Roses' November Rain, Garbage's I'm Only Happen When It Rains, Elvis Presley's Kentucky Rain, Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again, Bruce Hornsby's Mandolin Rain, Blind Melon's No Rain, Eddie Rabbit's I Love The Rainy Night, The Carpenters' Rainy Days And Mondays, Bobby Darin's Rain On My Parade even songs I should hate like Milli Vanilli's Blame It On The Rain or The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men are songs I don't completely get disgusted by.

Why am I talking about rain? Well, the trailer for the Adam Sandler's new film Reign Over Me is out and the movie looks like it is one of his good movies. I honestly think Sandler is a smart actor. What he does best as an actor is pick films where his character has this barely simmering rage that may or may not come to the surface. The problem is that sometimes his films border on silly (hello Billy Madison, Little Nicky, Big Daddy etc) and sometimes he picks a film with a good director and a good cast and the film can border on brilliant (hello Punch Drunk Love).

Top 5 Adam Sandler Films

1. Punch Drunk Love

2. Spanglish

3. Bulletproof

4. The Wedding Singer

5. Happy Gilmore (I guess, ask me tomorrow I will have a different #5 as I am really not a fan of any of his other films)

Searching for Sam

2007-03-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

I received word today that Sam Adams Brewery has developed a new glass to drink their fine beverage. It is detailed above. It looks a bit like a coke glass but there are very good reasons for that shape.

Bead inside top rim - small ridge creates turbulence to increase CO2 and aroma release as beer enters palate
Lip of the Glass - places the beer on the front of the tongue where sweetness is tasted
Narrowness - enhances hop aroma by concentrating the head
Round Shape - greater volume to surface ratio maintains temperature longer
Narrow grip - reduces the beer's exposure to heat from the hand
Nucleation site - increases hop aroma release

The only reason I mention this is this all happens on the same day that I have booked my flight to Chicago in the last week of April. Yes, I realize Sam Adams is brewed in Boston, but, like a lot of major US cities. Sam Adams can be found on draught everywhere. Including fave Chicago restaurants such as Maggiano's and Uno's.

J-Mac is in Chicago on business in April and I am flying in on the Thursday to join her for a long weekend in the windy city. I arrive in Chicago around noon and plan on dropping off my stuff at the hotel and walking over to Uno's having a numero uno deep dish pizza along with a pint of Sam Adams while reading that day's Chicago Sun-Times. I am pretty sure it will be one of those perfect alone moments that happen few times in life.

Top 5 songs by the band Chicago

1. 25 Or 6 To 4

2. (I've Been) Searching So Long

3. Questions 67 & 68

4. Feelin' Stronger Every Day

5. Just You 'n Me

Tears for Fears for your faithful narrator

2007-03-02T09:51:00.000-05:00

So, like you, I always thought Tears For Fears was a fairly overrated band. Their singles were vastly overplayed and their non-singles, while, there was a reason why they weren't released as singles. They weren't very good.

This actually started to change for me after seeing the movie Donnie Darko. During the closing credits, the song Gary Jules' cover of Mad World is played. It was familiar to me right away but I couldn't place it. The song was also used to great effect in the commercial for the Xbox game Gears of War.

My awareness of Tears For Fears, like with all north americans, began in 1983 with the singles Pale Shelter and Change from the album The Hurting. The songs were okay but didn't really distinguish themselves among other hit songs of the time.

Their career went into ridiculous overrdrive with their second album Songs From The Big Chair. Everyone owned this album but, to me, it was ruined because the first two singles Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule The World were just so overplayed. The latter singles from the same album Mothers Talk, I Believe and Head Over Heels. It's kind of funny that with this album Curt Smith, who appeared to be the lead singer on songs from the first album has become more like Wham's Andrew Ridgeley. While the Roland Orzabal, who appeared to just be a guitar player on the first album is now more like the George Michael of the band singing lead on all songs.

Like all bands that become this successful, this quickly, the fall began to happen quickly. Tears For Fears member Manny Elias left the band soon after their Big Chair tour and in 1985, the band had to pull out of Live Aid on that very morning as two other members quit.

It took until 1989 for TFF to release a follow up album and, to me, is their most brilliant. The Seeds of Love mixed influences from jazz and the Beatles...though I know many people who hated it due to how close it sounded to the Beatles (somehow it was okay for Oasis to do the same thing 10 years later). The songs Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Woman In Chains (featuring Oleta Adams) and Advice For The Young At Heart.

TFF essentially dropped off the planet after this. Smith left the band so the band really became focused on the sole remaining member Orzabal. He released a couple of albums under the TFF moniker but there was really only one memorable single Break It Down Again.

Despite absolutely no press here in North America, Tears For Fears released a comeback album in 2004 entitled Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. It was a reunion of Orzabal and Smith and actually works as a sequel of sorts to their 1989 Seeds Of Love album. It has the obvious Beatles' influence in songs like Who Killed Tangerine (that song's refrain ...and when you think it's all over is used to great effect in the film Fever Pitch), Call Me Mellow and Closest Thing To Heaven.

Top 5 Tears For Fears Songs
1. Badman's Song
2. Woman In Chains
3. Head Over Heels
4. Mad World
5. Sowing The Seeds Of Love

If you don't have any Tears For Fears, I highly recommend their 2 disc greatest hits called Gold. The first disc works as their biggest songs from the prime of their career and the second disc is like a bonus disc including the aforementioned Break It Down Again, New Star from the 1994 film Threesome and the best songs off their comeback album.

The speech of Tom Joad

2007-02-28T10:29:00.000-05:00

USA Today's Pop Candy blog included a link to the Top 10 Movie speeches of all time. The page even includes youtube links to those speeches so you can judge for yourself. I agree with some of them (ie Samuel Jackson's path of the righteous man from Pulp Fiction), disagree with others (ie Ewen McGregor's Choose Life speech from Trainspotting) and am bored with others (ie Clint Eastwood's do you feel lucky speech from Dirty Harry). Plus I still wonder how Micheal Douglas' speech at the end of The American President isn't on that list.

Since the list only features one movie prior to the 70s, it really isn't all that impressive. Not that I am a big fan of old movies. J-Mac has been busy watching the new Turner Movie Channel and AMC which appears to be showing nothing but old movies lately. Sometimes I'll watch as Citizen Kane was on this morning. But sometimes, I'd rather not like when My Man Godfrey was on last night. I like to think I am a movie buff but sometimes old movies are filled with racism that may have been okay when originally filmed but watching it now, just makes me cringe. Plus, a lot of times, the secondary actors are sometimes really week. And really take away from the power of the movie.

Anyway, getting back to talking about movie speeches. Here is my personal top 5 movie speeches.

1. Henry Fonda, The Grapes of Wrath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wke1RBvcNQ

"I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever'-where - wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too."

2. Jimmy Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_LS-RZNSBY

Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here. You just have to see them again...You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well, I'm not licked. And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause, even if this room gets filled with lies like these; and the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody will listen to me.

3. Vivien Leigh, Gone With The Wind

As God is my witness, as God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again - no, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill, as God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.

4. Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP_gs9uTc6s

Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now. Here's looking at you, kid.

5. Edward G. Robinson, Double Indemnity

Why, they've got 10 volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poisons, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by types of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth. Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there's not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train.

With apologies to Ben Johnson's ode to a past love during the 1971 film The Last Picture Show. It probably would be in my top 5 but I tried to list only films made prior to 1970.

The beat goes on...

2007-02-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

My apologies for not posting in a while. We have experienced a bit of a family tragedy. Then this past weekend, to get away from it all, myself, Tokyo Lola and J-Mac all went to Ottawa to enjoy Winterlude.

From a pop culture standpoint, my main focus has been on The Police. They opened the Grammy Awards by performing together for the first time in years. Unfortunately, they chose to play the song Roxanne. As much as I like Sting, he simply is unable to hit those same notes he did 30 years ago. I think Can't Stand Losing You or Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic would have been a better choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIIOwONgmJY

Despite Sting's shortcomings, the band sounded terrific. I was absolutely enamoured with Stewart Copeland's drumming. It brought up an interesting conversation between myself and Coglero while we were in Ottawa this past weekend. Who is the best drummer ever? And can anyone really answer that question accurately. Stewart Copeland, a drummer who uses more cymbals and high hats than anyone else in rock history is pretty innovative but how do you compare him to the workman like pounding of Max Weinberg. Or U2's Larry Mullen Jr. whose talents are really what gives U2 that distinctive sound. And what about The Beatles' Ringo Starr or the Stones' Charlie Watts. Neither of them are brilliant, but come on, these are the two most popular bands of the last 50 years. How can they not be considered among the best. Coglero's theory is that no one really knows the best drummers ever as it all depends on what bands you specifically like.

My Top 5 Drummer List

1. Keith Moon

2. Max Weinberg

3. Stewart Copeland

4. John Bonham

5. Phil Collins

This is obviously a rock list, otherwise jazz greats Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa and Philly Joe Jones would be on there.

Getting back to the Police, they are touring this summer and J-Mac and I had a mild interest in going. Our ticket gura Jayman was all over this issue and was going no matter what the cost. I was in as long as the tickets were $120 or less. J-Mac was in at $100. It didn't matter as top ticket prices were over $200. I can't agree to see any concert at that level. It just seems like there has to be things I can better spend my money on.

Living just enough for CITY-TV

2007-02-10T13:18:00.000-05:00

Again, not too much time to write today. Just wanted to post footage of Peter Silverman of the Silverman Helps segment on CITY-TV news. He recently went to interview this optometrist named Adam Plimmer.

Plimmer had allegedly been charging for services and products that he had not delivered. Two of his clients had complained and Silverman, an ombudsman for CITY was investigating.

Silverman first went to see him days earlier and Plimmer refused to comment and advised Silverman to talk to his lawyer. Plimmer than called Silverman saying he had a change of heart and would like to talk.

The 75 year old Silverman showed up at his store and Plimmer went nuts. He slammed Silverman with the door and hit him with everything from paper to snowballs. The police came, he barracaded himself inside the store. The police had to forcefully remove him and he has been charged with assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

Luckily for the viewers, all of this was shot by Silverman's cameraman. The footage has been broadcast everywhere including CNN. It is absolutely riveting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSn2efsyM4

Not much time today, just enough time to trash Wal-Mart

2007-02-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

HOW BIG IS WAL-MART? .......... I was blown away by these mind-boggling statistics on Wal-Mart!

1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's pop. is approximately 6.5 billion).
12. 90% of Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

Walmart, although a great success story of business that has brought cheaper goods to our homes, is also a symbol of America's decline.

Walmart does not make anything. It only sells items that are made in China. Walmart is our number one employer when at one time companies like General Motors, Bethlehem Steel and Westinghouse were our major employers. This shift shows that jobs have left our country for China. Look what is happening to General Motors and Ford. Americans now work for low paying Walmart jobs when their parents worked for high paying union jobs at industrial manufacturing companies that are now in China.

And now...the second best part of the Super Bowl

2007-02-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

For once, the Super Bowl commercials were not the best part of the game. That was the aforementioned half time show with Prince. The second best part, in my opinion, was the game itself. Coming a distant third was the commercials. Living in Canada, we missed most of the good ones. However, living in the internet age, we in Canada can see all of these commercials on-line after the fact. Having scanned through most of them on youtube, nothing really stood out to me.

There are lots of lists about the best Super Bowl commercials of all time. There is that Apple computer one from 1984 that ripped off George Orwell's novel and that coke commercial featuring the Osbornes and the Osmonds. However, my choice would be the series of Whassup ads for Budweiser. Look, I know saying "whassup" to people is now passe. It is in some pop culture purgatory due to overexposure like the Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody because of overexposure due to the Wayne's World film.

The original Budweiser whassup ads still make me laugh. They were based on a short film by director Charles Stone III entitled True which featured him and his friends talking on the phone and saying "whassup" to each other. Stone has since gone on to direct films such as Drumline (pretty good) and Mr. 3000 (very bad). The whassup ads have developed a life on their own, being spoofed in films such as Scary Movie, computer geeks have created their own whassup ads featuring the same audio but using characters from Super Friends and Star Wars among others and there have been Scottish versions, New Jersey versions and senior citizen versions. People are now just sick of the concept. Please, here are the original five. Sit back and enjoy what was a very funny original concept that ended up being basterdized later.

5 Best Wassup Ads
1. The original

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru_QNxHhlf8

2. The Preppy version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Y7ukK2Cog

3. The pizza guy version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7LQeiBeTzY

4. With the girlfriend watching figure skating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcVfKWxtM0M

5. At the Japanese restaurant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZk7-1uGmc4

Hope you didn't miss Prince's reign!

2007-02-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

The most entertaining part of Super Bowl (other than Rex Grossman performance in the third quarter) was the half time show by Prince.

His show had been hyped for weeks. Here is a copy of a commercial for his appearance that is rather amusing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIAMN7JuICE

During media day, Prince took the podium but instead of answering idiotic journalist's questions, he did three songs and left the stage. He started with a cover of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Good. Then launched into the obscure anotherloverholenyohead off 1986's Parade than a song I didn't recognize which may mean it is off his upcoming album. Please, enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj7X5CwP0yo

But that did nothing to prepare the public for what he did Sunday night. It's not enough to say it was entertaining. It's not enough to say it was the Greatest Performance in the history of Super Bowl half time shows. It was one of the greatest short concerts I have ever seen in my life. It was proof that the musical genius named Prince is back!!!

There was a little hint of Queen's We Will Rock You and then he launched into the first of three songs from his landmark album Purple Rain. Let's Go Crazy started off the festivities. A marching band stomped onto the field to the strains of 1999 and Prince started singing Baby I'm A Star which led to Proud Mary which led into a Jimi Hendrix-ized version of All Along The Watchtower. Then came a cover song I never would have guessed in a million years, the Foo Fighters' The Best Of You. For the finale, he played the appropriate closer Purple Rain. After that I couldn't talk the rest of the night. I was speechless. Please, I implore you, check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H97y459pOis

Top 5 Prince songs

1. Let's Go Crazy

2. Sexy MF

3. Raspberry Beret

4. Little Red Corvette

5. Dirty Mind

Of course, the elephant in the room when it comes to Super Bowl half time shows is the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake debacle from two years ago. This performance should finally make people stop talking about it and will now be the standard that all Super Bowl performances should be judged by.

('Til) Death Watch

2007-02-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

Television always fascinates me. Good television? No, bad television, that's what fascinates me.

There is a show that I am sure none of you are watching called 'Til Death on FOX. It has been moved around all season, been threatened with cancellation but is still hanging on by its fingernails.

With apologies to Sean Burns of the Philadelphia Inquirer (who used a similar line to describe the film Smokin' Aces), the show feels like the worst show of 1992. It's a show that makes you feel like you are suffering from deja vu, even if you have never watched the show before in your life.

The concept of the show is that an older married couple with a college age student are living beside these young newlyweds. And it is about the dichotomy of this old couple who are rather settled in their ways and this young couple just starting out in marriage.

The older couple is played by Brad Garrett (you know him as the brother from Everybody Loves Raymond) and Joely Fisher (you know her as the best friend from the show Ellen and from the endless repeats on Canadian TV of the show Zoe Busick: Wild Card). Garrett uses his natural voice as opposed to that monotone he employed throughout Raymond's 9 year run. Fisher just looks bizarre on the show as the actress clearly just had a baby and her pudgy face and lactation endowed breasts are a rather large distraction. And not in the good way.

The younger couple played by Eddie Kay Thomas (you know him from the film American Pie) and Kat Foster (never heard of her). This is where the real problem with the show lies. Thomas' character and Garrett's character both work in a high school. Thomas' character has the last name of Woodcock. That's funny, once (barely). It is just a sign of desperation when that name is a joke at least once during every episode.

And all of the characters are just so earnest. Just trying so hard to sell you on the show. But in the end, the show's plots are just the boring, mundane stories of the wackiness of marriage. Storylines that have been covered since The Honeymooners was on the air in the 50s.

Garrett, originally a stand-up comic who has opened for the likes of Frank Sinatra, should be embarrassed. Originally, he was lined up to have his character from Raymond get his own show. However, CBS took to long to make the decision and most of the original Raymond writers found other work. I bet Garrett is wishing he had those writers now. Then again, if he did, every episode of 'Til Death would be about a meddling mother as that was clearly all the Raymond writers could write about.

Top 5 stale concepts that should no longer be used in sitcoms
1. A lead male and female and whether they are going to get romantically involved or not (see Cheers, Moonlighting, Ed)
2. A husand and wife where the husband is too fat and/or stupid while the wife is much younger, smarter and more attractive (see King of Queens, According to Jim)
3. People with low paying jobs but still living in houses or apartments way beyond their means (see Friends)
4. People who have a wacky neighbour (see Who's The Boss, Three's Company)
5. Families with with oh-so-precocious kids who are way too smart for their own good (see Family Ties, My Wife and Kids)

Pfizer is in a lot pfreaking trouble

2007-01-31T10:16:00.000-05:00

This battle has been brewing for years. Clearly AIDS groups have had just about enough when it comes to viagra. The AIDS Health Foundation is suing Pfizer Inc over their ads saying they encourage users to take viagra as a party drug and that its recreational use has furthered the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The group calls Pfizer's ads misleading, indicating that they have nothing to do with selling a drug to cure impotence.

The impetus for this recent suit is the new series of Viagra ads that are set to debut during next month's Super Bowl. The ads will include the line "Be this Sunday's MVP".

This is not the first time Viagra ads have come under fire. In 2004, the ads featuring a middle aged couple as the voiceover explains "Remember that guy who used to be called 'Wild Thing'?" And the commercial ends with devils horns appearing on his head which then morph into a viagara pill? Pfizer was forced to pull that off the air as it failed to disclose known risks of the drug.

In the suit, aside from getting the ads off the air, the group is also asking that the FDA step up the way they oversee Viagra ads. Interestingly enought, this news comes forward just as Pfizer has announced lay-offs of 10 000 to help trim costs.

When the drug company Pfizer first released the drug viagra, it was meant to be a drug to help men with impotence. The release of this drug also coincided with the internet. To this day, I receive more emails, on a daily basis, at work and at home for viagara or viagara type drugs than any other product.

Is there really that much of a demand for this product? Is impotence effecting that many men, young and old! And the constant ads for the product. Enough is enough. Should I be worried? It went from being a head scratcher to know being just gross. During the same Super Bowl broadcast where Janet Jackson bared her breast and got CBS in trouble with the FCC, there were dozens of ads for viagra. Are you telling me hearing about a warning that if you have an erection for more than 6 hours to call your doctor is less offensive than a split second of Jackson's breast?

And how about these viagra ads? They used to feature Bob Dole. But the actors have become younger and younger. And now they feature music like the song Good Morning from the film Singin' In The Rain and Queen's We Are The Champions.

Top 5 Queen Albums

A Night At The Opera
The Game
Jazz
The Works
A Day At The Races

Hammer of the Gods

2007-01-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

The editors of Guitar World have created a list of the Top 100 guitar solos of all time. The list of course only includes the rock and roll era so there is no jazz or anything like that. I also do not think there is much pre 1964 on the list. The only one is Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Good. This seems pretty disrespectful to Mickey "Guitar" Baker who provides what I think is a groundbreaking solo in the 1957 Mickey & Sylvia hit Love Is Strange. If you don't know the song, it is used in a pretty famous scene with Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.

Guitar World's list features a lot of obvious tracks from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton as well as more recent works from Pantera and Jane's Addiction.

My personal top 5 guitar solos list

1. Song: Hey Jude

Guitarist: Duane Allman

Band: Wilson Pickett

Album: Hey Jude

2. Song: Sympathy For The Devil

Guitarist: Keith Richards

Band: The Rolling Stones

Album: Beggars Banquet

3. Song: Reelin' In The Years

Guitarist: Elliott Randall
Band: Steely Dan

Album: Can't Buy A Thrill

4. Song: Fall To Pieces

Guitarist: Slash

Band: Velvet Revolver

Album: Contraband

5. Song: Magic Man

Guitarist: Nancy Wilson

Band: Heart

Album: Dreamboat Annie

Apologies to Jeff Beck and his stellar work on Rod Stewart's version of People Get Ready as well as the combination of Duane Allman and Dickie Betts on The Allman Brothers' song Whipping Post. I don't know a lot about the technical aspects of music (which probably explains why I own a KISS CD) but feel free to comment with your own top 5. Elvis, Stewbie, Coglero, J-Mac...you guys actually play instruments!!!

Academy Award Nominations!!!!

2007-01-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

So the Academy Award nominations were announced today. The biggest overall surprise is that Dreamgirls led all films with 8 nominations but not one of them was for Best Picture.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Babel did get a number of nominations but this category is The Departed's to win.

Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Paul Greengrass (United 93)

Scorsese is almost a lock to win this. Just keep this in mind, the rap group Three 6 Mafia has won more Academy awards than Scorsese.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit Of Happyness)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland)

Interesting race with DiCaprio getting a nomination for Blood Diamond as opposed to the more nominated film The Departed. However, with Forest Whitaker doing an accent and playing a real person who recently died, he should win this category handily.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes On A Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Streep has no business in this category. Her performance was clearly a supporting one. Nice to see Penelope Cruz. It's funny, she seems to be a much better actress when speaking Spanish as opposed to english. Helen Mirren, playing the current queen of England is a lock for the Oscar.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earl Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Honsou (Blood Diamond)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Lots of surprises here including Jackie Earl Haley (best known for 70s films Breaking Away and The Bad News Bears) and Mark Wahlberg. Though I question how a guy who was once known as Marky Mark should be allowed to be nominated for an Academy Award. I am also surprised that he would get a nod over his Departed co-star Alec Baldwin. Djimon Honsou gets another nomination. He is a terrific actor who really should be getting more lead roles. Eddie Murphy, an actor who makes more bad film choices than any actor on the planet should take home the award.

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes On A Scandal)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

This category is always a crapshoot. From Marisa Tomei to Mira Sorvino, winners in this category are always the most difficult to predict. My brain says that ex-American Idol candidate Jennifer Hudson will win for Dreamgirls. However, my gut says Abigail Breslin. The little girl from Little Miss Sunshine.

Best Original Screenplay
Guillermo Arriaga (Babel)
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis (Letters From Iwo Jima)
Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine)
Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
Peter Morgan (The Queen)

This category usually goes to small independant films that are really successful but to artsy to get nods in the more major categories. Because of this, I will go with Michael Arndt's Little Miss Sunshine though with it's cross cutting storylines, Guillermo Arriaga could win for Babel.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips (Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men)
William Monahan (The Departed)
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta (Little Children)
Patrick Marber (Notes On a Scandal)

How Cohen's film made the list seems more like a "Hey we applaud your film's success by handing you a nomination" type nomination. How is it that it took five people to write a film that is basically an actor playing a character who walks amongst real people and simply reacts to how they react to him? I am going to go with Children Of Men here. This film should have received more nominations than it did.

Top 5 performances that should have been nominated this year.
1. Best Picture-Children Of Men
2. Best Director-Alfonso Cuaron (Children Of Men)
3. Best Supporting Actress-Emma Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction)
4. Best Supporting Actress-Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
As discussed above, she was nominated for Best Actress for this performance but since the lead performance of the film is by Anne Hathaway, it makes no sense. Just goes to prove that Academy voters often vote for names not actual performances. Though it is the studios fault, they obviously submitted Streep's nomination for Best Actress knowing that an actress with her pedigree would be nominated no matter what.
5. Best Supporting Actor-Danny Huston (The Proposition)

Rock and The Police (and other ramblings)

2007-01-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

First off, J-Mac and I spent our Saturday night at a Toronto Rock game. My company had a box for the night and I was able to scam us two of the tickets. It was actually the first time I was able to enjoy a game from a box in my life.

The funny thing was that most of us spent the time watching the Penguins/Leafs game on a tv inside the box. It was so confusing at times, we would hear the roar of the crowd inside the ACC we would look up to the tv as if something happened in the game that was taking place in Pittsburgh.

NLL-type lacrosse is quite an event to watch. The goalies have so much padding and the nets are so small, the only way to score is to fake a shot than fling it in the hole that is opened up by the goalies movement. Also there is this cool shot that players attempt where they put the lacrosse stick behind their head and literally shoot it from above their opposite shoulder. The ball then comes from a different angle than the goalie expects.

The hockey influence is pretty obvious in this style of lacrosse. Their is fighting, body checking, on-the-fly line changes and plenty of hitting along the boards. You do seem to be able to use your stick as a weapon more as when defending, you can clearly hit the offensive player with your stick in order to get the ball. The final score was 19-15 for the Rochester Knighthawks so offense is clearly not a problem in this league.

The game was aired on Rogers Sportsnet. There were 16 882 people at the ACC for the game. I have a feeling that number will be higher than the amount of viewers that broadcast will get on Sportsnet.

A funny segment from Sportsnet occured during last Thursday's Leafs/Panthers game. During the second period intermission, the hockeycentral panel featuring Bill Watters, Daren Millard and Nick Kypreos were discussing the game's action. Suddenly, his nose started bleeding. The funny part was watching Kypreos' face as he was looking off camera trying to figure out what to do. As well, he kept subtly looking into his pockets looking for a kleenex for his bleeding comrade. The segment is still not on youtube but I assume it will shortly.

In the title of this blog, I mentioned The Police. The reason is that the rumour du jour regarding their reunion (the worst kept secret in music) is that they will open the Grammy Awards show on February 11th with their first performance together in years. They have only played together twice since they broke up, an impromptu set at Sting's wedding in 1992 and when they were inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Top 5 Police CDs (they only had 5)

1. Zenyetta Mondetta

2. Synchronicity

3. Outlandos D'Amour

4. Regetta de Blanc

5. Ghost In The Machine

And speaking of award shows, The Razzie Award nominations came out today. If you don't know what that The Razzie Awards are, they are the opposite of the Academy Awards. They are given out the day before the Academy Awards. At first they were an anti-establishment type thing but they have taken steps towards legitimacy as both Tom Green (Freddie Got Fingered) and Halle Berry (Catwoman) are the only actors to ever actually show up to accept the awards. Bill Cosby (Leonard Part 6), Tom Selleck (Christopher Columbus: The Discovery), Paul Verhoeven (director of Showgirls), Brian Helgeland (writer of The Postman) and Ben Affleck (Gigli, Daredevil and Paycheque) have all accepted the awards after the fact.

This year, the films Basic Instinct 2 and Little Man led the way with 7 nominations each.

Tomorrow, the Academy Award nominations will be released and I will have a full analysis. Why? Not because you asked me...but because I want to. I find the history of the Academy Awards fascinating.

Fresh meat for Zues and Appolo

2007-01-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

So after months of rumours that included George Clooney, Vince Vaughn and Ben Affleck, the main casting for the movie version of Magnum P.I. is rumoured to be complete.

The role of Thomas Magnum, the former Vietnam vet living in a palatial estate as the head of security while being a private investigator on the side is Matthew McConaughey. Obviously with a light comedic actor like McConaughey, the movie is going to be closer to the early Magnum episodes which were more playful than some of the serious melodrama that the show got into in the latter years.

I guess from a sex appeal aspect, women are going to love this choice. I don't quite get it when it comes to McConaughey. I remember one woman (whose name I will not mention as I see no need to embarrass her) was telling me how she loved McConaughey. I said she should see A Time To Kill. She didn't recognize the title and asked me what it was about. I was telling her about Carl Lee Hailey (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who kills these guys who raped his daughter and that McConaughey plays the lawyer who defends him. She did not know the movie but told me that it sounded like another movie where McConaughey takes his shirt off. Turns out, it was the same film. It's the scene where after the KKK burns down his house for representing Hailey in court.

The Top 5 Matthew McConaughey movies

1. A Time To Kill

2. Lone Star

3. Amistad

4. Contact

5. Sahara

What is even more interesting about the cast is the fact that it will be a reunion of some of his castmates from the underrated action movie Sahara, William H. Macy and Steve Zahn. Macey will play Jonathan Higgins, the manager of the estate in which Magnum resides. Zahn, in the most inspired casting of all, will play local bar owner Rick Wright. The role of TC looks like it will be played by Tyrese Gibson.

Are celebs even aware of inventions such as television and the internet?

2007-01-16T10:46:00.000-05:00

My fascination with Paula Abdul on American Idol still continues. Her drunken or drugged out ramblings are by far the best part of the show.

However, during an interview with a local TV network, she really stepped over the line. She was so drunk that she could barely sit down. I actually thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit as she rambled, flirted, pointed and almost slipped off her chair and that was in the first 30 seconds of the interview.

According to a spokesperson for Abdul, she was, wait for it...exhausted.

This was at the end of three days of press (interviews and appearances), and she has had cameras following her around for a reality TV show, too,” said Jeff Ballard.

Here is the clip from youtube. Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeAQu9I0wfM

This, of course, will not be enough to make me watch American Idol this year. I do sometimes enjoy the first shows where the hundreds of people get to try out. Last season, I was immediately hooked by eventual winner Taylor Hicks. Here he is singing the song The Runaround.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWju1Eu9b4Y

He really does have that Michael McDonald vibe but much cooler.

Top 5 Doobie Brothers songs.

1. Black Water

2. China Grove

3. Listen To The Music

4. Takin' It To The Streets

5. South City Midnight Lady

But, I can't see me making it through another full season of that show. No matter how entertaining Paula Abdul continues to be. It makes you wonder if this was all a joke just to get even more people to watch American Idol.

There is a conspiracy theory being floated around that this is all to kick Abdul off American Idol and replace her with Posh Spice (also known as Mrs. David Beckham). She is now going to be living in LA as her husband recently signed a ridiculous contract to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS.

Her judging on American Idol is pretty ironic since I don't believe she ever actually sung on any of the Spice Girls songs. They didn't even hide that in the videos, she doesn't actually appear to be singing in them either.

My weekend is SET

2007-01-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

For the first weekend in a while, we actually have a lot of plans. Friday night, J-Mac & I are having dinner with Jayman at our favourite German restaurant Wally's in Etobicoke. His wife MC is currently in Germany on business so we decided to do the next best thing.

What I am looking forward to most, other than the huge schnitzels, is they have Hacker-Pschorr on draught. It will probably be the best draught I've had since leaving the UK.

Saturday will also be good as my sister and her two kids are staying with us overnight. My 3 year old niece is basically a full time job on her own and I am sure she will have us up at 6:30 am Sunday morning wanting some breakfast.

However, Sunday is the big night, the 2 hour season premiere of 24 with another 2 hours on Monday night. A co-worker actually gave me a copy of a screener of the first four hours of the show on Tuesday. Due to my excitement, I just had to put it on just to see what it was like. I was enjoying the first hour, though it seemed a little short.

Your Faithful narrator lawyers have demanded I edit out some key words in the next paragraph

I was confused when all the sudden **** decided to **** by **** one of the ****. I started watching the second hour and the previews showed a scene from the first hour that I had obviously missed. It seems that the low quality of the DVD was actually skipping scenes. I officially gave up and will watch the four hours of 24 this Sunday and Monday.

24 has been all over the media this past week. The National Post has had articles about the show everyday this week. Today's article was about the torture tactics used throughout the show's run. Thursday's was from a writer who decided to watch the entire first season of 24 in one sitting. Wednesday was about Jack Bauer's(Kiefer Sutherland) right-hand woman Chloe O'Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Tuesday was a feature about the ongoing hiring of Canadian actors for this US-based show. Monday's article centred on the character of Jack Bauer.

The entire cast was interviewed by an aging and forgetful Larry King on Monday night. Here is the transcript. It wasn't a great interview as King is clearly losing it, was asking the wrong people the wrong questions and forgetting people's names.

My favourite part was when Larry was about to ask James Morrison (who plays CTU Director Bill Buchanen) a question. Without looking at his notes, King starts, "Jim...". King realizes he has made a mistake so he tries to cover it up by asking "can I call you Jim?". Morrison just looks at him coldly and says, "I'd really prefer James." Guess he isn't much of a Doors fan.

The bulk of the questions were obviously for Kiefer and one viewer emailed a question asking Kiefer about whether there will ever be a role for his Dad Donald Sutherland. Kiefer sidestepped the question by saying that his character's father would be making an appearance this season and would be played by James Cromwell (you know him from Babe). I mention this only in passing as my Top 5 list is as follows.

Top 5 Donald Sutherland Movies
1. M*A*S*H
2. Klute
3. Blood Relatives
4. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
5. A Time To Kill

If you want some entertaining video, here is Kiefer Sutherland in full Jack Bauer mode for a series of commercials for a Japanese food supplement bar called Caloriemate. They are really short and amusing if you like 24 or Japanese energy supplement commercials.

Gwynn is IN!!!

2007-01-10T10:31:00.000-05:00

So the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown announced who are going to be inducted this year. The big news is that one of the two is Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn.

Top 5 reasons Tony Gwynn should be in the Hall of Fame
1. Gwynn's lifetime batting average was .338. His career average is the highest among players whose careers began after World War II. He hit below .300 only once in his career. His rookie year of 1982 when he hit .289.
2. He led the National League in batting average 8 times. Only Honus Wagner has won as many NL batting titles.
3. He struck out a total of 434 times in his career. That equates to once every 21 at bats. Putting this into perspective, in 2006 Adam Dunn struck out once every 3 at bats.
4. Gwynn was a 15 time All Star. He started 11 of those All-Star Games.
5. Gwynn won 5 straight gold gloves from 1986 to 1991.

Oh yeah, Cal Ripken was also elected into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. I like Cal Ripken. I get that he has revolutionized the short stop position and he has the record of playing in 2, 632 consecutive games. Though there are some who would argue that his pursuit of that streak actually hindered his team. Had he rested more throughout the season, he may have been able to lead his team to more post season success.

Similar type arguments could be made against Gwynn. Apparently, there were times when his team, the San Diego Padres wanted to deal Gwynn in order to improve. Gwynn refused to be traded. He went to school in San Diego, was a college baseball star in San Diego, played his entire career in San Diego and now that he has retired, is actually coaching at the University of San Diego. It is really difficult to trash someone with that kind of dedication.

Voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame has a lot of distinctions. Only baseball writers can vote. They can vote for as many people who are eligible up to 10. Eligible candidates must be on 75% of the ballots in order to be elected into the Hall. If an eligible candidate gets less than 5% of the vote, he is kicked off the ballot in future seasons. If you do get more than 5% but not enough to be inducted, you can remain on the ballot for 15 years. Despite all this, only one or two players get elected each year.

Here is the breakdown of the ballots this year:

Cal Ripken 537 (98.5%), Tony Gwynn 532 (97.6%), Rich “Goose” Gossage 388 (71.2%), Jim Rice 346 (63.5%), Andre Dawson 309 (56.7%), Bert Blyleven 260 (47.7%), Lee Smith 217 (39.8%), Jack Morris 202 (37.1%), Mark McGwire 128 (23.5%), Tommy John 125 (22.9%), Steve Garvey 115 (21.1%), Dave Concepcion 74 (13.6%), Alan Trammell 73 (13.4%), Dave Parker 62 (11.4%), Don Mattingly 54 (9.9%), Dale Murphy 50 (9.2%), Harold Baines 29 (5.3%), Orel Hershiser 24 (4.4%), Albert Belle 19 (3.5%), Paul O’Neill 12 (2.2%), Bret Saberhagen 7 (1.3%), Jose Canseco 6 (1.1%), Tony Fernandez 4 (0.7%), Dante Bichette 3 (0.6%), Eric Davis 3 (0.6%), Bobby Bonilla 2 (0.4%), Ken Caminiti 2 (0.4%), Jay Buhner 1 (0.2%), Scott Brosius 0, Wally Joyner 0, Devon White 0, Bobby Witt 0.

Here is what I find interesting. 8 of these baseball writers believed that Cal Ripken should NOT be elected into the hall of fame and 13 of them believed that Tony Gwynn should NOT be elected into the hall of fame. If those two aren't good enough...who is good enough for these idiot writers.

Even worse. 3 of these writers believe Dante Bichette SHOULD go in the Hall of Fame. Bichette who hit less than 300 home runs in his career and had a lifetime batting average less than .300. And even those numbers are inflated as he played 7 seasons in the best hitting park in Major League Baseball, Colorado's Mile High Stadium.

So with the news of Gwynn's induction, I have informed J-Mac that we are to be heading down to Cooperstown this fall. We aren't going for the induction ceremony, I just want to head down later to play some golf, check out the scenery and check out the new plaque for the greatest hitter of our generation, Tony Gwynn.

She is already on board by figuring out our route down to Cooperstown, picking out some good hotels and trying to determine whether we will drive back to Canada up through the Adirondacks up past Plattsburg and meet up with Coglero in Ottawa or not.

We did this same trip in September 2000. My favourite memory of being in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown was standing outside the Negro Leagues section of the Hall. I was waiting for J-Mac who was admiring the Babe Ruth memoribilia when I hear this guy in front of us pointing out the Negro Leagues section and saying to his wife, "We don't need to go in there." I love Americans.

How is Grease STILL the word?

2007-01-09T15:38:00.000-05:00

So I spent part of my Sunday night watching a new reality show called Grease: You're The One That I Want. Essentially, it is American Idol with a male and a female who will end up winning the competition. Those winners will get to play Danny Zuko and Sandy Dombrowski in a new broadway production of the musical Grease.

The producers, who were also the culprits behind Dancing With The Stars, are obviously serious about this as the three judges have great resumes. The first is Kathleen Marshall, Tony Award winning director and choreographer. She is set to direct the upcoming Broadway production of Grease. The second is original Grease co-writer Jim Jacobs. The third is the most powerful person in the UK theatre industry David Ian.

After just one episode, not one of these three judges are flighty like Paula Abdul or trying to be your buddy like Randy Jackson. It appears to be three Simon Cowell's without the "always trying to funny" vibe. The worst part of the show is the host of the show Billy Bush. He clearly does not understand the industry and foisted one contestant back on the stage for a second audition after the judges said no after the woman's first audition. The judges played along, let her have a second one. She over-inunciated the same song she did the first time, her voice cracked and the judges nicely thanked her for her time. You could see Kathleen Marshall look off-camera as if to say, "Tell that fucking host that THIS is why I have a Tony Award."

Actually, Bush's claim to fame should be his lame interview with Entourage's Jeremy Piven before the 2006 Emmy Awards. On the red carpet, Bush kept asking Piven if he'd seen any of the celebrity babies like Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's baby Violet or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby Shilo.

Piven, tired of the questions, finally said, "No, I have 116 other things to do. I don't go hunting for celebrity babies, thank you." When Bush kept asking, Piven snapped and said, "You need another job. You have potential as a human being. This may not be right for you. Seriously -- can you focus on other things?"

Apparently the first bunch of shows involves them going to Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. Candidates are first required to do a quick singing audition. If they make it through that, they have to come back the next day for a quick dance audition. If you make it through that, you get to go to "Grease Academy". Not sure how the show's production is going to work from there. Perhaps Grease competitions with the loser being ousted each week. I can't see me lasting this long with the show.

Ratings for the first show, according to Variety magazine, were simply okay up against NFL post-game coverage, The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. What is interesting is how this show will fare for an entire season. The show, like American Idol, is beginning at the audition process. However, they are spending too much time creating stories with candidates and not enough time showing the multitude of people who are trying out. It really looks like only 30 or 40 people are showing up at each audition. And the bulk of them are unprepared and too old for the roles. Plus, if I see one more waify blonde sing "Hopelessly Devoted To You", I may throw up. Most auditioners are using songs from Grease but there aren't that many songs that are good for an audition so it sounds like we will be hearing the same songs over and over. Overall, the show is a bit of risk. If the show fails and gets cancelled, what will that end up meaning for the broadway production?

The show was originally structured in the UK for a show called How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? A talent show to find someone to play Maria Von Trapp in West End London production of The Sound Of Music.

What I don't understand is the ongoing popularity of Grease. I've never seen the musical on stage, however I find the movie version was unwatchable.

Top 5 things wrong with the movie Grease
1. All the actors are too old. John Travolta was 24, Olivia Newton John was 30 and worst of all Stockard Channing was 34. And they are playing high school teenagers!!!!!

2. The first half of the movie isn't bad if you look at it as a spoof of 50s culture and musicals. But the second half of the film lacks any humour or anything really important to say about male/female relationships. The school dance scene is so messily directed that you really aren't able to focus on what is important or moving the plot forward.

3. At the end of the film, Travolta and Newton-John hop into a car and the car then flies away. Why does the car fly? Is this some sort of alternate universe that I don't know about?

4 (from J-Mac). Newton-John can not dance. They needed a lead female who could at least keep up with Travolta's dance ability.

5. Too many anachronims to mention from cars to planes, air conditioners to juke boxes that were clearly made after 1959 were the movie is supposed to take place. But then again, since the movie ends with a flying car...it doesn't really matter.

What kills me is that a movie like Grease continues to be loved while a British musical from 1986 entitled Absolute Beginners has been essentially forgotten. It is about that turbulent time in the late 50s in London. The time that the jazz age is over but the mucial revolution of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who has not yet begun. Musicians from Sade, Ray Davies and David Bowie all have roles in the film. Here is one of the musical sequences with Mr. Bowie.

Happy Birthday Bowie (updated!)

2007-01-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

So today, January 8th is David Bowie's 60th birthday. 60 years old. It is hard to believe. Even harder to believe? It would also be Elvis Presley's 72nd birthday. Bowie and Presley...born on the same day. That seems incredible to me.

Top 10 David Bowie videos (yes, I am straying from my normal Top 5 list)

1. Loving The Alien (from 1984's Tonight)

2. Never Let Me Down (from 1987's Never Let Me Down)

3. China Girl (from 1983's Lets Dance)

4. Fashion (from 1980's Scary Monsters)

5. I'm Afraid Of Americans (from 1997's Earthling)

6. Boys Keep Swinging (from 1979's Lodger)

7. Ashes To Ashes (from 1980's Scary Monsters)

8. Jump They Say (from 1993's Black Tie White Noise)

9. Let's Dance (from 1983's Let's Dance)

10. Strangers When We Meet (from 1995's Outside)

Extras...read all about it

2007-01-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

As a lot of you know. I am a big fan of the British series The Office. If you haven't seen any of them, may I suggest the peekvid website where you can see every single episode that has ever aired.

Anyway, Office creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have created a new show called Extras. The series has already had two season completed but has yet to be aired here in Canada. Gervais plays Andy Millman as he struggles to find work in the acting field, taking minor roles in film and TV productions.

The show has had limited broadcasts here in Canada. I found a press release from CH Television that indicated the show aired on their network last May but I don't know many people who watched it. TMN or Bravo have certainly has not picked up the rights for it. Though you can find many scenes from the show online.

Each episode features a guest star. Samuel L. Jackson, Kate Winslet and Daniel Radcliffe have all appeared in episodes of the show. My favourite guest cameo is by David Bowie. In this scene, Gervais' character meets Bowie in a restaurant and Bowie proceeds to create a song on the spot that makes fun of Gervais. As a Bowie fan myself, this is the first footage I have ever seen of him playing the piano.

Top 5 David Bowie Singles
1. Young Americans
2. Golden Years
3. Starman
4. Drive-In Saturday
5. Modern Love

My favourite footage of David Bowie on TV would have to be the time he debuted the song Young Americans on The Dick Cavett Show. This is about late 1974, look for David Sanborn on saxophone and Luther Vandross as one of the back-up singers.

A triumverate

2007-01-03T07:02:00.000-05:00

I already wrote about Michael Jackson and James Brown, I found this video of Jackson, Brown and Prince sharing the same stage. Judging by Brown's apparent age, Jackson's look and Prince's style...I would say this is about 1987.

Top 5 Prince Albums
1. Purple Rain
2. Controversy
3. 1999
4. Sign O' The Times
5. Emancipation

Not that the above video is all that good. I just like how Prince is smart enough not to follow James Brown by singing...he just plays guitar. But still, the three of them sharing the stage, at least for a moment is pretty incredible. The music equivalant of that time Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente started for the National League in the 1962 All-Star Game.

For a more interesting Prince performance on TV, I really prefer him and Beyonce singing at the 2003 Grammy Awards.

Unrelatedly, Chris Rock has a new movie coming out. And unlike Down To Earth, Bad Company, Head Of State, Pootie Tang and any other Chris Rock starring vehicle you can think of...the trailer actually looks funny. The title is called I Think I Love My Wife.

The king of slop

2006-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Been thinking a lot about Michael Jackson lately. For obvious reasons, he is a bit of a pariah here in North America. However, like David Hasselhoff, for some reason he is still huge in Europe.

While in London earlier this month, we watched some of the World Music Awards. Michael was being given some lifetime achievement award. Beyonce, acting like his press agent, was the one who gave him the award.

As he came out to accept the award, the crowds were screaming like it was 1963 and these were the Beatles. On youtube, there are dozens of uploads from people who were there recording this with their cell phone.

Later in the show, he then sang a song...sort of. They had a choir of children on stage (very bizarre considering Jackson's many allegations) and the song We Are The World was playing. Jackson came out and sang along with the record. Literally, you can hear Bruce Springsteen or Willie Nelson singing while Jackson interjects by singing along at certain points. It was like really lazy karaoke. Most of the time he was just walking around the stage shaking hands like a politician.

The other reason I was thinking about Jackson was Coglero recently emailed me asking for ideas for the ultimate 80s compilation CD. The 80s were a funny decade as there are so many one hit wonders and totally obvious overplayed songs that most 80s CDs are kind of boring. Seriously, do you really need to hear Soft Cell's Tainted Love or The Human League's Don't You Want Me? And why does all 80s compilation CDs have to include Jackson's own Billie Jean when there are much better songs of his from the 80s.

Top 5 Michael Jackson Songs
1. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
2. Beat It
3. Man In The Mirror
4. I Just Can't Stop Loving You
5. Smooth Criminal

Plus most 80s compilation CDs always ignore some of the great rock and roll from that era. David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen all had great music throughout the 80s. Or they include the obvious songs from some of the new wave bands like Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf or The Reflex when Rio and New Moon On Monday are much better songs and do not feel so dated. I couldn't really help with ideas for the Ultimate 80s CD as I would purposely ignore alternative stuff like The Smiths and The Cure and since a lot of the new wave from that era feels so "20 years ago", I really could not include that kind of music either.

Pardon?

2006-12-28T10:12:00.000-05:00

So Gerald Ford is dead and I still do not know about his place in history. Anytime a person dies, one must feel some sorrow and look back fondly at that person. However, Gerald Ford PARDONED Richard Nixon. Let's think about this for a second, a president of the United States either committed or had people commit illegal activities. And the person who takes over for him lets him get away with it.

In a television broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."

During his tribute to Ford, current President Bush (who knows a little something about illegal activities) mentioned that Ford "helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the presidency". Rather ironic that Bush made these statements considering that in a 2004 interview with Bob Woodward, Ford said that Bush "made a big mistake" with their justifications for the Iraq war. What is even more interesting is that these anti-Bush comments did not come to light until after Ford died. Apparently, Ford requested that Woodward not publish the interview until Woodward had written a planned book about Ford or until he died.

Anyway, getting back to Ford's pardoning of Nixon, a lot of political pundits believe that Ford doing that is what cost him the re-election. He ended up losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976. However, some believe that it wasn't really Ford's idea to pardon Nixon in the first place.

You have to remember that Ford's ascension to the presidency was a rather bizarre one. Spiro Agnew was Nixon's original Vice President. He resigned, while in office, after he was charged with tax evasion. Nixon than nominated Ford to take over as VP. Soon after taking over that role, White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig advised Ford that Nixon was probably going to end up taking the fall for the Watergate scandal. In other words, Ford would soon end up being the 38th president of the United States.

According to Bob Woodward's book Shadow, Ford becoming President and the pardon of Nixon was part of a backroom deal between Ford, Nixon and Haig. In the same conversation where Haig advised Ford about what was going on with Watergate, he also advised the three options there were to protect Nixon from jail time. (1) Nixon could pardon himself and resign, (2) Nixon could pardon his aides involved in Watergate and then resign, or (3) Nixon could agree to leave in return for an agreement that the new president would pardon him. It looks like Ford went with option #3. Interestingly enough, Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon.

Top 5 most famous guests of the Betty Ford Center-Rehab Facility.
1. Elizabeth Taylor
2. Jerry Lee Lewis
3. Mary Tyler Moore
4. Johnny Cash
5. Chevy Chase

Modern times indeed

2006-12-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

So the magazine Rolling Stone has released their Top 50 Albums of 2006. There was a time when a top 50 albums list would either be stuff I already have, stuff I want or stuff I was never interested in getting in the first place.

This list kind of makes me feel old. I literally own one album on this list, Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. But then again, I only own four albums that were even released in 2006, the others being The Who's Endless Wire, Katie Melua`s Piece By Piece and Neil Diamond's 12 Songs.

What kills me is that most of these groups I have never even heard of. Phoenix? Rhymefest? Wolfmother? There are even albums by artists I've heard of that I didn't even know were releasing an album. Fats Domino, Lindsay Buckingham and The New York Dolls all have albums on the list and I am so out of the loop, I wasn't even aware.

The #1 album on the list appears to be the unanimous #1 on a lot of people's lists. Bob Dylan's Modern Times. I have heard most of the tracks and it really rocks.

Top 5 Bob Dylan Albums
1. Bringing It All Back Home
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Blonde On Blonde
4. Blood On The Tracks
5. Another Side Of Bob Dylan

I may have to pick up that new Dylan CD, but right now I am in the middle of CD hell. Since J-Mac and I moved to this new house, we have never got our CDs in order. We have 1000s of CDs, from every genre from classical to jazz, rap to rock. I can't get them into any semblance of an order. I try putting all the rock in one area, jazz in another...but then what do I do with all that celtic stuff that J-Mac has? Seriously, what do you do with Clannad? As I write this, I just found J-Mac`s The Comedian Harmonists!!!! Where do I put that! (actually THAT one is easy...jazz). Anyway, getting these in order has been a project that has been ongoing for about a week. I may have to quit my job in order to get it completed.

The king of them all, y'all

2006-12-25T15:28:00.000-05:00

He was known as The Godfather Of Soul, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business and Soul Brother Number One...James Brown has died at the age of 73.

The man`s music has influenced everything from funk to disco to rap. He was still touring endlessly and had an upcoming 2 night gig at Casino Rama in early January 2007.

I have mentioned before that I have seen him in concert at the Blues Fest in Ottawa. It was entertaining, he did all of his obvious songs (including the shtick with the cape) and I was certainly glad I was able to see him at least once. However, he was in his late 60s at the time and the show felt almost over-rehearsed like he and his band had done the same show thousands of times. So here is some footage of James Brown at his best.

Top 5 James Brown Songs
1. Please Please Please
2. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
3. Papa Don`t Take No Mess
4. I Got The Feelin`
5. Night Train

I do always find it interesting when famous people die on Christmas Day. Like that somehow has more special meaning than if they had died on June 11. Off the top of my head, the most famous people to die on Christmas Day were former baseball player and manager Billy Martin, singer/actor Dean Martin and Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin. Looking at that list, yeah, clearly there is no meaning behind dying on that day.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

More trailers!

2006-12-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

To follow up that exciting Die Hard trailer from earlier this week, the folks George Clooney and director Steven Soderberg are about to release another sequel to Ocean's Eleven. Here is the trailer for Oceans 13.

The trailer looks good. The movie damn well better be good as Clooney et al pretty much owe us after that debacle they called Ocean's Twelve. That sequel started off as good as their version of Ocean's Eleven but once Ocean's wife Tess (played by Julia Roberts) has to pretend to actually BE Julia Roberts in front of the Bruce Willis, the movie really lost me. But I love Clooney's Oceans 11. It is funny, it is exciting and actually is a remake that improves on the original.

Top 5 Steven Soderbergh films
1. Out Of Sight
2. Traffic
3. Ocean's Eleven
4. The Limey
5. Erin Brockovich

Don't get me wrong, I like Frank Sinatra's Oceans Eleven...but I didn't believe it for a second and the actors seem really bored (or just on a permanent hang over).

Another trailer that has me excited is for the film Transformers. I had been hearing whispers about this movie for about a year but I hadn't really given it much thought. I remember the cartoon, it was the first big cartoon that I remember after I became to old to really care about cartoons anymore. Anyway, this Transformers seems to be aiming at an older audience than the cartoon. The tone seems to be a mix of the Terminator films and the Stephen King short story and subsequent movie Maximum Overdrive (the film version was actually directed by Stephen King!!!).

My favourite trilogy

2006-12-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

No, this is not going to be about Star Wars, Indiana Jones or (god forbid) The Lord Of The Rings. This is actually about Die Hard. I always liked the first Die Hard movie due to that great performance by the bad guy Alan Rickman. To me, the second one in the airport was even better with more action and a plot that was a little more complex. And then the third one which turns the previous two on its head by not making it at Christmas time, having most of it during the day and making you think that it has something to do with the events from the first Die Hard...when in reality, it doesn't!

The reason I bring it up is that there is now a trailer for the fourth Die Hard entitled Live Free Or Die Hard.

This trailer is pretty cool as it is all action with a little bit of talking at the end. Just what you want from a John McClane movie. I am a little concerned about this film as it is directed by Len Wiseman (you know him as his only other movies are the Underworld movies, plus he is married to Kate Beckinsale).

However, despite what is essentially a no-name director, the bad guys are played by Timothy Olyphant (you know him from Deadwood) and Jeffrey Wright (you know him from the remake of Shaft). This should be enough to make the movie great. The one thing that the Die Hard franchise has always understood more than any other franchise, a good bad guy is the key. This fourth Die Hard certainly continues the trend. It is not out till late next Spring...but I am already pumped.

Top 5 Non Die Hard Bruce Willis Films
1. Pulp Fiction
2. 12 Monkeys
3. Sin City
4. The Fifth Element
5. The Last Boy Scout

The underbelly of UK telly

2006-12-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

TV is rather funny in the UK. Watching on satellite, we could still watch some North American based shows like CSI, Frasier and The Daily Show With John Stewart.

The UK produced shows all seem to be crime dramas. Gritty, dirty crime dramas. The one that seemed to be most of interest was Torchwood. A futuristic crime drama that is a spin-off from Doctor Who featuring Scottish-American actor John Barrowman. It is hard to tell whether he speaks with an american accent faking an english accent or the other way around. However, like the film Minority Report, it seems to take place in the near future with some cool special effects but the background still looks like current day Cardiff, Wales. As the show is co-produced by our own CBC network, it is sure to be premiering in Canada soon.

Of course, our Welsh hosts were rather befuddled by some of the North American shows we watched while at their house. We showed them an episode of Frasier. It was an episode where Frasier, Niles and his father were in the back of a cab and the cab driver went into labour. Pat commented on how cheap the sets looked in comparison to UK produced shows. He asked me where the show was filmed, I told him it was meant to look like Seattle but was shot on a soundstage in Hollywood.

Of course, my favourite british TV show will always be Fawlty Towers.

Top 5 Fawlty Towers Episodes
1. Communication Problems - Selectively deaf Mrs. Alice Richards, a woman with the power to annoy everyone and anyone, has chosen to stay at Fawlty Towers, to the dismay of Basil (John Cleese) who fails to cope with her repeated phrase "What?". When she loses some money she makes everyone's life hell until it turns up ... or is it hers?

2. The Germans - After a heavy blow on the head during a fire drill, Basil finds himself unable to stop himself mentioning 'the war' when a group of German tourists come to stay at the hotel.

3. Gourmet Night - Basil is trying to climb up the social ladder, and with it, the hotel. When VIPs of Torquay visit for a gourmet night, Basil's new Greek chef gets drunk, and once again teetering on a nervous breakdown, Basil tries desperately to repair the situation...

4. The Wedding Party - Basil is disgusted when two young lovers, Alan and Jean, begin 'hanky-pankying' under his very nose while checking in. He becomes convinced that they and two other guests are engaged in sexual misbehaviour, along with Polly (Connie Booth). Meanwhile circumstances conspire to put him in apparently compromising situations whenever they are around.

5. Waldorf Salad - Two demanding guests check in after 9 p.m. after a gruelling journey from London. They want to have a proper meal but unfortunately the chef stops at 9. Basil tries to convince the chef to stay, but having failed to do so, tries to cook the meal himself.

When UK television gets really interesting is at night. The channels are filled with quiz shows. Not game shows, but call-in quiz shows with names like It's Your Call and Quiz Call. The host talks to the camera and gets people to call in, pay 75p (about $1.50) and guess answers to questions like "Name an occupation that begins with the letter T". They have 6 predetermined answers, and callers have to guess what one of the six are. If you are correct, you can win around 200 pounds ($400). I found some clips on youtube of the most famous of the hosts of these shows Greg Scott, you have to see it to believe it.

Justice Is Served

2006-12-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

Are you like me? Are you frustrated by the CRTC regulations that prevent us from watching full episodes of TV shows on the websites for NBC, CBS and ABC? I have been told that websites like youtube do feature some episodes but it is impossible to find.

However, here is a website called Peekvid that has links to websites such as youtube so you can watch entire episodes of TV shows. Plus it is categorized by tv show in chronological order so you can watch whatever you want. Obviously, not every show is on there. Nor is every episode on there but with episodes from shows as wide ranging as 24, How I Met Your Mother and House...you certainly will be able to find something you may have missed when it was originally broadcast. I plan on checking out all of the first season episodes of The Office later today.

If you are looking for something new on that website, may I recommend Justice. This show is already hanging on by a thread having been moved three times, put on hiatus and been destroyed in the ratings. Some call it a legal show for the CSI generation. Personally, I think it is better than any of the CSI shows. The show is your basic legal drama, as this firm called Trott, Nicholson, Tuller & Graves take big name cases in the Los Angeles area. The show has a gimmick that at the end of the show, they show you who actually commited the crime (whether it was the defendant they had or someone else). Therefore, you, as the audience can truly decide whether "justice" has been served.

However, that gimmick is not the reason to see the show. The reason to see it is the lead actor Canadian Victor Garber. His performance is probably one of the best in TV drama right now. What is interesting is that his character doesn't actually try the cases, he is more the figurehead of the firm that is an expert at dealing with the media and ensuring that his clients get off. As an added bonus, the show takes shots at Nancy Grace. Plus, it has the coolest theme song on TV. Lawyers, Guns and Money by Warren Zevon.

As a tribute to "anonymous" who commented on my Mandy Patankin blog entry...here is my top 5 list. Justice features the actor Victor Garber who was in Titanic. Titanic was the second "water based" movie by director James Cameron. The only current director who has done more "water based" movies is Wolfgang Peterson.

Top 5 Wolfgang Peterson movies
1. In The Line Of Fire
2. Das Boot
3. Outbreak
4. Shattered
5. The Perfect Storm

Unrelatedly, is your office like mine today? Everyone is talking about the Justin Timberlake/Andy Sandberg Christmas song from this weekend's Saturday Night Live called D*** In A Box.

The volume is kind of low on this, a better version appears on SNL's own website under Featured Videos.

Our final time in the UK at Heathrow Airport

2006-12-13T08:38:00.000-05:00

So, we're back from merry old England. Our final moments in the UK were a real kick in the ass. Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport and it certainly showed as we flew out of there on Saturday night.

People were milling around everywhere...it was impossible to walk anywhere. The funniest part was we had some garbage to throw out before we got on the flight and because of the threat of terrorist bombing, the airport does not have a single trash can anywhere. We literally had to hunt down a janitor and put it in his refuse bin.

As we lined up for the first time on the second floor of the airport..we began to see the magnitude of people who were travelling out of there. Our passports were checked five times before we got on the plane. They were then checked another three times after we landed back in Toronto.

The flight home featured three movies. The first was horrible, My Super Ex-Girlfriend with Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson. The story made no sense in the first place, unless you are one of those parents-basement-residing-losers who wonder what it is really like to have sex with a female super hero. The movie starts off funny with Luke Wilson playing the same type character he did in Old School who meets Uma Thurman who in reality is a super hero named G-Girl. When he dumps her for being too needy...she seeks vengeance on him. At about half way through the movie is when I officially gave up on it. No joke, G-Girl throws a shark at Wilson and his new girlfriend in their apartment. Seriously, she threw a LIVE SHARK. I have heard of jumping the shark when it comes to television shows but this was the first case I can remember of a movie throwing the shark.

Top 5 Uma Thurman Movies
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Beautiful Girls
3. Gattaca
4. Kill Bill, Vol. 2
5. Mad Dog And Glory

The second film was The Devil Wears Prada. I understand the book was a huge success, but I had never read it. I am guessing the book is different than the movie. The movie really makes Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) fairly sympathetic and almost the movie's hero. The movie's actual hero is Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) comes off as whiney, self important and ungrateful. Interestingly enough, this film has gone on to be the most financially successful of Streep's career.

The third film was Edward Scissorhands. Apparently Air Canada has started showing old films on their international flights. It was a good movie to be on as it helped me sleep for a couple of hours. More posts of our tales from Wales coming later.

Here Comes The Rain Again

2006-12-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

So our trip to the UK is about complete. After having spent the first three days in London, the rest of our time was spent in Wales. Each day was action packed with trips to the capital of Cardiff (the capital of Wales), a train up to Bath, England and much time spent in Caerphilly, Wales where J-Mac's cousin lives.

Each day was filled with a lot of culture shock, so much so, it reminded me of that Jerry Seinfeld American Express commercial about his time in England. It is not on youtube, however, go to this link and you can watch the full length version.

Aside from the fascinating castles we visited, my favourite part of the trip was filled with visits to pubs. As a north american, if you have never been to a pub in the UK, you really haven't been to a pub. The difference is so pronounced that I will never refer to these places in North America as pubs. I will either refer to them as ''pubs'' (complete with the little rabbit gestures with my hands) or simply Disneyland.

It's not just that the quality of beer is different...it is better here but I can get over that. It is just the whole process of eating and drinking in a pub that is so different. Assuming that the pub actually serves food, there are no waiters there. You simply note your table number and order food from the bartender. There is no need to tip as you do not tip bartenders when ordering food or drinks. You simply pay the amount, grab your drinks and a table runner will bring your food.

My favourite pub was in Cardiff called The Old Arcade. No joke, it was the best hamburger I have ever eaten. It wasn't even close!!! I don't know what the second best burger I have ever had was but this was certainly #1.

Another pub I enjoyed was The Globe in London. This place was nothing special but the atmosphere was just perfect. People simply grabbing a pint at their local establishment. And that is the other part that kills me, there are pubs everywhere. Walking distance no matter where you live. Just this very second, I walked out of the house, took two steps out the front door and took a picture of the pub near by. In Toronto, an excursion to the pub means grabbing your friends, figuring out what pub to go to, which one has good food, making either driving or TTC plans to get there...it becomes a whole procedure. Unless you are really lucky you don't have a local ''pub''. I have to admit, I am quite sad to be leaving the pub lifestyle here.

Thursday night was the last time we were in Cardiff...I took a quick trek to Virgin Records as I wanted to buy some sort of CD here. Live At Leeds by the Who would have been good as Leeds is in Wales, however, I picked up Quodrophenia instead.

Top 5 Who albums
1. Who's Next
2. Tommy
3. My Generation
4. Quodrophenia
5. Who Are You

Of course, the title of this blog refers to the ever present rain here. Not that it is constant...but no matter what...it can rain at any time. Literally, every day we have been here...it has rained for at least parts of it. The only true sunny days were yesterday and today (so far).

I hope to post some pictures once we get home late tonight.

Down to London

2006-12-04T23:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, i have been in the UK for four days and I have learned alot. The first three days were in London, England and let me tell you...everything you have heard is true.

Top 5 True things about London
1. Everything is ridiculously expensive here. The cost of eating and drinking is reason enough to make you go on a diet.

2. Traffic is a nightmare. Do not even bother driving or taking a taxi anywhere. It just isn't worth it. There are too many cars on the road to make it worth the bother. The tube (subway) is the only way to get around.

3. Drinking is a rampant disease in the UK. Our first night in London, thanks to the time delay from North America, we found ourselves in Leicester Square around midnight. The amount of drunks who were bumping into us our couples simply making out based on the amount of alcohol they consumed in the middle of the street as we struggled to pass by was incredible.

4. The most underrated landmark of London is the Globe Theatre. We walked by there and I was in awe. This was the home of Shakespeare's theatrical work. English language drama and comedy started right here!!! Yes, I should have been more awestruck by Big Ben or The Tower of London...but it just did not hit me vicserally like the Globe Theatre.

5. Yes, there are pubs everywhere. Really, don't like the looks of the pub in front of you? Walk a block and you will find yourself choosing between numerous other pubs. I just wish I could sound like I come from there. Not necessarily that I want the British accent...just that I could say "cheeers" or "ta" without sounding dorky.

As of last night, we are staying with J-Mac's cousin in Caerphilly, Wales which is a suburb of Cardiff. The local beer is Brains Beer which is quite good. The SA Gold is my current favourite. Our current plan is to stay here till Friday. That morning, we will by flying off to Glasgow. We will then return to London later that weekend for one last night before flying home. Considering the prices in London, we will probably be eating at Burger King and drinking the ever present rain water as the cost of living in London will probably not have improved.

The land of Benny Hill and Coronation Street

2006-11-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

So as J-Mac mentioned in a recent posting on her blog, she & I are off to the United Kingdom on December 1st. It will be a jam packed 10 days as we begin by landing in London and staying there for a couple of days. We will then drive to Cardiff, Wales (first stopping off in Bath, England) for a couple more days. We will then be flying from Cardiff to Glasgow, Scotland. We will then fly from Glasgow back to London for a night before flying home.

This will be my first flight to Europe since my journey when I was 16 years old. Not looking forward to all the flying but certainly can't wait to get there.

Top 5 things I want to do in the UK.
1. Go to really old pubs. I mean ones that are hundred of years old. When we are in Glasgow, I want to go to a pub that J-Mac's father, grandfather and great grandfather used to go to.

2. Drive. Not that I like driving that much at all, I want to check out what it is like to drive on the other side of the street with the driver's seat on the other side of the car.

3. Eat meat pies. You know, steak and kidney pies, steak and mushroom pies. I am not a fan of them in general but I would like to try them out there. You know...when in Rome and all those kinds of cliches.

4. Go to the Tower of London. This London landmark, reknown to have been a prison for kings such as John Baliol of Scotland, Henry VI of England as well as conspirator of the Gunpowder Plot Guy Fawkes. It is also known to have been the site of many tortures and executions. I am just fascinated by the history.

5. Play golf while in Scotland. This is the birthplace of the sport and I would love to play it there, though I am sure any course there would absolutely kick my ass. Nevertheless, time and weather will probably be against us and we won't be able to play a round.

To get me in the mood for the trip, I found a classic clip of famed British comedian Benny Hill.

Not that I want to think about plane crashes in movies or TV prior to the trip, however, the website IGN has listed the top 50 current loose ends on the show Lost. Or, as I like to call it, the top 50 reasons why I no longer watch Lost.

Probably won't have time to post during the trip so I will post something when I am back on Dec. 11.

Superman 2...Volume 2

2006-11-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite super-hero movies is Superman II. This is the second of the Christopher Reeve series where Superman must fight General Zod, Ursa and Non all the while falling in love with Margot Kidder's Lois Lane and making the decision to have his powers removed so he can live a normal life with her.

However, the movie has been steeped in controversy over the years. You see, original Superman director Richard Donner was actually filming part 1 and part 2 simultaneously. With principle photography for the film and 70% of the second movie also done, production was stopped on Part 2 so Donner could polish part 1 for the release.

Circumstances were brewing with the production of part 2 starting with Marlon Brando suing the studio for a higher percentage of the profits for part 2. The studio decided to remove all of Brando's scenes from part 2 and asked Donner to make the film campier. Donner essentially refused so the studio plopped in Richard Lester to finish directing part 2.

However, in order for a director to have sole credit for directing a film, over 50% of the footage has to be shot by that person. So Lester literally had to re-shoot entire scenes that Donner had already done. Gene Hackman (who was playing Lex Luthor) refused, so his scenes in the original cut are Donner's production. Margot Kidder went along with the re-shoots but was quite vocal in her opposition of the changes. Because of this, she is barely in the third Superman movie (also directed by Lester).

Top 5 Christopher Reeve films
1. The Remains Of The Day
2. Superman II
3. Street Smart
4. Switching Channels
5. Above Suspicion (bizarre film where Reeve plays a paralyzed policeman who plots to murder his wife. Less than a week after the film was released, Reeve suffered that horse riding accident that left him actually paralyzed)

With the success of the recent Superman movie with Brandon Routh, Warner Brother has released the Richard Donner version of Superman II. As much as half of the film contains never-before seen material filmed by Donner, including 15 minutes of restored Marlon Brando scenes as Superman's father Jor-El as well as numerous new Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder scenes. There are also several newly-filmed shots with CGI enhancements. Here is a review from the website Cinematical of this new version of the film. As well, here is a trailer for this new cut.

Monday's LA Times has an interview with Richard Donner about the release of his version of the movie.

I Love Lists...Vol. 3

2006-11-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

The movie magazine Premiere has released a long awaited list. The Top 20 Most overrated films of all time. And this list pulls no punches as it includes Field Of Dreams, Nashville and 'gulp' The Wizard Of Oz. Each page lists one movie, the reason why one of the writers picked it and a rebuttle written by another Premier writer explaining why the person was wrong.

My own top 5 Most Overrated comedies (I am specifying comedies because if I include dramas, that will mean listing The English Patient which will just get me in trouble at home.

1. Ace Ventura (either of them...I am just shocked that they were even produced)
2. Mrs. Doubtfire (ridiculous lack of chemistry between Sally Field and Robin Williams, characters are unbelievably stupid and the leaps of logic are awe-inspiring)
3. There's Something About Mary (funny concept but this extremely slow paced movie drags 20 mins of comedy over a 90 minute film)
4. Austin Powers (any of them-the first one is a little funny, the second and third ones are just retreads of the original)
5. In And Out (there are so many things wrong with this film it is the Independance Day of comedies)

Not much else to write about today. If you are fan of the show How I Met Your Mother, you already have Robin Sparkles' song Let's Go To The Mall stuck in your head for about a week. For those of you who aren't, this video is all over the internet. On the show, one of the characters had a minor hit song in Canada back in 1993. This is the video for that song and it is Tiffany-circa-1986-goodness at its best. It is about the best spoof of an 80s song and video I have ever seen. You should be watching this show if you are not already, it may be the best sitcom on the air since the first season of Friends.

In other TV news, Canada's CTV network has finally started airing some of their shows on-line. Mostly it is the Canadian stuff so you can watch all the episodes of Corner Gas (very funny), Degrassi (haven't watched it since the 80s) or Whistler (never have seen a second of it). The US produced shows that they air should start slipping on their soon. As of right now, the only one is that show I said I will only talk about one more time. If you are interested, this week's episode was the best one since the pilot. It was finally about the making of a show as opposed to the personalities behind the scenes. You can see them all if you go to the broadband section of their website. You can do so easily from their homepage.

And getting back to the 80's for a second, icon Billy Idol has released a CHRISTMAS ALBUM!!!! Here is the video for his version of White Christmas. It has left me mystified.