Here's the "little" movie Somara and I made in Las Vegas. I hope it's more entertaining than the last one of the Mirage's volcano [currently down for maintenance]. The fashion show would've better with a bigger screen ratio.
What is it? It's a POV-flick from the best seats on the Deuce starting from the South Transfer Center to the stop for Treasure Island. The actual trip takes over half an hour, easily half as long with a rental car or cab, but I sped it up with iMovie and threw in Dave Edmunds' cover of "Sabre Dance." Enjoy!
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 3, 2008 10:02:41 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop
Paul was more of a movie star to my parents’ generation. To people my age, he’s the guy on a salad-dressing bottle. To my nephews, he’s the wise vehicle in Cars. As a hockey fan, he gave us the greatest movie about the sport ever made and probably one of the three films with sports as its focal point, Slapshot. Even if you know very on how the game is played, it remains a hilarious and has withstood the years despite the changes in fashion, attitudes on health or the decline of violence in the leagues. Paul genuinely got into the role as the aging, has-been player-coach Reggie by practicing his skating and stick handling; something only “weird” actors did in the Seventies.
Next Saturday, the NHL’s latest season opens, I definitely need to break out my DVD to get in the mood and raise a beer to Paul’s memory…Reggie would’ve want it that way.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ September 27, 2008 11:45:20 PM CDT ( 1 comment ) |
Most of you know her as Saffron Monsoon, the level-headed, stick-in-the-mud daughter from Absolutely Fabulous. You may have also recognized her as the voice of Ginger, the rebellious hen from Chicken Run. Julia is more well known on UK TV in general. For me, she got the great opportunity to be Emma, The Doctor's companion for Comic Relief when Rowan Atkinson portrayed the iconic character with Jonathan Price as The Master.
I always thought she was younger but I guess I was wrong that the BBC casts actors and actresses to match the age of the characters, unless Saffron was a perpetual college student in the show.
If you go to imdb.com, look her up. You probably will go "oh yeah, her! I'm used to seeing her with glasses."
Due to my former love of the show known as AbFab [the fourth and later seasons didn't interest me, I always felt it was an early Nineties type of program], Julia joins the legion of others who turn 40 with me this year.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ September 9, 2008 11:27:57 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Many of you know him as the voice of Bender, the smoking-drinking-gambling robot character from Futurama. Your children know him as Schnitzel, the rock creature who only says "Rada rada rada," on Chowder. Despite all the voiceover work he has done for the last 15 years, John has had live roles on TV like Chicago Hope and Law & Order. These probably weren't very memorable because you're still thinking "who?" Other than Bender, I'll always remember him as Steve Ballmer in Pirates of Silicon Valley which also starred Michael Anthony Hall as Bill Gates.
Landing the role of Bender appears to have been his big career boost. This character became the show's Homer Simpson, Fonz and Alex P. Keaton, the breakout one who shifts the program's focus. It's debatable though. Bender was a major part of the pilot, ad campaign and Groening
Before Futurama his imdb.com resume mainly shows bit roles and anime voices; those are still great, it's more than I've ever done with my life. Now he's one of the 40 most frequently used voice actors around in contemporary animation: the main antagonist in Catscratch, Brother Blood on Teen Titans Go, the Scotsman for Samurai Jack…the list goes on. You can usually recognize the growl or twang I hear when his character is shouting or angry. It's a big part of Bender who is actually based upon Slim Pickens from Blazing Saddles according to an interview.
Now what's funny is that people know how to say his last name since it's the same as the famous baseball player, Mr. Coffee pitchman Joe DiMaggio. They're not related though. My surname is pronounced the same way, just remove the 'Di' [DEE] and the 'o' [oh]. The difference is simple. John's last name is Italian for "of May," while mine is just "May," as in the month.
Meanwhile, to celebrate the guy's birthday. I'll try to watch something he's done a voice for which won't be hard if I turn on CN or Nick.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ September 4, 2008 11:48:05 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
His trademark deep voice and “In a world…” from numerous movie trailers had become as overplayed as “more cowbell!” at every concert; something equally annoying had to take over “Freebird!”
The GEICO commercial he did was nice because it was great to finally see a face to go with the pipes. Unlike other greats you sort of recognize yet can’t place such as Gary Owens, Jim Cummings or Tress MacNeille, Don never really did cartoon characters. He did get a funny turn on Family Guy wondering aloud what is The Rock's ethnicity.
Before he passed away, imdb.com said he would appear in an upcoming movie called The Voice Gods of Hollywood due out in 2009. The casting appears a bit thin for voice actors in my opinion unless it’s exclusive to people who’ve done the speaking for the man upstairs.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ September 2, 2008 9:16:41 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Most of you my age or older may recognize him as the man behind Bozo the Clown or more appropriately, the guy responsible for making the character into a franchise. Those exposed to WGN up to the Eighties actually watched actor Bob Bell play the part in one of Harmon’s most successful offering. As you read in the obit, he didn’t create the clown originally yet he’s always associated with him; especially in the episode of the Simpsons when Krusty starts a clown college to pay off his gambling debts.
Here’s to the guy indirectly responsible for great childhood memories watching WGN at noon on a weekday! I remember how bummed I was when my brother told me Bozo went off the air after asking him if he got in queue for tickets to take Nick. Without Larry Harmon, I don’t think WGN would’ve been the cable powerhouse it became.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ July 3, 2008 9:04:06 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
It was sad to have the day kick off with that announcement on NPR. George was scheduled to perform at the Paramount in the last year or so but he cancelled due to poor health, I think. His death through heart failure wasn’t a surprise since he had three heart attacks. I could be wrong but I do remember a bit he did about him and Richard Pryor [pardon me but I’m paraphrasing since I’m in hurry, I can research it later]:
“Richard had the first heart attack. Then I had mine. Next time, I had a heart attack and then he had a heart attack. Then he catches on fire, I have another heart attack.”
Back when HBO was relatively new, novel and risque, before stand-up comedy became as common as the presence of McDonald’s and Starbucks, George Carlin was always a major event. Even when he did the clean stuff, I found him amusing as a kid. I think my first time seeing him was as a guest host for Carson. He put in a joke for his opening monologue I always use to quiz the checkout person at the express lane; can’t I come through with 66 packages of hot dogs? That is ONE item. I usually get the technical answer, no, because the barcode thingie has to scan each package for inventory purposes which then would alert the register manager.
I “discovered” his better material through my mom’s cooler friend Carolyn. She’d let me play with her stereo and check out her collection while I was over. Carolyn had a copy of Occupation: Foole which contained more stuff about his upbringing in parochial school in an Irish neighbor. Finally some jokes I could relate to! Many of the elements were dated by a generation yet some things never change in the Catholic Church.
Finally, I want to reveal one clarification about the FCC-Supreme Court matter involving his Seven Words bit. Most of the news stories “forget” to mention he wasn’t party to the suit, it was the Pacifica station in NYC which played it in the early Seventies during the afternoon. Allegedly, a parent and child caught this “inappropriate” routine. Instead of just changing the station, the “offended” complained to the FCC, setting the gears in motion to tie this up in court for a few years until the Supreme Court gave a mediocre compromise; the safe harbor times. My Broadcasting Law-History teacher Dr. Grams said it best about the Pacifica Decision as it is really known by; the parent and child participants were actually a trap some Jesus freaks sprung on Pacifica in the hopes of taking them off the air. The stations’ enemies were constantly monitoring [and still do], trying to find something to take away the license. Even to this day, you can tell it’s them and their astroturf operation because their complaint letters are photocopies.
George is going to be missed across the generations for his stand-up, his acting, his Simpson appearance as a character AND as the basis of Krusty’s comeback in “The Last Temptation of Krust,” and being one of the conductors on Thomas the Tank Engine. I only regret not seeing him live. Now I need to find that friend of mine who has the boxed set of his seven key records and see if he’ll let me borrow them for nostalgic reasons.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 23, 2008 5:56:21 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Probably the hardest working guy in Action, Horror, B and Voiceovers these days. His Old Spice commercials will be legendary, pay special attention to the background when he’s speaking.
The list of his appearances is enormous if you check Bruce out on imdb.com. His voice is always distinctive so he’s easy to pick out on cartoons. My personal favorite was Himcules on My Life as a Teenage Robot; a villain who was similar to Hercules but he grew stronger through others’ pain or suffering.
Bruce has a huge fan base in Austin. Every few years he comes to Alamo Drafthouse to do either live commentary on Evil Dead 2 or promote his latest project The Man with the Screaming Brain. Somara and I had the opportunity to meet him at Book People at our first signing together. He ribbed and cajoled the audience pretty well, namely a kid who asked him to appear in a movie the kid and his friends were making.
If you really want to see how talented and clever he can be, check out Bubba-Ho-tep. Bruce plays Elvis and the late Ossie Davis is JFK. Both of them are hidden away in an East Texas retirement home where no one believes much of what they say, especially about the mummy hiding in a ditch that preys on the residents.
As for me, I’m going to keep an eye out on My Name is Bruce which is a humorous movie about Bruce the actor versus Bruce’s past characters.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 22, 2008 4:09:58 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
There was barely mention of this great guy’s passing in the mainstream media. I may have had the last couple days off from work, but I wasn’t in a vacuum that badly.
Stan gave us so many creatures which are iconic now: the Terminator’s exoskeleton, the Predator, the Alien Queen, Edward Scissorhands and the Penguin for the 1992 Batman movie. His involvement in Jurassic Park is legendary. However, it’s easy to forget he was a makeup guy so he helped out in dramas such as Roots, the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Musicals like the film version of The Wiz or direct to TV Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan [ugh!].
The list goes on and on at imdb.com. He had such a varied career as a producer, advisor, consultant and even director [lead and second unit]. This helped him earn his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, first special effects guy to have one too.
Stan is going to be missed by me for sure because he was involved in more of my favorite movies than any other person. I think in his honor, I will try to find one of his more obscure titles, namely Heartbeeps or The Hand from the Early Eighties.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 20, 2008 7:34:40 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
These guys used to be my favorite team growing up in IL when I became a big fan of the NBA. They remained "my team" until I started working for the Milwaukee Sentinel and became more familiar with the Bucks. I still liked the Celtics, I just shifted over to some guys who were closer yet I never did make a game.
I lost interest in the NBA by the time I came to Austin since there were more interesting things to check out and I suppose my loyalties are with the Spurs by default now.
As much as I dislike the Boston accent and I find many of the city's residents rude, foul-mouthed and ill-tempered; thanks to taking classes with a few of them at Marquette; it was great to see them triumph over the LA Lakers. I've never liked the Lakers and I think Kobe Bryant is a crybaby GED millionaire.
Once again, the title went to a roster of nobodies. Seriously, can the average American name one player on the Celtics? Most people know who Tim Duncan is for the Spurs and they're in a smaller media market.
Jun 19, 2008 Update: OK, I was hasty about the Celtics having nobodies. My friend Jeremy was able to immediately say Kevin Garnett is a relatively famous player. Another high school graduate who skipped college and spent a decade languishing with the pathetic Minnesota Timberwolves until he came to Boston this season. The more interesting element was the coach, Marquette alumni Doc Rivers! I lost track of him after the Orlando Magic dumped him yet I knew he'd still be coaching somewhere. Lastly, Danny Ainge is their GM, a former member of the team's glory days in the Eighties.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ June 18, 2008 6:30:30 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
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