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War of the Worlds and Water
Monday, June 20, 2005 5:48 PM
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It'd probably take an alien invasion
to stop Steven Spielberg's "War of the
Worlds" from being a blockbuster
hit.
Not even all of the negative publicity that
Tom Cruise has been getting in regard to his "enthusiasm"
for Katie Holmes could derail this summer crowd-pleaser.
"War of the Worlds" is going to score
big from opening day and who knows how long the movie
will rule at the box office? I doubt that the Fantastic
Four will make much of a dent, and truly, what else
is coming out this summer to challenge it?
And speaking of Tom Cruise, did you
happen to see or hear about the "idiot" that
threw water on Cruise? At the London
premiere for the "War of the Worlds"
a man squirted Cruise with a water pistol disguised
as a microphone. Police arrested the prankster
as well as three other men who filmed the incident.
The four were working on a new comedy show
for British TV which targets celebrities
for practical jokes. I guess the joke was on them.
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Heroes and My Fortune Cookie
Sunday, June 19, 2005 9:29 AM
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 Heroes
Con is one of the best conventions that
you'll find anywhere. It has just the right mix of professional
artists, publishers, dealers, media celebrities and
fans.
I love the show, because there's something for everyone.
In fact, for the last four years we've scheduled our family
vacation so that we can attend the show. This year will
be no different.
Another great thing about the show is that I get to meet
up with friends that I don't get to see as often
as I'd like. Some of them are professionals and
some are fans, but those lines blur when we're
hanging out.
Of course, another benefit of attending the show is that
I always get a few new pieces for my SZ Gallery.
With literally dozens
of artists
showing up, the anticipation is half the fun. Well, let's
hope it's just half the fun...
... Yesterday I had lunch with John Beatty and
John Higashi. We went to a Chinese buffet
and my fortune cookie said: "It is sometimes better
to travel hopefully than to arrive."
Well, that surely didn't sound good. Still, despite the
fortune cookie, I'm expecting to have a blast at
the show. If you're in the area, swing by and join
in the fun. And if you can't make it, don't worry,
you can expect a full report when I return!
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Kong is Still King
Friday, June 17, 2005 11:02 PM
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I'm really excited about Peter
Jackson's King Kong remake. In fact, until Sin
City II or Sly gets a movie rolling, Kong
is the movie that I'm looking forward to seeing most.
Peter Jackson has a passion to create Kong.
We all [well, most of us anyway], saw what Jackson
could do with his Lord of the Rings trilogy. The
mind boggles to think what he'll accomplish with Kong.
In most cases, I'd say stay away from remaking classic
movies. Unless you can do it better, then what's the
point? King Kong is a classic. I doubt that
it'll be better than the original and yet, I can't
wait to see the sequel.
The original King Kong inspired more than a generation
of film makers from Ray Harryhausen to Peter Jackson.
Sure, we'll be able to give our opinion of how we think
Jackson's Kong stacks up against the original,
but we won't know for years if the new Kong has the
influence and impact of the first.
That won't really matter though, if we find ourselves lost
for a couple of hours on Skull Island or running
through the streets of New York as King Kong
once again lives!
I have no doubt that Kong is going to be a winner.
If you're not sure, then you might want to tune in to see
the world premiere trailer. On Monday, June 27th
from 8:59:30-9:02 PM ET all nine NBC networks
[NBC, SCI FI, USA Network, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo,
Mun2 and Universal HD] will simultaneously run
"an
unprecedented motion picture preview."
Even though I'm already sold on the movie, I'll tune in
for the trailer... and you can bet that I'll be there the
weekend that Kong opens.
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Big Fan... But Don't Like Most
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:48 PM
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I'm a fan of zombie movies. The funny
thing is, there are probably only three that I really
like... and one of those isn't really a zombie
flick.
Ok, before we go further, and to put your
mind at rest, they are
1] Night
of the Living Dead
2] 28
days later and
3] Dawn
of the Dead [the re-make].
Yeah, I know... 28
days isn't truly a zombie movie.
Yes, I know... it's blasphamy to leave out
the
original Dawn
of the Dead.
And yeah, I have seen other zombie movies.
The problem with most of them is that they
simply become gore fests. They don't have interesting
characters. They focus only on how gross it is that the
dead are eating the living or how cool it is
when a zombie gets shot in the head.
And while it's true that many [if not most
of the] people who dig zombie movies are there
simply to see the zombies eat people and get blown
away, that's not what I like about the genre.
What appeals to me is the world out of
control aspect. I like seeing how the survivors
come together from different backgrounds and with
different ideas on what should be done next if everyone
is to survive.
I'm looking forward to Land
of the Dead. I hope that it'll be more like Night
than Dawn
or Day.
You see, a little gore goes a long way in my book.
That's probably why I don't like most zombie
movies, but love the genre.
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Food for Thought
Saturday, June 11, 2005 1:02 PM
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Christopher Mills posted some "heavy
thoughts" over on his web log. In his post,
Chris talks about his struggle with being overweight.
It's pretty poweful stuff.
My buddy, John Beatty recently posted similar thoughts
about his fight against weight gain and had
even started a blog to track his efforts to lose weight.
I posted here
that I thought that was pretty bold, going public
with his plan. John has since pulled the plug on
his blog, but his battle to lose weight continues [and is
going well].
It's strange that Chris and I are in the same boat
[although I'd venture a guess that my boat is even bigger]
but that we got here by different paths. Chris says
that he was skinny for the first half of his life.
I was never skinny. As a little kid I was "husky"
[man, I hated that word].
 In
high school I was in pretty good shape. I played
football, lifted weights, and was a pretty
good wrestler. And consequently I was in shape.
I remember a couple of my coaches who were heavy.
At the time I thought, "Man, why don't they get in
shape? I'll never let myself get like that."
Then I graduated high school and started college.
I was no longer playing football or wrestling
and had stopped jogging. The first year I gained
a bunch of weight. At the end of the year, I started
running again... and lifting weights. I got back
into wrestling shape... and said "never again...
never again will I get overweight."
Yeah, right.
Once you're married, have a job, have kids, heck,
as you get older, the weight gain comes easier...
as do the excuses to not eat right and
exercise. Because really, that's what it comes down
to.
Eating right and exercise.
 My
goal is to get back into shape.
I'll probably never make the 188lb class again,
but my goal is small steps back to decent shape.
I don't plan to talk about my progress [or lack of]
much here. In fact I'm surprised that I'm even
saying this much. I guess the fact that Beatty
and Chris were willing to go public, made me
at least "weigh in" on the subject.
At any rate, you'll be able to tell from the pictures
that I post from time to time how I'm doing. Maybe
in a year or two, you'll wonder, "Who is that normal
sized guy that kinda looks like Zablo?"
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Aliens... Monsters.... UFOs and a Very
Big Universe
Thursday, June 9, 2005 9:28
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When I was a little kid, I used to love
movies and tv shows about aliens
coming to Earth.
If we were lucky, they were friendly and
intelligent like Michael Rennie in The
Day that the Earth Stood Still. He even looked
human.
Then again, so did the aliens in the
60's tv show The Invaders. [I haven't seen
an episode in years, and wonder how it would hold up.]
Sometimes the aliens were simply monsters
out to wipe us out, like in the classic Invasion
of the Body Snatchers or War
of the Worlds. [And, yes, I'm really looking forward
to the
update by Spielberg and Cruise.]
Occasionally, there would be just one alien.
And boy, were we lucky that there was only one if the
alien ended up being like The
Blob or The
Thing.
Growing up, I not only liked movies
and tv shows about aliens, but I also read
and watched programs about UFOs.
I still do.
Think how cool it would be if we could find
definitive proof of intelligent life in outer space.
Uh... as long as they weren't out to wipe us out.
As I get older, I stil retain that sense
of wonder about life in outer space. Most likely it's
out there. It's just that the universe is such
a huge place.
Don't believe me? Click HERE
and see.
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Michelle Rodriguez Gets LOST
Monday, June 6, 2005 7:12 PM
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 Did
you see the final episode of LOST?
If you did, especially if you're a regular LOST
viewer, you saw one of the all-time best cliffhanger
endings ever!
And now with months to go until the new
season, word is starting to leak out about
what we can expect.
The great news is that Michelle Rodriguez is going
to join the cast as a regular. Rodriguez appeared
in the last episode [in a flashback].
I'm a big fan so adding her to one of my
"Must See TV" shows is simply a bonus.
If you enjoy LOST, then you may want to check
out the official "fictional Oceanic Airlines
at
Oceanic-Air.com,
containing secret
messages, behind-the-scenes info on the
show and a trailer for season two."
And if you want to know how Rodriguez may fit into
the continuity, then click HERE,
but beware that SPOILERS may be lurking!
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Napoleon Bonaparte... A Real Cold Case
Sunday, June 5, 2005 8:31 AM
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 Napoleon
Bonaparte was at one time a self-proclaimed Emperor
who had conquered nearly
all of Europe.
Napoleon died an early death from stomach cancer
when, despite his military genius, he was defeated
and banished to a small island in the South Atlantic
over 180 years ago.
Now it appears that Napoleon may not have died
from cancer after all. A new toxicological report
shows a "toxic form of arsenic, used for
centuries
as rat poison, was found in Napoleon's hair
samples
at 37 to 42 times above the normal level." .
You can read the full story HERE.
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Rock On... Crazy Frog!
Saturday, June 4, 2005 5:57 PM
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 This
little fellow is The Crazy Frog. And in case you
didn't know it, he's taking the world by storm.
I first read about The Crazy Frog a while back.
I thought he was amusing in an irritating way. Then earlier
in the week I saw a link posted to
this video.
Then I read about him here,
and here,
and even in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly.
Whoa.
What's amazing is that The Crazy Frog ring tone
kept Coldplay’s
premiere of “Speed
of Sound” safely in second place on
the UK music singles chart. The Crazy Frog
has the #1 selling single?
Now THAT is CRAZY!
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Strange Days
Monday, May 30, 2005 1:34 PM
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 If
you were to ask me, right now, to name my top ten favorite
murder mystery movies, sci-fi movies, and
love stories, one movie
would make all of these lists.
Don't belive me? OK, then
ask me... Really... Ask me.
Would one of you please
ask me?
Ok. Thanks.
The movie that would make all three lists is Strange
Days.
 Bet
that surprised you.
Strange Days was made
in 1995 from a story by James
Cameron, a screenplay by Cameron
and Jay Cocks and directed by Kathryn
Bigelow.
It stars Ralph
Fiennes,
Angela
Bassett, Juliette
Lewis, Tom
Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D'Onofrio,
and Glenn Plummer.
I watched Strange Days again last night and re-remembered
just how much I love it and how cool it is
that it works in all of the genres that I mentioned
at the start of this post. I'd really like to discuss it
here, but my guess is that many, if most of you haven't
seen it.
 You
see it really didn't do gangbusters at the box
office. Heck, I didn't even
see it until it came out on video and I love it.
Maybe some of you have
seen it and want to talk
about why you like or
don't like it.
Maybe some of you who haven't seen it want to learn
more about it. If so, you can click HERE
to see the teaser trailer, or HERE
to see a Strange Days fan page... or even HERE
if you want to purchase a copy for your collection.
At any rate, I'd love to hear your thoughts about Strange
Days!
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