Bond songs

I stopped by Border's on Saturday and picked up a couple CDs, the first being the film score to Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is not spectacular but has its moments, and The Best of Bond...James Bond, which has all the songs up to and including Casino Royale. I have never owned a Bond song collection before so I was glad to find this one...and you know what? There are some really BAD Bond theme songs!!!! Gosh, especially the newer ones, it's like "what were they thinkin'???" I'd say most of the original ones are excellent except The Man with the Golden Gun, which I think is awful. Then they get good again until Goldeneye, which is really lame and they just go downhill from there until they hit rock bottom with Madonna's gut-wrenchingly terrible Die Another Day. I had never really heard that one before and couldn't believe how unbelievably bad it was. You Know My Name from Casino Royale I actually like a great deal but the song from Quantum of Solace sinks back down to Madonna level. Let's hope they do better next time out.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

We Are...Marshall

Okay, since some folks seem a bit perturbed over my calling the movie We Are...Marshall "lame", let me explain a bit about that viewpoint. First off, I was calling the MOVIE lame, not the tragic events of 1970 that left 75 great Marshall University football players dead. I'm not referring to the tragedy, I'm referring to THE MOVIE. Personally, I thought the movie did a very poor job of telling one of the most tragic and horrific stories in the world of college athletics. I think the studio botched the film by placing director McG, a totally unproven director in the area of high drama, in charge of the project instead of assigning a much more seasoned talent. I felt that the movie was mediocre at best with sports movie cliches hurled at us right and left. Never ONCE does the viewer ever really get to know any of the characters in the story nor come to care about who they are or why the salvation of the Marshall sports program really mattered. Now let me be VERY clear about this....in the months following the crash the salvation of the program DID matter...a LOT. The real story, the real people, the real events were all, in my opinion, very poorly portrayed in the movie. McG never even gives the viewer time at the start of the movie for the viewer to get to know or even care about the players and coaches on that plane. I mentioned in my previous post that I felt that the film Hoosiers was one of the best sports movies of all time, and it is. But that's because by the time the film reaches its climax you have gotten to know not only Gene Hackman and Barbara Hershey's characters well, but also Hershey's mother, the school's principal, the townspeople, Dennis Hopper's character, and ALL of the players for the Hickory Huskers!!!! Now, that's an incredible number of characters to get to know and care about during the course of a two hour movie and it's a testament to David Anpaugh's incredible direction and the incredible performances on the part of the entire cast. Not to say that the actors in We Are...Marshall didn't do a credible job. Ian McShane and David Straithairn are both incredibly talented actors....I just don't think they were given much to work with. I can't say the same about Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox, their performances were passable at best.

Like everyone else who watches movies I am entitled to my opinion, but please understand that my opinion in this case is about the MOVIE, not the events, not Marshall athletics, not the city of Huntington. Plenty of people loved this film and I know a number of individuals that this tragedy effected personally...but in giving my opinion of a movie, whether it was about a significant local event or not, I try to separate myself from the euphoria that gripped the region over the making of this film and try to judge the film on its own merits. We Are...Marshall COULD have been GREAT. It could have been an Oscar-winner, the story behind it was that powerful...but under the helm of McG it simply didn't rise above a mediocre film that used every device in movie-making to attempt to tug on the heartstrings of the viewer, and that's what makes me saddest of all, that Huntington, Marshall University, and the people who were touched by these tragic events did NOT get the movie this story so richly deserved.

I'm not your typical West Virginian

Hey, everyone! It's West Virginia Day today and I'm participating in a project put forth by the Charleston Area Bloggers to present a view that improves the typical stereotyped image of West Virginians. Let me start by saying that all states have their unique negative stereotypes, not just WV, and many of those that stick to WV like glue are the same that apply to the surrounding Appalachian states. But no stereotype survives without a kernel of truth to it (it's useless to deny it) and yes, we've all seen plenty of people who DO fit the negative stereotypes. In fact, the nation has seen a huge example of this in the form of Lottery winner Jack Whittaker...a man who is the absolute essence of the negative WV hick stereotype. But I'm not going to ramble on about Jack, plenty of others have spent countless column inches in that pursuit, rather I'm going to take a few minutes to describe something about myself and my friends, who in no way fit the typical WV stereotype. So...here goes: -I'm an artist, as are many of my friends. Those who are not artists are highly creative in many other ways, whether in graphics, writing, music, etc. My art consists mainly of three-dimensional design and sculpture, whether I'm making mascot costumes, highly-detailed make-up and masks, or just free-form sculpting for fun. I also "sculpt" in fabric, for I am a skilled costume maker, pattern maker and tailor. I know very few of my fellow WV males who sew, and to all those boys and men who would laugh at me for sewing I would say, "You try sewing for a hour and see how much of a man you are!" because there have been more than a few occasions when I've been willing to hurl my sewing machine through my second floor window. And plus, I'm about 6',2" tall and 300 lbs., married with two children, I dare anyone to call me a sissy for sewing. -I don't typically listen to country music although I have recently become a fan of Johnny Cash (I credit the movie Walk the Line with this). The only other music closest to country I listen to is Shania Twain (but she's more crossover and she's really smokin' hot to boot!). I listen mainly to classical & orchestral and my radio is set on one station only, and that's West Virginia Public Radio. I love Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and all the Masters. But I differ from even classical listeners in that I spend more time listening to movie scores. I've always loved movie music, John Williams' eternal score for Star Wars having sparked my love for such magic. The composers of movie music are the Mozarts of our age and had Mozart lived today he would compose music for movies. I also love Irish & Scottish music, music from the Renaissance era and I LOVE Gregorian Chant! I'm also a fan of Bob Segar and Bruce Springsteen.-I don't give a hang about sports. I have never cared about football, baseball, basketball, hockey or golf (although calling golf a sport is quite a stretch, in my opinion). The rest of my family are huge Mountaineer fans, which is fine, but they have tried for years and years to get me interested in such things to no avail. I can, however, appreciate the American mythos that surrounds the game of baseball, certainly, and I do love a good, inspiring sports movie (Hoosiers is the greatest, in my opinion, and We Are...Marshall one of the lamest)...but unlike so many of my fellow West Virginians I do not look on sports as something to get fanatic over and I don't look on sports figures as "heroes" or even role models. Heroes to me are paramedics, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, and those average, annonymous citizens who selflessly sacrifice their time and personal safety to help or save the lives of others. THAT is the definition of a hero...not a guy who makes the most touchdowns, runs the most bases, or makes the most birdies. I've always held the words of Jonathan Kent to his son Clark in Superman: The Movie very close to my heart: "There is one thing I do know, son, and that is you are here for a reason! I don't know whose reason, or whatever the reason is. But I do know one thing: it's not to score touchdowns!" -I'm not a religious fanatic. I feel that belief in a Supreme Being and moral fortitude are based upon intellectual observation, not upon an outpouring of religious emotion like screaming "Amen" in church or waving your hands to Heaven while in some sort of trancelike state. Do I believe in God? Ooooh, YES!!! Indeed I do! But that belief is based on the fact that I cannot accept that this wide, beautiful world hanging suspended weightless in this vast universe is the result of chance. Do I believe in Evolution? Yep. I think that God's creation and Evolution go hand-in-hand, God Himself having set up the intial creation and then letting the mechanizations of His creation play themselves out in the form of evolutionary change. I am very sure that He derives great joy out of seeing where His creations end up and what forms they take. I don't attend any church. The World is my church and I see miracles in everyday life. -I've never seen a coal mine. For whatever reason, I just have never been around one. -I don't live in a trailer, I own a house. -I'm a voracious reader, mainly fantasy and sci-fi, and I'm a great lover of the classics: Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, H.G. Wells, Tom Clancy, Jules Verne, the Dune books. And I love a good graphic novel. -I own my own business and I'm my own boss. I don't work at Wal Mart or some other dead-end job. I am the captain of my destiny. -Bluegrass music sucks. My father plays the banjo and he has always been in one bluegrass band or another all of my life so I was forced to listen to that stuff for hours on end, thus I've developed something of an extreme dislike for it. -I have all of my teeth and they are very strong. -I don't chew tobacco or rub snuff. I don't smoke either although a couple of times a year I will smoke a pipe (Longbottom leaf is the best leaf in the Southfarthing, you know). -I don't drink excessively and you'll never see me walking out of a convenience store with a case of Bud under my arm. -I do not nor have I ever been a hunter....however I have no problem with those who do, for I know full well that hunting serves a very necessary function both for the hunter as well as the wildlife population. Plus, I happen to like venison, rabbit and squirrel. -I don't give a hoot-in-HELL for NASCAR, I think it's one of the most ridiculous endeavors in existence. -Oh, and I was born here...in Charleston on August 6th, 1968 and I have lived here all of my life. To wrap this up, although I have tried to make this post a positive one, I'm fully aware that by putting my own attributes in contrast to the "typical" West Virginia stereotype, by differentiated myself and those like me I'm essentially casting a negative spin upon those who DO typify such stereotypes. This whole post may come across as arrogant, pompous or "uppity". If so, my sincerest apologies, I was not attempting to offend the lovers of sports (and they are many), country music, NASCAR, smokers, drinkers, coal miners, people who live in trailers, church-going folk, or anyone else. I was simply trying to present to my readers a vision of someone who does not in any way fit the typical West Virginia stereotype...and rest assured...we are many! Happy West Virginia Day to everyone who lives in our wild, wonderful & beautiful state!

Saviour catching a bolt

"On steroids" has got to go!

I often wonder how many more times in the media I'm going to hear some interviewee describe something bigger/better/oversized as being "on steroids"? This has to be one of the most overused phrases in use today and it's high-time that it be given the last rites. When the Hummer first came out I heard countless times that it was like an SUV on steroids! This new super giant airplane is like a 747...on steroids! The I-Phone is like a regular cell phone...on steroids!!! Come on, people, enough is enough, think of something new. And doesn't this rather flippant comparison of something being on steroids set a bad example for young athletes, especially since our society is trying to discourage their use? Here we have performance-enhancing drug controversies all over the world of sports, from baseball and the Roger Clemmens debacle to the Olympics to the Tour de France...and we think using the term on steroids is...funny? It isn't. Find something else to say, folks, the phrase is simply worn out...and worse...it's in bad taste.

Breaking "Wind"

Okay, it came out last week that Patrick Swayze is fighting pancreatic cancer. I was sorry to hear this because I've always liked Swayze ever since first seeing him in The Outsiders, then Dirty Dancing, and finally Ghost. I don't know, there's just something extremely likeable about the man (even though it will be a cold day in Hell before I waste any part of my life watching the train-wreck Too Wong Foo, Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar, where Swayze and Wesley Snipes appear in drag...a film which, unfortunately, started Swayze's downward career spiral). HOWEVER, the song he recorded for Dirty Dancing called She's Like the Wind has ALWAYS been HORRIBLE!!! Swayze simply cannot sing and as well as the song's lyrics being ridiculous ("She's like the wind...in my trees... what?!) he is all over the tonal map, singing off-key, straining to reach certain octaves...it's terrible and I never could understand WHY that song ever received as much airplay as it did. But now...NOW...with Swayze battling cancer and the potential for his life to end prematurely we are going to be inundated with She's Like the Wind at every turn. I noticed the beginning of this trend this very morning when I got woken up to it when my radio went off. Sorry radio stations of America...She's Like the Wind....BLOWS!!!!!

The Godfather on AMC

As Bill Maher would say, New Rule: AMC should change its name to The Godfather Channel. They have been showing The Godfather Trilogy or some part thereof every week for at least the last five fucking years. Sometimes they run The Godfather TWICE in one day!!! Now, yes, The Godfather is a great film, anyone with half a brain won't deny that, but COME ON, FOR GOD'S SAKE, with the thousands of great classic films in existence WHY OH WHY must they continually play The fucking GODFATHER so damn much???!!!!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! GIVE THE FILM (and the viewing public) A BREAK!!!