Frank Miller's "300"

Read the story as a kid.* Reread the Comic book. Saw the trailer at Comicon. For a movie starring "The Phantom of the Opera" and wickedly directed by the Zack Synder who kicked ass with the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, this shouldn't disappoint.


*300 Spartans (and 700 Thespians) fought the Persian army at the Battle of Thermapylae over four days and took out 50,000 men, before dying in battle themselves.

What a bunch of badasses!

$27.1 MILLION DOLLARS

Willem De Kooning's Untitled XXV sold for $27.1 Million Dollars a week and a half ago. I don't pretend to love most post modern art, being a Comic book fan boy I really liked Roy Lichenstein's work and Jack Kirby's 1960's pencil renderings of Marvel Superheroes were really my style. But $27.1 for that? C'mon... I understand he's a post modern "action" painter who's contemporaries include Jackson Pollock, Larry Rivers and Mark Rothko (I actually did like art history) but this particular piece I don't think merits the money. Untitled XXV was sold at a Sotheby's/ Christie's auction along with Warhol's Mao which fetched $17.1 million. No wonder art thefts are on the rise... Remember "The Scream" was stolen 21/2 years ago, and Tom Hanks ripped off the Mona Lisa recently too.

I mean if this = $27.1 Million, then I think that a large canvas Roger Deacons' 1970's Yes Album cover from the RELAYER album should = $5 million. Or a Frank Frazetta "Berzerker" (on the Molly Hatchet album) should = $10 million. I could really never figure out how to judge the modern art market at all, because so much of it is subjective. Renaissance Art I understand. Rembrandt I understand. Picasso's Pre Cubist era I like mucho.

But artists like Mondrian (the Partridge family bus pattern dude) make me want to puke.

I will admit that I do get a kick out of Jackson Pollock's work though, as he threw that paintbrush on the canvas while listening to Jazz, which explains a lot of his work. Furthermore he threw a lot of his cigarette butts into the canvas tells me he seems a lot like Denis Leary if he was a painter. So I think I'd get along with the guy. But even Pollock would tell you that you were full of shit if someone offered you $27.1 Million for his work.

So why the hell am I writing about a painting? Because it's on my desktop here at work and it reminds me of what my head feels like a this job somedays.... and the 27.1 million reasons I wouldn't mind finger painting for a living.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2006

"...dogs and cats living together......MASS HYSTERIA!" - Dr.Peter Venkman, Ghostbuster.

LOCK AND LOAD

Denis Leary rules -

From THE NEW YORK POST :

November 20, 2006 -- DENIS Leary had the crowd howling the other night at a New York Comedy Festival performance at Avery Fisher Hall. Leary sang "The Mel Gibson Blues" with such lyrics as, "I like to drink, I like to drive / I like to think that all the Jews got out of the Holocaust alive / My name is Mel, and can't you tell / I like tequila/I like a bagel, and I like lox / I've worked with Jews all over Hollywood, from Paramount to Fox / They kinda smell, they're goin' to hell / I like tequila."


PS- Dane Cook is overhyped, and sucks.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

I really shouldn't be into this. I should throw in the towel, and cynically call Stallone a sellout and wonder why he's reviving Rocky for a Sixth time. However Rocky's not an easy film character to easily dismiss and throw out. He's got heart, and decency. So I welcome him back into my life 30 years after meeting him with open arms hoping the films have finally come full circle and some of the essence of the beloved first one show itself in this one.

You have to suspend disbelief to acknowledge that a 60 year old man can get in the ring 1 last time, but once that bell rings and Bill Conti's famous score swells, I get goosebumps and pumped up. Plus that line in the preview, "..let's make some hurtin' bombs" I especially like.

The series obviously is not without it's flaws, but even Rocky 5 had it's moments, "My ring is Outside..." the ghost of Mickey telling him to get up,and the training montage in Rocky IV I still think are cool in their Philly Cheese glory.

So this X-mas I'm going back to the Philly Art Museum steps to raise my hands with an icon, one last time....GO FOR IT!

Easy Reader had it Easy...

Children's programming sure got edgy lately....I used to remember when it was all about counting to "12" or learning about the letter "U", or singing about "T-I-O-N"....

From The Chappelle show....

GET LOST

Admittedly I've only watched 1/2 the first season and some sporadic episodes of Season 02 /03 of LOST, while keeping a pulse on what happens through various media, and fans of the show. I was hooked for most of the first season as the stories were kept simple, keeping in mind how a cool show like this could end up like the X-Files where original questions are buried by introducing new ones, and answering those with newer questions; while introducing newer characters. So I kept an interest, at a distance...

So, not to sound elitist, but I generally shake my head when I talk to genuine fans of the show. This is not to put a damper on their enthousiasm, but rather a nodding grimace to the machinations of overstylized writing that grifts its audience into thinking it's better and more complex than it is.

Or simply put: pretentious writing. TV writing for that matter.

LOST started out with a simple premise - survivors of a crashed airliner on an uncharted island.
Now the first season had flashbacks of each established character, and some genuiune surprises with a Polar Bear, and a Dinosaur making their presence known. Wow. An Ex Iraqi soldier, a fat guy, an ex-Hobbit, a black dude and a Korean couple living in harmony? Interesting. Bring on the cannibals.

But alas poor Yourik, conspiracies, a hatch and a bunch of ass clowns named The OTHERs make themselves known, so like the X-Files, nothing gets resolved with the first batch of questions. At which point I give them the finger.

Also now there are 2 islands with one with "The Others" having a submarine and access to civilization.....I thought they were F**kin' LOST!

When Rod Serling created the Twlight Zone back in 1959, that show had a budget that paled in comparison with the 1-2 million Lost costs per episode. In fairness TZ was a 1/2 hour show, but the storytelling element of the paranormal was simple and straightforward. It's twist endings left the viewer bewildered, and amazed due to the magic just shown their way, but never frustrated for not understanding the story. Furthermore shows like Land of the Lost, Danger Island, The Planet of the Apes Tv Show although seemingly dated by visuals, are still fresh due to the simplicty of the stories they tell. I'm not saying that Sci-Fi has to be dumbed down, but even Star Trek (the 1967 / 1990's) had generally one mission to complete per episode.

So LOST gets lost until next year. I hope for their sake the writers get some direction.

Election Day 2006

Just do it.