Film fan Friday: St. Vincent

I don't get to see too many new films until they make it to DVD.  Mostly because newer movies are pretty insulting and, to a lesser extent, because movie trailers are deceiving.  it will probably become a theme in this blog.  I hate movie trailers.  Movie trailers that looked stupid or completely misrepresented the movie are like a knife in my heart.

St. Vincent is a fantastic film featuring the extremely brilliant acting talents of Bill Murray.  I highly recommend it.  I didn't see it earlier because the trailer led me to believe that it was another stupid comedy and that Bill Murray had returned to his sarcastic wiseass persona.

Two things made me put this film into my Netflix cue.  The lesser reason was Melissa McCarthy.  I've been a fan since the Gilmore Girls.  I like her character on Mike & Molly.  Her choice of films have not done their best to highlight her talents.  She is an Amazing character actress, but this alone could not convince me.

What did convince me is Bill Murray.   Bill Murray who refused to do Ghostbusters III because he wanted to be able to act and not just be part of a special effects extravaganza.  Bill Murray who starred in Lost In Translation and Rushmore, Bill Murray who had a smaller role in The Royal Tennenbaums and nailed it.  Bill Murray who starred opposite an Elephant in Larger Than Life and made me tear up by the ending.

I decided to put my faith in Bill, and Bill did no disappoint.  He again made me cry by the end of a film. 

I don't like to give too much away when I write these things, all I'm gonna say is watch St. Vincent.

St. Vincent is a 2014 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Theodore Melfi, making his "theatrical feature film debut. The film stars Bill Murray as the title character and features Jaeden Lieberher, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, and Naomi Watts.

The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival where it was voted second runner-up as "People's Choice Award for Best Film.  It received a limited theatrical release on October 10, 2014, and expanded to a wide release on October 24.  The same day, it was released on Netflix in France.

A young boy whose parents have just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic war veteran who lives next door.

TV Retro Crash Thursday: play it Grand

In our continuing series of Television programs that I like and no one else remembers, Retro-crash presents "Grand".

Grand was the natural successor to Soap.  It spent a large amount o time exploring the issues of class war in a company town.  The first season was dark and quirky and genuinely entertaining in an intelligent sort of way.  The America viewing public hated it.

The network and the writers retold the show for the second season.  They eliminated the best characters and settled into a more standard format. Nether even changed the theme song so it was a little more pop music friendly.  Grand became less Grand, and with all the damn compromises got cancelled any way.

I only have the one photo, I cannot find the DVD set anywhere, and there are no episodes online that I can find. If you have any leads let m know.  I do have some crappy footage of both versions of the theme song.  Somewhere in that song is a life philosophy, listen carefully and if you're gonna play it, play it Grand.

The theme song

http://youtu.be/hSWrEZ8q5ck

The slick theme song from the second season that I don't like.

http://youtu.be/Oc6rzlHT7Bg

Grand was the story of three interconnected families. It was more of a satire of soap operas than it was a traditional situation comedy; the program often mocked the conventions of soap opera. The series followed three interrelated families, from different social classes, in rural Pennsylvania – the wealthy Weldons, the impoverished Pasetis, and the middle class Smithsons.

The Weldons were the wealthiest family in the small town of Grand, Pennsylvania; they owned the largest industry, a pianofactory which was starting to fall on hard times due to the declining sales of its pianos, a situation that patriarch Harris Weldon (John Randolph) blamed on Asian imports. In Weldon's household were his dimwitted son, Norris (Joel Murray) and the acerbic butler, Desmond (John Neville), whom Weldon kept despite his acid tongue as he had once been responsible for saving Weldon's life. Weldon's housekeeper Janice Paseti (Pamela Reed) barely scraped by on what Weldon paid her; she lived in a mobile home with her obese daughter, Edda (Sara Rue). In between these two extremes were Weldon's niece Carole Ann Smithson (Bonnie Hunt) and her husband Tom (Michael McKean), who was constantly hoping to improve his finances by returning to a position (he was fired by Weldon on his first day), preferably an executive one, at his wife's uncle's factory.

Grand followed soap opera convention by featuring numerous story arcs which carried through several episodes, most notably Harris' attempts in the first season to secure a date to take to a ceremony honoring him at Carnegie Hall, Janice's struggle to come to terms with her divorce while fending off the amorous attentions of police officer Wayne Kazmurski, Tom's attempts to first hide from Carol Ann the fact that he had a teenaged son from a previous marriage and then his attempts to integrate the son into their lives, and Harris allowing Desmond to believe that he was actually Norris's father, although Harris knew it was not true. The pseudo-soap-opera format was abandoned after the second episode of Season 2, but resumed in the series' final four episodes. A 26th episode was filmed but never aired.

This program was less successful than the somewhat similar Soap, which had also featured an acid-tongued butler and mocked many of the same soap opera conventions. Grand ran for two shortened seasons in 1990, with thirteen episodes from January to April and twelve more from October to December 1990, prior to its cancellation.

Cast

• John Randolph as Harris Weldon
• Pamela Reed as Janice Pasetti
• Bonnie Hunt as Carol Ann Smithson (became Carol Ann Weldon in season 2)
• Michael McKean as Tom Smithson (Season 1 only)
• John Neville as Desmond
• Joel Murray as Norris Weldon
• Sara Rue as Edda Pasetti
• Andrew Lauer as Wayne Kazmurski (Season 1 only)

Recurring cast:

• Ed Marinaro as Eddie Pasetti
• Jackey Vinson as Dylan Smithson
• Mark Moses as Richard Peyton
• Sean Phelan as Timmy
• Eddie Jones as Dr. Frank
• Carroll Baker as Viva
• John Michael Bolger as Manny

Grab Bag Wednesday: Just Say Yo

Firstly, I'm going to recommend that you click the link an watch a video, if you wish to proceed further into the subject matter presented, come back and read further.

Go ahead.

I'll wait

http://youtu.be/2ps5BQnJrTc

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Welcome back.

Today, I will confess to a new facet of my geekdom.  We all now I like comic books, old movies, bad television shows, and poetry.  There is nothing new there,  what I mess confess is that I am a disciple of Yo.

Currently I am not in possession of a Yo-yo, and when I have one, I'm not particularly adept at using it, by I enjoy the art of the Yo-yo.  The simple satisfaction of finding the groove and becoming one with the object.  It is very relaxing, in a zen kind of way.

Watchtower this video for coo tricks and yo-yo philosophy.

http://youtu.be/WiDz2L9jMPY

The history of the yo-yo is interesting.  There are many theories to its origin, but I just stuck to the information that did not teach you how to bludgeon your enemies.

1920s AD - United States - Pedro Flores

In 1928 Pedro Flores immigrated from the Philippines to the USA and started selling yo-yos under the name "yo-yos", the name used in the Philippines. He called his business the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company which operated in Santa Barbara. Pedro trademarked the term 'yo-yo' and used the refined Philippine design of the yo-yo by looping the string around the axle instead of tying it as it was done previously^[2]. In doing this he introduced America to the fundamental yo-yo trick, the sleeper. Pedro Flores printed "patent applied" and "patent pending" on many of his yo-yos, despite him not possessing any patent on his products, presumably to discourage other toy manufacturers from producing yo-yos.

Due to the number of new possibilities for tricks Pedro also set up competitions to demonstrate the new tricks that could be done. However, his competitions were quite different from modern yo-yo competitions, as the competitions were more about endurance than trick complexity. The winner was the yo-yoer who could keep the yo-yo moving up and down without missing. This resulted in some competitions lasting a very long time with two experienced yo-yoers not giving up, resulting in the winner being selected by drawing straws. These competitions also featured contests of who could throw their yo-yo the furthest with it returning fully and who could do the greatest number of perfect spins during five minutes.

1930s AD - United States - Duncan

In about 1930 Donald F. Duncan bought out Flores and so obtained the rights to the trademark "yo-yo". The precise date is uncertain but the "Yo-Yo" trademark was transferred in 1932. Other yo-yo companies during this period had to use terms such as 'return tops', 'whirl-a-gigs' or 'twirlers'. Duncan quickly acquired the largest share of the yo-yo market, with 85% of all yo-yos sold in this period being produced by Duncan.

1960s - United States - Yo-yo term loses trademark

In 1965 Duncan got into a legal battle over the use of the term 'yo-yo' with Royal, resulting in the court ruling that the term had become generic and so could be not trademarked. As a result of the cost of fighting the lawsuit as well as an expensive investment in the means to produce plastic yo-yos, Duncan became bankrupt and its assets were sold, including its products and goodwill to Flambeau Plastics Companywhich now produces Duncan yo-yos^[3]. The Duncan equipment would go to Strombecker Toys which produced yo-yos under the Medalist name for a number of years.

http://yoyo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Currently, I am without the mystic yo-yo and its secrets of balance in a chaotic universe.  I suppose it's because I am particular.  Now, your thinking a yo-yo is just a yo-yo, but materials and shape are very important.

The shape of a yo-yo is of much debate between amateurs and professionals alike.  Most people are familiar with the Imperial style Yo-yo.  It is probably the style that requires the most skill.  The round shape and narrow gap make it difficult to do string tricks.  I don't do string tricks anyway.  I don't like it because it feels wrong in my hand.  More of a ball than a yo-yo, the shape throws my roll.

Some folks are fans of the Butterfly.  The Butterfly is good for tricks and easy access to string entanglements.  If I did tricks, I would probably use a butterfly.

But for me, a man looking for the yo-yo zen of things, I have always preferred, the modified.  I know that it seems like some bastard hybrid of the other two, but it cradles nicely in my hand, rolls nicely off my middle finger, gives me a sense of peace.

I also have the issue that I don't like plastic or wooden yo-yo's.  I love many things old and retro.  I often eat nostalgia for lunch, but in that overall sense of Zen.  The all encompassing search for balance.  I like the aluminum.  It's got the feel of being an old times gunfighter.  I don't want to be a gunfighter or own a gun, but sometimes you need the comfort of cold metal in your hand and it's just not appropriate to walk around with a beer in your hand.

And I know all of this may sound ridiculous, but I am not alone in my yo-yo obsession.  But even I would stop before I bought one of these.

The Anti-Yo Gouda 24 Karat Gold Plated Yo-Yo. Dude, we’re talking $314.99 worth of string floppin’, cat’s cradlin’, dog walkin’ funski right here. In the palm of your slightly sweaty hand. Unfortunately you, dear serf minion of the humble arts, will be unable to purchase one of these babies, because only 10 have been made and they are currently sold out. 

This is all I've got for today.  I'll see you tomorrow for some Retro-Crash TV nonsense, until then Just Say Yo.

Superhero Tuesday: The Shadow Knows

Have you ever been reading a comic and it suddenly occurred to you that the character was a total rip off of The Batman.  I'm sure it happens all the time, but the big secret that you don't know is that The Batman owes his entire existence to The Shadow.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of Men, The Shadow knows."

The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in 1930s pulp novels, and then in a wide variety of media. Details of the title character have varied across various media, but he is generally depicted as a crime-fighting vigilante with psychic powers posing as a "wealthy, young man about town". One of the most famous adventure heroes of the twentieth century, The Shadow has been featured on the radio, in a long-running pulp magazine series, in comic books, comic strips, television, serials, video games, and at least five motion pictures. The radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.

The Shadow was the original millionaire playboy who spent his nights solving crimes and fighting crime.  The Shadow uses twin black automatics.  Batman used to carry a gun.  

Batman had a sidekick.  The Shadow had operatives, a driver, a communications network, and could cloud men's minds.  Batman had silly gadgets and a cave.

The Bat may have borrowed heavily from The Shadow, but he was watered down.  The sad thing is that Batman's preeminent villain was inspired by Shadow.  That's right folks.  The Joker, who in modern times has become ubiquitous, was inspired by a one shot villain called The Grim Joker.

In 1938, Steven Slon became the writer of The Shadow Radio Show starring Orson Welles. Though credited for bringing the character "Shrevie" into the show, his most influential episode is perhaps The Laughing Corpse. Slon's script introduced the listeners to a mad chemist who injected his victims with a poison that induces laughter before death. Batman's villain The Joker is believed to be inspired by this episode. It should be noted that The Joker made his comic book debut in the spring of 1940, only a few months after the show aired.

I need you all to remember that " the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, crime does not pay, The Shadow Know"

Super Villain Monday: let there be Sunlight

I apologize for the lateness and brevity of today's entry.  I hope to make it up to you in the coming days

First off.  This is Doc Savage.  He was a hero back in the days when comics were called pulps and there weren't so many pictures.  ( how condescending can I be?)

Doc Savage was raised to become the world's most powerful intellect and a man of unparalleled strength. A towering bronze colossus with hypnotic eyes that stir like pools of flake-gold.

This is the villain, he is the biggest badass in the world, he is smart, he is strong, he is vicious.  He hates Doc Savage and wants to rule the world.  Did I mention that he's totally nuts.

Today's pop culture history lesson is about the only villain who ever survived to taunt Doc Savage more than once.

Every hero has their ultimate nemesis, but John Sunlight is crazier than the Joker, smarter than Moriarity, and more fixated than Doctor Doom.  He is the template for every other evil genius who ever graced a comic book panel .

Sunlight usually dresses in military type suits of various colors, but always in a monochrome, so , all black, all green, all brown.

John Sunlight(alias; real name unknown) is arguably Doc Savage's greatest enemy. The character matched Doc Savage in intelligence yet also had an animalistic cunning which made him a great threat to Savage. He is also more physically powerful than Doc. He however uses his talents to pursue his goal of world dictatorship. At times of he has been known to emit a low growl subconsciously, very similar to Savage's trilling. His ultimate goal is to end humanity's problems such as war, famine, and intolerence by bringing the world under his control. The two have shown immense respect for each other, and Sunlight has even offered to spare Docs life if he joins him. Sunlight is tall and gaunt with strangely long fingers. He has a hypnotic stare which only the most intelligent or determined can resist.

He was also the only enemy to appear twice in the original pulp stories.

Sunlight has also appeared in a few of the comic book adaptations of Doc Savage:

• "The Monarch of Armageddon" by Mark Ellis and Darryl Banks, published by Millennium Publications in 1991. Set shortly after The Devil Genghis the story depicts Sunlight's systematic destruction of everything Doc holds dear. In the concluding chapter, Sunlight apparently commits suicide rather than have his life saved by Doc Savage.
• First Wave published by DC Comics.

I don't know if anybody cares about Doc Savage anymore, but in the history of the art of sequential storytelling, Doc was one of the forefathers.  Find the books, read the comics, you can even watch the old movie, but I'm not insisting or recommending, some things are better left buried.

Obscure Super Team Sunday: The Runaways

Among the great accidents of genius comes the most wild ride in comics. An Amerivan comic rooted in its own micro-section of the Mável Universe. The Runaways are not a group of heroes or a group of villains. The Runaways are a group of kids with skills and abilities passed down to them by their would-world conquering parental units. At the heart of everything, The Runaways are kids, with kid attitudes and kid problems.

They have other issues too. Everyone on the Marvel Universe is looking for them. Some want to save them, somr want to exploit them. The Runaways are just, a group of kids trying to make it on their own as a family while trying to stay alive on the road

My advice, find it, read it, make it part of your life.

The usual Wikipedia stuff

Runaways is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series features a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are part of an evil crime organization known as "The Pride". Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the series debuted in July of 2003 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. The series had been canceled in September 2004 at issue eighteen, but due to high numbers of trade collection sales, Marvel revived the series in February 2005.

Originally, the series featured a group of six kids whose parents routinely met every year for a charity event. One year, the kids spy on their parents and learn they are "the Pride", a criminal group of mob bosses, time-travelers, dark wizards, mad scientists, alien invaders and telepathic mutants. The kids steal weapons and resources from their parents, and learn they themselves inherited their parents' powers; Alex Wilder, a prodigy, leads the team while Nico Minoru learns she is a powerful witch, Karolina Dean discovers she is an alien, Gertrude Yorkes learns of her telepathic link to a dinosaur, Chase Steinsteals his father's futuristic gloves, while young Molly Hayes learns she is a mutant with incredible strength. The kids band together and defeat their parents, and atone for the sins of their parents by fighting the new threats trying to fill in the Pride's void. After being betrayed by Alex who was killed by the Gibborim (The Pride's God) they are later joined by cyborg Victor Mancha, shape-shifting Skrull Xavin, and plant-manipulator Klara Prast.



Since the original groups' introduction, the Runaways have been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional yet loving family. Series creators Brian K. Vaughanand Adrian Alphona left the series at issue twenty-four of the title's second volume. The second volume was continued by Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan until they departed at issue thirty. Writer Terry Moore and artist Humberto Ramos became the creative team for two story arcs. After one issue written by Christopher Yost and James Asmus, Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli became the new creative team.  The book was cancelled in 2009, though this was initially called a hiatus; the last issue released was Volume 3, number 14, released in September 2009, cover-dated November of that year.




Originally, the team featured six main Runaways, remaining constant throughout the first volume (18 chapters) of Runaways.

The original six are:
Nico Minoru, the daughter of dark wizards, is a witch capable of manipulating magic. She is the group's leader.
Karolina Dean, the daughter of alien invaders, is a solar-powered alien. She is a lesbian and in a relationship with Xavin
Molly Hayes, the daughter of telepathic mutants, is a mutant whose powers include super-strength and invulnerability
Chase Stein, the son of mad scientists, steals his father's flame generating/manipulating gauntlets called "the Fistigons".
Alex Wilder, the son of mafia bosses, was a child prodigy at strategic thinking and planning.[42]
Gertrude Yorkes, the daughter of time-traveling criminals, used to have an empathic and telepathic link with Old Lace.
Old Lace, a genetically engineered dinosaur from the 87th century, had a telepathic and empathic bond with Gert and Chase.



Later members include:
Victor Mancha, the creation of the Avengers' foe Ultron and Marianella Mancha, is a cyborg who can manipulate electricity and metal.[42]
Xavin, the child of Skrull warlords, can shape-shift and also manifest the powers of the Fantastic Four.[42]
Klara Prast, a Swiss immigrant to America from 1907 and child bride of an abusive older man, can control the growth of plants.[43]

Jukebox Saturday: the Freddy Jones Band

Today, I'm going to waste your time by talking about a band that won't ,  Chicago based, The Freddy Jones Band got lost in the shuffle with the rise of Grunge in the early 90s.  Where as Grunge harkened back to the days of punk,  The Freddy Jones Band was trying to remind us of the pure gutsy legacy of Rock.  Not as whiny as the counting crows, and not as precious as the Dave Matthews Band.  FJB reminded us that we loved the Allman Brothers and that our favorite album of the 80's was by David & David.

FJB never had the success of the BoDeans or Sister Hazel, but the bluesy influence in those twin guitars always makes me smile .

Most folks are familiar with their first hit "in a daydream"  bit cuts like "sing and play","waitress" and " Diamonds" stand out in my head as some of my faves by this forgotten roots rock powerhouse.

My first exposure to FJB was on volume 1 of XRT live from the archives.



Artist Biography by Richard Skelly


The Freddy Jones Band are roots-rock specialists in the tradition of groups like Little Feat, the Dave Matthews Band and the Allman Brothers Band. Having grown up in Chicago, the group has no particular aversion to blues, and much of their sound could be described as solid blues rock.




The group's third album for Nashville-based Capricorn Records, North Ave. Wake-Up Call, is about their experiences on the road, criss-crossing the country in their van, supporting their two earlier releases for Capricorn, Waiting for the Night, (1993) and their self-titled debut, The Freddy Jones Band (1993), a repackaged version of the group's independently released album. Lucid followed in 1997, and two years later they returned with Mile High Live.

The group consists of Marty Lloyd, vocals and acoustic guitar, Wayne Healy, vocals and guitar, Jim Bonaccorsi, bass, Ron Bonaccorsi, guitar and vocals, and Simon Horrocks, drums. While most of the songs on North Ave. Wake-Up Call focus on the band's experiences on the road, some songs on their earlier releases explore the more traditional love won and lost themes.

The band's sound at times is reminiscent of the Allman Brothers, and they have a unique two guitar sound that is augmented by some inspired slide playing and pumping Hammond organ, furthering the comparison.

Link to a you tube playlist

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmrjexIB2XMr3clbHwrncSVHlm__4hLI0