I have always found it strange the way the universe seems to work. Here we are almost 24 hours after learning the news of the passing of Heath Ledger and tons of questions still abound.
In this age of digital media we get reports non-stop: He was at Mary-Kate Olsen's place, pills were "Strewn" around the apartment, CNN is reporting no illegal drugs, but other sites are hinting at drug use.... but that's not really where my question lies.
Why is it that we always seem to lose guys/girls who are, by all accounts, great people with few or no problems....
While I won't deny that both are talented....why have then not died yet? It's kinda like looking back on guys like Keith Richards.
The amount of drugs that Keith has been reported to have done over the years is mind blowing! Granted I am happy to say that Keith has found some redeeming social worth over the years. A goal that I don't see either Pete or Amy getting to accomplish.
The list is long on artists who died in their prime....Hendrix, Joplin, Belushi, Gram Parsons, Chris Farley. Looking back on it though it's not really a big surprise that drugs contributed to their demise.
Maybe what is so shocking about Heath Ledger is that he wasn't your usual Hollywood party boy....at least not in the general public's view. While Lindsay Lohan is getting busted for , possession and DUI, Nicole Richie-Paris Hilton-Kiefer Sutherland-Michelle Rodriguez-Nick Nolte-Mel Gibson and countless other celebrities are also in the DUI/drug boat....Ledger was never one who had the public persona of a "troubled" star.
In the end we have to wait to find out the FACTS of the case for Heath Ledger. If hard drugs did play a part then there will undoubtedly be those who will say, "well of course they did...he was a Movie Star!"
While he was a movie star, he was also human. This fact can't be lost. As it has been stated many times over the last 24hours, by many people, he was someones son, brother, friend....and Father.
The New York Times online, CNN News, and other outlets have confirmed that 28 year old actor Heath Ledger has been found dead in one of his Manhattan residences.
Cloverfield the new monster movie that took the weekend box office by storm (a reported $41 Million) is a fun movie...pay no attention to what my father thinks!
I hit up the movie theatre this weekend for a long overdue movie night. Not a lot out there that I wanted to see! But, low and behold, what has a 01-18-08 release date (happy birthday to me) CLOVERFIELD.
As I said a few weeks ago, for a movie with little, or no, traditional advertising....I was looking forward to this movie. Now...if you haven't seen the movie yet you may want to stop reading now.
SPOILER ALERT!!! SORT OF!!
Let me start off by saying that I truly enjoyed this movie. But!.....I know a lot of people will not agree with me. First off the camera "work" is a little hard to watch at times.
The man on the street approach is a very convincing style choice here. I think that it even works better than it did back in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project. But, like that movie Cloverfield does have a few short comings.
With the handheld home movie look you get a lot of times that the screen is unwatchable, especially if you have motion sickness issues. But, for the most part the feel of the movie is dead on.
What I really enjoyed was the point of view take this movie gives you. In the past "monster" movies were all about a battle between the unstoppable monster and the main characters....this time you get the view of the everyman just trying to get out of the monsters way...and stay alive in the process. Because of this fact we really only get a few really good look at the main monster itself. (don't want to give away too much!) This movie does a good job of showing the chaos at ground level for the average Joe!
The cast is made of up "mostly unknown" talent. But, if you have been watching a little TV over the last year or so you will recognize a few faces: Lizzy Caplan (from "The Class"), Michael Stahl-David (Black Donnellys), and Jessica Lucas (four episodes of CSI from this year) are the most recognizable faces in the cast and they all do an outstanding job.
A major distinction between Cloverfield and Blair Witch is that Cloverfield was scripted. Some of the dialogue is hokey...but when is a movie totally believable? Some of the best line in the movie come from T.J Miller (Hud, A.K.A. the Cameraman) While you really have to be paying attention to the dialogue rather than to the action....he has some killer lines.
My only true knock on the movie itself is that it spends too much time setting up the quasi-documentary feel. We get about twenty-minutes of setup footage of the going away party before the monster attack begins, and this is 20 minutes out of the total 88 minutes of the movie. I understand the overall reason for those 20 minutes...but I also don't need to get the full run down to get "emotionally attached" to the characters. The whole set up could have been done in 10 minutes and not lost it's effect.
All in all I would say that, while it won't win any awards, it is well worth seeing. If you were not all that impressed by Blair Witch...you may want to sit this one out. The same goes for those people who suffer from motion sickness...
On a final note...stick around, not a big deal..but you may want to just for fun....also, if you are going to see the movie for the first time....or a second time for that matter! Pay attention to the Coney Island Footage near the end of the movie! If you don't have the patience, or money, to go back to the movie....check this out...it's audio from the very end of the credits. If you listen to the audio in the theatre it is supposed to sound like "help us" but if you play it backwards you get....well listen to it for yourself.
While I am in a "Sports" mood I thought I would throw this gem out again.... this is the Long form, UN-EDITED, version of one of the best ad campaigns of all time...every Super Bowl I hope for a new spot from:
I wonder why it is that Condom Ads are the best out there!? Maybe they make them funny so you don't notice the fact that they are only like 98% effective. Or as Ross from Friends once said...."But, I used a condom....they have to work, their ONLY job is to work!"
So I thought about an easy weeks worth of blogs here...I am going to post a few of my favorite commercial spots of all time. I got thinking about this the other day after finding the MacGyver ad on YouTube.
First up, another MasterCard ad from a few years ago:
Reading Things JK Eats the other day got me thinking about a few food/drink items from that past that I really miss...or maybe would just like to see one more time.
JK brought up the fact that we need a revival of the Taco Bell "Bacon Cheeseburger" Burrito. I would have to concur. Especially with the recent surge of Bacon related products. Just look at a Hardee'smenu and you can get a Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheddar Fries, and most of the monster line has bacon.
First up in the Soda Category....Crystal Pepsi!! That's right...the greatest soda to ever disappear from the face of the earth is one that I would like to see get a revival!
Not really sure what it was that I loved about "the Clear Choice" but as long as I am not totally blocking out my childhood....this stuff was good!
If you don't believe me that we may have gotten rid of the cure for world hunger, the single greatest invention of the last 25 years....check out the commercial below and tell me I am wrong!
I dare you to find one fault with the below tv spot, great music, a naked baby, and the center piece, Crystal "MF" Pepsi. P.S Youtube is great!
Now that you have seen the proof on my first choice for missing soda...the silver medal goes to another favorite from about 10 years ago....Surge .
Kinda of like the Vault of the mid 90's. Again not really sure why I liked this green pure sugar drink so much, maybe it was due to the fact that the gas station I worked for while at Illinois State never sold the stuff so when it went out of date....i got to take home CASES of the stuff. Free will always cloud one's judgment! I do think that the Surge formula was recently revived for the Simpson's Duff Energy Drink, but I may be wrong!
I would come up with the bronze medal winner but I really don't want to think about this all that much...so the fact that you can't find JOLT cola everywhere gives it the edge. (preference to Grape)
Food Category:
1st place Gold Medal- Taco Bell Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito (as mentioned above)
The genius of this little food item was that on those hard days when you couldn't choose between the drive thru at McDonald'sor Taco Bell you could get the best of both worlds in one convenient location....a burrito. I won't elaborate but it was God Like in its goodness.
2nd Place Silver Medal - The KFC Chicken Little
Nothing beats a mini chicken patty sandwich. Just chicken and a dab of mayo made this little "for a limited time only" menu item stick around for YEARS. I do believe that the sandwich has now gone to college, dropped out, and returned to KFC as the Snacker!
After the time away the soft little sandwich man has grown up and gotten tough, coming back "crispy" and "spicy" depending on how you like that kind of thing.
3rd Place Bronze medal - McDLT
I think it is more the Environmentally "UN-friendly" package that I miss on this one...Remember when Styrofoam was the be all end all of food storage devices?
Keeps the cold side cold, and the hot side hot! Those were the day's it even marked which side was which...you know in case you were shocked to see that your meat was hot and your lettuce and such was cold!
I believe that the Big Mac came in a similar device for a time!...Those were the days!
Need more proof that if you keep anything long enough it will become cool again? Well one of the greatest shows of all time is making it's triumphant return to NBC . On the heels of an updated version of Bionic Woman we get another update of classic NBC fare......
This time around it is a little show about a man and his car, and if we are lucky his car's evil twin!
KNIGHT RIDER is BACK
Coming in February, from the network that brought back American Gladioators, comes the continuation of the Knight Rider Saga......
Now I really don't have high expectations for this show. Granted the previews look Totally BA. Really all I am looking for is something 100% better than the joke that was Team Knight Rider, and just barely better than Knight Rider 2000.
But really, did it get better than seeing K.I.T.T in a 57 Chevy...and giving a full body shock to James Doohan (Star Trek's Scotty) who is playing himself? Classic!
Now this is only a "Backdoor Pilot". What that means is that we are going to get a two hour movie to just get a taste of the new Knight Rider. If it does great...or if it just doesn't suck...there is a chance that later in the season we may have a new show take up space on the trusty DVR. If it bombs....well just be glad that a childhood memory is still cool enough to make it back to TV, even if it is only a two hour movie!
Next up....I want a new MacGyver series. Makes me wonder what ever happened to the long rumored Young MacGyver series that was forever in the works? Even a "update/remake" would work for me as long as you got Richard Dean Anderson involved in some aspect! But, that's a topic for another day!
Dexter, the Showtime show about the serial killer, with a heart of gold....well maybe not a heart of gold, but atleast a good solid moral system, is coming to CBS.
With the writer's strike moving into its ninth week networks are struggling to find "new" content for their viewers.
Now CBS will roll the dice and bring Dexter to the masses. Personally, I think it is an amazing show. But, I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical about how the move to network will work.
It's kind of like watching reruns of the Soprano's on A & E. Still great stories, but something is just missing.
Granted there are some sex scenes that will have to be dealt with, but they can be edited down and not really lose the character insight (in Dexter's case) of the scene. The funny part will be listening to how they re-edit some of the dialoge....especially when it comes to Deborah, Dexter's half sister. I am not saying she has a mouth on here...but Fu*K me!!
All in all, I would say that if you want the full Dexter Experience, buy the first season and subscribe to Showtime to catch up on the second season (just finished) and future seasons.
I wanted to start off with a review of Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself To Live" since I just got done reading that, it was a Christmas gift (thanks Ryan). But, I decided to go a little off the beaten path for this review.
I was digging through an old box of books and found something that I hadn't thought of....let alone read, in probably close to 18 years!
The book I am speaking of is one of many in a series. Actually it is the combination of two of the greatest childhood book series of all time....if you have a guess make it now! Any idea? Well, if you guessed the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew you would be right!
Now this was no ordinay Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew crossover book. No, this was one of the greatest literary inventions ever... to steal the phrase from the originator.....this was a "Choose your own adventure" style novel. I think the phrase they used was "Be a detective" novels.
These were the books where you would read a few pages and then have the choice of: "If you want to follow Nancy Drew to the movie studio, turn to page 98"...."if you want to follow Frank and Joe to Silicone Valley, turn to page 121"..."if you think the detectives should look into the shady gardener, turn to page 22"
The great thing about these books was the fact that there were a ton of different endings to each story.
In one choice the gardener would be innocent in another he would be a "master thief".
Reading this again the other night brought be TONS of enjoyment! I really loved the whole Hardy Boys series, both the old books I got from my parents, and the "new" casefiles series! I'm kind of sad to see that this series hasn't seen a comeback of recent years.
Nancy Drew had a brief return with the Emma Roberts film of the same name. And to some respect...Veronica Mars.
Listen up Hollywood...once the writer's strike is over...I want a new Hardy Boys Series/Movie! PLEASE!!!!
Wondering who you should endorse in the next Presidential election?
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