Friday Geek Out: Tron
Summer 1982… 26 years ago… one of the huge summer blockbusters was supposed to be Disney’s Tron. Released in July, it was a pretty huge flop, grossing only $33 million domestically. Audiences just weren’t into spending a couple hours of their summer looking at the Dinsey-ized insides of a computer. To my 14-year-old self at the time though, who had a Texas Instruments computer, this movie was pretty much the coolest thing ever!
The story revovled around Jeff Bridges, a star computer programmer who wanted to get back the programs he’d written for a company (industrial espionge, right). To get them back though, he has to be inside the company and the computer, not wanting to be tampered with sucks him inside the CPU turning him into a “program.” Once there, he discovers that the Master Control Program intends to take over the world and he joins up with other programs to destroy the MCP and restore order to the CPU.
Sounds pretty hokey when you write it out like that, doesn’t it.
And yet, I still love this movie, even today with it’s very outdated special effects and lame plot. The 20th Anniversary DVD came out a few years ago and I picked it up happily. Great DVD too with documentaries about how it was filled, why it seemed relevant at the time plus details of the sequel that has never quite gotten off the ground.
I remember there was an awesome arcade video game that was out with the movie too, one that I was pretty good at. The game had four phases: the light cycles, the MCP Cone, the tanks, and the I/O tower. Complete all four and you’d move to the next level and there were 12 levels. I never could get all the way through, but consistently I wouldn’t die until level 9 or 10. If the game had stayed in the arcade, I think I would’ve succeeded but it had a short life like the film did.
For those of you who are not Tron initiated, here is a look at the trailer:
Neil Diamond’s Home Before Dark
I downloaded Neil Diamond’s new album Home Before Dark first thing yesterday morning and it was great music to play through the day. Neil once again collaborated with Rick Rubin, who worked with Neil on 12 Songs and also worked with Johnny Cash on the last albums that Cash made before he passed away. Their work together has produced another stellar album.
The thing I liked so much about 12 Songs is that it stripped the music down. In the 80s and 90s, Neil Diamond music had become more and more orchestrated and heavily produced. Rubin got him to strip away the glitter and huge production and get back to simple, unplugged music. Home Before Dark is more of the same with some excellent results. One particular stand out is “Another Day (That Time Forgot),” a duet with Natalie Maines. I’ve never heard of her before, but the duet is excellent. The first single from the album, “Pretty Amazing Grace” has become an instant favorite. The entire album is another stand-out of fine acoustic songs meshed with a voice that is in great form and song writing that has never been better.
Here’s a look at Neil’s performance of “Pretty Amazing Grace,” from last week’s American Idol.
DWTS Season 6, Week 8: Great Ballroom & Clunky Latin
It was another two dance night with the competitors just a week away from the semi-finals. The ballroom looked great, but the Latin had nearly everyone a little bit off. This week is also the first time in any season that the competitors have been allowed to do lifts before the freestyle.
Here’s the rundown of tonight’s dances. The couples are in the order of their initial performance:
- Kristi & Mark: (Ballroom: Quickstep) It was sharp with a good lift and it had a fun feel to it overall. (Latin: Samba) The spin into a drop was great, but the rest of the dance looked just a bit out of sync for them (Carrie Anne noticed it too, so I was glad it wasn’t something I made up.
- Mario & Karina: (Ballroom: Viennese Waltz) It was like there were two dances here, the one before the lift and the one after the lift. The seconds that came after the lift I loved; before that I was bored. (Latin: Jive) I liked the energy here. The lift was awkward though and cost Mario from sticking the final pose. Granted he looked comfortable with it… but I felt the judges over scored him here.
- Marissa & Tony:(Ballroom: Foxtrot) She looked gorgeous and her silver/gray dress. I thought she looked like she danced right out of a movie musical, just check out that picture at the top of the post! Unfortunately, the judges were not as swept away as I was. (Latin: Mambo) I liked the routine a lot, although I did not like the music selection at all. I thought she did a solid job though and was under scored.
- Jason & Edyta: (Ballroom: Tango) Impressive! It was strong and bold and he was in command. The lift was also fantastic. I agreed with Carrie Anne’s “interestingly great” review. (Latin: Samba). The samba did no favors to the leaders tonight. Jason was better than Kristi, but it was still not quite right and often came across as more of a Rumba (I agreed with the Bruno’s take on that).
- Cristian & Cheryl: (Ballroom: Tango) Very well done. The one-arm lift came off great and looked as natural as anything. He had good choreography, but he seemed in an odd character during the dance. That Carrie Anne gave him a 10, the same score as Jason, seemed out of place. It just wasn’t that good. (Latin: Mambo) Sizzling! Cheryl did good by him again with amazing choreography and another one-arm lift that looked as effortless and common as anything else. He got his highest scores ever and ended up at the top of the leader board… deservedly so!
Best dances: For Ballroom it goes to Jason for the Tango. In Latin it’s Cristian. For the bottom two… another tough call. I’m going with Marissa and Mario. Going home: I fear for Melissa since she’s bottom of the leader board, but she’s been saved before and I saw want her in the semis next week. I’m going to go with (and cross my fingers) for it to be Mario that everyone has grown tired of.
Results Show Update: YAY MARISSA! Safe! It was so awesome that she was announced as safe in the first round of elimination. I clapped. I did get it right that Mario was the one to go. Not sure if I nailed the bottom two though because they were cautious to say with Jason and Mario standing together at the end that they were not necessarily the bottom two.
It was a great celebration for the 100 episodes tonight. The top 10 dances show at 8 was great, except the stuck in Kelly Monoco’s dance that was scored a 10 and shouldn’t have been. The rest of the dances were good choices. The actual results show was jammed packed. It was awesome to see Mario Lopez and the cast of A Chorus Line do two of the show’s iconic numbers. The Rascal Flats performances with Apollo & Julianne and Mel & Maks were both wonderful (although I wondered if Mel & Maks missed a cue somewhere because they didn’t dance in the first chorus which is the usual pattern).
Shelter & Kiss Me Deadly
Here! Films is now consistently making great gay-themed films. We caught two of the latest on Here! TV this weekend and recommend them both.
Shelter is a moving drama about a young 20-something who has given up his own dreams to help take care of his nephew because his sister isn’t very good at being a mother. But when he reconnects with his best friend’s older brother, he falls in love and finds the desire to peruse with his dream of becoming an artist.
As the film’s trailer says “Sometimes the life you have isn’t the one you want.” This film focuses hard on the difficulties that happen when people aren’t trying to fulfill their ambitions.
The two at the heart of the film—Trevor Wright (as the aspiring artist Zack) and Brad Rowe (as Shawn, the guy who gets Zack back on the right track)—are great in their roles. They give this film a lot of depth and emotion. It’s the best gay love story film I’ve seen in a while… and what’s makes it even better is there’s a lot more going on than just a love story. Here’s the trailer:
Kiss Me Deadly is a spy film. Robert Gant (best known from Queer as Folk on Showtime) plays Jacob Keane, a former spy who gave up that life after the cold war. Now, decades later, a former colleague, Marta (played by 90210’s Shannen Doherty) calls because she’s in trouble. Jacob leaves his boyfriend and daughter to go help and soon finds himself in deep as a rouge spy tries to get information from him and Marta.
This was a fun, light, spy thriller. It’s not James Bond or Alias, but it had a solid plot and good acting. Here! is planning on making a series of movies around the Jacob Keane character, so it was good to see such a solid start. Here’s the trailer (which was made back when the film was called The Delphi Effect):
If you don’t have Here! on your cable or satellite system, watch for the films to come out on DVD. Shelter comes out on May 27. Kiss Me Deadly will follow later this summer.
Stanley Cup 2008: Conference Finals
I haven’t been this excited about conference finals in a few years now. My top two teams have made it through: Pittsburgh in the East and Detroit in the West. Few things hockey could make me happier than to see those two in the finals in a couple of weeks. The hockey action gets started Thursday night as Detroit starts a two-night stand at home against Dallas!
About Header #10
Header #10 was shot on Friday, November 9, 2007 along sixth avenue. I found this fountain in front of one of the buildings (I didn’t write down the address, but it is somewhere in the 40s). The entire photo is below.
Knights Slay Ordinals
In the second game of the spring season the Ordinals crashed against the Knights with a 3-6 loss. It was a rough game for the Ordinals. We couldn’t seem to get into a good rhythym last night. We were occassionally bunched up; we weren’t talking much to each other and the defense made some bad choices. Continue Reading »
Cry-Baby
We took in the last of our annivesary week shows this afternoon. We thought we were going to see A Catered Affair, but it wasn’t on tkts yesterday so we picked up Cry-Baby tickets instead. Since this is the latest musical based on a John Waters film it was on our list of shows to see. We had a great time! It was a couple hours of pure fun.
Granted, this is not Hairspray, but this is a great time in the theatre. There is fun 50’s music, some incredible choreography and great performances across the board. The show is about a bad boy falling in love with a good girl (who by her own admissions wants to be bad). “What starts as an innocent romance balloons like a mushroom cloud (in 1954 Baltimore)… as the squares use every weapon in their arsenal to keep Cry-Baby from tickling her taffeta.”
For me the thing that was the most enthralling in the show was the dancing (I know, big surprise). Rob Ashford, who won a Tony a few years ago for Throughly Modern Millie, is responsible for the hot moves in this show. He’s got his cast working overtime. In particular he gives Cry-Baby’s gang some sizzling choreography. Especially good was a prison riot that had the boys dancing with, and on, license plates.
Also, of note in the prison scene: Cry-Baby’s prisoner number is 24601, the same as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. That was hard to see for a while, but once Cry-Baby strapped his guitar on, the lapel of the uniform moved to fully reveal the number.
Below is a video montage of the show so you can check out some of the fun for yourself.
Iron Man
May Movie Mania got underway today with Iron Man. Marvel has had quite a good track record in the past few summers, claiming summer success with Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four movies. Iron Man stands well along side the first installments of Spider-Man and X-Men as a solid introduction to a favorite comic book character.
The movie is even fat better than its trailers. The previews don’t give much insight to how well the film is plotted and paced. That it’s pacing is so good is rather surprising. I admit I didn’t expect such a strong showing from director Jon Favreau. I like him as an actor, but he doesn’t have the largest resume as a director and has never taken on a movie like this (his previous credits include Zathura and Elf).
Robert Downey Jr. is great as Tony Stark, billionaire playboy and CEO who thinks his company is working to make world more peaceful by manufacturing weapons. After a botched attempt on his life, he realizes that his company isn’t the best world citizen. He initially becomes Iron Man to escape his captors and then takes his idea for the suit to the next level to right the wrongs he’s discovered.
The supporting cast is beyond good, and was really not highlighted to the fullest degree in the trailers either. Gwyneth Paltrow is Pepper Potts, Stark’s faithful and courageous assistant. Jeff Bridges is Stark’s right hand man in Stark Industries. Terrence Howard is Stark’s childhood friend who his now his military liaison. How many superhero movies come with this many Academy Award nominees and winners (Paltrow and Bridges are both winners)?
The plot is engaging, and you can imagine it being ripped from today’s headlines. As many government contracts as there are funding our current war, you can easily fathom a company arming both sides in the conflict as a way to expand profits. Imagine too what would happen if someone tried to put a stop to it and the struggle that might ensue. I think that’s what gives the movie such a strong core because it strongly mirrors things going on in the world today.
I imagine this will become another film series from Marvel Studios. Hopefully they’ve signed the cast for a couple more along with strong scriptwriters (we’ve certainly seen how series can go amiss like the third Spider-Man and the third X-Men).
A special find in this movie as well… Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money shows up in the film doing a Mad Money segment on Stark Industires. Cramer is also co-founder of TheStreet.com, the parent of the company I work for, Promotions.com. It was kinda fun to see him turn up on the big screen.
Next week May Movie Mania continues with Speed Racer!
Friday Geek Out: Madonna on TV
Madonna released a new album this week, Hard Candy, which features the first single “Four Minutes (To Save the World)” a duet with Justin Timberlake. The requisite video came out with it and with all this Madonna activity it seemed a good time to sing the praises of Madonna’s videos and live performances. Few performers can be counted on to consistently deliver such stunning (and often provocative) videos and concerts.
I’ve been a fan of Madonna videos and her concerts since the beginning. MTV, of course, was great at breaking Madonna in the early years and HBO could always be counted on for showing her concerts. I’ve selected a few of my all-time favorite Madonna moments: 1) “Express Yourself” which is so visually appealing. 2) “Vogue” from the MTV Video Music Awards. It was just an unexpected look that worked so completely. 3) “Music Inferno” from her last tour. 4) “Papa Don’t Preach,” which was one of the first Madonna videos to really come in with a loud and clear message.
I could’ve gone on and on to pick more videos, but decided to keep it to my absolute faves. Who knows, maybe there’ll have to be a second Geek Out on this topic.
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Meanwhile, I’m really liking the Hard Candy album. It’s very danceable, yet different than Confessions on a Dance Floor. There’s a lot more hip-hop with this disc. Interestingly, to me, the weakest track is “4 Minutes.” The other weak one is the one with Kanye West. She’s had her best when she’s on her own rather than with the guest stars on this one.
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