HOW 'BOUT THAT?

I got really tired of how boring this page looked, so I had to try and spice it up a little. I think it looks really good. Might take some getting used to (for the six regular readers) but I think it will be for the better.

It already looks a little more professional, right? Because that's what I'm going for.

Anyway. I'm heading out of town for the next few days, and since Blogger refuses to make an iPad app that's worth a damn, posting will probably be a little sparse. But come Monday night/Tuesday morning I'll hopefully be back with a little recap (probably limiting it to a one-parter, since we know how well that planned multi-part Peru recap panned out) and some pictures of tourist-y stuff. And probably comics. I plan on hitting a few big shops out there and will probably come back really excited about comics. And unfortunately, because I didn't think ahead, I'm missing NY Comic Con by one week. Actually pretty bummed about that since I missed San Diego this year, too.

Oh well. It'll still be a good time. Stay glued to your computer screen for amazing amateur (not that kind, sir) photographs brought to you by my ultra-cool FujiFilm camera.

And keep an eye on Twitter if you have it. I'll probably throw a thing or two up there while I'm gone.

Try not to miss me too much.

IMPRESSIVE. MOST IMPRESSIVE.

I'm on the verge of becoming a Walking Dead fan page with all the things I've written about it in the past few months, but what the hell. I'm on the bandwagon for the AMC series.

And this title sequence (made by some random fan, mind you) got me a little more excited. I'm still a little cautious just because, well, just because. The only thing I know for sure is that the real title sequence better blow this thing out of the water, or else there's going to be a whole bunch of angry people on the internet (shocking right?).

P.S. I think I like The Eels now.


THE WALKING DEAD "Opening Titles" from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.

TRUE GRIT

Sign me up. I know what I'll be watching on Christmas night.

5 MORE YEARS

It's official. I signed the lease (and by that I mean I re-registered trevorhale.com) last Thursday. This little blog will be operational for another 5 years—at least.

Tell your friends about me. I'm kind of a big deal.

GOODFELLAS

This is a fantastic article. See for yourself.

WHERE WE'RE GOING, WE DON'T NEED ROADS

PIRANHA 3D

Everything it looked like and exactly what I expected.

It had it all; gore, unintentional comedy, attractive women in very little (if any) clothing and unnecessary but fantastic cameos from Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd and Eli Roth.

It was the perfect way to spend an evening at the movies. As long as you don't expect cinematic greatness or anything remotely scary, this is the movie you want to see on a boring Thursday night.

KING OF KONG

I forgot how much I enjoyed this movie. You can find and watch the whole thing on the Internets. I suggest you do just that.

BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT

City Weekly -- In a perfect world, Wiseguys would be packed every night with people enjoying one of the more difficult brands of performance art. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
The live comedy market isn’t what it once was, and today people would rather spend their Friday night home catching up with Jersey Shore repeats on On Demand.

Friday night at Wiseguys in West Valley was no exception, and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait took the stage in front of exactly 31 people. Goldthwait was obviously disappointed with the turnout for the late show--he’d played an earlier set that night also--and claimed it was the smallest crowd he’d ever performed in front of. He made a couple of quick jokes about it, as did both openers and the house MC, and then decided that since there were only a few people there, he’d buy pizza for the entire crowd. He pulled out his cell phone and called Domino’s, ordered eight pizzas and used the delivery quote time as a timer of sorts for his act. Listening to him try to explain the situation--and who he was--to the girl on the other end of the phone was priceless.

He went through his act, but it was tough for him (or any comedian that night) to get into a rhythm, because some of the punchlines would elicit only a mild chuckle--or worse, not work at all. His set was a mixture of self-deprecating humor about his former career as the weird-voiced screamer from Police Academy, dated (yet still pretty funny) jokes about Michael Jackson’s funeral and some downright hilarious stories, most of which would have gone over like gangbusters in front of a bigger crowd. Goldthwait took a couple jabs at local comedian Marcus, whom he clearly doesn’t care for, and had some great interaction with a few people in the crowd. By the time the pizza showed up, Goldthwait was working his closing anecdote, which would have been a great way to end on a high note; unfortunately it fell a little flat. A few people had already checked out, and were just waiting for the free pizza. It was a shame, too. The closer was definitely one of the set highlights. Too bad there wasn’t much of a crowd there to make it work as well as it should have.

Local comedians Rodney Norman and Jacob Leigh opened the show and did as good of job as they could getting the small crowd warmed up. Norman is a Wiseguys regular, and has opened for a lot of the bigger shows that come through. His routine is very laid-back and filled with quiet jokes that were a nice contrast to Goldthwait's booming personality. Jacob Leigh is another local who seems to still be trying to find his voice. He had some funny stuff, but was bouncing around from bit to bit a little too quickly. He’s got potential, though, and is definitely not afraid of working a tough, small crowd, so you’ve got to give him credit for that.

It was no easy feat for anyone performing that night, but all three of them gave it their best stuff and tried to have fun and that’s all that matters on a night like that. Everyone in the audience appreciated it—all 31 of us.

IF SUPERHEROES WERE HIPSTERS

AK-47

Early birthday gift? I hope so.

The seller's description reads: "This is an original oil painting of Andrei Kirilenko, of the Utah Jazz, painted by resident Utah Artist, Lester T Nielsen. It is 30X40 inches, painted on quality canvas with a walnut frame. It 's signed by Andrei Kirilenko himself and perfect for one of his many fans! It depicts his ties to both Russia and the United States." 

EVERYTHING IS A REMIX

This looks like it's going to be a good little web-series.

http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

LIL' WAYNE - TENNIS ENTHUSIAST

Who knew Weezy was a tennis fan? Probably a lot of people actually, but not me. He wrote this letter in late August. And he was right on both accounts.

Open Source Blog -- When Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., (a/k/a Lil Wayne) isn’t cutting some of the freshest and most inventive music of today, the Grammy-award winning rap artist can be found watching, talking or blogging about sports. Even while serving an eight-month prison term on Rikers Island stemming from a 2007 weapons charge, Wayne finds time to opine on the latest news and release new music. His latest single, “Right Above It,” dropped Aug. 17 and was the top debut on this week’s charts at No. 6, marking the New Orleans native’s highest debuting single as a lead artist. We asked Wayne, who is an avid tennis fan, to share his thoughts on the upcoming U.S. Open, which begins Monday in New York. We mailed our request along with a self-addressed stamped envelope and three leafs of SI stationery … and Wayne’s thoughtful outlook for the tournament arrived in our mailbox yesterday. (Post your questions and messages to Wayne in the comments and we’ll pass them along.)

(hint - if you click on the image, it appears, bigger, in a new window. Don't strain those eyes.)

THE GEMS YOU FIND ON FLICKR

THE GUNSLINGER

I read this book a long, long time ago and remember enjoying it quite a bit. It's part of Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER series and I've read the first 4 books, but the problem is, I can't remember a single thing about any of them. I don't know if that reflects poorly about my memory or the books themselves, but it's probably been 11 years since I read the first one.

But Stephen King has always been one of my favorite writers (even if he has kind of fallen off the past decade or so). I read MISERY when I was 12—which is a good story in itself that I'll tell sometime—and did an entire project on him in 7th grade. Got a letter from his wife and everything. So, even if he does write some run-of-the-mill horror novels from time to time, he still has a penchant for great storytelling and I'll always have a soft spot for his stuff.

I'm kind of getting back into his work because of LOST, in a way. JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof, the guys that created LOST, did an interview with King a few years back where they basically just talked about how they loved each others work the entire time. It ended with the news that Abrams and Lindelof had acquired the rights to THE DARK TOWER series and were planning on adapting it.

Cut to a few years later, Abrams is busy making fantastic films of his own and Lindelof just finished working probably 100 hours a week for six years straight getting LOST finished, and neither of them probably have the time or desire to spend another 6 years on a single project. So in come Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman to pick up the ball and run with it.

Since THE DARK TOWER is something like 8 books and 4 or 5 comic prequels, they have kind of an ambitious plan. First up, a movie based on THE GUNSLINGER, which leads to a season-long TV series, a second film, another TV series and concludes with a third movie. The plan is to shoot all the films at the same time (which sometimes works, i.e. THE LORD OF THE RINGS and sometimes doesn't, i.e. THE MATRIX, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2 and 3) and use some of the sets and production aspects for the show.

Now if everything goes right, this could be a fantastic project. Ron Howard has an excellent track record, and the source material is ripe for a great set of films.

Guess I better get started on the books. That way I can complain when I see the movies and things have been changed.

TRIBUTE

Calvin and Hobbes is the greatest comic strip of all time and this is a fitting tribute.

BURN THIS TOWN

Sorry about the crappy images. Pay them no mind and just listen.

LOST IN 3 MINUTES

Pretty accurate, I'd say. Still a fantastic show.

THE AMERICAN

You know, I really admire George Clooney. The American marks the second time he was able to convince a studio to give him and his buddy a bunch of money to galavant around Europe, film some stuff and throw together a movie.

That said, The American was a whole lot better than his last attempt at this trick (ahem, Oceans 12). It was a decent enough movie, but tried a little too hard for the quiet suspense of European dramas. Did really well at times, but I was a little disappointed they went down the "hooker with a heart of gold" path while Clooney's character finally started learning how to love. I thought it would have been so much better had he just been a ruthless killer on that one last job. Unfortunately, they probably had to have some sort of likable female character to get the financing.

But the camera work, pacing and cinematography were all great, and George Clooney playing George Clooney is usually pretty entertaining.

Just don't expect a high-octane, shoot-em-up style thriller because you'll leave disappointed, just like Casey. He claims he was fooled by the trailer and was pissed there were no explosions.

XREFLECTX - LAST SHOW MINI-DOC

A few friends of mine were in a really, really good band called xReflectx. They broke up last year and I shot some interviews with the dudes in the band (with a little help from Brook and Sias). It took me a year to get around to putting this together, but I finally did.

Check it out. I miss this band.

COMING SOON

I was trying to think of movies that I'm looking forward to the other day, and there just aren't a whole lot. That's surprising because summer is over and fall is usually when studios start rolling out the movies they're hoping get them some recognition come awards season.

There are a few that I'm really looking forward to though. These, for instance:

Black Swan - December 1


The Town - September 17


The Social Network - October 1


Jackass 3D - October 15
I don't care what anyone says, I love these movies.


Monsters - October 29


Tron: Legacy - December 17


And there's no trailer yet, but the Coen Brothers are making a new version of True Grit with Jeff Bridges that opens Christmas Day, and I bet it will be fantastic.

9/02/10

Last Thursday was an "unofficial holiday" in pop culture. It was September 2, 2010 which, shorthand, is the zip code of one of the greatest/most ridiculous shows of all time, Beverly Hills 90210.

I've talked about my personal history with that show before and if it's on TV, I'll definitely put it on. It's one of those shows that I can have as background noise when I'm doing other things, but not really pay attention to. I get the gist of each episode and there's always something to enjoy about it.

But last week, one of my favorite podcasts, The BS Report with Bill Simmons dedicated the entire show to 90210, giving out ridiculous awards like "Best Attempt to make Brandon Appear Athletic" and other fantastic categories.

If you're even a casual fan of the show, it's definitely worth checking out. Do it now.

Part 1 & Part 2

HYPERTHETICALS

I love Chuck Klosterman. You might be the exact opposite. It's come to my attention that most people are either in the "I love him" camp or the "I can't stand him" camp. Not a lot of middle ground, but oh well. I'm firmly in the first camp and every time he writes a new book, some kind of review (his Chinese Democracy review is one of my favorites) or is a guest on a podcast I'm all over it.

I was at Barnes & Noble the other night (killing time, as usual) and came across this little gem he wrote called "Hypertheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations."

It's a little box full of cards containing completely ridiculous questions. There are no right or wrong answers, it's more of a test to see how you will answer. I'm very much looking forward to a slow day at work where I can bust these little gems out.

A little (shortened) sample:

Would you have unprotected sex with a homeless person if it guaranteed that in five years homelessness would be completely eliminated from the world?

NOLAN RYAN FTW

Old man power in full effect.
Ryan - 46 - Ventura - 26

15 ALBUMS

This was a Facebook thing that's been making the rounds the past couple of weeks and I finally got around to it.

In retrospect, I don't know how I feel about what I chose. These are my "go-to" records, and I really like all of them, but Jesus, it's like I stopped seeking out new music in 1999. There has to be something from the past decade that I love. Right?

One thing I know for sure though, is that Life of Agony is still fucking amazing.

-- I added the rules in case you're one of the 8 people in the world that isn't on Facebook and you want to play along at home. --

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note- upper right hand side.)

1. Life of Agony - River Runs Red
2. Misfits - Static Age
3. Propagandhi - Less Talk, More Rock
4. Descendents - Everything Sucks
5. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
6. Soundgarden - Superunknown
7. Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
8. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
9. Into Another - S/T
10. Minor Threat - Discography
11. Nirvana - Unplugged
12. Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
13. Quicksand - Slip
14. Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow
15. Weezer - Pinkerton


Life Of Agony - Through And Through
Uploaded by Maynardziak. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

MACHETE

I went in expecting blood, violence, gore, boobs, bad one-liners and a whole lot of ridiculousness—and that's exactly what I got.

It's pretty impressive that Robert Rodriguez was able to actually fill out an entire movie with things he came up with for a fake trailer and make it look very, very close.

There are a couple of roles that were recast and a few scenes that had to play out differently than originally planned, but it still worked. Steven Seagal did good work and DeNiro looked like this was the most fun he's had in a movie in a long time. A bunch of young girls snickered every time Lindsay Lohan was on screen, which re-enforced my opinion that even if she does get more work, she's got a long way to go before people ever take her for more than a complete joke. Which is kind of a shame, because Mean Girls was awesome.

All in all, I enjoyed it. Good way to spend a Friday night.

One gripe: If you have a child and you can't find or don't want to pay for a sitter, don't go to the movies. More importantly, don't bring your fucking two year old to an incredibly violent movie that starts at 10:30 at night. That kid should be home in bed. They should not be watching naked women pull cell phones out of their vaginas and heads being chopped off. They really shouldn't.

YELLOW ROSE & CATHEDRAL TATTOO

If you live in Salt Lake you probably at least know about 11th Street Tattoo (if not get work done there). But as of September 30, 11th Street will become two separate shops. I have lots of good friends working at that shop (now both shops) and despite what you may have heard, there is no ill will between the guys going different ways.

My man Jake Miller gives the lowdown over at his blog, Victory Come Death, but since a lot of people are too lazy to click links, I'm reposting it below:

"We are moving the shop this month, Luis, Jon, and Gailon will be moving to Yellow Rose Tattoo on 2040 s. 900 e. and Myself, CJ , and Troy will be moving to Cathedral Tattoo on 400 s. 249 e. So, to put down any weird rumors or trash talking right out of the gate, I am going to give you the whole sleazy story. Our landlord, Larry McColm of McColm Commercial Investments is a total butt pie and threw a scare tactic our way a couple of months back, saying he had another tattoo shop ready to move in when our lease is up- unless we wanted to renew it. So we decided to call his bluff and told him we would be out of the space by “blah blah” date. He promptly gave us the “Ohh, yeah about that…” reply. Although Eleventh Street is easy on the eyes and in a great location we decided that we pay entirely too much money for the amount of bullshit he throws at us (no hot water, leaking roof, broken furnace). And, so began the search for a new location. We had some dispute over the area we wanted to move the shop. Some people wanted to move closer to Downtown and some people wanted to stay in the Sugarhouse area. As the weeks passed we exhausted pretty much every available prospect of a new location. During this time we all went through a number of changes in mindset as well as perspective and we ultimately decided to be in separate locations for no other reason than we felt like it was the right way to go. There is no drama, no bullshit and no crazy talk. The amount of mutual respect and love that I have from working with these people for the last ten years is so big that, your heads would explode if you tried to comprehend it. We are continuing to work together, only under separate roofs. I’m continuing to learn from my peers even though I won’t see them everyday and I can assure you that I’ll continue to be on their side no matter where I end up. This split is a step forward, not a step backward and I can assure you that it’s only the next chapter and not the final chapter. The 11th Street shop information will remain intact for the next 12 months. We will be doing our best to keep everybody informed. Please check www.eleventhstreettattoo.com or call 801.467.4418 with any questions. Yellow Rose Tattoo is now open and accepting walk-ins/ appointments. Cathedral Tattoo will open officially on September 24th, but we should be tattooing in there by September 15th. Thank you for your support."

So there you have it. Head over to both shops and get some work done by someone. And check out the new Ad they're running. Make it bigger. It's totally worth it.