The Dangers of Hot Dog Eating

This is an illustration of what can happen when you engage in serious hot dog eating competitions.

Video Snack Bar

Adding some new elements to the blog courtesy of Blogger being the best ever. Anyway if you look over to your right on the bar, you will see four little video screens. I will try every day to type in a random thought in my video bar. When I do this, Google goes out and finds four videos like a search engine would and display those on the page. Now when you click on one of the screens it will open in a bigger display over in the posts section. I have no control over what it finds. Whatever thought I type in is what it finds... Hope people enjoy this!

UPDATE: Amy came up with a better name than Random Thought of the Day. Instead it shall be known as The Video Snack Bar Nice one. Check out Amy's blog HERE.

Movie Time with Pikahsso and Tahiti

My college hommie, Tahiti has a new movie review web show over at the Quick DFW paper website called "Movie Time with Pikahasso and Tahiti" I watched all the reviews in a row and they were all hysterical. Tahiti and Pikahasso are two thirds of the Hip Hop group called PPT that is sweaping the nation. Tahiti is in the zone. G-Nolly would be proud. (wherever he may be, we miss you G-Nolly) Check it HERE

REVIEW: The Police Concert

Amy and I went to see The Police tonight at the AAC in Big D. Pretty good show. Refreshing to see 3 guys jamming with nothing but talent and real instruments. Andy Summers was really good as was Stuart Copeland. Sting was also very good. The set list was not so bad, I wished they had played some more of their early faster punkish stuff. The hits were all good, but it was all quite predictable and sing-a-longish. they did change up some of the hits here and there, but not enough to get upset about. I actually kind of enjoy the new takes on the older songs. I was really wanting to hear Canary in a Coal Mine, but alas they did not...



The crowd was mostly 30's to 50's and ready to retire at 10:30pm. Friend Lykins from Chicago informed earlier in the week that Andy Summers is 64! Man, time flies.... I tried to record a bit of video of the show on the old cell video camera. It didn't turn out so good of course, but it's something of a memory. Also got Sting's autograph!!! More on that later. That's all I have to say to you.

Waiting For George A. Romero...

I did something today, that I would not do for many people. I went to the Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, and met one of my filmmaking idols. I waited three and a half hours in a line to meet the master of modern film horror and the Godfather of Zombie movies, George A. Romero. George directed "Night of the Living Dead", and my one of my favorite films of all time, its sequel "Dawn of the Dead" He also did Day , Land, and the upcoming Diary of the Dead.




It was a long line and my dogs were barking way before I got there. Several times I considered bailing early on but after I got past the hotel lobby in line there was no going back. I made friends from Dallas and Oklahoma while in line. Once there I found George to be a very nice person indeed. I asked several questions and he always stopped what he was doing and looked you in the eye and gave you his full attention. He was quite impressed with my selection of things to have signed. My vinyl Dawn of the Dead soundtrack and Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead posters and laser discs. He told me has about two weeks left in post tweaking the cut for ""Diary of the Dead", and that it will prem in Toronto first and then will be released theatrically overseas before it opens in the States. By the way he was telling me it seemed that it had yet to find a distributor in the US, but was all sold overseas.It was the capper to a long day.





I also ran into Tom Savini and got him to sign a few items as well. He seemed less than thrilled to be there and was not all that personal. Also got Gaylen Ross from Dawn of the Dead to sign over a few items as well. She was awesome and very friendly to speak with. The very cool Jeffery Combs of Re-Animator fame signed my laserdisc of Re-Animator, to which he recalled a story to me that was funny. He said that Peter Jackson gave him that very disc for him to sign when they made The Frighteners back in the day from his huge horror laser disc collection. I was thankful to have the opportunity to geek out horror style this weekend and meet some real legends of the horror genre.

My Top 15 Favorite Flicks...

Last night I watched some of AFI's top 100 films of all time special on CBS and enjoyed it quite a bit. That got me thinking that I never really like to make lists per se, but if I had to choose a handful of films on a deserted island, what would I take with me? I went through my existing DVD collection and picked out some. My criteria was not just technical or artistic, but more or less if I am channel surfing and one of these 15 movies pop up the surfing comes to an end. They may not be perfect movies, or be technically my favs, but they entertain me over and over again like no other. So here we go...



15. Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

This is not so much a film as it is an experience. A visual nightmare of what human nature must endure to survive. I've never been or claim to know what combat is like, but this is what I imagine it would be. The story here is simple, but its the journey into madness that makes this a classic. I got the opportunity to see this on the big screen and after it is over you are literally spent emotionally. You feel like just sitting there watching the tide roll in for a while. Its one of the greatest big screen experiences I have ever had.

(NOTE: I prefer the theatrical cut to the director's cut which is way too long and the extra scenes add nothing to the experience of the film.)




14. Network (1976) Directed by Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet is one of the greatest directors still working today. Network is a very prophetic film of what has happened to TV networks in current times. It predicts big mergers and most of all reality television being the end of us all! Having put in some time at a network, I can appreciate the film more than ever. I've seen some of these things with my own eyes. Peter Finch is amazing here as is Faye Dunaway. This is a great example of how power corrupts all the way down the line.



13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed Tobe Hooper

I must have seen this film 100 times since high school. At first I found the film scary and repulsive. Then I saw it as a comedy of epic proportions. I could quote every line and use them in everyday conversation. But really this movie is scary because I have encountered these odd types in the Texas country side. This could happen to you then and can happen to you now. It is raw and feels very real. Not too many films have felt this real to me. It smells bad too.



12. Cinema Paradiso (1988) Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

This film is not just purely for film geeks. It will make you cry at the end. If you really love film and all it provides for you in an escapist way, then this film will really touch you. The film reminds me of my relationship with my Dad and how he introduced me to film and photography and how that passion carries over from generation to generation. And a truly remarkable score by the great Ennio Morricone.



11. Manhunter (1986) Directed by Michael Mann

This film haunts me. I can recall images from it like a Kubrick film. It's not so much the story that is bad ass, but the way its told with Mann's cold empty white photographic images that burn into your brain. It does have a Miami Vice-esque feel to it at times, but it never relishes in bad TV dialog or plot. A prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but to me a far superior film. Later remade as the horrendous Red Dragon to cash in on Silence $. And as with Vice the 80's music and score is a perfect fit.



10. The Wild Bunch (1969) Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Again one of those great big screen experiences. This film is about what happens in life when you are outdated in your occupation. In this case its about what do cowboys do when there is no need for cowboys anymore? Robbery, Drinking, and fight for whatever cause pays for the next drink or hooker. It is a film that looks like a western and bloody action film yet at the same time asks a lot of interesting questions if you read between the lines. Great shootouts under a master craftsman in prime form. (even if he was drunk most of the time...)



9. Boogie Nights (1997) Directed by P.T. Anderson

I've probably seen this film more than any other film in recent memory. It really resonates to me for some reason. And it really has nothing to do with the porn element, rather the characters I love more than anything. It is in essence not so much a loose version of porn superstar John Holmes life, but a fascinating character study of all these broken people thrown together in this porn universe when porn was very mainstream in the 70's and 80's. Not only are the characters fascinating to me they seem like people you know, and for all there faults you can't help but adore every single one of them to the end. In the end the film is about family, no matter how crazy it is, it's important. Marky Mark will never top this performance. If you would have told me back in the early 90's that a film with Marky Mark would be in my top 10 movies I would have told you to F off. That's the greatness of PT Anderson. If you came up to me at any point in the day and said hey you wanna watch Boogie Nights. I'm there 24/7. This film also contains some nudity...



8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick

I saw this on a little 13 inch black and white TV I had in my room in Middle School. The next day in class, it was all I could think or talk about. Most of the kids could care less. My Dad even talked about it constantly, and I ignored it for a while. Then it found me. It is captivating in a dream like state. It demands you watch it and absorb it into your conscience. Kubrick working from the novel by Arthur Clark is thinking really big here about concepts that none of us really understand, but have a need inside to know. This film is not so much sci-fi at all but it questions who we are, where we come from and are we alone. This goes beyond film.



7. Goodfellas (1990) Directed by Martin Scorsese

"You really are a funny guy" "Go home and get your fucking shine box" "a little bit" "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers" "This guy's saying, what you want from me" "No, I thought you said I'm OK Spider" "You little prick ya" "I did my time, I want what I gotta get" "We're not animali" "Salute Tommy"

Need I say more?



6. Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Ridley Scott

The first and only good sci-fi noir in my opinion. Philip K. Dick is difficult literary stuff to translate at times, and this may not be totally faithful to its source story, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" but it takes you into this world that we all fear might one day happen. A bleak future of pollution and robots taking over. Will humans be relevant in a world of cloning and robots. What is our worth? The movie to me is also about memories. For humans our memories are what separates us from machines. They are what keep us together. And to one day discover that all your memories are only a computer program can only lead to madness and rage. Beyond that the movie is breathtaking in its design and visual wickedness. The model work and special effects look as good as modern day CGI. It's a film that has eternal themes and concerns. And each year into the future makes its predictions more and more real.



5. Chungking Express (1994) Directed by Wong Kar-wei

In college I was obsessed with director Wong Kar-wei. I still am in fact. This film is like fast food art film to me. It was made during a break in production on a bigger film, Ashes of Time. The crew was getting paid to do nothing, so they knocked off this little romantic comedy on the fly. It's raw and full of rough edges and visual energy that at the time I had never experienced much like it except for maybe some French New Wave. Like Boogie Nights the characters here seem real and honest. It has this odd graphic novel colored with scratch colored pencils. It's loose, crazy, exciting, romantic, and just made me want to make films. It's a blast. I would also recommend it's sequel of sorts, Fallen Angel made a few years later.



4. Fletch (1985) Directed by Michael Ritchie

I'm sure I may get some flack for this one, but this movie is something I am obsessed with. You see after seeing Fletch for the first time in 85, I wanted to be Fletch. I wanted to go around writing newspaper articles and insulting people all day. The later would probably get your ass kicked daily, but its fun to dream. I have this movie memorized. I think it succeeds as not just a decent mystery but a great comedy. True hardcore Fletch novel fans have good reason to criticize it, and I guess if I had read the novels before the movie I may not be writing this, but Chevy Chase is Fletch to me. He never topped this performance. The comedy was oddly believable in the real world that director Richie kept Fletch grounded in. It was at times oddly uncomfortable, which made it all the more funny. Cracking one liners, solving mysteries and making love to the hottest women. Fletch Rules. Charge it to the Underhills... This is the lone comedy on this list by the way. Raising Arizona is right there too and Office Space.



3. Dawn of the Dead (1978) Directed by George A. Romero

To quote number 15 on this list, "the horror, the horror". This is the greatest horror movie ever made. It has it all. Horror, comedy, social commentary to spare, zombies, gore of the highest order, and most of all it's thoughtful. A sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" where the Zombies have now taken over most cities, four people hold up in a shopping mall. They fend off all other post human shoppers trying to get into the mall. Social statement? You betcha. Did I get that at 15? Nope. Did I care? Nope. It just goes to show you how the great movies have layers upon layers that unveil themselves throughout each viewing. This is why this film is so high up on da list here. And like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, I love these characters. I want to go zombie hunting with Peter, Roger, Flyboy, and Francine. As a kid I loved the aspect that you could have an entire shopping mall to yourself and do whatever whenever you wanted. That was a dream come true. But as I got older and my credit card statements got scarier and scarier, I started to feel like the Zombies trying to get into the doors from the outside. Such a great analogy there. And how true it is today. The recent remake failed to get that at all. Thats why it was fun but empty. Not the case with this one. Sure its silly at times, but it wins you over somehow. Whenver I see it, I automatically transport myself back to my room watching it over and over again on the 13 inch color tv this time. Plus the movie has the best tagline too.... "When there is no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth"

"They must be destroyed on sight!"



2. Seconds (1966) Directed by John Frankenheimer

This movie has control of my mind. I think about it every day. I'm not kidding. The ideas in it consume me. I outline and write ideas for films and almost all of them come back to this freaking film. It owns me. It's about a middle aged banker who has a sexless marriage, a boring job and life overall. He is essentially over. He gets a call from an old friend he assumes is dead, and tells him that he can help him start a new life and end his current one. After much debate he decides to do it. He gets a new face, a new lady, and new friends, and a new life doing what he likes to do. Then one day at a party he breaks down and realizes he made the choices he did for a reason and that the person he is now is not really him at all. However the company that changed him will not allow him to return to his normal life. He tries to but is eventually caught and recycled for spare parts. This film is not without some problems. It really has no second act. But I don't really care. It's themes and imagery are what I am drawn to. Its really a morality tale I suppose. I'm still fascinated by it for some reason. John Frankenheimer is one of my all time favorite directors, and this is not one of his most well know films like Manchurian Candidate, but I feel it is his best by far. Jimmy Howe's black and white photography is amazing. The framing of his shots are in your face and intimate as hell. I could go on about this movie all day. If I start watching it I go nuts. I get all sorts of ideas and shit running around in my head. It's almost too much for me. Can we say Stendhal Syndrome?



1. Taxi Driver (1976) Directed by Martin Scorsese

Kind of hard to write about this one. I'm finding that with Seconds, Dawn and now Taxi, my mind is just flashing through images right and left. I watched this one day in high school when I was home sick. It came on and I had heard the name but never seen it. I was transfixed through the whole thing. I related to DeNiro's Travis. He may have been nuts, but at times you felt like he was simply misinformed. He got some wires crossed, but had good intentions like everyone does. He is not a hero, but by the oddness of life he becomes one. For me the film is about the madness of being alone. The fear that you have no control over life outside. Some people deal with it, and some snap. Travis snaps in a bad way. But more interesting to me is that Scorsese and writer genius Paul Shrader don't give you much if any backstory on Travis. He just is, and just needs. Life rejects him. So he decides to make a big statement to be heard. He has something to say but no outlet for it. This sets up a bloody end, only to have it flipped on its ear and makes you question the validity of someone like Travis. Maybe not for long, but it does make you pause for a second. And I love the ending of not knowing where old Travis is off to. What will he do next. Is he done? Where is he now? I still think about where and what Travis might be doing right now. I have a secret fantasy that someday Scorsese will do a sequel and show what the older Travis is up to. It may suck and be a totally bad idea and ruin the original film, but it still interests me. Scorsese is in raw form here. Everything clicks into place. You watch his Departed movie and think this is too slick, where is the cab, where is Travis, lets put the camera on the hood and get back to real biznazz. The score by the Bernard Herrman was his last. He died before the film came out, and is one of the most haunting scores ever. I sill love Scorsese as one of the most talented directors making movies today. I just want the old 1:85 street Marty back. DeNiro made mohawks cool.

Other films to mention that I watch a lot in no particular order:

Citizen Kane
Buffalo 66
Manchurian Candidate
Raising Arizona
The Killer (John Woo)
Oldboy
Highlander
Videodrome
Superman:The Movie
Suspiria
Evil Dead 2
Ju Dou
Office Space
Naked Lunch
Lost Highway
King of Comedy
Near Dark
Jackie Chan's Police Story

Back to Work...

I have been in a filmmaking funk for about three years now. After "Seventy-8" did not set things off for me as I would of liked, I Focused more on my day job of making commercials and whatnot and worked on a lot friends films projects, trailers, etc. I've been busier since "Seventy-8" than before but not creatively challenged so much. I have watched how digital distribution especially for short films has really exploded via the web. That got me thinking again. Since "Seventy-8" I experimented with putting some of my older shorts from several years back on You Tube and older shorts like "When Beatles Attack" and "Morning Wood" had over 25,000 views. That's really quite cool, and very immediate and satisfying knowing that your work will be consumed that quickly, and that they show up on other peoples blogs and just have this life that goes on and on and on. So I started thinking about comedy again and shorts and distributing them on the web. I had so much fun doing them before and showing them to friends and co-workers, why not expand that to the entire world. All the frustrations of distribution and dvd duplication and all that are gone. You make it, you cut it, you send it out. Simple.

Some people say well that's true, but you can't make any money that way. Well true to an extent. But you see I'm at a point in my life where I'm married to an incredible person, I make decent money doing what I love to do day in and day out. I don't always have creative control of those projects, but I don't need to, because its the process that I am in love with more than anything. And now with things like ifilm and youtube and other sites that push shorts, all i have to do is make something I like or that I think other people might find amusing or dramatic in some manner. The rest will take care of itself. I WANT to make another feature film. I have several ideas in the pipeline. But until that opportunity presents itself again, I am back to being a short filmmaker for the time being. And I'm not totally sure if comedy will be the driving force, but i t will be a large element. I will make announcement soon on where you can see all the new shorts that we will be producing.



The first I am proud to say is already in the can and cut together. "Death by Powerpoint" was shot on Saturday June 9th. I am posting a few screencaps from the film here on the blog. It is a comedy and I guess you could say its a dark comedy, but its also pretty goofy too. This short is very simple: It's about a guy who has too many things going on in his life and gets stuck in a Powerpoint presentation from hell. It stars Tom Zembrod from "Seventy-8" and this dude I found on the streets named Matt Tyndall. They both turned in some great performances and I can't wait for people to see them. Also my Grandfather at 92 came in for a cameo appearance. The usual crew of Big O, K-Flach, and the Goods came out and sacrificed their Saturday to help out. I am eternally grateful to all. So look for "Death by Powerpoint" coming very soon on this blog and a new site that will house all the new work.

Congrats to Fin

Way to go Fin! You deserve it. Just wish you could have done it on another team...but that's not your fault. It's really great to see that look on Finley's face. Long one of my favorite players, and the sole reason I became a Mavs fan to begin with.

Sicko (trailer)

Michael Moore's new documentary just shown at Cannes this week. Here am da trailer...

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The Scorsese Collection

Anyone that reads this and is a Scorsese fan (and if your not then don't come back) and you have DirecTV service might find this interesting. DirectTV has a part of their website where Marty picks out about 10 movies every month that he thinks are really worth checking out. Each one has a link where he reviews them and then it tells you at the bottom when and where on DirecTV they will air. Pretty damn polar if you ask me.

Click HERE for the link.

The Dream with Yao.

HOUSTON -- Yao Ming wants to become the most dominating center in the NBA.

Who better to learn from than Hakeem Olajuwon?

The Rockets' current marquee big man received his first individual tutorial from the greatest player in franchise history Tuesday afternoon during a private workout on the main court at Toyota Center.

Speaking after a 1-1/2 hour workout of studying Olajuwon's footwork and practice regimen, Yao gushed over the lessons he learned from one of the most dominating big men in the game's history.

The most important advice from Olajuwon? Develop a dominating attitude.

"I'm learning the mentality from him," said Yao, who had been unable to workout with Olajuwon in the past because of other offseason obligations. "I don't know how many times I heard him talk about being dominant. That's why he can be 'The Dream.' The mentality is the biggest difference between him and me right now. I hope not far in the future that I can do things like him."

Yao doesn't appear to be that far away.

During his fifth season in the league, the Rockets center drew praise around the league for his dominating level of play before being sidetracked with a fractured bone below his right knee. He missed almost two months before returning for the final month of the season and playoffs. Yao averaged a career-best 25.0 points and 9.4 rebounds, earning him a selection on the All-NBA's second team.

Olajuwon, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, said that Yao is certainly on the verge of being the league's most dominating big man.

"It's amazing how agile he is for a guy of that size," Olajuwon said of the 7-foot-6, 310-pound center. "He's so smart because he understands the game. He's just looking for the things that he can do so that he can enhance the skills that he's already got. He just has to dominate the game. He has so many advantages because of his size and skill so I'm just showing him little things that he can do to consistently be a dominating player. It will be scary to see what he can do in the future."

So where does Yao have to get better? Yao had plenty of thoughts on that after evaluating his own game following the playoffs.

Despite averaging a double-double in the seven-game series against the Utah Jazz, Yao was frustrated with his play after the Rockets failed to get past the first round for the third time in his career. He led the team in turnovers and, at times, struggled to get into an offensive rhythm even though Utah didn't immediately double him. Yao also had trouble on defensive end, particularly when he faced the quicker Carlos Boozer or had to provide help defense when guards penetrated the lane.

That's what led him to seek Olajuwon's advice.

Unsurprisingly, the former star was happy to give it. The Rockets great talked with the younger center at length about everything from developing Yao's mentality to his defense. He said Yao should mimic the defense of former Utah center Mark Eaton, a defender that gave Olajuwon trouble in the past because of his size and shot-blocking ability.

"He has to take advantage of his size, meaning when he's in the lane, the lane is closed," Olajuwon said of Yao. "He should block everything that comes in there. By standing up, he's very difficult to shoot over. He has all the tools and all the potential. By adding little things to his game, he can be dominating."

Yao believes he could add some of Olajuwon's offense as well. He was amazed by Olajuwon's pivot moves and hopes to add some of them to his own game. Olajuwon showed Yao how to get to the paint from various positions and how to score off one dribble.

"His moves looks easy on television, but when you actually do it and there is contact on your body, it's different," Yao said. "I'm going to do what he taught me every day. I need to do it a couple hundred times a day and get myself used to it. I then need to use those moves in a live game, maybe in an international team game. That's a good place to try a new skill."

Since he doesn't have as many obligations with the Chinese national team this summer, Yao plans to work on what he learned from Olajuwon. He'd also like to workout with Olajuwon more in the future, although neither has scheduled a future meeting yet.

But in their first practice together, Yao certainly picked up Olajuwon's main message.

"He's got two championship rings," Yao said. "I'm not saying I figured out everything today, but I hear him. 'You are the biggest player on the court. You need to go in and change the game. You need to be dominant.' He repeated that time and time again. I feel a little bit different. I feel his heart."

Rambo IV footage!!!

Holy Crap, this looks like fun! Keep in mind this is just a promotional reel to sell the movie, its not the official trailer.

told you so

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

no explanation...

The Terminator Meets Jesus

This is one of the funniest shorts i have seen in a while. I'm sure its pretty old from MadTV, cause they probably had not made T3 yet. Man this is funny...

The Season That Went Away...

I grew up a Rockets fan. Over the past 7 or 8 years I have become a Mavs fan. I liked Michael Finley, I liked Steve Nash, and I assumed this teenage Dirk guy would for cement Don Nelson's firing as head coach in Dallas. I was a bit off base there. As the Rockets got worse the Mavs got better. Back in Rockets land Hakeem retired, Kenny Smith was a TV host, Barkley got fatter, and the Dream was over for a while it seemed. So I turned my attention to supporting the Mavs mainly because I liked Don Nelson's style of play. But year after year the same thing happened... Losers. Losers, and let's fire up another 3 one more time. It was one jacked up 3 too many for me. I was pretty much drinking the national kool aid in and around 2002-03. Mavs were fun to watch and would win 60 games a year but come playoffs the gig was up.

Nash split, Finley left, Nelly left, and little Avery was left with little Dirk and a bunch of spares that no one really wanted. However much to my and every ones surprise they got better. Much better. The fundamentals of basketball were back, in fact i had flashbacks of coaches yelling at me back in the old days. It felt fresh again and when the 3 went up it made you cringe instead of cheer. Mavs seemed to have added from subtraction. Then there was the Marc Cuban factor. I love the guy but at the same time I think his passion during games was distracting from the game itself. The players finally came out and said it and that was that for a while. Then the Mavs did the unthinkable and blew right by the Spurs and Suns into the NBA Finals. This was a grand time to be on the Mavs bandwagon. Then as you all know, the collapse occurred. It was tragic and unfair, even players like the Rocket's Tracy McGrady said it seemed as though the Finals were fixed for Miami to win. Could the NBA Comish, David Stern actually exacted this kind of brutal revenge for his arch nemesis Cuban. We will never know.

After a summer of heartbreak we added some impressive defensive players like Devean George and Greg Buckner made a trip back to big D. Things were looking peachy. Then the 0-4 start. Finals hangover? Then the season took off in a way that no one ever imagined. 67 wins later the Mavs had the best record in the NBA. The steamrolled through every team except one, The Golden State Warriors coached by Don Nelson. Towards the end of the month of March and April Avery started resting guys or playing them limited minutes to rest up for the playoffs. Sounded fine to me, no complaints. However on the west coast the Warriors are playing for a playoff spot. And they are not just playing like the Clips were, they were straight up blowing people up. When the standings got closer and it seemed that Dallas could face them in round one I was very very worried. I didn't want it. I had been watching there games for the past few weeks, and I knew they were destroying people much like the way the Suns did a few years ago. And meanwhile we are having a really hard time beating The Celtics and the Knicks at home. Let me repeat that The Knicks and the Celtics. OK.

I was at the Clipper game that if the Mavs had lost we would not have had to have played GS. But we went ahead and got all crazy and won anyway to secure home court advantage. Great, big deal right. I felt like the only one in that arena that could see what was coming around the corner. Revenge. Now let's take a minute and explain what revenge means. Revenge is defined as follows...

Revenge consists primarily of retaliation against a person or group in response to a perceived wrongdoing.

Hmmm, let's see. I'm a basketball coach that was on the verge of being fired until a new billionaire guy comes in and buys my shitty under-performing team. The media says well the first thing that should happen is that I should get fired. The owner has a meeting with me and says hey I don't know nothin about no basketball so I'm putting my faith in you to help us dig out of this hole. And I'll give you about oh say 10 million or so do that. And I'll spend whatever it takes to get you the players and personnel you need to get that done. In return I would like to sit near the bench and watch the games and yell at the refs. Sounded like a good deal to me.

A few years later, I just got tired of losing and counting all my money. I got a new contract extension and stopped going to practice, let my third string point guard run all the practices and film sessions while I drink beer and have real estate meetings about all my real estate properties in Hawaii that you bought for me. In other words my life is just hell because of you. You expect me to concentrate on basketball? I think I'll go to the press and bitch about how much it bothers you that I support the team by yelling on the bench and that I'm in the huddles. Oh excuse me I just sold a 20 million dollar property could you step out of the huddle please. Thanks little billionaires boy. Oh and by the way I'm going to quit and let a player with no coaching experience take over the team cause the players stopped listening to me. If you can go ahead and pay me a check for the remaining millions you still owe for me for the work I never did that would be great. Oh could you hold my beer while I sign off on this. Thanks boss man you're the greatest. I'll just tell the press that the players don't listen to me and my health is too bad to continue coaching. If you like I can throw in the golden nugget of excuses, I'm going to spend more time with my wife and family. Cool, well its been nice I'm out. I'll just hang out in the tunnel during the games and drink beer and you can call me the Godfather of the Mavs now.

Now that I've had some time to think it all over, my boss is really a dick. I can't believe he did all that shit to me. What an ass. I think I'll inquire over to Golden State and see if I can maybe get a team to coach again so I can come back and kick that old bosses ass. That sounds fun. Revenge! Is it? Sounds fun anyway. Maybe I can in the process tear down one of the greatest players of all time that I made and make him look like a complete failure in front of the entire world. Awesome this is such a great way to get my "revenge". Oh and I'm not done yet. I think I might sue my old boss for some bonus money that I never got in my contract. And since he has a problem with that I'll throw in some more anguish payments so he can end up paying me 10 million more to compensate for my sad life. Oh and going into game one I'll say that we can never win this series, that we are just lucky to be here. Poor sad me. Oh woo hoo, I've had such a sad sad life.

Hey Don Nelson: F you and all your Bullshit. Your a sad pathetic old man, that may be a great coach, but your nothing but utter sadness and a pathetic excuse for a human being. That being said you may have beaten the Mavs for now, but your team will get theres. Your free agents will walk out on you for more money during the off season. You may have won more games than any coach, but the one thing you also have more than anyone else is Failure. I can't wait for you to get yours. All your little mind games you like to play. Guess what Golden State? You may have a good coach but you also got the laziest, saddest sack known to basketball. You are where we were a few years ago. Riding high, having fun winning regular season games, but at some point it will happen. The sadness, the ego, the excuses, the beers. Get ready for it. It's coming.

Now back to the Mavs and the Golden State series. Avery got out coached. The team was not ready. They were on vacation and Golden State had a mission. To make the Mavs look like punks. They won, they destroyed us emotionally and physically. They play psycho ball, and at some point soon that will haunt them. Jacking up threes at buzzers sound great in theory but its the fundamentals that get you to championships. Always have always will. People are overreacting to this a wee bit. It was for the most part a two part issue. One was the matchups, its one of those deals where the Mavs do not match up against GS. Its that simple. We could have played the Spurs or the Suns and had an easier time. It just happens that way. The second issue was hunger. The Mavs shut off around late February, and Golden State turned it on. Somehow I think Avery knew this and was afraid to admit it. The players got too confident. They didn't look in the rear view for the last few months, and when they slammed on the brakes a semi rear ended them all the way to the finish line. End of story. I think they will learn from this if they can mentally get over it. That is the big question for me. If not they may be forever haunted by the season that got away.

Changes that need to be made: Point guard. Need one. Devin and JT are amazing players. However together they make a good point guard. Individually they void each other out at times. Either Avery needs Devin to step it up and lead this team, or JET must go for something else. And I love the JET. I have more JET jerseys then all the other Mavs. But this is a big problem two years in a row.

Second: We need a low post up player. Dirk is great and MVPish you could say. But when his spin move is taken away we have nothing in the paint. Stack is too old to rise up and do that on a constant basis. We need a good low post scorer. I think that Austin C. was supposed to provide that. He just didn't play enough to get into that flow he needs.



This was a great season to be proud of. It ended horribly, but I suspect the Mavs will return some day if not sooner. On a side note, after the Msvs were eliminated we went to Planet H-town to see the Rockets play the Jazz in game 7. All I can say is I was so impressed with the Rockets game presentation and crowd. I can only hope that one day the Dallas crowd can get to that level. It gave me goosebumps to see all that. The Rockets failed on that night as well, and coach Van Gundy has also turned in his badge. Here is to better days ahead for the Rockets and Mavs. As much as i hate to hear shit from Spurs fans, I hope they can bring the title back to Texas.

My Blueberry Nights

The new Wong kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights just got a poster. It is his first American feature film with Rachel Wiesz and Jude Law. Color me there.

Iron Man is coming!

This is the first shot of the suit that Robert Downey Jr. will wear in the new Iron Man movie coming out next year. I'm not a big Marvel comics fan but I have always liked the Iron Man character. I've always felt like it was a bit of a rip on Batman. Billionarie creates suit to fight crime... but who cares the suit rocks. It is designed by genuis fx God Stan Winston.

Inspector Mom

Hola all. My hommie, Jon Keeyes directed an episode of the series "Inspector Mom" called Haunted House of Horror for the Lifetime Channel. It's a show that stars Danica (Wonder Years) McKellar and the awesome Susana Gibb from this little film called "Seventy-8" that no one has seen yet... You can watch it on the website by clicking HERE. Good work as always sir Jon!

REVIEW: Hot Fuzz

Went to see the comedy, Hot Fuzz this weekend. This is the second film from the director and stars of "Shaun of the Dead" and the British TV show, "Spaced".

Nicholas Angel, an extremely dedicated and over-achieving police officer in London's Metropolitan Police Service, is so good that he makes everyone else on the force look bad. As a result his superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so embarrassing: the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford, where there hasn't been a recorded murder for twenty years. Once there, he is partnered with well-meaning but overeager and naive police constable Danny Butterman, the son of the local police chief Inspector Butterman, and a committed action movie fan who believes that his new big-city partner might just be a real-life "bad boy," and providing him with his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for.

But after a while, Nick realizes that after a series of grizzly murders, that this town is hiding a long dark secret. Nick and Danny do the buddy movie thing and team up at the end for a shootout that is one of the funniest scenes in a long time.

The movie takes shots at films like Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys 2 and Point Break. Even the editing makes fun of directors like Michael Bay and Tony Scott. It's really funny for most of the time, however its biggest problem is its length. It's way over two hours I think. But that's the only thing really wrong with it. Make no mistake though this is some funny stuff, although be warned it is very graphic with its violence. Director Edgar Wright loves gore and horror flicks, and he does not pull any punches here. I find this and Shaun kind of odd movies. They are hard to fit into categories. I mean obviously it is a comedy, but they play it straight. So there is never any winking at the screen or stuff like that, its a very unique little universe that Simon Pegg, Wright and co-star Nick Frost have been creating for the past few years now. Yes they like to make fun of horror and action films, but you can tell that they are really in love with them at the same time, and in fact can kind of be considered tribute films if you will yet they do stand on their own. Funny stuff from across the pond.

On the Edge of Blade Runner

Found this great documentary on Blade Runner over the aintitcool website. Its pretty long, so its cut up into to six parts... They are apparently re-shooting scenes right now in LA for a big re-release new cut. Was there something wrong with the original?

Jackie vs. Sun Ming Ming

This is a scene from the upcoming Rush Hour 3 where Jackie Chan fights 8 foot basketball bust Sun Ming Ming. This recalls Bruce Lee fighting Kareem in Game of Death.

NIN: Year Zero

I don't talk much about music here, but the new Nine Inch Nails album drops today. I just picked it up on i tunes. So far very wicked... Here is the video, Survivalism from the new album, Year Zero. Warning there is some "adult" imagery in the video...

But He's Just a Raggedy Man...

I am watching the third part of one of the great sci-fi/action trilogies of all time, Mad Max. Beyond Thunderdome just came out on HDNet. It looks great and makes me want a part 4 with crazy Gibson anyway. I remember seeing this at the Wedgewood movie theater in the hot summer and walking out wanting a nuclear war so I could drive around in my Interceptor V8 looking for gas. This was a great trilogy. Thunderdome has a lot of monkeys in it as well...more than I remember.

Chuck Norris in HD!

Last night I was cleaning off my DVR and I discovered that I had recorded Missing in Action off of HDNet. Why you ask is this significant? Well besides being an OK 80's Nam flick with Chuck Norris, it is something I had never seen before... Chuck Norris in High Definition. Let me start by saying that I am an old school Chuck fan. I'm talking about The Octagon, Missing in Action 1-3, Delta Force, Code of Silence. Not so much the TV Chuck with Walker, Texas Ranger and his bevy of TV movies.

Missing in Action is basically a riff on Rambo where the Chuckster, who plays Col. Braddock has been tormented mentally since his escape from a Nam prison camp a year ago. He decides to help out and go back to see if any other US soldiers are there. Along the way he kicks some ass, says some great one liners, like when we picks up the phone to explain his position on going in to find the missing GI's, "I'm going" End scene. Brilliant. Along the way the Chuckster has the opportunity to do it with the hot American government official assigned to his case, but decides otherwise. Why you ask, You see the Chuckster don't play. His time is not spent getting ass but kicking it. When the Chuckster said, "I'm going" he meant I'm not going to get ass, I'm going to kick it. After the Chuckster kills about half of Vietnam he finds the soldiers and brings them back to end on a freeze frame of Chuck dragging a poor POW not to get medical attention but to a televised press conference where the Vietnam government is denying any remaining POWS in Nam. See even when Chuck is at a press event he kicks ass mentally. So mental that they had to freeze the frame, before the credits rolled, to let you know how much ass he continually kicks. This is why they made an action figure of the man.



Now, if you want to have a Missing in Action film fest, remember that Missing in Action 2: The Beginning is actually a prequel. And that there are parts of Braddock: Missing in Action 3 that are before part 2, but is more or less a sequel to Part 1. So I would go with Part 2 first, then part 1, then part 3. And if you do this prepare yourself for glory my friends. After that I would suggest moving on to the American Ninja series 1-5, and call me cause I'll be over with refreshments.

REVIEW: Grindhouse

Went to see Grindhouse on Saturday afternoon. Pretty full theater too. Although we did see some walkouts during Tarantino's segment. So how do I begin. Did I like it. Yes. Did I like one over the other? Yes. But that can always change with time. I liked Rodriguez's Planet Terror only because it reminded me more of the type of B-movies I used to go to more often than Tarantino's Death Proof. Planet Terror concerns a zombie plague in Texas and a band of a dozen or so peeps that try to escape and kill as many in their way in the process. It's just that simple! And that's what is so great about it too. If your into wacky characters and killin' some Zombies with gore aplenty then relax and have a good time. The score by Rodriguez and sax guru Johnny Reno (who has a small part) is my favorite part of the film. It's like a tribute score to all those rip off films of John Carpenter. So its a riff on rip off Carpenter scores. I really liked the way the film looks too. It has a beat to shit 80s color palette that reminded me most of Lucio Fulci films like The Beyond or one his oddball Space Gladiator films. The cast was great too. Freddy Rodriguez and Rose McGowan had good old fashioned b-movie chemistry. There are way too many tributes to certain horor and sci-fi movies to mention here. I'm sure someone somewhere has already made a website for pointing those out.

The fake trailers: There are four fake trailers: Machete was pretty funny and something that looked like it would be fun to watch. Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS was alright but felt altered (I think it was cut down for R-rating). Eli Roth's Thanksgiving trailer was alright but began to feel like it was too much for cheap jokes instead of a tribute to the genre. The best was Edgar Wright's Don't. That one cracked me up and really did feel like a genuine trailer from those days.

Tarantino's movie was unfortunately for me a tribute to a series of films I'm not so fond of. He really gets off on Jack Hill's chick flicks from the 70's like Switchblade Sisters. I think he likes more of the attitude of the girls in those movies, like a Pam Grier type. And the movie is pretty good, but I think it has the disservice of coming before Planet Terror which is everything Death Proof is not. Let's be honest Tarantino likes to hear himself talk thru his characters. And here he pushed my limits several times. I've read people ripping these scenes and some praising them. In my opinion I fall somewhere in the middle of those two camps. When the man is on he is on, but here he misses the mark to me. The idea of Death Proof is simple. An ex stunt driver, Mike played great by Kurt Russell likes to run over and kill people with his death proof stunt car. Then one day he comes across some stunt chicks that don't exactly agree with his sense of humor. The dialog scenes between the girls go on and on forever. The car chase is great, and i had hear going in that the chases compare with Bullitt and French Connection. Let me say right now, NO, THEY DON'T COME CLOSE. Not even a bit. But they are live my friends. No CG , just old fashioned car chases.

This film bombed badly over the weekend so much so that the producer and distributor are freaking out. Which brings me to my next point... If you set out to make two movies that are supposed to be like re-living the experience of the Grindhouse. Why spend close to 60 to 100 million dollars. If you took every grindhouse movie budget ever made and put them together, they would not equal that much. There were a lot of CG effects in Planet Terror that producers back then could only dream of. And then to make things worse they spent millions of dollars to then make them look like bad effects. Whats the point? Make a real Grindhouse movie.

having said all this, I did enjoy the experience and I'm glad they got to make it, I just which it was a bit more thought out. It feels like a vanity project gone awry in spots. I mean Rodriguez already makes big budget b movies, and QT made his grindhouse epic with Kill Bill, so this feels kind of late, but I welcome it in any incarnation it may come in.

The Good Friday Film Festival Part 2

The film festival took an ugly turn in the afternoon... I had Lucio Fulci's last film he made in 1990 collecting dust on my shelf for quite some time. I had heard it was bad, and that was being kind. In southeast Sicily, a team of archaeologists investigate the ruins of a crypt where heretic nuns had been stoned and crucified by the village people in the 16th century. Soon strange things begin to happen, and Liza, one of the team members, starts to have surreal dreams about the nuns. Then the graphic violence begins, starting with a decapitation! The answers lie in the ancient crypt of the nuns.. There was an odd scene of a guy tied to two trees that was split in half when the trees fell in different directions.



I like Fulci, I even bought a huge book on his works. Bad performances abound along with the worst dubbing i may have ever seen. Dario Argento is the number one Italian master of horror, and Fulci is a close second. The thing I like about Fulci is the mood he sets with his films. They are eerie and nightmarish. You feel dirty after watching one his films. However for every good film there seems to be about four or five bad ones.



Amy and I watched Dog Day Afternoon this morning on HDNet. Pacino and Lumet. Lightning in a bottle. I'm not going to talk about the genius of this movie, it is already known. The film looks amazing in HD. It looks like it was made yesterday.Too bad they can't clone Sidney Lumet so he can keep making movies forever. I'm about halfway through watching Neil Simon's Plaza Suite with Walter Matthau. I thought it was a comedy, boy am I surprised...

The Good Friday Film Festival Part 1

Got a break today and have good friday off. Got up early and started watching a few flicks i had stored on the old hd dvr from hdnet. Don't know how many films I will watch today, but I am on a roll. The first one I watched was the Paul Greengrass film, Bloody Sunday.

BLOODY SUNDAY:
Documentary-style drama showing the events that lead up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.



I enjoyed the film quite a bit and learned much about that day in history. I found the documentary style a little jarring at first, but once you settle into it, it gets better. I think his last film, United 93 was so unsettling, that I have not wanted to go back and experience it again. And I think that is the point here as well. The violence is very real and happened to real people. Bloody Sunday is one of those movies like United 93 that you may not want to revisit for a while because it reminds you of that violent nature that lies within so many.

THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN:

The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.



I really enjoyed this movie for a number of reasons. It's a family film that leaves a smile on your face and there isn't an evil bone in it's body. Anthony Hopkins was stellar as usual. You totally lose yourself in his portrayal of Munro. His journey from New Zealand to the Utah flats to race his beaten down motorcycle is fun to behold. Munro has a heart condition and really shouldn't be racing, but he defies his doctors and continues his trek because racing is the only love he has in his life. Without his Indian racer bike he may as well have a heart attack and die anyway, so why not in his racer. It is your typical road movie in spots. He meets way too many friendly people that automatically fall for his accent, but thats what makes the film so fun. It made me think of my Grandfather who at one point many years ago sold one of his old Pontiacs to a chap who then turned it into one of those demolition derby cars. He used to get a kick out of seeing his old car compete in those derbys. Its just one of those films that leaves a smile on your face.

DUST DEVIL: THE FINAL CUT

Just started watching Richard Stanley's cult classic, Dust Devil. I saw this a long time ago on VHS back in 91. I was a huge fan of Richard Stanleys. Most of his stuff is not on dvd, until now. Still waiting for Hardware to come out. Love Hardware to death. Dust Devil was his second film, and the cut i originally saw was a studio cut that they took away from him and cut out about 20 mins of backstory. It's an interesting horror film if you can even call it that. This is a 5 disc limited edition dvd that Subversive Cinema put out. It has the Final Cut and Work Print version of Dust Devil, the soundtrack that genius Simon Boswell did, plus 3 documentaries that Stanley has directed through the years on the other 2 discs. Nice.



Dust Devil", a horror story based on the myth of a Namibian serial killer, looks more like a Western. Filmed on location in Africa where the murders allegedly took place, Chelsea Field plays Wendy Robinson, a woman, who under duress of leaving her husband, heads out to the desert to accidentally encounter the Dust Devil (Robert John Burke), a mercy killer who slays depressed women to save them from the dark side. According to locals, the Dust Devil is a demon, enabling Stanley's abiding interest in world folk religions to weigh heavily in on the plot, especially when the town's witch doctor visits the beyond to unlock mysteries, or when the Dust Devil displays a box containing his victims' fingers.

I don't know, maybe its the drawn out nature of the plot, but I still feel the film is a bit underwhelming. And it could be because maybe I'm comparing it to Hardware. The concept is great. It's one of those rare horror westerns, a sub-genre that has yet to reach its full potential... Dust Devil comes close, but not quite.

I'm quite keen someday to see someone make a film about the making of the remake of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" with Brando and Kilmer. You see Stanley is kind of a renegade filmmaker, and he worked the first 3 weeks or so as director on that then got into arguments with Brando and Kilmer. New Line didn't like the dailies so fired him. Problem was they were shooting on a remote Island, and Stanley being the freak he is, never left the island. John Frankenheimer took over directing and Stanley joined a native tribe on the island and supposedly tried to sabotage the entire filming with his new tribal friends. How great would that movie be???