What's John watching?

The Tea Party: Live at the Capital Music Hall: Man, 10 years after their Splendor Solis debut, these guys are rockin' harder than ever. With medleys made up of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Tool and the Rolling Stones, this show had something for rock fans of all ages. You know when you just get a feeling about someone? That they're bringing a wealth of knowledge to the table, even when they're barely contributing? I got that feeling about Jeff Martin that night, more so than any of the other times I've seen him. He radiates a love, a respect, an understanding of the rock 'n' roll experience like few musicians I've seen live (Gordie Johnson and Tom Wilson also come to mind). Where the first band - I have no idea who they were - was nervous and rushed, and the second band - Turn Off The Stars - had no sense of where the audience was or how to pace their set - to say nothing of their boring rehash of what I loved about U2 - the Tea Party took us on an amazing ocean voyage, riding beautiful wave after wave.

When the lead singer just casually changes instruments in the middle of songs, letting the bass or drums pick up the slack, you know you're listening to someone in their element, completely comfortable with leading the night. Martin convinced me that the experience was unique, even as I was telling myself that, logically, he has similarly captivated many an audience over the last 10 years. That is no small feat. ¶ 4:16:00 p.m. (0) comments

Law & Order: The people who skip out on active duty? The same people who skip out on jury duty. My gut reaction to that statement was to take offense; I don't know what lengths I'd go to to avoid active duty - and, thankfully, that's O.K. - but I know I'll do my civic duty if I ever get the call. But, of course, that quote was a statement of fact (presumably) that I involuntarily took personally.

It's a hot button, no question. If the government had caught me early enough, I suppose I could've been persuaded to believe that they knew what was best for me; that they wouldn't put me in harm's way unless it was absolutely necessary. But now? No way. There's just too much goin' on; and while I don't claim to understand it all, even an inkling of the glad-handing ruins the simplicity of "defending your country." ¶ 9:05:00 p.m. (0) comments

First, an explanation for my sporadic posting as of late: I've discovered City of Heroes. That's right, folks, I now call two cities home: my nation's capital, and Paragon City ("The Birthplace of Tomorrow"). Coincidental, given that this post is about...

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: Quentin Tarantino said that a movie's opening music should let the audience know what they're in for - he was talking about his perfect choice of Misirlou for the opening of Pulp Fiction, incidentally - and I have to say that Kerry Conran did a spectacular job of that in this movie. I was set for an adventure of heroic proportions after listening to that thrilling track.

Now, other than watching the trailer a few times - and knowing the movie would be visually impressive - I knew very little about this movie going in. I found out that it was based on a comic book, that it - and possibly the comic book - was a 50's-style production, and that it was the first movie to be entirely shot in front of a blue screen.

Having not read the comic book, I'll skip to the 50's style. No, that doesn't mean I'm well versed in 50's cinema; quite the opposite, in fact. What's interesting, though, is how I compared it to something that I was familiar with: the adventures of Indiana Jones. :-) And I would add that it held its own against my Indy favourites; namely Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.

Finally, I can only imagine how strange it must be to act a part in front of a blue screen, from start to finish. You should've seen the list of studios involved in producing the visual effects! It must've taken five minutes of screen time to show it. As my wife said, this will definitely be one for the DVD library. ¶ 11:01:00 p.m. (0) comments

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): I can't even type this title without smiling. :-) This movie is hilarious! Just about every scene had me grinning, and more than a few still made me laugh out loud (e.g., Dennis - Michael Palin - and his watery-tart/help-I'm-being-repressed lines, King Arthur - Graham Chapman - and his taking the Lord's name in vain every time he's in trouble).

One surprise was my inability to separate the Camelot scene - it's a silly place - from the Lego one. Seriously, I was seeing the whole thing in Lego simultaneously. Trippy...

Finally, my old video cassette tape didn't have that aside in Castle Anthrax where Zoot (Carol Cleveland) is happy that the scene is being shot, or included in this cut... I can't quite recall. Not sure whether that's new in the edition I have on DVD. I'll have to watch the commentary again. Actually, I have yet to watch the second "back-biting" commentary; I wanted to save it, as I recall. ¶ 10:40:00 p.m. (0) comments

Oprah: What a great show. The entire hour was dedicated to Barbara Walters, and her daughter, Jacqueline. To be honest, being on the periphery of television and its history, I don't know the extent of what Barbara has done for women in the medium, but I was thoroughly impressed with the history that was presented on this show, and Barbara's poise and sincerity in receiving it. ¶ 1:02:00 a.m. (0) comments

The Amazing Race: My wife absolutely loves this show. We watched an episode while on vacation in Las Vegas, so I decided to watched the latest one (taped, as usual - gotta love fast forwarding through the commercials) with her tonight.

My first thought was, "Yes, stepping off that girder - under a bridge, 75 ft. in the air - would definitely be the toughest part of that task." I say that with authority, having just jumped/fallen off a 171 ft. tower with a bungy cord attached to my ankles and waist last week; forcing myself off that platform was definitely the toughest part of the whole experience.

Other than that, man, that show's intense! ¶ 8:07:00 p.m. (0) comments

The Manchurian Candidate (1962): I picked up this DVD on sale... It's like I didn't even see it at the Mayfair however many years ago. I remembered the scene where Major Marco (Frank Sinatra) visits Shaw (Laurence Harvey) after the fight with Chunjin (Henry Silva), but that's about it.

I loved the brainwashing demonstration scene: the mixing of backgrounds, characters and voices; sometimes the portraits would be in the background, other times, the flowered wallpaper; sometimes ladies, other times, military. It was just a beautifully shot movie.

Huh, I didn't realize that this makes it two Frankenheimer movies almost back-to-back for me. ¶ 10:12:00 p.m. (0) comments

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004): Watched this one on the plane back from Las Vegas - yeah, baby! It was surprisingly funny, making fun of a variety of professions and personalities without missing a beat; I'd daresay I even missed a joke or two, what with all the craning my neck, tryin' to eat, etc.

My favourite line? This closer of Peter's (Vince Vaughn):

Peter La Fleur: "Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance."
Lance Armstrong (playing himself): "Quit? You know, once I was thinking of quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying of that's keeping you from the finals?"
Peter La Fleur: "Right now it feels a little bit like... shame."

¶ 11:10:00 p.m. (0) comments