Southern Culture on the Skids rocks Austin again

Posted on March 31, 2007 by Steve
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Bringing down the house with “Banana Pudding”

My favorite band from Chapel Hill, NC returned this week for another awesome five-night run at Austin’s Continental Club (which I will need to do an Austintatious story on, promised that last year). Admittedly, I attended the opening show on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning but I have been running the last several days on very little sleep and now I can finally give a more elaborate account of the show. Since they’re playing until Saturday, I am still within my own self-declared deadline of when a story is still topical for Picayune.

As always, people ask, “What are Southern Culture on the Skids like?” After listening to them for over a decade, I would say the fastest and easiest answer to give most people is this: The B-52’s redneck cousins. I personally think people also ask because they don’t know much about all the different musical genres/styles. The other problem lately is when a band has a name that reads as a phrase, it’s assumed to be either Emo (My Chemical Romance, Cute is What We Aim For) or Nu-Metal (As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God).

Background and explanations complete, on to the show. The opener was an interesting local Funk act called Barfield. They definitely got the crowd energized for SCOTS at midnight. When Rick, Dave and Mary hit the stage, everyone was definitely good and rowdy as the trio kicked off with their instrumental “Skullbucket.” There were the usual favorites too: “69 El Camino,” “Liquored up, Lacquered down,” “Camel Walk,” “Daddy was a Preacher, Mama was a Go-Go Girl,” “The House of Bamboo,” “Nitty Gritty,” “The Wet Spot,” and “Carolina Chickenshit Farmer.” Due the hot rod show coming to Austin at the end of the week, they pulled out most of their car-themed songs and more instrumentals. They did a few songs from the new album Countrypolitan Favorites, namely my current stream favorite “Fight Fire,” and the very fitting covers of “Tobacco Road” and “Muswell Hillbilly.” No SCOTS show is ever complete without “Banana Pudding.” Sadly no “Biscuit Eater” or “Eight Piece Box,” but their catalog is so large and they’re such nice people in person, it didn’t ruin the show. For the encore they did this great instrumental accompanied by the Continental Club’s waitress as their go-go dancer. The lady definitely had some moves and at 6’ 3” (she had no problem answering) she was an even greater presence on the stage. There was this one part when she’d lean so far back you’d think it was a limbo contest.

I got to talk to Rick after the show to see how he was doing, how was his son and how I loved the usage of him giggling on their recent cover of the Who’s “Happy Jack.” Surprisingly, he remembered me from the show last year. We talked a bit about his Apple equipment and his upgrade to 10.4 since there’s finally an LE version of ProTools, still the first choice of rock stars everywhere. When I told him how I found the school photos included in the new record a hoot, he explained that they had the album cover and all related pictures taken at their neighborhood Wal-Mart. I thought he was kidding. The pictures are too well done in my opinion. Then everyone was laughing when he said the band bought the Deluxe Package which included the jigsaw puzzle they were selling at the t-shirt stand. I can’t emphasize enough on seeing SCOTS live, you will have a good time, even if you don’t know the bulk of their material.

In their honor, I plan on going with them as the inaugural entry for a new category I have been putting off call Brushes with Greatness. Mary and Rick were great sports in having my picture taken with them as you’ll see.

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My latest PDF creation

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Steve

Over the months, I have seen some great ideas sold as PDF files through enworld.org (still the best site for all things D&D outside of Wizards of the Coast). The latest one was Condition Cards which has each of the definitions and modifiers from the glossary of the PHB conveniently available on a small card. I know we end up frequently flipping through that glossary trying to remember whether or not a PC can defend himself after a spell declares him Stunned, Frightened or Dazzled. Being a former typesetter who still retains his basic skills I put this together at a relatively decent clip. The few bucks I saved were put toward the cost of photocopying them to cardstock at kinko’s.

Now the real test will be coming up when I run the game. Someone’s rogue is hit with a spell that states she is Nauseated. I just hand her the appropriate card and she modifies the rogue’s actions accordingly. Hopefully this will speed up the game. I made an additional set for my friend Flynn as a little gift for all his hard work and opinions. Since his Traveller campaign uses the same core rules from D&D, these cards may assist him. Our characters just end up being Panicked, Stunned or Nauseated by ray guns, not magic.

If you want a copy for your own purposes, just click on the follow phrase: Condition Cards. They’re four-up (four per 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of paper) and they do line up correctly if you have the means to print or copy double-sided. At least that’s what my QuarkXpress software states.

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Democracy (In)Action or mini C-Span 2007 Part II

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Steve

I was a tad more prepared this time for there was a quorum in round two. It remained a long, dull meeting that achieved very little. Something I would say Associa, or Alliance or whatever name the HOA “Company” (more like extortionist) counts on from the residents. I should start my own corporation to do this because I’m sure I could find a way to profit handsomely from collecting $33K/quarter just to cover landscaping on three common areas while not doing jack about the road expansions flanking my subdivision.

The usual nonsense came up about a volleyball court versus a basketball court in the park. I voted for neither, it’ll just get in the way of the makeshift soccer “stadium” and dog toilet the other residents think the park is. I like basketball too but the Travis County Sherriff isn’t keen on enforcing curfew in our subdivision. I received a big revelation too; the houses on the south side are part of Austin despite their Pflugerville mailing addresses. The remainder are neither a part of Pflugerville nor Austin which I knew back when the house was built in 2001. One resident who has worked with zoning said that our homes are worth too little to cover the services we’d require (trash, police, emergency, etc.), thus no city wants the rest of us. Nice. My area is the awkward, unathletic kid who is chosen last in a game of kickball on the playground.

As always, there were the committees barely staffed by anyone, blah, blah, blah. An election with a new guy selected to serve on the board. He works in real estate, (sarcastic) huzzah. The only solid thing I left this meeting learning was the number for the DOT to request a protected left-turn signal on the main entrance’s intersection because the traffic on the other side will generate an accident. This being Austin, people think turn signals are optional and telepathy is assumed. Should my plans for this year pan out the way I would like them to, I think I will join one of these committees to see what I can do. I had some success on the Quality of Life team at work, now to take it to a higher level. Did I raise a stink again? Not much. Another woman beat me to the punch but her complaining was more about how no one listens to her ideas and the lack of official channels. As if the three board members are some kind of secretive Star Chamber. With all the apathy from about 800 households, meetings barely making a quorum of 65 while every middle class American is too busy working his or her butt off to stay afloat. I’d say the board is more like the short-lived, struggling Duma after the czar abdicated. It’s not meant to be sympathetic yet at least they’re trying for what little Associa allows. My gripes were restrained to the protected turn and why Associa never forwards my e-mails to the actual board members.

Until next year, I will have to keep watching to see the money trail because they jacked the fees almost five percent this year. My homeowner fees are relatively cheap compared to my friend Jose’s yet his house is much more expensive, has a nice pool (something I’m against due to the high maintenance costs) and its gated; probably to keep out the Disney riff-raff.

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Week Twenty-Five of NHL 2006-07

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Steve

Philly’s magic number of 58 still evades them as they remain at 51 with seven games to go. The good news is a two-year deal being finalized on Biron. So far his GAA has been as rotten as Esche and Nitty. This season was declared a wash months ago but the new year grants Biron a clean slate with the expectation of results as the new number one goalie. The bad news is Fedoruk getting KO’d in a recent fight that is fueling the latest “agonizing” over the future of fighting in the game. I need to hear the latest pearls of wisdom from Don Cherry to silence Bettmann and non-hockey fans who never know what they’re talking about.

I originally took March 27-28 off to see JR play his last game in Dallas due to his pending retirement. Then money issues cropped up (nothing serious) and I decided not to bother. Judging from last night’s thumping by the Stars of 6-0, I made the smarter move by seeing Southern Culture on the Skids instead. Another rationalization I justified against going pertained to JR. Over three years ago, I met him while he was on the verge of beating Pat LaFontaine’s record and his future was brimming with potential, especially on winning the race to beat Joe Mullen’s record. That’s how I want to remember meeting him, not playing third-line center for an underwhelming team shut out of the playoffs for the fifth season in a row. No one is remembering Michael Jordan during his awful performance on the Wizards, it’s Da’ Bulls and the two Threepeats. Same goes for JR with his amazing seasons on the Blackhawks’ teams and the grit he brought to the Flyers.

Austin’s season officially ended this Sunday. I wish I could’ve attended the post-season party last night but the joys of HOA-style democracy beckoned. No word on where they will play next season. I think the players will be heading home and getting ready to audition for other teams, live in Austin or quit hockey altogether.

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Rain + Cats = Soaking Wet Adventures

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Steve
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Tiki relaxes after his rainy-day adventures

I’ve been housesitting again this Spring, something I always enjoy doing for my friends the Lowrys (Alaire & Tom, also Ethan’s parents). They have three cats (Angel, Tiki and Jack) and I’m pretty good with them because I don’t mind changing the litter boxes and entertaining them. However, there’s one major “right” Angel and Tiki demand of me I can’t honor for my own sanity, their outdoor privileges. Due to the house’s location and vast yard, it is a playground for numerous species, including humans. At night, it’s another story when the coyotes come prowling for a tasty snack so I don’t let them out even during the day and they don’t come back when I call. Contrary to popular prejudice against cats, they will listen to the humans they know; Molly and Miette “obey” me and I’ve witnessed Alaire’s success. Jack isn’t a problem, he hides somewhere the whole time so I have more energy to expend on the stubborn brothers.

There were a couple of stomach-churning nights with the other two when they got out thanks to my underestimations of their cunning. With the house on cat lockdown when I’m around, I endure the meowing that probably means “I demand to go outside!” Most of it is from Angel, the more vocal of the duo. They got me again yesterday with an old trick from a few summers ago, the garage. I needed a flashlight to confirm Jack’s whereabouts (never can be too careful) and the garage is usually the best place to look when the kitchen is a bust. Tiki immediately ran in there, hid under a car to avoid capture and I saw the old cat door on the side blocked up; problem solved, he’ll grow bored and come back in was my thought. Angel joined him shortly, no problem I thought. I could only lure one at a time out with food and again, I counted on that infamous cat attention span. They burned me again, one of them moved enough of the obstructions on the old cat door to make a run for it in the rain. At least I had daylight on my side.

The rain worked in my favor with Tiki, he hid out under the stairs of the backporch and was willing to let me “rescue” him. He also purred loudly as I dried him off. Angel was a mystery and I had a horrible fear of him repeating his late night escapade from 2006, a multi-hour chase in pitch-black darkness. Fortunately, I spotted him hiding in the tool shed where I thought he was pinned, HA! Angel continued to elude me from there to across the bulk of the yard eventually fooling me into crossing the street. Fooled was correct because he double backed to the rear porch while I was quietly cursing through the rocks and underbrush. The solution ended up leaving a door open to give him the illusion of free will, making him appear that he chose to come in out of the rain. This only moved the chase indoors. I wasn’t going to let a wet cat run around. I only hope he’s more cooperative with the Lowrys on rainy days.

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Hockey Night in Canada has been rescued!

Posted on March 26, 2007 by Steve

I was so overjoyed at the offical news stating how the CBC cinched it over TSN (Canadian ESPN). There were rumors going on all season that the NHL would sign for a ridiculous amount of money with TSN; more than the CBC could cough up since they’re funded by Canadian taxpayers but their hockey coverage fuels the rest of the network through advertising, unlike the BBC’s per set tax or the PBS beg-a-thons. Bettmann’s ongoing excuse was “doing what was best for the league” litany. If this were true, he’d be working on improving the game’s exposure in the US, which has 24 of the 30 teams, before trying to destroy 50-plus year-old icon for our northern neighbor.

For those of you who don’t like or know hockey, why is the CBC’s coverage and Hockey Night in Canada such a big deal? Other than it being a tradition older than the recently destroyed Monday Night Football, HNiC has Coach’s Corner during at least the first intermission with Don Cherry, the John Madden of Hockey and a rather atypical Canadian; he’s blunt, openly a political conservative for a Canadian and endorses toughness in hockey (as there’s yet another debate about banning fighting happening). Then there’s The Hot Stove debate at the intermissions. Overall, Canadian coverage of hockey is superior to American since CBC, TSN and Rogers Sports Net cater to Canadians so they assume the audience knows the game, thus no segments wasting your time about what the hell icing is. Other than Comcast and VS., ESPN (all), NBC and especially FSN assume the audience is clueless.

The new contract is for six years. Hopefully long enough for Don Cherry to retire on a high note.

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Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends Season One

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Steve

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DVD releases of today’s cartoons are frustrating since the shows Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network choose to publish seem arbitrary or random. There are numerous hits that ended years ago such as Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Cow & Chicken, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats and Rocket Power. Meanwhile the short-lived-Hot-Topic cash cow Invader Zim, the unusual Samurai Jack, cultural icon Spongebob Squarepants and “DC Comics done well” series Justice League were readily available within a couple years of their cessation. Maybe there’s some magic economic formula their conglomerate parents know in making the decision.

Thankfully Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is in the latter category and creator Craig McCracken’s previous hit creation, The Powerpuff Girls will also be receiving its overdue, proper treatment this Summer.

The premise of Foster’s is that imaginary childhood friends are real. When the children outgrow their friends, there’s a foster home for the imaginary to stay at until another child adopts them. Most of the show’s stories revolve around eight-year old Mac and his creation Bloo. Through a special arrangement with Madame Foster (the home’s owner), Bloo remains a resident ineligible for adoption as long as Mac visits every day. If Bloo’s antics weren’t so funny, one would conclude that Mac was codependent for continuing to visit a miniature, child-friendly version of everyone’s favorite sociopath Homer Simpson. Then again, the other residents are really manifestations of their creators’ personalities, wishes and fears: Duchess, Wilt and Eduardo respectively. Mac has to be more responsible than the average kid his age because Mom works all the time and his older brother is a teenage bully. Bloo may be the part of Mac that embodies an exaggerated carefree, typical second grader. Yet there are times Mac ignores all reason and rational thinking to participate in something devised by Bloo.

Amateur psychology aside, Mac, Bloo and the other supporting characters partake in the program’s numerous misadventures such as going to the mall, rescuing other imaginary friends, watching scary movies, etc. Standard cartoon fare but the execution is what makes Foster’s work. Adults will enjoy it equally with kids because there are jokes at multiple levels, popular cultural references, odd puns and universal themes about human behavior (which the Imaginary share).

As a DVD set, Foster’s is a disappointment for its small amount of features: Spanish and French audio tracks, subtitles, a gallery with bios of the Friends frequently seen wandering around, a feature with McCracken about the show’s origin, end of episode gags (these are frequently cut during Prime Time) and a small collection of promos (Coco doing the Can Can is the best). One episode has a commentary track of Mac and Frankie arguing with Bloo. It was a chore to sit through and it didn’t add anything. None are with the writers, animators or voice actors explaining how that particular episode came together as they do on The Simpsons, the standard I have been spoiled by. Based upon those facts, buy it if those things aren’t important, you’re a completist or you want to share it with people who never heard of it (my reason).

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2002: Orlando Vacation II started!

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Steve

Five years ago, my last vacation as a bachelor began. It was definitely overdue since I didn’t take a real one in 2001 with my grandmother’s passing in the Spring and all the joys of buying a house. Those stupid 19 losers had little effect on the decision. As 2002 was getting started, the stress of last year was getting to me and I think it was Jose’s idea to come to Orlando. It sounded like a great idea at the time too because the weather would be solid, Spring Break for most colleges would be over and I needed to bounce some opinions off of him, half of which I never got around to discussing.

We had a great time as always. It began as soon as he picked me up from the airport at midnight. A quick meal at the Steak n’ Shake near his house was the unofficial kick off. Other things had changed. Jose now drove a spiffy Mustang, good thing I didn’t pack too much. He still had the same house but it was decorated differently with new pictures. There was also a new housemate since my last visit in 1996. Chris seemed cooler than what’s-his-face. I got to sleep in Jose’s office which was occupied by his PC (my ongoing, 14-year campaign of nagging him into a Mac wouldn’t succeed for another two years).

The week of relaxation, fun and yakking kicked off on Sunday at his job with Fox 35 during its final days under the Meredith Corporation. News Corp was in the process of “buying” the station through their usual tactics of threats and intimidation. He had permission to head out early so we could attend the They Might be Giants concert at Orlando’s Hard Rock Cafe. The Johns were in a giddy mood overall because they had recently won a Grammy for the Malcolm in the Middle theme song. They previewed a couple more songs for their upcoming kid-friendly record No! for the crowd. This show had a recently signed act opening as well, a little band from Chicago called OK Go. TMBG’s openers are always solid and I was already excited about buying their upcoming CD. I even had a brief conversation with their drummer Dan as I signed up for their e-mail list.

A couple days later we took in the Magic v. Bulls game. I think I made Jose feel a bit too guilty over the last opportunity we missed so he had the tickets in advance. We had a solidly great time despite both teams being sorry shadows of their former Nineties glory. The advantage went to the Magic since they still had McGrady playing and they easily beat the Bulls by at least 10 points.

Due to Jose’s second-shift lifestyle and my adjustment to being a “normal” employee, I had most of the mornings to myself. I would go running for what appeared to be a close estimate of a mile in his suburb, clean up, read the latest James Ellroy novel and borrow his cable modem. Jose was still quite the night owl then. I would tire out and fall asleep around 10-11 EDT and he’d be up most of the night with his housemate playing PS1. Wish I had the energy to try but then again, once you have PS2, PS1 is rather limiting. It still worked out, a major element of a vacation involves sleeping, taking it easy by reading or writing casually and most importantly, not being held to a strict schedule.

Another reason for the trip was to scout out the location for the upcoming Apple Store in Orlando. I was seriously thinking about applying to be the Mac Genius there. We discussed the cost of living and housing as he showed me where this new overpriced fashion mall would be. When I got back to Austin and the recruiter told me Apple no longer covered relocation, it was a dead idea. Besides, I had just bought my house six months earlier, I didn’t want to deal with the annoyance of selling it. Jose still gave me a great tour of Orlando if I moved to his city, especially the best two fan-boy-comic-game stores in the area. I remember one of them had a bootleg copy of the Star Wars holiday special shown on CBS when I was a kid. We never got around to discussing the future with women: for him, I think he was seeing someone occasionally in Tampa and I wasn’t sure about the future with Somara, buying a house was a big step. We still had made progress since 1996 when we made our pseudo-pact.

The final day was spent checking out the Universal Theme Park. I had no idea he was unfamiliar with The Cat in the Hat when we went on that ride. I guess kids in Puerto Rico don’t read it in grade school. My fear of heights made the Spider-Man ride rather rough on my nerves. Rather amazing how a pair of 3-D glasses and hydraulics make one feel as if Doctor Octopus will throw the audience off the Statue of Liberty. I should’ve looked up to the ceiling to adjust my perspective sooner. It’s an attraction I don’t recommend riding on the day before one flies anywhere.

At the end of the vacation, I thanked Jose and told him it was his turn to come out to Austin again but he returned the favor in a better way, by coming to Vegas the next summer for the wedding and another gathering in 2005. I haven’t been back since thanks to other matters getting in the way. Jose has since moved to another house, almost got married, has changed housemates and received a promotion at his job. I hope to have one last week like this one before he gets married because Somara and I will stay at the Nickelodeon-themed hotel for that joyous event.

Correction, Mar. 24, 2007: D’oh! My friend Mark M pointed out that I must’ve posted this from the future. It was five years ago, not ten. Sorry.

Posted in History | 1 Comment

RIP Calvert DeForest, aka Larry ‘Bud’ Melman

Posted on March 22, 2007 by Steve

Seems my friend Jose has been beating me to the punch on such morbid news…the loss of Larry ‘Bud’ Melman. That’s what I get for not staying rudely glued to my iBook all night long when I should be participating in the Wednesday night D&D game.

Larry was definitely a staple of the Eighties and a part of my generation’s shared comedic experience (could I make that sound any more pretentious?). Personally, I feel he was one of the reasons for David Letterman’s popularity because his appearances really made the show’s non-sequitur humor work. You could never tell if Larry was playing along with the joke or he was a terrible actor or he had no idea what was going on but he read the lines he was given.

I got the opportunity to meet him briefly in 1987 when he was the MC for a small comedy tour that came to Marquette. The headliner was Emo Philips with Rita Rudner opening. His autograph is shelved away along with a dozen others. It was pretty exciting to meet him because he was one of the first celebrities I helped WMUR (Marquette’s excuse for a radio station for the tuition we paid) get station IDs for.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind 30 years later

Posted on March 21, 2007 by Steve

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Since I was ill last week and one can only sleep so much, I cleared out this one from the DVR’s collection of TCM’s Oscar movies. I can’t even remember what the heck it won, wait…checked imdb.com, Best Cinematography and a bunch of other nominations in 1978. I wanted to see this again because I hadn’t watched it in over 20 years, back when HBO was probably showing it to death.

I’m not going to go over the plot because everyone knows what happens as most of the movie’s key scenes were absorbed into America’s cultural vocabulary. It was a suspenseful film in its day though. When the story begins, the aliens are mysterious and puzzling since you have no idea what they have to do with WWII-era planes that went missing in the Bermuda Triangle. Then they’re rather mischievous when Dreyfeuss encounters them messing with the power grid in eastern Indiana. They become rather frightening as they abduct Dillon’s son in a scene reminiscent of Martian curiosity from both film versions of War of the Worlds. It all concludes with a successful cultural exchange between humans and aliens with everybody who they “kidnapped” being released. Pretty revolutionary stuff as most people were accustomed to UFOs and aliens coming to Earth to conquer it in the Fifties and Sixties. It became a short-lived trend thanks to Fox giving us Independence Day in 1996 to re-ignite xenophobia.

Does Encounters still work today? Overall I think it does but Spielberg couldn’t make this movie now, even with his current list of successes. I fear that it would be either shortened to keep contemporary audiences from being bored or it would be padded with car chases, explosions and noise. Today’s movie goers have become too savvy or inattentive when it comes to those slow parts which may or may not be critical to the plot, more often “not” in the Seventies. Besides the excellent story and execution, Encounters is another interesting time capsule about the world I remember growing up in being indirectly responsible for the plot’s flow: no cell phones, no personal computers with Internet access and no CNN just the old Big Three networks for news. I don’t think many people would consider the Federal government and Army competent enough to succeed in arranging nor having a peaceful interaction with the Aliens after fumbling something easier like Hurricane Katrina. After Watergate and Vietnam, most were suspicious and cynical but they were certain of the Feds’ capabilities.

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Week Twenty-Four of NHL 2006-07

Posted on March 21, 2007 by Steve

The goal of ending with 58 or more points seems to be proving rather difficult for my Flyers but they have nine games remaining which is 18 potential points. Gagne is out with an injury which makes little difference in my opinion. Biron hasn’t been signed, hence the white helmet and Buffalo-colored pads yet this should be the first order of business for “permanent” GM Holmgren. Last night, the Flyers of January returned as the Panthers completed their first season of sweeping them, joining ranks with the Capitals, Senators and Penguins. It’s going to be a long Summer.

Phoenix has managed to sink to last place after the trade deadline. Something needs to give over the Summer with them too. Two more seasons of them not even being close to participating in the Finals.

Seems the Penguins and Super Mario found a way to bleed the tax payers of Pittsburgh dry on keeping the team there. Haven’t found the details of the arrangment. I’m sure it probably borders on NHL welfare and I was looking forward to them moving to Kansas City so the conferences would be re-aligned.

Austin was officially knocked out of the playoffs this Sunday. Rather puzzling to me since they’re in last place for their divison unless three out of four teams are playing close to 500 like them. Their final game of the season is this weekend. I would like to go but I made more interesting plans through that Meetup site.

Finally, Mike Modano beat Joey Mullen’s 502-goal record on Saturday. The owner of the Stars was all upset over Nashville snubbing them. What did he expect? Nashville isn’t a town that has a clue about Modano’s accomplishment. Despite him playing for the Stars and being a big baby at the Turin Olympics last year, I applaud his accomplishment and new record for US-born players. May it stand for a long time to inspire an American goal-making machine to give Gretzky, Howe and Hull concern.

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Happy Fifth Birthday to Arianna

Posted on March 21, 2007 by Steve

Hopefully I have her age right. This young lady is my friend Nelson’s daughter and although we’ve never met, I did hear enjoyable stories about her back in 2003 from her parents. Arianna sounds like a real joy and since Nelson is in the process of moving to the Chicago area, maybe she can become friends with my niece Anna but it’s a huge city with an equally large number of suburbs.

If you know these people, drop Nelson or Tammy a line. They’ll like it. Moving is a pain.

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I finally check out Austin’s new north side Apple store

Posted on March 19, 2007 by Steve

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A second Apple store in Austin. Big whoop right? Heck, these places have become pretty common with the mall landscape across the US and gradually with Canada, Japan and Western Europe. I’ll grant that. However, this one is much, much closer to my house at this new upscale mall called The Domain. How upscale? There really isn’t any place to eat at it that is casual or resembles a food court. It’s also one of these newer developments with apartments. If you have to ask how much, then you probably can’t afford it. I’ll ask another day because I’m still curious. There will be a grocery store opening within it soon yet living at the Mall seems like a dream come true if I were a teenager or Jenna Bush.

This newer Apple Store is much better too. The first one we got is way south at Barton Creek Mall, not a casual nor short trip from Pflugerville or Wells Branch Parkway, especially when there’s traffic on MoPac. It is also spacious and probably the largest one I’ve been in (out of five). The majority of the ones I have seen were only 30-feet wide in a standard mall which gives them a rather crowded, overpacked feeling. The Domain is open, “airy” and deep. The Genius Bar is in the back where it should be too, prevents a bottleneck in the middle of the store with all those customers hovering to wait their turn with the Genius. Lastly, it contained the coolest and biggest selection of Mac-based games I have seen in years. There were even titles I never thoougt would ever be ported to Mac OS X like The Movies.

Posted in Austintatious | Leave a comment

Applause to John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals!

Posted on March 18, 2007 by Steve

Some rather exciting news in the world of hockey. Gretzky was such a goal-scoring machine back when he was a teenager in the Seventies, everyone thought his records could ever be beaten and I always heard the OHL wasn’t much of a goal-heavy league, that was supposedly the QMJHL’s reputation. This is better news than whiney Sydney Crosby becoming the youngest player to accumulate 200 points.

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300 is an enthusiastic Must See

Posted on March 17, 2007 by Steve

300

As you’ve probably guessed in my past reviews or know my tastes, I greatly dislike Hollywood’s current trend of playing fast and loose with historical events. Since 300 is based upon Frank Miller’s comic book, which is derived from The 300 Spartans, there are no claims to debunk thanks to the usual BS phrase “based upon actual events” being absent from the marketing campaign. I doubt we’ll ever find any accurate accounts on the Battle of Thermopylae since people were pretty guilty of hyperbole more often in the past. As the Roman saying goes (improperly credited t0 Alex Haley), history is written by the winners.

Poetic license aside, the acting is a translation of the comic book: Leonidas, Xerxes, Theron and Gorgo give long, well-thought-out scripted speeches, responses and conversations. Nothing is spontaneous. Most of the jokes about the movie highlight Leonidas shouting yet there are a couple reasons for this. In comics characters often speak with exclamation points to emphasize their actions, emotions and intentions. The second is more logical; he’s the king of the Spartans. One of his duties is keeping his men motivated, enthused and focused. Who wants to follow a leader into battle, especially one with horrible odds, if his oratory is milquetoast?

Verbally, the movie captures the cadence of comics. Visually, 300 shines with all the comupter-rendered landscapes, costumes and battles. It’s not as gore-ridden as some feared. You’ll see some blood splatter, limbs and heads cut off and occasionally bones showing but it doesn’t linger on as a horror movie does. The R rating comes from the female nudity, lack of underwear and heterosexual acts, definitely fiction if the stories of institutionalized Spartan homosexuality are true. The uniforms of the Persians’ multinational army were the best. The last time I saw such an impressive mix of military-ethnic designs was the mini-series version of Dune.

I hadn’t watched Sin City so my only skepticism of the movie came from the film’s director, Zack Snyder. His last famous feature was the weak remake of Dawn of the Dead. Thankfully Miller’s vision was strong enough to overpower Snyder’s past reliance on gross, slow-motion violence and general freakiness. Okay, Xerxes still looks like a Goth nightclub reject from all his piercings but I think that’s more of a Miller depiction, not the director’s.

300 is another perfect candidate for History versus Hollywood, it is a terrific movie for action junkies, sword & sorcery fans and maybe even Shakespeare addicts due to the heavily scripted speeches. The funny side effect involving the Iranian government being offended is pretty hilarious too. My friend Doc pointed out that most Americans don’t mentally equate Persia, let alone Ancient Persia, with Iran. Besides, what do they care about Xerxes? He was a pagan king from a “decadent” culture that didn’t accept their one true god. Just a lot of bluster coming from a nation which publicly sells images of Mohammed with visible, distinctive facial features.

Back to the real subject, if you can’t see 300 in a great theater (has to have a nice wide screen, decent sound system for the rumble of the Persian army), put this on the top of your Netflix list or a Blockbuster run when it’s released. Probably the coolest fictional movie I’ve seen about Ancient Greece since Clash of the Titans which looks pretty crummy 26 years later but Ray Harryhausen did pretty well with what existed. I doubt Zack Snyder could in 1981.

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