New Tiki in the house!

Got a new Tiki Mug recently from Catalina Island....
It stands about 9-10 inches tall and sports the Moa on three sides. Righteous!

Bill Peet interview

Sorry, guys - I had this post form a while back, but never published it...

There's a great (old) interview over at Hogan's Alley with animator and former Disney cartoonisist Bill Peet. It's a great read and the gruff old guy has some intersting insights and oft-unheard stories from his time at Disney.

Where is March going? Spend it at the FUNPLEX!

Well, it's been a work-filled funfest since I got back from travelling to Las Vegas and Phoenix two weeks ago...

Phoenix was uneventful, except for stopping by Trader Vic's in Scottsdale for dinner and a tropical libation. Tried to make a Spring training game in Peoria, but the timing just didn't work before my flight out to Vegas.

While I've been working I've been listening to Aldabarran's YouTube channels alot, as well as the new B-52's song, Funplex. Why isn't this new jam getting more air time?

Marchin' into March

Wow, where do the hours, days, and weeks go?

How did we get to March already? Whatever the cause of this rapidly increasing passage of time, I will be out on business travel almost all of this coming week inspecting properties in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

In lieu of reading any new posts from me, I offer up a fantastic YouTube page by "Aldabarran", a mysterious Brit with impeccable film score taste: Aldabarran's videos

Here you will find 30+ popular film score he has generously uploaded to the Interweb, many of which are hard sought by collectors and score enthusiasts. I've been listening to this guy's selections almost all week and loving all the new playlists I've made for a bunch of them.

Highlights include The Goonies, Temple of Doom, The 'Burbs (the recently released Varese Sarabande version), Big trouble In Little China, Gremlins, The Fog, Ghostbusters (Varese Sarabande version), Alien/Aliens, and all three Back to The Future films.

Go ahead and indulge already!

I'll see you the week of 3/10.

Afro-flakes: the Cereal!

Now UPDATED with a picture!


Ok, not really, but it appears one company has decided to target African-Americans with their cereal product. If this works, I suppose "Afro Puffs" can't be far behind. Which, I'd actually buy by the crateful if they're any good.

Read more over at The Breakfast Bowl blog.

Five Second Movies

Seems a number of people have condensed alot of popular movies down to pretty funny "five second" clips (some are longer than 5 seconds.) I suppose this "phenomenon" has been around on YouTube for a while now, but I just discovered them this morning.

Check out the ones below for Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi. If you enjoy these, head over to YouTube to see more. I linked to a few of my favorites at the bottom.





Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0Y5_CWgLM

Ghostbusters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rbqyNYTaU

Back To The Future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LilDePLhk

Amadeus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iYXi7HmGSE

The Goonies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaWY0-R8ypU

Beetlejuice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxrbqIibqsI

Karate Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4vp4e3MX4

Others you should look for include Three Amigos, The Godfather, Jurassic Park, and Home Alone.

INDIANA JONES TRAILER

It hit! It Hit!
http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

Go check it out. It seems to match the descriptions "leaked" a few weeks back on Aint It Cool, but it's still awesome to finalyl get the trailer...even if they do have the "age" jokes we all suspected they would do.

GI Joe movie continues to cast questionably

This will likely be my first AND last post on this wretched movie...

With the recent rumored casting of Arnold "the Mummy" Vosloo as Zartan and Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, I can say there's now at least two things I think casting has nailed. As a potential third, I'll throw out the no-name guy rumored to be cast as Destro, too. (It's not the Cowardly Lion. That would have brought things UP a notch.)

I'm neutral on Ray "Darth Maul" Park as Snake Eyes as well as the guys who will play Breaker and Heavy Duty. But those last two are gimmes that don't make or break the casting. They could have cast Peter Dinklage as Heavy Duty and it wouldn't have shattered the story of GI Joe (in fact, it would have made not only a great bit of ironic casting for that role, but added some addtional interest on my behalf!)

But the rest of the abominable vomitfest of casting and the fact that the GI Joe mythology has been completely jettisoned to make it a EUROPEAN-based force seems like an overt signal that this production is turning out to be "GI Joe-in-name-only". Channing Tatum is way too young and too much of a "pretty boy" to be Duke (reported here) and Marlon Wayans just shouldn't be here at all. (I saw a clip of Dungeons & Dragons.) At this rate, the film is sounding worse than the name of the new forthcoming Bond flick.

Although I generally like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's work, if Stephen Sommers casts him as a lead villain, I won't be surprised. Hopefully he'll end up as another Joe, but at this point, does it really even matter?

It's No Joke: Heath Ledger is Dead!

Read it for yourself. He was found dead this afternoon in his New York apartment. Although the source indicates that his death may have been drug related, keep in mind this was less than 3 hours ago, details are still emerging, and likely will continue to come out over the next few days. But the fact that they mention finding "pills" sounds like it could be an accidental overdose.

Tragic news coming less than a week after the death of Brad Renfro. My thoughts and deepest sympathies to Heath's friends and loved ones.

Why So Serious?

2/15/08: I "<3" Indiana Jones!

Yes, it's official.* We finally get the first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at 12:01am the day after Valentine's Day. Head over to CHUD for more details and to see the "Valentine" they swiped from somebody on the Amphibatron message boards. I wonder what movie it will show in front of in February? Spiderwick Chronicles?

Also, be sure to check out the new video on the official site for a behind the scenes look at Indy's house.

* Ok, it's still technically rumor as the Official Site has made no mention of it and the only "confirmation" comes from an entertainment tabloid show, but I'm getting my hopes up anyway.

BrandedInThe80s.com

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR!

If you're as big a fan of the "Me" decade as I am for all its pop culture moments, please stop by BrandedInThe80s.com for a radical trip down memory lane. Shawn has quite a collection of late-70's and 80's memorabilia to share. Just recently he posted this great one with Saturday Morning Cartoon Ads.

"We Got The Jazz!" Looks like Hulk has gas, though.

I have very vivid memories of this one. Funny that Mr. T always ends up next to the Smurfs.

I don't remember this one with "Pryor's Place", but Richard's face looks like he was just subjected to listening to Howie Mandel do "Baby Animal's" voice for an hour straight.

Saturday Supercade kicked ass!

McJeffersons

What happens when you mash-up a classic TV theme song with a red-haired, hamburger-shillin' clown? Watch:



McDonalds withstanding, I think the first sentence in this post actually makes an intriguing pitch for a new tv show. Better than yet another reality program, no?

Dark Knight trailer

UPDATE!

See the Dark Knight teaser trailer here in its full glory!

Dark Knight Teaser Posters

UPDATE!

See the Dark Knight teaser trailer here in its full glory!

What a week for movie posters!
Christmas comes early to those highly anticipating 2008's The Dark Knight. In addition to these three posters, there's a leak of the new trailer on YouTube that is showing in front of I Am Legend. I won't link to it here because they're getting taken down and reappearing constantly. But if you head over there and search "Dark Knight trailer" and sort by "Date Added" you'll get a few. It's grainy bootleg footage from inside a theater, but still fun.




I love that last one.

Tikis!

Over Thanksgiving, my fiance and I were in Waikiki and found some fantastic tiki mugs. We were unsucessful in finding any during out trip to Kauai last December. However, we discovered that the old campy cocktail tiki-style still pervaded throughout parts of Waikiki (we realized that Kauai is just too rural and laid back to have ever bought into the who Hawaiiana/tiki cukture image portrayed by wayward Americans in the 50's and 60's)

Long story short, we took hom three souvenir cocktail tiki's like the one below (in red, blue, and brown) from Tiki's Bar & Grill and found a host of other awesome ones at the Thor Store. Be sure to check'em out. The prices are pretty reasonable based on what we saw in other places in Waikiki, and most of Thor's selection is superior to others.

KOTCS poster arrives!

Let me tease you here with your first glimpse of the brand new teaser poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Friggin sweet.

Head over here to checkout and download the full version.

New Indy action figure

There's a link over at The Raider.net with a photo of the new 7-inch Indy action figure being done by Gentle Giant. According to the source, it may only be sold in the Disney theme parks. But it looks great and comes with some cool acessories, including a fertility idol, sword (from ToD) and, what appears to be the Grail Diary.

Music to Live By: Temple of Doom

As long as we're on the topic of Indiana Jones today, I thought I'd take a minute to impart my thoughts on a recent addition to my CD collection: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

This is an album I've been after for years and when I finally got ahold of one a month ago, I was ecstatic. I was a bit anxious in acquiring this CD; first, because of its typically high price tag ($40+) and secondly because I had read a number of comments from mildly disappointed film score aficionados who felt it didn't adequately live up to John Williams' other Indy scores.

Being a devoted Indy score and film fan, as well as a John Williams appreciative (I don't yet aspire to be a score completionist, but admire those who are), I felt picking this title up for less than $30 was a no-brainer. Even if it found only a luke-warm reception in my heart, I could burn a copy and re-sell it for at least what I paid, if not more. But I haven't even come remotely close to considering that since I listened to it because it's a fun CD.

The CD's 40-minute playing time is the shortest of all the Indy movie scores so far (the 19-track extended Raiders CD is 70-some minutes; Last Crusade with 13 tracks is 58 minutes). And this one feels the shortest. But that's mostly because it moves so quickly. Most of the cues are action pieces, or at least action-oriented.

So, let me give you a blow-by-blow of the tracks:

The disc kicks off with the "Anything Goes" opening sequence from the film and plunges right into the "Fast Streets of Shanghai" which follows it shortly in the film. Some of the tracks that follow are a bit out of chronological order when compared to the film, but it's not terribly disorienting, even for guys like me who like a score to be an orchestral guide through the film's themes and memorable moments.

"Nocturnal Activities" recounts the musical cues during the romantic "stand-off" between Willie and Dr. Jones, culminating in the thugee attack on the good doctor. "Short Round's Theme", which follows, is the cue Temple of Doom aficionados will recognize from the elephant trek to Pankot Palace.

The next cue, "Children in Chains" is the scene where Indy stumbles upon the cadre of chained children digging for Shankara Stones and is summarily captured by Thugees.

Track 6 is "Slalom on Mt. Humol", the name of which describes it pretty well. Why this isn't track #3, I have no idea. (Note: this trek reminds me of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland because a recognizable portion is used in that ride. In fact, there are a number of cues from the Temple of Doom score used in that ride and finding them throughout listenign to this CD was a treasure of pleasure. I "claim" that term right here and now, by the way.) I love this track because it makes me want to do exactly what is happening in the movie - do a high-speed, perilous sled ride.

The next track, "Temple of Doom" is everybody's favorite thugee chant, which builds to quite a nice "heart-wrenching" crescendo. Be sure to grab a nice chianti when listening to this one.

"Bug Tunnel and Death Trap" ToD fans will recognize from the sequence Willie is called upon to conquer her fears of the dead, the dark, and things that go "crunch" under the feet to save Indy and Shorty from impending impalement. Another one I really like because of the tensions and urgency conveyed throughout this cue.

"Slave Children's Crusade" is the fight cue in the quarry near the end of the movie that leads into famous "The Mine Car Chase". Both of these tracks are fun and are as uptempo as they seem while watching these scenes in the movie. To me these two scenes always seemed the counterparts to the Airplane Fight and Truck Chase sequences in Raiders. Which probably just sets them up unfairly to seem weaker when compared. Those two scenes in Raiders are two of my all-time favorite movie scenes, favorite action scenes, and I'd argue that the Truck Chase is one of the very best action sequences of all-time in all of cinema; one whose score compliments it to a "T".

So, comparing the music cues for these scenes is a bit unfair because they just don't seem as inspired by adventure as the others. However, these tracks are still fun and sound great. The Mine Car Chase is fast-paced, but just doesn't pack the orchestral "wallop" the Truck Chase does. But that's not a criticism of Williams' work as much as it probably is of the filmmaking. Anyone who doesn't mind the music in the actual film is still going to really enjoy all these tracks.

The last cue on the disc is "Finale and End Credits", which picks up in the movie exactly where one would think - the end when Indy and Willie are about to kiss and Short Round annoyingly covers his face and I want to smack him. He just went through a hellish thugee debacle and he can't "bare" to see his surrogate dad/best friend kiss a woman. Come on Speielberg, dammnit.

I've seen people who feel that the Indy scores must be ranked in order of greatness, but I don't think it's a fair assessment for anyone else reading this review to do such a thing. Every individual likes and dislikes certain things about any given object and film scores speak to people in exactly the same ways. So, I'll just tell you what I liked about this CD and what would have improved the experience for me:

Liked:

• Completing my trilogy of Indy scores!
• Anything Goes, Slalom on Mt. Humol, Nocturnal Activities, Bug Tunnel & Death Trap - these are probably my favorites cues on this one
• A John Williams score that reminds me of his other work from this period (Empire/Jedi, ET, Raider/Last Crusade)
• Cover art

Coulda been better:

• Release this in English! - Because this is only available via Japanese import, I can't read any of the extensive liner notes.
• Give us an extended version like the one done for Raiders in 1995. At only 40 minutes, it feels like there's certainly some music missing.

Awesome Art: Crazy 4 Cult

I'm going to an art exhibition at the Laguna Beach Art Museum this weekend for the artist Shag. I'm a big fan of his work and am hoping to get to meet him at the opening party Saturday night.

Shag kicks ass!

While clicking down some rabbit holes on Shag's website, I stumbled upon another gallery in Los Angeles that done some pretty fantastic looking exhibitons. In particular: Crazy4Cult. You like movies with a cult following? You like pop art? You need to check this thing out.

How many can you pick out?

Edward Scissorhands, A Christmas Story, Hellraiser, Princess Bride, Freaks- if it has a following, somebody probably did it.

It's not for sale, FRAN-CESS!

BEWARE!

Halloween is coming!

Beware!

BEWAAAAAAAAAARE!!!