Ironically enough, it was Thor that was, at first, voted “Most Likely to Fail”.
Now...not so much, I don't think.
A preservation of my history and occasional insights into the present
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
BlogCritics.org - Sunday Morning Coming Down 01.30.11: Persistence Of Time
Anthrax's Joey Belladonna talks about the new record and forces an apology for being compared to someone else.
Yeah, that's right. An apology. I'm big enough to admit when I was wrong.
Yeah, that's right. An apology. I'm big enough to admit when I was wrong.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Trivium back in Sanford recording new album - Orlando rock music | Examiner.com
Trivium have come back to Sanford, FL’s Audiohammer Studios to record their new album - without long-time producer Nick Raskulinecz.
Although, according to Beaulieu, the new record leans more towards Ascendancy in sound than anything else. That...kinda worries me.
Although, according to Beaulieu, the new record leans more towards Ascendancy in sound than anything else. That...kinda worries me.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Examining the future of comic book movies, part 02: Green Lantern - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
One of the most anticipated ones could be the movie that drives the nail in the coffin.
Seriously. If something THIS big and THIS anticipated comes off looking THAT stupid...we're doomed.
Seriously. If something THIS big and THIS anticipated comes off looking THAT stupid...we're doomed.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Fantastic Four now down to "Three" - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
A look at "Fantastic Four" #587
I've read some of Hickman's run so far. Pretty heady stuff. Including this one. Hype machine aside, there's some damn good work being done on this book.
I've read some of Hickman's run so far. Pretty heady stuff. Including this one. Hype machine aside, there's some damn good work being done on this book.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Nerdapalooza: Revenge of the Nerds | Interviews - Substream Music Press
Five months in the making.
If you're a Nerd Music fan or musician, this is for you. If you don't have clue one what "Nerd Music" is, this is for you, too. If you're getting ready for Nerdapalooza 2011 or are curious as to what it's all about, this is definitely for you.
Sooner than later, it will also be re-printed here. With a different layout and purty pitchers!
If you're a Nerd Music fan or musician, this is for you. If you don't have clue one what "Nerd Music" is, this is for you, too. If you're getting ready for Nerdapalooza 2011 or are curious as to what it's all about, this is definitely for you.
Sooner than later, it will also be re-printed here. With a different layout and purty pitchers!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday Morning Coming Down 01.23.11: “Uncharted” Territory - Blogcritics Music
Billboard enters the present music landscape in pretty darn cool fashion.
No, seriously. I like what they've done here.
No, seriously. I like what they've done here.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Examining the future of comic book movies, part 01: The Green Hornet - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
There’s no way Seth Rogen by himself will bring about the doom of the comic book movie. But his seeming careless waste of the genre to attempt to make himself look like a star is indicative of a bigger problem. (Part 1 of a series)
I was going to do this series here, but then it dawned on me that - hey! I have a Comic Book Examiner page! Let's do this.
And no, this wasn't the series I was talking about doing here. That one's much more lighthearted - and a little more personal.
I was going to do this series here, but then it dawned on me that - hey! I have a Comic Book Examiner page! Let's do this.
And no, this wasn't the series I was talking about doing here. That one's much more lighthearted - and a little more personal.
Linkin Park begin US leg of "1000 Suns" in Florida - Orlando rock music | Examiner.com
Central Florida’s first big rock show of 2011 happens this weekend, as Linkin Park heads for Tampa.
...and I'm not going to be there. Wouldn't mind going, but it's a little short notice and I've seen them before.
Oh, and there's a series coming to this space just as soon as I get the time to write it up. Hopefully it will start over the weekend.
...and I'm not going to be there. Wouldn't mind going, but it's a little short notice and I've seen them before.
Oh, and there's a series coming to this space just as soon as I get the time to write it up. Hopefully it will start over the weekend.
Monday, January 10, 2011
SMCD 01.09.11: Razing the Digital Wasteland - Blogcritics Music
A (re)introduction leads to the agonizingly obvious irony of using the internet to complain about the internet.
I realize it's Monday, but it's finally here. Sunday Morning Coming Down is back. Feel free to peruse at your leisure.
I realize it's Monday, but it's finally here. Sunday Morning Coming Down is back. Feel free to peruse at your leisure.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Jon Favreau off of "Iron Man 3" - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
It’s official: Jon Favreau will not be directing Iron Man 3.
Kind of a shame, too. Favreau was definitely a big part of making the first two movies as fun as they were.
And if the Marvel (movie) Universe is really this confused and cheap, this whole thing could be in trouble.
Kind of a shame, too. Favreau was definitely a big part of making the first two movies as fun as they were.
And if the Marvel (movie) Universe is really this confused and cheap, this whole thing could be in trouble.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
"Thor" trailer premieres - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures release the first official trailer for "Thor"
And, I have to say, it's more impressive than I thought it would be. I'm actually excited about this now.
And, I have to say, it's more impressive than I thought it would be. I'm actually excited about this now.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Show Review: Roger Waters, Bank Atlantic Center, Sunrise, FL - 11.13.10
There are several reviews of Roger Waters’s live staging of The Wall already populating the web. Some can’t stop fawning over
None of them seem to get what’s actually happening at all.
It’s very easy for many journalists to not see what’s happening right under their noses. Many of them can’t be blamed, really. When confronted with a show of this magnitude - such as on November 13, the first of a two-night stand in Sunrise, FL at the Bank Atlantic Center - it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees. The show even starts without many people realizing it - there’s a “homeless” man out in the audience. Shopping cart and all. With a sign reading, “No thought control.” His “belongings” consist of a big, pink doll. One that looks a lot like the representation of the main character, Pink, during “The Trial”.
There are several reviews of Roger Waters’s live staging of The Wall already populating the web. Some can’t stop fawning over
None of them seem to get what’s actually happening at all.
But that’s fast-forwarding a great deal. The lights go out and the opening number, “In The Flesh?”, starts out with full pyro regalia. Right then and there, the sensory overload machine has taken off, ready to take the audience on one hell of a ride.
For 67 years old, Waters seemed spry and ready for action himself. He was also much more jovial than die-hard fans would expect. For a man who has given the finger to fans and (especially) journalists alike, Waters was in great spirits during the show. Almost like he was hiding a little secret. The same one that many have missed in writing about the show, but again, that’s fast-forwarding.
Still, for a performer in a terrific mood, he was still flipping the bird to anyone who noticed. Like during “Hey You”, when the audience saw a single graphic projected on to the styrofoam wall built during Act One that now completely hid the performers themselves. Save for the bare minimum amount of animation during the center of the song, the audience still cheered for the fact that the band could have been in the back drinking for all they knew.
There were several moments and moves that could be read that way. The band didn’t start playing in front of the Wall - where they could be seen - until the reprise of “In The Flesh”. More than halfway through Act Two - and more than three-quarters of the way through the entire show. In addition, at the end of that song, Waters played along with the machine gun sounds at the end of the track by taking out a prop machine gun and shooting the audience. Yet another middle finger delivered.
Even if those were deliberate gesture, the main thing to take away here is that it could all be forgiven for what Waters and company presented. When the show was first staged thirty years ago, it was seen as a blow-away presentation, and that was way before technology could catch up with Waters put together for this tour. There was the trademark projection screen behind Waters and the band but, as intimated before, the entire Wall was now being used as a projection screen as well. Never once overlapping or out-of-sync with which portions of the Wall had been built up to any given point, the projections not only fit perfectly, but looked great.
The greatest example of this was during “Bring The Boys Back Home”. Originally an outburst of longing for a father - and many others - lost during World War II (in the context of the album’s story), the song became arguably the best anti-war message that’s ever been delivered on stage. Among images of impoverished, injured, and murdered children all over the world, a quote showed on the screen from Dwight D Eisenhower:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
After that, the song title: Bring The Boys Back Home.
Not a dry eye was left in the house.
And that’s just an example of how expertly the show was played and staged. The inflatable puppets of the Teacher and the Wife were now six-story-tall animatronics. The graphics were crystal clear and updated for today’s times (including symbols of a Cross and the Star of David mixed with logos for Shell and BMW during “Goodbye Blue Sky”). Each and every aspect of the show was not only a technical marvel, but used to maximum emotional impact, just as the album did for millions of listeners did upon its release despite having one of the most confusing stories for a concept album in history.
Aside from the production wizardry, the band played their parts well. Singer Robbie Wyckoff, used as a stand-in for David Gilmour’s vocal parts, kept up with not only Waters, but the entire production. The band knew their parts as well as the James Brown Revue and performed them equally as well.
Everything about the show was expertly staged. Instead of re-treading what had come before (despite how many people had not seen it), many of the album’s themes were seemlessly brought in to modern times, updating The Wall for a modern audience without losing a shred of anything that made the album great to begin with. It was a perfect reading of an album presented in such a way that the audience left shell-shocked and thoroughly pleased - something many Broadway shows and multi-million dollar films can’t seem to accomplish.
And that is what many reviewers and journalists seem to have missed. In looking to make some grand statement about Waters’s career, the themes that have permeated his work, the greatness of Pink Floyd that many younger audiences missed out on, or even the cynicism of seeing this “old dinosaur” of a piece brought out to the masses in such dramatic fashion, many have missed a very obvious possibility.
Roger Waters is 67 years old. The rumors of this being his last run have been mentioned, but glossed over in favor of political ramblings or attempts at shrewd observations. The rumors of this being his last run may need to be given more credence, because there may never be another stage show that tops what Waters has accomplished with the 2010 tour of The Wall. And really, why should he try? He has no reason to.
It would make perfect sense that, as slyly as he has picked and chose his shots at journalists and audiences over a career that has lasted over 40 years, that an effort like this would be his last grand statement. The amazing music, political statements and thematic cohesiveness that have made The Wall what it is have always been a part of the equation, and they were all given equal attention not only in Sunrise, but on this entire tour. They’ve all come together in one final act by Waters to leave the game on top of his game. No other rock extravaganza will top what Waters has accomplished with this show, and Waters knows it. That accomplishment, while overlooked by many, could very well be what Waters had in mind when he decided to re-build the Wall and tear it down again, perhaps for the final time.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
2011 Crossovers Preview - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
The Christmas season has barely started for 2010, and the Big Two of the comics industry already have some big plans for 2011.
I'm most curious about "Flashpoint". "The Trial of Barry Allen" is what got me in to comics in the first place and I'm glad to have him back.
I'm most curious about "Flashpoint". "The Trial of Barry Allen" is what got me in to comics in the first place and I'm glad to have him back.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Show Review: Roger Waters, Bank Atlantic Center, Sunrise, FL - 11.13.10 - Orlando rock music | Examiner.com
It would make perfect sense that an effort like this would be his last grand statement.
Meanwhile, Bono and The Edge are looking at the stage show, taking notes and going, "Dammit~! How're we gonna beat THIS?!"
Meanwhile, Bono and The Edge are looking at the stage show, taking notes and going, "Dammit~! How're we gonna beat THIS?!"
Monday, November 29, 2010
Exclusive preview of Sci-Fried’s upcoming album "Future Tense" - Orlando rock music | Examiner.com
An exclusive early look at geek rock's Next Big Thing...
Seriously, what I've heard from this so far ROCKS. Can't wait for the album!
Seriously, what I've heard from this so far ROCKS. Can't wait for the album!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Apple and Apple make peace as The Beatles come to iTunes - Orlando rock music | Examiner.com
Digital music fans everywhere have seen the nearly impossible has come to pass.
In other news, hell froze over earlier this week...
In other news, hell froze over earlier this week...
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Orlando MegaCon 2011 takes shape - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
Stan Lee and William Shatner are coming to the Southeast's biggest comic convention...
I would TOTALLY love to go to this...but seeing as how it's my wedding anniversary weekend, I kinda doubt it. If anyone IS going, feel free to hit me up with a report to let me know how cool it was!
I would TOTALLY love to go to this...but seeing as how it's my wedding anniversary weekend, I kinda doubt it. If anyone IS going, feel free to hit me up with a report to let me know how cool it was!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Rejection of Regurgitation, Part 05
Awright, let's wrap this puppy up...
Just like anything else, remakes can be solid business - and solid works - if done right. Regardless of what the last four parts of this series would tell you, not every remake ever is terrible. Or a terrible idea. Hell, one remake spawned a film franchise so big it's become the cultural touchstone of our generation.
Okay, we'll get this out of the way as to avoid confusion as well as any arguments from those who have spent their lives analyzing every detail calling me out -Episode IV: A New Hope the very first Star Wars is not a proper remake. George Lucas actually borrowed from several sources - Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, "Dune", and several other classic science-fiction stories influenced Lucas's first movie. However, the plot itself owed much more to Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress - so much so that Lucas considered buying the rights to that movie in order to make a more faithful version of it. In space.
We all know how that turned out.
So many other remakes - be they good, bad, or indifferent, could be discussed but it comes down to a simple point. Put in a little time, a little imagination, and give the public either another angle to the story or a different version of it altogether, and a remake can be very viable. It doesn't always take as radical of a departure as a Star Wars; merely something new brought to the table and maybe a little actual work in making sure the project is worth the ticket-buying public's time and effort.
What's not working anymore is a misleading sense of thinking people will buy a carbon copy just because it looks newer. People fell for that trick at first, but they're starting to see through the facades. The hardest facts of all - the numbers - are starting to prove that you can repackage an polish a can of Spam all you want to, but it's still a disgusting by-product that the public no longer sees as fit for consumption.
And that goes double for The Crow (you know, what started all this in the first place?) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Just like anything else, remakes can be solid business - and solid works - if done right. Regardless of what the last four parts of this series would tell you, not every remake ever is terrible. Or a terrible idea. Hell, one remake spawned a film franchise so big it's become the cultural touchstone of our generation.
Okay, we'll get this out of the way as to avoid confusion as well as any arguments from those who have spent their lives analyzing every detail calling me out -
We all know how that turned out.
So many other remakes - be they good, bad, or indifferent, could be discussed but it comes down to a simple point. Put in a little time, a little imagination, and give the public either another angle to the story or a different version of it altogether, and a remake can be very viable. It doesn't always take as radical of a departure as a Star Wars; merely something new brought to the table and maybe a little actual work in making sure the project is worth the ticket-buying public's time and effort.
What's not working anymore is a misleading sense of thinking people will buy a carbon copy just because it looks newer. People fell for that trick at first, but they're starting to see through the facades. The hardest facts of all - the numbers - are starting to prove that you can repackage an polish a can of Spam all you want to, but it's still a disgusting by-product that the public no longer sees as fit for consumption.
And that goes double for The Crow (you know, what started all this in the first place?) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Rejection of Regurgitation, Part 04
Now then, where were we? Oh, right, right - how the remake craze started felling apart.
Strike one: Studios tend to discount (or outright ignore) the initial impact of the original movie. That may sound strange, considering why they would bother to remake anything, then, if it wasn't that successful in the first place. But this isn't about success - what they're ignoring is initial reactions and why they were what they were. Using the aforementioned Nightmare as an example, the fact is that the first time around, it was original enough that it caught people off-guard. Second time around? People knew what was coming. They wanted to see more than just a re-hashing.
Rob Zombie was able to do that with Halloween. When John Carpenter unleashed the original, the slasher genre was pretty much virgin territory that he exploited. In doing so, he gave us a memorable (pro-?) antagonist in Michael Myers. What he didn't do, however, was tell how any why Myers became what he did. Seeing a need to fill for horror fans and having a means to do so, Zombie explored Myers's beginnings and added to the original story. Some would claim it's unnecessary as it could be questioned whether or not knowing Myers's origins makes him any scarier, sure. However, Zombie not only gave his version of Halloween a viable reason to exist by telling a version of Myers's background, but he also made an anomaly.
Most '80s horror films - such as Nightmare and Friday the 13th (another box-office victim the second time around) made the mark they did because they were ideas that moviegoers had not yet seen at that time. Seeing or hearing anything a second time, no matter how well-loved, loses a little of its luster because it's no longer new. Kinda like sex.
Strike two: You want to "reintroduce a classic to a new generation"? Show 'em the bloody original!
Strike three: Some movies are kitschy cult favorites because of how they look or feel. Another remake rumored to plague the land is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I wish I were making that up.)
What use a remake will serve that movie I really have no idea. The idea is to update and add a modern sheen to a musical homage to old "B"-horror movies? It's supposed to look campy! A CGI-saturated update with a cast that simply won't get what that movie what it was for an audience that'll have to be educated on 65% of the references will make that remake a success how, exactly?
Strike one: Studios tend to discount (or outright ignore) the initial impact of the original movie. That may sound strange, considering why they would bother to remake anything, then, if it wasn't that successful in the first place. But this isn't about success - what they're ignoring is initial reactions and why they were what they were. Using the aforementioned Nightmare as an example, the fact is that the first time around, it was original enough that it caught people off-guard. Second time around? People knew what was coming. They wanted to see more than just a re-hashing.
Rob Zombie was able to do that with Halloween. When John Carpenter unleashed the original, the slasher genre was pretty much virgin territory that he exploited. In doing so, he gave us a memorable (pro-?) antagonist in Michael Myers. What he didn't do, however, was tell how any why Myers became what he did. Seeing a need to fill for horror fans and having a means to do so, Zombie explored Myers's beginnings and added to the original story. Some would claim it's unnecessary as it could be questioned whether or not knowing Myers's origins makes him any scarier, sure. However, Zombie not only gave his version of Halloween a viable reason to exist by telling a version of Myers's background, but he also made an anomaly.
Most '80s horror films - such as Nightmare and Friday the 13th (another box-office victim the second time around) made the mark they did because they were ideas that moviegoers had not yet seen at that time. Seeing or hearing anything a second time, no matter how well-loved, loses a little of its luster because it's no longer new. Kinda like sex.
Strike two: You want to "reintroduce a classic to a new generation"? Show 'em the bloody original!
Strike three: Some movies are kitschy cult favorites because of how they look or feel. Another remake rumored to plague the land is The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I wish I were making that up.)
What use a remake will serve that movie I really have no idea. The idea is to update and add a modern sheen to a musical homage to old "B"-horror movies? It's supposed to look campy! A CGI-saturated update with a cast that simply won't get what that movie what it was for an audience that'll have to be educated on 65% of the references will make that remake a success how, exactly?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Rejection of Regurgitation, Part 03
When the mass-remake craze started, the money came rolling in. How, however, not so much. Remakes have become old hat at best, and an obvious show of studio/producer laziness at worst. Why bother coming up with an original idea when there's some obscure (cult) classic out there waiting to be raped, pillaged, and run through the CGI grinder? A simple formula for success, in the eyes of the film industry, has become one that's run its course and possibly even doomed to failure because of a glaring oversight.
In many instances, filmmakers and executives pass off their dreaminess for cash as intention to re-tell "a classic story". Being real careful with that definition would serve some of these self-serving executives well lest they look like fools (or are we a little late?). A "classic story" is one so ingrained in to the public consciousness because it retains universal elements that allow people of all races, creeds, and ages to identify with it, allowing numerous versions and re-tellings without the story losing its luster. There are really only a relative handful of stories that fit this criteria - A Christmas Carol, Grimm's Fairy Tales, most of Shakespeare's output...things like that could fit.
Neither The Crow or Nightmare on Elm Street are "classic stories". Nor is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or so many other examples that have been mined. That doesn't mean they can't be retold, sure, but it takes more than a slick face lift to give it any life or a valid reason that people will want to go see it. Of course, that brings out another excuse for updating movies - the desire to use new technology on them, thereby dragging them in to the new millennium by the hair like a caveman scoring a mate. The added bonus in doing so is the tired adage of "introducing a classic to a new generation." By lumping all these excuses together, movie studios give themselves a built-in justification for remaking virtually anything they want.
Wrong.
And we'll get in to why next time.
In many instances, filmmakers and executives pass off their dreaminess for cash as intention to re-tell "a classic story". Being real careful with that definition would serve some of these self-serving executives well lest they look like fools (or are we a little late?). A "classic story" is one so ingrained in to the public consciousness because it retains universal elements that allow people of all races, creeds, and ages to identify with it, allowing numerous versions and re-tellings without the story losing its luster. There are really only a relative handful of stories that fit this criteria - A Christmas Carol, Grimm's Fairy Tales, most of Shakespeare's output...things like that could fit.
Neither The Crow or Nightmare on Elm Street are "classic stories". Nor is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or so many other examples that have been mined. That doesn't mean they can't be retold, sure, but it takes more than a slick face lift to give it any life or a valid reason that people will want to go see it. Of course, that brings out another excuse for updating movies - the desire to use new technology on them, thereby dragging them in to the new millennium by the hair like a caveman scoring a mate. The added bonus in doing so is the tired adage of "introducing a classic to a new generation." By lumping all these excuses together, movie studios give themselves a built-in justification for remaking virtually anything they want.
Wrong.
And we'll get in to why next time.
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