RIP: Ernest Borgnine

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Steve

In his memory and honor, the GWD team I temp’d for chose to call ourselves Mermaid Man’s Fan Club since it was the last role Ernest had been doing consistently, pretty amazing for guy in his early nineties! I figured he was younger but I should’ve known better if he was a WWII vet.

When I was growing up, Ernest was a semi-constant fixture in numerous Sci-Fi/Disaster films I saw: The Black Hole, The Poseidon Adventure and Escape from New York. My brain tends to place him as a policeman…now I know why, he starred in Future Cop, this weird ABC show about an android officer on the force.

Not everything he did was low-brow. He won an Oscar for Marty (keep putting that off) and co-starred in The Wild Bunch, a featured movie in Joe Bob Brigg’s Profoundly Disturbing since it treaded new turf for Westerns…and violence.

Beyond Spongebob Squarepants, I loved his performance on The Simpsons (“Boy-Scoutz ‘n the Hood”) even if the animators were responsible for the subtle gag involving Ernest not washing his hands when he meets the kids. Mermaid Man wouldn’t be the same without him shouting the hero’s catchphrases, babying Barnacle Boy and senility.

Lastly, I will be adding him posthumously for this year’s (second) annual tribute to Italians. I never gave his ethnicity/origin much thought. I knew his surname was modified to something easier to pronounce or hide where his family came from. Odds favored it originally being more difficult like Polish, Russian or other Eastern European countries.

Farewell Lt. Command McHale. Thanks for all the great performances and showing you were game to do anything: TV, film, cartoons, comedy, drama, high-brow and mass audiences.

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Jake spotting, it’s Pizza Time!

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Steve

This was on the back of a delivery car for our favorite, every occasion pizza…Austin’s Pizza; I love Mangia too but their deep dish is for special occasions.

Now that I think about it, how do I know this wasn’t the real Jake hitching a ride? He can change his shape and mass as needed.

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Summer of 1982 VIII: TRON

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Steve

We have hit the official ending for the Summer of 1982 festival but MC Zack did give everybody some hope, the people who own Blade Runner may finally capitulate on allowing Alamo to show the beloved Philip K Dick adaptation. Fingers crossed!

I also “reviewed” TRON five years ago when the movie turned 25. That was watched on our TV via a DVD over a couple viewings, I probably fell asleep at least once and had to pick up where I left off. Besides, the point was to see all these well-loved films on the big screen. Any model of television can’t reproduce everything the creators intended for the theater audience. Let me throw in another confession. The Alamo screening was my third time seeing TRON in such a venue. The first was 1982 for my 14th birthday, a little celebration with friends. The second was at the Alamo’s original 4th and Colorado location. It was a midnight showing about 10 years ago and I nodded off halfway through. I’m no longer the night owl I used to be in the my teens and early twenties.

Despite my early bedtime issues, TRON is a significant movie for a few reasons:

  • It was the first mainstream film to heavily utilize computer-generated graphics. This paved the way for The Last Starfighter, the Dire Straits video “Money for Nothing,” Reboot and Babylon 5.
  • Although the technology is relatively crude, TRON showed the potential for computers being used in animation. A young Disney animator named John Lasseter took note. (This is based upon his interview in the Pixar documentary.)
  • The characters, equipment and concepts have fueled scores of jokes seen in numerous other animated shows: The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Robot Chicken and Futurama are only the tip of the iceberg.
  • TRON‘s soundtrack/score was composed/performed by Wendy Carlos. A rather unusual choice for Disney since the company often worries about the opinions of conservative audiences.

Alamo mostly stuck with the same stuff they showed a couple years ago when TRON: Legacy was in theaters: old Scooter Computer & Mr. Chips, some news piece about programmers, Alan Alda shilling for Atari, a Centipede commercial and a couple for Activision. The ad starring the Tubes to promote Megamania remains timeless! Did anyone really buy Megaforce to play on their consoles? The Simpsons Treehouse bit, a horrible fan film and the legendary Pointer Sisters performance at Disney Land.

MC Zack and his buddy hit the stage dressed as Mario & Luigi. They gave the news I mentioned earlier. Then they talked about the movie’s history, the actors and its impact. The bad news entailed a warning regarding the print’s condition…a previous theater damaged it (mostly around the reels’ heads and tails). There was an upside, we would be one of several audiences getting to watch TRON for the last time in the 35 mm format. Disney will only distribute it digitally afterwards.

The mood-setting trailers were excellent: The Last Starfighter and The Wizard. The former was the next movie to showcase computer graphics as an option for special effects; I recall the argument about how this would eventually be cheaper than traditional models. The latter capitalized on Fred Savage’s popularity and was a 90-minute Nintendo infomercial.

How is TRON 30 years later? It succeeds better on a large screen than a smaller one. The technological terms are dated and prone to ridicule by today’s savvier audiences (micro units are associated with dinosaurs in light of giga/tera units) yet more accurate than later fare such as The Net or Wargames. Jeff Bridges, David Warner, Barnard Hughes, Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan’s acting kept it grounded. I feel Disney wanted their 1982 Summer cornerstone to be taken seriously through the casting choices. Jeff Bridges’ CLU was oddly stiff but I think this was intentional. The light-cycle sequence continues to be my favorite feature in a theater; it’s not the same on TV.

Ratings:

1982 (14-year old me): A-. My tastes in Sci-Fi then were pretty unsophisticated then and I was already sold weeks earlier through the videogame at my local Aladdin’s Castle. The TV special starring half the cast from Mr. Merlin (Barnard Hughes starred in this too) certainly helped make the case. I did walk out slightly disappointed over how the connection between the game and film was rather tenuous. More light-cycle battles could’ve knocked off the minus on the grade. I remember Dad deconstructing it, nitpicking because he was a systems analyst.

2012: B+. TRON‘s potential is much more visible today. Thirty years ago, the computer graphics felt like a gimmick. Today they’re the norm. The acting preserved the film from additional mocking too. Every time I watch Star Wars, some scenes make me wince due to the delivery from the “unknown” actors. With TRON, Bridges, Hughes and Warner give solid performances in the “real world” that could be shown in any genre; inside the system, they manage better than most. The lower grade I designated is over how threadbare the story is.

TRON‘s life lessons as per other 1982 features:

  1. Computers are just machines, humans still matter and can defeat them due to our unpredictable, instinctive nature
  2. People’s creations tend to have elements of their creator’s “DNA” present. The easiest example I know is music, especially with a songwriter. You can often tell who wrote a piece even when another person performs it. The movie took an avatar route, people just didn’t use that word then
  3. A disgruntled ex-employee is the biggest threat to a private (or semi-public) system’s security
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: Rental

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Steve

Another review going into new territory because I can’t whole-heartedly endorse this movie, especially with today’s ridiculous ticket prices. It would’ve been easier if Lincoln were clearly terrible. The mash-up of an alternate history was fine, hell I was looking forward to this since the premise sounded like a report written by Bart Simpson or a Time Squad episode. Lincoln just failed to forge any excitement in its execution.

In short, Lincoln is a movie mashup…The Matrix set in the 19th Century with the villains being based on Interview with the Vampire. Then apply this heavy special-effects laden veneer on top of Henry Fonda’s Young Mr. Lincoln and you have the film.

One bright spot was seeing Rufus Sewell returning to American movies. After Dark City, I think Hollywood soured on him plus his very noticeable lazy eye didn’t help. Sewell’s performance really stood out for me, it was as if he were imitating Adam Ant’s onstage persona from 30 years ago. When he confronts Sturges (another main character) with his gang of vampiric highwaymen in a 17th or 18th Century flashback, I expected the phrase “Stand or deliver!” to be shouted, then followed up with the song’s anthemic drumming. Coincidence? Probably not. Sewell’s character is named Adam.

I should’ve known I was in for a morning of disappointment. Even Alamo couldn’t garner any pre-show material worth watching. In a perfect universe, I would show Time Squad; Honest Abe is a mean prankster who gives the opposition wedgies; some scenes from a weird cartoon which had cloned historical figures attending high school together (Lincoln, Cleopatra, JFK, etc.), I think it was another lame MTV attempt at comedy. Lincoln’s big scene in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is mandatory. Instead we endured a handful of crappy fan films borrowing the alt-history concept: mostly the caretaker presidents fighting dinosaurs, training monsters or being great teamsters. FDR as a ninja before polio failed miserably too.

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Dalek spotted at Apple

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Steve

The key to their successful conquest of Earth will be how well they blend in, prevent us humans from noticing them.

First there was the one I saw hiding in the New York New York casino, disguised as a garbage can. Now another advanced scout is trying to trick me into thinking it’s a portable air conditioner.

Hopefully the Doctor will arrive to help out since the GOP’s plan is to just tie up everything until they regain their one-party state status (like Soviet Russia!) and blame the invasion on the Affordable Care Act.

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Roxy Music to have a boxed set!

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Steve

What synchronicity or coincidence or something! While I was writing the first draft, my stream was playing Concrete Blonde’s tribute song to the legendary band “Roxy.” Plus Concrete Blonde had one of the (many) former Roxy drummers in their lineup in the Eighties or Nineties.

I caught the news amongst the sad announcement about Andy Griffith’s passing. About damned time was my stance. Roxy Music is most famous for launching Brian Eno’s career but I would say it didn’t harm Bryan Ferry, Andy McKay or Phil Manzanera’s.

My first encounter with them was through MTV showing the video for “More Than This.” I thought man these guys are pretty cool, why haven’t I heard of them? The VJ blathered about their history and then came the devastating blow…the song was played because Roxy Music was no more.

Spin‘s debut issue in 1985 rekindled my interest due to U2 and Duran Duran (in separate articles) mentioned Roxy’s influence on their material. I had to figure out what was the appeal and being a teenager, I’m sure I followed the “logic” of coolness by association; if my favorites like X, then it must be good.

The Roxy connection continued into college the night I scored a used copy of Split Enz’s Mental Notes at a record store. There was guitarist Phil Manzanera in the credits as the producer. Years later I learned Phil discovered the New Zealand act when Roxy Music toured through the little nation in the mid Seventies.

This boxed set would be perfect if it contained a proper tribute CD with bands who were influenced or remain enamored of Roxy Music. Several years ago Scissor Sister’s covered “Do the Strand” and I remember Concrete Blonde performing “When You Smile” during their 1993 farewell tour. I’m confident it’ll be more even than the disappointing Led Zeppelin and Queen tributes. Roxy’s following is smaller and less likely to draw in the flavor-of-the-month acts the previous albums received.

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Seven years of ‘blog form

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Steve

It started out as an experiment/training exercise after I learned that Mac OS X Server 10.4 had a built-in weblog solution. Although blojsom (I think this was its name) wasn’t very elegant, the software became an effective successor to my past Web sites and “printed” magazine.

I’ve had to revisit what the Volume numbers stand for…found it by reviewing past artwork which had explanations buried in ’em.

  • Volume I: 1990-1998, mostly printed versions of Picayune over those years with a Web page integrated around 1998.
  • Volume II: 1998-2001, returning to Austin and Picayune goes to Web only.
  • Volume III: 2001-2003, Picayune is hosted from the house I bought.
  • Volume IV: 2003-2005, signified getting married which was a major life changing event for me, I thought I would be a bachelor forever.
  • Volume V: 2005 on, Picayune switches to a Weblog solution over individual pages made in GoLive.

What will mark Volume VI? The way things are going lately, I’m guessing it would involve me winning the lottery.

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Nada Surf

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Steve

Nada Surf's Matthew Caws circa SXSW 2012 at Waterloo Records

This is a special two-parter because the nice gentleman from Houston who took the above photo almost forgot to send it, thankfully Nada Surf was on tour this Summer and their Houston appearance (before Austin) reminded him. Hey, better late than never with cool things is my motto.

Besides catching the Cult, Of Montreal and other great bands at Waterloo Records’ showcase, the big one I really wanted to see was Nada Surf. Oddly I get a reaction of “who?” more often than the anticipated “those guys who did “Popular” are still around?” whenever mentioning them. I’m glad they toughed it out since I’ve been hooked on them ever since 2002’s Let Go, I felt Elektra tried to transform Nada Surf into another Weezer with “Popular;” the song does bear some similarity to “Undone” and Ric Ocasek produced. Their current release The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy is definitely shaping up to being my favorite album for the year. I’ll explain more as I go.

While I was waiting for Nada Surf to take the stage, I passed the time helping out my friend Chip; keeping him company and hydrated since he was in charge of the parking spaces reserved for the performers. Chip had to step away a moment so I was asked to keep an eye out for Doug Gillard. I said, he sounds familiar. Well yeah, he’s playing in Nada Surf currently but he’s been in other bands, Chip replied. I asked for others, Guided By Voices was the big one I could recall (Doug has a very impressive resume on allmusic.com).  My music-geek answer to this was, “Doug Gillard is like Jason Falkner?” Chip made a face as his response, a face which told me he got my reference. It’s always awesome when a reference is understood!

Nada Surf’s brief set was great (a mix of new and old) as it was unusual. Bassist Daniel Lorca was out sick and they didn’t have a stand in thus the sound was composed of two guitars and a drum kit. The autograph session followed.

Lead singer/writer Matthew Caws is a really, really nice person. After my many years of meeting bands in person, I have a pair of theories. The first is based around the car mechanic anecdote; when your vehicle is fixed well, you tell a couple people, when it isn’t, you tell everybody. The same applies to rock stars being unfriendly, drunk or rude. The Internet has been a great leveler for bands and fans to get together without the old gatekeepers too. My second theory is generational. I think today’s bands are familiar with the tales regarding their heroes, thus they’ve taken a conscious effort to not emulate such behavior, especially in today’s music industry ecosystem.

Back to Matthew Caws. The guy smiles and has a genuinely sincere look on his face when greeting fans. For my facetime, I told him his French is fantastic on their cover of “Bye Bye Beauté” and I had Maud (an actual French person review it). Does he speak the language or did he learn the words phonetically? Matthew lived in France until he was five so he’s fluent (his bio says he attended a French immersion school in NYC too). I shared how I wore my Betelguese shirt as a tribute to the album title.

Doug Gillard was a funnier experience. While he was autographing my Stars CD, I disclosed the earlier discussion I had with Chip and how I used Jason Falkner as a reference point to understand his career. Without irony Doug mentioned he is friends with Jason and they recently collaborated on some music, like a hoot night. Chip certainly smirked, I had to contain my nervous laughter.

Based upon how wonderful these people were, I vowed I would do everything to see Nada Surf in concert at the first opportunity. Well I got my chance with a month. I couldn’t get anyone else to go sadly. They sure missed out and I managed to be in the front row.

Matthew on guitars/vocals

Opening up first was Austin band The Zoltars. A great power trio with short, amusing songs. Their sound was reminiscent of Man or Astroman and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (the transition music for The Kids in the Hall). Next was San Francisoc-based Waters. I think I could like them after a few more listens. The teens to my left were fans.

Bassist Daniel Lorca

Nada Surf hit the stage by 11 PM, my hopes of catching the 12:25 AM train were shot. They proved to be worth the pricey cab ride home. All the hits in my mental repertoire were covered except “The Future.” I was cool with them skipping “Popular.” What raised their stock for me was Matthew’s stories and explanations between certain numbers. I never gave much thought to “Your Legs Grow” nor would’ve imagined it being about overcoming heartache. Groundhog Day was the inspiration for “When I Was Young.” The funniest involved him meeting a young lady whose father was a Star Wars prequel producer years ago. She wanted to jam, do some covers. Matthew said, OK, what do you have in mind? She said “On a Dark Desert Highway.” Confused (as we in the audience were), he answered, ummm…I’ve never heard of it. Then Matthew imitated her singing the familiar line/melody which is the opening to the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”

Guitarist Doug Gillard

Concerts such as these are why I love music and their accompanying live performances. Great artists make a personal connection with their audiences. They make you want to return to the recorded material right away, recapture the insight you just received (or interpreted), especially if you feel a certain affinity to the lyrics. I certainly gained this from “When I Was Young.” Since we’re only a year apart in age, the references to afternoon reruns of Gilligan’s Island are more special.

The basis of a Nada Surf "mixtape" for those who would like to learn more.

Thanks to the memorable show, Nada Surf is now a permanent resident on my short list of bands to see every time they pass through Austin.

Posted in Brushes with Greatness, Music | Leave a comment

New banner for July in honor of the party

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Steve

The Summer of 1982 officially concludes this upcoming Friday with TRON. I do plan to watch the original theatrical cut of Blade Runner at home via Blu-Ray, then take in The Wall and Fast Times at Ridgemont High later, the former is slated next week. Thus I chose to change out the banner, replace it with Adventure Time because it’s the theme for my pending birthday part at Pinballz. I have no idea how Soamra is going to make/create such a cake, I don’t ask, I just eat like Jake.

I did like the ’82 thing a lot. I might do something similar for August yet base it on all the cool movies I’ve seen in ’12. I’m open to any suggestions regarding the font/typeface for a grander design.

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Happy Birthday Rad!

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Steve

The Radman of Phoenix celebrates what I think would be number 42. Hey he’s now the Doug Adams answer to everything for the next year.

Drop him a line if you know him. I need to get a late card in the mail.

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Happy Canada Day!

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Steve

Or as we sing down in the states, “Blame Canada.” According to the Toronto Star, the nation is 145 when I could’ve sworn it’s 199. Why? I always thought our northern neighbors started the process in 1863 during the (American) Civil War; according to History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray US History, Canadians have often feared America annexing their nation. Unlike us, they remember the War of 1812 well…”54-40 or die!” being our jingoism at work. Canada probably shared the UK’s lukewarm stance of supporting the Confederacy (aka the Traitors) but feared a Union (the legitimate government) defeat. Should the Union lose, an invasion to regain the territory lost in secession would follow. So they consolidated the three pseudo nations into one and formed Canada in order to defend themselves; the UK had told them earlier that their “parent” country couldn’t spare the manpower. I guess the 31,000 soldiers the Brits mobilized after the US Navy seized a UK ship transporting Confederate “ambassadors” wasn’t enough.

I do find the annexation paranoia partially well-founded yet sadly happening despite the Canadians’ best efforts to maintain a separate identity. Look at their asshole prime minister ever since he succeeded in getting a majority in parliament. Americans can’t be blamed this time. Harper with his aggressive-regressive Tory policies is a cancer from within. He’s their George W. Bush, just most articulate and subtler in his cruelty.

Enough editorializing. Today is Canada’s day to celebrate. Reflect on the many things they’ve given the world besides hockey, Tim’s Hortons and Rush, the band not the blowhard.

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Hank Hill would hate this dolphin too

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Steve

You know the episode. If you haven’t seen it, go to Netflix streaming: third season, number 16. Dislike the show? Give this one a try, what happens is pretty damned funny and it was written by Jon Vitti, a key producer from the “golden” age of The Simpsons.

Meanwhile, there’s a Louisiana community dealing with a dolphin who loves people too much…but not in the Hank Hill manner.

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Happy Birthday Ben & Mark M!

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Steve

The former has the day off so I’m sure he’s celebrating at home with his lovely wife and cool kid. The latter is living it up in Belgium with his neat-o sister. I sure hope Mark M gets to sample the tiny nation’s famous waffles, see if it’s true they’re that good to earn a nationally-based adjective.

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Spider-Man

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Steve

Checking back to the archives of my site, it seems Somara hasn’t made anything fancy since Wyatt’s birthday. Trust me, she has been baking cakes much to the struggle of my diet and exercise.

This week Somara received a request to put together a really cool Spider-Man design. The birthday child digs the superhero, it’s only coincidence that the rebooted franchise kicks off next week. I blurred out the writing to protect the recipients’ privacy, it’s not some weird frosting smudge. The reflection on the “plate” is a nice touch.

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Beyond the Black Rainbow: Acquired Taste

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Steve

My first review under the new post-2011 system that lacks a rating of Must See. Up front I will say, I enjoyed Beyond and it made my heart race a bit. Somara was bored. By most accounts this would make the movie a push but let me elaborate, then you can decide to check it out.

The story takes place in 1983 at the Arboria Institute, a futuristic lab-asylum-commune-something where the founders have been promoting their way to permanent happiness; it’s in their presentation. One patient is a young woman named Elena. She’s introverted, never speaks, never interacts, so on. Elena’s handler is Dr. Nyle who resembles a malevolent Carl Sagan. As you watch their interactions, it’s hard to tell if Nyle is Elena’s healer or tormentor. Any further explanation would lead into spoiler territory.

Going in I wasn’t sure which genre Beyond was supposed to be yet I was sucked in by its electronic soundtrack (unavailable in any form I could find). I’ve concluded it’s primarily a Horror movie, just not a traditional one with accepted tropes like The Thing, Cabin in the Woods or Hammer Studios. Beyond is more style over substance. Thus it has more in common with Eraserhead or Holy Mountain; slow, confusing and heavy on technique. I’ve often been critical of such fare. I dislike movies striving to be “post-modern” (aka weird for the sake of being weird), artsy fartsy and/or disjointed messes. However, I hate shallow, blow-it-up, lazy fart-joke-ridden Michael Bay-Adam Sandler crap even more. These “popcorn” movies (Hollywoodspeak for “terrible”) are guilty in spades for being thin on substance. Beyond gets my endorsement because of the touchstones and details writer-director Panos Cosmatos nailed.

  • Cosmatos based Beyond upon his memories of films from late-night cable and videotapes he saw when he was a child. I’m guessing he was thinking about the obscure stuff secondary markets made into cult successes: Scanners, Videodrone and Phantasm readily come to mind.
  • I loved the scenes showing offices/break room of the Arboria Institute. What people thought was futuristic in the Sixties now appeared very dated by the Eighties. Plus you can sense the neglect.

Beyond the Black Rainbow isn’t for everybody. I completely agree with a comment on Rotten Tomatoes saying it was similar to watching a lava lamp. What I see is Cosmatos’ potential as a director. If he were given someone else’s script, I’m fairly confident he could meld his style/technique to the story and create an interesting film. Here Cosmatos has more in common with David O Russell and Russell’s breakout Spanking the Monkey.

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