United 93

I have been addicted to 9/11 documentaries the past several weeks. There is one in particular that is really good on the Discovery Channel , the title of which escapes me at the moment. But its about 2 hours and tells all these amazing stories about people that were trapped in the two towers and how they escaped. One dude even saw the plane coming at him and got under his desk and it shielded him from the blast and he fell a floor or two into the rubble and was deaf from the sound but kept yelling until a brave guy from a floor below found him and they actually got out in time b4 it fell to the ground.

I also watched United 93. I had a really hard time putting it in, because its not something you put in to enjoy per se. However I thought the decision to do the film in real time was great. It really gave you a sinking feeling inside. I was really proud of how those passengers took control of that plane and avoided what could have led to even more deaths. They knew they were going to die, so they took charge and essentially began the action of taking back our country. Although this is a very sad and depressing film to behold, there is a light to it that shines very bright.

9/11 still makes me angry. You feel hopeless and and after 5 years of questionable actions it makes you feel even more helpless. Everyone should still be angry but proud of our country and continue to encourage change.

While we are on the subject...

Cockroach vs. Weatherman

Idiocracy

Had a weird day on Sunday. We got up and I told Amy how Fox is dumping Mike Judge's new movie, Idiocracy in 5 cities without any poster, trailer, or any commercial promotion at all. I mean this is the genius behind Beavis and Butthead and AMy's favorite movie of all time I think, Office Space. Not to mention King of the Hill. So we drove to one of the few theaters playing it and besides us there was one other person in the theater. Sad. The movie itself is no Office Space, but it has moments that will make you laugh out loud, and we did. The movie concerns Luke Wilson a nobody army guy who is frozen in an experiment and forgotten about until the year 2500. In that time the world has bred nothing but idiots to the point of smart people being relegated to being called gay and ignored. The president is a popular wrestler and Costco's are the size of cities that you have to take trains to get to the electronics part. So Luke is now the smartest person alive, but not before being tortured for being smart. Its all a kind of take on the dumbing down and commercialism of America. I thought it made some really valid points like Office Space did about the office environment of today. But it kind of gets dragged down by its own dumbness towards the end. It was a noble attempt at social commentary, and I think Fox really did the film a disservice by ignoring it this much. I mean its Mike Judge. He makes you a lot of money daily on King of the Hill. Give the guy a commercial at least. Its funny to me that the very thing Judge complains about in the dumbing down of America is actually happening in a big way to his own film. That's the real moral of this movie.

Optimus Prime

So this is what Optimus Prime will look like in the new Michael Bay live action movie of The Transformers next summer. Hmmm...More than meets eye.

Amy and Erik Wedding Site Updated

I finally updated the wedding site. Hope you like it... Click here to witness the revolution.

Chicago Wrapup

Put all the photos together in a little movie....Click here to watch the adventures...

Kung Fu Baby

Superman Returns in IMAX 3-D

Just a quick note that I went back to see Superman Returns in Chicago at the 3-D IMAX on Navy Pier. I went in wanting not to like it and was ready to pick it apart. So many people hated it, i thought maybe I missed something. And guess what, I liked it again. I even liked it better the second time. I think you either roll with this flick or not. I know its not the down and dirty Superman people wanted, but the message of the film is still very pure. It's not the popcorn movie wanted, it's a very character oriented film about a dude that flies. The 3-D was awesome. I can see a day coming real soon, where this format totally replaces traditional 2-D films. Its coming. And it may be a good thing economically for theater owners wanting to combat DVD's, and HD sets. It may bring the theater experience back for generations to come. And that's a good thing. It seems like every time I go to the movies now, when I step out of the theater I am wondering why am I not here more often?


Speaking of good movies, I also saw Little Miss Sunshine a few weeks back. I thought it was really good solid movie. I thought it felt very real in terms of how families really are. The ending was kinda blah for me, but that was a minor misstep in an otherwise funny movie about so called dis-functional families.

See ya Sam

Sam Vincent the head coach of the Fort Worth Flyers is leaving his position to be an assistant coach on the Dallas Mavericks. Great for Sam, but sad for Flyer fans. He will be missed, but says he still plans on working with the Flyers while he is with the Mavs. He says he has grown to love Funky Town while living here.

Late Message from Chicago

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by genzod.

Well this picture arrived 5 days late after i sent it on Amy's phone. So I guess the days of instant picture blogging could be dark. My phone won't even send photos anymore. We should have some new photos of Chicago posted soon. We didn't have a computer at our disposal in the city except at the Mac store down the street. Plus Amy took about 350 photos with her new camera. So it may take us a while to decide what to put up.

And We're Back

This is how we feel about being back to work today....

Happy Birthday Amy!!!!

Today is Amy's 21st Birthday today! Hooray! I love me some Amy. Tonight we will go out and celebrate on the town in Chicago. Amy has been using her new camera a lot, so I think she likes it. We may not be back with more pictures, unless they are phone images, cause we are not sure what our computer situation is at the hotel. Happy Birthday Amy, you look better than ever, I love you. Time to hit the streets of Chicago.

Chicago Day 2 part 3

Chicago Day 2 part 2

Chicago Day 2 part one

Video Clips are down

Hey just a quick note to anyone trying to access video from the blog. Most of my links are down at the moment. Streamload my video host is changing to MediaMax, and they officially suck because they can't seem to keep the links working from the old site, so I'll have to go in and fix them later. So sorry if you are trying to see something. I'll work on it when I get back home.

Chicago Day one

Seventy-8 Screening

Thanks to all the people that showed up for the screening of Seventy-8. I had no idea that many people would show up. It was a great night for the return of independent locally produced films in Funky Town again. I am off for vacation in Chicago. Check the blog for some exciting pictures from the wonderful Amy...

Seventy-8 Screening 2Night

I am a bad blogger. There is a special screening of my movie, Seventy-8 tonight at the Rose Marine Theater in Ft. Worth at 6:30 pm. This is part of the Lone Star Film Society's Indie series. There will be short films begining at 630 and Seventy-8 will be at 7:30pm. Bobbie Wygant will be introducing the film tonight, so thats going to be exciting. If you want to hang out and catch up, I'll be in the lobby hanging out with Jason and Amy probably. Click HERE for info on the event and other Lone Star Film Society goings on. Hope to see some peeps out tonight, and I'm sorry for being a bad blogger...

Bobbie's Emmy Story

Sorry I have not blogged in a while. Been busy doing busy work. I'll get to blogging again soon. Here are two stories that ran on my friend and best ex-boss ever, Bobbie Wygant. She is awesome. The first story is an article that talks about her recent Emmy win for her work on TV for NBC 5. The next is a video of the news story that ran on her in October of 2004. Click HERE for the article, and click HERE for the video news story on NBC 5. (You must have Quicktime installed to see the news story.)

Uncle George

My Uncle George from Planet Houston passed away this Wednesday after battling Cancer for a while. He was a great uncle to me, and always the nicest man. I would always brag about my uncle George who worked on the Space Shuttles for NASA. He was influential in me being interested in space and space travel. I took Astronomy in High School and College, and would still talk about my Uncle George to whoever would listen. His work at NASA on all the space shuttle missions will be missed.

Every time I look up into space or see the space shuttle I think of my Uncle George. An avid movie fan who bought all the new releases on every Tuesday. That's dedication. I looked up to my Uncle George and will never forget all the space photos he would send me from Planet Houston as a kid. And let us not forget he was also a huge Rockets fan! George may have never got to actually ride into space, but I bet he's up there right now talking to the baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and lighting one up even though there is no oxygen in space.... I'll always remember my Rocketman, Uncle George when I look up to the stars.

The New Guy

Amy and I went to TCU last night to see the new Maverick play in the Summer league game against Nigeria. Can you say "Excited"? Maurice Ager was great, he was the high scorer on both teams with 23 and took over the game when it was tied late in the fourth, had two key drives, hit a big 3, and had a huge rebound and big time assit to clinch the game in the final 3 minutes. At the autograph session later, it was all Ager. I think he's going to improve and become a valuable player on the Mavs roster next year. The dude can play the game plain and simple. Props to the Mavs for getting Jason Terry resigned. I am hoping the Mavs can get Sam Cassell to sign here, but I don't think he will cause of the money situation. Sucks. Although I hear Avery is trying to get Mike James to sign. James is cool, but he can be real distraction to a team at times. Help us Sam...

Buddha Sam

This is our cat Sam and how he sits Buddha style...

REVIEW: Superman Returns

Bobbie hooked me and Amy up with a sneek peek screening of Superman Returns on Friday at 2pm, a full 5 days early before it comes out on Wed. Can you say excited? Well here we go. After 15 years of trying to get this movie off the ground, it is finally here. I am a huge Superman fan as most of you know. My grandfather took me to see Superman: the Movie in 1978 at the Ridglea Theater on Camp Bowie. I still remember where I sat, what it smelled like, how I felt. All of that. It's all very vivid to me what Richard Donner's movie did for my generation a year after Star Wars came out. We believed a man could fly. It was after this movie and the sequel that I started watching Superfriends, then started reading Superman comics. My favorite was Batman and Superman teaming together. I was real hesitant about this movie, because Warners was intent to capitalize on the Death of Superman comics that had been so successful. I read Kevin Smith's draft and liked it as a story, but a s a movie it was too talkie in that Kevin Smith kind of way. Then Tim Burton was gonna do it with Nick Cage in a black and blue Superman suit. Istar. Then McG was gonna direct, then Brett Ratner. They were all gonna do a total remake of the character. In the back of your mind you were always fantazing about a "what if" they did a sequel to the originals. But you always thought that was so long ago, who would have the balls to do that? Well they found someone, named Bryan Singer. I thought his X2 was a perfect Superhero movie, and when they fired Brett Ratner and offered it to Singer I was so happy. Sad for the X-peeps though. So Singer decided to rock it out and do a sequel to Superman 1 and 2, but kind of ignore 3 and 4. Sounded great to me.

Superman Returns is not just another superhero action piece. It is a grand loving tribute to the first two films, and surprisingly touching character study of someone who has every power in the world, but not the one thing he wants, love. Yes it's a love story, but its also not a bad guy vs. good guy story so much as it is a story about Superman vs. his past and himself. He can stop a plane from crashing, a bullet, and all that stuff, but the moral of this movie is you can't stop life, so make the best of it, and don't take it for granted. Anyone can screw it up including Superman. I knew going in that this was a part of the story but I was really stunned at how well Singer was able to keep that theme throughout the 2 and ahalf hour running time. The film is beautiful to watch. The flying scenes don't come close to artist Alex Ross' comics but they are pretty damn good. The story is Superman has returned to Krypton to see if he is indeed the only person remaining from his planet. By the time he returns five years later, Lois has moved on with a kid and fiance. Supes/Clark has a hard time with this. Upon returning to Earth the only survivor of his kind he looks to find solace in Lois. But even that is gone, and that triggers one of the best scenes in the movie to me, where Superman bordering on stalker sees Lois with her new family at home professing to her fiance that she never loved Superman. Superman flies into space above the Earth holding back his tears and hovers over the Earth as the most powerful being, but emotionally the size of a flea.

The action in this film is big. Its not as crazy as you might think, but the Space Shuttle sequences are jaw dropping. Lex Luthor returns to muck up the proceedings as he returns to the Fortress of Solitude to figure out what makes Superman tick and how he can create a world in which Superman can never live. This part of the movie is maybe the weakest and the big surprise of the movie will either make you love it or hate it. I liked it, but Im scared of where it may lead to in the sequel. Parker Posey steals the movie from Kevin Spacey though. Her part is almost identical to Valerie Perines in the original, but with much more humor than sex appeal. Jimmy Olsen is OK, but not my fave. Brandon Routh is a great Superman but not so great as Clark Kent. Chris Reeve owns Clark Kent in my book. Lois by Kate Bosworth is serviceable but weak overall.

Overall this is a great Superhero movie told with character development over action. I am going to see it again in Imax 3-D this week, so I'll have some more time to digest this sucker in full. But at first glance it was a grand epic and another great chapter in what hopes to be more in a tradition of wonderful character over hero movies by Singer and co. Oh and the music is good when it's John Williams original theme, and lacking with Ottman's original score. I thought the Ottman parts were way too over the top in spots. But not even in the ballpark of John Williams greatness. More later....

One and not done....

Well with the Dallas Mavericks season now over for another year, it must be noted that this was a hard pill to swallow sports fans. I did not write on my blog about the Mavs in the playoffs cause I did not feel the need to jinx them, but after all the changing jerseys at halftime to help, flip flops instead of shoes, etc, etc. it didn't seem to help much at the end. Here are my thoughts on each series in the playoffs:

Grizzlies: The Grizz are a good team. I think defensively they are tremendous. And I was really nervous playing them in the first round. How the Mavs swept them is hard to see, but I think it just came down to one thing, not enough weapons offense wise to stop the Mavs. There were some close games, and I think without this series as prep the mavs would not have defeated...

The Spurs: Amazing team the Spurs are. Tim Duncan was incredible. However, he is now without doubt the honest bitch in the NBA when he does not get a foul, and it hurts his team a lot. With all the complaining he did as we were fast breaking he may have been able to get back and stop a bucket or two. And this series really was that, a bucket here and you win. What a series, easily the best of the playoffs. And to dethrone the World Champions was a big step up for the little Mavs. I felt horrible for my Fin as he walked off the court with his head down. But hey Fin look up, you can go wherever you want, just don't go here...

The Suns: I now officially hate this team. I like the way they play at times, but that's why they will never win a championship. The coach of this team is really nuts. I mean I know he only has 5 players on his team, but Raja Bell can't defend every person on the court. He tries and does a good job, but give him some help if you ever want to go deeper. You can shoot all day long, but at some point your gonna have a bad night, and when the Suns have an off night, they have nothing else to bring to the table really. And that's why they lost this series. Love the Steve, but gotta keep moving. And Raja you need to get over yourself...

The Heat: I watched this team all year, and saw nothing I was afraid of. The only thing I worried about was Dwayne Wade. But Josh said before the series started that he could cover him, he did it in college, yada yada, yada. Well that didn't happen Josh. But you can't blame on just Joshua. The first two games were easy, and the third looked like a lock, then something happened. Someone on the sidelines put on a pair of slippers and we turned into the old Mavs from 2003. The next few games we settled for 3's instead of drives. Dirk decided to take jumpers instead of going into the lane. The refs decided to help out the NBA commissioners dream of never giving Mark Cuban a trophy. (For the record the calls in this years playoffs were at an all time low) And as we dropped 3 straight in Miami, we came home hopeful. I felt great about game 6, then with a double digit lead, the Heat chipped away at the lead by going to the hole. And what did we do shoot 4 three pointers in a row to get back in the game, including the final one at the end of the game to clang off the rim to become the death call and ultimate choke in Dallas sports history. A season wasted perhaps, only next year will tell.

A few things I learned from this season: Defense is a great thing. Avery rules. 3 pointers are good when they are going down, but stay in dating stage, don't ever get married to it. TNT is officially the biggest piece of shit biased network covering the NBA. ESPN is a close second. I lost most of my respect for Charles Barkley. Kenny Smith is beginning to ware on me. But Ernie Johnson still has some class thank God. Tim Thomas is pinhead from the movie freaks. Dwayne Wade is the second coming of Christ apparently. Shaq is the Heats new Mascot, cause he can't play much anymore. Pat Riley is playing Skeletor in the new He-Man movie. Stackhouse is a tank. Dirk went from God back to Dirk. Randy Galloway proves he is an absolute moron. Laura Miller needs to plan parades in her head only. The Ticket still rules. Dan Patrick wears more makeup than Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Cuban needs to relax and take a back seat during the games. All said, Mavs rule.

REVIEW: X-Men III:The Last Stand

I must say I never read Marvel Comics as a kid, so my back knowledge of the X-Peeps is limited. (I was heavy into DC Comics) Having said that my enjoyment of this series lies solely on what I know from the movies and a few episodes of the cartoon series I've seen here and there as a kid. I did have a yellow Wolverine action figure when I was a kid. I don't think he had claws though.... Onto the the review... I really liked the first X-Men movie. When I first saw it, it really didn't do much for me, but the second and third times I viewed it, it kind grew on me as a character piece instead of a blowhard superhero flick. Then I saw the 2nd one, X2: X-Men United and I was floored with what director Bryan Singer did. I consider X2 to be almost a perfect Superhero movie, and he did it by having restraint with the he first film and letting the characters breath and develop beyond a 30 second scene. Thus leads us to the main problem inherit within X-Men 3. In this adventure the good mutants are up against a cure made by humans from a special mutant that will turn them back to normal. Some are for it and some are against. Magneto and Captain Picard discover that the thought dead Dr. Jean Grey has come back but this time as Dark Phoenix, a hidden personality hidden within Grey's brain. Anyway she joins the dark side and whacks a few good mutants including two key characters. The mutants all fight each other at the end on Ellis Island and fun times ensue. I have heard from X-Men fans that the Dark Pheonix saga is a huge deal in the comics, and that it as handled wrong here in more ways than one. But not knowing Adam from Eve in the Marvel universe, it didn't bother me so much.

X3 is by all means a cool summer action movie with flying peeps and shit, but the characters are weak and the character scenes are so quick that you never get the chance to live with these mutants for too long before you are rushed away to the next scene. The action is great and I'm not dissing the movie by any means but the character development and the respect Singer had for the characters is pretty much gone. I missed that touch very much. There are new mutants introduced but never discovered and explored. The new characters just show up, blow some shit up and leave. So what director Ratner held over from Singers previous two still proves entertaining it just lacks the heart and soul of the first two movies.

Here Comes the Boom...One to go!

2 Teams Down, 2 to Go....

Assorted thoughts on things...

Summer is heating up. Just collecting my thoughts here on the blog before we get into the thick of the summer. The NBA Playoffs have rendered me useless for the most part during the evening hours. The Mavs have swept the Grizz with no problem. They await the winner of the Spurs/Kings series. Personally I don't really care who we play as long as we make it to the Finals. It would be nice to get that 100 pound monkey called the Spurs off the back, but the Kings are kinda crazy this year. They are scrappy bastards that have flat out played the world champions. That could prove good or bad for the Mavs. I probably won't go to the playoff games this year to save some money, but if they make the Finals consider me there! I can't miss that.

Speaking of the round ball, I really have not talked much about Fort Worth's minor league NBA team here much. The Fort Worth Flyers had an awesome season. I had the great pleasure of working with them in doing player interviews and other video work for them that plays on the jumbotron during the game. I got to meet, work, and hang out with some incredible NBA players, and hopefully next season I will get to do it again. Thanks to Erin, Tommy, and Courtney over at the Flyers office for all the help and opportunities they gave this year, and the great seats too! The Flyers finished in 1st place but fell in the playoffs to the Thunderbirds. I did discover that every time Amy goes to a Flyers game they lose. She may not be going next year...

Here are a few mini reviews of some movies I've seen recently...

AEON FLUX: Not a bad movie. I had no expectations, and it kinda surprised me that it's not a totally dumb movie, but actually had something to say. A decent sci-fi movie with some really interesting action sequences. It ultimately falls short at the end, but I would love to see a sequel to see where the story goes. Not happening I bet. Great sets though and beautiful to watch.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 4: The Return of the Living Dead flicks have always been cool little tribute sequels to George Romero's Dead quadrillogy. This one is a step back I'm afraid. It has some good zombie action, but the rules of the dead are seriously redefined here and not in a good way. For instance I do not want a zombie fist fight in a movie. Period. The second thing that bothered me more than anything else was Peter Coyote. A really great actor who apparently had some bad work at the plastic peeps in 90210. He has a permanent smile on his face for the entire film. He can't change expressions. It's so distracting that I can't even tell you if this movie is as bad as I thought. I guess Part 5 comes out soon. Ishtar.

KING KONG: Re-watched this to see if I missed something. I didn't. It's still a big bloated idol worship tribute to the original with nothing new to offer. Beautiful to watch, but you can skip the entire middle of the film on the boat and not miss a thing. The ending scene is amazing to watch on the Empire State building though.

If you have not seen the new Superman Returns trailer, head over to bluetights.net and check it out. I have mixed feelings about it now. The acting looks WAY over the top. But the flying scenes look amazing.