3D Movies Yesterday

I know it's been a while since my last post. Sorry. I'll keep you waiting no longer. I was thinking about a post about my trip up North w/ the kids last week, but that was covered pretty well on Facebook. I was also thinking about a post about Arsenal, but that should really wait until after the close of the transfer window this evening. Therefore, we'll go w/ the 2 movies I saw yesterday. I think it was the 1st time since 1988 that I saw 2 films in theaters in a single day. Back then I was all about the Micheal Keaton/Jack Nicholson Batman. I saw it 8 times @ the canton Cinema 6 that summer.
Yesterday, I took to the kids to lunch @ Coney Joes in Brighton & then we saw Spy Kids 4D. Coney Joes is a fantastic little hod dog shack. Spy Kids 4D is an unnecessary addition to the Spy Kids franchise. But my kids liked it so that was fine... & Ricky Gervais does the voice of the robotic dog. He gets to just do his schtick throughout the movie so that was cool. Joel McHale is in it too... but there was no "Kick Ass Clip of the Day."

After work, Sara from Nicola's & I went to see the new Conan the Barbarian remake in 3D. It sucks! It makes me want to kick Marcus Nispel's ass. He could very well be the worst director alive. We got to the theater to find out we were the only ones seeing it. The screen was dark & then the lights went off as though they weren't going to show the movie. Of course, we couldn't get off that easily. I called the office to tell them we were there & waiting. The film started w/o any of the normal commercials/trailers, but it was screwed up. The 3D was all blurry so we had to go complain to get it fixed. It then became clear that Nispel 7 his cronies only used the 3D technology as an after-thought. It was used so poorly that we didn't even get any blood-splatter. Even when the guy's nose was cut off, it didn't come flying at us. That said, I could definitely see myself watching it over & over again. It's a piece of shit, but it's fun as Hell so long as you don't ask too much of it. (And asking anything at all would be too much.)

Neko & My Morning Jacket

Dig her beauty!For the 1st time since I saw Blues Traveler there 4 years ago (here's a review of that show, if you're interested... & I know you are) & only the 2nd time ever, I headed out to Meadowbrook last night for a concert. I went w/ Sara from Nicola's after the Arsenal v Udinese match (the Gunners won 1-0). Once there, we also got to hang w/ Laura which is always pretty awesome. I'd been wanting to see Neko Case for years, but I wasn't very familiar w/ My Morning Jacket. As it turns out, they kind of rock, but more on that after a few numbered thoughts:
1) Meadowbrook is pretty awesome. I need to go there more often. It's a lot closer than Pine knob & it's small & intamate.
2) Neko Case is awesome. She's smart, & beautiful, & interesting, & she has an amazing voice.
3) I wish Neko Case had been able to play a longer set.
4) Beer is better @ Meadowbrook than Pine Knob... & cheaper.
5) A thin blanket to sit on was a good idea, but a thinner one to keep us warm might have been a good idea.
6) I wish they didn't have the lights @ the top of the hill so we could have seen the stars better.

Neko played 6 or 7 songs. They came out & there were sound problems so they went back stage for another 10 minutes. When things were straightened out, she & her band rocked for a half hour or so. My Morning Jacket then came out & kind of blew us away. I'd been told by people on The Phil Zone that they might be the best live act since The Q. Well, that's a bit ridiculous, but they were definitely good. And the light show was absolutely stellar. They played for about 2 hours plus a 5 song encore (which included a duet w/ Neko on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"):
1. Victory Dance
2. Circuital
3. You Wanna Freak Out
4. Off The Record
5. I'm Amazed
6. Anytime
7. Lowdown
8. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
9. Slow Slow Tune
10. Lay Low
11. Dondante
12. Gideon
13. Smokin From Shootin
14. (end of) Run Thru
15. First Light
16. Touch me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2
17. Touch me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1
18. War Begun
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19. Wordless Chorus
20. The Day Is Coming
21. Stop Draggin My Heart Around
22. Holdin On To Black Metal
23. One Big Holiday
They can definitely rock, & Jim James definitely has a touch of the Ronnie James Dio in his stage persona. They also clearly wear their influences on their sleeves, but unlike so many hippie bands, theirs seem a lot more varied. And they are kind of dark... like the darkest moments of a YEM jam blown out for 20 minutes, or some dark Pink Floyd stuff... plus The Faces & Kiss all wrapped into one weird ass thing. I gotta say, I dug them.
Dig his boots!

Feather Bowling & Fábregas

For the b-day girls (Solstice & Elizabeth), we went out to eat @ The Cadieux Cafe last night. The food was good & the feather bowling was super fun. All 3 of my kids got the "Chicken Finger Club Sandwich," a huge bun w/ chicken & bacon. They all loved it. Seeing as it's a Belgian place, I got the Peter Paul Reuben (as did Dan). It was good, ranking maybe 3rd or 4th on my all-time list of Reubens. Elizabeth & my parents all got the all-you-can-eat mussels. They were good too. All-in-all, I'd say the drive to the East Side of Detroit would be worth it just for the food... even if they didn't have Feather Bowling. For those of you not in the know, it's kind of like curling got its chocolate in shuffle board's peanut butter. There's a long lane kind of like bowling, but it's dirt & concave. At either end, there's a feather sticking out of the dirt & the players roll cheese shaped "stones" towards it, & the closest ones get the points. We played boys v girls & since it was their b-days, we let the girls win. We're nice like that.In other "F" news, Cesc Fábregas finally signed w/ Barcelona ending an 8 year run in N. London. He was the Arsenal captain for his last 2 years, & it's generally understood that he was given the captaincy in an attempt to convince him to stay put. Well, it's clear that it didn't work. He was great though, & he represents the rare occasion when a player leaves because he actually really wants to play for a specific team... & who can blame him. He was raised in Barcelona, he came up through their academy, & they're the current European Champions... maybe I should make a move from Verde to Barcelona. We'll see if it's in the cards. Here's a fun collection of pics from The Guardian celebrating his years @ Arsenal: Cesc Fábregas's Arsenal career - in pictures.
Making his 1st team debut against Rotherham United: 28 October 2003

On this day of all days... give our last show a listen

The Day James Bond Jumped a River, Boy!

As you've probably heard... it made all the papers, after all... I've been watching the James Bond movies w/ Sara (a friend from Nicola's) this summer. 2 nights ago, we had a viewing of The Man w/ the Golden Gun. I dig Christopher Lee, I dig those tall islands in Phang Nga Bay, & I dig supernumerary nipples, so this movie is obviously high on my list of fav Bond films. I mean, come on, 2 out of 3 would be sweet... but all in one movie three? Almost heaven!

The thing is that there's a scene that almost... not quite, but almost... pushes the movie over the edge. Bond is chasing Scaramanga (Lee's character) & needs a car. He runs into a dealership and steals an AMC off the show-floor. The sheriff, J. W. Pepper, from Live & Let Die happens to be looking @ the car & sitting in the passenger seat. (Why he's considering buying an AMC in Phuket is never explained). Bond jumps in the driver's seat & takes off after Scaramanga. When they realize they're on the wrong side of a river, there's only one option: jump it from a dilapidated wooden bridge while doing a corkscrew/barrel roll thing. It's pretty beautiful... & it might have been an influence on The Dukes of Hazzard.The thing is that this begs the question: "Did James Bond 'Jump the Shark' 4 years before Fonzie?" Of course, the phrase "Jump the Shark" jumped the shark years ago, but this is important, so bear w/ me. You see, while we were watching the film, Hub was showing all 3 parts of the Happy Days shark jump episode. Of course, since I was thinking ahead, I recorded it for later. I watched it yesterday morning, & it turns out, the episode holds up pretty well. Aside from the fact that an enormous shark is being kept in a little pen right where everyone is swimming/surfing/water-skiing, when viewed in its entirety, one realizes that it's actually better than a lot of Happy Days episodes. And Henry Winkler seems to do a lot of his own skiing.To top it all off, this has all happened in the middle of what a million facebook posts seem to suggest is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Sweet, sweet synchronicity!

My Name is August West

I posted a bunch of videos on facebook to celebrate Jerry's b-day today, but this needs a special place here. It could very well be the perfect video for Jerry's b-day. Be sure to notice Bobby teaching the song to Pete Townshend in the background. Also notice Townshend jumping around like an 80s new-wave fool. Also, listen to Jerry's playing... fantastic!