Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
I have never been much of a fan of Michael Jackson or his music. But I am a fan of his talent. And tonight, that talent – including so much unfulfilled potential – disintegrates on a coroner’s slab.
From the beginning, Michael Jackson was a star. As a six year old, he fronted a band with the raw sexuality and charisma of a person many decades older. As he grew into adulthood, his fame grew to astronomical proportions while his self-esteem shrunk inversely. Despite the bewildering successes he achieved in his life – massive albums like THRILLER and BAD, generous charitable organizations, and culturally-defining moments of pure performance – Jackson’s promise remained strangely unfulfilled.
STAR WARS vs. STAR TREK
We all know who deserves to win in the end, don’t we??
A terrific mash-up of the two franchises. Apparently, in the end, no Federation negotiation is complete without a little Force-choke action.
Joaquin Phoenix Retires
Filed under: Dumb Ideas, Editorial, Funny, Good Grief, Huh?, Letters To The Void, Media Report, Media Weirdness, Movies, Public Humiliation, Who Gives a Shit, Worst of the Worst
Our favorite harelipped performer, Joaquin Phoenix, has apparently decided to retire. At a benefit for the Association of Hole In The Wall camps (a Paul Newman-inspired charity for sick children … terrible name for that organization, by the way), Phoenix mumbled to a flabbergasted E! reporter that he was retiring from movies. When the reporter (justifiably) laughs incredulously at the announcement, Phoenix gets pissed off and walks away.
Some people can be so fucking self-righteous. Who has the tighter asshole … Joaquin Phoenix or Cameron from FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF????? Man, I bet it’s hard being Joaquin’s friend in real life. Look at him wrong over drinks at a bar, and there’s going to be a crying session in the parking lot or a fist fight.
Note to Joaquin: Lighten up, dude. You’re a little too old and a little too overrated to have that “tortured artist/genius” primadonna attitude.
Ghostly Misled
As Halloween approaches, David Harley of Bloody Disgusting.com added his 10 Must See Ghost Films to Amazon Blogs. List are always arguable, because they are just some body’s opinion, but this one really misses the best ones. Where are the The Sixth Sense, The Blair With Project, The Changeling and The Legend Of Hell House? Isn’t this guy a so-called expert? If you really want a great ghost movie, skip most of that list and check those out instead.
Holy Shit!!!! The House Is Shaking
Filed under: Editorial, Miscellaneous Awesomeness, Movies, Music Discussion, WOW
This morning as a laid peacefully in my bed, sound asleep, I was suddenly awoken to find that my house was shaking. First I though, my wife must have jumped out of bed and ran though the house. Then I realized she was still in bad and the house was moving, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Turns out it was an earthquake. I live in St. Louis, not California. We are supposed to be concerned with tornadoes, floods and meth labs, not earthquakes.
The earthquake that rumbled through the Midwest early this morning registered at 5.2 on the Richter scale. That may not seem that bad to some of you that live in California, but here in the Midwest that’s pretty strong.
So, needless to say the earthquake has been the topic of conversation everywhere I’ve been today. The news channels have talked about it all day and it was the big topic with neighbors, friends and family even people I never met before. All of this talk got me thinking about all of the ways the earthquakes have impacted the entertainment world. The eathquake is allways featured in natual disaster movies, but here are the most memorable ones.
The first one that always comes to mind for me is the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. This was the first earthquake to ever be televised on national television. It, of course took place during game 3 of the Oakland A’s/San Francisco Giants World Series that year (God knew the A’s were cheating and he was trying to stop them from winning). The quake being on National T.V. allowed people to immediately know what was happening/or coming there way and may have saved thousands of lives. Here is a video taken moments after the quake hit.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5u3xGVE20Tw[/youtube]
Then there is the blockbuster 1979 film Earthquake. The movie was stacked full of stars and became one of the biggest hits of the year. It capitalized on peoples natural fears of a earth shaking catastrophe. The movie showed people what a major quake could do and even though the special effects look bad now, they were effected at the time. The quake destroyed Los Angeles and showed the fear of people just trying to survive, something that everybody can relate to.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=GKiApY_U3kA[/youtube]
The most recent use of earthquakes in a movie (at least that I can think of at the moment) is the earthquake destruction of Metropolis in the film Superman Returns. This is also one of the worst earthquakes ever on film and maybe why it is so memorable to me.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=GCTjE3B2W58[/youtube]
Movies are not the only forms of entertainment to pay homage to earthquakes. Carole King had a pretty big hit with the song I Feel The Earth Move. Where do you think she got that idea?
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=BWvUZB9h_Rg[/youtube]
Then there is wrestling. Who could forget the Earthquake. I remember the shocking morning, as a child when Earthquake squashed Jake The Snake’s snake Damien. What a terrible thing this was.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=oCMewWTUiOA[/youtube]
Anyway it was kind of cool living through my first real earthquake, but I think I’ll pass on any future opportunities to experience another.