Enough praise for Whedon’s feat, on to the actual movie…

The story begins sometime after Thor and Captain America with Loki materializing in a SHIELD base courtesy of the same Nazi-Asgardian tesseract from the “prequels.” Loki then starts blowing crap up, turning people into his flunkies and takes the tesseract SHIELD was trying to harness. Nick Fury decides that the Norse god of mischief is too much for SHIELD so he re-activates the failed Avengers Initiative. Captain America is already under his command but the other two heroes need to be convinced to join: the egocentric Iron Man and reluctant Hulk. Thor soon joins the fight since Loki is messing with his beloved Midgard. As per the Marvel Comics tradition, the good guys battle each other due to misunderstandings, mistrust and hormones (Marvel Comics appeal more to pre-teen/teenage boys). With the obligatory infighting completed, Loki is captured. Everybody returns to SHIELD’s flying headquarters to figure out where Loki took the tesseract but realize too late how they all played into the villain’s larger plans. It would be a short movie if it went any other way. I’m not spoiling anything by revealing the inevitable alien invasion Loki fosters, it’s the core of every commercial for The Avengers. For an event movie, it’s the perfect conclusion and dramatic climax. Sit through all the closing credits too. You will see a preview of what’s next and a little dose of humor for such a heavy movie.

The additional 3-D glasses were worth the extra few bucks during the first hour. Afterwards, my brain started to treat it as a flat film; ergo no panics caused by my fear of heights. I even peeked without them a couple times and couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe the 3-D will be more effective on the eventual Blu-Ray.

For comic-book purists, I believe Whedon went mostly with the rebooted take of the Marvel Universe known as The Ultimates. The original Sixties version of The Avengers entailed Thor, Iron Man, Ant Man and Wasp banding together to stop the Hulk who was under Loki’s influence. Whedon chose wisely to go with the more recent continuity despite it being a ripoff of DC’s The Justice League of America‘s origin story involving an alien invasion as the catalyst to form a super team. I think Whedon’s time spent writing various Marvel titles certainly paid off and proved he was the right person for the job. It still doesn’t change my opinion of the overrated and incredibly boring Firefly, he just gets a pass from me regarding anything involving superheroes. Maybe DC can convince him to make a live-action movie that doesn’t suck with the exception of Donner’s Superman and the Nolans’ Batman flicks.

Additional Alamo Drafthouse perks: Whedon stuff I’d seen before (yawn!) like Dr. Horrible; an ongoing gag of Nick Fury showing up at the end of non-superhero movies such as Black Swan and Twilight; some old Sixties Marvel cartoons Ralph Bakshi worked on; and a couple How it Should’ve Ended cartoons.

The Summer of ’12 is off to a strong start. Maybe in 30 years, Alamo Drafthouse will have another festival showing at least eight well-loved movies that stood the test of time.

*-baseball and its analogies bore me

The first downside I encountered was the phone-based application. You can only reserve the car immediately with the phone versus the computer-based version which can be several hours later.

With the reservation figured out, finding the actual vehicle was a brief adventure. I may not roam downtown Austin as often as I used to, but 368 San Jacinto Blvd is an address I can find relatively quickly. That’s where the car was supposed to be. When I discovered it wasn’t, the phone app sprung to life to give me further directions showing how the thing was really way east on 2nd Street. Hmmm.

The fleet Car2Go uses in the US, Canada and Europe is the Smart Car. Definitely well suited for inner city driving. Taking north on MoPac gave me some concern but then again, I only drive an automatic vehicle a couple times a year. Computers still can’t change the gears as well as a human. I did love the GPS built into the console to make sure I knew where I was going, namely to find the place to return it.

Sadly, the farthest northern point Car2Go has currently is the Domain, the pricey fashion mall on the city’s northwest side. Somara had to meet me there. The vehicle shaved the drive she would’ve had to take to get me in half at best.

Leaving the car behind led to a new technical glitch which required me to call the toll-free number. I was parking it in the appropriate location at the Domain yet it refused to end my session by locking itself. The nice customer-service lady was very helpful. Through GPS she confirmed I put it in the proper location so she remotely reset the car and gave me back 10 minutes; about how long I had been struggling with it.

Overall, Car2Go has some glitches which I blame half on me due to unfamiliarity. Will I use it again? Sure. The trip only consumed 33 of the 100 minutes I received for signing up last year. I think it will come in handy whenever Somara needs the car and I wanna go downtown outside the train’s operational hours.

Yeah, I went to yet another damned quote-along but it was for one of the most quoted movies I knew through high school and college. To me, it’s a source of great Midwestern pride too. It stars two Murray brothers (Bill and Brian Doyle) and Harold Ramis, all residents of Chicago and/or vets of Second City. Plus it was Rodney Dangerfield’s debut in a movie. Personally, he only made two great films, this and Easy Money because dirty stuff was his forte.

As you can see, I was rather decked out. I scored a mediocre costume kit since I didn’t have the time or patience to hit the thrift stores. All I really needed were the hat and jacket. I will probably find other stuff later on. The toy club and golf bag with built-in gopher were loaners from co-workers (thanks Wil and Zane!). The costume and props helped me get the opportunity to be called up for the contest before the movie started. Unfortunately, I’m a terrible putter (Somara knows, it’s why she always beat me in our annual Maggi Invitational at Austin’s Pizza Park). I was accurate but not enough muscle to go up the ramp entirely. No major loss. The prize was a gopher doll and a spiked Arnold Palmer.

Caddyshack remains pretty damned funny. The hosts brought a good point, this movie probably couldn’t be made today thanks to golf being so damned boring. I think it would be impossible due to the committees involved with scriptwriting. I do wish I could have some parts of it removed from my memory. Then I would laugh harder at those key gags.

For this quote-along, everybody was given a duck whistle for Al’s fart scene at the banquet; Silly Puty to sculpt into a varmint a la Carl; and a little popper thing for the explosions at the finale. During the infamous pool event, the wait staff came by and left each attendee a little water cup with a bite-sized Babe Ruth in it. Now how can anyone not love the Alamo Drafthouse for this dedicated demonstration of humor?

I’m seriously going to find out how much it would cost to have a work outing there with a particular quote-along. I know Office Space isn’t allowed.

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The upcoming seventh season will be kicking off in mid-to-late June so David Cohen and Matt Groening are whipping together weekly previews of what’s to come.

You can find it easily by just doing a search in iTunes, Comedy Central’s Web site or if you’re a “friend” via FaceBook, you’d already have the link.

Was it the best Summer of movies ever? This is a matter of opinion and it’s often easier to say in hindsight. In 1982 I was 13 going on 14 and there’s a cliche I’ve read in The Onion’s AV Club saying you experience your own personal Golden Age of Pop culture between age 12-15. I agree with Alamo’s eight key choices for being memorable films, but they’re not all the greatest as the inaugural feature proved.

Conan the Barbarian is a relatively important flick though:

• It was Arnold’s first real starring vehicle to utilize his physique…outside of a documentary or porno.
• It was the Fantasy flick that led to other numerous knockoffs trying to mop up the spillover money: The Sword and the Sorcerer, Fire and Ice, Sorceress, Krull and The Beastmaster. D&D’s rising popularity also contributed.
• It was co-written (from a legal/WGA standpoint) by John Milius and Oliver Stone. Both gentlemen went on to direct other well-remembered Eigthies standards, Red Dawn and Platoon respectively. You think a debate on Crossfire is contentious? Imagine the idealogical fight between those two.

The Alamo’s two co-hosts donned their best fake muscles, loincloths and swords to get everyone fired up over this brand new 35mm print from Universal. (It was impressive to see the movie with so few scratches.) Before we all got to watch, Drew McWeeny of HitFix spoke briefly regarding Conan. His tale about how hard he worked to see this movie as a 12-year-old kid was touching…and relatable. At least he succeeded, I had to settle for snippets on HBO the following year. I can visualize the horror on his parents’ faces as they sat there wondering, “What the hell kind of movie is this?” when the first set of breasts appeared.

Alas, I never saw Conan in the theater because of its R rating. My folks were pretty set against letting me seeing such flicks unless one was present, they had already watched it and it was on cable; Dad usually made sure Mom wasn’t around or awake when he knew a boob scene was about to happen. Maybe he wanted my brother and me to watch some female nudity to make sure neither of us were gay.

I did watch Conan in its entirety a few years ago courtesy of a friend’s DVD. The movie loses a lot of ground on the small screen plus it was fodder for a Sick Day Marathon; I kept nodding off from the side effects of cold medicine. Barbarian is quite different from the sequel Destroyer which I had seen several times; the latter is a kinder, gentler Fantasy film. I do wonder why I never bothered seeing Barbarian sooner.

How was Conan the Barbarian 30 years later? Beyond the bigger joke Arnold’s overall acting and political career transformed into, the movie hasn’t aged very well. It looks very dated via the effects, the plot, the costumes, etc. It does play out better on the big screen, especially during the climatic battle near the end and when showing the immensity of Thulsa Doom’s following. I had forgotten about how many stretches of no dialogue there were. Combine this with its frequent lulls of inaction and it can be a struggle to stay awake through.

Ratings:

1982 (13-year-old me): A. I was a huge D&D geek, enjoyed violent fare and wasn’t familiar with Howard’s original stories so it didn’t take much to cater to my tastes. The sex stuff didn’t move the plot at all, just secured the R rating.

2012: C. The acting is wooden other than Max von Sydow and James Earl Jones’ performances. Too many slow points which hinders the overall pace. Remove the nudity and graphic violence, Conan could be a long episode of Xena since special effects have gotten cheaper. Compared to its competitors, Conan the Barbarian was the best of the bunch except for Krull.

In conclusion, here are the movie’s life lessons as highlighted by evening’s hosts, hopefully the other seven features contain such nuggets of wisdom:

1. To crush your enemies
2. See them driven before you
3. (and) To hear the lamentation of their women

Next up in the Summer of 1982: Mad Max 2, aka The Road Warrior by its US title.

We chose to use the work gym due to our Avengers agenda and today my insomnia kept me from rolling my big fat ass out of bed. Thus, I took my gear in case I felt the inspiration after work. With only 1.5 miles remaining to tackle running/distance goal number three, I chose to go for it.

Success!

Now the countdown widget has been adjusted for destination number four which I think I can pull off by my birthday in 75 days. Clovis is less than 74 miles away and if I’m averaging over two miles/day, I might be there before June ends.

We decided to take them in mainly over Leona’s eye condition (as you can see in the photo); it also started to spread to Tigra and Lynx-o. Plus it doesn’t hurt to get a general assessment on how these little buggers are doing.

The good news: the brown goop in their eyes is nothing terrible. Dr. Hamby thought it meant they had an upper respiratory infection which is the equivalent of human babies having a cold. He gave us some eyedrops to apply four times a day. This stuff made a dramatic difference with Leona in half a day.

The bad news: None! Other than the eye situation, they’re in great shape. The nice tech lady helped wipe them down with some flea stuff and backed Somara’s theory about the kittens having different fathers. I’m not an expert on cat reproduction other than they’re pretty prodigious.

Panthra, Tigra, Lynx-o and Leona will be returning in a couple weeks since they will be old enough for their first round of vaccinations. Afterwards, they should be old enough for adoption to loving homes. Panthra I will miss the most. The little stinker has worked very hard at being my favorite.

Their mother (now), Buttercup will dealt with soon.

Back to Donald since it’s really about him.

You may recognize his name because it was said aloud at the end on both versions of “Soul Man.” The Blues Brothers’ take (the one I grew up with) and the original by Sam & Dave. Plus Dunn was the bass player in the movie The Blues Brothers. As his various obits show, he contributed to numerous Rock/Pop/R&B standards.

Dunn was always easy to spot for me. His curly hair and beard were very discernable; hence I saw him in an Eric Clapton and John Fogerty video. Sometimes you would see him smoking a pipe while he played. Maybe it was a trademarked prop or he could multi-task that well.

Farewell Duck Dunn. Thanks for all your contributions and inspiration to aspiring bass players despite the ridicule many receive.

Opening up the evening with "Stoplight Roses"

A huge piece of music history visited Austin this week (May 8, 2012), well, Nick has graced us many times, I just finally got off my ass to see him after numerous missed opportunities. Nick Lowe is another musician/singer/producer I’ve followed since I was a little boy and the mere mention of his name is a litmus test. Either you receive a puzzled look or you see the other person’s eyes light up. When you explain the man’s past involvement in the bigger picture, then the former understand, thinking, “Oh, he’s a musician’s musician or a critic fave.” The comment could be seen as dismissive but Nick Lowe has contributed to the success of these acts: The Damned, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello and Squeeze; to scratch the surface. He was also married to Carlene Carter for some years, making him Johnny Cash’s step-son-in-law and/or June Carter’s son-in-law.

Music 101 lesson is over, you can read up about his long career in greater detail through allmusic.com or listen to recent podcasts he’s shown up on (Sound Opinions and Marc Maron’s WTF).

Nick hit the stage by himself first and did a couple songs. I only remembered “Stoplight Roses” which is on his current album The Old Magic. Then the band joined in for a mix of the new tracks and old favorites. Nick took a couple breaks to demonstrate that infamous wit I’ve heard many times in interviews, it’s also throughout his lyrics, listen intently to “Has She Got a Friend” and “Checkout Time. At 63, he’s still sharp. The key hits most people recognize were performed: “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)” and “Cruel to be Kind.” His most famous song, thanks to Elvis Costello making it a hit, “(What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” was saved for the end. Nick’s final encore will be permanently burned into my memory, just him and his guitar singing Costello’s “Alison.”

Seeing Nick Lowe brought some minor closure in life too. Twenty years ago, he was a member of Little Village, a supergroup of sorts, with John Hiatt, Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner. To promote their one-shot album, the quartet toured and Austin’s SXSW was a major stop. I had never heard of the annual showcase until then yet I was curious about everything as I tuned in for some snooty Chicago music critic’s take on WXRT. In short, the guy calling the radio station said Little Village didn’t live up to their hype. Maybe he would’ve changed his mind if he attended the Chicago appearance a pair of peripheral friends got to attend.

I can’t recommend seeing Nick Lowe in concert though. Austin was near the end of the tour which started around January. Should he kick off another leg in the near future, then go before he retires.

So Diane was in Austin as the guest of honor for the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse’s Eighties double feature of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Better Off Dead. We only attended the latter since Somara and I have a personal connection to this movie. Personally, it’s an honorary John Hughes flick despite the very talented Savage Steve Holland being the author and director.

As per Alamo tradition, there were appropriate trailers before the main feature. Both were other movies Diane starred in: Terrorvision and the red-band version version for The Last American Virgin. Sadly the Better we watched was the DVD because the film’s current owners LOST the only 35mm print in circulation. This didn’t ruin my enjoyment, Diane was my primary incentive. It’s still funny too…two dollars!

After the movie, Diane took questions, promoted her book (I hope to score a copy on Amazon), asked people to be her friend on FaceBook (why not!) and thanked everyone for coming to see the movie on a Sunday evening. What did we learn:

• Her married name is De Laurentis, but it’s a faction that broke off from the famous movie producers. Film making is in her daughter’s blood though.
• She doesn’t know why John Cusack hates Better yet he agreed to let Diane use a couple pictures of him for the book.
• She remembers kissing John but not Keanu.
• Holland did request her to audition due to Virgin. Diane was originally called in for Beth. She convinced Holland to give her Monique instead due it being a better role. The lady is smart.
• Contrary to the movie’s longevity and beloved status, most critics hated Better when it was released. I always thought it was a modest hit.
• Diane can ski. Stunt doubles were used for liability reasons.
• She got to keep the Monique’s signature coat and hat when principal filming was completed. Diane lets you wear it in the photo if you wish. I passed. I like her the way she is and I feared my girth could damage the treasured props.

When I did get my personal face time, I asked Diane about how the accent for Monique. Did she already know French, go study French or Holland said, imitate French people. Diane’s answer: she had recently completed a movie as a French person, loves doing accents and studied French in school. Hence what’s on the autograph below. Another version of my question was asked, I just got mine in before the movie started!

What an evening! Normally I avoid attending anything fun on a “school night” should it start past 9 or 10 PM. Yet I would fight through al-Qeda to meet one of the babes (Diane’s choice word, not mine) of my formative years. The next time Alamo wants to show this movie, I’ll see if they’re interested in borrowing my copy of the soundtrack which features songs from EG Daily, Terri Nunn and Rupert Hine. Can’t get it on iTunes!

Click on it to see this in greater detail

Princess presenting her token of appreciation at my feet

Did I get a rude surprise this morning when I went outside to feed and check up on the backyard kittens, they go to the vet tomorrow to make sure they’re progressing.

Normally Princess (their mother) is around in the morning to join in breakfast so when she started cooing, I figured she was trying to find one of her children or demonstrating concern because I was petting my favorite…Panthra. When I looked down, Princess was dragging over a bluejay she killed. Cats always have a funny way of showing their gratitude. I only wished she killed a pest bird such as a grackle, starling or mockingbird. I hate pigeons too yet their horribly diseased.

At least the poor bird didn't suffer long from the looks of it

I promptly put the corpse in a bag and disposed of bird, trying to trick Princess into thinking I enjoyed it.

I would’ve preferred Princess giving litter box demonstrations to Leona, Panthra, Tigra and Lynx-o.

The MC went to Lucy in Disguise, South Austin’s best costume shop, to get into the spirit of the film. His outfit was so awesome, I had to get a picture with him.

Maybe I should audition for Alamo to be host! I could totally get into this despite my age and not growing up a cool kid.

Today’s involves a little more celebrating, it’s Jeremy’s birthday. We’ve kind of celebrating it off/on/piecemeal over a couple weeks. Well, that’s the way I see it since my gift was a ticket to the Adventure Time Marathon/Feast at Alamo South Lamar. Tonight we’re going to a screening of The Three Amigos, a rather mediocre Eighties comedy starring Chevy Chase (not funny), Martin Short and Steve Martin; also written by Randy Newman. However, there will be all-you-can-eat tacos (giving me two cheat days this week) and it is a quote-along; Alamo tends to do a good job with the fun props.

Anyway, Philly making it to the second round was gravy in my opinion. Why? Last Summer the GM totally blew up the team’s core by trading team captain Richards and his buddy Carter. Everybody figured Holmgren would only ditch one them, let the other player take it as a warning to shape up. Instead the team was rebuilt around a new set of younger players. Getting this far exceeded expectations and continues Philly’s strong tradition; in their 45 years of existence, they’ve missed the playoffs just eight times. Pretty impressive compared to the “venerable” Chicago Blackhawks.

As for the Kings, I would credit their success indirectly to Philly because they have at least three ex-Flyers on the team: Richards (traded to them last Summer), Carter (had to go through the awful Bluejackets first) and Gagne.

Beyond Wild, I have a passing familiarity with a couple other books of his, namely another my brother borrowed from the Champaign public library. It was only memorable because someone jerk vandalized it.

Thanks Mr. Sendak, namely for helping me get started with reading since I ended up in the top reading class in Kindergarten and one grade ahead until St. Agnes.

I thought what were the hits in 1968 were terrible until I checked out what niece and nephew have…blech! Mostly (c)Rap music.

Check out your birthday, tell me what you got. I cheated by peeking over 1982 since there’s a ton of 30 year olds I know around Austin. No idea why.

Besides their instinctually wrestling ability, they’re getting close to the litter box training stage which I hope to get them through. When their eyes change to green/yellow, I will schedule their first appointment with the vet and the Austin Humane Society. Fear not, kittens are always in demand.

I was there before the opening because the Honda dealership finished installing a new lock motor really early. Free Comic Book Day turned 10 this year and it’s definitely get around. Much like Record Store Day, there was a line to get in but many people were only there to get their five issues. Still, the celebration seems to be effective. I doubt they’d continue it if were harmful to the remaining, dedicated stores. Then again, Austin is weathering the storm better than others and our specialty places are run pretty well compared to others I’ve patronized over the decades.

Having a Marvel-based movie open on this weekend for the last few years doesn’t hurt.

What did I get? A Simpsons one for myself, Adventure Time for friends and the other three were based upon my Aggie nephews: Star Wars, Avengers and Spider-Man. I should’ve retrieved Somara to score the Betty & Veronica and Yo Gabba Gabba! books. Speaking of Archie comics, now the infamous red-haired womanizer is marrying Valerie of Jose & the Pussycats. Since Valerie started to play the bass over the tambourine, I guess it got her noticed by the Riverdale Cassanova.

This reminds me how I need to get cracking on part seven and beyond regarding how the DC reboot is going.

Enjoy whatever you find or re-discover. I myself consider FCBD the warm-up party to Summer. The season hasn’t officially begun until I see the first Event Movie of my choosing which isn’t The Avengers or a special screening of Better Off Dead with Diane Franklin in attendance, it will be Conan the Barbarian at the Summer of 1982 Fest.

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Getting this picture required speed because they are out and about as soon as I’m spotted on the porch.

Any local takers to give Leona (white), Panthra (gray), Lynx-o (brown tabby, few stripes) or Tigra (brown tabby, many stripes) a home? I think they’ll be ready to go when their eyes change from blue to green/yellow.

However, 25 years ago, Adam was one third of the biggest thing on Earth when I was a freshman at Marquette. Thanks to his band and Aerosmith, Rap music (the original name for Hip Hop) was now safe for White kids in the ‘burbs. The Beastie Boys managed to be the headliners for a huge show in Milwaukee of all places. You know you’ve arrived when you can practically sell out an arena in a large Midwestern city which has a reputation for being the land where John Bonham never died and Led Zeppelin still rules the airwaves. Translation? If it wasn’t Classic Rock (Van Halen) or Flavor of the Month (NKTOB), keep on driving to Minneapolis after you’ve played Chicago.

There was a guy on my floor who went to see them at the MECCA. The show he described sounded amusing, namely the onstage antics and the opener being Fishbone.

By the time the Beastie Boys came to Milwaukee (Spring of 1987), their novelty had worn off for me. License to Ill was funny, slightly dirty (pretty tame compared to now) and infectious. After hearing “Fight for Your Right” continuously during Christmas Break ’86, I was tired of them. I gave my vinyl copy away figuring they would be remembered as a Rap version of Weird Al or worse…Buckner & Garcia!

When they released their third album Check Your Head, I was impressed to hear the Beastie Boys playing instruments instead of sampling. I was aware of their previous Punk incarnation but few Punk acts could actually play when they started out (Sex Pistols anyone?). Their hybridization of Rap/Hip Hop with traditional Rock gear laid down the foundations for others to follow: Beck, 311 and Linkin Park. I didn’t say good bands necessarily arose from the Beasties’ example. This did get them out of the novelty-act category and on to becoming a staple of the Nineties and Aughts.

I do applaud Adam for several things other than his music. The most superficial one being an appearance on Futurama. His likeness is present but as per the commentary, he couldn’t make it for the recording so you’ll hear Mike or the other Adam (Ad Rock) do his speaking parts. The band had a sense of humor about how small their body of work was; this was due to litigation not by choice. They also used MTV very well when the network used to show music videos. You may not have liked the tune yet they had a great visual sense. “Sabotage” was at the forefront of the Seventies Retro movement with their parody/homage to gritty cop shows. Finally, Adam helped form a record label (Grand Royal) which brought another band to my attention, Luscious Jackson. The Beastie Boys’ influence was very apparent in Jackson’s DNA through hits such as “Naked Eye,” “Mood Swings” and “Nervous Breakthrough.”

It’s a shame to see a person his age die. However, Adam was a Buddhist (what Marc Maron jokingly calls a Jubu) so he must’ve known peace through this religion’s tenets of detachment before he passed. If not that, I hope Adam took comfort in how many millions of people he affected with his talents, including me.